//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 - Sisterhood 
// Story: Shattered Worlds: The Cataclysm 
// by Puppeteer 
//------------------------------//

Twilight walked down the long twisting roads of Ponyville, wearing a rebreather style gas-mask, and brandishing a small knife with Sisterhood inscriptions along it’s blade, and a strange metallic, cylindrical device strapped to her side, next to her saddlebags. Just by looking at her you could tell that she was worn down, and battle hardened. There were dark bags under her slightly red, irritated eyes, and her petty coat and mane were dirty, ragged, and stained with dirt and traces of dried blood. Everything was like a daze to her as she walked down the road, and thought about how different everything was now. Over the past week or so, her entire world had been flipped upside down. The simple, pleasant world from before seemed more like a fading dream than anything else. She could barely even picture it anymore. Twilight only wished that more of her friends could be with her. Rainbow Dash and Rarity were among the first to go missing, and Fluttershy and Applejack had been taken by the madness, although they weren't all gone.

Fluttershy ran away to live in the forest. She was completely crazy, but still harmless. Mostly she just babbled about how the trees were talking to her, and some nonsense like that. Similarly, Applejack and the rest of the apple family holed up in the barn. They were prepared to fight to the bitter end and eventually scared the Cyv off, but their walls couldn’t protect them from the vapor. At least they had enough sanity to side with the Sisterhood instead of the Cyv. From there the Apple family barn turned into more of an apple family slaughterhouse. They would go out at night, capture any Cyv that they found wandering around, and drag them back to the barn. Nopony knew what they did to them, but every once in awhile, Twilight would be awoken by screams echoing through the night. Despite all this she still felt like Applejack was her closest friend. No matter what, Applejack still seemed to have her empathetic caring personality.

Pinkie Pie though, or Pinkamena as she was referring to herself of late; she was the worst. Twilight felt the stabbing pain of betrayal just thinking of her. She was the one who caused this whole mess in the first place, utterly betraying and most likely killing at least one of her friends. She had tortured and murdered so many innocent ponies. To Twilight, there could be no better definition of evil than the name Pinkamena Diane Pie. Honestly she was the worst part of all of this. If it wasn't for Pinkamena, Twilight would be able to move on, to put blame on other ponies, to distance herself from the issue. Pinkamena though; she made the issue at hand seem so close. Twilight had been friends with her for Celestia knows how long, and now she was at the heart of the living hell they were trapped in. Every time Twilight thought about it, she felt sickened. Why was everything so wrong? What had anypony done to deserve this reality?

Suddenly, Twilight heard hoof-steps from behind her, and was snapped out of her train of thought. She whirled around and saw three bloodthirsty Cyv behind her. They were no older than fillies, but she didn’t let that fool her. Most Cyv had razor sharp teeth, seemingly filed down to sharp points whichTwilight now had three sets of grinning at her. She knew that despite their age, they would not hesitate to kill her. She levitated the strange metallic cylinder from her side. It was a device that fired small metal projectiles using a combination of Petroleum jelly, Nitroglycerin, and Collodion. Fairly new technology but not completely reliable. She fired a warning round at the Cyv's hooves, in hopes that they would simply run away. No such luck. This was unfortunate considering that the device could only fire three rounds before being reloaded.

Well time for plan B. Twilight slowly backed away, trying to look scared and helpless and succeeding all too easily. The Cyv slowly advanced, matching her pace. There were three of them. One orange and purple, one black and white, and one pure orange. They were confident. They thought that they had her, but they were only walking into their own deaths. The one in front looked down at the barbed wire net that they had just stepped into the middle of and her eyes widened. She began to turn back  but it was too late to warn her friends, or even save herself for that matter. Some invisible tripwire was activated, and the net snapped around all three of them and hoisted them up, holding them in mid-air by a sturdy cord attached the building above. The orange one with the purple mane lay still gritting her teeth, the black and white one was pierced through the throat, and the last one was whimpering, and twitching violently. That, of course, would only speed up the process of bleeding out. Twilight turned away from the gory sight behind her, and broke into a quickened trot toward the Sisterhood, Putting the weapon back next to her saddlebag, and taking a moment of silence for the three who had just been sent to their deaths. Even if they were Cyv, they were still just fillies. It was sad what the world was coming to.

Soon twilight began to approach the Sisterhood’s base of operations, the Dome City. Dome city was the last shred of civilization standing in ponyville. It was a massive dome structure, constructed of just about any type of scrap material you could imagine. Parts of it were polished, and metallic, while others were just wooden framework covered in cloth. Although the grand scheme of colors decorating Dome city was very wide, overall, it took up a dark, worn shade of tan. What was really impressive about the city, though, was its sheer size. It was about 100 yards in diameter, and at least 30 yards tall. Most would think that the construction of such a city in such a short time would be impossible, and indeed, it would have been impossible without the use of magic, and the orderly instruction of Sir Forte: the commander of the Sisterhood. You’d be surprised at what a handful  of desperate, magic-wielding ponies can accomplish, with the right instruction and motivation. Twilight gazed up at the several small tears and holes in the dome, seemingly at random. In reality, most of them were intentional, and had catwalks leading up to them for ponies using long ranged weapons, or ''guns'', as they had been nicknamed. Even if one of the Cyv was able to avoid all of the traps, and get close to the city, they would be ''gunned'' down within seconds. Really, under the circumstances, it was better than anypony could have hoped for. She trotted up to the main gate, which was covered by a large metal slab. As she approached the entrance, a small rectangular piece of metal slid out of place, to reveal the eyes of a pony on the other side.
‘’Hey twilight.’’ said a voice on the other side of the metal.
‘’Back from your scouting mission, I see. Well, I’ll let you right on in, once you give me a quick ID check.''
Twilight stated her name, and held up her Sisterhood knife for identification. Almost immediately, the gate slid upward a few feet, and she sheathed her knife, and slipped underneath. Inside of Dome City, there was no actual sunlight, but it was moderately lit by several large fire pits placed throughout the city, which were fueled by magic, and just about any flammable material available. There was a stairway leading up to the long-range-gunners (LRG for short.) on the left, and stairs on the right leading down to the main city. The city itself, was made up of numerous buildings of either two, or three stories. They weren’t constructed with any particular order, material, or design in mind, so the city was very interesting to look at. The buildings were mostly a cement colored grey, with splotches of brown here and there, and they all had very sharp, odd angles to them. some were connected by overhangs, walkways, and bridges of various lengths. The city was lit by a series of fire pits fueled by magic and just about any mildly flammable material available, which cast flickering shadows over the buildings. The city as a whole was a maze of jagged, twisting streets and alleyways.

Finished gazing upon the city, Twilight turned to the left and trotted towards a small, rough, chiseled out room, where Sisterhood records were kept. She cleared her throat to attract the attention of the scholarly old grey colt who operated as the Sisterhood scribe, and almost seemed to live in the place.
‘’Ah, hello Miss Sparkle. I wasn’t expecting you back for about 15 minutes. Did anything go wrong?’’
‘’Nothing out of the ordinary. Just a few Cyv who wandered a bit too close to the Sisterhood.’’
‘’Did you happen to use any ammunition?’’
‘’Only one shot. Also, trap #47 needs to be reset.''
‘’Of course Miss Sparkle. I will take care of it for you.’’ Twilight deposited her rebreather on the counter since the air inside of Dome City was filtered. The grey scribe proceeded to scribble down a quick note on a piece of parchment, and waved Twilight on her way. She then telekinetically pulled a small diary out of her saddlebag, turned to the back, and added three more marks to the four that were already present. She solemnly slipped the diary back into her saddlebag, and began walking down towards the city. In these dark times you had to focus on the good rather than the bad, she told herself, and indeed, the Sisterhood was doing increasingly well lately. Casualties were low, and the traps were doing their job well. All threat of starvation had died of when it was discovered that well cooked pony flesh was safe to eat, and there was no shortage of that. She still had a couple of her friends left in some shape or form, and she, herself, was still alive. 

Twilight paused when she heard  a voice coming from an alley to her right.
''Alright'' it said, Obviously female in tone.
''We are all all in agreement then. We make our move the day after tomorrow?''
''Yea!'' spoke a more masculine voice.
''The slaughterhouse has to go. They're unclean. Disgusting, horrible creatures from the pits of Tartarus. Heck, they're just as bad as those Cyv ponies. How can we think of ourselves as better than them, when we side with ponies who're just as bad?'' Twilight ducked behind the edge of the alley to keep herself hidden. She couldn't believe her ears. An uprising against the apple family? They had enough problems to deal with already. Rebellion was the last thing they needed.
''We make our move at midday, when they're least active. We'll tell the others at the meeting in the storage room. It's at 3:00, so we don't have all that much time to spare.'' 3:00, thought Twilight. She checked the rusty old watch strapped around her left hoof. It was two forty seven. What to do, what to do? If these rebels made an assault on the apple family, the outcome would be disastrous. They had enough problems as it was. The last thing they needed was to attack their only allies in this whole mess, not to mention that it would put Applejack in serious danger.
''Wait.'' She thought.
''If anypony can resolve this issue, it would be Sir Forte. He personally oversees everything that goes on in the Sisterhood. I'll go to the Citadel in the center of the city and warn him of the threat. Even if council wasn't being held right now, he practically lives in the place!'' The council met in the Citadel daily to make important decisions in the center of the city.
Twilight risked peeking around the corner to see just exactly who she was dealing with. There were five ponies in the alley, all of which were wearing green metal helmets with red stars on them.
''Hey!'' Yelled the pony nearest to her.
''Somepony's been eavesdroppin'! Get her!'' 

Twilight pulled the gun from her side, and turned to run, firing the remaining two shots in the clip over her shoulder. Judging from the screams behind her, she had hit one of them in the leg. She ran into the adjacent alley, and rounded the corner, just as the wall behind her exploded with gunfire and rubble.
''Radio the others!'' Twilight heard from a ways behind her.
''The purple one's gonna make a break for the Citadel! We have to stop her before she gets there!''
''Just my luck.'' Twilight muttered to herself.
''Just when I thought the day's hardships were over with I have to deal with a bucking rebellion!'' Twilight turned another corner and ducked behind a stack of cardboard boxes, which promptly decided to topple over on her. Not ten seconds later, frantic hoofsteps clattered past, and disappeared. Twilight waited for as long as she could afford to, and jumped out of her hiding place. Not so much as stalling to see if any of them were still around to spot her, she bolted down the main road towards the central district. Looking ahead, she spotted one of the rebels scanning the road for her. She took a sharp left into yet another alley. From here, she slowed her pace to a trot. This alley let out into the central district, which was a large, circular area with the Citadel at it's center. It was clear of buildings, and had three large fire pits to light it. Day, or night, the area was always bustling with activity. Twilight replaced the old rectangular clip from the side of her gun with a new one from her saddle bag, and put it back at her side. a small group of ponies passed by the alleyway, and Twilight used this opportunity to duck in with the crowd. From there, she took off towards the Citadel, carefully scanning the crowd for telltale green helmets.

Almost immediately, she spotted one belonging to a blue colt far off to her left. He was searching his section of the crowd, and so Twilight carefully angled herself to the right towards a fire pit. Soon the rebel was out of sight, and she was a bit too close to the flaming light for comfort. Twilight turned her head from the left, and her breath caught in her throat. She had been so fixated on the rebel to her left that she hadn't looked where she was going. Directly in front of her stood a mare in a green, metal helmet gazing off into the crowd. Twilight scanned the area around her for anypony she could hide behind, but nopony else had strayed this close to the pit. She considered trying to make it back to the crowd, but turning away now would attract attention. She had mere seconds before the mare noticed her, and for a split second it seemed like there was no way out of the situation. Suddenly a solution presented itself. To anypony on their side of the fire pit, the would be nothing more than silhouettes, and nopony on the other side would try looking directly across, because of how bright it would be. For the moment, Twilight, and the rebel in front of her were invisible to everypony except for each other. There was no time to hesitate. The Rebel turned back, and locked eyes with Twilight. She opened her mouth to say something, but twilight had already unsheathed her knife, and slit her throat. Her eyes bulged in shock as Twilight walked past her and casually shoved her into the fire pit before anypony could notice what had happened. As terrible as it was, Twilight couldn't help but feel a slight hint of satisfaction as she sheathed her bloodied weapon.

She continued walking until she was almost at the stairway that led into the Citadel. There stood one guard, and off to the side a rebel who was obviously keeping a strict eye on the croud. There were normally two guards at the stairway. The other must be changing shifts. Both the guard and the rebel were male earth ponies, and had their guns strapped around their hooves. Twilight didn't want to attack the guard, but if she tried to approach him, the rebel would gun her down on sight. Twilight checked her watch. Two fifty three. If they were going to catch and formally disband the rebel group, she would have to act now. That was all she needed. She charged out of the crowd towards the staircase. The rebel began to raise his gun, but he didn't have enough time to react. Twilight telekinetically ripped the gun from his hoof, and slammed it backwards into his head, effectively rendering him unconscious. She then fired a bolt of repulse based magic at the gaurd, which sent him flying backwards into the stairs, and knocked his weapon aside. Twilight darted up the stairs into the Citadel before The guard could recover. The inside of the council was built, more or less, like a miniature colosseum, with rows of seats in a circular pattern, elevated more and more, the farther back they were placed. Sir Forte sat at the far end of the room in the back. He had a white coat and a long messy grey mane that fell over and obscured the right half of his face, covering one of his bright purple, intelligent eyes. His cutie mark depicted an old fashioned magnifying glass. To his right sat another stallion aiming down the sights of a crossbow at her. He was remarkably similar to Forte in both coat color and mane style, though his mane was a deep shade of black, and his eyes a rare, captivating shade of red. Both of them were earth ponies.
''It's alright Crow.'' Sir Forte addressed the pony to his right.
''This is Twilight Sparkle: original founder, and lead scientist and engineer of the Sisterhood. She can be trusted.'' Crow lowered his crossbow, but kept a vigilant eye on Twilight.
''Now,'' spoke Forte.
''What business is so important, that you physically attacked one of my guards to speak with me about it?''