//------------------------------//
// Beginning of the End 
// Story: Total Eclipse 
// by Prisoner 24601 
//------------------------------//

	Rainbow crash Landed in the sand, followed by Gilda’s graceful landing. Gilda grabbed Rainbow’s head, and began to speak, “Rainbow Dash: greatest flier in all of Equestria! Well, now, isn’t that a laugh. I remember back in flight school, when it took you seven tries to get off the ground.” Gilda began chuckling as she dropped Rainbow’s head. She may not have wings to fight back, but she had brute force. She Leaped onto Gilda, forcing her onto the ground. Then she began giving Gilda’s face a flurry of fists. The Griffon pushed the maniacal pony off of her, and proceeded to pull out her gun again. She fired twice more, neither connecting with Dash, before having to reload. In this time, Rainbow charged herself into Gilda, forcing her onto the ground ten feet away. As soon as Gilda recovered, Dash attacked again, managing to fly for a bit before flopping on the ground. Gilda took this offensive chance, and brought her fist down to Rainbow’s spot, but the pony rolled away slyly, continuing her attack. She bucked Gila in the face, sending her back at least 15 yards. Gilda looked back to the west, and saw the Firewall beginning to dissipate. She leaped into the air, and soared back onto the zebra airship. Soon there was a rain of both zebra and Griffon corpses falling to the ground. Eventually, the Griffon airship returned to its opponent, and Gilda, along with the surviving Griffon attack force, and ‘The Blowtorch’, crossed the plank back onboard. She fired a cannon at the Zebra’s engines, and soon there was another airship in free-fall. Dash could not fly out of this one’s way, so she had no choice but to run. Quickly, her leg’s injury acted up, and Rainbow was immobilized, leaving her vulnerable to the crushing force of the Zebra airship.

*	*	*

Applejack returned to the wreck camp with Breaburn, Sheriff Silverstar, and a few ponies pulling carts with enough guns for the whole camp. Everyone was eager to arm themselves and rush out, leaving the desolate wreck behind them. Before they were halfway to Appleloosa, however, Gilda’s Airship soared overhead. Many refugees began to fire at it, but with no Effect. A few Griffon fighters came down from the ship, and began firing at the convoy. Soon, a firefight broke out between the Refugees and the Griffons. Two refugee militiaponies, Caramel and Daisy, were killed in the gunfire, whereas every Griffon in the attack group was picked off. The caravan looked back to salvation just in time to see 25 cannons all fired at the city. Immediately, buildings began to fall, and dust rose from every street. Applejack’s eyes widened as a small bomb was dropped on Appleloosa, creating a dusty mushroom cloud. Every pony in the caravan knew that the entire town of Appleloosa was destroyed, especially Applejack, who knew that Rarity was still within city limits.
Everypony looked to the west, where they expected to see the firewall, but instead only saw small remnants of it, which were quickly disappearing. They decided that the safest thing to do was to head back to Ponyville, still mostly intact.

*	*	*

The Doctor kept remedially examining each of the three ponies, until he decided that there was no difference in endurance between the three species. Instead, he began unlatching each pony, one at a time, to examine their racial ability, such as Twilight’s magic, Fluttershy’s ability to fly, and Pinkie’s incredible ability to do things neither of the others could do. He introduced himself as Doctor Damian Been, leader of the equestrian movement.
One day, when being examined by Dr. Been, Twilight figured out a way out of her prison. She charged her horn, and blasted Damian against a wall. Then she used her levitation to unlatch Pinkie, who then went to the computer to override security, and Fluttershy’s shackles. Soon, the yellow Pony was free, and Damian was nowhere to be seen. The doctor tackled Pinkie away from the computer, pulled out a syringe, and thrust it down towards Pinkie Pie. The syringe was blasted out of Damian’s hand by Twilight, who proceeded to fix the doctor in place with Twilight’s own shackles. Pinkie returned to the computer, and finished off the last code into the mainframe. Once there, she began disabling the defense mechanisms. During all of this, Damian was silent, and only a smirk lay on his face. As soon as Pinkie was done, a loud wailing sound surrounded them. The windows opened, to show the Everfree forest on one side, and the mostly broken remains of Ponyville on the other. A few minutes later, a squad of armed guards appeared in the room, and unlatched Dr. Been. They were armed with rifles, but the looks on their faces suggested that they never had any real experience with them. Pinkie spontaneously pulled her Party Cannon out of thin air, and blasted a quarter of the squad unconscious, and while Fluttershy curled, cowering, in the corner, twilight blasted the rest. Damian escaped, however, much to everypony’s disappointment. As the three turned out of the room and into the corridor, they saw, much to their dismay, an army of what Damian calls ‘Humans’ marching towards Ponyville, along with a large group of Zebra warships, and a larger group of Griffon airships. The ponies turned around to see Damian Been standing there with a strange looking gun. He fired a rod out of his gun, which hit Twilight. She wasn’t dead, nor even wounded. She looked like she had just fallen asleep. Pinkie pulled out her Party Cannon again, and knocked Damian unconscious. The two Ponies had no choice but to abandon Twilight, as she seemed to be changing.


*	*	*

Gilda returned to Griffinium, where she and her comrades took ‘The Blowtorch’ into the King’s hall. Two statues stood erect in the hall, each with an urn underneath. One Statue was of King Protor, and the other, of Gilda’s sister. Gilda set the huge bomb in front of her throne, and waited for the arrival of the Griffon battleship…