//------------------------------// // Perpetrator // Story: Today We Summon Unity! // by Chemtest //------------------------------// The portal opens, and begins to play the life of the gun on the table. Instantly, one can tell this gun was not, in fact, produced down the street. The gun seems to be in a factory, with glowing machinery and weary ponies working on similar looking weapons. Only, this weapon seems to be very slightly different. The pony working on it picks it up, and puts it into a box all alone. The memory skips forward by a few days, stopping as a new voice speaks, “This prototype is more powerful than any before it, almost able to melt steel in a single shot. It can fire two percent faster, hit ten percent harder, and runs out of ammo after twenty percent more shooting. It is, however, ten bits more expensive than the regular CLR, as it uses a rarer, more magical, focuser.” A young voice responds, yet one obviously changed from time passed, “Begin production in two months, we’ll see if we even need this by then. Would you mind if I give this prototype to a soldier?” The older voice responds, happiness evident in his tone, “Of course, Lord Raven. We made the rifle best for a pegasus, just as a heads up.” The younger voice speaks back, “I’m sure on of the Wonderbolts would love to carry it. How much should I pay you?” The voice responds a final time, “Oh, nothing at all, Lord Raven. It’s only a prototype, we can deal with the little financial loss it would cause.” Then, the spell skips forward once again. This time, it skips two weeks ahead, where it is finally being taken out of it’s box. A heavily armored pegasus takes out the weapon, and smiles, “Oh, what’s this? Somepony is feeling generous today.” Another pony walks over, earth, wearing similar armor. On his back is another gun, one very much bigger than the laser rifle. The pony nods, “They sure are. This is the final battle, Captain Sparrow, we need your equipment to be the best it can. Be sure to use it, you won’t have another chance.” Captain Sparrow nods, “Of course, Head Paladin Offense. I’m surprised they didn’t give this to Captain Dash, especially considering how much Lady Scootaloo adores her.” Offense speaks, a smile present in his tone, “She isn’t on the front lines, you are. Now come on, the assault is to begin in an hour. Make sure your team are ready to go.” The memory once again fades, skipping forward by two hours. When the memory fades back in, the entire scene is chaos. Ponies rush between buildings, explosions throw up concrete and asphalt, the bodies of ponies lay everywhere, and there are loud noises everywhere. Harry instantly draws back, “Such savagery... truly like the Geneva Era.” The weapon’s carrier flies through the air, firing down lasers like a turret. It’s barely even a second after he fired that he aims at his next target, and fires again. Pegasi fly alongside him, wearing much lighter armor. They weave through the buildings more, throwing grenades, firing off missiles, and generally harassing the enemy. Captain Sparrow is interrupted from his slaughter by a radio message. The voice of Offense flows through it, “Captain Sparrow, you need to get your ass over here, now!” Sparrow presses down the radio, “Currently busy, what’s the situation?” Offense yells over the sounds of battle, “They are about to launch! Stop them!” Sparrow instantly stops, and turns to the east. He begins to fly as fast as he can with his heavy armor. As he flies, the sound of an alarm fills the city. A siren picks up, slowly increasing in volume before fading back and beginning again. The battle below stops, as both sides look at the lights shining their red light all over, and every creature drops their weapons. The sounds of battle are almost instantly replaced with screams of terror. The type of terror that one can only feel when they know they are dead, and there’s nothing they can do about it. Captain Sparrow flies even harder, and raises his laser rifle. Large missiles start to fire, and rise from the ground. Sparrow fires his rifle at one of them, but it’s to no avail. The hundred missiles rise even further, and begin to fly into every direction. To their south, they can see even more missiles rising. Then to their north, then to the west. Loudspeakers instantly begin to transmit an automated message, “All ponies are to report immediately to their nearest Stable, this is not a drill. All ponies are to report immediately to their nearest Stable, this is not a drill.” One of the missiles starts to arc downwards, heading straight for the city. Captain Sparrow throws the gun into a holster, and growls. One of the other Wonderbolts look over, “Sir, what are you doing?!” Sparrow yells back, “I’m not going to let us die without doing anything! I’m going to punch the nuke!” Sparrow takes off once again, setting off straight for the nuke. He nears closer, and punches fourth with all his might. The nuke explodes on impact, and the weapon’s memory goes black. Twilight leans back, “Number one, this doesn’t make any sense. Lady Scootaloo? All this violence, war, giant explosions? This isn’t Equestria, it can’t be.” Harry holds up a hand, “Wait, the memory isn’t done. It’s skipping over two hundred years, perhaps that might answer our questions.” The memory comes back after two hundred years have passed, in the possession of somepony dressed in a very similar armor. However, this pony is noticeably thinner, and smaller. The pony points the rifle at somepony else. Somepony who is an alicorn, with rotting skin. King Blueblood shakes his head, “Captain Sparrow, your family has served me loyally for two centuries. This is how you repay me for all the kindness I’ve shown to you? Your death shall be the price for such an insult.” Within an instant, King Blueblood blasts the pony with a beam of magic, shooting right through the armor, and pony inside. Blueblood than gets up, and picks up the rifle, “One for my personal collection.” The memory once again skips forward, yet seems to go back in time at the same time. It fades back in, where a changeling soldier picks it up. Then, the memory pauses, showing nothing but an image of the hive. Twilight leans back, “That’s the Red Hive of Changelings. Were they behind this?” Someone new speaks up. Atreyos, having walked in during the first memory, nods, “Those bugs ambushed us and destroyed the town. They somehow got their hands on this weaponry.” Harry looks back at him, “We are trying to figure out that somehow, Atreyos.” Atreyos shakes his head, “For right now, I don’t give a shit about the how. What I know is that we have an enemy. Spike, I imagine you could track that place down, correct?” Spike glances over at Twilight, “Uh, Twilight, you know how to find this place?” Atreyos jumps in, “Woah, woah, no! She is not going to come along or help us! This is a matter of war and death, Spike, not something an idiot like her could stomach. If she was sick over my interrogation, she would not be able to stand war.” Twilight looks over at him, “What’s your problem, Atreyos? I have tried to be understanding, I have tried to approach you in every different way! I tried everything in the book, and you still hate me! What gives?!” Atreyos raises an eyebrow, “Hate you? I don’t hate you, Sparkle. I barely even know you. You haven’t done anything to earn my respect, and you sure as shit haven’t tried to understand anything. You got a warrior to come up and apologize for rightfully fighting me. You heard of how Spearta raised me, and you instantly decided I had to be fixed somehow. You have shown the Spear, nor me, any respect, but you aren’t strong enough to outright say you don’t respect us.” Twilight snaps back, “You have done nothing but kill or harm, Atreyos! You almost killed Rainbow Dash, you tortured an innocent changeling, you killed almost the entirety of the Green Hive! I have only just stopped myself from calling down the Princesses to arrest you because I am trying to understand your culture! Joseph seems fine, Robin is fine, Harry is great, so why are you so messed up?!” Atreyos glares at her, “You know nothing, Sparkle. I have had to work hard and fight every day of my life! The Swordwrath have fertile land, the Archidon have fish, the Magikill could conjure up magic! Spearta is a barren, mountainous, hell-hole! It requires everything to grow the barest amount of food! You either farm, or you fight, and I chose to fight. You have never struggled, Sparkle, your entire race of equines have not struggled in a thousand years. You had the time to be nice, you had the resources to make friends, you had the magic to never fear war. Spearta never had that! All we had was our shield, our spear, and the man next to us! Have you even talked to the other Speartons? They are much, much worse than I am, and would surely be pillaging this village if I was not here to lead them. They are all idiotic fools, too busy fighting to think. Think on that, Sparkle, because you actually have the time to.” Twilight looks at him, her gaze softening, “I am so sorry. Yes, your past was not the best, but that’s no excuse for what you did. It makes sense, yes, but not excused. You want me to respect you as a warrior? I’ll cut you a deal. I can help you track down that Hive, but you must at least try to listen to me. I might sound a but callous and uncaring at times, about your culture or your methods, but know that I have the absolute best intentions.” Atreyos looks at her, slowly losing his glare. He sighs, “Lead the way, Sparkle.”