The first impact took thirty seconds after they began running. Celestia was right, they were in danger. Whatever these things were, they were fatally destructive.
They were running away across a green landscape, riddled with hills and no sign of cover with Zebra foals on their backs and adults rushing across when the first one made an entrance. Far ahead on the left. When it hit, it was with a huge fiery explosion and a blast that blew ponies back. An impact that blew apart the ground, and threw dirt, fire, and soil into the air.
The Princesses screamed and fell to the ground after a wave of debris blew across their bodies and line of sight. Turning the sky dark. Then a second one landed that launched them through the air.
Luna's ears rang. Her nerves danced with the vibrations from the impacts. Her wings were protecting the crying foals in her hooves as explosion after explosion rattled her very life. Blowing her feathers askew per blast. Like a never ending thunderstorm.
She looked around her through the flames and smoke, and saw horror. Zebras on the ground with some lying motionless in the dirt in a pool of red and limbs, oh stars above... Some were running around on fire before even more Marrials made landfall. There were more of these monstrosities destroying civilization as they knew it. Still spearing into their land. And these weren't even close to normal explosives. Normal explosives didn't spread flames and create wildfires.
Their blue peaceful skies of celebration turned to darkness and red. Smoke plumes rose to choke anyone attempting to fly in to rescue as their crops, food, vegetation, and homes were blown to ashes. The need for a coat was no more. The temperature was rising quickly.
Princess Celestia ducked into Luna's sight with the rest of them and helped her get to at least shaking hooves.
"Fly into the air!!" She shouted. "We're safer up there!! Go, GO!!"
Right, they still had survivors. She saw the Guards from both Equestria and Mount Aris fly in through the smoke layer above with chariots landing next to Zebras during the attack. That's right, it was no longer a clue. This was an attack.
Luna scrambled back to her senses and held the foals tightly. Then flew into the sky as fast as she could. Another one of these things blew a cloud of fire directly underneath her. Literally putting a fire to her flank that pushed her to go faster than she was already. Through the hot cloudy layer of death and destruction into a cold winter. Both sides weren't promising. But the one behind her was a death sentence.
She witnessed one of the last ones fly through the layer into the ground very far away where the trees supplying Zebrica's fruit were, heard a boom, and saw all of their supply erupt in flames. Whoever did this had some guts, and they were going to be plucked from their body.
After all thirty of these Stars of Death had made landfall on Zebrica and all survivors had been taken to Mount Aris for refuge and medical assistance, the Princesses of Equestria and Queen Novo flew up into the sky and looked at what was left of Zebrica. All Flurry Heart, Cadance, Luna, Celestia, and Novo could do was shed tears at what was nothing but fire, destruction, blood, and unimaginable loss.
Flurry's normally spotless coat of white was now littered with dirt, soil, and blood that wasn't her own. As much trouble as she was going to get in, Cadance couldn't deny she was happy she was there to help. She's been doing that a lot lately, especially in IHT. Maybe she can help them figure out who did this. Because she didn't have a clue.
Cadance locked eyes on the Wonderbolts carrying more wounded up to the chariots floating above and asked to no one in particular with a hoarse voice, "Who... Who would do this?" Her tone was sorrowful and traumatized. It was as if she could feel the pain of the Zebras right now. "Who would do this to a country that already has less than they actually need?"
Celestia couldn't fathom the thought. Her mind couldn't come up with anyone willing to uproot an entire country from flowing green land into nothing but dead bloodless bodies and dirt. Let alone on Hearth's Warming. A tear fell from her eye. One of many that would soon not be her own.
"I... Don't know," she answered.
Only one pony did. Queen Arcadia smiled in Psera when all the Marrials went offline. They all made landfall in Zebrica. A direct hit. Hopefully with a lot of pain and destruction in their plentiful spots. Now they know to leave Psera alone. To leave her children alone.
She nodded to the blue screened LiVAMs and ordered, "I want visuals. Keep it dark until I have it." Then turned around and made her way back to the stairs leading down to the entrance to the Command Room.
Secretary Manny saluted and replied, "Yes, ma'am. We'll have pictures on your desk tomorrow morning."
Queen Arcadia walked with Molten and her Security back to the entrance of The Office of Defense building with her head held high, a slightly lifted spirit, and a smile on her face. Molten's expression mirrored her own: Prideful and full of relief. The sun was rising once again on Psera's darker days. Full of light.
Arcadia reached up to the golden ball dangling around her neck—Dawn's remains—and placed a soft gentle kiss on it. Then on the marriage ring.
"We did it," she whispered. "They will never mess with us again. I made sure of it."
The first night here in this strange land Dawn arrived in was motionless and quiet. The Zebras sent Dawn to what Night Life called a Time Pocket. Where all creatures who retaliate against Narmeelah go. And—in Lucky's—case were told. She was banished from the real world because Wings told her about Narmeelah. Which was entirely unfair.
The homes they built were surprisingly nice. They were down-to-Equus, simple, and very minimal. Of course she would be missing her LiVAMs, friends, and family, but at least she had Sky Blue, Juniper, and her books.
The homes were all the same. Nearly identical to townhouses in Section Two of Capita and next to each other on a single street. Over fifty ponies were moved by Zebras, Narmeelah's personal police. Then pretty much teleported to a whole other time and space in that same dimension with no way out. These ponies were born years before her great great great great great grandparents were born. Which meant Night Life was thousands of years old stuck in a teen's body. Maybe even hundreds of thousands.
He was still cute.
Dawn's home was protected by a single wooden door between two windows facing the center of town. There was a front lawn with a dirt path leading up to the doors with nice green grass. The homes were two stories tall and made out of a strange white wood. Wings said that it was much stronger than traditional wood. Dawn wasn't sure how, but she trusted her word.
After she walked inside, Dawn was met with a dark wooden staircase leading to the second floor holding two bedrooms, a large living room on the right, and a kitchen on the left. The floors too were wood, practically everything in here was. It was hard to come by other goods when you were literally the only ponies here. There were no distributions, no shims, nothing. Just a wooden home with a wooden living room, wooden benches for couches, blankets made out of moss, and... That's it. The kitchen was a big wooden table next to a makeshift grill.
Dawn needed to find a way to get off this island. But not tonight, she was too tired. It's been a long day.
Once she and her pets were settled in one of the bedrooms upstairs, Dawn took off her crown and put it inside of her bag. Then took out all of her books. The dark magic tomes her mother gave her to study, and... The Quote Book. The book mom made and gifted to her.
She settled down on the green moss pad and adjusted her body so Sky Blue and Juniper could get close under her wings. This was one of those times where she was happy to have this. She set it in front of her and flipped it open to the first page.
"Ugh... What happened?"
That groan and that voice. Wow, someone's extremely late. Dawn smiled and asked to the wall across, "Now is the time you choose to wake, First Light? You've missed a lot. We've been sent to a dimension hidden inside this world with no knowledgeable way out."
"Yes, I can see into your memories. Oooh, he's cute. That's a scary ol' dragon. Oh, how I hate showboats."
Dawn rolled her eyes and ironically suggested, "Then maybe we should leave."
"Yeah, that'd be nice. But we'd have to be able to escape time and matter."
Dawn flipped to one of the pages in her book and read one of the lines. A line that would be sketched in her mind forever: "Do not fear the impossible. For if you can think it, then it can be done."
Dawn sighed and made a bookmark at that page by folding a corner. One of her favorite quotes.
"We can do it," she promised. "We just need to know what we're dealing with. We're the Daughters of Queen Twilight 'Arcadia Nova' Sparkle and King Shimmering Madun. We've worked too hard to fail now. But first..." Dawn looked to her left outside of a window showing the night moonlit sky. Watching her over a poke of rock. "We have to get to that mountain. The locals are scared of it because it's dark, cold, quiet, and very deep."
"Right. Now why are we going there? Let's leave it to these lovely locals who could do it themselves"
Dawn closed her Quote book shut and nuzzled Sky Blue and Juniper with love. Juniper flipped over onto her belly and invited Dawn to blow raspberries. She was so spoiled. "Because I have a feeling it holds answers they won't understand. From there, we can make discoveries and tactics. We just need those answers; and I'm going to get them."
It was disastrous. It was horrifying. It was traumatizing. Celestia, Luna, Novo, Cadance, let alone Flurry had never seen anything like that their whole lives. An attack on a country that was swift, quick, and very very effective. There was so much fire, death, and blood.
Everyone flew straight to Mount Aris with as many crying and wounded Zebras as they possibly could. Some would never walk again, some would die slowly, some were staining the coats of their team with blood and burns. The normally quiet mountain was now filled with their wailing underneath white tents.
Their keepers and protectors watched it all from the safety of Mount Aris' castle joined by Princess Skystar, tending to her mother's light burns on her coat. But none would say a word. The weight of pain was great even on them. A moment of silence until Luna whispered, "What do we do?"
Celestia never moved her eyes away from the devastation in front of them. Of all the pain the Zebras were going through down there. One second they were laughing and playing, the next...
Celestia swallowed down her fear and answered, "We call together another emergency meeting, get these Zebras in a safe place, and investigate this attack. We have three leads. One? This was not random. Zebrica was targeted. These weapons flew over Equestria and Mount Aris in favor of a small country like Zebrica now buried in fire and ashes. Whoever they were wanted Zebrica.
"Two? They flew in from the Western Sea. Our enemy is in the west where Psera lies and has gone dark. Queen Arcadia is a no-show, and there isn't even a liaison or message from her staff. There was a message that there was in fact an attack on Psera that involved bombs and Queen Arcadia was wounded. Unfortunately, we have no way to confirm whether it was from the same enemy such as this one, or something else entirely.
"And three? We have a name. Marrial. A label on the side reading Marrial in Ponish."
As good as all that sounded, Luna wasn't sure. She bit her lip and suggested, "Sister there is nothing but blue seas in the west and one country that holds technology at the same level as these Marrials."
"Luna—"
"Psera," Luna sternly continued. "Is the only country strong enough to attack Zebrica. And... They have their reasons." Novo looked down to Luna when she said that. "Remember The Gold Wars? Twilight's fear of having a Zebra in the castle? She was right, you know. About how she was the only pony to realize something was wrong at Cadance's wedding."
The pony in question sighed to the window and murmured, "Don't remind me. My husband almost kissed a Changeling."
"We must keep an eye on Psera, Celestia. Twilight has immense power in her hooves and extreme influence. Not to mention she's stronger than all of us. She could have sent that order to attack Zebrica."
Celestia still remained lenient. She solemnly shook her head and replied, "I do not believe Twilight is that vengeful, Luna. Her country may have been attacked, but if the Zebra did do anything, then I know for a fact that she would have told us. Zebrica is a member of IHT. If they attack Psera, telling us is much better than a retaliation to avoid a war between our nations."
Luna rolled her eyes at her sister's beliefs. "Of course, but Celestia... When Maheera attacked, Queen Twilight did not hesitate to sacrifice the thousands of ponies with her to molecules."
Cadance bumped in and came to Twilight's defense. "She was protecting us—"
"And let's not forget Her Majesty's proven theory that Queen Arcadia is producing weapons of Mass Destruction on Psera with no clue as to why. These weapons could have been one in her long list. Princesses and Queens, if Twilight is behind this attack, then it is grounds for war. We must send our little group of three to the west as soon as possible. To conduct an under-carpet investigation."
Celestia sighed and walked away from the window back into the castle. "Luna, we have no proof."
"And that is where you're wrong." Luna slowly turned from the window and flicked her wings towards Celestia. Something small and purple flew through the air and caught in Celestia's magic so she could lift it to her face for a closer look.
It appeared to be a chip of a clear purple crystal. It was probably shaved off from a bigger slab. She glanced up to Luna and queried, "What is this?"
"That is a piece of the Marrial after the impact. It stuck in my feathers when I was flying away with the foals. It's the exact same crystal our friend Queen Twilight 'Arcadia Nova' Sparkle uses to manufacture her Comm Blocks and other forms of communication."
What? As in the communication devices her Guard uses? The one from the Embassy in Ponyville? Cadance and Flurry walked over to Celestia to get a closer look. Sure enough, it was the exact same. They could even feel it and tell. Celestia denied, "That doesn't mean this attack was from Psera."
Luna approached them and explained, "Actually it does. I remember Twilight teaching me that that crystal only grows around large karats of gold because a certain chemical inside of gold is what makes the crystal. However, it's a very small percentage per every ounce of gold. Around one hundredth of a single percent if Twilight's explanation serves me well. In order to make a single Comm Block, you need a block of Gold the size of Flurry Heart."
Celestia swallowed hard and glanced down to this crystal in her hoof. The crystal from Psera. And only Psera. Luna stopped at Celestia's side and glared at the crystal. "You and I both know it's true, Celestia. Psera is responsible. We have to find out why, and it starts with that message."
A sunny day. A great Hearth's Warming. Well not great, actually. Queen Twilight's family wasn't around to be there with her. But that was okay... Okay, not really. But there was nothing that could be done except go live on all LiVAMs and deliver the good news. Silence reigned totalitarian among every household, business, park, event, and school. The Queen was approaching the podium with her look of steel.
When she cleared her throat, the sound echoed through the silence of Psera's citizens. Her bold violet eye burned through the lenses of all the cameras allowed inside of Safe Have. Her voice shouted through their shotgun mics, "Citizens of Merōl, Fenix, Lavender, Capita, Eventa, Rayray, Snow, and all of Psera Skies! I am happy to inform you, that as of nine o'six this morning it has been confirmed... That Zebrica was rendered a wasteland by thirty Marrials!"
Psera cheered and flew in celebration. Arcadia could hear their voices through the walls of her temporary home. "No more will the Zebra haunt our dreams and stalk into our fears! No more will they travel to our world and cause us pain and anguish! Now we haunt them! Psera is strong and won't go down without a fight! We may have lost one battle, but we will win this war! I took an oath to protect Psera! To protect my family, to protect all of my children who reside here in peace, and that is what I am going to do until the day I take my last breath!!"
A lot of stomping, cheering, hooves clopping together, and chanting later and Queen Arcadia was staring through the windows with an excellent view of Rayray. The midday sun covered Twilight in a warm hug that gave little to no relief to the hole she felt in her heart. The one where she should have emotion but now displayed pain across her face. But she paid it little mind. Even when the Zebras were done for, that hole wasn't filled.
"It doesn't go away." Twilight turned to the previously empty space next to her inside this entirely empty hall to Odega, Pony of Flames. A pony literally made of fire. A mare with a bright white coat with glowing orange eyes. She had a mane that reached for the sky like a small campfire, and tail made of orange-red flames.
Twilight sighed and didn't even try to play dumb. "How do you fix it?" She asked.
Odega solemnly shook her head. Those glowing eyes pierced into Twilight's. "You can't. The feeling of loss is not something that can be fixed. It takes time and hope. Losing someone so close to your heart is like losing a limb. You don't know what to do, how life will get any better without it. How can you walk again without them by your side. You can send as many Marrials as you want to wipe Zebrica from existence, put them behind bars for the rest of their lives, make strategy after defensive strategy but... You can't push past it. It has to move at its own pace. Sometimes you never get over it."
Odega faced forward Rayray and added, "Molten hasn't. When the Zebra first stormed Psera, they killed her family before Madun or Merry were even born. And even after she ran their land red with blood, she stopped flying. Have you ever seen Molten fly?"
Well... During the wedding planning. But that was more of a five mile glide if anything. Twilight shook her head and answered, "No. Never."
"She instead outfitted her wings with weapons and uses them that way. And she can swing them too. You may have magic, Arcadia, but Molten has her weapons. And she will use them. Word of advice? Keep yourself busy with the family you do have here."
Twilight tried, she really did. But her face scrunched up and she had to bite her lip at the mention of family. She lost hers to those Zebras. And no matter how much destruction she lays on them, she knew they'll never return.
Odega raised her wing and softly wrapped Twilight in a loving hug when she let out a choked sob. Contact was needed for all of this. She too knew they would never return. No matter what Twilight did, the anger, resentment, pain, and sadness would still be there. That hole would remain. Forever.
Shock, disgust, anger, and horror were IHT's reactions. Like Celestia said, an emergency meeting was set that very afternoon. They all had to fly around Zebrica going up in flames to get to Mount Aris where it would be held. And the second they walked in, everyone started shouting.
"This is an outrage!"
"Who would do such a thing?!"
"What did they gain?!"
Their shouts and words flowed through the castle's halls like endless rapids, flooding into offices and out the windows. Queen Novo had to bang her gavel against its sound block several times to get everyone to settle down.
She shouted, "Order! Order, please! Yes, as I'm pretty sure you all saw, Zebrica was attacked by what is believed so far to be Psera technology. As proof, Princess Luna managed to retrieve a small chip of one of their crystals that only grows from Psera inside of one of these weapons. However, at this hour, we are not sure if it was Psera's actual government considering they have gone dark due to an attack they themselves had gone through. No word yet on the king or anyone else in power."
Amira and Haakim of Saddle Arabia both raised stern hooves and said at the same time across from Novo, "We must send over our Representatives as soon as possible."
Princess Celestia nodded and replied, "Ambassador Shimmer, a past Equestrian Spy, and our fastest Pegasus are preparing for departure tomorrow morning at five sharp to get to Psera by lunchtime. Sunset Shimmer has announced she has a tool that would help us get inside." Celestia looked over to the two double doors at the entrance where Sunset and Starlight were and nodded. "You now have the floor, Ambassador."
Sunset Shimmer walked around the round table holding a really small device that could be fitted in anyone's ear and explained, "This was an experimental tech Psera was rolling with for a few moons in the past that allowed spies to send back live feeds." She put in her ear and motioned to Starlight.
She was diddling around with a projector at the front of the room and put up a live visual of what Sunset Shimmer was seeing. And hearing what she was thinking. Celestia leaned back in surprise while Sunset thought her explanations. Words that sounded just like her but without but no mouth movement.
"This was experimental for ponies on the inside of... Something. Not sure what. But the project was deprecated due to privacy concerns. We have five pairs in the Embassy's archives but I'll be taking one with me to Psera."
Princess Flurry queried, "Isn't that dangerous? Can't it be detected?"
Sunset shook her head and thought, "I wouldn't worry about it. Queen Arcadia—if she is responsible—would not be searching for a device hidden in the body. She may be powerful, but not that powerful. We hope. This will allow IHT to have an inside look when we leave tomorrow."
It sounded like a great plan. Hopefully Twilight wouldn't be able to sense it.