Twilight groaned as she rolled over and opened her eyes. Light streamed in through the flap in the front of the tent and she squinted, blinking, at the dust motes dancing in the bright shaft. Her heads’ insistent hammering agony had dulled down to a mere aching throb, which was a big improvement. A breeze rustled the treetops outside, and the smell of earthy jungle wafted in along with it. The sounds of birds and animals created an exotic melody, and it was almost enough to make her forget that the only reason she was here was not some idyllic vacation or an exciting study of ancient civilizations, but instead the first step on a course to find a way to save Equestria and all of its’ creature from a horrible fate.
Shoving the light jungle-weight covers from her body, the alicorn mare swung herself about, sitting up and sliding into all four hooves, before trotting out into the open in search of food and drink to quell the insistent grumble in her stomach.
The results of the work done late, late last night - or, rather, in the earliest hours of the morning - were plain as soon as she stepped outside. Flickering runes and glyphs glowed in many places. In others, they were hidden by jungle growth, or glowing lines of light marked the edges of fallen buildings. But the extent of the facility was visible, nonetheless. The supply of power had also activated two other elevators that were now being used to ferry ponies and cargo back and forth to the subterranean reaches of the place, which had now become home to a food station and the expeditions headquarters.
Stretching her wings and her neck, Twilight took to the air, flying a pony’s height above the ground, and then lazily spiralling down one of the openings for the large elevators into the cavern below. Calling voices and the ever present musical hum of energy flowing now filled the well-lit space, making it less oppressive, and more… clean, and welcoming. It looked sophisticated and complex, even to her well-educated and well-travelled eye, with glowing panels and smooth lines on every surface.
“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash called out as she set her hooves on the floor. “Check it out!”
The blue pegasus was with a small group of ponies clustered around one of the vehicles that was still intact. They had the transparent bubble atop its’ body open, and Rainbow was seated inside what they’d established to be the operators’ position.
“Rainbow!” she called out with shock, galloping over. “What are you-” she was cut off as the transparency slid closed. The other ponies stepped back quickly, and as Rainbow Dash did something inside, the craft reverberated with a low throbbing hum. A wave of air and force rushed out from beneath it, and it rose. Slowly at first, the weight coming off of the triple skids it rested on, and wavering slightly in the air. Dash grinned out at her from inside the operators’ position as the machine rose past Twilights’ own head height, the turbulence and magical wake ruffling her mane and tail. The machine spun slowly on the spot, rotating as if around a central axis until Rainbow had it back in the original position. She dipped the left and right wing, then the nose and tail, before slowly - and, much to Twilight’s surprise, being as how it was Rainbow Dash gently - setting it back down on the skids. With a whine, the hum began to wind down before shutting off, several external lights shutting off along with it as the canopy opened again.
“Pretty cool or what?” she said smugly with a grin. “I think I can get it to go even faster and higher! And the others all work just as well too!”
“What in the name of Discord’s buttcheeks are you DOING Rainbow Dash!” She yelled, flying up to land on the topside of the vehicle and glaring down at Rainbow Dash, whose eyes widened as she shrunk away. “These aren’t toys for you to show off with, this could be really important to-”
“Um, Twilight” a quiet voice sounded from behind her. “M-maybe you should lower your voice a little and perhaps listen for a minute”.
The purple alicorn paused at the sound of Fluttershy’s voice, looking back over her shoulder to see the yellow-and-pink pegasus standing on the floor of the chamber behind her, with Applejack and Pinkie looking on with concern. Rainbow had regained her equilibrium a little, and looked on with some concern, fluttering up out of the drivers’ position to alight next to Twilight. The alicorn sighed and lowered her head, before flapping to Fluttershy’s position, the rest of the team going back to their work. Twilight noticed, as she looked once more, that ponies were at work on the other three vehicles too, and all over the chamber. Daring Do in particular was working on the raised dais they had examined the previous day with several other unicorns from the group accompanying them.
“I’m sorry, Rainbow” Twilight said more quietly as the four of them moved aside. “It just seems like it could be messing with things we don’t understand, and that all of this is moving quickly”.
“It’s okay, Twilight. I was just proud of what I’d managed to figure out with everypony’s help, and I wanted to show you we’d made progress. I guess I was showing off too, because I was excited. Sorry if it upset you”.
Twilight shook her head. “It is impressive, you’re right. I guess I just let the ‘egghead’ in me get too aggressive. Sorry about that”.
“Things are moving fast though,” Fluttershy said, stepping into the conversation. “But if every creature in Equestria is at stake, then we’ll have to move fast. Even if it’s not what we like, or what we’re used to. If it’s for everyone elses’ sake, then maybe we’ll have to do some things differently”. She hung her head and winced, ears folding back and her wings drooping. “Even if it’s something we struggle with, or don’t like. If it’s for every other creature, then it’s worth it,” she said, frowning at herself and planting one hoof on the floor firmly. Applejack nudged her side with one shoulder, and the shy pegasus smiled at her friend, and received a nuzzle on the cheek in reply.
“Fluttershy’s right,” Applejack said in agreement. “Heck, things are goin’ so quick around here, and there’s so much new stuff it’s makin’ mah head spin offa mah shoulders.” She grimaced and pawed one forehoof against the ground. “This place is full of so much advanced magic and technology that I feel right like I’m left behind, and that I’d be better off back on the farm, where the most advanced thing is a cart wheel or a stove. But like Fluttershy says; if it’s fer everyone else’s sake, then I can deal with bein’ uncomfortable or feelin’ a bit outta my depth. Normally I’d be the one wanting to take a step back and look at everything logically too, Twilight. Y’all know that’s in my nature too - traditional is pretty much the Apple family way, and you can all attest to that. But we can’t afford to take time when there’s so much at stake right now”.
Twilight nodded with a resigned smile. “I know, you’re all right. I just wish we had time to find out everything about what happened here, rather than just looking for the next clue. After all, I think it’s clear that this isn’t the place we’re looking for. For a start, it doesn’t match what Star Swirl’s notes, or the journals he’d read said - this place isn’t far across the oceans, and is still - barely, at least - within the borders of Equestria. I think this is just some kind of outpost or facility, rather than where these Guardians are supposed to hide”.
“Although,” Rainbow Dash interjected, “I still think those thingies would be pretty useful!” she pointed back to the sleek craft. They were almost arrowhead shaped, like a sleek flying double-v, though with additional finned surfaces on the dorsal and ventral sides, and numerous openings and apertures across their surfaces. It was clear to all the ponies now that they were flying machines, but they were much, much more advanced than any kind of airship or aircraft in Equestria’s reach or understanding.
“I agree,” Twilight said, studying the one Rainbow had operated a few moments earlier intently. “And maybe we should put them to use for us, and for everypony else, too.”
Work continued the rest of the day. Twilight spent hours poring over books and journals selected by Star Swirl as those he’d read, and had helped him cross-reference information, what little of it there was. Thankfully in this task she wasn’t alone; she’d enlisted the help of some old friends from magic school in Canterlot to accompany her on the expedition to begin with, knowing that while her own knowledge was vast, even she couldn’t be everywhere at once.
Minuette and Lyra Heartstrings had been part of the magic-oriented side of the group, along with a few others recommended by them, and by Sunburst and Starlight. Together, they all concentrated on different parts of the facility.
With the three of them working and a quartet of scribes leads by Emerald Scribe, who had come personally recommended by Raven Inkwell and Celestia herself. Under the white unicorns’ direction, the team were working on Star Swirls own notes. The emerald-maned unicorn may have looked cute with the peach-coloured bow around her neck, but she was smart and dedicated, and had a razor-sharp mind.
Working together they had started to crack the language used on the glyphs all throughout the place. As they sat in companionable and earnest concentration arrayed in a group on the floor of the main cavern, cups of tea cooling around them and half-eaten daisy sandwiches, food wrappers and other detritus of constant work among the books and records, a jolt of shock went through them as Emerald Scribe stood up with an exclamation of ‘it can’t be that simple!’ and teleported with a flash to the platform that overlooked the cavernous room. The white unicorn looked intently at the glyphs as she stabbed at them flickering in the air with one hoof. As they shifted to a blue from their gentle green glow, the light was reflected in her glasses. Pursing her muzzle and whispering a silent thought, she swished her green tail and spoke clearly.
“New input language: test phrase, I am an Equestrian Unicorn from the city of Canterlot. We come in peace, and bring the magic of friendship in search of knowledge to save our people. My name is Emerald Scribe and our leader is Princess Twilight Sparkle, the element of magic and Princess of Friendship”.
There was a soft double chiming sound. What sounded like musical notes, rising and falling in an odd melody followed before distorted slurred words followed, repeating and altering into near recognisable phrases, until-
Input recognised. Please stand by, system reformatting to new language base, designated: Equestrian.
Error: No Lemurian Users found
Engaging wide field scan
Error: No Lemurians found
Warning: Hollow One threat found
6/6 Guardians Off-Line
Wide Field Scan indicates new dominant magical species under threat
New species present in facility
Enacting ‘Caretaker’ Protocols
Welcome Equestrians
Welcome, Princess Twilight Sparkle
With a burst and flurry of light, the glyphs all shifted into recognisable equestrian language. Twilight and the others looked on in awe, reading over the wealth of words now available to them; the sudden influx of knowledge and understanding spun their minds. It wasn’t a cavern, it was a hangar. They weren’t ‘ships’ or ‘craft’ they were Prowlers, that platform was the Hangar Operations Hub, that lead to the generator, that hatchway lead to the Operations Center. Which also sounded like somewhere really important to check out.
“This is, this- this is” Twilight stuttered
“Fucking awesome,” Lyra said, looking around with wide, gleaming eyes and a grin plastered to her muzzle. “Look at all this cool sci-fi stuff! It’s like being in the middle of a movie!”
“It… really is,” Twilight said with a grin beginning to grow on her own muzzle.
The others ran up as she stood, moving out from the circle of portable tables and sitting cushions laden with books.
“Twilight, what happened? Everything just changed into Equestrian, and the rooms started speaking to all of us!” Rarity said with some alarm, looking around at the hangar as she did so.
“I thought it was another pony!” Pinkie exclaimed. “But they wouldn’t tell me what their name was, or where they were hiding. They seem super helpful though, they keep trying to answer my questions, although they like to say ‘please rephrase this enquiry’ a lot.”
“Emerald Scribe figured it out from one of Star Swirl’s sets of notes. Something must have been set up a certain way, and now it’s been changed so that we can use this place. It’s going to help us a lot!”
“Well, ain’t that somethin’” Applejack said with a sense of satisfaction. “Any ideas on where ta find the information we need to get movin’ though?”
“The voice did mention something about ‘Guardians’” Twilight said. “Maybe there’s a way we can ask. There’s something called the ‘Operations Center’ that way. That sounds like the place to go”.
“Uhh, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash asked, nervously tapping her forehooves together as she hovered nearby. “While you’re all doing that…” she looked sidelong at one of the Prowlers nearby, the glyphs and runes floating in the air around it now reading in Equestrian.
Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled. “...Go on…”
Rainbow crowed a loud YES, and shot off toward the aircraft, leaving a rainbow trail in her wake, as the rest trotted through the door as it slid open, heading for the operations center.
The room had seemed a confusing mess of glyphs, runes and images earlier. Now, it had resolved into something that made more sense, albeit still overwhelming. Shimmering holographic images - not unlike the cutie map, or those created with unicorn magic - rotated above a large, circular table - again, not unlike the cutie map table - ringed with smaller glowing screens. Raised platforms or alcoves surrounded the central ‘table’ in the middle, each with their own seat or seats, and numerous other smaller glass table or work-surface like structures that now displayed numerous images or strings of information. Others lay darkened or inactive.
“Let’s look around, and see what we can find,” Twilight said with a firm curiosity in her voice. Her natural passion for learning and information had been awakened by the sudden influx of knowledge and information, and if there was an answer here, she was determined to find it. The five ponies and one dragon spread out, examining the various screens and platforms in desperate hope for a clue.
At one station, Fluttershy settled herself onto the comfortable, cushioned seat behind the raised machinery. As she sat in place, the work-surface lit up and projected words into the air above it.
“Good Morning, Operator,” she read to herself. Before smiling. So polite! “Well, good morning to you too, um, machine” she replied. The image shifted again, and was replaced with a series of boxes, each with different pictures in them. Frowning, the yellow pegasus leant closer. Each picture was like a simple drawing, rather than a photograph or painting, or like the moving pictures of a movie screen. They reminded her of street or store signs that showed what something was. Most of them weren’t obvious, but one looked like a speech bubble from a comic book. Maybe that would let her talk to the machine - or it to talk to her? She reached forward and swiped it with one forehoof. It turned green, and the images disappeared, replaced by a calm, gender-neutral voice that spoke as though only to her, despite there being nopony close to her enough to hear.
“Please state your commands, operator”.
“O-Oh, um… I’d like to know about this place, please”.
“Please specify, did you mean this command center, or the facility?”
“The facility!” she said firmly and brightly. Start big, she thought, and then get more specific!
“This facility is an outpost created by the Lemurian Bureau for Scientific Research and Cultural Studies, in order to observe local life-forms in this region and their development, specifically as it relates to Harmony, and the presence of high-tier Thaumaturgical Energy readings in this region. Following the Hollow Crisis, the facility was designated ‘Classified: Absolute Secret’ status, and was designated as a security outpost to guard said life-forms from Hollow Thing interference, and as a stepping stone should Hollow Thing traces be detected once more, and allow other creatures access to information to defeat them”.
“My goodness,” said Fluttershy, her head reeling somewhat from the information. “I think you should tell my friends all of this too, it sounds very important”.
“Affirmative, relaying broadcast to all stations-”
“No!” she said quickly. “Just the ponies - and dragon - in this room, please”.
There was a chirping sound she took to mean her words had been acknowledged, and the central hologram shifted, the lines blurring into the face of a creature she didn’t recognise. It looked… semi-equine, but with a longer, slimmer face. Fluttershy was reminded of the deer from the Everfree forest, or of a Hippogriff in their underwater form. The difference was the black markings on the face, and the long, slightly curved antlers or horns stretching back from the forehead, mingled with a short, rough mane.
“Greetings, ponies of Equestria. In concordance with Operator #3’s wishes, please observe the following information…”
The ghostly image repeated the information again, and then fell silent, not quite looking at them, but meeting their eyes as they looked at it in turn.
“Can… you tell us more?” Twilight asked, moving closer.
“Please state your queries,” the translucent apparition replied.
“What are you?” Applejack asked, looking closely. “Some kinda ghost?”
“Negative. There is no supernatural component to this unit. I am an autonomous magical construct with a holographic avatar, designed and constructed to operate this facility and act as a control and communication interface for all operators and personnel”.
“Ooooh, a new friend! And you’re super shimmery and glowy too!” Pinkie Pie said with a grin, leaning forward from where she now stood - despite nopony noticing how she’d got there - on Applejack’s back, waving her hoof through the translucent face floating in the air, twice the size of their own heads. “What’s your name? Do you have a name? Do you want to be friends?”
“This unit has no informal designation. Formal designation is Lemurian Virtual Interface Version 4.7. I have no desires or other emotions. Friendship is not a capacity I possess. However, I will provide you with all aid possible”.
“Lemon Virgil Inter-what?” Pinkie said, bouncing on her tail to reach the height of the hologram’s eyes. “That’s too long, can I just shorten it down to, hmmm” she put on a thoughtful face as she bounced before grinning and somersaulting in the air. “I know! Can I call you ‘Livvy’?”
“New designation accepted: Unit will now be known as ‘Livvy’”
“And I’m Pinkie Pie!” she called out with glee, before throwing her arms out. Streamers and confetti descended from the ceiling, along with the sound of party horns. From nowhere, a banner unfurled depicting a fairly accurate representation of Livvy’s holographic face and Pinkie smiling at each other, with ‘NEW FRIEND CELEBRATION’ written underneath.
“Error… does not compute” said the holographic interface, after the virtual image glitched briefly.
“Yeah, she does that to folks sometimes” Applejack muttered with a smirk.
“You said ‘Lemurian’” Rarity asked, stepping forward and looking up at the glowing face as it turned to her. “Is that who was here before us, what you look like - Lemurians?”
“Affirmative,” the holographic avatar replied. It shifted and disappeared, fading away to be replaced with a series of moving pictures, still images, and other visual representations. They showed creatures that looked not unlike ponies, and with the same kind of faces as Livvy herself. They ran, jumped, laughed, and did all manner of other things. Their horns glowed and they used magic, much to Twilight’s interest. They walked along vast and sophisticated city streets. Young Lemurians, old Lemurians, teenage Lemurians; Lemurian politicians, Lemurian scientists, farmers, and all sorts of other walks of life, before they whirled away in motes of light.
“The Lemurians were the original creators of this facility. They created this unit and interface, as well as all of its’ contents, and created the directives it follows”.
“Did… the Hollow Things wipe them out?” Fluttershy asked timidly.
“Yes”
Thick mist hung across the valley. It had seeped up in the early hours of the morning, before the sun had risen. Now, in the dawn hours, it cast everything into a low grey light, and the thickness of it muffled sound. It was hard to see anything more than a hoof’s-length in front of your face, and the landscape was only visible as shadows through the soup of misty vapours.
Pegasi could have cleared it away, but they held back. After all, the enemy were out there. The scouting parties had revealed that, crashing wide-eyed and blood-stained back through friendly lines at midnight, some of them dragging the others.
Where the railway line formed a natural border between the rolling low hills and woodlands and the managed farmlands surrounding Manehattan, the front line had been established. Barns and farmhouses had become fallback positions and rally points, stretching back miles into the city limits. Though, even those magnificent tall buildings were lost in the murky shroud around them now.
Stretching to a river bridge on one side, and to a tunnel a mile on the other, the land alongside the railway tracks was now an array of fighting positions and entrenched ponies and their equipment, facing the distant treeline, as they waited.
Anticipation had grown. Ponies had been roused in the early hours by bugle calls and shouts. Warm tea and campfire-cooked breakfasts had been passed around as bleary eyes stared out into the impenetrable grey. Reservists brushed condensation off of the lacquered rosewood and intricately etched brass and iron of their immaculately preserved but ancient rifles.
One small unit of Guardsponies sat at the edge of the intersection between the road leaving the forest, and where it crossed the railway tracks. Six of them in total, they had been pulled together as reservists to form a unit, and sat on the flank of one of the tanks that had been pulled out of storage along with their weapons. The great, hulking green-painted behemoth of metal squatted dead on the railway tracks, the stubby-looking muzzle of a cannon turned to face the tree line, while a tired-yet-nervous looking Earth pony stallion wearing a steel helmet looked out from a top hatch, occasionally sweeping the horizon with a pair of binoculars.
“He isn’t gonna see shit in this mess,” Cobalt Shift, the only unicorn in their group muttered. “Shoulda got the pegasi to clear it so we can actually see what we’re fighting”.
“You heard the higher ups,” the smallest of the group, a relatively slender Earth pony with a dappled red-brown coat replied. “Keeping the cover is good for us, wanna keep the element of surprise. An’ besides, if the pegasi are up there clearing the weather, they’re exposed! They might get hurt, and that’d leave us with no air cover!”
“Ahh, Peach Pit is just scared because his boyfriend is a pegasus. Give him a break, Cobalt. You’d be the same if you had someone up there or out here. Celestia knows I am; my fiance is further down the line”.
“She’ll be all right, Pitch Shift. You’ll see!”
The big blue stallion grinned at the smaller earth pony, Peach Pit and bumped a shoulder against him. “That’s the spirit, Peachy. Just you watch, once these things get a taste of real Equestrian fighting, they’ll come back begging for friendship!”
The four of them laughed, quietly, and around them, a few chuckles followed.
As they looked out into the murk with grins on their faces, the wind shifted, a brisk flurry stirring their manes and coats, and the cold forcing them to squint. As they did, something moved in the shadows, now visible as the mist thinned.
“Contact, contact! Stand to!” came the yell down the line. The wind died down to nothing once more, stillness reigning as the brief rattle of movement of ponies climbing into position and the tanks hatches closing fell away, swallowed by the silence.
Mingled amongst the outlines of bushes and trees, darkness moved and mingled. As ponies muttered, coughed or murmured, the still, early morning air was rent apart as a thousand throats screamed a war cry half-machine, half-animal.
A hundred hundred points of amber glowing light appeared, swarming and meshing as they surged forward down the slopes of the low hills, bursting through the forest as if it were nothing. Trees splintered to matchwood as titanic war-forms stampeded through it. The air was split asunder as swooping, diving aerial threats burst from the rolling banks of mist, while smaller - yet still huge - predatory forms loped and charged.
Ponies screamed and shouted. Whistles blew and bugles sounded. Officers called for order, even as volleys of fire reached out from the charging mass of Hollow Things. Explosions blossomed among the assembled ponies, incinerating swathes of their front lines. Hunching over, a unicorn screamed into a magic-powered telephone for fire from their cannon, positioned behind the lines on low rises.
Party Cannons might have been more common, but they had developed from these weapons, used to fight charging masses in bygone eras. Now, their wheeled carriages supported longer, smoother barrels angled for fire against charging enemies, rather than for raining colourful confetti. Lanyards pulled after powder was rammed, and with a deafening wham-wham-wham that shook the ground, the battery of guns sent forth their payload, the gunners already racing to action to load again.
Primitive as the guns were, they were no less effective for their brutal simplicity. High explosives mushroomed amidst the charging throng, diverting and breaking the thrust of their attack, and buying precious seconds. The Equestrian tanks, primitive and lumbering as they were with mana-battery engines and crude, hand-cranked turrets grumbled and lurched into motion on clattering tracks. Squat, green, and dumpy, it was no surprise the name had come to mind for Rainbow Dash’s tortoise. Pivoted in place on clattering tracks, the one nearest the rifle squad turned it turret with a squeal of metal, and then opened fire a heartbeat later with an earsplitting crash. Shot tore through the front ranks of the charging Hollow Things. More followed through the line, and a manic exuberance followed as the ponies saw that their enemy was not completely indestructible. Rallied and resolved, they took to firing positions once more, slapping the bolts of their rifles close. Volleys resounded up and down the line, rapid fire, shallow-throated crack-crack-cracks as the ponies of a unit fired in rapid succession. Hooves and horns rapidly worked bolts on the weapons, sending out sputtering second volleys; the bullets, however, were not as effective as the massive shot of the cannon of the tanks or mobile guns. A mere few shots caused any of the charging horde to collapse and crumple, and their return fire was far more lethal.
Ripping bursts sounded out through the air, like snarling hellhounds. Ponies were torn into ragged messes as they hit; thumping shots launched explosive, razor-straight beams of light sliced bodies apart with inhumane heat and precision. Screams and yells of pain and fear rose up, even as the tanks and artillery fired again, and again. And then the tide broke on the wall. The fighting descended into bloody hoof-to-hoof combat. Ponies screamed in horror as their lives were drained away. Others swore blind, swinging blades, or using their rifles and hooves as clubs to no avail. A tank rolled over one of the charging Hollow Things, crushing it into the ground, and firing point blank at another knot of the creatures, before one of the titanic machines volleyed missiles into it, blasting it into an oily black plume of fire.
In a fortified position a few hundred meters back, the commander of the battle line jabbered into another communications array, the mana crystal within flickering as the Hollow Things closed in.
“Pegasi, send in the pegasi! We’re being overrun, they’re getting massacred…!”
The mist swirled away under the force of a hundred wingbeats as formations of pegasus ponies surged forth from their concealed position behind the front. Carrying bandoliers around their barrels, they pulled cords and pins as they soared overhead, tumbling explosives onto the enemy below. The bombs detonated in rapid succession, sowing further discord through the Hollow Things assault, driving many back just far enough for medical ponies to race out and recover their wounded comrades, or for those not so grievously wounded to limp to relative safety. Then the fliers among the Hollow Things sliced in, tangling up close with the agile airborne ponies.
Bat-ponies and pegasi alike weaved and darted, striking out with hooves or firing weapons mounted on their harnesses through bite-activated controls. Others were drained of their magic and tumbled from the sky on now-useless wings to crumple against the ground. Others ran, using their speed and agility, or wove and dodged in acrobatic manoeuvres, the few luckiest outturning or outwitting their pursuers.
Cannon fired again, and again, before the titans return fire silenced them, though at the cost of one of their own as all cannon and the surviving tanks massed their firepower against it. Tanks exploded or lay immobilised, one swarmed with Hollow Things was smothered in rifle shots, picking off two of the smaller beasts, until the would-be saviours were swarmed, and the tank in turn put the screaming, gurgling ponies out of their misery by despatching the Hollow Things with a blast from its’ gun.
And so on, and so forth, and so on, until the ground was a ragged, plowed mess with the detritus and debris of battle. Through boredom, a change of heart, or - most unlikely of all - victory by the guards ponies, the Hollow Things turned, retreating to the woods, the live among their numbers slinking and flowing back into the shadows that had spawned them.
The mist had finally cleared, blown away by the pegasi, many of whom now lay as twitching or broken heaps on the ground. More lay still or unmoving, among glassy-eyed comrades of all pony kin.
Staggering phantoms rose from the battlefield, sobs and wracking moans echoed on the air, as the cold autumn sun beat down on the scene below.
“They’re gone,” a blue pegasus said as he alit atop the ridge of a farmhouse roof, looking to a brown-and-tan fellow alongside him. Both of them were dirty, tired, and wounded. “D’you think… think we beat them, Stonemane?”
The more svelte and slender of the two, the painted stallion shook his head, his black mane escaping in curls and locks from the damaged and torn fabric of his protective flight suit, and one blue eye showing where one lens of his goggles had been shattered.
“Not a chance, WolfStar,” he replied to the more burly blue pegasus. “Look at this place,” he said, gesturing with a wing at the dead, dying and wounded. “This was only their first attack, and our first battle… we were lucky”.
Twilight turned the device over in her magic as she sat on her haunches outside the facility’s confines on the surface. The four Prowlers had been raised on one of the facilities’ elevators, and stood gleaming in the sunlight. Rainbow Dash and her friends stood around them, aweing at Dash’s tales of her exploits, while Spitfire attempted to wring a proper briefing on their abilities out of the prismatic-maned mare. The alicorn gave an idle smile at the display; it was reassuring that, amidst all the insanity going on, that her friends were still themselves. That was increasingly proving to be something she could rely on at least, when so many other things felt like they were falling apart. The revelations from Livvy the previous day still haunted her after Fluttershy had asked the machine - as she now understood that was what it was - to divulge its secrets. It could have spoken for hours more, and indeed; Twilight could have listened for hours more. But there were other things. In the end, it had instructed her and her other unicorn companions on the use of these portable units that each contained information she had ‘downloaded’ onto them, allowing them to become portable sources of knowledge. After all, the Guardians were not at this location, and their task was growing ever-more pressing in her head.
Especially after Spike had delivered the last message from Celestia and Luna. The first battle with Equestria’s resurrected military had been fought. Almost eighty percent casualties across a force of hundreds. Tens of fatalities, many more wounded who would never live the same again, either through exposure to the Hollow Things or their wounds. Their weapons had had only marginal effects, and their tactics would need to be much, much better to be effective.
And worst of all, what little victory they’d secured was a feint.
The thrust of their advance had seemed to be toward Manehattan. But in the end, it had been a decoy. While the army was engaging outside Manehattan’s suburbs, the Hollow Things had split their forces. Smaller settlements had been ravaged. Foaledo, Windsoar, Hollow Shades, Stableford, Mare’s Rest and Colton Peaks had all been swept aside, with ponies fleeing into the interior of the country in the direction of Ponyville and Canterlot to escape the ravaging horde. The bridge across Dock Lake had been blown to prevent it’s access to the Hollow Things, and trains ran on restricted routes to prevent them being overrun or destroyed.
The message painted a grim picture.
She looked at the device turning end over end in her magic; it didn’t look like much: not much bigger than one of her spellbooks, and composed of the same rigid, yet plasticky material that most Lemurian technology was made of, with metal fasteners on the outside here and there, and flat crystalline surfaces elsewhere. It contained the information they needed to guide them toward Lemuria itself, far across the Celestia Sea, and well beyond Mount Aris, Abyssinia, or anywhere else they’d ever been.
Rousing herself, she stood and trotted to where Rainbow Dash was finally comparing the points of the Prowler’s flight with Spitfire, who had also piloted one of the machines - with, to her eye, as much aplomb if not more than Rainbow Dash.
“I’m not disagreeing, Dash, just saying that I think it’s more a case of finesse than brute force with these machines. It’s not your body you’re pushing to fly, it’s a machine. Treat it the same way or try and fly it the same way, and you’ll end up hurting it, and yourself”.
“No way, flying is in the soul, and in the cutie mark. I know how to fly, it’s part of me. And I’ve been flying this thing through feel, and it’s done everything I need it to. I’m sure I can push it further, just watch!”
“Rainbow,” Applejack cautioned. “Remember, we gotta keep these things in one piece so we can use ‘em to help ponies. You pushin’ it too hard might stop us from doing that. We only got four of ‘em, and y’all heard what Livvy said: she can’t make more for us right now, only some spare parts and pieces if we break ‘em a little. And whatever goes in their weapons, too”.
“All right, all right”. Rainbow conceded grumpily, folding her arms over her barrel with a scowl. “But when this danger is through, we’ll see, all right?”
Spitfire rolled her eyes and smirked. “All right, Crash.You’re on; as soon as we get back from this thing, I’ll race you.” She relented and even smiled. “You’ve got an infectious sense of adventure, you know? Maybe it would be good to fly with you for once when it’s not a show, or for some other purpose. Just for fun, for once”.
Rainbow Dash grinned and returned the smile to her superior in the Wonderbolts. “I’ve always wanted to fly like that with you, ma’am, and now I’ll be looking forward to the chance”.
Thunderlane grinned. “I’ll take bets on who wins! I’m putting my bits with Rainbow Dash”.
Spitfire offered him a mock-hurt look. “Hey, is that what loyalty is these days? All that training and instruction to get you where you are, and you go with this skinny piece of flank? I’m not done with yet, you know”.
The stallion blushed and stammered as Spitfire wiggled her rump at him, resulting in laughter from the small group. It felt like a relief after the thoughts that had been chasing each other around their heads, and Twilight’s in particular.
The moment of levity was interrupted as the sky resounded with a crack like one of Dashes sonic rainbooms. The blue mare and Spitfire traded glances, before turning their eyes skyward.
“What in the…” muttered Spitfire as something seemed to be dropping toward them, leaving a wide white contrail in its wake. All eyes followed upward, watching with curious interest as several smaller objects split from the large one, leaving their own contrails as they dropped earthward. Twilight squinted, shielding her eyes with one hoof and lighting her horn, casting a spell to enhance her vision. It immediately sharpened into pin-point clarity.
She let out a yell of alarm; the biggest thing had the unmistakable look and shape of a Hollow Thing; they charcoal-grey carapace overlined with hexagonal red, the mechanical/insectoid features and jet-black mass. She had no idea what the smaller objects were, but they too looked mechanical and were dropping this way; it didn’t take a leap of the imagination to work out they were some kind of bombs.
“Run!” she screamed. “Scatter, everypony! We’re under attack!”