Chapter 1: A Plan?
Jacob
It was a chaos like I had never seen before. Hundreds of us, of humans, had taken to the streets of Atlanta and were running in every possible direction. There were so many cheers and yells from us. We all were thankful at what had just happened. I was still in disbelief that Hudd and his group were. He was a true hero. They all were.
He had risked his own life and the lives of his group to save me from a four legged fate. Coming to the bureau was a huge gamble. But he had went all in and still came out winning.
I stuck like glue to him as we ran. I was part of his team again and we all ran together. We were a tiny ship of order in a stormy sea of chaos. Some of them tried to cling to us, strength in numbers and all. Hudd didn't reject, mostly because there was simply no time.
"Don't stop, keep moving!" Hudd shouted. It wasn't just to us, but to all who could hear him. He was trying to rekindle hope in our hearts. That we still had a chance against the ponies. In a way, he was right. We had all been handed a second chance. It was up to us what we did with it.
I looked up to the sky. The moon was full and shinning bright. Its beauty was only marred by the black figures that quickly streaked across it. I looked closer and could see wings.
Oh god. I thought.
Suddenly I saw people near me started to slow down and then stop completely. They would look at their limbs and then crumple to the pavement. Others took notice and started to watch the sky. That's when they came down. Dozens of them descended from the buildings around us.
"PEGASI!!" I shouted as loud as I could. The cheers stopped and were replaced by screams of terror. I didn't think it was possible, but the running became even more disorderly. I ducked and covered my ears as darts whizzed past me.
I crouched low, but still tried to keep up my pace. I jumped over the paralyzed members of my species. They cried out for my help and I desperately wanted to stop for them, but I knew if I did, I would get hit. I will never be able to rid their faces of abandonment and horror from my mind.
Guns were fired randomly in the air and a couple pegasi dropped from the sky. I looked around me and saw fallen bodies all over the street, both human and pony. I turned around and witnessed a human put his hands up in surrender, only to be tackled by a mass of earth ponies. Three humans tried to rush inside a building and were swiftly followed by a group of unicorns. It was all terrible, I had to leave it behind me.
Our groups situation looked to be improving. Those who had guns were dropping ponies like flies. I could see most of them had dozens of darts in their chests and arms, yet they kept moving. It had to be body armor, and a thick layer judging by the amount of darts they were deflecting.
Why didn't I think of that? I asked myself.
It eventually got to a point where there were no ponies in front of us. It was a straight shot, we could make it. It looked to good to be true and as it turned out, it was.
I rose to my normal height and kept running. I noticed that the moon looked much brighter for a moment then went back to normal. It was sending down something for us.
A dark, sinister looking chariot came down from above. Right before it impacted with the ground, it disappeared. Everybody stopped running and looked around, but there was nothing. Hudd stepped back cautiously, then tossed me a hand gun and a couple clips. That's when it happened.
About 30 feet in front of us, there was a small black orb. We all watched, group members and non members, as it spun rapidly. It suddenly enlarged to about 10 feet in diameter. The sudden change prompted many of us to back up a couple more feet. It kept spinning, but even faster than before. We foolishly kept watching as it got smaller again. After it reverted to its original small size, it exploded.
The blast sent about 70 people, including myself, flying backwards. There was no fire or shrapnel, only the force. It busted windows out of nearby buildings and put cracks in the pavement. It reminded me of what I had done to the ponies weeks ago. I landed on my ass with a thud. It hurt like hell, but I considered myself lucky. Some people were thrown into sides of buildings or just sent straight up into the air. I saw one person tossed threw a shattered glass window. Half of him entered the building and the other half fell to the street. It was horrible so I looked away, but what I had laid eyes on wasn't much better.
It was a dark purple pony with both wings and a horn. It was larger than a regular pony, but also smaller than Celestia. She had a flowing blue mane, that sparkled as if it were the night sky. On her flank was a Crescent moon. She would have been pretty beautiful, if not for the look on her face.
"LUUNNAA!!!!!" Someone's shout confirmed my fear. The immortal Princess of the Night had come for us.
"Shoot her!" Hudd shouted. We all began to empty our clips at her. I was still on the ground and was shooting her while I was down there. Bullet casings from members automatic rifles rained all down all over me.
Our bullets hit her, but only seemed to make her angry. They harmlessly streaked across her body and she turned towards us. She shouted something I couldn't understand and spread out her wings. Hundreds of darts rocketed away from her. If I hadn't been on the ground, I would have been hit multiple times. Hudd and the group and been hit, but they had been pushed back by the force of the darts.
She closed her wings, then reopened them. That's when the bats came. Thousands of pitch black bats spread out from her body. They were everywhere, I couldn't even see a foot in front of me.
I waved my hands around and tried my best to clear them from my vision. When I had gotten rid of most of them, I saw Luna running straight towards us. I tried to raise my gun, but it was too late. She knocked into us like we were bowling pins. Hudd, a familiar looking resistance member and I all slammed into the side of a building. I was dazzed and my vision was out of focus so I blinked a number of times. When it cleared up I saw Luna standing next to me with her sliver hoof raised.
Oh my god. What is she going to do to me?! That was the only thought running through my head. I looked at her face and saw an almost evil looking gaze was plastered on it. It was something I had never seen on a pony.
I thought it was over, but then I heard a crack and broken glass rained down from the back of her head. We both turned around and saw a large group of people throwing rocks and bottles and whatever else they could get their hands on. She forgot about me and turned towards the group that was rapidly disseminating.
"Lefty, DO IT NOW!!" Hudd shouted.
I rolled over and saw a tall, built white guy throw what looked like a small rock towards Luna. It stuck on her flank, but she didn't seem to notice it. Most likely because she was busy tossing people around.
"Come on lets go." Hudd said. We were helped up and started moving again, using Luna's thrashing to our advantage.
"Alright now." Hudd said. All the members except me grabbed a cylinder shaped item from their belts and threw it behind them. A thick, heavy cloud of smoke was quickly produced behind us as we made our escape.
"Lefty, blow it." Hudd commanded calmly.
Lefty nodded and squeezed a detonator. We walked away from the explosion and heard Luna scream behind us. It hadn't killed her, not even close, but it did buy us some time.
"Lets move people." He calmly said again, as he picked up his pace. Damn he was a good leader.
***
Twilight Sparkle
I just couldn't understand it. Those humans had just appeared out of nowhere and taken 2/ 3 of our humans. I knew we had guards watching outside, but we were given no warning at all. I was a lucky one and was spared from the gun fire, while my kind dropped all around me. It was horrible what had just happened, but I was still kind of excited.
The human, Jacob, had tossed me his story and I was very much looking forward to reading it. However, I wasn't about to leave without helping out first. I quickly fixed the wall using the same spell I had used to fix a dam years and years ago. It was difficult the first time, but through practice and experience I had learned to perform it with ease.
"Excuse me, Miss Sparkle?" The voice of the Chief Guard came from behind me.
"Hmm?" At the moment I didn't really feel like talking.
"Rainbow Dash and Spitfire will be here in a matter of minutes.
I could tell my eyes had lit up with happiness. "Really, shes coming here?!!?" I ran up to the chief and asked with my eyes wide.
"...Yes." He said it almost nervously.
"Yay!!" I was so happy that I would get to see Rainbow Dash again. It had been so long since I had seen any of my best friends. I hopped around the room while the chief just watched me. I didn't care how I act then, I was much too excited.
I quickly finished assisting, then went outside to wait.
I could see Rainbow coming from a mile away, she was the kind of pony that was hard to miss. She and Spitfire landed in front me and I could hardly contain my joy. Spitfire knew it had been a long time, so she continued on into the Bureau.
"I'll let you two catch up, but remember that we do have a LOT to talk about inside." She told us, as she walked by.
I waited until she was fully out of sight before I ran to Rainbow. She was much faster than me, so she met me first.
I embraced my friend in a tight hug.
"Its so good to see you again!" I didn't want to cry, but I teared up anyway.
"Likewise." She said.
"Have you seen the others?" I asked.
"Fluttershy was with me up North. Shes coming down too, but you know her, it might take her a while."
We both laughed a little.
"I know that Applejack was way out west. Her family had started a small settlement and she was helping them out with it." I conveyed the information in the letter that I had received almost a year ago.
"What about Pinkie and Rarity?" she asked, hopeful.
I could only shake my head. I hadn't heard from either of them in quite a while. Rainbow just shook her head and looked around. She took noticed of all the activity and wounded guards.
"What the hay happened here?" She asked.
I gave a small laugh and pulled her hoof towards the entrance. "Come on, Dash, we do have a LOT to talk about.
***
Jacob
We had ran through the night and it was exhausting. It seemed to take forever, but eventually we had made it out of the city into more wooded areas. I had just woken up from about eight hours of very uncomfortable sleep. After all we had done, I welcomed the rest, but I still missed my comfy bed. In the bureau holding cell, I at least had a flat mattress, but now in the woods I was reduced to sleeping on my shirt.
I walked around our makeshift campsite and saw many faces, both known and unfamiliar. Farther away from us, were other people. It was only a couple of them and they made sure to give us our space. I knew that all they wanted was some protection, but we were not bodyguards.
I continued to walked around the perimeter of the camp, mostly just to waste time until the others woke up. It must've been close to two hours that I was away. I finally could start to see activity happening in the camp. I started sprinting towards them as I thought I should be included in any decisions made.
I got closer and closer to some guy who was turned around, getting something from a bag. My foot steps were loud and I was approaching him from behind, I should have known better.
When I got within 15 feet of him, he quickly turned around and pointed a pistol at me.
"Don't move!" He yelled.
I could do nothing, but raise my hands up. I didn't know who this new guy was,but he looked pretty young, probably only a couple years out of high school. He also looked scared, people who are scared tend to be unpredictable. So I made no sudden moves.
"Wh...who are you?!" He stammered.
"I'm-" My response was cut off.
"Jason, is a part of this group." Hudd walked next to the young guy and pushed his gun down so that it was pointed at the ground. "And he is also the reason that many of us still have two legs. So just chill out, kid" He smiled and nodded at me with gratitude. I gratefully returned it.
Other members started gathering around us in a semi circle. They were all giving small chuckles.
The "kid" moved towards me, with regret all over his face. This guy was young, but he had a look about him that showed he had been through a lot.
"I'm sorry about that, Mr. Jason. I'm just...Cautious." He said as he shook my hand.
"Mr. Jason?! I thought. Yeah this guy was definitely just out of High school.
"Its fine. These days its good to be a little...Cautious." I accepted his apology and he backed up again, next to Hudd. I could tell he was self conscious about being the youngest one among us. I'm sure the nickname "Kid" didn't help too much either.
"Well since were all here, I guess I should introduce everybody." Hudd moved outside the half circle and walked around it. "You already know, Lefty, Ice and Mint." When he passed them, they smiled and nodded. "These our are newest members." He put a hand on their shoulders. "This here is Rain and Raymond Maye, but we just call him Kid."
Even though Kid was ready to shoot me a couple minutes ago, I paid no attention to him. I was staring at Rain.
I had previously been married with a daughter and I had never once questioned my sexuality...Until Now. This guy was beautiful, he had amber eyes and such soft facial features, almost like a women. He had a black beanie on his head and his body armor was still on him. I loved it and loathed it at the same time. How could I be having these feelings at a time like this? And about a guy no less?! I didn't want to be gay!
Hudd looked back and forth between us a couple times and gave a good, hearty laugh. He grabbed the top of his hat and Rain brought his hands to try and keep it on. However, it was already to late. The hat came off and brown hair flowed down from the top of his head. He sighed with a very feminine tone and undid his body armor. It fell to the ground, revealing a pair a healthy sized breasts and curvy female body.
"Ok fine, the jig is up. I'm a female, but keep it to yourself, ok? Most of these guys haven't seen girls around here in while and would do anything to satisfy their...urges."
YESSSS!!! All I really heard was that he was really a she, which meant I was still straight. Right?
"You get me?" She asked.
"Yyyy...Yeah of course. Soooo um... do you all have nicknames?" I asked, desperate to change the subject.
"Yeah, mostly. Real names are just too hard to remember. Plus what would really sound more badass to you?" Mint answered.
We all laughed, except Raymond. The kid had to have been fucked up big time. He stood slightly away from us with his hands in his pockets, looking down. It reminded me that we had some much more serious business to talk about. I walked back to my shirt and sat down. Lefty, Ice and Hudd brought over some stumps for us to sit on. He intentionally positioned Rain's stump closer to my own and shot me a quick wink. We all seemed to have a good attitude, despite last nights events.
"So, whats the plan now?" I asked. I didn't want to be a wet blanket and ruin our current mood, but it turns out it wouldn't be me.
We all looked to Hudd who was was about to speak when he was cut off.
It was about 1:00 in the afternoon and no one had noticed that the sun was positioned almost directly overhead. All our faces grew dark and grim, as a message from Celestia filled our heads. Things were about to get much worse for us.
End Chapter 1
AN: Ok thats all I got for now. If you liked it please give it a thumbs up, it makes me feel good. :)