//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Mirage's group // Story: Apex ponies // by Oaoadil //------------------------------// 6 Legends were heading to the farm. When they came out of the forest, they saw fields with apple trees. "No offense, but your sister is addicted to apples." "Yeah, a little bit. Well, let's go." 9 ponies approached the barn where 3 ponies were standing. "Alright, I will go check ponyville, Granny Smith will check a farm, Big Mac will check their tree hou-" She shut her mouth and looked at 6 ponies who were walking with 6 other ponies. "Apple Bloom! Where you were? I thought that something happened to you." shouted Applejack hugging her sister. "Sorry, Applejack. I was walking around with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Then we met them." she pointed to other ponies. "I think you aren't from this place, yeah?" "Yeah, we are from another place," said Wattson. "So what're your names?" "That is Gibraltar, Lifeline, Pathfinder, Bangalore, Wattson." said Mirage." And I am Mirage". He quickly makes his show off position with his wings. "Wow, you are alicorn?" said Applejack. "Yes, I am," said Mirage. "So do you have any food? I am a little bit hungry." "Yes, of course. Come in." All ponies came into the house and sat down at the table. There was apple pie, water, eggs, and pancakes. "Mmm. Smells good," said Lifeline. "Oh, thanks to Mrs..." "Lifeline" "It is a very unusual name." "To be honest, it is not my name. I got that name when I was working as a volunteer to help injured people." "Oh, so your names are not real too I suppose," said Granny Smith. "No, Gibraltar is my surname." "You know why I was called Mirage. Because I am a master of deception." With these words, he pointed to the door and another him ran to the door. Everyone (except Legends) was surprised by this. "Yeah, bad guys think that he got me, but when they will realize they were wrong it will be too late." "So you are fooling enemies with your phantoms?" "Holograms". "Ahm, I have a question," said Big Mac. "What is your question?" "This guy is made of metal?" Big Mac pointed to Pathfinder. "Yeah, actually I am not a pony, I am a robot." "Wow, can you shoot lasers from your eye?" asked Scootaloo. "No, but I have a hook. Let's go outside and I will demonstrate it." Everybody nodded. All came out of the house and stood. "Watch". Path quickly pointed to the roof and from his hoof, his famous hook appeared. When the hook grabbed the roof, Path went up to the roof. "Wow, that's awesome." "Let me show you something," said Wattson. He placed her robot and it began spinning his head. "And what?" "Throw something to it". Applejack grabbed the rock and threw it to the device. Suddenly the thunder appeared from the robot and hit the rock. After that rock became a pile of ashes. "Ow, so it protects you from rocks." "Not only rocks. It can destroy bombs, grenades and something like that. "So what you can?" asked Applejack. "I am a professional soldier," said Bangalore. "I am a member of SARAS," said Gibraltar. "What is SARAS?" "It's an organization that provides the opportunity to help others. We are like heroes, who come to save someone." "Wow, it is cool." "Yeah, so Mrs. Applejack what are you usually doing on the farm?" "Oh, it is simple. I grow apples and sell them." "Mr. Mirage can I ask you something?" "Of course, what is your question?" "You said that Mrs. Wraith had a problem with trusting to others, why?" "Wait, who is Wraith, you aren't alone?" "No, actually there are also 6 our friends who headed to the Ponyville." "So, let's go and check them. Also on the way we can pick up Fluttershy." "Fluttershy?" "Yes, she's a pegasus and takes care of animals." "Alright, let's go." All 12 ponies headed to the Fluttershy's cottage. After a few minutes of walking, they approached the cottage. "Fluttershy, are you here? We have new ponies here." "I am coming." Soon the door was opened by Pegasus mare with light pink mane and tail. "Oh, good morning. I am Fluttershy. And who are yo-" Fluttershy stood silent and her attention was focused on Mirage, actually on his horn and wings." "Are you an alicorn?" "Yeah, I am an alicorn and standing in front of you. said Mirage with a smile. "I didn't see the alicorn stallion at all. I am sure Twilight will be interested in you." "Oh, of course, there is no wom- I mean mare who won't accept the date with me." The blush appeared on Fluttershy's face. "Ugh, so what're your names?" "Gibraltar, Lifeline, Pathfinder, Bangalore, Mirage, and Wattson," said Applejack pointing to the legends. "You have unusual names." "Yeah, we had already heard that." "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to offend you." "No worries." "So are you going to Ponyville." "Yes, they have 6 other friends who were heading to the city." "Oh, it is very unique. I don't remember when having so many guests in one day." "So, are going to join to u-" Gibraltar stopped because he felt something punching his hoof. He looked down to see the little rabbit. "Angel, don't attack guests. Sorry, he always very suspicious of strangers." "No worries, it doesn't bother me." Fluttershy picked her rabbit and took him home. When she came back, she closed her door and said: "I am ready." "Alright, let's go." After 15 minutes of walking the group approached the bridge from where they could get a good view of Ponyville. There were colorful horses, ponies, and other stuff. Cough The group turned left to see pony wearing a chemical protection suit sitting on the branch. "Hey, Caustic. What are you doing here?" Applejack was confused about the unicorn's name. "I just need to be alone to concentrate." He put his hooves to his temples. His horn quickly was occupied by the toxic green aura and the apple in front of Caustic was lifted to the air. "Wow, dude when did you learn it?" "If my calculations are correct, in this the magic exists." "You told this like you didn't even know about the magic." "You are right actually, we don't know about the magic at all. We also can't fly with wings." Applejack's family's and CMC's jaws dropped. These ponies didn't know about magic and they couldn't fly. It is surprised by them. "It is very strange, especially for you, Mirage. Because alicorns the most powerful species in magic." "So, will you teach us?" said Caustic who was standing in front of the group. "No, earth ponies can't use magic, because we don't have a horn. But Twilight can teach you. She's alicorn too." "So who are these?" Caustic pointed to the Fluttershy and Applejack's family. "It is Fluttershy, Applejack, Granny Smith and Big Mac." "Good afternoon" "Sup." "Hi." "Ahm, good afternoon. It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Caustic" said Fluttershy. Caustic was uninterested in all ponies except Fluttershy. She was kind, shy and weak. That reminds him of one girl she met when he was hiding from the police. She was like Fluttershy. He was living in a small flat and that girl's family was living on the same floor. Every day she was leaving for school and always greeted him. It was giving a strange feeling he didn't feel very long. But as he always said, in the end, everything dies." Her father was working on the cartel and he got caught on stealing the cocaine. The leader of a cartel with his mercenaries came to the flat and killed them. The girl was hiding behind the door. She came out of her shelter and began approaching the door. Suddenly one mercenary caught her. The leader looked at her with a smile and offered the choice: die or become his daughter. She chose 1 option. The leader took his pistol and shot the girl into the face. When Caustic saw it through the peephole, something clicked inside him. And then he became furious. He grabbed his pistol and his gas grenade. He kicked the door and threw the grenade to the floor. Soon the whole floor was filled with his gas. Most of the mercenaries died, but some of them managed to get up. Caustic instantly killed them and then he saw the leader. He was still alive. Caustic grabbed him by his neck. "Who are you? What do you want?" "You killed the child." With those words, Caustic disconnected the hose from his chest and pointed it to the leader's face. The green gas appeared from the hose and the leader began coughing with blood. Soon after a few, he died. Died painfully. After that, he approached the girl and closed her eyes. "Sleep well." He grabbed all his stuff from his flat and moved into another apartment. "Hey, Caustic are you alright?" These words cut off Caustic's thinking. "Yes, I am fine. Let's just find others." "Get out the way!" someone screamed behind the group. It was a griffin. "Hi, Glida. It's nice to see-" "I don't care about what you are thinking. Let me pass." "You know you could ask politely," said Apple Bloom. "Shut up, talentless pony." These words painfully hurt Apple Bloom and she could feel tears in her eyes. "Hey, you chicken don't talk to her like that." "Agh, great more freaks in town. Shut up and fuck off." "Glida, I probably told you last time to be more polite." Glida didn't answer. She came closer to Fluttershy and pushed her to the ground. Everyone gasped. Only Caustic didn't move. That was the same situation as many years ago. He instantly was filled with fury. He grabbed griffin by her neck. "Hey, let me go." "You will be begging for a fast death." With these words, he disconnected the hose on his costume and directed it to the Glida's face. The green gas shot griffin's nose and after 2 seconds she began coughing. Caustic released her and connected the hose back to his costume. After 3 seconds she began coughing up blood. After 5 seconds he coughed up her lung, then other organs. After that, she died. Everyone was in shock, especially Fluttershy. Of course, Glida was very rude, but she didn't deserve it. "You, you killed her." "Yes. Let's go. We need to find others." "What you just killed Glida and you didn't even feel any regre-" Applejack was interrupted by Lifeline who placed her hoof to the farm horse's mouth. "Don't even try to awake any feelings in him. He is a sociopath. He doesn't think about other's feelings." "But she just killed someone like he was doing it before." "You want the truth. I will give you the truth. All of us are killers. We all blood on our hooves. Even Lifeline." That shocked Applejack's family, CMC, and Fluttershy. "Is it true?" Lifeline sighed and said: "Yeah we are all murderers. But you know what, one man said to me that sometimes we need to do things that we don't want to do, but we should do it to protect everyone you love and care." "I understand you," said Fluttershy. "You didn't want to do this, but you needed." "Alright, let's just get out of there before someone notices corpse," said Gibraltar. After that, the group was heading to the town without any noise. Applejack and her family were still in shock because of the murder. She approached Fluttershy and whispered to her: "We should be ready to fight. These ponies are very dangerous. I don't think that they were killed because of not having a choice." "Applejack, I trust them. Of course, firstly they are looking like they are enjoying it, but I am feeling that inside they don't want to do this. But I was surprised by Caustic's reaction. When I saw him staring at me. I saw that this scene reminded him of something. Something painful from his past." "Yeah, I trust you Fluttershy, but anyway I will warn our friends that these ponies can be dangerous." "Thank you."