//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Red Alert // Story: My Little Pony: Eternal Harmony // by LightOfTriumph //------------------------------// The Ponyville street that Pumpkin Cake had led them too, was thankfully very lively and active. It was needed to break the tension that was building around the group. Even if that relief was only temporary. If the only thing they were thinking about was the dread, it wouldn't have been good for their psyche. The sight of a normal, small town Equestrian street was welcome. It wasn't too perfect or idyllic. Some lawns were shaggy, some houses paint was chipping, other things like that. That was good. If every house on the street was perfect, Luster could tell that the ponies inside were anything but. This was a street that Ponies lived in. Not because of social pressure, or a desire to move up a ladder, but because this was home. They approached a house, one of the better maintained on the street, and walked up to the front door. Pumpkin walked up and knocked. "Babe, can you get that?" a male voice said from the side of the house. "I'm still working here, I gotta get ready for tomorrow's class." "Alright, hang on I'll get it," said a female voice that seemed to be walking toward the door. The door swung open to reveal an older Mare. Very pretty, although obviously tired thanks to a life well lived. There were bags under her magenta eyes. She had taken to wearing crystal beads in her beehive red Mane. She smiled when she opened the door to see Pumpkin Cake. "Hey there, Sweetheart," the mare smiled, hugging Pumpkin Cake. "I'm assuming it's not me your here to see." "Hi Torch Song," Pumkin said as the hug broke off. "Is he home?" "He's home," Torch Song said. "He's in the garage working on the album. That would be going a lot easier if he had his drummer to back him up." She shot a look Pound Cake's way. "I'll head in," Pound nodded. "Oh, I gave the delivery to Tapper when I passed him, did he get it back to you?" "He got back to me," Torch Song smiled. "They were delicious. Thank your mother for me. And tell your dad to watch his blood pressure." "He won't listen," Pound laughed. "But I'll tell him. Oh, you've met Mercury Breeze, right?" "Of course I have," Torch smiled. "How's the school running, dear?" "Better than ever," Mercury said happily. "Now that we have a new Wiz from Caterlot to help us out. This is Luster Dawn, by the way." "Its a pleasure to meet you, Ma'am," Luster smiled. "The pleasures all mine," Luster smiled. "Head to the garage, Beat is waiting for you there." "Thanks, Torch!" Pumpkin said. They began to walk over to the garage next to the little house. "That was Down Beat's mom," Pound smiled. "She's been close to our family since we were foals." "What a nice lady," Luster said softly. "She makes you feel welcome. Canterlot should appoint her as a friendship ambassador." Luster felt better about meeting her son. An all Equestrian boy from an all Equestrian family. Luster thought it would be very relaxing. Luster realized how wrong she was when she got a look at Down Beat. He had a greyish-white coat, and a naturally red Mane. Luster took note of the mane's natural color, because the tips of it were dyed black. He had intense eyes, under one of them, a black line was painted that diagonally jagged under his chin. He held an electric guitar and a pick, and prepared to play. The guitar was connected to two of the largest amplifiers she had ever seen. She girded herself for the forthcoming noise. Luckily, he caught sight of the group before he played. "Oh, hey guys," he said in a surprisingly pleasant tone. "Hey babe. Did Pinkie get back or...?" Pumpkin Cake slowly trudged up to her special somepony, who promptly wrapped her in a hug. "Sorry I took so long to get here," she said, muffled in Down Beat's shoulder as she returned the embrace. "Dad passed me the message from Pound," Down Beat said calmly. "Besides, I would've understood if I hadn't gotten the message. You're not the kind of pony to just skip out without a reason. "We're never having kids," Pumpkin cake groaned. "Don't let mom hear you say that," Beat said softly. "She'll kill us both. Hey, Pound, how's it going?" "Could be better," Pound admitted. "Same here," Beat nodded. He kissed Pumpkin on the head and broke off the hug. He ran over to a small desk that was next to one of the amplifiers and picked up a few sheets of paper. He ran back over to Pound Cake. "I am completely blanking on a rhyme, here. I could use some outside eyes on this one." Pound read the music sheets and began to bob his head up and down and he hummed to himself. "Let me hide my wedding ring." he said finally. "That should be more than enough to finished the chorus out. Then we'll be in business." He looked over the sheet. "You went complicated again." "Yeah, I know. I shot for the moon again," Beat smiled. "But hey, look. It's just the two of us now, but maybe we'll get a string section and a horn section and... y'know... Bagpipes." "The problem with writing Symphonic Metal is that you need a Symphony," Pound said frankly. "And we don't have that." Mercury turned to Luster Dawn. "Pound and Down Beat are working on a metal band," she explained. "They're actually fairly talented, if you're into that kind of music. Which being real... I totally am." "Because you are a mare of taste," Pound smiled and walked over to Mercury and Luster. "I don't think we've been properly introduced. Hi, I'm Down Beat." Luster shook off the confusion at the disparity between Down Beat's appearance and his demeanor long enough to answer. "Luster Dawn," she said offering a hoof. "She's my new co-worker," Mercury smiled. "We're taking her on a tour of the town." "And you decided to stop off at my humble abode, that's actually touching," Beat said cheerfully. "Apparently I'm important enough to be a quintessential part of a Ponyville tour. Yeah, I can totally see that being a thing." "Don't get on any high horses," Mercury said, rolling her eyes. "We're here for Pumpkin's sake." "Well, never mind," Down Beat smiled, not letting reality dent his pride one bit. "Call me crazy, Luster Dawn, but you don't seem the type to enjoy Metal music." "Frankly? No," Luster admitted. She figured that any friends worth making would want her to be honest. "Sorry, but I like slow music. Softer stuff. I recognize the artistry in metal, and I certainly see the talent. I've just... Never liked the music." Beat gave a soft, but confident smile. He took his guitar in hoof, and Luster braced herself for the cacophony that was to follow. And then Beat began to play. Surprisingly it was soft. Soulful even. A very simple riff, but it conveyed an emotion. One that was hard to describe, but it was one that Luster had felt before. A sort of deep bitterness that came with a harsh lesson on how the world actually works. The weariness that came from looking at your life and all of the things you had in front of you, and coming to the conclusion that it isn't worth getting out of bed for. When you don't have the energy to be sad anymore, and all that's left is apathy. She didn't realize that a guitar could turn that feeling into music, but there it was, permeating the garage area. "I like the softer stuff too," Beat said over the melancholy music. "Sometimes I write it on occasion. And there is absolutely a place for it... But it's too small for me. It doesn't tell the stories I want to tell. This is inside one Ponies head... But I like moving to whole other worlds, or back in time. I've got a story I want to tell. Equestrian history I want to relive. I can't do it with a blues song. The world is loud. Stories worth telling are loud. And... While this feeling is worth talking about. It's a little too real for me." "It's a shame," Luster said calmly. "You're very good at that." "Maybe," Beat sighed. "But when I feel like this, the first thing I need is a..." The playing abruptly stopped and Down Beat looked out into the middle distance blankly. "Distraction." The group all gave each other uneasy looks. The creeping feeling that had left them when they came upon the friendly little street. The tension returned. The more ponies they found that felt this way the harder it was to deny. There was something malevolent in the air today. "So," Down Beat said, reading the room. "Not the only one who needed a distraction. This is getting freaky." "You too?" Pumpkin Cake said, softly touching her boyfriend's shoulder. "And my parents," Beat nodded slowly. "And my little sister. We all just have this feeling that something... Very bad is going to happen today. We're all just waiting for the whole world to come crashing down on our heads." "Listen, dude," Pound spoke up. "I know this is gonna be a weird question, but I have to ask. Have you heard from Rarity today?" "No," Beat answered, a little confused. "I wasn't expecting too, though. She's checking up on the Canterlot branch today, and I think she has a council meeting. Why do you ask?" "You know Rarity?" Luster asked, completely confused as to how this Metalhead could possibly know one of the most refined Ponies Luster had ever seen. "Yeah. Friend of the family. "She was part of my parent's a capella group. Fixed them up. Why are you asking if I've seen her?" "Aunt Pinkie is late coming home," Pumpkin explained. "That doesn't sound like Pinkie, at all," Beat said, raising an eyebrow. "So... You're trying to see if the rest of the council made it home. Sorry, guys I haven't seen her today, but that's not all that odd." "We need to check on any of the rest of the Council," Pound sighed. "First place we hit up, Sweet Apple Acres." "Hey!" Down Beat smiled. "Perfect excuse to talk to my agent!" "And perfect excuse for her to deck you in the face for calling her your agent," Mercury snarked. "Who are you talking about?" Luster asked. Realization moved to pure unfettered joy on Down Beat's face. "Oh my gosh. Guys. Guys!" He said, patting Poud Cake's foreleg. "There's a new pony here! We get to see Creme do the thing again!" "What are we still doing here?" Pumpkin asked immediately. They broke into a sprint in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Wonderbolt Headquarters was in utter chaos. Rumble had never seen it like this before. The lights were off leaving one red light to permeate the halls. An alarm was blaring over and over again. Rumble was hoping that this was just a drill, a notion that was kicked to the curb when he saw Sky Stinger walking briskly up to him, a look of fearful determination spread across his face. "Walk with me, Newbie," he said ruffly. "We got a situation." Rumble began to walk with Sky. "I promise I'll return the towel," he said dryly. "Tell Vapor I'm sorry. Truth be told, I didn't even know I packed the stupid thing." "Very funny, Tumble, but this is a serious situation," Sky said sharply. Rumble flinched a little at his new nickname. "At 1100 hours the Boss Mare went to Canterlot in order to attend the monthly council meeting." "Third Saturday of the month," Rumble shrugged. "That's standard isn't it?" Sky stinger nodded. "At 1300 she made it back," Sky continued. "She was distracted. Apparently something had happened at the meeting, I don't know what, but she said she was going into her office to pick something up before she headed home." "And?" Rumble asked. Still not sure what the problem was. "She never came out," Sky said calmly. "It's now nearly 1500. That's more than enough time to pick up what she needed at leave. But she never came out of that office." "Maybe we missed her leaving?" Rumble shrugged. Rumble finally realized where they had been walking. They were now standing in front of Rainbow Dash's office. "Y'know somehow," Sky said, looking right into Rumble's eyes. "I don't think that's what's going on." He pounded sharply on the door, and it slowly swung open. Rumble was shocked to see the wall behind the desk. More specifically, the lack thereof. What looked like a high explosive had blown a six foot hole in the wall. The only thing that could be seen out of it was the wide open sky. "A call just came in from Canterlot," Sky explained. "Princess Twilight has gone missing as well. And somebody tossed Canterlot Carousel. At this point we need to assume that the entire council has gone off the grid. We need you here to keep the place from falling apart. Eventually you'll be assigned somewhere soon to look for any sign of them." Rumble looked at the wall, unblinking. Finally he muttered three words under his breath. "I knew it." "Knew what?" Sky Stinger asked. Rumble looked back and forth between the hole and Sky Stinger. "Did you ever wake up in the morning with this feeling that the entire universe is going to come crashing down on your head?" Rumble said quickly. "Like this was going to be the most harrowing and stressful day of your entire life, and you're just wating for your whole world to come crashing down on your head?" "Almost a relief when it finally happens isn't it," Sky Stinger sighed. "Almost."