//------------------------------// // The Raid // Story: Equestrian Servitude // by gmen15 //------------------------------// The Raid Even the darkest night in Equestria was brighter than daytime in most places. For a while, it seemed like this night was no exception to that rule. The quaint town of Ponyville was silent as a church. Everypony was either sleeping, or getting ready to after a long day. The town was also dark. The only light sources came from the street-lamps that scattered along the sides of the desolate roads, the beautiful stars that dotted the darkened sky like sprinkles on a cake, and Luna’s proud moon that was hung like a giant, crystalline ornament. There were also a few house windows that provided light as a lamp or candle shone through it from inside. One such window was on the town’s public library, where a diligent, lavender unicorn was busy doing what she loved to do more than anything else in the world. Reading. The inside of the library was also near pitch-black. A small candle next to the studious pony provided a source of illumination for her reading. The entire place was silent and peaceful, the perfect environment to kick back one’s hooves and crack open a book. The only interruption to such soundless serenity was the occasional snore from a certain baby dragon that was upstairs sleeping in his little bed, having dreams of Rarity accepting his invitation to the Grand Galloping Gala. Occasionally his mouth would curl into a satisfied smile as the mental shade of his crush would give him a big hug and shout, “Oh! Spikey-wikey, of course I would go to the Gala with you!” But Twilight didn’t take notice of her sleeping friend, all her focus on the book that was laid out in front of her. Her baggy, exhausted eyes moved side-to-side like the carriage lever of a typewriter. Quick enough that her reading pace wasn’t sluggish yet slow enough to make sure she didn’t miss any words. When she was with Princess Celestia, the majestic alicorn goddess would always tell Twilight how even a single word could be vital in whether a concept was understood or not. While she read on, Twilight started to feel increasingly tired. Each second was more and more trying on the poor pony’s energy as she struggled to keep herself awake. She could feel herself exit the stage of simply being tired, and enter the phase of “head-bopping”, where she’d momentarily enter a state of near-sleep before remembering where she was and jolt herself awake. If anypony had been around to see it, it would’ve been quite a humorous sight. But, ever so determined to finish the chapter she was on, Twilight fought through the fatigue. She gave her eyes a quick rub with the back of her hoof, yawned, and continued to read. This text was on scientific laws, theories and beleifs, which ranged from the realistic to the downright bizarre. Most ponies would find this boring, but not Twilight. This was her crème de la crème, learning through reading. She found so much joy in reading educational books, and her range of interests was diverse. In the past she read a couple books on unicorn history, two on the history of Ponyville, and, surprisingly, one that dealt with the study on the reproductive cycles of hydra. That one was quite strange to say the least. But this book was more interesting to her than any of those for the simple reason that, while she enjoyed magic, she also loved science. Physics, biology, chemistry, neurology; she loved them all, especially the things this book was talking about. Not only was it based on science, it was also about beliefs and theories, two other things she took joy in learning about. Some were mundane, even to Twilight, to learn about. But many other sections dealt with very interesting and unique theories, like the chapter she was on, which was entitled, “Our Universe and the Possibility of Others”. One section of this chapter dealt with the "string theory", or the idea that there were an infinite number of parallel universes that could be either very different, or very similar, to the one she was in currently. ”Hm…an infinite number of universes? That sounds intriguing.” Immediately, her mind began to race with ideas of possible parallel universes. What if there was a universe where everypony was made out of food? What if there was a universe where she and everypony else were opposite genders? What if there was a universe where Rainbow Dash never did her first sonic rainboom and none of her friends got their cutie marks? What if there was a universe where she and her friends never defeated Discord and their personalities were still reversed? Thinking about the last two made a cold chill run down Twilight’s spine. She mentally hoped there weren’t any Equestrias in different universes that had to suffer like that. Living in a world of disharmony, chaos and suffering all day, every day, for the rest of his or her life? She couldn’t imagine a worse torture. Eventually, she finished reading the chapter, and in doing so, gained a new insight on different universes and other scientific theories involving that subject, but the string theory stood out in her mind above everything else. Regardless, Twilight concluded that it had been a very productive night for her, and that made her feel accomplished and content. She closed the book and let out a big yawn. ”Guess it’s time to hit the hay.” Twilight raised her hooves up towards the ceiling. She listened to the little “pops” and “cracks” as she stretched the stiffness from her joints. She lowered her hooves back down onto the table and let out yet another yawn. She then used her magic to levitate the book back over to its proper place on the shelves; gently sliding it into place in the space between the two books it was in before she started reading it earlier that evening. She then levitated the still lit candle with her aura, and made her way over to the staircase. As soon as she started walking, the physical signs of exhaustion began to reveal themselves. She could feel herself begin to wobble, her body swayed uneasily from side to side as her legs started to feel like they were about to give out. She reached the first step and looked up at the steep journey that lay ahead. She sighed upon seeing the long procession of burdensome steps that stood between her and the sweet salvation that was her comfortable bed. Slowly, but surely, she began her climb up the stairs. Her mind was focused on both her walking, as well as the candle she was levitating. Each step was like another pang to her energy, sucking her dry to the point where she almost collapsed face-first into the step below her. Fortunately, she re-gained her composure and continued her climb. She got up about five steps when there was a sudden flash from outside. Alarmed by the phenomenon, Twilight turned her attention to one of the nearby windows to see a very large, bright light glowing outside, the sky illuminated as if it were day rather than night. It was so bright, that she could make out the grass on the lawn of her library; she could make out trees; she could make out Ponyville itself. That is how bright the flash was. The flash slowly went away, the darkness gradually reverting to night as Twilight continued to stare blankly at the window, pondering what in Celestia’s great name just happened. Somewhat nervous, the purple mare took a few, cautious steps back down the stairs so that she was back on the ground floor of her library. Even though the flash was gone, her eyes never left the window, even as she climbed down the stairs. Thankfully, she managed not to stumble as she made her descent. Upstairs, the pervious sound of snoring disappeared, replaced with an obnoxious groan and some mumblings before the voice of a familiar baby dragon was heard. “Ugh, Twilight, what…what was that light?” Spike called down. He sounded tired; his voice slurred like a drunk who’s lost a bet. “I don’t know.” Twilight’s face went from confusion to determination. “But I’m going to find out.” “…okay.” Spike muttered before there was a small “thud” followed by the return of his snoring, his mind going back to the dream he was having about he and Rarity after the Gala. Twilight rolled her eyes at her assistant’s lazy nature that rivaled only that of Rainbow Dash. Sure he was a great assistant, and she understood how he could get tired after a long day of work, but she couldn’t help but think that he was exaggerating a bit. Then again, it was extremely early so it wasn’t completely unreasonable that he’d be tired. She slowly made her way to the front door of the library. The candle was still aflame and floating in the air beside her, bobbing a little with each step the pony made. Once she reached the front door, she stopped and took in a deep breath. She slowly exhaled to get her bearings as she started to feel a bit nervous. Moments later, she returned to her confident, leader-like self and placed her hoof onto the door-knob. She opened the door and slowly trotted out into the night. Just as it had been before the flash of light, it was dark. It was so dark, that Twilight could only see clearly what was directly around street-lamps, while everything else was obscured by the darkness. Sure she could make out the occasional tree, house, shop, or towering, bipedal thing that… ”Wait…towering bipedal thing?” Twilight squinted at a large creature that was standing about fifteen feet away from her. He was in the dark, completely shaded by the night sky to the point where Twilight could only make out his shape. Burly, hulking, massive…anything that could be used as a synonym for “big” would fit the description perfectly. She had never seen anything like it before, it was bizarre. Maybe she could try talking to it? Perhaps it was friendly. Maybe it was just lost and needed some help finding its way home? But then Twilight pondered the possibility that it wasn’t benign. Maybe it was hostile and would attack her if she did get to close to it, or simply made herself known. As she contemplated the plethora of ways she could deal with the situation, the creature slowly turned around so that it was looking down directly into the little pony’s eyes. Twilight’s blood froze when she saw the intimidating stature of the creature that stood in front of her, towering over her small frame, he had the look of a man in complete control. Its entire body was still hidden by the darkness of the night. All of it, that is, except two luminous, bright glowing orbs where they eyes should have been. There were no pupils, just brightness. Horrible, horrible brightness that seemed to jab its way into Twilight’s very soul and bury itself there. Twilight slowly began to back away, eyes still meeting the gaze of the strange creature as it took a few, small steps towards her. She dropped the candle on the ground next to her, not caring that the grass slowly began to light up in a small blaze of fire; all she cared about was this terrifying individual. Realizing it was getting closer to her, Twilight quickly turned and made a dash to the front door of her library, not once looking back at the place she was running from. Behind her, the creature took a few steps forward and stomped out the fire with the sole of its shoe; extinguishing what could have been a devastating catastrophe for the entire town. The being spoke in a familiar, ventilator-laced voice, “You should be more careful with your candle little pony, you could set the entire town on fire…and that’s our job.” Back near the library, Twilight slid to a stop just in time to avoid slamming face-first into the door. She pulled the door open with her magic, jumped inside the tree, and slammed the door shut behind her. For one of the first times in her life, Twilight used all of the locks on the door, including three dead-bolts that she never touched except when she put them in. Normally so many locks weren’t a necessity, as hardly anypony robbed each other; it just wasn’t in their nature. And those who did rob usually wouldn’t go to such lengths as to buck the door down when it was locked. They’d simply move onto the next house where they hoped a more naïve pony resided. But Twilight wasn’t naïve; therefore she had some extra locks put into the door just in case she needed them. Slowly, she backed away from the door, her ears plastered against her head, her eyes filled with worry, and her tail partially tucked between her legs. She rarely was ever this scared, even some of Equestria’s nastiest monsters hadn’t ever driven her to become the cowering mess she was now. But those eyes were enough to drive anypony to madness. “Spike!” she shouted, not taking her eyes off the locked door as if she expected the creature to break through it at any moment. suddenly, another bright flash, similar to the first one, stremed into the library through the windows. Twilight began to get even more scared, her heart rate increasing to a point where she started to consider the possibility of having a heart-attack. “Spike!” she screamed with more urgency. She heard screams, explosions; she heard destruction coming from the direction of Ponyville. She sawanother bright flash, followed by more sounds of chaos and confusion. She wasn’t sure exactly what was happening, but she didn’t want to wait to find out. She wanted to do the logical thing and leave with Spike to find her friends before that thing came for her. Maybe they could use the elements against these beings? It was a hopeful thought, but Twilight knew that her first priority was going to be finding the others. “Twilight?” Spike said as he walked to the stairs. He still looked tired, but his eyes showed some sense of urgency as he could hear the panic in her voice, “What’s going on?” “We need to leave…” before she could finish her statement, Twilight was interrupted by a loud blast of noise that sent her diving under her desk. She also heard Spike scream from upstairs when the explosion sounded. She wanted to go out to make sure he was okay, but her fear overrode the desire to stupidly expose herself so she stayed under the desk for the time being. She covered her ears with her hooves as debris made up of pieces of bark and wood went flying her way. She closed her eyes for a moment out of fear; fear of the unknown force that sounded like it just decimated half her library in one blast. Slowly Twilight opened her eyes and pulled her hooves away from her ears. When she saw what happened to her library, her blood froze. Not only was front door completely blown in, the entire wall around where the door had once stood was demolished. All that was left was a gaping hole that was somewhat hidden only by the cloud of white smoke billowing from it. Books were strewn all across the floor, pages that had been ripped out danced around the floor in the gentle night breeze that crept into the library. Ever so slowly, Twilight cautiously made her way out from under the desk. The air in the library became thick with ash. She could feel dust from the smoke cloud land on her face and body, working its way into her fur so she appeared to have just climbed out of a collapsed mine shaft. Some even seeped into her nose, causing Twilight to have a small fit of coughing. Once in the open, she slowly stood up onto her hooves. She was still coughing every now and again as her body tried to rid itself of the dust that made its way into her lungs. Though the smoke started to dissipate, the air was still tainted with its presence. “Spike! cough…cough…Spike!” Twilight called; her voice hoarse and her eyes watering from the coughing. She looked up at the top step where Spike had once been. When she didn’t see any baby dragon, she became worried. “Spike!” she called roughly before letting a few more coughs escape her throat. Twilight was just about to run up the stairs to make sure her number one assistant was okay when two blinding lights flashed into her library. She turned and covered her eyes with her leg as she looked back towards the gaping hole where two bright, yellow beams of light shone through the cloud, directly into the mare’s purple eyes. She stared in horror as two towering, shadowy figures made their way towards her. All she could hear was their footsteps, as well as exaggerated breathing. It sounded like the two beings were breathing through a machine. Before she could do anything, one of them pulled something out from what appeared to be their belt, but they were still in the dust cloud so she wasn’t sure what it was. The creature pointed the mystery object directly at the unicorn. Twilight couldn’t see what it was through the smoke. There was a “click” sound, followed by something flying directly at the mare’s left leg. Before anything could register in Twilight’s mind, she felt the projectile latch itself onto her leg and lock into place. She looked down to see a silver bracelet just above her hoof, a small, violet light flashing in the center. A high pitched “beep” sounded from the strange band. Immediately, Twilight felt like her energy got sucked right out of her. Her legs, which had managed to hold her up even when she was on the verge of falling asleep about ten minutes before, gave out beneath her. The poor unicorn collapsed to the floor. Her horn felt like something was inside of it, pressure building from within. She could also feel every ounce of her energy burn up and evaporating into nothingness, making her more and more tired with each passing second. She groaned in agony as the discomfort continued to flow through her, hitting each centimeter of her body with equal power. The pain slowly began to abate, leaving her thoroughly exhausted, with a feeling of absence. It was like she was missing something, but she wasn’t exactly sure what it was. As she lay on the ground, she heard laughter coming from directly above her. She slowly opened her eyes to see the two things standing above her. Getting a prime view of what they looked like, Twilight couldn’t help but to be in awe of their appearance. They were tall, about five to six feet in height. Both wore shiny, white suits that hid most of their bodies from view. The only thing that Twilight could make out that indicated they were biological rather than mechanical were their eyes. Now that the light the eyes originally gave off was turned down, she could see that the yellow orbs she saw before and mistook for eyes were really two lenses. The outlines of each lens had lights within it, which gave these creatures the appearance of being soulless thugs. In reality, however, Twilight could now see eyes behind the glass. However, the small size of them, in contrast with the larger size of pony eyes, definitely created an uneasy feeling within the unicorn. Then again, her original assessment wasn’t too far off base. “Well, what do we have here?” asked the being two the left of Twilight. The thing’s mouth was hidden; heck both of their mouths were hidden, behind a small, silver disk that was sewn into the white suit. By the odd tone in the man’s voice, his strange breathing, and the small tubes that led out of the disc and behind the men’s head, Twilight assumed the disc must’ve been some kind of breathing apparatus. “Looks like another pony to take with us.” Said the man to Twilight’s right in a much more normal, but still synthesized, voice. Twilight suddenly snapped out of her shock-induced daze long enough to stand back up and attempt to teleport herself away from her library. She closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, planted her hooves firmly into the wooden floor, and concentrated all of her attention on her horn. Concentrating to cast the teleportation spell that would lead her to safety, as it had done many times before. But after a few seconds of straining and concentrating that made her look both pissed off and constipated, nothing happened. Not even a single spark of energy or a sliver of aura-induced light escaped the purple horn atop Twilight’s head. Her magic wasn’t working; it was failing her when she needed it the most. She was powerless and the two things above her seemed to sense her insecurities. The being on the right let out a small, yet malicious, laugh as he eyed the confused pony. “Little trouble with your magic there, eh?” Twilight closed her eyes and tried her magic again, and again, and again. Every time nothing would happen, her horn as useful as a fire-extinguisher filled with kerosene. Eventually she gave up and collapsed onto the floor. Her breathing labored her eyes tired-looking up at the two men above her, who just looked down at her. “Never have I felt such a mixture of power, and pity.” said the man on the right. “Now you know how I feel every day, when I’m around people like you.” The two men looked up at the source of the voice. Twilight noticed that thier previosuly malicious eyes were suddenly filled with terror. That voice, that horrifying voice wasn’t just behind a respirator like the voices of the men above Twilight, it sounded like it was behind two breathing apparatuses, like the man was wearing one underneath the mask and silver disc. Twilight looked up at the man with the scary voice. He was hulking, even more so than the other two men. His head looked slightly dis-proportionate, as if there was indeed something under that mask besides flesh and bone; something over this man’s mouth. Other than that, from where Twilight was lying there was nothing else, except the size and odd face, to differentiate him from the other two men. Except for one thing, the air of superiority he had. Without him even saying so, she could tell he was in charge of everything. The screams in Ponyville that echoed throughout the library, the fires she could see roaring in the distance, the gaping hole in her library; she didn’t need anyone to tell her that this was at least one of the main men responsible. She could only hope he wasn’t completely in charge. Then again if someone as intimidating as him wasn’t at the top of the chain, who was? Another thing that caught her attention was a small, purple and green dragon that was being held upside-down like a freshly caught salmon. Her eyes widened when she realized who it was. “Spike…no.” Spike’s eyes were closed, his mouth open as he hung unconscious from the hold of the scary-voiced man. Twilight suddenly felt her heart rate increase as even more panic set in. She looked back up at the man that let her number one assistant dangle by his feet. Suddenly, Twilight felt something tighten around her neck. She looked up to see the man on the left, the one who first spoke to her, holding a stick that led to a lasso-like loop which was currently wrapped around the defenseless unicorn’s neck. She tried to pull away, but soon realized, much like her attempts to teleport, it was no use. “Don’t even think about it little missy, you aren’t going anywhere.” Twilight eventually gave in and simply glared up at the man that was holding the stick that was attached to her collar. He was like some sort of animal handler. “But I’m not an animal.” Twilight thought with a hint of sadness. But her determined and angry looking face concealed her defeatist-sounding thoughts. “What are you doing here?” she hissed. “Well I think I would be better suited to answer that question.” She heard the voice of the large man behind her. That voice, that artificial sounding voice that didn’t sound like anything a living thing could produce. Twilight purposely looked down and kept her back to the man, too frightened to look back at the large white-clad creature that let Spike dangle above the ground. The man noticed her fear, even when she was facing away from him. All it took was him to see her shivering body and her refusal to look in his direction, even when he spoke to her. He couldn’t help but let out a small, near diabolical, chuckle. “Do I frighten you?” Twilight, without looking at the man, meekly replied, “What are you going to do to us?” “In time, my dear Twilight, you shall find out.” Said the main with a sinister voice not even the devil could conjure up, “Yes, all of you here in Ponyville shall find out. Twilight turned to the man, now looking up into the two, glass lenses where his little, beady, black eyes could now be seen. Initially she was freaked out that he knew her name, and was about to ask him how. But then she realized something, something that scared her even more than his voice. This thing, this being that towered over the other two in height and muscle, was the same one she saw outside after the flash of light entered her library. The man chuckled at the mare’s scared expression, taking as caused by her confusion regarding his knowledge of her name. “And then you will learn how I know your name, whether you wish to or not.” The man then looked up at the other two. He pointed out of the gaping hole towards the pillar of smoke that was rising from the rubble once known as Ponyville. Seeing the chaos and destruction sent a chill so far down Twilight’s spine it reached her tail and made it give a little spasm. “I see the rest of the team is having success.” The scary-voiced man said. “Yes, soon the entire town will be ours to take back.” The man on the right said. “Excellent,” the leader motioned for the group to head outside. The men obliged. The one who held the stick attached to Twilight’s collar dragged the purple pony behind him as she struggled and fought with each step they took. Eventually they got her outside into the previously cool night air. But all coolness was gone, replaced by warmth, and not pleasant warmth like one would discover by sitting in front of a fireplace on a cold winter’s night. No, this warmth felt threatening, causing Twilight to get nervous. But what really added to the ominous feeling of the fire was what lay ahead. Ponyville was on fire, houses and buildings were engulfed in monstrous flames. Smoke filled the air, making it even darker by blocking out the moon and stars in the sky. Most of the street lights were either broken or malfunctioning; giving little flickers of light every couple of seconds before petering out. But even with the lack of the moon and functioning lamps, it wasn’t dark. In fact, it was far from it, much brighter as the roaring fires reached impressive heights, erasing all shadows that once obscured outside. If one were to look at Ponyville from a distance, they would have seen something of a "halo effect" as a bright orange aura glistened above the town. While she was being dragged down the main street of Ponyville to Celestia knows where, Twilight got a front row view to watch as ponies she knew get ambushed, beaten and dragged through the streets. Some kicked and struggled, while others, like Caramel and Fluttershy, seemed to accept their fate and allowed their handlers to pull them along as they watched the town burn down with tears in their eyes. The black pegasus Thunderlane started to make a break for the skies with Blossomforth when two bracelets were shot at them. One hit Thunderlane in the front, right leg while the other hit Blossomforth in the back, right leg. Instantly, there was the familiar sight of a light flashing on the bracelet, followed by the pegasis’ wings collapsing in against their sides. Their eyes squeezed shut as, Twilight assumed; a pain similar to the one she felt went through their body and zapped their energy. A second later, they both fell to the ground with a solid “thud”. Groaning and rolling around in a daze, the two pegasis were completely unaware that two men had gotten collars on them until it was already too late. They started to weakly struggle against the grip, only to receive some jolts of electricity from the bracelets. They eventually gave up and were promptly dragged off with everypony else. Suddenly, there was a scream that much closer than the others. Twilight turned her attention to the direction of the scream to see Lyra trying to teleport away with Bon Bon as a few men started to converge on them. Just before her horn could charge up its green aura, Lyra was hit with a bracelet not unlike the one that hit Twilight, Thunderlane and Blossomforth. Her horn started to peeter out and fail. Lyra suddenly collapsed to the ground just like Twilight had, her energy completely zapped. Quiet groans of pain escaped her lips as she lay on the ground, her hooves clutching her stomach. Bon Bon screamed her sea-green friend’s name, only to be hit with a second bracelet. The light on it began to flash, but her reaction wasn’t as severe as twilight’s or the others. It still seemed to hurt her, as she grimaced and shut her eyes tight, but Bon-Bon still had enough energy to stand when it was all finished. Based on what the bracelet’s behavior, Twilight deduced that it sucked the magical energy out of ponies, which would explain why Bon Bon was less affected, as an earth pony, than unicorns and pegasis seemed to be. Sure the magic zapping bracelet didn’t seem to hurt the white earth pony too horribly, but it did succeed in distracting her long enough for two men in white to tackle her to the ground. After a brief wrestling match with the feisty pony, the men managed to get a collar around her neck. Around the corner, Twilight saw Applejack and Apple Bloom being pulled apart by two different men, who were trying to drag them off in opposite directions. Applejack’s hat was gone, her hair frazzled and body littered with cuts and bruises as if she had just gotten into a brawl. In fact, Twilight was amazed she still had her ponytail somewhat intact. Twilight also noticed that both sisters had bracelets on their legs already. They were at the mercy of the creatures holding them. A moment later, Twilight saw two men dragging an unconscious Big Macintosh down the road, a large lump on his head and a familiar silver bracelet on his foreleg. One of the men pulling the red stallion shouted for the person who was handling Applejack to follow him. After some effort, the two men controlling Applejack and Apple Bloom managed to start on their way, the gap between the two country-pony sisters widening as they shouted each other’s names, their hooves outstretched as they tried to reach each other. “Applejack!” Apple Bloom shouted; her eyes filled to the brim with tears. “Big sis, help me!” “Apple Bloom! Let go of me you varmints, Apple Bloom!” Applejack shouted back, her face equally moist with tears as they ran down her cheeks. Soon, Apple Bloom was taken around a corner and left Applejack’s view. Applejack couldn’t control herself anymore and started to bawl. She continued to pull against the collar, but it was no good. Her handler had too strong of a grip. It was worse than when Discord was around. Forget simple chaos, this was hell, the likes of which the peaceful land of Equestria has never seen, even in its darker days. “Twilight!” Twilight turned her head to the direction of the voice to see a hostile Rainbow Dash trying to break free of the person that was holding her with the collar. She eventually managed to buck him in the gut and sprint over to Twilight. “Rainbow Dash!” Twilight said excitedly. Just before the cyan Pegasus reached her friend, she suddenly stopped running and fell to the ground. Twilight watched in horror as her friend began to twitch and groan in agony as tiny little electric bolts shot up her legs from the bracelet that she had on. “Rainbow!” Twilight screamed, looking up at the man Rainbow Dash had bucked to see that he had gotten his bearings and was pressing a small button that was on a string around his neck. After a few more seconds, he stopped and Rainbow Dash relaxed on the ground, her tongue hanging out and tiny moans passing her lips as she looked up at Twilight with weak eyes. “Twi…” Seeing this was all Twilight could take before she looked over at the man responsible, who was making his way towards the downed pegasus. Twilight struggled against her handler, pulling with all her might towards her friend’s tormentor. She growled, snarled and fought with the hopes of reaching him. Eventually, however, the man with the terrible voice saw what was happening from a distance and started to make his way over, a metal baton in one hand as he handed Spike off to one of his men with the orders to take him back to ”the portal”. Twilight continued to struggle against the collar until she felt every inch of her body light up in excruciating pain. Her nerves screamed bloody murder, as the electricity pumped into her body. Her teeth were gritted together. In fact, her jaws being clamped was the only reason she wasn’t screaming out. It was by far the worst pain she felt in her life. No amount of magic spells gone wrong, burns involving Spike and her face, or objects falling onto her head courtesy of a certain cross-eyed mail-mare, could compare to the agony she felt at that moment. Completely vulnerable, completely at the mercy of her handler, she was cornered, caught like a common animal. Once the electricity stopped pumping into her body, she collapsed to the dirt road similarly to how Rainbow Dash had moments before. She slowly opened her eyes, her vision blurry so the only thing she could see was a cyan and rainbow blur directly in front of her. “Rain…Rain…” She could hear her friend respond just as weakly, “Twilight…" Twilight slowly reached out her hoof in an attempt to reach her blurry friend as she laid a couple of feet away from her. But she was still too far away. Rainbow Dash also extended her hoof towards Twilight, but it was still not enough. "I've...got...you..." Rainbow Dash muttered weakly, "just...a...little...more..." Before either pony could scoot closer to each other so their hooves would touch, Rainbow Dash was pulled back. Twilight's vision returned just in time to see the man in control of Rainbow Dash drag her limp body down the road, further away from the downed unicorn who was now truly alone. Just before she called back out to her, Twilight’s vision was cut off by an enormous pair of white boots that stepped directly in front of her. She looked up to see the all too familiar figure of the scary-voiced man towering over her defeated body. It was funny, even with the suit on, which looked exactly like every other suit the beings were wearing, this particular man was immediately recognizable by Twilight solely due to his large frame that dwarfed the others. Even though she couldn’t see his mouth, or most of his face for that matter, Twilight could swear that the man was smiling as he looked down at her helpless position. It was mostly because of his still-visible eyes that seemed to squint in a way eyes do when someone smiles. The man then held out his baton and tapped it against the palm of one hand as he held it in the other, like a cop about to issue a beat-down on a man trying to evade arrest. “Bad pony.” The man held the baton up as if he were about to bring it down, “Don’t worry, soon you’ll learn to respect a proper authority.” Those were the last words she heard before the metal baton slammed directly into the side of her face, knocking her out cold and sending her to a world darker than Luna’s night.