//------------------------------// // Shouldn't have attacked humanity (part 4) // Story: Shouldn't have enslaved humanity [OLD VERSION] // by NoobMaster69 //------------------------------// Cadence, Celestia, Luna and Ember teleported to the ground below as a massive battle raged throughout the skies. "W- what just happened?!" Ember asked in shock. So many creatures… slaughtered like tissue paper,” Luna said, still shaken from witnessing many of her subjects cut down by the mechanized menaces. "Yeah, I got that!" Ember replied angrily, "But what I don't get is what in Tartarus those things are!" “The Vega Corporation never used any weapons like these..” Celestia said, more so out of shock than in response to Ember’s query. "Well, obviously! You never told any of us that the corporation could shred dragons in seconds! And Firebreather wasn't even a regular dragon! Only the strongest dragons are allowed to be a part of my escort!" Ember said angrily. "That's because they can't!" Luna replied, "That's why the dragons played such a crucial part in their defeat. They were the only ones who could withstand the power of their guns." "Well not from what I just saw! And you've never mentioned them having tens of thousands of flying machines… with guns on them!" Ember shouted. She was in shock, therefore not thinking clearly. So she blamed the princesses for the death of her escort. That's when she remembered something. She had several more dragons escorting her. "Wait! What about my other guards? You have to go get them!" Ember tried convincing them. That's when the body of a rather large dragon suddenly fell right in the middle of the group, making a squishing sound as it splattered blood everywhere, causing them all to scream in shock. The dragon was clearly already dead. It had been completely shredded, with dozens of holes, both large and small, going through his body. Strings of skin and flesh hung loosely away from its main body, while the creature's organs leaked out through some of the many holes on its body. It was nothing more than a bloody pulp at this point. The only thing that even made it recognisable as a dragon were its scales, although most of them had been blown off, and its size. It was so mutilated that Ember couldn't even tell who it was. "How?!" Ember asked in disbelief. It was hard to even defeat a dragon, let alone pummel it like that. But before anyone else could answer though, the 'rain' began. It started with small, red droplets at first, making them look up.. That’s when they witnessed one of the most disturbing sights they would ever see. Up in the sky, hundreds of pegasi were being shredded, their bodies being mutilated until they were nothing more than slops of flesh, blood and bone. With each passing second, dozens of bloody, mutilated bodies began raining down on the ground they stood on. The drones were slaughtering them with ease, as if they were nothing more than pests. “No!” Cadence called out, tears in her eyes, as she saw her little ponies being murdered. “Why?! Why are you doing this?!” She called out to the flying things, although she knew she wouldn’t be noticed. She fell on her knees and broke down crying. “Monsters! Monsters! Monsters…” she sobbed. “C- Cadence… we have to go. They’ll be looking f- for us,” Celestia said, barely attempting to not fall to the same sobbing as her niece. "But what about…!" Cadence shouted. "If we don't go now, they'll do the same to us!" Celestia shouted, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. "I… feel for them as well, but we cannot let our sorrow be our downfall.” The Alicorn of the Sun took a deep breath to stave off sobs before continuing. “We have subjects who need us, and if we fall, Equestria falls with us,” she said, in a slightly calmer tone. “As heartbreaking as it might be, we have to keep going. For Equestria." "Can you get us out of here?" Ember asked, now afraid. Her previous confidence had completely vanished, having been replaced by fear and sorrow. Then loud explosions began booming out in the distance. They looked towards the source of the noise, to find that it was coming from the soldiers who were launching the ground assault. They watched as the army began getting blown to bits, with bursts of flame rising up from the ground and black smoke rising up into the sky. The power of the explosions shook the very ground they stood on. "…. Because if those things don’t get us, they probably will!” Ember added, her voice rising in panic. "Stay as quiet as possible, so we don’t attract their attention," Luna whispered to the shellshocked dragon. “Sister…” Celestia did not need her sister to finish to know what she was asking of her. "Yes, it’s going to take a few seconds to perform,” Celestia whispered before turning towards her niece, whose tears had run out at this point. “Cadence, we need to go. Can you join Luna and I for the teleportation spell.” The pink alicorn gave a small nod as she got up and approached her aunts. All at once, their horns began glowing with their respective auras. “Clink!” The soft clinking noise had gone unnoticed by everyone except for Ember, who had felt something make a soft impact and bounce off her scales. She turned to where she had felt the sudden impact, and noticed what looked like a syringe with red feathers lying on the ground. She looked up, confused as to where it might have come from, and her eyes widened at what she saw. A group of drones were approaching them. "Can you speed this along a little bit!" Ember called out, “They're coming!" Her call caused them to shift their focus towards the oncoming drones, while still concentrating on the spell. "Just a few more seconds!" Celestia replied. And in a flash of light, they were gone. They appeared just outside the fence. Seemingly safe for now, the quartet took a second to catch their breath. "Everypony… alright?" Celestia asked. "Yes…. sister," Luna replied. "Did you really have to cut it that close?" Ember questioned, her panic subsiding, at least for now. Cadence however, did not reply. She just mumbled something that was completely incomprehensible. They all looked over to her, only to see her tiredly looking at one of her forelegs, which had one of the syringes sticking in it. "Cadence!" They all yelled in unison, before she collapsed to the ground. "What happened to her? I- is she dead?!" Ember asked. Just when she thought she could relax for a second, something else had to go wrong. Luna immediately went to check on the downed princess. "Her heart rate has been drastically decreased," she stated. "Good. She's just unconscious," Celestia replied. "Oh, then - " Ember cut herself off as she looked behind her, taking in her surroundings. The other two conscious princesses began to observe their whereabouts as well. They were in the midst of some trees, and right in Ember's direction, laid the aftermath of the bombardment. Scorched corpses lay throughout the now burnt and barren ground. Most of them were pony corpses, with several changeling bodies being visible as well. A profound sense of dread washed over the three rulers. However, with the fourth of them out of commission, they still needed to act quickly. “We should… regroup with the survivors," she said, pointing towards where the remaining half of the army stood, though her eyes could somehow not be turned away from the carnage that the drones unleashed. "Argh! What the…" Steel Horn looked around to find the source of the bright flash, only to find himself in another location entirely. He was in the midst of some trees, with the battle no longer in view, other than the smoke rising up from the battlefield about a hundred metres away. He looked around to see what the hell was going on, and found himself surrounded by the three Alicorn princesses, one of which was unconscious, an equally as confused Shining Armour, and Dragon Lord Ember. "What just happened? What is the meaning of this?" He asked, confused. "The meaning of this is that Celestia just saved your life," Ember replied. "Saved my..?" Realisation dawned upon him, "Ohhhhhh… my apologies then. The entire Minotaur Kingdom thanks you, Celestia." "Well, you're most welcome. It wasn't anything any other pony in my position wouldn't do," Celestia replied. "So… what now?" Ember asked. "We need to head back to Equestria, regroup, and tell the others what happened,” Luna said. "Considering the First Humans just incapacitated Cadence, they’re likely trying to track us down,” Celestia explained. "We need to go now, before it's too late.” What they didn't know was that it was already too late. Several drones had picked up the sudden flash in the midst of the trees, away from the battle. Given the two most valuable individuals had just vanished in a bright light again, it was pretty clear that was where they reappeared, and it was clear who helped them escape. "I agree. Let's - Gah!" Steel Horn felt a sudden jolt of pain on his arm. "What on Equus…" he turned towards where he had felt the jolt of pain, finding a syringe sticking out of his arm. “Steel!” Ember said, fearing Steel Horn would be incapacitated the same way as Cadence was. “I’ll be alright,” he assured. “It’ll take a lot more than one of these to bring me down.” The majority of the drones were still quite far away, but two of the drones were ahead of the pack; the ones who had seen them teleport into the jungle. “Run!” Celestia called out, levitating the unconscious Cadence and making a break for it. The rest of them immediately followed after her, with the dragons and alicorns taking flight as they fled. Luna looked back towards the approaching drones. “They’re gaining on us!” She called out, “We can’t outrun them!” The drones were holding their fire, waiting until they were in range so that they could be more accurate. "What do we do?" Ember asked as they ran through the forest. "We should at least try to fend them off if we can't escape them," Steel Horn suggested. "If it does come to that, Celestia and Luna, you should teleport as far as you can. The three of us will hold them off as long as we can to buy you time. Once you’re ready, come back for us with a larger force. Unfortunately, if we are to win this fight, I fear some of us will have to lose," he added. The sound of tranquilizers being fired, which sounded a lot like suppressed gunfire, began coming from behind them. They were focusing on Ember and Steel Horn, since they were the ones in the back. They were also much easier to hit considering the dart's slower speed. Ember was flying in a much more predictable manner and much more slowly than the Alicorns, while Steel Horn only stayed on the ground. The Alicorns had begun making evasive maneuvers, zipping about erratically and unpredictably using their faster movement. Steel Horn yelped in pain as he was hit by another tranquilizer dart. Then another, and another and another. He was hit by several, yet still did not go down, much to the surprise of the drone pilots and the leaders observing the confrontation back in Utopia. Steel Horn did feel himself getting more tired however, and had to try his best just to keep his eyes open. Ember on the other hand, was having little to no trouble dealing with the darts, as her scales rendered her pretty much invulnerable to them. The two Alicorns just did their best to dodge the few shots that actually came their way. "We can't keep this up!" Ember said. "There!" Celestia pointed to an area down the path they were following, "Once we take the turn, we immediately go into the trees and lose them. Once they’re far enough away, we'll go back down the path we already took, back towards the camp. They shouldn’t expect that." "At least… it's a… plan…" Steel Horn said tiredly. As they were approaching the bend, there was a sudden loud shriek from Luna and everyone turned to face her. "Luna, are you alright?!" Celestia asked, worried. "Are you hit?" "I… I am," said Luna as she flew. "I have been hit in the leg, but I will be able hold out a little while longer," she said, the tranquilizer not  having taken effect yet, "We have to keep moving." "Are you sure you'll be okay?" Celestia asked. "Yes, we can rest once we're safe," she answered. And so they ran, and flew, down the winding path. But then they came face to face with the last thing they would've ever expected. Ahead of them were Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow, conversing with each other as they headed their way. One by one, they each noticed the frantic group in front of them, making them slow down for a moment. None of the creatures knew what to say, as if both had been caught with an appendage in the cookie jar. "Ignore them!" Ember said, "They'll be the least of our problems if the First Humans capture us. If we’re going to do this we need to do it now!” So, they did proceed with the plan, ignoring the villains' presence. They then heard a loud thud, and looking around for the source of the noise, they found Steel Horn on the ground. The many tranquilizers he had been shot with had begun to take their toll on him, and he was far too drowsy to continue running. With Celestia currently occupied with carrying Cadence, Luna went back to get him. She couldn't get close however, and immediately flinched as two darts flew past her, just barely missing her head. "Go!" Said Steel Horn. "Get help and… come… back for… me…" he said, as he gradually blacked out. Just as that happened, they heard the voice of a certain centaur. “After them!” "Must everything go wrong today?!" Ember asked. "How dare they not tremble in fear at the mere sight of us!" Chrysalis said angrily. "After them!" Said Tirek, but before they could give chase, they came face to face with the last thing they would've ever expected. Two flying metal machines, followed by a group of a few dozen more flying machines behind them. The machines slowly came to a complete stop as they came face to face with them, hovering in place. They just stared at each other awkwardly for a few moments, both parties extremely surprised that they had encountered the other. "These things are what they were running from? Flying pieces of scrap? Pathetic," said Chrysalis. "Well in their defense, how often do you see flying pieces of scrap metal?" Cozy Glow asked. "Well, I… guess that makes sense," Chrysalis replied. "Sir, we’ve found Tirek and Cozy Glow?" One of the drone captains asked the general. "Yes, it seems like Cozy Glow has now become a hybrid, Tirek has become a lot fatter, and I’m presuming the other one with them is Chrysalis," said Holden. "Your orders, sir?" The captain asked. "We may very well be dealing with three omnipotent megalomaniacs. I'm not taking any risks. Tranq em'" Holden replied. "Yes sir," The captain replied, before reaching for the intercom, "All units, open fire. Tranquilizers only." "What are those things doing?" Chrysalis asked. "They don't seem to be attacking," Tirek stated the obvious. "Then we should attack them first. We should get them before they get u - " Chrysalis was cut off as the drones all began to open fire. Most of them focused on Tirek, with him being the biggest and most striking target, with Cozy Glow having the least amount of focus directed at her. Tirek roared in anger as the Tranquilizer darts impacted against him, though they were unable to pierce through his skin. Chrysalis was also able to withstand the barrage, with her chitin being much stronger than a regular changeling's and serving as a form of about that protected her from the darts. Cozy Glow just hid behind Tirek once they started shooting. Once the two heard the drones cease their fire, they checked themselves and felt nothing out of the ordinary. Upon realizing the darts were having no effect on them, they looked towards the drones with hateful eyes. “Destroy them!” Chrysalis shouted. Cozy Glow came out from behind Tirek, and the three of them all began charging their magic simultaneously. An orange ball of magical energy began forming above Tirek’s head, while Cozy Glow’s horn began emitting a red aura, and Chrysalis’s horn a green aura. All at once, they began assaulting the drones with powerful magic blasts, expecting them all to be destroyed once they were done. However, to their surprise however, the drones remained hovering in place, having not even been phased by their energy beams. "Any other ideas?" Cozy Glow asked, looking at the drones, who were just hovering in place. “It appears we ate at an impasse," Tirek observed. "Or, we would be, if it wasn't for this." Tirek then uprooted a nearby tree with his bare hands, followed by throwing it at the group of drones. Some of them managed to dodge the projectile, but the tree did manage to hit two of the drones, one of which exploded upon impact, while the other got crushed by the force of the large projectile and fell to the ground, sparks flying from the downed drone. Tirek gave a hearty laugh upon realizing his success. "Is that the best you can do?!" He shouted at the drones, mocking them. The drones then began doing something unexpected. Instead of darts, the remaining drones shot out metal canisters, surrounding the three. Chrysalis was confused by the seemingly futile action, but Tirek and Cozy Glow both knew exactly what the canisters were, and what was coming next. "You had to ask…" said Cozy Glow. Soon enough, the canisters began emitting the same red gas that the two former prisoners. Saw take down Cerberus. Chrysalis and Cozy Glow attempted to teleport themselves and Triek away, but it was too late. It was the last thing the trip knew before everything went dark. "Sir, we've managed to count the number of ponies that are still alive, we're holding them in place with the drones. There are seven pegasi, nine-hundred earth ponies, and six-hundred unicorns still alive. Additionally, we have successfully tranqed Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow," said a soldier. “How shall we proceed?” "Good," one of the generals said before turning to the others, "We should have a team go up to the surface to retrieve them, and send a few helicopters to carry Tirek back to the surface camp." "We have a limited number of prisoners we can actually house, so we should send out some of the scientists alongside the retrieval team to pick out whichever specimens they want. We’ll execute the remainder," said one of the generals. "Anything else, soldier?” "There's one other thing. There were several other unidentified corpses littered among the ponies. These creatures are, believe it or not, even more colourful than the ponies themselves, and seem to have an insectoid appearance. We did some digging and reviewed some of the footage from the battle, and we found this," he gave them a tablet, which played a video of a 'unicorn' being killed by the shockwave of a blast. The corpse of the same unicorn then gradually began transforming into the body of another creature. "Great…” said Holden, "We're dealing with bloody shapeshifters now?! Tell the science team to collect any of those bodies they can find to see if there’s a way we can expose them. If any of them manage to infiltrate Utopia, who knows what kind of havoc they can wreak.” Holden took one more second, trying to think of the best solution to counter this new threat. “Keep the prisoners under twenty-four hour surveillance,” he concluded. “Any one of them could be one of these creatures. Better be safe than sorry." And so the soldiers and scientists got themselves ready to go 'attend' to their 'guests'.