//------------------------------//
// Irate 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
//------------------------------//

As the unicorns approached, Applejack looked helplessly at them, her breath quickening as the inevitability of the situation they were in fully dawned on her. She had no idea what their policy was on taking prisoners, but if they knew about the Elements she and Pinkie would be treated differently from the stallion with them. She tried to focus on them even as her vision blurred again, but it wasn't easy to do so, nor was it to keep her neck turned right.
One of them lit their horn. Applejack felt magic wrap around one of her legs through the numbness enveloping it, and she was soon dragged onto the ground as the unicorn began to pull her closer. Getting even closer to the source of her sickness made her feel like she was about to vomit out her own entrails. Her throat went stiff and she felt herself choking, unable to breathe properly, and her tail and legs began to twitch violently.
Curious, another one of the soldiers motioned the unicorn to stop, and stepped closer to Applejack. "It's not supposed to be hitting her this hard," he muttered, loud enough to be heard through his helmet, in a tone that showed no caring for the mare's well being, but clear interest in what he was seeing. He also had a look around at other soldiers lying even closer to the machine. "See? They're not taking it that bad. There's something weird about this one."
"We'll have time to figure that out later," grunted the other, annoyed. She lit her horn again and returned to dragging Applejack forward. But she stopped herself just a moment later as she heard another noise, even louder than the machine's piercing screech and deep rumbling. It was a clear sound, like a glass bell playing a note, coming from the centre of town. It was not so much loud as it was permeating, sounding equally as distinct in every point without losing volume as it traversed the distance. She turned towards it, as did all the other ponies there who could.
A pillar of clear white light could be seen rising against the sky from the centre of the Crystal Empire. Its source was unclear, hidden by all the buildings between its position and theirs, but its height was impressive. Though hard to judge given the distance and lack of reference points, it still clearly dwarfed what could still be seen of the cut off and broken central tower. In a few seconds however its light dimmed and dwindled, and soon after it faded completely, like a thin wire consumed by flames in just a matter of moments.
The soldiers stared at where the pillar had been, confusion easy to read on them even with their faces obscured. One among them began to ask, "What do you think that wa-"
He did not get to finish his question. Just as he was speaking, a loud and violent explosion erupted from the portal, knocking away heavily armoured soldiers and other ponies alike and shattering the machine close to it in the process. As her eyes readjusted after the blinding flash of light and her ears slowly freed themselves of the ringing in them Applejack found herself bruised and hurt near Pinkie and the stallion accompanying them, and near a group of enemy soldiers coming back to their hooves and senses, all of them freed from the machine's influence.