Beams of light swept through the dark tunnel as the three mares trekked along the maneway tracks. Rainy led the way, her flashlight mounted to the underbarrel of her rifle to illuminate the journey as best she could. Agrippa followed close behind while gripping Rainy’s pistol close. Aerion brought up the rear with nothing but a baseball bat.
It had been over an hour since they left the Base of Operations, and they were still trapped underground in the seemingly endless labyrinth of tunnels. They were without a map, so any time they came across a fork in the path, they relied on Aerion’s memory to choose which way to follow. Luckily, the signs posted at each station told them they were still on the right path.
They were headed south, further away from the center of the city, where all the chaos and violence were said to be located. The center was where the Dark Zone was, where all the filth and seditionists chose to rest their heads. It was also where the Division was beginning to regain control; the same Division that now wanted her dead. Instead, they were now heading towards Gramarecy Park, Aerion’s place of residence.
Rainy had been no expert on Manhattan's boroughs and neighborhoods before all this. As a Ponyville resident, she’d spent most of her life in small towns, away from much of the political power of the country. However, before she’d deployed into Manehattan as part of the second wave, she’d taken the time to do her research on where she’d be stationed. Gramarecy Park was a small, quaint community near the southern portion of the city, absent the towering skyscrapers of the center. It was most famous for its namesake park, which was sealed off from outsiders. Legend said that Celestia herself had blessed the park at the city’s founding, causing the plants to never wilt and die. It wasn’t nearly as big or famous as Central Park, but it was certainly prestigious.
If Aerion had managed to get a place there, she was certainly a lot more well-off than she let on. It seems the failed Shadowbolt equipment deal didn’t affect her business too much.
“How much further?” Rainy called back.
“A few more stops. I think. This journey goes by a lot quicker in a train, believe it or not…” Aerion said.
“We haven’t seen anyone in hours, Rainy. Do we really need to be so uptight?” Agrippa asked.
“I’ve been attacked down here before. We can’t let our guard down, especially if Lightning is still following us,” Rainy responded.
The three continued on in silence; their voices echoed and carried through the enclosed space, and they didn’t want anyone following them to be able to hone in through sound. They occasionally walked past a spent bullet casing or a trail of hoofprints where the gathering dirt became denser, but there were no other signs of life. Her motion tracker was likewise silent. Rainy would’ve assumed that the maneway tunnels would be a popular refuge for the city’s inhabitants; it would be safer from rioters than up above, and staying underground would keep them slightly warmer. Why wasn’t anyone living down here?
Up ahead, an inert maneway train carriage blocked their way forward. Through the windows streamed beams of fluorescent light, much brighter and stronger than the sparse light bulbs along the depths of the tunnel.
“Up ahead. Lights. Looks like another station,” Rainy said.
Agrippa sighed in relief. “Good! We can finally get our bearings again.”
The trains that traversed these maneway tunnels were built so wide that they were inches from brushing against the side walls, so squeezing past it was not an option. Rainy shouldered her rifle and jumped up onto the platform of the train, then used her hooves to pry the access doors open. The sliding door gave way with the uncooperative screech of metal on metal, revealing the interior of the carriage to them. The narrow walkway was strewn with abandoned suitcases, briefcases, and other belongings from the early panic of the infection, but there were no other signs of life.
“Clear,” Rainy said to the other two mares before turning to help them up.
However, as she took Aerion’s hoof to pull her up, a thud made her pause. The sound came from… above her, and the resulting vibrations sent soft vibrations rushing through the rest of the train car, the metal vibrating under her hooves. Something was on top of the train.
Rainy slowly raised a hoof and pressed it to her lips. “Shhhhh…”
Aerion and Agrippa did as they were told, and Rainy pulled her rifle back out, aiming down the iron sights at the other end of the train. She took a step forward, then another. The noises had stopped at the other end. There had been no blur of movement in the windows, no blip in her motion tracker, so it must still be up there. She took another step. Her feather tensed against the trigger. She exhaled, and her breath fogged up briefly before disappearing into the air. All her attention was focused on the door at the other end.
The panel above her exploded.
Rainy flinched, but before she could turn, a large weight dropped onto her back, slamming her down onto the deck. A foreign hoof pinned the barrel of her rifle to the steel floor. Another pushed her head into the years-old stains, grinding her muzzle in them. Rainy grunted and arched her back while her wings flared, but her attacker was surprisingly strong, resisting her attempts to buck them off like a bronco. She tried to summon more strength from deep within herself… but found her body wasn’t responding to her. Exhaustion and fatigue were making her sluggish and weak; a full 24 hours of fighting had finally caught up with her.
“Don’t shoot, Agrippa! You might hit Rainy!” she heard Aerion call out. Then, a few seconds later, she heard the thud of wood on flesh, followed by a yelp of pain, and the weight was lifted off her.
Rainy yanked her muzzle off the disgusting floor and gasped for clean air, taking a second to recover before looking around. Above her, Aerion loomed, grasping her baseball bat tightly as she stood over a frail, blood-soaked creature. It whimpered pathetically and curled up underneath the row of seats, covering its face with a hoof as it tried its best to hide in plain sight. Its hooves weren’t able to cover its horn, however. Rather, its lack of horn. The appendage was shattered at the base, and its stringy mane wasn’t able to cover it completely, remaining a constant reminder of what had happened to it.
“You…” Rainy murmured to herself.
“You?” Aerion asked in confusion, but her eyes never left the cowering unicorn.
“I’ve met this pony before. She attacked me when I first arrived in the city,” Rainy explained.
“And now she’s attacking us again. We should finish her off before she has a chance to do it a third time,” Aerion snarled coldly.
The unicorn whined in response. “P-Please… don’t kill…”
“It’s because she’s terrified, Aerion. Just look at her,” Agrippa said. “She’s no threat to anyone.”
Agrippa stepped forward and crouched down to better look at the unicorn underneath the seats. She slowly reached out with a hoof, as if trying to calm and tame a wild animal, but the unicorn flinched and scooted further away from her reach.
“Your horn…” Agrippa trailed off with a whimper of pity as she caught sight of it.
“On the train platform back at the Maneway Station,” Rainy interjected. “Self-inflicted.”
“N-No!...” the unicorn adamantly rebuffed her, pointing a hoof down at the other end of the train car. “Them...!”
“Them?” Agrippa asked. “Who’s them? Are they still here?”
The unicorn didn’t answer, instead shrinking into as small of a ball as she could manage before rocking back and forth, whispering to herself.
“Watch her, you two,” Rainy said. “I’m gonna make sure whatever it is she’s referring to isn’t still around.”
Rainy rose back to her hooves and leveled her gun once again, swiftly advancing on the other end of the maneway carriage. The closer she got, the brighter the lights became; they must be inside the station by this point. That meant platforms, stairways, walls, plenty of places for enemies to conduct an ambush. She needed to be careful.
She crouched down and peered through the small, dirty window in the sliding door. The narrow confines of the maneway tunnel expanded open to accommodate the boarding platforms, but it was hardly spacious; the low ceilings and tight walls made Rainy feel claustrophobic. She’d take open air instead any day.
After seeing no signs of life, Rainy pulled the door open and dropped back down onto the tracks. Once her hooves were back on the ground, she noticed the dried blood that was staining the wooden railroad ties and the ground beneath. It started as a few droplets at the maneway train, then turned into splashes, then puddles, as she got closer and closer to the station. Then, she walked into the open area, and the sight took her breath away in a horrified gasp.
It was a massacre. The station had been converted into a settlement of sorts, with wooden structures put up on top of the platforms to hold supplies and sleeping bags. There were sleeping areas, communal areas, and places for cooking, eating, and playing. The maneway tunnel had become a hidden town for survivors looking to hide from the chaos on the streets above. However, all the residents were slaughtered, and their blood coated the ground so much that it made the whole area glow an eerie red.
Their bodies were strewn across the platforms and tracks without any attempt to make their demise dignified. There was no mercy, no pity, no respect; they were butchered. Some died with makeshift weapons in their hooves in an attempt to fight back, while others lay cowering in the corner in terror, trying desperately to delay the inevitable. The scene nearly made Rainy lose the little food left in her stomach, and she dry-heaved before she could compose herself.
However, as Rainy slowly made her way through the station, she noticed something odd about the corpses: they were all earth ponies. Not one unicorn or pegasus was among the slaughtered. Manehattan’s population was mostly earth ponies, yes, but they had been a rare sight in Rainy’s time here. Agrippa and Aerion told her that the earth ponies’ passive magic flow made them extra susceptible to contracting the virus, so she assumed that most of them had already died off. Were these earth ponies naturally immune? Or were they infected, and killed before the virus could overwhelm them instead?
Rainy reached the back of the station, and she received her answer to where all the unicorns and pegasi were. Against the back wall were two bloody piles of body parts: one full of horns, one full of wings. They had been methodically sawed off and tossed into the corner to rot.
What the hell happened here?
The snowstorm had subsided, and the sun was shining through cracks in the clouds above. Perfect weather for a supply drop.
Lightning Dust stood atop the roof of the Madisoat Mare Garden as the wind from the helicopter’s rotors threatened to blow her off her hooves, but she forced herself to remain upright. She couldn’t afford to look weak in front of her new squadmates. She had plans to be the de facto leader of the Shadowbolts in this city, and she needed the respect of her fellow agents to make that happen. And that started with appearing strong and taking control.
The helicopter gently touched down on the roof’s landing pad, and its blades began to slow, allowing Lightning to approach without being blown away. Two ponies leaped out and began to haul boxes of food, water, and supplies onto the helipad, but they weren’t the ones she was focused on. Instead, she watched as four other ponies with SPARC watches clambered out of the cargo bay and took in the Manehattan sights for the first time.
The first one off was a pink and green unicorn, with headphones dangling around her neck blasting music loud enough that Lightning could hear it over the whirring of the helicopter. She wore saddlebags overtop her Shadowbolt jumpsuit, and they were filled to the brim; with what, she did not know.
“Agent Lemon Zest, at your service! Ready to rock this bitch,” she said, with a couple headbangs to emphasize the point. “You must be Lightning.”
Lightning snorted. “I am. Welcome to Manehattan. Hope you enjoyed your smooth ride over, because that was thanks to me.”
“I’m pretty sure we have the pilot to thank for that,” Lemon responded. “What did you do?”
Lightning rolled her eyes. “I destroyed the spellcaster that was stopping you from flying into the city in the first place. You’re welcome.”
“Aw, that was sooooo sweet of you!” the second agent’s sing-songy voice interrupted before her voice suddenly turned icy cold. “It’s too bad nopony cares!”
Lightning looked over at the newcomer. She was a yellow and pink pegasus, and she wore custom-modified flight goggles over her eyes that provided extra rangefinding abilities and magnification. A hefty markspony rifle was strapped to her back.
“Ah. Sour Sweet,” Lightning said. “Good to see you again. I see your attitude hasn’t improved.”
“It has been a while since boot camp, hasn’t it?” Sour said, her voice sickly sweet. “Those were some great times. Fond memories… if I block you out of them!”
“Lighten up, Sour. We’re squadmates now, remember?” Lemon said before Lightning could come up with another retort. “We need to work together on this. And that means we need to get along!”
The third agent stepped off the helicopter, a purple and silver unicorn with medic bags strapped to her sides. “I don’t understand why we have to be teammates anyway. Aren’t Shadowbolts supposed to work independently?”
“Usually that would be the case, but command has deemed this situation too dangerous to allow us to freelance this,” Lightning responded.
“I feel like a damn Wonderbolt now,” the third agent groaned. “I’m Agent Sugarcoat.”
“Agent Lightning. Who’s your fourth?”
The three new agents all turned around to watch the last agent climb out of the helicopter. He was the only stallion of the group, so he easily towered over all of them, and he had wings… only, they weren’t pegasi wings. They were dark, leathery bat wings that nearly blended in with the dark colors of his Shadowbolt jumpsuit. He sported two fangs too long to fit in his mouth, so they poked out past his lower lips and glinted in the sunlight. His pupils were slits, and his ears were tufted. A thestral.
“Gridlock. A pleasure,” he said in a thick batpony accent as he adjusted the large LMG strapped to his side, the ammo belt draped around his neck.
Lightning tilted her head. “A thestral agent? I didn’t realize they allowed non-ponies into the Shadowbolts. What’s next, griffons?”
“I am a pony,” Gridlock responded. “And griffons don’t like Equestrians at the moment, so unlikely.”
“He was a last-minute addition to the team,” Lemon Zest said. “Doesn’t talk very much. But he listens to my music, so he’s cool in my book.”
“That’s because you don’t give him a choice,” Sugarcoat intoned bluntly. “You don’t give anyone a choice.”
“Well, someone has to keep the spirits up and the nerves calm. All you losers are always so cranky and worked up!” Lemon said.
“Maybe we’re all cranky all the time because you keep annoying us!” Sour growled.
Lightning stepped forward. “Alright, knock it off, all of you. You’re all bickering like foals when we’re supposed to be a team. I don’t want to hear any more of it.”
“I’m sorry, who put you in charge?” Sour asked snidely.
“Command did. I’m the acting field commander of all Division forces in the city, as a reward for single-hoofedly taking down the Freelancer spellcaster,” Lightning said as she stared down the other four ponies; none of them objected. “And I intend to do things right this time. I assume you’ve all received the intel briefings before you came over?”
All of the agents nodded.
“Then you know the seriousness of the threats we face. The First Wave agents were weak and selfish, and now they’ve created a huge problem in this city. I won’t allow any more rogue Shadowbolts on my watch. We’re going to work together as a team, we’re going to stay in line, and we’re going to follow orders from Command. If you can’t do that, I’ll have you shipped off this island on the first helicopter out, and you can sit out the rest of this fight in a jail cell while the rest of us become Equestrian heroes. Got it?”
The other four nodded again, and Lightning stomped a hoof for emphasis. “They’ll remember our names for this, Agents. For good or ill. It’s up to you to make sure they speak of you in a good light.”
Just then, Lightning’s watch flashed bright orange, and her SPARC’s automated voice called out. “ALERT. INCOMING TRANSMISSION.”
“This is Captain Shining Armor, broadcasting on all known EUP frequencies,” a stallion’s panicked voice said through her commlink. “This is a distress call to any and all friendly forces in the city. Our situation is desperate. Is anyone out there?”
Lightning accepted the hail and synced the call with the rest of her squadmates so they could listen in. “Captain Armor, this is Agent Lightning Dust. I read you. Go ahead.”
“Agent? You’re with the Division? I didn’t realize there were any still left in the city. You’re not one of the bad ones, are you?”
“No sir. The second wave of agents has started making landfall in the city. We’ve taken back the Base of Operations at Grand Central, and supply runs have restarted.”
The stallion let out a relieved sigh. “That’s the first good news I’ve heard in weeks… but I need your help, Agent. Badly. We’re under attack by rioters at the EUP staging area. We’ve been reinforced by the EUP troops that managed to escape the Base’s destruction, but there are too many of them to hold back. We are protecting two VIPs who cannot be moved, so we cannot abandon this position. We need any help you can provide, or we will all be dead.”
“Don’t worry Captain, I’m on the way with a few friends. We’ll break the siege in no time.”
“Thank Celestia. Hurry, Agent. We don’t have much time.”
Lightning ended the call and gestured to the other agents. “You heard him. Let’s move, team! Let’s announce our arrival in a big way.”
They had tried to bring the injured unicorn with them, but she was delirious and inconsolable. No attempts by any of them to prod her into moving from the maneway station made her do anything but whimper and shrink away from their attempts at physical interaction. In the end, they had to leave her behind; Agrippa told them that moving her by force would only cause even more mental distress. There was nothing they could do.
The blood-soaked station was far behind them, but the images of the massacre lingered on Rainy’s mind. What could’ve done something so horrific? So cruel? Rioters were just opportunistic ponies trying to get ahead in the chaos. The Freelancers were cruel, but they didn’t strike Rainy as being that cruel. This was something new, something unfamiliar. Something horrifying. Rainy wondered what other secrets this city was hiding.
They finally reached the stop nearest Aerion’s condo, and the three mares made their way up to street level for the first time in hours. The sun was up now, and its rays were glittering on the freshly fallen snow covering the ground. However, the heavy gray clouds were still present up above, covering most of the blue sky and leaving everything feeling dull and lifeless; there weren’t any weatherponies to clear them away, after all.
In front of Rainy was Gramarecy Park, but it was hardly the symbol of life and prosperity all the stories had made it out to be. Through the tall fence that surrounded it, she could see that the plants and trees inside had all wilted and died, leaving it brown and lifeless. The snowfall had covered the whole park in a white dusting. Parts of it had been dug up to create deep ditches, which were filled with black bags in the shape of a pony’s body. Mass graves.
“Celestia’s magic isn’t working here anymore,” Rainy grumbled to herself as she winced and looked away.
“She’s infected. I don’t think her magic’s doing much work at all,” Aerion said in response as she trotted past. “It’s a wonder the sun still goes up and down when it needs to.”
No amount of death or sorrow seemed to faze Aerion in the slightest. Maybe her sarcastic twits were a coping mechanism; maybe she was a heartless sociopath. Rainy couldn’t quite figure her out. But Agrippa trusted her, and she had been helpful to this point, so Rainy still followed along. Besides, it’s not like she had the luxury of picking and choosing allies when she was infected and on the run.
Aerion led Rainy and Agrippa down the street to her condominium. In contrast to the newer, sleeker skyscrapers further uptown, the buildings here were old and made of orange brick. They were also smaller; still much taller than what Rainy was used to, but it helped give the neighborhood a cozier, more intimate vibe. Well, as cozy as a neighborhood can be in a dead city full of infection and death.
The condominium in question was only fifteen stories high. The lobby, though overturned and messy from the chaos of the original panic and evacuation, luckily didn’t show any signs of looting. With the elevators offline, the three ponies trotted up the stairs to the topmost floor, where Aerion unlocked the door to her condo and pushed her way inside.
The interior was small, but sleek and modern, in sharp contrast to the antiquated brick of the exterior. The whole place was painted a stark white with dull-colored furniture and appliances, and the only color came from the occasional piece of artwork displayed on the walls. The back wall was taken up by a large window which provided an amazing view of the park below and the buildings surrounding it, though the view was soured by the sad state of the park itself.
The place was a mess, but it wasn’t due to rioters or looters. MagiTech prototypes and other pieces of technology were scattered across the condo, covering every flat piece of furniture possible. Some of the designs were rudimentary and mundane, while others seemed beyond the realm of possibility. Aerion absently nudged a device out of the way with a hoof as she made her way into the living room.
“Welcome to my humble abode, mi casa su casa, yada yada yada,” Aerion rambled as she gestured around with a hoof. “It’s seen better days, but it’ll do. I’ve only got two beds, so someone’s gonna have to sleep on the couch. Unless you two are comfortable sharing.”
Agrippa and Rainy briefly made eye contact before they both looked away with a huff.
“Rainy can take the couch. She’s used to it at this point,” Agrippa said.
Rainy refused to rise to the bait, and an uneasy silence fell over the three instead.
Aerion raised her eyebrows. “...Ooooookay then. Sorry I brought it up.”
“It’s fine. I feel like I could sleep just about anywhere right now,” Rainy said with a yawn.
Agrippa nodded curtly and cantered away to the guest room to unload her saddlebags. Before Rainy could move as well, Aerion’s orange hoof pressed against her chest.
“I don’t want to keep you up too much longer, Agent Awesome, but we left the Base in such a hurry that we had to leave your virus scans behind. I’d love to get some updated ones before you crash,” Aerion said.
Rainy sighed. “Alright, as long as it doesn’t take too long.”
Aerion trotted off and returned a few seconds later with a small device grasped in a forehoof. It looked somewhat like a metal detector wand from a security checkpoint, but it had a small screen attached just above the handle. She waved it around to test it out, and Rainy could see that it was scanning the room around her, highlighting virus hotspots in red and orange.
“It won’t be as good as the big scanner back at the station, but it’ll have to do for now. Just hold still, Agent,” Aerion said.
Rainy had lots of experience standing at attention—working as a guardpony forced her to stay in one position for hours, after all—but the feeling of Aerion circling her body and waving the strange scanner inches from her fur almost made her shudder. When the wand passed over her wings, it made a high-pitched chirping noise, drawing Aerion’s attention.
“Strange…” Aerion murmured. “Your wings are showing higher concentrations of the virus than before. I’ve never seen it multiply so quickly.”
“Well, I… did have to use them while I was taking down the spellcaster. Maybe that’s why,” Rainy said with a wince.
Aerion blinked. "You used your wings again? Are you crazy?"
"I was falling off a building, I didn't have much of a choice,” Rainy retorted, her eyes focusing on Aerion’s own tied-up wings. “Some of us don't have the luxury of choosing."
“Easy, Agent…” Aerion growled as she resumed her scanning. “If that’s the case, then I guess I don’t have to worry about the possibility of this being a more aggressive mutation to the virus. But you’ve really shifted the timeframe of your infection up. You’ve only got a day or so before it begins to spread from your wings to the rest of your body, which means Agrippa and I are pressed for time to get this cure research going.”
“What happens then? When it starts spreading?” Rainy asked.
“You start getting symptoms,” Aerion said as she waved the wand across her hindquarters. “Coughing, headache fever, sore throat, general weakness first. Then they start to get worse. You start finding it’s harder to move. Your hooves feel like they’re full of cement. Your joints start to lock up. Your color begins to fade. Your vision goes dim. You burn up from the inside, Agent, until you’re nothing more than a husk, a shell. Then your body collapses, and you expire. Nothing more than a faceless casualty in a mass grave.”
Rainy grimaced. “Does anyone survive?”
Aerion finished her scanning and moved to stare Rainy in the eyes. “85% of ponies who contract it succumb. Even if you do survive, the disease takes a massive toll on your body; some are left blind, others paralyzed, or without the ability to fly or cast magic anymore. The rest are the lucky buggers who are immune for some reason or another. The virus takes them over and they don’t feel a thing.”
“Well, maybe I’m immune. I haven’t noticed anything yet, after all.”
“That would be very convenient for all of us, but I guess we’ll find out in a day or so,” Aerion chuckled as she patted Rainy on the shoulder. “Get some rest, Agent. I’ll go see if I can get us some hot water.”
“Will do. Goodnight, Aerion.”
Rainy waited for Aerion to leave the room before visibly wilting. She could fall asleep standing up with how tired she was… but she needed to do one more thing first. She unslung her rifle and placed it atop the coffee table before slowly stripping her way out of her torn, scorched Shadowbolt jumpsuit. The black and purple uniform had started to stick and even melt into her white fur, and it took some effort to peel the material off of her. But finally, the last symbol of her affiliation to the Division was in a tattered pile on the floor.
She was a free mare. Free for the first time in a long time. But she was a free mare with a timer ominously ticking down over her head; she didn’t have the luxury of sitting back and doing nothing. For Rainy, the work was only just beginning. And she was determined to fight to the end until she emerged victorious, or it consumed her.
But for now, she needed to rest. And she was asleep as soon as her body hit the cushions.
Celestia was trapped.
She sat in a large box, with nothing to keep her comfortable or occupied. Two of the sides were glass; one faced the room she was kept in, while the other faced the neighboring box her sister resided in. The rest were hard steel, sealed to keep her isolated from the rest of the world. Air was pumped inside through a large filter that kept the environment as clean and pristine as possible.
Despite all these precautions, it was still too late for her. She was already infected; this setup was just to delay the onset and progress as much as possible while a cure was researched. The doctors told her that alicorn magic was stronger than normal pony magic, so she’d be able to resist it for longer, but she still felt weak and helpless. Each breath brought the risk of causing her to descend into a coughing fit, and her body was simultaneously fevered and chilled, never comfortable.
There was nothing more she wanted than to be out there helping restore order and hope… but the last time she tried had put her in this mess in the first place. Equestria no longer wanted to listen to her.
Luna and Celestia were hidden underneath the EUP staging ground, the most well-guarded place in the city. But despite her secluded location, Celestia couldn’t escape the constant explosions and gunfire that had been raging for hours now. Shining Armor had assured her that the situation was under control, but his face was rapidly descending into worry and panic that betrayed the true trouble they were in. Now he was up top directing the defense, leaving the two princesses all alone as the attackers closed in.
“…S-Sister?…” Luna croaked.
Celestia glanced over to the identical cell next to her. Luna was no longer able to sit upright, so she lay on her side like a sleeping dog, barely able to lift her head up to stare blankly at her.
“Yes, Luna?” Celestial responded as sweetly as she could.
“You’re still there…” Luna muttered, as if it were possible for Celestia to walk away. “It’s getting harder and harder to see. Has Shining come back yet?”
“No, he hasn’t. No one has come by in a while.”
“Are they going to die?”
Celestia did her best to put on a brave face for her sister. “Shining Armor is one of the best captains I’ve ever had. If anyone can pull this off, it’s him.”
“Why are they doing this?” Luna whimpered. “Why did they attack us? Don’t they know we only want to help?”
Celestia paused, taking the time to find the right words. “Do you remember the night you came back from the moon? You said something to me then. Do you remember what it was?”
Luna frowned. “…It’s getting harder to remember anything, sister. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize,” Celestia said quickly. “You told me, ‘Ponies do strange things when they are scared.’ You said you knew that better than anyone. And you were right, Luna. Ponies are terrified. Just like you were, all those years ago. This virus is deadly, but fear… Fear is a mind virus of its own. And no amount of reassurances and promises can cure that when it becomes terminal. Remember that, and don’t be too quick to judge, sister.”
Her explanation seemed to placate Luna somewhat, and the night princess buried her muzzle in her hooves. “But how do we stop something like that? I don't think banishing everyone to the moon will work.”
“If I had the answer to that, we wouldn’t be here right now.” And she meant that in more ways than one.
Suddenly, a faint beeping noise caught Celestia’s attention. Her ears flicked and she turned to face it. Her isolation box muffled the softer sounds around her, so tracking its exact source was difficult, but it seemed to be coming from the wall closest to her. The tempo of the beeping grew faster and faster until it became a single, held-out tone. Then, the wall erupted.
Celestia’s beleaguered body was still able to flinch away at the sudden eruption of noise and fire, and several pieces of stone thumped against the viewing glass of her isolation box, nearly cracking it. She raised a hoof instinctively to shield her sensitive eyes from the billowing flame that emerged from the hole in the wall, which disappeared as quickly as it arrived. Through the breach stepped several rioters welding firearms, moving quickly and methodically. It was as if each of them subconsciously knew what to do, or were communicating non-verbally as they swept the room.
A large figure followed them inside, a stallion, seemingly unarmed. His eyes didn’t scan the room at all; his gaze was fixed firmly on the two sisters and didn’t look away.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” the stallion chuckled as he stepped in front of her viewing window. “Two royal princesses, alone and helpless. How convenient.”
Celestia straightened up to look as strong and intimidating as she could. “And who are you, my little pony?”
“Oh, me?” The stallion placed a hoof on his chest. “I’m no one. Just someone who’s grown a little too sick of the control your guards have on this city. So we’ve decided to throw you Equestrians out once and for all.”
“Why? We’re here to protect you ponies! We brought you food, water, and supplies, but your fighting has ruined all of it.”
“Protecting? No one’s protected me a day in my life! You’ve only pushed me around, attacked me, thrown me out just for being who I am… We all feel the same way. Now it’s our turn for revenge.”
“Revenge?” Celestia asked; maybe if she could get him talking, she could stall enough time for help to arrive.
The stallion rose to the bait. “We’re gonna finish off the rest of your little EUP coalition, and then we’re gonna take you and your sister captive. What will the rest of the country do to ensure your safe release? I figure just about anything. We’ll let you go… once we’re given this city all to ourselves. Though, looking at your sister, who knows if she’ll last that long?”
Celestia had been planning on playing coy and innocent with this rioter, but the threat to her sister made her throw all her caution to the wind. Her vision turned red as she leaped to her hooves, now towering over the stallion.
“Enough!” Celestia bellowed, her wings flaring open to look as tall and imposing as possible. “I am Celestia, rightful ruler and protector of Equestria. As your princess, I command you to stand down. We do not need to be enemies.”
“That’s the thing…” His eyes flashed green. “You’re not my princess. I serve the Queen.”