//------------------------------// // Armageddon Calls // Story: The Great Extraterrestrial War, 1023-1027 // by The Blue EM2 //------------------------------// Nopony would have believed, in the last years after the reunification of Equestria, that pony affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space. Nopony could have dreamed we were being scrutinized, as somepony with a microscope studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. Few ponies even considered the possibility of life on other planets and yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded Equestria with envious eyes, and slowly and surely, they drew their plans against us. Izzy would never forget the weather that day when the world came to an end. It was bright and sunny, with not a single cloud in the sky, and the trees cast some nice shade as she made her way back into Bridlewood. The atmosphere seemed to be relatively cheerful, or at least as cheerful as it usually was around Bridlewood. Ever since the chaos from the Bridlewoodstock incident had been resolved, unicorns seemed to be a bit more relaxed about events happening in their local area. "Hello Izzy!" called Alphabittle. "How's life treating you in Maretime Bay?" "Oh, it's going well!" Izzy replied, as she continued to trot down the street. "You would not believe some of the stuff we get up to!" "Well, at least things are quieter around here now," the unicorn replied. "With the Troggles gone, we can all relax a bit. Looks as though the Forest Critter Field Day is the wildest things will be around here for a while." "You bet!" Izzy grinned, before asking her own question. "How's it going with you and Queen Haven?" Alphabittle laughed. "Couldn't be better. Pipp and Zipp couldn't be luckier to have such an amazing mom. In fact, we're meeting somewhere at a spa town later today, so I'll need to look my best." He paused. "It's funny how life works sometimes." "What do you mean?" Izzy asked. "If it weren't for you guys bringing the magic back, I'd never have met the love of my life." Izzy nodded. "I know, right?" She then moved her eyes before taking a turning. "Gotta go to my house now. See ya!" "See you later!" Izzy continued to trot down the path until she came to her home, several yards down from the turning she had taken. She popped through the door and smiled as her old home came into view. Although she hadn't spent a night under its roof in quite a while, she still valued the place. It was a happy place of positive memories. When she had left it to start her quest to Maretime Bay (where the note had reliably informed her that she had friends), she had nopony really to talk to. But when she had returned she had four! And now five, given that Misty had joined the gang. Hopefully Opaline didn't know about that! Izzy got to work indoors, firing up her music machine to keep her mind occupied. Some stuff needed to be moved, and so she got to work on clearing boxes and shifting objects around to make some space. Boxes and other items were soon out of the way, and before long the place looked a lot better. Izzy smiled to herself as the place was slowly improved. Her new life on the other side of the continent meant she didn't often get a chance to come back here, and so she enjoyed all the time in Bridlewood she got. It was quiet, a nice change from the hustle and bustle of Maretime Bay. Izzy stopped when she suddenly heard a strange sound echoing through the air. It was a low pitched, thundering horn of some description. Based on what she'd read in the stuff saved from the archives of Sunny's dad, cruise liners of ancient Equestria had been fitted with similar devices. But Bridlewood was nowhere near the sea! How could there be a cruise liner sounding a horn around here? Suddenly, the noise was joined by screaming and other assorted noises of mass panic. Izzy quickly left her house to try and find out what was going on, dashing up to Bridlewood's main road to try and find out what was going on. Unicorns were running in terror as explosions tore through the forest. Flames roared through the region and set trees on fire, soon choking the air in a cloud of ash of smoke. Izzy stopped. "What's going on? What's happening?" Another horn sounded, this one considerably higher pitched than the last. A series of loud clanking noises started, when suddenly a large machine stumbled into view. It was propelled around on three metal legs, which were connected into a lower torso unit which reminded Izzy of the stinger of a bee. Protuding out of this torso were a series of metal whips which writhed about like tentacles. A neck joint satt atop the framework, and perched atop that was a metal head built out of segmented plates. The machine suddenly saw her. The head unit began to glow with light. And suddenly a series of energy blasts roared out of mounts on the side. Izzy galloped away as fast as she could as the machine gave chase, the legs powering back and forth as it moved after her. Izzy was certain she was doing her maximum speed, but the machine was effortlessly keeping up. The energy things were struggling to keep track of her, but the machine almost seemed to be playing with her. As if it were somehow alive. Izzy saw more of them rampaging through Bridlewood, chasing after ponies. The tentacle things were spinning at full speed, seemingly looking to catch some prey. Izzy skidded to a stop outside the Crystal Tea Rooms as her attacker suddenly changed target. Another loud horn caught her attention, and she looked up. Another of these machines were there. This one was so large it blotted out the sun. The head suddenly looked down at them, and two objects mounted to the sides lit up. Seconds later, two energy blasts flew from the mounts and smashed into the Crystal Tea Rooms. Smoke billowed from the destroyed structure as Alphabittle charged out, having escaped just in time. "Izzy!" he shouted. "Run! Get help! We cannot hold the-" He never finished his sentence, as one of the smaller machines charged in from behind and impaled him. Izzy screamed as she was drenched from head to flank in Alphabittle's blood as the machine tore him apart. She turned and ran, desperate to escape the chaos consuming Bridlewood. She ran and ran for what felt like hours, desperate to escape from the metal monsters that had ransacked her home. She had no way of knowing it, but she had just witnessed the end of the world. Fimfiction proudly presents A story by The Blue EM2 Developed in co-operation with users on Discord And based on the works of H. G. Wells Starring the voices of: Jenna Warren Anna Sani A. J. Bridel J. J. Gerber Matreiyi Ramakrishnan Andrew Jackson Rush Marshall Amanda Martinez And Peter Capaldi in THE GREAT EXTRATERRESTRIAL WAR, 1023-1027 Background and character animation by Atomic Cartoons Visual Effects and War Machines animated by Boulder Media An Entertainment One and Hasbro Co-Production Copyright MMXXIII