//------------------------------//
// Part 1: The New Arrivals 
// Story: The Equestrian Takeover 
// by Fariz 'TheWaVe' Amir 
//------------------------------//

Be sure to read that prologue first!


Chapter 1:
A New Hoof

The silhouette soon began charging out of the now white oval, at full speed, it stepped out completely bathed in light, and left streaks of white, wherever it went. It darted past the trees and avoided the moister parts of the swamps, looking for a flatland to regain its sanity.

The bunny, however, was more in tuned to the massive oval spiraling into an orb at its middle. The orb fell onto the ground and made a small shockwave of light radiate from it. The bunny examined it and soon even sniffed it. Then it nibbled at it. The bunny was fried, tail to head.

Far off, the light-bathed colt was still racing through the mangroves. Some light from its face had faded, showing a pair of deep blue eyes, darting everywhere, looking for the flatland he wanted. He felt the presence of other creatures looking at him, probably even planning to eat him alive. The clouds had cleared and the moon was once again flooding the swamps with its dim, calming light. This helped the colt, as he was following the north star, which was now shining bright in its place in the sky.

'The star had never looked that bright before..' the colt thought.

Soon, he found the field of grass he wanted. The light had already faded away, leaving only glowing tails of where he had been before.

'Its weird, why am I running on all fours anyway?'

The colt lifted one of its hooves and was shocked that it was a hoof.

' wh- whats happening?!'

the colt darted his head around, trying to see what his body had become. His white coat was, to him, quite dashing with his broad hooves. He soon got used to the fact that he was now some sort of a horse. His tail was quite 'bushy' as  he put it himself. The only thing that bothered him was; the fact that he had a pair tucked wings at his sides. His eyes broadened at the sight. Wings. He would have never imagined. 

He decided that the night so far had been to much action for him. He quickly got dizzy and began to wobble around, and soon fell to his side. He slowly reopened his eyes and thought,' what, how.. why? Where am I?' 

Questions started ringing in his head as he began to miss his home. His first home, now starting to be erased from his memory. The fact began to tear him up. Still on his side, he looked up to the sky. He had never seen that many stars before, not by the thousands tonight. It made him creak a light smile as his vision slowly blurred and a tear broke from his eye. He fell asleep soon afterwards.



Chapter 2:
The Flight-ning Bolt


Hours later, the colt slowly opened his eyes. Stepped up onto his new standing position, on his hooves. He shook off his dizzyness and quickly remembered how he was stuck in the middle of a swamp. He noticed a small berry bush in front of him that he never noticed before. He walked slowly up to it and bit off a few berries from its twigs. While munching on the bright pink berries, he looked around and started to consider the fact of his wings.

'hmm... no way around. But, the skies are kind of cloudy, still good for fly-.. No! I don't even know how to use these things! But still..'

He rolled his eyes away from the bush and turned his eyes back towards his wings. 

'Maybe I could try?'

Closing his eyes, he began to focus. His wings began to unfold. He creaked open his eyes and saw the twin wings broadening towards the sky. At his view, the wings were twice as big as himself. His mouth broadened into a wide grin as he saw for the first time in his life; so far; Wings. Then, the ground quaked.

He swung his head around and saw a huge flaming phoenix with its trademark infinite flaming wings. It let out a deafening screech as the colt's pupils contracted with fear. The phoenix's flaming eyes locked on to the colt. The only word blasting through his mind: Run.

And so he did. The phoenix let out another scream and began stomping towards him. The colt remembered that he did not refold his wings. He also knew that was slowing him down. Darting his eyes about, he knew the flatland he was at was coming to an end. Now, he had only one way to go: Up. He threw caution into wind and began to flap the wings, he lost touch with the ground on his hind legs. Another flap, he 'jumped' off the ground. Immediately with one powerful drop of his wings, he lift off. His hind right hoof touched the canopy of the swamp trees. His scared emotion transformed into bliss as he knew he had a talent.

His eyes were hooked on the clouds above as he heard a distant screech of a pissed off phoenix. He decided to pick up speed as he saw the phoenix's wings rise. He began to pick up speed as he felt the wind beneath wings feeling better with each passing second. The phoenix turned and flew in his opposite direction. Now he was safe, as long as he did not lose altitude. And from what he knew from his previous life, altitude needs speed. And did he have a need for speed.

On instant of that thought, he dropped from the sky and U-Turned back up, shooting through the atmosphere. He started to flap through the skies, zooming through the low laying clouds. And then, a light dome appeared in front of his face. The dome hurt his eyes, so he reached both hooves in front of him to push it away; but the dome now appeared on his hooves, he felt faster with each flap. The dome began to narrow and bend with the colts body, his tail flailing around behind him as the dome became a cone right in front of his face, and the point of the cone bright as the sun. He knew he was close to something epic. The Outskirts were going to be rocked.

The colt suddenly shot forward and the cone exploded as he passed it. He left a massive bright gold ring of crackling lightning behind him that spread out, leaving a large gap in the clouds, which began to flood the swamps with sunlight. His wings were pouring out electricity that tailed him wherever he flew, he was tearing through the sky, zooming through clumps of clouds, watching the forest below him disperse from a thick swamp to a sparse forestland. He then stopped his flapping and just glided through the sky until he drifted to the ground. He even forgot that he was still nowhere near.. Anywhere, But he didn't care; he had a talent, he could feel it.

Sure enough, he soon dropped to the ground and after that, onto his back again, facing the sky. He also realized that his wings were not able to refold because of the energy still pounding inside them. Quickly noticing how any civilization was still elusive. With the heat from the sun above him pounding his body relentlessly, he began his slow march to 'Progress'.



Chapter 3:
He Who Actually Has A Name


The young colt trudged through the seemingly endless grassland for the last few hours. Hunger and exhaustion has gripped him tight. His wings began to sag downwards and his eyes were never fully open. He was going to pass out anytime soon, but spirit kept him going. But not for much longer. The grass had reached his chest, the clouds were high above him and the noon sun was staring at him with no mercy.

He began to bend forward and his legs began to wobble. His vision began to blur as he caught quick glimpses of a big, shady tree. That was a wonder. He limped towards as he began to hear the grass around ruffle. That worried him and set him to a quick alert mode. As he entered the shade, three big sized weasels leaped out from their cover of the grass and flew towards the colt, he braced and saw a quick glimpse of a rock smashing the weasels in mid-air right before he collapsed onto the ground. The last thing he saw was a silhouette of a round face among the bright sky and shadows of the leaves, followed by darkness.

When he awoke, the moon was in front of him. The sky, no longer bright blue, was now a mixture of light purple at the horizon, and a light sapphire and Black combination. Stars dotted the night sky and sparkled in their positions of the night. A light breeze swayed the tree he was under and the infinite fields around him. he got to his hooves and began to walk around until he heard a voice.

“Hey! Look who's finally awake!”

The colt turned his head and saw another young colt, just as he was, sitting in front of a fire pit.

“You know, you really gave me a scare. Its like you've never rested for days! Heh, what am I doing, here, sit! Help yourself to the fruit and the veggies.”

Sure enough, The colt sat and began to munch on an apple near a pile of veggies near the fire pit. 

“Well, My name's Hank, apparently a pony now” he giggled a little and noticed the other colt's wings “Hey, wings! I'm guessin' you can fly, right?”

The colt nodded. He tried to speak but ended up coughing violently.

“Hey, hey! Chill, don't strain... Were you the one who made all those energy bursts?”

Nod.

“So.. uh, can u squeeze out your name?

The colt darted his eyes left and right and raised his two shoulders.

“ No name, huh? How's about a temporary one? How's Alex?”

The now named Alex grinned.

“Sweet! Now i'm guessing we're gonna have to work together in this huh?”

Nod.

“Alright! So, I think there's a village around here. There were some signs near abandoned pathways and apparently its called 'Ponyville'. That's where he gonna head for the next few days.”

Hank and Alex shook hooves and they began to drift off to their much needed sleep. The following day, they began their long march to Ponyville.

As Hank turned towards a heap of stuff, Alex suddenly noticed a horn jetting out of Hank's head, parting his mane into two. It gave out a light, but clear light as hank used it's magic to pick up some wood. The thought confused but at the same time made him wonder what new world this was.

Hank awoke and quickly realized that Alex was gone. He snapped up on all fours and looked around, trying to find Alex's white flank anywhere. That's until he heard a zoom above him, in the clouds. Alex was twisting and bursting through the sky, passing through the clouds until it seemed to look like an ice cream cone. Alex hovered near from the sculpture, admiring it until he heard Hank's voice calling him.

“Dude! You’re awesome!!” Hank bellowed from the ground.

Alex smiled and replied, “Haha, I know, right?”

“Come to think of it, you shouldn't even be named Alex!”

Alex swooped down and landed right in front of Hank.”well, I still gotta have a name, right?”

“Ooh-ooh! I know!!” Hank jumped up and down looking like he had the most epic new name for Alex. “Joe!”

Alex smile faded as he heard it. “Uh.. Actually, I was thinking about something like.. Cloudwork.”

“Oh.. You know, that is pretty cool! But what does it even mean, anyway?”

Cloudwork stepped next to him and pointed to the 'cloud-cone' in the sky. “Dude, 'Work' made of Clouds. Thus, 'Cloudwork'.”

“Ohh..” Hank locked his eyes on the cloud cone on the realization.

“well, I guess we are starting that trek to Ponyville now?” Cloudwork said as he stomped out the tiny candle of a fire from the pit. Hank Snapped out of his daydream and nodded towards Cloudwork. They left all their stuff behind at the tree and began their long walk.


Chapter 4:
This. Is. Seriously bad luck.

Cloudwork and Hank had been walking for several hours and were feeling the strain on their trek. Occasionally stopping at any berry bush to munch on something or any body of water to drink. The dirt track they have been following becoming clearer with each passing hour. The grasslands have begun to end and the shade of trees came back. Mountains with snow capped peaks began to appear.

Hank knew they were getting closer to their destination. Cloudwork thought he was crazy. Birds were starting to be heard again while Cloudwork slowly lost his sanity to Hank's endless talks. On the bright side, or not, The sun began to set again. Stopping one last time to camp out for the night, Hank began to collect supplies. Cloudwork zoomed up to knock fruits down from the trees above them. All the while; Cloudwork had a bad feeling in his gut as the violet skies began to spread across the sky. Hank was still busy trying to find something to cover the ground of their camp. Cloudwork lowered back down with his arms brimming with fruit. He quickly noticed a small cone shaped thing on the ground next to some more resources.

“hey, what's that thing over there?” Cloudwork asked.

“That? Oh, its just a sparker gun I’ve been working on”, replied Hank while still looking over a 'tent'.

“but.. we left our stuff at that tree. How'd you get this?” Asked Cloudwork once more, examining the weird device on the ground.

“Duh, I Made it!”

“..Uh, now?”

“No..”Hank rolled his eyes to Cloudwork.”Just now, obviously!”

Cloudwork put down the device and looked into the deep, dark forest. He couldn’t shake off the  feeling that something was there. Watching. He turned away and saw Hank standing beside a makeshift fire pit. The sparker gun was hovering in mid-air, in Hank's magic. Hank Flipped a switch and Grinding noises were heard. The high pitched noises blasted around the area and the forest, also made the two colts brace from the noise. But, indeed, sparks Flooded out of the nozzle of the sparker gun, igniting a flame from the pit.

Hours later, after a hearty meal of fruits, Hank hit the hay. Cloudwork on the other hand, found out he could literally stand on clouds! He brought a few down and lay on them; stared at the Moon. The feeling of something big on their way really kept him awake. In the far off distance, he saw small orbs of light. 'Ponyville' he thought. Maybe Hank was right. They just needed another day.

On that instance, He heard a soft, but clear roar. Now he hoped that day would come sooner. He dived from the cloud and frantically waked Hank up.
“C-Cloud! You crazy, dude! I don't hear anything..!” Hank exclaimed while shaking off the sleep left in his big eyes.

Suddenly, A huge lion like animal with a scorpion tail jumped directly behind them. It cracked the stones it stood on and left a clear hole in the trees it broke through. Its bloodshot eyes darted from Cloudwork to Hank as its legs started to flex under its massive, solid body. Its mane was slowly flowing through the soft breeze and from its mouth came a loud, soul sucking roar that blasted through their ears.

Cloudwork slowly backed up while Hank, still laying down, Tilted up to the creature's head said,”Okay. Forget what I said. There is SO something here.”

Cloudwork accelerated with his wings and grabbed Hank just before The creature swung his tail down and smashed the ground. Cloudwork to the skies, dodging the stuff thrown by the creature. Frantically thinking of what to do, he quickly remembered the distant lights. He took off in that direction. However, unlike the phoenix earlier, this creature was persistent. It leaped in and out if the forest's canopy, trying desperately to  get Cloudwork. Hank quickly noticed the lights and shouted, “Look! Told you, Ponyville!”

“Not the time, Hank!” Cloudwork Shouted back as he barreled across the sky, trying to shake off the bounding beast.  That's when he noticed, from a lake below, the creature had fired a ball of goo from its tail, and it was heading straight for them. To make things worse, The creature's final bound seemed powerful enough to reach them quickly. That's when something clad in gold struck the beast from its side, knocking it to the ground. Rocks flew around while the pony in gold yelled, “hey! Look out!” 

A Rock broke and a small shard struck Cloudwork's right wing in the middle of a barrel roll. He never expected it to hurt that much. He and Hank shot through the air and crashed into the shallow end of the lake below. 

As Cloudwork endured through the pain in his wing, he saw the gold-clad colt run towards them yelling, “Canterlot, Canterlot! Two colts, injured sighted. Send backup.. now..” He Blacked out.



End Of Part 1