//------------------------------// // Massacre // Story: The Return of the 7th Element // by thunderhawk7865 //------------------------------// Chapter 6: Massacre “Ugh...” Dan rolled over in the queen-sized bed in his room at the inn, sleep eluding him. The moon shone through the window and reflected off of his armor, which he had taken off for the night and was resting on a chair. “Argh...it’s useless!” Dan rolled over again, facing away from the window. His golden eyes shone through the darkness as he sighed in frustration. Sleep had been keeping itself far away from Dan ever since he arrived in Equestria again. Thoughts of Rainbow Dash dating somepony else because she thought he was gone and his own son hating kept flowing through his head. “I wish I could’ve gotten back sooner...” Dan muttered. “Then Dash would be right here next to me...” He opened his eyes and looked at the empty space next to him. “Maybe I was too hard on her...” He closed his eyes again. “C’mon, Dan. You need sleep in case whatever is destroying these towns shows u-” An huge booming sound suddenly flung Dan from his bed, causing him to land hard on the wood floor. The whole inn was shaking as Dan hastily stumbled to his hooves and looked out the window. “What the hell is going on!?” What he saw caused his to widen his eyes in terror. A building on the edge of town, the post office, he thought it was, was destroyed. Obliterated. The building had apparently exploded in a shower of green flames, debris still falling down from the night sky. Three dead Pegasus mail-ponies were seen near the blaze, their bodies charred beyond recognition. There were screams of shock from a couple mares who were walking down the street who had ducked for cover when the explosion hit who ran over to the burnt corpses and started shrieking for help. “Buck.” Dan scrambled back into the the room, quickly donned his armor, then flew out the door as fast as he could. Once outside, he touched down and noticed several cow-ponies coming out of buildings and gathering around, keeping one forehoof on their muskets as they did. Dan galloped up through the crowd to the burnt corpses and pulled up one of the mares, who was in tears. “Ma’am! Miss, did you see what happened!?” Dan barked in his lower register. The mare was sobbing uncontrollably. “Captain! My-my-my husband! H-h-he he...” “Ma’am! Focus!” He shook her gently. “What happened!? Did you see how this building exploded!?” She slowly and shakily pointed a hoof towards the sky. “A-a-a green stream of...of-of fire!” She shook her head. “It came out of nowhere and...and...” She broke in tears again, burying her chest against Dan again. Dan comforted the mare by stroking her foreleg and whispering, “I’m so sorry...” Dan released the mare, who returned to grieving, and turned around to face the ponies who had gathered, including the town guard and a few Red Hooves that were stationed there. He caught a quick glimpse of a horrified Violet in the crowd before she disappeared behind more ponies that were gathering around. “Alright! Listen up!” Dan barked in his lower register again. “We are under attack!” There were a few gasps from the crowd as mares gripped their mates and hugged their foals tight. “I need all the guards, Red Hooves, and able-bodied stallions that can hold a weapon of any kind ready for battle! NOW!” “Why should we take orders from you!?” A panicked cowpony barked. Dan just leered at him from underneath his hood. “I’m a bucking Captain!” “Do what he says, idiot!” A guard lightly nudged the cowpony before he nodded and listened for instructions The ponies scrambled, dashing into buildings and coming back out with muskets, old swords, and even kitchen knives. Dan drew his pistol and faced the area where the mare had spotted the green stream of flame. “Form up on me! Melee weapons in front; ranged in the back! Hurry up!” It took a few moments before all the ponies he had called to his aid were standing or hovering behind him. “It’s a good thing they gave me Captain’s armor...” Dan thought as he scanned the dark horizon for what could’ve sent the green flame at them. “Quiet!” Dan said, quieting some scared ponies behind him who were chatting. “Steady now...” (It is highly recommended that you now cue http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzzGWfPI2YU) The lone militia Dan had scraped together stood quietly, gazing up at the sky, weapons at the ready. Cowponies tipped their hats upwards to get a better view of the sky. For a while, the only thing that could be heard was the clinking of muskets as they readied themselves for whatever was coming at the steady burning of the fire at the post office. Dan was still scanning to horizon, narrowing his eyes. Suddenly, a glimmer caught his eye. It wasn’t anything metal, and it wasn’t anything flying through the air. “It...came from nowhere...” Suddenly, Dan heard what sounded like a buzzing noise. The mane on the back of his neck stood on end as he listened to the sound. The sound grew louder and louder until the buzzing was so obvious that other ponies started hearing it as well. “What the...?” Dan muttered as he looked up at the direction of the buzzing noise. He widened his eyes at what he saw before him. Seemingly out of nowhere, a giant airship had materialized, slowly making itself known as the glimmer Dan saw earlier spread around it. It looked like a giant black blimp, five times the size of the pony zeppelins, but full of giant holes. “Celestia damn...” “What the buck...? How is that thing flying with holes?” “What in the hoof is that!?” The ponies behind him started muttering about the strange flying object. Dan stared up at it for a few moments before he noticed a green light on the airship getting bigger and bigger. It looked like... “The green fire...” He muttered, whirling around to look at the post office fire. It was the same color. “SCATTER!!!!” Dan yelled at the top of his lungs, spreading his wings and speeding out of the way and into a back alley between two buildings. As he did so, the airship let out a horrible sounding robotic noise as it blasted down at the small battalion a deadly stream of green fire. Most of the battalion managed to leap of fly out of the way, but some were not so lucky. The fire, on impact, exploded in the center of where most of the ponies were standing. When the smoke cleared, the charred corpses of several ponies were seen in the blast radius, unidentifiable. Screams sounded out around town as the buzzing from the ship grew louder. Dan ran out into the street and tried to calm the routed ponies down. “Everypony! Get the mares and foals to safe places! NOW! Low to the ground!” Dan turned towards the airship and gasped. Several bug-like creatures were flying through the air down towards Dodge Junction from the ship as the ponies who weren’t fighting scrambled inside of buildings for cover. “What are those things!?” Dan snarled, taking to the air and swinging his hooves out to both sides, his Element scimitars appearing. “EVERYPONY! FORM UP!” The remaining stallions gathered behind him, weapons at the ready in a similar formation of what he had them in the first time. No pony bothered to question him about the scimitars, as they were under attack. “Muskets!” Dan ordered. “FIRE!” The cowponies armed with pistols and rifles took aim and fired at the group of charging bug-creatures. A few of the beasts were hit and crashed to the ground hard, killing them. “Well, they are definitely NOT zebras...” “Fire at will!” Dan roared, letting the ranged ponies fire at their discretion. “Melee weapons! Ready!” There was the sound of steel sliding against hooves as the ponies readied their weapons. One guard next to Dan looked up at him and asked, “Will we be okay, Cap?” Without looking, Dan nodded, “Just stay together...” Finally, the bugs were upon them. “ATTACK!” Dan roared, swinging his scimitars outwards and cutting right through a bug who was charging him. Most of the ponies in the front with him managed to fell the beats attacking them as well, but few were not so lucky and were tackled by the beasts and mauled by their fangs and sharp hoof-looking claws. The battle was on. Dan seemed to be dancing as he weaved through the battle, slicing and hacking at anything that buzzed or had creepy bug-eyes. As he cut through another creature, he heard the horrible, shrill noise of the ship opening fire again. Dan watched in horror and several ponies screamed as another stream of green fire was launched towards the town, this time crashing into the inn Dan was staying at, the building exploding in a shower of green flames. Dan swore and whirled around, slicing through two more beasts at the same time. Nearby, he saw the guard from earlier fighting a beast with a dagger in his teeth. Behind him, another was sneaking up. The night sky was filled with green light again as the airship blasted a home in the city, causing more screams of terror and death as Dan flew towards the beast, impaling it and angling his scimitar upward, snapping off the beast’s head with a sickening crunch. “Soldier!” Dan positioned himself back-to-back with the guard, who sighed in relief. “Captain!” “Soldier, what are these things!?” Dan barked as he cut through another one, quickly pulled out his musket and blasted another one point-blank, causing thick green goo to go flying everywhere. “Changelings, sir!” The guard cried out, slamming his hoof into one before stabbing it. “They attacked Canterlot way back fifteen years ago! ARGH!” He sliced at another one. “I can’t believe they’re back!” “Did they have giant airships of death!?” Dan barked, drawing his blades across the throat of a changeling, lopping off it’s head. “Not really, sir!” The guard yelled out. “LOOK OUT!” The soldier ducked as the town turned green again, signaling the ship was firing again. Dan hit the ground as well, covering his head. He felt the heat of another explosion on his face as it rocked the ground beneath him. Dan couldn’t help but look up and see the zeppelin tower he arrived on come crashing down, crushing several ponies beneath it, as it was bathed in green fire. “Buck!” Dan roared, standing up. He turned and noticed the soldier was dead on the ground, a piece of flaming firewood impaled in his chest. “ARGHHH!” Dan took to the air, narrowed his eyes at the airship, and took off, rocketing into the night sky. As he flew, he hacked and slashed his way through the seemingly endless number of changeling creatures that seemed to be coming from the airship. As he flew, he noticed the cannon on the front had changed it’s trajectory and was now aiming at him. “Bring it on!!!” Dan roared and he did a twirl in the air, blades extended, killing a group of changelings that had swarmed him, bug limbs and green goo flying everywhere as he did. The horrible noise filled the air again as the cannon fired, sending a huge green fireball hurtling towards Dan. Dan smirked and angled himself upward as fast as he could, twirling around the green flame. Behind him, the green flame hit another home, causing it to explode in a shower of flames. Dan cut through another small group of changelings as he zoomed upwards, flying up over the airship. He extended his wings at the peak of his flight, angled his body downward, and began to dive-bomb towards the deck of the ship. He twirled through the air, cutting through several more changelings that were flying upwards towards him. Finally, he hit the deck of the ship, feigning a fighting stance. “COME ON, YOU CREEPY BASTARDS!!!!” Dan roared as he lunged at changelings that were wearing what looked like steel conquistador armor from Earth. They made horrible screeching and buzzing noises as they flew towards Dan, drawing grizzly looking swords with jagged edges. “Weapons now, huh?!” Dan roared stabbing through changeling before whirling around and slicing another one clean in half. As the two dead ones fell to the floor, Dan took to the air, kicked another changeling’s helmet off, and stabbed it through the torso. He flung the impaled changeling up in the air as a projectile towards a flying changeling that was charging Dan, causing that changeling to lose it’s trajectory and spiral down into an important-looking mechanism on the deck of the ship, causing it to explode in a shower of green flames. Suddenly, he heard a massive buzzing sound as every changeling on deck flew towards him, covering him up in a dogpile. Dan gritted his teeth in pain as he felt little claws and fangs trying to bust through his armor. he closed his eyes and gasped in pain as the changelings managed to break off a part of his armor and bite into his neck. “ARGH!!!!!” Dan screamed in pain as the changeling bit into his neck. “THAT’S IT! GET THE BUCK OFF OF ME!!!” Dan screamed and sliced upwards as hard as he could, causing a shockwave of explosive golden energy to send the changelings dogpiled on him flying off, either hitting the deck of the ship or flying off the edge and dying with a splat on the ground below. Dan groaned in pain and rubbed the area of his neck changeling had bitten. It felt...odd. But he didn’t have time to diagnose it, as he heard more buzzing coming from the hull of the ship behind him. Dan whirled around to see a big, stainless-steel black door burst open from what looked like the giant ship’s cabin. Dan prepared himself for more changelings, but instead, he found himself getting flung to the floor of the ship as a wave of green energy exploded from the door and sent him flying. He groaned and stumbled to his hooves, holding his scimitars up as best he could. He narrowed his eyes at the green light coming from the door and gasped when a changeling emerged. But not just any changeling. This one was bigger, covered in the steel armor the other ones on the ship were wearing, and had a crown on it’s head. “Their leader...” Dan scowled and feigned another fighting stance. “How about you turn around and go back the way you came, changeling?!” Dan barked. “Enough have died on either side, wouldn’t you agree!?” The changeling started laughing. Laughing. In a distorted woman’s voice. Dan cocked an eye as he stood there, awaiting the changeling’s reaction. He met her eye to eye, her horrible green eyes biting into his very soul. It smiled with a horrible toothy grin and spoke: “So this is all the ponies send in their defense? Foolish...” She cackled. “Their idiotic hierarchy is going to be the death of them...” The changeling’s eyes fell on the bite-mark on Dan’s neck. She smiled. “What’re you-AAAARGH!!!” Dan collapsed to the ground, his head filling with horrible buzzing noises. The changeling queen laughed again as Dan’s scimitars disappeared in a flash of light. “Literally...” Suddenly, the changeling extended a hoof-claw at him and blasted him with a mini-stream of green fire. Dan grunted in pain as he was charred on his torso from the blast and sent flying off the deck of the ship. “Fool...” The changeling smiled before turning and barking an order to the remaining changelings, “DODGE JUNCTION IS NO MORE! LET US LEAVE NOTHING LEFT! FIRE THE MAIN CANNON!” Dan hit the ground hard on his side, a sickening crack was heard and a stream of pain shot through his right wing. He cried out in agony as he shakily stood up. He looked behind him. He winged was bent in a way it shouldn’t be. “Damn...” He looked up at the ship. “I’m not done yet!” He extended his hooves out to the side, expecting his scimitars to materialize. But they didn’t. Dan panicked. “What the hell!?” He looked frantically at each of his hooves. “Why isn’t it working!?” He tried it again, but nothing happened still. “I’ve lost my power!”” He heard screaming behind him and saw much of Dodge Junction on fire. He fell back on his hind legs and stared at the chaos. “No...” The ship opened fire again, exploding another structure. The scream of a mare was heard and Dan could’ve sworn he saw a flaming pony flying through the street, screaming in agony. Changelings were still battling ponies here and there, but the ponies were falling to the sheer number of the changelings. “Gotta...save...survivors...” Dan shakily stood up and tried to fly, but a painful cringe in his wing left him on the ground. So he galloped. He galloped towards the flaming town as fast as he could. Every pony he passed on the ground, he reached a hoof down and checked for vitals. But each time, he got nothing. Each time, another tear came to his eye. He had failed to protect the citizens of this frontier town. “DAAAAAMMMIIIIIT!” Dan shrieked, slamming a forehoof into the ground in frustration. He felt more heat on his face as another building exploded in a shower of green flames and more screams were heard. Dan stood up, tears and blood stained on his face, and he started running towards the outskirts of town. He weaved in and out of changelings that were still killing and destroying, desperate to find at least one survivor. He got so frustrated, he roared and tackled a changeling that was looming over a pony on the ground. He slammed his hoof down so hard, it went through the changeling’s abdomen. He stood up, panting heavily and scowling. Then he looked down at the pony on the ground and gasped. “Violet!” The turquoise artist pony was on the ground on her side, blood oozing from wounds on her torso and from her mouth and ears. “She must’ve been killed from a blow to the head...” Dan said to himself, shaking his head sadly. He reached a hoof down and felt her neck. His eyes widened. “She’s alive!” He shouted. As quickly and painfully as he could, he leaned down and used his muzzle to angle her upright. He then positioned himself under her and lifted her up onto his back. “Now, let’s get out of here...” Dan muttered as he started stumbling towards the outskirts of town, hoping to put as much distance between them and the airship as he could. As he limped out of town, he heard another strange noise. Up turned his head and looked up at the airship. He widened his eyes in shock when he saw, coming from the bottom of the ship, an even bigger cannon. (in the song, fast forward to 6:05) Dan watched in horror as it aimed straight down at the burning frontier city and charged up an huge fireball of green energy. There was a pulsating sound as the fireball was launched. The fireball exploded on impact with the ground, causing a shockwave of green fire of destroy what was left and kill any survivors that remained. The town literally looked like it was vaporized in the blast. Dan was flung to the ground when the shockwave reached them. He grunted in pain as he landed on his bad wing to prevent Violet from falling off of his back. He felt the heat of the blast on his face as the shockwave passed over him and his mane was blown out of proportion from the blast as well, charring it in some places. (end song) Dan groaned and shakily stood up, Violet still perched precariously on his back, unconscious. Dan then tried to focus his vision so he could see the state of the town. More tears fell from his eyes when he saw what remained of Dodge Junction. The whole town seemed to be ignited in green fire. Charred ruined were all that remained of every building and piles of strange looking dust dotted the streets from where Dan stood. “Ponies...vaporized...” Dan shuddered, remembering the atom bombs on Earth. “How...how could this happen?” Dan looked up and saw the changeling airship disappear in a shimmer of light. “Changelings? Why have I not heard of them until now? And why are they doing this?” He grunted in pain as he tried to flap his right wing. It was definitely broken. “Alright then...” Dan sighed. “Well, Violet...looks like we’re on hoof...” Dan turned and started limped away from the annihilated city with Violet on her back. “I need to find a way to let the Princesses know what’s going down...OW!” A sudden weird ache in the side of his neck caused him to cringe and grasp the bite on his neck. More buzzing filled his head as he resisted the urge to collapse again. “What...the...?” Dan growled as the bite throbbed in pain. The buzzing eventually subsided and Dan shook head, clearing his mind. “Weird...” Dan then looked ahead and noticed a rock formation with an outcropping beneath it. “Perfect...for now, anyway...” He heaved Violet onto his back to re-stabilize her then continued limping towards it saying, “C’mon, Violet. Let’s fix you up...” Meanwhile, back in Ponyville at Twilight Sparkle’s library... “He’s back!?” Rarity widened her eyes in pure shock and awe, while behind her Pinkie Pie bounced up and down excitedly, a big smile on her face. Applejack and Twilight nodded after exchanging looks. “Yes...” Twilight spoke up, flipping her ponytail around to the other side of her neck. “Oh, this is simply wonderful.” Fluttershy flipped around in the air, a small smile on her face. “He’s been gone for oh so long!” “We should go tell Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie Pie gasped. “She’ll be sooooo happy!” “Oh yes, dear Rainbow Dash will want to know about this as soon as possible!” Rarity turned and made for the door. “Come on, girls!” “Wait!” Twilight teleported in front of the door, blocking Rarity’s exit. “She...already knows he’s back!” “What?!” Rarity looked taken aback, slightly raising a forehoof. “How?” Applejack kicked the floor sadly. “He...uh...he found out about Fyre Bolt...” Everypony in the library was silent. Even Pinkie Pie stopped bouncing and was staring at Applejack. The steady beat of Fluttershy’s wings were all that was heard for a while before the timid Pegasus spoke up. “She...told him? Flat out?” Twilight nodded. “Yeah...” “Is that why Rainbow isn’t here, Twilight?” Rarity asked, cocking an eye. “Yes...” Twilight looked up, her eyes narrowed. “Rainbow’s in a depressed stupor at the Wonderbolts training field, Blazing Dawn’s secluded himself at Sweet Apple Acres, and Dan has run off on an errand for the Princess to Dodge Junction. This family...it’s being torn apart when it should be back together. We need to do something.” “Pardon?” Applejack turned to Twilight. “Dan did what now?” “He was sent to Dodge Junction to investigate the-” Twilight was interrupted by a sharp knocking on the library door. “Representative Sparkle!” A gruff voice called out from behind the door. “This is Blue Arrow of the Red Hooves! We have a problem!” Twilight trotted over the door with a confused look on her face. She opened it, and the gruff war vet stood there, an alarmed look on his face. Flanking him were Papyrus in his armor, as well as a confused-looking Dynamo. “Blue Arrow! What’s wrong?” Twilight asked as the three Hooves trotted in. Papyrus went straight to his wife, Applejack, and hugged her tightly. “What’s wrong, sugarcube?” AJ asked her mate worriedly. Blue Arrow closed the door with his hind legs and then faced the group. “Miss Sparkle, Dodge Junction...has been destroyed...” There were sharp gasps around the room as the bearers of the Elements expressed their shock. Twilight just stared into space. “Dan...” “The agent the Princesses sent has failed...we’ve lost all contact...” Blue Arrow sighed. “And we’ve been assigned to protect you and the other Elements until such a time as we can determine this isn’t a direct threat against you...” “Dan...” Papyrus slowly looked down to see Applejack with tears running down her face. “D-Dan?” Papyrus looked down at his wife. “W-what are you-?” “The agent was Dan, Blue Arrow...” Twilight looked down at the floor. “He...he came back after all this time...” The room was again enveloped in stunned silence before a shocked Blue Arrow finally spoke up. “Bloody hell...” He sighed, gulped, then cleared his throat. “I...I hope the lad is alright...” Rarity couldn’t take it anymore. She stormed out the door in tears, while Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy exchanged looks of sorrow. Twilight sighed, then looked at Blue Arrow. “We can only hope he survived whatever is doing this...” Blue Arrow slowly trotted up to Twilight and placed a forehoof on her shoulder. “Is there anything I can do for you, Miss Sparkle?” Twilight sniffed sadly and let her bangs cover her eyes before replying: “Find him. Please.” Rarity was blinded by tears as she ran down the road towards her boutique. She couldn’t stand the fact that Dan, a wonderful and stylistic pony like Ace could be lying dead in a ditch in the desert. And just after he had returned to Rainbow Dash and his son. “I-It shouldn’t be like this!” She sobbed as she ran. “They b-both deserve true love! This-this just isn’t right!” Suddenly, her hooves made contact with something soft on the the road, causing her to lurch forward and fall to the ground. She had been tripped. “W-what the-!?” Rarity sniffed and slowly got up, turning around. “What in Equestria was that!?” Laying in the mud at her hooves was a stallion. A green, Unicorn stallion with a clean cut, short blonde mane and lengthy tail. His cutie mark was the police badge of police on Earth, and scrawled across the top of the badge, it read “Sessions.” The stallion also wore a dirty, brown windbreaker with a similar badge. “Oh my...” Rarity slowly reached a hoof down and poked the stallion. In turn, he groaned, clenched his teeth, and opened his eyes. They were blue. “Ugh...” The stallion spoke up. “What...what happened?” “Are you...okay,sir?” Rarity leaned down, a scared look on her face. “Ugh...” The stallion strangely tried to use his forehooves to turn himself over. “Yeah...yeah, thanks ma’am, I’m-” When he finally managed to turn himself around and look at Rarity, he froze. His pupils shrank and his eyes widened in shock. “Would...would you like me to get you...a cleaner coat, sir?” Rarity cocked her head to one side. The stallion just stared at her for a moment before he pointed a forehoof at her and screamed. “AAAAARGH!” This took Rarity aback, and she screamed as well. There they stood, screaming at each other for a few seconds before a third, slightly robotic voice joining in the screaming. Both Rarity and the mystery stallion stopped screaming and turned their heads to the left to see a robotic pony with a single blue eye in the center of it’s head pointing a synthetic forehoof at the both of them, a metallic screaming reverberating from his steel body. Rarity and the green Unicorn screamed at the sight of the robotic monstrosity and stepped backward, pointing. Rarity and the stallion again saw each other and started screaming at the sight of each other again. Finally, Rarity couldn’t take anymore. She put a forehoof up to her forehead, sighed, and plopped down in the mud. The green stallion stopped screaming abruptly, shakily stood to his hooves, and scrambled over to the unconscious fashionista. “Oh, my God...miss? Miss? Ah damn...WHOA!” The green stallion slipped and fell down into the mud again. “John? That you, mate?” The robotic pony stepped forward. “Bloody hell, John!” “Wheatley!” the green stallion again tried to stand up again, but stumbled and fell. “Where the hell are we?!” He gestured to Rarity. “Why was this...horse...talking?!” Wheatley looked down at himself before shaking his head and responding. “A better question yet, mate...WHY ARE WE HORSES TOO!?” “I...I don’t know...” John shook his head. “But...ugh...first thing’s...first...” He shakily stood up. “I gotta learn how to walk...” “Great...” Wheatley sighed. “Next thing you know, some magical Unicorn princess will be explaining to us that Dan was magically transported to fairy-tale rainbow land...” “Shut up, Wheatley...” John barked in frustration as he continued to try and gain his balance. “Do you know how stupid that sounds?! WHOA!” With a splat, the policeman-turned-pony fell down. Wheatley chuckled, “Yeah yeah...bloody hell, mate...can’t take a joke?” N/N: Oh man, what a chapter. A bit dark, but necessary. Why has Dan suddenly lost his powers? How do the changelings have such advanced tech? Why are John and Wheatley in Equestria now? Again, why am I asking you all this? Stay tuned. It might be a while. Again, thanks to Robsa990 for more epic art. OCs: The Red Hooves (c) QTXAdsy Fyre Bolt (c) Robsa990 Violet (c) BloodyOkami More OCs on the way. Thanks again for being so patient. -Thunderhawk