[Ponyville - Morning]
Twilight Sparkle stirred and groaned as she began to wake. As she did so, she tried to remember what had happened. The last thing she remembered was seeing a strange cat and bug-like creature in her home only for everything to go black directly afterwards. She got up when she felt sheets covering her and opened her eyes only to find she was in a dark room with only a lightbulb hanging above her to illuminate the darkness. To her it felt ominous and uncomfortable despite the warm blankets she was under. “Hello?” she called out nervously.
Nothing happened for a bit, then from the darkness came a voice. “Hello, my dear. I hope you had pleasant dreams because they might get more exciting.”
From the darkness a figure emerged. As it stepped into the light, the shape became clearer. What she saw was a creature like a draconequus about the same size as Discord, except it had a reptilian claw, a tiger claw, a long snake-like body with an odd color pattern and two horse-like legs, and two bug-like antennas coming out of its head. But the strangest part was its head alone. It looked mostly human.
Twilight looked up in fear at the monster in front of her and attempted to back away only to feel her body back up against a headboard. The creature looked down at her with a gentle smile. “Oh do not fear, little princess, I bring no harm to you. If anything, I wish to make your life better. Oh yeah, sorry for the way Katy handled you.”
Twilight for a moment felt less scared and looked backed up at the creature. “Who are you?” she asked.
“My name is Howard and I’m the leader of this clan of fans.” Howard said.
Twilight then remembered her new friend Andrew mentioned something about a guy named Howard who he works for. “Wait you’re Howard?!”
“Yes I assume you met my acquaintances Andrew and Stacy?” Howard said, his smile dropping somewhat.
Twilight stammered “B-but they said you were a human not some dracon-”
“Yes yes but this is the result of being exposed to Discord’s magic.” Howard explained.
“Exposed to WHAT?!” Twilight exclaimed.
“Never mind that for now. Let’s just talk and have some tea.” Howard said as he snapped a tea kettle and cup into existance and began pouring tea into the cup.
Twilight just continued to stare up at Howard. So many questions were clouding her mind. After accepting the cup of tea she took a cautious sip before asking. “What do you want from me?”
Howard looked down at the alicorn. “What do I want from you? I don’t want anything much from you but I would like to give you something you want. Let me shed some more light here.”
He snapped his fingers and suddenly as if by magic the darkened room became something else. To Twilight it looked very familiar. She looked around and saw many things. Lines of bookshelves, a horse head made of wood and the familiar smell of oakwood. “Golden Oaks Library? That's impossible. Tirek-”
“Destroyed it. I know that,” Howard said before patting her head. “And I also know how much you loved this place before you got that castle. It's amazing how a little bit of chaos and memory from the show can make this possible. Go ahead get a feel, I believe I managed every last bit of detail just right.”
Twilight got out of the bed and trotted around, feeling the wood beneath her hooves and grabbing a random book to see its contents being exactly how she remembered. After exploring for what felt like an hour she looked back up at Howard. ”Why do you do this?” She asked.
“This is just a small part of my grand plan. Why don’t you look outside the window?” Howard said, pointing to a nearby window where daylight was peeking through the curtains.
Twilight cautiously trotted over to the window and pulled the curtains. She gasped as her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped. “No…it’s impossible. How could you even do this? How did you even…”
[Northern Train Tracks to Ponyville - Same Time]
“Okay, we came in from the south side so they might not expect us to come crawling in from the otherside that is if they hadn’t discovered the engine going missing from the same junction we left it at,” Andrew said as he sat in the driver seat.
Andrew, Gregory, and Jason were riding the engine to Ponyville. It was decided that morning that Stacy would stay in Canterlot and give any information to royals while the men go down to Ponyville to get a look. To Gregory it felt weird because ever since they came back on Connie somehow gone mute and didn’t even move or even start herself. It was as if she was never alive. Rather than look like an idiot in front of the others he decided to not try and talk to her via radio mic. He still sat at the radio just in case, though.
Jason looked over a map of the Railroad they were given before leaving. “Looks like we have a tunnel and after that just one more bend to the loony town,” he said.
True to his word they saw a tunnel ahead. Andrew immediately turned the headlight on as they entered the darkened tunnel. After barely a bit of distance inside, an ominous feeling began to creep up Andrew’s spine. “Any of you guys got a feeling we might be watched?”
“Oh, we’re definitely being watched,” Gregory said as he stood up from the radio station. “There’s some nasty magic around us. Time to go faster.”
Andrew throttled up the engine another notch. The feeling never went away. However in the darkness just outside the windows, they could’ve sworn they heard a whisper. “Go away…”
“Thunderlane…” Gregory said darkly as he grabbed his metal magic staff. “And here I thought there weren’t any ghosts in this world.”
“I’m starting to worry…” Andrew said as he throttled up more.
“Connie, baby, go faster,” Gregory said. Before anyone could say anything, the horn blared without anyone touching it and the train sped up without Andrew touching the throttle. “Atta girl!”
“Jaaaasoooon…” another voice called out with venom.
“Guys, I see a light ahead…” Andrew said with fear.
Gregory rushed over and looked through. “Thank God, we’re almost out. Punch it, Connie!” Once more, in response, the train sped up, sending everyone but Gregory sprawling as they punched through the exit into broad daylight again. Gregory chuckled as he patted the side of the train. “Thanks, girl.”
“And here I thought dark tunnels were a fear I got over as a child.” Andrew said with relief
“This is Gaia, dude,” Gregory said, “and apparently ghosts exist here. Okay, Connie, you can ease up now. No need to overexert yourself.” The train started to slow a bit.
“I don’t know what you're playing at, but I think you need to stop talking to her because I’m pretty sure her controls are sensitive,” Jason said with annoyance.
“Eh, Connie knows herself better than most,” Gregory said as he took a seat next to the radio, patting it gently. “Right?” The horn seemingly blared in response to that. “Hehe, thanks Connie.”
“Uh, Greg, that was me blowing the horn,” Andrew said.
“Okay, one, don’t call me Greg,” Gregory said, “I hate that name. Two, I know you didn’t do everything. I was watching.” Andrew shrugged as he processed everything.
Gregory picked up the headphones and put them on, connecting them to the radio. Immediately, he heard Connie’s voice in the headset saying, “I’m sorry, I’m not quite ready to reveal myself yet.”
Gregory nodded. “No worries, hun, I get it.”
After what felt like another few miles, they soon came to a stop near a small wooded area. “Okay, it shouldn’t be too far from here. The tracks may go a bit longer but I don’t think we should risk being exposed,” Andrew suggested.
With that, the train stopped and everyone dismounted. The three humans got out and got ready to go. However, before they did, Gregory had one more brief conversation with Connie. “You gonna be okay waiting over here?” he asked the train.
“I’ve waited thirty years in a scrapyard, a couple hours here mean nothing,” she responded.
Gregory chuckled and gave her a nice solid pat. “See you later,” he said as he hopped out and closed the door.
The three began walking down the tracks, pushing their way past shrubs and bushes that had built up on the old rail tracks. “Strange, when we first arrived I don’t remember seeing these plants. I know we all saw flatland upon arriving in Ponyville,” Andrew explained.
“Chaos magic can do crazy shit,” Jason said.
Andrew poked his head through another bush and gasped. “You mean like rebuilding an entire town?” he asked.
The other two walked over and gaped at the completely rebuilt town of Ponyville, laying snugly in the valley where it once had thrived. “Weird, you’d think it wouldn’t quite work like that,” Gregory said. “Not without harming the host since chaos magic shouldn’t be able to display order.”
Andrew put on some binoculars and looked. “Oh yeah, and it also looks like we might be expected. They got patrol groups on the ground and a couple of them flying like police choppers,” he said.
“I see them,” Gregory said. “Hmm…if I were a megalomaniac yandere, where would I-is that Golden Oaks?!”
They all looked through their binoculars and sure enough there it was. “That explains why we can’t see Twilight’s old castle.” Andrew said.
“Was Howard one of those guys who preferred Twilight’s library more than the castle?” Gregory asked.
“He always liked the earlier seasons.” Andrew stated
“There’s also the fact that I doubt he could recreate the castle with chaos magic,” Jason said.
“It was made with harmony magic,” Gregory agreed.
“Hey, I think I saw Twilight at one of the windows,” Andrew said as he pointed to the library.
The other two looked, but by the time they did she was gone. “She’d probably be kept in there anyway,” Gregory said. “Now, we’re gonna need to get into town, but those choppers need to be grounded first.”
“Even if we force those guys to land we need to deal with the ground troops as well. We all saw how huge Howard can be,” Andrew said.
They continued to look over the town trying to see any easy way in. “I know a way to get them out of the air and to get them away,” Gregory said, “but there’s a catch. Who’s prepared to get cold?”
“If you do that, they might be alert and for all we know they might have fire powers too.” Andrew said.
“You don’t get it,” Gregory replied. “I possess the power of the Windgos, plural. I’ve been practicing creating massive storms. I believe I can do just that.”
Andrew sighed and zipped up his jacket. “Just don’t give Twilight or me frostbite.”
Gregory stood and held up his staff towards the sky. The rings on his fingers as well as the mana core on his staff began to glow. The sky, once clear, began to slowly darken with storm clouds. He frowned as he held up his arms to the sky. “A blanket of snow and ice shall be their tomb. Fly through the skies on a cloud of doom! Now go with a curse, and serve me well! Round rebuilt Ponyville cast my spell!”
“Such a nerd,” Jason sighed as the massive storm clouds began pouring out thick snow towards the town. As they watched, the humans began to land, unable to take the wind and snow. They headed towards the Golden Oaks. The storm became intense as the town itself began to be buried.
Suddenly a strange sound was heard from a distance. The three humans turned to see a big beam of light erupting from what could be the center of town. “Gregory, please tell me that the orange beam is part of the plan.”
“Something’s interfering, and it’s probably them! Time to move!” Gregory poured twice as much of his magic into the storm and the light began to be swallowed up.
The beam suddenly became bigger and brighter. It pierced the cloudy sky like an arrow. Then the clouds began to dissipate and the temperature started to rise. The snow was also beginning to thaw and melt. “Not the winter wrap up I was hoping for,” Andrew said.
Gregory winced, but poured more magic into his storm. His eyes slowly began to glow and the light began to slowly vanish again. The melted ice began to freeze, and suddenly bolts of lightning began striking at the buildings, making them all dissolve into what seemed like nonsensical objects. Rarity’s boutique dissolved into beach balls, a few houses into ice cream cones and pancakes, and Sugarcube Corner became a mess of dissolved candies and pastries. More and more lightning bolts struck buildings, uncreating them as the power of the Windigos grew. Gregory chuckled. “The angrier they get, the stronger I become.” The lightning increased, and soon half the town was gone, dissolved into nonsensical things.
“Gregory, look out!” Andrew yelled as something huge came hurtling towards him.
Gregory leaped up, spreading ice wings and barely dodging the object. The lightning only increased, and in a few seconds over seventy percent of the town was gone. He saw more and more objects being hurled at him and he ducked and dodged as his massive storm destroyed more and more of the ‘rebuilt’ town. Finally, a massive bolt struck town hall, reducing it to licorice. With that, the only building remaining was the library. Gregory waved his hand, and the storm took on a normal life, no longer under his control. Landing, he pushed the other two humans forward. “Move!”
Unfortunately that victory was cut short as the ground beneath them suddenly exploded like a landmine. One moment they were still standing the next moment they were standing covered in sticky bubble gum. Of course that was also before noticing the draconequus army around them, growling, hissing, and snarling.
Gregory reached down, freezing the bubble gum around them and grabbing both humans. With strength he’d built up since coming to Gaia, he pulled them out and stared at the army of mishmashed creatures. “Jesus, you’re all ugly as sin,” he quipped as he began to fly away from them.
As they flew away they barely dodged what looked like rockets. They looked down to see one shooting at them with an arm that resembled a bazooka. “If you know what's good for ya, you will run!”
“And if you can all think for yourselves, you’ll realize that Howard is a massive manipulator who’s trying to control the world!” Gregory called back down.
They didn’t listen as they all began firing and throwing stuff at them. “Let's get out of here. They won’t listen to reason!” Andrew said.
Gregory dodged and weaved again, heading back to the train. As they approached, the door to the engine opened and a female voice called out, “Get in! Get in!”
Gregory threw the two others inside while using his electrokinesis to fire lightning at the approaching rockets, making them explode in midair. The train began moving back towards Canterlot. As the door shut on its own, Gregory turned towards the radio. “Thanks for the assist, Connie.”
“Someone had to make sure your asses were watched,” the female voice called out.
“Wait, you’re alive?!” Andrew asked.
“Told you so,” Gregory chuckled.
“So why’d you only talk to Gregory?” Jason asked.
“He sensed my soul first,” the voice said. “For some reason thanks to this so-called chaos magic, I felt more alive.”
“Chaos magic can do crazy shit,” Gregory said as he took a seat next to the radio, gently rubbing it. “Again, thanks for the assist, Connie.”
The train began its backwards journey. The group seemed relieved they left danger but then they saw the tunnel again.”Think those ghosts will bother us again?” Andrew asked.
“Probably so,” Gregory said, “but we just need to go through them. This train was made on Earth, which means that Connie’s consciousness aside, it can permanently damage magic.”
Just as the train barely made a few feet in the tunnel the headlights on both ends went out. “Oh not this now! Probably an electrical issue. Hang on, I'll fix it,” Andrew said as he carefully stepped out.
“Jesus, don’t go outside!” Gregory shouted with disbelief.
A few seconds later they heard the sounds of whacking. “He honestly thinks whacking my headlight will fix it?”
“Stop hurting Connie!” Gregory shouted.
“I’m not!” Andrew shouted back. “Well it sure ain't a loose bolt. This should do it.” Andrew gave one more small whack.
The headlights flickered on and suddenly hovering right in front of them was a ghostly figure. “HOLY!” Andrew shouted in terror as he quickly went back inside and slammed the door.
“You gotta be kidding me!” Connie said.
“Why would you go outside in a ghost-filled tunnel!?” Gregory shouted.
“You try getting a light to work after flipping the switch so many times.”
“We were moving just fine when the lights went out!” Gregory said, “we could have just kept going!”
“Okay, let's calm down. It’s just a ghost pony. It can't hurt us here right?” Andrew said.
Gregory nodded. “This train, like I said, is made on Earth. Earthmade objects can permanently harm magic. I managed to kill several timberwolves permanently with my guns.”
“Yeah, but isn’t this basically-” But before Andrew could finish there was a sudden jolt as the train felt like it got hit by something. They looked out to see the ghost pony ram her body right into the engine’s side, causing the cab to shake like an earthquake. The ghost pony couldn’t enter, but it could still hit.
Gregory looked at the radio. “Connie, now would be a good time to-”
“Already on it,” she said as the horn blared and the train began to move, sending ghosts flying.
“Is it me or does the tunnel look bigger than last time?” Gregory asked as he noticed the tunnel walls looking bigger.
Another strike against the train. Connie grunted. “Ugh, it's like the force of five of my siblings!”
Just then, several more ghosts appeared, shoving the attacking ghosts away. Among them were two familiar ones, a wall eyed pegasus mare and a shorter pegasus colt. The three humans recognized both immediately. “Rumble and Derpy…” Jason said.
Despite the empty, vacant eye sockets. They could see they were looking at them with smiles. Rumble gave a wink while Derpy just waved. “We have ghostly allies!” Gregory shouted in relief as the train picked up speed.
Andrew looked to the window where Jason was seated by. “Not enough, though-Jason LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!”
Jason turned and saw a few ghostly figures pounding at the window. Fortunately, it seemed Gregory was right. They were unable to even shatter the glass. Their eyes were full of hatred but he was still beyond their reach. Even so, he still backed away. “That’s fucking terrifying…why are they still here?”
“Why are any ghosts here? Unfinished business, probably,” Gregory said.
Andrew looked at all sides that the ghosts were attempting to strike from. He then turned to Jason. “I think I have an idea but I don’t think you'll like it. They are mad and blame you for the downfall. They may have treated you badly but maybe, just maybe, if you spoke to them maybe they can, I don’t know, ease up?” There was another bang to the train’s side. ”This may sound crazy but I think maybe an apology or something?”
“Oh yeah, they need to apologize to me first,” Jason said.
“He has a point,” Gregory said. “Honestly, it’s their fault that they’re in this mess.”
There was another strike, this one felt more powerful. “You got any other bright ideas? We might derail before we get out of here!”
Jason sighed, then walked to the window. He pointed at the angry ponies. “Listen up, dipshits,” he said, “I came to Ponyville to make friends with you ponies, and you fuckers turned me away at every turn, beating and abusing me for three years! All I wanted was justice, but I never wanted you dead! If you want to blame someone, blame yourselves!”
For a brief moment they actually looked a little remorseful, but the moment they heard ‘blame yourselves’ they got mad again. Gregory joined them as well, pointing at them. “Get off your high horses!” he shouted. “I came for the same reason as Jason, and it hardly took you racist ponies a week to kick me out, but not before you tried to destroy my car and murder me!”
“We hated you because of him!” a ghost shouted as it pointed at Jason.
“And you hated him because he wasn’t a pony,” Gregory shouted back, “so much for harmony and love in this country!”
“He’s right,” said a familiar voice. It was Derpy, who was riding on Connie’s low hood in front of the windows. She had a more angelic appearance now as she looked down at Jason. “I forgive you for the justice you gave us. I’ll forever embrace the guilt I have within me. Just promise me that my daughter will be raised properly.”
“Fluttershy adopted her,” Gregory said kindly, “and she’s doing just fine.”
Derpy smiled teary eyed and nodded. “Good, I’m glad to hear it. Tell her I love her, please?”
“I will,” Gregory replied.
Suddenly Derpy began to glow brighter. “What are you doing?! He needs to suffer!” one of the ghosts shouted.
“No…it’s time for all of us to move on,” she said.
“She’s right,” another ghost said. Rumble appeared, looking at Jason and then at Gregory. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to make it to your storytelling,” he said.
Gregory shed a tear and smiled. “Maybe when I finally die, I can tell you the full stories.”
Rumble smiled, nodded, and began glowing more brightly.
The tunnel became so bright that the three humans had to shield their eyes. All they could hear was screaming as well as the sound of Connie’s engine rumbling. When the light died down the three humans saw that the tunnel was empty. A few seconds later they then saw daylight as Connie raced out of the tunnel.
“Well, looks like I’ll be making a visit to Fluttershy’s orphanage when this is all over,” Gregory said.
“Let’s hope that's the last bit of danger on this ride,” Andrew said.
“When are people gonna learn not to jinx shit?” Gregory asked as he gave Andrew a deadpan stare.
“What do you mean?” Andrew asked
But before Gregory could reply the radio emitted a static sound. “That’s what I mean!” Gregory said.
“Pick it up, that's not me.” Connie said through the static.
Gregory nodded and picked it up. “Well, considering that the only other people who have radios like this on the planet are full-on television villains now, I’m assuming I’m either talking to limp dick Howard or one of his mindless drones?” he asked into the radio.
“Oh and here I thought Stacy had a spare,” a voice said. It was Howard.
“Limp dick whoreward, what a big surprise,” Gregory sneered into the radio. “So, like what happened to your worthless Ponyville mockup?”
“Impressive, wasn’t it? Lucky for you I can easily patch up damages,” Howard said.
“Well, shame that Twilight knows that it’s nothing but lies, you yandere cuck.”
“Tsk tsk, such language. We might as well be on Adult Swim,” Howard chuckled.
“Nah, you’re not good enough to be on Robot Chicken,” Gregory snickered.
Howard grunted before continuing. “Well, either way I’m glad you had fun with my model. Makes me wonder what more I can do, especially for mister Justice with you.”
Andrew grabbed the radio. “Howard, the problems with Jason are far over.”
“The problem will be over when I say it's over!” He said as the sound of a banging fist was heard.
Gregory took the radio. “Oooh, someone’s throwing a temper tantrum. Does baby need his blankie while he watches baby cartoon shows he can’t control?”
“Laugh all you want, but I Pinkie Promise you won’t be laughing after I share some news with Jason.”
“Pinkie Promises don’t exist anymore,” Gregory replied.
“Jason better be with you to hear this because I won’t be repeating this warning,” Howard said darkly.
Jason took the radio. “Speak up.”
“Nice to hear from you again Jason, I wanted to tell you I’m preparing a present to send to your hive. A little something to end your reign with a bang so to speak.”
Jason snarled as he said, “If you so much as sneeze in the direction of the hive, not even the Gjallarhorn will be able to save you.”
“Oh don’t worry, that might not even happen if you were to do me a few small favors,” Howard said.
Jason sighed. “Such as?”
“Give yourself and the Gjallarhorn up within twenty four hours or your hive is going to receive the package and in case you're wondering what it is, I'll give you a hint. It’s the one thing Russia is best known for and not alcoholic.”
“How the hell did he get a hold of a nuke?” Gregory asked with the radio off.
“Don’t ask me the K5 Railgun isn’t capable of shooting those and we never loaded any nuclear material,” Andrew said.
Gregory frowned, took the radio, and said, “How the fuck did you get a Tsar Bomba into the country, fuckwad?”
“I didn’t bring it. I made it. You’ll be surprised at how much imagination can come from the human mind.” Howard explained.
Gregory shook his head. “You realize if you set that kind of nuke off, the entire continent is dead.”
“Not unless I were to shoot a small one. Russia had warheads capable of destroying small targets. I just made this special. So don’t worry, Haven will be spared unless Jason refuses to give up after the hive is destroyed. This is your only warning. Out.” With that, the radio went dead.
There was silence in the cab as the words of the clearly deranged human were digested. Suddenly, Gregory began to chuckle, which quickly turned into a laugh. The other two began to look at him as if he’d gone insane. Even Connie’s horn honked in what sounded like a questioning tone. When he noticed what was going on, he slowed down. “You know, he missed one key detail. He didn’t tell us we couldn’t warn the hive.”
“And just how are we gonna warn the hive?” Andrew asked.
Jason then suddenly got a look of understanding on his face. “Our two way communication stones,” he said. “Like in that episode where Chrysalis captured the Mane Six and the Princesses and it was up to Starlight, Trixie and Discord to save the day.”
“Chrysalis won’t be happy,” Jason sighed, “but I’ll make her understand.”
“Good,” Gregory said. “We need to get back to warn her double time.” As if in response, the train picked up speed. “Thanks, Connie.”
“Oh yeah we’re gonna be having quite a chat with you old girl,” Andrew said. “As your engineer I'm your cowboy and you're my horse.”
“Dude, no, that’s not how you talk to a living being,” Gregory said.
“Oh no, it’s okay, that's how many of us see our drivers. After all, we are called the iron horses.” Connie said, chuckling slightly.
“You should meet my real horse, Theophilus,” Gregory said. “For now, though, time to get back and warn the hive.”
The train continued with the three humans. All three were still determined to win despite the ominous feeling in the cab.