//------------------------------// // Seven // Story: Flight to Dreadlands // by Prince of Cavia //------------------------------// Princess of Ruins - Air Superiority - Defensive Measures - The Right Thing The night in Canterlot was quiet and chilly. Just like every other night. Lone unicorn walked through the ruined roads. Vegetation has overrun most of the city. Once, it might have been a giant metropolis, far larger than Bridlewood. Nowadays, there are only two inhabitants here. Her, and her Princess. During the day, Misty had many tasks. Cleaning the palace, maintaining the crumbling walls, cooking, gathering food from the small garden. Recently, after strange things appeared in the sky, she also had to check for the Canterlot’s defense. Princess Opaline, the wisest Unicorn to ever live, told her that those things were called planes and the appearance of them were a bad omen. She quickly recalled her from her esponiage mission in Maretime Bay. During the night, Misty had free time, and she used it to watch the stars and to think. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was a bit torn. She loved her Princess, that was true. There was some quiet simplicity to the tasks she did in Canterlot. Yet, each time she looked at this smartphone device and saw the saved photos of these five ponies that somehow gave High Magic to the Three Cities, she felt… something. She knew they weren’t honest with her, she knew she wasn’t honest with them. They were but fools that somehow got their hooves on something that only Princess Opaline was competent enough to handle. Yet, these times they pretended to be her friends… those times felt good. Suddenly, she saw something in the corner of her eye. Something moved in the darkness. Sometimes, wild animals tried to move into the city, and Misty had to chase them away. She levitated a pistol she had by her side and walked towards the movement. She entered a dark alley. She was almost sure an unicorn walked there. At this hour, Princess was either asleep or deep in her studies on the ancient Equestrian civilization. She reached the site of a half-collapsed building. She saw a skeleton of an unicorn lying by the rubble. “Oh well, I guess I just thought I saw something,” she thought aloud. There were many skeletons in Canterlot, both of ponies and of other strange creatures. Sometimes, she thought some skeletons moved, but it was obviously just an illusion. She went back to the main street and headed back to the palace, wanting to get some much-needed sleep. Suddenly, she heard hoofsteps behind her. She turned around. Tall mare was standing in the empty street. In the moonlight, Misty was able to get a good look at her. She was wearing a strange security uniform. She had a pale pink coat and pink-blue mare. The strangest of all, she had both horn and wings. “Princess Twilight!” Misty shouted. The mare didn’t move. Dread started creeping into Misty’s mind. Run away! Go to your Mistress, her subconsciousness told her. She turned around and galloped towards the palace. Misty ran as fast as she could. She ran inside the palace and through the corridors, until she passed next to Opaline’s workplace. She saw a light from behind the door, and she opened them. “I told you to not disrupt me!” Opaline shouted, as she had to stop a magical experiment. “Princess! Twilight Sparkle is in Canterlot!” “What! That’s nonsense. I hope you have a very good explanation for why you just ruined my experiment.” “I tell the truth. I saw her. Horn and wings and all. She is coming here!” Opaline seemed to barely control her anger. Misty was waiting for her Princess to start shouting at her again, but then, she heard hoofsteps. “You heard this?” Misty asked.  Opaline’s outraged expression changed into determination. She rushed towards a locker in the side of the room. She opened it, levitated two rifles and some ammo, and handed one of them to Misty. “As we trained. If the intruder doesn’t leave the palace, shoot her.” Misty loaded her rifle and followed Opaline. They moved quietly through the corridors. The hoofseps were getting closer. Finally, after taking a turn, Opaline and Misty came muzzle to muzzle with the intruder. The Alicorn mare had a stoic expression. Opaline and Misty froze into place. Misty felt that there was something behind this strange Alicorn that shouldn’t be bothered. Opaline quickly broke out of the shock. “Who are you?! I am t…” she shouted, but couldn’t finish it. The Alicorn shot a bright energy beam from her horn. It created a perfect circle in Opaline’s chest. The older unicorn fell on the floor. No, no, NO! Misty attempted to scream, but couldn’t. She held the rifle in her magic, but wasn’t able to shoot it. There was something with the Alicorn. Something that was so seriously and utterly wrong, Misty’s senses were too overwhelmed by it to do anything. The Alicorn walked towards Misty. The small unicorn was still in shock. She felt the upcoming death. The Alicorn stopped right in front of her, looking at her carefully. “Now, you will come with me, and you will tell us everything.” Starlight Handsome Berry was flying in her plane. Hundreds of airplanes were flying with her. They were flying towards this Equestrian break-away state in the Baltimare region, to bring it under the rightful rule of the Princess of Ponies. When they were leaving, Crystal City was in uproar. There was much discontent when the recon planes found only three cities in all of Equestria still inhabited. Later, Flurry made an official announcement. The Princess said that she captured a spy and learned valuable information from her. She also officially announced that the Crystal Empire declared war on the Confederation of Three Cities. Ponies in the Crystal City started to riot, accousing Princess Flurry Heart of lying, throwing them into the future without asking anypony and declaring war with no valid casus belli. The Cabinet and the Crystal Army were busy attempting to boost the stability of the country. It seems that even the public hanging of Arctic Lilly and the rest of leadership of Red Crystal Worker’s Party a few months ago wasn’t enough to quell all discontent in the country. Well, that was the government’s problem. Starlight Berry was doing her part for Crystal Empire. She was tasked with providing air support for the military operation. Three Pegasi divisions were to paradrop next to the three cities. Modified long-range fighters were to provide air superiority, even though as far as the Princess could tell, the inhabitants of the Three Cities didn’t even know planes existed. Starlight Berry and other pilots of bombers were to attack the possible defense positions. Starlight was content with this. It seemed to be just a straightforward operation to get a breakaway nation back into the fold. Still, she had to be carefull. She didn’t know what the inhabitants of Three Cities could do to defend their land. “Alright, ponies. I know that some of you are afraid, but we all need to remain calm. Take a few deep breaths…” “No! Sunny! You have no idea what we are dealing with!” Sunny looked at Misty. Since she went back to her family for a week, she was acting strange. Of course, there was nothing wrong with being strange. Everypony was strange, after all.  “As I was saying,” Sunny continued addressing the crowd gathered on the promenade, “There are those planes in the sky and a few grumpy looking ponies are approaching our city. We know what we need to do.” “Run! Before it catches you all!” Misty shouted. “Misty. Please calm down. It’s rude to run away from guests, even if they are grumpy.” “You don’t believe me, do you?” “Of course I believe you. You are my friend. So, as I was saying. If these grumpy ponies really want to take our city, we need to stop them.” “How do we do this, Sunny?” asked some random earth pony. “That’s a good question. Hitch, show them.” Hitch carried a bucket of glue. “If they want to enter our city, we need to stop them. Therefore, my friends and I will glue ourselves to the road at the entrance of the town. The grumpy ponies will look at our act, and will get a change of heart. They will become our new friends!” “Great idea, Sunny,” somepony said. The ponies of Maretime Bay all agreed with it. “Wait, no! It’s not something you can just befriend!” “We can befriend anything. No matter their tribe, gender, i…” “IT WANTS US DEAD, DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND!” Misty shouted and launched herself at Sunny. Hitch and Zipp grabbed her. “We don’t say that word, Misty,” said Sunny. She looked towards the shocked ponies. “I apologize. My friend is in a dark place right now. I shall help her anyway I can. But now, we need to show something to the grumpy ponies.” Sunny and her friends moved to the edge of the town. They set up the transparents, and proceeded to glue themselves to the road. “Are you really sure this is a good idea?” asked Zipp. “Don’t be such a complainer, Zipp. It will work. We will teach them that being open and friendly is the best,” said Sunny. The planes were circling above the city. Most of the ponies were either hiding in their houses, watching the spectacle in the sky or looking at the young ponies gluing themselves to the road. Sunny was sure this would work. Sometimes, drastic measures were the only way to speak to someone about what you believed in. Finally, she saw the ponies walking towards the city. They were all pegasi, in purple uniforms with a snowflake. They carried rifles.  Unimaginable, thought Sunny. Guns were something only from the worst of horror movies. To see a living pony carrying a gun was surreal. These ponies must be even worse than Posey at her worst. Then, Sunny saw something even more shocking than ponies with guns.  Alicorn mare walked in front of the pegasus soldiers. Her mane was flowing with ethereal energy. She was wearing the same uniform as other soldiers. Sunny normally would be elated at the prospect of seeing an alicorn. But this one… there was something… she didn’t know what, but it wasn’t nice. Not nice at all. “Citizens of Three Cities,” shouted the Alicorn mare. “I give you one chance to surrender. Give up and join the Crystal Empire, so we can rebuild Equestria together!” “And who are you to tell us what to do?” shouted Sunny. “I am Princess Flurry Heart, Princess of Crystal Empire, Princess of Ponies and the rightful heir to Equestria. I am your leader by right. Follow me, and I will lead you to safety.” “We have no princess. We are free ponies. We w…” “Open fire.” Shining Armor looked at the column of captured ponies. The operation was a complete success. The resistance was minimal. There were zero casualties on the Crystal side, not even injuries. Despite this, Shining Armor didn’t feel like a victor. The column of ponies, young and old, was being led out of Maretime Bay to a newly built prison camp. Flurry Heart ordered all of the inhabitants of Three Cities arrested for treason and placed in a secure place. During the rounding, there were actually some Crystal casualties. Some less disciplined soldiers picked up those glowing machines called smartphones that the ponies living here had. The soldiers ended up in hospital with various degrees of brain rot. Flurry Heart declared them traitors and ordered them to be thrown into the prison camp together with the corrupted ponies. Shining looked at the DDS agents that started swarming the city looking for degenerate technology. He also looked for the engineers that were preparing to build a makeshift airfield to connect it with Crystal Empire. For now, the planes with special buoys landed on water. Shining understood why Cadance ordered them built two years ago. How did she know? “Field Marshal, I think we found all of the ponies that hid here. What should we do with them?” asked one of the officers “Build them accommodation and keep them under watch.” “Who will build it?” Shining thought about it. “Get them to work, then,” he ordered. He didn’t dare to disobey orders from his daughter. Shining thought about the enemy casualties. Flurry met some resistance, and ordered an attack. The enemy was unarmed. Some security forces and police. Other than them, a bunch of youngsters that attempted to talk Flurry down from attacking. There were also incidental casualties.  Shining couldn’t lie to himself. It was not a battle. It was a slaughter of innocent ponies. He saw Flurry Heart walking towards him. She was carrying three strange-looking crystals, and grinning. Shining hasn’t seen her so happy since before she became Cadance’s advisor. Did she enjoy this situation? On the other hoof, didn’t he make it possible by going on with it? “Father, I need to congratulate you on another victory. Your battle plan was executed flawlessly. Three Cities capitulated without much resistance.” “Many innocent ponies died defending them.” “They were corrupted beyond help anyway. We did them a favor by putting them out of misery.” “Putting them out of misery?” Shining asked. He wanted to be outraged, to speak up to this thing wearing his daughter’s skin… yet he couldn’t. Something tried to convince him that he did the right thing. The same thing that gave him the battle plan, and that gave him many other ideas. The same thing that kept him loyal to his wife and his daughter despite their descent into madness. “You are right, Flurry. They didn’t seem right in their mind.” “Indeed, father. The mistake has been erased. Now, we need to work towards the next step of our plan. Let’s go back to Crystal City.” “Let’s go, then,” Shining said. The doubt was still there, but less so. He believed Flurry did the right thing.