Undisclosed Location, Undisclosed Time
Sergeant Paul Bunting shook awake to absolute darkness. It made no difference whether he opened or closed his eyes, he still couldn’t see a thing. The air tasted familiar, the slightly sour tang that he associated with recycled ozone. He really felt the floor for the first time; the cold yet smooth feel of metal, a familiar respite from the stone floors that felt so alien to him. His rifle was still missing but he had managed to hide his knife in his boot. Navigating by touch he moved his hands down his legs, to his boots, and felt for the familiar worn hilt of his combat knife. All of a sudden, a low hum reverberated around the room. Had it been there all along? Or had that just started up now? Everything seemed… familiar yet eerie, it was… creepy, for lack of a better word. He still didn’t have a clue how large the room was. He couldn’t see his hand in front of his face, let alone the walls. “God, I miss my rifle,” he said with a sigh. The familiar feel of his combat knife was reassuring against his sweaty palms. He’d never admit it but he was absolutely terrified, the darkness was getting to him. “Hello?!” he called with a hint of desperation, “if anyone’s out there, can they get the goddam lights?!”
As if on cue, a huge floodlight switched on, almost blinding Bunting. As he flinched in pain, he tripped backwards sending his knife flying from his hands. As he sat on the floor writhing in agony, loud footsteps rang out against the metallic floor as somebody approached. Bunting’s eyes began to adjust but he was still incapable of confronting the neon glare unprotected. The footsteps continued to get louder, as whatever it was grew closer. Bunting continued to shield his eyes with one hand whilst the other routed around for his knife.
“Sergeant Bunting, I presume. I have heard so much about you, the weapon aficionado,” a strange voice that he had never heard before said slowly, speaking inside his mind. There was something off about the footsteps, their pattern was… different, abnormal. The flood light switched off and, at the same time, backlights in the rear of the room activated bathing the room in a soft blue light. Bunting’s eyes were forced to adjust again but his vision slowly cleared. Stood in front of him was another pony, as Stamford had said they were called. “Fuck! Not another one of you!” he shouted aggressively.
The pony narrowed his eyes and slowly began to speak, “It is unwise to insult us, Mister Bunting.”
“I’ll say whatever I damn well please! Now tell me how to get out of here!” Bunting demanded.
“I’ll warn you once only, if you value your motor functions, you will not follow this course of action,” the pony said again.
Bunting sized the pony up, the voice was clearly male and the way his voice echoed in Bunting’s head seemed almost supernatural. A wicked sharp horn was protruding from his forehead, a unicorn, Bunting smirked at the thought. The pony maintained an air of professionalism about him, despite the fact his orangey fur was the colour of rust. Reckoning he had the upper hand due to the fact that, as a pony, his opponent only stood at three quarters of his height. Bunting reached for his knife once more and moved to seize the pony. His opponent took a step back with a deep sigh, its horn beginning to glow a light orange. Bunting suddenly found his knife had a life of its own, thrashing against his grip, trying to free itself with every wild movement. While Bunting struggled madly, trying to retain his weapon from the pony’s magic. The unicorn whistled, signalling four ponies dressed in armour made from an odd looking metal to stomp through a door that had appeared in the wall behind him.
"Now, now I offered you a chance for complete cooperation and you spat it back in my face. Maybe you’ll be more compliant after a little… treatment,” The unicorn’s voice said with a hint of glee as he turned and walked away, wrenching the blade completely from Bunting’s hands as he did. The door shut again behind him, leaving his four armoured lackeys to show Bunting the meaning of the word “cooperation.”
“Tsk, Tsk. Such a shame, let’s hope the others prove more pliable,” Hayton said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, as he began to trot down the corridor to the next cell.
“Now, Now, Speaker. It would be most unfortunate if you decided to renounce your vows, I finally have a reclaimer, and not just one, five. I have waited millennia for this opportunity,” a voice replied directly into the Speaker’s ear.
“Hmm, well, it would do us well to find out how best to use this ancient technology. You’d think that a centuries old cult would have figured out how to operate some damnable machinery,” Hayton snarled.
“Adjutant! Now is the time for calm, I await them in my chamber. Bring them to me,” The voice spoke quickly in its unnatural, computerised voice. Hayton had gotten used to it however.
“I just want to see if they can help us activate those weapons, ease up Mister Roboto,” Hayton replied incredulously, a look of clearly feigned shock displayed prominently on his face.
“Obey your orders, Adjutant!” The voice announced with a clear sense of finality.
Hayton sighed, if he wasn’t honour bound to fulfil every bucking command from that crazed machine, then he would probably have killed every damn human. As Speaker he was the bearer of the implant, a small device that allowed him constant two-way communication with the one-eyed one, a position of power in the Followers of Monocularism. The “Followers” were relatively unknown, a secret society that could actually keep a secret. It ran in the family, so loyalty was actually important. It also helped that they hadn’t really done anything major for centuries, well, until he showed up. The second he took the mantle the cult began militarising. He had plans, plans that coincided with the one-eyed one’s wishes, plans that had just been set back. He still couldn’t believe their contact would betray them, Commander Hauberk had been one of his best field agents and loyal to the end. Wind Runner was new to the field but there was a fire about her that had really made her stand out. Then again, at least Mind’s Eye made it back out alive with five of the six targets. He had never liked that unicorn but he couldn’t argue with results, and he always delivered.
Hayton sighed again, this time deeper as he keyed the code for the next cell into the pad by the door. It slid open with an audible whirring noise and the floodlight lit up. Once again there was a snivelling human grovelling on the floor, begging for the lights to be turned off. After another dramatic entrance he switched to the backlights once more.
“Mister Okano, I presume,” Hayton said, out loud this time, in his most ominous voice.
“Please… let me go,” Navigation Officer Isao Okano whimpered.
“Not just yet, Isao,” he pretended to laugh. Mentally however, he took a note of how spineless this particular one was. “Now, it should be clear to you that you have been liberated from Canterlot Castle.”
“Come on man! You don’t need to keep us prisoner. We’re all good friends here.” Okano tried altering his approach but Hayton just ignored his pleas.
“My superior has requested a meeting with you. A short talk, some destiny fulfilment and you’ll be on your way.” Sometimes, Hayton loved his job.
“Destiny fulfilment?” Okano replied with a confused expression on his face, he then paled slightly and asked, “will it… hurt?”
“Only if you struggle,” Hayton replied with a dark smile. Okano began to shake quite violently. Hayton laughed as menacingly as he could, the low tones reverberating off the walls. Okano’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fainted. Hayton stopped laughing and looked down to see his prone form. “Oh horseapples, it happened again.” Hayton poked the unconscious human gingerly with his hoof. “Come on, wake up. Damn it! Mister Roboto is going to freak. Well, uh… next human, I guess." He sighed heavily before moving into a shrug and walking back out of the door, sealing it shut once more behind him.
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Pony Bakery, Ponyville, Morning
“Get out! Get out of my bakery!” the pink pony flew into a rage and began barraging Victor and Darrell with sweet treats.
“Gah!” Victor cried as he dived straight into a cream cake, its thick, white filling squirting all over him.
“What do we do?!” Darrell shouted, ducking to avoid a large pink cake that smashed into the corner into a pile of mush.
“You shouldn’t even be here! The doctors took care of that!” The pony screamed in the background, picking up a plate of multicoloured cupcakes and flinging them, one by one, at the two confused humans.
“Well you said you wanted sweet treats…” Darrell began before a bright green cake crashed onto his head. “Argh! Frosting in my eye! Frosting in my eye!” he cried as he jumped up, into the path of a dozen hastily thrown cupcakes. Each one impacted with an audible smack, coating him in a veritable rainbow of colours. In the time it took him to clear his eyes and get back behind cover, he was coated from head-to-toe in icing.
“Well isn’t that just the icing on the cake!” Victor shouted over the cacophony of noise in the calamity of the bakery, before bursting out into throes of raucous laughter. The pink pony temporarily stopped flinging baked goods as she fell onto her back, giggling uncontrollably. During this respite from frosting loaded artillery, Victor sprinted up to the main counter and took cover behind it, quickly followed by Darrell. The split second the laughter stopped a trio of cakes were pushed over the edge of the counter, exploding their sugary payload all over the two humans.
“What do we do Vic?!” Darrell shouted, grabbing Victor by the scruff of his collar and shaking him.
“Well we could just shoot her, but I think that might be overreacting,” Victor suggested with a shrug.
“You don’t say,” Darrell said sarcastically, fixing Victor a withering stare.
Before Victor could retort the pony leapt over the counter holding an odd pink device in her hooves. “How are you doing…” Darrell began but the pink pony cut him short.
“Nopony move or you’ll get a belly full of frosting!” the pony screamed, a nervous tick crossing her face.
“Well that doesn’t actually…” Darrell began again when another cup cake bashed into his chest with force, winding him.
“I said nopony move!”
“Technically he was speaking, and, as you can see, we’re not ponies.” Victor replied earning him a cupcake to the chest too.
“I’ll do all the talking here! Well, all the question asking, you guys will have to answer of course.” The pink pony was clearly insane, or at least appeared so to the two humans struggling to get their breaths back. “Now! Uhh, tell me something!”
“Like what?” Victor replied, regaining his breath.
“Anything! Just tell me something so I’ll know your real!”
“Uhh, I like your shade of pink?” Darrell suggested awkwardly. This caught the pony off guard and she lowered her cupcake propellant device. Victor motioned to Darrell with his head as if suggesting that Darrell tackle the pony. Darrell shook his head violently in reply then returned the motion to Victor.
“How nice of you to say?” she replied a little abashedly before her gaze hardened once more and she pulled back up her weapon. “No, I mean things about yourself!” she demanded.
“Well I’m a Virgo and…”
“What the hay is a Virgo?! Is that a type of human?!” she yelled at the confused engineer, waving her cupcake cannon around wildly.
“It’s a star sign,” Darrell replied hesitantly.
“They’ll see different stars from here genius,” Victor scoffed at his friend.
“You! What’s your deal?!” she turned to Victor and pointed the cannon directly at his chest.
"I'm just a simple engineer. Nothing special about me at all,” Victor replied a little too quickly.
"Look, I just want to know why you're back. Just… just tell me that,” the pony sighed deeply and lowered her cannon to the floor. Her puffy mane deflated right before their eyes. Tears began to fill her eyes as she sat against the wall with a thud.
Darrell looked to Victor for what to do next, who just shrugged. Darrell mouthed to him that he should go comfort her, but he shook his head violently and pointed at back at him. Darrell rolled eyes and sighed silently before cautiously approaching the pony. He sat down carefully beside the despairing pony and paused, thinking of what to do next. He looked back to Victor, but he was no help at all. In the end Darrell decided to treat the pony as if it was a human, he could handle a crying human. He gingerly placed his arm around the pony. She fought back for a split second due to her fear of the human before realizing it was an affectionate gesture, she then buried her into his jumpsuit and started sobbing loudly, muffled by the fabric. Darrell wrapped his other arm around her and held her, trying his hardest to comfort her despite his mind trying to reason that she was an alien and he should stop. “There, there…” his voice was awkward, but comforting none the less. He was sat on the floor with the crying pony, leaving Victor sitting there awkwardly as he had no clue as to what to do.
Victor stood up and noticed a very delicious looking chocolate cake that had remained stationary during the fight. A quick glance at Darrell assured him that he had the pony under control, or vice-versa, it didn’t really matter. He crept up towards the beckoning delight. Real chocolate, a rarity aboard military craft, the very sight made his mouth salivate with anticipation. Surely with all the cakes scattered across the shop one little melt-in-your-mouth, rich, creamy, moist and delicious chocolate cake wouldn’t go amiss. Then again, Captain Lairsey had insisted they not eat anything from this planet, but that cake was mesmerising. He pulled out his crafting knife that he always kept on him and plunged it into the centre of the baked good, cutting outward to make a sizeable slice. Seconds later, it was in his mouth, the rich, sweet flavours dancing along his tongue. God, it was so sugary. I haven’t tasted anything like it before, so sweet and simple yet so refined. With little care as to if the others noticed he frantically cut the cake into five slices and quickly set about devouring them.
“Victor!” A voice shouted across the bakery. Victor stopped, the last slice inches away from his mouth. Darrell was glaring at him, barely contained rage swirling behind his brown eyes. “Put that down! Why do I have to comfort little miss psychopath here, while you gorge yourself on chocolate cake?!”
“Hey who are you calling psychopath!” the pony shouted, pushing away from him and jumping to her feet.
“Wait I didn’t mean it!” Darrell shouted, realising what he had let slip inadvertently in his anger. Just then the bell above the door rang out.
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??????????????
“You. What are you?” A low feminine voice rang out in the darkness.
“Captain Seth Lairsey of the UNSC Hastings, ma’am!” Lairsey snapped off a salute. He looked around for the source of the voice, yet saw nothing at all. Darkness surrounded him, there were no floors, no walls, no sky. Just a never-ending void of black. All that he could see was himself, floating impossibly in mid-nothingness. He was wearing his dress uniform, the medals on his chest a familiar weight. He recalled the last time he had worn this uniform, a celebration for the victory of the famed Insurrection of Mamore, the last major battle of the Insurrection. His ship had played a minor role, being a member of the battle group. There had been a ceremony back on Earth where medals had been handed out for bravery. As he remembered the event, the nothingness began to take form. He could remember the fine marble columns, and the fancy patterned carpet. He began to hear sound; the low hum of civilised talk, the clink of champagne glasses toasted in victory. He recalled his wife in her expensive cocktail dress, a frivolous expense in his opinion but she had loved it. Her warm smile lit up his life, her soft voice lifted his heart, her very presence made him feel like the luckiest man alive.
“A romantic I see,” the voice announced, this time coming from a waitress holding a serving tray full of hors d’oeuvres.
“She was always the centre of my attention. Wherever she went I would have followed. If only my charge hadn’t kept me away so long,” Seth said with a sense of longing. He watched her talking to Admiral Patterson and his wife. The words were unimportant, the very voice itself was all he cared for, the voice of an angel. Her face was alive, a small burst of laughter made his heart leap with joy.
“What is this place?” the waitress asked in a voice clearly not her own.
“Earth, back in its glory days. A celebration for a decisive victory.” Seth’s smile vanished and his face darkened. He turned once more to his wife but she seemed to be growing distant again. The lights began to grey and the excited chatter died down. “The last event of its kind. In only a few years, all of this will be undone. The joy will vanish from people’s faces forever. There is no place for parties in the future.” The elaborate hall began to peel away but the blackness did not return.
He was on the bridge of a frigate, the UNSC Marston Moor, his first charge as Captain. Twenty long years he worked on this vessel, hunting down rebels. Then his ship joined Battle Group India for the largest space battle of the war, The Battle of Psi Serpentis. The bridge began to populate with crewmen. People he had once know well, capable naval officers all in their own right. The windows outside suddenly filled with ships, Human and Covenant alike. Plasma flew across space, streaks of fire shot across his vision, fighters twisted along in their grim dance. A battle occurred just outside the window. Everyone knew their jobs, urgent talk filled the air and along with the hum of computers.
Ensign Mackellar stood by his side, not yet a Weapons Officer. She turned to speak to him, but once again the voice wasn’t hers, “So you’re a soldier, a leader.”
“Yes, I commanded this ship and a few others. I participated in many engagements, put down Insurrectionists and tackled Covenant. I have racked up plenty of kills.”
“Yet it must seem so distant up there on your throne, commanding a steel beast to do your bidding.”
“This is also where I made my first kill. An “elite” as we call them, an attempted boarding action that we repulsed.”
The scene suddenly seemed to speed up, time moving faster. Crewmen dashed between consoles and the thrum of speech became louder. After about a minute the scene slowed down again as a door burst open into the bridge. A group of bipedal creatures burst in, wearing thick plates of coloured armour. Their strange weapons opened fire, emitting bursts of blue plasma that barrelled into the unprepared crewmen. Panic broke out as consoles begin to spark. Seth watched as a slightly younger version of himself rose, pistol in hand. A shot impacted into one of their energy shields, flashing orange in reaction. Other crewmen joined in, firing from cover behind consoles. One of the elites shields dissipated and Lairsey jumped up, firing a bullet that shot right through the elite’s head, with a shower of indigo blood.
“A calculated kill,” Mackellar’s body said, the battle frozen in the background. “No remorse, no hesitation, you did what needed to be done.”
“This was after the fall of the planet Byzantium, my family had been taken from me by these bastards. I could have killed them all, but I held back,” Seth recalled, staring at his former self.
“You didn’t let your emotions cloud you, a mistake. Emotion is one of the most powerful tools in your arsenal. It is better to embrace your rage and refine it,” the voice insisted.
“My family… my life… it, it was all taken from me,” Seth sank to his knees, letting despair take hold of him for the first time in a decade.
“By who?” the voice whispered insistently.
“Those filthy xeno bastards!” Seth shouted angrily, shaking his fist at the air as his despair turned to rage.
“Good, good. Feed your rage, wield it like a weapon. The time of revenge is at hand,” the voice became deeper and stronger. The ship began to fall apart, a more recent memory started to emerge.
“No… last time I let my rage take the better of me… I made a huge mistake.”
They were in a meeting room, that much was clear. A long metal table sat in the secure, grey room. Captain Seth Lairsey sat alongside Doctor Stamford opposite a trio of very important looking people. There was no ambient noise beyond the inhalations and exhalations of the five of them. In front of Seth sat an open folder, full of official looking documents.
“We hope you will consider this offer,” the man in the middle said plainly.
“Let me get this straight, you want me to take on board, willingly, a tank full of flood? With all due respect, do you think I’m crazy, sir?” the other Seth demanded incredulously.
“Captain Lairsey, we have done as much testing on this experiment as we possibly can. We need field trials, if we can get this to work, then we’ll be able to control the flood. Think of the implications!” The man on the left said excitably, his lab coat gave away the fact that he was a scientist, quite possibly the lead researcher on this project.
“Why me? Surely you have plenty of skilled captains to choose from!” the other Seth was simultaneously honoured and insulted that they had chosen him for this task.
“You are an able captain, and I’m sure you’d jump at any opportunity to pay back the Covenant for what happened at Byzantium,” the woman on the right stated as if it was common knowledge. Both Seths visibly tensed at the word Byzantium. Seeing the reaction the woman continued, “think of the havoc you would cause on their ship, a fate worse than death, which they more than deserve.” Other Seth looked as if he was actually considering accepting the offer.
Doctor Stamford turned to him and spoke for the first time, “I’m one of the researchers on the project and I’ll be monitoring their status from onboard the ship.”
“I’ll take the flood, but I don’t need a spook onboard.”
“I’m trained as a doctor, you won’t even notice me until the time comes.”
“Fine. Our current physician is overdue for retirement anyway.”
“Then it’s agreed, you’ll take the Flood Alpha, along with some spores and deploy them in the next engagement,” the middle character stated to clarify and held out his hand, which Seth then shook.
“You won’t regret this decision Captain Lairsey. The Office of Naval Intelligence serves all of mankind, and in this, so will you,” Stamford said, his voice carrying the strength that only someone who truly believed in those words could communicate.
"And just like that, I signed away my soul, just at the promise of revenge. I brought the devil’s offspring onboard my craft, the Flood,” The real Seth said sadly, staring into space.
The meeting room began to peel away, the scene changed once again. The ceiling began to rise to mammoth heights. Crates were everywhere, stacked into organised piles, a warehouse of some kind. Stamford stood in front of his previous self along with the lead researcher from earlier. “I took them on board my ship, ready to deploy on an unsuspecting Covenant vessel. A move I regretted,” he explained, partially to himself.
“It’s quite simple, the tank just needs setting up and we can feed it into the weapon system, no problem,” the researcher was insisting.
“Technology isn’t my strong point...” Stamford began.
“Don’t worry we’ve got a techie lined up for you. It shouldn’t be a problem, the guy’s a genius when it comes to contraptions, fancies himself an inventor,” The researcher replied.
“Hang on! I’m not having two of your agents onboard!” The flashback Lairsey shouted angrily.
“Don’t worry Captain, this engineer isn’t actually an agent, we’re only contracting him for this special task. Besides, for all you know he could already be in your roster,” the researcher said with a knowing smile, full of self satisfaction. Other Lairsey relented and stepped down, the two researchers communication dying down into the background.
“What happens next?” the voice asked from behind the real Seth.
“We never finished. The Battle of Earth happened, and all available ships were called into duty. The next few months will be an array of desperate tasks, trying to delay our inevitable defeat. The planet will be destroyed, there is no denying that. For all we know right now, we’re all that’s left." the sense of melancholy in his words was almost palpable.
The scene changed one last time, they were back on board an empty ship, orbiting the planet Earth. A large window sat in front of him, directly in front of them was Earth. Colossal scorch marks and craters dotted its surface, huge swaths of land coated in glass. It was almost as if the entire planet was on fire. “So this was your planet?” the voice asked in a tone quite untouched by the aura of sadness that Seth was exuding.
“For what it was worth… born and raised on this planet, like my ancestors before me. I was the first of my family to move to the colonies, it was more convenient for my role as Captain.”
“Do you know where you really are though Captain?” the voice asked.
“Inside my memories, trapped in my own mind I assume. But you want something, you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t want something.” Seth turned to confront the voice. Floating in front of him was a thick purple mist, retaining no definite shape.
“I want you Captain. I want you to let go, I want you to embrace those deep, dark emotions that fester in your soul. I want you to surrender your rational thought and give way for something glorious. The human empire may have crumbled but you could create a new one. All it would take… is a little power. Power that I can grant you, power that will allow you to crush every alien that stands before you. Power to avenge your wife, your family, your friends,” the voice replied, emphasising the word “power” every time it used it.
“There’s always a catch. I’m guessing you want me to relinquish my immortal soul or my body or even my life force?” Seth said with a dismissive snort.
“I just need a vessel, a vessel that agrees with me,” the life force insisted.
“Well… you’ve found your vessel. Go on, I just can’t care anymore. Take the only thing that I have left,” Seth gave in easily, his voice was tired, tired of striving to keep himself going.
If the purple mist could smile, it would have done. The mist approached the naval officer who turned to face the window once more, gazing at the burning embers of his planet. A single tear ran down his face as he turned to face the mist. “Take me,” he said quietly. The purple mist shot into his open mouth and into his body. Seth began to feel different, his motor controls began to loosen. Another presence took the reins leaving him as a back-seat driver. He retreated once more into his memories, hoping to relive the glory days before everything went wrong.
“I finally have another body, weak and fleshy, without an ounce of magic. Not the best vessel I could ask for but it feels good to have a form again,” the thing shouted in glee, before breaking free of his mind and back into consciousness.
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Clopton Village General Store, 10 a.m. 14 hours until the Summer Sun Celebration.
Plough lay on the floor of the Clopton General Store, snoring heavily. Suddenly a hoof was placed on his shoulder and began to shake, rousing him from his slumber. He opened his eyes slowly with a yawn and looked up to see a brown earth pony colt. His memory suddenly snapped back and he leapt to his hooves, grabbing his nearby scythe.
“Woah there, pardner. I ain’t no zombie, its Farmer Oats, remember?” the colt said as Plough took a few seconds to register, well anything. Sure enough it was Oats, looking the same as ever, still strangely chewing that piece of straw, must have restocked from somewhere in the shop. Despite everything that had happened he still buried his emotions deep within him, nothing ever seemed to phase him.
“Sorry, it’s just hard to believe that this is real is all,” Plough said, dropping the scythe and rubbing his head with his hoof. After a bit of forehead rubbing, he looked back up and asked Oats, “what’d you wake me for?”
“Them roars ‘ave died down, listen,” Oats began before pointing to the barricaded door. “I reckon a big group of ‘em just split off. Now’s prob’ly the best shot we have of breakin’ out of this hellhole. If we just focus on pushin’ through, well I think that we‘ve a good chance of getting clear of this here village,” Oats explained to the trained guardspony.
“You’re right, it’s probably the best chance we have, if that is the case. Awaken the others and I’ll scope it out.” Plough took control, approaching the barricaded door.
Unfortunately, in their haste to secure the room, they had barricaded over every window. There was no way to recon the outside, in relative safety at least. He could unblock one of the windows and try and climb out, but that could be suicide. He turned to see Oats was gently waking Seed Sower, the tan earth pony staggering to her hooves. He was going to have to chance it. As the only remaining member of the guard, it was his duty to protect the remaining townsfolk, which seemed to be these four ponies. He looked back to see Mayor Pencil Pusher was the next to rise, the grey unicorn mare uncurled from around Mint Snap and rose to her feet. There was no other course, he picked up a hammer and started prising the boards off, one by one.
“What are you doing?” Seed Sower said worriedly as she trotted up, looking concerned. “Stop that!”
“I’m going to check how clear it is, then jump back in.”
“Are you crazy? You don’t stand a chance out there! “
“Oats says he though he heard a group of them peeling off. If they’ve actually gone then now’s our best shot at getting out of town.”
“But what if he’s wrong? We should put it to the vote.”
“Look, I’m the only trained fighter here. I’ll be right back, I promise.” Plough flashed her a smile before squeezing through the hole he had just made and out of the window.
“Good luck,” Seed Sower said, returning the smile as he vanished from view.
A few minutes later he dove back through the window, smashing the remaining planks as he did. “It’s clear but I don’t know for how long! Everypony grab your stuff and let’s get out of here!” he ordered to the group. Nopony questioned him in this matter and swiftly seized up the saddlebags full of supplies and the farming implements they were calling weapons. Within a minute the group had loaded up and were preparing to leave.
“Right, I want everypony to line up in an orderly fashion and we’ll head out through the window, one-by-one,” Pencil Pusher took back her position of power, which Plough was more than happy to relinquish. “Complete situational report, Mr Plough? If you’d please,” The mayor asked as he climbed back out the window.
“None of those beasts in sight down the side,” Plough whispered to himself, with a sigh of relief. He glanced around the corner to just outside the front door, there were still a few zombified ponies lingering outside but they seemed… aimless. They just stood there, barely moving at all. The bright sun had illuminated the area with its harsh gaze, however it did little to lift Plough’s spirits, quite the opposite in fact. Plough spotted the site of Violet’s final stand, it wasn’t hard to find. What he saw made him audibly gag and cover his mouth. Sat on the ground was the purple pegasi’s body, what was left of it anyway. It looked like it had been savaged by wild animals, huge chunks of flesh had been torn off and large claw marks coated every inch of it. Its wings were both completely removed and its head hanging on to the neck by a stringy piece of sinew. Her cutie mark had been torn entirely off and lay not too far away. Despite all this though, her mouth seemed locked in a smile. She had taken a lot of the buckers with her, there was at least eighteen bodies surrounding her in various states of disrepair. The ground was covered in a mix of yellow pus and scarlet blood, which had dried together now into a horrible sticky substance. It was then that he noted the sword, the mayoral blade; crafted by Helm Basher for the mayor’s inauguration when the town came to be. It had a wicked edge despite its ornamental purpose, Helm Basher knew his way around a forge. He couldn’t risk exposing them all just for a blade, but his hip felt empty without the familiar weight of a weapon. The scythe was nice and all but it was too large to wield by hoof. He sighed again and turned back to the group who had now finished climbing out the window.
Pencil Pusher walked right up to him and whispered in his ear, “Is the area secure?”
“Not quite, we’ve got a lot of hangers-back, but something’s wrong with them. It’s almost like they’ve lost all semblance of intelligence. They’re literally just standing around outside the front door,” Plough explained in a whisper back. Pencil Pusher nodded and turned to lead the group the other way when she hesitated.
“Violet… Is she?” She began but Plough answered her question, before she finished airing it, with a nod. Pencil Pusher turned once more, he could see the news pained her as she hung her head low for a few seconds and exhaled deeply. Her head then snapped back up again with a determined look written all over it. “Let’s not let her death mean naught, it’s time we moved out.”
“Wait, your mayoral blade is just around that corner, you should be able to grab it with your unicorn magic… only there’s still a few of those zombies out there,” Plough stopped her, he just couldn’t let a blade that fine go to waste. He was counting on the mayor’s sense of pride to persuade her to recover it. However, unbeknownst to him, her self esteem was at all time low and as far as she was concerned, pride could just buck off.
“No. I’ve…I’ve had enough of this place. Let’s just go, lingering serves no purpose,” she said quietly avoiding Plough’s eyes. He nodded in return and moved to the front of the group. She didn’t dare look around the corner and see her broken body so she whispered once more, “farewell Violet.” A tear managed to break through her defences, then another and another. Before she knew it the tears were streaming freely down her face. Mint Snap walked over and put his hoof around her shoulder, she clung to her with all of her strength and before she knew it, Mint Snap was crying too. Through the tears she led the distraught unicorn back to the group where they assumed a middle place in the single-file line as it began to march out of town.
“I...I’m…I’m sorry. I can’t be the leader… you want me to be… not anymore. It’s…it’s all gone. Everything,” Pencil Pusher managed to say between chokes of tears.
“Don’t worry. You did everything you could,” Mint Snap said softly and gently, speaking for the first time since they had met up. She gave Pencil Pusher an honest smile, from the heart. Pencil Pusher forced back her tears and managed to regain some semblance of control. Plough suddenly stopped up front and motioned for everypony to duck down, so they did.
“Up ahead, there’s a small group of those zombies, about eight of them, just wandering around aimlessly,” Plough said quietly, addressing the group. “I think there’s something wrong with them, they’re lacking the focus and coordination they had yesterday. I think it would be an easy matter to cut our way through in their current state.”
“Now hold on one cotton pickin’ minute. These mares are in no condition to be all afightin’. If Seed Sower stays here and covers them, well, then I’d be more than happy to stand by your side,” Oats said, holding up a hoof at Plough.
“Hey! You’ll need my help if you want to fight past them. Two against eight are not good odds,” Seed Sower began irritably.
“But what if the mares get attacked?”
“By what? You said so yourself these things are uncoordinated right now. As long as they steer clear of the battle then they can do whatever the buck they want,” Seed Sower retorted angrily. She may be extremely tired, but she wasn’t going to go and get in debt with anypony. She wasn’t going to have no colt fight all her battles for her.
“I suppose you’re right. Mint Snap! Pencil Pusher! Keep down, we’re going to go and deal with this little group,” Plough ordered the two mares, looking each in the eyes as he did. He then pulled out his scythe and prepared to charge. Seed Sower still had that pitchfork which she got ready while Oats drew the hoe that he had found in the general store. “Okay team I’ll head for that large central group of four with a charge from my scythe. Hopefully it’ll cut them all in half. Oats if you steer left and hit those two whilst Seeds steers right and hits the others, the element of surprise should help us take them all down with relative ease. You ready everypony, charge!”
Plough galloped straight forwards, his hooves beating against the ground with an audible clopping noise. One of the zombies turned around and hissed at the sight of him before charging straight towards him. Upon hearing their comrade turn and charge, the remaining members of the groups turned and galloped after him. Plough nodded and Seeds and Oats began to split off, each aiming for their assigned targets who hadn’t noticed them yet.
Plough kept on galloping, the first zombie was mere metres away from him now. Plough ducked under the infected hoof it flailed outwards and spun his head twisting the scythe upwards with a clean slice cutting the zombie pony into two distinct pieces as it fell to the floor spewing yellow. Plough couldn’t stop though, he had to maintain momentum the other three were just ahead and would be harder. He tried to predict their movements, they’d probably swing their thick, infected hooves like clubs, mirroring the firsts. He dodged right, predicting the movements of the first zombie as it shot overhead, the scythe dragged through its legs separating them from his torso with a clean cut. The second struck straight downwards; despite their lack of intelligence they had brilliant reaction times. Plough managed to just shield it with his scythe but the blow knocked him seriously off balance. He fell into a roll but managed to just gain control at the last second jumping to his hooves. The two zombies twisted to face him and charged. Plough leapt into the air and then dived straight downwards, raising the scythe above him. He slung it downwards in a diagonal motion and the vicious blade hit the pod with a direct hit causing an explosion of yellow liquid. The scythe hooked into the now empty chest cavity and dragged the body to the floor using it to shield from a hard smack from the other infected. The thick hooves actually began to pulverise Plough’s meat shield. Using all his strength he hoisted the corpse at the other zombie knocking it to the floor, belly up, exposing its own parasitical squid. Plough didn’t hesitate as he grabbed the scythe once more in his mouth and plunged the hooked blade into the chest cavity causing another eruption of yellow.
Seed Sower meandered right as instructed, pitchfork gripped between her foreleg and her torso. Fortunately for her these two infected ponies turned to the left, noticing the pandemonium that Plough was causing. She charged directly into the flank of the foremost pony, the speed she was galloping at forcing the fork right into it. The fork travelled so deep that it actually hit the bulbous spore, spearing it on one of its triangular points. It let out an inequine wail as it burst and the first pony collapsed dead. The second one turned to her with a hiss and leapt forwards, hooves outstretched. Seed Sower threw herself to the side onto the hard floor as the beast stomped the ground with force. Seed Sower dragged herself up and tried to grab the fork but it was properly wedged in the dead pony’s flank. Before she knew it she was on the floor again trying to hold off that infected beast. It roared, hot spittle covered her face, its very breath seemed to contain small motes of dust, she then realised they must be spores and pushed with as much force as she could twisting her head to face away from the diabolical beast.
Oats had brilliant luck, like Seed Sower he found that Plough had distracted the beast’s attention. Oats managed to sneak up and climb under the first pony before he hit directly in the weak spot with his hoe. Yellow goo sprayed all over him but he hurriedly dragged himself out and managed to hit the other pony as it was turning around in the throat, knocking the head completely off. No blood came out, but neither did any yellow goo, the head must have been empty. Before he could ponder the significance of this the creature lunged at him, Oats held out the hoe and the creature jumped right into it with enough force that the hoe’s flat head actually pushed into the desiccated flesh, destroying the last squid. The second pony fell with a sickly splat, staining the ground an icky yellow. He wiped sweat from his brow and went to sit down when he noticed Seed Sower was in trouble. He sprang back into action grabbing the hoe and pulling as hard as he could. The head completely snapped off leaving a long wooden pole. He didn’t hesitate, charging to Seed Sower’s side.
Plough stood up, wrenching the scythe for the hell of it before pulling out. That’s three definitely dead, he turned around and sure enough the fourth was trying to drag itself towards him with its last remaining hoof. He walked slowly, dragging the scythe along the ground like an executioner’s axe. He stopped above the pathetic zombie still trying to inflict damage with its last limb, weakly flailing it. He pulled the scythe up in an arc and sliced straight downwards burying the scythe into the back of the bulbous parasite, which exploded in reply. He stood up triumphantly yanking the scythe from a zombie’s guts for the third time in five minutes.
Hearing the sounds of a struggle, he turned just in time to see Oats smash into the infected form that appeared to be have been pinning Seed Sower down. The wooden stick that Oats was holding as a joust fractured showering splinters into both combatants, knocking them both to the ground. Neither of them got back up again. “Oats!” Plough shouted upon seeing the pony stumble and fall. “Oats!” he shouted again, breaking into a gallop as he rushed to his side. Seed Sower dragged herself to her hooves and then stumbled to join them. Oats didn’t look good, his face and chest were full of splints of wood. The main concern being a particularly huge piece buried into his chest, it looked like it might have hit a lung. Oats began coughing up blood, his brown fur was matted down from his scarlet life-force as it spilled from all the cuts covering him. Oats coughed a particularly large parcel of blood and the straw he’d been chewing for the past two days came out with it. He tried to speak but only managed to gargle blood. He lifted his head up and tried to speak again but he was too weak. After only succeeding in flecking blood all over Plough’s face his eyelids drooped and his head fell back. He was gone.
Seed Sower and Plough rose from the corpse of Farmer Oats. “How could he do something so stupid?! Why did he have to try and save me?!” Seed Sower shouted in anger before starting to choke up, “I… I could have handled it…”
“Look, we have an opening. Now we just need to grab the other two and then we can get clear. We need to get a message to Celestia, no matter the cost,” Plough said, his voice adopting a cold and distant tone.
“You’re… you’re right. Let’s get away from this place. Far away.” Seed Sower pulled herself together and followed Plough to the over two mares’ hiding place. Sure enough the two of them were still concealed behind a group of trees. Pencil Pusher seemed to have calmed down whilst Mint Snap seemed to have opened up a bit.
“Where’s Oats?” the green mare asked expectantly, then noticed the downcast expressions of her compatriots. “He… didn’t make it, did he?” she sighed sadly, and tears started to brim again.
“Now is not the time for mourning! There will be time for that later. Right now, it is of the utmost importance that we get out of here while the way is clear.” Plough once again took control now that Pencil Pusher had backed out from her position. The other ponies nodded in response and followed the dark blue armoured colt as they resumed their march along the path out of the village, spirits low but with their goal still in mind. If Celestia was not informed then this infection could spread to all of Equestria, turning the noble populace into hellish demons.
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Fluttershy’s Cottage, 11 a.m. 13 hours until the Summer Sun Celebration
The cottage was quiet, beyond the occasional sip from a teacup and the continual ticktock of a clock on the wall, there was no other noise at all. Fluttershy sat on a sofa with Angel beside her, opposite her sat Leif in a comfy chair. The tea set was still sat between them on a small table. Fluttershy didn’t quite know what to say. Angel was snoozing quietly, curled up in a ball. Leif was watching Fluttershy as they both slowly drained their teacups.
Beyond the initial shock, this being had tried to be as courteous and pleasant as he could. She assumed it was a he, the voice was clearly masculine. The name Leaf wasn’t exactly threatening, and he was doing his best. She gave him a nervous smile which he returned earnestly. Well he seemed genuine… I guess I’d better take the initiative. “Uh… M…Mister Leaf?” she called quietly. “Could I ask you something?”
“Of course Miss Fluttershy, ask away. You saved my life, you can ask me anything,” Leif said, a warm smile on his face.
“Well… uh… If you don’t mind me asking… uh… what exactly are you?” Fluttershy stammered, the last thing she wanted was to offend him, but he just nodded knowingly.
“I’m a human. You don’t need to be so nervous around me, I’m not here to hurt you.” He said encouragingly.
“Well… uh… thank you. But… It’s just… I’ve never seen anything like you before,” she still felt extremely nervous despite how accommodating Leaf was trying to be.
“Oh well. I was hoping you might have done, me and a group of my friends are stranded here. We… don’t belong here and we were hoping that, maybe, you might know a way to get back.”
“I’m sorry… but I don’t know…” She said softly.
“Well, never mind then, I’m just going to have to go back and meet back with my friends in the woods.” Leif stood up and turned to leave.
Fluttershy suddenly began to panic, her thoughts turned to the potential dangers that the human could run into, especially injured! “Waaaaaaaaaaaaaiiit!” she screamed as she jumped up from the sofa. Angel shot awake and tumbled off the sofa in a panic. Leif froze in place and turned his head, startled at the sudden outburst. Fluttershy looked a bit sheepish for a second before continuing more confidently than before, “The forest is full of dangerous monsters! You’re in no condition to go gallivanting around dark forests,” Now that she had started she couldn’t stop, she was in carer mode. “You should be resting that arm, why don’t you get back in bed and rest up now?”
Leif hesitated, now that she mentioned it he did feel tired. And should he really risk his life needlessly, nuts to that. He began to walk back over when his brain suddenly kicked back into gear. “Wait a second! No, I don’t have time to rest! I need to get back to…” he suddenly stopped, the yellow pegasus was now in front of him, hoof placed on his chest.
“Listen to me buster! You need to rest!” she shouted before suddenly softening again, “don’t worry about your little friends, I’ll take care of them.” Leif felt conflicted, as much as he didn’t want to admit it, his arm made him more of a burden than an asset at this moment in time. This Fluttershy pony was making sense.
“Gah! Fine! I’ll… I’ll stay,” He finally submitted. Fluttershy smiled brightly at the news and led him back to the sofa.
“Just rest right here and I’m sure you’ll be better in no time,” she said softly. Leif climbed onto the sofa and lay there on his back. In mere seconds he was back asleep again, snoring loudly, much to Angel’s chagrin.
Fluttershy sighed softly, it was too dangerous to let this “human”, Leaf, wander around Ponyville, especially in his current state. It was safer to keep him here. She still didn’t know much at all about him, but she had a name, human. Spike would know about it. "hen it came to the library Spike knew it better than anypony, even Twilight, despite her better grasp of the contents. “Angel, I need you to stand guard and not let our guest leave. If he wakes up, try and keep him here, I’ll be right back." Angel hopped into the kitchen and returned in a makeshift suit of armour, made from pots and pans. “No Angel, you can’t hit him if he wakes up. Just keep him busy.” Angel crossed his arms and turned away from her in a huff. “Won’t you please do this for me Angel, pretty please?” she said softly and Angel relented, turning to her and nodding once. “Thanks Angel, you’re a good bunny.” Angel rolled his eyes and hopped back off into the kitchen. Fluttershy turned and opened the door, before leaving the cottage, with a final glance back to make sure Leif was actually asleep.
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Ponyville Square, 11:15 a.m. 12 and three quarter hours until the Summer Sun Celebration
A turquoise unicorn with a white mane and a yellow earth pony with a two-toned, purple and pink hair were trotting through Ponyville. Most ponies were sleeping away the morning so that they could stay up all night for the raising of the sun, but Bon Bon had insisted they rise early so that she and Lyra could have the morning to themselves. What a morning it had been too, a picnic in the empty park followed by a short trot through Whitetail Woods. Before they went back home however, Bon Bon wanted to pick up the deluxe chocolate cake she had specially ordered from Sugarcube Corner.
“This was nice, Bon, nothing’s quite as peaceful as Ponyville in the early morning,” The unicorn sighed contentedly.
“I’m just glad you’re happy,” Bon Bon giggled. The two ponies walked up the steps to Sugarcube corner and Bon Bon pushed it open with a ring from the bell.
Inside was a complete mess, cake debris was strewn everywhere, pink frosting literally running down the walls. Pastries were torn asunder, their delicious fillings spilling out in thick pools of fruity jam. Stood in the centre of the room was a very confused looking pink pony, her poufy mane unusually straight.
“Pinkie Pie! Are you okay?!” Lyra shouted, barging into the macabre scene. As she rushed in, however, she tripped up on a cake, flying head-over-heels onto the floor. Pinkie turned to the fallen unicorn with tears in her eyes.
“I’m not crazy!” she screamed at the mare before turning and belting into the back of the bakery.
“Do you think she’s okay?” Bon Bon said worriedly as she trotted in and helped Lyra up.
“I dunno, but she seemed pretty high-strung.” Lyra replied as she got to her hooves. “I’m guessing our cake’s one of these splats on the floor,” she laughed nervously.
“Maybe we should check up on her?” Bon Bon insisted.
Lyra rolled her eyes before commenting, “I guess we better. I love your caring personality but sometimes you take it a bit too far.” The two ponies trotted over to the back room door.
“You can’t take kindness too far,” Bon Bon replied as they entered the door and it shut behind them.
“Thank God,” Victor sighed with relief as he emerged from a dark corner. “I think it’s time we got the hell out of dodge, that pony was completely mental.”
“I’m with you there buddy,” Victor said, climbing out from behind the counter. “I don’t know about the mental part though, she seemed pretty fine until you called her a psycho bitch,” Victor burst out laughing.
“Ah, come on man. That wasn’t my fault. You were the one who had to stuff his fucking face whilst I was calming her down!” Darrell shouted back angrily. Victor shushed him and gestured to the door at the back with his hand. “Let’s just get out of here,” Darrell said coldly, turning to leave. Victor jogged after him.
“Check the coast is clear first!” Victor said as he caught up with Darrell just outside the door.
“Look man, it’s completely clear, stop fretting,” Darrell replied tiresomely.
Darrell rambled aimlessly with Victor tailing him. This town is so fucking confusing, Darrell thought to himself, what we need is somewhere we can see the way clearly from. Wait, is that a massive tree? Fucking Ace!
“Darrell? It’s getting pretty light outside, we need to be out of here, soon,” Victor replied, sounding a little panicked.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan,” Darrell replied nonchalantly.
“Care to share it?”
“That tree over there, all we gotta do is scale it, and we can see a way outta here.”
“Your plan is to climb a bloody tree, what kind of dumbass plan is that?”
“Hey! Unless you want to stop and ask for fucking directions, it’s all we got!”
“Ease up man, why are you suddenly so high-strung,” Victor said condescendingly, earning a withering stare from Darrell. The two continued to walk in silence getting closer and closer to the tree, when suddenly a bell began to toll urgently.
“Shit! You hear that?! They’re onto us! Follow me!” Darrell suddenly burst into a sprint and barrelled through the front door and into the house that had been built into the tree.
“Oh my…” a soft voice called worriedly. The two humans turned to see a yellow pony with pink hair stood inside the house.
“Excuse me miss, but we currently have a problem,” Darrell began as politely as he could manage. A small purple scaly humanoid walked in carrying a book.
“Hey Fluttershy, I got that book on humans you…” He began when he looked up and saw humans. He screamed, dropping the book he was carrying onto the floor with an audible thump. “Humans! In here!” he shouted before flying to the floor, a human wrapped around his torso. “Argh! Get off of me!” Victor was trying to cover the little purple thing’s mouth. “Hmm! Hmm hmm hmm!” he shouted through the hand on his mouth, madly flailing his arms.
“I got the bugger,” Victor shouted, the purple thing securely in his grasp.
Fluttershy watched as the human tackled her friend Spike to the ground. The dragon put up his best fight but he didn’t stand a chance. “How dare you!” The yellow pony screamed at the top of her voice, “Why don’t you pick on somepony your own size!” She shouted again at the top of her lungs.
“Darrell! Shut her up!” Victor shouted, still holding Spike up.
“Look! Miss. If you could just keep…” He stopped when he met her eyes. They grew to an impossible size, filling his vision. All he could see was the dark black abyss of her eyes and he felt… insignificant, humble. He had to… he had to… back down and… and… apologise.
“Darrell, hurry up and shut her up! If she makes a peep, we’re screwed!” Victor said quietly and urgently to his partner. Darrell couldn’t move however, he found himself rooted to the spot. “Darrell! Stop pissing about and grab her!” Victor was shouting now too.
Darrell suddenly sank to his knees and repeated the words that filled his mind, “I’m sorry Fluttershy. I’m sorry Spike.” Then he fell to the ground unconscious.
“What the bloody hell!” Victor shouted when Spike suddenly bit his hand. “Aiii!” he shouted, shaking the dragon off. Then Fluttershy turned to him and used the stare.
“I’m sorry Fluttershy. I’m sorry Spike.” Victor repeated before he too collapsed onto the floor.
Spike kicked the unconscious form of Victor. “That’s what you get for trying to tango with a dragon!” he laughed before turning to Fluttershy. “Was that the stare I’ve heard so much about?” he asked earnestly.
“Yes. I’m sorry but it was a last resort,” she said sadly.
“What are you sorry for? You just saved my life!” Spike shouted happily when a thought suddenly struck him. “Wait a minute, you have one of these at home?!”
“Yes, but he’s much nicer… I think that, maybe these two were just scared,” Fluttershy explained in her soft, sincere voice.
“They overreacted a bit and a half. Anyway, here’s that book you wanted. It’s the only book in the library where I’ve seen the word human.”
“Famous Conspiracy Theories” Fluttershy read the title. Opening the book took her to the contents written in unusually scrawly writing. The contents pointed to a page on humans. “Thanks Spike, this is perfect,” Fluttershy gave him a pat on the head.
“That isn’t even the best part, check out the author,” Spike said, all his excitement having returned.
“Susan Marie Pie? Isn’t that Pinkie’s mother?” Fluttershy asked, shocked by the possibility, to which Spike nodded with a smile.
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Canterlot Castle, 11:30 a.m. 12 and a half hours until the Summer Sun Celebration
Celestia sat atop her throne, wave after wave of ponies approached her with their petty problems. “He’s digging up my land”, “He stole my wife”, “She killed my chicken”; the list went on and on. She had once genuinely cared about every single one of these ponies and their problems, helping to find a fair solution that benefited them all. Now she just judged it by ear, now she hated court days. At least the Summer Sun Celebration was tonight, a day she had been looking forward to for the better part of the year. As soon as she was free of this blasted court then she could enjoy herself. Twilight was even here, I’m sure she’d love to accompany me and Luna, her friends too of course. Yes this was shaping up to be a good day, as soon as this damn queue vanished, Celestia thought to herself absentmindedly. After several more minutes of pointless pontification from the plethora of ponies, the queue finally thinned. Just six more to go, five more, four more, three more, two more, one more.
“I’m sorry to bother you Princess but something strange is happening in the Bark Lowlands. I live in Trottingham, the largest town in the area and yesterday was market day. Yet of the nine neighbouring villages that normally show off their wares, only two were accounted for. This is the first time they’ve ever missed showing. Now a few of the local boys who went to check up on them are missing too, we were wondering if you could send some guardsponies to investigate.” A dark green earth pony stood in front of her. This was the first interesting thing she’d heard all day.
“Really? This could be disturbing news, I myself will be making an appearance in Trottingham for the Summer Sun Celebration, as you know. My vanguard should be arriving anyway in a few hours, but if this is that concerning, I shall send a larger force than originally planned. So I’ll ask you once, is this that irregular?”
“Yes,” the green mare replied truthfully.
“Then you have my word that guardsponies shall be sent, I suggest you return home and prepare the townsfolk or they may be worried when a large military force arrives. General Gracchus will lead the investigation,” Celestia stated regally.
“Thank you Princess.” The pony bowed lowly before trotting back out of the chamber.
Celestia turned to the pony stood by her side and quietly called, “Tea Tray?”
“Yes Milady?” the silver unicorn replied in his flat tone.
“I need you to summon General Gracchus and Brigandine Sabre. I also request that you make sure Twilight and her friends are awake.”
“Of course, milady.” The silver unicorn’s horn glowed bright white then he vanished, teleporting off into the castle somewhere. Celestia sighed, now that that had been taken care of, she had a few minutes to relax before... suddenly a scroll appeared in front of her face and fell to the floor. If Twilight was here with her, then it must have come from Spike. Odd, he didn’t normally write to her himself. She levitated the scroll in front of her face and opened it up. The scroll read:
Dear Princess Celestia,
There is a situation in Ponyville, two creatures calling themselves “humans” tried to break into Twilight’s Library today. I managed to incapacitate them both but I don’t know if they’ll underestimate me again. I don’t know which course of action to take and I ask you to please advise.
Twilight’s Number One Apprentice, Spike
Humans in Ponyville? She knew that splinter group would cause problems. I can’t let it ruin the Summer Sun Celebration though… it might be best to just let my guards handle it. But they were already needed in Trottingham. Gah! Why now? Why on my one day off?! Celestia was inevitably quite ticked off at this turn of events. Wait. Brigandine Sabre, this could be a good task for the new hero. She’s dealt with humans before, she and Stamford could work on rounding up the others. What the hay, it was worth a try. Anything to keep my day open for fun. The sudden clopping of hooves against the stone floor made her look up and Gracchus and Sabre walked in, both staring daggers at each other.
“My liege,” The old white earth pony bowed.
“Mistress,” The red armoured pegasus nodded in respect.
“You two are probably wondering why I called you here.” Celestia nodded to each in turn. “I have two separate assignments that require your immediate attention. Now Marshal Marius is already overseeing my personal security in Trottingham tonight, so these two tasks fall to you. Brigandine Sabre, humans have been sighted and apprehended in Ponyville. I need you and your entourage to secure the remainder, Stamford claims six humans were never captured. I will be loaning him to you, he will be an asset in securing the others,”
“You can’t trust a kinslayer with such an important task!” Gracchus shouted, forehead bulging with rage.
“You can’t trust a traitor with any task,” Sabre snorted back.
“Calm down you two! These are important tasks! Brigandine Bejewelled Sabre, select your team and take them with you; don’t forget Stamford.” Celestia instructed, tired of their constant infighting.
“Yes Ma’am,” she said sarcastically with a salute before trotting off.
“Gracchus! I expect better from you, I know she killed Quintus, but the evidence points towards him being a traitor. Had he been taken alive, he would have been put to the sword anyway,” Celestia scolded the old general.
“Sorry your majesty, it’s just… his parents blame me you know, he was one of my troopers.” Gracchus sighed wearily , showing his true age for once. “I just… I wish it had played out differently.” Celestia could sympathise, her sister had betrayed her before while under the influence of the miasma. It had been the hardest decision she had ever made when she had banished her for one thousand years.
“I understand Gracchus, just don’t let it interfere with your professional life anymore than it has.”
“I’ll try not to Princess.”
“Good, now I have a task for you too, gather together a group of guardsponies and investigate the villages in the Bark Lowlands. Apparently ponies have been disappearing and, as of yet, no culprit has been found.”
“Of course your majesty, and thank you for the opportunity to prove my loyalty to you, even while some may doubt me.” Gracchus bowed so low his nose touched the floor before he too turned and departed.
Mere seconds after they had vanished around a corner, Twilight and her two friends arrived, both looking refreshed from their sleep. Somepony obviously hadn’t told them the news. Celestia sighed heavily, I guess the job falls to me then. The Princess of the Sun rose to her hooves and turned to Twilight and her friends. Twilight’s expression instantly turned to one of worry the second their eyes met.
“Is something wrong, Princess? Twilight asked worriedly.
“There was a break-out last night, I’m pulling you off the investigation. It’s become too dangerous for you and your friends.”
“I live for danger,” A certain cocky cyan pegasus snorted.
“Three ponies were killed,” Celestia announced gravely. Rainbow gulped and stopped hovering, landing on the floor.
“Instead, I’m inviting the three of you to accompany me to Trottingham for the Summer Sun Celebration,” Celestia’s expression changed to a large grin.
“Princess, I… I…” Twilight began to stammer, Celestia smiled to see her students surprise.
“Your Majesty, it would be an honour to accompany you on such a prestigious occasion,” Rarity pitched in, upon seeing Twilight’s expression.
“And I would be honoured to have the Elements of Harmony by my side.” Celestia’s smile was just as radiant as the sun she raised every morning. “I have a few small matters to attend to before the royal convoy prepares to leave. In two hours time we shall all meet just outside the main entrance,” the alicorn replied, and with a flash of her horn she was gone.
“This is simply unacceptable! Only two hours to prepare for one of the biggest festivities of the year?!” Rarity turned to her two friends, panic written all over her face.
“I know right, I’m ready all ready,” Rainbow Dash said with a smirk.
“You can’t possibly go like that!” Rarity acted as shocked and appalled as she could.
“Hey, what’s wrong with my fur?!” Rainbow Dash began to beat her wings again and rose back up into the air.
“N..nothing…” Rarity had fallen right into her trap and shut up like a clam.
“Calm down you two! It is imperative that we look as nice as possible! We have to impress the Princess!” Twilight shouted at the two ponies.
Rarity turned away from Rainbow Dash with a “Humph!” before strutting back off to her quarters.
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Temple of Monocularism, Day of Reckoning
The large metal door split into three distinct sections, one went left, one right and one up. Inside, the room was full of thick fog, the result of water condensing off the frozen core. A loud humming noise reverberated around the chamber. Hayton walked in, five humans and Mind’s Eye followed him in. The remaining seven guards weren’t of a high enough rank to even see the One-Eyed One so were relegated to external guard duty. Mind’s Eye was the only thing keeping the humans compliant, one of his most powerful spells, supplemented by his augmentations. The room was made of the same strange metal as the rest of the installation, sheets of glass as strong as diamonds layered into the floor at random intervals. A strange blue light lit the room, coming from no discernible source.
A trio of floating metal robots the size of dogs flew towards the group. Each one fired a small orange beam at an individual, running it up and down their body as if scanning before moving onto the next individual. Other than an odd tickling sensation, that quickly passed, there were no immediate after-effects, until they scanned Okano. “Attention. Individual is at fifteen percent flood corruption, recommend immediate incineration,” the robot that had scanned him stated in a mechanical voice.
Mind’s Eye’s spell prevented the human from panicking when a beam of orange shot from the sentinel, transforming the Navigation Officer into a pile of ash. Hayton jumped back, but none of the others reacted at all. The robots finished scanning the group, then the head robot turned and said, “flood scans are complete, remaining organisms are uninfected.” The robots turned to something out of sight before taking up positions around the group.
A small sliver robot about the size of a head flew out of one of the vents, a large green light prominently displayed on its front. “Greetings I am Six-Two-Four Autogenous Order. I am the Monitor of Galactic Grid Sector Seven-Two-Four Six-Five-Nine. These primitives refer to me as the One-Eyed One. But enough about me, you are Reclaimers! I’m happy to report that this facility is still running at eighty percent efficiency, just waiting for a Reclaimer to open it up and seize its treasures,” the Monitor said, flitting about excitedly. As it ranted to the assorted humans, Mind’s Eye maintained the spell, keeping the humans observant. Technically they could see and hear everything happen, but they couldn’t react at all to external stimuli.
“But one of your companions was infected, that was not good, not good at all. In order to be infected, flood must be close by. But where I wonder? Where?” Order’s tone suddenly darkened and he ceased all merriment. “Flood are not good, I will initiate a planet-wide scan. In a matter of minutes we shall see if there are any more flood present on this planet, yes we shall.” Hayton was a little worried by this, Senor Robot here seemed pretty sane earlier, it’s almost as if he were growing stupider by the second. “Something is wrong?! These Reclaimers’ minds are not their own! Spies! Flood Spies sent to kill me! Do something Adjutant!”
The Sentinels warmed up ready to fire before Hayton shouted aloud, “Wait!” The Sentinels weapons lost their charge and the Monitor turned to Hayton.
“Mind’s Eye here is controlling them, they’re not exactly compliant,” Hayton blurted out.
“Adjutant! I requested that you get them under control. I am disappointed, to say the least,” Order confronted his embarrassed second in command, “release them immediately!”
“Mind’s Eye! Dispel it!” Hayton shouted to the unicorn whose eyes finally opened as the magic field dissipated. The humans suddenly snapped into consciousness as the events of the past twenty minutes flew past their eyes.
“Fuck!” Kowalski shouted as he fell to the floor, no longer being held up by his comrades.
“Sorry man,” Yao said as he clasped his hand and pulled him back up.
“Jesus! It’s a Monitor!” Laura screamed in excitement. “These guys safeguard ancient technology!” Her team were not quite as enthused about this revelation.
“You can’t be serous, didn’t it just mention the possibility of flood on the planet surface? And its guards incinerated Okano,” Bunting shouted. Six-Two-Four Autogenous Order hadn't made the best impression so far.
“Scan is completed. Planet is showing 0.01% infection. Current region is showing 2% infection. Advise problem is dealt with immediately,” Order shouted in his heavily computerised voice. “Oh no, this is not good, flood are present! Sound the alarms!” The metal orb started spinning in circles in a panic. All the crewmen looked at each other, and then back to the Monitor as he suddenly stopped spinning. “Reclaimers! Activate the defence grid! We can eliminate this scourge before it has a chance to begin!” The orb flew forwards and stopped right in front of Laura. “You know protocol right? Well then press the button!” The Monitor flew back over to the other side and a button appeared on a console on the opposing wall. “All you have to do is touch the pad, I can take care of everything else, yes I can,” the Monitor was becoming frantic now.
“Don’t touch the fucking pad, that robot’s just playing us like a fucking fiddle,” Kowalski shouted to the team.
“It can’t be worse than the flood, I’ll press the button, don’t worry," Laura said taking a step forward.
“No you fucking won’t! As Chief of Security, I fucking order you not to press the fucking button!” Kowalski shouted.
“No, no, no! We’ll need more Sentinels to take care of the Flood! Activate it you must!” the Monitor was visibly shaking now.
"You move Laura and I’ll have you court marshalled!” Kowalski retorted. Laura didn’t know which way to go.
“Unacceptable! Simply unacceptable!” the Monitor shouted as his light began to turn red.
“You okay boss? You’re looking a little red…” Hayton began but stopped as a burst of energy shot from the monitor and into Kowalski’s chest. Kowalski screamed as his internal organs fried from the intense heat of the beam, the force throwing him across the room where his body landed, still smoking.
“Fuck!” Bunting shouted diving for cover.
“You will press this button Reclaimer! It is your duty to follow protocol!” Order screamed, “you have a duty, I have a duty, we all must follow protocol!”
“Boss…” Hayton began again but a laser hitting the ground near him made him bite his tongue. Mind’s Eye and Yao took cover behind the same pillar.
“Can’t you just magic it away or something?!” Yao shouted at the unicorn.
“I…I specialise in mental magic! That thing isn’t flesh and blood, I can’t even sense it,” Mind’s Eye replied to the marine, fear gripping his throat.
“I’ll just press the button,” Laura said as she began to walk over to the machine.
“Get back here Laura! Don’t you dare push that button!” Bunting shouted, just before another burst of energy from the monitor forced him back into cover.
Laura walked along uninterrupted, what little she knew about Forerunner artefacts had come from a soldier she had dated for a time. Corporal Davies had served with Sergeant Johnson, the famed sergeant who worked with Master Chief during both Halo incidents. He had told her that as long as you stuck to protocol, Monitors were no danger and that they really hated the flood. Laura stepped forwards and placed her hand onto the console.
The entire room started to shake, throwing the group onto the floor. “Yes! Yes! My purpose is complete! After all these years, I am free,” Order giggle with glee as it floated upwards. The frozen core in the centre of the room suddenly burst into life, firing a blue beam upwards through the earth and into the sky. “You’ve done it! The facility is now online!” Order cackled.