Nightshade quickly shoved Dainty to the far left side, while she grabbed Lily and leaped to the right. She landed on her back, skimming it on the rough gravel. She grunted, but was grateful as the car tumbled past, hit another car, flipped high up into the air; and crashed back down into a squished metal pancake.
"You alright?" she asked, quickly getting up and helping Dainty to her hooves.
"I-I'm f-f-fine... Thanks..." Dainty said. All the chaos was enough to traumatized her for the next ten years.
"Good. Let's go!" Nightshade continued running, urging the two fillies on.
They had caught up to Rainbow and Octavia now, still pursued by the chaos- and they were almost at the end.
"Buck..." Rainbow muttered, slowing to a stop as she spotted a huge oil tanker on its side, sitting in the middle of the street. "NIGHTSHADE! HURRY!!!" she yelled, taking off again.
Nightshade ran past the oil tanker- and it didn't look like it was empty. They continued running- the other safe side was mere meters away.
Suddenly a huge boom pounded their eardrums, filling their ears with ringing. Rainbow leaped forward as the bridge underneath her was destroyed completely, shattering into large chunks and falling away. She and Octavia tumbled onto the other side, grunting as they rolled across the dirty gravel road.
The world was a black and orange blur as Rainbow's eyes went out of focus. Then she seemed to wake from a bad dream, jerking up and breathing hard. Her eyes focused on the far end- Nightshade was closer to the oil tanker explosion, and took the worst of it.
Nightshade looked behind her, seeing the flames expand outwards and about to consume them. She pulled the fillies close, closing her bat wings around them and protecting them from the fire. They suddenly disappeared behind the wall of flame, but then as the explosion stalled they flew back out again.
A piece of flying metal had ripped through Nightshade's left wing, tearing a piece of bone out from under her flesh. She screamed, tried to keep her hold on the fillies- but her mind couldn't focus. Lily was carried along with Nightshade's momentum, and they both hit the ground on the other side. Nightshade screamed again as her wing was crushed under her body onto the ground, then her momentum carried her over the rough gravel- it was like someone was using sandpaper and grinding it against an exposed bone in her wing.
Dainty had been hit on the shoulder by the piece of metal from earlier, but it failed to do any damage as Nightshade's wing provided the sufficient protection. She fell short, hitting the side and managing to hold on to the edge.
"RAINBOW!" she screamed.
Rainbow felt her heart drop as Nightshade lay writhing on the floor, a white piece of bone half dragged out of her bleeding wing. But Dainty was the priority now. She ran forward, leaping forward as Dainty's hooves began slipping off the edge. She lunged, thrusting her arms out- but missed Dainty's falling hooves by a millimeter.
"Dainty!" she yelled, desperately grabbing at Dainty's arm- but the filly was already out of reach.
Rainbow swung over the edge, streamlining her wings and ready to have them spring back into action whenever she needs them to. Pieces of debris from the bridge were falling with them, large chunks of concrete with jagged steel rods sticking out of them falling dangerously close.
Rainbow managed to grab hold of Dainty's shoulders just before they hit the water, and stretched out her wings. She felt the sudden decrease in force, her hoof tips scraping the water surface as the debris fell with huge splashes all around them. With powerful beats of her wings, she flew back up to the safety of ground.
They touched down gently on the broken road, and Rainbow gently let Dainty down.
"You alright?" she asked, kneeling down and laying a hoof on the filly's shoulder.
Dainty nodded, a little shaken though.
"Go stay with Lily and Octavia..." Rainbow said, giving her a gentle pat on the head. "I need to check on Nightshade."
Nightshade was trying to get up, but kept stumbling back over. Her wing was bent completely out of shape, looked like it was broken in several places; and had a white and red piece of bone sticking out the top- about thirty centimeters long.
"Nightshade!" Rainbow yelled, running to help her up.
"I'm fine." Nightshade grunted through clamped teeth. Her wing twitched, and she groaned, her entire body shaking.
Rainbow ripped off a corner of her dark coat, about to use it as a bandage when she realized the piece of bone would get in the way. Nightshade seemed to notice too, and took in a deep breath.
Rainbow wrapped the piece of fabric around her own arm, stretching her arm out in front of Nightshade; fully aware of her sharp bat pony vampire teeth. It didn't need explaining.
Nightshade looked at the arm, then at her. She gave an apologetic expression, and carefully clamped her jaw around Rainbow's arm.
She reached around her back, finding the piece of bone- and started pushing it back into her own wing. She groaned, and Rainbow looked away. She could feel Nightshade's sharp teeth digging through the fabric and into her flesh. She ground her teeth together, but knew Nightshade was in a lot more pain.
Inch by inch, the bone shifted through Nightshade's flesh and slowly went back into place. She was screaming, but it was muffled by the fabric wrapped around Rainbow's arm. Her entire body was trembling, and tears were leaking out of her tightly closed eyes. They streamed down her cheeks, glimmering in the light.
Her hoof twitched, abruptly shoving the piece of bone several inches. She screamed into Rainbow's arm, her body shaking. Rainbow couldn't do much to help- all she could do was let Nightshade bite her arm.
Then, finally; the piece of bone went back into place. The pressure on Rainbow's arm loosened, and Nightshade backed away. She tried to stand, but her shaky and weak legs made her fall over. Rainbow caught her, gently laying her down on the ground.
The bat pony's breathing was irregular, and it almost seemed as if she was struggling- her chest heaving with every breath. She looked at Rainbow apologetically, through tired, half closed eyes with tears still leaking out of them.
"This should slow the bleeding... But we need to get you to a medical pony straight away- in this wasteland, could get infected any time." Rainbow said, tying the piece of fabric tightly around Nightshade's wing. She flinched, but didn't make a sound.
Rainbow helped her up, and they started slowly walking to Octavia's side.
"Is she alright?" Rainbow asked Dainty.
"I don't know... She's alive, but..." Dainty seemed worried.
"Foreign matter poisoning." Nightshade said from in between heavy breaths. "Her body's been affected by the anti-matter. The normal matter is becoming unstable... It'll take a few decades for it to kill her- but she won't be having a good time before that."
"Damnit..." Rainbow muttered, gently laying Nightshade down and kneeling beside Octavia. Her breathing was weak, but none the less- she was conscious and alive. She didn't seem to be able to move at all, and seemed to be too tired to even fully open her eyes.
She looked at Rainbow, her face filled with regret. She didn't say anything, but Rainbow recognized that look.
"I'm not leaving you behind. Not any of you- we're all sticking together." Rainbow said, looking at the faces around her- all the ponies she cared about. All slowly falling apart, slowly being driven mad by this new reality- and she couldn't say she fared any better.
*
The A.O.S.C. CYCLOPS was a huge Athena Orbital Strike Cannon, built into a large cruiser and taking up over sixty percent of the area of the cruiser. It had huge thrusters at the back and on either side, making for precise adjustments. Laser beacon targeting systems help guide the colossal prism cannon on target- in fact, the huge cannon was so precise it could hit an apple from several light years away- but you won't be able to find the apple after the cannon fires though.
The CYCLOPS was named so because that it was the only prism cannon in the Science Faction space fleet- secretly under magic faction control, however. It was like the eye of the monster, once it sees you- well, prepare for a beating.
A Prism Cannon is exactly what the name suggests- millions of solar panels are located all over the hull, sucking in light energy from the sun and used to power the cannon. A series of prisms, mirrors and optics are located inside the barrel, and when an altered wave of energy is transferred through these prisms; it is concentrated into a singular beam with all the energy still tightly packed inside. It was accurate because it was essentially a huge beam of light with a two kilometer radius, traveling straight unless there was a black hole nearby- in which case there never was. Despite all this, it all seemed less intimidating due to the beam's rainbow colors.
The bridge was completely empty and silent- the rest of the crew in the cantina and eating dinner. Iris could hear the remnants of their laughter from all the way up here, sitting on the cold metal ground of the higher level of the bridge, holding onto the handrails and looking down at the empty bridge. He hated how life was right now- he had to pull on a completely different mood, a happy mood when the crew was around. Truth was the Captain of the huge A.O.S.C. was never really like that. He hated how he had to be fake... And relished every time the crew would leave for whatever. Because he could be true to himself- and whoever still remained, which was nopony.
Well, almost nopony- he thought as he heard a set of familiar gentle hoofsteps behind him of a certain alicorn.
Ally took a seat beside him, eyes lowered. Iris didn't move- he just kept staring into the infinite darkness of space. The two have been married for several years now, and understood each other more than themselves- but there were times where not talking was still the best option.
They watched the sun slowly disappear around the rim of the Earth, the light dimmed by the heavily shaded windshields of the bridge. None the less, they could still see everything clearly. Slowly the moon came around the other end, a large silver sphere, glowing dimly in the sunlight. It was odd- being able to see the sun and the moon at the same time, and it was neither day nor night.
"It's a beautiful sight, isn't it?" Ally said, looking up and out into space.
"Yeah." Iris said, his tone not showing any improvement in mood.
Ally didn't speak for a second, her head slowly drooping to look at the empty rows of monitors down below. Iris had always been in a bad mood recently... And it bothered her because she didn't know why.
But she had to know though. "Iris?" she asked.
Iris tilted his head slightly, showing nothing but the quarter of a grim face.
"What's wrong?" Ally asked, gently laying a hoof on his shoulder.
Iris sighed, and for a moment seemed like he wasn't going to talk- but he did.
"I always have this gutted feeling. Like I'm going to lose something important to me, you know?" he said, shaking his head. "I couldn't shake it off, even if I pretend to myself I'm a happy stallion. I couldn't pretend myself..." he looked at Ally. "Something bad is going to happen.... I know it."
Ally gave him a quick squeeze. "At least we've got each other's backs, right?"
Iris chuckled. "That's where the problem is... I get randomly promoted to captain of the only A.O.S.C. in this galaxy when I come into this reality, and now I've got half a dozen lives and possibly the tide of this entire war on my hooves... I don't know if I'll be up to it." he said.
"You will." Ally said, hugging him close. "And you know what is important- you know what you have to make as your priority. It doesn't matter if you don't have my back- because I'll always have yours."
Iris smiled sadly, hugging Ally back.
"You've always had mine in the past. When I couldn't help but turn into that monster... You were always there to restrain me. Now you need to help win this war, it's time for my turn." Ally said, kissing him on the cheek.
"Thanks, Ally." Iris said, returning the favor.
That was accompanied by silence, as the sun fully disappeared around the edge of the Earth. The distant ships and cruisers were only outlined by a single line of reflecting sunlight, otherwise blended into the darkness around them.
"You know..." Iris said, standing up. "I heard the berry cider at the cantina is really good- haven't really tried some for myself." he stretched, yawning slightly.
Ally grinned, also standing up. "As I said, I've got your back- if you get too drunk."
Iris chuckled. "I won't."
*
Nightshade could walk on her own now- so that was good. After all, it was her wing that was damaged- not her legs. Rainbow still had to carry Octavia around though, as she was pretty much unconscious. Her warm breath on Rainbow's shoulder was comforting, as it meant she was still alive. The fillies trotted by them, looking worriedly about their new reality.
Fillydelphia was a relatively urban city like Manehatten. Keyword: was. The buildings are all rotting in the dim evening light, traces of green plant life clinging onto those bare concrete walls. The vegetation had gone completely wild, stray seeds of grass wondering onto the cracked gravel streets, tree roots sticking out from underneath the plates. The evening sunlight was sifted through the thick layers of leaves, coming through as rays- this was really more of an urban jungle.
Unlike many other places the group had been to, the city was full of sound. The chirping of birds, the ruffling of leaves as they took off into the sky. It was a lot more natural and less eery than the dull silence of Manehatten.
The structures towered high above them, peaking through the occasional break in the layers of leaves. The place was certainly good for cover from the barricade- with all the trees, even the streets were safe from prying eyes- but the science faction knew this.
"The hay are these?" Rainbow wondered, looking down at what seemed to be giant footprints sunk into the gravel roads; disappearing into the shadows of the jungle further down.
"Still look fresh." Nightshade said, examining one of them. "Look out, everypony. We've got S.F. Walkers in the area."
Rainbow raised an eyebrow questioningly.
"Walkers. Giant mechs piloted by ponies from the inside. There are different models- and we seem to have a light recon model in the area." Nightshade said- the footprints seem to be in pairs- and the recon units are much smaller than normal units, so just having two legs seem to match. Despite being the 'smallest' in all models, recon units still tower over seven meters in height.
"What do we do? It's heading the same way as we are." Rainbow said, peering down the dark roads.
"It's probably way ahead already- not something we should be worrying about right now." Nightshade said, looking around them. "We need food, and supplies. And shelter. This is going to be a tough night... Without proper shelter we'll have the mutated all over us in seconds."
Rainbow peered up through the leaves and into the evening sky. They didn't have long.
"Any one of these abandoned buildings should do the trick, aye?" she asked, walking towards one nearby.
Then she stopped- she could swear she saw something stir in the shadows. She drew her cleaver, sliding the handle forward and slowly advancing; the barrel level with where the movement last was.
"Sis... I don't think we're alone..." Dainty whimpered, slowly backing away from a bush, her eyes wide with fright.
Lily saw something move out of the corner of her eye, and swung around. But there was nothing there. Whatever was with them, the noises they were making were being masked by the loud chirping of the birds.
Nightshade drew a throwing knife from her side, the sharp edge catching a ray of sunlight and glinting brightly in the dark shadows. She ignored the pain in her wing, standing tall and surveying the area around them. There was definitely movement- but as far as she knew, mutations don't move tactically- yet. This could only mean there were other ponies out here.
"Don't move. Drop your weapons." a voice said, and Rainbow pointed the cleaver in that direction.
Unfortunately, that didn't do much good as they heard loud clicks all around them. A group of ponies emerged from the darkness, dressed in seemingly scavenged clothes and dirty yellow thin coats. Their faces were hidden in the shadows of the hoods pulled over their heads. They all had their rifles raised, about eight of them slowly circling the small group.
"Damnit." Rainbow muttered, folding her cleaver and letting it drop to the ground.
The mercenaries closed in, taking their weapons away from them.
Author: out of interest- who's your favorite character in this series so far? This is for the BH Christmas special! Coming in December