//------------------------------//
// The Observation 
// Story: Twilight's Curiosity: War 
// by Mr Anomalous 
//------------------------------//


The Observation

The two ponies sat in the dark room, where there was a chill. Twilight shivered. It was cold enough for snow and frost, but she saw none.
She began to look around, and saw that the room was almost entirely bare. It was complete concrete in all directions, all but the gaping hole in the wall, and a door behind them, which was blocked by a pile of rubble. To their left, there were a few old wooden crates that had been waiting for a long time. They were decayed.
"Luna...where are we?"
"Twilight, we are at the bottom of a building, in one of the larger Human-made cities, which has been damaged quite a bit. And we also are in the middle of a large conflict, though the fighting, it seems, has died down for a while..."
Twilight Sparkle and Luna silently walked over to the gape, to see more, but the thick fog was almost completely opaque. Luna looked at Twilight, and then back to the fog, and an aura covered her horn, and some of the fog cleared away.
"Princess, what if one sees us, what if-"
"Shh, Twilight. As with clearing the fog, I also cast a spell that make us quieter, and hard to see in human eyes, but by no means completely invisible, or silent...all we must do now, is wait. I sense one coming."
Twilight's eyes scourged the area, which, when the fog had been cleared a bit, was a little more revealing. Rubble lay in the streets, as did some twisted metal machines, and dark stains. Soot covered a large amount of the block as well, signs of fire and explosions. Twilight saw nothing alive.
"Luna..."
"Sshh, Twilight, I must ask that thou remain quite."
"But-" Twilight gave up, and returned to the dreary scene in front of her. She was beginning to become bored when she hear something, like a little pebble being kicked.
The sound rang out again, but closer this time, and yet again. There was a rhythmic thudding.
thud....thud....thud...
What is that? Twilight thought. Then she got her answer.
A being came out of the fog, walking down the center of the street. It was tall, and bipedal, meaning that it walked on two legs instead of four. It appeared to have no wings or horns, or hooves for that matter.
It was a scary thing, and a question came to her mind, but Luna answered it, seemingly reading her mind.
"He appears so strange because of his garments. Humans do not have a natural coat, so they must wear clothes most of the time for privacy, and for warmth. This one is clad entirely in black, with a little bit of red, as you can see, because that is his uniform."
Twilight noticed that the creatures face was completely covered by a strange device, with a canister off to the side.
"He must wear a protective mask that filters out the air because harmful substances are often used to poison the air."
Twilight shuddered when her eyes found the creatures eyes. They were glowing red.
Luna became amused and said, "Those are not his real eyes. The light helps see though the dimness, and, as you may have noticed, it makes him look intimidating."
Twilight asked, "How do you know that its a him?"
Luna answered, "The way he is built, the way he carries himself."
The figure stopped, and looked around. Twilight noticed that he was heavily laden with gear. A large, black backpack rested in its respective area, and many device hung off of straps on it. Some Twilight recognized, others she did not. There was a canteen, a very, very large knife, a small pan, for cooking, and a cup. Other things, she noticed, had antennae, which most likely meant that they were intended for some for of communication. The Human's pockets were full of things as well.
In his....whatever they were, the Human help a large contraption in front of him, most likely a weapon. A chain of little bronze trinkets led from the side of the device to somewhere withing the folds of his gear.
The Human let the weapon that he was carrying hang off of a strap, and he help up his right arm, at least Twilight thought that it was an arm, and used his left appendage to poke around on a little beeping device that was strapped to, said, left arm.
He looked up and gestured behind him, and Twilight saw more Humans, all looking similar to the first one that she and the princess had seen crept out of the fog.
Twilight gasped.
There were about six or seven of them in all, and they were all looking at something that Twilight couldn't see.
Suddenly, there was a noise. It sounded like something air-compressed was let loose, but much louder, and all of the humans that were in the street looked up. The sound continued briefly, then there was a clanking noise. A device landed in the street, a large can, and from it, there was a continuous, thick cloud of green smoke. More of the popping sounds followed, and more smoke-billowing cans landed around the soldiers, soon enveloping them in the strange substance.
Twilight noticed that some of the green smoke was drifting towards her and the Princeliness's hidey-hole, and warded it off with a wave of magic.
The purple unicorn returned her attention back towards the streets. The smoke was gone now, and all of the soldiers were still standing. All of the sudden, the one in front started laughing. He laughed and laughed, and, even though the mask he wore muffled a lot of it, it was still clearly audible, suddenly, he spoke, in the deep voice of a stallion. It was quite gruff and worn, but filled with determination and pride.
"We has Gas Masks for a reason you idiots!'
Twilight was surprised. He spoke Equestrian? How is it possible that ponykind and humankind spoke the same language!? Twilight watched intently, ready to see what happened next.
Suddenly, the lead Human raised his contraption, and there was an extremely loud bang, and there was an explosion of fire and smoke that launched itself out of the front faster than Rainbow Dash could have ever dreamed of.
One of the bronze trinkets shot out of the opposite of the gun, and landed with a hollow clinking.
There was momentary silence, then all Tartarus broke loose.
There were more of the sounds, all similar to the first one, but some sounded lighter, and one or two heavier. Bolts of red and yellow flew back and forth, and the Humans scrambled, each of them finding a pile of rubble to hide behind.
Dust and pebbled flew as the streams of projectiles came into contact with the debris, and Twilight was just beginning to wonder ho much damage that projectile flying at such speeds would inflict, when she got her answer.
The original group of humans, all whom wore black an gas masks, were all hidden. All but one. He was almost to the entrance of a building when a projectile hit him. There was a sickening thud, the sound of flesh rending, and a spray of red blood from the front of the Human's throat. He fell to the ground, kicking and spasming, trying to scream, but all that came out was gurgles. The Human was face-down, and, soon, a pool of blood spread out from underneath him, and the twitching stopped.
All the while, the deafening sounds of clinking and fire never once ceased. Soon a round found its way into the other group of human that Twilight had yet to see.
There was a scream, then a member of the other party fell forward, with a spat of blood. He was shirtless, and heavily muscled. His head was wrapped almost entirely with a tan cloth, and his pants had a belt that was stuffed with more of the bronze projectile and a few other things.
There was a shout of triumph from the original humans, and yet another of the other party fell, he too, was shirtless, but his pants were more worn, and his head-cloth black.
Soon, there was a mixed scent of blood, smoke, and urine in the air, and, one, by one, members of the more rag-tag looking group fell, until the conflict was over.