The Exploration and the Meeting
Twilight Sparkle was confused. She had just remembered the large explosion that had ended her and Luna's previous visit, and she knew that an explosion of that magnitude would have destroyed miles of city. Either this really was a separate city, or it was a massive city. Or, she went psycho a long time ago, and all of this was being imagined.
Right now, it didn't matter. Right now, she needed to find Humans. She still wasn't quite sure what she would do if she found one; if she should greet it, spy on it, or knock it out and capture it (For Science!) But she would ponder her actions upon meeting one while she walked.
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Spike was panicking. Twilight was missing, and there was no note this time! No nothing! He had searched everywhere, both in town and inside of the Library. Literally, he had indeed searched everywhere, not just as an expression. Everywhere he could possibly see. Any clues would be nice, but all that he found was some hoof-prints leading away from the house, to the road, but there they disappeared, and that road branched off and eventually led practically everywhere in Equestria. It you were to take the second left branch, you could travel to the Frozen North. Twilight had shared the particular fact with him while she was studying maps. Twilight. Where could she possibly be?
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Twilight had absolutely no idea where she was. She had thought that she might see something that she might recognize, with her good memory and all, but no. Nothing. She had also recently determined that she was not in the same city as before, it was, in fact, in a completely different biome. The air was colder, the fog thicker, and the air thinner. She also saw less plant life (Well, the other City had literally no plant life, as this one, but what she means is that this city had less plant remains.)
She was beginning to give up hope of finding anything, and ready to return home to face Celestia's wrath without any fruits to her betrayal, (Which, to Twilight, was truly terrifying.) when she almost walked straight into the path of Rag-tags. (see previous story) She scurried back into the shadows of an alleyway, but it was too late. One of them had saw her. He spoke rapidly in a tongue that Twilight hadn't heard yet, (What the hay? I thought that they spoke Equestrian, or whatever it's called here.) and pointed in her direction. She was able to guess that he hadn't gotten a very good look at her-probably just her movement-because they approached her location rather un-cautiously, even in a sort of sing-song attitude, and it was just the one. Oh, what was she going to do? She looked around frantically, for somewhere to hide. Even what she had learned from the book couldn't help her now, and she hadn't read anything from her defense book. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!
She brought some hope back to herself when she thought, hey, maybe they're friendly, but that hope was quickly dashed when one of them spoke in Equestrian, or whatever, with a heavy accent, "Maybe we can eat it..."
She panicked right then and there, she turned around and began trying to dig through the concrete wall. Her noise caused the band of Rag-tags to tense up. More strange language, and two more detached from the group, weapons raised, walked more cautiously.
Twilight saw that her efforts were fruitless, and began to gather up the magic necessary to defend herself, (it had never occurred to her to use the magic she owned to blast though the wall, but, you know what its like when ponies, especially magical ones, panic.) when one of the Rag-tags's heads exploded. Then the other, and then the other's chest cavity was on the ground. The remaining few were quickly dispatched as well. Twilight couldn't stop breathing heavily. She quickly tried to wipe the blood of the nearby Rag-tag who had spattered on her off, but all she did was smear it more.
It smelled disgusting, like flesh and metal, not at all like pony blood, which, of course, was rarely shed. It was really warm. Then the very same Rag-tag that had gotten on her loosed his bladder. The smell was disgusting.
Twilight was just beginning to think when the Black-clads who had taken out the group that had almost found her, were going to show themselves, when men dressed in gray appeared. They also had strange little devices over their eyes, like glasses, but with words and information scrolling across them.
wat.
They spoke in yet another language, and began moving on. Good, they hadn't seen her. Unlike the Black-clads that she had seen earlier, no bodies were burned.
Twilight waited for a while, when the walking finally disappeared, and she emerged from the alleyway. Not a wise choice. This time she did actually run into a Black-clad man.
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Five ponies were gathered at the library. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, (who had arrived first) all sat in silence. Spike was there too, and he didn't bring them any cookies or tea, like usual.
They all just sat there. Finally Applejack broke the silence, (just before Pinkie Pie was going too.)
"Well, Ah'm pretty darn sure that jus' sittin' here ain't gonna do nothin' fer Twilight."
Rarity agreed, saying, "Yes, Applejack is right. Whatever are we going to do?"
Spike answered, "I don't know. I just don't know."
"Well, all we have to do is just look some more!" Rainbow Dash.
"Yeah, she couldn't have gone far!" Pinkie Pie.
"Well, from what I've been able to learn while I was searching, she disappeared this morning, at exactly 4:32 A.M., which, taking the road that she did, probably means that she went to Canterlot, because it takes approximately three hours to walk from here, Ponyville, to there."
Everyone stared at Spike in wonder.
"Goodness, Spike, you been spendin' so much time with Twi, I reckon that some of her smarts a' been leakin' into ya!"
"Yeah, her eggheadedness is contagious!" Rainbow Dash laughed.
Spike scowled, "No, she woke me up when she left, but I just assumed that she was doing more pacing and went back to sleep. The rest is easy to figure out."
"Still," Rainbow Dash muttered.
Then Applejack exclaimed, startedling everypony, "Well, wat're we waitin' for, we have a missing pony to find!"
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Twilight had expected to hear shouts of surprise, screams of fear, or at least a tremor from the soldier, one that you get from being startled. Or, even worse, a gunshot, then she would be gone.
But she didn't hear any of that. In fact, she didn't hear anything but her own heartbeat. She looked up at the dark man, and she couldn't read his expression. He, of course, was wearing a gas mask. But this one didn't have the glowing red eyes of the other gas masks. Twilight altered her position to see past the lenses, and got her wish. What she saw was a pair of very amused eyes. They were both a very deep blue.
"Hehehehe....is this seriously what those idiots have conjured up?"
wat.
"What did they do this time? Gas me?" his eyes widened, "Shit, that means that my mask is expired."
He raised he gun and swiveled around, searching for any sign of enemies.
Right the, after his first searches, Twilight chose to speak:
"Umm...Sir?"
"Holy crap! It can talk! This is some advanced stuff, I need to report this to HQ..." he muttered the last bit to himself.
"Sir, what exactly do you mean 'it can talk?'"
He looked down at her:
"Oh shut up you scum, I'm going to find you, and I'm going to kill you."
Twilight was taken aback, but she still couldn't stop from asking this question, "Urm...I'm right here. If you wanted to kill me..."
She trailed off. Why would she be reminding him of that?
"God, I said Shut up, you know exactly what I mean. You're controlling this...mirage thingie..." He shouted it to the world, instead of directly to her, "You got the American accent nailed though..."
Twilight giggled. She now knew what he meant. She reached out with her hoof and brushed his leg. The reaction was as you might have guessed.
"Holy shit!" He pointed his gun directly at her. Twilight immediately cowered, ears down, swearing to Celestia that she would be a good little pony if she ever got out of this alive.
The soldier kneeled down, put his weapon to the side, and rested both of his hands on either side of Twilight's shoulders.
Twilight looked up, and saw that he had also removed his mask, which meant that this was the first time she had gotten a good look of one.
He had a rugged face. (I don't need to describe much, you know what a human face looks like!) His nose was slightly crooked, and he has two or three small scars on his face, accompanied by one very large one on his left cheek.
He was also very dirty and smelly, and he hadn't shaved for a couple days. But the only reason Twilight didn't either try to run away in fright, or immediately grab a sketchpad and begin drawing it, was his eyes.
They were absolutely beautiful. They were deep, and they peered likewise into Twilight's. They were so caring and tender, so kind. Twilight couldn't see how these eyes belonged to such an experienced killer.
Twilight knew right then, that he would take care of her, even if he was a big, bad soldier.
"What are you?"
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Celestia was sitting in her throne room, just beginning her days work. The two guards who would be serving her today had just taken up their positions, and Celestia had just gotten comfortable, when a guard burst through the double doors.
If something like the Crystal Empire is back, I bucking swear... and we all know that Celestia probably has more secrets similar to that one.
"Princess Celestia!"
"Yes? What is it? Speak up soldier."
"Uh-its you're student, Twilight Sparkle, her friends from Ponyville, they say that she disappeared!"
"What, where did she go?"
The guard couldn't say, but Celestia knew. She had actually anticipated this, and was going to post more guards by the library tomorrow. She had some work to do.
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"I...I can't Bellevue it..." The soldier said.
They were both sitting on a large, collapsed chunk of concrete than had been blown from one of the buildings that towered above them.
"I don't blame you, I'd have a hard time believing too...but I'd still believe it, the evidence is right in front of my eyes."
"Heh, well, maybe I finally lost it, and I'm just talking to myself...or maybe I'm dead, and this is my Hell. Oh well, guess there's not much we can do if that's true..."
Twilight smirked a bit. "Yeah, I guess not, but I'm pretty sure that I'm real."
"Alright, you got me, I can't explain it too well, but I guess It just makes sense, even though it doesn't. Know what I mean?"
Twilight smiled fully this time. She knew exactly what he felt like.
"Yeah, I do...." Twilight and he sat there for a while, then, "So, what now, Mr Soldier Guy?"
There was some unintended eagerness in her voice, and Twilight was a bit embarrassed.
"Woah, hold your horses," he giggled at his own little joke, "You've told me how you got here, now I have things to explain to you."
Twilight sat back down, and listened.
This man was a soldier, a fairly high ranked one, (Corporal) and his name was Darren. Darren E. Perry. He also explained a bit about ranks, and who he could boss around, as well as what it was like being here. It sucked, but there was no escaping it. Almost everyone had been drafted into this conflict.
A question entered Twilight's mind, and then it left her mouth:
"Last time I was here..."
"Woah, what?"
Twilight sighed and quickly explained.
"Ah, of course, why not? Anyway, continue."
"Okay. Continuing, last time I was here, I saw a group of people dressed like you. I also saw some fighting."
Twilight went into some of the details regarding her flashbacks back in Equestria.
"Heh, kid, trust me; it gets worse. And this damn war isn't even close to being over yet."
Twilight didn't like that idea, but continued on anyway.
"Well, that's it. I saw a group of people like you. A group. Why are you all alone?"
The man, Darren, sighed and answered, saying, "I got separated from my squad during a firefight. A big one. There was an explosion, and I found myself in a ditch. I climbed out and saw the same place that my squad and I had gotten a fight in, only there were not people. There was blood, and some spent shells, but no people, living or dead. Turns out, a grenade had gone off, and a single piece of shrapnel had damaged my comm system, so I'm high and dry until I can find my camp. I just recently found my bearings."
"Comm?"
"Short for 'Communications.'"
"Ah. Okay, I think that I can ask this again; what now?"
"Well, now, I take you to Camp Freedom."
"Wait, what? A human camp? Are you crazy? What if someone freaks out, what if I get shot!?" Twilight's volume and emphasis had increased throughout the entire sentence.
"Hey, I'm not just gonna walk you straight into camp, I know what I'm doing. Come on."
Twilight said, "I sure hope you do..."
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Well, now there were six ponies again, except that Twilight had been replaced by the long-lived, all-powerful, Sun-moving Goddess, and Supreme Ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia.
She had come to see how the rest of the ponies were doing. Not well. Celestia still knew where Twilight had went, but the rest of the ponies couldn't know that. Either that she knew where Twilight went, or where Twilight had went were both top-secret info.
Celestia pretended to be more concerned than she already was, to be doing everything that she could to find out where Twilight had gone.
Eventually, she dismissed the five back to their homes, reassuring them. When they were gone, she lay down on the floor, exhausted. Her guards were outside. She decided to sit, and ponder what to do with her student Twilight Sparkle, both how to find her, and how to contain her anger when deciding on a punishment.
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Twilight and Darren walked for a few hours, talking, trading more information on both of their worlds as they walked, and Twilight learned a ton. She had been taking notes, (After she explained what her horn was, and the aura, and after unintentionally scaring Darren out of his mind for the second time in the same hour) and learned this about the conflict, the sides, and other whos, whats, wheres, whys, and hows.
This war was the biggest in human history. Literally every single country had been pulled into it, and many of the smaller ones were either completely destroyed. It was also one of the longest. Almost seventy years. Darren's grandparents had both perished in this war, and his mother had as well. His father was still fighting, stationed in a some place on the other side of the planet.
Twilight also learned a lot about human science, which was where she payed the most attention to. It was fantastic. These humans were actually very advanced, in some ways more than Equestria. (Yes, You're thinking "in almost every way, genius, but the Ponies don't really need cars and computers as much as we do. You know, cause wings and magic.)
When Twilight brought peace, (which seemed like a more daunting task the more and more that she learned) there would be a great boost to Equestrian scientific and medicinal advancement, she noted with glee. She would go down in history, in two worlds!
She also learned about the sides. There were three, Darren explained. One side didn't really start out as on official country's army. It was actually a religion, but it managed to spread, and also took over a few countries, and managed to launch a full-scale assault on all of the surrounding countries. The other side was a large alliance of the remaining countries who defended themselves, which included America, Mexico, Canada, England, China, and lots of smaller, European countries, like the Netherlands. Every other country had either been turned into the first side's, or been completely eradicated. Except for one. The third side. A very large country, who had very recently left Communism.
Yes, Russia, the blue men, was the third side, and, seeing how weak that the world had become, they decided to invade. And, right then, that's where they were when they reached the camp.
Darren had Twilight wait outside the camp, unseen, for what seemed like an eternity, while he walked into the fenced area.
He came back with several people who had taken some convincing, and, of course, who were completely shocked. After some reality checks and some awkward introductions, Twilight was hidden and snuck inside. When she could see again, she was in an enclosure, when she was asked to preform many specific tasks. Twilight was relieved. She wasn't going to be experimented on like Starswirl the Bearded had, so long ago.
She did simple things, like walking, jogging, sniffing and tasting specific objects, and answered several questions. Eventually, she was able to move on to bigger things, like using her magic.
Of course, the inevitable question "Can you fight?" came, and Twilight answered truthfully. A little bit. After a demonstration that left many of the scientists and soldiers that were observing wide-eyed, and a dummy completely burnt to a char, they disappeared.
After a while, Darren came into the room, and he had something in his hand. A small chain, with the two little slates of metal with writing stamped onto them dangling from the end. He approached Twilight and slid them onto her neck. Twilight was just about to read them when Darren said:
"Welcome to camp Freedom, Private Sparkle."
wat.