It was cold, dark, and unnaturally dry. There was a sound, a muffled voice somewhere in the distance, and it seemed to be calling for someone. The disembodied voice gradually grew louder and clearer, as if it was getting closer. Suddenly, the voice instantly changed from an indistinct mumble to a clear, gentle male voice, his words now fully understandable.
“Wake up!” he said softly. After that came a long and eerie period of complete and utter silence until finally the voice spoke once again.
“Please… Wake up!” There was a small pause, followed by a quiet whimper. “Wake Up. We- we have to get out of here before THEY get to us. Please, wake-” He was interrupted by a deafening squeal followed by a loud rustling noise.
“Would you two hurry up! If we don’t get out of here in the next two minutes, we’re dead meat.” Screamed a low, guttural voice. The unmistaken tone of some sort of military official, possibly a city guard, maybe even a Trooper. If so, why hurry? Troopers are known for their valiancy and strength. They were perfectly fine having this guy around for protection.
“Uh, Sir? I mean no disrespect, but I don’t even think we have more than a few seconds. That squeal sounded close!” This was a new voice, that of a young mare. Her voice was a bit raspy, making her sound tough, even though her tone suggested she was scared.
There was more talking, and from what could be heard, it sounded like some sort of argument, but it was too muffled to be understood. Then, there was more silence. It felt as if time itself had come to a stop, and the entire universe just decided to give away into a peaceful, serene darkness. She felt the urge to move, to follow these voices, but they seemed so far away. Not to mention that she was frozen stiff and was not able to make a single movement, while being stuck in the midst of absolute nothingness.
Suddenly, it all started coming back. The running, the screaming, the fear and terror. They were in the middle of an invasion. No, not an invasion, an evacuation. We were escaping. But what happened? Why is everything so dark?
She remembered falling, hitting the floor with a loud thud. It was hard and rough, as if somepony had laid a thick sheet of sandpaper on rock hard concrete. The last thing she remembered was hitting her head. The rest was a mystery.
She could begin to hear the voices again. They slowly began to shift from inaudible murmuring to a perfectly audible conversation.
“Would you wake that gosh-darn filly up already? The longer we stay here, the lesser our chances of survival!” It seemed to come from that loud male voice she heard earlier. It sounded angry. There was a soft tapping sound, like that of hooves hitting concrete. They sounded as if they were getting closer.
“Silver. Silver, it’s me, Stormfire. Please, wake up. We need to get out of here. Come on lil’ sis, wake up!” That was a different voice, that of a stallion, not quite an adult yet, but obviously somewhere close to it. His voice was smooth and juvenile, yet a bit rough.
Suddenly, the darkness began to fade away, turning into several silhouettes. At first simply shadows, these shapes began to take form, color, and texture until she could clearly see the environment around her. She was lying face-down in the edge of a street, her face grazing the concrete. She turned to her side, facing the direction from where the voices seemed to come from. Directly above her stood a young, steel-colored stallion, his mane a fiery mixture of red and gold. His big, crimson eyes looking desperately into the horizon. She instantly recognized him and her gaze quickly shifting from a blank, confused stare and beginning to glow with joy end excitement.
“Stormfire!” She screamed in delight. The stallion instantly looked down, and at the sight of her, began to smile, about to say something, when something shoved him aside. Taking Stormfire’s place stood a large figure, resembling that of a stallion, but instead was covered in thick metallic plating, a large helmet hiding his face. The figure looked down upon her, its helmet letting out a loud click and hiss as he removed it from his head.
Underneath the intimidating helmet was an ever more intimidating face. She took a long look at it, scanning his countenance for any feature that she could recognize as familiar, something that would reveal his identity, but to her dismay, there was nothing familiar about this individual.
The only thing she could say was that the stranger was a stallion, adult, probably in his late twenties. His coat was a light-brown, his mane jet-black. His face was covered in scars, each probably having their own dark and painful story. His eyes were wide and overflowing with lust. What he lusted for, however, was a complete mystery. One that Silver did not want to figure out.
“Hey there, Sleepin’ Beauty. Ya finally done snoozin’?” He spoke out in a rather obnoxious tone of voice. It was loud, raspy, and somehow resembled that of an old scrambler. Out from behind Scarface, a smaller individual walked in, wearing similar armor to its larger counterpart, except that this one was cleaner and sleeker, with a small antenna rising out from the back of its helmet. It headed straight towards Silver, who was now standing upright.
“Don’t mind him. He gets a bit grumpy when dealing with civilians.” She reached up, taking off her helmet and setting it aside. “My name is Sunny Daze, but I swear, if you call me that, I will personally make sure that you won’t say a word for the rest of you cute little life, and you know what I mean by that, right?”
“Y-yes ma’am!” Silver squealed.
“Don’t call me that either, it makes me feel like an old lady. You can call me,” she paused for a bit, attempting to act dramatic, “The Enforcer.”
“Sure thing Miss Enforcer.” Silver said, trying her best not to giggle.
“THE Enforcer! You will call me THE EN-FOR-SERR!”
“That’s enough, Flashy! I think you’re taking this a bit too far.” Interrupted her bulky companion. He paused for a bit, giving the two mares an angry look, then went on. “Now, if you two are done fooling around, we could get right back to business.” He looked down to his hooves, where he held some sort of portable radio. “See, I just got a message from Lieutenant Blare. He said that there are evac birds scattered all around Manehatten. I checked the NAV and the closest bird is about nineteen stega-meters west of this location. Now giddy up and get a move on. I can’t wait to get out of this blasted city.”
“Sheesh, what an attitude.” Muttered Silver as she began to walk down the street.
“Tell me about it.” Whispered Sunny Daze. The both glanced at each other and smirked. Then Silver turned around to look for her brother, who had been so rudely interrupted. She began to walk back, but immediately came to a halt after seeing him talking with Scarface. She hesitated a bit, but eventually ended up walking towards the two.
“Hi Stormi!” She said enthusiastically. He stopped, turned to her, and smiled. Scarface immediately backed off and began to walk away.
“I’ll leave you two alone so you can bond or whatever.” He said, offering a fake smile and trotting off towards his sassy companion. After he left, Stormfire moved a little closer to his sister and began to speak in a soft, almost whispery tone of voice.
“Look, I’m sorry I didn’t really talk to you earlier but-”
“It’s not your fault, That big lug pushed you out of the way!” She said.
“Yeah, yeah. I know. It’s just, he’s a soldier and all. He wears that giant suit of armor and…”
“And you’re scared of him.”
“Well… yeah, pretty much. He intimidates me and I don’t wanna start any fights. Especially with him. Plus, he’s our ticket out of here.” He stopped for a minute, then kept on walking. “They’re here.”
“What?! That’s not possible!”
“I- I don’t know. I thought I heard something. It could’ve been, you know, THEM.”
“But… but the walls, they kept them out of the city.”
“Not anymore. They made it in. Who knows, they’re probably hunting us down this very moment.” He stopped and held Silver back. She turned around to face him.
“What is it, Storm?” She asked.
“You- you’re my little sister, and I don’t want anything to happen to you. I love you, and I’ll do anything to keep you safe.” His eyes began to water. “Those beasts, they won’t give you a chance. The moment they see you, they’ll attack. I’ve heard terrible things about them, and what they do to ponies like us. It’s terrifying. I- I don’t want any of that to happen to you.”
“And it won’t. Don’t worry, Storm. I know how to handle myself.” She said, kicking a piece of cardboard that was lying on the side of the street. “See?”
“Hey slowpokes! How about you start moving your sorry little flanks and PICK UP THE PACE!” Yelled the “enforcer” while waving her hoof back and forth angrily.
“Well,” Said Stormfire, “we better get a move on, dont’cha think?”
“Yeah, right behind you.” Responded Silver in a sheepish smile.