//------------------------------// // The Desolation of Santa Mane Part 2 // Story: An Angelic Soldier // by Korten //------------------------------// The Desolation of Santa Mane Part 2 “So are these the locals you mentioned!” she yelled irritated, as she ran next to Fiery while being swarmed by the mole people. “I think that’s a safe bet!” he yelled back. Suddenly a mole came out of the wall just ahead of them and Ember aimed and fired with her shotgun and they fell off the ledge on her side. “Whoa! What was that?” Oh yeah I never did tell him about guns… “I’ll explain to you later. Just keep running- we need to find a way up,” she stressed. For a second he looked back and then at her, “And if we can’t?” “We make our own way out.” “That doesn’t sound safe.” “Fiery…” she said as she recharged her shotgun. “This whole situation isn’t safe!” They turned the corner and began to go down the stairs, a couple of moles were waiting at the bottom but she fired at them and kicked one out of the way and they continued down the layer. She wanted to head up, but with the position of the moles made it impossible and the only way to head is down. “Dear Celestia… I don’t think anypony will believe me when I tell them about this!” he yelled. Anypony? Oh yeah, I forgot, ponies. Still kind of weird… she admitted but didn’t say out loud. “Honestly,” she said as she shot another mole. “I don’t think this is a particularly good memory to share!” Fiery had to agree with that, and in all honestly he had to admit that the entire trip from the first step out of his parents’ house to here hadn’t been very good… They went down another layer and then another, she looked up and noticed they had gotten quite far and were getting closer to what appeared to be the bottom or just a much larger layer that had ground stretching from one side to the other. Then suddenly she got an idea, “I got an idea of how we can get out.” “And what might that be?” “A little thing known as hijacking,” she said as she smiled under her helmet. “What…” She quickly pointed at one of the large drills on the wall and he quickly followed on, “Oh… I get it.” He said but she could tell a bit of uncertainty in his voice, that he didn’t trust the plan. But it was the best she got. As they got lower she spotted what appeared to be an inactive drill on the bottommost layer, however she couldn’t see a hatch as she only got a glimpse of it. Suddenly moles blocked off the stairs and the two of them turned into a corridor. Moles left and right began to fly out of the walls, she began to fire at them while they also jumped over and ducked others. As they exited the corridor to the outside suddenly a claw stretched out and slashed at Fiery. A large cut over his left eye, thankfully not stabbing his eye. The pony roared in pain and Ember shot away the mole, Fiery however still seemed to be in shock as blood began to drip down his face and onto his hoofs that were up. More moles began to arrive and they had no time, she quickly picked up Fiery and began to run. “Blood… So much blood…” he murmured with his eyes both wide opened. Damn… But wait had he not seen the pony corpses? She had no time to ponder as the moles were on her again, like they were every second since they arrived. Running down another stone stair they arrived at the bottom most layer, she could see the large drill in sight and spotted a hatch. However it suddenly began to turn on and began to quickly drill through the wall escaping their grasp. “No…” she said as she ran in its direction. However before she could chase it was already far gone. Ember quickly began to look about and saw a large cave with tracks coming out of it and mine carts. The angel began to run into the cave however the ground began to shake and suddenly she could see a large looming shadow that was coming from above. Quickly she jumped backwards twice and something landed in front of her that caused a lot of dust to rise up and cover her view for a moment. She was going to turn on a different vision but the dust soon cleared out of the way and she saw it. It was like the suit from earlier but it was much… MUCH larger and towered over her and seemed to stand a layer high, unlike the other one it seemed to have hands, with large claws above them. Although she noticed some fingers began to slide away and then drills came out. Large steam stacks rose from its arms and back. It also seemed heavily armored compared to the smaller suit from before. She realized she saw no moles surrounding her, that’s when she noticed it, all of the moles that had been following them just stood watching in the layers above them not interfering. They seem to be making cheering noises and various cheering and denounces in their own language which sounded like gibberish to her. This isn’t a mining machine, it’s a war machine! She looked at Fiery who was over her shoulder and still in a daze still murmuring. “Just hold on Fiery… I will get us out of here…” Ember decided to run past it, she moved towards it but what she didn’t see was how fast it could react. Its large fist rammed into her side and she was sent sprawling, and Fiery landed on the ground just a bit away. She pulled out her assault rifle as she stood back up and began to fire at the machine, trying to keep its attention off of Fiery. It worked as the robot-thing began to charge at her and tried to slash with its claws. Considering their large size they were hard to dodge, more so with the speed. Its slash however did hit the wall behind her and made a bunch of rocks tumble down in the spot. While it turned she ran to go get Fiery and try to escape, however the moles in the suit noticed this and turned and charged at her. She then turned the opposite direction and it followed all the while she shot it. Unlike the other suit it was hard to get to its back and shoot its power supply. So all she could do was dodge and shoot at various spots that seemed loose or unarmored. Maybe it’s time to climb… she thought. She quickly ran up to its leg and grabbed onto a loose metal and began to quickly climb up where she could see spots to grab. However it soon began to try and shake her off, and when it proved fruitless they decided for more direct measures. Seeing the large hand come at her she jumped off but it moved quickly and grabbed onto her before she could hit the ground. Ember began to struggle to get out of its grasp, not even her strength could escape from it. Slowly she could feel her body being crushed, her ribs taking a lot of damage. Ember hadn’t noticed but Fiery was starting to stand up and looked at her, “E-Ember!” he yelled out but she didn’t respond. She’s going to die if I don’t help! He told himself but he didn’t know what to do. He was helpless again, not able to anything right… *************************** “Blank flank!” a filly mocked at him while they were at recess from class. Everyone else in the class by this point had their cutie marks but Fiery was still without one. He walked around with his head down, and if he tried to talk with anyone, they would just call him ‘blank flank’ and then tell him to scram. It wasn’t always like this, before they all had their own cutie marks they were friendly but once they got it they all became arrogant and cocky. He used to be good friends with another filly, Twilight Sparkle but that ended when she became Celestia’s student and never saw her much after that. After that he was all alone in a school where he was critics for every little thing he did. Fiery would constantly try to improve himself despite his blank flank but it didn’t matter as they insulted him for trying. It was like a nightmare that wouldn’t end; even once school ended and everyone was older they still ignored him. Moving away from the others he went to his teacher, Teach who was looking out over his students. Fiery just sat down on the ground next to him and stayed silent. For a bit the teacher didn’t say anything, but then he turned his head to the colt, “Why aren’t you hanging out with the others?” “None of them like me…” he said with a downed expression. “They all call me blank flank and then laugh at me.” “I feared this. They told me they were being kind to you- but now I see that isn’t the case.” Fiery tilted his head in the direction of his teacher, “Is there anything you can do?” “I don’t know. See bullies can be a hard thing to tackle, if you try and get aid, they might back down, but on the opposite side they might come back with more insults.” That caused Fiery to look back down. He truly did want to help the colt but he feared he would only make things worse… More so if he went to each of the fillies and colts parents which in Canterlot was a mixed bag between nice parents and the elites who look down at others with some in-between. The only suggestion he could think of would be seeing if his parents wanted him to attend the school in Ponyville which was a lot better. “I’ll tell you what,” the teacher began and Fiery looked back up. “Let me talk with your parents. I may be able to help.” Fiery nodded and smiled, hoping that the nightmare would be over soon. However complications arose, his parents were having a hard time getting enough bits as it was and they had no relatives or friends living in Ponyville that could look after him. After that there was also the fact that their blacksmithing business was one of the few and would be very costly to move to Ponyville and could bring them into debt. The nightmare of the school continued, his teacher tried to make it better for him but the bullies were plenty. Once school finished up, Fiery wasn’t seen much. He wondered around his house and tried to help but what he tried to do, others could do better. It began to make him feel worthless, and a lingering fear that he would grow old and die and never help anyone. His parents began to worry about him and tried to get him into blacksmithing like the two of them but he couldn’t get a handle of it and just stopped after a while as his morale was already getting low. He did admit he was happy when he heard about the Cutie Mark Crusaders later on. Knowing that there were others who were trying to get the Cutie Marks despite others calling them names inspired him. It was because of them that led him to leave his home and begin exploring the world in an attempt to find out what he was meant to do as sitting around would do nothing. All he had done was leave a note for his parents while they were busy working, he didn’t doubt that his parents must have freaked out when they realized he had run away. Over the next months he went to many different places and tried many things, but he ended up being a nuisance for others with cutie marks just trying to do what they were good at. That’s why he was so happy when he found Ember- an alien but also someone who actually let him travel with them. *************************** And now that very same person was about to die because he had led her to Santa Mane and there wasn’t anything he could do. She had to come and save him and he couldn’t return the favor back. The cheers of the moles echoed in his ears, despite not understanding them it still made his blood boil. Fiery so desperately wanted to help her and escape together. But what could he do? Run up get killed? He wasn’t as strong as Angel and he didn’t have the weapons she does and he wasn’t brave either… “The game must go on…” suddenly Fiery heard a deep voice but no one else seemed to notice. “It’s too early. It can’t end this soon.” A looming shadow formed overhead and he tried to turn but then found himself frozen and unable to move. He could feel something on him, a hoof or something. His vision began to blur and go crazy with various colors and then blackness. It felt as if someone was reaching inside of him and messing him up. Fiery coughed up blood and it splattered on a rock. Am I going to die? His first thought. Suddenly he could feel a burst of energy rushing through his body; it felt like the magic that Earth Ponies had in them was on full throttle- but it was also different. He couldn’t explain it but it seemed a bit different then the magic that all ponies had. Foreign and strange but also powerful. He feared it was going to consume him but then it began to recede back but it was still there as if waiting to be used. Something dark had entered into him. His body was shaking horribly and he still couldn’t move. Whatever was going on, however seemed to go unnoticed by others as what he could barely see, the machine was still crushing Ember and the moles were still cheering. A large amount of rage began to fill him, more so than any pony should be feeling. “Stop!” he managed to scream out and then it stopped, his body slumped to the ground and the shadow vanished. “Go… Make sure it continues…” he heard the voice again but nothing after. Fiery then stood up, his rage still strong and he turned in the direction of the machine, his eyes narrowed. He could feel the surge of energy rising as he stepped closer. “Let. Her. GO!” he screamed but the machine didn’t stop and the moles didn’t’ stop their cheering. His teeth began to clash together as he got only angrier. The energy suddenly began to form around him; he stood up on to legs like Ember. “I. SAID. LET. HER. GO!!!” Suddenly as if he already knew what to do he stretched out both forelegs and a large ball of fire shot out in the direction of the machine. It barely had time to turn before it got slammed with the fire and stumbled into the wall and let go of Ember who fell to the ground. For a moment he moved out of his trance and ran over to Ember who was still breathing, her armor looked a bit dented but unless it was off he couldn’t fully say what her condition was, just that it wasn’t pretty. But he was confused, what had he done? He let out magic, a large fire ball. Something he only imagined unicorns could do but he’s just an Earth Pony. They can’t harness their natural magic- but then he recalled what had just happened, maybe it wasn’t his natural magic. The machine got back up and rushed at him, but Fiery turned and began to harness more of the energy. He stood up again and began to send fire balls at it and it continued to hit into the wall until he stopped moving. Rocks from the layers above that had been destabilized from the crashing tumbled onto the robot. Moles from above began to run down into the lower layer and surrounded Fiery. Everything after became a blur, he continued to shoot fire and began to light moles on fire. He began to conjure walls of fire and spikes that rained down on his enemies. The pony let out a victorious roar as the moles began to flee. Bodies upon bodies of moles lay around the Angel and Pony, some covered in a pond of blood, others smoldering corpses. It was a destructive fight and Fiery was tired out. He still wasn’t sure what had happened, as it all went by so quickly. Had something given him this power? He couldn’t say, as it hadn’t been able to see who had changed him. Slowly as he calmed down he also began to realize what he had done. He did what many citizens of Equestria, namely Ponies, had never done- killed. He had killed dozens of moles to protect the two of them. None of them would wake up and drill again. But at the same time he also felt it was justified, they had attacked them and they had killed the town’s folks. Fiery turned just as he heard coughing and saw Ember was getting up. “Ouch… That hurts,” was the first thing that came out of her as Fiery ran over and began to hug her, she was confused until she looked around and saw the massive amount of corpses and then she pushed Fiery a way a bit. “D-Did you do this?” he said as she tried to stand but had one hand on her side. Fiery nodded, “I am not sure… Something gave me this power. I can… conjure fire!” “I thought you said only Unicorns could use magic?” “I did! I am so confused… But I saved us! We’re alive!” She continued to look around and then saw the machine knocked into the wall and unmoving, “I guess we’re… I am not sure what happened, but let’s leave before any come back.” Slowly she began to move towards the mine that seemed to go up as they reached the entrance. The blood on Fiery’s face dried up and revealed there would be a scar left. The cave had what appeared to be lights hanging from the ceiling so they could see where they were going. They continued in silence neither speaking a word of what just happened. Ember couldn’t believe it; she couldn’t believe that a pony, Fiery of all, would be able to muster up such carnage. Some of the corpses were just brutally killed. Another thing that lingered in her mind was he mentioned that, Something had given him the powers. She couldn’t recall anything giving someone powers, and she made note to ask about it later but currently it was nice to just walk in silence. The entire thing had been one horrible thing after another and being done with was great, but it had still happened and she wondered how Fiery’s psyche was taking it. He was carefree and happy before, but she worried he would be unstable. More so with this power, if handled wrong could injure those around. It most likely wouldn’t be going away, and he would need training. She wasn’t a mage herself but she could probably think of something. After walking for a while she noticed she needed to check her systems, a lot of things were down again and she needed to repair them. They had learned in training how to take care of your suit and how to repair it if needed. But her wounds also needed to be checked on, she could feel blood trickling down her leg again. As for Fiery, he seemed in better condition than her as he walked with normal posture. *************************** Many hours later of walking and nothing to eat they saw a light at the end of the tunnel and both smiled at each other as they made the final stretch. They got to the exit and looked around, they were still in the desert but she couldn’t see Santa Mane anywhere. The sun was also much lower in the sun and no doubt the moon would rise soon. With no trees around they needed to find something to make a new fire with and camp. One thing she also noticed was that she could see the badlands were farther west then they were before and the swamps even farther. Fiery told her that miles ahead of them are the Macintosh hills and that the town of Apple Loosa is past them, but that they’re currently in the San Palomino Desert. “I wonder if Apple Loosa had a similar fate to Santa Mane,” she questioned as they moved away from the mine exit and into the desert. “I doubt it… They’re too far away and if anything doesn’t even know what has befallen Santa Mane,” Fiery replied back. It took a while but they managed to find a cave to rest in, and found some leafless tree’s to cut and take wood from to make a fire. Before Fiery could enter however she exchanged her armor for her clothes, but not before tending to her wounds with the little amount of medical supplies she had left. It wasn’t the best but until they got more, hopefully in Apple Loosa, it would have to do. Not to mention she had possibly multiple cracked ribs, she was at least happy she had normal time breathing or else the damage would have been far more serious. Once she finished that up and put her clothes on she had Fiery enter. She went to look at his scar and it seemed to have healed up already so she simply removed the dry blood. After that the only noise that could be heard was of Ember working on her armor to the best she could. Fiery fell asleep almost instantly so she had no time to ask him about the thing that gave him powers. One thing that she also questioned was how it seemed more akin to magic from back home, from what she could understand from him, a Unicorns magic is a lot different in that it wasn’t elemental. He said they could shoot beams of magic but not fire, ice, or anything like that. A lot of theories began to pop into her head but one thing she wondered among all was that, is if it’s possible that the thing that gave him the ability was also the same thing that had brought her here. It was a guess at best but it was one of the only theories she thought could be truly possible. Also that it happened at the perfect time, she arrived on this world when she was about to die, and when she was about to die earlier, suddenly Fiery got his magic as if at the perfect moment. She didn’t believe in fate or destiny so she shrugged those away- but she did know there were lots of strange things in the galaxy and this was no exception. There was something going on, she didn’t know what but she could feel it in her gut. Things were going to get interesting, the only thing she worried would be that if she could live to see it through. After a bit of working, she yawned and looked at her progress. It still needed more work so she placed the armor in the cube and decided to once again sleep in her normal clothes. She put out the fire and lay down and slowly closed her eyes but she could still feel pain all over her body, worse than after she had escaped from the changelings. It made sleeping tough but after a while she succumbed to it.