Princess Twilight Sparkle frantically galloped down the hallway towards the royal court with such incredible speed that it appeared as though she was practically gliding atop of the marble flooring. She was a hurry, her position as princess demanded that she’d not be late for an important meeting that regarded the recent catastrophe that rocked the wide forest expanses of western Equestria.
As she continued to sprint down the hallway, the large ornamented double doors that lead to the royal court slowly came into view. With her goal in sight, her gallop quickly shifted into a calm and steady trot. When she finally approached the door, she came to a stop and briefly checked herself to see if she was presentable or not. Image is everything when it comes to ruling a nation, so to speak.
She did a few quick stretches to make sure that she was limber enough to withstand the next few hours of sitting and discussing. She brushed her mane with her hoove, straightening any stray strands of hair that was even a smidgen out of place. She did breathing exercises to calm her nerves, slowing inhaling and exhaling with a rhythmic cadence that would make even the most staunchest musical conductor clap with praise.
Finally, after what felt like hours to her, Twilight rose her head up high to display her regal side, and firmly pushed the door open. The double doors creaked audibly as they slowly swung open to reveal the entirety of the meeting.
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were already upon their throne, and had appeared to be locked in a discussion of sorts amongst themselves. The various bureaucrats, politicians, military officials and representatives of important organizations that were also present were simply chatting amongst themselves. The room was loud and unapologetically noisy, that was, until they all finally took notice to Twilight. In the blink of an eye, everyone zipped their lips and and went silent.
Without hesitation, Twilight stepped into the room. Slowly taking each calm and calculated steps with stride, she marched on towards her own respective throne with a kind of grace that can only come from years of practice. As she sat down, a hundred eyes were all turned to her, Celestia, and Luna in anticipation of the meeting.
Princess Celestia was the first to rise. As she stood up, she cleared her throat so that she can begin to speak freely without any rude interruptions.
“Ahem, ladies and gentlecolts. Thank you for joining us during such dire times. We are all here to discuss about the recent terrorist attack that has had the nation in a frenzy these past few days. I would like to start out by saying that I suspect this will not be the last that we will see of this devastation”
the crowd whispered and murmured loudly amongst themselves. From the tone of the voices, the public’s reception to this threat was everything but positive. It took all of Celestia, Luna, and Twilight’s political resources just to keep the masses at bay as they do not wish to have mass hysteria and widespread panic sweep across the land all because of one little incident.
Compare to everything else that has transpired in the past; Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, and even the wispy remnant of King Sombra himself wasn’t nearly intimidating enough to cause panic on such a scale.
Perhaps it was because this was not the work some kind of fairytale monster that was after misbehaving foals. This was assumed by all to be the work of the common pony, the very denizens that make up Equestria. Because of this context alone, it made the thought of the recent explosion all the more terrifying.
“Ahem, let us continue” said Celestia as she levitated on over a film projector. With a flip of a switch, the lights grew dim, and everyone turned their attention to the display on a canvas screen that was set up just for this. Luna then rose on up and walked over to the screen where she levitated on over a wooden pointer to herself.
“Hello, everypony. I’ll be quick with this so please, pay attention” The blank film flickered to reveal the image of a grizzled, middle aged stallion. He had a bleach bone colored coat with a mud brown tail and mane. He wore a black tactical vest and had a gas mask hanging around his neck. His cutie mark, if you could even call it that, was the image of an a red and white umbrella.
“This is chief security officer, Cleaner. He was originally stationed at a P.M.D. training facility where the crater it is now. My night guards have recovered evidence and intel that have all pointed to Cleaner destroying the facility. His motive is clear, to cause nothing but indiscriminate anarchy without regard for his fellow pony”
“Is that really his motive?” a mare asked “It seems too far fetched for one single pony to cause this much destruction alone”
“It won’t sound as far fetched when you learn that he does indeed have accomplices” the slide flickered to reveal an emblem that was a red star with a profile view of an anonymous pony with a knife in its mouth “Cleaner is the leader of Les Anarchistes. A group mainly comprised of powerful and brilliant ponies who, together, can bring our fair nation to ruin if left to their own devices”
“How did we not know about this group?” a representative spoke out “Are they really that dangerous?”
“Indeed, they are. They have managed to remain hidden in plain sight for quite some time now, and we have been none the wiser. That is why we have to ban together to put a stop to them immediately!” Luna boldly proclaimed with fire.
The crowd once again descended back into a state of serious discussion, only this time, the ponies in the court were visibly shaken and uneasy. Bits and pieces of the conversation could be made out by Princess Twilight, and some of the suggestion for dealing with the situation made her stomach perform an involuntary flip flop. She suppressed the urge to dry heave, only to have a great revelation in doing so.
“Why not send in the existing P.M.D. forces?” Twilight spoke out. Just as she did, however, the room fell into an uncomfortable silence. She glanced over at her peers, they were all giving her strange looks. Even her co rulers were giving her the eye “What? All I’m saying is that if we want this Les Anarchistes group to be stopped, the P.M.D. would be perfect for the job” she defended.
“Princess Twilight, will all due respect, I’m afraid that is not possible” a military official spoke out.
“Really? And why is that? The P.M.D. may be a separate division of the royal guards but they are more than qualified in the search for terrorist ”
“That’s just it, the P.M.D. is too overqualified for this task. It would be a waste of resource if we were to send them out like this. Only threats that involve the nullification of the elements are acceptable to call upon the members of the P.M.D.”
“He’s right, Twilight” Princess Celestia joined in “The P.M.D. is the last line of defence that Equestria has against should you and your friends be defeated. There are many evils out there in the world, we can never be too careful in the protect of Equestria”
“Then, how about we call together a vote?” Twilight suggested “In my opinion, I believe that the P.M.D. should finally be put into action to combat against this threat. If we were to deploy them now, then we can leave this matter behind once and for all. I promise you all that it will take less than a week to expose and arrest these terrorist” she concluded “Now, all who approve?”
Twilight raised her hoof into the air as she stood up. The next few minutes were incredibly awkward for her as she noticed that no one had risen their hooves up. If anything, the indifferent and displeased look on their faces signify anything but enthusiasm for her idea. She let out a sigh and dropped back down to her seat.
“All who oppose?” she asked.
Like the waves of the ocean, every hoof in the crowd rose like a crashing tidal surge against her suggestion. It was unanimous. Her idea had been overruled. Twilight’s mood sank a little, she had expected her own subjects to be a bit more accepting to her ideas. But it seems that she had been pushing her luck. No matter. If it wasn’t meant to be, then it wasn’t meant to be.
“We’re sorry, Twilight” Luna chimed in as she placed her hoof upon Twilight’s shoulder “But you understand don’t you? The P.M.D. is a very valuable asset and serves as our final bastion in our darkest hour, should it ever come to that one day”
“I guess I do. But if everyone else thinks that it’s a bad idea to send out the P.M.D. then I’ll acknowledge their wish” Twilight replied as she felt her head grew heavy all of a sudden. The last time she checked she was wired, ready to tackle just about anything. But now, she felt like like her eyelids had iron weights attached to them.
“Twilight, what’s the matter?” Luna asked concernedly “You look a little pale, and your breathing is getting shallow. This meeting will take up the rest of the day. and given how hard you have been working these last few days to help us get here, you deserve some time off. Why not retire to your room for today?” Luna suggested.
“Some rest would be nice, I think I’ll take you up on that offer” Twilight let out an exasperated yawn “Eeyup, I’ll definitely take you up on that offer. Well, I guess I’m off to my room then. I hope you all find a proper solution to this plight” Twilight announced wearily as she exited the room.
Everyone politely bowed as their princess left the building and waited until she was gone for good. When the door closed, everyone in the room sighed heavily, like a great burden had been removed from their collective chest.
But there was none more than relieved than Celestia and Luna themselves...
* * *
Princess twilight Sparkle wearily hobbled back towards her own room in the depths of castle Canterlot. It wasn’t a very long trip back to her own chambers, but considering how heavy her head felt, it was a journey that she was glad to be over the moment she saw her large comfy bed.
With one very ungraceful motion, she plopped right onto her bed and dug her face right into her fluffy pillow, levitating her tiara over to the nightstand as she nestled herself into the mattress like a mother hen with her newborn hatchlings. As she tossed and turned to find the sweet spot in the bed, she lifted her head and looked over to her standing mirror, and smiled gently.
Five years, she thought to herself. It has already been five years since she became an alicorn and gained the title of princess. It seemed like yesterday that she solved Starswirl’s puzzling spell and cured her friends of their cutie mark swapping ailment. She still has trouble from times to time believing that she actually went from a simple unicorn with social issues, to an alicorn princess who became enlightened by the magic of friendship.
She had gotten a bit taller since then; maybe by a hair, maybe by a head. It’s too hard to tell with her face smooshed into her pillow. Her attitude and mindset have matured during the infancy of her rule. Though she still retains certain aspects that make her who she is, aspects such as her love of literature and daffodil sandwiches, she has grown far wiser and more collected than when she was still Celestia’s student.
During the short time of her rule, Equestrian society thrived to the point where it could be compared to a utopia. Job rates were astronomically high, and crime rates were unbelievably low. There weren’t any starving families, nor was there a single homeless bum out on the street. Conflict was a thing of the past, and diplomatic relations were stable. Until today, that was.
Needless to say, the moment Twilight took her place beside Celestia and Luna as a princess, Equestria became the shining example of civilization throughout the entire world. In fact, many ponies had led to call this era: The Prosperous Age of Twilight. Though she is modest, she didn’t really object to having an era named after her. Think about it. It wasn’t a day dedicated to her, or even a brand name product, but an era! A whole era!
As she laid in her bed, she began to reflect upon her some of her accomplishments as princess. Her first, and perhaps most notable, and memorable action as princess was her direct involvement with the creation and advocation of the P.M.D. program.
As princess, it is her sworn duty to protect her fair nation from any and all threats that seek to harm her loyal subjects. But even with the elements of harmony, the most powerful artifact in existence that Equestria has, and the combined might of royal pony sisters, one way or another, they can be defeated.
Her experience with Nightmare Moon has taught her that she cannot face challenges alone. Her encounter with Discord showed that the elements do indeed have a weakness. Queen Chrysalis has taught her that even Princess Celestia can be fell in battle. And lastly, King Sombra has shown her that evil can be patient, waiting a millenia just waiting for the perfect time to strike.
It was this alone that drove her create the P.M.D. program, a completely separate division of the royal guards that was dedicated solely for the purpose of training elite defenders who could protect Equestria should she, her friends, or even the royal pony sisters be... decommissioned.
The P.M.D. program was volunteer only, ponies had to enlist and past several tests in order to become a part of it. The test would be difficult and rigorous, pushing the pony way past beyond their normal limits. In layman’s term, the P.M.D. program was a collective effort in an attempt to breed super soldiers. Soldiers who would be strong, fast, cunning, but overall, loyal to their cause when the world goes to hell.
Though the idea was sound when they first established the P.M.D. program, applications and enlistments numbers for the were first year alone was abysmal at best, barely even scraping triple digits. And for the limited pool of ponies that actually participated in the various tests, three quarter of the group failed right out of the gate. At the end of the year, the ones who did passed dropped out after only a month of extensive training.
Things were looking pretty grim for the supposed super soldiers of Equestria, rumors were even going around that the program itself was going to get the axe. But then, just when Twilight was ready to add the P.M.D. program into her list of failures as a princess, an unbelievable amount of entries flooded the the inboxes at the recruitment office.
At the start of her second year, ponies seemed to have changed their mind from out of the blue and joined the program as best they could. Not only that, the recruits were actually succeeding in passing each test and training that they received. As it turns out, all it took was a bit of time for Equestria’s future to be properly secured.
As the last of her mind slipped from a haze and into the realm of sleep, Twilight began lightly snoring, her mind filled with thoughts of harmony and righteous justice being brought down upon the anarchist terrorist group. Within seconds, she was sleeping like a foal.
* * *
A young innocent filly found herself strapped onto a cold metal operating table as she struggled to free herself from her captors. She thrashed about and screamed wildly, recklessly flailing her limbs to and fro in a futile attempt at escape. Her efforts were all for naught when the orderlies held her down against the biting cold table before she was tied down with a series of restraining belts.
“I just don’t understand!” an angry voice called out “We’ve done everything we can to break her, yet she still resist every step of the way! How is this possible!?” the voice slammed against something and left an audible crashing noise in the background.
“Hmph, I guessed that we underestimated her considering the fact that she is still a child” another voice spoke out, this one sounding more cold and calculating when compared to his ill tempered compatriot “Yet it is incredibly fascinating to see such willpower from someone as young as she is. The last few who underwent the trials broke down almost instantly after spending a day of isolation in the box”
“We’ve tried everything that’s considered ‘humane’ in the book but nothing is working!” the angry voice cried out again “Deprivation of the senses! Starvation! Forceful psychological conditioning! Psychoactive drugs! That thing they do overseas where they drip drops of water onto your forehead until it causes you to crumble apart like a dirt clot! NOTHING!” he fumed.
“We’ve spent nearly an entire year on her yet she still defies us! Do you know what how displeased the higher ups will be when we don’t have any progress to present to them! Our greatest achievement will mean nothing if she refuses to comply with everything that we do!” another slam could be heard, followed by the sound of breaking glass and creaking wood.
“I swear, it’s that officer’s fault!” the voice argued “He thinks that this... this, thing! Has the right to treated like a normal citizen! He spends the most time with her. All this time that I thought he was just keeping an eye on her, I never would’ve expected the idiot to have bonded with this little freak! I swear if we didn’t need him to keep the rowdy staff in line I would’ve booted him out of this facility long ago for tampering with our work!”
“Beaker, calm down” the cold voice replied coolly “There is still one thing that we haven't tried, and I’ve been meaning to test it out ever since we’ve received it” a squeaky noise echoed throughout the room just as the cold voice finished.
The little filly’s eyes scanned the room, looking for the source of the noise. To her immediate horror, it appeared to be another instrument of ‘conditioning’. Her body went colder than the metal table that she was strapped on when the machine whirred to life.
It had all kinds of dials and pinged every few seconds. But the most terrifying aspect of the device was the metal coils and patches that were connected to an ungodly amount of copper wires. Before long, the patches were being stuck all over her, mostly around the head area.
Though she didn’t want to believe it, the body of the cold voice hovered over her as the patches were being stuck to her. She could’ve sworn that she saw a smile on his obscure face when he place that last patch right onto her forehead. She gritted her teeth, she couldn’t speak but she snapped her jaw furiously at her bickering captives with indignation.
“Aw, how cute. She thinks she can hurt me” the cold voice laughed.
“Enough screwing around you buffoon! Just tell me, what the heck does this thing do?” the angry voice, now identified as the soon to be late Beaker, grunted “Will this give us the results that we need?”
“Oh, no need to worry” the cold voice replied with a hint of anticipation laced in his words “I’m sure that you’ll find the results to be very... shocking” the cold voice turned to face the filly, whose face still remained as defiant as ever “Don’t try to fight it little one, this won’t hurt a bit” he let out a cruel chuckle “This will only hurt a lot”
With a turn of a mere knob, the device jolted and shook wildly. The metal coils sparked and blinded her as a steady stream of electricity flowed in between the two. The room glowed with a horrific ethereal bluish hue as the sound of a manic buzzsaw and the smell of burning flesh blanketed the small room.
The little filly’s scream shattered every object within the vicinity into pieces.
* * *
Omega’s eyes shot open as she jumped up from her makeshift bedding before beginning to cautiously observe her surroundings. Her black eyes darted back and forth in their sockets as she struggled to look for something that she doesn’t even know about. When her nerves finally began to settle down, she grasped tightly onto her head and began whimpering as tears streamed down from her eyes.
She cried solemnly for a spell, making sure to stay as quiet as possible so that she didn't wake up Cleaner. Though she didn’t speak, the sounds that she emitted sounded exactly like an abused puppy that had been kicked one too many times by a sadistic individual. Eventually it became too much for her, and she began to weep into the night.
Cleaner was startled by the sound of Omega’s sobs and woke up at the drop of a hat, wiping away his groggy expression before sidling next to Omega and comforting her in his warm embrace. He wiped away the tears from her eyes, gently stroke the back of her head and whispered to her that everything was going to be alright. It worked, Omega’s tears ceased and she found herself clinging to Cleaner with a backbreaking deathgrip.
“Shh, shh... it’s alright, kid. I’m here” Cleaner whispered “There’s nothing to worry about, it was all just a bad nightmare...” he nuzzled the traumatized filly “Just breathe slowly, let it out of your system”
Omega sniffled and coughed as she struggled to grab ahold of her scattered emotions. Her head was throbbing, and her fur was matted from sweating in her sleep. It took some time, but eventually she collected herself. She wiped away the remnants of her tears and fell onto her haunches.
Her face was blank, completely devoid of any emotion. Cleaner only shook his head and sighed before taking his place right next to her. He sidled closer, trying to get near her without provoking her in such a sensitive state. Cleaner stayed beside her for the duration of the night, a watchful sentinel for the distressed adolescent. Before long, the first glimpse of daylight made it’s way into the forest clearing that they stayed at.
By some miracle, Cleaner found a very small, almost miniscule, smile on Omega’s face. It wasn’t much, but to him, it was a sign that the poor girl finally calmed down.
“Are you feeling better, kid?” Cleaner asked “Because we should probably get out of here before the guard starts sticking their noses where it doesn’t belong”
Omega let out a long exasperated sigh before her whole body involuntarily shuddered. She shook the feeling off, however, and resumed to floating above the forest floor. She did some quick stretches before turning to face Cleaner with a curt nod. But before she left, she looked over at the campsite that she had made.
It was a little hut, or a rickety cabin depending on your preferences, that she had constructed using the trees around her. It wasn’t hard to construct it given her powers. The beds that she slept on were nothing more than a collection of leaves that had huddled together to form a survivalist bedding. The fire beside them had already burned itself out, leaving nothing more than a smoldering wad of charcoal and embers.
It one swift movement, she lifted her hoof and motioned it downwards. In the exact same moment, a wave of pure force found itself in the clearing as it crushed and collapsed the entire campsite, packing it into the dirt without leaving even the faintest of evidence behind as to have others attempt to trail them.
Her job done, she turned around and floated beside Cleaner, her eyes full of anticipation for the long journey ahead. As they walked, Omega subconsciously floated closer to her guardian. She felt safer close to him. Though she didn’t know of her movements, Cleaner most certainly did. He looked over to her as they were walking and smiled warmly.
“Don’t you worry your little head. We’ll find the rest, and free them too. I promise that nopony will ever have to suffer like you did ever again...”