//------------------------------// // Chapter 27 // Story: 64 vs. Equestria // by Jman9877 //------------------------------// Chapter 27 64 POV I followed Vi’s line at an urgent pace, but I wasn’t running. I swear the Mare in the Moon’s eyes were following me with every step, and I was starting to feel the effects of all of the events which had happened today. One, the Underground Transit imploded and was now demolished. Two, the Clock Tower exploded and Twilight Sparkle was caught in the blast, which provoked me to save her. Then a power crazy form of Celestia named Super Nova fell from the sky and I was forced to fight before Shining Armor came and allowed me to find Twilight, before I was forced to return to the battlefield to find the citizens of Ponyville turned into a bunch of Molten Ghoul Ponies, along with Super Nova and Princess Luna battling for dominance. The result of this fight was Princess Luna losing, and ultimately being sent to the Moon. I had to sit back on the trunk of a tree to relax for a bit, because my mind was still trying to wrap around the events which had happened today. That had all happened in one day, and it was becoming too much for me to handle at the moment. For some reason I started to miss the days where I simply was running away from Underground Guards, rather than having to deal with incredibly powerful and evil Goddesses. “Vi… I think… I think I need a bit of rest…” I said, closing my eyes and just trying to forget where I was for a few moments. Obviously this wouldn’t fly for someone in my position, but dammit I was going to rest for a bit. “I understand, this has been an… eventful day. Ha, if that wasn’t an understatement.” Vi said, chuckling at her own joke. I laughed too, not because I thought it was funny, but just because in this time of crisis I needed a freaking reason to laugh. After that I just closed my eyes for a bit, not going to sleep, but just relaxing a bit, blocking out the outside world. I pictured myself perched on the highest branch of the tallest tree, simply gazing at a humongous forest below me, seeing birds flying and leaves blowing, feeling the wind on my face and the cool hair rushing through my shaggy hair. Then I imagined my free fall, simply jumping off of the branch with my eyes closed and feeling the rush of the wind and adrenaline rushing through me, before diving into the most refreshing lake there has ever been. In the lake I would see fishes swimming along, and plants of different kinds growing under the water. Maybe a group of ponies would also be relaxing by the lake, and simply wave hi to me when they saw me, and I would simply wave back. They would want to talk, and I would have a decent conversation with them. We would crack jokes, make funny references, and just have an awesome time. “64… you know I want all that just as much as you do… but for now we have to get going. Twilight is still in these woods, and with Super Nova’s evil magic radiation gone, I suspect the wild animals will come out of hiding and prowl for prey very soon.” Vi said, throwing me out of my fantasy. I sighed and got up, continuing my brisk run through the Everfree to get back to Twilight. “Thanks Vi, I think I if stayed any longer I would have started to grow complacent.” I said with sarcasm dripping from my tone. “Oh so is that’s how it going to be? You wanna play that game?” Vi said with a chuckle. I chuckled along with her, before my smile slowly left my face, as I felt the Mare in the Moon’s gaze pierce my very existence. That was going to be really rough to deal with for the rest of the night. Luckily I wouldn’t have to deal with it for long, because luckily it still seemed as if Super Nova was still moving the moon, and I saw that it was getting nearer to the horizon, and the sun would soon come up. Twilight was about a half mile from where I was, so picking up the pace a bit, I started a sprint going forward, and knew I would quickly reach my location. The moon eventually fell, and the sunrise was starting to come about. The time was 6:30AM. Damn, time flies by when you’re having fun. Knight POV I woke in a hospital bed with my said bandaged up, and a powerful headache pulsing through my skull. As I awoke I heard a gasp to my side. “Oh! You’re awake much earlier that we had expected! You were caught in that awful gas explosion in the Palace! We’ve had a few bad burn case here tonight from that, but it seems you probably caught a blunt piece of shrapnel catching in your side, due to the lack of a puncture along with blunt force trauma you gained to your ribs, so at the end of the day you will most likely be cleared for release!” The nurse mare said with a chipper laugh which I hated. She mentioned a gas explosion though, was that what were the ponies who saw what happened were calling the event? No, things were much worse than if a gas explosion went off. “Nurse, I don’t care how much I have to pay or what paperwork I need to file, but I am leaving this hospital at once. Besides, I’m a fast healer, and no broken ribs are going to be holding me back from my work, so just step aside and let me out of this damn bed…” I said with an intense scowl. The nurse slightly recoiled at my harsh tone, and looked down at her clip board in her magical grasp. “W-Well… since your injuries were not very substantial, I guess we could release you to a capable relative who is suitable to care for you…” “I am the Royal Advisor of Princess Celestia herself, and I WILL be let out of here right now, or do I need to speak to your superiors?!” I yelled, making the Nurse start shedding tears. “J-just… s-sign here….” The Mare whimpered, holding out a pen and clipboard with a release form attached to it. I quickly signed and pulled the IV drip out of my leg, and then proceeded to glare at the Nurse until I was out the door. I wasn’t going to just stay here while Princess Celestia was running amok in Equestria. I walked out of the door of the Hospital, and immediately made for the Palace; I needed to grab a few important Military Notices so I could mobilize a small Squad out towards Ponyville, to search for the recently sighted Project 64. Walking towards the Palace I saw many Guard ponies stationed outside of the front entrance, to keep out any prying eyes who really wanted to know what happened. I entered and immediately made for my office, to prepare the requisitions I needed to put through. “Grr... Where in blazes did Celestia go? She simply exploded and left…” I muttered to myself angrily. I knew she probably went to investigate the explosion in Ponyville, but after my incapacitation I was unable to teleport Twilight’s unconscious body here in time, therefore Celestia would have found her still alive, so why was she still not here? I opened the door to my office which was down the hallway from the Throne Room, and proceeded to pull a large saddle bag off of the wall and fill it with the Documents I needed to give to Captain Armor. It would be a week before the negotiations with a Local Underground Crime who took base in the nearby Gamegray Forest, where we would set an ambush to assassinate Shining Armor while he was off duty. I took the now heavier saddlebag filled with notarized documents from me to get another Sweep and Clear order to Ponyville out of the office, and went to Shining Armor’s Quarters. Once I arrived to the barracks, I gave my clearance to enter, and proceeded through towards Shining’s room. I knocked before calling out. “Captain Armor! I need an audience with you! It is regarding the recent explosion in Ponyville, and the association of Project 64 in the blast!” I said, knocking a few more times. After getting no response I opened the door, to find that Shining Armor was not in his Quarters at the moment. On his nightstand there was a small note, folded so it was standing. It read, “I will be gone for an undetermined amount of time to follow the recently enraged Princess Celestia, to try and prevent anything rash from happening. Please inform First Lieutenant Ruby Tart that she will be Commanding Officer until I return. Signed, Captain of the Royal Guard, Shining Armor.” I set down the note and thought about what I had just read. Shining Armor had followed Celestia that night, and probably had confronted her about the ordeal, so their returns had to be inevitable. I quickly trotted of the barracks and went towards the Throne Room, to see if I could locate Princess Luna anywhere. When I opened the large double doors to the Throne Room, all I saw were a few maid sweeping up the floor, using simple mouth grip brooms. They responded to my entrance with a quick bow, before return back to work. The destruction of the explosion was still visible, such as burn marks in the floor and slight debris in the room, but the heavy damage of the walls and stained glass windows were repaired quickly by the best Unicorn contractors, and were now back to normal. “You there, maiden.” I said, pointing a hoof to the nearest one. She trotted towards me and bowed. “Y-Yes Advisor Knight?” She said with a shiver. “Where is Princess Luna located at the time?” “S-She hasn’t b-been seen since l-last night, and…… there have been rumors of her banishment to the moon yet again……” She had said that part extremely quietly, nervously shaking in her bowing position to try and not provoke me, but I was intrigued by that last statement. “What did you just say?” I said with a tone of anger in my voice, to make it seem like I was angry at her. “It was just a rumor! S-Somepony said t-that they saw the Mare in the Moon a-again last night! Around 4AM!” The mare said, backing away slowly. “And the credibility of this pony?!” I said, moving towards her menacingly. “S-She was the Royal Gardener! Tending to the b-burned plants which w-were damaged by last night’s explosion!” I had backed the maid into a corner, and I went nearly muzzle to muzzle with her, breathing out a puff of air though my nostrils to threaten her. “If I found out you are lying to me… the aftermath won’t be pretty… you will learn your lesson like last time…” I said, going near her and licking up her neck to the side of her muzzle. She nodded as tears flowed down her cheeks. I backed away and turned to the other maids, who were staring but quickly got back to work when I turned around and gave them a glare, before walking out of the Throne Room, heading out to the Royal Hedge Maze to plan my next move. As I stepped out of the Palace, I noticed the sudden rise of temperature outside, when moments ago it was a comfortable 75 degrees, now rising over 90 degrees. I wiped the sweat from my brow before looking towards the Clock Tower in the middle of Town Square, and saw it read 8:30AM, much too earlier for temperatures to be rising. “AAHHH!” I heard a mare scream as I looked towards the Train Station, and saw a crowd of ponies running away from the Station, some with incredibly bad burns charred on their faces and chest. I yelled for the Guards who were stationed in front of the Palace entrance and had them go towards the disturbance, before following them myself. As we turned a corner towards the Train Station, we saw a large monster who was covered from head to hoof in volcanic rock, and currently had a Stallion in her magical grasp, with her horn poking his chest. The stallion bucked and screamed in pain as the horn emitted a small blast of magic into him, causing a very severe burn to char onto his fur, before running away towards us to hide, but as he ran behind us he fell forward, unconscious. Although I could care less about the unconscious pony, I saw the char mark slowly engulf the stallion completely, as if it was slowly taking over his entire being. Returning my attention to the 15 Royal Guards now charging toward the beast, I saw them bring their Halberd’s down onto the monsters skin. I heard 15 heavy thuds as I saw that the Sharpest Halberd’s formed by the best blacksmiths in Canterlot didn’t even pierce an inch of the thick armor, as the guards struggled to pull the now stuck Halberds out of the rock skin of this monster. “YOU FOOLISH PONIES! YOU DARE TO THINK YOU CAN EVEN BEGIN TO BRING ME DOWN! YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!” The monster yelled, as I immediately recognized the voice. She brought the Guards up into the air using her magic, and blasted magic into all of them, forming them into those twisted rock statues. With everypony around me now incapacitated, my first instinct was to turn and run, away from this monster impersonating Princess Celestia. But as I turned, I felt a numbing magical hold grasp me, as I yelled and squirmed to get away. “UNHAND ME THIS INSTANT! I DEMAND YOU LET ME GO!” I yelled as I flailed and kicked, trying to get away from Celestia’s monster form. I was brought up to her face, and gazed into her fiery glare. “YOU THINK YOU CAN ORDER ME AROUND?! THE TRUE RULER OF EQUESTRIA?! HOW DARE YOU!” It yelled in my face as I felt it’s horn touch my chest. “WAIT! WAIT! I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE! I KNOW WHAT YOU WANT!” I said in a last ditch attempt to try and save my own life. “AND WHAT MIGHT THAT BE YOU LITTLE INSECT?!” “PROJECT 64!”