//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Impact // Story: Inbound // by Smexy and Boss Inc //------------------------------// Inbound Chapter 2: Impact Written by: Smexy Sombra & Alex Mason Edited by: Alex Mason & Smexy Sombra (Thirty minutes before impact) Discord and Twilight stood outside the throne room of Canterlot Castle, looks of determination on their faces. For weeks they had been striving for this, attempting to find a way to get Harmonic magic and Chaotic magic to coexist and work together for a greater purpose. If they succeeded, the strives in magic would be astronomical and bring about a new age of magic that not even Star Swirl had be able to accomplish. “U-Uhm, I am pretty nervous right now. I mean, I know Celestia doesn’t mind Chaotic magic too much, but I think she may not approve of this...” Twilight stuttered out as she fidgeted in place for a moment. “Chaos does not require approval…” Discord replied. “And I should hope harmony doesn’t need it either. She would be most delighted to have a new era of prosperity come from both, wouldn’t she?” Discord straightened out his body and began to summon his chaos magic. “Now, let me just warm up a bit, get the chaotic juices flowing!” He snapped his fingers and a flower pot sitting near the window imploded in on itself, then cracked his neck and made it reappear. “Aaahhh! Much better. Okay Sparkle, whenever you’re ready.” Twilight took in a shaky breath before opening up the throne room doors and walking inside. Celestia was sitting on her throne, reading over several documents given to her by the nobles of Canterlot and the mayors of the other cities across her nation. She perked up and rolled up the document as she saw Twilight and Discord walking towards her. “Hello, Twilight, and hello to you as well Discord. I take it one of you are here to complain about the other?” Celestia said, giving a small smirk at the two. Twilight shifted for a moment, chuckling nervously as she did so. “Well not exactly. We have actually been getting along quite well these past few weeks.” Twilight began as she nervously began to fiddle with her hands to calm herself. “And... Well... How are you?” Celestia blinked at the question, clearly confused by the sudden change of subject. “Fine... Can’t really complain...” Celestia confused, looking to Twilight. “Twilight, are you alright?” “O-Oh yes! I am great!” Twilight stated, laughing nervously. She was about to speak up once more before Discord stopped her. “Get on with it.” “Yes, Twilight, get on with what you are trying to say.” Celestia implored. “YES! GET ON WITH IT!” Shouted the guards in the room, making them all cringe. Celestia looked at them before raising an eyebrow to Discord with a unamused expression. Discord held up his hands in meager defense at her expression. “Don’t look at me, I didn’t do it.” Discord stated. Twilight cleared her throat and took in a shaky breath before turning back to Celestia. “Well, Princess... Me and Discord have been working on a small project.” She began. “We have been working on a way to get both Harmonic magic that ponies use and Chaotic magic that Discord uses and see if they could work together.” Twilight was waiting for Celestia to scold her for doing something so reckless but instead Celestia’s interest was now peaked at this moment, leaning forward onto her hands. “And what have your studies found?” Celestia asked, her voice filled with curiosity. “Studies?” Discord raised an eyebrow. “We don’t need no stinking studies!” Celestia rolled her eyes while Twilight continued. “W-Well, we have found it to be possible on many occasions. We have successfully made a apple tree produce twice as many apples at twice the size, in half the time. We have also found out several ways to create fire without matches, flint and steel, or rubbing twigs together to create friction!” Twilight stated. “There are so many possibilities that have opened up with the successes we have gotten!” Celestia smiled happily at the news before sitting up properly. “Could you perhaps show me a demonstration of the possibilities?” She asked, looking at the two with a happy glint in her eyes. The two nodded and began to charge their energy. “Lets do fireworks!” Discord said gleefully, Twilight nodded and the both concentrated. The pair fired beams of energy at each other. They had to keep everything balanced or the entire spell could back fire. The beams of energy met in the middle, immediately Discord’s began to overpower Twilight's and so he cut back his power level. “Almost there…” Twilight said, concentrating on fireworks in her head, Discord began to do the same. Imagining the fireworks to appear just outside the throne room. As the spell reached its apex a random thought entered Twilight’s mind, a thought about portals. The spell detonated as it was cast, sending both Twilight and the god of chaos backwards. For several seconds there was silence, then a massive ‘WHOMP’ ing sound. “What did you do, Twi?” Discord asked as he saw the portal start to open. “What did you think about!” His joking demeanor was gone. The portal exploded and a strange metal object flew from its maw. “GET DOWN!” Discord tackled Twilight and Celestia before casting a shield around them, they watched as the metal object slammed through the throne room. The walls crumbled like tissue paper as it slid out the other wall and rolled into the gardens, the nose began to bury itself into the dirt and eventually it came to a screeching halt. The dust that it through up blotted out the moon in the sky, and every sleeping pony in the city awoke to the powerful noise. “What in the name of my sun just happened?” Celestia stated, angered and awed by the events that had transpired. Discord lowered the shield and looked at the wrecked object before looking at Twilight. “What did you think about before the spell was cast, Twilight?” He asked, looking nervously back at the object. “P-Portals.” Twilight replied, still shocked by what had happened. Celestia looked to Twilight for a moment before turning to her guards. “Guard, how long until every single guard is summoned to one location?” She asked, standing up to her full glory. The Guard saluted before answering. “Fifteen minutes your majesty.” Celestia nodded before waving her hand. “Then gather them and meet me at the location of the crash. And be quick.” Celestia stated before turning to Discord and Twilight. “Go see what was just hurled into our world, I will go get Luna to tell her of what has happened.” ~#~ Twilight and Discord approached the downed object, coughing slightly from the dust and the strange fumes that seemed to be emanating from the device. As they got closer they heard a loud, female scream. This froze them in their tracks, no pony ever walked the gardens after dark, not even the guards. The pair walked on in silence, not sure what to think of the scream. As they got closer they could see the massive object. It did not look natural, it had been constructed by something, something that screamed. “THUNDER!” A pained, female voice shouted at them. A few seconds later the same voice shouted again. “THUNDER! OR WE WILL FIRE ON YOU!” Discord snapped his fingers and caused a bolt of thunder. Twilight could hear the voice was much fainter now. “Come on, say the damned password…” There were a few silent seconds before things changed, “ALright, enough waiting, light’em up!” A deeper and male voice shouted as a small red dot zipped near them and an immense bang filled the air, not even milliseconds later the tree next to them exploded into wooden splinters. There were more bangs, but nothing happened to the pair. “I’m out…” The female voice said in an exhausted tone. There was a light grunting as the sound of foot steps quietly filled the air. “There’s ammo back at the ship... Just have to get there... Here take my gun.” The male voice sounded as the footsteps began to fade off in the direction of the crashed object. “Come on, lets go see what just happened.” Discord said in a firm voice. Twilight gawked at Discord before shaking her head and pointing to the mangled mess of a tree. “Did you not see what they just did!? What if they do that to us! They clearly have the power to if they wish!” Twilight hissed, both in terror and astonishment. Discord stepped forwards a few feet and looked at the ground, the red droplets were all to clear. “Twilight, what would Celestia say if she found out one of them died because you were to scared?” Discord asked, dipping his eagle claw into the blood and holding it up for Twilight to see. Even in the dust and dark night air Twilight could see it. She bit her lip in thought, looking back at where the guards would be showing up and then on the creatures that had left. “Oooooh. Fine! But if one of us get’s hurt or killed, it’s all your fault!” She stated as she began to walk towards the crater. Discord smiled triumphantly before running towards the wreck, what he saw astonished him. The object was intricately designed, yet scarily simple looking. It was massive in size, bigger than anything he had seen. Twilight caught up with him and gazed upon the object as well, her eyes caught sight of two figures. One was leaned against the wreckage, a hand over its wounds while the other was looking about and jumping, attempting to get into the opening of the wreck. It finally succeeded in grabbing hold onto the edge of a open door that hung from the wreck, slowly pulling itself in. They could hear it slide down inside the wreck before it climbed back out, carrying two box and a strange tool. As it hopped down into the dirt once more, it whipped its head in their direction. “Ah shit...” It muttered and ran over to its counterpart, handing it the tool and grabbing something smaller from its counterpart, aiming the device at the pair. “Stay back... Whoever you are! I will open fire!” Its counterpart did its best to steady the tool it had been given, but Twilight could see the exhaustion and the pain that it was in. Its grip on the tool faltered for a moment, as if it was fighting to stay awake. “Come on, Sarge, stay with me...” The male voice rang out again as the taller one shook its counterpart. “To… Tired…” It’s counterpart replied. “Can’t… Breathe…” The Taller one began to frantically look back and forth between Twilight and Discord and then back to it’s counterpart. It grabbed the tool and began to pick up its counterpart. “Well, I ain’t letting you go just yet, so just stay the fuck awake!” The male voice stated, lifting the counterpart, grunting as it did so. “Go…” Came the weak reply. Twilight could only watch the scene unfold, the panic in the taller one’s words and the obvious injuries to the smaller one. She looked up at Discord and nudged his side. “We should help them! One of them is hurt!” She stated, pointing to the two creatures. “Oh? I hadn’t noticed.” Discord shot back, obviously debating what to do as well. He snapped his fingers and popped up next to the two creatures. The taller one stumbled back as it saw Discord, falling onto its backside and pointing its weapon at him. “Jesus fuck, what the hell are you!?” It shouted in terror, discharging its weapon at Discord several times until the device began to click. Discord snapped his fingers again, the creature froze for a moment before falling backwards in a deep sleep. Twilight had since rushed to the other creature, its eyes were barely open and its breaths were shallow. She could see the fear in the eyes, Twilight lit her horn and thought of every healing spell she knew. When she cast the spell the creature’s eyes widened before they shut and its body went limp. For several seconds Twilight stared at it, fearing she had killed it, but the shallow rising of its chest proved her wrong. Not minutes later, Celestia and Luna arrived, an immense force of soldiers and guards behind them. The two princesses walked forward to Discord and Twilight while the guards began to fan out through the garden to look for anything that might have gotten past them. “Twilight! Are you alright?” Celestia asked while Luna walked over and examined the creatures. Twilight nodded, looking down at the creature before her and then at the larger one that Discord put to sleep. “What in Equestria happened here? We heard explosions from inside the castle!” “This one was trying to help the smaller one, it was near death until Twilight put a maintaining spell on it. I suggest you take it to the infirmary and give it proper attention. As for the explosions…” Discord picked up one of the tools and pulled the small lever. The bang resonated through the area and a guard let out a surprised yelp as something grazed his muzzle. “These should probably be secured.”