//------------------------------// // --2--: Recollection // Story: The Black Cello Mafia // by WolfOblivion //------------------------------// --2-- Sand whipped around Octavia, the wind buffeting her fur eastward. It was noon by the tell of the sun, and the heat was oppressive. Looking around, she could see the broken, shambling road the armored carriage had rode on. Nothing could live here, it seemed almost impossible. The cacti were sparse and shriveled limply. "There's no water in there." A stallion called out from behind. Octavia turned her head toward the carriage driver. The unicorn stallion had a pale toned fur suit, yet wore a faded blue button up. His beard highlighted his dark green eyes, giving him a gruffer, older look. "I would assume not." White fur shifted near the stallion as Vinyl shuffled off the carriage and stumbled on the hot sand. Looking lost, she trudged towards Octavia and stopped short, looking at the stallion in confusion. "So...what now?" Vinyl questioned. The stallion levitated a cigarette from his shirt pocket, the tip combusted suddenly inside the levitation field. Octavia jerked her leg out, craving the sickly drag of nicotine. The stallion placed the cigarette in an upturned hoof, blowing out a thick cloud of smoke. "Now," the stallion started, "We wait till night fall. Until then, we set up camp." Octavia squinted her eyes, look up at the blue sky and noticed a slight purple hint to it. The quiet of the desert did not last long as Vinyl asked a question. "So where is it?" The stallion pinched the cigarette in his mouth and closed his eyes in what seemed like deep meditation. "Near here." Vinyl seemed perturbed. "And we wait for night fall to go?" The Stallion nodded. The begrudged spy sighed and turned away, shaking her head while kicking the dirt right and left with each step. Octavia watched the sun slowly drift down the sky. In an hour, a small camp was set up. three sleeping bags organized like a triangle around a large pile of store bought firewood. The mare's kicked around, drank water or watched the sun descend. The stallion sat silently, eyes closed and a burning cigarette in his mouth every forty minutes or so. It was beginning to become dusk, the sky turning blue to orange and purple on the horizon. The suns brightness pulled away from them, and standing up, the stallion focused his field onto the pile of wood, setting it aflame. The surrounding area pulsed lightly with a warm dance of orange light. Rolled up in a sleeping bag, Octavia sat up to face Vinyl. "So...what do you think they're planning to do with us?" Vinyl broke her gaze from the gray mare to stare up at the sky. The short night wind briefly brushed past their ear canals, the only outstanding sound in the abandoned desert. "Not sure...but I think we're the only ones who had gotten out." "Well there's still the trial, But I assume we wont be around to see it. I hope she does well." Vinyl snorted. Octavia crooked her neck and observed her companion. Shaking her head, the Unicorn broke the silence. "Doesn't matter....we're all going down in the end." "Listen up," The stallion broke the conversation. Both mares looked up to give attention to the gruff stranger. "Leave your bags here, we're leaving. Once we get there, no questions. Understood?" Nodding, the couple stood and followed the stallion past the hill they had camped behind, following the rising moon. The night was cold, colder than Vinyl had treated Octavia the past couple hours. Side by side, they had followed the stallion further deep into the desolate wasteland. Some time had passed, the moon had risen higher, and Octavia was beginning to feel anxious. Watching the stallion, she noticed his head swinging back and forth. She could make the outline of his burning cigarette past his mane, curling in abstract forms highlighted by the moon. A few more minutes passed and the group suddenly stopped in their tracks. The stallions horn began to glow a faint purple, and then the ground began to rumble. Octavia stumbled backward as Vinyl locked her knees in anticipation. Two fat and lengthy cellar doors slowly swung upward from the ground, dragging a load of sand with them as they locked into place vertically, revealing a lit stair case. The Stallion turned around after finishing the lifting and began. "Past this point, you are, for the time allocated, no longer Octavia and Vinyl. Instead, you will be given two new names, each related to your marks for your own convenience. As we descend down this staircase, you will be brought to a small underground bunker. From there, you will be briefed as to we you have been brought all this way from Canterlot." The mares looked at each other in confusion but promptly complied as the stallion made his way down the stairs. --- "So...this whole time, Manehattan has been a wasteland?" "Yes. Thing's escalated that day in Manehattan, the Unicorn family had grown even more powerful than Royal Guard and MHPD combined. And because of you eight mares, the boss of said family had cast a spell." The stallion paused. "Nothing short of the fires of tartarus, the booming chaos of Discord or Celestia's powerful will of the sun." Octavia slumped in her chair, resting a leg on the cold metal table next to her. The bunker was small, no bigger than an apartment bedroom. It was almost barren, only an artificial light hanging low above the table, a few chairs, a large chest in the corner of the room and a door opposite the staircase they had descended. Vinyl chimed in. "Excuse me but...I was knocked unconscious when the Unicorns came at us, and when I woke up I was in a locked cell in Canterlot." Octavia knit her eyebrows at the Unicorn. "You mean you didn't make it out?" Vinyl shook her head. "No. I didn't get to wander the badlands for four months like you did, Octavia. I wasn't told much in prison, but I was told enough. At least the High Court hadn't forgotten my service to them." The stallion silently observed their short conversation. "So neither of you know what happened?" Vinyl shook her head while Octavia explained herself. "Well...Vinyl was knocked unconscious, Pinkie was pinned down, Applejack was already captured, Rainbow Dash ditched us when the fighting broke that white unicorn and pegasus had disappeared before I made it back to the park. Twilight didn't follow my orders and instead decided to go and stop whatever was happening in the sky. As I remember it, we were all meeting before the shit hit the fan..." --- Octavia rubbed her head, confused as to what was happening at the moment. The group of ponies from Canterlot rushed back down to Manehattan at Applejack's urgent request. All she had said was there was something breaking in the city and they had to act now. No answers came to aid Octavia's questions as Applejack hung up. So the entire group rushed back to their former city to meet with Applejack. "Why in Central Park? Why not somewhere private?" Pinkie asked, a dusky cigarette hanging from her lips. "Pink, put that out, I can barley breathe." Twilight scolded. Octavia ignored as the two began to quarrel behind her, instead scanning the park for Applejack. Vinyl sauntered up behind her, boring into her face, "You know we have to tell her we failed, right? It's been two days since Amethyst was assassinated before we could get the rest of the spell." Octavia stared straight ahead, finally having found her old friend. "I don't think that's gonna matter, Vinyl. Look." Vinyl, along with the rest of the group, looked ahead at Applejack, walking toward them. Behind her, Rainbow Dash and an unfamiliar white Unicorn behind her. Both looking anxious and stern. Finally having reached the other mares, Applejack gave Octavia a quick hug. "You couldn't have come any sooner. There's something going down." "Well first I have to tell you we failed, Applejack. When we went to intercept the rest of the spell from Amethyst Star, it went bad. Before we could even start to enact our plan, she was killed." "Killed?" "Yeah. Something like a magic beam shot clean right through her chest, and another completely destroying the file she was carrying. We had to leave, it was causing too much of a scene and the other half was lost." Applejack listened closely before answering. "Well it doesn't matter anymore, everything we've been working on for the past three months is all out the window now. First; Nero is missing. We have no idea where he is. Rainbow hasn't heard from him, only her superiors. Second; The entire Unicorn family has gone into hiding. There are no reported crimes involving them, as well as their sanctioned Speakeasy's having been abandoned. I haven't been able to track them." "It's nothing concrete, but with both gone, there's nothing more we can do. Along with you having lost the rest of the spell, we're at a full halt." "Why is Rarity here?" A voice rang out from behind Octavia. Turning around, it was Pinkie who had broken in. She looked...disgusted. Almost like she had smoked her whole pack of cigarettes from the filters. She stepped forward, mane flowing with her, going up to Rarity. "If I remember correctly, you're the one who fucked up the most out of all of us. Why are you here, and not locked up in prison like you should be?" Rarity sat up with a hoof to her chest outward towards Pinkie. "Excuse me? And what had I done?" "You know what you did, don't play stupid!" Pinkie began to rise her voice. "You're the one that betrayed Fluttershy and-" "HEY!" Twilight's voice broke the altercation, racing up to the arguing mares. "Now is not the time to argue over who's to blame. Right now, we need to focus on what's right in front of us: What are the Unicorns up to?" Pinkie snarled at both of her ex-friends, spitting her still lit cigarette on the grass and stomping behind Octavia. Everypony was silent, all looking around for the next thing to say, the next course of action to take. And then, a quiet voice was barely heard, but shattered the silence into a million pieces. "It's too sunny of a day to be arguing." The group of mares all turned their heads. Not even more than 6 feet from them, a golden pegasus with a long, flowing pink mane had crept up on them unnoticed. "Fluttershy....." In a flash, Rainbow Dash was on her, hugging her tightly. Fluttershy was caught off guard and squirmed in Rainbow's grasp. The entire crowd of mares all stared at the pegasus in awe, confusion and shock. Vinyl whispered into Octavia's ear. "Who's that?" Octavia glanced at the spy. "She's one of the Element's I think. They were all friends at one point." Vinyl rose a brow. "Elements?" Octavia shook her head quickly. "I'll explain later." Rainbow dash stepped back, mouth gaped in a wide smile. "I haven't seen you in years, where have you been?" Fluttershy smiled, blinking as she took a short breath before answering. "I was-" Light. Purple light was all Octavia saw. Nothing but purple light. No sound, no feeling. Only purple light suddenly engulfing everything behind her. Bright blinding light cascading her entire vision. In a flash, she witnessed the body of a pony fly past her in the light, a fast blue blur chasing after it. What? Octavia turned her head but there was no change in the light. What's happening? Why can't I see anything? ... Am I dead? "NO, YOU AREN'T DEAD!" A voice bellowed. I'm not? "NO OCTAVIA, GET THE FUCK UP, YOU NEED TO GET BACK TO THE PARK!" Why can't I see anything? "WHAT?.....SHIT, HOLD ON!" Octavia couldn't feel, see, hear or anything for what seemed like hours. And then suddenly, rain. The darkest of clouds blanketed the entire sky Octavia could see. Sitting up, she shook her head and looked around. She was on the roof of a building, high up into the air above the city. "Can you see now?" Octavia turned her head to see Twilight standing beside her. Nodding, the gray pony shakily stumbled to her hooves. "You were stunned by magic. Something was casted, I don't know what, but I know who." Octavia held her throbbing head. "What're you talking about?" Twilight roughly grabbed her by the leg and thrust her to the edge of the roof. "Look" She commanded, pointing a hoof out. The park where they were just standing was no longer green and full of life. Instead, a humongous crater welled deep into the ground, eviscerating any plant life nearby. And any pony life. The streets we're running rampant with screaming ponies and police officers attempting to control the situation. Scanning the area, Octavia saw the rest of the group hiding behind a large fountain. Half blown away and the other half being riddled with bullets. There was a whole unit of Unicorns toting automatics. "What...what the fuck happened Twilight?" Twilight rested a hoof on Octavia's shoulder, pointing up into the sky. Octavia followed her hoof. Buried within the clouds, Octavia saw a thick, almost pulsating field of magic. Tracing it around, Octavia noted that it encompassed the entire city's limits, covering everying out to the outskirts and barren dirt roads. "That's not it Octavia." With even more confusion, Octavia glanced from Twilight to wherever she was looking. The magical field and clouds covered most of what Octavia could see. And in the center of it all- Was a single Unicorn, bursting with blinding light, looking down on all of the helpless ponies of Manehattan.