Prologue – First Contact
Herbal Brew, or Herb to his friends, was a moderately attractive middle-aged earth pony stallion. He was the owner of one of the most successful and popular tea shops in Manehattan. After closing his shop each afternoon he would either meet up with some of his friends and play hoofball in the nearby park, or train in the gym downtown, and he was proud of his athletic chestnut-coloured body. He was well-known, well-liked, and well-respected.
He was also currently collapsed against a dumpster in a back alley, in the middle of the night, drunk out of his mind.
It was therefore unfortunate that he was the only pony to witness the pivotal event that was about to occur.
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Herb was not entirely sure where he was. It didn’t help that there seemed to be no streetlamps along this road. Somewhere in his mind he registered that this was unusually narrow for a road, but that did not seem important. The chestnut stallion slipped further to the ground as he looked around him, trying to identify any of the buildings he could see. He had taken the trip back from Grape’s bar often enough before, but he didn’t remember coming this way in the past. Perhaps it was some sort of shortcut?
The sound of hooves scrabbling against metal echoed along the deserted alley as the drunken stallion tried to pull himself back to his feet. Wherever he was it certainly wasn’t his house, and although part of him wanted nothing more than to go to sleep where he was, another part seemed to disagree, and that part was evidently in control of his limbs.
After a few false starts Herb found himself upright and facing down the passage once more. He couldn’t remember from which direction he had come, but that also seemed unimportant. All that was really important was finding a light so he could see something. Anything.
As if in response to his desire a sudden blare of light and sound rung out from behind him. In a panic Herb threw himself to the side to get out of the way of whatever monster it was that was approaching, although in his confusion each leg seemed to want to dive in a different direction and he ended up face first on the ground, his face in something damp and suspiciously warm. Pleased at his success Herb remained as still as he could, praying to the Princesses that whatever it was would leave him alone.
Herb slowly counted to ten, taking a few attempts to make sure he had the numbers in the right order, before slowly lifting his head and looking over his shoulder. A little way behind him, in a similar prone position on the floor, was a highly attractive young earth pony mare. Her slender grey body was mostly covered by some sort of outfit he couldn’t identify in the darkness, but despite the dark her silvery hair seemed to be glowing and rustled in the gentle breeze.
After admiring the mare’s body for a little longer Herb pulled himself back to his feet as rapidly and as suavely as he could, which was both not very quick and not very suave. As he made to approach her however, there was a horrific wheezing sound and the mare pulled herself up onto her haunches, coughing inelegantly. After she had recovered from her short fit she glanced around, eyes wide, and spotted Herb stumbling towards her. She squinted and then scanned the ground at her hooves.
“My glasses…”
It took Herb a few moments to realise what the mare meant, another few to realise he couldn’t see any glasses anywhere, and another few moments to decide it wasn’t important.
“Now don’t you worry about your glasses miss,” Herb said in his most charismatic voice, slightly ruined by how slurred he currently sounded. “I’ll get you home.”
“Ha! I doubt that.” The mare turned back to squint at the stallion in front of her, then shook her head as if to clear her thoughts, her braided mane whipping back and forth. “It doesn’t matter now anyway. Listen whoever you are, this is really important. Where am I?”
Herb slumped to the ground and groaned. “Don’t tell me you’re lost too? I swear I’ve lived in Manehattan all my life and I’ve never seen this road.”
“Manehattan? It still stands?” The mare looked up at the tall buildings visible in the distance. “Then it worked! I need to-” She broke off abruptly when her forelegs collapsed beneath her and she let out another hacking cough.
“Are you alright miss? Got a cold or something?”
The silver-maned earth pony rubbed her head gently and then looked impassively at the foreleg she had used to do so, upon which black splotches were visibly spreading down to her hoof. “No it’s just… The Infection is spreading quickly again. I don’t have much time.”
“Whoa, infection?” Herb stumbled backwards more rapidly than he would have believed possible in his current state.
The mare let out an amused snort, although it sounded somewhat pained. “Don’t worry, it’s not contagious.” She tried to get to her feet once more, but her strength seemed to have left her. “But please listen, this is critical.”
“But… infection? What’s wrong with you?”
“Oh everypony has the Infection in the future, that’s not important. Well it is, but that’s why I’m here.”
“Huh? The future?”
“Yes, I’m from the future.” Another drawn out cough. “Please, listen carefully, the Princesses sent us back to warn everypony about what happened so that we could avoid it.”
“Wow, you’re a time traveller!” Herb got to his feet, wide eyed, his body suddenly under his control once more in his excitement. “That’s amazing! I’ve always wanted to travel through time. Can I ask you questions about the future? Is it nice? Do you know if I ever remarry? What about-“
“Shush please! You wouldn’t want to live in the future I came from!” The mare then winced and swung her head around to see that her back hooves were completely coated in blackness and crystals were starting to form, covering them. She really did not have long. Just her luck the one pony she met was off his face. Still, she couldn’t give up.
“Listen, and listen carefully:
“The future is awful. There aren’t many of us left, and we’ve all lost our strength. The pegasi can barely fly, the unicorns can hardly use any magic, and even the Princesses are weak. Equestria is in ruins, the north has been completely taken over by the Infection, and Shards are everywhere and seem more organised than ever. Ponies are afraid to sleep because their dreams are haunted by nightmares and demons. The EDF is on its last legs, and since we lost the Commander ponies are deserting in droves. Within a week it would have been all over, so the Princesses sent us all back so we could warn everypony.” There were tears in her eyes, although it was not clear whether this was due to her memories or the pain that was surely agonising her as the strange black crystals started to spread up her flanks. “Please, you have to help.”
Herb sat there blinking. He had tried to listen. Really he had. But it was taking all his effort to stay on his feet, and to stave off the exhaustion that was threatening to overwhelm him. He couldn’t tell her that he hadn’t paid attention though, that would surely make her said, and she was too cute to make sad. Instead he decided to ask a question that had been on his mind for a while.
“What’s that you’re wearing?”
The grey mare looked down at the tight jacket that covered her front and spread along her back to cover her hips, a logo of a shield coated with a crescent moon adorning the spot where her cutie mark would be. It would be generous to call it armour, but it was light and comfortable and had proved invaluable.
“This is the uniform all EDF scouts wear.”
For the second time Herb scrabbled back from the mare, this time more in shock than in self-preservation. “Whoa? You’re a filly scout? You look much older than that! Phew, am I glad you told me now though, I would not want to get in trouble for that again…”
“No arrgh, I’m not a filly scout! I scout for-” She let out another hacking choking sound, this one longer than any before. “Urrgh, never mind,” she mumbled as she recovered.
The light of the moon may have been dim, but it was clear now that the blackness that had been absorbing the mare’s body was now spreading up to her head. Her mane was growing rigid and ominous crystals were forming along it. She scrunched her eyes shut and took a deep breath.
“Please, you have to tell somepony what I told you. The Princesses, the Elements, anypony. Can you do that?”
Herb gulped. What was it she’d said? Something about time travel and filly scouts? “Uh, yes. I can do that.”
The mare let out a sigh and a smile appeared on her lips for the first time since she had appeared. “Thank you.”
The mare’s face suddenly became as rigid as a statue, black crystals almost immediately swarming over and coating the last of her body. There was a splintering sound and jacket she had been wearing was torn to shreds as crystalline shards tore through it, and as it fell to the ground Herb was able to see her entire body for the first time. It was not a pretty sight. The creature standing in front of him was a mockery of a pony, formed of a transparent jagged glass-like material covering a swarming inferno of dark mist within. Her violet eyes were fixed on his, but lifeless, and there was a strange glow coming from them.
Then with a resounding smash the body in front of him splintered into a thousand pieces, each falling haphazardly to the ground, releasing the eerie mist which slowly dissipated into the breeze, leaving behind no evidence there had been a pony in the alleyway at all. Herb looked with horror at the small fragments of crystal left on the ground which even now seemed to be disintegrating. With a yelp he turned and ran, stumbling along the passageway and into the darkness.
By the morning the fragments in the alleyway had disintegrated into dust, ready to be washed away in the rain. Herbal Brew awoke with the worst hangover of his life and remembered nothing.