Chapter 4: Those Who Forget History…
After around an hour of running through thick jungle, Truck and Grinch found themselves on the outskirts of a small town. They saw a small cottage sitting on top of a hill outside the town, a strange purple light radiating from it. Inside the odd colored light, they could make out the silhouette of another person sitting on the ground.
“Holy shit, I think that’s Sandman! We got to go get him!” Truck whispered.
He started to get up, only to be knocked back down by Grinch.
“Get the hell down, Truck! What are you thinking? You want to just go rush up that hill without even looking around for hostiles? We don’t know what is up there. Besides, it looks like he’s trapped inside something.”
Both of them examined the odd purple wall that surrounded him.
“What the hell is that thing?”
“I don’t know. It looks like a… purple… transparent… something? I really don't know. I guess whatever it is is blocking him in since he isn't making any attempt to leave it.”
“I guess, I mean..." Grinch started, but stopped as he looked over a little ways to the front door. "Huh? Truck; look up next to that house. Far right side. What does that look like to you?”
Truck turned to look at the right side of the house to see what appeared to be some sort of farm animal walking around the house.
“Uh… it looks like a horse.”
“Why is it all colorful? Hell, it looks pink!”
“I don’t know, who gives a shit? Jesus, do you see any PEOPLE around him?”
Grinch scanned the top of the hill, only to find another colorful horse, this one purple, standing next to the strange shield around Sandman. The pink one before disappeared around the opposite side of the house.
“No, just another colored horse.”
“Then let’s go. I’m pretty sure we can take on a couple of horses.”
"Who the fuck dyes horses pink and purple?" Grinch muttered under his breath.
Quietly, Truck and Grinch slowly made their way up to the top of the hill, using anything they could find for cover. They soon found themselves up against the house. Slowly making their way around, they finally got to the side of the building Sandman was on.
“That’s Sandman all right… let’s go!”
They both turned the corner, guns at the ready, only to find the purple horse standing there. It quickly turned its head towards them, letting out a high pitched scream that startled the two soldiers.
“THERES MORE OF YOU?!” It yelled out at them.
Since Truck and Grinch broke Twilight’s concentration, the shield surrounding Sandman went down long enough to allow Sandman to escape.
“Wait, what!?” Grinch yelled out in surprise, aiming his weapon towards the horse. “Did that thing just talk!?”
Out of nowhere, Sandman sprinted towards Twilight and pistol-whipped her over her horn, making her let out a loud shriek, but also knocking her unconscious.
“Boss, what the hell just happened? That freaking thing just screamed at us!” Grinch shouted, complete confusion written all over his face.
“I don’t know, I will explain later. Right now we need to go, NOW!”
“Twilight? What’s going on out there!?”
Around the corner stepped out Fluttershy. Her eyes went wide when she saw not only one, but three monsters standing next to Twilight, who was lying on the ground motionless.
“Oh… my…” Fluttershy whispered out, only to then fall to the ground in a dead faint.
“What the hell is going on here?!” Truck shouted, just as confused as Grinch.
“Forget about it, I will tell you later! Head for the woods!” Sandman shouted.
Following their CO’s orders, Truck and Grinch followed Sandman back into the woods. The three of them ran for about ten minutes before Sandman stopped to catch his breath. After a few moments, Grinch broke the silence.
“Mind telling us what the hell happened back there?” Grinch asked.
“I’m not exactly sure what happened myself, but… I don’t even know. I woke up out in the middle of the woods…”
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“Twilight? Twilight! Wake up! The Princess is here!”
Twilight slowly opened her eyes. She was inside Fluttershy’s cottage on the couch. Pinkie and Rarity were standing next to her, while Fluttershy led Princess Celestia into the room. Her head was still throbbing from her being struck, but she managed to get off of the couch and stand.
“Oh Twilight, you’re okay!” Fluttershy blurted out. “When I saw you lying on the ground, I… I didn’t know what to think! I thought that they had…”
“It’s ok, I’m fine Fluttershy. I just have an absolutely terrible headache though.” Twilight said while clutching her head.
“Well it’s good to hear that you’re not hurt.”
Everyone turned around to face the Princess who was standing right behind them. Most had forgotten that she was even present in the room.
“So, my student, what exactly happened? The letter you sent me sounded urgent, but vague. I can see now that it must have been much more urgent than I had previously assumed." She said as she sat down next the huddled group of ponies. "Oh, and out of curiosity, where is Applejack and Rainbow Dash? I had imagined that they would present as well.”
“They’re at the hospital, Princess. That… thing… did something to Rainbow and Applejack stayed with her there.” Rarity said, a hint of anger in her voice.
“Oh dear, what happened to her? And what exactly was this ‘thing’ you’re referring to?”
“We don’t know, we had never seen something like it before. It used some sort of… metal thing… I don’t know how to describe it. All I know is that it made a really loud noise and it... I don't know... the next thing we saw was... was Rainbow on the ground bleeding.” Twilight said, her ears folding down on her head.
“What did this... 'thing' look like?”
“I guess you could say it looked like a pony if it were standing up on two hoofs. It was wearing some sort of tan clothing with a helmet of sorts as well, but it got knocked off when rainbow attacked it.”
“Do you have it?”
“No, but it might still be out there in the grass.”
“OHH! I will go look for it!” Pinkie yelled out and instantly dashed out the door, her cheery attitude having returned.
“Um… ok well, as I was saying…”
“FOUND IT!” Pinkie announced as she bounced back inside the room with the helmet clutched in her mouth.
“What? But you just… ugh, never mind.” Twilight mumbled to herself.
Pinkie set the helmet down on the living room table for everyone to see. Each studied it in a different way. Twilight looked at it with a keen eye, studying it and trying to remember every detail about it. Rarity sat there and ranted on about how unfashionable it was, pointing out millions of flaws in its design. Fluttershy tried to avoid looking at it, for it brought back memories of the events that transpired earlier that morning. As for Pinkie, well, she really wasn’t paying much attention to it at all. She kept going on about one thing or another. Princess Celestia looked at it for a while, picking it up with her magic and turning it over to look at the inside. As she examined it, a small picture fluttered out of it, landing face down on the table. The Princess picked it up with her magic and examined it. Her eyes went wide and she quickly flipped it back on the table face down.
“What is it Princess?” Twilight asked.
“Its... something I didn't think I would ever see again.” She announced as she tapped the table with a hoof. "Tell me, do you know where the human went?"
“What’s a human?” Pinkie asked.
Celestia paused for a moment, not answering.
"Nothing that I want you to be concerned with."
“Awww... but it sounds really REALLY interesting!”
"Is that what that creature is called? Human?" Twlight asked. "I don't think I have ever heard of something called that..."
The Princess sighed.
"It matters little. However, you must tell me. Do you know where it went?"
The group could obviously see she was withholding information and dodging their questions.
“Princess, please... what’s going on?" Twlight asked, a sense of fear in her words. "Those things hurt Rainbow! We need to go stop them before one of them does something bad! That also means we need to…”
“Wait, one of them? Are you saying that there were more of them?!” The Princess blurted out, a sense of urgency in every word.
“Um, yes. There were three actually. We had trapped one of them inside a shield, but two others came and scared me. He got out and hit me over the head. I don’t remember anything after that.” Twilight said.
“Princess, please…”
Princess Celestia turned to see Fluttershy standing next to her, tears forming in her eyes.
“They hurt Rainbow, almost killed her. I don’t want that to happen to anypony else! Who knows what they could do? Please Princess! We need to know everything we can about them so we can stop them from doing something bad! You must know something!”
Fluttershy burst out into tears and fell to the floor at the Princess’s feet. Pinkie and Rarity both went over to comfort her, sitting down next to her. The Princess sighed in defeat.
“Yes, they are called humans...” she said with another sigh. "...and they are extremely dangerous."
Everyone looked at the Princess, intently waiting for more information.
“They have been around for a very long time, even before me and my sister were born."
"So, they are some ancient race?" Twlight questoned. The Princess merely shook her head.
"I cannot say. Not much is known about them because they hardly are, or ever were, seen in Equestria, or on this planet for that matter.”
“So, they’re ALIENS!” Pinkie shouted out, quickly running over to the window scanning the skies for any UFO’s that could be lurking around. Celestia gave out a small chuckle.
“In a way, yes, they are aliens. They live on a planet much like ours, except that theirs is plagued by war, famine, and poverty. Sometimes, they are able to come to our world by circumstances of which I cannot fully explain nor understand. The last time a human was seen in Equestria was around four hundred years ago.”
“Then... what are these 'humans' doing here now?” Rarity asked.
“I do not know. I have reread all the articles and scrolls that gave information on humans from my personal library countless times. Most gave little information, but one I found shed new light on their kind and their purpose.”
“Well, what did it say?” Twilight prodded.
“I believe that it would be easier to explain if I started from a different direction. I am certain that you are all well aware that there are Six Elements of Harmony; Rarity being Generosity, Pinkie being Laughter, Fluttershy being Kindness, Rainbow Dash being Loyalty, Applejack being Honesty, and Twilight being Magic.”
All nodded their head in agreement at the pointless question.
“Well… there are more than six… a lot more than six.”
Everypony in the room stared at the Princess in disbelief, complete silence filling the room. It was Twilight who broke the ice.
“Well, how many are there?” Twilight asked.
Everyone turned back to Celestia, waiting on an answer. After what seemed to be ages, she finally opened her mouth to give an answer.
“Five hundred… at least…”