//------------------------------// // Chapter 73-We Will Rise // Story: Transformers: The Requiem // by JDPrime22 //------------------------------// Noctune watched as his world flew away. His world… The Alliance. Airships dotted the skies in hundreds, each and every one of them rising higher and higher above the skyscrapers that infested Vanhoover like ants to pile of spilled sweets. Many of them carried Spider Tanks, and many others were filled to the brim with the best soldiers the Alliance had to offer. With the extensive training from their Decepticon partners, the Alliance was now a force to be reckoned with. For the first time since Tirek’s return, Noctune’s army was being deployed for war. And he watched…from his lone office. Starscream arrived twenty minutes earlier that day, bringing with him news that filled the Alliance headquarters with a new vigor of life never before seen since the occupation. Shockwave gave the orders, and Noctune acknowledged them. The princesses and the Autobots were in Manehattan. Noctune leaned back into his big leather chair. He tapped his hooves together thoughtfully, his dull eyes staring out the window as more airships flew by. They carried devastating weapons. He closed his eyes and let the roaring of their engines take his mind away. It was all or nothing. They were going to finish what they started all along. The Autobots, the resistance, the princesses…they were trapped in a corner with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. They thought they had it all, that their sliver of hope was enough to outmatch the Decepticon and Alliance army. How foolish of them. They should’ve never revealed themselves. They should’ve stayed hidden like the rats they were, absorbing all the hatred they received from the ponies that once trusted them. A crushing defeat of the resistance would shatter all hope the slaves were beginning to feel, Noctune knew it. Nobody could save them now. Nobody. His world flew away from him, passed his clear window and into the heavily-clouded Vanhoover skylines. His Alliance flew away to war. And Noctune watched alone from his office. It was the last time he would ever be sitting in his office before he, as well, would be shipped to war to lead his forces. Noctune was no coward. He’d prove to the world that Celestia would be crushed by him and his army. Then…they would truly be free. The door slowly creaked open. Noctune sighed through his nose. “Sir…” Brimstone. Noctune didn’t even look back. “…It’s time to go, sir.” The lone standing unicorn watched from the open door as his leader slowly stood from his leather chair. He could see Noctune’s ears stand on end, the front portion of his body facing the large window at the end of the office. Brimstone lowered his head, his eyes closed. He breathed in… “Alright.” He breathed out. Noctune lifted up his head, his muzzle barely touching the glass. His breath fogged up the window every time he exhaled, a clear indication that he still lived, his heart still giving him life. The entire time, for a full minute, Noctune stared out the window and watched his forces exit Vanhoover, headed for the war to change the world…forever. “Nobody can save you now,” Noctune muttered quietly. His grey eyes shifted back and he exited his office for the very last time. Brimstone, of course, held the door open for his leader to walk by. Once Noctune had passed without even a glance to his second in command, Brimstone pressed his left hoof against the door, slowly letting it relax. He stopped. He turned back. He read the golden letters forever indented into the wall hanging over Noctune’s desk. Quietly to himself, he read, “The Alliance of Alien Activity. Changing the World Today, Ensuring the Safety of Our Future Tomorrow.” Brimstone sighed, letting his left hoof relax fully. The door began to close. “I don’t even know what that means anymore.” He shut the door, leaving the office without life. Not like it had any to begin with. Noctune looked back to make sure Brimstone was following. Once his second in command appeared in the hallway, straightening his vest and nodding only once, Noctune nodded back and continued down the dark hall. His eyes caught something as he turned his forward. His flank. His bare flank. Images of the past instantly flooded through his vision, obscuring it, infecting it. Foals, his false friends, calling him names that tore apart his young mind. “Blank flank” they would scream, rocks they would throw, fights they would enact just for the joy of seeing somepony who didn’t have a destiny. Back in his hometown of Manehattan, that’s where he realized he had no destiny that would be granted to him by whichever supernatural force was out there, granting selfish ponies with their future while he remained bare, frozen in time. Back in his hometown of Manehattan, Noctune grew up without a destiny, and yet he still moved on. He was headed there now…back home. Manehattan. It was where he met his marefriend before taking her to Canterlot. Manehattan. It was where his brothers took care of him until they worked themselves to the bone. Manehattan. It was where his father murdered his mother, only to kill himself in the end. Manehattan. It would be burned to the ground. Manehattan He didn’t mind that his destiny was forgotten long ago. That only meant that he commanded his destiny, as all ponies should and not have to rely on the falsehoods of the princesses. He commanded his world, his life, and his power. He’ll command Celestia’s world to burn with one, simple order… Kill them all.