CHAPTER I
The burning sun was making their advancement harder. It had been a long journey from the Crystal Empire and with each step, the company of Equestria's soldiers began to grow more and more fatigued both in mind and body. Ever since they left their main convoy in Appleloosa, the pony advancement had been marked with heat exhaustion for some of the younger, more inexperienced soldiers while the veterans only pondered the necessity of this mission. A few jokes were cracked about Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, as well as the newest princess being Shining Armor's sister. They figured they were on a mission to simply check up on their friends.
The details that had been relayed to them were ripe with plot holes, however. Most of the younger soldiers were unaware of the strange happenings that had befallen an isolated village in the San Palomino Desert, a place where a little known pony named Starlight Glimmer once ruled. They were also kept in the dark about Princess Twilight Sparkle's bout with losing her cutie mark there, as well as the rest of her friends. Still, a few things were clear to them. Within the past few weeks, Princess Celestia had received letters from this area of Equestria, reporting a few strange happenings. It all started rather trivial with a few things going missing, mainly food from markets or other merchandise from stores. It evolved into strange noises at night and reports of mysterious shadows zipping through the streets but no ponies attached to them. Before long, it reached new heights when three of the village ponies went missing and had remained missing for nearly two weeks. After the last pony went missing, the letters stopped coming to Princess Celestia altogether. Unable to communicate with the village, Shining Armor agreed the best option was to dispatch a company of men to recon the village and assist where needed. To them, this was a simple goodwill mission.
For one land pony, it was miserable days like this that made him regret joining the Equestrian Army as his heavy armor didn't make the scorching sun any friendlier. He had sympathy for a baked potato wrapped in aluminum foil. Private Bishop was his name and now he could only think of his mother to help pass the time.
His sergeant suddenly approached him from behind and snapped: "You see anything, Bishop?"
Bishop gave a quick glance to his left and right, only to see the empty barren vastness of the desert through the sweat dripping over his eyes. He shook his head. "Not a thing, sarge."
Sergeant Hackney nodded. "Yeah I'm coming up empty here, too. I hate political missions. Well, keep your eyes peeled."
"Roger." Bishop complied and kept looking.
When his sergeant left again, Bishop looked forward and saw his company of ponies marching in formation with the officers leading the pack. Some were land ponies, others were unicorns that possessed magic. Of course he wasn't keeping a watchful eye. There was nothing to watch. Instead, he once again asked himself if he had made the right decision to join. He wondered if he had misread his cutie mark when he got it all those years ago, which consisted of a knight's helmet. Maybe he should've listened to his family and friends and pursue his obvious talent in chess.
Something did catch his eyes ahead. It began to rise out of the sand ahead. The mountains ahead were the last barrier between them and reaching the village. Still, they had an yet another uphill march as the formation began to ascend the rocky trail and wind around the massive rock formations. A few more ponies fell back from the exhaustion and heat and they were ready for this mission to be over. Private Bishop was one of the stronger ones and approached the top with his sergeant, Hackney.
As the two soldiers neared the top, three officers were already there staring out at the valley below where the village rested. When they stood next to their officers, it was their expressions that hijacked their attention away from the valley. They saw the officers's jaws unhinged in silent screams with pallid expressions of deep horror.
Bishop and Hackney turned to look down the mountain and they quickly mimicked their leaders's faces. They stared down into the valley at an endless field of flat golden sand in the desert but no village stood on its ground. The desert continued to stretch beyond the horizon with no signs of life or even evidence of disturbance. It was as if they were pioneers discovering a new world undiscovered since the beginning of time, but they were at the location of the village. The village had simply disappeared. The officers looked for evidence from their vantage point but found nothing. There was no sign of a struggle or a fight in this location as the flat land and undisturbed soil reflected to them.
The officers ordered the troops to descend the mountain and investigate. The lower ranking leaders began to trot down the paths and they entered the flat, wasteland where they were expecting to meet the villagers. Slow to move, the troops's hooves sliced shallow trenches in the golden sand as it baked under the sun. No sooner did they enter the area the village, some of the more hardened leaders including Hackney noticed something strange. Everything here was void of life of any kid. Even the birds flying above had darted and disappeared and even the wind itself had died down. Not even a single tumbleweed blew through the area. The uncomfortable silence made them cringe as they slowly continued further into the village limits. As they trotted further into the open, the wind began to slowly pick up again.
Private Bishop was clearly worried about the absence of life. It was a strange kind of quiet. It wasn't a tranquil one that would gently usher a pony off to sleep in their comfortable bed on a silent, harmonious night. It had a gelid bitterness to it, like the calm before a storm on a hot summer day when the temperature would drop before the rain would start. The chill that ran through Bishop's body made him quiver as he took another step.
He nearly shrieked when his hoof split something under the sand, creating a crack that echoed in the valley. Hackney approached the young pony and looked at the item, a piece of it unearthed by Bishop. Using his own magic, he levitated the item and let the sand fall from it and the artifact became clear. It was a wooden sign that once dangled above the front of a store as the rusted hinges showed. The faded image of a muffin was carved on the sign with the faded letters reading the business's name.
Sugar Belle's Bakery
As the rest of the company of soldiers entered the valley, the gentle breeze picked up speed until suddenly, a blast of hot air kicked up the sand and converted it into dark golden curtains that swirled around the company and created a tornado effect that kept them within its funnel. Bishop and Hackney stayed flank to flank.
"Don't worry, Bishop. It's just a sandstorm. We'll wait for it to die down then we-" he started.
A swift but distinct zip flew past Bishop's head, followed by another crack. A sudden jet of liquid splashed across Bishop's armor and mane, making him think it was beginning to rain. He took his hoof and wiped it away but when he saw the streaks of red on his hoof, he felt Hackney slump over to the ground. Bishop turned his head and saw his sergeant on the ground, a hole in one side of his head and a river of blood freely flowing out.
"PONY DOWN...!" He instinctively shouted.
The only response he was met with was another zip, followed by a second crack. A second pony fell. A third zip, crack, and collapse. By the time it happened a fourth time, the company realized they were under attack. The unicorn ponies who possessed magic launched bright beams from their horns in every direction as the leaders tried to get control over the chaos as more pony soldiers fell. The land ponies possessing no magic reared their weapons but had no enemy to fight. The zips and cracks continued until they suddenly stopped, leaving about half the force alive as the sandstorm continued to howl.
As Bishop felt his knees quake, something new zipped past him. A shadow ran past him only reflected by the sand. A second and then a third. The pony army continued to shout and scream amidst the unknown terror as these shadows drove spears from the golden walls into them. As Bishop stood frozen and listened to the screams of his falling comrades, a shadow zipped past him again. He suddenly felt the intrusive split of a spear breaking his armor apart and entering his chest. Losing his balance, he fell to the sand and felt the blood run from his chest. Lying on the ground, he nearly forgot about his terminal wound when he saw another shadow pass by. He was able to see it more clearly that time. Whatever this new enemy was, they were running on two legs.
All Bishop could do was feel his eyes swell with tears as he listened to the slaughter of his comrades and their last words before their voices were silenced. Losing the feeling in his limbs and feeling cold in the heat, he slowly rested his head on the sand and looked straight at one of the shadows walking. It stood on two legs and had a round yet jagged body that seemed to shift and change shapes with a square head with spikes but all of this could've been an optical illusion created by either the sandstorm or blood loss or both. One thing Bishop did see clearly was the spear it held as it approached a dying pony.
"No, please don't do it! I have a foal and a mare at home! Please, I don't want to-"
The pleas were silenced when the weapon was driven downward into the pony, making his body go limp. The enemy creature ripped the spear out callously and in his blurring vision, Bishop saw another shadow enter his sight and stand next to the first one.
Bishop felt his heart pound faster when he heard them speak. It wasn't their language, but rather a series of clicks and chirps like insects in a field. They were conversing with each other as the two spoke together. Bishop watched one of the creatures raise its jagged, clawed arm and pointed. Bishop slowly shifted his eyes upward and saw another pony struggling from its wounds.
The creature with the spear approached the pony, the full picture still obscured by the blowing sand. Bishop heard the pony speak.
"Wha-what are you?!" He cried.
The creature stood above him, cocking his head to one side, until it spoke. It spoke their language in a high-pitched voice, still sounding like an insect. "We are the ones...the ones that your leaders have called a plague. We have come back...back...back."
"What do you want?!" The pony cried.
"...Everything."
Before the wounded pony could plea again, the spear was jammed home and the desert had turned eerily quiet with the exception of the howling sand. His vision fading to black, Bishop watched the two creatures stand in front of each other again and talked in their own language. Before he plummeted into darkness, he heard the creature utter something in their language. A name clear as day.
Twilight Sparkle.
With his eyelids closing, the last thing Bishop saw was a pair of brown, scaly feet with two long jagged clawed toes step into his vision and stand above him. Bishop closed his eyes and the darkness swallowed him.