//------------------------------// // chapter 5 the red weed // Story: War of the worlds. // by Shadow-Aura //------------------------------// *The next morning Everfree forest* The next day, the dawn was a brilliant fiery red and I wandered through the weird and lurid landscape of another planet for the vegetation which gives Mars its red appearance had taken root on Equestria. As ponykind had succumbed to the Martians. Now, our land now has succumbed to this red weed. Wherever there was a stream the red weed clung and grew with a frightening voraciousness. It's claw-like fronds choking the movement of the water and then it starts to creep like a slimy red animal across the land covering field and ditch and tree and hedgerow with living scarlet feelers, crawling, crawling... I suddenly noticed the body of the princess lying on the ground in a ruined castle. I felt unable to leave her to the mercy of the red weed and decided to bury her decently. "Celstiaaaa," I heard somepony shout "Celestiaaaaaa!" The princess's eye's flickered open. She was alive. "Celestia are you alright," A blue alicorn asked. I realised it was princess Luna, "I saw our old castle burst into flames." "Don't touch me!" Celestia hissed at Luna. "But it's me, Luna," Luna said in shock "Your sister." "No your one of them," Celestia shouted "You're a changeling." "She's delirious," Luna said to me as I stood in awe. "LIES," Celestia shouted "I saw Chrysalis's sign." "What did you see?" I asked intrigued. "The green flash in the sky her minions were here all along. In our homes and towns just waiting for a sign from him. Now they are destroying Equestria." Celestia explained. "But they are not changelings," Luna countered "They are Martians." "We must leave here," I said. Luna nodded in agreement. "Look, a house still standing," She said pointing to Fluttershy's cottage. We took shelter in the cottage and black smoke spread hemming us in. Then a fighting machine came across the fields spraying jets of steam that turned the black smoke into thick black dust. "Dear Faust, Help Us!" Luna pleaded. "ULLA!" For some reason, this made Celestia angry. "The voice of the invaders are heard in our lands," She said. "Listen do you hear them drawing near in their search for the sinners. Feeding on the power of our love and the friendship within us. The incarnation of Discord's creation of all that we dread. When the demons arrived those alive would be better off dead!!" Celestia sang. "There must be something worth living for. There must be something worth trying for. Even something worth dying for. And if one mare can stand tall there must be hope for us all. Somewhere, somewhere in the spirit of Faust." "Once there was a time when I believed without hesitation! That the power of harmony could conquer all in the name off salvation! Tell me what kind of weapon is harmony when it comes to the fight!. And just how much protection is truth against all Sombra's might!" "There must be something worth living for. There must be something worth trying for. Even something worth dying for. And if one mare can stand tall there must be hope for us all. Somewhere, somewhere in the spirit of Faust...." "Ponies loved and trusted you," Luna sobbed "They would come to you for help." "Didn't I warn them that this would happen? Be on guard! I said... For the evil will never rest I said exorcise the Changelings! But no, they wouldn't listen, the demons inside our homes grew and grew. Until Chrysalis gives her signal and destroyed the World we knew!!" "No Tia!, oh no Tia! No Tia no, there must be more to life. There has to be a way that we can restore to life. The harmony we used to know. No Tia No, there must be more to life. There has to be a way that we can restore to life. The light that we have lost" "Now darkness has descended on our land and all your prays can not save us. Like foals, we let the Discord take command of the souls that Faust gave us! To the altar of evil like lambs to the slaughter, we're led. When the demons arrive the survivors envy the dead." "There must be something worth living for!" "No! there is nothing!" "There must be something worth trying for!" "I don't believe it's so!" "Even something worth dying for. And if one mare can stand tall there must be hope for us all. Somewhere, somewhere in the spirit of Faust.... "Forget about goodness and mercy - there gone! Didn't I warn them! Pray, I said! Destroy the chaos I said! They wouldn't listen! I could have saved Equestria! But now it's too late, TOO LATE!! "No Tia!, oh no Tia! No Tia no, there must be more to life. There has to be a way that we can restore to life. The harmony we used to know. No Tia No, there must be more to life. There has to be a way that we can restore to life. The light that we have lost" There was an almighty crash as the roof caved in. It was another cylinder. "Dear Faust! A cylinder's landed on the house! And we underneath it - in the pit!" Celestia quivered in fright. The Martians spent the night making a new machine. It was a squat metallic spider with huge articulated claws. But it too had a hood which a Martian sat. I watched it pursuing some ponies across the field. It caught them nimbly and tossed them into a great metal basket upon his back. "Luna!" Celestia screamed "She's dead! buried under the rubble. Why!! Why did you take one of your own?" "There is a curse of ponykind. We may as well be resigned To let the Discord take the spirit of Faust... As time passed in our dark and dusty prison Celestia wrestled endlessly with her doubts. Her outcries invited dead for us both and yet I pitied her. Then on the ninth day of the invasion we saw the Martians eating. Inside the hood of their new machine. They were draining the fresh living blood of mares and stallions and injecting it in their own veins. "AAAAAGGHH!!! It's a sign! I've been given a sign! They must be cast out and I have been chosen to do it!" Celestia screamed "I must confront them now!" "No Celestia no!" I warned. "Those machines are just changelings in another form! I shall destroy them with the elements! I will burn them with magic! I shall....." Before she could finish I knocked her out. I saw the curious eye of a Martian appeared at the window slit and a menacing claw explored the room. I dragged Celestia down to the coal-cellar. I heard the Martian fumbling at the latch In the darkness I could see the claw touching things walls, coal, wood, and then it touch my boot! I almost shouted! For a time was still and then, with a "click" it gripped something, Celestia! With slow, deliberated movements her unconscious body was dragged away... And there was nothing I could do to prevent it. After a while, I crept to the blocked window slit and peered through. The Martians and all their machines where gone, trembling I dug my way out and clambered to the top of the mound. Not a Martian in sight. The day seemed dazzling bright after my imprisonment and the sky a glowing blue. Red weed covered every scrap of ground, but a gentle breeze kept it swaying and oh...! The sweetness of the air!