//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Princess Sky Stormer // by Skymaster9929 //------------------------------// Day Two. Six AM. Everypony woke up, left their tents, and saw that Sky Stormer was still burning, though she'd stopped screaming a while ago. "Stupid mare." General Ripper said, and rolled his eyes. He blew his whistle, and his fireball disappeared, revealing a badly-burned and melted Sky Stormer whose body regenerated quickly. She felt weirdly empty. It was nice and warm, and she'd gotten used to the pain. "How are you still alive?" General Ripper asked. "Alicorns can't die." Sky said sadly. "Oh." General Ripper said, surprised. "Well, you're still not getting any time off!" "I don't know, but it's been said!" General Ripper shouted as he was carried on an incredibly heavy chair on sticks with curtains by his soldiers. Only Sky Stormer was struggling with the weight, the others were used to this kind of pain. "I don't know, but it's been said!" The crowd shouted, Sky joining in. They sounded awful togther, and the lack of melody or harmony hurt Sky's ears. She wished the military took singing as seriously as they took killing stuff. "I love killing enemies dead!" General Ripper roared. "I love killing enemies dead!" The well-trained crowd shouted. That didn't even make any sense. Did they mean killing them to death? Sky sat down to eat her plate of meat(?), alone. To her surprise, a cute yellow colt with a firetruck red mane and an Apple cutie mark sat down and smiled at her. "Howdy." He said. "You're an Apple? What are you doing in a place like this?" Sky asked. "Farmin aint fur me, so ah thought... ah've wrassled enough critters. May as well sign up!" He said in a manner this place considered cheerful. "Umm... great!" Sky said, understanding most of that. This Apple was already far nicer than the ones she'd heard about. "So... lemmy guess. They put you over here since fancy folks don't like it when ponies have stufd better than they do? So Ol' Celly thought she'd put you here, make ponies like you more, since you're sufferin like them? Except obviously, you're sufferin more. But they won't know that. Ah say... dumb fancy types don't know how much life sucks for soldiers. Training hurts. Being dumped and homeless when you're too old to kill stuff hurts. Getting hurt by enemies hurts. But what hurts most?" There was a very awkward silence, and then Sky noticed he was asking her a question. "Um... getting electrocuted by an electric squid monster?" "Na. That aint the worst thin tentacle monsters can do to ya. Ah say... ah say... it's how the ponies you fight to protect... don't even like ya." "Really?" "Eeyup. They think there aint no REAL monsters to fight, they think we waste tax money playing hoofball or somfun. They think we're the baaaaad guys. The enemy, the smarter ones - compared to the squids - know how to spin a yarn, so to speak. They do se do with the rich idiot's brain, and it don't come back home ever again. They take it to the barn, what happens there stays there, it never comes back out. Dumb ponies think there aint no monsters. They tell there kids there aint no monsters! But there are. We fight them, that's why they're safe. Why they haven't taken over. But the dumb ponies... they say we're too mean to the enemy! When we find them. They're plotting to kill us all, even the babies, even the cute critters, but... the dumb rich ponies say we're the real bad guys!" "...oh." Sky said quietly. "Kids look up at us, and they... scared of us. They believe what crazy dumb rich pony mommy and daddy say, about us being evil. The dumber ones write books where we're evil, and the heroes... fight us. Like we're the bad guys. But we're not! We're fighting and killing and dying and jumping into this doggone meat grinder with a smile. Not cause we crazy. Not cause we think we're Power Ponies. Them comics have sucked since season three anyway. We smile when we jump, cause we know... we gonna die, not our famlies. Not our friends. Not our dumb goveners, who'd die last anyway, complainin till they can't complain no more. We smile because we go in, trained soldiers, who accept the risk of dyin. And when we do die, we don't smile. We're angry, because it means we can't kill any more monsters. Every monster we kill is a monster that can't hurt anyone any more. Or ever again. We might not be able to kill the Mommy Monsters that spit out the easily-seen easily-fought monsters we fight. Or the mind-controlling monsters that hide in plain sight and turn your brothers against you, make your own family eat you alive. But we can kill them little monsters, kill them good, and make sure they can't hurt our friends, family, or home." "Wow." Sky said. She didn't have the heart to crush his dreams and repeat what Princess Celestia said about cells. Then again... she was a 'Fancy Pony', and this was a real soldier. What did she know about being a soldier? ...Oh, right, she was in charge of them. "I'm Sky Stormer. What's your name?" Sky asked. "Well, Ah'm Apple Core. And ah gotta say, out of all the princesses ah've mey - not that ah met much - yure my favorite." "Thank you!" Sky said happily. "And out of all the Earth Ponies I've met - I've met a few, but still - you're my favorite." "Hold up. Apple Ponies aint the same as Earth Ponies." Apple Core said. "We dont got wings, but that dont mean you've really got applesauce in yer blood. Not until you've harvested yer first apple, and grown up on a farm, knowing what farming and hard work is really like." "Oh. In that case, you are my favorite Apple pony." Sky said with a smile. "Thank yall." Apple Core said. "By the way... ah hope ya dont mind me askin, but... is it true what they say about Alicorns?" "What do you mean?" Sky asked. "Do you..." He leaned over, and whispered something in her ear. She blushed. "Um... promise me you won't laugh?" "Scout's honour." He said. "...yes." Sky said quietly. He laughed. "You said you wouldn't laugh!" Sky yelled angrily, feeling hurt and betrayed by one she thought she could trust. "Ah aint no dang scout!" Apple Core yelled. "Oh." Sky said. Now she just felt stupid. "I... I'm still getting used to it, and it's a real pain, so-" "I bet it is! Having one sucks, doesn't it?" "Yeah. Soooooo... What do you think of Princess Celestia?" Sky asked, fully expecting him to rant about how she was the worst dumb pony of the lot. "What, Ol' Celly? She's alright. Just a good mare trying to do some good. Just a shame she's got dumb ponies working for her. Just a shame she can't fire the bad ones and do everything herself. If she did that, there'd be too much work left for the good ones, and nothing would get done. Plus, she'd look evil, and dumb ponies just loooove saying Ol' Celly's evil. Do ya know what some ponies call her?" "What?" Sky asked. "Dollestia." Apple Core said. "Because they say she's a pretty little doll that don't do nothing. And we action figures, cause we do stuff. But ponies like dolls more, cause they're bigger and prettier. Easier to sell dolls to little colts and fillies, they aint as scary as real action figures like us. A pony runs around pretending she's a Power Pony fighting The Maneiac, or Batmare fighting The Joker, that's ok. But if she runs around pretending she's a soldier shooting monsters, ohhhhhhhh no. Suddenly, that's bad. Soldiers are big and scary. You have to train to be a soldier, and that's hard. But a super-ring might come from the sky and make you a superhero, so that's much nicer to think about. Soldiers fight monsters, but dumb ponies don't like admitting monsters exist. Superheroes fight robots and aliens, and that's much cooler. And nicer to think about, because you know it isn't real, like the real wars going on. Ponies these days... just aint raised right. Dont wanna work hard, dont wanna grow up, dont wanna do anything. And the music sucks apples. And the so-called grown ups? Worse. Dumber. Blaming all their problems and mistakes on the generation they raised. And making the awful music the dumber ponies like. I know we Apples will be together no matter what, but... Rest of this world's at each other's throats. And ah wann say to all of them... y'all dumb ponies need harmony." "Yeah..." Sky said sadly. "I'm from Cloudsdale, but I moved to Las Pegases. I grew up with these big, floppy, stupid wings, like bunny ears, and the other colts teased me for them relentlessly." Sky said, stretching her wings to show how big they were. "How fast do you fly with those things?" Apple Core asked. "I don't. I'm slow in the air, slow and clumsy and pathetic. I only get fast after TONS of flying in a straight line, and because they don't give medals in schools for the One Hundred Million Meter Fly, I never got to show how useful flight stamina is. And my body's so ugly and it isn't pretty at all, and no stallion would ever even talk to me." "I'm talking to you." Apple Core said, smiling. "Only because you're an actor hired by Princess Celestia to check if I'm nice to everypony." Sky said sadly. "Oh, great. Yer one of THOSE dumb ponies. 'Celestiati confirmed', right? Think everything good and bad that happens to ya is thanks to her?" "Huh? No, I just thought-" Sky said. "Thought no decent stallions exist? Thought dumb mares killed us all off or broke us all?" "NO!" Sky snapped. "I thought this was part of some Princess Test Princess Celestia's giving me. Are you telling me it's not?" "No. Does this mean you're gonna be a jerk now?" "No. I like you, and that's all there is to it. You're a good friend." "Dang right I'm just a friend. Sorry, I don't date mares that aren't cute little things." "Do you date cute big things?" "They don't exist." "I do." Sky said sadly. "Then whatever you are, you'll find a Prince to take your Princess butt out on a date." Apple Core said happily. "I don't like princes." "Then you'll find a princess." Apple Core said with a smile. "My granny told me to never judge anypony, even if they're weird." "OH. No, I... I don't... that isn't what I meant at all!" Sky said, suddenly wondering if ponies thought she meant... that... every time she said she didn't like princes. "I totally like stallions! Just not princes. I'd rather have a dashing, valiant, handsome king coming to take me to his kingdom and make me his queen." "Uh... kings are already married." Apple Core pointed out. "Princes aren't, and they need to be married so they can become kings. Like Princesses." "Oh. That's how it works? I thought Kings were the cool old guys, while princes are the younger ones." "You're young, too!" Apple Core pointed out. A massive cannonball slammed into the table next to her and exploded, hurting her ears and making a ringing sound as dust flew into the air. Sky dug her heels into the ground and blew the dust away with her wings, only to see... Monsters were in the sky with swollen jellyfish-like heads, pink with red splotchy marks in their centers, like stains. No eyes, or a face. And rather than tentacles, they had yellow pincers on their bases, a little like the claws of a bird, designed to hold its prey still while the mouth on the bottom ate it. Some were massive, the size of buildings, and others were as small as a normal-sized dog. They descended on the soldiers as they rushed into the tents to grab their swords and glowing magic weapons, Sky picked up a big red-glowing broadsword because it looked powerful, and battle began. Those floating pink things were faster than they looked, and some swooped down on the fighters while others held back, waiting. Most soldiers sliced through the monsters in midair, which worked, but the ones firing magic blasts with their weapons were wasting their time, magic just washed right off these things. The unlucky soldiers screamed as the monsters landed on their heads and sucked them in, claws twitching like chewing teeth as the ponies struggled and screamed, their heads getting digested and absorbed whole. Sky ran up to one and swung her sword at the monster, but it was too late, they flew off to digest their prey alone and more monsters came down to replace them. "Apple Core! What are these things?!" Sky shouted. "Meatroids! They eat meat!" Apple Core shouted, swinging his apple-shaped scimitar through a swooping Meatroid, ice magic freezing the body parts and shattering them into dust. "Why are they eating us?!" Sky asked. "We're ponies, dagnabbit! We're made of meat!" He yelled, jumping to the side to dodge another one swooping down. Sky started using powerful swipes of her wings to knock the Meatroids into walls and into each other, but all that did was make them angry. "How do you kill them?" Sky asked. General Ripper laughed as he rode on another pony and swung his chainsaw wildly at anything that got close, only getting kills thanks to the hard work of those working for him, his chainsaw glowing blue. "I am a Meatroid-killing master! I am telling this story TO EVERYONE I MEET AT PARTIES!" "Cut them in half, and freeze the parts! Or freeze them right off the bat! Lowering their body temperature is the only way to make sure they stay dead, and can't hurt anypony else!" Apple Core yelled. Sky got closer to him, and helped him by blowing monsters swooping at him onto the ground so he could slice them in half, and then she started swinging freezing air at the Meatroids by pulling down the air from the upper atmosphere with mighty downward swipes of her massive wings. More Meatroids came down, but... these were different. They were attached to the heads of angry-looking unwashed ponies and griffons, and they weren't eating them, they were controlling them. Some of them had even grown into the pony controlling them, making them look like oddly-shaped manes, hats, or heads. The controlled ponies and griffons landed and they charged towards Sky Stormer with incredible speed, instinct telling them the biggest Alicorn had the most meat. "They've got Turncoats!" Apple Core shouted. "Kill them, and you kill their victim, too!" Sky didn't want to hurt her fellow ponies, so she swung air down onto these 'Turncoats', crushing them with air pressure, so they couldn't move. The Griffons also got a free pass, finding themselves disabled nonlethally the same way. "What are you doing?!" General Ripper shouted, directing his tired pony to her. "I'm not a killer!" Sky shouted. "You won't be a killer if you stop these from killing you, or anypony else! These ponies and griffons stopped being ponies and griffons the second the monsters started controlling them!" Apple Core yelled as the Turncoats started to get back up, the monsters healing their wounds. "They're already dead inside, in their minds and hearts! It's just like putting a dying dog out of its misery!" "I don't want to do that, either!" Sky shouted. "Look around you!" General Ripper yelled, grabbing her head and pointing it at the soldiers the Meatroids were grabbing and carrying away, and the crowds of Turncoats beating up and choking her soldiers. "Do you want these monsters to kill us all? Do you want these monsters to get to Equestria, and start killing foals there?" "No!" Sky shouted, afraid. "Then kill these parasites!" General Ripper roared, pouncing on a Meatroid controlling a Griffon and stabbing his chainsaw into its head over and over and over as the Griffon attached to it screamed. "Kill them, kill them, kill them, kill them, KILL THEM!" "Sky, there's no other way! You have to do it!" Apple Core yelled as a Meatroid swooped down at him, and was taken out by a Unicorn sniper on a roof firing a magic icicle at it, letting him focus on the Meatroids and Turncoats that were getting closer and closer to him. Sky threw her head to the sky and screamed, stretching out her wings, and with a mighty downwards flap, she collapsed to the ground and brought down winter, a colossal blast of freezing air coming down onto them, clouds all over the world finding themselves pulled towards them, ponies all over the planet feeling the breeze. The magic restraint on her froze and cracked off, crumbling into dust, not that it mattered much, since she still had no idea how to use magic. For miles around, dust and dirt was frozen together. The landscape was permanently changed, the desert freezing over. Meatroids and Turncoats all around her were frozen alive, and she opened her eyes just in time to see them cracking apart, the monsters breaking first. The Turncoats that still had enough of their faces left to show emotion had one of three looks on their face. Hatred, pain, and... thankfulness. As if they knew she was going to save them from this, and for this last moment alive, they... they thanked her. "You d-d-d-did it, Sky!" Apple Core said happily, sitting on his flanks and rubbing himself to stay warm. "You deserve a medal, Princess." General Ripper said, taking off his sunglasses and showing his face, which showed genuine thanks. Numb and unfeeling, Sky Stormer fell to the ground, crying, as her wings covered her face. "...Okay, two medals." General Ripper said, surprised. Sky kept crying. "...Three medals?" General Ripper asked hopefully. Sky swung a wing out, blowing him back through the frozen tundra. "Always wanted to d-do that." Apple Core said happily. A cannonball with a lit fuse struck the ground beside them, cracking the icy ground. "Sky!" Apple Core screamed, diving on top of it to save her. Sky swung a wing down, blasting cold air at it, and the fuse went out. "Never do that again." Sky said angrily, tears still streaming down her face. She heard a cannon fire, and seeing the cannonball fly towards her in the misty cloud of ice, she swung her right wing, batting the cannonball away. It landed several miles away and exploded violently behind her. She flew towards the source of these cannonballs, and started to hear music. "Yyyyyeeeaaahhhh!" A stallion wearing a purple-glassed helmet and body-covering black armour with speakers on the back shouted as she sat on the captain's chair of the giant steampunk pirate ship covered in speakers floated in the air thanks to magic. "I think that one finally hit her!" The pony yelled. "Wait, hold on, I'm picking something up." He said as his helmet's glass zoomed in on a black dot in the ice clouds and told him her power level. His glass zoomed in more, and he saw the furious look on her face. An odd liquid leaked out of his suit, steaming when it hit the ship's mostly-frozen hull. Sky Stormer flew into the ship head-on and punched through it, cutting right through its magitech engine and sending the ship to the ground. The pony in the helmet looked around, not seeing her. And then she tackled him from the side, taking him away from the controls. "If you hadn't shot that cannonball, we would have seen those Meatroids coming!" Sky shouted angrily. "Don't kill me! Please don't!" "Why not?!" Sky asked, eyes tightening. "I'm already a murderer now, thanks to you." Sky Stormer growled and grabbed the pony with a hoof, flying up into the air and looking at the planet below, seeing Canterlot and flying down to it. "Princess Celestiaaaaaaaaaa!" Sky shouted, crashing through a stained-glass window pony-first, finding her and Princess Luna talking to a pony. "Guess who I found!" Princess Celestia recognized the helmet, and frowned as the blue-haired mare threw him to the floor in front of her. "So, did I pass your test? Tell me those ponies were fake, and so were the Meatroids." Sky said. "And I found this assassin, does this mean I get extra credit?" "Meatroids?" The pony Princess Celestia was talking to, Fancy Pants, asked in surprise. "They're a myth! They don't actually exist!" Too tired for this, Sky grabbed Princess Celestia and Fancy Pants with her hoofarms, and took her to the place where she'd frozen the world. Many Meatroid bodies were cracking and crumbling into chunks of pink and white ice, but more were only frozen into blocks, or had frost covering them. "Oh my. I... I had no idea!" Fancy Pants gasped. "Please, Sky, take me home!" I must fix this at once?" "What are you going to do, freeze the world? Fight the monsters?" Sky asked angrily. "No, I can't do that. But I can support those who can." Fancy Pants said, determination in his eyes. "Good. Make sure your rich pony friends see it the same way." Sky said, flying them back to Canterlot. "Princess Celestia, tell me... did those ponies really die?" "If they were attacked by Meatroids, then... yes." Princess Celestia said sadly. "I'm sorry, but not even revival magic can bring back ponies eaten by those. The test was to see if you could survive in that camp as a soldier. On day three, you would begin learning magic, and on day five, masked soldiers would be airdropped down, where they would sneak into the base and attack you. If they succesfully pinned you down and put their sword to your neck, you would fail the test and be stripped of your rank, as this test traditionally goes. Even if decapitation couldn't kill you. And if you failed to handle this training, you would fail the test." "What about General Ripper? And Apple Core? Are they actors?" Sky asked. "I assure you, the soldiers you met were real. And I'll see to it that the survivors are promoted and rewarded, and the fallen buried with full honours." "Then the families of those dead ponies-" Sky said. "They didn't have any. I suspected a jealous noblepony would try to have you killed, or the test sabotaged, and my suspicions were correct. And that weight, I didn't say anything about the heavy variant used for criminals. You were supposed to have a small metal ring on your horn to safely prevent magic, and your wings bound to safely prevent flight. Not some metal thing to make proper flight impossible and flight attempts painful... I suppose somepony along the way got paid off. I'll have T+I look into it." Princess Celestia said. Sky brought them back to Canterlot, putting them down in the palace. "Princess Sky... Why are you suddenly fast?" Fancy Pants asked. "When I ran a background check, my private investigator said you were slower than my wife. I struck- I mean, I had a sharp discussion with him over that, and he apologized." "That would be her Alicorn magic." Princess Celestia said. "Good to see it's coming in so quickly. And that trick with the air was clever, how did you know to do that?" "Flying at high altitudes is something I'm good at. I know how cold the air can get up there." Sky said. "Brilliant! A warrior and a scholar!" Fancy Pants said happily. "You have made a fine ally, today! Princess Celestia, about that-" "I'll see to it." Princess Celestia said, before turning to the terrified pony in armour. "I'll also see that this House Sonas pony will be properly punished." "Wait... Sonas? DJ-PON3's family?" Sky asked, surprised. "What is the purpose of that stage name when everypony knows it's Vinyl Scratch?" Fancy Pants wondered. "DJ sounds cooler." Sky said, eager to defend one of her favourite musicians. "And Princess... Did she do this?" "No, she was kicked from the house for sneaking off to raves as a child. This is the handiwork of her family, who never made real music. They took the failings of the music industry, and created a watered-down variant to be made quickly and shovelled into the mouths of gullible, tasteless consumers. Her amazing music made by her hooves is the reason why she's so famous, and why she has surpassed her family, who still frantically try to sit on my throne, unaware that Vinyl has made her own." "I love DJ-PON3." Sky said. "Her music! Her music is totally what I meant!" She added nervously. "Um..." Fancy Pants said, shocked. "Not that there's anything wrong with that! She's beautiful! Who doesn't have a crush on her?" Sky asked, wings unfurling as her horn started glowing. "UM..." Fancy Pants said, afraid. "Yes, well, I must be off. Be seeing you!" He said, running away. "Princess Celestia? Did I just mess up?" Sky asked, confused. Princess Celestia laughed. "No, my pony. You have done wonderfully, and the parade held to officially celebrate your official coronation will be next week." "Next week?" Sky asked. "Yes, you still have a few days of training at Magic Camp left. Good luck!" Princess Celestia said. "I... I'll make you proud, Princess Celestia!" Sky said happily. "Yes, you will." Princess Celestia said, smiling like a proud mother.