//------------------------------// // Last Choice // Story: Assignment: Equestria // by Naxanz //------------------------------// Nick stepped back into the party room and looked around. Everypony was still standing there either staring or talking quietly. “What’s wrong?” asked somepony stepping out from the crowd, “Is there a problem? Did something happen? I’ve never seen Spike that serious before.” “Come on Nick, you’ve got to think of something fast!” thought Nick trying to act normal. The message said not to tell anybody about the attack, and Twilight was still in the other room writing back to her brother saying that she has no idea what the unknown force could be. “Umm…uh…Well, you see…Spike…he uh…ran out of ice cream. Yeah, that’s it! Spike ran out of ice cream and wanted Twilight to buy him more.” “What the freak was that!? That was most likely the stupidest excuse I’ve ever come up with!” thought Nick with disgust, “Dragons probably don’t even eat ice cream.” Rainbow Dash suddenly burst out laughing, “I knew Spike liked ice cream, but I had no idea that he liked it that much!” “Whoa, it actually worked!” “But what did Twilight need you for?” asked Rarity stepping forwards. “She wanted…uh…to know if I had ice cream from where I came from,” replied Nick trying to sound as believable as possible. By now everypony was smiling with relief. “Well do ya?” questioned Applejack with a smile. “Yep,” answered Nick. Soon the party started again and everyone was having a good time. Nick realized that Twilight and Spike never returned to the party. He figured that they must have gone home. The party continued for a few more hours before it finally ended leaving everybody exhausted. Nick tried to find his way back to Twilight’s house in the dark but ended up getting lost in the pony village. “This is just great,” thought Nick sarcastically as he walked. “W-what are you doing all the way out here?” asked a familiar voice. Nick turned around to see Fluttershy standing behind him. “Oh, hey Fluttershy, I was just walking back to Twilight’s house and kind of got lost. I’m still don’t know the way around this town very well yet.” Nick was surprised Fluttershy was talking to him; she appeared to be scared to back at the party. “Well, it’s that way,” pointed Fluttershy uneasily. She still seemed really shy, but at least she was speaking to him. “Thanks Fluttershy, looks like I’ve been walking in the wrong direction.” “You’re welcome…” With that the two of them parted on their separate ways. As Nick sauntered down the path his eyes wondered up to the starry night sky. The constellations were different here but he could still pick out a few star clusters he knew. Nick’s eyes suddenly stopped over a certain stop in the sky. If he wasn’t mistaken he believed that he was looking at the Milky Way. Nick broke eye contact with the twinkling wonder when he finally approached Twilight’s house. As he stepped inside he noticed that books were scattered all over the library. Twilight was sitting at a desk flipping through one frantically. “Ugh! I can’t find out anything about strange creatures or strange magic either!” she sighed in frustration. “Maybe we should try some history books Twilight. We’ve just been reading books about other creatures so far. Maybe they were in our past at some point; and if they were then it may tell us how to defeat them! Whoever they are…” proposed Spike thoughtfully. “That’s a good idea Spike! Go find some Equestrian history books.” As Spike ran into another room Nick walked up to Twilight, “What are you doing?” Twilight jumped at the sudden sound of Nick’s voice. “Oh, hey Nick, I didn’t realize that you came in,” Twilight said as she turned around. “Are you trying to figure out what the strange creatures are?” asked Nick as he scanned the cluttered room. “Yeah, but with no success. Whatever those creatures are they are alien to me.” The way Twilight said “alien” made Nick reconsider if this force could actually be the humans. He highly doubted it but there still was a chance. “Well, I’m going to bed see you in the morning Twilight,” said Nick yawning. “Ok, goodnight Nick,” replied Twilight as he began moving towards the guest room. Right before Nick opened the door to the guest room Spike ran back in holding three big books. “I got the History of Equestria volume one, two, and three!” the little dragon said excitedly as he set the books down in front of Twilight. Before Nick could hear Twilight’s reply he stepped into the guest room and shut the door behind him. The room was dark except for the dim light of a few stray moon rays seeping through the bedroom window. Nick walked over to the bed and sat on it. He pulled his PC (pocket computer) off of his belt and stared at it. It was around the size of a 21st century I-phone, but it had about a thousand times more capabilities and was about a hundred times more powerful. “How long before communications with the Atropos are reassembled?” asked Nick quietly. The touch screen of the computer lit up with a faint blue light. “In approximately ten hours thirty-four minutes and eighteen seconds…” stated the computer’s female voice, “…seventeen seconds, sixteen second, fifteen seconds…” On the computer’s screen was nothing but the white numbers of the countdown. Nick watched the seconds slowly tick away for awhile before cursing under his breath. “Is there a problem Nick?” inquired the PC. “No…” replied Nick softly before putting the PC on standby mode. He hooked it back onto his belt and then set his laser pistol on the nightstand. Ten hours seemed to be a long time for Nick. If the attackers really were the humans then every second mattered. Nick knew how powerful the human race was, and he also knew the outcome of what would happen if there ever was a war between another alien civilization and them. Then Nick thought about how great it was here and how nice all of the ponies were. He also remembered the human’s policy of never attacking an alien civilization unless attacked by them first. “There is no way it’s us,” Nick thought before falling asleep. --Meanwhile in the Canterlot War Room-- Shining Armor paced the war room waiting for Twilight’s reply to his message. He had sent her that message around 8:00 P.M and it was almost 10:30 now! Suddenly a scout burst in through the door. “Sir, no matter how hard we try we cannot retake the city!” gasped the scout out of breath. “Don’t worry; I’m waiting for a reply from my sister Twilight. She may be able to tell us what these creatures are. And if we know what they are then we will have a lot better chance of defeating them,” said Shining Armor stopping to face the scout. At that very moment the magical smoke of a message blew in through a window and formed into a scroll which landed right in front of Shining Armor. Using his magic Shining Armor picked up the scroll and read it: Dear Shining Armor, After a few hours of research I’ve found nothing about strange creatures. I wish I could help you but I have no idea what they could possibly be. If there is any other way I can help you please tell me. Love, Twilight “Damn it,” cursed Shining Armor while setting the scroll on the table. “What’s wrong dear?” asked Cadence striding into the war room. “It’s Twilight. She has no idea what these creatures are either.” “What are we going to do?” questioned Cadence while looking back a forth between the scout and Shining Armor. “The only thing that we can do,” said Shining Armor with a grimace. “And that is?” inquired the Cadence. “Gather up the Royal Army,” said Shining Armor to the scout, “I didn’t want it to end up this way but we may have a war on our hoofs…”