Ten Carriage Guns

by Radon18

Reprise

Ten Carriage Guns

Chapter1

(Reminder that I own nothing!)

‘Thought’

“Dialogue”

“Words in a foreign language.”

***

(Three Weeks Ago)

It was delightfully quiet in the library this morning, and Twilight had taken advantage of some rare, unscheduled reading time. She cringed as another wave of pain shot down her horn. With a frustrated growl, she placed aside her book, 101 Interesting Facts About Jam. She had been getting the odd pains ever so often for the past hour, and it was driving her batty. She pulled herself to her hooves and tried to shake off the sensation, but it was stubborn and wouldn't relinquish its hold. "Spike!?" she called to her young, draconic assistant.

"Need something, Twilight?" asked the boyish voice of Spike from where he peeked around the top of the stairs.

"Could you please bring me the aspirin from the medicine cabinet? I have a terrible headache," Twilight moaned, pressing a hoof to her horn in a vain attempt to ease its pain.

"Sure thing, Twilight." Spike scampered back up the stairs and returned a few moments later with a glass of water and a couple of white capsules.

"Thanks, Spike." Twilight took the capsules with her magic and popped them into her mouth, quickly followed by the water from the glass. Twilight sighed, already feeling a little better; just the anticipation of relief was enough to take the edge off.

With the pain slowly draining from her horn, Twilight returned to her favorite reading spot. An odd flash of blue caught her attention from outside, and she quickly turned to look out the window. She strained her eyes, trying to find anything out of the ordinary in the afternoon sun, but it all just looked… normal. With a shrug, she turned back around to return to her reading. As she turned the page, another bright flash of blue had her gritting her teeth.

'Where is that coming from!?' Twilight seethed. ‘Probably Rainbow Dash again.’

With a flash of magic, she was standing outside, looking for the pony responsible for the interruption. The day was sunny, and there wasn't a potential prankster in sight. Another flash assaulted her eyes, and she finally looked up to see... Rainbow Dash messing with a storm cloud.

With a roll of her eyes, Twilight spread her wings and took to the air, quickly coming to a halt next to the Element of Loyalty, who was taking careful aim, placing the fluffy, dark cloud over a target painted on the ground below. "Rainbow Dash, what exactly are you doing?" Twilight asked, the strain in her voice only slightly obvious.

"Hey, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said while delicately arranging the storm cloud. "Just a little target practice." With a swift buck, lightning arched from the little cloud and carved a divot out of the earth below. Unfortunately, it was nowhere near the target.

Twilight just gave Rainbow a flat look. "Do you have to do that right outside my window?"

"Oh… sorry." Rainbow at least had the decency to look sheepish.

"Anyway, why are you trying to hit a target for? The last time I read The Weatherponies’ Almanac, it didn’t mention needing to be able to hit something." Twilight stared curiously down at the blackened grass as she floated next to Rainbow.

"Oh, it's this awesome old pegasus sport I heard about. They called it ‘striking.’ There was also something about it keeping your skills sharp... or something like that," Rainbow Dash said while wringing out the little cloud to make a comfortable spot for the two mares to sit.

Twilight nodded. "Striking is an old pegasus tournament game, like jousting," Twilight supplied, the chance to distract herself from her headache with a lecture too good to pass up. "It was primarily used to keep pegasus lightning squads in practice between campaigns."

Twilight was about to launch into the next part of her lecture on ancient pegasi culture when her head split open... or at least that was what it felt like. Her vision started to narrow and dim, and she grabbed her temples, not daring to touch her horn. Twilight writhed in pain on the cloud. She could hear Rainbow Dash shouting at her from what sounded like a long distance away, but the agony prevented her from forming a coherent response.

In her tossing and turning, Twilight rolled over onto her back. The sky was in plain sight... and so were the burning trails of meteors streaking through the atmosphere. The pain in her skull diminished and was replaced with a loud humming that changed in pitch and volume every few seconds. It still didn't do any favors for her headache, but at least she could function again. Twilight was just about to flip herself back onto her hooves when the debris started to fall faster and faster, filling the sky with blazing smoke trails. The meteors began slamming the ground, most of them impacting a great distance away.

"Twilight, are you okay!?" Twilight suddenly realized Rainbow Dash was yelling right in her face, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the streaks of flames. "Twilight? Twilight, answer me!"

***

(Present Day)

“Twilight?”

"Twilight, you alright?"

Twilight shook her head slightly. She recognized that Rainbow's voice was filled with concern, but ‘alright’ probably wasn't something she would be for a while. She raised her eyes to look at her two friends - they were really there. "Sorry… was just lost in thought," Twilight mumbled, slowly turning the cup of soothing tea in her hooves.

"We understand, darling. A lot of ponies get that look nowadays," Rarity replied, placing a comforting hoof on Twilight's shoulder.

"So… where are the others?" Twilight ventured. She already knew they were at least alive, she had gotten that out of the way as soon as she had the chance to ask. Now she was clean, her books were back in order, and the windows had been boarded up. All in all, she was feeling much better than she had when she had dragged herself and Spike into town the day before. But she would still worry about her friends until she saw them all face to face.

"They took off to make sure their families were okay," Rainbow Dash said from the cloud cushion she had retrieved. "Rarity's folks live in town, and I was able to head to Cloudsdale in a flash to check up on my mom, so we volunteered to stay in town to wait for you."

"Fluttershy is in the hospital," Rarity blurted out from her seat across from Twilight, causing Rainbow Dash to shoot her a glare.

"I thought we weren't going to tell her about that yet," Rainbow Dash hissed at Rarity in a poor attempt at stealth.

Twilight took a long shuddering breath, bracing herself for terrible news. "What happened?" Twilight forced out, giving both of her friends a stern look.

"A bunch of humans hid under one of her trees," Rainbow Dash said, eyes turning towards the ground. "She was bringing them food and bandages. The other ones must have seen her going back and forth and figured it out." Rainbow Dash paused to take a deep breath. "When they blasted the tree, Fluttershy caught the edge of it. The burns are... pretty bad."

Twilight’s eyes joined Rainbow's in studying the floor as the information sunk in. "Is she going to be okay?" Twilight asked after a few long seconds.

"Yeah… she might be blind in one eye though," Rainbow Dash said, eyes still downcast. "Also… the scars won't be pretty."

A flash of anger shot through Twilight’s mind. ‘This was their fault. Nopony would ever had gotten hurt if they had never come here.’ The anger bled away. She raised a hoof and pressed it into her temple. ‘It’s not their fault,’ she reminded herself.

“I need to visit her soon,” Twilight mumbled, picking up her tea and taking a long sip.

Rarity nodded and shared a glance with Rainbow. “Certainly, darling. I'm sure she would appreciate the company.”

Comments

[poisedanimeBloke]

Hhm. It seems that humans are the good guys, considering that Fluttershy was helping a group of them. Perhaps there are different aliens that the Humans are fighting?

[Radon18]

3747781
That or she's just too big hearted for her own good.

[poisedanimeBloke]

3748335 Well no one else was surprised at the fact she was helping humans so that leads me to assume it is common practice. Maybe ponies were attacked by an alien race and called on humans to help.

[GKC]

could there be two factions of humans?

[macoman1]

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supertopo.com/photos/14/84/269963_12630_L.jpg

[Admari]

3750635 Eh, I enjoy arguing with people anyway, so it's no real loss to me.

[Twoandahalfinches]

3746699 Get this through your head!!! This no average human we talkin about. These are humans who have advanced so much further than we can even begin to comprehend. They are virtual gods with their vast understanding of all that exists. Probably including magic. Anyway if you are actually gonna continue with your rant about magical superiority, give legitimate reasons to back your claims. Having a large repository of books ain't gonna cut it. We probably have tons of books on the giant sunflower starfish. That doesn't mean I know a single thing about it. Here I'll make this easy for you. The following are some common claims that misanthropes usually make to prove Magical Superiority. Prove to me they are backed by more evidence than just magic books and the possibilities of 'what if.'

1. Pegasi are faster than manmade objects(specifically airplanes).
We only know Rainbow Dash to have created a Sonic Rainboom. In fact, it was a myth before she did it and it is her signature move. Why is it that any old Pegasi can outrun any military aircraft(many of which are capable of speeds much greater than Mach 1).
2. Pegasi being much more agile.
While they do seem more maneuverable at Subsonic speeds, I have failed to see them portray a greater amount of maneuverability at supersonic speeds than military aircraft we have at this time.
3. Pegasi are more durable than military aircraft.
Wow this is one the worst. A popular tactic these Pegasi seem to use is literally just jumping on airplanes. Need I say more?
4. Unstoppable Barrier shields.
Changelings broke through them by using the highly successful body slamming tactic. Again, enough said.
5. Magical Abilities.
This one is big enough to deserve it's own post so I'll keep this small. Besides Twilight and the Princesses, most of the unicorns cannot do much more than what their cutie marks require of them. Which is usually just telekinesis, which in itself is usually just an unnecessary luxury.
6. Discord joining their side.
Yes, we can really see that he'll come to their rescue from the season 4 premiere. It's more likely he'll join us. Especially after how the Elements (his so called friends) treated him. I mean Fluttershy is using their friendship as a bargaining tool.
7.OP Alicorns.
This also deserves it's own post. However recent events have made it clear that they aren't as incredibly powerful as many claim them to be. Got beaten by both bugs and vines.
8. Pony knowledge of Human Technology.
Seriously, I'm talking about ponies sabotaging our weapons. Magic requires a great deal of focus to properly cast anything. In a situation where there are a great deal of mortars exploding around you mixed with thousands of bullets whizzing past you does not allow unicorns to have the focus to manipulate technologies that are way beyond them from hundreds of meters away, that they most likely cannot see, and is possibly moving itself.
9. Earthpony powers.
Bucking trees does not allow you to create earthquakes.

It may seem unfair that you're getting all the dislikes, but it isn't without reason. You have dodged all our questions and have tried to back yourself with the most bulls*** contentions I've ever heard.

[Dropbear]

3756771

To be fair, the changelings also had swag on their side to deal with the shield but i fully agree. Magic myths like these are so retarded, doubly so when people use headcanon as 'proof'. The show itself states that Twilight is more gifted than anyother unicorn by a large margin, the majority of unicorns can only preform basic stuff.

[Sorrowfulwinds]

Bleh il give it a like but I expect some serious explaining soon. Apocalyptic flashbacks army very engaging.

[nothingtoseehere]

You get a favorite for the story, which is interesting, and an upvote for the comments, which are fucking epic.

[The Orthodox Priesthood]

I almost wish the comment war was still raging, it was so much fun...

[Radon18]

3986259
Sorry about that. But I did mention in the description that this story was something to help me get over writers block and would be updated infrequently.
However I will be working on the next chapter of this starting tonight. (I'm pretty much nocturnal due to my job. Luna is best pony... That is all...)

[Lazy_]

I had loads of hope for this story, but now its just sorta died. I'm still watching it though. Is it going to have anymore work at all on it?

[Radon18]

4119573
Yeah working on the next chapter now in fact. I did warn that updates would be infrequent as this is something I work on to work through writer's block.
Stay tuned for the next chapter of this in a day or three.

[Lazy_]

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http://youtu.be/4pQcn2L65J0