PONY

by Deathsia

Element of treachery part one

ELEMENT OF TREACHERY

PART ONE

Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months now. Ericka however no longer cared. To her now, this was her world. She had somepony she cared for and loved, her little sister, and friends who would support her no matter what. Today she was with her friends who were all visiting Canterlot. For Ericka however, this was her first time seeing it with her own eyes and was taken back by just how different this city was from a small town like Ponyville.

“This place is amazing!” Ericka exclaimed in awe as they walked through the city.

“This is your first time here isn't Cloudkicker?” Twilight asked looking at the dark blue Pegasus now.

“Yeah, I've read about it, but this is my first time seeing it.” Ericka replied as she looked about herself.

“Heh, remind me to show you Cloudsdale sometime. If you think this place is cool, you'll be so impressed by a the cloud city, your mane will turn red.” Rainbow Dash chimed in with a smirk.

“Heh, Maybe. I would love to see Cloudsdale sometime.” Ericka replied with a smile.

It was at this exact moment two Alicorns stepped up to the six.

“Princess! It's so nice to see you! I didn't expect to see you in town today.” Twilight remarked pleasantly surprised by her mentor's appearance.

“I do enjoy getting out of the castle now and then my dear student, but there is another reason I have come to see you all today.” Princess Celestia replied then looked at Ericka whom went slightly pale now.

“Did Cloudkicker do something wrong?” Rainbow Dash asked nervously taking note of where the sun princess's gaze had stopped.

“Not at all, I simply would like her to accompany me and my sister for a short time. That is, if she wishes to.” Princess Celestia replied with a smile at which point Ericka felt less nervous now and smiled back.

“O-Of course! It would be an honor!” Ericka replied and bowed respectfully to the two.

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“Did I do something wrong?” Ericka asked nervously as she walked with the regal sisters towards their castle to which Celestia chuckled.

“Not at all. As I said before I simply wished to speak with you.” The Alicorn replied as they stepped inside the castle and walked through it's grand halls.

“What about?” Ericka asked curiously.

“For starters, I would like to apologize for how I treated you when you first arrived. We have never received visitors from another world before so I was being very protective of my subjects. Still, that gave me no right to treat you as a threat.” Princess Celestia replied as she turned and lowered her head to the dark blue Pegasus. “Can you forgive me?” Princess's Celestia asked which caused Ericka to be taken back by this.

“It's water under the bridge Princess. I don't blame you for being protective.” Ericka replied honestly with a smile.

“Thank you for your forgiveness.” Princess Celestia replied, turned around, and walked away from her.

“We also would like to apologize for how we treated the. It was not very princess like of us to be so rude to a guest in our world.” Princess Luna said now as the walked up the the dark blue Pegasus.

“Enough of the apologies already, You're making me blush.” Ericka replied as she rubbed the back of her head with a faint blush on her face now.

Upon hearing this both sisters gave a giggle. “Very well. On to our next set of business then. You have been among us for sometime and I’m sure you have learned much about our world, but you have yet to learn about us. I'm sure your fellow kind would like to ask us some questions personally.” Princess Celestia replied to which Ericka frowned.

“I'm sure they would.” Ericka replied and sighed.

“Is something the matter?” The Alicorn asked taking note of the Pegasus's sudden change in mood.

“It's just...nothing, forget it.” Ericka replied and sighed once again at which point both sister's exchanged looks of concern before the moon princess looked at her, walked over to her, and placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“We think that we may know what thou is thinking.” Princess Luna said which caused Ericka to look up at her. “You have grown accustom to our world and you do not wish to leave it. Am I correct?” Princess Luna asked curiously.

Bingo, she was right on the dot, in fact if she could be anymore closer she could have gone as far as to suggest she wanted to cast away her humanity while she was at it. “Y-Yes. I have a special somepony I care about deeply and friends who I also care about. I never knew what friendship could be until they shared it's magic with me. I don't want to lose that friendship I’ve gained. I don't want to lose the love I’ve gained.” Ericka replied as tears swelled in her eyes now.

“I...I...I don't want to be-” Ericka was about to exclaim until the moon princess placed a hoof over her mouth which caused her to stop what she was saying at stare as tears streamed from her eyes.

“What you ask for, is something not even we or our sister could grant you.” Princess Luna replied knowingly of what she was about to say.

“And even if such magic existed, me nor my sister could use it in clear conscience. You should not cast away who you are Ericka. It's what makes you unique.” The sun princess chimed in with a frown.

Ericka stared at the two as tears streamed from her eyes now. “It's not that I don't want to be human anymore, it's just that I don't want to ever have to leave.” Ericka replied and sighed as she wiped the tears from her eyes at which point Luna looked to her sister.

“Sister, there is one thing thou could do.” Luna replied to which the sun princess's expression became stern and shook her head.

“I will not abuse my authority as ruler of Equestria little sister. Even if I wanted to, I would have no right to go as far as to order her kind to allow her to remain here. Their affairs are theirs to handle sister and our affairs are for us to handle.” Celestia replied looking at her little sister now.

“Forgive us, we did not mean to suggest such a thing, but we pity her.” Luna replied with a saddened expression as she looked to Ericka whom was no longer crying but still frowning.

“Least we forget that we are still unknowing of the magic that is allowing her to remain in this faux body in the first place. We have no idea what effects it may have on her if she were to remain in it for a prolonged amount of time.” Celestia continued and looked at Ericka now. “However as I said before, me and my sister would be happy to speak with the ones in charge of your field study and answerer any questions they may have.” Celestia finished as she looked at Ericka.

“But how would you talk to them? Last I checked, you don't speak human.” Ericka replied looking at the two curiously now.

“We have spells that allow us to speak with other races other than ourselves. It may take a few moments, but it would be very easy to adapt one of these spells which would allow us to communicate with your kind directly.” Celestia replied with a smile.

“One of us must remain here sister. We shall go in thy stead and speak with them.” Princess Luna chimed in at this point to which Celestia smiled and nodded.

“Very well. Ericka would you please go and inform them that we wish to speak with them and arrange a time?” Princess Celestia asked curiously.

“Of course. But I warn you, they may not believe most of the answers you have for them.” Ericka replied with a hint of nervousness in her voice now.

“We will do our best to help them understand our ways.” Luna replied with a warm smile.

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“One of the dual breeds wants to speak with us directly?!” Stillborn asked incredulously in pure shock.

“Yes, and they are waiting for me to return to them with the time.” Ericka replied.

“You have outdone yourself Airfreed! With the information a ruler of their world could give us, we could possibly learn more than we have in the last year!” Stillborn exclaimed and slapped her on the back which caused the woman to stumble slightly.

“Th-Thank you sir!” Ericka replied proudly.

“Well private you know what? I think your in line for a huge promotion! How does, First lieutenant sound?” Stillborn asked with a grin.

“F-F-F-First lieutenant?!” Ericka exclaimed in shock and nearly passed out on the spot as Stillborn gave a hearty laugh as he once again slapped her on the back and walked past her.

“Well look at you, moving up in the human world. Or lack their of.” Josh remarked with a smirk as he walked up to her.

“Are you still sore at me?” Ericka asked with an annoyed expression.

“Quite the contrary! You have exceeded all my expectations. The information the dual breed can give us will skyrocket this field study by years! I look forward to seeing it in person. Well done Ericka.” Josh replied and extended a hand to Ericka who cautiously took and shook.

“Thanks.” Ericka replied though she couldn't quite shake the feeling something was off with Josh today. While she couldn't place a finger on it, something about him threw her off. Something she didn't like.

Despite this unsettling feeling, she ignored it and left the lab and went to the dorm bunker where Richard was waiting. “I just heard the news, First lieutenant! Man, I am so jealous!” Richard exclaimed excitedly.

“Yeah, that makes me your superior. So you have to do what I say.” Ericka replied with a smirk.

“Is that different from any other day?” Richard replied with a grin only to get a light jab to the shoulder.

“Watch it private or I’ll have you scrubbing the toiletries.” Ericka replied with a smirk as she walked past him and sat down at her desk.

“You wouldn't dare.” Richard replied with a mock scared look.

“Try me.” Ericka replied, opened the drawer, and frowned as her eyes fell upon the intermediate drawing book. “I forgot to take the book back.” Ericka replied and sighed as she looked at it.

“Yeah, I saw it laying out and stuck it in your drawer, you could have gotten in a lot of trouble for bringing that in here.” Richard replied as she walked over next her, looked at her, and noticed her frowning now.

“What's got you so depressed for? You've just gotten a huge freaking promotion for peat's sake. If I were you, I would be celebrating.” Richard remarked as Ericka continued to stare at the book.

“When this is all over, I'll have to leave them forever Richard. I'm not ready for that yet.” Ericka replied depressingly followed by a sigh.

Upon hearing this Richard gave a sigh of his own as she placed a hand on her shoulder. “Ericka, I know you've grown close to them, but that isn't your world.” Richard said in a solemn tone.

“I know...” Ericka replied in a soft tone and sighed again.

“When we get back, you will be welcomed a hero for the amount of information we'll be getting from the Princess herself. I know it may be hard, but you just have to accept the fact that we won't be here for much longer.” Richard continued as he rubbed her shoulder in a comforting manner.

“You're right Richard. That isn't my world. I nearly forgot that, but there is one thing I can do.” Ericka replied as she stood up now.

“Which is?” Richard asked curiously.

“Tell them....everything.” Ericka replied and walked out of the dorm room leaving Richard staring at her with a worried expression.

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“A outing with Princess Luna, You can't even fathom how jealous I am!” Twilight remarked with a grin as Ericka began to pack up her things.

“Yeah, it should be fun.” Ericka replied absentmindedly to which the unicorn took note of along with the fact she seemed to be packing her things up.

“Are you going somewhere Cloudkicker?” The purple unicorn asked curiously at which point Ericka stopped packing and looked at her which caused Twilight's expression to become worried.

“Twilight, there's something I need to tell you, tell everypony, but it will have to wait until after I get back with Princess Luna.” Ericka replied as she put the saddle-pack onto her back and walked past the unicorn.

“You're worrying me Cloudkicker, what's going on?” Twilight asked with a look of concern on face now.

“I...can't say anything right now. But when I get back I will tell you and everypony...everything.” Ericka replied and left the library.

“Everything?” Twilight asked more worried now then ever.

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The moon hung high now as Ericka and Princess Luna traveled to the Everfree forest.

“Ericka, there is something we should tell the.” Princess Luna said in a serious tone as she stopped and turned to look at Ericka.

“What is it?” The dark blue Pegasus asked curiously.

“Our sister was not entirely honest with thou. Magic does exist that would allow the to remain a pony forever, but it is forbidden. It is a dark magic. The same kind of magic that changed us into Nightmare Moon. That is why she refuses to use it and rightfully so. Such magic can easily corrupt one and thus should never be used. But we have been thinking and if thou desires to be one of us enough. We shall perform the spell to allow the to remain a pony, forever.” Princess Luna replied and smiled at her.

Ericka stared at the moon princess and for a time she was willing to accept this in a heartbeat, but the fact that this magic was dark in nature and could easily corrupt a pony caused her better judgment to kick in. “I appreciate the thought Princess, but I would never forgive myself if it came at the expense of you becoming corrupted by the dark magic again. Besides, I wasn't really thinking things through yesterday. Your older sister is right, I shouldn't cast away my humanity, it's a part of who I am.” Ericka replied with a smile as she walked past the moon princess who looked at her knowingly.

“Thou is a very noble mare. The must be very respected in thou's homeland.” The moon princess remarked as she continued to walk with Ericka as they grew closer to the base.

Upon hearing this Ericka giggled aloud and sighed. “Not really. When I joined the army, I did it for my own personal vendetta. I wanted revenge against the aliens who murdered my family. But after all this, meeting all of you, finding friendship and even love, I don't think I'll ever be the same again.” Ericka replied as the two stopped just short of the base.

“Thou have the heart of a pony Ericka, do not let anypony tell the different.” The moon princess replied with a smile to which Ericka smiled at her.

Suddenly the Alicorn was encased in a large steel cage much to Ericka's horror. “What is happening?!” Luna exclaimed in shock.

Before Ericka could reply however, she felt the familiar passing out sensation. “No! Not now!” Ericka thought to herself dramatically as her vision faded and went black only to see the lid of her V-M-A machine open with Stillborn standing over her.

“What the fuck is going on?! Princess Luna was just caged!” Ericka exclaimed in shock and panic.

“She was what?!” Stillborn exclaimed with an equally shocked expression at which point the two rushed to the wall, grabbed oxygen masks and ran out of the lab to see the steel cage glowing with an eerie green light as Josh and several other professors stood outside.

“What the fuck are you doing?! Let her go!” Ericka exclaimed as she ran over to Josh and lifted up with both hands by the lab coat.

“Orders from the top brass, we are to apprehend one of the dual winged specie and study them.” Josh replied with a smirk at which point Ericka put him down, looked over at the cage and looked back at him.

“That's not a normal containment field. What the fuck is that?” Ericka asked with a glare.

“Oh come now Ericka, don't play coy, you know exactly what that is.” Josh replied still grinning as he made a non-verbal gesture to some of the guards whom grabbed a hold of the woman before she could react.

“Magic...that's magic!” Ericka exclaimed as what the professor finally said clicked with her and struggled against the soldiers whom continued to drag her back to the dorm bunker.

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“What the hell is going on here?! Is this a revolt or something?!” Stillborn exclaimed in a pissed off tone as the four sat in the dorm room with two guards stationed just outside armed with rifles.

“No, apparently the top brass had other plans and used us to make them happen.” Ericka replied and sighed.

“And what the hell was that freaking green light around that cage?” Stillborn asked as he looked at her now.

“You wouldn't believe me if I told you.” Ericka replied and looked at Richard then back to Stillborn.

“Try me.” Stillborn replied to which Ericka sighed.

“It was magic.” Ericka replied simply to which Stillborn blinked several times.

“I'm being serious Airfreed! What the hell was that green light?” Stillborn asked again to which Ericka face palmed and groaned.

“I told you that you wouldn't believe me.” Ericka replied dismally.

“Wait, your serious?” Stillborn replied upon hearing this.

“Sir, there are things in this world that can not be explained with modern science. It took even me awhile to figure this out. Equestria does not function like a normal world. In essence, magic is the core source that powers nearly everything in this world.” Richard chimed in now which caused the commander to look at him and blink several more times before sitting down with a expression of pure disbelief.

“If you would have told me this two years ago, I would have laughed at you and shipped you off world, but after seeing that freaking green light, I’m inclined to go on a leap of faith here.” Stillborn replied after a few moments.

“I have to rescue Princess Luna. This is all my fault.” Ericka said after a few more moments as she stood up and looked out the window to the sky and gasped.

“What is it Ericka?” Richard asked curiously as he walked up beside her, looked out the window and gasped as well.

“What are you two gawking at?” Stillborn asked as he walked up behind the two and went wide-eyed at what he saw. “What the hell is up with the freaking moon?!” Stillborn exclaimed in shock.

As the three looked on through the window, the moon seemed to fade until it turned black before their very eyes.

“This is bad. Princess Luna is connected to the moon and if this is happening...” Ericka began to say but trailed off now.

“Then they must be somehow disrupting her magic.” Richard said now finishing Ericka's statement for her.

“Or draining it. We have to get her now!” Ericka exclaimed urgently as she turned around and walked to her desk.

“And how do you plan to do that? We have no oxygen masks and the guards outside are armed with twenty caliber rifles.” Stillborn remarked as Ericka looked around in the bunker for anything she could possibly use.

“Then we'll just have to lure them in here.” Ericka replied with a determined expression.

“And how are we going to do that?” Richard asked curiously as the woman picked up a lighter and a bottle of hairspray.

“It's time to turn up the heat.” Ericka said as she flicked the lighter on and positioned the hair spray can behind it.

“Ericka, don't do anything stupid! Think things through before you act!” Stillborn exclaimed panicked upon realizing what she was about to do.

“I always do...” Ericka replied and pressed the button on the spray can which erupted into a torrent of flames that immediately set the beds ablaze.

Sure enough, the fire that now raged inside was more than enough to attracted the attention of the soldiers outside and raced inside to inspect what was going on. “What the fuck have you idiots done?!” One of the soldiers exclaimed as he rushed over to one of the fire extinguishers only to get a foot to the skull by Ericka from behind and before the other solider could arm him rifle, Richard clocked him with his fist which effectively knocked him out.

“Okay, so what's the plan?” Richard asked as the two took the oxygen masks off the soldiers and put them on while Stillborn put out the flames with the fire extinguisher.

“I need to alert Princess Celestia to what's happening here. So you will need to stay outside and make sure I'm protected.” Ericka replied as the two walked up the door.

“Alright.” Richard replied and looked back at Stillborn whom stared at the two.

“What are you two standing around for? You don't need me to give ya any orders so get your asses moving and save that Princess!” Stillborn exclaimed to which the two saluted him, and ran to the lab.

Comments

[Penguin_Lord]

They just brought knife a to gun fight they so going down now, and, also really need to see next chapter now just to see cloudkicker finally kick that asshole josh's ass like no tomorrow.

[Topranger96]

Didn't see that coming

[TheWanderingPikachuPony]

Well, that escalated quickly, but can't say I didn't expect that to come sooner rather than later (given what I said in my review for last chapter, for what I had hoped for, even if it was of little significance probably). So is it all the scientists who are evil, as well as maybe most of the human army currently army on their world? Cause was confused by why it said there were four when the ones who were used were captured, if it was only Erika, Richard, and Stillborn in that scene (though Richard wasn't mentioned until he spoke up, and thought maybe Amie from earlier chapters was the fourth, until saw her not mentioned). Well regardless, I hope it all works out.

[ArcCahlon]

wow I totally thought stillborn would prove to be one of the folks looking to take control of the world and capture the ponies not be one of the good guys. I suppose I owe em an apology for thinking he was an ass. but that bucking josh, seriously I hope he gets his insides turned out. tho I did expect something like this to happen since she was going to reveal everything when she got back. it never works like that something always goes wrong. but how are they going to warn the others they can't use the pony bodies with out fear of josh screwing them over and can't do it as humans since no pony knows of them. the next chapters are looking to be very interesting indeed.

[ZephyrStrife]

OH DAMN! HOLY HELL WHAT A TWIST! I thought for sure that Stillborn was gonna be one of those bastards that deserved to be punished...

[WorldWalker128]

I saw something like this going down, but I expected Josh to be a changeling or a member of the alien race that attacked Earth before, not for it to just be Earth's higher-ups.