When a Good Mare Goes to War

by Sam Cole

Unexpected Guests

When A Good Mare Goes to War

By Sam Cole

Chapter One: Unexpected Guests

Twilight Sparkle, royal student of magic under the guide of Princess Celestia herself, watched the skies this warm night, savoring the serenity. She was on one of her favorite hills outside of Ponyville with her six closest friends, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Spike the dragon. The whole gang was enjoying a camp out, celebrating Fluttershy and Spike’s recent achievement.

“Congrats Spike and Shy!” Applejack beamed at the two, “Y’all are certified first responders now!”

“Aww, thanks Applejack,” Spike blushed, shuffling his feet on the grass. “I just thought it sounded fun, but I had to put in a lot of hard work.”

“Well, I’m proud of you Spike,” Twilight said hugging the little guy.

“Me too. My little Spikey-Wikey is growing up,” Rarity said joining in the hug.

“Thanks everypony. But I hope I never have to use my new skills,” Spike laughed.

“I hope so too,” Fluttershy said to a round of agreement from everypony.

Rainbow called out come sit by the fire and tell ghost stories, and they all went over and had a wonderful evening. Twilight was distracted though, by an odd star, that seemed to be moving, slowly. Eventually, the gang all laid down for the night, saying their goodnights and all. Twilight remained awake, as she watched the strange star, and decided that it must be ice in the atmosphere or something. She hunkered down and went to sleep fast, dreaming of numbers and equations dancing around, happily solving them. At about three am though, a loud crack woke them all up, as a giant ball of fire scooted across the sky.

“What in tarnation?” Applejack yelled as she grasped her hat to keep the now hot wind from carrying it away.

“It’s huge!” Rainbow cried as she shielded her eyes. “What is that thing? Space rock?”

“A meteor. And no, its way to slow,” Twilight yelled. They were all just feet apart, but had to yell just to be heard. The noise was so great it made their teeth hurt.

“Then what is it?” Rarity shouted.

“I have no idea!” Twilight screamed as the object broke the sound barrier at last. The boom was deafening, leaving all of them with severe shell shock, and severe chest pains for Rarity and Twilight. Twilight painfully watched as the object slowed some more, then finally set down in a fiery plume just outside of the Everfree Forest. She fought for consciousness but eventually fell victim to the agony induced sleep that threatened to be her last.

“Twi- light. Come- on,” Spike panted as he shook the lavender mare. Spike looked around to the unconscious ponies. Rarity was looking pretty bad, her breathing extremely labored. Everypony had a small amount of blood dripping out of their ears, and Applejack had some coming from her nose as well. Rainbow Dash looked better than most, being used to odd G forces and pressure, and was starting to move, but the injuries she had right now were too great for her to be an asset. Twilight was the worrisome one though. She was cooling off fast, with no heartbeat. Miss Sparkle was dead.

“No you don’t! Come On Twi!” Spike shouted as he rolled her on her back and began CPR. He timed his thrusts, counting out loud as he tried to remain calm under the stress. “1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Come on damn it! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.”

______________________________________________________________________________

Princess Luna watched her beloved night sky, reveling in the beauty of the darkness. She longed for a flight right now, the early summer night was almost calling to her. But she had her duties, to guard the night as always. Luna sat down and floated over a cup of tea and her new book, just enjoying the warming breeze. A little too warm actually. It was 3am, why was the wind getting hotter? Luna looked up and saw the sky was illuminated a deep orange, as if heaven itself was engulfed in flame. Luna gasped, fear gripping her as she retreated into the castle to find her sister, maybe she knew about this. As the princess of the night glided down the halls, a massive boom shook the castle. It knocked the poor mare down, and shattered several windows. Luna rose slowly, and continued on, finding Celestia racing towards her, panicked.

“What was that Luna?” Celestia cried as the two closed in.

“I knoweth not dear sister. The skies themselves were but a moment ago aflame,” Luna spoke, heaving as she fought for breath.

“Send the guard. Investigate the... What ever it was,” Celestia ordered her personal guardian. He saluted sharply, and tore off down the hall like his flank was on fire. Celestia turned to Luna, worry in her eyes. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, art thou?” Luna asked, hugging her sister as the adrenaline wore off and fear settled in.

“Yes... No... I don’t know Sis. I don’t feel right. Something's wrong,” Celestia cried into her sister’s shoulder. Celestia feared greatly for her people, all of them her friends, and now in very real danger it seemed.

______________________________________________________________________________

Twilight gasped a sharp breath as Spike thrust her chest again. She rocketed up, flailing a bit as she came back from her early trip to the other side.

“Twilight, Thank goodness!” Spike said hugging Twilight, then placing his claw on the side of her neck and started counting.

“Spike,” Twilight rasped, “What happened?”

“The boom made your heart stop. I had to resuscitate you,” Spike fussed and he made sure Twilight was stable before moving on to Rarity.

“I’m so glad you took that class Spike,” Twilight said trying to rise, but found herself much to weak still. “What’s wrong with Rarity?”

“I think one of her lungs collapsed. I need a needle,” Spike said looking around. Twilight looked and saw Rarity was having trouble exhaling. Her chest looked a slight bit off, but not much. She was unconscious, most likely from the pain she was feeling right now.

“How long was I out?” Twilight asked.

“Not long, but we need to get you all to the hospital,” Spike said as he pulled an ornately large, hollow sewing needle out of Rarity's pack, and nipped both ends off. He felt her ribs, counting down to the fifth intercostal space on her side, and slowly pushed the needle in. He then fixed it in place with some tape from Twilight’s first aid kit.

“What are you doing?” Twilight asked the dragon.

“Needle chest decompression. Letting the air out,” Spike said. “I had nothing to create a flutter valve from, so let’s just hope I keep a close eye on it.”

“Spike,” Rainbow groaned from behind Twilight, “Help me. I'm going to be sick. Where are you?” Spike had Twilight monitor the needle, and rushed to Rainbow’s aid.

“I’m here RD. What hurts?” Spike asked sliding into place next to the fast flyer.

“Spike,” Rainbow managed weakly. Spike checked her pulse, she was fine, just concussed was all.

“Rainbow. I need you to stay up now, alright. Don’t go to sleep,” Spike warned.

“I don’t feel too good,” Rainbow moaned and rolled over to her side, throwing up a sickly looking dark brown sludge, that looked like coffee grounds. Blood.

“Rainbow, don’t sleep,” Spike said again, but worried now, “You have internal bleeding. I need you to stay awake til I can get help.”

“Spike,” Twilight called out.

“What is it?” Spike asked from his post next to Rainbow.

“Send a letter. Tell the Princess,” Twilight called back.

“In a minute. I want to check the others first. Rainbow, I need you to stay awake,” Spike yelled as he tried in vain to keep Rainbow among them. She was slipping though. Spike cursed himself for not evaluating her correctly earlier, but knew he had two cases that needed his care more. It was a judgement call, one he would carry the rest of his life now.

A sudden fit of coughing drew his attention, as he looked over and saw Applejack coughing up a good amount of her dinner. Spike rushed over, asking Twilight to pull double duty on Rainbow Dash as well.

“Applejack, talk to me,” Spike called as he closed in.

“Mah head,” Applejack groaned. Spike came in and took her head in his claws, checking her eyes and nose by using a small stream of his fire as a light.

“You should be fine, the boom just ruptured a capillary in your nose AJ,” Spike said relaxing. He checked her bleeding ears and let out a sigh. “Looks like you’re eardrums might have been perforated.”

“What does that mean?” Applejack asked, barely able to hear the small dragon.

“There’s a small hole in your eardrums. You should be fine a few days,” Spike reassured. He ran over to Fluttershy and Pinkie, confirming they both had the same perforated eardrums. Spike, relieved a bit, ran back to Rainbow Dash. She was still breathing, but he and Twilight were pulling double duty with her. She was not getting better.

“Spike, what happened? Why are we all so hurt?” Twilight asked as Spike tried to send a letter out. It was a simple letter, ‘Need medevac, EF 2010 7212. Spike. 2 urgent surgery, 4 urgent. No special equipment. 6 liter. No monsters in area. Marked by pyro. Smoke hazard.’

“I don’t know what it was, but something fell just outside of town, about 5 miles if I had to guess,” Spike said as he turned to the cyan mare and checked her airways. She hadn’t thrown up again, but better check anyways.

“What was that letter?” Twilight asked as she felt a wave of nausea hit her. Everypony was starting to look a little green actually. The smoke was starting to blow towards them.

“Twilight, get low. Less smoke near the ground. That letter was a standard Equestrian 8 line medevac,” Spike explained. Twilight was too sick to talk anymore, and was fighting for consciousness now herself. Spike looked fine, and this made Twilight feel safe. Soon she saw two chariots drop from the sky, and several ponies rush them all, taking over for their medical care. Twilight watched as Spike briefed the guards pulling the chariots. Soon enough, they were all airborne, and Twilight looked down to the empty field, seeing Spike had set a large bush on fire, the green flames standing out as a marker. She smiled at the dragon’s ingenuity, before she slipped into the dark sleep yet again.

______________________________________________________________________________

Celestia raced through the hospital, her hooves throwing off sparks. She rounded a corner, nearly taking out a nurse with some morphine, and pressed into her students room.

“Twilight!” Celestia cried seeing her favorite student, her close friend so banged up, laying in a hospital bed in the recovery room, having just spent far to long in the OR. She pulled over a chair and sat with the smaller lavender mare, stroking her mane. “I’m sorry my friend. I should have dispatched rescue teams sooner. It took far too long for us to respond tonight. I'm so sorry about what I had them do to you, I'm so sorry, there was no other way.”

Spike cleared his throat, getting the royal mare’s attention. “Princess,” He tentatively asked, peering around the doorway.

“Yes, come in Spike,” Celestia said smiling at the little guy and wiping away her tears. “You’re quite the hero,” She beamed as he took up a seat on Twilight’s bed.

“Thanks,” Spike mumbled, looking rather down for the ego prone fellow.

“What’s wrong?” Celestia asked, placing a hoof on Spike’s shoulder.

“I made a bad call. If I hadn’t taken my time, I would have seen how bad Rainbow was, but I didn’t. I focused on Rarity,” Spike said holding back a tear. “As much as I hate to say it, Rarity had time. Time Rainbow might not have had. And Twilight need surgery too. What if...”

“Spike,” Celestia said in her most reassuring tone, “Rejoice, my young friend. You single hoofed saved 6 lives tonight. You should not be so hard on yourself. There was no way you could have known the extent of Twilight's injuries, nor Rainbow's at first glance.”

“I know. But still..” Spike said, and the Princess just brought the poor guy into a hug. He needed this right now. And really, Celestia had no idea how to help the dragon. She had a lot on her plate right now, with half of the Everfree Forest leveled by the impact of that... that thing.

______________________________________________________________________________

Twilight awoke to the light shining on her face. She looked out the window, to the sky that only last night unleashed such devastation upon them. She was alerted to a pony in the room as someone started to snore. Twilight looked over and saw her princess, Celestia, laid awkwardly upon the couch built for normal sized ponies. Twilight snorted and laughed, waking up the ruler of the land.

“Twilight!” The sun goddess beamed, a smile as warm as the sun on a perfect day.

“Hey Princess,” Twilight rasped. She was surprised at her voice, and brought a hoof to her sore throat.

“Thank goodness you’re alright,” Celestia said walking over and nuzzling the lavender mare, “I had the others rushed to Canterlot early this morning, once they were all stable. You, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity were brought straight here, for surgery.”

“Surgery?” Twilight piped, then winced at the pain in her throat.

“Looks like you have some damage from smoke inhalation, so try not to speak too much, okay? And yes, Rarity had a collapsed lung from the force of the shock wave. Rainbow Dash suffered far worse, with multiple organ failure and massive internal bleeding. And you...” Celestia said, faltering at having to tell the mare, “ Your heart was stopped for a minute by the shock wave.”

“My... heart?” Twilight asked, placing her hoof to her chest, feeling the slight beat of the muscle pumping away, and the bandages that she could now tell covered surgical scars.

“Yes,” Celestia said saddened.

“Why did I get surgery?” Twilight asked, looking to her longtime mentor.

“When the shock wave hit, you instinctively put up a magical force field to protect everypony near you, but the strain of trying to redirect so much power overwhelmed you, and destroyed most of your heart. Spike somehow got your magic to hold long enough to pump blood manually. How he did that is still unknown, but regardless, he saved you all last night,” Celestia smiled again.

Twilight just looked off into the distance, feeling her chest, and knew what that also meant. "Who's heart do I have now?"

Celestia's smile faltered, as she swallowed hard and spoke, "You don't have one now Twilight. I had them install a magical prosthetic heart, there was no time to try and find a donor. As long as you never completely drain your magic, you will have a beating heart my student."

"So what does that mean?" Twilight rasped.

"I gave you time, but it's not perfect. The best hope is ten years," Celestia said bravely despite the tears rolling down her cheeks.

Twilight could tell this subject was too much for the overburdened mare and changed topics. "You mentioned Spike, how is he?"

“Worried sick, but other than that, never better. As a dragon, he was protected against the shockwave. The doctors say if he hadn’t been there...” Celestia began but left the sentence to itself. Twilight nodded, and resumed looking out the window.

“What was that thing?” She mused.

“Luna’s investigating it,” Celestia said, laying her head upon Twilight’s shoulder and relaxing for the first time since it happened.

______________________________________________________________________________

Princess Luna stood about one mile out from the fallen object, surveying the land with her guard contingent and scientific research teams. The trees were all scorched, the ground muddy from the downpour the weather patrol had made early this morning to exhaust the flames. The lunar mare sighed at the loss, it always pained her to see such devastation. All in all, it had been bad, with over 50 ponies losing their lives last night.

But what she saw now struck a chord with the ruler of the night, a chord of anger. Dragons, about twenty of them, had surrounded the object, and where trying to get inside it. It was just a large metal thing to Luna, larger than Ponyville and taller than the castle. But Luna could not shake a feeling that whatever those dragons wanted with it was bad news for them.

"Dragons!" Luna bellowed in the Royal Canterlot Voice, "Tell us thy intent, or be forced to. We seeketh not to do battle, but do not mistake our kindness right now for weakness."

"Go away stupid pony," One yelled at her, waving a claw dismissively.

Luna practically fumed as she shook with rage. Being insulted is one thing. Being ignored another. But being heard and dismissed as if of no consequence? That would not stand. Her guard was well trained to handle combat with the dragons, and they knew this. The dragons where out numbered about two to one, the way the guard was trained to fight. The advantage was theirs. As Luna was about to give the last warning though, a small pony scientist grabbed her mane and pulled softly, but enough to get her attention.

"Princess, we have to leave now," The pony said, shaking a bit as she looked to the dragons and back, scared of something the Princess did not know yet.

"What is it Miss..." Luna said politely. She knew to never be hostile with somepony for just doing their job.

"Flowers. Violet Flowers. And that- that thing, what ever it is, its hot!" Miss Flame shouted.

"Well yes, it was but aflame last-" Luna began.

"No. It's radioactive. Whatever it is, it's Nuclear," Miss Flowers said. And now Luna understood.

"Dragons! Stop! That object is not to be touched! It's Dangerous!" Luna shouted to the dragons. One turned to her, and bellowed a mighty roar.

"Back off pony! It's ours!" The dragon yelled back.

"That object is radioactive!" Luna shouted, trying like mad to get everything away from it and fast.

"We know this!" The Dragon yelled back. "We dragons can feed on radiation. We can feel the power coursing within us already! Soon not even your mighty magic will be able to hold off the dragons. It is now our time to rule this world!"

"Buck me..." Luna said under her breath.

"Huh. Dragons are nuclear. You learn something new everyday," One of her guard mused. "Princess, we can't fight them, not here. That thing will bake us before we can close the distance, and the Dragons are already within the cordoned area. This is a loss," The guard said more professionally. Luna just stared at the dragons in the field, knowing now that the longer they stood there, the stronger they got. This was bad. Very very bad.

"Retreat. Warn thy sister of this most upsetting of discoveries. Do not let any creature near the object, nor let any away. Use of lethal force is authorized," Luna said finally. The dragons close enough to hear this did not like this news. They roared, and charged.

Three dragons barreled into the line of guards, who stood at the ready. But their spears found no soft spots, their shields failed to hold. The first rank dissolved into ash before Luna's eyes. She watched unblinking in horror as the giant lizards tore threw the guards like a hoof through tissue paper. The regal mare stood there, shaking with fear as her beloved guards and scientists were laid to waste. A young guard, fresh out of the academy, tackled her to the ground, and told her to magically teleport away, leave them.

“You are not going to die here your highness!” The guard shouted.

“I refuse to leave you!” Luna cried, tears running down her cheeks.

“Go! Now!” The guard commanded.

“Never!” Luna protested.

“If you die, then what the buck did any of us accomplish! Live on, win this war, and avenge us you stupid bitch!” The guard yelled. Such language would normally have been dealt with severely, but right now, it was fitting. It shook Luna into action, making her focus her magic and leave.

Right before she vanished from the field, as she lay in the mud, she saw the guard rise and catch a spiked tail to the head. His eyes went wide with shock, then placid as the spark of life left them. That poor colt, not even a week on duty, was dead before he hit the ground. Luna had never even asked the poor boy his name, but later vowed that he would be remembered as a national hero for this, one day, when this was all a nightmare for the regal mare. She would never, no matter how hard she tried, forget the look on the poor colt’s face.

______________________________________________________________________________

17 hours ago, the crew of Sister, the colony ship from The Collective, was approaching Local planet E-DD Laude 4. They were taking readings, happy to have found such a planet.

“Captain,” Six, the first mate, saluted.

“Please Six, we are of the same batch, just call me Three,” Three told her. She smiled and continued.

“Three, we have a found the planet to have a rich 70/20 atmo,” Six reported.

“With normal gravity as well? This is just perfect. Seven and Twelve, take us in, we need to get the electromagnetic readings now,” Three ordered.

“Right away Three,” Twelve chimed. He loved flying the Sister, pride of The Collective. She handled like a dream, not to mention the leadership was always relaxed here, unlike the warships. They neared the planet, sensors taking their data, when something went wrong. The ship lost power, and started a slow slide out of orbit.

“Report!” Three commanded, rising out of his chair as the artificial gravity field quit.

“Dark matter manipulation field! Fracking hell boss, this is an S-Class Civ!” Seven reported.

"All hands, brace for impact. Get comms up now, tell the Collective we have an S-class here. May the merciful maker Zero Prime have mercy upon us now,” Three ordered as the ship started to heat up, the atmosphere igniting around their ship as they fell to the surface. He took this last chance to look to Six, wondering if today, she would finally become Three. The thoughts of his own imminent death did nothing for his now shot mood.

As the doomed craft neared the planet, the last order from Three was given. Fire the thrusters, try to slow their impact. His only hope was to not ignite a war. A war with an S-class would not end well. Comms never went out though. This would go down in the record as another ship lost to the Verse.