Of Men and Insects

by VeganSpyro97

Chapter 29: The Return

Chapter 29: The Return

The following morning was like taking an unpleasant day trip to Tartarus after having been stuffed in a hoof basket, squeezed in a vice and beaten with great big dirty sticks while some snot nosed brat fiddled around with the system settings of a boombox right next to the ears of anyone who had been foolish enough to imbibe even a drop of alcohol.

While Pinkie was completely fine and still dancing around and goofing off like always, the rest of Ponyville’s adult population where traipsing about in abject misery, either bleary eyed from lack of sleep, or holding packs of ice to their heads until their migraines dulled down to tolerable levels. The majority of the Main Six, Trixie and Starlight certainly came down on that side of things, with AJ and Dash having woken up with the entire front end of their bodies sticky from the amount of spilled drink that had ended up getting splashed on them, whilst laying in the barn at Sweet Apple Acres, since they had tried unlocking the door to get in, only to completely screw it up. Thankfully, what little intellect their drinking hadn’t scrambled had informed them that having Dash fly home was a very bad idea, hence why she had intended to stay with Applejack that night.

A bleary eyed Rarity had tried oh so hard to avoid either her cat or sister, but by mid-morning, she was clutching her head from their complaining, wishing she knew the spell Twilight had talked about once, that could sober up a pony and remove that nasty migraine.

Starlight and Trixie weren’t much better off, having to contend with the huge booms and crashes of failed spells and enchantments coming from the basement of Twilight’s castle, which were so bad that Spike, bless his little heart, had risked flying on his barely trained wings, just to get away, deciding to visit Big Mac, simply because it would be quieter.

Allan and Fluttershy woke up tangled up together in their bedsheets, sweaty and hot from the previous nights revelry, made worse by the fact that Angel was taunting Zephyr Breeze- again- and the stallion had given up trying to catch the rabbit, and had instead resorted to yelling loudly for his sister and her Coltfriend from the bottom of the stairs.

Not many ponies in town had much in the way of a pleasant morning that day. Except Pinkie.

****************************

Two days later, and Twilight finally emerged, mane blackened and a few patches of her fur were burnt off, but otherwise beaming with pride, a gleam in her eyes and a spring in her step. By now, the migraines were gone, so her friends, while still sore, were all very much happy to see her, and were waiting for her at Sugarcube Corner for lunch.

It was quite a sight. Eight ponies sitting at a table with a Changeling and, for the first time since it had been brought back from the glacier, the transfigured Raptor, who Allan and Shy were both quite happy to call “Rexy”.

After a few minutes were taken up by telling Twilight about the party and everything she’d missed, the group settled down to talk business.

“So, as you all know, I wasn’t at the party because I was busy with the Portal.” Twilight started, to a crowd of bobbing heads. “It took a lot of time, and quite a few screw ups….okay, more than a few…..maybe about seventy-six…..and a half…..make that three quarters.”

“Ugh, get on with it, Sparkle.” Trixie groaned, munching on a cinnamon roll. Rainbow casually reached a foreleg over with her hoof up, sharing a hoof-bump with the stage magician.

Twilight stared flatley at Trixie for a moment before starting up again. “So, after a bunch of mistakes, I figured out what was wrong.” Twilight paused to take a quick sip of milkshake. “The runes used for the enchantment were suuuper old, pre-dating Starswirl by almost a century, and they were so overly….well, decorative, that all the additional and unnecessary parts were actually hampering the enchantment’s effectiveness. So, I did a little correcting here and there, stripped out any redundancies and simplified the runes.” She took another sip. “Before I realized that, the connection between Earth and Equus was too unstable, and blew up in my face more times than I wanted it to. With the simplified runes and refined formula, I was able to produce a working, stable, Portal for approximately five minutes, using a small, charged, magic crystal. With a larger power source, it could be opened indefinitely.”

There were open mouths around the table as she finished, before all eyes turned to Allan, who was very quiet.

“It’s time, Allan.” Twilight said, a small, but sad smile on her face.

“You can go home.”

******************************

The Badlands Portal hummed with energy as Twilight made the final adjustments to it’s enchantments. A series of looping, coiling wires were feeding the portal with a steady supply of energy from a large, fully charged magic crystal sitting just beside the pool of water that acted as the entryway for the portal.

The week that had followed Twilight’s breakthrough had been a hectic one, notifying the Princesses of her accomplishment, and gathering together a small force of guards to stand ready on this side of the portal, to make sure nothing came through until Equestria’s forces could be rallied.

Celestia herself was overseeing the preparations, dressed in armour that spoke of both power and regality, made of the finest, platinum coloured metal that shimmered in any light, intricate details applied in lines and plates of gold, all ornately shaped into elegant swirls, sun-motif’s.

In fact, all the element bearers were in some kind of armour too. In fact, in the time since the discussion several months previously about how they needed to know how to defend themselves, Celestia had commissioned armour and weapons for each of them, tailored towards their style of combat.

Rainbow was the most traditional, being simple armour plating in a gold colour, which Celestia revealed was a metal alloy of Gold and Titanium, something Allan hadn’t thought Equestria would have discovered yet, being so backwards in some places. A wing plating with a sharpened edge served as Dash’s weapon, capable of shearing through most objects that were less dense with ease. The overall set was lightweight, and relatively un-restrictive, allowing for near perfect movement in land and in the air. Needless to say, Rainbow thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Rarity and Applejack had nearly no metal plating in their armour at all, instead relying on densely padded gambesons, a kind of cloth vest worn under other armour, or on it’s own, allowing them even greater movement and speed, which suited the hoof to hoof style of Applejack and the nimble fencer style of Rarity perfectly.

Applejack wore a long, duster coat with even more padding over her gambeson, fitted with a harness that held her weapons on, a pair of gauntlets tipped with two large spikes on each hoof.

Rarity, on the other hoof, wore an elegant, yet functional white shirt, and a blue overcoat. The shirt was frilled around the hoof, but was held out of the way, so her hooves were free to move unimpeded.

Both mares wore a hat, Applejack wore a stetson, as usual, while Rarity sported a deep blue, wide brimmed hat, that was itself, wearing a huge, plumed white feather that Celestia swore up and wasn’t hers, despite having a missing feather in her wing.

Pinkie’ armour was a heavy metal chest piece that covered her barrel, a frilled skirt- “It’s a battle-skirt!” -sorry, battle-skirt, and a t-shirt…..that was honestly it. Her mane was bundled into two, poofy pigtails that stuck up haphazardly from behind her ears. A huge warhammer with a head the size of her own rested lazily over one shoulder, with the words: “Party Time!” scrawled on the sides in permanent pink marker. The handle was wrapped in a plethora of ribbons, pink, yellow and blue in colour, with several long strands dangling from the end of the handle.

Fluttershy was wreathed in a cloak, her padded armour hidden from view, with only her gold plated bracers sticking out from underneath. A quiver of arrows hung from her hip, and a collapsible bow was fitted onto one of her bracers, ready to spring back into shape, and into service.

Twilight wore a suit of armour that, like Rainbows armour, was very similar to the standard guard armour, consisting of a set of golden armour pieces that were covered with swirling filigree patterns like the other royals. Her Cutie Mark was emblazoned on the chest piece, and she wore a greco-roman style helmet, complete with a large plume of feathery hair that matched her own mane and tail colours.

Allan once again wore the armour he had conjured in the Dream Realm, his sword hidden in its gauntlet. He stood staring into the portal’s shimmering surface, expression unreadable. Twilight moved up beside him, before giving him a slight nudge on the shoulder.

“Whatever is on the other side, we’ll face it together. Promise.” She murmured, loud enough for him to hear. “We’ve got your back, and we’ll make sure your family and friends are safe.”

Allan remained silent for several long seconds, before he spoke.

“Last time I made this trip, I had no idea what I was in for. Seems fitting that the return journey is the same as the first, don’t you think?”

Twilight took a turn being quiet, before nodding in agreement. “You’ve come full circle, yes.”

Fluttershy and the others all crowded behind him, and Allan turned to face them, uncertainty written all over his smiling face. “Whatever happens, I’m glad we got to be friends. All of us.” He stared past the Element Bearers to Princess Celestia, Trixie and Starlight, who inclined their heads in his direction, a movement he mirrored. “I guess it’s finally time.”

“Hay, yeah. I’m bristlin’ in my britches at thought of a fight. Let’s get over there and see what’s goin’ on!”

“Remember ladies, we’re a scouting force. We’re to find out what we can and report back, if we can. We won’t have the Equestrian Army backing us up over there.” Rarity cautioned her more hasty companions. “We want to avoid a fight when necessary.”

“Indeed, we will have to wait at least a week before our forces are gathered. Any fighting before then puts you all at great risk, so be cautious above all else.” Celestia warned, trotting over to the machine connecting the magic crystal to the portal. “...Are you ready?”

“Ready and waiting, Princess!” Dash saluted, crisply.

“Yay….” Fluttershy cooed softly.

“Yeeehaw! Let’s get ‘er done!”

“Affirmative, Princess!”

“Wheeee! Let’s go!”

“Yes, Princess.”

“I’m ready.”

Celestia smiled sadly. “Then good luck, all of you. I will see you on the dawn of the sixth day. Be brave, My Little Ponies.” Celestia’s hoof flipped the large switch built into the machine, and with a burst of light, the portal exploded into being.

Dash let out a war cry, and dove straight in, followed by a laughing Pinkie, and a whooping Applejack. Rarity rolled her eyes and daintily hopped through, leaving only Twilight, Fluttershy and Allan.

“See you on the other side.” Allan grimaced, before he too, dove in.

Fluttershy followed without a word, grim determination etched into her features. Twilight glanced back once more at Princess Celestia, before she vanished into the pool too, and the cave fell silent, save for the sound of gentle breathing.

“Come.” Celestia announced, breaking the silence. “We have work to do if we are to meet them in time.”

With that, Celestia, Starlight and Trixie left the cave, heading back to Canterlot to prepare Equestria’s armies. They met Spike outside, who, it had been decided, would act as caretaker for the Element Bearers pets and homes whilst they were gone. His tearful eyes were noticed, and he was swiftly comforted by Starlight and Trixie, as Celestia charged a teleportation spell to carry them all home.

With a loud crack, they were gone, leaving the portal behind.

******************************

Allan had been unconscious the first time he crossed between worlds, and he had only seen it from the outside once, which meant he was not prepared for the reality beyond the tranquil surface of the portal.

The first stage was horrible, a swirling miasma of colours, sounds and imagery that made no sense, but carried him like a terrifying drop slide down its long, winding length. He could hear himself and the others all in various states of shocked terror, or in Pinkie’s case, hysterical delight, as they careened through a world that made no sense, narrowly dodging dancing teapots and screaming alarms, pillars if freezing fire, and more colours than could ever exist on a single planet.

When Allan thought it was about to end, his miasmic pathway was replaced by the cosmos itself, first exploding into being out of a pitch darkness, before rapidly expanding in all directions, gas and dust coalescing into the first stars, before they lived and died over and over, novas, supernovas and black holes and galaxies all spinning about endlessly until and single star seemed to pull him in, just like the huge rings of cosmic matter spinning, rotating and traveling about the star in very familiar pathways.

Those pathways were soon dominated by huge bodies of rock and gas, which soon started clearing the debris as they span. As Allan and his friends sped closer, those huge masses swept away that debris as they cooled, until an orderly, neat series of succesive, orbital rings formed, with the massive planets rotatating rapidly as they too, sped around the star at their center.

The third planet from that star soon dominated Alan's view, and he watched as history unfolded before his eyes. The planet cooled, and water soon covered the surface, the red atmosphere, and red water was cleared away by the first life, replaced by the familiar blue he knew so well. Green rushed across the surface, plantlife bursting into being as fish swam the sea for the first time. It went by faster and faster, to the point where the entire planet was nearly a blur. The dinosaurs rose and fell in a minute, the Ice age came and left within seconds and-

Allan burst up out of the portal with a gasp, before landing heavily on top of something warm, soft, and alive. His brain struggled to wrap itself around what he had just seen, but it failed spectacularly, several times.

“Allan, darling….” Rarity groaned. “Would you mind too much if I asked you to get off?”

Allan blinked, eyes focusing on the back of Rarity’s head before his brain finally told his wings to lift him off of her. “Oh, god, Rarity! I’m so sorry!” He rose quickly in place before landing beside her, and helping the swordsmare to her hooves. “I swear that wasn’t on purpose!”

“I know dear, just try to aim for the ground next time.” She answered, with a slightly annoyed chuckle.

Fluttershy came flying out of the portal next, followed closely by Twilight, both of them landing in sprawling heaps.

“Ow…” Twilight grunted, annoyed. Fluttershy said nothing, instead checking that she hadn’t broken anything. “Everypony okay?”

The replies were more or less upbeat, though Allan was a little distracted. The sky above was not the usual iron grey, or even blue, that he remembered, but instead, a putrid, bright green, which flickered and pulsated with magical power.

That was something too. The air was thick with magic, even when it shouldn’t be. It wasn’t the same, constant and pervasive feeling of Equus, but it was definitely here.

“Oof, that’s not a pleasant feeling.” Twilight commented, shuddering a little in her armour. “There’s a definite lack of magic here, and it’s making me all light headed.”

“Me too, Twilight, dear.” Rarity agreed. “Though, I don’t think the others will feel it quite as much.”

“Nah, I feel pretty fine. Heavier than normal, but fine.” Rainbow rasped, busily examining the water fountain the portal was in. “This thing’s pretty cool, but what’s with the lights?”

Allan pulled her away from it with a hoof, instead directing her eyes upwards. “See the sky? Know anything natural that would make it turn green like that?”

Rainbow let out an annoyed snort. “Sunset, duh?” She stared at it confidently before noticing a flaw in her assumption. “But that would be a kinda transitioning thing, with all different shades. That’s just one colour.”

“It’s a shield.” Twilight said, quietly. “One, massive shield. Rainbow, fly up, and see how far it goes...”

“I’ll go with her.” Allan said, quickly. “I have to see this.”

His wings buzzed rapidly, while Rainbow launched herself into the sky. They climbed quickly, until the entire city lay below them, and they could see the extent of the shield, and the changes made to the city itself.

To the east, heading inland, they could see one side of the huge dome, as it reached down from above and partitioned off the easternmost part of the city, a few kilometers away. To the south, even further away, lay the bulk of the city, which was now dominated by a series of black spires jutting up from between the hills there, all of them surrounded by flying black specks. To the north, barely more than a kilometer away, was a mountain, which was as far as the dome went. It looked like it stopped at the very top of the mountain ridge, and curved down from there, heading east and west. Out west, towards the city center, where the towering structures of the skyscrapers stood in a cluster, and beyond, to the ocean, where the shield came down several kilometers out. There, the biggest change was visible, a huge, pitch black tower, rose from the water offshore, rising at least a mile into the air, putting even the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai to shame. It was an asymmetrical structure, with spikes, spines and spires jutting out every which way. It was a testament to the Changeling hive in the Badlands, but it was just...more. Bigger, grander, more foreboding.

Beyond the shield dome, the dark shapes of distant ships were visible, crowding the water on the horizon. There had to be hundreds, all of them military. Which military, Allan had no clue.

“Welcome to Earth.” Allan murmured. “Now get the hell out.”

*********************************

They crept through the streets, not daring to speak, for fear of being discovered before they could find out any information that would be of use to the alliance forces waiting beyond the portal. The air was tense, and nopony even attempted to joke, or make light of it, except Pinkie, who crept about in a stupidly obvious fashion, like some over exaggerated character from a kids TV show, having somehow found and put on a black, skin tight suit, and a pair of night vision goggles that wouldn’t look out of place in a video game.

The streets were empty, and there were overturned vehicles everywhere. Shattered glass littered the pavement near the buildings, and every so often, Allan would stop, taking the time to pick up a small, metal, cylindrical object or two with his magic. There were scorch marks everywhere, damaged fences and smashed cars too, as if something big had come through the area in a hurry.

Several cars were even burned out, and the seven friends were quite glad to see there were no bodies inside those cars. In fact, that was the strangest thing. There were no bodies at all, wherever they looked.

Allan had become all business now. He found a gun underneath a car that was still upright, a revolver, perhaps an old police issue weapon. One of the cylinders was empty, a spent bullet casing lay on the ground not too far away. The scent of the used powder was acrid, and highly unpleasant, biting into his nasal passage like a thirsty mosquito.

Whatever happened here, it was recent.

The ponies moved swiftly on, until they finally came across the thing that had caused all the damage.

A crashed car lay on its side, the windscreen smashed to pieces, and the wheels bent at odd angles. There were scorch marks along the side, which Twilight confirmed as being magical in origin. Most telling though, was the blood. It wasn’t much, just a little bit, where someone had forced their way out of the car door window, cutting their hand on some glass as they climbed out. While the ponies were busy examining the car, quite curious about these new vehicles, Allan decided to put his senses to use.

As Twilight used her magic to take as many notes as she could, while it was possible, she saw Allan trotting quickly off down the street, head bowed as he followed the blood trail, and the scent that came with it.

With hushed whispers, Twilight managed to wrangle her friends away from the car to follow Allan.

The trail lead through several buildings, where evidence of more fighting was found. More bullet casings littered the floor here, of many different calibres, and more blood splattered on the ground approaching those casings. There were hoof prints in that blood. Footprints too.

The trail lead outside the building to an open manhole cover, the smell wafting up from inside so disgusting that Rarity nearly fainted just smelling it. But the determination the group felt to get the information they needed was stronger than that awful smell. One by one, they dropped down inside.

The sewer tunnels were flooded with refuse, and those that could fly were glad they could. Those that couldn’t were glad for levitation.

The blood trail was harder to follow down in that fetid muck, but Allan found it, even when it was almost gone, and lead them through the tunnels, until they emerged into what looked like a basement. The walls were old brickwork, and pipes and wires lined those walls, bolted or screwed onto the brickwork with metal pins or screws. There were washing and drying machines here, some of them still with clothes in.

They crept out into the building proper, and Allan could not escape a feeling of dreadful familiarity. The foyer looked so familiar, as did the halls, the stairwell, the doors, the lights, everything! He shook his head, trying to remember. It seemed like a lifetime had passed since he had lived in this city, and all the details were blurred.

Only when they were standing in front of the door did it hit him. This was His home. HIS apartment building. This door was the door to HIS apartment. He’d finally come back.

He reached up, twisted the door handel. He heard the click. Pushed the door open. Watched as the door swung into the room.

Revealing the barrel of a gun.

BANG.

Author's Note:

Short, but to the point. It's time for act 3......

Comments

[The Radiance]

It's getting interesting

[VeganSpyro97]

9027472
Oh good, and here I thought I was boring all of you.

[harts fire]

yep that was a trap. so just how strong is a changelings skin and the armor he has on, or how fast can twi cast a shield?

[Admiral Stoic Rum]

I know his helmet helped... wouldn't be any good otherwise

[VeganSpyro97]

9027909
You'll have to wait to find oooouuuut!

[Admiral Stoic Rum]

9027910
And the suspense is petrifying.

[The Radiance]

9027521
Nah, it really is interesting

[Cozybro]

9058240
It's not really a word associated with something as mundane as eyes, even magic bug horse eyes.

By the modern Lovecraftian definition, it is used as a descriptor for something so otherworldly and alien that it is beyond mortal comprehension, and to gaze upon it is to know madness.

Of course, the term has been normalized with pop culture, but using it to describe eyes just feels wrong enough to point out.

[VeganSpyro97]

9058572
I looked it up. The definition for the word Eldritch is: Weird and Sinister, or Ghostly.

[DerpTape]

9058760
It also is a great jam on toast.