Ponypeii

Everything was black. That's how nighttime always was. Black. Pitch blackness that threatened to swallow any light source from a lantern or a candle. The world was still. Not a single sound broke the silence. Not a single creature moved. If they moved, they were vulnerable. If they made any sound at all, they would be found. If they revealed themselves to those who played with their lives like little fillies' dolls, they would be killed. It would be a slow, painful, agonizing death. Because those four never gave their victims the mercy of a swift demise. No, they seemed to feed off of the suffering of others. Their slow deaths were their life sources. Their fear and pain were their reasons for being.

The worst part was that there was no escaping their sadistic wrath. The inhabitants -- or, what was left of them -- had tried to flee from the city of ruins countless times. But there was no escaping Ponypeii. Not after the arrival of the Sisters. They tried to fight the enemies. The king's hundreds of warriors had fought valiantly against these vile beasts, but no matter how hard they fought, they would always drop like flies. They were no match for the Sisters.

None of that mattered to the figure racing through the darkness. At least, not now, it didn’t. She had a job to do. She had been called forth by His Majesty, having been requested to visit his living quarters at the beginning of the black night. Her hooves pounded against the earth as she raced as quickly as she could through the cover of the night, hoping and praying that none of the Sisters were nearby. Her kind was a rather noisy trotter, but at least her speed made it difficult for others to keep up with her pace. Blink even once, and one just might miss her go by. She prided herself in her unrivaled speed and stamina, being one of the swiftest in the troops.

She approached the large cave, her hooves remembering exactly where her king’s home was through countless years of serving him and rushing to his aid. Slowing down to a trot, she entered the cave, her strong hooves clacking noisily against the stone floor, the sounds bouncing off the walls endlessly. The further she went, the better she could see. Torches had been lit deep into the cave where they would be hidden away from the outside, hiding the location of the cave at night. It didn’t take her long to reach the main cavern where countless torches stood along either side of a walkway, their shadows dancing playfully against the walls, painting the room a comforting, warm orange.

At the far end of the cave sat a giant, jet black stallion. He had had his head bowed, his eyes closed, as he breathed deeply, his large chest rising and falling. Any other pony who would come into the cave — if they could even find it — to find him like this would likely assume him to be in a deep sleep, but the smaller pony knew he was just calming himself. The arrival and destruction of the Sisters had put a huge strain on the king of Ponypeii, quite understandably, and this was his way of coping with the worry and stress of what was to come. Of what had become of his beloved city.

The pony shuffled down to a kneeling position, bowing her head to the great stallion before her, waiting in silence to be addressed. Finally, she sensed his head slowly rising to look at her. She knew he hadn’t risen his head all the way, otherwise he would have collided with his head against the roof of the cavern. He was a giant pony with a coat and mane as black as the night swallowing the world outside, and his eyes were a strikingly vivid orange. He had massive hooves that were tufted with fur where the hooves and legs met, and his black cape covered his cutie mark. In fact, nopony had ever seen the King’s cutie mark. She most certainly hadn’t, even in all the years she had served His Highness.

Finally, after what felt like ages, the stallion finally spoke. His voice was deep, and it echoed powerfully through the room, despite him speaking at a low volume. “I thank you for coming, Soldier 5654.”

The pony in question didn’t move from her position, remaining as still as a statue, yet she still responded. “Of course, Your Majesty.” It had taken her a while to get used to the name in which the King had referred to her with. It wasn’t her real name, of course, but it was used by the King to protect her identity. He had special numbers for all the troops. Well, he used to. She was one of the only remaining soldiers he had. The Sisters had nearly wiped out her entire race, save for a couple dozen; there had once been hundreds of her kind serving His Highness.

“You may rise, Soldier 5654,” the King commanded, watching as the pony before him did as she was told, rising up to her full height to look him in the eye. “I presume you know why I have called you here.”

“To discuss a better battle tactic to use against the Sisters, Your Highness,” Soldier 5654 replied confidently, standing straight with her chest puffed out at attention. Every other meeting the King had held had been for discussing new methods to break through the Sisters’ defenses.

However, to her great surprise, the massive stallion shook his head. “We have lost too many soldiers to those vile ponies already. No matter how hard we train, no matter how hard we fight, they seem to always remain one step ahead of us. They are too powerful. We cannot defeat them alone.”

The soldier couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Your Highness, we of the Regal Troops are the swiftest and strongest of the Ponypeiians. So long as we follow your lead, we will soon catch the Sisters off guard. We will defeat them.”

The King shook his head again. “No. I’m tired of losing my soldiers to them. I have called you here, Soldier 5654, to deliver a message. An SOS. We need help defeating the Sisters. We cannot do it alone.”

Soldier 5654 stared at the King in disbelief, her countenance shattering in a moment of weakness. Surely he wasn’t being serious? Of course, she would never challenge his authority, but surely they were strong enough to get rid of four ponies by themselves. They didn’t need any help from any outsiders. “King Colossus, I assure you, I have been training nonstop ever since our last defeat. If I train just a little more—”

“I will not lose anymore soldiers,” King Colossus interrupted, the volume of his voice raising with an authority that extinguished the soldier’s desire to speak any further. “It is time for me to admit that we cannot defeat the Sisters alone. We need help from outside of Ponypeii. Soldier 5654, I want you to travel to the land of Equestria and seek help from the Queen.”

What?! It took the soldier every last ounce of willpower not to shout the word at the top of her lungs. King Colossus wanted the help of those entitled Equestrian ponies? Had he forgotten what those ponies had done to him and his subjects countless moons ago? How could he put so much trust in those who had betrayed him? “With all due respect, Your Majesty, I do not see the reasoning behind your request. You and the … Queen have not had the most friendliest of interactions in the past. How can you be so sure she would be willing to help us?”

“I am not,” the massive stallion admitted, “but I would rather try to seek help from them than to let the Sisters take what little remains of Ponypeii from me. Soldier 5654, I understand your stand on the situation, but I trust that you will not fail me, no matter how you may feel.”

Soldier 5654 stifled a sigh. “I would never disobey you, King Colossus. If you believe those Equestrians could help us get rid of the Sisters once and for all, then I shall retrieve them.”

King Colossus nodded his head approvingly. “You may return to your home and sleep the rest of the night. When the sky turns orange, you shall set out to retrieve help from the Queen of Equestria. You are dismissed.”

Kneeling down to the stallion once again, Soldier 5654 turned and traipsed out of the cave, the soft and comforting glow of the torches’ flames gradually dimming until they were swallowed up by the darkness. She couldn’t believe it. King Colossus wanted to ask those treacherous Equestrians for help? They were nearly as bad as those Sisters! After all, it was them who had banished their kinds from Equestria on account of being too different. The four pony races who now resided in Ponypeii had tried to make themselves welcome in Equestria after the earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi founded the land, but instead of welcoming them with open hooves, they had driven them away.

“Oh, give it a rest, Pace,” the soldier sighed heavily, her dark gray tail whipping behind her as she neared her disheveled home. She had a duty to the King to uphold. She may not like it, but that didn’t mean she had any right to disobey his direct order. Tomorrow, whether she liked it or not, she would set out to seek help from those Equestrians.

She just hoped King Colossus knew what he was doing….

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