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Chapter 1 Past and future8,503 words
Chapter 2: Hooves Of Gold Are Always Cold2,882 words
Chapter 3: Let me tell you about Abacus15,736 words
Chapter 4: Harmon's Past6,987 words

Chapter 2: Hooves Of Gold Are Always Cold

Chapter 2: Hooves Of Gold Are Always Cold

The six children were suddenly awoken to the sound of an explosion that rocked the ground underneath them. Looking around themselves, they found themselves not in their room, but somewhere else. Their new location was within what looked like a hanger bay, damaged with damaged tie fighters and walkers, and fires burning everywhere. Scootaloo, Dinky, Pipsqueak, and Ray noticed that there were inside a hanger of a First Order base, since they noticed that the tie fighters were of the same color of the ones used by them. Keen Eye and Lily Pad looked around them, scared and unsure of their surroundings.

“Where are we?” Keen Eye asked. “What’s going on?!”

“Abi! There’s a shuttle back that way! We’ve gotta go!”

The children turned their heads towards the direction where they heard the adult female voice shouted. They spotted two ponies wearing dark clothes trying to run to a shuttle. One was an earth pony stallion with a brown coloured coat, grey coloured mane, greyish magenta coloured eyes, a counting frame as a cutie mark, and mild scarring on the left side of his face that looked corrected with surgery. The other was a unicorn mare with a dark grey coloured coat, a chocolate brown mane, light brown eyes, wearing black-framed glasses, and a cutie mark of an opened eye that was the same colour as her own eyes.

Scootaloo and Co looked at the two ponies with curious looks, wondering who those two ponies were. The twins, however, looked on with a look of surprise, as if they knew these two ponies all very well.

“That’s Dad!” Lily Pad exclaimed in surprise.

“And Mom too!” Keen Eye waved at their parents to get their attention. “Mom! Dad! We’re over here!”

Keen Eye and Lily Pad continued to call out to their parents, Abacus Sum and Lawful Eye. Only, for reasons they could not figure, their parents continued to run towards the shuttle, and did not turn to them, as if they could not see, nor hear any of them.

The two ponies stopped abruptly, looking as if something was delaying them from going any further. Turning to the direction of where the twin’s parents were staring at, the children saw something coming. A silhouette looking like an armored stallion came out of the smoke and shadow from the burning debris, along with the sound of multiple heavy footsteps.

Within a couple of seconds, the armored stallion stepped out, fully revealing himself before everyone. They saw he was wearing shining golden armor. Its shoulder-plates were augmented with dragon's horns dipped in bronze, and its helmet is fashioned into a grinning, golden skull. Red fabric adorned his garb, decorated with the symbol of the Ifrit, the skeletal pony aflame, and was carrying a goldern blaster rifle. The armored stallion was also accompanied by a battalion of what seemed like unicorn and pegasi royal guards, also carrying blaster rifles.

"Mulciber!" Abacus Sum and Lawful Eye yelled, as if they knew who the armored stallion was.

The armored stallion called Mulciber levitated his blaster rifle with his magic, and aimed it at the twins’ parents. The royal guard battalion did the same, aiming their blaster rifles at them, unicorns with their magic, and pegasi in their wings.

The blasters clocked and charged as Mulciber yelled at Abacus Sum and Lawful Eye, “Heathens!”

Right before the armored stallion and battalion could fire, a loud shot echoed with a large blaster bolt hitting close to Mulciber left side. He and his battalion staggered from the explosion, as he turned to the direction to where the shot came from.

“What?!” Mulciber said.

In the direction, an AT-ST walker was operating, and opening fire on Mulciber and his royal guards. They began to return fire on the walker, only their weapons seemed quite useless against the battle machine attacking them. Royal guards began to fall against the walker. One blast even managed to once again hit close to Mulciber, causing an explosion near him that caused his blaster to be thrown from his magical grasp away from him.

The AT-ST began to move, but was still connected to holding cables that held it securely to its head. It proceeded to move forward, despite that, while still firing on the royal guards. The strength of the walker was so great that it strained the head connected to the cables, until the cover of the cockpit ripped away, leaving only the base and guns of the head remained, with the ripped off cover hanging and connected to the cables. There in the centre of where the cover once was, the mystery operator of the walker revealed itself to everyone. To everyone’s surprise, the operator was not a pony, but a dog. A German Shepherd sat at the controls, and barked twice at Abacus Sum and Lawful Eye, before growling ferociously, and operating the walker to continue firing on the royal guards.

The children looked confused and unsure what to think, seeing a dog operating a walker like that.

“Rex?” Keen Eye and Lily Pad said in unison.

Scootaloo, Dinky, Pipsqueak, and Ray looked on at the dog that the twins identified as their dog, as Scootaloo commented, “That’s weird.”

Abacus Sum and Lawful Eye looked at each other, unsure of what to think of their dog, Rex, operating the walker and saving their lives. Their brief moment of unsurety was sort lived when some unicorn royal guards yelled out “Fire!”, before opening fire with spells and blaster shots behind them. Abacus and Lawful Eye ducked down for cover just in time for the shots to miss them.

Abacus turn to his left, and went for a fallen royal guard’s Z6 riot control baton that was close by to him. As Abacus bent down and grabbed hold of the riot baton, he looked up at his wife, as she yelled out his name as if to warn him. He turned to see the golden armored stallion, Mulciber, standing close behind him. He stood like a statue, with the fires from the burning debris reflecting off of his armor, giving him a more menacing look, as he fixed his sights on the earth pony stallion.

With her magic, Lawful Eye quickly grabbed hold of a blaster pistol from a nearby fallen guard, and fired a shot at Mulciber. The blaster bolt made a direct hit, but Mulciber’s armor deflected it with ease. It caused no effect on the armored stallion, not even making him flinch for an instant.

Before the unicorn mare could fire anymore shots, she suddenly found herself being shot at by some royal guards, and had to quickly take cover behind some wreckage. With Lawful Eye pinned down to fight off royal guards, Abacus was now left to fight alone against his golden armored foe that stood before him. Without saying a word, Mulciber drew out a command staff, and stood in a ready stance with his weapon hoof, daring the earth pony stallion to attack.

Abacus activated his riot baton, and charged at him with an angry scream. He struck at Mulciber, but the armored unicorn parried Abacus’s strike with ease. On the second strike, the two ponies stood on their hind legs, as their weapons clashed and locked together. Both ponies growled as they were now face-to-face, with Abacus’s face, and the electrical sparks from his riot baton reflecting off of the bigger unicorn’s helmet.

"Cute." Mulciber snickered.

Abacus glared as he taunted, "Let's go, gold dome!"

Abacus unlocked weapons with Mulciber, and ducked from a strike from his command staff. The children watched on, as the two stallions fought, blocking and dodging each other's strikes with their weapons. Mulciber growled with annoyance at how an average-sized stallion could stand up to him in combat. With his riot baton in his hooves, Abacus fought for his life, and all his might with each strike, and block he did.

Then suddenly, after several moments, Mulciber got the upper hand by punching Abacus in the face, causing the earth stallion to stagger. The children watched with shock, as their father barely managed to block a strong strike from the armored unicorn’s command staff. The strike was so strong that it pushed Abacus back to what looked like a shaft that lead to an abyss. Then with one more direct strike from his weapon, Mulciber landed a hard blow that knocked the Abacus down the shaft his death.

“NO!! DADDY!!!!” Keen Eye and Lily Pad screamed out with horror, with tears forming in their eyes at seeing this armored unicorn stallion kill their father right in front of them.

Mulciber stood on the edge looking down the shaft. "Pride of Luna, you are! She always did have low standards!"

The unicorn then turned around, until he was staring directly in the path of the children. They stared back at him, looking in horror, not able to move. After a moment, the stallion looked slightly up, as they heard the sound of fast-paced steps. The children turned around to see the twins mother, Lawful Eye, running towards Mulciber in a rage, with a blaster pistol in her magic.

“You monster!” Lawful Eye yelled. “You killed my Abi!!”

In a rage, she fired several shots at Mulciber, each making direct hits, but causing no effect on his armor.

“Cute.”

Amused by this, Mulcider fired a spell from his horn in front of the mare, causing a small pulse of magic that took her by surprise. The pulse knocked Lawful Eye back, causing her to fall to the hangar bay floor.

The twins watched in horror as they saw their mother falling to the ground. “MOM!!”

“Don’t worry.” Mulciber said. “You’ll be joining your husband soon enough.”

Suddenly, right when Mulciber said that, the head of the dark brown earth stallion showed up from the shaft. Rising, as he was stood on an elevator platform rising upwards. For that split second, Keen Eye and Lily Pad were happy and relieved that their father was not dead after all. When Abacus was about close to the same height as Mulciber, he spoke out to him to get his opponent’s attention.

"Hey."

The armored stallion turned around in surprise at the earth stallion, that he thought he had killed, getting his attention. Before Mulciber could react, Abacus swung his riot baton, and hit him in the left side his helmet with full force. The blow was so strong that it caused sparks of metal to fly off, and made his opponent stagger for a moment, struggling to keep his balance.

The children, Keen Eye and Lily Pad especially, cheered at how Abacus had landed an impressive blow to the armored stallion. Suddenly, a tie fighter fell after being shot down by the walker hijacked by their dog, Rex. It crashed close by, causing an explosion that made the children flinch, and cover their eyes for a few moments. After getting their bearings, they uncovering them to continue watching. They saw the dark brown earth stallion standing on the elevator platform, with four royal guards climbing the ladders on the sides. Abacus stood ready to fight with his riot baton as four recruits of the royal guard climbed up and surrounded him on all four corners of the platform.

Then, from the side of the elevator platform facing Abacus’s direction, the armored hoof of the unique armored stallion appeared, and soon pulled himself up on the platform. His golden skull shaped mask was damaged from the left side where the earth pony’s debilitating blow hit. It was dinted from the base to the lens of the eye, with a ripped hole where the eye lens once was, rendering his left eye visible. Mulciber's dirty pale orange-colored eye twitched in his sunken socket, with his eyelids baggy and grey. But most frightening of all, his eye glared with great rage with his focus directly at his enemy.

"That's it!” The armored unicorn climbed and pulled himself up, with the desire to kill the dark brown earth stallion. His yelling voice filled with absolute anger. “Now I'm going to make this slow!” Mulciber readied his command staff. “I'm gonna' smash your ribs in! And while you're lying crippled on the ground, I'm gonna' slit your belly open, stuff your bladder down your throat, and drown you in your own curd!!!"

The threatening, enraged words of Mulciber sent fear-fuel chills through the children’s spines. Keen Eye and Lily Pad trembled with fear, as they huddled to each other, and could nothing but watch as their father was left to face this evil monster of a stallion alone. Abacus stood there for a moment with his riot baton ready, eying Mulciber at each of his four guards surrounding him on all four corners of the platform. Then he lowered his weapon, and began to talk to Mulciber.

"You call for order. You enslaved us. Tortured us. You beat us down. But when your shiny neck was threatened, you squealed and gave in like a coward. The evidence blew up with the factory, but you and I know the truth. When I put a gun to your head, you shut down the factory’s defenses." Abacus pointing at Mulciber as he taunted. "Now, what would your troops do if they found out? Or the princess?"

Unimpressed by his opponent’s attempt at trash-talk, Mulciber taunted. "Don't you know dead ponies tell no tales?!"

After saying that, Mulciber noticed that the four royal guards were blinking, and looking briefly at each other. Each of them having questionable "Would-he?" expressions on their faces as they processed the words of the two enemies.

The armored stallion exposed eye eyed each guard, with a hint of fear showing. He then stared at Abacus, with both stallions locking their sights on each other. The four guards continued to look at each other when confronted with evidence of their commander’s treason. Then, before the guards could process any further, Mulciber’s horn lit up, and with great accuracy, he hastily fired lethal spells at them. Each spell hit each guard in the chest, piercing their chest plates, and leaving a scorching burn at their hearts. They each fell to the floor, lifeless with a clanking thud.

Seeing a brief opportunity, Abacus charged at the armored unicorn at full speed while he was distracted. Mulciber, noticed the earth stallion charging at his from the corner of his eye, and prepared to fire a spell at him. Before he could fire it, Abacus swung his riot baton, and landed a blow that hit Mulciber’s horn, shattering it. Mulciber cried with pain as pieces of his shattered horn fell to the ground, smoking and sparking as they landed. Mulciber held a hoof to his broken horn as he continued to cry in pain. Abacus then saw his chance. With an angry scream, he swung his riot baton with all his earth pony strength, and hit his enemy square in the chest. The blow was so strong that it knocked Mulciber back, causing him to fall off the edge of the elevator, landing hard into a pit.

The children, who had watched the whole thing, cheered at how the father of the twins beat the evil scary stallion in armor. At the same time, Abacus walked towards the edge to where his opponent had fallen. Looking over the edge, he looked down to see the armored stallion on the ground. He noticed that there was further damage to the stallion’s armor. His chest plate was singed and dinted from the blow, and he was coughing, with blood dripping from the front of his mask. The guard commander breathed heavily as he looked at the traitorous earth stallion. His exposed eye glaring straight at him hatefully.

"You were always scum." Mulciber said.

"Rebel scum." Abacus proudly replied.

Right at that moment, the pit began to groan, a large portion of the floor broke away, making the unicorn look in shock at it. Mulciber then looked briefly at Abacus, the floor beneath him gave way a second later. The commander fell, plummeting to his death into the burning remains of the ship's interior. The fire then erupted from the depths, englutting everything and everyone like a raging inferno. The children cried out as the Abacus disappeared within the raging flames, and came fast in their direction.

With a slight gasp, all six children woke up from their sleep, with sweat covering their foreheads. Scootaloo, Ray, Dinky, and Pipsqueak relaxed themselves, realizing it had just been a dream.

“That was strange…” Dinky mumbled.

After getting themselves together, the four friends got themselves comfortable, relaxed, and went back to sleep again. Keen Eye and Lily Pad, on the other hand, were frightened from the dream. Seeing their parents and family pet getting swallowed up by the fire made them quite upset. The twins started to cry silently, and just laid there in their bunks.

“Mom, Dad. I wish you were here.” Keen Eye thought.

Lily Pad sniffled, and turned to her side in her bunk. She then closed her eyes, with tears trickling down her face as she thought inside her head. “Oh, Mom and Dad, I hope you’re safe.”

Author's Note:

Much thanks for Raptor to edit this. Originally part of the second chapter, we both thought this as its own chapter makes up for the long wait.

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