Interviews With Equestrians

by Jmaster49

Subject 269: Area 1

“Alright, my friends--here we are,” I said to them all, “It’s now or never with this castle serving as our final--ah, you get the point.”

Corkscrew was the first to point out something odd with the ruins that we stood in. “...Boss? Nothing’s happening. Didn’t you say Discord and Fluttershy disappeared around here?”

Acute observation indeed. I shuffled my hooves around, and even prodded the dirt. The magical effect that had caused Discord to shatter apart was nowhere to be found. Even with my keen sensory capabilities--nothing. I refused to let my guard down, however. The stakes were simply too damn high…

“Hrm…” I rubbed my hoof against my chin as I tried to come up with a plausible explanation.

Guttersnipe would disrupt said train of thought with an interjection. “Hey, there’s no point in trying to figure things out. We need to keep moving. Anyone know which way the new Tree of Harmony is?”

“Should be deep in the castle,” Neon flew into the air to get a better view of the area. “...Shite. We got a problem.”

“What do you see, bruv?” Flash Drive asked, “What’s wrong?”

Neon landed, and started to give us the details. “In short: The Tree has been corrupted somehow. By some kind of weird force. It’s also been moved to the far side of the ruins.”

Quick Draw’s eyes grew wide upon that revelation. “The far side? Wait a minute, I read about it. That side of the castle--the East side--is poorly structured with a lot of broken rocks.”

Corkscrew’s wings expanded with a fearful grimace plastered on his face. “We better move as fast as we can, guys! Look!”

We all gazed up at the horizon. There was a flash of blinding light that shone from the far Eastern wing of the castle. In that moment, I could only process so much. My sensory capabilities kicked into overdrive, and I performed a classic dodge-roll maneuver to dive out of the way.

ZZZ!

Surely enough, some kind of magic laser made of pure white light struck the position where I had stood merely second before.

“Get moving!” I shouted.

With no hesitation, everyone moved as fast as they could. Guttersnipe, Neon, and Corkscrew flew through the air while Quick Draw, Flash Drive, and I galloped along the ground. Every few seconds, we had to sidestep and jump over every laser that approached us. It was like hellfire that rained down upon us from all directions. Clearly in an attempt to throw us off our game. But I was ready. I was faster. I was more capable than whatever this careless fool thought of me--and so were my friends.

“To your left!”

“Right!”

“Jump!”

I shouted commands to my allies who followed my advice without question. They were able to avoid life-threatening blasts of magic thanks to my warnings. Guess my magical sensory skill really did pay off...

But that was far from all.

PEW-PEW-PEW!

More lasers. This time from multiple angles that tried to home in on the grounded trio that included myself.

To my left, I could see Flash Drive activate the newly-formed zebra stripes on his body. Cyan ones that matched his magical aura and eye color. Unlike before, he was prepared for this moment. He shouted with all of his might…

“ABSORBIEYAE”

It happened far too quickly for me to put it into words, but he had shouted something in Zebrican that I couldn’t decipher. But in that moment, he absorbed the effects of those lasers, cursed them, and sent them harmlessly into the ground beneath his hooves.

“Hm…” Without so much as a broken sweat, he continued to run along with Quick and I--his pace didn’t even break. “Worked like a charm.”

Quick and I so desperately wanted to comment on his newfound abilities, but now absolutely was not the time. We had to keep going as fast as possible.

However, above us, things weren’t looking so hot either. I glanced towards the sky, and watched as the clouds formed a grim shade of dark blue that pulsated. As if a thunderstorm was on its way. But no. This was something much worse.

SCREEEEEEE!

Like the cries of one thousand banshee, the sky opened up to reveal what appeared to be Wendigos. At least one dozen of them. Unlike the one from the tales of the pony tribes, these ones didn’t bring any frigid weather. No.

Instead, they bum-rushed us. An attempt to knock us out cold before we could make it to the Tree.

Luckily for us, we had an ace up our sleeves.

Guttersnipe had already noticed the threat as soon as the sky opened up. In the amount of time that it took for the banshee-creatures to swoop down at us, the red pegasus had already primed her mechanical wings to fire off rockets. What I didn’t realize, though, was that she had outfitted herself for anti-magical combat.

“EAT MESH MISSILES, BASTARDS!”

SHOOOOOM!

The sky was alight with the rocket propellant from the dozens of projectiles she fired off. The smoke trails created a new set of clouds all their own from how dense they were. And then…

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

All around, the creatures of the sky would be terminated one by one with Guts’ rocket attack. It was like a war against heaven and earth that played out right before me as my ground team continued to run.

And to think...this was only the beginning of the end.

Comments

[Neo4K]

And to think...this was only the beginning of the end.

You got that right. A TRUE beginning of the end, unlike the mediocre season 9 premiere two-parter. And damn! I didn't know Flash and Guts had that kind of power in their arsenals. Very badass! 😁