Legends of Equestria: The Long Road Back

by JimmyHook19

Silent Night, Bloody Night

Mistmane and Starswirl awoke the next morning, feeling thoroughly refreshed from their long journey and ready to continue on their long journey to... somewhere.

"May I ask why we take the route we're taking?" Starswirl asked, as he got his hat on and adjusted the strap holding his cloak on. "Already we have been taking several hours to cross over this place, and we still have no idea where Flash Magnus or indeed anypony else is!"

"I'm certain this is the best route," Mistmane replied. "As we have no magic, we cannot teleport across the country and as such we are limited to long distance travel. However, I can check the magic messaging system for information if you'd like."

"No need, I'll do it," Starswirl replied, and brought up the menu with a quick flash of his horn. "Ah, here we are. There is one message here, and I shall play it for you."

One message suddenly appeared on the display, which once again had the seal of the Cloudsdale Empire. The message was identical to the one Mistmane had received, but the angle on the shot was different, which Starswirl noticed.

"Hang on a moment," he said, as the image suddenly changed. He stopped the recording and backed it up slightly. The angle on the camera had switched to briefly show Somnambula, and above her was part of a word. "Bom... Op... Ho... Clue in Ash..."

He noted this down in his journal, and played the rest of the recording to scour it for any more clues. But clues their came none, and he shut the video again. "It said something about their being a clue in a place called 'Ash', but I have no idea what that even means."

"That is interesting, and gets us a little closer to solving this mystery," Mistmane replied, bringing up her map. "I've charted today's route based on some information I've recovered. Somnambula is normally found in the desert, and from what I remember of her Flash Magnus was normally found nearby. So it makes sense to head towards the desert." She had marked a point. "This seems like a reasonable journey for today."

Suddenly, the pair heard a lot of noise outside, and went over to the window to see what was causing the commotion. Their jaws dropped in shock when they saw the scene before them'

Several columns of soldiers were marching through the streets towards the hotel, all proceeding forward in absolutely perfect step. Each column was six across and at least 20 deep, and each soldier was clad in thick, heavy body armor, black in color with many interlocking plates and tubes for breathing gear running up and down them. Each also wore arm plates with a glowing golden display on the left arm, shoulder guards, hip protectors, and leg and shin protectors and greaves. The final feature of their armor was a large, streamlined helmet, colored like the rest of the ensemble in grey and black, with a red connecting port for the breathing gear and glowing orange eyepieces. They had a variety of ranged weapons resting on their shoulders, the swing of their arms counterbalancing the weight of the firearm.

As these columns converged on the hotel, they all stopped to mark time in perfect synchronization. They then turned toward the hotel itself, their boots thundering up and down and causing the ground to shake, and once all were in position and formation, they stopped, the deathly silence suddenly replacing the massive noise that had once been.

"Where did they come from?" Mistmane asked, as another vehicle rolled to a stop in front of the hotel. It looked like a truck of some description, and out of it stepped... a pony? This pony was wearing armor plating of a similar design to the soldiers, only built for the dimensions of a pony, and a gap had been left for a horn.

The figure suddenly began to speak, in a voice that was oddly familiar. And also female. "Listen up, Starswirl and Mistmane!" she called. "You can make this easy and surrender now, or we can do this the hard way."

"Who are you?" Mistmane called, as she opened the window.

"Oh, apologies. This is Project 722, the military operation working to research Subject X."

Starswirl looked in shock at Mistmane. "We have to get out of here, now," he said. "Project 722 is extremely dangerous!"

"I've always believed in negotiating before turning to more drastic action," Mistmane replied, rebuffing him, before turning her attention back to the window. "What do you want?"

"For ponies like you to stop being so selfish and hoarding all the magic," the voice said again. "Everypony needs magic, and with it lives could be improved for the better and new advances made. Already we have made marvelous advances with pegasus magic, and much of the equipment you see here is powered by Equestrian magic. But of course the popular ones such as yourself can never share, can they? Everypony wanted your advice. Everypony loved you. Your magical prowess was the reason for that, and I suspect your looks helped as well."

Mistmane's eyes widened in realization. "No," she whispered. "It can't be!"

The pony removed their helmet, and both Starswirl and Mistmane gasped when they saw them. "I say!" Starswirl exclaimed. "Something went wrong there!"

The mare's fur was an off, broken cream color, with a curved horn similar to Mistmane. She had blue eyes, and a grey mane in two tones that was done up quite severely, presumably to fit within the narrow confines of the helmet.

"Remember me, Mistmane? I was once your friend, Sable Spirit. You pushed me to do this."

"Do what? I never did anything to anypony!"

Sable Spirit shook her head. "You never were a good listener, Mistmane. As you were loved so much for your beauty, I tried to enhance my own. You can see for yourself how well that went. Not only that, I took the throne by force. Working for Project 722 has given me limitless power, and a chance to achieve my dream of finally getting rid of you, my hated rival."

"I can't let you do that," Mistmane said.

"That's hardly a concern of mine," Sable Spirit replied. "When I want something, I take it. OPEN FIRE!"

With a single, synchronized act, the soldiers brought their weapons to bear and began firing on the hotel. Starswirl indicated to a fire escape door, and both ponies galloped towards it, bashing to door open and escaping with seconds to spare. Once down it, they headed south as fast as they could.

---

Continuing down the street, they moved as quickly as they could as the sounds of gunfire continued to echo down the streets. They took a right and sprinted over a bridge and cleared it as a helicopter flew into position and opened fire, barraging the bridge with missiles. The structure couldn't take the punishment and broke apart, the giant metal structure falling into the river with a splash and the groaning of damaged metal.

Following a series of desperate moves and tight turns, moving through the streets to dodge several roadblocks that had emerged, put up courtesy of Project 722. When they at last made their way onto a major highway, they slowed down as the soldiers no longer seemed to be following them. After a left turn and another bridge crossing (this time without the bridge collapsing) they took two left turns in rapid succession, followed by two separate exits in rapid succession. Even though Project 722 had seemingly lost them, they didn't slow, continuing as fast as they could as they kept right, then left, and then crossed over another river. After turning onto a road marked 'Blackfoot Trail', although neither Starswirl nor Mistmane knew what a 'blackfoot' was, they took several zigzag turns alternating between left and right before climbing an access ramp and merged onto another escape road. Following that, they merged onto another road and crossed another river. They kept to the left, and then turned and zigzagged left and right on the road.

At long last, certain that Project 722 had finally lost them, they slowed down as they passed through a place of extremely flat plains. At last, they stopped for a rest after having climbed into the foothills.

"I... think... we... lost... them!" Starswirl said, breathing heavily from all the running. "Remember I am no longer as young as I was!"

"I think we can take a slower pace in this section of our journey," Mistmane replied. "Let's go."

Owing to the nature of the road up ahead, the journey became increasingly stop start as they headed along. After surveying some viewpoints, they crossed into the British Columbia place again, stopped at a bridge, and then paused once more on a roadside next to a strange tunnel, where another of those iron monsters roared past, looping over itself as it did so. After crossing several more bridges and stopping for another rest, they followed along a river and a lake, through a place called Sorrento, and eventually reached the Trans-Canada Highway. Merging onto the road (although the car drivers took no notice of two unicorns walking along), they crossed another river, and then took several turns as the road bent about. Following another lake and another river, they stopped at several lakes to get their strength up and have something to eat (as they had not had breakfast, being forced to flee the hotel). Passing Whistler Mountain, which Starswirl recognized, they continued over several rivers, lakes, and bridges, before taking several turns in the built up area.

"This is Vancouver!" Starswirl said.

"How do you know that?" asked Mistmane.

"I'll tell you later," the wizard replied.

After a few more turns and another bridge, they navigated through several streets, entered into another hotel, and went straight to sleep without dinner.

---

"What do you mean you lost them?" Sable Spirit demanded.

"Hostile targets were last sighted on the High Level Bridge," the soldier replied. "One of our choppers flattened the structure, so there's no way they could have survived."

Sable Spirit smiled. "Mistmane may be clever, but intelligence doesn't make you able to dodge rockets," she said. "As for this town, they harbored those enemies of ours. Raze it to the ground. Kill anything that moves."

"Yes ma'am," the soldier replied. Sable Spirit looked on as her soldiers opened fire on anybody in the vicinity and armored vehicles began to flatten buildings.

"Heed my words," the Empress said. "If you harbor our enemies, this is the price you pay."

Author's Note:

In case you still wondering what Project 722 soldiers look like, this gives you a clue:

This here is Sable Spirit's armor:

I know that's actually Applejack underneath, but pretend that underneath the armor is in fact Sable Spirit.

Here's an overview of the segment covered in Chapter 4 ^^

Comments

[The Blue EM2]

I see this chapter got you some extra traffic.

[JimmyHook19]

10610176
Indeed :3

[The Blue EM2]

10610807
Onwards.