Dusk Rises

by The-rogue-shadow

Chapter 6

The grey tinged snow melted slowly in the windowsill as the new spring sun shone through the stained glass windows in the church tower, filling the octagonal room with a mix on blue, green and red colours. Twilight was pleased that winter had ended, so that she could make a bigger effort on helping the city, without the threat of her horn freezing off. Her new friends were also pleased, as it meant that New Grifburg would soon be having its annual Spring festival, an event that brought together the rich and the poor in the name of mutual celebration of the end of Winter and the upcoming season of hatchlings. Max and Jean had informed Twilight of the significance of the event, as it was only in the spring and summer months that Griffin eggs would hatch. They also told her that only a handful of griffins had even been born out of season, two of which were Prince Alistair and Princess Gilda. It was a time of peace for the griffins, one of the few times during the year when they would call a truce with the ponies. The streets would be filled with griffins and ponies alike as they partied and drank themselves stupid for a week, then the second week would see the beginning of the hatchings. During Jean's heartfelt reminiscing of previous years, Twilight's thought's turned to Pinkie Pie and how much she wished they could be together at a time like this. Pinkie would love to be at a party of this magnitude, when an entire city revelled in fun and laughter.

Twilight forced those thoughts from her mind, not wanting to be reminded of all the things she left behind. Max and Archangel suddenly flew in through the window, large bags of supplies being carried over their backs, as well as their mouths. The animosity between the two was still strong, even more so than before Archangel's disappearance and return. Neither one would ever look the other in the eye. For Archangel it was a matter of guilt, his quest for revenge over the death of his daughter had tarnished his own sense of honour. As for Max, he was mad that another stallion had scorned him when he needed them most.

"So did you get everything?" Asked Jean as she started to rifle through the bags. Both boys gave short affirmative grunts in reply. Jean turned to Twilight and sighed, Twilight begun to think that they would never speak to each other again. Archangel walked up to Twilight and handed her a slip of paper with an address on it, one she didn't recognise.

"One of my contacts gave me that. He thinks we should check it out. Wouldn't elaborate on the why." Archangel told her, before Max snatched the paper away angrily.

"And what? Are we just meant to trust your street urchin friend?" He said, balling up the note and throwing it back into Archangel's face. Twilight started to worry that they were going to come to blows as they stared daggers at each other. Jean sighed, getting in between the boys before anything could happen.

"Okay, I'm so sick and tired of you both! Max, he left because he was in pain. Archangel had just lost his daughter. You have no idea what he's been through. And Archangel, you have to understand that Max has had too many ponies and griffins abandon him to just forgive it again." She yelled, pushing both of them away from each other. Max and Archangel looked away from her, and Twilight could tell that they were ashamed of how they had acted.

"Since you two obviously can't work together, so Jean is going to help me investigate that address." Said Twilight, hoping to cut short the argument and keep the peace to some degree.

"What!? No, I forbid it!" Yelled Max, shaking his head violently. Jean shot max a dirty look, and her brother took a few timid steps backward.

"You.. forbid it? What am I to you? A child that can be ordered around. Don't you forget that I am a full eighteen minutes older. I'm going with Dusk and there is nothing you can do about it." She told him sternly, before walking over to her bunk and pulling the white hooded jumper over her head.

"Jean has proven herself to me and I believe that she can handle herself. Now we are leaving to investigate while you two stay here and talk out your problems. If we can't work as a team, then the griffins have already won." Said Twilight, effectively ending the argument in one swift move. Both boys nodded silently, and Twilight felt a sense of power that she quite liked. The girls headed for the window, and just as they dove out the window, Twilight heard Max say "Be safe."

As she wandered over the rooftops of the city, Twilight could see citizens start to get ready for the festival, with stores stocking up on party supplies, alcohol and food. It was a side to New Grifburg that she hadn't seen before, and liked to imagine that it was going to be the norm once all of the corruption was gone.

"How long does the city stay in this state of peace after the festival ends?" Asked Twilight, taking a glance over the side of the building into the street below.

"Unfortunately, only for a few weeks, then it goes back to normal. The rich sometimes donate to a charity if some of the impoverished make an impression on them, but it's a lot more rare than it should be." Replied Jean, smiling a little, as though a pleasant memory had surfaced.

The address that Archangel had been given turned out to be in the industrial zone, a large factory to be precise. Three brick chimney's stretching into the sky, all spewing thick black smoke. It was surrounded by a chain link fence that was topped with barbed wire.

"Now that is a fortress." Said Jean, and Twilight was happy to see that she shared her brother's sense of humour.

"I could teleport us in, but I'll be pretty weak afterwards. If it was a full moon, it would be easy. My magic seems to be strongest then." Twilight told her, sighing. She looked at Jean, who was looking at her with a raised eyebrow. She shrugged, not understanding what Jean was getting at, until she spread her wings.

"Know any invisibility spells?" Said Jean, smiling. Twilight nodded, allowing her to be gripped around the waist by Jean's talons, while at the same time, she charged her horn with magic and cast the spell. The world shimmered for a moment, as a bubble formed around the two. The spell was one of Twilight's own design, and it worked by bending the light around the bubble. It was based off the special ops armour Rarity had made for the war. Jean took to the air, with Twilight suspended precariously underneath as they infiltrated the base. Jean flew in the direction of a small catwalk that clung to the side of the factory. The metal creaked as they landed, and Twilight could tell that it was almost rusted through, just painted over to fool a safety inspector.

"Maybe you should keep to the air for a while. I have a spell that will help us to keep in contact over distance." Said Twilight, casting the new spell. It caused a pink glow to appear around the top of Jean's head, and a purple to one to form around Twilight's ears.

"You never cease to impress me with your magic Dusk. Are you sure you are going to be okay by yourself?" Asked Jean, as Twilight left the protection of the invisibility bubble. She nodded, and then she felt a small rush of air as Jean took to the sky. Twilight followed the path of the catwalk, hoping that the metal wouldn't buckle before she reached the door. Once she was inside, Twilight headed for the lower levels, in search of offices that might contain the information she requires. Much to her surprise, the labyrinthine hallways were suspiciously empty, despite the fact that it was the middle of the work day. She soon found what she was looking for; an office that had the word 'Foreman' written on the door. Inside, the walls were lined with filing cabinets, and as she went through them, Twilight started to become discouraged. The folders were filled with nothing but employee records and logistical information about their product, which appeared to be something called a 'Firearm.' Having no clue what it was, Twilight put the files back as neat as she could, and left the office, still looking for anything that would have piqued the interest of Archangel's contact.

"Anything yet?" Asked Jean, her voice coming through as clear as if she was standing beside her.

"I'm afraid not. This place is deserted. Not a soul around. It's quite strange." Replied Twilight, rounding a corner to find a staircase leading downwards.

"Well if you want my advice, I would head toward the main production area. If you wanted to find where the action is. That is where it would be." Jean suggested, and Twilight agreed, heading down the stairs. A few flights later, Twilight heard a multitude of voices and other sounds of industry, and they only got louder as she descended in the bowels of the factory.

The air got progressively hotter as Twilight walked down the final hallway to the production floor, and the noise was almost deafening. The door at the end of the hall wasn't locked, but it was heavy, and Twilight needed some magic to help her. What lay inside shocked the purple unicorn all the way to her core. The entire room was filled with ponies and griffins, as well as machines that spewed fire and black smoke. Twilight slowly entered, taking great care not to attract attention. Hiding amongst some crates that rested against a wall, she started to try and determine what it was that they were making.

"Jean, I'm on the production floor, and by the looks of things, some kind of a weapon is being made. I have no idea of the nature of it, but it doesn't look overly dangerous. It's just a long tube attached to a piece of wood." Said Twilight, but received no response from Jean, even after trying repeatedly. She soon decided that it was time to leave, lest she be discovered and become a test subject for the weapon. Making her way back toward the door, an alarm suddenly went off, an air horn on a repeating blast. Out of nowhere, dozens of guards appeared, grabbing what Twilight reason were the finished weapons. She panicked, galloping toward the door as fast as possible. Twilight blasted them open with magic, no longer caring is she was discovered or not, only wanting to get out before whatever was setting off the alarm caused her more problems.

"Twilight! We have to get going now! I've been discovered." Said Jean, shouting into Twilight's ear.

"What! How did that happen?" She asked, galloping up the flights of stairs.

"Well, I was… relieving myself, and a guard happened to walk into the bubble. I knocked him out, but his friend ran off and activated the alarm." She told her, and Twilight could tell that she was embarrassed.

"Look, just meet me on the catwalk in a few minutes." Replied Twilight as she galloped past the foreman's office. When she got to the catwalk, her eyes darted around in search for any signs of Jean. All of a sudden, the grey coloured griffin appeared out of nowhere, having enveloped Twilight in the bubble of magic.

"I'm going to have to deactivate the invisibility I'm afraid." Said Twilight, causing Jean to panic slightly.

"What!? Are you crazy?"

"Not according to any Equestrian psychologist, but my last check-up was a few years ago. Just relax, I'm going to re- absorb the magic from the spell, and hopefully it will give me the energy I need to do a short teleport." Twilight said, trying to reassure her. Jean nodded, and Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath, lighting up her horn as she exhaled. A swirl of purple energy formed over their heads and spiralled around the whole bubble, before dissipating as a cloud of purple mist that was then drawing into Twilight's horn. Right at that moment, a pair of guards burst through the door and onto the catwalk, each of them holding one of the new weapons in their hands. In a flash, Jean grabbed Twilight and took to the air, climbing as fast as she could. Twilight on the other hoof, was focusing on a location for the teleport spell. Just when she had finally figured out the location, Jean let out a piercing scream, her wing became limp and as a result, they started to fall from the sky. Twilight looked behind her to find a trail of blood coming from the side of Jean's chest.

Twilight closed her eyes and lit up her horn, concentrating as the ground rushed to meet them. When she opened them, the ground had been replaced with the walls of the church tower that she had come to know so well. Jean rested on top of her, a dead weight that Twilight could not move.

"JEAN!" Screamed Max, running over to meet them. He pulled her off Twilight and cradled her in his arms as Archangel grabbed a first aid kit and started to treat the wound.

"How did this happen?" Asked Max, tears beginning to fall from his eyes.

"It was some kind of new weapon. I have no idea what it did to her, she just screamed and then we started falling." Said Twilight, becoming panicked as Archangel pushed a set of tweezers into the wound, causing Jean to cry out in pain.

"There is something lodged in here." He said, carefully working the object out. They soon discovered it was nothing more than a tiny lead ball. Archangel then started to disinfect the wound so that he could stich it up.

"She's lucky it was stopped by one of her ribs. I would hate to see what this would do to anypony." Archangel said, as he applied the pure alcohol to the wound, every tiny drop causing Jean to yell.

"We can't let this weapon get to the battlefield. The ponies wouldn't stand a chance." Said Max, his rational side taking over for the moment. "I'll go back and blow the place up."

"No Max, you stay here and look after Jean. I got her into this and it is my responsibility to make sure that nopony or griffin ever becomes a victim of this new thing again. I'll destroy this one on my own." Proclaimed Twilight, getting to her hooves. A look of pure determination burned onto her face.

Comments

[khatre]

Sorry Twilight but that will not work.
You can not kill an idea by blowing up a factory. Guns exist now. All you can do is delay the enemy and help your own side get their own weapons.
and thus the arms race begins

[The-rogue-shadow]

1363567
DUN DUN DUH!!!!!!! (Dramatic music)

[LittleBoyBlue]

1363567 Guns you say?
Didn't stop Connor.

[Triforce of the Gods]

Well fuck. Great, they invented guns.

[Stiggerzz]

guns...it's always guns.....give me steel on steel action any day

[Commander Darklight]

[CrossoverFanficReader]

2479838
ponies with guns would be funny, if you think about it, cause how the heck are they gonna pull the triggers?