The End Of The Line

by autobotfan15

Chapter 8: Industry

[Canterlot - Noon]

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Connie slowed and stopped at the station where she was then moved into a siding and out of the way of the other trains that needed to use the station. The three guys climbed off. “We’ll be back Connie,” Andrew said as he then looked at the other two. “Well, what's our next move?”

“First we need to talk to Chrysalis. I can take care of that,” Jason said.

“Good,” Gregory said. “Hopefully she can understand and-”

Before he could finish, the flapping of wings came and they both turned to see Flash Sentry landing right by them. The stallion looked worried. “Thank Celestia, you three are back. We have a problem.”

“Oh no, did the other humans come? Has anything been stolen? Is anyone hurt?” Andrew asked worriedly.

“No, no one has been attacked. It’s Stacy, she collapsed in the halls and is now in one of the guest bedrooms being treated.”

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[Canterlot Castle Library- An hour earlier]

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Stacy looked through the many books and scrolls in the library. She was hoping to learn anything she could about chaos magic, hoping to find a weakness. She was also hoping to maybe learn more about holy relics they could use as well. She was hoping to find Discord but no one had seen him. She sighed as she closed another book. “Another dead end with very little to find.” She said to herself.

At that moment the doors to the library opened and a pegasus Royal Guard, who Stacy immediately recognized as Flash Sentry, walked in. The two looked at each other for a bit. The mood in the room felt awkward. “Uh…hi,” Stacy said.

“Hello, I was told I was to be guarding and protecting you from any hostiles,” Flash explained.

“Oh that's nice, thanks,” Stacy said.

Stacy opened another book and began reading it. After a few minutes she turned back towards Flash. “Hey, aren’t you supposed to be a guard at the Crystal Empire? What are you doing here?”

Flash paused for a moment before answering. “Ever since the trial of Jason Wright, the crystal ponies didn’t feel comfortable with normal ponies protecting them after what they learned about Spike’s treatment. So Shining Armor and Princess Luna got me reassigned here.”

“Do you miss the Crystal Empire?” Stacy asked.

“Sometimes I do. I do agree that Equestria has to face consequences for what happened, but I just wish they didn’t use it as an excuse to kick me out.” Flash sighed. “The view from the Crystal Palace balconies were amazing and Princess Cadence would sometimes offer us a chance to make funny faces at Flurry Heart whenever she carried her.”

“Sorry to hear that,” Stacy said.

“It’s fine. With how things are looking now, I might go back one day.”

“That’s great,” Stacy said as she stood up and picked up a few scrolls. “Mind escorting a lady to the throne room? I got some things to share with Princess Luna and Prince Blueblood.”

“Of course, follow me,” Flash said as he turned.

However as they walked Stacy felt something odd and placed one hand on her temple. Flash immediately noticed this. “Ma’am you ok?” He asked with concern.

“I don’t feel… so…good.” she uttered before she suddenly collapsed on the floor.

Flash looked down and panicked. “Medic! Doctor! Somepony help!”

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[Canterlot Castle Suite - Present]

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“And that's what happened,” Flash finished as he and the three humans stood outside the door to the bedroom. They could hear the sounds of medical ponies chatting beyond.

“Did anything else happen? Wait, where’s Ember and Chrysalis?” Gregory asked.

“Some emergency situations came up in both the Changeling hive and the Dragon Lands, so they both left to get them sorted out and then come back here. Ember left your daughter in the care of Fluttershy.” Flash said.

“Great. The one moment I need to talk to her about something urgent,” Jason complained.

“You do realize you can contact them using the changeling communication stones,” Gregory said, “and I have a two way communication device of my own to Ember. Excuse me.” He stepped away into an empty room and touched the ring on his finger. Soon, a three dimensional magical image of Ember appeared in front of him. “Ember? What’s going on over there?”

“Gregory? I’m sorry I had to leave but things are a mess here right now,” Ember said.

“What kind of a mess?” Gregory asked, worried about his lover.

“Howard sent some of his goons to raid the Dragon Lands. They looked like they were searching for something but they left.”

Gregory frowned. He’d visited the Dragon Lands a few times, but there wasn’t too much there. He had actually seen Scaly Island, the same island from G5 where the older Spike had been Dragon Lord. Nothing much was there since dragons were a rather nomadic people. “Probably a stupid question, but any idea what they might have been looking for?”

“Whatever it was, they either found it or lost interest,” Ember said, “because despite them taking a few dragons down they looked like they were leaving in a big hurry. I’ll have to ask some of the older dragons at some point. They are still things my father never taught me before he died.”

Gregory nodded in understanding. “Understood. Sorry for interrupting. I’ll let you get back to it.”

“It’s fine, I’ll be back later tonight,” Ember said with a cocky smile.

Gregory chuckled. “Good luck over there, and I’ll see you soon.”

Jason, meanwhile, was setting up his personal communication stones that connected to Chrysalis. When he saw her form appear on a floating magical screen, he frowned. She looked exhausted. “Chryssi? What’s wrong?”

Chrysalis was silent for a moment before answering. “Never thought I would see the day where my hive would be attacked by a swarm of nonsensical monsters!”

Jason nodded. “Yeah, I get it. Chryssi, you need to evacuate everyone there. The other humans are threatening to destroy the hive.”

Chrysalis’s eyes widened. “What?! Can’t you and the others prevent it? What happened?”

“Remember when I told you about human nuclear weaponry? Somehow, Howard has one and he’s threatening to destroy the hive. You need to get everyone out of there before he uses it!”

“But Jason, this is our home!” Chrysalis argued. “We can’t just abandon it because an idiot has declared war on us.”

“There’s no time to argue!” Jason replied. “We can always rebuild somewhere else, but if we lose lives, we can’t exactly rebuild them!”

Chrysalis groaned and rubbed her temple. “If we’re staying in Haven City, make sure I'm not bunking with Celestia.”

Jason chuckled. “We won’t be staying anywhere near her, I promise. Just get moving! I don’t know how much time we have!”

Just as Chrysalis was about to cut the feed, a drone hovered right by her and whispered something into her ear. Chrysalis’s eyes widened somewhat from what was being said to her. “Very well, Jason, I’ll see you soon.”

Jason nodded. “Be safe, alright?”

After saying goodbye the other two humans joined Andrew in the bedroom. Stacy was lying unconscious on the luxury bed with medical staff examining her. One doctor was looking through a scope into her ear. “That’s odd,” he said before turning to the humans. “Which one of you has more knowledge of your species biology?”

“I brought medical books with me when I came here,” Gregory said, “but right now they’re mostly back in my apartment. What’s going on?”

“Tell me, young stallion, what would you see if you were to look through an ear canal on the human body?” he asked.

Instead of answering, Gregory knelt beside Stacy’s unconscious form and held out his hand towards the doctor. “Give it here.”

The doctor gave him the scope. “Just hold the trigger for the light. I haven’t seen anything like this before.”

Gregory looked inside the ear. He had a vague idea of what should normally be inside the human ear, but what he saw nearly made him drop the instrument. Inside it looked like some kind of huge garage with machines running around. They all looked like tanks and not just modern military tanks but vintage tanks as well. Even tanks from around the world.

Gregory turned to the doctor, who he noticed was a unicorn. “She needs a magical scan.”

“But I thought humans didn’t normally have magic,” the doctor said.

“Normally, no, but what I’m seeing inside her is impossible,” Gregory replied. “Just perform a scan.”

“Of course, Stand back everycreature,” he said as his horn lit up, encasing Stacy in a magical glow. Soon a screen appeared above the bed. To the humans, it looked a lot like a medical screen. The doctor pointed to a very unusual line that, unlike the rest of the orderly lines, looked too chaotic. “This human has either been infected with magic, or has become like the two of you.”

“She has her own magic?” Jason asked.

“How?” Andrew asked, surprised.

Gregory held up his hand and created a small sphere of ice. “Jason and I both gained magic, so it’s not impossible for her to have it.”

“Unlike your magic, hers is more chaotic,” the doctor said worriedly.

“Well, shit,” Gregory swore.

“But if she has chaos magic, how is she not a multi animal hybrid?” Andrew asked.

“Chaos magic has no rules,” the doctor said. “Then again, I’m no expert on chaos magic.”

“We know someone who is, though,” Jason said, crossing his arms.

Before anyone could say or do anything one the lines on the screen started beeping but it wasn’t like a heartbeat. “What the…is that Morse Code?” Jason asked, looking at the screen.

“Sounds like it, but all I know in Morse Code is SOS,” Gregory said.

Andrew raised his hand. “I think I know. I think it says…Warning unknown life… Protect the mistress.”

Gregory looked around. “Okay…so sentient magic. Everyone, let’s be very careful.” He turned to Stacy. “Whoever you are, we don’t want to hurt your mistress.”

Suddenly there was a spark that shot out of Stacy’s ear. The spark landed on the floor and the next moment it turned into what looked like a miniature tank. A T26e5. It was barely the height of the human’s knee. Its barrel raised and pointed it at Jason. Jason slowly backed away, arms raised. “Why is it always me?”

Another spark shot out of Stacy’s ear, only this time it became a French panhard tank. Its barrel pointing at Gregory. “Huh, not just you. We’re her friends,” he said, “we’re not here to hurt her.”

The Panhard EBR jerked forward making Gregory flinch. “State your business,” it said in a French accent that sounded like it was talking through a radio.

“We’re worried about your mistress,” he replied. “She passed out and we’re trying to figure out why so she can be healed.”

The two small scaled tanks turned their turrets to each other, as if they were silently communicating. They turned back to Gregory. “The mistress is under mental stress. We will see to it that she's ready to awaken,” the Panhard said.

“Hmm, doc? Thoughts?” Gregory asked.

The doctor could only shrug. It would seem he was confused by this as well. The tanks burst into flashes of light and disappeared. A few seconds later, Stacy began to wake. She then rubbed her head and looked at the guys. ”Whoa…I just had the strangest dream. Wait, how did I get here?”

“You passed out on the way to the throne room,” Flash, who had been nearby, explained, “but I managed to get you in here and call a doctor.”

“Oh thanks.” Stacy said as she looked at the three other humans. “Did something happen?”

“Oh, nothing much,” Gregory said with a bit of sarcasm, “just the fact that two weird looking tanks came out of your ear and told us to back off.”

“Wait? Weird tanks?” Stacy asked with a mix of confusion and worry.

“Remember that game we played, World of Tanks?” Andrew asked. “Apparently two of your favorite models came out and tried to threaten us.”

“Of course they went after me first,” Jason grumbled.

“Yeah, they weren’t too friendly,” Gregory added.

“Wait, so that wasn’t a dream I had?” Stacy asked.

“What do you mean?” Andrew asked.

“I dreamed that I was in a huge facility and there were tanks everywhere,” Stacy said. “Each time I passed by one its barrels lowered down, almost like it was bowing to me.”

“Yeah, that looks like what I saw when I looked in your ear,” Gregory replied.

“Ma’am, try not to panic, but it seems you gained some chaos magic,” the doctor said.

Stacy could only let her jaw drop as she remembered something. “While we were fleeing Ponyville I thought I felt something hot hit my head.”

“You think it was a chaos remnant.” Andrew asked Gregory.

“Yeah, but something’s different about this case,” Gregory said. “She still has her normal body. If I had to guess, it was because she’s no longer Howard’s ally.”

“Or maybe she was exposed to a small amount. Everyone else was hit by a huge ball of it.”

“That too,” Gregory nodded in agreement. “Nevertheless, I think it’s a good idea for you to rest,” he added, looking at Stacy.

Stacy tried to relax but it felt like a train load of information to process. “So what now? Is there like a procedure or something for this?”

“Maybe you should learn more about chaos control.” Andrew said before turning to Jason and Gregory. “Does Discord live in Haven City?”

“He lives with Fluttershy in her orphanage,” Gregory said.

“How soon can he get here?” Andrew asked.

“Not sure it’s a good idea for him to come here,” Gregory said uncertainly. “Not sure if he’s a target anyway.”

“Well, do you know how to properly handle and control chaos magic without becoming a lunatic like Howard?” Andrew asked. “Besides, we need him to learn more about Howard.”

Gregory sighed. “It’d be better if Stacy went back to Haven City instead, but it’s your call.”

“But I want to stay here and help,” Stacy insisted. “You guys are practically targets for Howard and the others at this point. And now me and Andrew are labeled as traitors.”

Gregory groaned, but nodded. “I’ll write a letter and ask Spike to deliver it,” he said.

Soon Jason and the doctors left but Andrew and Gregory stayed back a little longer. “Stacy? Are you feeling ok?” Andrew asked.

“I...I don't know,” she admitted. “It feels weird and sometimes I hear voices in my head, but they’re not loud enough to distract me. It’s like the voices of so many people from around the world.”

“If those voices belong to more of those weird tank things, I’m sure you can command them,” Gregory said. “They seem loyal to you.”

Stacy flinched a bit as if she was struck by a flick of a finger. “They prefer to not be called weird but instead historically accurate.”

“It wasn’t meant as an insult, but sure,” Gregory said. “Just be careful, they’re overprotective of you.”

Stacy said nothing, instead lying back down. The other two humans left. “You think I might have some magical power?” Andrew asked.

“I can’t feel any sort from you,” Gregory said, “but like I said, Jason and I got magic in two very different ways, so maybe you’ll get it. Just don’t go searching for it and don’t expect it. I didn’t.”

“Wasn’t planning on it. I’m not power hungry,” Andrew said, rolling his eyes.

“Good. Let’s get something to eat. I actually taught the griffon chef in the castle how to make tacos, and I’m craving some.”

“I wonder if they’re good enough to attract a certain siren girl,” Andrew said with a grin.

“I’ve met her once. She’s a sweetheart, more so than the others,” Gregory said as the two made their way to the castle kitchen. “She’s a princess, you know? They all are.”

“Yeah but is she obsessed like the fans have theorized?” Andrew asked.

“I mean, I like tacos too, but she likes them more. Not really obsessed, but she still loves them. She told me they’re her comfort food. There’s a restaurant in the human world called Taco Town. No, I’m not even kidding. A real live Taco Town.” Gregory snickered.

“Huh, okay,” Andrew said as they walked down the hall.

Author's Note:

I like world of tanks.