Re:Harmony

by starcross7

31 - The Feral Mare

Chapter 31 - The Feral Mare

It wasn't like they could make the ride down the mines any more luxurious for the Honorable Chancellor, but the remaining prison staff did their best to cater to what they imagined her needs were. Their uniforms were mostly clean, but Posey could forgive them if they missed a blood spot on their sleeve. The mine cart they presented her had been spared from the riots, and last minute adjustments ensured that it started smoothly and rode smoothly. Obviously this was much smaller than a regular rail car, but there was enough room sit at the very back on cushioned upholstery with an ottoman to prop her rear hooves up and a tiny oak-finished table right in front of her. There was also heating and air conditioning she felt guilty in relishing, but they did not have to go that far for her. There was no denying that she was the most powerful pony in Gaea, if not the entire world, but adding an espresso machine in the mine cart? Sure, she and her entourage partook a cup a two, but she did not have the heart to tell the prison staff that what they were doing for her was too much. Even after being freed from the tyranny of unicorns for almost a thousand years, earth ponies still treated their leaders like royalty.

Her enclosed minecart had glass windows, but she did not see much of the mines by the time she and her entourage arrived at the tall gates of Tartarus 02. A regiment of platinum-armored Clone Soldiers lined up each side of the gate, and they immediate threw out their salute to the air right as the chancellor stepped out. Eight of her platinum Roboponies fanned out and secured the front against any would be assassins, but with the reticent Clones, that would be necessary. After a few minutes of waiting, the monstrous gates growled open, and Posey led Teddy, Ace, Lancer, and Filthy Rich through.

Each visit was a new experience, and new weapons and related ancient technology rolled past them almost every minute. Almost an entire legion's worth of Clone Soldiers and Roboponies patrolled the rock and metal caves, and there were least two or four of them assigned to protect the highest ranking scientist right down to the humble wielder. The gargantuan size of Tartarus 02 could not be traversed efficiently on hoof, and so upon the dignitaries' immediate entrance, the staff immediately presented Posey and her entourage well-maintained electric carts to get them anywhere.

Even with the electric carts, it took several minutes to reach the end of the initial hallway where they encountered a roundabout that circled around a village-sized axle. As huge as this axle was, it turned slowly and surely, and its shaft looked as if it penetrated all the way down to the very center of the earth.

"Miss Chancellor," said Rich. "What is this thing?"

"It's called a Planetary Axle," said Posey, "the very thing that's responsible for creating night and day."

"Amazing. If we can figure out how to take control of it, it might turn the tide of war against Pegasopolis."

"We could, but we might end up setting our allies on fire. Or freezing them. Besides, we are not the ones who are regulating this system."

"A machine that can control this planet's night and day cycle... Could it be... unicorns?"

"Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. This so-called magic is really long-lost highly advanced cybernetic technology dating back to the Before Times, and unicorns are nothing but mutated ponies designed to interface with these arcane systems."

"If this is still turning, then that means there are still unicorns out there."

"I won't rule out that possibility, but my scientists are working on a way for us to take control of the Axles for ourselves."

"Axles? There are more than one?"

Posey did not have to respond. The shrewd businesspony could figure it out himself. By now, they finally made half-circle arc to arrive at the other side of the Planetary Axle. Their electric carts parked before another gargantuan gate that was the same size as the entrance. The gate opened almost immediately after their arrival, and their drivers pulled him into a hangar filled with a forest of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

"Whew," Ace whistled. "There weren't this many when we last came here."

"Is all this really necessary to defeat Pegasopolis?" asked Lancer. "One of these was already enough to wipe out more than half the dragons in Eastasia."

"What kind of President-Adviser of Defense are you? If we launch these babies, we'll definitely destroy the weather witches and warlocks in the sky."

"None of these are enough to defeat their secret weapon," boomed a voice from above.

A portable building had been erected in the very center of the massive missile hangar, and on the roof stood Professor Covalent Bond and several of his personal lab technicians. The electric carts had stopped before him, and Posey stepped out to greet him.

"I knew that you have survived, Professor Bond," said Posey, "but it is good to see you doing well."

"I have lost a few of my staff members to the riot, notably my lead archeologist. However, I have heard that you rescued my ill-behaved protégé Gizmo and put him under your direct supervision."

"What Posey does should be none of your concern," said Lancer. "Also, it is unbecoming for her to stand lower than you, Professor."

"My apologizes, Mister Lancer. I shall come down right now."

Bond and a few of his technicians immediately took the roof elevator down to the ground. From there, he led Posey and her entourage into the portable building, briefly down the hallway, and into the main research room where a technological table lit up to display three-dimensional schematics. One image displayed the demonic specifications known as the Chaos Bomb.

"From what our spies has gathered, Pegasopolis' Chaos Bomb is derived from quantum technology, something we have yet to master despite our endless research of the ancient artifacts of the Before Times. The short of it is that when detonated, the Chaos Bomb will render all our weapons ineffective, and that includes all our thermonuclear missiles. However, we have managed to come up a solution to that problem."

"What do you have in mind, Professor?" Posey asked.

Bond pressed a nearby switch, and from the technological table arose a spinning image of a sleeker and silvery Art Deco-inspired ballistic missile complete with four decorative gold-plated fins at each cardinal axis.

"While we may not be able to muster a bomb of such technological sophistication, we have found a way to freeze the devastating quantum effects of the Chaos Bomb, both figuratively and literally. Using our research on captured windigoes, we have begun the construction of the Niflheim, the weapon that will win the war. The Niflheim will neutralize the Chaos Bomb and stop it from affecting us and our weapons."

"Let me get this straight," said Teddy. "Windigoes, the things that supposedly caused the Great Winter Famine before the Great Pony War, are going to help us win the war?"

"Why, yes."

"Chancellor, I too am a little concerned about this weapon's effectiveness," said Lancer. "I acknowledge that the Niflheim will be of great assistance, but won't it freeze the lands Pegasopolis occupies? There are still almost a thousand of prisoners of war west of the Border. Are we going to forsake them?"

"Every earth pony who was captured would rather die than live under the hoof of Pegasopolis," said Posey. "I know full well in my heart that is the cruel sacrifice we expect of them, but many more of our earth pony brethren will be lost if we do not defeat our enemies."

"The windigoes nearly drove our kind extinct," said Teddy. "Do you really think we can survive another winter that nearly killed off our ancestors?"

"We have contingencies should such a thing take place," smiled Bond. "Through nuclear technology, we are able to produce our own artificial suns to help us survive the winter fallout, and hopefully by then we will have mastered the control of the planet's rotation."

"Hmph. I don't know what is more frightening: a pegasus's ability to control weather or your guys' mad science. I hope to earth that these won't kill us."

---

The animals kicked the intruding ponies out as fast as they broke through the barricade. The beady-eyed owl and the Border Collie, along with a small company of avian and canine guards, stayed outside to keep watch over Twilight and the others. To the ponies' fortune, they were not tied up again.

"Spike!" Twilight cried. "Spike!"

The little dragon cracked open the door just enough for the mares to see him and the frilly pink apron that he put back on himself.

"You all have to wait a while," said Spike. "She needs to recover from being so frightened by you gals."

"What I wanna know is why you're playin' maid for her and her varmints," said Applejack.

"Look, the Feral Mare seems to have taking a liking to me. For now, do you think all of you could be on your best behavior? I barely managed to convince them to not feed you to the carnivores. I'll let you know when you can come in."

"Then what are we supposed to do now?"

"Eat grass maybe? Oh, I gotta go. Angel has finally managed to get her to come out of the closet."

The door slammed shut, and the wait began.

"You heard the dragon," said Pinkie Pie. "Let's eat grass like a boss. You ready Sunny?"

"Grass eating contest?" Sunny said. "I'm there!"

"Ready, set, chew!" Thus the pink and white ponies threw their faces in the ground as they began devouring the shoots and dirtying up their muzzles in the process.

"Jeez, you two," said Applejack. "We're ponies, not animals. Twi, you're not seriously gonna eat grass off the ground, are you?"

The unicorn took quick whiff of a small patch in front of her, and after a quick analytical evaluation of its nutrition and sanitation, she then grabbed a small bite.

"It's not bad," said Twilight. "I never got a chance to eat them like this because grass is a luxury in the caves."

Applejack's stomach growled. Twilight would not have thought her as being more sophisticated due to her rough and down-to-earth exterior. Yet, even the orange earth pony knew that surviving the next day hinged on a full stomach, and she gave in to gingerly pulling grass from the earth with her teeth.

"So that naked pony is a pegasus," said Sunny. "Pegasi don't usually venture in Gaea, do they?"

"They don't," said Twilight. "According to what I read so far, Pegasopolis and Gaea are in a protracted war for almost a thousand years, and neither pegasi or earth pony would dare to cross into each other's lands."

"Unless they're spyin' on each other," added Applejack.

"Is it true that weak pegasi are thrown off the cloudlands when they are dishonored or branded as weak?"

"It is. Literally."

"Literally?"

"More like they are clipped of their wings, chained to weights, and fall through a trapdoor to the ground. If they survive, they'll end up working to death as slaves. But it seems as this Beastmaster was thrown off when she was just a baby."

"So it's also true that they throw off from the cloudlands newborn foals to test their flight abilities, and not all of them are able to fly back up."

"Yet, why on earth does that pegasus look so much like Posey?"

"If could just be a coincidence, Applejack. Back at my village, there was a green unicorn who looked like me, right down to the style of her mane."

"Twi, I'm not talking about matching manestyles. There is something about that pegasus that reeks of Posey."

"It's just your imagination. Surely earth ponies don't give birth to pegasi, let alone unicorns."

"Well, there were rumors..."

"That Posey is also a pegasus clipper. They're just rumors. It's not like she's actually Posey's daughter. There's no proof in the pudding!"

"Pudding?" cried Pinkie Pie who had mud on her mouth. "Where?"

The door to the treehouse swung open, and out stepped Spike without his frilly apron. He also had the devil of a white rabbit lording over him from the top of his head.

"I somehow managed to convince them that you're allowed to see her," said Spike. "But only Twilight is able to come in."

"Why me?" Twilight asked.

"Dunno. She kept saying 'unicorn' to me, so I assumed she wants to see you."

"I think you should oblige, Twi," said Applejack. "The pony we saw in the closet may be scared of us, but her animals ain't. We gotta leave this place as soon as we can, so just humor the pegasus for now. Sugarcube, I really wish I could come with you, seeing as you can't use your magic and all. But if things get rough, cry out for me and I'll be there faster than a rattlesnake strike. I just hope that none of these creatures understand what we're sayin'."

The devil white rabbit chuckled, and whether he actually understood the conversation or was bluffing, Twilight and Applejack knew that based on his behavior so far, they really had to be wary of him.

Cautiously, Twilight followed Spike back inside. Many of the animals who burst in after the failed barricade remained. They beamed their eyes or snarled fangs at the unicorn, and their attitude made her think twice about accepting the Beastmaster's offer. Her only ally inside this house was Spike, who then lifted the devil white rabbit off of his head and set him down on the ground.

"You said that your master will talk to her alone," he said to the rabbit.

The rabbit squeaked with a cocky grin, blew a raspberry, and he folded his arms in defiance of Spike's request.

"Angel," squeaked a soft voice from behind the sofa. "Alone. With unicorn."

The rabbit tried to protest, but whatever power the Beastmaster had over him, he gave in with a sigh. With one waved of his paw he sent the animals outside, and he followed right after them. Before he walked out, he gestured to Spike, pointing back and forth, and pantomiming the act of undressing.

"He said you need to take off your cloak," said Spike.

"Why would I--oh, that's right."

Twilight had her cloak on for so long she had grown accustomed to wearing clothes ever since she left Unicornia. It felt refreshing to be stripped down to her natural fur, but from the way Spike pinched his nose from behind her, she really needed a bath.

Twilight wasn't sure if all this was necessary. She had read that pegasi were required to display their Destiny Glyph, or what they call their Heaven's Insignia. Otherwise, willfully hiding their insignia was punishable by wing clipping, or the most extreme punishment of death.

However, this was an orphaned pegasus thrown off the cloudlands of Pegasopolis after she was born, and it was highly unlikely she was indoctrinated with her race's culture. From the looks of things, she probably lived in the forest and raised by animals since birth. Twilight had read about feral ponies in her old Gaean books, and even in her own village the existence of feral unicorns, though rare, was not impossible. Unfortunately, the treatment of feral unicorns was harsh, if not outright cruel, and it was necessary because a feral unicorn often had dangerously uncontrollable magic at their disposal. The village leaders of the past dealt with feral unicorns by magically lobotomizing them and turning them into zombie-like slaves. Sometimes, they euthanized them with a killing spell.

Luckily, her generation had yet to encounter a feral unicorn, but with feral pegasi, she could only guess that they had some control over their natural flight abilities and atmos abilities. Here, Twilight was now in the presence of one feral pegasus shunned by her own race since birth and living dangerously in a land dominated by earth ponies. So many questions ran in the unicorn's mind on how this feral mare arrived from Gaea far from Pegasopolis and its dominated lands. Pegasi were fearsome warriors, and a single one was said to decimate up to ten Gaean fighter jets in an aerial dogfight. The first pegasus she would ever bear witness to in her entire life shyly poked her head out from the behind the couch, and Twilight prayed it was not a ruse to drop her guard.

"Um, hello," Twilight greeted.

"Unicorn."

"Yes, I'm a unicorn."

The pegasus took her time to walk--not fly--but walk towards the purple unicorn with her head bowed in humble yet fearful submission. Aside from her long and frazzled pink mane and tail, she did not appear as intimidating as what the rumors say about her being the Beastmaster.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle. What's your name?"

"F...ter...shy..."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"F...ter..."

"Um, okay. So, do you live here alone, Miss Shy?"

"...live with friends."

"You mean the animals?"

The pegasus lowered her head even further.

"Are there any other ponies around?"

"No ponies."

"What?"

"No ponies. Ponies mean. Hurt forest and friends. Friends protect Fluttershy from ponies."

"Not all ponies are mean, Fluttershy. We would never dream of hurting you."

"Unicorn okay. ‘Cause Shiny is unicorn."

"Shiny? Do you mean Shining Armor? He was here?"

"Shiny gone.”

"Gone? Gone as in not here? Dead? Did 'Shiny' have a blue mane and a white coat?"

The pegasus squeaked in fear and trotted backwards to cower behind the couch.

"Nice job," said Spike.

"I didn't mean to," said Twilight. "This is going to be a lot of work to get her to talk, and she can't form complete sentences. Come on, Spike. We need to plan this out."

After throwing her cloak back on, Twilight emerged out of the treehouse with Spike, and outside Applejack breathed a sigh of relief as no harm came towards the unicorn. Not too far next to a tree a lay a snoring Pinkie Pie whose belly had been comically inflated from all the grass she had eaten. Sunny sat by her wondering how on earth the said belly became so big.

"You think we can leave?" Applejack asked.

"I wasn't able to ask," said Twilight.

"It's not like we need to ask for that pegasus's permission."

"I know, but if we run away, the animals might capture us again. Or kill us if we attempt to run."

"You suggestin' that we stay?"

"At least for the time being."

"Well, we can't stay for too long. We gotta find the rest of the Elements and lose Posey's trail. And I haven't seen the Unicorn Hunters here, but if they're still alive, we gotta lose their trail as well."

"All right, I'll see if I can convince Fluttershy to let us go and maybe give us supplies for us to leave the forest. Also, I think she met my brother."

"Wait, she met Shine as well?"

"She calls him Shiny, but I'm not sure she's talking about the same stallion."

Twilight saw the tension disappear from Applejack's face, and the orange pony sat down for a brief moment of thought.

"These varmints have a fearsome reputation," said Applejack. "So, they might be able to hold off Posey's forces for a while. I'm thinkin' we should stay for a few days instead of one. The supplies they took from us wouldn't last long anyway, and if we can gather more from the Beastmaster herself, we might be able to cross over Mount Everfree and head over to Hollow Shades. Besides, we have to find a way to get that ring off your horn, and these varmints have all sorts of power tools to help us. We need you in tip-top shape if we need to get out of the forest alive."

"You’re right about that," said Twilight as she prodded the black crystal ring with the tip of her hoof.

Comments

[Neon156]

Fluttershy is more of a fluttershy than usual, I don't know what to feel about that.

Also, thanks for updating, I am keen on reading your work. And I am sorry that I can't give a proper review, since I lack the proper skill to make it meaningful. Other than the fact the I feel 'neutral' about this chapter and this anxious feeling I get from your vague worldbuilding, I eagerly await your next chapter

[ThyPrincessOfTheNight]

We are excited about 'Shiny' We hope he has survived although We do not mind if he is maimed etc. We like the occasional bloodshed. Excellent as always, keep up thy good work hoof servant.

[Coco-mix]

shiny shiny, what is he up too?

[MustacheMerlin]

So this is why Posey hates butterflies.

[The Rainbow Mustang]

Well, so far goes my theory that posey is Fluttershy with an worse youth or something, well Fluttershy had still a bad life but still.

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

6266960 That was shot chapters ago when Posey turned changeling for a sec.

[The Ohvist]

6512422 That wasn't Posey, it was a Black Ops Changeling Operative working to protect its "Queen" by disguising as her in that darkened and abandoned room. Drop the whole "Posey is a Changeling" argument, it's not going to be true many chapters from now before the Fourth Movement.

[Childish Endeavors]

I like to believe that Posey is like Fluttershy, and had been abandoned as a foal. Perhaps like Scootaloo, her wing growth was stunted and so it makes it easier for her to hide her wings. I believe the two are related, either as sisters (Posey is the elder sister, Flutters is the younger,) or, debunking the "abandoned in her youth" theory, that Posey's real daughter is Fluttershy.