> Gala snaps goes to Ponyville. > by CeresBane > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Dreams of a better time. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The night was bright and loud as the Everfree forest found itself acquainted with the forces of war. Magical flame reared up like a beast and stalked through the forest. It did nothing but destroy, the screams of the mightiest beasts to the smallest critters falling to the onslaught of the fire of the Solar empire. Their forces were endless, ranks upon ranks of battle unicorns lined up behind Royal guard acting as a phalanx wall for those that tried to reach their charges. By flame or spear the beasts continued their charge, dying by the droves. Like the mighty war machine it was, the imperial forces had the forest find itself, from every tree and shrub and native pony and beast... gone to ashes. Their screams and death throes echoing endlessly to the cacophony of crackling wood and hissing flames. "No!" A voices shouted over the din of bloody combat. It was young and boyish, all innocence gone, a shout fraught with anguish and endless hate. The imperial invasion forces held their ground anticipating an attack, barrier shields went up, horns began to charge with power and eyes scanned for danger. Nothing came, but that didn't mean anything, the Lunar forces were sneaky and underhooved. To play it safe, the captain ordered for a crossbow volley to be fired towards the sound of the young boy's voice. The sound of hundreds of snapping bow strings sounded and the distinct hum of magic could be hard as the volley phased through the barriers. The whistling of bolts filled the air thereafter like the screech of mad birds of death. Most of them clattered uselessly against densely populated foliage and trees. But a few brought moans of pain out of mouths in the darkness. In response war cries echoed in the night and the stampeding of hooves filled the air. Roars accompanied them as the stars were eclipsed by huge flying beasts watching above and beyond the higher canopy. Ponies rained with spears in their hooves as they picked their targets. From the front Night guards met with the imperial Royal guards. Unicorns fought against raining Earth ponies. Their magic was being pounded. Beastly flame scoured the ranks of the day forces as dragons flew across the field, deathly boom sticks exploded from Luna's rifle ponies and raining spear-wielding ponies fell as the dragoons of the Everfree fell upon their foe from on high. Observing from a fair distance of the fighting, Gala snaps stood, resisting the urge to charge into the fray to save as many of his own as possible. But he had to think logically. He could do little in that fight. He only ever won choosing his battles. The heart is something that shouldn't guide you in the battlefield. Life had taught him that, war had taught him well. "Thank you for the assist Trixie. I couldn't imagine the Everfree would have prevailed against this." He was thankful, he truly was... but so many had died already, massive losses were already apparent. If only the Lunar had come faster... if only he wasn't so hesitant to ask the help of a good friend. Gala snaps cursed himself for a fool, pulling Auntie Jack's hat over his eyes to hide his tears. "It's fine. I'm just sorry that me and Charity failed you. I could have come sooner and Charity could have asked the church to..." Gala could sense Trixie's presence, she wanted to console him, to hug him and tell him that things would be alright. She couldn't though, his body was dangerous right down to the touch. So badly he wanted to return the wish to feel a real hug. But there was no such love for him to have in this world. Despite his desires for it he always believed he didn't need it. Friendship was the best he'd ever have in life, it was a wonderful thing and he should appreciate it like he should. Gala straightened his hat and looked straight ahead. If he looked at Trixie at that point he'd only depress himself. He hated that he had these moments of weakness, he hated that with every second he needed to find himself again, a pony dies for him wallowing in his misery. He swallowed his heart and distinguished the urge to break down from this mixture of anger, sadness and desperation he was feeling. "It's fine Trixie. I hear the changelings had been active in the Lunar capital again. And it seems the demon mare had graced Charity with a little visit. Prophets and Court magicians have their priorities. Children in this day and age don't have time to spare for friends and their troubles." Trixie the 69th, court magician of Queen Luna and general and head teacher of the Lunar unicorn corp and school of magic, felt so powerless to those words. "Someday we will. I'm sure..." Powerless in feeling but tenacious nonetheless. To Gala her determination and reassuring optimism was like a cool calming breeze through these fires of war. She'd always be the one to give him what he needed and with Charity to complete his triangle of friends, impossible things were possible. How he lived without them for so long had become a mystery that often plagued his mind. It would be nice to see them more often. And maybe not always under such dire circumstances. "Someday... Someday should have been yesterday." But despite how calming it was to have his friends around, he had no time to feel good about himself. He had a battle to fight in and he now had a plan in his head to bring into action. "Follow me!" Gala was galloping at top speed. His small hooves leaving behind sparks in the darkness as his touch with the earth discharged the energy within his body. Occasionally he'd touch a tree and veins of energy would surge through it. As if by his command the trees made way for him, giving him a clear path to the battle. Following behind him, the order of Mare-do-wells shadowed close behind. --- Trixie removed her old tattered pass-me-down hat and let the hot breeze of magic lift her mane and cloak. "Yesterday..." Trixie's horn began to glow and at it's crescendo she winked out of existence with a tiny flash of blue light. --- "Mother... I need you to take care of the Solar medium." It only took a moment to communicate. Only the smallest of touches, but when Gala speaks to the forest, the forest listens and understands him. Its less the conversation of telepathy and more the resonances of two kindred souls. In instances they understood each other and shared their feelings and intentions, and as one they acted out their part in their tasks. The great mother would do everything in her power to help her people. And in turn, for the sake of the loving mother that cared for everyone with her boundless kindness, all of the Everfree would die for her forest. Even her very son. Gala snaps leapt for a low branch and jumped for a higher one. Jumping higher and higher, rising above the battle. Gala grit his teeth as the battle below ensued. Even with the Lunar ponies the Solar were still winning. Their magic was immensely too powerful for even science and nature to fight. Reaching the higher canopy, Gala stopped. The Mare-do-wells followed close behind with branches below. Taking a comfortable stance on a thick branch Gala looked and searched desperately as the sounds of battle rose up to his ears. But it was useless he was an earth pony, and earth ponies couldn't see magic. A unicorn once described to him, ironically princess Twilight Sparkle herself, the general of the royal imperial army, that a solar medium was a unicorn that was blessed by the empress with her power. The unicorn is used as a living sun, to power the magic of fellow solar unicorns in the night that would disarm them. As such when seen with magic sight, the pony shines brightly like the sun itself. If Gala could take care of the medium, the Solar army would have no magic to power their spells. The tide would turn and the invasion force would have to flee. "Anything?" Gala looked to a unicorn beside him. His horn was hidden by Mare-do-well's hat but he could tell by the magical glow of his eyes. The unicorn shook his head at the question. Gala looked around and the others found themselves lacking as well. "Look!" Gala was about to merely kill until he found the medium but at that sound he actually felt optimistic. "It's as bad as I thought." Trixie blinked into existence besides Gala. Gala gave her a puzzled look. "Just point me to the one I need to deal with." Gala said frankly, looking towards the general direction of where everyone was looking. There were so many bodies to look at, the medium could be any of those dozens. "The demon mare got her, Gala." Suddenly a bright flash of flame exploded in the direction everyone was looking at. The sound of laughter screamed over the din of dying ponies, both friend and foe. In the center of the carnage, laughing hysterically, a small white unicorn stood. "Charity..." Gala clenched the muscles in his forehooves. "Dammit!" Gala smashed his hooves into the trunk beside him, a jolt of energy resonating with the forest. Friend or foe he asked for his mother's power. He didn't want to hurt her but it seemed to be the only way. As a false incarnation of the sun itself she was going to burn out anyway. Twilight Sparkle had described the experience of being a medium as slowly burning and dying inside until the magic merely destroyed you. No room for doubt, for the sake of those he loved and charged to protect, he would kill Charity before anyone could suffer anymore. "Gala wait!" Trixie shouted towards him but he was not going to stop for anypony. Charity was a danger to herself and everyone around her. She had to be stopped. He had no room for weakness. Not in this world, not with the life he needs to lives. Gala jumped towards the general direction of the carnage, following the laughter and flames as his guide. The trees turned and bent their branches to create a path for him. He was moving with such speed now that he was practically galloping across the treetops. As soon as he found his perch for the perfect pounce. The prey found itself trapped with the embrace of hard and binding tree roots that spontaneously and rapidly sprouted from the ground. Gala leapt without so much a need for a moment to ascertain his accuracy or precision. After all, he was a master warrior. A guardian of the Everfree. A true Apple. -- "That idiot!" Gala snaps had leapt off his perch and aimed his hooves to meet with Charity's head. If the impact from several hooves high didn't kill either of them, the charge in his body would. He wouldn't have the chance though, Trixie knew, because the invisible ethereal body possessing Charity was aiming a claw that would rip the colt to shreds before he even met the earth. Trixie had already fired off wild shots of kinetic waves to slice off the offending appendages. They moved at phenomenal speed but it was anyone's guess if her spell was going to make it in time. It would be a miracle if they didn't miss. The grasping vines of kindness, the claws of the demon of laughter, the aura of the saint of generosity, the charged hoof of honesty and the magic spell of loyalty all met in the same instance. A spark came into being. A light engulfed all to be perceived. And then nothing. Only the darkness, as Gala found his mind in the throes of dreamless sleep. > The colt with the zap apple cutie mark > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As the remnants of Gala's consciousness began to slowly right themselves, he began to feel his sense of awareness returning. The darkness he had lost himself in, had brightened to a slighter shade of black. It didn't feel so cold and lonely anymore as he felt a radiating power bathe his body. No longer was he floating in an infinite abyss, he could feel the familiar feel of bark on his back and Auntie Jack's hat weigh on over his face. Before his eyes even opened, he already knew he was in the Everfree forest. But something felt wrong. Things not only felt different somehow to before but things had become blatantly missing. Several comforts of his home were not around to reassure him that he was indeed where he thought he was. His first instinct was to be ready for a fight, "Applejack!" At the mention of that name Gala's eyes snapped open. "Applejack!" It was the sound of a young girl, a filly barely out of foalhood. "Appleja- oh... Y'all ain't Applejack." The voice was still fairly in the distance, but by how the grass underneath their hooves hissed at their approach, Gala knew they were approaching. Yes... he could indeed hear three sets of little hoof steps. "Hey mister are you okay?" He removed the hat over his face and was welcomed with an unfamiliar bright light. It burned his retinas white for a moment, it had him groaning in pain as he adjusted to the new alien environment. To play it safe, he wore Auntie Jack's stetson a little further over his eyes than usual, tilted down as if he were trying to hide his face. Slowly he stood up, all four hooves touching earth with four little sparks. He cycled through how he should react to this situation and eventually decided to go for a casual welcome. Letting the fear of this alien place consume him would only panic the little fillies. "Howdy to you too..." His voice was low and raspy. The three fillies backed away, feeling the threat in his voice. Testily he smacked his lips and noticed that he was quite parched and the dryness of his throat made his voice sound unnatural to even his own ears. He coughed to clear his throat. "Howdy to all of you." Most of the raspiness in his voice was gone. The smile he wore slight, but inviting. The earth pony and pegasus walked closer, while the white unicorn in their middle stared blankly. "Did you see that?!" A voice shouted out. It was squeaking with hysteria. With Gala's eyes finally fully adjusting, he looked to the source to be a small unicorn filly. Charity? No, not quite. Too young and her mane was a different colour and this one didn't hold the same determined eyes. There was too much innocence, to be anypony he knew. "See what Sweetie belle?" A red haired yellow earth filly replied. "Yeah... see what?" The small orange pegasus said distantly. Her cheeks were blushing as she purposely looked away, yet somehow Gala could feel her gaze when she thought he wasn't paying attention. "His hooves. They sparkle! When his hooves hit the ground they sparkled and made a zapping sound!" The filly cantered over and reached for his hooves. He jumped back and instinctively took up a defensive low crouch like a hunting Everfree Tiger. He relaxed his stance instantly, knowing he wasn't in a battle situation. "Whooooa!" All three said in unison and then excitedly scuttled along towards Gala. "Do it again" Squeaked the filly named Sweetie belle. "Yeah! Do it again." The orange and purple pegasus chimed. Gala backed away, jumping back whenever the fillies got too close. "Don't touch me!" There was a tree behind him and Gala bucked it, fully intending to call out his mother to protect the fillies from him. Instead multi-coloured apples rained down on the three fillies, earning them little stinging shocks for their troubles. There was no resonance, Gala noticed. He couldn't hear the voice of his mother. He kept tapping the zap apple tree which only caused to spawn zap apples at his touch, they then fell on the fillies. He felt nothing as he called out with his touch. Nothing at all. "Wow! Zap apples!" The little earth pony bundled the fruit around her hooves as if she were hugging precious gems. "But Zap apple season isn't for a few months! How did you do that mister?" "I..." Gala backed into the tree. He didn't really care for the fillies annoying presence anymore. He just wanted to understand what in Equestria was going on. The Everfree bathed in sunlight was one thing and something to definitely panic over, yet somehow he managed to keep himself calm. But an Everfree forest without the mother's spirit!? This was just impossible! Where was he? Where were his friends? What happened to the battle? Did Everfree get taken over by the empire? Ideas and theories and jumbled memories swirled in his head. Suddenly implausible things were considered possibilities, likely things were now implausible and he was somewhere he shouldn't be and the prospect of return was an unreachable, unsolvable conundrum. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHH!" The confusion and fears had reached a boiling point now. He was nothing more than a colt lost out in a new world. And he was alone, with no friends and no family. "Mister... are you okay?" The orange pegasus tried to reach out for him to shake him from his catatonic state as he curled up and against the tree trunk of the huge Zap Apple tree. "Don't touch him, Scootaloo!" Scootaloo did what she was told. "If you touch him you'll get shocked by the tree too." Reluctantly her hoof met the ground once again. "Hey! Look at his cutie mark!" The Charity lookalike chirped. All three looked to his flank and saw the simple zap apple there. The unicorn and pegasus looked to the earth pony, who just had nothing to say about the matter. "Applebloom! Scootaloo! Sweetie Belle! Soup's on everypony!" The sounding chime of a triangle echoed through the vastness of the forest. Applejack's voice could be heard over the constant ringing of steel on steel. "Let's go tell Applejack about this." Applebloom finally replied. There original intentions of finding her utterly forgotten. "You guys... go ahead. I'll stick around to make sure he's okay." Scootaloo replied as the other two noticed that their friend wasn't galloping off with them. The pair exchanged looks. "I-it's not like that! It's just, you shouldn't leave a hurt pony behind. So..." Scootaloo looked back at the older colt, the blush that was on her face only intensified. A grin widened on both her friends' faces. "We'll be talking about this later tonight." Sweetie belle wasn't suggesting. "Y'all better be ready to get all the turns on true or dare." Applebloom said over Sweetie belle. With their parting words they left them alone in each other's company. Scootaloo sat a few steps away from the pony beside her. He was breathing heavily as he lost himself with his own thoughts. For a good while they sat their quietly, the young pegasus content to listen to the colt's breathing and struggling to comprehend why it made her heart race so much. She put her hoof to her heart and felt it pulse at her touch. She closed his eyes and noticed that his breathing began to synchronise with her racing heart. Both things seemed to be calling out to each other. Their respective existence becoming part of each other's world. Her heart began to slow and so did his breathing. As if both brought comfort to each other's vicinity. Or at least, she liked to think so. A loud crunch sounded beside her and she jumped at the sound. The stranger had taken a zap apple and began eating it as he laid on the zap apple tree trunk. He didn't feel like he was suffering from touching the tree at all. In fact it seemed like he was very at home there, as if it was something he'd do out of habit. "Who... are you, mister?" Scootaloo didn't know why but it seemed like less of a curious ice breaker and more a desperate desire to know what drove her to ask him. Gala snaps was silent, wordlessly offering bits of the apple he was eating to the young filly. She merely stared at it. In aggravation he placed it beside her and stood up. Politely she took it in her hooves. "I'll be right back, kid." At those word the sounds of howling timbre wolves echoed in the distance. "Stay right where you are." "But I wanna go with you!" The filly shouted out. She didn't know why but she did. "Just stay put and wait for your friends." Gala adjusted his hat so that his green eyes were plain to see. His short gold mane crackled and swayed with power as a pulse of zaps tickled along his body. "And do me a solid and finish that apple. I don't like wasting food, but I wasn't as hungry as I thought." And with those words he was gone, galloping deeper into the woods. Pretty soon Scootaloo was all alone. A half eaten apple that he bit on in her hooves. Blushing deeply, she began to move it closer to her mouth, fully intent to savour the juices and texture of the delicious fruit. -- "Angel! Wait!" Fluttershy mutedly shouted. He either didn't hear or was not intent to listen. But with a pack of timbre wolves after him, he had no intention of stopping what he was doing. "Agh!" A high-pitched scream stopped Angel bunny's instinct to prioritise himself. He stopped and stood on his hind legs and raised his ears to listen. "No!" He definitely heard right, that was Fluttershy and she was in trouble. Making a complete U-turn he ran back the direction he came from. In the distant horizon he could see a pair of timbre wolves in hot pursuit of him. His expression made the look of bewilderment, as if a face could say "What the hell am I doing?" The bunny ran on heedless of all thought telling him to turn around. Suddenly something blazed pass him, as a shadow from above whizzed by over his small body. He didn't stop to look for what other predator it was however, since he already had two wolves he needed to focus on. Panic was marring his face and something resembling mania. He was terrified but was transcending every notion of what all that meant. As if a madness had come over him, he felt like he had the strength to win, simply by the strength of delusion. Now close enough for the kill, the wolves pounced at the same time. Angel bunny, too scared to look at the mouths of death, he jumped with his little bunny legs reaching out for a kick in the snout. And then suddenly the a loud rumble exploded out in front of him. He could feel splinters shower him, hitting him all over his face and front. Eyes too closed to see the ground, his hind leg screwed up his landing and he tumbled into a heap. After the world had stopped spinning, he opened his eyes, watching a pony gallop into the distance. -- "No! Rainbow dash! Leave the poor dears alone!" Fluttershy shouted out as best she could, Doing what one should do with ravenous wolves at this situation. Remain eye contact and slowly back away, ever ready to run as fast as you could. As ponies, they could run much faster than wolves. "Poor dears? These are timbre wolves we're dealing with here!" It'd be a simple matter of flying away from danger, but Rainbow dash had found Fluttershy with her wings hurt. And no pony hurts Rainbow dash's friends and gets away with it. She had no idea which one did it, but if she had to beat up all of them to find the right one then so be it. She could totally beat up a pack of timbre wolves. Totally. Ten seconds flat. Gala snaps had probably galloped a major length of the whole forest to get where he was. But he made it. It was a good decision to gallop on when he saved that bunny, it was clear that the ponies in trouble were about to be ripped to shreds and he had just made it in time. "Applejack! Yeah wolfie, you're in trouble now. Two of us and seven of you. The odds almost seem so unfair." Rainbow dash said, almost provoking the wolves to rip her face off as she met one's gaze snout to snout. "Unfair? Let me even the odds then." Gala always did have a weakness for fairness. Often times he'd act as an equaliser in all struggles. After all the Everfree was a neutral faction in the war. The republic and empire could destroy each other to their hearts content. But he would never tolerate cheating so long as he lived. "I challenge your wolf pack leader." Gala smashed his hoof into the earth and the charge in his body pulsed across the earth and into the timbre wolves. For that brief contact of souls, they resonated. In understanding the biggest wolf came forward to meet the young colt. "I don't think that's Applejack Rainbow..." Fluttershy said, fascinated by how he could communicate with timbre wolves. Animals that were even beyond her ability to come to an understanding with. Rainbow dash was too distracted by the rest of the pack walling her away from the fight. With no provocation from the other, the wolf and pony pair charged. Gala clenched the muscles in his fore hooves and felt charge increase in his right hoof. The timbre wolf pounced like all wolves did with it's wide jaw open to become a rending vice on it's victim's throat. He fully expected this however and ducked beneath the pounce and tapped his on the wolf's under belly of twigs and branches. On contact a flash of light exploded into arcs of lightning. Yelping in more surprise than pain, the wolf landed on it's side and used the momentum to roll back to it's feet. This wolf had seen some fighting it seemed. And he knew that it was outmatched. Yelling a few commanding barks, the wolves retreated. Gala and the wolf exchanged a look, it howled for him and Gala smiled and nodded in reply. "That was... awesome." Rainbow dash cantered over. But Gala knew this routine. If he made friends with outsiders they'd only come back and bring themselves in harms way. Besides, he's had friends before. Not true friends but infiltrators of the outside, they got on his good side, betrayed his secrets and put all of the Everfree in danger. He knew what friends were and they weren't these ponies. Gala truly hoped they were okay. His last memory of them, was just too much fuel for worry. Maybe his old self was right. He should be alone, so that everyone wouldn't hurt anypony. And more importantly, no pony would hurt him with this lingering heart ache. "You should leave this place. Leave and never come back." Gala refused to make eye contact and with his back turned, he began to walk towards the darkness, deeper into the Everfree forest. "It was amazing though." Gala stopped as he heard that voice. As in really heard it. Not as some pony in trouble's voice. It was a voice he knew. He'd never heard it in his whole life, but his memory knew this voice. Mother? Gala wheeled to face the two ponies. Fluttershy, her eyes wide with astound and excited with intrigue was already in front of him. Before her was a pony that knew how to talk with animals too, and he was better than her at it and it isn't even his special talent if his cutie mark was any indication. "Yeah, I know right? That was so cool when you were like, slide and bam!" Rainbow said excited for whole other reason. "I mean really amazing. I've never seen timbre wolves act like they did." Fluttershy spoke over Rainbow dash, he wasn't really listening to the Rainbow mare anyway. Fluttershy was before her, in person, not as some intangible, incorporeal spirit but as a real pony with a voice and a face, hooves and mane and tail and wings and everything. He could reach out and touch her right then and there. He could know what it meant to be...held by a mother. "How did you do it? How did you talk to the timbre wolves." Fluttershy asked excitedly. "Well I... I just touched them." Gala said sheepishly. "Touched them? I didn't see you touch anything. You just sorta slammed a hoof in the earth and they listened." Rainbow dash said confused. Fluttershy however nodded in some rudimentary understanding. "Like... touching the heart. That feeling when your beings understand each other simply by knowing each other's existence." This was how Fluttershy understood how she could communicate with animals. There was no command or dominance. Just the kindness of understanding what each other needed, and cooperating. The concept went way over Rainbow's head as she watched with a dumb-founded expression on her face. Gala snaps however nodded approvingly which brought a smile to Fluttershy "Can you show me...?" Fluttershy said, her eyes looking at him almost begging him with them. "Sure... you just hold out your hoof..." Coyly Gala raised his right hoof and Fluttershy mirrored him. Slowly and cautiously they gravitated towards each other. Their eyes locked in contact. This was his mother, this power was given to him by her. His touch would not harm her, because together they were a part of each other. And this power was what connected them. Their hooves touched and Fluttershy gasped at the new sensation. All the knowledge Gala snap had, his memories, his ideals, her future, the great war, everything poured into Fluttershy all at once. "Fluttershy!" Rainbow swooped in to catch her as she fainted. Her eyes were wide open, tears freely flowing from them, there was a shock to her body that overwhelmed her ability to move. Her mind was a cloud of so much knowledge, her only reaction to her comprehension of it all was a whispering of denial. "No... No... No..." Said Fluttershy, over and over as she denied what she knew with certainty as undeniable. For she knew, Gala was not a heart that could lie. As the element of honesty, he would rather die than do a dishonest thing. Gala snaps understood everything now. Fluttershy understood too much. "I... I'm sorry!" Turning away, he galloped as fast as he could. What he did was a terrible mistake. Such a pure and innocent heart, shattered because he existed to ruin it. He wanted to apologise properly, proportionate to what he had done, but he could think of nothing. He needed to go away. To keep himself from doing anymore damage to this world. He needed to go back to where he belonged. In the battlefield, in the great war, where he could do something besides hurt all those he cared about. Angel bunny watched as a colt galloped into the direction he came from, leaving him with a Fluttershy in some sort of pain and a bewildered Rainbow dash who didn't know what to do about anything. He turned his eyes back to the retreating pony, and he glared.