Twilight is ripped through time to answer a hero's call.
Stuck in a time not her own, with two mysterious ponies she's never met or heard of before, and Discord and Sombra at the full height of their power, will Twilight be able to prevent the mutual destruction of past and present Equestria?
This is a collab between two authors, Default and Nerobot
Also, huge thanks to our editor/pre-reader Stanku!
“Long ago in ancient Equestria there were two twisted emperors. First, there was Discord… the mad king. Discord ruled over central Equestria, everypony under his thumb was miserable. Discord headed an empire that ran on pure chaos. Some say he was the worst king ever recorded in history, but some disagree. The ponies who disagree turn to a different monster, one whose cruelty knew no bounds.
The second was the infamous tyrant, Sombra, who ruled over the northern crystal ponies with a cruel iron hoof. His heart was as blackened as his visage and his lust for power knew no bounds. Several centuries earlier he had seized control of the Crystal empire with his cunning and arsenal of unholy magic.
Things looked grim for Equestria and her inhabitants. There was no sign that the age of chaos would ever come to an end…until there was a shining light in the darkness, a beacon of hope, a dream of peace in a chaotic world. Two fabled alicorns, who would soon carve their names into history, stepped forward and challenged both legendary kings.
Discord was the first to fall. The mad king underestimated both alicorn princesses. He didn’t foresee the mighty power that the two ponies wielded. The two sisters possessed a power which had never been seen before throughout all of Equestria, the Elements of Harmony, a mythical force, with nearly omnipotent powers. Discord laughed and scoffed at the two ponies who dared to challenge his rule, but the draconequus was soon cut and turned to stone.
After Discord had fallen, Sombra, in all his paranoia holed himself up in his fortress at the heart of the Crystal empire. He was aware of the power of Harmony that the two alicorns wielded and desperately tried to find a way to ensure dominion over the crystal ponies. As a result, when he was felled by the might of the dual alicorns, the entire empire vanished along with him. Sombra was turned into a shadow and sealed deep in the frozen wastes of the north.
The two alicorn sisters had done it, they had defeated two of the most notorious leaders to ever set hoof in Equestria. The two ponies were crowned ‘rulers of Equestria’ and the age of harmony began.”
“Wow...that story gives me goosebumps every time,” marveled a lavender alicorn.
Twilight Sparkle closed the book and dragged a hoof across the old tome’s cover. The book was old and dusty, its pages were tattered and torn. Twilight carefully placed the old book onto a massive shelf. The pony gingerly lifted several other tomes off the shelves with her magic and placed them before her.
“Hmm..’Magic and You’? Nah, I’ve read that one like fifty times. Oh-oh! Maybe Star Swirl’s thesis paper on the constellations and what implications their arrangements may mean for magic! Ugh...no I read that one yesterday…” the Princess of Magic sighed as she paced back and forth in front of the grand bookshelves of the Canterlot library.
Twilight loved these books to death, but sometimes she wished that they were a little more...visceral. Maybe Rainbow Dash was right, maybe Twilight should read more adventure novels. Rainbow Dash had been pestering Twilight to read her Daring Do fanfiction and now that she had a little time she might as well give it a chance.
“Well it wouldn’t hurt I suppose. Afterall, Rainbow Dash did help me with that 10,000 word thesis on pegasus magic...and that experiment on teleportation. So I guess I owe her this.”
Twilight Sparkle sighed as she sat down at a nearby table and opened her satchel. The pony reached into her bag and pulled out a large heap of disorganized papers. Twilight Sparkle began to unfold and unscramble the mess of pages Rainbow Dash had given to her.
“It wouldn’t hurt her to be a little more organized,” mumbled Twilight to herself.
"FWOMP!"
The loud noise startled the young pony as she threw up the pages of Rainbow Dash’s work. Twilight tried to peer through a blizzard of dancing papers as her eyes began to race around the room, but the startled alicorn saw nothing out of the ordinary. Suddenly she caught notice of a library book that had fallen off a shelf. Twilight got up and trotted over to the book, taking cautious hoofsteps.
“FWOMP! FWOMP!”
Two more books suddenly shot off the shelves and landed before Twilight’s hooves. Twilight raised an eyebrow as she took a step back.
“Could it be? Is the Canterlot library haunted? No, no, no, that would be silly… Ghosts don’t exist.”
“FWOMP! FWOMP! FWOMP!”
Again, more books shot off the shelves. After each book fell there were two more that would fall after it, then four more after them, and so on, and so on. Twilight soon found herself huddling behind a chair, watching as the library turned into a violent storm of books. As books continued to fly off shelves, bookcases began to topple over, crashing into one another. Twilight’s lantern began to flicker on and off as Twilight’s peaceful refuge continued to turn into a violent pandemonium. Twilight steeled her resolve and made a dash for the door. She never made it however as the walls themselves tore away, reveling a maelstrom of pure energy filled with contorted clockwork. The very tiles beneath her hooves began to shatter and fall away into the spiraling void beneath her. As the last tile disappeared, Twilight found herself drifting through the tunnel of bright lights as various pages and books scattered around her like leaves in the wind. Twilight looked around in a combination of shock, awe, and terror. The young princess’ ears perked up when she heard voices that were muffled by the magical energy surrounding her.
“ Forgive me Luna! I-I didn’t want to do this but I have no choice!” a sharp voice pierced the veil of magic.
“Celestia?”
“I am the G-r-r-r-eat and Powerful Trixie!”
“T-Trixie?”
“It needs to be about...20% cooler!” another voice echoed around Twilight.
“R-rainbow Dash? What is going on!”
Twilight continued to twist and turn around as she tumbled down the rabbit hole. Images of past, present, and possibly even future began to flash around her. She could see her friends in an image which was then abruptly replaced by a different image of a war torn battlefield littered with the bodies of various races. A robot wielding a samurai sword and telling lame jokes, ponies controlling furious magic, the construction of Canterlot itself, hundreds of familiar images and a thousand more unfamiliar images, violently spun around Twilight.
“Our hero approaches! Champion, can you hear me?” A booming voice drowned out the other voices. The bright lights began to shoot past Twilight at an alarming rate. The alicorn made out what she believed to be a room at the end of the tunnel. There was just one problem. She was going waaaaaaay too fast.
“Hero! Slowdown you’re coming in too fa-” the voice was abruptly cut off as a lavender bullet shot into the room and bounced off the four walls before crashing into something hard. Twilight shakily stood up and brushed herself off, but something was stuck around her neck. Twilight looked down and saw a wooden cart wheel around her neck. Twilight began to hop around, trying to pull the wooden circle off of her. The unfortunate pony didn’t see the crack in the floor as she was hopping backwards and tripped and tumbled into a wall.
“Ray, are you sure this is the hero the spell was suppose to bring?” a rough yet feminine voice asked.
“I too thought she would be...bigger and stronger, but the spell chose her, so she must be the hero that we are looking for,” responded a calm and strong voice of a stallion.
Twilight’s face was still planted in the floor, but popped her head up when she heard the two voices. The alicorn's gaze began to jump around the room. Twilight found herself in what seemed to be a cellar. An old ceiling of rotten wood rested above her head, the only thing holding up the dilapidated wood was two thick support beams that had not yet given in to their age. The walls were granite stone, with moss and roots growing in between their cracks. The floor was made of dirt, but most of the dirt was now scattered across the old farming supplies in the cellar. Twilight’s eyes continued to scan the room when she noticed two figures staring curiously at her.
“By the stars! Look at her, Gale Force! She has both wings and a magic horn!” shouted the stallion as he took a step towards Twilight.
The pony was a unicorn. He was encased in a thick steel plating that covered most of his body and hooves. The stallion had long, blue hair with streaks of pink running through it and a light, blue gray coat. His armor was made up of multiple layers of overlapping steel, with a thick plating that rose up behind his back and rested along his neck. Twilight looked for a cutie mark but his flank was concealed by a cloak that reached down to the dirt floor. The pony had a stern expression but had an amiable aura around him. Twilight noticed a second pony that stood slightly behind the unicorn, she assumed this one was “Gale Force”.
“Is she okay? She’s been staring at us silently for quite some time now,” Gale Force asked as she stepped closer to Twilight.
“HERO! CAN YOU HEAR US?!” shouted the stallion right in front of Twilight’s face.
“I can. I can,” responded Twilight as she backed away from the two strangers.
“Oh for crying out loud! She still has that silly wheel around her neck,” exclaimed Gale Force as she moved forward to help Twilight. When Twilight saw the pony approach her, she instinctively took a step back.
“Don’t you dare think about running off,” warned Gale Force as she continued to approach Twilight. The pony’s stern voice froze Twilight in her tracks as she looked up at the stranger. Twilight managed to get a good look at Gale Force.
The pony, she now noticed, was a pegasus. She had a bright red mane that reminded her a little of Rainbow Dash with how messy it was, and she also had two metal earrings on the cartilage of her right ear. The pegasus’ coat was a yellowish tan color. Like the stallion, this pegasus also wore a dark steel armor that covered mostly the front of the pony and had overlapping metal plating that ran up her neck. The pony’s hooves were unarmored and seemed to be covered in scratches that resembled writing. Twilight couldn’t make out any of the words ,but Twilight could however make out a cutie mark that looked like a white tornado on Gale Force’s flank. Twilight caught sight of a bright silver object on the side of the pegasus and upon closer inspection she noticed it was a folded metal wing.
“Is that...a prosthetic wing? Made out of metal!?”
Lost in thought, Twilight didn’t pay attention to the pegasus who had grabbed a hold of the wheel around her neck.
“Hey she’s gone all quiet again,” the pegasus said before she gave the wheel a mighty tug. Twilight was nearly yanked up off her hooves by the surprising might of the pegasus.
“W-WOAH! WOAH! HOLD ON!” Twilight yelped as the splinters of the old wooden wheel dug into her neck. “Wait! I can just use my mag-” Twilight exclaimed as she tried to reason with the pegasus.
“Ah screw this…” grumbled Gale Force. In a flash of steel, Twilight felt the sharp pain suddenly vanish as the wheel broke into five pieces and scattered unceremoniously around her hooves. Twilight rubbed her neck as she watched Gale Force slowly fold the elegant silver wing.
“Thanks...but who are you, and how did I get here? Wherever ‘here’ is…” asked Twilight, not taking her eyes off of the two ponies. The armored unicorn stepped forward and bowed slightly before Twilight.
“Oh, how terribly foolish of us! We never properly introduced ourselves. My name is-” the unicorn stopped when a patch of dirt fell from above and hit the back of his head. The three ponies slowly looked up to the ceiling and heard a thud as another patch of dirt fell off the ceiling.
“Hoofsteps…? Here…?” whispered the pegasus.
“Were we followed?” asked the stallion as he turned to the red-headed pony. Another hoofstep was heard. Twilight could feel the tension in the air and had noticed that the other two ponies had grown worried.
“Hero, you need to get down,” whispered the stallion urgently to Twilight as he motioned for her to follow him. He then turned to his companion and pointed towards the stairs with a hoof. The pegasus nodded before spreading her wings and creeping towards the base of the stairs. The unicorn slowly followed after his partner and motioned one last time for Twilight to follow him. Twilight looked around the room one last time and reasoned that she had no better options.
The three ponies carefully made their way up the stairs, while making sure that they made as little noise as possible. As the trio reached the summit of the stairs, a loud crash was heard that sounded like somepony was throwing dishes on the floor. Twilight jumped as the two ponies in front of her remained quiet and calm.
“Hero, it appears that we will have a fight on our hooves sooner than expected,” whispered the stallion as he threw a glance back at Twilight.
“What…?” asked Twilight, but it was already too late.
“On three! One...two...three!” shouted the unicorn as both him and the pegasus leapt into action. The pegasus sliced and bursted through the door, followed shortly by the unicorn.
“Anything?!” shouted the stallion as he slid across the wooden floor, looking in every direction.
“There!” shouted Gale Force as she pointed to a hulking figure in the kitchen. Twilight thought it would be best if she kept her distance and observed. Gale Force quickly unfolded her metal wing to its full length, like a samurai drawing his blade, and dashed towards the unsuspecting target.
Before she was able to strike, the figure turned around and revealed itself. It was a creature completely made out of mud, with a simplistic face consisting of two empty holes for eyes, and a wide gaping mouth. The mud-man was chewing on a plate with a childish expression. Gale Force came to a grinding halt as she planted her hooves in the floor. She came to a messy stop right in front of the mud-man’s face as the plate he was chewing on dropped from his mouth. Both Gale Force and the mud humanoid looked down at the shattered porcelain. As Gale Force looked up, she saw the mud-man reach for a stack of plates next to him and began to chew on a new plate.
“Uh, Ray? What the hell is this thing?” questioned Gale Force, who had expected something entirely different. The creature ignored her as it broke another plate and reached for a new one. Twilight stepped forward, curious as to what the creature was.
“Oh! This is a mud golem,” Twilight suddenly explained before she was cut short by the sound of another plate breaking. “They usually come-” started Twilight again, before she was interrupted by the familiar sound of a breaking plate. “As I was saying, these creatures are docile and harmless to ponies.”
“Aha! It must have come to life as a result of the excess magic from the spell,” stated the unicorn.
“Wait...what spell?” asked Twilight as she turned towards the unicorn.
“The spell that -” the sound of another plate breaking interrupted the stallion. “Gale?” he added.
“I’m on it…” mumbled Gale Force as she reached up and confiscated the stack of plates from the mud golem. She turned and headed towards the door. The creature reached out towards her and stumbled after her.
“Sorry about that. Where were we?” asked the stallion as he turned back to Twilight.
“You were talking about some spell…” Twilight said as she narrowed her eyes at the unicorn.
“Ah, yes. Well, you see, um. Well, it’s kind of a long story. See if it's possible for Gale Force to explain it to you,” the stallion responded to Twilight as he walked away.
“Wait, hold on. She’s Gale Force...what’s your name then?” Twilight asked as she slowly trotted after the pony.
“Oh, I’m Cosmic Ray, but you needn’t worry about that, hero. What is your name?” he said.
“Well Cosmic Ray, it’s nice to meet you...I think. I’m Twilight Sparkle.” Just as Twilight finished speaking, Gale Force bursted in through the door with an anxious expression on her face.
“Hey guys, if you’re done socializing in here we got a little problem on our hooves.” Right as the pegasus finished speaking, Cosmic Ray galloped over to the nearest window.
A wall of dirty orange covered the horizon. The three ponies could feel the floorboards rumble beneath their hooves as the dark cloud inched closer and closer. The sun was eventually wiped from sight as a sheet of sand washed over it.
“A sand storm!” exclaimed Cosmic Ray as he shut the window. The pony began to dash from window to window, confirming that they were shut tightly. “This is actually good for us, now anypony who’s been following us will lose our tracks. I’ll just make a barrier around the farmhouse till this thing passes over.”
As Cosmic Ray went about preparing the barrier, Twilight trotted over to Gale Force. The aforementioned pegasus seemed to not notice Twilight, since she was busy inspecting the strange scars on her hooves. Gale Force’s ears perked up as she heard the sound of Twilight’s hoofsteps.
“Do you need something?” Gale Force asked as she placed her hooves behind her back and glided away from Twilight on her wings.
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to pry. I just wanted to ask you something.”
“Before you ask me, I never got your name...I don’t want to just call you ‘hero’ all day long,” the pegasus responded.
“I’m Twilight Sparkle, and you’re Gale Force right?”
“Just call me Gale and I’ll just call you Twilight. Deal?” said the pegasus as she looked at Twilight with a bored expression. " Now what’s your question?”
“Well, why did you two keep calling me hero? And why did you summon me here? Also, is there a reason why you two are paranoid about being followed? How come you don’t know my name, being the ones to summon me and all? Where am I? How do you-” asked Twilight in a flurry before Gale placed a wing on Twilight’s mouth.
“I’m going to have to stop you right there, Twilight, before my head explodes,” the exasperated pegasus said as she removed the tip of her wing from Twilight’s mouth. “Now, to answer your questions, we used a unique spell to summon you. More specifically, we used a spell that summons the greatest hero in Equestria to us. I don’t know all the mumbo jumbo and details of the spell but it looks like we ended up with you.”
“Wait, that only raises more questions!”
“Wonderful! The barrier is up and running!” shouted Ray as he closed a magical tome that he had been using. “Now then, if I may, let me explain what Gale has unsurprisingly missed. You see Twilight, these past three years I’ve been creating a special spell. A spell that could save all of Equestria. A spell that would summon us a hero, who could deliver us from the darkness.”
“You know, kidnapping a princess is a serious offense,” Twilight said, looking back and forth between the two ponies.
“These ponies must not be right in the head...Equestria’s fine as far as I know...” thought Twilight to herself.
“Wait, you’re a princess?” asked the unicorn as his eyes went wide.
“I don’t know what Equestria you’re living in but our Equestria has only tyrants and monsters disguised as kings,” scoffed Gale.
“W-Wait, what do you mean? There aren’t any princesses…?” asked Twilight with a bewildered look on her face.
“I can only recall one account of there being a princess in Equestria. A crystal princess… or at least that’s how the stories went, but that was hundreds of years ago. There are no more princesses in Equestria, Twilight.” Cosmic Ray took a deep breath as he waited to see Twilight’s reaction.
“Oh my gosh!... Cadence is dead! I must be in some type of war torn future!”
“You ok there?” Gale asked as she waved a hoof in front of Twilight’s shocked face. “What made you think you’re a princess?”
“Deep breaths Twilight, deep breaths…”
“Okay, so what happened to Celestia and Luna? “ she asked.
“Who?” Gale and Ray responded simultaneously.
“Y'know, the two ponies who raise the sun and the moon?”
“Preposterous! Two ponies raising the sun and the moon? Twilight, you jest.” Cosmic Ray raised a front hoof as he laughed a hearty laugh.
“I think ‘Princess’ Twilight has a couple of loose screws,” muttered Gale Force.
“Wait, then who’s in charge?!” shouted Twilight. Gale Force and Cosmic Ray shared a look before responding to Twilight.
“Sombra and Discord.”
“Oh my gosh! I’m not in some war torn future! I’m in the war torn past!”
“Twilight, you okay?” asked Gale Force as she took a hoofstep forward. The alicorn princess was in a state of shock. Her legs visibly trembled as her eyes widened in realization. Twilight was huddled in a fetal position on the chilled and battered floorboards of the antiquated farmhouse.
“T-This can’t be happening. I can’t be in the past! I might permanently damage the timestream, or what if I accidentally become my own great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother! I have to get back to my own time as soon as possible.”
“Hey what’s your problem Princess Nutjob? What kind of hero are you suppose to be? Do you usually have this many breakdowns?” asked Gale Force with a harsh tone.
“Gale, please. I’m sure that our hero just had a frightening journey through time. No need to harass her,” said Cosmic Ray as he trotted over to Twilight. “You are alright after all, aren’t you?”
“No I’m not alright! You two summoned me to the past!” shouted Twilight. “I could be changing the future right now!”
“But does it matter? How could changing this wretched world pose a downside?" asked Cosmic Ray.
"Because It could change my future!" shouted Twilight. "I could lose everything just by setting hoof here!" Cosmic Ray paused, the unicorn placed a hoof under his chin and mumbled to himself.
"Perhaps you've already changed the future before, Twilight. You should know; was there anypony such as yourself that changed history?"
"I don't know. There was no recorded history during this era!" shouted Twilight.
"Then perhaps by sitting around and doing nothing, you are changing your future. So either choice is a valid option for you, but would you prefer your past to have Discord and Sombra in power or Discord and Sombra dethroned?"
"This guy is telling me these are my two options, but I feel like I don't really have a choice here. I don't want Discord and Sombra to remain in power, but if I'm the one to defeat them, how much would my future change?"
"After we are done, I'll send you back to the moment in time you came from," said Cosmic Ray.
“O-Okay…” Twilight muttered as she processed all the new information.
"Besides, I've already already considered how your presence might change the future. This is why the spell I have prepared will only leave your actions behind, but all knowledge or memory of you will vanish when you return back to the future. Think of it like you are some sort of ghost leaving an anonymous mark on history. I've had three years to prepare this grand spell after all."
“It’ll be like you never left and like you were never here!” added Gale Force.
"I'm not too sure about this still," groaned Twilight.
“What kind of shitty hero are you to refuse?!” shouted Gale Force.
“Hold on, don’t make me look like I’m the bad guy! You’re the ones who ponynapped me in the first place!” shouted back Twilight. Gale Force glared at the alicorn as she said this, but Twilight didn’t back down and challenged Gale’s glare with one of her own.
“I am not going to let these ponies push me around. If i’m going to be stuck in the past, it’s going to be on my own terms.”
“Anyways, I’m thrilled to have you on board, Twilight!” Cosmic Ray prematurely stated.
“You didn’t even let me respond yet!” interjected Twilight.
“The spell wouldn’t have chosen you if you weren’t the right pony for the job...even though I have my doubts,” said Gale Force.
“Alright, alright! Fine, I’ll help you! I’ll be your hero…” sighed Twilight. “It doesn't seem like I have much of a say in this anyways.”
The three ponies waited in an awkward silence, which was only broken by the occasional question and answer. The sound of sand grinding against the unicorn’s magical barrier filled the entire house. Half an hour passed by before the storm began to die down.
“The sandstorm should finally be over.” Ray trotted over to the farmhouse door and stepped outside.
“Finally, I can stretch my wings!” shouted Gale Force. The pegasus spread her wings and bursted through the door and flew right into a giant pile of sand.
“Deserts tend to shift during sandstorms, Gale,” said Ray as he trotted by a mound of sand that had a pony’s tail sticking out of it.
Twilight popped her head out the door and took her first glance at ancient Equestria. Her gaze was met with a sea of yellow sand that stretched far beyond her field of vision. There was the occasional thatch roof that poked out from beneath the sand. Surprisingly there were a lot of farms for a desert.
“Wait, why are there farms in the desert?” Twilight asked herself.
“Hey, Ray? Why are there farms out here?” asked Twilight.
“This place wasn’t always a desert. It use to be the most lush land in all of Equestria...until Discord thought it would look better as a desert.” Cosmic Ray explained.
“Sounds like Discord,” Twilight replied.
“Wait, you’ve met Discord before? That means he’s still alive during your future? Wait, does that mean we fail?!”
“I probably shouldn't mention to these ponies that he’s kind of a friend to Equestria now…kind of.”
“No you do succeed! It’s just that when he was defeated he was turned to stone. In my time, he came back but we beat him again,” Twilight explained. As the two were talking, Gale Force pulled herself out of the pile of sand and began to shake her head in an attempt to get sand out of her red locks.
“What are you guys talking about?:” Gale asked as she tilted her head, pushing sand out of her ear.
“Nothing.” Cosmic Ray trotted on ahead into the desert, ignoring Gale’s question. Gale shrugged and followed after him.
“Wait for me!” shouted Twilight as she galloped after the two ponies.
The sun shined brightly as the three figures trekked across the scorching sands. Gale Force used her wings as an umbrella and Twilight quickly mimicked her, not wanting to fall victim to the wacky temperatures of Discord’s desert. Cosmic Ray seemed to fare the worst of the Trio as he pathetically shuffled his hooves along behind the two mares.
After seeing nothing but yellow for the past six hours, Twilight spotted, what was to her, the most vivid green she had ever seen in her life. As the band of ponies got closer, she could see that the green horizon was the beginning of a beautiful and dense forest. The desert abruptly ended where the forest began, as if a certain draconequus cropped and placed a desert at the heart of a forest.
“Stars be praised! We’ve finally reached the end of this accursed desert!” cried Cosmic Ray, nearly shedding a tear of joy.
“I’m guessing hot temperatures aren’t your forte,” said Twilight as the ponies trotted under the shade of a tree.
“What gave it away?” wheezed Ray as he unscrewed a bottle with his magic and began to rinse his mouth with water.
“Probably your constant bitching and moaning,” Gale Force casually said as she laid her back against the tree.
Cosmic Ray snapped up at Gale and gave the pegasus a stare that could kill.
“Impudent wretched little…”
“Guys, you shouldn’t be fighting!” Twilight said with a worried glance between the two. “Aren’t you two lifelong friends, or something of that sort?”
“Pffft, as if! I met Ray at some rundown bar like three days ago,” scoffed Gale Force. Twilight looked surprised.
“Oh...I see,” Twilight said, with a little embarrassment.
“Word of advice Twilight, don’t make friends with pegasi,” said Ray as he trotted past the alicorn. “I’m going to go see if I can find a cave for us to spend the night in. Twilight, you just watch after Gale for me.”
“Maybe Twilight should follow you in case you get another heat stroke in the forest,” shot back Gale.
“Maybe Twilight should teach you some manners while I’m gone!” shouted Ray as he continued to trot deeper into the forest.
“Maybe you two should just calm down…” Twilight whispered quietly.
“MAYBE YOU SHOULD MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS, TWILIGHT!” the both of them snapped at Twilight. Twilight backed down and sat herself under a tree next to Gale Force.
“These two could learn a thing or two about friendship.”
Twilight and Gale Force sat quietly under their respective trees as Cosmic Ray ventured further into the forest. The birds chirped and the forest was calm and peaceful. The smell of flowers and taste of honeydew perforated the air. Twilight figured it wouldn’t hurt to try to start some small talk with the pegasus.
"I suppose I should try to get to know her. After all, we're going to be companions for a while..."
"So, Gale," said Twilight. "What do you think about Cosmic Ray? You two don't seem to get along." Gale was quick to respond. Her judgement of Cosmic Ray seemed premeditated.
"He's a stuck up prick. He always tries to boss me around.
"I see... but he doesn't seem so bad."
"Perhaps to you Twilight, but you seem like the kind of pony who rolls over easily."
"I've stood my ground plenty of times before. Trust me, I don't roll over easy. I just was asking because I'm worried that constant quarrels will impede our success."
"Don't worry Twilight. Me and Ray know who the real enemies are."
"That's still no excuse for you to fight with one another. Back in Ponyville me and my friends achieve everything through our bonds with one another. It is our friendship that allows us to overcome the challenges we face." Gale scoffed at Twilight.
"What are you? Some kind of Princess of Friendship?" asked Gale as she dismissed Twilight with a wave of her hoof.
"Actually-"
“I found a cave not too far off from here,” said a familiar voice as Cosmic Ray pushed his way through a thicket of branches behind the two mares.
“Alright, finally!” Gale Force exclaimed as she jumped to her hooves. It seemed the previous conversation had already left her mind.
Twilight could say she had never seen a forest as beautiful as the one she was current strolling through. The sound of animals filled the air and the giant trees had canopies that reached up to the sky. Twilight was certain that Fluttershy would have loved this place. The group continued to travel until the sky began to turn red as the sun sank slowly behind the horizon. They had finally reached a small cave opening in the side of a large mountain.
“Well, here we are!” exclaimed Cosmic Ray as he laid out a fluffy sheet and plopped down on top of it. The unicorn began to unstrap the armor plating on his hooves as he dug in his satchel. “Twilight, I’ve been meaning to give you something,” said the unicorn as he continued to dig in his bag. “AHA!” Cosmic Ray pulled out a crumpled wad of papers and began to sort them. “These papers came through the portal before you did,” said the stallion as he handed the stack of messy papers over to Twilight.
“Oh, thanks. They must be some of my notes.” Twilight accepted the stack of papers and started inspecting them. Twilight’s eyes widened for a bit before her face flushed red in embarrassment. These were not her notes.
Cosmic Ray continued to unpack as he looked up at the alicorn.
“I gave them a quick peek. I hope you don’t mind. The story is quite good, extraordinary, to be completely honest with you. I’ve never read a story with such passion, and excitement as your story. It is your story, right? Surely Rainbow Dash is your pen name.”
“Well…” mumbled Twilight as she looked down and read the title of Dash’s fanfiction. In big, bold, black letters, the name “Daring Do’s Passionate Dares” sat on the title page.
“Hey if it’s so good, let me read it!” Gale Force exclaimed as she forced her way into the conversation.
“Oh, maybe another time…” Twilight said as she tried to hide the papers from Gale’s view.
“How come he gets to read it and I don’t?” Gale Force grumbled as she backed down. The pony went back to her corner of the cave and began to take off her armor. After she had removed her armor, she unstrapped her metal wing and delicately placed it against the wall. She turned back to Twilight. “Alright, now that we’re all settled in, lets get down to business.”
“Yes, let’s,” said Ray as he looked up from a book that he was in the middle of reading. The unicorn slowly closed the book and placed it off to the side before sitting up and turning towards Twilight. “Ok, hero. What should we do?”
Gale Force and Cosmic Ray looked at Twilight expectantly.
“Why are they looking at me...wait don’t tell me...these ponies don’t have a plan?!”
“I-I thought you guys would have a plan!” Twilight said exasperatedly.
“You are the plan,” Gale said with dead seriousness. Twilight sighed but put on a determined face anyways. The two ponies had complete faith in her so she might as well play the part of ‘hero’.
"Hold on! What if I got history to flow correctly? If I can get Luna and Celestia to defeat both Discord and Sombra, then nothing in the past would have changed at all! Well, at least to my knowledge..."
“Well...remember the two ponies I mentioned earlier today, Celestia and Luna?” asked Twilight.
“Yes. The mythical ponies who supposedly could raise the sun and moon. Right?” said Cosmic Ray.
“Right, well Celestia and Luna in the present time are the ones who originally beat both Sombra and Discord,” said Twilight.
“So where do we find these ‘mythical’ ponies?” asked Gale Force with a skeptical look.
“Well, that’s the hard part,” said Twilight as she scratched the back of her head with her hoof. “Recorded pony history doesn’t really begin until Celestia and Luna come into power...after they had already defeated Sombra and Discord. Discord thought history was boring and didn’t bother recording anything. Sombra, on the other hoof, wrote false history that glorified him as a supreme leader over all of Equestria.”
“So basically you have no idea then,” stated Gale Force.
“Well, she did give us some useful information,” reasoned Ray as he began to search his satchel once more. “We know the names of the two ponies that we’re looking for, but just have no idea where to find them.” The unicorn pulled his pack closer and began using his magic to rummage through its contents. “Here we go,” he said as he lifted out a small slip of paper. “I know somebody who could be of assistance to us. He kind of owes me a favor anyways.”
“Alright, so tomorrow we go find this contact of yours and he’ll tell us where to find Celestia and Luna,” said Twilight.
“Hey, Twilight...do Celestia and Luna defeat Sombra and Discord by themselves?” Gale asked. She had a look of curiosity on her face.
“I think so...why do you ask?” Twilight responded as she glanced at Gale Force.
“Well if they beat-” Gale Force began, but was interrupted.
“Shhhh,” shushed Cosmic Ray as he raised a hoof towards the two mares. “I think we’re being watched…”
The three ponies immediately tensed up as the sound of a twig snapping was heard near the cave entrance. Gale Force immediately plucked a metal feather from her wing leaning against the wall and placed it in her mouth, holding it like a dagger. Cosmic Ray slowly rose to his hooves as he trotted towards the entrance of the cave. Four old books slowly floated from out of the unicorns knapsack and began to orbit the pony.
“Twilight, you stay here. There’s no need for you to bother yourself with these pieces of trash,” said Cosmic Ray.
“Who?” asked Twilight.
“Bandits,” answered Gale Force as she clenched her teeth tightly around the metal feather.
Just as the words left her mouth, a group of ponies charged out of the darkness. The ponies wore light armor and carried crude looking weapons. They all wore masks that concealed their identities.
“Kill’em and take everything they got lads!” shouted one of the bandits as the ponies continued to charge towards the cave.
“I count no more than twenty,” stated Gale.
“This should be easy then,” said Cosmic Ray as one of the books floating around him opened up. “Book one, Earth!” exclaimed the unicorn as he raised his front hooves, creating a wall of rock. Cosmic Ray pushed his hooves forward, sending the rockwall sliding towards the bandits.
“One of em’s a damn unicorn!” shouted one of the bandits as he leapt over the wall. Most of the bandits managed to leap over the wall, but those unfortunate enough to be hit by the wall found themselves pushed back into the darkness of the forest. “Kill the unic-” the bandit began but was abruptly cut off as Gale Force punched her hoof right into his face. The bandit’s face contorted before he flew backwards and crashed into another pony behind him. The peaceful forest had now turned into a violent, clamorous fray.
“Enough! I will quickly end this childish conflict!” shouted Cosmic Ray as he extended a hoof outwards, towards the bandits. The ground beneath the masked ponies changed into a swamp of mud.
“Urgh, what is this crap,” groaned a pony as he tried to lift his hooves out of the gooey-like brown substance.
“Got you right where I want you…” whispered Cosmic Ray with a devious smile. The unicorn raised up his hooves as a pillar of earth rose behind him and shaped itself into a fist. “You attacked the wrong ponies today!” cried the unicorn as he threw his hooves toward the trapped bandits. The slab of earth swung itself back before hurling itself towards the helpless ponies.
“Oh my gosh, they’re serious! They might really kill them!” thought Twilight.
As the stone fist shot towards the defenseless bandits, Twilight leapt into action. The alicorn shot a stream of purple magic towards the stone fist, turning it into a slop of mud. The mud projectile crashed on top of the bandits, completely immobilizing them, but ultimately leaving them unharmed.
On the other side of the battlefield, a red blur bolted around the bandits as they clumsily tried to catch her.
“Catch that damn pegasus already, she only has one wing for crying out loud!” shouted a frustrated bandit before another hoof smashed into his skull, knocking him into a tree. He shakily stood up and reached for his weapon, but stopped when he felt something cold press into his neck. His two shaky, beady eyes slowly looked forward and locked with two unsympathetic, cold green eyes.
“Looks like this end of the line for you, bandit,” Gale Force spat out as she continued to press the feather into his neck.
“N-Now hang on a sec, we was just kidding about all that killing and looting!” the bandit begged as he placed a hoof on her shoulder.
The pegasus shoved the bandit’s hoof against the tree and drove the razor sharp feather right through his hoof, nailing him to the tree. The bandit cried and writhed in agony as Gale Force twisted the feather, further opening the wound. The bandit’s eyes slowly looked up and locked with two demented, frenzied green eyes.
“I would warn you, ‘don’t ever touch me again’, but it would be pointless because you’re about to die anyways,” Gale seethed. The feather began to draw more blood as the bandit whimpered pathetically. Gale ripped the feather out of his hoof and swung it towards his neck. She was fully intent on taking his head clean off. The bandit closed his eyes, too cowardly to witness his own death.
“What...the?” Gale Force whispered, in a confused tone. The bandit opened his eyes and looked down at a soft, white feather pressing into his neck. Gale Force twisted her head towards Twilight.
“What the fucking fuck you fucker, Twilight?!”
“Don’t you two think you might be going a little too far?! For Celestia’s sake look what you did to that poor pony’s hoof,” said Twilight as she trotted towards Gale and the injured bandit. Twilight used her magic to rip off a piece of the bandit’s own clothing and made a makeshift tourniquet out of it. As Twilight wrapped up the pony’s hoof, she turned towards the pegasus. “You and Ray could both learn a thing or two about friendship. Sure they may be bandits, but don't you think that killing them is going overboard?"
The bandit, feeling protected from the murderous pegasus, stood up and hid behind Twilight.
“Thank ye kind saint! I reckon you just darn saved my life,” said the bandit. Twilight turned around to face the bandit.
"Don't you act innocent. Just because I saved you life right now doesn't mean I'm taking your side. Tell me why are you robbing ponies in the forest? If you don't, I won't stick around to protect you."
“Twilight, you’re not going to try and reason with these low-lifes, are you?” asked Cosmic Ray as he stepped forward. Twilight’s head spun around and gave Ray a soul piercing gaze. “Nevermind, I forgot you’re the hero here. Please, continue, Twilight…” pleaded Cosmic Ray as he stumbled backwards.
“Are you serious right now, Twilight?! These aren’t just street rats who rob food vendors, these are career bandits who rob and kill innocent travelers!” shouted Gale Force. Twilight ignored both the pegasus and the unicorn and continued her conversation with the bandit.
“Now missus, I got a real good reasons for us being out here in the dead o’ night robbing ponies,” the bandit said as he removed his mask. The pony had a messy, unkempt peach mane that was cut short. The stallion had an orange coat that complemented his yellow eyes. “You see, we was the farmers who once lived on those farmlands that is now a desert. Ever since Discord took away our homes, we had to turn to a life of crime. I had to single-hoofedly feed my thirteen brothers and twelve sisters,” explained the pony as tears swelled under his eyes.
The pony’s voice cracked as he continued his tragic tale.
“T-T-Then my young mare of a mama...s-she contracted the ‘strangles’! OH MAMA, YOU SQUARE DANCIN’ IN THE HEAVENS NOW!” the pony finished as he burst into tears.
Cosmic Ray leaned against a tree with his hooves folded, not caring for a word that the pony had said.
Gale Force scoffed and rolled her eyes.
Twilight on the other hoof placed a comforting hoof on the bandit's shoulder.
“You poor pony, you’ve been through so much,” said Twilight. “Here...maybe this will help you with all your problems,” Twilight said as she nudged Cosmic Ray.
“Huh, what?” asked the unicorn as he looked at Twilight.
“Give him some money,” demanded Twilight, trying not to raise her voice. Cosmic Ray sighed and reached into his satchel and pulled out a small sack of coins. The unicorn slowly turned the small money sack on its side and jingled out a single bit, before handing it to Twilight.
“You could learn a thing or two from Rarity!” shouted Twilight as she used her magic to swipe the entire coinpurse from Cosmic Ray.
“Hey-” started the unicorn, but held his tongue when Twilight shot him another glare.
“Here you go, now you can feed your siblings and you won’t have to live a life of crime any longer. You find a new home far, far away from this place,” said Twilight with a sincere smile that could warm even the coldest heart.
“Well gee...no pony’s ever been this kind to me before. I guess I’ve never met a pony that’s as much a SUCKER AS YOU! AHAHA WE GOT EM BOYS!” the stallion cried, victoriously.
“W-What...b-but what about all that stuff about your siblings and your mother!?” asked Twilight, surprised.
“MY MAMA FINE! SHE RIGHT OVER THERE!” shouted the pony as he pointed a hoof to a bandit. The bandit ripped off her mask, revealing an old mare.
“GREAT JOB BOY! NOW LET’S DITCH THESE LOSERS! WE GOT KILLING AND ROBBING TO DO!” cried the senile mare as the bandits retreated into the darkness.
Twilight stood motionless with one eye twitching.
"Luckily I only gave them a small amount of money," sighed Twilight.
"By 'small amount of money' do you mean 'all of our money'?" inquired Cosmic.
"Wait? That was all of our money? That's all you had?!"
"We don't exactly have paying jobs, Twilight. We're rebels, remember?" Gale force trotted up next to Twilight and threw a hoof around her shoulder.
“Nice job, Twilight. You really taught those bandits a lesson,” said Gale Force as she held up the one bit they had left.
“No, I think she taught us a lesson, never let the hero touch the money...” said Cosmic Ray.
And from that day on, Twilight never got to touch the money.
Rays of light shot in between the gaps in the canopy of a forest. Large trees towered up to the sky, held firmly in the ground by thick, solid roots. A multitude of fauna and flora populated the vibrant forest. Three ponies trekked along a path that weaved its way through the trees. In contrast to the naturally growing trees and plants, the path was the work of master masons. Paved from large, white slabs of stone, the road was wide and seemed to run on for miles.
“We’ve made good progress. We should reach the city soon,” said a unicorn. Cosmic Ray was at the head of the ponies’ small group. The armored unicorn held a map in front of him as he continued to trot forward.
“Hey, where are we heading exactly?” Twilight asked, tailing behind the group.
“We are headed towards The Five Corners,” responded Cosmic Ray.
“The five corners for what…?”
“...pssst idiot...that’s the name of the city,” whispered Gale Force.
“You know, you call me “idiot” so much, it might as well be my real name…” groaned Twilight. The purple alicorn rolled her eyes, if she was back home, she wouldn’t be treated this way. “Anyways… so why is it called ‘The Five Corners?’”
“The city itself is on the five corners of Equestria’s greatest empires,” said Cosmic Ray. He looked back to see Twilight had a look of curiosity on her face. “Ah, I’m guessing you want to know more?” asked Cosmic Ray. Gale Force groaned and prepared herself for another boring series of facts. Twilight, on the other hoof, had a look of childlike wonder in her eyes.
“Well Twilight, I don’t know about your Equestria, but our Equestria is divided into five grand kingdoms. The first kingdom covers the majority of Equestria’s mainland. This is Discord’s domain. The draconequus has changed most of the land into a misshapen contort of chaos. The second kingdom has a sliver of territory reaching into the heart of Equestria. This land belongs to King Sombra. He rules mainly over the entire northern territory of Equestria. Due southwest are the minotaurs. An honorable and noble race, these creatures have built a home in the open plains of Equestria. Then there are the gryphons, birdlike creatures whom have made their nests in the southeastern parts of Equestria. Last but not least are the humans… these creatures live in the smallest empire, but are not to be trifled with.”
“Humans?” asked Twilight.
"Ah yes, but you needn't worry about them Twilight. Every creature tends to stay away from them, not many enjoy their company. Isn't that right Gale?"
“Speak for yourself...” Gale Force mumbled as she averted her gaze. Meanwhile, Twilight was busy processing all this new information that she had just learned. The purple alicorn reached into her saddle pack and pulled out a small white notebook as she continued to run through the information in her head.
“Hey, could I have that map for reference?” asked Twilight as she paused her furious scribbling.
“Why? You want to give it away, like you did with our money?” asked Gale Force as she leaned towards Twilight with a raised eyebrow.
“I already said I was sorry…” sighed Twilight as she looked down at the ground. “How long do you plan on holding that over my head?” she asked as she looked back up.
“Until you do something royally stupid again,” answered Gale Force with a smirk.
“Mares… mares.... calm yourselves. We shall soon reach the city and I won’t enter it with you two bickering like children,” sighed Cosmic Ray.
“She started it!” accused Twilight. Gale Force blew her a raspberry in response. Twilight, not to be outdone by the likes of Gale Force, puffed up her chest and blew the hardest raspberry she could muster. A torrential rain of alicorn spit splattered over Gale Force. The redheaded mare couldn’t believe what just happened.
“...Amazing, hero,” said Cosmic Ray as he turned back around and began to walk down the road again. “Maybe when we confront Discord or Sombra you could show them that wondrous display of indecency.” The unicorn then heard a deep inhale. “OH COME ON!”
Gale Force was preparing a powerful raspberry counterattack.
“PTHHHHHHHHHHHHHB!” Gale Force unleashed her attack right in Twilight’s face. The alicorn was blinded by the stream of saliva and hurricane like wind.
“Oh yeah you-”
“PTHHHP!” “PTHHHHP!” “PTHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHPPBBPBT!” The two mares turned to see Cosmic Ray raspberrying his heart out. “PTHHHPT!.....Phth………...phth.” The unicorn was now exhausted, he gasped for breath. “Now… that… we’re… done… with… that. Can we please… get back… to saving… Equestria?” coughed the breathless unicorn.
“Sure… If Twilight over here-”
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” screamed Cosmic Ray as he nearly tore out his mane.
The weary trio had travelled all day along the stone pathway, but now, night time would soon be upon them. There was hardly a word said between the tired ponies as they finally stumbled into a silent city. They had reached their destination, but the residents were now asleep.
“Let’s find an inn,” said Cosmic Ray as he took a turn onto a paved road.
“We got no money, remember?” sighed Gale Force.
“Ahah! You are wrong, Gale. Twilight was so gracious to leave us with this!” cheered the unicorn as he held a single golden coin up to the moonlight. “...Looks like we are staying in the cheapest inn… and we’re getting one room.”
A sign twinkled off in the distance. “One Room. One Night. One Bit.”
“Bingo…” whispered Cosmic Ray with a smile.
“I don’t know about this…” said Twilight. “Doesn’t that inn look a little shady to you guys?”
“Nonsense Twilight, shady is merely a matter of perspective,” said Cosmic Ray as he trotted off towards the inn, like a moth to a flame.
“Yeah...I’m beat...I just want a nice soft bed now…” Gale Force said as she let out a yawn.
“Well, alright I guess…” Twilight responded still not entirely convinced.
The three ponies trotted through the front door of the inn. They were in a large wooden tavern filled with empty tables and chairs. A bar could be seen at the end of the room with a single flickering candle that struggled to illuminate the dimly lit room. The wood was rotting in some places and cobwebs covered the corners of the room. Planks of wood covered the walls like bandaids. The smell of old alcohol wafted through the room and overpowered the ponies’ nostrils.
“Well, you get what you pay for,” sighed Cosmic Ray as he trotted toward the bar counter at the end of the empty room. “Hello?” asked the unicorn when he found nopony in sight. “Hello?!” he asked again, but this time projecting his voice throughout the empty tavern.
“HNGH!” The sound resembled an old stallion having a heart attack. Cosmic Ray fell backwards as an elderly pony sprang up from behind the counter. The clanging of bottles and rattling of mugs could be heard as the pony threw himself on the counter.
“...Hello?”
“HNNNNNGH!” The old pony once again dragged his torso from side to side, disturbing the pile of empty beverages behind the counter. “...who’s there?” he grumbled, still not opening his wrinkled eyes.
“Good evening fine sir, me and my companions were…” started the unicorn before the elderly pony interrupted him.
“Bar’s closed!” sneered the old stallion, not even lifting his head off the counter.
“Great, but…”
“I said the bar’s closed! Ya got shit in yer ears?!” said the grumpy pony. Gale Force pushed Cosmic Ray aside and slammed her hooves down.
“Listen here asshole! I’ve been travelling on hoof through a desert and forest for TWO whole days! We don’t care about your damn bar or whatever, just give us your cheapest room we can buy with one bit!” Gale Force finished, huffing for breath after her rant.
“Ya want a room?! Why didn’t ya say so?” grumbled the elderly pony as he placed a key on the counter. “That’ll be one bit.”
Cosmic Ray threw the single bit onto the counter and grabbed the key. The three ponies started heading towards the stairs before they heard a wheezing chuckle.
“Heheh...yer a lucky stallion, keep it down later tonight will ya?”
“Eat shit,” responded Gale Force without missing a beat.
“What’s he talking about?” Twilight asked.
“Don’t think too hard about it, Twilight.”
The weary ponies tiredly stepped into their tiny unfurnished room. The only thing the room contained was a hard looking bed and a small wooden desk. Cosmic Ray and Gale Force trotted up to the bed and unloaded their belongings. Twilight watched as the two ponies removed their armour and baggage.
“What are you waiting for? It’s time for bed,” said Gale Force as she glanced back at Twilight.
“Oh,” interjected Twilight as she set her bag in the corner of the room. “I wish I could take a shower… a bath couldn’t come too soon…” thought Twilight as she continued to prepare for the night.
“I’ll have first watch, you’ll have second, Gale will have third,” said Cosmic Ray. Twilight looked up to see the unicorn handing her a blanket. “You and Gale will share the bed,” said the stallion as he trotted off.
“Where will you sleep?” asked Twilight.
“Don’t worry about me, hero. The floor and the bed look practically the same anyways…” he said with a shrug.
BANG! The sound of porcelain shattering.
“What was that?!” asked Twilight as her horn began to glow with magic.
“It came from the alleyway,” quietly stated Cosmic Ray as he crept towards the window. “This can’t be happening…” he mumbled in disbelief. Standing below the window, outside in the alley was a figure cloaked in darkness. A heavy looking creature with a roundish shape and empty hollow eyes. As Gale Force set down her metal wing, she made her way over to the window.
“What who’s-” started Gale Force but her eyes nearly bulged out of her skull and her jaw dropped as she realized who was out there. “You’ve got to be kidding me…”
“Wait who is it? More bandits? Discord?!” Twilight asked. She began to think of spells to use in case it was Discord.
“No… It’s the-” Cosmic Ray was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass. “The mud golem…” he sighed.
“Mud golem?” muttered Twilight before remembering. “Wait, do you mean the mud golem from the farmhouse?!” she asked as she moved towards the window. “It might’ve sensed your magic, since you’re the pony who created it and all, and followed us here,” she said as she turned to face Cosmic Ray.
“What does it want from us?” asked Gale Force as she looked back down at the mud creature.
“Why don’t you go down there and find out?” asked Cosmic Ray as he turned to Gale Force.
“Why do I have to do it! “ whined Gale Force.
“Well, you did such a great job taking care of it last time,” said Twilight as she smiled coyly. Gale Force muttered obscenities as she strapped her wing back on and slammed the door behind her. The two ponies in the room could easily hear her stomp down the stairs. It was safe to say that she was a little upset.
“DID’NT I SAY TO KEEP IT DOWN YOU LITTLE SHITS!” growled a familiar voice before being silenced. “OH FOR ALL THAT IS HOLY, NOT THE PIANO!” cried out the voice. Shortly afterwards, the sound of the entire octave scale was heard as a piano crashed down onto something. Twilight took a hoofstep towards the door.
“No Twilight, it’s best you don’t see the aftermath,” gravely stated Cosmic Ray as he placed a hoof on her shoulder.
A few minutes of silence passed before they heard hoofsteps coming back up the steps. The door burst open and an angry looking pegasus threw herself onto the bed, her metal wing slicing the pillow in two.
“Wake me up when it’s my shift…” the pegasus muttered into the mattress before she started lightly snoring. Twilight glanced over at the form of the sleeping pegasus who took up the whole mattress. The alicorn carefully edged herself onto the bumpy mattress and pushed Gale Force’s metal wing away from her face. It had been a weary day and before she knew it, sleep overtook Twilight.
“Hey Twilight, get up,” said a voice, disturbing Twilight’s sleep.
“Hmm?” Twilight rubbed her eyes as she slowly sat up. She looked up to see a shadowy figure looming over her. “WHA-” A hoof plugged up Twilight’s mouth before she got too loud.
“It’s me Cosmic, remember? It’s your turn to keep watch,” said the stallion as he sat down resting against a wall. “Make sure… you don’t… fall… asleep,” mumbled the pony as he drifted off into a calm snooze.
Twilight rubbed her eyes with her hooves and patted her cheeks to try to wake herself up. She was used to sleeping a full, healthy eight hours, but she had just barely slept for three. Twilight reluctantly got out of bed and slowly trotted over to the bathroom and washed her face. As the alicorn turned off the water the thought of Spike and her friends came across her mind. It was true that they wouldn’t even be able to notice her absence, but that didn’t stop her from missing them. Twilight yawned as she stepped back into the room and slouched down in a corner.
The lavender alicorn continued to struggle with her lack of sleep in an attempt to stay awake. She tried to study her notes, but found it hard to focus and eventually settled on staring at the torn wallpaper of the inn room. Twilight began to focus on Gale’s snoring. At first the pegasus’ snoring wasn’t bothersome, but after an hour Twilight was losing her mind. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“She snores louder than Rainbow Dash! I can’t take this anymore! I need some fresh air,” thought Twilight as she trotted towards the door. “Nothing bad’s going to happen if I step out for a minute or two.”
Twilight snuck downstairs and crept outside. She took a deep breath of relief as she closed the door behind her. She was curious to see what the city itself looked like but the inn was on the outskirts of town and tucked away in a dark alleyway.
“I might not get to explore the town right now but at least I finally get some peace and quiet,” Twilight said to herself as she leaned against a brick wall. Twilight began to think about all the things that had transpired that day.
"Why did I have to get roped into this? It was Celestia and Luna who were responsible for defeating Discord and Sombra. So why did the spell choose me? Am I really destined to be their hero? So far I feel like I've only let them down. Alright, next chance I get to prove myself; I will show them what I'm capable of. I'm the princess of magic for crying out loud! I'm supposed to be their hero."
Twilight cleared her head as she sat down.
"My two companions are quite interesting... Gale seems like the type of pony who would pick a fight with a dragon. Cosmic on the other hoof seems to be more of a reserved and calm type of pony. I guess it makes sense they don't get along. They're practically polar opposites. Then again, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash get along and they aren't very similar." Twilight closed her eyes and focused on the main thing haunting her thoughts. "I just hope that we can find Celestia and Luna. If we don't then history is for sure to change. But how much will it change? Would any of my friends exist? Would ponyville even extist? "
The sound of rummaging came from down the alleyway. With all traces of sleepiness gone, Twilight quickly jumped to attention as her eyes peered into the darkness.
“Who goes there?” Twilight asked as her horn illuminated the alleyway. Twilight saw two stumpy brown legs wiggling back and forth from out of the alleyway dumpster. The alicorn used her magic to pull out the creature and place it upright on its stumps. It was none other than the mud golem that Gale Force had been assigned to deal with. The creature now reeked of trash and other foul smells.
“You poor creature, that mean pegasus did such a thing to you…” Twilight said with a compassionate look on her face. The golem responded by giving her a wide grin while trash fell from its mouth. “Oh...you ate the trash. What an...interesting...choice of nutrition,” Twilight chuckled uneasily as she turned her snout away.
The mud golem slowly approached the mare raising one of its forward stumps as if it were thinking about something to say. “H-H-....H-” As the golem mumbled the letter ‘H’, trash spewed out from its mouth alarmingly close to Twilight.
“Easy there!” interjected Twilight as she hopped backward.
“H-H-H-...Hero,” the mud golem finally gurgled.
“Ew… Wait! You can talk!?”
“Hero,” the mud golem said again as it pointed a stump at Twilight.
“This is amazing!” shouted Twilight as she pulled out a notepad and began to scribble furiously into the tiny notebook. “Could it be? An elemental construct achieving sentient enlightenment?”
“Hey! Watch where yer going! Once we’re inside we need to be professional! The Connoisseur would collect our heads if we’re to mess up!”
Twilight jumped when she heard the raspy voice. The pony popped her head out of the alleyway and caught sight of a group of hooded ponies as they stepped into the rundown inn. Twilight looked back at the mud golem before following after the shady group of ponies.
“You stay here. I’ll come back to collect more data in a sec,” said Twilight as she motioned for the mud golem to stay put.
The alicorn got low and silently crept through the door of the inn. She was ready for a fight, but no pony was in her sight. Twilight could hear rummaging from upstairs. The alicorn quickly trotted towards the staircase and took a hoofstep onto the aged wood.
*CREAK*
Twilight pulled her hoof back and spread her wings. It would be more quiet if she just flew up the stairs rather than step on the ancient wood. As the alicorn reached the second floor, she quickly pressed her back against the wall and took a glance down the hallway. Twilight saw the same group of cloaked figures standing in front of her room’s door.
“What’s taking so long?” asked one of the cloaked figures.
A pony smaller than the others was hunched over the room’s lock. The smaller pony wiped its forehead with a hoof before looking back.
“Hey, it’s not that easy,” said the mysterious pony.
“It’s just a crummy inn lock. You were hired for this very task!” violently whispered the largest of the cloaked figures.
“I almost got it. Just keep your voice down for Discord’s sake,” said the smaller figure as a clicking sound filled the hallway. “Bingo.”
“Shit, looks like today’s our lucky day,” said the large cloaked figure as it pulled the smaller pony away from the door. “Alright boys remember, we’re here for the valuables. The Connoisseur doesn’t like it when things get bloody... but understands when things have to. So let’s not take any chances and-”
“Am I interrupting something!?” exclaimed Twilight as she stepped into the hallway.
“Wha?” mumbled the shocked stranger as it looked up to see Twilight. “Y-yea! Your funeral! Get her!” cried the pony as it pointed a hoof at Twilight. Unanimously all the other cloaked ponies charged Twilight. The ponies raised up the front hoofs, revealing blades that were tied around their front legs. Twilight smirked at the eager bandits as they continued to charge towards her.
“Today’s not your lucky day,” said the alicorn with a smirk.
Twilight’s horn glowed brightly as she lifted up the closest bandit and began crashing him against the others. The bandits yelled as they tried to scramble up to their hooves.
“You bitch!” shouted the larger bandit as it reached into its saddle and hurled a dagger at Twilight. The alicorn quickly sidestep the blade and channeled her magic into her horn.
“I’ve had enough of you! Somepony needs to teach you a thing or two about friendship, but that pony isn’t going to be me! As far as I’m concerned ponies like you will only learn the error of your ways… through force!” shouted Twilight. The princess of magic’s eyes glowed as the space around her began to distort. The old wooden planks on the floor began to rattle as they were ripped out from the floor by magic.
“W-what the fuck is she?” Shouted one of the hooded ponies.
“Are you seeing what I’m seein boys? She’s got both horns and wings!” Another pony shouted before a wooden plank slammed into him and knocked him flat on his back. The space around Twilight grew even further distorted and it became impossible to see her through the thick veil of magic. The group of unfortunate ponies found themselves lifted into the air as they swirled around helplessly. Twilight’s voice could be heard again over their shouting.
“NOW GO LEARN YOUR LESSONS ELSEWHERE!” Twilight shouted as the magic around her launched the ponies through the wall where they became a speck in the night sky.
“What’s going on!” cried the voice of a stallion as he bursted through the door. Cosmic Ray was on full alert, four tomes engraved with magic symbols circled the alarmed unicorn. Gale Force followed after Cosmic Ray with a metal feather clutched in between her teeth. “Twilight?” said Ray out loud as he approached the alicorn. “Did that intense level of magic come from you?” asked the stallion with an amazed look.
“Yea…” replied Twilight. “I might have overdone it.”
“I can’t believe… That much magic… It was… simply amazing…” said the awed unicorn.
“It wasn’t that much…” Twilight said with a slight blush. Gale Force stepped past Twilight and inspected the large hole that was now in the inn. She turned towards Twilight.
“So Twilight, who’d you launch out this hole? Did I not hit the innkeeper hard enough?”
“Just some bandits…” said Twilight.
“Well, I guess that settles that then… Gale? I think it’s your turn to take watch,” said Cosmic Ray as he took a second glance at Twilight before going back into the room. “That much magic… and she’s not even out of breath…” thought the unicorn to himself.
“Sure- HEY WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING DOING IN HERE?” Gale exclaimed as she pointed at something behind Twilight.
Twilight looked back and saw that the mud golem had followed her into the inn. The lumbering block of mud stared blankly at the ponies with a bewildered expression.
A voice could be heard inside the room calling out to the two mares in the hallway. “Gale, be a dear and take care of that thing again, pretty please?” Twilight winced in preparation for the incoming outburst from the easily agitated pegasus. To her surprise, the pegasus seemed somewhat submissive to the command. As Gale Force turned around, Twilight realized why. The pegasus had multiple bags under her eyes. The pony was too exhausted,
“Just get some rest Twilight, I’ll take care of this…” the pegasus mumbled as she pushed the mud golem outside. Twilight nodded as she walked past the pegasus and into the room. Twilight was ready to get some much needed rest. Before the alicorn knew it she was already passed out, fast asleep.
“The Connoisseur will not be pleased with your performance tonight.” said an eloquent female voice from behind a shroud of darkness.
“Madam, I’m telling you it wasn’t our fault! T-there was this unicorn...no...a pegasus! No, she was both! A pegasus unicorn hybrid!,” one of the ponies whom Twilight had defeated was pleading with the figure.
An upright humanoid stepped out from the darkness, it was a female diamond dog, but unlike the hulking brutes that diamond dogs tended to be, she was a refined creature, resembling that of a french poodle. The diamond dog was covered in curly white hair, she was dressed in black pants and a button down white shirt. A pair of tiny glasses sat on the edge of her snout. She looked down at the groveling pony and then back at her clipboard.
“If we collected excuses, I assure you, we would’ve collected them all by now,” said the poodle diamond dog as she clicked her pen and wrote something on her clipboard.
“Please, no need to tell The Connoisseur! We will pull double- no triple the usual!” the pony begged.
“No need to tell me what now?” said a silky voice from behind the pony. The terrified pony’s heart jumped up into his throat as he spun around and bowed down to the voice’s owner.
“M-mr. Connoisseur! W-we weren’t expecting to meet you-” the pony began but quickly bit his tongue when The Connoisseur shut him up.
“Silence, you filthy mongrel,” The Connoisseur interrupted. The pony continued to tremble as he stared at the cold, hard ground, not daring to look up at his employer. After what seemed like an eternity of silence, the pony heard a clicking noise. The clicking noise began to get closer to him and then he noticed the black four-inch high heels right next to his face. The tall heels belonged to the female poodle.
“Ah, Valentine, looking as beautiful as always, Amour de ma vie!” said the smooth voice.
“Monsieur, you flatter me! But unfortunately, I have some rather...tragic news. You see, our dear employee here as failed to bring anything back after a night’s work,” responded Valentine.
“Tsk, tsk, Valentine, you are mistaken! Our dear employee has brought back something quite valuable. Tell me Valentine, what is most important to a collector besides the collectible?”
“Monsieur...forgive me, but I do not know the answer to that.”
“Information, Valentine, that is what is most important. Especially valuable information in regards to a rare collectible,” said The Connoisseur as he approached the prostrate pony. “So, I hear that you have encountered quite the interesting creature. A creature that is supposedly one of a kind.”
“Y-yes, a half-pegasus, half-unicorn pony. I swear!”
“I believe you, after all there is no reason for you to lie to me about such a thing.”
“Monsieur, I must interject here! I believe this trash is simply trying to save his own skin by deceiving you with some fanciful tale of a unicorn-pegasus hybrid creature,” Valentine interrupted.
“Mi amour, after being in this business for so long, you gain a talent for sniffing out a good lead.”
“Please, Mr. Connoisseur, allow me to make up for my mistake and go after this pony myself!” the begging pony pleaded.
“Do you really think I would let a bumbling oaf like yourself handle such an important task? Do not kid yourself, you’re calling is robbing stagecoaches and travelers in the dead of night.”
“Please!” the pony yelled as he looked up at his boss. The Connoisseur was a diamond dog, like Valentine and much like her, he greatly differed from the typical brutish ones. He resembled a husky with his black and white fur and piercing icy-blue eyes. Whereas the typical diamond dog was hunched over, The Connoisseur stood up straight and proud. He wore an expensive looking black coat over a fancy white silk vest. He wore brown trousers that were tucked neatly into decorated black boots that reached up to his knees. The Connoisseur looked at the pony with an amused look on his face.
“Ah, what a shame. You have seen me now. It seems that I will now be forced to permanently terminate your...employment.”
“W-what!? My lord please I did-” the pony pathetically cried out but was ignored.
“ Gorer, Ripper please come in here..we have some trash that needs to be taken out,” The Connoisseur said as he clapped his hands together twice. No more than a second later, the door swung open and two massive monstrous diamond dogs stalked in and grabbed a hold of the now hysterical pony.
“Valentine, could you please put out a bounty for me?” said The Connoisseur as he began to remove his gloves. “Place it on the half-unicorn half-pegasus pony for about… 100,000 bits. Make sure they apprehend her alive though.”
“Is there anyone in particular I should contact monsieur?” asked Valentine.
“How about… Ghost Flower, she always seemed like a capable young mare. Can’t forget the classics though, make sure to inform Buck Wild and Meltdown as well.
“As you wish, monsieur,” said Valentine as she bowed before the husky and left.
The Connoisseur walked over to a cabinet and poured himself a glass of cider.
“How exciting. And here I was beginning to think that my collection was complete.”
The early morning sun shined upon a city that was awakening to a day of commerce and trade. The sky had an orange tint that continued to transition to a vivid blue as the sun continued its ascent into the sky. As the dawn crept nearer, the sounds of merchants and traders opening up shop could be heard throughout the stone streets. The Five Corners was the primary hub of trade between Equestria’s five largest empires. Merchants from across the land gathered here to buy and trade goods. Weapons, livestock, treasures, and even more exotic goods could be bought with the right amount of coin.
“Here, Twilight put this on,” said Cosmic Ray as he handed Twilight a brown hooded cloak. “Best to keep your...uniqueness...hidden. We want to maintain a low profile since we’re trying to overthrow two empires and whatnot.”
“Geeze, what’s this stuff made out of? It's so itchy,” said Twilight as she looked up to see Gale Force and Cosmic Ray putting on cloaks of their own.
“Sorry, your majesty.” Gale said with a roll of her eyes. “We couldn’t find a silken embroidered cloak for you.”
“Sorry, it’s all I could find on short notice since we had to leave before the innkeeper realized that you blew away half of the building,” Cosmic Ray said as he tightened his cloak. “Well, let’s get to it.”
Twilight trailed behind the two ponies she called “companions.” Cosmic Ray led the group and maintained a fast pace. Gale Force didn’t have trouble keeping up, but Twilight couldn’t resist looking around from time to time. The mare was in awe at the historic architecture. She continued to scribble in her notebook questions and observations that came to her mind.
“No fair! You didn’t even count!” cried out a high-pitched voice.
Twilight turned to see a pair of children playing in the city streets. A young filly and a minotaur calf were playing some sort of game with each other. Twilight had also spotted gryphons in the city. The young alicorn had never seen the three races living in a city together. During her timeline, gryphons, ponies, and minotaurs lived separately from one another.
“This is quite peaceful. I wonder what could have happened that changed all of this…”
The trio reached a crowded bridge that crossed a large river that ran through the center of the town, effectively cutting it in half. In giant golden letters, “Everfree Bridge” sat above the construct. Twilight continued to squeeze past pedestrian after pedestrian as she called out to Cosmic Ray.
“Excuse me, Cosmic Ray? Why is this bridge called the ‘Everfree Bridge’?” asked Twilight as she struggled to keep up with the unicorn and pegasus.
“It’s because the Everfree River runs below this bridge!” shouted Cosmic Ray over the chatter of passersbys.
“Is there a forest nearby perhaps?!” shouted back Twilight.
“Sure, the Everfree Forest! That was the forest we went through to get here!”
“What?!” cried Twilight.
“Something the matter?” asked Cosmic Ray, looking back at Twilight.
“It’s nothing… it’s just that the Everfree Forest looks quite different in my time,” said Twilight.
“We never asked you, Twilight. How many years into the future is your time?” asked Gale Force. The three ponies finally made it to the other side of the bridge. They stopped for a moment to rest and talk.
“I suppose about a 1000 years or so… give or take.”
“A millenia?! That’s quite some time,” said Cosmic Ray. “No wonder your magic seems so advanced, you’ve studied books that won’t even be published during this era!”
“It’s not that amazing,” said Twilight with a small chuckle. “I could even teach you some of the spells that I know. They’re not that hard once you practice them enough.”
“Perhaps-” started Cosmic Ray before being interrupted by a hoof punch to the shoulder.
“Please don't start talking about magic,” groaned Gale Force. “I hope you two remember we’re here to practically save all of Equestria. So please save the unimportant stuff for another time.”
“I suppose you are right, Gale. We’re here looking for information on Celestia and Luna’s whereabouts...right?” asked Twilight.
Cosmic Ray gave Twilight a nod. “Yes indeed. I know someone who practically has a file on every living creature in Equestria. If this “Luna and Celestia” truly do exist in our time, then he will have some information regarding to them.”
“Perfect! So how much longer until we meet him?” asked Twilight.
“Well… right now we’re on our way to the market central,” said Cosmic Ray.
“Oh, what supplies do we need?” asked Twilight.
Gale Force looked up and began to count on her feathers. “Well let’s see, we need food, water, warm clothing, maps… and some cider would be nice.”
“Maybe we can do without that last one,” said Cosmic Ray. “But I think we’re all forgetting one major thing here.”
“What would that be?” asked Twilight.
“WE GOT NO MONEY!” growled Cosmic Ray as he turned his money pouch upside down.
Gale force pressed a hoof against her chest. “Leave that to me. I grew up on the streets, so survival here is second nature to me. Watch and learn.”
The two ponies watched from a distance as the pegasus began trotting from merchant stall to merchant stall. “I hope she doesn’t plan on trying to buy something…” said Cosmic Ray as he sat down.
“Come one, come all! Behold my magical concoctions and how they could change your life for the better! They can make the old... young. The stupid… less stupid… maybe,” advertised an elderly pony with a moustache. “You there!” shouted the stallion as he pointed a hoof at Gale Force. “Come here, I know the perfect mixture to remove all those scars from your legs. Here let me show you!” said the pony as he reached out and grabbed ahold of Gale Force. The red-headed pegasus quickly withdrew her hoof and flared out her wings from behind her. The elderly pony suddenly found a metal wing pressing into his neck.
“I’m going to slit your throat, you old fuck,” growled Gale Force.
“H-Help!” cried out the stallion as he flailed his hooves around.
“Damnit! Twilight, you stay here!” ordered Cosmic Ray as he rushed forward. A crowd had gathered around the heated mare as she continued to press her sharp wing into the old pony’s neck. A light-blue stallion by the name of Cosmic Ray grabbed ahold of Gale Force and threw her backwards off of the elderly pony. “What’s wrong with you Gale?!” shouted the unicorn.
“What’s wrong with me?! Do you see this sick old fuck? Just randomly touching any mare he pleases?” sneered Gale Force.
“P-please, I was just trying to sell-” the old stallion salespony tried to interject but was interrupted by a glare from the angered pegasus.
“C’mon Gale, let’s get out of here before you gather more unwanted attention,” Cosmic Ray seethed at Gale as he grabbed her hoof and lead her back to Twilight. The enraged unicorn tugged Gale Force’s hoof one last time before letting go.
“Woah there, what’re you so angry about? I thought that went pretty smoothly,” said Gale Force with a smirk.
“Smoothly? Smoothly?! You could’ve gotten yourself arrested! Or worse, exposed all three of us. I thought you were the one saying that we should be focusing on the task at hoof?!”
“Yeah and I thought you played your part pretty well,” Gale continued.
“What are you talking about?” Cosmic Ray demanded. Gale Force threw something at him which he caught by reflex. It was a large sack of coins. “W-where did you get this?” Cosmic Ray asked while counting the coins in the bag. His anger had completely left him. He was taken over by a sense of joy.
“I snatched it off that old merchant. He was too distracted by death and whatnot to notice that it went missing,” Gale said, still with a sly smile on her face. “Like I said, it went smoothly.”
“Well, could you at least let me in on your plan next time?” said Cosmic Ray as he placed the coinpurse into his bag.
“I don’t know if you’d put up a good enough performance if you were in on it.”
“I can be pretty good at pretending to be something that I’m not…” said Cosmic Ray as he walked past Gale and Twilight. “Anyways, we got enough money for supplies and a little extra. Let’s get to it.” Twilight turned to Gale and opened her mouth, but stopped herself from saying anything.
"I would say something to Gale about pick pocketing, but since Equestria's fate rests on our shoulders I suppose I will let it slide," thought Twilight.
The three ponies reached a lively circle near the center of the city. Buyers and sellers hollered at one another, as the sound of goods and gold were traded. Twilight kept close as Gale Force and Cosmic Ray continued to trot from booth to booth buying various assortments of food, clothing, and other traveling necessities. Soon enough, the pegasus’ and unicorn’s bags had reached their max capacity. Twilight continued to follow the duo around when she caught sight of the markings on Gale’s legs. She had never really noticed it before, but it seemed like the scars resembled some sort of writing.
“Hey Gale, the marks on your legs look like some form of writing,” said Twilight, but the pegasus paid no attention to her. “Gale?” called out Twilight, but still she was ignored by the mare. “Wait, Gale-” Twilight suddenly felt a hoof on her shoulder. The cloaked alicorn turned to see Cosmic Ray staring at her with a grim expression.
“It’s best to not pry, Twilight. However she got those scars, it’s clear that she doesn’t plan on sharing that sort of information with us,” said Cosmic Ray. Twilight quietly nodded back in response. “On a side note, I and Gale have finished buying supplies. We’re planning on resting at a local cafe, do you want to join us?” asked Cosmic Ray.
“Sure, that would be nice,” responded Twilight as she followed after Cosmic Ray. “I wonder what some nicely prepared food tastes like in this era,” thought the alicorn to herself. The three ponies sat down at an outside wooden table. Cosmic Ray, Twilight Sparkle, and Gale Force watched the hectic market center as it continued to rage on. Twilight noticed a crowd forming around a large wooden platform near the market center.
“Hey what’s going on over there?” asked Twilight as she pointed a hoof at the large crowd that had now gathered around the wooden platform. Gale Force and Cosmic Ray both let their gazes wander to where Twilight was pointing.
“Ah, that’s the afternoon auction. But we don’t need to buy anything from that,” Cosmic Ray said as he turned back to Twilight and took a sip of his drink.
“Oh an auction, Rarity likes going to those. Sometimes she even auctions her own stuff.”
“Uh Twilight,” said Gale Force. “I don’t think this is one of the auctions this ‘Rarity’ goes to. This is a different kind of auction.”
“I don’t understand, what other kind ‘of’ is there?” Twilight asked with furrowed brows.
“Slave auction…” answered Cosmic Ray as he took another sip of his drink. Twilight stared at the unicorn in disbelief. This town seemed so peaceful, Twilight would have never imagined that something so horrible could take place in the middle of the plaza.
“That’s horrible…” whispered Twilight under her breath.
“Do you not have slaves in your Equestria?” asked Cosmic Ray as he raised an eyebrow.
“No! Never!” shouted Twilight.
“Alright, alright, just keep it down,” said Cosmic Ray as he readjusted the hood of his cloak. “Slaves here are just as common as livestock, Twilight. I mean the Crystal Empire practically runs solely on slave labor. Nearly all five of Equestria’s largest empires use them in some form or way…”
“It’s the sad truth Twilight, that’s why we want to change it,” Gale Force said grimly.
The crowd around the wooden platform had now grown so large they were almost spilling out of the plaza. A lone diamond dog walked onto the platform. The diamond dog opened a pocket watch that was too tiny for its paws and closed it before greeting his audience.
“Denizens of the Five Corners! I welcome you to this lovely afternoon’s auction. Today we have many wonderful specimens for you to marvel over. Just remember, stick around until the very end because our finest bounty hunters have brought in what we believe to be one of our rarest catches to date! Now without further ado, let the auction commence!” With the end of his opening speech, the first slave was brought onto stage.
“Now folks let us start with some good deals,” the auctioneer called out as a line of ponies trotted onto the stage. The ponies were chained together at the hoof by a large line of metal. “Starting price for one pony will be 1000 bits!” As the price was called out, offers were called out left and right from the crowd. The auctioneer was talking at lightspeed as he began to make deals with various members of the crowd.
“Today’s goods are quite rotten,”said a voice nearby Twilight, Gale, and Cosmic. “I hope there is promise in the auctioneer’s prized catch.” The three ponies turned to see a sophisticated husky diamond dog watching the auction through a pair of small golden binoculars.
“Monsieur, why do you insist on coming to this establishment, they always use too much sweetener in their beverages. Ugh, absolutely disgusting,” said a female poodle diamond dog sitting next to the husky.
“Come Valentine, we aren’t here for the refreshments. We’re here on business,” said the male diamond dog as he scratched the bottom of his chin with a paw. “How about we come up with an interesting theory as to what the rare specimen might be?”
“Well, it can’t be a pony, minotaur, gryphon, or human. Those are much too common. Unless of course it is a rare individual, but that is highly unlikely,” responded Valentine.
“Whatever it is, I’m sure I would love to have it in my collection…”
“You're sick,” said a hooded figure as it stood up from a nearby table. The Connoisseur and Valentine turned towards the voice. The cloaked figure was none other than Twilight.
“Oh no… not another one of those slave rights advocates. What’s with you ponies…” groaned The Connoisseur as he rolled his eyes.
“I can't believe that you actually think that owning a pony is something that's ok!” shouted Twilight as she slammed her hooves down in frustration. The force of impact launched a drink into the air and right towards The Connoisseur. The Connoisseur stood still as the drink sailed towards him. With a fluid flick of his wrist, he caught the drink with the tip of his cane.
“Careful, you might get somepony wet,” The Connoisseur said as he launched the drink at Twilight with another fluid motion. The drink halted in mid air as it was suspended by a blue aura of magic. Cosmic Ray carefully levitated the drink back down onto the table before it would be used as a projectile again.
“Please excuse my companion. She hasn’t been to a slave auction before,” said Cosmic Ray, not turning around to show his face to The Connoisseur. The poodle diamond dog sneered at Cosmic Ray and Twilight.
“Hmph, you fodder are not worth our time. Clearly you have no idea who you are dealing with.”
“Sit down Twilight…” whispered Cosmic Ray as he glanced over at the cloaked alicorn. Twilight continued to tremble with frustration as she sat herself back down. “In due time Twilight. I want to obliterate him as bad as you do, but now is not the time nor place.”
Twilight slowly nodded at Gale Force and stopped the trembling in her shoulders. The Alicorn still had fire in her eyes but the fury was replaced by determination.
Over the course of nearly half an hour; the three companions watched as living creatures were auctioned off as property to anyone who had the coin. Twilight, Cosmic, and Gale, ate their meals in silence, trying to ignore the lively slave trading before them.
“ALL RIGHT, WE’VE REACHED THE END OF OUR AUCTION!” cried out a voice. The crowd was still in an uproar as buyers squabbled amongst themselves and the various slaves were distributed. “AS PROMISED, WE HAVE A VERY SPECIAL FINAL SURPRISE FOR TODAY'S AUCTION!” The crowd began to quiet down when the auctioneer began to reveal his promise. The rattling of chains was heard as something was brought up onto the stage.
In the center of the platform, stood an upright bipedal creature with long legs and arms. A long river of black hair covered its head and ran down its back. Two blood-red eyes stared out at the crowd.
“WHAT A FUCKING RIPOFF, THAT’S JUST A HUMAN GIRL!” yelled a voice from the crowd.
“Silence!” growled the diamond dog as he turned to the crowd. “This isn’t an ordinary human girl. It’s not even a human at all!” shouted the auctioneer as he pulled out a dagger from his back. “Let me show you,” he said as he approached the young woman.
The diamond dog grabbed ahold of the girl.
“What is he doing?” shouted a bystander.
The auctioneer raised the dagger in the air.
“He’s going to kill the poor thing!”
The auctioneer plunged the knife into the young girl’s neck.
“What a waste.”
As the auctioneer dug and twisted the knife in the girl’s neck, blood sprayed over the crowd. The crowd reared back in disgust as the auctioneer threw the knife away and stood back.
“Dear Celestia...are you guys seeing what I’m seeing?” said Twilight.
“Yeah Twilight, I’m pretty sure everyone saw him commit murder,” Gale said.
“No, that’s not what I mean. Look!” Twilight shouted as she pointed at the stage. Rivers of red dripped down the stage and flowed into the crowd of people. The girl was still standing upright, not moving. Two red-eyes peered out from behind the long mess of black hair. The blood began slowly flowing backwards, past the crowd and back up the stage as if someone had taken the scene and rewound it. The blood pooled together at her feet and was seemingly absorbed into her. The auctioneer roughly pulled her head back again to expose her neck as it began to reform. Blood weaved together like threads as the wound closed itself.
“BEHOLD, A HEMOMANCER!” the auctioneer yelled out before the decibels in the crowd reached an all time high. Buyers pushed their way through the crowd as they tried to purchase the supposedly rare creature. Numbers were yelled out from all over as the auctioneer tried to calm the crowd.
“What’s a hemomancer?” Twilight asked as she looked between Cosmic Ray and Gale Force.
“It’s hard to believe that they don’t exist in your time, seeing that they’re immortal…” said Cosmic Ray as he finished off his drink. “Maybe they left Equestria to journey to a distant land… or something. Anyways, I suppose you’d like an explanation?”
Twilight nodded eagerly and flipped to a blank page in her notebook. Gale Force rolled her eyes and flagged down a waitress for another round of drinks and snacks.
“First off, hemomancers are polymorphic creatures that can take on nearly any individual’s identity. The one you see on stage chose the form of a human girl, but they have nothing associated with humankind. Each one of them have preferences of species, but let’s not get off topic. These creatures are quite deadly, given their ability to change body shape into nearly any other creature, but also due to their supernatural authority over blood. Hemomancers received their name based on their ability to manipulate blood into all forms of shape and matter.”
Twilight nodded eagerly and flipped to a blank page in her notebook. Gale Force rolled her eyes and flagged down a waitress for another round of drinks and snacks.
“Good luck with that. Not many ponies know anything about them. You most likely already know more than the average pony on the subject already.”
While Cosmic Ray was teaching Twilight about hemomancers, the auction for the girl continued to rage on.
“50,000 bits, I’ll buy her for 50,000 bits!”
“We got one for 50,000. Going at 50,000, can anyone go higher than 50,000?!”
“70,000!”
“I’ll do 80,000!”
“100,000.” All the heads in the crowd turned to a diamond dog husky who had his cane raised in the air. “100,000 bits for the hemomancer girl,” he repeated again.
“Going once for 100,000! Can anyone top-” the auctioneer began but was interrupted by another voice in the crowd.
“120,000” said a hooded figure as the crowd moved away from him. The Connoisseur sneered as he strided towards the cloaked stranger. The crowd stared between the two figures in silence as they waited eagerly to see if the new offer could be topped. The Connoisseur slammed his cane down as he stopped in front of the hooded figure.
“150,000 bits,” said The Connoisseur proudly with a smile. “Let’s be honest here. You don’t have this kind of money, ami.”
The cloaked figure slowly turned its head towards The Connoisseur. The stranger stood upright and motionless staring at the diamond dog. “I’m not here to cause you any sort of trouble. Therefore, I would like to end this without wasting any of your time.” The cloaked individual raised a hand into the air. “300,000 bits.”
The crowd fell silent when they heard the obscene bid. The Connoisseur stared at the figure in shock as the realization of what just happened dawned on him. Despite being figuratively and literally, one of the top dogs, even he couldn’t make a bid like that with no regrets. Just who was this cloaked figure?
“You can’t be serious?! A hemomancer is indeed a rare prize, but to whom could it be worth 300,000 bits?”
“To me,” said the figure as he removed the hood. Red eyes glanced over the crowd gawking at him. The man was similar to the girl on stage. He had rough, messy black hair that sat upright and framed a calm face. He looked young, but his eyes carried a jaded feeling, as if he had already seen it all.
“And who exactly are you? Actually...what are you?” said The Connoisseur as he carefully glanced over the man’s features and glanced back at the hemomancer on the stage.
“I think you know the answer to that,” the man said as he brushed past the diamond dog and approached the wooden stage. “Unless you have any objections, I believe I am the winning bidder,” he said as he stepped onto the stage. The auctioneer walked up to the man, quivering in anticipation.
“My dear sir, when do you think you will have the payment ready?”
“How about now? I made sure I arrived prepared for any competition,” said the man as he motioned towards a carriage filled with chests. “There’s roughly 350,000 bits in there, but do forgive me if I am in a bit of a rush, you can count it and keep any leftover. With mouth watering, the auctioneer jumped off the stage and ran towards the carriage to collect his payment. The hemomancer girl looked at the man with wide eyes and immediately knelt down on a knee before looking up to say something. He silenced her lips by pressing a finger against them.
“Not now my dear, too many unsavory ears and eyes here. I am sure you are weary from your ordeal. Let us return home.”
“Thank you my lord, forgive me for being caught. It will never happen again.”
The man grabbed a hold of the iron chains that bound the girl and effortlessly tore them apart. He gave the girl a nod before shape shifting his body into that of a gryphon. The girl followed suit. The crowd was enamored by the scene taking place before them. It was rare to see a single hemomancer, let alone witness them transform.
“Wow…” muttered Twilight as she watched the two unique creatures fly off into the distance. “They look like real gryphons. I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between them and the real thing. Maybe there are hemomancers in my time and we just don’t know it.” Gale Force watched the whole thing from her peripheral view. Try as she might, she could not hide her amazement with what just happened.
“I guess they’re kind of cool…” concluded Gale Force with a shrug. “But do you maybe think that guy was her father or something?”
“No it wasn’t,” Cosmic Ray confidently replied.
“Well, how do you know?” said Gale Force as she stuck her tongue out at the unicorn.
“Just a hunch,” responded Cosmic Ray after pausing to think it over.
The trio watched as the crowd slowly dispersed from the market square. It was now late in the afternoon. The frustrated grumblings of the diamond dog who had been sitting next to Twilight, Cosmic, and Gale could be heard.
“C'est des conneries!”
“Monsieur, please calm down,” said his poodle diamond dog companion as she shuffled after him in high heels. “You are making a scene, monsieur!”
Twilight, Cosmic, and Gale all greatly enjoyed seeing the pretentious, husky diamond dog knocked off his pedestal.
“I think it’s about time we made our way towards my informant,” said Cosmic Ray
“Alright,” said Twilight with a smile as she continued to watch The Connoisseur throw his tantrum. “Lead the way.”
It was now evening at the Five Corners. The shops and market were beginning to slow down as fewer travelers walked the streets. However, this didn’t mean that the city itself was winding down. The bars and taverns of the city were full of lively patrons, ready to drink to their heart’s content. The city now teemed with an unsavoury crowd. The honest folk had gone to bed and now it was the dishonest folk’s time in the city. Twilight followed behind her companions. The alicorn's thoughts wandered as she remembered the events that transpired at the plaza.
"Slaves... I knew that the crystal empire used slaves but to think that all of Equestria used them. I dare not imagine slavery in current day Equestria. What if some of the ponies I knew were enslaved? The mere thought makes me want to vomit." Twilight looked around at the ponies that they were passing on the street. The eyes of the passerbys were void of all hope. Twilight's heart grew heavy seeing ponies in such suffering. Reading stories about Sombra and Discord was one thing but seeing it in person was a whole different story.
"Please missus, spare a bit so I can afford some supper." Twilight looked down, she heard the sound of jingling. A filly who was missing her hind legs was holding out a cup of coins. Judging by the sound, the young pony hadn't found much charity. Twilight searched her pockets, but unfortunately Cosmic and Gale no longer allowed her to hold onto bits. Twilight looked away, she couldn't bare to look into the young filly's eyes.
Ding.
Twilight's eyes opened, she glanced back at the young pony and saw that Gale Force had dumped a pair of bits into the dirty cup. "Gale," stammered Twilight. "That was really nice of you."
"Whatever," responded Gale.
"Hey, I was just complimenting you," growled Twilight.
"Like I give a damn."
"Every time I think she's a decent pony, she has to prove me wrong," thought Twilight.
“He should be around here somewhere,” said Cosmic Ray, interrupting the tension between Gale and Twilight. The stallion led the cloaked trio through the vacant streets of the city. The unicorn continued to turn his head from side to side, reading the tarnished signs of the buildings.
“So how does someone like you know of an informant in a shady place like this?” Gale Force asked. “I mean you are a fugitive and everything but you don’t seem like the kind of pony to keep criminal contacts.”
“If I recall I found you in a place like this not too long ago. Anyways, make sure you keep an eye on your pouches, this place doesn’t house decent folk.”
“That’s the place right?” asked Twilight as she pointed a hoof towards a lively tavern at the end of the street. Cosmic Ray looked down at the piece of paper floating in front of him.
“The Barnyard…” muttered Ray as he looked up at the sign sitting overhead the twin doored entrance. In heavy bronze letters sat the name of the establishment, ‘The Barnyard’. “Looks like you found it Twilight. Good eye,” said the unicorn as he rolled up the paper and trotted forward.
The three ponies trotted into the bustling building. From the outside, “The Barnyard” appeared to be your average tavern, but it was far from it. Twilight quickly averted her eyes.
“Oh gosh…” gasped Twilight.
“So you’re this kinda stallion huh?” Gale said with a wide smirk as she nudged Cosmic Ray. The three ponies stood in the middle of a brothel, Twilight caught glances of things that she wish she hadn’t for a brief moment.
“I uh, this place is different… than the last time I came here, I swear.” stuttered Cosmic Ray as he looked down to the floor and shuffled off to the side.“ Let’s just make sure this is the right place, there’s no need for us to be here if my contact isn’t here.”
“Hey there, can I help ya with something?” asked a sultry voice. The three cloaked ponies looked over and saw a young mare with large eyelashes and long blond hair. The pony’s coat was a luscious yellow, the fuzzy coat pressed out of the netting of the stockings on her hooves.
“Those cloaks look mighty heavy, should I take em for ya?”
“Oh, no! Um, that won’t be necessary. You see, me and my companions are here to meet someone. Not… enjoy the sights,” said Cosmic Ray.
“Oh you’re here for a special mare?”
“No, I’m not here for a mare.”
“Oh, you didn’t look like the kind of pony to swing that way.”
“Why does everypony think that I’m some kind of sexual deviant!?” shouted Cosmic Ray. “Look, I’m here to see ‘Monk’.” The mare’s eyes went wide before narrowing at the stallion.
“Gosh, why didn’t you say something sooner. Follow me.” The three ponies gladly followed the dressed up mare, they were happy to leave the show-floor. The showpony led them down multiple hallways until they reached a heavy steel door. “All you need to do is knock,” said the blond mare before she left the heroes alone.
“Well this wasn’t so hard,” said Twilight with a sigh of relief. “Other than being scarred for life I think that went kind of well.”
“Wait, why does your informant have a room with a steel door in the back of a brothel. He’s not some kind of gangster right?” Gale asked.
“He has information on nearly every creature in Equestria, I bet if I asked him he would have something on you, Gale,” said Cosmic as he approached the steel door. “Anyways, having dirt on nearly every single living creature kind of makes you a target.” The stallion knocked on the door and stepped back. A metal slit in the door slid open as two beady black eyes stared out and looked down at the three ponies. A grunt was the only greeting they received from the figure behind the door.
“Would you please tell Monk that Cosmic Ray is here to see him.” Another grunt could be heard as the metal slit slammed shut. After a brief moment the slit opened once more.
“Never heard of him.” Cosmic Ray’s brows furrowed for a split second, but relaxed as an idea popped into his head. The stallion got up on his hind legs and whispered something through the metal slit. Once again the door closed, but this time the massive metal door slowly began to swing open.
“What did you tell him?” Twilight asked as she looked at Cosmic Ray curiously.
“Oh well, since I’m a fugitive and all, I usually go by a code name to try and cover my identity.”
“I guess this informant of yours doesn’t actually know all that much if he doesn’t know your real name then?” Gale asked with a hint of skepticism.
“You sure are inquisitive today Gale,” groaned Cosmic Ray as he pushed past the pegasus and stepped through the open doorway. Twilight followed after Cosmic Ray, Gale was soon to follow. The ponies trotted down a short hallway that led to the main room.
The room was surprisingly sophisticated, trophies and luxuries lined the walls. A moderately sized mahogany desk was tucked away in the corner, surrounded by towering cabinets brimming with disorganized papers. Slow classical music played from a phonograph as a lumbering minotaur stepped in front of the three bewildered guests.
“Boss’ over there waiting,” grunted the giant as he stepped back and stood off to the side.
Twilight caught sight of three mares similar to those on the showfloor, she was about to look away, but caught sight of a fourth figure sitting on the couch. This figure was a lot smaller, she had nearly missed it. A furry creature sat between the three mares, their hooves wrapped around the strange figure. Twilight focused her eyes in on the stranger, it looked like a weasel, but sat upright, with its own arms wrapped around the hooves of its companions. The weasel-like creature had thin slit-like eyes, with brown fur and a white underbelly. A tiny navy blue vest adorned its upper half, while a silver ring sat halfway on it’s tail. The weasel creature’s thin eyes turned towards Twilight.
“Don’t you know to call me by my real name?” groaned Cosmic Ray as he trotted past Twilight, towards the strange creature. It spoke with a slow, but smooth tone, designed to gain somepony’s trust.
“Cosmic… what brings you to town fella? I was starting to grow worried that I would never see you again,” chuckled the stallion’s contact.
“What the hell is that? A hairy turd?” asked Gale as she cocked her head.
“WHAT!? Hey, Cosmic, who are these bums?” The weasel creature yelled as he hopped up to his feet.
“Wow… I’ve never seen anything like you before. I didn’t know that weasels were sentient creatures in the past,” said Twilight as she trotted forward, notepad in hoof.
“What! I’m no weasel! I just look like one, bitch! I’m a freaking weasel-ite, it’s a completely different thing!” The weasel shook his tiny paws at the cloaked alicorn.
“Perhaps your species absence in the future is a good thing...” muttered Twilight as she scribbled in her notepad. She had already managed to draw a sketch of the unique being.
“Anyways, I go by the name ‘Monk’,” said the weasel-ite as it hopped off the couch and shooed the three play-mares away. “So what can I help you with today, ‘Cosmic Ray’,” said Monk as he rubbed his tiny paws in anticipation. The unicorn rolled his eyes before pushing Twilight forward.
“Actually I’m not the one who needs information on somepony.” Monk’s thin-slitted eyes looked over at the purple mare. “Who’s this clown?”
“We have something to show you, Monk,” said Cosmic Ray as he nodded at Gale.
“Wait, who the heck is this?” Monk asked as he looked over at the cloaked pegasus. “Your new marefriend or something? Gale scoffed at Monk’s claim.
“My name’s Gale Force but that’s not important. The pony we really wanted to show you is her.” The pegasus grabbed the edges of Twilight’s cloak and ripped it off in one smooth motion. The weasel-ite’s thin-slitted eyes widened as Twilight’s horn and wings were revealed to him.
“Holy hell do you know who this is?” Monk exclaimed as he pointed a tiny finger at Twilight.
“Wait, how could you possibly know who she is?” Gale asked, confused by Monk’s reaction.
“Everypony knows who she is! There is a bounty of 100,000 bits on her head! I thought it was just a joke! I can’t believe it, a real unicorn-pegasus hybrid!” Gale Force and Cosmic Ray paused and looked at one another. This was the first time they ever heard of Twilight’s bounty.
“Wait, wait, wait, what are you talking about?” asked Cosmic Ray as he trotted forward.
“What are you deaf, ya numbskull? I said we’re about to be rich! Do you know what 100,000 bits can buy you in this city?” giggled the weasel-ite as it hugged Twilight’s hoof. “I love you 100,000 bit pony,” he said with a sniff.
The weasel soon found himself pulled away from Twilight by some magical force. “Sorry, but I don’t think you’ll be collecting any reward today,” said Twilight as she continued to pull the weasel-ite away from her. Cosmic Ray stepped forward and cleared his throat.
“Sorry, but she’s a very important individual. We can’t allow her to be turned over for any sum of money, but just out of curiosity, who placed this bounty on her?”
“You just had to ruin the mood didn’t you. We could be rich but nooooo, you need her for something more important than making bits. What even is more important than making bits?!” Monk started ranting, but was interrupted as two green eyes appeared in front of his face. Gale Force picked the weasel-ite up by the back of his neck.
“Ahem, the ‘question’ we’re here about, Monk?” said Gale as she held the weasel-ite in front of her face. The pegasus suddenly found herself hoisted into the air and face to face with black beady eyes. Hot air snorted in her face as one of the minotaur bodyguards glared at her and slowly shook his head. Gale reluctantly set Monk down and the minotaur did the same with her.
“Anyways,” said monk as he dusted himself off. “Before I was so rudely interrupted, a certain rich individual who goes by the moniker ‘The Connoisseur’ placed the bounty on your friend here. He’s a diamond dog with a strange hobby for collecting rare creatures. I’ve done work with him before, he always pays very handsomely.” Twilight stepped forward and lowered her head so that she was face to face with Monk.
“What does this diamond dog look like?”
“Oh he’s a very classy individual, especially for a diamond dog. You couldn’t miss him if you tried! Always has the nicest suit on along with a black cane. He looks different from those other diamond dogs, he’s got this pure black fur with white patches on it. He’s also got these icy blue eyes, kinda like a wolf. Now that you mention it...he looks a lot like a wolf.
“Does he happen to speak some sort of foreign language?” asked Cosmic Ray.
“Yea, have you met him before?” asked Monk as he scratched the bottom of his chin.
“Sounds like the individual we sat next to at the auction,” said Twilight as she looked back at Cosmic Ray. The unicorn gave the purple mare a nod.
“Now we know to keep an eye out for him. Anyways, you should go ahead and ask him about those two ponies, hero.” Monk placed his paws on his sides and let out a sigh.
“Don’t tell me you’re still trying to overthrow Sombra…”
“Not exactly,” said Cosmic Ray. “We’re trying to overthrow both Discord and Sombra.”
“Now you’ve just lost it…”
“Perhaps, but we have an ace up our sleeve.”
“I suppose this is her, huh? Well she’s an extraordinary individual, that’s for sure, but I don’t know if she’s a kingslayer.”
“Just answer her question,” said Cosmic Ray as he shook his head.“ I need to use your bathroom,” said the stallion as he walked away.
“You’re going the wrong way,” said Gale as she pointed a hoof in a different direction.“ The showfloor is that way.” Cosmic Ray stuck his tongue out at the red headed mare before turning the corner.
“Now, how about that question money bag, or whatever your name is…” said Monk as he stepped in front of Twilight. “Of course the information won’t be free, but we can discuss price after my services.”
“Right, we have two ponies we would like you to locate for us,” said Twilight. “Celestia and Luna, they are two unicorn-pegasi hybrids, or alicorns, like me. They are both much larger than the average pony, Celestia being the largest. She has a white coat with a long flowing, multi-chromatic mane. Luna is more or less her polar opposite. She has a dark coat with a flowing blue mane.” The weasel-ite’s brows furrowed as he tapped his foot on the floor. Suddenly he looked up as if he had realized something.
“Hey, do these ponies happen to raise the sun and the moon?” Twilight’s eyes lit up as she broke into a huge grin.
“Yes, they do! So you have heard of them!” Twilight exclaimed excitedly as she moved closer to Monk.
“And...do they happen to look like this?” Monk asked as he pulled out a small piece of paper with a simplistic drawing of two ponies on it. However, it was unmistakable to Twilight.
“That’s them! So they are somewhere. I am-” she began but was cut off as Monk began to chortle with laughter and thump his tail on the floor.
“Too bad they aren’t even real! AHAHAHAHA!” The weasel-ite's laughter was torture to Twilight's ears. Monk wiped a tear of mirth from his eye as he handed a book to Twilight. Twilight wiped the dust off the book and saw that it was a children’s book. The same picture she was shown earlier adorned the cover. “This Celestia and Luna of yours are two characters from a filly’s book. Just a silly little book written by ponies to entertain their foals. I hope you don’t plan on defeating Discord and Sombra by reading them some dumb story.”
“T-that’s not….how can that be?” Twilight stammered as she stared at the book. The book clearly described the Celestia and Luna she knew, yet they supposedly didn’t even exist in this time. Gale Force brushed passed Twilight and grabbed the book. The pegasus flipped through several pages before turning her gaze to Twilight.
“These ponies of yours we’ve been chasing...was all just one big damn lie?!” Gale Force seethed. “I KNEW we shouldn’t have listened to you and I KNEW I should have followed my hunch about these fabricated fucking ‘alicorns’ of yours.”
“You know what Gale? I’m really sick and tired of you always belittling me for every little thing I say or do!” Twilight exploded on Gale. “It seems to me that you really have no faith in me at all. You haven't had a bit of trust in me since I arrived here up till now! Did you think the spell would just summon me and that I would fly through the portal and blow Discord and Sombra away? Well I’m sorry to tell you but I’m just as lost here as you and Cosmic Ray are! You know what? At least I had a plan! You’re just looking for somepony to do all your work for you. I’ll also have you know that Celestia and Luna are real ponies because I am her faithful student!”
The pegasus stared intensely at Twilight who was now breathing heavily after her rant. Gale Force trotted slowly up to Twilight and jabbed a hoof into her chest.
“Listen here, princess, don’t talk to me like you know a DAMN thing about me. You think I’m looking for somepony to do my work for me? I’ve spent half my life living in Discord’s shadow and I’ve spent the other half fighting against him. Did you think I was born with only one wing? Or that maybe I made these marks on my hooves? These are the scars that I’ve earned from fighting for what I believe for. All the friends and family that I’ve lost fighting this war, and the millions of others that have perished to Sombra and Discord’s war machines all died paving the way for you to save Equestria. And let me just add, Princess Sparkle, you are doing a fan-fucking-tastic job. So Twilight, can you look me in the eyes...and tell me truthfully that you have given your entire being to this cause?
"Awkward..." mumbled Monk as he glanced back and forth between the two ponies. "Anyways, I'm still going to collect payment for that info."
The two ponies continued to stare each other down until there came a strange noise from outside the hallway. It was a whining noise that sounded like the bending of metal. The steel door budged and groaned as if it was holding back a massive amount of pressure on the otherside. Gale Force turned towards Twilight with the current exchange already put in the back of her mind.
“Twilight, we’re going to have to finish this later.”
The steel-bolted door shot through the small corridor colliding against the stone walls leaving dents and raising a large cloud of dust. One of Monk’s minotaur guards slid across the floor, his eyes swirled around in his skull. Multiple heavy hoofsteps could be heard as whomever were responsible for knocking down the door trotted across the iron steel door as if it were an entrance carpet. A figure could be seen emerging through the dark cloud, a black iron hoof emerged from behind the cloud and stomped down onto the thin carpet of the room. A long slender horn emerged from behind the cloud next, it too was encased in the same type of steel.
“I do hope that this is the right place,” said a heavily modulated voice.
A mare encased in heavy steel armor from horn to hoof emerged from out of the thick cloud, she wore a black armor that covered every inch of her body. A helmet of sleek ebony with netted steel strands running across its eye sockets sat atop the pony’s head, hiding her identity and changing her voice. A long train of tattered dark grey fabric trailed behind the pony, hiding her flank and hind legs. Her chest was encased in similar metallic components. Slim and tight, they held closely against her chest and underside, multilayered with some sort of symbolic writing running across their edges.
Gale quickly threw a brown linen cloak over Twilight, trying to conceal the alicorn’s unique nature from the intruders. Twilight quickly wrapped herself in the brown material and sidestepped herself behind Gale.
“Do you recognize them?” whispered Twilight. Gale glanced back at Twilight and held a hoof up to her own mouth, trying to conceal her conversation from the strange armored mare.
“That armor belongs to Sombra’s elite. They must be from the Crystal Empire,” whispered Gale, not taking her eyes off of the first pony who had emerged. Monk was frozen in shock, he glanced around the room looking for some sort of aide. A second minotaur guard charged towards the unwelcome guests, his thick arms raised overhead, ready to smash the armored mare.
“Squish her like a bug!” exclaimed Monk when he caught sight of the minotaur hurling towards the armored pony. Just as the enraged bodyguard was upon the dark steeled invader an enormous figure emerged from under the very floor, sending the minotaur reeling. The individual had emerged from the very earth itself, creating a gaping hole right next to the mysterious armored unicorn. The clashing of metal and cries of steam pressure could be heard as the creature stood on its four legs. Twilight couldn’t believe it, this too was an armored pony, but he was unlike anypony she had ever seen. He was larger than Big Macintosh, heck he was nearly as large as Celestia. Twilight watched as steam gushed out of the joints of the large stallion's leg armor. She caught sight of steel rods and encasings as the metal grinded against one another as the suit winded down.
The large earth pony's armor was made up of material similar to that of the mare's but was by far thicker and heavier. His front hooves were encased in heavy sheets of black metal, with spades similar to that of shovels covering his front hooves. The heavy stallion looked up at the Minotaur whom he had propelled upwards. The bodyguard's horns were impaled into the stone ceiling, the Minotaur was in the middle of trying to free himself.
"Should I take care of him, mistress?" said the hulking armored juggernaut as he looked over at the unicorn, whom he dwarfed in size. The stallion's voice was modulated by the armor as well, but it was easy to tell that he had a heavy tone that matched his physique quite well.
“No need,” said the mare as she trotted forward. A third armored figure whom had been hiding in the settling dust cloud followed after the unicorn. He was a pegasus who wore armor similar to both the unicorn and earth pony. Unlike the earth pony and unicorn, his armor was caught in between a sleek but stout design. Monk was now fearing for his life, he turned to Gale and Twilight, the small creature’s eyes carried a cry for help. Gale averted her gaze, but not Twilight, she stepped forward. A light yellow hoof quickly grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back.
“I don’t think so Twilight,” whispered Gale as she glared at the cloaked alicorn. “You clearly have a few loose screws, I don’t care how strong you are, we shouldn't fight them unless we have to.”
“Are you the informant?” said the unicorn as she stopped and looked down at monk. Twilight now noticed that her physique was different from other ponies. She had a shape that reminded her of Celestia, Luna, and Cadance, a shape similar to that of Fleur De Lee. “Well, are you?” she asked again, but Monk was still petrified. “Perhaps you didn’t understand me?”
The slim mare grabbed her helmet with her hooves as she began to remove the steel equipment, locks and latches began to spring open, allowing her to remove the piece of armor. A ball of messy colors rolled down from atop the mare’s head. She quickly shook her head from side to side, giving her mane a more organized shape. Two slender icy blue eyes opened up and glared down at Monk. The unicorn had a green mane with streaks of navy blue running through it. She was beautiful, her grey coat glistened in the dimly lit office. Monk, Gale, and Twilight were all taken aback by the unicorn’s stunning appearance.
“I’ll ask one more time,” she said with a flirtatious tone. Her voice without the helmet was completely different. Monk was no longer fearful, he now wished to please the mare.
“Well hello there…” he said as he fixed the fur atop his head.” How can I help you?”
“I am looking for a certain unicorn. My sources have led me to understand that you are the person one goes to if he or she wishes to find somepony.”
“We’re all looking for somepony babe.” Monk said, lowering the pitch in his voice to make it as seductive as possible. The mysterious, armored unicorn ignored Monk’s advances and continued.
“The unicorn we are looking for is called Cosmic Ray. He has a blue mane with a light blue coat and he is well armored.” The weasel-ite’s ears perked up at the familiar name. Gale Force and Twilight shared a panicked glance with each other. Monk rubbed his paws together and shot a toothy grin at his latest client.
“Cosmic Ray you say? That name does ring a bell. However I am having trouble remembering just where I had heard it before...perhaps you would like to offer me something that might remind me?” Monk said with unveiled greed dripping from every word he spoke. A certain foul-mouthed pegasus shot him a look that would kill most ordinary creatures.
“Yes, of course you will be handsomely rewarded for your help in resolving this matter. What greater reward is there than to have the greatest king in all of Equestria in your debt?” The mare responded.
“Why are you looking for this unicorn?” Twilight interrupted, trying to dig for information. The cold blue eyes of the mare slowly turned their gaze to Twilight. A small smirk came across the slender mare’s face.
“My… you’re a cute one. What’s a pony like you doing in a place like this, hm?” said the unicorn as her armored hoof reached for Twilight’s hood. Twilight took a step backwards and tightened her grip on the cloak. The intimidating stranger raised an eyebrow when Twilight took a step back. “Why do you wish to know, what business we have with Cosmic Ray?”
“I’m just curious…” said Twilight.
“I see. Well, if you must know, Cosmic Ray is wanted for crimes against the empire,” said the mare. A modulated voice interrupted the two mares. It was the armored pegasus, he trotted up behind the armored mare and titled his head.
“S.S. please, we shouldn’t be wasting time. For all we know Cosmic Ray could be making a grand escape this very moment.” The pegasus’ voice was calm and collected, due to the modulation from the helmet he nearly sounded like a robot. The mare’s cold eyes fixated on the armored pegasus behind her.
“I suppose you are right Thunder. I don’t know why, but this pony piqued my curiosity,” she said as she shot Twilight one more glance before turning her attention back towards Monk. “Forgive my wandering mind, informant. So do you happen to have information regarding to Cosmic’s whereabouts? We shall see to it that you are paid handsomely,” she slowly dragged her ebony armored hoof underneath the weasel-ite’s chin. Monk shuddered at first, but tensed up when he noticed the serrated spikes on the sides of her hoof.
“W-well, who could ignore such a handsome reward.”
"Shit! This furball might sell us out, but if I try to stop him now I will look suspicious." thought Gale. Her eyes now jumped around the room looking for some sort of option. Twilight held her breath when she heard Monk’s words.
“This isn’t good. That greedy little weasel is going to sell us out at any moment. Perhaps Gale and I should strike first, before they have a chance to realize that Cosmic Ray is right around the corner from them.”
The weasel-ite looked like he had finally reached some decision in his head. The moment he opened his mouth, Twilight looked back and gave Gale a nod before illuminating her horn with magic. Gale, realizing that they were left with no other options, responded with a nod of her own as she silently unfolded her metal wing underneath her cloak.
“You see, you gorgeous mare… Cosmic Ray is-”
“Hey Monk!” shouted Cosmic Ray. The sound of hooves could be heard coming down the hallway. “You really should clean your bathrooms around here more often. Oh hey, what happened to your door?” he said as he stepped in front of the doorway.
Six pairs of astonished eyes quickly turned towards the unsuspecting unicorn. Cosmic Ray’s eyes went wide in disbelief. The stallion quickly drew and opened a book from his satchel.
“Solar Shadow,” he growled, his eyes burning with incomprehensible hatred towards the armored mare. The mare slowly turned to fully face Cosmic Ray. The upper corners of her lips curled into a small grin.
