A Sequel to Twilight's Curiosity: War. She's Back! And all by herself! And she's going to meet some humans!!
A long-awaited (not really) Sequel to Twilight's Curiosity: War II I did work on another story for a bit, but oh well, here goes this one.
What Twilight saw tormented her constantly. She was always remembering what it was like on Earth. She also was getting constant flashbacks, like a Vietnam veteran. She knew that she had to do something, or else she would never be happy again. Her curiosity (more of it) was nagging at her. She didn't like it. But she knew that she had to go back! Look out Humans, here come the Magical Sparkling Purple Unicorn of Friendship!
Twilight Sparkle was having another nightmare. They were a nightly occurance now, and there was no way to escape them. Except maybe the memory spell....no. That wouldn't work. She needed this knowledge. But, at the same time, she needed to escape from it, more than anything. She always found herself remembering the flames and the blood when she tried to read, or to spend time with her friends. She always hear the explosions and the clinking of spent shells when all that she wanted to do was to eat, or sleep.
So Twilight decided to do what she did best. Research. She looked into mental illnesses, and in to the psychology of ponies, and she even read about Karma and other not-so-sciency things. She had been doing much more reading than usual, what with those awful flashbacks intruding into her mind every time she so much as looked at another living thing. She had been doing enough reading to finally realize something. She needed to go back. She knew it sounded insane. How could more of something bad make it better? But she knew that she needed to do it. She needed to find out more, she needed to help these humans, help them see the light. She needed to give them a dose of peace. She needed to help them remember the good days. And, above all, she needed to learn more about them, the conflict, and about their culture. For Science!
She slipped out of bed, and spent a lot more time packing than last time. She grabbed food, water, extra clothes, first aid supplies....and, of course, books. She packed empty books and scrolls, for notes and journals, and packed books that she thought might help.
The Pony's Guide to Observing from Afar, and How to Record an Interaction With a New Species, (Ponies had thought of everything) She, hesitantly, packed Defending Yourself from What you are Observing: When your Experiments go awry.
She had two saddle-bags, a backpack, and a case that she carried with her aura, and everything was packed about as full as possible. No, not about, as full as possible. She was traveling to an alien world, without any guidance, all on her own. She needed to be prepared for anything.
This time, she walked. It was a long way, but not to long. She couldn't risk anyone seeing her in her balloon, and she couldn't take the train. (The conductor would have had to see her.) This has to remain a secret. Nopony should know where she went. She didn't even leave a note this time; she couldn't.
She was sad at the thought of leaving her friends. Possibly for a very long time. She was completely silent, she didn't even talk to herself as she walked further down the road. It was still dark. Twilight didn't know what time it was, she had forgotten to check, but she knew it was late. She had to get to Canterlot before the sun came up, so she began to pick up the pace. She used magic to help keep her energy up, but, by the time she was most of the way up the mountain, she needed a rest. She plucked off her large backpack and sat by the road, breathing heavily. She was going to need something caffeinated when she got to Canterlot (by this time, the sun had begun to peek over the horizon, so, Twilight correctly assumed, by the time she reached the Royal City, the Coffee shops would be beginning to open, and the ponies starting their days.
She was just beginning to think about how awesome an double-shop Espresso would be right now, when she heard a noise. Potential compromise incoming! Twilight dove for the bushes on the side of the street mountain trial, bags in tow, and hid there for a while, while the noise became louder. It was someone pulling a cart. Twilight peeked out of the bush right as the noise became really close, and was able to see two pairs of black legs, and two wooden wheels roll on by, the puller of said cart humming. His deep voice told her that the puller was a stallion. Just when it sounded like the cart and its owner were far away enough, there was a thudding, and then a clanking, then a curse from the black stallion. Something had fallen out. It rolled and rolled, and came to rest right in front of Twilight's bush!
She gasped, and pushed herself up against the back of the bush and the cliff wall with her back legs. She held her breath as the stallion came closer, and closer. He stopped in front of the bush and paused. Then he simply leaned over, grasped whatever had came loose from his baggage, and walked back up the trail to his cart. Soon, Twilight could breath again. She let out a big breath, and wiped a bead of sweat from her eyebrow with her left hoof. That was close.
Twilight realized something. If nopony was supposed to see her, how could she get to the Canterlot library? Worse, how could she get her much-needed caffeine!? She remembered The Pony's Guide to Observing from Afar, and reached into her bag to pull it out.
After her fishing (or booking, hahahaha) payed off, Twilight looked up and down the trail, searching for any signs that someone might be coming. After no ponies or dust trailer from carts were spotted, nor any pegasai in the clouds, Twilight opened up her book, and began to read. She learned that, even when one is observing from afar, one can be snuck up on, and there are a few tricks that one can deploy, both magic and natural, to keep from being seen...
Doughnut Joe had just gotten dressed, and had just flipped his open/closed sign around. He was cleaning the counters with a rag and had turned his back to organize some of the doughnuts inside of his display cases, when he hear the chime of a customer entering his shop. He turned to greet his customer, saying, "Hello and Welcome to Doughnut Joe-"
He stopped when he didn't see anyone. He could've sworn that the bell on his door had been rung.
Oh well, He shrugged, and got back to cleaning and organizing. Suddenly, he heard one of the coffee machines being activated. He whirled around, and saw that one of the nozzles was still dripping.
"Alright, come out, whoever you are. You can't get free coffee here. You don't wanna haffta be reported to the guard, do you?"
He felt a tapping on his shoulder. He moved fast, but still, he saw nothing. He heard clinking, and whirled around to face his counter again. There, two bits were still bouncing on the counter-top.
"Hehe. Must've scared 'em into payin'."
Twilight shot into an alleyway, where she downed her coffee. That was much better. She was quite proud of herself, she didn't know she had the sort of stealth in her. Yet another thing to add to her things-to-be-confident-about list.
But she forced herself to focus on the task at hoof. She needed to infiltrate the Canterlot library, and see whether she could find any information on inter-dimensional travel, and carry it out. All without being seen. Ugh. This was going to be a long day.
Twilight kept herself busy until night, when her plan was going to be sprung, by, well, being Twilight. She read. She read out of all of the books that she had brought, and she also mentally went through all of her plans, sifting through them. She made sure that they were foal-proof. In her mind, they were. After this, she used her newly acquired stealth skills to sight-see, though she had already seen most of the city, since she kind of used to live there. The only thing new were a couple of new buildings, just some shops.
Even though there was nothing very new, Twilight was actually anticipating the old. She was searching for things that would bring back memories. She found plenty. She saw the park where she and Shining Armor used to play every day, she saw her favorite old shop, where she used to go for sweets....the nice old lady who worked there was pretty much the only pony that Twilight ever talked to, aside from Shining Armor. She wished that she could drop in and say hi, but she was in strict incognito mode. Yessere, by the time it was finally getting dark enough for her master plan to be swung into action, Twilight was feeling a mite nostalgic.
She sighed, pushed all of the memories away, and began her sneaking.
Eventually, after a close call with a rather excited couple in the park, Twilight made it to the library. She did the exact same thing that she, Pinkie Pie, and Spike had done to enter the building when Twilight was freaking out about the future, and the disaster-that-never-happened.
Now, she was rescuing a race in need of love. And doing more research. Twilight knew that Celestia didn't want anything to do with these humans, and that she didn't want any knowledge of them out in Equestria, but Twilight thought that if she could fix these humans, and when they are peaceful, the Princess might change might change her mind about it. Twilight knew that it was risky, but she had to do it.
After entering the library (she never ceased to be amazed at all of the books there) She began searching. And searching. And searching. There was absolutely nothing. Twilight was on the verge of giving up when something clicked. The Starswirl the Bearded wing. He was the one who invented the spell in the first place, she should have checked there first!
She raced back up, and found herself facing the gate that led into the treasure trove of knowledge. She quietly picked the lock (another thing that she had recently learned) and went inside. She began her rummaging, and, it took her a while, but she found something.
She smiled with glee and began reading. She soaked up the information like a wet sponge. A smart, wet sponge. One that needed to travel inter-dimensionally.
When she was finished, she closed the book, and slowly replaced it where it needed to be. But then she took it back out. She just got hit by a realization. She didn't like it, but she knew that she had to keep this book. And more than likely some other scrolls. At least until she returns.
She, rather regrettably, added the book and a couple more scrolls to her bag, thinking all the while.
Twilight Sparkle! Stealing? From a Library? You should be ashamed of yourself!
She was, but she also knew that it was necessary. A phrase that had been entering her mind quite a lot lately entered yet again.
For Science. She quite liked it too.
Twilight quietly composed herself. She made sure that all of her bags were tight and secure, and that everything was ready to go. She drew up the energy, and the courage, she needed and her horn began to glow with her purple aura.
She began sweating. This was a difficult spell. She concentrated, and concentrated. There was a whirring sound, and a bright light, similar to her teleportation spell, but slower.
The light began to glow more and more, and loose papers in the library began to start flying. Twilight hoped that it was nothing important, and she finally pushed forward the last required surge of magic, and it went black.
Twilight was in a bright orb yet again, more shortly, and the bright blue shelves filled with books and scrolls and papers were replaced by gray. A big, gray wall. Twilight looked around, and realized that she was inside of an alleyway. She saw that the same fog that had been here when she and Luna had visited had returned. She smelled smoke. She was in the same city that she had traveled to several days ago. That was another thing that had worried her. She might have went somewhere that wasn't familiar with. Not that she was exactly familiar with place, but at least she had recognized it.
She began walking out of the alleyway. She had some science to do.
Twilight Sparkle was confused. She had just remembered the large explosion that had ended her and Luna's previous visit, and she knew that an explosion of that magnitude would have destroyed miles of city. Either this really was a separate city, or it was a massive city. Or, she went psycho a long time ago, and all of this was being imagined.
Right now, it didn't matter. Right now, she needed to find Humans. She still wasn't quite sure what she would do if she found one; if she should greet it, spy on it, or knock it out and capture it (For Science!) But she would ponder her actions upon meeting one while she walked.
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Spike was panicking. Twilight was missing, and there was no note this time! No nothing! He had searched everywhere, both in town and inside of the Library. Literally, he had indeed searched everywhere, not just as an expression. Everywhere he could possibly see. Any clues would be nice, but all that he found was some hoof-prints leading away from the house, to the road, but there they disappeared, and that road branched off and eventually led practically everywhere in Equestria. It you were to take the second left branch, you could travel to the Frozen North. Twilight had shared the particular fact with him while she was studying maps. Twilight. Where could she possibly be?
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Twilight had absolutely no idea where she was. She had thought that she might see something that she might recognize, with her good memory and all, but no. Nothing. She had also recently determined that she was not in the same city as before, it was, in fact, in a completely different biome. The air was colder, the fog thicker, and the air thinner. She also saw less plant life (Well, the other City had literally no plant life, as this one, but what she means is that this city had less plant remains.)
She was beginning to give up hope of finding anything, and ready to return home to face Celestia's wrath without any fruits to her betrayal, (Which, to Twilight, was truly terrifying.) when she almost walked straight into the path of Rag-tags. (see previous story) She scurried back into the shadows of an alleyway, but it was too late. One of them had saw her. He spoke rapidly in a tongue that Twilight hadn't heard yet, (What the hay? I thought that they spoke Equestrian, or whatever it's called here.) and pointed in her direction. She was able to guess that he hadn't gotten a very good look at her-probably just her movement-because they approached her location rather un-cautiously, even in a sort of sing-song attitude, and it was just the one. Oh, what was she going to do? She looked around frantically, for somewhere to hide. Even what she had learned from the book couldn't help her now, and she hadn't read anything from her defense book. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!
She brought some hope back to herself when she thought, hey, maybe they're friendly, but that hope was quickly dashed when one of them spoke in Equestrian, or whatever, with a heavy accent, "Maybe we can eat it..."
She panicked right then and there, she turned around and began trying to dig through the concrete wall. Her noise caused the band of Rag-tags to tense up. More strange language, and two more detached from the group, weapons raised, walked more cautiously.
Twilight saw that her efforts were fruitless, and began to gather up the magic necessary to defend herself, (it had never occurred to her to use the magic she owned to blast though the wall, but, you know what its like when ponies, especially magical ones, panic.) when one of the Rag-tags's heads exploded. Then the other, and then the other's chest cavity was on the ground. The remaining few were quickly dispatched as well. Twilight couldn't stop breathing heavily. She quickly tried to wipe the blood of the nearby Rag-tag who had spattered on her off, but all she did was smear it more.
It smelled disgusting, like flesh and metal, not at all like pony blood, which, of course, was rarely shed. It was really warm. Then the very same Rag-tag that had gotten on her loosed his bladder. The smell was disgusting.
Twilight was just beginning to think when the Black-clads who had taken out the group that had almost found her, were going to show themselves, when men dressed in gray appeared. They also had strange little devices over their eyes, like glasses, but with words and information scrolling across them.
wat. They spoke in yet another language, and began moving on. Good, they hadn't seen her. Unlike the Black-clads that she had seen earlier, no bodies were burned.
Twilight waited for a while, when the walking finally disappeared, and she emerged from the alleyway. Not a wise choice. This time she did actually run into a Black-clad man.
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Five ponies were gathered at the library. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, (who had arrived first) all sat in silence. Spike was there too, and he didn't bring them any cookies or tea, like usual.
They all just sat there. Finally Applejack broke the silence, (just before Pinkie Pie was going too.)
"Well, Ah'm pretty darn sure that jus' sittin' here ain't gonna do nothin' fer Twilight."
Rarity agreed, saying, "Yes, Applejack is right. Whatever are we going to do?"
Spike answered, "I don't know. I just don't know."
"Well, all we have to do is just look some more!" Rainbow Dash.
"Yeah, she couldn't have gone far!" Pinkie Pie.
"Well, from what I've been able to learn while I was searching, she disappeared this morning, at exactly 4:32 A.M., which, taking the road that she did, probably means that she went to Canterlot, because it takes approximately three hours to walk from here, Ponyville, to there."
Everyone stared at Spike in wonder.
"Goodness, Spike, you been spendin' so much time with Twi, I reckon that some of her smarts a' been leakin' into ya!"
"Yeah, her eggheadedness is contagious!" Rainbow Dash laughed.
Spike scowled, "No, she woke me up when she left, but I just assumed that she was doing more pacing and went back to sleep. The rest is easy to figure out."
"Still," Rainbow Dash muttered.
Then Applejack exclaimed, startedling everypony, "Well, wat're we waitin' for, we have a missing pony to find!"
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Twilight had expected to hear shouts of surprise, screams of fear, or at least a tremor from the soldier, one that you get from being startled. Or, even worse, a gunshot, then she would be gone.
But she didn't hear any of that. In fact, she didn't hear anything but her own heartbeat. She looked up at the dark man, and she couldn't read his expression. He, of course, was wearing a gas mask. But this one didn't have the glowing red eyes of the other gas masks. Twilight altered her position to see past the lenses, and got her wish. What she saw was a pair of very amused eyes. They were both a very deep blue.
"Hehehehe....is this seriously what those idiots have conjured up?"
wat.
"What did they do this time? Gas me?" his eyes widened, "Shit, that means that my mask is expired."
He raised he gun and swiveled around, searching for any sign of enemies.
Right the, after his first searches, Twilight chose to speak:
"Umm...Sir?"
"Holy crap! It can talk! This is some advanced stuff, I need to report this to HQ..." he muttered the last bit to himself.
"Sir, what exactly do you mean 'it can talk?'"
He looked down at her:
"Oh shut up you scum, I'm going to find you, and I'm going to kill you."
Twilight was taken aback, but she still couldn't stop from asking this question, "Urm...I'm right here. If you wanted to kill me..."
She trailed off. Why would she be reminding him of that?
"God, I said Shut up, you know exactly what I mean. You're controlling this...mirage thingie..." He shouted it to the world, instead of directly to her, "You got the American accent nailed though..."
Twilight giggled. She now knew what he meant. She reached out with her hoof and brushed his leg. The reaction was as you might have guessed.
"Holy shit!" He pointed his gun directly at her. Twilight immediately cowered, ears down, swearing to Celestia that she would be a good little pony if she ever got out of this alive.
The soldier kneeled down, put his weapon to the side, and rested both of his hands on either side of Twilight's shoulders.
Twilight looked up, and saw that he had also removed his mask, which meant that this was the first time she had gotten a good look of one.
He had a rugged face. (I don't need to describe much, you know what a human face looks like!) His nose was slightly crooked, and he has two or three small scars on his face, accompanied by one very large one on his left cheek.
He was also very dirty and smelly, and he hadn't shaved for a couple days. But the only reason Twilight didn't either try to run away in fright, or immediately grab a sketchpad and begin drawing it, was his eyes.
They were absolutely beautiful. They were deep, and they peered likewise into Twilight's. They were so caring and tender, so kind. Twilight couldn't see how these eyes belonged to such an experienced killer.
Twilight knew right then, that he would take care of her, even if he was a big, bad soldier.
"What are you?"
------------
Celestia was sitting in her throne room, just beginning her days work. The two guards who would be serving her today had just taken up their positions, and Celestia had just gotten comfortable, when a guard burst through the double doors.
If something like the Crystal Empire is back, I bucking swear... and we all know that Celestia probably has more secrets similar to that one.
"Princess Celestia!"
"Yes? What is it? Speak up soldier."
"Uh-its you're student, Twilight Sparkle, her friends from Ponyville, they say that she disappeared!"
"What, where did she go?"
The guard couldn't say, but Celestia knew. She had actually anticipated this, and was going to post more guards by the library tomorrow. She had some work to do.
------------
"I...I can't Bellevue it..." The soldier said. They were both sitting on a large, collapsed chunk of concrete than had been blown from one of the buildings that towered above them.
"I don't blame you, I'd have a hard time believing too...but I'd still believe it, the evidence is right in front of my eyes."
"Heh, well, maybe I finally lost it, and I'm just talking to myself...or maybe I'm dead, and this is my Hell. Oh well, guess there's not much we can do if that's true..."
Twilight smirked a bit. "Yeah, I guess not, but I'm pretty sure that I'm real."
"Alright, you got me, I can't explain it too well, but I guess It just makes sense, even though it doesn't. Know what I mean?"
Twilight smiled fully this time. She knew exactly what he felt like.
"Yeah, I do...." Twilight and he sat there for a while, then, "So, what now, Mr Soldier Guy?"
There was some unintended eagerness in her voice, and Twilight was a bit embarrassed.
"Woah, hold your horses," he giggled at his own little joke, "You've told me how you got here, now I have things to explain to you."
Twilight sat back down, and listened.
This man was a soldier, a fairly high ranked one, (Corporal) and his name was Darren. Darren E. Perry. He also explained a bit about ranks, and who he could boss around, as well as what it was like being here. It sucked, but there was no escaping it. Almost everyone had been drafted into this conflict.
A question entered Twilight's mind, and then it left her mouth:
"Last time I was here..."
"Woah, what?"
Twilight sighed and quickly explained.
"Ah, of course, why not? Anyway, continue."
"Okay. Continuing, last time I was here, I saw a group of people dressed like you. I also saw some fighting."
Twilight went into some of the details regarding her flashbacks back in Equestria.
"Heh, kid, trust me; it gets worse. And this damn war isn't even close to being over yet."
Twilight didn't like that idea, but continued on anyway.
"Well, that's it. I saw a group of people like you. A group. Why are you all alone?"
The man, Darren, sighed and answered, saying, "I got separated from my squad during a firefight. A big one. There was an explosion, and I found myself in a ditch. I climbed out and saw the same place that my squad and I had gotten a fight in, only there were not people. There was blood, and some spent shells, but no people, living or dead. Turns out, a grenade had gone off, and a single piece of shrapnel had damaged my comm system, so I'm high and dry until I can find my camp. I just recently found my bearings."
"Comm?"
"Short for 'Communications.'"
"Ah. Okay, I think that I can ask this again; what now?"
"Well, now, I take you to Camp Freedom."
"Wait, what? A human camp? Are you crazy? What if someone freaks out, what if I get shot!?" Twilight's volume and emphasis had increased throughout the entire sentence.
"Hey, I'm not just gonna walk you straight into camp, I know what I'm doing. Come on."
Twilight said, "I sure hope you do..."
------------
Well, now there were six ponies again, except that Twilight had been replaced by the long-lived, all-powerful, Sun-moving Goddess, and Supreme Ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia.
She had come to see how the rest of the ponies were doing. Not well. Celestia still knew where Twilight had went, but the rest of the ponies couldn't know that. Either that she knew where Twilight went, or where Twilight had went were both top-secret info.
Celestia pretended to be more concerned than she already was, to be doing everything that she could to find out where Twilight had gone.
Eventually, she dismissed the five back to their homes, reassuring them. When they were gone, she lay down on the floor, exhausted. Her guards were outside. She decided to sit, and ponder what to do with her student Twilight Sparkle, both how to find her, and how to contain her anger when deciding on a punishment.
------------
Twilight and Darren walked for a few hours, talking, trading more information on both of their worlds as they walked, and Twilight learned a ton. She had been taking notes, (After she explained what her horn was, and the aura, and after unintentionally scaring Darren out of his mind for the second time in the same hour) and learned this about the conflict, the sides, and other whos, whats, wheres, whys, and hows.
This war was the biggest in human history. Literally every single country had been pulled into it, and many of the smaller ones were either completely destroyed. It was also one of the longest. Almost seventy years. Darren's grandparents had both perished in this war, and his mother had as well. His father was still fighting, stationed in a some place on the other side of the planet.
Twilight also learned a lot about human science, which was where she payed the most attention to. It was fantastic. These humans were actually very advanced, in some ways more than Equestria. (Yes, You're thinking "in almost every way, genius, but the Ponies don't really need cars and computers as much as we do. You know, cause wings and magic.)
When Twilight brought peace, (which seemed like a more daunting task the more and more that she learned) there would be a great boost to Equestrian scientific and medicinal advancement, she noted with glee. She would go down in history, in two worlds!
She also learned about the sides. There were three, Darren explained. One side didn't really start out as on official country's army. It was actually a religion, but it managed to spread, and also took over a few countries, and managed to launch a full-scale assault on all of the surrounding countries. The other side was a large alliance of the remaining countries who defended themselves, which included America, Mexico, Canada, England, China, and lots of smaller, European countries, like the Netherlands. Every other country had either been turned into the first side's, or been completely eradicated. Except for one. The third side. A very large country, who had very recently left Communism.
Yes, Russia, the blue men, was the third side, and, seeing how weak that the world had become, they decided to invade. And, right then, that's where they were when they reached the camp.
Darren had Twilight wait outside the camp, unseen, for what seemed like an eternity, while he walked into the fenced area.
He came back with several people who had taken some convincing, and, of course, who were completely shocked. After some reality checks and some awkward introductions, Twilight was hidden and snuck inside. When she could see again, she was in an enclosure, when she was asked to preform many specific tasks. Twilight was relieved. She wasn't going to be experimented on like Starswirl the Bearded had, so long ago.
She did simple things, like walking, jogging, sniffing and tasting specific objects, and answered several questions. Eventually, she was able to move on to bigger things, like using her magic.
Of course, the inevitable question "Can you fight?" came, and Twilight answered truthfully. A little bit. After a demonstration that left many of the scientists and soldiers that were observing wide-eyed, and a dummy completely burnt to a char, they disappeared.
After a while, Darren came into the room, and he had something in his hand. A small chain, with the two little slates of metal with writing stamped onto them dangling from the end. He approached Twilight and slid them onto her neck. Twilight was just about to read them when Darren said:
"Ohhh, no, no, no, no, no, no, I can't fight!" The whole reason that she came her was to bring peace!
"Twilight, that's what the training is for-"
"No! I don't fight! I just can't, there's just no way!"
"Twilight..."
"The entire reason that I came here in the first place was so I could learn!"
"Twilight, please listen to me..."
The unicorn whirled around and stared him right in the eye.
"Why should I listen to you? You said I could trust you! Then you bring me here, have your buddies study me, and then recruit me into your little army without my permission!?"
Darren looked down at the ground.
"It wasn't me. I swear to you, I didn't know this would happen. I thought that you would just be looked at for a bit, that's it. I didn't think that you could even fight, I thought you were safe..." He was looking her in the eye again.
"Then why did you even bring me here in the first place!?"
Darren once again looked straight at the ground.
"It's my job. I have to report everything to my superiors. Anything significant." He looked up again, "And you Twilight Sparkle, are pretty significant."
"Well, you explained to me that America is all about freedom and liberty and stuff, right? Don't I have a choice in the matter?"
This time Darren just stood up, and looked completely away, out the window.
"That's just it. You technically aren't a citizen of the United States-"
"Great! Then that means the I can't be a soldier!" Darren had also explained a bit about law.
"Twilight. You aren't human. That much is obvious. You don't have human or civil rights. These people...my superiors....they can do whatever they want with you, Twilight..."
Twilight shrunk away in horror.
"I'm so sorry...I should've thought more before I brought you."
Twilight just shook her head sadly.
"No...I...I can't... I mean, I may be able to fight a bit, but kill something, someone? I can't. I JUST CAN'T."
Darren, whirled around and stared, no, glared straight into, Twilight's eyes.
"Twilight..." He said quietly, yet very, very harshly.
"These...things... these...ANIMALS... they are not people. They go around, killing, slaughtering innocents, raping the women, and enslaving the children that they bear. They have no souls, no right to be called humans. They are monsters... and we will wipe them, from the face of this planet. "
Twilight was taken aback.
"Can't we...change them?"
Darren just shook his head.
"Come here...I need to show you something that I had originally wanted to avoid."
He didn't wait for an answer, he just turned around and marched out of the door that lay below the large viewing window. Twilight quickly followed.
Darren marched into a large tent, telling Twilight to stay behind. Many of the soldiers were giving her strange looks, laughing a bit. They were not as shocked as Twilight had originally thought that they would be. She wondered why?
Darren eventually left, and motioned for Twilight to follow.
"Uh...Darren? Why aren't these men...I mean, shouldn't they be a little more.... surprised?"
Darren didn't even look at her as he briskly marched her outside of the large encampment, and back into the slowly decaying city.
"No. Everyone knows who you are, the General announced it."
"Oh..."
Soon, they came across a large clearing in buildings, and Darren motioned to walk deeper inside. It was dark.
Darren stayed outside, donning his gas mask, and waited. Twilight came back out soon. She was in shock.
"See? They don't deserve to be changed."
Twilight didn't respond, and Darren had to carry her back to the camp, and lay her to bed. (She had gotten her own tent set up shortly after her announcement.)
She slept quickly, but with nightmares of dismembered and mutilated bodies, many of them children, many only babies. The blood. There was so....much...BLOOD.
Yes, this is going to be weird, but read the first two entire passages You've all heard of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Returning from the Military, many soldiers get it. Sometimes it's something small, nightmares and flashbacks, but sometimes....sometimes....it can get worse. A lot worse. Sometimes it's a kind of good bad, when they just get voices, and they laugh and giggle.
But sometimes....rarely...it gets bad. There are rumors of men snapping under pressure, and just picking up their weapons, and firing on their comrades.
But imagine. This happens to humans. Humans know what war is. Ever since the rise of the great empires, there has literally never been a year without war on the planet. And, if not war, "police actions," or "revolutions," of some sort. There are movies and video games. Everyone knows what it is.
Imagine what a pony feels. War is almost entirely nonexistent, so is much conflict in general. Here, where it all over, humans, even experienced ones, get bad PTSD. Somewhere in the night, through nightmares, Twilight snapped. Her eyes whipped open, bloodshot.
They're going to kill me, I have to defends myself.
She slowly crawled out of her tent, and into the closest one. Darren's. She crept inside, as quite as can be, and peered over the cot, at Darren's face. And then caved his face in with her hoof.
------------
Twilight shot out of bed, violent enough to fall off. She tumbled to the ground with a thud. She got up and shook her head clearing any and all dreariness. She might have been mad at Darren, but she knew that she would never do that, to anyone.
She sighed and slumped to the ground. She was about to crawl back into the uncomfortable cot when a horn sounded. Wake-up call.
"Uhhh!"
She wanted to sleep. Someone approached her tent outside, and, since it was, well a tent, substituted the lack of a door by simply saying, "Knock, knock."
Darren pulled aside the flap and stepped inside. There was a giant smile on his face. A little too big.
"Rise and shine, Private, time to begin day one of your training."
"But I don't wanna..."
"Twilight, be glad that I'm the guy who came in her to make sure that you were awake, a little statement like that would've earned you latrine duty for a while if anyone else heard that, especially your drill sgt."
"What? Why, why can't you train me, you'd probably do a good job, you know, since you already know me and all."
Darren sighed and squatted down to reach her eye level.
"Twilight, I don't know if there is any Military force in Equestria-"
"There is, the Royal Guard and the Honor Guard."
"Okay, thanks, anyway, do you know anyone who is in this....Royal guard?"
Of course she did, her brother, Shining Armor.
"Well, yeah, my brother is captain of the Royal Guard."
Darren's eyes widened, and his lip stuck out in a 'Not Bad' expression.
"You have a brother, and He's a captain, good...did he ever tell you about his experiences as a Captain?"
"Well, there haven't been any wars in Equestria for....well, for a very long time, but he has had to deal with some revolutionaries, or some bandits, or assassins once or twice."
"Of course, no wars in pony-land, why not, but, anyway, In was talking about his training?"
Twilight frowned in concentration, trying to remember.
"Yes, he did tell me about it once he finally got out of Boot Camp. He said that it was tough, that the trainers yell at you, and that there are a lot of tough excersises, and you have to work out a lot, and you have to learn lots of extra math and science, and-"
"Yeah, yeah, good, that's very similar to here. I don't want to train you because, well, you're trainer has to be pretty mean."
"Why would they want to do that?"
"Think about it. This man, Sgt. Anderson, will yell at you, call you names, and pretty much make you feel like shit on a very large level. He will crush any pride and soul that you have left. His job is to turn you into a tool, put bluntly."
Twilight's eyes were wide.
"But I don't want my pride taken away!" She had quite a lot of it.
"Don't worry, he is actually a very nice man, but my purpose here, other than to wake you up, is to remind you that, whenever he makes you sad, or angry, or makes you want to kill him in his sleep-" That brought bad memories about last night to Twilight "-remember that that's his job. In the end, he'll actually come around and make your bed for you, he won't curse, he'll hang out with you. It might not seem like it, but he hates being mean. He despises it. He just wants to toughen you up that's all. Now, I've gotta go-"
"Wait! I have a question. I thought that this was a military camp, where the men are stationed, not Boot Camp?"
"Well, Twilight, since this war is all over the place, and we need men as fast as we can get them, so we started to ship them out and train them right where they're going to be stationed. Chow."
He waved and left in one big motion.
"What am I supposed to do until Sgt.-"
The tent flap opened up.
"Good to see that the Magical Sparkling Unicorn is up, come on, we need to get started!" Twilight sighed and slowly stood up from her slumped position on the ground.
"I see that you are not entirely awake, let me help you with that."
Suddenly, Twilight was shocked by a freezing cold wave of water. Once she was over her initial shock, she looked where else that water had reached, and saw that a large amount of it had gotten all over her bed as well, and one of her bags.
She whirled around and glared at the sergeant, with every intention of lecturing him to death, but the cold stare that she received back crushed any thoughts of it.
"Good, we don't want to have to clean out the showers for a while, would we?"
Twilight shook hear head.
"No sir."
"What was that, speak up soldier!"
He was in her face, and spittle landed spatted all over her. Twilight was angry again, but she channeled her anger into:
"No Sir, I would not, Sir!"
Another 'Not Bad' expression, then:
"Come on, Private Pansy, let's go"
Private Pansy? That's not my name...
She realized that it was more than likely her new nickname, and slumped out of the door, cold and wet, and very tired. Her slumping earned her a nice cold dip into a nearby creek, a quite unwarranted and surprising dip.
------------
Princess Celestia was furiously searching through the library, in search of books that Starswirl had written about humans, and transporting, doing much what Twilight does sometimes, with the stream of books that ended in a pile.
"No...no....no..."
Eventually, Celestia realized that Twilight, the frustratingly smart mare that she was, probably anticipated this, and took the books and scrolls with her.
"Argh!"
She would simply have to wait until night, to ask Luna to take them to Earth, where Twilight would be "rescued."
------------
Twilight and Sgt. Anderson stood alone in a field, sweaty recruits doing an all manner of excersises around them.
"Now, seeing as you are not really a human, the science people thought that it would be best if we went though the excersises, just the two of us, which is bad new for you, because that means that you get to have my full attention. Now, just because you are a magical unicorn, who wallows in doing hair and tea parties, and who probably shits glitter and rainbows, does not mean that I am going to take it easy on you."
ugh.
"Now, let's see if you are fit enough to even be an American Solider."
Pride time.
"Well, sir, yes, I do believe that you can call me physically fit. I drink specific shakes in the morning, and-"
"Shut Up. I don't care, you still have to do a few laps around....that building."
He was pointing to one of the few permanent buildings, the one where she was first taken too when she arrived yesterday.
"Yes Sir!" with a salute, she was off. I mean, really off. If you've seen the show, which is a cartoon, it also means that these ponies can do things that aren't really physically possible. She was off in, literally, a flash. This merited yet another 'Not Bad' expression.
Now, we all know Twilight, and we know that she can run, but not really for very long. Soon, she was pretty tired, after six laps, and decided that that was enough.
She was soon back a Sgt. Anderson's feet, and breathing heavily. The Sgt. Had giant grin on his face. A bit too big.
"How was that, sir?" Twilight asked breathlessly.
"Goooood. Good considering that you took off before I could specify the exact amount of laps I had in mind."
ugh.
"I was going to say twenty-five laps, but since you left before I could finish talking, we'll say about fifty. And the six you just did don't count, go."
UGH.
This continued the half the day, until lunch. Laps, push-ups, shouting, yelling, and don't forget the drills. She learned how to do a proper salute, and what to do while then camp in under attack. Lunch-break was a relief, but, of course, it didn't taste very good.
"Hahaha, don't worry, you'll get used to it." said Darren, the only person who sat next to her.
Afterwards, she went again to the large building, and this is when the fun began. No, really, it was a LAB! It was a LAB, and a SCHOOL, AND a LIBRARY!
She loved this. Of course, she was examined, given a physical, but she didn't mind, she knew what they were thinking. For Science!
She was put in a classroom, where she answered everything with ease. Except for history. That was kind of disappointing, but math, science, and even military tactics. They never stood a chance. Then she got to the library. Nice!
A lot of it was, guess what? Military History! She checked out many, many books, and when she was finally let go, she spent the rest of the day until dinner reading.
When she got to dinner, she sat at her usual table, but, instead of just Darren this time, two of the scientists who were usually sat as loners came. They and Twilight talked and talked. Darren never said a word, just sat there, smiling.
Finally, it was time for bed, and Twilight collapsed in bed.
Some Drill Sergeants were walking down the rows of tents, making sure lights were out and the soldiers in bed.
"Nighty-night!" One shouted.
Twilight wasn't sure what to make of the day. Of course, she didn't necessarily like the physical part, it was just as Darren said. She wanted to kill Sgt. Anderson in his sleep, on multiple occasions, but every time, what Darren had said reassured her. Plus, she was glad for the experience. But she loved the school. The style in which the teacher taught was a bit different than then teachers in Equestria, a little bit more boring, Twilight admitted, but she made it work.
She quickly closer her eyes, ready for the next day to begin already. She noticed something right as she was about to drift away; the flashbacks. Not a single one had come. And only the one nightmare. Twilight fell asleep with the biggest smile on her face.
All hopes of a good night's sleep when Twilight was violently awaken by a very loud shout:
"Для матушки-России!"
That sounded familiar, and it was soon followed by a roar of many men.
Suddenly the alarm sounded, then more shouts, English. Then Darren, burst through her tent entrance, in full battle gear, and his gun, a big 417 assault rifle.
"Up, up, up, we're under attack, go, go, go!"
Gunshots were beginning to ring out, shouts, screams, and mortar fire. The space two tents away from Twilight and Darren burst in an explosion of rocks and shards of wood, and filled Twilight's tent with a bright, orange light. A shard of wood embedded itself in the post in the center of Twilight's tent with a deep thunk.
"NOW!" Darren roared, and snatched up the quivering unicorn.
Twilight had promised herself that she wouldn't freak out when this happened, but she failed herself. When Darren stepped outside, still carrying Twilight, there was a close shout:
"Oтмирать Американские!"
Darren dropped Twilight, turned, and raised his gun just in time to block a swinging hatchet. It would be in his skull if he had moved a millisecond closer.
Darren wrenched the gun towards the ground, a motion which pulled the hatchet from the Russian soldier's hands and threw it to the ground. The soldier, who for some reason wanted to use the hatchet instead of the gun strapped to his back, grabbed for it, but Darren grabbed him by the throat and threw him backwards onto the ground.
What happened next made Twilight think twice about Darren's kindness. She knew that it was what he had to do, but it still disturbed her.
Darren raised his weapons, and unloaded half of the clip into the soldier's chest, sending blood in large geysers spatting through the air and all over Darren, and causing the body of the soldier shudder and spasm under the impacts of the large, hollow-point rounds. He turned to face Twilight, his face spatted with thick blood, and swooped in and picked her up yet again.
The camp was in flames for the most part. Flames, gunshots, and more explosions. Darren rocketed behind a destroyed wall and set Twilight down.
"Listen, I can't protect you all of the time, you're going to have to fight at some point, I know that you don't want to, I don't want you to have to, but it will happen at some point." He spoke quite rapidly.
Twilight understood. Then, Darren watched as the looks of uncertainty and fear on her face was replaced by a hard look of determination. She nodded.
Darren smiled. "That's my girl, now, let's go, we need to regroup at the HQ."
Darren peeked over the barrier, and, seeing that no enemy soldiers were near, left cover. He then motioned for Twilight to follow. She crept towards him, and they both took off, weaving their way through the aftermath of the battle. (The main one had moved to the other side of the camp)
They got closer, and closer to the Head Quarters, which was right next to the school. They had almost made it, when they rounded the corner and stared right into the eyes of three Russian soldiers. There was an entire second of complete silence, then Darren made the first move. He moved and knocked the gun out of the closest soldiers hand, grabbed his neck, and forced him into the next closest soldier, knocking them both the ground.
Ironically, it seemed that Twilight's first real fight would come sooner than thought. One soldier remained, and his bayonet was trained directly at Darren. Twilight didn't think, she just ran, ran with her head pointed down. There was a sickening thunk and warmth streamed down Twilight's forehead. There were two gunshots nearby, they startled Twilight, and her head jerked. A rending sound, and more warmth.
"Что...за...хрень?" The soldier was still alive. Darren moved up behind him and quickly snapped his neck.
Twilight quickly scuttled back, and managed to doge the latest stream of dark warmth. She couldn't see.
She felt strong hands grasp her, and a pair of thumbs wiped the gunk which was a mixture of blood, pus, and stomach content from her eyes. The smell was revolting.
"Go, now, hurry, we're almost there."
Twilight refrained from looking back, and wisely so.
There was a large group of soldiers inside of the HQ, and Twilight and Darren were two of them. Everyone looked worn and tired. A man that Twilight had yet to see climbed up to the front of the room, and began to speak.
"I am General Maverick, as you all know, and, also as you all know, our little camp here has been assaulted by a company of Russian soldiers. Now, of course, they're no going to take it. There are about seventy soldiers here now, fifty in the school next to us, and three groups of twenty in strategic places around the camp. Guess what? We are going to push these bastards out of out happy little home, and..."
As the General spoke, two soldiers began passing around something. They appeared to be large cans. Twilight didn't think much of them, but when Darren saw them, his eyes widened, and a smile spread across his face, and for a moment, the battle faded away. Then Twilight's happiness at seeing Darren so happy was replaced by curiosity.
"What's in those big cans?"
Darren turned to her, "You'll see, here..."
Darren grabbed two immediately cracked one open and began drinking. As he was still quaffing the drink, he tossed the other can into Twilight's magic.
She used her magic to move the can so that she could see it. There were to red-colored bulls that appeared as if they were clashing on front. She couldn't read English yet, (written Equestrian is a bit different than English) so he shrugged, opened the can, and began to drink.
It was revolting, absolutely revolting, and Twilight spat the contents out immediately. But....she found herself taking more and more sips from the can as the General's speech went on...for some reason...it was good now.
"Nothing beats a can of Red Bull, does it?" Darren asked.
Ah. Red Bull. So that's what it was.
"No energy drinks in Equestria huh? A shame, I love them."
"Does Coffee count as an energy drink?" Twilight asked.
"Uhh...I don't think so, they're usually sodas. Hey, that there has more caffeine than any coffee, except the big espressos, I think, so, I like it."
Twilight's can was empty soon. How sad. She sighed a small sigh and tossed it in a nearby trash can. The General's speech was finally over. At first, it was helpful. It gave the soldiers some information about what was going on, and it was pretty inspiring, but now it was kind of getting boring.
The battle plan was to have the soldiers in the two buildings where they were push outwards on all directions, pushing the soldiers from the camp, while the other, smaller, groups, would hold they're ground and eliminated any Russians that they saw.
Wasn't very complicated, but it would work if they pushed hard enough, and if they were quick about it.
Everyone reloaded their weapons and strapped on extra gear, and all gathered around the three or four doors that led outside.
The Russians were all outside-they thought that they had eliminated all of the soldiers except for the ones in the building- and were calling for a surrender, which, of course, if the Americans complied, they would just all be executed.
They were using some sort of voice amplifier.
"Сдавайтесь сейчас личинки, и вам не будет нанесен вред!"
They all braced themselves, and Twilight lit up her aura, and everyone was ready. Sound the charge. The following, united shout of all of the soldiers energized Twilight more than all of the Red Bull and coffee in the world.
She felt such a rush of adrenaline, all she wanted to do was sprint outside and dive headfirst into the enemy. She felt such a sense of unity and strength, that goosebumps erupted all over her body.
"RAAAHHH!"
They all burst out of the doors, firing their weapons, and smashing into the surprised enemy, but they fought back like cornered animals.
If you've seen any World War II movies, or played any similarly-themed video games, you'll know that Russians are the ones who invented the Mass Attack, or at least, the only ones who used it in the 20th century. You'll also know that they are very good fighters, and this hadn't changed in World War III.
The Americans had to fight with every fiber of their begin to push the Russian enemies from their camp, and, even then, Twilight is probably the only reason that they succeeded in doing so.
She blasted such a large bit of magic that it made everyone pause for just the right amount of time. Now, the Americans already knew her, but the Russians did not. What the hell was this purple cartoony pony?
So, therefore, the Russians paused for just a bit longer, and the American soldiers attacked again first, and eliminated a large amount of them, and they were overtaken.
This repeated until the camp was purged of Russians. Twilight was no longer squeamish about taking the life of another living thing....and this may or may not be a good thing.
------------
Princess Celestia was just about to go to Earth and retrieve Twilight, when she realized something. Earth is a horrible place, and, from what Celestia had seen, Twilight wasn't to fond of it. The only reason that she had went back was because of her curiosity.
There's her punishment! She got to stay on Earth for a while! Celestia smile and told her sister that she no longer wanted to travel to Earth. When she asked why, Celestia answered, saying, "This would be another good test for her, to see if she can figure out how to come back on her own, don't you think?"
Luna shrugged and left.
Celestia smiled.
------------
Twilight took a shower, after all of the other men had, of course, and was relieved to get all of the blood and sweat out of her fur. Well, it appears as if the next day would be less eventful. Everyone had to clean up the camp.
Twilight woke up the next morning, absolutely exhausted as a consequence straining her body from the events of the past couple days and nights. They cleaned up bodies, sent the bodies back to the U.S., (she had only recently learned that, right now, they were in Russia. The city is unknown; its been completely wiped off the map, because of the damage done to it. And, she also found out, the large bomb, called a 'Nuke' had been set off in a city several hundred miles south of there, also in Russia, also technically nonexistent.
Then, when all of the cleaning was done, she, of course, went back to training. The two scientists whom she and Darren spoke to one or twice had been killed, and, now, were replaced by three other ones.
Finally, she just lost track of time. Eventually, she had even forgotten that she was a pony. That's why the news that she got one day was a bit shocking to hear.
"Congratulations, Private, you have graduated boot camp." This wasn't the shocking part, it was just a bit surprising.
"Oh...really?"
"Yes, you're three month trip to Boot Camp is complete."
That was the shocking part.
"Wait, did you just say three months?"
"Well....yes."
"I've been here for ten weeks!?"
"Uh...yeah."
Wow, she really had lost track of time. What about her friends in Ponyville? What about her duties as prize student of the Princess, and as librarian of the Golden Oaks? She had only expected to be here for a week or two. Guess there was nothing that she could do about it now.
"And now you begin you're minimum tour of two years, which will remain until you are killed in action, the war ends, or you go AWOL, in which case, you will be captured and thrown in prison, or simply executed."
See ya guys, its been fun.
Twilight knew that she couldn't do anything about it, so she just sighed and left the headquarters. She moped back to her tent and began writing a letter to her Ponyville friends. She had learned how to send back material objects from one of the books as well, but she didn't want to use it unless she was dying, or she was held up.
She was pretty sure that this counted as being held up.
Dear Reader: I, Twilight Sparkle, send this letter back to Ponyville to inform you that I am alright. I am not hurt, and I remember all of you. I have traveled to...somewhere else, and sort of been unwillingly recruited into a military on one of three sides involved in a worldwide conflict there.
Don't worry, I'll be back, I have plenty of training, and magic. They don't have magic here, except for me, so I can handle myself. Again, do not worry. I have just recently finished training, and I must serve a minimal tour of at least two years. I do not have a say in the matter, as I am technically not a citizen. I am property.
Once more, don't worry, I have friends, (They speak the same language as us!) and I'm not treated very badly. I am grateful for the experience, and for the training; I needed to be tougher. I miss you all, and, goodbye. Love: Twilight Sparkle.
She finished the letter, and sent it to the Library. She hoped that it didn't get caught in the branches or something; she had intended it to land on her desk, where it would, hopefully, be found by Spike. She wrote in her third journal, it was almost full as well, and slipped into bed, with dreams of her friends. She cried in her sleep.
Spike was asleep in Twilight's bed, (hey, he missed her, but he'd still rather sleep in a bed than in a basket) when he was awoken by a *poof*! and a bright, purple light.
Twilight?
"TWILIGHT!"
He scrambled out of bed, already feeling guilty about sleeping in it, and raced downstairs.
"Oh, Twilight, I missed you so mu-"
He was silenced when he saw no unicorns in the main room. Instead, there was a letter on the table.
He opened it, read it, curled up in a ball on the ground, and cried.
He stayed that way until dawn broke the horizon, when he stood up, made Twilight's bed, and curled up in his basket. He never flipped the open/closed sign around. The ponies could wait for their books, he had some important self-pitying to do today.
Twilight awoke, knowing that, if she didn't pay attention, she might lose sight of herself, her world, and her friends forever. But she smiled, and looked forward to the day anyway. That is when a mortar round hit her tent, sending everything into shards and clouds of dust.
*Warning: Extremely Graphic and descriptive Gore. Reader Discretion is advised. (Seriously!)
Princess Celestia was crying. She was crying harder then she ever had in her entire life, even more than after she had been forced to send Luna away for over a thousand years.
Twilight, her prized student, and one of her best friends was gone. Gone forever. She had been alive for a while, she might have made it...but then just faded away...but wait. What was that? She felt something again. Something faded, but it was truly there.
You see, Celestia had forged a magical connection between Twilight and herself a while ago. No one knew about it, no one but Celestia. It wasn't necessary for Celestia to tell anyone, not really, so she didn't.
Celestia knew when Twilight was in danger, when she was hurt, physically. She couldn't tell what exactly Twilight was doing, but the connection allowed Celestia to know whether or not Twilight was in any real danger.
During her time on Earth, Twilight had only been hurt a few times, none of them significant. She probably went through some traumatizing experiences as well. By now, Celestia had thought that Twilight was held back by something that meant that she couldn't come back, and she was just about to go back and retrieve her, believing that Twilight's 'Punishment' had been good enough.
Now, despite her burning desire to punish Twilight for defying her, Princess Celestia sill loved her. Loved almost as much as her Sister.
Now, she was laying on the floor, Luna nearby, looking quite confused-she thought that they were heading back to Earth to rescue Twilight, because she had failed her test, now this?-and her despair, her, sorrow, and her guilt left her about as suddenly as it had flowed into her.
Twilight was still dead, but....she somehow...she was still alive at the same time. Celestia knew.
------------
Twilight Sparkle couldn't see. She couldn't see, not because of something obstructing her view, eyelids included, but because a light was so bright, that her sight couldn't pierce it.
It wasn't painful, but Twilight reflexively attempted to rise her hoof to shield her eyes. She couldn't do that either. She didn't feel as if something specific, like a large object, or a strap perhaps, was restraining her, she just couldn't move.
Where was she? All she saw was a white light so bright, she should be blind. Perhaps that's what she is, blind. But, wouldn't you only see darkness?
Slowly, the light dimmed, but Twilight still couldn't move. The white light went from painfully-but-not-really bright, to pretty dang dark slowly, and Twilight suddenly fell to the ground. Or could it be called that? She had been suspended, somehow, and she had fallen, but whatever she had landed on was invisible.
She was surrounded by darkness, and, suddenly, it was becoming brighter again. But not a bright white light, that was all over. Instead, a dim, deep, deep, blue glow, came from a specific direction; to Twilight's right.
She turned, and saw a suspended, glowing blue orb. It was suspended in the 'air' if it could be called that, about a half a foot lower than where Twilight was suspended moments ago, a little further off.
She cautiously approached it, and saw that, as she got closer, and as the area became more illuminated as a consequence to her approaching the orb, there was also a mist, a very thick, white mist on the ground. Once again, if it could be called that.
She should be feeling the moistness of the fog, but she didn't. She didn't feel anything except a feeling of falling. Not really, I mean, like when you're on a roller coaster, and you go on a steep dive, and it feels as if your stomach leaves its intended place.
That's what Twilight felt, but...it wasn't uncomfortable. She didn't feel the need to blink, she didn't have to breath, she didn't feel anything but that gut feeling.
As she came closer to the beautiful orb, which cast blue rays of light into the darkness in every direction, Twilight became aware of whispering. It was gradual at first, and Twilight wasn't sure whether they were real, but they were there.
They were unnerving, and in a tongue that Twilight didn't recognize. She finally reached the orb, and, after staring at it for a few seconds, the white light returned. Only this time it was painful, and quite sudden, and the feeling in her gut was intensified, and became very uncomfortable.
Then she became aware of another sensation. And then another. And then another. All five senses returned, and Twilight was laying on a very uncomfortable dirt ground, which was scattered with shards of wood and metal, and had small patches of flame burning in various areas.
Then she heard it. Sounds of fighting. The Russians were back, and her tent had been hit with a mortar round. All of these memories flowing back into her mind, and Twilight became very aware of the fact that she shouldn't be here.
She looked down to examine her body, and saw something that disgusted and interested her at the same time. The biggest, longest, ugliest scar that Twilight had ever seen long all the way from her throat to the beginnings of her left leg.
Then, Twilight became purely disgusted, no interest, when she noticed that there was a lot of insides on the outside. There were strings of shredded intestine, shards of bone, and enough blood to soak the ground. Twilight looked back down at her chest and saw that the scar was still there.
Eventually, she put two and two together and, Hey! Guess what? Those are her guts.
But how had she come back? What was that place?
She was interrupted by another sound that grew closer and closer. Baying and barking. Dogs?
Twilight was tackled by a force that felt almost as strong as the mortar round, and she felt something warm press against her body. Then several sharp pinpricks of pain were felt around Twilight's leg, the one that she had been holding up to defend herself from her attacker.
Those pinpricks grew into something akin to having your leg cut off, and Twilight looked down, and, despite the apin, gasped.
There was a big, mean dog latched onto her leg, and it was a mean one. It looked like a German Shepard. Twilight was then aware of another set of padding noises and looked just in time to doge a big Pitbull that was aimed directly at her throat.
Twilight shoot her head, and shot a bolt of magic from her horn directly into the German Shepard's forehead, and it let go, dead.
Twilight whirled around just in time to clock the Pitbull, who was coming around for another strike, directly in the throat, and her hoof came away bloody; it had gouged a large wound in the poor thing's neck. Twilight silenced it with a heavy stomp to the head with her two front hooves. She had more energy then that one time Darren and her had drank six cans of Red Bull, between the two of them. Wait, Darren?
Twilight's reflexes kicked in, almost automatically, and her back legs struck another dog, and sent it flying into a post, which impaled it. The dog whined, and perished.
Twilight didn't even look at it, she had to find Darren.
Twilight ran around the camp, and the chaos was everywhere. When Twilight had assumed that the Russians had came back in for another attack, she was both right and wrong. The Taliban where there too.
Three sides, all struggling for control, and it wasn't clear who was winning. There were soldiers struggling on the ground, hands and blades at one another's throat, there were others firing at each other from ranges as close as three feet, to several dozen meters. There were vehicles: tanks, jeeps, hummers, and all were being used in the fight.
The smell of blood, burning flesh, urine, and persperation was inescapable, as all of those were everywhere, both belonging to live and dead soldiers.
Twilight jumped over a fatally wounded Taliban; he was literally dragging his intestines around, trying to escape. He probably didn't know, and Twilight never gave him the chance to do notice; his skull was crushed by two purple hooves withing seconds of her spotting him.
Twilight, by simply running through the battlefield, and by her eliminating enemy soldiers was covered with blood by the time she found Darren. He was with two other soldiers, and all three of them were pinned behind a wall, the very same wall that Darren and Twilight had hid behind for a while during the first attack, by machine gun fire. Twilight aimed a charged bolt of magic at the gunners, and the area was enveloped in bright, orange, curly flames. Screams of pain were silenced by a more...explosive bolt, and Twilight rushed over to the wall.
"Twilight! Get over here!"
Twilight jumped behind the wall just in time to dodge a pretty decent-sized explosion. Twilight was just about to fire a bolt of magic at the Russian tank where the explosive round had come from, when a Taliban ran up to the tank, climbed up its side, shimmied across the barrel, and shoved a rock down the end. He climbed back, plugged his ears, and crouched down.
The inevitable happened, and, when the tank fired, the barrel was stripped down the sides, like a giant, metal banana. The Talib then climbed from his hiding place, and dropped a lit bundle of TNT down the much-widened opening. Screams were heard from the inside, and only two of the Russians managed to climb from the tank before it blew.
The Russians were running, but one was faster than the other. The slower suffered the consequences, and was wounded by a large, a very large shard of metal. It went through his gut, and came out accompanied by a spurt of blood, and a string of large intestine strung across the tip, which soon ruptured, and flung half-digested feces all over, spattering the ground. It steamed and sizzled. The metal was also white hot.
He was still alive, and, when he tried to scream in agony, he was stopped by the spurt of blood and feces that had managed to crawl its way up his esophagus. He vomited from the taste, and soon, the area around him was covered in just about every bodily fluid that a man has, (almost) and Twilight gave the mercy blow with a well-aimed bolt of magic.
The surviving Russian had been unaffected by the blast, and he tackled the retreating Taliban. Twilight had seen some pretty nasty things, but what happened next still made her cringe.
The strong, angry, and frightened Russian literally reached into the terrified man's throat and tore the man's Larynx out, and he was screaming unintelligibly while doing so. Two nearby Talibs looked on in horror. They both raised their weapons, and fired. This Russian was filled so full with adrenaline, that heavy rounds from AK-47's, the trademark middle-eastern terrorist weapon for some reason, didn't stop him.
He was hit by at least four rounds in various spots around his abdomen, before he reached one Talib, grabbed him, and moved him into the path of his fellow Talib's range of fire. He was tore up.
The Russian discarded the body, and fell upon the remaining Talib, and began to land blow after blow. The Talib was screaming in absolute terror, the most high-pitched sound of pain and fear that Twilight had ever heard.
"Это то, что вы получаете для траха возиться с матушки-России, вы Черт ублюдки! Пошел ты!"
At this point, the Russian's fists were covered in blood, and, then, he dug his thumbs into the still-screaming Talib's eyeballs, gouging them out
"Пошел ты! Пошел ты! Пошел ты! Пошел....ты!"
Twilight had been taught both Russian and Arab in her studies, and this Russian was angry. In fact, the fear and anger he felt after his comrades died the way they did, more than likely made him snap.
The Russian climbed up, bloody with both his own blood, and the unfortunate Talib's. He whirled around and glared with hatred and flames filling his eyes at Darren, Twilight, and the other two soldiers.
His head soon erupted in a shower of brains, shards of skull, and blood. One of the other soldiers emptied his shotgun at him.
"Well....we didn't want him coming after us, did we?"
Celestia was now crying in joy. Twilight was alive. Alive and filled with much more energy than ever before, both magical and physical. What was that?
The battle lasted long into the night. Reinforcements on all three sides were constantly arriving. The battle spanned from the entire camp to far into the city.
Twilight, and Darren sat in the Headquarters, which had been damaged pretty bad, worse than before. Far worse.
They sat in silence for a long while, but Darren broke it, saying, "Heh, right when we were done cleaning up, eh?"
Twilight laughed, and laughed. It wasn't that funny, but she needed something to laugh at.
Twilight finished and managed to get out, "Is there anything caffeinated around here?"
Darren smiled and said, "Wait here, I'll check the kitchen."
He came back eventually with two Red Bulls. Perfect, Twilight smiled.
Despite the horrors, despite the battle that was raging around them, and despite everything, Twilight was happy. Right here with Darren, with a heavily-caffeinated soda in her hoof, and smiling at each other. Twilight truly was happy.
They sat in silence yet again, listening to the sounds of the battle, and sipping their sodas. Then, right then, Twilight was about to be filled with a mixture of emotions. Anger, Happiness...
It all happened when a bright, golden light began to glow in the center of the rubbled building. It was accompanied with a high-pitched whirring sound.
Then Celestia and Luna stood, at the center of all of the rubble.
Twilight was sitting back in Ponyville, in the Golden Oaks Library, and she was being hopelessly mobbed by all of her friends. Many tears were shed, many hugs were shared, and many words spoken. Twilight was happy to be here. Back in Equestria, back in Ponyville, away from all of the horrors and the battles and the bloodshed of Earth.
Pinkie Pie, of course threw a party to celebrate, and, as always, it was fun.
The day wore down, and Twilight soon found herself getting ready for bed.
She wrote her letter to Darren, (She could still send letters back and forth) brushed her teeth, bathed, and climbed into her big, cushy bed, which was more comfortable then ever.
Celestia had manged to...negotiate, and honorable discharge from the U.S. Military, which, of course, meant that her Two Year service was rendered no longer required. She had said goodbye to Darren, and the scientists and soldiers, tears there too, and had left.
Twilight managed to get to sleep, and woke up the next morning with the biggest smile on her face. No Nightmares. But, that smile quickly turned into a frown. No Red Bull either...
THE END
Thanks to, well, me for writing it Irongalley for giving me the idea for the dogs. And, thanks for Mystic the proof-reader for accepting it!
Celestia slowly crept into Twilight Sparkle's room a few nights later. Celestia didn't like all of this sneaking around, not very princess-like, but she deemed it necessary.
Celestia's horn began to glow, and, it gently touched Twilight's forehead. Twilight began to shudder, throwing her body around, and causing her bed to quake violently. Eventually, the light from Celestia's horn faded, and Twilight's body settled down.
"Huh...what?"
Buck. The Princess had forgotten about Twilight's assistant, Spike. Celestia quickly whirled around, white light streaming from her eyes, and into Spike's. Spike, who was in his defensive stance a moment earlier, began to get all woozy, and fell back into his basket.
"Sleep, Twilight, my prize student. I did this for you. And I hope that Darren can forgive me."
Twilight would wake the next morning, and begin her normal routine. She did nothing that might have to do with her former trips to Earth. No letter writing, and no reminiscing. Twilight's memory of the whole ordeal was non-existent. But...perhaps not....maybe....just maybe...deep down....Twilight remembered.....maybe
THERE'S NO MORE STORY DOWN HERE! UPVOTE, and remember....TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT THIS EPIC STORY THAT MAY OR MAY NOT GET A THREEQUEL!!!!! Goodnight, and, a brohoof to you all...
