Equestrian Wars: A Fixed Pathway
Author: Evowizard25
Chapter 1
Professor Bright Mind strolled through the halls of the palace. The old, grey mane unicorn trotted about, deep in thought. His cutie mark was a quill writing on a piece of parchment. His book sack was filled to the brim, so he felt quite exhausted carrying it for so long. 'But, the Princess ordered it.' He told himself. Apparently, these books were to go to Celestia's favorite student. 'Miss Sparkle. I would like meet her one day, if I ever get a day off.' Of course, his own scientific work kept him busy. He seriously doubted that he would have any time to visit Ponyville anytime soon.
His mind had wondered off again, which was a bad habit of his, so he failed to notice the pony walking in front of him. He bumped into them, knocking off the small spectacle he wore. "I'm sorry about that." He apologized, looking around the floor for them. "You don't know how many times I've nearly gored ponies doing so. The hazard of being a unicorn with a wary mind." He chuckled.
"I would thinkest that thou needeth a new physician." The voice said, rather loudly. "Your eyesight is rather poor."
'Why is that voice familiar?' He found his spectacles and put them on. As he adjusted them, he noticed he was face to face with Princess Luna, the lord of the night. Automatically, he bowed. "Princess Luna." He said. "My humblest apologies."
Princess Luna raised a hoof to silence him. "That is alright, professor." She said. "Though, we do question why thyself has cometh here?"
"Your sister has requested me to deliver some important material to the Elements of Harmony." Bright Mind said, still bowing. His old heart was beating fast, from both the shock of meeting the Princess of the night and her loud demeanor. "I was on my way to the carriers."
"Then, we think your endeavor has come out fruitless." Princess Luna said. "We were just coming from there. The last carrier has left with our own supplies."
Bright Mind raised himself off of his kneeling position. "But your highness, your sister ordered me to do this." He said, determinedly. He then stomped a hoof onto the ground. I demand you recall him at once."
Luna's indifferent look turned into a harsh glare. "So, my sister's needs take precedence over my own?" She said, her voice louder than ever. Bright Mind took a few steps back, quivering in fear. "And you, a mere commoner, dare order me to do your bidding."
"I am just following your sister's orders." Bright Mind said, hoping this would get her off his back.
"I shall here none of this." Princess Luna said, starting to walk off. "You shall send your package when a new carrier arrives."
As she walked away, the professor could breathe in a relaxed state. His heart stopped beating so fast. 'I don't know how long I could have stood that.' He thought, patting his chest. He then continued on the carrier station, despite the Princess's words. 'I could at least try.' It didn't take him long to get there.
It was empty, just like she said. He started swearing under his breath, disappointed by this turn of events, but as he turned to leave, he heard something. It was the faint sound of wing beats. He spun around, smiling, but it quickly turned into a look of shock. A grey, blond mane Pegasus came swooshing in. Bright Mind jumped out of the way, as she crashed. He quickly ran to the pony's side. "Are you injured?" He asked, concerned for her health and wellbeing.
She simply got up and smiled at him, goofily. "Nope." She said, rubbing her head. Her eyes were mismatched, looking in opposite directions. "Though, I need to get used to landing in these places. They're so weird."
Bright Mind suddenly had an idea. "So, you're a messenger Pegasus, right?" He asked.
"Yep." She said, saluting. "Ditzy Doo, at your service."
"Perfect." Bright Mind said, getting the packages he was carrying off his back. "Now, I need you to deliver these for me." He put it on her back. She buckled under the weight, but held firm. "This is important, you hear. The right side goes to Twilight Sparkle of Ponyville. The left side is to be delivered a colleague of mine at the Royal Academy. Do you understand?" Ditzy nodded, before taking off. "Well, I won't have to worry about that anymore."
The sun faded away, leaving the red evening sky bare. A calming wind blew through the lands. The birds of the night calls echoed about, while the crickets chirped. On this particular peaceful evening in Equestria, a rather special pony waited anxiously.
Twilight Sparkle paced back and forth inside her library. The Princess had promised a new batch of books to the library, since she had already read and studied most, if not all, the books she possessed. It was time for some more advanced stuff. Items straight from Celestia's own private stock. She couldn't help but be excited. Her tail swished back and forth in agitation. 'What's taking them so long?' she thought. Suddenly, Spike came into the room. Twilight swiftly got up and rushed to him. "So, are they here?" she said, excited.
Spike nodded. "Yep," he said, rather tired. "I left them downstairs." Before he could put in another word, Twilight teleported herself there. Spike sighed, before heading down himself.
Twilight shook her head, trying to get rid of the small woozy feeling she had. Teleporting still took its toll, albeit a very small one. She looked to the stack of books in the middle of the room. 'It's rather small,' she thought. She was a little disappointed by the books presented. Only five books were in the stack, but they were rather large and thick. 'Well, the Princess knows best.' She levitated one of them over to her stool and opened it up.
Hours of reading later, Twilight came across one spell in the book that caught her eye. "Inter-dimensional doorways?" she read aloud. She pulled back, rather puzzled. "Huh," She shrugged. "I'll give it a shot." She read the instructions. They were complicated, but she'd done tougher spells before.
The first step was to think of a location. 'Sweet Apple Acres.' She thought.
The next was to think of your target destination. "Huh," Twilight couldn't help but say. She already had. 'Redundant much.' So, she thought of Sweet Apple Acres again.
The last step was to focus on the portal, for complete concentration was the key. "Okay, just focus," She closed her eyes and concentrated. The longer and harder she concentrated, the more energy she drained from herself. Sweat peppered her brow, her breathing became hectic. She found it harder to stand as her legs couldn't hold her up. By the time the spell was done, she collapsed to the ground from exhaustion.
"Twilight!" Spike called out, running over to her. He went to her side and helped her back on her hooves. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Twilight said, trying to shake off the loss of power. "Just a botched spell is all..." Her eyelids started to grow heavy. "I think I need some rest." Spike escorted her to her bedroom.
Within her throne room, Princess Celestia sat peacefully, reading one of her favorite books. Romance was always her favorite subject; she couldn't help but smile as she got to the juicy parts. She closed her eyes for a second, playing her own romance all those years ago. Beautiful, yet sad feelings filled her, weaving their way into the past. All of a sudden, something pulled her out of her daydream. Like, something firing off inside her head. 'What is that?' she wondered. She kept shaking her head, trying to see if the feeling would go away.
One of the guards in the throne room noticed this. "Is there something wrong, princess?" he asked.
"I felt...a disturbance," Celestia said, a little scared. "Something I haven't felt in a long time."
"Should I sound an alarm, or send a patrol?" the guard asked.
Princess Celestia shook her head. "No," she said. "There is no need. Just a small problem, that is all. I shall send word to my student soon enough. And do not trouble my sister with this." She looked up at the moon. "For now, let me bask in the light of my sister's moon. I need some time to think."
The guard bowed. "Of course, your highness," he said.
Celestia stared at him for a moment. "Alone," she said, raising an eyebrow. The guards quickly filtered out of the throne room. She sighed. 'Why must I feel it again? That energy. That feeling. I thought it long gone. I thought it would never return. Why must it bring back such sad memories?' She let a tear fall from her eyes. 'Maybe I'm over thinking this. It could be anything. Anything! A little spell playing tricks on me. Twilight Sparkle will sort this out. Especially since I'm sensing it coming from somewhere near her. And what are the odds that anything could ever happen like that in Ponyville?' She stopped her train of thought, before facehooving. 'Oh, now you've gone and done it.'
The wind blew past through Russia, giving the lands a false sense of peace. The day seemed settled and calm. That is, until a mechanical march perturbed the air. Five fighter walkers continued on with their search. The large, two legged machines carefully and effortlessly maneuvered the grounds. Their left pincer arm swiveled in its socket, while its laser equipped arm stood at the ready. This patrol was sent out to check if any more hoonah fighters were anywhere near. They were ever vigil. Hoonahs had the nasty habit of surprise attacks. Of course, Kra had better senses than humans, so it wasn't a problem. "Report," a voice said through the speakers.
The Kra inside responded. "Nothing so far," he said, rather pleased. He even let out a small chuckle. "It seems the Hoonahs are too scared to come out of their holes."
"Don't get over your head, Hasgon," his commander said. "Those Hoonahs are cleverer than you give them credit for."
"Ah, what can they do?" Hasgon said. "Other than to be a late afternoon snack!" He laughed whole-heartedly. He could hear his commander sigh. His commander had been fighting since day two of the invasion. Now, on the third day, Hasgon himself, fresh from his training on the lunar base, was ready to fight. So far, there hadn't been any resistance to their movements, to Hasgon's annoyance.
"Oh, shut your mouth, Hasgon," another voice spoke up. "You are going to jinx us." He recognized the voice of his best friend, Kruk. They had known each other from day one, right out of the cloning machines. It was funny to think that they were born only one year ago. 'Time flies by.'
"How?" Hasgon said, cackling at the thought of being held up by humans. "You saw those few Hoonahs we passed. They were more concerned with fleeing for their little pathetic lives."
"Wait until you fight against one," his commander said. "You won't be laughing then."
Hasgon rolled his eyes. 'Cautious to the end, that one is,' he thought. "Have you ever fought one?"
"Yes," his commander said. "I have fought them. If it wasn't for our lunar cannon," At its mention, another arch of light burst from the moon. "We'd have fought against hoonah machines. Hundreds of them, going by the carnage I saw. So, be vigil. We can't take back Eka, with fools chasing their own tails."
"Then, we're going to have a problem," Kruk said. "Cause Hasgon can't help but chase his tail."
"At least I was awake during our studies," Hasgon scoffed. "You spent all your time chasing females." He could hear Kruk laughing. 'Kruk.' He thought. 'He's a bigger danger to this invasion then those hoonah machines. Those clumsy behemoths couldn't swat a fly, let alone take on us.'
"Ah, yes," Kruk said. "Good times. Good times, indeed."
Danil Ivanov quickly moved through the brush. His An-94 kept at the ready at his side, as he snuck quietly about. He and his comrades had been sent out to ambush some of the invaders. They had staked out this position some hours ago and had yet to spot one. 'Oh, but we'll be ready for those alien bastards.' he thought, patting his gun. He passed by an armored vehicle, a BMP-3. It was one of the few vehicles they had left. 'The general must really find this piece of dirt important.' The vehicle was primed and ready to get going at any second.
He stopped by one of the other soldiers, Kiril Makorov, one of the leading snipers in the army. At least, in Danil's point of view and he hadn't found one person who could dispute it. He was laying on his stomach, looking through the scope of his rifle. Kiril was just a young man, just got into his twenties. His dashing looks often got girls to turn their heads. 'Man I miss those days,' Danil thought, ruffling his graying hair. He was kneeling beside a tree, with his gun holstered. Danil put his hand on his shoulder. "See anything yet?" he asked.
Kiril shook his head. "Not a thing," He responded, looking up at him. "Been the least eventful few hours since this whole goddamn alien invasion. It's like I'm in one of those silly science fiction books."
"Never cared for them," Danil said, smiling. He was glad they could turn the conversation into something else. "I preferred good old fashioned mystery novels."
"If I wanted something to put me to sleep, I'll check them out." Kiril said.
Danil scoffed. "You have no taste." He said.
Just then, another soldier came rushing over. "Sir," he said, stopping to salute.
"What is it?" Danil asked.
"Enemy troops approaching from the west," The soldier responded.
Both Kiril and Danil stiffened at his response. "How many?" Danil said.
"About five walkers," The soldier said.
"Probably a scouting party." Danil said, rubbing his chin. Kiril nodded in agreement He smirked. "Alright," he unholstered and cocked his rifle. "Let's give them hell."
"I couldn't have said it better myself." Kirirl said, moving off to find a better sniping position.
Something wasn't right. The Kra commander could sense it. If only he could know what was causing this strife within in him. Maybe it was just the trees casting their shadows that simply spooked him. Maybe it was just being on this alien world. 'Not an alien world, just a different Eka!' he reminded himself. Though, it was so hard to find the difference. 'Maybe it's all in my head. Maybe it's just my imagination.' He kept telling himself, but his eyes could discern so much. He could see the shadows moved once in a while, but there was a breeze about him. 'It's just the air, moving the trees.'
The last thing he heard was a faint boom, as a human walker fired. The shell pierced his walker, killing him instantly.
The commander's walker went down in a fiery explosion. "Take cover," a voice resounded through the intercom.
"With what?" Hasgon shouted, looking around frantically. There was no response. The patter of bullets ricocheting off his machine was pecking away at his resolve. He couldn't move. The pride and fearlessness he felt only a moment before was replaced by a paralyzing fear of death. All his training, all his thoughts of fighting, dreams of conquest, did nothing to help him here. 'Stupid thinking on the commander's part.' he thought. 'Sending me out to fight in this deathtrap.'
There, to their right side, was a small forest. 'If we could reach there, we'd be safe from their weaponry.' He caught a gleam, as another shell went soaring past. It landed at the feet of Kruk's walker, wrecking it. "NO!" He yelled, as his lifetime friend's machine went down. Anger swelled up inside him, putting him back in control of his movements. "The trees!" he yelled.
The remaining walkers tried running up towards them. Hasgon fired off a couple of shots into the forest. He was soon rewarded with a pillow of smoke rising from some damaged Hoonah walker. Still, another couple of shells came their way. One missed, while the other smacked right into a fighter. It burst into flames as it fell to the ground. "Stay together!" he ordered the Kra fighter beside him. They finally made it to the tree line, walking past the Hoonah machine he had hit.
He could see a few hoonahs running off. Hasgon growled. 'How dare they fire on me?' he thought. 'How dare they kill my friends? I'll make them pay. All of them!' He fired, slicing through one of them. He kept firing, killing another, and wounding a couple more. Another human tried running, but he aimed straight at the mammal. He tried to shoot at it, but his gun did nothing. The Kra scowled. Their weapons could only fire a certain amount of shots at a time. This made sure the weapon didn't explode on its owner. Right now, however, Hasgon cursed the designer.
Suddenly one more rocket flew by, destroying the walker beside him. The blast knocked him to the side. His fighter crashed against a tree, breaking the glass barrier of the cockpit. Hasgon just sat there inside his walker, bleeding and disoriented. He couldn't even think straight. His head was pounding, agonizing him so. The only thought running through his mind was that he had to get out of there.
He grabbed his tintza rifle and clambered out. Once he got out of his fighter walker, he could hear the faint sound of Hoonah chatter. He couldn't tell where it was coming from, since he was still a little shaken. Still, he had to get out of there. He tried to run for it.
The sun beamed down upon Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack was collecting apples for a delivery to Fillydelphia. As ever, Applejack was doing her best to buck each and every apple out of their trees. Little Apple Bloom trailed behind her, ever exuberant. "Big sis!" Apple Bloom said, trying to get her attention. "How long is this going to take?"
"Not long," Applejack said, knocking down another series of apples.
Apple Bloom caught them in a basket. "But I promised Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo I'd meet up with them," she said. "I can't break my promise."
"Work comes first, little lady," Applejack said, bucking another tree. "You'll know that when you're grown up."
"But I am grown up!" Apple Bloom whined. "I just want to go have some fun."
"Later, sugar cube," Applejack said, wiping away some sweat on her brow.
"But I want to go RIGHT NOW!" Apple Bloom said, whining at the top of her little lungs.
Applejack's head started to shake from the intensity. She put a hoof to it to stop herself. "Alright, alright," she said, rather agitated with her sister's complaints. "You can go."
"Yay!" Apple Bloom exclaimed, jumping around in joy. She ran off.
Applejack sighed and shook her head. "What am I going to do with her?" she asked herself before going back to work. Nearby, a gleam of light shone out. She didn't really pay attention to it. Her work came first.
The sun grew larger in the sky, as its heat poured down upon him. He had been walking for more than an hour. Hasgon dragged is tintza rifle on the ground, as he held onto it with one clawed hand. 'How did this happen?' he kept thinking over and over. 'I don't want to die. Eng-kan, have mercy on me, please.'
As he walked on, a shimmer of light shined into his eye. He flinched turning his head to check it out. It looked like some kind of disk of light. He thought it was some trick of the light, but he walked towards it anyways. 'Hey, I'm delirious right?' he wondered if, which was a little difficult in his state. 'Might as well play along.'
He passed through it. The moment he did, he came across a huge area, filled with trees containing something red and round. He put his free hand up to his head. 'That's it. I've gone mad.'
Hasgon walked among the trees for several minutes, before he saw some building of some kind. They looked like Hoonahs designed them. 'Hopefully it's abandoned,' he thought, as he struggled to get to them. By now, every step he took, every gulp of air, took a heavy toll on his body. He didn't even think he could make it to the front door.
As he neared the structures, he stopped. He didn't know why, but he just didn't want to go in. Something wasn't right. Then, he heard a voice. He turned around and saw some kind of Hoonah. It was four legged, orange, and had light yellow hair in some sort of style. It wore a hat of some kind. His stomach rumbled. 'I could use a good snack,' he thought. It wouldn't be too hard. He seriously doubted those scrawny legs couldn't carry it far. However, he simply raised a talon and said, "Hoonah…" before falling down to the ground. His world was enveloped by darkness.
Applejack bucked another tree, causing the apples to fall into the basket. She sighed, wiping her brow with her hoof. "Well, I reckon that'll be enough for today," she said, putting the basket onto her back.
When she walked to the front of her house, she received a great shock. There was some creature standing there. It was quite tall, much taller than her, or it just looked like it because she was a little distance away. It had black feathers, although they were stained with dirt and blood. It had a crest on top of its head that was rather beautifully colored. The two legged creature just stood there for a moment. "What in the hay?" She couldn't help but say. She scolded herself for talking out loud.
The creature turned its head and looked at her. It moved a single step and raised one of its claws. Applejack prepared herself to run for it. She didn't trust those teeth or claws. Instead, it just said one word. A word she couldn't understand. And then fell down to the ground, unconscious.
Applejack just stood there for a minute. She didn't know what to do. A part of her wanted to help the poor thing, but another part of her wanted to bolt into town. Or better yet, get the rest of the family out of there. Still, she stayed put, waiting for some sign of movement from the creature. 'Could be playing opossum,' she thought. After five minutes of waiting, Applejack slowly and cautiously approached it. When she got to it, she could see it was hurt badly. Gashes and bruises ran its sides. Its breathing was hectic and harsh. She couldn't help but feel sorry for it.
Applejack hurried off into the barn. Big Macintosh was there looking over the previous days collection of apples. "Big Macintosh," she said, going to his side. "We've got a little problem."
"You could say that," Big Mac said, not turning around to look. "These here apples aren't enough for that order we got from Fillydelphia. We got to go buck some more."
"I think we've got a bigger problem than apples," Applejack said. Big Mac simply moved his head and eyed her. She led him over to the front of the house.
When they got there, Big Mac stopped in his tracks. He stared at the creature wide eyed. It even looked like he'd lose the piece of straw he always had. "You were exaggerating when you said little problem!" he said, looking at her.
Applejack smiled. "Well, I know it ain't little, but we can't just leave it there," she said. "The poor creature's hurt."
Big Mac fiddled with the straw in his mouth, moving it side to side. Finally, he sighed. "I'll get the wagon," he said, walking off.
"Thanks," Applejack said.
"No problem," Big Mac said. It didn't take long before he came back, pulling a cart behind him.
Applejack went over grabbed the creature. She was lucky she was an earth pony, or she would never have been able to get it onto the wagon. She looked down at the strange thing it had been carrying. 'Maybe Twilight can figure out what it does,' she thought, loading it on as well. "Do you think you can pull it?" she asked.
"Eyup," Big Mac said, before pulling it along into town.