"That uh, that can't possibly be a good sign," Spike said worriedly.
"Oh no! How, in what manner, how exactly…did it get out?" Twilight stammered, standing on the stair landing with a horrified look. Her saddlebag dropped onto the ground where she stood.
Both stormed into the cellar laboratory, heading towards the middle of the room. The receptacle that had once housed the alien specimen was now without its magical shield. All that remained was the opened egg, a small pool of strange slime, and the shriveled body of the alien itself. A mere sight of it was enough to cause Spike to take several steps back.
"Oh man, that stuff stinks!" he said, pinching his nose. The dragon could barely keep his last meal down.
"Maybe the alien turned into something smart enough that it knew how to escape the barrier," Twilight guessed, mortified. She did a double take at the corpse. "Nevertheless, our environment must have killed the thing. How unfortunate."
The tone of her voice and her appearance registered wrong with Spike, who eyed her with a worried expression. "Twilight…forget the alien for a moment, take a look at yourself!"
Spike picked up a small mirror lying on a dusty shelf, and Twilight levitated it over to her face. She gasped.
Looking into the mirror, Twilight was tapping and rubbing her two forehooves together with an almost neurotic fervor, and her coat looked noticeably paler, with patches having changed from the color of a mulberry to faded pink. However, there was no sign of any green bioluminescent glow from the past few days.
"Ok, keep it together Twilight," she muttered to herself, sighing. "You're just under a lot of stress."
"A lot," Spike agreed with a frown. "Are you okay, do you need anything? Just say the word!"
Twilight set the mirror back on its shelf and gave her assistant a small smile. "I'll be fine, Spike. Head back up if you want, I just have to clean this up and perform a few brief tests."
"Ok," Spike replied, hesitantly making his way out.
Twilight followed him up for a second to retrieve her bag, and then descended back down to the location of the former alien containment field. After taking tissue samples of the alien egg's external shell and the organism's body, as well as a vial of its gooey slime, Twilight disposed of the entire specimen with contained magical fire, removing any trace of it.
With that complete, Twilight took the proboscis from an unidentified Canterlot creature and the punctured helmet she had both received from the retreating guards out of her bag and set them on a table. She took a brief gander at them, took down some notes, and then walked over to a magic-powered communication device she seldom ever used.
The screen projector flickered on, catching dust motes in the light of its beam. Twilight made a mental note to clean the place thoroughly once everything was sorted out.
Twilight was still apprehensive over her alien's escape and subsequent demise as she pondered over who she should try to contact first. Canterlot was her first choice, she could hopefully learn more about the situation up there in addition to reporting recent findings on the aliens straight to Celestia.
Not only that, but talking with her mentor would bring ease of mind as valuable to her as water is to travelers in the Saddle Arabian deserts.
Twilight accessed the known channels used by Royal Officials. There was a brief thirty seconds where she was expecting the calm and composed faces of Luna or Celestia to appear, to no avail. Each additional channel Twilight tried greeted her with nothing but dead air, emergency alert icons, or ghostly white screens of blank oblivion. She hit the table in frustration, causing the communicator and everything else on the table to jolt slightly.
"Come on, somepony pick up. Pick up!" she grumbled. For a moment, her thoughts drifted to Shining Armor and Cadence. At least they were safe in the Crystal Empire, far from whatever was afflicting Canterlot and the surrounding countryside. However, whatever reassurance that fact provided was nearly outdone by the realization that Twilight's parents were likely still in the capital.
In addition, A.K. Yearling – Daring Do, if one was privy to insider information – and her entire expedition had chosen the most inopportune time to drop out of contact with Canterlot. Despite what Sable and the other guards had said, Twilight partly suspected that it was the other way around. Perhaps Canterlot was the one deliberately cutting off contact with them.
Twilight attempted to contact several other channels in the city, both public and private. Nothing, not even a whisper was apparently coming out of the capital city of some one hundred thousand Equestrians. Just as she was about to give up, an incoming message from Cloudsdale caught her attention.
"Twilight Sparkle?" A blue uniformed female pegasus had appeared on screen, seated behind a lightly cluttered white desk.
"Yes, that's me!" Twilight replied quickly, with mounting urgency in her wide-eyed gaze.
"This is Captain Spitfire of the Wonderbolts, Royal Air Force," the pegasus proclaimed with a disciplined tone, stiffening her posture a bit and putting her forehooves together. "A.K. Yearling and her expedition regained contact with us some time ago, and she mentioned you by name. Are you and the Elements of Harmony in Ponyville?"
"We are, actually. Why, what's going on in Canterlot? What were those hostile 'undead' creatures the retreating guards told us about?"
Spitfire remained largely stone-faced. "This ongoing crisis is very complex," she answered simply. "The details are too sensitive to discuss over the network. But don't worry, Canterlot is secure and we're in the middle of cleaning things up. We'll have to disclose the info to you and your friends in person there."
"Sensitive?" Twilight replied, scowling at Spitfire's insistent ambiguity. "Captain, by leaving me in the dark like this, you're only making things more complicated!" Her previous urgency was giving way to frustration, as evident by the fire in her eyes. "Guards fleeing Canterlot spoke of unknown, undead creatures that I bet could put a bloodthirsty hydra to shame!" She levitated the proboscis and helmet into view. "Look at this!"
Twilight's expressions seemed to have some effect, as the Wonderbolt relented a bit. "Alright, I will give you this: Yearling's outfit has stumbled upon something huge after you guys left, and it just so happens to pertain to all the rumors I'm sure the Ponyvillians have been hearing. Also…uh…something Yearling dubbed 'the Flood' is wreaking havoc. She told us to prepare, and mentioned you by name."
Twilight could tell by her body language that Spitfire had much more to say, but her position must not have allowed it. "I see…ok. So, where do the Elements and I come into the picture?"
"A train will arrive and send you all straight to Canterlot tomorrow; all the railroad lines in the region have been put under military control to help us secure the capital." Spitfire sighed. "Long story short, once you're there, we'll all be on the same page. Maybe you six will be able to help us, somehow."
Spitfire drank from a coffee mug next to her lamp, and then set it down. Twilight noted that her grip on the cup had been noticeably shaky, and that the officer was going to great lengths to try and control it. To make it unnoticeable. What Spitfire would never admit, was that she was beginning to see more and more desperate, wild stares like Twilight's with each passing hour. It was a trend propagating itself like wildfire among her Air Force comrades.
"Well, I won't take up any more of your time, Twilight Sparkle," Spitfire said. "Send Rainbow Dash my warm regards, Spitfire out."
"Wait, I…" Twilight held up her hoof, but the screen had already changed to display an image of the Equestrian flag. She sighed as the national anthem echoed around the confines of the lab before the channel turned to static.
"'A very complex crisis.' 'Too sensitive to discuss'. Yeah, that's wonderful to know," Twilight muttered. "I better break the news to the girls."
When Twilight did just that a half-hour later, the others had nodded, and insisted that she take a load off. It was one of the best ways to ensure that she would be ready for the following day's trip. In an attempt to stop herself from worrying so much and follow her friends' advice, Twilight decided to spend the rest of the day running errands and performing her duties as the town's librarian. All the cares of the world seemed to fade away for a time while in the musky smells of old tomes, and the paragraphs of generations of Equestrian authors and scholars.
Evening came and the Sun began to set. Just before retiring to bed, Twilight discovered at her window, much to her relief, that the Moon had finally begun to behave normally again, which must have meant Celestia and Luna were still performing their Royal duties as usual. At least, this is what Twilight deducted.
Whatever the case, it helped her get some much-needed sleep.
"Ah'm telling you, Twi. Something ain't quite right with Winona," Applejack stated as she, Twilight and the others made their way towards Ponyville's train station. "Some of her fur started falling out overnight…Ah'm really startin' to regret given her that alien powder."
"Indeed, I do as well with my Opal," Rarity added with a note of despair. "Cats and dogs must be allergic to the powder like yourself, Twilight."
Given Spike's recent shenanigans, Twilight had decided to leave him, Owlowicious, and the Golden Oak Library in the safekeeping of Cheerilee while she and the others were gone in Canterlot, since school was out for spring break.
"Well girls, I tried to warn you that it would be risky." Twilight replied. "I'm…I'm sure they'll be fine. Just be sure treat any rash or other symptom you see when we get back, and it should go away like mine did." She turned to Fluttershy. "How is Angel? Please tell me he's an exception."
To her relief, Fluttershy smiled. "Actually, Angel bunny is doing as good as ever. There's no sign in the world that anything's amiss with him." She looked at Rarity and Applejack sadly. "Unlike your animals, girls. Sorry to hear."
"Ah shucks, Winona's tough, and Opalescence has enough feistiness in him to stave off an army. Our pets will be fine in no time." Applejack assured Rarity.
"Should have listened to Twilight in the first place," Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath, strolling alongside Pinkie Pie. "Never expose your pets to alien narcotics!"
"Rainbow!" Pinkie Pie hissed sharply, causing everyone to look at her. She smiled. "Everypony knows the powder wasn't that, silly. They were obviously canisters of baking soda, and the aliens were space dentists who didn't care for toothpaste!"
"Right…okay," Rainbow Dash deadpanned.
"Girls, Spitfire was extremely vague about what we were going to find up there in the city," Twilight informed them, pausing for a second. "Considering what we saw with Sable and her fellow guards, try to prepare in whatever way you can, preparation never hurt anypony."
Rainbow Dash and Applejack nodded firmly. Fluttershy gulped, and both Pinkie and Rarity had uncertain frowns.
"Just ready yourself and everything should go fine. We'll then, off we go." Twilight gestured ahead, hearing the sound of a locomotive engine.
They had finally reached the station. As expected, the train was already waiting at the platform. What was less expected, however, were the groups of soldiers and police officers that populated the cars and the platform, as well as the gun turret emplacement installed on the roof of the caboose.
Assorted military equipment and supplies were festooned about the Friendship Express, their forest camouflage sharply clashing with the vibrant paint schemes of the civilian vehicle. Rarity's eyes narrowed at the visual disparity, but she said nothing, observantly noting that most of the mares and stallions in front of them were armed, and the Royal soldiers were garb in full body armor.
All strict business.
"Quite a welcome wagon," Rainbow Dash remarked, noticing that there were far fewer citizens bustling around the station than usual, instead replaced by the soldiers and cops now guarding it.
"Uhh, this is the train to Canterlot, right?" Fluttershy asked no one in particular. She was a bit hesitant by the sudden presence of the Equestrian Royal Army, which typically kept to itself on the frontiers of Equestria in peacetime, where it maintained many forts, bases, and border outposts.
Pinkie Pie made eye contact with the soldiers nearest her and rubbed at her mane, puzzled. "Weird, none of you guys are sad looking, but you aren't smiling happy either! What gives? You remind me of my sister, Maud! I bet you would all like her!" Given their limited contact with civilians over the years, some of the soldiers were rather phlegmatic. Those in earshot met Fluttershy's question and Pinkie Pie's comments with curious looks, or simply retained their impassive expressions that almost made them seem bored.
As the six friends waited for the conductor or someone else in charge to greet them, a duo of military police wearing silver guard helmets blew their whistles. They stood at the entrance to the front most passenger car, and parted to make way for an officer, standing at attention as they did so.
"Colonel Davenport, sir, great to see you!" One of the royal soldiers greeted. He and his comrades gave him a salute, clunking their hooves against their green helmets. Davenport returned the salute, and then approached Twilight and her friends. Surprised, she studied his uniform as he strode towards them.
Davenport had traded the blue vest he ordinarily wore while running Quills and Sofas for a blue officer's jacket and a matching peaked cap. Compared to the camouflaged ballistics vests and silver mithril sets of body armor worn by the ponies under his command, Davenport's appearance stuck out quite considerably.
"Davenport? Since when were you a soldier?" Twilight asked.
"Since before I opened my store," the Colonel replied. "When Canterlot went to Tartarus for one reason or another, the top brass over in Stalliongrad offered me my old post back." He gestured to the patrolling soldiers around him. "Business has been slow lately, anyhow." Davenport looked to the girls behind Twilight, and smiled lightly. "Well now, look's I'll be you're conductor for the day. No need for tickets, we know the Elements of Harmony when we see em'. All aboard!"
Applejack nodded to the Colonel and led the others to the nearest passenger car while Twilight lingered for a moment. "Spitfire told me next to nothing about what's really going on up there," she explained to Davenport. "Is it really safe to enter?"
The Colonel was quiet for a moment as he looked at a nearby group of police ponies. One of them was talking into their radio about something, and the other two were scowling. When the stallion clipped the radio back to his belt, the police officers all nodded soberly at each other, notched their hats, and left the station in a quick trot for their squad carriages.
Davenport's attention then returned to Twilight. "Haven't seen it myself yet, Miss Sparkle, but I know for sure my comrades secured it," he answered in a low voice, his face unreadable. He gestured to the train. "Relax, enjoy your ride. Holler if you need something. I've got the dining car serving up an all-you-can-eat omelette bar, if you're interested. Hey, you fellas get ready over there, time to muster out!"
Twilight frowned as the earth pony left to order a large group of soldiers handling baggage. She made her way onboard the train, frustrated at the military's continued ambiguity. Inside, she was able to make out Applejack and Rainbow Dash's voices excitedly announcing their discovery of the breakfast buffet. It was enough to put a smile on her face, even despite the recent predicaments.
After a mountain of egg dishes, sundaes, orange juice, and many other treats of the morning, the six friends took seats in the middle passenger car. Twilight decided to sit near a window by herself, feeling the subtle rattle of the tracks beneath her as she watched the outskirts of Ponyville dart passed. Some rather unusual sights caught her attention. On her side of the train – the eastern side – Twilight could see everything from Saddle Lake to Canterlot.
Many of the roads had little of the typical civilian traffic, and were occupied by the occasional military convoy or checkpoint. A quartet of zeppelins, silver-colored hulks, held position above Canterlot, with a fifth using the tallest spire of Canterlot Castle as a mooring mast. A few patrol boats dotted the pristine lake, and roving squads of soldiers, police, Royal Guards, and armed volunteers could be seen patrolling the countryside while pegasi kept watch overhead.
"Twilight!" Hearing her name caused Twilight to jolt with surprise.
"Whah! Huh?" Turning to look at the aisle, Twilight saw Pinkie Pie staring at her. The jovial mare wore a conspiratorial grin on her face.
"Twilight, the radio ponies left their door cracked open!" She pointed down at the end of the car to small closed off compartment. "You can hear all kinds of super cool secret stuff if you're quiet!"
Twilight lowered her voice to match Pinkie's whisper. "Really? Show me!"
"This way!" Pinkie slinked away towards the compartment. Twilight looked in both directions nervously, and then followed her friend's lead.
Sure enough, the door had been left ajar. Twilight could just make out the shadowy room beyond. A monitor screen showed a tactical map of the entire continent, and the smaller lights of several instruments and communication devices glimmered like Hearth's Warming Eve decorations amidst neat bunches of wiring. Two unicorns wearing headsets were seated in front of the consoles, operating the equipment. True to Pinkie Pie's word, she and Twilight could make out snippets of radio chatter and the voices of the two radio ponies themselves.
"Blech, just like popcorn at the ol' carnival…"
"Wait…look sharp, look sharp! We got Twitchers coming out of the tree line."
"Hang in there, 31st. Heavy air support is inbound."
"What do you mean lay down suppressive fire? We can't suppress these things! That one doesn't even have its fucking head anymore!"
"It's a hit! The bridge is down. Let's see those freaks try and get to Rambling Rock now!"
Twilight looked at Pinkie Pie with an uncertain frown. "Twitchers?"
"I dunno." Pinkie Pie shrugged, then cupped a hoof to her ear. "But now I want some popcorn!"
"Affirmative, Cloudsdale, we've got a positive IFF on Bandersnatch. Coordinates received, t-minus sixty seconds out. Please confirm?"
"Confirmed. Prepping for assault."
"This is Capital, reporting in. Looks like Discord has things in the bag up here. Suggest you keep close watch on the tracks, though. Things are about to get real bright out there."
"Copy that, Capital."
"Looks like Canterlot might be safe after all," Pinkie Pie said to Twilight, smiling. "If Discord's helping, I feel sorry for whatever baddies decided to give Canterlot a nasty day!" Before Twilight could answer, Pinkie let out an involuntary sneeze.
"What was that?" One of the radio ponies asked.
"Beats me," his compatriot replied.
The first one got up, and approached the door. Twilight and Pinkie Pie froze as the soldier spotted them immediately. To their surprise and relief, the unicorn said nothing, and only glared at the two for a second before firmly closing the door shut.
"Oops, my bad," Pinkie Pie said. "Sorry."
"Don't worry, Pinkie. At least we know for sure that Canterlot is safe." Twilight answered.
Both of them made their way back to their seats, when Rainbow Dash caught their attention. "Guys, you gotta see this! It's the Air Force!" She and the others were gathered around a window, and Rainbow pointed towards the sky. A squadron of warplanes was speeding off to the west at full speed. "I think they're bombers…"
Some soldiers drew the girls' attention away from the window. "Trust me, Elements; you might want to cover your eyes for a sec," a sergeant declared.
"Why, exactly? What's happe…" Rarity's question was stopped in mid-sentence as a blindingly bright light suddenly entered through the western facing windows of the traincar. Everyone instinctively ducked and shielded their faces with their forelegs.
"It's the Boom!" A soldier shouted.
"The what?" Applejack cried.
As the light faded, a large rumble shook the train. Luggage fell into the aisle from shelves hanging above, and some of the occupants of the train let out yelps and shrieks. Like the light, however, the shockwave was quick to pass, and soon everything was calm again. Rainbow Dash looked at the nearest soldiers, then to Twilight, bewildered.
"That must have been…"
"An Atomic Rainbomb!" Twilight finished for her, rushing back to the window. The others joined her. Everyone beheld the ominous sight of a rainbow-colored mushroom cloud rising over the distant peaks of the Unicorn Range. "AJ? Any idea where exactly they just dropped it?"
"Too far. Hard to tell, Twi. Ah think Rainbow Falls was out that way."
Rainbow's expression darkened, and she quickly closed the gap between herself and the army sergeant who had advised them on the light of the blast. "You just nuked own of our own towns, what in Tartarus! Have you jarheads all got a fucking screw loose?"
The earth pony mare held her hooves up defensively, taking a step back. "Hey, hey, take it easy!"
"Don't you dare tell us to take it easy. An entire town of innocent ponies may just been destroyed!" Fluttershy growled, raising her voice for the first time in many months. "Explain yourselves!"
"Look, we know only as much as the Air Force and Intelligence will let us. I personally didn't even know what province we were deployed in until I could see Canterlot from the train." Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash seemed to calm down a bit. "We're in the dark like all of you."
Before anything else could be said, Davenport burst in from the forward cars, brandishing a rifle. "Twitchers, in the tunnel up ahead!" he hollered. "Get to your posts!" The soldiers cocked their weapons, readied spells, and sprung to life. Twilight winced as she heard the turret on the caboose in back abruptly open fire at unseen targets. "Twilight Sparkle and company, you need to hold position here with these ponies. They got your backs. All of you, that means keep the Elements of Harmony and our radio room safe, is that clear?"
"Yessir!" Several soldiers chorused. Davenport nodded, and then filed past towards the caboose with his pair of military police.
"Alright everypony," the sergeant mare said, catching the whole car's attention. "Watch the windows. Twitchers pop up fast, and attack even faster. Some of them may be armed, so keep…" Before anyone could react, the window behind her shattered. A pony's leg, gnarled and riddled with strange growths and patches of sickly greenish skin, appeared and put the sergeant in a vice-like chokehold. It dragged her out the window as bullets and energy bolts from the mare's shouting comrades impacted the windowsill.
"Sarge is a goner! They got her!"
"Calm down, people! Hold this position!"
As the Friendship Express began to enter the darkness of the tunnel – part of the small network that crisscrossed the capital's mountain – the infantry squad ushered Twilight and the others into the aisle, and took up formation around them, rising to their hind legs for firing stances. Everything was quiet for several seconds save for the click-clack of the rails and wheels below. Then, everyone's gaze shifted to the ceiling.
Several sets of hooves began pounding across the roof, and the rear turret opened fire again. An alien shriek filled the air outside as figures and various melee weapons were seen falling off the sides of the cars.
One of the figures, however, seemed to be grappling itself rather than falling. His large size was apparent as he smashed his way into the car with a stone he wielded. The soldiers opened fire on the twitcher, managing to dislocate two of the stallion's legs and bisect an upper corner of his skull. However, the mutated pony ignored them and continued without stopping as it stormed in Twilight's direction. It nonchalantly batted the soldiers and her friends aside like toys, wailing like a banshee all the way. Many of them groaned from the impact.
Without hesitation, Twilight glared at the creature and fired an attack spell. The stallion finally halted and crumpled to the ground after the beam struck him square in the chest, damaging the fetid organs beneath and producing a foul stench.
While other twitchers continued to fall from the action of the train's defenders, and the train itself finally exited the tunnel, flooding the cars with sunlight, Twilight was finally able to see in detail the features of the one that had eerily singled her out. This stallion was large, likely in the same weight range as Applejack's brother. His tattered uniform revealed that he was – or had been – a royal soldier. Still slightly alive, the twitcher lived up to his military-assigned designation; the earth pony's muscles spasmed at random intervals. Sores, fungus like growths, and patches of dead fur mired his body. More prominent growths lied on the back of his neck, in between the shoulder blades.
"What are you? The Flood that Spitfire spoke of? That Yearling and I found and retrieved from the starship?" Twilight demanded, seeing that the twitcher's yellowed, dilated eyes were boring into hers intently. While Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and the others helped the squad defend the car from more twitchers, it turned to look up at her.
"We? We are all things," the creature proclaimed in a baritone pitch. "Prepare for the tides, for like water, we are." The very way it moved its jaws to talk, suggested that twitcher was not speaking on its own behalf. Viscous green and white fluid exuded from its wounds.
Rarity let out a growl of disgust, and fired a beam of her own at the twitcher, killing it for good. Twilight blinked at her, surprised, while Rarity pointed to something. "Twilight, behind you!"
With a gasp, Twilight ducked. Rarity cast her attack spell again, but missed. A twitcher, clad in the remains of hiking gear, barreled towards them both and suddenly stopped to land on the corpse of the infected soldier. To both unicorns' horror, the living twitcher shrieked and began consuming the fleshy growths of its deceased counterpart.
Twilight recognized the flakes of powder that seem to fall from its body as it continued its macabre feast. It was unable to finish, as someone in the car finally killed it with their pulse rifle. Everyone looked over at the shooter. Davenport stood at an entrance to the car once again, but from the opposite direction, the barrel of his rifle still smoking.
The Friendship Express' two radio operators emerged from their closed compartment, wide-eyed. "Holy shit, so this is what we missed," one said.
"Sweet Celestia, mother of mercy!" the other interjected, staring at the two dead twitchers near Twilight and Rarity.
"Colonel Davenport, what can you tell me about the Flood? Spitfire mentioned it when I talked to her yesterday," Twilight said, narrowing her eyes and joining Rarity next to her friends.
"Far as I can tell, these freaks are it, your bona-fide 'Flood'." Davenport poked at the two corpses with his gun. "Not the same type of 'species' as the things that attacked Canterlot, that's for sure. But then again, not too much different in behavior from them, either. The Twitcher Pathogen…whatever it is, spreads through bites, as far as we can tell."
Everyone took an extra step back from the grotesque mess, at the mention of this.
"And the Rainbomb? Was it meant for the Flood?" Rainbow Dash inquired.
"That? You'll have to take it up with Captain Spitfire or the higher Air Force Brass, Miss Dash. Your guess is as good as mine in that matter." Rainbow Dash nodding begrudgingly, and took a seat next to Fluttershy.
"Once we reach Canterlot Station, torch these twitchers! All of them," Davenport ordered to his soldiers. He then turned to the Elements of Harmony. "Speaking of which, we're just about there. Just a heads up, pay close attention to wet floor signs in the city. I've heard reports that we've had more than a few injuries from soldiers slipping on all the leftover blood somepony still needs to clean up."
