Division 48 – The Nightmare Returns
Citizens of UEF, the time we all waited for has come! Condition 9 is almost fulfilled! The Colossus has awakened and is closer to the gate with each passing minute! This means, Earth is no longer ridded with radiation and danger. After 20 years of space-drift we are finally ready to come home, to come to our beautiful planet! It might have changed on the outside, but we all know deep down that this is the same planet we left. Mother Earth's spirit has prevailed and she calls to us, she wants to embrace us with her warmth, her love. And we want this embrace, we all want to feel the sun shining on us or the cool raindrops touching our skin, we all want to see the green of plants, hear the buzz of bees! And we have this chance! Our tireless efforts and years of preparation will finally pay off! However as you all know there is always a price, even greater than our efforts, for Earth wasn't left alone for all this time. For her not 20 years but 2000 has past due to temporal anomalies! And during this period something has spread over our planet like a plague. I talk of course about aliens… Yes… Aliens created from anomalies during the Collapse, abominations with ill-intentions, claiming our world as their own! Their numbers are staggering and a lesser race would probably give up their world, not willing to take any drastic options… Is humanity a lesser race?
NOOOO!
The audience composed of millions of people roars in unity
Are we willing to give up Earth, just because some unnatural creatures claimed her as their own?
NOOOO!
Will we give up to something as ridiculous as THIS?
Screen behind the president flickers and soon shows a grey Pegasus with blond mane and tail and squinted golden eyes
NOOOO!
Fellow brothers and sisters, Humanity is much more than this, humanity is willing to use any means necessary to get back, even drastic measures. Those aliens are not willing to leave Earth, as the Colossus already asked them politely. They even call our mother differently… And we will NOT tolerate THIS!
Romanov smashes his fist against the pedestal with an audible thud
That is why I ask you all! If we cannot resolve this matter peacefully, will you dear citizens, fellow humans agree to a different solution? Will you put your morals and beliefs aside and save Earth?
YEEEEEEES!
Our mother is in peril and as her children WE RESPOND! Let it be known on the pages of history that today it was agreed, that today, I, Vincent Romanov officially approve of Genocide Protocol with the blessing of all UEF citizens, of all the humanity!
Applause
Romanov raises his left fist in the air passionately
FOR HUMANITY! FOR EARTH!
Audience does the same, millions of voices unite and begin to chant
FOR HUMANITY! FOR EARTH!
FOR HUMANITY! FOR EARTH!
FOR HUMANITY! FOR EARTH!
From "The Human History", Romanov's Speech of Fates
Case File: 0000182933/F
Name: Christopher White
Age: 31
Race: Human, Caucasian white
Sex: Male
Height: 177 cm
Weight: 89 kg
Build: Muscular
Education: PhD in Medicine, Specialist Neurosurgeon
Psychological profile: Sociopath, schizophrenic, murderous tendencies
Attached Police files: Att. 01/A, 02/A, 03/A, 04/A, 05/A, 06/A, 07/A, 08/A, 09/A, 10/A
Attached FBI files: Att. 01/B, 02/B, 03/B, 04/B
Attached Interpol files: Att. 01/C, 02/C
Description: Christopher White was a widely known serial killer that committed multiple murders through US and in some cases even outside of States. He was known for his brutality and stealth tactics. His victims were always murdered in their houses, found with crushed heads and a piece of paper attached to their chests, containing a disturbing poem. Almost always there was close to no evidence. He however always left his name carved in the skin of the victim's back. It was quickly discovered that the name alone couldn't give the law enforcers any edge, as there are close to thousands of people with the same name. Handwriting didn't help either as it didn't match any found in the databases. White has avoided the law for almost 5 years until finally his streak of crimes has ended with his own death in Harry and Jenna Reese home. The murderer managed to kill Jenna Reese as his last act, but before he could carve his name something happened. It was assumed that he got a heart attack and died, some called it a divine intervention, and some called it a coincidence. Police however couldn't come to any conclusive results, as even during autopsy nothing pointing out to heart attack or any other internal organ failure was found. Christopher White simply died, his organism shut down. His cases were quickly connected and closed with much relief to police, FBI and Interpol.
Document Attached to Dimensional Guardians Spontaneous Shift Case no. 3
Accident: Spontaneous Shift
Victim: Christopher White (see attached file)
Description: Christopher White has been transported to a different dimension through Universal Error code 405
Additional Error: Universal Error no 406, Universe was unable to wipe the new body's memories and personality for the occupant
Current Occupied Dimension Stamp Code: 1102205555135XVZZ/B
Name of the World Occupied: Equestria/Earth or United Earth Federation
Occupied World's Political System: Matriarchy/Authoritarism
Name of the Occupied World's Leader: Princess Celestia, Princess Luna/President Vincent Romanov
WARNING, WORLD IN CONFLICT
Occupant's new body name: Twilight Sparkle, The element of Magic
Occupant's new body race: Equine, Pony, Unicorn
Occupant's new body psychological profile before occupation: Highly intelligent, diligent, ambitious, highly resourceful, potent to stress, sociophobic
After occupation: Highly unstable, short term memory loss, possibility of developing schizophrenia, sociopathic tendencies, high influence of the occupant's mind on the subject
Estimated personality decay: 7 – 10 days
Decay effect: Loss of morality, complete obedience towards the Occupant, gain of Occupant's characteristics
New body's importance level to the world: High
Conclusion: Approved for intervention. Level 4
Agent Assigned: Lieutenant William Sharp
Agent's Specialty: Long distance target elimination, Master Marksman
Agent's Race: Hybrid - Homo Sapiens Sapiens/Crocuta crocuta/Synthetic
Agent's place of origin: Earth, United Kingdom, Sierra Research Genetic Manipulation and Cybernetics Centre
Agent Recruited: 21 years ago
Spacecraft Assigned: Demora III Spellweaved Dreadnaught
Spacecraft's Captain: General Sylvia Celeste
Captain's Power Lock: Level 0 approved. No barriers, Black Eye Sword usage allowed.
WARNING: General's instability and violent nature may lead to a catastrophic outcome
Warning overridden by: The High General
Intervention in: 7 days
Wandering Fleet Information:
Wandering Fleet Status: In movement, Preparing for anomaly jump, warming up Ether Reactors
UEFF War Dreadnaught "Grim Reaper":
The "Grim Reaper" was a Flagship, that looked similar to its 3 other Brothers, specifically the "Vendetta". Its hull was as predatory in shape as possible, giving the spacecraft a dangerous aura. It had almost no sharp edges however, being as smooth in look as possible. All its weapons were hidden under hatches that only opened during a battle. It was a silent hunter, unnaturally fast compared to other ships of its class, graceful and dignified. One particular characteristic however made the "Grim Reaper" stand out from its brethren. Its shields were the most powerful technology developed by the humanity.
Shifting Reality Deflectors
Threat Level: Deadly
Dimensional Threat: Maximum
Those kept the little space between the ship and the rest of the universe in constant reality shift state, making a kind of impenetrable cocoon. Not even etherium would be able to stand against such violent shifts, and even energy trying to penetrate such space would be quickly shattered and dispersed.
Location: Equestria/Earth, Eastern Equestria/Eastern Europe, Stalliongrad City/Volgograd City
The usual silence of the frozen forests was yet again disturbed as the steel feet of a battle mech dug heavily into the snow and the frozen ground. Each step of this titan made the ground shatter and break, each step made it shake, as after all this time the Colossus was finally nearing its destination. No obstacles could stop it, no enemies could make this deadly machine change its primary objective, which was to serve humanity. Colossus however wasn't about to just stroll into Volgograd, no… Not before doing something very important first, as the Condition 9 dictated. The modern military AIs from the Black Cloud Corporation had much potential in them, they were fast, deadly and effective, but all in all compared to the harnessed power of a human brain, they simply lacked one particular element… Innovation. Human mind could sometimes come up with very different and unpredictable solutions to problems, the AIs had only one answer to, dictated by their protocol and programming. Even despite all the humanity's advancements in cybernetics and electronics, there still wasn't a fully self-aware AI in existence. The Colossus's AI was much the same, capable but not able to actually THINK. But as always humans came up with a solution even to this problem. Thanks to the demise transmitters, incredibly long range communications, the Colossus could be steered remotely… By a capable pilot. This is why right now, the Colossus stopped in its tracks so close to its destination. The raging blizzard shrouded its existence from the aliens that lived in the city. The howling wind made it unable for anyone to hear the deadly contraption closing in on the unaware citizens of Stalliongrad. A small antenna extended itself from the machine's left shoulder, a green light soon flickered right next to it. The machine begun an exchange of protocols
….LOADING….
….COLOSSUS BATTLE PLATFORM….
….DEMISE TRANSMITTER OPERATIONAL….
….OPENING VOID CONNECTION….
….REDIRECTING POWER TO COMMUNICATION ARRAYS….
….PASSAGE CLEAR….
….ESTABLISHING CONNECTION WITH NEAREST DEMISE RECEIVER….
….ESTABLISHED, ID: UEFF WAR DREADNAUGHT GRIM REAPER….
….SENDING AUTHORIZATION CODE REQUEST….
….RESPONSE: 11102344AA12MD111/13A….
….MATCH….
….REMOTE CONTROL ENABLED, USER LOGGED IN: CORPORAL JASON WYDE….
Location: Milky Way, Hades Gamma Cluster, Sector V-124, Deep Space, UEFF War Dreadnaught "Grim Reaper", Deck 2, Tactical Operations Centre (TOC)
Corporal Jason Wyde was a sleek, young man, with a very cheerful personality thanks to which he gained his nickname "Cupcake". He hated it, but all in all it was better than "Noob", many soldiers dubbed him… Probably out of jealousy. He was an average looking guy, 188 cm in height, slim with shortly cut brown hair and small eyes matching the color of his hair. He wasn't really muscular, as muscles were not that important in the job of a machine pilot. A smile always plastered on his face, Jason always tried to see things in a brighter light, than most people would. That's why right now he was very, very happy with himself, some would say even smug. His grin was breaking the biological capabilities of a human being, that's how wide he was smiling right now. His ever-shining eyes were glittering with happiness and fulfillment and every-freaking-body knew why he really COULD be so smug.
"If he looks at me again I swear I'm gonna punch him…"
Said quietly to herself a tall muscular woman medic that was currently trying to log-in onto the fleet-net from the nearby console. Jason was simply passing through the corridors, going straight for TOC, where a bunch of really advanced neural chairs had their home. A lot of people on the way were giving him disapproving stares, some even mumbling something incoherent about punching him, as the medic did. He didn't mind tough, because why should he? High Executioner picked him by hand to become the controller of the Colossus unit, to execute the final process of Anomaly Gate activation. He was about to get into the books of history, next to The President and all the G squads involved… And damn did it feel good. He passed a diner room, where a group of marines were talking to themselves about "whose ass is the hottest", while sitting around a steel table. When they saw him they immediately went silent, but didn't give him any disapproving looks. He felt something was not right and stopped next to the entrance to the diner, smiling and looking at the soldiers happily. Suddenly one of the marines, a very tall one, slowly stood up from his seat and came forward, his comrades following him with their looks. To Jason's surprise, instead of saying something not particularly nice, the man saluted energetically.
"Sir, let me tell you, a lot of people put faith into you. Give those fucking aliens some good old fashioned human-style pounding!"
Said the tall soldier, suddenly grinning cheerfully. His friends obviously approved as they stood up to and saluted one by one.
Jason smiled even wider to that. He returned the salute.
"They won't know what hit them! Be ready, because the next time we speak, it will be on the ground of Earth gentlemen!"
He said with passion
"Yes sir!"
The four marines answered in unity, as Jason begun to walk again. After about few more turns he finally came face to face with a rather big blast door, locked with complicated mechanisms and what looked like nearly 100 etherium bolts holding the blast door firmly in place. The doors were huge… About as big as an entrance gate to some old castle back on Earth… Before the Collapse.
"Heavy security…"
He said staring intently at the gate. He cleared his throat
"Condition 9, Corporal Jason Wyde, Authorization code: 11 0003 9992 81 81 2"
He knew no one was behind the gate, because no one ever entered the TOC through it in 20 years. They contained neural chairs for all the Colossus units on Earth and so as the Condition 9 dictated, no one previously had authorization to enter TOC. But finally the time has come and he was going there alone, to do his mission. The bolts suddenly started to move aside one by one unlocking the huge blast door. After the last bolt hidden itself, the door yanked with an unpleasant moan and begun to rise up revealing the insides of TOC. Roughly 100 neural chairs were lined up in rows upon rows inside the gigantic room. This was really impressive.
The neural chairs themselves were similar to pods, but instead of laying position they forced the user into arched sitting one. They were made of a very soft material on which the pilot could sit for hours without end and any ill side effects. All were black in color, made probably out of ever popular etherium. Jason couldn't however make out any real details as it was almost completely dark inside the room. The only thing giving any light were small lamps on the celling that gave out an eerie green glow, doing a poor job in dispersing the darkness. Now everything with the neural chairs would be good and even maybe fun if not for the horribly painful bonding process. Humanity might have developed their technology really fast and introduced many new magnificent inventions. One thing was always the same however… Humans never came up with a more efficient idea of neural bonding than a direct link between the spinal cord and the neural transmitter. In practice this meant a long thick needle brutally boring through the pilot's back and making its way to the spinal cord. When Jason remembered that, his smile was quickly replaced with a sour frown. He looked around – most chairs were inactive, their lights off, only the glowing green lights on the ceiling made it possible to make out their shapes. The inactivity meant that one could come up to such chair and take a sit, as nothing would happen.
However in the third row Jason spotted what he was looking for. One neural chair was illuminated brightly, its green lights completely dispersing the darkness, the transparent glass door slid aside, inviting Wyde to enter and begin his mission. He sighed remembering the painful part of the process… The cheapskates from the Federation didn't even bother to give any anesthesia to reduce the pain for the pilots, because it was "too expensive"… Bullshit… He slowly approached the chair and stared it down as if it was a living being.
"Okay chair… You don't like me and I don't like you, but for this one I want your full cooperation, got it?"
He said, brows furrowed. Naturally the chair didn't respond and Jason snorted to himself. Stress was already eating at him. He turned around and lazily sat in the comfortable, soft chair, not even removing his clothes. It wasn't necessary as the needle violated his body enough, so that any other advanced sensors for monitoring his pulse and such were obsolete. He took a few deep breaths and counted to ten slowly, calming his tarnished nerves. He could see the blast door locking again. Yup, this was the point of no return, he had to do what he was supposed to or he will starve to death here… Super…
"Begin connection!"
He shouted in a higher pitched voice, than his natural and then immediately closed his eyes. He held them closed tight ready to receive the wonderful metal spike and feel the pain of thousands tormented souls. Yes, that's how bad it will be. For a while he didn't feel anything and nothing was happening with the exception of an increasing in volume hum coming from the chair. Then suddenly metal straps bounded him to the chair effectively immobilizing Jason in one position. Yeach, he forgot about that, it wouldn't be good if he started to move with a freaking needle in his spinal cord.
Another minute… And then it came, the needle simply extended itself with lightning speed, not leaving anytime for Jason to even think "Holy shit". It tore through his clothing, pierced his skin and then bore into the spinal cord. Wyne wasn't about to be quiet through the whole process. He screamed and howled like a wild animal, as the pain was excruciatingly great. He felt his insides burning, he wanted to vomit, but before anything could be done, his consciousness started to fade away, as if being drained by the evil needle. The need to puke disappeared, the pain went away as he became comatose, his consciousness now translated into binary code and sent all the way to Earth, where his new body of etherium, servos and heavy weaponry awaited.
Yes, the process of controlling a mech from a distance basically meant that the pilot effectively became the mech. Of course he wouldn't feel any pain on damage, or wouldn't die if the mech went down, but all the machine's sensors, weapons, joints and appendages became the pilot's own. Now there was a special value according to which a pilot was better or worse from his brethren - the synchronization value. The greater the percentage of such value the better the pilot's new body reacted to his mental commands. And so a pilot such as Jason with value of 99,8% would control the mech's body without any time lags, disconnections, failure in command translation and so on. A pilot with a synchronization value of 50% would get all this problems, wouldn't really feel the mechs metal body, wouldn't be the mech. This is why Jason was hand-picked. His value was one of the highest in the flotilla and so he could control any battle robot with deadly efficiency as if the body of the machine was his own.
Speaking of which Wyne consciousness arrived to the Colossus. He felt as if he was drowning, submerged in water. He couldn't breathe nor move, neither he could do anything about it. He could only wait. Slowly one by one he started to regain his senses and lost the feeling of being drowned to death. The Colossus powerful processor was synching his mind with the machine slowly. The process took such a long time, because translation of a whole human mind into simple digit code ended up with data package larger than anything else in existence… And actually using the data correctly slew the process down even further.
After what felt like eternity to Jason the translation process finished. Slowly and steadily he opened what he presumed was his eyes. In fact he activated all the sensors of the mech at the same time and that caused him to recoil from the amount of information he suddenly got. He wasn't used to Colossus Battle Platforms. First those were kinda old, second only highest ranking pilots could use them and he was just a corporal. Nevertheless he proceeded to repeat the action only this time with much more caution. He activated outside camera and infrared sensor which showed him the world around him. It was snow, snow everywhere, no… It was a raging blizzard that did nothing to his durable body. There were trees in front of him… Green pines, covered in beautiful whiteness. The blizzard moved them violently and Jason could hear them rustle. He was amazed… Hypnotized even. Last time he saw real trees and snow was 20 years ago, when he was about 5 years old.
"It's beautiful… "
He thought and the mech repeated with a monotonous, electronic voice that startled the pilot.
"Shit I sound like a bloody terminator!"
And the voice repeated again. Not wanting to do that anymore, Jason decided it was a good time to flex his joints, arms and what not. And so he began his awkward exercise testing the machine's response time and the "feel" he had for it. It didn't feel much alien to him, as he was certainly used to actually being a mech, however the fact that the monstrous machine had a Gatling cannon instead of an arm was a little disturbing to him, as he couldn't quite come to a conclusion what movements were meaning what for the cannon. It seemed to be turning left or right in a rotating cycle randomly, which only spewed some annoyance in the young soldier.
"Fuckin' stupid cannon instead of an arm… What if I want to carry TWO objects at the same time, eh? What then?!"
Of course nothing responded except for a howl of cold winter wind and echo of his emotionless metallic voice.
He flexed his long clawed arm, quickly adjusting to it, feeling it tremendous strength.
"Heh, could probably crush diamonds with it… Awesome…"
One particular thing about the ever-happy corporal was a fact, that in dire and stressful situations he tended to express his thoughts out loud, without regard to who's listening. It made him feel somewhat better, as if he was narrating his own story.
"Ah, can't forget about legs…"
He extended one leg forwards keeping his balance and standing on the other leg for a while. The response of servos was extremely fast, and soon he was standing on one leg with a sound of moaning metal, responding to the sudden addition of massive weight. For a third person looking at all those moves, it would seem that the machine completely lost its mind and is simply malfunctioning… The leg was flexed at weird backwards angle that didn't quite sit right with Jason. He wasn't however about to complain much… Well maybe a little
"What freakin' moron came up with backwards flexing legs?"
He sighed after that simple question, full of irritation. Never mind tough, he was ready and warmed up, if you can say that about several tons worth of metal beast with no muscles to warm up whatsoever.
"Alright, alright… Now, let's bring up the HUD…"
And in an instant in front of his vision massive amounts of gibberish data appeared successfully blinding him with the overwhelming visual and text information.
"AAAH! Fuck! Simplify God damn it! SIMPLIFY!"
As if on cue major part of the information on the HUD disappeared leaving only a few things important for a professional pilot like him.
1. Crosshair
2. Condition of the mech with neat visual presentation
3. Ammo status and current weapon "equipped"
4. Status and type of shields
5. Minimap
6. Communication's array
7. Compass
8. Target marker
9. Health bar…
"Health bar?"
He asked perplexed. Yeah, he actually had a red health bar line with 100% condition shown on it. The constructors obviously had a sense of humor. He let out a laugh
"Hah! I like that! It's like a good ol' FPS!"
Jason looked around again, now getting all serious. It was no time for laughter and witty comments. He had a mission and it probably included obliteration of an alien population in the vicinity. The white marker on his HUD and the dot on the mini map showed a distance of approximately 4 kilometers. Above the marker it was written
Anomaly Gate 1
Volgograd City
He quickly activated the communications array with a mental command. A series of green letters appeared on the right of his FOV, forming a text
….COMMUNICATIONS ARRAY OPEN…
….CONNECTING TO UEFF GRIM REAPER….
….CONNECTION ESTABLISHED….
"Grim Reaper this is Colossus 1, requesting pulse scan and population data on Volgograd"
He thought, more than said. His thoughts were quickly translated into a massage and sent through the depths of void space
Location: UEFF Grim Reaper, Deck 1, CIC, Communications Station
Communications Officer Lu-Cheng was in the middle of taking a sip of his steaming hot, black coffee. He was quite tired as it was almost the end of his shift. The tiredness showed itself through the bags under his half-closed eyes. His job required an amount of combat readiness. His battle communication station wasn't however used even once in 20 years, as the Flotilla had yet to get into any kind of battle. And so through time, the job was passed down as the most boring and lazy one from one officer to another. He also completely forgot that today might be a historic event and so was not prepared for anything. Especially not for the short beep of activating console and holographic screen flickering into existence. He spat out the coffee in quite a shock.
"What the…"
He staggered almost falling from his comfortable chair
A colorful image of Colossus Battle Platform displayed itself on the screen with a message
….RECEIVING COMMUNICATION ATTEMPT….
….CHANNEL OPEN….
….COLOSSUS BATTLE PLATFORM….
….STAMP CODE: 1119297/D….
"Grim Reaper this is Colossus 1, requesting pulse scan and population data on Volgograd"
Lu-Cheng sat there, watching the rotating image of Colossus for a while, unable to come to any comprehensive decision. His state was however quickly broken by an irritated cough. Everyone in the CIC, including the Captain of the ship were looking at him. The Officer quickly recomposed himself replying to the voice message
"Roger that Colossus 1, relaying your request further, await response!"
Lu-Cheng turned to the Captain. The latter was a young and short, blonde fellow. His blue eyes were however pretty damn cold, mostly piercing through any psychic opposition there was. No-one becomes a captain this young, not having extraordinary achievements in his book. He had no visible marks that could distinguish him from an average Aryan looking person however. Only those damn soulless eyes and age. He couldn't be older than 21.
"Captain, we have a req-"
Lu-Cheng was rudely interrupted by his young Captain
"I heard it Mr. Lu-Cheng"
The Captain responded coldly. Communications officer felt smaller all of a sudden
"Miss Pietrov, begin full-spectrum scanning procedure through Aegis Satellite, two pulses."
He directed his sight at a young blonde, possibly Russian woman.
"Yes, sir"
She responded without any disobedience in her voice.
Location: Equestria/Earth, High Orbit, Aegis Defense Satellite
….LOADING….
….DOWNLOADING VHAI UPDATE PACKAGE….
….DOWNLOADING…
….COMPLETE….
….COMPILING DATABASE….
….COMPLETE….
.…AEGIS DEFENCE SATELLITE….
….AUTHORIZATION CODE: 4410002377742/AZ2O….
….VALID….
….ID RECOGNIZED...
….UEFF GRIM REAPER….
….AWAITING COMMAND…
….ENTROPY SCAN, FULL SPECTRUM, TWO PULSES…
….COORDINATES LOCKED….
….CHARGING FEPS….
Aegis Defense Satellite was one of three in the whole Achilles Defense Network. It was primarily an information gathering, spy satellite, but looked almost identical to the Ragnarok. It also possessed an unnaturally long barrel that seemed to be some kind of a weapon. The truth however was different. The pole was in fact a main part of the Ferros Entropy Pulse Scanner. A very innovative technology introduced at the last moment before humanity left Earth. Normally it would be a controversial way of gathering data, as the Pulse Scan worked based on Exotic Radiation and in extreme dosages was deadly to any biological organisms. Secondly it was a very obvious and detectable way of "spying". It looked very much like a colorful, but dreadful spectacle.
The advantages of the method however were far greater than its disadvantages. The pulse scan allowed the satellite to gather every data almost instantly, as the exotic radiation came into reaction with the Void getting some characteristics of the Demise Waves. The pulse released from FEPS worked a little bit like ultrasonic detection that bats use. The particles came back to the satellite after the release as en echo, but showed exactly the precise looks, colors, composition and insides of everything they passed. There was no way of hiding from exotic particles. Sometimes however two pulses were required if the satellite was to gather data on a particularly small area.
And right now, Aegis was preparing for just that. The long pole or barrel of the satellite started to gather energy, pulses of green electricity exploding all over its length, threatening to release some kind of unknown force. The light generated through those raw explosions was immense. The satellite turned by a few degrees, correcting its position to get the best results of the violent scanning technique. And again the amount of gathered energy lightened the skies over Equestria, specifically, over Stalliongrad or Volgograd as it was called long ago. It looked as if storm was preparing to consume the whole planet. And this couldn't be simply ignored by the current citizens of the city.
Location: Stalliongrad/Volgograd, City Hall, Mayor's Spoken Truth office
The Mayor was a young grey Unicorn, with a long unkempt orange mane, covering his eyes slightly. His tail was on the other hand very short having some brown highlights all over its length. He was recently put in the position he was now. It was his first day as a mayor of this town actually, elected ASAP after the events of Red Hour (The attack on Trottingham) which left the previous mayor blinded and in hospital. The city left for him to govern was enormous with many historical, architectural wonders, created by an unknown civilization (although most said it were ancient Ponies. He however couldn't help but disagree. The architecture was simply to "aggressive"). His office was quite a big one, decorated in a baroque fashion with many rich, gold gleaming objects such as mirrors, paintings, desks, drawers and such. His desk itself was made from a fine, possibly, oak and gave a feeling of heaviness and sturdiness. The flags and coat of arms of Equestria were apparent everywhere around the room. Indeed this place was fit for a king and made the young grey mayor feel extremely out of place.
The rich carvings in his desk seemed to be able to come to life at any given moment. It was a very old piece of furniture… ancient actually, passed from one mayor to another. It was unknown how far this whole passing tradition went but working near this desk was disturbing as it had some really weird symbols carved onto its flat, oak surface. Carvings were probably meant to be artistic. He couldn't however help but to think otherwise. They almost seemed to form letters, just the font was very unusual. Many mayors before him tried to decipher those weird almost-letters, eventually giving up and treating the desk as a standard piece of furniture.
He also quickly stopped paying attention, directing his sight back at the piles, upon piles of various documents, applications and decisions to be signed by himself. He sighed most disapprovingly and took one last look at the fantastic surface of the desk. Above all the almost-letters there was a symbol, a mysterious one, having nothing in common with any Equestrian symbols. It was some kind of an equilateral cross with four arms bent at 90 degrees. It had a menacing aura about it. Directly under the symbol there were those almost-letters. The stallion fought hard not to try and read them and get back to his dull work, but eventually lost the battle with his curiosity. He was always a curious type and loved mysteries, so when one was so close to him, he couldn't simply ignore it.
"E… Es, zi… zittern?"
He blinked twice not sure what this could possibly mean, it could be just gibberish, however the amount left to read proved him wrong. Not many knew this but Spoken Truth was actually a superb magical specialist in the field of analysis and time-based magic. His cutie mark, a golden symbol of infinity was a mystery to most. To him also, he got it completely out of random.
"Maybe I could… use the spell…"
All in all Spoken Truth was actually a naughty, naughty child in the past. Especially the part about breaking into the Canterlot library and stealing one of the forbidden spell scrolls, that just HAPPENED to lie on the desk, about to be sealed forever. Well, actually it wasn't this much forbidden as it couldn't really harm anypony, nor it could cause any chaos. It was dangerous to the caster, as it literally transported his or her consciousness through time. Of course Spoken Truth was caught by the old librarian and forced to face the Princess. She however decided that no punishment will be come to a child, mostly because he literally felt sorry. It was a school field trip, back then.
He actually never used the spell before, mostly out of fear. But this desk, this magnificent desk had some kind of spark in it, as if it could tell unspoken stories of times long, long past. He wasn't a fool and didn't believe the naïve story about this desk being made by a famous Pony artist. It just didn't lie right with Spoken and he learned to trust his gut instinct on most occasions. This piece of furniture was special in a way… Very special.
He nodded to himself after that, fear overcame by his curiosity as he concentrated. His short horn begun to glow in a silky white color as the Unicorn cast his forbidden spell. It was soon released and hit the desk, with the latter absorbing the energy. For a while nothing happened, as Spoken looked around nervously, waiting to be pulled in a different reality… or something.
Then he heard it… Voices, singing in the far distance. The singing was getting louder with each passing second and soon Spoken was able to hear perfectly what was being sung.
"Es zittern die morschen Knochen,
Der Welt vor dem großen Krieg,
Wir haben den Schrecken gebrochen,
Für uns war's ein großer Sieg!"
He didn't understand any of these words, but somehow they made him tremble, the language felt so harsh and brutal, as if the words alone could kill. The singing however didn't stop
"Wir werden weiter marschieren
Wenn alles in Scherben fällt,
Denn heute da hört uns Deutschland
Und morgen die ganze Welt!"
He felt himself being pulled in the air suddenly. The room around him begun to disintegrate and turn into blackness. Now he was horribly scared, trying to fight the unknown force that was lifting him up. He flailed his hoofs around, but simply couldn't stop what was happening, so he did something only natural. He started to scream. The singing however became only louder
"Und liegt vom Kampfe in Trümmern
Die ganze Welt zuhauf,
Das soll uns den Teufel kümmern,
Wir bauen sie wieder auf!"
Then Spoken Truth was violently pulled forward, flying through the blackness, which soon started to turn into a recognizable environment. Trees slowly started to appear around him, ground took shape, sky became blue and the singing became immensely powerful now.
"Wir werden weiter marschieren
Wenn alles in Scherben fällt,
Denn heute da hört uns Deutschland
Und morgen die ganze Welt."
Then the blue sky was blocked by black smoke, distant sounds of explosions and gunfire came to Spoken Truth's sensitive ears. Fires on the horizon and wrecks of different metal monsters littered the ground around him. Ruins of many buildings were visible everywhere and dominated the land. He felt as if he was slowly floating down. Underneath he could see rows of weird bipedal creatures marching and singing… Singing loudly… It was a terrifying sight…
"Und mögen die Alten auch schelten,
So laßt sie nur toben und schrei'n,
Und stemmen sich gegen uns Welten,
Wir werden doch Sieger sein."
The magic that held him in the air and was delicately bringing down to Earth suddenly disappeared. He let out a terrified, panicked scream as the gravity pulled him down violently. He didn't have any time to actually do anything more as he hit a cart full of hay crashing it in the process. Spoken Truth could only hear ringing in his ears, feel pain all over his body and have a tremendous headache after that fall. The ringing quickly quieted down as he opened his eyes, vision blurry.
"Wir werden weiter marschieren
Wenn alles in Scherben fällt,
Denn heute da hört uns Deutschland
Und morgen die ganze Welt."
Through the stack of hay he was now laying in he could see, with widened eyes, those bipedal creatures marching, unnaturally synchronized. They looked like nothing he ever saw and the confusion didn't allow him to break his gaze from them. Dressed in dark gray uniforms with iron helmets on their heads and weird contraptions in their appendages the creatures seemed to have some sort of a sinister goal set. Slowly the confusion became smaller and Spoken Truth felt panic gripping him by the guts. He hastily tried to stand up and get out of the hay, only to fall down again with a yelp of pain that shot through his right hind leg.
"My leg! This shouldn't be happening, the spell shouldn't work this way!"
He shouted full of sorrow, forgetting for a second about the weird bipedal creatures passing by the cart he was in. He then felt choking fear as he remembered that he just shouted something out loud, next to possibly hostile army of monsters. He stopped moving at all, his breath became sharp and short.
"Sie wollen das Lied nicht begreifen,
Sie denken an Knechtschaft und Krieg
Derweil unsre Äcker reifen,
Du Fahne der Freiheit, flieg!"
The singing continued. The creatures ignored him, as if he wasn't there. His mind decided that it was a good time to get up again and crawl out of the hay that stung him unpleasantly. This time however he was much less hasty and with some difficulties he finally got out of the broken cart, just to clumsily fall down on the dirt. He could hear the stomps of thousands upon thousands of feet. They made the ground shake. Somewhere deep inside he was wondering why can't the monsters see him. His racing mind however quickly put it aside, simply accepting the fact. He raised his head slowly…
"Where am I?!"
Location: Earth, Central Europe, Western Poland
Date: September the 1st, 1939
The Invasion of Poland
Panic started to set in again…
"Wir werden weiter marschieren,
Wenn alles in Scherben fällt;
Die Freiheit stand auf in Deutschland
Und morgen gehört ihr die Welt."
The soldiers were not paying any attention towards the grey unicorn lying on the ground just next to them, just as if nothing happened. They were still marching, beginning to sing the song anew.
"What… What are those?! Where am I?!"
He was looking around in panic, his breath horribly shallow, mind racing, heart beating crazily fast.
"Can you feel the hate, Spoken Truth?"
A sweet soothing voice rang in his head.
His vision became blurry from all the stress, ringing came back to his ears.
"Who are you?!"
He shouted out, looking around nervously as shaking he tried to raise himself from the filthy ground
"They are humans, creatures of war and destruction, brilliant race with unlimited potential, power but also hatred. This is their history you are witnessing, the beginning of the most destructive war ever waged in the entire human reign."
The soothing voice echoed in his head, calming his tarnished nerves with some kind of supernatural power
"Who… What are you?"
He asked again, unsure and deeply confused
"I am what you call The Universe… and you have cast a forbidden spell, bending my power to your will… It was a mistake Spoken Truth…"
The voice became suddenly harsh and venomous, causing Spoken Truth to tremble in fear. All the calm he received only a second ago was gone.
"I… I'm sorry…"
He barely stammered.
"Sorry won't do it, mortal. You had a desire of knowledge of the past and so you are seeing the times when the mysterious desk in your room was made. You are seeing the World War. You will witness the destruction, the killing, the blood and pain. You will see innocents die and suffer, millions of creatures cast into oblivion, lost in flames."
Spoken Truth started to breathe harshly again, so horribly terrified by what the voice said
"B...But I don't want to see anypony hurt! I just wanted… I…"
He said out loud, his eyes getting wet, tears slowly forming. He did not doubt the voice in his head. He could feel the authority and ancient power it was radiating. It was a cosmic being he was talking to right now…
"I will also tell you of the future. What you are seeing now, will repeat itself in your times. The victims however will mostly come from your race. The creatures you see are coming back, bringing another wave of hate. It has already started and there's little you can do to stop it."
He suddenly felt as if someone hit him in the face, as if judgment was passed on him and everything he knew and there was nothing he could do. Tears were coming down his face freely now. He was crying, feeling horrible sadness and sorrow.
"But… Why would they do this? What have we ever done to them?!"
He felt hopeless
"It's simple mortal… You've taken over their home… They believe you are thieves that deserve to die…"
There was silence for a while, Spoken Truth sat down on the ground, head sunk down, eyes sad and wet
"Is… Is there anything I can do?"
He whispered
"Oh there is a way for you to survive of course… There will be a great battle near Stalliongrad. All you need to do is pick the right side Spoken Truth and you will survive. But can you carry the burden of the lost lives on your back? Will you be able to live with yourself?"
He raised his head slowly, not believing what he just heard. He was about to protest, but the facts came to him. There will be a battle near Stalliongrad? What? How? Why?
"Time of our little chat is up… Witness the horrors, embrace the knowledge you wanted so much!"
He then felt as if reality around him started to collapse, the soldiers stopped singing, they stopped moving whatsoever… No… The time has stopped! Silence fell… Spoken Truth however wasn't given any chance for a reaction as suddenly reality recomposed itself and came at him with lightning speed, boring into his innocent mind like a power drill. Images started to fly in front of him, the crimes, the violence, the murders, genocide, the flames and screams of the victims. Everything showed with painful clarity seeping into his mind. He started to scream wildly, unable to stop the flow of the darkest knowledge filling his mind and wiping his innocence, clearing any hope and good the young Unicorn had.
"Noo! Please! No more… Aaaaahhh!"
There was no mercy however, no way of ending what has started. And so Spoken Truth not only saw but became a wounded Ally soldier about to die from a mine explosion that almost ripped him apart, he was a Waffen-SS officer shooting a young Jewish child for stealing bread, he was a young Pole jumping under Pzkpfw VI(B) Tiger II with an explosive in his hands, about to commit heroic suicide for his country. He was an innocent child locked in Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp, with many other people in one room, about to receive a deadly dose of Zyklon-B. He became a Russian soldier shooting from a heavy machine gun mounted on the top of his T-34 tank, killing many Nazi soldiers. And finally he became Simo Häyhä, White Death himself, alone killing 505 Russian soldiers trying to invade his country.
He felt the sorrow, the suffering, the despair, hopelessness but also the lust for blood, the feeling of authority and power, the hate and the feeling of inspiring dread. He also witnessed… heroism, love for one's country, sacrifice, leadership, true friendship formed through blood and fire… He saw and felt it all…
On this day Spoken Truth exchanged his innocence for knowledge and experience… On this day he almost lost his mind… He was someone completely else now and his old self was forever lost, cast into darkness, forever buried.
Location: Equestria/Earth, Canterlot/Washington D. C., The Castle, Luna's Chambers
Time: 15 minutes after the Ragnarok Strike
Luna's eyes shot open… She felt horrible pain all across her body and something coppery in her mouth. There was dust everywhere, covering most of the room. It came from the cracks in the walls and the gaping hole that replaced her balcony now. She coughed painfully and blinked twice. Her eyes produced some tears to counter the dust particles stuck in them.
"What… What happened…"
She couldn't remember… She was standing on the balcony and then… Nothing… A blank memory… Currently she was lying on the ground, her back leaning against the wall. She tried to move, but felt a wave of pain shoot through her right foreleg. She immediately understood that it was broken. Then she felt a wave of terror came through her as a trickle of blood entered her right eye, blinding her slightly. She raised her bruised left foreleg up to her forehead and tried to touch her horn… But… There was nothing… She moved her foreleg a few times in place where her horn should have been and finally came across something. As she touched it another wave of pain shoot through her, but she ignored it unable to comprehend what reality was trying to tell her. In place of her horn there was a stub, a short stub that was bleeding and hurt her horribly. Her eyes went wide and she violently turned her head around as if looking for something. Looking to the left she saw it… There was no mistake, it was her horn, broken at the base, lying on the ground like trash.
"No… No! No, no, no, no, no!"
Tears started to form in her eyes. But they quickly stopped flowing as she remembered everything that happened. Her country was attacked by an unknown force, one of the biggest cities in Equestria has been destroyed, her sister had a cerebral hemorrhage and was permanently blinded by it and now she lost her horn and broken her leg and was completely useless. Then anger came, so tremendous, so powerful… She tightened her jaw as her eyes turned into slits and changed color. She saw some kind of blackness coming out of her stump slowly enveloping her. But she ignored the sinister power and focused all her hate on the attacker
"I will destroy you! Do you hear me?!"
She suddenly shouted to no one in particular, her eyes locked on the ground, as the darkness completely overtook her, transforming Luna into something else… And soon instead of the Princess of the Night the infamous Nightmare Moon was leaning against the wall. All wounds healed, her horn regrown as the old one turned into colorful dust. She was still leaning against the wall looking at the ground with her dragon-like eyes. After a while she broke contact with the ground as her anger dropped a little, as she moved her head and caught a glimpse of her body she gasped, shocked
"Wh…"
Her lips started to tremble as she again raised her left foreleg in front of her eyes staring at her pitch black coat, completely confused
"I… No… I'm not her! No! I'm Luna!"
Her voice changed and sounded so dreadful, so spiteful
"How did this happen?!"
She asked herself, feeling suddenly devastated. She was not Nightmare Moon! It was all past her, the power that made her into that creature was gone forever! She started to breathe faster, confusion turning into panic…
"Okay Luna… It's nothing… You're healed at least and can stand up and… And…"
She was at loss of words, but decided that lying in one spot all the time was not a good idea. So she stood up slowly starting to believe that it was just some kind of nightmare. Looking down she could see the new pieces of armor that came out of nowhere and her much darker mane. For a while she just stood there, her mind racing trying to think what to do now and fighting off the feeling of hopelessness and fear that was creeping up on her…
"As long as I know who I am, it doesn't matter how I look… Yes… That's it…"
That was the best she could come up with. It calmed her down a little and ideas of what to do now stormed her troubled mind. Celestia! She has to see if anything happened to her sister and the rest of the castle, see if there are any casualties. And what about Ponyville?
She quickly came closer to the gaping hole in her chambers and took a look out of it, looking for the small town… Then she spotted it, it was under some kind of a barrier, safe and sound… What was a barrier doing there? Only she, Celestia, Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor were capable of creating such a big sturdy barrier. She dismissed the thought taking a glimpse at Canterlot. It didn't look as good. Some smaller buildings collapsed, there were some Ponies lying on the ground, most likely knocked out… She felt a pinch of dread… What if it was worse? And somepony could be trapped under those ruins! There was no time! She had to organize rescue party, call in the guards, and deploy the medics! The fact she became what she hated the most slowly slipped her mind. It seemed to be an illusion to her now.
She quickly stormed out of her chambers into the corridors clacking against the floor with her armored hoofs. As she came out of her room she immediately spotted a guard lying on the floor under some rubble. The ceiling has collapsed in a few spots. Another guard with a bleeding wound on his head was desperately trying to rescue his unconscious comrade. He was a white unicorn, concentrating his efforts on picking up the enormous piece of concrete from the trapped pony. His magic was way too weak to do that however. Luna wasted no time and quickly approached the rubble. The guard of course heard her and raised his head with eyes half closed, from the tiredness.
"Princess! Thank all that's holy tha…"
As he opened his eyes wider he saw not his Princess but a known villain standing on his right, next to the rubble. Nightmare Moon had as evil expression as always, her lizard eyes were sweeping the rubble as if trying to find something. She was radiating power, hate, evil and coldness… It was terrifying and the guard's heart stopped as he started to tremble slightly. He was wounded and weakened, what could he possibly do to Nightmare Moon in his state?
"N… Nightmare Moon… So you returned… It was you who did this…"
He whispered, knowing that it was probably his end
The villain turned her head to the guard. An expression of confusion and hurt visible on her face. For a while it seemed that Nightmare Moon had no idea what he was talking about. She then blinked twice as if realizing something and sighed sadly
"I'm NOT Nightmare Moon… I'm Luna… We don't have time for this! We have to get that pony out of the ruble!"
She said, doing poor job defending herself. The guard shook his head in disbelief at the whole sentence… Maybe he was hallucinating? He got hit in the head pretty hard after all.
"It's really you Princess?"
He asked confused
"Yes it is me! Now, please, let's help this pony quickly!"
She said a little angered now, her voice had a lot of venom in it, making the guard even more confused. But after a second he shook his head
"I'm so sorry Princess! Of course! Thank the Sun and Moon you are fine!"
She nodded in relief and concentrated. Her horn started to glow darkly. She was sure that with the help of the guard she will be able to raise the rubble and get the unconscious pony out. She however couldn't possibly predict what happened next. She used only a little bit of her power, but the rubble instantly flew up as if a Giant raised it, what's more she really wanted to see the other Pony unharmed and to her surprise he was… Teleported away from the rubble the second she thought it would be a good idea… The Guard didn't even manage to concentrate in the short time she rescued the pony. She then released the spell and the rubble fell to the ground again, creating a dusty cloud. Luna's eyes widened. Where did all that power come from? She was sure she didn't have this much of it earlier… And to cast two spells at the same time? It was unheard of, she only saw Celestia do it…
The guard shook his head in amazement
"Thank you Princess, if not for your help…"
She came out of her thoughts and looked at the guard
"But of course! Take care of your friend and when you're done go and look for any healthy guards! We have a whole City to sweep!"
She said with so much authority, it actually felt unnatural to her
"Yes your Highness!"
The guard answered standing at attention, a little surprised by the sudden strict voice of the Princess. She then started to gallop towards the castle infirmary. After a second she stopped and literally D'ohed. Why was she galloping if she could teleport? She scolded herself and quickly cast a teleportation spell. She reappeared in infirmary and immediately saw medical ponies walking around bringing in lots of wounded Ponies. Some higher ranking guards were barking some commands to others, obviously keeping the operation well organized... The infirmary was on the lowest levels of the Castle and it seemed that it didn't receive any damage and the guards plus other Ponies here, quickly reacted to the attack. Luna sighed in relief. Her ears perked up as she heard a very familiar voice just outside the infirmary and closing in quickly
"…And we don't have a death toll yet. We also have no idea where did this shockwave come from, but it certainly was created by something of incredible power."
It was Shining Armor…
"Any news as to where Luna is at?"
This voice… Impossible… But it had to be!
Then Shining Armor entered the infirmary with a few guards behind him… And Celestia right next to him. The Goddess of the Sun looked much better than she did not so long ago. She actually looked like usual with the exception of a white blindfold on her eyes and much colder aura about her. Luna didn't move as happiness slowly filled her… So her sister was fine! And already out of the bed!
And of course this split second was enough for Shining Armor to simply turn his head around and meet eyes with a well know pitch black, evil legend. Nopony spotted the black mare up until now because it seemed everypony was very preoccupied with their duties and she was at the end of the infirmary.
"What the…?!"
Shining Armor stopped suddenly not believing his eyes
Luna then realized her grave mistake
"No! Wait! I can explain!"
She desperately shouted as terror overtook her
"This voice… I know It all too well"
Celestia suddenly said grimly
"Nightmare Moon…"
The Goddess of the Sun came forward with a very serious expression on her face. The guards came out of the shock and reacted, drawing their weapons and giving Luna very hateful looks.
"So you were not destroyed after all… And you returned thinking only of revenge… You
blinded me, killed your people and almost destroyed Canterlot… And for WHAT?!"
Celestia shouted out in anger
Luna was about to say something but she felt as if something was choking her, preventing from saying anything
"This time you went too far Nightmare Moon. You will be hanged, drawn and quartered! CEASE HER!"
Celestia ordered and the guards started to approach Luna, not a hint of fear on their faces…
"Sister! Please, it's me… I… Something happened…"
Her voice trembled as she felt like crying
"Tia… It's me… please…"
She whispered
The Guards surrounded her, as she sat down and lowered her head sadly
"Wait!"
Celestia ordered suddenly as she approached Luna slowly. She couldn't see but she seemed to be looking into the latter's soul for a while.
"Luna?"
She asked completely surprising the villain
"Y… Yes! Yes, it's me!"
Luna suddenly stood up as happiness overtook her once again
"Princess?! It's Nightmare Moon! It's not Luna!"
One of the guards protested not able to believe in what just happened. Luna ignored this protest and simply jumped at her blind sister, embracing her in a hug.
"It is you Luna…"
Celestia barely stammered, still able to feel the coldness and venomous aura around the creature that was now hugging her
"Tia! You're fine! I was afraid… I… Then this red light came… And, and…"
Luna was babbling
"Luna, calm down… "
But it was too late, the Goddess of Night was now crying in her sisters embrace. The guards and doctors were observing this scene, half believing that it was some kind of trick… Crying Nightmare Moon… Celestia had no more doubt now, it definitely was her sister. But what happened? How did she become Nightmare Moon again? The hug lasted for a moment, until Luna finally stopped crying and released her sister from the embrace, now a little embarrassed that so many ponies just saw her break down in tears…
"Tia… I don't know what happened. I was very injured after the light came, my leg was broken and my horn was gone. I just felt so angry and… Something snapped…"
Celestia pondered over this for a while
"It matters not… For now… We have much more pressing matters to attend to."
Luna nodded energetically. Some guards looked as if they were ready to break their orders and simply charge at the black mare, but one look at their blinded Princess made them drop the idea. Shining Armor cleared his throat getting the attention of two mares instantly
"I'm sorry your Highnesses, but I believe that we still need to form a proper courier party and get reports from other cities."
Of course Shining Armor was not about to trust Nightmare Moon just like that, but he wasn't foolish enough to disagree with Celestia.
"Indeed, I shall see to it personally"
Celestia said firmly turning her head towards Shining Armor. The guards finally hid their weapons and started to calm down somewhat, still giving Luna some hateful looks. Fortunately her sister's authority was legendary.
"Also, I believe you sent Dead Eye to form some kind of an army Luna? Is that true?"
Luna remembered the fact and became very serious.
"Yes sister, I did…"
Celestia nodded, approving
"Very good, lead them to Staliongrad. I want whatever harmed my little Ponies to be caught!"
Celestia said loudly
"I will sister…"
Shining armor took an intake of breath
"Princess Luna, the army you asked for is almost ready for orders. They have gathered on the western border of Equestria."
Nightmare moon leading an army to defend Equestria… Incredible…
"How many?"
Asked Luna narrowing her eyes slightly. Temperature in the room seemed to drop by a few degrees
"200 000…"
Luna didn't respond
There was silence for a while
"Send a message. Tell them Lu… Nightmare Moon will lead them to Stalliongrad… I don't want them to be taken by a complete surprise with my appearance."
Luna said suddenly
"Very well Princess"
Shining Armor responded, taken slightly aback by the request.
Celestia lowered her head as if thinking of something
"Luna… I… had to… Cancel the spell…"
Luna recoiled at this revelation. The protection spell that was supposed to protect all the subjects from harm and even death in some cases… That's why Celestia recovered so quickly… That's why she was so serious and cold…
"I'm sorry sister…"
Luna said with sadness in her voice
"Whatever did this… Whatever dared to do this, will pay…"
Goddess of the Sun stated darkly
Shining Armor had no idea what they were talking about, but he dared not to interrupt
"It will Tia… I'll make sure of it!"
Luna said louder than normally
Celestia raised her head and nodded.
"Let us waste no more time then, keep me informed Luna. Lead on Shining Armor"
Celestia gestured with her hoof, at the Captain of the Guard
"Of course your Highness"
He replied and they both turned around ready to leave the infirmary that returned to its duties, trying not to think that the Goddess of Sun sided with Nightmare Moon… Trying to really believe it was just Luna in disguise. Luna on the other hand quickly concentrated and in a blink of an eye, teleported to the western border, ready to lead 200 000 of different Equestrian creatures against an unknown enemy… Against a Metal Monster…
A/N: Over 10k words... Hurray... Hopefully not many derps. As to why so late... First I was swamped for about a month and then... Then i just got laaaazy... Very, very lazy... But Am fighting the sloth hard now! I won't let it win this time :P