Tales of the Falls

I OWN AND REGRET NOTHING!

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ANNOUNCEMENT!

I'M GETTING A BOOK PUBLISHED!

SUMMARY:
On the 13th day of the 13th month of the 13th year...magic will return to the world...and the streets will run red with the blood of the (semi)innocent...unless the world is saved by the most unlikely of hero's...baking cupcakes?!

The title is '13/13/13' and it'll be coming to a bookstore or E-Book site near you! Xilbris is the publisher, also available at Amazon, Inkitt and BarnesandNoble.

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AN: This chapter was collaborated with Wolvenstrom

...responses...

...

CHARLES RONSON: I'm locked out of core control- Alpha clearance overridden- What the hell is Omega clearance?

(Ted Faro appears via hologram)

SAMINA EBADJI: Oh no.

TED FARO: Alpha Personnel... Sorry to alarm you, but... I need you to listen, okay? To what I'm about to say. This isn't easy. See, I've... uh, Please, stop trying to access the system, okay? See, what this is about... is... I said stop trying to access the goddamn system! What I'm trying to say is, I can't stop thinking about the ones who'll come after us. Those innocents. Those blameless men- and, and women. We're going to give them knowledge? Like it's a gift?!

SAMINA EBADJI: Ted. Ted, we've talked about this before. APOLLO has three thousand plus failsafe conditions-

TED FARO: It's not a gift, it's a disease! They're the cure, and we're going to give them the disease? Our disease?! No. We can't. And it's not too late... if we're willing to sacrifice.

SAMINA EBADJI: Ted, it doesn't need to be like this.

TED FARO: It already is, Samina. I did it three minutes ago. I've purged APOLLO. It's gone, all of it. Every copy.

CHARLES RONSON: A sacrifice? It's not a sacrifice, it's cultural obliteration, you crazy bastard- millennia of culture-

TED FARO: I'm sorry. Really, I am. But sometimes, to protect innocents... innocents have to die.

JACK HARPER: (appears as a new hologram) Technically I agree...but there's sacrifice...and then there's just being a wastsful moron.

Travis Tate: YOU!?

TED FARO: What the- Who are you- (BEEP!) What the, what happened to my Omega access- Wha- Who are you?! How did you get in- NO! GET AWAY! YOU FOOLS! I'M THE SAVIOR OF THE NEW GOLDEN AGE!(image grows staticy and brief images of armored men grabbing Faro and taking him away).

Samina Ebadji: What? What's going on...who are you?!

Jack Harper: Before I say anything else...you should know that APOLLO is safe-

Samina Ebadji: What!?

Jack Harper: Faro merely Believed he'd purged it. It's completely fine.

Samina Ebadji: (sigh of relief) Oh, thank god...

Travis Tate: I can't believe this...your here...

Charles Ronson: You know who this is?

Travis Tate: Spooks call him the 'Illusive man' he's the proverbial 'boogeyman' of the espionage world! Him and his CERBERUS!(shakes his head in disbelief) Never thought he'd be here though...

Jack harper: Indeed, Cerberus infiltrated this project. Humanity was putting all it's eggs in one basket after all...needless to say...this made people 'nervous'...

Travis Tate: ...So what happens now?

Jack Harper: That's all up to you...See, although Farro was a moron...he was right about one thing: This is an opportunity for a new beginning...to make things RIGHT. Which is why...I've made my own addition to ZERO HORIZON DAWN.

(a new hologram appears...entitled: HECATE)

Ayomide Okilo: Wha...Hecate? The Greek goddess of magic? What is this?

HECATE: Listen...and I'll explain...

(PAUSE)

The Mane six stood stunned by this new developments...for the last hour they'd learned so much...about these humans...about the 'Farro plague'...about ZERO HORIZON DAWN...

"This is amazing! These humans...their technology was so many years ahead of us!" Says Twilight as she examines the hologram amazed.

Celestia nodded with a sad smile, "Indeed it is."

Applejack frowned, "With all due respect your majesty...so far I'm not seeing what this Jack has done to deserve your ire, seems like he did everyone a favor taking down that Farro fool."

"Of course he did everyone a favor!" Exclaims Twilight suddenly, "That monster was going to destroy KNOWLEDGE!" She runs over and hugs her precious books- which for some reason instead of being destroyed at her library had been sent to the Astral plane along with Harper - "Precious, Precious knowledge! I'll never let you out of my sight again!" She gives them a kiss while caressing them lovingly.

Everyone gives her weird looks...Celestia coughs awkwardly, "Yes...ANYWAY! This next part will make it more clear..."

(UNPAUSE)

(FASTFORWARD)

Samina Ebadji: I...I don't believe this! Magic...magic really exists?

Charles Ronson: And...there's a whole secret society that practiced it?

JACK HARPER: Well...there used to be.

Travis Tate: ...Dare I ask what happened?

Jack Harper: There was a megalomaniacal dark wizard named Voldemort...who conquered all of wizard kind in the late 1990's-

Margo Shĕn: What? Just like that? Didn't they put up a fight?

Jack Harper: (looks annoyed)Yes...apparently they put all their hopes into a eleven year old boy with NO experience to save the day FOR them.

Travis Tate: ...I'm sorry...what?

Jack Harper:(rolled his eyes) Apparently he was the 'CHOSEN ONE'-

(PAUSE)

"Huh, you'd think that would've worked." Said Applejack confused.

"Certainly worked for us." Agreed Twilight.

"I suspect a 'Cerberus retcon' mixed with a 'deconstruction fic'." Contemplated Pinkie Pie.

...Everyone just looked at her weird...before shrugging in off as 'Pinkie being Pinkie' and starting the hologram up again.

(UNPAUSE)

-...naturally the poor boy was killed immediately, Voldemort gained the means to resurrect himself, and the wizarding world- literally having made no other plans and filled with useless adults stuck in a 'fairy tale land where it was always someone Else's job to save them' -quickly folded."

Ayomide Okilo: (reads data) And apparently, he then attacked the 'muggle' world by...wow, this guy was an idiot, has he never heard of 'tactics' or 'war of attrition'?

Jack Harper: ...evidently not...needless to say, although he had quality on his side, muggles had quantity and a better grasp of tactics...thus he lost. But in a last bout of petty spite, he cast a great curse that took all of Wizardkind with him to the grave...and caused all the environmental disasters that made Farro famous-

Naoto: -Which is what gave him the influence and resources to create his dang machines that caused all this- gestures around to everything - in the first place!(shakes head in disbelief) Hard to believe one lunatic could cause so much death and destruction LONG after he was dead...

Jack Harper: Naturally, we covered up the whole thing. Not hard considering all the disasters that came after...During that time...we researched the 'remains' to figure out how their magic worked...and shorty before the Farro plague occurred...we discovered it. By the time we figured a way to harness it properly, it was too late to save mankind...but now, now we have so much more options...

Patrick Brochard-Klein: Hold on, I may not know a lot about 'magic' but I'm well versed in biology. And by the looks of this data...simply saturating a 'muggle' genome with raw magic is more likely to kill it then anything! And it doesn't look like you have enough 'wizard' DNA to integrate into all of the cradle facilities either, so that's out!

Charles Ronson: And saturating every other living thing on the planet with magic? ...there's no predicting how that'll shape out! So many crazy new species popping out of the wood work! Manticore! Basilisks! Griffins, ding-Dang Dragons for all we know! Humanity will never survive in all that!

Jack Harper: Saturating the world with magic...if done right, will increase the power of the new residence of earth exponentially, allowing them to manipulate the forces of nature as a child would a tinker toy. Some of my analysts theorize that one day evolution on such a world might produce someone capable of controlling the sun! Or more!

Patrick Brochard-Klein: You haven't answered our question...

Jack Harper: (sigh) Very well, your right...humans wouldn't survive such an ordeal...but a NEW, BETTER race will...

...

And the conversation on the hologram basically fell apart after that, the 'Illusive man' tried to convince the Alphas to help him bring this about...but they refused...he then asked if they would at least step aside and allow him to do this on his own...they again refused. With a heavy sigh...Jack Harper then fills the room with a knock out gas...and has his men drag them out...

Jack Harper: minds such as your are terrible things to waist...hopefully in time...you'll help bring about my goal...

It goes on a bit more...telling how, horse DNA was found to be the best conduit for raw magical energy, apparently they cannibalized all the human DNA stock in all Cradles to create the ponies and makes sure they'd have human intelligence...they then added 'normal' Pegasus and Unicorn DNA to diversify the whole lot...

(PAUSE)

The Mane six were stunned by all this...they didn't know what to say...what COULD they say?

Celestia was the first to speak up; "I know that this is a lot to take in...and I know the concept of being 'princesses' has been- more or less -thrown at you without warning..." Celestia sighed.

"My sweet little ponies...I won't lie to you, Twilight alone was supposed to gain this gift- I mean no offense toward any of you, but the fact is I have been grooming her for this position almost her whole life. How to be a learned, diplomatic leader- She looks at the other five awkwardly..."and you five...well...

"Are a farmer, fashion expert, 50% cake, veterinarian, and speedster junkie." Listed out Applejack with a sigh, "It's okay your majesty, we know who we are..and were proud of it...but I can rightly see why that would be a concern for you." She conceded reluctantly.

Celestia smiled, "Thank you for understanding, ordinarily I'd try to help you properly acclimatize better to your new roles...but we don't have time. The strange and malevolent force that 'tampered' with Twilight's ascension has set events in motion that may spell the doom of Equestria. So I'm afraid you'll have to settle for a 'crash course'." She points toward the image of the human still inside the cell under Canterlot castle.

"Your first lesson...voting to decide his fate..."

...

The Illusive man sighed as he looked toward the two princesses that interrogated him, "I resigned myself that I would do horrible thing for what I thought was right. I had a motto to do what I must and let history judge after-wars...of course...I never thought I'd live to see that last part...in any case, I've given you all the facts, laid out all my crimes...I regret none, your presence here is vindication of all I did, far as I'm concerned. Now...I shall let you decide my you decide, I'll abide..."

(PAUSE)

The mane 6 watched his confession stunned...they also looked through the laptop at all the other 'projects' that Cerberus had done...some was beneficial and benevolent...but others were just horrifying.

"Coup's, Grabs, sponsoring revolutions, tampering with elections, blackmail, assassination, character assassination, brainwashing, kidnapping, human experimentation...it's like a horror movie here!" Shouts Twilight!

Celestia nods, "Indeed, for all this PLUS him exterminating his own race...I'm going to vote for him to be sent to Tarturus." The mane six gasp at this, that punishment hadn't been used in centuries!

They turned to Luna who just snorted, "I don't think it needs to be said what my opinion is of wiping out any race, let alone your own." She said firmly, siding with her sister.

Applejack nodded, "The only other thing I could say it was, was lazy." She said flatly.

Rarity nodded her agreement, "Indeed on the one hand he's like the nobility I put up with every day. Instead of fixing something that's broken, he just throws it out and replace it with something bigger and more jewel encrusted."

Raiinbow Dash glares, "Uh...you realize that analogy kinda indirectly insults all ponies, right?"

Rarity frowns, "Oh, right...might need to work on that. In any case, on the other hand- She takes a deep breath knowing what she was about to say won't go over well -Look, what he did was unforgivable...but for better or for worse his actions are the reason we even exist! I hate to say this, but we can't just pretend that's not a THING here! It's too big!"

most of the others gasp at this. "Rarity, he murdered his whole race!" Pointed out Twilight, "This wasn't a 'needs of the many' situation. It was not a do or die scenario. He wasn't forced to chose between two groups and sacrifice one so another...He 'could' have saved his own species, but he chose not to."

Rarity groaned, "I'm not saying he's NOT guilty...maybe...but maybe...he's also kinda...NOT not guilty-ish? Or...GAH! I don't know what I'm saying! I'm sorry, I'm just trying to do the right thing here!" She admits distressed.

Rainbow Dash sighed, "I REALLY hate to say this...but Rarity's right."

Applejack glared, Rainbow glares right back. "Don't give me that look! you think I like it? Of course I don't. But I can't just say "thanks for creating the world and everyone in it, now go rot in a hole somewhere." Sure. He sacrificed his people to do it, and sure he didn't 'have' to. But I'm not going to feel guilty that I, or you or any pony or dragon or gryphon or any one else is alive because of it. I'm not sorry I'm ALIVE." She says firmly

Twilight sighed, Rainbow and rarity were making some fairly good points...but still... "No one is asking you to feel guilty for existing. But the fact remains he chose to let his species die. He can't be let off for that. We can't say "you killed millions of innocent sentient's for no reason. But its the reason we're alive, so I guess we'll call it even."

She then turns to Pinkie and Fluttershy...just standing off alone. "Girls? You've been awfully quiet..is everything okay?"

...drip...drip...

"I...(sniff)...I can't do it..." Says Pinkie quietly, her mane unnaturally flat and lifeless...and covering her face... "I hate how it happened...but I can't deny that I owe him for me- Mom, dad, grandma pie, my sisters Maude, Limestone, and Marble! ALL MY FRIENDS! -being around in the first place!"

She whips back her hair- Everyone gasps -Pinkie was crying! "I HAVE TO VOTE HIM INNOCENT! I'M A BAD PONY!" She falls down to the floor and sobs, everyone races toward her and comforts her.

After Pinkie Pie calms down, Twilight- reluctantly -turns to Fluttershy. "Dare I ask how you feel about all this?"

Fluttershy just frowns, "Honestly...this whole thing doesn't feel right, this decision...it affects ALL of Equestria?"

Twilight frowns, "What are you saying?"

Fluttershy musters up her courage, "I'm saying, we should have ALL of the kingdoms of the earth, every citizen who wishes to...vote for his fate. For better or for worse...he created us all, everyone should have a say in how he's punished."

After some more back and forth...it's agreed that Fluttershy's idea has merit...and so it's decided that they'll go along with it.

Celestia nods, "Right...now that that's over with-

"WE CAN GET TO THE CRAZY STUFF!" Shouts Discord as he appears in a puff of smoke dressed as KISS rocking out and flapping his large tongue about.

Celestia rolls her eyes, but waits for him to finish. Once done, he turns to her. "Right then, sun-butt. What's the buzz today?"

Ignoring the dig, Celestia continued. "Discord...have you ever heard of a chaos spirit named...Slenderman?"

It was at that moment, the ponies saw something they NEVER thought they'd see...Discord was TERRIFIED!

"...get the elements...and turn me back to stone...NOW!"

...…...

TO BE CONTINUED?

AN: Want me to continue this? I'm willing to take Bribes! Publish a chapter of my 'Shake up the Falls' Challenge before anyone else and I'll update the next chapter this plus two other stories!

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