Ultima Confictura (Non-Clop. Update:#2)

This is silly.

 

>A little shake went through the train as it slowly made it's way to Canterlot.

>Your head is all foggy. Remembering things is hard.

>You look out the window. The city sure changed a lot in the past decade. It now covers almost the entire mountain. The sun already set behind the horizon.

>You could see your target. This was a job. It had to be done. You always got the job done. Other than that, you knew only one thing for sure.

„I am HUMAN.“

>The train comes to an screeching halt. You stand up. You get your sword.

>Fighting noises. It had already started.

>You jump out of the wagon, to your right a royal guard already has been taken care of.

>Another guard, confused by the sudden intruders charges you. You quickly dispatch of the white stallion.

>The gate to your target is closed. There are three ponies in front of it: Two Earth Ponies and a Unicorn. One of the Earth Ponies, her mane dark blue and pink, with a cream colored coat and some bon bon's as cutie mark approaches you.

>„WOW! You used to be in HUMAN all right! ...Not everyday ya find one in

a group like APPLE.“ You look at the other two. The only male of the group, a tan colored stallion with three blue horseshoes seems to stand guard.

>“HUMAN? Aren't they the enemy? What's he doing us in APPLE?“ The unicorn asks. She has a mint colored coat and seems to be busy opening the gate with her magic.

>“Hold it Lyra. He WAS in HUMAN. He quit them and now is one of us. Didn't catch your name...“ The cream colored said.

„...Anon.“

 

>“Anon, eh?“ She gives a nod. „I'm...“

>You shake your head.

„I don't care what your names are. Once this job's over... I'm outta here.“

>You earn a puzzled look of all three. Then you could hear the clanking of metal. Were the heavy armored elite guards already approaching?

>A mare with an orange coat, a cowboy hat and apples as cutie mark comes along. To your bewilderment she seems to have lost her right foreleg, wearing a metal prosthesis instead.

>“The hell you're doin'!? I thought I told you never to move in a group! Our target's the North Magic Spire. We'll meet on the bridge in front of it.“ She said, trotting over to you, giving you a assessing look.

>“EX-HUMAN, huh? Don't trust ya!“ She shakes her head, hiding her eyes under the brim of her hat. The mint colored called Lyra managed to open the gate. She and the other two dash ahead.

>You take a moment to look skywards. There is a big, metal-clad tower in front of you, casting an eerie, green light on it's surroundings.

>The orange mare walks next to you. “Yo! This your first time in a Spire?”

>You shake your head. No, of course not.

“No. After all, I did work for The Royal Council, y'know.”

>She remains silent for a moment. “The planet's full of Magic energy. P0nies here use it everyday. It's the life blood of this planet. But The Royal Council keeps suckin' the blood out with these weird machines.”

>You shake your head.

“I'm not here for a lecture. Let's just hurry.”

 

>The mare stomps angrily with her metal leg on the ground. “That's it! You're comin' with me from now on.”

>You come across more opened gates, along with knocked out or dead guards. The other three ponies made quick work of them it seems.

>Lyra opened the last door, leading to an elevator. The other two earth ponies stay behind on guard. Inside the elevator, the buttons expertly handled by Lyra, you have no choice to listen to the orange mare's rambling. “Little by little the Spire'll drain out all the life. And that'll be that.”

>You shrug.

“It's not my problem.”

>She shakes her head. “The planet's dyin', Anon!”

>You look aside. Your head still hurts and you are in no mood for the crap.

“The only thing I care about is finishin' this job before security and the elite guards come.”

>She turns away, smashing her metal prosthesis into the wall of the elevator, leaving a little dent.

>Lyra stays behind as you two, silently, make your way past a few more guards, just to make your way to the heart of the Magic Spire. A big, metal reactor, the source of the unnatural green light.

>It hums softly as it seems to pump... something up it's tubes.

 

>Applejack slowly moved forwards, narrowing her eyes at the sight. “When we blow this place, this ain't gonna be nothin' more than a hunka junk. Anon, you set the bomb.” She reaches into her saddle bags, tossing you something that looks like an old alarm clock. You figure this is Lyra's handy work, with a picture of her on the clock face and the hands of the clock being her forelegs.

>You turn back to her.

“Shouldn't you do it?”

>She shakes her head, motioning you to move forwards. “Jus' do it! I gotta watch to make sure you don't pull nothin'.”

>You sigh.

“Fine, be my guest.”

>Slowly you approach the humming, metal reactor. The humming grows louder and louder turning into a violent thumping inside your head. Gritting your teeth you go down on your knees, holding your head.

[spoiler]Watch out! This isn't just a reactor![/spoiler]

>From behind AJ shouts as you slowly regain your vision, the thumping subsiding. “……What's wrong?”

>You blink.

“Huh?”

>You hear an annoyed sneer from behind. “What's wrong, Anon? Hurry it up!”

“…Yeah, sorry.”

>You slowly wind the clock up, setting it for ten minutes... when suddenly. ”Heads up, here they come!” AJ shouts behind you.

 

Update#2

 

>It had been a bloody, long fight. The guards have been rushing into the building, attacking with no remorse. AJ and you had to hurry, the bomb ticking behind you. Now, breathing heavily you look over the carnage, AJ delivering a final blow to the last standing guard.

“Come on, let's get outta here!”

>And with that, you two run. All the way back up, your three companions joining you whenever you come past their guard places. Then, just as you left the Magic Spire, it blew up. It was a violent, earth shattering explosion. Everyone in Canterlot must have felt it when he giant tower crumbled, the debris barely missing you and your companions.

>AJ looks at each of you, giving a nod. “That should keep the planet going... at least a little longer.”

>The stallion with the horseshoe cutie mark speaks up, looking rather intimidated at the carnage that happened. “Yeah.”

>Silence. Lyra kneels in front of the last gate leading out of the complex into the city. “OK! Now everyone get back.” And with that she sets a bomb off, blowing the gate apart. No need for stealth anymore.

>AJ leads the way outside. “All right, now let's get out of here. Rendezvous at Sector 8 Station! Split up and get on the train!” The ponies split up.

>You hold AJ back.

“H, hey!”

>She looks at you. “If it's about your money, save it 'til we're back at the hideout.”

>And there she went. Great, she would probably lecture you again about the planet before finally handing you your bits.

>You begin to wander through the city. Everyp0ny seems to scurry quickly through the streets, not sure if there were any more explosions.

>Even a few blocks away from the explosion you notice that  most of the windows out here were broken. Lyra's bomb certainly did it's job well.

>Then you saw her. A Pegasus, yellow coat, pink mane, butterflies as cutie mark carrying a little basket full of flowers around. She carefully made her way through the panicking ponies, none of them paying any attention to her. To you she had a certain.. serenity to her.

>She notices you. “Excuse me. What happened?” She asks softly.

>You were not sure how to answer.

“…………Don't see many flowers around here.”

>She sets the basked on the ground, giving you a shy smile. “Oh, these? Do you like them? They're only a bit...?”

>Her big eyes look up to you. With a sigh you pull your last bit out of your pocket, handing it to her.

>”Oh, thank you!” She takes one of the flowers out. “Here you are!”

>You take the flower, looking after her as she leaves. Suddenly, the sound of many hoof steps coming towards you.

>Guards. Too many to fight. You run.

>You zig-zag through the narrow streets of Canterlot, but no avail. On a narrow bridge they got you. Looking over your shoulder you see that the bridge was crossing rails.

>You could see they were not here to make any prisoners. Carefully you back up to the bridge.

>They would enjoy making you suffer.

>With a sly smirk you jump on the balustrade. They stop.

>You slowly count. 3. 2. 1.

>You jump.

 

>Inside a train wagon, in between boxes, Lyra, Bon Bon, Caramel and AJ are sitting in silence. Caramel looks up. “Anon never came.”

>Bon Bon bites her underlip. “Anon…… Wonder if he was killed?”

>AJ made quite an impressive dent into one of the boxes, kicking it firmly. “No way!!

>Leaning her head against one of the train doors Lyra closes her eyes. “Anon……” Her voice trailed off.

>After a few moments Bon Bon speaks up again. “Say, do you think Anon's…… Going

to fight to the end for APPLE!?”

>AJ shrugs. “The hell would I know!? Do I look like a mind reader? Hmph!! If y'all weren't such screw-ups…”

>Caramel coughs, getting AJ's attention.”Hey, Applejack! What about our money...?

>Angrily, AJ slams her right, mechanical leg into a crate. “Uh, nothin' ...sorry.” Caramel said, lowering his head.

>Well, as fun as it might be to listen to those ponies, your position on top of the wagon was getting a little uncomfortable. Sliding the door open you jump inside, striking a pose.

>”Anon!” Everyone but AJ exclaimed.

“Looks like I' a little late.”

 

>Annoyed, AJ comes up to you. “You damn right, you're late!! Come waltzin' in here makin' a big scene!”

“It's no big deal. Just what I always do.”

>She points her mechanical leg at you, poking it firmly against you. “Horse Apples! Havin' everyone worried like that you don't give a damn 'bout no one but yourself!”

“Hmm……you were worried about me!”

>Taken back with that comment she shakes her head. “Wha!? I'm takin' it outta your money, hot stuff!” Turning to everyone else she just said: “Wake up! We're movin' out! Follow me!”

>She opened the door leading to the actual passenger wagons and walks through it.

>Passing you Caramel gives you a warm smile. “Hey, Anon!! You were great back there!”

>When Bon-Bon passes you she makes a little 'fist-pump' motion. “Heh heh…… Anon! We'll do even better next time.”

>You wait for Lyra to leave, but she just smiles at you. “Be careful I'll shut this.” She magically closes the door you used to come in from outside. Walking over to you she looks at your face. “Oh, Anon!! Your face is pitch-black……”

>She hops on her hind legs, leaning onto you, her face only a few inches away from you. Using her magic, she wipes your face clean with a handkerchief. “There you go!! Say, thanks for helping me back there at the Reactor!” She smiles, trotting away leaving you behind.

>It was true, on your escape Lyra got stuck. You returned and helped her. Little things go far you guess.

>You step into the passenger wagon.

 

>After scaring a few of the regular passengers away, AJ and the others sat down, waiting for the train to reach it's destination.

>The conductor pony looks rather bored at the scene when the normal passengers leave the wagon, simply giving a pony-shrug.

>”Last train out of Sector 8 Station. Last stop is Sector 7, Train Graveyard. Expected time of arrival is 12:23AM, Canterlot Standard Time...” And with that he left.

>Lyra looked at the little map of some sorts in the corner of the wagon. Having nothing better to do you approach her.

>She greets you with a warm smile. “Hey, Anon.  You want to look at this with me? It's a map of the Canterlot Railing System. Let's look at it together. I'll explain it to you.” You had to stand close to her to have a look at the map. She didn't seem to mind feeling your body against her.

>”I like this kinda stuff. Bombs and maps…you know, flashy stuff.” Again the mint colored pony smiled at you before pointing at the map.

>”This is a complete three dimensional scheme of city of Canterlot. It's about 1/10000 scale. The top plate is about 50 meters above ground. A main support structure holds the plate up in the center, and there are other support structures built in each section…”

>Lyra leaned up, continue in a whisper. “The No. 1 Magic Spire we blew up was in the northern section.” She pointed at the outer ring surrounding Canterlot before continuing.

>”Then there's No. 2, No. 3 all the way up to the No. 8 Magic Spire. The 8 Magic Spires provide Canterlot with electricity. Each town used to have a name, but no one in Canterlot remembers them. Instead of names, we refer to them by numbered sectors. That's the kind of place this is.” She shook her head, giving a sigh.

 

>Next to the map was another one, this one showing the city again, but with some colorful dots lining around the central pillar. “Phew…, this is next! Look. This is the route this train is on. The route spirals around the main support structure. We should be coming around the center area, right now. At each checkpoint, a magical sensor spell has been set up. It can check the identities and background on each and every passenger on the train by linking it up to the central archives at Royal Council.”

>Again she leaned at you to whisper. You really got the feeling that she enjoyed being close to you. “Anyone could tell that we look suspicious so I used a spell to give us fake ID's. Speak of the nightmare moon… That light means that we're in the ID Security Check area.”

>You could feel Lyra shudder a little when the red light shone across the wagon. Giving an encouraging smile you wrap your arm around her, holding her gently.

>A little blush spread across her cheeks. When the lights went out she quickly jumped away from

you. “…anyhow, we're almost back now. That's a relief.”

>You nod. Looking around you could spot AJ pointing outside the window. “Look…you can see the surface now. This city don't have no day or night. If that plate weren't there…we could see the sky.”

>Grim determination settled on the mare's face.

A floating city... Pretty unsettling scenery.

 

>Looking back at you AJ raised her brows. “Huh? Never expect ta hear that outta someone like you. …you jes' full of surprise. The upper world…a city on a plate… It's 'cuz of that buckin' pizza', that people underneath are sufferin'! And the city below is full of polluted air. On topa that, the Magic Spire keeps drainin' up all the energy.”

>You shrug.

Then why doesn't everyone move onto the Plate?

>AJ takes her time to answer. “Dunno. Probably 'cuz they ain't got no money. Or, maybe… 'Cuz they love their land, no matter how polluted it gets.”

>You lean forwards, looking out of the window. The train just dove under the plate and you could barely catch the last few rays of sunlight.

I know…no one lives in the slums because they want to. It's like this train. It can't run anywhere except where its rails take it.

>The rest of the train ride you spend in silence, everyone lost in thought.