My Little Pony Fan Fiction ❯ Ruby Hearts ❯ Starcrossed 3 ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Star-crossed

Part 3: Enemy

Two hours prior, at the Everfree Forest... 'Rebooting all systems. Unable to complete system repairs. Exceeded allowed recovery time. Mission must be reinitiated. Target data has been corrupted. Restoring target files. Restoration is not possible. Recovering data packets. Recreating target data. Complete recreation is not possible. Partially recreating target data. The target is... white... unicorn... female...'

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Present time, at Ponyville... The sound of breaking glass echoed through the quiet streets of Ponyville. Rarity was beginning to find it unnerving as she made her way back to the Carousel Boutique. One or two broken glass items were understandable, but not this many. Her uneasiness grew when a scream echoed through the night, followed by more breaking glass and a shriek of, "thief! Burglar! Help, police!"

Rarity gasped in disbelief, there was somepony breaking into people's houses in the calm Ponyville? She didn't want to be out on the streets anymore and, as she was more than halfway there, she ran full speed to her house with intentions of locking herself in. With the Carousel Boutique in sight and seemingly unharmed, Rarity's nerves began to calm slightly, though she was still very much concerned. She hoped the burglar didn't assault the library.

Suddenly, an unknown pegasus landed in front of her path. Rarity gasped in horror noting that this was no ordinary pegasus. The way he was damaged with limbs that twisted and bent at odd angles reminded her of a zombie horror film, but there was no blood or rotting flesh. The creature before her was made of metal with what appeared to be a pony's skin covering him, though Rarity was too startled to think it might just be a synthetic imitation. The frightened unicorn stepped back as she struggled to find her voice and call for help.

"Possible target found. Initiating termination sequence." The pegasus' red eyes glowed as he spoke in a mechanical voice.

"Help!" Rarity took off in a speedy dash in the opposite direction. "Help, police!"

"Over there!" An earth pony in a police uniform called out as he saw Rarity being chased by a very suspicious pegasus. "Stop in the name of Celestia!" The police pony blocked the pegasus' path.

"All obstacles must be eliminated," the pegasus' monotone rung out eerily. His eyes glowed red as he rammed into the officer with such a force that threw him several feet across the street with a fractured leg and a few broken ribs.

"Smith!" Another police pony who had just arrived on the scene called out to his injured comrade.

"What's going on? What is that?" Two more officers ran towards the scene. They stood at the ready to fight off the strange pegasus, but were swiftly tossed aside like rag dolls by his frightening superior strength.

"Obstacles neutralized. Reengaging pursuit of target," the pegasus droned in a cold monotone.

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Meanwhile, at the library, Spike was set on edge when he heard more sounds of broken glass, though he wasn't sure what it could be. He didn't realize they were windows being broken in a frantic search for an uncertain target. Then a scream echoed in the stillness of the night. There was a thief out there? A criminal in Ponyville? "Rarity!" Spike dashed down the stairs of the library in worry.

A sleepy Twilight stumbled out of bed asking groggily, "what's going on? What was that noise?"

Spike had no time to explain and simply dashed out of the building. Owlicious flew circles around Twilight shouting, "who! Who!" In alarm.

Twilight rushed down the stairs, running into the frightened Peewee. More screams echoed in the stillness of the night and it became obvious that something was going on, something bad. She had to follow Spike, but as she reached the front of the library, the screams stopped, replaced by the echo of running hooves and she wasn't sure which way Spike had gone.

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"Help!" Rarity screamed at the top of her lungs. Ponyville was a calm town, so there wasn't much of a necessity for too many police officers to be around. She was pretty sure the strange pegasus had already incapacitated the whole police force.

"Rarity!" Spike shouted her name from the next street, having heard her echoing voice.

"Spike, run!" She didn't want him to be in danger. "Run away, ru-" The flow of air was cut from her lungs as a pair of strong metal hooves grasped her throat. Her horn glowed dimly, but the lack of oxygen in her thirsty lungs, tired from all the running, was not allowing her magic to flow.

"Rarity!" Spike spotted the scene that angered and worried him like nothing had before. He rushed towards the strange pegasus and tackled him to the ground, causing him to release Rarity in the process. With a great fury in his eyes, Spike clawed and bit at the pegasus that he thought was wearing terribly thick metal armor.

The pegasus fought back, tossing Spike off him. "Initiating one on one combat mode," its monotone announced.

"Spike, that thing is no pony; it's some kind of enchanted metal doll!" Rarity gasped out as soon as she could get her voice to function beyond the pain on her bruised neck and constrained throat.

"Then I don't need to hold back!" Spike growled menacingly. He would tare that terrible thing to pieces. The dragon and the metal pegasus launched at each other, kicking and clawing madly.

Several ponies began to arrive on the scene, driven out of their houses by an irresistible curiosity. They stopped several feet away from the fight, too frightened to get any closer.

Spike let out a lethal roar and a large flame that effulged the pegasus completely. Yet all it did was incinerate its outer coat and caused the metal of his body to glow a bright hot red. The pegasus continued kicking, now with the added heat of Spike's own flames.

"Spiky!" Rarity's horn glowed brightly as she tried to entrap the pegasus in her psychic hold.

"Counteracting magic attack." The pegasus announced with the same lifeless nonchalance it always spoke with.

Then suddenly, Rarity was assaulted by electricity, as if she had been hit by lightning. Spike reached out to her, but she was tossed away several feet from him by the force of the impact. The pegasus kicked Spike again during his moment of distraction and left him breathless. Driven by a protective fury, the dragon let out an earsplitting roar and clawed at the Pegasus madly. His strong jaws reached the metal enemy's neck and, with a force that could shatter gems, he bit and chewed until the head was barely hanging by several cables and circuitry. The motionless metal doll fell to the street, it's once red eyes now dark.

Spike rushed to Rarity's side as horrified gasps escaped the gathered crowd several feet away. Twilight arrived on the scene, having followed the noises to pinpoint their location. Peewee and Owlicious were on her back, clinging to her with their disturbed survival instincts on the edge. Something unnatural had invaded the quiet Ponyville. "Everypony, please go home and stay indoors!" Twilight urged.

The ponies dispersed rather swiftly as the mayor finally managed to make her way through the crowds. Just when the ponies had left, the pegasus' eyes suddenly lit up again. "Major damage, major damage." His voice unstably came out with a eerie surreal tone. "Retreating," The pegasus took to the skies with its head hanging off its body at an impossible angle and got away.

Spike cradled Rarity's unconscious body, with worried tears in his eyes. "Twilight Sparkle," the mayor gasped out with difficulty. "What is all this?"

"I don't know," Twilight truthfully replied. "But we will find out." She would have to contact Celestia and round up the elements of harmony right away. But first, there was the matter of Rarity. "C'mon, Spike, pull yourself together, we need to get Rarity to the hospital!"

To be Continued

Oh... suspense... A lot will be explained in the next chapter. If anyone is playing the iOS Poniville game from Gameloft, add me! My name is MiliAzure.