Phoenix

Chapter 2

Clover was huddled in with at least one hundred other ponies, all a mix of Earth, Pegasus, and Unicorn. These were the survivors. For some odd reason, the wendigoes had stopped their chase. It had been about four and half hours since that shock wave had hit, powerful enough to go into the cave, and the ponies inside had felt it as well.

Another shockwave suddenly hit, sending every pony in the cave room, which had more than enough room to hold one hundred ponies, tumbling. A few of the younger ponies began crying.

“Clover, go check that out.” Platinum barked. Clover was having absolutely none of it.

“No! Why not you? Why me?”

Private Pansy walked over to Clover, resting a hoof on her wither.

“Please, Miss Clover, if not for Platinum but for the rest of us?” Pansy asked, Clover mulled over it, and decided that if they’re going to die anyway, she would at least die being some sort of help.

So she walked down the cave tunnel back to the entrance

Clover tentatively approached the cave entrance, fearing both the wendigos and whatever had caused that shockwave.

Stepping out of the warm cave, and into the blistering wind of the wendigos... or rather, the lack of blistering wind, she spotted something in the blinding white out, an object that cut through the snow and left an impression on her tiny mind. The most terrifying aspect of this object was that the wendigos, beings who brought nothing but death and despair, were clearing out. Giving the falling object a wide berth. They were scared of it.

A massive construct, falling down to earth. A wall of fire in front of it, but otherwise, it was unscathed. No, it wasn't. Clover could spot jagged edges, as though it had been torn from something bigger. This made her afraid, as this thing was massive already. The size of a mountain.

And it was headed straight towards her.

Instead of locking up in fear, Clover did the most rational thing. She screamed like a little filly and ran back into the cave.

She never stopped running until she reached the cave room that held the pony pile and continued screaming.

"BIGTHINGFALLINGFROMTHESKYWENDIGOESAREAFRAIDOFITITSMASSIVEITSHEADEDSTRAIGHTTOWARDSUSWEAREALLGOINGTODIEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Clover's outburst shocked and, quite frankly, scared everypony. She was well known as one of the more level headed ponies. The fact that she was acting like this was… disturbing.Pansy stepped up to the plate.

"Clover, could you please calm down and explain slowly what happened?" Pansy asked.

Clover took a deep breath, and slowed down.

"There was a massive object that was falling from the sky and the wind-" Clover was interrupted by a massive tremor and shockwave, causing a few stalactites that had been on the roof of the cave to fall. Nopony was hurt, thankfully.

A white earth pony with a pink mane clung tight to her mother, as the mother gripped tighter to the dark blue pony foal in her clutch. Certain they were all going to die, they cowered and waited for the end.

Pansy was, amazingly enough, the first to recover. With Clover following her shortly.

"We need to go see what it was." Pansy stated. To which both Clover and Platinum protested.

Pansy, however, was having none of it. "Clover, you said yourself the wendigos appear to be afraid of this object, maybe it has something that will help us. Everypony, if you want to live, our best bet is in that object."

"But that tremor it caused!" Platinum began. "What if it's evil?"

"Could it be any worse than the wendigos." Pansy deadpanned, everypony realizing that it was not a question.

Pansy began walking, never looking back.

"What are you doing?" Clover asked. Pansy responded in truth.

"I'm going to try and find something to stop the wendigos. You're welcome to come with me, or die in this cave knowing that you never even tried to stop them!"

The first one to respond to this shocking line was the mother with two children. She began walking behind Pansy, soon, all the other ponies followed, not wanting to be left behind.

They are here

To think we had come to this planet to escape them, kin

We must hurry

Finish it

Stake out claim on this planet

Then we can deal with them

The ponies soon reached the cave entrance, and were shocked to find that they could see the sun. In fact, the object was only a few hundred meters from them. The wendigos giving it a wide berth.

"The sun!" The mare with the two children cried. It had been years since she had seen the sun, and the white filly looked in shock at the sun, having never seen it before.

"Mummy, what is it?" The white filly asked.

"That's the sun, Solaira. That's what you're named after. It's beautiful, just like you." The mare answered her child, nuzzling her. The little filly named Solaira giggled at her mother's action. Clover interrupted.

"I apologize for ruining such an endearing moment, but the wendigos are getting braver!"

Seeing this, all the ponies froze, the wendigos were indeed beginning to close in on the area. Blotting out the sun once more.

Pansy said the smartest thing that had been said in quite a while.

"Run!" This devolved into a charge for the safety of the object. The mare with the two children falling behind because of Solaira.

As they got closer to the object, which seemed to be made of metal paneling, a section opened up. None of the ponies questioned this convenience, as they all rushed in to the safety of the object.

The ponies looked around in the seemingly wrecked room. The room was massive, Platinum was fairly certain several of her castles could have fit into this room.

In all of the confusion, they had forgotten the mare with two children as she was rushing to catching up. They noticed her, but all did not wish to leave the object and it's safety. She almost reached the object feet from the door. Safety was right there.

But alas, Murphy bullies even cute little ponies. For as she was about to make it past the door, a cloud reached, and grasped Solaira. Yanking her from her mother's grasp, the little filly cried in fear, crying for her mother.

The mother could not stop in time, her momentum carrying her through the door. The door slamming shut before wendigos could invade.

The mother tried to slam herself against the door, before two stallions restrained her.

In all of the confusion no one noticed the giant armored biped struggling to its feet.

The marine pulled the last bit of wiring from the engine, as he smiled at the sound of the engine humming back to life.

"Ha! Sum'bitch! I got you! Fuck you! Fuckin' cunt." The marine shouted at the errant wiring that had been giving him so much trouble for the past two hours.

"Engines are up to 45% power. Time to planet fall has now jumped down two hours." The marine's AI companion informed him.

The marine took a seat where he had previously been standing, leaning his back against the humming engine.

"So... I got those stupid fuckin' engines fixed, but we got bigger fuckin' problems now." Dante stated.

"Yes." His companion confirmed.

"I would say the biggest problem is the fact that we're fuckin' stranded 'cause we ain't got any fuckin' power in this ship. But the more pressin' matter is the fact that we're 'bout to crash onto a fuckin' planet filled with Wendigos. Man... life just fuckin' hates me, don't it?"

"I'm afraid I can not say just what Life's opinion on you is."

The marine gave a hearty chuckle.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It'd be too easy if we could speak whatever fuckin' language Life spoke."

The marine let his head relax onto the engine.

"Venus, I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up when we get there."

"Aye."

The marine closed his eyes. A nap would be good for him, he decided.

The marine jolted awake.

He scanned his surroundings for threats, as he had done so many times.

"One minute to planet fall." Venus stated.

The marine got up, and began walking to the nearby lift that had brought him down here.

He entered the open lift and hit the command for the bridge.

"Venus, how well is the ship prepared for planet fall?"

"As well as the severed front end of a ship with a blown out engine and running on auxiliary boosters and energy can be. That is, not much, but it should be adequate to land safely on the planet."

The lift finished the trip up to the bridge, the marine stepped off it and onto the bridge. Approaching the captain's console, he began preparing what he could from there.

"Twenty seconds to planet fall."

"Venus, get ready to slow our descent, as soon as we hit atmosphere."

The marine looked up at the monitors.

This was not going to be easy.

“Entering thermosphere. Beginning boost. Time to exit: fifteen seconds.”

This was not going to be gentle at all.

“Nearing mesosphere.”

What was left of the ship began shaking as it began hitting solid air.

“Entering mesosphere. Heat reaching critical levels. Initiating cool down procedures. Time to exit: ten seconds.”

The Marine lost his grip and fell, but quickly gripped onto the bolted down leg of the table.

“Entering stratosphere. Heat increasing beyond safe levels, cool down procedures unable to keep up. Time to exit: seven seconds.”

At this point, anything that was not bolted down was flying around the room. Tablets, firearms, corpses, abandoned helmets. As the Marine kept catching debris, his armor prevented him from being seriously injured.

“Entering troposphere. Time to impact: Twenty seconds. Brace.”

The marine decided to follow his companion’s advice, as he gripped onto the table leg. Quietly thanking the engineers who had the common sense to bolt the table down.

“Heat reaching critical levels, all cooling measures have failed. Multiple breaches in the hull identified. Impact imminent. Time to impact: Ten seconds. Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two o-”

The marine didn’t hear the last second as a great force was impacted upon his body, ripping his grip from the table leg and allowing him to defy gravity, at least temporarily. As his body was flung up, it slammed against a wall. Gravity caught back up to him, as his body then fell back down, impacting the corner of table and crumpling, even in his armor.

He finally came to a rest at the bottom of the bridge. Unmoving.

None of the ponies realized that there was a giant biped getting up to his feet.

One of the things about having been in combat for so long is that eventually your mind subconsciously scans your surroundings for changes. Combat vets often report being aware of their surroundings far more than they ever had been before going into combat. Air Force pilots also report noticing things such as a slight light shift on a bush, and knowing that there’s an incoming car that they otherwise can’t see.

And as it turns out, being alive for a quite a few millennia and fighting for the good majority of those millenia makes you hyper aware.

The marine was aware of the presence of the ponies before the first one had even crossed the threshold of the entrance.

“Scans show these creatures share similar internal structures to that of the terran equine species. Proportions are off and will most likely result in an uncanny valley event. Based off their actions, they are very much likely sapient. Some also show traits that would classify them as pegasi and unicorn back on Earth. In precedence with previous Imperial actions, I took the Humanitarian route and granted them refuge in the ship. The hull breaches were only exterior and failed to breach the interior compartments. The bridge is still secure. Scans are showing that there’s one-hundred-fifty-seven equinoids currently present. There was one-hundred-fifty-eight, however a presumed juvenile was pulled back into the mass of wendigos.

The marine silently cursed to himself.

“Venus, prepare the airlock, I’m going out there for the kid.” The marine ordered his AI companion.

“I would remind you that SOP states that we wait for reinforcements when faced with a planet wide infestation, however, I know you’re not one for SOP and so you’re going to go out there regardless.”

The marine clicked his tongue. This act unintentionally got the attention of the ponies who had been sharing the room with him and apparently had horrible situational awareness.

“Bingo. Can you track the kid through storm?” The marine asked.

“I am able to track her body heat, but it won’t be there for very long. It’s dropping rapidly and she will be suffering from severe hypothermia in less then five minutes, if not already dead.”

Without another word, the marine pushed open the interior air lock.
“Venus, put her on screen. I need to be able to know where she is.”

The world changed in the marine’s eyes, a result of cybernetic augmentations that allowed him to have a HUD without having a helmet on.

He closed the airlock hatch behind and then opened the exterior hatch.

The first thing he noticed was the howling, roaring, biting wind. It felt like a thousand knives stabbing him in the face and was deafening. The second thing he noticed was how dark everything was. The cybernetic augments in his eyes compensated for the lack of light.

“Wendigos!” The marine shouted, raising his arms high.

Almost as though magic had occured, the howling wind died down to a whisper.

Voices sounded, multiple ones mixing with each other but all of them saying the same thing.

You dare encroach on our land, Imperial.
Kill him, now, before he can do anything.
Silence! Speak your piece, Imperial, we grant you this honor. Take advantage of it, we do not give this honor often.

The marine smirked.

“Wendigos. I am Legionnaire Poet.”

A massive horse form manifested, rearing back, neighing.

Lies!
You are not Poet!
The Harbinger of Death, the Herald of Silence, the Unkillable. He whose name alone makes the gods tremble in fear.
And you wish for us to believe you are him!
You dare to mock us!

The marine smirked once more.

“If I am indeed not Poet, then tell me, my wendigo… friends. What Imperial would have the audacity to take my name for themselves? You know the history behind me. And I have to admit, you have wonderful poker faces, that manifestation freakout withstanding. But I don’t even need to see you to know you’re blanching at the realization of who I am.”

The collection of voices were silent.

“The juvenile is becoming dangerously cold. If you are going to do anything, do it now!” Venus urged.

“You know who I am, so here’s my piece. By the authority granted to me by the Universalis Senatorium and by the Constitution of the Imperium of Phoenix, I, Poet, order you to return the kid to me and immediately leave this planet!”

A sea of ethereal horses formed in the storm, all of them rearing in anger and neighing.

You are not Poet!
For daring to mock us, we will not make your death painless, Imperial!

The sea of ethereal horses washed over the marine who had identified himself as Poet. However, a sudden light burned through the sea, parting a path.

“You dare oppose me!” Poet yelled, his right hand outstretched, a massive flame emanating from it.

“I am Poet, all who stand against me die! My will becomes reality. You think you can kill me? Not even God could do so and you think a mere parasite like you can kill me?”

Poet continued to move, cutting a path through the charging sea of wendigos. He could see the location of the lost child. He could only hope that it was still alive.

You are not Poet!

The collection of voices shouted once more as he reached the lost child.

“Your sea of stupid fucking horses can’t even touch me and you still believe yourself superior to me? I gave you a chance to live and you refused it. I offered you mercy and you spat in my face. Now? Now I will kill you. I will free this planet from your oppression!”

Poet scooped the freezing foal into his left arm, tucking it in between his inner, upper arm and his torso. The foal itself was shivering, in a last desperate attempt to stay warm.

With renewed strength, out of anger, the wendigos formed a wave of ethereal horses. All of them rearing up on their hooves and charging forward to Poet. Without a word, the flame from his right hand disappeared, instead replace by an unnaturally black staff.

Poet brandished it towards the wendigos, lengthwise pointing out.

He flipped it in his hand, so it was now pointing towards the ground. The staff was suspended a foot above the ground. In silence, the Poet slammed the staff into the ground.

Almost as though they had crashed into a wall, the wave of wendigos suddenly stopped. As light emanated from the staff.

“Names have a very strong power behind them, wendigo. In my home land, it was believed that telling a magical creature your name gave them complete control over you. You never gave your name out to anyone until you were sure they were not fae folk, lest your mind be destroyed by their magic and your body their mere puppet.” Dante stated.

More light began to emanate from the staff.

Poet looked up at the formless mass of rage and despair. Strive and violence.

“Yet, none of the Fae have ever controlled me. And they know my name. I have no fear of your kind, wendigo. And since I am about to kill you, it is only proper that you know my name.”

The ground began cracking, as the dark white and lightless clouds began desperately retreating from the light. As though it would kill them upon contact.

A blinding light, more powerful than any sun, shot from the staff. As the ethereal horses in the cloud of storms reformed, neighing and rearing. The fear in their eyes were obvious to anyone seeing them.

“Wendigo. Hear me! My name is…”

The ground cracked even farther from the staff, as the pebbles caused by the destruction of earth began floating. The foal in Poet’s arm, though seemingly unconscious, the once pink man and tail floating, but coated in a bright white light. The same light emanating from the staff now shot through the cracks in the ground. As a wave of light blasted from the staff.

“Dante Thomas Jaeger.” Dante finished. The wave of light covered everything, as the death shrieks of the wendigos echoed around the world.

Had anyone been watching from space, they would have seen a planet covered in clouds, suddenly uncovered. Landmasses, seas and oceans, rivers, lakes, ponds, suddenly appeared from what the the planet used to be. The once oppressive white curtain disappeared.

And with the destruction of the wendigos, the ponies who had been watching from the airlock, watched as something miraculous occured.

The sun penetrated the sky.
Pansy pushed open the airlock hatch, which opened without a problem.

They had seen everything. Well, as far as they could see for the first minute or two. Then the wendigos just retreated back. With the clouds gone, they could see the odd creature, holding the young foal and making the wendigos recoil in fear.

Pansy was worried. Should they be worried about him? He hadn’t hurt a single one of them yet. And had driven the wendigos away. A feat that not even the great unicorn council had been capable of.

The mother of the lost foal was also being cautious. How much she desired to run up to the beast and take her child back from it. But she didn’t know what it was.

Pansy kept advancing, keeping her head low and down, as well as her tail tucked between her hind legs. Hoping that the creature would understand she wasn’t a threat.

It wasn’t actually that far from the metal construct. A few hundred feet. And Pansy had closed to less then a couple of dozen feet. Its back turned to her. Standing.

Pansy stopped, not wanting to spook the creature by approaching closer. Hoping to sound off her intentions at a distance.

She mustered up her most confident voice and spoke.

“E-excuse me, sir. I’d… We’d like to thank you for saving us. We would have surely been wendigo food if it wasn’t for you. My name is Pansy, Private Pansy of the Pegasus Guard Corps.”

Pansy waited for a response. But she received none.

“Sir, I don’t want to approach you without you saying it’s okay. Can you he-” Before Pansy could finish, the creature collapsed forward.

“Uh! Sir! Are you okay!” Pansy shouted in shock, not expecting to see the being collapse.

But the mother of the foal did not hesitate to take her chance. She charged forwards. Reaching the beast, she found her daughter. But… she was different.

Instead of being the white earth mare she knew, she know had the horn of a unicorn and the wings of a pegasus.

The mother’s eyes widened.

The once solid pink mane had turned into an ethereal and flowing multi-colored mane. With streaks of green, blue, purple and pink in it.

But none of that mattered to the mother, this was her daughter after all.

She nudged the being’s foreleg with her nose, dislodging the foal from the grip of the alien creature. Gently picking the foal up by the skin of her neck, she began walking back to the construct they had sheltered in. She would let Pansy deal with the creature who saved her daughter.

“By the gods!” No. The mother knew that voice. It was the pony she had left Luna with.

She raced back to the construct, to the corner where she had left Luna with the caretaker.

The caretaker in question, a brown earth pony mare with a blonde mane, looked to the mother with her mouth agape and back to Luna.

“I swear!” She began. “I turned me head for a second and I saw a bright light outta the corner’uh’me eye and I turned back around and saw this!” She motioned to the basket containing Luna.

The mother set Solaira down and slowly moved to look into the basket, fearing what she would find.

In it was her Luna, but different as well. What had previously been a dark blue earth pony was now a very dark blue mare with a unicorn horn and pegasi wings. Her mane had also changed from a solid dark blue into an ethereal mane, much like her sister’s. But instead, the edges were a transparent purple haze, with the insides being a solid dark purple speckled with white dots. It really reminded her of the night sky with stars out. Something she hadn’t seen, much like how she hadn’t seen the sun for so long.

The changes certainly did not affect her love for her foals. They were, after all, her daughters. But it did make her wonder: Just what did that creature do to her daughters?

Private Pansy was in a conundrum. Despite her name, she was the one who had led the charge to both the alien construct and she was also the first one to attempt to contact the alien.

But now, here it was, the might beast who had done the impossible. What even the Great Unicorn Council had failed to do so. It had driven the wendigos from existence. She knew she and the other ponies certainly owed this… being their lives. But she had never dealt with an alien species. She didn’t even believe in the ideas of aliens.
So she did the only thing she could think to do.

She called Clover over.

“What is it?” She bluntly asked.

Clovered hummed. She stamped a hoof in the dirt a few times.

“Well… it’s of a species we have never encountered before. And apparently powerful.. Terrifyingly powerful. At least he was on our side. I wouldn’t want to fight something that’s capable of driving the wendigos away. And it looks like it's wearing armor.”

Pansy looked at Clover.

“So… basically, you know as much as I do.” Pansy stated.

“Yep.” Clover answered without hesitation.

Pansy straightened her eyes to look forward, blew an errant hair out of her face, and sighed.

“Awesome.”

Author's Notes:

Oh! Hai there! Rewritten chapter! Hopefully better then the last one.

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