book stringlengths 2 250 | chapter stringlengths 1 255 | text stringlengths 1 4.64M |
|---|---|---|
Through A Darkened Mirror | 14.0 … In Which Life Goes On … | Once the others had left, if rather reluctantly on the part of the Bearers of Harmony, Celestia turned to observe the mare seated before her, watching the solar diarch with a wary frown, "Well now, Sunset, I'm sure you must have questions," she said, turning a brilliant smile on the displaced human.
"Just one to start," the razorfilly replied, her frown deepening into a suspicious scowl, "What are you up to that you don't want Sparky and the others to know about?"
'So angry and suspicious of others, just like my Sunset used to be, despite spending years with Twilight and her friends,' Celestia mused, 'What a grim world she has lived in to leave a pony so cynical.' "I am not 'up to' anything," she assured the unicorn in a slightly teasing tone, "I just thought it might be easier for you to discuss some things without an audience, is all. You know, any concerns for Customs and Immigration, getting you some mental therapy, employment training options, or perhaps debating the flirting potential with Big Macintosh and Shining Armor?" the alicorn gave a slightly disappointed sigh when her banter prompted nothing more than a raised eyebrow, "You really should try to lighten up, Sunset, you're far too serious for such a young mare."
"Pinkie may have said something similar a few times," Sunset admitted with a small smile.
"Pinkie Pie can be a very wise, if odd, mare," Celestia nodded, 'Ah, she does have a sense of humor, good, that will make things easier on her.'
"So ...," the unicorn shifted nervously in her wheelchair, "Sparky and AJ told you about the whole flirting thing?"
"Oh, yes," the solar diarch replied, "Cadance thought it was rather amusing, actually."
"Yay, the embodiment of love thinks me flirting with her husband is 'amusing', I don't know if I should be relieved or worried."
"I doubt you have anything to be worried about," Celestia laughed, "But you should probably stick to your promise and get Cadance's, and Twilight's, permission before flirting with Shining ... just in case. Are you certain you have nothing else to ask?" she pressed, "Nothing at all?"
"Oh, I'm sure that I'll think of all sorts of things I should have asked you later," Sunset shrugged, "But I'll have to settle for this, why haven't you chucked my hoop back through that portal or stuck me in a lab so you can figure out the tech in my implants? Why are you so okay with me just ... being here?"
"Throwing you back into the bleak world you came from would be poor thanks indeed for looking after Twilight and the others," the alicorn observed, "Especially when it would leave you homeless and unemployed. As for your implants and prosthetics, while they would be of some interest to our own medical researchers, why detain you, and risk making you hostile and uncooperative, when we could just pay you to come by for periodic examinations and consultations?" Celestia walked over to put a hoof on the unicorn's shoulder, "If you have to start over, Sunset, why should it not be here with your friends by your side?" she gave the young mare a concerned look, "And there must be something you are qualified to do other than just being a ... gillette, was it?"
The razorfilly gave a short bark of laughter, "Despite what the trideo and straights seem to think, there's more to being a street op than just breaking legs and busting heads, or looking good in leathers," Sunset smirked at the diarch, giving her mane a flip, before she turned serious again, "But what does it matter? Tactics, demolitions, guarding a client, infiltration, urban combat, I mean, what good is anything I've learned now that I'm in the land of 'harmony' where you beat nation-wide threats by shooting them with a friendship beam?"
"Do not be so quick to sell yourself short," Celestia admonished the unicorn, "While your instincts may be more violent than what is appropriate for Equestria, your skills, however, are still valuable. Now, have you thought of any other questions? No? Then I will let you get back to your friends," the wheelchair was enveloped in a golden aura as the alicorn wheeled Sunset back to the door, "Here we are," she said as she returned the mare to the care of her friends, "I hope you all have a pleasant day, my little ponies, oh, and Sunset? Please think about what we discussed."
"And hold it ... hold it ... and forty! Good job, Sunset."
"Thanks, Fit," the razorfilly replied as she mopped her muzzle with a towel, she knew she was in good shape, but somehow, she was worn out after every physical therapy session.
The pegasus passed her some water, "So, you're checking out today, got anypony coming to pick you up?"
"Yeah, my friends are coming by to get me soon, just some paperwork and one last check-up and then I'm out of your mane."
"Where are you headed to?"
"Some place called Ponyville," Sunset shrugged.
"Ponyville, huh? I've heard of it, little town on the edge of the Everfree, they grow some good apples and carrots. The new Princess lives there, so it'll probably start expanding soon, if they can get around the whole 'random monster attack' thing," the stallion observed, "Now, you're all set, but if you start having any relapses, I want you to check in with the local hospital, understand?"
"Hey, girls!" Sunset waved at the approaching ponies, "How's it going, Princess?"
"Are you ever going to stop teasing me about that?" grumbled Twilight as she and her friends gathered around the razorfilly.
"Let me think about it ... nope!" Sunset smirked at the alicorn, "I had fragging royalty bunking in my doss for three years, and you didn't think to tell me?"
Rarity gave a long-suffering sigh, "Would it have really made any difference, darling?"
"Not in the least," declared the orange unicorn impudently, "But watching Sparky squirm is to fun to pass up," Applejack reached out a hoof and cuffed her upside the head, "Okay, I deserved that, so, what's the plan?"
"We were thinking of grabbing a light lunch, before catching the train back to Ponyville," Rarity explained, "And then, once you're settled in at the Palace, Pinkie has her 'Welcome to Ponyville' party planned."
"I wanted it to be a surprise party," the pink earth pony pouted, "But Applejack reminded me about how you don't always take surprises well, Sunny."
"I appreciate your restraint, Pinkie," Sunset assured her, "So, what fine, upscale Canterlot establishment are we off to, then?"
"Actually," Fluttershy replied in her quite voice, "We were thinking of going to Donut Joe's, if that's okay with you."
"Donuts, huh?" the unicorn rubbed her chin, "Sounds good to me."
"Uuurrp," Sunset burped, drawing giggles from Pinkie, Rainbow and Applejack and an exasperated sniff from Rarity, "Those were some good donuts. So, this is Ponyville?" she added, "It looks ... nice."
"Oh, I admit it looks a bit rustic," the fashionista observed, "But that's part of its charm. Ponyville is home to many wonderful ponies and is an excellent place for you to start again."
"Speaking of home," Twilight broke in, raising a hoof to point at the Castle of Friendship, "Here we are."
"It's very ... purple ... and crystaly ... and kinda spiky," the razorfilly cocked her head, "How many folks are living there, anyway?"
"Well, there's me, and Spike, and Owlowiscious, and ... you now."
Sunset gawked at her friend, "Wait, you're telling me that there's only three people living in that thing? That place is huge!"
"I know," the alicorn blushed in embarrassment, "But Spike, Owlowiscious and I look after each other, so I don't have any staff, and I don't have any guards, and nearly everypony in Ponyville has their own houses already... I know it's a lot of empty space, but I've moved the new Ponyville library into the Castle!" she added enthusiastically.
"We crammed the seven of us into a three-room doss, and here everyone has their own house?!"
"Equestria does have its problems," Fluttershy quickly assured Sunset, "It's not all rainbows and bunnies."
Rarity nodded, "We still have crime and corruption, it's just not as pronounced as it was back in Seattle."
"Ponies, and the different races, don't always get along as well as they could."
"An' then there's tha random monster attacks from tha Everfree."
"Ancient evils from a thousand years ago (or more) returning to try to conquer everypony."
"Snooty, uptight, self-centered nobles."
"Semi-omnipotent beings of pure chaos who make it rain chocolate milk, and then forget the whipped cream!"
The orange unicorn blinked at her friends, before bursting into a chuckle, "Thanks, girls, I feel much better now," she reached over and nudged Twilight in the shoulder, "Come on, Sparky, let's see this castle of yours."
Applejack glanced at her friends as they started after the two mares, "Ya know, Ah reckon she's plumb serious."
'Pinkie can sure throw a shindig,' Sunset mused as she took a quick look around the Castle's hall, currently filled with happy ponies, many of which she still hadn't met, 'I think at least half the town is here,' taking a sip from her cup, she tossed an appreciative glance at the muscular red earth-pony stallion with the blonde mane who was currently chatting with a much smaller brown stallion wearing a long scarf, when a familiar voice brought the razorfilly whipping around to stare into a pair of misaligned golden eyes, eyes she hadn't seen in a very long time, "Ditzy?"
"Hello!" chirped the bubbly grey pegasus, "Did we meet already?"
"W-what? No ... I ... I need to go," the unicorn turned and dashed off, leaving the confused mare behind.
"Get ahold of yourself, Shimmer," the displaced human berated herself as she huddled in the room Twilight had given her, "She's not Ditzy, not some ghost come back to punish you, she's just Dee's trans-dimensional pony counterpart, that's all, now suck it up and get back out there!" Sunset stood up and faced the door, only to sink back down onto her bed a moment later, "... I can't go back out there," she moaned.
"Sunset?" Twilight's voice came through the door, "Is everything all right?" the alicorn slipped inside before the razorfilly could answer, "Pinkie said you ran from the party like you'd seen a ghost right after talking with Ditzy."
"A ghost?!" Sunset's eye began twitching, "Oh no, nothing so normal as a ghost, no I run right into the fragging doppelganger of my first friend who I betrayed and left to die! Oh, and joy, she lives in this town, so I'll be seeing her all the fragging time!"
"Sunset, you need to calm down."
"Don't you tell me to 'calm down', Sparky! I hate it when people tell me to 'calm down'!"
Twilight reached out and grabbed her hooves, "Sunset, Calm. Better?"
"Yes."
"Good," the alicorn sat next to her friend, "So, why don't you tell me about Ditzy?"
"Jeez, Sparky," Sunset gave a sour chuckle, "Go straight for the jugular, why don't you?"
"Putting it off will only make things worse," Twilight observed, "Besides, do you want to spend the rest of your life hiding from Ditzy, and leaving the poor mare always wondering what she did wrong?"
"Fine, fine," the unicorn scowled at the princess, "You were paying attention when Razor got you in to see that straightener, weren't you?"
"Well, it was rather fascinating ... and you're trying to distract me, talk to me, Sunset."
"Damn it," the razorfilly grumbled, "I almost had you. Fine," she got more comfortable on the bed, and started her tale, "You and the other girls probably already figured out I was born in the Zero-Zone, but it wasn't Zone City or Bartertown, where folks have rebuilt something like civilization and were just trying to get by. No, I grew up out in the Wastes, where the crazies and the loners scratch out a living, and the corps can do "product testing" and the occasional bit of open fighting. I can't remember who looked after me at first, but once I was, I don't know, I guess it was five? I was running with Ditzy, just the two of us."
"What was she like?"
"Sweet-tempered, cheerful, clumsy as hell, Dee was a few years older, so she tried to look out for me; taught me a little of how to read, traded off with me during the night so the devil rats wouldn't get us while we slept, occasionally tried to give me her share of whatever food we'd scrounged, that sort of thing," Sunset smiled at the memories, "Dee was a real softy, you know? She could endure damn near anything and was brave to a fault, but she didn't have a speck of killer instinct in her. I mean, she felt bad about the birds and rats we killed for food."
"'Killer instinct'?" Twilight stared at her, "You were foals, Sunset!"
"We were trying to survive, Sparky! Almost a million people were sealed off in the Zone and left to rot, and we were living in the worst part of it, a place where being a 'little kid' just meant you were smaller, slower and weaker, and that made you a better target," the unicorn sighed, "I'm not saying it was a good way to grow up, it wasn't, but Dee and I managed, yeah, we had problems and close-calls and the damn Rafterkids were after us, but we managed."
"Rafterkids?"
"A gang, probably the biggest in the Wastes, mostly kids and teens, but there might have been two or three adults calling the shots, they lived in the tops of the ruined high-rises. Creepy fraggers, lots of spider imagery, very cultish mentality, and then there was the cannibalism."
The princess hoofed her in the shoulder, "Now I know you're just making things up to freak me out!"
"Believe me, Sparky, I wish I was. There were always nasty rumors about the Rafterkids for as far back as I can recall, but one night me and Dee were up in one of the tumbledown skyscrapers and we noticed firelight in a nearby high-rise. Ditzy had found an old pair of optical binoculars that still mostly worked, so we decided to see who our neighbors were. It was a pack of Rafters, and what they had on the spit ...," Sunset shivered at the memory, "At least we found out the truth about how they planned to 'guarantee you'll never go hungry' before we let them pressure us into joining."
"You almost joined those ponies?!"
"They had a good line, until we found out the truth, offering us a 'family' and a 'place to belong', and the whole 'never go hungry' thing. When they first approached us, I bought into it completely, it was Ditzy who was suspicious of them and wanted time to think it over, thank God."
"But the Rafters, they didn't take our refusal well, or maybe they realized that we'd stumbled across what they were really up to, I don't know, but the Rafters started hunting Dee and I, so we had to run and hide from them, as well as all of the other crazies in the Wastes. That was what finally got Ditzy killed ...."
"Sunset?" Twilight gently prodded her friend after the silence had stretched out for several minutes, "What happened to Ditzy, Sunset?"
"When I was twelve, a pack of Rafterkids was hounding us ... too many of them to fight, all we could do was run ... I got ahead of Ditzy as we went through an old ruin, and then I heard her cry ... her leg had gone through the rotten floor, I could see it was broken even from where I was, and the Rafters were almost on her ... I knew what they'd do to Dee if they caught her ... but I turned and ran ... I left her to the Rafters ...."
"Oh, Sunset," the alicorn wrapped her forelegs and wings around the razorfilly, who merely stiffened at her touch, "You said that you were outnumbered, what good would it have done if you had stayed?"
"I could have gone back for Dee! I could have fought! I could have died with Ditzy instead of sacrificing her to save my own miserable life!"
"No!" the angry exclamation brought the two mares around to stare at the door, where five ponies stood in a mixture of shock at Sunset's story and embarrassment at being caught listening in, while an irate Ditzy Doo strode into the room, "She wouldn't have wanted you to just throw your life away!"
"I left her behind!" the orange unicorn protested, bolting up from Twilight's embrace to glare at the pegasus, her empty, mechanical eyes staring into Ditzy's misaligned golden ones, "I owed Dee my fragging life, and damn near the last thing she ever saw was me betraying her!"
"So she would rather that you sacrificed yourself for nothing?" the grey pegasus demanded, leaning forward until she was nose-to-nose with Sunset and stomping her hoof. The two mares glared at each other for a moment, until Ditzy finally took a deep, calming breath, "Look, Pinkie explained that I'm a 'cross-dimensional duplicate' of the pony you knew, and I know we don't have the history that you and your Dee had, but I don't think any version of me would want you doing this to yourself," she sighed, "You clearly have lingering issues about what happened with Dee, but I'm not her, so there's only so much I can do to help," she held out a hoof, "Can we try and start fresh? Hi, I'm Ditzy Doo, I love muffins and my daughter, Dinky, and I work for the post office, who are you?" When Sunset simply stared at her, the pegasus gave her a hopeful smile, "Please?"
The orange unicorn blinked, and then slowly reached out and shook the offered hoof, "I'm Sunset Shimmer, I'm from another world, currently unemployed, and I have issues."
"That's okay," giggled the mailmare, "Lots of ponies in Ponyville have a few issues, but they're still good ponies. Maybe you'd like to come back to the party with us, Sunset?"
"Yeah, sure," the razorfilly started for the door alongside the others, only to stop and frown, "Wait, why the hell aren't I still freaking out over this?"
"Welcome to Equestria, Sunset," Rarity smiled, "Where the 'magic of friendship' is more than just a trite phrase and ponies trying to help each other can literally work wonders."
"We're still going to get you an appointment with a therapist, though," added Twilight.
"I think I'm good with that." |
Through A Darkened Mirror | 15.0 … In Which A Gillette Starts To Find Her Place … | "So, how's it goin' over at tha Castle, ya finally startin' ta settle in?"
"Fair enough," Sunset replied as she tried to work a kink out of her shoulder, "Still trying to find a decent cover, but I'll think of something, and I think I might be getting the hang of this whole telekinesis thing."
"'Cover'?" Rarity frowned at the orange unicorn as she, Futtershy and Sunset took a short breather from helping Applejack with the family farm, "Really, darling, there is no need to treat everything as another street job."
"Well, unless I want to start from scratch, I have to rely on my street op skills to get by, don't I?" the razorfilly countered, "And I don't have the right kind of discipline to make it in the Guard, so that leaves mercenary work or hiring on somewhere as a private bodyguard. So, why not combine them and be the agent of Princess Twilight and the Elements of Harmony that no one notices until it's too late?" Sunset suddenly chuckled, "'Princess Twilight and the Elements of Harmony', God, you girls sound like the newest idol-pop band when I say it like that," she observed, causing her friends to break into giggles.
Fluttershy glanced up from where she was giving AJ's dog, Wynonna, a belly rub, "Um, you do realize that you don't really blend into the background, don't you?"
"Doesn't matter, Flutters," the former human waved her hoof dismissively, "Let's be honest, how much attention does anyone, even you and Rares, really give the staff when you're not directly interacting with them? The problem is, the best positions to explain me always being around are either Twilight's personal assistant, which Spike handles quite well already, or as her ... what was the word ... a 'handmaiden', I think, and, well, Sparky just isn't the type to have personal servants, a castle staff, sure, but not her own, private, retainers."
"So, what's yer plan? Ya'll jus' be around like?" the farmpony asked with a vague wave of her hoof, "An' what, when somepony tries ta start somethin', ya'll jump on 'em?"
"Something like that," Sunset agreed, "I'll let everyone focus on you girls and the guards in their shiny armor, and they'll never think that me and my network, once I get it built, are waiting behind them with knives ready."
Fluttershy frowned at her bloodthirsty friend for a moment, before turning to the fashionista, "Would you pass me that copy of the Foal Free Press, Rarity? Thank you," turning back, she whapped the razorfilly on the muzzle with the paper, "Bad Sunset! Bad! Stop thinking like a criminal! Bad filly!"
"What? Ow! Flutters, stop I'm - Ow - I'm trying to help!"
"By creating an underworld empire, darling?"
"No," Sunset growled, "By getting contacts and favors among the kind of people who know what's happening in a town, but don't talk to the guards, and doing what I can to protect all of you!"
The other three mares stared at her for a moment, "Sugarcube, ya don't have ta look out for us no more," Applejack pointed out gently as Fluttershy nuzzled the orange unicorn's shoulder.
"Is Miz Sunset a'right?"
The razorfilly gave a strangled yelp as she spun around to see the three Cutie Mark Crusaders blinking up at her, "Where did you come from?!"
"Uhm, our clubhouse?" replied Scootaloo, exchanging confused looks with her two friends.
"It's okay, fillies," Rarity assured the foals, "Just a few things Sunset needs to bring up with her therapist. Perhaps a change of subject is in order?"
"Oh, oh! Could you tell us a story about what you did in the other world?" Sweetie Belle's eager request brought instant agreement from the other Crusaders, and uneasy looks from Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity, who were still uncomfortable telling their friends and family about the less-than-legal activities they had gotten up to.
"Hey, I've got a bit of a tale, or a boogeyman story, I could share," Sunset offered, drawing the fillies' attention away from the relieved mares, "Just a quick question first, can your Equestrian magic raise the dead?"
"What? No, darling, of course not, you've played too many trideo games."
"Just checking," shrugged the razorfilly, "The story wouldn't be near as impressive if you could. So, back through the mirror, there's a guy named Ran ... Rarity might have run across some word on him when she was learning about espers."
The fashionista pursed her lips in thought, "Ran ... Ran ... oh, the ... mentally unstable gentlecolt who lives in the Neo York Zero Zone."
"That's him," Sunset nodded, "The world's most powerful esper weapon with a mind like a bag full of cats. Rumor is that even The Empress walks a little softer if there's a chance he might be around," seeing the Crusaders' confusion, she quickly explained, "Espers is what we call the folks with powers back home, kinda like how unicorns have magic and pegasi control the weather here."
"Anyway, the story goes that about a year before I met your sisters, this group of folks gets it into their heads to kill him.
Nobody knows if they were acting on the orders of some megacorporation or government, or if they just wanted the reputation for being the ones who put down Ran, hell, nobody can even agree on who they were, but they had resources and they had a plan ... the twelve of them were going to ambush Ran with enough firepower to turn the Atlantic ocean into sushi."
"I thought you said that espers had all the powers," protested Scoots, "That'd be like trying to ambush Princess Celestia or Princess Luna!"
"The Princesses are powerful, but they don't know everything, that's how Chrysalis got into the Palace, remember?" Fluttershy softly reminded the little pegasus.
"Flutters is right, plus Ran is known for crushing tanks by looking at them, not for reading minds or seeing the future, so getting the drop on him is a pretty solid plan, as far as it goes. Anyway, they went into the Zone, though it must have cost a truckload of money to get all those weapons past the guards manning the Brooklyn Bridge checkpoint, and headed for Southside, where Ran tends to hang out. Once they got into position, they set up a commotion to get Ran's attention and bring him to them.
"Once Ran showed up to investigate, they hit him, and hit him hard. Multiple lines of attack to split his focus, gas and stun grenades to keep him off-balance and fra--mess with his concentration, when one part of the team had to reload or pull back to treat their wounded another would step in to keep the pressure on.
"And the fighting went on for hours, most of the people living in the Zone just went for cover and hoped they could wait it out. They say you could see the smoke all the way back at the Bridge, but, eventually, the strike team managed to wear Ran down, and finally, they dropped him, and because they'd seen a few horror sims, they put another dozen shots into him, just to make sure.
"After they gathered their gear and their dead, the three surviving members of the strike team went back to Neo York and started celebrating and bragging about how they had 'killed the dragon'," Sunset glanced at her audience, "Now this is where the 'boogeyman' thing comes in. So about three days after everything goes down in the Zone, the three survivors head off to their favorite bar to continue celebrating, but the bouncer isn't at his post. They just shrug it off, figuring that he got called away to deal with something and head on in, but once inside, however, they notice that most of the lights are out and nobody seems to be around. They realize something is wrong, of course, but the door locks itself when they try to run back outside. Turning around, they see a light has turned on over one of the far tables, and sitting at it ... is Ran, back from the dead and not looking like there's a scratch on him. And Ran, he just looks at them and says, 'So, I hear you killed me.'"
Fluttershy gave a small "Meep" while the Crusaders giggled, "Did any of that really happen?" Sweetie asked.
"I don't know," the orange unicorn admitted, "But I do know that Ran is very much alive, and right when that story first started going around, a club in Neo York was completely destroyed by an 'esper event' that Lone Star - that's the guards - still haven't bothered to really investigate."
"Welp, time for us ta get back ta work," drawled Applejack, drawing good-natured grumbles from Rarity and Sunset.
As they headed back into the fields, Sunset looked over at an approaching Big Mac, "Hey, AJ, about your brother ...."
"Sorry, sugarcube, tha answer is still no."
"Enjoying your coffee?"
"Mmhmmm," Sunset murmured, the mug clutched in her hooves as she nodded at the earth pony stallion sitting across from her, "You ponies have no idea how good your food is here. I've eaten more real food in the last three months than in the previous six years combined, and it was all wonderful," she gave a contented sigh as she leaned into the mid-summer sunlight streaming in through the window.
"It's good to see you embracing your new situation, Aurora," Glacial Pond observed as he leaned back in his chair, ignoring the small glare the unicorn threw at him, "Perhaps it is time for you to welcome some more changes, to help you start afresh."
"You're going somewhere with this, I can tell."
"Now, now, there is no call to be snippy," the stallion chided her, "I just want to discuss your distaste for your given name, and your ... potentially excessive efforts to ensure the wellbeing of your friends."
"And just what is wrong with looking after my crew?"
"There's nothing 'wrong' with being concerned for your friends, Aurora, but there is a concern that you may be taking it to unhealthy levels. Princess Twilight and the Element Bearers are quite capable of taking care of themselves, after all, as they have proven more than once."
"I know that the girls can handle themselves!" snapped Sunset, "Hell, I ran with them for three years, I'd have to be blind not to know what those girls are capable of when pushed."
Glacial shook his head, "You know intellectually that the Princess and the Bearers can look after themselves," he disagreed, "But you haven't accepted it yet. You continue to act like an overprotective big sister, and you're allowing this drive to protect them to push you back into the same sort of extra-legal activities and relationships that you once engaged in because you had no choice, even when this is your chance to move beyond such ill-advised entanglements."
The unicorn chewed on her lip as she considered the earth pony's words, "Maybe, maybe I have been going a bit overboard trying to keep the girls safe ...."
"Making that realization is a good first step, Aurora," the stallion nodded approvingly, "All I ask is that you try to think before you act, and if your first impulse when confronted with a situation or a problem is to do something illegal or immoral, please take a moment to reconsider your options," he smiled at the mare, "Now, about your rather hostile reactions whenever somepony calls you by your name ...."
"Damn straighteners, always have to find a meaning in everything," growled Sunset, "Maybe I just don't like my name? And why is this such a big deal, anyway? What, is there a law against having two 'Sunset Shimmers' or something?"
"Of course not, that would just be silly, but you clearly desire to distance yourself from the pony you once were, even as you insist on clinging to the criminal identity it would benefit you to shed."
"And maybe I like being 'Sunset'? I worked my hoop off building a reputation with that name, and even if that rep doesn't mean drek to all of you, it's still important to me," the razorfilly retorted, before taking a deep breath and visibly forcing herself to calm down, "As for 'Aurora', she was a worthless little slitch who ran away when her only family needed her the most, why would I want anything to do with her? Let her stay dead, were she belongs."
"Failing to perform a meaningless sacrifice is not something to regret, Aurora," Glacial reproached her, "What happened to you and Miss Doo, and the choice you were forced to make, was horrible, but by refusing to face it, by denying who you once were, you are preventing yourself from truly moving on and fully accepting the possibilities offered by your new life. And this is doing a disservice to yourself and Miss Doo," the earth pony glanced up at the clock, "We'll have to continue our discussion next week, but please, think about what I've said?"
A crisp autumn breeze blew through Ponyville as Sunset made her way back to the Castle of Friendship, her saddlebags filled with fresh supplies of paper, quills and the mail, after bumping into Ditzy, occasionally stopping along the way to look at the Nightmare Night decorations that adorned the town.
Reaching her residence, a deep gong announced her arrival as she pushed the gates open, drawing an amused smile from the unicorn, 'Sparky is really getting into things, I wonder what's next, creepy music from nowhere, or the shadows moving in the corner of people's eyes?' "I'm home!"
"We're in the kitchen!" Spike called back, "You're just in time for lunch!"
"Hey, I ... hello, Rarity, I thought you were still in Manehattan opening your new store?"
"Did you now?" the fashionista smirked at the other unicorn from behind her teacup, "But I'm sure Risky Task has kept you apprised of any changes in my schedule."
"'Risky Task'? Who's that?" Sunset asked innocently.
Spike looked up from the sandwiches he was making, "Isn't Risky Task one of the ponies you've been getting mail from?"
Sunset facehoofed, "Yes, yes he is, thank you Spike."
"Now don't go blaming Spike, darling," Rarity chided her, "Risky did his best, but he was no match for a Lady of my skills, and once he described his employer, well, it was clear who had arranged for my 'extra hooves'."
"Really?" grumbled Sunset as she slumped into a seat next to Twilight, who reached over to pat her shoulder consolingly, "That obvious, huh?"
"I'm afraid so, darling," the white unicorn apologized, "A unicorn mare with your coloring, calling herself 'Mercy', and with, I quote, 'creepy eyes'? Anyone who knows you would recognize that description immediately."
"So, how did the opening go?" inquired Twilight.
"Oh, it was just wonderful!" gushed the fashionista, "Celebrities, entrepreneurs, and I believe I may have even found a new market, Mr. Task was quite taken with the bowler hat I gave him."
"Damn it, Rares, I already paid Risky!"
"But of course you did, darling," tutted Rarity, "I merely gave him a bonus for a job well done, is all. Believe me, I have no interest in subverting your little 'network'."
"Sunset," Twilight sighed, "Didn't Doctor Pond ask you to think twice before engaging in ... morally or legally questionable activities?"
"I did think twice, Sparky," Sunset assured the academic, "I just decided to go through with it anyway," she added with a cheeky smirk, earning her a bop on the back of the head, "Aw, come on, Sparky, it's not like I'm actually doing anything 'questionable', Pond just has a bug up his hoop about me 'falling back into old patterns'."
The other three just shook their heads as Spike laid out lunch for everyone, before Twilight turned to the white unicorn, "Oh, Rarity, Fluttershy has agreed to come out with us for Nightmare Night!"
"She has, why that's fabulous!" Rarity clapped her hooves eagerly, "I can't wait to see what everypony dresses up as!"
"How can you girls get so worked up over a kids' holiday?" wondered Sunset as she lifted her sandwich in a red aura, "Heh, telekinesis, gotta say, I see why you girls like it so much, this is fun."
"Nightmare Night is for everypony, Sunset, not just the foals," Twilight protested, even as she gave the razorfilly an approving smile for her improved magical control.
The fashionista nodded, "Indeed, Nightmare Night is a beloved tradition where, for one night, even the Princesses can embrace the carefree joys of foalhood," she encouraged her friend, "You really should join us, Sunset, dressing up, games, a few harmless scares, it will be fun."
Sunset looked at her three friends, their eyes brimming with hope and enthusiasm, and sighed, "Fine, I'll join you, maybe I can throw something together."
"You'll do no such thing!" declared Rarity adamantly, "'Throw something together', really now!" she tapped her chin as she looked the orange unicorn over, "Hmm ... yes! A police pony! It'll be perfect!"
"A cop? Me?!" Sunset stared at the blue-haired mare, before sighing in defeat "I'm not going to win this one, am I? Can I at least be a sexy cop?"
Spluttered coughing, as Spike choked on his sandwich and Twilight pounded the young dragon between the shoulders while she glared at Sunset, filled the kitchen for a minute before Spike finally croaked out, "I'm okay."
"Sorry there, Spike," the razorfilly apologized sheepishly, "Sometimes I forget how innocent you are."
"Hmp," Rarity sniffed, "Well, darlings, I need to get back to Carousel Boutique, thank you for lunch, Spike dear, and I'll see you all Thursday night," as she headed for the door, the fashionista paused to look back, "Oh, Sunset, I'll see you on Thursday afternoon to get your costume fitted, ta-ta, darlings."
The two ponies began to clear the table as Spike headed off to enjoy his free afternoon, however, once the young drake was gone, Twilight put a hoof on the unicorn's shoulder, "Is everything alright, Sunset? The fillies and I have been a little worried about how well you're adjusting to Equestria."
Sunset cocked an eyebrow at the Princess of Friendship, before giving her a small smile, "Yeah, Sparky, I'm adapting, even if I have pulled a few gumbys, but hey, I haven't fragged anything up to badly, huh?" she reached up and squeezed the alicorn's hoof, "Don't worry, I know you and the girls have my back, just like I have yours', whatever your cutesy, magic world throws at us, we'll get thought it. Together."
Twilight returned the smile and nodded, "Together." |
Within the Night Bringers | pre | She used to play me pranks all the time, that... well, she was never that mean...
Except perhaps that time she told me the castle was haunted, and went and made scary sounds at night. I was just terrified, couldn't sleep. And when I did, it gave me nightmares. I remember Tia woke me up when she saw I was tossing and turning. That's when she told me it had been a joke. It took me nothing to forgive her, I was just a tiny foal after all.
Luna found herself feeling better, her mind felt like smiling. She embraced those old memories of her sister; she had not thought about her in quite a while. Not about the tyrant that had hurt her so much, but her sister, the real Celestia. The filly that never took anything seriously.
Except helping others, making their lives better. From helping an old mare carrying her viands, to fixing a broken bridge. Some stuff she would even ask me for advice. Hehe, we used to make a great team. I had the knowledge, and she was the ingenious one. And we loved to help the community. Sometimes even against Father's will.
When did everything change? Was it that day? When she took the responsibility of raising the sun every day. That was the first time I saw a glimpse of Princess Celestia, the regal alicorn. She took it so seriously, she was committed to it. And when something got inside her mind, not even the Elements would stop her.
Like ruling Equestria... But why Celestia? Why did you have to lose yourself pursuing your dreams? Was that even right?
Is there nothing left of young Tia? Mmm there was that last silly joke... and the Element did react. Maybe deep inside...
o-o--o-o--o-o--o-o--o
Equestria. Four days before the 1st Summer Sun Celebration.
It had been a year since "The Day the Dawn Returned", and what a year. Everypony put their hearts and souls into the heavy job of rebuilding Equestria almost from scratch; she was no exception. To recover from the terrible events, she devoted herself to the task, only one problem at a time. Day by day things were getting better, the fruit of everypony's work. As she found a moment to think about it, she somehow felt refreshed. One week ago the meeting with the Griffin Queen had been a total success. No one can beat you at diplomacy, Celly. The plan for transporting food from the Griffin mountain meadows into Equestria was approved only 3 days after. Go logistics team, I love you guys. Today the biggest problem in Equestria was no more.
The grass rations had started delivery to all towns since the day before, all thanks to the Royal Guard and the Farm Earth Ponies for Equestria Group. Those ponies, I should really give them a medal, mmm great idea! It will have to wait though, but eventually.
Princess Celestia, the Sun Goddess, Equestria's bastion, and the over-controlling tyrant that almost destroyed everything she cared for and doesn't deserve to be on the throne, but owes it to her ponies, was, believe it or not, in a great mood.
The beautiful, white alicorn gleamed, her colorful hair floating in the invisible sun winds, a smile on her face. She stared at the window of her office on Canterlot Castle wondering how could she make the sunset better. Let's see, more orange, lots of orange... yes, nice.
As she felt the warmth of her sun's last rays, her smile grew. So peaceful. She felt the calm of the evening soothe her. The stress is gone.
Knock! Knock!
"Come in!"
A red unicorn mare with a white mane entered the room; her cutie mark was a butterfly, a daisy and a violet. "Good evening, your Majesty."
"My dear Resourceful, how are you tonight?" Celestia's smile became gentler as she talked to her personal assistant.
For a moment the mare stopped and stared at the Princess. "Very well, thank you... you seem, happy?"
The Princess put a hoof in her mouth as she let a small chuckle escape. "And why wouldn't I?" she said while using her magic to take a scroll from her desk and show it to Resourceful.
The unicorn's eyes grew big. "This can't be, the new rations reached Manehatten already?" She smiled as she kept reading. "The FEPE had been helping with the new rations?"
Celestia gave a very content nod. Squeeeeeee!
Resourceful gave the biggest smile she could. "That is so wonderful!"
I knooooooow, right!? Inner Celestia jumped. "Yes it is," said the Princess with her usual calm, then she let a sigh escape. "And you wouldn't believe how happy I am that Captain Silverwing let them help as soon as they ask to, instead of sending me a memo."
"That would have been silly, the FEPE has been helping with so many things since they formed: rebuilding, managing food rations, even security."
Silly? It would have been utterly moronic. "Well, you know, some ponies think that every decision still has to get my approval before taken. Just during my journey back to Canterlot, the weather department sent me an urgent memo, about approving the use of all their patrols in the containment of that horrible storm front 31..." Or was it 32? Dumb new numeric system.
"I think you mean storm front 32, the one that almost wiped out Stableside. They decided to call it a hura... cune, or something like that."
The Princess blushed and put a stern face. Darn it, Celly, you are supposed to know these things. "Yes, that one... obviously I was busy with the Equine-Griffin treaty..."
"Obviously, your Majesty. That is why the weather department was created in the first place. It's their job to deal with these matters." Resourceful put a lot of emphasis on their, and smiled wickedly at the Princess. "And you are right, it was common sense to send all weather patrols there. Mayor Breeze didn't go and ask if she should evacuate town."
Celestia looked only a bit concerned, but inside she felt kind of panicked. I should have known about this. I should have known about this. I should have known about this. I should have done... I should have... She took a deep breath and turned towards her window again. Resourceful did the same.
"Actually, your Majesty, all of this is part of my report for tonight, so you didn't have to know all the details about it until... well, now."
After a moment both mares turned to look at each other. Celestia's slight frown was answered by the most joyful smile. The Princess felt a weight lift off her back.
She knows what I was thinking... and she is teasing me... oh you evil mare... the sky bless you. Celestia regained her composure and smiled again. "Ehem, of course. Surely that means my little ponies were perfectly capable to get everything under control. Otherwise this would have been treated as a major emergency."
"You are correct, your Majesty; ultimately the whole weather team was sent. They had a few problems at first, but Rain Drop found a way to counterattack the hura... can?"
"I knew she would make a good head for the weather department." Such a clever pony and a passionate researcher, just like... freeze... now go back to the conversation.
"I totally agree, I'm sure you'll find her report on the events very interesting to read. To summarize, they lost no pony, thank Goodness. Stableside was damaged but according to Rain Drop, it could have been worse. On the bad side, I must tell you that she thinks that we are going to have a few more of this hu-er big storms, before the weather can be stabilised. She is already planning measurements to be taken."
Celestia gave a nod, "Very well, about the town..."
"Ahead of you, your Majesty. The Mayor send a petition for help with the town repairs. As you know, we have no extra hoofs at the moment, but I sent Hoof Craft to quantify the damage. I personally will talk with the FEPE to see if they can help as soon as he sends his report. If you agree of course, Princess."
Why aren't you on the throne? "Yes, it seems like the best course of action, thanks Resourceful. Now if you excuse me for a moment, the sun needs to be set." The sun bearer turned her full attention to her window and looked to the western sky. She extended one hoof towards Resourceful and asked, "What time is it?"
The unicorn stared at the clock intently and waited for the Princess to give her the signal. Celestia lowered her hoof. "Precisely four minutes before seven," answered the mare.
Why huh wha... Horseapples... soooo close. Tomorrow give him a softer nudge. The Princess just gave a long sigh and kept staring until the clock marked seven o'clock; then her magic glowed in her horn and the sun slowly disappeared from the sky.
"Princess, I know that it has to do with the new calendar, but I've been wanting to ask, what is this about?"
"Summer," she said absentmindedly. "In the new calendar's summer," Celestia looked at her assistant, "the sun shall remain in the sky for about fourteen hours. I've been trying to push it in the morning in a way that it takes it that precise time to hit the horizon again." It's the least you can do Celly, get it right, for her... freeze... now...
Resourceful's eyes opened wide. "That is amazing! Wait, you raised the sun at five o'clock, that means..."
... get your failure remarked. "That I failed by four minutes, yes."
"Some may say that is good enough, especially since the official restart of the celestial bodies is still four days away. You don't need to get it perfect just yet, Princess."
Inner Celestia choked with panic. FOUR DAYS!? NO!... Wait. Don't panic, or at least don't look panicked. What do I usually do to not look panicked?
The regal alicorn turned slowly, smiled softly, crooked an eyebrow and calmly said, "Four days? So soon?"
"Maybe you forgot, the first summer solstice and the celestial restart were rescheduled to coincide with the first anniversary of The Day the Dawn Returned. We even jumped some days of this new calendar we are using to assure that."
I remember alright... I should really consider making everypony forget that accursed day. "Oh that is true, it slipped my mind; with the travel to the Griffin Kingdoms, and everything."
"It makes sense..."
The Princess stood still, looking thoughtful. In her mind, an imaginary Princess Celestia grinned madly, while casting a memory spell over all of Equestria.
"Er, Princess I think you should... raise the moon now."
She came back to her senses and looked out the window. The sky was a dark blue canvas, completely empty. "Of course." Celestia got closer to the window. Darn you moon why can't you just... raise yourself... A memory in her mind flashed, "Wouldn't that be fun Tia, that they could move by themselves..." Freeze... now raise the moon Celly, don't think, just do it.
The moon rose and stood still, as if suspended on the horizon. The night-bringer made an angry huff and used her magic to grab a notebook from inside one of her desk's drawers. She skimmed through it and, finally, the unicorn magic put the moon on its way. Scattered through the sky, a bunch of stars appeared. Not terribly bad.
Celestia went behind her desk, sat down, and threw her notebook in the drawer. "Done, where were we, Resourceful?"
The mare had been quietly watching her Princess. "I had forgotten. The new calendar committee wants to discuss something with you. It's about the festivities for The Day the Dawn Returned."
And back with that day. "Festivities? I told them I didn't think those were a good idea. Equestria is still filled with problems." Isn't it enough that I let them put the summer solstice that day?
"I know, your Majesty." The unicorn took a seat on one of the cushions in front of the desk. "But they insist. They say it would raise the spirits of everypony, and... I agree with them."
The Princess gave her a stern look. "You do?"
"Yes, and I promised them to talk to you about it. Please, listen to me, your Majesty."
Celestia closed her eyes. She remembered hearing similar words before. "Just listen to me Tia, please." Freeze... now... listen. "Go ahead," the princess said solemnly.
"I know... why you don't want to celebrate that day," Resourceful replied calmly.
And I know you know. How sweet of you to remind me. Oh, we're just the best of friends, you and I. Now can we just forget about it? "..."
Resourceful sighed, took a deep breath, then looked at Celestia in her eyes. "Princess Celestia, you are being selfish, again."
Me? Selfish? I'm the most unselfish pony in all of Equestria. I just don't want anypony to celebrate... "Maybe I am, but please understand, if I accept, they will force me to celebrate the day I..." Freeze...
"It's not only that, Princess. It's not only about that day, but about many things. Like the night, and the moon, and the whole new calendar project. You are neglecting things that need your attention. Admit it, you are avoiding everything that reminds you of Princess Lu..."
"DON'T YOU DARE!" the alicorn roared, glaring at the little pony.
The unicorn didn't even flinch. There she was, calmly staring at her with those deep blue eyes. Very few ponies could sustain Celestia's gaze; Resourceful was one of them. It was not about power, not even about will; it was about caring. Her assistant was staring at her because she knew. She knew something was wrong. She could see through the Princess' usually perfect facade. Just like a year ago.
That was when Celestia realised in how bad a state Equestria was. She had hurt her sister deeply, and practically made her run away. Then she had tried to control everything by herself, as usual, but she couldn't. That's when she found out the truth: she was a terrible ruler and, at that point, she had no idea what she was doing. She kept pretending before everypony, but this pony in front of her dared to face her. This pony challenged the Princess, just with her eyes. And right now she is doing it again. You can't beat her Celly, because just like that day, she is right, deep inside... something hurts.
The busted Princess lowered her stare and spoke sadly. "My dear friend, you are right... I can't stand even the smallest thought of her."
"Are you trying to forget your little sister?"
"Yes... maybe."
"Why?"
Celestia thought over her answer carefully. "I neglected her, I hurt her, and then... banished her forever to the moon with my own hooves." How can you live with yourself Celly?
"Excuse me for saying this, Princess, but what you did was your fault not the Night Princess's. Except the banishing part, she didn't leave you many choices there. Still, forgetting about her is just as wrong. For what you've told me, she doesn't deserve that."
"I... I..." the alicorn's eyes were teary, her voice a tad high and quiet. "I sent her... to the moon!"
"What were your options? You could have killed her, but you didn't."
Celestia huffed. "Would you be able to kill your own sister?"
"No, but that is the point. While there is life, there is hope, or so I've read. I'm not trying to sound wise or anything, but you both are immortal Goddesses, so while she will never die for real, if you forget her, then there won't be hope, because her memory would die."
The Princess looked at her assistant with wide eyes. Forever was indeed a long time. But magic and immortality were mighty allies. And now I can count on my friends too. Yes friendship, friendship is the most powerful thing I can posses.
Celestia shed a tear and smiled at her friend. "You are right, while there is life there is hope. I must not forget... no, I don't want to forget Luna, but... it hurts."
Resourceful gave the Princess a little smile. "Time can heal that." Then she laughed, "Wait a moment, aren't you supposed to be the mighty and wise pony? You should know about this."
The ancient alicorn suppressed a little chuckle and tried to sound wise. "Oh I do. I just pretend I don't remember, so my loyal subjects can learn for themselves."
Resourceful raised an eyebrow, and stared at her friend. Then, out of nowhere, they both giggled.
After sharing the moment, Celestia said deeply and sincerely, "Thank you, Resourceful."
The unicorn just bowed her head at the Princess and smiled, before changing to a stern look. "There is still the matter of The Day the Dawn Returned."
Okay, no more panic, but I still hate that day... The Princess put her hooves together on her desk and closed her eyes in thought for a moment. "I... I will accept the celebration, and the rising of the sun event."
Resourceful smiled slightly. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, what else can I do? You are right, these festivities can raise morale. Times are getting better, true, but there's still hard times ahead. My little ponies need something like this." And I'll get a pretext to drink a bottle of wine... Oh, right, there are no grape crops... buck.
o-o--o-o--o-o--o-o--o
Three days before the 1st Summer Sun Celebration.
It was early in the afternoon and Princess Celestia walked through the hallways of Canterlot Castle. Even through those hard times, the brilliance and beauty of the castle ornaments and tapestries looked just the same as the day they were put there. The ones that remained, that is.
During the last few months the Princess had been avoiding what was called the Night Wing of the castle. Today, however, she had decided to walk through it on her way to the library. It wasn't as she remembered. Where were the moon motifs? The star tapestries? True, the Night Wing had always been very small, but now it seemed as if it had just disappeared. Celestia frowned.
It was not my idea, it was Blue Blood's... But he was just talking on behalf of everypony in Canterlot.
After talking with Resourceful last night, it was obvious to her why she had just concede to these changes without any further consideration. But it is so wrong. However, she couldn't change her mind now, not about that nor about many other measures that had been taking effect for months; like banner changing, anthem changing, etc. The mare stopped walking. No, none of that really matters. Don't you remember, Celly? Luna didn't care about that stuff. Actually, she didn't even like the decor. Celestia restarted her walking. It felt nice, to think about her without recoiling. There are things that she would be fuming about though. Like having her name removed from the library she built here.
The white alicorn arrived at that same library; the plaque on top of the entrance was indeed blank. The silvery crescent moon engraved at the doors had not been removed though. She caressed it with her hoof. I shall keep this... even if I have to enchant it.
She stepped through the doors and into the library that, during the last months, had been used as an office and conference hall for the new calendar committee.
The Princess walked along the first rows of bookcases and turned the corner. She stopped as she was received with a view that, just yesterday, she couldn't stand. There's no panic... Celestia grinned, a very proud yet a bit insane smile. "Huzzah," she said in a whisper as she raised a hoof to the air. I'm the queen of the world!... That was redundant. Still.
She heard voices close by. The meeting surely hadn't started long ago. The mare walked silently towards the wall across the room. In that corner of the library some desks and chairs had been put together as an improvised office. There were papers and books spread across the desks; some had been magically anchored so nopony could disrupt them while the owner was not there.
As she finally reached the farthest wall, Celestia stared at what looked like a big, odd tapestry, but it was made of paper. It had drawn distinctive rows and columns of small rectangles; each one had a number, and a lot of information written in it. There were also scribblings all over the paper. Notes, diagrams, references to numbered notebooks which were safely kept on a bookcase right beside it. On the lower right corner of the paper in big numbers read "360." In the upper left cornered read "New Calendar. By: The pony who saved Equestria." There was a completely noticeable change in the writing style.
Celestia touched the paper gently and stared at it. "Sorry I neglected you... again," she said softly.
A couple of the voices coming from the meeting taking place at the center of the library grew in intensity. This called the Princess' attention. She got closer and immediately noticed that an argument was going on. Celestia decided to watch from the back of the last bookshelf. If I go in there now, they will stop talking, and start acting like quiet, innocent little lambs.
She gently moved a couple of books so she had a better view of the ponies. The full committee seemed to be there. About a dozen ponies were seated around a long table that was, in fact, several tables put together. Sitting on the furthest head of the table was a white unicorn, a seasoned stallion with a small grey mustache and a crown cutie mark. He spoke some words trying to calm down the arguing ponies, to no avail. Right in the middle of the table were two angry mares. A white pegasus with a blue mane was hovering face to face with a green unicorn that remained sitting, her mane brown with a golden stripe.
"No, no. This has nothing to do with that," the pegasus spatted angrily. "I made the calculations myself. Do you really think I would just drop some random changes into the project without doing any research?"
The unicorn rolled her eyes. "It's not your research I don't trust, it's your source."
"I just told you! I used the notebook as a guide but I did the work myself."
"Sorry, but I won't accept it, Snowflake. Nothing good can come from that crazy night-hag's notes. I know others agree with me," said the green unicorn, while sending glances to the others. Half of them nodded in agreement, some just seemed annoyed by the argument; the rest stood quiet.
CRAZY NIGHT-HAG!?... I'LL SHOW YOU A HAG YOU... The Princess looked at the chair that supported the green unicorn and smiled mischievously. No no, don't get mad... breathe Celly, calm yourself. You are the Princess, always centered, always in control. And Nightmare Moon was kind of a hag, and that's who everypony remembers.
"You don't understand, Tree Top." Snowflake's tone was calmer now. "The Night Princess was an extraordinary researcher and mathematician. Even if she did become... evil afterwards, her works..."
"Afterwards?" interrupted Tree Top. "Everypony knows the creepy mare had always been a bit touched. Then, on that one day, the real Princess had to put her on her place; she discovered just how useless she was, and finally cracked compleeeAAAH!"
Suddenly, the chair under the unicorn broke and she hit the floor with a hard thump, falling on her back. There were a few contained laughs.
"You ok ma'am?" asked a big yellow stallion with a red mane, as he raised from his chair, right beside the fallen green mare.
"Yes... I think... Ugh, stupid old chairs," answered the poor unicorn. The big earth pony pushed his head under Tree Top and easily raised the pony to her hooves.
"Thanks, Apple Crop," said a very blushed mare.
"Not'a problem ma'am."
Snowflake kept her hooves over her mouth, desperately trying to stop her chuckling.
"Did you have enough?" said the white unicorn using a strong commanding tone. "Please ladies. You know this committee has the future of Equestria in its hooves. We can't let discrepancies between its members interfere. There are decisions to be made."
"WE TOTALLY AGREE, MY DEAR DUKE BLUE BLOOD."
Everypony turned their heads and watched as the ruler of Equestria walked from in-between the bookshelves and got closer to them.
Standing tall, check. Wings spread, check. Deep stare and soft smile, check. As usual, I look regal. As usual they will bow too much...
Everypony stood up and lowered their heads, almost touching the floor. Snowflake the pegasus flew towards the other head of the table, landed beside her chair and bowed deeply before the Princess. The alicorn nodded gently in response.
Now, Royal Canterlot Voice, low volume version, check.
"Rise, our little ponies." Celestia had been practicing this new voice. It still boomed through the library, but it was a lot more gentle. It works like a charm, they seem more comfortable... maybe If I just talk normally... but, the Voice is traditional... er I'll think about that later.
Everypony stood up and return to their seats. Apple Crop politely offered his chair to Tree Top.
"These last months have been hard. We've been forced to put aside our participation in the new calendar committee far too long. For that we apologize to all of its members," Celestia talked while walking towards Blue Blood. "We need to thank you, dear nephew, for taking our place during this time. You did a great job. Now, if the members of the committee will excuse us, we need to have a word with you."
"Of course, aunt Celestia." With a gentle nod towards the other ponies, the unicorn stood up.
The Duke followed the Princess into the bookshelves of the library. They got far enough for nopony to listen to them. Be completely honest, Celly, he deserves it. Celestia spoke with her normal voice. "I'm sorry, Blue."
The blond unicorn furrowed his brow at the alicorn. "Um... for what..."
"I'm amazed how you've been keeping all the nobles at bay." Blue Blood tried to say something but the Princess raised a hoof to keep him quiet. "I'm not sure how you're convincing them to abandon all their banal petitions during these hard times, but I know how it is. You talk to them, persuade them. Still, they always try again. When it was me, there was a point I had to... yell at them... hard... which I shouldn't have." Though it was fun. "The point is, as the leader of Canterlot nobles and spokespony of all landlords, I know you are a really busy pony and you are already doing a lot for me.
"And yet, you found the time to replace me in the matters that I was... avoiding. You have been a great help during this last year Blue, and I will always, always be thankful."
The seasoned unicorn opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again. He seemed to be at a loss of words.
"Now," continued Celestia, "I've decided to take over my duties. You don't need to worry about the reorganization of Canterlot Castle any more, nor about the restructuring of Equestria's tax department. And of course I'll retake my place as moderator and final voice of the new calendar committee."
The noble pony raised an eyebrow, and gave his aunt a skeptical look.
"Luna," said the Princess calmly.
Blue Blood opened his eyes widely. He seemed surprised.
Celestia continued, "I know. I've been so childish. I'm so sorry. But that is over. This is my sister's project and I want to be part of it. No, I need to be part of it. Nopony ever understood her as I do... most ponies don't even trust her."
The stallion shook his head.
"But they trust me. I'll do this."
The Duke gave the Princess a reassuring smile.
"Well then, It is time to get back to work." The white alicorn started walking towards the center of the library, then stopped for a moment, and turned her head to her nephew. "It's always a pleasure to chat with you, Blue." She gave him a small grin.
He smiled at her, almost a smirk. Then he just shrugged and walked towards the exit. |
Within the Night Bringers | 4. The pony who saved Equestria | Within the Night Bringers.
fan fiction by Twilight_Crow
and PhilomenaSage
All My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is property of Hasbro, Inc.
4. The pony who saved Equestria.
Equestria. Two days before the 1st Summer Sun Celebration.
It was right before dawn. Princess Celestia stood in her chamber's balcony, her eyes were still drowsy. She yawned widely while rubbing her right eye with her bare hoof. The Moon had been set, but the Sun was not calling for her to raise him yet. Ugh... failed again.
Celestia entered her chamber. It was big and elegant, but the sight of several notebooks and scrolls spread all over the place made it look messy; her bed lay untouched. I didn't want to overwork myself like this again. Her magic grabbed the opened notebook she had woken upon. She contained a chuckle while staring at the drool that covered a passage about how to help animals hibernate. Well, at least I did sleep a bit. She used her magic to dry the page, and made sure it wasn't damaged. These notebooks were very important after all.
The sun called out to her. Ah, there you are... three minutes late. The Princess put the notebook on her bed and turned to the open window. "Getting better~!" sang the Sun bearer with a small smile.
Back on the balcony, the alicorn's golden magic gleamed on her horn. The Sun slowly appeared on the horizon and grew until its full shape graced the sky with light. The morning was beautiful and filled with color, only a few clouds in the sky.
Celestia smiled for a moment, but then her expression changed completely. Her horn glowed again, and the Princess furrowed her brow. Her tongue poked out of the corner of her mouth as she deeply focused her magic. Alright! He's on his way...
With a determined stare, the Goddess spoke. "You'd better touch the western horizon at seven o'clock." She dramatically raised her hoof and pointed it to the Sun. "Or you will regret the day you were put in the sky." She rapidly turned around and went inside.
Celestia gave a big sigh and then laughed. It was like a melody, a joyful one. Mmm, now I feel much better.
Indeed, she felt ready to start a new day. She calmly started picking up notebooks and scrolls. She skimmed through some of them, trying to recall what she had learned the night before.
The new calendar project... I skip a few meetings and suddenly I have no idea what is going on... Fine, maybe more than a few.
Celestia stared at one of the reports her nephew had politely wrote for her during the last few months. You should have at least read these, Celly. You were so lucky yesterday... Well....
Her meeting with the new calendar committee had been at times painless and at times excruciating for the Princess. On one hoof, the main discussion was on something that, thanks to the weather reports, she was familiar with: cloud manufacturing during the new summer. On the other hoof, the topic kept being put aside because of an argument about a certain notebook.
It took Celestia nothing to realize that the whole problem was partially her fault. It was she who had lent the notebook to the head of the committee, Snowflake, for her personal use. Since that particular notebook, a calculus compendium, was not part of the new calendar project, Celestia didn't think it necessary to make a certain little change to it.
With a sigh, she took one of the notebooks with her magic and opened it.
Soil properties. B-14
By: The pony who saved Equestria.
(Linked from the beginning: The One Harvest B-11, page 5)
(In the 360 Calendar Manual, page 276)
The pony who saved Equestria... It's amazing how no one has guessed who that is.
Most ponies had suggested it was Princess Celestia herself. Many thought that due to the size of the project, in reality, there was more than one pony involved. The ponies that knew about the notebooks thought that whoever he was, he was a shy genius, maybe from old times. Somepony ahead of his time for sure. Those were not completely wrong.
The Princess sat on her haunches. She grabbed the notebook hovering in the air, held it between her hooves and nuzzled it gently.
"Thank you... Without these I wouldn't know what to do..."
There was no day Celestia didn't wonder what would have happened if she hadn't found the notebooks and the whole new calendar project that day. The day after...
o-o--o-o--o-o--o-o--o
The Elements of Harmony had been returned to their rightful place, a pedestal in a sacred hall from the old castle. The shiny crystals were no more, for they had turned into plain stones. The Magic was gone. Together with her.
The night was finally over. The Moon had been set somehow and the Sun was rising brightly, shining in the sky. As she raised the Sun, she swore she could hear them, the little ponies, their clamors of joy, their happy celebrations, songs and dances. They shouted the name of their goddess. They thanked her.
Meanwhile, a sad, tired alicorn laid down and silently cried. After a minute she composed herself, slowly rose and, with a lowered head, walked out the room she was in.
Wandering through the remains of a destroyed grey castle, the broken soul tried to shut her feelings away, years of practice keeping her real emotions at bay helped. She looked serene. But no matter how she looked, it still hurt.
Every little part of the castle brought a memory back, each memory so vivid it felt as if the words were spoken to her right there. The bad memories hurt her; the good ones stung her very soul. The tears seemed to have dried out, but between the images of her past and the dread of an uncertain future, there was no way she could be at peace.
The tormented pony kept walking restlessly for hours.
The early afternoon sun shined above her as she walked through the remains of a garden. She ignored the debris, the fallen trees and the broken walls. She just kept walking.
She turned her face towards a single tree and moved close to it. It had survived the destruction but not the influence of the dark magic. Its bark and leaves were changing, getting darker, grimier. Its branches were starting to grow and twitch.
It's my fault... all of it...
"In a bad mood, are we? You should rest for a moment. You look terrible," a voice in her mind spoke to her, and then she recognized the tree.
"Luna's tree," said the alicorn quietly, surprised. She used to sit under it to read, hidden from everypony's view.
The mare stared at the bottom of the tree. She wasn't crazy. She knew the voice had been an illusion of the past, a memory. She didn't care. Memories were all she had left. "How is it that you always had time to relax?" she asked nopony.
She continued her senseless walking and arrived at the main hall. There were no stairs to the second level in there anymore. Without caring, she flew up, landed in another corridor, and kept walking.
She suddenly raised her head and turned towards a closed wooden door. Other ponies would say it was big, but it was just her size. She magically opened the door and entered the room. Amazingly it was almost intact; a shelf was knocked over, but everything else seemed in its place. It was her old office. She had worked in there for decades before moving to Canterlot Castle. It was as she had left it: very little furniture, almost no books or personal objects. Perhaps I should grab whatever is left.
She took a book with her magic and read the title. "Development and Improvement of Agricultural Economy Based on Knowledge Economy." She opened her eyes wide and dropped the book. A long-forgotten gift from her sister. She immediately regretted what she did and picked it up again, opened it, and read.
"'Scientific and technological progress in agriculture is the key element to determining survival in these modern times.' Mmm I definitely should take this..." Maybe it's time for me to go back. There must be chaos out there. Equestria is my responsibility, I need to do something about... I need to... do what? What am I going to do? How do I fix Equestria? What can I do?
She gave the biggest sigh of her life.
Invoked by the room, the voice of her memories came back. "Maybe I can help you with that too... but, why not?... You can't do it all yourself you know... I don't know, get help. There are quite a few ponies capable of... Alright, alright, it was just a suggestion, no need to get mad... Yes, of course I'll do what you asked."
If only she could change the past.
The pony stood there unmovable, the book still on her magic grasp. "Get help," she whispered. The faces of four ponies crossed her mind. There is no chaos out there... Celestia. Your little ponies are not useless, they can take care of themselves. They did it just fine these last few days. They managed everything without you, they kept calm and organized everypony. They told you not to worry, that your duty was to find a way to bring the dawn back; a way to beat... her.
Very well, the Dawn has returned. What is your duty now Celestia?... To rule them? I am a terrible ruler... But they want me to keep ruling them. Even though I failed. I failed... SO BADLY! A part of her wanted to scream, but she took a breath and calmed herself. "I failed," she whispered.
"Try again," the voice from her past spoke again.
The memory confused the already troubled mare. Wait... when did Luna tell me that? It was her sister's voice she had remembered, no doubt about that, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't remember when she heard those words.
"Try again... huh?"
Maybe she had no other choice. The truth was that, somehow, her subjects still believed in her. What was she supposed to do? Go back just to abdicate the throne. After everything that has happened, that is just what I feel like doing...
No, she couldn't do that. Abandon the little ponies to their luck now would be just as bad as if she had done just that after Discord was defeated.
If I stand down all would have been for nothing. Defying Father. Restoring Equestria from the chaos magic. The wars fought to stop the threats from beyond the borders. The laws implemented to keep order. The politics... that kept the old nobility happy; there were lots of that. All that work... mine and Luna's... would be worthless.
And there were them. She couldn't betray them. The ponies that stood by her, even after seeing her broken...
"Your highness, now that you know what's wrong, we can do something about it. I'll gathered everypony and we'll start working," a red mare's voice had said just days ago.
"My dear aunt, I'm sure there's a solution. And if you can't find it, I'll find someone who'll find it for you," spoke the white unicorn of her memory.
"So what if our princess is not perfect, no biggie. I will reorganize all of the castle staff. You just do what you know, which is surely more than I do," the brown scruffy pony had told her.
"So, you made a mistake. You can't rule without her." Without another word to her, the Royal Commander had immediately gathered her best pegasi squad. "You did hear that right. Our wise princess needs her sister back, so you are searching for her, till the end of the world!"
She had regained hope that day; when these ponies offered to help and acted without being ordered.
But then Nightmare Moon appeared.
The thought of the evil mare made her heart sunk deep again. All the events of the night before returned to her like an avalanche and clouded her mind.
The alicorn shook her head and stared at the book still floating in front of her. How long had she been holding this? She paid more attention to her surroundings, and walked around the old office. There were many salvageable items --furniture, writing material and books.
"I'll come back for these books... and all of this stuff, I guess." The destroyed castle was surely full of still useful resources and, as things were, letting those going to waste was just wrong. She left the book on a table, lowered her head and left the office.
She gave another sigh as she magically closed the door behind her. Somehow she felt a little less gloomy, but she had no idea what to do now. She was sure her four... my friends... perhaps, had everything under control at the moment. But that wouldn't last forever. Eventually, the whole "eternal" night incident will be left behind and everything in Equestria would go back to normal. Normal... normal as in: In a permanent state of emergency. No food, uncontrollable weather, uncontrollable animals... and all those many other things Luna wrote down.
Her head shoot upwards. Wait, that's it, that is my duty, to fix all those problems. They are my fault, it is my duty to keep being a princess until I fix my mistakes... Um... I could... No, you have to be honest with yourself... You have no idea how to fix anything... "We are doomed," she said calmly as she lowered her ears.
She restarted her walking through the castle hallways.
Luna would know what to do...
She had already planned to apologise to her sister, to ask for her help once she found her; to listen to her. Too late. Luna was gone, forever. How was she going to manage without her? As if all those problems already mentioned weren't enough, there had already been terrible consequences due to the lack of Luna's extremely efficient work.
Just a day after Luna left, there were already problems on the governmental accounting system. Of course the white alicorn was no stranger to accounting, all of Luna's work went through her before being redirected to the proper departments, but her skills didn't get close to Luna's. Still, instead up giving the work to a group of ponies, she stupidly tried to manage everything by herself. She ended up having a nervous breakdown. The whole system collapsed. It all caused turmoil in Canterlot and literal chaos in the Castle. "How could it cross my mind she was not necessary?" she said in a sad but composed way. However, a part of her just got tired of composure.
And how could you tell her that? How could you act so mean? Then again, HOW COULD YOU DO EVERYTHING YOU DID? Quit playing dumb already, just look at everything you did little Celly.
You and Luna were supposed to work together. You promised. But you started going all over yourself with the whole Princess thing. With your so many plans to lead Equestria to a glorious age, and your great ideas for transforming it into a perfect realm... a place where all the kinds of ponies could be happy. Only a utopia. But even if she had her doubts, your sister followed you. She gave you her support and expert advice. But the day she started disagreeing with you, what did you think? You thought she was just being a brat; jealous of you being the Princess who everypony followed and envious because your day was more needed than her night. As if.
She just grew up. She stopped following you blindly. But you kept scolding her and urging her to keep following your ways... and you started to get too harsh actually. You even started offending her. Then you didn't even care if you hurt her, disregarding her and her opinions and work; and her night. Why?
Maybe the stress... it was so bad. Then, as new problems appeared, the workload became more and more unbearable. And the worst part was that no matter how hard you worked, things just kept going downhill. But you were too stubborn, too angry, to admit your ideas weren't working. You convinced yourself that magic would fix everything. You and everypony else just needed to work harder. The truth was that things just got more and more out of your hooves.
Luna knew that, but she still respected you, and she put all differences behind. She kept trying to help, presenting you with her little ideas that would help fix things... you knew she was intelligent and capable, even if her ideas weren't perfect, they would have helped. You could have listen to her, at least about fixing the day and night lengths. But nooooo, there had to be another solution, and it had to be you who'd find it. You were the big bad alicorn princess that could fix everything. How could you let your pride get the best of you like that?... You were just sooooo mad. So mad your plans and ideas kept failing, so mad things didn't turn out as you expected.
Then that day... --You were in a terrible mood and as stressed as you had ever been, there had been many weeks since the last day you had slept-- She showed herself before you, to face you with the truth. Most problems were your fault. She was not nice nor understanding, and she even called you a foal and a tyrant. Darn it, she used the Voice. On you!... Did you deserve it? Most probably. Even if she was rude, you had been rude many times too. But somehow you snapped. Suddenly all you wanted was to shut her up, because In your mind she was mocking you, everything she said sounded like: "Poor little Tia can't do your job right, look at all you've done wrong, only I can fix it." And then you got that monumentally terrible idea! What were you thinking? More like... were you thinking? At all? I seriously doubt so. Yes, you were mad, yes you were stressed, but for Heaven's sake! It was your sister! How could you so evilly desire to make her feel as miserable as you were?
You released all your frustration on her; as if everything were her fault. You even surprised yourself at how cruel your little plan got, accurately hitting your sister's sore spots. Then you both got into a fight, attacking and insulting each other, like some common ruffians... Finally she ran away; probably feeling terribly.
Do you know what happened next Celly? Your sister came back after a few days, transformed into a wicked monster that had to be sent to the moon. I hope you are proud.
"Alright! Yes, I doomed all of Equestria and then banished the only pony I trusted that could help me save it," she said between her teeth, despair in her voice. Her muzzle was completely wet and many more tears were falling to the grey stone floor. Her pace had become slow and wobbling. Her head and ears as low as they could get. She had been finally releasing her emotional charge.
Suddenly the mare stopped and raised her head, looking to the clear blue sky. She sobbed a few times and then screamed, "We are SO DOOMED!" She kept staring up as the echo of her voice faded.
Wait... the sky? After some panting, the alicorn turned to her surroundings. "Where am I?"
She had been aimlessly wandering so it took her a moment to recognize the place. The Castle of the Royal Pony sisters had been built around a smaller building. The place had a look a lot smaller and simpler than the hallways she had been walking through moments ago. She was on what once had been the entrance hall of the original construction, a big room with a straight central stair that had led to the second story.
Now it was more like an empty space with rubble all around. The building was practically gone. There was just one last wall standing to her left. It used to be a door there, but now there was just a hole on it. The mare got closer to it. A corridor was still there; it had holes in its left wall, but somehow was still on hoof.
A voice from her past spoke from the depths of the corridor. It was the voice she wanted to hear the less. "I will NOT lower the Moon... "
"The end started here." The white mare furrowed her brow and gave a step back. Her eyes filled with tears again. She turned around and started leaving the place.
Another voice from her memories interrupted her, "No, I'm not afraid... A-Are you?... " This time it was the voice of a young filly.
The pony turned around. She stared at the opening, clearly remembering her little sister's scared face from that day. She used her hoof to clean her face from the tears. "Of course I'm not afraid, only little foals are," she said with a serious yet determined voice.
She went inside the wrecked corridor and walked till she reached a black, metallic door to her right. It was open wide. The first four steps of a steep stone stair were barely visible in the threshold. Beyond that everything was pitch black. "The basement." More like Luna's basement Celly. There was a huge hole in the wall just in front of the door. Nightmare Moon's first magical attack.
The alicorn took a deep breath and went through the open doorway.
She used her horn to light her way downstairs, and when she reached the bottom, her mind looked for the torches she knew were there and magically ignite them all.
Even lit by the torches, the stone walls remained dark and foreboding. On the floor lay a dusty, tattered old rug between two pairs of bookshelves. Another, larger bookshelf stood next to the back wall where the rug ended. At one time, these shelves had been stuffed with a myriad of books of all shapes and colors, but now most lay strewn haphazardly on the floor, another reminder of that long night.
It was right here where she had faced the black alicorn for the first time. She thought she could talk to her, she thought it was still her sister. Just another mistake.
She walked slowly, looking sadly at her surroundings. Before that fateful encounter, it had been decades, at least, since the last time she had been there.
There was a time when both she and Luna were really afraid of this place. But that was when they were very young. Once they grew up, Celestia lost her fear, but always kept feeling a bit uneasy while in this place. Luna in exchange became in love with it, she always came down there when their father wasn't using his library. After their father departed, it had become Luna's library... Luna's sanctuary.
It hadn't changed much; there were more books now but that was about it. The original bookshelves had still a few newer books placed in them. She figured they had all been organized by topic, before they got knocked all over. As she drew closer she glimpsed her father's books in one of the larger bookshelves tucked deep into the farthest wall. They had been carefully arranged on the shelf, and she didn't fail to notice the enchantments that had been placed on it. Luna's magic, keeping her father's ancient --and dangerous, for that matter-- collection safe. These will have to be removed and put into a safer place. Actually I think the full library should.
She put a hoof on the shelf and silently thanked her father, for it had been his knowledge on the Elements that have helped her defeat Nightmare Moon. Yet, she also apologised for what she did to her sister.
And now I am crying again, seriously it is not proper... Oh shut up! All your family is gone Celly, you are gonna be alone for the rest of eternity; the hay that gives you the right to cry.
She softly sobbed for a moment, before looking around. To her left was the door to the lower levels. It was metallic, grand and imposing, engraved with two symbols: a pair of bones forming a cross and a four-pointed star. A shiver ran down her spine.
"Afraid are we?" Another memory. She swore she could see the smirk on her sister's face. "... the place has lots of levels... yes I've been all over it... it's nice down there, quiet. There is also a lot of wasted space, I could use it... of course I won't disturb anything."
The white mare took another deep breath and magically opened the door. This chamber was darker even than the library. The white alicorn's eyes could barely pierce it. Somehow it was thicker and heavier than before, like it had been designed to turn prying eyes away. Even so, she was able to sense torches hidden within the swirling darkness before her. She used her magic just like she did in the library. The torches had been placed there by Luna, and did a poor job at illuminating the space. However, it had obviously been enough light for the dark alicorn. The sight was impressive nonetheless, and unsettling. She had known that big chamber; it was indeed a wasted space back in the day. Not anymore.
In front of her was her sister's laboratory. So, those stories weren't all just gossip after all. She entered it, looking around uncomfortably. It was expansive yet cramped; there were a number of passages leading every which way. Within the nooks the white mare beheld a number of strange, magical implements: a cauldron, a forge, an enchanting table etched with runes, several metallic implements of unknown applications, a glowing crystal ball set on top of yet another table and plenty of shelves lined with bottles, filled with unidentified substances.
As she walked around the alicorn felt some uneasiness, but her sister's lingering presence in the place was soothing. It just felt like her. How everything had its place, but at the same time felt randomly ordered. The way the lights made possible to admire the place but also create mysterious shadows on the corners. She had transform the creepy place in an even creepier place, but somehow comfortable. That is Luna for you, confounding but fascinating. The scaredy filly that transformed into the undaunted mistress of the night, through and through. The Princess everypony feared... The one who tried the hardest to do the best for them... Irony... she was good at that.
Something that she just noticed was the fact that there were no books or notes anywhere, nothing left around the tables, no experiments without finishing, no brews in the making. Did you plan not to come back? Or perhaps you knew there was a chance you wouldn't be able to.
She was not sure what to do of all this stuff, or if she could use some of it, and it was too dangerous to let other ponies come in here. So, the mare decided to trust her sister and leave the place alone, just like she did.
"How many things did you do in here without me finding out?" she wondered quietly, while coming out through the door. "I will never know." With a loud clank, the door was magically sealed behind her.
Once back in the library, she walked past the big bookshelf. Right at the wall in the corner of the big room were two smaller bookcases. A glimpse of a small desk could be seen beside them.
She remembered there was a fireplace, so she focused her magic, a warm fire appeared right behind the desk, covering the full corner of the library in its glow. The alicorn stared curiously. The fireplace was large and ornately carved. Next to it hung a large piece of parchment that she was not able to make out. In front of it sat a large and inviting plush carpet. On top of the carpet lay a worn blanket and cushion as well as a well-used desk situated at the edge. There was a nearly-depleted candle set in a bracket on top, as well as a smattering of old scrolls littering the top. Crumpled-up bits of parchment were scattered all around the desk, as if someone had begun to write only to not be happy with it and toss it away disgustedly.
She magically grabbed one of those discarded pieces of parchment and gave it a look. The paper was directed to her, and she had a very good idea what the final product had been. So, that scroll is the last thing you wrote. She cleaned the floor and desk from all the papers. You did have hope of coming back here. "I wonder what else did you wrote at this place." She turned to the small bookcases, those hadn't been there before.
The closer bookcase seemed to contain a set of numerous, oddly-numbered notebooks. The notebooks were all unmatched; no two were alike, all featuring different colors, sizes, shapes and thickness. She grabbed one, marked as A-6, with her magic and opened it. "Luna's hornwriting..."
Tidal Waves. A-6
By Princess Luna of Equestria.
(Linked from the beginning: Weather A-1, pages 36, 109)
(In the 360 Calendar Manual, page 78)
"What is this?" She turned the page and read. "Original Tidal Wave Control Project. Rejected by Celestia on..." She gasped, almost dropping the notebook. Then she remembered. "I charted perfect moon patterns through the night sky that will keep those tidal waves manageable..." , Her eyes were wide open, "She... wrote that down!... Well, obviously." The mare skimmed trough the notebook. It was written in a journal format, with notes, mathematical equations and graphs all around. There were even notes between the lines that referred to other notebooks. Though she was a cultured pony she had to admit some of it was too advanced for her. Gratefully there were synopsis and explanations here and there.
The moon moves west to east in our sky, just to balance the sun attraction. However, it seems to move east to west because, unlike the sun, that is moved a lot faster, Equestria rotates faster than the moon is forced to orbit around it. (See Astral Control A-3 page 25). This spin of our entire system keeps it all balanced. So tidal wave control has a limit. To be able to change the attraction the moon has on Equestria, the moon was given an oval-shaped orbit, so the moon is not always the same distance away from Equestria. Adapting that orbit is easy, but the night length needs to be stabilized (THEORY DONE 360 Calendar Manual page 45) before finding the perfect paths that will work periodically. The original tidal wave project's moon charts show the prototypes of these perfect orbits. The point where the moon comes the closest, called perigee, and the point where it comes the farthest, called apogee, are the markers for these orbits and would change every night throughout a thirty day period.
Note on the three hundred and sixty-day calendar (360 Calendar Manual page 99): the moon's revolution around Equestria is measured in synodic months and sidereal months (See Astral Control A-3 page 39). With a bit of control both can be rounded to be thirty days long. This adds to this tidal wave project and the phases of the moon; thus, that confirms the definitive length of the new month of Equestria: thirty days.
"Three hundred and sixty-day calendar? Months thirty days long?... What is this Luna?" The white mare was intrigued, there were many notebooks. "Did you write all this?" She grabbed a couple more notebooks. Effectively they all had her sister's hornwriting. She rifled through a few more of them. Her sister had obviously been working a lot on these... projects, is the word she seemed to have used to describe what she had been doing. It is quite interesting, and perhaps... helpful. Yes, of course! Her ideas can help bring the solutions I need. After foalishly rejecting so many of them, now is my chance to redeem myself a little. But you are going to need help Celly, this is definitely more that you can chew. Look at you, you are already lost in all this information.
She sighed and decided to put the notebooks back in place. She then searched for one that look like a good starting point, maybe there were one numbered A-1?
The alicorn looked for a moment but couldn't find it, she stopped to rub her eyes. They felt puffy. Of course you are tired, it was a long night after all. The tired pony smiled at her silly pun. She looked at the fire and yawn, conjuring the memories of her sister relaxing right there in front of that fireplace.
"Do you want to join me? I got a cozy fire... and tea~" She knew how that memory went, she had said she was busy, and asked her sister to go finish her work.
"I would love to Lu." The notebooks were not going anywhere.
She went to lay down on the cushion in front of the fireplace. I wonder, how long did Luna sleep here? I didn't know she was not comfortable on Canterlot until recently. Heavens Celly, every hour or so you discover something that makes you an even worse sister. She stared at the blanket on the rug, gently grabbed it with her mouth, held it in her hooves and hugged it. Then something fell from it. It was another notebook.
She magically picked it up and looked at it closely. It didn't have a number like the others. The mare opened it. There were a couple of blank pages and then an entry. It was dated some years ago. "Luna's hornwriting again... Oh my goodness, is this a diary?" The mare snapped the notebook close, she didn't want to peer into something that private, but then she thought again. Luna was gone for good. Whatever she wrote, it was better than just memories.
I need to write this down, things are starting to look detrimental, and now I am worried. Celestia is not listening to me anymore, no matter what I do. What did I do to her? She used to trust me. She
Whatever, that is not why I'm writing here. I got a great idea and I need to focus my mind. Yesterday I finished the first pages of the New Calendar Project, that idea could really work, but for today I had other priorities. I finally wrote down the supplement from the Tidal Wave Control Project that Celestia rejected a few years ago, I had already made the necessary changes to the moon orbit, but now with a little calculation every night (assuming I can nightly find out an approximate of what the "Charming Sun Princess" wants the night to last) I will be able to diminish the floods caused by the tides 20% more. Celestia won't even find out. Hate to do this on her back but I have no choice.
Tonight she basically told me to stop any attempts to convince her to change anything. Now I have to send whatever I see is needed to her as a memo, and then she would decide if it's done or not, but I can't talk to her. I'm so sad, because talking to her has been, you know, so pleasant. And telling her about the too long day's repercussions for the umpteenth time would make such a difference. But seriously, I bet most of my ideas won't be read beyond the second line. She just listen to me when I talk about my administrative chores or tax reforms or
Whatever, whatever, focus. I decided to link my New Calendar project with my renewed tidal wave project. After the deeper research I just started on the weird weather the random days and nights provoke, I can clearly see the relations between the two projects. I'm going to rewrite the original Tidal Wave Control Project, in a cleaner way, and I'm going to try to do the same with all the research that could possibly relate. I'm confident that some of my other failed attempts to regain a little of stability may be useful to improve the calendar idea. If I can do this, this new project will be a safe valve, and I'm ready to work real hard to make sure it will work. There is not much time before the end maybe a decade or so.
I hope it doesn't get too bad before Celestia realizes how wrong things are. No, I have to be positive, she will notice, she has to. I'll just wait, and when she is ready to listen this combined project will be really advanced.
The notebook was, as the big alicorn realized while she kept reading, half a diary half a journal. It contained much more than she expected. This journal was the key to the other notebooks. Luna filled the pages with her ideas on how to organise all her research and even celebrations on her discoveries. "Three hundred and sixty, yes, that is the magical number, so to speak. The new year will have three hundred and sixty days. I explained every detail on the first pages on the biggest notebook I found on Canterlot's writing material shed. There's no way to miss it. I'll write down how to go from notebook to notebook there. It will be like a manual of sorts." And so, she read her sister's journal, and finally started to understand some of the intricacies of this project; and her sister.
It was also a diary, filled with emotional passages, disregarded a paragraph later as unimportant. But for the white mare reading her little sister's feelings was important. The younger alicorn had been under a lot of pressure too. She had never been good treating other ponies. Without her big sister, and with so much work, she just had dismissed developing her social skills. Luna resorted to being assertive with other ponies, far too assertive. "Why are they afraid of me?" she had written. "I just went to the castle because her "Mighty Royal Highness" asked me to, is not as if I like to see their terrified faces staring at me as if I was going to rip their heads off. Maybe I should rip their heads off, so they have a reason to be afraid." Luna felt unappreciated, because she was treated like that. Both she and the night were, in the best case, disregarded, but mostly feared. And it was getting to her.
And it's your fault, the way you always spoke of it, you almost made it sound as if day was life and night was dead. She wanted everypony fully awake during the day, and there was a point nights were so short, she needed the ponies to never consider staying awake through the night. Look how well that worked. The night shift was avoided like a plague. She had just read how her sister had dissolved her royal guard, since nopony wanted to be on it.
But the worst were the parts about her, Celestia. Her sister went from referencing her with sarcastic compliments as "The charming and beloved Sun Princess", to calling her a foal, a jerk, a tyrant, and what seemed to be her favorite combination during the last entries: Tyrannical jerk. At first Luna had hoped she would accept everything she was doing just didn't work. Little by little that hope disappeared. At the end, Luna was in despair, angry and completely alone.
After reading a page that was mostly many splodges of ink, and hurting words against her and other ponies, she could see perfectly well where Nightmare Moon had come from. It seemed those horrible things Nightmare did crossed Luna's mind at some point. She was not sure what kind of magic had awakened the evil mare, but she was indeed there in those pages.
She finally made it to the last entry, dated about a week ago:
I'm done with this. I have to make her listen. I'd force her to listen if only I had enough power. I'd show that ty
The was another splodge of Ink. She calmed down.
All has been in vain, all the projects. She would never listen. I have no choice. I'll face her.
I'm not sure what's going to happen. I can't approach her with power. I need to write something down to back me up, a clear explanation of the problems, yes. Maybe forcing her to read that would be easier.
Anyway I have to face her. I seem to be Equestria's only hope. There's no turning back.
And that was all.
She took a moment to consider what she just read. The mare stood up, with the journal on her magical grasp, and looked at the notebook filled bookshelves. Part of her wanted to forget everything that had led to the creation of them. It had been her mistakes after all. And Luna sacrificed so much. But what lay in front of her represented hope. Her sister's brilliant ideas at her reach. A carefully crafted plan to follow.
I need to prepare myself to present this project on Canterlot. She just needed two things. First the 360 Calendar Manual. As Luna wrote, it was easy to find, if you knew what you were looking for, a big black notebook thick like a book. She grabbed it and opened it over the desk.
The second important thing had been right in front of her all this time. The calendar design. It was the big piece of parchment hanged beside the fireplace, most probably conjured by Luna. It had drawn on it all the basic structure of the new calendar and there were also many written notes.
She got close to it and gently touched it with her hoof. "I'm going to need help deciphering it. But my little ponies are clever. We will. I know we will."
At that moment something nagged at the back of her head. "The sun is setting!" She had spent the whole day there.
A sense of dread crawled into her. The night had to come. From now on, it was her responsibility, but she was very bad at raising the moon. Suddenly she got an idea. She turned to Luna's diary and looked for the answer to her prayers. A small basic guide to control the Moon. She was lucky Luna wrote that down since it was not part of the New Calendar Project.
She climbed up the stairs, and went out the corridor. She flew up into the surviving parts of the higher levels of the old castle. She found a terrace, though only half of it remained. She stood in there, providing the sunset. Soon the sky was empty.
"Do you like it?" This time the memory in her head slightly startled her. "Well... Do you?" The memory of that night hit her with full force.
She stood still for a moment, and then closed her eyes while trying to remember the words she had spoken, "I do..." She remembered herself smiling brightly while gazing at the sky. "But... aren't you a little... too old and busy for star drawing. The night sky... is beautiful already, it's fine."
"Nonsense. You love new constellations and I'll always have time to make you smile. You've been too serious lately. Besides, I don't think it's perfect just yet. I can make it prettier, you'll see."
A single tear streamed down her muzzle. The image of her sister's cocky smile flooded her mind.
That night... I thought on telling her... 'You have some talent Lu. Is it a dragon with a cold?' hm. But I didn't. Celly, you should have at least told her the first part.
The sigh returned, the mare stood there in the broken terrace. It was time to raise the Moon...
That slippery rock... Is gonna take a while to get it right.
The new night bringer skimmed through her sister's little guide. It was a bit confusing but she trusted that she could understand how to put the Moon in a safe path. "Let's see, in a nutshell... er keep it on course, don't rush it, don't move it too close. Um, I think I can manage." She braced herself as her horn glowed, and the Moon began to rise. She didn't dare to look at it.
Focus Celly, the Moon will tell you where she usually goes, just like the Sun does.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes while focusing her magic. There were indeed small traces of magical paths. The Moon was carefully moved onto the one closer to what the notes described.
I just hope you didn't end up creating a flood or something.
She had already provoked some in the nights prior to the "endless" night. There weren't that bad, but with the situation as it was, creating even the slightest problem was definitely not a good idea.
The alicorn used her magic again to double check the path the Moon had taken; it seemed to be far enough and on course. With yet another sigh, the white mare prepared herself to fully bring the night.
She had never tried to call upon the stars. She actually forgot about them after Luna left Canterlot. She would try tonight.
She took a sit and slowly raised her head towards the night sky. "Here goes nothing."
Her magic made her horn gleamed once again. She looked for the stars beyond the sky.
For all that is magical... there are too many! Come on Celly you can do it.
Of course she could, if her sister could, she could. She just needed to focus. Once more she closed her eyes and put all her magical power into it.
"There!" she said before she started panting. She looked at the sky and there they were... about 100 visible stars.
"WHAT!?"
She looked at the stars, so few in comparison; and not a full constellation in sight. Not even close to what her sister could do. It was so sloppy, it was shameful, it was... ridiculous, in a very sad way. And yet she laughed at herself. "You win this one Luna. I hope you are happy to know your stars can still make me smile." The glorious Equestrian night sky would probably take a while to shine again, if at all. But the new night bringer didn't lost hope.
"I'm sure she left some instructions somewhere... Right?" She looked at the Moon, and then her mouth opened in shock. There, on the Moon's face, the profile of a unicorn mare could be seen. She composed herself and sighed one more time, then promised herself it would be the last one.
The night was not perfect, actually it was as far from perfect as it could get. But it would have to do for now. Now there are a lot of notebooks to read, and things to do... er after I take a nap, no more overworking for you Celly, it affects your brain. "It makes me... grumpy!" She shivered at the thought.
The alicorn rose and extended her wings. With one last sad stare at the Mare on the face of the Moon, the big sister spoke, "Rest assured all your work was not in vain. You did save Equestria, you know?"
o-o--o-o--o-o--o-o--o
By the time the last memories of that day played through her mind, Princess Celestia had already cleaned up the notebooks and scrolls from all of her chamber. A small tower of notebooks hovered gently besides her covered in the yellow glow of her magic.
After making sure she didn't forget anything, the Princess walked towards the big white doors of the room. She had to return the notebooks to the library as early as she could, in case any member of the committee needed any of them.
Before stepping through the door, she gave the notebooks one last contempt stare. And that is just another reason you should never forget her Celly. You must never forget, who was the pony who saved Equestria. |
Equestria Age | pre | Hours past Applejack trotted to her home Sweet Apple acres, she and her friends arrived in town five minutes ago and Applejack wasn't too happy, for one it was the fall harvest, secondly Big Mac hurt himself- again. Turns out one of the apple trees Big Mac bucked had a broken limb and said limb decided to make friends with one of his hind legs, with it some colorful language was spoken. Of course Applejack shouldn't be too angry, Equestria was being threatened by some unknown creatures and honestly she'd rather help Equestria and find out what's going on. She sighed, with the fall harvest coming up and Bic mac out, that left her sister Applebloom and Grannysmith and neither of them were capable of apple bucking.
Reaching sweet apple acres, she was waved to by Granny who sat in her rocking chair on the porch reading an old book. Applejack smiled warmly finally reaching home, but now came the hard part, explaining to Granny the whole situation, minus the fact that she and Rainbow dash were a thing now.
Stepping up to the porch she greeted the elderly mare "mornin Granny, is Apple Bloom here?" Granny looked up from her book.
"Mornin Applejack, Apple Bloom playing with her friends, with Big Mac injured ah sent a letter to Braeburn an his kin to help with the harvest.-" she marked her chapter and closed the book "- ah figured with Mac out ah get some help for ya.". Applejack bit her lip, Granny looked at her with worry "is somethin wrong dearie?"
Applejack sighed "Granny ah won be here for the buckin". The elderly mare looked confused, Applejack loves to buck apples, yet she won't be here for the fall harvest.
"Why? Is something wrong, did something happen?!" Applejack sadly nodded and began to explain what happened in Canterlot, she explained everything minus her and Rainbow dash. When she was done, she watched her grandmother's face contort into understanding, nodding as she Accepted her granddaughter's dilemma.
She was about to speak but Granny Smith raised her hoof and stopped her "sugar plum ever since your parents died, you, Applebloom and Big Mac have been the light of my day. I promised them I would take care of you, but with your bravery, honesty and courage I realized when I made that promise, it wasn't me who made that promise it was your father. When you became one of the elements of Harmony, we knew you'd be looking out for not only Equestria, but your family as well-" she put her hoof on applejacks cheek, her granddaughter tearing up "-your parents would be very proud of you, now go save Equestria ah'll let yer sister know your here".
Applejack sighed, Granny smith supported her one hundred percent, not because she's a bearer of harmony, but because of her parents, smiling she remembers them well, but at times she couldn't recall certain memories. As she walked up to her room she remembered the last moment she saw them, Applebloom was one at the time and she barely remembers them at all. There were times she asked Granny what happened and when she did Granny would break down in tears, Applejack doesn't blame her, after all she remembers what happened and it's been four years since.
Reaching her room she exhaled a breath stopping herself from tearing up. It worked, but now not only is the old memory fresh in her mind, she needed to pack for this expedition and she started with the essentials. Applejack wasn't really a picky mare, not like Rarity who would bring a dress to Appleloosa in a hundred degree weather, no she was more down to earth and would ruff it any day of the week. Since they were going to go by boat for the majority of their journey, Applejack was prone to get seasick, she was fine after leaving the port in shallower water, but open water the floodgates open. Going to the bathroom she looked in the cupboard and took out her seasickness pills, putting them in a small duffel bag she began to pack other things: extra scrunchies, her apple field journal if their were any new apples, a quill and ink, survival knife, flint and steel, three gallon water jug, dried apple slices, two pony tent and some erotic reading material. Whenever she was on long trips her special reading material always entertained her, though it was mostly a magazine than an actual book titled 'play pony', she got into it after Big mac showed her his stash. After packing a few more items she decided to rest a bit, laying down, she took a quick nap. It was going to be hours before the train arrived, so it wouldn't hurt to freshen up.
A few hours passed and the sun was high in the sky signifying it was mid day, window knocking woke Applejack up, looking out Rainbow Dash Waved to her. Getting up she went over to her window and opened it, inviting Rainbow dash in.
"Sorry to wake ya Aj, I wanted to see if you were ready.". The cyan mare replied she was quite excited to go on this expedition, mostly because she and applejack would be with her friends and have some 'alone time'.
While applejack began to finish packing she listened while Rainbow began to talk about them "you know Aj last night was good and all, but do you think it will work out between us?" applejack looked at her curiously, she knew where she was going, the law in Equestria that prohibits same sex marriage is a bit daunting.
"Of course I do sugarcube-"Applejack replied, for a while now both mares had feelings for each other, it just blossomed when they first proposed in the castle. "-all we have to do is keep our relationship a secret, most ponies won't understand and that's all right. What scares me is what Granny Smith and my family will say, especially one certain pony in my family.". She remembers him all too well, Bloodapple, he is a pony that has been kicked out of the family reunions on multiple occasions and not just for getting drunk off cider. The last time he was here was during the last reunion before Twilight Sparkle arrived, he had to be kicked out for forcibly trying to have his way with Appletart, fortunately Big mac stopped him and the two went at it, big mac eventually won. This last incident permanently excluded him from any more reunions, but that didn't stop him from stepping on Applejack's property the day after, was he there to apologize, no he was there to insult and try to flirt with her. To this day, many apple family ponies have requested to kick Bloodapple out of the family, but it's not that easy, hes been known to have his ways.
Applejack finished up, went over and kissed Rainbow dash "i assure ya hun it will work, yall have ma honest word.". She kissed her again, but was caught when Applebloom walked in on them, she stared at the two not sure what to do.
"Uh Applejack why's your mouth on Rainbow dash" Applejack ended the kiss while blushing profusely, she was completely embarrassed at that moment, luckily for her rainbow dash knew what was going on and helped her out.
"Applejack had a hair stuck in her mouth, she wanted me to get it out" Rainbow dash lied, applejack looked at her not believing rainbow lied to her sister, the cyan mare lipped 'you owe me'.
Taking part in the white lie Applejack played along "yea ah has a nasty hair lodged in ma mouth been there for hours, that's why ah asked Rd to help me get it out". The two mares smiled nervously, but were relieved when Applebloom just shrugged it off.
"Anyway Granny Smith said yall were going on a trip, mind if i tag along and bring my friends, we could explore and get our cutie marks!" Applejack shook her head, she didn't like it one bit, where they're going is far too dangerous for any foal to explore at.
"Absolutely not, where we're going Applebloom is not for young fillies, this is from the top from the princess Celestia herself!" Applebloom sighed, sad she couldn't go, but if it came from the top then it's far more important than her and her friends cutie marks and hearing it now in her head meant that this mission is far too dangerous even for her. Disappointment leaving her she perked up, maybe she could have applejack bring her something back from where she was going.
"Well that's okay, can you bring me something back though as a souvenir" she smiled hoping her big sister would say yes.
Applejack rubbed her sisters hair and bow tie "sure ting sugarcube I'll get yall something. Anyway RD and i need ta get going train will be arriving shortly and we don't want ta miss it-" Applebloom bounced in joy excited to get something from another land, before applejack left however she leaned in towards her sister "-say hun mind if ya keep this here secret about the 'hair thing' from everypony else, including your friends" Applebloom nodded she could keep it a secret if it was that embarrassing, then she'll help her sister.
Leaving the farm house they waved back to Granny smith and Applebloom, both of them wishing the two mares well on their journey, once they were out of view Rainbow dash wrapped her wing around Applejack. They were both excited, once they hooked up with their friends they'll begin their journey, unaware the mares didn't know the dangers they were going to face. |
Equestria Age | Lost but not forgotten | Chapter 7: Lost but not forgotten
A few hours, that's all it took just a few hours, Applejack rested after packing most of her needed essentials, so instead of waiting those few hours she decided to rest and nap those few hours. Little did she know, Granny Smiths words to her about her parents being 'proud of her' kept reverberating in her mind, sitting back up she teard up, the day her parents died made her believe it was her fault. Whenever she remembered it, it was clear as day, a day she didn't want to remember, yet she did and she tried to change her thoughts to something else. She tried desperately to remember she has a marefriend Rainbow dash, her longtime friend and competitive partner, but her mind soon went south picturing Rainbow dash in danger and blaming herself for her death. Tears fell to her comforter as she tried to blot out the memory, or desperately change it, but all she could think about was her blame, her failure, her mistake on that one fateful night. Laying back down she finally closed her eyes, hoping to get some semblance of rest, yet her pain returned and it returned in full force.
-4 years ago-
Rain, dark gray clouds loomed overhead, the rain it held poured over Ponyville, most ponies would be inside keeping dry others such as the pegasi would maintain the weather until further notice. Yet one earth pony, an orange mare sat on her haunches over two graves, she looked down upon them, her tears mixing in with the rain, the Stetson she was given rested on one her fathers tombstones. Looking upon the stones were the names of the deceased ponies "Bright Macintosh and Buttercup" etched below their names representing who they were "loving father, loving mother may you go with Equestrias grace". The orange mare sobbed, falling upon her fore hoofs she cried, her blonde mane and tail getting dirty from the mud, opening her mouth she tried to speak, but nothing came out.
"Applejack! Applejack! Where are you!?" Applejack's ears swiveled to the sound of an elderly mare calling, looking back she watched Granny smith, her grandmother now caretaker trotted up to her.
"Applejack! What in Celestia's name, why are you out here! Come back inside sugarplum or you'll get sick!" Applejack just sat there laying on her stomach unmoving, all that could be heard was the rain and light sobbing coming from her. The elderly mare sat beside her granddaughter and rubbed her back, she too missed her son and daughter in law, but not enough to get sick over.
"Applejack please come inside, it's been three days, you need to eat something.". She's seen her granddaughter out by their grave stones for three days, either sobbing or just sitting there. Slowly she calmed down, whipping her eyes as she looked up at Granny smith.
"I just-" she began trying to find the right words "-i should've done something and now they're dead... because of me!" the elderly mare looked at her granddaughter in the face.
"Now you listen here sugarcube, it is not your fault, nopony knew that attack was going to happen, not even you, so please for the love of Celestias flank, don't blame yourself" she embrace her tearing up herself, the attack scared everypony in their family, she remembered the terror and aftermath, but applejack saw it all.
-four days earlier-
-GRUNT-THUNK-
Powerful hooves struck one of the many appletrees in Sweet apple acres, Bright Macintosh panted catching his breath, he looked around many family members from other apple farms helping with the apple bucking in Ponyville. Yet this harvest proved to be more difficult since there were reported sightings of timberwolves in the Everfree forest and to make it harder the apple trees were being affected by the forest. He didn't know how the trees were affected, some unicorns from Canterlot believed it to be a seasonal occurrence and would pass on its own. Getting relief from that, it helped him understand why the trees were harder to buck, but that didn't calm his worry down with the timberwolf sightings and he was worried. The usual timberwolf pack consisted of three to five, this reported one consisted of thirty, and was recorded to be the largest one ever seen.
Bright mac shook his head of worry, the last reported sighting of the pack was on the other side of the Everfree towards Canterlot and nowhere near Sweet Apple acres. Grunting he bucked the apple tree a bit harder, sighing as the last buck knocked the crisp fruit into the buckets below, his ears swerved when hoof steps got near him, turning to see who it was, he smiled.
"Buttercup" he smiled gleefully to her her, the two kissed
"It's time for lunch, Bright mac, everypony's gathering outside the barn. Braeburn made applecakes and Granny smith made daisy sandwiches with homemade hay fries." Brightmacs stomach rumbled, he was definitely hungry, but first he had to get the others and let them know.
"That sounds good honey, but I need to get the others first, I don't want them bucking their legs off, these trees being affected by the forest area are tougher than usual.". she nodded knowing about the trees and timber wolf sightings and both she and her husband were worried due to their three foals, Applejack, Big Macintosh, and Applebloom. Both big mac and Applejack have been helping with the bucking, but Applebloom being two years old, is still too young to buck let alone go outside, but he need not worry since Applebloom sleeps most of the day.
"I Already told the told the others honey, but i couldn't find applejack, she was supposed to be in the west orchard with you" her concern made itself known and Bright macs concern followed with. Applejack was supposed to be with him in the west orchard, but since it went much smoother than the east orchard, that left the north and south and the north was finished an hour ago. Horror made itself present as Brightmac took off towards the lunch gathering, he needed to know if his suspicions were true, but deep down he hoped they weren't, reaching the gathering he frantically asked his question.
"Has anypony seen Applejack?!" That question stopped everpony from what they were doing as they began to look around for the young mare, quickly a young teenage Braeburn trotted up to him.
"I saw her in the south orchard-" he informed "-she said she wanted to prove herself by getting a tree called 'old iron root'"
Brightmacs heart skipped a beat, old iron root is a massive appletree the size of their barn, its name comes from its bark being hard as iron, its roots being of the same strength. Old Oakwood the firewood pony and family friend tried to chop old iron root down, but its namesake was given when Oakwood's ax broke on the first swing, he even had to go to the hospital for fracturing his jaw. Now Applejack's trying to prove herself by knocking down what ponies call iron apples, not even the best apple bucker can knock one down, it's impossible, let alone dangerous, if she bucks wrong she'll break her legs. It's not the name that worries him though it's the location it's in, old iron root is in the southern orchard, which is practically next to the everfree forest and the exact spot where the timberwolf sightings were. Galloping he reached the southern orchard and was relieved to see Applejack safe, but was worried when he saw her buck old iron root. The tree stood taller than any apple tree they had in their orchard, its bark was a darker shade of brown and its branches were all twisted and gnarly to look at. What gave it its name was not just the iron hard bark it had, but the apples too, each apple was hard as iron and had a dark grayish red color to them, its leaves were too dark gray.
"APPLEJACK!!" Brightmac bellowed, he hoped he could get her running to him or hear him at least, but she couldn't as the hard bucking and distance muffled the sound. Galloping the rest of the way, Applejack soon caught sight of her father.
"Pa what's goin on?" she was taken back when he embraced her, yet her question still stood, she clearly saw the panic in his eyes.
"Applejack why in Celestia's name are you tackling old iron root, ya could hurt yerself if ya buck wrong. Now come on we must go, timberwolves have been sighted near here". He nudged her forward towards the barn, she could feel his urgency and complied and went into a trot, only to limp from iron roots ironbark.
"Pa ma legs!" she slowed and sat on her haunches, the pain was unbearable, looking over her, Brightmac became worried she might have fractured her hind legs or worse broken them, though she was walking a bit. Lifting her on his back he began to gallop the rest of the way, but didn't get far when he heard growling behind him, looking back, his ears bent in horror. Standing five meters away stood a pack of timberwolves, the one that was reported to be the largest one and ahead of them was their leader. Stepping forward snarling was a timberwolf larger than the rest made of darkened pine wood and glowing blue eyes instead of green, Brightmac knew its name as many ponies whispered its name: Razorfang.
"pa !?" Applejack cried fearfully, regretting ever going after old iron bark, but it was too late, Razorfand and its pack stood meters from them and they all looked hungry. Brightmac had to do something, he could run to the barn, but they'd catch up to him in seconds meters away or not, no he had to distract them and theirs only one thing he could do.
"Applejack i want you to run, tell everypony where i am and send help, don't look back just keep running, understood!!". She nodded and hopped off her father with a wince, he turned to face the wolves as she galloped with all her might, fighting the pain in her legs hoping to get help in time.
Two timber wolves charged both for Brightmac, he turned and gave them a quick double buck, but it wasn't over Razorfang was one of the smartest timberwolves Equestria has seen, by using careful planning and tactics to determine its target weakness. Sure enough the thing was trying to find Brightmac's weakness, four wolves soon broke off two towards him and the others, horror struck him they're going after applejack.
The young mare ran her legs burning, but the barn was in sight a few more meters and she could get help for pa, but to her horror her ears caught the sound of pursuers. Taking a look back fear enveloped her, two timberwolves were hot on her hooves and gaining, she galloped harder hoping to lose them, yet she heard them getting closer and closer. A scream behind her made her blood run cold, but it also alerted her family at the barn and fortune smiled on her when they saw she was being chased by two timberwolves. Both Big Mac and Breaburn along with a few other stallions helped fight off her two pursuers, buttercup rushed up to her worried about the wolves.
"Applejack where's Brightmac, where's your father!?" Applejack didn't get to answer when another scream bellowed from the south, Stallions and mares rushed towards the screaming hoping they weren't too late.
Arriving at the scenes the ponies were met with piles of sticks and logs of timberwolves, rushing towards the nearby snarling they hoped to find Brightmac safe, but when they arrived, they wished they arrived sooner. Razorfang stood over Brightmac, its fangs digging into his neck, as the stallion struggled to break free, Mares and stallions joined in and desperately tried to free Brightmac and fight off Razorfang. Yet the monster proved to be too strong, that is until Applejack sneaking around the beast gave a buck hard enough it blew out one of Razorfang's hind legs. It let go of her father as it screamed in pain, turning it was going to finish Applejack, but Big mac, Braeburn, Caramel and others stood by and drove the beast back into the forest.
Applejack panted she just stood up to the most feared timberwolf in Equestria, and lived she jumped a bit when she felt a hoof pat her back and looked to see Big mac, concern plastered on his face, she quickly embraced him.
"BRIGHTMAC!!!" Buttercup kneeled down to her husband who desperately tried to cling to life, applejack rushed over and saw the damage. His throat was torn open and blood was gushing out, he desperately tried to speak but his vocal cords were severed, all he could do was mouth the words 'I love you' and hooved his hat over to Applejack before he bled out.
"NO NO, BRIGHTMAC STAY WITH ME, PLEASE DON'T GO!!!" She couldn't do anything, buttercup buried her head in her lover's body and sobbed. Big Mac turned away trying desperately to hold back his tears, but couldn't and was consoled by his cousin braeburn. Applejack just looked down at her deceased father, then at old ironbark, deep down she believed it was her fault, her fault her father was killed, her fault the timberwolves attacked. Looking down at the Stetson she was given, tears welled in her eyes she didn't deserve his hat, turning she went into a full gallop back to the farmhouse and sobbed in her room.
The next day the family was greeted by princess Celestia, she heard of the attack and came by to give her condolences and help in the burial of Brightmac. Upon her leave she sent a small platoon of guard in to search for Razorfang, only to return empty hoofed informing the pack fled before they arrived. It didn't help in the matter though, Brightmac was still gone and no amount of bounty or justice can help ease everponies pain of loss.
Buttercup sat in front of Brightmac's grave, she just sat unmoving her expression hollow and unemotional, just staring at the grave her husband was put in not long ago. Granny Smith looked at her daughter and law through the window, she remembered Buttercup sending letters to her father, about his grand foals, now she might have to send a letter to him, she needs him now more than ever. Granny watched her daughter and law lay on the ground. She was worried for her, but wanted to give her time to process what happened. Going upstairs she was about to enter her room, but was almost brought to tears when she heard young Applebloom crying out, the young filly was going to grow up not knowing her father. She'll have to speak with Buttercup about being part of young Applebloom's life, but right now she needs to write a letter to their grandfather, she just hopes he'll respond.
The next morning around five Applejack awoke, hoping to start the day bucking apples and distract herself from her fathers loss, even though it still stabbed her in the heart. The pain of just thinking about it brought out some nasty voices in her head: 'it's your fault' 'you killed him' and 'he's dead because of you' are some of the voices she hears. What unnerved her the most was, she believed it, if she didn't try to tackle old ironbark her father would still be alive and they'd be happy. Her thoughts soon turn to her sister Applebloom who has been crying for her mother since yesterday, a feeling of dread filled applejack up realizing her mother hasn't come in since yesterday. Rushing out the room she checked on her parents room and her suspicions were true, the bed was empty and unmade.
Rushing outside, the sun was dawning. Applejack galloped over to her mother, who looked like she was asleep, she shook her "ma ma wake up its mornin" no answer "ma this ain't funny ya need to get up" again no reply. She leaned her head down to her mothers side and reeled back fresh tears poured from her eyes as she frantically paced "mama".
Big Macintosh woke to hear his sister Applejack crying, in a frantic rush he galloped out to see Applejack over their mother, not knowing what's going on he consoled her. He soon heard why when his sister explained through sobs, all he could do was embrace her and be strong for her, yet he couldn't help but let his tears flow out.
Another grave, everypony in the Applefamily stood around the graves of both Bright Macintosh and Buttercup. Rain poured down upon them, a rain that wasn't scheduled from Cloudsdale meant it came from the everfree and nopony knew why, but nopony cared for it covered the many tears the ponies were shedding. One by one flowers were laid upon the grave mounds while ponies said their goodbyes. Applejack was the last pony, her family was both in the barn and house, waiting for her, yet she told them to start the celebration of life without her.
Kneeling down tears formed as she began to speak "I'm sorry, I'm sorry for putting you to harm, i just wanted to be strong for you, to show i was a strong mare. I love you, I always will." laying down she began to rest by their graves hoping to feel their love and energy course through her, but all got was a broken heart.
Later that night everypony rested hoping the new day would bring healing instead of pain, but Applejack couldn't rest, the pain in her heart ached and became too strong for her to bear. It was when she had enough, getting up, she walked over and entered her house, she didn't know what she was doing, she wanted to end the pain, see her parents again, feel their love and warmth. She stood in the kitchen contemplating whether she could do it, she wanted to, she wanted to end the pain, she wanted to feel again and she went for it. Pulling a knife out of its rack, she placed it on the edge of the counter where it was firmly held by a cutting board she placed on top, tears streamed down as she lined the tip with her throat. Small clings of her tears hitting the blade was the only sound she heard, it was the moment of truth, she hoped to end the pain, not realizing she'd be causing more of it.
A green light suddenly stopped her, she watched as two figures stood above the graves of her parents, walking out she got a better look and was shocked to see two alicorns. One was a mare who had a green coat, light green main curved horn and cutie mark resembling a large tree over a globe, next to her was a stallion. He has a dark brown coat, light brown main, two curved horns and a cutie mark resembling the skull of a deer. All applejack could do was gawk at them, the only alicon she knew of was princess Celestia, she's never seen these two before, the mare suddenly noticed her, tears fell from her eyes after she saw her.
"I'm sorry young one, I'm sorry they did this to you" the mare replied in a calm and soothing voice.
Applejack looked up with tears in her eyes from the apology "who are you?"
Surprisingly the mare bowed in greeting "my name is Gaia everfree, or simply Gaia. behind me is my mate Cernunos the horned father, or father of everfree".
Applejack couldn't believe it, she was talking to the rulers of the everfree forest, the same rulers Celestia dubbed as killers, murderers even. Yet here they are apologizing to her for her parents death. "Why?"
Gaia looked at her raising her brow "come again?"
Applejack sobbed "why did ya kill my ma and pa" she sobbed harder, yet began to feel comfort as the alicorn wrapped a wing over her.
"Ssshhh-" she cooed "-it was never my intention-" she looked back "-Cernunnos".
The stallion stepped forward and began to apologize to the young mare himself "I'm sorry young one, we've been trying to deal with Razorfang ourselves, but he's always eluded us. This was an unprovoked attack by him, he only wants bloodshed, why we don't know, but he'll be stopped."
"I just wish i could see them again-" Applejack sobbed harder "-just to say a final goodbye". Gaia looked to mate and nodded, he nodded in return getting the massage and stood behind the graves and waited for his mate. Walking over behind the graves herself, Gaia motioned for Applejack to step forward. Doing so the distraught young mare stepped towards her parents' graves and stopped, she fell on her haunches weeping. She doesn't know why they wanted her to be in front of them, all she wants to do is see them again and hear their voice, one last time.
Spreading their wings, both alicorns illuminated the graves in front of them, the light soon took shape and standing over them were the spirits of Bright Macintosh and Buttercup. Applejack staggered back, taken aback at what she just witnessed, her hooves stumbled shocked at what she saw in front of her.
"The spell lasts for five minuets-" Gaia informed "-make it quick" and with a sudden flash of light they were gone.
"Applejack" Both spirits echoed in both grief and regret, grief for Buttercup for not being there for her family and regret for Bright Mac for not protecting his family from tragedy. Applejack rushed over to them, not caring if they were spirits or not and nuzzled them, tears streamed down as they nuzzled her back and both embraced her.
"We're sorry applejack-" Buttercup echoed "-I'm sorry, I'm sorry for not being there for you, Big Mac, Granny and Applebloom, but most of all I'm sorry for doing this to you. I mournfully regret doing what I did, but it was too late until I saw what I did. My grief killed me, don't let it kill you too!" Applejack's tears streamed down harder hearing their voices of regret, sorrow and apology.
"I'm sorry too-" Bright Mac began "-I should've been behind you, or led them away, but I didn't, I mournfully regret hurting you, my mother, Big Mac and Applebloom, I should've protected you from tragedy, from what was to come, don't let the same tragedy repeat itself!" a small bout of guilt washed over Applejack, she remembered the knife she positioned in the kitchen, they knew what she was trying to do and didn't want her to do it.
"Please Applejack don't make the same mistake I made, you still have your brother, granny smith and Applebloom, she needs you the most. Don't let her grow up without a sister." Buttercup pleaded a bright light began to form around them "it's time for us to go Applejack-" Bright Mac stated, as they both let their daughter go, her tears matting her facial fur "-remember we always love you." Buttercup stated, after a while the green light engulfed them blinding Applejack and upon opening her eyes her parents were gone. Laying down she began to think on what they just said, her thoughts were interrupted when it began to rain, yet it didn't stop her from thinking.
-Present day 4 years ago-
Walking up the steps Applejack opened the door to the kitchen of her home, soaking wet and cold she looked over to granny who had just put breakfast out for everypony.
"Applejack" she looked to see Breaburn coming down with Big Mac, his voice attracting Granny Smith to the soaked mare.
"Applejack, dear are you okay sugarcube?" she looked over towards one of the stallions "Caramel go get some blankets" he took off and returned with some comforters, taking them Granny threw some over applejack and helped her to the couch. Other members of the family watched the young mare walking in with a blank pale look on her face, the realization to her that she accepted the loss of her parents, yet at the same time still grieved for them.
"Applejack, why were you out so late, why was there a kni-" she stopped when she heard light sobbing come from her granddaughter "-oh applejack-" embracing her "-I'm not mad, i miss them too." she began to piece together why the knife was out and held in place. She didn't like it, but realized Applejack stopped herself to this she was grateful for.
"Applejack-" Big Mac spoke, getting his sister's attention "-this is for you" he finished hoofing over her fathers Stetson with his teeth and putting it on her head.
"Pa would've wanted ya ta have it". He said making Applejack tear up again. She would hold it close to her, whenever she could in her younger days she would always try to wear his hat, now he gave it to her, of course she would need to preserve it and find a replacement.
Hours later, Applejack sat thinking about what her mother said 'don't let Applebloom grow up without a sister' realizing what she meant, her ears caught her younger sister crying out. Going up to her, Big Mac was bottling her, usually a mare would take care of a foal, but Big Mac was feeding her, to this it surprised her. He looked up to her and began to explain.
"Ma taught me after she taught you, she wanted to make sure Applebloom was well taken care of if she or pa weren't here and added that Granny will take care of her if we aren't here". Applejack walked in the room and rested a hoof on her brother's shoulder, she looked down at her younger sister, mentally promising to protect her from harm. Whatever the cost.
Applejack slept soundly, it's been three days since her parents passed and she's slowly been accepting their passing, but the occasional bouts of crying and grief came barging in from time to time. She slowly opened her eyes, it was the dead of summer and the heat was unbearable, but something felt off as if a magical occurrence had happened. She almost jumped out of bed when Braeburn burst through her door.
"Applejack ya gotta see this!!!" he ran back down the stairs, Applejack following close behind him, she didn't even have time to put her scrunchies on, but what she would see next would pale in comparison. The whole family stood around the two graves talking amongst themselves as if in shock, pushing her way through she then saw it. Planted in between the graves was a red fire rose, nopony has ever seen one since the roses were myths. Applejack then recalled the myth: It was said two ponies fell in love, the stallion gave his mare a red rose, but a jealous stallion started a house fire hoping to kill his rival, but instead it was the mare. The stallion tried to help his mare, but was caught in the fire himself. The house was completely destroyed, but the only thing that survived was a red rose made of fire. It is said that if two creatures with a deep love for each other perish a red fire rose will grow in the center signifying their true love for eachother.
Tearing up from the legend, Applejack caught sight of the two alicorns she met days earlier on the edge of the forest, giving them a smile and a nod, they smiled back and disappeared into the everfree. Eyeing the rose she may have accepted their passing, but the graves constantly reminded her she was to blame, that she blamed herself for their deaths, and every day since.
-present-
Applejack awoke her feelings of emotion nearly bringing her to tears after dreaming about her parents, she still hasn't forgiven herself or their deaths and probably never will, knowing that it was her actions that caused it. Still she did accept their passing, but did not want Applebloom to know, it was one of the reasons she hasn't forgiven herself. However Big Mac seemed to differ, Applejack was a stubborn mare and he knew that and the only way she could forgive herself is if she corrected it by having something equally as bad happen. Of course she saw that as nonsense, but when push came to shove she sought a more spiritual guidance and sought not only Zecora, but she also attended one of the sermons at the solar towers (church of the sun). To her surprise Zecora agreed with Big Macs view, the only way to get rid of the negative energy and forgive oneself is to correct a similar incident just as bad as the first. Another way from one of the sermons was to do one of many things most of which involved a donation to the tower. One however caught her eye fulfilling an oath one made, Applejack did promise herself she would take care of Applebloom, her options were laid out.
Getting out of bed, she stretched, she didn't feel so bad now knowing she has many options to forgive herself, or try to anyway, but all of those would have to wait as she needed to get ready for an adventure of a lifetime. |
Equestria Age | Preparations PT2 | Chapter 7: preparation pt2
Twilight sparkle rushed to and fro packing much needed supplies for the trip, her supplies consisted of mostly blank stacks of paper, inkwells, several journals, stacks of quills, flora and fauna textbooks, magical studies textbooks and more. She was to say the least eager and excited to research a new land, though mostly to get the chance to increase Equestrias knowledge of magic and hopefully make new friends, if there are going to be any. All while she was doing this, Spike sat on Twilight's bed, his arms around his knees as he thought long and hard about the events that transpired in the short amount of time. A slight tear fell from his cheek, a fear welled up inside of him, a fear of loss, of what might happen, he closed his eyes hoping to block out the fear either that or stop himself from crying.
He snapped out of it when twilight called to him "spike can you help find my-" she saw tears in his eyes "-spike what's wrong, are you okay?" her lost item was soon replaced with worry, she's never seen him this emotional, or shaken up before.
In a quiet droll voice he spoke in a barely audible tone "I don't want you to go."
Twilight cleaned her ears with her hoof, she didn't catch him on what he said "w-what was that, i couldn't quite hear you". She leaned a little closer, not noticing the frustration and sadness in his clenched teeth.
"I said I don't want you to go!" tears flowed freely down all of it in a mix of anger, fear and frustration. Ever Since he was told he couldn't go, his frustration mounted, he was always treated like he didn't matter and Twilight didn't even know it, well now she will.
"Spike you heard princess Luna, you can't go because-" she was interrupted by him blowing up on her.
"Because why Twilight, because I'm a baby dragon, because I'm treated like a seventh wheel to your friends! Which is it? I saved your lives in the lab and it's like you don't care, you're chosen by Celestia, by this prophecy of harmony and yet she lets her sister deal with it! I just, I don't want to be some sidekick and seeing you in the dark creature's grip, I don't want to lose you too." he sighed sitting on a chair after going off on a small rant, it wasn't like him, but he was tired of it. Twilight sparkle stood in bewilderment, his words echoing in her mind and burrowing into it, her and her friends were chosen and they had to like it. Yet Celestia put her on this path and didn't tell her anything about it, it's like she was a tool for Celestia's gain, even when Luna came back she barely cared. Closing her eyes she sighed, she never saw this side of Spike and she was glad he spoke his mind, he was in pain and she didn't do anything, well she will now.
Going over she embraced him "I'm sorry-" she began "-I'm sorry, you feel this way, i didn't know, I'll- I'll send a letter to Luna maybe i can convince her to reconsider and let you come with us.". Ending the embrace, Twilight went to her desk and began to write the letter, once she was finished she sent it via magic instead of spikes breath, since his fire would go to Celestia.
"Thank you Twilight, this means a lot and if Luna says I still can't go, then I'll be fine with her decision". Twilight was impressed with Spikes ever growing maturity, yet something still itched in the back of her mind. If Celestia loved her sister then why didn't she care when she came back, as for the elements, why does she store them in her personal vault. She shook her head in thought 'this doesn't make sense, Celestia's my teacher, yet she's been hiding things from me. Doesn't she trust me?'. She thought long and hard and decided to ask Celestia when she came back.
Luna walked down the halls of Canterlot, at this time she usually rested, but with her sister still recovering she had to pull double duty and right now she needed the energy. Going into the castle's kitchen, she got what she was after 'coffee', downing it in seconds, she continued with her midday duties. Trekking near the hospital wing, she decided to check on her sister, but was caught off guard when she heard another voice in the room and it wasn't Radon's.
"Your highness one of our unicorns intercepted a letter directed to Luna, it seems to be a request from Twilight sparkle regarding spike. What would you want me to do with it?". Luna heard his request and waited for her sister to respond and it didn't take too long for her to reply.
"Pu-put it on my desk, I'll be released tonight and I'll read it then. You're dismissed commander" Luna heard her dismiss her commander, this made her curious, true they had their own personal guard, but not their personal army, something not right does shining armor know? She winced in worry when hoof steps echoed towards her, quickly she casted a cloak spell hiding herself from the commander, when she saw him leave, she couldn't believe who it was.
"Commander Sabre Shield" she mumbled to herself, she looked upon the earth ponies brown coat and white main, she caught a glimpse of his cutie mark to make sure it was him and sure enough it was. His cutie mark resembled a saber sword striking a shield, but what got her attention the most wasn't his cutie mark, but his armor. It wasn't gold plated steel like standard guard armor, his armor was plate and chain with orange, red and yellow cloth strips hanging off his armor, his helmet being open faced was too made of plate and chain and had a orange plume atop his helmet, his hoof plates too were made of plate and chain. As he walked past she caught sight of the insignia on his armor bathed in orange were two fanned out wings crossing each other, in the center stood a horn with what appears to be a red sun over an orange horizon. Luna's blood froze at the emblem's sight, 'it can't be!' she thought, curious more than ever she followed the commander, she had to get that letter, she'll most likely retrieve it in Celestia's room.
Luna followed the commander to Celestia's room in the solar section of the castle; it took her about an hour of stealth to reach her sister's room on the third floor, a major difference from the hospital wing on the ground floor. Luna has never really seen the solar wing, since she's been up in the midday to night, while her sister is up in the morning till midday. It saved them some much needed rest in the early hours in the day. Luna looked around the solar quarter while keeping an eye on the commander, silk flags waved gently from a nearby breeze with the same symbol tailored on them, while wall sconces were lit in areas that needed light. A thought etched in her mind for a plan, in case she needed a distraction. Waiting for a guard to pass on patrol she snuck her way to a corner and watched the commander speak to one of his subordinates. She couldn't tell what he was saying, but she didn't need to as he began to walk in the room only to walk out seconds later with a salute.
Now was her chance, she had to distract the guard, seeing he has the same armor as the commander, minus the red plume adoring his helmet, she decided to be a bit subtle. Making it look like the wind caused it, she shallow nudged one of the banners towards a wall sconce, in seconds the cloth lit up, quickly she snuck away near the door waiting for the guard to move. Fortune favored her when he rushed over after smelling smoke and calling one of his friends over, this was enough for Luna to go in and retrieve the letter. Entering her sister's room, she silently closed the door behind her, since it was still day out she didn't need a light to see what her sisters room looked like. In the middle of the room stood a queen sized bed. Its sheets were made of the finest silks in Equestria and colored a white gold, with a gold trim. Across from her bed stood her dresser made of fine mahogany and a mirror made of crystal, on it were small jars of makeup, picking one up, Luna almost had a heart attack after reading who it was made by. 'D'or Brume ' Canterlot beauty expert from Prance, his best seller in Luna's magic 'L'alicorne doree' costs five thousand bits a jar. Shaking her head for almost being light headed, she put the jar down and continued to look around, everything she's seen so far were expensive items of material gain, 'what has Celestia been doing this last millennia' she thought.
She smiled as she caught sight of Celestia's desk and sure enough the letter to her was laying on it, going to it, she opened the scroll and began to read and what she found surprised her.
'Dear princess Luna
I write to you on behalf of Spike and his part on our venture to the new land and requests to take part in our expedition, since it has come to my attention he feels alienated as if he's the seventh wheel to my friends. I would greatly appreciate it if Spike came along with us. His heroism to us is important and he's strongly worried for us. Please, I implore you to reconsider and let Spike come with us.
Sincerely yours Twilight sparkle
P.S: Is it true Celestia chose us, or was she just following a prophecy for her own gain? I only write this for the concern of my friends, I don't want to think we're just chosen for the sake of being chosen.'
Putting the letter down, Luna sat on her haunches thinking on the very thought of whether or not Spike should go with them, but something in the back of her mind told her to do it and do it she will. Using her sister's quill and ink she took a sheet of paper and began writing her response. After a while she was done, she was going to send it, but stopped, if her sister found out about it she would have a fit, but if she allowed her sister to send a response first, she could swoop in unnoticed. Holding onto it for now, she stood up and was about to leave when a file on the desk caught her eye, having the same symbol on it, she opened the file and what she read shocked her. It was the thing she feared the most and what she hoped Celestia abandoned and the many reasons why Nightmare moon was formed, project: Flare. Just seeing that name made Luna's blood run cold, in the past millennia project Flare was just talk by Celestia as an empty threat, but seeing its plans now, seeing its formation worried her. Just remembering the name brought old thoughts back and one of the thoughts was about a young colt she was with all those years ago. She couldn't dwell on it though, she may have had feelings for him, but that was a millennia ago, now she has feelings for somepony else, or somedragon.
Not wasting any time, she took several sheets of paper and used a magic copying spell on the file and its contents, along with several other files that looked important, the ones she couldn't get were magically sealed. Satisfied she went to the door, cracking it open a bit, she cursed her luck upon finding the guard back at his post, thinking she could just knock the poor bastard out, but this was a stealth mission. Instead she went for the balcony door, opening it and silently closing it behind her, she spread her wings and took flight.
Applejack trotted alongside Rainbow dash and it has been awhile since they left the farm, the two were happily chatting away, that is until Applebloom showed up. Aj loved her sister don't get her wrong, but when she heard that her big sister was going on a trip, she pleaded with her to let her come.
"Absolutely not" Applejack replied in a stern voice, she already went over this with her sister back at the house and a new world like this is no place for a filly.
"Ah come on applejack, please" Applebloom pleaded, this time using her puppy dog eyes in hopes to get Applejack to let her come, but she reeled back when Applejack sharply bellowed.
"Celestia bucking Damnit, Ah said no!!" she was quite fuming at this point, but what disgusted her was she just bellowed at her sister, but who could blame her she was trying to protect her sister, but when she cooled off she saw the hurt in her eyes. Realizing what she did, she was going to apologize, but Applebloom took off crying before her sister spoke a word and she wasn't the only one who was upset.
Rainbow dash gave a firm glare to her marefriend, how could she just yell at her sister like that, it's true she may be too young to go to this new world, but applejack didn't need to swear to her. If that was Scootaloo she would have explained it to her, she does have sympathy for her, seeing as she might be an orphan, or just wishing for a big sister. What she doesn't understand is why Applejack is so strung up and so overprotective of her sister, she recollected an incident when she was younger, Granny Smith shared a portion of the tail, stating it was the worst attack in centuries. To yell at one's sister over something like that just goes to show Applejack's scars and she doesn't like showing her scars, what's worse, she doesn't like showing her tears.
"Applebloom wait!" applejack turned, she hoped to talk to her sister and explain why, something she should have, but it was too late, Applebloom was long gone.
"I hope you're happy!" Rainbow scolded, she could clearly see the shame in Applejack as she lowered her head and shook it after words, giving her answer to the pegasus.
"I'm sorry, I- I didn't know what came over me, I just wanted to protect her" Applejack tried to find an adequate excuse, but everypony knew she was a bad liar, but knowing Applejacks protective instincts, it wasn't much of a lie, it was more fear.
"Protect her!? Aj you can't protect her all her life, what are you going to do if she wants to move or join the army? Follow her. I understand with this mission the princess gave us, but swearing at her wasn't called for." Rainbow dash let Applejack hear it, she knew Rainbow was right, she couldn't protect her all her life and knew deep down she needed to fix what she did.
"APPLEJACK!" Both mares looked behind them to see Big Mac stomping over to them, Aj's ears fell flat to her head to the point they nearly melted in, he was furious and by the look of it may have a few choice words with her. Rainbow Dash, seeing this, didn't want to be a part of this and stepped aside, knowing Big Mac, he's a no shit taking stallion and she didn't want to be in his line of fire, all she could do was watch and it didn't look pretty.
"Mind bucking explaining to me why Applebloom was crying and what she said you swore at her! WELL!!" Applejack hung her head in total shame, with her brother here he's going to let her have it.
"Luna gave us this mission regarding the creature that was found-" she explained what happened in Canterlot that day all under the fuming guise of her brother, fortunately he listened. When she finished her story regarding a dream she had of her parents and protecting Applebloom he sighed, he took a breath thinking on what he was going to say, but Applejack knew what he was going to say.
"Applejack y'all need ta stop balmin yerself, ah did tell ya it'll get ya into trouble an look what happened. Now seeing granny didn't tell me, she just said ya'll goin away for awhile, so when ya get back yer goin ta need to apologize ta Applebloom. I'll tell her why she couldn't go, like you should have, but once ya come back yer goin to tell her what happened." Applejack tried to protest, so she wouldn't tell Applebloom, but Big Mac just stared daggers and once he did that it was final. Believing he got through to her, Big Mac began to walk away. He loved his sister truly, but she can be stubborn as a mule in heat with a cold sore, yet he couldn't blame her nopony knew what would happen that day.
Applejack lowered her head in shame, her sister's upset with her and now her family's mad at her, 'maybe big mac is right-' she thought '- maybe i need to see it in another way and come to terms with it'. She felt Rainbow dash's wing fall over her back, looking up she saw pity and remorse on the cyan mare's face. Dash may have been upset, but if they are to work out they need to be open with one another. Mentally nodding she decided to tell Rainbow dash later on the train, looking up to her she kissed her.
"I'll tell ya all on the train Rd, you have a right ta know, but right now let's go see our friends". Walking together the two headed for Golden Oaks library where Twilight wanted them to meet later and seeing how the train would arrive later in the day meant they had roughly five hours to hang out.
Twilight for the most part spent time with Spike, sure she needed to pack the rest of her things for the research expedition, but after finding out Spike is in need of support , she had to help him. Right now she sat with him as they both drank some tea, he was still a bit down, but he was better for the most part, twilight was about to take another sip when knocking was heard at the door. Spike was about to get off his seat and get it, but Twilight stopped him, got off her chair and went to answer it, opening her door, she was greeted by her friends.
"Hey girls!" she smiled as she hugged them.
"Sup twilight". Rainbow greeted with a hoof bump, which twilight accepted.
"Afternoon Twi" applejack tilted her hat in greetings.
"Hi Twilight" Fluttershy shakingly greeted, of course she isn't shy around her friends for the most part, she was downright terrified of this trip, evident to her nervous shakes.
Pinkie pie rushed over and hugged twilight while speaking a mile a minute "Are-you-excited-Twilight-of-course-you're-excited-we're-going-to-another-nation-we're-going-to-have-parties-play-games(gasp)-maybe-even-make-new-friends-oh-im-so-excited-i-could-just-scream(scream)!!" Twilight chuckled at Pinkie's antics, sure she was one of her best friends, but her excitement can make ponies question if she drinks coffee twenty four seven, or is just insane.
Rarity levitated pinkie off Twilight so she could breathe "pinkie darling. It's only for three days, we're not going to be there to party or anything. Speaking of Twilight, are you packed for your trip? I've brought all the essentials". Looking outside, Twilight gawked at the wagon full of Rarity's things, it's only a trip for three days, not three years.
Twilight sighed "no i got distracted-" she said waving to her friends to come on in her home "-i was about to go out to lunch with Spike actually" she informed wanting to show Spike what he means to her.
"Really darling!-" this surprised Rarity. She's never seen Twilight act like this, she's usually more persistent with her studies. "-what's wrong did something happen, Spike okay?!" Her cause for concern made the others worry as well, soon after she told them what Spike said and were shocked.
"He really doesn't think that-" Rarity began "-does he!" she looked at her who all had a guilty look on their faces, some were even in deep thought.
"Well-" Rainbow began "-he has been treated like a third wheel, even under Celestia's rule non ponies were treated harshly. Remember when I referenced the diamond dog skirmishes, that single event made ponies question Celestia's rule."
"Ya'll still need ta tell me what happened, Rd" Applejack replied she still doesn't know what happened, but rainbow did say one of her cousins was involved with this event.
"Trust me applejack-" Twilight began "-you don't want to know" Twilight recalled what happened and just thinking about it made her sick to her stomach, but rainbow dash was right, there have been some tensions with non ponies under Celestia's rule.
"Tell me about it-" Pinkie replied, sticking her head out of a drawer "- i saw some ponies wearing some armor with orange and red coloring demanding to relinquish any thestrals.".
"Theswhat" Rainbow raised a brow, she's never heard of a thestral before.
"Thestral-" twilight started and began to explain "-they're bat ponies, many of them are believed to be cursed with Nightmare moon's influence, or were cursed pegasi".
"Thestrals! I thought they were a myth to scare foals to behave" Rarity replied, remembering what her mother and father told her if she wasn't a good filly, albeit a bit worried now since she told Sweetie Belle the same lie.
Everypony thought about what Twilight said about Spike, sure Celestia was a good princess in the past, but is she now? The whole thought brought no conclusion to their predicament, it didn't make any sense, they all supported Celestia, for tartarus sake Twilight was her student, yet when she thought about it, was she just being used as a weapon. All of this didn't make sense, Spike was a brave dragon, he stood up and protected his friends, yet he's still treated differently under Celestia's rule, when she gets back she's going to get to the bottom of this and help spike.
Ponies trotted to and fro, happily speaking to their friends, or spending time with loved ones, Twilight sparkle was one of those ponies, with enough time to waste until the train arrived, she and her friends all agreed to take Spike out for lunch. What they all agreed on was the hayburger, a recently built restaurant new to Ponyville and it was becoming a very popular spot, though not as popular as sugarcube corner. Entering the restaurant, they were met with a waitress who greeted them kindly and led them to a large round booth, after being seated they began to converse.
"So spike-" Rarity began "- we noticed you stay behind with the princess, please you must tell us and don't leave any detail out" everypony looked at spike, blushing nervously he wasn't sure he could tell them, unless they pinkie promised.
"Okay-" Spike exhaled getting ready to tell them, the mares knew he was nervous and waited patiently, well all except Rarity of course, he was nervous to tell her since he had a crush on her. Now he thought about Luna and how she showed affection towards him, something Rarity didn't do and now he's about to tell his crush, he hopes she takes it okay. "-princess Luna(exhale) she made me her consort". One by one the mares looked at him with mixed reactions, astonishment, shock, disbelief and for Rarity jealousy.
"W-g-b- WHAT!" Rarity couldn't find the words, she just couldn't, Spike, a dragon who had a crush on her from day one was going to become Luna's consort, who does she think she is?
"Please you have to keep this a secret-" Spike pleaded, ever since he first laid eyes on Luna at the gala, he felt as if he saw Rarity again, but in the moonlight, just thinking about her made his heart flutter, does he actually love her? "-if Celestia found out about this, she would be furious".
The mares just looked at eachother, still not believing what they heard, but one by one they agreed to keep his forming relationship with Luna a secret, but now they want to hear more and if he truly loves her.
"Spike-" twilight spoke in a serious tone "- i may be difficult with your relationship with princess luna, but we got to know more, why did she make you her consort?" This question sparked interest in the group, even a jealous Rarity was curious.
"I don't know-" he replied, "-she was going to say why, but she was interrupted by a guard. I think! I think she was going to say she loves me, but in all this she also named me a baron consort".
"A baron-" pinkie pie giggled "- oh spike you can't be a baron, you're not dirt" twilight just rolled her eyes, 'typical pinkie' she thought and began to explain.
"Pinkie a baron is a title of nobility given by either king, queen or princess and usually given to those who were either in the military or did an honorable deed-" she looked over to spike "-I'm quite proud of you spike, but you still didn't answer why she made you a baron consort, that title is rarely given". Her friends too wanted to know, ever since he saved them they realized his potential for being a seventh member of their group, but to hear he's to be nobility made them even more proud of him.
Spike from there on began to explain why Luna made him a baron "she wants me to look into the strange things happening in Equestria, she also wants me to look in on the corrupt nobility and figure out who's leading them". This made much more sense, but also showed how dire the situation is and how dangerous it could be.
"Spike, what Luna's putting you through is dangerous, i'd go against it, but if i went to Celestia it could have serious repercussions, all i can say is be careful, the nobility won't take kindly to snooping".
"Don't worry Twilight i'll be careful". All the mare could do was nod, yet she still felt uncertain and it worried her. Sure Spike is a brave dragon, but the nobility are dangerous, but if anypony can figure out what's going on, it's Luna.
After eating and paying for their lunch, the mares and dragon made their way to the train station where they were to meet their escorts and transportation to Sun Falls. On the way they enjoyed the stroll and sights of Ponyville, deep down twilight felt this will be the last time she sees Ponyville and a slow walk through town made sure she'll remember every bit of it. Their light stroll was soon interrupted when Spike flame burped a letter, letting fall in his hand, he read it allowed for his friends to hear.
"Dear Twilight
I received your letter, but I'm sorry to fulfill your request. You, along with your friends, have been tasked with this mission. I have noted Spike's bravery and he'll be rewarded for it, but he is no bearer of harmony, I'm sorry, I will make sure he is well taken care of.
Princess Luna
P.S: you have been chosen by the elements, i didn't choose you".
Lowering the letter Spike just stood their tears streaming down his eyes, the mares just stood there furious for what the letter said and appalled by the princesses response. Yet something was off, taking the letter Twilight looked over at the writing and sure enough it was Celestias. Twilight hasn't had the chance to view Luna's letters, but Celestias, she knew her writing and this was Celestia pretending to be her sister, when she gets back she's going to have a little chat with her teacher.
"Princess Luna has some nerve" Rainbow dash spat, she was livid and wanted to tear the princess a new one, stating he was no bear of harmony didn't matter to her, Spike showed bravery with or without an element.
"She has no care" Applejack agreed, though that letter sounded fishy, being the element of honesty she could spot out a lie and that letter is a written lie. 'What is the princess hiding?' she thought.
"Don't worry spike, I'm here for you-" Rarity cooed rubbing spikes head "-you don't need some careless princess, now do you my little spikey wikey" that name drove the dragon up a wall and over it, it sounded as if Rarity was jealous of Luna.
"Keep it behind your tail Rarity!" Rainbow spat, she could tell Rarity was buttering up spike, so she could keep him all for herself, she knew she dated stallions who only wanted her or had other mares chase after them. Rarity had some nerve to do it to Spike.
Rarity glared at the cyan mare and stormed over, everypony knew Rarity and Rainbow had a thing for open arguments, and this one might take it to the next level. "Why do you care for Spike, miss loyalty, he's done nothing for you!" Rarity tried to defend her actions towards Spike, she doesn't want to lose him to a nightmare that is Luna.
"He saved us, he saved Applejack and what were you doing hiding behind Twilight, huh, enjoying the view!" shocked gasps came from her friends Rainbow didn't just go there.
"Excuse me!!?" Twilight stormed up to her, spitting mad Rainbow insisted that Rarity was enjoying the view of her marehood "Rarity wasn't enjoying any view under my tail, while she was hiding I was being choked to death by whatever that thing was!!!" Twilight practical screamed out her rant, loud enough a crowd of ponies formed. Twilight wasn't proud of what she did, she just yelled at one of her friends and worst of all added fuel to the fire, to which it was heating and Twilight backed off.
"You want to go their Rainbow, okay I'm game, do you want to know who's view you enjoy-" what Rarity would say next would light the powder keg "-Fluttershy!". Rainbow dash was beyond livid now, Rarity accused her of enjoying Fluttershy's company, by sleeping with her friends. Quiet sobbing caught the ears of both mares, Rarity couldn't understand what she did all because of Spike and her jealousy of Luna, but Rarity brought it on herself and now Rainbows ultimate came forward.
The cyan mare smiled evilly "do you wanna know why Spike chose Luna over you, do? He chose her because you don't have a body like her-" the entire crowd gasped, Rarity's mouth fell in shock, she did not just go there. Rainbow continued her assault "-I'm surprised how your stomach's not on the ground from all the ice cream you eat". A silence fell upon the town nopony dared to call rarity fat and Rainbow dash just did, if Nightmare moon saw Rarity's face she would surely hide under a rock.
In quick succession Rarity tackled Rainbow dash before the cyan mare could dodge, it was on, both ponies brawled, punching and kicking each other. Rainbow dash was brutal in a fight, but Rarity was ruthless, throwing a punch her hoof met Rainbows muzzle, with Rainbow doing the same thing and striking Rarity's muzzle. Both mares were soon grabbed by their friends, Applejack and pinkie pie held Rainbow, while Twilight and Fluttershy held Rarity, evidently both cooled off, but the bitterness was laced in their voice.
"You call yourself the bucking element of loyalty, yet you beat one of your friends and for what to defend a princess who doesn't show love to her subjects!" Rarity was already throwing the accusations out, if she only knew the pony she was talking about wasnt far.
"Little miss generosity, please, you call yourself generous yet you lead ponies on for your selfish gain!" Rainbow's accusation, though a bit more accurate, was met by cheers from a few stallions, one of whom was Thunderlane, a pony Rainbow knew dated Rarity.
"ENOUGH!!!"ponies looked towards the voice of the one who bellowed and were shocked to see Luna standing amongst the crowd, her face contorted in anger and disgust.
"Rarity, Rainbow dash, your actions not only disturbed the peace, but the harmony of this land as well.-" she looked at the fashionista with disdain "-Rarity I am deeply ashamed and appalled that you think I don't love my subjects.". She then looked at Rainbow dash " and I too am ashamed by your actions Rainbow, a bearer of loyalty-" she looked back at Rarity "-or generosity wouldn't have stooped so low". Being let go they both bowed, ashamed by their actions.
"We apologize your highness, it won't happen again" Luna shook her head, it wasn't her they should apologize to.
"Don't apologize to me!-" she glared "-apologize to each other!" Both Rainbow and Rarity looked at each other, then back at Luna who waited, but grew tired after several minutes of no apology, yet understood they needed time to apologize and she would give them that time.
"Alright, I'll take it, you need time and you'll get it! Twilight i have a letter for you-" she handed the lavender mare her response regarding Spike "-this is my response to your letter on Spike". Quickly she took it and began to read.
"Dear twilight
After reading your request, I've decided to let Spike go on your expedition to the new world, however my sister Celestia must not know of this decision, for she has been through enough. As for your house, the golden oaks library, I'll send your brother over once he's been discharged from the hospital.
Sincerely yours Princess Luna
P.S: this last part was written on my way here after finding out the train's going to be a day late after suffering a few broken train wheels. It will arrive at noon tomorrow."
By the time Twilight finished the letter most ponies had already disbursed and all that stood was Luna and her friends with shocked expressions. Their shock was not because of Spike, but the fact Luna went behind her sister's back and allowed Spike to tag along. Although when they heard the train was going to be late and arrive tomorrow, everypony was a bit peeved, but some decided not to dwell on it. Luna however wasn't done, before she left the castle one of her spy's reported some findings in Ponyville that would interest her. Now she needs to see Spike and send the bearers to a motel, since she needs to use Twilight's house for a 'project' of hers.
"The news came as quite a shock to me as well, but the train is old and came from the western coast, but I digress. Twilight i need you and your friends to rest in a motel, near the station, we can't miss this train, it never comes out this far and we need you and your friends ready, got it," Twilight bowed understanding the urgency.
"Yes your highness, let me get a few things and we'll head to the motel" Luna accepted and allowed the unicorn to gather her things, looking over to Rarity she noticed the large wagon full of stuff she didn't need "miss rarity, i suggest offloading some of that stuff, you don't need all of it, just the essentials."
The fashionista to her annoyance saw to it and grumbled all the way back home and offloaded some of her stuff back in the house, to her surprise Sweetiebelle wasn't home. Shrugging it off, after she finished she went back to help with twilight with her things, only to see Twilight carrying her saddlebag to the motel, 'guess she was almost done' she thought, adjusting her saddlebag so it doesn't chafe.
Luna watched the bears leave, which prompted her to turn to Spike one they were out of sight and the house was empty, walking up to him Spike knew she wanted to speak with him.
"Second time today-" he said jokingly "-you're spoiling me" Luna lightly chuckled, true she did speak with him a lot and her heart fluttered when she was near and speaking to him. Not now though this was serious.
"Now's not the time for joking Spike, this is serious. The nobility has a house here in Ponyville and I need your help." Spike raised his brow, surprised the nobility are here in what they call a 'backwater town'.
What do you need help with?" He asked hoping to help in any way he can, he may not be a hero like his friends, but he will do whatever it takes to protect Equestria and if that means becoming a hero. Then so be it.
Luna smiled glad Spike is willing to help, looking over both her shoulders making sure nopony was listening, can't be too careful she leaned in and whispered to him. "Meet me in the Golden Oaks Library at midnight and make sure you're not followed." Tuning away Luna disappeared in a flash teleporting back to Canterlot, leaving Spike in the near middle of town puzzled on what she had planned and why she was so shady, guess he'll find out later. Fortunately he likes to sleep a lot, so what better way than to do his chores and nap till he isn't tired because something tells him he's going to need the rest. |
Equestria Age | Night mission | Chapter 8: night mission
Night fell upon Equestria, Luna's moon hung high in the sky as many ponies slept soundly in the night, with a few enjoying the night alone together. One such couple who enjoyed the night together was Rainbow Dash and Applejack, both mares had just come back from a nightly date and are now returning to the motel. Applejack though she enjoyed herself, felt awful for yelling at her sister and explained to Rainbow dash about her self blame and grief, to which Rainbow said to "give it time". Of course Rainbow Dash isn't that much of a seldom soft hearted mare that much, but Applejack needed the help and she was there for her, even if she was beaten in a hoof wrestle. Right now Applejack and Rainbow walked side by side, their flanks nearly touching as they enjoyed the cool night air, Applejack huffed still on about her sister and her fears.
"Applejack stop beating yourself up, it wasn't your fault" Rainbow stated, she hated seeing her marefriend like this, ever since she found out about Aj's parents, she's been doing her best to take the farm mare's mind off it. However Rainbow came up with an idea and decided to tell her a secret nopony has ever known.
"Okay Aj-" she sat on her haunches "-sit down I'm going to tell you something and if you tell anypony else, I'll deny it". Raising her brow Applejack did as she was told and sat down, eager to listen to this secret Rainbow has.
Rainbow dash exhaled nervously, she's never told anypony this and this would be the first time in years. "Alright, back in Cloudsdale, Gilda wasn't my only friend. Back in junior speedsters flight school, Gilda and I were friends with a young stallion named Midnight Haze, Midnight, Gilda and I were inseparable(chuckles) we called ourselves 'The Flying Aces' cause we all hoped to one day be in the Wonderbolts." Rainbows face turned grim as she remembered what happened "It was training day, mind you this was years after i got my cutie mark. We were getting ready to practice for our final flight exam."
-Flashback-
One year before Nightmare moon's return
Ponies stood on cloud made bleachers overlooking a large coliseum race track, the cloud bricks solid as stone held the many structures up that made the school, coliseum and cities of cloudsdale. Ponies cheered, cheered on to see the practice finals before the big day of actual finals, the ponies cheered louder as the students walked on the field, the pony they cheered the loudest for, was Midnight Haze. The dark blue stallion smiled, whipping his black mane making several mares faint, his cutie mark resembled a full moon covered by clouds. He never really was a bachelor for one, but when ponies realized he was friends with Rainbow Dash the mare who made the sonic rainboom, both stallions and mares wanted a piece of him. Besides, he was already taken.
"Keep standing there Haze and ponies will get laryngitis" he chuckled and smiled at Rainbow who trotted up to him, cheers roared for her when she appeared on the field. Taking it in she did a pose and spread her impressive twenty and a half foot wingspan out for everypony to see, it was a rarity to see a pegasus pony with an incredible wingspan, most wingspans range to fourteen to eighteen feet, but twenty and a half. Pegasi awed at Rainbows incredible span, even the Wonderbolts who attended the exams were impressed, usually alicorns had wingspans of that size, of course their is bigger at twenty four to twenty eight feet.
Midnight chuckled "showoff!" Rainbow dash always showed off to a large crowd, she liked the attention, just as long as it didn't come from her parents, or other stallions who were after her.
"We get it Rainbow Dash you have big wings" Gildas replied with her gruffy voice, she and many other pegasi walked on the field. Immediately she embraced Midnight and kissed him, the two have been together for the past few months and were quite happy too, especially when the two do each other. Rainbow moaned remembering the last time they did it of course she and Gilda share a dorm, Gilda could at least warn her when they're about to finish.
The announcer was soon heard over the stadium's megaphone "FILLIES AND GENTLE COLTS, WE ARE PROUD TO WELCOME YOU TO THE FLIGHT EXAM PRE FINALS. NOW TO THOSE OF YOU WHO DON'T KNOW THIS ISN'T THE ACTUAL FINAL, BUT A TEST, TO SEE IF YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES. TODAY WE DECIDED TO DO SOMETHING NEW, TODAY THE COURSE WILL START HERE, OVER THE EVERFREE FOREST, PAST CANTERLOT, UNDER THE PONYVILLE BRIDGES AND BACK HERE. SIMPLE RIGHT? NO, OBSTACLES HAVE BEEN ADDED, YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS WILL HAVE TO DODGE SUPERCHARGED LIGHTNING CLOUDS. IT IS HIGHLY UNWISE TO GET NEAR ONE. THE COURSE WILL START IN TEN MINUTES, AFTER THAT YOU'LL BE CALLED UP ONE BY ONE. GOOD LUCK AND MAY CELESTIA'S LIGHT GUIDE YOU!"
Rainbow did a double take, did she hear him correctly supercharged lightning clouds? It then hit her 'NO!' She saw one fifteen yards from the starting line an illegal placement for an obstacle, a large grid of clouds ten by ten hovered near the starting line. Rainbows blood froze at the sight of the grid. She remembered her first advanced course trial, she was cocky then, but her cockyness nearly cost her her life. If she struck that lightning any other way she'd be vaporized. Now sompony decided it would be funny to place supercharged lightning clouds right at the starting point, not by her flank there not.
She turned to Gilda who had a nervous look on her, she too was their when Rainbow Dash turned into a Heartwarming eve light "yo G I'm going to find the announcer and ask who the hay placed these death traps" the griffon nodded worried, she may be cocky at times when it came to racing like Dash, but these clouds are deadly.
Hiking up the stairs and into the tower rainbow kicked open the door spooking the announcer "what the buck!" he swore in equestrian, turning towards the commotion and seeing one of the students.
"Celestia's tits what the buck, tell me why in tartarus' name are their supercharged lightning clouds!! These students have not flown this course, nor have they been trained. Are you trying to get us killed!!?" with ears back she stomped over to him, the stallion had the look of worry, but not from her.
"Look Rainbow Dash, if i told you they'd kill me, they made me do it" he was in sheer panic and Rainbow saw it, if he was telling the truth then this race was sabotaged, yet that led to the question. Why and who?
The sound of a ringing bell caught her ears and her blood froze. "No, no, no the announcer panicked, it's only been seven minutes, it can't start now!" Rainbows mouth ran dry, once the exam started it couldn't be stopped, looking over to a billboard it began to cycle through numbers randomly. Its first number was fifteen looking out the window, a pink pegasus mare stepped up eager to pass the exam, taking off ponies cheered only to be changed to horror. That mare was dead before she hit the ground, these clouds have a trick to them, going clockwise, counter clockwise or random, each pegasus must time them to the point and that's by viewing them as a clock. The board ran through numbers again, barreling out of the stand Rainbow made her way back to the track, only to catch a glimpse of the number selected. Five.
"No, no, no" Rainbow rushed to the field, five, that was Midnight Haze's number, again she heard cheering, her heart beated time slowed and every hoof beat felt like a nail, that's when it happened.
-present-
"Everypony saw him fall to the everfree forest, security later arrived to shut the event down, but it was too late. Thirty minutes in, around fifteen ponies lost their lives, Gilda and I walked back to our dorm, not a sound was made, the only thing I heard were her tears in the bathroom." Rainbow Dash sat remembering "it was known as the Cloudsdale massacre, or what you earth ponies call-"
"The night of falling tears" Applejack finished, she saw the event, but didn't know what it was about, until now.
"I'm so sorry Rd" she embraced her, the cyan mare returning the favor and embraced her back, the two stayed like that for several minutes until they broke apart, but when they did something caught their attention.
(sniff, sniff) Rainbow sniffed the air, a curious smell catching her attention "hey AJ you smell that?!"
Applejack sniffed the air herself and recognized the smell of ash and charcoal "smells like smoke". She replied. The two looked up to the many chimneys and smoke stacks, yet saw no smoke. That's when Rainbow Dash took to the air to get a better view and that's when she saw it.
"Uh AJ you might want to see this" Flying back down she lifted her marefriend so she could get a better look and what she saw made her blood run cold.
Rainbow heard Applejack breath heavily "Aj you okay, what's wrong?!" Applejack just eyed the scene, to the west smoke billowed from what appeared to be a town roughly forty miles out. Yet the ponies could see it as clear as day.
"Applesprig" the farm mare uttered in disbelief, Rainbow Dash upon hearing the name gasped. Applesprig, given its name by the Appleclan, the town was established in the western coast by one of Applejack's cousins, Crescent Apple along with the aid of her other cousin Breaburn. Immediately the two mares landed and began to look for help, Rainbow Dash in the air spotted the pony she knew would help.
Luna enjoyed her nightly stroll, it wasn't often she enjoyed a nightly walk through Ponyville, or Canterlot for that matter, since her and her sister teleported or were chauffeured by guards and servants. No, those things weren't bad, just dull, Luna liked to be alone, she liked to walk at night and enjoy the silence and at times if couldn't walk, she flew. She chuckled, she remembered times when her sister reminded her to be couth and act like a princess, yet got jealous when she flew circles around her and spared with her night ponies in the training yard. Celestia may be good at magic, but when it came to flying, she could wipe the floor with her and still be on time to spar with the guard. Luna smiled, stretching her wings, she should ask Rainbow Dash for a race one of these days, maybe even swap a few techniques with each other, nopony said a pegasus can fly or fight like an alicorn.
Nearing her destination at the Golden Oaks library, she ran through all the information she could get, from her two agents, who would also be meeting her at the same time to meet Spike. She stopped, her heart fluttered when she thought of him. She knew it was weird, a dragon and pony in a relationship, but at the same time the two connected, they both were in a nation where they were singled out and they both were strangers, him being a dragon and she being a thousand years in the future. Yet she doesn't know if he feels the same way, true she came on him a bit too early, not giving him a chance to think, but she took a shot, in other words she was desperate. Alone. She remembered, the last time she loved, was the last time she saw her sister and became the monster ponies to this day fear and ponies know who she is. To them they don't see Luna, they see a monster, they see Nightmaremoon. Shaking her head, she could abuse herself later right now she had a mission t-.
"Princess Luna!" She turned to look who called and was surprised to see two of Twilight's friends rushing up to her, but as she looked closely, she could make out their worried looks, something was wrong.
"Rainbow Dash, Applejack-" she spoke surprised to see "-what are you doing here, shouldn't you be resting for your venture!?" They stopped both panting ignoring Luna's question of surprise.
Both ponies, nervous about their relationship, attempted to keep it a secret, knowing Applejack is a terrible liar, Rainbow Dash started "we couldn't sleep, so we both took a walk. We headed back, but stopped when we smelled smoke in the air!"
"Your highness-" Applejack couldn't take it, her family was in danger "-Applesprig is on fire! Please, you have to help them, my family is there!" Her eagerness for Luna took the princess off guard, usually a pony would be scolded for this, but after hearing about Applesprig, a town in the western coast near the town of Moonlight, she pleaded for her to take action.
Seeking to know if the urge was true Luna took flight and looked to the west and sure enough she saw the orange glow of fire faintly off in the distance, 'damn' she thought swearingly. Landing she began to instruct the two mares before her.
"Applejack alert the rest of your friends to be ready by morning-" the farm mare nodded, but waited knowing Luna would instruct more. Luna turned to Rainbow Dash "-Rainbow follow the tracks east and tell the train crew to move their flanks!-" the cyan mare nodded, Luna finished up "-rest when you're finished you'll be leaving at noon!" The two mares nodded and left to do what they're told. With no time to lose Luna rushed over to the library where she was to meet Spike and her contacts.
Spike groaned, the sound of someponies hoof rapping on the door woke him from his slumber, of course he needed to get up anyway to be ready for Luna's arrival. To his surprise when he opened the door Luna stood there, but she wasn't alone, behind her were two other ponies, a unicorn stallion and a pegasus mare, both of them wearing dark blue cloaks. He went from joy to concern when he saw Luna's face and was worried about what went wrong and whether he was in trouble or not.
"May we come in?!" Luna finally asked with a quick urgency, she had two things to do, send Spike on his mission and help the ponies of Applesprig.
The dragon stepped aside to let them in, immediately the two ponies with her started to set their equipment up on Twilight's empty desk and table. Spike looked curiously at the devices and equipment brought by the two agents, one thing dragon recognized was what looked to be a radio. The stallion used his magic to flip the switches as he organized the wire so they weren't tangled, next he extended the antenna and set the knobs to the proper frequency. Spike had never seen a radio like this before, other radios he has but not one like this, the stallion looked at him and smiled at the curious dragon.
"Like our new toy huh-" the dragon nodded as the stallion introduced the machine "-this is equestrias latest radio communication device, it's called the ERC-010. ERC stands for Equestrian Radio Company, its equestrias new military branch and uses both radios and telegrams." Spike looked at him confused, 'telegram?' he thought 'what's that?'.
"What's a telegram?" the curious dragon asked, the stallion was happy to explain.
"A telegram is a mode of communication created by an earth pony named Wiretap, whereas the radio was made by a pegasus named Radiowave. Any who if I wanted to send a message, i would use a hoof crank on the machine and start sending a message via horsse code."
Luna chuckled at Spike's curious mind, but there was a deadline and a town to save "I'm glad you and Spike met Starshot, but Spike needs to get ready!" Starshot nodded, taking his cloak off revealed his aquamarine coat and sky blue mane, his cutie mark resembling shooting stars.
Luna turned to the mare "Venom Drip, scope out the area, let us know what we're dealing with!" The mare took her cloak off and smiled. She has a green coat, dark green mane, a cutie mark resembling a snake's fang dripping with venom and a scar running over her right eye.
"Got it-" she replied with a light rasp and a hint of venom "-want me to clear out any unsuspecting onlookers while I'm at it?" Spike winced upon hearing that, he may have to be careful if he accidentally pisses her off.
Luna shook her head "no this is a stealth op, remain covert, the only time blood will be spilled is if your covers blown understood." Luna glared at Drip, letting her know she meant it.
Venom Drip nodded, disgruntled that she wouldn't get to kill anypony "understood your highness". Accepting her mission she left the library and took off in the dead of night, if she kills anypony, Luna would be the first to hear about it.
"What's her problem?" Spike asked, just hearing about Venom drip wanting to kill ponies unnerved him, it almost sounds like she enjoys it.
"Oh that's venom Drip-" Starshot replied, turning to Spike on his seat "-she's like that with everypony, mares and stallions. Anyway we've been scoping this house for quite some time, though it's more of a mansion actually, we haven't had an opportunity to reach our contact since they'd spot one of us if we went to get him. That's where you come in" he went back to the radio, while Luna filled Spike in on the mission.
"Your looking for a pegasus stallion codenamed-" Luna groaned not wanting to say the codename the stallion picked "-Hot stud, look for him his code fraze is 'moonlit mares'. He's a green pegasus with a brown mane, and will most likely have a stallion or mare-" Luna cleared her throat on what she was about to say "-polishing his rod, or how many ponies say sucking cock" Luna felt embarrassed saying that, she was still getting used to the many slangs and terms ponies came up with for their how to say genitals.
A low growl of pleasure came from Starshot as he lightly panted "please Luna not while I'm working, I don't want to press the wrong button" this in turn caused Luna to groan in annoyance and cringed at the thought of his stallion hood wanting to make love to a radio.
"Thank you Starshot, i wasn't looking forward to sleeping anyway" her sarcasm earned her a chuckle from the stallion, using her magic Luna levitated a bag over to Spike. "Here's your attire for the party, had them custom made for your stature and body, they should help you get inside-" she went to the door to leave but stopped "oh before I forget you'll need a codename, a pseudo name to get into the party and codefraze, don't want them to think you are helping for us" Spike looked at her dumbfounded, he's never heard of that word before, fortunately Luna caught on before he could ask. "Pseudo means fake" she replied, Spike understanding with a nod afterwards.
Spike thought for a moment, he's never made a codename for himself before, so it would have to be a good one. He cant use Spikey Wikey since that's Rarity's thing and isn't a really good codename, neither is number one assistant, no he needs something all his own. It took awhile but he soon had it, Greenscale, his codename will be Greenscale, for his codefraze it'll be, he thought about Rarity, he may have feelings for Luna, but he still has feelings for Rarity, his codefraze: white beauty. As for his pseudo name, he's already thought of one.
"My codename will be Greenscale, codefraze is Whitebeauty and pseudo name for the party is, Gravel." Luna nodded, all of them good to fool even the most noisiest of patrons.
"Good, you're all set, i must be off now" she informed, turning to leave she opened the door, but was stopped by Spike.
"You're not staying!?" He was both hurt and curious about why she's leaving, Luna shook her head in response.
"The town of Applespig is being attacked, I must go and help the ponies in need. If you finish your mission before I come back use this-" she hoofed over a blue sphere the size of a tennis ball. She then explained what it is "-this is a teleportation sphere, most commonly named 'flash sphere' i set it to teleport on my location, is that understood!?" the dragon nodded, understanding the urgency of her task, he hoped she'd come back safe, but if he had to he would teleport to her if she hadn't returned. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek before taking off into the night sky, he wasn't sure if the kiss was for luck or love, but either way he hoped it was for luck.
Luna's mind rushed for any form of plan, she was fully prepared for Spike's mission, but when Applesrig started being attacked plans changed, now she needed a strategy. As she flew, she realized she'd never been to Applesprig, being a new town and all in the western coats, she recalled the geography of the place. After a while of mentally ticking things off, she recalled the origins of the town 'okay-' she thought '-Applesprig, formed by the Applefamily for reasons unknown, will most likely have several members of the family present. As for the attackers'. She had an inkling on who's attacking the town, usually Equestria would resolve things peacefully without any bloodshed, since the nation is solely based on harmony and friendship, Equestria hasn't had many enemies. Until now. Luna felt deep down that this new threat isn't in the mood for friendship or harmony, but death and destruction. Her sister on the other hoof would most likely try to be diplomatic, but after being an alicorn kabob, she might reconsider her thoughts of diplomacy, either that or be more careful. At any rate Luna has enough time to think of a strategy before she arrives at Applesprig, it is roughly forty miles away which makes it a five hour flight, she just hopes she isn't too late.
Spike tugged at his dress color as he currently walked towards the mansion, he grumbled finally getting his color comfortably set. Currently Spike was wearing fancy clothes made of silk, his undershirt was blue, while his main overshirt was black the same going for his pants. Shoes were optional in this case since Spike's claws would most likely tear right through them, he was however requested a hat to which he took, he loved hats in a way, the hat he wore was a tricorn silken hat with a dark blue color and gold trim. He was ready, even though he was nervous as tartarus, he was ready, however as he left he was given several items, some of it was gear, the rest pictures of random ponies he's to look out for, one of which is his contact. For his gear however he was given to flintlock pistols, one however was half the size of the other as it was called a pocket pistol by some ponies, a cruder name by stallions was the plot pistol, or slot pistol by mares. The other piece of equipment was an ERC-039 or walkie talkie as ponies called it (based off the SCR-536) and was secretly smuggled in by Venom Drip through the top window of the mansion's second story.
Fatigue was slightly setting in with the two pistols he carried along with powder and shot, other than that his walk was quite long as the mansion was on the other side of town across the street from Mayor Mares town hall. The district some call the nobility district mostly had two to three story buildings, whereas other ponyville districts had one to two story buildings, with the exception of the market district, holding stalls and one story buildings.
After a while he finally reached the mansion grounds, outside stood a pony guard, he looked odd and did not recognize the armor he wore, it was steel plated with chain underneath, his helmet was full face with a crimson coloration. Walking up to the guard the stallion stopped him.
"Invitation!" he demanded, Spike handed him an invitation, though it was forged with the help of Starshot, the dragon easily got in without the guard checking or noticing the invite was fake.
Holding the door open for the dragon the guard welcomed him in "welcome to ruby crest manor, enjoy the party!" politely thanking him Spike walked in to start his mission and find his contact.
Upon entry Spike looked around and instantly knew this was nothing like any of pinkie pies parties whatsoever, for one right upon entry he noticed the lighting was dim with a slight haze to the atmosphere. Secondly were the ponies he saw, several mares and stallions dressed in 'questionable' attire doing deeds of debauchery on a more sexual level. He could go on with the list of things happening when he first arrived, but right now he needed to find his contact, Luna said he would be taking part in sexual acts with mares and stallions, so he'll check their.
Spike carefully walked through the party, the building was full of ponies as the manor was huge resembling a strip club without the poles, in fact it looked more like a brothel. However it did have the essentials for a party, such as food, drink and amenities, the kitchen were working overtime as he saw trays upon trays of food and drink being brought out, by both cooks and wench ponies. As he conducted his search he noted the room was laid out accordingly in a unique way, first off a large bar was placed in the center of the room, its purpose being alcoholic beverages and serving food. Secondly tables were laid out in the room, some by the walls and others placed here and there, several tables were massive and sported a red tablecloth with a semicircle booth. Third was the music, he didn't recognize when he walked in since ponies were talking over it, but he heard it now and now sees it, at the far wall by the staircase was a pony playing a grand piano and a band of musicians. What caught his eye were the musicians, one of the ponies, a cellist, with a gray coat and purple musical note on her flank, stood playing with evidence of abuse. Dried tears stained her cheeks, below her nether regions were red, not with blood but with over abundant use, evidence of rape and lastly were her shackles, she was chained to the wall, her fore hooves chafined by the chains. Spike recognized her as Octavia melody, a respective pony cellist, who usually partnered up with Dj-pon3, and it was days ago, the night after the gala, Octavia went missing, it was clear now she was foal knapped. He had to rescue her, but right now he needed to find his contact, fortunately he didn't have to go far as he eyed one of the table booths with the most sexual activities.
Moaning went on as the green stallion went from kissing a mare on his left, to kissing a stallion on his right, below the source of all the moaning two ponies both stallions serviced him. On the table a mare flashed her mare hood and danced, increasing the stallion libido as he was sucked off, again he moaned, ignoring the fact sompony entered the booth with him.
"Keep going, you two-" he spoke to the two stallions servicing him "-the salty treats going to cum soon!" he was on the verge, until sompony spoke up.
"Got to love these moonlit mares today huh" as if on cue his ears perked and looked towards the source of his codefraze, sitting next to him and the mare was a purple and green dragon.
"Yea, these moonlit mares are-oh buck-" on cue he held his head back as he came, both stallions sharing his thick cum and kissing each other while it squirted on their muzzles. He panted when his orgasm died down, his cock receding back into his sheath, when his sexual entourage left he smiled at the dragon "-sorry about that, wasn't expecting company so soon.-" he cleared his throat "-I'm sorry allow me to introduce myself I'm Saltgiver-" he leaned in and whispered "-that's my pseudo name, my real name Turbulent Spear.". He motioned towards his flank revealing a spear piercing through a turbulence cloud.
Over by the bar an earth pony stallion with a tan coat and white main eyed the dragon and stallion at the table, he looked at them suspiciously while taking a swig from his tankard. He shifted, his armor rattling lightly, and showing glimpses of his cutie mark which resembles a broken spear.
Turbulent Spear soon noticed the stallion and instantly grew worried "oh horse apples shit, (whispering) Spike whatever you do don't look towards the bar, understood", he watched the dragon nod and reply back with worry.
"What's going on, why can't I look!?" Spike was getting nervous now, was his cover blown, did somepony make him out? He wanted so desperately to look, but other than Turbulent telling him not to, something else in his gut told him not to too.
Turbulent attempted to try and calm Spike down "alright listen to me, if you want to get out alive, you do exactly as i say got it!-" spike nodded "-good, now follow me upstairs, it's time to give you the info i found out". The two soon slid out of the booth, Turbulent carefully eyeing the dark red stallion watching them, fortune favored them when a party goer decided to converse with said stallion blocking his line of sight. This proved Turbulent and spikes only chance and hastily climbed the stairs to the second floor, once they were out of sight of the party guests, Turbulent led the dragon to his room. The room they found wasn't that far from the staircase, but on the way Spike swore he heard things in several other rooms nearby, mostly it was just moaning and some of it was pleasure screaming, 'what in Celestia's name is this place' he thought.
Entering Turbulent's private room, Spike eyed the stallion's place. It was roomy with a bed placed under a window and a dresser next to the bed, across from the dresser was a desk. Next to the dresser was a small case, rushing over spike opened the case and was relieved to see the radio he was granted was there, taking it out spike tried to tune it to Starshots frequency. Meanwhile Turbulent, upon closing the door behind him, went to his dresser and pulled out a thick file full of Intel he managed to gather in his undercover work.
"Here are the files-" he mentioned, Spike coming over to view them, Turbulent continued "-it took awhile for me to get them, but I managed to take what I could get. Some of it however is encrypted with a language I don't know.". Spike looked through the files all of the interesting, ranging from manifests, dossiers and a few observation notes from Turbulent himself. One however caught his eye, glowing with a magical seal and lock, it read in bold lettering 'OPERATION:FALLEN PRINCE'.
"What's operation fallen prince?" Spike asked, turning to Turbulent Spear, who was to Spike's surprise humping a pillow. The pegasuses ears perked at the question, only to see Spike eye him as if he was saying 'really'.
"What?-" turbulent shrugged "-I have a condition and no I haven't heard of Operation fallen prince. The last pony I slept with to get the information on it, didn't know about it either, but boy was he tight-" he recollected "-mmmhmm such a fine ass!"
Spike facepalmed, sighing he went over to the radio, tuned it to the right frequency and said "Lunar one, Lunar one this is greenscale over!" There were a few seconds of static until a reply came through.
"Lunar one here, how's it coming Gravel!?"
Spike replied back "I made contact with the flying slut and got the Intel over!"
Turbulent laughed, continuing to hump his pillow "flying slut! That's a new one!"
"Lunar one reads you gravel, be advised, Venom drip reported back and has taken note of multiple targets bearing down on the manor, report back as soon as you can. Lunar one out.".
With the Intel in hoof it was time to leave, opening the door spike looked down both halls to see if they were clear, at first they were, but when he heard hoofsteps, he hid back in the room. Spike closed the door just enough to peek through, but what he saw disgusted him, a stallion in a brown coat and orange mane dragged Octavia Medley to the empty room across from him. Octavia gagged, desperately begged, to be let go, but the stallion didn't listen, now was Spike's chance, one the two were in the room, he rushed the door before it fully closed behind them. Slowly spike snuck up on the stallion, he had to save Octavia, who was now struggling with the stallion, a harsh and painful slap went across the mare's face, eliciting tears and pained whimpering. With the steed winning over he mounted her, but stopped when he felt a cold pistol barrel press up against his sack, followed by the audible click of the firing mechanism and some words.
"If you still want to have foals, I suggest you let Octavia go!" Slowly he did as he was told and seeing her chance with a free leg she kicked her assaulter in the head knocking him unconscious. Quickly Spike rushed over and freed Octavia, she sobbed in his arms fearing she was to be used again, but fear stayed with her knowing if she left she'd put her friend in danger.
"Wait-" she pleaded, Spike looked at her curiously "- if I leave I'll be putting Vinyl scratches life in danger!"
Spike couldn't respond, he was curious as to why Vinyl Scratch would be in danger "what do you mean, put her in danger?! What's going on?"
Octavia teared up and began to explain "it's her the mare who owns this manor, Stellar Diamond, daughter of Radiant Ruby, she owns this manor and soon this town. This party was supposed to be a victory over Ponyville, but it would seem their victory is way too early. May I ask why you're here" Spike was about to answer when the building shook, followed by screams and gun fire coming from downstairs.
Spike grabbed Octavia's fore leg and urged her to move "we have to go now!" The two quickly left the room, but stopped when hoofsteps were heard. A hooded figure came into view and charged them, his sword levitated in magic, readied to strike a killing blow.-(kpow)- Spike stood, hands shaking after firing his first shot and killing his first pony, -(thunk)- dropping his gun, Spike stepped back dizzy after what he just did. 'He was coming after me-' he thought trying to justify his actions '-i had no choice!' looking at the body, blood pooling and dripping through the floorboards, he couldn't help but feel sick to his stomach. Octavia seeing this patted his back trying to calm him down, but how could he, the day was catching up to him, he's in a brothel house spying on the nobility for Luna, and now just killed a pony.
Turbulent spear rushed out after finally reaching climax, of course when he did he thought he blew his dick off when he heard the shot go off the same time his orgasm did. Seeing now that it was Spike, he grew more concerned when he noticed the recently shot pony, he was about to question, but more hoofsteps were heard. Quickly he urged the two to hide in his room, not wanting to argue, both Spike and Octavia rushed in and hid under the bed.
The door burst open after Turbulent Spear closed it, the pegasus turned and was greeted by another pegasus, a mare this time and she was happy to see him. "Turbulent Spear-"she chuckled "-long time no see, how long has it been, three months?"
Turbulent glared "two months to be precise, what are you doing here Gleaming Razor, I know its not to catch up". Gleaming Razor, a yellow pegasus with a green mane and cutie mark resembling a polished razorblade, smiled at the Lunar agent. Turbulent, nervous to meet this deranged mare kept his cool, he knew if he did anything to provoke her it's his life and not just his Spikes and Octavias too.
Razor fained being hurt by his inhospitable greeting "oohh its hurts that you don't like me, we could be a cute couple together-" she went up and kissed him "-you me on the beach in Baltimare, with our beach house behind us, what do you say hmm" he wasn't buying it and replied back with irritation and anger.
"What do I say! What do I say! The last time we met you tried to cut my balls off and again two months ago. Besides I know you're not here to catch up, cause for one we haven't bucked yet and two you haven't tried to geld me afterwards. So what are you after!" his demeanor went from anger to terror when she smiled at him, in an instant she tackled him, his body on the bed and her looking down at his stallionhood. She stood on her hind legs, her hooves on his forelegs pinning him down , she was going to enjoy this.
She noticed the bit of cum leaking out and was disappointed "already came without me, oh well don't mind if you cum again don't you" she planted a kiss on him, her arousal coming to life, while his didn't. Her disappointment deepened "not in the mood I see!"
Turbulent just growled at her "psychotic bitch!" she laughed, unaware that she was going to get a painful surprise.
Spike and Octavia heard everything, he had to save him, but he didn't know what to do, until it dawned on him, pulling out his larger flintlock pistol and pulling the lock back. He has one shot, he can't miss, but what he was aiming for he wouldn't be able to.
"Lets begin then" she said smiling, licking his sheath she was readying to pleasure his final load until she heard a click -(kpow)- she screamed in utter pain falling to her side. Pain emanating from her teats, pussy and anus, she clutched her nether regions after bearing witness to a point blank range shot to her mare hood. In an instant Spike, Octavia and Turbulent, book it out of the room and down stairs leaving a screaming Razor behind.
One on the ground floor, the three witness a bloodbath, hooded figures engaged both mercenaries loyal to the nobility, patrons and prostitutes. Blood was all over as ponies of both attacker and defender lay dead on the floor, the clanging sound of swords, shouting and rending flesh were all the sounds they heard. Quickly the three moved, dodging sword strikes, magic blasts and gunshots, throwing the door open the three rushed out leaving behind a party that turned into a slaughter.
Starshot sat quietly, leaning back in his chair, he waited for Spike to return with the Intel Turbulent took from the nobility, he fell back in surprise when the library door slammed open. Cursing, he was about to tear sompony a new one until he noticed not only Spike, but Turbulent Spear and a mare, he pointed to her in disbelief.
"Who the bucking hay is her-" he glared at Turbulent "-you didn't foalnap her did you, I know your a horny stud, but foal napping-" he chuckled and shook his head "-that's a new low for you!"
Turbulent defended himself holding one of his hooves up "n-now you know I don't foalnap, Octavia willingly came with us, it was the nobility who foalnapped her. Didn't you read the Equestria daily!" Starshot glanced over to Octavia.
"Is it true, did the nobility take you" he was met with a nod, sighing he looked to Spike "does she have sompony at home waiting for her?".
The dragon gave a confirming nod, but explained the dire situation "she does, her name is Vinyl Scratch, but she's in danger, Octavia informed me the nobility will kill her friend if she escapes!"
"grrr , horse apples-" Starshot tapped his hoof in thought "-well today's your lucky day Venom, I want you to 'discreetly' dispose of Vinyl scratches guests and before you ask I don't care how you do it. Just get it done!" Venom silently nodded and left to do her task.
Octavia just eyed the ponies and dragon in the room "so, you're like agents, assassins or something?" She was curious, the line of work they did sounded interesting and with the gigs her and Vinyl get, she could prove to be a strong ally to whoever they work for.
Starshot looking up from the files, raised his brow to her "why do you ask? Are you interested?" he was met with a nod, a smile spread across his face as she began to explain.
"If it pays well, some of the gigs Vinyl and get are surprisingly mediocre, like the gala a few days ago, ten bits an hour and the gala lasted for seven. I know the nobility are stuck up, but damn are they cheap, they'd rather spend ten bits on a mare from Ponyville than a full band paid by Celestia.". Starshot slowly nodded, it wasn't the only time ponies wanted to join for bits, but there seemed more to it, there's something she's not telling him.
"And?" he rolled his hoof, urging her to continue, he wanted to know the real reason, not just 'i want more bits'.
She sighed, not sure if she should tell him, until she felt Spike's hand on her shoulder telling her it's okay, mentally nodding she explained. "The nobility is making it hard for everypony, they'll target anypony who stands up or looks down upon them. I may be a cellist, but I know many contacts that could help your organization and I know some things I overheard at the party. Besides, they foalnapped me and tried to kill my friend on top of it, so, it's personal.". Starshot smiled, that's exactly what he wanted to hear, princess Luna's going to be pleased.
After a while Spike and Octavia aided Starshot in looking over the Intel collected by Turbulent Spear, who in turn was in the bathroom screaming in pain. Spike looked to Starshot for a reason why Turbulent was screaming, his answer 'to much sex leads to a fiery hose' whatever that means. Spike eventually showed Starshot the magic sealed folder and was curious as to why it was named 'operation: fallen prince'. At that moment Spike remembered his rendezvous with Luna, taking the teleportation sphere out, he was about to leave when Starshot stopped him.
"Hold a moment Spike-" he said trotting up to him with a short sword in his magic "-take this, it'll help you if you're in any trouble-" he levitated the sheathed steel blade over to Spike and clipped it to his belt. Giving a nod of gratitude, Spike twisted the top of the flash sphere and a clue sphere slowly started to form around the dragon. "-bring Luna back safely". Starshot finished, watching the sphere fully engulf Spike, the last thing the stallion heard before the dragon disappeared was:
"I will!" in a bright blue flash Spike was gone. |
Equestria Age | Applesprig | Chapter 9: Applesprig
Pain that's all she could feel was immense pain, then screaming, screaming of ponies being slaughtered by the dark creatures and their ghoulish allies. How did it get to this, how did these fiends rally a force so quickly, how was Equestria not prepared, everything spun so fast as she rolled on her back, "we weren't ready-" she mumbled "-we're not ready!"
-hours earlier-
The smoke could be seen for miles, even from Manehattan it could be seen, but nopony knew what it was, nopony knew the cause of it, only until it's too late would they realize the town was attacked by monsters. Monsters, just the thought made Luna scowl, she'd been flying for hours, only stopping to use the bathroom, but when she finally arrived her heart stopped. Half the town was completely engulfed in flames, with the other half still evacuating the town, in the distance the faint sound of musket fire and roaring beasts was heard. Diving down Luna landed behind the main defense line of ponies and to her surprise it was a multitude of Equestrian troops and Lunar militia, a unicorn wearing plate and chain armor with a red plume helmet rushed up to her.
"Your highness what're you doing here, this place is dangerous!" he yelled so the princess could hear over the roaring of both the monsters, fires and screaming ponies.
"I came here to help-" she replied, looking for the high ranking officer "-where's the captain!?" she asked, requesting to see him or her, she needs answers and she needs a report on where these things came from.
"Dead your highness-" the pony replied "- he was struck down in the first initial attack, we were in garrison when we saw the smoke from San Palomino. I'm currently acting captain of this platoon, I'm Lieutenant Daggerpoint of the twenty second line company."
Luna nodded and began to assess the current situation, from what Daggerpoint reported they arrived when the attack commenced resulting in several casualties including the captains. Right now they're trying to hold their own, while the militia tries desperately to evacuate the town, but she knows in the pit of her stomach they don't have much time. If the evacuation is to be smooth then the militia needs to fight to, either that or get reinforcement from a neighboring town which would take too long, and right now time is against them. Suddenly to her surprise the dark creatures began to retreat, ponies cheered as the beasts ran, yet something didn't feel right, creatures like these wouldn't just fall back.
"Daggerpoint!" she turned to address the acting captain, who in turn bowed.
"Yes your highness, what do you need?" He was ecstatic to see these monsters turn and flee, yet when Luna called for him something deep down told him otherwise.
"I want the rest of this town fortified, we need to be ready in case they come back! Which they will! Secondly we'll need better defense tactics, spears upfront, muskets behind!" Daggerpoint nodded and bellowed out orders to fortify what's left of the town and ordered both musket and spear ponies to fortify at Luna's request.
Leaving Daggerpoint to his troops, Luna began to search for the leader of the militia before she would take to the air and survey the town's surroundings. Sighing, she eventually found her in the town hall, directing her troops to help with the evacuation. The mare did a double take upon seeing her arrive. "Well I'll be a mare in the rutting season!" her response through Luna off, but welcomed it knowing her ponies haven't seen her in a thousand years.
The mare bowed as Luna went up to her "your highness, it is an honor to finally meet you. We've been praying for your return and are ecstatic you'll help us in this endeavor. To what may I assist your grace!?"
Though of course it's been a thousand years since Luna's return at that time she always wanted her ponies to see her as a friend at times. After a while however, she did accept being called your highness, or your grace, to let ponies know that she's still princess of the night, when night fell of course. That is until she met him, her soon to be coltfriend. She was knocked out of her daze, when the mare called for her again and asked if she needed assistance.
Luna shook her head "I've come here to help in any way I can miss?" the mare facedhooved forgetting to introduce herself to her grace.
Embarrassed, she replied "my name is Northern Spruce, I'm Sheer Razorwings second in command, Sheer being the commander of the Lunar militia in Sunfalls." Luna nodded understanding who the leader of the militia was now. Spruce to Luna's surprise is a unicorn with a dark green coat and light brown mane, her cutie mark resembles a pine tree with a compass on its trunk.
After introductions were made Spruce helped direct Luna "I know you might be curious as to how I got my cutie mark, but another time. Right now we need your help, the evacuation is going as fast as it can, but we still need a place to send them. San Palomino is a good evacuation zone, but it's too far out, another place is Moonlight. Moonlight isn't that far from here, but the ponies refuse to help. I sent letter after letter requesting their aid, but again they refused, but now that you're here maybe you can convince them!". Luna nodded agreeing to Spruce's request, going into the town hall she quickly wrote down a letter to give sanctions to the ponies of Applesprig and finished it with her signature. If the ponies of moonlight did not honor the request, they'll have to answer to her. Levitating the letter, sealed with her mark, she hoofed it over to Spruce who immediately gave it to a bat pony she called over, the thestral looked at her as if she saw a ghost, only to give a quick bow and fly off towards Moonlight.
Luna looked at Spruce inquisitive "that's just Nightwing, she's a good mare who's a major fan of you. Anyway-" Spruce cleared her throat "-the twenty seconds medical officer is here , her name is Bloodheart, she's good at what she does, but several ponies have stated their still survivors out past the defense line. She's tried getting the lieutenant to help, but each attack dwindles our numbers, since you're here you might be able to help her!". The sole reason Luna came here was to defend the town from whatever threat came to it, now seeing the town in shambles and half destroyed with the threat of a recurring attack, it would be better off to help ponies evacuate.
Luna agreed to help taking what direction she can to help "where do you need me!?" she asked, Spruce pointed to two large warehouses across from where they stood.
"Bloodheart will be in the second warehouse, the one closest to the defense line!" Spruce informed her, Luna giving a nod, now seeing the warehouse she was pointing at.
Trotting across towards the warehouse the princess caught a glimpse of the casualties given in the first attack, even though she could've seen it in the air, she was too busy watching the town get destroyed. Trotting over to the bodies to get a better look, she soon regretted doing so upon seeing the slain. Ponies young and old, foals to the elderly, lay dead next to each other, Lunas ears twitched upon hearing the crying of a mare. Looking back her heart broke upon sight after seeing two ponies in medical robes carrying out a dead filly, the mare her mother most likely had to be held back from tackling the staff. The two ponies arrived and laid the foal next to another, both ponies didn't acknowledge Luna as they arrived or left, their grief too strong to even care. The crying mare arrived seconds after the two ponies left, she too didn't acknowledge Luna as she sobbed for the loss of her daughter. Luna, on the verge of tears, rubbed the mare's back with her wing, looking up at the infirmary, a question soon popped in her mind, a question she needed an answer for 'how bad is it?'. Unknown to her it would be a question she too would regret.
Arriving at the infirmary made her wish grief wasn't painful to feel, every bed in the infirmary was full, with minorly wounded to gravely injured ponies. Looking to her left she eyed the many ponies still waiting for medical attention, again with wounds that were either minor to the more severe. One she glimpsed was a unicorn stallion holding his lower barrel, fresh blood dripping out, while his friend kept telling him to 'keep it, hold it together'. She thought his friend was telling him not to go mad, until she saw a glimpse of his intestines poking out, the stallion was upright waiting for medical attention and holding his guts in place. Yet she saw he wasn't going to make it, she didn't like to be negative, Luna was always hopeful, well tried to be, but upon seeing his eyes droop, the color of his coat becoming paler, she knew then and their death was about to claim him. Unceremoniously it did, in a second the stallion fell to his side, blood pooled out as his guts no longer being held by his hoof spilled to the floor. Her attention was drawn to the sound of a pegasus stallion begging in pain, as a unicorn mare seemed to be operating on his shoulder, going over Luna wondering if this is the mare she needed.
"Please, please stop, it hurts!" the stallion begged as the mare tried to pull some sort of object out of his shoulder, this in turn caused the mare to scoff at the crying pony.
"Quit being such a pussy, it's almost out" she said trying to pull whatever she was trying to pull out of his shoulder, with no anesthesia. Of course she couldn't use anesthesia, mostly in part their all out, all except for morphine, but that's reserved for more serious injuries.
Luna got closer to her and got a better look at the color of her coat, she's a brown mare with a white mane, her cutie mark resembled a heart dripping with blood. On her she wore standard medical fatigues for the equestrian army, which was a white lab coat with the flag of crossed spears on it, below it read twenty second line company. Reaching her she cleared her throat, but she didn't reply, again she cleared her throat, this time she got an impolite response.
"This isn't going to work-" she grumbled "-listen I'm busy, if you want to make yourself useful hoof me the needle nose pliers, if not get out of my way" Luna hoofed her the pliers the mare needed after she set down a now bloody pair of forceps. Ahead in an oblong bowl tray were several bloody arrow heads, putting two and two together, Luna figured the stallion was shot by multiple arrows and was now in the process of getting the last one out. The sound of rent flesh made Luna sick to her stomach, as the mare finally pulled out the last arrow, bits of flesh and bone were stuck to it, realizing the last arrow lodged itself into the stallion's shoulder bone. After suturing up the wounds the mare placed a gauze pad over the injuries, once she was done she turned to her guest.
For a moment the two stared at each other, Luna having an uncomfortable look to her while the unicorn mare had a nonchalant look to her "well, took you long enough-" she began to walk to the nearest sink, all the while talked along the way "-let me get the pleasantries out the way, names Bloodheart, yes i know your a princess, no I'm not going to bow, yes I know I made a oath to her royal ass, but I don't give a flying feather, I know your her sister and you know what I don't care. I have too many ponies either grievously injured, dying, or dead and too few ponies to help, many of the others in white coats are volunteers from the town with little to no medical experience.-" Luna let her rant as she continued it, understanding the position she was currently in."-on top of it all it gets even better, we ran out of anesthesia and all we have is morphine, but no here's the best part. We still have ponies beyond the defense line injured and we can't spare anypony to get them, or scrounge up any medical items from homes or businesses. Now there are talks of a third attack, if we don't get this evacuation moving soon, there's going to be a lot of dead ponies littering the streets and all the while, your bucking sister sits on her throne, while ponies kiss her hooves and look down upon the western coast.-" she pointed a hoof at Luna "-so tell me your highness, why in tarteruses name are you here, if it's to enjoy the scenery, then find some other meal ticket!"
Luna just stood calmly, she was just chewed out by one of her subjects and listened to this mare talk down about her sister. If the royal guard were here, she'd be in the dungeons in a heartbeat. Yet she wasn't mad, no she was calm, in fact she was somewhat glad, why, because Bloodheart was flung into a fight for survival and Canterlot did nothing. In all sense Canterlot and Celestia abandoned these ponies to death and what's worse, Braeburn, Applejack's cousin and an equestrian citizen was too left abandoned by his own nation. This all sickened Luna, but it ends now, now it was time to get these ponies out of here and get this evacuation going, if Canterlot, the nobility and sister didn't like it, they'd have to answer to her!
Clearing her throat and catching the unicorn's attention, Luna spoke "Bloodheart, I'm not here to enjoy the scenery, I'm here to help, I was in ponyville when two mares saw the smoke and fire. One of the mares is named Applejack and her cousin Braeburn currently aided this town in planting its apple trees and I'm not leaving until he and everypony is evacuated."
Bloodheart breathed a sigh, a sigh somepony would give when they realized somepony was going to do something foolish, drying her hooves off, she turned to Luna. "I admire your duty of wanting to help, but if anypony is behind the defense line they're most likely dead!"
Luna shook her head, she believed there could be survivors "i don't believe that-" she said confidently "-i know hope is slim, but we have to hope! I feel it in my heart, there has to be survivors, if not then at least give the families of the lost some closure!"
Bloodheart sighed and closed her eyes in thought, opening them she made a stern decision "you have an hour before these creatures return. We've been noticing these things restart their attack after an hour-" Luna nodded, she turned to leave, but stopped when Bloodheart stopped her "-however if you hear the town hall bell go off, you get your blue ass back here, these things are stronger than they look!". She watched Luna gallop out of the warehouse and take flight to her first destination, all the while having a look of worry on her face 'I hope to Celestia we get out alive'.
Flying over the defense line , she waved to Daggerpoint signaling she's going out to find survivors, he waved back signaling he understood. She could properly see Applesprig, looking back at the defense line were mostly stores, two warehouses, the town hall, a few houses and saloon. Whereas what she could see in the charred remains of the battlefield were just homes, at the end towards the forest rested what was left of a few barn's and in between the first and barn were the apple orchards, or what was left of them. Seeing the destruction would take her hours to search, so to shorten it, in the air she sent a blue pulse of magic in hopes to detect any life signs from survivors. Sighing in relief her life detection spell detected roughly five to seven survivors and a few of them were close to her and the defense line, one of them she was near currently resided in the barn to her left, with a faint life sign. Landing and lighting her horn up she quickly followed the life sign to the barn's built in storage shed and what she saw shocked her.
Laying on her right rested a mare with serious second and third degree burns on a quarter of her body, but her hind legs got the worst of it with irreparable fourth degree burns. Luna couldn't believe what she saw, this mare, barely recognizable, with burns covering her body, with nearly half of her hind legs burnt to the bone, still fought to stay alive. Rushing up to her she kneeled down and calmly spoke to her hoping she was conscious in any way.
"Hey miss, can you hear me, is your hearing affected?" Luna listed as the mare moaned in a raspy voice, this in turn signaled to Luna that her fluids were seriously depleted. She had to get her out, fortunately she heard the mare speak.
"p-please, help m-me (cough)-" she tried to move her hind legs, in hopes to get up, but pain shot all over her body. Alert fear began to show in her voice "-m-my legs, my body I- I can't move t-them!" Luna urged her not to look at her legs, but she did anyway and screamed in grief seeing her legs were nothing but bones. She started crying, but Luna stopped her, the mare's tears would barely come out but she had to conserve what little water she had left.
Luna turned her head to her "listen to me-" she began "-I'm going to get you out of here, but you need to stop crying, you're wasting water and you need it! Now I'm going to try and lift you, it may hurt a bit!" the mare nodded and felt Luna's levitation spell take hold, but when Luna started lifting her, she screamed in pain. Luna knew there was to be pain, but she didn't expect a lot of it, curiously she just noticed a sheet of corrugated metal lift with the mare. Lowering her, she investigated the phenomena, looking at her side, she uncovered a horrifying sight, the mare's flesh was cooked and sticking to the metal, in other words it was melted.
"Horseapples!" Luna swore, trying to find something to help with the mare's predicament, she grimaced, finding something that'll help, if not hurt like tartarus.
"W-what, what's wrong!?" she was worried, she didn't know what Luna swore, until she felt a tugging pain in her side, feeling the burned flesh, she realized now why Luna got the needed tool. She whimpered, laying eyes on the farm item.
It was a barbaric tool, but it was long and thin enough to get the mare off the metal, and fortunately the handle was burnt off, so she didn't need to remove the metal blade. "okay-" Luna replied, grabbing an unburned piece of wood and putting it in the mares mouth "-bite down on this, cause this is going to hurt" the mare nodded and gagged herself with the wood chunk. Luna taking the scythe blade lined up with the mare's flesh, doing a quick exhale she readied herself 'okay one, two, three' with the sickening sound of flesh and muscle peeling away. Luna began to slice through the mare's flesh in order to free her, pained squeals cried out from the mare, the sensation of being skinned alive to get free made her want to plead and beckon to Luna to find another alternative. The pain got worse as Luna got lower, eventually reaching to her mid barrel, her world started to get fuzzy, she weakly whimpered, as she threatened to pass out.
"You're doing good!" Luna encouraged, though she herself knew the mare was on the verge of fainting. Again she started, Luna had to take a breather herself upon seeing so much blood, but now that breather was over and she began to finish freeing the mare. It was painful and tough, but Luna managed to get through, from the mare's upper barrel to upper flank, a large chunk of flesh was peeled away, leaving only mussels and blood. Quickly Luna administered a nerve numbing spell to calm the mare, once calm, she levitated the mare and left the barn, spreading her wings she took flight.
Bloodheart galloped towards Luna, once she heard Luna was back with a survivor she didn't want to believe it, but upon hearing the surviving mare has burns all over her body, surprised her. Immediately a stretcher was brought and the mare was levitated on it, she was administered an I.V drip, plasma, with morphine on standby after Luna informed she gave the victim a nerve numbing spell. Turning Luna went out again, she had roughly thirty minutes to find more survivors, not wasting time she took flight.
Not three minutes in she heard crying in a small half burnt house, landing, she barged in past some fallen debris and found two foals both around Sweetie belles age, in front of them were a pair of hooves under debris. Upon seeing her the two foals huddled fearful of the alicorn's arrival, quickly she calmed them down.
"Sssshhhh, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you, my name's Princess Luna. I'm here to help." The two foals looked at her, still fearful, but calmed down realizing she wasn't going to hurt them, bravely one spoke up.
"M-miss, our mama hasn't woken up, we don't know what to do?" the filly replied. The two saw Luna nod and levitate the rubble off their mother, both were filled with joy upon seeing their mothers face, but were unaware of Luna's grim one. Luna looked down, she heard the excited squeals of the two foals seeing their mother again, but when she herself uncovered her, she didn't see her move, or breath. A grim realization came to her, how was she going to explain their mother isn't coming back, she held back tears, the whole thought of it weighing down on the princess. She felt a pat on her fetlock.
"Miss what's wrong?" this time it was the colt, a look of worry on his face. Luna sighed, the moment of truth.
Kneeling, she didn't know how to break it to them, so she went for it "it's your mother-" she said, both brother and sister now worried, the two saw tears in the alicorn's eyes. "-she, she isn't coming back.". It took awhile for the two to understand what she meant by 'not coming back', but when they saw their mother again and unmoving, it hit them. The two embraced Luna, crying in sheer agony. In an attempt to calm them, Luna wrapped her wings in an embrace, it seemed to work, but only for a bit, but now came the hard part, next of kin. Not wanting to worry about it now, she urged the two foals to come with her to safety, reluctantly they agreed and hopped on Luna's back.
Landing outside the makeshift infirmary, the two foals hopped off Luna's back, a nurse rushing over to check them, Luna stopped him. "The foals lost their mother, make sure they find their next of kin!" the nurse nodded and took the two foals inside.
Spreading her wings, Luna was suddenly stopped by Daggerpoint, his face edged with worry "your highness, pegasi scouts report movement in Gallopers forest, you don't have much time left!"
Luna nodded "then I'll be quick!" she took off.
Fortune favored the princess, her earlier scan showed a reading close to the defense line, in fact the house she was heading towards on on the edge of the line, meaning whoever was in there must be injured quite badly. Landing she broke down some debris blocking her and entered, half the house was badly damaged, but it was still destroyed.
"ANYPONY HERE!" Luna called, hoping sompony could answer.
"IN HERE!" a voice called out, and to Luna it sounded like a stallion, but that voice sounded familiar.
Trekking carefully to the survivor, Luna arrived to see, to her fortune and surprise, Braeburn. Luna could recognize him even in the dark, his leather vest and red delicious apple cutie mark was a dead giveaway, but what isn't normal is the three foot long wooden shrapnel shard sticking out his left hind leg.
Braeburn just stared at her, he expected somepony from the town, not princess Luna "y-your highness, what are you doing here!?" the mare rushed over, a look of unease on her face.
"We don't have long-" she said looking over his wound "-another attack is about to start!" She heard him wince as she lifted his hind leg up, she could tell he was blushing as she caught sight of his stallionhood and bits, but she wasn't doing to be seductive. She sighed relieved, his foal makers were intact, but the shrapnel shard on the other hoof was a problem, for one it pierced right through his leg and his wincing he did earlier told her it pierced his other leg, but not as deep. What worried her though was arterial bleeding, the last thing any of them wanted was a severed artery and she dared not move the shard, for one if it splintered out, then she just might hit an artery. -BONG-BONG-BONG- Both ponies blood ran cold, the attack had begun, she heard shouting coming from the defense line, Daggerpoint was organizing his troops, they had to get out.
"Should i chance it?" she asked herself, trying to think of the best way to get Braeburn out.
The stallion sat up in pain "p-please chance it"
Levitating him Luna burst out of the building and took flight, right as she did she caught a glimpse of the dark creatures force, her blood ran cold at what she saw. Woodland creatures led by the bipedal monsters charged the defenses, in the distance she saw their leader, a tall bipedal creature inches taller than the others and in full armor wielding a battleaxe, oversaw the battle currently at hoof. Though she noticed he stayed behind with a considerable force with him, including what appeared to be a magic user told by his staff. Flying behind the line Luna landed at the infirmary, Bloodheart rushing over to the injured Braeburn, but Luna stopped her.
"Get everypony to the evacuation wagons, the attack has begun and is larger than last!" Bloodheart nodded and went to get as many of her patients and medical staff she could.
Luna on the other hoof knew she needed to get into the fight, but needed to get the evacuation underway, teleporting to the town hall she rushed over to Northern Spruce who seemed to have finished talking with Nightwing. "We need to start the evacuation, the twenty second and I will hold them off as long as we can!"
Spruce nodded "well we're in luck, your grace, Nightwing returned with news, Moonlight accepted your request, we'll start the evac now!" As the princess left to join the fight Spruce turned to the evac line "ALRIGHT EVERYPONY LETS GO, LETS GO. INJURED AND FOALS FIRST, HUSSLE HUSSLE LETS MOVE, WE'RE LEAVING!"
Rushing to the frontline Luna conjured a sword of magic, while Daggerpoint readied his ponies to fire the first volley, looking on both sides she caught sight of the militia defending their flanks, 'i hope this is enough'. The first volley was shot, but the enemy kept coming, the creatures using infected bears as frontline bartering rams, ever they kept closer the ponies desperately loaded their weapons, the spears ready to impale the first creature that runs into it. The second volley fired, Luna watched in horror as the creatures were now upon them and in a matter of seconds-CRASH- the barricade defending the town erupted into pieces, ponies, mares and stallions flew after being rammed by a line of bears, the twenty second desperately tried to hold the line. Luna stood back, Daggerpoint insisting she stay behind, her moral giving the ponies strength to fight on, but even with her presence the darkcreatures began to trickle in. A pony screamed as his shoulder was crushed in the jaws of a corrupt bear, he was suddenly flung back into the massive wave of corrupt beings and was instantly swarmed. His screams were drowned out by flesh and bone being ripped from him as blood erupted in a mist from the vicious feeding frenzy, limbs and organs themselves were in a tug of war as the darkcreatures fought over a now mutilated pony.
Just the sight of a pony being torn apart made several of their defenders flee, but Luna with her wings spread ordered them to hold firm, but it was for naught, as their left flank was starting to waver. Several infected bears and creatures began to attack the flanks, though not as much as the right as it was still steady, but the left was hit hard and began to crumble. Rushing over Luna took to the flanks defense and teleported the wounded to the infirmary, but the attack was persisting, behind her the main barricade was faltering, along with the main force.
'Thiers too many!" She thought, she wanted to use her magic, but at the same time wanted to see the strength of these creatures and sure enough their might was far more superior. Taking to the air, she needed to thin the enemy ranks and using concentrated bursts of magic should help, that is if she didn't hit their own ponies. Pain shot through her head as she began to charge her horn, the dark influence these creatures have and how it affected the land, but how it affected her magic was beyond her. Charging her spell, she looked just in time to see a fireball come at her, changing from offensive to defensive she instead raised a shield around herself.
-BOOM-
The overhead explosion shook the town and ponies to the core, a hard -thud- caught their attention and to their horror princess Luna laid smoking in the middle. Groaning in pain, Luna slowly got up, she was not prepared for the explosive magnitude of that spell, looking back at the line, she had to cover her eyes when another explosion shook the town. 'We just lost the line' Luna mentally said to herself and sure enough she was correct, the barricades and defenses were completely gone, all that was left was a crater. To their good fortune though, the explosion also killed a good majority of the dark creatures, roughly sixty percent of their force was wiped out, though of course it was mostly the infected creatures. Now all that remained was the enemy main force and the pony force was too few to match it, not only did the fireball kill the enemy, it also killed ponies. Luna scoffed at the numbers she ran, the current force compared to the dark creatures was still too high, at least forty percent of the enemy force remained, compared to their nine percent. It was a losing battle and she knew it, but they had to hold on as best they could.
Daggerpoint rushed over to Luna, blood dripped from his forehead and he had several broken ribs, even his horn was on the verge of snapping off after getting hit in the head by a crate. None of that mattered to the unicorn, his first priority was making sure the princess was okay and gaining new orders.
"Your highness, are you okay!?" he asked, worried Luna might be severely injured, or have an injury.
Staggering a bit and wincing from a few broken ribs and a scorched wing she nodded "just a bit banged up, but nothing I can't handle-" walking forward, she winced after feeling the dislocated bone in her left hoof. Daggerpoint went to help, but waved it off, as she mentally counted to three then-snap-pop- she relocated the bone in her hoof, causing her to almost pass out and Daggerpoint to lose his stomach. Panting, she looked back, the dark creatures were reforming their ranks and she could clearly see a few archers, she looked back to the unicorn. "-lieutenant, form your ranks, if we have anymore ranged, put them in front, if not spears. We have to see this evacuation through, now move!"
It wasn't enough, out of the dark creatures numbers, only ten members of the twenty second survived and only five of the resistance remained, while the dark creatures seemed to be limitless. Readying for their final stand unicorns readied their muskets, while earth and pegasi ponies readied their musketoons and blunderbuss, in between only a hoof full of spears remained. It was now or never, the roar from the dark creatures leader echoed over the town, the final assault had begun.
Bloodheart had moved many of the injured to the carriages as she could, she looked back at the final assault taking place, then to the makeshift infirmary, its roof collapsing as flames consumed it. She watched ponies flee from the building, some on fire, while others were cut down, she evacuated as many as she could, yet she couldn't save all of them. The rocking explosion shook her off her hooves, one of many fireballs flew above and behind the evac zone, but she knew this was just to scare them, since these things can just simply rush around the corner and slaughter them all. Yet the thought dawned why didn't they, these things can easily take them, yet they didn't, it's almost as if they wanted them to escape, but why. Another fireball flew over, nearly hitting one of the carriages, fortunately it wasn't destroyed, but it did sustain heavy damage.
"Bloodheart!-" the mare turned to Northern Spruce rushing over to her frantic "-were being overrun, the first wave hasn't returned and Nightwing reported they won't be coming back. On top of it all Moonlight's hospital is starting to overflow, if we're to continue this evacuation then ponies need to walk with the caravan!" Bloodheart cursed, Spruce was right, every caravan followed a procedure, even during evacuation and seeing the enemy being literally at the entrance, then they had no choice.
Luna looked back and to her shock began to see ponies walk with the carriages, 'if that's the case then that means', her thoughts were interrupted when the creatures broke though their defenses. Luna swore her luck, ponies walking by the carriages is dangerous enough, especially for the guards tasked with escorting them. An infected bear lunged at the princess, slashing it with her magic sword across the neck, she finished it off with a downward slash decapitating it. Blackish red blood coated her coat, as she was attacked by another creature, but this one was clad in armor and was the one who was leading the assault. The fight went on for minutes, her foe, clad in plated iron armor, blocked blow after blow, his armor adorned with curved marks and symbols from the blood of his victims. The creature growled at her as they circled each other, both trying to figure out who would strike first, roaring it charged her, lowering herself ears back she dodged and slashed at him. The Alpha, Luna named, roared in pain as it felt fresh blood on its arm, infuriated, Luna didn't get the chance to dodge when the alpha viciously charged her.
Getting hit by the bar of a battleaxe hurt, especially when it was smacked under her chin and sent her flying back, so when she landed with a hard -thud- she spat blood out of her mouth. Wiping the blood off with her hoof, she slowly stood up, but was soon grabbed by the alpha and with his armored fist cracked her across the muzzle, knocking her back down. First she was punched by a receptionist, now a dark creature, she swore if she gets hit one more time in the muzzle, she's special ordering a muzzle brace, either that or talk like she's congested. A weight was suddenly on her, fighting back, Luna desperately tried to get the alpha off her, but he was too strong and with a firm-crack- began beating her. Crack-crack-crack strike after strike Luna felt as if her vision was fading in a red tint, but the feeling of this thing beating her stopped, only for it to be replaced by the blade of the alphas axe lining up with her neck, desperately she tried to move, with her vision clearing, she saw the axe over her head and she knew in one fell swoop she'd be a headless horse. Yet to her surprise it stopped and lowered its axe. She didn't know what was going on, but she didn't have time to think as she was suddenly picked up by the throat and thrown into a burning building. The heat was immense around her, she needed to get out and what remaining strength she had, she began to crawl and after a few minutes she was finally out and feeling the semi cool air was over her, but as she did everything suddenly went black.
-present-
"We aren't ready!" she said again wincing in pain as she accidentally ground her broken wing in the dirt, all she heard screams, screams of ponies at the mercy of these creatures. She looked over to see the alpha walk up to two and a mare and bring its axe down upon them, Luna closed her eyes and looked away, she failed, everypony's dying, how can she fight such hatred.
"LUNA!" she looked up to see a familiar purple figure, 'no-' she thought '-it couldn't be!?' spike soon came into view, along with Daggerpoint, the two males quickly tried to get Luna to safety.
"S-s-spike" she uttered only to fall unconscious in their hooves, quickly they moved her to a carriage, climbing aboard with her, the two watched as they pulled away from the town. The town was lost and all that could be heard in the distance were the screams, only to be drowned out by silence and roars of victory, the darkcreatures have won. |
Equestria Age | Moonlight | Chapter 10: Moonlight
Beeps, soft beeps of an ekg stirred Luna awake, groaning; she slowly sat up, only to yelp and lay back down in pain, opening her eyes. She registered that she was in a white room 'Canterlot?' she thought, looking around to what she could see, she saw other ponies laying in hospital beds, with injuries she winced at, then her bandages.
"Ah you're awake!" she heard a voice followed by a door close, looking at the owner she was surprised to see who it was.
"Dr. Radon? What're you doing here, are we in Canterlot?" Radon gave a light chuckle and shake of his head to her surprise and stood behind her bed.
"You're in Moonlight-" he then explained "-I came here to help-" he said, continuing with his explanation "-once the smoke was pointed out to me, i packed what i needed and headed here-" he sighed a glum look on his face "-i know what your sister wants with Moonlight and i for one don't support her crazed idea for wanting the lunar well." wincing Luna sat up.
"What do you know of this well?" She asked, many sources claimed it to give ponies eternal life, others say it heals the grievous wounds, well that's what she heard.
Radon sighed, before he was a doctor he majored in history and he sure can tell the well isn't pony make. "The well isn't pony design-" he replied, he did get a good look at the well as many ponies were using it to help the injured "-but it does heal grievous wounds, though i think there's something far more to it".
"Then we need to aaahhh" Luna winced in pain, her whole body flared up in the most excruciating pain she ever felt, Radon was immediately by her side as he helped her.
"Easy, easy your highness, you've been through a lot, you've just recently woke up after all!"
She panted looking at him in pain "how, how long was i out?"
Sighing he explained "you've been out for six hours, it's almost seven-" this shocked her, 'seven hours-' she thought '-is it morning already?' she desperately tried to get out of bed, but screamed in pain as she moved ever so slightly "-whao Luna stop, you were in surgery for hours, you need to calm down!"
"But the moon!-" she protested "-i need to lower the moon!"
He continued stopping her "the moon can wait, you were critically injured when you arrived, nopony thought you survived!" his statement stopped her, 'nopony thought i would survive? What's he talking about'.
Steadily he explained her injuries "you arrived with a broken wing, five broken ribs, two broken legs front and back, lower jaw fracture, left occipital bone fracture, second and third degree burns, five broken teeth, minor spinal fracturing. As for your organs: internal bleeding from shrapnel in your stomach, liver, kidneys, one of your ovaries and uterus, a collapsed lung and bleeding of your intestines, along with minor arterial bleeding in your broken hind leg."
Luna just sat, slack jawed and mentally scoffed 'luckily to be alive my ass-' she thought '-i was damn near dead!' she looked down at the many surgical scars she got. Yet the thought dawned on her, wouldn't a surgery this large be longer than six hours, unless, she shook her head, it couldn't be the well, unless it was, then the rumor was true, the lunar well does have healing properties.
Radon confirmed her mental suspicions "now i know what you're thinking, so I'll be level with you, yes it was the lunar well that healed your injuries. Somewhat. You still have nasty spots that give you pain, such as the broken bones, but the organ damage is healed, mostly. Fortunately your reproductive organs are relatively intact, even though they were hit with shrapnel."
Radon could tell she was shocked, he couldn't blame her, he too was shocked after seeing the wells healing power and understood why the ponies of Moonlight safeguarded it. Yet the question remains why does Celestia want the well, she was after the west sure, but the well? She's an alicorn and already immortal without the need of a pool of water, yet she's after it like a dragon to gems. Yet being an alicorn herself she too is immortal, yet when she drank the water she felt not just her health but her power return. Both Radon and Luna were still curious as to why Celestia wanted the well, yet in hindsight, both didn't even know where the well came from, Luna was still curious when she first found it a millennia ago.
Minutes later Luna stood in the hospital lobby, where she was soon greeted by Spike and Daggerpoint, Luna embraced the dragon who was currently in tears, Daggerpoint explained to Luna he stayed by the dragon's side until she was discharged. She found out he was injured by the leader of the dark creatures, but he was more worried for her and how she kept phasing in and out of consciousness. It was when Luna caught sight of Spike's wound, he had a cast around his forearm, as it turns out Spike challenged the dark creature alpha and ended up with his arm being crushed by the things waraxe. If it wasn't for his scales Spike would have lost the arm, Luna looked over to daggerpoint and noticed he too took some beatings, most likely a few broken bones and by the looks of his hind leg being in a cast, has a broken hind leg.
After a while the three of them were discharged from the hospital, true they still felt pain from their injuries, but after explaining the need to return to Canterlot and assess the injured, the staff let them go. Assessing the injured was an understatement, upon opening the doors, Luna soon understood why the hospitals were full, ponies of all ages, refugees of Applesprig, aided the injured of their fellow townsfolk. Foals at the age of six too helped by delivering water to the ponies who needed it, Luna soon spotted Bloodheart the twenty seconds medic and currently she had her hoofs full. Daggerpoint sighed sadly, Radon earlier gave him the assessed numbers earlier, he just wanted Luna to see this, to let her know what happened when she was unconscious.
"How-" Luna began only for Daggerpoint to interrupt her and give her the estimate.
"Two hundred and forty-five wounded-" he replied, only to look at her sadly "-the death toll is greater than that!" He motioned for her to follow, with Luna urging Spike to stay put.
Venturing behind the hospital, Luna's mouth dropped, covered in various blankets, cloth and black bags was a thirty by ten row grave estimating a total of three hundred dead. Both she and Daggerpoint soon began to walk amongst the body bags, she never knew there were this many, he looked back to her and spoke in a somber tone.
"Roughly three hundred dead-" he replied, wings flapping overhead drew their attention to the sky "-pegasi going to and from Applesprig risked their lives to collect what dead there are, some never come back."
Luna looked down, sighing "so few return-" she said looking at the bags "-has, has the mayor said anything?"
Daggerpoint sighed "mayor Nebula hasn't said much, in fact he wants to speak with you your highness, whereas I'm needed to speak with the militia captain here. He says there's a great concern regarding Applesprig and Moonlight. He too requests to see you afterwards." Luna nodded and the two went back into town, Spike stood on the steps of the hospital, watching ponies helping the many wounded that came from Applesprig. He shook, remembering the first creature he fought and killed with his fire, looking down at his arm. He was ill prepared for his second encounter and almost ended up losing his arm, fortunately his scales took the brunt of the creature's axe strike, but the impact alone painfully broke his arm.
He soon watched Luna return, going up to her, he could clearly see the concern on her face "Luna what's wrong?"
The princess sighed "I need to speak with the mayor wants to speak with me for some reason, but (sigh) this doesn't make any sense, there was no warning, we thought there were few in number. It appears we were wrong-" spike just stood there listening, he got that the mayor needs to see her, but this other mumbling he isn't aware of, she looked down at him aware she was talking out loud to herself.
"I'm going to see what the mayor needs-" she said turning to leave "-do what you can to help these ponies, I'm not sure how long I'll be." she finished trotting off towards the town hall.
The town hall wasn't as far as she thought, it was in the town square where the lunar well stood, it's been ages since she laid her eyes on it, the well was a large shallow pool of crystal clear water. In the center stood a large column with what appeared to be a pedestal with four tines meant to hold or grasp something, not far behind the well stood a large mirror, roughly the size of Celestia herself. Why the mirror was there she didn't know, but a strange feeling called to her when she first laid her eyes on it, not only that, she felt strong residual magic within not only the mirror, but the well and the column too.
Reaching the town hall she looked up at the building. It was a two story brick building with a bell tower on the left side of the house, outside were several shacks for tools and weapons. To say the least it was better kept than the Sunfalls town hall, that town hall being made of wood, was falling apart from the inside, the ponies of the town should consider using brick next time. Walking up the stairs two guards stepped aside and opened the door for her bowing, once inside she was amazed at the interior as well, the place looked more like a mansion than a town hall. With little to no windows, the place was lit by torch and candle light, unlike Equestria using electricity the western coast was more traditional in the sense of using a calm candle light, or oil lanterns. As usual, just like Sunfalls, a receptionist desk stood in the center of the hall, trotting she admired the interior decor of the building. Paintings of past mayors and equestrian countryside lined the walls, while on the floor were pots consisting various flowers, ranging from red roses, to lavender and the infamous black lily or black rose. Making it up to the desk, the stallion was hard at work shuffling documents, or signing ledgers, clearing her throat, she startled the poor colt, looking up he greeted.
"Welcome to Moonlight town hall your highness, my name is Ink Splot, or just Splotty if you like. Do you have an appointment with the mayor?" the stallion replied, he was a unicorn stallion with a black and white spotted coat, his mane was brown and his cutie mark resembled a broken fountain pen.
Stepping up Luna informed her "I was told he wanted to see me!"
The Unicorn nodded "alright-" he said getting up "-I'll be right back!" Leaving behind some doors, Luna waited for the stallion to return with the mayor. It took awhile, but evidently he came back with said mayor.
"Ah princess Luna-" he replied bowing "-its nice to finally meet you, please, please come in to my office so we can talk" he said ushering her in, looking back he spoke to his receptionist "hold all my other appointments please" he said closing the door behind him.
Sitting down behind his desk, Luna sat in the chair in front as the mayor started, he was a light blue unicorn with a yellow mane, his cutie mark resembled that of a nebula. "So like I said, it's nice to finally meet you!"
Luna nodded "and you Mr. mayor, but why did you call me here anyway? Has something happened?"
Nebula sighed "I'm not going to lie your highness, but the attack on Applesprig not only cut off our food supply, but also separated us from the rest of the militia" Luna grimly nodded, "there's more-" he began "-before you woke up Daggerpoint informed me of their leader". She raised her hoof, stopping him.
"I know, I met him!" Nebula looked at her shocked, their meeting was interrupted when Daggerpoint barged in, a look of worry present on his face.
"Your highness, you need to see this!" The two looked at each other, standing up, they went out to see what was going on.
Worry pressed the leaders of the militia, upon arriving at the situation Daggerpoint mentioned, both Luna and Nebula stared at the map of the western coast with worry on their muzzles too. Looking down at the map, one wouldn't make heads or tales of it, but in the thousand and so miles of land the west held, one could clearly tell the lower quarter of the map shouldn't be red in illumination magic. Luna's concern paled in comparison to the militias, for one Luna just got back not too long ago, secondly, Applesprig was meant to be the west's hope for getting food, now it's gone. However what worried them the most was not just Applesprig, but the fact the illumination magic was slowly expanding on the map, which meant one thing, the dark creatures were on the move.
"We have to act!" a militia captain replied furiously, many of the officers agreed with him, even daggerpoint, but there was on problem, how many more were there. Many claimed to have seen another group within the forests nearby and if that's the case another attack could be imminent, which means they had to be ready for what's to come. A pegasus soon landed by the table, he was out of breath and worried.
"Sergeant what's to report" the captain barked, causing the sergeant to salute.
"Sir the creatures are on the move, but they're leaving the town, only a few corrupt animals remain!" This worried the council, if the enemy's leaving then it was one of two reasons, another attack, or retreating, they hoped it was the latter. That's when Luna spoke up.
"Captain, I think it would be wise to not only prepare defenses, but also allow-" she bit her lip, nervous on what she was going to say next "-equestrian forces to help defend Moonlight". Right on que, her suggestion of equestrian forces sparked an uproar, they'd soon rather die, than allow outside help from their enemies.
"QUIET" once silenced, everyponies eyes were drawn to Nebula "princess Luna is right, we need military aid for this, now i know many of you have grudges towards equestria, but Luna wouldn't of suggested this, if she wasn't thinking about her ponies first. If we don't stop this threat here in Moonlight, then the west along with all of Equss will fall, we have a common enemy and we need to look past our differences. I know Luna asks a lot, but we need help." ponies thought it over, some just shook their heads and left, their bitterness overpowering them, whereas the rest stayed, eager to help not just the west, but all of equestria.
Moonlight was hard at work, not with just the injured, but now with defenses, in a surprising notion to the western ponies, the equestrians helped put up fortifications around the town. Seeing this the ponies held on to a small hope that this would bring their two societies together, of course some would claim it to be survival and not friendship that would bring the two together. Many on the other hoof didn't care and saw the need to evacuate the town, those who did were seen as cowards, but equally called those who stayed suicidal and insane. Luna on the other hoof only cared for one thing, the protection of her ponies and the need to protect the town, true she didn't want the well in her sisters hoofs, but that's neither here nor there. Right now she's making sure Moonlight is ready, she doesn't want another Applesprig, these creatures have taken far too much, that ends here.
Raising the sun proved to be more difficult than she thought, for one she was used to raising the moon and her sister the sun, secondly being injured did not help in the slightest. 'Come on' she thought, its seven in the morning which meant the sun had to be at a certain height and lifting the sun felt like a marathon, she winced when she felt a pop in her back 'oh shit, that's not good' but it wasn't her spine, but her mussel. Luna panted after raising the sun to its correct height, other than having a hernia say hello, she stood up, only to be greeted by Nebula.
"Your highness-" he began "-some of the ponies were wondering what happened in Applesprig and are asking you to give a speech" he watched Luna's face contort in surprise, slowly she nodded.
"It's high time things change. Gather everypony in the square, it's high time I explain what happened and what I'm planning to do!" he nodded and left to do his task, what she was going to say would change the course of equestria and its future.
Ponies murmured amongst each other in the square, curious as to what the princess had to say, in front of the town hall's entrance stood a podium and at the door were two guards, one equestrian, the other militia. Next to the podium stood Spike, the dragon looked back at the door with worry and curiosity as to what Luna had to say. Standing next to him was Nebula, though he was more calm than worried, but overall was still curious.
Minutes later Luna exited the building, gasps erupted from the crowd, Luna's bandages were off, revealing the scars and recent injuries done to her in Applesprig. Speaking In the Canterlot voice, she began
"My fellow equestrians, what you heard today was an attack, but not from Celestia, mercenaries, or bandits, no, this attack was brought on by those bent on destruction, a race of dark creatures bent on ending all life. We won't let them, my injuries may be saveer, but not as much as my sisters, who was nearly assassinated by one earlier yesterday-" gasps erupted from the crowd, many of the militia hated Celestia, but knew deep down Luna wanted to save her, but hearing she was almost killed shocked them. "-which is why I'm asking all for unity, the loss of Applesprig is heartbreaking, but these things thrive on our sorrow, our pain and our conflict. I ask that you set aside your hatred for Equestria, my sister and others, because now we fight for not only our homes, we fight for our lives, our friends, families and our nation. TODAY WE FIGHT FOR EQUESTRIA AND FRIENDSHIP!" cheers erupted from the crowd, tears falling from their eyes knowing that for once harmony is coming to Equestria.
Nebula gave a smug grin "that was a hell of a speech" he said congratulating Luna.
She nodded "thanks, but i fear it's not over, i need to head back to Canterlot and speak with the advisors and council, it's time to change the name of the calendar age from the Celestial age to the Equestrian age. On top of all that I need to redirect the defense forces, if this threat is withdrawing from Applesprig then they do it to regain their strength, as of this moment, we're at war."
The thought of war terrified everypony, upon giving another speech, she ordered those who wished to leave evacuate to San Palomino and head further east. Once done she requested officers to send messages to any nearby settlements to send as much aid as they could to Moonlight, she knew these dark creatures will return, when she didn't know, but she wanted to be ready.
Much was done in Moonlight, but Nebula knew Luna had business elsewhere, seeing her off he and many of the officers now under the command of Daggerpoint wished her well. With Spike on her back, the two gave the town a final farewell, spreading her wings she took off towards Ponyville, where the real adventure and real answers began. However a thought occurred to her, one that plagued her mind, is spike ready? Looking back she drummed up a conversation.
"So? How'd that mission I sent you on turn out?" she asked, curious as to what Spike found out, or what happened while she was out.
There was silence for a moment "it was fine for a while, then it went downhill, but we managed to gather the Intel you were after!" Luna raised a brow to this, she was ever more curious as to what they found, but that was just the start, the warm up. The real reason she needed to speak with him was much more important.
"Spike, there's something else I need to ask of you." By now Luna was sweating bullets and Spike could tell, he heard it in her voice.
"What's wrong?" the dragon asked, curious as to what made Luna nervous.
She sighed 'here it goes' "the Lunar court in Sunfalls, deemed it was time for me to search for a midnight prince, that it was time for the lunar coast to officially be called a free state of equestria. In other words i love you spike. Will you be my Lunar prince?"
The question caught the dragon off guard, yet it felt right, but it wasn't the only thing that happened, he felt a tinge, a tingly feeling in his stomach, the same feeling when he first met Rarity. Yet could he, just the thought of the fashionist brought the tinge he felt to a surge, yet he started to get it now with Luna, is it, is it love? Does he love Luna? Biting his lip he had to answer, he had to and he knew what he had to say.
"So? Will you?" she asked, her heart quaking, not certain on what he was going to say, but from him taking so long, she began to feel her heart breaking.
"Yes..."
She looked back surprised, "what?"
"...I'll be your prince!" he finally said. |
Night Watch | pre | The interviewer made a dismissive gesture. "We'll be fine without it. Right now, it's important that Luna's mob get some real victories under their belt. They need to build up confidence. Just keep reporting in regularly. We wouldn't want things to get out from under us.
"There's just too much at stake."
15: Or at least, no flies that still possessed anything valuable in their pockets. They had, after all, bumped into her.
16: Not classically how it was spelled, but Luna had always wondered why not, given the Equestrian propensity for pony puns.
17: With an underlying note of 'not as well as I would, but who has time for that sort of thing'. Equestrian citizens had, as a whole, a much higher esteem for their understanding of civics than was truly warranted, as well as an argumentative nature. Some, of course, would disagree. |
Night Watch | Chapter 6: In Which The Secret to Really Keeping a Secret in the Equestrian Government is Discussed, and the Plot Thickens. | Fudged Numbers found herself slightly confused. The last thing she remembered, she had been drifting off to sleep in her own bed, with visions of embezzlement dancing in her head.(18) She had found herself walking down an infinitely-long corridor, and then in a waiting room. A handsomely-dressed minotaur in a bespoke suit, a clown wig, and juggling, walked in. "Miss Numbers? Her Highness, Princess of the Night, will see you presently."
This was strange.
It wasn't that Fudged Numbers never dreampt of work - indeed, with the recent budgetary crisis, she had frequently been beset with nightmares, whatever her benefits package had promised. Despite this, she was quite certain that the circumstances in which she found herself were indeed odd. Firstly, because she had recognized her dream as such - Fudged Numbers had heard of such things as 'lucid dreamers', but had never encountered the state herself - but secondly and with equal weight, because whereas her dreams had a tendency toward the absurd, this had a strange clarity to it. Equally bemused and curious, and bracing herself for the strange and unnerving sights that would surely await her, the chairpony of the finance committee of Equestria found her way into the indicated doorway.
Within, it could safely be said, Fudged Numbers' expectations of grandeur and sublime absurdity were not met. It was a normal-looking conference room, with a hoofful of ponies that she had met upon occasion and vaguely recognized as other head of committees seated around a long table. Sitting at the end of it, and wearing a tastefully tailored suit, was Princess Luna. "Welcome, Chairpony Numbers. Please, have a seat, we're about to begin."
Ancestors. Fudged Numbers found herself sweating. It's that dream again. I'm naked at work! There was a pause. Wait. I'm almost always naked at work. Clothing was a 'special occasions' conceit for Numbers, as with most of the ponies in the ministry. Embarrassed, she found a seat in the 'sweet spot' of conference chairs - sufficiently close to the heart of the gathered ponies to be able to clearly hear all speakers, far enough from the princess that she could rely upon at least a little privacy if her mind started to wander, and adjacent to a heaping pile of doughnuts.
Paper Weight, the princess' personal secretary called the meeting to order with a quick rap of a convenient gavel upon the table. "Let's come to order and get down to business, shall we? Some of us have other plans this evening. Yes, Chairpony Numbers?" Fudged Numbers realized, to her horror, that she had raised a hoof. Thus called upon, she felt compelled to speak.
"Ah... I seem to have missed the notice about this meeting? What's going on? I thought that I was asleep."
Princess Luna's much put-upon secretary pushed her spectacles up her nose, and gave a soft sigh. "Miss Numbers, upon signing the Official Secrets Act, you initialled a clause that allowed for mystical means of conference to be used for the discussion of issues deemed to be Quite Secret Indeed or higher. Did you not wonder about the phrasing of a clause that officially gave the Equestrian government full authority over your very dreams?"
Fudged Numbers paused to give that a moment's consideration. She did seem to recall wondering about that phrasing... "I had sort of assumed it was meant in a more figurative sense, like when I signed up for my student loans. The wording was almost identical."
The meeting came to order, and it was immediately clear why the topic of conversation had been deemed sensitive enough to warrant dream obfuscation. A member of the Quality - a term that Fudged Numbers had always hated, but had grudgingly come to internalize - was under suspicion for a rather lengthy laundry list of offences. The Celestial Diarchy was willing to forgive many a sin, but treason, the harbouring of dark artifacts, and a number of other transgressions against crown law had formed a noose too tight for even a peer to slip. Fudged Numbers looked a little shocked as she realized that the group of misfits that she had helped to sign into a position as law keepers had contributed to the investigation that had discovered such malfeasance.
The law of unintended consequences, rearing its ugly head. Numbers carefully partitioned 'embezzle enough bits to retire to the Bahayman Islands' into the portion of her brain dedicated solely to dreams.
"But what's this all about?" Numbers furrowed her brow. She had learned, in a roundabout way, to 'follow the money' when investigating fiscal ne'er-do-wells; she could certainly believe that a chain of connections strong enough to warrant investigation had been found, but couldn't figure what the possible motive might be. "Why would Lord Clearing House risk his title, his reputation, and his family name with such incaution? You've all clearly laid out means, opportunity - and indeed, some very minor evidence of his direct action... but why?"
Princess Luna frowned slightly. "That... is something that my agents are still investigating. You've all been called together because you are experts in your particular fields. Your jobs are to track down the evidence that has been mentioned tonight, and see to it that it is solid enough that we could bring a peer to task with it. In the meantime, if the Night Watch comes across data pertinent to your investigations, I shall see to it that it is shared with you.
"Needless to say, we would not be taking such extraordinary measures in regards to security if this investigation were prepared to go public. By the geas of public office under which you all labour, I bind all present to operational security on this matter. One of my hoofmaidens will be by tomorrow with affidavits confirming that this was not simply a dream. I expect the best of work from all of you." That had a note of finality to it, and such an invocation was not lightly taken, so Fudged Numbers supposed that was that.
Paper Weight managed a somewhat fixed smile. "If you'll all please exit out of the door through which you entered, you'll find yourselves back in your regular, unaltered dreamscapes - whatever you were going to dream before the meeting. Please begin your investigations at soonest convenience upon waking, thank you." One or two at a time, the various gathered ponies made their way out the door, with the mien of those finishing a task that was, while not unpleasant, thankfully complete.
Finally, only Fudged Numbers was left. She hesitated, but then turned to Paper Weight. "Ah... how bad is it going to be?"
Paper Weight gave the budgetary chairpony a humourless smile. "Bad enough."
* * *
"This is awful!"
The declaration had come from a hooded pony with a better-than-average understanding of awfulness. He had, in his time, committed some reasonably heinous acts, and in doing so, acquired an enviable(19) appreciation for awful things transpiring - albeit usually by his hoof, rather than committed against his interests. Nevertheless, for all of his vaunted understanding of all things awful, the hooded pony did not seem to have his audience in full agreement. This was the cause of some mild consternation for him, and the author invites all readers to take this opportunity to express sympathy ranging from 'mild' to 'insincere' for this clearly bad pony.
Are we finished? Good. Moving on.
A rather more grounded pony, also hooded, but by her voice clearly female, tilted her head. "Come now, don't you think that you're overreacting a little bit?"
The first pony, who at least fancied himself the group's leader, shook his head. "The interlopers have broken into our warehouse and seized all of our precious artifacts from within! A full third of what he have spent months collecting, gone in an instant! Clearly, this is awful!"
There was murmuring around the room, ponies, all hooded, exchanging knowing looks and nodding. They hadn't been sure before, but this did indeed sound rather awful.
The second pony was having none of it however. "Come now. You've said yourself on multiple occasions that we only need half of what we had collected, and while I count my wasted days as a young schoolfilly among my favourite to recollect, I do seem to recall a lesson in arithmetic in which it was patiently explained to us that 'two thirds' - that is, the amount we have remaining of our magical cache - is well in excess of of 'one half' - which, in your own words, is the total of our requirements. Let's have no more of this 'awful' talk. Honestly, I had no idea you were so prone to defeatism."
The leader felt a tension headache coming on. "Nor had I an idea you were such a pollyanna!" He paused. "I suppose the smiling faces and sunbeam in your cutie mark might have been a clue, actually." The stallion rallied gamely. "Regardless, it must concern even you that we seem to have drawn the attention of the Equestrian government! This is a crisis!"
This was a mistake. The murmuring around the room changed timbre in a way detectable only by the skilled observer, and one hooded pony, distinct from the first two, raised her hoof.
The leader glowered. "Yes, sister Doorkeeper?"
The titled pony hemmed nervously a moment before putting herself forward. "Um. Well, I was just reading this book, and it said that the Camelean word for 'crisis' is made up of syllables meaning 'problem' and 'opportunity'!"
Another pony, less inclined toward hoof raising, snorted. "So? The Equestrian word for 'sandwich' is made up of syllables meaning 'coarse particulate grainy soil', and 'negatively-viewed female spell caster'. What, was your book titled 'relevant-seeming but pointless etymological facts from around the world'?"
The would-be leader sighed as Sister Doorkeeper rebutted the comment with a mean left hook, and all possible discussion was briefly put on hold as the scrap between the two was resolved, with other members of the group alternately placing bets or preparing first-aid for the wounded. That was the problem with recruiting just anyone, really. If he'd had his way, the organization would be filled purely from the finest stock of the Equestrian peerage. Instead, he'd had to rely on those somewhat less satisfied with their lots in life, and, well... twits.(20)
The fight resolved with neither winners nor serious injuries. The interlude had dome some good however, as a plan began to hatch in the leader's mind. Sure, the idea had come from Sister Doorkeeper - and as such was at least mildly suspect - but it could genuinely work! "Brothers and sisters, I have a plan!" The congregation looked to him, and the leader felt a swell of pride setting his chest fit to burst. "We shall use our remaining mystical resources to call forth the being, foretold in the prophecy! With the tablet and the rest of our magical goods in the hooves of those... interlopers, it should be drawn right to them!"
There was a pause. A hoof went up.
The leader massaged his temples. "Yes. Sister Doorkeeper."
"Um. Well, how really... does that... help?"
It was true that there was frustration in the self-styled leader at this point - he had never liked to repeat what had already been said - but there was little he liked more than a straight line, particularly one that fed into his ability to listen to the sound of his own voice. On the balance of things, pride outweighed annoyance, at least for now. "Those incompetents over at Princess Luna's 'Night Watch' will never be able to anchor a being like the one we could conjure forth! They will be swiftly routed, and the princesses will have no choice but to bring forth their ultimate weapon!"
There was a pause as those gathered considered this. While, true, none of them were the world's most brilliant thinkers, the idea of raising an enormously powerful creature of darkness that was next to impossible to bind anywhere in the vicinity of themselves, caused some consternation. Further consternation arising from the notion of seriously pissed-off diarchs seeking to utilize an 'ultimate weapon' on those ultimately responsible caused a susurration of unrest to once again stir the gathered cultists.
A hoof went up again.
"Yes Sister Doorkeeper?"
"Um. And, ah... how does that help?"
The leader ground his teeth. True, the summoning ritual didn't call for a pony sacrifice, but he was growing increasingly certain that cause for one could be manufactured. "Because our entire goal, as has been explained several times is based around it." He paused. It was possible, perhaps, that he was overestimating his audience. What really seemed to help was the rallying cry. "All in service to the Golden Scoop, my dear."
There was a cheer as uncertainty melted away, like butter in front of a blast furnace. "ALL HAIL THE GOLDEN SCOOP!"
* * *
The good news had been that after much hemming and hawing, it had been decided that the spare supplies cupboard in the basement of the palace of Canterlot was not suitable for the Night Watch's headquarters. The cramped spaces, the occasional visitors in the form of janitorial staff, and the fact that it had actually turned out to be haunted(21) had not proven sufficient reason to find them new accommodation. Rather, the Canterlotian Historical Society had turned up the Lost Treasures of Celestia(22) in the supplies cupboard, behind some mops that hadn't been touched in what looked to be centuries, and declared the office to be an official part of the tour.
The occasional intrusion on the part of the custodial department had been bad enough. It was impossible, Sharp Salute had said flat-out, to maintain operational security on their surprisingly delicate case, when they were just three stops before the gift shop. And thus, as quick as a flash, new quarters had been found. It had not been an improvement.
The broom cupboard had been cramped. The broom cupboard had possessed fossilized spiders and industrial solvents that had bleached a strange pattern into Sticky's coat. The broom closet had been utterly inappropriate as quarters for even a second or third-tier appendage of the Equestrian justice system.
The furnace room was worse.
In truth, it was more spacious. Visits from the custodial staff had dropped off to next to zero, with the janitors deciding that the new residents of the furnace room were well-capable of performing the minor adjustments that were requested of them. But the furnace would turn on at odd times, flooding the room with heat, and while there was more room, an errant misstep could lead to a nasty burn on one of the pipes that tangled the room in a confounding knot. Somepony a while back had evidently decided that this would be an appropriate place to dump old magical rubbish, and there was something scuttling in the walls that made Gawain wonder if perhaps not all of the arcana had entirely drained from the refuse before it had been dumped.
That having been said, it wasn't all bad. Zorada had taken advantage of the boiler in the middle of the room to set up a field alchemy lab, and Hot Streak had taken to practising her power control by adjusting the heating of the boiler mystically, when it got too hot. Given that the boiler had, rumour had it, originally been designed to be powered by dragon's breath, the fire adept's occasional blunders hadn't caused the catastrophic structural damage here that it might have elsewhere.
Right now, it was lunch time, and Ice Pick had his dander up. "Look, all I'm saying is, from the perspective of the Equestrian military, having what amounts to a magical superweapon embodied in the form of six ponies that have to work in conjunction or nothing happens - it's insane! Particularly since the House of Lords has used it as an excuse to slash military funding while Equestria has been going through one of the longest runs of crises in centuries."
Sharp Salute shook his head. "Look son, you might have an outsider's perspective on such things, but trust me. The Equestrian military has almost nothing that could have withstood most of the threats that came our way over the last couple of years. If we're lucky, we'll have time to get our hooves back under us before the next crisis hits."
Sticky Wings was taking inventory of the seized goods, but took the opportunity to chime in her own opinion. "Icepick is just jealous because he ended up at the bottom of his class, while Princess Twilight Sparkle was top. Crown envy, Icy?"
Ice Pick glowered at the pegasus. "As it happens, no. Rather than spending years studying the 'magic of friendship', I decided to just have a healthy social life and a postgraduate education. Besides, there's something creepy about the idea of 'magicking ponies good'." He shook his head, and took a bite out of his hayburger. "What are you brewing up anyway, Zorada? It smells like something that grew in my gym bag one time when my washer was on the fritz. Not quite enough to put me off my lunch, but..." Faint vapours were escaping the zebra's thrown-together fume hood, and perfumed the air with a malodorous cloud.
The zebra looked up. "I have been studying the tablet that Gawain took to have analyzed by the Changeling. The translations we worked up were not specifically helpful, but did remind me of something that I had read in one of my Alchemist's Primers back when I undertook my apprenticeship. I am attempting to brew up a reagent that will dampen dark magics such as those that would be employed by a creature fitting the description that the tablet fragment gives." She paused, considering. "And certain moulds were used in the ingredient list. While not pleasantly perfumed, I suspect that the smell will be much less pronounced when the formula is bottled."
Icepick sighed. "About as good as one might expect, I suppose. Any luck working through those dossiers, Gawain?" Technically, working through the suspect files was Ice Pick's job, but he had seconded it to the gryphon when Gawain had expressed an interest. In truth, while Ice Pick had been qualified enough for the job, he had been happy to give it to Gawain, whose legal experience had given him a much more discerning eye in such matters.
The gryphon nodded, only half acknowledging the question. "Hrm? Oh, yes, yes..." He looked up. "There are a few references I don't quite get, but it looks like there's enough here to provide the grounding for a motive at least." The team had taken a fair amount of time chasing down leads, including finding the pony that had hired Gawain, and from descriptions and truth compelling spells, they had managed to form a small list of likely culprits.
Sharp Salute arched a brow at that. "Give us the facts of the matter, then?" The old pony was finished lunch, and had taken up a perch near the boiler, which he occasionally tossed a ladle full of water onto. He claimed that the steam helped with his arthritis, but Gawain was modestly certain that the veteran really just fancied the idea of having his own personal sauna.
"Right." The Gawain rubbed his brow with a claw. "Well, most of the suspects are a member of a group called the 'Reformed Orthodox Breakfasters, which gives us a good point of meeting for them." There was a groan from around the room, and the gryphon arched an eyebrow. "Clearly I'm missing something?"
Hot Streak tilted her head. "Well, the Breakfasters are a religious group of Celestia worshippers who claimed that Celestia's commandment that 'it's important to start the day with a good breakfast' has the strength of holy law. Mostly they run soup kitchens, but like a lot of Diarch worshippers, there are some really wacky variant groups and cults. There's no telling what one of those groups could want. I swear, pegasi or not, they've all got some loon blood in them."
Sticky Wings protested. "Oi! Tribalist!"
Hot Streak apologized, and Gawain continued. "Well, that doesn't have to be the motive in itself - it just provides a pretty good place in their past to have met up, maybe begun to plan all of this. More than anything else, it looks like this is more a case of political ambition and greed than anything stemming from religious convictions. In addition to having considerable holdings in the warehouses down in the docks district, Lord Clearing House has purchased or started up a sizable percentage of the research and development firms intended to create more magical defences and combat evil magic. Most of it hasn't done too well on its own, but there's been sizable support, particularly from the peerage, for these privatized measures.
"Most of the other members are also members from the minor aristocracy - ponies unlikely to inherit directly, but who stand a chance of earning their own titles if they were involved in a positive defence of Canterlot, say. And Golden Fortune, the businesspony who recently got off on those embezzlement charges - his personal portfolio shows a lot of investment in the companies owned by Clearing House. All together, I'd say that in the event that there were some kind of invasion of monsters, of the sort described by the tablet, these ponies would be well positioned to do something about it- and in so doing, enrich or otherwise better their own positions, simply by virtue of being well-equipped and on the spot to do so." The gryphon shrugged, expressively. "Put simply, it looks like a rather sordid but mostly cut-and-dry tale of overweening ambition and dangerous greed."
Sticky Wings frowned. "I think you may have the general shape of things, but we can't take this to the princesses. It's too speculative - we'd need a lot more in terms of hard evidence in order to secure a conviction against somepony without the connections that Golden Fortune clearly has, to say nothing of the peerage. Even minor nobility can hide behind the aegis of their connections."
It was true. Technically, by-the-books, all of the aristocracy fell under the common law that applied to all ponies. Every schoolcolt learned at a young age that Princesses Luna and Celestia had forced a reluctant aristocracy into the signing of the Manegna Carta, and had even agreed to abide by it themselves, well over a thousand years prior(23). That said, how the system had been intended and ow it had actually turned out were horses of entirely different colours. The judges of Equestria were generally even-hooved in their judgements, and actively corrupt officials were gaoled in short order, but a regional judge might bear in mind the fact that their salaries, as well as their appointments, were under the mandates of the Equestrian peerage.
Sharp Salute straightened up a bit, tossing the litter from his lunch into a nearby wastebin. "Right. We need to collect some more solid evidence before we can take this investigation anywhere. We have some fresh information now - connections, names, even some neighbourhoods to start looking for additional hard evidence in. Against all likelihood, we've found something in the wheelhouse of why the Night Watch was formed, and by the Ancestors, I am going to see to it that we fulfil our mandate and make Princess Luna proud of us." The senior guard smiled, but it was a hungry smile that would have put a timber wolf to shame. "Let's be about it, people."
* * *
In the space-between-spaces, there existed beings that defied description. Alien intelligences that existed simply because, sooner or later, they would be brought into some reality or another, fully formed as something - and since something could not be created from nothing, not even with magic, it was here that the potential-somethings existed prior to their calling. To say that they lay in wait would be erroneous, as waiting implied anticipation. Rather, the simply were, and the multiverse was the worse for it.
One of the numberless horde had little time left before it would be called into Equestria. Already, the first of the callings had begun. It would not be long now.
18: Some ponies dreamed of candy. Numbers dreamed of ledgers so complicated that she could hide entire defence budgets in the rounding errors. When it came down to it, the difference between Numbers and Sticky Wings was pretty much just a matter of scale and success.
19: Well, enviable for some. If you like that sort of thing.
20: Of which, at least, there had been plenty. And usually in positions which granted them more authority or power than they should rightly have, but rather less than they dreamed of having. Hope and ambition were powerful recruiting tools, for the cultist in the know... if one didn't mind drawing from the shallow end of the think tank.
21: By one of the aforesaid janitorial staff wearing a bedsheet with eyes cut out, looking to scare away tourists so that he could look for the lost treasures of Celestia. He was later caught by four ponies and a dog in an improbable trap after a long chase down one of the palace's many corridors. Some things really are universal.
22: And he would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling historians and their stupid dog.
23: Or rather, until quite recently, that Princess Celestia had. Textbooks including Princess Luna's involvement in statecraft were only now coming off of the presses. |
Night Watch | Chapter 7: In Which Literary Allusions are Made, and Dark Forces Gather | No pony would have believed, near the beginning of the second millennium that Equestria was being watched keenly by intelligence greater than ponies', immortal and waiting for the right moment of weakness in the planar folds. With infinite complacency, ponies went to and fro about their business, serene in their assurance of their empire over nature. Was it not by pony labour that the seasons shifted? That rain and snow fell from the sky, that the leaves fell from the trees? Was it not their immortal diarchs that raised and lowered the very sun and moon?
Perhaps this belief had been shaken at least a little, of late. The manifestation of an elemental god of chaos, a magic-devouring monster that had attained seemingly divine levels of magic, and whatever the tyrant Sombra had made of himself within swift pace of one another certainly had opened the minds of many of Ponyville's residents to the threats that their nation might face. It was still a distance from there to the idea that otherworldly horrors, straight out of a novel by H.P. Hoofcraft or a portrait by M.C. Pasture might genuinely exist.(24) For the most part, Equestria's residents were quite certain that, extremely powerful magic notwithstanding, the threats that would plague Equestria fell firmly in the categories of the cult, the canny, and the natural - or at least, the supernatural, which suited an assortment of horned, supernaturally resilient, and winged ponies just fine.
Alas, it was not so. The only upside, if so it could be called, was that the barriers between realities were quite strong - particularly from their outside. It took dedicated, concentrated effort to open a breach large enough for a predatory intelligence to come through, and not a little preparation or effort. Be they ever so powerful, no unicorn could do it by themselves, much less accidentally. To open a breach, a great number of ponies would have to be trying.
The downside - and so it could well be called - was that some ponies were quite trying indeed.
* * *
It was a bright and stormless night. Ponies that preferred purple prose were perhaps a trifle disappointed, but the lights of Canterlot, both mystical and candlepower, were sufficient to cause a glare off of the low-hanging cirrus cloud cover. The result was that, even in absence of stars, at least in the vicinity of Canterlot, there was enough light to see by, although fine detail would have been difficult, and reading all but impossible.
Ser Sable Jet and Ser Ardent Tempest were maintaining their watch over Canterlot's weather factory. While most of the nation had to make do with mobile weather production facilities, the capitol was considered important enough to warrant its own. It had been some years since anyone had tried to lay siege to the city that had grown up around Celestia's castle, but the possibility still existed, and thus it was strategically important that the gardens of Canterlot have a steady supply of rain water whenever the need arose. Given the lack of military threat however, the position of guard to the Canterlot weather factory was more or less an honour guard, and the two pegasi had been the regular guard at the post for a few years now. Both were Wonderbolts veterans, decorated for courage and integrity, and named to the Order of Equestria as knights for valor.
Currently, they were playing cards. Sable and Tempest played a lot of cards, and had done so ever since having been appointed to their current post, a semi-retirement that helped to buoy a military pension that more or less covered the costs of living. Neither was the fighting pony that they'd been in their prime; Tempest had a trick hip that pained her when it was going to rain (which, given her position, was something she could usually predict with the accuracy of clockwork), and Sable had found that his flight speed had dropped precipitously with the onset of arthritis. All told, while they recognized that the position was mostly an honorarium, they were happy to have it, not least because they enjoyed the company of one another.
Unlike border towns and other smaller settlements, Canterlot's weather was precision tailored for the city, and rainfall tended to be temperate, and happened almost exclusively at night. No rain was called for this evening however, as careful application of rain had all gardens, lawns and beds registered with the weather department well-watered, at least for the next few days. Thus, the weather factory, excepting its honour guard, was empty, dark, and quiet. Rows of still machinery and apparatus for controls had no attendants, and while the few devices that shouldn't ever be shut off entirely still glowed with a faint magical light, the majority of the factory floor was otherwise without illumination. The two elderly knights were relaxed but vigilant, and as was her usual, Tempest was kicking sable's flank at the card game which had long ago begun as a variation on poker, but had evolved over the years into something unrecognizable, excepting to the pair.
"And the king of dragons consumes your nine diamonds, winning me the hoof and, I think, the game. Play again?" Tempest seemed quietly pleased with herself, and Sable sighed, and scrubbed his face.
"I'm pretty sure at this point I owe you a forest's worth of matchsticks." He smiled ruefully. "I'll play again, but only if you're willing to offer me some matchstick credit. I had a few extra set aside, but like most of my money, the moment I put them in my saddlebags, they started burning a hole in my pocket. I tried to save them, but..." he put a hoof to his brow dramatically, "my matchstick fortune was up in smoke."
Tempest gave Jet a wry look. "You're pleased with yourself, aren't you?"
Jet gave back an innocent look. "Well, yes." He took the cards, and gave them a bridge shuffle. "Shall we?"
As the two knights bantered, not all was well in the darkened factory floor below. A shadowy presence, more mist than solid, had flowed in through the cloudwork that made up the structure of the building, and was coalescing into something with glowing emerald eyes. Silently, it moved toward the controls for the rain generator.
Using the equipment in a cloud factory toward its proper ends was not nearly as simple as the many recruitment posters in pegasus elementary flight schools would have led one to believe. The posters, designed decades prior, showed brightly coloured ponies wearing hard hats, carrying clipboards and standing next to enormous control wheels. They had been designed by Ink Blot, an earth pony who had never actually seen a weather factory in person, and had proven to be one of the Equestrian government's most effective propaganda poster series in history. It was not wholly disingenuous - pegasi had been legally required to wear hard hats on a work site for some years now, despite the fact that the most likely thing to fall on their heads was cloud - but work as a weather specialist required a college degree and apprenticeship, and most of the controls were in the form of vast control panels, each button, tab or switch serving a distinct and important purpose to operate the highly advanced instruments that gave Equestria its weather.
It was unlikely that the horrific green-eyed mist monster had ever attended one of the proper technical colleges, or undergone an apprenticeship in the proper use of the machinery it even now slunk toward. While the colleges were not strictly pony-specific, international students did not have their educations subsidized by the state, and it was therefore extremely expensive for an interested gryphon national to learn the technical skills required. There was no written ban on interdimensional students, but none of the reputable colleges had ever admitted one. It was with the eye of a novice therefore, that it approached the complex devices.
Regrettably, this was not a significant impediment. True, for finesse in weather control, it took a skilled practitioner. The weather controls for Canterlot were so finely tuned that a virtuoso could give her own backyard garden a sprinkle without so much as dampening the doghouse. The mist-monster had no such ambitions, and large, unsubtle stormy weather was distressingly easy to create.
The glowing panels on the powered-down equipment flared with a green aura, as the being took control. Sliders and dials moved of their own accords, being turned or shifted to their maximum positions, and then held in place. Thunder and lightning generators powered up, a low hum in the background, even as dormant systems sprang to life, marionettes to the puppeteer that had abruptly begun messing with their controls. The clouds over Canterlot darkened, and the machinery throbbed with bristling power.
Both of the pegasus knights felt the barometric pressure drop almost simultaneously. Although their positions in the military had not directly involved weather control, familiarity with the controls of the factory had been one of the requirements of their position within it - not that they had ever been expected o use the machinery, but simply enough to know what to do in the event of an emergency, at least until a proper weather expert arrived. Ser Tempest's hip throbbed painfully, and Ser Jet's instincts, although less rheumatic, foretold a storm such as had not hit the capitol in decades moments in the offing. The cards and matchsticks went flying as the two took to their wings, soaring down to shut of whatever malfunctioning piece of equipment was about to bombard the city, only to come face to face(25) with what was, unquestionably, a problem.
In their heydays, neither of the former Wonderbolts would have so much as hesitated. Age had worked harsh lessons upon them, doing little to undermine their valour, but tempering it with caution. Here was a creature evidently soaked in dark magic - and it hardly took an imaginative leap of logic to cross the distance to the too-recent events that had wracked the kingdom.
Tempest turned to Jet. "I'll hold it off. You're still the stronger flier of the two of us." The building lurched, gauges buried deep in the red, as the Canterlot weather factory prepared to produce a storm the likes of which the city hadn't seen in decades. A thin patter of unscheduled rain started down upon the city, as merrymakers and wanderers in the streets below looked up with surprise, before scuttling off to find shelter.
Jet shook his head. "If the storm that's brewing hits, there's no way that I'd make it." He flashed Tempest a grin. "Besides, Wonderbolts don't run." And besides, you've been my best friend for twenty years. I'm not leaving you alone. Between friends of so many years, some thought didn't have to be spoken in order to be heard..
Tempest managed a weak smile. "Wonderbolts don't run."
They fought bravely, and they were skilled. They had seen dozens of conflicts, and survived them all, and that had given the pair a sense for the melee, even against the supernatural creatures that had intermittently plagued the land. They did not break, falter, or hesitate. But at the end of things, there were only two of them. And the mist-creature was so very much stronger.
The storm broke over Canterlot.
* * *
The storm broke over Canterlot.
The Night Court bailiff, by the name of Pathetic Fallacy(26) looked up. He had been certain that the evening had been intended to be overcast but dry - consulting the schedule, he decided that he had been correct. It was odd - not that there was rain per se; the Canterlot weather corps occasionally made mistakes, and had to reschedule showers, with minimal notice - but for it to be such harsh rain, so intense, and with such durm and strang, as the gryphons would say, that was odd. He made a note in his notebook to ask Princess Luna about it, as soon as she was finished with the current petitioner.
Luna, for her part, was quite finished with the current petitioner. One of Lord Clearing House's business partners, she had come to protest the lord's treatment in court - never mind that had Luna had her way, had the budget crunch not been so dire and pressing, she would have done a great deal more to the errant lord, possibly beginning with defenestration, but certainly not stopping there. This evening's court was far more sparsely attended than was the average, as many of the Canterlot aristocracy were preparing to ease the city into autumn, using the power of their magic. Luna wondered if perhaps the Earth Pony way of doing things might not be best, but Leaf Day was a celebration among the unicorns of Canterlot, and she supposed different ponies could celebrate in different ways.
A crash of thunder all but shook the courtroom, and Luna blinked, bemused. Behind the thunder came the sound of driving rain, harsh and hard, beating a staccato tattoo against the windows. The court's windows flashed with vivid illumination, and Luna shook her head. If she didn't know better, she would have thought that the Canterlot weather factory had turned out a hurricane, but why would anypony possibly..?
"Excuse me your highness, but I'm not finished!" exclaimed the petitioner pony, one Coin Bank of the lower east of Manehattan. Luna's eyes narrowed.
"Yes. You are." Luna drew herself up, nostrils flaring. Yes, that was dark magic. Carried by the storm, oppressive and vast, but subtle, masked by the fury of the storm and the intensity of the unexpected weather. The palace itself had been shielded against it, long ago, as had the castle that Luna had shared with her sister, but such wardings were rarely enough. And if someone is making an assault on Canterlot, while I'm here listening to this drivelling idiot of a banker... "I'm in the wrong place." Luna didn't even realize that she had said the words out loud. She glanced at Pathetic Fallacy. "Arrest this pony. The crown may yet prefer charges. Find her a comfortable room to spend the night in, stick her in it, and have somepony watch the door." The banker began to protest, and Luna cut her off. "Unless she would prefer to walk home this evening."
Coin Bank looked out the windows across Canterlot. Hail had begun to fall, each icy stone half the size of a ping-pong ball. She swallowed hard, and no longer seemed to have the stomach for further protest.
Pathetic Fallacy had a bit of a wicked smile. In truth, he was a nice pony, gentle and kind, generous to the charities when they came by for Hearth's Warming, and a better pony for comforting children called before the court Luna could not ask for. But he was a large pony, broad of shoulder and of barrel, and while he would of course be as gentle as possible in throwing his weight around, he had no qualms about seeing to it that someone who had been annoying the princess stayed in her room for the evening.
"Alright you." said Pathetic Fallacy. "You're coming with me." Thunder rolled.
* * *
The storm broke over Canterlot.
Water from the rain found its way through the inexpert repair to the thatching in the old house that the Fellowship of the Golden Scoop rented for its meetings. It spattered across the leader's face, and he snorted himself awake, wiping the rainwater from his eyes. Right. He was here. A brief survey suggested that most of the Fellowship was here.
Memory came flooding back to him. They had summoned... something. None of the ancient texts or relics had been reliably specific about the exact nature of the creature, but that hadn't mattered. It had taken the combined efforts of two dozen unicorns, the sacrifice of dozens of potent - to say nothing of expensive magic items, and hours of preparatory work. And the process had been draining - the sudden enervation hitting like a bottle of Celestia's Old Peculiar on an empty stomach. The power had been heady, and he had channelled it.
They had succeeded! The creature had appeared, formless but unquestionably present, and they had held control over it. There had been a plan... the leader furrowed his brow, straining to recall. Yes. Using the Canterlot Weather Factory to spread an aura of hopelessness and despair, such as only the great heroes of Equestria could undo. And when great heroes arose... the leader smiled. Yes. The creature would disseminate the darkness of its essence, and then zero in on the relics that had been seized by the Night Watch. Once it had destroyed them, it would return for further instructions. Other unicorn wizards might not be able to bind it, but the summoners held the keys.
An old memory returned to him. His tutor in magic, years past, speaking to him on the matter of summonings, of calling upon greate powers,and of binding them to his will. The foolish old mare should see him now! But the words fluttered out, unbidden, in his memory, and he felt a slight lump in his throat. Never. Never conjure up that which you cannot put down. Fine then. Everything was alright. He was in control.
The process of the summoning and binding had knocked out most everyone in the room, whether or not they had contributed to the spell. Well, the leader mused, perhaps it would have been more apt to say 'whether or not they had intentionally done so. He might as well see to it that the rest of the Fellowship were roused, such that he could explain to all of them - probably several times - the nature of their triumph. The thought occurred to the leader that, oh surely, the gathered ponies must be truly exhausted. It might be best just to allow them their rest, to regain the energy, and to avoid long, pointless digressions. But for their own good, of course.
Emotions fought within him for a few minutes, and 'desire to have someone to boast to' won out over 'persistent, extreme consternation with those around him'. He walked from sleeping pony to sleeping pony, rousing them. He had a speech to give.
* * *
The storm broke over Canterlot. The Night Watch were not all assembled in one place, but their jurisdiction were the hours from dusk until dawn, and so they were on their way, mostly, to the furnace room in the palace basements. Some were closer than others - Sharp Salute, given both his age and the fact that he no longer held any personal or private residence in Canterlot, had been afforded a room in the palace. In somewhat stark contrast, Sticky Wings had used her new pay as a member of the Night Watch to lease a cloud condominium in an adjacent pegasus town, and was now fighting her way through the storm, growing increasingly concerned by its fury and power.
Sticky wasn't the only one. Hot Streak and Ice Pick, working together, managed to raise a shield that did double duty, repelling both raindrops and hailstones, as they made their way to the palace with Zorada. The zebra and the two unicorns had met at a nearby pub, comparing notes on the mystical threat, from different angles. The sudden storm had almost - almost - masked the dark magic underpinning it, but the unicorns had known what to look for. Zorada, for her part, had nodded sagely but inscrutably, upon being informed of the storm's mystical nature.
The three made it to the palace, just as their magical shield gave out. The unicorns had hoof-bumped - neither was particularly adept at raw magical manipulation, but the weeks of training had paid off. Ice Pick's careful shaping of the energy provided by Hot Streak had allowed them power and nuance that neither could have worked individually. The ponies were, if not strictly dry, merely damp instead of soaking as they found their way down to the furnace room, for once grateful for the boiler's intermittent periods of scorching heat.
Gawain was wringing out his feathers by the furnace, when they came in. The gryphon gave a brief smile, and pointed toward the back of the large room. "Oh, Zorada... Sharp Salute wanted to speak with you when you got in." The gryphon shook, the remainder of his drenched feathers shedding their water in a small dome around him, leaving a damp mark on the floor.
"Thank you. I will go and speak with him right away." Zorada nodded to her colleagues, before trotting off in the direction of the elderly pony, who was looking through the contents of an envelope with a look of mild consternation. That look was transferred to Zorada as she approached, and the two began speaking in muted but argumentative tones, as the rest of the Night Watch tried to warm up around the furnace - which, predictably, had chosen just that moment to disengage, the heat rapidly leaching into the stone floors of the basement.
Sticky Wings came in through the door not five minutes later, bedraggled and upset-looking. She made a vague gesture toward the heavens, and then at herself, and gave a moue of displeasure. "What in Tartarus was this all about? The forecast didn't call for anything like this. I think I passed a couple of weather ponies making their way up to the weather factory on my way here, but I'm not sure what they planned to do when they got there! This storm is intense!"
Hot Streak scowled a little bit, but shrugged. "We're still sorting out the details, but if I had to bet any money, I'd put my bits on our enemies showing their cards - some of them, at least. Ice Pick had a diagnostic spell that determined that there's some genuinely bad hoojoo in it." She rubbed the back of her head. "He was talking with Zorada, and I'm a little hazy on some of the details, but they used the words 'major invocation' and 'grand summoning', and I'm at least mostly sure that bodes ill for those of us who have been traditionally opposed to such things."
Ice Pick interjected. "Actually, we don't know for sure what if anything was actually summoned, but this 'dark rain' that's falling is definitely unseasonable, not to mention tainted by dark magic. I compared notes with Zorada over at the pub, and I'm pretty sure that whatever the tablet described could be causing all of this, but I'm hesitant to jump to conclusions. Our foes have shown themselves to be inconsistently capable - sometimes they're brilliant, and sometimes they make some serious errors. It's hard to determine which of those this is, until we have some kind of idea what they're trying to accomplish."
Sticky nodded, following the stream of consciousness as best she could. "I think I follow. So this dark magic is... doing what, precisely? Apart from making it rain, which I'm pretty sure is the result of someone mucking about with the cloud factory, more than anything else."
Ice Pick rubbed his chin. "I'd need more of a sample to determine for sure - the water on us got denatured when we entered the palace - but I think it's supposed to just be... oppressive. Bring up bad emotions - guilt, anger, fear. Whatever is being powered by that is not something I'd care to deal with, personally. Hopefully, the wards on the palace will keep out anything that hasn't been welcomed in."
Without notice or explanation, the lanterns that kept up a cheery glow - and indeed, the light from the furnace itself - suddenly extinguished, plunging the room into a claustrophobic darkness, broken only by a sickly green light coming from the evidence locker, as the tablet fragment within began to glow, softly.
"... This could be a problem."
24: True, many ponies believed in the goblin king, a powerful being with a strange fascination with orbs, but that just went to show that even a blind squirrel would sooner or later find a nut.
25: Well, face to amorphous black cloud with glowing green eyes. Common idioms were so cruel to the non-equimorphic in Equestria.
26: He went by Pat. Pony-parents with a fondness for pun names didn't always consider the consequences of their naming choices, but neither 'Pathetic' nor 'Fallacy' were good short-names for a bailiff of one of the highest courts in the land. |
Night Watch | Chapter 8: In Which the Pains of a Creature Whose Powers Revolve Principally Around Fear are Discussed | A dark rain fell over Canterlot. Across the city, feelings of dread, hopelessness, fear and infernal energies fell from the clouds, poisoning the spirits of those it fell upon, and adding an air of oppressive gloom to the capitol. Worse still, as these emotions were fed by the rain, so too was the rain being fed by the emotions; as the air of dread became palpable, the pools in which the dark rain had fallen and collected the deepest, strange shapes stirred and moved within the water. Before long, nightmarish shapes began to form in the water, taking the form of secret fears, made manifest, arising from the puddles to stalk the streets.
But this was not the Canterlot of even a few short months prior. True, the citizenry had not always stood up for itself; the people of Canterlot were not necessarily the most rugged or endurant, so seldom had they traditionally been tested, but neither were they entirely incapable of learning from experience. While many of the citizens gave in to despair and terror, some had learned harsh lessons from the depredations of Tirek and the changeling horde. The heavy rain weighed harshly upon the spirits of most, but some stood fast, and refused to be bowed by the weight. Were Canterlot a tapestry, viewed from above, stained with dark magic, there would be points of light - pockets of resistance, where ponies refused to cower, refused to give in, and reused to submit their wills to yet another invasion that viewed them merely as prey.
* * *
The Equestria Daily offices had closed for the evening, but a few offices remained lit. Poison Pen had been working late on an article and had finished, but when the rain had begun to fall she had decided to wait it out rather than dashing across town. Worst case scenario, it would not have been the first time that the reporter had stayed at the offices overnight - there was a pull-out cot in the break room for those reporters that had decided, over the years, that it had been too late to go home. A handful of copy editors were in the building as well, laying out the morning edition. It was dark, but hardly lonely.
When the giant bug-beast with too many tentacles and not nearly enough substance had burst through the doors, one of the editors, facing his own personal nightmare, had promptly fainted. Poison Pen had not however, and moving swiftly, had used her own weak telekinesis to drag the fallen stallion - and encouragingly nudge the other editors that had come in to see what the commotion was - out of harm's way. There hadn't been time to follow them before the bug-beast had closed on her though, and the reporter admitted to mild trepidation as she stared up at the shadowy creature. She had no idea what the creature was, and it was ugly and frightening. Some mild trepidation was not a career-ending admission, she decided to herself.
The bug-beast, if it had possessed a will of its own, rather than simply feeding raw fear back to the eldritch abomination that had spawned it, would have been somewhat put out that its intended victim had been thrown from its grasp. Still, there was a pony before it, and if it couldn't acquire the level of fear that it had intended initially, it was still quite terrifying - there was no point in letting the perfect be enemy to the good. It reared up on its back dozen legs or so, waving its scuttling legs in a menacing manner, and let out an unearthly screech liable to liquify the bowels of any creature with an ounce of self-preservation, as it clicked its mandibles ferociously and allowed a small spray of spittle to accessorize the linoleum.
Poison Pen surprised herself by throwing a typewriter at it, her azure aura vanishing once the heavy machine had enough momentum to continue its trajectory unaided.
Although spawned of the dark waters, the fear that had allowed this nightmare creature had given it solid form, the better to terrify and destroy. The upside had been that its abilities vis a vis intimidation had been greatly increased, with its entrance to the newspaper's offices being managed by way of a bursting entrance through the heavy oaken doors of the building. The downside had been that this meant that it now had a solid form that had been thoroughly clonked by a flying typewriter. And that while it shook its head to try and free itself from both mild amazement and typewriter debris, it was subsequently being pummelled with a metal office chair, rapidly being dented beyond all recognition by the pony that it had thought it had sufficiently cowed.
It fell back toward the doors as office bricabrac of increasing size and volume came in a hailstorm, Poison Pen slowly remembering the instruction that had been given to her once upon a time about optimal use of telekinetic magic. The bug beast turned to flee back into the night, seeking easier prey, as Poison's magical aura flared, and there was the small whine of a rapid increase in available magical energy before the unicorn cast the most powerful light spell she had learned in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, and the nightmare creature knew no more.
Poison Pen blinked a little bit to clear her eyes, noticing as her vision returned to normal that everything in the entrance foyer seemed a bit faded in colour, as if they had been left out in the sun for too long. The mare smiled an unpleasant smile, but the witty phrases that so often came to the characters in the books that she read, after they had driven off the monster failed her, and she looked for a place to sit down, and if possible, throw up.
* * *
Happy Pastures nursing home was once again the site of a siege in progress, but Friendly Face was astonished how different such a situation could be when those within the facility were all pulling together. True, there was no Sharp Salute to organize the defenders, but as the pegasus pushed another bookshelf over in front of the nursing home's main door, she considered that both staff and residents had learned quite a lot from the old warhorse in his time at the facility. True, they hadn't been facing off against horrifying nightmare monsters, but things like securing entrances, maintaining a supply of fresh water and food for defenders, and no small measure of spunk had been imparted upon the staff and those under their care, and Friendly Face was grateful for the lessons.
It had been one of the elderly ponies, late of the Canterlot University that had first noticed something distinctly unnatural about the clouds forming overhead, but the evening's entertainment had gone on as scheduled, albeit strangely subdued. The evening had not improved, and then... something had come out of the darkness. They hadn't had a good look at the creatures, but they weren't ponies and they weren't friendly, and that had been enough for both staff and residents to retreat back into the building. And when the creatures had tried to enter anyway, Friendly Face had received another impromptu lesson in just how feisty old ponies could still be.
The pegasus set her jaw, and set about looking for something else heavy to reinforce the facility's entrances with. She had never been more proud of the work that she had done - and the residents even seemed to be enjoying themselves. Tough as old saddle leather some of them, and unwilling to let anyone or anything get the best of them. Despite herself, Friendly Face smiled.
* * *
Sitting at the university campus Starsbucked, and wondering not a little how it had come to be there, a nightmarish abomination sipped the remarkably good coffee that it had been served. Strictly speaking, it was a non-sapient appendage, subservient to the will of a Greater Being, cast into reality with the instruction that bordered upon divine mandate to Create Fear and Sow Despair. It should not have possessed within it the capacity to do anything other than obey its instructions, and they had been simultaneously both direct and scarcely subject to interpretation or equivocation. On the other hand...
On the other hand, the clearly undead pony that had served it a cup of coffee had not seemed to possess fear in any great capacity, and certainly had none to spare for it, lacking as she did adrenal glands that functioned. She had a remarkably short way with words as well, and while her co-workers had expressed some slight anxiety over the creature's appearance in their cafe, she had the commanding presence of a distinguished lecturer, and had instructed them to 'get a hold of themselves' - and remarkably, they had! The unicorn stallion, whom the beast had learned was known as Daunted, and the pegasus filly, known as Stargazer, had quietly bickered while the abomination had sipped its coffee, but the zombie, Tenure Track, had told it not to worry; this sort of thing happened to them all the time.
Although it didn't technically possess the capacity to feel either, this caused the creature puzzlement and more than slight concern. What was wrong with this picture?
* * *
Ice Pick frantically thought through what he knew of demons. True, the subject rarely came up in most magical studies - Celestia's school had not encouraged adventures in demon-calling - but for all that he had graduated at the bottom of his class, Ice had not lacked for academic aptitude, and with the recent discussion of greater callings, he had attained a pass to the royal Canterlot library, and done some reading up.
What he had found had not been especially heartening - the most extensively detailed semipublic library in Equestria had next to nothing about extraplanar beings. At first, he had thought this to be an embarrassing oversight on the library's behalf, but a few minutes of consulting with the head librarian had revealed the problem. The majority of ponies wished nothing to do with demonic forces - this was reinforced by ample years of folklore, which suggested that ponies that sought out such forces met with bad ends. Of those that ignored the warnings, they tended to fall into two categories; ponies ill-inclined to leave useful notes as to their doings and experiences, who perforce would not be contributing useful documentation for those that came after them, and ponies that were so accomplished that a minor dabbling with the serious occult barely warranted a footnote in their overall bibliography.
What information Ice Pick had managed to acquire came from the latter quality of dabbler, no less a source than Star Swirl the Bearded himself. A powerful wizard, Star Swirl's adventures in demon-raising had managed to be somehow less useful than looking up nothing at all, because they were barely adventures in their own right compared to the wizard's other doings, and consequently barely warranted footnotes in his journals and in accounts told of him. Nevertheless, through gruelling effort of research, he had managed to pull together a few of the basics.
Looking at the situation in front of him (in as much as he could - the near pitch darkness into which the boiler room had been plunged meant that very little could be seen, and he could not in fact see his own hoof in front of his face), it seemed reasonably evident that this demon drew power from the fear it evoked. It had a misty, cloud-like form - perhaps it was still deciding precisely what it was? The speculation was fruitless, until he had more information, a need which was swiftly addressed, as the preternatural darkness that had blocked out both Ice Pick and Hot Streak's attempts to call light abated, allowing at least enough illumination that the gathered members of the Night Watch could see one another - and the cloudlike being that now stood in front of their evidence locker.
"**Greetings, prey.**" It was a combination of audible sound and telepathic broadcast, understandable to each of the Night Watch members in their languages of preference. "**I am brought/summoned here to be your unmaking.**" It was difficult to put into words, Ice Pick decided, but the creature was floating in a smugly self-satisfied way that somehow got under his skin. The diminutive unicorn had never been fond of bullies, and here was the physical embodiment of smugness at the fear of others.
Ice Pick was surprised to feel a hoof on his shoulder, and looked back to see that it was Sticky - the pegasus had always had a good measure of empathy, and had clearly picked up on his tension. He forced himself to relax, as she addressed the shadowy being. "Alright, if you're so tough, who are you then?" Icy considered for a moment, before realizing her play. If the creature fed on fear, then it probably wouldn't handle sass well - and if there was one thing that Luna's personal guard seemed to be particularly good at...
The shadowy creature laughed, basking in the attention. "**You may refer to me as... The NIGHTMARE!**"
This did not have the desired effect upon the gathered crowd.
"I'm pretty sure that name is taken." mused Hot Streak. "I mean, there was Princess Luna as Nightmare Moon. I don't know. Did she ever claim to just be 'The Nightmare?'"
Sticky shook her head. "Not personally, but I think I heard something from my cousin in Ponyville about some kind of creature she cooked up that was basically just a bringer of nightmares. I don't think it called itself The Nightmare, but only due to a lack of pretension."
Sharp Salute weighed in on the issue, although it was unclear by this point as to whether the older pony was on board for the 'frustrate the nightmarish creature with sass' agenda, or if the team had simply been sidetracked by one of their characteristic digressions. "I think it's pretty safe to say that a new villain taking the title of 'The Nightmare' at this juncture would probably be pretty confusing at the very least. To say nothing of being pretentious. I mean, Nightmare Moon didn't claim to be the Nightmare, and if anyone had first claim to the title, it would be her highness."
Gawain turned to the cloud-monster. "I think we've reached the consensus that no, you aren't. Would you care to make another attempt?"
This was not the reaction to which the shadow-beast had become accustomed. True, it had received more resistance to its initial attack on Canterlot than it had anticipated, both from its natural abilities as a nightmare-creature and from its briefing by its summoner, but even still, it had, in its brief existence as a being of extension, become accustomed to a certain amount of fear. Fear was, after all, its bread and butter - its life blood, in many senses, albeit none of them literal. It took a moment, did the metaphysical equivalent of some deep-breathing exercises, and returned its focus upon the bickering victims who did not seem to understand how such things were done. Very well. It was an enlightened being. It could adapt. This was literally its job.
"**Very well. I shall not be The Nightmare, but rather... The sower of discord!**" These ponies, with their orderly lives - these ponies in particular, brings of law and order - would surely fear such a title. After all, if there was safety in numbers, then clearly there was danger in division. It could work from such a start.
"... I don't think that Discord would like you honing in on his racket, much." the pegasus known as Sticky mused.
The beast took a little longer to compose itself this time, as the Night Watch nattered to one another. It had never heard of any of its ilk having to deal with such... foolishness over something so simple as a name!
"**It does not matter what you call me!**" It didn't, not really. The being lacked a name so much as a series of descriptive syllables inscribed upon the tablet - it was that description that had allowed its summoners such a hold over it. "**For I shall be your doom! Watch now, as I take on the form of your greatest fear, and use it... to destroy you!**"
The shadow-beast reached out, mentally, to the subconscious of the four ponies, the zebra, and the gryphon. Surely one of them would have a deep fear - nested in their childhood, perhaps - that it could leverage. The shadow-beast knew that some residents of this plane feared insects, some feared the undead, some unaccountably feared performers in makeup. The fears did not have to be rational - merely strong, and they would be delicious to devour.
There was a... snag.
"**Are none of you afraid of actual... things!?**" Public speaking, growing old, the dark, being alone... what the hell kind of plane was this, where people didn't fear things that existed? That they were so forced to reach out for greatest fears that they made them up, made them out of literally nothing but the passage of time and their own imaginations? The creature didn't understand fear - not in the 'I have ever felt this as an emotion' sense - but it certainly understood the premise behind the concept. It was a survival instinct, and at least one of the ponies huddled about the beast in the room was afraid of living too long!
There was a pause, as the gathered Night Watch looked to one another. The subject of greatest fears had never come up, but it seemed that none of them had fears suitable for a monster to transform into. That was convenient, certainly, but could it be turned to some manner of advantage? The possibility existed, certainly.
Zorada made a stab at it. "Would you believe that I'm afraid of spiders?" She paused, considering, as her colleagues made gestures frantically, hooves and claws being brought very close together. "Exclusively small spiders. Tiny ones, in fact. Larger spiders? Pshaw. I grew up with two pet Arachnae. And so..." she squinted a little bit. Sharp Salute was making a broad gesture, and it was hard to read. "So I only fear ham sandwiches?" There was a facehoof, and Salute's gestures doubled in breadth and urgency. "And so... and so I only fear very small spiders! About the appropriate size to step on." She nodded sagely. "Yes. It's not my greatest fear, but it's definitely up there. Right up there with 'easily defeatable evil clowns'. Please, whatever you do, do not turn into a very small spider of the appropriate size to step on, or an easily defeatable evil clown. I should be ever so terrified if you did so." She smiled hopefully.
The shadow-beast gave Zorada an old fashioned look. "**Look, that's not even a good lie. What, are you next going to suggest that powerful as I am, I could not possibly fit inside of a bottle? That surely, if I'm so tough, I could do without my massive supernatural advantages, and so I should try to fight all of you without them? Or perhaps next you will suggest that you are secretly on my side, and thus I should let down my guard in front of you.**" It sneered.
The zebra shot the beast a hopeful look. "I do not suppose any of those ruses has even a remote chance of succeeding?" The shadow-beast seemed unimpressed. "You understand, I had to ask. What a fool I would feel if it would have worked, but I was too cynical!"
Gawain leaned over to whisper to Sharp Salute. "Why are we stalling? What good is that possibly going to do us?"
The older pony grimaced a little bit, but murmured back. "This chump made one heck of a mess before it got to us. We figured out that it was dark magic pretty quickly. Do you think that we were the only ones watching?"
* * *
Luna tore down yet another flight of stairs in the Royal Canterlot Palace. It had taken a little bit of time for the princess to locate the new offices of her official Royal Guard. Celestia had sent her a memorandum on the issue, after the Canterlot Historical Society had claimed their previous broom closet of an office and found one of Celly's lost trinkets. Paper Weight had been in attendance at the court, and had technically been responsible for Luna's personal communiques, but that had been a couple of weeks ago, and the secretary had filed the memo somewhere in the stacks.(27) It was the middle of the night, and rousing Celestia to find out where the Night Watch had been stuffed had been an entertaining fifteen minutes of physical comedy and sight gags, for which the Canterlot marching band had earned eleven hundred bits.
The furnace room! The wards had tripped when the demonic being had come into the castle, welcome guest or no, but tracking it within the castle had been difficult at best. If it was welcome, it was because someone had brought part of its name into the castle, and Luna knew from her biweekly meetings with Sharp Salute that the Night Watch had confiscated something that might just fit the bill. Luna passed sub-basement four, and rounded the corner toward the door to sub-basement five.
Her guard was brave to a point, and far more capable than she had thought likely, given the circumstances of their formation, but there were limits to what even gifted ponies could give, and at the end of the day, they had only been intended to be the 'call the alicorns' squad. It was time to answer the call.
* * *
"**ENOUGH!**" boomed the creature, less out of actual worry that the squabbling squad would get anything accomplished than out of annoyance that the likelihood suggested that they probably would not. "**If I cannot take the form of your greatest fears, then I shall at least see to it that your trust for one another is gone! You!**" It pointed at Zorada, whose eyes widened. "**You work with these ponies every day, but you keep your true allegiances hidden from them!**"
Sharp Salute snorted. "Of course she has. She's EIS." The rest of the room, Zorada included, goggled at him. "I've been in the Canterlot guard for years. She's not bad as a spy, but she's far from gifted. Just because the Day Watch wouldn't hire her didn't mean that nobody else would. She's been giving updates to the Equestrian Intelligence Service - with whom, I hasten to remind everyone, we are allied - the whole time. It's what I was going to speak with her about before we were so rudely interrupted."
Zorada blinked a little bit, but regained her composure. "It is true. The EIS was initially interested in Princess Luna's actions in forming a new group that might threaten their mandate, but the squad has been keeping to the goals that the princess stated, and I have been given carte blanche to continue as I see fit to."
The ambient level of trust, the creature decided, had actually, unaccountably, risen as a result of the secret being brought to light. This was infuriating. "**Oh yes? Well... you!**" This time the tendril of smoke waved toward Ice Pick. "**You are intellectually arrogant, and think that you are the smartest member of your squad!**" Surely that would set the ponies to squabbling - the creature knew that Ice Pick feared the revelation of his beliefs might turn his allies against him and after all, he should know, surely.
"He probably is." Hot Streak shrugged. "I mean, Gawain and Zorada both had pretty considerable educations as well, so I suppose they could get into an intellectual pissing match if they felt like it, but nobody is going to argue that Ice Pick isn't smart." She smiled over at the short unicorn. "He's really starting to help me get my magic under control. Having a teacher who actually gives a damn about you makes a huge difference. Thanks Icy."
The creature was flailing now in desperation. "**You!**" It pointed at Gawain. "**You used to be a criminal!**" The squad just looked at one another. This was pretty well common knowledge, wasn't it? That was literally how the gryphon had come to work with the squad. The creature scowled. "**Fine. Your cohesion renders you safe from me... for now. But all of your stupid city can not say the same! I'll be seeing you around, meat-bags!**"
The mist creature gathered up the tablet that bore its name in its smokey tendrils and vanished with a whiff of brimstone and a 'pop', just as Luna broke down the door to the furnace room, returning light to the room.
"Hello everyone. Did I miss anything?"
27: Which was what Paper Weight humorously called Luna's desk. Luna had put forward the opinion that she was not the princess of paperwork, and therefore had accrued enough of the bucking stuff on her groaning oak office desk to reconstitute four redwoods and a small birch sapling. |
Night Watch | Chapter Nine: In Which a Trans-Dimensional Horror is Faced, And Daring Plans, Attempted | Luna stared out into the night, the driving rain echoing strangely against the windows of Canterlot Castle. The shadowy smokey creature had departed scant seconds before her arrival, sensing the presence of an immensely potent magic-user. The upside was that this indicated that it was a lesser version of the great unnameable beasts that lurked between worlds - she confessed, her dimensional theory was a bit rusty, but she held strong recollections of youthful experimentation with her sister, paging through ancient tomes and examining beastiaries filled with creatures with names altogether too full of punctuation, but absent vowels. One of those creatures would not have cared in the slightest.
Indeed, while the crisis was still in its offing, it did not yet look to be a catastrophe on par with the escape of other beasts of Tartarus. Not yet. But reports were beginning to trickle in, as messengers braved the storm to report to the castle, and Luna did not find herself hopeful about the balance of the night to come.
The night princess had sent pegasi to investigate the Canterlot weather factory, but the scouts had reported the factory to buttressed by wicked-looking stormheads, impossible to navigate, and spoke of high winds that had made even returning to tell the tale an uphill fight. By all accounts, it had been fortunate that they had returned at all, but the news that they had brought, that the storm only seemed to be escalating, brought Luna no happiness. Reports from the streets suggested that the ponies that made Canterlot their home were withstanding the manifestations of fear thus far, and no fatalities had been reported, but the casualty list was disheartening to say the least. There had been no indication that events would escalate this quickly, and thus no real preparations had been made.
Luna had considered asking Celestia to raise the sun, hours ahead of schedule. The effects on Equestria would have been chaotic, but creatures of dark magic often found direct sunlight interfered with their wicked doings. Celestia had not agreed to do it however - the cloud cover was too thick, and effectively burning it off in anything like short order would have required the sun to come far closer to Equestria than would have been healthy for those parts of the nation not currently experiencing torrential rains, sleet, and hail. A message had been sent to Ponyville, but thus far, there had been no response from the former bearers of the Elements of Harmony - probably because it was one in the morning.
So Luna stared out at the darkness of the streets, uncanny when compared to the lively lights that dotted the city most evenings, even late at night, and let out a breath that she had not been consciously holding, steaming the window where the moisture in her exhalation met the cool glass. Her guard had volunteered to go out there, and find the monster, to magically call Luna and Celestia when they had done so. She had let them go out into the darkness, the rain, the sleet, and face what lay in waiting.
She just hoped this would not be a choice that she would live to regret.
* * *
"For the record, I regret the life choices I've made that have brought me to this point." Sticky Wings smiled when she said it, and the rest of the squad chuckled. Sticky often ran her mouth when she was nervous, and if there was nervousness enough to go around, then at least Sticky was in good company. The dark and the rain were oppressive, both in effect and spiritually, although the wardings and alchemical preparations that Ice Pick and Zorada had lavished upon the squad kept the worst of the dark magic off of their backs.
That said, it was difficult to figure where to go next. The streets of Canterlot were darker than they ever were, hailstones the size of cobblestones having shattered the lanterns that traditionally had lit the roads and paths of the city. Even magical light illuminated scarce feet in front of Ice Pick and Hot Streak, and cast weird shadows upon the walls of the buildings that they passed. It was, Sticky decided, an experience not unlike being in a haunted house on Nightmare Night, with the noted difference that there were genuine monsters trying to kill you, you were soaked to the skin, and it wasn't actually all that much like a make-believe fun scare at all.
Gawain, wearing a yellow slicker that had been designed for a pegasus over old pieces of gryphon-shaped armour borrowed from the Canterlot Historical Preservation Societyxxviii, kept pace with Sticky. The armour chafed uncomfortably, but he was mostly keeping dry, his eyes scanning the dark pathways as the squad passed them. The city that he had come to hadn't been like this. It had been friendly, welcoming, and not a little over-inclined to burst into musical numbers at a moment's notice. This was Canterlot as described by the equine poet Polearm Jostler in MacHoof: A haunted place that knows no joy, nor warmth/ The windows like dead eyes do mark our place/ How like the fearful soul the town becomes/ When death doth threat each step to show Her face. The gryphon screwed his courage to the sticking place, and hurried to catch up with the group.
The usually familiar streets were unfriendly and alien, with dark shadows twisting familiar sights into weird and monstrous figures. Even the sight of Canterlot Castle, now a fading outline mostly obscured by the storm, looked spiky and vicious in the eldritch storm.
It was Hot Streak that heard the sound from the alleyway, a sob that she might have believed to be dark rain gurgling down a gutter had it not repeated again, slightly louder, a moment later. Not a cry of terror - if anything, that would have been better. The evening was obviously full of terrible things; their presence was made extremely clear, in a 'you're being watched by predators' vibe that managed to pierce their shield and cause the hair on back of her neck stand at attention.
But a sob of fear was different. A scream meant that someone was startled by something terrible. A sob meant that they despaired of escaping it. "This way!" She broke into a run.
Strictly speaking, they weren't on a mission of mercy for everypony that was out in the night, out in the rain. Their mission was to find the source of the dark rain, and to send for the princesses - and to either shut it down, or to slow it down long enough for the princesses to do so. Stopping to save somepony wasn't expressly forbidden, but it didn't accomplish the end goal, and the end goal was under the header of 'at any cost'.
This crossed Hot Streak's mind for a fraction of a second, but was not given leave to linger.
Many ponies faced situations, in the course of their lives, where their abilities were insufficient to the tasks presented to them. Hot Streak had always lived with that, and perversely, its reflection, all at once: she had always had power to spare, but her control had been wanting. Now, she was finally able to bring her prodigious gifts into order, and it would take an act of divine power to stop her from using it to help a pony in need.
The alley was longer, darker, and dingier than it had any right to be, but Hot Streak had a gift, and magic charged with emotion was always stronger. Her magical aura flared, and the sleet sizzled as it touched it, the dark magic and the rain dissipating with equal alacrity as it steamed off of the unicorn's magic. A guardpony - Day Guard, one Sergeant Hoplite, she vaguely recognized - was cornered at the end of the alley by a creature with too many. Too many eyes, dark, beady, insectoid. Too many limbs, long and withered, a mockery of the equine form. Hot Streak had little doubt that this was Sergeant Hoplite's greatest fear, and if she was breaking with Guard tradition by showing emotion at all, it was difficult to blame her.
Hot Streak wasn't at all convinced that she wouldn't get some nightmares of her own just from seeing it.
But then, the creature was dark magic, and they were prepared for that. With her aura lighting up the alley, keeping the magic raining from the clouds from continuing to reinforce the miasma of fear and despair, the rest of the squad was able to advance.
Hot Streak snarled. "Hose it down."
Most of the squad had a stash of alchemical 'water' balloons, loaded for bear with Zorada's mixture of antimagical gel. That would have been enough of an unpleasant surprise for the nightmare beast, but Sticky had known someone in the Palace gardener's corps, and had managed to secure a couple of the sprayers that they used. The gel was pressurized, and if Sharp Salute and Zorada were a little overzealous in their liberal application of the goop, it could at least be said that they were thorough.
Hot Streak and Sticky helped pry Hoplite free from the wall, to which she had been quite forcefully plastered. "You're going to be okay."
Hoplite looked a little shellshocked. "I... am?" She shook her head. "I am." She wiped her face, more managing to shift around the goop than to clear it off of herself. "What is this stuff?"
Zorada considered giving an ingredient list. Instead she managed an enigmatic smile. "You might be happier not knowing. It's not toxic to ponies, and it will wash out fine with some vinegar." She paused. "Well, eventually."
Sticky gave Hoplite a reassuring pat on the shoulder, not coincidentally one of the least-goopy places on the guard's torso. "Get to one of the shelters. We'll take care of what's going on tonight."
As the guard broke into a gallop, heading toward one of the nearest emergency shelters, Ice Pick raised an eyebrow. "We can?"
Sticky shrugged. "Damned if I know."
* * *
The gel had worked, and now the question was where to apply it for best effect. The squad had run into a few more of the shadow beasts, rescued a hoofful of civilians, but had no idea where to go next, in order to actually solve the problem, rather than treating the symptoms. The streets were quieter now - those ponies that weren't taking shelter in the buildings had made it to the communal shelter - but the rain was still dark, heavy, and enervating.
The squad had taken shelter in an abandoned coffee shop. Sticky had shaken hooves with the doorknob, and it had 'miraculously' come open for her. Sharp Salute had considered reprimanding the pegasus, and then thought better of it, even though he had tried the door immediately before her and found it to be locked. They were leaving bits for the coffee and doughnuts, at his command though.
"It's got to be somewhere up high."
Zorada gave Ice Pick a look. "Theoretical magic is your field, Icy, but why?" She gestured around. "Once it got the weather machines going, why would it stay up, instead of enjoying the fruits of its awful labour?"
Ice Pick shook his head, in thought. He had a map of downtown Canterlot spread out in front of him, still miraculously dry despite his soaked saddlebags. "That's just it, though. Oppressive magic coming from on high. It's... hard to explain. Basically, you can't cast magic you don't believe in, at least a little bit. Every time you send magic out into the world, it's a reflection of the way that you want the world to be."
Zorada frowned. "Assuming that dread beasts from other realms work the same way."
"If it's using our magic, it's doing it our way." Ice Pick gestured at the map. "If we weren't in the heart of Canterlot, I'd say it was possible that it could be using wild magic, or... something. But an effect this large? In the heart and home of Pony power for the last ten centuries?" He shook his head. "It would be fighting an uphill battle. At the very least, it's using our rules, even if it's using them in an unconventional way. So it has to be coming from on high, because that's how you oppress."
Sharp Salute looked over the map. "So it's looking down on us, hence the 'oppressive' vibe. I get it." He snorted, amused with himself. "I must've been paying more attention to some of those eggheads at the briefings over the years than I thought. I actually understand what you're saying. If it's set up somewhere near where it was summoned, then it would have to be somewhere that ponies aren't going all the time. We'd have heard a report if there was some strange cult activity going on in a high-traffic area."
"Could be the air-mail headquarters." Gawain offered. "They'd be closed on Sunday, and they're pretty high up."
Sticky rubbed her jaw, unconsciously, a clear sign that she was thinking. "Risky, to use a government building though. And it's not very central to the heart of the city." She jabbed her hoof near the middle of the map. "The Tower of Art, on the University campus. It's been shut down for renovations for more than half a year now. Something about an alumnus coming back from the grave and funding the repairs."
Ice Pick nodded. "It's the best bet. Twenty-three stories up, heart of the downtown, and lightly trafficked at best. The workers don't do weekends, which is why the renovations have taken eight months." The diminutive unicorn frowned. "Now we just have to get there."
* * *
Getting to the Tower of Art hadn't been difficult. The rain was just as oppressive as when they had entered the coffee shop, but the end of a long struggle was in sight, and it was difficult to take the spring from the squad's stride. Getting into the tower was no less simple; Sticky's alacrity with gentle entry into restricted areas had proven no less capable on the University furnished lock than the coffee shop's.
The real problem was getting up the tower.
When the Tower of Art was a functioning building, it had a lift installed that operated using simple levitation. Some comedic escapades with a malfunctioning controlxxix had finally encouraged the University to disable the magical lift, and, with the funding provided for renovations, install a mechanical one, that ran on counterweights, using magic only for safety.
Sharp Salute kicked a counterweight, sitting neatly in a pile of counterweights, unhelpfully unattached to anything like a lift mechanism. "I guess we're taking the stairs."
Ice Pick groaned. "It's twenty-three stories."
Sharp Salute gave Ice Pick a look. "Have you been holding out on your ability to magically conjure and install an elevator?"
"No?"
The old guardspony raised a brow. "Then we're taking the stairs."
* * *
It was later. Stairs had happened.
Strictly, Gawain and Sticky could probably have flown up ahead of the rest of the squad, had they felt any strong desire to meet an otherworldly evil alone, without backup, and without the extremely heavy tanks of anti-dark-magic goo. When this had been pointed out, the idea of taking a head start by way of flight had been summarily and enthusiastically dismissed. Despite the Night Watch's enforced guard training (which had largely consisted of scrapping with one another at the least provocation), Sticky was still slight of build, but Gawain was sturdy enough to make the hauling of the tanks in shifts slightly less unpleasant.
Nevertheless, by the time they reached the top floor, Ice Pick had revisited his supper frequently enough to acquire regrets about his dietary choices, and Hot Streak found herself desperately missing the dark-magic-soaked by thoroughly cool rain.
The door that stood in front of them was heavy and oaken, like many of the doors in the pars of the University that had been built around a certain time. This, Zorada explained, was deliberate. Chemists and potion-makers were frequently put in the tops of towers, so that in the event that a mixture turned out to be rather more potent than expected, there would be a reduced wastage of ceilings and floors. Heavy doors tended to be built into facilities where magical experimentation took place for much the same reason, and were reinforced against magical leakage as well.
Ice Pick looked uneasy. "Then the fact that I can feel dark magic through that door is...?"
"A bad sign, yes."
The squad exchanged glances. They hadn't yet faced any real threat; the odd brawl or street fight, and a few cases where they had benefited from total surprise. This would be, hooves down, the greatest challenge that they had yet encountered.
"Ah, buck it." Sharp Salute snorted. "What, you wanted to live forever?"
The door slammed open. The room beyond was... coated. Dark shadows, coalescing on every surface, squirming and writhing, as if the very walls and floor were alive, always on the outer edge of one's field of vision. And there, at the end of the room, was the being that they had encountered only once before. One that had been forced to flee only by the presence of a living goddess, who would not be appearing this evening.
It turned, and Looked at them. It had been different before, when It had come into their home, where they had some measure of advantage. Now, they had come into Its place of power, where every inch throbbed Its name. Now, It knew that It could win.
"Welco-" It began to hiss, menacingly.
In fairness to the Being of Outer Darkness, when last It had manifested on the Prime Plane, there had existed neither water balloons nor high-pressure sprayers. It rallied surprisingly gamely in light of this, and had intercepted both of the streams of fluid, which were diverted carefully, steaming as they countered the dark magic that covered the chamber, and the balloons, which were gently caught and therefore failed to break.
The squad exchanged worried glances. The being sputtered indignantly. "Did you really think that it would be that easy?"
Ice Pick held up a hoof. The squad huddled. There was much murmuring. Finally, Ice Pick came up again. "On the balance of things, we are prepared to commit to 'we didn't expect it would work, not really, but we sort of hoped that it might'." There was nodding, as the four Night Watch members behind him gave agreeable gestures.
The being glowered at them. "You fools! You have sacrificed everything, and for nothing! You are the last of the effective resistance to my power, and soon, I shall defeat you all! What have you to say to that?!"
The huddle re-formed. The being waited patiently, as the murmuring recommenced. Ice Pick was once again chosen as spokespony. "We think there's one thing that you haven't taken into consideration. One thing that you could not possibly have considered, but which may lead to your downfall."
The being scoffed. "And that is?"
"We aren't just random guards that showed up to oppose you. We're a rag-tag team of unlikely heroes, drawn together by fate, with an eclectic set of skills that, by design or coincidence, happen to compliment one another extremely well." Icy gave his best confident smile, and the being paused. Unlikely heroes tended to have tricks up their sleeves, in worlds where Narrativium reigned.
"You don't mean?"
"Oh yes!" Icy was in full swing now, and all eyes were upon him. "Representing years of experience and wisdom, Sharp Salute is the embodiment of Empiricism!" The old guardpony managed a heroic pose and an enigmatic expression, as he was thrust to the forefront of the little group.
"No!"
"And with the courage to overcome the obstacles presented by life, and the drive to see a project through to completion, Sticky Wings represents Tenacity!" Sticky gave a sheepish grin, and a shy wave.
"With his outsider's opinion on Equestrian culture, Gawain here provides a valuable insight into how non-Pony agents might approach a subject! Thus, he embodies the element of Relative Objectivity!" Gawain gave Icy a skeptical look, but nevertheless adopted a militant stance, facing the Being.
"With the willingness to face the facts ahead of her with all that she has to bring to bear, and an unwillingness to be dissuaded by her own handicaps, Hot Streak truly is the Element of Optimism!" Icy had managed to work himself up into a sufficient rhetorical lather that he was spouting off Capitol Letters in his little introductions, and despite herself, Hot Streak felt buoyed by his somewhat backhanded compliments. The room's temperature lifted by three or four degrees as she beamed.
"With my book learning and desire to overcome obstacles through explanation and reason, I myself represent the Element of Rationalism!" The being was staggering now; it knew of the power of principles, and Icy had a showman's flair to his professorial tone. "Together, we are... the Elements of Inquiry, here to kick your shadowy butt back to whatever netherhell spawned it!"
The shadow beast cowered, fearing a flare of magical energy that would overcome even its dark defences as a mystical superweapon powered by principles was brought into reality. When no such flare of energy occurred, it blinked, considering. "Wait... that makes absolutely no sense. And weren't there six of you?"
Icy shrugged. "Sure. There's probably no such thing as Elements of Inquiry, and even if there was, it's practically impossible that beings embodied by it would just happen to come together because Princess Luna was looking for the best of the worst." He grinned. "But, while you've been paying attention to me, you haven't been keeping an eye on Zorada. And as you yourself pointed out not that long ago, that's a sucker's bet."
The zebra mare took this as her cue, and opened both of the heavy tanks of goo, directly behind the shadow beast. It barely had time to squawk in protest at the lack of narrative fulfilment as alchemical antimagic managed what nonexistent mystical superweapons did not, dissolving it, and banishing it, really and truly, from the world.
* * *
"Not a half-bad job." Sharp Salute managed a smile. The storm had started to dissipate as the being fuelling it had melted, and the squad had left the heavy alchemical goop behind at the top of the tower. Going down had been a lot easier than up. "That was one hell of a distraction. How'd you manage to come up with all of that?"
Icy shrugged. "I get alumni newsletters from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. There was a five-page spread about Twilight Sparkle and the Elements of Harmony. Who knew that carrying a chip on your shoulder about your much-more-successful graduating class would come in handy?" He gestured at Zorada. "Real credit goes to Zorada, who rallies extremely gamely to absurd strategies."
The zebra gave a smile. "A sucker's bet indeed."
Gawain glanced up at the sky. The storm had passed, but the cloud cover had remained, and with the streetlights still damaged beyond functionality, the night was still dark, if not stormy. "So what do we do now?"
Hot Streak paused. "Um. Go home?" She gestured about. "It looks like the crisis is over."
Sticky shook her head. "No way. Sure, we got rid of the monster, but someone summoned it. Someone wanted all of this ruin and destruction, and while I might not be the legendary non-existent Element of Tenacity..." She gave Ice Pick a rueful grin. "But I want some answers. I want to know who, and why. All of this was awful, and I want to stop them from doing it, ever again." She held up a tome, scavenged from the tower. "And I think I found a good place to start."
Sharp Salute nodded. "Good instincts for a guard." He smiled, technically. The edges of his mouth rose, and he showed teeth. It was a little vicious for the Royal Guard, but then, they were Night Watch. They went out, while the sun was resting, and made the world a little safer. "Let's go kick some teeth in."
xxviii Without asking, but not without a little malicious spite.
xxixComedic, that is, with the benefit of hindsight. |
Night Watch | Chapter 10: In Which Some Resolution is Found, But Not All Sins Forgiven | There are a great many studies, undertaken by ponies. A catalogue of ologies, ranging from the simplistic to the absurd, all of which are considered ultimately vital to the answering of the big questions of What's Really Going On Here, at least by those embarked upon them.
Today, let us consider the study of doors.
A portologist could speak at length about the door that stood before the Night Watch, now, for all that, to the untrained eye, it greatly resembled the ones blocking immediate entrance through the apertures dexter and sinister. Heavy oak - reinforced with metal bars, with a tendency to swell in its frame in the damp. A peephole, itself on hinges, set into it. Suffering a trifle from woodworm, but sufficient in bulk that generations of the worms could live long, happy lives before the structural integrity was in any way compromised. This was a door that, in its inception, had been envisioned as a stalwart bulwark against the ravages of the outside world. And perhaps, in a kinder (or far, far crueller) world, it might well have been.
Corporal Sticky Wings of the Night Watch was not a portologist, and cared little for heavy oak, reinforcement, intentions or indeed woodworm. Her description of the door was, if less detailed, shorter, and considerably more grounded in the realm of the practical.
"It's in the way. Get the ram."
Although not exactly eloquent, this command did allow any amateur portologists in the region an opportunity to ascertain an additional factoid about the door. It did not have long for this world.
It was generally known by most unicorns that magical auras were unique to the caster. Indeed, they would have to be; a magical aura is the substance of a unicorn's ability to work their will upon the world. Any unicorn that had been granted education in even the basics of magical theory would be able to cite a few sources and a great deal of empirical evidence, as understanding one's own magical nature was key to casting any spell more complex than simple telekinesis.
What was less well known, even to those well conversant with magical theory, was that such auras leave residual traces. Tracking them is generally impractical, for in the natural places of the world, wild magic, which determines the seasons and the movements of the animals absent equine intervention, would surely interfere. Trying to track an aura through the streets of Canterlot on an average day (or night) would be like trying to find a needle in a needlestack.
But - aha - when the streets had been swamped with dark magic, the golden glow that Icy had been able to prize from the tome that Sticky had discovered had stood out in the night, scintillating yellow threads hanging in the air like flax from a distaff. True, there were signs of other magical auras, here and there, but the hoof traffic that would otherwise have so occluded such a mechanism of tracking had stopped shortly after the dark rain had begun, and so it was difficult but quite possible to follow the threads as they went along their merry way.
If the task was difficult, it could at least be said of the hunters that they were motivated.
And the tracking had led them here, to this door, an unassuming property that Gawain was able to say with confidence was held by a property management group, of which one Lord C. House was the primary shareholder. And while coincidence certainly was no stranger to the denizens of Equestria30, this was all but confirmation for the squad that they were in precisely the right place.
And thus, a huge, barrel-chested ram, head lowered and prepared by virtue of a good run-up, smashed the heavily reinforced and purpose built door straight off of its hinges, which were anchored into a frame significantly less security-minded than the door it purported to support. Because, realistically, there was no reason for anyone in the middle of downtown Canterlot to require a door that sturdy for any practical purpose, and because someone had just seen it on auction and decided it fit the aesthetic of the small house that they had been building.
The effect was somewhat like putting a vault door on a paper bag.
The ram, now thoroughly through the door, stood, dusted himself off, and gave Sticky a pleasant smile. Then, he adjusted his hat, and went back to the small shop down the street where he made his living.
"Thank you, M'sieur Belier!" The ram didn't look back, but gave a little nod of acknowledgement.
"We were fortunate that he was still up." Gawain commented, looking at the devastated door. "We'd have been all night if we'd had to hit that thing with a log."
Within, the building was dark, but there were lights coming from a room further in. No one seemed to be responding to the sound of the front door being taken from its hinges, but Sticky still signalled for quiet, as the members of the Night Watch filed in to the dark room. They crept along the hallway toward the source of the light.
Ice Pick shook his head. "If they didn't hear our entry with the racket that we made, they'd have to be deaf, or dead, or..."
They rounded the corner. "... drunk." Sticky's diagnosis was an informed one; in addition to the irregular snoring, the scattered bottles, and the pair sitting in the back singing slurred and half-remembered songs, there was the distinct smell of alcohol.
Icy put up a hoof. "I'd like to note that they're dead drunk. Half points to me?"
"So noted."
* * *
It was an evening for portologists. Another door barred another path, apparently not having gotten wind of the scuttlebutt floating around the dread portal community about the fate of truculent doors. This was indeed unfortunate for lovers of heavy oaken doors, as it meant that the objects of their affection were growing increasingly collectible.
Co-equal in leading the charge were Sharp Salute and Shining Armour. The former had returned to the palace as soon as the trail of mystical breadcrumbs had led to Lord Clearing House's properties, for both moral and tactical backup. The latter had been present, helping to maintain the palace's mystical defences against the dark rain, and had been more than happy to lend a helping horn as soon as the enervating downpour had ended.
The two stallions were nothing like social equals; in addition to having been a Captain of the Guard, Shining Armour was also officially the prince consort of the Crystal Empire. When deciding who was going to be first through the door, this had mattered little if at all, as Shining Armour still had an inclination to defer to the senior sergeant that had been instilled when he had been beginning his training, and which had never flagged due to Sharp Salute's retirement before Shining had risen in rank himself, never mind that he certainly didn't fall into the same command structure as the earth pony now. There hadn't even been any argument; neither pulled rank or respect as deciding cards. They would go through the door together.
And Luna Implaccibilis, once a warrior queen and now simply one of the semi-divine rulers of Equestria, was going to be following shortly thereafter.
The former guard captain and sergeant had both argued against it, as best they could, but the truth of the matter was, there wasn't much by way of a leg to stand on for such an argument. True, raiding Clearing House's personal estate could be risky, but Luna was, as near as anyone could tell, just this side of immortal. It required a sternness of character, but there she was hardly lacking, and if raiding the home of a peer of the realm would have political ramifications, it would be difficult to argue that the Night Watch's actions wouldn't reflect on her anyway, acting as they were in their capacity as her royal guard.
Besides, Luna had an axe to grind. Indeed, it was a double-bitted battle axe, which had been borrowed from the castle's armoury.
The door never knew what hit it, but only because, as an inanimate object, it had no capacity for knowing things.
* * *
"Robes, hoods, weird iconography. I think 'cult' is a pretty straightforward extrapolation here." Zorada shook her head. "I can't say that I recognize any of the symbols though. Something local to pony lands?"
Ice Pick frowned, and looked around. "A large golden shovel?" He squinted at an altar set up near the back of the room. "Oh for the love of... it's a Breakfaster cult."
A cartoonish Celestia image, printed on cheap box cardboard clearly trimmed from a cereal box grinned mawkishly at the squad. In an artist's rendition of her telekinetic aura, she bore two golden scoops, filled with the raisins that the lettering promised were in every box of fibre-enriched cereal. Ice Pick was pretty sure that the proportions were off (unless the artist had intended to convey raisins the size of Celestia's eyes), but he recognized the branding from his foalhood. The marketing imagery had somewhat foundered in Canterlot, but the regional serial brand had still been fairly popular, once upon a time.
Then again, Canterlotians still remembered the Breakfaster cults, and the collision between having a 'good' breakfast and ponies being 'good'. Adding in sun-worship to a breakfast theme had more or less guaranteed that there would be a mixed reception at best.
"O-kay..." Hot Streak looked around. "What do ancient unspeakable evils with unpronounceable names have to do with having a balanced breakfast?"
Gawain snorted. "What, is that some kind of zen thing?" The gryphon shook his head. "Nah. If we want answers, oh happy day, we have a building full of drunk ponies to shake it gently out of." He glanced around at the liquor bottles scattered around him. "I'm pretty sure if we wait for their hangovers to kick in, they'll give us all of the information that we need in exchange for a bottle of stomach medicine, a couple of headache pills, and a tall glass of water."
"It'sh for the divine commandmentsh, offisher~!" One of the singing unicorns had broken off, seeing that they had guests, while the other seemed to have companionably fallen asleep leaning against her. The more alert of the two - and this was, it should be understood, an extremely low bar under which to limbo - was just sober enough to recognize that the company that had arrived were members of the Watch, but not quite lucid enough to realize what that entailed, being far enough into the bag that she seemed to have forgotten her own status as 'one who had just broken several laws, and possibly sinned against nature'.
Icy glanced at Sticky, who shrugged. He turned back to the inebriate. "Divine commandments?"
"Yesh..." The unicorn swayed slightly in her seat. "There ain't enough've them! It'sh hard to maintain a good head'a shteam when your holy book is three pagesh long..." She hiccuped.
"So all of the dark magic was... for what?"
The unicorn looked evenly at Icy, or as evenly as could be managed under the circumstances. "Well, when we last had a big ol' crish... crisish, we gotta new princessh, right? Sho... we were hoping that if there'sh another big ol' problem, another one of those bearersh of the Elements of Harmony would become a princessh! Hopefully the apple-based one. That'sh got 'new food-related commandments' written all over it!" Wicked scheme somewhat explained, at least to her own satisfaction, the drunken unicorn leaned against her fellow in mutual support, and began to snore.
"Wow, what a stupid plan." Sticky wasn't aware that she had spoken aloud, but there was no one sober enough to take offence. The larcenous pegasus rubbed her temples. "Threaten the lives of thousands of ponies, in the hopes that a very specific hero would arrive to stop them? Who are these ponies, anyway."
Zorada trotted over, pulling hoods off of slumbering cultists. "It would appear to be... a number of third and fourth children of noble houses. Well past the 'heir and spare' mentality. A lot of ponies with a great deal of money behind them, no clear purpose, and more resources than sense. I can see them falling into bad company, but frankly, most of them would appear to be too stupid to set up something of this magnitude." Her eyebrows knitted together. "In other words..."
Gawain finished for her. "In other words, we sent Sharp Salute to exactly the right place."
* * *
Strictly speaking, a raid on the personal home of a Peer of the Realm was strictly circumscribed, in big red angry letters, by the constitution of Equestria. It wasn't impossible - if the right warrants, including a royal warrant could be acquired, it was actually quite doable. But the fuss that it would kick up would likely end the career of any magistrate that signed the warrant, and any officers that sought one.
Justice Stone Heart, of the Celestial Court, was not particularly concerned about his political career. He was, first among all things, a justice of the law, and under the circumstances, he was quite confident that he had the support of the Princesses, both of whom had personally requested the warrant. Luna wasn't concerned about the political implications - or, it might be more accurate to say, was less concerned by them than she was about the fact that a peer of the realm was implicated in a scheme that had endangered the lives of thousands of her citizens. Shining Armour was assisting in the raid, but was likewise fairly confident that his role as the leader of the army of a technical foreign power was pretty secure, to say nothing of his role as Prince Consort.
The pony that stood to lose the most in the resulting debacle was Sharp Salute, but at seventy-six years old, he was blissfully unconcerned. Tough as nails, and still able to hold his own in a fight - and to Tartarus with anyone who said otherwise - but if the past couple of months had taught him anything, it was that there came a time to retire, and his had come and gone. Only a fool would seek to dispute his courage, audacity, or professionalism, but even the toughest earth ponies had to stop sooner or later. It wasn't giving up; it wasn't giving in. It was simply the realization that you couldn't fight forever.
It was hard. But, conversely, it was liberating.
When he knocked in the door with a mighty buck, the bones in his hips and legs sang the discordant tune of arthritis, but that wasn't new. Pain when he moved, got up, walked around - he had kept up with the squad, but he likely wouldn't be able to say that in a few months. It had taken a lot out of him, getting them up on their feet. Now, he would be serving them best by acting as their aegis against political blowback.
As the door went down, and he bellowed that this was an official raid, the valet who had been standing in the hall froze, and Sharp Salute gave him the look known to all guardsman of a certain era, that said 'if you consider moving, I will consider stopping you with all possible prejudice'. Feeling the figurative hoof on his collar, the valet barely breathed.
They blew through the main entrance hall, a pair of bailiffs from the Night Court following along in the wake of Princess Luna, making arrests as they went. Eventually they came to the study, and this door was taken by Shining Armour, an azure telekinetic bolt splintering the door.
"On the ground, hooves behind your head, and if your horn so much as lights up, I shall make you swiftly wish that it had not!" Princess Luna, Sharp Salute decided, almost had the instincts of a sergeant. In his mind, there were few higher compliments, despite the slight disparity with her traditional rank.
"What the Princess said. Lord Clearing House, you are under arrest for involvement of the Incursion Event of this evening, formally lodged in the records of the Night Court as the Night of Dark Rain. You are not obliged to speak, but if you do so, understand that everything you say will be taken into consideration when you are tried for this crime."
Clearing House sputtered. "This is an outrage! You can't just barge in here! I'll end your career!"
Sharp Salute gave a crooked smile. "Oh dear. And here I was, just negative sixteen years from retirement. However shall I acquire a pension now?"
Shining Armour was less glib. "Lord House, we have evidence of your involvement. You aren't a cultist - we would know. EIS runs frequent background checks on all peers of the realm. Why go to all of this trouble?"
Clearing House snarled at the former captain of the guard. "To stop her!" He pointed a hoof at Luna. "The Breakfasters had a silly little plan about trying to engineer another alicorn ascension. If we water down the title of Princess enough, who will give a damn about it to follow?" He crossed his hooves. "Things might have gotten out of hoof, but that was simply because we got caught up in the power that the ritual afforded us." He favoured Luna with a sickening grin. "We were 'corrupted by power'." A common phrase to describe the rise of Nightmare Moon, thrown into the mare's own face.
Luna's smile was sepulchral. "Ah, 'power corrupts'. Now there's a familiar tune." The smile, silky and sickly at best, vanished from her face. "Allow me to clarify something, for the benefit of the record.
"Power does not corrupt, Lord House. True, a great many ponies have heard the saying to that effect, but few have paused to consider from whence that aphorism springs. It is not, as many believe, a warning against acquiring power, but a justification of the corrupt for their own actions. Normalizing them, because surely, in their place, all ponies would have done the same.
"Power does not corrupt. Power reveals. If morality and empathy would stop you from pursuing wicked ends, then they would do so regardless of your station, or the might you could bring to bear. If all that is stopping you is the capacity for ponies to stop you, then that is revealed when you believe yourself to be above them. I know the temptations of power better than many; indeed, my own fall is so well known as to be apocryphal. Do not believe, Lord House, that you will score any points by hiding behind that little seed of commonly held wisdom; it bears no fruit for you."
Shining Armour was applying the manacles, and Sharp Salute looked at his sovereign, with different eyes than ever before. "That was.. quite the speech, your highness. A bit of a sore point?"
Luna looked down at the geriatric guardspony. "Sore? Perhaps. One that I am reminded of with passing glances and errant words, like a tongue finds a sore tooth. But also the benefit of earned wisdom, and so not lightly dismissed." She gestured to Clearing House. "Have him thrown in the dungeons, until a court may be convened to try him at our leisure."
"The dungeons? But we haven't used the dungeons in years, your highness!" One of the bailiffs objected. "They've got the gift shop in them!"
Luna shook her head, suddenly tired. "Then arrange for dungeons."
Clearing House objected again, demonstrating his lack of understanding for power dynamics in which he did not hold the winning cards. "This isn't over!"
"Yes, my little pony." Luna's tone held no sympathy, nor threat, merely finality. "It is."
30Just earlier that week in Canterlot, a single pegasus - one Extreme Outlier - had won the lotto, been struck by lightning, made a hole in one, and spontaneously combusted. At least, if one believed the Weekly Equestria News. |
Night Watch | Epilogue: In Which the Nature of Causality is Discussed, and Some Things End | Six months had passed. Things were bewilderingly different, and yet frustratingly the same. It was very much like any other span of six months, which was to say, uniquely different from any other span of six months.
Time had wrought changes upon the Night Watch. The next budget had passed, and yet Luna's personal guard had not been excised from it. Indeed, it had grown, been given something resembling proper facilities (although not much better than the boiler room), and while it still bore the burden of being acknowledged as the dumping grounds for 'the best of the worst', there were now ponies applying to join the Night Watch straightaway, rather than washing out of other, better applications first. The Night Watch was where you could make your name, if you weren't quite right for EIS or the Royal Guard. You still had to produce results of course - Princess Luna would accept nothing less - but if you were a little off-beat, then you were at least dancing with a bunch of other, equally off-beat ponies.
The metaphor worked especially well when one took into consideration how often ponies working for the Night Watch ended up in traction.
Sharp Salute was out, and glad of it. He still held a supervisory role, but the Night of Dark Rain had shown him that however strong or tough you were, time would eventually win. Thus far, tensions with the management of the old ponies home hadn't renewed, but this was generally considered to be a mere passing breeze, a calm between storms, or possibly the eye of a hurricane. The former weather team ponies now residing within the home had an unending number of metaphors for the temporary armistice, as well they might.
Sharp's legacy was not forgotten however. In place of a single retired earth pony, the new Night Wash had two; in their early sixties, Sergeant Ampersand and Sergeant Honeycrisp had both served under Sharp Salute, and both had his tacit approval. If their records were less than spotless - and they were rather less accomplished than Sharp Salute - then at least the squad knew that they had done more with less.
Gawain was out too. His work in the Night Watch had earned him a place working with the crown prosecutors, and they had been impressed enough with his legal acumen that, when the business of mounting the prosecution was finished, he would be invited to become a prosecutor himself, one who specialized in immigration law, and the distinctions between gryphon and Equestrian legal practices.
Still, he was never far from hoof if the Night Watch needed some extra muscle. While he was excited to perform the work in which he specialized - using his head as something other than a blunt object - prosecutors in Equestria were expected to work hoof in hoof (or claw in hoof) with those sworn to enforce the laws of the land. In times to come, that relationship, forged in adversity and terror, would come to be very important indeed.
Zorada's mission as a representative of EIS ended shortly after the Clearing House bust. Her infiltration, never particularly successful, had technically been a failure, as she had been identified as EIS within short order of joining the Night Watch. Nevertheless, respect for zebra alchemies had increased immensely, and she was shifted into a quartermaster position with the intelligence service, while serving as a liaison to the increasingly respected, if still much beleaguered Watch.
When a chain of contraband magical soaps started to make their way into the Canterlot underground, she relied heavily on the Night Watch as backup in her official capacities. When they were dealing with problems that ordinary magic had no real handle on, they called for her. This might have been considered a triumph for interdepartmental unity, but then, that might have just been what the EIS wanted everypony to think.
Ice Pick, Sticky Wings, and Hot Streak, all ended up in leadership capacities to greater and lesser extents in the Night Watch. The fact of the matter was that there was nowhere else that they quite fit. Ice Pick in particular rose to the occasion, his conversational style of lecturing translating very well to morning briefings. Hot Streak moved to part time work near the end of the six month interlude, resolving to go back to school to get a formal nursing degree, improving the Night Watch's capacity as emergency responders.
Sticky Wings was promoted to Captain for a full week before being busted down to Lieutenant for petty theft. She continues to work on her kleptomania.
As the Night Watch continued to grow and develop, none were more pleased by the development than Princess Luna, whose confidence in the ponies - and gryphons, zebras, and eventually gryphons, breezies, camels and yaks - under her command remained eternally unshaken. If there was one thing that she knew, it was that sometimes, a second chance and the right opportunity to fit in could spin gold from straw.
* * *
Some ponies had been hurt, and a hoofful had died. That had been the fallout, but every expert that was consulted, even the ones most critical of the Crown, agreed that it would have been much, much worse. The papers had been filled with stories of ordinary ponies that had done what they could to help one another, and that had been good. Ponies were helping one another to rebuild, setting aside differences that seemed petty now. That was even better. Eventually they would return to their usual patterns, because the nature of the pony is obsession, but for now it was possible to believe that ponies would keep to it, this time.
Most of the Breakfaster cultists had weaseled their way out of prosecution. Although they were very junior members of old houses, they were still associated with the names and titles of some very influential ponies, and between the exertion of political influence and a little bit of not-entirely-above-board angling, this had been enough to stave off prosecution.
Not so with Clearing House. His family had disavowed him, and while he retained some political support in Opposition, it was generally agreed that there was no place for unsuccessful treason within the House of Lords. Whether or not successful treason would have been winked at was not discussed in detail, forcing rampant speculation to take the place of surety.
Nothing new there, then.
Bookmakers were making odds on whether or not the case against him would succeed, but Luna wasn't vastly concerned. Certainly, Clearing House had been a thorn in her side for some time, but that was part of being in charge; the inevitability of opposition. Even among those of Equestria's lawmakers who agreed upon priorities, how to implement them was disputed using terms of vehement vernacular that she would have hesitated before using before her troops, once upon a time. For now, they had found the bits, and Equestria could turn toward another turning of the seasons, well assured that the bits that it needed to function would continue to appear as required.
Her own pet experiment had paid considerable dividends in political goodwill as well. Not really her main priority, but a pleasant bonus, certainly.
"Equestria to Luna? Are you there?" She was taking tea with Celestia this afternoon, and apparently had missed something significant in the conversation. Ah, well. That was part of being a sociable pony as well, she was told.
Luna took a moment to sip her coffee, composing her thoughts. "Hrm? Oh, yes. Sorry. In my own little world for a moment, I suppose." She had no great love for tea, not the way that Celestia did. Stewed leaf water. Then again, she supposed that 'stewed bean water' would be an apt description for her drink of choice, so perhaps it was best to eschew the throwing of stones.
Celestia looked at her sister through the steam rising from her cup. "I was asking if you were alright. You've been... moody, the last few months. Melancholic. I was concerned for you, and I know that Twilight and her friends have been asking after you."
Luna forced a smile. "Nothing to complain about really. Just... an old warhorse that only feels her age when she's between battles." There was only a little bit of coffee at the bottom of her cup, and the question of whether or not to slurp was the burning issue of the moment. Which, really, was the problem. "I know that I shouldn't wish conflict on our subjects, but it's easier to forget the bad times when you're barrel deep in alligators of one stripe or another."
Celestia's exquisitely sculpted eyebrow arched a fraction of an inch. "'Old warhorse'? Luna, you do recall that I'm your older sister, yes?" A telekinetic aura snatched a scone from a nearby tray.
"And you don't look a day over five thousand." The scone, most of the way to Celestia's mouth, changed directory to a collision course with Luna's face, as her older sister stuck out her tongue. "Acting like you're six..." Luna tilted her head slightly to the left, and the scone paffed against the wall behind her. "... and throwing like a foal doesn't change it."
"I'm sure I won't dignify that with an answer."
Luna's smile was more genuine now. "And I'm sure that you won't be able to resist, as soon as you've come up with a bon mot sufficiently clever to share." Society might shift and change, and the nature of their duties with it, but Luna knew her sister. The pillars of the world shook, but did not fall. "Face it, Celly. I knew all of your moves twelve hundred years ago."
Celestia's response involved her own telekinetic aura seizing every piece of loose pastry in the room. "Perhaps. But while I haven't gotten a lot more powerful since then, I've grown much, much trickier."
The palace staff would have to budget some overtime to clean up the room, and Luna was going to have to grab a bath before her briefing with Lieutenant Sticky Wings, but for now the world was flowing as it should. The halls rang with laughter and the echoes of mock battle; the sounds of family.
* * *
A small shop down a dark alleyway, that absolutely hadn't been there two hours prior switched its shingle to 'closed' around time for the midday meal. Questionable Purchase made his way to the back room where his tenant lived and worked.
She looked right at him as he moved through the beads. It shouldn't have been an issue - he knew that was why the beads were there, and besides, she had acute hearing, and the entire setup was to put marks off of their game. The 'strange and mystical consultant' gig was a good one, if he said so himself; it more than paid for the room.
But then again, she was blind, and yet she was looking right at him. He composed himself, although he was still ill at ease. "Lunch time, Lady Swarm."
The changeling tilted her head. "And what is on the menu today, Questionable?"
"Memories of the enjoyment of a bowl of tomato soup and a hayburger."
She laughed, lightly. "All of this junk food. You simply wish for us to grow too large to fly, and then we shall be your consultant forever." Again, he knew that she was blind. She no more had to look at what she was doing than she had to look at him. But it seemed unnerving, how her many-holed hooves continued their work even as her white eyes failed to watch him. "You are ill at ease?"
"I... admit, I had wondered, Lady..." Questionable Purchase was more accustomed to being the unnerving one in a conversation. Anything else went against nature and supernature both. "You said that the gryphon that came in... the article that he brought for you to look at. It had served its purpose, and been countermanded."
"We seem to recall you telling us about it being in all of the papers, yes."
Questionable gestured about him. Streamers of red silk, stitched with arcane runes and wards bannered the entire chamber, and even as they spoke, the changeling continued to stitch a new one. They practically thrummed with power, and although he was by nature something of a charlatan, he was a skilled enough practitioner to know that every one of them was a defensive charm by nature. "What's all this? You've been at it for months, even after the matter was all resolved. If the monster is gone, isn't it a little late to hang wards?"
The changeling's sightless eyes did not move, as her needle continued to slip through the fine fabric. "Oh, my dear pony. A monster was slain, yes. But first it was called. There will be beings that take note. There was a challenge to the rule of this pony capitol. There will be beings that have already taken note." She shook her head.
"So... it's not over?"
"All causes have effects. It is implied in the name. All effects are causes. This is how all things that are or will be have come to pass." The needle continued its precise course. "Nothing is ever truly over, Mister Purchase. And some things have merely begun." |
Mama Applejack | pre | "Don't tell your mother." Mrs. Cake winked at the foal.
Twilight couldn't help but giggle, "I would like something sweet."
The two old friends chatted while walking towards the bakery Twilight kept thinking to herself, "Maybe I'll find something if we can find the spell again."
"Wonder what she's thinking?" Mrs. Cake asked.
Pear Butter shrugged.
Meanwhile
Applejack stepped into the quite building only hearing a few voices and soft music playing, "Hello
Appleyack." an accented voice greeted.
The orange mare stepped towards the voice, "Howdy Aloe. Ah'm here for steam and massage."
Aloe nodded, "Of course. Right, this way."
Applejack followed the pink mare down the hallway, "Glad to see somethin' hasn't changed."
"You may want to know Rarity came in just before you," Aloe explained.
Applejack walked alongside the mare. As much as she enjoyed her spa days with her friend when she could make it. But it was going to be hard to keep her secret from her friend especially after keeping it from her mother throughout their lunch.
As the door of the Steam Room opened Rarity took the cloth off her face to see her old friend enter.
"Applejack!" the white unicorn exclaimed, "What brings you here?"
"Ah just realized with takin' care of Twi so much, Ah haven't come here much." Applejack said sitting down.
Rarity sighed slightly, "You've barely been here since you were pregnant with her. Last time I had to drag you while you were explaining the proper temperature for Twilight's bottle to Mrs. Cakes."
Applejack chuckled even though she didn't remember the event. The earth pony just sat next to her friend as she and the unicorn spoke about other topics, Like old fillyhood stories which luckily for Applejack were almost exactly the same as she remembered.
Twilight and Pear Butter
At Ponyville's local bakery Sugarcube Corner, Pear Butter spoke with her friend while keeping an eye on her granddaughter sitting on the floor.
"Twilight isn't as playful as she usually is." Mrs. Cake glanced at the little alicorn.
"Yer right. Applejack was actin' strange too. When Ah saw her this mornin' she got pretty emotional."
"Hmmm. Could she have run into Moonstone?" The blue mare asked.
Pear Butter watched her granddaughter, "She may have. She was in Fillydelphia yesterday and he does live there."
"When will he stop intruding, he had his chance to Twilight's father but after everything, he's done he doesn't even have the right to speak to her!" Mrs. Cake exclaimed with anger.
Twilight looked down her mind racing with thoughts of who this 'Moonstone' was he'd left his girlfriend while she was pregnant and only came back when the child was crowned as a princess. He seemed selfish and no one seemed to have anything good to say about him.
Pumpkin and Pound moved towards the alicorn, "Twiwight! Why won't you pway with us?!" Pumpkin wined.
Twilight's shot up in shock. She could understand Pumpkin her voice was the same as her broken foal speech yet she could understand it.
"I'm sowwy, Pumpkin... I don't feew good."
"Why don' you ask youw Mama fow hewp?" Pumpkin asked.
Pound pushed a small toy piano over to the alicorn, "Hewe moosic wemembew!"
Mrs. Cake glanced over to the three foals, "Oooooh. Look!"
Pear Butter smiled, "They're so cute! Trying to cheer Twilight up."
Twilight remembered her own words to Applejack and pushed the small key on the toy as it sounded an off-key music note. The alicorn found herself giggling pressing more keys. Soon enough she was playing every key on the instrument. The alicorn filly ran around the room with the other two foals.
"Well, whatever they said to her definitely helped." Pear Butter chuckled. "Now if only I knew why Applejack acting like she is."
Later that night
Applejack and Twilight enjoyed their day and were able to learn facts of this reality they'd be popped into. But one fact scared them, no one had remembered Starlight or Sunburst. Twilight's mind kept considering the worst the last time she heard them they were screaming then they just disappeared from the new reality the spell created.
The two were in the room they woke up in the earth pony was holding a bottle in Twilight's mouth. The alicorn slowly suckled on the tip of the bottle feeling the bottle slip away. Twilight gave a soft squeaky yawn.
Applejack smiled, "Well guess yer ready fer some sleep now."
Twilight looked into the mare's eyes, "Ok. But wet's stawt eawy tomowow."
The earth pony patted the alicorn's back until the foal let out a soft burp, "Well let's make sure ya get enough sleep. Yer a foal now after all."
As her eyes fluttered the foal managed to say, "I know. You tink I don'."
Applejack walked over to the crib placing Twilight in covering her with the blanket inside. "Goodnight Twilight. Sweet dreams Sugarcube."
"Tanks Abbajack. Night." Twilight closed her eyes her foal body unable to stay awake much longer.
The earth pony lied down on the bed she'd begun her day in. But little did she know her dreams were going to be anything but sweet. She again had a returning memory from this reality.
Applejack's dream
During a late summer day, Applejack walked up to a single tree. "Huh?" the mare felt a cramp in her stomach. "Why does that keep happenin'." She wound up with to give the tree a good buck, but she was suddenly overcome with dizziness, "Ehh!"
The mare heard a familiar voice greet her, "Applejack?"
"H-hey Ma." Applejack returned getting her balance back.
"Are ya still gettin' those spells?" Pear Butter asked.
The younger earth pony nodded, "Yes. But it's nothin'-"
"You've been havin' them for about two weeks now. AJ, Ah think ya need to get it checked."
Applejack thought for a moment. Her mother wasn't going to back down. "A-Ah guess it's worth checking."
Pear Butter smiled as her middle child left for the hospital for a check-up.
Applejack took a while to walk to the hospital. On her way, she ran into her boyfriend Moonstone.
"AJ!" the unicorn stallion exclaimed. "Wh-Why are you out here. Thought you'd be up at the farm."
The mare sighed, "Ah've been havin' some dizzy spells for two weeks now. So Ah'm goin' to the hospital to see if anythin's wrong."
Moonstone put a hoof around the mare, "Ok see you later." the stallion leaned down slightly planting a soft kiss on the earth pony's cheek. "I love you."
Applejack blushed, "Love ya too."
The couple went their separate ways for the day. Applejack sat in the waiting room her stomach still cramping a few times.
"Ms. Applejack Apple?" A light brown stallion called.
"That's me." Applejack stood up.
While the mare sat in the office the stallion, Doctor Stable asked the mare, "So you've been experiencing dizziness and cramping daily for two weeks."
"Yeah." Applejack nodded.
To try and diagnose what her symptoms could mean the doctor asked, "Have you had any nausea or sickness at any point in the day?"
Applejack paused, "Well not as often but sometimes, Ah do when Ah wake up."
"Well, there's one thing this could mean. But I must ask you to take a small test. I'll need a little blood sample." The doctor continued.
The mare looked confused so asked, "What's this for?"
The doctor placed a hoof on his desk, "Well your symptoms may be from pregnancy."
Applejack recoiled from shock slightly could she actually be pregnant. She did have an intimate relationship with Moonstone but did that lead to them conceiving a foal. She remembered his last visit about 5-6 weeks ago with what they'd done it was certainly a possibility.
"Ok." Applejack nodded.
After having her blood drawn and a few other tests the earth pony waited for the doctor to return with her diagnosis. The earth pony stallion walked into the room with a smile, "I have good news. Congratulations I can confirm you're 7 weeks pregnant."
Applejack looked down at her stomach. She was going to be a mother. she felt like, she could already see her and Moonstone raising their foal together.
"I'm sure you're excited to tell your family." Doctor Stable smiled.
Once she left Applejack made her way back to Sweet Apple Acres. On her way back the mare constantly played what she was going to say to her family. She also imagined what Moonstone's reaction would be he'd be happy, hearing he was going to be a father.
The earth pony soon saw the familiar sight of apple trees surrounded her while a large red barn appeared. After getting close she heard the familiar voices of her loved ones. The mare took a breath and entered.
"Applejack!" Apple Bloom rushed up to her older sister.
While the mare wrapped her hoof around the yellow filly she heard her mother ask, "So did you hear anything about why you've been feeling sick."
"Yeah, Ah did." Applejack nodded, "And Ah have some great news."
The other adults in the room turned their heads.
"What is it?" Pear Butter asked.
"Ah'm pregnant. The Apple Family is gonna have a new member soon." The mare smiled rubbing her stomach.
Pear Butter began grew a large smile, "Y-you mean Ah'm gonna be a GRANDMARE!?"
Applejack nodded.
While Pear Butter embraces her middle child Bright Mac put a hoof over their youngest, "Isn't that great Apple Bloom, Yer gonna be Aunt soon."
Apple Bloom chirped, "Ya mean it!"
Moonstone just stayed in stunned silence. He couldn't believe this had happened. He and Applejack had actually conceived a foal and she was so happy about it.
Granny Smith jokingly poked her grandson and oldest grandchild, "Well Big Mac looks like Applejack is the first to give me a great grandfoal."
"N-no this couldn't happen!" Moonstone thought to himself, "W-Wait maybe it isn't mine."
The family soon noticed that Moonstone the father of the developing foal had kept completely silent. Applejack was the first to speak up, asking her lover, "Somethin' wrong Moonstone."
"Y-yeah something's wrong! H-how could you be pregnant!" Moonstone exclaimed.
"Ah'm sure ya know how Sugarcube with what we've been doin'." Applejack said keeping her word choice coy with Apple Bloom in the same room.
Moonstone internally growled, "N-no there's no way in TARTARUS it's my foal. Y-you could have easily slept with some other stallion while I was away. That's the truth isn't it!"
Applejack couldn't even gasp from her shock. While she and her family stood speechless. Bright Mac turned to his son with a very serious expression and tone, "Big Mac take Apple Bloom outside, she shouldn' hear any of this."
Big Mac nodded and took his youngest sister by the hoof and lead her outside hoping that she could stay as oblivious of the situation. While he left he shot Moonstone a dirty glare showing his anger towards him.
After her siblings had left and were well out of earshot Applejack spoke up, "Moonstone... Ah-Ah can't believe you'd say somethin' like that."
Moonstone stomped his hoof, "Well if I'm the father I decide if it's even born. We are stopping this stupid thing right now!"
"Ah ain't doin' anythin' like that." Applejack stood up.
Moonstone stepped forward, "No you ARE going to. I'm not having a foal!"
Applejack replied, "But Ah want this foal. Ah know we're a bit young but-"
"I DON'T WANT IT!" Moonstone angrily. "So then choose Applejack stop this foal before it's born! Or I leave and you'll have to raise an obnoxious, screaming creature all on your own."
Applejack looked down staying silent considering her options. The unicorn wasn't exactly happy about that.
"So! What's your choice?" Moonstone asked. "Or are you admitting you were sleeping around and just want to have somepony to pin this on!"
Applejack looked back up. He was still believing she'd do that to him. Her choice was obnoxious the best choice for both of them, "Maybe it's best if we end this."
"Finally you see reason!"
"No. Ah mean being together. Ya obviously don' want a foal and don' trust me anymore with all this talk about me cheatin' on ya. Ah think we shouldn't see each other anymore."
Moonstone's jaw dropped. He thought he'd finally gotten through to her, "Rrrrrr! ARG! FINE YOU'VE MADE YOUR CHOICE! ENJOY BEING SINGLE AND HAVING TO LOOK AFTER A WASTE! Call me when you realize just how terrible your life will be. A dishevelled single mother on a filthy farm with her useless farming parents and so old she can't move grandmother!"
Applejack froze, her father barely stopping himself from charging right at the younger stallion, "G-get out!"
"What!?" Moonstone asked,
The orange mare rose her head and looked at the stallion she thought loved her in the eyes. She tried to resolve this peacefully and respectfully for both of them. But after insulting her family she'd had reached her breaking point. While barely holding back tears she said again, "GET OUT! YA AIN'T WELCOME HERE!"
"You can't-"
Bright Mac and Pear Butter got right between the two. While his wife comforted their middle child he told the stallion in an intimidating voice, "Ah suggest ya leave! If you come anywhere near mah daughter again you will regret it!"
Moonstone glared before turning away shouting all the way, "ENJOY YOUR PATHETIC LIFE! I'LL NEVER COME BACK. TELL THE FOAL DADDY HATES IT." saying his last statement in a very venomous tone.
After he left Applejack felt her tears run down her cheeks. Moonstone was gone. The stallion she loved, the father to her foal. The earth pony already decided then that the foal would never be told what had happened between her and it's father.
.....
Applejack shot up in bed. Looking around she was in her new room in Twilight's Castle, "I-It's was just a dream. Calm down." the earth pony touched her face realizing her damp fur. She was crying in her sleep. "B-but it felt so real. L-like that other dream."
The earth pony glanced towards the crib near her bed. In it, Twilight was sleeping peacefully in a way only a foal could. Lying back down the earth pony hoped her sleep would be just as peaceful. |
Mama Applejack | Temporarily, Permanent Changes | After the long night had passed Twilight woke in her crib. It was her second day in this new reality and she still wasn't used to her new foal body, mostly her need of diapers. The alicorn looking through the wooden bars saw her new 'mother' still sleeping. The foal side of her mind trailed off towards the toys in her crib, especially towards her foal counterpart's favourite Appee. Holding the red pony doll Twilight, despite not having any memory of it, felt a certain happiness while embracing it.
Soon enough Applejack sat up in her bed and glanced towards the crib seeing her 'daughter' awake playing with the toys in her crib. Twilight's foal side obviously having took over her adult consciousness, "Good Mornin'." Applejack greeted.
Twilight looked up at the orange earth pony looking down on her, smiling. The alicorn smiled back, "Mowning."
The earth pony picked the foal out of the crib. After giving Twilight a fresh, clean diaper, she sat on her bed again with Twilight in her hooves. "What should we be doin' today Twi?"
"We shouwd wook awound some mowe." Twilight said, "We didn't weawwy wook awound my castwe."
Applejack nodded, "Yeah, guess we did just go around town."
Later
The two were able to find their way around the castle. It hadn't changed much, other than foal toys and some of Applejack's belongings scattered around some places. Then they reached the library. What they saw shocked them.
The circle from the spell's ritual was still on the floor as if nothing had changed, "It's still here?!"
Twilight flapped her wings getting out of the older pony's grasp. Flying around she saw it was still fully intact. Looking at the bookshelves she did find some of her magic, history and other books but there were also a lot that weren't there before. They were for young foals like she was now.
Applejack began looking around the room herself and found a small stack of old parchment. She picked it up and called Twilight over, "Twilight what's this?"
The little alicorn turned around, she could tell what it was, "Da Speww!"
"So, it's still here?" Applejack questioned.
Twilight flapped her wings flying over and sitting on the small table in the library, "Wet me see it."
The older pony set the papers in front of the foal. Twilight slid the pages across the table looking on the front and back of each page for any sign of a counter spell that she may have forgotten about but found nothing. All she found were just some lines on the back of the last page.
"Anythin'?" Applejack pressed.
Twilight shook her head expressing as much frustration as her face could which wasn't much and just looked like a cute cranky foal, "No noting! Jus.... six wittle tiwcks on da back."
"Six?" The earth pony tilted her head picking the paper up. She saw the alicorn was correct. There were six small ticks on the paper, four with a fifth going through them and a sixth beside them. "It's almost like somepony was countin' somethin'."
Twilight closed her eyes, "Counting something? What could it be counting?"
The two kept thinking when Twilights's tiny stomach gave a low growl. The alicorn blushed looking up at the mare with a sheepish smile.
The earth pony chuckled picking the little alicorn up into her hooves, "Let's get ya some breakfast. Then get back to our little investigation."
Twilight sighed, "Ok."
As Applejack walked away she barely caught the sight of the foal gripping the papers in her magic obviously intending to keep the spell in her sight. The earth pony continued walking to the kitchen. "Abbajack?"
The older pony looked down at the foal in her grip, "Yes?"
"I'm wowwied about Stawwlight." Twilight said, "It's wike she disappeawed into tin air."
"Ah'm sure she's fine. Maybe she has a different life now like us." Applejack assured.
Twilight perked back up, "M-maybe. But we might nevew find hew. Equestwia is huge. She could hav been bown in a diffewent town or maybe not in the countwy at aww, if-if-"
Applejack placed a hoof on the foal before Twilight could say what the earth pony knew she was going to say. "Calm down Sugarcube. Let's not get too riled up. We can't find her and Sunburst if we're so negative."
Twilight took a quick breath, "Wight."
Upon reaching the kitchen Applejack placed Twilight in the high chair, again getting a slight grumble from the alicorn. "Nopony ewse is hewe. Can' I jus' sit nowmawy."
"Yer a bit to small fer that Sugarcube. It's either in the high chair, in my hooves or on the table."
"I'w sit hewe." Twilight said begrudgingly.
The earth pony chuckled, "Well since that's settled. Let's get some food in ya."
While Applejack fed her the mushy food by the spoonful, Twilight glanced at the scroll, her mind racing as to where Starlight and Sunburst could be. Sunburst didn't seem to be in the Crystal Empire and Starlight wasn't in Ponyville. So where could either of them be? The little alicorn thought of every place that held meaning to the two ponies. She knew one last place that came to mind, Sire's Hollow, their birth place.
"I gow wit!" Twilight said forgetting she had food in her mouth which caused it to fly out and splatter on Applejack's face. The foal awkwardly chuckled, "Sowwy."
After wiping the mush off, the older pony asked, "So what's yer big revelation?"
Twilight continued, "If Stawwight and Sunbuwst awen' in Ponyviwwe or da Cwystaw Empiwe dey couwd be in Siwe's Howwow!"
"Sire's Hollow? Well, it's the only place we know where either of them could be. But remember how different our lives are. They could live on the other end of Equestria in this reality." Applejack reminded the foal.
Twilight nodded knowing full well that was true, but like Applejack said it's the only place they knew the two could be.
After eating, the pair soon left. Applejack made sure to bring to a bag with a few fresh diapers, foal powder and bottles for Twilight. Keeping the alicorn in a foal carrier on one side and the bag on the other, Applejack left the castle overlooking the vast orchard. "So ya ready for our little trip?"
"Yeah hopefuwwy dis wiww get tings back to nowmaw." Twilight replied.
Later
After getting on the train Applejack was almost immediately swarmed by ponies fawning over the little princess she was carrying. On the long ride foals just kept wanting to play with Twilight and their parents were talking with Applejack preventing the two from talking completely about what their plan would be when they reached their destination.
After reaching the station the earth pony stepped on the platform near the small village. Walking over to the gate Applejack looked around, "Well doesn't look like anything's changed here."
"Doesn' WOOK wike it." Twilight emphasized, "But oder dan da castle Ponyviwwe didn' change."
Applejack sighed, "Yeah, Yer right. Hopefully we can find Starlight or Sunburst."
"And dey wemembew us." Twilight added.
The earth pony began walking as Twilight looked around for any sign of her friend and former student.
Applejack was more paying attention to where she was walking but still tried to look around for the either the mare or stallion.
"Oh, welcome to Sire's Hollow!" a voice greeted.
Applejack turned to see a mare she met a few times, Sunburst's mother Stellar Flare.
"Oh you're Ms. Applejack, mother of Princess Twilight Sparkle." The older mare then noticed the little alicorn in a foal carrier, "And you brought the regale cutie herself. What brings you to our humble little town?"
Applejack paused. The unicorn acted like it was the first time they'd met. "Oh. Ah. Ah just came cause a friend of mine lives here. Ah haven't seen her for a while."
Stellar smiled, "Oh well that's wonderful. I hope you two can catchup."
The earth pony nodded. Turning away she heard the mare sigh with a saddened tone. "Is somethin' wrong?" Applejack asked the older mare.
"Oh! No, it's nothing." The mare glanced at the foal who stared back at her. "I have somewhere to be."
Before the younger mare could even say a word the unicorn hurriedly left. Twilight saw her turn a corner losing sight of her as she disappeared behind the wall of a building.
"Where'd she go, Twi?"
Twilight shrugged not seeing where the mare had gone.
"Well let's see if we can find Starlight. With how she's actin' who knows where Sunburst is." Applejack turned around, "Do ya remember where she lived?"
Twilight paused a moment and pointed ahead. The earth pony resumed their trek to find their friend despite a few ponies who stopped them to see Twilight. The alicorn internally shouted, "I can't take this much longer.". Then one idea came to mind that she hadn't thought of before, if they stayed in this reality longer than they hoped. "Please do NOT make me go through puberty AGAIN!"
Applejack eventually got the ponies to leave and the two found Starlight's old home. The earth pony knocked on the door
She tried again after not getting a response. "I'll be right there!" a male voice called.
Twilight closed her eyes remembering the voice as Starlight's father, "Please still be living here. Please still be living here."
Applejack completely unknowingly was thinking the same thing as the foal. The minute it took for the door to open felt more like an hour.
The door opened as the 'mother' and 'daughter' held their breath. In a few seconds the opened door revealed a unicorn stallion, Starlight's father Firelight.
The stallion greeted, "Hello, I wasn't expecting anyone to visit." Firelight exclaimed, "Oh! Ms. Applejack and Princess Twilight."
Applejack smiled, "Yeah, Does anypony else life here? Ah remember a friend of mine livin' here."
The stallion shook his head, "No, nopony else lives here. I do know where everypony lives though. I could help you find your friend."
Applejack thought about what the stallion said before she headed Twilight try to get her attention. The alicorn pointed to her diaper. Taking her out of the foal carrier patting her diaper Applejack realized she needed a change, "Sure. Do ya know somewhere Ah can get this one into a new diaper."
"You can change her in here." Firelight offered.
"Um. Ok." Applejack accepted
The stallion slid back inside holding the door open for the younger pony.
While she was carried through the halls Twilight looked around seeing multiple pictures of Starlight as a foal with her father. Twilight let out a sigh of relief knowing Starlight still existed in this reality, "We just need to find her. Maybe Firelight will know."
Firelight motioned his hoof towards a door, "You can use the bathroom."
"Ok thanks." Applejack nodded.
The earth pony entered softly placing Twilight on the fairly large counter.
Twilight blushed, "I hate weawing a diapew. Sowwy you have to put up with dis."
Applejack smiled, "Don't worry about it. Ah ain't exactly thrilled about changin' diapers after Apple Bloom was potty trained but Ah'm fine with it."
"We at weast know Stawwight was hewe once." Twilight explained, "Maybe ask Fiwewight."
"But what would Ah even ask?" Applejack questioned.
Twilight thought for a moment before answering, "Twy asking as anothew pawent?"
"Another parent?"
Twilight nodded, "Yea twy saying how you notwiced the pictuwes and wewe cuwious about dem."
Applejack nodded as she wrapped a fresh diaper around the alicorn foal.
The earth pony carried the foal out of the bathroom meeting the stallion and together they sat down in what seemed to be a Living Room, "Thanks fer lettin' me do that."
"No problem. Now who were you looking for?" Firelight asked.
Applejack paused. She knew she had to blend in so she thought about how she would answer this question, "She's a unicorn. Her name is Starlight."
"Starlight." Firelight said distantly, "That's a really nice name it's actually my daughter's name."
"You're daughter?" Applejack feigned ignorance.
The stallion nodded, "She was a very energetic filly. I don't remember anypony else with the same first name as her ever living here."
Applejack paused, "Maybe Ah was mistaken. Ah could have sworn she lived here."
Firelight nodded, "Sorry I couldn't help you much."
"It's fine. Ah'm a little curious about yer daughter. Does she still live anywhere around here or has she moved outta town? Ah don't see any pictures of her as a mare." Applejack examined.
Firelight seemed to choke slightly, "No. She doesn't live here anymore."
Applejack nodded letting the stallion continue. Only to see a tear run down his cheek.
"Why..... Starlight." Firelight spoke without looking up almost like he was in thought.
Applejack tried to speak up but saw the older pony levitate a plaque towards himself that was hanging in the wall. He seemed to stare at it, glancing between it and Twilight.
"Is somethin' wrong sir?" Applejack asked.
"I'm sure as a mother, you know how important a foal is to their parent."
Applejack paused for just a moment before nodding in response.
Firelight could barely even speak his next words, only turning the picture around. Applejack first saw the picture of a smiling filly that she recognized as Starlight but then she saw the text beneath the image. It caused her heart to drop. Starlight Glimmer, Age: 8 1085-1093. You will be forever missed.
Twilight needed to read it over several times but could not let herself believe it. Firelight levitated the plaque back over to the wall. "It was years ago. She and her friend, a colt named Sunburst were at the old library. But something went wrong with an oil lamp and the building caught fire. They must have been so scared they could barely move..... somepony went in to rescue them but a shelf fell and trapped all three of them. The fire was eventually was put out but it was too late." the stallion finished breaking down completely.
Applejack thought about what she could or should do next but then her thoughts were interrupted by Twilight screaming at the top of her lungs.
The stallion quickly looked up upon hearing the loud wail. It was a foal's cry louder than any he'd ever heard, "Wh-what's wrong. She sounds so upset. How can a foal make such a loud sound?"
"It's just a thing alicorns can do. Ah think Ah'll be leavin' thanks again fer lettin' me in and Ah'm sorry fer what happened."
"Thank you."
After leaving Applejack just took a seat next to the fountain rubbing Twilight's back trying to calm her down. "Sh-Shh. I-it's a-alright." All her attempts were futile and she soon found herself tearing up.
After nearly an hour Twilight's tears had stopped but she still sobbed for a good few minutes. Many ponies had come by asking if something was seriously wrong. Applejack replied to everyone that everything was alright and that Twilight was just having a cranky day or that she had tripped and scrapped her knee or any other excuse for a foal to be crying.
After Twilight had calmed down the earth pony just continued her journey to the train station. It wasn't too long before the next train came. Once it got there the two remained completely silent the entire ride home, neither making a sound other than an occasional sniff or quiet sob from the alicorn.
"How are we going to fix this now?" Twilight internally lamented, "Maybe we should try and look at the spell again."
Once the train arrived in Ponyville Applejack stepped out of the car, "So we're just goin' back to the castle?"
Twilight nodded, "I wan' to wook at daw speww again. We had to have missed someting."
[Later]
Twilight sternly looked down at the parchment scanning for she could have missed, "Theres nothing! I don't even know who created this so I can't even look through their other spells for some pattern I don't know about!"
"Anythin'?" Applejack asked simply.
"No just those tiwcks." Twilight replied, "Could it be the ink is worn out? No if it was why would the spell still be legible? Was it rewritten? Wait could be....."
Applejack looked down trying to hide her growing smirk. It was still amusing to see a foal thinking so deeply.
"Disappeawing wink?" Twilight questioned herself.
The earth pony straightened up not fully understanding what the foal had said and taking a moment she realized the foal had said, 'Disappeawing ink'
Twilight tried to light her horn. Magic fizzled from the foal's head. The light flashed on and off as she attempted to cast a spell to reveal any message on the back of the parchment. Only she found herself unable to control her magic well enough sending a small blast by mistake. Applejack ducked, the blast slightly singeing her mane while barely missing her face.
"What was that about?!" Applejack nearly screamed
"I didn' mean to! I was jus twying to uncovew the wink!" Twilight defended.
"Well maybe don't use magic while we're here."
A Twilight confused replied, "But wif I stiww fixed Stawswiww's speww, I had to have used magic to wwite it."
Applejack paused, "Maybe, but didn't ya say levitation is really simple. Maybe ya can't control yer magic enough fer anyin' more advanced?"
The alicorn slumped into her high chair. "I can't do anything anymore!" she thought, "Ok I guess youw wight. But how ewse can we uncovew the wink?"
Applejack thought for a brief moment this wasn't exactly that something she was knowledgeable about, "Well Ah don't know anythin' that would work."
Twilight tried to wrack her brain for any memory of a way to reveal the ink. Magic was frequently used to uncover secret messages but there were other ways to uncover invisible ink. "The only ting I can tink of is heat."
"Heat? How does that work?" Applejack questioned.
Twilight tapped her hoof in thought, "It's a wittwe compwicated but to put it simpwy the heat wiww tuwn da papew gowden bwown but where da wink is won' be as affected. At weast it shouwd with how owd dis speww is. The wink could be too aged to do dat."
"Well, it's worth a try."
Twilight looked down at the parchment. Her attempt to use magic to reveal the message failed before an effect was even visible. So that wasn't a real option unless they waited a few years for her to be able her magic. The alicorn nodded acknowledging the earth pony's statement.
Applejack walked over to the stove turning an element on and waiting for the heat to build up. Twilight levitated the paper over the element, letting it warm up. The mare and foal watched as the paper seemed to distort, slowly revealing a faded message. The lines of the letters were slightly disconnected having worn away from age but it was still legible.
After a few minutes the two read the message when enough was revealed.
"My name is Orion Swirl. This is my spell. I created it hoping to make my land more even peaceful. I cast it with two others and suddenly woke up in a completely different house and that was the least of my changes. My family was changed, even order of events changed."
Twilight turned to Applejack as the two continued reading the old message.
"I thought the change would be good. But I was heartbroken when I learned my old family had completely forgotten me. I found that only ponies closest to the spell as it was cast remembered the previous reality. I tried to get back to my original timeline but after six attempts none of the realities were close. I keep living different lives and have been placed in many different times in life in each reality. This will be my seventh attempt I can't, I won't stop until I can at least get my old family back. Once I do, I will destroy this spell immediately.."
The ponies looked down at the barely visible last line, just repeating two words.
"DON'T FORGET."
Twilight kept reading it over and over again in her head, "But if he found his family why would he not have destroyed this spell. Could he not find it?"
Applejack paused before the painful truth of what happened to Starlight came to mind, "D-Do ya think he.....?"
Twilight froze. The earth pony didn't have to say another word she knew exactly what Applejack was implying, "Y-you tink he died?"
Applejack could only shrug, "If he did it seven times, he definitely wanted his family back and definitely wanted to get rid of this thing. Ah can't think of anythin' else expect him bein' erased from existence or somethin'. Is that even possible?"
"I don' know. So many tings awe diffewent fow us and so many tings couwd have changed dat it couwd have happened." Twilight replied, "But wit how many ponies thewe have been in Equestwia's wecowded histowy it wouwd be impossibwe to know. We'd need a wist of evewypony bwon in both weawities!"
"Yeah, even then it'd be so much work. You'd have grown into a mare in this reality by the time we finished." Applejack placed her hoof on the side of her head.
Twilight nodded realizing how hard it was going to be to find their old reality with the only other two ponies who knew about it being gone. The pain of losing her family resurfaced. Looking up at the mare who was her new mother she asked, "How did you deaw wit it?"
"Huh? What do ya mean deal with it? Ah'm just as confused as you with this."
Twilight shook her head before replying with a slight tremble in her voice, "H-how did you deaw wit w-wosing y-youw- y-youw-." The alicorn choked unable to finish the question.
It took Applejack a moment to realize what the alicorn foal was attempting to ask, "M-mah parents?"
Twilight shakily nodded, "I-I know it's diffewent d-den dem dying. Dey're stiww awive but Dey definitewy don' wemembew Dey had a daughtew. Shining doesn' wemembew he had a wittwe sistew unwess somepony ewse was bown in my pwace."
"Is that even-" Applejack started before realizing what she was about to say and the situation they were in. "Never mind it's possible."
"So how did you?" Twilight pressed.
Applejack sighed, "It took awhile even when you and Spike first came to Ponyville. Ah admit Ah was still healin' from it. Ah was older than ya think, lookin' into their room after wakin' up every night, hopin' they'd be back and everythin' was jus' a horrible nightmare." The earth pony explained, "But what really made me move forward and get mahself past it was Apple Bloom. She was too young to understand why Ma and Dad weren't around. Ah needed to be strong, not just fer me but even more for her."
Twilight sighed she didn't have anyone else to be strong for she was alone in losing her family no one else had lost anyone, at least that remembered their old lives so she could only be strong for herself.
"So what do we do now?" Applejack questioned, "Unless Somepony else was at yer castle that we're not rememberin' we can't find Spike and Starlight and Sunburst are-." The earth pony shook her head, "Ah can't use magic like you so Ah can't do anythin'."
Twilight shook her head and in a defeated tone responded, "Dere's nopony ewse. We can' ask anypony because dey'll tink you're cwazy!"
"So what will we do. Wait years just to try and get our reality back? We could just end up with you as a foal all over again or worse." Applejack added, "Doesn't sound like a good plan but do we really have a choice."
Twilight looked down at the spell, "I was so excited to try a spell that could have been a great rediscovery. But if only I knew what would happen. I almost wish I was a normal foal only remembering basic voices and faces. Remembering everything I used to have and knowing it's next to impossible to get it back. Who knows if the seven attempts this Orion Swirl made are the only times this spell has changed reality. There could have been countless others."
Applejack let the alicorn think for a few minutes before speaking up, "So what do you want to do?"
Twilight kept looking down while responding, "I can't cast dis speww by mysewf. But even when we can cast it we wouwd need two oder unicowns jus' as powewfuw as Stawwight and Sunbuwst. But is dat wowth da wisk? We couwd jus' end up back at square one. Who knows whewe we'd be. We could end up sepawated or wowse we couwd bot' be-be-."
Applejack placed a hoof on the foal's head attempting to calm her down.
Twilight felt her eyes start to water, her foal mind not being able to handle the strong surge of emotions she was experiencing. Her adult consciousness trying to find some logic in the situation was the only thing holding her back from completely breaking down.
"Just breathe in and out like-" Applejack started, realizing she was just about to mention Cadance and knowing she it was far from ideal to bring her up at this moment, she changed the next part of her statement, "like you always do."
Twilight sniffled and a shiver showed just how much she was trying to hold back tears, "I-I'm not dat obwivious I-I know you wewe going to say wike Cadance towd me to."
"S-sorry Ah didn't mean to rub salt in yer wounds."
"I-it's fine Abbajack I'ww deaw wit' it. Dere's onwy one ting we can do." Twilight replied, "No matter how painful it's going to be.", the alicorn thought before looking up a very noticeable pain in her eyes.
"T-Twilight?" the orange mare asked with an equally strong concern
"W-we need to pwevent anyting wowse fwom h-happening." Twilight looked up at the mare, "S-so dere's onwy one way to do dat."
"And that's......?"
[Later]
Twilight stared into the fireplace, the wood stacked with the spell alongside to act as kindling.
Applejack paused, "Are ya sure ya want to do this? Ya said there's no turning back without the spell."
Twilight nervously nodded, "It's going to be next to impossible to have even a close semblance of our old lives back and too it's risky to try."
Applejack nodded in understanding before she lit a match and carefully threw it into the pile in the hearth, then carefully walking back to the foal, sitting a few feet from the slowly growing fire.
Twilight watched as the spell darkened as the paper burned, up as the fire grew larger. Soon the parchment was completely black. It quickly disappeared into the blaze.
That was that. The spell was destroyed no chance of being repaired and recast.
"So that's it then?" Applejack asked.
Twilight nodded keeping her eyes closed knowing full well what her decision really meant. Reality would be forever changed. She would always be Applejack's daughter. She'd have to live her life as Twilight Sparkle Apple. Now the question was how should she feel about it? Could she really make the emotions of her foal mind her own? Could they be a real mother and daughter?
> Unbelievable Truth
After their little fire, Twilight and Applejack grew tired; once Applejack extinguished what was left of the blaze, the pair prepared to pack it in for the night, their decision to incinerate the spell still weighing heavily on their minds.
Twilight knew what destroying the spell would mean; without it, even if they found ponies with strong enough magic, they would need the physical spell to cast it. Their new reality was now permanent.
Applejack covered the alicorn in a blanket, "So are ya sure that was a good idea?"
Twilight sighed, "Dat stawwion dat cweated it twied at weast seven times and it wooks wike he paid a big pwice for it. So it's too wisky to twy we couwd nevew get ouw owd wives back so this wiww be ouw new weality."
"So what are we're goin' to do now? We said we'd focus on finding a way back. But now that we can't go back, what should we do?" Applejack questioned.
Twilight sighed, fighting with her foal body, trying to fall asleep, "We can onwy do one ting. Wive our new wives. Twy and wive as-" the alicorn tried but ended her statement prematurely, unable to stay awake.
Applejack closed her eyes. She knew what Twilight was about to say, "Live as a family."
After walking over to her bed, the earth pony thought about everything that had happened since they had woken up in this reality. Hearing of Starlight and Sunburst's fate, about Twilight's 'new' father, and seeing her parents alive and well. It was all overwhelming to say the least.
With that thought, Applejack remembered what she'd told her mother, that she would tell the truth about why she'd been acting so weirdly. This week, she had a few days to decide what to tell and how to say to it. With that idea plaguing her mind, the mare lay twisting and turning and somehow managed to fall asleep after about half an hour.
Through the night, Applejack drifted into yet another dream or memory of this reality. This time, it was a slightly familiar memory, except for Twilight being a foal. The night Nightmare Moon was defeated.
..........
Applejack and her friends ran up to the room after hearing the loud crash.
The group heard Nightmare Moon cackle from within the massive hall. "So you thought you could use the Elements against me?"
The five mares sped up after hearing the voice echo through the staircase. Applejack especially. After Nightmare Moon had kidnapped Twilight for an 'Heir,' she was dead set on rescuing her.
"And I assume you also came for the foal?" Nightmare Moon mockingly questioned.
After hearing that one question, Applejack immediately rushed up the stone stairs, outrunning her friends easily. The other mares attempted to catch up to their friend but found it hard, Rainbow Dash needed to take flight up the stairs to keep up with the orange mare.
Beating the other four, Applejack stood in the doorway, finding two mares in the room. One was Nightmare Moon, and the mare they left to let her concentrate on 'sparking'' the Elements, Minuette.
Nightmare Moon looked up, seeing the earth pony in the doorway, her face completely consumed with rage more than the alicorn had seen.
With a glare that could make a dragon shiver, Applejack said, "Give me mah baby back, NOW!"
Before the orange mare could so much as move a hoof a single inch, she found herself being held back by Rarity, "Don't do anything rash, Darling."
Despite staying put, the earth pony, with the same fury, asked, "Where is she?"
Nightmare Moon scoffed in response. Suddenly, with a flash, an old carrier appeared beside the Alicorn. Inside, on a rugged cushion, sat a confused and fearful foal. "I find it quite surprising a foal could have such powerful magic. Especially being the offspring of an earth pony."
Applejack could only growl her rage, bubbling more by the second.
"A foal like her should be with a family who can bring that magic potential to its peak. With the Elements destroyed, you impudent foals can't do anything. The night shall last for eternity!" The alicorn explained, opening her wings in a show of strength.
Applejack growled while the others all held solemn faces of defeat. The room was left in complete silence.
Suddenly, a voice shattered the silence, "The Elements weren't destroyed."
Every eye in the room turned to the voice's owner, Minuette.
"Because the spirits of the Elements are right here!"
Almost on cue, the shards of the sealed Elements began to glow as they surrounded Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity and Applejack.
"Applejack, who assured me in a moment of doubt. Represents the Element of Honesty!"
"Fluttershy, who tamed a manticore with care and companion, represents the Spirit of Kindness!"
"Rarity for calming a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift represents Generosity!"
"Pinkie Pie, by banishing fear with smiles and laughter, represents the Element of Laughter!"
"and Rainbow Dash, who wouldn't betray her friends for her own desires, represents the Spirit of Loyalty."
Seeing that the mare was correct that the elements weren't destroyed, Nightmare Moon angrily replied, "This means nothing. You do not have the sixth Element. Your spark didn't work!"
Minuette shook her head, "It did work. But it wasn't from magic. I felt it when I heard you coming and realized how happy I was to hear your voices. How much I cared for you. I felt something ignite in me, and then I realized that you all are my friends."
With that proclamation, a sixth stone appeared enveloped in bright light above the group, "You see Nightmare Moon when the five Elements are united with the spark that resides in all our hearts. It awakens the sixth Element. The element of... Magic!"
The five previous Elements began forming into crystals attached to necklaces around the five mares necks. The last Element formed into a crown, but instead of going to Minuette, it swiftly moved away from the group.
Nightmare Moon cackled, "Hah, The Element of Magic has rejected you. It has-" interrupting her monologue, the alicorn found that the Element had appeared on the young unicorn foal's head. "WHAT?!"
..........
"Abbajack!"
Applejack's eyes shot open, interrupting her dream, when she heard Twilight calling for her. It took a few seconds for the mare to get her bearings after being woken up so suddenly. "Wh-what is it, Twi?"
Twilight, leaning against the crib's bars, responded, pointing at the door. "I tink I heaw somepony in da castwe."
The orange earth pony kept quiet, listening closely to see if she could hear anything. After a few seconds, she heard the soft sound of hoofsteps down the hall. Taking her attention away from the door, Applejack looked out the window only to see it was still dark outside. "Who would even be here at this time?"
Twilight turned to the earth pony. "I don' know. Da onwy pony we know wouwd be Wuna."
To be safe, Applejack, quickly and quietly as possible, took Twilight out of the crib, knowing if the pony was a danger, she was the only one who could protect her. But it was more than just wanting to protect a friend; a feeling deep inside her told her she needed to protect Twilight at all costs.
After the time they'd been here, Applejack realized just what that feeling was: a maternal instinct to protect her foal.
Eventually, the hooves reached the room door, making Applejack instinctually tense up. Only to be loosened when the pony knocked on the door and spoke, "Apologies for the sudden, late intrusion, Applejack, but I have an urgent matter to discuss."
The two immediately recognized the voice of the mystery guest. It was Princess Luna. With her guard down, the farm pony opened the door, revealing the dark blue alicorn.
"Oh! Wh-what is it exactly? Yer highness," Applejack pressed, keeping up her 'blend in' act and legitimate curiosity about what would bring the Princess here so late.
Luna cleared her throat, "These past few days, I've noticed an unusual change in both your and your daughter's dreams."
Now a little nervous, the earth pony pressed further, "Really? What is it?"
The dark blue mare continued explaining just what the change was, "Well, all of your dreams seem to be based on memories. Your daughter has also had the same unusual change, but they've become far more 'nuanced' than a foal would normally have. Every other foal her age has very simple dreams about their favourite toys, sugary sweets and loud sounds, but she's been dreaming similarly to a school-age foal or adult."
Attempting to feign ignorance, Applejack responded, "Th-that is pretty strange. Ah knew Twilight was special, but that's beyond what Ah'd ever imagined."
In a serious tone, Luna responded to the earth pony's statement, "Applejack, I don't believe you're being completely honest with me. Which as the Element of Honesty, I find especially insulting."
Applejack froze. While many ponies had been skeptical of how she was acting, Luna was the first to come out and say it so bluntly. The orange mare, unsure of how to properly respond to the Princess's last statement, only managed to stutter, "Wh-What?"
"I've also noticed you've been waking up around the same time. Much more in the past few days alone than you have in the past months." Luna elaborated further.
As this was occuring, Twilight had been absorbing everything the two mares were saying and internally cursed that she could not say anything for or against Luna's assertions.
"There has to be something we can do."
After a few minutes that felt like hours, the only conclusion she could come to was inevitable. They had to tell their friends and family the truth eventually, and now they might have a chance to be able to share the secret with someone. Luna already believed something was amiss, not just with Applejack but with her. This chance may be the perfect opportunity.
Feeling completely cornered, Applejack replied to the older mare's probing, "Ah, don't know how to explain it."
Twilight growled ever so slightly, realizing a slight flaw in her plan. That was the problem with the spell being destroyed. There was no evidence to show without the spell and there was her inability to communicate with anyone but Applejack. How could they explain it? Her mind thought as hard as it could, but after the adrenaline rush of not knowing who was in the castle wore off, she soon got tired, letting out a soft, squeaky yawn. "I need to stay awake to help Applejack somehow. If I fall asleep now then....wait asleep, maybe I could help that way."
"Perhaps you should put her back to sleep and then try to explain," Luna suggested. "Let's meet in the throne room so your daughter can rest undisturbed."
"O-ok." Applejack nervously responded as the princess left the room, carefully walking over to the crib. As she sat the foal down, she anxiously whispered, "Wish me luck, Ah guess."
Twilight bumbled out as the earth pony set her down, "Wait. I hade a pwan."
Applejack, curious what the alicorn had thought out, pressed for information, "Ok, can Ah help somehow?"
Twilight nodded. "One ting teww Pwincess Wuna to entew my dweams. If I can contwow my dweam wong enough, I couwd show hew my memowies of ouw owd weawity. If we can't be suwe she'd bewieve us fwom tewwing hew it's ouw bes' option."
"That.......sounds like a good idea," Applejack replied.
"If it wowks." The alicorn said, not too confidently.
"Ah'm sure it will." the orange mare assured. "Maybe thinkin' about something we did in our old lives."
Twilight thought. "That could work. Just think about at least one memory. But which one would help our case the best.......Wait, I know!"
Despite the alicorn not saying anything, Applejack knew from the face she made that she had an idea of what memory she would try to show in her dream.
"Good luck Sugarcube." The mare softly spoke, covering the foal as it had done earlier who quickly drifted off to sleep.
Quietly leaving the room, she didn't see Luna anywhere, immediately assuming the princess had already gone ahead to the throne room. While making her way to the room, her mind was plagued with thoughts of how she would convince Luna to enter Twilight's dreams. But that wasn't the only thing she couldn't stop thinking about, there was also what Twilight said.
Since they couldn't go back to their old lives, the only thing they could do was 'live as a family.' Could they do that? She had felt new feelings towards Twilight, but were they completely from her 'memories' of the new reality? She loved Twilight as her friend, but was it growing? Was it becoming maternal?
"Think about that later!" She lightly scolded herself, shaking her head. Looking up, she found the large door to the Throne Room. After taking a deep breath, Applejack entered, meeting the eyes of the Night Princess, "Sorry that took so long. Twilight was bein' a little fussy."
Luna nodded. "Well, now that you've taken care of that we can continue. Now, try your best to explain what's been happening with you and your daughter."
Applejack sighed, sitting down on her throne, "Like Ah said, it's hard to explain. Ah've just heard her after she wakes up, try to calm her down and get her back into bed. Ah, don't know how else to explain what's happenin'."
"Are you sure?" Luna replied, her skepticism growing stronger with the word, easily seeing through Applejack's lies.
The earth pony glanced slightly away from the older mare. "OK. Ah-Ah'm not bein' completely honest. But Ah'll be honest right now if ya want an explanation, go into Twilight's dream. She's havin' right now."
While still skeptical, Luna was curiously pressed, "How would her dream tell me anything?"
"Just try, and ya might see," Applejack exclaimed, making direct eye contact this time.
The alicorn was suddenly taken back, and the younger mare's hesitance was suddenly replaced with confidence in just that one statement. She debated whether or not entering the foal's dream was necessary, but Applejack seemed incredibly insistent.
After a few seconds of thought, she responded, "Very well. I'll take your word that your daughter's dream will provide an answer."
Applejack nodded. "Thank you," she replied while internally sighing in relief that her part in Twilight's plan was done; hopefully, she could do her half.
Luna lit her horn while closing her eyes, preparing to enter the foal's dream for this explanation.
..........
After opening her eyes and arriving in the 'Dream Realm,' the alicorn quickly found the dream she was looking for. Like the other dreams the foal had recently, it seemed to be a memory of the past, one she recognized, her first Nightmare Night. One difference was immediately noticeable: the presence of a unicorn mare.
She didn't realize it at first, but only after a few seconds did the mare's identity become undeniable: an adult-age Twilight Sparkle.
As the dream played out, one thought occurred to her: a stunning absence of her sister's student, Minuette. But the adult Twilight Sparkle seemed to take her place.
"Princess Luna! Hi, my name is-"
"Star Swirl The Bearded. Commendable costume. Thou even got the bells right."
"Thank you! Finally! Somepony who gets my costume! Uh, I just came to welcome you to our celebration! My actual name is-"
"Twilight Sparkle. IT WAS THOU WHO UNLEASHED THE POWERS OF HARMONY UPON US AND TOOK AWAY OUR DARK POWERS!"
While the dream continued, Luna pondered how and why this dream was so different despite seemingly being a memory. The events were completely different from her own recollection. This conversation was between her and her sister's student.
As the two conversing mares began to leave, Luna chose to intervene.
Twilight stopped halfway up the bridge and turned around as the real Luna landed.
"Twilight?" Luna pressed.
The unicorn smiled, "I knew if I could control my dream long enough, I could show you." she happily chirped, "At least I can talk normally in a dream."
"Show me what exactly?"
Twilight sighed, "My different memories. Because there's no way you'd believe what we'd have to say."
Luna tried to respond, but her mind couldn't react correctly to the statement she had just been told.
"I know this will be hard to believe. But we aren't the Twilight and Applejack, you know. We're from a different reality." Twilight explained with the most serious tone and expression she could muster.
Luna's jaw dropped. The statement was ludicrous, but the look in the younger pony's eyes told her the seriousness of her claim. "You're serious?"
"Yes. We've been keeping it a secret these past few days until we could find some way to get our old lives back. But unfortunately, we couldn't; we checked the spell that caused the change, but only found a note left by its creator, and it only made going back more hopeless." Twilight explained in a saddened tone. "So even knowing there was no way back without it, we destroyed the spell."
Pressing for information, the alicorn questioned, "How long ago was that?"
Twilight admitted, "Just hours ago now. We chose to stay in this reality despite how painful it may be. Everything we lost would be lost forever."
Luna, somewhat convinced, nodded lightly, pressing further, "What things did you lose from your old lives?"
"Things we earned. I still became an alicorn and a princess in this reality. But because I was made a foal again, I was never Princess Celestia's student; we lost two friends who died young in this reality, and I lost my original family. Applejack, I don't know if she's lost anything personally." Twilight explained, sounding somber at recalling the loss of her family.
"I see." Luna responded, perplexed, when the meaning of the unicorn's words hit her, "Wait! You were once my sister's student, and Applejack was not always your mother?"
Twilight nodded, "Yes. Our lives were completely different. We- Ah!" The unicorn cringed.
Luna, concerned, looked around, ripples filling the air around them, "The dream is ending?"
Twilight, straining herself, replied, "I-I'm losing control of it."
"Try to regain it."
Twilight shook, trying to do so, "I-I can't!"
..........
Luna's eyes shot open; she was still in the dream realm. Twilight's dream had disappeared, and she'd woken up. Hopefully, she could get some answers from Applejack about whether what she just heard was true.
After returning to the waking world, the dark blue alicorn found Applejack was absent from the throne room. There was only one room she could conceivably be in.
Meanwhile
Twilight whimpered, holding her head.
Holding the foal, Applejack attempted to comfort her while asking, "Did it work?"
"Fow a wittwe bit. I at weast towd hew sometings about ouw owd weawity." Twilight explained her slight headache was subsiding. "She wiww pwobabwy ask you about it now."
"Yer right."
Unfortunately, she had no time to prepare to hear the alicorn's voice greet her, "I assumed you would be here. I must say your..... daughter's dream wasn't what I expected."
"She told me everythin' that happened in her dean. Ah, guess ya know we ain't the two, ya know."
Luna nodded, "So what she said was true? You're both from a different reality."
"Y-Yeah. What did she tell ya about it?"
"A few things. She ascended to an alicorn in your old reality as well. But the differences are what shocked me. That she was my sister's student and that she was not your daughter. Is that really true?" The older mare pressed.
"Yeah, it is. Before, we were both adults around the same age and we were just friends."
Still shocked, Luna, placing a hoof on her temple, questioned, "How did this happen?"
Applejack closed her eyes for a moment before going on to explain. How she and Twilight met that day, how the spell was performed and when they woke to find how their lives had changed and everything they'd learned up to that point. From the castle's location change to her relationship with Moonstone and how their two friends had lost their lives in this reality.
"And here we are." The orange mare finished.
Luna closed her eyes in thought. The only sound she made was a perplexed hum. The younger mare's story was far-fetched, yet the dream Twilight had shown her was undeniable.
Twilight whispered, "Do you tink she bewieves us?"
"Ah, don't know," Applejack replied in the same hushed tone. "But Ah sure hope so."
Luna responded, "I believe you."
Twilight and Applejack gasped, "Wait, did you understand her?" The earth pony questioned.
"No, but I overheard your response, so I figured that was what she asked you," Luna replied, looking out the window. "Yet, I'm surprised beyond words that this situation is not just possible but has actually happened. though, my shock must be a pittance compared to yours. Your lives have been completely upended, and only you two remember it. Twilight lost her family, and you were thrust into the responsibility of being a mother."
Applejack looked down at the foal in her hooves, "Yeah, it was a strange feelin' fer both of us. We always cared about each other, but it's felt stronger ever since then. Ah've felt as protective of her as Ah was with Apple Bloom."
Twilight thought for a moment she'd also felt different about Applejack and the other Apple Family members, including Pear Butter, who she never met before the reality change. The tenor of Applejack's voice seemed softer and more homey than before. A feeling she only felt with three ponies before her original family.
Luna looked down at the foal cradled in the earth pony's hooves. Lifting her head, the purple alicorn met the night princess's eyes. "I realized you were in thought. I assume you as well bear the same conflicted emotions."
Twilight wordlessly nodded in response to the older alicorn's assertion. "I just wish I could still talk to anypony else but Applejack or other foals if Pound and Pumpkin are anything to go by."
The alicorn, speaking to both of the younger ponies, asked, "Given those conflicted emotions. Do you believe the two of you will be able to live as a mother and daughter? I'd imagine viewing each other so differently would be difficult."
Twilight looked up at the earth pony, who looked down to meet her glance. Keeping eye contact for a few seconds before both avert their glances away from each other. Twilight just began staring out the window, allowing her thoughts to drift from one to another.
Applejack's gaze fell upon the collection of photos. Her eyes circled over the many different faces, the surreal feeling of remembering taking the pictures in her reality but not this one. The thought about how different the parties could have gone with the presence of her parents and the absence of Starlight and Sunburst
"Can we really be a real family? A real mother and daughter?" Twilight pondered to herself continuing to look out the window before joining Applejack in running her eyes over the photos on the nightstand. Her eyes mainly focused on the pictures of her with the Apple Family. Pictures of her with Applejack, Pear Butter and Apple Bloom specifically caught her attention. She was smiling so brightly in each of them, typical for foals to do with ponies in their family or just ponies they knew well.
Applejack spoke up after her long silence, turning to the older mare, "Yeah, it's gonna be hard. But hey, we have a lifetime to try and see if we can now."
"I suppose so." Luna simply replied with a nod, "I believe I should take my leave. I have to return to my duty of watching over the dream realm."
Twilight shot her gaze back towards Luna before she could leave, "Wait we hav' somting ewse to ask!"
Despite not understanding the foal's statement, the nocturnal Princess returned her attention to the two younger ponies, "Was that babbling call for me?"
Applejack paused briefly. What else could Luna do for them? "What else do we need Twi? Ya said it was our opportunity to tell somepony, and we told someone."
The foal nodded before explaining her reason for the interruption, "Weww, we'we goin' to teww youw famiwy soown. So maybe hawving somepony wike Wuna with us couwd hewp dem bewieve us."
Applejack nodded before speaking up, "We...have something else to ask you."
"What do you need?" Luna asked, curious to the request.
Applejack sighed slightly, "Well, Ah told my Ma that Ah'd tell her why Ah've been actin' strange sometime this week. Ah have a few days to get what Ah want to say together. But Twilight suggested that you could help us explain."
Luna paused to mull over what the earth pony had suggested, asking, "You believe that if they hear my own experience in Twilight's dream, they may believe that you're indeed from a different reality."
Applejack nodded, followed by Twilight, who tried repositioning herself in Applejack's hooves while she did. The older pony clarified, "It would be a big help. Can ya come back to Ponyville tomorrow or the day after?"
Luna paused again to consider the younger mare's request, unsure if she could convince the mare's family. When she remembered who she was speaking with, "Yes, I should be able to make time to meet with you and whoever you wish to be present tomorrow around 2 PM or whenever you wish to have the conversation."
Applejack gave a slight sigh of relief, "Thank you. Ah'd prefer to have a day to think about what Ah'm gonna say to mah family about this."
"Very well. Although Applejack, given your reputation, I'm sure you will have a little issue getting your family to believe you. And perhaps Twilight could assist in the conversation as well."
The orange earth pony replied, "Ah, don't know about that. Ah've been the only one who's been able to understand her, everypony else only hears her like a regular foal."
Luna nodded in understanding. "Yes, I can certainly see the issue. However, while they might not be able to understand her, she has proven throughout our conversation she is fully capable of understanding our speech, so she could still prove that she's not the same Twilight they remember by signifying that she's able to understand them like any adult or foal fully."
Twilight pondered the older alicorn's words, "Maybe Luna's right, when we talk to Grandm.... I mean Pear Butter and the rest of Applejack's family, and our friends." After thinking for a moment, Twilight attempted to get Applejack's attention, lightly tapping the mare's chest. "Abbajack? I want twy tat at weast. It's wowth a shot."
"Ah, guess yer right." Applejack said with a sigh and a smile.
Twilight smiled back before she let out a quiet yawn; before she could even say anything, Applejack mirrored her 'daughter's' yawn.
Luna chuckled slightly, covering her mouth with her forehoof as she did, "Well, I'll take my leave and allow you two to rest for tomorrow. I must return to my duties as the Princess of the Night."
Applejack recovering from her yawn, feeling her eyes start to grow heavy again, "Yeah... we had a rough day, and we're gonna be busy fer the next few days."
The dark blue alicorn nodded in understanding before she left to resume her nightly routine, observing the dream of ponies across Equestria. With their conversation with Luna over and done with Applejack, Twilight went back to sleep; luckily, they both had a restful rest of their night. That conversation gave them some comfort that they could be able to reveal their secret about reality changing. |
AMONG THE TROTTING DEAD | pre | Hearing the door to her room open, she looked over her shoulder and saw her brother stepping up to his bed. "I thought you were going to keep watch?"
Shining looked over at his sister. "No, the storm's brutal and besides, I can't see hardly anything. The dead or the living will have a hard time finding this place in the rain." He sat on his bed a gave a long sigh.
"You alight?"
"Yeah," He smiled. "It's just a weight lifted off my shoulders."
"Really?" Twilight smiled at her brother.
He laughed at her expression. "I'm glad you're alive."
"I'm glad you are too." She looked at the window once more. "Do you know what happened to our parents?" She rubbed her shoulder. "And your wife?"
Shining sighed as he laid down. "Mom and dad are in Canterlot. They left a few days after you were admitted into the hospital." He stared at the ceiling. "Quickly after that reports of sick ponies attacking others made the rounds on the radio and in papers. Cadence stayed in Canterlot with them, she had to in order to help Celestia and Luna with the crisis." He put his hooves behind his head. "Princess Celestia ordered me to stay here and protect you and the town with a small detachment of my royal guards and an army platoon." He frowned. "Then it went to shit."
Twilight looked at her brother with heavy eyes. "Have you heard from them since?" She looked at Spike. "Did Spike receive any messages?"
"A couple... But they stopped recently." He looked at her. "That's why we are going to Canterlot."
Twilight felt a chill run up her spine. "We as in all of us or just us?"
"Just us since most of the group wants to stay here." Shining studied the look his sister was giving him. "What?"
"Do you think Canterlot is even safe?" Twilight looked out the window. "All of this should've been taken care of by now."
Shining's eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?"
Twilight remembered the conversations she had with Thunderlane back at the safe house. "I... I don't think the princesses or even the government is going to fix this anytime soon."
Shining frowned at his sister and gave an irritated huff as he rolled over. "You don't know that."
"But...."
"But nothing!" Shining huffed as he pulled the chain to the lamp above their heads with his magic. "Now go to sleep! You had a long day."
-One Hour Later-
Twilight stared at her room's ceiling. Her brothers' snoring filled her ears as she thought about the events of the past two days. Hearing the distinctive roar of thunder, her thoughts drifted to Celestia and Luna. Were they really dead? Did the country of Equestria fall? What about the other countries. Was it's truly that bad? 'Look at what you saw...' She swallowed a lump in her throat. 'Could it?'
She let out a frustrated moan and rolled over and looked out the window. Staring into the pitch black she strained her eyes until the hazy silhouette of the Everfree forest came into focus. 'Are you at Zecora's?' She asked herself as her mind drifted to Fluttershy. 'Then why didn't you two come to the farm?' Her answer to her question was the sounds of rain, wind, and the snoring of her brothers. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh as her mind slowly drifted off to sleep.
The morning air was thick with fog causing the sun above to struggle to break through. What light made it to the surface was subtle and eerier. The temperature outside was cold yet humid making any pony's fur stand on end if they ventured outside.
The ponies of the orchard congregated in the farmhouse's living room and kitchen. Some were sipping cups of coffee or freshly squeezed apple juice. Others ate toast with jam or apple slices covered in cinnamon sugar.
Thunderlane and Rainbow Dash stared out the window by the front door. They eyed the dense fog as it rolled through the grove of apple trees. "Looks like we'll not be doing too many outdoor activities today." Scootaloo flatly stated as she joined them along with Rumble.
Rainbow Dash studied the filly, watching the feathers on her small wings fluff up. "Looks like it." She looked out the window once more. "This fog is thick. I've never seen anything like it!"
"Well, at least we'll be able to still work in the barn." Willy said as he sat by the fire.
Macintosh looked at the fog with a stern glare. "Let's stay close to the farmhouse and the barn." He looked at the ponies. "Just in case any trotters happen to wander up to the orchard. It will be harder to spot them in this fog."
The group agreed with the stallion's command and gave him a nod before going back to their morning meanderings.
Twilight who sat at the kitchen table near the window, a large cup of coffee floating mindlessly in front of her lips. She sipped her coffee slowly as she looked through the window on her left. She watched the fog roll over the hills, through the apple trees, and through the thick mass of trees of the Everfree. Her mind mulled over countless thoughts that plagued her.
Thoughts of Fluttershy worked their way to the forefront. She sipped her coffee once more and narrowed her eyes at the Everfree. 'Them blasted trotters are all over the Everfree' Macintosh's words entered her mind. "The hell with it..."
Applejack who sat across from her looked at the unicorn with a raised brow. "What was that, sugar cube?"
Twilight looked at her friend. "Applejack?" She sipped her coffee. "Shining?" She asked not looking at her brother who sat next to her.
"Yeah, Twilly?"
"I'm going to search for Fluttershy in the Everfree forest." She kept her eyes on the forest. "I want a small group to go with me." Her brother was going to protest, but she raised a hoof to silence him. "I know it's dangerous, that's why I want to keep the group small, in and out as fast as we can." She looked at him. "I just want to know, why, if Zecora is fine, why didn't she come to the farm..." |
AMONG THE TROTTING DEAD | Part 1: Chapter 3 - Into the Forest My Dear Friends | -Next Day-
Twilight, Shining, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Marley stood by the gate to Sweet Apple Acres. Several feet in front of them was the imposing stature of the Everfree forest. The dense thicket towered over them, casting the nearby landscape in shadow. Shivers danced across Twilight's back as she stared at the forest's endless abyss. Never removing her gaze, she strapped her saddlebag tight to her body. 'Maybe this might be a bad idea...' She swallowed a lump. 'But this is for Fluttershy...'
"Are you sure about this?" Twilight looked over at her brother.
"Yes, I am." Twilight raised a brow. "Are you?"
Shining frowned. "No." He looked at his hoof-lever rifle. "It's too dangerous."
"So is traveling to Canterlot." Twilight quipped.
"Hey, we don't need this sibling bickering now!" Applejack stated. "Let's get in and get out!"
"I agree with the fisty country pony," Marley stated with a laugh as he pumped his shotgun.
Shining let out a sigh as he walked up to his saddlebag. Twilight let out a sigh as she looked down at the ground. Applejack sighed as she placed a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "I take it Shining mentioned going to Canterlot?"
"Yeah." Twilight ran her hoof across the grass.
Applejack looked at Twilight's brother who stood beside Marley. "He mentioned going to Canterlot, but since you were trapped in the hospital, he stayed and when you didn't come back, he let it go."
"Looks like he brought it up since I'm back in the fold." Twilight sighed as he twirled her axe.
Applejack nodded her acknowledgment of her friend's statement as she watched her play with the axe. "Worried you'll have to use it?"
"Um..." She stared at the sharp edge of the axe. "Yes... I know they're sick... Maybe fully gone. It just feels wrong that we have to think like this." She held the axe in her hooves.
"I feel the same way. They were once ponies who had a life before they became sick." Applejack looked at the knife strapped to her left foreleg. "Now all they care about is killing other ponies."
"How... How do you kill them?" Twilight felt sick at her own question.
Applejack frowned. "You have to go for the head.... Several good whacks to the side or the back of the head." She struggled to say.
"It's a messy job, but it has to be done," Marley stated with a huff. "You get bit, you get sick and..." He growled as he pumped his shotgun. "You become one of them." Shining stared at his sister. He could see the shock and fear behind her stern expression. Chewing his cheek, he threw on his saddle bag.
"Are we ready?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Ready." Applejack stated. "How's everypony? Do they know the game plan?"
"Yeah, they're staying within the farmhouse and or the barn until we get back." Rainbow Dash strapped her saddle bag on her back. "Let's get going! In and out in twenty seconds flat!" She laughed. The group nodded as they followed after her.
Entering the Everfree, the group unholstered their weapons as they slowly trekked through the forest. The trees above created a dense blanket of leaves, branches, and vines so thick, that sun's light could barely cast its glow upon the forest floor. It didn't help that the dense fog that swept over the land added to the darkness. "Why does your friend live in this forest?" Marley eyed the unnatural twisting trees.
"She likes the strange and unknowns." Twilight kept her eyes on the dark patches through the fog.
"Now I know why the ponies of Ponyville never venture much into this place." Marley huffed as he bit down on his shotgun's trigger mouth peace. "Well except for your friend." He said through clenched teeth.
Twilight nodded and looked up at Rainbow Dash flying above them through the branches.
Landing on a girthy branch, Rainbow Dash squinted her eyes, focusing on the forest floor's chaotic horizon. Not seeing much to her left, she looked to the right and saw a group of trotters stumbling about. A chill ran up her spine as she noticed that one of them was a small filly. Swallowing a lump, she looked over her shoulders at the ponies below and lifted a hoof.
Seeing her gesture, the group stopped their climb up the small hill. "What is it?" Shining whispered.
Rainbow Dash lifted her front hooves and moved them in a trotting motion. The group nodded and slowly peeked over the hill and looked down at the trotters failing to move around a mass of protruding roots from a large tree.
"Six trotters." Marley huffed.
"We can take them." Applejack looked at Twilight, "You think you can handle yourself?"
"Yes... Of course."
"You sure?" Her brother asked.
"Yes, I am."
"Then let's get to it!" Marley growled as he slid down the hill.
The group followed after and brought up their weapons as they neared the trotters. The trotter sensing their presence turned to face them. Without hesitation, Marley sat on his hindquarters and raised his crossbow into the air and shot off a bolt that sunk itself into one of the trotters' skulls.
Applejack made quick work of one of the trotters by kicking out its front forelegs and quickly turning around stabbing it in the head with the fifteen-inch knife strapped to her foreleg. Rainbow Dash landed on a trotter and stabbed it in the back of the head with the knife strapped to her right hoof. Shining activated his magic and tossed his large twelve-inch knife at the trotter's head which brought it to its knees.
Twilight lifted her axe over her head and struck one of the trotters on the top of its head. The axe however got stuck. Twilight struggled with the axe, her magic began to fade and a headache started to form. Another trotter to her right slowly stumbled over to her. The trotter's horn sparked as it snarled. She could feel its magic gently kissing her. 'It's trying to use magic....' Before the trotter could sink its teeth in her neck, Rainbow Dash stabbed the trotter in the head.
The trotter fell hard to the ground. "You alright?"
"Yeah..." Twilight grunted as she yanked the axe from the trotter's skull. The trotter flopped to the ground.
Hearing an unnatural hiss, the group looked over at the filly trotter. Her hooves failed at propelling her forward. With a frown, Marley took out his machete and stabbed the filly in the side of the head. The filly gave one final growl before crumbling to the ground.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack stared at the filly's lifeless corpse lying in the mud. Her pain-filled eyes stared back at them. They looked away; tears formed around their eyes as they thought about two little fillies similar in age.
For Twilight, the filly brought back memories of the teen colt trotter stuck under the putter wagon. 'How many children turned?' She thought. Shuttering, she stepped away from the filly and back onto the trail. The group followed after her.
Macintosh sat on the porch watching the fog roll across his orchard. He slowly sipped his coffee as his eyes strained to see the horizon. Letting out a sigh, he looked over at the barn and saw the kids playing tag around the barn. Sunny, Summer Wind, Thunderlane, Derpy, and Rarity kept their eyes on them as they talked amongst themselves.
Macintosh gave a smile as he looked into the house through the screen door. He saw Jet Cloud and Copper playing a game of cards by the fireplace. His grandmother slept in a rocking chair by the archway to the kitchen. Aloe and Lotus sat on the couch as they crocheted scarves. In the kitchen, he saw Carrot Top cooking a stew for lunch.
Feeling someone was watching her, Carrot Top looked towards the front door and saw Macintosh looking at her. She smiled and gave him a small wave. He waved at her with a sheepish smile before standing up and walking down the porch's steps. Feeling more eyes on her, Carrot Top looked over at the couch and saw Lotus and Aloe looking at her with shit-eating grins. Carrot Top frowned and turned her attention back to her cooking.
Shaking his jitters, Macintosh made his way to the side of the house. "Soarin?" He looked up at the roof.
Soarin peaked his head over the edge with an upset look on his face. Macintosh laughed at his disheveled appearance. "Yeah?" Soarin asked in a drawn-out sigh.
"Want to switch? I'll take over for now."
The pegasus gave a happy sigh. "Thank Celestia!" He flapped his wings and jumped off the roof, landing next to the stallion. "I need to warm up by wings." Macintosh shook his head as he took the binoculars. Before he could add to his friend's words, a figure in the fog caught his eye. Soarin seeing his expression, turned around and stared at the same hazy outline of the figure. "Who's that?"
"I don't know?" Macintosh replied. The figure stood two hundred yards from the farmhouse. The brown cloke it wore added mystery to the already mysterious figure. "Alert the group."
"And tell them what?"
"That we have a stalker..."
Further into the forest the air was dense. It felt like walking through thick pea soup. The group felt their fur stand on end as the forest's natural sounds echoed all around them. Their bodies shivered as they looked side to side slowly trekking down the trail that led to Zecora's house. The trees that surrounded them were girthy, like monstrous trolls of myth and legend,
Nearing a 'T' section on the dirt trail, Twilight strained her eyes through the dimly lit fog. A flicker of light caught her attention. "I think I found it!"
"Keep your voice down!" Marley huffed.
Twilight glared at the stallion.
"Hey you two, no need for this bickering!" Applejack hissed with a whisper.
"Yea, no bickering," Shining stated dully as he led the group to the house.
Nearing the light, the mound of darkness came into focus. It's a single-story domed-shaped home, built into the side of a large oak tree. Dread fell upon the group as the status of the home revealed itself. The windows were busted up. The roof was partially caved in. The front door hung from one of its hinges and squeaked in the passing breeze. The only welcoming sight was a candle that graced their presence with its warm glow.
"Well, shit, you think your friends are still alive?" Marley asked, looking at Twilight and her friends. Twilight and her friends felt a pain course through their chests as they stepped into the home.
The living room and kitchen floor were caked in mud and broken glass. Burn marks and gashes scarred the walls. Furniture was burned and or broken. Looking further into the home, they could see one of the doors to one of the back rooms was wide open. The bed within was robbed of its sheets and the mattress's cotton stuffing had oozed out onto the floor.
The doors to the other two rooms were closed.
With a defeated sigh, Twilight shut off her flashlight, allowing the dying candlelight to fill the space once more.
Anger rose within Rainbow Dash as she looked around at the decay before her. "Damn it!" She growled, kicking a bottle across the floor with her hoof.
"Looks like it's been abandoned since the outbreak?" Shining stated as he stared at the layers of dust that clung to the bowl of the kitchen sink.
"But what about the candle?" Marley pointed at the object in question.
"It could've been lit by anypony." Shining Armor commented. "Just look at the amount of wax that has melted already. Whoever lit it left long ago."
"But the rains should've killed the flame." Marley looked at the dying flame dance with the soft breeze blowing through the window.
"Well, let's keep a lookout then." Shining sighed, looking out the door.
Applejack sighed as she walked toward the back rooms. She looked into the opened bedroom and gazed at a blood stain on the mattress. "They're not here...." She looked back and saw the hurt in Twilight's eyes. "No..."
"Twilight?" Applejack could see tears forming around Twilight's eyes. "Twilight... I know they're out there. We'll keep looking..." One of the doors squeaked open slightly. The group looked at each other, their spines shivered as they readied themselves. Applejack walked up to the door. "AH!" The door violently swung open, slamming against the wall with a loud thud.
A figure jumped out from the darkness and tackled Applejack to the floor. Turning her attention to her attacker, Applejack saw a zebra mare sitting on her stomach, pinning her hindlegs to the floor with hers. The mare growled as it lifted her right hoof in the air. Applejack stared at the knife tied to her foreleg. With a primal scream, the mare brought the knife down. Thinking fast, Applejack blocked the mare's hoof with hers, halting the knife inches from her neck.
Shining Armor and Twilight activated their horns and quickly grabbed the mare, pinning her to the floor with their magic. The mare panicked at the aural strength overwhelming her limbs. The mare screamed out in fear and anger. Free from her attacker, Applejack hurried away from the zebra and held a hoof to her neck. "Damn..." She checked for a cut but found none.
Rainbow Dash stared at the struggling mare and looked over her disheveled appearance. "It can't be Zecora? Can it?" She slowly walked up to the zebra and moved her tattered oily mane from her eyes. The mare recoiled from her touch and let out a hissing moan. Rainbow Dash felt her chest get heavy as she saw the bruises and scars that adored her body. Her starved form showed her ribs and pelvis. Sitting next to her, Rainbow Dash ran a hoof through her mane. "It's okay Zecora, it's me, Rainbow Dash, do you remember?"
The mare let out a sob as her wild eyes stared at the cyan pegasus hovering over her. "Rainbow?" Her cyan eyes trembled.
Rainbow Dash smiled. "Yes... Do you remember? I'm your friend. I would help you scavenge for roots and berries."
"Berries? Friend?" The mare looked around at the ponies standing around her. "Friends?"
Seeing that Rainbow Dash was making progress, Applejack sat beside her and untied the knife from Zecora's hoof. "Yes, we're your friends, I'm Applejack." She set the knife on the floor. "That's Twilight, Shining Armor, and Marley." She pointed at each pony.
Zecora stared at each pony, her mind going over their names and faces. Blinking she turned her gaze back to Rainbow Dash. "Dash?" She tried to lift her forelegs to lay her hooves on Rainbow Dash's cheeks. But her limbs remained trapped which caused her to panic once more. Not wanting to lose her progress, Rainbow Dash lifted a hoof up in the air, telling Shining and Twilight to kill their magic.
Twilight nodded and deactivated her magic. Her purple aura dissipated, freeing Zecora's arms. Her brother was hesitant to release his hold, but a glare from his sister forced him to kill his magic.
Finally free, Zecora sat up and placed her hooves on Rainbow Dash's cheeks. "Rainbow?" She cried.
Rainbow Dash smiled. "Yes, it's me."
A sob left Zecora as she looked at Applejack. "Applejack?" She turned her attention to Twilight. "Twilight?" She reached out with her hooves as a begging child would. Seeing the fear in her eyes, Twilight sat beside the zebra. Zecora rubbed her cheeks as she repeated their names.
Zecora gave them large smiles but as quickly as she did, a torrent of sobs overwhelmed her. Tears fell from her eyes as a sense of dread took hold. She clutched unto Applejack. Her body shook as he let her emotions take hold.
Feeling her body temperature spike, Applejack took out her canteen and pour the cold water onto the mare's back. "Shhh... You're safe."
"Tell her to keep her voice down!" Marley growled. "She's ringing the damned dinner bell!"
Applejack gave him a scowl. "Really? Clearly, she's been through hell!" She stroked Zecora's back, trying to calm her down. "Cut her some slack!" Marley returned the scowl before turning his attention to the window keeping an eye out for any of the dead within the forest.
Sighing at the two, Twilight looked over at her brother. "My magic is still a little weak to perform any major spells. But I do know of one that will calm her down." She pointed at his horn. "Could I borrow some magic?"
Shining smiled. "Sure." He activated his horn and a ball of blue light formed around his horn's tip. Lowering his head, he touched her horn with his. His aura flowed into her. "Is that enough for your spell?" He looked at her with a cocky smirk.
She rolled her eyes. "Yes, thanks." She activated her horn as she walked up to Zecora. She touched the zebra's forehead with her horn. Zecora's body shivered from the magic coursing throughout her body, her eyes closed and her sobs faded to a simple whimper.
Silence filled the room as Zecora fell into a deep sleep. The group watched her chest rise and fall with each shallow breath she took. "I think this will be the best sleep she'll have in a long time," Applejack commented as she stood up.
Shining picked up Zecora with his magic and placed her on his back. Taking out some rope from his saddlebag, Twilight gently secured her to him. "Is that too tight?"
"No." Shining Armor replied, moving his limbs, checking her work.
"I say let's get going, we don't want to be here when the trotters show up," Marley stated as he headed out of the house.
"Are you sure they heard her?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I don't want to take any chances..."
"EEERRRAAAHHH!"
Ear-piercing screams echoed throughout the forest. The group went numb as they looked out the windows. "What was that?" Twilight asked, her ears swiveling to locate the source of the sound.
"A galloper!" Shining Armor hissed.
"A what?" Twilight felt her chest get heavy.
"A galloper!" Shining Armor shouted, galloping out of the house.
"What makes it different from the trotters I've seen?"
"Imagine a trotter, but it's pissed off!" He looked back at his sister.
"Very, pissed off!" Marley growled, pumping his shotgun.
The group raced through the forest, jumping over roots and ducking under low-hanging branches. Behind them were five gallopers. Their crazed milky-yellow eyes glared at them as they chased after their next meals.
Twilight looked back at the monsters. Their fur was coarse and patchy. Their skin was a pale sickly white. Their teeth were unnaturally yellow and black. Their mouths oozed with infected foam. "EEERRRAAAHHH!" Her ears folded against her skull as the hellish-like sounds they made.
Nearing the edge of the forest on the backside of the orchard, Applejack breathed a sigh of relief. "We are almost home, it's time for a quick escape!"
"Sounds like a plan!" Marley shouted. "Twilight!"
She looked at the stallion. "Yeah?"
"I need you to unzip the left-side pouch of my saddle bag and pull out a thingy that looks like a pipe!" He pointed at the side of his saddlebag with a nod of his head. Twilight didn't press on the why and or the how a pipe would kill all five gallopers. Igniting her horn, she unzipped the pouch and pulled out the pipe. Studying it, she saw it was a twelve-inch aluminum pipe with both ends capped and a red plastic button on one end. "Pretty nifty, isn't it?"
Twilight gave the stallion a perplexed look. "What do you want me to do with it?"
"Glad you asked... Hey Shining, your sis is going to throw her first pipe!" He laughed.
"Save the jokes for later, Marley!" Shining spat!"
"Fine..." He moaned. "So, what I need you to do is press that red button and throw it off into the forest somewhere on your right." Without hesitation, Twilight pressed the button and threw it as hard as her magic allowed her to.
She watched as the pipe bomb disappeared into the brush of the forest. "NOW WHAT?"
"Now we teleport! Shining you know what to do!" Shining nodded and teleported Applejack, Zecora, and himself. Rainbow Dash bolted towards the sky and flew high over the trees out of sight of the gallopers. Marley and Twilight were the only ones left, running for their lives.
"What do we do?" Twilight gave the stallion a harsh glare.
"Teleport us halfway to the farmhouse and I'll push the button on this!" He pulled out a small square cube with an antenna on its top and a button on its face.
Twilight's brow began to perspire. "I don't know if I have enough to get us there... It's only been two days since I woke up in the hospital!" She activated her horn and let out a growl. "DAMN IT!" A bright white light engulfed them.
Marley and Twilight appeared out of a ball of bright white light. Crashing onto the orchard's soft dirt fields. They quickly got up and hid behind an apple tree. Seeing the gallopers exiting the forest, Marley cursed under his breath and ducked behind the tree, pressing the red button on the receiver.
Distant crackling and explosions echoed across the land. The gallopers stopped in their tracks and swiveled their heads toward the source of the noise. Screeching towards the sky, they ran into the forest once more.
Watching them disappear into the forest, Twilight laid her head against the tree and let out a heavy sigh. "Let's never do that again...." Marley laughed as he offered her a hoof.
The children stared at Zecora from the doorway. Sadness washed over them as they studied her thin frame, wondering what happened to her. "Come, children, it's time for bed," Derpy called out. Carrot Top and Sunny stood behind her giving the children soft smiles. The children sighed as they obeyed their elders.
"Did you get a good look at this figure?" Shining Armor asked Macintosh.
"Naw..." He sat down on the floor in the far corner of the room. "Soarin tried to fly over to the figure, but it slipped away into town."
Rarity who sat next to Hooves by Zecora's bedside looked at the stallions. "You think this mysterious figure could be connected to Zecora's condition?"
"I don't know sugar cube?" Applejack sighed, leaning against the wall. "She might struggle to tell us what happened to her." She sat her hat on the nightstand. "Even if she remembers what happened, I doubt she would know this stranger."
Twilight sat at the end of the bed. "Even so, we still need to ask her what happened at least." She ran a hoof through her mane. "Clearly, trotters didn't do this to her."
"If that's true..." Rainbow Dash jumped down from the window's bench. "Then we might have a group of bandits on the loose."
The group bowed their heads in thought. "Looks like the fence is on the top priority." Shining sighed. Macintosh nodded in agreement. "Good thing we didn't leave supplies at Fluttershy's house. And we should stop."
Twilight looked at her brother with a concerned glare but slowly nodded in agreement. "We should, don't want others to know of the orchard."
"But what about Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash huffed.
"If she was still around Ponyville, she would've been here already." Twilight sighed. Rainbow Dash bit her lip as she looked out the window watching the rain crash onto the earth.
"Well sorry for changing the subject, but our friend should be just fine." Hooves picked up his leather bag of mismatched medical supplies. "I placed some cream on her cuts and bruises. "He threw his bag over his back. "Hopefully, they should heal within the week. When it comes to her eating, we should give her small portions until she gets some of her weight back." He headed out of the room. "Oh, I also gave her something to wake her up from her magically induced coma." He gave Twilight a friendly frown before making his way down the stairs.
With a heavy sigh, the group walked over to Zecora's bed.
"I'll wait here until she wakes up," Twilight commented.
"Same, Rarity? Applejack? What say you?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking at the ponies in question.
"Of course, darling, I want to be here to hear her story, if she feels up to it."
A heaviness left Zecora as she took a long breath. Shivers danced through her body as consciousness came back to her. Feeling the warmth of soft sheets consuming her body, her mind began to wander. She felt off like she wasn't supposed to be here. Nervous, she sat up. "Ah..." She hissed, bringing a hoof to her brow.
"Zecora's awake."
Freezing in fear, she cowered under her sheets.
"Did your sleep spell wipe her memory, Twilight?"
"No... It shouldn't've?"
'Twilight?' Zecora thought. Her heart rate slowed to a steady pace as she worked herself up to open her eyes. Slowly she opened them. The candlelight that surrounded her caused her to squint them. She groaned as she allowed them to adjust to the soft yellows and oranges that colored the room.
Four figures that sat around her came into focus. Their soft smiles across their faces brought a sense of calm. Their fur colors were dulled out by the candlelight, but she could make out who was who. A pulsing migraine flowed across her skull. With a tired sigh, she rubbed the back of her head. "Twilight? Applejack? Rarity? Rainbow Dash?" Her eyes bounced from mare to mare. She felt her heart getting heavy. "I wasn't dreaming..." She finally took her eyes off the mares and looked at her room and studied its plain decor.
"How are you feeling?" Applejack asked, patting the mare's left hoof.
Zecora took her friend's hoof in hers and rubbed it. "I feel... okay..." She let go and tried to sit up straight. Rainbow Dash helped her, placing some pillows to brace her back and neck.
"We're just glad we found you when we did." Twilight sighed. "You have a long recovery ahead of you."
Zecora looked down at her chest and saw the slight outline of her ribs under her skin. She shuttered, running a hoof through her mane. A chill ran down her spine as she felt her mane was no longer oily and dusty.
"Derpy and I gave you a bath. I hope you don't mind?" Rarity smiled.
Zecora shook her head. "No... Thank you..." She settled back into the pillows and gave a sigh. "I'm just glad my friends are alive... most of them... Where's Pinkie?"
"Her and the Cakes on her parent's farm." Twilight smiled crossing her forearms and resting them on the bed. Zecora smiled and stared at the patterns of her bed sheet. Though, as the seconds' passed, her smile turned into a frown.
"Zecora... Not to bring up painful memories... But do you know what happened to you? Was Fluttershy with you?" Rainbow Dash asked, her magenta eyes looking into the zebra's soul for answers. Zecora held back the urge to let out a sob. Swallowing the lump that formed in her throat, she curled up and shuttered a sigh. "Zecora?"
"I remember every horrible detail... I remember it all..."
"What happened?" Twilight asked.
Zecora looked at the unicorn. "I found Fluttershy... I saw her trying to save a mother and her child."
"Who was she trying to save?" Rainbow Dash's twitched.
"Love Tap and Button Mash." Zecora sighed. "I helped. Told her the route to your farm wasn't safe. She came with me to my house. She was going to stay there until the madness died down." She looked at Applejack. "Cloud I get some tea?"
After getting her tea, and taking a gentle sip, she continued.
"We thought that night would be alright, but we found out Love Tap was bitten. We took precautions and made sure she was comfortable." She sipped her drink.
"How long did she take to turn?" Twilight asked.
A shiver ran through Zecora as she let out a pathetic laugh. "I don't know?"
"What do you mean?"
Zecora tapped her cup of tea. "The next day, Fluttershy was getting wood for the fireplace after Button Mash and I foraged for some berries and roots, when these ponies attacked us... Five of them. They took Fluttershy and Button Mash. But two of them stayed behind... to... to..." She grinded her teeth as she let out a cry. "They called me a witch! They'd beat me! Raped me!" Zecora hung her head a she stared into her cup.
Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash mulled over her words as they let her deal with her pain in her own way.
"Um?" Rainbow Dash swallowed a lump in her throat. "What happened to your captors?"
Zecora looked at the prism haired pegasus. "Button Mash's mother is what..." sipped her tea. "Fluttershy had locked the door from the inside before she shut it in the morning. Three days in to my.... Punishment." She choked. "One of the stallions forced the door open after hearing a sound." She let out a small giggle. "Love Tap sunk her teeth into him." She laughed at the memory.
Twilight and her friends looked at one another.
"I had to fight off Love Tap... Had to kill her... I killed one of the attackers, but not the one she bit." She cried. "He got away! But the one I got!" Her body shook. "I just kept stabbing him... And... It... It... Felt..."
"Good?' Rarity asked as she sat on the bed, running her hoof through Zecora's mane. She nodded. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight gave each other looks as what Zecora said sunk in. Rarity however just sighed as she placed a hoof under the zebra's chin. "Zecora, do you know where they took them?"
Zecora stared at her tea.
Rainbow Dash felt her mind begin to spin. "Zecora? Do you know where they took her?" She too her hooves in hers. "Please?"
Zecora looked into her cup and stared at her own worn and tired reflection glaring at her. "Before the other attackers left, they mentioned a place called Sanctuary...." |
AMONG THE TROTTING DEAD | Part 1: Chapter 4 - Well... Hello There | Crisp morning air washed into the farmhouse through the opened door. Twilight shivered from the cold breeze of the outside world mixing with the warm dense air within the house. Letting out a held breath, she picked up several cups of hot coffee with her magic and walked into the living room, handing the cup out to the ponies who requested said drink.
Zecora sat by the fire, covered in a large blanket. Derpy sat beside her, feeding her a warm bowl of oatmeal. Zecora's eyes watched the spoon scoop up a fair amount of the meal. Humming a tune, Derpy brought the spoon up to Zecora's lips. Zecora slowly opened her mouth and accepted the meal.
"Shit!"
Rarity and Twilight looked at Applejack with wide eyes. With all the years that they had known her; they had never heard her let off a curse. "What?!"
"I said shit!" Applejack spat. "Why didn't we go to her house sooner?"
Twilight frowned. "We didn't know! You didn't know!" She rubbed her horn, its tip sparking from a small discharge of magic, caused by her frustration. "We can't go blaming ourselves for something we had no control over!"
"We did and we did nothing!" Applejack retorted.
"Darling!" Rarity sighed dramatically. "We don't need another hothead!" She pointed at the kitchen window.
Several yards from the farmhouse, Rainbow Dash was showing an old dying apple tree whose boss. Her hind legs were swift and sound. "FUCK!" Her voice echoed out across the orchard as bits of bark went flying in all directions.
The children watched the irate mare unleash her fury from the comfort of the farmhouse window beside the fireplace. Scootaloo looked at her idol with terrified eyes. With all the years she had known Rainbow Dash, she had never seen her this angry before. For this moment, she feared that she no longer recognized the mare before her.
Hearing Rainbow Dash spew several more colorful expletives, Summer Wind Gently guided the children away from the window towards the backrooms. "Let's go little ones, let's get our minds off of this."
Applejack let out a long sigh. "I know, Rarity..." She winced at Rainbow Dash's primal cries. "Thunderlane?"
Thunderlane stood up and let out a troubled sigh. "I'll calm her down." He left the house, the screen door squealing shut as it closed after him.
Macintosh watched as Thunderlane sat beside Rainbow Dash from the dining table. "I've been thinking," He looked into his cup of coffee.
"Thinking of what?" His sister asked.
He put the cup to his lips. "What Zecora told you." He sipped his drink. "And the pony we saw yesterday." He looked at Zecora. "Our stalker was wearing a brown robe, like her captors." The group looked at one another, pondering his words.
"You don't think?" Sunny questioned. "That pony is with them?" Jet Cloud comforted his wife as she shivered from her thoughts.
Macintosh sighed. "I'm not sure, I hope I'm wrong and it's just some random survivor checking us out."
Shining rubbed the base of his horn. "All the more reason we should leave for Canterlot!"
Twilight pulled her cup away from her lips. "Shining?"
"What?" He huffed.
"We can't be brash."
"I'm not being brash! I've been saying it to the group for a while, we have a better chance of surviving this if we were in Canterlot!" He frowned at her. "I didn't go because you weren't here, but you are and with this cultish group somewhere close to us, I think it's high time we leave the orchard!"
"We are doing just fine!" Applejack huffed. "We need to wait this out!"
Shining rolled his eyes. "I'd rather wait this out behind the walls of Canterlot."
"Coming from the pony married to a princess." Zipper laughed. "Where is she by the way?" He gave the unicorn a sly smirk. "I wonder if she's fucking the royal guards you left in charge to protect her?" Shining growled as he activated his horn.
"Now you two, we don't need this!" Willy Pete growled.
Before the two stallions could kill each other, Twight activated her horn, illuminating the room in a bright purple glow. "Enough!" The ponies looked at the irate unicorn with wide eyes. "How long?" She said in a huff.
"How long, what?" Shining, Applejack, Zipper, and, Macintosh asked.
"How long are we going to wait?" Twilight let out a heavy sigh. "How long are we going to wait for this to end, to get fixed... Even if it does." She thought hard about what she was going to say next. "I don't think this will be solved anytime soon."
"Why do you say that sugar cube?" Applejack tilted her head.
Shining stared at her, his eyes narrowing as the seconds passed.
"I..." She looked out the window watching the clouds slowly drifting across the sky. "I don't think the princesses are alive..."
The ponies looked at one another. "Why do you say that missy?" Marley wondered.
Twilight bit her tongue as she stared at her hooves. "Twilight?" Rarity looked at her friend with a concerned glare. "Why do you think they're dead?"
"Because they're the most powerful ponies in all of Equestria. They are alicorns. This should've been solved within a week. I would still be in the hospital, and none of you would be huddling within Applejack's farmhouse... She wouldn't have been raped!" Twilight pointed at Zecora. "There wouldn't be the dead overwhelming Ponyville or the damned world for that matter!"
"How could you say that?" Sunny rubbed her eyes in frustration, trying to wipe away the tears forming around her eyes. "You don't know if it's taking longer than they thought!"
"I just have a bad feeling!"
"I have a bad feeling if we stay here, things will happen that will get us killed!" Shining huffed. "I say let's leave for Canterlot!"
"I think that's a better plan. "Jimmy Jam nodded.
"We just can't go!" Twilight rolled her eyes. "I'm not saying that Canterlot is not 'safe', I could be wrong, but the evidence leads me to believe that it will be suicide to make our way to the capital, just to come to a dead city!"
"Then what should we do?" Jet Cloud crossed his forelegs.
"We stay here! Make this place safe the best we can... I can study the dead and see what we can do to make it safer around them... Maybe a military detachment will come, if we could find a working H.A.M radio, we could call them." She swallowed her frustrations. "And we stay vigilant of any hostile ponies. The children will have to stay close to the farmhouse. No wandering off." The ponies mulled over her words. Slowly many nodded in agreement. Shining however shook his head as he left the farmhouse. Twilight stared at the front door and let out a tired sigh.
Applejack stood on the farmhouse's porch as she looked at her apple trees swaying with the mid-afternoon breeze. The morning fog and the clouds faded allowing the sun to dry the damp land. She wondered what her apple trees were thinking, if trees could think. She smiled at the little fib her father told her as a filly. She felt her throat tighten at the thought. 'Pa...' She held a breath. "What I would give to hear your voice once again..." She looked up at the sky. "What would you do?"
"I've been finding myself asking the same thing." A worn-out voice mumbled shallowly.
Hearing the screen door close, Applejack looked over her shoulders and saw Rainbow Dash in all her disheveled glory. "You alright?"
"Yeah... I think?" Rainbow Dash sat beside her friend. "I'm calm now..."
Applejack smiled. "Thunderlane knows how to work, ya!" She giggled.
Rainbow Dash blushed. "Yeah... I guess you're right."
Applejack sat down and laid a foreleg over her friend's shoulders. "I think he's right for you."
Rainbow Dash leaned into the earth pony. "You do?"
"Yeah." She gave the prism-maned mare a goofy smirk.
Rainbow Dash snickered. "For the longest time, I thought he was into... Um... F-Fluttershy..."
"Now don't you go start on crying!" Applejack huffed as she held Rainbow Dash's head in her hooves. "We'll find her one day, maybe soon, maybe not." She looked over at the children playing by the barn. "But, right now there is a little filly and a promise you made to her parents." She placed a hoof under her friend's chin. "A promise to watch over and care for her."
Rainbow Dash looked over Applejack's shoulders and saw Scootaloo kicking the ball toward the goal. "You're right..." She felt her chest tighten. "Did I scare her?"
Applejack let out a sigh. "Ya did, but move on from that. Show her you're love, and she'll be just peachy." Rainbow Dash nodded and headed over toward the others that gathered around to watch the children's game.
"How's she holding up?"
"Good as can be Twilight." Applejack looked at the unicorn. "How's Zecora?"
"Good." Twilight watched Spike block the ball. "She resting by the fire."
Applejack nodded as she looked into the farmhouse and saw her brother watching over Zecora from the kitchen table. A small smirk came to her lips as she eyed the others. Lotus and Aloe talked amongst themselves while her grandmother slept the day away in her rocking chair.
Twilight turned her gaze from the game toward the main gate and saw her brother Shining, along with Zipper, Marley, Soarin, Jiminy Jam, and Copper working on the fence line. "You think he's still mad at me?" She asked out loud as she stared at her brother.
"I don't think so?" Applejack sighed. "I understand he wants to go... To be honest, I think it be safer than here, but after what you said." She looked at her friend. "You really think that princess Celestia and Luna are dead?"
Twilight bit her lower lip. "We once wielded the Elements of Harmony to defeat Discord... They would have gotten us to help them.... Why didn't they?"
Applejack looked at the barn and watched Rarity wipe the dirt from Sweetie Belle's cheeks. "I'm not sure."
Twilight glanced at her friend and looked down at a patch of grass growing by the porch's steps. Returning her gaze to the stallions by the gate. She noticed her brother and Soarin staring toward the path that led up to the farm. Their eyes were narrowed and their expressions stern. The other stallions looked at where they were looking and their own facial expressions soured.
A chill ran down Twilight's spine as she sat up and rushed up to her brother. "Twilight where are you going?" Applejack chased after her friend. Hearing his sister Macintosh got up and stepped out of the farmhouse and stood on his porch watching her and Twilight running up to the gate.
"What's going on?"
Macintosh looked over his shoulders and saw Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Thunderlane, and the others walking up to him. "Not sure?" He looked back at the gate. "But I have a feeling it's not good." Rainbow Dash stared at the group by the gate, her mind racing with a million thoughts.
Twilight stood beside her brother and looked at where he was looking. "What do you see...." Her eyes are drawn to a pony about a hundred yards from the orchard's gates. "It's that?"
"I think so." Her brother growled.
"It is," Soarin added. "But if I fly over there, he's going to just run away."
"Why is he standing there like a creep?" Copper asked.
Marley glared at the mysterious figure. "I think he's studying us?"
"Studying us?" Twilight looked at Marley.
"Yeah." Zipper replied for his younger brother. "Saw the same look our pa would give when he hunted for beaver furs. He sensed Applejack's disdain. "Hey missy, my pa had to make a living!"
"Zipper enough!" Marley sighed. "Anyway, as my brother was saying," He turned his attention to the figure. "That look he's giving is one n' the same." He copied the figure's glare. The figure tilted his head, confused by Marley's expression.
"Looks like you threw him for a loop." Jimmy Jam quipped.
The figure looked side to side, before making his way up to the gate.
"He's coming up!" Applejack took a defensive stance.
"Let him!" Shining huffed.
"Let who?" Rarity asked as she joined them, along with Macintosh and Rainbow Dash.
"Where are the others?" Applejack asked.
"They're staying at the house... Is that the stranger from yesterday?" Rarity asked, just noticing the figure approaching them.
"Yep," Macintosh replied in a dull tone.
"He knows where Fluttershy is!" Rainbow Dash growled as she took flight.
Before she could pounce on her prey, Twilight, and Rarity activated their horns and grabbed their friend and held her down. "Brother some help!" Shining looked at her and just shrugged his shoulders. Twilight didn't show it, but she was gritting her teeth in frustration. 'I don't need him...' Her own thought scared her and caused her to lose her magic, but she regained focus and poured more magic into holding down Rainbow Dash.
The figure timidly stared at Rainbow Dash, but before he could take a step, Applejack cleared her throat. "That's far enough!" Applejack huffed. The figure frowned at her. His tail wagging side to side. Seeing the figure up close, Applejack saw that he was an earth pony, with grey fur and a reddish-orange mane and tail. His eyes were a fiery orange that pierced into her soul as he looked in her direction. "What brings you to mah farm?" She asked as she stepped closer to him.
"Curiosity..." He scanned over the group. "And studying you."
"Studying us?" Copper asked tilting his head.
"Why?" Shining growled.
"Studying us so he can report back to his crazy cult at Sanctuary!" Rainbow Dash spat, but Twilight's and Rarity's magic held her firmly against the soft grass.
The stallion looked at her with wide eyes. "Sanctuary?" Twilight could see that he looked a little panicked. "H-How do you know of it?" He finally asked after a few seconds of silence.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Soarin huffed.
The stallion's eyes darted side to side.
"They attacked our friend." Applejack gave Soarin a look. Soarin gave a silent nod as an apology. "And left her for dead!" She turned her attention back to the stallion.
The stallion looked down at his hooves, his mind deep inside. Applejack watched his lips moved, as he mumbled to himself. He returned his attention back to her. "Was she a Zebra?"
"Why does that matter?" Twilight asked.
He looked over his shoulders and stared at the distant town of Ponyville. "Because it does."
"How?" Shining gave him a raised brow.
"Because..." The stallion chewed his cheek. "I'm... I was from sanctuary..." He saw them tense up. "They have turned into something that they are not..." Rainbow Dash gnashed her teeth as she fought against the magic pinning her as she crawled ever so closer to the stallion. With the stallion not noticing he continued. "And... I need your help."
"Why the hell would we help you?" Marley spat.
"Because..."
"AW CRAP!" Rarity yelled as her magic broke. Rainbow Dash pounced on the stallion in a blink of an eye and unleashed several punches that landed solidly on the stallion's face.
"RAINBOW DASH, STOP!" Twilight grabbed her offending hooves and pinned them to the sides.
"Twilight, WHAT THE FUCK! AHH!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she was dragged across the ground. With a groan, she looked up at Twilight and gritted her teeth. "Why did you stop me?"
"I stopped you because if he's apart of Sanctuary, he might know where it is!" She got in Rainbow Dash's face. "And if you went and killed him then we wouldn't know where!" She snorted. "Losing Fluttershy forever!"
Rainbow Dash quivered at her friend's harsh tone and glare. Even the others, except for Zipper and Shining shivered at her tone. "True." Zipper commented. "But it was fun to watch..." A bolt of magic smacked his face. It didn't hurt or draw blood but it was enough to send a stream of low-intensity shocks through his body. "What the fuck was that?" He yelled as he stormed up to Twilight, his brother stepping in front of him.
"To shut up." Twilight looked at the unconscious stallion. "We need to be smart about this and stop acting out on emotions like little foals!"
Shining watched his sister and Zipper exchanging glares. "We understand sis. Let us not tear each other apart over some stupid stallion." He looked at the stranger 'enjoying' his impromptu nap. "Let's get him to the barn, when he wakes up, he'll answer our questions." He activated his magic and threw the stallion on his back. With a huff, he made his way to the barn.
-Six Hours Later-
Winds picked up speed as dark clouds rolled overhead. The sounds of shaking leaves and tree limbs echoed across the land, creating an eerie orchestra for the night. Twilight's ears twitched as the sounds of howling winds whistled into the barn. Applejack and Rarity stood on either side of her as they watched the unconscious stallion resting against a pile of bagged wheat flour.
The lantern's light on the post behind them cast the space in a warm orange glow that brought calm to them. "You think we should have brought Rainbow Dash for this?" Applejack asked.
"No," Twilight stated bluntly. "She'll go off the handle."
"Do you think this is a little barbaric, tying him to one of the pillars of the barn?"
"Better than what almost happened to him," Twilight stated bluntly. "And besides if he is a part of Sanctuary then we have to be more careful."
"This feels wrong." Rarity sighed.
"It does but we have to do it. For the safety of the farm." Applejack removed her hat and placed it on a cider barrel. "Let's hope he's cooperative."
Twilight stared at the stallion watching his chest rise and fall with every breath he took. Looking at his flank, she studied his cutie mark. It was an anvil and a ball of fire striking it. 'He must've worked in metal working?'
"Err..."
Hearing him stirring, the trio got closer to the stallion. "Rainbow sure did give him a wallop!" Applejack stated, more to herself than to anyone else.
For some reason, he felt groggy. His head pulsed from a headache he swore would split open his skull. He slowly slipped out of his slumber and found that his whole face hurt. 'What the hell?' He asked himself as he opened his eyes, well one eye. His left eye was swollen. Hissing at the discomfort, he looked around and saw that he was in a barn. His mind began to wander as he slowly scanned the room. Seeing three mares standing over him to his left, he let out a huff. "Now, I remember..."
"How are you feeling?" Twilight asked.
The stallion kept staring at them as he became aware of the other aches and pains his body was feeling. "Like shit." He stated bluntly.
"Sorry about our friend, she has a temper sometimes." Rarity looked over the stallion. "I know we got on the wrong hoof..."
"You don't say." He huffed.
Rarity winced at his tone, but she continued her kind smile. "Well let's try this again." She hummed. "What's your name?"
"Not telling you, my name." He frowned.
"How are we going to trust what you say if you won't tell us your name?" Twilight raised a brow as she brought out a thermos from her saddlebag.
The stallion looked at each mare, his eyes narrowing. "How can I trust you."
Applejack frowned. "Look, pal..." Twilight placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Twi?"
Twilight let out a sigh, "My name is Twilight, she's Applejack and that's Rarity." She pointed at them. "Now your name."
The stallion sighed as he tried to get into a more comfortable position. "Blaze." He said softly as he looked over his shoulders and saw his front hooves tied behind his back to the post he laid against. Twilight nodded and poured a cup of tea and floated it over to him. Blaze looked at the cup for a few seconds. Smelling the sweet aroma of rose tea, he took a sip and sighed at the warmth running down his throat.
"Now?" Rarity began. "Why were you spying on us?"
Blaze remained silent as he listened to the howling winds of the storm outside seeping through the cracks and holes of the barn. "I've been searching for ponies that can help me." He watched the flame's glow from the lantern dance on the objects within the barn. "To save my friends."
"From Sanctuary?" Twilight asked. He nodded. "What is this Sanctuary? Were they created because of the dead?"
Blaze shook his head. "No, Sanctuary was created to escape the life of the modern world." He looked off into space. "To live by the commands of the gods."
Rarity and Applejack looked at the stallion. Confusion was on their faces as they glanced at Twilight, excepting her to know what he was talking about. Twilight was at a loss herself. Sure, she had read history books about ponies in the past that believed in many gods during early pony history, but there were so many religious beliefs spread across many tribes it was hard to pinpoint which sect Blaze was talking about.
"How long has this group been around?" Twilight offered him another drink.
Blaze took a drink. "Six years." He looked at the mares. "We lived in the Everfree and would go into town to sell and trade. The forest didn't supply all our needs sadly."
Twilight tilted her head. "I never heard of your group at all?"
"And we kept it that way." Blaze looked at his hind hooves. "We would blend in when selling our wears. Have to hide from the prying eyes of our oh-so-kind leaders." Twilight frowned at the way he spoke of the princesses.
"Why did your group attack our friends?" A seething voice hissed from the rafters.
Hearing a familiar voice, Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity looked up and saw Rainbow Dash in a stalking pose similar to a cat. Her eyes glared at the stallion. "Dash, we told you to stay in the house!" Applejack growled in frustration.
"Shut it AJ!" Rainbow Rash spat as she jumped down and got in Blaze's face. "Why did they kidnap Fluttershy?" She slammed her hoof on the ground as she sorted in his face. "Why did they rape Zecora?"
The stallion stared into her magenta eyes as her words swam through his head. "Rape?" His eyes trembled as he looked down at his lap. "That can't be?"
"It is you fucker!" Rainbow Dash wound up her hoof to punch him, but Twilight held her hoof back with her magic. "TWILIGHT!"
"This is not going to help?" Twilight picked up the irate mare with her magic and threw her against a pile of hay. Rainbow Dash groaned as she got up and stared at Twilight glaring daggers at her. "Let him speak!"
Rainbow Dash held back a growl as she rested her head against the cool ground of the barn. "Fine..."
Nodding, she looked over at Blaze and saw him staring longly at his hind hooves. "You seemed just as surprised as we are?" Twilight sat back down.
"It's worse than I thought?"
"Worse?" Rarity tilted her head. "What caused you to leave?"
"And when did you leave?" Applejack added.
Blaze stared at the oil lamp hanging on the post behind Twilight and watched the flame within dance about. "A year before the world went to shit..." He looked up at the rafters and through one of the barn's windows. Seeing a flash of lighting he looked back at the mares. "I left because Father strayed away from the gods and their teachings..."
"Strayed away?" Rainbow Dash mocked. "From what our friend told us, sounds like these gods are a bunch of pricks!" She spat. "And your friends are delusional!"
"What happened to your friends, the gods tell us to do no such thing!" Blaze growled back. "Father is to blame!" Rainbow Dash snarled and got in his face.
"Rainbow enough!" Twilight growled activating her horn.
Rainbow Dash glared at her friend's glowing horn. "Really?" She looked at her other friends. "Are we really going to hear him out and help?"
"He's the closest lead we have to Fluttershy!" Rarity rolled her eyes. "I don't like it either Dash! But it's better than nothing, like Twilight said, we need him." She looked back at him. Seeing the loneliness in his eyes, she sighed as she looked back at her hot-tempered friend. "So let him finish!"
Twilight sat down by the fire beside Zecora as she fed her a bowl of oatmeal. Her mind mulled over Blaze and his story as she stared into the bow of steaming oats. She thought about what he said an hour ago. It sounded so genuine, but at the same time it sounded so... She couldn't put a hoof on it. Why now of all times did he want to seek help out of all times he could've? 'Because it's the end of the world...' She told herself. She frowned, was it really? Was the old way of life truly lost forever?
The crack of thunder broke her from her mindless haze, allowing her to be aware of the growing tension building within the cramped space of the living room.
"Why the hell should we help him?" Summer Wind put her hooves on her head.
"Because his group has our friend!" Rarity spat. "I don't like it either but we need to save her!"
"I don't trust him!" Shining Armor huffed. "He could be leading us into a trap."
"I agree." Rainbow Dash shivered. "We need to play this smart."
"But what about Fluttershy?" Scootaloo asked.
Rainbow Dash let out a heavy sigh. "I know, but it would do us good if we get ourselves into trouble." She told the filly.
Zipper stared at Rainbow Dash with a flat scowl. After what felt like forever, he laughed and shook his head. "I can't understand you missy."
Rainbow Dash lifted her head and looked at the earth pony. "What do you mean?"
"For a nearly a month and a half we've been leaving out supplies for your friend. Hoping she'll come back. And now we have a lead and you're acting like a little cunt, all timid-like."
Rainbow Dash showed her teeth. "Can't rescue her if I'm down for the count pal!"
"Strange, you were acting all gay for her, then now you give two shits!" Zipper looked over at Shining. "Same goes for you, pal. The oh-so-brave royal guard, here to save the day!"
Shining frowned. "Watch it!"
"Are we really doing this?" Copper put his hooves on his head. "Mac? Soarin? Applejack, please? do something to stop these morons!"
"Moron!" Zipper and Rainbow Dash spat at the brown-colored earth pony.
"Will you stop! You're scaring the kids!" Sunny spat.
"Act like adults!" Jet Cloud snapped.
The kids watched the adults and their flaring tempers nervously. Applebloom shivered as she held onto Spike with a death grip. Spike stared at his sister wondering what she was thinking. Wondering if she had a plan?
"We don't need this, all of you!" Applejack huffed.
"Let's get rid of him!" Jiminy Jam stated.
"What?" Rainbow Dash shouted, her voice cracking. Thunderlane tried to calm her down but he was too slow. "We still need to rescue Fluttershy!"
"Well, be a big mare and stop being scared!" Zipper laughed.
"Brother, stop!" Marly huffed.
"ENOUGH!"
All the ponies within the room stopped their bickering and looked at Zecora.
Zecora stayed still as she brought the blanket that was around her closer in, to up her comfort. She let out a heavy sigh, her eyes never leaving the fire dancing madly about within the brick fireplace. "Though I never met this pony, and only hearing your words, though they are varied.... I trust him." She looked at Twilight and nodded her head at the bowl of oatmeal.
Twilight blushed a smile as she offered her the bowl. "WHAT?" Shining and Rainbow Dash stared at her in confusion. "You of all ponies shouldn't be trusting him?" Rainbow Dash pointed at her chest to emphasize her point.
"He was not the one who..." Zecora inhaled deeply as she remembered her ordeal. "Who tortured me...." She looked over at Rainbow Dash. "If you ponies don't want to trust him, then I will and go to this so-called Sanctuary myself, for Fluttershy's sake."
The group stared at the zebra for some time, their minds mulling over her statement. The silence was sharp and dense as it hung over them. Only the sounds of the fire, their soft breaths, and the distant crack of thunder filled the air. "She's right," Derpy stated with a sigh. "What choice do we have to find your friend."
Shining gritted his teeth. "I don't feel good about this."
"Nothing we do will feel good anymore," Willy told the young stallion. "Life is full of hard choices."
"Whose going?" Copper asked.
"I will." Rainbow Dash raised her hoof. Thunderlane also raised his hoof.
"I will too." Soarin sighed.
"No, you will not!" Applejack huffed.
"If you can go into the Everfree, I can go to this so-called Sanctuary." Soarin raised his brow. "I'll be fine." He kissed her on the forehead. "I think we should keep it just us pegasi. In and out."
"Our 'guest' is an earth pony?" Copper rolled his eyes.
"One of us will carry him." Jet cloud sighed. "I will go."
"No, you need to stay here for our kids!" His wife stood up, pulling on his front leg.
"Four pegasi will be in our favor." He sighed. "If things don't feel right, we'll run."
"What if they follow you?" Shining growled.
"We'll get there when we get there," Mac replied, his green eyes giving Shining a stern glare.
Shining rolled his eyes as he made his way to the front door. "So, are we doing this or not?"
Twilight looked at Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. "We'll tell him our plan."
Shining stared at the floor as he mulled over his sister's words. "The quicker we get this done, the better I'll feel about this."
Blaze rested his head against the pillar. The drumming of rain sent pleasant shivers through his body. He let out a sigh through his lips and opened his eyes. His smile left as he looked up at the barn's rafters. Seeing the flash of lightning, he closed his eyes once again. His mind wandered to thoughts of a mare. Her canary yellow fur. Those soft cyan eyes of hers...
Hearing the barn's doors squealing as they swung open, Blaze broke from his stupor and looked over at the doors and saw Twilight and Rainbow Dash. "What's the verdict?" He asked, blinking his tired eyes.
"We've come to one." Twilight walked up to the stallion, her damp mane clinging to the sides of her neck. "We'll help you, but you'll help us rescue our friend first."
Blaze stared at the mares. His orange eyes narrowed. "How are we going to do this?"
"We got an idea." Rainbow Dash couldn't help but let a sly smirk adore her lips. "But you're not going to like it." |
AMONG THE TROTTING DEAD | Part 1: Chapter 5 - Sweet Little Lies | "Really?' Blaze grumbled as he dangled from the harness, he was strapped in. "We could walk there!" He held up his bound front hooves. "I know the way from the ground a lot faster than the air!" He glared at Twilight.
Twilight stared into his bright orange eyes of his as he floated in front of her a few feet off the ground. "I know, but it will be faster if they fly you there." She pointed at Thunderlane, Rainbow Dash, Soarin, and Jet Cloud hovering above them.
Blaze looked up at the pegasi as they messed with the ropes of his impromptu harness. "Fine..." He looked back at Twilight. "Still don't trust me?"
Twilight was about to answer, but hearing the front door squeaking, she looked over and saw her brother and the other ponies staring at them. She saw Zecora behind her brother staring at Blaze with a solemn gaze. "She believes you." She looked back at Blaze, "Which means so do I."
"Blaze noticed Zecora and stared at her blue colored eyes. "Tell her, thank you."
Twilight stared at him, trying to make out his emotions. Looking back at Zecora she let out a held breath. 'One thing at a time, Twilight...' She looked back at Blaze. "I will."
Blaze nodded as he hung his head. "What happens when we rescue your friend and mine? We never really hashed out a plan?"
Twilight mulled over his words. "We'll get there when we get there." She watched Rainbow Dash, Thunderlane, Soarin, and Jet Cloud finished tying the ropes around thier stomachs. "We need to focus on the here and now."
Blaze slightly smiled at her tone. "Sounds like you're saying that from experience?"
Twilight blushed a little. "Yeah... crazy times." She looked up at the pegasi. "You're good to go?"
"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "Let's go stallions!" She flapped her wings harder. "The faster we get there the sooner we can save Fluttershy and Button Mash!" Her voice dripping with confidence.
"Not too fast!" Soarin huffed as they rose into the air. "We don't know what we're flying into."
"There is a spot where we can spy into the camp." Blaze called up to them. "I used that spot many times before...' He let out a soft sigh as his mind began to drift to thoughts of a mare.
"What kind of spot?" Thunderlane looked at him skeptically.
"A small cove made form the branches off a tree on the meadows edge." Blaze replied dully.
Rainbow Dash glared at the earth pony, trying to see if his words had lies within them... 'How does AJ do it!' She cursed to herself... 'If AJ trusts him...' She sighed. 'For Fluttershy's sake...' Zecora's words danced in her head.
Twilight watched as they flew towards the Everfree. "So, what should we do?"
Twilight looked back and saw Copper standing beside Applejack. "Prepare the camp." She replied. "Just in case."
Flying over the Everfree forest, Rainbow Dash and her fellow pegasi flew close to the forest's canopy at a slow enough pace for Blaze to scan through the thicket, looking for any landmarks he recognized.
"How's it going?" Jet Cloud asked.
"Can't make out shit!" Blaze huffed. "Like I told your friend, it would be easier if we were on the forest floor!"
"Too dangerous." Soarin huffed, hearing Blaze grumble, he ground his teeth together. "Look pal, we are only helping because you can help us in return! So, buck up!"
"Don't remind me!" Blaze huffed. "The kindness of strangers... my ass..."
Rainbow Dash watched him glare at the canopy with dull eyes. Biting her lower lip, she stared out at the horizon. It was eerie how flat the top of the forest was. Like some invisible barrier that told the trees they could grow no taller. "You said it was a meadow?"
Blaze kept silent as he felt the wind on his face. "Yeah." He finally replied. "Somewhere that way?" He pointed his bound hooves to his right.
Rainbow Dash looked down at him and let out a sigh. "Look," She sighed as she flapped her wings. "I want to thank you."
Blaze looked up at the prism maned mare. "And I want to thank you..." He looked down at his bound front hooves. "Even if it's under less than favorable circumstances."
Rainbow Dash felt a wave of shame wash over her. "Hey, when this is all over, we'll make it up to you." She gave him a smile.
"And my friends and I will do the same..." He stated flatly as turned his gaze to the forest below. "I'm not sure your friends will like it..." He mumbled to himself.
Rainbow Dash kept silent as she studied his dull demeanor. Thunderlane, Jet Cloud, and Soarin looked at her with skeptical eyes. "Dash?" Thunderlane softly spoke up.
"Yes?" Rainbow Dash looked at her colt-friend.
He got closer to her. "You think it a good thing to be friendly with him?" He whispered.
Rainbow Dash stared at the horizon and watched the clouds overhead slowly rolling across the sky. "We need his help... and he needs ours." She looked at Thunderlane. "I know I was with some of the others who didn't trust him... But I have to for Fluttershy's sake." She whispered with a sigh. Thunderlane nodded slowly as he turned his gaze to the horizon.
They flew in silence for what felt like ten minutes. The soft sounds of nature filled their ears. But the calm faded when they saw another pegasus several hundred yards in front of them. They stopped and hovered in place, watching the pegasus struggling to stay aloft. "Is it a trotter?" Jet Cloud asked.
"Looks like it..." Blaze's words rang true as they heard the pegasus moan out a ghostly growl. "Shit..."
"We need to hide in the trees." Soarin hissed a whisper.
"Are we near?" Rainbow Dash asked Blaze.
"I would know if we're on the forest floor." He pointed at the ground.
Looking back at the trotter pegasus and seeing that she hadn't noticed them, Rainbow Dash pointed at the ground. "Slowly." The others nodded as they descended into the forest. Blaze grumbled as he swatted at the branches that were in his way. Getting to the forest floor, Rainbow Dash took off her impromptu harness. "Look familiar?" She looked at Blaze.
Blaze scanned his surroundings. Feeling a chill run down his back he nodded with a sigh. "Yeah..." Rainbow Dash nodded as she took out her six-inch knife strapped to her left foreleg. Blaze looked wide eyed at her as she neared him. "Wait!" He felt the knife cut through his restraints. Opening his eyes, he stared at his free hooves and looked up at Rainbow Dash with confusion on his face.
"Why did you untie him?" Soarin asked.
"I'm not carrying him." Rainbow Dash gave him a smile. "Are you going to?" She asked the stallions with a hint of sarcasm. The others looked at Blaze and studied his bewildered expression. "Well, lead the way." Rainbow Dash pointed at the forest. Blaze slowly got up and took the lead.
Several minutes passed as they made their way through the forest. The ambient sounds and the far distant growls of the dead danced in their ears. "Dash?" Blaze spoke up.
"Yes?" She looked at the earth pony.
"I just wanted to say thanks..." He kept his eyes on the forest. "For trusting me."
"We need to." Rainbow Dash sighed. "We'll be better off if we trust each other."
"True..." Blaze stated with a dull sigh. Getting to a fallen tree, Blaze lifted a hoof in the air. The others stopped and looked around. "We're getting close." He peaked over the trunk of the fallen tree. "Strange?"
"Strange?" Soarin asked.
"Its quite?" Blaze scanned the forest. "They must be meditating."
"Meditating?" Rainbow Dash asked as a distant moan of one of the dead echoed through the forest. "Or because of the trotters?"
"Maybe both?" Blaze climbed over the tree. "See that wall of ivy growing off that tree?" He pointed to his right.
"Yeah." Thunderlane replied.
"We can see the camp from there." Blaze started climbing over the tree. "Once there I'll look for one of my friends."
"Is this friend close to you?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"She dislikes Father if that's what you're asking."
"If some dislike Father, why don't they leave?" Jet Cloud asked.
"And leave their family, children?" Blaze retorted. "Like I told you Father has a firm grip on their minds... almost a firm grip."
Getting to the natural blanket of ivy growing over a helpless oak tree. Blaze gently moved some of the leaves out of the way. He and the others peaked through the gap and scanned over the tents that made up the large commune.
"I didn't know your compound was this large?"
"It was growing before the pandemic started." Blaze's eyes jumped side to side as he looked at the tents and noticed that some were sagging. He quickly glanced at Rainbow Dash and her friends. He looked back and stared at a tent at the far end of the camp. "Somethings wrong?"
"What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash wondered.
"It's quiet." Soarin replied. "Isn't it?" He looked at Blaze.
Blaze kept quiet as he scanned over the camp. Seeing a mare slowly moving around a tent, she felt his spine shiver. "Lilly?" He slowly exited the canopy they were hiding in and made his way cautiously toward the mare.
"Wait!" Soarin hissed. "Where are you going!" He and the others followed after him.
"I have a bad feeling about this?" Rainbow Dash's wings twitched and her feathers puffed up.
Catching up to Blaze, they stared at the mare he stood in front of. Their eyes went wide as they saw the mare was turned. Her skin was pale and her fur's color dull. Her milky white eyes stared mindlessly into space as her head whipped around.
Turning her attention to Blaze, Rainbow Dash saw him staring at her with emotionless eyes. She was confused by this, but she chalked it up to shock. "Blaze?" She whispered to not attract the trotter. "Is she one of your friends?"
Blaze didn't answer. He only walked up to the mare. He felt hot and clammy as he neared her. The trotter hearing the grass under his hooves, turned to face them. He watched as she tilted her head side to side as she walked up to him. "Lilly?" He softly asked as he watched her. "Lilly, what happened?" Her only response was a low growl.
"Shit." Thunderlane hissed as he looked over his shoulders and saw a few more trotters a few yards away slowly making their way through the camp. "This place is gone." He whispered with a loud hiss.
"Did a herd come through here?" Jet Cloud asked.
"Fluttershy's not here?" Rainbow Dash felt her chest get heavy as she saw a few more dead mulling around a large tent that looked like it was used to serve food.
Blaze watched as the trotter approached. "Lilly..." He let out a sigh. "I'm sorry..." He reared on his hindlegs and pushed the trotter to the ground. Picking up a rock he got on top of her and smashed the trotter over the head. Several meaty thuds filled the air as Blaze put her out of her misery. Seeing the mangled face of his once friend. Blaze dropped the rock and fell backwards on his flank. "Damn it..."
Rainbow Dash stared at him, watching him shake like a leaf. "Blaze?" She called out, "It's not your fault." She told him as thoughts of her parents filled her mind.
"We need to get going?" Soarin commented as he saw a few trotters making their way toward them. "They heard us."
"We need to check the camp at least?" Rainbow Dash pleaded.
"I highly doubt she's here." Soarin huffed.
"I need to know!" Rainbow Dash spat with a low hiss. "I need to make sure, I can't do it again, I won't do what I did with Twilight."
Thunderlane looked at her and saw the determination in her eyes. "We'll fly up and look, Blaze can hide in the forest until we're done."
"Some of trotters are pegasi." Jet Cloud stated with a low huff. "They'll fly at us."
"I'll distract them." Blaze spoke up. "My friends are gone... If we can know the fate of yours, then I'll have been of some use."
Rainbow Dash smiled as she prepared to take flight when a laugh filled the air. They all felt their spines shiver as they heard more laughing. The trotters turned to face the sounds and began wandering toward them. A gunshot rang out as one of the trotters fell to the ground.
"Hide!" Jet Cloud hissed as they dove back into the safety of the ivy canopy that encompassed the tree. Shivering they peaked through the leaves and watched as the other trotters crumbled to the ground with more gunfire.
"Shit!" A raspy voice laughed. "Glad were finally clearing this place out."
"Well with our friend taking his time, it has given us a great opportunity." Another voice, lower in tone stated with a sigh.
"It will make it easier to finally clear this place out." The raspy voice commented.
Rainbow Dash and her friends looked at each other with confusion on their faces. "Clear this place out?" Soarin asked.
"Did they attack this place or?" Jet Cloud wondered.
"Don't know." Blaze stated dully.
"When do you think we'll hit that orchard on the hill?" The raspy voice asked.
"Hell, if I know?" The ponies that were talking came into view. The voices belonged to a thin looking earth pony stallion with a wavy mane and tail. The other was a muscular unicorn stallion with a crew cut mane and short tail. "Whenever the boss gets tired of waiting for an opening." The unicorn stated flatly.
"Are they talking about Applejack's orchard?" Jet Cloud asked in a whisper.
"I hope not." Thunderlane replied.
"If they are mentioning it then they must've attacked Sanctuary?" Rainbow Dash asked. Blaze looked at her with a raised brow before he turned his attention to the stallions.
"Then, they must've." Soarin replied.
The thought of Fluttershy dead or as a trotter or worse crossed Rainbow Dash's mind. "Did they take her?"
"I don't know," Soarin looked at her and saw the worry in her eyes. "But we are not staying to find out..." He noticed Blaze wasn't saying anything, he was only tapping his front hooves into the dirt in a nervous manner. Soarin knew keeping silent was key, but no reaction to what was happening was strange. "What should we do?" He asked him. Blaze looked over at him and moved his hoof over his lips like a zipper.
"The fuck!" The group shivered as they heard the strangers approaching their location. "What the hell happened to this one?" The unicorn asked out loud.
"I don't fucking know." The earth pony replied as he tried keeping several trotters distracted.
"You're dense like a box of rocks Fletch!" The unicorn growled.
"Fuck you, Bolt."
Bolt rolled his eyes as he studied the mangled head of the trotter. "This looks fresh." He looked at his surroundings. "Whoever did this isn't far?"
Fletch let out a huff as he dodged one of the trotters as it took a swing at him with its teeth. "Who the hell cares, lets finish off the rest." Bolt frowned as he walked up to the trotters and stabbed each in the side of the head with his knife.
"The hell!"
"Shut it!" Bolt growled as he drew his shoulder mounted rifle. He glared at the tree line that hugged the meadow and gave it a menacing smile. He bit down on his rifle's mouth trigger. Several shots rang out as the bullets from the 8.45mm rounds tore into tree bark, dirt and flesh... Jet Cloud let out a yell as one of the rounds clipped his right wing's alula. Another round clipped Rainbow Dash's left ear.
"You fuckers show yourself!" Bolt growled.
Soarin held a hoof over Jet Cloud's mouth as they hunkered down in the dirt. Rainbow Dash felt her own blood trickle down the back of her head, soaking her prism-colored mane. She let out a held breath as she looked at her friends and Blaze with wide eyes. She felt her blood run cold as she heard Bolt neared them.
Blaze seeing her fear swallowed his own and jumped out of the brush. Thunderlane was too slow to stop him as he exited their hiding spot holding up his hooves "We're coming out."
"Shit what is he doing?" Thunderlane hissed under his breath.
"Doing the only thing we can do." Soarin stated dully as his survivalist training took over. "Got to play this safe..." He looked at Rainbow Dash and Jet Cloud. "Follow my lead." He also crawled out of the ivy canopy. "Don't shoot."
Bolt watched as three more ponies came out of their hiding spot. "Shit!" He laughed. "A whole group." He looked at Rainbow Dash and gave her a smirk. "We're did you come from?"
"None of your business!" She growled.
Bolt laughed. "Fletch get the ropes." He aimed his rifle at them. "The boss is going to love this." He looked at Blaze and gave him a sly smile. "You did good." He activated his horn and tossed Blaze mouth held pistol. "Though, I was expecting to meet at the orchard, but fuck it, improvising is more fun!"
Blaze caught the pistol and slowly stepped away from Rainbow Dash and her friends. "You?" Rainbow Dash felt sick to her stomach. "You lied to us?"
Blaze looked at her with a blank expression. "Sort of." He looked around the camp. "I lied about needing to save my 'friends'."
"You son of a bitch!" Thunderlane growled as he stepped up closer.
Hearing a click. Thunderlane stared at the pistol aimed straight at him. "The boss needs you for what he has planned." Blaze smiled. "Now play nice and follow."
"Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash looked at Blaze. "Was she here when the camp fell?"
Blaze cloud hear the anger and pain in her voice. "I..." He looked away as a mare drifted across her mind. "I don't know and I don't care. Now drop your weapons and follow!" Rainbow Dash stared at him and showed her teeth as her and her friends reluctantly followed them out of the forest.
"That's harsh." Bolt laughed.
"Shut it!" Blaze spat as he took the lead.
"Slowly becoming one of us." Bolt laughed even harder, but this time Blaze remained silent as they made their way out of the forest.
Ratchet sat in a rolling chair beside a large oak desk. He stared out the window behind him eyeing Ponyville and its surroundings. He eyed the farmhouse of the apple orchard on the hill. Seeing distant silhouettes of ponies mulling about he let out a sigh as he looked over at a mare in the corner of the room. "What do you think Mayor?" He looked back at the orchard. "You think we should hit them next?"
The mare let out a low growl as she thrashed against her restraints.
Ratchet let out a sigh as he stood up and walked up to the mare. Stopping just a few feet from her, he watched her snap her teeth at him. He stared at her milky-white eyes. "It's a shame..." He levitated over a bottle of whisky and opened the bottle. "Ten years I waited." He frowned. "Waiting to get back at you for locking me up!" He pointed the bottle at her. "And you had to go and do this to yourself..." He opened the bottle and took a swig of the liquor. "Damn. At least you're of some use to me now." He looked over at the orchard. "Bet they are stocked there?"
"Boss!" A pegasus pony wearing an orange jumpsuit and a police stab proof vest ran into the room. "Blaze is back!"
Ratchet smiled as he looked at the pegasus. "Great news Berry." He walked up to her and placed a hoof under chin. "Bring them in." Berry bowed and ran out of the room. He smiled as he sat back in the chair and placed his elbows on the table. Resting his head in his hooves.
Blaze, Fletch, and Bolt guided Rainbow Dash, Soarin, Thunderlane, and Jet Cloud into the room. "Welcome!" Ratchet smiled as he lifted his hooves in the air. "So, these are some of the ponies from that orchard you've been telling me about?"
Rainbow Dash gave the stallion harsh eyes, but the sounds of a trotter drew her attention. Her and her friends saw the tied-up trotter in the corner of the room. Rainbow Dash gasped as she recognized the mare as the mayor.
"Who are you?" Soarin asked bluntly.
"Me?" Ratchet ignored Rainbow Dash's panicked expression. "Just somepony trying to make it in this cruel world we find ourselves in."
"And they?" Soarin pointed his head at Blaze and his possie.
Ratchet smiled as he sat up off the chair. "Just ponies giving me a hoof." He laughed as he walked up to them. "And him." He motioned to Blaze. "He's a very helpful pony, helped us attack his old home and found out where all that nice food in that little cabin was coming from." He placed a foreleg over Blaze's shoulders. Blaze flinched as he felt the stallion giving him a squeeze. "So, my question to the four of you. How many live on the orchard?"
Rainbow Dash broke from her fear and stared at the stallion. "Not telling you!" She snarled.
Ratchet bit his cheek. "You sure you want us to do this the hard way?"
"You don't want to mess with us!" Thunderlane snorted.
Ratchet laughed. "Mess with you?" He shook his head. "From what Blaze told me, you're just a glorified daycare center." He picked up a bottle of whiskey he'd been drinking and took a sip. "Nothing we can't handle."
"Not if you want a fight!" Rainbow Dash stated flatly.
Ratchet was taken aback by her tone. "A fight?" He laughed. "Fisty, coming from a small group like yours."
"We can handle ourselves." Rainbow Dash smirked.
Ratchet smiled as he thought over her words. "We'll see about that!" He walked up to Jet Cloud and noticed his injured wing. "I need to send a message to your group. Surrender the orchard or..." He activated his horn and grabbed Jet Cloud by his neck. "Or join the dead!" He threw him over to the trotter in the corner of the room.
Before Jet Cloud could make sense of what was happening the trotter sunk its teeth in his back. He let out a scream of terror and pain as the monster tore at his flesh. Ratchet smiled as he watched Rainbow Dash, Sorin, and Thunderlane looking at the display of horror with terrified eyes. Blaze kept his pistol aimed at the trio, but his eyes looked away and his ears laid flat as he thought of the mare in his dreams.
Twilight sat on the porch sipping her tea as she listened to birds singing their late afternoon melody. Letting out a sigh she looked at the horizon of Ponyville, staring at its eerie silhouettes through the haze of fall air. "Twily?"
Twilight looked over her shoulders and saw her brother standing under the front door. "Yes?"
Shining sighed as he sat next to her. "You think we made the right choice?"
Twilight stared the town's horizon. "What choice did we have?" She looked into her cup. "He's our only lead we have for Fluttershy." She tapped her cup with a hoof. "But I am getting worried." She looked at the setting sun. "They been gone for a while now."
Shining nodded. "They should be back soon." He turned his attention to the orchard's gate. Seeing four figures his eyes lit up as they came into focus. "Holy shit!" He stood up "MAC! RARITY! GET THE OTHERS!" He ran toward the group.
Twilight shivered as she saw Rainbow Dash, Thunderlane, and Soarin guiding a trotter by rope that was tied around its neck. Getting closer she saw bruises adorned their bodies and the trotter... the trotter was Jet Cloud. "Oh no..." She held a hoof up to her lips as she stopped just a few feet from them.
Thunderlane and Soarin stopped and pulled on the ropes to keep Jet Cloud in place and tame. Rainbow Dash kept walking up to Twilight, before her limbs gave out and she collapsed against Twilight. "What happened?" Twilight asked, her voice coated with fear.
Rainbow Dash held back tears that fought to escape her eyes. "He lied..." She held onto her friend. "He lied about everything!"
"Shining?" Rarity called out as she arrived with the others. "Shining what happened, what's all the... Oh dear sweet Celestia!" Rarity saw the zombified Jet Cloud. Seeing her friend breaking down, she sat next to her and ran her hoof through her mane.
"What the hell happened?" Applejack asked as she eyed her boyfriend and the zombified Jet Cloud.
"Was it Sanctuary?" Shining growled as he looked at Soarin.
"No..." Soarin looked down at his hooves.
"Then who?" Copper asked.
Soarin let out a sigh as he looked at the group. "Some fucker named Ratchet..." |
AMONG THE TROTTING DEAD | Part 1: Chapter 6 - Driving Hard Bargains | Screaming and chaos was all Rainbow Dash heard as she flew through the streets of Cloudsdale. Below she saw the dead mixed among the living. She saw the rioters making things worse for others. Police and royal guards desperately tried to fight them off as they got others to the safe zone at the hoofball stadium near the outskirts of the city.
Hearing a growl, she looked to her right and saw a trotter flying towards her. Her body shivered as she panicked. The trotter showed its teeth as it slammed into her. Rainbow Dash hissed as she pushed the trotter off and swung her hind hoof around kicking its face.
Not seeing if the trotter would follow or not, she gave her wings a hard flap and flew faster to her destination. Her wings hurt; the throbbing was becoming unbearable from all the flying she have done from Ponyville. Non-stop, full tilt, adrenaline pumping, body shivering... She shook her head, she had to get there, she needed to.
Seeing her destination, Rainbow Dash looked down at the suburb and saw pegasi opting to stay, boarding up their homes with wood and or clouds. Then there was the dead, wandering confused or chasing others that were still trying to gather their things or fleeing. Landing at one of the houses, she saw that one of the windows was busted and the front door was wide open. Feeling sick she ran into the home.
"Mom!" Rainbow Dash called out. "Dad!" Seeing blood on the floor, slowly seeping through the cloud material that made up house's construction, she swallowed her nerves and followed it into the kitchen. Seeing the trail of blood going around the center island, she walked around it until the trail ended at the corpse of her father lying in a pool of his own blood. His cold dead eyes glaring back at her, looking deep into her soul, squeezing it tight. Her blood ran cold as her eyes slowly drifted to a mare on top of him ripping into his belly, tearing his flesh from his bones with her teeth. "Mom?"
The mare stopped her feast and slowly turned around. Her milky white eyes stared longly at her daughter. "Mom?" Rainbow Dash's mind was lost as she stared at her parents... or what was left of them. "What are you doing?" She pleaded. Her mother let out a growl as she stood on her hooves making her way up to her.
Rainbow Dash saw a bite mark on her mother's right hind leg. "No..." Tears poured from her eyes. "Mom! Please!" She slowly backed away. "Don't do this..." She bumped against the stove. "Don't make me do this!" Her mother increased her speed and let out a hiss as she closed the distance.
Rainbow Dash let out a sob as her mother lunged at her. She held her back with her front hooves. She stared wide eyed as she watched her mother snap her teeth and snarl at her. "No... No... NO!" Rainbow Dash pushed her mother off of her.
The mare stumbled back and lunged once more. Rainbow Dash pushed her off again. "MOM!" She fought her emotions. "Stop!" Her mother never acknowledged her pleas, she only snapped and growled as she pushed against her daughter's hold.
Rainbow Dash stared into her mother's eyes. She saw no happiness, no hope, no love. Nothing... Anger washed over her as she pushed her off and onto the floor. With out thinking, she grabbed a rolling pin off the counter and held it in her hooves. She brought it down several times onto her mother's skull. She let out blood curdling screams as she kept hitting her mother. After several good meaty thuds, she looked down at the horror she'd done and dropped her impromptu weapon.
Tears poured from her eyes as she stared at the lifeless corpse of her mother. Her body shivered uncontrollably as she backed up against the counter. Hearing a low moan, she turned around and saw her father moving about, struggling to stand. Her voice got stuck in her throat as she saw his milky white eyes glaring at her.
-Present Day-
Rainbow Dash sat on the porch. Her eyes stared numbly at Sunny as she sat beside a freshly dug grave, covered in flowers that came from the edge of the Everfree forest. Her kids clung onto her. Their eyes full of tears, their soft sobbing filling the air alongside their mother's gut-wrenching cries. Summer Wind sat beside her sister, trying her best to comfort her.
"They were waiting for you in the forest?" Applejack's voice cut through the thick fog lingering in Rainbow Dash's mind. She turned around and looked at the ponies standing in the middle of the living room around the fireplace.
"No... Just shit luck..." Thunderlane spoke, holding a cool wet rag to his bruised eye. "He was going to play us. Allow his group to take the farm when our guards were down. But us knowing Sanctuary put a wrench in that plan."
"He betrayed in own group for a bunch of thugs." Willy Pete questioned.
"Not much of an upgrade." Marely shook his head.
"Why was Sanctuary important?" Rarity asked. "He could've lied about that."
"Would we have believed him?" Copper shook his head. "We jumped to conclusions and he played along. Just so happens that he was once apart of Sanctuary." He rolled his eyes. "Just like Thunderlane said, shit luck."
"Didn't help that we tied him up." Jiminy ran a hoof through his long mane. "He needed an out."
"Sprinkle in some truths within the lies." Lotus let out a heavy sigh.
Twilight stared into the bowl of oatmeal that said in her lap as she mulled over their words. "Who is this Ratchet?" She asked as she took a bit of her meal.
"Some ex-convict..." Thunderlane replied. "As well as his group. They escaped from Ponyville's Correctional Facility during the madness. You know the one in the northern part of town on the main road heading towards Canterlot."
"How come we haven't run into this group before?" Jiminy wondered.
"They kept their distance." Rainbow Dash replied from the front porch. "They were taking from the care packages we left out for Fluttershy." She felt her chest get heavy. Her throat tightened from her emotions trying to escape.
"But why show themselves now, if they were taking from the supplies we left out?" Aloe wondered, but her eyes went wide. "Oh... We stopped doing that a few days now."
Twilight thought long and hard about past events. Zecora was attacked by sanctuary a few days into the outbreak. Then Ratchet and his merry band of misfits were responsible for tearing it down after that. It had to be within the last two weeks or so. Her mind pulsed from a growing migraine. Were they already that low on supplies... Would they be as well? "They're running low on supplies that fast?"
"What do you expect from a group of convicts?" Willy shook his head. Zipper gave the elder stallion a glare.
"We don't have much either." Rarty quipped.
"Well, they don't think so." Thunderlane spat. "They gave us an ultimatum. Leave or die."
"Well then let's leave." Willy stated with a sigh.
"Finally, somepony who agrees!" Shining shook his head.
"We are not leaving!" Applejack huffed.
"You want to die?" Shining huffed as he looked at Twilight. "Twily pack your things, we're going!"
Twilight stared into the maw of the fireplace, watching the flames lick the wood logs within. "No..." She looked over her shoulder. "It won't matter if we leave or not." She shivered at her own thought.
"How so?" He asked.
"Because they're watching us." Rainbow Dash cut off Twilight before she could give her answer. Rainbow Dash stared at the gate atop the hill. Seeing two stallions standing by the gate, the feathers on her wings fluffed up and her body shivered.
Applejack's blood ran cold as she looked out the window at the figures. "Derpy, Aloe, Lotus, get the kids upstairs. Rainbow Dash, Thunderlane get Sunny and her kids and sister into the house!" She looked over the group of stallions. "Copper, Jiminy and Willy, guard the farmhouse. Marley, Zipper, I need you to take positions and cover us!"
Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane nodded as they left the house. "Got you missy!" Marley nodded as he left the farmhouse with his brother.
"Fucking shit!" Shining growled as he followed Applejack, Twilight, Soarin, Macintosh and Rarity.
Language!" Applejack sighed as she stared at the figures as they came into view. The stallion on the left was Blaze who stood beside a unicorn with cream colored fur and a silverish mane and tail. His bright green eyes stared at them in a monotone fashion. "What the heck do you want?" She growled as she closed the distance. Her fiery gaze fell on Blaze who looked away, his tail tucked in between his legs.
The stallion standing next to Blaze rolled his eyes. "Wanted to know if you came to a decision?"
Applejack and Twilight looked at each other. Had five hours passed already? Twilight looked up at the sun that was just starting to set behind the horizon. The dark of night rose behind the silhouette of Ponyville, bringing an eerie vibe to the tense situation. Looking over her shoulders, she saw the other's conflicting emotions. To be honest with all the talking they've had done, none of them, settled on a definite answer to their situation.
Twilight understood her brother's line of thinking. If he was waiting for a fool proof reason to abandon the orchard, this was the best thing he could've been hoping for. But would it be safe to leave? If what Soarin and Rainbow Dash said was true about Ratchet's group then they would be watching the farm and then who knows if they would let them leave peacefully. They didn't give Sanctuary that option.
Then there was giving up the orchard. She scolded herself. If she thought they wouldn't let them leave, then why would they do so if they gave up the farm willingly. It was a naïve thought... Then there was the option of fighting back... Almost two months into a deadly pandemic and ponykind was already tearing itself apart?
She couldn't believe such a thing. But what happed to Zecora and Fluttershy at the hoof of Sanctuary, the what happened to Sanctuary at the hoof Ratchet... Had harmony truly failed them... 'Dear Celestia?' She looked at the sun slowly setting behind the horizon. 'Where are you?'
"Well?" The stallion huffed. Blaze kept quiet as he looked anywhere but at Twilight and her friends.
Twilights studied his mannerisms as saw regret seeping to the surface of those bright expressive eyes of his. She then looked at the stallion next to him and how cold and uncaring his eye were. But as she stared at him a thought formed in her mind. A plan... A crazy plan... "We're not going to bend to the will of some thugs!" Twilight kept her gaze hollow as she glared into the stallion's eyes.
"Twily?" Shining gave his sister a dumbfounded look. "What?"
Twilight looked back at her brother and her friends. She could see the fear in their eyes. It hurt a little that they wouldn't trust her. 'I have a plan... Let me enact it!'
"That's funny." The stallion laughed. "You should listen to mah brother, missy." He let out a whistle. "Further away, ponies came out of some houses that lined the outskirts of Ponyville and out of a small grove of trees near the river. "He has only one rule."
"What's that?" Twilight scanned over the ponies and noticed the disheveled state they were in.
"Spoils go to the strongest herd."
She could feel her friends' discomfort, but Twilight kept her composure. "I thought convicts weren't ones to follow rules?" She scanned the ponies of his group and saw that only four were carrying firearms.
"Well, we're adapting to the ever-changing landscape." The stallion sighed. "Have to when the dead roam the streets!" He laughed. "New world, new rules."
"The old rules still apply!" Twilight frowned. "You murdered an innocent pony!"
The stallion laughed. "Really? Look around you! The world has gone to shit!"
"Still makes you savages!" Applejack finally spoke up.
"Let's just get to it Strewn!" Blaze finally spoke up. "Before a herd of trotters shows up from all the noise we're making!"
Strewn rolled his eyes. "Look just give us the farm, so we can avoid bloodshed."
"Like Sanctuary?" Twilight glared at Blaze. Blaze looked away from the mare.
"So, you do know of it." Strewn looked at Blaze. "So, your 'friends' weren't lying." He let out a laugh. "What a small world after all." He gave Twilight a smile. "Like my brother said, the farm, or die." He gave her a cocky smile. "What will it be?"
Applejack bit her cheek as she mulled over his words. She glanced at her bother and saw the conflicting emotions running through his mind. How could ponies resort to violence so quickly. Memories of the riots as the sickness spread flashed in her mind. The violence then, wasn't going to be any different from the violence now... Or in the future... Her heart felt heavy at that thought.
"No!" Twilight stated with a huff.
"What?" Applejack and Strewn staid in unison.
"If your brother means what he says, he'll have the guts to tell us face to face!" Twilight eyed Strewn up n' down. "And not send a lapdog to do his bidding." Twilight walked away from the stallion. Her group of friends looked at her, then Strewn, then her again before giving chase.
Strewn bit his tongue. "I not playing around!" Seeing that she wasn't looking back he growled. "I swear to Celestia! We'll kill you all, if you don't give us an answer right this second!" Seeing them heading towards the farmhouse he let out a growl. "You bitch!"
"Shut it, Strewn, she's not listening." Blaze sighed. "Let's tell him their answer..." He turned around and headed towards Ponyville in a sulking manner as his mind drifted to the answer, he knew Ratchet would give. He closed his eyes as screams rang in his ears. 'Why?' A mare asked. He pulled out a cigarette and took several drags to rid himself of the nausea that plagued him.
"What the hell was that?" Shining finally spoke as they stepped into the farmhouse.
"What happened?" Rainbow Dash asked as she stepped up to them. "I heard him call you a bitch?"
"Twilight what did you do?" Applejack spat. "You want them to kill us?" Twilight stared at the fireplace watching the embers' soft glow. "Twilight, answer me!"
"AJ calm yourself!" Twilight turned around and faced the mare. "I did the only thing we could've done!"
"What do you mean?" Applejack growled.
"We're in a rock and a hard place!" Twilight sighed. "If we leave, they'll kill us! If we don't, they'll kill us! But if we play to this stallion's ego, he will come around and actually listen to what we have to say. Maybe make a deal that will work for all of us."
"You think hurting his ego won't back fire?" Shining rolled his eyes. "Very bold or brash of you to think this will go your way?" He stepped up to his sister.
Twilight looked at her friends. "You need to trust me... It has to work for all of our sakes."
Most of the ponies looked down at the floor, mulling over her words. Mac closed his eyes. He gritted his teeth and let out a huff. "Damn it!" He walked toward the front door. "Soaring, Shining, Marley, Zipper. Help me get the farm ready for trouble!" The stallions followed him out of the house.
"I hope you know what you're doing?" Sunny spoke as she held onto her children. Twilight stared at the mare and gave a small nod.
"Uncertainty is ahead. Will we be able to handle what comes?" Zecora said softly from the comfort of her blanket. "That I do not know." The others looked at her, their bodies shivering as the reality of their situation fully sunk in.
Ratchet stared at the milky eyes of the mayor as she thrashed against her restraints. Her teeth snapping at him in a desperate attempt to sink them into her next meal. Ratchet's mind drifted back to his time in the penitentiary, when the outbreak reached its apex.
He remembered seeing the chaos through the bars of his cell. Guards were overwhelmed by the madness of the sick and his fellow inmates taking advantage of the situation. The riots caused by the panic overtook the prison within the hours and in that time, his only mission was getting out alive with his brother. A task that was a lot harder than he initially thought. But he managed to get out unscathed and a complementary prize of fellow inmates willing to follow.
Looking out the window he stared at the farmhouse on the hill. He frowned at the odds that they had a friend that encountered Sanctuary before his group did. What kind of fucking luck was that? He hoped it wouldn't hinder the outlook on what they would make of his offer, but still, it had a small chance.
Seeing smoke wafting out of the farmhouse's chimney, he wondered if he they would leave peacefully. Sanctuary was a bloodshed. Blaze wasn't kidding when he said they were fanatics. How Celestia let them thrive in the old world, he had no clue. "Keeping us poor ponies down, like always." He growled, before tossing a spent cigarette at the zombified mayor.
"Boss! Your brother is back." A stallion called from the door.
Ratchet nodded. Seeing his brother and Blaze stepping into the room. He frowned at his brother's dull expression. "So, what's the verdict."
"They said no." Strewn said bluntly.
Ratchet sighed as he looked out the window watching the farmhouse's lights flicker on as the sun set behind the horizon. "Figured as much." He looked at his brother. "What reason did they give?"
Strewn looked at Blaze before looking at his brother. "This one pony, a unicorn with lavender fur, I think her name is Twilight." He looked at Blaze who nodded. "She said she would rather speak to you than some lapdog." He shifted uncomfortably.
"Thinks you're not taking things seriously." Blaze spoke up for Strewn.
Ratchet raised his brow and looked at his brother.
"She just walked away as I was threatening her." Strewn growled. "Stuck up bitch!" He looked at Blaze. "I'm starting to think this is not going to be as easy as you thought!" Blaze frowned at the stallion as he wiped the spit that landed on his face.
Ratchet stared out the window. Looking at the lights in the distance, he bit his inner cheek. "Well, if she thinks I'm not serious, then I'll have to show her." He laughed. "I guess killing one of her group members wasn't enough for her."
"What do you want us to do?" Blaze's ears fell back as he watched the stallion stand up for his seat and walk up to them.
"Get some of my stallions to get us a bargaining chip." Ratchet smiled.
Applebloom sat on the porch of her treehouse. She looked up at the stars that blanketed the night sky. A humid breeze washed over her sending a shiver down her back making her feel calm. A stark contrast to what the day had been. "Bloom, what are you doing out here?"
Finally, the weight of the day escaped her and she let out a heavy sigh. "Nothing Spike."
Spike sat down beside her, leaning back with his arms as support. "Had to leave the house?"
Applebloom sighed as she laid on her back. "Yeah..." She shivered. "The tension is thick!"
Spike laid down as well. "Yeah, I know." He looked at a passing cloud lit by the dim half-moon. "Are you worried?"
Applebloom frowned as her young mind mulled over his question. "Yeah... Aren't you?"
Spike looked at her. "Yeah, but I'm sure Twilight and Applejack can figure it out."
Applebloom sighed. "I hope so." She scooted closer to him. "I just get this feeling, like no matter what we do, bad things are going to happen."
"You really think that?" Spike raised his brow.
Applebloom frowned as she pressed her head against his. "We're still waiting for the government to save us, aren't we?"
Spike only nodded. "Yeah..." Hearing one of the steps squeak they looked back and saw three stallions and a mare staring down at them. A cold sweat washed over them as they stared into their eyes.
"Aw, young love." One of the stallions laughed. "Keep quite or we'll kill you!"
Twilight rested on her bed. A book floated a few inched from her snout. Her hopes in distracting herself from the current events of the day and the situation she gotten themselves in, failed. The words on the pages became a blur. Her eyes felt swollen as she tried to focus on them. With a grown she closed the book and rubbed her eyes.
"You alright?"
Twilight jerk in her bed and shot up. Seeing Rainbow Dash standing under the doorframe, she stood up and got off her bed. "No..." She looked down at the floorboards and studied the intricate patterns wood grain made. "I think I made a terrible mistake."
"Like you said, were in a rock and a hard place." Rainbow Dash placed a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "To be honest, I'm hoping for a fight." Her wings fluffed up. "We need to fight for what's ours!"
"Being like them is not going to let us have the moral high ground."
"Twilight, there are bad ponies out there that will take our stuff!" Rainbow Dash sighed. "I know hurting others is bad, but I know it and you know it, we're going to have to do things that we're not comfortable with."
Twilight nodded. "I know and that's what scares me..." She looked at the book on the bed. "I don't want it to change who I am."
"Well, that's what makes us special." Rainbow Dash smiled. "It won't..."
"Girls!" Applejack came running up to Twilight's room. "Have you seen Applebloom?"
Twilight shook her head. "No, have you asked her friends?"
"Yes, she was supposed to be with them in their room, Scootaloo said she left, then Spike followed after her."
Twilight shivered. "Spike too? Does she know why?"
"She needed to clear her head!" Applejack growled out her frustrations. "That little missy is stubborn as me and it bugs the hell out of me!" Her eyes went wide. "The clubhouse!"
"Oh, crap!" Rainbow Dash huffed as she ran down the hall, followed by Twilight and Applejack. Exiting out of the farmhouse, they began making their way toward the clubhouse near the barn when a flash of light caught their attention. Looking towards the source of the light, their blood ran cold as they saw two stallions standing by the gate.
"Fuckers!" Rainbow Dash and her friends ascended the hill to the gate.
Getting to the gate, the stallions' appearances came into view. They didn't recognize the new stallion but the other they knew. Strewn stood calmly as he held a lantern with his magic. "What the hell do you want!" Applejack growled.
"My brother wanted me to tell you, the conditions of our deal have changed." |
AMONG THE TROTTING DEAD | Part 1: Chapter 7 - Upon Farmhouse Moonlight | Applejack pushed a cart of apples and apple-based products along the cobblestone streets of Ponyville. She had a smile on her face, but her mind was occupied with worry for her friend Twilight. She had been in the hospital for over a week now, with no signs of improving. Stopping the cart at her usual spot just in front of the glass hardware store. She kicked out the kickstand and popped the awning. Feeling the cool shade over her body she hung her sign, telling all she was open for business.
Looking out over Ponyville's town square, she frowned at how sparse it was. She was just not worrying about Twilight. She was also worrying about the rumors of a strange sickness that was coming out of Gryffindor.
The rumors although unconfirmed sent shivers down her spine. 'How could something make sick ponies attack others?' She stared at her fresh apples and jars of applesauce. 'Dag nab-it!' She shook her head. She needed to focus on her work. No sense worrying herself into a frenzy over something she couldn't control.
"Applejack?"
Hearing a regal voice, Applejack turned around and saw her friend Rarity walking up to her stall. "Hey'a Rarity!" Giving her a hug, she put on her best smile. "I thought you're watching over Twilight with Spike?"
"Oh, I am, just thought of getting something for us to eat before, Rainbow Dash comes to relieve us." Rarity eyed her produce. "How about three jars of your applesauce?"
Applejack rolled her eyes at her friend's smirky grin. "No probs, Rarity." She took out a brown paper bag and stuffed the jars in.
Watching her friend work, Rarity's smile slowly faded. "I'm awfully worried about Twilight." She let out a soft sigh. "I really do hope she wakes up from her comma real soon, especially with this sickness going around. A hospital is no place for her to be in."
Applejack stopped packing her bag. She looked over her shoulders and stared at her friend. Her mind replayed the news reports she heard over the radio the last couple of nights. A shiver danced down her back for a second time today. "You think it's getting that bad?"
"Well, darling, from what I've heard." Rarity shivered at her own thoughts on the matter. "I hope it's something that's nothing to worry about, but sicknesses are nothing to scoff at." She dropped some bits in a jar on Applejack's stall. "If this sickness is going around, I do believe it would be best to transfer Twilight's care to one of our homes until it blows over. Just in case it comes to Ponyville.
Applejack nodded. "If you think it's the best for her, I think Shining won't argue with that." She handed her friend her food. "Let just hope it stays where it came from.
"Indeed," Rarity smiled. "I'll tell Twilight you said hello. Positive vibes do good for a recovering pony." She waved to her friend as she made her way to Ponyville's hospital.
Applejack returned the wave. Hearing a cough, she looked to her left and saw a stallion in his mid-thirties wearing a hoodie as he stood on the front porch of a shop a few yards from her stall. Applejack found it weird that he would be wearing something that heavy when the morning air was humid and warm.
Studying him further, she saw how pale he looked and how damp his fur was. He let out another cough, holding a hoof to his mouth. He groaned as he wiped away the phlegm on his mouth. Letting out a sigh he slowly flipped his store's sign that was on 'open' to 'closed'. Feeling eyes were on him, he looked at Applejack.
She shivered when he stared back at her. His eyes were hazy and bloodshot. He gave her a little wave before stepping into his store, closing the door. Applejack smacked her drying lips as she looked at her produce. A ringing sung in her ears as news reports replayed in her mind once more.
-Present Day-
"Plans changed?" Applejack spat. "What do you mean by that?"
Strewn smiled. "Give us the farm, unless you want blood on your hooves."
Twilight and Rainbow Dash shivered. "What did you do?" Twilight asked, but her voice lowered as her eyes went wide.
Applejack's eyes went wide at her own realization. "You son of a bitch!" Applejack spat. "Where are they?"
Strewn stepped back from her getting in his face. "They are with my brother." He frowned. "If you want them alive, you'll leave the farm and head into the city towards town hall. You have an hour!"
Applejack's world went dark. A ringing echoed in her ears. The events of the past two months came barreling from her subconscious. She felt clammy as the thought of her sister as one of the dead at the hands of Ratchet swam in her mind.
She shivered as she looked at Twilight. She was confused at the lack of emotion on her face. Usually, Twilight was the type of pony to break down and think of the worst-case scenarios. But for whatever reason, she wasn't... A bright purple beam of light emanated from Twilight's horn striking the stallion beside Strewn. In what felt like minutes but in reality, lasted a few seconds, Twilight grabbed the stallion's gun and pointed it a Strewn.
"Don't make any sudden movements!" Twilight growled; anger coating her words. Adrenaline, like she had never felt before coursed through her veins. Strewn glared at Twilight. Seeing his horn lighting up, Twilight's anger filled mind didn't hesitate.
A loud crack echoed across the land.
Strewn fell to the ground, blood trickled down his face. Touching to the top of his head where his horn was, he let out a hiss and pulled away his hoof and saw blood on it. Before he could comprehend what happened, Twilight struck him across the face with the mouth piece of the pistol. He let out a huff before falling to the ground face first.
The other stallion ran. Twilight still on autopilot, aimed the pistol at the fleeing stallion, but before she could pull the trigger, Rainbow Dash pulled the gun from her magical grip.
"What the FUCK!" Applejack cursed. "What did you do!"
With her adrenaline fading, reality came crashing back. Twilight held her head from the throbbing. Seeing her handywork, she felt her throat tighten up, but she wasn't ashamed of what she had done. She was, proud... It scared her that she had done the unthinkable without hesitation. But then again, Strewn's group kidnapped Applebloom and Spike... Spike... Her lips frowned as she summoned all her magical strength and grabbed one of Strewn's hindlegs. "Help me!" She huffed as she dragged him to the barn.
"Woah, nelly, what you did will not help us get them back!" Applejack barked as she followed her down the hill. "You just doomed them!"
"HELP ME!" Twilight turned around and glared daggers at her friend.
Applejack saw something that sent shivers down her spine. She'd seen Twilight angry before, but this was something else. Rainbow Dash swallowed her fears and picked up Strewn by the shoulders and hovered just above the ground.
"We heard a gunshot, what happened... What the hell?!" Shining stopped as he ran out of the farmhouse. He stared at his sister dragging Strewn with help from Applejack and Rainbow Dash. "What did you do?"
Twilight growled from the weight she was pulling. "What needed to be done!"
"What needed to be done?" Soarin asked.
"Twily, shooting Ratchet's brother is not going to help us!" Shining huffed. "We're trying to handle this without getting killed!" He spat. "You're not the one in charge here!"
"THEY HAVE SPIKE!" Twilight cried as she dropped the stallion. "I DID WHAT NEEDED TO BE DONE!" She jabbed her hoof into her brother's chest. "WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE? RUN AWAY!"
Shining's anger died down as he saw the hurt in her eyes. "Spike's gone?" He frowned as he looked a Strewn. "I didn't know..." The others behind him gasped.
"Spikey?" Rarity cried as she placed a hoof over her lips.
"They have Applebloom as well..." Applejack turned to her brother and grandmother and saw their worry. Seeing Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo standing on the porch she sighed. "Grandma, could you get the kids inside."
"I'll help her." Summer Wind nodded as she coaxed them back into the house.
"How did they slip past us." Derpy tapped her front hooves together.
"The orchard has too much ground to cover." Zipper sighed as he spat out some chewed tobacco.
"Why are they doing this?" Copper asked, "We did nothing to them!"
"We did now." Marley scoffed as he looked at Strewn's broken horn. "Didn't know you had that in you little missy." He looked at Twilight.
"They forced our hooves!" Twilight's body shivered from the overabundance of adrenaline coursing through her. She growled as she pickup Strewn and dragged him towards the barn. Getting to the two large double doors, she sat down the stallion and let out several heavy pants.
"If they want a fight, they'll get one!" She kicked the doors open and dragged Strewn to the center of the barn. Twilight stared at the stallion. Strange feelings were taking hold of her mind, feelings she knew were wrong, but this stallion's group was in the wrong. They killed Jet Cloud. They have Spike and Applebloom. She needed to do what was dancing into her mind. 'We're going to have to do things that we're not comfortable with.' Rainbow Dash's words replayed in her mind. She killed a trotter... but could she kill a pony...
"Twilight, are you okay?" Rarity asked as she walked up to the unicorn.
"Wake up!" Twilight spat as she threw a bolt of electricity onto Strewn. Rarity let out a squeak at her tone of voice.
Strewn let out a yelp from the static coursing throughout his body. He let out a growl as he tried to stand, but the pain was too much for him to bear. With his eyes darting around, he saw that he was in a barn. Confused, he turned his head to the left and saw Twilight and her posse under lantern light. Feeling sticky fluid on his face, the memory of what happed a few seconds ago came flooding back. "You bitch!" He tried to stand but Twilight shocked him again.
"Where's SPIKE!" She spat as she picked up a rake resting against the wall near the barn's doors.
Seeing the impromptu weapon floating over the stallion, Applejack went to snatch it out of her magical aura, but a hoof rested on her shoulder. Looking over her shoulders, she saw her brother shaking his head. "She needs to calm down!"
Again, Macintosh shook his head. "We need to know where they are." His face went sour as he pulled her away, before walking to Twilight's side.
Applejack felt a heavy sensation on her chest. The look her brother gave was one she wished she had never seen. And one she wished to never see again. Looking at the others, she saw their conflicting emotions, but none dared to stop the irate mare. Shining, Rainbow Dash and Marley on the other hand joined Twilight and surrounded the stallion.
Strewn looked up at the five ponies surrounding him. "Y-You think you scare me? I've been to prison! I've seen shit that you couldn't stomach! AH!" Twilight stuck him across the back with the rake. Macintosh placed a hoof on his upper back pinning him to the ground.
"Where are they!" Twilight growled.
"Fuck you! AH!" Again, Twilight struck him with the rake.
"Where are they being kept!" Marley placed a hoof on the stallion's broken horn and pressed what was left into the barn's dirt floor.
"AH! STOP IT!" Strewn yelled. Twilight struck him several times. Some of the sharp ends of the rake pierced skin in several places across his body. Blood started to ooze out of the wounds, soaking the dirt around him.
"Twilight! Stop, that's enough!" Doctor Hooves yelled. "Twilight! You're going to kill him!" He grabbed the rake. Twilight snapped out of her haze and saw the damaged she'd done. Her eyes trembled. Had she let herself become consumed by anger that easily. Twilight looked at the others who stared at her with wide eyes.
"Naw, keep going, the fucker deserves it!" Marley laughed. "Some pony going after kids deserves nothing good."
"This is not us, we're not like them!" Applejack walked up to her brother. "Please there is another way, there has to be!"
Hearing Strewn let out a laugh, the group looked down at him. "There was, giving up the damned farm!" Strewn groaned through clenched teeth.
"That wasn't going to happen!" Macintosh huffed.
"We could've worked out a deal!" Applejack looked down at the stallion. "We could've traded supplies." She could feel some of the group tensed up as those words left her mouth. She even knew it was a stupid idea, but it would've prevented this.
Strewn just laughed. "You're naive as shit!" He spat out blood pooling in his mouth and looked up at Twilight and Applejack. "When my brother finds out what... What you did to me! They're so dead..." He growled. "When we take this farm, I'll make sure you're the last ones alive so I can gut them little brats right in front of you!" He tried to break free but Macintosh's weight kept him pinned.
Any holdout Applejack had for sympathy, another way to solve this issue without resorting to killing left as the image of her sister being gutted without mercy danced in her head. An emotion she rarely felt, not since her parents died took hold. "The fuck you will!" Applejack turned around and kicked him in the face with her hind leg, knocking him out cold.
Hearing a distant crack, Ratchet's ears swiveled, trying to pinpoint the direction it came from. Though its distance made it hard to know exactly where. It could've come from the orchard or somewhere in town. If it was within town, then his stallions weren't doing their jobs keeping other ponies out. Or maybe it was them shooting a trotter and if so, ringing the damned dinner bell. "Those, morons!"
He stood up from his chair and made his way down to the first floor. He looked down at his posse of twenty stallions who were milling about the floor. He saw Blaze making some pipe bombs. Others were either counting supplies or preparing the MREs they took from a military truck they came across a few days ago. He saw Bolt feeling up one of the captured mares they had gotten from Sanctuary. The others, ten in total were patrolling the streets around Town Hall.
"RATCHET!" A stallion ran into the building, his breaths were sporadic as he looked for said stallion. Seeing the stallion at the top of the stairs, he made his way up to him. "Shits fucked!"
"What's fucked?" Ratchet looked at the stallion. "Where's my brother?" He walked up and grabbed the stallion's neck with his magic. "What happened?"
The stallion groaned through the discomfort. "This mare, crazy bitch!" He choked. "She took my gun and shot him!"
Ratchet felt numb as his words replayed in his mind. "What?"
"They shot him!" The stallion squirmed as he felt the pressure on his neck increase. "It happened so fast, I.... I... Boss?" He struggled to breathe.
Ratchet turned to face Blaze. He could see fear in his eyes. "You said they were weak!" His horn glowed brighter as he snapped the stallion's neck.
Blaze watched the body tumble down the stairs. "I..." He watched Ratchet walked up to him. "They are! I mean they're just a bunch of glorified babysitters!"
"Glorified babysitters?" Ratchet smacked him across the face. Blaze fell to the floor. He let out a groan as he held a hoof to the forming bruise on his face. "This is the second time you let us in to a bloodbath!"
"I... I didn't know!" Blaze pleaded.
"Your old group wasn't easy to take down, but I was willing to take the losses, for the rewards." Ratchet huffed. "But fuck, you should've stopped when you found out they knew of Sanctuary!" He got in Blaze's face. "I thought you said your cultish group rarely ventured out of the Everfree meadow?"
"They did, but I didn't know that there was a fucking Zebra living in the forest all this time!" Blaze sat up and rested his head against the wall. "And how was I support to know that they knew her!" His mind drifted to the mare that was brought to Sanctuary.
Ratchet ground his teeth. "You don't know much, do you?" He punched Blaze across the face. "The sly stallion looking to get a better deal!"
Blaze held his right cheek. He glared at Ratchet and shot up! "Screw you!"
Ratchet grabbed Blaze and threw him to the ground. "I'm starting to lose my trust with you." He looked at Bolt. "Lock him up with our guests." Bolt nodded and lifted him off the ground. He tried to fight back, but the Bolt overpowered him with his magic. Letting out a growl, Ratchet looked at the dead body on the floor by the base of the stairs. "Toss his body on the streets and prepare yourselves, we're putting an end to this!"
Spike worked on his restraints. The ropes around his wrists hurt as he kept moving them around. Applebloom sat beside him as she sat shivering from her worries. Seeing her souring state of mind, he stopped what he was doing and stared at her. A knot formed in his throat. "Bloom?"
She looked up from her lap and looked at him. "Yeah?"
"We'll get out of this." He swallowed his own fears. "I promise."
She gave a small smile, but it slowly faded. "I hope so." Hearing the door open, they looked over and saw Blaze being thrown in.
"Stay here until we get back!" Bolt growled. He looked at Spike and Applebloom. "We'll tell your friends you said hello." He laughed as the door shut with a hefty thud.
They shivered as they looked at Blaze. "What does he mean by that?" Spike asked.
Blaze stayed on the ground holding the right side of his face with a hoof. "What do you think!" He growled as he rolled over on his back. "What have I done?"
Applebloom frowned and scooted closer to the stallion. "What are yer friends planning?" Blaze stayed silent, which made her fume in anger. Spike seeing her fiery eyes scooted away from her. "Hey mister!" She kicked him with her hindlegs. "What are they planning?"
Blaze groaned from the hits and sat up. "What the hell?" He growled staring daggers at her, but his resolve faltered. Her scowl made him uncomfortable. It reminded him of a colt in Sanctuary... her colt. He rubbed his eyes as his mind morphed the colt into the image of the mare. 'Why?' She asked him. "Fuck!" He pulled his hooves from his face and looked at Applebloom. "My... Ratchet's group is going to kill your friends and family for the orchard."
Applebloom shivered. She felt clammy as her innocent outlook on life fell apart in real time. "What?" Her voice cracked. "Why?" Tears started to pool around her eyes. "Why would your group wanna kill us?"
Spike stared at Blaze and saw his defeated posture. "They want the farm at all cost?" He swallowed a lump. "Right?"
Blaze nodded. "Yeah..."
Spike looked the stallion up and down. "Why are you locked up with us?"
Blaze stared at the ground as he softly rubbed the bruised side of his face. "I'm just the odd one out in all this..."
Spike stared out the small slit widow at the star filled sky. "You going to help us?"
Blaze kept silent as he looked up at the ceiling. "And how are we going to do that?" He kicked the door with his hind hoof. "Its made of metal!"
Applebloom heard the sound of trucks starting up. "How long do they have?"
Blaze just rolled over. "No long." His wrapped his tail around him for comfort.
Spike stared at the door. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Hot green flames gracefully exited his mouth. He smacked his lips, dissipating the heat that lingered in his mouth. Applebloom watched as he breathed out another breath of flame. "You think you can breathe fire for that long?"
"I have to try." He looked at Blaze. "I just need some help." He looked at his cutie mark.
Blaze squinted his eyes at Spike and then at the door. "Go for the handle..."
Marley sat on an apple cider barrel. He fiddled with his crossbow, cleaning the wood finish and messing with the tensions on the strings. Hearing a groan, he looked up and saw Strewn slowly stirring awake. "Hello, fuck face."
Strewn shook the haze from his head. "What time is it?"
"Late."
Strewn slowly looked at Marley and watched him mess with his weapon. "How late?"
"Close to midnight." Marley smiled. "Don't you worry I'll be watching you all night."
Strewn didn't respond as he eyed the stallion. "You're not like the others..."
Marley stopped fiddling with his crossbow and laid it in his lap. "How so?"
Strewn smacked his dry mouth. "You're rough around the edges, like me." He moved his front limbs and found they were tied to a pillar. "Maybe we can work something out. Help me and we can prevent what's coming." Marley kept staring, his smile never leaving. Strewn felt a cold sweat wash over him. "Fuck, colt come on! Untie me!"
Marley's only response was taking out a cigarette and plopping it in his mouth. He took one out for Strewn and placed in his mouth and lit it. "Enjoy it." He laughed. "It might be your last."
Strewn took a drag. "You're no killers." He took another.
"We ain't leaving this farm." Zipper who sat up in the barn's rafters laughed. Strewn stared at the stallion before hanging his head. Marley shook his head as he stared out at the sky through one of the rafter windows. He studied the moon lit hills past the farmhouse. Seeing dark shadows moving along the ridge, he took a long drag of his cigarette.
Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Applejack sat at the dining table in the kitchen. Twilight looked into her tea. Her mind was overwhelmed with the day's events. With her magic she lifted her cup to her lips and took a sip. "Damnit!"
"What's wrong dear?" Rarity placed a hoof on her shoulder.
"I don't know if I made the right choice?"
"I would've done what you did." Rainbow Dash fidgeted with her cup. "I was just shocked is all. You're usually not like that."
Twilight stared at her reflection in her tea. "It felt so natural..."
Applejack grimaced at her words, but she let out a long sigh. "You were just upset... Hell I was too." She looked past Rarity and saw her brother, Shining, Copper, Thunderlane, and Soarin going over the guns they had laid out on the living room's coffee table. "I just had some naïve though this would be solved without resorting to violence..." She stared at Zecora laying by the fire as Lotus and Aloe bradded her mane.
Twilight looked up at her friend. "And that's why we love you AJ," She smiled. "Always the negotiator."
"Alright, here is what I have." Hearing the front door open, they saw Willy and Jiminy entering the house carrying a rifle and a pistol.
"That's all?" Soarin sighed. "Damn it."
"We'll make it work." Macintosh stated.
"We're still doing this?" Summer Wind asked as from the stairs.
"Yes, dear. Yes, we are." Rarity looked at the guns. She shivered. She never liked such things. Always believed weapons should stay within police and military institutions.
Summer Wind sighed. "Let me check on the kids, Derpy, Dr. Hooves, and Carrot Top." She walked back up the stairs. Getting to the top of the stairs, she slowly walked the down the hall to the back rooms. Along the way she stopped at a room on her right, turning the knob with her hooves, she slowly opened the door and saw, her niece and nephews, as well as Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Rumble, and Dinky sleeping. She could see their dreams were not happy ones from the expressions on their faces. 'Dear Luna, where are you?' She slowly closed the door.
Getting to one of the last rooms at the end of the hall, she could hear muffled sobbing. Summer Wind grimaced. "Sis?" She slowly knocked on the door. Hearing no response, she opened the door. Sunny was sitting on the floor, her head face first in the mattress. "Sis, you want to join the others. We're preparing the farm."
Hearing no response, she sighed and sat beside her. "I miss him too." She laid a wing over her. "He was a great stallion. You knew how to pick them... Better than me."
Sunny lifted her head and stared at her sister with bloodshot eyes. "How?"
Summer Wind tilted her head. "How what?"
Sunny fought her emotions. "How I'm I going to protect them without their father?" She let out a sob. "I can't do it without him! How can I raise three kids all alone?"
"Sunny! Stop it!" Summer Wind placed a hoof under her sister's chin. "You have me! As their aunt, I'll help you at all cost!" She pulled her into a hug. "You're all I have after dad died."
Sunny returned the hug, before pulling away and wiping her eyes. "Yeah..." She looked out the window at the star filled sky. "I just, can't believe there are ponies that would resort to violence so quickly... I mean look at what Marley and Twilight did to that stallion."
Summer Wind sighed. "That stallion's group kidnapped Applebloom and Spike. Killed your husband."
Sunny looked down at her hooves. "I know..." She looked at her sister. "I just hope that..."
The sounds of glass shattering followed by a meaty thump filled the room. Crimson coated Summer Wind as blood shot out of her sister's neck. Time slowed as she watched her drop to the floor with a thud. Panic took hold as she dropped to the floor and placed her hooves on her sister's neck. "No! No! NO!" She cried as she tried to stop the bleeding.
Several more cracks whizzed by as bullets tore through the thin walls of the farmhouse. Hearing silence once more, Summer Wind lifted her head. Seeing the hollowed eyes of her sister staring back at her, reality came crashing as her emotions took hold. "NO..." She held onto her sister pulling her into a desperate hug causing her sister's blood to coat her body.
Ringing sang in Twilight's ears. She let out a groan as she felt a sharp sensation shooting from her shoulder. Letting out a hiss, she forced herself to sit up but only managed to stand on her front hooves. Her hind hooves rested on the floor. She could still feel them which was a good sign, it just, the pain she felt was overwhelming her. Looking around she saw glass coating the floor around the table. Seeing holes on the floor, she shivered as she looked at the others.
Rarity held a hoof to her left foreleg. She let out a hiss and lifted her hoof to assess the damage. Seeing that it was just a cut from a grazing bullet, she put her hoof to her wound once again to stop the bleeding.
Rainbow Dash groaned as she looked over at her left wing and saw that its radiale of was broken. She growled as her wing twitched involuntary. "Fuck!" She struggled to stand from the pain.
Applejack let out a hiss as she picked up her hat that was blown off from a round. Twilight's eyes went wide as she saw blood running down her face. "Applejack!" Applejack looked at her in confusion. "Your head." She hissed as she held a hoof to her shoulder.
Applejack placed a hoof on her head. She hissed as she felt the cut. Letting out a huff she looked over into the living room. Her blood ran cold as she saw Jiminy laying in a pool of his own blood. Willy Pette was over him, trying desperately to save him, his mind ignoring that his friend was dead. Zecora, Aloe, Louts, Shining, Soarin, and Thunderlane were alright but were in utter shock. Copper on the other hand, was holding his front right foreleg as he gingerly pried a piece of shrapnel from it with his mouth.
Her eyes went wide as she saw her brother's left flank bleeding, two perfect gashes through his cutie mark. "MAC!" Applejack cried as she got to her brother's side.
"I'm fine!" Mac growled through the pain. "It went in and out..." He saw Jiminy's hollowed eyes staring up at the ceiling. "Shit!"
Hearing sobbing coming from the second story. Soarin and Thunderlane ran up the stairs. "Are the others, okay?" Twilight asked as she rested her head against the wall.
Soarin came back down the stairs. "Sunny's dead and one of her kids has a gun shot through his stomach!"
Get the medical kit under the sink, by our room!" Applejack sighed. "Give it to Dr. Hooves!" Soarin nodded as he ran back up the stairs.
"WHO'S IN CHARGE!"
Hearing a booming voice. Twilight and her friends looked at one another. "The son of a bitch!" Shining spat a he used his magic to turn off the lights in the living room and kitchen. "Stay down!" He picked up a rifle and held it tight to his chest as he laid against the wall. His military training kicked in as he held the rifle up and looked through the hunting scope. Seeing several silhouettes on the hill, he cursed. "They're early!"
"SHOW YOURSELVES!"
Twilight swallowed her fears and stood up, but hissed as her front right limb twitched from the pain. "I need to face him. Buy us some time to head into the basement."
"You're not going out there alone!" Shining growled as he stopped her. The glow from the fire highlighted the fear in their eyes. "I'm not letting you put yourself into unnecessary danger!"
Twilight stared at her brother. She had never seen him this vulnerable before. "I got us into this mess." She placed a hoof on his shoulder. "Besides, I need a military pony to cover my back." She could see he was hesitant. "I need you. We need you to help get the rest of us to safety."
"What about Spike and Applebloom?" Applejack asked.
"We'll get them..." Twilight made her way to the front door. "I know we will." She picked up jacket from the coat rack and a pistol. Putting on the jacket, she slipped the pistol in one of its side pockets and exited the farmhouse.
Thunderlane, Macintosh, Applejack, Soarin, and Rainbow Dash each grabbed a weapon and took positions by the shattered windows. Shining watched as his sister neared the dark shadows on the hill. Sweat coated his forehead. His hooves gripped the rifle tighter to his body.
Willy Pette who had stopped trying to revive his friend let out a reserved sob and gave on final nod goodbye as he picked up his rifle. Joining Shining by the window, but before he took aim, he looked back once more and stared at his friend. "?" Swearing he was seeing things, he shook his head and stared at him once more. "Jiminy?"
Twilight grimaced as she ascended the hill. She could see in the dim moonlight, Ratchet standing on the hood of a putter-truck. He looked down at her with hate filled eyes. Swallowing her fear and pain away, she closed the gap. "So... You're Ratchet?"
"And you must be Twilight?" Ratchet spat. "How many did we kill?"
Twilight swallowed. "None..."
Ratchet noticed her pain. "We at least wounded you." He gritted his teeth. "Where's my brother?"
Twilight closed her eyes as she looked back at the farmhouse. "He's in the house you just shot up." She gave him a cocky smirk.
Ratchet's eyes lit up. "Is he okay?"
Strewn's battered body came to mind. "Sort of..." She groaned from the pain radiating from her shoulder.
"Show me!"
Twilight glared at him. "Show me, Spike and Applebloom first!"
Ratchet shook his head. "That's not how this works!"
"If you want your brother, you'll show me them first!" Twilight growled.
Ratchet bit his tongue. "They're not here." He cleared his throat. "They're back at base."
Twilight bit her own tongue. "Bring them!" She spat, turning around, walking back to the farmhouse.
Ratchet frowned. She was a stubborn hot head. "Fine, but you don't hurt him any further!"
Twilight turned around. "Don't worry, he's safe and sound with us!" She fought through the pain as she quickened her pace. Her mind ran a million miles a second trying to come up with a plan, but before she could come up with one a loud crack rang out from the farmhouse, followed by several more. |
AMONG THE TROTTING DEAD | Part 1: Chapter 8 - Watching it Burn Among the Dead | Shining Armor pressed himself against the wall. The sounds of gunfire and magical discharge filled the air. Hearing a bullet wiz by, he flinched as it smacked into the floor tile. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he peaked his head around the corner. He saw several dead who were pervious patients and medical staff, charging towards the military who were shooting at them.
Seeing one of the dead take several rounds before going down, he dipped behind the wall and looked down the hall on his left. Seeing some dead turning their gaze towards the nose and b-lining toward him, he cursed under his breath and ran down the hall toward the stairs. Along the way he tossed medical equipment onto the floor in hopes of slowing them down.
Getting to the top of the stairs. He looked to his right and saw some military staff boarding up the cafeteria. Swallowing his fear, he snuck past them and ran toward his sister's room. Seeing Rainbow Dash and Redheart, his mood improved. "You guys ready?"
"No!" Rainbow Dash sighed. "Help us get her on this gurney!"
"Redheart what's going on?" A mare asked.
Redheart looked over at a mare behind the receptionist desk. "Juniper what are you still doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing?" Seeing Shining and Rainbow Dash preparing to move Twilight, she looked back at her friend. "It's not safe, the military!" A crack echoed across the hall. Her head tore open from a round striking her skull. Brain matter went flying, blood coating the back wall as her body landed hard on the desk's counter.
Redheart shivered as she ducked into Twilight's room. "Keep quite!" She hissed with a whisper.
Shining and Rainbow Dash stopped their preparations and got low to the ground. Getting behind the wall that separated the bathroom from the recovery room. The trio held their breaths as a military pony stepped into the room armed with a saddle mounted rifle. "Private Hopper, what's your status?" A voice came through the static filled radio.
Private Hopper spat out the mouth trigger and placed a hoof on his radio. "I have a patient in a coma, sir!" Silence filled the radio as he looked at the hall through the door.
"Put them out of their misery and report back!" A voice on the radio barked.
Private Hopper stared at Twilight. "Copy that..." He placed the trigger in his mouth, but before he could pull it, Shining tackled him to the ground. "The fuck!"
Shining glared at the stallion. "I'm Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard and you'll do no such thing solider!"
Hooper growled as he tried to pry him off. "I don't take orders from stuck ups like you captain!" He spat. "Even if you're a captain! Civilian!"
Shining brought attention to his badge on his navy-blue uniform. "Look again moron!" He pushed him further into the floor.
Hopper glared at the badge. "Screw you!"
"We're trying to save our friend!" Rainbow Dash walked up to the duo. "Please let us do that!"
"Can't let the infected leave!" Hooper growled.
"She's not infected!" Redheart yelled. "You're killing all of us is not going to solve this!"
"Can't take the risk!" Hopper felt Shining's body weight starting to take its toll on his vigor to fight back. "Think of the nation! If taking your lives means we save Equestria, it's a deed I'm willing to do!"
Anger filled Shining's mind. His mind fell into auto pilot as he activated his magic and pinned the earth pony's limbs. He placed his hooves on his neck and pressed down. Hopper struggled to break his magic, but Shining's expertise won. Slowly the life left Hopper as he took his final breaths. Letting out a growl, Shining pushed himself off and sat on the floor, catching his breath.
Rainbow Dash was in a state of shock. She stared at Hopper's lifeless body. "Y-You, you..."
"He was going to kill us!" Shining huffed as he stood up. "What has Celestia done?"
"You think she would order something like this?" Redheart stared at the body.
"No, I think the military has gone rouge." Hearing more gun fire he stood up. "We aren't wheeling her out without all four of us getting killed." He looked at Rainbow Dash. "And you still have your parents to bring to the farm."
Rainbow Dash broke from her haze. "Yeah, but what about Twilight? Can't you teleport?"
"To dangerous." He huffed. "I might teleport us into a crowed of those things! Or in front of the military."
"I'll stay," Redheart walked over to a cabinet. "I have some supplies to last me a couple days."
"But what about your family?" Rainbow Dash watched her as she pulled out a box of medic supplies.
Redheart let out a shallow sigh. "They're in Trottingmare." She opened the fridge and replaced Twilight's IV bag. "I called them yesterday. They're heading to a safe zone." She swallowed her fears. "I need to believe that they will be alright, but I can't leave my friend." She stared at Twilight.
Rainbow Dash nodded. "Thanks." She hugged her. "Come to us when she wakes up." She looked back at Twilight sleeping through the end of the world. "Ready?" She looked at Shining.
"Yeah..." He sighed as he walked up to his sister's bedside. "We'll get you... I promise." He kissed her. "Thanks..." He told Redheart as he used his magic to grab Hooper. He dragged him out of Twilight's room and threw him into the adjacent room. Looking back at Red Heart once more, he gave her a nod and left the hospital with Rainbow Dash.
-Present Day-
Several shots rang out from the farmhouse.
Twilight felt a chill run down her spine. Her body felt clammy as she slowly turned around, she saw Ratchet staring at the farmhouse. She let out a gasp as he turned to face her. She saw pure hate in his eyes. "Crap..." She cursed under her breath.
"You BITCH!" He aimed his shotgun at her.
A beam of light emanated from Twilight's horn and formed a purple bubble around her, blocking the buckshot from tearing her body apart. Shivering, she thought of a spell as several more rounds struck the shield. She let out a scream as one tiny metal balls broke through and struck her hindleg. She yelled as a bright white light erupted and engulfed her.
Seeing that she was gone, Ratchet chewed his cheeks. "Fuck'em!" Gun fire roared as others ran towards the farmhouse.
A herd of trotters mindlessly roamed the woods surrounding Ponyville. Their low moans filled the air as they stumbled around, their milky eyes staring off into space. Distant cracks echoed through the forest. The trotters simultaneously turned their heads towards the direction of the sound. A galloper in the mix let out a haunting shriek and ran. The others followed, picking up their pace.
Twilight emerged through a ball of light. She slammed into the couch, bouncing off and landing on the floor. She let out a hiss as she felt her leg radiating with pain. Lifting her head, she saw gun smoke wafting out of Shining's rifle. Looking at where he was looking, she saw Jiminy with a massive hole in his skull. Brain matter oozing out. Her body shivered as she saw his milky white eyes glaring into space.
Rarity's vomiting broke the others from their haze.
"How?" Copper cursed.
"I don't know?" Applejack stuttered.
"He wasn't bit!" Rainbow Dash spat.
Hearing hoof steps running down the stairs, they saw Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Rumble, Dinky, Snowy, Dusk, Derpy, Soarin, Granny Smith, and Thunderlane holding Dawn in his hooves. "What the hell happened?" Soarin asked as he saw Jiminy's milky eyes. "How in the hell?"
"Don't mind that now, where's Summer Wind?" Applejack walked up to her boyfriend.
"I tried to get her to come, but she's still mourning." Soarin stated. "I barely got Sunny's kids to say their goodbyes..." A hail of bullets peppering the house interrupted him. Some rounds broke through tearing up the walls and floorboards, all missed their targets however. "Is everypony alright?"
"What do you think!" Rainbow Dash sputtered.
"To the basement!" Copper huffed.
The group ran towards the back of the house, Applejack got to the cellar door and threw it open. "Go! Go! Get in!" The ponies piled in. Slamming the door shut Applejack shivered as she looked over her friends. "You oaky?"
"Minus our previous injures... Yes..." Rarity fought back her emotions as she held onto her sister.
"Why are they doing this?" Scootaloo asked in a desperate tone.
Rainbow Dash looked down at the filly and saw the fear in her eyes. "Because they hate us..." She gritted her teeth as her broken wing moved. Scootaloo saw the injured wing and gasped. Not wanting her to start crying, Rainbow Dash patted her on the head. "I'm okay squirt.
Twilight leaned against the cool concrete walls as she tried to control her shaking injured limbs. "Summer Wind is still upstairs."
Thunderlane let out a sigh. "I'll get her..." Hearing the front door slamming open. He stopped and slowly backed away from the cellar door.
"Find them!" Ratchet's voice echoed out. "Find my brother!"
"We need to get to the barn." Lotus whispered.
"Follow me..." Macintosh motioned toward the back of the cellar. Getting to a rickety door, he opened it slowly. A humid breeze washed over them. "Pa made this, it's a little cramped but this is our only way to the barn." He looked through the crowd and saw his grandmother looking toward the cellar door. Her sorrowful look, made his throat tighten. "One at a time." He hissed as he stepped aside.
"You, okay?" Applejack looked at his slowly bleeding gunshot wound.
"Yeup..." He looked at her. "One thing at a time sis." Applejack nodded.
"We need to hurry. Dawn needs a stable place for me to work!" Hooves tightened the bandage around the colt's stomach, causing the colt to cry. His siblings hung onto Hooves as he threw the colt onto his back.
"The RV's table will do!" Copper mentioned from the front of the pack.
"I hope Marley and Zipper are alright?" Aloe stated.
Twilight shivered as she crawled through the narrow tunnel made of earth. 'What if they have the barn already...' Rapid gunshots and screams echoed into the tunnel.
"What the hell is going on up there?" Shining growled.
Hearing a galloper's howl and the hunting moans of the dead, the group's blood ran cold.
-Two Minutes Earlier-
Marley saw the distinctive flash of gun fire. The snapping pops of pistols and rifles filled his ears. "The fuck!" His brother cursed. "Those fuckers are at it again!" Zipper took aim with his rifle.
"Is Twilight out of the way?"
"Yeah?" Zipper looked at his brother. "Knock them down?"
"Do it!" Marley nodded.
"About time..." He aimed at one of the ponies approaching the farmhouse and let a round fly, his shot striking true.
As his brother made potshots at the gang of misfits, Marley walked over to Strewn. "And you! Keep your mouth shut." He gaged Strewn's mouth with a rag. Strewn glared at the stallion, his frown turned into a smile as one of his once bound hooves struck Marley across the face. Seeing Marley stumble, Strewn ran toward the opened door.
Seeing him fleeing, Marley tackled Strewn to the ground. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" He pinned him against the ground with his front hooves. Strewn growled through his gag as he worked a hind hoof under his attacker's barrel. With one swift kick, he pushed Marley off of him. Getting back up, he ran out of the barn.
Picking up his crossbow, Marley took aim. A thump and the sound of a snappy whoosh filled the air followed by a meaty thud. Strewn screamed through his gag as the bolt lodged itself into his right flank. He fell to the ground and clutched the bolt with his hooves.
Frowning, Marley threw his crossbow over his shoulders and went out to get the stallion, but stopped when the sounds of the dead filled the air. His body shivered. Seeing them emerging from the apple tree field he stopped at the threshold to the outside world.
Noticing the dead as well, Strewn let out a scream as he crawled back toward the barn. Seeing the panic in his eyes. Marley frowned at the stallion and shut the doors, latching them shut. He jumped back as Strewn threw himself on the doors. He listened as his muffed cries turned into pain filled sobs as the dead fell upon him. Slowly his cries were overwhelmed by the moans of the dead.
Zipper let out a whistle as he watched the barn's doors shake from the dead throwing themselves against it. "Damn..." He looked at the farmhouse and saw Ratchet's group was shooting at an approaching herd of trotters. "Damn..."
"What did you do?"
Hearing Applejack, Marley let out a sigh. "He did it to himself..." He turned around. "What the hell happened to you?" He looked over their wounds that dotted some of the members of the group. "Where's Jiminy, Summer Wind and Sunny?"
"Sunny and Jiminy are dead." Twilight huffed as she collapsed onto the ground. "Summer Wind is still upstairs in the farmhouse..."
Zipper let out a curse. "The dead are swarming the farmhouse..." He laughed. "Ratchet ain't smart to think that all that shooting would've brought them trotters."
"No..." Twilight sighed. "I had a feeling he knew..."
"How so?" Rarity wondered.
"He had his mind set no matter what..." Twilight took a deep breath. "And I couldn't see it..."
"Didn't he want the farm?" Derpy wondered as she held her daughter close.
"Not after what happened to his brother..." Twilight looked at the barn doors and grimaced at the thought of the dead ripping into his flesh.
Zipper frowned as he watched some of the dead follow Ratchet's stallions into the farmhouse. "They broke in..."
"Is your grandmother dead too?" Marley asked, he jumped from the sounds of the dead throwing themselves. "Shit!"
"What do you mean by that..." Applejack looked over the group. "She's with... us?" Her body went numb. "I need to go back!" She ran into the tunnel.
"AJ!" Macintosh tried to run after her, but his wounded leg stopped him in his tracks.
"I'll get her!" Soarin yelled. "And Summer Wind!"
Watching him disappear into the tunnel, Shining let out a sigh as he stared at the rattling doors. "We need to get the RV and putter-wagon packed up and ready to go!"
The sounds of knocking could be heard all around them.
"Will they hold?" Derpy stared at the doors.
"I have no clue." Shining stated bluntly. "Thunderlane, Willy Pette, let's get packing. Copper, can you help us?" Copper nodded as he slightly limped over to the stallion. "Derpy, Hooves, Carrot Top get the wounded into the RV!"
"Clear off the table for me!" Hooves told Derpy. "I need to get proper stitches on his wound." He stated as he entered the RV with Dawn softly sobbing from the pain.
Shining looked down at his sister. "You're going to make it?"
Twilight took in a deep breath. "Yeah..." She let it out in a drawn-out fashion.
Applejack popped her head out of the cellar. The hall was illuminated by dying fire. The orange glow no longer gave off a welcoming atmosphere, now it was unnerving. She never thought her home could feel so foreign to her... Hearing the moans of the dead and the desperate cries the dying ponies, she slowly made her way out of the cellar.
"AJ?"
She turned around, nearly jumping out of her skin. "Soarin?"
"You're not going in alone." He got by her side. "Where do you think your grandmother went to?"
Applejack hugged the wall that ran along the stairs. "Up to her room..." She stopped when she saw a trotter devouring one of Ratchet's men. Looking into the kitchen she saw two more trotters tearing into another. "Quietly..." She slowly tipped hoofed up the stairs with her boyfriend.
Getting to the top of the stairs, they made their way down the hall. Hearing a crunching sound coming from Sunny's room, they swallowed their fears and peaked into the room. The door quietly swung opened. Both their eyes went wide as they saw Sunny tearing into her sister's neck.
Summer Wind's lifeless eyes drove a stake in their hearts.
"How?" Soarin wondered.
"Just like Jiminy..." Applejack's blood ran cold as she saw Sunny look up from her meal. Her milky white eyes looked into her soul. Letting out a growl, she stood up and rushed towards them. The trotters downstairs hearing her roar, clambered up the steps. "SHIT!"
Applejack and Soarin rushed down the hall. Seeing her grandmother's room, she threw opened the door and quickly shut it behind her. The dead slammed themselves against the door. Not taking any chances, Applejack locked the door. The door held. She let out a sigh as she stepped back with shaking limbs. "You, okay?" She asked Soarin.
"Yeah..." He looked around the room and saw Granny Smith sitting on her bed.
"Grandma?" Applejack walked up to her bed. "Why are you up here?" Her grandmother didn't respond. "We need to get going!"
"No..." She finally spoke up. "I'm not leaving this place."
Applejack felt her throat tightened. "What?" She looked back at the door as the dead tried desperately to knock it down. "No, you can't stay!" She let out a nervous laugh. "The world's not like how it use to be!"
Granny Smith kept her eyes on a photo of herself, her husband and of Applejack's parents. "I know... That's why I'm not going." She looked at her granddaughter. "I can't slow you down."
"You won't!" Applejack sat on the floor. She looked at the photo. A chill ran down her back. "What about Mac, what about Applebloom, they need you..." She felt her emotions starting to take hold. "I... I need you!"
Granny Smith let out a sigh as she placed the photo in her lap. "No, you don't..." She looked at her granddaughter with a stern glare. "You're a grown mare now. I expect you to start acting like it." She held Applejack's face in her hooves. "Don't you go all soft morning me you hear! I'm not leaving the place I planned on dying in."
Applejack shook her head. "No... I can't let you do that..."
Her grandmother placed a hoof over her lips. "You're gonna have to..." She kissed her on the forehead. "I'm old and tired... And I really want to see my son again... and your mother... And my goof of a husband..." Applejack held back her tears as she buried her face in her grandmother's lap. "Hush your crying... This is no time for that." She looked at Soarin. "You take care of her you hear. Treat her like a mare should!"
Soarin nodded. "Understood, Ma'am..."
"Call me granny." She smirked, but her smile left as the dead slammed the door. Looking out the window, she saw the herd of dead surrounding the barn.
"Crap..." Soarin saw it as well. "Why aren't they going after Ratchet's stallions?"
"They are..." Applejack's words were met with the sounds of screams and distant gunfire. "It just all this ruckus brought the biggest herd I've ever seen!" She lifted her head and looked out the window as well.
"I'll distract the ones by the barn." Granny Smith looked at her door. "Could you clear the way?"
A cold sweat washed over Applejack. "What are you planning, Granny?"
"Just clear these monsters from my home and get your flanks to the barn!" She pulled her into a hug. "You stay strong for them you hear."
Applejack nodded and pulled away from the hug. Looking at her boyfriend, she gave him a nod. Turning her attention to the door she shook her worries away and placed a hoof on the doorknob. Pushing against the door she knocked down the trotters to the floor. Taking advantage, Soarin flew out of the room and landed on one and with one quick clean motion, brought down his impromptu weapon, a lamp, onto the trotter's skull.
Applejack kicked two with her hindlegs, cracking one of their skulls open, and the other tumbling down the stairs.
However, the zombified Sunny froze them in their tracks. Applejack swallowed a lump in her throat. "Sunny..." She saw Soarin pushing her back with the broken lamp. "I'm sorry..." She swung around and kicked her down. Soarin closed his eyes as he brought down the lamp onto Sunny. The first strike only stunned her. She kept growling out her anger as she tried standing up. Again, Soarin brought the lamp down, ending her.
Staring at the mangled body. Soarin fought off the urge to puke and stood up. "Let's go!" He ran down the stairs. Applejack looked back once more at her grandmother. Granny Smith smiled and gave her a small nod. Applejack nodded and followed after Soarin.
Alone, Granny smith picked up a photo of her husband in her mouth and made her way downstairs. Getting to the living room, she studied the bullet ridden walls and floors. Her face soured as she walked over to the front door. Seeing the dead surrounding the barn, she let out a slow sigh as she shut the screen door.
Setting down the photo on the coffee table, she let out a sigh as she stoked the fire. "Quite a mess dear." She looked around at the destruction. Seeing Jiminy's corpse on the ground, she let out a sigh. "I'm sorry for not keeping it to your standards." She looked at the photo. "But things have changed since you've been gone." Seeing the fire coming to life she smiled as she walked up to a large speaker connected to an old record player in the back of the living room.
"Applejack got herself quite the catch." She hummed as she skimmed through old records. "I have to say he's quite handsome." She looked at the photo and studied her husband's subtle smile. "Nothing on you though, but I can see why." She laughed. "She did like the sporty type and he's quite famous too. A Wonderbolt." She tsked. "Now I know you're not much for Pegasi, but times have changed like I said." She stared at her husband. "I know they'll make us some cute grandkids..."
She let out a sigh as a dull pain shot through her back. She let out a groan as she rubbed the spot. "Eighty-eight years old..." She felt her front limbs shake as she resumed looking through the box of old records. "Can't believe you left me twenty-four years ago..." She looked back at the photo. "Just couldn't wait to see our son..." She looked at the wall to her right and saw two photos, one her daughter-in-law and the other her son. Seeing a bullet hole through her son's photo she frowned as she looked back at her records. "Ah..."
Pulling one out she studied its worn cover box. Seeing cartoon characters of a mare and stallion dancing together, she smiled as she took it out. "Look at that, our favorite..." A tear rolled down her face. "What we played at our wedding." She hummed as she put it on the record player. Turning the speaker's volume to max, she turned on the player.
A rich and delicate melody roared throughout the house. All other sensory inputs were drowned out as the music filled Granny Smith's ears. She smiled as she picked up her husband's photo and walked into the kitchen and turned on the stove. Smelling the methane spewing from the burner, she let out a sigh as she heard the dead throwing themselves at the front door.
Looking to her right she watched the screen door bending under the weight. She stared at their crazed eyes. Their hollow and unforgiving eyes. She shivered as she walked up the stairs back to her room.
Getting to the top of the steps a click alerted her. Looking up from her photo she saw a bloodied Ratchet aiming a pistol at her head. "Were's... My... Brother?" He said through heavy breaths.
Granny Smith noticed that he had several bite marks across his front leg and on the side of his body. She closed her eyes and kept walking to her room. Ratchet growled as he shoved the pistol in her face. "WHERE IS HE!" He growled.
Granny smith took the photo from her mouth and looked at the battered stallion. "Yer hears that music? Hears the dead?" She smacked her gums. "I'm planning on dying, I expect you to do the same." She saw Summer Wind stumbling out of her room. Seeing her milky eyes, she let out a sigh. "I'm old and not long for this world..."
Ratchet growled from the pain across his body. "I don't care!" He shoved her. "Where is my... AH!" He screamed as Summer Wind bit down on his back. He panicked and fought her off. Granny Smith quickly snuck into her room and shut the door. Hearing gunshots, she backed away from the door and sat on her bed. "YOU FUCKER!" Ratchet yelled from down the hall. "I'm going to kill... No... NO!" Several more gun shout sounded off followed by the sounds of the dead storming up the stairs.
Closing her eyes, she looked at her radio. Opening the cassette slot and seeing a tape, she nodded her head and closed it back up. Smiling she turned on her little radio. Humming along to the music, she ignored the dead madly slamming themselves against the door. Opening her nightstand drawer, she pulled out a mouth held revolver. "Stay safe grandkids... Stay Apple family strong..."
"Where the hell are they?" Shining growled as he watched the barn's doors shake violently. "The damned locks aren't going to hold much longer!"
"She'll be back!" Rainbow Dash reassured him.
"They'll be here..." Macintosh stated as he stood outside the RV, keeping his eyes on the tunnel's entrance. Seeing Soarin and Applejack exiting the tunnel, his enthusiasm faded. "Where's grandma?" Applejack looked at her brother. Her emotions came rushing back as she shook her head. Macintosh felt a chill run down his back. "What happened?" He looked at Soarin.
"She stayed behind." He sighed.
"What?" Rarity sputtered.
"She wants to die in the house her and her husband built." Soarin looked at the barn doors and saw the strain they were under. Macintosh let out a shallow sigh as he looked back into the tunnel with a sorrowful look upon his face.
"What about Summer Wind?" Carrot Top wondered.
Soarin peaked into the RV and saw Sunny's children at the back. He looked at Macintosh and shook his head. "Sunny came back as one of those things... And killed her." He said in a low tone, as to not alert them.
The group pondered his words.
Twilight who sat on the floor, behind the passenger seat felt a cold sweat come upon her. 'Just like Jiminy... She wasn't bit...'
The sounds of loud music blaring across the orchard entered the barn. A large portion of the dead around the barn stopped their task of breaking down the doors and wandered over to the sound. Some still lingered however, still eager to devour the ponies within.
Swallowing his emotions, Macintosh got into the RV with his sister and Soarin got into the putter-truck. "Rarity open the barn doors!"
Rarity activated her magic and gripped the latches, pulling them from their resting places in the ground. The barn doors swung inward as the dead threw themselves against them.
The vehicles roared to life. Hitting the gas petal, Macintosh frowned as he drove through the dead and onto the road leading up to the gate. Smashing through the gate, the two vehicles drove into Ponyville.
Looking back at her home, Applejack shivered as she saw the dead swarming the house. Her sadness turned into horror as the house erupted into flames. The sight of a large explosion filled the sky as the house's gas line erupted.
The vehicles came to a screeching halt as the group looked on in shock and awe as what they were seeing. "Well at least your grandma went out in style..." Zipper whistled as he watched the house burn like dry timber.
Applejack couldn't speak as she watched the fire consume her childhood home. "Yeah..." She coughed.
Shining sighed as he turned back to the road. "We need to find Applebloom and Spike..."
"They could be anywhere." Twilight hissed through her pain.
"They blindfolded us..." Rainbow Dash's eyes lit up. "I saw the mayor... she was one them trotters." She called from the putter-truck.
"Then we head there!" Rarity patted the back of the driver seat. "Floor it darling!" Macintosh nodded. The RV rocketed forward and sped towards downtown.
"Keep an eye out." Applejack stated as she looked out one of the RV's windows. Seeing three figures a few yards away, she squinted her eyes to focus in on their details. "THERE!"
Macintosh seeing the figures aimed the RV towards them. The figures stopped and waited as the small convoy stopped in front of them. Opening the door, Applejack saw the figures were indeed Spike, Applebloom, and Blaze... "Fucker!" Applejack jumped from the RV and was about to tackle him, when Applebloom and Spike stopped her. "What in tarnation are you doing?" She growled at her sister.
"Stopping you from doing something stupid!" Applebloom spat.
"What?" Applejack tilted her head. The others behind them looked at the filly and drake in confusion. Blaze kept his hooves up as he saw Marley was aiming his crossbow from the bed of the putter-truck.
"I know you hate him, but he saved us!" Applebloom stepped up to her sister. "He was thrown in with us and after Ratchet left to kill you, his men were going to kill us, but he!" She pointed at Blaze. "He fought them off and got us out of there."
"We managed to get out in time too." Spike spoke up. "A herd of trotters were making their way through the town with all that gun fire..." He finally noticed the battered appearance of some of the group. His eyes went wide when he saw Twilight. "Sis, are you okay?"
Twilight nodded. "I'll live..."
Applejack stared at her sister, then at Blaze and noticed the stallion's face seen better days. She glared at them seeing if her sister was lying or if he was lying to save himself... Seeing none, her body shivered.
"Look. I have no room to speak, but I know you don't trust me worth a damn, but please, just help me get out of town, drop me off where ever and you'll never have to see me again." Blaze spoke up, his voice raspy and tired.
Applejack mulled over his words. Her eyes stared at Applebloom, before scanning over the group. Their expressions showed that they would rather leave him in the dead infested city, but Twilight's face spoke differently. "Twilight?"
Twilight let out a sigh as she sat up to get a better look at her friend and Blaze. "I don't trust him... But I can't leave him to die when he's helped Spike and Applebloom..." She closed her eyes. "We're not going to lose what makes us who we are..." She looked at Applejack. "We're better than them..." Shining shook his head at his sister's words, but kept his mouth shut.
Applejack looked back at Blaze. "Thunderlane, tie him and toss him in the back of the putter-truck!"
"AJ? Are you sure?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I am..." Seeing a large group of trotters down the street, her blood ran cold as she saw one was a unicorn. Its horn was swollen and its eyes glowed a bright white. "Get him in the truck!" Applejack lead Spike and Applebloom in the RV.
Thunderlane landed next to Blaze and tied his hooves behind his back and threw him in the truck. Blaze let out a groan as he adjusted himself from the fall. Hearing a click, he looked up and saw the tip of an arrow. Looking past it, he saw Marley frowning at him. "I'm going to be watching you like a hawk." Blaze swallowed his fears and nodded his head.
Sitting down, Applebloom studied the ponies in the RV. Seeing how many were wounded a shiver danced down her back. "What happened?" She looked around some more. "Where's everypony else?" She stared at her sister and saw a heaviness in her eyes. "Where's grandma?" Applejack closed her eyes and shook her head. Applebloom's eyes trembled as she stood up to sit by her sister, but an orange glow drew her attention. Seeing the towering inferno her legs started to buckle. "Is... that..."
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo sat beside her and held her tight as her emotions took hold.
Spike stared at the fire. His chest felt heavy as he listened to Applebloom's cries. "Comfort her..." Twilight spoke with a heavy sigh.
"You need attention to..." He looked at her shoulder. "Deja vu..."
Twilight gritted her teeth as he wrapped up the wound. "Yeah..."
"Will you be alright?"
"She will..." Shining turned around from the front passenger seat. "When we get to Canterlot, we'll get all fixed up."
"Canterlot is a seven-day drive, without road blocks." Hooves spoke up from the back of the RV. "Dawn and her will not make it."
Shining frowned at the stallion. "They'll make it!" He looked at the road. Macintosh looked at the stallion, he rolled his eyes as he adjusted his grip on the steering wheel. Feeling a sharp pain, he adjusted himself on the seat. "You okay to drive?"
"Yep." Mac stated bluntly. "A distraction from the pain."
Zecora looked over her friends and let out a soft sigh. "Uncertainty lies ahead." She looked out the window as watched the flames of the burning farmhouse fade into the distance. |
AMONG THE TROTTING DEAD | Part 2: Chapter 1 - The Rain Washes the Dead | Thunder rolled across the sky. Rain collided with the ground with violence. An earth pony mare wearing a dark-blue poncho walked through the quiet streets of Nickelrite. The mud coated her pink-furred hooves as she walked towards a pub near the center of town. Walking up the steps, the mare was about to open its door, when she heard a growl. Looking over her shoulders, she saw a trotter roaming down the streets. The overwhelming sound of the rains hid her movements. The dead pony gave one more growl before stumbling further down the road.
Shivering, the mare entered the pub. The rain drummed the roof of the pub. Dull thuds echoed in her ears. Looking around, she took out a flashlight and turned it on.
Seeing the disarray of the pub, brought a dower mood upon the mare. But she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind as she walked over to the wall on her left. An array of photographs lined the wall. Her blue colored eyes rapidly scanned them. The desperation in her eyes became more pronounced as she looked. She let out an audible gasp as she found what she was looking for.
Taking down the photo she sat down where she stood and stared at the ponies in the photo. The photo was of her parents, her and her sisters. She smiled at the happy faces as two of the ponies each held a slice of cake. The young mare closed her eyes to hold back the tears. Looking at the photo once more, she kissed it and put it in her saddlebag.
Unbeknownst to her, a trotter slowly approached from the back of the bar. The once unicorn hissed and growled as it tried to use its horn to grab the mare. Its eyes glowed a bright green, the same as its horn.
Feeling a cold aura on her shoulder, the mare turned around and gasped as the monster approached. She panicked and pulled out her small folding shovel strapped to her saddlebag. The trotter growled as it lunged after her. She frowned as she took a swing at the dead, smacking it across the face and sending to the ground. Not wasting time, she ran out of the pub and out of the small mining town.
-Five Minutes Later-
Seeing an isolated boxcar on the tracks that lead out of the city or into the city, depending on which way one's perspective was looking at it. The young mare let out a sigh as she approached. Knocking on its door, she waited and listed to shuffling coming from behind the door.
The door slid opened, revealing a mare, the one in the photo she had. Her eldest sister. "Pinkie, where did you go?" She frowned as she watched her younger sister climb in. Shutting the door, she watched her take out the photo from her saddle bag. "You went into town?"
"No wonder she was gone so long." A stallion named Granite stated with a hum as he sat by Pinkie's second eldest sister Limestone.
"Sorry, Maud. I had to get something." Pinkie stared at the photo.
Maud bit her cheek as she stood beside her sister and looked at the photo. Seeing her mother and her sister Marble, she closed her eyes and let out a tired sigh. "You went to Iron's tavern?"
"Yeah..." Pinkie's eyes trembled as she stared at the photo.
Maud nodded as she looked over her shoulders and saw the Cake twins, Pound and Pumpkin sleeping just a few feet from her father, Igneous. His sleep was restless as the fever racking his body was becoming too much for him to bear.
Granite stared at the stallion and let out a sigh as he placed a hoof over Limestone's shoulders. Limestone hummed a soft tune as she rested her head on his chest. "You think he'll make it through the night?" She asked.
Maud kept her eyes on their father. "I'm not sure?"
"He will!" Pinkie hissed as she placed the photo back in her saddlebag.
Maud looked at her sister. Seeing the pain in her sister's eyes haunted her so. "Pinkie..."
"He will make it..." Pinkie hid behind her long and straight magenta mane.
"For how long will we keep this up?" Maud rubbed her forehead. Pinkie felt her throat dry up as she kept her eyes on the boxcar's floorboards. Maud just shook her head as she laid down by the butane lamp. "I don't think he'll make it to Applejack's orchard." Maud let out a sigh.
Pinkie shivered at her sister's tone. It sounded defeated. So, unlike her normal monotone self. She closed her eyes as laid down herself. Resting her head on her saddlebag she curled up. "I know..." She finally replied. "Don't remind me..."
Maud stared at her sister and let out a sigh as she closed her eyes and went to bed. Granite stared at the two before resting his head on Limestone's. Limestone stared at her younger sister. A sadness overcame her as she looked at her father and saw his sweat soaked fur. Shivering she cuddled up closer to Grantie and closed her eyes.
Pinkie was the last to close her eyes. She stared at the butane lamp and listened to its mind-numbing melody while her mind replayed the events of the last month. The last month when everything good in her life came crashing down... A chill ran up her spine as she saw a figure of a young mare sitting by the lamp. "Marble?" Pinkie mumbled as she stared at her twin sister. Marble scowled at her twin. Pinkie's heart raced as she saw her sister's milky white eyes staring into her soul. "Marble... Forgive me..." Her sister only tilted her head and put up a hoof to her lips and shooshed her.
-8th Day of the Outbreak-
Mr. Cake threw a saddlebag in the back of his putter-wagon. "Is that everything?"
Mrs. Cake, who was putting their children, Pumpkin and Pound Cake in the backseats, looked up at her husband. "Yes..." She buckled them in.
"Where's Pinkie?" Pumpkin asked as she held her doll close.
Mrs. Cake looked at her husband, asking him if he knew. He shook his head and looked at the backside of his bakery. Hearing an explosion and the screams and yells of rioters and the dead he ran back inside.
Stepping into the main lobby of the bakery, he felt a heaviness on his chest. The once vibrant store was now left in ruins. Seeing the silhouette of the mob through the windows he shivered as he ran upstairs. Getting to Pinkie's room he peaked in and saw the young mare in question.
Her usually curly magenta colored mane and tail were now flat. Her shoulders were slummed as she stared out her window watching the chaos with trembling eyes.
"Pinkie it's time to go!" He called out, in a loving but stern tone.
Pinkie turned around to face her Godfather. Tears stained her eyes. "Why? Why are ponies doing this to each other?" She looked back and saw some of the dead attacking the living... She also saw the living attacking the living. "It's all wrong!"
Mr. Cake looked at her desk and saw several pictures of her friends, her family and of them when they went on a trip to Manehattan. Letting out a heavy sigh he placed a hoof on her shoulder and turned her around to face him. He pulled out a mouth held pistol from his saddlebag. "Pinkie, did your father ever teach you how to shoot?"
Pinkie looked at the weapon. "Yes... But..."
He handed her the pistol. "Take this and use it to protect yourself and your love ones."
"Pinkie's eyes dilated. "But I don't need it! Celestia and Luna will fix this!" She stared at the pistol. "I only shot soda bottles... I can't kill somepony..." Mr. Cake put a hoof on her mouth.
"Look again Pinkie!" He pointed a hoof at the window. She looked out the window and watched the chaos playing out like a horrible nightmare. "I don't see that happening for a while..." He sighed. "In the mean time we need to watch out for ourselves... And that means using tools like this!" He pointed at the pistol in her hooves.
Pinkie stared at the pistol and studied its polished sheen. "O-Okay..." She looked back at her mentor.
"Good... now let's go!" They left her room.
Getting downstairs, they headed towards the back door when glass shattering halted their movements. A petrol filled bottle flew into the store and ignited on the floor covering the tables and chairs in flames. Pinkie stared at the flames as it consumed her place of work, her home. Frowning, Mr. Cake grabbed Pinkie and dragged her out of the bakery.
Stepping out into the cool night air, they ran up to the putter-truck. They were about to get in when a pistol was aimed at the back of Mr. Cake's head. "Don't you do anything stupid!" A unicorn stallion shouted. "Give me all your bits!"
"Here, take them!" Mr. Cake turned around, "They're useless anyways!" He threw them on the ground as he glared at the stallion.
The stallion frowned and struck him across the face with the pistol's mouth piece. Looking into the cab he saw the five-year-old twins. Eyeing Pumpkin the stallion gave her a menacing smile. "Hand over the filly!"
"No!" Mrs. Cake pleaded. "Just let us go!"
"Give me the fucking brat!" The Stallion grabbed Mr. Cake and wrapped a foreleg around his neck. "Or I'll blow a hole in your husband's skull you..."
A loud crack echoed over the sounds of the riot. The stallion felt a sharp hot sensation radiating from his right side. Choking on his breaths, his magic died and his pistol fell to the ground. He let go of Mr. Cake and held a hoof to the pain and looked at where the shot had come from.
His eyes landed on Pinkie, who stood stiff as a rock, holding a pistol in her mouth. Smoke was still wafting out of the barrel. Her eyes stared in shock as what she had just done.
"You shot me?" The stallion growled as he glared at her some more. His eyes softened as he recognized her. "I know you..." He gasped as he felt his life starting to slowly fade. "You're that mare... Works... The bakery..." He recognized the building behind her. "You... You fucking bitch!" He stumbled to the ground.
Seeing a group of dead emerging from the alleyways in-between the shops, Mr. Cake picked up the stallion's pistol and tossed it in the truck. "Pinkie, get in now!"
Pinkie broke from her haze and jumped into the bed of the putter-truck. Turning on the truck, Mr. Cake quickly shift it into gear and floored it. The vehicle roared down the gravel covered road and over the bridge out of Ponyville.
The stallion's yelling drew Pinkie's attention from her stupor. She watched as he kept yelling at her, completely unaware of the dead right on top of him. His anger quickly turned into panicked screams as the dead fell upon him and tore into his flesh.
Pinkie quickly turned away and spat out the pistol. It landed on the truck's bed and bounced and landed on a saddlebag. She stared at the weapon, her mind swimming madly with regret and understanding for what she had just done. Hearing a hissing in her head she placed her hooves on her head and buried her face into one of the many saddlebags.
-15 Hours Later-
Igneous Rock stood on his porch. The sun was just hovering over the horizon washing out the stars in the night sky. Puffing on his pipe he let out a sigh. 'At least the princess is still raising the sun...' He chewed on its bit as he grabbed the watch that hung around his neck. Checking the time, he frowned. "They should've been here by now..." Seeing a putter-truck in the distance he smiled as he walked up to his property's gate and opened it. "I'm glad you made it!" He smiled at Mr. and Mrs. Cake.
Mr. Cake shut off the truck and held onto the steering wheel. "Yeah... Glad we did."
Igneous' cheerful mood soured. "It's that bad?" He looked to the west and stared at the hazy silhouette of Nickelrite. He was glad his family lived far from the small mining town.
Mr. Cake ran a hoof through his mane. "Yeah..." He looked over his shoulders and looked at Pinkie who looked like she had seen a ghost. "She's not doing well."
Igneous looked at his daughter. "What happened?" His voice held worry as he looked at Mr. Cake with a sternness only a father could give.
Mr. Cake knew that look, from one father to another. "She had to shoot somepony."
"He tried to take Pumpkin from us." Mrs. Cake added as she comforted her children who were still shivering from the night's events.
Igneous sighed as he walked up to the bed of the truck. Seeing that his daughter didn't respond to his presence unnerved him. His second youngest was the energetic of his children, the wild child. The one to bring smiles upon ponies faces. "Pinkamena?" He saw her eyes trembling. He couldn't imagine what she had to do... Innocent Pinkie, even if she was twenty-one years old. "Pinkie, I know it was hard, but you made the right choice."
Pinkie gave her father a quick glance before looking at the truck's bed once again. Igneous sighed as he looked back at his house and saw his wife and his other daughters walking up to the truck. "What's wrong?" His wife, Cloudy Quartz asked.
"Its our daughter..." He placed a hoof on his wife's shoulder. "She had to kill somepony." His wife gasped. "She had too, to save Pumpkin."
"Is she not talking?" Limestone asked as she got on the other side on the truck and studied her sister's dour demeanor. "Pinkie?" She saw tears pooling around her sister's eyes. "Crap..."
Maud closed her eyes and let out a long sigh as she looked at Marble. "You know what to do." She gave a nod. Marble hummed as she crawled into the bed of the truck.
Marble placed a hoof under Pinkie's chin and looked into her eyes. Pinkie's mind came rushing back to reality as she realized she was back home. Her emotions took hold and she began to cry. "Marble... I killed somepony! I'm a mur...."
Marble placed a hoof on her sister's lips and put a hoof to hers and shooshed her. "You were protecting them." She softly spoke as she pointed at the Cake twins. Pinkie saw the twins looking at her from the backseat. Pinkie shivered as she buried her face into her sister's chest letting out a heavy sigh. Marble wrapped her arms around her sister and hummed out a soft melody.
Limestone smiled at her twin sisters and looked over at Maud who returned her smile with a small nod.
"She knows how she ticks." Mr. Cake watched as Pinkie's mood was slowly improving.
"It's a twin thing." Cloudy smiled.
Mr. Cake looked at his own twins and smiled. "I guess so." He looked at the large storm clouds rolling across the sky. "Looks like the weather teams will be struggling these up coming days."
Igneous frowned at the forming storm. "Indeed... Let us head inside. My wife has prepared a wonderful meal for us all."
-Present Day-
The heat of the day zapped Pinkie's energy. It didn't help that the moisture from the rains several nights ago caused the usually dry plains of Southern Equestria to be humid. Pinkie shivered as she looked at the clear sky and wondered if she would ever get use to the wild weather that now plagued Equestria. 'Hell...' How was she going to get use to a plague that turned ponies into monsters. Hearing a cough, she looked over at the cart she was pulling with her sister Maud as saw her father bracing himself as he coughed up blood.
Granite who was tending to him lifted his bandage with his magic and studied his wound.
"How is it?" Limestone asked.
"Bad... We need to find a hospital or pharmacy if I'm going to get the bullet out." He sighed as he rested against the cart's chest high walls. "And antibiotics, we're on our last pill." He rummaged through his saddle bag and pulled out an orange bottle and poured out the last pill in his hoof. "Here..." He gave the pill to the elder stallion and a canteen of water.
Igneous struggled to swallow. Letting out a heavy sigh he rested his head against the wall of the cart. "I'll be fine..." He gasped. "I've been through worse."
Pinkie shivered as she looked forward. "We need to find a working vehicle."
"You know sudden movements is not good for Pa?" Limestone sighed.
"We're two days from Ponyville!" Pinkie spat. "We need to get there faster!"
"Pinkie, enough!" Igneous sighed as he took in a heavy breath. "We'll get there when we get there..." He gave her a reassuring smile. "I'll be just fine."
Pinkie stared at her father and studied his heavy eyes. "Yes, Pa..." Pinkie lowered her head. Maud looked at her sister with soft eyes. She let out a sigh as she looked ahead. She hated seeing her baby sister not in a good mood. It was so unlike her... so foreign.
"We should've left sooner." Pound Cake stated, his raspy voice cut through the silence.
"We couldn't." Granite sighed. "The general's goons were still in high numbers and the herd of freaks that came from the south..." He looked at the pegasus colt. "It was too dangerous to leave. It was good thing that we waited a week."
"I hope it was." Limestone stared at her father as he fell back to sleep.
Granite stared at her with soft eyes. "It will..." He smiled. She returned the smile.
Seeing a sign, Maud read the words on it. Seeing Dodge Junction was just an hour or so, she looked to her right and stared at the tracks as they disappeared behind the horizon. "Let's go this way."
The others looked in the direction she was. "Dodge Junction?" Pinkie wondered.
"We might find more supplies." Maud looked at her sister. "And a putter-truck while we're at it."
"But Pa can't..."
"Pa needs it." Maud looked at Limestone. "He needs meds and a sowing kit Granite can use. The stupid military camp in Nickelrite was burned along with its supplies. Granite only had what he had on him at the time... And Ash..." She shivered. "We need a faster mode of transport." She pulled the cart toward the town forcing Pinkie to follow along.
Arriving at the outskirts of the small western style town, Maud and Pinkie pulled the cart slowly through the town. Seeing and hearing nothing they scanned over the seven buildings and the train station. "Is this even a town?" Granite commented.
"It's the stop gap between Equestria's north and south." Maud commented. "You'd think it would be bigger given that, but no..."
Pinkie saw the general store. "I'll go there and check it out." She unlatched herself from the cart.
"I'll go with you." Limestone jumped from the cart. "Keep an eye out for freaks and bandits!" She called back.
"We will." Granite commented. "Want me to look for a putter-truck?"
Maud scanned the streets. Eyeing the train station, she saw an engine with six cars still resting at the station. "We could us that."
"You know how to operate it?" He asked.
"No..." Maud sighed.
"I do..." Igneous spoke softly.
"Pa, you're in no condition to pilot an engine." Maud glared at her father.
"I'm not gonna heal any faster by just laying around." He huffed. "Besides, I think the little ones would love to drive a train..." He smiled at the Cake twins. They smiled and nodded their heads vigorously. "Something to... brighten their moods."
Maud bit her tongue as she listened to the twins' blather on about driving the train. A small smile worked its way onto her lips. She hummed as she looked over at the small general store. "Sure... Besides." She looked at her father. "It will get us to Ponyville faster." She looked back at the general store. Seeing Pinkie and Limestone coming back, a chill washed over her as she saw Pinkie's eyes were full of excitement. "Found anything good?"
Pinkie dropped her bag on the ground and began rummaging through it. "Yeah!" She pulled out several medical items. "We found peroxide, gauze, and ointments for infections!"
Those will work to clean up his wound," Granite took the items with his magic. "But the bullet will still be in him and if I got it out, I'll need to sew it up."
"Got you covered." Limestone smiled as she took out a sowing kit.
Granite smiled. "This will work..." He sighed. "Feels like I'm back in medical survival training."
"You had fancier tools then what I had back in my time." Igneous huffed from the cart. He let out a sigh as he laid his head down. "Let's get packed up in that train. The sooner we get to your friend's orchard the better."
"Train?" Pinkie looked at Maud.
"Yes, that train." Maud grabbed a saddle bag and threw it over her back. "It will be safer and faster way to travel."
"Is it cleared of freaks?" Pinkie followed after her as they made their way up to the train.
"Not sure, but they would've come out with all the noise we were making." Maud sighed. "I think Dodge Junction is truly abandoned."
Pinkie studied the town. "The general store still looked full like most in the town just vanished."
"Maybe they headed to the safe zones?" Limestone pondered.
Pinkie felt a cold sweat wash over her. "Yeah... safe zones..." She grumbled as they neared the train.
"Keep a look out." Maud grabbed her hatchet and stepped into the first train car. Pinkie and Limestone grabbed their pistols and held them tight in their mouths as they stepped in the last train car.
Looking up and down the aisle, they saw that it was empty except for the rotting corpses of a mare and a filly that looked no more than seven years old. Stepping up closer, Limestone and Pinkie saw that the mare chose the easy way out and took her daughter with her.
Maud stepped into the car they were in. "Its all clear..." Seeing the bodies, her heart stopped. "Oh my..."
Pinkie looked away and held back her emotions. "Why are they here?" Limestone wondered out loud. "There are plenty supplies here."
Maud held back her gag reflex as she stepped up closer to the corpses. "She didn't want to face what was... What has happened to the world." Maud sighed.
Pinkie looked into the eyes of the filly as she stared at the ceiling. Those sunken eyes of hers, it shook her too her core. Seeing something out of the corner of her eye she looked and saw her sister Marble sitting in a seat next to her. Her milky eyes glared at her. Pinkie shivered as she backed away. Marble kept her glare as she looked at the corpses. Marble only shook her head and stared at Pinkie with heavy eyes.
"Pinkie?"
Pinkie's eyes trembled as she watched her sister pull out a gun and put it to her head.
"Pinkie?"
Pinkie snapped out of her day dreaming and looked at Maud and Limestone. Her body was covered in sweat. Her pupils were small as pin needles. "Y-Yes?"
"Are you alright?" Maud placed a hoof on her forehead. "You don't look alright."
Pinkie looked at the seat next to her and saw Marble was no longer there. "I'm... Fine..." She looked out the window and saw her father talking to the Cake twins. "Let's get them loaded up." She headed toward the door. "We should get this train rolling before it gets dark." She laughed. "All aboard!" She jumped out of the train car.
"I think she was having another episode." Limestone sighed.
Maud was lost in thought. Memories of their hometown succumbing to the horde of dead that came from the south. The madness and fear that infected the town's ponies... her mother and sister... Holding back her emotions she shook her head. "Let's move these bodies before the twins get on board."
Limestone nodded. "Sure..." grabbing the bodies they gently carried them out and placed them in the shade of the platform's awning. Bowing for the bodies, they went back to the cart and loaded their supplies into the last train car.
"I think we should get that bullet out before we start the train." Granite stated as he got the medical supplies ready.
"No..." Igneous sighed. "Let me show you how to operate the train first."
"Pa, we really need to get that bullet out of you." Limestone sighed.
"Let me show you how to operate the train then you can go digging in my sides." He huffed.
"Understood." Granite went under the stallion, placing Igneous' right foreleg over his shoulders. "Teach us oh wise one." He laughed as he helped Igneous to the engine. Igneous rolled his eyes as they entered the engine's cockpit. Pinkie, Maud and Limestone looked at each other and smiled.
-Two Days Later-
The train roared down the tracks, the huffing and puffing of the engine brought a calm to Pinkie. She stuck her head out the window, enjoying the winds smacking her face, flapping her long straight mane about randomly. Feeling the train shake from the change in elevation, she sighed as she stuck her head back into the train car and slipped off her seat. Seeing the twins playing a card game with Maud she smiled.
Pumpkin feeling eyes were on her looked up and smiled. "Want to play, auntie?"
Pinkie nodded as she sat next to her. "What are we playing?" She watched Pound deal her a hand.
"I'm teaching them how to play war." Maud hummed.
Pinkie picked up her cards. "War?" Pinkie laughed. "Ma loved that game..." Thinking of her mother her smile left.
Maud seeing her souring mood, took in a deep breath and laughed. "It was, so I expect you to make her proud." She smirked. "I still hold the record for the most wins."
Pinkie's souring mood reverted as she smiled. "Not for long." Hearing a door sliding open and laughter, Pinkie, Maud, and the Cake twins looked over at the back of the train car and saw Limestone and Granite entering through the gangway. She was cuddling up against him and he was nibbling her ear. Pinkie held her cards to her lips. "Having a fun time?" She giggled.
Limestone and Granite stopped in their tracks. Their faces turned bright red as they looked at the card playing ponies. "Uh..." Limestone found herself feeling hot. "Yeah..." She gave a sheepish smile. Pinkie just laughed. The twins not truly understanding what was so funny, couldn't help but laugh with her.
Maud couldn't help it either as she let herself smile.
"Glad to see everypony smiling and laughing again."
Hearing her father, Maud turned around. "Yeah..." She saw he was bracing himself against the wall. "How are you feeling?" She looked at the fresh bandage wrapped around his barrel.
"Feeling better, now that pesky bullet is out and I have something to keep my mind off the pain..." He sighed. "But I need a break."
"Take over for me, I'll monitor the controls." Maud handed her cards to her father.
"What are we playing?" He sat down with help from Maud.
"War." Pinkie hummed as she placed down a card onto the discard pile.
"Ma's favorite." He hummed as he looked at his cards. "Your hand is not the best, sweetie." He looked at Maud, showing her the cards.
"Pa!" Maud rolled her eyes. "Now they know I was bluffing." She said with a laugh as she headed to the engine. She smiled as she listened to her family's laughter. Exiting the train car, the cool plains' winds washed over her. Her body shivered in delight as she entered the cockpit of the engine. Making sure the gauges were reading correctly, she sighed as she looked out the window at the star filled sky.
She watched the stars twinkle and shimmer. Her mind wandered to the times when her and her sisters would star gaze in their youth. Wondering if there was life on other planets. She smiled as she remembered Pinkie and Marble discussing such matters in a jumbled fantastical manner only six-year-olds could.
Letting out a sigh she looked towards the dark horizon. Her eyes lit up as she saw the silhouette of a town in the distance. She was about to tell the others that Ponyville was in sight, but stopped when the engine's light illuminated a trotter on the tracks.
Hearing the meaty thud and crunching grinding of the trotter being torn apart by the train, her body shivered as she saw more trotters on the tracks. More and more meaty thuds filled the air as the train tore through the dead like butter. "What the hell is going on?" Limestone asked as she stepped onto the engine. "Holy shit!" She saw the endless number of dead that occupied the outskirts of Ponyville.
"Tell the others to get ready..." Hearing the screams of several gallopers. Their bodies froze in fear. |
AMONG THE TROTTING DEAD | Part 2: Chapter 2 - Tick... Tock... Bang! | "Two muffin spectaculars!" Pinkie sung as she handed over a plate of freshly baked muffins to a cross-eyed mare.
"Thank you, Pinkie!" Derpy smiled as she took the plate from her. "How's your day been?"
"It's been going great!" Pinkie gave her a smile. "But it has been a slower morning than usual."
"You think it has anything to do with the sickness that's been going around?" Derpy questioned, she looked over at her daughter coloring in a coloring-book at a table by the bakery's storefront windows.
Pinkie thought as she scanned over the sparse spattering of ponies within Sugar Cube Corner. Looking at the clock, the time read eight-thirty-seven in the morning. "I think so..." She sighed as she took Derpy's bits and put them in the cash register. "Hopefully it's just something minor that will be solved in no time." She smiled.
Derpy hummed as she found her friend's happy tone amusing. "I hope so too." Hearing the bell over the door ring, they saw three soldiers wearing grey colored uniforms, entering the store. "There has been more of them lately." Derpy commented.
"Yeah, there has..." Pinkie's mood soured at bit. It wasn't that she hated the military, her father was a veteran, its just that if this sickness was something minor, why were they here? Why all over Equestria's major towns and cities? Was the sickness that bad?
"Hello miss." One of the soldiers smiled. "Could we get some everything bagels with cream cheese?"
"And three coffees." The other soldier chimed in.
Pinkie put on her smile. "Sure thing!" She hummed as she opened the display and pulled out the items in question. "How's your morning been?"
The soldier in front of the other two smiled. "It's been alright, just patrolling town is all." He watched her tail wag side to side.
Pinkie noticed he was giving her a flirty look. Though she wasn't interested... yet. She accepted the flirt, with a little hum. "Well, I'm glad you came to Sugar Cube Corner." She cut the bagels and plopped them into the toaster.
"I'm glad I did." The stallion hummed as he admired her graceful movements.
"Sure, you are?" His friend jabbed his side. The stallion frowned at his friend.
Pinkie giggled. "Oh, I'm sure," She looked at his name tag on his uniform. "Copper is very glad." She gave him a smirk. "If you haven't heard I throw the best parties." She looked at the admiring stallion. "And I think its time I throw one for the soldiers who are looking out for our town in these uncertain times." She giggled.
The stallions looked at each other. "That does sound fun." Copper replied. "I think it would be good for morale."
Pinkie's smile faltered a bit. "It's been that bad?"
Copper held up his hooves. "It's been a lot of ponies to take care of in the hospital and the quarantine tents, but other than that it's been simple."
"Simple my ass." He's friend replied.
"We need to think positive." Copper sighed.
Pinkie smiled, but before she could add onto his words. A mare ran into the store. "Help!" She cried. "My friend, she's having a seizure!" Copper and his fellow soldiers ran out of Sugar Cube Corner.
"Stay there, sweetie!" Derpy told her daughter. "Pinkie, you coming?" Pinkie broke from her haze as she followed her friend out of her store. Dinky, stared at her mother and Pinkie through the window, but her wandering eyes fell onto a mare on the ground.
Joining a crowd, Pinkie gasped as she watched a mare convulse on the ground, surrounded by flowers that had spilled out of their baskets. She knew this mare; her name was Daisy. She worked the flower shop a few buildings down from Sugar Cube Corner.
"Is she sick with that flu that's been going around?" A mare asked. Others gasped as they backed away a few steps, but their curiosity stopped them from fleeing any further.
"I don't know? She said she wasn't feeling well yesterday." Her friend sobbed.
Daisy growled as her convulsing got worse. Copper's friend sighed as he activated his radio. "All medical, we got one in front of Sugar Cube Coner!"
"Somepony do something!" Another pony yelled.
"There's nothing you can do!" Another sighed.
Soon, Daisy stopped convulsing as the sounds of sirens could be heard coming from the direction of Ponyville General. Pinkie kept her eyes on Daisy. She stared at her eyes. Hollow and void of life. She shivered as she saw the vibrate yellow of her irises turn a milky white.
Pinkie stared at the milky eyes of the gallopers as they ran alongside the train. Their manic expressions shook her to her core. One growled and threw its head about as it lunged towards the window. It failed to enter, but succeeded in smashing the window. Pinkie ducked as glass went flying. Hearing the twins sobbing, she crawled up to them. "It's okay, auntie Pinkie is here."
Granite growled as another galloper smashed into the window. This time its head made it through. It let out a hideous moan as it gnashed its teeth about, desperate to sink them into its next meal. "Back off!" Granite huffed as he wacked it with a large blacksmith mallet. The heavy head of the mallet made a meaty connection as the sounds of breaking skull filled their ears.
Pinkie watched the galloper's blood cover the seat and wall. The galloper went limp and impaled itself on the broken window glass. "Guys!" Limestone called out as her and Maud entered from the engine. "We have a situation..." Limestone's voice lowered as she saw the galloper hanging from the broken window. "What the hell?"
"No shit!" Granite huffed.
A pegasus trotter dove through one of the windows at the far end, shattering glass and tumbling into the seats across from where it entered. "Damn it!" Pinkie hissed as she motioned the twins to stay next to her father. "What to do we do?"
"They're the least of our worries!" Maud grabbed her hatchet. "We got bigger problems!" She mumbled through the hatchet's handle in her mouth.
"What?" Pinkie mumbled through her pistol's mouth grip. "What do you mean?" She took several shots at a galloper that was crawling through a broken window on her left. Two of her shots struck its neck but the last shot struck its skull sending brain matter flying.
"There's a train stuck on the track!" Limestone shot the pegasus trotter.
"If you're expecting me to teleport us out of this, you're crazy!" Granite huffed. "Not that I don't want to! But I'm not that gifted!" He fought back another pegasus trotter that had gotten on the train.
"No, we're not that crazy!" Limestone spat.
Igneous watched his daughters and Granite fight off the dead. Knowing that they had little time to spare given their impending road block up ahead at Ponyville's train station. He crawled over to his saddlebag and pulled out his lever action shotgun. "MAUD!"
"Yes Pa!" She looked over at the stallion.
"How well lit is the track?" Hearing banging behind him, he aimed his firearm at the window and fired. The loud percussion of the shotgun shell caused Pumpkin and Pound Cake to cower and sob. He grumbled as he had to us every ounce of his strength keeping his grip on the rifle.
"Lit enough to see about fifty meters!" Maud took several swings at a galloper that crawled through the window on her left. "WHY?"
"See if there is a track switch!" He commanded. Maud looked at her father with wide eyes. Looking over her shoulders, she saw the dead through the gangway's window. "You got this sweetie!" Igneous racked another round into the chamber. She swallowed a lump in her throat and opened the gangway door to the engine.
Seeing a pegasus trotter lunged at her, she took a swing at it. Her axe struck the trotter's skull. However, her weapon got stuck. The other trotter seeing its opportunity went for it. Letting out a gasp, Maud swung her hindlegs around and kicked the trotter back. Glaring at her stuck weapon, she yanked it with all her might. A meaty thump sounded off as the trotter flopped to the floor and fell off the train and onto the tracks. Hearing unholy tearing, Maud fought her stomach as she swung her free axe and cut the other trotter's neck. It only stumbled, but it was enough for her to kick it off. Hearing the same ungodly sounds, she ran into the engine's cockpit and glared out the window.
Seeing something metallic at the edge of the engine's headlight's reach, she hissed as she ran back into the train car and slammed the gangway door shut. "I see one!" She huffed as she leaned against the door.
"Who's going to pull it!" Pinkie huffed as she pushed a trotter to the floor and unloaded a round into its skull. Brain matter when flying. Seeing the dark crimson leaking over the floor, she looked up and saw several pegasus trotters and gallopers desperately trying to get through the windows. "How many are there?"
"A hell of a lot!" Limestone replied. "Even if we get the train diverted. It's barely out running them!"
"It's better than running on hoof and having the whole smorgasbord on our ass!"
"I'll pull it!" Igneous stated. His daughters looked at him with horrified expressions. "Don't give me those looks!" He huffed as he sat up and stood next to Granite. "Son, you're going to have to teleport me there."
"But what if we pass you?" Pinkie asked as placed a hoof on her father's chest.
Igneous could hear the desperation in her voice. "I trust him to get us back on board." He smiled and he kissed her on her forehead. "Don't you worry." He kissed Limestone. "It has to be done or we're all screwed." He looked at the twins and could see their wide tear-stained eyes. He gave them a small nod and a silly smirk. The twins nodded back as they clung onto each other. He looked at Maud and pulled her into a hug. "You look out for them you hear." He whispered in her ear.
Maud felt her body tense as he pulled away. "Pa?"
He only nodded as he held onto Granite. "Let's do this." Granite stuck his head out of one of the non-occupied windows and saw the lever gleaming in the light. Activating his horn, they disappeared in a flash of light.
"What did Pa say?" Pinkie studied her sister's dumbfounded expression.
Before she could reply, a trotter broke through. "Pinkie! Look out!"
Appearing beside the lever, Igneous fought through his disorientation and grabbed it, pushing his shoulder into it. It let off a squeal as the track diverters moved into position. But they wouldn't move all the way. Granite seeing him struggling added his body weight, which forced it to move all the way into position. They both let out a huff of excitement and let go of the lever. The lever snapped back into its upright position, undoing all their work. "FUCK!" Granite cursed.
Igneous stared at the lever. "Damn..."
"What?" Granite asked as he stared at the flock of pegasus trotters and eight gallopers running behind the train.
"The locking latch is not working. Somepony is going to have to hold it in place." Igneous threw his body weight onto the lever.
"Let me do it!" Granite protested. "They need you, more than me!" He threw his body weight onto the lever, moving it into the desired position.
"Colt!" Igneous growled. "I'll be very disappointed in you if you did something stupid like that!"
"Like you are, sir?" The younger stallion snapped back.
"Colt! You just can't go and steal my daughter's heart and then leave her like that!" Igneous frowned at the stallion.
"I'm sure, she'll get over me..." Granite huffed against the lever begging to go back into its resting position. "They love you more than.... Hey!" Igneous kicked him away.
Igneous orientated himself in such a manner that allowed him to keep the lever down while aiming his shotgun at Granite. "And that's why you best be getting on that train!" He held back his emotions. "She's gonna need all your love!" He could feel the top of the lever digging into his right shoulder blade. "You best not break her heart, understood!"
Granite stared at his elder. "What do I tell them?"
Igneous watched as the train neared. "Tell them that I'm proud of them!" Seeing it a few seconds away, he glared at Granite. "Get going!" Granite shivered as Igneous racked a round into the chamber.
"You really going to do this?" Granite inched forward but a blast of dust and the percussion of the shotgun caused him to jerk back.
"I am son..." Igneous raised his rifle. "Now go!"
Granite slowly nodded his head as he activated his horn. Looking at the dead behind the train, he looked at Igneous and gave him a soldier's salute, before vanishing in a ball of light.
The train's engine roared past Igneous. Dust kicked up all around him. He squinted his eyes and aimed his shotgun. Seeing figures in the dust covered night he fired blindly in hopes of thinning out the group of gallopers. Hearing a growl, he looked to his left and saw a galloper lunging at him. He fired, sending a wall of pellets into the galloper. The dead crashed into the ground. Glaring at the wounded monster, he took aim, but a searing pain radiated from his left hind leg.
Seeing a galloper digging into his leg, he aimed his lever action but nothing happened, he cursed and started bashing the creature over the head. "Get off of me!" He growled. "Not yet!" He looked up and saw he had three more train cars to go. "Ah!" He yelled as the wounded galloper bit into his upper foreleg. He dropped his gun and focused his last remaining strength on the lever. He put all his body weight against it and held on tight. The pain was unbearable, but he kept himself distracted with thoughts of his wife and his children.
Seeing the last train car whizzed past him, he watched with heavy eyes as it got further away. He felt clammy at the realization that he would no longer hold or see his daughters ever again flooded his mind. Feeling his grip loosening, he closed his eyes. "Stay safe..." Opening his eyes, he saw his wife and his youngest daughter Marble sanding a few feet from him. He saw they were smiling at him. He smiled as the gallopers threw him to the ground.
Granite appeared out of a ball of white light in the middle of the train car. His momentum however didn't match the train's and he tumbled across the narrow ally until a dead trotter's body stopped him. "Where's Pa?" Hearing Pinkie's voice, the realization of where he was came rushing back and smacked him like a brick wall. He felt sick as he tried standing up, but he collapsed as his mind spun out of control.
"Where's Pa?" Limestone asked as her and Pinkie neared him. "Granite, where's our Pa?"
Granite kept his eyes on the floor as he replayed the last seconds with the stallion. "I..." He tried speaking. "He... The lever wouldn't stay down..." He felt like he was going to vomit. "He pushed me away..." He looked up at them. "Told me to take care of you." He stared into Limestone's eyes.
Limestone felt a cold sweat wash over her. She felt numb as she collapsed on the floor. "What?" She started to laugh. "You're joking?" Her laughing turned into panicked giggling. "No... He didn't?" She looked at her sister Maud who was just staring at the ground. "Y-You? You knew?" She vomited.
The world around Pinkie faded to a blurry mess and sounds became muffled and time seemed to slow as her mind snapped. "Pa..." She looked around franticly, her limbs felt numb as she stumbled about, lost in a daze.
The twins started to hyperventilate as they watched Limestone's, Granite's and Pinkie's minds falling into deteriorating mental states. Maud seeing them crying sat beside them and pulled them into a loving embrace. "It's okay..." She cooed as she looked through the windows and saw the pegasus trotters falling behind. She shivered as she breathed a sigh of relief, but it wasn't a pleasant one. The lack of galloper howls, made herself aware that they were too busy tearing her father to shreds.
"NO!" Pinkie's gut-wrenching scream washed over them. Maud stared with horrified eyes at her sister's manic expression. "NO! NO! NO!" Pinkie screamed as she punched and kicked the seats around her.
"Pinkie!" Maud yelled. "Stop it!" Her only response was Pinkie huffing out a scream as she threw her head into the wall. "PINKIE ENOUGH!"
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" Pinkie spat as she got in her older sister's face.
The twins sobbed as they buried their faces in Maud's chest. Maud just stared at her sister. She had never in her whole life seen her this... angry... broken. Granite and Limestone fear stricken, stared at her as she walked up to a dead trotter.
Pinkie picked up the closest item which was a fire extinguisher and sat beside the dead glaring hate filled daggers at it as she raised her item over her head. She let out several gut-wrenching screams as she slammed the extinguisher onto the trotter's head. Unholy sounds of bone breaking and fleshy tissue tearing filled the air. Pinkie kept screaming as she assaulted the corpse. Blood coated the floor and the seats next her. Blood coated Pinkie's arms and spatters dotted her chest and face, making her looked like a crazed lunatic.
Seeing nothing left of the trotter's skull, Granite activated his horn and pulled her weapon from her hooves. Seeing that her hooves were empty, Pinkie turned around and glared at the stallion. She hissed and jumped at him, but her sister Limestone tackled her.
Limestone pinned her sister to the floor and stared at her with fiery eyes. "Stop this!" Limestone sobbed. Pinkie growled as she tried to break free. "Enough!" She pushed against her sister's chest to emphases her point. "This isn't what they would want!" She saw the anger, the hurt in her sister's baby-blue eyes. "This isn't what he would want!"
Feeling her sister's tears striking her face. Pinkie's mind snapped back to reality. Seeing the fear and hurt in Limestone's eyes, Pinkie broke down. Her sobs were heavy as she went limp. Tears flooded her eyes as she begged for her father. Limestone laid on top of her and held her in a suffocating hug.
Granite rested against one of the seats. His breaths were heavy as he looked at Maud who was staring at her sisters with wide eyes. "Why would your father do this?" He asked with a heavy sigh.
"Because he's stubborn..." She kept her eyes on her sisters. "Stubborn old stallion..." She tightened her grip on the twins.
Twilight hissed through her discomfort. Her shoulder screamed as she put pressure on her leg. She kept her mind distracted by looking at the stars that blanketed the night sky. It had been four days since they left Ponyville. The drive was peaceful, minus the bullet still lodged in her shoulder and the arguments of what to do with Blaze that came up once and awhile. She winced as she stepped down from the RV. The group was split when it came to leaving him. It was the same two issues that stopped them from reaching a decision.
Firstly, the group was split on leaving him with or without supplies. Some like Rarity and Zecora couldn't stomach just letting him wander the land with no weapon to defend himself from trotters and no food to eat. Others like her brother and Zipper could've cared less.
Second, they were split on leaving him in general. Again, ponies like her brother, Zipper, Marley, and Soarin were all for leaving him on the side of the road. While others, like Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Willy Pette, and Spike thought he should stay, earning his place as a valuable member of their group.
Twilight shook her head. Just thinking that way unnerved her. Even though the group he was with tried killing them, did kill members of their group. It felt wrong treating a pony like dirt... She wasn't like that; they weren't like that. 'You almost bludgeoned a pony to death...' Twilight stopped as she made herself a plate of snacks. 'And it felt... right...' She shivered as she picked up her plate and walked past the others who were huddling around the fire.
Shining watched his sister walk up to Blaze who was tied up to the back of the putter-truck that faced away from the fire. He frowned as he saw her hand him the plate. "You mad at your sister?"
Looking over at Willy Pette, he frowned at the older stallion's tone. "Sometimes it pays to play it safe."
"And loose what makes us ponies?" Willy Pette sighed.
"I agree with him." Rarity sighed. "We are better than that. We are not like those type of ponies that break laws."
Shining rolled his eyes. "You were all eager to pick up arms and defend the farm. Killing ponies. Were you not?" He frowned at the members that were silently judging him.
"Yes." Applejack rubbed the back of her neck. "But..."
"But nothing!" Shining sighed as he stood up. "Am I the only one thinking straight here?" He scanned the group. "We are wasting time, if we want to get there faster, we need to make a decision about him!"
"If we leave him, we give him supplies!" Spike protested. "If not, we're no better than them." He crossed his arms, keeping his eyes on the fire.
Shining glared at his younger brother. "Stay out of this conversation." Spike looked away and stared at his feet, wrapping his tail around him for comfort. Applebloom scoot closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. Shining shook his head at the affection.
Applejack took noticed and let out a heavy sigh. "We will talk about this tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Shining gave her a confused look.
"Yes, tomorrow!" She frowned. "Were all tired and are barley functioning on three hours of sleep." She pointed at the group. "And the wounded need rest!"
"It's hard to think clearly on little sleep." Hooves replied.
Shining just sighed and sat back down. Zipper stared at the group and shook his head as he walked back into the RV.
"Sounds like they're talking about me again." Blaze took the piece of cheese covered cracker from Twilight's magic. Twilight hummed as she prepared him another. Blaze rolled his eyes. "Why am I still here?"
"Because," Twilight offered him another cracker, which he accepted. "We need to vote on it. It needs to be a unanimous decision."
"You know this doesn't need to be voted on like a democracy."
"Yes, it does." Twilight retorted. "Its what makes us civil with each other."
Blaze looked at the star filled sky. "The world's not that way anymore."
"Its only been two months."
"And look what has happened." Blaze raised his brow at her.
"Ratchet and his ponies were always like that." Twilight sighed as she glared at her shoulder. "Even before the world went crazy." She rubbed her bandaged shoulder.
"Don't be naïve Twilight." Blaze looked into her soft purple eyes.
Twilight stared into his fiery orange eyes. "I was told by my mentor, to always look for the best outcome that would grow relationships, not tear them down."
"But you didn't do that with Ratchet?"
"He..." Twilight sighed. "He gave us no choice. I didn't want it to turn violent." Blaze only nodded as he kept staring at the sky. Twilight joined him and stared at some familiar constellations. "Like I said he was always like that."
"And what of me?"
Twilight mulled over his question. "I... I'm not sure..." She smiled. "You're quite the enigma."
Blaze huffed a laugh. "You know leaving me would be better for all of us."
"I don't think so." She replied flatly as she looked at him with a small smile. "We need to work together if we're going to survive this."
Blaze just stared at her, his mind mulling over her words. "After what I did?"
Twilight sighed. "Rainbow Dash told me; we are going to have to do thing that we are not comfortable with." She looked down at her hooves. "Whatever reason that drove you to rescue Spike and Applebloom." She took a deep breath. "I have to assume you had your reasons. Reasons that drove you to join Sanctuary before the world fell and Ratchet's group after." Blaze just looked at her for a short while before shrugging his shoulders and looking out at the horizon. "One day you tell me why."
"One day." Blaze said softly. "You need to take care of your shoulder."
"I'll be fine..." Twilight help back a groan as she shifted her weight off her lame shoulder. "Dawn needed the medical supplies more than I did." She looked at her bandage leg. "At least this one is out..." She winced as memories of the painful procedure replayed in her mind.
Blaze stared at her leg. "We're going to need to find more supplies on our way to Canterlot." Twilight nodded as she rubbed near her wounded shoulder. Blaze looked over Twilight once more before turning his gaze back to the dark horizon. Seeing a twinkle of light in the distance he squinted his eyes. "What is that?"
Twilight stared at the distant light moving across the land. "Soarin?"
"Yes?" Soarin raised his head form its resting place atop Applejack's head.
"You still have those binoculars?" She looked at the group around the fire.
"Yeah, there in my saddle bag," Soarin gave her a perplexed look. "Why?"
"What's going on?" Rarity asked as she watched Twilight walk up to said saddlebag and take out the binoculars. "Twilight?"
"Twilight?" Shining sat up and stood beside her sister. "What did you see?"
"You don't see that light?" Blaze looked up at the stallion.
Shining frowned at the stallion, but slowly turned his gaze to the dark horizon. Seeing a flickering light moving across the land, his eyes lit up. "What the hell is that?" The others stood up and stared at the horizon.
"Well shit, it's a vehicle of some sort with how fast its moving." Marley squinted his eyes.
"It's a train!" Twilight gasped as she saw the lights were on in the first train-car.
"Do you see any pony?" Applejack asked.
"No..." Twilight sighed as she pulled the binoculars from her eyes. "It's too far away..." They all jumped when distant galloper screams and gunshots echoed out from the train's direction.
"Gallopers?" Derpy's ears folded back.
"Somepony is on that train!" Copper spat out his water.
"They must've run into a herd of trotters." Macintosh sighed. "The same herd that overran the farm..." He quickly glanced over and Blaze, who was keeping his eyes on the distant train.
"Well, you think that train will bring them to us?" Lotus asked.
"It's headed in our direction, but the tracks don't come this way." Twilight remembered all the times she rode the train to Canterlot. "They run along the valley a few more miles from the hills we're on."
Rainbow Dash glared at the distant train. Her lips puckered as she looked at her broken wing. Letting out a sigh, the curious part of her mind won out. "We need to investigate."
"What?" Shining looked at the mare. "We can't catch the train with that thing!" He pointed at the RV.
"Well duh!" Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "But they can!" She pointed at Soarin and Thunderlane.
"Woah, hold on now there RD!" Applejack placed a hoof on her friend's chest. "We are not sending them after that train!"
"Why not?" Rainbow Dash tilted her head.
"Because, we've lost too many as it is!" Applejack jabbed a hoof into her chest. "And we don't know if they are friendly!"
"So, we're just going to let them die to a bunch of trotters?" Rainbow Dash spat. "If so then we're no better than Ratchet!"
Before their argument got worse, both Soarin and Thunderlane pulled them apart. "We'll go," Thunderlane looked at Soarin, "In and out." He ran up to the putter-truck and grabbed his saddle bag and a pistol. "If they fire back, we'll leave and if not..." He showed them a flare pistol. "I'll launch this into the air and you'll come and get us."
"Please be safe!" Rumble's voice cracked. Scootaloo put a hoof on his back.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine." He took to the sky. "You coming?"
Soarin looked at his girlfriend and smiled. "I'll be fine." He kissed her and took to the sky.
Applejack bit her cheek as she watched them disappear into the night sky. "Dash, get the truck ready!"
By the time Soarin and Thunderlane got to the train, the shooting they heard had stopped. The train car close to the engine was silent. They looked at each other, worried for what they would find as they closed the distance.
Getting close enough to see the train's detail through the halfmoon's low light, they saw a galloper hanging from the window. Grimacing at the dead, they landed on the roof and trotted to follow the train's momentum. A rifle round went through the roof like butter. Both stallions jumped back as they heard a raspy feminine voice yell. "They're on the roof!" They could hear the anger in her voice.
"How many more of them?" They heard another feminine voice this one softer in tone.
"Don't shoot!" Thunderlane yelled loud enough to project his voice over the winds the train kicked up.
All went quiet.
Both stallions looked at one another, unsure if they should bail before the mare's within did something stupid. "Who's out there?" A third squeaker voice asked.
Soarin cringed as he heard the agony in her voice. "Just someponies looking to help!" He stated in the best calming sounding voice he could muster.
"We're coming in don't shoot!" Thunderlane and Soarin dove down to the gangway door. Grabbing the handle, Thunderlane opened the door and stepped inside. However, he stopped in his tracks as his eyes laid upon the mares of the small group occupying the train car. His eyes were drawn to a pink furred mare, covered in blood. "Pinkie?"
Twilight and her group watched with bated breath as the light kept moving across the land. Twilight's eye trembled as she thought over whether or not it was a good idea to send the two stallions to an unknown fate.
"What's taking them so long?" Applejack walked back n' forth.
"I'm sure they're fine." Rainbow Dash stated as she put a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "They're the best fliers I know."
Applejack shivered. She wanted to chastise her for sending them out there... Or the idea. Her stubborn boyfriend always looking to help others. Like her sister Applebloom. "Yeah, I know..."
Blaze listened in on their conversations. A small smile worked its way onto his lips. It reminded him of his time in sanctuary... Before she showed up... Noticing the light coming to a slow stop, his ears stood erect. "It's stopping!"
The group went silent as they saw the light staying still. "What do we do?" Carrot Top wondered.
"They have the flare, I'm sure they will use it..."
I bright ball of white light illuminated behind the group, they quickly spun around, some drawing weapons. But their fears turned to confusion as they saw a white and brown colored unicorn stallion, on the ground holding two six-year-old twins. The stallion groaned as he opened his eyes and saw his horn was smoking. "Aw crap!" He moaned as he felt searing pain coming from the base of his horn. He placed his hooves on his forehead and began rubbing it to dull the pain. "That was a terrible idea!"
"Let's do that again!" The colt yelled. Feeling like someone was looking at him, his shoulders slumped as he turned around. Seeing that he was the center of attention of a large group of ponies, he became really shy.
His sister however, smiled as she waved at the group. "Hello..." Her eyes lit up. "Twilight? Applejack? Rarity? Rainbow Dash?" She tilted her head. "What are you doing here..." Realization at her current situation came flooding her young mind. "YOU'RE ALIVE!" She jumped up dragging her brother and jumped up and down Infront of the mares. "You are!" Tears poured out of her eyes as she clung onto Rarity.
"Oh my?" Rarity placed a hoof over the filly.
"Pumpkin? Pound Cake?" Twilight gasped, "Then that means..."
Hearing flapping, her and the others looked up and saw Soarin carrying Limestone and Thunderlane carrying Pinkie. Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity gasped as they saw blood coating Pinkie's lower chest and her forelegs down to her hooves. Seeing the hurt in her eyes, they rushed up to her. "Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash laughed. "You're alive!" They hugged her.
Pinkie was in a state of shock at the affection. Finally snapping back to reality, she melted in her friends' embrace, breaking down once more.
"Any others?" Shining asked, a small smile on his face at seeing his sister's happiness.
"Yeah, Maud." Thunderlane sighed. "I'll be right back." He took to the sky once more and vanished into the darkness.
Pinkie sucked in phlegm. "Y-You're alive!" She laughed. "You're alive..." She pulled away from her friends. "But why are you here?" Her eyes scanned over her friends. "Why are you not at the..." Her eyes locked onto a gold-brown colored earth pony stallion. "Copper?"
The others looked at Pinkie in confusion. Slowly they turned around and stared at Copper, whose eyes went wide as he stared at Pinkie. "I... I guess I have a name to the face." |
AMONG THE TROTTING DEAD | Part 2: Chapter 3 - Campfire Woes | Silence hung around the campfire. Many in the group stared at the fire as it consumed the small bundle of sticks within its domain. With her mind no longer clouded by emotions of anger, happiness, despair, and confusion, Pinkie finally let it all out with a heavy sigh. Listening to the soft melody of cracking fire, Pinkie glanced to her sides and saw the twins were sound asleep. The events of the night and the last two hours had finally caught up to them.
She glanced around and saw the other children had or were about to retire for the night. She saw Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Spike trying desperately to keep their heavy eyes open. But it was only a matter of time before they gave into the sweet embrace of sleep.
"Sweet heavens..." Rarity broke the silence as she put a hoof to her mouth. "I'm so sorry, Pinkie." She said as her mind replayed what her friend had told her.
Pinkie tightened her grip on her cup of tea. "I could say the same for you..." She sipped it, enjoying its smooth flavors.
Copper stared at Pinkie, watching her eyes tremble. "Looks like we've all been through hell and back these past two months." Pinkie looked up at the stallion. Those forest-green eyes of his dug deep into her soul. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling, but a warm one. She felt her cheeks blush as she remembered their first interaction back at Sugar Cube Corner... Blissfully unaware times...
"Yeah..." Limestone spoke as she poked the fire. "Looks like all of our plans have been royally fucked."
"You were hoping to get to the farm?" Derpy asked as she sat beside Dr. Hooves.
Limestone stared at the fire. "Yep..." She sighed as she laid down and leaned into Granite. "But we didn't expect the town to be completely overrun by so many freaks."
"Is that what you call them?" Twilight pondered as she laid on her sleeping bag.
"Yes..." Maud stated dully. "What are you calling them?"
"Trotters." Twilight softly replied.
"How did so many 'trotters' show up?" Granite asked to the group. "I know Ponyville is a large town, but I can't believe a majority of its population turned."
"They did." Applejack bluntly stated, keeping her eyes on the fire as she laid her head over Soarin's shoulders. "But most wandered into the nearby forest like the Everfree and Lilly Meadows."
"So why were they all around the train station when we arrived." Pinkie tilted her head.
"The group I told you about, they rung the damned dinner bell!" Applejack huffed.
"Didn't they know that would happen?" Pinkie rubbed her forehead.
"Yes, but their leader didn't care." Rainbow Dash huffed as she leaned against Thunderlane.
Maud who was silently listening in had turned her gaze over to Blaze who was resting his eyes, leaning up against the back tire of the putter-truck. "And why is he here with you, if his group attacked you?"
"He saved us." Spike stated as he pointed at Applebloom and himself. Maud looked at the two before she looked back at Blaze. "It's complicated." Maud just nodded, as she looked at her sister Pinkie and saw she was looking at Copper with blushed cheeks. A small smile worked its way onto her lips.
Shining mulled over what Pinkie and her sisters had told them an hour ago. Rubbing the base of his horn, he looked at his hoof-watch on left foreleg. Seeing that the time read, one-thirty in the morning, he grumbled as he poked the fire. "Know why the safe zone fell, in Nickelrite?"
"Probably same reason why the safe zone in Ponyville fell," Granite laughed. "The military's incompetence and the dead overwhelming the town." He opened his saddle bag and pulled out a military pin. Shining saw that its insignia showed that it denoted the rank of private. Granite stared at it for a few more seconds before tossing it into the fire. "It was a shit show..."
Shining stared at the pin glowing red hot within the bowels of the fire. "Yeah... A shitshow." He looked at Granite once again. "What division were you in?"
Granite sighed as he laid against Limestone. "16th Division." He smiled as Limestone buried her face into his neck. "My division was sent to Nickelrite to secure it and turn it into a safe zone." His smile left as he remembered his friend. "As you can see that didn't pan out like the government had hoped." He looked at Shining. "Let me guess, you're Royal Guard?"
"How did you know?" Shining raised his brow.
"The way you talk and show yourself." Granite laughed. "The stoic bunch you are."
Shining laughed along with Twilight and several of her friends. "Yeah, I guess it is... Captain, Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard."
"Well, you're a long way from the capital?" Granite raised a brow, eyeing the stallion skeptically.
"Was stationed here." Shining looked at his sister. "Had to watch out for my sister."
Granite looked at Twilight. "Pinkie did mention that you were in the hospital, in a coma, correct?" Twilight nodded. He shook his head. "It's amazing that you survived, well everything!"
Twilight tapped her hooves together as she thought back to that time. "Yeah..." She let out a sigh. "I still can't believe it sometimes."
Blaze listened in on her words. He couldn't believe that she was stuck in a hospital during beginning of the outbreak. And to have survived all that... 'She's one special pony' or just dumb luck...
"Let me guess?" Granite had turned his attention to Soarin. "Wonderbolt?"
Soarin shook his head as he laughed. "Damn you're good!" He let out a yawn. "Do you read minds with your magic or something?"
"No..." Granite laughed. "I suck at it to be honest." He fought of a yawn. "Amazed I was able to teleport the twins such a distance."
"You did what you had to do." Limestone said lazily.
Granite hummed in agreement as he scanned over the group before turning his gaze towards Copper. "And, you..." His eyes squinted. "Army?"
Copper almost choked on his drink. "Um... No..." Pinkie raised her brow at him. But before she could speak, he spoke up. "I worked at a pizza joint in the next town over. I was in Ponyville when everything went to shit."
Granite kept his eyes on the stallion, "Well I guess you can't win them all." He shrugged his shoulders. Some of the group laughed as his facial expression as he said those words.
Shaking her head, Rarity looked at the watch around her neck, seeing the time, she left off a yawn. "If we all want to get some rest before the sun rises, I suggest we get some shut eye." She laid her head down on her sleeping bag's pillow and pulled her sister close to her.
The others nodded as they all got settled, each slowly succumbing to sleep as atmospheric sounds of nature and crackling of fire filled their minds... All except for Pinkie who sat on her sleeping bag keeping her eyes on the fire, on Copper, then on the putter-truck.
Copper felt a chill as a cold breeze washed over him. Groaning he turned over to find better comfort but he only succeeded it killing his slumber as sleep left him. He grumbled as he opened his eyes to a star filled sky. He rubbed his eyes wondering what time it was. 'Probably five or six in the morning...' His ears swiveled toward the parked vehicles. Confused he sat up and looked through the dim moonlight and saw a figure rummaging through the driver side door. 'Blaze?' He stood up and quietly walked up to the putter-truck. Seeing Blaze was still tied to the back passenger wheel and seeing he was sound asleep, he slowly approached the driver side door. "Pink...?" He spoke, but a pink hoof found itself in his mouth.
"What are you doing up?" Pinkie wondered as she gave a raised brow.
"I could ask you the same thing?" He whispered as he swatted her hoof away. "What are you doing?" Pinkie ignored him as she ducked her head back into the truck's cab. "Pinkie?"
"Looking for keys, mister pizza colt!" She snapped.
He bit his cheek as he saw the hurt in her eyes. To be honest her whole appearance was strange to look at. She was no longer the bubbly pink mare with overly curly mane and tail he first laid eyes on, she was... sorrowful and stern. Her straight mane and tail reflecting the personality to a 'T'. "Pinkie... I..."
"Why did you lie to my friends?" Pinkie poked her head out of the cab and stared into his soul with those bright eyes of hers.
Cooper sighed. "You know why, do I have to explain myself?"
Pinkie bit her lower lip as she stared at the ground. "They would've understood."
Copper shook his head. "Yeah! Say to them, oh hey could I ride out the shitshow with you, just ignore the fact my division was shooting up the hospital!" He said in a hissed whisper.
Pinkie went silent as she stared at his stiff body posture. She let out a sigh as she looked at the driver seat and stared at its worn fabric. "I get it..." Pinkie rubbed her forehead. "You were scared."
Copper just let out a sigh as he looked up at the sky, seeing a sliver of light cresting at the horizon to the east he looked back at her. "You never did answer my question."
Pinkie tapped her hooves together as she scanned the cab. "Looking for its keys."
Copper smirked as he stood next to her and flipped the visor down. A pair of keys fell onto his hoof. "They're right here." He smirked. Pinkie's eyes lit up as she went for them. "Woah!" He held her back. "Why do you need them?"
"Just give them!" Pinkie hissed.
"Now you're the one who's keeping secrets." Copper frowned.
Pinkie let out a huff as she tried to fight off the blush on her face. "I need to go back." She kept reaching for the keys. "I need to know!" She gave it one more go, but he kept them just out of reach. She let out a frustrated grunt as she collapsed onto him. "Please..." Tears welled around her eyes. "I need to know..." She buried her face into his chest. "I need to see him one last time..."
Copper blushed at the feeling of her body against his. It pained him to see her so broken. "Pinkie..." He looked back and saw the others were still asleep. "Okay..." He lowered his left hoof.
Pinkie lifted her face and looked into his eyes. "Thanks." She took the keys and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. Copper blushed at her affection. She just laughed at as she climbed into the truck.
"Uh..." Copper broke from his haze and stopped her from starting up the truck.
"Hey?" Pinkie frowned.
"We're going to need to untie him, before we go." Copper stated as he looked over his shoulders at said stallion.
Pinkie blushed at the realization. "Yes... silly me... Wait, we go?" Pinkie tilted her head.
"We'll yeah." Copper smiled. "I wouldn't feel right with myself if I let you go by yourself."
She smiled as she looked through the windshield and saw the others were sleeping. "He's coming with." She hummed as she put the keys into the ignition, but Copper stopped her. "What?
"Don't start it, put it in neutral. We'll push it down the hill and then start it once we're far enough from camp." He stared at her with a stern gaze. She blushed and gave him a small nod. He smiled as he walked up to Blaze and begun untying him. "Wake up." He whispered as he shook him awake.
Blaze groaned as he slowly opened his heavy eyes. "What?" Seeing the others were asleep his confusion rose as he looked over his shoulders and saw Copper. "What are you doing?" He felt his hooves were now free. "Why did you untie me?"
"I need your help pushing this truck." Copper stood up and placed his hooves on the tailgate.
"Push? Why?"
"Just help him!" Pinkie hissed as she leaned out the window.
Blaze saw her stern glare as more of a command than an offer. Slowly nodding he placed his hooves on the back of the truck and help Copper push it down the hill. Pinkie kept her hooves on the steering wheel, guiding the truck as it slowly crept along the gravel road back to Ponyville.
Seeing the whole ordeal, Maud sat up at watched the dark silhouette of the truck fade behind the hills. She felt a shiver dance across her back as she looked around at the others. Taking a deep breath, she laid back down and stared at the horizon watching as the sun slowly rose into the sky.
Twilight was in a state of sleep that was heavenly. She felt light as a feather and cozy. Subconsciously she knew that it would soon end, but she fought it off, wanting a few more minutes of sweet bliss... "Twilight wake up!" Twilight jerked awake. Her head spun as she sat up trying to get her bearings. "Twilight, Pinkie's gone!"
"What?" Twilight finally broke from her haze and stared at Rainbow Dash with wide eyes. "What? Why?"
"I don't know?" Rainbow Dash pulled her mane.
"And she took the damned truck!" Shining growled as he stared at the spot where the truck once was.
"Copper and Blaze are missing too?" Aloe stated.
Shining let out a huff as he looked over at Maud, Limestone and Granite. "Did you know?" He stormed up to them. "Did you?"
Twilight stood in front of her brother. "Brother, don't start this!"
"Start what?" Shining glared at his sister. "Their sister started it by stealing one of our vehicles!" He glared at Maud. "Did you know?"
Maud kept her composure as she stared back at the stallion. "I saw her leaving if that's what you're asking?"
Shining growled as he got in her face. "Where did she go?"
Limestone pushed Shining back. "Watch your tone pal!"
"Enough!" Macintosh shouted as he got in-between them. "We are not going to do this!" He looked at Shining and gave him a frown. "Understood?"
Shining shook his head. "So, now we are going to let complete strangers take our stuff? After fighting for it back on the farm?"
"Strangers?" Twilight tilted her head. "Pinkie and her family are our friends?" She poked a hoof at her brother.
"They're strangers now, Twily!" He got in her face. She cowered from the cold aura he gave off. Those eyes of his cut through her resolve. She lowered her head and stepped aside.
"Shining!" Rarity spoke up. "Pinkie is our friend and for whatever reason she took the truck I know it's nothing malicious." She placed at hoof on his shoulder. "Let's all calm down..."
"Calm down?" Shining shook is head as he pushed her hoof away. "Am I the only sane one here?" He looked at the others. "Am I the only one here who understand the severity of our situation?"
"We understand the situation?" Soarin spoke up.
"Do you really?" Shining growled. "The world is changing, and your friend," He stared at Twilight. "Who knows what her and her family had to do to survive? They could be lying to us for we know!" Shining activated his horn and unholstered the knife strapped to his side. "You may have been friends in the past, but now... I'm not sure." He held the knife to Maud's throat. "Now, why did Pinkie take our truck?" Hearing a click, Shining turned around and saw his sister aiming a pistol at him. "Twily?"
"Enough!" Twilight shivered, "Stop this!" She fought back her emotions. "This is not us! We're not like Ratchet!" She quickly looked to her left and saw Spike staring at her with wide terrified eyes. She felt a wave of shame as she realized what she was doing.
"We're not!" Zipper stood between Shining and Twilight. "But, he's right. This is our group!" He looked at Maud and her family. "They are not." He looked at the others. "We have to stop being so trusting and assuming the best intentions of others."
"I say being too aggressive is just as harmful!" Rainbow Dash spat.
"But we can't!" Carrot Top stated. "Our group is already big as it is and our supplies are low. We can't be too trusting." Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Derpy look away from her.
"But they are our friends!" Applejack huffed.
"So!" Zipper huffed.
"Brother stop this!" Marley stepped up closer to his brother.
"She wanted to go back!" Maud yelled over the group. The group quieted down. She scanned their faces studying the multitude of emotions they gave off. "She wanted to say her goodbyes to our Pa." She walked up to Shining. "And we'll wait here until they get back."
Shining stared at Maud for some time. "No, we're not!
"No?" Twilight tilted her head. The others gasped.
He looked at his sister. "For all we know they're dead! Also, if by some miracle they're not, it will take them at least a day and a half to get back here!" He pointed a hoof towards Canterlot. "We need to get going if we're going to get to Canterlot in a reasonable amount of time!"
"But what about Copper and Blaze?" Applebloom wondered.
"Copper chose his fate, and as for Blaze, good riddance!" Zipper huffed.
"We can't all fit in the RV." Derpy held her daughter trying to calm her down.
"We'll take the train." Thunderlane stated.
"And we'll wait for them." Twilight huffed.
"We are not!" Shining rolled his eyes. "We are going now!"
"I'm waiting for my sister." Limestone spat.
"Good, one less pony to look out for!" Shining huffed.
"I'm not going!" Twilight frowned at her brother.
Shining returned the expression. "You are!" She shook her head. "Really?" He walked up to her. "What will I say to our parents when I get to Canterlot?" Twilight couldn't hold her gaze and looked else where as she mulled over his words. "You know I'm right."
"Guys! Stop this!" Spike stood next to his siblings. "You're acting like morons!"
"Spike I'm trying to do what's..." Shining struck Twilight in the back of the head, with his pistol's mouth handle. She went limp and fell to the ground.
The group gasped as they stared at Shining.
Shining frowned as he looked at the others. "Anypony wanting to go to Canterlot raise your hoof!"
Applejack swallowed her fear. "W-Who put you in charge?"
"I did!" Shining growled. "Somepony needs to guide this group!" He eyed them, scowling at their fearful expressions. "If we're going to survive, I'm going to need to lay down some ground rules."
"What kind?" Soarin stared at Shining with harsh eyes.
"Ones that will keep our little merry band of misfits together." Zipper smirked as he stood by his side. "I'm all for going?" He looked at his brother. "Bro?" Marley looked around getting a feel for the situation. Letting out a sigh he stood next to his brother. "Anypony else?" Zipper looked at the others.
The rest of the group looked at one another. One by one they reluctantly raised their hooves in the air.
"Good..." Shining huffed. "Load up! The ones who can fly do so." He looked at the non-pegasi. "Everypony else, get cozy. The ride to the train will take couple of minutes."
"You're just going to leave us!" Limestone growled. "You're going along with this!" She looked at Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash.
"This isn't a republic sweetheart!" Zipper aimed his rifle at her. "You and your sister stay right there."
"Hey this isn't right and you know it!" Soarin got in Shining's face.
"If you want to stay, then stay!" He huffed as he picked up his sister with his magic and placed her on his back. "Let's get going!"
Limestone frowned as she watched the others packed up their stuff and piled into the RV. Turning her gaze towards Pinkie's friends, she gave them harsh eyes. "Cowards..." She hissed. Hearing her, they looked at her. Their ears fell flat as they got into the RV.
"Don't make any sudden movements." Zipper hummed as he made his way towards the RV.
Limestone huffed. "We're not the bad guys!"
"Can't take the chance!" He shot back. "Not after your sister stole our truck. Who knows what she'll do next." He got into the RV and shut the door.
Limestone, Maud, Granite, and the cake twins watched as the RV roared down the hill towards the train. "What are we going to do?" Pumpkin and Pound Cake cried. Maud let out a sigh as she comforted them.
"Are we going after her?" Limestone sighed.
"No... We'll wait here." Muad looked around. "Look for something to eat and gather some firewood." She walked up to the firepit.
"Why would Pinkie do this?" Granite ran a hoof through his mane.
"Hey, don't you side with them!" Limestone huffed.
"This wouldn't've happened if she didn't steal their truck!" Granite threw his hooves into the air.
"She did and there is nothing we can do about it." Maud threw some leftover sticks into the firepit. She felt her throat tighten as she thought of her parents. "She couldn't move on... She, she needed to see him... Make it final." She rummaged through her saddlebag and took out a box of matches and lit the pile of sticks.
Limestone and Granite looked at the ground as they mulled over her words. Limestone let out a tired sigh. "I'll look for some berries."
"And I'll get some more firewood." Granite sighed as they went their separate ways.
Pound and Pumpkin who stood beside Maud, looked up at her with wondering eyes. "What do you want us to do?" Pumpkin asked.
Maud watched the slowly growing fire. "Sit with me." The twins nodded and leaned against her as they watched the fire dance about.
The putter-truck's motor sputtered a soft melody as Pinkie drove it across the dusty gravel road back into Ponyville. Seeing the train station in the distance, she stopped the truck and threw it into park. "Why did we stop?" Blaze tiredly asked from the backseat. Pinkie didn't reply as she picked up the pair of binoculars that were in the driver side door's pocket and looked through them.
"What do you see?" Copper asked.
Pinkie pulled the binoculars from her tired eyes and rubbed them. "I see the station." She looked over at the stallion. "The number of freaks is few and far between."
Copper nodded. "Sounds safe enough."
"Not if we drive up to the station." Blaze sighed. "Trotters will hear us driving before we even get there."
Pinkie frowned, he was right. Tapping her hooves on the steering wheel, she scanned the landscape. "We're walking." She stepped out of the truck. "Its not far, a few minutes at most."
Copper studied her determined gaze. "Okay..." He slipped out of the truck and grabbed his ax from his saddlebag. Blaze sighed and picked up a bat and joined them.
They trotted at a brisk pace and only took them a few minutes to reach the tracks. Looking down the tracks to her right she squinted her eyes. She gasped when saw the track diverter's lever. In a panic she galloped to it. Granite and Blaze followed her trying to match her speed.
Getting to the lever, Pinkie's heart sunk as she saw a pool of blood. Her eyes scanned her surroundings in a panic. She started to hyperventilate as she saw nothing... no sign of her father. "Where is he?" Her voice cracked as she felt her limbs starting to shake.
Copper quickly stood beside her. "Hey, calm down." He laid a hoof over her shoulders. "We'll find him."
Blaze stared at the two. He found it strange that Pinkie would go back to find her dead father, but deep down he understood, but would he have done the same... Of course, he wouldn't... 'You let them down...' He frowned at his inner thoughts. Hearing a moan, he looked over at a trotter a few yards in front of them. "Let's make it quick, we might have company real soon."
"We aren't leaving until we find him!" Pinkie shot back.
"Hey, if I knew this was a suicide mission I would've stayed behind." Blazed grumbled.
"Many in the group wanted to leave you behind!" Pinkie huffed.
"I deserved it." Blaze looked away.
Pinkie frowned as she studied the stallion. "Well, I don't." She sighed. "Everypony deserves a second chance." She placed a hoof on his shoulder. "That's my outlook on life and if my friends don't want to think that way, I still will." She smiled.
Blaze looked into her blue eyes. "Just what Twilight said."
Pinkie nodded and looked at the ground but seeing a trail of blood blending in with the dirt, a chill ran down her spine. She followed it and saw a figure on the ground through the haze of the warming ground. "Pa?" She followed the trail. She gasped as the figure came into focus. "Pa!" Her father's lower half was torn to shreds. Blood soaked his fur from the bites and scratches that adored his body. She slowly approached him, but stopped when his body moved. Tears swelled around her eyes as she saw him slowly turn around. His milky eyes looked up at her staring at her with a haunting gaze that froze her to the core.
Copper's and Blaze's fur stood up on the back of their necks. "Shit..." Blaze said under his breath as he watched her zombified father crawl towards her.
Pinkie hissed out a sob as she stepped back. She moaned as she unholstered her pistol that was strapped to her side. Her jaw tightened around its grip as she aimed at her father. She fought her emotions as she placed the sight directly over her father's skull. Seeing a figure behind her father, she glanced at it and saw that it was her baby sister Marble, glaring at her with hollowed white eyes. A cold chill washed over her and her grip lessened as she watched Marble point at her and moved her other hoof across her neck like a knife.
Seeing that she was struggling to pull the trigger, Copper stood by her side and lowered his head to be at eye level with her. "Pinkie..." He looked into her trembling eyes. "Its okay..." He sat beside her and rubbed his snout against her cheek. "Give me the gun." He placed a hoof under her chin. She finally broke and dropped the gun, collapsing on the ground, letting her emotions finally take over.
Copper picked up the gun and stared at her father. He glared at him as he reached out with his hooves. Copper shivered as his moans filled the air. "Hello, sir." He looked at the pistol in his hooves. "My name's Copper. I've met your daughter back in Ponyville..." He looked at the town in the distance. "Before all this," He watched a herd of trotters moving about in the distance. "Happened." Seeing her father reaching out, he sighed as he looked at Pinkie who had buried her face into the dirt. Her muffled cries filling the air.
"Guys..." Seeing nearby trotters turn their gaze toward her cries, Blaze walked up to Copper. "We need to get going!" He whispered.
Seeing them as well, Copper nodded and looked at Pinkie's father. "I just want to tell you. I'll take care of her." He held the pistol close to his mouth. "I promise." He placed the pistol's handle in his mouth and aimed it. Her father's only response was a growl as he desperately tried to swipe at them. Copper frowned as his togue pressed down on the trigger.
Twilight groaned from the mind-numbing headache assaulting her skull. Her eyes opened as she fought the urge to puke. "The hell?" Looking around, she found herself in a train car. Hearing the dull clunky thuds of the train rolling across the tracks, her memories came flooding back as she rolled out of her seat.
"Woah there." Spike spoke up as he held her up. "How are you feeling?"
"Like shit..." Twilight hissed. "Where's our brother?" She held onto the seat.
"He's in the second train car towards the engine." Spike replied. "He's setting down the ground rules." She groaned as she stood up. "He wanted you to stay here."
"I don't care what he wants!" Twilight huffed. "He's acting foolish!" She stumbled towards to gangway door. She fell against it. Her shoulder screamed at her. Her head felt like it would explode. "Is Pinkie with us?"
Spike felt clammy as he helped her up. "No..."
"WHAT?" She looked at him with wide eyes.
"After he hit you, he took over leadership. Zipper, Marley, Carrot Top and several others took his side." He sighed. "Says he's doing it for our safety."
"The others just let it happen?" Twilight caught her breath.
"Yeah..." Spike shivered. "Everypony is worried. I know he's just trying to look out for us... Twilight! Slow down!" Twilight let out a sigh as she turned the handle and threw open the door. Getting to the other door, she looked through the window and saw her brother talking to the group. She saw their submissive postures. With a huff she pushed the door open and stumbled into the train car.
Shining and the others turned their gaze to her. Shining seeing his sister sighed as he watched her approach. "Twily, I know you're mad but..." She punched him across the face. Spike jumped back and stared at his siblings with trembling eyes. Shining held a hoof to his jaw and let out a groan. "Yeah, You're mad."
"Mad?" Twilight huffed. "You knocked out your own sister!" She jabbed a hoof into his chest. "And what happened to Pinkie and her sisters?"
"I don't know." He said flatly.
"You don't know?" Twilight glared at him.
"We all don't know..." Applejack spoke up with a heavy sigh.
"What?" Twilight stared at her friends.
"We left before she got back." Rarity couldn't look at her friend.
Twilight stared at the group in confusion as she scanned them. Not seeing Copper nor Blaze, her head began to spin.
Seeing his sister losing her balance, Shining caught her. "Sis, I did this for all of us." He helped her on her hooves. "Somepony needed to lead this group until we get to Canterlot. We can't make this journey all willy-nilly. This world is unsafe and we can't just trust everypony we come across, we know that now, you know that now... Pinkie she may have been your friend, but who knows what she had to do. You saw her covered in blood." He shook his head. "Hell, she went to find her dead father, for what?"
Twilight groaned as she pushed him away. "She had her reasons!" She glared at him. "And this!" She pointed at all of them. "This is not us!" She looked at her brother once more. "We need to all agree before we make a decision!"
"We can't do that if we want to survive!" Shining retorted.
"I just don't want to survive!" Twilight shot back. The group and her brothers looked at her with wide eyes. "I want to live!" She continued, "I want to live with my mind free of regrets!"
"Do you regret what happened on the farm?" Marley looked at her with a raised brow.
Twilight stared at the stallion. "Yes... Yes, I do..." She shivered. "It was too easy slipping into that mindset..."
"But we had to..." Shining sighed. "Its just nature taking over."
Twilight shook her head as she backed away from the others. "I don't want to lose what makes me a good pony..." She wandered back towards the gangway and stepped back into the train car she had come from. The others stared at one another as they mulled over her words, with varying degrees of agreement. Shining on the other hand stared at the gangway door. His eyes narrowed and he left out a heavy sigh. |
AMONG THE TROTTING DEAD | Part 2: Chapter 4 - Mistakes Made. Mistakes Forgiven | Pinkie stared at the night sky through the passenger side window. She counted the stars that dotted the midnight black. The cold air sent shivers down her spine as it washed over her. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh as she enjoyed the cold refreshing air.
Copper who was driving, periodically glanced over at her. His face felt flush. The way her long straight magenta mane moved with the wind, contrasted beautifully with her face's soft complexion. To be honest, she looked better with a straight mane and tail over a curly one. "You alright?" Copper asked after the four hours of silence they had embraced while on the drive back to the campsite.
Pinkie opened her eyes and stared at the dark horizon. "I... I think so..." She pulled her head back into the truck and looked down at her lap. "I feel some sense of peace..." She tapped her hooves together. "But I still feel empty..."
Copper sighed as he pressed his hooves against the steering wheel, not just because he was tired, but because of his memories of his family. "It's not easy losing the ones you love." He commented softly. "You can never truly let them go. They'll be a part of you forever."
Pinkie looked at Copper and studied his posture. "Did you lose any family during the initial outbreak?"
Copper shrugged his shoulders. "Not sure... Lost contact with them almost a month and a half now." He let out a heavy sigh, "I hope they're okay." He tapped a hoof against the steering wheel. "I did lose my grandfather five years ago. I was really close to him. Hurt like hell when he passed."
Pinkie stared at the dash. "I lost my grandma four years ago..." She looked out the window. "Lost too many love ones to count now..." She rested her head against the door.
Copper stared at her for some time before turning his attention back to the road. Blaze who sat in the back stared at the truck's ceiling. He mulled over their words, thinking about the ones he was close to... Especially her... He frowned as an image of her danced across his mind like a seductive lady of the night. "So..." He said with a heavy sigh. "Are we back yet?"
Copper glared out the windshield at the twilight sky of the dark landscape. Seeing an orange glow in the distance, he smiled. "Yep..." His smile left. "But I have a feeling they'll be mad."
"How about I just jump out, save you some headache?"
"No..." Pinkie looked back at him. "We'll be fine." She looked at the glowing light as they crested the hill. "They'll understand..." Seeing the source of the glow coming into view, her heart sank as she saw the RV was missing and the only ponies were her siblings, the cake twins and Granite. "Where the hell is everypony else?"
Copper frowned as he pulled the truck close to the fire. "This isn't good." He shut off the truck and jumped out with Pinkie. Blaze stared at Maud, who kept a dull composure. If he thought understanding Pinkie was hard, she was on a whole other level.
"Maud?" Pinkie walked up to her sister. "What happened?" She scanned the barren camp while Maud stood up from the fire. "Where is everypony..." Maud smacked her across the face. Pinkie stared at her sister with wide eyes. "Muad?" Again, Maud smacked her across the face. Pinkie's eyes swelled with tears. "I'm..." Maud smacked her for a third time.
Silence fell over the small group surrounding the tiny campfire.
Maud's eyes were stern as she looked into her sister's soft eyes. Slowly her anger resided and she rested her forehead against Pinkie's. Maud let out a heavy sigh, before pulling away and placing a hoof under Pinkie's chin. "How was he?"
Pinkie could see the hurt trying to break through those stoic eyes of hers. "Uh..." She struggled to speak. "He's..." She closed her eyes causing tears to roll down her face. She burred her face into her sister's chest and let out her emotions.
Maud stared off into space as she wrapped her forelegs over her sister. Limestone who sat beside her boyfriend let out a heavy sigh as she poked the fire. The twins seeing their favorite auntie in such a state, cuddled her, trying their best to improve her mood.
Copper and Blaze stared at the sisters. Copper feeling some strange urge to comfort Pinkie, walked up to mare and stroked her back with a hoof. Overwhelmed with emotions, Pinkie broke from her embrace with her sister and threw her body against Copper's and buried her face into his chest. He blushed at the sudden affection, but soon excepted his situation and wrapped his forearms around her.
Maud stared at the stallion and gave him a small smile before it left. "So?" Maud looked up at Blaze. "Where did they go?"
Maud turned her attention back to the fire. "They took the train we were on to Canterlot."
"Why didn't you go with?" Blaze crossed his forelegs.
"They accused us of being the bad guys or something like that!" Limestone growled.
"They said they couldn't trust us, not after Pinkie 'stole' their truck." Maud added.
"What?" Pinkie lifted her head from its embrace with Copper's chest.
"Pinkie..." Maud placed a hoof on her sister's chest. "Calm... There is nothing we can do about it now. All we can do is focus on what we can do this very second." She looked at the fire. "If we leave within the hour, we can catch up to them."
"You want to follow them?" Limestone tilted her head staring at her sister in bewilderment.
"Where else should we go?" Maud eyed the others with a stern glare. "If Canterlot is the last safe zone that hasn't been overrun with freaks, then it's the best shot we got." She saw Blaze staring off into the distance. "You don't agree?"
Blaze looked at Maud. "No... It makes sense, but what if we catch up to them?" He sighed. "Shining is royal guard. He could keep us from entering the city!" Maud looked down at her hooves. "You know I'm right."
She frowned and shook her head. "Then we'll just have to get there first." She walked up to him. "You're welcome to come. Unless you want to go on your own?" Blaze looked over his shoulders and stared at the dark horizon. "Look, I couldn't give a damn what you did in the past. All I care about is the here and now." She gave him a stern glare. "So, are you coming or not?"
Blaze chewed his cheek as he mulled over her words. "Sure..." He looked down at his hooves. "Where else can I go?"
"Good." She walked over to her stuff. "Let's pack up. I want to get going as soon as the sun rises."
"Her sister Limestone, Granite, and the cake twins followed after her. Blaze watched them as they worked, feeling a set of eyes on him, he looked over at Pinkie and Copper who were staring at him. "I've got no shit to pack!" He grumbled as he sat by the fire and lied down.
Pinkie blushed as his words sunk in and quickly looked at Copper. "Um..." She swallowed a lump in her throat. "Want to... Um, clean out the truck?"
Copper found her flustered appearance amusing. Something to brighten the mood in these uncertain times. "Sure." He booped her snout before walking to the truck. Pinkie's face felt hot, but her shocked expression shifted into a smile as she followed after him.
The truck roared through the hilly plains towards the mountains in the north. Maud kept her eyes on the road as the sun slowly rose above the land. Granite sat in the passenger seat resting his head in his hoof as he stared out the window, watching the grass dance with the winds. The cake twins slept in the back seat. Their bodies against Limestone who was also sleeping the early morning away. Pinkie, Copper and Blaze sat in the bed of the truck.
Pinkie stared at the bed's floor. Her eyes narrowed as memories of her ride from Ponyville to Nickelrite replayed in her mind. Feeling a presence, she looked to her left and saw her sister Marble sitting beside her. Pinkie stared at her white milky eyes. Marble stared right back with an air of contempt. Pinkie shivered at her sister's expression.
"You alright?"
Pinkie blinked and her sister was gone. Turning around, she saw Copper looking at her with soft eyes. "Y-Yes..." Pinkie leaned against him. "Just cold."
Copper shook his head. "You need to borrow my jacket?"
Pinkie pulled the hood of her jacket over her head. "No..." She blushed as she rested her head on his shoulder.
Blaze stared at the two for a few seconds. Letting out a sigh he turned his attention to the landscape, watching trees and bushes pass them by.
"How's our fuel situation?" Granite asked.
Maud glanced at the fuel indicator. "It's getting low...
"We have been driving for two days now." He sighed. "Will it be enough to get to the next major town?"
"No..." She huffed.
"We have six-day drive..." He mumbled as he stared at a wild cherry bush as they passed it. "The train will get there in three."
Maud frowned as she glared at the road. "Unless they get stuck."
"True..." He opened the glovebox and rummaged through it. Seeing a map, he opened it up and skimmed it. "Where are we?"
She scanned the roadside and saw a road sign. "Highway 12."
Seeing the highway cutting through Ponyville, he skimmed north and saw the town they had just passed. "We're close to Iron's Ridge."
She sighed. "At this rate we'll be in Canterlot within the week!"
Granite sighed. "Hey, we'll get into the city." He smiled.
Maud just nodded as she saw the road sign for Iron's Ridge. "Let's hope there is a gas station?" She pulled the vehicle onto the offramp towards the town.
"Where are we going?" Pinkie opened the back rear window hatch, which startled Limestone from her slumber.
"Getting some fuel." Maud said bluntly.
Blaze sighed as he picked up his baseball bat. "Let's be prepared for anything." Pinkie and Copper nodded as they opened their saddlebags and took out their pistols.
Getting to Iron's Ridge, a medium sized town on the edge of a plateau overlooking Horseshoe Valley where Ponyville and its neighboring towns called home, Maud slowly drove through the hard dirt compacted streets at a steady pace. The puttering of its engine filled the air as it made its way through the town. Seeing a gas station, Maud pulled the truck up to one of the pumps. Shutting off the vehicle, Maud and Granite jumped out of the truck.
"You think there is any gas left?" Blaze asked as he watched Maud walk up to the lever connected to a 1920's style fuel pump, with a mechanical dial for fuel amount and price and an emblem of a smiling pony holding a fuel hose nozzle.
"I hope so..." Maud grabbed the lever with her hooves and pulled it towards her. A low groan sounded off, but nothing came out. She pulled again, and some fuel came out, but not at lot.
"Damn..." Granite looked at the other three pumps. "I take it they won't matter either."
"Correct." Blaze sighed. "They're all connected to the same tank."
"Looks like we're going to have to siphon gas from other vehicles." Limestone eyed several abandoned putter-wagons, cars and trucks resting on the streets.
"Keep an eye out for trotters." Copper sighed as he stood up. "Whose coming with?" He unlocked a bungie cord tied to the side of the truck bed, allowing three jerrycans their freedom.
"I will." Pinkie raised her hoof.
"Sure..." Blaze sighed.
"Same." Limestone nodded.
Granite and I will stay here and pump what's left." Maud put the fuel pump nozzle into the truck's tanks' filler pipe. "Please don't take unnecessary risks."
"We won't." Pinkie smiled. "I promise." They headed down the road and walked to the first vehicle they saw a few yards from the gas station.
Muad kept her eyes on their distant silhouettes. as she pumped what remaining fuel the station had into their truck. "They'll be fine." Pumpkin stated with a soft hum.
Maud smiled at the filly. "I know." She looked at Granite scanning their surroundings. "See anything?"
Granite frowned. "No, but this doesn't feel right." He looked down the street the gas station was on. "It's too quiet."
"Expect the dead." Maud looked at the buildings surrounding them. "It's a matter of time until they show up."
Granite nodded as he looked at the twins and saw them looking at him with wide eyes. "Don't you worry, I got you." The twins smiled as they returned to their picture book. Hearing a ping of a falling glass bottle, he and Maud looked around for the source of the noise. Hearing more shuffling, their bodies shivered.
Pinkie grumbled as she saw the last drops of golden liquid pour into the jerrycan. Shaking the can she estimated that it only held two of the five gallons it could hold. She grumbled and looked up at Copper who pulled out the plastic tube. "Any luck with yours?" She looked over at her sister and Blaze who were by a yellowed colored truck.
"A little..." Limestone sighed. "Looks like somepony picked the gas tanks clean!"
"Or they evaporated?" Blazed mumbled.
"Within two months?" Limestone frowned.
"We, I don't want to think somepony or a group is close by." Blaze huffed. "So far my luck and yours with groups hasn't been swell."
Limestone's lips puckered up, but she couldn't deny that fact. With a huff of her own she picked up her jerrycan and Blaze did the same and walked up to Pinkie. "Ready to head back?" She said through clenched teeth.
"Yeah, we should get a couple more miles in before nightfall." Copper commented as he picked up the jerrycan.
Pinkie looked around at the abandoned buildings that surrounded them. "Yeah..." She smiled. Hopefully Maud was able to get enough to fill the truck's gas tank. "Besides, I think the ten gallons we got will help us get to the next town no problem." She started humming a little tune.
Limestone and Copper bobbed their heads to the music while Blaze stared at the sisters, confused by and intrigued by their cheerful mood given their current situation. He too, slowly succumbed to the music and bopped his head along as well.
The respite of happiness sent shivers down Pinkie's spine. Seeing them join her in her little tune caused her to start trotting in place and let off a little squeal of joy. Copper stared at her and saw some color come back to her complexion. He smiled, enjoying her joyful movements.
"Don't stare too long." Limestone laughed as she flicked her tail in Copper's face. She turned around and gave him a stern glare. "And don't forget, I got my eye on you."
Copper blushed, he didn't know if her words were said in a joking or a serious manner. But his predicament was broken when Blaze jabbed his sides. "She seems like she'd bite your head off if your got on her bad side." He laughed as he followed after Limestone. Copper's blush intensified. Rolling his eyes, he followed along.
Pinkie slowed her pace and skipped alongside Copper. Seeing his slightly sulky mood, she rubbed her cheek against his. "Don't worry, my sister won't kill you." She laughed. "I can handle myself when it comes to dating."
Copper blushed at her touch. 'Dating...' He chaotized himself. She's been overly affectionate with him for the past three days of course she had feelings... "Really?"
"Well..." Pinkie blushed. "Well for others, not really for myself. Loved playing matchmaker..." She kicked a pebble across the gravel road. "Quick flings were all I really had..." She rested her head against him as they walked. "I kind of like this though... It feels right."
Copper enjoyed the feeling of her body against his. "Same..."
Getting to the street that led to the gas station, the group let out a pleased sigh as they rounded the corner. Hearing a metallic click, their attention was drawn to the end of a barrel aimed at them. They looked on in horror as they saw a large group of ponies wearing navy-blue military shirts surrounding them and the gas station.
Seeing Maud, Granite, and the twins sitting on the ground with their hooves in the air. Pinkie's blood started to boil, but feeling a pistol being pressed against the back of her head and the sound of its hammer being cocked back, froze her in place. The pony holding said pistol hummed as he looked at her and her family and friends. "Don't move... The captain would like to see you!" He spat through clenched teeth from holding the pistol in his mouth.
"Captain?" Pinkie questioned.
"Questions for later!" The pony growled as a bag was placed over Pinkie's head.
Pinkie felt a cold breeze wash over her. The constant dripping of a leaking pipe danced in her ears. They twitched from the annoying sound, or at least they tried. The bag over her head prevented them from moving freely. She gritted her teeth as she felt her hooves were tied behind her back.
"How many?" She heard a raspy female voice ask somewhere to her right. "Eight." A masculine voice replied somewhere to her left. "Well let me see who wondered all the way to this desolate town." The bag was lifted off Pinkie's head." The female's voice gasped as her voice was caught in her throat. "Oh, fuck me sideways!"
Pinkie blinked several times to rid the pain her eye's felt from the harsh white light above her. Glancing to her sides she saw that she was alone in bedroom devoid of most of its furniture except the for a dresser by the door. Blinking her eyes once more, she looked at the ponies who were talking. Her eyes stared at a pegasus mare with golden fur and a fiery-colored mane and tail. The flight jacket she wore had seen better days and her large aviator sunglasses covered here eyes, but Pinkie wouldn't have to wait long as the mare removed them with her left wing. Seeing those orange-colored eyes of hers, Pinkie's heart skipped a beat. "Spitfire?"
"Is... Is Soarin and Rainbow Dash alive?" Spitfire asked.
Pinkie groaned as she pulled against her restraints. Blaze came to mind and how he was treated by her friends... She frowned, shaking that thought from her mind she looked at Spitfire with dull eyes. "Untie me and my friends, then we'll talk!"
Spitfire's face morphed into a determined pose. "Untie her," She commanded to a mare beside her.
"What?" The mare questioned. "We don't know if they're bandits?"
"I know they're not!" She spat back. "Now untie her! And you!" She whipped her head around and stared at the stallion Pinkie heard earlier. "Untie her friends." The stallion nodded and left the room. Seeing that Pinkie was untied, Spitfire smiled and offered her a hoof. "Sorry about that. Can't be too careful these days. A shame really, the world goes to shit and ponies first actions are to harm one another."
"Not everypony." Pinkie added as she took her hoof and stood up.
Spitfire slowly nodded as she studied Pinkie. "True, but what I saw back in Cloudsdale... I'm not so sure. Panic is one hell of a drug."
Pinkie thought back to her time in Nickelrite. "Yeah..."
"Hey at least we're alive." Spitfire smiled. "I hope the others in your group are just as understanding as you."
"Why did you capture us?" Pinkie asked in a dull tone.
Spitfire sighed as she motioned Pinkie to follow. "Not a lot of new faces coming into Iron's Ridge these days. It's been quiet for nearly a month, unless you count the dead."
"Dead?" Pinkie felt a shiver dance down her spine. "We didn't see any dead."
"True..." Spitfire smiled. "You can thank my Wonderbolts for taking care of them."
"Wonderbolts?" Pinkie looked back at the mare behind them as saw that she was an earth pony like herself. "I take it not all of them survived?" Spitfire remained silents as they walked. From her posture, she could tell Spitfire was holding back her emotions. "Sorry." Pinkie let out a soft sigh.
"No time for being sorry." Spitfire groaned. "We got to focus on the here and now."
Pinkie smiled. "You sound just like my sister."
Spitfire smiled. "A mare after my own heart." Getting to the end of the hall, she placed a hoof on a door's handle. "Looking forward to meeting her." She opened the door to a large room. Within the room several ponies wearing Wonderbolts patches on their blue polo-shirts stood in the corners of the room, with weapons in hoof. In the middle were several others looking over Pinkie's sisters and friends.
"Pinkie!" Limestone shouted as she hugged her sister. "Did they hurt you?"
Pinkie giggled. "No..." She looked back at Spitfire. "Just happened to strike gold, an old friend of Rainbow Dash's." She pointed at her group. "Spitfire, meet my sisters, Maud and Limestone. The twins Pumpkin and Pound Cake as well as Granite, Copper, and Blaze."
"Nice to meet you." Spitfire waved at them. "Sorry for roughing you up earlier. Can't be too careful in times like these."
"We understand." Maud sighed as she stood up. "We've been through worse in Nickelrite." She noticed Blaze wanted to dispute her statement with one of his own, but he kept his lips sealed.
"Nickelrite?" Spitfire frowned as she mulled over her thoughts. "Damn... The safe zone there fell as well?" Maud and her sisters nodded. Some in Spitfire's group looked at one another and talked among themselves. Making out some of their conversations, Spitfire shook her head. "Why aren't you with Rainbow Dash and Soarin? Are they okay?"
Pinkie looked at her group. "They're safe, but we're not with them because I did something stupid." Her body felt numb as the painful memoires filled her mind.
Spitfire tilted her head as she studied her timid posture. "What did you do?"
"She stole one of their vehicles to go back into town." Copper spoke for Pinkie. "She needed to put her father to rest."
"We took a train into Ponyville, but the station was blocked. Pa, diverted the train, but the freaks got to him." Limestone hung her head as she held onto Granite.
Spitfire stared at the Pie sisters, studying them like if they were one of her new recruits in the Wonderbolt Academy. Closing her eyes she sighed, as she looked up at the ceiling skylight. "Where are they headed?"
"They're heading to Canterlot by train." Pinkie replied.
"Canterlot?" Spitfire stared at her with wide eyes.
"Yes, why? You sound worried?" Pinkie felt clammy as the worst of the worst possible situations played out in her mind.
Spitfire cursed as she ran a hoof through her mane. "Because the dead control the capital!" Pinkie felt her throat tighten as thoughts of her friends driving into a trap filled her mind.
"Shit!" Blaze cursed.
"What do we do?" Pinkie asked.
"How many days are they ahead?" Spitfire asked.
"Maybe a day or two." Copper answered.
Spitfire looked down at her hooves. "Wonderbolts, gather your gear!"
"Captain, why?" One of her crew asked.
"Doing what we Wonderbolts are know for." She made her way to the door. "Saving ponies!"
"What about us?" Pinkie asked as she followed after her.
Spitfire turned around and gave her a smirk. "Get some food and resupply yourselves, you're coming along. And as for the twins, they can stay with the rest of the children." Her smirk left. "Canterlot's outskirts are no place for them."
"The world is no place for any pony." Blaze said dully.
Spitfire nodded. "True..." She looked up at the skylight and saw the clouds floating across the sky. "It doesn't belong to the dead yet." |
AMONG THE TROTTING DEAD | Part 2: Chapter 5 - Solemn Train Ride | "Well, that should be everything!" Zipper hummed as he stepped back and looked at their stockpile of food. "We have seven varieties of canned fruits and vegetables, as well as six large bags of dried fruits and a bag of oats."
Marley stared at the food. "That's all?" He asked his brother.
"Yes." Zipper grumbled as he placed the items in a small crate.
"How's the water?" Shining asked.
"Enough for three days if we ration it out." Zipper looked at the large jugs.
Shining nodded as he looked at Marley. "Tell Applejack, we need everypony to be aware of our current situation. Hopefully we won't have to worry once we get to Canterlot." Marley nodded and left the train car they were in. Seeing the door close he let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead.
"Hey, don't worry." Zipper placed a hoof on Shining's shoulder. "No matter what, my little brother and I got your back."
Shining stared at the earth pony. "Why?"
"Why?" Zipper tilted his head.
"Why are you taking my side?" Shining frowned. "Ever since Pinkie showed up, you've agreed with everything I've said?"
"I saw the light." Zipper held up his front hooves. "So did everypony else." He shook his head. "I think the others would still be alive if we had left the farm once your baby sister showed up."
Shining mulled over his words as he looked out the window at the twilight sun bathing the landscape in mild darkness through the windows on his left.
"Honestly, I not sure if Dawn is going to make it." Zipper stated. "We're going to have to do something when he dies."
Shining shook his head. "Let's cross that road when we get there." Shining stared at Zipper seeing if he would interject, but all he did was nod and left the train car. Alone, Shining stared at the box of food. Listening to the glass jars clink and clank against one another as the train rolled across the landscape, soothing his already tensed nerves. Letting out a heavy sigh he thought of his parents, his wife... If Canterlot was truly safe or not.
'What if it isn't?'
Twilight's words played out in his mind. He shook his head as he stood up. "Twily, why do you have to be so stubborn?" He stared at the floor listening to the sounds of the train's wheels rolling over the tracks. "I have a plan..." He looked out the windows once more. "A better one than yours."
Applejack stared at Twilight who sat in a seat at the back of the train they resided in. She felt a heaviness on her heart as she saw the despair in her friend's eyes. "How long will she be like that?" Rarity asked solemnly.
Applejack let out a sigh. "Until we get to Canterlot I guess."
Willy Pette who sat beside Lotus and Aloe playing a card game looked at the mares. "She can't wait that long." He sighed. "We need a counter balance to Shining sooner than later."
"I could do it." Applejack pointed at herself. "So can my brother."
"I don't doubt that." Willy Pette sighed. "But I think it coming from her will be better for all of us." Aloe nodded in agreement.
Rarity let out a soft sigh as she stood up from her seat and sat beside Twilight. "Twilight?"
Twilight shivered as she let out a heavy sigh. "What?"
Rarity winced at the tone, but she continued. "You need to get out of this stupor you're in. It's doing no pony any good." She placed a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "We need you."
"Like Pinkie needed us?" Twilight looked at her friends with heavy eyes.
Willy Pette winced while he took a puff of his cigar. "That's a low blow."
"Girl!" Applejack huffed. "Pinkie's a smart mare, she'll be safe out there." Applejack sat beside her. "If I know her, she'll probably be there before us."
Twilight smiled a bit at Applejack's cheerful tone. But her smile left as she looked out the window once more. "Why did my brother do this?" Applejack and Rarity looked at one another, unsure of what to say.
"He did this for our own good." Carrot spoke up, interrupting Willy Pette as she entered the train car.
"For our own good?" Twilight questioned.
"Yeah, somepony needed to take charge." Carrot huffed out a grumble. "The way you two were handling things have done us no good!"
Applejack frowned. "Sorry, there is no guide on how to survive a damned trotter apocalypse!" Rarity and Twilight placed a hoof on her shoulders to calm her down.
Carrot just frowned. "There are more ponies who agree with me, even if they don't show it, they know Shining is the right stallion for the job."
"He may be a leader, but his methods are not right." Willey Pette grumbled. Carrot frowned and rolled her eyes as she left the train car.
Twilight stared at the door for some time, pondering Carrot's words. "Maybe she's right..." Twilight finally spoke up. "Maybe we need to be tougher, like we were with Ratchet and his stallions."
"And when do we stop thinking everypony we come across will double cross us?" Applejack sighed. "Until there is no pony left?" Twilight stared at her friend unsure how to answer her. "Twilight, I know I gave in, gave in and kicked that fucker... That freak's face, but it felt wrong..." She sighed. "That's not how we rebuild, that's not how we defeat the dead."
"I... I agree AJ." Twilight stared at her lap. "But of the others, I'm not so sure they do."
Raity sighed as she ran a hoof through her mane, trying to fix its tattered appearance. "We might have to find a balance. Ponies like Ratchet will be out there, but there are ponies like us too. Ponies that can help."
"I agree." The ponies looked up and saw Marley walking up to them. "We can't lose sight of who we are, but we can't be naive at the same time." He stared at Twilight and Applejack.
Applejack bit her cheek as she mulled over his words. A part of her knew that going back to the old ways of doing things was not an option. Or could it be... Maybe that's why she stayed. Allowing Shining to take command of their group. Maybe Canterlot could be that little oasis from the world of the dead. "How's our supplies?" She managed to look at the stallion.
"Low." Marley sighed. "We'll have to ration for the last two days of our trip."
"Damn..." Willy Pette crossed his forelegs on the table. "That low?" He looked at Marely and he gave a small nod.
Twilight groaned as she rubbed her shoulder. "We'll tell the others..."
Applejack nodded. "Thanks for the information."
"Is there anything else you need me to do?" Marley asked.
"Come with us." Rarity hummed. "I think your calming presence with help with breaking the ice."
Marley raised his brow." Missy, I'm not the softest of ponies."
"So?" Rarity hummed as she got up and opened the gangway door. "You three coming?"
"You can't be serious?" Rainbow Dash hissed as she glared at her boyfriend. "You agree with how Shining's handling things?"
Thunderlane let out a sigh. "Dash, it's been four days, let it go."
"I'm not letting it go!" She growled. "And don't get me started with Carrot, Marley, Zipper, Hooves, Lotus, and Aloe." She shook her head. "Just going along with it?"
"Dash they just want to be safe." He sighed. "Derpy has forgiven Hooves, can't you do the same for me?"
Her cheeks felt hot as she looked away. "I..."
"Will you do it for Scootaloo and Rumble?"
"Don't you bring them into this!" She snapped.
He frowned, holding back his anger. "I will bring them into this, because you're the only ponies I care about!"
Rainbow Dash's anger subsided as she saw his posture soften. "You... What?"
"I'm glad for our group of friends." Thunderlane sighed. "But when push comes to shove, I'm looking out for my brother, Scootaloo, and you." He held her head in his hooves and brought her closer. The affection caused her to blush. "I love you, Dash. I love you too much to lose you." He kissed her.
Rainbow Dash fought the affection. She wasn't put off by the kiss, she was just mad that he knew the right things to say to her. Applejack was right, he knew how to work her. She finally gave in and returned the kiss, their tongues fighting for dominance.
Breaking the kiss, Thunderlane rested his head against hers. "I need to keep you safe." He sighed. "After what happened with Jet Cloud... I can't..."
Rainbow Dash nuzzled his cheek. "I can handle myself." She looked into his eyes. "But a little help can't hurt..." She looked down at her front hooves. "I just hope Shining knows what he's doing?"
"I'm sure he has every ponies interest in mind." Thunderlane sighed. "Let's go check on the others."
Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom sat in one of the seats on the right-hand side of the train car. They looked at the comic book they were reading, but their eyes could barely keep focus on the words and pictures of the page they were on.
Hearing a groan, they looked up and saw Dawn laying on the floor, his head resting on a pillow. His twin brother Dusk and his sister Snowy looked on with tired eyes. The lack of sleep for the past four days taking its toll on them.
"How are you two doing?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Snowy kept staring at her brother, her eyes trembled as she stared at his bandaged wound. Dusk on the other hand, looked at the trio. "Okay..." He glanced at his siblings. "Y-You think Canterlot will be safe?"
Before any of them could answer, Snowy burst into tears. Her sobs caused her breathing to become erratic. Hearing her woes, Derpy sat up from her seat beside Dinky and Hooves and sat beside the filly laying a hoof over her. "You're not alone." She held her close. Snowy buried her face into the mare's chest unloading the damn that held back her stress. "Why don't you all go see what the others are up to." She looked at Applebloom and her friends.
Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at one another, unsure if they should go, but a firm nod from Derpy convinced them otherwise. Slipping out of their seat, they exited the train car. Entering into another one, they looked upon the chaotic mess that was the first train car. Seeing dried caked blood staining the furniture and floor, they shivered as they walked to the other end.
"You think we'll make it to Canterlot?"
Applebloom and Scootaloo looked at Sweetie Belle. "Why do you ask that?"
Sweetie Belle shook her head. "Are you serious?" She swallowed the lump in her throat.
"What do you mean, girl?" Applebloom raised her brow at her friend.
"What I'm asking is, are you sure we'll make it through this?" Sweetie Belle sighed.
"You gotta think positive!" Scootaloo grumbled.
"How can you with all this crap going on?" Sweetie Belle huffed as she pointed at herself to emphasize her point.
Scootaloo bit her lower lip as she looked away and stared out the window. Applebloom on the other hand placed a hoof on Sweetie Belle's shoulder. "We need to, if not then what's the point." She looked out one of the windows at the hilly landscape. "Once we get to Canterlot, everything will be fine."
Sweetie Belle sighed as she looked down at her hooves. "I hope so..."
Hearing the gangway door open they looked up and saw Soarin and Rumble. Seeing the fillies, Soarin smiled. "How's the trio doing?"
"Alright, just checking up on you." Applebloom smirked.
"They're worried already?" Soarin laughed.
"Naw, just bored." Scootaloo let out a little huff.
"Want to help Soarin and I?" Rumble asked.
"What are you doing?" Scootaloo raised her brow at the colt.
"He's teaching me how to clean some guns." Rumble answered with a smirk. "Want to come along?"
Scootaloo returned the smirk. "Sure. Girls you coming?
Sweetie Belle nodded, but Applebloom shook her head. "Naw, I'm going to check on Spike and mah brother."
"Oaky." Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle followed Soarin and Rumble. "Say hi for me!" Scootaloo teased, causing Sweetie Belle to laugh.
Applebloom frowned at the two, but she slowly laughed herself as she stepped out of the train car and up the steps to the cockpit of the engine. Opening the door, she saw Spike sitting in the railroad engineer seat, while her brother sat in the co-operator seat. Her brother was staring intently at the dials and gauges keeping track of the engine. A smirk came to her lips. He looked right at home, maybe in another life he would've worked the trains instead of the orchard... The thought of her home, lessened her mood. So, to remedy that she sat in the chair beside Spike who was staring at the landscape before them.
"Whatcha looking at?" She finally asked after a few short seconds of silence.
"Nothing much. Just the hillside." Spike stated dully. "Or what I can see of it."
Applebloom watched the passing dark silhouetted trees that contrasted against the orangered colored. "I've always liked riding the train watching the landscapes roll on by." She looked at him and gave him a playful smirk.
Spike returned her gesture with a roll of his eyes. Letting out a sigh he leaned back in his seat. "Colt, if I knew this is what it's like to be a train operator, I would've learned this than learning to be a librarian."
Mac just shook his head. "Its not all easy work." He looked at some of the gauges. "Our uncle Balley worked for a train company." He looked out the window eyeing the condition of the tracks with the help of the trains headlight's. "He said its back breaking work."
Spike let out a sigh. "I know... Nothing is never easy."
Applebloom stared at Spike for sometime before looking at the gauges as she thought over her question. "Is everything okay between you and your siblings?"
Spike bit his inner cheek. "Yeah..."
Applebloom watched him tap the throttle handle. "You're a bad liar like Applejack."
Spike let out a drawn-out sigh as he laid back in his seat. "Seems like Twilight's still upset about everything. And Shining seems distant."
Applebloom stared at Spike, "Well," She placed a hoof on his shoulder. "I'm sure everything will be alright."
"I understand your brother's mindset." Macintosh stood up. "But I don't agree with his methods. But he's right we need to keep a level head and stay focused on what's a head." He stepped out onto the platform with a hiss. He looked at his bandaged flank and let out a sigh. Stepping up to the coalbox he shoveled a pile and tosses it into the boiler. "Just play along until we get to Canterlot. Then everypony can state their grievances..." Hearing the gangway door open, they looked over their shoulders and saw Zecora walking up to them carrying two cups of tea.
"Hello Zecora!" Applebloom waved.
"Hello Bloom. How are you?" Zecora hummed.
"Good." The smells of tea entered her nostrils. "What kind of tea did you make?"
Zecora smiled as she sat down the tray and handed Applebloom a cup. "The train had some tea bags in the eatery-car. Its lemon tea."
Applebloom took a sip. She closed her eyes and let out a hum as the flavored water ran down her throat. Looking at Spike she offered him the cup. Spike blushed as he looked at the cup. "You touched it already." He pointed at the cup.
Applebloom rolled her eyes and shoved the cup in his face. "Sip!" Spike gave in and took a sip.
Macintosh and Zecora smirked at the two. Shaking her head, she offered Macintosh a cup. "Here." He took a sip and let out a soft hum. Zecora smiled as she took a sip herself.
Macintosh blushed at the look she gave him, he quickly looked at the window to hide his flustered appearance. Seeing the large hill they were going around disappearing into the ground, his eyes squinted as he stared at a large concrete mass. "Tunnel..." He looked at Spike. "Spike! Slow down the train!"
Spike looked at away from Applebloom and out the windshield and saw what he was looking at. "Got it." He grabbed the throttle and pulled it back.
"Hit the brakes Bloom." Macintosh pointed at her. "Lightly."
"Sure." Applebloom pressed down on the break lever. The squeaking of the wheels filled the air as they made their approach towards the tunnel. "What do we do?"
"Get Twilight and Shining." Macintosh sighed as the train slowed to a crawl.
A stallion walked up to a large bulky camera next to a rudimentary fax machine. Sitting down he pressed the on button. The tape begun to spin. Staring at the lens, he let out a heavy sigh as he pressed the record button.
"This is Dr. Keplar. Today is the 75th day of the Wildfire plague. And 52nd day since it went global... There is no clinical progress to report... But I managed to divert the power in section 4 to section 1 and 2. Wish I did that a month ago would've saved a ton of amps, but I guess that's water under the bridge now..." He stared at the camera with puffy eyes. "I haven't been sleeping well. Doesn't help that I'm underground. Can't tell whether its day or night. Wonder if Celestia or Luna are still raising the sun and moon?" He scoffed as he stared off into space. He shutoff the camera and stood up. "Back to it..."
Getting to the research room, Keplar slipped into his hazmat suit. Checking it once over, he stepped into the containment room. Plugging into an airline, he walked up a freezer and pulled out a petri dish of flesh and walked up to a table. Using his magic, he picked up some tweezers and tore off a piece of flesh and placed it in a test tube. Placing several drops of acid into the flesh filled tube he turned around in his chair and place it into a centrifuge.
Watching the centrifuge's memorizing spin, Keplar felt the temptation of sleep slowly embracing him. He tried fighting it off several times, but his heavy eyes finally closed, and his head fell forward.
"AH!" The buzzing of the centrifuge woke him up. Shaking himself awake he jumped up and took out the tube with his magic. Walking back to the table he leaned over to grab several more glass containers when his bulky suit bumped the bottle of acid onto the petri dish of flesh. Hearing a hiss, he looked down and stared at the sizzling flesh, touching the dish with a hoof he stared at the acid eating away the glove.
"!ATTENTION, CONTAMINATION DETECTED!"
Realizing what was happening he ran out of the room and into the decontamination gangway. Ripping off his hazmat suit he spread out his legs and lifted his tail as a stream of warm soapy water washed over him from ceiling sprinkler heads.
"!DECONTAMINATION INPROGRESS!"
"Wait!" Keplar turned around and desperately pulled on the door. "NO!" He watched in horror and the air caught on fire, setting all organic material ablaze. Watching the roaring flames, tears came to his eyes as he pounded on the door.
Keplar sat in front of the camera. With a tired sigh he took a large swig from his bottle of twenty-year aged port. "Fuck..." He turned on the camera and stared at it with tired eyes. "TS-21 samples have been lost." He took another swig of his liquor. "Can't even comprehend what their loss means to our research. They were the freshest samples by far. None of the others we've collected came close..." He stared at his bottle for some time, before staring into the camera lens. "I don't know why I'm even talking to you..." He leaned in. "I bet there isn't a single son of a bitch listening is there?" He stared for some time.
"Good. Saves me the embarrassment..." He looked around at the empty meeting room. He stared at the fourteen empty chairs that surround the table his sat at. He looked out the windows that surround the room at the sea of empty desk that dotted the floor below. Standing up he walked over to the windows and opened one up.
Finishing off his port he looked over at the camera. "How far do you think I can chuck this?" He activated his magic and threw the bottle with all his might. He watched as it soared across the large hall and crashed into a computer on the other side. "And it's out of the stadium!" He drunkenly cheered.
Hearing a beep, Keplar raised his brow as he slowly turned around at the screen on the wall of the conference room. Quickly walking over, he flipped a switch on the wall. The screen flickered on revealing and array of security camera POV's. One of them caught his attention. It was the entrance to the main lobby of the Equestria's Center for Disease Control. He saw a group of ponies running up to the doors.
Confused he stepped up closer to the screen and stared longingly at the image of the ponies. Flipping another switched he isolated the screen. The sounds of their despair came through. "Please, we need help!" A unicorn mare with lavender fur cried out. "We need shelter from the trotters!" Hearing several gun shots, Keplar stepped back as he watched several in the group shooting at the approaching dead.
"No..." Keplar spoke under his breath as he shook his head. "Just go..." |
AMONG THE TROTTING DEAD | Part 2: Chapter 6 - ECDC | Twilight let out a groan from the pain coursing through her body. She slowly opened her eyes and saw the broken window through the dim flickering light that illuminated the train car she was in. Confused she looked around and saw that she was laying against the wall in between a row of seats. Hearing electrical sparking and the groaning of metal and wood, she slowly sat up, hissing from the pain emanating from her shoulder. "Applejack? Rarity?" She looked down the train car and saw them sitting beside Aloe, Lotus, Marley, and Willy Pette.
"We're fine darling!" Rarity replied with a defeated sigh. "Just a little worse for wear is all."
"Marley's hurt!" Applejack huffed.
"It's just a broken leg!" Marley hissed as he leaned against Applejack.
Twilight groaned as she made her way towards her friends. "What happened? Are we still in the tunnel?" She stared through the window on her right, hoping the black she saw was the night sky.
"Not a clue." Marley glared at the swollen state of his leg.
"I think so." Willy stated his opinion.
Twilight sat beside them and held a hoof to her head. Memories came flooding back. Screams of the hoard in the tunnel. The train ripping through them... The debris blocking the tracks. Hearing electrical crackling, she looked at the others. Silence filled her mind. It was quiet... too quiet. "Anypony heard from the others... Damn it!" She cursed as she stood up. She held a hoof to her shoulder.
"Settle down and sit!" Applejack huffed. "We need to take this slow and steady." She pointed at Marley. "We need to help him and her first." She pointed at Aloe whose head was being cradled by Lotus while Willy Pette wrapped a bandage around it. "After we get them stable, we'll look for the others."
Lotus stared at her sister, watching her eyes dart back n' forth. Blood coated her hooves as she desperately held her sister close to her. "Is she going to be, okay?" She asked, her voice dripping with dread.
"It's bad, I'm not going to sugar coat it, but if we can get to Hooves, I can get it under control." Willy stated with a sigh as he tightened the rag around Aloe's head.
Marley stared at Willy and the twins. "If he still has his medical bag in all this mess." Willy just stared at the stallion as he let his words sink in.
"We can't think like that..." Twilight held back a growl as she readjusted herself and rested against the floor that was now the wall. "We need to gather the others before a herd of trotters shows up." She stared out at the dark dingy tunnel through the window. "We don't want to be trapped in here.
"We'll go get them." Rarity managed to take control of her shaking limbs. Seeing Applejack finishing with Marley's impromptu sling, she stood up. "Applejack, stay here and watch over them."
"Naw! Its not safe to go alone." Marley huffed as he scooted closer to his bag and pulled out his crossbow. "You two go, I'll take watch." He looked at the mares. "But make it quick." Rarity and Applejack nodded before making their way to the back of the train.
Watching the door close with a whiny groan, Twilight turned her attention to Marley and watched as he propped himself against on of the broken seats. Seeing her staring, he let out a huff. "We'll be fine." He smirked. Twilight blushed as she moved some of her mane to the side. Smirking at her mannerisms, he turned his attention to the twins. "How's she holding up?"
"She's alive..." Lotus replied softly and in a dull tone.
"It... Hurts..." Aloe struggled to say with a heavy breath.
"We need to leave this train as soon as we can." Willy spoke, but stopped as he heard the train cars shifting. They braced themselves as their car slid into its final resting position.
Finally taking a breath, Twilight looked at the terrified faces of Lotus and Willy. "We'll get out of this." She reassured them.
"And where will we go?" Marley grumbled as he adjusted his broken leg's position. "You know a herd of trotters had to of heard us?"
Twilight stared at her lap as she mulled through her wild mind. "We'll figure it out."
Derpy groaned out her discomfort as she opened her eyes. Slowly her blurry world came into focus. She felt that her sitting position was severely uncomfortable as she turned out to be correct as she found herself laying on her neck and upper shoulders. From her upside-down world, she saw her boyfriend and Carrot Top standing on the train car's ceiling.
Hearing her daughter's cries, she whipped her head around and saw Dinky cowering under Dawn. She saw Dawn's left leg and neck were pinned against the back of a seat by the handles of another. Derpy's eyes widened as she saw that he had turned into a trotter. "What the?" She spoke softly. "He wasn't bit?" Her thoughts drifted to Jiminy and Sunny. Shaking her head of those thoughts she wormed her way out of her orientation to get to her daughter.
Dusk and Snowy stared at their zombified brother with terrified eyes. Their bodies frozen in absolute horror.
Seeing that Derpy was struggling, Hooves ran to Dinky and pulled her away from Dawn. "You alright?" He asked as she grabbed onto him for dear life. Feeling her shaking he slowly patted her on the back as he walked up to Snowy and Dusk. "Stay close to me." Dusk acknowledged his command, but Snowy didn't as she slowly walked up to her zombified brother. But she didn't make it far as Derpy grabbed her and held her close.
"What the hell happened?" Carrot Top asked as she rubbed her left shoulder.
"The damn train derailed in the tunnel!" Shining spat as he entered the train car, with Zipper, Rumble, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Soarin not far behind. Seeing Dawn had turned into a trotter they stopped in their tracks and watched as he thrashed about, gnashing his teeth with bewildered eyes.
"What the hell is going on?" Soarin asked as he and the others slowly walked past him. Dawn growled as he tried to break free from the seat pinning his neck and right foreleg against another.
"I don't know and I don't care..." Shining hissed as he lifted his hoof and stared at the one inch cut just below the knee. "We need to gather the other's and get out of this damned tunnel."
"We shouldn't've 'drove into the tunnel." Scootaloo groaned.
"We had no choice." Zipper stared at the filly with stern eyes.
"We did." She grumbled under her breath.
"Mistakes were made, but now we deal with the hoof that's been dealt." Hooves spoke up, his voice heavy from the soreness radiating throughout his body.
"I agree, lets..." Before he could finish the gangway door opened. Seeing Applejack and Rarity the others breathed a sigh of relief.
Hearing unnerving growls, Applejack and Rarity turned their eyes to Dawn who was still trying to attack the group. "The hell?" Applejack managed say.
"No time, are the others, okay?" Shining waked up to the duo.
"Uh..." Breaking her thought of Dawn, she looked at Shining. "Sort of." She looked at the group. "Aloe and Marley are hurt pretty bad. But Twilight, Willy Pette, and Lotus, they're alright."
"How bad?" Zipper frowned at Applejack.
"Just a broken leg." Applejack took a defensive stance.
Soarin seeing the tension stepped between them. "No need to let our stress get to us!" He looked at Applejack. "And the others?"
"Not sure about Rainbow Dash, Thunderlane, Zecora, Spike or my siblings." Applejack replied.
"Well let's not waist time." Shining began to leave the train car.
"What about Dawn?" Sweetie Belle asked, her voice cracking from the stress and fear plaguing her mind.
The group stared at Dawn as he glared at them with those milky white eyes of his. Shining closed his eyes and shook his head. "He's gone." Snowy burst into tears at those words. "We need to get out here!" He opened the door.
"Go..." Zipper waved at them. "I need to look for something." He said as he pointed his head at Dawn. Shining and Applejack took the hint as well as the other adults. Returning his nod, Shining ushered the others out and left the door open. Zipper turned and looked at the colt as he tried to sink his teeth into uninfected flesh. Unholstering his knife, he smirked as he bit down on its handle. "One less mouth to feed."
"Where's my brother?" Marley asked as the group entered the train car.
"He's taking care of something." Applejack said softly.
Seeing Dawn wasn't with them, Marley only nodded. "You just missed Dash and Thunderlane. They're getting Macintosh, Spike, Applebloom and Zecora."
"Good. Once that's taken care of, we can get out if this tunnel." Shining sighed as he rested against a seat that was on its side.
"And go where?" Derpy asked.
"The train derailing surely drew more of them trotters." Marley huffed.
"We'll figure it out." Twilight groaned as she held a hoof to her shoulder.
"We need answers now, Twily!" Shining stared at her with heavy eyes.
"Once I know where we're at, then I can give you one!" She returned the look.
"You're at it again?" Spike said with a heavy breath as he held his upper arm. Applebloom supported him as they walked up to the battered group of ponies. Seeing Snowy on the verge of insanity, he looked at the others. "What happened to Dawn?"
Twilight looked at her younger brother and shook her head. Spike only nodded as he looked through the shattered window. Seeing the brick façade of the tunnel wall, he groaned as he removed his hand from his arm and stared at the gash.
"It looks bad?" Shining studied the wound.
"I'll be fine." He studied the wound. "Dragons heal fast." He looked at the others. "But I'm more worried about all of you."
"We'll be fine." Rarity reassured him.
"We need to get going if we want to get a head start of them trotters and or bandits!" Applejack threw on a saddle bag.
"And go where?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Somewhere..." Twilight groaned as she sat up. "Anywhere is better than here?"
"Where are we anyway?" Willy asked.
"Let's find out." Thunderlane spoke as he walked up to the side door of the train and pushed it open with Soarin. Peaking his head out, he saw to his right that the train was on fire in the back. The smoke pouring out from the fire was thick and tickled his throat. Coughing he looked to his left. The glow from the fires illuminated the tunnel slightly, but not enough, just a few feet of visibility. "Bro, flashlight!" His brother ran over and pulled out the flashlight from his saddlebag. "Thanks." Turning it on he scanned with the light for anything unusual. Seeing a service door a few yards away, he smiled. "Found our way out."
"Good, let's get going." Zipper huffed as he joined the group.
"Is it taken care of?" Shining asked. Some shivered at how cold his tone sounded. Even if Dawn turned, he was still a child, a pony deserving of a better rest than this.
"Yeah..." Zipper walked past the others and up to his brother. "You look like shit little brother."
"I've had worse." Marley grumbled.
Shining looked over the broken and battered group. A part of him was regretting entering the tunnel at full speed. He could tell some of the others were as well. He could see it on his sister's face. He frowned and shook his head. "Gather your things we are leaving this tunnel..." Hearing the howls of the dead, their spines shivered. "NOW!"
Throwing open the large metal door, Shining and Soarin breathed fresh air. The sounds of rain filled their ears as they scanned the dark streets. Abandoned cars and wagons resting still like haunting statues. Several rotting bodies could be seen in poses of their last moments. "Where the hell are we?" Rainbow Dash asked as her and the others stepped out timidly, their minds on high alert.
"Not sure..." Hearing trotters' screams at the bottom of the stairwell, the others quickly exited allowing Shining and Soarin to close the door. Hearing the muffled moans, some of the group stared at the door, while other scanned their surroundings.
"We're in Pippinition." Twilight huffed as she found her balance.
"Pippin what now?" Marley questioned as he hung onto his brother.
"We're on the outskirts of Canterlot." Twilight moved her wet mane from her face.
"How far?" Lotus asked as she tended to her sister who was laying on Willy's back.
"Only twenty-five miles."
A flash of lightning caused them to jump. The roar of thunder rolled across the sky. Snowy, Dinky, and Sweetie began to moan in fear. "We need to find a place safe from trotters." Derpy held Snowy and Dinky close to her.
"Where is safe?" Thunderlane grumbled.
"Not helping!" Rainbow Dash grumbled as she comforted Scootaloo and Rumble.
"Well, I don't want to feed them sweet little lies." He scanned the buildings. "I'm sure these buildings are filled with trotters."
"Then we'll keep looking." Soarin said. "There has to be one that isn't."
Another flash of lighting filled the sky. Through the light, Twilight saw a street sign. Squinting her eyes, she walked up to the sign and activated her horn, illuminating her immediate surroundings. Seeing the sign's words her eyes went wide. "I know this street." She looked to her right and stared through the dark.
"What is it, Twilight?" Rarity asked.
"I recognize this street from my time in school when Celestia sent me and my friends, to..." Her body shivered. "The ECDC!"
"The what now?" Applejack tilted her head.
"The Equestrian Center for Diseases Control." Twilight pointed a hoof towards the end of the street. "It's that way."
"Why would we go there?" Thunderlane stood next to Rainbow Dash.
"Because in a time of emergency it provides medical services. Underground shelters. It's our best shot!"
"How do you know if its still functioning?" Shining stood over his sister. "For all we know it fell like the rest of the safe zones."
"Just like Canterlot?" Twilight spat.
Before his siblings could go at it, Spike stood between them. "Don't you start!"
"Spike's right, enough!" Macintosh joined Spike, looking at the two with stern eyes.
"Why not give it a shot?" Derpy pleaded her case. "It sounds safe."
"But what if it's a dead end?" Zipper spoke up. "Full of trotters or worse, not so nice ponies who thought the same thing?"
"Where else can we go!" Twilight huffed. "We need a place that has medical supplies, food, a place to rest our heads!" Her limbs gave out as the pain radiating from her shoulder was to much for her to bear.
Applejack stared at her friend as Spike and Shining help her stand up. "She's right. We need to give it a try."
"But what if Zipper is right?" Carrot Top spoke up.
"I agree with Twilight." Marley grunted. "If you all want to take your chances in one of these buildings, be my guest." He looked at his brother with a stern glare. Zipper returned the stare for a few seconds before he looked away.
Shining gave the group a once over. "Fine, we'll go..."
Hearing trotters' moans in the distance, their fur stood on end.
"Let's us make haste!" Zecora shouted as they stumbled towards the ECDC.
Keplar stared at the screen. His eyes fixated on the mare staring right back. Those purple eyes of hers froze him in place. The fear they showed reminded him of his... "Please! We have children and wounded!" She pleaded. Keplar saw she was wounded as well. Shaking his head he sat down in swivel chair, his eyes never leaving the screen. "Twilight, it's no use!" A stallion with white fur spoke in her ear. "There isn't anypony here!"
"Where else can we go?" A mare with cream-orange fur cried out as a trotter fell in front of her.
"Them assholes are coming out of the woodwork like ants!" A black furred pegasus stallion growled.
Keplar lowered the volume and stared at the floor. He closed his eyes, tapping his hooves together. Sweat soaked his brow. "Damn it!" He looked at the screen. He thought he could ignore them, let them die, go through it once again... Scowling at the screen, he stood up and ran out of the main data center and down the hall toward the main elevator.
Pressing a button labeled 'Main Lobby', the doors shut. He listened to the soft humming sounds of the elevator ascending to the top floors. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he picked up a shotgun that rested in the corner beside the buttons and checked to see if it was loaded.
Hearing the bell, he watched the doors open.
Wasting no time, he rushed up to the lobby's main central plaza. Seeing the heavy rollup doors, he walked behind a desk and opened a drawer. Seeing an array of controls he flipped a large black switch. A loud buzzer sounded off. Aiming his shotgun at the doors he swallowed his fear as he watched them slowly open.
As the doors fully receded into their housing, Keplar saw the shocked expressions on the ponies faces. "Grab your stuff, once these doors close, they stay shut!" They kept staring at him. Seeing the approaching hoard, he growled. "Grab your stuff!" The ponies finally broke from their haze and waisted no time as they piled into the lobby. With them inside, Keplar flipped the switch, closing the doors once more.
Hearing the muffled moans of the dead slamming against the metal doors, Keplar finally let out a breath as he turned his attention to his new guests. "Any pony infected?" He aimed his shotgun at them. Some aimed their weapons at him. While others held up their hooves.
"One..." A purple-colored unicorn spoke with her hooves in the air. She glanced over at Snowy and Dusk seeing their tear-stained faces. "But he didn't make it."
Keplar noticed the glance over and sighed. "Price of entry will be a blood test."
"We can do that!" Applejack shook her head. Others agreed.
Keplar scanned the battered ponies. "Who has medical training?"
"I do." Hooves spoke up, pointing at himself.
"Same, but only military first aid." Soarin mentioned.
Keplar let out a sigh as he lowed his weapon. "Follow me."
Getting to the first lower level, Keplar led the group out of the elevator. "Welcome to the command center. Level one and level two are available to use. I'll take your blood samples in one of our general medical offices. I'll take blood from the wounded first however, want to get them stable as fast as possible." He looked at Hooves and Soarin. "You two will go first. The blood test will only take a few minutes."
"Do the other ECDC staff know of our prescience..." Twilight's words faded as they entered a glass hallway. Looking down at the lower floor she saw that it was empty. "We're is everypony?" Keplar kept silent as they exited the hall and turned left.
The others looked at each other. Shining stared at his sister. Staring back, Twilight blushed and looked down at the floor. Letting out a sigh, Shining walked along side Keplar. "Where are they?"
Keplar stopped. Silence filled the air for a few seconds before he answered. "I'm the only one here."
"But why are you the only one here?" Rarity pondered.
He turned around. "Look, I'm breaking every rule letting you in here. If you're going to stay, you follow my rules. First, I want to get blood samples, then get the seriously wounded fixed. Then I'll answer your questions, after the rest of you get food in your stomachs, showers and a goodnight rest!" He walked into the room.
The others looked at each other as the prospect of eating and showering filled their minds. "Hot showers?" Rarity asked mostly to herself as she followed the others into the room Keplar entered.
Twilight lazy stared at a book she had found after drunkenly digging through the nightstand drawer near her bed... No, not her bed. It was one of the staff's beds. One of many in the dormitory wing of the ECDC. Rubbing her eyes, she groaned and laid her head back. Her body was still ridding itself of the drugs injected into her a few hours ago that numbed her enough so Keplar and Hooves could dig the pesky bullet from her shoulder.
Hearing a knock, she let out a drunken sigh. "Come in..."
The door cracked opened and she saw her brother poking his head in. "How are you feeling?" He asked as he limped into their room.
"Like garbage." Her eyes followed him as he walked up to his bed. "How are you?"
"Better..." He sighed. "That shower was heavenly..."
She hummed in agreement. "Where's Spike?"
"He's with the other kids." He laid down on his bed. "Playing some arcade games in the lounge." He sighed as he closed his eyes, placing his right hoof behind his head. "Thank you."
Twilight gave him a confused glare. "For what?"
"Because you mentioned this place." He sighed as he looked at her. "And we're safe." He stared into her eyes. "And I judged you."
Twilight sighed as she stared right back. "I could've been wrong."
"But you weren't." Shining sighed as he turned his gaze to the ceiling.
"I know..." She put her book on the nightstand. "I hope I'm wrong about Canterlot." Shining just hummed as he rested his left foreleg on his forehead. Twilight wanted to bring up Pinkie. She wondered where she was. If her and her sisters were okay. She was upset that they had just met and now they were separated once more. 'She did steal our truck.' Her brother's words danced in her head. She closed her eyes. She would put those thoughts to the back of her mind. She didn't want to ruin this moment of calm. "Having trouble getting to sleep?"
Shining sighed. "Yeah..." He looked at his sister. "Seem like you are too?"
"If you've forgotten, I just had a bullet pulled out of my shoulder." Shining laughed at her tone of voice. She too, laughed. But it was short lived as her mind wandered like it always did. "This place, I'm glad we're here..."
Shining let out a heavy sigh. "But?"
Twilight flinched at his tone. "Why is it so empty?" She looked at him. "Where is everypony?"
Shining rubbed his forehead. "Keplar said he'd explain everything in the morning."
"I... I know, but..." Twilight mumbled.
"Just let it go." Shining gave her a harsh glare. "Just for tonight." His face softened. "For the group's sake." He activated his horn. His magical aura engulfed the light switch. "Let's get some rest... It's been a long day."
The lights went out.
Twilight stared into the dark abyss that engulfed their room. A great sense of dejà vu came over her. Her first night at the farm, when her mind mulled over... 'Fluttershy...' She rubbed her head. So many things happened in just two and a half weeks. It was overwhelming. Letting out a sigh, she pulled the sheets closer to her and closed her eyes.
Lotus sat beside her sister on one of the two beds within their room. She stared at the bandages that were wrapped around her head. Listening to her soft breathing, Lotus let out a troubled sigh as she rubbed her tear-stained eyes. Finally, the weight of the day was too much to hold back. "I miss you mom..." She sobbed. "You'd know what to do..."
"You alright?" A muffled voice came through her door. "Could I come in?"
Lotus quickly wiped her eyes. "Yes..." She looked at her sleeping sister. "Come in."
The door opened and Willy Pette walked up to them. "How is she holding up?"
Lotus looked down at Aloe and watched her chest rise and fall under the bed sheets. "Alright. Before she fell back to sleep, we were talking about our parents."
Willy studied Lotus's facial expression. Seeing the hurt that begged to boil over, he sat beside her on the bed. "How are they." She looked at him with a raised brow. "Your parents?"
"Oh..." She blushed. She stared at the floor watching herself swing her hind hooves back n' forth. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "They're dead." She let out a heavy sigh. "Father has been dead for six years. Mother has been dead for two." She looked at Willy. "Feels like only yesterday you know." Her eyes drifted to her sister.
Willy noticed her shifting gaze. "She'll make it."
"How can, you be sure?"
"Because, somepony needs to stay positive." He sighed as he placed a hoof over her shoulder. "Somepony..." He looked at her. "Someponies need to think that way, even if most in our group are not thinking that."
Her blushing became more noticeable, feeling hot, she gave a smile as she moved some of her mane from her face. "Thanks..."
Cold drafts washed into the room, from the gaps in the door. They washed over Rainbow Dash's hot, sweat soaked fur. Her unbound, unbandage wing stretched out over the left side of the bed. She let out a shallow breath and burred her face in Thunderlane's chest. Feeling every breath he took, she let out a pleased moan, as she wrapped her hooves around him.
"Damn..." Thunderlane let out a huff. "We needed that..."
"Yeah..." Rainbow Dash smirked as their session of love making replayed in her mind. How visceral, how passionate it was. Like it was going to be their last day on... She opened her eyes and stared off into space. 'Last day...' She repeated that word. It felt so wrong to think such a thing, but with their close call... with the friends they lost...
Sensing her changing mood, Thunderlane wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. "You alright?" He asked, even though he knew the answer to his own question. Rainbow Dash shifted, turning her face to the side to hide her souring expression. "Dash?"
"I'm just worried is all."
He laughed a little. "So, unlike you."
"Thunderlane!" She scoffed. "I'm serious!"
"I know." He let out a sigh. "We got lucky. Didn't we?" He placed his right hoof in between where her wings connected to her spine, just below the shoulder blades and ran his hoof down her back. She shivered from the touch, and in return, rubbed her face into his chest. "I don't know when our luck will end?" He spoke as he rubbed her rump, causing her tail to lift up slightly.
She pondered his words. They were lucky. They've could've died on that train. Shining did say to go full speed ahead. She was disappointed in Twilight just giving into her brother's command. "Our luck will last..." She turned her attention to Thunderlane. "As long as we stay together." She placed a hoof to his lips. She saw his gears turning, knowing exactly what he was thinking. "Not just us... Everypony sticking together, pitching in all of our ideas." He nodded and gently pushed her hoof away and pulled her into a kiss.
Spike listened to Carrot Top reading from a book she found in one of the drawers. Thankfully, it was a sci-fi book, one of his favorites and one that would hold his attention, blocking the need for sleep a little longer. He sighed as he found a more comfortable position on the couch he laid on. Slowly however his mind began wandering into thoughts about the train. The loud screeching and moaning of the train as it collided against the tunnel walls. The close call of him falling out off the engine onto the tracks. He shivered and shook his head as the memories replayed in his mind.
"You alright?" Applebloom, who sat beside him asked.
Spike let out a sigh as he pulled a blanket over him. "Yeah, just a bad memory."
Applebloom stared for a few more seconds, before turning her attention to Snowy who was being comforted by her brother Dusk and Derpy. Even Dinky was trying her best to comfort the filly.
"You think she will be, okay?" Scootaloo asked, leaning in closer to her friends.
"No..." Sweetie Belle sighed. "I think none of us will be..." She shivered. "Are we going to turn like Dawn?" She looked at her friends. "I mean he wasn't bit!" She said in a low hissing whisper.
Applebloom frowned as memories from when she eavesdropped on her sister and brother taking about Jiminy and Sunny turning into trotters without a bite. She shivered at that thought. What if it was true... "We don't know, we shouldn't worry ourselves into a conniption fit."
Sweetie Belle hung her head as she pushed her hooves into the couch repeatedly. Scootaloo only nodded. "Makes sense... Take one day at a time." Scootaloo hummed a response as she turned her attention to Rumble who was half asleep and rolled her eyes.
"I agree..." Spike added as he fought to keep his heavy eyes open.
Hearing a soft sob, the four of them looked at Snowy who had buried her face into the floor, covering her head with her hooves.
"Where's Pinkie when you need her." Derpy sighed as she stood up, stretching her wings. Her eyes never leaving Snowy. "She'd know what to do."
Carrot Top stopped reading. "You're just as good as her."
Derpy looked at her childhood friend and sighed. "I know..." She saw her daughter had managed to stop Snowy's frantic rocking back and forth. "It's just a little overwhelming."
"Want to switch places?" Hooves commented. "Maybe I can give it 'the old doctors try'".
Derpy shook her head. "It's alright, you were so busy patching up the wounded." She kissed him on the cheek. "You need rest."
"We all do." Carrot Top sighed. "Any of you want me to read off another chapter or call it a night?"
Applebloom, Spike, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle looked at one another, while Rumble stared at the ceiling his head resting in his hooves and his mouth slightly agape. "Maybe, just one more." Applebloom spoke for the group. Though her tone was dripping with unsureness.
Carrot Top rolled her eyes, but before she could start the chapter, the door to the recreation room, opened. "Rarity, what are you doing up?"
"Couldn't sleep." She saw her sister and gave her a small smile. "Decided to check up on everypony. "Twilight, Shining, Rainbow Dash, and Thunderlane are asleep. And now you ponies are on my next stop." She saw Snowy and noticed her somewhat calm demeanor. "How's she holding up?"
"She has a long road ahead of her." Derpy sighed, but she quickly smiled as she laid a wing over Dinky. "But I believe with her help, we can get her back to her happy self." She rustled her daughters head, much to her dismay.
Rarity laughed. "Well, good luck you two." She eyed the rest. "You should try to get some sleep." Her smile left. "Who knows how long we'll be allowed to stay here."
"You think Keplar will kick us out?" Sweetie Belle looked at her sister with wide eyes.
Rarity bit her lower lip. "With what we've been though, I'm not sure. Just stay on your tippy hooves, just in case." She waved to the group. "Goodnight." She shut the door. Letting out a sigh, Rarity walked down the hall toward the other side of the dormitory. The ceilings lights humming melody filled her mind sending a cascade of shivers dancing across her body. She stopped and stood still as her mind wandered the thoughts that plagued her mind.
'Your dreams are gone.' She stared at the bluish tiled floor. 'Now you live on the edge of life and death.' She shivered and shook her head. "Stop thinking of the worse." She scolded herself. She continued walking, but her mind still wandered until thoughts of her parents came to the forefront. 'Please be safe.' She remembered the broken tone of her mother's voice. 'We'll be in the safe zone in Manehattan. Come see us when this all blows over...' She stopped. 'When will this be all over?' She frowned as she scanned the empty hall... no, this empty building.
"Sis?"
Rarity turned around and saw her sister. "Why aren't you with your friends?"
Sweetie Belle rubbed her left foreleg with her right hoof. "I want to be with you tonight."
Rarity smiled. "Well, keep up." She smirked as she continued down the hall. Sweetie Belle smiled as she walked alongside her.
Before they neared the second to last door, Sweetie Belle spoke up. "Rarity?" Rarity responded with a hum. "Do you think mom and dad are okay?"
Raity stopped and looked at her sister. "I do." She saw the gears in her sister's head turning. She placed a hoof to her lips. "I do," She lifted her sister's chin. "Because it keeps me going." She kissed her on the forehead. "It should as well."
Sweetie Belle gave a small smile. "Okay."
Rarity smiled as she knocked on the door. Hearing a muffled reply, she opened the door and peaked her head in. Seeing Marley and Zipper playing a game of poker she smiled and stepped into the room. "How are you gentlecolts doing?"
Zipper's only reply was an upset grumble as he laid down a pair of cards and picked up two more. Marley on the other hand, looked up and smiled at the two. "We're doing alright."
Rarity smiled as she walked up to the stallions. "How's your leg?"
Marley looked at it. "It's sore..." He looked back at Rarity. "But all is well.
"How long will it take to heal?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Marley smirked at her facial expression. "Who knows." He adjusted its sling. "A couple of days."
"Faster than how long we'll be couped up in here." Zipper huffed.
"You're claustrophobic, darling?" Rarity asked with a playful smirk on her face.
"No... I just don't like the fact that there are no windows in this damn place." He frowned as he threw down his hand. "I feel like I'm in a coffin."
"I feel the same way, but it's better than being out there." His brother struggled to shuffle the cards. Rarity noticed and picked up the cards and shuffled with them with her magic. He watched her work. Memorized my her magic's soft light-blue glow. "Thanks." Rarity gave him a flirty smile and a wink.
Zipper watched as the cards danced in the air. "I guess."
Rarity hummed as she handed the cards back to Marley. "All will be fine," She messed with Marley's mane and shivered at how rough it felt. "You defiantly need your mane done." She giggled. "You surely need to allow me to tame this." Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes at her sister's flirtiness.
Marley rolled his eyes. "I'll think about it." He kept his eyes on his cards. Hiding his subtle embarrassment. Rarity hummed as she and her sister walked out of the room. With their door closed, Zipper stared at his brother with harsh eyes. "What?" Marley asked, feeling uncomfortable by his gaze.
"Don't you think about it!" Zipper spat. Marley just gave him a raised brow. "Don't give me that look, you know why. She's thinks too highly of herself." Marley shook his head, his eyes never leaving his cards. Zipper frowned while he messed with his cards. "And she's a horny."
"And there is the real reason." Marley rolled his eyes.
"You know we earth ponies are not to mix them other races." Zipper huffed.
"And yet we are with them."
Zipper rolled his eyes. "I know, but once the situation is not in our favor." He smirked. "We're bouncing, little brother." He frowned once more. "Play nice, but not too nice. It's making me nauseous playing second-hoof stallion to Shining." He stuck out his tongue, mocking a vomiting action. Marley just rolled his eyes.
Within the ECDC's cafeteria, Applejack sat at one of the ten circular tables. Her face rested in her hooves. Her ears laid flat. Ceiling lights above her buzzed a melody that drowned out her thoughts. Letting out a groan, she grabbed a bottle of red wine and took a large gulp. Wiping her lips, she stared out the glass windows that surrounded her at the workspaces below. She scanned the multitude of empty desks and silent math-computers waiting for someone to activate them once more.
"What are you doing up?"
Applejack looked up and saw her boyfriend, Soarin. "I could ask you the same thing."
"Well, it's hard to sleep, when you're up and about." Soarin sat beside her. He noticed the bottle of wine and saw it was half empty. "Wine?" He picked up the bottle. "Never took you for a wine pony." He took a sip and puckered his lips at its rich flavor.
"Desperate times." Applejack grumbled drunkenly as she took the bottle from his hoof and took a sip herself. "After what happened, I need a drink." She stared longly at the bottle. "You've seen mah brother?"
Soarin nodded as he took the bottle and finished it off. "Yeah," He hummed a laugh. "He and Zecora are just down the hall talking to one another."
Applejack eyes widened. "Well shit..." She smirked, but just as fast as it came, it left.
Seeing her souring mood, Soarin sighed as he walked up to the bar and mulled over the bottles. Picking up two bottles of wine, he sat beside her and opened them up. "Well let's enjoy this night."
"Letting mister alcohol take our sorrows away?" Applejack hummed.
"Oh, hell yes..." He cheered her, both chugging their bottles.
Keplar walked slowly out of his room and down the hall. Rubbing his eyes, he huffed out his tiredness and frustrations. This night was something else he thought as he listened to the soft humming of electricity pouring through the lightbulbs overhead. It felt strange having an influx of ponies in the ECDC, but deep down he felt a sense of pride, being able to help them. 'Trying to atone for your sins...' He shook his head. "I need a drink..." 'Another drink.' His conscious scolded. "Shut up..." He groaned.
Seeing two figures walking down the same hall, he saw it was Macintosh and Zecora. Seeing how close they seemed to be, his mind wandered to happier thoughts. 'Reminds me of my...' Those thoughts faded when she crept to the surface. "Heading off to bed?" He put on a smile.
Macintosh and Zecora's attention turned to him. "Oh, yes we are." Zecora stated.
"Walking her to her room." Macintosh hummed softly.
Keplar kept putting on his smile. "Very chivalrous of you."
"Though I am fine, I do not mind him escorting me." Zecora hummed.
"Well get some rest." Keplar waved as he walked away. They nodded and continued on their way.
Exiting the hall and turning left at the T-section, he entered the cafeteria wing of the ECDC. Hearing laughter, he went to the lounge area and saw, Applejack and Soarin sitting on a couch, obviously drunk, by their body postures, tone of voice, and the two empty bottles of wine and opened bottle of hard liquor that surrounded them. "Having fun?" He asked after collecting his nerves.
Applejack and Soarin drunkenly looked over at him. "You bet your bottom bit!" Applejack slurred as she leaned against Soarin, giggling all the while. Keplar just nodded as he walked up to the bar.
"Why don't you join us!" Soarin gave Applejack a sloppy kiss on the head. "Drown your sorrows with us!" He held up his glass of bourbon.
Keplar stopped. His magical aura just kissing a bottle of port. "You're not joyful?" He picked up the bottle, popping the cork out.
"No..." Applejack's drunkenly happy mood left as she lifted herself off of Soarin. "We are... We're grateful..." She rubbed her brow as she placed a hoof on the lips on one of the empty bottles of wine. "But you don't know what its like." She laughed. "How bad it is out there. You may think you do but you don't." She tilted the bottle side to side. "We would've died out there." She looked at him. "We came close. Close to dieing from those things, them trotters." Keplar looked down at her bottle. "Other ponies..."
"That thought came across my mind after removing a bullet from Twilight's shoulder." Keplar added.
"But that's the thing!" Applejack slurred her laughter. "We couldn't've made it to Canterlot." She laid against Soarin once more. "It was only matter of time."
Keplar stared at the two, unsure of what to say.
"I guess we're finally letting out how we actually feel." Soarin said softly as he finished his glass. "This world has gone to shit." He stared the glass with heavy eyes.
Keplar took a sip of his port wine while he kept his eyes on the drunken couple. "Everything will be okay." He said softly. Their only reaction to his words were gentle nods of their heads. "See you in a few hours." He said as he left the cafeteria. Stepping back into the T-way intersection of the hall, he stopped as a red light caught his eye. Turning around he stared out the large glass window that overlooked the office floor below. Seeing a large timer above the main conference screen he glared at the red colored numbers it displayed. Ten hours. Twenty-five minutes. Three seconds. |
AMONG THE TROTTING DEAD | Part 2: Chapter 7 - Protocol 15 | Twilight stared at her plate of waffles. To the outside world, it was just a normal plate of ordinary waffles. To her however, they were the most delectable things she had ever seen. Taking a bite, it confirmed her bias.
Her brothers rolled their eyes at her facial expression. "Enjoying your breakfast?" Shining smirked.
She blushed and swallowed. "Yes..." She laughed.
"Didn't I tell you. I can make the best waffles." Hooves laughed as he placed a scoop of batter in the waffle maker.
"Your point has been proven." Rainbow Dash held up her hooves. While she was distracted, Scootaloo quickly stole a piece of waffle from her plate. Rumble and Thunderlane noticed her antics and held back a laugh.
"I'm just glad he found the stuff to make them!" Dinky cheered as she nearly shoved a whole waffle in her mouth. Derpy just shook her head as she watched her daughter consume her bite.
Dusk who sat at the same table as Dinky, Derpy, and Carrot Top, looked to his left and saw his sister Snowy taking small nibbles of her breakfast. "Sis?" Her dour demeanor cut deep like a knife. They had lost their parents, aunt and brother in such a short amount of time. "How's your meal?" Snowy just shrugged her shoulders while she took several tiny bites of waffle on her fork.
Derpy noticed her mannerisms and let out a soft sigh. "She'll be fine." Derpy turned around and saw Rarity with a soft smile on her face. "With our support she'll do just fine." Rarity hummed as she sipped her tea. "She's not alone."
Lotus, who sat to Rarity's right nodded as she tended to her sister, offering her a cup of orange juice. Aloe tried her best to put the straw in her mouth. After several tries, she managed to get hold and took several sips. Zipper who watched from across the table let out a sigh. "Is she going to recover?"
"Yes, but Keplar said that she might still have some motor issues for the rest of her life." Willy replied as he sipped his coffee. Seeing Keplar entering the cafeteria, he smiled. "Speak of the devil." He held up his cup in his hooves. "To our savior!" The rest of the ponies cheered for the unicorn.
Keplar stared at the lot, taken back by the praise. 'You did save them...' He held up a hoof. "Its not a big deal. I'm happy to help." He smiled as he walked up to Hooves. "Waffles, is it?" He raised his brow at the plate of already cooked waffles.
"I thought we all deserved a treat."
Keplar nodded as he took a plate and placed a single waffle on it. "I can't disagree with that." He sat down at Twilight's table. The group stared at him as he prepped his meal. Feeling the gaze of a thousand suns, he looked up and studied the multitude of eyes each holding an array of emotions. Before he could answer, Applejack and Soarin stumbled into the cafeteria followed by Macintosh, Applebloom, and Zecora.
"Sorry we're late!" Applebloom stated as she sat at an empty table. "These two took forever to get up!" She pointed a hoof at Applejack and Soarin who laid their heads on the table.
The group found their hangover quite amusing. "How's the young couple doing this fine afternoon?" Thunderlane laughed.
Applejack groaned as she rested her head in her hooves. "Very funny." She managed to say with an air of contempt. Applebloom and Macintosh rolled their eyes as they walked over to Hooves to fill their plates. Soarin gave a huff and laid his hooves over his head.
"Give them some coffee!" Marley laughed. "It will wake them right up!"
"That's why we drink in moderation, dearies." Rarity cooed.
The group laughed all except for Zipper who kept staring at Keplar. Feeling uneasy, Keplar coughed. "What do you want?"
Zipper remained silent for a minute. "I just want to know." He finally spoke with a condescending laugh. "What the fuck is going on?"
The group stopped their chatter and turned their attention to the two. Many forgetting their happy moment, many eager to know the why and the how. Twilight felt a chill run down her back at the prospect of finally getting some concrete answers to questions that nipped at the back of her mind.
"What's going on?" Keplar shrugged his shoulders before taking a bite. "That's a question." He shook his head.
The group looked at one another, unsure what to make of his comment. "You don't know what's going on?" Twilight asked.
Keplar poked at his meal. "That's a question with a broad range of answers I could give." He took a final bite of his breakfast.
"What do you know?" Rainbow Dash stared at him skeptically.
Keplar stared at his plate for a while. Shaking his head, he stood up and walked out of the cafeteria. "Come..." He looked back at the group. "I'll show you."
Entering the main control room, Keplar walked over to a computer pressed a button. The large screen flickered on. Typing away on the keyboard a file popped on screen. The group stared at the pictures and words on the screen. "Test subject twenty-one?" Twilight questioned.
Keplar nodded his head. "Very few ponies ever saw this." He moved the mouse cursor over to a file and clicked it. Inside was a single video file. "It was a rare opportunity to record it in action." He opened the video file and it began to play. The video showed a front and side view of an FMRI scan of a pony's brain, alongside a chart from an EEG scan as well.
The brain was lit up in an array of colors, showing off current activity. "What are we looking at?" Rarity asked.
"Brain activity," Keplar sat in a swivel chair. "This is a pony's life. This is what makes you, you."
"Can you make sense?" Zipper sighed.
"They're synapsis. Every thought, every emotion is an electrical signal traveling through the brain." Keplar stared at the video file. "They determine what a pony says, does, or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death."
"What is this, some type of vigil?" Shining asked as he stood closer to Keplar, his eyes never leaving the screen.
"Yes..." Keplar activated his magic. "Well, a recording of one."
"This pony died?" Aloe softly asked as she leaned onto her sister for support.
Lotus sat her down in a chair beside them. "Who was it?"
Keplar stared at the sisters. "Somepony who was bitten, then infected. They volunteered to have us record it." He clicked a button and the video skipped about four minutes ahead. The bright imaging in the brain, dimmed down sporadically. They could clearly see the pony from the imaging was jerking around as their brain was being taken over. "It invades the brain like meningitis or like cutie-pox." The brain finally went black. "Then death."
"Death?" Rainbow Dash tilted her brow. "Ponies I saw who were bitten turned really fast."
"The resurrection times vary wildly." Keplar sighed as he clicked another button. "It could be fifteen minutes to 30 seconds." The video skipped ahead once more. "But all ponies infected will die, then comeback." The video showed the lower portion of the brain where the brainstem connected to slowly lit up. "This patient was five minutes and seven seconds."
"It reactivates the brain?" Derpy looked at Keplar with a raised brow.
"No, just the brainstem and the parts of the brain that control motor functions."
"But they're dead?" Twilight questioned.
Keplar pointed at the screen. "You tell me."
Twilight stared at the screen. "Its nothing like before. Most of that brain is dark?" She shook her head. Even though she saw proof of the dead, it still made no sense. She had her own theory of how one turned. But the evidence of Sunny, Jiminy, and Dawn turning when they've died from other causes was starting to make more sense.
"What happens if you die without being bit?" Applejack asked, like she somehow knew what Twilight was thinking.
"What?" Keplar looked at her skeptically.
"We've seen three from our group turn without getting bit." Applejack stated. "If what you're saying is true, then it doesn't matter how you die, you will always turn." She pointed at the screen. Snowy flinched at her word's and buried her face in her hooves.
Keplar studied the filly's mannerisms before staring at the group for a while. Suddenly he shook his head and laughed as he turned his attention back to the computer screen.
"What's so funny doc?" Marley stared at the stallion skeptically.
"She already answered her own question." Keplar opened a drawer of a nearby desk and pulled out a flask and took a swig of liquid.
Slowly his words began to sink in as the group looked at one another. Shock and fear clearly showing on their faces. "What?" Rarity laughed. "You're not saying what I think you're saying?"
"We're all infected?" Twilight stared at Keplar, confusion clearly consuming her thoughts. Everything she knew about magic and biology was shattered in an instant. Spike placed a hand on her shoulder. The group felt a chill wash over them as the realization sunk in.
"You're lying?" Shining walked up to Keplar. "Tell me you're lying?"
Keplar just stared at the stallion with heavy eyes. "You saw it for yourself. Did you not?" Shining stepped back and sat on the floor his mind mulling over the information once more.
"You have no idea what it is?" Carrot scoffed. "Do you?"
"It could be prions." Keplar sighed. "Patristic, viral, fungal." He scoffed. "Magical in origin." He looked at the group. "I just don't know."
Getting control of her emotions, Twilight looked at Keplar with tear-stained eyes. "Is there anypony else? Other facilities?" She walked up to him. "Is Canterlot's ECDC still operational?"
"Maybe?" Keplar sighed, he glanced at the timer on the wall.
"You don't know?" Shining growled. "How can you not know?"
Keplar glared at the stallion. "Communications went down." He shook his head. "I've been in the dark for over a month!"
Rarity shook her head. "So, it's not just here. There is nothing left anywhere is there? Is that what you're saying?" Keplar let his silence answer her question.
"Keplar?" Willy spoke up. "I know this has been taxing for all of us, and I hate to ask one more question, but that clock has been counting down." He pointed at the large numbers on the screen in red lettering that read out, forty-five minutes and, seven seconds. "What happens when it reaches zero?"
Keplar kept silent for a few seconds. "The facilities generators run out of fuel." He finished off his flask and step away from the computer after shutting if off.
"What happens after the generators run out?" Thunderlane asked as Keplar left the control room. Keplar kept silent as he walked up the stairs towards the dormitory. The group looked at one another as dread began to take hold.
Shining, Zipper, Soarin, and Thunderlane ran down the stairs to the generators. "Why did Keplar just clam up like that?" Zipper growled as they got the bottom of the stairs and trotted down the dimly lit hall.
"Not sure." Soarin huffed.
"Well, what's wrong with him." Thunderlane asked.
Shining stopped at a map on the wall. Seeing the generator room, he nodded his head in the direction. "Lets just focus on the fuel situation."
Entering the generator room, they saw a large number of fuel barrels spread throughout the room. "Check them." Soarin stated as he and Thunderlane went one way and Shining and Zipper went another way. Hearing a low chugging, Shining and Zipper walked up to a row of generators and stood in front of the only one that was running. Staring at the display, he saw the fuel gauge meter was kissing the empty marker.
The lights turned off.
"EMERGENCY LIGHTS ACTVIATED!"
"What the hell!" Shining growled.
"Did you turn off the lights?" Soarin asked as he and Thunderlane walked up them.
"No. Just went out." Shining huffed. "Found anything?"
"No, just a bunch of empty barrels, more than I can count."
"Shit!" Zipper growled. "It can't be down to just that one?"
Shining glared at the fuel gauge.
Dinky stared at the book in her lap. She had a flat expression on her face. She tried reading the letters on the page, but her mind was lost. 'We're all infected?' She shivered at that thought. How could one be infected but not show any symptoms. 'We're carriers.' She remembered what Hooves had said to the group. 'That's what Keplar meant.'
Getting frustrated at the blur of letterings on the page she closed her book and let out a sigh. "What are you doing mother?" She asked as she noticed her mother holding a hoof to an air vent. "What's wrong?"
"Oh... Nothing." Derpy kept her eyes on the air vent. "Its just the air shut off." She looked at her daughter and smiled. Receiving a smile from her daughter, she looked to her right and saw Dusk reading a book to his sister. Derpy smiled, maybe they would recover and be able to get back on their hooves, she thought.
Keplar sat in a small office that overlooked the control room. He held back his emotions as he stared at a picture of a mare who smiled right back. Letting out a troubled sigh, he wiped his eyes. "I did the best I could, with what little time I had." He smiled at the picture. "I hope you can be proud of me." He kissed the picture and slowly sat it down on the desk. He stood up and stared at himself in the mirror. "We think there is going to be more time," The main lights shut off forcing the emergency light to kick in. "Then it runs out..."
Stepped out of his room Keplar saw most of Twilight's group standing outside their rooms.
"Why is the air off?" Derpy asked.
"And our lights in our room?" Rarity asked.
"Energy is being prioritize." Keplar stated as he walked calmly past the group.
"Air and lights are not a priority?" Willy asked as he stared at Keplar confusion clearly on his face. The lights in the hall turned off and the floor emergency lights turned on.
"The building is shutting itself down." Keplar said in a monotone voice as he turned the corner and walked down another flight of stairs.
"How the hell can a building do that?" Marley asked as he limped after the doctor. "Hey, I'm asking you!" He huffed from the discomfort of his walk. "How can it?"
"You'd be surprised." Keplar kept walking. Twilight and her group followed the doctor to the control room. By that time, Shining, Zipper, Soarin, and Thunderlane came back from the generator room.
"Soarin!" Applejack shouted.
Soarin held up a hoof as he picked up his pace to match Keplar's. "Keplar, what is happening?"
"The building in going into shutdown." Keplar sighed. "It's diverting all power to the main control panel that runs this whole facility until the possible last second as we approach the half hour mark." He pointed at the timer on the main screen. "Right on time." Before he stepped up to the main computer, he stopped and turned around. "It was the River Republic." He stared directly at Twilight.
"What?" Twilight asked.
"They were the last ones to hold out until the very end." Keplar took a flask out from his lab coats pocket. "While we were barricading the door and committing suicide. They stayed in the labs until the very end." He stared at the floor. "They thought they were close to a solution."
"What happened?" Applejack asked.
"Same thing that's happening here. The power grid... What's left of it can't keep this building running. So, generators kicked in and now... Well, we're out of juice." Keplar laughed. "You know we run on fossil fuels!" He scoffed as he shook his head. "And don't get me started on our mana batteries." He laughed. "So much for the industrial might of Equestria!" He walked over to his computer.
Zipper got upset and followed the doctor. "Let me tell you something!"
"Zipper, stop!" Soarin looked at the others. "Everypony grab your stuff we're getting out of here!" The group nodded and as the abled bodied ran to the dormitory. But before they could run, the alarms blared out.
"THIRTY MINUETS TO DECONTAMINATION!"
Keplar quickly swiped his card and pressed a few buttons. A large metal door quickly rose up from the ground and sealed the only entrance into the control room.
"Did he just lock us in?" Aloe's voice cracked as fear began to take hold. Her already weak limbs gave out, forcing her to hold onto her sister. Lotus caught her and gently laid her on the floor.
Keplar sat in front of a camera and turned it on. "We're in the thirty-minute window, I am recording..." Before he could finish. Zipper grabbed him and threw a punch, but it was his only one as Shining and Thunderlane held him back.
"Keplar, open that door!" Applejack spat as she pointed at the door.
Keplar held a hoof to his cheek as he sat against one of the desk's. "There is no point everything is locked topside alongside the emergency exits."
"Well, do something!" Rainbow Dash pleaded.
"I can't, that's something the computer controls." Keplar stood up and sat in his chair. "I told you, once those front doors close there is no opening them!" He pointed at the group. "You heard me say that!" The group looked at one another with dread showing on their faces. "It's better this way." Keplar sighed.
"What is?" Soarin growled. "What happens when the time runs out?" Keplar looked down and didn't answer which caused Shining to kick the chair. "What happens when..."
"DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS PLACE IS!" Keplar shouted. "We protected ponies from very nasty stuff! Weaponized Cutie-pox! Poison Joke that can wipe out half the country!" He glared at the group. "Stuff you don't want to get out! EVER!"
"That's stuff is here?" Twilight felt sick to her stomach.
"A lie to protect the masses." Keplar let out a heavy sigh.
"The timer?" Shining watched his sister fall to the floor. "What happens?"
"In the event of a catastrophic power failure..." Keplar adjusted his lab coat. "In a war for example. F.A.E.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."
"F.A.E.s?" Some in the group asked.
Twilight felt a chill wash across her back. Her mind jumped to a memory of her friend Moon Dancer doing a report on a chemical similar in make-up back in high school. She cringed as the memory of her getting into a moral argument with her friend about perusing such studies... 'So long ago'. She lifted her head from the ground. "F.A.E.s is a fuel-air explosive."
"What the hell is that?" Thunderlane asked.
Shining turned his gaze from his sister to Keplar. "You're shitting me... An aerosol bomb?"
"What does it do?" Rarity asked.
"It sets the air on fire." Twilight felt sick.
Shining ran a hoof through his mane. "Shit!" He ran up to the door and pushed his shoulder into it. Zipper grabbed an ax and swung with all his might. But nothing happened. Frowning, Shining activated his horn but his teleportation spell fizzled out.
Keplar looked at Zipper. "That door is made to withstand a magical plasma ball." He looked at Shining. "And there is a magical distortion field in this room."
"Well, your head ain't!" Zipper spat as he charged Keplar.
Soarin and Macintosh held him back. "Brother! Enough!" Marley huffed.
"You know what this thing does to ponies!" Kepler leaned back in his seat. "You really want this for your sister?" He pointed at Applejack.
"I don't want this!" She spat.
"But you do want this?" Keplar tilted his head. "Last night, you and your colt-friend said it was just a matter of time before everypony you loved was dead."
Applebloom stared at her sister with horrified eyes. "What?"
"You really said that?" Rarity tilted her head.
Shining started at the farm pony with a dull expression. Applejack looked at the faces around her and felt shame, but she quickly took hold of her emotions and looked at Keplar with harsh eyes. "I have doubts, but I'm still hopeful there is way out of this."
"The was never any hope!" Keplar scoffed.
"There is always hope." Twilight stood up for Applejack. "Celestia always taught me that!"
"Where is she now?" Keplar stared at her.
"Is every ECDC failing all at once?" Willy asked.
Keplar stared at the clock and saw it had twenty-four minutes left. "Yes..." The timer doesn't start until the one under Canterlot Castle is out of power."
"You said the timer doesn't start until the fuel runs out." Zecora stared at the stallion with a raised brow.
"It does." The timer starts once the signal from Canterlot dies out. Then it calculates what fuel is remaining in the generators." He laid his head in his hooves. "If I had more barrels, then we would have more time."
"Couldn't you hornies make more fuel with your magic?" Zipper scoffed. Rarity and Twilight jerked at the racial remark. Shining just stared at earth pony. Marley rolled his eyes at his brother's remarks. The rest just felt uncomfortable.
Kepler stared at the irate earth pony. "Why didn't I think of that?" He laughed a hearty laugh. "Fuck, I should've. Then I would've been dead long before you all showed up!"
"Enough!" Macintosh stood in between the two. He glared at Keplar, staring him down with a might of a thousand suns.
"You can't just keep us here!" Derpy cried as she held onto her daughter, Snowy and Dusk.
"This is easier for all of us." Keplar turned his gaze to her and away from the large red stallion glaring daggers at him. "A quick painless death versus a long one out there." Aloe stared at him. Her soft eyes fixated on his relaxed body posture.
The sounds of a shotgun cocking filled the air. Before anyone could make heads or tails, Rainbow Dash pointed the shotgun at Keplar. "Dash don't do this!" Thunderlane shouted as he pulled on her shoulders. Scootaloo and Rumble cowered as they watched the scene unfold.
"Open that damn door or I'll blow your head clean off!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
"Dash don't!" Thunderlane pleaded.
"You listen to him, Rainbow Dash!" Soarin hissed as he pulled on her shoulder.
Rainbow Dash growled as she shoved the shotgun in Keplar's face. "If you kill him then we all die!" Thunderlane pleaded. Hearing Scootaloo's cries. Rainbow Dash hissed as she aimed the shotgun to her right and unloaded several rounds into random computers.
Before she could shoot off another round, Shining grabbed the shotgun with his magic and hit her with the butt of the gun. "You done?" He growled.
Rainbow Dash looked up at the unicorn with tear-stained eyes. "Yeah... I guess we're done..." She sent a glare Keplar's way. "The asshole should've let us die out there." She spat out some blood that was in her mouth. "Sick bastard!" Keplar just stared at the floor, unwilling to match her gaze.
Twilight stared at him, studying his posture. "I think you're lying."
"What?" Keplar looked up.
"About no hope." She sat in front of him. "If that was true, you'd have bolted with the rest or taken the easy way out. But you didn't. Why?"
"It doesn't matter." Keplar sighed.
"It does!" She huffed. "You stayed, while others ran, why?"
"Not by choice!" He answered. "And not because I wanted to..." He leaned forward close to her face. "Because I made a promise," He pointed at the screen. "To her! My Wife!"
"Test subject twenty-one was your wife?" Lotus titled her head.
"She begged me to keep going as long as I could." Keplar flopped his hooves into his lap. "How could I say no. She was dying..." He pounded the desk beside him. "It should've been me on that table, not her! I wouldn't have mattered to anypony. She was great loss to the world!" He shook his head. "Hell, she ran this place. I just worked here. In our field she was a Star Swirl!" He laid back in his seat. "I'm just Keplar. Head Manager..." He stared at Twilight with heavy eyes. "She could've done something about this."
Twilight stared right back. "Maybe, but your wife didn't have a choice, you do. That's all we're asking, a choice, a chance to fix what's broken, to not give up, for as long as we can."
Keplar stared at her for a little longer. Eventually he sighed and turned around in his chair. Swiping his card, he pressed a few more buttons. "I told you topside is locked down. I can't open those." The large metal door dropped down with a thud.
Many in the group eyes lit up as they rushed to the doors. "Come on, lets go!" Hooves shouted as he waved for the others to follow.
"There's your chance, take it." Keplar sighed.
"We're grateful!" Twilight smiled.
"The day will come when you won't be." Keplar's tone was dull as he stared at them.
"Come on we have ten-minutes!" Spike shouted.
Twilight and Applejack looked at him for a few more seconds, pondering his words, but hearing the other's shouting, they let go of that thought as they gave him a nod and followed the others out. Lotus not far behind, felt a chill wash over her as she felt her sister push her away. "Sis?" She looked back at her sister. "We need to go!"
"I'm staying!" Aloe sat on the floor.
"No, you're not!" Lotus spat. "You're coming with me!"
"Just to die out there!" Aloe glared at her sister. "Like he said. We'll all die a slow painful death." She shivered. "We had so many close calls." She lowered her head until her chin rested on her chest. "I want a painless death."
Some in the back of the group looked on with horror. Lotus waved them to go, however Willy stayed behind and stared at the two. Feeling her emotions boiling, she sat beside her sister. "Okay, you win. I'm staying."
Aloe stared at her sister. "Don't do this to me..."
"Well, don't do this to me!" Lotus spat. "If you're staying, I'm staying."
"Same..." Willy sat beside them. "Lets all take the coward's way out." He glared at Keplar. Keplar couldn't look at the stallion directly.
"No... No... No..." Aloe placed her hooves over her head. "You can't do this!"
"Too bad, we are!" Willy shrugged his shoulders. "See, you don't get to do that. To... to come into somepony's life, make them care and then just check out. I'm... We're staying. The matter is settled." Aloe looked at them with heavy tear-stained eyes.
Getting to the top floor, Twilight and the other's ran up to doors. Seeing the metal doors were still shut. The others looked around in a panic. Seeing the second story windows were not covered up, Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. "We can go out through them!" She pointed at them.
They quickly ran up the stairs and ran across the balcony up to the windows. Placing her hooves on the glass, Twilight looked out and saw the sun was starting to dip past the horizon. Squinting her eyes, she glared at the twilight lit ground and saw a sparse number of dead roaming about. "Looks like we're going to have to smash it?" Spike asked.
Twilight looked back at him and nodded. "Not sure we can get through it."
"Stand back." Shining charged up his horn and fired a beam of plasma. The beam washed over the glass. Stopping his magic, he and the others saw that he only cut half way through it. "Twilight, Rarity!" Shining charged his horn once again. Rarity and Twilight nodded as they charged up their horns.
Combining their magic, Shining fired another beam at the glass. Finally, it gave way and shattered into a billion pieces. Once the chaotic waterfall of glass had stopped, they looked out the window at the ground below. "That's a fucking drop." Marley grumbled.
Looking to her left, Rainbow Dash saw that the awning over the front doors gradually tapered down to the ground. Though it narrowed significantly, it was the only path to get everyone out without having to make multiple trips. "We climb down that!"
Twilight looked at where she was pointing. "That?" She stared at the gutter and one-foot circumference beam that curved its way to the ground floor.
"Yes, the ones that can fly and carry somepony will do so. Ones that can teleport do so, the rest will climb down." Rainbow Dash took the lead.
"You heard her, go!" Zipper motioned everyone to follow.
"What about Lotus, Aloe, and Willy?" Applebloom asked.
"They'll make it!" Applejack stated.
"Are you sure?" Applebloom tilted her head. Applejack nodded as she helped her sister climb down the gutter. Stepping onto the cobblestone laid lot of the ECDC, the full extent of the damage hidden by the prior night came into full view. Military and civilian ponies laid scattered around the building. Barricades with machine guns and a variety of vehicles dotted their surroundings.
"The fuck..." Shining stared in disbelief.
"We need to get a ride out of here!" Marley yelled as he saw a small group of trotters making their way towards them. Wasting no time, they ran up to a military transport wagon. Jumping into the truck, Zipper laid down under the dash and scanned the wires underneath. "Light!" Twilight activated her horn and poked her head into the cab. "Thanks!" Zipper grumbled as he worked.
"Cover him!" Shining drew out his lever-action rifle. The ones who had guns drew out their weapons, while others drew out their hoof/mouth held weapons.
Hearing the roar of the putter wagon, Zipper laughed. "Let's get the hell out of here."
"But what about the others?" Derpy asked.
"They'll be here." Twilight reassured her.
"We need to get going, Twily."
"We are going to wait!" Twilight glared at her brother. Shining puckered his lips as he stared into her determined eyes.
"There they are!" Sweetie Belle screamed.
Seeing them struggling to climb down, Twilight activated her horn. Appearing in front if them, she grabbed onto Aloe and Lotus and teleported as close as she could to the wagon. Flopping on the ground she let out a groan as her horn sparked from the action. Thunderlane flew beside her and dropped Willy gently onto the pavement. "Get up!" He offered her a hoof.
Standing up, they piled into the wagon. Glaring at the hoard approaching through the rearview mirror, Zipper frowned and shifted the vehicle into gear. Slamming the petal with his hoof, the wagon drove down the road to places unknown.
Alone, Keplar stared at the photo of his wife.
"SIXITY-SECONDS TO DECONTAMINATION!"
Kissing the photo on the computer screen, he imagined the heat it gave off as his wife's lips. "I love you..."
Standing on the gravel covered roof of a building alongsidea river, one of many rivers formed from the glacier on the mountain, Pinkie scanned the lower portion of Canterlot's outskirts through the twilight that consumed the night sky. Frowning at the buildings' dark silhouettes, she turned her gaze to the castle in the distance. It stood majestically in the final glow from the setting sun atop the mountain it sat upon. A perfect place for a diarchy to look upon their subjects, safe and sound from all the bullshit. Feeling a cold breeze, her fur stood on end. "Seeing anything out of the blue?" Copper asked.
"No..." She sighed. "Not after we came upon the train."
Copper hummed softly as he sat beside her. "You were about to have a heart attack when we came upon it."
"I thought they were dead..." She looked down at her hooves.
"True, we did find Dawn." Copper laid a foreleg over her. "But they weren't there. They have to be alive."
"I know... Think positive..." Pinkie looked at him. "I'm just tired. It's hard to think straight sometimes."
"We have been traveling non-stop have we." Copper pulled her closer. Causing her to blush.
"Almost four days' worth will do that." Limestone sighed as she rested on a matt she had laid out onto of the gravel. "Small naps were not enough."
"We all took turns driving and now we're here." Spitfire flapped her wings as she exited the stairwell. "Though, we're going to have to find more gas before we leave. "I say we rest. We'll start in the morning."
"Whose taking watch?" One of her Wonderbolts asked.
"I'll take watch." Maud raised her hoof. "You two get some rest." She pointed at Pinkie and Copper. "You too." She pointed Blaze.
"Sure." He laid where her stood. "Won't hear me complaining..." Hearing a massive explosion, they all looked towards the west and saw a fireball towering over some of the large skyscrapers that were thirty-stories tall. "The hell?" Blaze sat up. "What is that?"
"Something not good." Granite looked at Pinkie. "You think its them?"
Pinkie stared at the fireball as it rose into the sky. "I have a feeling."
"What kind?" Copper looked into her eyes as she kept staring at the ball of fire.
"Its them." Pinkie looked at Copper.
"Get the flare." Spitfire yelled.
"Even if it is them." Blaze gave her a skeptical look. "Will they see it?"
"They will." Spitfire took the flare gun and fired it with her mouth. The flare rocketed into the sky. Getting to the desired height it erupted into a bright green glow.
"When do you think it will go off?" Rarity asked as they drove away from the ECDC.
"Not sure but we need to be far away as possible..."
A bright ball of light shined behind them. Before any of them could react, a shockwave washed over them. Zipper growled as he temporally lost control of the wagon. Grabbing the steering wheel, he corrected its momentum and stopped the truck.
The group looked back at the massive fire ball as it rose up into the sky. "Well shit..." Thunderlane spoke with a gasp. "That would've been us."
"Y-Yeah..." Twilight swallowed her fears.
"Where do we go now?" Derpy asked as she held her daughter close.
"He said the ECDC facility under the castle fell." Carrot swallowed her emotions. "Does that mean the princesses are dead?"
Shining studied the defeated expression on the group's faces. Turning to his sister, he saw her staring up at him. Unsure of what to do herself. "We'll figure it out." He looked through the open flaps of the canvas that covered the back of the putter wagon. "One of these buildings will have to do for..." Seeing a bright green light in the sky, his mouth hung open as he watched it soar up into the sky. "A flare..."
"What?" Twilight asked as she looked through the open flap. Seeing the green flare slowly falling back down. Her heart skipped a beat.
"Who could be firing that?" Hooves asked.
"Pinkie!" Applejack gasped. "It has to be!"
"That crazy pony!" Rainbow Dash cheered. "She chased after us!"
"Are you sure?" Zipper stared at them. "Highly doubt it."
"You don't know Pinkie." Rainbow Dash smirked.
Twilight stared at her brother, trying to make out what he was thinking. "Brother?"
Shining let out a sigh as he rested his forehead against the canvas. "Where else can we go." He said softly.
"You can trust her." Twilight laid a hoof on his shoulder.
"I know..." He smiled at her. "Marley?" He poked his head through the window that lead into the wagons' cab. "There should be a flare gun in the glovebox. "Every military vehicle is equipped with them." Marely press the button and the door for the glovebox fell forward. Peering inside he saw a red orange colored gun and handed it to him. Stepping out of the back of the wagon, Shining lifted it over his head with his magic as he pulled the trigger.
A bright hue of red washed over them.
The group stared longingly into the sky where the green flare was. Several minutes passed, causing many in the group to get antsy. "Do you see anything?" Carrot asked. Before Shining could answer four silhouettes showed in the sky. Their hearts skipped a beat as they watch them approach. Shining, Soarin and Applejack raised their guns, but as the figures came into the light and into focus, Rainbow Dash's and Soarin's jaws dropped. "Spitfire!" Rainbow Dash gasped.
"The one and only!" She smiled. She caught herself as Soarin and Rainbow Dash hugged her. "Woah, lets save the hugs for when we're back at basecamp."
"Are you with Pinkie?" Twilight asked.
Spitfire shook her head with a wide grin on her face. "She's the one that told me about your excursion to Canterlot..." She turned around and stared at the raging inferno behind her. "What happed over there?"
"It's a quite a story." Applejack replied with a heavy sigh.
"I'll bite."
The crackling of fire within the brick constructed fireplace filled the air. Its glow illuminated the far corners of the hotel lobby the group were in. Adding an calming aura that was sorely needed as the ponies stewed with the knowledge of a terrible truth.
Pinkie sat left of the fireplace. She looked into her cup and stared at her reflection. Her eyes deceived her thoughts. She was happy to have found her friends once more. But knowing a horrible truth ate away at her mind. "We're all infected?"
Twilight watched her friend mess with her cup. "Yes..." She looked down at her lap. "It doesn't matter how you die. You'll turn into one of those things."
Limestone held onto Granite as she stared into the fire. "He didn't give a reason why this happened?" She turned her gaze to Twilight. Twilight shook her head. Limestone's ears fell back as she turned her eyes back to the fire. Maud stared at her sisters. She hated seeing the despair in their eyes, but she didn't know what to do.
"Well, it's obvious." Blaze let out a huff.
"What's obvious?" Shining gave the stallion a dull glare.
"This is our extinction level event." Blaze returned the glare. "I don't know if you all believe it but I do."
Applejack shook her head. "I don't doubt that, but I'm not going to let that stop me from living my life."
"To do what?" Blaze crossed his forelegs. "Die later on?"
"We're all going to die, trotters or not." Applejack replied. "At least I know I lived a life."
Blaze rubbed his eyes. "Fuck, me!" He headed out of room. "I need a smoke!"
"I'll join you." A Wonderbolt sitting by the door followed him out.
Twilight watched the door close as they left. Shivering, she looked down at her cup. "Where are you based out of?"
Spitfire readjusted her wings. "We're based out of Iron's Ridge." She looked at the unicorn. "We're starting to wall off a portion of the town. Picking the taller building to be our watchtowers."
"Smart." Soarin smirked.
"Is it safe?" Rarity asked.
"Sort of." Spitfire's shoulders slumped. "We cleared out most of the trotters. But a herd came through once. As well as a group of bandits." She drank her water. "That's why we're building the wall."
"Are we allowed to move in?" Derpy wondered.
"Of course." Spitfire smiled. "We need the ponypower."
Shining felt a chill run down his back. Standing up he walked out of the room. "Where is he going?" Spike looked at Twilight. Twilight stared at the door, her mind wandering through a thousand thoughts.
Stepping into one of the hotel rooms, Twilight scanned the semi-tattered state it was in. Ignoring the mess, she turned her attention to the sliding glass door and saw her brother leaning on the balcony's railing. Slowly opening the sliding glass door, she stood beside her brother and copied his pose. "You alright?"
"What do you think?" He sighed.
Twilight stared at her brother for some time. "Still thinking of Canterlot?"
"Aren't you?" He answered her question with a question of his own.
Twilight tapped her hoof on the railing. "I am." She sighed. "Thinking of our parents. Of Cadance. Of the princesses." She looked at her brother. "It's just we had so many close calls."
"I know..." Shining sighed. "I just miss them so much."
Twilight looked up at the night sky, watching the stars twinkle about. Her mind wandered like always. Smiling, she placed a hoof on her brother's. "I'll go with you. To Canterlot." She kept staring at the stars. "You helped me look for Fluttershy and Zecora in the Everfree." She looked at her brother. "I can return the favor."
Shining smiled as he patted her on the head. "Sounds like a plan, but I'm not sure about the others?"
"We'll deal with it in the morning." Twilight rested her head against her brother. "Let's get some rest..." A distant explosion caught their attention, looking towards the mountain, they saw a portion of the castle had erupted into flames. Soon the sounds of the explosion filled their ears. "Oh no..." |
AMONG THE TROTTING DEAD | Part 2: Chapter 8 - Looking Upon the Dead City | Twilight stared at the distant pillar of smoke rising from the western end of the castle. Her ears laid flat as her mind wandered through wild thoughts. Wild thoughts that ruined her sleep and now threatened to destroy her nerves. Stepping away from the window, she let out a heavy sigh and picked up her saddlebag. Clipping its straps snug around her barrel, she left her hotel room.
Exiting the stairwell, she walked into the hotel's lobby and saw her friends and several Wonderbolts huddled around the fireplace, trying to stay warm. "It's fricken cold!" Pinkie grumbled as she cuddled Copper. He joined her and rested his head on top of hers.
"Aren't we in summer?" Marley grumbled as he readjusted the pillow under his bound leg.
"Yeah." Rainbow Dash sighed. "But with the weather factory destroyed and no pony monitoring the weather, the seasons have gone wild."
"It seems nature is taking back control." Applejack huffed as she put the hood of her jacket over her head. Seeing Twilight walking up to them she let out a heavy sigh. "You still going?"
Twilight messed with her saddlebag. "Yes." She put on a cotton beanie she had found. "I need answers."
Spike let out a sigh. "I tried to send another letter." He showed her the rolled-up paper. "It reappeared, just like last time." Twilight stared at the paper in his hands. Frowning, she picked it up and read it. 'We are alive and located in the Fleece Hotel four blocks from Cheery Street.'
"That's a bad sign." Blaze stated. "You think it's wise to go?"
"We need to know." Shining stated flatly as he entered the lobby. "The princesses can't be gone." He checked his lever action. "They just can't."
"But I tried to send a letter..."
"Try again." Shining sighed as he stood next to Twilight. "You ready?"
Twilight nodded. "Yes..." Her eyes went wide as she saw a trotter by the glass.
The others noticed the trotter as it looked into the building. Seeing them, it began to growl as it put a hoof to the glass. It pushed its mouth against it smearing its blood across its surface. "You think it's safe with just you two going?" Maud stood up and unholstered her axe from her side.
"It will be a simple in and out." Shining huffed as he neared the window. The trotter growled as it slammed against the window.
"Hurry before it breaks through!" One of Spitfire's Wonderbolts, Clear Skies huffed.
Blaze groaned as he stood up and picked up his baseball bat that sat by the door. "Open!" Shining nodded and opened the door. The trotter turned its head and hissed. But it never got a chance to sink its teeth into any flesh as Blaze struck it over the head. "Two more should at least go with you." Blaze stated flatly as he stared at his handy work. "I'll be one of those ponies."
Shining frowned. "No..." He looked out over the fog covered street scanning for more dead. Blaze just frowned at the stallion.
"You can come." Twilight hummed as she patted him on the back.
Shining frowned at his sister. "Twily..."
"Shining!" Twilight huffed. "Enough!" She let out a heavy breath. "We need the help."
"I'm coming too." Spitfire stated. "Having the Captain of the Wonderbolts and the Captain of the Royal Guard will help our odds of seeing any government officials still running things."
"What about us?" Carrot asked.
"We stay here until they get back." Maud replied as she stood up and walked past the ponies by the door. She smiled at Spitfire as she walked over to the shed filled with firewood.
Spitfire smiled back. "Let me grab my stuff and then we'll head out."
Twilight and Shining watched the pegasus walk up the stairs. Looking at Blaze, he just shrugged his shoulders. "I'll get the truck ready." They watched him walk towards the vehicles resting in the parking lot. Looking at one another, they silently accepted that they would be entering the most dangerous part of their trip.
Getting to the gates of Upper Canterlot, a sprawling suburb that covered the base of the mountain with streets that wormed their way up to the castle that jutted from the western side of the mountain. Driving the truck through the quite cobblestone streets, Blaze glared at the hollowed homes. "So?" He looked at Twilight. "You think we can drive this all the way to the castle?"
Twilight glared at the road. It was unnerving how everything looked so peaceful, yet so foreign, so unearthly. "No..." She replied, keeping her eyes on the road. "Park it here and kill the engine." She pointed at the sidewalk to her right.
Blaze did as he was told and pulled the truck up onto the sidewalk. "So..." He looked at the others. "I guess we're hiking it?"
"It's the safest way up to the castle." Twilight sighed.
"Are you sure?" Spitfire wondered as she put on her saddlebag.
"We grew up here." Shining sighed as he jumped out of the truck and picked up his lever action rifle from the bed of the truck. "We know it like the back of our hoof."
"Yes..." Twilight stared at the main road they were on, watching it snake its way up the hill.
"At least the road goes all the way to the castle." Blaze huffed as he stared at the castle's silhouette.
"Seems too easy?" Spitfire's wings twitched in annoyance.
"We'll be fine but if we need to divert and take the sideroads, then we'll do so." Twilight made her way up the road. Her brother, Blaze and Spitfire followed her, their minds on high alert as they trekked their way to the eastern side of the castle.
The quiet that consumed the street, sang in their ears, numbing their senses. The sun high above them slowly warming the land, sent a chill down Twilight's back. Shivering from the sensation, she looked over at her brother. Seeing a dour expression on his face a knot formed in her stomach. Turning her gaze back to the road, she saw a corner coffee shop that triggered childhood memories to resurface. "Brother?" She studied his posture. "You think they're home?"
"No..." He sighed. "They went to the safe zone within the castle." He looked at her. "That's what they said, before the phone lines went down."
Twilight eyed the two to three story homes and or shops that lined the street. Feeling nauseous, she looked back at her brother. "I need to know." She watched as her brother bit his inner cheek. She knew that he wanted answers as well.
"Are we really going to take a detour?" Blaze asked as he stared at the siblings. "You said they were going to the castle. We'll find out then."
"How far is your parents' house?" Spitfire asked.
"About three blocks down." Twilight pointed up the hill. "We'll meet you at the castle gates if you don't want to follow."
"We shouldn't split up..." Spitfire and the others stopped as they heard distant groans of the dead. "That's just proved my point." She gave them a 'I told you so look.'
"I agree." Shining sighed. "Let's get going, we don't have all day."
"In and out?" Blaze tilted his head to the side.
"In and out." Shining replied as he took the lead.
A figure kept its eyes to the ground as it slowly stumbled across the cobblestone streets. Hearing a noise, it looked around and glared at the road, seeing nothing it looked forward and scanned the horizon... The figure fell forward as something blunt struck it over the back of the head. It growled as it tried to get up, but whoever was hitting it, kept up as several more strikes struck its skull.
Blaze growled as he pulled the bat from the mangled skull of the trotter. Looking up from his handywork, he stared at several decaying bodies lying in their final poses across the street. "This ain't good." He looked back at the others.
Twilight and Shining stared at their childhood home. The disarray it was in sent chills down their backs. Several windows were shattered, and the front door was slightly agape. "You think they're at the castle?" Spitfire questioned as they walked up the steps to the front porch.
"I hope so..." Twilight placed a hoof on the door. She stood still, listening for any sound of activity within. "I still need to make sure." She pushed the door open and watched it swing all the way to its apex, gently bumping up against the door stopper. With silence gracing her ears, she stepped into the home and slowly trekked through the house, checking the rooms as she passed them.
Following his sister into the home, Shining frowned at the state it was in. Knick-knacks lay strewn across the floor. Picking up a broken picture, he stared through the shattered glass and saw his parents, his sister, his brother, and himself smiling back at him. "Looks like the upper class of Canterlot didn't escape the chaos." Blaze mumbled out loud as he stood in the living room, jamming his bat into the broken TV screen.
Shining glared at him as he furthered the damage. Shaking his head, he set down the picture on the table in the hall and walked into the kitchen. "Have history?" Spitfire asked.
"He didn't tell you?" Shining walked to the other side of the of the island.
"No. He doesn't talk much." She answered as she watched him scan the disarray that blanketed the kitchen counters.
Shining was about to say something snarky, when a dried puddle of blood caught his eyes. "Shit!" He stepped out into the kitchen and down the hall. "Twilight?"
"Shining, what's wrong?" Spitfire followed after him.
"Twilight... Blaze?" Shining asked as he saw the earth pony looking into his father's office. Standing next to him he finally noticed the trotter lying on the floor that had met its end long ago. "Fuck..."
"I don't have a good feeling." Blaze poked the trotter with his bat. Shining looked over his shoulder and watched his sister ascending the stairs.
Standing at the top of the stairs, Twilight stared at the slightly opened window at the end of the hall. She watched the white curtains flap softly with the breeze. Numbness washed over her as she slowly walked down the hall. Passing the bathroom, she stopped as she noticed blood on the floor, sink, and countertop. Lost in a haze, she picked up her pace, ignoring the other rooms, her mind focused on her parents at the end of the hall.
Nearly tripping over herself as she got to the door. A small part of her was amused. Her mother was one for closing doors to rooms that were not being used. But, then again, there were plenty of rooms whose doors were open... and the blood in the bathroom... the trotter within the office...
Stress twisted her stomach into a knot as she approached the door. Her magic's aura enveloping the handle. The door creaked as it swung open. Her mother's makeup table beside the window graced her vision first. Then the corner of her parents' queen-sized bed. Her blood went ice cold as she saw a white furred hind hoof. She let out a cry as she backed away from the door, crashing against the wall.
Ringing screamed in her ears as she stared into the room. She could barely make out her brother calling out to her, the only sounds were the wind blowing through the window and the door squealing as it moved into the fully opened position. "?" She felt her brother shoving her.
"Twily what's wrong?" Shining placed a hoof to her forehead. "You've looked like you've seen a ghost." Her replay was her vomiting onto the floor. Shock overcame him as he looked into the room. His heart skipped a beat as he saw two corpses on the bed, one a unicorn mare and the other one a unicorn stallion. "No..." Weakness overcame him as he walked into the room. Seeing exit wounds on their heads, one coming from the front on the mare's skull and the back of the skull for the stallion.
Fighting back the urge to lose control of his emotions, he blinked away the tears that blocked his vision as he stood on the left side of the bed. "Damn it..." He said under his breath as he saw a bite mark on the mare's right hind leg.
"Fuck me..." Blaze stared wide eyed at the corpses.
"Shit!" Spitfire held a hoof to the mouth. "These aren't your parents, are they?" She helped Twilight off the floor.
Shining stared at the pistol laying between the corpses. "Yes..." He watched his sister stumble up to their father side of the bed. Seeing the insurmountable grief pouring from her eyes was like a hot blade stabbing and twisting into his heart. Shame washed over him. He made a promise to always look out for her as her big brother, best friend forever... through thick and thin... But now, he felt like shit. Maybe it would've been for the best to have skipped their parents' house to go straight to the castle, or maybe they would just run into a graveyard. No matter how he spun it, it was going to be hell all around.
"Twily?" He walked up to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder.
Her sobs were sporadic as she tried placing a hoof on her father. She touched him and felt how cold he was. She pulled back and butted up against the wall. Finally, her mind snapped, sending her to a fit of rage as she buried her face into the carpet and unleashed her sorrows.
Shining went to comfort her, but she cowered away, crashing against the nightstand. She threw her hooves over her head and shut her eyes to the world around her. He stepped back and looked unsure of what to do about the blanket of despair that consumed her.
"Give her some space." Spitfire laid a hoof on his shoulder. Shining could see the pain she felt for them. "She needs to grieve on her own and so do you." Shining looked at his sister lying in a fetal position, her tail covering the lower half of her body. Nodding in agreement he stepped away from his parent's room and followed Spitfire down the stairs. Blaze was the last one to leave, turning his gaze from Twilight, he looked at the corpses on the bed. He shivered at their hollowed eyes that glared into his soul.
Soft winds blew through the opened bedroom window. Cool air washed over Twilight, causing her to shiver. Groaning, she slowly lifted her head off the floor. Rubbing her crusty tear-stained eyes, she lazily looked around. Coughing up phlegm, she grimaced as she swallowed it back down and slowly sat up from the floor. Seeing dead bodies out of the corner of her eyes, numbness washed over her as she remembered where she was. Oh, how she wished it was all a terrible dream.
But the longer she stared at her parents, the more they appeared, peaceful. Their posture on the bed showed love. Her father wrapped forelegs around her mother. His head resting on hers, their blood running down their faces, mixing and pooling in the middle of them on the bed, caking the pistol in a thin layer of dark crimson.
"They look peaceful."
Hearing her brother's deep voice, she looked over her shoulder and saw him standing under the doorframe. His eyes looked worn and tired like hers. "Yeah..." She replied softly, returning her gaze to her parents. "Mother was bitten." She studied how violent the wound looked.
"Father couldn't leave her." Shining frowned. "He couldn't take her to safe zone." He stood beside his sister. "But why would father kill himself?"
Twilight scanned her father's body, seeing something she leaned in closer and saw a nasty bite mark covered in dried blood. Thinking back to the trotter in her father's office. The odds of them being bitten by both were high. Which left only one outcome "Mother bit him." Her body shivered as those words passed her lips.
Her brother stared at her in disbelief, but as he studied his father's corpse, he too saw the wound. "He couldn't do it." He activated his magic and picked up the pistol from the bed. Opening the cylinder, he saw two of the five, five-hundred magnum rounds were fired. "Only after did he." He looked at his parents with dull eyes.
Twilight stared at the pistol floating gracefully in front of them. "What do we do now?"
Shining gently placed the pistol back in its place. "We keep going." He smiled at his sister. "We can't give up now."
Twilight bit her lower lip. "But what if there is nothing?"
Shining sighed as he looked out the window and at the castle only a few hundred yards away. "Like I said, we keep going." He left the room. Twilight quickly followed him and walked alongside him.
"How long was I in there?" She asked.
"Not long." He stopped a few steps before the base of the stairs. "Only fifteen minutes or so."
"How are you feeling?" Spitfire came up to them, fully geared up and ready to go.
"Alright..." Twilight replied half heartly. "I'm ready to leave this place."
"Spitfire nodded. "I understand." She led them out of the house. Stepping onto the porch, a pleasant shiver danced across Twilight's back, easing the stress that flowed through her, lifting a few weights off her shoulders. "Blaze, we're ready to go!" Spitfire shouted as she skipped onto the pathway that led to the house.
Blaze nodded and finished his cigarette. Tossing it he looked at the siblings and noticed their solemn expressions. "Good, because we need to get to the castle before sunset."
"We have penalty of time." Shining pointed at the castle. "If we keep up a good pace, we should get there with in an hour or two..." Seeing a small group of trotters stumbling down the road towards them, he growled. "Fuckers." Twilight stared at the trotters' manic expressions as they growled at no one and at nothing in particular. A purple glow engulfed her horn as she unholstered her axe.
A unicorn with green fur wearing golden bronze armor and steel chainmail, typical Royal Guard uniform was leaning against the parapet of the eastern gate towers. Feeling cold air blowing through the embrasure's he sat in between. He cursed to himself that he should've worn something warmer. To keep his mind distracted from the unpleasant weather, he fidgeted with his crossbow.
Finished with tightening up his bow's draw weight. He took time to study his weapon. Its main body was made of oak and adorned with carvings. Its brass parts were polished to perfection and reflected its surroundings like a mirror. Even its handle was wrapped with lush black stained leather that made it feel heavenly to hold.
But even with its beauty, it was highly out classed by the new lever action rifles that replaced it. Even still, the Royal Guard still had to keep up their regal appearance for the public. He looked to his right and saw his bronze spear resting on the ground. Seeing some specks of dried blood, he grumbled as bad memories danced across his mind. "Keeping up what appearance."
"Everything alright Fletcher?"
Fletcher looked up and saw a bat pony stallion wearing Lunar Guard armor. Which was a steel stained a gun metal blue, from niter bluing. "Just keeping my mind busy, Iron Wing."
The bat pony, smirked. "Sounds like you need help, glad I brought our new recruit along." He stepped to the side and allowed an eleven-year-old pegasus colt with the same fur and mane color to Fletcher's to exit the narrow stairwell.
"Private Hanzel, reporting for duty!" The colt smirked as he saluted. The Lunar Guard helmet he wore tilting to the side and covering his right eye.
"So, my bro has betrayed me and joined the Lunar Guard?" Fletcher laughed.
"No..." Hanzel timidly crossed his forelegs. "But Iron Wing did offer me a ride in the artillery tractor." His uncrippled wing fluttered.
"You're going to let him drive it?" Fletcher raised his brow at Iron Wing.
"No, he might run over and break military equipment." He held up his hooves, his bat wings flapping from embarrassment.
"Hey!" Hanzel frowned at the bat pony. "You said I could drive it!"
Fletcher laughed at his brother. "That would be a sight to behold..."
Hearing gunshots, Hanzel jumped and hid behind the parapet. Fletcher and Iron Wing looked through the embrasure and saw four ponies fighting their way up to the gate. "Damn..." Iron Wing grumbled as he unshouldered his rifle. "What do we do?"
Fletcher glared at the distant ponies. "Brother!" He watched a purple furred unicorn swing an axe at a trotter. "Monocular!" His brother rummaged through his bag and pulled out the requested item. Fletcher quickly grabbed it and looked through it. "Holy shit!" He gasped.
"What do you see?" Hanzel asked.
"Alert the princess!" Iron Wing went into military mode and ran down the stairs. Passing the monocular to his brother, Fletcher grabbed his crossbow and aimed through the embrasure.
Twilight growled as she brought down her axe on a unicorn trotter. The monster growled and activated its horn. She felt its magic around her neck. Chocking, she pulled her axe from its shoulder and swung once more, her blade struck its side of its head, its jawbone shattering. Seeing its head burst into a mist of dark red, she turned around and saw Blaze holding his 8-gauge sawed-off double barrel shotgun. "Thought you needed a helping hoof."
She grimaced at the high pitch ringing playing in her ears. "Yeah..." She looked all around her and saw just how outnumbered they were. "We need to teleport into the castle!"
"We don't know what's on the other side!" Blaze stared at her with narrowed eyes.
"I think it's the best shot we got!" Spitfire commented and she flew above them taking pot shots at the trotters with her repeating crossbow. "I'll distract them while you get closer so you can save your magic."
Shining pushed a trotter back. "Sounds like a plan!" Hearing a whizzing fly past his head, he looked on in shock as a trotter in front of him crumbled to the ground. Staring at the bolt sticking out of the trotter's eye socket. He looked over his shoulder and saw a pony in one of the towers by the gate. Several more ponies poked their heads from the wall's parapet and opened fire on the dead that surrounded them.
Seeing the gate rising up, Twilight saw a bat pony poking his head out from under the door. "Run!" He waved at them with his hoof. They didn't hesitate as they ran with all their might. Running past the gate, the bat pony looked to his left. "Close the gate!" The two ponies manning the lever, unlatched the locking bolt and let the gate drop, closing with a bassy thud.
Twilight, Shining, Spitfire, and Blaze stared at the door. The sounds of the dead beating against wrought iron reenforced wood door filled the air, causing some ponies to cower. "Watch out for the flyers coming over the wall!" The bat pony yelled. Turning his attention to his new guests, his eyes lit up as he recognized three of them. "Dear sweet Luna, Captains?" He gave a salute. "Staff Sargent, Iron Wing, sir!" He smirked. "It's felt like forever since I've done that!" He laughed at himself.
Shining nodded as he caught his breath. "At ease soldier." He smirked. Spitfire replied with a salute of her own.
"Captain!" Fletcher shouted from the third-story balcony that led up to his tower. "You crazy son of a bitch!"
Shining smiled. "Same to you!" He laughed. "Haven't found a way to go out in a blaze of glory?"
"Nah," Fletcher shook his head. "Had to keep my eye on this little bugger." If on cue, Hanzel popped his head over the railing and waved at them.
"I can't believe you're alive?" Iron Wing smirked. "How have you been?" He bowed for Twilight. "It's been a while, Miss Sparkle." She blushed at the formal greeting and gave a little wave. Finding her embarrassment charming, he smiled at his handywork and turned his attention to Blaze and noticed him giving him a look.
"Glad to see you're alive as well." Shining looked at the ragtag group of Royal Guard, Lunar Guard, and army surrounding them, fifteen he counted. Quite a small number given the castle's footprint was the size of a small town. Though they were on the eastern side where the Royal and Lunar guard headquarters were, as well as several barracks along the western side of the courtyard they stood on. Seeing some civilian's poking their heads out from the barracks, his heart skipped a beat.
"How many are there?" Twilight asked his question for him.
Iron Wing hung his head. "Not many, about forty made it to this sector of the castle."
"Let's now make it forty-four." A delicate voice added.
Turning around, Twilight's and Shining's bodies froze as they saw an alicorn with pink fur and a graceful mane of magenta, purple, and cream-yellow walk up to them.
"C-Cadence?" Twilight sputtered as she felt like she would pass out.
"It's me." Cadence smiled. Her tired eyes swelled up with tears. Looking past Twilight, she saw her husband's dumbstruck expression. Before she could make heads or tails. Twilight and Shining grabbed onto her, hugging her for dear life. Her limbs went limp as she fell to the ground with them. Giving in, she returned the hug. "I've missed you so much."
Spitfire laid a hoof over Blaze's shoulder and let out a whistle. "Well would you look at that!" She laughed. "Finally, something to be happy about!"
Blaze watched the sadness that consumed Twilight slowly leaving. "Yeah..." He smiled.
"Why didn't you come back for us?" Twilight wiped her tears.
Candence bit her cheek as she looked over her small group of survivors. "I've tried, but there's a blanket of magic preventing ponies form leaving."
Twilight stared at her sister-in-law with a raised brow. "What?" Her right brow lifted as she processed her words. "Magic strong enough to prevent travel, even for Celestia, Luna, and you?" She shivered as Keplar's words replayed in her mind. 'It could be magic in origin.' She looked at Cadence. "Are trotters causing it?"
Cadence stood up. "In a way." She sighed.
"In a way?" Shining tilted his head as he studied his wife's defeated posture.
"You should show them your highness." Iron Wing lowered his head.
"Show us what?" Twilight looked at the bat pony.
Cadence stared at the gravel under her hooves. "Come, it's hard to explain." She walked to the castle's central tower that hugged the mountain's cliffside. "Mop up any trotters that fly over the wall." Iron Wing bow and commanded his stallions. Opening the double doors, she motioned Twilight and her friends to enter.
Passing through the doors, a shiver danced across her back. "You oaky?" Spitfire asked, her wings twitching from the strange sensation.
"I don't know." Twilight couldn't put her feelings into words. It was like night and day difference when they passed the threshold. It felt oppressive, cold, and unforgiving. Seeing her brother and Blaze looked like they felt the same. She stopped as she laid eyes on a wide door that was boarded up. Timidly placing her ear to the door, she waited and listened. Hearing muffled groans, she jumped back.
"Had to seal off this part of the castle." Cadence frowned at the door.
"What happened?" Twilight smacked her drying mouth. "Where are the princesses?"
Cadence's shoulders slumped. "Everything went to hell." She walked further down the hall. "Things got out of hoof really quick. We were overwhelmed within the week, the sickness spread like wildfire." She opened another door.
Twilight felt numb as she recognized where she was. It was an 'L' shaped hall, directly in front of her lead to the gardens and to her right lead to a spiral staircase. A staircase that led to Celestia's and Luna's royal chambers. Seeing the door that led to the gardens was blocked by several items of furniture, she let out a troubled sigh. "Cadence, please..." She walked alongside her. "Where are they?"
Cadence let out a heavy sigh. "I'm taking you to them." She said dully as she guided them up the spiral staircase.
Ascending the steps, Twilight's mind raced madly. Why was Cadence being so cryptic? Why were so few ponies alive? Was it worse than she imagined? Passing a window, she stopped and looked through it. Five stories below, was the four-acre garden and the other buildings of the castle. Memorized by its still intact beauty, her attention turned to the figures moving throughout the garden. Noticing how frantic and uncoordinated they walked, she quickly looked away as her worries were confirmed...
Twilight stood in front of a grand gold-plated doors, with intricate carvings of early Equestrian history. But it wasn't those carvings that drew her attention. It was the black misty smoke like magic oozing form the gaps in the doors. "It's Luna?" She stuttered.
Cadence only sighed as she kept her eyes on the floor. Shining armor placed a hoof on his wife. "Where's Celestia?"
"She's in there." Cadence said flatly. Twilight turned around looking at her with horrified eyes. "Celestia became sick two weeks into the outbreak. Luna quickly put her into her chambers." Cadence stepped up closer to the door. "Luna devoted her time to caring for her sister so she could get back to leading the effort against this plague. Until then I was put in charge." She looked at Twilight. "I did my best, but I needed them. I hoped they would return to their duties, but as the days dragged on..." She shook her head.
"That day never came." Blaze leaned against the wall and looked out the window, eyeing the vast real estate the castle occupied.
"I tried sending letters to Spike so I could warn you," Cadence looked at her husband. "But they would just reappear, so, I feared the worst, but when royal guards tried to make a scavenging run to restock some supplies, they found they couldn't get past the gate. Not without being forcefully knocked back." She bit her cheeks as she stared at the door with dull eyes. "At first, I thought it was the trotters manipulating ponies magic, but when I pinpointed the source, I found out it was coming from within Celestia's room.
"How do you know it was Luna?" Spitfire asked.
"I opened the door... Once." Cadence shivered and shook her head.
"So, we're stuck here until she comes out and kills whatever spell she's casting?" Blaze tilted his head.
"Yes..." Cadence sighed. "Sorry you're trapped here." She hung her head low to the ground.
"Sweetheart," Shining placed a hoof under her chin and lifted her head to be eye level with him. "It's okay. We'll figure it out. I'm just glad you're alive." He kissed her. "After what we've been through, we needed to hear good news."
Cadence felt a pain in her chest. "What happened?"
"It's a long story." Twilight sighed.
"We'll tell me all about it." Cadence made her way to the stairs. "Some of the army folks are cooking up a wonder dinner. You can fill me in on everything."
"A meal and a story!" Spitfire smirked. "Count me in."
Twilight smiled, but it quickly left as she looked back at the door. Noticing she wasn't following. Blaze stood at the top of the stairs and watched her stare at the door. "Are you coming?" She kept her eyes on the black misty magic floating across the floor, dissipating before touching her hooves. "Twilight?" He placed a hoof on her shoulder.
She jumped back and whipped her head around. Finding herself awfully close to him, their snouts touching, she blushed and sheepishly smiled. "What?"
Blaze shook himself awake from the shock. "Are you coming?" He asked as he rubbed his snout.
"Yes..." She trailed off and looked at the door once more.
"We'll take care of it." He placed a hoof under her chin and turned her head to face him. "We will have to, to get out of here." He motioned her to follow. "Let's do so after we eat." Twilight blushing from the touch, nodded and followed him down the stairs.
Twilight stared at her meal. It was a mixture of beans, cabbage, tomatoes and bell peppers. A hodgepodge of ingredients for sure. At least it was edible she mused as she chewed through her bite. Cadence who sat across from her stared wide eyed as she ate. "I'm so sorry..." She placed a hoof on her husband's. "Did you burry them?"
Twilight stared at the hills and valleys the beans made. "No..."
"We didn't want to disturb them." Shining sighed as he patted his wife's hoof.
Fletcher who sat at their table played with his meal as he mulled over their story, they told. "Damn..." He scoffed. "That's all I have to say."
Hanzel looked up at his brother unsure how to take all this information in. "So, you're saying we're all infected?" Then there was that nugget of information, the question asked by Poppy sent shivers down his spine. 'Infected?' His young mind had a hard time wrapping around the concept of being sick without being sick.
"You didn't know?" Twilight tilted her head. "Wasn't your ECDC keeping you up to date?"
"They stopped communicating for the past four days." Cadence shrugged her shoulders. "The building was on lockdown. No pony was going to get in to find out why..." She drank some of her water. "Then it exploded."
"Have you gone to check?" Spitfire asked.
"Yeah." Iron Wing finished his meal. "But the tunnel collapsed." He picked up his drink with his front hooves. "And the main building is in the redzone."
Twilight looked out the archway at the castle's silhouette. Her mind drifting to the blocked and boarded up doors. "I still can't believe this is all that made it?"
"I can!" Hopper an army stallion laughed. "Pure chaos. You would've sworn Discord came back."
Twilight tapped her hooves together. "Is he?"
Cadence shook her head. "No, last time I flew over the gardens I still saw him incased in stone."
Mild silence fell over the ponies as they finished their meals. "Want to see were you'll be sleeping?" Iron Wing asked.
"Sure?" Twilight replied.
"Why don't you go for us." Shining gave his wife a warm smile. "I'm going to spend some time with her, if you don't mind?" Hearing, Fletcher, Poppy and several others, whooping and cheering. Her rolled his eyes. "I'm still captain!" They all went silent.
Twilight held back a giggle. "Okay."
"I'll go with." Blaze stood up. "I need to lie down any ways."
Iron Wing's smile flattened slightly as he watched the stallion throw on his saddle bag as he stood beside Twilight. "Why don't we move along." He guided the two of them to the barracks.
Shining noticed the look but gave it little thought as he turned his attention to his wife. "So, what do you want to do?"
Pleasant sensations ran down her back as Twilight felt the cold evening air washing over her body as it settled into the courtyard. Watching her breath dissipate, she looked over at Blaze who seemed to be enjoying the cold. "You been through a lot?" Iron Wing asked.
"Yeah..." Twilight looked at the bat pony who was out in front. "We're just glad to be alive." Blaze nodded in agreement.
"Well, you'll be safe here." He gave her a smirk. "I give you, my word."
Twilight blushed. "Always a gentlecolt." Blaze shook his head.
Iron Wing noticed the earth pony's displeasure but decided to ignore it. Getting to the barracks, he opened the door to barrack numbered A1. "Here is where you'll be staying."
Twilight hugged him. "Thank you." She gave him a smile. "I'll figure a way to get you all out of this situation."
Iron Wing blushed at the affection. "Well, if anypony knows how to get through to the princesses, it's you." Blaze just raised his brow but deep down he found his flustered appearance amusing.
"I promise." She looked into his cat like eyes with determination.
"Well, it's not a five-star hotel, but it should do." Iron Wing bowed. "Get some rest." Twilight nodded and watched him step out of the barrack.
Blaze stretched and let out a huff. "Now which one do I pick?" He mused as he tested the beds comfort by pressing down on them with his hoof. Finding one that fit his preference he set down his saddlebag. Taking out his shotgun he checked to see if both barrels were loaded. Nodding, he put it in safe and laid it on his bed. Looking up from his bed, he saw Twilight sanding under the archway. "Heading back to the mess hall?"
She remained silent as she listened to the blowing winds. Without a word she stepped out of the barracks. Confused, Blaze stepped up to the archway and watched her walk across the courtyard toward the castle. "What are you doing?" He whispered. Seeing her entering the castle, he cursed under his breath and followed after her. Iron Wing who stood in the alley of two barracks watched Blaze enter the castle.
Blaze groaned as he climbed up the steps of the castle. "What the hell are you doing?" He asked out loud to himself. Finally getting to the top, he caught his breath. His smoking habit showing its ugly head. Taking a deep breath, he walked further down the hallway until getting to the end. Seeing Twilight standing in front of the door, he stood back and stared at the smoky magic pooling out from the door.
Apprehensive, he slowly walked up to her. "Twilight, what are you doing?"
Twilight felt a heaviness on her chest as she watched the smoke move past her legs. The magic felt ice cold, oppressive. "Tell them..."
"Tell them what?" Blaze tilted his head.
"Tell them to get themselves ready!" She activated her magic and threw open the door. A burst of dark magic washed over her and Blaze, knocking the wind out of their lungs. Fighting the fear that consumed her she glared at the night sky like mass and jumped in.
"Twilight!" Blaze reached out to grab here but he was too late. Watching her vanish in a flash of white, he stared at the mass with horrified eyes. "Fuck..."
"What the hell are you doing?" Iron Wing's raspy voice echoed through the hall. "Don't you..." His eyes went wide as he saw the swirling mass. "What the?"
"Get Cadence and Shining!" Blaze growled.
Feeling a warm sensation washing over her, Twilight opened her eyes. "Woah?" She gasped as she found herself in a vast black void filled with white star like specks. It all felt strange to her. The stimulation she felt, so foreign, so alien. "Never felt magic like this before." She slowly trekked through the midnight black.
"Hello?" She called out as she scoured the dark. "Celestia? Luna?" She cried out. She froze as she heard a sob. Her ears swiveled trying to pinpoint where it came from. Hearing it once again, her heart skipped a beat as it sounded very familiar.
Seeing a bright blue light poking from the darkness, she picked up her stride, closing the distance she saw the outline of a figure hunched over the blue light that turned out to be an orb. "Luna?" She gasped as saw the figure's face. It was Luna for sure, but not the youthful royal she knew. Her dark-blue fur was now a midnight-cornflower-blue. Her lush sapphire-blue mane and tail were now a pure blinding white like her eyes. "Luna..."
"All I see are nightmares..." Luna cried as she stared into the orb, ignoring Twilight. "I tried to keep them safe in their dreams..." She rubbed her hoof across the orb.
Pain and sorrow filled Twilight's heart as she timidly placed a hoof on Luna's shoulder. "Luna it's me, Twilight..." Luna whipped her head to face her. She jumped back and stared into her intoxicating eyes. "Luna?"
Luna's wings twitched as she activated her horn. A fiery blue glow engulfed her horn and Twilight. Twilight let out a gasp as she floated over to Luna. Hovering in front of her, Twilight could finally see the full existent of her new form. A pain formed in her chest seeing the hurt pouring from Luna's eyes like a broken dam.
"Why do you haunt me apparition?" Luna growled, her tone of voice dripping with venom. Twilight smacked her drying mouth as she tried to form words to speak. "Am I not tormented enough already?"
"Luna! It's me!" Twilight held out her hooves. "Please, I'm not some ghost!"
Luna narrowed her eyes. "You dare deceive my mind? Taking the form of Celestia's student..." Tears fell down her face. "My friend!"
Twilight shivered at the tone. "No... Please it's really me! I'm alive! I came all this way to help!"
"Lies!" Luna threw Twilight to the ground. Twilight gasped in pain as the air was knocked out of her. Rolling over, she held her position to allow her to catch her breath. Luna stepped away from the blue orb and stood over Twilight. "I'll not be consumed by your nightmares!" Luna spat as the mana around her horn grew. "I know your tricks! I know how you work! Its I alone who will stop your evil from spreading. I'll keep your nightmares away!" She aimed her horn at Twilight. "I'll save them from your dark magic!"
Growling out her pain, Twilight rolled out of the line of fire. White hot plasma scorched the black abyss. She gasped as the white fire from the blast faded into wispy grey smoke. Turning her attention to Luna, she saw her charging up another attack. Cursing under her breath, she rolled out of the way and activated her own magic to teleport out of this nightmare, but as soon as she felt the spell take hold, it died, causing her to tumble across the ground. 'Stupid!' She scolded herself.
Luna smirked menacingly as she grabbed Twilight's hind legs. Feeling herself sliding across the floor, Twilight dug her hooves into the ground to slow herself, but to no avail. Looking over her shoulders, she saw the blue orb approaching. With no other options, she threw herself at it. "NO!" Luna screamed as she lunged at Twilight. Twilight grimaced as she feared the worst.
Silence... nothing but silence. Unnerving silence... Twilight slowly opened her eyes and let out a gasp. All around her was an endless number of white glowing spheres floating around her. "So, this is the dream realm?" She whispered out loud as she slowly walked past the vast number of spheres floating majesty through the stary void. "It's more than what I'd imagined..."
Passing a sphere, she stopped and stared at it. Through the glassy exterior she saw a small filly running through a field playing tag with wacky strange creatures. A smile adorned her face at the innocence on display. Feeling a tear roll down her face, she wiped her eyes.
"Uh?" Feeling something hitting her rump, she turned around and saw another orb, but it was darker in color to the previous. Taking a closer look, she saw a mare surrounded by a nightmarish scene taken from hell itself. "Oh no..." She put a hoof to her mouth as she noticed the mare was partially turned. The mare kept running around in a frenzy manner, pulling at her mane and slamming her head against the jagged rocks. The mare's screams shook Twilight to her core. Stumbling away from the orb she started to panic as she saw other dark orbs coming into view.
"I try so hard to let them rest, but she won't let them go,"
Twilight's body went numb at the motherly voice. Slowly turning around, her eyes fell upon an alicorn with white fur and a tri-colored mane flowing majestically with a non-existent breeze. "Celestia?"
The mare smiled. "It is I..." Twilight pulled her into a death grip of a hug, startling her. She let out a laugh and returned the hug. "Oh, dearest Twilight."
Tears poured from Twilight's eyes. "Why didn't you come back?" She let her emotions run wild. "Why is Luna like this?" She looked up at her mentor with bloodshot eyes. "Why?"
Celestia's heart sank seeing her student's despair. She ran a hoof through Twilight's mane, allowing her to release her emotions that had been building up for the past two months. "I tried, Twilight. I've seen everything you've been through. I am sorry I wasn't there to comfort you" She held the young mare close to her chest. "But I can't."
"Why?" Twilight wiped her eyes. "Because of Luna?"
"In a way." Celesta sighed, placing her hooves on Twilight's shoulders. "I'm not here anymore. I am gone, you're only talking to my soul."
Twilight's blood ran cold. "What?" She started to hyperventilate. "No... You can't! You can't!"
Celestia placed a hoof to her lips. "I was bitten by a sick pony that flown into the throne room." She watched the orbs float around them. "Luna tried to save me, and, in her desperation, sent my soul to the Realm of Dreams. However it kept rejecting me, so in order to make it so, she bound my soul and the realm of dreams into a crystal sphere."
Twilight looked down at her hooves. "But why is Luna keeping Cadence and the other survivors stuck within the castle's premises?"
"Side effect of Luna's spell." Celestia bit her cheek.
"How do we get her to end her spell?"
"YOU WILL NOT DECEIVE ME!" Luna's booming voice rolled across the realm. Twilight and Celestia saw her appear from a swirling black mass. "You will not take her from me apparition!"
Twilight cowered from the irate alicorn. Celestia put herself between her and her sister. "Not another step, dearest sister!"
Luna growled. "Don't you listen to this demon!" Her voice cracked a little. "She's trying to take you to her realm!"
A sharp pain radiated across her chest as her sister's mournful tone danced in her ears. "Luna... I am no more!" She held back her emotions. "You must let me go! End this madness!"
"You are not!" Tears began to blur Luna's vision. "I am close to a solution!" She hit the ground with her hoof. "I know this dark magic's weakness!" She stepped forward. "The nightmares will be over for everypony!" She activated her magic. "And it starts with this apparition!" She fired a blast.
Celestia put up a shield diverting the hot plasma in all directions. Twilight coward under her mentor and watched Luna firing a never-ending barrage of attacks on to the shield. "Celestia!" Twilight gasped as she saw the shield begin to crack. She activated her horn and added her magic to it.
"Save your magic!" Celestia groaned.
"You need help!" Twilight groaned at the stress Luna was putting onto the shield. "Besides we need to find a way to rid her of this dark magic!"
"That will not end the spell keeping you here!" Celestia huffed. "You need to leave this realm! You need to put me to rest!"
"What?" Twilight was confused at her words, but she quickly caught on as she put two and two together. "No... I can't!"
"You need to!" Celestia looked at her student. "What's left of my mind is keeping the spell together." She groaned as she felt her magic failing. "You must dearest Twilight." Twilight shook her head and buried her face into her side. Celestia smiled as she remembered Twilight's first day in school. Timid and quite but then became her most eager student full of lively expression. "Twilight. Look at me!"
Twilight timidly looked up at her mentor.
"Listen to me." She felt tears rolling down her face. "Remember all that I taught you. Use it to the best of your abilities, because you're in a new world. A world that's about survival." She gave her a stern expression. "So, you survive! And you rebuild! And never forget who you are!"
Twilight wiped her tears away. "I wish I could've saved you."
Celestia shook her head. "Things happen for a reason," She kissed her on the forehead. "Now run dearest Twilight." She pulled magic from her shield. "RUN!" She fired a ball of magic at Twilight sending her flying across the void. Twilight screamed as she picked up speed. Before she knew it, she exited from the Realm of Dreams and tore through the black mass.
Groaning from the pain coursing through her body, she shook her head and lifted herself off the ground. Hearing a growl, she froze, her mind afraid to move. Fighting nausea and fear, she looked up and saw Celestia in front of her. Her heart sank as she stared at those milky white eyes that glared down at her. Celestia thrashed against the blood-soaked rope wrapped around her mouth like a gag. Her broken horn sparked and oozed magical discharge.
Seeing the bite on her neck, Twilight closed her eyes and held back her tears. "I love you." She watched Celestia lift her hooves. The rope craned her neck back halting her attack. Looking over her shoulder, Twilight saw the swirling mass of black.
Frowning, she scanned the room and finding a pair of crochet needles on a makeup table by the window she picked them up with her magic. Staring at the needles her mind began to wander to happy memories of her and Celestia crocheting scarfs during their meditation sessions. Feeling tears rolling down her face, she blinked her eyes dry and stared at Celestia. "Don't worry about me..." She casted a spell on the needles. They began vibrating violently. "You taught me well." She closed her eyes and jammed the needles through Celestia's eyes, shoving them deep into her skull, scrambling her brain.
Celestia collapsed to the floor except her head which snapped back and hung in an uncomfortable orientation by the rope. Feeling a menacing aura, Twilight turned around and saw Luna standing over her. Her blood ran cold as Luna stepped up closer. Lowering her body to the ground, she closed her eyes and braced for the worst. But nothing happened. Confused she opened her eyes and saw Luna standing over her sister's corpse.
"No..." Luna cried as she lowered herself. "No..." She sobbed as she pulled her sister into a hug.
A great sense of grief washed over her. A strong urge to comfort Luna came over her. Trembling, she slowly approached, her hoof reaching out... 'Run!' hearing Celestia's voice she stopped. Looking over her shoulder she saw the dark mass disappearing into the blue orb on the ground. Giving her diarchies one more glance, she ran out.
Feeling the aura of despair lifting off her shoulders, Twilight let out a heavy sigh of relief. "Dear sweet Celestia..." She looked up and saw her brother, Cadence, Blaze, Spitfire, and Iron Wing. "What did you do?" Shining asked softly as he stared at Luna holding Celestia zombified corpse.
"What Celestia wanted..." Twilight stepped away from the door. "I saw her..." She kept her eyes on Luna.
"You saw Celestia?" Cadence's disbelief clearing showing through her tone of voice.
"In a way." She rubbed her head.
"In what way?" Blaze tilted her head.
"Her spirit." Twilight looked at the others. "She was the one keeping us here..." She looked back at Luna. "Keeping her here."
"How worried should we be?" Iron Wing asked as he readied himself.
Before she could give an answer, Luna whipped her head around and glared daggers directly at Twilight.
"We should be very worried!" Blaze began to quickly step away from the room.
Luna showed her teeth, growling out her hatred as she lunged at Twilight. But before she could enact her revenge, a bright white light filled the room. Rubbing their eyes, Twilight and her friends stared in awe at the angelic figure blocking the raged filled alicorn. "Celestia?" Cadence gasped.
Celesta smiled at them. "Go..." Her voice was soft like the calm waves against the ocean shore. Feeling the strain of her sister pushing against her and her fading magic, she frowned. "GO! I can't keep this form for long!" Her voice shook the castle's foundations. Twilight and her friends didn't hesitate as they ran down the hall. Seeing them fade from view, Celestia turned to face her sister. She grabbed her sister's face and rested her forehead against hers. "You need to be at peace."
Luna's anger faded as she stared into her sister's eyes. Her body went limp as she felt the warm aura she'd craved for so long. "I..." She held back her cries. "I can't let you die in vain!" Celestia only smiled and kissed her sister on her forehead. The blue orb behind them began to vibrate as its glow became brighter and brighter.
Running out of the castle, Twilight looked up at the tower where Celestia's chamber was. Her heart swelled with conflicting emotions. Emotions that begged her to go back and try to make things right. 'Things happen for a reason...'
"How long do we have?" Blaze asked.
"I don't know and I'm not going to waste time guessing." Twilight found her resolve and booked it to the barracks to grab her saddlebag.
"What's happening?" Fletcher watched Twilight run past him.
"We are leaving!" Cadence yelled out. The ponies mulling about the courtyard talked amongst themselves.
"Leaving?" One asked. "Why?"
"I thought we can't leave?" Another questioned.
"You heard her!" Spitfire yelled. "Grab your stuff and gather at the gate!" The ponies dropped what they were doing and ran to gather their things.
"Iron Wing and I will get the trucks ready!" Shining ran toward several parked trucks on the other side of the yard.
Cadence watched her small group of survivors prepare to make their escape. "Where will we go?" A mare holding her foal asked from across the courtyard.
"We'll figure that out once we're on the road!" Cadence replied. "Just grab your things..."
A massive explosion erupted from Celestia and Luna's tower. The mass ball of white-hot magical energy poured over the castle, tearing most of it into a million pieces. Cadence stared in horror as she saw her home falling apart. Holding back her tears she activated horn and casted a shield around Spitfire, Fletcher, and herself. She growled through the strain as chucks of rubble slammed against her magic. After what felt like eternity, she deactivated her magic and opened her eyes to overlook the damage that laid before her.
White-hot flames billowed from the smoldering rubble around her. The tower that once stood mighty over all was now replaced by open sky and a scared cliffside. The other portions of the castle near the blast sight were unrecognizable. It felt like a warzone.
Seeing that the only building in the courtyard to suffer the most damage was the military headquarters, her heart began to beat rapidly. Look around she saw others tending to their wounds. "Oh no..." She saw the body of the mare she was talking to under a large broken marble column. She felt her stomach twist when she saw her foal's lower half was torn to pieces.
"Shit..." Spitfire looked away, closing her eyes to hold back tears.
"Princess!" Fletcher placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"
Tearing her eyes from the dead foal, she looked at the young royal guard. "Yes..." She stood up. "Get your brother! We need to go!"
"What about the others?" He asked.
"Help if you can. They know where to meet, but we need to go..." Out of the corner of her eye, Cadence saw a galloper stumbling out from the rubble of the military headquarters. The monster shook its head about as it smelled the air. Snapping its neck, it glared at the ponies below.
"Run?" Spitfire asked as she opened her wings. Fletcher activated his horn as he took a runner's stance.
The galloper let out a haunting scream as more trotters crawled out of the rubble, moving at a steady pace towards their new victims. But in the mad scramble many were uncaring for their own safety as they fell from heights of two of three stories, hitting the ground with meaty thuds.
"RUN!" Cadence screamed out in a commanding voice. Fletcher ran to the barracks. Spitfire took to the air firing upon the dead with her crossbow. Seeing the galloper approaching, Cadence fired a beam of plasma at it. The galloper dodged the attack and screamed as it closed the distance. Cadence gasped and quickly fired another one. This time it hit, sending the galloper tumbling across the jagged debris.
"Cadence! Are you alright?" Shining ran up with Twilight, Blaze, and Poppy. Iron Wing trailed behind as he slowly flew, holding his front right foreleg close to his chest.
"We need to go!" Cadence activated her horn and lifted Iron Wing onto her back.
"Your highness, I can fly..."
"Shut it!" Cadence huffed as she ran toward the gates.
"What about the others?" Twilight dodged a trotter that had jumped down from a bolder sized piece of rubble it had crawled over. "There are wounded!"
"It's every pony for themselves!" Blaze fired at a pegasus trotter that landed in front of them, turning its head into mush.
Twilight grimaced at his words. But deep down she knew he was right. Turning her gaze to the gates, she saw Hanzel on his brother's back. Fletcher fired his crossbow as several dead closing on his location. A pegasus pony stood beside him, gracefully wielding her spear, making quick work of the dead.
"Are you the only ones?" Cadence asked them as they approached.
"No, four more made it!" Fletcher growled as he reloaded. "They're already making their way down the hill!" He made his way to the gates with the others.
"Then we go!" Cadence stared at the castle that now laid in ruin. "Canterlot has fallen." Shining and Fletcher felt a wave of shame as they passed the castle's gate. In reality though, Canterlot had fallen since day one. "Everypony keep up! We need to put distance between us and the dead!" Cadence shouted as she caught up to the other ponies.
As she followed her friends down the mountain, Twilight looked at the castle one last time. Her eyes went wide as she saw a dark misty figure floating high above the castle. Seeing it disappear in a blink of an eye, she turned her gaze back to the road. "Oh... Luna...." She whispered as she watched the Moon rising in the sky.
Cadence's small group of ponies slowly walked along the cobblestone roads of the suburbs that surrounded the castle. The night sky had allowed them to hide from the dead, putting enough distance to feel safe, for now. Twilight glared at the road. Her hooves felt like they were on fire with every step she took. Looking up she saw her brother slowly walking beside his wife. A part of Twilight was happy, joyful that her sister-in-law was alive, but the other half was angry, hateful at the world for taking her mentors, her teachers from her. Took her friends... Family... She stopped walking and glared at her hooves.
Hanzel noticing her tapped his brother's shoulder. Turning around Fletcher looked at his brother. "What is it?" Hanzel pointed at Twilight. Seeing her just standing still, he bit his cheek. "Shining?"
Shining and Cadence turned around. "Yeah?"
"Your sister." He pointed at her with a nod of his head.
Shining let out a sigh and walked up to her. "Twily?" He rested his head against hers. "What's on your mind?" Twilight fought back her emotions as she let him embrace her. "Twilight, everything will be alright..." Twilight pushed him away and ran down the intersection and turned left. "Twilight!"
Cadence took a deep breath to control her own tattered emotions. "Go." She placed a hoof on her husband's shoulder. "Spitfire and Blaze will guide us." Shining kissed her hoof and sighed as he handed his saddlebag and chased after his sister.
"Should we go after them?" Poppy asked.
"No..." Cadence picked up Shining's bag. "We need to get to the hotel they are held up in."
Shining grumbled as he glared through the dark. The moonlight barley illuminated the ground, but it was enough to make out the obstacles in his way. Hearing a sob, he slowed down and looked up at the street sign. Recognizing the street's name, he frowned. "You doubled back?" He mumbled to himself.
Seeing a figure, he jogged up to it and saw it was his sister staring at their childhood home. "Twilight, what are you doing?" He huffed. "We need to get back to the group before the trotters make their way down the mountain." She just kept on crying. Running his hoof through his mane, he activated his horn and lifted her off the ground. "Twilight! Get it together..." His went numb as he saw the despair pour from those soft eyes of hers. "Twily?"
Twilight pulled away from her brother and walked up to a putter truck. Activating her horn she grabbed its fuel tank. "Twilight what are you..." She growled as she yanked and pulled with all her might. After several attempts she dislodged it from the truck. Huffing out her anger she dragged the nearly full tank up to her parents' house. "Aw shit!" Shining followed her but kept his distance.
Kicking the door open, Twilight began pouring gas onto the floor. Tears poured down her face as she went room to room dumping the golden liquid. Getting to her father's office and seeing the trotter rotting away, she growled as she poured an unhealthy amount of fuel on it. Getting to the second story, she doused her room, her brothers, but getting to her parents she stopped and held in her breath as she peered through the gap in the door. Seeing their bodies in the moonlight, she shivered from the stress taking hold of her body. Opening the door, she poured the fuel around their bed.
"Twilight?" Shining watched her step out of the room, throwing the tank onto the floor. She activated her horn as her eyes drunkenly stared at her parents. "Twilight what has gotten into you?" He jumped as he saw her activating her horn. Activating his, he pulled her into a hug and held her tight.
Her magic died as she went limp in his embrace. "Everything is gone!" She sobbed. "I... I held out hope." She shook her head. "How are you not angry!" She hissed through clenched teeth. "You're not angry!"
Shining just rested his head against hers and rocked her back in forth. "I am mad Twily..." He allowed himself to let his emotions out. "I'm so angry at the world..." He kissed her cheek. "But I can't let that stop me..." He continued to rock her. "We need to live for them... Survive for them..."
Twilight choked on her cries. "T-That's what she said..."
"Celestia?" Shining asked. Twilight barley answered him with a nod as she stared off into space. He stared at his parents' postmortem embrace. "Want to do it together?"
"Yeah..." Twilight spoke tiredly.
Stepping out of the house, Shining and Twilight looked at their childhood home one last time. Within the moonlight, the warm memories they had no longer played out in their minds. Now it was a tomb. A tomb for their anger. Activating their horns, they fired a ball of fire at the front door. Quickly the fuel when alight and spread rapidly through the house. Feeling a weight lift off her shoulder, she leaned against her brother, as they watched the home lit up like dry tender. |
AMONG THE TROTTING DEAD | Part 3: Chapter 1 - Exiled into the Promise Land | Rain poured across the high plains of the Mellow Valley alongside the Marshmallow Range. Twilight glared at the hills that stretched for miles from her perch under the redwood tree she hugged against. Seventy miles to her south was the Appaloosan basin. To the east about two-hundred miles was the coastal city of Baltamare. To the west about three hundred miles was the border of Stalliongrad. And to her north was the distant mountain range that was home to the capital of Equestria, Canterlot.
'Former capital...'
Twilight shivered as old memories nipped the back of her mind. She shook her head to rid those thoughts. It lasted for a while until a new one came to the forefront, memories of Iron's Ridge. 'Three months...' she stared at the wet ground, watching it struggling to absorb the water. 'Three fucking months... wandering nowhere...'
Hearing the hissing of propane lanterns, she looked back at the six tents that surrounded the firepit that was being constantly fueled by Marley and Blaze. She grumbled as she turned her attention back to the hills that surrounded her.
At least the forest they were in provided some sort of comfort she thought. Comfort they needed. Holding her lever action rifle close to her, she rocked with it in some vain attempt to keep herself warm. "Need a break?" Rainbow Dash asked as she sat beside her. Her breath mixing with the cold night air.
"No." Twilight said dully.
Rainbow Dash frowned at her tone of voice. "You need a break." She flicked water off her wings. "We're safe. We finally found a spot that we can actually relax for once."
Twilight rolled her eyes. "It's not good enough."
"Nothing is good enough for you." Rainbow Dash grumbled. She quickly regretted was she had just said. "Twilight, I..."
"Just shut-up." Twilight spat. "I'll relax once we find the right spot."
Rainbow Dash looked back at the camp and saw some lanterns turn off, darkening the camp. Looking past the tents she saw the dark silhouettes of the redwood trees. "It wasn't your fault."
Twilight recoiled and shut her eyes as she fought the hurt that tried to consume her mind. "I was in charge of keeping ponies safe..." She leaned against the tree she sat beside.
Rainbow Dash stared at her friend for some time. Her mind mulling over her defeated posture. "It was only a matter of time before they broke out." She pawed at the ground. Twilight remained silent. With the sounds of rain being her only acknowledgement, Rainbow Dash sighed. "Goodnight Twilight." Stepping away from her friend she headed to the firepit.
"How's she doing?"
Rainbow Dash looked up and saw Blaze staring at her with dull eyes. "Still upset."
"It's been several months." Iron Wing interrupted Blaze as he looked down at them from the large branch he sat on. "She needs to stop beating herself up." He laid his rifle in his lap.
Blaze gave the stallion a flat stare before looking at Rainbow Dash. "She'll heal in her own way." He walked past her as he took off his coat.
"She's not in the mood to talk." Rainbow Dash watched as he made his way up to her.
"He ain't going to listen to you." Marley poked the logs in the fire. "He's stubborn like her." He laughed. "The perfect couple." He tossed his stick into the fire. Iron Wing frowned at the stallion's words. His gaze darted toward the two. His posture soured as he watched Blaze sit down beside her.
"Twilight?" Blaze stared at her defeated posture. He could see the hurt that consumed her within those expressive eyes of hers. "Here," He laid his coat over her. "Stay warm." He placed a hoof on her shoulder. Twilight let out a soft hum as she readjusted herself. Nodding, Blaze walked back to the firepit.
No longer feeling his prescience, Twilight looked down at the ground watching a millipede crawling over the mud searching for dry ground. A small smile worked its way onto her lips as she smelled the coat that held the scent of cigarettes and his natural odor.
"So?" Rainbow Dash tilted her head.
"She'll be fine." Blaze sat down by the fire and took out a cigarette. "Like I said she'll heal in her own time." He lit the stick of tobacco.
Rainbow Dash's snout twitched at the smell as she looked at her friend. "I know." She looked at the tents that surrounded them. "We can't keep living like this." She sat down by the fire. "We need to find a permanent place."
"Every place we've been to has been over ran with trotters." Iron Wing scoffed from his perch above them.
"But we can't keep this up?" Rainbow Dash shot back, keeping her voice near a whisper as to not wake anyone up.
"I agree Dash." Rarity replied as she tiredly walked over to the fire and sat beside Marley.
"Why aren't you sleeping?" Marley asked as he gave her a side glance.
Rarity gave a sigh as she messed with her tattered mane. "Trouble sleeping." She leaned against Marley, letting out a heavy yawn. Marley blushed at her touch and tensed up, his eyes staring wide eyed at the fire. Rainbow Dash tried to hide a smirk as she stared at them. Shaking her head she looked at Twilight once more and saw that she had fully laid on the ground, her head leaning against the tree. "I think she's fallen asleep." Rarity spoke softly as she stared at her as well.
"She needs it." Blaze grunted as he laid down on his back, laying his right hoof over his eyes.
"We all need it." Rarity adjusted herself and buried her face in Marley's chest, ignoring the stallion's embarrassment.
"You all get some shut eye," Iron Wing checked to see if his rifle had a round in the chamber. "I'll keep watch tonight." They looked up at the stallion as he stared into the forest's dark abyss. Letting out tired yawns and sighs, they slowly drifted off to sleep.
-Next Day-
Twilight stared at a mighty redwood tree. She slowly tilted her head as she studied its grandness as it towered over her like a giant. A gentle giant. Unaware of the hell that plagued the world. "Damn, never seen anything like it." Blaze whistled as he eyed the same tree she was looking at. "Have you?"
"Once." Twilight scanned the branches that were eighty feet in the air. "My parents took us to a costal redwood forest near Bellmane when I was a filly. It only had one tree that was mighty, about seventy hooves high or so." She looked at him and smiled. "This forest though seems like it has taller trees."
"Well, I don't know about you two, but I feel safe. Surrounded by giants." Iron Wing walked up to them and looked up at the same tree. Twilight and Blaze studied his contempt posture. "Reminds me of my home." He gave them a toothy grin.
"Where would that be?" Blaze raised his brow, tilting his head to the side, his eyes dull and unamused.
"The northern territories." Iron Wing noticed his lack of caring.
"The badlands?" Twilight raised her brow. "I didn't know you came from there. I thought you said you grew up in the mountain city of Kurshki?"
"Moved there as a teenager." Iron Wing waved a wing. "Born in the badlands."
Blaze looked at the trees that surrounded them. "I guess they seem a little homey."
"Yes, they're homey, but the scenery is not going to aid our survival!" Derpy huffed as she stared at them with stressed out eyes.
"Derpy, calm down, we'll be fine." Rainbow Dash comforted her.
"Fine?" Derpy huffed. "My daughter is sick!" She pointed her head at her daughter that laid over her back. Dinky's eyes were puffy and her noise stuffed up. "Cadance can barely walk in her condition!" She pointed at Cadance who sat beside a fallen log with a hoof over her protruding belly. "We are low on food! Medicine! I don't know how long we can keep eating weeds and grass!"
"We are barely making a dent traveling through this forest!" Thunderlane added. Rainbow Dash placed her hooves on Derpy's shoulders and hugged her. Dr. Hooves took out the last of their cold medicine and gave it to Dinky.
"Hey at least it beats traveling in the open valley." Copper crossed his forelegs.
"We haven't seen a town in a month!" Fletcher sighed. "I think it wasn't such a good idea heading into the wilderness."
"Every town we've came across was filled with trotters." Poppy, a peach colored pegasus sighed.
"That's just life now." Marely growled. "You all don't get it, do you?" He glared at the rest of the group.
"Hey, pal, just because you lost your brother, doesn't mean you can get all pissy!" Soarin sighed. "We all lost ponies we cared for..." Applejack placed a hoof on his shoulder.
"Let's all take it easy, we're all under a lot of stress." Applejack looked at her group with a dull smile. "We'll find a place to call home. I know we will." She looked at Derpy, "A place with medicine for your daughter." She looked at Cadance. "A place where the foal can be born safely." She eyed the group, trying to make herself look confidant. "A place to finally rest, eat, and feel safe once again."
Twilight studied the groups' reaction.
Shining, Cadance, as well as Macintosh, Soarin, and Zecora we're in full agreement. Rainbow Dash, Thunderlane, Dr. Hooves, and Poppy, seemed like they were on the fence. Pinkie, Maud, Spitfire, Copper, Granite, Limestone, and Opal seemed indifferent. While Fletcher, Marley, and Iron Wing really didn't show much emotion, keeping their thoughts close to the chest. Spike, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Rumble, Pound Cake, Pumkin Cake, Snowy, Dusk, and Hanzel on the other hand were just going with the flow.
Shivering from the humid breeze washing over her, Twilight looked over her shoulder, eyeing the endless mass of red wood trees that seemed to stretch on for miles.
"We'll scout up a head." Maud pointed at Spitfire. "All of you rest up, if we find anything we'll let you know." She jumped down from the boulder she stood on and walked further into the forest. Spitfire following after her.
"I'll forage for some mushrooms." Marley sighed as he walked into the forest.
"We'll help." Zecora spoke as she motioned Macintosh to follow.
Cadence let out a heavy sigh as she rested her head on the tree next to her. "I'm sorry..."
"Don't be." Shining ran a hoof through her mane. "It's a lot for you." He leaned back against the same tree. "Hell, it's a lot for all of us."
"Hope we find a spot." Fletcher sighed.
"I'm tired of all this hiking." Dusk rubbed his hind hooves. His sister just kept her eyes on the ground as she rubbed her front hooves.
"We'll find a spot." Twilight let out a sigh as she walked up to her brother and sister-in-law.
"I hope so." Shining looked at his wife's enlarged belly.
"Just stay positive." Rainbow Dash flew up into the air. "I'll keep watch."
"Same." Iron Wing flew up to a branch. Twilight stared at him for some time before unholstering her axe and walking up to a fallen tree.
Maud slowly walked through the forest. The calming aura was an enjoyable sensation that was welcomed. After several months of hoping from one infested place to another, she didn't know how much longer they could keep this up.
"You think we'll find something?" Spitfire asked as she walked alongside her, her wings twitching as the warm mid-day air hung heavy like fog.
"Maybe..." Maud scanned the forest. "We need a break." She crawled up a boulder. Seeing that she was on the edge of a cliff, she looked down at the forest floor twenty-seven feet below.
"We will." Spitfire stared in awe at the vastness of the red wood forest. Looking to her right, she stared at Maud, watching her eyes dart about, searching for anything out of the ordinary. Her eyes slowly followed her mane and how it hugged her muscular neck... She quickly looked forward to hide her blush, then laughed.
Maud looked over at her dumbfounded. "What's so funny?"
"Oh just," Spitfire looked up and smirked. "You're just reminding me of when you would take watch on top of the courthouse's belltower."
Maud stared at her for some time before looking back over the forest. "Didn't do us any good." She let out a heavy sigh. "Still lost the town."
Spitfire frowned. "The weather was to blame, not your eyes." She stood close to her. "No pony could've seen that hoard in that blizzard." She scooted a little closer. Maud felt a warm sensation from how close she was. She turned her head to the west, one to hide her embarrassment and secondly to keep searching, but her eyes slowly wandered to the treetops. Her mind drifting too past memories as she watched them sway with the wind.
"You're right..." Maud sighed. "But if I had just seen that hoard then..." Spitfire rubbed her snout into her cheek.
"We can't change the past, only the future." Spitfire looked past her at the path the rocks created to the bottom of the gorge. "Race you to the bottom." She skipped at a fast pace. "I promise not to use them." She flapped her wings. Shaking her embarrassment away, a small smirk adored Maud's lips as she gave chase.
Jumping over a fallen tree, Maud listened to the dried pine needles crunching under her hooves. She kept staring at the ground, her eyes dully scanning the dead flora. "What's wrong?" Spitfire asked as she flew above her, the flapping of her wings drowning out the ambient sounds of the forest. Maud kept silent as she narrowed her eyes and ran a hoof across the ground, kicking up needles and dirt. "Is that pavement?" Spitfire gasped.
Maud glared at the dark asphalt. Looking down the covered road, she made out its path through the forest. "Let's see where it leads."
Carefully following the path for the next mile or so, they came upon a wrought-iron fence. Timidly stepping up to the gate, they peered through the bars and saw a two-story building about a yard from a cliff's edge. "Is that a hotel?" Spitfire titled her head.
Maud scanned the building and saw a fence surrounded it as well. Looking to her right she saw two other buildings and a watchtower. Seeing an emblem painted on the side of the watchtower, she saw it was the symbol for the Equestrian National Park Service. Stepping back, she scanned the immediate area around the gate, seeing a sign she cleared the leaves that covered it and saw it read, 'Poppies Gove National Park'. Muad looked at Spitfire "That building is a visitor center."
"I take it that this is the place?" Spitfire smirked, admiring Maud's happy demeanor. "You only smile when its good news."
Muad shook her head. "Yeah, this has to be the place..." Spitfire kissed her on the lips. Time seemed to slow for her as she stared at the mare in front of her, so close, doing something so intimate.
Spitfire pulled away and looked at Maud's flustered appearance. "We finally have a home!" She giggled as she hugged her and flew into the air.
The shock that consumed her, slowly faded as Maud just watched her dance in the air. A smile worked its way as she looked back at the two-story building... "Crap!" Maud jumped back; Spitfire dropped beside her as they both stared at a trotter pressing itself against the gate. They glared at the dead as it tried desperately to attack them.
"Shit!" Spitfire shook her head. "Of course!" Maud frowned at the trotter.
"How far is this place?" Applejack asked as she leaned against a redwood tree, her forelegs crossed across her chest.
"About five miles." Spitfire kept up her smile.
"But?" Soarin who sat beside her with a rifle laying in his lap, tilted his head to the side. "Usually that tone you're speaking in has a catch to it."
"Trotters occupy it at the moment." Maud stated flatly.
Upon hearing the news, Derpy pulled at her mane. "My daughter is going to die! Is she?" Dr. Hooves placed a hoof on her back and pulled her in to comfort her. Hanzel who sat beside his brother, stared at Dinky as she rested on a foam mat, her body covered in sweat. His ears laid flat as memories of Iron's Ridge being overrun played in his mind, seeing so many friends die, he closed his eyes and looked away.
Pinkie was lost in thought, she looked around and saw the mixed emotions plaguing them all. "We can take it." She said with a tone of authority. "We need this!" She stepped in the middle of the group. "We can't keep wandering forever looking for a needle in a hay stack!"
"But what if ponies get bit while clearing it out?" Applebloom asked nervously.
"We're dying either way!" Pinkie shot back.
The group shivered at her words, but deep down they all knew it was true. "I'm worried about the possibilities of it going wrong, but what other choice do we have." Rarity spoke. "Dinky needs antibiotics and Cadance needs to give birth in a safe environment."
"She'd ring the dinner bell if she gave birth in the wild." Marley huffed as he fiddled with his crossbow.
Shining frowned at his words, but Cadance placed a hoof on his chest. "He's right, Pinkie's right." She looked at the group. "We need to take this national park for ourselves."
Twilight stared at the ground for a short while, before looking at Maud and Spitfire. "You said the visitor center was surrounded by a fence?"
"Yes, about ten hooves high." Spitfire drew in the dirt with her hoof. "There is a park ranger watchtower about fifty or seventy hooves to the north on the VC and several more hooves further into the park are the cabins along the mountain side."
"VC?" Scootaloo asked.
"Visitor Center." Fletcher laughed. "Still a military pony through and through." He gave her a smirk. "It will never leave us." Spitfire shook her head as she held in a laugh.
"Then we go." Macintosh stood up and walked over to one of their carts they had and hooked himself to it. "Let's get to the park before sundown. I would like to scout the place out more." He nodded to the group. Giving each other glances, all silently acknowledging that they were indeed going through with it, they stood up and picked up what little supplies they were carrying and followed him further into the forest.
Twilight peered through the bars of the fence, watching trotters mull about in a daze. Looking up she saw Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane flying back. "How's it looking?"
"Perfect!" Rainbow Dash landed beside her. "Though there is a lot of trotters mulling about the main section of the park."
"How many?" Opal asked.
"About fifty or so." Thunderlane's wings hug loosely to his sides. "Could be more... The fence goes on for hooves."
"What about the visitor Center?" Rarity asked.
"Seven within the fence that surrounds it." Rainbow Dash looked over at the building and saw one of the trotters walk through the opened gate. It growled and snapped its teeth as it wandered over to the park ranger's watchtower. "Make that six."
"That's too many!" Pumpkin Cake began to cry. Pinkie picked her up and began rocking her trying to comfort her woes. Her brother Pound Cake leaned against Pinkie. Snowy who sat a few feet away just glared at them with hollowed eyes.
Limestone stared at the visitor center, eyeing the fence line, her lips puckered as she placed a hoof to her chin. "What are you thinking?" Granite asked.
"If we're fast enough, we can lock that gate and keep the majority of them out of visitor center's grounds."
"Lock it with what?" Blaze raised his brow.
"This." Macintosh held a cord of nylon rope in between his teeth.
"Yes, and then clear out the stragglers." Limestone smiled as she tapped her hooves together. "We'll have a barrier between us and the trotters mulling about the park."
"That will work." Soarin looked at the others with a smile on his face.
"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Derpy huffed. "Lets' get going before the sun sets!"
"Hold on." Applejack hissed as she held up her hooves. "We don't have any idea how many trotters are in there!" She pointed at the visitor center.
"We won't know until we get in there!" Pinkie stood up for Derpy. "If you want to pussy-hoof around this golden opportunity then be by guest!"
"Pinkie!" Maud shot back, "Applejack is right." She looked at the pegasi of the group. "Pegasi and our resident bat pony." Maud pointed at Iron Wing. "They'll clear out the yard and once that's done, we'll move as one as we make our way to the gate. Once there a small group will enter the building and check it out." She put her hooves up to her lips and let out a heavy sigh. "Either way once that's gate is shut, we'll be safe."
"Sounds good to me." Marley raised his crossbow at a trotter approaching the fence. Taking a shot, the bolt flew through the air and struck the trotter's skull, sending it to the ground. Admiring his work, he spat out his tobacco chew.
Copper who was watching the dead, let out a sigh. "Somepony needs to stay behind to call them away from the gate when we make our move."
"What?" Some of them looked at the earth pony.
"Keep us off our tail." Spike looked at his siblings, before looking at Copper and giving him the biggest smirk he could muster. "That's sounds like a good idea."
"Less fighting." Applebloom added.
The rest of the group nodded in agreement as they mulled over the how. "It will have to be a pony that has good teleportation skills or can run really fast." Fletcher pointed out as he tapped his horn. "Still having trouble since I had to use that spell when we were at the grocery store a month ago."
"I'll do it." Twilight looked at the trotters that had noticed them and were leaning against the wrought-iron fence, begging to sink their teeth into their flesh.
Before Shining could interject, Pinkie clapped her hooves. "Then its settled!" She smirked at Spitfire, Thunderlane, Rainbow Dash, Soarin, Poppy, and Iron Wing. "Twenty seconds flat?" She giggled as she took out her manchette. The others unholstered their melee weapons.
Rainbow Dash smirked. "Twenty seconds flat!"
"Twenty what?" Poppy raised her brow.
"Tell you later." Thunderlane laughed as they took to the sky.
Watching them flying around the building, Twilight walked up to the fence. Staring at the dead she looked into the milky eyes of a female trotter. Her thoughts were dull as she watched it snap and snarl at her. Closing her eyes she placed her axe on the fence and began walking away from the visitor center. "FOLLOW ME!" She yelled as she smacked the fence with her axe. Metallic pings rang out drawing nearby trotters to follow the sound.
Seeing the number of trotters thinning out around the gate, Rainbow and her posse landed and swiftly killed the remaining trotters that remained. Watching the last trotter crumpling to the ground, Shining broke the lock on the fence and threw it open, "MOVE!" He commanded as he led them to the visitor center. They moved as one, keeping Cadance, Derpy, and the children in the middle. Seeing a trotter turning its attention from Twilight to them, Limestone growled as she struck it over the head with her mallet.
"Almost there!" Marley huffed as he fired a bolt killing another.
Getting to the visitor center's gate, the group poured through the threshold, Quickly Macintosh tied the gate shut. But before he could finish the second knot, a trotter threw itself against the gate. Rarity activated her horn and finished the knot. "You okay, darling?"
Macintosh let out held breath, "Yeup." He looked up searching for Twilight. Seeing that she was several yards from them, he looked over at Shining. "Tell your sister we're good to go." Shining nodded and casted a small ball of light onto the tip of his horn.
Seeing the light, Twilight stepped back from the fence. Concentrating her magic to the tip of her horn, she narrowed her eyes onto her brother and activated the spell. Appearing behind them, she tumbled across the ground. "Damn..." She huffed, summiting herself to her fate and lied on the ground, trying to rest the pain away.
"You alright?" Spike sat beside her, overlooking her to see if anything was broken.
"I'm fine..." She groaned out her discomfort. "That was harder than it should've been?"
"Maybe you need proper rest and food." Shining offered her a hoof, which she accepted.
Applejack looked at the two-story building before them and smiled. "Let's take a look." She walked up to the building.
"Applejack, Soarin, Blaze, Marley, and I will go in." Twilight spoke as she followed after Applejack. "The rest of you who are able, kill these freaks before they overwhelm the fence." Pinkie and Maud nodded as they motioned the others to follow. Standing beside Applejack who was timidly testing the door, Twilight glared through the window beside the door. It was dark and hard to see anything or anypony within. "The door's locked?"
"Nope." Applejack gently guided the door open. Stepping inside, the musty smell of cigar smoke, old wood, whisky, and fireplace soot filled their nostrils as they slowly walked down the small hall into a large lounge area on their left and a reception desk and several doors on their right.
The lounge's square footage was twenty-seven-hundred-feet. The ceiling was about two stories tall with grand support pillars carved out of the very same redwood that made up the forest the building resided in. The floor was a dark oak with a sesame seed oil finish, once with a polish that rivaled most mirrors, but now dull. The walls were made from oak and stained a deep rich crimson-brown that made it feel homey and rustic. Fitting of a western style.
In the center of the lounge was a circular cast-iron fireplace, with a metal chimney that hung from the ceiling. Two billiard tables were on either side of the fireplace, with dark green felt and black foe-leather trim. Eight round oak tables dotted the floor, their dark green tablecloth covered in dust. Couches hugged the walls along with side tables with ash trays, lamps, and or books on their surfaces.
Seeing a body of a stallion sitting in one of the couches and two more, both mares lying on the ground, the smell of death broke through the musty odor. Twilight held a hoof to her snout as they made their way over to the front desk. Seeing a sign by the end of the desk, she sauntered up to it. "Cafeteria, first floor. Lounge, first floor. VIP Lounge, second floor. Staff quarters, first floor. Museum, second floor."
"We got a layout of the place." Blaze smirked as he jammed his elbow into her side. "And a game plan." His smirk left as his face returned to its dull self. "I'll get more hooves to help us."
Twilight felt her cheeks blush from his touch. "Sure..." She hid her emotions. "Let's take this slow."
"Of course." Blaze smirked once again as he placed his bat over his shoulder. "Slow and steady wins the race."
-Five Hours Later-
Tossing the last rotting corpse over the fence, Twilight and Rarity huffed as they stepped back and stared at the large pile of corpses, they counted thirty-seven bodies nineteen of those bodies were in the building, seven of those being trotters they killed. Walking up to the front door to the building, Twilight pulled down the rag over her face and took a deep breath. "Sweet Luna, that's gagging." She leaned against the pillar holding up the awning they stood under.
"Let's hope the other's got most of it cleaned up by now." Rarity messed with her tattered mane.
"They have better of used all that bleach we've found." Twilight opened the door. "I'd rather smell that than rotting flesh!"
"Let's not go and overdose on cleaning fumes." Rarity giggled. Twilight smirked and shook her head as they walked past the receptionist desk.
"WELCOME!" Pinkie sung as she appeared behind the desk. "What can I do for you?" She moved some of her mane from her eyes as she rested her right foreleg on the desk's countertop. Twilight and Rarity could hear the Cake twins laughing from the other side of the desk.
"We were wondering what is there to see around here?" Twilight played along for the twins' sake.
Pinkie pulled out a pamphlet. "There is plentily to see, hiking trials galore, a beautiful river to see and cozy cabins, but..." She gave them a mocking pouty face.
"But what?" Rarity rolled her eyes playfully.
"Oh, there's a bunch of freaks roaming the land." Pinkie waved her hoof out in front of her dramatically, "Told the staff to take care of them, but they did a lousy job," Her smile left slightly as she stared at the pile of dead bodies. "You're going have to watch your backs." She looked at them and gave a halfhearted smile.
"Will get to it when we cross that bridge." Twilight returned the smile as they made their way toward the lounge.
Pinkie stared at them for some time. "Auntie?" Pumpkin looked up at her, her head tilted to the side.
"Yes?" Pinkie looked down at her.
"Are you alright?" Pound asked for his sister.
"Yes." She smiled. "Why don't you see what the others are up to." The twins silently stood up and ran into the lounge. Pinkie watched them scurry over to Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, Scootaloo, Rumble, Hanzel, Spike, Snowy, and Dusk who were playing a card game.
Smiling, she turned her gaze to the rest of the group.
She saw Shining tending to Cadance who was lying by the fireplace. Derpy was also sitting by the fireplace, tending to her daughter with Dr. Hooves who had found some cold medicine in a first-aid cabinet from the offices on the upper floor.
Twilight was laying her face on the table Applejack and Soarin sat at. Pinkie couldn't make out what Applejack or Soarin were talking about. 'Probably relationship stuff or what to do next?' She mused as she turned her attention elsewhere.
To her left in the corner. Marley sat on the windowsill, fixing his crossbow. Fletcher and Iron Wing were playing a game of pool, while Opal watched.
Rarity sat beside Macintosh, and Poppy who were drinking tea that Zecora was making for everypony. She saw her older sister Maud and Spitfire standing by a window on her right, sipping tea and staring at nature. Pinkie smirked as she saw Spitfire was leaning into her sister. 'You deserve it.' She silently cheered her sister as she turned to finish her pony watching.
She saw Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane napping the day away on one of the couches by the wall. Blaze was also lying in the other couch on the opposite side. His left foreleg resting over his eyes and the tip of his tail sweeping the floor with each twitch of his tail.
Her eyes finally fell on Copper who was sitting next to Granite and Limestone. Copper noticed her staring and waved to her to join them. Pinkie smiled and waved back, but before she joined them, her peripheral vision picked up something that made her shiver.
Looking out the window on her left, she stared at the pile of dead bodies against the fence. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw her baby sister, Marble, lying on top of the pile. Her white milky eyes glared at her menacingly. Pinkie's eyes trembled as she saw her sister pull out a pocket watch tapping it with a bloodied hoof.
"Pinkie?"
Pinkie whipped her head around and saw Copper standing on the other side of the counter. "Yes?" She darted her eyes over to the window and saw her sister was gone.
"You, okay?" He placed a hoof on her forehead. "Daydreaming again?" His lips frowned at how clammy she felt. "About her?"
Pinkie gently pushed his hoof away. "Yes..." She collected herself. "I'm fine." She began to walk towards the group. "Don't say anything to my sisters."
"You know I won't" Copper nuzzled her. She blushed at the affection and leaned into him.
"You, okay?" Limestone asked as she watched them sit next to the fireplace.
"Yes." Pinkie placed her hooves close to the fire to warm them up. "Just worn out is all." Limestone kept staring, but slowly nodded as she returned to the map of the park she found.
Maud stared at her sister for some time before looking back out the window. "Is she okay?" Spitfire asked as she finished her tea.
"She's been like this since our sister died." Maud looked at the branches of a nearby redwood sway with the winds. "She zones out once and awhile."
"You ever wonder what she's thinking?" Spitfire tapped her hoof against the cup. Maud kept silent as she stared at the trees. Spitfire took her silence as her answer and stared into her empty cup. 'You're the most challenging pony I've ever met...' She smirked at herself. 'I like a challenge.'
Twilight finally lifted her head from the table and stared at her group for some time. For once, she felt safe. Constantly being on the move was starting to wear her resolve. Hearing the pop of fire, she hummed a soft melody as she closed her eyes.
"This place will work." Soarin told Applejack. "Once we clear out the dead and relock the main gate. We'll have all this to ourselves." He looked out the windows and stared at the cabins in the distance. "Our own place." He booped Applejack's snout.
Applejack gently pushed his hoof away. "We still need to clear out the trotters that sill remain." She looked at the dead mulling about. "And find the gap in the fence."
"Gap?" Soarin tilted his head.
"There is too many of them to just to have been campers." She watched a trotter twist its head about as it walked past the watchtower.
Soarin sighed as he tapped the table. "You're right."
"Which is why we need to clear them out tomorrow." Twilight's voice was raspy as she smacked her lips. She pulled out her canteen of water and finished off what was left. "We have plenty of canned food and water for now." She pointed at their pile of food on one of the tables. "Our medicine situation could be better." She looked at the sad look leather bag that sat beside Dr. Hooves.
"I believe the watchtower will have more." Dr. Hooves commented as he knew what she was thinking.
"Exactly." Twilight nodded. "And who knows what the cabins hold."
"Why don't we wait for a few days." Spike stated. "We're in no rush."
"We are." Twilight huffed as she sat up and stood in the middle of the group. "We are not going to dilly-dally around wasting time we don't have." She pointed at the group. "We are going to make sure this place is secure."
"We have fences." Poppy rolled her eyes. "Better than what we had at Iron's Ridge."
"It's not good enough." Twilight huffed as she pointed at the pile of dead against the fence. "That's why!" She gritted her teeth. "How long till the dead overwhelm it?" She glared at them. "We are going to fortify the fence that surrounds this building, start small and work our way out." The group was silent as they looked amongst each other. "What's wrong?" Twilight asked.
"Nothing's wrong." Shining stood up. "We're just tired. You're tired. We need to rest, gather our strength." He placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Let's take a day to recover, then we'll work." He could see the gears in her head turning at a million miles a second. "We'll have ponies keep watch, even sleep on the second story and barricade the doors just in case."
"Listen to him." Cadance gave Twilight a familiar motherly stare.
After staring at her for some time, Twilight tore her eyes from her and stared at the ground. Staring at its wooden fibers, her ears laid flat as her body loosened up. "Fine..." She rested her head against her brother's chest. Shining laid his chin on her head and patted her on the back. |
AMONG THE TROTTING DEAD | Part 3: Chapter 2 - Home Sweet Home | -Four Days Later-
"Are we ready?" Limestone asked as she peaked over the railing, the wood creaking under her weight as she placed her hooves on it. She looked down at Opal standing over Shining and Granite who were underneath the waterwheel's gear box, unclogging its gears.
"Almost!" Opal held up a hoof, as the flashlight consumed by his magic floated over Shining and Granite illuminating the tight space.
The musty smell of wet wood and rusty metal filled Shining's nostrils as he laid on his side using a small shovel to agitate the debris around the main power gear. Scoping out the last bit of debris, Shining crawled out from the cramped space. "Granite, are you finished?"
"Yeah!" His muffled voice replied. He popped his head out from where he was working and took several large gasps of fresh air. "Ready?"
"Ready." Shining looked up at Limestone. "Let her rip!"
Limestone smiled as she placed her left hind leg on the latch keeping the water wheel locked. Giving it a sold kick, the latch swung into its opened position with a dull click. The wheel let out a groan as the water was allowed to push against its fins, slowly the wheel began to rotate in a clockwise orientation.
Opal picked up the walkie-talkie. "Do we have power?"
Static filled their ears as Dr. Hooves replied. "Yes, we do!" He chuckled a pleased sign. "So good to see the glow of a lightbulb!"
"We'll need to find more tools if we want to keep it running, but it should last us for a while." Opal replied.
"We'll let Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane know next time they're out on patrol." He replied.
"Copy." Opal looked at Shining. "So, what's next on the to do list?"
"We spotted some trotters on the other side of the river yesterday." He looked across the river and saw a trotter walking along its banks.
"We shouldn't kill them by the river." Granite watched it throw its head about. "Don't want to take the risk, somepony might gather water from the wrong part of the river."
"Wait for them to cross or get swept away." Limestone huffed as she walked down the steps and kissed Granite on the cheeks. "Come let's help Blaze and Marley with gathering the ones we killed yesterday." She picked up her saddlebag. "Getting tired of the smell."
Sloshing of watered down bleach filled Applejack's ears as she dunked the mop into a bucket. Pulling it out she ran the mop over the floor trying her best to remove a dark stain. Her mind drifted to yesterday, when Twilight, Soarin, Thunderlane, Rainbow Dash, Granite, Limestone, and her removed the bodies that were within the cabins.
Reminders of her and Limestone stepping up to the very cabin she's cleaning and seeing scratch marks on the door. The faint odor of death within.
She stopped moping and looked out the window and saw the large pile of trotters on the other side of the fence. She recognized a trotter in the pile. It was a filly. It wasn't hard to pick her out in the mass of bodies. Her starved fragile form made her stand out like a sore hoof. She remembered her when they opened the cabin's door and saw her struggling to stand on her hooves. Her sunken eyes glaring at them.
Letting out a sigh she pushed the mop across the floor.
Soarin stood by the firepit that was in the center of a gravel circle flanked by all eight cabins. He looked into the one Applejack was in and watched her work. "Mah sister got you distracted?" Soarin jumped and looked over his shoulders and saw Applebloom and her friends.
"Um, no..." He could see she wasn't buying his excuse. "Anyways," He changed the subject. "Did you fillies finish your cabins?"
Applebloom rolled her eyes. "Yes, cabin one and cabin two are done." Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle held in their laughter.
Soarin shook his head. "Are Spike, Fletcher, and Rumble finished?"
"Almost." Sweetie Belle pointed at Cabins seven and six. "We have two more left to go."
Soarin turned his eyes toward the sky and saw the sun looked to be about two hours past noon. "Let's get to it then, I would like to sleep on an actual bed tonight." The fillies shook their heads as they picked up their dwindling cleaning supplies and sauntered over to the cabins with Soarin.
Poppy's wings flapped in a rhythmic flow as she held a hammer in her hooves. Eying her target she lifted the hammer and struck the rusty nail into the wood. Satisfied with her work she flew up and looked down at the fence and saw the nail had cleanly dug through and lodged itself into the other planks of wood that were crafted into a 'C' shape to grasp one of the fence's posts.
"I can see it now," Spitfire smiled as she held out her hooves. "A perfect fortification around the visitor center!" She ran her hoof along the planks. "All it needs now is a metal skin!"
Maud looked at the pile of wood and metal sheets that were once a part of the park ranger watchtower along the river, that had collapsed. "Maybe we can find another building in this park to scrap?"
Spitfire looked at the pile of building material. "We're going to have to if we want the fence fully fortified." She glared at the fence that surrounded the building.
"We'll talk with Twilight about it." Poppy commented as she looked at the main fence and saw Twilight and Rarity walking along it. Spitfire nodded as she hovered over the pile and picked up another plank of wood.
"How's it going over there?" Derpy asked through clinched teeth as she held a crudely crafted hoe in her mouth.
"Alright!" Spitfire waved. "If we keep this pace, we'll have a strong fence by the end of this week!"
"Sounds wonderful!" Derpy smiled.
"How's our mini garden coming along?" Spitfire grunted out her question as she placed the piece of wood in place for Poopy and Maud.
Derpy looked at their small ten-foot by ten-foot garden they were making a few yards from the visitor center. "Coming along." She watched her daughter and Hanzel placing carrot seeds in the soil. Seeing the seeds falling into their shallow craters, her mind drifted to her friend. The panic in her friend's eyes as they tried out running the dead that swarmed Iron's Ridge. She remembered them pounding on the door... She wished she didn't have a broken wing that day. She could've prevented her from sacrificing herself... Saved her from being torn limb from limb as she glided ungracefully out the window with her daughter in her arms.
"Derpy?"
Derpy broke from her haze and felt a hoof on her shoulder. Seeing a black and white stripped fur pattern, she looked up and saw Zecora giving her a concerned look. "Yes?" She saw her daughter's youthful eyes looking at her.
"Is she okay?" Maud asked.
"Yes, I'm fine," She saw Snowy and Dusk giving her a look too. "A thought just crossed my mind." Dinky's shoulders slummed as she gently patted the ground, sealing the seeds from the outside world. Hanzel watched with curious eyes. He knew what she was feeling. His cheeks became flushed with red as he remembered Dinky hugging him as she let out her sorrows after they fled Iron's Ridge.
"Let us not dwell on the past, there is enough for us in the present to focus on." Zecora smiled as she patted Derpy on the back. Snowy raised a brow as she mulled over the zebra's words. Dusk felt a shiver as he saw her sister's brows morph into a scowl.
"You think it's a little too early to be focusing our attention on this fence than the one around the visitor center?" Rarity asked as she walked alongside Twilight, all the while taking notes in her notepad. "We've already sealed off the gap and what we've seen so far is in relativity good shape."
"Most of us will be sleeping in the cabins." Twilight glared at one of the posts and noticed a large patch of rust at the top. "Having a solid line of defense is crucial." She prodded with her hoof. The post snapped at the top and then bent slightly forward.
Rarity glared at the post. "Another one added to the list..." She hummed dully as she made a mark in her notepad. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Marley and Blaze throwing dead trotters, that were killed the prior days into a pile. Blaze was looking at them, his eyes locked onto Twilight. His gaze was brief as he returned back to task. She shook her head as she watched Twilight glaring at a section of the fence. 'Clueless mare.' She laughed internally.
Twilight frowned as she stepped forward slightly. "How long do you think this place will last?"
"What?" Rarity tilted her head. Taken back by her question.
"We only had Iron's Ridge for four months." Twilight poked several posts, satisfied with their condition.
Rarity slipped the pen through the notepad's looped rings. "We were not prepared for that winter." She looked up from her notes and eyed the ponies that mulled about the land around them. She noticed Blaze's enamored expression in those fiery orange eyes of his as he gave Twilight another glance. However, he quickly turned his eyes elsewhere when he noticed Rarity looking at him. Shaking her head she looked at Twilight who was oblivious of her secret admirer. "Looks like we'll need to add another thing to the fixing list." She hummed.
"What?" Twilight looked at her with a raised brow.
"You." Rarity laughed.
"Me?" Twilight pointed at herself.
"Yes, you." Rarity nodded her head at Blaze. "You have an admirer."
Twilight blushed as she quickly looked at said stallion who was tossing his finished cigarette onto the pile of dead trotters. She quickly looked away and glared at Rarity. "We're just friends," She pointed a hoof at her friend. "Don't you dare play matchmaker!"
Rarity laughed. "Oh, I can tell you like him." She scanned the faux leather jacket she was wearing with sly eyes. "You're still wearing his jacket."
Twilight blushed. "He said he didn't need it." She stared at the bottom of the fence to keep her mind distracted from Rarity's charades.
"He doesn't need it?" Rarity mocked as she shook her head. "Keep telling yourself you don't." She leaned in. "But you know you do." She whispered seductively. Frowning, Twilight used her magic and rustled Rarity's mane.
"Twilight!" She cried. "Why you!" She playfully returned the gesture and rustled up her mane.
Marley stared at the two as they giggled at each other. "What's gotten them all worked up?" He asked as he moved his cigarette to the other side of his mouth.
Blaze stared at Twilight watching her move her bangs from her eyes. "Not sure?" He felt his chest tighten up as she looked at him. Only briefly as she quickly turned around, dragging Rarity towards the visitor center. Marley shook his head as he watched the fire consume the trotters.
Iron Wing watched Twilight and Rarity walk up to the visitor center with dull eyes. Tapping a hoof on his rifle, he turned his attention to Blaze, watching him shoveling up a dirt to create a ring around the burning mass of bodies. Groaning at the smell of burning flesh, he pulled out a rag from his saddlebag and held it up to his snout. Quickly turning his attention back to Twilight, he watched her hips swaying side to side as she walked up the porch's steps. "Admiring my friends?"
Iron Wing jumped, his heart slamming against his chest. He braced himself against the tree he sat on, looking around for the source of the sound. Seeing Rainbow Dash hovering over him, he let out a heavy sigh. "You scared me..." He gave her sheepish smirk.
Rainbow Dash raised her brow as she lifted her bandana around her neck over her snout to block out the smell. "You didn't answer my question." She looked over her shoulders and saw Rarity and Twilight walk into the building. "So," She gave him and sly smirk. "Which one?"
Iron Wing blushed as he looked everywhere that wasn't in her direction. "I..." He could see he wasn't going to get out of this... "Twilight." He rolled his eyes as he stared at Rainbow Dash, seeing if his answer was to her satisfaction.
Her smile grew as she held in a laugh. "Figured." She sat on a branch that was above him. "So, how long have you known her for?"
He rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I've known her ever since I joined the Lunar Guard." He smirked, "I ran into her one night while patrolling the castle grounds."
She smirked. "How old were you?"
"I was nineteen." He relaxed himself and rested against the tree. "She was seventeen." He smiled, his fangs poking out. "We clicked, helped that we both had a love for history." He laughed. "Luna must've gotten word, or it was just luck, but she made me her escort." He placed his hooves behind his head. "Which I was for three years until she moved to Ponyville." His smile left and his bat like wings drooped slightly.
She tilted her head as she studied him. "Missed her?"
"Yeah." He looked up at her and watched her prism mane and tail flap with the breeze that washed over them. "Wrote her letters when I had the chance, and she did the same."
"She did have many pen pals." She shook her head. "Twilight had many friends in Canterlot."
"Yeah." His smile faded. "I knew something was wrong when she didn't write back. When I heard that she was hurt, I wanted to visit, but my duties were elsewhere." He sighed as he saw Shining, Opal, Limestone, and Grante talking to Marley and Blaze. "And you know the rest..."
Rainbow Dash watched as Shining lead them over to the cabins to help Applejack. "Well, now you have all the time in the world." She smiled as she stood up and flapped her wings. "Well, don't let my friend distract you too much, we got a park to watch!" She took to the sky, laughing as she flew over toward the west side of the park. Iron Wing blushed as he fiddled with his rifle.
Pinkie timidly turned the dial to the gas stove. It clicked several times before the propane erupted into blue flames. She smirked as she grabbed one of the pots and placed it in the sink. "Please work." She turned the knob. The faucet groaned for several seconds before a stream of water poured out.
"That's the benefit of running on well water." Copper laughed as he watched the water from his seat at the island in the center of the kitchen. "No city plumping required."
"Tell me about it." Pinkie quickly rinsed the pot of dust and filled it up. "My parents' farm ran on well water..." She stared at the pot as it filled up. "Well water always tasted better than city water." She said softly in a monotone voice, her ears drooping.
Pumpkin and Pound cake who sat beside Copper, eyed Pinkie with concern clearly on their faces. They looked at Copper, silently asking him to help. Copper stopped opening a can of baked beans and stood by her side. "I'm sure they'd be proud of you." He placed a hoof under her chin, making her look at him. He kissed her. Pinkie gave in and allowed his tongue to explore her mouth. He allowed her to explore his in return. Pumpkin and Pound Cake rolled their eyes and stuck out their tongues.
"Don't be wasting water."
Pinkie and Copper jumped and whipped their heads around and saw Candance standing under the archway that connected the kitchen to the hall that led to the lounge area. She was laughing at her handywork. Her laughter caused the twins to start laughing as well. With blushed cheeks, Pinkie pushed Copper away and turned off the faucet. "I won't!" She giggled as she placed the pot of the stove. Copper just stood still as a rock as he kept staring at Cadance with blushed cheeks.
Cadance just shook her head as she stepped out of the kitchen and into the lounge. Walking over to the fireplace, she glanced over at Twilight and Rarity who were standing in front of a corkboard with a map of the park pinned to its surface. "How's it going?" She picked up a poker and agitated the hot coals around.
"Going well." Twilight answered as she marked out the broken sections of the fence on the map.
"How's the rest of the fence?" Cadance tossed a few more logs into the fireplace.
"Could be better, but its fixable." Twilight studied the map. "Whish the park ranger watchtower by the waterwheel was still standing."
"We'll get by with the other two..." Cadance hummed. "How are the others doing?"
"They're doing well." Rarity hummed. Cabins are coming along. Rainbow Dash, Thunderlane, and Iron Wing are watching the park. The trotters we dispatched yesterday are burning." She shivered as those words left her. She watched Twilight staring at her notebook. A small smile crept onto her lips as she looked over at Cadance. "Oh princess?" The fur on Twilight's back stood up as she eyed her friend skeptically.
"Just call me Cadance, dear." She looked at Rarity and gave her a smile.
"Oh, there was something that was discovered." She gave Twilight a sly smile. Twilight's cheeks turned beet red.
Cadance looked between the two. Her cheeks blushed. "Oh..." She smiled. "Congratulations, I didn't know you two were dating?"
Rarity's eyes went wide. "WHAT!" Twilight laughed. "That's not what I meant!" She pushed Twilight as she ran her left hoof over her face.
Cadance held a hoof to her lips as she laughed. "Then what did you mean?"
Rarity took a breath to calm herself. "Oh, I just found out Twilight has a secret admirer." She put on her most devilish smug grin she could muster. Twilight's demeanor quickly turned to one of embarrassment.
Cadance looked at her sister-in-law and smiled. "She does?"
"It's nothing." Twilight combed her long bangs over her eyes to hide herself.
"Who?" Cadance sat on the couch, laying on her side to avoid putting pressure on her protruding belly.
"Blaze." Rarity sang. Twilight grumbled as she kept working on the map, making several marks in the northern section. Shaking her head, Rarity patted her friend on the back. "Oh, I'm just teasing." She giggled as she left the lounge. "Going to check see how supper is coming along." She exited the lounge.
Cadance watched Rarity walk through the archway. Turning her attention to the fire, she placed a hoof on her belly. Feeling her foal kick, she smiled as she looked over at Twilight watching her intently staring at the map. All be it with an aura of embarrassment. "Tell me more about this Blaze."
Twilight flinched at her question. "Didn't Shining tell you already?" She really didn't what to talk about it.
"He did." Cadance said flatly. "But I want to hear what you think of him?"
Twilight placed a hoof on her... no, his jacket. The mild scent of cigarette smoke tickled her nostrils. "I... Don't know how I feel." She moved her bangs from her eyes. "It's complicated. I mean he helped the cause that led us to lose the orchard, but?"
"But you feel like he's proven himself?" Cadance raised a brow at her knowingly.
"Yeah..." Her mind drifted to a memory of her and Blaze sitting in the attic of a building, whose roof partially collapsed. Sipping tea and watching snowfall upon Iron's Ridge as they sat intimately close to one another. Though she didn't think much of it. It was just two friends hanging out with one another. 'That's all it was...' She felt her head pulse from a forming headache. 'You're sure about that?' She looked at her sister-in-law and saw her giving her that smirk she's seen before, when Cadance would use her magic to bridge that gap between two love struck ponies. "Oh, no you don't!" Twilight shook her head as she turned her attention back to the map.
Cadance rolled her eyes. "How mean of you to think I would do such a thing." She giggled which elicited a groan from Twilight. Cadance slyly smirked as she activated her horn, sending an invisible echo, searching if Blaze felt the same for Twilight. "?" Her eyes went wide at the information she received. "Oh dear?"
"Mmm?" Twilight looked over her shoulder.
Cadance cleared her throat. "Nothing, just the foal is all." She rubbed her belly. "Thought I was keeping my voice to a whisper." She smiled at her. Twilight gave Canance a once over before continuing marking up the south-eastern portion of the map.
Applejack's eyes scanned the interior of the one bedroom, one bathroom cabin. The faint smell of bleach tickled her snout as she stared at the simi bare decor. "How's our new home coming along?" Soarin asked as he stood beside her, laying a wing over her.
Applejack leaned into him. "I can't wait to finally sleep in a bed." She walked over to the queen-sized bed and laid down on it. The bed springs squeaked form her body weight. She hummed out a happy sigh at the softness. She stared at the ceiling her eyes lazily scanning over its planks. Soarin laughed as he joined her. They laid in silence. The sounds of the forest and the nearby river filled their ears. They could hear Shining congratulating the others on a job well done. "We done a lot in four days."
Soarin hummed. "Yeah." He looked at his girlfriend. "I feel this place is going to last for a long time."
Applejack looked over at him. "You really think so?"
"If we focus on the fence, get a better understanding of the wild weather, make sure ponies know what jobs they'll be doing," He ran a hoof through her mane. "The rest will fall into place."
She smiled as she stared into those vibrant eyes of his. She moved in and gave him a kiss. He accepted her affection. Quickly their kissing turned into passionate kissing as they explored one another with their tongues. Effortlessly, Soarin rolled on top of her, holding her head in his hooves as he worked his way down her neck.
Unbeknownst to them, Applebloom, with blushed cheeks had shut the door to their cabin. Hearing the door softly latched close, she leaned against the it, her eyes staring off into space. She had seen them kiss before, but never like that...
"You alright?"
She jumped and looked to her right and found Spike standing at the bottom of the steps. Out of all the ponies, no dragons to break her from her embarrassment, it was him. "Yeah?" Her voice broke as her cheeks felt even hotter.
"Are they coming?" He asked. "Pinkie said she's almost done with supper."
Her mind finally snapped back to reality. "Oh, yes." She looked at the door. "That..." She gave a sheepish smile. "They're taking a 'nap'." She lifted her hooves up to her head and wiggled them.
He quickly got the hint, his cheeks feeling hot as he rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I guess we'll save them a plate." He laughed. She joined him as they headed toward the visitor center.
"What's so funny?" Hanzel asked as he walked up with Dinky.
"Oh, nothing much." Spike smirked. Hanzel and Dinky gave each other looks. "So, how's our garden coming along?" Spike asked, before they could rephrase their question.
"Alright." Dinky commented.
"If you want to eat nothing but carrots and eggplant." Hanzel huffed. Dinky rolled her eyes at the colt's exasperated sigh.
"Maybe, we can tag along with Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane next time they go on a scouting mission." Scootaloo called out as her, Rumble, and Sweetie Belle walked up to them.
"Damn, you got good hearing." Applebloom giggled.
"It's a pegasus thing." Scootaloo jabbed Rumble in his side, eliciting a nod from him. "Right Hanzel?" She looked over at the younger pegasus colt with a smirk.
"Right!" He returned her gesture.
"So?" Sweetie Belle looked at their small posse. "What should we do after we eat?"
"Not sure?" Applebloom saw Snowy and Dusk walking up to them. She saw Dusk had a large smile on his face, while Snowy's was dull, but she could see a hint of joy through those blue eyes of hers. "What do you two want to do after we eat?"
Snowy seemed to retreat behind her brother. "Not sure?" Dusk gave his sister a sympathetic glance. "I would like to explore that shack down by the river."
"That does sound like fun." Rumble tapped his chin. "We'll play it by ear, not sure what the adults want to do." He sighed.
"What if they don't want us to?" Dinky asked as her mother came across her mind.
"We'll make something up." Hanzel gave her a sly smirk. She blushed and quickly looked elsewhere.
"We do have a fence protecting us." Spike eyed the wrought iron fence.
"So, we're doing this?" Scootaloo asked.
Applebloom eyed the visitor center's double doors as they neared the porch. "Yeah." Her lips morphed into a smirk.
-Seven Hours Later-
The fire within the firepit roared with calm fury, filling their ears with soothing pops and crackles, and filling the air with small embers that joined the stars in the midnight black.
Applejack who rested her head on Soarin's chest stared at Twilight whose head was turned to the left, staring at the watchtower. Her eyes glossed over and mind elsewhere. Applejack turned around and saw the soft orange-yellow glow of the light pouring out from the watchtower windows. "They're fine." She turned her eyes back to the fire. "I'm worried too, but they want to do their own thing."
Twilight sighed as she looked at the fire. "I'm shocked you're okay with it?"
"Like I said." Applejack rubbed Soarin's chest with the back of her head. "I rather not deal with an angry filly." She laughed. "Besides they're close by." Macintosh nodded as he tossed another log into the fire.
"Where are you going?" Limestone saw Marley throwing his crossbow over his back.
"For a walk." He made sure it was strapped tightly.
"Don't want to relax?" Shining asked.
"Walking is relaxing for me." He wandered further into the park.
Silence fell over the group as each turned to their own entertainment, whether that be watching the fire, talking to the pony next to them or sipping on their cider.
Seeing Twilight's mood was still downcast, Pinkie sighed as she picked up her cup of warmed cider, which they found within the kitchen's pantry. "I claim victory!" She shouted as she held her cup in the air. "Who else agrees?" The others quickly held up their cups and or glassware as they joined, cheering along with her.
"Almost full victory." Twilight added. "It's going to be a never-ending battle to keep this place safe." If to give her words credibility, a trotter about fourteen yards from where they sat growled as it reached through the fence's bars.
Pinkie glared at the trotter. "It will, but tonight we're celebrating." She pointed at the cabins. "Tonight, we sleep like queens and kings!"
"I drink to that!" Granite laughed as he finished his drink before taking the pot off the hot coals and pouring himself another cup of hot cider.
Shaking her head, Rainbow sighed as she looked over at Pound and Pumpkin who were enamored with a story Thunderlane was telling them. Picking up bits and pieces of it, she blushed a little. He was telling them about the time him and her messed up a weather order and accidently released a snow tornado that made way too much snow. Feeling a cold breeze, she looked up at the star filled sky. Deep down, it felt wrong to be at the mercy of wild weather. Even with it being almost a year living through it, it still felt wrong.
"What are you thinking about?"
Rainbow Dash tore her eyes from the sky. "Thinking about the weather." She looked at Rarity who was combing her mane.
"Thinking about it how, exactly?" Rarity hummed as she felt her work.
Rainbow Dash looked up and watched a cloud float on by. "Just find it strange that I can no longer move a cloud around as easily as before."
Rarity sighed as she found that her effort was fruitless. "Twilight had trouble teleporting a few days ago." She placed her comb in her saddlebag. "I tried teleporting an object yesterday and found it rather difficult."
Rainbow Dash looked at Fletcher, Granite, Opal, Shining, and Candance. "I wonder if they're feeling the same?"
"I assume they are." Rarity hummed as she saw Blaze laying down, resting his head on a log. Her eyes darted over to Twilight who was talking to Shining and Cadance.
Rainbow Dash noticed Rarity's smug smile. "What's gotten you feeling gitty?" She eyed her friend with a skeptical eye.
"Oh, I just found out something rather exciting." Rarity scooted closer to her prism maned friend. "Blaze likes Twilight." She held a hoof to her lips.
Rainbow Dash's eyes went wide as she glanced over at Blaze sleeping the evening away. "Oh..." She looked over at Iron Wing, who was hoof wrestling with Spitfire. "No..."
Rarity was taken back by her shocked expression. "What?" She leaned over in a non-conspectus manner. "What's wrong?"
"We might have a problem." Rainbow Dash nodded her head at Iron Wing.
Rarity's eyes went wide as the realization took hold. She looked over a Twilight. Feeling eyes were on her, Twilight looked up and saw Rarity and Rainbow Dash looking at her. Her cheeks went red as she narrowed her eyes. Rainbow Dash nodded her head at Iron Wing and Rarity held her hoof to her chest and subtlety pointed it at Blaze. Looking at said stallions, Twilight felt her stomach twist and her face felt hot. She quickly lowered her head and stared into her cup, staring at her embarrassed reflection.
Spike stared at the dark silhouettes of the adults sitting around the firepit. His claws dug into the bark of the tree as he saw one starting at the watchtower. Seeing its head turning away, he let out a held breath. Hearing faint flapping, he looked up and saw Rumble flying over to them, he smiled. "Can't believe that worked!"
Rumble shivered as he squinted his eyes. "How did you see me?"
"Dragon eyes." Applebloom laughed.
"We'll get more light once we get to the river," Dinky looked up at the dark mass around them and saw small gaps that showed them the star filled sky. "Less trees blocking the full moon."
"How long do we have until they notice?" Dusk asked.
"Until they head to bed." Hanzel replied as he stood up. "Which could be awhile." The adults' cheering reached their ears.
"Well let's not dilly-dally!" Scootaloo huffed.
"I'll lead the way." Spike walked out in front of the group as they made their way to the abandoned shack down by the river.
-One Hour Later-
Spike sat on a rock along the river's edge. He was at ease as he watched the moonlight shimmer off the river as it flowed down the mountain toward its destination. Letting out a sigh, he looked to his left and saw Dinky and Hanzel standing on a large flat boulder, throwing pebbles into the river. Looking to his right. He saw Dusk and Snowy playing in the sand. Past them was Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Rumble exploring the exterior of the shack, since its roof was collapsed.
His calm demeanor faded as he couldn't see where Applebloom was. Quickly scanning the river's shoreline, his heart rate started to increase, until his breath was taken away when a pair of hooves covered his eyes. "Bloom?"
He heard the country twang in her laugh. "Did I scare, yea?"
"A little." He could see the moonlit landscape once more. Looking over his shoulders he saw her giving him the goofiest of smirks. "You're happy."
"Yeah!" She sat beside him. "Finally doing something fun for once." The sounds of gently flowing water were like music to her ears.
"We needed to get the camp prepared, though." He retorted.
"You know what I meant." She said dully. "I felt like we were getting choked with how much they tried keeping us in their sights."
"They're just trying to keep us safe." Dusk replied as he and his sister joined Dinky and Hanzel, throwing a pebble across the river. Applebloom and Spike watched the pebble skip several times before sinking.
"They're doing a terrible job at doing so." Snowy growled as she threw her stone which instantly broke through and sunk.
Spike just frowned at her. Applebloom let out a sigh as she looked at the trees across the river, watching their tops sway with the winds. 'They're doing their best.' She thought. Her mind drifted to her sister. Her lips frowned as she remembered the stress that overwhelmed Applejack. The fights it caused during the early days of their exile from Iron Ridge.
"You alright?"
She looked at Spike who was giving her a concerned look. Her mind drifted to the memory of her sister and Soarin kissing. Her cheeks blushed as she imagined her and Spike kissing. She was only twelve, was it too young to kiss... But she liked Spike, and well, he like her...
"Applebloom are you..." Spike's eyes went wide as he felt Applebloom's lips on his. Though the feeling was brief as she quickly pulled away. Applebloom smirked at his dumbfound expression and rested her head on his shoulder. Shaking the shock from his mind, he settled himself down and rested his head on hers.
Hanzel and Dinky looked at the two and shook their heads.
Scootaloo stared at the two love birds with a shit eating grin.
"Finally." Sweetie Belle shook her head. "Took you two long enough!" She shouted with a laugh. Applebloom frowned at her friend and hid behind Spike. Spike finding himself in the middle, just shook his head and rested his head in his hand.
Hanzel and Dinky giggled at the situation, which caused Applebloom to groan out her embarrassment. Distracted by their laughter, they didn't hear a trotter walking through the water, bypassing the fence. It slowly made its way toward Rumble, its mouth open drooling out infected saliva.
"Uh?" Hearing a twig breaking, Rumble turned around to see the trotter a few feet from him. He screamed as he backed away from the dead. The others' fear heightened as the trotter lunged for the colt. Luckly, he jumped out of the way as its teeth snapped where he was.
The trotter glared at the children, its milky eyes uncaring as it picked up its pace and ran after the one it thought was an easy meal, being Scootaloo. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw the trotter near, but her limbs were frozen in fear. Time seemed to slow as it lunged for her, but before it could sink its teeth into her, Spike tackled the monster to the ground.
Groaning from the hard fall, Spike lifted himself off the ground. A shiver danced across his back as he felt something wet and sticky. With his enhanced eyesight he saw his hand was coated in the monster's blood. "Ew..." He looked down and saw the weight of the impact allowed his left hand to break through its rotting chest.
Feeling cold breath, Spike slowly turned his head and saw the trotter glaring at him. "Oh crap!" He jumped away from the monster as it stood up and shook its head about in anger. Applebloom and Dusk started throwing stones at the dead in hopes it would kill or slow it down.
Snowy stared at the trotter as it chased her friends, her eyes watered as the trotter's appearance morphed into the healthy pony it once was.
"Get back!" Hanzel growled as he hit the trotter with a large stick.
The trotter growled as it whipped its head around, turning its ire towards.him. Hanzel panicked and fell to the ground. Throwing up his hooves, he prepared for the worst, when a whooshing sound and a meaty thump filled the air. Slowly lowering his hooves from his face, he saw the trotter on the ground with a bolt through its right eye. Timidly he looked to his left and saw Marley glaring at the dead or him he didn't know.
Spike worked up enough courage to speak. "Marley we can explain."
"Shut it!" Marley huffed as he walked up to the trotter and carefully pulled out the bolt with his hooves. "So, how's the sleepover in the watchtower going?" He took out the rag in his saddle-pouch and wiped off the trotter's blood.
Spike and his friends looked at one another, trying to come up with an excuse. "Well, its... uh..." Scootaloo tried to say.
"A little too much excitement?" Marley laughed. He looked at the children. "I won't say a word about your escapades, but." He pointed a hoof at Spike. "Might want to wash up." Spike looked at his hand and slowly nodded.
Applebloom looked at the trotter. "I guess there is more gaps in the fence to fix?" she looked up and down the river.
"It appears so." Marley placed the bolt back in his crossbow's quiver. |
AMONG THE TROTTING DEAD | Part 3: Chapter 3 - Welcome to Mulberry | The screaming of blue propane flame filled the air. Lotus who sat by the propane heater stared at the smoldering pile of ash that was across the street. She slowly blinked her puffy eyes to clear them of tears. She gritted her teeth and kept them closed to rid them of the burning. Opening them slowly, she felt her tears roll down her face as she stared at the skull within the pile of ash. Letting out a heavy sigh she looked down and stared at the boonie hat that sat in her lap.
Aloe who was staring at her sister, smacked her dry mouth and swallowed. She grimaced from the pain in her throat. "You loved him?" Her raspy sick voice filled the quite that lingered in the abandoned auto shop they were hunkered down in.
Lotus looked at her sister before looking at the hat once more. "Yeah..." Aloe smiled as she fought a cough. Lotus stared at her sister watching her adjust her blanket. A cold chill washed over her as she saw Willy sitting by the propane heater. His ghostly mist like appearance looked awe inspiring rather than haunting. Her eyes began to water when she noticed the bite mark on his neck.
'Stay strong.' He's deep voice echoed in her ears. His body slowly faded, but before he fully disappeared, he looked up and gave her a warm smile.
"Sis?" Aloe was put off by her sister's wide-eyed expression.
Lotus closed her eyes as she wrapped her tail around herself. "I'm fine." She stared at the floor, tracing the cracks in the concrete. Aloe let out a shallow cough as she turned her gaze from her sister back to the stove. Hearing thunder they looked out the opened garage door and watched the ground begin to wet from falling rain.
-Two Days Later-
Lotus tightened the strap of her saddlebag around her belly and chest. Feeling the warm sun on her back, she looked at the sky and watched the cloud that was blocking the sun float away to destinations unknown. Hearing a gut-wrenching cough, she looked back at the auto shop they called home for the past week and saw her sister leaning against the garage door's doorframe.
"I'm sorry." Aloe shivered. "Just leave me." She rubbed her hoof across her sweat soaked forehead.
Lotus frowned as she walked up to her sister. "I am not doing that!" She placed a hoof under her chin. "We lost so much already." Her mind drifted to Iron's Ridge. "You're all I have left." Aloe nodded her head and rested it on her sister's chest. Lotus patted her sister on her back. "We need to head further into town."
"Why can't I stay here until you get back?" Aloe looked up at her with tired eyes.
"I need to keep my eye on you." She smiled. "Besides, you need to get up and moving." She moved some of her sister's mane from her eyes. "It will do you some good." Aloe nodded and lifted herself off the doorframe. Lotus nodded and led the way as they made their way further into the small mining town.
The walk through the quite streets was some comfort for Lotus as she slowly scanned the few buildings that lined the main dirt road. To be honest, one could barely call this place a town. 'Must've just barely started before everything fell apart?' She wondered as she stared at the tiny saloon that looked like it could only hold ten patrons.
Hearing her sister cough, she looked back and saw her starting to dose off. "Hey," She lifted her head. "That's why you came with, you need to stay awake, you need to rebuild your strength." Aloe slowly nodded. Lotus gave her a smirk as they walked further towards the end of the street.
Seeing nothing that looked like a pharmacy or a small local urgent care center, Lotus frowned as she stared at the small general store to her left. Walking up to the veranda she glared at the swing doors, glaring through their windows, seeing nothing but darkness. "Wait here." She pointed at one of the pillars holding up the building's awning. Aloe nodded in a drunken manner as she leaned against like her life depended on.
Grimacing at her sister's deteriorating state, Lotus timidly opened the door and took out her pickaxe. Kicking the doorframe several times, she waited for anything or anypony to emerge from the darkness. Hearing a growl, she bit down on her weapon's handle. Seeing glowing eyes, she stepped back as she felt the cold aura of its magic licking her neck.
The creature stepped into the light, revealing it to be a unicorn trotter. Its horn was broken, but that didn't stop it from trying to use what magic its rotting brain could muster. Magical discharge oozed out from its horn's stump. Its eyes bulged from the strain of its magic.
Frowning, Lotus jerked her head to the side and swung her weapon with all her might, driving the pick side of her axe into the side of the trotter's skull, through the ear. The monster growled and gurgled out blood, before going limp. She growled and yanked out her weapon. Hearing no more signs of the dead within the store, she flicked the brain matter off her pickaxe and holstered it as she stepped inside.
Scanning the bare shelves, the fur on the back of her neck stood up as an uneasy feeling nipped the back of her mind. Activating her flashlight, she glared at one of the shelves. Seeing perfect outlines of where items once sat, she touched the dust on the shelf and saw it was rather thick. Hearing a dull thud, she ran out of the store and found her sister laying on the ground, her breathing heavy and her eyes glazed over.
"NO!" She fell to the ground and shook her sister. "Come on! Wake up!" She felt how calmly she felt. "Don't do this to me!" Tears began to pool around her eyes.
Hearing a distant roar of a diesel motor, her heart skipped a beat. With all her might she tried dragging her sister into the shop. Hearing it getting closer, she hissed through clenched teeth as she nearly got her sister in all the way.
"Hold it!" A voice shouted over the vehicle's tires sliding across the muddy dirt road.
Lotus froze as she heard several pairs of hooves landing on mud. Timidly she lifted her head and saw four stallions and a mare standing in front of a grey-colored putter-wagon. "Zipper?" Her eyes went wide as she stared at one stallion in particular. Her eyes drifted to his right foreleg or what was left of it passed the knees, as it was replaced with a prosthetic with three saw like blades at the end.
The stallion smirked as he eyed her up and down. "Well shit, Lotus..." He saw her sister on the ground. "Aloe..." His face turned serious. "You all look like shit." He put his cigarette to one side of his mouth.
Lotus kept her eye on her sister, who rested her head in her lap. The rocking of the putter-wagon slowly brought her back to reality. Feeling like she was being scolded by judging eyes she looked up at Zipper who was just staring at her as he fiddled with his prosthetic foreleg. "How did you survive?" She asked, hoping to break the tension that felt like a noose around her neck.
"I could ask you the same thing?" Zipper smirked, though his smile faded as he lifted up his stubby foreleg. "You do crazy things to escape the dead barreling down on you." He tested his prosthetic limb. "Cut my own leg off with my knife." He pointed at her. "Then stuck it in a burning building to stop the bleeding."
"How did you end up here?" She looked at the other stallions who gave her a range of looks.
"Dumb luck after being alone for almost two months." He looked at one of the stallions. "Usip over here saved my ass." The stallion in question shook his head. Zipper smirked as he looked at Lotus. "Why isn't my brother with you?"
"We were separated after you told us to leave you." She sighed.
"How?" Zipper chewed on a wad of tobacco.
"He went back for you." Lotus rubbed her hooves together. "He never came back."
Zipper shook his head. "Typical..."
"I don't know what happened to the others. It was only myself, my sister, and Willy who got out of Iron's Ridge together." Her throat tightened as she thought of the stallion.
Zipper eyed her. "Where's he?"
"He was bit." She combed her mane back with her hoof. "We cremated him three days ago." Zipper nodded as he looked at Aloe. Lotus noticed the look he was giving her sister. "She's not." Lotus ran a hoof through her sister's mane. "We barely made it through winter." She placed a hoof to her forehead and felt her fever was still lingering. "She's been struggling with a lung infection."
Zipper huffed. "We got medicine where we're going."
"Where would that be?" Lotus eyed Zipper skeptically.
"You'll see." He smiled.
-Two Hours Later-
Hearing the putter-wagon's horn blaring in her ears, Lotus awoken from her nap. Feeling the vehicle slow and make several turns, she braced herself against the wooden seat with one hoof and her sister with the other. Coming to a stop, Zipper let out a pleased sigh as he stood up. "Home sweet, home." He held opened the flap to the putter-wagon, "Mare's first."
"Where are we?" Aloe slurred her words as she lifted her head from her sister's lap.
"Getting you some help." Lotus with the help of Usip, got her out of the putter-wagon.
"You need help walking her to the infirmary?" Usip asked.
"No, I got her..."
"You'll do no such thing." A soothing rich voice said.
Turning around, Lotus saw a bat pony stallion, with dark-indigo fur and a greyish mane and tail. His eyes were like diamonds with how sharp they looked. Their light sky-blue coloring was alluring to anypony who fell for their spell. The stallion gave as pleasant smirk as he walked up to Lotus and Aloe. "No guest of mine will lift a hoof, especially when they are in need." He looked at Aloe and saw her struggling to keep herself awake. "Take her to see Doctor Mellow." He pointed at a mare and a stallion who stood behind him. They nodded and gently guided her towards a two-story brick building.
"And as for you," He stopped Lotus from following, "You'll be seen by Doctor Quill." He skimmed her over, "I need to make sure you're healthy as well."
"I'm fine!" Lotus snapped. "I need to be with her!"
The stallion placed a hoof on her shoulder. "You will." He took a long breath. "But rules are rules." He led her towards the same brick building her sister was taken to. "Can't put my ponies at risk when bringing in new folk. Have to make sure you're fit as a fiddle."
Lotus eyed the stallion with a raised brow. "Your ponies?"
He let out a laugh, "Why, yes. I am the leader of this place." He shook his head. "Not by choice, but I guess I had the natural talent, even though my cutiemark would say otherwise." He pointed at an image of a quill and a notepad. "More of a writer than a leader."
Lotus eyed the cutiemark before her gaze drifted to the buildings that lined the street they were on. The humble western styled homes looked more inviting that the ones in the mining town she had come from. "And what place would that be?" She tried looking for a sign of some sort.
The stallion let out a pleased hum. "That would be Mulberry, ma'am." He held a hoof to his chest.
"Lotus." She held out her hoof.
He took her hoof. "Axiom, but you can call me Governor."
Aloe slowly awakened from her slumber. Her eyes were heavy and caked with discharge. She saw, she was in a room with birch walls and a ceiling fan made of ivory painted metal and black painted blades. Her mind became dumbfounded by how soft the bed she laid in was... Bed? Lifting her head, she saw her sister asleep in a chair beside the bed, her head in her hoof and her lips flapping about with each breath she took.
Sitting up she grimaced and coughed.
Her sister awoken from her slumber. "You're awake?" Lotus smiled. "How are you felling?" She placed a hoof on her sister's.
Aloe let out a heavy breath. "I'm fine. Just tired." She felt a pain on her chest and looked down and saw that she had stitches at the base of her rib cage.
"They had to drain some fluid from your lungs." Lotus smiled at her sister. "They said your lungs should be good in a few days."
Aloe returned the smile. "That's good to hear." She looked out the window and eyed the street below. She saw a group of children running around. Looking past the children and past the buildings they played in front of, she saw a vast forest that surrounded the town.
Lotus looked out the window as well, before turning her gaze to the well decorated room. "This place is..."
"Too good to be true?" Zipper laughed from the door.
Aloe tilted her head. "Zipper?" Her eyes went wide. "You're alive?"
He shook his head. "Damn, you were out of it." He walked up to them. "Glad I ran into you when I did." He eyed the sisters. "How are you feeling?"
"Better..." Aloe fought back a cough that was agitating her stitches.
"I just can't believe this place." Lotus shoulders slumped. "How?"
"How?" Zipper gave her a raised brow. "Just look where you're at, missy."
"But, how?" She huffed out her frustrations. "There is no way they could've lasted this long!"
"But we did."
The sisters and Zipper looked at the door to their room and saw the Governor standing under the door frame. He gave them a smile, his right fang sticking out as he did so. Aloe's heart skipped a beat as she eyed the stallion. His stature was alluring to her, his sky-blue cat-like eyes intoxicating. Lotus noticed her sister's gawking expression, and let out a cough, causing Aloe to realize she was staring. "How did you achieve this?" She saw her sister's cheeks blushing.
The Governor let out a hum as he walked up to one of the windows on his left. "Started small. Mulberry is a large town, so, I made sure we only fortified two streets and only six blocks of it." He looked at the sisters. "Fill in the gaps between the buildings and block off both ends of the streets, and you have a fortified Mulberry." He smiled. "Soon to be expanded in the next coming years if things go smoothly."
Lotus looked down at her lap. She thought back to Iron's Ridge and how its roads where so wide and the buildings spread out to the point that walls would've been counterproductive.
"Zipper told me about your settlement." The Governor stood on the other side of the bed. "Iron's Ridge, am I correct?"
Aloe nodded. "Yes." Louts spoke up. "What did he tell you?"
"That it was a shit location." Zipper grumbled, but a look from the Governor caused him to sulk and step back from the bed.
"As I was saying," He looked at the sisters and noticed Aloe's gawking expression. "He said it wasn't the best," He gave Aloe a playful smirk, which caused her to blush. "But I want to hear what you thought of it." His face turned serious. "How it fell?"
Lotus bit her lip. She found his flirty charm a little too on the snout for her liking, but he was very welcoming, even gave her sister medical aid. Medical aid she desperately needed. "It wasn't a terrible place." She fixed her sister's blanket. "Zipper just has an angry outlook on life."
"I got that impression when he first arrived." The Governor sighed as he looked at Zipper who just shook his head.
"It was a nice town, just to spread out, nothing like this." She looked out the window and saw several ponies mulling about. "It just had too much ground to cover."
"That's why it was overran by the bitters?"
"Yes..." Lotus looked at him with a raised brow. "Bitters?"
"It's what we call them." His wings twitched. "What do you call them?"
"Trotters." Aloe spoke up.
The Governor smiled at her. Her voice was like music to his sensitive ears. "Interesting name." He stood up, his wings stretching out. "Well, I'm glad you're feeling better?"
"Aloe." She replied as she timidly crossed her forelegs.
"Aloe..." He looked at Lotus. "I'm glad Zipper found you. Fate has brought us together for a reason." He held out his hoof for her. "You're welcomed to stay and be a part of our community."
"What's the catch?" Lotus asked. Aloe gave her sister a confused glare, which caught Lotus off guard.
"There's no catch, just that we ask you help contribute where you can." He smiled.
"Thank you." Aloe smiled. "Um?"
"Axiom," He held out a hoof. "But everypony calls me Governor." She took his hoof and shook it. "I'll leave you to it." He waved for Zipper to follow. Confidant that they were far enough from their room, he looked at Zipper. "What do you think?" He gave him a serous glare. "You think your friends will stay?"
Zipper didn't look at him. "Not sure, I rarely talked to them when we were all together." He frowned as his mind drifted to Rarity. He wondered if she was alive... Alive and whispering sweet nothings into his brother's ears... 'If he's alive.'
"Thinking of your brother?" The Governor asked.
"Yeah." He looked at the bat pony. "Hoping he's alive."
The Governor kept silent as they stepped out of the infirmary. Seeing the last bit of clouds departing, he stretched out his wings and allowed the sun to warm them. "Keep an eye on those two. Make them feel welcomed." He placed a hoof on Zipper's shoulder. "I'll have somepony else take patrol duty for you."
"So, you want them to come to the dinner tonight?" Zipper raised his brow.
"Of course." The Governor smirked as he looked up at the window to Lotus's and Aloe's room. "It would be quite rude, not to."
"We're leaving once you're fully healed." Lotus grumbled as she rummaged through her saddlebag. "We don't even know these ponies!"
"But they help us!" Aloe shot back. "They help me!" She threw open her forelegs. "I wouldn't've made it out there and you know it!"
Lotus slumped her shoulders and closed her eyes as she tried to calm her nerves. "We would've been fine..." She shot back.
Aloe timidly tapped her hooves together. "Sorry..."
Louts looked at her sister. Who was she kidding, Aloe was on death's doorstep. Any longer out there on their own and she would've had too burry her. "I know..." She looked out the window and watched the trees swaying with the breeze. "We needed this break." She placed a hoof on her sister's. "But we need to keep our guard up."
Aloe accepted her sister's hoof. "I know, at least Zipper is here..." She too looked out the window. "And Axiom seems rather nice."
"True." Lotus shook her head. "I have a feeling that he would rather be called Governor."
"Well, he is the leader of this settlement." Aloe said in a silly tone. She slowly scanned their room. "It is amazing they were able to keep this place for this long."
"Yeah..." Lotus looked down at her lap. 'Still seems too good to be true.'
"Hello?" A mare poked her head into the room. "Sorry to disturb you, but I have a message from the Governor." Lotus gave her sister a knowing smirk. Aloe blushed as she rolled her eyes.
"What's the message?" Lotus looked at the mare with dull eyes.
The mare smiled. "You're invited to the community dinner we're having at the old theater in the center of town between the two main streets we call home."
"What time?" Aloe asked with a smile. Lotus understood her excitement, it would be nice to have a proper meal.
"At eighteen-hundred." The mare pointed at the clock on the wall.
Lotus hadn't noticed it until now. 'A working clock?' She watched the second-hand tick away, slowly moving the hour-hand away from the thirteen-hour mark. 'What don't they have?'
"Thank you... Um" Aloe tilted her head.
"Mrs. Tyme." The mare smiled.
Alone the sisters looked at one another, both silently acknowledging one another's thoughts.
-Five Hours Later-
Lotus stared at the ponies that sat around the tables laid out in a 'U'-shape pattern. There was a wide verity of ponies, from young to old and of all races. All seeming happy and joyful. "So many ponies." Aloe whispered as she saw Mrs. Tyme sitting with her family. She smiled and waved at her. Mrs. Tyme saw her and returned the wave.
"Yes, there is." Lotus replied with a sigh. She counted fifty-two, not counting the ones keeping watched along the walls. More than what they had at Iron's Ridge, about twenty more. Her lips went flat as she remembered the hoard roaming through the frozen streets.
"You alright?" Aloe asked.
"Yes..." Lotus saw the Governor talking to a couple of stallions that seemed to be the town's security forces. "Just still can't believe that we're here." She saw a mare walk over to them with a cart full of food.
"Here's your bowls." The mare hummed a giddy tune as gave them their meals.
Lotus and Aloe looked at their meals. The savory aroma of cabbage stew filled their nostrils. Aloe felt her stomach growl as she licked her lips. Looking up from her meal she saw the Governor raising a cup at her. She smiled as she raised her glass of cider. Lotus noticed her sister's wide smile, looking to her right she saw she was smiling at the Governor. Reluctantly she raised her own glass. "Let's not get too friendly," She whispered in her sister's ears.
"Why?" Aloe rolled her eyes. "I thought we agreed to give them a chance."
"I know, but." She watched the Governor walk to the center of the 'U' the tables created. "If things go south, I want to be able to leave with no attachments."
"And go where?" Aloe felt light and fuzzy as she kept watching the Governor with awe-stricken eyes.
"I don't know." Lotus took a bite of her food. Her throat tightened up, not out of disgust but of shock by how delicious it tasted. "Maybe..." Her mind drifted to her friend Rarity. "Maybe find our friends..." Hearing no reply, she looked at her sister and saw the enamored expression on her face. Seeing her staring at the Governor, she rolled her eyes. "Were you listening?"
Aloe shivered as her daydreaming mind came back to reality. "Y-Yes..." She looked at her sister, staring, unsure what to say. Before Lotus could reply, they heard a spoon tapping on glass.
"Everypony!" The Governor shouted with a happy twang. "I have an important announcement!" The crowd of ponies silenced as they gave him their full attention. He nodded at their obedience and looked over at Lotus and Aloe. "We have guest within our humble settlement!" He pointed at them. Lotus felt uneasy at being the center of attention, while Aloe waved at the ponies looking at them.
The Governor smiled as he cleared his throat. "Let's make them feel welcomed and like they're at home." He didn't realize how infectious Aloe's smile was. "And who knows, maybe one day they'll join our little town."
The ponies cheered.
Aloe let out a little giggle as she clapped. Lotus really wanted to go under the radar so they could have an easy out. But the Governor made that a lot more difficult, and so was her sister. Her sister's happiness was very infectious. A part of her wanted her to stop and play it coy, but the other half really loved seeing her so joyful. 'It had been so long since I saw you smile like that...' Her lips timidly smiled as she turned to the crowd and gave them a small wave.
"Thank you for everything." Lotus shook the Governor's hoof. "I don't know how to repay you?"
He smiled. "If you see any of my ponies in need, lend them a hoof." He looked at the crowd mulling around the tables. "That's all I ask."
"We will." Aloe smiled with a blush.
He noticed and gave them a small bow. "I need to take care of something, so you mares enjoy yourselves tonight." He gave them a shit eating grin. "I'm sure you need it."
Lotus's mind drifted to the fall of Iron's Ridge and the months wandering through the trotter infected wastes. "Yeah, we do."
"Don't drink too much cider." His joked and laughed causing Lotus to roll her eyes and Aloe let off a little giggle. Aloe's squeaky giggles were pleasant to his ears as he walked towards his home.
The Governor watched his ponies from his home's second story window, which was resident flat over what was once the bank. Seeing Lotus and Aloe conversing with Zipper and several others. He smiled as he stepped away from the window and walked over to a closet. Stopping, he looked to his right and saw a picture on the fireplace's mantel. The picture was of him, with his hoof around a pegasus, and if front of them was a little bat pony filly no more than seven years old.
Letting out a sigh, he unlocked the closet and opened the door. "Hello sweetie." Sounds of metallic chains echoed from the darkness. The pace of the sounds increased, until the light revealed the chains were around a totter's neck as it appeared from the darkened closet. The Governor stood resolute as he stared at the trotter with dull eyes. The trotter was a bat pony filly the same one in the picture. Her wings were chopped off at the base. Her mane and tail a tattered mess.
The Governor stared into her milky eyes and let out a sigh. "I have some good news." The filly growled as she snapped her teeth. The Governor ignored her angry growls and walked over to another closet and opened its door. He stepped in and opened a cage and pulled out a rabbit. "We have two new ponies that joined us." He felt the rabbit starting to panic as he neared her. "I think you'll like them." He threw the rabbit into the closet. The filly threw her head back and let out a moan as she sauntered back into the closet. Closing the door, he sat on the floor, and leaned against it, resting his head back as he listened to the rabbit's screams as his daughter tore into its flesh.
> Part 3: Chapter 4 - You're One of Us
Lotus stared at the calendar on the wall. She had no idea how accurate it was. She hadn't seen one since Iron's Ridge. She frowned as she stared at the numbers in their squares. 'The tenth day of the sixth month of nineteen-twenty-four.' Hearing the playful cheering of children seeping through the opened rollup doors, she looked down at the glass canning jars in front of her on the table she sat at. "Two months?"
"What was that?" Mrs. Tyme asked as she looked up from the pot filled with boiling water.
Lotus puckered her lips as she stared at the jar in her hooves. "Just remembering."
"Remembering what?" Mrs. Tyme slowly took out several jars that were filled with figs from the pot and gently placed them on a towel to cool.
"Just how long my sister and I have been in the wilderness." Her mind drifted to Willy Pette. "Surviving on our own."
Mrs. Tyme smiled as she watched her slowly filling the jar with the last scoops of figs. "Well now you're not." She placed a hoof on Lotus' shoulder. "You're safe now, been safe for two months now." Lotus slowly nodded, her eyes never leaving her work. Mrs. Tyme's smile faltered a bit. "You still plan on leaving?"
Lotus remained silent as she twisted the cap tightly to the jar. "I'm not sure." She finally spoke.
"It's your sister." Mrs. Tyme smiled knowingly. "She's been proving herself to be a very valuable member of the town." She smiled. "She's great with kids, was she a teacher before everything fell apart?"
"No..." Lotus looked out the window and saw a large group of children playing in the grassy field that surround town hall. "We were masseuses." She looked at Mrs. Tyme with a smirk. "But she always wanted to be a mother." She placed the jar in her hooves with the others. "But she didn't have much luck with stallions."
Mrs. Tyme slowly nodded. "What about you?"
Lotus shook her head. "Was too busy with my work to partake in such things." She dismissed the idea with a wave of her hoof.
"We'll I think you can give it a shot." Mrs. Tyme laughed at Lotus' wide-eyed expression to her statement. "Heck, we all have to do our part in growing our numbers if we want to grow our little town." She let out a soft hum. "Well, that's what the Governor thinks anyways."
Lotus tilted her head. "He wants to breed us out of this mess?"
"Well, more bodies mean more hooves that can help build, fight, and grow." Mrs. Tyme clapped her hooves together. "Think about it." She smiled. "We can regrow civilization, make the princesses proud, bring back Equestria from the brink!"
"With Mulberry as the new capital?" Lotus questioned with a raised brow.
"Yes." Mrs. Tyme giggled. "I for one look forward to the day." Her smile left as she stared at the wall that surrounded the town. "This life can't be forever, can it?" She looked at Lotus if pleading for a confirmation to her hopes and dreams.
Lotus wanted to confirm them, but after everything she saw, how could she. "No, it won't." She lied, so she could keep things diplomatic. She didn't want to be thrown out of town for making the Governor's ponies depressed and worried. "We will rebuild."
Mrs. Tyme smiled. "I'm glad you think so." She looked at the last batch of jars. "Let's finish this up. I'm sure you'd like to check on your sister."
Lotus slowly walked down the street, she lazily scanned the multitude of ponies mulling about, uncaring of the world outside the walls that protected the town. Thinking of said walls, she looked at a pony to her left standing watch, slowly panning their rifle across their line of sight for anything or anypony lurking close by. Hearing muffled screams, she turned around for the source of the noise. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, her body shivered as Iron's Ridge crossed her mind. 'Am I losing it?' She placed a hoof to her forehead and groaned as she felt a migraine coming on. "Damn it..."
"Are you okay?"
Lotus's head shot up; her eyes fell on her sister who stood in front of her with a saddlebag strapped to her back. "I'm fine..." She pointed at her saddlebag. "Where are you going?"
"Oh..." Aloe blushed. "Just running errands for the Governor." She shifted her hips side to side to jiggle the contents of her saddlebag around. "This just saves the number of trips I have to make."
"What kind of errands?" Lotus looked at her sister skeptically.
"Just simple stuff." She opened her saddlebag and showed her several items within.
Lotus glared at the items, most of them were plastic containers filled with medical items and or tools. "He's not overworking you?"
"Lotus, I'm fine!" Aloe grumbled as she clipped the latch on her saddlebag's flap. "He wouldn't do anything like that." Louts rolled her eyes. "Why are you still skeptical of this place?"
Lotus looked around seeing if any pony was looking at them. "This place still doesn't feel right."
"You're so paranoid!" Aloe grumbled. "This place is not Iron's Ridge!"
"Aloe..." Lotus choked on her words, words she's trying to form. "We can't let our guard down."
"Even with Zipper here?" Aloe threw up a hoof. "No pony is going to harm us!" She shook her head as she walked away from her sister. "I'll see you during supper!"
Lotus watched her enter into another building a block down. "I'm trying to protect... you..." She mumbled, looking down at the ground, staring at the bright grey concrete of the sidewalk with quivering eyes. She frowned and let out a hissed growl as she stormed over towards the northern gate.
She ignored the murmurings of ponies she passed. Her eyes stayed focused on the gate. Seeing Zipper standing on the catwalk over the gate, conversing with another earth pony stallion, she chewed her cheek as she stormed up the steps.
"Hey Lotus!" Zipper smirked, "What's gotten you into a twist?" He asked with a laughed as she walked up to him. She didn't answer as she grabbed the rifle from his hooves. "Hey!" She ignored him as she sat by the parapet and aimed the rifle at the road that vanished into the forest, heading to places unknown.
"Looks like somepony is eager to get cracking." The stallion talking to Zipper laughed as he crossed his forelegs over his chest.
Zipper bit his cheek as he sat beside her. "You and your sister got into it?"
Lotus didn't answer as she looked through the scope. Seeing a trotter stumbling onto the road, she clinched her jaw and fired. A loud crack echoed out across the town. The trotter's skull erupted into a fine powdery mist as its body crashed onto the asphalt.
Zipper stared at the dead trotter about a hundred and twenty-five yards away. "Good shot..." He crossed his arms.
The Governor sat at his desk that sat in front of the window overlooking the street below. His catlike eyes scanned the items he had written down into a large binder. A manifest of all the supplies the town had accumulated. He frowned as he saw several essential medical items were low as well as ammo for the weaponry they had. 'Can't take back Equestria with just swords...' He looked out the window at his humble settlement. "You can... Just have to throw more bodies at it." He saw a figure in the corner of his vision. Seeing the figure was Aloe, he smiled, his fang sticking out as he did so.
For the past two months Aloe and her sister had been slowly proving themselves to be capable members of his town. Lotus was a cable organizer and marksmare. A great asset for guarding the walls he mused as his thoughts drifted to Aloe. His eyes drifted back to Aloe and saw her making her way to his building. He smirked as he stood up from his desk. 'Aloe, Aloe, Aloe...' She was a great addition as a caregiver over the youth. But she was very shy. She'd always melted every time she was around him. He smirked as he found that aspect about her quite adorable.
Hearing a knock, he walked over to his door and opened it. Aloe gave a little squeak as she looked up at him. "Um, hello, Governor."
"Hello, Aloe." He smiled. "What do you need?"
"I'm here to drop off lunch." Aloe pulled out a small cooler. She gently placed the item on the floor.
The Governor's bat-wings twitched as he lifted the lid. Seeing a large hay sandwich and a bottle of orange juice and an apple, he smiled as he looked at Aloe once more. "Thanks."
"You're welcome..."
"Have you eaten yet?" He asked before she could leave.
"Um, no." She blushed.
"Why don't you join me." He nodded his head into his room. "I can't eat all of this."
Aloe's face felt hot. "Well, you said you wanted to get this all done before..."
"Well, I'm telling you to take a break..." He eyed her. "So come on in." She nodded and entered the room. "Besides, we haven't spoken much for these past months." He closed the door, "I'd love to get to know you more."
Aloe looked at the stallion as she timidly scanned him. "Y-You do?" She sat the cooler on the table. She slowly scanned the room and was awed at how large and homey it looked. "I'm not a very fascinating mare."
"Just my type." The governor helped her unload the food from the cooler and grabbed some plates. "Want a mimosa?"
"Mimosa?" Aloe looked at the bottle of orange juice. "You have champagne?"
"Of course." He laughed, "We aren't uncivilized." He walked over to a small fridge, opening it, he pulled out a bottle. "I have some champagne glasses in that cupboard next to you." Aloe opened the drawer. Musty smells struck her snout as she leaned in and picked up two glasses with her mouth. Watching her set them on the table. He smiled as he opened to bottle of orange juice. "What was your life like before the world changed?"
Aloe watched the champagne mix with the orange juice. "Calming... Peaceful."
"How so?" He looked at her with a warm smile.
"Ponyville was a simple place." She picked up her glass of mimosa.
"I can relate." He picked up his glass and toasted her.
"Where did you live before Mulberry?" She timidly sipped her drink.
"I lived in Baltimare." He looked out the window. "I was a political journalist." He saw the look she gave him. "It was calming environment for me. I like the hustle and bustle life of a journalist."
Aloe sat her drink down and placed the sandwich on a plate and cut it in half. "Did you report on the sickness when it was starting?"
"No, I was camping with my brother and my daughter." He frowned at his meal.
Aloe timidly tapped her hooves as she watched him take a bite. "Are they, you know?"
"Yeah..." He gave her a smile to calm her nerves. "But I keep going for them." He took a sip of his drink. "I have to." Aloe smiled, but it slowly faded. "What's wrong?"
"Oh," She quickly swallowed her bite. "In the biggening I didn't think that way..." Her shoulders slummed a bit. "I wanted to give up,"
"But?" The Governor tilted his head.
"My sister and Willie Pette kept me going."
"Do you still have those thoughts?" He placed a hoof on hers.
She blushed at the affection. "No..."
"Good, can't have that mindset if we plan to take back Equestria from the dead." He patted her hoof as he looked out the window watching the trees sway with the breeze.
"You think we'll be able to rebuild?" Aloe tapped the table with her hooves.
"We have to." He let out a sigh as he looked at her. "Well, that's enough about me, I want to know more about you."
Aloe swallowed the last of her sandwich. She bit her lower lip as she mulled through her thoughts. "Well as you know I'm from Ponyville." The Governor smirked as he watched her talk. Her flustered appearance was adorable, and her apprehensive tone of voice music to his ears. "Before, before the world fell apart, my sister and I were masseuses."
The Governor's ears perked up. "Masseuses."
"Yes." Aloe smiled as she remembered her simple life... so little worries back then. "It's my cutiemark after all." She giggled. "As well as my sister's"
"Twin sisters in the same line of work." The Governor smiled, but it slowly left as he looked out the window. "What job do you want to do now?"
Aloe's smile faded as she stared at her hooves. "I'm not sure..." She tapped her hooves together slowly. "Do whatever I can to help." She said in a questioning tone. Silence filled the air for some time. The ticking of the clock echoed in Aloe's ears causing her left eye to twitch and a bead of sweat formed on her brow. But before she could break the tensions that she was feeling, the Governor broke it for her.
"Want to use your special talent?" He kept staring out the window. His eyes watching his fellow ponies mulling about, doing what was expected of them. Aloe didn't know how to respond; her voice was stuck in her throat and her body felt hot. He noticed her flustered appearance and gave her a flirty smile. "I'd like a massage and I know just the pony."
"Me?" She finally spoke. "I-I don't know, I don't have any lotions or oils!"
He let off a chuckle. "I may have some items in the bathroom, but..." He placed a hoof under her chin. "I just want a simple massage, nothing fancy." His touch melted her worries, and his intoxicating eyes consumed her. She slowly turned her head and rubbed her cheek in his hoof as she gave a timid nod.
Aloe's cheeks were beet-red as she looked down at the Governor lying down on his bed, his face in his pillow, his bat-wings spread out. Swallowing her nervousness, she sat on a stool beside the bed and placed the bottle of lotion on the nightstand. "Firm or soft?" She asked softly.
"Somewhere in the middle." He softly spoke as he reburied his face into his pillow.
She gently placed her hooves in the center of his back. She was taken back by how soft his fur was. She never had a bat pony client, so this new experience was something that excited her. Memories of her time at her spa tickled her mind as her hooves moved gracefully across his back.
Taking a quick glance, she saw that his face was still buried. From the way his muscles moved, she could tell he was enjoying it so far. Blushing, she worked on his upper shoulders, working on the left side for a few minutes and then moving to the other side of the bed to do his right side.
"You said you've done this before?" The Governor asked in a joking tone.
Aloe rolled her eyes. "Very funny." She softly replied, her mind was at ease as she crawled on the bed and gently sat on the base of his flanks. Her hind legs draped over the sides of his hips. Finding the position, she was in, to have been a very lewd one if he was facing the other direction. She fought of her blushing and poured a generous amount of lotion on her hooves.
Putting her body weight into it, she rolled her hooves across his back before working the kinks she felt in his shoulders. "I can tell you're under a lot of stress." She spoke as she worked the muscle at the base of his wings.
He let out a sigh as is wings twitched from the sensation. "A little..." He sighed as she put pressure on his shoulders. Hearing a nervous mumble as a response, he opened his eyes and looked out the window as saw the sun nearing the horizon, maybe about seventeen or eighteen hundred hours. "Seems like you're a little nervous yourself?"
Aloe's cheeks felt hot as she tried to find the words to his question. "A... Little..."
Feeling her body weight lift off of him, the Governor rolled over. Aloe stared at him with wide eyes as she sat back down on his waist, her legs hugging his sides. If she thought she couldn't be even more nervous, she felt his penis pressing up against her. "What's bothering you?" He asked.
Aloe just stared at the stallion. The position she found herself in was beyond embarrassing, but yet, she admired this stallion. Found him... attractive... Her sister came to mind. Her sister distrusted him... "My sister..."
"And what about your sister, is bothering you?" He gently wrapped his wings around her. Their texture sent pleasant shivers down her spine.
"She..." She let out a heavy breath. "She's still doubting this place," She looked away to stop lewd thoughts of the bat pony from entering her mind. "Doubts, you."
He let out a sigh as he placed a hoof on her chin and gently forced her to look at him. "Do you?" He pulled her in closer, their lips just inches apart. Feeling aroused and her emotions scattered, she leaned in and kissed him on the lips. He let out a happy sigh as he slowly opened her mouth with his tongue.
> Part 3: Chapter 5 - Fire and Festivities
Lotus stared at her sister, the steam wafting from her cup of tea tickled her snout. She lifted the cup to her lips but hesitated to take a sip. She timidly placed it back on the table they sat around. Aloe timidly took a sip of her own tea, her eyes struggling to look at her sister.
"Took me a month..." Lotus finally spoke as she stared at her reflection in her cup of tea. "I had a feeling," She looked up at her sister, disappointment clearly displayed on her face. "Why?"
Aloe swallowed the last of her tea and poured herself some more in a vain attempt to avoid the inevitable. "Because..."
"Because, what?"
"That!" Aloe huffed, "What you're doing!" She felt her emotions getting to her. "You would've never approved..." She put her cup of tea close to her chest. "You never approved of any stallions I liked..."
Lotus bit her lip as memories of the stallions her sister tried dating and her rejecting them... "I..." She grimaced at the pain her vocal cord was feeling. "Sis, I'm just looking out for you."
Aloe rolled her eyes as she looked away and stared out the window watching dark clouds rolling across the sky. Lotus felt a cold shiver dance across her body. Her sister's dour posture unnerved her. "Aloe?"
"Just stop." Aloe closed her eyes to control her emotions.
"What?"
"Just stop!" She turned around, tears in her eyes. "You're choking me!" Lotus was dumbstruck as she tried to find words to shoot down her sister's words. Aloe held up a hoof to silence her before she could utter a single word. "I love him!" I love this place! And I'm not leaving!" She made her way towards the door to Lotus' room. "If you want to, go!" She threw open the door. "You'll be going alone!"
The world around Lotus faded as she stared at the opened door. Her mouth felt dry, she slowly smacked her lips as her sister's words swam in her head.... "Lotus?" Hearing a voice echo around her, she eyes darted about. "Lotus!"
The world and all its sounds came back to her. She gasped as she found herself sitting at table. One of many within the park in the center of town. The sounds of children laughing, and the smells of food cooking assaulted her senses.
"Lotus?"
Lotus looked to her left and saw Mrs. Tyme staring at her with concern clearly showing through those green eyes of hers. Feeling her hoof on her shoulder, she smacked her lips. "Yes?"
"Are you alright?" Mrs. Tyme's left ear laid flat as she studied her shocked state of mind.
Lotus scanned the ponies mulling about the picnic and saw her sister sitting beside the Governor. Her throat tightened up as she saw him feed her a bite of food. "Yeah..." She looked at her own plate of food and saw a fly scurrying along its rim.
Mrs. Tyme slowly took a bite of her salad. "You sure?"
"Yes." Lotus sighed. "Just a headache is all."
Mrs. Tyme slowly nodded as she looked to her left and watched her two kids talking amongst themselves. Looking past them, she saw dark clouds slowly creeping towards their town. "Looks like this winter is going to be a rough one." Lotus looked up from her plate and saw the storm clouds approaching. Seeing a flash of lighting she turned her attention back to Aloe. Her eyes narrowed as she saw the Governor kiss her sister's cheek.
-1 Hour Later-
Lotus sat under a tarped awning protecting her from the slushy snow falling upon the land surrounding Mulberry. She shivered from the cold winds stirred up by the storm. Adjusting her coat, she leaned forward some and took a peek over the fence. Seeing nothing along the fence's base she sat back and leaned against the plywood walls that were her sanctuary from the outside world.
"Can't see shit!" Zipper cursed as he ran up the steps. Standing under the tarp he shook his hooves dry. "Damn, looks like fall is going to be a very short season."
Lotus looked to her left and peered out of her protective box and looked down the street. Seeing a brick building near the southern gate she dipped her head back under the awning. "A least we harvested the last of the wheat and jarred what fruit and vegies we could."
"It was a good harvest." Zipper took out a cigarette and lit it. "It could've been better."
"We'll be fine..." Lotus looked up at the sky watching the clouds roll into themselves.
"Starting to care?" Zipper chuckled. Lotus frowned as she hugged her rifle close to her chest. "Guess, not." He watched the storm roll across the sky. "Staying for your sister?"
"I was just making small talk." She grumbled.
"You didn't answer my question." He grumbled in return.
Lotus stared at the muddy puddles dotting the road's uneven asphalt. "You know the answer." She fiddled with her rifle's bolt.
Zipper just shook his head as he looked out at the road. "Stop being a pussy and talk to her." He threw his finished cigarette on the ground and lit another. "Hell, you have your sibling here. I'm dying to talk to mine..." He sighed. "Wherever he is."
Lotus grumbled as she looked over her shoulders and stared at the abandoned streets. Seeing a figure walking across the street. She narrowed her eyes. They went wide and her throat tightened as she saw it was her sister. Feeling a chill wash over her, her eyes closed as she rested her head against her rifle. Grumbling, she threw her gun over her shoulder. Taking Zipper's cigarette out his mouth she took several large puffs before giving it back to him.
He looked at was left of it and scoffed as he tossed it on the ground. "Feeling confidant?"
She ignored him as she quickened her pace. Seeing her nearing the brick building she saw earlier, Lotus fought her emotions and yelled. "Aloe!" Aloe turned around; she stayed still as she watched her sister walk up to her. "Aloe, can you talk for a bit?" Lotus asked as she caught her breath.
Aloe frowned. "I'm busy..." She placed her hoof on the door.
"Sis!" Lotus stopped her. "Please..." She swallowed, trying to dull the pain her dry mouth was giving her. "I need to get this off my chest."
"Get what off your chest?" Aloe asked skeptically.
"I..." She listened to the distant crack of thunder. "I just want to tell you, I love you."
Aloe stared at her for a short while. "I know..."
Lotus stopped her once again. "And I support your..." She swallowed her emotions. "Your choice..." She pulled her into a hug. Aloe was taken back by the affection. Slowly she returned the hug. Lotus pulled away and placed her hooves on her sister's shoulders. "I just need time to accept him..." She kissed her on the head. Aloe gave a small nod. Louts smirked at the slight smile on her sister's face. "I need to get back to work." She gave her one more hug before making her way back to the gate's lookout platform.
Aloe watched the ripples from the slushy snow roll across the concrete. "Thank you!" She called out to her sister.
Lotus looked over her shoulders. "I love you." She looked out at the quite town. "Through thick and thin!" She gave her a shit eating grin.
Aloe rolled her eyes as she entered the building, but stopped and listened to her sister's hoofsteps fade into the distance. Taking a deep breath, she let it out slowly as she stepped into the building.
Letting the mild warmth that lingered the hall warm her, Aloe shook off the water the clung to her, placing her drenched coat on the hangers by the door. Looking over the abandoned bank, her mind drifted to the Governor's hopes to reopen it one day. Smirking at the thought, she made her way up the stairs.
Opening the door, she stepped into the Governor's room... 'No... Our room.' She chastised herself. She eyed the spacious space that was once the bank manager's office. Seeing that she was alone, she walked up to the window and looked at the street below. Seeing some of the wall guards sitting at their posts, her mind slowly drifted to her sister.
'I need time to accept him.'
Her body shivered. 'Why do you need time?' She frowned as she looked past the walls at the forest that surrounded Mulberry. "I accepted Willie." Her tail twitched from her frustrations.
"What do you mean by that?"
Aloe quickly turned around and saw the Governor at the door. "Um," She blushed as she timidly walked up to him and place a kiss on his cheek. "Nothing."
"That sounded like nothing." He eyed her skeptically. She tried to form a sentience to steer the conversation elsewhere but her tongue failed her. "It's about your sister?" Aloe puckered her lips as she turned away and looked at the floor. "Is she bothering you?"
"No!" She blurted out. Realizing her tone, she blushed. "No," She spoke in a softer tone, her hooves up, emphasizing her words. "She... She spoke to me."
"Took her a month." He smiled. "Is she coming around?"
Aloe stayed silent for a short while as she thought of her answer. "She says she needs more time."
"But?" He tilted his head, his catlike eyes studying every twitch of her body.
She loved and hated how he could read someone. "She's fine with me dating you."
"I didn't know it was official?" She turned around and gave the Governor a stern look, before it quickly turned into a grin as she nuzzled into him. He sighed as he rested his head on hers. "You think she's warming up to the town?"
"I said, she needs time..."
"Just making sure." He placed a hoof under her chin, forcing her to keep eye contact. "I need everypony to be behind this town one hundred percent." He gave her a serious look. "We can't have any doubt. Because if ponies doubt, it will fester like an infected wound and bring everything we've built to crumble."
Aloe slowly nodded.
"I'll talk to her." He looked at his desk. "Why don't you go and see if everything will be ready for tonight." He glanced out the window. "The weather should calm down, so I don't see no need to cancel tonight's event."
"Yes..." She kissed him.
He smiled as he left their room.
Stepping out, the Governor stood under the awning and looked up at the sky, seeing some of the clouds starting to lighten up he smirked as he walked towards the northern gate. The rain felt like ice against his bat like wings. He grimaced but didn't pay it much attention. 'Winter is coming,' he told himself, 'Get used to it.' Seeing Lotus looking through the scope of her rifle, he stopped at the steps and waiting for her. She didn't fire and pulled the scope from her eye. She grumbled, laying the rifle in her lap, rubbing her eyes to rid them of stress.
"See any unwanted guests?"
She stared at him with a curious gaze. "What are you doing out in the rain?"
"Straight to the point." He shook his head as he walked up the steps. "I spoke to your sister." He stood under the tarp.
Her eyebrows lifted in a surprised, yet not at all shocked expression. "You did?" She placed the butt of the rifle on the floor, her hooves wrapped around the barrel. "What did you talk about?" She kept her eyes on the stallion as she leaned against the rifle.
"Talked about you." The Governor's cat-like eyes studied her unamused posture.
Lotus rocked the rifle side to side as she mulled over his words. "What about me?"
"That you needed to take things slowly." He looked over the road.
"Is that a bad thing?" Lotus chewed her cheek.
The Governor stayed silent, allowing the dying rain to fill their minds.
"No." He looked down at her. "Not at all." He let out a breathed laugh. "Coming to tonight's event?"
"I've been out in the rain all day..." Seeing the look he was giving her, her throat tightened. It was a look that was hard to describe, but it made her feel uneasy.
"I hope you do." He smiled. "Your sister will be there. Everypony will be there. We did it last time. I find it's a great way to relieve stress before winter rears its ugly head." He tilted his head as he raised his brow at her.
"I..." She swallowed. "I'll be there."
He smiled. "Good." He stepped down the stairs.
Lotus stared at him for a few seconds before turning her gaze to her hooves.
Lotus found herself in a small outdoor stadium. Once it held high school ball games, now it held a random assortment of performances that were being put on by the kids of Mulberry. Feeling a strong breeze, she pulled the hood of her jacket over her head. Even though the rain had stopped the weather still held a chill that sent pins and needles down one's spine.
"Thank you for coming." Her sister's voice broke her out of her weather induced stupor.
Lotus looked to her left and saw her sister's infectious smile. "Of course." She returned her smile. "Who else would I spend my evening with."
Aloe rolled her eyes as she scanned the ponies in the in the auditorium. "I'm sure there is somepony that you made friends with?" Lotus' silence was an answer she expected to hear. "At least tonight will be fun."
"This is their second time hosting this event?" Lotus asked.
"Yeah, keeps ponies happy." Aloe zipped up her jacket.
"Cold?" Lotus eyed her sister.
"No..."
"You're a terrible liar." She stood up. "I'll get you a warm beverage."
"Get something for the Governor." Aloe called out.
"Of course." Louts put on a smile. Far enough away, her smile broke as she wandered over to a stall by the entrance. Stopping a few feet away, she looked around. After all these months it still baffled her that the Governor was able to build and maintain this little slice of normalcy surrounded by the dead... 'Helps there is a wall...' Her mind drifted to her friend Rarity. Her lips puckered as she thought where she could be and if the others were alright. Shaking her head, she stepped up to the stall. "Three warm ciders."
Lotus jerked as a loud cheering echoed all around. "Looks like it's about to start." The mare behind the stall smiled. "You better hurry."
Lotus picked up the tray of warmed ciders and made her way back into the arena. The cheers were loud, causing her fold her ears back. Trying her best to ignore the sounds, she made her way back to her seat. Seeing the governor sitting beside her sister, she felt her jaw tighten.
Noticing her, the Governor smiled and stood up. "Thank you." He took two cups.
Unclenching her jaw, she sat down her cup on the ground. "What do I do with this?"
"We'll deal with it later." He waved a hoof. "The main event is about to start."
Lotus looked at the arena floor as she took her seat. Seeing Zipper and another stallion walking onto the dirt, she held the cup of cider close to her lips, allowing its steam to warm her face. Seeing the stallions nodding at each other, her confusion grew as she saw Zipper detaching the walking stick from his prosthetic. Hearing a loud horn the stallions rushed each other and started throwing punches.
Lotus grimaced at the fighting. She knew boxing was a popular sport before the apocalypse, but she never found it appealing. Looking over at her sister she saw that she was slowly sipping from her drink. Her eyes were glued to the fight as a small smile was on her lips. As for the Governor, he looked somewhat pleased as he lazily drank his cider.
Panicked she quickly looked back at the fight, she nearly choked on her drink as she saw trotters with chains around their necks stumbling onto the field. "What the fuck?" She whispered as she slowly looked at her sister. Her heart sank at the excited expression on her face. "What the fuck!"
"Relax!" The Governor laughed. "Zipper and Nasper are fine."
"They're fighting in an arena with trotters!" Louts growled pointing at the stallions dodging the trotters as the dead lunged after them. Aloe shivered at her tone and cowered in her seat.
"They're teeth are pulled." The Governor leaned over noticing her reaction. "They can't cause harm." He gave her a warm smile.
"But this is barbaric." Lotus hissed.
"It's a way for my ponies to blow off some steam." He retorted.
"You jog if you want to blow off steam." Lotus shook her head. "You're teaching them that trotters are not dangerous."
"We're teaching them to not fear them." He spoke through his teeth.
Despite the cheering a silence fell over them with Aloe stuck in the middle. However, before they could say another word and loud roar broke through the crowd. Everypony looked up at the sky and saw a damaged airship slowly descending toward the earth.
The Governor stared at the blimp as it soared over their town and towards the forest. "Light Feather! Silver Wings!" Said ponies stood up. "Keep an eye on that airship!"
Both pegasi took to the sky. "Get the radio!" Silver Wings told Light Feather. The mare quickly diverted to get said item.
"Everypony head to your homes!" The Governor yelled. Many murmured to one another. "Stay indoors until we figure out what's going on." He looked at Zipper. "Get your stallions!" Zipper nodded as he left the arena. Looking at Aloe and Lotus, he softened his face. "You should stay with your sister until I get back." He placed a hoof under Aloe's chin and pulled her in for a kiss. Lotus looked away and watched the trotters being dragged back into their cages.
The Governor hung his head out the passenger window looking up at the sky watching Silver Wings guiding them by waving his flashlight. The cool air stung, but the thought of the ponies on the airship consumed his mind. "Who do you think it is?"
The Governor looked at the driver, who was a unicorn with black fur and yellowish mane and tail. "Not sure?"
"Well, you have an idea?"
"Do you, Cosmo?"
Cosmo looked away from his leader's intimidating eyes. "No..." He kept his eyes on the uneven dirt path that snaked its way through the forest. "You think anypony is still alive?"
The Governor kept quiet, letting the sounds of engine motors and the wind blowing into the truck to calm his jittery nerves. "Didn't sound like a violent crash."
"What do we do when we get there?" Cosmo asked as he pressed his hooves into the steering wheel.
"If we think it's what we think it is?" The Governor ran his hoof through his mane. "Then you do it." Cosmo slowly nodded. His eyes lit up as he saw the glow of fire in the distance. "We're here."
The putter-trucks came to a stop. Jumping out, the Governor waved to his stallions as they slowly trotted to the crash site. Getting to the clearing, the Governor peered through the trees and saw several ponies mulling about, pulling crates and other ponies from the wreckage. Seeing that they were wearing grey uniforms, he looked at Zipper and Cosmo and gave them a nod. "Don't shoot!"
Some of the stallions looked from their work and drew their weapons. "Who are you?" One of them growled.
"We mean you no harm." The Governor spoke as Zipper and Cosmo came out of the woods. "Is anypony hurt?"
Two of the stallions looked at each other. "A few." One of them spoke.
"Are you colts military?" The Governor asked.
One of the stallions giving aid to one of the wounded, lifted his hoof. "Yes."
The stallion who was speaking to the Governor sighed. "Thirteenth Army Airforce."
"Nice to meet you colts." The Governor smiled. "We can help you. We live in a town up the way, called Mulberry. We have food, water, medicine." He put a hoof to his chest. The stallions looked at one another. "I just need to know where you colts were heading." He pointed at Zipper. "I can have one of my stallions drive to where you're going and tell them you're alright."
The stallions gave each other looks. "We were heading to a military base northwest of here." The stallion smacked his dry mouth. "I'll go with, it's on lockdown, they may shoot you on site."
"Where up north?" The governor bit his cheek. "Might need to refuel before you go."
"I can't say." The stallion backed up a bit. "I'll tell the driver once we are on our way."
The Governor shook his head as he looked at Zipper and Cosmo. "Sounds doable." He flicked his hoof, causing his hoof mounted pistol to unsheathe itself and poke out from his jacket's sleeve. Flicking his hoof down, he fired off a shot that struck one of soldiers in the shoulder.
The other soldiers couldn't react in time as the Governor's stallions opened fire from the trees. Watching the soldiers crumpling to the ground, the Governor slowly walked up to the wounded stallion struggling to remove his slung rifle over his bleeding shoulder. Pressing down on the stallion's chest and into the cold dirt, he gave him a toothy smile. The stallion coward under his uncanny glare. "I ain't going to kill you yet." He leaned down, getting in the stallion's face. "You still need to tell me where my gift is."
> Part 3: Chapter 6 - Upon Frost Covered Ground
Twilight listened to the winds blowing through the snow-covered trees. It was eerie hearing nothing but tree limbs dancing with the winds. Watching her breath dissipate, she adjusted her... Blaze's jacket as she turned her gaze from the trees to the ground below at the barren tilled soil.
"At least we jarred what we could."
Twilight looked over her shoulders and saw Cadence walking up to her. "We'll need to find some more food if we want to get through this winter though." She looked at the foal snugly wrapped in a cloth that's strapped around Cadence's chest. "How's Flurry Heart doing?" She walked upped and nuzzled her niece.
"She's doing alright." Cadence sighed. "She just fed."
"This winter looks like it's going to be worse than the last."
Cadence and Twilight looked up at Iron Wing who flew down and landed beside them. Shaking off the snow that clung to his body, he took off his goggles and gave them a toothy smile. "How's the little one doing?"
"Snug as a bug in a rug." Cadance smiled back.
"Oh, brother...." Twilight rolled her eyes.
"What to corny?" Iron Wing laid a foreleg over her shoulders.
Twilight blushed from his touch and looked away trying her best to hide her embarrassment. "Yeah..." Feeling the soft fur of bat ponies was alluring. Swallowing the knot forming in her throat, she turned her eyes towards the visitor center and saw the silhouette of an earth pony stallion sitting at one of the lounge's windows. Her heart skipped a beat as she recognized the stallion's figure.
Sitting on the window's sill within the lounge, Blaze watched Twilight's mannerisms. Feeling a tight sensation in his chest, he looked away and stared at the stick he was wedeling away. Hearing the crackle of fire, he looked up and saw the others huddled around the large central fireplace.
"Damn it's getting cold." Copper grumbled as he put his hooves to the fireplace. Pinkie laid against him, trying her best to keep him warm. But in all honestly it was just an excuse to be close to him.
"Well, get used to it." Marely sighed. Hearing the door open he looked up and saw Cadence, Twilight, and Iron Wing stepping inside. "Unless you're them, they seem to like the cold."
"It was getting rather stuffy in here." Cadance hummed a tune as she adjusted Flurry Heart's wrap. "Besides it's her first snow."
"Well, I'm not looking forward to winter." Sweetie Belle huffed.
"Why?" Applebloom gave her a raised brow.
"Well, last winter we had we lost our last home." Sweetie Belle huffed as she laid down on the floor and stared at the ceiling two stories above them. The thought of Irons' Ridge tickled the minds of some.
"This isn't Iron's Ridge." Shining retorted as he motioned for his wife to sit beside him. "We will not let that happen again."
"At least we don't have to worry about some of us turning out to be jackasses." Opal adjusted his jacket. Soarin frowned as he remembered one of those jackasses pointing a gun in his face.
"Let's not dwell on the past dears." Rarity hummed as she ran a hoof through her sister's mane. Her words stung at Blaze's heart as he looked down at his stick.
"You alright?" Twilight asked, noticing his mood.
"Uh..." He looked at her. That look she gave always made him blush. Always concerned for her friends. "Yeah." Was he a friend... Something more, he looked at Iron Wing. Or a ticking time bomb, like... last time. "My mind is wandering that's all."
"Wandering in what direction, towards what?" Iron Wing asked, his tone slightly sounding condescending.
Getting what he was implying, Blaze kept his cool. "Just mindless thoughts."
Twilight could feel the tension and let out a cough. "Well, I'm going to go over the supplies and see what we need."
"I'll go with." Iron Wing gave her a smile.
"Same!" Spike sat up, not before looking at Applebloom. She smiled and waved for him to go as she returned her attention back to the sets of cards in her hooves. Iron Wing was somewhat disappointed but put on a smile to mask it from the others. Except for Blaze who saw through the thin façade.
"Just like old times." Spike put his hands in his jacket's pockets as they walked up the steps to the room they were using as storage.
"Just like old times." Twilight looked at Iron Wing. "Except for our plus one." She gave him a playful smile.
"Just pretend like I'm not here." He rubbed the back of his neck.
Twilight shook her head as they got to the second floor. "How can I when you two are all over me..." She froze as she got to the third door on their left.
"I'm not all over you?" Spike crossed his arms.
"I..." She looked at Iron Wing and noticed how flustered he looked. "That's not..." She looked at Spike and saw his ever-present pestering questioning stare. "Never mind." She threw open the door and stepped inside. Iron Wing's lips were stretched out in an uncomfortable facial expression as he followed her. Spike stared at the two as he chewed on his right cheek. Shrugging his shoulders, he followed after them.
Placing his hand on the light switch, a deep click sounded off, but the lights above struggled to stay lit as they dimmed on and off. "That sucks." He sighed. "Looks like the waterwheel is struggling to stay unfrozen."
"Something we're going to have to get used to." Twilight looked at Iron Wing who was looking over the crates of canned goods.
Feeling her gaze, he looked up as he picked up one of the cans. "We're going to have to plant more vegetables next spring if we don't want to live off of canned goods." He said to change the subject.
"Hopefully Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane find some more on their next run." Spike stated wanting the tension to fade as well.
Like if someone heard his prayers, they heard hoofsteps down the hall. Looking over at the door, they saw Rainbow Dash, who wore a dark-blue jacket, googles and a red scarf around her face, entering the room. Seeing them, Rainbow Dash threw down two saddlebags onto the floor. "Hey." She pulled down her scarf. "What are you doing up here?"
"Taking inventory." Spike sat on a crate, crossing his arms as he gave Twilight and Iron Wing a look.
Seeing Spike's questioning glare, she slowly caught on and blushed. "Well..." She felt her throat tighten up. "I don't have much." She opened one of the saddlebags. "We didn't have much luck." Pulling out four canned good and some medical supplies. "I think we picked the nearby town clean."
"It was a small town to begin with." Iron Wing picked up one of the bags and looked inside. Twilight stared at the rest of their supplies and frowned. Hearing the windows rattle, she looked up and saw the storm has gotten worse.
Twilight stood in a room that was once the manager's office. Her eyes stared at a map of the park and the surrounding areas. Picking up a red marker with her magic she crossed out the nearby town of Mellow Brook. Capping the marker, she bit her cheek as she scanned the map looking for more looting opportunities.
"Anything that has potential?" Applejack asked as she stepped into the room.
"I thought you were getting supper ready?" Twilight kept her eyes on the map.
"My brother, Zecora, Pinkie and Derpy are taking care of it." She stood beside her friend.
"Looks like the map served its purpose." Twilight sighed, turning her attention to the window watching the redwood trees sway with the winds.
Applejack watched the trees as well. "We'll figure it out." She watched one of the tree's limbs shake violently, throwing snow that clung to its branches to the ground. "We might have to ration our food."
"Or we can go further." Blaze commented as he walked into the room.
"Go further?" They questioned.
"Send out two teams to cover more ground." He pointed at the map. "One team goes north, and the other one goes south."
Twilight glared at the map as she mulled over his idea. A smile worked its way onto her lips. "Great idea." She gave him a smile. He felt a tight sensation on his chest and slowly nodded his head in response. Noticing his flustered expression, her smiled left as she looked at the map. But her mind wasn't on the large piece of paper on the wall, it was on Iron Wing and Blaze. 'Those stallions are going to be the death of me...'
"So, we need to go further out, in this weather?" Poppy commented, before taking a bite of her tomato and bean soup.
"If we don't want to ration our food." Twilight stirred her meal.
"That's a good point." Fletcher smirked, causing Poppy to return the gesture with a frown.
Granite looked out the window watching the snowy haze that consumed their surroundings. "I'll go, who's with me?" Limestone lifted her hoof in the air.
"We'll go with." Pinkie pointed at herself and Copper who looked at her with a raised brow.
"Pinkie..." Maud started to protest.
"We'll be fine." Limestone interrupted her. "We need to do our part." Muad's lips puckered as she tried to form a rebuttal, but a hoof on her shoulder from Spitfire calmed her worries.
"I'll go again..." Rainbow Dash jerked as her wings flinched.
"I think that's your cue to take a break." Spitfire commented as she watched Thunderlane rub her back.
"I'll go as the second group." Macintosh lifted a hoof. "And Zecora can tag along if she wants too."
"Can I go with if she doesn't?" Applebloom gave a sheepish smile.
Zecora and the other's laughed. "I will go with. I am sorry dear." Zecora gave Applebloom a warm smile. Applebloom sighed as she laid down and resting her head in her crossed forelegs.
"Then its settled, we have our teams." Soarin smiled. "When do you colts and fillies want to leave?"
"We can leave in a few days." Pinkie finished off her bowl. "Hopefully the storm will die down by then."
"Perfect." Soarin smiled. "Sounds like a plan."
"Since we're done with that conversation, could one of you get more wood." Rarity tossed in another log.
"I'll go." Marley stood up.
"Iron Wing, Blaze. Go with him." Twilight looked at the stallions in question. Both stallions looked at each other, then at her, confusion clearly on their faces. Rarity looked at Rainbow Dash with wide eyes. Rainbow Dash felt her throat tightened as she wondered what her friend was up to. "Go." Twilight waved a hoof. Both stallions stood up and followed Marley out of the visitor center.
Hearing the doors shut, Cadence looked over at her sister-in-law. "I think we just need a couple of logs."
"More the merrier." Twilight sighed. "Besides, they need to hang out more." She slowly sipped her hot cider. Rarity and Rainbow Dash gave each other knowing looks. Twilight noticed, but didn't bring attention to it as she kept her eyes on her cup.
"What's with playing matchmaker?" Fletcher asked with a laugh. Twilight nearly choked on her cup. Wiping her face clean, she stared at the stallion then the others, before standing up and walking up the stairs. "What did I say?" He asked the group. Rarity looked up at the top of the stairs and shook her head.
"What's wrong with Twilight?" Shining asked Rarity.
"Private matter darling." Rarity stood up and walked up the stairs. Getting to the top of the stairs, she saw Twilight looking out one the windows that lined the hall. "Twilight are you alright?" Twilight didn't answer. Letting out a sigh, she sat beside her and looked out the window as well. Seeing Marley, Blaze, and Iron Wing picking cut logs from a large pile by the fence. She let out a sigh as she rested against her friend.
"What do I tell them?" Twilight sighed as she saw said stallions talking to one another.
Rarity sighed as she watched Marley lit a cigarette. "Tell them?"
"Yeah..." Twilight bit her lower lip. "I just don't know how."
"You have feelings for both don't you?" Rarity studied her friend's demeanor.
"I..." Twilight watched Iron Wing shake his head. "I do." She saw Blaze rolling his eyes. Deep down she hoped she didn't make a mistake.
Rarity felt her friend tense up. "You choose one or you choose none." She laid a hoof over her friend's shoulders and pulled her into a hug.
"Is there an option to choose both?" Twilight blushed.
Rarity's eyes went wide as she pondered her friend's question. "Um..." She blushed just thinking about it. "I... I would be lying if I denied that I loved the intimacy of two stallions making love to me, but making it work as a relationship would have only been a life of constant problems." She placed a hoof under her friend's chin and made her look at her. "I'm sure that would not be a wise thing given our current situation."
Twilight closed her eyes and nodded. Letting out a sigh, she looked out the window at the stallions below... Her heart skipped a beat as she saw Blaze tackle Iron Wing. "Shit!" Running down the stairs, she ignored her friends' questions as she ran to the front doors...
They burst open before she could even lay a hoof on them. Iron Wing and Blaze came in tumbling across the floor. Landing on top of the earth pony, Iron Wing brought a hoof up and punched Blaze across the face. Blaze growled and bit his left foreleg.
"STOP!" Twilight's horn lit up. A burst of magic aura shot out of her horn and knocked Iron Wing to the floor and threw him and Blaze across the floor. Thinking fast, Soarin and Macintosh put distance between the fighting stallions.
"What the hell is going on?" Applejack spat as she walked up to Blaze and Iron Wing.
"Them morons got into a fight!" Marely answered as he stepped into the visitor center. Seeing Twilight's weakened state, he walked up to her and helped her on her hooves.
"Fighting about what?" Applejack asked as she saw some magical discharge dripping down Twilight's horn.
"Her." Marley pointed at Twilight.
"Oh, fuck me!" Applejack spat as she looked at the two stallions. "Are we back in high school?"
Iron Wing rolled his eyes as he sat up and rubbed his head. "No..." He looked up at Blaze. "Just made a statement."
"What kind of statement?" Shining asked as he wiped the discharge from his sister's horn. Iron Wing let out a sigh as he stared at the floor. Blaze glared at the stallion as he held a hoof to his right side of his jaw. "What was the statement?" Shining glared at the bat pony.
"He wouldn't be good for her." Iron Wing sighed.
"Why is that?" Fletcher asked as he comforted his brother who was shaken up by the fighting. The rest of the kids looked at the scene, concern on their faces, except for Spike who looked at the stallions with a frown.
"Well, given his history." He sighed.
Blaze grumbled as he stood up, seeing that the magic spell took a lot out of Twilight, he felt ashamed, but as he went up to apologize, her appearance morphed into a mare with canary yellow fur, with a pink mane and tail. Seeing the look the mare gave him a cold chill washed over him. Letting out a gasp, he walked past her and others and down the hall at a brisk pace.
"What's gotten into him?" Derpy asked.
Twilight stared at the door at the end of the hall, watching it slowly close, her mind ignoring the others' conversations.
-1 HOUR LATER-
"So, what are we going to do about our love-struck stallions?" Shining asked as he sat beside his sister, who sat in one of the couches. A cup of tea in her hooves and a blanket over her back.
Spike stared at the bandage on her horn. "Nothing..."
"Nothing?" Shining glared at his brother.
"I agree with Spike." Applejack rubbed her head.
"Clearly we have to do so something." Derpy huffed. "They punched one another."
"Love makes you do crazy things. With all the chemicals flooding the brain and all." Dr. Hooves added with a chuckle.
"You saying they went ferial?" Marley tilted his head.
"They let their emotions take over." He corrected.
"Who cares what happened. What happened is something that could have caused more trouble, trouble we don't need." Shining rolled his eyes.
"It was a mistake." Iron Wing retorted from the other side of the lounge.
"No speaking." Applejack huffed.
Iron Wing shook his head as he saw Twilight rubbing her head. Feeling a heavy weight on his chest, he looked out the window watching the sun slowly setting behind the horizon.
Not liking the aura that was filling the room, Rainbow Dash ran her hooves across her face. "It's ultimately her decision." She placed her hooves in front of her lips. "And whatever decision she makes, they're going to have to deal with it."
Shining wanted to protest, but a part of him knew she was right. "Then we will let her decide."
"You hear that." Marley laughed. "So, no fighting if it's the answer you weren't looking for." He smirked at Iron Wing. The bat pony rolled his eyes, but he nodded confirming he understood.
"I can't do this!" Twilight blurted out as she stood up but stumbled from the sudden light headedness she felt.
"You don't have to decide now but..."
"No..." She interrupted her brother as she shook her head. "I can't deal with this at all..." She stormed up the stairs.
Silence filled the room. "Well, I guess that's your answer." Marley spoke with a long drawl.
"Shut up." Applejack let out a long sigh. "We do not need this right now..."
Iron Wings stared at the top of the stairs, his sensitive ears picking up Twilight's hoof-steps as she walked down the hall. A wave of shame washed over him as he leaned forward, resting his head in his hoof.
Twilight sat in a room filled with boxes filled with park flyers and an assortment of paperwork and or junk... Mostly junk. A room the last tenants used as their 'store and deal with it later' room. A thing she envied at the moment. Even if she never gave them an answer the tension of an unknown would just cause more problems. Or just drive her mad.
Rubbing her head aggressively, she rested it against the window, letting the cold glass panes to dull her headache. Seeing something in the corner of her vision. She lifted her head and glared through the foggy glass. Seeing something, she rubbed her foreleg across the glass, wiping away the condensation. Seeing Blaze with a saddlebag on his back, she was confused, until she saw his trajectory.
Running out of the room, she made a b-line to the front doors but stopped. 'The others are in the lounge...' Looking over her shoulders, she frowned as she ran toward the backdoors near the staff lounge.
Stepping out into the cold, Twilight scanned her surroundings looking for said stallion. "Where did you go?" Seeing a figure near the gate through the storm, her heart skipped a beat. "Blaze!" She ran with all her might. "Blaze!" Blaze turned around and watched her approach him at a blistering pace. Catching her breath, her eyes looked into his, studying his stiff posture. "What are you doing?"
Blaze adjusted his saddlebag as he looked through the bars at the snow-covered road that lead out of the national park.
"Answer me!" She hissed through clenched teeth.
"Leaving." He said bluntly.
"Leaving?" She scoffed. "Why?" She ran a hoof through her mane. "Wait is this about your fight with Iron Wing over... Me?" He kept silent as he turned his eyes to the ground, watching new snow combine with old snow. "You can't leave because of that!"
"It will be better if I did." He snapped back.
"How! How will it be better?" She got in his face.
"Because..." He shook his head as he let out a sigh. "Because it just is!"
"Not good enough!" She returned the glare. He rolled his eyes as he took out a set of keys. "You two are a piece of work!"
He stopped. "A piece of work?"
"You two are all over me like school foals!" She sat down and lifted her front hooves in the air. "Taking turns hanging out with me, making me feel awkward, not caring for how I feel!"
Blaze's lips puckered up as he stared at her with a judging glare. "How you feel?" He laughed. "I wouldn't be all twisted up if you were more open and tell one of us, instead of leading us around like dogs on a leash!"
Twilight's cheeks felt hot as she avoided eye contact. "I didn't..." She took on a confidant demeanor. "I didn't..." She grumbled. "I thought we were just friends, hanging out. Like we did back in Iron's Ridge!"
"Yeah, hanging out." He scoffed. "Friends cuddle?" He bit his tongue. "You cuddle with him too?"
Her brows lowered over her eyes as she frowned at him. "Don't you pin this on me!" She pointed a hoof in his face. "You two weren't helping matters by encouraging it!"
He kept silent as he looked past her at the visitor center masked by the heavy winds and the dying light of a setting sun. Letting out a sigh he returned to putting the keys in the lock.
"No, you don't!" She blocked him. "You just can't go when things get tough!"
"I'm making your decision easier for you!" He growled.
"I don't need your help with that!"
He huffed as he shoved her to the side. "I'm doing this before I do something stupid!"
"Stupid?" She gave him a look, "Stupid? Stupid how?" He didn't answer as he slid a key into the lock, not finding the right one, he grumbled as he tried another. Anger filled Twilight and her horn lit up purple.
Seeing light reflecting off the fence's bars, Blaze tuned around and saw the anger in her eyes. "Shit..."
A flash of light engulfed them.
What felt like hours was only seconds as they appeared in one of the cabins. Tumbling across the floor, Blaze groaned as he caught his breath. "Holy hell..." He slowly stood up and turned around and saw Twilight leaning against the door, her horn oozing with magical discharge. "Twilight, you need to..."
"Tell me..." She huffed.
"Twilight..." He walked up to her.
"Tell me!" She spat as she got in his face.
He looked into her purple eyes and saw the hurt within them. Closing his eyes he let out a troubled breath. "Remember when I said I'd tell you why I betrayed Sanctuary... Joined Ratchet's group." He could see that she hung on every word he said. "The reason for doing those things..." He let out a troubled sigh.
"What reason?" She asked in almost a whisper.
"I did it for a mare..." He sighed. "She showed up one day... with a colt." He shook his head. "Father put me in charge of helping her navigate the rules of Sanctuary... And that's when I fell in love..."
Twilight's mind began turning as she mulled over his words, slowly her mind began to fill in the blanks. She felt a chill as she stepped back from him. "Was..." She swallowed her emotions. "Was it Fluttershy?"
He stayed silent as he listened to the winds crashing against the cabin. "Yes."
She shook her head as she processed his answer. "You knew her... All this time?"
"I did..."
"Why didn't you tell us?" She ran her hooves through her mane, "Or leave with her?" She snapped.
"She was married off to another stallion!" He shot back. "Over a week being there." He scoffed, slamming his hoof against the floor. She gasped, putting a hoof to her lips. "I couldn't be near her until she was officially married off! And seeing her not as bothered as I thought she would be, I knew Father's brainwashing was starting to get to her... Like it did to me when I was young." He shook his head. "I panicked and left." He stared out the window. "Ran into Ratchet's group a couple days later. Told them about my group, thought it was the only way to save her."
Twilight studied him. "It didn't go as planned?" He shook his head. "Did you see her during the attack?"
"Yes..." Blaze sighed. "But I couldn't get to her... she was surrounded by the dead that we led into camp. I saw her run into the forest with Father and some of his followers." He rolled his eyes. "Even if I did get her out, she would've been raped by Ratchet's stallions. Them fuckers..." Twilight saw how much pain he was in.
He bit his cheek as he turned his gaze towards her. "Then I ran into you. Hell, I didn't expect the outcome that came of it... But it was a blessing..." He smirked. "And after we reunited and settled in Iron's Ridge, I started falling in love with you." He picked up his saddlebag that had had fallen off during the teleportation spell. "That's why I need to leave."
Twilight saw the hurt in his eyes. "Because you're afraid of what you'd do?"
"Precisely." He clipped the strap that ran under his barrel. "I'm sorry I kept the truth from you... I knew it would only cause more problems with the others..."
Twilight felt a pain in her chest she hadn't felt before. A part of her was furious that he kept that he knew about Fluttershy from her. That he at one time loved her and risked her life to get her back... But on the other hoof, she had feelings for him she couldn't describe. If there was one thing she could put her hoof on, is that he was rather charming in his own strange way.
Before he could say a goodbye, she slapped him across the face. He stared at her in shock. But quickly her confusing yet understandable action was replaced with another non-understandable one. Her lips pressed against his. Their lips staying locked for a while before they opened their mouths, letting their tongues explore one another.
Twilight pulled away, letting out a heavy breath as she locked eyes with Blaze. He stared at her for a while. Memories of him kissing Fluttershy for the first time filled his mind... Closing his eyes, he held out a hoof, stopping her from proceeding with another kiss. "I can't..."
"Why?"
"Death follows me..." He rested his head on her forehead.
"You made mistakes." Tears fell down her cheeks.
"Mistakes that killed ponies." He pulled away. "I don't deserve this kindness." He opened the door, letting the cold winds wash into the cabin. "It's time I leave..." Twilight grabbed him.
"Wait..." She took off her leather jacket. "You need this more than I do."
Blaze looked at the jacket and remembered when he found it within one of the stores in Iron's Ridge. Time went by so fast he thought as he handed the jacket back. "Keep it." He stepped out of the cabin and made his way to the gate. Twilight watched as he opened the gate. He looked back and gave her a wave as he left the keys in the lock. Twilight slowly walked up to the gate, her eyes never leaving him. Standing at the gate she watched him until he faded into the snow swept winds.
Stepping into the visitor center through the front doors, she walked slowly down the hall, her shoulders slumped and her tail dragging on the ground. Nearing the large archway, she peeked into the lounge and saw a few of her friends resting or entertaining themselves with card games. Letting out a sigh, she walked up the stairs.
"Oh, thank Celestia."
Lifting her head, she saw Iron Wing at the top of the steps. Letting out a sigh, she walked past him.
"Oh, come on, Twilight." He sighed as he followed her. "I'm sorry, I let my emotions get the better of me... Woah!" Twilight threw open the nearest door and threw him in. Shutting the door behind her, she slowly approached him. Noticing the scowl on her face, he backed up until bumping up against a desk. "Look I know you're mad..." She slapped him across the face.
She took a couple of breaths her eyes covered in tears. Letting out a hiss she fell on him and buried her face into his chest. He was taken back by her sudden change in mood, but he slowly wrapped his hooves around her and rocked her side to side. "Look... I'm..." She kissed him, her lips pressing aggressively against his, her tongue prodding to enter. He gave in and let her explore him. She pulled back and took a deep breath... "Twilight?"
"Shut up..." She kissed him a second time as she pressed him up against the wall.
-TWO WEEKS LATER-
Pinkie crawled onto a boulder that gave her a great advantage point of their current surroundings. Below her were Limestone, Copper, and Granite who were slowly trekking down the hill toward another one that was twice the height of the one they just climbed.
"One more hill to climb." Copper huffed as he wiggled his left hind leg.
"Feeling the burn?" Limestone laughed.
"We've been hiking through the snow for the past ten hours." Copper grumbled, "With very little breaks. On top of all of yesterday as well." He gave her a frown. "So, yes my legs are killing me." She giggled at his plight. Rolling his eyes, he looked up at Pinkie and noticed her solemn demeanor. "What do you see up there?" Not hearing an answer he looked at Limestone, who shrugged her shoulders. "Sweetheart?" Still nothing. "Pinkie!"
Pinkie jerked. "What?" She looked down eying the three.
"What's on your mind?" Copper tilted his head, studying her mannerisms.
"Oh..." She looked at the top of the hill. "Just the hill."
"That's a bold face lie." Limestone said with such sincerity it made Granite and Copper to do a double take.
Pinkie frowned at her sister. "Fine..." She bit her bottom lip. "Thinking of Blaze."
"What about him?" Limestone raised her brow.
"He chose to leave." Granite said with a sigh.
"I know..." Pinkie moved some of her mane from her eyes. "There could've been another way to work it out."
"True, but he has every right to leave." Grante answered.
"It showed he really loved her." Limestone added.
"How?" Pinkie wondered as she climbed down the boulder and joined them as they made their way up the hill.
"He made the choice for her." She said bluntly.
Pinkie mulled over her answer. "Well," She kicked the snow to make a better platform to grip the hillside. "I don't think she sees it that way."
Ascending to the top of the hill. The group caught their beaths "What's done is done." Limestone patted her sister's shoulder. "He's gone. All we can do now is hope he's okay."
Pinkie nodded as she looked out at the horizon. Seeing something a few hundred yards from where they stood. She opened her saddlebag and pulled out a pair of binoculars.
"What do you see?" Copper wondered.
"Damn you have good eyes." Granite squinted at the horizon. "I can't see shit."
"What is it?" Limestone leaned in, trying to line up her eyes with what her sister was looking at.
"I see some buildings." Pinkie pulled the binoculars from her eyes. Looking towards the sky, she frowned at the cascade of deep oranges and reds that filled it.
"You think we can make it?" Limestone looked through the binoculars.
"To see it, yes." He sighed. "But if it is something big, we'll need a gameplan." Granite shivered as he felt the temperature starting to drop.
"Let's get to it..." Pinkie ran down the mountain.
"Hey!" Copper cried. "Wait up!"
Nearing the location where she saw the buildings, Pinkie found herself near a cliff's edge. Slowly approaching, she peered over the edge. Down below her, about forty feet was a military base surrounded by a tall barbwire fence, all ten acres of it. Smirking she smiled as she rolled over on her back and looked at her sister, Granite, Copper. "Jackpot!" She sang.
They looked at one another and peered over the edge. Pinkie smirked at their wide-eyed expression. "Jackpot!" She sang again.
"Jackpot!" Limestone hugged her sister.
"Food, medicine, blankets." Granite smiled.
"Ammo and guns." Copper added as he looked though his monocular. "But no tanks." He huffed as he only saw about twenty transport putter-trucks.
"Having a tank is overkill." Granite rolled his eyes.
"We'll take it." Pinkie nuzzled Copper.
"How do we get to it?" Granite scanned around the base. It didn't help that the trees were thick and made it difficult to spot ponymade features.
"There!" Copper pointed out what he saw in his monocular. "A road near the river's edge..." He sighed as he pulled moved the monocular away from his eye. "Another long hike to the road..."
Seeing the sunlight starting to fade. Pinkie looked at a tree to her right and saw the earth around it was not buried by snow. "We'll camp here tonight and hit it first thing in the morning."
"The sweet embrace of sleep..." Copper gave a happy sigh as he stretched out his limbs, giggling about lying in his sleeping bag. Pinkie rolled her eyes as she scooped up some snow and dropped it on his head, causing Limestone and Granite to laugh at his expense.
Zipper looked down at the military base below him. He was a little disappointed in the size of the camp and with the hardware he could see, it was not what he was hoping for. "Shit, the Governor is going to love this." Cobalt laughed as he scanned the base with his binoculars.
"It could be better." Zipper sighed.
"Hey, at least the bastard gave us the right location." Cobalt replied. "Fucker lasted for two days though."
"We're here now." Zipper lit a cigarette. "That's all that matters."
"Want to head down now?" Nox, a pegasus asked as he walked up to them.
"No." Zipper sighed as he watched the setting sun fall behind the tree line. "Who knows what is down there. Trotters are better to deal with in daylight."
"Ponies are better to deal when its dark." Nox crossed his forelegs.
"Yeah." With darkness embracing them, he saw a few lights turn on. "Emergency lights."
"So that means its occupied?" Nox smirked.
"It means its swarming with trotters." Zipper stepped back from the cliff's edge. "Set up camp. We'll hit it in the morning."
> Part 3: Chapter 7 - A Simple Supply Run
Pinkie slowly woke from her slumber. Blinking her eyes, she let out a sigh as she scanned the interior of their tent. Seeing that the sun had barley rose, she slowly sat up. Seeing her breath, she crossed her forelegs across her chest as she worked up the nerve to get up and embrace the cold.
"What time is it?" Copper slurred as he rolled over and cuddled her lower half.
Pinkie smiled as she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "It's time to get up."
Copper grumbled as he opened his eyes a noticed how dull the morning sunlight was. "Is it cloudy outside?" As to answer his question, a strong gust of wind shook the tent.
"Damn..." Limestone sat up and crawled over to the door. Unzipping the cover's flap, she opened it. They were meet by a strong gust of wind. Quickly zipping it back up, Limestone shivered and ran her hooves over her upper forelegs. "Of course."
"Get your jackets and boots on." Pinkie buttoned up her jacket. "It's adventuring time!"
"Roger that." Granite put on his beanie.
"Hope the hike to the base isn't a long one..." Copper grumbled as he zipped up his jacket.
Standing before the gate of the military base, Pinkie glared through its thick mesh skin studying the buildings on the other side, or what she could see through the storm.
Limestone walked along the tall metal fence. "See a way in?" She eyed her coltfriend. "Without teleporting."
Pinkie walked up to the control panel and fiddled with the buttons. Heavy metallic clicking filled their ears as she hopped from one button to another. With nothing happening, she frowned as she scanned the fence. Copper walked up to the control panel. "It's not working." She watched him eye it with a skeptical eye.
"Yeah, I know..." He took out his knife. "But there are many ways to open a door." He pried off the front panel exposing the wires within. Seeing some of the large fuses were damaged and the mechanical on/off switches for the buttons rusted, he pulled out a green wire and cut it. "Let's see if this is the one." He touched the exposed ends and was only rewarded with a spark. "Nope." He pulled out the blue wire and cut it. "Best out of two?" They touched and a spark and a metallic thud sounded off.
Watching the heavy door swinging outward, the thick wire mesh acting as it's sail, capturing the howling winds. Pinkie smiled as she took out her axe. "Let's go."
Entering the base, they slowly scanned their surroundings as they neared one of the buildings. Hearing a growl, they stopped, their ears swiveling about, trying to locate the sound's origin. Seeing a figure through the blistering winds, Copper sat on his hunches and raised his bat as it approached.
The figure came into view, exposing itself as a trotter in military outfit. Grunting, Coper swung his bat stunning the creature. He swung once more, knocking it down to the ground. Granite activated his horn and stabbed the trotter's skull.
"Watch yourselves." Limestone looked behind them.
"We're almost to the building." Pinkie saw its silhouette.
"I wonder what's behind door number one?" Granite laughed.
Limestone rolled her eyes as her sister giggled at his joke. "Hopefully food."
Getting to the building, they saw blood smears on the door. Hesitantly, Copper put his ear to the metal door. Hearing only the howling of wind and the creaking of its metal frame, he sighed as he looked at the rest of them. "Ready?" They nodded as he took out his knife and jammed it in the gap of the door and doorframe. Prying it against the doorknob's bolt, he leaned into his knife until the bolt gave way.
Throwing open the door, Granite aimed his pistol as he walked in. His military training taking over. Closing the door behind her, Pinkie scanned the dimly lit room. "Looks like a lobby?" Limestone walked past the chairs and up to a receptionist desk.
"This is the base's headquarters." Granite smiled. "Information on the base would be in this room." He led them down the hall and into a room on their right.
"Dejavu?" Copper whistled.
"You've been on base before?" Granite asked.
"Once..." Copper bit his lower lip as he tried to not make eye contact.
Granite shrugged his shoulders as he slowly opened the door. "Ah, shit!" He jumped as the sight of a stallion who looked to be in his mid-fifties, laying in a chair, head leaning back with a gaping exit wound on the back of his skull.
"Looks like the corporal couldn't handle what was happening to his stallions." Copper grimaced as they slowly walked past the corpse.
"Many couldn't..." Granite sighed as he walked over to a white board with markings of black squares and letters. Limestone's and Pinkie's minds slowly drifted back to their hometown and the makeshift military camp set up to contain the outbreak... More like spread it.
"There we are," Granite smiled. "Mess hall, from where we're at, it's about twenty hooves to our left."
"Well, what are we waiting for." Limestone laid her hooves on his shoulders. "Let's get to it!" She eyed the map, staring at the black square labeled 'mess hall'.
Opening the door, it made a groaning squeal as it slowly swung inward. Feeling the cold air rush in, Pinkie frowned as they stepped in. "This place seen better days." Limestone murmured as she studied the kitchen's tattered state.
"You think." Copper spoke through clenched teeth as he scanned the place with a flashlight.
"Keep on your hooves." Granite swung his flashlight with his magic, illuminating a pair of shelves. Walking up to one of the shelves, Limestone scanned the items on them. They ranged from canned vegetables to a large assortment of premade meals.
Stepping up to a large metallic fridge, Pinkie wrapped her hoof around the handle and threw it open. An unholy smell assaulted her nostrils. Recoiling, she quickly shut the fridge and leaned against it. "Power wasn't going to the fridge that's for sure..." She felt like she was going to puke.
"Yeah..." Granite looked at the lightbulb barely illuminating the kitchen. "Just enough power is left to keep the emergency lights running."
"How long do you think it will last?" Copper eyed the lightbulb skeptically.
"If it's like most military bases, the lights are running on underground generators that are hooked up to a massive diesel drum, then..." He tapped his hoof to his chin. "Maybe another month."
"Well..." Pinkie rubbed her snout. "Looks like we're sticking to cans until spring."
Shaking her head at her sister's mannerisms, Limestone looked through the serving windows and saw a box sitting on one of the tables in the mess hall. Stepping into the room and not seeing anything out of the ordinary, she walked up to the box. Seeing that it was empty, she placed a can of corn in and seeing that it could hold a decent amount, she smiled and picked it up. "Perfect... AH!" A sharp sensation shot up her leg. She dropped the box as she looked back at her leg and saw a trotter had bitten her and wasn't letting her go of her right hind leg.
"Limestone what's wrong..." Time froze for Pinkie as she laid eyes on the trotter digging into her sister's leg.
Quickly, Granite struck the trotter's skull with his knife. Removing her leg from the trotter's limp mouth, she hissed at the searing pain radiating from the gaping wound. "Oh, fuck..." Tears pooled around her dilated eyes.
"Shit what do we do?" Copper looked at Granite who looked pale as a ghost.
Pinkie stared wide eyed at the oozing bite on Limestone's leg. Her body went numb as she watched infected blood dripping onto the metal floor. Her eyes drifted to the axe strapped to her side. Shivering uncontrollably, she rushed her sister and threw her to the floor. Pinning her down, she unholstered her axe and swung down onto the infected limb right below the hock.
Limestone screamed out in pain as the axe drove through her flesh, severing muscles and breaking cartilage. "What the hell are you doing?" Granite panicked.
"The only thing I can do!" She growled as she swung down on the limb once more, the sound of bone against metal sang a violent song. "Get something to stop the bleeding!" She cried as blood gushed out onto the floor.
His mind snapped back to reality as he rushed into the kitchen and up to the stove. Turning one of the nozzles, a click was heard and blue flame erupted. A burst of joy overcame him that the gas line was still powered on. Grabbing a metal spatula, he stuck it under the flame. "Looking for a first aid kit!" He ran to the back of the kitchen.
"Copper! Hold her down!" Pinkie screamed as Limestone's animalistic flight or fight instincts kicked in. Copper helped as he watched the rest of her leg separated from her body with a meaty thud. Pain overwhelmed Limestone's mind. Growling through the pain, she tried breaking free, but as the seconds ticked on by, she got weaker and weaker until she passed out.
"She's going into shock!" Copper sat up as he grabbed some napkins on a nearby table and held it to the wound.
"Here!" Granite ran into the mess-hall and held the hot spatula to her wound to cauterize as much of it as he could. "Open it!" He handed the aid kit to Pinkie. Pinkie tore open the bag and rummaged through it. Seeing a white pouch, she pulled it out and showed it to Granite. "Clotting powder." He laughed nervously. "That will work."
Copper stared at Limestone's severed limb. "You think it will work."
Pinkie felt sick as she saw the limb. "What choice did we have..." She saw her sister Marble behind Copper. She was playing with Limestone's severed leg. Feeling Pinkie's gaze, she looked up from the limb and frowned. 'You didn't do this for me?' She asked, her voice sounding ghostly.
"Pinkie!"
'I guess I wasn't your favorite sister...'
"Pinkie!"
She flinched and when she reopened her eyes, Marble was gone. Seeing what was left of her sister's leg was wrapped the best it could be, she let out a held breath. "We need to get back home."
"I'll stay here and monitor her." Granite laid her head in his lap, placing a hoof on her forehead. "Hurry..." Feeling how clammy she felt, he swallowed his worry. "We need Dr. Hooves help..." He looked at Pinkie and Copper. "You two get one of those putter-trucks up and running!"
"We need to find where they keep the keys!"
"No time! I'll hot wire one!" Copper said as they exited the mess hall.
Alone, Granite scooted way from the trotter's corpse and Limestone's mangled leg. Hugging the corner near the archway into the kitchen, he wrapped his forelegs across her chest. "Limestone?" He cooed as he ran a hoof through her mane. "Don't you die on me." He kissed her on the forehead. "Don't you turn..." He squeezed her in a vain attempt to wake her from her shocked induced slumber. "I made a promise to your Pa... And I aim to keep that part of the deal..."
Hearing a pair of putter-trucks outside his heart skipped a beat as they came to a screeching halt. Hearing unfamiliar voices, he held his breath. "Looks like someponies have been here already?" A voice grumbled as they exited their vehicles. "Stay alert!" Another voice said, sounding somewhat familiar to Granite, but he couldn't put a hoof on it. "I heard something!" Another voice shouted. Granite jerked as several gunshots rang out. Feeling his throat stuck in his throat, he tightened his grip on Limestone and began rocking her as he pulled out his pistol.
-Two Minutes Earlier-
Pinkie rushed out of the mess hall. Her long magenta mane and tail were kicked up by the winds. The blood... Her sister's blood coating her hooves upper forelegs, and face stung as they cooled down. Seeing a line of putter-trucks and seeing one clear of debris, she ran over to the vehicle. Copper right behind her, pulled out a hammer and smashed open the window. But before he could hop into the cab the sounds of trucks pulling up to the base sent shivers down their spines.
"Get down!" Copper whispered as he and Pinkie ducked behind the hood of the truck. Hearing the vehicles stop, Pinkie and Copper held their breath as they peered over the truck's hood. They saw six stallions jumping out of their own military looking trucks.
"Looks like someponies have been here?" One of the stallions scanned his surroundings.
"Stay alert!" Another one who sounded familiar said, but he was out of sight to get a good look at his face.
Ducking back down, Pinkie started to hyperventilate. "You think they're friendly?"
"I..." Copper heard one of the stallions walking close by. "I don't think so..."
"There's blood." One told his comrades.
"Looks fresh." The familiar voice said. "They're still here."
Pinkie felt sick. What if they followed the blood back to her sister and saw her severed leg... What if they kill her because she was... Picking up a glass bottle at her hooves, she chucked it towards the stallions' trucks. "I heard something!" One of the stallions yelled as he opened fire.
"Hold your fire!" Another grumbled.
"I take that as a no." Copper swallowed his fear.
Feeling her heartrate was at unhealthy levels, the heaviness she felt was starting to overwhelm her. Gasping for air, Pinkie's eyes darted around as she tried to think of something, anything. 'Anything?' Pinkie froze as she saw Marble standing on the hood of the putter-truck in front of them. Pinkie felt clammy as she watched her sister pull out a pocket watch and a picture of Limestone. 'Tick-tock...' She gave a menacing smile. 'One more until you're next!'
"Shut up!" Pinkie's blood started to boil as she shook her head. "It's not true." Her voiced cracked.
'Oh, but it is!' Marble snapped back. 'You can't protect them!'
"No..." Pinkie squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head more violently to rid her mind of her sister.
'Pathetic!'
"Sto..." She felt a hoof over her mouth. Glancing to her left she saw Copper covering her mouth and holding one up to his mouth. "She's not real." He hissed a whisper. Blinking, she looked at where her sister was only to see open air.
"I think I hear something over there?" One of the strangers yelled to his comrades. Hearing him approaching, Copper went to peak over the dashboard, when a red cylindrical object caught his eye. Seeing that it was a fire extinguisher, he looked at Pinkie and she looked back, her eyes wide as she slowly acknowledged their silent understanding.
The stallion approaching the parked putter-trucks, rounded the front of one. "Gotcha..." He pointed his rifle, but to his utter shock, he saw two ponies aiming the hose of a fire extinguisher in his face.
Pinkie frowned as she pressed down on the lever releasing a vast quantity of retardant into the stallion's face. The stallion stumbled back and, in a panic, pressed down on his rifle's mouth trigger. Bullets went off in all directions. Jumping out of the line of fire. Pinkie and Copper huddled against the back of the truck until the bullet's stopped flying.
"Will you stop wasting ammo!" One of the stallion's growled.
"I can't see!" He cried.
"Shut up." Another grumbled. "Sit still."
"Keep and eye out for them!"
"What do we do now?" Pinkie whispered.
Seeing several trotters in the distance about one-hundred-yards, Copper swallowed as he looked at her seeing the fear in her eyes. "We're going to have to go around the long way."
"We don't have time." Pinkie choked on her words. "Limestone doesn't have that time."
Copper stared at the mess hall a few feet from their current location. "Then we'll make a run for it." He led the way as they quickly trotted to the building, hugging the few remaining putter-trucks. Getting to the final truck, he peeked out and saw some of the stallions looking around their pervious location. "They didn't hear us." He rubbed her back. Seeing an opening, he tapped her back. "Let's go... AH!" A bullet tore through his left shoulder.
"COPPER!" Pinkie cried as she held him, staring at the wound. It was a clean shot, only tearing through his scapula's cartilage.
"Shit!" Copper held a hoof to the wound as he tried to cover Pinkie's body with his. In his battered state he only fell on top of her.
"Hold your fire!" The familiar sounding voice yelled. Hearing hoofsteps, Copper and Pinkie braced themselves as the mysterious pony appeared from behind the putter-truck they had emerged from. "Holy shit!" The stallion laughed. "Pinkie? Copper?" He shook his head. "What are the odds?"
"Zipper?" Pinkie felt lightheaded as she stared at the stallion's prosthetic leg/knife. "You survived?"
"In the flesh." He smirked. "Or what's left of me." He frowned. "Shit, if I knew it was you, I wouldn't had one of my stallions shoot you." He looked at Copper's wound. "You alright?"
"What the hell do you think?" Copper growled.
Zipper frowned, but it morphed into a smirked. "Now you know what it's like."
"We tried to save you." Pinkie fought to keep her mind from falling apart. "Even after you told us to leave you." She glanced at her coltfriend's wound. "Your brother, Shining, and I went back for you!"
"Never saw you..." Zipper walked up to them. "Where's my brother?" He pointed his prosthetic leg/knife at her. "You abandoned him to?"
Pinkie glared at the stallion, her breathing heavy as she held a hoof to Copper's wound. "He's with us."
Zipper's face softened. "He's alive?"
"Yes..." Pinkie eyed the other stallions that surround them.
"Where?" Zipper's voice cracked. "Where is he?"
The thought of her sister dying danced in her mind. 'You're wasting time!' She saw Marble sitting behind Zipper giving her a menacing smirk. "If you want to see your brother, you let us go." She finally spoke as she tore her eyes from her twin onto Zipper.
"What?" Zipper frowned.
"You let us go, we'll tell him you're alive and he'll come to you." Pinkie returned the frown.
Zipper gritted his teeth, "Missy don't test me!"
"That's the deal!" Copper huffed through his pain.
"Hey, we came for the military base not for them." A pegasus walked up to Zipper.
"Shut it, Nox." Zipper spat. "You!" He turned his anger at Pinkie and Copper. "You think you can do this to me after all I've done for the group?"
Pinkie gritted her teeth. "You shot at us!" She fought back tears that begged to flow down her cheeks. "We don't trust you!" She growled. "If you want to earn that back you listen to us! This is how it works!"
Zipper scoffed as he eyed the blood on her hooves... Seeing a darker shade of blood higher up her forelegs and some splattered on her face, his eyes slowly scanned the nearby buildings. "Who else is with you?"
"What?" Pinkie's heart skipped a beat.
"There's blood on your face."
"I..." Pinkie glanced down at Copper who gave her the same shocked expression. "It's trotter's blood."
"It's not black enough." Zipper neared her. "Too fresh, too alive."
"How can you tell?" Nox rolled his eyes. "You're a doctor now?"
"No..." He smirked. "I used to hunt for furs with my Pa." He stared Pinkie and Copper down, seeing if they'd break. "I know what blood looks like." He grabbed Pinkie by the back of her neck and dragged her to the truck. "Usip, Cobalt, help me load them into the truck!"
"What about the base?" Nox asked.
"You, Chrisp, and Swillow find the others and once that's taken care of, fill up the truck as much as you can." He saw a few trotters had finally closed the distance. "And take care of them fuckers." He held his knife to Pinkie's neck. "Get in or your coltfirend gets a bullet in the head!"
Pinkie hesitantly climbed into the bed of the truck. A few seconds later, Copper crawled into the bed. Groaning from the pain, Copper laid on his back as he held a hoof to his wound. "Sweet Celestia..."
"She ain't hearing your prayers." Zipper hopped into the bed. "Stay right where I can see ya." He aimed his knife at them. Hearing the truck roar to life, tears finally poured from Pinkie's eyes as the saw the base slowly fade behind Zipper.
Seeing the truck disappear into the storm, Nox grumbled as he heard his stallions dispatch the trotters. 'Curiosity killed the dead...' He looked around and eyed the buildings. Frowning, his eyes fell onto the mess hall. Seeing the front doors wide open, his eyes narrowed.
Granite cursed under his breath as he heard the truck drive away. Sitting still, he focused on every little sound, trying to find out if any of them remained. Sitting for a few seconds, he let out a sigh and looked down at Limestone. Leaning in, he could hear how shallow her breathing was. "I got to get out of here..." Hearing hoofsteps, he held his breath 'Shit!'.
Nox stepped into the kitchen. Glaring at the appliances that filled the room, he slowly walked through the room, giving each item he passed a stern glare. Nearing the archway, he stopped as he saw blood on the ground. Puckering his lips, he followed the blood drops and bloody hoof prints until he saw a trotter and a limb in a pool of blood. Confused he approached it. Giving the trotter a quick prod, and seeing it was dead as a door nail, he turned his attention to the limb. Seeing it had a bite mark, he quickly put two and two together. Noticing a trail of smeared blood, he looked up and saw a door was opened.
Granite groaned as he laid Limestone down on a cot. Scanning the barracks, and seeing that it was void of life, he let out a sigh of relief. "Don't you worry." He kissed Limestone's forehead. "I'll get you home..." He looked around. "And save them..." He rummaged through his saddlebag, pulling out his pistol, he placed the handle in his mouth and held his knife in his magic.
Stepping back into the storm, he braced himself against the winds. Narrowing his eyes, he slowly walked back to the mess hall where he knew the stallions would still be. "?" But seeing figure in the corner of his eye he stopped and slowly walked up to investigate. Seeing that it was a trotter that was pinned under a concrete barrier and that it was a soldier, he scanned its body and saw that it had a stick-grenade strapped to its chest. He frowned and pinned the trotter's neck with his magic as he pried the grenade from its home. "Thanks." He told the trotter as he made his way to his objective.
Nox stepped out of the mess hall. Seeing Chrisp and Swillow carrying a crate to their putter-truck he frowned. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Loading up the truck!" Chrisp shouted.
"We need to look for the others!" Nox rolled his eyes.
"You really believe Zipper?" Swillow gave the pegasus a look.
"Yeah." Nox gritted his teeth. "If you did your job, you would've found a bitten severed limb." He nodded his head at the building behind him.
Swillow and Chrisp gave each other looks. "The hell?" Chrisp asked.
"So, keep your..." Seeing a stick flying through the air. His spine shivered as it landed on the frozen asphalt and tumbled towards his friend's. "SHIT!" He dove into the building. A ball of light filled their eyes and a wall of shrapnel filled their bodies flinging them back, throwing Chrip into the grill of the truck and Swillow tumbling across the ground.
Poking his head out, Nox peered through the blistering whiteout for whoever threw the grenade. "Where are you!" He grabbed his pistol and aimed it sporadically, searching for any hint of life in the white. The taste of brass tickled his tongue as it kissed the trigger. Growling he stepped out of the building and up to what was left of his friends. Seeing no signs of life, he let out a yell as he walked further into the base. "Show your fucking face!" He yelled through clinched teeth.
Seeing a light flicker to his right he gasped and fired off a shot. The light stopped. Cursing under his breath he chased after it, "ERR!" He growled as someone struck his side, throwing him to the ground, causing him to drop his pistol. Before he could make heads or tails of the situation, a hoof struck him across the face, then his stomach which knocked the wind out of him.
Gritting his teeth, he took a gasp of air and looked at the pony who tackled him. Seeing a brown and white unicorn sitting on top of him, he narrowed his eyes, until the blue glow around the unicorn's horn and pistol caught his eye.
"Where did you take them!" Granite spat, throwing Nox's pistol somewhere far from where they were at. Nox kept his mouth shut and only spat in the stallion's face. Granite's jaw tightened as he unholstered his pistol and shoved it in Nox's face. "Where did you take them!"
Nox frowned. "You don't have the guts to make it personal." He smirked.
Granite bashed him over the head. "Try me!" He placed the pistol against the side of his head. "Tell, me or I'll pull the trigger."
Nox laughed. "You need me alive." He gave him a smirk. "So, I know that threat is all bark and no bite." Granite frowned as he holstered his pistol and dragged Nox over toward the trotter he found earlier. Seeing the monster, Nox began to panic. "The fuck dude!"
"Maybe being infected will clear your head..." His felt his hind legs give way as Nox kicked them. Falling forward, he landed face first beside the trotter. The monster growled as it desperately tried to take a bite out of his face. "ERR!" He felt Nox jam his hooves into his back.
"How about you!" Nox pushed him towards the monster.
Using all his strength, Granite pushed himself off the ground causing Nox to stumble back. He quickly took out his pistol and struck him across the face. Nox held a hoof to his cheek as he stumbled back. Spitting out blood, he slowly paced around Granite, eyes locked with his. Grantie growled as he aimed at the trotter and put one through its skull. Taking a step forward, he aimed his pistol at Nox.
"You ain't going to shoot me." Nox spat. Granite felt a chill run down his back. Deep down he knew that, but he didn't need to know. He fired a shot striking Nox in his hindleg. "Mother fucker!" Nox cried out as he stumbled from the searing pain shooting up his leg.
"Where are they!" Granite closed the distance.
"Wait..." Nox held up a hoof.
"Where!" Granite fired at the ground.
Chunks of asphalt went flying. "Wait!" Nox sat down, allowing Granite to get face to face. "I'll tell you... Just... Wait..."
Granite kept the pistol to his face. "Talk!"
Nox slowly nodded as he leaned his head down to catch his breath... Nox jumped Granite and tackled him to the ground. The pistol went off, sending a bullet ricocheting to places unknown. Groaning from the fall, Grante ground his teeth to dull the pain as he sat up, but was quickly pushed to the ground again, and gasped as Nox sat on his chest.
Feeling hooves on his neck, Granite opened his eyes and glared at the earth pony. Activating his horn, he lifted a rock and threw it at Nox. Nox growled at the hit but kept his hooves in place. Giving up on that line of attack, he grabbed Nox's neck with his magic. "Two can play this game..." He choked as he used every ounce of his will power to stay alert and to keep his spell alive.
Choking on his own words, Nox's eyes narrowed as he took his hooves off Granite's neck and punched him several times across the face. "Mother! Fucking! Bitch!" Nox aimed for his horn.
Pain unlike no other shot through his skull, but he pressed on. 'Just a little...' He felt Nox's hooves on his horn... In a split second, Nox pressed down, cocking his head in an awkward position, allowing the perfect pivot point to snap his horn.
Magical discharge and blood oozed out from his stump of a horn. A strong urge to puke overwhelmed him and he vomited all over himself. Gasping for air, grasping for anything to save him from the pain he felt, he shot up, but Nox quickly pinned him to the ground and placed his hooves on his neck once more.
"Just die!" Nox laughed. "And don't worry, I'll find your friend, wherever you're hiding them!" He gave a menacing smile as he leaned in, increasing the pressure on Granite's neck.
Granite glared up at the stallion, his vision doubled and blurry. Choking for any amount of air, his flight or fight took over and he flailed his hooves wildly about in a desperate attempt to flee. But darkness slowly crept into his vison as he felt his life begin to fade. But before his mind went dark, he saw a figure running up to them, carrying a crowbar in their mouth. |
Chair-bound | pre | Sunset cast her eyes downwards, feeling ashamed. "I kinda snapped at her. I didn't mean...*sigh* I was more upset at the situation, what with face planting on the floor and you two seeing my butt."
Fluttershy chuckled. "Well it is a cute butt."
Sunset blushed at Fluttershy commenting on her butt. "Uh...thanks...I think?" She cleared her throat and let the heat dissipate from her cheeks. "Could you get Dash back in here? I need to apologize for blowing up at her...and let her know I'm not mad at her, I was mad at the situation."
Fluttershy nodded. "Mhm! Oh! Before I forget, I brought you some of your schoolwork." She looked around for a moment. "Uh, where do I..."
Sunset gestured to the small end table by her hospital bed. "You can put it there, Flutters."
Fluttershy placed Sunset's schoolwork on the end table, then left to find Rainbow Dash.
Twenty minutes later the pair returned.
Sunset was thumbing through some of the schoolwork when she heard the door click. Looking over the top of the schoolwork, her heart sank seeing the defeated look on Rainbow's face.
"Sunset...", Rainbow's voice has an even more raspy quality to it than usual, it was been clear she had been crying, "I-I want to ap--"
"Rainbow, no...", Sunset interrupted, "...I'm the one who should apologize. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. You didn't know not to move someone when they have a spinal injury, or might have a spinal injury. You were just trying to help. I was more mad and upset at falling out of bed...and the fact that you two saw my butt."
Rainbow snickered. "That was your butt?! It looked like you had two boards strapped to your back. Bah-ha-ha-ha!" She gripped her sides laughing as she fell on her butt.
Sunset fumed at Rainbow.
"Rainbow Dash!", Fluttershy scolded, "It's not nice to make fun of someone's butt! I think Sunset's got a nice butt. It fits her properly. How would you feel if someone made a joke about your breasts?"
Rainbow stopped laughing and a slight blush spread on her cheeks.
"What's all this 'bout butts an' breasts?", Applejack asked stepping through the doorway holding plate covered in cellophane.
Sunset scratched the back of her head nervously. "Well, I fell out of bed because I had to pee and forgot that my legs don't work anymore. While I was on the floor trying to figure out to call the nurse, 'Shy and Dash walked in, and they saw my butt through the back of the gown. Then I kinda snapped at Rainbow when she tried to help me up off of the floor. I managed to apologize to her, then she made the crack about my butt just before you walked in."
Applejack walked further into the hospital room. "Heh! Butt crack."
"Did someone make a funny joke about butt cracks?", Pinkie asked, bouncing in.
"No, Pinkie. Nobody made jokes about butt cracks. Rainbow made a joke about Sunset's butt b'cause she an' dash saw her butt when she fell outa bed."
"So Dashie made a butt crack?", Pinkie asked with a snigger. She soon burst out into a fit of giggle-snorts.
"Pinkie Pie!", Rarity scolded as she walked in the hospital room, "It is unlady-like to make jokes about posteriors."
"Hail, hail, that gang's all here.", Sunset grumbled under her breath.
"Rares, Pinkie didn't make any jokes about anyone's butt.", Applejack interjected, "Rainbow made a joke about Sunset's butt and Pinkie made a joke about Rainbow making a butt crack. Heh-heh!"
Rarity waved her finger at Rainbow Dash."Rainbow Dash! It is most unlady-like to make jokes or unwanted comments about someone's posterior!"
"Can everybody please shut up about my butt!?", Sunset shouted.
"What's all this about butts?", Doctor Night Light said entering the room.
Sunset facepalmed.
Pinkie took in a deep breath. "WellSunsetfelloutabedandFluttershyandRainbowDashwalkedintimetoseeher...mmmmf...mmmmf...mmmmf!"
Applejack pinched Pinkie's lips closed, cutting the party girl's words. "Ah dun think th' doc needs tuh be drowned in words, Pinkie. B'sides, Ah'm pretty sure he's seen so many butts that it dun phase him none."
Doctor Night Light only gave a polite chuckle. "If you ladies would excuse me, please? I need to make sure your friend isn't seriously hurt." He turned his head to the door. "Nurse?"
The five girls turned and left the room to wait in the hallway as a nurse walked in.
After the nurse closed the door and stepped up next to the bed, Doctor Night Light leaned forward and said, "Alright, let's get you checked out and make sure you're okay, so you can get back to your friends."
Sunset blinked the spots from her eyes when the doctor shined a pen light in her eyes. She winced in pain when he poked at the bump on her forehead. He ran his fingers along her nose, checked the split on her lip, made her open her mouth and shined the light in her mouth. He then ran his fingers along her jawline and reached around to squeeze the back of her neck in several places. Grunting in satisfaction, he quickly scribbled down several things on her chart.
"Alright miss Shimmer, I need to check under your gown. Just relax and I'll be done quicker than two jiggles of a lamb's tail."
Sunset squenched her eyes shut and threw the sheet over her head in embarrassment. Even before she had left Equestria, she was always embarrassed when visiting the gynecologist for routine checkups and pelvic examinations, even though the doctor wasn't giving her a pelvic exam, it still didn't make her feel any less uncomfortable. The doctor quickly examined her stitches, poked at her stomach in a few places and listened with his stethoscope in several places. Pulling her gown back in place, he scribbled several things down onto her chart and tapped her on the arm to let her know he was finished.
"Well Miss Shimmer, everything appears to be okay. I suggest putting something cool on that bump, and taking some acetaminophen for pain if you need it. If you experience dizziness, nausea, or feel any unusual pain or discomfort in your tummy, call a nurse.", Doctor Night Light said, "I'll let your friends know they come back in and visit with you some more." Walking to the door, he pulled the handle. It swung open and five girls landed in a heap on the floor in the door frame. Looking down at the five girls on the floor, their cheeks pink with surprised embarrassment, he chuckled. "Your friend is ready to see you again." Stepping over the pile of girls, he walked down the hallway, flipping the ink pen back and forth in his fingers as he whistled a tune. I bet Twilight would love to hang out with those girls. It would do her some good to get out of the house and do something other than study for college.
The girls pulled themselves back up to their feet. Applejack was the first to approach Sunset's bed and pulled the cellophane off the plate.
"Ah whipped ya up a whole mess o' apple fritters. Like Granny always says, 'Hospital food dun heal no one up right-n-proper. Tuh heal th' body, ya need tuh feed th' soul.'"
The farm girl placed the plate full of deep fried apple pastries in Sunset's lap who in turn picked one up and took a bite. Almost immediately her eyes sparkled when the flavor hit her tongue. With loud munching sounds she scarfed down the deep fried pastries. She swallowed down the last bite, which was followed a second later by a burp.
Sunset blushed and covered her mouth. "Oh! Excuse me!"
Applejack chuckled at Sunset. "T'ain't bad manners, jus' good food. B'sides like my cousin Braeburn always says, 'Better comin' out th' attic than th' basement.'"
Pinkie giggle-snorted at Applejack's comment.
Sunset, feeling a bit more emboldened at Pinkie's laughing at Applejack's comment and having a belly full of apple fritters decided to add to the humor. "Only now if it comes out of the basement, it's going to be a bit harder as I can't lean to one side."
Pinkie and Rainbow fell into each other's arms with sputtering giggles. Applejack let out a series of belly laughs. Fluttershy snickered and giggled as she held a hand over her mouth. Rarity attempted to hide her amusement at the crude, unlady-like humor, she failed.
Once the laughter at the crude humor died down, Sunset's expression turned serious. Worry and sorrow filled her voice. "I thank you all for coming to visit me." Her voice cracked. "I'm so, so sorry for how I treated you all for all those years. *hsnf* What I did was unfor--"
"Think nothing of it, darling.", Rarity said, cutting off Sunset as she sat down on the hospital bed, "We'd do anything to help you out. You may have behaved poorly in the past, but that's behind us." She wiggled her hips slightly. "This mattress is awful lumpy."
Sunset looked where Rarity was sitting. "Uh Rares, you're sitting on my foot."
Rarity jumped up from the bed all-a-fluster. "Oh my my my! I'm so sorry darling! I didn't realize I was sitting on you!" She dropped to her knees. "Please please please forgive me! I didn't know I was--"
Sunset tried to tell the fashionista everything was okay, but she had descended into hysterics. Taking a deep breath, Sunset shouted, "Rarity! Calm the fuck down!"
The use of shouted vulgarity snapped Rarity mostly out of her hysterics.
"There's nothing to forgive. You didn't do it out of any ill-will, you just made a mistake."
The six girls had been chatting for an hour when Luna walked into the hospital room. She smiled as she looked at the chatting girls. She cleared her throat to get the girls' attention. "I need to talk with Sunset alone for a bit."
The five girls nodded and gathered their things up.
"Ah need tuh get back tuh th' farm. Apples ain't gon' pick themselves."
"I need to get to the animal shelter. Today's my day for volunteering."
"I've got my apprenticeship with Fancy Pants. Ta-ta darlings!"
"I gotta help Mr. and Mrs. Cake with the afternoon rush."
"Well I got nothin' goin' on. Practice was cancelled."
Luna shot the athlete a searing sidelong glare. Rainbow instinctively withered from the glance, knowing it all too well as the one that she usually received just before getting detention.
"I uh...I'll go and find something to do that isn't here."
Once Luna and Sunset were alone in the room, the vice-principal grabbed a chair and placed it next to the hospital bed. Sitting down, she pulled from her purse that Celestia had several times joked 'Was big enough to hold a mid-sized sedan with enough room left over for two motorcycles.' a stack of papers. She blew out a sigh laced heavily with apprehension. "First off let me say that it is the duty of both myself and my sister to report your living conditions to DFCS and CPS, something neither of us particularly enjoy doing. You've been officially put into the foster system."
Visions of Sunset's youth when she was a filly of barely five years old when her mother had abandoned her on the steps of an orphanage. She opened her mouth to speak, but Luna raised a finger to cut her off.
"It is my duty as an employee of the Williams County educational system to report to the department of family and children services, and child protective services. That doesn't mean I'm abandoning you to be shipped off to a children's home somewhere clear across the state." Luna shuddered at the memories of her experiences when visiting one of those places, and the stories of what should have been legally declared slavery. "I know a few case workers who owed me a favor or two who agreed to help fast track the paperwork to make me your foster mother...that is if you want me as your foster mother."
Sunset mulled it over in her head for a moment. "Yes, I'd like to be your foster daughter."
Luna smiled at that. Pulling a pen from her purse, she signed, initialed and dated the various documents on the marked lines. "I'm getting a wheelchair ramp and a special shower chair installed at the house. But don't think for a moment that you're getting off easy. Besides your normal schoolwork and homework, you'll be expected to have household chores. Then there's your physical therapy and family counseling. A case worker will pop by whenever they feel like it. I'll also need you to be upfront and forthright with Celestia and myself about pony magic and if there are any other users of pony magic from your original world that may be here and could cause troubles."
Sunset nodded. "I'll divulge any information I know. But as far as I know, there's no other ponies or creatures from Equestria here."
Luna hummed thoughtfully. "Well I can't ask you to offer any information you don't know." She put the paperwork back in her purse. "Oh, and one more thing, I attend church every Sunday. Now I don't know what kind of religious beliefs pony-people have so I won't force you to attend church, but I will suggest it. Now let's see if we can get a nurse or an orderly to find you a wheelchair. I saw this nice courtyard outside and I'm pretty sure you'd like to get some fresh air and sunshine." ***
A week had passed and Sunset had been discharged from the hospital. That night she slept in her new bedroom. An old futon served as her bed, two cheap plastic sets of drawers bought from a big box discount national chain store placed side-by-side served as a combination night stand/dresser, on it were placed her phone, a wind-up alarm clock and a few other personal knickknacks. Luna had ordered some actual bedroom furniture for her but it had been delayed in shipping. By the futon sat her wheelchair. In the corner sat propped against the wall was her old half-worn out electric guitar. Fortunately she hadn't lost all feeling below her waist, so she could at least feel when she had to use the bathroom, though her legs were numb and limp as the nerves connecting them to her spinal column had been severed by the bullet.
Sunset drifted through her dreamscape. Images of her learning by the side of the solar princess danced through her dream, followed by images of ponies frolicking in the meadows or flitting through the skies. The dream shifted and she was no longer in Equestria, she stood in front of Canterlot High. She was surrounded by students and teachers. Suddenly fire erupted from nowhere, burning everyone and everything to ash. Out of the flames strode her demon-self, its face was twisted in a cruel sneering smile, its sharp teeth glinting in the flickering light of the flames.
"Such a failure. You could have had it all, but look at you now. Just a worthless cripple bound to a chair and will be nothing but a burden on those around you."
Out of the flames walked Short Fuse, his right hand a strange fusion of flesh and firearm. He raised his right arm and leveled the weird fusion hand at her. The demon drifted to him, cackling as it fused with his body, twisting it into a horrific hell-spawned monstrosity. It spoke in a voice like knives to Sunset's ears. "D̸̡͉̜̭͕͚͔̣̎̀̊͑̇͑̀į̷͎̰̫͎͉̖͉̗̦̥̥̯̱̉̊ę̷̡̜̹̜̻͉̺̙̤̳̞̃͊̐̓̆̾̌̎̚ ̷̩̹̼̫̹̹̱͉͚́͑̑̕͝b̷̛̼̼͓̗̦̓͗̄̋̒̇̾͂̉͛̿̅͘i̵̲̖̩͋͗͐́́̀̈̈͒̆̿̚ț̴̛̳̫̦͈̣̮̍̃̃̾̄͒̉c̷̢̙̐́́̒̋̀̈́͋͒͛͠͝͝h̷̡̛͙̔͂͂́͛̂̎͘͠!̵̫̣̩̻̤̇̚͝" The dream ended with a crack of thunderous sound.
Sunset sat up in bed, sweat coating her body, soaking through her clothes and bed sheets, making her body feel sticky and clammy. Outside thunder rumbled as rain began pattering down on the roof. Pulling the wheelchair over, she clambered onto it, awkwardly wheeling into the hallway and to the bathroom. Switching on the bathroom light, she wheeled over to the sink and turned on the tap. Splashing cold water on her face, she looked in the mirror. "It was just a bad dream! It was just a bad dream! It was just a bad dream!" She repeated the mantra over and over. Hearing the sound of step-thump, she looked over and Luna standing in the door of the bathroom propped up on a crutch, a concerned look on her face.
"Sunset, is everything okay?"
Sunset stared absentmindedly at the stump just below Luna's knee. She realized that the water was still running in the sink. Turning it off, she answered, "Uh, yeah. Just had a bad dream."
Luna hummed thoughtfully. "You sure? There anything I can do?"
Sunset shook her head. "No...uh...no...I'll be okay. It was just a bad dream. I should just go back to bed."
Luna scratched at her chin for a moment. "Come to the kitchen with me. I think there's something that can help with bad dreams."
After both had reached the kitchen, Luna placed a saucepan on the stove, grabbed milk from the fridge and a small box of cocoa powder from the cabinet. Once the milk was warmed up and steaming, she poured it into two mugs and scooped three spoonfuls of cocoa powder into them each. After stirring them up, she placed one mug in front of Sunset. "When Celly and I were little and had a nightmare, mother would make us hot cocoa and have us tell her about the dream." She took a sip of her cocoa. "Celly always makes better cocoa.", she muttered to herself. Clearing her throat, she looked over at Sunset. "So...tell me about your nightmare."
Sunset picked up the mug, feeling the warmth spread through her hands. "I...uh...I'm not sure that this is necessary. It was just a bad dream...y'know...the subconscious trying to make sense of something that doesn't make sense."
Luna shot a small grin at Sunset and took another sip of her cocoa. "Humor me. And don't forget to take a couple of sips of your cocoa before it gets cold."
Sunset grumbled wordlessly under her breath and looked down at the light brown, mostly-milk drink in the white mug in her hands. Lifting the mug to her lips, she took a sip. The chocolaty taste of the cocoa made the corners of her mouth turn up in a small grin, and the warmth of it trickling down her throat and settling in her stomach, making the warmth spread out through the rest of her body made her relax. She told Luna of the nightmare.
"Well now, that was a scary nightmare.", Luna said.
"Stupid isn't it?"
"Quite the opposite. If you didn't have any nightmares after going through such an ordeal, I'd be more concerned.", Luna said thoughtfully. "After the wreck I was in that cost me my leg, I had horrible nightmares for months."
After they had finished drinking their hot cocoa, Luna placed the mugs in the sink and filled them with water to be washed out in the morning.
Luna helped tuck Sunset into bed and kissed her on the forehead. "Now if you have anymore bad dreams, I've got plenty of cocoa to help fight them off." ***
Sunset grumbled as she reached up to switch off the annoyingly ringing alarm clock. Throwing the pillow over her face, she just wanted to go back to sleep.
"~Sunset!~",Luna's sing-songy voice called out, "~Time to get up and get ready for school I've got breakfast cooking!~"
Sunset would have just pretended that she didn't hear Luna and go back to sleep, but the mention of breakfast made her stomach give a gurgling rumble. "Traitor!", she grumbled at her stomach. I simply gurgle-rumbled, almost in response. "Yeah yeah!", she grumbled back at her stomach as she threw off her sheet and blanket. Doing the stretches that she had learned a few days before to keep her legs limber, she prepared to get her day started. Pulling the wheelchair over, she climbed into it. Opening the drawers, she pulled out clothes for the day and made her way to the bathroom. Grabbing a towel from the linen closet, she entered into the bathroom and disrobed. Positioning the wheelchair so she could find an angle to easily and comfortably climb onto the toilet was a bit awkward, but she managed to do it with a little difficulty.
After Sunset had finished on the toilet, she climbed back on the wheelchair and wheeled over to the shower. Looking at the shower chair, it looked more like white plastic bench with aluminum tubes for handles that also served as armrests than a chair. She positioned herself to transfer from the wheelchair to the shower chair. That's when not taking the time to lock the wheelchair's brakes made itself known.
As she shifted her weight forward onto the shower chair, the wheelchair rolled backwards and sent Sunset sprawling onto the plastic bench, then to the floor with several thumps. "Ow! Ow! Dammit! Ow!"
Hearing the sound of a thump from the bathroom, then hearing Sunset shouting in pain made Luna forget what she was doing and hurry across the house. Opening the bathroom door, she saw Sunset on the floor struggling to sit upright. "Sunset! What happened?! Are you okay?!", she shouted as she hurried over to help the girl out.
"Yeah. I just forgot to lock the damn wheels on the wheelchair.", Sunset said, feeling more frustrated and embarrassed than anything else. "It was just a stupid accident."
Luna helped Sunset up to the shower chair and began checking her over. Fortunately she didn't appear to be hurt other than a bruised cheek. "Well you appear to be okay. Just make sure to lock your wheels in the future."
The sound of the kitchen smoke alarm followed by the scent of smoke made Luna realize that she left breakfast on the stove. "Oh ssssshhhhhhhitake mushrooms!", she shouted rushing out of the bathroom.
Sunset looked to the back of her retreating foster mother, then over to the wheelchair that was sitting on the far side of the bathroom. "I...uh...I got everything from here...I guess." Sliding herself across the shower chair, she closed the shower curtain as best as she could, grabbed the back brush and knocked down the handheld shower head.
Luna had cleared most of the smoke in the kitchen using the fan in the hood over the stove, and with a dish towel and an open window. She looked at the scorched remains that used to be fried eggs. "I guess it's toaster pastries for breakfast then.", she grumbled, fetching the box of foil-wrapped, sugar-frosted, artificially-flavored jam-filled pastries. Not exactly the most nutritious of breakfasts, but it was better than nothing. She hummed a jaunty tune in an attempt to better her mood as she took two of the pastries, placed them into the slots on the toaster and pushed the lever down. The jaunty, mostly-formless tune transformed into a nineteen-fifties show tune from a sappy musical as she walked over to the fridge to get the bottle of juice out. "~Good morning! Good Morning! It's great to stay up late! Good morning to you!~" The tune went back to humming as she placed the bottle of juice on the table. She did an odd skipping dance over to the cabinet to grab down two glasses. The pastries came up from the toaster with a pop. Putting down a plate next to it, she grabbed the two hot pastries and quickly put them down on the plate. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" She quickly rubbed her fingertips together to get rid of the heat, she really should have let them sit for a few minutes to cool before picking them down. Picking up the plate in one hand and carrying the two glasses in the other, she did her little skip dance over to the table, half humming-half singing her little tune.
Luna looked up from what she was doing when she heard the water in the shower turn off and Sunset bumping around in the bathroom. Crap! I forgot to move the wheelchair closer so Sunset could transfer over after she gets done. "Get you head in the game, woman!", she grumbled to herself as she walked across the house, "Sunset's going to need your help to relearn how to gain her independence again."
Luna opened the bathroom door and her eyes shot open in surprise. Sunset had not only finished her shower, but had dried herself off, lowered herself onto the floor, scooted across to her wheelchair, climbed into it and had gotten partially dressed.
Sunset, in her bra and panties, with her hair in a towel turban, was currently pulling a tee-shirt over her head. Popping her head through the neck of the shirt, she saw Luna standing in the bathroom doorway with a smile on her face. "Uh, hi."
"Everything going good?"
Sunset grabbed her pants and unfolded them. "Yep." Bunching up one of the legs of the pants, she looped a hand under her knee, she lifted her leg and slid it into the pant leg, then followed suit with the other pant leg.
Sunset lifted herself up off the wheelchair with one hand as she pulled up the pants with the other. "Let me help you with that.", Luna said stepping over and helped hold her foster daughter up as she got dressed.
Once Sunset was dressed, minus her socks and boots, she looked up at Luna. "So, what's for breakfast."
"Well, it was going to be eggs and bacon, but well...that got kinda burned. So it's toaster pastries, fresh out of the box. I'll give you some money when we get to school so you can go to the cafeteria and get some better breakfast." ***
After getting to school, Sunset wheeled through the hallways to the cafeteria. Though the toaster pastries were better than nothing, being composed mostly of sugar, they didn't last long. She stopped dead in her tracks. There was Rolling Thunder leaning up against the wall. The two girls locked eyes and for a moment Sunset was unsure of what was going to happen next.
For a long moment Sunset Shimmer and Rolling Thunder stared at each other. Tears welled up in Rolling's eyes and she turned hurrying to the restroom.
Sunset sat in the middle of the hallway for a few moments unsure of what to do. Blowing out a sigh, she knew what she had to do, something she wasn't too keen on, but she needed to do it. Gripping the wheels of her chair, she turned around and made her way to the girl's restroom.
"Ouch!"
Sunset felt her chair lurch and immediately knew what had happened, she ran over someone's foot. "I'm sorry. I've not had this chair for very long and am still getting used to it. I didn't mean to run over..." She paused looking into the brown eyes of a green-skinned girl. She wrack her brain, trying to place the name to the face.
Wallflower Blush took a few steps backwards and turned to get away from the former bully, not quite running, not quite walking. She slipped into the crowd of students and disappeared, just another body in the crowd.
Sunset shrugged, though she couldn't quite place the girl's face, she had other things to do and would ask her name later when she saw her again. Wheeling into the restroom, she followed the sound of crying. Reaching up a hand to knock on the stall door, she called out, "Rolling Thunder? I need to talk with you. Could you please come out?"
Rolling Thunder didn't answer, instead bitterly sob behind the stall door.
Sunset let out a small sigh. "I...uh...just...um*ahem*...how are you holding up?"
"It's unfair!", Rolling Thunder half-screamed, half-sobbed.
Sunset was taken off guard. "Uh...um..."
Rolling Thunder unlocked the stall and flung the door open. Her eyes red and puffy from crying, she stared into Sunset's eyes. "We just wanted to kick your ass. At least that's what I wanted to do, the three of us beat you down to send a message, then leave you on the bathroom floor. I didn't realize that he'd go all psycho and try to drown you or choke plant girl out. Lightning and I knew about Fuse's shitty home life,and one of us should have said something, but if you've ever met his dad, he's a scary guy, like really scary. He gave off 'I'll follow you home and murder you in your bed' vibes."
Sunset balked, her mouth felt dry. She didn't know Short Fuse's home life was so bad, just another of her sins laid bare for the world to see. "I deserve this." She slapped her legs. "Maybe worse."
"No!", Rolling said sharply. "You may have been the queen bitch, but nobody, no matter how bad they are or were, deserves to be left crippled, or dead in a box. And that's why it's unfair. If I had said something even just a couple of weeks ago on how bad Short Fuse's home life was, you'd still be able to walk, Short Fuse would still be alive and his dad would be behind bars."
"So where is his dad?", Sunset asked.
"You didn't hear?"
Sunset shook her head no.
Rolling sucked in a shaky breath and blew it out. "The cops had been trying to contact Short Fuse's dad for days after he shot you then himself. The cops kicked in the door to his house after the neighbors complained about a smell. Turns out Fuse had shot his dad that morning before coming to and everything went to shit."
Sunset tried to say something, but words wouldn't come. Her eyes stung as tears welled up.
Rolling Thunder hugged Sunset Shimmer as the two cried.
Lightning Dust went to step into the restroom and froze in her tracks in the doorway. Her hands clenched tightly into fists until her nails dug into her palms. There was Sunset Shimmer hugging the only best friend she had left, Rolling Thunder. Her heart was still aching over the death of Short Fuse and she was still plagued by the nightmares of seeing him put the pistol in his mouth and pull the trigger. She had managed to convince herself that Sunset was responsible for Short Fuse taking his own life, and that girl was currently hugging the only friend she had left. 'She's going to take the only friend you have left!', the dark part of her brain whispered.
With tears stinging her eyes and cheeks, Lightning Dust turned and ran. Going down the hallway as fast as her legs would carry her, the whole time teachers and other faculty shouting at her to stop running in the halls, she barrelled out of the door. Running towards the wooded patch near the back of the school, everything seemed to move by in a blur.
Lightning Dust screamed with all of her might as she punched and kicked a tree until her knuckles were bloody and her feet throbbed in pain.
From a window three girls watched. The first had yellow skin, red hair and brilliant orange eyes, the second had orange skin, purple hair and greyish-purple eyes, the third had white skin, green eyes and pink and purple-swirled hair. They whispered to each other and scribbled something down in their notebooks. ***
Principal Celestia looked through Cozy Glow's file as her "parents" sat in the office with their "daughter". The principal gave a few grunts before closing the new student's file. "Everything appears to be in order here, Mrs. Sunny Glow and Mr. Moon Glow."
'Sunny Glow' gave a broad smile. "That's good to hear, Missus Celestia--"
"It's Miss actually.", Celestia corrected, "I never married, though I prefer being called Principal Celestia."
"Ah. Well I am glad that my daughter here has been able to get enrolled in school.", 'Sunny' said, putting on her best broad, saccharine, phony smile.
'Moon Glow' reached over to pinch his 'daughter's' cheek. "I know it's a bit scary, schmoopy-popkins, moving all the way out here from Bethesda and starting at a new school where you know anybody."
Cozy Glow said nothing,just simply tolled her eyes. 'Dial it back, idiot! Or you'll blow our cover and then Number One will put a bullet in all of our brains.[/]'
Celestia smiled softly, she had been familiar with overprotective patents and their generally average parents. There was something that was off with Cozy Glow. Nothing that was immediately outstanding,just something with her gaze, it belonged to someone older than a "thirteen-and-a-half"-year old girl. She'd snoop in to it later. The last thing she needed right now was a scandal, especially since the school was still under investigation for the shooting.
Cozy Glow's 'parents' had stopped talking. Celestia had never let her mask slip, a skill she had learned long ago when dealing with people she didn't want to see her real emotions. "I'll have Vice-principal Luna show your daughter around the school and escort her to her first class." ***
Cozy Glow had sat down in her first class, eighth-grade literature. She scanned the room, after all decades of training to assess potential threats and potential targets to exploit, especially when the room is filled with eighth-graders.
"Howdy!", a voice drawled from her side.
Cozy coolly looked over to the yellow-skinned, orange-eyed, red-haired girl and gave her best impression of a nervous teenager's smile.
"Th' name's Apple Bloom. What's yers?" |
Chair-bound | Gabby Gums sees your sins | It had been almost a week since Sunset had moved into Luna's home. Still she slept on the futon because the bed Luna had ordered had yet to show up. Every night she had the same nightmare that made her immediately wake up soaked in sweat. And every night she and Luna would sit together in the kitchen and talk about it while sipping on hot cocoa. ***
*rrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnngggggg*
Sunset grumbled to herself as she reached over to switch off the alarm clock. She heard the sounds of frying as Luna sang a jaunty little tune in the kitchen. A heavenly aroma filled the house. "Mmm! Bacon!" Her stomach grumbled and gurgled in response. She patted it. "I know, I know! I'll get you some once I get done peeing, taking a shower and getting dressed."
Sunset did what was quickly becoming her normal morning routine of grabbing each leg one-by-one, lifting it, manually bending it at the knee and bringing the knee up to her chest. She did this a few times for each leg, then she manually bent and straightened each leg.
Once Sunset had finished her shower and getting dressed, she rolled out to the kitchen. Wheeling up to the kitchen table, she sat in an awkward silence as Luna touched the first two fingers of her right hand to her forehead, stomach and both shoulders, making the sign of the cross, then said a small prayer. Once Luna had finished her prayer, Sunset cut slices from the fried eggs to eat, taking bites from the crunchy strips of bacon and crispy wedges of toast.
Luna looked across the table at her foster daughter eating breakfast. "Sunset, do you mind if I ask a question about ponies where you originally came from?"
"Sure!", the fiery-haired girl said around a mouthful of food
"I've seen you eat bacon several times now. Is it normal for ponies to eat meat?"
Sunset swallowed her mouthful of food, took a swallow of juice and wiped her mouth. "Actually it is. Though our diets are largely vegetarian, we still eat eggs. We buy milk and cheese from cows. Many farmers keep pigs to use their waste as fertilizer, and butcher them for their meat and hides. We also eat fish and shellfish."
Luna's head spun for a moment. "Ponies buy milk and cheese from cows?!"
"Yup! Cows are as smart as you or I...well Equestrian cows anyways."
"And your farmers keep pigs for fertilizer, meat and hides?"
"Mmhmm! We use the hides to make leather and parchment. Their fat is used in cooking, and can be rendered down to make a base used in lubricants for machinery and certain inks. Their bones are used to make bone meal."
"What if someone wants a hamburger?"
"Most burgers are made from a mixture of ground pork and hay. I know most of the burgers here are made from cow, but in Equestria, cows are as smart as you and me, so killing one for its meat is both murder and cannibalism. And that's highly illegal."
Luna looked down at her plate as the thoughts of an infamous serial killer cannibal from a few decades ago went through her head. Finding that her appetite had left her, she laid her form on her plate. "I find it weird that ponies eat meat."
"It's not that weird.", Sunset said as she shoved another forkful of egg into her mouth. "Ponies and humans have similar evolutionary histories. Both our species evolved from an omnivorous common ancestor, though with ponies, it was a split-hoofed pony-like ancestor rather than an ape-like ancestor."
It was before the morning bell at Canterlot High. Most of the students were in the cafeteria eating breakfast or milling about in the hallways or the various breezeways chattering with their friends. A few of the students huddled together in the blind spots of the school smoking cigarettes, thinking they were somehow "cool".
Rolling Thunder stepped out of the stall in the girl's restroom. She stepped up to the sink to wash her hands. She took a step back from the sink to look herself over in the mirror. She straightened her collar, made sure her hair was in place, then pulled a tube of black lipstick from inside her jacket pocket.
Lightning Dust limped into the restroom where Rolling was touching up her lipstick. Her eyes were red and puffy. Fresh blood trickled from her knuckles and her feet throbbed with pain. The image of Short Fuse sticking the pistol in his mouth and blowing his brains out played out in her head every time she laid eyes on Sunset Shimmer. And every time that image played out in her mind, she would run away and punch and kick a tree or a wall or whatever as she screamed her voice ragged until her feet throbbed with pain and her knuckles were bloody and raw. Her hands trembled from a combination of the pain, the damage done to them and the adrenaline burning off.
Lightning felt sick to her stomach as she limped over to a sink. With trembling hands that felt numb from the pain, she clumsily reached for the knob and twisted it, turning on the cold water so she could wash the blood from her hands. Suddenly her stomach felt like it twisted into a pretzel. Grasping the edges of the sink, she began heaving. Only a bit of stomach bile came up as she had eaten nothing that morning.
"Lightning, are you okay?", Rolling Thunder asked.
Lightning Dust watched the mixture of blood, water and stomach bile swirl down the sink drain. She cupped her trembling hands together, gathered water into her palms from the spigot, sucked it into her mouth, swished it around,and spat it into the sink. "M'fine."
"You don't look fine. Did you get in a fight?"
"No."
"Did somebody jump you?"
"No."
"Did you jump somebody?"
"No."
"Then how did your knuckles get busted up?"
Lightning Dust looked down at her bloody knuckles. For the past week she had been kicking and punching trees, walls, lockers and anything else that met her wrath when the image of Short Fuse shooting himself entered her brain, of Sunset hugging Rolling Thunder, her friend...HER FRIEND! It's unfair! IT'S UNFAIR! That bitch gets to LIVE while Fuse rots in the ground?! Tears welled up in her eyes, and for some reason some part of her mind thought it was funny. "Heh. Heh-heh! Heh-heh-heh! Hee-hee-hee! Hoo-hoo-hoo! Hah-hah-hah-hah!" The laughter and the tears pour forth in equal amounts as the memories and images of Sunset Shimmer falling to the floor as a deep crimson stain spread across the front of her shirt, the spray of pink coming from Short Fuse's head a split second after he stuck the pistol in his mouth and pulled the trigger, the bright red pool forming around Short Fuse's head as he lay on his back, his glassy, sightless eyes staring up at the sky. She knew she shouldn't be laughing, but when she tried to stop, it just made more pour out, until she was cackling like a hyena. She threw her head back while laughing like a madwoman as tears joined the laughter.
Rolling Thunder took a few steps back. She wasn't sure what to do. She was watching her friend go insane before her very eyes and she didn't know what to do. "Uh...Lightning? Are you sure you're okay? I know I'd be a hundred kinds of fucked up if I saw Fuse shoot Sunset then--"
In that instant the laughing and the tears stopped. The grief and pain receded to reveal bald anger. She snapped around and began stalking towards Rolling Thunder.
Rolling Thunder felt her heart leap into her throat as almost like some flipped a switch, Lightning Dust stopped laughing and crying simultaneously, and quickly turned to face her. Her friend's face was a mask of pain and rage as she stalked forward. Rolling Thunder backpedaled across the tiled floor until her back was touching the white-painted cinder block wall. "Lightning? What's wr--"
"Don't!", Lightning Dust snarled. "Don't! You! Dare! You keep her name out your whore mouth!"
Anger filled Rolling Thunder and she stepped away from the wall to confront Lightning Dust face-to-face. Though Lightning was faster than her, she had a good four inches of height and a solid ten pounds over her. "What the fuck is your deal?!", she snapped as she bellied up to Lightning Dust.
"My deal? My deal?!", Lightning Dust growled through clenched teeth. "I saw you! I saw you with her! Traitor!"
Rolling Thunder blinked. "You saw me with who?"
"I saw you with her! Sluset Shimmer! What are you two now?! Girlfriends?! Fuck buddies?!" Lightning Dust's face turned morose. "You got with her and you forgot about me."
Rolling Thunder stared goggle-eyed at Lightning Dust. Something's bad wrong with her. "Lightning....you know as well as anybody that I don't date girls. Hell, I don't date boys either. Why didn't you come and talk to me or Sun--urk!"
Lightning Dust grabbed Rolling Thunder by her shirt collar and pinned her to the wall, choking the girl. "I. Told. You. Don't. Say. Her. NNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMEEEEEE!"
"Lightning! You're choking me!", Rolling Thunder croaked out.
Lightning Dust pulled Rolling Thunder away from the wall and shoved her across the tiled floor. "Go see Slutset and lick each other's pussies, or finger each other's assholes, or let her whore friends take turns on you, or whatever you sluts like to do! Don't ever talk to me again! I HATE YOU!"
Anger welled up in Rolling Thunder's chest and tears stung her eyes. Everything inside screamed for her to kick the ever loving shit out of Lightning Dust, but they had too much history together for her to take a swing. Something was terribly wrong with her friend and she didn't know what to do. Her hands trembled as tears ran down her cheeks and snot dripped from her nose. "Fine!", she shouted with a barking sob and ran out of the bathroom.
Lightning Dust walked over to one of the sinks so she could finish washing the blood from her hands. As the cold water ran over her hands, the anger began to burn away and the weight of what she had done began to settle in. Placing a hand on the mirror, she looked herself long and hard in the eyes. Anger and rage once again bloomed to life in her head. Only now she wasn't angry at Rolling Thunder, she was angry at the girl in the reflection. Balling up her hand into a fist, she drew it back and threw a punch at the mirror. "Fuck!", she screamed as spider web-like cracks spread across the mirror from under her fist. "Fuck!", she screamed again as she threw a punch with her other hand. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKK!", she screamed over and over and over again as she threw punch-after-punch-after-punch-after-punch at the mirror was nothing but broken shards.
Lightning Dust stared down at her trembling hands. Small pieces of broken mirror stuck from the flesh between her knuckles, dark red blood flowed from the wounds and down her fingers, where it dripped off into the sink. Turning on the faucet, she began washing the fresh blood from her hands as she pulled the pieces of broken mirror from her knuckles. Once she finished washing as much blood from her hands as she could, she pulled a green bandanna from her pocket, tore it in half and began wrapping her hands. It would have to do until she could steal some gauze from a first aid kit or the nurse's office to use as a better wrap.
Lightning Dust quickly looked around making sure no one was around or coming before bolting from the restroom.
Scootaloo had been one of the stalls listening, and occasionally peeking out as the events went down. She furiously scribbled what she had seen and heard on a notepad. After it was clear that Lightning Dust was gone, she came out of the stall. She looked at the aftermath of Lightning's mental breakdown, the bloodstains on the sink, the broken shards of mirror laying on the floor and in and on the sink, the pair of bloody knuckle-prints on the wall where the mirror used to be. She scribbled down a few more lines on the notepad before scampering out of the restroom. ***
Scootaloo sat in study hall. This was her free period. She waited for Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, her friends had the same free period as her. She didn't have to wait long, as first Sweetie Belle, then Apple Bloom, being accompanied by another girl, walked in.
"Hi, Scootaloo.", Sweetie Belle said in a slightly squeaky voice.
"Hiya, Scoots!", Apple Bloom said in a thick drawl.
"Who's this?", Scootaloo asked as she gestured to Cozy Glow.
"This here's my new pal! Her name's Cozy Glow!", Apple Bloom said, draping her arm around Cozy Glow's shoulders. "Cozy Glow, this here's my two bestest friends in the whole world, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle! And together we make up the..."
The three girls took in a deep breath and shouted,"THE CUTIE CRUSADERS! YAY!" They pulled capes that were gold on one side and red on the other, the capes had a shield stitched in the center of the gold side, from their backpacks. The three girls tied the capes around their necks and struck superhero poses as they imitated the sounds of fireworks.
The teacher sitting at the desk by the door shushed them.
"Let's take it outside!", Scootaloo whisper-shouted.
Once outside, the three girls gathered up around Cozy Glow.
"See, Ah toldja that my friends were cool!", Apple Bloom said.
"Gee golly whillakers!", Cozy Glow said in her most convincing and innocent-sounding tone she could muster. "What is it that the Cutie Crusaders do?"
All three girls gave halfhearted murmurs and scratched their heads. Sweetie Belle was the first to speak up. "I like taking pictures, Scootaloo likes creating websites, and Apple Bloom likes writing. So we decided to be..."
All three girls take in big breaths.
"CUTIE CRUSADER JOURNALISTS! YAY!"
Cozy Glow wiggled her fingers in her ears. How could three girls be as loud as a heavy metal concert?
"Oooo! Lookie-lookie, Silver Spoon! It's the flat-chested crusaders!", Diamond Tiara said as she walked up.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon snickered.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle wrapped their arms around their chests and slumped.
"That's not very nice, Diamond Tiara!", Apple Bloom snapped as she faced the rich girl bully. "Ah talked ta my sister an' she said Ah'd get mine when th' time was right, an' that she was a late bloomer too. Rarity an' Rainbow dash said they was late bloomers too! Ya ain't gotta rub it in our faces that'cha got yer tiddies a'fore us."
"Ooooo! Mi-mi-mi-mi-mi!", Diamond Tiara mocked as she flapped her hand in the imitation of a mouth. "You're just jealous that none of the boys talk to you because you look like a boy."
Cozy Glow steepled her fingers as a wicked smile spread on her lips. I think a perfect opportunity has revealed itself. She stepped up to Diamond Tiara, standing uptight. Though she had the mind of a well trained forty-five year old spy and assassin, she had the body of a fourteen year old girl, which meant that her body looked like it had two years longer of development over the twelve year old girl. "Golly! That's not very nice to say. Especially when compared to me, you look like you've got mosquito bites."
Diamond Tiara's face flushed bright red.
Silver Spoon covered her mouth as she snickered.
The Cutie Crusaders snickered.
Diamond Tiara snapped her head over to Silver Spoon, cutting her friend's snickering off, then back to Cozy Glow. "Why you...that's...but...farfignewton!", she sputtered, which made the Cutie Crusaders and Silver Spoon crack up laughing. Diamond Tiara was not amused in the least bit. "You...you...you...take that back!"
"Make me!"
"Why you!" Diamond Tiara made an improper fist by first laying her thumb across her palm then curled her fingers down over it. She reached back and threw a flailing, limp-wristed "punch".
Cozy Glow grabbed her by the wrist. In a fraction of a second a dozen of different moves ran through her head as her training instincts kicked in, she could break this girl's arm easily in three places, she could flip this girl down onto the pavement and stomp on her head, she could collapse this girl's trachea by punching her in the throat, she could bend this girl's knee backwards and then shatter her jaw by driving her own knee up into it, she could shove the ink pen in her dress' pocket into the girl's eye socket, she could pull one of the pencils in her dress pocket and stab this girl a half dozen times in the lung. Through what all her training and instincts were telling her to do, a voice whispered, a voice that had been ingrained into her from her youngest days of training. 'Don't blow your cover.' She tossed aside all the things she could do to maim, mangle or kill this girl, and instead opted for something that a middle school-aged girl would do. *slap*
Diamond Tiara recoiled from the slap. A bright red handprint formed on her cheek as she stood stunned for a moment. Once her brain caught up that she'd been hit, she brought her hand up to her cheek and felt the hot, slowly rising welt there. "You...you-you-you...hit me!"
Cozy Glow stood defiantly. "Because you tried to hit me." Consider yourself lucky that all I did was slap you. Also, get someone to teach you how to make a fist and throw a punch. If I had let you hit me, you would have broken your thumb.
"NOBODY HITS ME!"
The Curie Crusaders took positions on either side of Cozy Glow. "So what'cha gon' do 'bout it?", Apple Bloom asked.
"I'll tell on you and get you in trouble!"
Cozy Glow pointed at the surveillance camera that had been pointed at their position the whole time. "Do it and you'll get in trouble too."
The Cutie Crusaders "Ooo'd" at that.
"Well I--well I...gah!" Diamond Tiara threw her arms up in frustration, then turned on her heel and stormed off. "Come on, Silvy. We got better things to do than mess around with the boy-chest crusaders and their new 'pal'." She looked over her shoulder as she stormed off with Silver Spoon and glared at Cozy Glow. I'll get you back for this!
After Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon left, the Cutie Crusaders let out a collective sigh.
"That...was...AWESOME!", Scootaloo shouted, making Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle flinch. "You were like a ninja! When she tried to hit you, you were all like, WAH-CHA!...and caught her hand! Then you went, WHAM!...and slapped her on the face!" She waved her hands in a series of chopping motions. "Where'd you learn those sweet moves?"
"Umm...from watching Kung-fu movies and karate videos on UsTube.", Cozy Glow said, trying to sound as innocent as possible. "Golly! You don't think I hurt her, do ya?"
"Nah! Not too bad.", Apple Bloom said. "Mostly jus' her pride. Though she'll be lucky if'n anything tastes right ever again."
"So about the Cutie Crusaders...can I join your club.", Cozy asked as she twisted the toe of her shoe on the pavement.
The crusaders huddled up and whispered. Cozy Glow sat silently as she read their lips, she knew that they had decided to let her join and now they were arguing about what would happen if you dunked a turtle into nuclear waste.
"We've come to a conclusion.", Apple Bloom said. "You get to be a...
*deep breath*
"CUTIE CRUSADER! YAY!", all three shouted.
Sweetie Belle pulled a pencil box out of her backpack and flipped it open. Pulling out a sheet of stickers, she peeled one off that was in the shape of a shield with "CC" in bubble letters on either side of the shield and stuck it to the shoulder of Cozy's dress. "Rarity helped me design these stickers. It will hafta do until we can get you your own cape."
Cozy Glow looked down at the sticker on her dress. She clapped her hands and jumped up and down in place."Ohhh! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"You're not an official crusader yet, even though we all agree you're in.", Scootaloo said.
Cozy Glow put on the best puppy dog eyes and pouty lip she could muster as she gave a fake sniffle. "I-I'm not?"
"Nope!", Apple Bloom said. "At least not until yer initiation."
"She gets to burst into flames?! I wanna burst into flames!", Scootaloo exclaimed.
"Ah said initiation, not ignition, ya idjit!", Apple Bloom said."Ya know, th' ceremony that makes her an official Cutie Crusader."
"I knew that.", Scootaloo said.
"Did not!", Apple Bloom retorted.
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
"Too!"
"Not!"
The two girls got face-to-face.
"Too-too-too-too-too-too-too!"
"Not-not-not-not-not-not-not-not!"
"Did too times infinity!"
"Did not times infinity plus one!"
Sweetie Belle shoved her way in between Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. "Girls! Let's not fight. Cozy Glow's ini...initi...uh, joining ceremony, remember?"
"So what's this ceremony gonna be like?", Cozy Glow asked. I'm pretty sure it's not going to have booze, cocaine and an orgy.
"It's a secret, wwwwwwwwooooooooo!~", the three girls said in spooky voices as they wiggled their fingers.
"If'n ya can, come by my place tuhnight. We'll have a sleepover in th' Cutie Crusader Clubhouse.", Apple Bloom said. ***
Cozy Glow sat in the back of the car as Underhand, the agent who was posing as her mother drove them to Sweet Apple Acres. "Are you sure I won't need a pistol?"
"They're twelve year old girls, not M-I-six agents or child soldiers. You're going to eat junk food, tell scary stories and watch dumb movies...maybe call and hang up on boys. They're not going to attempt to topple a government, assassinate an elected official or attempt to blackmail a CEO in a honeypot scheme."
"When I was twelve, I had already assassinated two different world leaders and discredited a member of the Russian parliament.", Cozy said as she reached into her rolled up sleeping bag and ran her thumb over the suppressed Beretta's safety.
"Well not all of us were raised in a Specter program, groomed to be a spy and assassin from the time we were three. Most of us had normal...or at least semi-normal childhoods growing." Underhand glanced in the rear view mirror and raised an eyebrow. "You brought a sidearm, didn't you?" She stretched her hand back. "You know the first rule of any deep cover mission."
"Do nothing to compromise the mission and don't blow your cover.", Cozy Glow said with a sigh. She pulled out the pistol and laid it in Underhand's hand.
"Geez! No need to go all James Bond. They're just three twelve year old girls.", Underhand said as she slid the pistol between the seats. "You got any other weapons on you I should know about?"
"Just a stiletto jackknife.", Cozy said. "It's a little memento I took from a Narco about ten years ago who had threatened to drop the dime on a Specter weapons facility in the hopes of getting some leniency on his sentence. The guy had a taste for young girls. The look on his face was priceless when I jammed his own knife into his throat." She put on an innocent act as she batted her eyes, pouted her lip and put an innocent uptick in her voice as she said, "The only reason why I brought the pistol is because the Apple farm sits on the edge of some dark and scary woods. Gee golly, you don't think there are some dangerous animals that could show up, do ya?"
"Buh! Don't talk like that around me when we're alone!", Underhand said with a shudder. "And, no. I don't think there's any dangerous animals that will show up this close to the city."
As the car pulled up to the farmhouse, Cozy Glow and Underhand quickly got into character as "daughter" and "mother".
The car pulled to a stop and Cozy Glow got out. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle ran up to her squealing. The three girls and one secret forty-five year old woman jumped up and down in place as they squealed and giggled and shouted.
Applejack and Big Mac walked over to the driver's side window. "Dun ya worry yer head none, missus Glow. Cozy here'll be safer'n a baby calf in a field of pillows. Ain't that right, Macintosh?"
"Eeyup!"
"Oh, I'm not worried about Cozy Glow. The girl's tougher than she looks. I'm sure she'll be safe and have fun.", Underhand said in her best soccer mom voice.
"C'mon, Cozy Glow!", Apple Bloom said excitedly. "Let's get to th' clubhouse."
Cozy Glow let out a whistle as she looked up at the clubhouse nestled in a three-way fork of an apple tree. It looked like it could be a regular house. "This is your clubhouse?"
Apple Bloom buffed her fingernails on her shirt. "Eeyup! Built it myself."
"Bwah?!"
"Applejack provided me with ev'rything Ah needed. Hammer, nails, saw, screwdriver, screws, planks, buckets o' paint. Took me near on three days ta finish. 'Course Ah cheated a lil. It was her clubhouse first. The joists were still in pretty good shape, ev'rything else was fallin' apart."
"Three days! By herself!", Cozy Glow wheezed as she stared blankly at the clubhouse.
Scootaloo waved her hand in front of Cozy Glow's face. "Apple Bloom, I think you broke her." ***
Cozy Glow had put that Apple Bloom had practically built a clubhouse the size of a studio apartment all by herself in three days on the back burner of her mind, that would have to be tested some other time...if she had the spare time. She was pretending to enjoy herself at the sleepover. The "secret initiation" was nothing more than the girls chanting some nonsense, then proclaiming she was now a Cutie Crusader. Sweetie Belle had presented Cozy Glow with a cape she made herself.
The three girls and Cozy Glow tied the capes around their necks and struck dramatic superhero poses while they made fireworks sounds with their mouth.
Then the feast of soda, s'mores, candy and other tooth-rotting goodness began. After twenty minutes of stuffing her face with s'mores, candy bars, snack cakes, a whole host of hard and soft candies, and washing it all down with soda-after-soda, Cozy Glow began to feel a bit sick. Never in her life had she eaten this much refined sugar and processed flower, she had trained since she was a toddler how to be an assassin and a spy, not stuff her face with candy and soda and snack cakes and all sorts of other junk foods, but she still forced herself to power through it.
"Boom-shaka-laka-shaka-laka!", Scootaloo shouted as she started shaking an unopened soda can.
"Dun ya do it, Scoots!", Apple Bloom said sternly as she shook her finger. "Ah! Ah! Dun!"
Scootaloo continued to chant,"Shaka-laka-laka-shaka-laka-laka!" She grabbed the tab, pulled it and shouted,"BOOM!"
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Cozy Glow dove for cover as sugary, sticky, fizzy, brown liquid sprayed through the air, though it was for naught as they wound up getting sprayed with it.
Apple Bloom tackled Scootaloo to the floor, snatched up an unopened soda can and began shaking it. "Let's see how ya like it!" With a hiss of carbonation, she cracked the shaken up soda can in Scootaloo's face.
Scootaloo opened her mouth as she tried to catch as much of the soda spraying in her face as possible. She only caught a little bit in her mouth.
Cozy Glow broke out in giggling snorts as she pointed at the soda soaked Scootaloo. The sugar high was getting to her. *splat* She wiped off her face and looked down at the remains of a snack cake. She glared at Sweetie Belle who was holding her sides as she guffawed.
"I'm sorry *wheeze* I'm sorry!", Sweetie said between wheezing guffaws. "I was trying to *wheeze* to toss you a cream puff not *wheeze* hit you in the *snort*" Her snort sent her rolling on the floor with a new bout of guffaws.
Sweetie Belle sat up. "I'm sorry Cozy. I didn't--" *splat* A tube-shaped, cream-filled yellow spongy snack cake hit her square on the nose. Cozy Glow had thrown it and was now laughing her ass off.
The clubhouse broke out into a four-way food fight. Snack cakes and marshmallows flew through the air, as shaken up cans of soda sprayed cones of their sticky, sugary, carbonated contents.
The food fight lasted barely twenty minutes before the three girls and Cozy Glow had run out of "ammunition" and the sugar high had burned off. They lay amongst the mess chuckling and panting.
"Welp! Best we start cleanin' up this here mess, a'fore th' ants git in here.", Apple Bloom said.
"Aw man!", Scootaloo griped.
Sweetie Belle sang a happy tune in her bell-like voice as the crusaders began cleaning up the mess they'd made. Fortunately there had been a spigot with a water hose outside the clubhouse. Apple Bloom used it to wash the sticky stuff off of the walls and floor, and out the trap door concealed in the floor. The three girls and Cozy Glow stepped out of the clubhouse and each took turns washing the stickiness out of their hair and from their faces with the water hose.
Once everything had dried up, the girls and Cozy glow went back inside and grabbed their sleeping bags. Cozy Glow had forgotten that she had hidden the switchblade in her sleeping bag and it fell out, clattering on the floor when she unrolled it.
Scootaloo quickly snatched up the switchblade. When Cozy Glow tried to take it back, she snatched away. Pressing the button to make the blade flip out with a spring loaded *snik!* She exclaimed with wide, glittering eyes, "Oh cool! It'sjust like from that biker movie, 'Rebel without a Clue'!" She began making stabbing motions in the air. "Take that ya filthy coppers!", she said imitating the main character.
"Give that back!", Cozy Glow snapped. "It's not a toy!"
"Scoots, you shouldn't play with knives. Big Mac taught me that knives are dangerous tools an' someone could get hurt if'n you play with'em. Give Cozy back her knife."
Scootaloo gave a huff. "Fine, ya sissies!" She pressed the button on the handle and was shocked when it didn't close. "Wait...how do I...it always works like this in the movies."
*knock-knock-knock*
The door to the clubhouse swung open and Applejack stepped in. "Jus' checkin' in on ya girl ta see how y'all're--Scootaloo! Where in tarnation didja get a jackknife?! Give it here a'for ya cut yer cockamamie fingers off!" She quickly forward and plucked the knife from Scootaloo's hand.
"It fell out of Cozy's sleeping bag.", Scootaloo said meekly.
Applejack pushed the blade lock down on the switchblade and folded the knife shut. "Cozy Glow, is that true? You had this here weapon in yer sleepin' bag?"
Cozy Glow put her hands behind her back, twisted the tips of her toes back and forth on the floor, and gave the puppy dog eyes. "Uh-huh. I had forgotten that I had put it in my sleeping bag, and when I opened it, it sorta...fell out. Golly gee! I didn't mean for nobody to get in trouble!"
"An' where'd you get this knife?", Applejack asked as she shoved the switchblade into her hatband.
"It was my grandfather's. He was a soldier in the war. He was very brave. Daddy gave it to me. He told me to keep it safe and that it might one day save my life."
Applejack mused on Cozy's story. Though her story made sense, there was a niggling doubt scratching at the back of her mind. Every instinct was saying that there was more to little miss Glow's story, but she didn't have anything to disprove it, so she decided to drop it. "Nobody was hurt, so ain't nobody in trouble. Ah'll hang on to this fer tonight, 'cause th' last thing we need is one o' you girls loppin' off a finger or two." She looked straight at Scootaloo at that last part. "Other'n Scoots playin' with a knife, looks like ev'rybody's doin' pretty good. So Ah'll let y'all get back ta yer slumber party. AN' dun worry yer head none, Cozy. Ah'll give ya yer knife back in th' mornin'." With that she left, softly closing the door behind her.
"Whew!", Scootaloo exclaimed as she wiped her brow with the back of her hand. "I thought I was in deep doo-doo."
"Just be glad we cleaned up a'fore the knife fell out of Cozy's sleepin' bag.", Apple Bloom said. "We'd'a been up Schitt's Creek without a paddle."
"Huh?", Scootaloo and Sweetie Belles said simultaneously.
"Jus' somethin' Ah heard Applejack an' Big Mac say. They said Schitt was a man who owned a creek that was dangerous ta go on without a paddle.", Apple Bloom explained.
"Makes sense to me.", Sweetie Belle said. "It's a shame that Mr. Schitt had such a dangerous creek. So what do you girls want to do now?"
"Didn't you girls say you wanted to be journalists?", Cozy Glow asked.
"Yeah!", the three girls said.
"Ah took down some notes o' th' things Ah saw folks doin' and what they were talkin' 'bout.", Apple Bloom said.
"Me too!", Scootaloo exclaimed. "I even got some juicy notes from when I heard Lightning Dust and Rolling Thunder having a fight."
"Why don't you two take your notes out so we can see and compare them?", Cozy Glow asked.
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom took their notepads out of their bags.
"You've got some good stuff here.", Cozy Glow said after she flipped through the pages. She paid special attention to the notes taken about Lightning Dust. This girl's got some raw talent and a high pain tolerance. I bet with a little post-hypnotic suggestion and some brainwashing, she could make the perfect unaware sleeper agent. "Did any of you girls get any good photos or videos?"
"I got a funny video of the janitor.", Sweetie Belle said with a snicker. "He was washing the wall where someone had thrown up. It kinda looks like he's peeing! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ah!" She clutched her sides as she rolled on the floor laughing.
"Really?! Lemme see!", Scootaloo excitedly shouted.
Sweetie Belle took her phone out of her bag and pulled the video up. All three girls gathered around the phone.
"OH MY GAWD!", Apple Bloom shouted. "It does look like he's peein'!"
"Looks like you've got a full bladder buddy. Just peeing all over that wall!", Scootaloo exclaimed. "Cozy! You gotta see this!" She turned the phone around so that Cozy Glow could see.
Cozy Glow gave a chuckle. The janitor was spraying down the wall with a hose and from the angle it was shot at, it looked a little like he was peeing.
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom pulled out their phones and began flipping through the videos they'd shot.
With the girls momentarily distracted, Cozy Glow steepled her fingers as a malicious thought began running through her mind. I could use these girls to gather information on everyone at the school and find out what caused the massive EMP spikes. I'll help them set up a slam page that airs everyone's dirty little secrets to keep the kids distracted, and when the time comes, I'll grab whatever caused the spikes. The best part is that there's no need to cause any chaos personally, just tweak the teenage rumor mill a little.
"Oh my god, Apple Bloom! You got a video of Ditzy accidentally trashing the art room?!", Scootaloo shouted. "Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Look at all that paint and all that pottery fly! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Oh,this is going to be easier than I thought. "Scootaloo. You said you like making websites?", Cozy asked.
"Yeah. I made the official Rainbow Dash fan page. She's so cool!"
"How about we make an unofficial school news site? We can create a MyStable, Faceplace, Skwakr and Diddit accounts for it, and post up the latest so the students can find the site easier." Since the advent of the internet, it made her job much easier. This was going to be a cakewalk, she wasn't going to use her manipulation and subterfuge skills to tear down a multi-billion, multi-national corporation, or cause chaos and anarchy in a nation, she was going to use her skills to pit a whole bunch of hormone-addled teenagers against one another. And the best part, those three girls were going to be her unaware accomplices and unknowing fall guys if things went sour. "Sweetie Belle, you're really good at taking pictures and videos, right?"
Sweetie Belle nodded her head. "Yeah. But why would we make a school news site when the school already has one?"
"This isn't going to be an official school news site. We'll let the official one talk about things like the sports teams, the various clubs, upcoming events and the like. What this site will do is talk about the things that the official school news site doesn't consider newsworthy."
"You mean things like who's dating who, or what people are wearing?", Sweetie asked.
"Booooorrrrrr-ring!", Scootaloo said with gusto. "We can do articles about people getting into fights. Have videos of people falling down, like that video of Ditzy accidentally trashing the art room."
"Ah dunno.", Apple Bloom said. "Ah dun wanna do nuthin' that will hurt people."
"We could videos of people picking their noses or scratching their butts! Ewww!", Sweetie Belle said as she kicked her feet.
"Yeah Yeah! We can do video of people's pants falling down, showing everyone their underwear!", Scootaloo said full of excitement.
"And we can have articles of spooky, scary and weird stuff. Things like any ghosts, demons, werewolves and strange lights seen at the school.", Cozy Glow added.
"Ooooo! Spooky fun!", Sweetie Belle said.
"So how're we gonna do this without gettin' caught?", Apple Bloom asked.
"Easy!", Scootaloo chimed in. "I can make the designs of the website on my laptop, then transfer it onto a thumb drive. Then I can upload the designs to a domain from a computer in the school library or computer lab."
"That's a little easy to get caught, don't'cha think?", Cozy asked. "I mean it's not like you can sneak in and use the computers there without someone noticing."
"Yeah!", Apple Bloom said. "We can use th' computers at th' public library an' at coffee shops. An' we can't get in trouble with th' principals or teachers 'cause we won't be at school when we do it."
"Who's the best at editing photos and videos?", Cozy Glow asked.
"That'd be me.", Scootaloo said.
"And who's the best at creative writing?", Cozy asked.
"Yo!", said Apple Bloom.
"Excellent!", Cozy Glow said softly. "Now we just need a name for the site.", she said louder.
"How about Anon-A-Miss?", Sweetie asked.
"Nah! We'd be copying the folks who hang out on four-chin.", Scootaloo said. "How about Peeping Eye?"
"No. That makes us sound like perverts.", Apple Bloom said. "Hmm!" She taped her chin in thought. "I've got it! We call the site Gabby Gums!"
"Ooo! I like it!", Sweetie said excitedly.
"Gabby Gums it is!", Scootaloo said. "We've got all weekend to get it set up." She pulled the laptop out of her bag and began working.
As all three girls gathered around Scootaloo's laptop, Cozy Glow pulled out her phone and sent a message through the Specter app to the agents posing as her parents.
BBYDLL: Found a potential student who might be a candidate for post-hypnotic programming and brainwashing. Her name is Lightning Dust. She exhibits a high pain tolerance and is an athlete. Her mental trauma might make it easier to break her down and build her up again.
NDRHND: Will keep an eye on her and track her motions. Besides her pain tolerance and trauma, why do you consider her a candidate for the marionette program?
BBYDLL: In the event I need muscle to acquire information or to cause mayhem in the event my cover gets blown. Plus we can milk her for information. In the event we wind up not having any use for her, we can program a self-terminate protocol. She'll just be another teenage suicide statistic.
BCKSTB: Will keep a watch out for her and upon your order, we'll nab her.
Cozy Glow closed the Specter app on her phone. Underhand was always cautious, maybe a bit overly cautious. But being overly cautious was sometimes a good thing and Cozy trusted Underhand's instincts. Back-stab was a perfect shadow. He could disappear into a crowd, completely melt into any persona until his personality was unrecognizable from the persona that served as his front. Plus he had no qualms about killing or abducting anyone, regardless of age, status or title.
***THREE DAYS LATER***
The Gabby Gums website went live on Sunday afternoon. A smattering of edited videos and pictures had been uploaded onto it. Alerts went out across the social media pages created to boost its popularity.
Monday morning rolled around and students were already sharing links to videos and pictures that had been posted up on Gabby Gums. They laughed at the heavily edited video that made the janitor look like he was peeing on a wall, complete with yellow stream.
Ditzy walked through the halls of the school. Students holding up their phones snickered and laughed as she walked past. The grey-skinned, blonde-haired, golden-eyed girl raised an eyebrow as she walked past. The students whispered and snickered as she continued walking past. Their snickering and whispering was accompanied with them pointing their phone's cameras at her began to annoy her. She turned to face a small group of them, three boys, Hoops, Dumb-Bell and Score. "What's your--woop!" He feet got tangled up with each other and she fell, face-planting on the floor.
As Ditzy lifted her head up from the floor, blood trickling from her nose, Dumb-Bell jumped forward, phone in his hands, it was clear he was filming her. "Epic ffffffaaaaaiiiiiiilllll!", he shouted. "Yo, dudes! Did you get that?", he shouted to Score and Hoops as the three ran off.
Sunset rolled up and reached a hand down to help Ditzy up. A dour look was on her face.
"Wh-what's going on? Why's everyone laughing at me?", Ditzy asked as she rose to her feet.
Sunset blew out a sigh."Ditzy...there's a new website that went up this weekend. It has a bunch of videos and pictures of people...well I think it's better if I show you." She flipped her phone around to show Ditzy the video and pressed the play button.
The video showed Ditzy walking into the art room as dopey music played. When the video showed her tripping and accidentally knocking over, air horns blew as a deep, echoing voice shouted,"EPIC FAIL!", accompanied by big, bold, flashing letters saying the same.
"It's not my fault! It's not my fault!", Ditzy cried.
Sunset looked around the hall and scowled at the snickering students who were holding out their phones, hoping to catch another video of Ditzy falling. "Come on. Let's go somewhere where there's not so many assholes around."
Sunset and Ditzy made their way to the concrete picnic tables near the rear of the school.
Ditzy flopped down on the bench and buried her face in her hands. "It's not my fault!"
"I know, Ditzy. I know.", Sunset said as she laid her hand on the distraught girl's shoulder.
"It's not my fault! I have a neurological disorder. It screws up my eyes and robs me of my depth perception. It makes it so that I have trouble knowing where my arms and legs are, and sometimes I have the weird seizures where my arms and legs go wild."
Sunset was momentarily stricken silent. "I'm such a bitch.", she said with a sigh. "Ditzy, I want to apologize to you. For nearly three years I made fun of you because I thought you were clueless and clumsy. I called you such mean names and the whole time you did nothing but smile back."
"It's okay.", Ditzy said, patting Sunset on her knee. She realized what she had done and recoiled her hand."I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to...I mean--"
"It's okay.", Sunset said cutting Ditzy off. "You didn't mean anything by it."
"But-but your legs--"
"Are numb, not diseased." Sunset slapped her thigh to demonstrate. "See? Can't feel a thing."
"H-how far are you...ya know?"
"From my hips down. Don't worry, I don't need a diaper or a catheter or whatnot. I can feel when I need to go."
"Well...that's good...I guess." ***
Wednesday rolled around and Gabby Gums was still rolling strong.
Principal Celestia was walking through the hallway. Students began whispering chants of, "Cake! Cake! Cake!", from behind after she passed. She raised an eyebrow at the whispered chanting, but otherwise gave no indication that she heard them or even cared, over the years as an educator, she had experience many of the boys...and a few of the girls, whispering lewd comments as she passed. Teenagers with raging hormones and still developing minds hadn't learned the finer points of checking out someone subtly. Turning a corner where there were no students, she stopped and ran her hands across her backside. "Maybe I have plumped out a little. I'm not a spring chicken anymore."
As Celestia walked up to her office door, two students came walking out. One whispered to the other,"You think she'll like them?" "You know she likes it and maybe it'll keep us out of detention.", the other whispered back.
Celestia raised an eyebrow at that. Walking into her office, she paused. There sitting on her desk were two boxes, one white, the other pink, they looked like pastry boxes. Lifting the lid on the pink box, she stared at the deep, dark brown frosting on a cake. A German chocolate cake to be exact. "Huh! Why would a student bring me a whole cake?" She lifted the lid of the white box. A cake with pale yellowish-white frosting sat in the box with pecan halves decorating the edges. She dipped a finger into the frosting and tasted it. Buttercream frosting. She pushed some of the frosting aside to look at the pastry beneath the frosting. Her suspicions were confirmed, red velvet cake. She made the sign of the cross. "Thank you Jesus for your blessings. Now to figure out why those two brought me cakes."
Luna stepped into Celestia's office.
"Luna, look at this. Two students brought me cakes. The quandary is why."
Luna pulled the phone out of her pocket. "Celly, I think I've got the solution to your mystery. This weekend someone from this school created a new website called Gabby Gums."
"So? Students make websites all the time. Lemme guess, it's a 'bring the principal cakes' website."
"Not quite.", Luna pulled up the site and clicked on the link for the picture. It showed Celestia sitting at the teacher's table, she was holding a slice of cake in her hand, bringing it up to her mouth to take a bite, the caption read,"Principal Celestia really likes her cake!", in bold, blocky white all caps letters.
Celestia chuckled."So somebody took a picture of me at lunch going ham on a piece of cake and now some students are pranking me by bringing me cake. Big deal. This'll blow over when a video of a cute kitten sneezes in a funny way pops or someone comes up with another silly dance on ClipClop."
"It's not like that, Celly.", Luna said. She clicked on other links, some led to pictures done up in meme formats, some had ridiculous captions, others had mean captions. Some of the links led to videos of students having awkward and inconvenient things happen to them. "There's also articles on here, some of them are accusing students of cheating on tests, or their boyfriends or girlfriends. Others are saying really really mean rumors about some of the students or airing their dirty laundry. This site has already sparked a few fights and some new rounds of bullying. There are even heavily edited pictures and videos of some of the faculty making them look like they're doing...inappropriate things."
Celestia pursed her lips in thought. "Let's keep an eye on this website. If it lasts longer than to the end of next week, or any bullying inspired by it really ramps up, I'll call in a favor to track them down. Then we'll deal with whichever students are behind it."
"I'll ask the staff who oversees the computer lab to check the site's IP address. If nothing else, we can figure out where they're uploading from and then move forward from there.", Luna said.
Rainbow was in the locker room stripping out of her athletic gear. Soccer practice was over. The drying sweat clinging to her skin made her feel gross and she wanted nothing more than to get a shower. Several of the girls were in various stages of undress. Some of them were looking at their phones and snickering. "Are you guys on that Gabby Gums website again? Yeah, a few of the pictures and videos on there are funny, but most are just mean. C'mon guys, you're better than that."
"This article has you in it.", Fleetfoot said.
"Oh really? I bet it talks about how awesome I am!"
"Not really.", Spitfire said. "you might want to read this. It's kinda messed up."
Rainbow Dash pulled her phone out of her bag and pulled up the site. She quickly found the article. Above the headline it had photos of the heads of her, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Sunset Shimmer, Rolling Thunder, and Lightning Dust. She read the article.
Lightning Dust and Rolling Thunder friendship over? Lover's quarrel? Breakup? Cheating? Lesbian orgy?
I, Gabby Gums, recently came across the news about a quarrel between Lightning Dust and Rolling Thunder. According to reliable witnesses, Lightning Dust accused Rolling Thunder of having sexual relations with the former(?) bully, Sunset Shimmer and her new friends, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Applejack. Is there any truth to these accusations? Has Lightning Dust and Rolling Thunder broken up? Did Rolling Thunder cheat on her ex-girlfriend?
Rainbow Dash read the article, closed the page, clicked her phone off and tossed it in her bag. "Uncool."
"So, is it true? Are you having nasty seven-way orgies with your friends and Rolling Thunder?", Gilda asked as she pulled her jersey off.
"What?! No!"
"What about you and Sunset Shimmer? I bet you've got a thing for cripples.", Mist Fly said with a half-snicker.
"No way, man! Did you all forget that until after what happened at the formal, Sunset was a total C-U-Next-Tuesday?", Rainbow said. "Is she hot? Yes. Would I fuck her? No. Because I don't see her that way."
"I bet you're totally a cripple crusher.", Misty Fly said. "I bet you're all, 'Oh Sunset! Let's do it in your wheelchair! Mwah! Mwah! Mwah! Mwah!'" She turned her back on Rainbow as she made kissy sounds, running her hands up and down her sides.
The other girls began laughing.
"No way! Misty Fly, you're taking it too far!", Rainbow snapped.
"Relax, bish! Don't get your ovaries twisted in a knot. I'm just joshing you.", Misty Fly said. "We all know you've got eyes for Applejack."
Rainbow's cheeks turned rosy."Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa-ha-ha-ha-ha-aaaaaaaaaaaaat?! Naw!"
"Oh yeah! You totally do!", Gilda said. "You wanna smash that apple so hard that applesauce comes out."
Rainbow's face felt like it was on fire. She sputtered as her brain forgot how to form words.
"What. The. FUCK!", Rolling Thunder's voice shouted from outside.
"Oh shit!", Gilda said. ***
Friday rolled around and the school was abuzz about the latest things on Gabby Gums. Some students bickered about their dirty laundry, one accusing the other of being Gabby Gums, or talking to them, spilling their secrets. Some students mocked and bullied other students because of some embarrassing picture or video. A few students got into fist fights over what was posted upon the site. Copycat sites started to pop up, created by other students.
Over at Crystal Prep Academy, a lavender-skinned student wiped the tears from her eyes. Someone had secretly taken a picture of her while she was changing in the locker room in just her granny panties and beige bra and posted it up on one of the Gabby Gums copycat sites along with her cellphone number. Almost immediately she began receiving lewd messages from guys asking for nude pictures, or sending unsubtle innuendo-laden messages...more than a few sent her lewd pictures of their parts. She had always had trouble in social situations that made it hard for her to make friends. This new set of unwanted harassment drove a wedge further between her and her fellow students. Tomorrow she'd get a new phone and number. In it would be the only numbers she could trust, her parents, her brother and her former babysitter. From inside her backpack came a yip. Unzipping the backpack, she revealed a small purple dog with light green ears and underbelly, a darker green fluff of hair atop its head, and light purpleish-grey spots on its barrel. She let the dog leap out of her backpack and began scratching its ears. She giggled when the dog kicked its hind legs as she scratched its hindquarters."Oh Spike, you're the best friends a girl can have!"
Cozy Glow strode through the hallways of Canterlot High. The chaos was building and had reached the point where it was palpable. The whole social setting at the school was reaching a volatile state, it wouldn't be long until all it needed was a single spark to set the whole place off, and she was holding the metaphorical box of matches. Today was not the day she set the social setting of the school ablaze, no, she had another task occupying her focus. It was reaching the end of the school day and she was a predator setting its ambush for a very specific prey.
Lightning Dust sat in a stall in the girl's restroom. She peeled the old gauze off of her hands. Her knuckles were still bloody and raw. They would have already begun healing if she would stop punching hard things, but she couldn't make herself stop, the pain of punching trees, walls and lockers was the only thing that kept the horrible images of her friend taking his life pushed down. She had started wearing shirts that were a few sizes too big so she could use the long sleeves to hide her hands. She had pulled away from all her social groups, and even stopped going to soccer practice. She gave a halfhearted chuckle as she flexed her fingers, in spots she swore she could see the muscle. She pulled a tube of antibiotic ointment and a couple sealed packs of sterile gauze she had stolen from the nurse's office out of her pocket. Screwing the lid off the ointment squeezed a dollop onto the bloody knuckles of her right hand, tearing open the gauze packet, she used the gauze to smear the ointment over her raw knuckles, then wrapped her hand with the gauze. She then did the same process for her left hand.
Once she was finished wrapping her hands, Lightning Dust screwed the cap back on the tube of ointment and stuffed it back into her pocket. She gathered up the bloody gauze and the empty gauze packets. Walking to the trashcan, she stuffed the bloody gauze and the empty packets down inside so nobody would accidentally see them. Pulling her overlong sleeves down over her hands, she loitered in the restroom awaiting the final bell so that she could disappear into the crowd and slip out of the school. The phone in her pocket chirped, it was probably Rainbow Dash, or Spitfire, or someone else from the soccer team texting her. She didn't bother to pull it out to even see who it was, in fact she had stopped answering texts all together. She didn't know why she kept her phone.
*bbbbrrrrriiiiinnnnngggggg*
The final bell rang and students filled the hallway. Lightning Dust slipped out of the restroom and into the crowd. Outside Cozy Glow was already waiting for her.
Lightning Dust sauntered through the parking lot. She set out on her winding path back home. Cozy Glow walked up beside her.
"Beat it, kid."
Cozy Glow put on the vulnerable routine. "Daddy's working out of town and mamma's car broke down."
"Don't see how that's my problem."
"I gotta walk home all by myself, and I don't wanna walk alone. It's scary walking home alone."
"Why don't you get one of your friend's parents to drive you home?"
"They all live far away on the other side of town and b'sides, they've got things they've gotta be at."
"So take the bus."
"I don't got no money."
"So what do ya want me to do?"
"Walk with me to my house. I only live a few blocks away from you."
"No."
Cozy Glow applied the puppy dog eyes and pouty lip. "Pleeeeeeeaaaaaassssse?"
Lightning Dust crumbled before the ultimate weapon of every little kid."Rrrrr! Fine! Keep up. You fall behind, I'll leave your narrow ass behind. Hope you don't wind up on a milk carton."
Cozy Glow gave an innocent-looking smile, but her eyes glinted with malicious glee. Hook, line, and sinker. She reached into her dress' pocket where her phone was. The Specter app was running, she gave the screen a tap to signal the two operatives posing as her parents that she was on the way with the quarry. She passed her thumb over the switchblade in her pocket. Her phone vibrated signaling that they'd received the message.
As Cozy Glow walked a little ahead of her, Lightning Dust noticed that there was an increasing number of empty lots. "Hey, uh...kid? Are you sure you know where you're going?"
"Yep!", Cozy Glow chirped over her shoulder. "This is a shortcut. We'll be there before you know it."
Lightning Dust looked around at the increasingly desolate area. "Uh...if ya say so kid." How many times has she walked this way before? This is the perfect area for some pedo to snatch someone.
After twenty more minutes of walking, Cozy Glow decided that this was the perfect place to capture her prey. She reached into her pocket and double taped the screen on her, signaling her fellow agents to initiate the snatch-and-grab. She intentionally stumbled and fell to the ground. "Ow! Ow! Owie!"
Lightning Dust rushed up to Cozy Glow and knelt down. "You okay?"
Cozy Glow wiped the back of her arm across her nose as she fake sniffled. "My-my ankle hurts!"
"Did you twist it?"
"I *sniff* I don't know.", Cozy Glow said with a fake whimper.
Lightning Dust checked over Cozy Glow's ankle. "There doesn't seem to be any swelling. Let's get you up and see if you can put any weight on it."
As Lightning Dust pulled Cozy Glow up to her feet, a plain white windowless van pulled up. When Lightning turned to face the van, Cozy kicked the girl in the back of her knee, making it buckle.
"What are y--ack!", Lightning Dust tried to say, but a pair of arms wrapped around her neck, locking her in a choke hold and cutting her words off.
Lightning Dust struggled in the choke hold and began working on prying Cozy Glow's arm from around her neck. Cozy Glow moved one arm away from the struggling teen's neck. Lightning Dust began working on prying what she thought was a twelve year old girl's arm from her neck as she worked to plant her feet under her.
*snick*
Lightning Dust's blood ran cold when she saw the silvery gleam of the stiletto jackknife's narrow blade's point pointing at the corner of her right eye.
"Don't you struggle too much,little girl.", Cozy Glow said in a voice that was too mature for her petite body and apparent-looking youth. "I'd hate to have to carve up such spirited potential."
A shudder went down Lightning Dust's spine.
The rear doors of the white van flew open and Back-stab jumped out, wearing black sweat pants, an oversized black hoodie and a black balaklava. He pulled a syringe from inside his hoodie pocket, popped the cover off the needle, thumped the side of the syringe filled with a brownish clear and pushed the plunger in slightly, pushing the air bubbles out, along with a small portion of the liquid.
Lightning Dust's eyes became pinpricks at the sight of the syringe. Oh no! I'm about to be kidnapped and sold off like in the movie 'Took'! She began her struggle anew in earnest.
"Ah-ah-ah!", Cozy scolded as she pressed the point of the switchblade against the side of Lightning's neck. "You just calm down. One little pinch and it'll be bedy-bye time!"
Back-stab grabbed Lightning Dust's wrist, pulling the struggling girl's arm straight and shoved the needle into a vein in the crook of her elbow.
Lightning felt the stinging pinch of the needle as it pierced the vein in the crook of her elbow. It felt like freezing fire in her veins as the drug rushed thin. After several seconds her arm felt cold as she lost feeling in it. She felt dizzy and grey static filled the edges of her vision.
Cozy Glow let go of Lightning Dust, folded up the switchblade and stuck it in her dress pocket.
Lightning Dust tried to get up, but her arms and legs could only flop like they were wet noodles. "Bluh." She tried to speak, tried to yell for help, but only a single nonsensical sound came out with drool. Her vision filled with grey static. She felt so heavy, so sleepy. Darkness.
Back-stab zip-tied Lightning Dust's ankles together, zip-tied her wrists behind her back and slipped a heavy black bag over her head. He lifted the drugged, unconscious girl off the ground and carried her into the back of the white van. Cozy Glow stepped in behind him and pulled the doors shut. The van pulled calmly away. ***
Lightning Dust awoke to a sharp pinching sensation in her arm, followed by a warm, spreading sensation through her veins. When she tried to pull away, there was a sharp biting sensation at her wrist. Blinking the blurriness from her eyes, she looked around. She was sitting in a wooden chair, her wrists were held by some strange white bands to the arms. Looking around, she saw she was in a small grey room. "Wha..."
"Don't try to speak just yet.", A woman said as she walked over. Lightning Dust recognized her as Cozy Glow's mother. The woman pulled a penlight from a pocket and began shining it into the teen's eyes. "Just sit there and be still. Let the counter agent do its work. I know you're scared, but once this is over, you'll remember having a fun time raising hell all over town with some bad girls." The woman began moving the penlight around. "Alright, just follow this with your eyes and let me know if you experience any lightheartedness or nausea."
"P-please don't hurt me!", Lightning Dust whimpered as tears welled up in her eyes. "J-just let me go! I pr-promise I won't say anything! I-I want to see my mamma! I want daddy!"
"Shh! It's okay, dearie.", the woman said as she patted Lightning Dust on the shoulder. "We know you won't say anything. Like I said, when we're through, this weekend will just be a memory of you drinking and doing drugs with some bad girls. Now just sit back and relax. It'll make things go easier. Okay?"
Tears and snot ran down Lightning Dust's face. "Mm-hmm!", she whimpered between sobs.
Underhand stood up from where she was examining Lightning Dust and walked over to Cozy Glow and Back-stab. "She's recovered enough from the sedative. Other than being scared out of her wits, she's ready to begin."
Underhand began applying electrodes to Lightning Dust's head. Back-stab wrapped a pair of black rubber bands around the girl's head, above and below her eyes, and attached two pairs of blunt copper hooks above and below her eyes. He then slipped the blunt copper hooks under her eyelids and adjusted the straps so she couldn't close her eyes.
Lightning Dust's heart pounded in her chest as she began to hyperventilate. This is just like that scene in 'A Steampunk Apple'! "Wh-what's going on? What are you doing to me?"
Cozy Glow walked over holding a bottle of saline solution and patted Lightning Dust on the cheek. "Just the first step in your reprogramming."
Underhand placed sound cancelling headphones over Lightning Dust's ears as Back-stab set up projector screens in a semicircle in front of the girl. Projectors began playing on the screens images of patterns of swirling colors as strange, distorted music began playing through the headphones. Cozy Glow would occasionally squirt some of the saline solution into Lightning Dust's eyes to keep them from drying out. Occasionally the images on the screens would flicker and the patterns would change, not giving the girl's mind a chance to adapt.
After two hours, two small LED lights were attached to the blunt hooks keeping Lightning's eyes open and they began strobing in odd patterns into each eye.
***4 HOURS LATER***
Underhand looked at the EEG reading on the computer screen. "She's ready for phase two."
The projectors were switched off. The strobing LED lights, blunt hooks and head straps were removed from Lightning Dust. The headphones were left on her head. The girl slumped listlessly in the chair.
An IV stand was wheeled up next to Lightning Dust. A bag of saline solution was hung from the IV stand, a tube was hooked to the bag and a small needle, the needle was then pushed into a vein in the crook of her elbow.
Underhand pulled back a headphone from Lightning Dust's ear. "If you feel like you need to go to the bathroom, just let it go. No one here will judge you." She placed the headphone back.
A VR headset was placed on Lightning Dust's head. A cocktail of uppers and adrenaline boosters mixed with a mild psychotropic compound were injected into the saline solution bag to keep her awake and to make her mind more malleable. Once it became clear that the drugs were starting to take effect, the VR display was flipped down and turned on. Flickering, colored light could be seen at the edge of the display. White noise and distorted voices played through the headphones.
Lightning Dust's eyes danced across the VR display as her hypnotized and drug-addled mind tried to make sense of everything. Bizarre images flickered across the display in two-dee and three-dee, interspersed with strobic imagery and subliminal messages.
Every two hours a new bag of saline solution was hung on the IV stand, attached to the tube hooked into Lightning's vein and more of the cocktail injected.
***12 HOURS LATER***
Lightning Dust was a mess. The cocktail of uppers, adrenaline boosters and the psychotropic compound made it so that she didn't know what was going on. Her whole world was a chaotic mess of distorted voices, white noise and bizarre strobing imagery. In her pants and on the wooden chair was a dark, drying stain that reeked of ammonia and uric acid.
Cozy Glow, Underhand and Back-stab had spent the last four hours slurping coffee and popping caffeine pills. Underhand looked at the EEG readout on the screen."Alright, she's ready for interrogation."
Cozy Glow hooked up a microphone to the computer. She checked the levels on the mic. "We'll give her a minute to adjust before I start asking her questions." She clicked a program on the computer.
Lightning Dust slumped back in the chair as the sound of gently blowing wind, accompanied by chirping birds played over the head phones and the image of a gently rolling meadow was projected over the VR display.
Cozy Glow moved the mic up to her mouth. "Lightning Dust, what happened on the night of the night of September the twentieth?"
"Fire. Angry eyes. Demon. Bright coiling rainbow. Pony girls.", the teen droned.
"She's completely off her tits. Nothing we get off of her will make any sense.", Back-stab said.
Cozy Glow covered the mic. "Several eyewitnesses said they saw girls with pony ears, demons and a bright coiling rainbow." She uncovered the mic. "Where did the demon, pony girls and the rainbow come from?"
"Sunset Shimmer stole a crown from pony princess....ha-ha-ha-ha! That kinda rhymes! Pony princess!"
"Focus, Lightning. Where did Sunset steal the crown from?"
"The statue of the Wonder Colt."
"What is the name of the princess?"
"Twilight Sparkle."
Cozy Glow gestured at Back-stab, who pulled out a laptop and began furiously typing away. "What happened when Sunset Shimmer got that crown."
"Sunset Shimmer became demon. Tore down front of school. Made us all into demons. Twilight and friends became pony girls. Shot rainbow at her. She cry. Cry. Cry."
The EEG lines on the computer screen began to spike wildly. Red lights began blinking on the screen.
"Oh shit!", Underhand shouted as she snatched up a syringe from the table.
"Short Fuse! Nooooooo! Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh! Breathe! Look at me! Don't go away! Nonononononononono!" Lightning Dust flailed and struggled in her restraints as tears poured from under the VR display.
Underhand plunged the needle on the syringe into the flailing teen's neck. Within minutes the girl settled down and slumped in the chair. "Let's give her a few hours to rest. Obviously something triggered a traumatic memory.", she said as she withdrew the needle from Lightning Dust's neck and held a cotton ball over the wound. "And hope she didn't give herself a full-on psychotic regression. No amount of anti-drug PSAs would explain away a healthy teenager being turned into a drooling, gibbering, mostly grown infant shell over the course of a couple of days."
"That's fine. I'll need to compile the data from her brain readings, combine them with the recordings and send them off to the labs for the boys to pick over.", Cozy Glow said. "Unless I've missed my mark, we may have proof that a parallel universe exists. Number One will be pleased. And you know what that means? Sitting on a white sandy, tropical beach, being served frozen, rum-based drinks for the rest of our lives!"
Lightning Dust was given four hours of rest before she was given a new round of the cocktail. Her post-hypnotic programming was started. Over the next eight hours subliminal messages were intertwined with distorted music, swirling colorful patterns and brightly flashing images. The activation phrase "Sunset Shimmer is your best friend" was programmed into her head.
Once the last of the programming was finished, the VR headset and headphones were removed from Lightning Dust. The restraints holding her to the chair were removed and she slumped forward.
Underhand caught the teen. "Lightning, honey. Can you tell me where you got the drugs from?"
"Dunno. Went out to hang with Gilda and Spitfire. Met some of the Preppies. Had a fight. Lost my friends. Met a cool chick who gave me beer. Made me feel weird.", the teen replied robotically.
"Good!", Underhand praised. "Come on now! We're gonna take you to the ER."
Underhand slung the girl's arm across her shoulder and lifted her up to her feet. Grabbing three syringes off the nearby table, she trundled up the stairs with the out-of-it girl in tow.
"Tell me you've got something on Twilight Sparkle.", Cozy Glow said to Back-stab.
"There is a Twilight Sparkle enrolled at Crystal Preparatory Academy. Enrolled there two years ago. All her scores place her IQ in the top three percent in the world. The girl's a certified genius. Has an understanding of theoretical and hypothetical physics, like an almost instinctual understanding of the subjects. She could be the one to figure out a unified field theory. Her psych eval shows her having moderate-to-severe neurosis, mild-to-moderate social phobias, anti-social personality disorder, a near-crippling fear of failure, and an odd phobia of...quesadillas."
Cozy Glow taped a knuckle to her lips in thought. "I'm sensing a 'but' here."
Back-stab taped a few buttons on the computer. "On September eighteenth through the twentieth, a girl matching her description was seen on campus at Canterlot High School by eyewitnesses. According to photos you snapped in the school, she was crowned the Fall Formal Queen." He pulled up the images of both girls on the screen.
Cozy Glow pointed to the picture of the Twilight from the Fall Formal. "That's not the same girl from Crystal Prep. This girl is older, by at least a couple of years...and taller." She tented her fingers. "Unless Twilight Sparkle of Crystal Praparatory Academy has a near-identical twin, I think we've just found photographic proof of a parallel universe."
Underhand shoved Lightning Dust into the front passenger seat of the powder blue hatchback with swapped plated sitting in the garage, then walked around and stepped into the driver's seat. She held up the three syringes, looking them over and jammed them one after the other in Lightning's upper arm. She then pulled out a full head rubber mask, a grey wig and a pair of fake glasses. Looking in the mirror, she shrugged at the image that made her look passable enough as an old lady.
"Funny mashk! Phbbbbbbt!", Lightning Dust slurred before slumping against the window and groaning. "Were-were-were-were you the one who gave me the beer, white powder and blue footballs that made me feel good and funny?"
"No, honey. I found you passed out in the park. Remember?"
"Ah, yes. 'Member! I 'member! Cool chick gave me beer."
Underhand rolled her eyes behind the mask. She's really off her tits. Let's hope the worst of the OD symptoms don't kick in before I make it to the hospital and she pukes in the car.
Underhand pulled up to the hospital, drove up to the emergency room entrance, opened the passenger side door and shoved Lightning Dust out onto the concrete. She laid on the horn for a couple of seconds, stomped on the gas and sped away, the tires leaving a cloud of white smoke behind. After pulling away from the hospital, she merged into traffic and disappeared into the night.
After driving halfway across town, Underhand pulled the car to a stop outside a bar frequented by frat boys, wiped the interior down to remove as many of her fingerprints as possible and stepped out of the car. She tossed the keys to a group of frat boys leering lustfully at passing girls and said through the mask,"It's my ex-husband's. Have fun boys." As the frat boys whooped and shouted as they piled into the car, she slipped into the crowd. After walking a couple of blocks, she took off the mask, wig and fake glasses, and tossed them into a dumpster. She stepped to the corner and stretched out her hand. "Taxi!"
It was the Monday morning before the first bell at CHS. The intercom came on with a squeal of feedback and Principal Celestia's voice spoke. "Would Gilda T Griffon and Spitfire Peggy Asus report to the principal's office, please?"
Gilda and Spitfire walked to Principal Celestia's door. They noticed the cop cars sitting out front.
"You know what's going on, Gil?"
"No clue, Spits."
"Don't tell anybody my middle name, or I'll kick your ass."
"Sure thing, Peggy."
"Grr!"
Spitfire and Gilda stepped in through the door to the principal's office. They immediately noticed the two cops standing there.
"Uh...you called for us, Principal Celestia?", Spitfire asked.
"Ah, yes. Officer...Figpucker?"
The police officer in question cleared his throat. "Last night at about one in the morning, someone dropped off..." He paused to look at his notes before continuing. "Lightning Dust at the Emergency room. She had overdosed on a combination of cocaine and Xanax. This morning when she was stable enough to talk to us, she said that she had been hanging out with you two last night, ran into a couple of girls from Crystal Preparatory School, got into a fight. In the ensuing scuffle--"
"Officer Figpucker, maybe you should let me ask them the questions.", Sergeant Shining Armor interrupted.
FigPucker turned to Shining. "Shiny, I thought you agreed to let me question the kids.", he whispered hoarsely.
"I know, Figgy. But my sister is about the same age as them. You gotta know how to talk to teenagers.", Shining Armor whispered back. "The Starswirl Music Festival is coming up in a few weeks. I'll swap shifts with you for that so you can go see that girl of yours, and ya know, give some of that Figgy Pudding."
Figpucker blew out a sigh. "Fine! I'll let you question the two girls...and you promised you wouldn't use Figgy pudding any more."
Shining snickered as he stepped over to the two girls."Uh...Spitfire and Gilda, right? When was the last time you two saw Lightning Dust?"
"Nobody's talked to Lightning in over a week. She stopped coming to practice, stopped answering everyone's texts.", Spitfire said.
"I haven't seen her since lit class on Friday.", Gilda said. She held up her hands, showing the backs of them to Shinning Armor. "Look at my knuckles. They ain't swollen or nuthin'. Don't'cha think that if I had kicked the shit outa some preppie richy bitches, my knuckles would be scuffed up?" She then flexed her arms. "Besides, If I did kick the asses of some rich girls...I mean, come on!...look at these guns! You'd still be scraping them off of the road. If those preppie bitches gave her the drugs, I swear I'm gonna force feed'em their teeth!" She pounded her fist into her palm for effect.
"Whoa whoa whoa! Easy now!", Shining exclaimed as he held his hand up. "Nobody said anything about anyone from Crystal Prep giving her drugs. Lightning Dust said she had been hanging out with you two, got into a fight with a couple of girls from Crystal Prep, got separated from you two and ran into someone who gave her the drugs. She was still kinda out of it when she talked to us, so she could be misremembering things." He pulled a couple of business cards from his shirt pocket. "If either of you two remember her talking about going to meet anyone or hear someone talking about giving her drugs, call me."
That will be all, Miss Griffon, Miss Asus.", Principal Celestia said. "If you talk to Miss Inkwell on your way out, she'll write you both hall passes."
After Gilda and Spitfire left, Celestia turned to the two police. "Thank you officers Armor and Fig...pucker." It took everything she had to not accidentally say anything vulgar. "If I see or hear anything, I'll let you two know." |
Chair-bound | Gabby Gums makes up your sins | The lines between the cliques had been drawn, Gabby Gums and its copycat sites had been the chalk. Cozy Glow could practically see the lines of tension, she could practically touch them. Teenagers are so easy to convince them to turn on one another. A juicy article here, a heavily edited picture there, sprinkle a modified video on top and today's best friends would be at each other's throats tomorrow. If there was only a way to weaponize that and someone could take over the world.
As much as Cozy Glow would have liked to further whip wild teenage emotions into a frenzy, like a conductor of a symphony of chaos, until the school broke out in a riot, she had a statue to investigate. Approaching the plinth that held the school's mascot, Trotting Jumper the Wonder Colt, she pulled out a silvery metal tube that contained sensitive EM sensors. She twisted the top to switch on the sensitive instruments within, slowly walked around the statue's plinth and waved the tube up and down slowly.
"What'chu doin'?", came the bubbly voice of Pinkie Pie.
Cozy Glow turned to face the hyperactive party girl as she hid the metal tube containing EM sensors behind her back and twisted the top to switch the instruments off. She twisted the toe of her shoe on the pavement and twisted her body back and forth as she said, "I wasn't doin' nuthin'! Promise! I was just pretending to be a scientist from the Allied Stars Republic." Hopefully that would be enough for the pink menace and leave her alone to do her job.
"Oooohhhh! I love Star Tracker!", Pinkie exclaimed as she clapped her hands and jumped up and down. "I have my own scanner!" She pulled a silver-painted plastic tube from seemingly nowhere. "Mind if I play with you? You can be Spork and I'll be Placard!"
Cozy Glow had to fight her own reaction to raise an eyebrow at the pink menace that was able to pull a toy prop from seemingly nowhere. Does she dabble in sleight of hand? She mentally sighed and resigned herself to pretending to play pretend that she was reenacting a character from a hokey science fiction TV show that was nearly sixty years old to keep her work disguised as the actions of a harmless middle school-aged girl. "Yes, it'll be fun to pretend to be a member of the crew of the Allied Star Ship Consolation with someone." Cozy had to struggle to keep the irritated and annoyed inflections out of her voice, as well as to not clench her teeth.
Pinkie squealed with delight as she began waving her silver-painted plastic replica of a scanner around the base of the statue as she made various warbling noises with her mouth. Cozy Glow waited until Pinkie was on the opposite side of the statue's plinth from her to twist the top of the metal tube to turn the scanning instruments back on.
"Captain Placard...", Cozy said, staying in character as a middle school-aged girl pretending to be a grown man playing an alien from an old science fiction TV show. "...could you assist me with reaching the top of the monument's plinth so I can continue scanning the area from a higher altitude?"
"Yes, Mister, Spork, I, will help, you, get, the, data, you, need.", Pinkie replied in a near perfect imitation of the hammy inflections of the actor who played Placard. She knelt down, meshed her fingers together, forming her hands into a platform, so that Cozy Glow could step into them and get boosted up.
As Cozy righted herself atop the plinth, she mentally remarked how deceptively strong Pinkie was. The girl wasn't part of any sports teams, didn't work on a farm or at any other job that required a lot of heavy lifting. All she ever seen this girl do was skip around, hang out with her friends and have a seemingly endless supply of candy, baked goods and other sugary sweets. "Wow-ee! You sure are strong!"
"My family owns a rock farm, so I've spent a looooooot of time turning big rocks into gravel. And with Mrs. Cake being six-and-a-half months pregnant with twins, the doctor has ordered her on bed rest until after she gives birth, so I've had to help Mr. Cake bring big bags of flour and sugar up from the basement storeroom."
Luna pulled up into the school parking lot and saw Pinkie boosting Cozy up onto the plinth of the statue of the school's mascot. Getting out of the car, she retrieved Sunset's wheelchair from the back seat, unfolded it and helped her foster daughter into it. "Go to the cafeteria and get yourself a milk or a juice or something, I've got something to take care of real quick and I'll catch up.", she said, shoving a wad of bills into the girl's hand.
Sunset, whom had seen what was going on, nodded. "Yeah, I'll see ya in a little bit." Stuffing the bills into her pocket, she grasped the rims of the wheels on her chair and rolled to the school entrance.
From her vantage point atop the statue plinth Cozy Glow spotted Luna pulling up. She shimmied around to the front of the statue and made it look like she was having an awkward time of it. If the students and faculty of the school knew that she had extensive training in both free climbing and urban exploration as part of her Specter training, they'd be less inclined to believe she was in any real threat being a little more than six feet up, because they didn't know that, she had a cover to keep. While making it look like she was having trouble moving around the statue and getting scared, she slipped the metal tube into the horse statue's mouth, then clung onto its neck to make it look like she was having trouble and was scared and hanging on for dear life.
Luna hurried up to the state. "What do you two think you're doing?!" Though it was in the inflection of a question, it was more of a statement that they were in trouble and she was laying it out as a question in the hopes they'd at least tell the truth and save themselves further trouble by lying, something that rarely happened with teenagers who were caught with their hand in the proverbial cookie jar.
Pinkie, not hearing the vice-principal walking up, nearly jumped out of her skin at the question. "Oh! Vice-principal Luna, you scared me!", she said in a fright. "We were--"
"Climbing on the statue when you know it's against the rules?", Luna interrupted. "Pinkamena Dianne Pie, you know the rules about climbing on the statue and how dangerous it can be. Or did you forget about when Rainbow Dash climbed up there on a dare, fell off and broke her arm?"
Pinkie hung her head. She flexed her hands into fists as she remembered the way Rainbow cried out after hitting the pavement. Tears shimmered in her eyes and her messy curls started to flatten out. "I-I'm sorry, Miss Luna. We-we were just pl--" A panicked squeal interrupted her sorrowful apology.
Cozy Glow heard and saw what was going on. She wasn't sure if Pinkie would throw her under the bus, but she knew that she'd do the same to the pink menace if the tables were turned. For a quick second, the corners of her mouth turned up in a devious grin. Kicking her feet out from under her, she let them hang in the open air while hanging onto the neck of the horse statue. "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!", she shrieked in mock fright. "I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die! Dear Baby Jesus, please don't let me die!"
Luna rushed over to the dangling Cozy and wrapped the girl's thighs in a bear hug. "I gotcha! You can let go. I promise you won't fall."
"I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die!"
"Cozy! You won't die! I promise! Just let go!"
A dozen students gathered around the scene to watch what was going on. A few had pulled their phones to film what was happening.
Celestia, who had been alerted to something happening by the commotion and gathering students, came out the front door of the school to see Cozy Glow dangling off the neck of the horse statue with Luna holding her by the thighs and telling her to let go. Several students had gathered around, and a few had their phones out, there would clearly be more students on their way if she didn't get control of the situation quickly. "Don't you all have somewhere else to be?", she chided with a scowl on her face.
Several students jerked in surprise.
"Then I suggest you all get there, on the quick.", Celestia further chided. Once the students scattered to other places to be, she walked over to Luna. "Alright Vice-principal Luna, you get her by one side of her waist, I'll get her by the other side and we'll get her down."
Once both women were on either side of Cozy Glow, their hands gripping her waist, Celestia said,"Alright Cozy Glow, we've got you. Just let go."
"I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die!"
"I promise you, Miss Glow, that you won't die. Just let go and we'll put you on the ground nice and safe."
After another round of Cozy begging that she didn't want to die, Celestia grunted in frustration and let the girl's waist go. "Alright Luna, just let her go for the moment while I get someone here who is more qualified to get her down."
"But what if she slips and falls?"
"Luna, it's a little over five feet. I promise you she won't be seriously hurt."
"But Rainbow Dash--"
"Rainbow Dash was trying to do, in her words, 'A sick gainer and totally boffed it.' That's why she got detention once she got back from the hospital. Unless Cozy Glow is secretly a ninja, a super spy or a gymnast, I don't think she's going to be doing any crazy flips. She's just a girl who was climbing on the statue, lost her footing and got scared.", Celestia interrupted. "Just stay right here to catch her in case she slips so you can catch her. I'm going to call the janitor and be right back."
Celestia briskly walked to the front office and stopped at the secretary's desk. "Raven, would you please call Push Broom? We've got a student who climbed up onto the statue, slipped, panicked and is now hanging off its neck."
Raven Inkwell gave a quick nod, picked up the phone's receiver and punched in the number for the head janitor's office as Celestia turned to walk back out of the office.
A few minutes after Celestia had returned to the situation at the statue, Push Broom, the head janitor, walked out of the front door of the school with a pair of stepladders slung over his shoulders. Stepping up to the statues plinth, he set down both ladders and said, "Little lady, you got yourself in a bit of a doozy there, yah?"
Cozy Glow once again went on another tirade begging not to die. It was a ridiculous situation and she knew, but she needed the distraction so no one would notice the metal tube holding the various sensors she hid in the statue's mouth.
Push Broom set up the two step ladders. "Miss Celestia, wouldja help me get her down, yah? I'll hold the little lady by her midsection while you get her fingers loose. Please and thank you." ***
After the incident was over, Pinkie Pie sat in Vice-principal Luna's office while Cozy Glow sat in Principal Celestia's office.
Luna drummed her fingers together as she stared across her desk at the pink girl, who was nervously fidgeting in her seat. "Pinkie Pie, why don't you tell me your side of things?"
While Pinkie was giving her account, Principal Celestia sat behind her desk studying Cozy Glow's face and posture. "Cozy, why don't you tell me your account of things."
Cozy Glow smiled internally. She had extensive training on how to both passively and actively resist all forms of interrogation. Compared to what various government, and more than a few private "contractor" agencies would use to get information, being questioned by a principal of a public school would be a cakewalk. "Well you see, I was playing make believe by myself over by the statue when Pinkie came over and asked if she could join in." That's right, give just enough truth in your account to make it believable. "She said she wanted to play Star Tracker, so I played along and we pretended to be members of the Alliance ship, Consolation. And well...gee golly, I don't wanna do nuthin' to get somebody in trouble!"
Celestia leaned back in her chair in a more relaxed position and interlaced her fingers in her lap. So far everything Cozy was saying seemed to match up with a middle school-aged girl, the way she talked, the way she shifted her weight, the nervous wiggles. But something seemed to be...off. Her youthful mannerisms seemed to be almost...forced, almost like she was someone older who was good at acting. Then there were her eyes, nothing immediately out of the ordinary, she just lacked that naive sparkle that most children her age had, instead they seemed more observant, almost as if this girl was studying her surroundings. Then there was her voice, usually it had that vibrant, sometimes insecure squeak about it, then there were moments when she seemed to shed that squeak and use inflections of someone much more older...and much more manipulative. "Go on, Cozy. No one was hurt, so I doubt anybody will be in trouble. I just want to hear your side of things."
Cozy Glow pressed the tips of her index fingers together as she looked down at her lap and kicked her feet. She darted her eyes about, giving the physical impressions of a much younger and nervous girl. In reality she was studying her surroundings, and observing the principal's posture and facial expressions. "Well...uh, well you see while we were playing make believe, and Pinkie said I should climb upon the statue. She said that all the kids do it. At first I didn't want to, but she kept insisting and I kept saying I wasn't a very good climber. Then she finally convinced me to climb up. And--and after I got up, Vice-principal Luna had walked up, and she scared me."
"And that's when you slipped?"
"Uh-huh." Cozy Glow put a tremble in her lips and squeezed a few tears as she clasped her hands in front of her chest. "Oh please please please please! I don't want to get in no trouble! If I get in trouble, daddy will be mad and I won't get no dessert for a week! Mamma will yell at me and I won't be able to see my friends for a long time, just sit in my room and do nuthin'! Please please please! I don't wanna be in trouble! I promise I won't go near the statue no more!"
"It's okay, Cozy. You're not in trouble. At least here at school. I'll still have to inform your parents. But because nobody was hurt, there won't be any incidents. It's almost time for the bell. I'll write you a hall pass so you can get past the hall monitors without any incident. You've got first period pre-algebra with..." Celestia taped a few buttons on her computer. "...Miss Count. Is that correct?" There was something about Cozy Glow's story that didn't sit right with her, but she had nothing to corroborate her suspicions. She would have to talk with Luna to match up with Pinkie's story.
Cozy nodded her head. "Yes Ma'am."
Celestia pulled a hall pass out of the drawer on her desk and quickly scribbled down the date time and Cozy's class on the piece of paper. "Here you go. Now hurry on so you won't be too late."
Celestia sat at her desk, drumming her fingers on the top watching Pinkie and Cozy leave while Luna leaned on the door frame of her office. "So Luna, what did Pinkie tell you?"
Luna stepped into Celestia's office, sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the desk, rolled her pant leg up, popped off her prosthetic, adjusted the stocking on her stump, slipped the prosthetic back on and rolled the pant leg back down. "Ah! That's much better. The seam had shifted and was putting pressure on the scars.", she said with a sigh. "Anyways, back to your question. Pinkie said she and Cozy were playing make believe that they were Spork and Placard from The Consolation."
Celestia pressed her fingers together to stretch her hand."Cozy said the same thing. She also said that Pinkie talked her into getting up on the statue."
"That's where their stories differ. Pinkie said Cozy asked to be boosted up onto the plinth so she could 'scan' the statue."
"Scan?"
"Yes. Pinkie said she and Cozy had replicas of the mark-III scanner from Star Tracker. She even showed me hers, and it was a dead ringer for the ones on the show, other than it being made of plastic, having no blinking lights and not making any warbling sci-fi sounds."
Celestia pursed her lips as she pressed her steepled index fingers to them. "Did you see Cozy with one?"
Luna taped a knuckle to her chin as she thought. "You know, I don't recall seeing her with one. She could have dropped it when she slipped and it rolled into the bushes, or maybe someone kicked by accident when the crowd gathered up. Maybe one of them pocketed it?"
Celestia mulled over what Luna had said and compared it to what Cozy had told her. "Luna, have you noticed something odd about Cozy Glow?"
"Odd? What do you mean?"
"Nothing I can definitively put my finger on. Most of the time when I see her, she acts like a normal young girl, but sometimes she acts..." Celestia rocked her hand back and forth. "I don't know, weird. Like she's older than she puts on and is simply going through the paces of being a kid."
Luna clicked her tongue in thought. "I've seen her act like that before too. I've also seen other kids her age act like that, especially if they're trying to impress one of the adults by trying to be 'more mature.' If you think there's something going on in her home life that's not on the up-and-up, I can keep a closer eye on her and see if she says something."
Celestia sighed. "No, that won't be necessary. She's probably just a kid going through--WHAT THE?!"
Cheerilee burst into the office, disrupting the conversation and startling the two principals. "We've got a fight in the breezeway! Three boys jumped one boy!"
As Celestia, Luna and Cheerilee rushed into the breezeway, the teachers had just finished breaking up the fight and were in the process of clearing out the crowd. Hoops, Score and Dumbbell had jumped Bulk Biceps. Though the muscular boy had bruises and marks on his face, along with a small trickle of blood from his lip, it was clear that he had trounced the three boys, considering they looked much more banged up. All four boys shrunk under the gaze of Principal Celestia and the glare of Vice-principal Luna.
Once the four boys had been checked out by Nurse Redheart and had been cleared as none of them were seriously hurt, they were sent to the principal's office to get to the bottom of the fight. The incident had started when Bulk, after reading an article on Gabby Gums accusing the boy who was the head of the AV club, Micro Chips, saying he had made lewd gestures and comments at the muscular boy's girlfriend accompanied by a clearly doctored photo. He said he just wanted to talk to the boy and had caught up with him in the breezeway. That's when Hoops, Score and Dumbbell showed up looking for trouble. Once the confrontation was over and the two had started to walk away, that's when Hoops shoved Micro Chips into Bulk Biceps.
Celestia and Luna didn't need to hear the rest. Bulk wasn't known to be a bully and had a reputation for standing up for students smaller than him. The fight broke out in earnest when Bulk stepped up to Hoops to confront him, that's when Score and Dumbbell jumped on him, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Celestia blew out a frustrated sigh. "Mister Biceps, I'm sorry, but the school has a zero-tolerance policy on fighting. I know you were defending yourself, and that's why I'm going to go light on you. You get three days of after school detention where you'll be helping Mister Push Broom scrape gum off of the benches, sweep the floors, changing light bulbs, and taking trash to the dumpsters. I also have to contact your parents. Don't worry, I'll tell them that you were defending yourself."
Bulk swallowed and gave a quick nod."Yes ma'am."
Celestia then turned her attention to Hoops, Score and Dumbbell. "You three get two weeks of in school suspension. You'll be spending your time here at school in the detention room, your teachers will bring you your work. While you're at school, you'll spend all your time in the detention room, with the exception of breakfast and lunch, where you'll be eating at the teacher's table, and for restroom breaks. Hoops, Score, you're also suspended from the basketball team for the next five games. Dumbbell, you're suspended from the football team for the next five games, and your privileges for use of the weight room are revoked for the rest of the year. Consider yourselves lucky I don't slap you three into the washouts program for the rest of the semester. Now get out of my sight and report to the detention room immediately!"
Once the incident was with the four boys had been resolved, Celestia leaned back in her chair and blew out a frustrated sigh. She put the stuff with Cozy Glow on the back burner, for now. "This Gabby Gums site is getting out of hand.", she grumbled. "If it keeps up, I'm going to have to call in a favor to someone I prefer not to." Opening the bottom drawer of her desk, she pulled out a bottle of acetaminophen. It wasn't even ten o'clock yet and she was getting a headache.
Luna snapped her fingers."Aw shoot! I promised Sunset that I'd catch up with her in the cafeteria. With all the crud that's happened this morning, it slipped my mind."
Celestia chuckled. "Who would've thought the tough and strong Luna would develop such a soft spot for a girl?" She waved her sister off before she could retort. "I'm just busting your balls, Na-Na. It's heartwarming to see you take Sunset in and give her a home. I know it hasn't been easy helping her. Just cut out on the PG-safe swears. We're not in a for kids' cartoon. Jesus wouldn't hold an occasional cuss word against you, and I would know, I have a personal line to his office."
The two women shared a hearty chuckle at the last statement. ***
As the bell for lunch rang, Luna made her way to the cafeteria. Along the way she ran across Sunset being pushed in her wheelchair by Fluttershy as Applejack walked beside. They didn't notice her as she walked up, catching the tail end of their conversation. Celestia had opted to not go to the cafeteria.
"Fluttershy, I told you that you don't have to push me.", Sunset said with a slightly annoyed tone in her voice.
"But you were having so much trouble with your wheelchair. Your arms must be getting tired.", Fluttershy replied.
"My arms weren't getting tired, 'Shy.", Sunset said. "I had forgotten to unlock the brake on my left wheel. And besides, I've been working out, building up their strength and endurance." She flexed her right arm in demonstration, showing off the increase in muscle definition.
A blush glowed on Fluttershy's cheeks and she moved one hand from the handles on the wheelchair to fan her face.
"Jus' give her this one, sugarcube.", Applejack said. "Ya ain't gonna talk her outa this. When 'Shy gets it in her head that she's gonna help someone, by God she'll do it, even if'n they're the most lowdown, meanest rattlesnake there is."
"Rattlesnakes aren't mean. They just act aggressive when scared and shake their rattles to scare away whatever is scaring them.", Fluttershy said.
"Fluttershy, Ah live on a farm. Ah know how snakes act and Ah know that rattlesnakes aren't th' mean'uns, it's th' moccasins.", Applejack retorted. "Ah'd know 'cause me an' Mac have had to shoot more'n a few of'em with daddy's ol' twenty-two when they get too close to th' house or get up in th' barn. Callin' someone a rattlesnake is jus' a country-ism for callin' someone mean. Ah've tol' ya this b'fore"
"And what is this about Sunset having trouble with her wheelchair?", Luna asked as she walked up, making the three girls jerk in surprise.
"Oh! Vice-principal Luna, I didn't see you there.", Sunset said in surprise and mild shock.
Luna smirked. She always had the ability to not be noticed if she so chose to and she used that ability more than once to catch many a student with their proverbial hand in the cookie jar.
"Fluttershy and I have three classes together.", Sunset continued. "In second period lit I had only locked my left wheel. When class was over, I had forgotten to unlock my brake."
"And why didn't you lock both wheels?"
"If the floor is level, I only lock one wheel so if someone has to walk behind me and bumps into the chair, I don't go rolling. If I'm in the back of the class, I don't lock the wheels as no one will be walking behind my chair."
Luna hummed in thought. "I can see the logic in that. But what happened that you wound up not unlocking your brake?"
"Lit class today was extremely boring as Miss Off Script was talking on and on and on aaaaaaaannnnnnnndddddd on about her love for The Divine Comedy, and everyone was struggling to not fall asleep. I had to pee really bad, so when the bell rang, I stuffed my books into my backpack and went to go to the bathroom as quickly as possible...only to realize I had forgotten to unlock my left brake. I spun around in a half-circle and knocked over three desks. That's when Fluttershy rushed over, grabbed the handles and unlocked my brake while saying, 'Oh you poor dear! Your arms must be getting tired!'" Sunset pulled her hair into a style similar to Fluttershy's as she imitated the shy, socially awkward and introverted animal lover. With a quick flip of her hair and a shake of her head, her hair went back to its usual style.
Luna silently noted Sunset's pantomiming Fluttershy's mannerisms and the way she quickly flipped her hair to match the animal lover's hairstyle, then flipped her coiffure back to its normal laying. Must be a pony thing. I'll have to ask Sunset about this later. She snapped her head to a student who was rushing through the halls and pointed a finger. "Hey! Does this look like a racetrack?! No running in the halls!" She smirked as the student froze like a deer in a headlight before resuming at a brisk walk. "Well now that the mystery of why Fluttershy was pushing you is solved, I can push you to the cafeteria myself. You know, foster mother privileges and whatnot. Now scooch!", she said turning her attention back to Sunset and waving Fluttershy away from Sunset's wheelchair's handles. The animal lover quickly relinquished her spot from behind the wheelchair.
"I was also pushing her because I like the way her hair smells and she looks pretty.", Fluttershy mumble-whispered.
Only barely noticing the animal lover's voice above the din of students in the hallway, the three looked over at her.
"Did you say something, Fluttershy?", Luna asked.
Fluttershy's face felt hot as her cheeks turned rosy pink. "Eep! Oh...uh...uuuuummmmmm...er...I was just saying...it's a pretty day today."
"Why, yes it is. Not too cold for this time of year and the sun's all bright and shiny.", Luna replied, acting like she hadn't what the shy girl said.
Applejack raised an eyebrow at the shy animal lover and gave a hum as her internal lie detector went off.
The corners of Luna's mouth curled up as she restrained a chuckle. "You know what? I forgot something in my office. Fluttershy, could you push Sunset to the cafeteria? I'll catch up in a few."
Fluttershy nearly jumped for joy. "Oh! Um, yes! Yes. I can do that."
In the line leading away from the hot bar holding trays food and towards the cash register, Sunset felt self-conscious as Fluttershy pushed her and carried their trays. "Fluttershy, you don't have to do this. I can carry my food and wheel myself."
"I don't mind one bit.", Fluttershy said.
At the register Granny Smith rang up the cost of the trays and Sunset quickly shoved the wadded up bills covering the cost of her lunch into the elderly lunch lady's hand before Fluttershy had the chance to pay for both.
At what had quickly become their usual table, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Applejack were waiting on them.
"So Fluttershy, did you tell Sunset that you like-like her yet?", Rainbow blurted out.
Sunset froze in place in shock, her fork halfway to her face, the strands of spaghetti clinging to the tinee dripping sauce onto the tray and table. Her fingers twitched and the fork fell from her grasp, clattering on the table and down onto the floor. I've been an idiot. Her hovering over me like a mother hen and insisting on pushing me everywhere. How could I not notice it? I need to let her down gently. How to do that?
Fluttershy quailed, she shrunk back in her seat and hid behind her long locks, a single eye peering out, darting about in a mix of fear, social anxiety and embarrassment.
The other three girls simply glared at the rainbow-haired athlete.
"What?", Rainbow asked cluelessly. "No, seriously, what?"
Applejack facepalmed. "Dear sweet Baby Jesus, give me th' strength ta not bounce her head off the table.", Applejack muttered. "RD, that's somethin'...ya jus' dun drop inta someone's lap like a live grenade, ya friggin' idjit."
"Allow me, darling.", Rarity interjected. She waggled a finger at Rainbow. "Rainbow Dash! A lady doesn't blurt out to someone if they have told them they like them in that manner. Especially in front of their crushee!"
"Yeah. Totally uncool, Dashie!", Pinkie scolded. "I know that Fluttershy crushing on Sunset has been as clear as sugar syrup, but you just don't blurt out if someone like-likes them for everyone to see. Right, Maud?"
"Yes, Pinkie.", the eldest Pie sister said, seemingly to appear out of thin air. "It took Boulder five years to tell pebble he liked her. And when she rejected him, I helped him get over the heartache."
The other five girls nearly jumped out of their skin.
Rarity held a hand to her chest, feeling her heart beating like a heavy metal drummer during a solo. "How long have you been there, darling?"
"Only about thirty seconds. I usually come to talk to Pinkie and see how her day is going when you all are talking with each other. I don't interject or interrupt as it would be rude."
After a moment, the girl's heart rates finally got back down to a more normal level.
Rainbow sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Heh. Uh...sorry about that, Flutters."
"Fluttershy..." Sunset paused, unsure how to word it so as to not hurt the feelings of the animal lover. "Uh...Ah...um..." She picked at one of the armrests on her wheelchair. How to word it? How to word it? Maybe I should...no, that'll hurt her feelings too much.
After what felt like an eternity in her head of trying how to word it, Sunset finally decided on what to say. "Fluttershy, I'm very flattered that you like...uh...like-like me in that way, and know that any girl who dates you will be the luckiest girl in the world. You're one of my best friends in the world, but..." She swallowed hard, there was nothing she could say to keep Fluttershy from crying and it made her feel like an asshole. "I'm not into girls that way. Sorry." The last word came out in a squeaky tone.
Fluttershy visibly wilted and shrank back in her chair, trying to look as small as possible. She hung her head, pink locks cascading down and obscuring her face completely. What those locks couldn't hide were the small sniffles.
Sunset felt terrible. It wasn't her intention to make Fluttershy cry, but she was letting out soft sniffles. She reached out across the table to take her friend's hand. "Fluttershy, it wasn't my inten--"
Fluttershy quickly stood up from the table and bolted from the cafeteria.
Sunset propped her forehead on her hand. She felt like a capital B-I, lowercase itch. Tear stung her eyes as the image of Fluttershy bawling her eyes out danced in her head.
A dark blue hand came to rest on Sunset's shoulder. "Sunset? Is everything okay?"
"No!", Sunset croaked out. It was taking everything in her to not break down into a sobbing fit. "Fluttershy said she liked me and I rejected her. I told her I wasn't into girls." Her lips quivered and weird dimpled crinkles spread on her chin as tears rolled down her cheeks. It was taking everything she had to not break down into an ugly crying fit. "Should I have told her different so she would cry?"
Luna gently turned Sunset's wheelchair around and wrapped her foster daughter in a hug. "No. It would have made it much worse down the line. Rejection always hurts. What you did was better, get it over quickly, like snatching off a band-aid. It may hurt a lot now, but it will also let the pain fade quickly."
Sunset reached up and wrapped her hands around Luna's back to hug her foster mother back, and poured her pain into the woman's shoulder.
Tears shimmered in the other four girls' eyes and they sniffled at the sight of what was going on...except for Rainbow, who gave a few loud coughs to cover up her sniffles and turned away so no one could see her dragging a knuckle across her eye, wiping a few tears away. ***
Tears blurred Fluttershy's eyes as she hurried through the breezeways, ducking and weaving past the other students. If she was capable of thinking clearly, she would've been appreciative that Sunset chose to attempt tolet her down easy, but right now all she could focus on was the sting of rejection, and she just wanted to be alone so no one would see her cry.
Near the back of the school, just past the faculty parking lot, was a patch of oak, pine, poplar and ash trees. Fluttershy walked down a well beaten path and sat on a fallen log. She placed her face in her hands and began to bawl her eyes out.
Wallflower Blush was on her hands and knees in a clearing in the trees, digging up a hole with a trowel to plant a small flowering shrub. She occasionally took a bite from a bologna sandwich that was in her lunch box and took a sip of the fruit punch in her thermos. During lunch period, this was where she took refuge. The sounds of nature help to soothe her nerves. Working with plants also helped her deal with the unwanted mental images of the fire-haired girl being shot and laying on the floor, her life's blood forming a crimson pool on the waxed linoleum tiles. True, there was a lot Sunset deserved for her years of bullying and tormenting her, but nobody deserved to be gunned down like an animal.
The images of that day played out in Wallflower's mind's eye. The gleam of the gun. Sunset standing there, frozen in place like a deer in headlights. Wallflower wanted to shout, wanted to run, wanted to do something...but suddenly her body felt like it was suddenly turned to stone. Then she remembered her ears ringing from the thunder of the pistol and seeing spots before her eyes as the muzzle flash had blinded her. Sunset slumped to the floor as if her legs were suddenly made of string.
Everything had screamed inside of Wallflower to run, to get away, but her body refused to move. She remembered the boy standing over Sunset as the fire-haired asked one question with faltering words, "Why?" She then remembered a yellow blur that went by, Fluttershy, the quiet, introverted and socially awkward girl had thrown herself into the shooter, and all Wallflower could do was stand transfixed, like some witch had cast a freezing spell on her. She remembered the boy running outside, followed by another girl, a minute later there was a loud pop and someone screaming.
Wallflower clenched the loamy soil in one hand tightly and knocked herself on the temple with the heel of her other hand in a vain attempt to knock the unwanted images out of her head. "You're a fucking coward!", she cursed to herself. From the day Sunset was shot, and every day since, she was filled with loathing and self-hate.
Wallflower froze. Over the sounds of the breeze through the boughs, the chirps of birds and the skitter-scatter of small critters was the sounds of crying. Someone was in the wooded patch, her wooded patch, crying. Curiosity getting the better of her, she closed her lunchbox, stood up and snuck through the underbrush, careful to not crush her plants underfoot, step on any twigs, or generally make any noise louder than a rabbit. Sitting on a log crying was the girl she had a secret crush on, the most beautiful girl she had ever known, practically an angel given flesh, Fluttershy.
Wallflower stood behind the tree on the edge of the clearing watching Fluttershy cry. She waffled. She wanted to walk up to the girl, the most beautiful creature she had ever seen, and ask her what was the matter. She wanted to proclaim how she felt to her secret crush how she really felt. That thought made it feel like butterflies were dancing in her belly and made her face feel hot. Simultaneously the thought filled her with dread, as it was extremely difficult for her to talk to anybody.
Wallflower finally decided to leave and save herself any further dread. Preparing to turn away, but daring to take one last long look at the most beautiful creature, she took a single step backwards.
*snap*
Wallflower silently cursed herself. She had been so careful to not step on any twigs, only to step backwards on one.
Fluttershy stopped crying and lifted her head. "Hello? Is...um...is someone there?" She looked in the direction of the snapping twig. As her eyes searched for someone, she noticed vines growing on trellises and evenly spaced flowers. "I'm sorry if I'm in the middle of your garden. It's a very nice garden." She paused to see if somebody responded. "Uh...I'll just go."
Wallflower's legs seemed to move with a life of their own. "No!", she said sharply. "I mean, uh...no. Please stay." What was she doing?! She never talked this much to anyone before, just kept her head down and kept quiet.
Fluttershy smiled at the green-skinned girl that was moving into the clearing. The freckles on her cheeks made her look cute. Her messy dark green hair was perfectly offset by her brown eyes. Her sweater was a bit frumpy, but it fit her well.
Wallflower swallowed her as she stood face-to-face with Fluttershy. Her eyes traced up her secret crush's form, the way the jeans clung to her legs, the way her winter shirt seemed to be perfectly made for her, and those turquoise eyes. She felt simultaneously terrified and exuberant.
"Um...hi.", Fluttershy said softly.
OH MY GOD! She's talking to me! "Um...hi.", Wallflower said back softly. ***
A thin and homely man sat in a darkened room as the images on his three computer monitors danced in his eyes. The long, thin fingers danced across the keyboard and he clicked his mouth. He let out a chuckle as he rerouted the latest attempt by Specter to find out who he was, they'd give anything to find out the real name of mastermind who uploaded the chaos virus to their mainframe . He was only known to most only by his screenname, D15k0rd. He switched back to his original task, assisting Interpol in finding what happened to one of the most wanted and dangerous spies that had escaped prison weeks ago.
On the desk near his keyboard, his cell phone rang. The thin and homely man picked it up. Reading who was calling, a smile spread across his thin lips. Smoothing out his white goatee, he pressed the green icon on the screen and held the phone up to his ear. "Celly, you old cake-eater! Long time, no speak! So how ya been?"
> Caught in the act: Gabby Gums no more
Sitting behind the three computer screens, the thin and homely man whose only known by his screenname, D15k0rd, was monitoring a dozen things. His thin fingers danced across the keyboard as he locked one of them many, many accounts for a terrorist group, forwarded the current location of a wanted human trafficker to the FBI, sent information to the Federales about a new cartel caravan, scrambled the IP address and crashed the website that an international terror group was using for recruitment, and uploading a worm onto one of the server for Specter to compromise their operatives. To the terror and criminal underworld, D15k0rd was the most wanted man and had multiple bounties on his head.
While the other tasks were underway, the thin and homely man turned his attention to another task, the Gabby Gums website. He was doing this as a favor for an old friend who had a penchant for sugary baked goods. He moved the mouse cursor over to the Gabby Gums project. He traced the IP addresses of their recent uploads, then opened a window for the city grid of Canterlot City. He then set up an overlay that contained the IP, MAC and SSID addresses. He quickly double checked the information and removed the addresses that didn't match the uploads.
"Hmm... Several uploads from coffee shops and the public library. Not too shabby for kids. Oh, but what's this? Two uploads from school library yesterday? Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! When you upload away from school, you can't get in trouble for causing a ruckus because you weren't using school property. But using school property? Naughty, naughty! Oh and what's this? Uploading from your own phones too? Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! Hasn't anyone ever told you that cellphones aren't secure? But you do show some promise and you would be perfect for causing some chaos to some very bad people."
The thin and homely man dropped a simple tracking program onto the phones of the three main uploaders for Gabby Gums. He kept an eye on Gabby Gums as he went about his other tasks.
A couple of hours later the thin and homely man turned his attention back to the Gabby Gums site. A grin spread on his lips as he saw the three were in the school library uploading. "Naughty little children."
The thin and homely man picked up his phone and quickly texted Celestia. 'You can catch them now if you move quickly. They're in the school's library right now and I'm quite they're uploading something that would cause a ruckus.' ***
Celestia's phone chirped and she looked at to to read the message. 'Thanks.'
'No problem. Just save a slice of cake for me.
Celestia rolled her eyes as she stuffed her phone in her pocket. Walking up to Luna's office door, she stuck her head inside. "Na-Na, I just got a tip that the ones uploading stuff to Gabby Gums is in the library right now uploading to the site."
Luna quickly stood up and accompanied her sister out of the office. As they neared the library, Luna split away.
Celestia smiled. Luna had always been the sneakier of the two. The ability to go unseen and unheard if she wanted was a rare gift indeed. When they would play hide and seek as kids, she always won.
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were gathered together behind the monitor of the school's library computer.
Scootaloo shoved a thumb drive into the USB port and opened a video file of Applejack and Rainbow Dash standing behind a tree holding hands. She clicked play and the two older girls faced one another. Applejack and Rainbow Dash's faces slowly moved closer, lips trembling as they puckered up. The video ended as their lips pressed together.
"I...uh, I don't know about this anymore. Yeah, sure, doing Gabby Gums was fun when we were doing silly edited videos and calling people poopy-heads. But now, it's not fun making fun of people in mean ways, posting up fake pictures and outing people.", Sweetie Belle said apprehensively. "I know Cozy said we can do this to get back at the people who bullied us, but now I'm feeling like a bully."
Scootaloo drummed her fingers on the mouse. "I mean, yeah. But Rainbow ditched me so she could suck face with AJ. And she thought I didn't know? Screw that, yo!"
Apple Bloom quickly took control of the mouse. "Yeah! Screw AJ! I get in trouble if I sneak off to play a video game, but Aj gets to sneak off to do kissy face with Dash!? Screw that!" She drug the video over to the Gabby Gums page and typed the header that read, 'Secret lesbians revealed!'
"Ah-ha! Gotcha!"
All three girls squealed in fright as the figure of Principal Celestia loomed over them.
Scootaloo quickly ducked under the table and began to crawl away as fast as her hands and knees could carry her. Crawling out from under the edge of the table, her hand came to rest on Vice-Principal Luna's shoe. "Ah...uh...heh-heh!" She quickly picked up a pencil that was laying on the floor. "I found my pencil."
Luna, with a rather nonplussed look on her face, simply snapped her fingers and jabbed her thumb upwards for the girl to get out from under the table.
After shutting down the computer and taking the thumb drive out of it, the principals escorted the three girls to the office.
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo shrank in their chairs as the two principals sat on the edge of Celestia's desk and looked them over with arms crossed.
Celestia took a few breaths as she formed the words in her mind. "You three, what you did was very wrong. When you started uploading stuff to that site, it was slightly funny. Making Mister Broom look like he was peeing on the wall when he was washing it off with a hose or taking a picture of me eating a slice of cake. Though I must say it was a pleasant, if slightly annoying surprise when students started leaving boxes of cake on my desk. But then you started putting mean stuff up there. I'm disappointed in you three. You're better than this."
That was like an icy arrow piercing the hearts of Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. "I'm sorry.", they said at the same time.
It took everything Celestia and Luna had to not break out into the 'aw' face.
Luna force the corners of her mouth down into a forced scowl. "Saying sorry to us won't cut it."
The three girls swallowed hard.
Luna continued, "What you're going to do is write apology letters for every student you posted a picture or video up on that site and deliver it to them personally."
Celestia walked over to a filing cabinet, opened a drawer and pulled out three sets of black sweats with green lettering. "You three will have detention for a week and are going into the washout program for a month. Your computer privileges will also be revoked for a month." She shoved the sweats into the arms of the three girls and gestured to the restroom in her office. "Now go get changed and report to the detention hall." ***
It was the end of the school day. The final bell rang and Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were standing out front of the school each holding the two apology letters. They swallowed hard, trying to get the lumps out of their throat as they waited for the two girls to receive their final letters.
Sunset, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow and Applejack came out, and the three girls approached the last two.
Rainbow balled up the letters the Cutie Crusaders handed her. "So a piece of paper saying you're sorry is supposed to make up for this!? What you did...gah! I can't even!"
Fluttershy physically interjected herself in her own gentle way. She laid a gaze on the Cutie Crusaders that made them feel like they were going to turn to stone. "What you did was very wrong. Not only did you out Rainbow and Applejack before they were comfortable with everyone knowing." She shot a sideways glance at the blue-skinned girl, who recoiled slightly. "But you also made a recording of them during a private moment."
Applejack looked at Apple Bloom, her face a mask of anger and hurt. "If'm you weren't my sister Ah'd...GAH!" She turned away, propped up against the wall and covered her face with a hand. "Ah ain't even told Granny an' Mac yet. Oh dear sweet Jesus! What'll Granny do when she find out?"
"Ahem-hem-hem!"
Applejack turned her head and laid eyes on said woman. "Granny! "Bout that video."
"Tut-tut-tut-tut." Granny Smith held up a finger to cut her granddaughter. "I dun heard 'bout that vidja."
"well Ah need ta say it." Applejack took in a deep breath, held it for a second as she formed the words, then let it out. "Granny..." Tears welled up in her eyes. "Ah like girls. I'm a lesbian. Ah know ya were raised in a diff'rent--"
"Ah known, durlin'. Ah've always known an' was jus' waitin' fer ya to get up th' gumption ta say it."
Applejack blinked. "Huh? Wha?"
"After y'all's ma an' pa passed, Ah raised you three like mah own. Ah dun raised seven tungin afore y'all were e'en a twinkle in yer pa's eye. Ah'd be a bad mamma an' a bad granma if'n Ah dinit know 'bout mah yungins."
"So ya ain't mad?"
Granny extended her arms. "'Mere you." She pulled her granddaughter into a hug. "Ah ain't mad or ashamed. I'm proud of ya." After parting from the hug, she shot a glare at Apple Bloom. "When we git home, yer gon cut me a switch. An' then ya can think 'bout what ya did fer th' next three months in yer room wit' no TV, no vidja games, no havin' friends o'er an' no dessert. An' Ah'm makin' mah famous apple crumble cake."
Apple Bloom hung her head. "Yes, ma'am."
Granny then turned her attention to the other two Cutie Crusaders."An' you two. If'n y'all were my youngins, Ah'd tan yer hides too, but seein' as yer not, Ah'll be callin' yer mas and pas tah tell'em what y'all dun did." She then approached Rainbow. "Now mah eyes ains't as sharp as they used tah be, but Ah c'n still bullseye a squirrel outta a tree at a hunert yards. Jus' sumptin tah think 'bout if'n ya have any thoughts o' breakin' AJ's heart." Her face became a kind, wrinkly smile. "Now Ah'll call yer ma an' pa tah talk wit'em 'bout you datin' my granddaughter."
Adagio Dazzle, Sonata Dusk and Aria Blaze had found the information they needed. Wicked smiles spread on the faces of the three ancient sirens.
Adagio wrung her hand greedily. "After all these centuries of feeding on human suffering, we're finally going to get our hands on that tasty, tasty Equestria magic. We'll take over this world, then Equestria and then--"
"Tacos!", Sonata shouted as she pointed at a small cart selling tacos.
Aria shook her head at Sonata's outburst.
Adagio facepalmed. "I should have turned you into fish sticks a long time ago." |
The Wacky and Wonderful Misadventures of Buggy the Clown | pre | Just in that moment an airship started to hover into my line of sight. On it stood a slightly confused, but then smugly grinning all too familiar pirate captain...
My eye twitched.
"OH COME ON!"
Well, I probably should have seen that coming. Infamous Pirate Luck and all, but for me to actually land on an airship? How high were the chances! And the ponies that were on it were already leaving the ship in clear fear and awe of my presence! Life was good.
Also the face Cake Butt was making! Priceless!
"You shouldn't scrunch your face like that or you get ugly wrinkles!" I joked slash taunted, making her frown in clear annoyance. I then noticed Loony, as well as my other pursuers who seemed to have arrived after my fall looking off the edge and down to me, all not seeming happy with my escape (well if you discount the pink maniac who was still smiling and even waving happily at me). Not that I cared. This actually even gave me the opportunity for a flashy line I always wanted to say. I was rather giddy at the thought!
I coughed into my fist, making sure all the attention was on me.
"Royal Butts," I mock-bowed with a flourish, making Cake's eye twitch, "You will always remember this as the day you almost caught the great Captain Buggy, wahahahahahaha-"
*CRASH*
"Wait, what are these noises?" I wondered out loud.
*CRACK*
*THUMP*
Sounds of stuff breaking reached my ears, making me a tad nervous as I looked around the ship.
It was then that I noticed the gaping hole that went through the balloon as well as through the deck below. I saw a very specific axe shimmering in said hole. An axe which I remembered was sailing off the cliff before I fell down said cliff.
I also noticed the ponies using the small mini-airships to evacuate themselves and leaving the sinking ship. And they were using all the airships. Not that I was baffled by this, seeing how these ponies looked like some arrogant noble folk. I probably disturbed their little get together. Seriously, guys like that should stay on the ground. Though I had more pressing matters. Namely the one of a seemingly strongly damaged airship.
I put my hand at my chin.
"Well, it's sinking slowly so maybe I can make a crash landing that will leave me unharmed."
*CRACK*
Just as if Murphy was getting off at seeing me struggle I could hear and see the ship visibly straining as from the hole in the ground the deck seemed to be cracking.
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
*CRACK*
More cracks followed and those were moving further along, even as far as slowly cracking up the outer shell! The whole thing was cracking and moaning under the power of this devastating blow. It was quite clear to me what just happens right now.
The damn ship was breaking apart with me still on it!
It gave one last crack, before it was split in the middle and I started to hold on for dear life as the back half on which I was fell back from the front and started to fall down.
"DAMMMMMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII-" I screamed as the airship, or a part of it, swiftly descended downwards and directly in the direction of an eerily looking forest. I could only hope it would soften the fall, but with my luck I honestly doubt that. My Infamous Pirate Luck only protects me from crippling and death after all. And right now I wasn't sure if I liked the sound of that.
POV: Celestia
We all stared after Buggy as his ship crashed down into the Everfree Forest.
The situation seemed so incomprehensible and ridiculous. Just as I thought I was rid of him he was saved by his rotten luck, only to then fall to his death again! Only this time I highly doubted it would happen.
Nope, not getting my hopes up again. I know better than that!
I took solace in the fact that everypony around me seemed equally stunned by what had transpired. It actually took a minute before the silence was broken.
"...Well, that happened," Twilight offered in a neutral tone.
"Tis did," my sister agreed.
"...So, what happens now?" asked the timid Element of Kindness, her eyes flitting to and fro in uncertainty.
"Now we go on the hunt," I stated as I turned to the guard on my left.
"Leaf Shield?"
"Yes your majesty?"
"I want a bounty placed this very moment on Buggy's head! 30,000 bits! Alive! Give information to all nearby bounty hunters."
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Good. Hammerhead," I turned my head to the guard on my right, "I want you to ready a squad of guards roaming the Everfree for him. We can't allow any mistakes! We need to apprehend him immediately!"
"Didst thou not say that we were going on the hunt?" my sister asked perplexed.
"Luna, by all what is holy, screw duties. I need a bucking drink right now."
Luna actually giggled cockily at me.
"Well, we could give him a day headstart. Otherwise it wouldn't be fair for our dear Captain, no?"
POV: ???
My ears swiveled in interest at what I had just heard. Sure, I wasn't invited to the wedding, and only came here because of the grub, but the information that I got instead was worth gold.
"30,000 bits, huh?" I mused as a cocky grin spread across my muzzle.
It sounded like easily earned money. I mean, seriously? A clown? I was a well-known bounty hunter. I was dealing with worse stuff on a daily basis.
I stretched my arms and wings a bit as I moved away from the now hectic party as guards were running around, fulfilling their orders. It seems this headstart of mine wouldn't hold for long. Kind of a pity since I wanted to relax, but no rest for the wicked.
With that I decided to not lose any more time and spread my wings and took to the air, determined to find him and cash the money before the guards or any rookie bounty hunter could.
The hunt had begun. |
The Wacky and Wonderful Misadventures of Buggy the Clown | Reminiscing ...I had a rather wild start, hadn't I? | Hurt. Pain. Agony.
Not to mention the disgusting feeling of cake on the entirety of my body and clothes combined with the dirt, twigs and leaves from the crash.
That's pretty much how I felt after the ship came down.
Like predicted I was unharmed in the crippling sense of the word, but that didn't stop the bruises and cuts from the crash into this dark forest.
On the plus side, I still have the treasure with me, even as I limp my sore body away from Canterlot. A bed sounds heavenly right about now, but I know I will need to at least make some headway before I even think about a break. Not to mention that I would also need a shower before that. I don't think I can rest like I am now. Though sadly it is an all too familiar feeling...
Honestly, this whole day reminded me of how I first got here. Or should I say fiasco? However, my situation at least was better back then after I made it out of the castle of these two. Not like now, where I'm trudging along, desperately trying to get away before the guards can get to me.
Funny fact is that the guards could be considered the One Piece equivalent to the Marine. They have many rank equivalents too. Admirals for example. Only I normally never had to deal with those, seeing as Loony often wanted to hunt me down herself. Not to mention they didn't have devil fruit powers. Of course for all I know things could have changed. Who is to say what the current admirals are like?
Damn, I'm really getting all reminiscing now after being free after an eternity, aren't I? Well, I guess I could think back on how things all started. It's not like I have anything other left to do.
A long time ago...
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" I couldn't help but scream, not comprehending what was happening to me. Was it really asked too much to buy a simple devil fruit on a convention? Then again, why exactly did I buy a fruit that existed only in Anime? I must have been crazy for not to be wary of that deal!
Well, no matter what was going on, I couldn't really do more than scream as I continued to fall into this seemingly never ending vortex, cursing Murphy for giving me such bad luck.
Sometimes I really wished I could possess Captain Buggy's Infamous Pirate Luck. That would be just what I needed. A bit of luck to stop this maddening fall in a soft non-deadly way. Was that too much to ask for?
Before I could think further I dived into a soft as well as sticky substance. Muffled shouts of shock and surprise reaching my ears. I had enough survival instinct in me left to break the surface of this damp and sticky prison for breath, before wiping my eyes.
As my sight was cleared I found myself in something akin to a throne room. Two thrones on one end in front of me, with two strange beings inside of it. The white one with the fat rump had a rather twitchy eye. I would recommend to euthanize her.
A groan escaped my lips at this uncomfortable feeling of landing in whatever gross substance that is now sticking on my clothes.
"Ugh. God dammit," I said, before eying the both beings in front of me, as my brain slowly started to restart for a suitable response, "Fat horses?"
While the white one reeled back on her throne and blushed as if struck, the smaller one of the two scowled at me. Hatred filling her eyes as she suddenly stood up - on two legs I might add - as she stepped towards me. She looked almost human. Or more like a creepy human-horse crossbreed. They also somehow looked a bit teenage. Though I will admit blue was generously gifted in the chest area for her age it seemed. Something that can't be said about the flat-chested white one.
A flash of light left me dumbstruck as suddenly a giant battle axe found itself in her tender hands, looking almost comically since the axe seemed almost as big as herself. However, something other drew my attention. Something that still left me baffled. It was just like if she magiced it to her!
Of course I wasn't dumb and knew magic didn't exist. Parlor tricks didn't fool me.
So I scoffed, "Really?" I asked, "I have seen better magic tricks from on a fair."
Bluey gritted her teeth, before her hand reeled back with the axe behind her.
"OFF WITH THE HEAD!" She screamed enraged as she swung her axe straight at me. I couldn't even comprehend what was happening as she aimed directly for my neck. Just as it connected with me I seemed to understand that I was in for a beheading. For the end of my life.
I screamed in terror as the axe simply sliced through me, separating my head off my shoulders.
This fucking psycho!
But I didn't expect what happened next. I was somehow still alive. My head was higher up now, so I knew it wasn't on its shoulders anymore, but I still was fully conscious and without feeling any pain.
The jaws of the two beings dropped in shock. I tried to turn my head down, to wrap it pretty much around what was happening. And what I saw made me gawk in shock.
Below me was my body standing still. I could feel it. I could move it as indicated as I moved my fingers, and still my head wasn't connected with it. Instead my neck ended in a child-friendly stump of sorts, seeing as no blood was spewing from it and it simply looked like there was a layer of skin on it. It honestly still was a bit creepy, but also familiar.
That was when it dawned on me. I somehow had gained an impossible ability. The ability of the chop-chop devil fruit!
Admittedly this was rather neat.
...And useful, considering the lunatic with her axe.
Still, I couldn't hold in the smug grin that spread across my face.
"Surprised?" I taunted, "That's the power of the chop-chop fruit. Your blades can't harm me. I'm completely immune to them! Seems like your fat asses can't do anything!"
Though my cockiness didn't hold on for long as I suddenly felt a heat to my side as flames danced on the edge of my vision. I turned just to see White Horse being a flaming inferno as her eyes glowed with embers of unbridled fury.
...And some tears leaked from it?
"HOW DARE YOU DESTROY MY CAKE! AND THEN EVEN MOCK US?!"
Her body quickly melted into a glowing lava mass. Waves of steam and heat were wafting from her, making me draw back.
I of course remembered this power. It was the same power of one of the Admirals from One Piece. And a quite fearsome one indeed. Not even Ruffy's brother could hold himself against such a character. How could I stand up to her then?
So I did the only thing that was logical in my situation... I ran. Right out of the throne doors. Though I could already feel bipedal hoof pairs follow me, as heat started to creep up on me.
I stumbled a bit over the carpet, saving me my live as a swath of lava sailed over me, hitting the wall from the tee junction in front of me and melting it. I could only gulp in fright as I took a hasty right.
'These horses here are all completely nuts!' I thought as I ran for my life a lunatic horse and a magma horse right on my heels. Though I was now taking as much turns as I could to hamper their aim.
Both horses seemed to get quite frustrated over this moving through the halls and they made their displeasure quite clear. At least the lunatic one was saying it out loud, while I imagined the magma flat-chest to be simply grunting in displeasure.
"Get back here and face thine punishment like a mare!" the axe lunatic screamed. Not that I paid attention to her call.
"FUCK YOU, YOU TECHNICOLOR LUNATICS! I'M OUT OF HERE!"
And that I was. Another lava attack shot through a window, melting a hole through it. And this was then I took my chance and jumped out. A small bush was dampening my fall, as I now seemed to be in a yard or garden. I could see flowers, neatly cut trees and even a pond.
At that moment curiosity got the better out of me. Not to mention that I wanted to see how messy I looked after diving into a cake. Let's say running around with this smear was very uncomfortable, and maybe I could just dive in real quick to clean it. So to hell with precaution! A second was all I needed anyway.
With that I quickly neared the pond, shuddering with each step of cake defiled clothes. I then sat down exhausted to look into the pond.
I saw my reflection at that moment. And what I saw stunned me.
This. This was my face. Not my own face, but the face of Buggy, the infamous trickster and Pirate Captain. A younger Buggy I noted. About the one you have seen in past sequences with a young Shanks.
My brain pretty much crashed in shock at this other realization. So I didn't only have the abilities, but also the look and the body to go with it?
At that moment as I was still rather distracted by my reflection the two horses surrounded me, both seeming to be a bit out of breath as they huffed a little. Whitey noticeably more so than Bluey.
"F-Finally *pant* giving up?" Whitey asked, hatred still clear in her eyes, though her body has reverted back and only her mane was on fire now.
As I looked around I also noticed that quite a few guards there also standing right behind them, making an escape rather impossible for me as I was surrounded. But I still dreaded what they would do to me if I turned myself in. However, if I resisted any more it could only get worse...
With that I was just about to lift my hands in the air as a gesture of surrender when suddenly a huge shadow overshadowed us all. I looked up to see a massive ship, no, a massive airship!
I could only gawk at it in fascination and confusion, at what craziness my life had become, before a obnoxious male voice echoed through the garden.
"Ho ho ho. What do we have here?"
I remember. What a crazy day. And it only started just then. A lot of things happened. I met a lot of people. Some annoying, others obnoxious. To say I lived a wild life back then would be an understatement. But the way I say it sounds like I am an old man, even though I guess I am slowly getting old. Not that I could simply go in pension. I have nothing to support me after all. No treasure. So I will have to go on. Look for the wealth and luxury which is only reserved for snotty nobles. To try and make my own luck in this unlucky situation.
And my own luck demands rest.
Luckily, just as I was thinking about simply climbing up a tree to at least try to get some shut-eye despite my sticky clothes I found a small hut. Well, it was more of a tree constructed into a hut really, with some voodoo mask things. Not that I cared. I simply grinned as I sped up my steps, hoping whoever lived here wouldn't be one of the unfriendly kind, or worse, psychopaths that lived in the woods sort. Luckily I'm immune to anything sharp that I may be attacked in that case, considering such psychopathic types prefer sharp weapons. Then again... that doesn't stop Luna from having fun with me...
In any case I found something interesting as I got near. The door seemed to have been rammed open. But it seemed to have been some time since that. The whole place as I walked inside was in disarray. A lot of broken things laying on the ground with upturned chairs, potions, ingredients and even a cauldron. Some dust was already gathering. It seemed abandoned which was pretty lucky for good old me. Though I still wondered what happened here.
Not that it mattered. But this might actually be a place to take a breather and clean myself.
...It might also help in the worst case now that I think about it.
Luckily whoever lived here had a shovel. I needed to make sure I had a trump up my sleeve before anything else. Even if I'm lucky, I'm not sure I might get out of here uncaptured. So I have to hide this treasure. It might help as a bargaining chip if I get captured. But it might also get useful to move faster without it and come back for it at a later date. It's safety, really. And right now I needed it.
Of course some might question why I need a shovel if I could hide it in that hut, but... that's too obvious. Not to mention that I'm a pirate. And pirates tend to bury their treasures. So I simply go around the house and bury it at the backside of it. It's simple but genius at the same time!
Anyway, I grabbed the shovel and already was digging up a hole behind the hut. Then simply dumped the bag and buried it again. My muscles were burning and my body was protesting, seeing how I was rather exhausted, but it had to be done now.
After wiping the sweat, as well as some more disgusting cake from my brow and throwing the shovel far away, no reason in keeping a dirty shovel in the hut to indicate my deed, I went back to the front. Luckily there was a backroom with a simple cot, as well as a spare bathroom. That would do.
Well, normally it would have, but I never made it inside. At least not in the normal way. You see, there was a blur. Something akin to lightning in a way that slammed right in my side before I could enter. It pretty much slammed me inside the living room and against a cauldron, making my head ring and my back hurt.
I looked up alarmed as a pegasus mare flew inside, her wings stretched out.
She had a really strange coat color. Something between blue and green. Turquoise or something like that. I was never that good with colors. Her hair seemed to be lightning themed, showing just that indeed yes, it was her who slammed into me. On her wings were even wing blades. Too bad she didn't try to use those. That wouldn't have hurt at least.
Anyway she stomped towards me, a cocky grin on her face.
I quickly searched for my knives, but then remembered that I didn't have them. I was just about to throw a punch, but by then she was already onto me, staring down at me like I was her prey.
"Gotcha," she only said before her hoof-leg-thing collided with the side of my head and I knew no more. |
The Wacky and Wonderful Misadventures of Buggy the Clown | Reminiscing 2 ...Royal Butts of course get to have some nice breakfast while I'm being hauled to them | POV: Luna
It was late. Well, it was late for us, considering the night just passed as we lowered the moon. But we weren't tired in the least. No. We were giddy.
We were hopping with a spring in our step, as modern ponies like to say. An excited grin no doubt on our features as we hopped along down the hallway to break our fast with Tia.
Just the thought of Buggy roaming this world again, it was exhilarating in a way we can't describe.
Buggy was something familiar. He was something fun. And now, after a thousand years he got us really nostalgic. Tis a feeling we crave, considering how strange modern times art for us. He is the single constant in our life.
...Well, if one didn't count Discord. Oh, how Tia is still having troubles to sleep at night because of our...
We do not want to dare think of it. Tia is still hurting from it, as well as us. Discord is a mystery of our past. A mystery we cannot hope to unravel. He is never serious enough to answer the questions we seek. But Buggy certainly would be more enjoyable to talk about our past. He does hold secrets and we know it. So we will certainly seek him out...after cutting him down a few times. A mare doth have to play around after all.
Just as we imagined of how we would cut his body next, we reached the hall of fast breaking. Guards saluted and pulled the door open, revealing a rather disheveled Tia not much to my surprise. She had rings under her eyes, and her crown was askew. Truly an abhorrent sight, considering her unkempt mane. Who would have thought that a simple clown would have such an effect on her?
"Greetings sister!" we greeted her jovially in our Royal Canterlot Voice booming towards her and trying to lift her mood. She jumped up in fright, funnily enough and then gave us a cross look as she groaned.
"No RCV inside the castle, Luna!" she chided us, making us huff.
"We were only trying to lift thine mood sister! Though it baffles us how a single pirate can make thou loose thine royal composure!" we chided right back, making her growl in annoyance.
"It's not just him! Or did you already forgot about our other problem!"
I nodded in understanding, "We see. So it is Discord too?"
"It is. This is just a bit too much. I mean, first Discord escapes after Twilight was ready to send him back to stone, then a bug queen is exiled, but will surely be back, only to be followed by Buggy! Buggy! Though Chrysalis is the one which troubles me much less than the others. I mean, you know how Buggy and Discord are! These two... And Discord already claimed his title of one of the Four Emperors back! What comes next?! Does White Ear suddenly break out to claim his title back too?!"
At this moment our sister started to hyperventilate and we immediately flew over the table and to her side to embrace her and soothe her. It took a moment before she seemed to calm down. But it certainly showed us how frayed her nerves were. And I had to agree. Threats are surfacing one after another. And not everything is going according to plan. Discord's escape one of the major points. After all he was roaming the lands as we speak. And none of us could imagine what heinous plans he might enact just now.
Our sister meanwhile broke the embrace and gave us a thankful smile.
"Thank you Luna. I'm sorry that you have to do this. It was just a bit much."
"We understand. Buggy's escape certainly was a flashy one."
Tia instantly groaned at the mention of his name...and maybe also because of our pun, heh.
"Please, don't remind me."
"Do you still remember how we first met him?" we asked teasingly with a giggle, making our sister frown.
"Don't remind me..." she simply said with an far off look in her eyes as she reminisced the moment, just as I did on this truly fateful day.
Tis was a glorious day. And we couldn't help but beam as the cake we ordered was coming just in time. Tia was ecstatic as she saw the surprise cake I prepared for her. Truly a picture of the purest joy. And a picture that was needed after what has happened with our dear mother...
But no! Today was to celebrate and not to mourn! Tia agreed as small tears of joy were starting to form on her eyes.
"Oh Luna, this is the best present you could have made me for my birthday! This is the best day ever!" she exclaimed in her teenage vigor. And I nodded happily.
"Yes. Tis an most fortunate date. Tis cake is very special since it is a triple layered and several times stacked black forest cake, prepared by the best confectioners of Minos. So Happy 16th Birthday sister."
"Oh how did I ever deserve such a sweet little sister like you!" Tia said happily as she wrapped us up in a big warm embrace.
"We know," we cockily said as we stuck our muzzle up in the air smugly.
It truly was a perfect day. And we were sure that absolutely nothing, and we mean nothing could ruin it!
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"
But then there was this faint noise. Almost barely audible at first but then slowly gaining in volume.
"Do you hear this?" we asked our sister in worry as she started to look around for the source of the noise.
"What could this be? Are we being attacked by the pirates?" she asked, before frowning, "Today?"
And we couldn't blame her. This wasn't something anyone should hath to deal with on their day of birth.
"-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
And the noise got louder. But then, all too suddenly a portal opened on the throne room ceiling. And out of it fell a stallion. Seemingly hairless and without a tail. We both exclaimed our surprise in loud shouts as the stallion plummeted down.
...Directly into the cake.
Our eye twitched in anger and frustration. Tis cake did take quite a while to get here! And it wasn't easy to even get it on time because of the absurdly high demand of it! It was prepared by the most famous confectioners and now it was ruined!
Whoever this being was, we were sure to at least let it rot in the dungeon for a good year because of this insolence if he doesn't have a good excuse for his invasion. Not to mention a most humble and sincere apology.
The stallion quickly enough broke the surface and wiped his eyes as he tried to control his frantic breathing. We noticed the clown nose placed on his strangely small muzzle and wondered if this funny looking stallion was hired by one of the nobles as a poor surprise. Or if this clown sneaked into the castle hoping to impress us with its humor. Suffice to say that if this was the case we were clearly everything other than impressed with the destruction of our birthday gift for our sister.
The stallion or clown if one prefers that title looked around, seemingly confused, before his eyes saw us, showing more confusion. It clearly seemed my theory of him seeking us out being wrong, but it did not explain his being here. Was it an accident? But how doth one accidentally fall through a portal and directly onto the birthday cake? We also noted that he was just a teenage colt. Probably about our age. Not that it soothed any of the anger I felt from our sister for this destruction of this expensive black forest cake.
The colt then groaned as he felt the stickiness of the cake in his clothes, his flat muzzle showing disgust.
"Ugh. God dammit," he said, before eying the both of us, though what came next was something not even our mother could ever have predicted.
"Fat horses?" he simply stated in confusion.
He insulted us. US! The rulers of this fair land! The insolence! The irreverence! All thoughts of a benevolent punishment were being thrown out of the, like commoners like to say, thrown out the window as our rage consumed us. We felt this dark presence that guided our hand as we summoned our battle axe with a deep scowl gracing our beautiful features. Which was of course quite a pity for our graceful muzzle to displaying such an ugly emotion. But I couldn't help it!
The teenage clown didn't make it any easier for us as he simply scoffed at us. Scoffed!
"Really?" he asked, "I have seen better magic tricks from on a fair."
We gritted our healthy teeth on reflex before our hand reeled back with the axe behind us, ready for the devastating throw.
"OFF WITH THE HEAD!" we screamed hoping to exterminate this insect.
We couldn't help but feel amused. Back then we were so wild and unbridled. Always trying to go with our head through a wall as ponies like to say. Tia however seemed less amused as she reminisced it.
"We have to catch him quick! Who knows what abhorrent crimes he will commit while we are sitting here at this very table!"
We simply rolled our eyes. Sister truly behaves like a foal when it comes to Buggy. We found him quite useful for stress relief. And we certainly wouldn't want him to go to Tartarus or be imprisoned in stone like our sister wishes.
"Maybe thou art worrying too much," we suggested, hoping to stir our sister away from breaking our toy. Not that our sister listened to us of course.
She turned to us, looking deeply into our eyes with determination.
"You might be saying that, but it's not like his head will be presented to us on a silver platter."
At that exact moment we could hear some loud noises from outside. A male all too familiar voice was screaming, while a female voice seemed to try to curse at him to keep his trap shut. Not that the male voice was interested in her talk.
Only a second later the doors flew open as a mare walked into the room, with an in a sack bound and wildly struggling Buggy over her shoulder. Only his head was looking out from the sack. A head that suddenly came straight flying at us...
...and into the cake.
Cake batte and frosting flew in all directions, but mostly directly into Tia's face and her torso.
...We will admit that our cheeks bulged out in barely restrained laughter.
Tia was already fuming and heating up, making the cake on her melt. Buggy meanwhile shook his head, not yet sensing the danger he was in.
"Damn is it hot in here!" he complained, before he started sweating as realization hit him, "Please don't tell me I landed in her cake again," he said all too fearfully as my sister simply glared down at the head that was served on her silver platter.
We couldn't restrain the cocky grin that graced our muzzle, as we elbowed our sister.
She simply turned around to us with a questioning look.
We, as the modern ponies say, shit you not, as we had what was called, we believe, a shit-eating grin pointed at her, before pointing to the head on the platter.
"You were saying?" |
The Wacky and Wonderful Misadventures of Buggy the Clown | Bounty Payment... Now my fate gets decided in a non-flashy way, oh joy | "You were saying?" I heard Loony cockily say. I was still blinking my eyes free of cake, but could still make a vein out that twitched dangerously on Cake Butt's forehead. A head that was erupting in a flaming inferno.
My head quickly staggered a bit back on this cake platter that I was now on. I really have to curse my luck right now.
And Murphy.
Considering I just escaped and am now at Cake Butt's mercy after destroying another cake... Things seemed better yesterday.
Luckily enough Loony stepped in before Cake Butt could get out her hammer to crush me.
"Calm thyself sister. This is a reason to celebrate after all," her lunatic sister stated before she sighed forlornly, "Though we wished that we would hath gotten the opportunity to get in on the hunt..."
The older of the two sighed as she calmed herself enough for her flaming mane to subside.
"Yes. You are right. His punishment has to wait. As for now we need the Elements first. And now that we are talking about where are they?" Cake Butt asked looking at the bounty hunter before them.
"What are you looking at me?" she simply stated, not getting what they were talking about, and who could blame her. I doubt they wrote that down on my bounty after all.
"The Elements. Buggy here had a sack with these valuable jewels. Where are they?"
"Listen. I have no bucking clue. He didn't have any sack when I found him in that forest."
Cake Butt narrowed her eyes dangerously, "Lying will be punished severely. So are you quite sure? Or do I have to help your memory?"
That threat was enough for that damned bounty hunter to cross her arms under her chest. A chest as small as it was that was still bigger than loli Cake Butt's. Heh.
She was also despite that position still balancing me on her shoulders interestingly enough. It showed at least that despite being a coward she still had some skill. At least then it came to balancing things.
"I already told you! I mean, the bounty was only about this clown, right? And he didn't have anything with him! Heck if I know what he did with your crown jewels."
I snorted, causing Celestia to glare at me. A glare that was scrutinizing and calculating, trying to find the answer to find her *snort* 'crown jewels'.
"...I see," Cake Butt frowned as she let out a rather annoyed sigh, "This complicates this situation. The Elements need to be found immediately."
Loony only nodded, "We agree. Tis be best if we ask our dear Captain what happened to them."
With that both of the Butt's eyes turned to me. The Cake one hereby glaring a hole in me. Luckily a coughing sound drew their attention back to the bounty hunter who tapped her hoof on the floor impatiently.
"Yo. I'm not meaning to be impolite but what about my reward?"
"Ah, yes. Your reward," Cake Butt said as she levitated a pouch probably filled with some nice gold bits judging by the jingling in her yellow aura and threw them straight at the bounty hunter who catched it in her hands.
She then opened the pouch to check the content, but her muzzle quickly turned into a scowl as she seemed to count the bits again and again.
"Hey! That's only 15,000 bits! The half is missing!" she complained. And I could only agree with her on that one. Not that I had pity with her, but cheating one with bits like that was a total not-flashy dick move in my opinion. Not even I would stoop that low.
And believe me, I'm bombing houses of innocent civilians. So I'm already rather low on the morality ladder.
Cake Butt all too haughtily rejected her complained with a derisive snort.
"You didn't relinquish the Elements, and your own negligence to secure Buggy's head costed me my very expensive and imported cake. So that is more than the likes of you deserve."
Of course bounty here protested.
"It was 30,000 bits! And I didn't know about either those Element thingies, nor about his abilities!"
"Oh?" she asked with an open stare, "You were too incompetent then?"
"Incompetent?! I'm the famous Bounty Hunter Lightning Dust!" she boomed through the dining hall, though Cake Butt wasn't impressed at all.
"It seems the standards for bounty hunters are quite low if you are the best they have to offer," she mentioned off-handedly, not caring that she just insulted her.
That seemed to make Lighting, as I now knew her name, snap as her nostril flared in seething anger as her wings aggressively flared from her sides.
"BITCH!"
This one word made everything go silent. Guards were going pale as they stared at the bounty hunter like she just committed suicide. Which honestly she probably has. I could see Cake Butt's vein twitching wildly and only a hand of her sister on her shoulder seemed to calm her down.
If only a little.
Her teeth were gritting as she glared Lightning down.
"I see. It seems I was not only too benevolent but also too lax with you. It shocks me again and again how you bounty hunters don't seem to show any manners."
Now it was Lightning's turn to snort at her.
"Benevolent my flank! We had a deal! And you are crossing me!"
"I'm merely pointing out what you have missed. But if you react like that... we will sack in the bounty ourselves! It might help to finance your stay!"
She was about to retort angrily at the mention of sacking in her hard earned money. Well, not really hard earned, considering this coward ambushed me. But anyway she somehow seemed to notice something amiss that made the fur on her neck stand on end.
"Stay?" she asked all too accusingly.
"Oh yes. You clearly are no useful part of society. So you will be involved in THE program."
Instantly she dropped my body making me curse in slight pain, before she spread her wings and took angrily off towards the door she had carried me.
"GUARDS! SEIZE HER!" Cake Butt yelled, and the guards saluted as they instantly chased her down.
I didn't really have any pity with her. Though what actually scared her enough to simply take off threw me for a loop. Useful part of society? Program? What exactly did Cake Butt mean with that?
Though it practically made me remember that I was still on a plate right in front of this easily to irate goddess wannabe.
"And now to you," I could hear her seethe with her trademark suppressed rage, "I will give you one last chance to tell me where the Elements are before I turn you to a crisp!"
I of course quickly jumped with my head from the plate and to the exit, only to be grasped by her magical aura in midair, immobilizing me, as she turned me to face her.
"The Elements?" she demanded, and no matter what I did, I couldn't turn my head from her.
Considering my position it was good that I actually had hid them. Otherwise I would already be in stone or to Tartarus. So, with the advantage I had, I of course tried to milk it for what it was worth.
"I want the 15,000 bits you have there, as well as an airship and for you to give me at least five days headstart."
Celestia's face instantly crunched up some more in clear distaste and even more rage.
"YOU DARE?!" she screamed at me, as she stood up to tower over my head-only form. Her hair was again a wildly dancing inferno.
Neither of us noticed Luna scowling at the two of us before she snatched my head away in her magic and brought me to her arms. She then pressed me against her bust, giving her sister a disapproving frown.
"Tis not the way to solve this sister!" she started, "Doth thee not see? There art a much better solution for this situation."
That actually made Celestia curious.
"A better solution you say?" she asked, inquiring to hear more.
Loony nodded as she cocked her head to the still open dining room door.
She then turned along with Cake Butt to see six very specific mares enter the room. Mares I have seen before.
"Buggy!" an all too cheerful pink pony exclaimed as she bounced over to me, before snapping my head out of the air and smothering me between her generous pillows.
I personally felt an incoming nosebleed at this as my cheeks burned. I was in a bit of a daze, and only really got out of it when I felt my lungs suddenly burn up as I realized that my oxygen was cut off.
Thumping could be heard as my bound body trashed around on the ground and orange quickly stepped forward.
"Pinkie! Yer suffocating the fella!" she chided, making Pinkie stop as she pulled me out of her chest, making me gasp from air, as I felt a few drops of blood stream down my nose.
"Oopsies!" she exclaimed sheepishly, before my head was floated out of her hands in a familiar blue aura of Loony.
"Hey!" Pinkie protested with a pout, as Loony simply shook her head.
"Tis not the best moment for this now. The Elements are missing and only our dear Captain here knows their exact location."
Rainbow instantly beat her wings and flew forward while punching one hand into her other.
"What are we waiting for when? Let's just give him a good old beating to get out of him where the Elements are!"
"Violence shall not be the answer to his crime," Loony said with a disapproving scowl at rainbow horse.
That was then purple stepped forward. Her demeanor was calm. Or at least as calm as she could be, as she still shuddered a bit nervously as she looked over me.
"You mean the program?" she asked Loony timidly, who nodded curtly.
"Indeed. This shall be the best solution for solving this predicament."
"What program?" I couldn't help but question warily with a raised eyebrow.
Loony then levitated me in front of her face. A predatory grin adorning her feature.
I didn't like it.
"Thou will see, our dear Captain!~"
I didn't like it one bit. |
The Wacky and Wonderful Misadventures of Buggy the Clown | Comical Judgement... Curse you Murphy! | Some people believe in karma. That all bad that we did would come crushing down on us sooner or later. That there would be some comical judgement even, or some junk like that. Like for example if you are sentenced to several hours of community service for littering to end up actually picking up trash. Such things like irony. Well, even with Murphy having his hand in on this I still could hardly believe the ridiculousness that I was subjected to right now. The irony a villain, or pirate in my case has to endure. The sick joke that Equestria was pulling on me.
"Welcome to the Everfree Reformation Center, short ERC. The place where you will learn to be a useful part of society!"
Yes. This part of irony that right up had to be some twisted joke of Murphy. A Reformation Program.
Fuck you, Murphy.
"We will teach you the how's and why's of the topics why it isn't worth to be a villain and how to achieve a normal everyday life along your fellow peers!" the all too familiar purple unicorn droned on much to my chagrin, "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I'm leading this highly-established institution. Our success rate here at the ERC is one hundred per cent, so I'm convinced that you will all be reformed in no time! I also hope that you will gain lots of valid information and see the light of friendship during your stay!"
"Ugh. I would rather like to see the light of an exit sign," I muttered. And I could see that the others who were standing in line with me were thinking like that as well judging by their frowns. The people here that have to 'see the light' were a mix of diamond dogs and ponies. Though I noticed the bounty hunter from yesterday wasn't one of them.
Lucky bitch.
We were also in the middle of a forest. The same forest I trudged through yesterday. Only were we standing inside of a huge light blue colored shield. It encompassed this so called ERC which main building was a castle. But they also had walls and a large gate, which kind of blocked my view from most of it as we walked inside, so I didn't know what to expect. Though I imagine some kind of prison.
We pretty much got some clean clothes, which looked normal, and not like anything prison-like at least. I of course persisted on keeping my clothes. I mean, if they let me keep it, then I sure as hell would keep them.
I was also lucky they got washed yesterday as I was deported on the airship that flew here. You know, them giving me pajamas and me giving them my clothes to have them cleaned. It was actually quite nice. Like a hotel stay almost. Albeit movement of course was restricted on the quarter on the airship. But let's get back to the situation at hand with this, ugh, reformation thing...
"Ah would like it if we could just get ta the point fer once, without the whole shindig," an orange mare suddenly said with a slightly irritated voice. Oh, and the rest of the six were also here, in case you were wondering. Honestly I still haven't found out who they exactly are. Only that purple is the student of Cake Butt.
Speaking of which, she huffed indignantly at orange. "I can't just cut the introduction short Applejack! It is important to inform our guests what to expect from our service! Giving them plenty of information is the first step to reformation! We can't hold anything back and let them feel like we are forcing us on them!"
"Yeah, because you are," said the scratchy voice of diamond dog.
Twilight's ears perked up as she wandered in front of said dog. A smile adorned her face. Though that smile was everything other than reassuring.
"We are simply trying to help you," she stated calmly, but the diamond dog did have none of it.
"You mean by attacking our packs?"
The small dog beside him quickly agreed, "Yeah, Rover is right! You ponies are destroying our towns and dognapping every one of us without reason!"
"Mhm," agreed a larger dog on Rover's other side with a nod.
Twilight simply couldn't help but shake her head disappointedly at the three.
"We are not 'attacking' your packs. We are simply trying to help you! Diamond dogs are known for their greed, so they need our guidance, just as you three need it now. Your alpha was lying to you. You need to accept that."
"Well, we won't! Alpha is going to fight back against you and petty pony princesses!"
At the mention of the Royal Butts Twilight's eyes narrowed dangerously, and said eyes were never leaving the three diamond dogs, even as she started talking again.
"Moondancer, could you take the tour from here? It seems I have to 'guide' these diamond dogs right now."
A mare I didn't notice before suddenly looked shyly from behind Applejack's back. She had a nerd appearance with the glasses, black sweater and sloppy denim she was wearing. Not to mention the way she stuck up her hair. And no, it can't be compared in the way I stick it up while wearing my hat. My hair up sticking is one that strikes fear in the hearts of these whimsy ponies, while hers just would make a fashionista cry.
I know that considering a white horse fashionista wasn't looking all too pleased. More like looking as if she wanted to jump that mare and correct the crime against fashion immediately.
"Um, yes. I-I will take it from here," the new mare meanwhile said demurely while doing a breathing exercise to seemingly calm her nerves. So only a low threat level I assume.
"If you please follow me," she continued while the guards behind us simply drove us forwards with their spears in hand and outside into the reformation center.
I was taking one last look at the diamond dogs who had their own guard entail leading them off...somewhere, with Twilight in tow. I have no idea actually where they are going but I have a feeling I don't want to find out. Reason enough for me to try and break out the first chance I get.
"...And this is the orchard," the cream mare said while waving an arm around, showcasing the many apple trees that were growing on this field, as well as the prisoners gathering the fruits.
Yeah, no shit Sherlock.
Anyway, the so-called tour of this prison showcased many buildings within these walls and barrier that were outside of the castle. A castle I now finally recognized. It was the old castle I first appeared in and the prior location of power for the Royal Butts. I did wonder what happened to it after I was transported back to this other castle. I honestly thought they had abandoned it, but no, things seemed to actually be in good condition. Well on the outside. I haven't gotten the chance to take a closer look yet. And I'm not sure we will, since the tour exclusively concentrated on the outside buildings for now.
Outside buildings we pretty much got introduced to were for example a large gym for sport activities, a zoo-like area with large pens and a building, and a school-like building for lessons of all kind, going from classes like Party Planning to Friendship Lessons.
Oh, not to forget the punishment building they called: Reformation Room.
I saw some fresh paw prints on the ground leading to it. So I can only assume that this was the room the Diamond Dogs were dragged off too. Albeit if it was a torture chamber nothing could be heard from the inside. But maybe they had a silent charm on the building, so that no distressed cries could leave it? It is a possibility. Not to mention a legit fear considering it was led by the student of Cake Butt. And Cake Butt was quite the violent one, so who wasn't to say she wouldn't rub off on her.
And yes, I found out that purple, which name I believe was Twilight, is the student of Cake Butt. She kind of got introduced along the way as staff of this facility. Just like the others who seemed to own the jewelry I stole as I was told yesterday. A reason why they were rather peeved. Well, Rainbow was, but she was a hothead as I have already established, so that doesn't count. The others seemed more approachable and rather determined to show me how to be a 'useful member of society'. Bleugh.
Suffice to say the most eager one was Pinkie as she was rather clingy and practically glued to my side most of the time if none of the others kept her at a distance, which brings us back to the present...
"And we will bake apple pies with them!" Pinkie explained hopping around in front of me, and still not caring for her bouncing...packages. Honestly, I'm wondering if she even wears a bra...
Bad thought! No horsefuckery! You are a human! Get a grip on yourself!
Yup, I mentally slapped myself at this non-flashy thoughts. Makes me wonder if a thousand years of chastity in a gold prison had an effect on my psyche. Definitely would give Cake Butt the invoice for the costs of my psychologist in that case.
...Meh. I would probably give her the invoice for everything I would get away blaming on her. Not that it matters considering the tour was still running with Apple...something chastising Pinkie for interrupting.
After that was done, we pretty much were led down interestingly enough. Led down since there were tracks all over the orchards which led down underground. There was a nice way made out of stone, leading right beside the tracks and I even saw an apple cart rushing past us as we descended. It moved on its own, making me guess some magical shenanigans must be implemented in it.
All the while cream pony explained that the tracks and carts were of course used to collect and transport apples faster.
As we reached the underground we saw also a hall in which the apples were manually sorted on an assembly belt. They were also washed beforehand, so as to be clean. The sorted apples then were filled in crates with a face of an all too familiar winking mare printed on it.
"And these apples after being sorted will get distributed through all of Equestria. So your work here does really make a difference!" Cream explained proudly.
Of course the enthusiasm was not shared by anyone here, which made the mare cough in embarrassment and the Apple...Applejack I think was her name. Yeah, she laid a comforting as well as encouraging hand on her shoulder.
Her gaze practically oozed the confidence that we simply haven't seen the so-called light yet. And honestly I hope to never see it.
Anyway, we were led into a room that was quite interesting since the crates were loaded on an actual train. An actual train those tracks led through a tunnel in the direction of the outer walls. The whole distribution bit only seemed to confirm my suspicions. If I got on that train I could actually flee. The magical barrier gets opened at this specific part after all so the train can move out. So, the big barrier could kiss my ass goodbye if I managed. It was rather fortunate the mare was explaining all of this valuable information so willingly, just like she did still.
"This train actually is due in five minutes and send directly to Appleloosa, which is rather secluded. Barely any guards visit this place and none are permanently assigned, but that only shows that our reach is further than even the guard!" Cream further explained, making me raise my brows in clear surprise and interest.
Well, if I could get on that train in five minutes I wouldn't have to worry about anything. And I certainly wouldn't mind a place with no guards so to speak. But I of course can't break away from the group without a very good excuse. Something primal that can never be refused, and would give me some privacy...
Just in that moment my eyes fell on a conveniently placed door. This made me grin.
Pirate Luck is on my side!
I coughed, getting the attention of Cream, as well as the others. Rainbow and Applejack eyed me with clear suspicion, but I ignored them, seeing as Cream would be the pony to go for now.
"I need to tinkle," I said with a straight face.
"Tinkle?" she parroted, making me roll my eyes.
"Yeah, you know, taking care of my needs? Letting water? Shaking the snake? Going for big pirates? Bursting and needing to actually take a pi-"
"A-ALRIGHT!" Cream exclaimed with blushing cheeks pointing to the nearby restroom, "J-Just hurry. I wouldn't want you to miss out on the tour," she finished her head sinking in the thick collar of her turtleneck sweater.
I nodded with a grin walking merrily to the room. Though I noticed a movement in my peripheral vision.
"What? Wanna watch?" I grunted in annoyance to the prismatic offender.
"No, just making sure you are not trying to take flight," she said, flapping her wings with a cheeky grin, and making me deadpan at her for the lame joke, which in turn made her huff, "Not my fault you can't recognize pure awesomeness. Now hurry up."
"Uh-huh," I simply said before going in, and then closing the door behind me. Thankfully this brash mare at least had the decency to wait outside. Unfortunately however she didn't look like the patient type. Additionally she blocked my escape route too, meaning I had to quickly find another way out. Luckily I found just what I needed.
"Air ventilation, perfect!" I hissed gleefully with a grin, quickly getting to the shaft and taking off the lid. It wasn't even secured and simply went off like that. Ponies really are idiots!
I was just about ready to go.
"Chop-Chop Disassemble!" I said, willing my body to split.
...Nothing happened. But then I remembered the sea stone bracelet, making me groan.
Yeah. They actually put a bracelet on my wrist first thing in the dining room. Not that it came unexpected. It only shows just how much I'm right with this place being a prison. Not that I had time to dwell on it with my escape plan having quite the tight time limit.
"Great. You are really making me work for it," I complained deciding to do this the normal way and actually squeezing my body through the ventilation shaft. It fit, but still wasn't nearly as comfortable as my normal solution to this.
I huffed a bit as I made my way forwards. There was even a part that went up a bit, before going down again, but I in any case soon got the best exit. An exit that was just out of the field of vision of the others.
While they were standing a bit away to the left side of the train I was on the right. It was brilliant! And rather close to the train too!
Ponies are idiots!
Honestly, I would have loved to taunt them, but the sweet scent of freedom seemed more satisfying, so that I simply opened the shaft quietly before creeping on the train. Right on a wagon filled with dozens upon dozens of crates with the apple head logo.
I simply sat down behind one for cover, making myself comfortable as I suddenly heard the train whistle, making me grin.
Another perfect esca-
And just then the door slammed open, flooding the car with light. Only seconds later a cyan pair of hands zoomed over, grabbing me by my shirt before making me sail straight outside.
"Oomphf!" I remarked painfully connecting to the ground before dizzily looking up, seeing Rainbow and Applejack staring disapprovingly down at me.
"Great. So what now? Do I get to see the inside of your torture, or Reformation Room as you call it?" I snark, making Applejack cross her arms and huff.
"The Reformation Room is occupied. But yer all getting a freebie on the first day when it comes to escape attempts. Or did ya think ya were the first to try and get on the train? That's almost a test of character by now since almost always somepony tries that way."
"So, back to the tour then?" I wondered, not liking to be so easily found out, but also not protesting to not see the inside of their torture chambers.
"Ah wouldn't say that. Yer still gonna have to be punished. So yer placed in 'Time-Out'."
"Time-Out?! What do you think I am?! A kid?!" I ranted, before two strong mare-guards took me by my arms and started to drag me off, despite my protests.
"You will regret this! I AM Captain Buggy! The legendary and worldwide feared pirate captain!"
Rainbow snorted derisively, "What a blowhard."
A response that made Applejack raise a brow.
"What? You know what I mean!" Rainbow protested making Applejack roll her eyes as they got back to the tour. All the while I simply continued to curse them.
It didn't take long until I was led to a new building. Interestingly enough an underground tunnel led directly to some cells with guards standing watch, making me wonder if I was now inside of the castle.
The guards dragging me certainly didn't give me the time to dwell on it as they threw me straight into a cell, before slamming it shut.
I of course immediately got back up and pressed myself against the bars in clear annoyance.
"I will get out of here! You see! No one can contain the great Captain Buggy! MUAHAHAHHAAAHA!" I laughed and mocked them, but they just rolled their eyes, like this was something they have seen time and time again, before they turned around and left me. They completely ignored me!
"HEY! I'm talking to you!"
But before I could curse them even more another voice cut through the room. This one feminine. But then again, most voices around here are that way. However, this one had a rather haughty tone to it.
"Shut up you imbecile!"
I quickly enough found the voice to be a mare in the opposite cell. She was a blue unicorn mare with a lighter blue shade of mane and had a magicians outfit on her, directly over some blue one-piece swimsuit looking clothes. Or was that a swimsuit? Hard to tell with the low lighting here.
"What? Cat got your tongue? Or are you simply that awed by the glorious presence of the Great and Powerful Trrrrrrrrrrrrixiiiiieeeeeeee!"
I somehow had a feeling that we wouldn't get along well. |
The Wacky and Wonderful Misadventures of Buggy the Clown | The R-Rolling Bitch… I prefer the Diamond Dogs over this unflashy crap | "What? Cat got your tongue? Or are you simply that awed by the glorious presence of the Great and Powerful Trrrrrrrrrrrrixiiiiieeeeeeee!" the mare boasted. She kept her pose for about ten seconds, waiting for my non-existent reaction, before flaring her cape in front of her, trying to look mysterious and, dare I say it, alluring, "Trixie guesses she is simply too much for a stallion like you to take. But then again Trixie probably can't blame you for that. Especially since you listened to Trixie and shut up like Trixie commanded."
Pffffffft, yeah no. Not taking this unflashy crap. And also if I was captivated by anything than not by her lacking allure. More like her overly ridiculous outfit! She couldn't be tackier if she tried! Seriously! Who wears a one-piece swimsuit with a magicians hat and cape!
"Tch!" I started to jeer, "As if I would listen to such a cheap magician rip-off!"
The mare reeled back as if struck, before her features twisted in a rather pissed off look.
"Trixie certainly could say the same about you clown rip-off and your funny red nose!"
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!"
"You heard the Great and Powerful Trrrrrrrrrrrrixie!"
"OH YEAH! GET YOUR FAT FLANK OVER HERE AND SAY THAT AGAIN!"
She gasped dramatically, "MY FLANK IS MOST CERTAINLY NOT FAT YOU IMBECILE! IT IS FUN SIZED!"
"SHUT UP!" came the scream of a nearby mare guard, "OR I WILL SEE THAT THE BOTH OF YOU ARE PUT THROUGH 'BEHAVIOR CORRECTION'!"
This r-rolling Trixie bitch then snapped her muzzle shut with an audible click. I actually wanted to use the situation to taunt her some more, but I wasn't all too keen to find out what kind of torture they understood under 'Behavior Correction'. I'm not a fan of whips and pain, thank you very much. Though of course it doesn't have to do with physical but mental pain...like having to wear a pink tutu.
And yeah, this is something I'm actually thinking is a valid option around here. This place is crazy. And I mean Equestria with that. I was once in a town that did not have any weapons. Some stupid 'no violence' rule. Don't ask me why they would have such a rule. Anyway since they didn't have anything to defend themselves, except cakes since they were a baking community they developed a tradition of defending themselves with cake. Yes, throwing cake. I shudder to think of the sugary and slimy cake mess they made out of me. I still can't believe that it worked out for them. So a pink tutu as punishment doesn't seem all that crazy in comparison. Not to mention that Pinkie would probably don one of her own and then dance along if I would have to dance as a punishment too. That woman is crazy like that. And affectionate. Overly affectionate even by pony standards. But then again, I probably would rather deal with her than Houdini Mc Bitch over there.
A bitch that was still glaring at me I might add.
"What?" I asked contemptuously.
She huffed as she crossed her arms under her rather average and boring chest.
"You shouldn't cause so much trouble you fool! The Great and Powerful Trrrrrrrrrrrrrixie merely wanted to help you! You were even lucky! The wardens go easy on the first escape attempt, but if they catch you again, you will get put into solitary confinement, instead of this regular confinement. And believe Trixie that this is something you don't want."
"And why not?" I asked now quite curious.
"Let's just say they turn the use of mind magic up to 100, while also additionally putting you through 'Behavior Correction' an entire week. The ones that actually go through it are never the same again. Trixie was lucky that she wasn't put through this herself. Though the horrors of 'Behavior Correction' are still something somepony as Great and Powerful as I had to endure. And let Trixie tell you, it isn't pretty. Your best bet is trying to act like you have learned your lesson. To make them think you are accepting this tartarushole and their, ugh... Friendship Lessons."
"So, if you are acting like you are cooperating then why are you here?"
"Uh, the Great and Powerful Trixie does not have to answer this!"
I grinned at that, but decided against tainting. No need to get into another argument that could endanger me, so I simply shrugged, "Suit yourself," I said as I lay down on the cot that was provided for this cell. Don't get me wrong I was annoyed and fuming at my situation, but the things this Trixie character said were troubling. Solitary Confinement is a complete brainwashing. And if I try to escape again... Mindfuckery is certainly something I don't want to risk lightheartedly, so I need a plan to get past this barrier and walls. But to actually make such a plan I will have to work with this program, at least just so that I can gain a better understanding of this facility. I need to know where things are and how to get past this wall and how to power down this barrier. And I doubt the breaker box for it would be anywhere nearby.
I sighed. How exactly do I get into these situations? Oh yeah. My Infamous Pirate Luck has a limit. It will save me from death, and make here and there a few things easier, but it won't protect me from everything and make my life a piece of cake, no matter how much I would want that. I'm not sure it would protect me from brainwashing either. Ugh... That is something I don't want to test out.
And there was nothing to do right now. Only to lay back and wait. So that's what I did. Stewing in boredom and hoping to get out soon.
It took a few hours at least until I got out and Applejack came to collect me. Trixie got out too and we were forced to walk after her and along some tunnels back to the surface.
"So. What now?" I wondered.
Applejack looked back for a moment, before facing ahead again, "Yer gonna follow the schedule after lunch is all. Because of yer stunt ya missed Rainbow's term and mah own, but still got Fluttershy's, Rarity's, Pinkie's and Twilight's.
I briefly thought on that. So, Rainbow's was athletic. Applejack's was slave work on the apple farm. Which leaves Animal Caretaking, Fabulosity (no idea what this is), Party Planning, and Friendship Lessons. At least from what I gathered.
Only a moment later we were led into a really big dining hall. I looked around, noting with interest that she led us up into the castle. It also made me wonder how connected these tunnels were, and if I could use them to my advantage.
I also noted the diamond dogs, griffons, ponies and other beings sitting around on the different rows of tables. Not to mention the serving counter on one side of the hall.
It was then that the mare turned around pointing with a finger to the counter, "Just grab a bite ta eat. Break will be done in half an hour," she said before walking off and out of the room.
Trixie meanwhile groaned as she got to the counter, me following close behind.
We both got our food, which was apple-related from an elderly green mare, before we sat down. Trixie casting me an annoyed glance as I sat down on her table.
"What? Are you know suddenly trying to bask in the glory of the Great and Powerful Trixie?"
I shook my head in annoyance, "I simply want to know what I have to deal with here. You are longer here than me, so, got any idea where the breaker box is to power the barrier down? Because I highly doubt a unicorn is keeping it up."
The mare looked around conspiratorially before focusing on me again.
"Trixie sees that you are not too dumb then. Indeed, there is something powering the barrier. Something magical. Trixie heard that it is some kind of magical tree, but it is in an extremely restricted underground section that is guarded at all times. Not that such an imbecile like you would ever get close to it," she huffed haughtily, making me cross my arms.
"I am an infamous Pirate Captain. Believe it or not but this isn't my first time in an Equestrian base."
"Little good will that do," she said sighing, "Security is strict and the bracelets actually have an enchantment on them that can pinpoint our location," she said showing that she also wore a bracelet, though not out of sea stone like mine, "Trixie learned that the hard way. So Trixie instead plans to act like she understands and hopes her extraordinary personality survives this tartarushole. And despite your rude attitude Trixie recommends you the same as well. Adapt or lose because no pony escapes from this place," she finishes before taking her tray and leaving for another table.
It actually surprised me. Her loud personality seemed to suddenly take a backseat. There was resignation in her eyes. I didn't like it.
I took a spoon of the apple stuff. Kaiserschmarrn with applesauce interestingly enough. It was good, but the sweetness could hardly overshadow the bitterness of this place. Sure, it didn't look like it, but if Trixie was anything to go by I needed to be careful.
I then glanced at the three diamond dogs from prior. All of them wearing creepy, twitching smiles, clearly from the horrors of 'Behavior Correction'. This forced or fake happiness wasn't boding well.
My mind raced with possibilities. Not of them favorable. If the tree is guarded at all times, how can I destroy it? That was the only way to destroy the barrier, was it? It is underground too, and he would need a plan of these tunnels. Not too mention that they are probably locked. Maybe through an air vent? He needed to lose the bracelet too. Not only to use his abilities to crawl through airvents, no matter how small, but also to not be tracked... He needed help...probably. Hm... Diamond Dogs might be an alternative. They can dig. Can they also break through these walls in an underground tunnel. Once the barrier is down a riot might be just the thing. Maybe I can recruit even some for my new crew? These are all criminals, aren't they? If such an outstanding pirate as I landed here that means some other big fishes have to be here too!
So much to think about. For now I need to play along and watch. See who is useful for my plans to come to fruition. Heh, Cake Butt will blow a fuse when I make another great escape. Too bad I won't see her face.
I just finished with my food then an obnoxious ringing of a school bell could be heard.
Guess it is time for a lesson. |
The Greatest Show of Kindness | pre | The Greatest Show of Kindness
Chapter Seven: Opening Up
The next morning, Fluttershy went up to wake Bumble up and give him his love. She had just fed her animals and herself their breakfast, per usual.
"Bumble?" she asked, softly pressing against his short, spiky mane and stroking down it. He yawned and stretched out, rubbing his eyes with his good hoof.
"Good morning, Fluttershy," he said, letting his mouth open to a smile.
"Good morning, sweetie," she repeated, giving him a warm kiss on the forehead. He blushed, bringing his good hoof around Fluttershy.
"Did you sleep well?" she questioned as she pulled him into her embrace. He cooed, almost purring with delight.
"Yes, Fluttershy. I didn't have any bad dreams thanks to you..." he happily replied.
"That's excellent, Bumble! I'm so glad that you're starting to feel better," she said, setting him back down.
"I would've never been able to feel this way if you hadn't come along, Fluttershy. I owe everything to you, and I promise that I'll find a way to repay you for helping me," he pledged. She looked at him with a small frown, placing her hoof against his chin.
"Oh, sweetheart, you don't need to do anything to repay me. I was more than happy to give you joy," she explained, winking at him.
"R-Really?" he asked, surprised. Tears filled his eyes.
"Oh, sure! Kindness isn't a service-it's a given of life. Most ponies are kind by nature, and if you get to know them better, you'll see that they really will stick out for you and that they really will help you through the tough times," she hinted, nuzzling him against the cheek.
"Oh, Fluttershy... Thank you for everything you've done for me up to this point... you're the only creature that's ever been willing to look out for me, except for one friend I have back home. It's so unreal to me, being able to know that someone's there to protect me and be there for me... You're my hero," he praised, putting his head into her chest. She looked down to him and gave a deep smile, kissing him on the forehead.
"Your hero? Aw... that's so sweet, Bumble," she talked, getting close to his ear. "You know what, sweetie?" she whispered.
"What, Fluttershy?"
"You're a true sweetheart, and I'll never let you go."
In an instant, a grin ten miles wide was painted on his face. His cheeks flushed with green as buzzing was created from his happiness. He wrapped his hoof around Fluttershy, sucking in the love she was giving off. It was the sweetest love that he had ever tasted-like a mixture of chocolate, strawberries and peanut butter all mixed together. It was perfect.
"Thank you," he whispered. Fluttershy rubbed her hoof down his mane and backed away, softly setting him back down on the bed.
"You're welcome, Bumble," she said. "Well, I think that I should get to doing my chores now. I'll be back later, but if you need me for anything, don't be hesitant to call for me, okay?"
"Okay!"
With that, she gave him another love-filled smooch on the head and went off to do her daily activities. As she did, Bumble fell back asleep, allowing him to sleep more.
Later that day, Bumble was awoken to the lovely sound of Fluttershy humming to herself as she was organizing some books on a bookshelf. He found himself starting to hum along with her, causing the two voices to weave into each other and create a melodic sound. He smiled in the warm tones of the hum.
She looked back at him and saw him softly nodding his head as he hummed. His small, fanged smile was always alluring to her, and she couldn't resist jumping up on the bed and cuddling him. She shifted herself so that his head was laying down on her stomach. Bumble snuggled up into it, burying his face deeply into the yellow fur. They had laid there for a few minutes before Bumble started to mumble.
"Oh, mama..." he murmured, rubbing his head along her belly. Fluttershy looked down at him in surprise; he looked almost dazed.
"Sweetie?" she asked, looking down to him, placing a hoof against his carapace.
"...Yes, mama?" he said, entranced.
"Bumble, it's me, Fluttershy," she said.
The moment she said that, he immediately stopped moving. Suddenly, she felt a warm liquid against her belly. Lifting his head up, she saw that tears were streaming down as he sobbed. Taken aback by his sudden change in attitude, she stared at him.
"No, mama!" he shouted unexpectedly, almost causing Fluttershy to recoil.
"Bumble! Are you okay?" Fluttershy concerned, moving herself so that his head could rest in her soft chest fur.
"Fluttershy... I-I-I'm such a failure! How can you love me!?" he yelled at her, bringing a sad look on her face.
"Sweetie, you aren't a failure! You're a sweet little boy, and you deserve all the love that I have to give to you! What makes you think that you're a failure, Bumble?" she asked.
"I'm the whole reason that my... my... my..." he stuttered. Fluttershy softly stroked as his head, nuzzling him at the same time.
"It's okay, sweetie. Just let it out," she instructed. He sat there for a bit, sniffling and thinking about what he was going to say.
"If I hadn't gone... to Canterlot, my... my..."
"Your...?"
"My... mama would still be..."
He found himself unable to complete that sentence, but Fluttershy could tell what he was going to say.
"Is she... gone?" she reluctantly asked, tearing up.
He nodded, beginning to cry again. Fluttershy stroked him against the back of his head with one hoof as she rubbed at his eyes with the other. She started to shed tears for him as she comforted him.
At that moment, he felt so worthless and weak-like an ant about to be crushed under a pony's hoof. He couldn't do anything against it except pray that he would get caught in the cracks of Fluttershy's kindness. He seemed to be on a lucky streak, with the crushing feeling being suppressed by Fluttershy's gentle personality. He felt that this; however, was going to flatten him completely.
"She's gone... and it's all my fault..." he moped, saddening Fluttershy further.
"Oh, Bumble... can you tell me what happened? I'm sure that whatever happened to her was not your fault! If it's too personal, I completely understand, and you don't have to say it." Fluttershy assured.
"I... okay, Fluttershy. Can you just give me a minute?" he requested.
"Of course, sweetheart. You can take as much time as you think you need. My ears will be open as long as it takes you to say what you want to say," she let on.
"Thank you."
For a few moments, Bumble sighed a few times and took some deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself. After giving himself these few seconds, he began to tell his story. |
The Greatest Show of Kindness | Chapter Eight: A Bad Memory, Part I (Revised) | The Greatest Show of Kindness
Chapter Eight: A Bad Memory, Part I
The changeling invasion of Canterlot had just begun, and the changelings were swarming into the city hundreds at a time. Bumble and his mother were part of the swarm that was infiltrating southern Canterlot - the most "rural" district of Canterlot. It was less kept to and a bit dirtier than the west-most area, which held the main castle, or the eastern section, which was the main housing district; however, this didn't mean that it was still a very luxurious place to live.
As they touched down upon the bleak cobblestone, they looked at each other with unexcited expressions. Bumble shuddered a little as a fierce chill rolled down his spine. As he looked around the streets, he saw ponies of all sorts being held against their will and beaten, terrorized. It unnerved him, and worst of all, he felt terrorized himself.
"(M-m-mama?)" he squeaked, pushing against her. She turned to him, and seeing him so scared, sat herself and him down and pulled him up into her chest.
"(It's okay, Bumble. I know that you don't like this either, but it'll be over soon enough. For now, let's just obey the Queen's orders,)" she whispered.
"(O-okay...)" he mumbled back.
The two went onward to a small house at the end of the street where no other changelings had gone to yet. It was a shade of red between light-red and pink and was one story. There was a small garage on the left side of the home. The home looked disheveled and unkempt; a ladder drooped down from the gutters on the roof, visibly reeking with rust and mold from the rain.
Bumble's mother knocked on the white marble door and waited there. She looked to her side, but saw that her son wasn't there next to her. Looking back, she saw that he was staring in complete awe at the structure.
("Bumble?") she asked. ("Are you okay?")\
("It's so big...") he said, mouth agape.
"(I know, sweetie, but we have to do our 'job' here... Come on, dear,)" she ordered. He shook his head and knocked himself out of his trance, running quickly up to his mother, who smiled at him.
"Eek!" a sudden cry rung as a door slammed.
Bumble and his mother looked to the door, which almost fell apart at the force of the pull. The two-hinged door snapped and crackled, falling backwards onto the pony inside.
"Ow, help!" the pony cried. The voice was unmistakably one of a young colt.
Bumble's mother gasped, immediately using her magic to lift the door off of him and throw it behind her. He shook his head and looked up at the changeling. Upon seeing her, he did not making haste to get back to his hooves and backpedal away. Bumble's mother, concerned, wanted to make sure that he was okay.
"Are you all right!? Do you have any broken bones!?" she worried, taking a few steps into the house. It was too dark to see what he looked like, but in the glimmers of the darkness she could see that he was a unicorn.
"Get away! M-M-Mommy! Help!" he screamed, backing up into a corner.
In an instant, the lights turned on and a dark-gray unicorn mare with a contrasting pink, straight mane and droopy tail rushed in. There was a long, golden tress on her flank. The colt, now visible, had a bleak-green coat and dark-yellow mane. Oddly enough, he had no tail.
"Get away from my son, you monsters!" she screamed, standing in defense. Both Bumble and his mother flinched in shock to the immediate hostility.
"Hey, we don't mean any harm! We came here and saw that this door," Bumble's mom started to defend, pointing to the broken door that was now on their small front lawn, "was toppled on top of him, and we just couldn't sit back and let him be hurt!" It wasn't a complete truth, but that's what changelings were known for.
"Oh, really? You're a changeling. You are liars. Why should I trust your words?" she challenged.
"Because you've never seen or met me before, and you should stop being judgmental," Bumble's mother tried, realizing she was opening a can of worms. Before she could correct herself, the mare cut her off.
"I'm being judgmental? Look around you; look at what is happening to our city. You're one of them, and I know you're trying to fool me. I'm not an idiot," the mare growled, stomping the ground with her fore hoof.
"I am not!" she yelled, baring her fangs and buzzing her wings. If there was one thing she hated over anything else, it was being called a liar.
"Okay, I'm going to just-" the mare started, before casting a barrier spell over her now open door space. The adult changeling moaned from frustration.
"Okay, I'm sorry, but we need to get in there. I apologize for this," the mother said, charging a spell.
She grabbed Bumble and turned her body into a light-green missile, crashing herself into the barrier and shattering it. She slammed into a wall next to the colt, breaking through it and landing in a small kitchen.
The kitchen itself was quite small, with a miniscule, obsidian-black, double-burner stove and a pearly-white, short refrigerator and freezer combination with flowery designs towards the back, and a table for four in the center. There were rose and tea designed plates hanging from the walls that swung on their holders, and on a short counter along the left wall, a miniature vase that was tipped over was pouring out water; a rose lay in the now spreading puddle.
Bumble's mother set down him down gently and told him to 'stay there,' before the two ponies rushed into the room. In an instant, she released a green glow over both of the ponies, making them wobbly, apparently dizzy, and fall to their stomachs. She cast another spell, which put them to sleep.
Finally she analyzed their bodies, looking over their general anatomies one more time. After doing so, she turned towards Bumble and shrouded him in her magic. His body lit up in a green flame before a small puff of smoke launched out above him. He now assumed the form of the colt.
Changing into the mare, she looked at Bumble, who shook in his new skin and coat. She looked concerned at her child, pulling him into a hug.
"Is something wrong, sweetie?" she asked, nuzzling him.
"D-Did you h-hurt them?" he asked, frightened.
"Not at all, Bumble. I simply put them to sleep. They'll wake up eventually, so you don't need to worry about them for the moment. For now, let's find a spot to hide them at, and fast. We wouldn't want any other changelings to come in here and hurt them, would we?" she suggested, soliciting a frown from Bumble. She kissed him on the forehead, which made him feel a little better.
She looked around the house, which in itself was cramped on the inside, much more than one would think from looking at the outside. As she walked down a dark hallway connecting the kitchen to a group of rooms, two on each side. She checked each room to make sure there was space to fit both of the ponies, but none of them had enough space. They were all tiny and cluttered, mostly with family heirlooms and other things, except for the back-right room.
In the back right room, there was space underneath a long table that she could place them under, and in her mind, she thought, 'perfect!' Thus, she went back into the kitchen, lifted the two up, and took them to that spot, placing them softly down onto the wooden floor. A quiet squeak sound emerged from the floor. She then took a dusty, ugly cloth from a box in the corner and placed it over the table, making sure that it hid the two from immediate sight.
After this, she decided to use the fact that she had already changed herself and Bumble and tried to hide themselves. Going back into the kitchen, she was that Bumble was just sitting there, doing nothing in general. She figured that there wasn't much more space in the house, based off of what she'd already seen, so she took a quick look outside through a window in a door that lead out of the house.
She saw another external building literally five steps outside of the door, and she figured that she would be able to find a spot to hide in there.
"Bumble! Come on! We're going to find somewhere to hide in that building back there!" she informed her son, who stood up and nodded.
She opened the doors of both buildings and waved him inside. Once he was inside, she closed the door to the house and walked inside. She closed the door and saw a deadbolt lock on it and locked it with her magic.
Looking back to the room, it was a large tea garden. There were five rows of thorny, lush, green bushels of tea, one on each of the walls and three in the center, equal distance between each of them. On the far wall, there was a row of blueberries and strawberries. There were large windows on the walls, and purple light shone down from the ceiling and underneath each of the bushes. The building itself was made out of a light-blue metal.
Both Bumble and his mother were in complete awe - they had never seen this kind of garden. They looked around, Bumble in amazement, his mother in search of a hiding spot. She thought that the two could hide in one of the shadowed corners, behind one of the bushes of flora. So, she told him to go to the back-right corner of the garden with her, and he did.
In the spot that they laid down at, they were somewhat secluded by the shadows. Flutter was lightly covered in light that came from one of the windows on the opposite side, but she was otherwise darkened.
Bumble was already nodding off to sleep, so she decided that the way to remain the calmest would be to fall asleep with him. She smiled down at her child, pulling him up into her chest. Within minutes, they were sleeping.
Nearly fifteen minutes later, three undisguised changelings flew up to the side windows of the garden and looked around the inside through them. The one female out of the three noticed Bumble and his mother, and due to her changeling eyes, she could see right through their disguises.
"Oh, there! I see two of them!" she said, pointing in the general direction of the two.
"Where, Ambrosia?" one of the female, Ambrosia's, squad mates asked.
"In that back corner, Sniper! They aren't ponies. It's weak, little Bumble and Flutter, the cowards. Of course they would hide," she growled, twitching an eye.
"The Queen will have their heads for this!" the other changeling declared to them, causing both of them to nod.
"Do you think Her Majesty has taken the castle yet, Strider?" Sniper asked.
"Probably. It's been about a half hour, and Celestia wouldn't stand a chance to Her great power. Come on, let's go tell Her," Strider responded.
As the three flew back off to go tell Queen Chrysalis, a piercing scream rung out through the city. It even woke up Flutter, who looked up through the windows and saw a pink bubble extending out from the Canterlot castle. She saw changelings, including the Queen, flying outwards from the city. Her eyes widened as she held Bumble tighter. Within five seconds, the pink bubble passed through the garden building, picking both Bumble and Flutter up and throwing them through a wall and off the edge of the city, towards the badlands. |
The Greatest Show of Kindness | Chapter Nine: A Bad Memory, Part II | The Greatest Show of Kindness
Chapter Nine: A Bad Memory, Part II
Crash!
Bumble and Flutter both hit a stone wall hardly and painfully, with Bumble's carapace cracking down the middle. He screeched from anguish as the two dropped off of the wall, hitting the ground with a thud. Both of them fell unconscious in a moment.
Time passed from day to night as they both lay there in the gorge. The night was unimaginably frigid on the rocky surface of the ground.
Eventually, Flutter somehow regained her conscious. Groaning, she grabbed her pounding head with her fore hooves, rubbing at her temples.
She felt tired and weak, almost at the point of fatigue. Intense, nearly debilitating hunger cramped her heart and stomach. She gazed up at the sky, and the moon was shining brightly in the night.
Looking over to Bumble, her eyes widened. Seeing his split shell and the gushing fluids, she lifted him up into her arms and cried.
"Bumble! Bumble! Please, answer me, sweetheart!" she yelled, shaking his body softly. "Please!"
No response.
She put her ear against his chest.
No beating.
No breathing.
Her body tensed up. Fear shot through her as she trembled out of panic. She didn't know what to do. In her chest, she could feel the weight of her own heartbeat, like a thousand rusted chains pulling down on her chest.
Thump-thump.
Lub-dub.
Thud-thud.
"No!" she screamed as loud as she could, her voice ringing throughout the barren wasteland. "Someone, please help me!"
No sound. Dead silence. A dropped pin would be audible.
The wall seemingly sounded the death knell for Bumble.
Flutter cried over Bumble's body, putting her hooves up to her eyes. The tears tumbled down her face, leaping to their decease as they dripped to the ground.
Flutter felt like she had failed him. She couldn't protect him from the villainous chime of death. She let it thunder in his ears against their wills.
She felt she had failed as a mother.
There was a pain in her chest, an agonizing pain. It broke her down inside, shattering her in a million tiny pieces of herself. Overbearing sadness and grief overcame her, swallowing her inevitably.
Eventually, she couldn't handle it anymore. The pain was too great for her to take.
"No! I won't let you take my baby boy like this!" she howled at life itself, rushing over to him.
Pressing her hooves down on his chest, she started to perform the little she knew about CPR. Push, pump, push, pump. Lift his head, give breaths. Repeat. She continued this for what seemed like an eternal night.
Seeing as this didn't work, desperation to save her son kicked in. With the little strength and love energy she had left, she put her horn down to Bumble's chest. Letting out a pained cry, her horn shimmered with a light-green, sending energy into his heart. The shimmer transformed into an intense glow as her small reservoir of love was completely expended.
Looking hopefully at his body, she saw that still nothing was happening. Miserably, she dropped to the ground in defeat. She had no more energy for tears, no more energy to cry. She just lay there, looking blankly at nothing. Closing her eyes, she fell asleep, silently wishing a prayer that perhaps Bumble would wake up.
Flutter woke up the sound of a soft mumble, of which she couldn't figure out what from right away. Opening her eyes, she saw that Bumble's form was shivering. Her eyes lit up, wondering if her eyes were deceiving her. With what little energy she had, she called out.
"Bumble?" she weakly whispered, painstakingly placing a hoof on his back. For a moment, there was no sound. "Are you awake?"
"M-M-Mama?" he mumbled, not having any energy to move.
"You are awake! Thank goodness... I was so worried about you. You, you..." she started, choking up, "You weren't answering to any of my questions... you weren't saying anything... I was so worried about you," she repeated, pulling him into a hug from behind.
"Mama? Where are you? I c-can't see anything!" he revealed.
"You can't see? Are your eyes open, sweetie?" she asked.
"I th-think so... Everything is so dark..." he moaned.
"Here, Bumble, let me try something," she tried, releasing her hooves. In a swift motion, she spun him onto his other side, making him squeak. "Yes, your eyes are open... do you see me?" she questioned.
"No, I don't see anything, mama," he confirmed, making her eyes droop.
"Bumble... you're blind, sweetie," she informed, tears filling her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Bumble! I couldn't protect you, and now you're blind! Please, forgive me sweetheart!" she begged, the tears falling from her eyes, down her face.
"Mama, it's not your fault, I'm sure. Please, don't be sad," he requested, pushing his head forward into her chest, nuzzling her. She sniffled, wiping her tears.
"But, it's my fault! I couldn't-" she started.
"Mama! No! Don't blame it on yourself!" he shouted surprisingly, cutting her off. "You couldn't have helped it either way! Please, mama, don't blame yourself for it!"
"...Okay, sweetie. I won't," she agreed, holding him tighter than ever before. "Thank you."
For at least a few hours, they lay there in their embrace.
Eventually, Flutter decided to softly let Bumble down off of her, standing up and looking around. In the distance to her eastern side, she could see the obsidian-colored changeling hive. In her head, she wondered if any of her friends that were in the invasion made it back safely to their homes, or if they met their demises almost as her son did.
Knowing that the only way that she and Bumble would survive would be if they made it back to the hive, she painfully lifted him up onto her back using her magic. Making sure that he was secured over her, she used all of her physical strength to push herself to her fore hooves. Turning herself towards the hive, she began the long trudge through the cold badlands.
Slowly trotting in the direction of the hive, she noticed that there were many injured changelings laying on the side of the ground, moaning and crying from the agony they were feeling. It was a traumatizing sight for Flutter. She couldn't stand it, but she knew that if she stopped even for a few moments, to help any of them out, she had the strong possibility of not making it back to the hive herself. She hated it.
To deter her attention from these horrible sights, she decided to look up at the sky and the stars. They were a sight that she seldom saw - in the hive, if you left, even for an hour, you had the chance to be trapped outside due to the heavily guarded entrances to the hive.
The reason for the intense security was for one simple reason: Rival hives. Often, in the past, spies from other hives had managed to come into Chrysalis' hive and steal important data for defenses. It was mainly the hive of Chrysalis' eldest sister, Miasma, who has had an intense rivalry with Chrysalis for most of their lives. Miasma found it was entertaining to see her sister's huge frustration as she screamed. She kept her hive mind to Chrysalis for this sole reason.
As she eventually approached the huge changeling city, she noticed there was no external security - they probably were all part of the invasion, as well. Walking in, she had no idea about what kinds of things she would have to go through in the following couple of days. |
The Greatest Show of Kindness | Chapter Ten: A Bad Memory, Part III | The Greatest Show of Kindness
Chapter Ten: A Bad Memory, Part III
Tiredly, Flutter trotted into the hive. Immediately upon entrance, she felt a rush of love enter her body. Because the hive was made out of material that trapped love inside of it, and it also radiated love, if a changeling made contact with it, they got love from it.
The way to charge it if it ran out of love was to steal love from other creatures, and then for a changeling to use its magic and imbue it inside. It was one of the rarest materials in the world, and almost ninety-five percent (95%) of it was used in constructing the hive.
The main reason of the changeling invasion of Canterlot was for the changelings to obtain enough love to recharge their hive, as it was running dangerously low on love. By conquering Equestria, there would be an infinite amount of love to use, which would cause this problem to never occur again.
As Flutter walked through the streets, the revitalization was a wonderful feeling. Both her's and Bumble's stomachs began to increase in size as strength returned to their bodies. Bumble's cracked shell quickly begun healing, stitching itself back together due to a natural process in a changeling's body, of which makes them heal upon receiving great amounts of love energy straight into their bodies.
Deciding that the best thing for her to do was to get her's and Bumble's strengths back up, she immediately followed the streets to return to their home and rest. She knew exactly how to get to her home from anywhere in the hive - the hive's living districts were set up in a grid-like pattern, with between five-hundred and seven-hundred rows of homes. Each row had twenty homes.
Knowing that her home was the sixteenth cave on the two-hundred-thirty-ninth (239th) row, she immediately went there. It only took about fifteen minutes to get there, and the moment she stepped through the door, she trotted into her bedroom and set Bumble down. She looked down at him with a gentle gaze, lowering herself to his head and tenderly kissing his forehead. He smiled, using his hooves to pull a leather blanket over him.
Grinningly she climbed up into the bed with him, grasping the blanket and tucking herself and Bumble in. Quickly, she fell asleep.
Hours passed before anything happened in the hive. The night passed to day, and in the morning, there was a knock on the door. Flutter's eyes shot open from shock; she wasn't expecting any company so soon.
Rolling out of the small, stony mattress, she opened the door. To her surprise, there was a teary-eyed, sniffling Chryssy.
"F-Flutter?" she solemnly asked, looking into her eyes.
"Chryssy? Are you okay, dear?" she questioned, pulling Chryssy into a warm hug. Chryssy began to cry, putting her head against Flutter's shoulder. "Oh, it's okay. It's okay..."
Rubbing her mane softly, she shooshed Chryssy, reassuring that everything would be okay. Chryssy gave a loud sob, clenching her fangs and eyes from the horrible anguish she was feeling. Flutter picked Chryssy up into her arms and flew them into her bedroom, sitting both of them down on the bed.
As Flutter rubbed Chryssy once again, this time down her carapace, she reiterated her question from before.
"Is everything okay, dear?" she repeated.
"My mommy still hasn't come home yet! I'm so worried!" she sobbed. "You're the only changelings that I've seen come back, and I just don't know what's going on! It's been over three months since I've seen mommy, and... and..." she trailed, unable to continue.
"Sweetheart, Chrysalis is our Queen. I'm absolutely positive that she's okay and that she's on her way back right now. Don't you worry your pretty little head off, you hear me?" Flutter requested.
"O-Okay. Thank you so much, Flutter," Chryssy gratified, rubbing her eyes.
"You're very welcome, Chryssy. Now, is there anything else that you needed?" Flutter offered.
"...Is Bumble okay?" she asked.
"I think that he'll be fine if he gets a lot more rest. Unfortunately..." she started, giving Chryssy a view of Bumble, "I think that the impact that he had against the wall that we hit was too forceful on his body, and it caused him to go blind."
"What!? He's blind!?" Chryssy shouted, looking intently into Flutter's eyes. She shifted her eyes between Bumble and Flutter, unable to accept this fact.
"He is. It's horrible, I know, but-" Flutter began.
"No! There has to be something that we can do about it! There has to be a spell that can solve it!" Chryssy cut off. The sudden shout surprised Flutter, causing her to recoil a little.
"Chryssy..."
"Flutter! This is so unfair! We can't just let him go without being able to see!"
"Chryssy."
"I'm going to go and find a spell that will help-"
"Chryssy!"
When she heard Flutter's more authority-like voice, she quickly shut up. Looking down, she slumped to a laying position.
"Chryssy, I understand why you're so concerned about this, but you're making a bigger deal about this than Bumble did. If you want to go home and try to find a spell that will do something to help, I won't and can't stop you. But you don't need to freak out about it," Flutter explained.
"I understand, Flutter. It's just that... that... I..." Chryssy stuttered, her cheeks becoming light green. She turned her head to look another way. "I... love Bumble. He's the only changeling that I consider to be a true friend. All of those aristocrats act all "high-and-mighty," and they don't really care about anything that really makes a friend a friend. Bumble, though, he has those qualities. He's nice, smart, reassuring, loving, cute... none of the rich court officials or upper-class changelings are those things, except for maybe smart. It's for these reasons that I want Bumble to be able to be able to see - because he really deserves the absolute best in life."
For a moment, Flutter could do nothing but stare in shock at what Chryssy had just said. She had no clue that she felt that way about Bumble. She wondered at that instant if Bumble had any of these same feelings towards Chryssy.
After breaking out of her trance, Flutter gave an ear-to-ear at Chryssy, pulling her into a big embrace from the behind. She lifted her up, nuzzling and buzzing her wings.
The embrace had lasted a few more moments before Flutter released Chryssy. After being let go, Chryssy jumped down onto the floor with a thump; she started to walk toward the door.
"Are you leaving, Chryssy?"
"Yeah. I'm tired, and I want to go and take a nap now."
"Oh, all right. I guess I'll see you later, then."
"I'll come back when mommy gets back. See you!"
With that, Chryssy walked out of the front door.
Outside, a huge thunderstorm was brewing. Lightning struck multiple changeling abodes, one of them being Flutter's and Bumble's. Bumble shrieked as loud as he could from the shock, pulling the blanket closer to his body.
When the flashes from the lightning subsided, Flutter saw him shuddering violently under the covers and immediately uncovered him and cradled her in her arms. He cried from the fear, and to this she shh-ed him.
"Shh, it's okay. I promise that everything will be fine, sweetie. It's just lightning. Nothing will hurt you, I promise," she calmingly stated.
"O-O-Okay, mama. Thank you..." he shyly mumbled, falling back to sleep in his mother's arms. |
The Greatest Show of Kindness | Chapter Eleven: A Bad Memory, Part IV (Final) | The Greatest Show of Kindness
Chapter Eleven: A Bad Memory, Part IV (Final)
For the next two days, all that Bumble and Flutter did was sleep and eat when they needed to. This gave them a chance to restock up on the vital energy they would need to go back out and function normally again.
One day, there was a fierce knock on the door. It was loud, almost to the point where the door was knocked off of its hinges. Instantly, Flutter sighed and rolled out of her bed, shaking her head to wake her up a little.
"(I'm coming! Please, wait a moment!)" she screeched out, tiredly walking over to her door. She opened it with a tug.
Standing there were two heavily armored elite guards, each bearing a large, dark-blue exoskeleton-like shell. They glared into Flutter's eyes, and she felt that her soul was being pierced deeply. The scowls they had on their faces caused her to flinch backwards. The deep, guttural growls they pushed out from their throats caused her to lock up with fear. She knew upon sight of these two guards that there was something very, very wrong - these were the Queen's personal guards, of which never had business with the citizens.
"(You. Gather your children and anybody else that is inside and step out. Now,)" one of them ordered.
"(W-What's happening?)" Flutter asked, unable to change her stance from fear.
"(The Queen demands that you go to meet her,)" the other stated.
"(What for?") she questioned, cocking her head.
"(Get everybody out of the house. Now!)" they ordered, ignoring her question.
"(But-)" she started.
Suddenly, a hoof was slammed across her left cheek, leaving a bright-green mark. She cried out and fell to the ground, grasping her face from shock and pain. She couldn't do anything for a minute, unable to comprehend what had just happened to her/
"(You just... you...)" she exasperated.
"(Everybody out. Now!") one of them shouted, picking her up and throwing her back inside.
Flutter went into their bedroom and hesitantly lifted Bumble onto her back. He had no idea of what was going on.
"(Mama, what's happening?)" he shyly asked Flutter placed him on her back.
"(I don't know, sweetie. A couple of the Queen's guards just came up to our door and told me to get us outside.)"
Within a minute, Flutter came out, carrying Bumble on her back. "(Now, come with us. Do not resist.)" Complying with her orders, she followed them intently through the streets.
Over the past two days, many changelings somehow managed to return to the hive. The streets were slowly refilling, but Flutter could feel a difference in the atmosphere. The normal busy feeling she got by walking through the hive seemed to be replaced with a horrible sensation of overwhelming despair. All of the changelings held their heads down, and there wasn't any chitter-chatter that normally occurred at all times of the day. The only sound that was heard was the sound of sadly clicking hoofsteps.
On top of this, she didn't feel very much love energy radiating from the black crystal material. It made her feel tired and worn as she slowly trotted through the streets with her escorts. There were stares on her from all angles as she approached the huge, extravagant castle. Eventually, they arrived at the castle, immediately heading inside.
Inside the castle, there was a huge domed ceiling, and on the walls were oddly enough, changeling runes. They were written in beautifully written cursive-style writing, and they spiraled up into the dome. At the epicenter of the dome was a gigantic character, of which meant "bravery," or "honour." Inscribed on each of the doors was a changeling proverb, ranging from things such as "a rock tumbling down may be lifted once more," or "with a strong inside, a rich outside is born."
As they walked up to a large, magnificent door, of which had the character for "court" inscribed on it, the two guards opened it using their furious, green magic and pushed the two inside. Waiting thereupon a beautiful jade and emerald throne was the Queen herself. Sitting in a smaller seat to her right side was Chryssy, who was shocked to see Bumble and Flutter entering the throne room.
On the sides of the room sitting in tables were court officials, of which were chattering with each other. Queen Chrysalis and Chryssy were both in conversation with each other as well. Upon Flutter's entrance of the room, all talk ended and all eyes in the room were focused on the Queen and Princess.
Across the other side of the room on the floor was a shackled up changeling, whose head was looking toward the floor. Standing up in front of the stairs leading up to the dual thrones were three familiar faces to Flutter. Three faces of which the moment she saw, she knew that something horrible was about to take place.
The two were wearing silky, light-green and blue dresses. Chrysalis' had a crest on the chest that had the rune for "queen," and likewise with Chryssy's, except hers had "princess" woven it. The dresses both flowed over their chairs, casting royal veils over the ground.
"(Court shall begin!)" Chrysalis firmly stated. "(To begin, I would like to thank you three, Sniper, Strider and Ambrosia, for making light of these three traitors,)" she directed towards the three, nodding at them in utmost approval. They all nodded back.
'Traitors!?' Flutter frantically thought as she quickly tensed up.
"(Traitors!?)" Chryssy whispered to her mother, who looked at her with a confirming nod.
"(As you know, there is only one good place for a traitor to be in any situation. That place is a graveyard with nameless graves, which is exactly where you three are headed,)" she threatened. Flutter took a chance at this moment. "(Have you anything to say in your defenses?)"
"(We're not traitors!)" Flutter tried, standing in a fighting position.
"(Do you have any proof to support your statement? Because right here, I have three witnesses that tell me that you were conducting treasonous acts with ponies during our invasion.)"
"(But, we didn't-)"
"(Enough! I know from experience that denial is the first sign of a liar. Your mouth is to remain sealed.)
"(B-But-)
"(Silence!)"
Flutter knew that it was a lost cause to try and defend her case at this point. Therefore, she closed her mouth. She looked Chryssy in the eyes, and the message she conveyed with her face was "please, help me!" Chryssy, seeing this, decided to speak up.
"(Mother...)" she started, but received a deep glare from Chrysalis.
"(Chryssy, no. You are not to interfere. This is business that only I may deal with,)" she replied. "(When you become Queen, you may deal with these things yourself, but for now, just observe.)"
At the moment, she saw that all eyes were on her, which caused her anxiety to rise greatly. Despite this, she once again tried to interject.
"(Mother! This is not the best way to handle this! You don't need to kill them to get your point across! Put them in a dungeon for a while! Find something else to do!)" she ordered.
"(Chryssy, it is my decision on what to do with these traitors. You should understand that death is the only suitable punishment for their acts against us. You will sit back down on that chair and you will let me deal with this. No further comments from you, young lady!)" she demanded, stomping a hoof on the ground.
"(No! I won't let you!)" she screamed, jumping down in front of Flutter and Bumble. She stood in front of them, scowling at her mother.
Bumble, during this entire process, said nothing, and did nothing but tremble on his mother's back. His head was tucked into her neck. He understood everything that was going on at this moment - often, public executions were held for traitors to the hive, in front of children, even. He'd seen it, and this same process happened every single time. He felt so lucky right then that he had Chryssy to try and help him and his mother out.
"(Chryssy, enough from you!)" Chrysalis yelled, lifting her up with her magic. She lowered her to the guards to the sides of the thrones. "(You two, hold her back for me while I pass on punishment,)" she ordered.
"(No!)" she screamed as the two guards gathered to her sides. They each pulled their magic over her legs, forcing her into one position, unable to move. "(Let... me... go!)" she resisted, trying her absolute hardest to move. She couldn't do anything at this point, except watch the events unfold before her eyes.
"(Okay... Now that that little... interruption has been solved, I pass sentence to you three. You are sentenced to death for your actions against the hive, and myself,)" she punished, stepping down from the throne.
With her magic, she put the three in order, from the unknown changeling on the left (in Chrysalis' perspective), Flutter in the middle, and Bumble on the right. Bumble could barely stand, so she forced him to a standing position with a spell.
In one instant, she lowered her horn to the unknown changeling's chest, firing a beam straight into it. When her spell finished, it was laying on the ground with a dark-green mark in its chest. Flutter's and Chryssy's eyes both widened at this sight.
"(No!)" Chryssy hissed, trying even harder now to be released from her magical grasp. She couldn't believe that this was happening.
Next, she took aim at Flutter, whose face had a miserable, teary-eyed look. She took one last look at Bumble and gave him one final kiss on the head before she turned back towards her queen. Tears flowed from her eyes at this point, and she gave one final prayer.
'Please, allow me and my baby to find peace in the afterlife, where we can re-unite for all of eternity. May we both find our heavens in the same realm so that we may come back together,' she thought.
In a moment, her prayer was sent to the realm of the gods. She couldn't hold her eyes open any longer, closing them to allow the warm tears to fall down her face in excess.
With a deep blast of energy into her chest, Flutter gasped. The pain in her chest was too great; she fell to the ground, hitting the ground with a thump.
Chryssy couldn't take it anymore. A scream welled up in her lungs.
"(Flutter! No!)" she howled. It was so loud that it made the guards holding her recoil, their magical grips being released. Their ears rang with her words. Everybody in the room fell backwards into their seats.
Quickly, she shot her own bright, light-blue beams into their chest cavities, making them drop. She flew out of her dress, which fell to the floor like a decaying leaf, and landed in front of Flutter. She lifted her up into her fore hooves, shaking her vigorously.
"(Flutter! Answer me! Please! Flutter!)" she yelled, begging her friend to come back to life in her legs.
Her eyes looked down whilst solitude walked in disguise. Tears flowed from her eyes as she stared back up at her mother in disbelief that she could be so cruel.
"(M-Mother... how could you do this?)" she seeked, looking away. She couldn't stand to look at her mother after what she had just witnessed. She boiled inside.
"(Chryssy, I told you-)" Chrysalis started, but...
"(I don't care what you told me!)" she interrupted loudly, catching even her mother off guard. "(You just killed one of my only friends! You just... You're nothing more than a monster! How can you possibly feel good about yourself!?)"
"(Chryssy! Enou-)"
"(Shut up! I'm done with you! All that you've done to me is made me do all of these things that I never wanted to do, and all it does to me is put me in misery! Can't you tell that what you're doing to others is causing them pain!? That what you're making me watch and do is causing me pain!? Can't you see that you're a monster!?)"
Chrysalis could just stand there, speechless, as she couldn't believe the words coming out of her daughter's mouth.
"(Chryssy, you have acted out enough for one day. I order you to leave the room and go calm yourself down somewhere else. You will take time to think about your actions.)"
"(No! I am going to stand here right where I am and protect the one I truly love! You won't make me move or do anything else!)"
Having enough, Chrysalis used her magic and raised Bumble off the ground with her magic. She levitated him over her shoulder and looked at Chryssy.
"(Well, if you won't let me do this execution, I suppose I'll find another way of exhaling this cretin from our hive!)" she threatened, making Bumble squeak. She flew out of the courtroom, carrying Bumble with her.
"(I don't think so this time, mother!)" Chryssy retaliated, flying out after her. Chrysalis quickly flew out of the castle through the main door, with Chryssy following in immediate pursuit. "(Mother! Let him go this instant!)" she demanded. Chrysalis stopped in midair in the space above the living districts and turned back to Chryssy.
"(Chryssy! If you are going to become the Queen of this hive when my time is over, you are going to need to understand that there are some things that are absolutely unacceptable! Treason, of which this worm has committed, is the absolute worst of them! You need to learn that the only correct manner of dealing with this is to send the offender as far away as possible from the hive so that they may never repeat the offense and hurt the hive again! Whether it be permanent banishment or death, they must be dealt with!)" Chrysalis yelled at her daughter.
"(That might be the way that you operate this hive, but I have no intentions of following this practice when I become Queen! You are so unforgiving to others that you look directly into their flaws and you offer no room for them to show any worth! I vow that I will never, ever have a death sentence when I rule! I will be forgiving, and I will give others second chances!)" she argued, her eyes twitching in raw fury at her mother.
"(You'll understand as you grow older that what I'm doing is truly the right thing, Chryssy. Right now, this issue needs to be dealt with so that I can get back to court,)" Chrysalis impatiently stated, reeling Bumble back with her magic.
"(And as for you,)" she started, directing her voice towards Bumble, "(You are not to trust any ponies in this life! They are vile, disgusting creatures who live only to deceive! They live only to breathe hate into you! Shall you place your trust in them, you will only find betrayal and pain! Those are the only words I have towards you. Let them be your last!)"
"(What? No!)" Chryssy yelled, lunging forward at her mother.
It was too late, however, as the Queen threw Bumble with mighty force out of the hive, in the direction of Equestria. Chryssy's face drooped as she saw her last friend fly off into the distance.
"(Bumble...)" she trailed, unable to do anything.
The last thing she remembered was shooting a beam of energy at her mother and screaming before blacking out.
Bumble had flown through the air for a few minutes by this point. His eyes were clenched from fear and he couldn't help but shriek constantly. The feeling in his stomach was terrible, like the feeling you get when you get when you are forced to go up in front of a crowd against your will.
Eventually, he felt his lower back slam against something hard, splintering his back end. He felt splinters of wood in his leg, telling him it was a tree. He fell down, slamming his mouth against multiple branches, causing his left fang to crack and split in half.
When he finally hit the ground, he landed awkwardly on one of his forelegs and hindlegs, forcing them to bend in positions that they never should've. The pain was too great, and he couldn't maintain consciousness. |
The Greatest Show of Kindness | Chapter Twelve: Comfort (Teen-Rated) | The Greatest Show of Kindness
Chapter Twelve: Comfort (Teen-Rated)
"...A-And... and... when I woke up, I-I w-was here... She... killed my mama!" Bumble cried loudly, shoving his head into Fluttershy's chest.
Fluttershy couldn't believe the story she had just heard. Her mouth hung wide open, her eyes staring into the distance. It brought back horrible memories of her own, and tears flowed sullenly from her eyes. She pulled him in closer than she ever had before, nuzzling him and kissing his forehead.
"B-Bumble, I had no idea! I-I'm so sorry! I can't believe that monster would do something so horrible to you!" Fluttershy sympathized.
For many minutes, the two sat there on the bed in a deep hug. She moved her mane so that it was covering his body, like a blanket that a loving mother puts over her child during a frightening storm.
"F-Fluttershy?" he asked, pulling his head out of her chest.
"Y-Yes, sweetheart?" she tenderly responded.
"D-Do you think that I d-did anything wrong? Or my mama?" he questioned. Fluttershy put a confused look on her face.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you think one of us did anything that made... that happen? Do you think it was our fault?" he clarified.
"Of course not, sweetie! Why would you think that it was one of your faults?"
"Because, i-if we didn't ever try to sneak away from the invasion, m-my mama wouldn't be... be..." Bumble started, but choked up.
"Bumble, that didn't have anything to do with it!" Fluttershy reassured. "If anything, that just showed how big sweethearts you and your mother were. You didn't want to and were scared to hurt anypony, so you befriended them instead. You should never blame yourself for something like that for wanting to not hurt anypony," she explained.
At that moment, in Fluttershy's head, a memory played faintly. She remembered a knife in one of her front hooves, with her trembling in a corner. There was a bloodied body behind a figure that stood above her. She saw it coming in closer. Even though there was a knife in her hoof, she couldn't lunge it forward to protect herself. She was crying, but she couldn't scream out for help.
The figure above her lunged itself down into her, causing her to cry out weakly. She was powerless to do anything against her attacker except accept what was coming to her. She couldn't even breathe.
After the figure finished up, it got up and left her cloudy house. She sat there for a near eternity to her, crying to herself about what she could've done wrong that led her to these terrible events. She just felt so dirty, like mud in her fur, leaves in her mane. Tears flowed from her eyes until she passed out unconscious.
Back in the current world, Fluttershy was rocking back and forth, crying uncontrollably with Bumble in her grasp. Bumble could hear her sobs. He understood why she would be crying from his story, but he didn't expect this much.
"F-Fluttershy? Are y-you okay?" he said, shuttering between his own sobs.
"H-H-Huh? Oh, I'm sorry... I just had a bad memory of my own," she explained, wiping her eyes with one of her hooves.
"Oh... what happened?" he questioned, cocking his head.
"Well, I'm not sure if you're old enough to understand it, and it's a little bit of an adult topic, but... I... I was..." she choked. "I was raped."
"You... were raped?" Bumble said in complete disbelief. "That's... horrible! How could someone do that to someone as sweet and kind as you!?" he yelled, anger coming into him.
"You know what that is?" she asked, surprised.
"Of course! It's one of the first things that we learn about in school, because it happens so often in the hive. But anyways, tell me about what happened!"
"Well, I h-had just returned home from another day of flight school, and my daddy had greeted me and kissed me and asked me how my day went. The day itself had gone fine, and I told him so. I had another run-in with my bullies, but a friend of mine, Rainbow Dash, chased them away."
"So, after that, I did my homework like I did every day, which usually consisted of just practicing flying, as well as other basic skills such as math or writing. After this, I would usually take a nap, because I was tired from the day. So, I did."
"The next thing I remember is a loud yell coming from my living room, and I got up and slowly opened my door. Part of our normal training for flight, even though it doesn't really have anything to do with flying, is to learn to defend ourselves and protect ourselves if we feel that we really needed."
"So, I went into my kitchen and smashed open the lock on the box that our sharper knives were held in. I pulled out the sharpest knife we had, and it was a really sharp knife. It could cut through a small block of wood if you went straight down on it. Then, I crouched and slowly looked around the doorway that went into our kitchen."
"There was nopony there, so I very quietly entered the room. I had my knife ready at hoof, and the next thing that I saw horrified me."
"I s-saw..."
Fluttershy sniffled, looked down towards her bed. She clenched her teeth and eyes, starting to clutch Bumble a little tighter. He squeaked, and she loosened her grip on him a little. He lowered himself to lay on his side. He could feel the sadness emanating from her body, like rock-gray clouds pouring ice-cold raindrops while you sit under them, crying so much that you can't distinguish tears from rain.
"I-I saw m-my daddy l-laying on the ground, not moving o-or breathing at all. There was b-blood coming out of his m-mouth and nose, and his cheek had a bruise on it. There was a bigger colt that I recognized f-from my flight school standing over him, and he had blood all over his f-fore hooves. He was in the senior class, almost eight years older than I was."
"W-When I saw this, I locked up. I couldn't m-move or do anything but stand there in the h-horror that I was feeling. I was holding the knife, but I couldn't throw it or swing it. I wasn't a-a-able to do anything b-but tremble."
"I c-could tell he had seen me by this point, because he was staring at me. I can remember those terrible, horrid eyes, staring, watching, preying, stalking me. They were so cold, so barren, but deep inside, I saw it - that monstrous, deadly soul."
"The last thing I can remember is him c-coming closer. He kn-knocked my knife away from me, and towered over me, pushing me onto my back and into a corner. And then... and then..."
"Fluttershy, I... I'm so sorry. You don't need to go on. I-I understand," Bumble said, comfortably nuzzling his head up underneath her chin, like a cat. She wrapped her hooves around him. Right then, he was her security blanket.
"Thank you, Bumble, f-for listening to me. I never felt that I could tell anypony because I thought that they would judge me for it. It just feels so relieving that I could tell my story to someone, even if it was a changeling," she sighed. Suddenly, Bumble found himself growling, which Fluttershy found unusual; it took her off guard. "Bumble?"
"How dare he do something like that to you!? You were powerless to do anything, and he just let himself go and do that! I hope that guy gets to rot in a dungeon!" he growled, baring his fangs.
"Sweetie, please, calm yourself. He did get caught and put in jail. After I woke up, which was in a hospital, I was told about everything that happened, and I was asked if I wanted to go before the royal court to testify. So, I did, and he was found guilty and sentenced to life in Tartarus for... murder and..."
"Good riddance!"
"Yes, he got the justice that he deserved. It's just too bad that you'll never get that real sense of closure that you really deserve."
"Well, it's okay, mama. At least now I'm away from Queen Chrysalis."
Fluttershy noticed something about that first sentence he had said.
"Mama?" she asked.
"Huh?"
'You called me 'mama,'" she explained.
"Oh, well... You're a lot like my mama, and you sound a little like her, too..." he trailed.
"I do?" she asked.
"Yeah."
For a moment, they sat there on the bed, both unsure of how to continue.
"Fluttershy?" he broke the silence.
"Yes, Bumble?" she responded.
"...Will you be my mama?" he asked, much to Fluttershy's surprise.
"Will I be your mama?" she repeated in shock.
"Yeah... I've been living here for a few months now, and every single day, even if I was angry or rude towards you, you gave me love and the energy I needed to get through the days. You're nice, loving, caring - everything that my mama was before..." he explained
"Bumble..." he sighed, looking down at his face. It almost looked sad.
"Please, Fluttershy?" he begged, pushing his head up into Fluttershy's chest.
"...Of course, sweetie. Of course, I'll be your mama!"
At that moment, Bumble had the sweetest feeling inside. It was the biggest influx of love he'd felt in nearly his entire life, and it filled all of his senses. He could smell the scent of the sweetest roses, and the sound of his mother's nicest, most loving voice filled his ears. He could've even sworn that he could see her smiling face. |
The Greatest Show of Kindness | Chapter Thirteen: Panic and Self-Promise | The Greatest Show of Kindness
Chapter Thirteen: Self-Promise
After the two broke their embrace, Fluttershy jumped down from the bed to the floor. She turned towards him with a huge smile on her face, and noticed that he had lay down on his side and let himself sink into the soft, plush mattress. He used his fore hooves to pull the protecting blanket over his frail form.
Lovingly she went over to him and laid a kiss on his forehead, which made him squeak from happiness. He set his head on the pillow as Fluttershy nuzzled him.
"Are you going to sleep, little bee?" she asked him, her head right next to his.
"Yeah, mommy," he affirmed.
"Okay. I'm going into town to get some food and supplies, all right? I'll be back in a few hours, sweetie," she softly informed, pulling her saddlebags over herself.
"All right, mommy."
"Sweet dreams!"
With that, she walked down the stairs from her bedroom and out the cottage.
As Fluttershy walked into Ponyville, she decided that it would be the best if she got some relaxation. Thus, she went to the spa.
At the spa was Rarity, who was there for her weekly treatment. She was currently enjoying a mud mask. Deciding that she could use some quality time with her friend, she paid her bits and went to join her. She lay down on the bed and engaged in conversation.
"Um... Good afternoon, Rarity," she greeted.
"Fluttershy, darling, how nice to meet you here! It's been a while since I've had the quality spa time that I oh so enjoy with one of my best friends!" she exasperated.
"Oh, I know. I've just been so busy recently that I haven't had enough time to do this," she explained. The spa pony gave Fluttershy her mud and massaged it over her face, putting a slice of cucumber over each eye.
"Understandable; however, I've noticed that you haven't been in Ponyville very much in the last few months. Is everything all right, darling?"
"Yes, everything's just fine. It's just that I've had some... important things that I've been taking care of recently."
"Oh. Is there anything you might need help with? I'd be more than happy to lend some help if you need it."
"No, that's okay. Thank you, though."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Again, thank you. I just feel that this is something I should deal with on my own."
"Okay, darling, if you insist. What is it that you're doing, just out of curiosity?"
'Oh, what do I say?
"Um... It's a little personal. I'd rather I take care of this one by myself without bothering anypony about it."
"All right, all right, darling. I just noticed that you started staying home more often than usual right after the wedding. I was just worried that a changeling had gotten its dastardly grips on you."
"Oh, no. Nothing like that."
"Well, that's good. I do hope that you can fix your problem. Please, do come into Ponyville a little more often to tell us that you are all right,"
"Okay, Rarity. I promise that I will."
For a while, the two lay there on the two beds, letting the mud set into their faces. After about an hour of sitting there in complete serenity and relaxation, she got up and removed the mud from her face.
"Um... Well, Rarity, I'm going to go now. It was nice seeing you again. I'd like to do this again soon... if that's okay with you."
"Why, of course, darling! Ta-ta!"
With that, Fluttershy walked out of the spa and went on to her next destination, which was Sugarcube Corner. She walked into the giant gingerbread house and was immediately greeted by her friend.
"Hey there, Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie excitedly yelled out, causing Fluttershy to flinch slightly. Upon seeing her friend, she sighed and smiled at her.
"Oh, hello, Pinkie Pie. How are you today?" Fluttershy greeted.
"I'm awesomely fantabulous! How about you?" the sugar-rushing pink pony responded, smiling with a grin so side that it went off the sides of her face.
"I'm well," she answered.
"Great! Hey, it's been a really, really long time since I've seen you! Are you okay!? Did a changeling get you!?" she worried.
"Oh, no. I've just been dealing with some personal issues, that's all," she declined.
"Omigosh! Is everything okay? Are you being haunted by ghosts that are working with aliens who want to abduct you!?" Pinkie quickly hypothesized, confusing Fluttershy.
"Uh... No, that's not it. It's just some... um..." she stumbled, trying to think of something to say. The pressure she was feeling was like that of having your body squeezed by a giant, crushing wall. "It's... just some light family issues that I'm dealing with. It's not a big deal."
"Not a big deal!? Family issues are the worst kind of issues! This is absolutely a big deal!" Pinkie exasperated.
"Pinkie..." Fluttershy sighed.
"I mean, if you aren't close to your family, how are you going to talk with them when you need them!?" she continued, beginning to frustrate Fluttershy.
"Pinkie," she firmly said.
"Is there any way that I can help!? I know how to get you all to be happy-" she once again started.
"Pinkie!" Fluttershy shouted, causing Pinkie to quiet down. "We're already better. Everything's okay now. Don't worry about it, all right?"
"Okay! If you ever have problems in your family again, come tell me! I promise I'll help!" Pinkie said.
"Um... okay, Pinkie. I will," Fluttershy promised.
"Are there any other issues you're having?"
"Not at the moment. Anyways, I think that I'm going to go now."
"Oh, okie-dokie-lokie! I'll see you later!"
"Okay, bye."
Fluttershy walked out of the confectionary and decided just to go home for the day. She already had two encounters in which she could've given away Bumble's presence, and she didn't want another, in fear of losing him.
Before doing that, however, she went to get some food for birds and other small animal friends. There was a neat little store called "Food for Friends" that had all sorts of bird seed and lots of different kinds of vegetable, fruit, and protein pellets for mice, rats, squirrels, and other smaller creatures.
Once she finished up there, she started the long trek back to her cottage, and like before, she was stopped by Twilight.
"Fluttershy!" she called out.
"Oh, Twilight... hi. Is there something you needed?" she responded, nervously turning around.
"It's been a while, Fluttershy. Is everything okay?"
"Yes, everything's fine."
"Have you seen any changelings?"
"No, Twilight. I still haven't."
"Really? Because you haven't been in town much recently, and all I ever see you coming into town for anymore is food and cleaning supplies. I believe that you're under a mind-controlling spell by a changeling that is making you only come out when you need to get supplies that you need to survive."
"What? No, Twilight, I-"
"Stand still, Fluttershy, I'm only doing this to protect you."
When she said that, she aimed her horn at Fluttershy and cast a spell over her. It was a transparent colored spell that surrounded her entire body. Fluttershy's eyes glowed white as a vortex of light swirled around her. Once the spell finished, her eyes turned back to their normal hues.
"What was that?"
"It was a spell that disables any spells cast on you prior that are still in effect. Do you feel any different?"
"Twilight, I never had any spells cast on me!"
When Fluttershy realized how forcefully she had yelled, she shied away a little bit. With a whimper, she looked down at the ground.
"...Sorry..."
"It's okay, Fluttershy. I just wanted to make sure that you had no manipulation in your mind. You seem clean, so that means everything's okay. Those changelings are popping up everywhere."
"Speaking of the changelings, when you catch one, what do you do with it?"
"Well, first, we tranquilize it, to make sure that there's no resistance. Then, we bring it to the jailhouse, where we tie up its forelegs and hindlegs and put a suppresser ring over its horn, to eliminate all chance of attacks. After that, once it wakes up, we ask it some questions, most of which are like 'Where is your home at?' and 'What other plans does your queen have?'"
"Depending on their answers, we do one of two things. If they cooperate and answer our questions, which unfortunately doesn't happen often, we allow them to start integrating into pony society. Of course, this comes with certain restrictions: They can't use magic, they can't change forms, they can't live without a guard, etc."
"The most changelings, however, decide to resist answering our questions, so those changelings are deported to Canterlot for more rigorous interrogation. I'm not exactly sure about what kinds of things they do, but it's probably nothing more than questions that are more focused and forceful than the preliminary interrogations."
"Okay... Well, I must be getting home now to feed my animals."
"Well, I'll see you later then."
"Good-bye, Twilight."
When she got back to her cottage, Fluttershy closed the door and set her groceries down in her small kitchen. She thought back to what Twilight said to her regarding the mysteriousness of what kinds of things would happen to changelings at Canterlot.
She envisioned her little Bumble tied down to a table, with a royal guard speaking down to him very forcefully. Bumble was oddly growling and snapping his jaws at the interrogator. His eyes were narrowed. Suddenly, the scene glowed crimson and Bumble was now shackled to the floor. The thought-up guard smacked him across the face, leaving a bright-green mark on his cheek. The scene once again changed to Bumble chained a second time to a table, with water dripping down on his head in various amounts, sometimes individual drips, sometimes torrents of water of which washed, tortured, down a drain.
These images all flashed within her mind in what felt like a second. His screech accompanied these terrible thoughts, pushing Fluttershy into a panic.
'Oh, Celestia...' she thought.
Her heart began to race, cold sweat dripped down her face. She could feel a hammer being smashed against the sides of her skull, right behind her eyes. Her vision blurred slightly.
'Can't let them find out about Bumble! Won't, never, can't do it. He'll suffer, burn, drown, die, decay. I have to protect him always, support him, shield him...'
She realized that she was hyperventilating intensely, so she took deep breaths.
'One, two, three... tick-tock... four, five, six, seven... tick-tock... eight, nine, ten.'
She calmed slightly at her counting, and the sound of her clock helped her time her breaths. The banging in her head stopped, and the knots in her stomach unwrinkled. She looked intently at her dimly lit bedroom, got up, and walked slowly over to it.
Up the stairs she went, and she saw that Bumble was still lying there, fast asleep under the covers. She flew onto the bed, curling up beside him and pulling the blanket over herself.
"Oh, sweetie... I'll never let them take you away. I can't, I won't," she promised, falling asleep with him in a hugging position.
Little to her knowledge did she know that there was a pair of eyes belonging to a Pegasus looking in through her window. In a flash, it flew off towards Ponyville. |
The Greatest Show of Kindness | Chapter Fourteen: Pulled Away | The Greatest Show of Kindness
Chapter Fourteen: Pulled Away
The sun was shining brightly and there were few clouds in the sky. Fluttershy was walking Bumble outside in the Ponyville streets, where everypony was walking by, smiling and waving at them. They were both happily smiling.
They walked up to the Ponyville schoolhouse, where Cheerilee was waiting outside for all of the foals to come. She greeted Fluttershy and Bumble with a warm smile as she waved to them.
"Good morning! How are you today?" she asked.
"I'm well today," Fluttershy answered, smiling back.
"And you, dear?" she directed to Bumble.
"I'm doing good, Ms. Cheerilee," he responded cheerily.
"Class starts in a few minutes. Would you like to come in, Bumble?" she offered, stepping aside. "You're the first one here today."
"Sure, Miss. Good-bye, mommy!" he said, turning to Fluttershy and giving her a big hug, of which she immediately returned. They lovingly held themselves there for a few moments before they released each other.
"Hey, Bumble!" a voice called out, causing him to spin around.
Approaching him was Sweetie Belle, who was galloping up to him. He beamed as she threw herself into a big hug around him. The two toppled over as they embraced, making them both giggle from excitement. Cheerilee and Fluttershy also giggled at their giddiness to see each other.
"Good morning, Sweetie!" he exclaimed as she pushed her head into his chest.
"Good morning, Bumblebee," she returned, nuzzling up against him softly.
"How are you today?" Bumble asked.
"I'm doing well today, but I'm a little tired. How about you?" Sweetie wondered, rolling herself off of him. They both stood back up, blushes creeping into their face.
"I'm also good today. Good weather today, huh?"
"It sure is! It looks like it'll be sunny all day today. It'll be hot, too, so do you wanna go inside?"
"Sure!"
The two headed into the red school; more and more young fillies and colts started to come to the school.
"Bumble's just the sweetest little colt, isn't he?" Cheerilee asked Fluttershy with a grin.
"He really is. I love him so much because of his kindness," Fluttershy responded, looking inside the schoolhouse at Bumble, who was now talking with Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom at their desks. They seemed to be having a good time, as Fluttershy could hear their laughter from where she was standing.
"He's a model student, too. He does all of his class work, and he gets along well with all of the other students. He's also passed and excelled at every test we've had this year. He's a really talented foal, and you and him should both be proud," she praised. Right then, the school bell rang. "Well, it seems like I need to start school now, so I'll see you at the end of school today. Have a nice day, Fluttershy!"
"You too, Cheerilee!"
As Fluttershy started to walk away, there was a loud banging sound. She looked around, but couldn't find the banging. The noise continued, and she could feel a sense of unconsciousness hitting her body.
Bang-bang-bang!
Fluttershy's eyes snapped openly as the sound reverberated menacingly throughout her home. An intense jolt of shock and fear riveted through her body, paranoia filling her mind. The clock tick-tocked, and it showed that it was almost four hours after she and Bumble had fallen asleep. Three more loud bangs crashed through her cottage, and she could feel Bumble shaking under the covers, giving short, light squeaks. Three more bangs, and her door's locks were unlocked with aggressive yellow magic.
Immediately, her door flew open, which made her eyes widen. She quickly covered Bumble with the sheets and shushed him, telling him that 'everything will be okay,' and that he 'should be quiet.' He did just as she said, silencing and staying as still as possible through his fear.
Fluttershy rolled out of the bed, galloping forward towards and down the stairs. She could see four royal guards quickly galloping towards her stairs. In an instant, she put a hoof out.
"Stop! What are you doing in my home!?" she frantically yelled, standing in a defensive position.
"We've been informed by a Miss Twilight Sparkle that there is a changeling residing here. Do not move from that spot," one of them commanded, charging up his horn.
A blast of gold energy crashed over Fluttershy's body, swirling around her and squeezing her. She screamed as the energy dissipated from her body. She shrugged, as the spell had a cold feeling to it.
"You three," he said, looking at the three backup guards he brought with him, "go upstairs and check for changelings. Do not hesitate to fire if one begins to attack," he said, casting a spell to hold Fluttershy in place.
"What!? No, don't!" Fluttershy pleaded, trying to release herself from the grip of the magic.
"Hey, there's one up here!"
In an instant, she could hear Bumble's screech, making her cringe. Tears started to fill her eyes, and she writhed in the grip.
"No! Leave him alone!" she screamed, pushing her forelegs out of the magical aura in defiance.
The three guards came out from the top room with a sedated Bumble in their grips. Fluttershy could turn her head, only to see that his head was slumped downwards, with his arms dangling powerlessly beneath him. The tears in Fluttershy's eyes tumbled down her face.
A scream built up in her lungs, shooting through her entire body. It pushed through her throat into her mouth. She clenched her eyes and teeth, before opened her eyes and mouth as wide as she could.
"Bumble!" she shrilled, forcing the guard holding her back.
She launched herself forward in a wave of unseen determination as she pounded the guard's head downwards with her hooves, knocking him to the ground. Turning around, she jumped high into the air, spreading her wings as wide as she could. Remembering back to her flight school self-defense training, she put spread her forelegs wide, making herself look as big as she could.
This, as well as the fact that she had just knocked out the lead guard with one bang of the head, intimidated all three of them, causing sweat to drip from their foreheads and them to step back. They dropped Bumble back down onto the bed.
"How the-" one of them mumbled.
He couldn't finish, however, as he was sent to the ground by Fluttershy, who headbutted him. She immediately punched her other two hooves out, slamming both of the other two in the chests. They both recoiled backwards in a stumble, but didn't fall unconscious.
They both eyed each other from each side of Fluttershy, nodding. In an instant, they rushed forward, trying to ram Fluttershy from both sides. She saw this coming, however, so she ducked underneath. They slammed into one another, bouncing off of each other like rubber.
She immediately jumped backward, grabbing the guard to her left and launching him at the other on her right side. They both flew into the wall, collapsing onto each other. They looked up to her in complete fear, both grabbing onto the other. She was breathing heavily, huffing and puffing.
"You won't take him!" she screamed, the room shaking around her.
She walked up to them, the ground trembling under her hoofsteps. The two guards looked in nothing but fear as she pounded both of them on the foreheads, knocking both of them out.
She took a moment to calm herself before she turned around. She sighed as she closed her eyes and jumped on the bed. She lowered herself to a laying position, deeply breathing.
"Bumble, don't worry, you're oka-" she started, opening her eyes.
He wasn't laying there on the bed. Fear rattled her body as she shot up again, looking to her lower room. Twilight was quietly trying to sneak out with Bumble in her magical grasp; the other four Elements of Harmony were with her as well.
"Twilight! Stop!" Fluttershy yelled out, touching down right behind the group of five. They all turned around and saw bared teeth.
"Fluttershy, you need to calm down," Twilight calmly said, taking a step forward.
"Twilight. Put him down," Fluttershy ordered intently, looking her deep in her eyes.
"Fluttershy, can't you tell that you're being controlled?" Rainbow Dash interrogated, taking a step forward with Twilight.
"No! I'm not being controlled! I had him here under my own power, and I cared for him with my own love!" she defended, getting ready to launch herself again.
"Fluttershy! This changeling's dastardly spell is still manipulating you! Please, darling, you must overcome the influence!" Rarity attempted to persuade, also taking a step forward.
"All of you! Understand me! He is not a bad changeling! He's been living here for the last few months since the wedding, and he hasn't been in any control of me!" Fluttershy shouted, taking a step forward herself, narrowing her eyes.
"That's enough, Fluttershah! He's been foolin' you inta thinkin' that he's a good changelin'! He's just as nasty as the rest!" Applejack continued, advancing a step upwards.
"He's only seven years old! He's blind, and he doesn't even know how to use magic! He couldn't possibly be controlling me!" Fluttershy protested.
"Fluttershy, this meanie-pants changeling is trying to devour your heart and your brain! He's only trying to make you think that he can't use magic or see so that you'll be consumed by his spell easier! He's going to turn you into a zombie pony if he stays here!" Pinkie supported, following in the other's hoofsteps.
"That's it!" Fluttershy snapped, launching forward.
Before she could hit any of them, Rarity held Fluttershy in her magic, restraining her.
"Fluttershy, the only way that we can rid your mind of the spell is if we take the changeling off of the premises. Trust me Fluttershy, this is for the better," Twilight explained, grasping Bumble in her magical grasp again. "His spell must be especially strong. There hasn't been a single resistance this powerful."
"No!" Fluttershy exclaimed, letting tears flow again. "None of you understand the kind of pain that boy has been through! He deserves a place to live, somepony to love him! Please, all of you, don't take him from me!" she begged.
"No, Fluttershy. The sooner we get it away from you, the sooner you can be freed from his grasp. We're doing this for your health and well-being, that's all. Please, we all want you to be healthy in a mental standpoint, and this is the only way," Twilight explained, turning around and walking out.
"No! Please, don't take him! Please..."
Fluttershy let her head hang down as a deluge of tears flooded out of her eyes. A puddle of the agonized water droplets soon formed on the wooden floor. Rarity softly lowered her to the ground, releasing her light-blue magic from it. She put her hooves over her eyes, letting them drown in her cries.
"H-How c-could you d-do that t-to him? He... He f-finally found a p-p-place to live with s-someone to call a m-mother, and you j-just took that away from him..." Fluttershy sobbed, laying her head on the ground. "Y-You just r-ruined his life..."
"Fluttershah, we're only doin' this for your safety. This'll all be a memory later on. You'll start feelin' better about it, an' you'll realize that he was controllin' you like the rest of them do with other ponies," Applejack said, reaching out and putting a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder.
"...Get out of my home," Fluttershy mumbled so quietly that it was unintelligible to everypony.
"What was that, darling?" Rarity asked, cocking her head. Fluttershy stood up to her hooves, her head still hanging, and took a deep breath.
"Get out!" she screamed, scaring all four of the ponies in front of her. The room shook.
"Fluttershy, I know that you're mad, but you've gotta-" Rainbow Dash started, but was cut off by a hoof to the mouth.
"I said, 'Get out.' Out!" she cried again, shooing all of them with her hooves. She pushed them all back until they were out of her front door.
She then gathered all four of the guards who were unconscious in her cottage and threw them out of the entrance one by one before slamming the door and locking it. She collapsed right there, letting sorrow's embrace shroud her body. Tears dripped from her eyes down onto her chest, wetting her soft fur. She pounded her right hoof into the floor, letting out a loud cry.
"Bumble!" |
The Greatest Show of Kindness | Chapter Fifteen: Questions | The Greatest Show of Kindness
Chapter Fifteen: Questions
"Hey!" a slightly gruff, low voice said. "Wake up!"
The voice belonged to a dark blue Pegasus stallion, whose mane and tail were blood-red, with a cutie mark that depicted the talking mouth of a pony, of which was speaking at a jailed criminal.
"Nggg..." Bumble mumbled, trying to roll over to his side.
He found that he couldn't, and became alert immediately. His ears heightened while he tried to hear where he was.
"M-Mommy?" he asked, shivering. The room around him had a stony fragrance, which is to say none at all, and a cold mist surrounded his body. "It's really cold right now..."
"You awake?" the voice said. It was slightly less forceful than it was at first.
"...Mommy?" Bumble responded.
"...No, I'm-" the pony started.
"Mommy!" Bumble shouted, trembling with sobs. The guard looked confusedly.
"I'm not your mother!"
"Where's my mommy!?"
"I don't know! Be quiet!"
As the guard yelled at him, Bumble's tears dripped from his face, down onto a freezing, uninviting table that laid below him. The pool spread underneath his chin, wetting his chitin. He clenched his fangs as tightly as he could.
The guard looked down at the crying changeling in pity. His face changed from anger to sadness as he slightly slumped in the chair.
"Hey... stop crying..."
"H-Huh?"
"Stop crying, please. Just... stop."
"Wh-What do you c-care? I-I'm a changeling, and y-you hate m-me..."
"I don't hate you."
"You d-don't?"
"No. I may not like you, but I'm not cruel. Besides, hatred is for the weak, and I'm not weak. You're young, too, aren't you?"
"Yeah..."
"I couldn't hate a child. It goes against everything Equestria was made for, which is love and tolerance. But anyway, I'm going to ask you some questions. If you answer them and give me the information I want, you can go home to your 'mommy.' Okay?"
"O-Okay."
"Are you cold? You're shivering."
"A little bit..."
"Do you want a blanket?"
"Yes, please."
"Okay."
The guard stood up from a chair he was sitting in and went out of the room. The granite door opened with a deceptively loud creak as he disappeared. A minute later, he came back with a wool blanket. He unfolded it, laying it over Bumble's form. Bumble relaxed in his spot and rested his head on the table.
"Better?"
"Yeah. Thank you very much, sir.
"All right. The weather's nice today, isn't it?"
"I can't see, sir."
"What do you mean you can't see?"
"I'm blind, sir. I can't see anything, even if my eyes are open."
"That's not good at all. Why are you blind?"
"Well, the last thing I remember before I was blind was my mama picking me up and us flying away from Canterlot. I had my head tucked into her belly, so I wasn't seeing anything. I think it was a few minutes later that I felt my back slamming against something hard. I saw red and green and yellow, and I woke up blind."
"Oh. Did you hit your head?"
"No, I don't think so. I could have."
"Okay. What did you do after that?"
"My mama picked me up and she brought us both back to the hive-"
"Before you go any further, what is the hive? Where is it? What does it look like?"
"The hive is the place where all changelings live. It's all black, like... that one rock that the fire mountains make."
"Fire mountains?"
"Yeah, you know. The mountains that shoot out ash and fire."
"You mean a 'volcano?'"
"Uh, I guess? I've never heard that word before."
"No? We've sidetracked too much. Where was I?"
"Uh..."
"Oh, yes. Where is the 'hive?'"
"I don't know what the area is called. I know that it's orange, but that's all that I could see from inside the hive. We were never allowed to leave."
"Didn't you see it when you were flying out?"
"No. There were too many changelings to see through."
"Oh. Do you know if it was sandy? Rocky?"
"No, I don't."
"Hmm..."
"What else is the 'hive' like?"
"Well, it has three different areas. The smallest is the markets area, which is at the west. The castle district is the next biggest, and the biggest is the housing area. How else can I say what it looks like?"
"Well, what does the castle look like?"
"It looks a lot like what the castle in Canterlot looks like, on the outside. I don't know what it looks like on the inside."
"Hmm... I assume that your queen lives inside."
"Her, and the princess."
"You have a princess?"
"Yeah. Her name's 'Chryssy.'"
"How's she like?"
"She's really nice, but she can be stubborn, too."
"Did you know her personally?"
"Yeah. She would sneak out of her castle to come to my home. I mean, all we'd ever really do was talk, but it was company. I had no real friends except for her."
"That's nice of her. What kind of things would you talk about?"
"Whatever was on her mind, really. If she was happy, she'd just go on and on about whatever she was happy about, or if she was sad or angry, she'd tell me why she was angry."
"Hm... would you ever talk about her home life?"
"She didn't like to talk about her life in the castle. When I ask her about it, she would always say that her mother was always doing stuff that she didn't agree with."
"Like what?"
"She said that Queen Chrysalis was always saying things about how to 'conquer and cease.' Whatever that means."
"Did she ever say any of the plans?"
"No. Not with me. That's treason in the hive."
"Hm... Okay."
The guard took a checklist and wrote the information that he had heard until this point down, which wasn't much. All that he had down for location was that the area surrounding the hive was "orange," and that the hive was large and dark, made out of an obsidian-looking rock. He wrote down that he knew nothing of the plans that Chrysalis had in store, and that there was a princess.
"So, you don't know anything about where the hive is or your queen's plans?"
"No."
"Okay. I'll be right back."
He stood up and walked out of the room. He turned left and went down a long hallway, with rooms lining both sides. He walked all the way down through a door on the very end, which through led to a staircase that he trotted up. At the top, he entered a room where a white stallion with a light-blue mane and tail was. He was overlooking the town, scouting for the changelings he felt such a strong loathing towards.
"Captain Shining Armor, sir!" he addressed, putting a hoof to his head.
"Yes, Private Word Twister?" he answered, turning around.
"This is the report of the changeling I just interrogated," he informed, offering the clipboard over. Shining Armor grabbed it in his magical grasp,
"Looks like little to me. We've already confirmed that it's in the badlands, and that none of the changelings are going to tell us about Chrysalis' plans. It is new information to me that the hive is made out of some black material, though. I also didn't know that they had a princess. Still, there isn't enough information here to be able to let it go yet, so send it on the next chariot to Canterlot," he ordered. Word Twister looked hesitantly for a moment.
"...It's a child, sir," he informed.
"The changeling? That doesn't matter. It could still have valuable information that it's hiding from us. Send it off, Private."
"But-"
"Private, Do not argue with me about this. Send it off."
Word Twister looked down in guilt for a moment before glumly turning around and walking back to the interrogation room.
"Well, since you didn't supply enough information, we're having to ship you off to Canterlot," he informed, gaining a face of shock from Bumble. "Now, I've seen what they do to changelings in Canterlot, so I have some advice: Listen to what they say. Do not argue with them and you'll have an easier time," he whispered.
"...Okay. Thanks, I guess."
Within the hour, Bumble had been loaded onto an armored chariot, off to Canterlot. |
The Greatest Show of Kindness | Chapter Sixteen: Bumble's Rage | The Greatest Show of Kindness
Chapter Sixteen: Bumble's Rage
Once the chariot arrived in Canterlot, Bumble was loaded off and immediately forced forward, his chitin scraping silently against the chains his hooves had been wrapped in. His legs were still sore from when they had broken previously, but they had healed for the most part. It was the same kind of pain that one gets after running at full speed for a while.
He had trouble moving without stumbling into the other changelings that were part of the group, due to his blindness. Luckily, the shackles prevented him from moving around as much.
The magnificent Canterlot Castle was right in front of him, glimmering in all of its royal glory. The giant shape of one of the spires cast a shadow over Bumble, chilling him. He shook his head to get over the cold. He may not have been able to see, but the atmosphere around him was very heavy - a crushing, anxiety-filled anticipation.
Suddenly, from one of the doors on the castle burst a large, metallic-silver unicorn stallion with a carbon-black mane and white hooves. The door shut itself with the help of a breeze, and he looked in an intensely intimidating manner over them. He had a very sneer-like narrowness to his eyebrows, but it seemed to be a bit grouchy as well, as if trying to say 'Why do I have to be here?'
"Hm... looks like I've got some fresh meat on the bones... Let's see what we've got here," he mumbled to himself, putting on a menacing grin. He lit his horn up, teleporting with a flash to the ground level. "Filthy maggots," he spat, taking a few steps forward. "All right. Guards, take them to the eastern wing. Put them in the tight cages," he ordered, walking back into the castle.
The group of changelings was immediately escorted around the grassy lawn of the southern wing to the eastern wing. There wasn't an immediately noticeable difference between the looks of the southern and eastern wings of the castle. That was until one of the guards lifted a trapdoor in the ground with their magic.
"All of you, get in!" the guard shouted.
The guards behind the changelings pushed them forward with their magic, forcing them down into the pit. There was a purple light coming from the hellish-looking hole, and the sound of dripping water and shouting faintly rung from within. One by one, the changelings jumped down.
Bumble didn't know where he was going, so when he accidentally trotted around the hole, the guards mistook it as him trying to escape. They threw him down, causing him to land with full force on his sore front leg.
Tears flooded his eyes, and immediately his screech filled the entire cave. When the sound was gone, it echoed back from the other end of the crystalline cavern. All attention in the room was on him as he dropped to his stomach, bawling.
"Hey! Quiet down!" one guard said, not caring about the injury. Suddenly, the trap door slammed loudly above the changeling's head.
"It hurts so-" Bumble started, but was immediately smacked on the head.
"Be silent! Down here, you're under our rules! You will oblige!" the guard yelled, causing Bumble to tremble underneath his voice.
"I-I'm s-s-sorry..." he trailed, shaking.
"You'd better be, you worthless maggot!"
Bumble said nothing to this, so he just lay there in his pain and tears. The guards all looked down in nothing but their own wicked smiles and laughter.
"Oh, is the little worm in pain?" one of them mocked, eliciting a laugh from the others.
"It looks like his puny foreleg broke. What a shame!" another joked, putting his hoof forcefully down on Bumble's head. Bumble jolted under the sudden pressure, shuddering. "Oh, what? Can't handle the pressure?" he continued, pressing harder.
"Please stop..." Bumble begged.
"Why should we? Didn't you see what you did to our nation!? The lives you ruined!? We will not stop until you are completely exterminated from this world!" another shouted, gaining a cheer from the rest.
At that, Bumble inside started to burn. He felt that he specifically was being blamed for the entire invasion, and that struck him right at the core of his heart. He was blamed falsely for being a traitor, after all. He found resentment for those three rotten, disgusting changelings that completely ruined everything, and right then, he equated these guards to them. Hatred burned hellishly inside.
"Your kind are no longer welcome in this world, and the only way to fix that is to eliminate you permanently."
Bumble's shaking became more rapid, not out of sadness or fear, but out of the anger building up inside of him. He felt it, trying to hold it back as hard as he could.
"So now, it's time for that dream to be realized into fruition, you maggots."
Bumble's anger finally exploded.
"Shut up!" he screeched, making the guards around him recoil. A light-green spark shot out from his horn as he gritted his fangs and growled.
"Silence!"
"No, you need to shut your mouth, you bigoted jerk! You think that I actually wanted to be in the stupid invasion!? Well, let me tell you, I didn't! I was forced to do it by my Queen, who I never even liked in the first place! She called me a 'traitor' and blamed me and my mother for the entire invasion, just like you are!"
"Shut your-"
"And that's not even the half of what happened! She killed my mother and one other changeling, and I don't even know if that's all she did! Just like you, as well! You call me a maggot and a worm, when in reality, it's you who are those things!"
During his burning rant, he could feel a charging energy inside of his horn, screaming to be released. It was the collection of the massive pool of love energy that had congregated throughout his entire stay with Fluttershy trying to explode in one giant blast. He clenched his fangs even tighter, lowering his head and letting the energy consume his horn. Instantly, his first blast of magic erupted from the tip, shooting directly towards one of the guard's horns.
In an instant, the guard started to charge his own horn, but it was far too late. The magical beam rammed straight into the center of the horn, and with the incredibly high concentration of magic in the beam, it ripped and sheared the entire upper half off and disintegrated it. A violent, light-blue tornado of magical energy surged outwards from the inside of his horn, causing the entire cave to glow cerulean. The guard's eyes dilated as he dropped to his stomach, screaming. He started to breathe shallowly.
"Star Spinner!" one of the other guards shouted, immediately running over. "Star Spinner, are you all right?"
Bumble huffed and puffed out of the rage he was feeling, but was beginning to calm down. Suddenly, he felt a fierce pound against the back of his head, knocking him unconscious.
"Enough of you!" the guard that smashed Bumble's head shouted, breathing heavily.
Star Spinner, who was poking at his horn with his fore hooves, was now being lifted onto a gurney and was being carted off to the right side of the cave to the healing ward.
The guard who hit Bumble lifted him with his magic, walking him over to the tightest cage he could find. He set Bumble down and opened the cage, and then picked Bumble back up and, as forcefully as he possibly could, threw him into the cage. He slammed the door on the cage, and with a dark scowl, clenched his eyes.
"I'm going to make you regret ever having been born!" he claimed, turning and walking away. |
The Greatest Show of Kindness | Chapter Seventeen: Star Spinner | The Greatest Show of Kindness
Chapter Seventeen: Star Spinner
In Equestria, the day was turning to night. Most ponies were enjoying their evenings, whether they were having a lovely date with their loved one, basking in the beautiful, warm mixture of sunlight and moonlight, or feasting on a delectable meal. There was one unicorn, however, that was in the most mind-numbing pain he had ever felt in his life.
The solar guard known as Star Spinner was laying on a hospital gurney, tossing and turning like a bear caught in a trap. He rolled over continually, giving growling, labored groans of pain as sea-blue energy spiraled out in a flurry, just like the storm brewing within his heart.
Ever since his horn was blasted off by Bumble, something seemed to completely change in terms of morality for Star Spinner. The senseless violence, the inhumane insults and other verbal abuse, everything - it just suddenly made no sense to him, and it shocked him. These were the guards that he grew up knowing as his best friends, that never showed a speck of violence except on the playground when the bullies started to screw with them. Ever since the invasion, they were different, and this horrified him to no end.
There was something wrong, and he could sense it all around him - the negative energy and atmosphere all around him had somehow messed with his heart, influencing him, contaminating him, polluting him. He knew that he didn't hate changelings, or any other creatures for that matter, but he had the insatiable distaste all of a sudden.
He liked to think of situations like this, as sparse as they were in his life, like a clock: There were so many cogs that needed to be fine tuned perfectly inside of the clock for it to work, but none of them were able to fit together, able to be fine tuned. Thus, the entire thing fell apart into a mishmash of disarray, and it just didn't work. He thought it fit pretty well.
Sometime during the evening, he felt the urge to use the restroom, so he rolled over and slowly dropped himself off the soft mattress. As his hooves clopped onto the hard, crystalline floor, his head was being struck with sledgehammers made of rust right behind his eyeballs.
He gasped, little breath coming to him. For a few moments, he stood there, collecting his breath, lifting his hoof to his head. The pain was nearly unbearable; the urge to scream out of pain was greater than that of the sensation one gets by having their brain extracted through their ears and nose with a wide tablespoon.
After the pain had lessened, he limped his way over to the loo, of which was only half a furlong away. That short distance seemed like miles for him, but he trudged it out all the way there - a perilous journey - and went into one of the stalls. As he conducted his business, he could hear two other guards walking by.
"...found the changeling hive a couple days ago! I can't believe we finally found that place. The badlands are so vast down there. It's just a barren sea of heat and rocks and misery."
"Yeah."
"I hear that we actually managed to purge their queen from the hive! A magnificent, majestic victory for ponykind! I also heard that there's a changeling princess with her."
"A princess? Really? She must live an absolutely miserable life, having to live under the rule of such a witch. Not like it matters - she's probably just like the queen. Nasty."
"I just wonder what she had to do in the whole scheme of things. I haven't heard of any changeling princess until you just told me."
"She was probably watching behind the scene, laughing at our anguish. She must've been doing something."
Listening in on this conversation, Star Spinner felt indifferent about what they were saying. He had his doubts that the changeling queen had actually been captured, but he'd been so out of things for the last couple months that anything could've been possible. What he could believe, though, was that she had a daughter.
"Who knows? Come on, let's go get some food. I'm starving!"
"All right. Let's go!"
With that, the two left, and less than a minute later, he heard the reverberating sound of the slamming trapdoor that lead into the cave. He finished up his duty in the restroom and began the ever so long, half-a-furlong trek back to his bed. On his slow trot, he struck a thought.
'These guy's attitudes must have some kind of correlation to Chrysalis. They only started being this hateful after the invasion; even towards the nastiest criminals, they weren't this cruel. I need to figure this out. Ugh... tomorrow, though. I'm too tired.'
Eventually, he made his way back to his bed. The soft, fluffy feeling of the mattress was very welcome to him, and the cushiony, yet firm, pillow felt inviting. He rested his body on the cushions, giving a labored sigh.
For hours, he tried to fall asleep, but the intense pain in his head prevented him from doing so. Thus, he reached down into a small, leather sack on the side of the bed, pulling out a large, white bottle with the words "Toravline" sprawled all over the front.
Toravline was one of the strongest painkillers ever created in Equestria, strong enough to null the pain of the worst injuries. It was used a great amount in the last major war of Equestria, the 2nd Equestrian-Minotaur war, which was about one-hundred and fifty years before the present day. It was created by a Minotaur scientist, but the recipe found its way into Equestrian hooves, and they used this amazing painkiller to win the war by a landslide.
He gave a sigh of relief - the pain could go away at last. He pulled the cap off and poured three capsules out onto a table next to him, with a glass of water.
Setting the bottle aside, he put the three tablets into his mouth, slamming them down with the water. The taste left little to be desired - it was the bitterest taste, attacking his tongue with full force, like black coffee, radicchio and arugula, all blended together and multiplied by a trillion. The disgustingly warm water just made it all the more enjoyable, its tastelessness making him cringe in utter delight as it washed down his pain.
He set the glass of water back down on the table and capped the bottle of pain relievers, setting it back down into the bag. He rolled over to his side, letting his legs spread out comfortably over the bed. Slowly, the pain dimmed in his head, and sleep slowly called him into its warm embrace, giving him some sense of comfort in his pain. |
The Greatest Show of Kindness | Chapter Eighteen: A Severed Family | The Greatest Show of Kindness
Chapter Eighteen: A Severed Family
The night passed to morning, and two royal changelings were laying down on hard stone floor. Rain smashed into the castle walls as it fell from the sky, making a clamorous commotion that rung in their ears. The cell was poorly lit, the only light coming from the gloomy outside.
Chryssy was upset at the fact that she was in this ice-cold prison, not having done anything. Taken from her home, without a trace of evil deeds on her hooves. She had a suppressor over her horn, and her wings were pressed and held down against her carapace with strong bindings. Shackles pinned her to the ground, giving very little range of motion. Her mother was in the same imprisoned position.
"Chryssy? Are you awake?" Chrysalis asked in a tiny whisper, observing her daughter, who laid on her side, facing away from her.
Chryssy's very sensitive ears picked it up, but she didn't respond. She sighed, looking through a tiny, barred window on the left wall of the dungeon cell. The rain was peering in through the window, creeping onto her mane and chitin. Rolling over, she gave a glance to her mother, but said nothing.
In her daughter's eyes, Chrysalis could see a deep lamenting sadness, singing a song of misery. Ever since she banished Bumble from the hive, Chryssy had a difficult time even thinking of her mother without getting upset, and now, they were stuck in a tiny, uncomfortable cell together. Chryssy felt that all of the blame was on her mother.
"Chryssy, please speak to me," Chrysalis requested, putting a hoof over her daughter's carapace. Chryssy growled lightly, tucking her head into her fore hooves.
"Why should I?" she shot, voice muffled. "I-I h-hate you," she said. Chrysalis frowned deeply as she heard her daughter's voice breaking.
"Chryssy, you're still angry about that? You need to get over it! The past is in the past!"
"I don't c-care! You kn-know they were innocent, but you sent them to their deaths anyway! I'll never f-forgive you!"
"I didn't know that they was innocent! Nevertheless, I had three eyewitnesses that claim they saw them committing treason!"
"How can you know that they weren't lying!? You didn't see it yourself!"
"It doesn't matter! You weren't even there!"
"Mother, those three tormented and beat Bumble up so many times! They hated him so much, and I don't know why! They blamed Bumble and Flutter just to get rid of them, and you just don't get it!"
By this point, Chryssy's voice had risen to a shout, and tears rose to her eyes. She shook under her mother's hoof, putting her mane over her eyes to block out her mother's face from her eyes.
"Chryssy, they have been my court advisors-in-training for their entire lives! They've never once lied to me, and I don't understand why you're so insistent on believing so!"
"But, they hated him-"
"It doesn't matter! Everyone has others who hate him or her. That's a fact of life, and you must learn that!"
"Mother-"
"Silence! Your impudence has gone on long enough!"
With that phrase, Chryssy finally broke down. She slammed a fore hoof into the ground, letting out a loud, labored lament. She sobbed, tears streaming down her face and wetting her mane.
"Y-You just d-don't understand a-anything about me..."
"What are you on about now?"
"You d-don't g-get it, m-mother! Th-Th-They were my only f-friends, and they're gone now! All of the high in power changelings that you want me to be intimate with are all either jerks, uptight or unpleasant to be around! I just... I hate being a princess..."
"What are you saying to me, young lady?"
"I wish that I could've been hatched into a different family! One without you!"
When Chrysalis heard these words from Chryssy's daughter's mouth, see was fully speechless. All that she could do was gasp at those words. Her heart became a stormy sea, tossing and turning with every passing moment.
To hear such foolishness, such disrespect, such ignorance from her own daughter enraged her to no end. She was a princess, and she was completely lessening her role as the monarch-to-be.
The other feeling she had was much worse. Her heart was like a priceless antique passed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years, and it was now broken, shattered all over. Tears filled her eyes, threatening to be released. For the countless arguments that she and her daughter had over the past months, never once did she say that she did not want to include herself within the royal family. These words tore her from the inside out.
For a couple of weeks after Bumble's banishment, Chryssy completely shut out her mother from her life. Once she did begin talking to Chrysalis again, there were no friendly words exchanged, and the level of anger rose and rose every single day it continued. Every word had a tone of hostility to it. It was like they were two different warring countries, and they were launching countless missiles at each other, causing immense damage to the landscapes of their emotions. It only got worse as time went on.
"Ch-Chryssy... How could you say such a thing!? You are a princess, and you are unappreciative of the wonderful things that you have been given in life!"
By this point, Chryssy's anger was sprouting outward. It leeched off of her, surrounding her entire being. She scrunched her face and bared her fangs behind her unkempt make; staggered breathing ensued. She stood up and faced her mother, letting her see the light glisten from her fangs. Full rage boiled over.
"Yes, I am unappreciative, because I never wanted anything that I have! No amount of money or physical possessions can change the fact that I am completely miserable living as a princess with a mother who doesn't care about my feelings, who doesn't care about anybody other than herself or anything other than her own possessions!"
"Chryssy-"
"Never mind the fact that she is completely content with mindlessly killing her own subjects without any reason other than her juvenile court advisers claim that they saw them committing treachery! Nor does she care about the fact that two of the fully innocent changelings she killed were her daughter's only friends in the vague existence she lives in, one of them being the boy she loved most!"
"I would rather live and die in poverty's cold embrace than under the collapsed roof of royalty, where I would have to survive every single day living under the rubble of responsibility! I will tolerate you no longer!"
Chrysalis stared at her daughter, unable to comprehend her words. Was it the inability to comprehend her talk, or the sinking feeling in her stomach telling her that what she thought was going to happen was going to happen? She blinked a couple of times.
"Princess Chrysalis II of the Obsidian changeling hive, what are you saying to me?"
"I hereby, from this day forward, abdicate my role as Princess to the heir of the Obsidian throne. As my final act of royalty, I formally emancipate from the royal family, and, therefore, revoke my title as Princess of the throne."
"You cannot do that! You may not do that! I will not let you commit such... such... travesties!"
"Oh? I already have."
With that, Chryssy turned herself around and plopped herself back down to a laying position. A hearty "hmph!" sound bounced off the walls of the cell, hitting Chrysalis' ears with the emotional force of an atomic bomb.
"Chryssy-"
"Enough from you two!" a loud voice shouted. A wall of sound slammed into the wall in front of their cell, surprising Chrysalis and barely phasing Chryssy.
"Huh?" Chryssy murmured, turning her head.
From around the door leading into the dungeon came Princess Luna, sparkling mane and tail flowing in the nonexistent wind. Chryssy didn't respond, and Chrysalis tried to put on her best poker face, but found that Chryssy's words were too bearing on her emotions. The tears that had collected in her eyes started to leak onto her cheeks. She shut her eyes as tightly as she possibly could to stop the tears, but couldn't.
"You two have clashed thine tongues much too long!" Luna voiced, walking to the front of their cell. "Especially you, young one," she said, her voice softening.
"I was just speaking my mind. I-" Chryssy started.
"Silence! Thy tongue is too sharp for thy own ability to speak!" Luna interrupted, clearly frustrated. Chryssy shut up after that. "You two hath speech unfathomable for family! We listened to thine verbal warfare from within the hallway, but could not understand everything thou said. What is it that troubles the both of thine hearts so?"
"I-I refuse to speak to you," Chrysalis responded with a break in her voice.
"Very well. Dost thou have anything to say to us, child?"
"Will you listen to what my answer is?"
"I asked thee not of a question in response. I asked thee what it is that troubles thy heart."
"My mother doesn't believe or understand anything that I say to her."
"What dost thee mean?"
"A few months ago, right after the invasion, she summoned my only two friends to the court to be tried for treason. No matter how many times I told her that they were being falsely accused, she didn't listen to a word I said and executed both of them, right in front of me! They were my only friends, and she doesn't understand how lonely I am! I don't have any incentive to continue living like this, and I certainly don't want to live with a mother who just doesn't care about anything but herself and her possessions!"
Luna laid down to Chryssy's level and gave her a gentle stare. Chryssy turned her head to see a deep frown on the lunar goddess' face. Tears were once again on the verge of falling, so Luna got close to the jail cell and put a hoof on Chryssy's head as softly as she could.
"We fully understand thee, child. We know the feeling of having dismay towards thy family, a sense that We regrettably have had experience with. Hast thou heard of the tale of 'Nightmare Moon?'"
"Of course."
"We were Nightmare Moon. We allowed the hatred and envy towards my sister to consume ourselves, and it cost us everything - our possessions, our friends, and our very own sister. We can relate to the feeling of thine, and it pains us so that a child as young as theeself feels this way towards thy mother. How old art thee?"
"I'm nine-years-old."
"Thou art much younger than We were when We were banished to the moon, and thus, We can't fathom the difficulty of thy position. We imagine it to be a terrible pain in the heart."
"You wouldn't be able to understand the intensity."
"Most likely not.We do understand one thing, though: You two must figure out a way to fix thine relationship, lest thou become polluted with hatred like We were all those years ago."
Luna stood up from her laying position, giving a small, hopeful smile to the two changelings. She eyed both of them individually before speaking.
"A pair of royal guards will return in three hours to bring thee into the court. I suggest thou calmeth thineselves before then."
With that, Luna exited the dungeon block. Chryssy rolled to her side and put her hooves under her head in a pillow-like fashion in order to fall asleep. She closed her eyes in wait of going in front of the court.
In the small cottage just outside Ponyville, Fluttershy was packing a saddlebag with small bags of bits and rabbit food in preparation for her trip to Canterlot. After finishing, she slung the saddlebag over her side and opened her front door. After exiting the abode, she found Angel, her white bunny friend gnawing on a carrot from a small garden on the side.
"Angel Bunny?" she asked softly.
The rabbit looked up at her with an eyebrow raised. She almost always told him in advance if she was taking a trip, so he knew that she had a request. He raised one eyebrow and gave a soft chitter.
"I want you to come with me to Canterlot. I have an important job for you."
Angel gave a soft nod, finishing off the carrot he was holding. Discarding the root of the carrot, he hopped over to her and into her mane, peering over the top of her head.
"Good boy, Angel."
With newfound courage and determination in her heart that she never felt before, she began her trek to the Ponyville train station.
"I'm going to save my baby boy!" |
The Greatest Show of Kindness | Chapter Nineteen: Sigh-Filled Conflict | The Greatest Show of Kindness
Chapter Nineteen: Sigh-Fiilled Conflict
As Fluttershy walked through the small stretch of woods between her cottage and Ponyville, she immediately knew what her strategy for getting through town would be. The only thought that ran through her mind was confrontation, as she had the sinking feeling in her heart and stomach that her "friends" were going to try and talk to her and convince her not to save her precious baby boy. She had already spent a couple of hours just thinking about a list of different scenarios that could happen.
Hopefully, she could get through the town without much confrontation from the five ponies. After what happened the previous night, she was incredibly reluctant to meet them. She had a plan in case it did happen, however: Start out with her normal passive-aggressive attitude, and if she need to, attack each of their elements. Rainbow Dash and her 'loyalty', Pinkie Pie and her 'laughter', Rarity and her 'generosity', Applejack and her 'honesty', and Twilight and her 'magic of friendship.' Each of them had betrayed the critical trait that made them the ponies they were, and she was going to make sure that they knew it if they pushed her.
She was a bit of a hypocrite in this situation, as she knew that the hard truths she was about to lay down would be smackdowns on all five of them, and not in the least bit kind. She knew in her heart, though, that to save Bumble, she would have to do this.
When she thought a little harder about it, Fluttershy came to the realization that on top of acting against their characters, her "friends" were acting strangely hateful. She understood that they would have a dislike for the creatures, but for them to spark such intense hatred towards them... She knew that something was wrong.
Very, very wrong.
She had a quick flashback to earlier that morning, at about seven o' clock, when she went to the jailhouse to go and break Bumble out. She went so early because she knew that it was before most ponies would be awake, and she would likely not be seen.
She looked frantically and frustratedly through the jail cells, and she saw a lone guard doing his rounds through the holdings. She froze immediately, hoping that he wouldn't see her.
Of course, this failed, and he approached her.
"Hey! What are you doing in here!" he yelled to her, coming closer.
"Um... good morning, sir. I'm looking for a changeling that I saw being brought in here... He's very young and sweet, and I was wondering where he was," Fluttershy asked, hiding behind her mane.
"Oh, I believe that I met that changeling. Small, nervous, a bit jittery? About yay tall?" he replied, putting his hoof to his front knee, about three feet from the ground.
"Yes, that describes him perfectly! Where is he?"
"He's in Canterlot."
Fluttershy's mouth dropped, tears forming in her eyes.
"In Canterlot!? Why!?"
"He didn't pass the individual interrogation, so he was sent up there for more... intense questioning. I'm sorry, Miss Fluttershy. If I could've prevented it, I would've, but Captain Shining Armor gave the green-light to send him up to Canterlot."
"Why would Shining Armor do something like that? He seemed so nice at the wedding!"
"I don't know, Miss. If you get to Canterlot before one o' clock, you should probably be able to get there before any kind of harshness plays out."
"Oh, my goodness! That means I need to get my things ready! Thank you, sir! I'm in your debts!"
With that, Fluttershy began her gallop back to her home, but before she got far, the lone guard shouted out at her.
"Hey! I'll meet you at the train station!" he cried, making her stop and listen. "I have some things to tell Princess Celestia about some suspicions that I have about this whole thing."
"Okay!"
As she walked into the very outskirts of town, Fluttershy was immediately stopped by Rainbow Dash, who landed right in front of her.
'Here we go already,' Fluttershy thought, giving an exasperated sigh.
"Hey, Fluttershy! What's up?" Rainbow Dash greeted, taking a step closer to her Pegasus counterpart.
"Oh, hello, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said, walking past Rainbow Dash and further into town. She felt a hoof on her right shoulder before looking back.
"Hey, listen. How are ya doing?"
Fluttershy's anger had already started to rise. Every single time she thought of the events of the night before made her blood boil.
"You know, after last night, I'm not feeling very well."
"You're not? I thought that we got rid of that changeling's magic!"
"No, it's not about Bumble right now. It's about how you betrayed me."
The toxicity within that last phrase hit Rainbow Dash harder than a brick.
"B-Betrayed? Flutters, we saved you! Who knows what the changeling would've done to you if we didn't it out of there!"
"Rainbow Dash, you didn't listen to a single thing that I said! That changeling is the sweetest, most loving little boy in the whole world, and you cast everything aside, including my friendship, just to ruin his life!"
Fluttershy's sudden rush of anger was very surprising to Rainbow Dash. Why was she defending the changeling? Was she not at the wedding?
"Fluttershy, why are you putting up for that nasty bug? He was probably part of the invasion! He helped hurt Cadence and-"
"I don't care about that right now! He's my baby boy! I need to save him, and you will not stop me from protecting him!"
By this point, Rainbow Dash was physically preventing Fluttershy from moving forward by crossing her legs with Fluttershy's, making it so that if Fluttershy moved, she would trip and fall. Fluttershy herself was trying to calm herself, but found herself becoming angrier and also confused that Rainbow Dash would be so hell-bound to stop her.
"Rainbow Dash, please, let me go. I have to save him; he's completely innocent!"
"Fluttershy, he's just a changeling! It's not like he has more meaning than-"
"Rainbow Dash!"
The sheer force of Fluttershy's scream made Rainbow Dash recoil away from her, her eyes widening. The frustration... no, the ire in her eyes was unlike anything she'd ever seen before, like an even greater level than her infamous stare.
"I don't care that you don't like changelings, and you will not hold me away from Bumble! Why are you being such a traitor to me and my feelings!?"
Rainbow Dash just stood there, staring forward, shocked and hurt at Fluttershy's words. She was no traitor! She was the most loyal pony this side of Canterlot!
"Fluttershy, I-" she started, but just frowned when she saw that Fluttershy had already galloped all the way into Ponyville by then.
"Oh, mane..."
As Fluttershy made her way through Ponyville to the trains station on the opposite side of the town, she sighed as she saw Applejack at a market stand with both Big McIntosh and Apple Bloom. It looked like a relatively slow morning out, and the marketplace was pretty desolate, with only five or six ponies out doing shopping.
'Okay, just make it through, Fluttershy. You can do this. Just canter on-'
"Howdy, Fluttershy!" Applejack yelled, motioning for Big Mac to take over the stand for her. Fluttershy once again sighed as her second "friend" trotted over to her.
"Uh... Hi, Applejack. What do you want?" she replied, a tinge of rudeness remaining from her encounter with Rainbow Dash.
"Sugarcube, is everythin' alright? How're ya doin' after yesterday?" Applejack asked, putting her left fore hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder.
"I'm... okay, I suppose," she lied, trying a different strategy. "I'm just trying to... get some exercise."
"Some exercise, huh? With yer pet rabbit?" Applejack bemused, suspicion and doubt rolling onto her face.
"Well, I decided that he might like to get out and have some fresh air."
"Then, why do ya have saddle bags on that smell like kibble?"
"It's to weigh me down, so I can... you know... get the most out of it."
"Look, Ah know that yer lyin' t' me, Fluttershy. Where're ya headed to?"
"I don't believe that it is in your business to know where I'm going right now, Applejack. Please, let me go."
By this point, Fluttershy's frustration was almost at the same point that it was with Rainbow Dash. Why did everypony have to hold her hostage? Don't they even have a little bit of regret or empathy for her after what happened last night?
"Sugar, just be honest with me! What're ya-" Applejack started, but was cut off when Fluttershy shoved her hoof off of her shoulder.
"Be honest? Why don't you be honest? You're the one who lied to me yesterday," Fluttershy spat, taking a step back. Applejack's mouth was agape, and she truthfully had no idea what her Pegasus friend was talking about.
"What're ya talkin' about? Ah would never lie to you! Ya know that!"
"No, Applejack. I knew that up until last night. You lied to me and betrayed me!"
"Wha!? Ah never did anything of the sort!"
"Oh, really? I remember you saying that you were only doing it for 'my safety,' and that 'I would realize that he was just mind-controlling me,' or things like those! Well, if it wasn't clear enough to you, nothing you said was true in the slightest! C-Couldn't you s-see my tears, or hear my c-cries?"
"Fluttershy, everythin' I said was the truth! You're much safer now than yesterday! He was controlling' you, Ah just know it!"
"Can't you tell that I love that little boy!? His safety is my safety! He's not even eight years-old! He can't use magic, especially not mind-control magic! You just want to lie to make yourself feel better about what you did! There's no point in trying to talk to you!"
With that, Fluttershy galloped off, rejecting everything that Applejack was saying. Was it all a lie? Was all this just a lie? These were not her friends! Her friends were loving, compassionate mares who would've listened to what she had to say, and would've definitely realized that Bumble wasn't evil! Were this "Applejack" and this "Rainbow Dash" changelings as well? Her reality was slowly collapsing.
Fluttershy was galloping so fast and was thinking so hard that she didn't even realize how fast she was going, speeding right past Pinkie Pie and Rarity. They both tried to yell out to her, but Fluttershy didn't hear them.
Fluttershy quickly made her way to the train station, where she met the guard that she had met that morning. She stopped in front of him, gasping for breath. He looked at her, taking a step forward.
"Hey, are you alright?" he asked.
"Y... Yeah. Just... wanted to... get here sooner. I'm fine," she huffed, letting her chest heave downwards.
"Well, that's good. You're early. The train doesn't depart until 10:45, and it's 10:39," he informed, looking up to the clock.
"Oh... okay. How are you?"
"I'm doing well right now. I don't think that I properly introduced myself to you. My name is Word Twister, and I'm a private of the Solar Royal Guard."
"I'm Fluttershy."
"Oh? It's a sure pleasure to meet the Element of Kindness!"
Word Twister lifted up Fluttershy's fore hoof and kissed it, causing a deep blush on Fluttershy's face. He smiled slightly at her adorable red cheeks.
"A-And it's nice to meet you, too, Private Word Twister. Is the train ready to board?"
"In a minute or two. I've already bought the tickets."
Word Twister handed Fluttershy her ticket, and then, the two sat down at the side of the train door for a few minutes until the conductor shouted, "All aboard!" Word Twister first got on, taking his seat to the left of the door. As Fluttershy started into the train, she heard a yell from behind her.
"Fluttershy!"
She turned her head to see Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie all running up to her.
'Oh, what now?' she thought, sighing.
"What do you want now?" she interrogated, annoyed that she must, once again, tell her friends to stop trying to convince her against saving Bumble.
"Please, listen to us!" Twilight yelled, taking a step forward. "We think that you're making a big mistake!"
"Yes, I already know. You think the changeling is controlling my mind and that I'm in serious danger. I get it. I do not care. Leave me alone!" Fluttershy demanded, growling.
"Darling, please! That dastardly changeling is going to absolutely ruin you if-" Rarity started, but was cut off when Fluttershy aggressively stamped her hoof.
"No, none of you understand anything! Know anything! You can't say that he's going to ruin me, because you don't know him! If anything, you're the one's that are ruining me!" she screamed, making sure that all of them knew that she was speaking to the entire group.
"What!? How am I ruining you?" Pinkie Pie cried, looking very hurt. Fluttershy had high tolerance to annoying things, but she couldn't hold in her steam anymore, so she exploded.
"Pinkie Pie, I haven't cried more or been sadder in my entire life than in the last day, and I'm sure that changeling whose life you're trying to take away and destroy would say the exact same thing! How do you call yourself the 'Element of Laughter,' when you're just bringing a rain of tears from me and Bumble!?" Fluttershy raged back, shocking Pinkie Pie and leaving her speechless.
"Darling, I believe you're being-" Rarity tried.
"Oh, I'm not done. Rarity, why did you take part in taking Bumble away from me? What could you have gained from it? I see nothing that would've benefited you!"
"Why, I was simply trying to help!"
"The only thing that I saw you help to do was to fuel your own greed so that you wouldn't feel the guilt of not joining in!"
"What!?"
"Rainbow Dash, Applejack, you two aren't even worth my words anymore, so I'll go straight to you, Twilight. What kind of-"
"Fluttershy, stop! You don't need to-"
"Do not interrupt me! You stole my little baby boy away from me, even after I told you that he wasn't bad! You are trying to make him suffer for no reason! The last time I checked, a friend wouldn't try to steal her friend's child away from her for no reason! What kind of 'friend' are you supposed to be?"
"This is so unlike all of you that I think that all of you are changelings, as well, but not the kind that Bumble is. I think that you're the evil kind of changelings, the kind that want to ruin other's lives!"
"Excuse me, miss?"
Fluttershy nearly slammed her hoof into the conductor's face when he said that to her, but she stopped short.
"What?" she said, calming herself enough to not scream at him.
"The train departs now," he informed, shrinking down under her anger
"Oh, okay. Thank you."
With that, she didn't even bother to say anything else to the five accused mares and just boarded the train without a single other word. She took her seat next to Word Twister and just sighed. Outside, she could hear Twilight telling the conductor to let her and her friends in, but he denied them because of the lack of tickets.
"Hey, are you alright?" Word Twister asked to Fluttershy, rubbing her foreleg.
"I guess so. I'm just tired now," she said, laying down.
"Do you want any water or anything?"
"No, thank you."
As the train departed and started to roll off to Canterlot, Fluttershy took a moment to think about the recent conversation. She really lost herself when she yelled at them. In fact, she wasn't even sure whether to think that she was just being angry at her friends, or whether the same influence that was controlling them had suddenly taken over her, as well.
Was she a changeling herself? Was she as bad as them for yelling at them in such a rage?
Either way, she was still going to get to Canterlot, save her little Bumble, and get to the bottom of why they were all acting so hateful towards the changelings. |
The Greatest Show of Kindness | Chapter Twenty: Caught | The Greatest Show of Kindness
Chapter Twenty: Caught
Star Spinner awoke in the hospital ward of the caverns, a giant headache rocking his head like a hurricane. His eyes were bloodshot and red, sleep eluding him from the previous night. The intense magical tornado had died down by then, merely leaving a couple small sparks.
The first thing that shot into his mind was the little changeling that sheared his horn and how terribly the other guards treated not only him, but also every other changeling. He told himself that he would get to the bottom of this issue, and he thought that Bumble would be able to help.
He had a plan to get through this, and he hoped that it would be sufficient.
Rolling out of the bed, he landed on the floor. Luckily, this time, he didn't have the sensation of his eyeballs literally exploding, but he did still wince. A mixture of a powdered form of the painkiller he'd taken the night before, Toravline, and water soon found its way being guzzled down his throat. A satisfied sigh escaped from Star's mouth.
Star hobbled off in the direction of Bumble, the pain dimming instantly from the nasty tasting mixture. He passed by multiple guards making their rounds, tipping his head in false respect for his fellow guards.
He came up to the main room of the cavern, where the entrance was located, and found most of the ranks lined up before an earth pony in big, spiky, light-orange armor. The earth pony looked his way, nodding at Star. One of his brows was raised as he noticed Star's horn.
"Prahvate Star Spinner, you are late!" he shouted, the loudness of the sound causing Star Spinner's headache to return.
"I-I understand that, Sergeant Shell Cracker. I-"
"Be sahlent and join th' ranks!"
"...Yes, sir!" Star Spinner trotted over to his spot amongst the lined up soldiers, standing himself as tall as he could.
"Attention, Prahvates! We're expectin' four shipments from Manehatt'n, Balt'mare and Las Pegasus today! They are to be intercepted and brought int' the far-west caves! The changelin's already here are to be brought to the undersahde at exactly one-thousand and thirty hours! Other than that, y'all 're slackers! Get to filin' yer reports, stat!"
"Yes, sir!" Everypony saluted and began to go in different directions.
At the mention of the "underside," Star locked up. One of his eyes twitched. He envisioned a ruin, filled with spikes, rusted metal and fire, all lashing out in their automated power.
'Why in the world would Shell Cracker want to send changelings to the underside? That place is filled with ancient traps! He wouldn't actually want to-'
A horrifying realization came upon Star Spinner as hard as a tree falling.
'He's going to destroy the changelings!?'
With this terrible awareness in his senses, he waited for all of the guards to disperse. He knew that he would have to act fast in order to figure out what was wrong with everypony and save the changelings, but before he could act and get Bumble, Shell Cracker approached him.
"Prahvate Spinner!"
"Yes, sir!"
"What happened t' yer horn, private? Did one of 'em buggers get ya!?"
'What do I say? How should I-' Star Spinner thought, multiple beads of sweat dripping down his face. Shell Cracker's thick, southern accent intimidated him very much.
"Spinner! Answer me immediately! Did one of the changelings harm ya?"
"Yes!"
Star Spinner blurted that word without even a thought. A wave of guilt suddenly washed over him as he put a hoof to his mouth, holding in a gasp. He couldn't believe that he had just said that, and he felt like an idiot. He did not want to let Shell Cracker know that he was on the side of the changelings, so he coughed.
"Which one of 'em did this to you!?" he shouted, stamping a hoof in absolute anger. Star Spinner gulped nervously, an icy chill running down his spine. He knew he had to think quickly.
"I don't know! They all look the same to me, sir."
"Well then, in that case, Ah'll have t' punish each and every one of those nasty varmints! Ah'll be back in fahve minutes!" Shell said, turning his back and walking towards the eastern caves. In his mind's eye, he thought back to his plan, and this was an opportune moment to act on it.
"I have one question, sir."
"What is it?"
"What time is it?"
"It's one-thousand and six hours, soldier. Now, get to yer report!"
"Yes, sir."
Shell Cracker continued walking on his way, and Star Spinner grinned as his plan fell into place. He was figuring that he himself would have to come up with a distraction for the other guards to do, but that step was efficiently knocked out by Shell. Now, he was the only pony soul in the room, and his plan could now be begun. He looked over to the caged changelings over to his right flank and trotted over.
Meanwhile, Bumble was laying in his cage. He could feel his connection with Fluttershy dwindling ever so slightly, and this scared him senseless. It had been only a day and a half since he was taken from her, but the strain that caused on his heart was great. It felt just like after he lost Flutter.
He felt a longing he had never felt before in his life. He couldn't help but remember an old lullaby his hatch-mother sung to him every single night when he was a baby. He heard his mother's voice speak to him in his heart.
"Well, my little snuggle-bug, it's time to go to bed now," she would say. "Would you like me to sing you a lullaby?" He would nod happily every single night, and she would sing to him in her beautiful voice until he fell asleep.
'Even if some of my emotions are to remain in this world,
That one whispered word from you is like a flower.
While I was confused, a miracle on the path of my dreams appeared.
"Welcome," he cooed gently, extending out his hooves in aid
The spells piled on and twisted together,
Were shaken and untangled.
Toward that unchanged bond, you have leaded me far.
Even if all that was remaining in this world were my lost emotions,
There was always one light that lit my world--and that was you.'
Bumble was starting to cry at this point--the soft voice bounced around in his head, and endless memories sprung up of him and his mother.
'I was very hurt, and my lonely heart needed to be ascertained.
"What a vague existence," I recalled, yet you only laughed.
In the many dancing flower petals,
It looked like you belonged.
The pale of your fleeing face led me to the now.
Even if, after this, some tears flow out of my wary, tired eyes,
At least, in the end, I'll understand your smile in my dreams.'
Bumble remembered his first day of school. Immediately as he arrived, his mother said, "Well, I hope you have a wonderful first day of school, my little snuggle-bug," and nuzzled him. He could sense the blush on his four year-old face as she left him, and he entered the building.
Not even a minute in, he met three middleclassman changelings--Spinner, Strider and Ambrosia--and they hazed him. They told him that he wasn't a "real changeling" if he couldn't go and pick a fight with a middleclassman female changeling, which was something of a common opening ritual for new male students in the military school.
Of course, he wouldn't do it. Just the thought of hurting another without any provocation or another reason was foreign to his innocent, young mind. He denied, and thus began a day of utter hell for the young child, filled with teasing and physical harassment. He was hit in the side, smacked across the face, slammed on the top of the head for what felt like an eternal ten hours. "Weakling" and "coward," they called him.
When he got home from school that day, he couldn't help but jump into his bed and cry until his mother finished her day of work at her market stall, where she sold jewelry. She returned a half-hour later and saw how broken down he was, and just cradled him until he was consoled. When she asked him what happened, he only said that it wasn't a big deal. No matter how much she tried to pry the information out of him, he wouldn't give in--he was just too scared of what would happen to him if he did. She cradled him until he fell asleep.
'Inside the endless slow of this sensation,
I'm sure there's an impulse stirring up in my heart.
Within this endless strife, there's a single, unwavering flower,
That will modestly bloom into full.
Even if the scenery of life may already be drawn for us,
We will still be able to reach the petals in the sky.
We're able to go.
Even if this world was completely engulfed in my feelings and thoughts,
There was always one light that lit my world--and that was you.
While I was confused, the warmth of our connected hooves,
Was the sign that I could faintly see to the future.'
All of the memories of Bumble being cradled, nuzzled and loved by Flutter, all the times she showed him just how much she felt for him melted away into the scene of Queen Chrysalis killing her. Bumble broke into a full sob.
Star Spinner observed each changeling to see which one was the one who saved him from his evil ways. All over, they looked the same--holes in their legs, perforated insect wings and giant fangs; however, he saw that one's fang was chipped and wing was folded. He knew that changeling had to be the one. When he saw Bumble crying, he became concerned.
"Hey, you," he softly said, kneeling down to the little bug. Bumble nearly jumped out of his sob and daze, pushing against the back of the cage in fear. "Are you all right?"
"Get back!" Bumble desperately cried, forcing his head against the side of the cage.
"Please, be quiet! I'm going to get you out of here!" Star hastily said, looking for the lock on the cage.
"You're going to... break me out? Why?" Bumble seemed to become a bit less tense as the guard searched the cage.
"You were able to somehow save me from my internal demon, and I owe you a whole lot for it, little guy." He noticed that the lock was on the bottom of the cage at the backside, so he went over and pulled out a pocket knife.
"Wait... are you the pony that I hurt?"
"Yeah, but it's alright. You saved me, so now I'm returning the favor." After fumbling around with trying to pick the lock with his knife, he just slashed it off. The sound of soft rattling rung in the corner of the room, and the door of the cage flew open. He sheathed his blade, walking back over to the front of the cage.
"But, aren't you going to help any of these other changelings?"
"Well, for just this moment, you're my priority."
After he said that, Star felt such guilt. He felt selfish for putting his feelings for one of the changelings over the others, but he did feel that he had a debt to pay to Bumble. He took a deep breath. "C'mon, little guy. Let's get you out of there." He extended a hoof towards Bumble and a few awkward moments arose.
"...Are you going to help me out of here?"
"My hoof is there. Grab it!"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm blind, so you're going to need to help me."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Here."
Star Spinner softly extended his hoof under Bumble's bum leg, making sure not to apply too much pressure. Using gentle force, he put his other hoof under Bumble's other hoof and pulled him out of the cage.
Once out, Star helped Bumble stand up, holding his bad hoof softly. "You got it?"
"Yeah. Thanks, Mister..."
"My name's Star Spinner, bud." He smiled inwardly.
"Okay, Mr. Spinner." Bumble grinned up at where the voice came from. "I'm Bumble."
'He's a cute little kid, gotta give him that.'
"Let's go. I'll move your bad hoof on the count of three, okay?" Bumble nodded at Star, who counted, "One, two, three." Exactly as told, the three moved forward a step with each hoof. "One, two, three." Once again, they moved in rhythm.
The three continued to move toward the trap door, and Bumble could just feel love energy radiating from Star, and only being next to him made him feel full.
The two had already made their way to the exiting end of the cave, and Star was trying to figure out how he was going to get them out of there. He looked between their escape route and Bumble. He felt compunction wash over him as he decided that their priority was getting out of there. He frowned and went back to his task.
After another minute of Star Spinner having trouble hopelessly trying to climb the wall, the realization that he had no way to get out in his current state dawned on him. Not that it mattered, anyway, as Shell Cracker came back into the room. Star Spinner heard the clacking of Shell's hooves on the ground.
Star panicked, jumping off his back hooves as hard as he could to gain as much height as possible. It was all for naught, as Shell galloped up.
"Hey, what'dya think yer doin'? Stop!"
Star landed on the ground, not turning to face Shell. He gulped; he knew he'd been caught.
'Dang it! Why couldn't I figure it out?'
"Hmm... It looks like we've got a traitor on our hooves." Shell cracked a small, wicked grin as he grasped Star by the shoulders, turning him towards him. "Oh, I'm gonna beat yer-"
Shell Cracker couldn't finish that phrase as Bumble rammed his horn into his side. He gasped, losing his breath, a wave of pure rage shooting through him. He turned towards Bumble, who stood with his fangs bared, and a deep, throaty growl and hiss arising.
"You will not hurt my friend," he growled, pulling back his fore hoof.
"You're going to regret that, you insolent worm!" Shell shouted, lunging backwards away from Bumble. He drew his blade from its sheath before shooting back forward.
Suddenly, Bumble remembered a skill he'd been taught in his year and a half of military school. He clicked his tongue, sending a wave of sound throughout the room. In his vision, he could see a quick flash of the room around him, allowing him effectively to sense Shell's movements--echolocation. He lifted his bad hoof and used his other three to jump to the side, behind Star, causing Shell to miss Bumble and stumble forward.
Shell turned back around, giving a loud yell as he brandished his sword. Quickly Star pulled out his miniature knife in attempt to chance his overseer's strike.
"Why're you protectin' that l'il cretin, Star Spinner? Answer me!"
"Because your problem isn't with him, it's with me! If anything, you should be angry at me for trying to escape with him! Punish me instead!"
For a moment, Shell thought about it. He could reprimand either of them, or even...
Both of them.
He sheathed his blade, giving a little chuckle. He took two sets of hoofcuffs, slamming one around Star's and the other around Bumble's. Bumble winced at the sudden pressure of his bad hoof, but he held in his cry.
He galloped to the barracks, and in a half-minute, he came back with six guards, each of which had lances drawn.
"You six take these morons up to the princesses. They're no better than the dang changeling queen." The six each nodded with no haste, one of them opening the hatch of the caves. Quickly Star and Bumble were lifted up out of the hole, as the guards were teleported out. Once they were all up, the sound of Shell Cracker's maniacal laugh could be heard as the turf slammed back down, sealing the entrance.
They then began to push the two towards their fate. |
The Greatest Show of Kindness | Update (A Word from the Author) | Hello all! This is Sonik here, after more than two and a half years of complete radio silence.
I'm bringing this message today to explain what why I stopped writing this story.
Basically, it's because I really just dislike what I made this story. I liked the premise of the story, but there was no way that I was equipped with the creativity and writing skills necessary to come out with a well-functioning, well-written story. Especially after reading the great Magic Man's review of the story, I think the way I wrote the story felt generic, and the characters, after rereading it, are one-sided and bland compared to what I originally wanted.
Plus, after my mom died in 2015, with tomorrow (April 29) being the two-year anniversary, I just lost all motivation in life. Every day was a struggle to find any semblance of meaning for several months. My motivation for life eventually came back as I graduated from high school last year and got accepted into the college I wanted to go into in, but it didn't come back to me for writing.
All said, I have no intention of ever continuing this story, or ever writing fanfiction again. I've simply moved on in my life.
However, I wanted to open this story up. If anyone wants to take this story and rewrite it, go ahead. Maybe you can take this garbage and turn it into a radiant jewel of a story. In fact, I'd be thrilled to see a rewrite of this. I'm just not going to be the one to do it. If anyone does want to rewrite it and does, please send me a link to the story.
Thank you all very much.
Regards,
Sonik |
Prance en France | pre | ***
After an awkward registration where Mlle. Bustier had grimaced repeatedly at the atmosphere in the class; it was obvious something that had happened before her arrival. Lila sat in her first-period classroom, soaking up the sympathetic looks her class was shooting at her. She couldn't believe her luck at how well-timed Marinette's sudden sense of self-respect had come. The girl standing up for herself now would only add fuel to the fire and make her seem in the eyes of the class as even more of a bully and absolutely no-one would be reluctant to act now. Pretending to be working, Alya scribbled down on a swatch of paper and surreptitiously slid it along to Lila.
Don't you worry about what Marinette said, Lila, the rest of the class and I will make sure she gets what she deserves.
Lila smirked. ***
Rose watched from the side as Marinette showed Felix the brushstroke patterns they had learnt in art before his arrival; the two appeared to be having fun. Rose's sense of justice seethed at the scene. How could Marinette possibly say the untruths and hurtful things she had this morning and then act as if it wasn't even a big deal!
Rose had been slightly unwilling to act against her in the beginning - the Marinette she now saw was a complete turnaround of the sweet, kind girl Rose had known- but no more. The pixie-like girl took her chance as the two made their way over to the sink to clean their paint brushes. Rose made eye contact with Juleka and Nathaniel, who accurately guessed her intent, and nodded once. Alix, Kim and Max looked over as well, nodding their approval. At this, Rose casually strolled past Marinette and Felix's desk, quietly tipping their cup of paint water over Marinette's art book, watching the water swirl over the surface and sink through the pages. ***
Marinette was exhausted. Nothing had been going her way today, and she suspected it wasn't just her astronomically bad luck in play. First, her artbook had been soaked through this morning after a spillage, which meant she would have to spend hours re-doing all the work that had been ruined. Her classmates had taken so long helping Lila get her food at lunch because she 'couldn't get it herself because of her crippling arthritis' as Felix had explained to her, his rolling his eyes, that Marinette had had to stand in the queue for virtually the whole hour, barely getting anything down before lunch was over and it was time for gym.
Not to mention all the other innumerable, unexplainable things that had plagued her the entire day. But as Marinette adjusted her pigtails in the gym changing room, she smiled for herself, just glad the day was almost over and done with. ***
The day was far from over. Marinette stood in the gymnasium as she stared at the substitute loudly explaining the rules of dodgeball and groaned.
Though Marinette was relatively lithe and decently quick, she, very simply put, sucked at dodgeball.
But Monsieur D'Argentcourt and the other physical education teacher weren't in so both classes would be lumped together in a massive game until the next lesson when normality would resume. Marinette groaned again and did some preliminary stretches, preparing herself for the coming onslaught. She just needed to get through this hour and then she would be home free. ***
Playing the arthritis card again, Lila managed to get out of P.E., giving her another excellent opportunity to further her propaganda. Clutching at her supposedly aching leg, Lila looked up at Alya from her seat at the edge of the gym and said quietly "It's a good thing I couldn't play today anyway, otherwise what with all the hustle and noise, and only a supply teacher for supervision... who knows what Marinette could have gotten away with again." Lila watched as her words began to take root in Alya's mind, growing and growing until they finally blossomed into a poisonous flower. Eyes set, Alya responded.
"Don't worry about that, Lila. I have an idea." ***
Felix had never played dodgeball before and listened to the teacher explain what sounded like the most violent game he had ever heard off with growing apprehension.
"Uh, Mlle., I've never played dodgeball before, so I believe an observation period would be prudent."
"Of course! Just join when you're ready!" the teacher responded brightly.
"That seems unlikely," Felix muttered under his breath as he sat down on a bench, watching a large boy Marinette had earlier identified as Kim get hit in the stomach particularly viciously by a shorter girl that he had yet to be introduced to. The shorter girl let out a loud cheer of triumph, completely unaffected or concerned about the severe injury she had just inflicted. At this seemingly standard display of brutality, Felix worriedly made eye contact with Marinette, who merely shrugged from her place towards the back of the gym. Seeing the supply teacher wasn't paying any attention to them, she came a few feet closer to him.
"That's just Alix and Kim who are like that. They have this huge rivalry thing and do pretty much anything for it. The other class is much more subdued, so you might even have fun playing with them. A huge plus is they haven't met Lila yet, so we could even try to gather allies from there..."
"An excellent idea," Felix replied, nodding in approval before a smirk crossed his features. "But if dodgeball is so fun, why aren't you even attempting to pla-"
Felix was cut off by the loud whoosh of air that left Marinette's mouth, a shocked expression crossing her face as a dodgeball hit her. ***
Marinette's breath left her as a dodgeball collided with her stomach, forcing the air from her lungs. Wheezing, she doubled over, just as another ball landed a hit on her side. A few seconds later with her breathe mostly recovered, she frowned and straightened up, looking through the clamour of the surrounding kids who were also playing so that she could give whoever had hit her a piece of her mind, when yet another dodgeball struck her across the arm, the area smarting painfully. She soon located the ones throwing the dodgeballs: Alya and Alix. Marinette scowled and called for the substitute, but to no avail, she was busy talking to Lila at the very end of the hall, much too far away to have seen anything or to have heard her calls.
Marinette scowled again; she wasn't going to let the two girls get away with this. "You're only supposed to aim below the waist. That was completely uncalled for- "
Another ball hit her from behind, landing right in between her shoulder blades, and she stumbled forward a few steps.
"Uncalled for my foot! What's uncalled for is how you specifically aimed for Lila last time we played dodgeball, not to mention how barbarous you are to her in general! Yeah that's right," Kim's voice came from behind her. "She told us all about the stuff you do when no one is looking, and now we're going to give you a taste of your own medicine!"
Marinette swivelled round to face him in annoyance. "You aren't even in the game anymore! So just stop hitting me where you shouldn't be and-"
Dodgeballs rained down on her, and Marinette panicked, crouching down in a squat to minimise surface area.
"This is physical abuse." Felix's voice called out in an ice-cold tone from a few yards away. "Stop immediately."
"Or what?" Kim jeered. "I could take you on. And what's more..."
Kim's distraction lent Marinette a momentary reprieve; the girl making a beeline for the exit. Alix and Alya's blows glanced off her, unable to get a solid hit on her while she was a moving target. Hoping her luck would hold until she could get out, Marinette stopped to open the doors and made the mistake of pausing to look at Alix when the fiery girl let out a war cry and flung the dodgeball in her hand with all of her strength at Marinette. ***
Marinette sat on the ground unsure as to how she got there. Everything was too loud and bright, and her head was killing her.
"...Marinette? Marinette? Are you okay? Please talk to me." A male voice said to her as the noise and brightness levels came back to somewhat normal.
"Felix?" she asked, slightly dazed, looking at his face as it swam in and out of her vision before it became clear. She focused on his eyes. He had nice eyes. A similar shade to Adrien's leaf green ones, but darker. More teal green, with silver flecks.
"M'kay." She said, stumbling to her feet, accepting the arm he offered her.
"Are you sure, sweetie?" The substitute asked her with a concerned look. "You took quite a nasty hit to the face, or so I've been told. I didn't see it myself, but Lila here assures me that Alix must have just misjudged her throw and it was all a big accident. Go to the nurse's office and get checked out, okay? I'm sure she'll apologise to you afterwards."
"Can I go get some water first?" Marinette asked in a quiet voice, grimacing from both the pain of being hit in the face with a dodgeball and that the throwers of said dodgeball would be getting away with it.
"Of course you can, sweetie. You there, Felix, was it? Take her to the water fountain outside the changing rooms on the way to the nurse's office."
"Of course, Mlle."
Leaning heavily on Felix's side, Marinette walked out of the gym, head spinning. ***
Felix handed Marinette a ridiculously brightly coloured plastic cup of water.
"Thank you," she said, sipping slowly as she shifted on her seat. Silence hung heavily between the two before Marinette set down the cup with a clack.
"So how bad is it?"
"How bad is what?" Felix asked, slightly confused.
"My face, duh. Will I be getting any cool scars?" Marinette asked with a cynical smile.
"No, certainly not!" Felix rushed out. "There are preliminary signs of eminent bruising, but that is all. You..may have a black eye, at most."
"Cool."
Felix cleared his throat and brought himself down to eyes level with Marinette, kneeling in front of her.
"I am truly sorry I could not have prevented this, Marinette. I should have known this would be the perfect opportunity for Rossi to quash any resistance."
"It's fine, Felix. I knew what I was getting into when I decided I wasn't going to take anymore crud. There's nothing you could have done."
"I feel awful, though."
"So do I," Marinette said. She gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "But we'll both feel better after a while." She smiled softly at him, and Felix looked into her azure blue eyes, as they sparkled with vibrancy and understanding, and Felix couldn't help but move closer-
The door to the waiting area outside the changing rooms opened and Felix jerked back from Marinette and stood up in one motion, eyes narrowing.
"Adrien." ***
When the lesson ended not long after the whole dodgeball incident, Adrien took his chance while Lila was distracted by her latest victory to escape and hurriedly make his way to the changing rooms. Hopefully, Marinette and Felix would still be there. He absolutely had to talk to them. Bursting through the doors Adrien swore he saw Felix about to....but he couldn't be sure as his cousin was standing up and glaring at him within the next second. "Adrien," he said in acknowledgement, almost spitting out his name.
"What do you want, Adrien?" Marinette asked, getting up from her seat and standing next to Felix, a tired but stubborn look on her face.
"I have to talk to you-"
"Like heck you do. She has to go to the nurse's office and recuperate, not listen to your blither-
"Just listen to me!" Adrien yelled, cutting off Felix. "When you were so busy defending yourself, Marinette, you made Lila feel attacked and she retaliated by convincing the entire class to do all the stuff to you that she's been telling them you were doing to her! 'Standing up for yourself' has officially backfired! Lila isn't going to leave you in peace anymore; what happened today is just one example of the lengths she'll go to keep you quiet. She's already convinced everyone to make your life miserable, and with so many people on her side, she'll feel comfortable doing even bigger stuff than did today! Saying she's a liar like you did today won't do anything to convince the class and now have no one on your side."
"So what do you suggest, Adrien? I go back to quietly suffering through the lies Lila was already spreading? Go through what you said we were in together, alone?"
Adrien's jaw tightened. "That's exactly what I'm saying. Don't misguidedly 'stand up for yourself' it just disrupts the peace and doesn't do anything. Take the high road, Marinette. Do the right thing. And we are in this together."
"Is that all, Adrien? Is that all I need to do?"
"Yes. That's all I'm asking. But the class isn't just going to let this go, so first you to apologise to Lila-"
Adrien didn't see the slap coming, but he felt it. A searing pain cut across his face and his cheek burned.
Marinette stood panting in front of him, eyes alight.
"Now you listen to me, Adrien. You want me to apologise to that witch, just so we can all go back to your mistaken idea of peace? You want me to take the high road and just ignore all those whispered words, shared looks and disgusted faces like it doesn't hurt to see people I once considered my friends abandon me-" She sobbed once, anger turning to anguish, tears filling her eyes. "It does hurt, Adrien. It does. So much. I can't do that anymore. I can't go along with your deluded idea of peace, and I certainly won't apologise to Lila. When I first agreed to just ignore her, you said that we were in this fight against her together, but whatever friendship we once had, that ended when you chose her over me."
"You've only changed your mind because Felix-"
Her eyes seared through him with a ferocious intensity. "Don't you dare! Felix has done nothing except show me kindness and be my friend when you were too busy keeping the status quo! Yes, it took his interference for me to realise what was happening was wrong and to take action, but I would have figured out bottling up emotions is far from normal or healthy. All I have left to say, Adrien, is that I hope one day you realise just how oblivious you are." And with that, Marinette rushed out of the room, tears spilling down her cheeks and Felix following after her, leaving Adrien alone in the room as the door slammed shut. ***
Marinette stormed down the corridors and knocked on the nurse's office, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for the nurse. She felt Felix silently come up behind her and turned to accept the handkerchief he tentatively offered her, angrily swiping at her face with the silky fabric.
"I just- cannot believe the nerve-" she said furiously as the nurse opened the door and ushered the two inside.
"I'll just get an ice pack for that," the nurse said, motioning to Marinette's quickly bruising face and directing them to seats. He left them alone in the office and Marinette flumped down on a seat and let out a noise of frustration.
"I know," Felix said in a soothing voice. "I too cannot believe the sheer nerve and idiocy Adrien would require to have said all that he did."
Marinette stared straight at him. "We have got to do something about the situation or I will explode."
"I sincerely do not wish for that, and so... I think there is something concerning the said situation that you should know."
"What is it?"
Felix winced. "I cannot exactly tell you here. Can you come to my house? I would be better able to show you there."#
Marinette tilted her head at him. "...Sure. When?"
"Today?"
"Is 5:00 fine? I need to go home and drop off my books and get changed and stuff first."
"Certainly. I will text you the location. Here is my number."
He pulled out a business card with his number on it and handed it to her.
"...Marinette?" He asked when she just blinked at him.
Her face cracked into a smile and she chuckled.
"Where did you get that from?" She asked as she looked him up and down, some of her normal cheer returning to her eyes.
"You just pulled that out of no-where!"
"The same place I stored the handkerchief." He replied, not understanding her reaction.
"The handkerchief?" Her eyes widened as she stared at the handkerchief he had given her in her fist. "Where did you get that from? You don't even have pockets!"
The nurse returned and handed Marinette an ice pack.
"You're free to leave dear. Just take it easy now, okay?"
"Yes, Monsieur. Thank you."
"You're welcome."
He smiled at them and Marinette smiled back as she and Felix left the office to go home.
"A magician never reveals his tricks," Felix responded.
"Oh come on! You can't be seriou- Wait, magician?"
"I know a few tricks."
"Show me," Marinette demanded with a solemn expression. "This I've got to see."
"I don't have any cards or such apart from business cards with me now, but I would love to show you when you come by later."
"It's a date." |
Prance en France | Chapter 6: A Plan | Nothing much had changed over the last few days. Twilight bit her lip as she continued taking notes from the scrying mirror. She could see what Lila was doing, it didn't really take much to see through her endless bouts of manipulation and lies.
So why was everyone else falling for it?
The only solution she could think of was mind magic or something of the sort, and she had a feeling Lila had an aura of magic surrounding her. However, she didn't know for sure. And she highly doubted magic existed in this world.
She shook her head and groaned in frustration, "It doesn't make any sense..."
Rarity carefully approached her, "Darling? I think you should take a break."
Twilight sighed, "I guess I should... "
Rarity seemed mildly surprised by her lack of protest but quickly hid it beneath a comforting smile. "Let's have lunch, hm?"
Surprisingly, Felix had managed to produce enough sustenance for all of them from his oversized rich-person food stock for each of them, which they had been grateful for. Twilight especially was grateful for the food, since she sometimes forgot to make herself a meal when involved in a research project.
No one really had many complaints about the salads, sandwiches and other dishes they got each day, with the exception of Pinkie, who was begging for a sugar rush for some reason.
As she and her friends sat around the table in the attic, another feeling emanated from their faces and postures. Boredom.
She was reminded of all the times when she was sitting around all day, wishing on shooting stars that she would finally be called to help with a friendship problem. Yet, here she was now. They had been at this for days, with no real progress. She knew physical combat was much more of Rainbow's style, but she honestly just wanted to kick that Lila girl in the face.
Not that she'd ever actually do it.
Rainbow rubbed her hooves over her face, "You guys feel that feeling of nothingness yet?"
Fluttershy sighed sadly, "Did you find anything Twilight?"
Twilight shook her head, "No. All I can come up with are theories. We'll need to ask Felix if he can do some
tests to see if any of them are true."
Applejack raised an eyebrow, "What kinda tests?"
"Magic tests. Obviously, since he doesn't have magic, I'll need to lend him some of my magic to do them."
Rarity paused, then spoke, "Are... you certain this is the only way we can do this? What about the spell you used to turn us into breezes before? Can't you use that to turn us into humans or something?"
Rainbow nodded with a hint of annoyance, "Yeah, the one that you didn't turn us into dragons with!" She huffed, crossing her hooves.
Twilight rolled her eyes and turned back to face Rarity, "Humans don't exist in Equestria, as far as we know. To use the spell to transform us into such foreign creatures would require... a lot of modifications. And I don't have all the resources I need for it. Not to mention it could take weeks or even months, and I don't think we can afford to be away from Equestria for so long."
Rarity sighed dramatically in defeat, "I suppose that makes sense."
"Yeah. I'll discuss it with Felix later."
"Discuss what with me later?"
Twilight jumped in surprise, "Felix! Why do you keep walking in like that!?"
"...I live here."
"He's got a point y'know." Pinkie Pie commented.
"But I am also here to tell you I think it's time we informed Marinette of your involvement in the situation."
Twilight's eyes widened, "W-Wha- Bu-"
"I invited her over so she can meet you all."
Twilight paused. Then she opened her mouth to fill it with the words, "Oh."
Felix nodded, "Yes."
"Well then, I don't really have much to say." She shrugged, then smiled, "I can't wait to meet your friend!"
Rarity giggled, "Yes... your friend." This was followed by a series of snickers around the group of colourful pastel ponies. Though, it seemed that everypony was laughing for completely different reasons.
Rainbow smirked, "You gonna show 'er your card tricks?"
Felix groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers, "I was planning to show her a few tricks, yes."
Applejack grinned, "Well then, ya better show us what y'all have up yer sleeve! Ah know Ah've been waitin' to see yer magicking those cards!" She ended with a wink. Felix actually gave a small smile. Twilight could tell it was genuine; it was that same smile he had on his face whenever he was with Marinette.
Fluttershy stepped forward quietly, noticeably much less nervous than when they were first thrust into this world, "You know, Felix, if you're worried about anything, you can tell us. I know how scary it is to perform something. Especially in front of people you care about." She smiled sympathetically.
He stuttered momentarily, though Twilight couldn't imagine why, and quickly recomposed himself, smiling back down at Fluttershy. "Thank you, Fluttershy, but it is not necessary." He closed his eyes and sighed.
Twilight flew up to his height, grabbing his attention. "You seem very passionate about magic tricks." She looked away briefly, "I love magic too. Well, not stage magic, that's Trixie's thing. But... I get it." she faced him again, determination and certainty lining her expression, "I think, no, I know that Marinette will like it."
Felix gave her a grateful nod for the reassurance. "Trust me, everything will go just fine. I promise." ***
Felix waited aimlessly around the empty house, waiting for the doorbell to ring when it hit him he had yet to ask his mother if it was okay to have guests over. Cursing internally, Felix pulled out his phone and dialled her number. He hoped she would allow it, or else he would have to introduce the magical horses to Marinette another way. His mother would definitely have allowed guests in their house in England, but he doubted she would for their house in France. It was where they had lived before, where the memories of his father were strongest...
"Hello, Mother."
"Hi, Felix!" His mother's cheerful voice called from the phone. "How was school!? How have you been getting along? I'm sorry I didn't call earlier, I've been super busy but I have some time now! In fact, I just need to wrap up a few things and I'll be back in about a fortnight, sooner if I can. I know you don't mind, but I hate having to leave you alone all the time, now that your father can't stay with you."
"I'm fine mother, school is complicated, but I was just calling you about that. I was wondering if..." he trailed off, unsure how to proceed.
"Yes?"
"I could invite someone over? To show magic tricks to?" Technically, it was true. "She's very responsible, and I guarantee the house will be left in perfect condition-"
"Felix." His mother's voice cut off his rambling and there was a pause before she spoke again. "Did you...make a friend?"
"I think so. She said we are. Twice."
"You made a fRIEND?????!!!!!! OF COURSE, YOU CAN HAVE HER OVER!!!!!!! I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU! When's the wedding?"
"Thank you, Mother. But what was that last part? I didn't quite catch it."
"Nothing! Just make sure to invite her over again when I come back so I can meet her too! I love you, bye!"
"Certainly, Mother. Goodbye"
The call cut off, and the doorbell rang. ***
"Can I get you anything?" Felix asked Marinette, feeling slightly awkward. "We have tea. Quite a lot of tea."
"Sure, I love tea! What kinds do you have?"
"Mostly earl grey, but a few other varieties too. Do you have a preference?"
"Earl grey is fine," she said, smiling.
"I'll go make some," he said, backing into the kitchen. "Make yourself comfortable in the living room until then."
Felix returned minutes later with a tray with a teapot and teacups on it.
"You have a nice house," Marinette commented, taking a cup and sipping from it.
"Thank you. The credit goes to my mother though; she designed most of the interior."
"She did an excellent job, then. But speaking of your mother, where are your parents, Felix? Are they somewhere else in the house?"
"Oh, no, my mother is on a business trip and often leaves me by myself." At Marinette's concerned look he hastily added on. "I don't mind, and she has someone check up on me and drive me to and from school every day."
Marinette's look of concern lessened somewhat but remained. "Still, you shouldn't be alone so much. It's not good for you. Is your father on a business trip, too?" she asked.
Felix stiffened at the mention and managed to choke out an explanation. "No- he- he died a few years ago."
There was a pregnant pause and Felix looked out the window to the grounds surrounding the house when suddenly Marinette's arms were around him, pulling him into a tight hug. "I'm so sorry Felix," She said into his chest.
Felix just rested his chin on the top of her head, her cinnamon and lavender scent soothing. "It's okay." He said, fighting to keep his voice steady. "It happened a long time ago."
"It's not fair on you at all. How...?"
"He died of cancer when I was eleven. It's why we moved from Paris to London; my mother couldn't bear being here anymore. She's better now, though. She's accepted it. So we moved back to France."
"What about you?" Marinette asked, pulling back from the hug and looking up at him. "How are you coping?"
He averted his eyes. "I- I don't really want to talk about it."
"Of course," Marinette said quickly, expression soft. "But if you change your mind, let me know. I'll be here."
"Thank you. So, about your reason for visitation..."
"That thing about the situation with Lila you said you had to show me? What is it?"
"It's uh, it's in the attic, so..." They made their way up a twisting staircase to the top of the house, and stopped in front of the attic door. Felix put his hand on the doorknob and began to turn it-
Suddenly, Marinette's eyes widened. "Felix did you murder her and stuff her body in your atti-"
"No! Nothing like that! It's just-"
"Us!" Pinkie pie yelled, bursting through the attic door.
Marinette screamed. "AH TALKING HORSE! PINK TALKING HORSE! FELIX RUN THE HORSE WILL GET US-"
Pinkie paused and rolled her eyes, "Um, I'm a pony, not a Mare of Diomedes." Then, with a bounce, she regained her chirp and bubbliness, "I won't eat you unless you're cake! Which, last time I checked, you are not!" She ended with a grin.
Marinette jumped behind Felix and did her best to not fall down the stairs all the way to the bottom floor and took a few short breaths to steady herself. Felix turned his face away to hide his small amused smile. "I see you've met Pinkie Pie." He said calmly.
"How does a pink talking horse have anything to do with the situation with Lila!" Marinette exclaimed from behind Felix, peeking out over his shoulder.
"That's the thing." He tried to explain. "The talking horses do not just talk and be brightly coloured, they are also magic and go around the multiverse solving friendship problems. The situation we are in is a friendship problem, and so they are here to help."
"Horses?! Plural?!"
"Eeyup." Applejack said, poking her head out through the doorway.
Twilight stuck her head out too and smiled. "Nice to finally meet you, Marinette. How about we have this conversation in the attic?"
"How do you know my name?! But besides that, I'm not going into an enclosed space! How do I know you aren't a serial killer!"
"Because we aren't," Rainbow Dash said in a bored voice. "We're 'spirits' of friendship here to help you or whatever we're supposed to do. We've been here so long I barely remember life back in Equestria."
Fluttershy, who was hiding behind Rainbow quietly mumbled, "Rainbow, it's been five days." to which Rainbow groaned.
"All of you stop, immediately." Rarity said, pushing everyone back into the attic. "You're scaring her."
Rarity turned to look at Marinette. "You are a designer, are you not?" She asked in a gentle voice. At Marinette's shaky nod she continued in a calming voice, "I am, too. And on the designer's code, I swear that my friends and I intend no harm, and sincerely want to help you." She held out one perfectly polished hoof to Marinette, who tentatively accepted it with her own hand and the two walked into the attic like that, Felix following after.
The rest of the mane six stood at a distance to Marinette, and she watched them warily before she took a deep breath and she looked at them. "This 'spirits of friendship' thing," she said. "Explain."
"Gladly," Twilight said with a smug expression, levitating the fully produced presentation she had prepared for this moment... ***
"So basically you come from an alternate universe called Equestria where the dominant species is not humans but a variety of mythical creatures and you are all magic and live in a magic world where a magic map made a magic portal and magically transported you to here to help me with your magic, magically?" Marinette glanced at all the ponies as Twilight finished her speech.
"That's 'bout it." Applejack nodded.
"Yep, but I don't think you used the word magic enough times." Rainbow Dash deadpanned. Fluttershy gently chastised her to be nicer.
Marinette ignored her and wrapped her arms around herself. "So magic is real. Wow! Real-life magic! Magic magic magic magic..." she said, more to herself than anyone in particular. She looked up as a new thought entered her mind. "I have one question."
"Yes... What's your question?" Twilight probed.
Marinette turned and looked up at Felix, "Did you spike my tea and this is all a really complex hallucination?"
Felix's eyes blew wide. "Of course not-"
"We're real," Rainbow Dash cut in, "Pinkie, tell her."
Pinkie stood up and walked over to Marinette, enough seriousness lining her brow to make Felix stutter, "Tell me, do you have magical jewellery that you and your former crush use to save Paris from the evil butterfly guy?" She leaned in conspiratorially.
Marinette leaned back, "...No?"
Pinkie reverted her head back to its starting point and gasped, "Oh. Yeah, then you're totally hallucinating!"
"WHAT!?"
Twilight rolled her eyes, "No, don't listen to her. When you do, hallucinating or not, you feel like you're in a fever dream. Trust me, and don't question her. Ever." She sighed, "And I can assure you that you're not hallucinating."
Marinette raised her eyebrow, "That's exactly what a hallucination would say."
"Wha- I- Ugh."
Felix snickered in his mind at their antics, seconds away from his straight face cracking as he tried to mediate the situation.
"Even if they are hallucinations, they wish to help us and have the means to solve our 'friendship problem'. And if I'm real enough to spike your tea, then I'm real, and I assure you, so are they." Marinette peered at him through her lashes, her blue eyes scanning his face with apprehension. "I am aware I am not making the most sense right now, but please trust me."
Indecision wavered on her face until Marinette sighed and met his eyes. " Okay. I trust you."
She then turned to the ponies, "So you said you're gonna help with the situation with Lila? How? I don't know what to do myself. My everything still hurts from when I got dodgeballed today."
Rainbow took a double-take, "Dodgeballed? What?"
Applejack raised her eyebrow, "Were ya not payin' attention or somethin'?"
She paused, "...Eheh... no. I wasn't."
"Basically, as part of her regime to make my life miserable, Lila convinced some of our class to throw dodgeballs at me. Repeatedly."
Rainbow grimaced and looked over to Marinette, "Sheesh, what is with that girl and her minions. Dodgeballs? I thought you went to school, not war."
Marinette sighed, "I suppose it is war, and I know who's losing. There'll be bruises everywhere on me by tomorrow."
"Oh," a small voice exclaimed," that's terrible. Uh I-I could help with that. If you wanted ?" A timid pink haired pony mumbled towards the end, seemingly shrinking into herself.
Marinette's eyes widened. "Really? How?"
Fluttershy gestured for the girl to sit down on one of the slightly dusty straight-backed chairs scattered around the attic. She shyly shuffled over to Marinette and stopped a foot away, silently asking for permission that she received a second later in the form of a nod. Marinette closed her eyes and felt a coolness against her skin, resisting the urge to open her eyes- there was only so much crazy a girl could process in one day.
"Y-You can open your eyes now, Miss ."
"Call me Marinette," she said almost reflexively, gasping as she opened her eyes at the lack of pain that she had become somewhat accustomed to in the last hours. She turned to Fluttershy, eyes wide, " H- How did you- actually don't answer that, just thank you so very much! "
Rainbow grinned proudly at her foalhood friend, "That's Flutters, alright. Spreading kindness even to absolute strangers."
Pinkie laughed and hugged the soft pegasus, "So kind, she'll melt your heart within seconds of meeting her! Like she did to me! And Rarity! And Applejack! And probably Rainbow! And- wait I guess not really Twilight, she was just annoyed. BUT WE'RE ALL BESTIES NOW!"
A fierce blush decorated the pony's yellow coat as she ducked, hiding behind the curtain of pink hair, "I-It was n-nothing, really. Just some magic anaesthetic that Zecora helped me make in case of emergencies..." Twilight chose this moment to interrupt, drawing the attention away from Fluttershy, receiving a grateful smile from her.
"Now that that's all cleared up, Marinette, we need your help. After intense observation I have noted that we have reason to believe Lila Rossi has..." she took a breath" magic." she then continued quickly before Marinette could get a word in, "But I'm not a hundred percent sure and we are going to need a personal item of hers so I can run some tests on it and see if I can detect anything. Something she keeps close to her person, like hair ties."
Felix watched as a sly smile stretched across Marinette's usually innocent face. "How about a necklace?" she asked demurely.
"Yes, that's perfect! A necklace will have had a chance to absorb any magical energies and will be the perfect subject for tests-"
Rarity cut off Twilight's excited ramble. "But it's a necklace. It's not like you can just snatch it off her."
A mischievous glint came to Marinette's eyes. "Oh, you'd be surprised."
"...Yes, I don't think I'll question that." Rarity said. "As long as you can obtain something for Twilight to test, however, we won't scrutinise your methods."
"Don't worry; give me a few days and I'll get Lila's necklace."
Twilight nodded. "Good. But until we next regroup, there are a few other things the two of you can do."
At Felix and Marinette's nod, Twilight continued. "I noticed before the unfortunate incident that occurred in your gym lesson, Marinette, you said people in other classes haven't yet met Lila?"
Marinette frowned slightly. "Yes, but how did you know that?"
Applejack coughed slightly. "We were, uh, we were spy- Ah mean scrying on you."
"You were wHAT-"
"Ehehe... just a simple observation spell to see how things were going," Twilight said, not making eye contact.
Marinette turned to Felix. "Did you know about this?!" She asked angrily.
"Yes, but I only just found out this morning." He placated. "It's part of why I arranged this meeting; so you too could be aware. But besides, it's not like we can stop them; they have magic."
Applejack sighed guiltily, "Yeah, Ah know it wasn't really honest. But ya can rest assured that we didn't have no bad intentions."
Marinette muttered irately under her breath but eventually conceded. "Okay, as long as next time you tell me... and Felix, first. Anyway yes, Lila hasn't had the chance to expand her domain to other classes yet so the only people who aren't her minions are people from there, and... Chloe."
Rainbow Dash perked her head from the corner of the room. "Hold on, isn't that the blond one with a head practically congealed with hair-spray?"
Felix grimaced. "The very same. From what I remember of her from when I used to live in Paris, she hasn't changed much. Certainly just as stuck up, but perhaps being replaced as queen bee by Lila has taught her a few things. For example, she does not appear to be taken in by the lies, from what I've observed."
Marinette nodded. "Chloe Bourgeois is a spoiled brat who always gets her way because her dad's the mayor of Paris and the only reason she isn't another human subjugate is that she's so pig-headed."
"She is indeed one of the most tenastic people I know, and though she could be a potential ally in this fight with Lila, I could not stand to hear her speak for a second before my brain melted from vexation and poured out from my ears." Felix continued.
"That's very true," Marinette agreed, "Chloe's almost as bad as that witch and I sincerely hope I never have to interact with her ever again-"
"Too bad!" Rainbow Dash interjected. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend or something like that, I don't know I don't do philosophy but anyway, from what you said she has power so it would be very dumb of you to not take this opportunity"
"But-" Felix and Marinette both started.
"You know darlings, you don't just have to make friends with this Chloe," Rarity soothed with a placating voice."You are also gathering allies from other classes. Make friends there first, and see what you can do about Mlle. Bourgeois along the way."
Marinette made a face. "I suppose so. Is there anything else?"
Twilight nodded hesitantly. "Yes, actually. I've been... reluctant to do this, but it has been a few eventful days, and from what we observed, you're both good people."
Marinette raised her eyebrow, "Thank... you?"
Twilight smiled and nodded, slowly relaxing as she continued, "The experiments with her necklace are going to help determine exactly what kind of magic she has if she has any. But that will be a long and arduous process. I need something that can be done to determine that she has magic in the first place. I need to be there in person with her to be able to do it, but it will only take a few minutes."
Felix eyed her sceptically, "I am not sure that that is the best course of action."
Pinkie rolled her eyes, bouncing in front of Twilight before the alicorn could reply, "Wel duhhhhhhhhh, which is why she's giving you her magic!"
Marinette gaped at her, "Bu- Wha- uhhhhh- huh?"
Twilight groaned and shook her head, "Pinkie, you should really stop doing that. I'm tired of people interrupting my fully planned, written and memorised speeches." She crossed her hooves and huffed.
Rainbow gave her a look, "Wait, that was memorised?"
"Of course it was! Anyway," She performed the breathing exercise that Cadence had taught her, "It's not all of my magic but a fraction of it. I'll teach you how to use it, don't worry. But let's regroup as soon as you get the necklace. I'll give you my magic then and train you properly on how to use it. Just remember to bring a piece of jewellery that you can wear to access the magic."
"Sure," Marinette said turning around, the fact that she was going to use magic not completely sinking in, "In fact, if that's all, I'll just go no- Woah!" Her foot caught on the leg of the piano pressed against the wall and tripped over.
Shaking off concern, Marinette got up and dusted herself off. "Ahem. Sorry about that, I'm fine. This is a very um, cool piano you have, Felix."
"It is of good quality," Rarity nodded in acknowledgement while running a hoof over the polished surface. "Wherever did you acquire such a thing?"
Felix smiled sadly, a bit more comfortable with opening up with his new acquaintance- friends. If... the candy-coloured horses did consider him a friend, of course. He walked up to the piano, nostalgia and memories of bygone times lingering in his eyes. "Adrien's parents gave it to mine for a wedding gift. My parents didn't use it much but Adrien and I used to play it all the time together."
Rainbow flew up to meet Felix's eye-level, shocked, "Wait, you and that blonde-haired pretty-boy were close!?"
"Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy sternly chastised, to which Rainbow slowly flew back down to the floor of the attic with an apologetic expression.
Felix shook his head, "It is fine. Yes, we were close. The closest, in fact. Our mothers are twins so we are nearly identical." He briefly glanced at the photo album lying a few feet away from earlier. "It was useful in magic tricks and tricking adults. He was my..."
Twilight stepped forward tentatively, "Friend?"
Felix looked at her and nodded, "I suppose we were... friends."
Marinette sat down on the piano seat, studying the keys. After a few moments, she looked back at Felix, "What... What happened to you two?"
Felix lowered his gaze to his feet. He seemed to be attempting to twist his hands off. He took a calming breath before saying " H-He didn't come to my fathers funeral. Then I moved to England and we just lost touch. We have scarcely spoken since then."
Applejack sat on her haunches, listening with a knowing, yet sad expression, "And... that's why y'all moved to 'England', ain't it?"
Felix flashed her a pained look, "T-That was probably accurate," he seemed to withdraw into himself, his face haunted, probably recounting a million memories in his mind's eye. Marinette walked to the boy and lay a hand on his shoulder, she then guided him to the piano stool.
"Hey. Does the great, multi-talented Felix play the piano, or did he admit defeat to the keys?" she chuckled, knowing full and well what answer she was about to receive. When they were downstairs she had seen many certificates and photos of Felix, with the piano.
"Absolutely not! I have not spent hours upon hours toiling away with my archaic instructor to merely succumb to defeat!" Marinette sitting beside him on the piano stool and the main six gathered around, Felix flexed his fingers once before starting to play the first few bars of Clair de lune.
His hands flattered slightly when he heard a beautiful voice overlapping the music whispering a haunting melody. The music slowed and quietened to compliment the chanter.
Applejack now sat in the hammock close to the piano, eyes closed and seemingly unaware that she was singing. Her warm, honey-filled voice adorned the words with familiarity.
"Moonlight fills the sky
As angels whisper lullabies
And stars come out to dance around
the milky way.
"While streams of moonbeams
Chase away
The light of day"
Soon, Fluttershy and Rarity had joined in, their sopranos harmonising with the orange mare's tenor.
"Moonbeams paint your dreams
Radiant moonbeams
Somehow seem to
gently break through the
Deepest darkness..."
A calm had descended over the eight friends, as they forgot their worries for a few minutes and just let the music take them. *** |
It takes a Kingdom to Raise a Draconequus | pre | Pound Cake got excited and started bouncing and squealing, "Yeah, Discord, can ya do tat? Pwease?!"
"Well, um..." Discord saw the twins' excitement and didn't want to disappoint them. At the same time, however, he'd never healed anypony before with his chaos magic and wasn't sure how..
He was going to say no, but Pound's desperate look made him take it back, and he said. "Awwight, I'ww, do it."
"Yay!" The twins squealed in delight and hugged him.
Discord just sighed, hoping he could pull it off.
At the Golden Oak Library, Pinkie Pie was deep in thought about Discord visiting Rainbow Dash. She wanted to ensure it was ok with Princess Celestia first, as her most stringent rule with her helping take care of Discord was not showing him to other ponies without her or Princess Luna knowing. As a result, she was meeting with Twilight, who was looking somewhat gloomy while slumped over her desk.
Pinkie Pie smiled cheerfully and exclaimed! "Hey, Twilight!"
"Hey, Pinkie," Twilight mumbled under her breath.
The pink party pony bounced over to her friend and then said. "So...I have a question."
"Yes, what is it?" Twilight asked, seeming not to be in the mood for Pinkie Pie's usual antics.
"Well, you know about Princess Celestia's ward Discord, right?" Pinkie asked.
Twilight seemed to perk up. "Yes, she's spoken about him before. What about him?"
"Well, he's in my care an- " Pinkie began but was suddenly interrupted when Twilight flew up and exclaimed! "Wait, are you saying you're caring for Discord?!" Appearing to be somewhat surprised by the news.
Pinkie Pie blushed, nervous as she remembered she wasn't supposed to tell any ponies. But she still replied. "Yes, he's been having playdates with the Cake Twins when Celestia is super busy, and they've been great."
"Can I see him?!" Twilight chirped. "I was so worried Princess Celestia would say no, seeing as she wants to keep him a secret."
"Of course! But first, we should probably tell her also...." Pinkie paused, then added, "Discord wants to visit Rainbow Dash, and I was hoping you could send a letter to the princess asking for permission."
Twilight was surprised by this and whispered. "Really? Discord doesn't even know Rainbow Dash?"
"I talk about you and the others all the time," Pinkie confessed. "He may seem like a chaotic monster, but he's so sweet and kind. Visiting Rainbow Dash might do them both some good."
Twilight nodded. "Yeah, that's true. I gave her a Daring Do novel, but I doubt she'll read it. However, I don't think Rainbow Dash would want to care for a foal in her condition."
Pinkie shook her head. "Of course not. I'm just saying he should come to visit for a few minutes, that's all."
Twilight shrugged her hooves. "I'll inform Princess Celestia about this and see what she says."
The pink party pony squealed in delight and hugged Twilight, then exclaimed, "Oh, thank you! I promise you're going to love him! In fact, Celestia has mentioned she wants you to help teach him how to use his magic."
"Oh? That would be fun." Twilight snickered. She then started writing her letter to Princess Celestia.
Meanwhile, back at Sugarcube Corner, Discord was practicing "healing" plush animals that the Cake Twins brought as he carefully healed up loose stitching and stuffing from tears in the fabric. As he did so, the Cake Twins just watched in amazement, with Pumpkin squealing, "Ya so amazing! I can't believe ya can heal our plushies!"
"Yeah, ya amazing!" Pound chimed as he clapped his hooves.
Discord nodded as he gave Pound a teddy that he'd fixed, and the little foal hugged him. Discord then said, "Weww, I am gettin' a wot betta at using my chaos magic, but I nervous using it on ponies. I dun know if I can heal Dashie."
Pound lifted up the teddy and exclaimed. "Ya healed all our teddies! If ya can do tat ten, ya can heal Dashie!"
"Yeah, Discord, we believe in ya!" Pumpkin chimed in as she clapped her hooves together.
Discord doubted he could do what the twins wanted, but he didn't want to disappoint his new friends and relented. "Otay, I'ww twy. But no promises."
"Yay!" The twins chimed together!
Just then, the door to the nursery opened, and Twilight walked in with her mouth agape. "No...no way! Is that Discord?!"
"Yeah, I Discord!" Discord confirmed.
Before the draconequus could finish, Twilight scooped up and hugged him while she squealed. "Oh, he is so adorable!" She then gave his diaper a pat, feeling it squish as she laughed, "Looks like he needs a change."
The unicorn settled Discord down on a changing mat and gently changed him effortlessly. Discord was surprised at this and asked. "Have ya done tis before?"
"Yes, I have," Twilight confirmed. "I cared for Spike when he was a baby."
"Who's Spike?" Discord asked.
"Uh, he's a baby dragon and my number one assistant," Twilight replied.
"Oh, a baby dragon. Does tat mean he's still in diapees?" Discord questioned, looking down at himself. "Wike me?"
Twilight couldn't help but giggle, "Oh no, not like you. He outgrew diapers long ago, and I couldn't be happier. Someday, I'm sure you too will get out of diapers, and so will your friends, the Cake Twins," She then plopped Discord onto her back and gasped, seeing the tower they made! "Wow, you made this?!"
Discord nodded. "Yeah, we aww made tis. Pumpkin Cake used hew magic to twy hold it together while Pound Cake flew up and down, stacking the foam blocks on each other."
Twilight was still amazed as Pinkie laughed. "Seems like the Cake Twins are rather talented, huh?"
"This...this is just amazing!" Twilight exclaimed in disbelief. She trotted over to Pumpkin and nuzzled her, "Maybe I should try teaching you some basic magic soon? What do you think? Would you like that?"
Pumpkin gurgled and clapped her hooves in glee but then let out a tired yawn making Twilight daww. "Seems like they need a nap."
"Yes, they do." Pinkie scooped the foals and started to tuck them into the crib. Then after the Twins were fast asleep, Pinkie Pie and Twilight went downstairs.
The unicorn lifted Discord, placed him into her bag, and told him. "Princess Celestia said you can visit Rainbow Dash, but you must stay hidden until we get to her room."
Discord sighed; he knew his aunties wanted to make sure ponies were ready when they saw him, so he gave a nod. "Alwight, I will." He then dipped into the bag as Twilight strapped it around her back, and then she and Pinkie headed out towards Ponyville General.
When they reached Rainbow Dash's hospital room door a short time later, they heard her cry out in surprise. It looked like she was stowing something away as she greeted. "Uh, hey, didn't expect you two to come back so soon."
"Hey, Rainbow, we just wanted to check on you; how are you doing?" Twilight asked as she slowly trotted into the room with a playful smirk.
"I said I was good; I just can't wait to get out of the hospital and do some flying," Rainbow grumbled under her breath, her eyes shifting about suspiciously.
Twilight opened her bag. "Well, to be honest, we just wanted to show you Princess Celestia and Luna's adorable ward." She then revealed Discord, who waved a paw.
Rainbow went wide-eyed. "Woah, what is that?!"
Discord got angry and snapped. "I not a tat! I am Discowd, a baby word of chaos!"
Rainbow Dash laughed as Twilight lifted Discord over to her. She cradled him and nuzzled his belly, "More like the lord of diapers!" She poked his padding and snickered. "Look how thick that is."
Discord kicked and struggled as he whined. "I may be in diapees, but I am powerful and can use chaos magic!"
Rainbow Dash looked toward Twilight and asked. "What's chaos magic?"
Twilight momentarily looked puzzled, then shrugged, "Honestly, I'm not sure. I would have read more, but I don't think there's ever been any record of anypony being able to use chaos magic."
Discord rolled his eyes. "Is just supa powerful magic! Not like ya need a book ta know tat!"
"Well, in any case, remember what Princess Celestia told you," Twilight cautioned Discord. "No using chaos magic without her or Princess Luna supervising you."
"I know, I won't use my chaos magic," Discord grumbled, then paused as he remembered his promise to the twins and asked. "Um...c...can I speak to Wainbow alone? I want to ask her something in private."
Pinkie and Twilight looked at each other with unsure looks. Rainbow Dash then casually threw up a hoof. "I can handle him for a few minutes; let him ask me something."
"Ok...But we'll be right outside if anything happens." Twilight replied with a suspicious look on her face.
"I promise nothing is gonna happen." Discord insisted, placing a paw over his chest.
Twilight and Pinkie then left as Rainbow bent her head and asked Discord. "So...what did you want to ask me, squirt?"
Discord turned to face Rainbow, somewhat nervous, before he eventually said. "Weww, I wanted to ask, did ya want me to twy hearing ya wings with my chaos magic?"
Rainbow blinked, surprised by the request. "You think you can do that?"
Discord looked down and nervously mumbled. "Um...maybe. But if ya dun want me to, I wun. I just asking because Pound Cake was worried about ya."
"Wait, you can talk to Pound Cake?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Discord nodded. "Yeah. It sounds like gibberish ta ya, but I understand what tey saying."
Rainbow Dash seemed impressed if the expression on her face was any indication. "Well, if you think you can do it, I say go for it! But you'd better hurry; if Twilight comes back, she'll probably stop you."
Discord nodded, then closed his eyes as he snapped his fingers! Then when he opened them, he saw that Rainbow Dash was much bigger: In fact, her entire body had grown to twice its size, she had a much more produced face, and her mane now flowed outward and waved in the air as if it was enchanted. Her wings had a massive wingspan, and a long spiraling horn protruded from her forehead. Discord just sat there, looking astonished as Rainbow Dash looked almost precisely like Celestia.
Rainbow blinked, then asked, "So did it work?"
Just then, Twilight and Pinkie Pie came nursing into the room, and their mouths dropped as well when they saw Rainbow Dash!
"Why is every pony staring at me like that?" Rainbow asked, so confused about why everypony was gawking at her. In fact, she was just happy to see her blue wings and flapped them, but that was when she noticed they were much larger. She then noticed her body was longer. She got out of the hospital bed and saw in a mirror she was an alicorn! And not just like any alicorn outside her blue coat and more pronounced mane and tail, she was the spitting image of Princess Celestia!
Rainbow should've been angry, but she was happy and exclaimed! "Woah, you turned me into an alicorn, Discord!" She laughed! "I look exactly like Princess Celestia!" She couldn't stop herself from rolling on the ground, kicking and laughing.
Twilight exited her stupor and shouted, "Discord, we told you not to use your chaos magic!"
The little lord of chaos started to cry. "But she wanted her wings healed, and I did! I didn't mean fow hew to tuwn into Auntie Tia!"
Rainbow looked squeamish as she had never dealt with a crying baby before. "Please don't get mad at Discord. He did heal my wings," She stood up and looked back at her body as she saw how tall she was now. "He probably thought I looked similar to Princess Celestia when he cast his spell, no biggie."
"Yes, this is a huge biggie!" Twilight complained! "We need to turn you back to normal now!"
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and then asked, "What for? I think it would be cool to be an alicorn for a bit." She then opened a nearby window and threw her wings out as she prepared to go fly out and try out her new wings.
But Pinkie Pie bounced over and protested! "Wait, Rainbow! If anypony sees you, they'll wonder how you became like this, leading to questions. Ponies will then find out about Discord. I'll break my 'Pinkie Promise' to Princess Celestia!"
"So what?" Rainbow Dash shrugged her hooves. "Discord is cool in my book."
"Maybe, but Celestia has a right to keep Discord hidden until she feels ready to pronounce his existence to everypony," Twilight firmly insisted. "You exposing him before then will just cause her and Discord more problems."
Rainbow groaned and rolled her eyes, and growled, "Ugh! Fine," She then sat back on the hospital bed and grumbled, "So I just have to sit here and wait for Celestia to come to reverse this?"
Twilight groaned. "If she finds out about this, she might never let us babysit Discord again!"
Pinkie nodded, turned toward Discord, and asked, "Um, can you just reverse the spell to turn Rainbow Dash back to a Pegasus?"
Discord yawned and stretched his limbs. "I would, but I used a lot of chaos magic today, and I really tired..." Then he pondered. "I can maybe do it morrow, I tink?"
Twilight rubbed a hoof over her forehead, then sighed. "Ok, here's the plan: I'll tell the hospital staff to leave Rainbow Dash alone...um... I'll just say she went to be early as she really needs her rest," She then turned to Pinkie. "I need you to go to Spike and have him write a letter to Celestia and Luna that Discord is having a sleepover with me, and there's no need to check on him. Then grab some foal supplies and put them in my room."
"Ok, Twilight. But is it a good idea to cover all this up? Remember what happened when you went crazy about your friendship lesson?" Pinkie pondered.
"I know...I know," Twilight sighed. "But I just need time for Discord to change Rainbow back to normal without Princess Celestia finding out."
"Oh...ok." Pinkie nodded, then followed Twilight out of the hospital room.
Meanwhile, Discord was looking somewhat guilty and started to tear up.
"Hey, don't cry; accidents happen. This isn't your fault." Rainbow cooed.
Discord stopped crying almost immediately. "B...but I messed up really bad. I dun wana does not see ya and ya friends."
Rainbow waved a hoof, "Twilight is overreacting as usual. If Princess Celestia finds out I turned into a clone of her, she might scold you, but I bet she'll get a good laugh out of this."
Discord still looked worried and mumbled. "Maybe. I hope I dun get too in trouble."
Rainbow Dash laid baby Discord into a cradle of her forelegs and then took out the Daring Do book Twilight had lent her. As Rainbow Dash started to read, the story soon memorized the little foal.
Discord could see Daring Do going on her adventures playing out in her head despite not being pictures. He relaxed, stretching his tiny limbs, and started burying himself into Rainbow's body until his head rested on the mare's chest, able to hear her steady heartbeat. It seemed to help ease the tiny bundle of chaos into falling off into a deep sleep. |
It takes a Kingdom to Raise a Draconequus | Chapter Five: Princess Rainbow Dash Part 2 | Rainbow Dash woke up the next morning to a stir; she lifted the blankets from her and looked down to see that baby Discord was fast asleep. The mare then noticed he was cradled near her nether regions and was suckling something. Then she felt the pressure being relieved around her nether regions. The pegasus cried upon seeing that she was nursing the little baby draconequus!
But despite how awkward this was, she found it relaxing and cute. Maybe this was Discord's chaos magic, making her think more like Celestia. Rainbow Dash laid her head back and relaxed a little, seeing she was stuck, and on top of that, didn't want to disturb Discord, so she relaxed and waited until she heard a knock on the hospital door., "Good morning, Rainbow Dash. May I come in?"
The former pegasus recognized Princess Celestia's voice and started to panic, squeaking. "Uh, yeah, of course!"
The princess of the sun peeked in, slowly trotted into the hospital room, and gave a gasp upon seeing Rainbow! "My goodness, when Twilight told me you were a copy of me, she wasn't kidding."
"Yeah...and..." Rainbow sniffed the air, and her stomach grumbled as she saw Princess Celestia bringing in a platter of pancakes. "Is that for me?"
The alicorn with a pristine white coat smirked. "Yes, I assumed that being a clone of me, you would be craving some pastries right about now," The princess of the sun trotted over and sat down beside Rainbow Dash with a smile. She then looked down at the tiny lord of chaos suckling on one of Rainbow's teats and gasped in surprise. "Oh! You're nursing?"
Rainbow Dash couldn't help but throw her hooves over her face. She didn't mean to nurse Discord, even as she admitted. "Yeah, guess he made me how you were when he last saw you."
Princess Celestia looked rather bashful. "I can take him if you want. After all, he is primarily my responsibility. I'm the one who has to feed him, nurse him, set him down for naps, and of course, change his diapers."
Rainbow paused. Yet, with how awkward and uncomfortable the feeling was, she didn't want to make it stop, so she shook her head. "It's fine; I...um...find it quite relaxing. No need to stop him now," Then she blushed. "I... didn't realize you were lactating."
Celestia gently brushed her mane and admitted. "Yes, since Luna and I became his ward, we have produced milk for him as if he were our child. It's just biology. Besides, there are plenty of spells and pills for mothers of any age and species," Using her magic; she cut the pancakes up. She levitated a fork up to the daredevil's mouth. "Now, since you're nursing my foal, I think it's only fair to feed you in return."
Rainbow Dash threw her head up with a scoff! "I'm not a foal!"
"Yes, but your limbs are much longer now that you're an alicorn," Celestia replied. "And it will be difficult to eat with your hooves because you have never used magic before."
Rainbow wanted to protest but seemed unable to as she opened her mouth and let the princess of Equestria feed her the pancakes (which were surprisingly quite delicious). After Celestia finished feeding Rainbow breakfast, she wiped the speedster's mouth. She then gave her a cup of coffee as Discord continued to nurse.
The two sat across each other as they sipped on their mugs. Rainbow Dash, worried and a bit nervous that Celestia might secretly harbor resentment for her or Discord, asked. "Sooo... you're not mad, are you?"
The alicorn gave a nod. "Well, I was at first. It didn't take me long to learn that Twilight was hiding something from me, and I got her to confess what happened to you and Discord. Needless to say, I was pretty mad that she did such a thing without consulting me first, especially since I would've told her no."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "I told her that it was a bad idea!"
"I agree," Celestia replied. "However...after I learned Discord was only trying to heal your wings when he accidentally turned you into an alicorn, I realized how foolish I have been."
"Foolish? How so?" Rainbow Dash blinked.
Celestia looked up and admitted. "Because I realized that hiding Discord from the public was wrong. Well, maybe not entirely wrong. But we protected the public because we loved him but thought his magic could be dangerous. But...Discord really cares for others. He proved that when he tried to fix your wing despite the fact he knew he could be punished for it. If that's not a selfless act of love, especially from a foal his age, I don't know what is."
Rainbow snickered. "He only agreed to do it because the Cake Twins pressured him. They wouldn't stop bugging him until he agreed."
"Even so, it made me realize that almost every time he has used his chaos magic since I started raising him, he's only ever done it for a need or because he didn't have control of his powers," Princess Celestia pointed out. "But this proves that he does have some control and can use said powers for good. So, it's time we reveal him to the public instead of trying to hide him. Not only that, I'm going to have Twilight help me teach him how to use his magic properly," she fondly proclaimed With a glint in her eyes. "Her knowledge of magic is something I haven't seen since Starswirl the Bearded. She amazes me with how fast a learner she can be."
"Sounds like a great idea to me!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed! "Twilight's never met a problem she couldn't solve! And with her help, having Discord on our side means we'll be able to do things nopony ever thought possible!"
"Well, considering you're a clone of me," The sun princess said. "I thought we could spend the morning in my garden. I can show you how to fly with your bigger wings and maybe how to use your horn for a bit before we have Discord turn you back to normal. How does that sound?"
"That... actually sounds like a lot of fun." Rainbow agreed, then felt Discord release his mouth from her teat and sighed in relief.
Celestia chuckled as she lifted her ward and wiped his mouth.
"Auntie Tia." Discord whimpered as he scrunched up his face and his diaper.
"Yes, dear, I'm here," Celestia motherly cooed. "I know everything. Let's get you changed first; then, we'll talk." She laid him down, changed his diaper, and cradled him into her forehooves.
Discord squeaked in shame and fear! "Oh no, ya found out I turned Dashie into a copy of ya!"
"Yes, I did, but I'm not mad at you," Celestia replied.
Discord got somewhat surprised and squeaked. "Really?"
Celestia nodded. "Yes. In fact, I'm so happy to learn you tried to use your chaos magic to heal Rainbow Dash's wing. It's nice to see you're using your magic for good."
Discord kicked about and giggled. "Yeah, I did! But ya know she got turned into ya! Her rainbow mane reminded me of yours, and then I pictured you in my mind, and then boom! She's a copy of ya, Auntie Tia."
"Oh, so that explains it," Celestia replied.
Rainbow put a hoof over her mouth and snickered. "Hey, maybe we could be related now?"
"I doubt it. At best, you could be another one of my adopted relatives, like Cadence and Blueblood," The alicorn with a majestic white coat replied and then changed the subject. "Well, seeing as we're all awake now, why don't I give Rainbow Dash a flying lesson?" She chirped as she plopped Discord on her back.
Rainbow couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry, princess, but I will probably teach you something about flying!"
Celestia gave a playful smirk. "We shall see about that. Want to race me back to my garden?!"
"Oh, you're on!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed! "Princess or not, I will leave you in the dust!"
The two alicorns took off as they flew into the sky, heading straight for Canterlot.
The two soared through the skies, and Rainbow Dash was ecstatic, feeling the currents brushing under her wings and the wind blowing through her long, rainbow-colored mane. She was enjoying her new body and loving the power she had behind each flap of her new wings while soaring toward Canterlot. It was only a short time until she spotted the beautiful garden of hedges and flowers. She then turned to see Celestia gasping and wheezing as she flew by.
"Well, it seems you are a lot faster than me. It took almost everything I had to keep up." The sun princess admitted.
Rainbow Dash threw a smirk at Celestia. "See? I told you. You're a good flyer, but you should work on your stamina. You burned out way too early."
"Thank you for the information," Celestia bowed. "I will keep it in mind for next time." Celestia then lifted her ward onto her back before she asked Rainbow. "Do you want me to show you how to use your horn for the brief time you'll have it?"
Rainbow tapped it with her hoof and asked. "Sure. Um...can you give me a demonstration?"
Celestia nodded and lit her horn as she started to show Rainbow how to levitate some nearby rocks. "It's all about concentration."
Rainbow Dash lit her horn, and she did as instructed to the best of her ability, concentrating on the rocks. She struggled to lift one a few feet up in the air. It soon landed with a few clicks, and she sighed, exasperated. "That's the best I can do. Any more and my head would start hurting really bad."
Celestia clapped her hooves, almost like she was a teacher and Rainbow, a student. "Not bad, actually. Seeing as you've never used magic before, it's incredible you could do that much."
"You're just saying that!" Rainbow groaned in annoyance. "Twilight and Rarity make it look so easy to move things around!"
Discord scoffed! "Oh yeah?! Watch tis!" He then lifted the rocks with a claw and then piled them on top of each other. He turned to Rainbow Dash, who was pouting, feeling peeved a baby was better at her than using magic and asked. "So, is that it?"
"Not as exciting as you thought it would be?" Celestia asked with a barely suppressed snicker.
Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Yeah, guess so, not that I was expecting much. Just thought I would have more power."
"Well, you might; you just need practice." Celestia pointed out.
"Like with flying...right...." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. She tried using her new horn, surprisingly shooting out rainbows from her horn as they arched into the sky! Upon seeing the spectacle, Discord clapped and giggled.
Meanwhile, Celestia laughed! "Oh, wow! Didn't expect that!"
Rainbow's cheeks flushed red seeing the sky now had a massive rainbow overhead and squeaked. "Ok, let's not do that again."
"Why not? That was beautiful." Princess Celestia encouraged.
Rainbow scratched her mane and shook her head. "Uh, maybe it's just a little too girly for me. A little rainbow here and there is nice, but if I do it all the time, it stops being awesome and cool."
Celestia snickered. "Alright, suit yourself," Then she asked. "Now, before we turn you back to normal, do you want some cake?"
"Of course! But where can we get somewhere no pony can see us?" Rainbow Dash questioned.
Discord smirked as he threw his hands up, and storm clouds soon came over the alicorns! Soon, the cake was raining from the sky, making and splattering everywhere.
Rainbow Dash laughed, flying up and snapping one in her jaws, then Celestia followed by licking up some cupcakes. "Wow, that's amazing!"
Discord teleported onto Rainbow's back. "See?! Ya, gots Mama's cake addiction!"
Rainbow placed her hooves over her eyes and groaned. "Guess I do. Hopefully, it goes away when I turn back into a pegasus."
"I'm sure it will," Celestia replied and then questioned. "Worried about your weight?"
"Of course!" The brash speedster replied. "If I'm going to be a Wonderbolt, I gotta keep off the sweets. Too many and... well, I'm sure you know what'll happen."
Celestia's cheeks were a bit pink as she wiped frosting from her face. "You do have a point. Personally, I've never worried about my weight. We alicorns have pretty active metabolisms, after all. But even so, it's unhealthy for a princess always to eat cake."
The rain of cake ended with Discord shoving his face into a massive pastry before he asked Rainbow. "So...ya wanna go back to being a pegasus now?"
"Yeah, I'm ready." The brash speedster replied.
Celestia produced a picture of Rainbow Dash as a guard and then hoofed it to Discord. The little lord of chaos looked at it and seemed to memorize it. He then looked up and aimed his little eagle claw at Rainbow Dash, who closed her eyes as she felt the magic start to change her. She then blinked. Upon opening her eyes and seeing that she was shorter than the princess again, she flew up in joy! "Yes! I'm back to normal!" She then squealed, seeing her wings were healed and working, and hovered over Discord as she gave him a pat on the head. "Hey, thanks for healing my wing."
"Yeah! Just swing by Pound Cake and show him you are otay," Discord insisted. "He ta one who wanted ta make sure ya was otay."
"I will," Rainbow agreed. "keep working on your chaos magic; it's pretty cool."
"I will!" Discord promised.
Rainbow smiled at Celestia and then said. "Well, I better get going...should inform the hospital I'm all better."
The sun princess nodded. "Of course. Send me a letter about your experiences, and keep well." |
It takes a Kingdom to Raise a Draconequus | Chapter Six: Discord Vs Chrysalis, Part 1 | Discord was rather excited as the days went by, although Cadance and Shining had tried to keep it a secret. Still, he'd learned quickly that they're getting married. The little lord of chaos couldn't wait, especially since Shining and Cadance were becoming more involved with his daily life!
Cadance then came in to check on him one morning. Usually, she would come in with a smile and seem happy. But this morning she looked angry and annoyed. She loudly scoffed as she stomped toward his crib. "I seriously can't believe I have to change your diaper. You seriously can't just use the normal potty or something?"
Discord looked confused, "Um...but ya said ya was too busy to potty train me? Ya said after ya was married, then we gonna start?"
"Well, why do I need to train you?!" Cadance snapped. "You could just do it on your own! At least you could change your own diapers!" She then laid her charge down and began to change him. Afterward, she placed him back in the crib and snapped. "I have so much to do with the wedding coming up, I don't have time to babysit! Guard!"
A nervous-looking unicorn stallion slowly entered the room and squeaked, "Yes, princess?"
"It's Princess Amore Cadenza to you!" Cadance ordered.
"Yes Princess Amore Cadenza..." The guard bowed.
"You're in charge of babysitting duty today! And you tell him he either has to learn how to use the potty, or learn how to change himself!" Cadence remarked with a humph. She then stumbled out of the nursery and slammed the door behind her.
Discord looked utterly confused and was on the verge of tears as he asked the guard. "Um, is she otay? Did I do someting wong to make her angwy?"
The guard shook his head. "No, she is just a bit nervous about the wedding. Please don't worry about her. She'll go back to normal when the wedding's over, I promise."
The guard then placed the baby draconequus on the ground as Discord looked up and asked, "So what do we do? Can we help her?"
"The best thing for us to do is to stay out of her way," The guard explained. "There really isn't much we can do until the wedding is over."
"Otay," Discord said, then noticed something off about the guard and asked. "Who are ya again?
"Im Thor- Thor!" The guard stuttered, apparently hesitating to say his full name.
"Thor? Tat's a odd name." Discord blinked in surprise.
"Uh...yeah, just... uh... yeah, that's my pony name." "Thor" replied.
"Well, I dun member ya, and I know all ta guards in ta castle." Discord pointed out.
The stallion's ears folded back as he now had this fearful look in his eyes and squeaked. "You do?"
"Yeah! So ya lying!" Discord protested with a growl. "So ya tell me who ya weally are, or I gonna go tell Auntie Tia and Lulu on ya, and ya gonna get in twouble!"
The stallion gulped as he looked all around. Then he whispered. "Ok, you got me. I'm... I'm not a soldier. I'm a ...a changeling."
"A what?" The draconequus blinked in surprise.
The guard sighed as he lit up his horn and took off his disguise, revealing himself as an insect-pony hybrid like creature.
Discord was surprised and rose up with wonder! "Woah!"
The creature sighed. "My name isn't Thor: It's Thorax. and I actually am trying to warn you about an invasion."
"Invasion of what?" Discord questioned.
"Changelings! An army of changelings is waiting right outside for our queen to initiate the attack," Thorax explained. "We need to stop it!"
"Are ya sewious!? And why ya tewwing me tis?!" The little chaos maker impatiently demanded. "Ya a changewing too! Why ya twying to stop ya queen?!"
Thorax quivered, seeming nervous as his whole body shook. "Because...because I disagree with this plan. You see: We changelings feed on love, and we've been starving for the last few centuries, roaming the lands, staying beside other creatures, and leeching off what we can get. Queen Chrysalis then found your land of Equestria and hatched a plan to save our species. A really bad one, "He paused, looking somewhat nervous, before continuing. "You see, the reason Cadance is acting so rude isn't because of the wedding. That isn't the real Cadance."
"Sewiouswy?!" Discord blinked in disbelief. No wonder Cadance had been in such a bad mood this morning.
"Yes, she's really our queen in disguise and is planning to start the invasion at the wedding," Thorax explained. "I don't know all the details, but I know she's been posing as the bride."
Discord immediately became alarmed as he put his paws to his face! "We gots ta warn evewypony! We gots to stop the wedding!"
"But how?!" Thorax wondered. "If we tried to expose her, she'll just deny it and make us look like the crazy ones. Even if I show them my true form, they'll probably just arrest me out of fear. The only way to stop her is to find the true Princess Cadance and expose the fake one."
Discord nodded. "Otay, so ya know whewe ta reaw Pwincess Cady is, ten?"
"Sadly, no," Thorax confessed with a whimper. "I wasn't present when she was kidnapped. But you're her ward, correct? That's what our queen was referring to when she was complaining about changing your diaper, right?"
"She my foalsitter," Discord confirmed with a nod. "But Twily is supposed to do it while Cady's getting weady for ta wedding. Ten she and Shining Awmow gonna adopt me."
"Well, do you trust this 'Twilight' to understand the situation and help us?" Thorax questioned with concern.
The little chaos maker puffed out his chest and boasted! "Yeah! If anypony can save Equestria, it's Twily! She done it aww befowe!"
"Alright, well, we should craft a plan before we talk with her," Thorax replied. "Plus, our queen's probably used her disguise to make it official that I'm supposed to be in charge of you," He blushed. "So I guess that means I'm gonna have to do things like change your diapers."
"If ya want ta," Discord insisted. "Or ya couwd just wet me do it. I wanna start potty twaining with the real Pwincess Cady, she said she know how to make it fun."
"Well, alright, guess we'll cross that bridge if we come to it," Thorax nervously insisted. "Now let's start thinking of a plan for Twilight."
Thorax and Discord then started crafting a plan with some construction paper and crayons.
A few hours later, an unaware Twilight was struggling not to lose control of her temper. The entire day, she'd been dealing with Princess Cadance and had been put off by the alicorn not acting like the sweet, kind and caring foalsitter Twilight remembered.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw an unfamiliar looking brown-coated unicorn royal guard, and stomped into Discord's nursery. She wasn't too surprised, the little lord of chaos had made friends with many of the royal guards in the castle. Still, she asked. "Hello. Who are you? Were you assigned to watch over Discord?"
The stallion turned to face her and responded. "Well, only until you came by. Princess Ca- I mean Princess Amore Cadenza is busy with the wedding, so she had me handle watching over the draconequus."
"Ok. Well, you can just call her Princess Cadance," Twilight pointed out, then trotted over and smiled at Discord, who looked nervous. "Are you doing ok?"
The baby lord of chaos suddenly tensed up. "Uh, Twiwight... gotta tell ya something super important."
"Ok, I'm listening," Twilight nodded her head. "What is it?"
"Ya noticed tat Pwincess Cady is acting strange, wight?" Discord asked.
Twilight rolled her eyes, having spent quite some time seeing how Cadance was acting."Oh, I've noticed all right! She's acting way more stuck up than when I knew her as a foal! It's not like her at all!"
"Weww, there's a reason fow that..." Discord began to explain, then turned to the guard. "Thorax, ya can weveal yourself."
Twilight looked confused, wondering who Discord was talking to. Then suddenly she saw the stallion transforming in front of her from a normal-looking unicorn into a bug-like creature. In fear for her life, Twilight lit up the end of her horn and shouted! "Discord, get back!"
"Wait, hold on!" The changeling cried, waving its hooves in desperation!
Discord immediately rushed over and exclaimed! "Twilight, wait! Ya gotta listen to him!"
Twilight still had her horn lit up, but seeing Discord's behavior she reluctantly allowed the bug creature to talk.
"I'm a changeling," Thorax explained. "My name's Thorax. Our queen's kidnapped the real Princess Cadance, and plans to launch an invasion at the wedding."
Twilight softened up. Suddenly, everything made sense. She then asked. "If this is all true, why are you revealing your queen's plan to me?"
"Because I think this isn't going to solve our problem!" Thorax protested as he stomped a hoof down! "When we take over, we'll have so much love for what you ponies have created already. But that will all eventually go away as we feast. We'll end up back where we started if we continue down this path. We need to find a better way, and I feel this little lord of chaos may hold the key.:
"What do you mean?" Twilight questioned.
"Most ponies would've attacked me as you almost did if I'd revealed what I am to them," Thorax explained. "But this creature is both an outcast and is loved by ponies. He can bridge the changelings and the ponies, I just know it. That's why I lied to my queen, so I can be her guard and talk with him."
Twilight nodded. "So the real Princess Cadance has been ponynapped. Do you know where she is?"
"At this time, no," The changeling reluctantly admitted. "But Discord and I were hatching a scheme to find the real Princess Cadance and stop her at the same time...but it's gonna be kind of crazy."
Twilight sighed. "Guess I might as well hear it because I don't have any ideas. The only thing I could think of was confronting the imposter before the wedding starts. But I doubt she'll just tell us where the real Princess Cadence is. There has to be a way to expose her and get her to talk."
Discord gave a long-winded sigh. "Well, I gots to turn ya into a plushie."
Twilight blinked, taking a look at Discord's mountain of plush animals. "Um...you mean like one of your toys?"
Discord nodded and continued. "Ya see, if ya was a plushie, I could twick ta evil Cady into tinking I'm working with her, and she'll probably take ya to ta dungeon to gwoat. Thorax said she wikes to do tat stuff."
"Ok..." Twilight blinked. "But as a plush toy, I won't be able to do much. Why not just have me captured as is?"
Discord pointed out. "Actuawwy, I gonna make suwe ya can move and talk, ya kjust won't be abwe ta use magic."
"So when you turn me into a plush toy, I'll still be able to see, hear and talk?" The studious unicorn realized.
"Wight!" The chaos maker excitedly explained. "Awso, ya gotta act wike ya can't do anytig when ya with the queen."
Twilight nodded along as she rubbed a hoof over her chin, thinking about the plan, and somehow it was making sense to her. "This plan isn't bad so far...but even if I get Princess Cadance and expose the queen, how do we defeat her?"
Thorax then explained. "Well... while you go and save Princess Cadance, we'll try to tell your friends and the princesses what's happening. If they don't believe me or Discord, then we have no choice but to turn them into plushies as well. Hopefully, they'll realize we're trying to save Equestria. Then, when Chrysalis returns to the nursery, she'll see that all her enemies are just plush dolls and believe that Discord is on her side. But then we'll all jump onto her and clear things up."
Twilight blinked, realizing she would have to allow her friends and the princesses to be turned into plush toys, then cried out. "That is a crazy plan!" Then she sighed and lamented. "But it might be the only way to do this. We can't just talk to my friends, they all think Princess Cadance is being rude due to nerves from preparing for her wedding. And they all think I'm being too possessive of my brother," She then added. "If we try to reveal Thorax to the princesses, they'll probably just arrest him. I'm not a fan of turning my friends into plush toys... but if you're right, if we don't stop the changelings and their queen, they'll take over."
Discord then waddled over, looking up at her with adorable puppy dog eyes, and asked. "So, we gonna do tis?"
Twilight was still uncertain, but she was willing to do whatever it took to save Equestria. She closed her eyes and cried! "I'm ready!"
The violet coated unicorn then heard the snap of Discord's claw, and she felt herself shrink. The mare could feel her flesh slowly turning into a fabric-like substance as she could feel herself shrinking in size. When Twilight opened her eyes, everything was towering over her, with the crib looking as big as a house and Discord seeming to be a foot taller. She then tried to waddle about, getting used to her new plush body and felt it wobble. She squeaked as she stumbled onto her face.
Then she heard Discord giggle and comment, "Aww, she's learning to walk. Tat's so cute!"
"Hold on, I got this!" Twilight irritably grumbled. She then got back onto her hooves; she stumbled about until she reached a mirror and gazed at her reflection. The little plush doll gazed in awe at her new form: Her body looking bloated from the stuffing inside, her eyes were clearly sewn in despite her being able to see from them. Overall it seemed that Discord's spell had worked perfectly.
The little lord of chaos waddled over and asked, "So, any pwoblems?"
The plush unicorn turned to face him. "No, your spell worked! And now we wait, right?"
Discord came over and hugged her close. Twilight squeaked, feeling the new sensation from her body. It felt uncomfortable, but also nice to be embraced like this as the lord of chaos continued squeezing her as he whispered. "Yeah, we wait...but I scared."
Twilight then realized how crazy it was that they were putting all this pressure on Discord, who hadn't even turned one yet, and replied. "Don't worry, I'll make sure nothing happens to you. If she tries to do anything, undo the spell and I'll take her down!"
"Otay," Discord nodded, then asked. "Would it be otay if we pwayed tea party until then?"
Twilight couldn't help but picture herself in some dress, drinking tea with stuffed bears and rabbits. It sounded rather embarrassing, but if it would help calm down the little lord of chaos, she saw no problem with it. "That's alright with me." So Discord dressed her in a cute outfit with a pink frilly dress and booties, then gave her a plastic tiara, sat her down around a small baby blue plastic table, and set down a bunch of his other plush toys. The little lord of chaos then started to pour tea.
Later that day, the disguised queen of the changelings suddenly burst into the nursery, looking rather angry as she angrily trotted over! "Thor- I mean soldier! Ugh, need to find you a good cover name. Get over here!"
The disguised royal guard rose, saluted the mare, and asked, "Anything come up?"
"No, just dealing with a bunch of morons!" The queen groaned and growled. "Now where's the little brat?! Don't tell me you lost him!"
I'm right here, and dun call me a brat!" Discord snapped as he sucked down a sippy cup full of tea.
"Well, come on, it's your bedtime," The disguised queen insisted. "And I'm not changing your diaper again, I told you before."
"Actuawwy, I know who and what ya are, and want to hewp ya!" "Cadance" eyed him as Discord picked up the plush doll and exclaimed! "Ta-da! I turned Twilight into a plushie fow ya!"
The imposter became furious and shouted! "You did what!?"
"I turned Twilight into a plushie so ya can invade and take over Canterlot." Discord explained.
The alicorn's furious look turned into a smile. "Sooo, your true colors are finally revealed? For a second, I thought you actually were like these other ponies."
Discord scoffed as he placed his cup down. "No way! I was just pwetending until I found somepony who can help me unleash chaos! Now I can turn all ta pwincesses and Twily's friends into plushies. Tat way, ya can make your invasion of Equestria and no one can stop ya."
She turned to face Thorax and growled. "So my subordinate told you my plans, did he?"
The changeling, still in his Royal Guard disguise, squeaked and lowered his gaze.
Discord, however, quickly got up to defend his friend and said, "Wait! He only told me after I found out he was a changeling!"
"Fine! He'll be the one keeping an eye on you anyways!" Chrysalis snarled, picked up the Twilight plush while chuckling to herself. "I'll take her down to meet Cadence," She then turned her attention to Discord. "Tomorrow, you must turn most of Twilight's friends and the other princesses into plushies before the rehearsal. The sooner you do so, the faster I can move up the invasion timetable. Once my changelings overrun Canterlot, I'll let you pick out whatever land you want to make into your own chaotic playground."
The changeling queen stuck out a hoof and snapped, "Do we have a deal?"
The lord of chaos stuck out his paw and shook it, then chirped, "Deal!"
"Alright now, you know who I really am, so tuck yourself in bed. Since Thorax was the one who spilled the beans, he can change your diaper." The imposter then left with a huff.
After Chrysalis left the room, Discord sighed in relief, seeing the plan was working, and plopped down onto his soggy diaper. "Can't believe tat worked."
Thorax nodded, helped the little lord of chaos onto the diaper-changing table, and went about the diaper change. "Yes, but tomorrow will be the true test. You think that we can convince the princesses and Twilight's friends we're telling the truth?"
Discord looked up at the ceiling and wondered aloud, "If not, tey just gotta be plushies for a few hours. Hopefully, tey will understand after everything is done." |
It takes a Kingdom to Raise a Draconequus | Chapter Seven: Discord Vs Chrysalis, Part 2 | Celestia groaned and rubbed her head. She looked around, trying to gauge her surroundings. She then looked to see that she was in Discord's nursery, but everything was much bigger, his crib towering over her. Then she saw other plush ponies within the sea of foal blankets and plush toys: One looked like her sister Luna, and the others were Twilight's friends. Then she tried to move her body, which was wobbly and seemed lighter than how she usually was. She tried flapping her wings to get over the crib, but her tiny cloth-like wings did nothing. Cloth-like?! She looked down over her body to see it looked like fabric with her coat having stitches, and she poked herself, hearing the soft crinkling sound of stuffing. She then touched her horn which moved about and seemed to no longer be made of bone.
The mare then saw a mirror and her reflection, she was indeed a plush toy! Her eyes were sewn in, and she was unable to blink (but somehow she could still see). Then she whispered. "Hello?" and gasped in surprise. The princess then turned to the other plush toys, all seeming to get up and looking as confused as she was. They all started to freak out (except for Pinkie Pie, who ended up just bouncing about)!
Celestia then shouted at the top of her lungs! "Everypony, stop!" All turned to her as the princess cleared her throat. "Thank you. Now then, we need to figure out how we ended up like this, and who is responsible."
"Well, the second part is easy: This is obviously Discord's doing." Luna irritably mumbled as she tried to fly and was unable to get an inch up in the air.
Meanwhile, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack looked confused while Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie gasped! "Wait, why would Discord do this?!" Rainbow questioned.
Pinkie Pie bounced over. "Well, it could be a prank?"
Celestia shrugged as she herself was unsure. "We don't even know if Discord is capable of such things yet. We should figure out what we were doing before blacking out. It might help."
Rarity raised a hoof, and Celestia smirked before she asked. "Yes, what is it, Rarity?"
"Whose is this Discord you're talking about?" Rarity inquired. "I think I heard the name float around before."
Celestia blinked, realizing she'd officially showed off her ward to anyone (only a few of Twilight's friends had seen him, and even then it had been kind of brief). "Well, it's hard to describe what he is exactly, but he's unlike any creature you've seen before: He has a goat's head, a dragon's claw on his left leg and a hoof on the right, his left hand is an eagle's claw and his right hand a lion's paw."
"What in the hay?!" Applejack cried out in disbelief! "You've been keepin' a creature like that here all this time?!"
Celestia turned to the earth pony and tried to reassure her. "Well, he was a baby gifted to Luna and I to care for. He does have a lot of raw magical ability, and he has turned some of my guards and his nannies into plush toys. But that was mostly by accident."
"True, but he doesn't have the cleanest track record for deliberately misusing his chaos magic either." Luna pointed out.
Celestia nodded. "Correct. That's why I'm asking if anypony here can remember what they were doing today before blacking out and ending up here."
Everypony paused and took their time to think. Finally, Applejack spoke. "If I remember correctly, we came here yesterday to help with settin' up for Shining Armor and Princess Cadence's weddin'."
Rarity nodded. "Yes, and everything seemed to go well...except that Twilight was acting odd, and she kept talking about how weird Princess Cadence was. I thought the princess was acting a bit rude due to nerves."
Pinkie Pie bounced up and down, then chirped. "Yeah, she said my decorations were perfect for a six-year-old's birthday party. I took it as a compliment, but Twilight took it more seriously than me, saying she insulted me."
"I see..." Celestia looked all around for her student but couldn't seem to see her and asked. "On that note, where is Twilight?"
All looked around the crib, then Applejack snapped, "She's not here! Does that mean she might not be a plush? I'm sure she can turn us back to normal!"
Rarity looked around, trying to gauge what they could do. "Yes, but we're trapped. We don't have the ability to climb these bars or fly, and the door is closed and locked. Until somepony comes in, we're trapped here!"
Pinkie Pie bounced in between her friends and chirped. "Oh, relax. Somepony will eventually come by to help us."
Celestia nodded and said, "I believe so: Twilight was tasked with watching Discord as Cadence was too busy with the preparations for the wedding."
Luna tapped a hoof to her chin. "If Twilight was Discord's foalsitter, maybe she'll know for sure if he was the one who did this to us?"
"Right, Discord could lie, so I'll trust Twilight whatever she has to say on his behalf." Celestia decided
"But that still leaves us like this! Is there anything we can do?" Applejack nervously asked.
Celestia turned to face Applejack. "Like I said, let's try to remember what happened before: If none of us were turned into plush toys yesterday, that means it had to happen today. So, can everypony tell me what they were doing this morning?"
Pinkie tapped a hoof on her chin, and then said. "Um, ok, this morning I spent most of the time baking some pancakes, and stuffing my face with cupcakes."
Rarity couldn't help but snicker. "That sounds like a typical Pinkie Pie morning, but I can say for sure I was there as well."
Applejack then exclaimed in realization! "Yeah...I was there too! In fact, I think I remember most of what happened." And she began to flashback to the events of that morning.
Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie were all at breakfast. As they continued to eat their pancakes together, all were talking about how excited they were to be Princess Cadence's new bridesmaids.
Just then, a royal guard came into the kitchen with a worried look on his face. "Uh, hello. How's everypony doing?"
Pinkie Pie bounced over and chirped, "Doing great! Want a pancake?!" She then burst into laughter. "I just realized that rhymes! I wonder if I'm turning into Zecora?"
"Uh yeah, that would be great. I just got off duty, and uh..." The guard sat down rather awkwardly and started to nibble on his food. "So um...I actually came here to warn you."
"Warn us? About what?" Applejack questioned.
The guard gulped, and he seemed to be very nervous as he stammered. " I...I came to warn you. Princess Cadence isn't really who you think she is... she's a changeling."
The three mares burst into laughter, and the guard snapped! "I'm being serious: We need to warn the princesses and stop her!"
The three now looked at him crazy as Applejack, being a bit curious, asked, "What's a changeling?"
The guard explained with a gulp. "Well...you see, they are, um..." He let out a sigh and grumbled, "I'll just show you," He closed the doors and lit up his horn, then his body changed to a black insect-like creature. "We look something like this."
"What the hay?!" Applejack exclaimed as she took a step back, took some cupcakes and bucked them right into his face!
A voice then shouted. "Stop that! Listen, he's a good guy! His name is Thorax!"
Rarity got up and exclaimed. "We have to take him to the princesses! Maybe this is why they heightened security!"
"Wait, listen, you don't understand; I'm trying to warn you!" The changeling protested!
Applejack turned to the changeling and snapped, "Warn us about who? Yourself?! Like we'll believe you!"
The creature winced as he sighed. "Discord, we don't have a choice. We have to go to plan B."
Applejack looked around and asked. "Who the hay is Discord?"
Then there was a flash of light, and then suddenly Applejack felt her body shrinking as she saw her body turning into a cloth-like material! Then the mare saw everything in the kitchen looking a lot larger, with the dinner table towering over her as she wobbled about, seeing her whole body felt lighter. She looked up to see a strange-looking creature towering over her, his goat-like face looking rather distraught as he whispered, "I sowie." Applejack wanted to shout for help, but the mare then felt her mind go blank.
"That was the last thing I remember." Applejack finished as she shivered. "I thought I was a goner."
Surprised by Applejack's story, Celestia exclaimed. "Changelings have infiltrated the castle?! My sister and I would've seen or heard about them!"
The princess of the night turned to her sister. "I see we may have been beaten. Who knows how many guards and ponies are changelings in disguise? We need to warn everypony in the castle and cancel the wedding."
The princess of the sun paused as she recalled what Applejack said. She turned towards the orange-coated plush and asked. "Hold on...this guard who was really a changeling, you're certain he spoke Discord's name?"
"Yeah, I didn't know what he was talkin' about, but before I could react..." She looked over her new body and wobbled about, then chuckled. "Well, I guess he turned me into a plushie. Hey, I don't look that bad."
Pinkie Pie bounced over and squealed. "I know, right?! We look so adorable! Why hasn't anypony made plush toys based on us?"
The fashionista gave her own body a look over and commented. "Yes, the stitching is well done. Discord must know a thing or two about plush toys."
Luna sighed, seeming to look downtrodden as she added, "Even so, it seems Discord has betrayed us."
Despite seeing that Luna could be correct, the sun princess couldn't help but remember how, in Applejack's story, it didn't seem he was in league with the changelings. "Now hold on, let's not jump to conclusions just yet," She turned to face her sister and added. "In fact, what do you remember yourself?"
Princess Luna tapped a hoof to her face and began to talk. "Well, we were having breakfast as well...we were switching our duty watching over Canterlot..." And she started to recall the events.
Luna had spent all night watching over Canterlot, her legs were stiff and aching and her whole body craved sleep. But she and Celestia had received intelligence suggesting that there might be an invasion. They'd been given vague information from their soldiers in the Frozen North, and it was enough to keep security on high alert in Canterlot until the wedding was over.
Atop her tower, Luna turned to see her sister coming over to take her shift, and they both gave each a tired greeting as they switched their duties. They then heard a pitter-patter of tiny feet, and they both turned to see Discord come waddling over, looking scared. "Uh...wisten, Auntie Tia and Lulu, I gots to tell ya something important."
"Yes, little one. wW are quite busy," Luna inquired. "And where's Twilight? Isn't she supposed to be watching you?"
Discord whimpered. "'Bout that. Listen, I gots to tell ya Cady isn't Cady, she a changeling queen and she twying to take over!"
Luna rubbed her tired eyes, thought about what Discord had said, then chuckled. "Sweetheart, you probably just had a nightmare. I understand Cadence hasn't been herself lately, but that doesn't mean she's a changeling," Then she blinked and asked. "In fact, how did you know about changelings?"
"Does that matter?!" Discord pouted in protest! "Ya gots ta listen! Ta real Cady is missing! Ya, gots to bewieve me!"
Princess Celestia looked downward. "Discord, I understand you are scared about the invasion threat, we all are. But there's no way Cadence is a changeling. We'd know if she was."
The draconequus let out a sigh and seemed to wince in pain as he cried. "Guess I got no other choice but ta show ya."
Then there was a bright light, and Luna was surprised to see her body shrinking and her fur turning into fabric, filling with what felt like balls of fluff! She started to get scared and tried lighting her horn to fend off the magic, but it was no use as nothing came out of it. She then turned to see the same happening to her sister, who was now a plush doll looking just as perplexed.
Luna then felt woozy and wobbled about on her hooves. The last thing she heard was.
"Listen, ya gonna be wike tis for a while. But I gonna show ya ta truth!"
The princess of the night blinked and rubbed her head as she mumbled. "Th...that was the last thing I remember..."
Celestia thought for a few moments about Luna's story. She went through her own memories, thinking about how rude Cadence had acted and how different she'd seemed to be over the past few days. Now that she thought more about it, it seemed odd that Cadence's aura had been a weird green color instead of its usual soft blue. The alicorn's eyes went wide, realizing that Discord was telling the truth, and she slammed a hoof into her face and groaned! "How stupid can we be?! Discord isn't betraying us! He only did this because we weren't listening to him!"
Applejack was surprised at this apparent realization! "Wait, he was tellin' the truth?!"
"It all makes sense...but why turn us into plush toys?" Luna pondered.
The princess of the sun tapped a hoof to her chin, then whispered, "Not sure, but I believe he's luring the fake Cadence into a trap somehow.
Luna was surprised at this and whispered back. "I see: If she comes here, she'll think of us as nothing but toys. Then I bet he'll turn us back to normal when the time is right, and we can trap her...if this is all true."
Celestia hobbled her plush body towards the edge of the crib staring at the door, hoping that her hunch was right as she whispered. "Well, we'll find out soon enough."
Meanwhile, "Cadence" was trotting down towards the dungeons below with a plush Twilight in her grasp and a smirk on her face. Discord was sitting atop a nervous looking guard as they went through a labyrinth of tunnels. They eventually found the real Princess Cadence, who looked beaten and worn out.
The real princess of love let out a painful groan looking up at the imposter, and snapped. "What are you doing here?!"
"Oh, I'm just here to show you something!" The imposter replied. She then held up the plush Twilight doll, levitated it near Cadence's face and laughed. "See what your little ward of chaos has done for me!"
The true Princess Cadence's eyes went wide! "Is that...?!"
"Yes, this is your precious Twilight!" The imposter gloated with glee. "And soon, the other princesses and her friends will meet the same fate! Soon, they too will be turned into plush toys, all thanks to Discord!" She tossed the plush doll towards the real Cadence.
The real Cadence looked over at Discord, and tears welled up in her eyes as she asked. "Why...why would you do this?! How could you betray us?!"
Discord looked downward and stammered. "B...beca...use I um...sowwie, but she's too powerful..."
Cadence started to weep, held Twilight close to her chest, and wept as the fake Cadence let out an evil laugh and trotted away with Discord in tow.
Once the imposter left, Twilight started to move, making Cadence gasp. "Huh? What?!"
The plush Twilight maneuvered herself as she tried to use her stubby limbs to stable herself. "Sorry, Cadence," She whispered, hoping not to be overheard. "But Discord and I needed a way to get me to you."
"Wait, why did Discord turn you into a plush toy?" The imprisoned princess of love questioned.
"Long story short, this fake Cadance is really a changeling in disguise, and Discord found out by accident," Twilight explained. "He turned me into a plush to get me here to help rescue you. Then I will do the same to my friends and the princesses. We're setting up a trap. Chrysalis will come to Discord's nursery where they all are, and when she least expects it, he'll turn us all back to normal and trap her."
"Wow, that... that's not a bad plan at all!" Cadence blinked slowly in realization.
"Yes. But right now, we have to get out of here! And there's only one way to do that!" Twilight then took a plastic tiara off her head and placed it on Cadence's, then she watched as the pink coated alicorn shrank in size, her body bloating out looking like it was made of fabric and stuffed with fluff, her mane becoming stuck together and became a single piece of cloth.
Cadence trotted about, getting used to her new body as she then giggled. "Wow, that's... interesting."
"Yeah, it takes time to get used to it," Twilight pointed out. "But we have to go!"
Cadence nodded as she wobbled off, clumsily following Twilight as they navigated through the caverns heading back to the castle.
Queen Chrysalis was pleased with herself as she trotted into Discord's nursery..Thanks to this baby draconequus, her victory was assured, and she'd probably raise him as her own. For now, though, she'd focus on her changelings taking over Canterlot to begin the invasion across all of Equestria!
The queen of the changelings started to laugh maniacally as she revealed herself, finally removing the disguise of that sappy princess of love showing another long, tall, and terrifying form, her dark green exoskeleton, her belonging jagged horn, fiery green eyes, and sharp teeth. The changeling queen shouted. "Now it is time for us to feed!"
"Everypony, now!"
Discord snapped his paw, and the plushies reverted back to their normal pony forms! Twilight's friends tackled her as Celestia and Luna wrapped magic bonds around Chrysalis' body. She tried to worm herself to the door, but Twilight and the real Princess Cadence were now standing in front of her. The queen of the changelings kicked and whined, but she couldn't break the bonds around her. She turned her attention towards the baby lord of chaos and shouted, "What?! Discord! You betrayed me!"
"Yeah," Discord snorted. "Ya think I would betray my friends for ya?"
"What about Thorax?" Chrysalis inquired.
"Oh, I'm with Discord," The guard trotted over, revealing his changeling form, his being much smaller with dark blue insect eyes and a smaller jagged horn. "Discord and I talked for a while, and he says we can be friends."
"Thorax! I'm going to.." Chrysalis began with a hiss.
"Do what?!" Thorax retorted. "Lead us to devour love from Equestria until nothing is left? Don't you see your plan will only lead us back to where we are now?!"
Queen Chrysalis growled! "Traitor!"
Discord sighed. "I think tere's only one way to keep tis changeling queen fwom coming back!"
The baby draconequus waddled over and hugged her as Chrysalis roared. "Unhoof me! I am a queen!" She kicked and cried, but it was useless; she couldn't break Celestia and Luna's magical bonds. Her body began to change, turning multicolored and squeaking as her insect wings turned into butterfly ones. "W..what are you doing?!"
"Changing ya!" Discord explained. "Ya a changeling, and I gonna give ya mowe love ten ya can ever need!"
The queen gasped, filling in this "love" as her mind changed. Her thoughts of taking over and destroying Equestria faded from her mind, and she then hugged the lord of chaos and cried, "How did you do this?"
Discord shrugged. "Not sure. But if ya needs love, we gots plenty. We can share it, dun need to hog it all."
Everypony dawwed, even Queen Chrysalis did as she placed a hoof over her chest. She then bowed before Celestia. "Please forgive me for what I've done. It was all to save my hive, you have to understand."
Celestia was surprised and stammered, "I...I believe that if you're speaking the truth, then yes, I forgive you. As long as you swear never to bring harm to Equestria ever again."
"I promise my hive will live in harmony with the ponies of Equestria," The queen insisted. "However, I will need Discord to spread his love among my hive so they can all change too. That could take a while."
All turned to the little lord of chaos as Celestia asked, "Are you ok with this?"
"If this can keep ta Changelings happy, I'm fine!" Discord insisted. "Besides, Thorax here taught me tat changewings can be good."
The little changeling drone waved a hoof, "Uh yeah, that's me."
Chrysalis lifted Discord onto his back, and then he flew off with her out the window as Cadence blinked, somewhat confused. "I better go explain things to Shining Armor and have him let his shield spell down." She then trotted off, rubbing her forehead while looking confused but relieved.
Discord spent a week hugging the changelings and transforming them. Thorax brought him back just as Cadence and Shining's wedding was brought to a successful conclusion.
Cadence took the sleeping baby and placed him on her back then asked. "So, how was he?"
Thorax jumped into the air and exclaimed! "He's amazing! He transformed the entire changeling race! I'm sure things will only get better from here."
"That's wonderful." Cadence then invited the changeling with Shining Armor groaning and looking rather groggy. "Thorax, it's good to finally see you."
"It's good to see you as well," Thorax replied. "Did your wedding turn out well?"
The princess giggled. "Yes it did! We would be going on our honeymoon now, but there's a few things we need to take care of first."
Princess Cadence then took Discord upstairs to his nursery, then she and Thorax went into the kitchen where she made him some tea and asked. "Would you mind keeping an eye on Discord for a bit longer? Shining and I are going to meet with the princesses."
"Of course, that's perfectly fine." Thorax insisted.
Princess Cadence then took her husband by the hoof, and they set off together towards the palace. Celestia and Luna were both waiting for the royal couple as they sat down. Celestia came over and hugged her niece and Shining Armor. "Oh, thank Faust you two are ok! I'm still so happy for you!"
"Sister, where is your decorum?" Princess Luna scolded.
The princess of the sun stepped back and apologized. "My apologies, I'm still rather flustered from recent events."
"As we all are," The princess of the moon replied. "Now then, is there anything you wish to discuss?"
"Well, we're all excited...seeing that Discord just saved our flanks and everything," Cadence explained as they sat down. "While Discord was away helping the changelings, my husband and I talked alot about Discord. At this point in time, we understand you two were the ones chosen to care for him. But considering the weight of responsibility running the kingdom, we believe that it's in his best interests we become his new caretakers."
Celestia and Luna blushed and nodded. Luna spoke up first. "Yes, my sister and I talked a lot and we came to the same conclusion. But we didn't want to bring it up while you two just got married. It would be asking a lot for you two to become parents right after it."
Shining laughed a bit. "Yeah, but seeing as we wouldn't have a wedding if Discord didn't stop Queen Chrysalis and save my wife, we thought it would be an appropriate award. Also, Cadence is concerned about his development. Yes, it's great he's rescuing ponies and using his chaos magic for good. But he needs time to be a foal, I mean he's still in diapers for pony's sake."
Everypony laughed before Celestia added. "I have to agree. Luna and I did our best to provide him with a safe environment to grow. But I think we maybe sheltered him too much. I agree that you two will make for excellent caretakers. I have full confidence you'll help him grow up right."
Luna interjected. "However there is still a concern with you two and the Crystal Empire. Now that you're married, are you prepared to become the rulers if it should return?"
Shining nodded. "Yes, we have scouts waiting and watching for its arrival as you predicted."
Celestia then interjected. "That still leaves us with a problem, with all of us so busy dealing with the hopeful return of the Crystal Empire, who will care for Discord until things are settled? The empire will be a very big responsibility, it wouldn't be good to add the responsibilities of caring for Discord on top of that. Especially if you intend to potty train him in the near future."
"Yes, that is a concern, I hadn't thought of that until now," Cadence commented, then her eyes lit up. "I know one pony who would love to watch Discord!"
"Please don't say Pinkie Pie," Shining Armor protested. "She'd be great for a day or two. But we're talking about something that'll be going on for weeks. From what Twily told me, she just barely managed looking after twins. And Discord isn't an ordinary foal."
"Yes, having Pinkie Pie watch Discord for too long wouldn't be the best idea," Cadence nodded. "I believe that Fluttershy is much more capable."
"Fluttershy? That shy pegasus?" Shining asked his wife. "I was thinking we could have Twilight do it for us, or even get my parents to watch Discord instead."
"Fluttershy is shy, but her love for animals and creatures of all kinds cannot be matched," Princess Cadence explained. "I'm sure she'll not only keep Discord out of trouble, but also make for an excellent backup foalsitter. I will write to her informing her of our decision," She then took out an official looking form. "Here is the certificate of adoption. I assume it would be alright if Shing and I sign it now."
The sisters nodded in agreement as the princess of the sun replied. "Of course. When will you inform Discord that it's official?"
Shining replied. "As soon as he wakes up. He deserves a chance to rest after all he's been through."
"Then I wish you nothing but the best of luck," Celestia declared. She and Luna then signed the certificate, releasing Discord into the young couple's care. Then they all adjourned the meeting as the four headed off in separate directions.
Later that morning, Discord woke up in his crib and saw he was in a new nursery. It was similar to his old one, with the wall art having both a day sky and night sky portraits. He then felt his flank being wiped and saw Cadence standing over him, changing his diaper as she cooed, "Good morning, sweetie."
"Morning, Cady." The little lord of chaos yawned, letting Cadence finish changing his diaper.
The princess of love nuzzled the baby draconequus and asked. "You're exhausted, huh?"
Discord stretched his limbs and yawned. "Yeah, I used so much chaos magic. I was so tiwed."
The alicorn princess gave him a kiss on the forehead. "Well, you can sleep all day if you want to. You deserve it."'
"Otay tanks," Discord replied and then apologized. "Sowie I had to turn ya into a plushie."
"What are you talking about? You have nothing to be sorry for," Cadence sweetly told him. "If you didn't do that, I would still be trapped underneath the castle in the dungeons."
She then took Discord and sat in a rocking chair nearby. The lord of chaos looked around the room and asked. "So, Cady, why is ya letting me stay at ya house again?"
Princess Cadence was going to say something, but Shining Armor burst into the room, looking out of breath, and asked. "Did you tell him yet!?"
His wife chuckled and shook her head "No. I was waiting for you."
"Tell me what?" Discord asked.
Shining and Cadence looked at each other, then Cadence turned to the draconequus. "Well Shining and I have been talking with the princesses. Due to their busy schedule, they realize it's going to be a lot harder to care for you all the time."
"So Cadence and I decided that we'll be your parents," Shining informed his charge. "Congratulations, you're officially adopted!"
The princess of love floated a legal paper over, showing it to her new son.
Discord couldn't read but was amazed at how shiny it was. "Oh, wow! So you now my mama and Shiny is my daddy?"
"Yes indeed, and now I think we should make it official." Cadence then laid down in the chair and Discord had himself brought forth towards Cadence's teats. He started to nurse as she drifted a wing over him for privacy.
The baby lord of chaos suckled happily, with the warm, sweet milk coming forth. It tasted so good and it was better being so warm.
Shining blushed and replied. "I keep forgetting how young he is; he's not even a year old and already he's saving Equestria."
"Maybe that's the problem," Cadence protested. "He shouldn't have to be saving Equestria, he's a baby and needs to develop properly. Thanks to the training with Twilight, he's more than ready to attend daycare, and he's not even out of diapers yet."
"Right, well, I'll leave you to it," Shining insisted. "We can discuss what's best for him together. I took some leave so we can spend some time together and help raise him while we still can. Want to go out to dinner later to celebrate our marriage?"
"Of course," Cadence nodded. "But let's get a restaurant that's not too classy. I want to bring Discord along."
"Of course! I'll look around for one that allows foals." Shining Armor left the room, slowly closing the door behind him as Cadence let Discord continue to suckle her milk.
The princess laid her head back as she was still exhausted as well, and it wasn't long until they both fell asleep together. Both happy that they'd made it through one crazy and exhausting week. |
It takes a Kingdom to Raise a Draconequus | Chapter Eight: Discord's Day in Ponyville | Fluttershy woke up one early summer morning, raising her hooves and yawning. She blinked and saw that the sun hadn't risen yet, giving her plenty of time to finish the chores. She got up, stretched her back out, flexed her wings, and slowly walked down the stairs of her cottage. Everything seemed so peaceful.
Fluttershy then went to her kitchen to find Twilight with bags under her eyes and a frazzled mane, looking rather frantic. Worrying about her friend, she asked, "Do you need a coffee?"
"Yes, please," Twilight responded.
Fluttershy went and made a pot, then hoofed Twilight a mug as the unicorn drank it greedily. "Twilight, you weren't up all night, were you?"
"Of course," Twilight yawned. "I had to make sure everything is perfect for little Discord."
Fluttershy shook her head in disappointment. "That's understandable, but you seriously need to rest."
"I know...but I couldn't help but ensure we have everything ready," Twilight protested. "This is the first time Princess Celestia entrusted her ward under our care."
Fluttershy then added. "Well, I'm the main royal foal sitter. I'll make sure everything runs smoothly."
"Of course I trust you, Fluttershy," Twilight insisted. "I promise I won't be stepping on your hooves too much. I just wanted to ensure there won't be any shenanigans like when he turned Rainbow Dash into an alicorn. We don't need something like that again."
After finishing her coffee, Fluttershy escorted Twilight to her living room, seeing it was "babyfied" with a playpen, toys, and a diaper bag. Twilight then started pacing back and forth, somewhat nervous about the task ahead. "Do we have everything?"
Fluttershy nodded. "Diapers, wipes, powder, this giant playmat filled with toys, I've rented out a crib. Celestia and Luna will give us their milk to feed the little bundle of chaos."
Twilight bent her head. "Right, it seems we're as prepared as we could be. This isn't the first time Princess Celestia had to take care of a baby," Then she asked. "Fluttershy, are you sure you can handle Discord? I feel you're too relaxed."
The two heard a knock and turned to see Princess Celestia and Luna come in with the baby lord of chaos. Twilight and Fluttershy were a bit concerned at seeing the princesses; they had massive bags under their eyes, their manes were frazzled, and a diaper was hanging from Celestia's horn. At the same time, Luna's coat was covered in milk stains.
"Good morning, Twilight, Fluttershy." Celestia yawned.
"Good morning, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna." The two chimed in unison.
The princess of the sun then took Discord off her back and placed him down. The two Ponyville mares looked down at the infantile creature; he seemed rather adorable as he toddled over to Fluttershy.
The pegasus couldn't help but take her wings, throw him up, and squeal! "Oh my gosh, he's so cute!" She tossed the little lord of chaos in the air as he squealed in delight.
Discord turned to Celestia. "I saw hew at Shiny and Cady's wedding, membew?"
"Oh, that's right, but we didn't talk much," Fluttershy blushed and cleared her throat. "Let me introduce myself. I'm your caretaker, Fluttershy." She took him and threw him in the air, making him giggle and squeal in delight.
Luna, meanwhile, took out a diaper bag and gave it to Twilight. "Everything you need is in here. And remember, if things get too out of control, let us know."
"I promise I won't try to hide things if things get out of hoof," Twilight replied, then blushed. "You mentioned there's a specific schedule for his milk?"
Celestia firmly nodded. "Yes, have him drink three of my bottles during the day and two of Luna's bottles: One before noon before his nap and one at night around eight. Ensure you don't feed him any sweets after five; he can eat some solid food. We fed him baby oatmeal in the morning, mashed yams for lunch, and mashed peas for dinner."
"Mashed peas, yuk!" Discord whined and stuck out his tongue.
Celestia smirked at the little lord of chaos, gave his nose a boop, and then continued. "After he eats his peas, he can have one of Luna's bottles. Now... we've noticed with Luna's milk that he gets rather sleepy afterward. So again, please make sure he only gets one of those before naps or before going to bed.."
Fluttershy just nodded along, seeming to absorb all that information while Twilight eagerly wrote everything down. "I've got it all written down."
"Also, don't forget to constantly check for diaper changes," Luna added. "You'll regret it if you don't."
Twilight was writing all of this down as Fluttershy simply nodded along, "I think I understand. We will take good care of him, I promise."
The two princesses were both a bit concerned: They were glad Fluttershy was taking on this task but worried she was underestimating Discord.
Twilight, however, looked up and proudly declared. "I know what you two are thinking, and we won't take any chances with him: We have baby locks for the doors, and I have a magical barrier spell placed around the cottage. He won't go running off anytime soon. You can be sure of that."
"Thank you, Twilight," Luna whispered, then continued, "Sounds like we chose correctly. My sister and I have both decided to get some R and R while Shining Armor and Princess Cadence settle into the Crystal Empire. Also, we talked to the Cakes, and they said you can organize playdates with the Cake Twins."
Princess Celestia slowly nodded, then added, "We'll be gone for a few days and pick him up as soon as Cadence says she's ready for Discord. Please contact us immediately if you need anything or can't handle him."
"Yes, princess." Twilight and Fluttershy nodded in approval.
"Tia and Lulu, ya leaving?" Discord asked as he whimpered.
"Oh no, sweetie, not for long," Celestia nervously insisted. "We'll be back eventually; we just need to, um..."
"Tend to some royal duties!" Luna exclaimed as she came over and kissed him on the forehead. "My sister and I will check up on you occasionally, so behave while we're gone, ok?"
Discord wiped the tears from his eyes and nodded at the two sisters as they flew off. As soon they did, however, the baby lord of chaos suddenly burst into tears!
"Is there any stop to this?!" Twilight shouted, now on top of some wood, as the cottage began filling with water.
Fluttershy, flapping her wings to stay above the waters, was trying to calm Discord down. But he was continuing to wail, flooding the room. "Um...Twilight, how did you calm down Spike when he was like this?" She nervously asked the unicorn.
Twilight said nothing; she just tossed Fluttershy a pacifier, and the pegasus plopped it into his mouth.
Discord suckled on the pacifier for a second, before spitting it out and continuing to cry.
"It almost worked," Fluttershy sighed, then took out a baby bottle filled with Celesta's milk and plopped it into Discord's mouth. This time, he calmed down, and a smile came over his face.
Spike was swimming over and asked. "Ok, the crying's stopped. So how do we get all this water out of here?"
Discord looked around, realizing what he'd caused. He then held out a claw and trembled as he snapped his claw, and the water disappeared. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike fell to the ground. Looking around, not an ounce of liquid could be seen. "Sorry bout tat," He apologized. "Stiww sad tat I can't be with Shiny and Cady, and my aunties weft. I just feew so wonewy."
Fluttershy's heart melted after hearing Discord's apology. It took the little lord of chaos up in her wings and nuzzled him. "Oh, it's ok, don't you worry. Twilight and I will make sure you're well cared for together while your aunts are away."
The baby draconequus then blushed and asked. "So, can I tuwn one of ya into a baby? I'll turn ya back to nowmaw eventuawwy, I pwomise. I just want someone to pway with."
Fluttershy placed a hoof over her chest. "I would love to!" Twilight then eyed the pegasus, who blushed. "But I need to stay as an adult. I promised the princesses to keep a good eye on you. And the same goes for Twilight. I don't wanna risk anything happening to her or her spells."
Twilight smirked as she turned towards Spike, who looked up with a surprised look on his face. "Why are you looking at me?!" The realization slowly dawned. "Oh no! No! Absolutely not!"
Twilight sighed. "Look, I promise if you do this and be a baby for a few hours, you can have as many gems as you want later, OK?! Just this once, please?"
"Fine!" Spike growled at Twilight. "Just hurry up and get it over with! You're the one who'll have to change me if I wet or mess myself!"
Discord squealed in delight as he then turned Spike into a toddler! A diaper appeared on the little dragon's rump, along with a cute T-shirt that read "Baby Dragon."
The baby lord of chaos then took out two form swords. "Ya weady, baby dwagon?! We gotta fight a plushie dwagon togethew!"
They both turned to see as a plush dragon came to life! It started to try attacking them, but of course, it couldn't do anything as its plush claws merely bounced off them. The two then went to battle it for what felt like a few hours as bursts of flame and plush got thrown everywhere! The living room of the cottage got messed up, covered in blocks not unlike a fortress.
At last, Baby Spike and Discord stood triumphantly over the defeated plush dragon.
"Ok, playtime is over," Twilight giggled at the adorable sight. "You have to return him to his original age, Discord."
"Well, can he make me a bit older than that? Like, say, about as old as Rarity?" Spike asked in a high-pitched voice.
"No, it has to be the exact age before he regressed you," Twilight snapped while glaring at Spike. "Or do you want to stay in diapers and have to grow up all over again?"
"No, of course not! I don't wanna go through potty training again! It was bad enough the first time with your whole family, Cadence, and even Princess Celestia all watching me whenever I had to do anything." He grumbled.
So Discord did as Twilight had asked, snapping his fingers and reverting Spike back to the age and size he'd been earlier. "Wow, I did it wight again!" He happily exclaimed, delighted at how well he seemed to be able to control his chaotic powers. "Why it so easy now?" He wondered aloud
"All it takes is not being so nervous," Twilight explained. "Now come on, we need to feed you before your nap, just like the princesses said," Then she lifted him up, noticing a damp patch on his diaper. "But we should change your first so you don't get a rash. You're not going to be ready to get out of diapers anytime soon."
And so, after a quick diaper change, Discord was placed into a highchair in the kitchen of Fluttershy's cottage. There, he was fed some mashed yams and had a bottle of Luna's milk plopped into his mouth. After suckling down the contents, he was burped and taken out of the highchair. He was then gently placed into the crib Fluttershy had rented as he felt himself starting to grow sleepy.
Looking out the window by chance, Discord could see the bustling town of Ponyville out in the distance, so he asked, "Can I go visit Ponyviwwe?"
Twilight shook her head. "Sorry, Fluttershy, and I promised to keep you here today. Maybe another time, ok? We can schedule a playdate with the Cake Twins tomorrow, alright?"
"Otay, fine," Discord grumbled in disappointment.
Fluttershy promptly plopped a pacifier into her charge's mouth, then slowly rocked him to sleep. After the little lord of chaos was fast asleep. She then slowly went downstairs to see Spike fast asleep and Twilight lying on her couch. She sat in her comfy chair and sighed. "Wow, that was a lot easier than I expected it to be."
Twilight yawned. "Yeah, I thought he would just be causing chaos and making your house come to life, or worse. But overall, he's a sweet kid and...I must admit, knowing he saved my sister-in-law makes me more than happy to be babysitting him."
Fluttershy nodded. "Oh yes, I'd love to have him come to my cottage anytime! He's so adorable!"
"Hopefully, the rest of the day won't be too difficult..." Twilight commented, then yawned again. "You think you can keep an eye on things while I nap too?"
"Of course, Twilight." Fluttershy then sat back and relaxed, drinking a cup of tea. Yet it wasn't long until she fell asleep as well. Caring for Discord had worn her out more than she had been expecting.
Discord woke up early in the afternoon, and upon a glance, he noticed the others were asleep. He knew this could get Fluttershy in trouble, but he wanted to see the Cake Twins so badly. If he was going to the Crystal Empire, it could be some time before he could come to visit Ponyville.
So Discord squeezed through the bars of his crib, dropping to the floor while taking care not to make too much noise. He slowly waddled to a window and opened it, seeing the pink magical bubble surrounding the cottage. He rolled his eyes, popped the bubble with a claw, and then waddled away as he headed towards Sugarcube Corner.
As the little lord of chaos walked among the crowds of ponies, he saw that most of them didn't notice him. But he soon realized he was lost; he didn't know anything or anyone and thus didn't know the way to Sugarcube Corner or Fluttershy's cottage.
Discord started to whimper in fright, worried about what would happen if Twilight, Fluttershy, Spike, or the princesses found out he was missing (let alone what they'd do if they found him). But then, by chance, he spotted a statue of Celestia and Luna that must've been built just recently. He blushed, knowing this might be a bad idea, but what else could he do? He was completely lost. He then closed his eyes and snapped his claws.
The statues started to come to life, then they trotted off their pedestals, looking completely confused. The statue version of Celestia then looked down. "Oh...who are you?"
"I'm Discord," Discord answered.
The statue version of Luna blinked and shifted about. "Oh, Discord, right. You're our ward...and we're the princesses of Equestria..."
"Yeah ...weww you uh awe wike Auntie WuWu and Auntie Tia and I uh... need hewp. I wost." The chaos maker blushed and whimpered.
The statue Celestia bent down to his level with a smile. "Oh dear. Well, where are you trying to go, little one?"
"I got wost wooking fow the Cake Twins at a pwace cawwed Sugawcube Cownew." Discord explained.
The statue Luna blinked, then replied. "Oh, I think I know that place," She turned to the other statue and said. "Sister, let's get Discord to the Cake Twins."
Discord blushed, seeing that they were still looking as statues. "Wait! Befowe tat, I uh gonna need to do someting to ya fiwst. Can't have ponies knowing wha ya awe." He then snapped a claw, and the two statues were given a makeover, their stone-like bodies now looking like their real counterparts. Their manes and tails were still stiff looking, but most ponies wouldn't notice, hopefully.
The little lord of chaos then hopped onto the transformed statue of Celestia (who still felt cold and hard as stone). "Otay, wet's go!" He shouted.
The statues of the princesses proceed to trot down the street. Ponies seemed to think they were the actual princesses, bowing left and right in their presence.
The statue version of Celestia blinked in confusion, then whispered to Discord. "Why are they bowing at us again?"
"Ya ta pwincesses, member?" Discord whispered back. "Ya gotta act wike pwincesses."
"Right...princesses..." Statue Celestia whispered, appearing to get the idea.
Statue Luna's cheeks, meanwhile, flushed pink. And she asked. "Does that mean we have a castle?"
"Yeah, you do!" Discord confirmed
"Ooh! Can we go there?!" Statue Luna excitedly asked.
"Uh...not yet," Discord replied. "It's uh..." He struggled to think of a good answer, finally settling on. "Undew wenovations!"
"Renovations, what are those?" Statue Celestia questioned. Apparently, such words were not understood by a living statue.
Discord blushed, trying to remember some of his spelling and speaking lessons with the princesses back in Canterlot. "Is a fancy word fow being worked on! But dun wowwy bout it, otay?"
"Alright." Both statues seemed to agree, nodding in unison.
The chaos maker then told the statues. "Now, when ta biggew ponies ask ya why ya hewe, just say I hewe for a pwaydate with the twins, otay?"
"Ok." The statues agreed.
"And don't wet tem touch you!" Discord cautioned.
The statues blinked in surprise, appearing to believe they were actual living ponies rather than statues made to look like ponies. "Why?"
"Becauses...uh...ya uh..." The little lord of chaos struggled to think of a good reply. At last, it came to him as he told the statues. "Because you're pwincesses, and pwincesses shouldn't touch other ponies."
"Ok." The statues replied, appearing to believe what Discord had told them.
But Discord still needed to finish giving the statues instructions as they led him through town. "Awso, dun twy eating ow dwinking anyting."
"What's eating and drinking?" The statues wondered.
Discord groaned, smacking a claw to his face. "Basicawwy, if tey offew food and stuff, just say ya just ate and awe supew fuww."
"Ok." The statue princesses chimed.
Discord sighed, thinking he had covered everything. Hopefully, he could have a quick playdate with the Cake Twins, get the two statues back to where they belonged, and then sneak back to Fluttershy's cottage before anypony noticed he was gone.
The Cakes were somewhat surprised upon hearing a loud knock, sounding like a piece of stone was hitting their doors. "Mrs. Cake, Mr. Cake?" I'm sorry to intrude, but we've brought Discord over for a playdate with the twins." The two looked at each other and realized that the voice belonged to Princess Celestia.
Mr. Cake then whispered into his wife's ear. "I thought Fluttershy was going to come tomorrow? The princesses never mentioned setting up a playdate today."
Mrs. Cake shrugged. "Maybe she came to have Discord come say hi."
The two then opened the door and were surprised to see the princesses, promptly bowing to both of them.
"Wait, why are you doing that?" Both princesses asked, apparently confused by the display.
"You're the princesses, aren't you?" Mr. Cake questioned.
"Oh, right.... Princess..." Celestia stuttered. "Well I... um..." The lord of chaos whispered something in her ear, and she quickly recovered. "Oh, right, we're here to have Discord playdate with the Cake Twins."
Carrot Cake laughed. "Oh, that's all? Of course, that's fine, your majesties!"
"It's perfect!" Cup Cake cooed. "They're getting rather rambunctious, and with Discord, I'm sure they'll get all their energy out," She then took out a massive cake. "Lucky for you, princess, I baked a cake for us to share! Would you like some?"
Celestia blushed and shook her head. "I would, but I already ate a lot this morning, so I'll decline."
"Ok." Mrs Cake whispered with her voice trailing. She felt it really out of character for the princess to refuse her baking (even if she said she was full).
Celestia then took Discord to the upstairs nursery, where the Cake Twins squealed in delight upon seeing the little lord of chaos. The three then started to play as the adults went downstairs to talk. The draconequus just hoped that the statues wouldn't do anything to reveal they're just really statues.
Fluttershy yawned as she raised her hooves and got up from a nap. Then she saw that Discord wasn't in his crib! Horrified, she started flying around her cottage while shouting frantically, "Discord! Discord!"
"Why are you shouting?" Twilight yawned as she started to get up.
Fluttershy gulped; she didn't want Twilight to learn that Discord was missing after her earlier reassurances. So she whispered. "Oh...nothing, just... uh...trying to find the diaper bag! Yes, that's it, Discord's diaper bag!"
"Oh," Twilight replied. "Well, if he needs change, I ca-"
But Fluttershy hastily and clumsily plopped a pacifier into Twilight's mouth. "No need, I got it."
Twilight pulled the pacifier out of her mouth with her magic. "Well, just let me know if anything happens..." She yawned again and rubbed her eyes. "I'm still tired from all the prep of last night."
"Yes, just go finish your nap," Fluttershy reassured her friend. "I'll make sure Discord is fine."
Twilight trotted off to sleep and curled up in the living room. As Fluttershy heard her friend snoring away, she set off from the cottage upon seeing a hole in the bubble shield. She then paused, and it didn't take long for her to figure out where her charge had gone. Realizing he'd probably gone to see the Cake Twins, she left to bring him back to the cottage before Twilight woke up again.
As Fluttershy entered Sugarcube Corner a short time later, she was surprised to see Celestia and Luna sitting and talking with the Cakes. She squeaked! "Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! I didn't expect to see you here!"
The two alicorn princesses turned towards the pegasus, with the princess of the sun smiling. "Oh, hello, uh...um..." She got rather blushy and then said. "Uh, what's your name again?"
"It's uh...Fl...Fluttershy." Fluttershy stuttered.
"Right, Fluttershy...thank you." Celestia nodded.
The pegasus was now suspicious as Celestia should know her name and asked. "I don't mean to pry, but... are you two feeling ok? Did you hit your heads or something?"
Celestia bonked her head with a hoof, which sounded like stone clanking. "Hit our heads? What does that mean?"
Mrs Cake then came over and whispered. "Um, Fluttershy, can we talk in private, please?" The pegasus nervously nodded and followed the mare into the kitchen. Mrs. Cake then said. "Uh, I don't quite know how to say this, but..." She bit her lip before whispering. "The princesses aren't acting like themselves."
"I noticed they didn't know my name, which is definitely odd." The pegasus mare began to ponder.
"They've also been making these weird clanking noises," Mrs. Cake added. "And it sounds like stones grinding when they move. They also haven't eaten or drank anything for hours, and neither have they used the bathroom," She nervously added. "I think they might be imposters. Maybe some stray changelings?"
Fluttershy paused to think, then groaned upon seeing that it was probably Discord's chaos magic at work. "I think I'll talk to Discord to see what's going on," She informed the baker. "Just keep the princesses busy and make sure they don't leave."
"Ok, sounds like a good idea." Mrs. Cake nodded and left the kitchen.
The pegasus mare then flew upstairs to find the Cake Twins and Discord playing happily together, and she snapped. "Discord!"
The lord of chaos squeaked as he blushed. "Yes, Fwuttewshy?"
"Why did you leave my cottage, and what did you do with the princesses?!" Fluttershy angrily demanded of the chaos maker. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
Discord blushed as he whimpered. "I...I was wowwied I wouwdn't be abwe to see the Cake twins again aftew I moved to the Cwystaw Empiwe, so I wanted to come see tem now whiwe I couwd. And I didn't do anyting to Auntie Tia or Wuna; those awe just statues I bwought to wife."
Fluttershy blinked and paused for a second, then asked. "Wait, you mean the statues in the plaza?"
"Yeah, I bwought them to life though they stiww just made of stone," Discord confessed. "I needed tem 'cause I was wost. I made tem wook weaw so ponies wouwdn't know tey statues and not the pwincesses."
The pegasus let out a sigh of relief, having feared the worst. "Ok, that is an easy fix. Let's get the statues back to their pedestals to avoid a panic, and then I'll take you back to the cottage with me."
Discord looked over with puppy dog eyes and asked. "Ya won't teww my aunties, wiww ya?"
"I won't tell," Fluttershy promised. "As long as you behave from here on out. You're supposed to use your magic for good, not for selfish purposes," She scolded him. "You're still going to have to go in time out for this when we get back to my cottage."
"Otay..." Discord grumbled. He turned to the twins. "Guess I'ww see ya some othew time." He waved goodbye to them and followed Fluttershy downstairs as they both approached the Cakes.
Fluttershy bowed and apologized. "Sorry for the confusion, but we figured out what's happening and will leave now. I'll explain what's going on later. Now come on, uh, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I think it's... time for you two to return to your royal duties."
They both blinked, but Discord gave them a slow nod, and the disguised statues followed Fluttershy out of the cottage.
Fluttershy then escorted the statues to their pedestals (thankfully, the plaza was relatively empty at this time). "I'm so sorry for having to do this to you."
The princess of the sun nuzzled the pegasus and replied in a whisper. "It's alright, we were statues in the first place."
Luna then added. "Yes, it was fun coming to life, but I'd rather just be a statue. Though keeping birds from pooping on us would be great."
Fluttershy giggled. "Ok, I'll talk to the birds and tell them to do their business elsewhere."
The lord of chaos then waddled towards them and asked. "Would ya mind If I have ya come back to wife sometime? We did have some fun togethew."
"We could as long as your foalsitter is ok with it." The statue version of Celestia replied.
"Just make sure to get permission next time," Luna added.
The statues then took a prancing pose across from each other, and the lord of chaos then flicked a claw! They soon lost their color and became stone-like once more as they stiffened and remained in place.
The pegasus flew over and nuzzled him. "I'm sorry, Discord. You shouldn't be cooped up in my cottage all day. So, as long as you behave, I'll let you visit the Cake Twins once a day while you're here in Ponyville. But you can't leave my cottage without my permission. Understand?"
"Yes, Fluttershy." Discord nodded.
"Good," The pegasus smiled. "You look exhausted. I think it's time you finished your nap." Fluttershy then escorted Discord back to her cottage and felt relieved upon seeing that Twilight was still asleep with Spike. She gently laid the lord of chaos in his crib, plopped a bottle filled with Luna's milk into his mouth, and rocked him to sleep while singing a lullaby.
Once Discord was asleep again, Fluttershy collapsed into her chair and sighed in relief at how she'd averted disaster, and no pony seemed to notice. Things will be less chaotic from here on out. |
It takes a Kingdom to Raise a Draconequus | Chapter Nine: Discord's First Nightmare Night | Discord was super excited about Nightmare's Night as it was a holiday he kept hearing about. A holiday where you get to dress up in a costume, collect candy, and play games all night. So it was that he'd gotten all dressed up for the night in a cute little royal guard costume: It had gold plated armor and he had a blue coat and tail. He'd admired the royal guards since living with them, so he asked Rarity to make a costume of their armor, and she'd happily made him a cute version fitted for his stature.
Discord was so thrilled about his costume that he wanted to show it off to Fluttershy. He ran downstairs to find Fluttershy in her kitchen, making a stew for herself. He wiggled his padded flank like a cat, then pounced onto her back and shouted! "Happy Nightmawe Night!"
Fluttershy laughed as she tossed the baby draconequus onto the kitchen counter and blew raspberries. Then she apologized. "Sorry for being unable to be with you tonight. I..I must admit I'm way too scared to go out tonight."
"Yeah, tat's fine!" Discord replied. "Auntie Wuwu said she was gonna be with me to hewp with getting candy."
"Yes, I know," Fluttershy nodded. "That sounds wonderful, and I hope you have a great time!"
Discord was then lowered onto the ground as he looked disappointed. "I stiww wish you wouwd come with me."
The pegasus sighed as she brushed Discord's head, "I know...but I'm sure you and Princess Luna will have more fun together on a night like this."
Then they both heard a knock at the door, and someone shouted! "Fluttershy! Discord! It is I, the princess of the night, wishing to enter!"
Discord squealed and bounced up and down in excitement as Fluttershy came over and opened it, revealing Princess Luna wearing a vampire costume with fake bat ears and plastic teeth to look like fangs. "Good evening! It is I, the princess of the night, wishing you a Happy Nightmare's Night! Muwahahaha!"
Fluttershy squeaked in fright and ran off! But Discord burst into laughter as he ran over, and she picked him up.
Luna then blushed and asked. "Uh, Fluttershy, are you ok?"
The yellow-coated pegasus slowly crawled out from behind her couch and with an embarrassed look replied. "Yes, I... I'm fine," She slowly got up, crossed over the room and started apologizing. "S...sorry I won't go out tonight...I am way too scared to leave my cottage."
"I apologize. I forgot about how scared you get," Luna replied, then adjusted the plastic teeth in her mouth. "Ugh, these things hurt."
"Can I make tem weaw fow ya?" Discord excitedly asked.
"That won't be necessary," Luna shook her head. "Now come, your princess has come to escort you to gather candy!"
"Yeah, I can't wait! Tis gonna be so much fun!" Discord hopped onto the princess' back, and then he turned around and waved a claw at Fluttershy, who waved back and then quickly closed the door behind them.
Discord then whispered. "Huh. Wonderw why she doesn't wike Nightmawe Night."
"I cannot say for certain, but from what I've gathered, she's the most shy and fearful of Twilight's friends," The princess explained. "But that's alright, we shall make sure to bring her many sweets from tonight's festivities!"
"Awwight, I'ww make suwe to get hew wots of candy!" Discord boasted!
And so, with that goal in mind, Princess Luna flew off from Fluttershy's cottage and headed towards Ponyville.
Hours passed by and things seemed to be going well: Foals were gathering candy, led by Pinkie Pie wearing a chicken costume. But Discord noticed that Luna looked somewhat downtrodden as the foals passed by, waving their hooves and giggling. He was somewhat confused as to why she was looking so depressed, and so he asked. "Hey, uh, Auntie Wuwu?"
"Yes?" Princess Luna somewhat hesitantly replied.
"You don't seem vewy happy. Is someting wong?" Discord questioned the princess.
Luna blushed as she admitted. "Well, this might sound silly, but in the past two years, I aome down here to scare the foals...But my act, as some ponies would put it, has grown rather stale."
"Huh, ya want to be scawy?!" Discord blinked in confusion.
"Well, I used to think that was a bad thing, until I learned it could be fun," Luna confessed. "...But yes, Discord, doing the same thing repeatedly hasn't helped, and moist ponies are now comfortable being around me... I miss being able to legitimately scare the foals, most of all Pipsqueak. He looks forward to me scaring him every year." As she spoke, she turned to see the colt, and smiled and waved as she looked at his costume that was made to resemble a pirate (complete with an eye-patch and a wooden sword).
Discord tapped a hoof to his chin, contemplating how he might help Luna achieve her goal. "I tink I gots an idea!" He said at last. He then snapped a claw, and suddenly magical tendrils wrapped around Princess Luna. The fake ears became infused into the sides of her head, making them look long and fluffy, the plastic teeth grew into real fangs long and pointed, her wings turned batlike, and her eyes became silted like a bat's with her cape growing around her.
This got the foals to scream and run away, which made the princess laugh! "This is perfect and goes great with my costume. Thank you, Discord!"
"No pwobwem." The baby lord of chaos chirped.
The two then went to Sugarcube Corner and, as the door opened, all gwaked at Luna's new costume as she strutted in front of them. "What do you think of my costume?"
"It...it looks so real!" Mrs. Cake said with a gasp.
"I am technically a batpony now, thanks to Discord here." Luna explained.
The two Cakes then turned their attention to baby Discord in his cute royal guard costume and dawwed. Mrs Cake giggled and asked, "Do you want to be a royal guard when you grow up?"
The little lord of chaos nodded and said. "Yeah, I want to be wike Shiny Armor! He ta best daddy evew!"
Mr. Cake blushed. "Better than me?"
"Uh, not what I meant." Discord whimpered.
Mr. Cake just smiled. "It's ok, he's lucky to have adopted you. Hopefully, you'll still be able to visit us, even though I hear you'll be living in the Crystal Empire."
"I'ww twy!" Discord promised.
Meanwhile, the adorable Cake Twins came bouncing over, bouncing up and down in excitement while wearing two jack-lantern like costumes. This prompted Discord to ask. "Awe tey gonna go candy gathewing too?"
"They're still too young, we think we'll wait for next year," Mrs Cake replied. "Maybe when they're out of diapers."
"Otay, I'ww twy to be potty twained by next yeaw too!" Discord chirped.
"Seeing as you already know how to use your chaos magic, I doubt potty training will be too difficult for you." Mrs. Cake commented as she took out a bowl of candy.
Discord happily grabbed a few clawfuls of candies. But as the chaos maker was distracted, he didn't notice a storm cloud approaching, until suddenly lightning shot out from it! This made Discord cry out in fright, and that sent some magic from his claw which zapped somepony! He turned around to see Rainbow Dash suddenly regressing into a school filly, making him squeak! "Oh no! Sowwy! I got scawed and used age wegwession!"
"No, this is awesome!" Rainbow Dash replied as she started flying about the place, looking thrilled at her new, younger body. She also saw that her Shadowbolt costume had shrunk with her. "Oh my gosh, now I can go candy gathering like when I was a foal!"
Princess Luna was taken aback by the enthusiasm. "Well, I'm glad to see that. But we should try to get you back to normal."
Rainbow immediately protested and pleaded. "Can I stay like this for one night? Please?!"
Discord shrugged. "Tat's up to Auntie Wuwu."
Luna, looking down at Rainbow Dash's puppy dog eyes, relented with a sigh. "All right, fine, just for tonight. But I expect you to come to Fluttershy's cottage at around midnight so we can turn you back into an adult."
"That's awesome! Thanks!" Rainbow Dash squealed in delight as she hugged Luna and flew off to gather candy.
Discord saw that Rainbow Dash was heading to Sweet Apple Acres, where a lot of other ponies were gathering, and asked. "Hey, Auntie Wuwu, can we go to Sweet Appwe Acwes? Tewe's a bunch of coow stuff going on tewe."
"Sounds like a brilliant idea, Discord. Let's go have some more fun!" Luna laughed, taking Discord onto her back as he waved goodbye to the Cakes as Luna trotted towards the orchard.
At Sweet Apple Acres, the first thing the two went to was a spider tossing game, where ponies attempted to throw plush spiders onto a sticky spiderweb. Discord kept missing.
Luna chuckled as she reminisced. "I remember when I first played this game."
"Wha happened?" The chaos maker asked.
The princess of the night got a little embarrassed as she admitted. "Oh, uh, I may have turned the toy spiders into actual spiders."
Discord rolled his eyes and scoffed. "And ya teww me to be cawefuw with my magic."
"Well," Luna coughed into a hoof and tried to recover. "As I said before, my first time trying to participate in Nightmare Night wasn't the best experience. I was still learning how to be around ponies. I... had a lot of trouble."
Discord waddled over to her and hugged her leg. "Sowie ta hear tat. Hopefuwwy, tis yeaw is much bettew fow ya."
Luna placed a hoof over her chest and replied. "Yes, this Nightmare Night is much more fun. And it's all thanks to you, little one."
"Oh yeah?" The baby draconequus replied. "I tink ya just gave me an idea tat can make tis game a bit mowe fun!" He then tossed one more spider. But this time, it turned into a giant pink plush spider, as did the others in the bowl. And then, like before, they started chasing other ponies, but they just caught and hugged them.
Luna watched the chaos unfold and burst out laughing. "That was a great use of your chaos magic!"
"Yeah, tanks." Discord replied.
But Applejack walked over at that moment and grumbled. "That was cute and all. But I do need those spiders to continue runnin' the game, ya know."
"Sowwie." Discord apologized. He quickly turned the spiders back to normal and then went about collecting them.
Meanwhile, Luna turned towards the farm mare, threw her mane back, and asked. "Good evening, Applejack. Do you like my new costume!"
Applejack was stunned at Luna's appearance and exclaimed! "You do look amazin'! And quite scary, too! That's from Discord's magic, right?"
"Yes it is!" Luna eagerly admitted. "He helped me make my vampire batpony costume come to life!" Just then, her nose twitched. She immediately flew over to the apple bobbing setup and hissed at ponies, making them shriek in freight as they ran off! Once they'd left, she plunged her muzzle into the water. She grabbed an apple, and began sucking the juice out of it until it was a shriveled up husk!
As Discord returned from collecting the toy spiders, she saw Luna sucking down all of the apples from the apple bobbing station and whispered. "Uh oh, maybe coming hewe wasn't the best idea."
Luna, meanwhile, continued to plunge her face into the water. She took out another apple and another until every apple was just a shriveled up husk around her. Afterwards, she burped and then looked around, embarrassed at her behavior. "Oh my!.. I apologize. That was most uncalled for. I don't know what came over me just then."
"Well, if you're all finished, maybe it's best you two move along." Applejack grumbled in annoyance as she went to grab more apples for the basin.
Luna quickly nodded. "I think we should go do the corn maze now."
Discord bounced up and down in excitement and squealed. "Oh, tat sounds wike a gweat idea!"
"Yeah, Granny Smith and Big Mac are runnin' it." Applejack replied as she pointed to the corn maze near the farm house.
"Thank you, Applejack. We'll go do that." Luna replied as she placed Discord back onto her back and headed towards the corn maze. As they went through the rather tacky maze filled with eyeballs. Luna was quite unafraid, and even Discord looked a bit bored. But as they were walking over some twigs painted white to look like bones, they heard a loud "Ooooh!". Then they both turned to see Big Mac coming out, dressed as a mummy!
Discord squeaked out in freight and accidentally shot out a beam of magic, turning the stallion into a school colt! The baby chaos maker groaned, "Oh no, not again!"
But instead of getting mad, Big Mac got super excited. "Oh heck yeah! I'm a kid again!" He then ran off through the maze, his costume having shrunk down with him.
"Wait!" Discord cried, but Big Mac was long gone.
Luna looked to Discord. "Don't worry, we'll find him! He won't get far!" She then ran through the maze looking for the little colt, and they eventually found him at the end of the maze, giggling as he waved a hoof and chirped. "Hey, y'all found me!"
"There you are! Quick, Discord, turn him back to normal!" Luna wheezed, a bit winded from all that running.
Discord was about to do just that, but then Big Mac held up a hoof and pleaded, "Wait, uh...c-can I stay like this? I uh... wouldn't mind gathering candy for a bit."
The little lord of chaos gave Luna a sheepish look, and she rolled her eyes, "All right. At midnight, come by Fluttershy's cottage, and we'll turn you back to normal, okay?"
"OK!" The colt squealed in delight as he ran off.
Discord then whispered. "Sowwie. I'ww twy not to do tat again."
"It's alright, little Discord," The princess reassured her charge. "We should tell Applejack and her grandmother what happened so they don't worry about him. And after that, why don't we give these foals one last scare before you settle in for the night?"
"Sounds wike a gweat idea!" Discord exclaimed as Luna unfurled her leathery bat wings and flew into the night sky.
At the statue of Nightmare Moon, a group of school foals gathered and were looking around, wondering when Luna was going to show up. Suddenly, a mysterious fog started to form around them, making it hard to see anything. Then they all hear somepony laughing maniacally. The foals all looked around, wondering who it was. It sounded like Luna but also not like her. Then they heard the flapping of leathery bat wings as a tall, powerful batpony descended on them and laughed. "Thank you for gathering my candy for me! But that is not what I crave tonight!"
Rainbow Dash flew over and shouted. "Wait, aren't you Nightmare Moon?"
"Oh no, I am Count Appleblood! And I came to suck your blood!" The batpony hissed! She flashed her fangs, and the foals shrieked as they started running. She then flapped above them as she chased them about, targeted Pip, and landed on top of him.
The little colt looked terrified as her muzzle bent near him, then she went to his belly and started blowing in it, making the colt giggle. He then hugged her muzzle and shouted. "That was so cool! Is this a new costume, Princess Luna?"
"Yes, it is. And thank you, little Pip," Luna confessed. "I feared my old act was getting stale, and so I changed it up a bit."
"Well, you scared me a lot! Please do this next year, too!" Pipsqueak replied. He then waved goodbye as he hopped off, looking much happier.
Discord then popped out from Luna's mane and smirked as he said. "Tat was good! They nevew gonna fowget tis!"
"Yes, I thank you for the much-needed shake-up to my routine, and thank you for adding the fog." Luna smiled at her charge.
"It's no pwobwem," Discord replied as he let out a tired yawn and stretched his tiny limbs. "I getting tiwed now, we should head to Fwuttewshy's."
"Yeah, let's get moving." Luna nodded, then unfurled her wings. She was going to soar back into the sky when she heard Discord say. "Wait! Maybe we shouwd tuwn ya back to nowmaw fiwst. Dun wanna scawe hew."
The princess blushed. "Oh, that's right. Thank you for reminding me, Discord."
Discord flicked a claw as Luna reverted back to her pony form with her fake plastic teeth, fake bat ears, and her pupils widened.
Luna then spat out the fake teeth and sighed. "They seriously need to design better fake vampire teeth. Those things really hurt your gums."
"Yeah, I tink I heawd Wawity awso compwaining bout tem, and how she gonna twy making ones tat fowm bettew in ya mouth." The little chaos maker commented.
"I guess I'll have to talk to her about making custom ones for next time." Luna added as she then soared into the night.
It didn't take long to arrive at Fluttershy's cottage. Once there, Luna knocked on the door, and she and Discord heard. "Go away, please! I have no candy!"
"Fluttershy, it is I, Princess Luna, returning from my revelries with Discord." Luna called out.
"Oh, right," The pegasus then opened the door and greeted Princess Luna as she levitated the baby lord of chaos over. "So, how was tonight?" Fluttershy asked.
"We had a wonderful time," The princess confirmed. "Discord behaved so well and helped me shake up my routine, "Luna's cheeks flushed pink, and they added. "However, we came across a slight problem where, everytime some pony tried to scare him, he would accidentally turn them into foals."
Fluttershy gasped! "Oh dear, are they ok?! Maybe I can take care of them!"
"Wait, howd on!" Discord protested as he lifted up a claw. "I onwy tuwned Big Mac and Wainbow Dash into schoow foaws. Tey not babies."
The pegasus mare blinked, then sighed. "Oh, that's a relief."
"Yes, thankfully, there were only two of them, and I told both of them to come here by midnight so we can turn them back into adults," Luna explained. Just then, the clock struck midnight, and they heard knocking at the door. "Ah, that's them now, I believe." Luna picked up her charge and trotted to the door. As she opened it, the Princess looked around, only to find that nopony was in sight.
Then there came a loud crack of thunder, heard "boo!", and Discord squeaked as he sent out another wave of chaos magic, as then a cloud above disappeared.
Two baby foals fell out and landed on Luna's back. She levitated the two over towards her face and groaned. She saw a pudgy baby pegasus with a rainbow mane, and a red coated earth pony foal with a brown mane. "Discord!"
"Sowwie! It just happens!" The chaos maker squeaked and whimpered as he and Luna brought the foals inside.
As they entered the cottage, Fluttershy flew down and, upon seeing the babies, dawwed,."Oh, they look so adorable!" She flew over and grabbed them, and within a few moments, they were wearing thick diapers around their waists as she cooed, "Oh, this is the best Nightmare Night ever!"
Luna sighed, "They are cute, but we should have them turned back to adults."
Discord, looking even more tired than before, let out a yawn. "I too twied to do mowe magic. I can do it fwist ting in the mowning."
Fluttershy flew up with the babies and clutched them near her chest. "That's perfect! I'll make sure they have a full foal breakfast and have them play with Discord for a bit too! And I'm totally taking pictures!" She then gave Luna puppy dog eyes, as did Discord.
Luna reluctantly relented once again, "Fine, but they better be turned back into adults first thing tomorrow morning. And Fluttershy, you are in charge until they change back."
"Oh, of course! Thank you!" Fluttershy then flew to her couch and plopped bottles of milk into the foals mouths as she held the two.
Luna just sighed, "I'll inform the Apples of what happened and reassure them Big Mac is alright. In the meantime," She looked down at Discord. "Behave yourself. No more turning ponies into babies."
"Otay, sowwie, didn't mean to." Discord sincerely apologized, looking quite guilty.
"Well, I think I'll tell Twilight about this issue," The princess declared. "Maybe she'll be able to include some lessons to keep you from doing this again," But she then bent down and nuzzled him, and whispered. "But thank you for the help with my costume. Tonight was wonderful."
"It's no pwobwem, Auntie Luwu." The draconequus replied as he hugged her, and then she kissed him on the nose.
Luna then flew off, heading towards Sweet Apple Acres.
As for Discord, he waddled over to Fluttershy, who took the three babies and snuggled them together on the couch. Discord giggled as he hugged her close to her chest, as she wrapped her wings around them tightly. The little lord of chaos then closed his eyes. He slowly drifted off to sleep, hoping he could do this every year. And hopefully, next year, he'd be potty trained and wouldn't regress ponies whenever he got scared. |
It takes a Kingdom to Raise a Draconequus | Chapter Ten: Discord's Hearth's Warming Day Present | It was Hearth's Warming Day, and Discord was looking out at Ponyville, which was covered in a thick blanket of snow. He didn't remember seeing snow; it was all gone by the time he could really recall memories.
Fluttershy came over and placed a bottle into his mouth, and as he started to suckle, she cooed. "Oh, you're so adorable. I can't believe we'll finally see Shining and Cadance again."
"Weawwy?!" Discord exclaimed with his eyes widening! "Is that way gonna happen?"
"Yes, really," Fluttershy nodded. "So we better make sure to get everything before they arrive."
After his feeding, Fluttershy gathered all of Discord's stuff: A diaper bag and toys. She then dressed Discord into a cute red and green coat, fluffy green pants, and a red cap with a white puff ball dangling on the end.
Upon seeing Discord dressed up, Fluttershy came over and dawwed. "Oh, Rarity did such a great job with your winter clothes!"
"She did. I wuv tem so much!" Discord chirped as he bounced over and hugged the pegasus, and she hugged him close to her chest. She then plopped the little lord of chaos onto her back as they entered the snow-covered streets. The trot through the snow was quite magical for Discord. They soon reached the train station.
There, Twilight was waiting patiently on the platform. She smiled and trotted over. "There you are!" She then levitated Discord over and nuzzled him. "Oh, you're so cute! How are you, Discord?"
The baby Draconequus nuzzled back and then giggled. "I'm so excited! We gonna finawwy go to ta Cwystaw Empiwe?!"
"Well, Fluttershy and I already went recently when we had to stop King Sombra from taking over," Twilight told him.
"Yeah, tat was a while ago. Ya otay?" Discord asked.
Twilight nodded. "Everything turned out fine, thanks to Spike."
"Wight heard Spike is a big hewo now!" The draconequus looked around with a confused look on his face and asked. "Wait, where is Spike?"
"I'm right here!" The little dragon came up, looking quite annoyed, as he shouted, "Come on! The train is about to go!"
Fluttershy picked up Discord and then apologized, "Right, sorry, it took us a minute to get ready."
The mares then headed onto the train, and they all sat together with baby Discord nestled into the lap of Fluttershy, who covered him with her wings as she gave him a bottle to nurse on, the gentle rocking of the train slowly lulling him to sleep.
Discord slowly woke up when the train came to a stop, and the next thing he saw as Fluttershy was carrying him was the buildings of the Crystal Empire and the shiny crystal ponies walking about. He was captivated by the city and these new ponies he'd never seen before. The best part was every time one of the crystal ponies saw him. Unlike those in Ponyville who were weary of him, these ponies all smiled and waved, and he waved back to them.
Soon, the group reached a massive castle in the heart of the city. As they entered the throne room, Cadance and Shining came over to greet Discord, and he bounced off Fluttershy, toddling right to them to be picked up.
"Oh, Discord, I've missed you!" Cadance hugged and nuzzled the little draconequus.
"I missed ya too!" The little lord of chaos squealed. Shining Armor nuzzled him and, together with his wife, gave Discord a kiss.
Cadance then bowed in front of Fluttershy. "Thank you for caring for Discord for the past few months while we got settled in here."
"Oh, it was no problem, princess," Fluttershy insisted. "We got along so well, and he didn't cause too much trouble. I think he really liked Ponyville."
"Regardless, you were a big help keeping him under control," Cadance smiled. "So please join us. We're about to have Discord open his presents!"
"Pwesents?!" Discord blinked as his ears perked up.
"Yes!" Cadance told him. "And since it's your birthday and Hearth's Warming, you're getting double the presents!"
"Doubwe the pwesents?!" Discord could barely hold in the excitement as he was escorted to a foyer that was decorated for both Hearth's Warming and a birthday: There were streamers and balloons made of green and red, there was holly everywhere, a massive table with a ton of sweets from cookies and pie, and a massive cake in the middle, along with a fireplace. There was a gigantic Hearth's Warming tree covered in lights and ornaments with a ton of presents underneath.
In the middle of the room, standing before him, both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were there, smiling as they came over, shouting together. "Discord!"
"Auntie Tia, Auntie Wuwu!" Discord chirped as he threw himself over and waddled over, and they hugged him close.
"Hey, what about us?!" Mr. and Mrs. Cake called as they came over. He flew over, and the two hugged him, delighted to see they'd brought the twins with them.
Pinkie Pie bounced over and joined in. "Hey Discord, do you like your super birthday/Hearth's Warming party I set up for you?!"
The little lord of chaos then ran over to Pinkie, and she hugged him as he squealed, "Yeah! Tis is so coow! Tank you!"
"Glad you like it. I worked super duper hard on it," Pinkie beamed, then bent down and whispered. "Also, could you turn me into a foal today? I would love to be one for your Hearth's Warming present. Just for today, though. I don't think Mr. and Mrs. Cake could handle three foals."
"Of couwse! Just fow today!" Discord replied, then with a snap of a claw, the pink party pony regressed into an adorable, pudgy baby with a poofy diaper. Pinkie Pie then pounced onto Discord, and soon, he and the other foals were running around, chasing each other and having fun together.
Cadance soon came over and caught them all in her magic as she cooed. "Alright, you all can play together later. But we better get to opening presents. That's the main reason why everypony's here today."
The gifts were soon passed out, and Pinkie Pie and the Cake twins started helping Discord open them. Unsurprisingly, most of the presents were cute outfits, diapers, toys, and other foal supplies. But Discord just tore through the wrapping paper like a machine as the thrill of seeing what was in the presents was more fun than getting what was inside of them. Still, he thanked everypony when told who had gotten him what.
After the foals had finished opening the last of the gifts, everyone was seated around the table where they had cake, pie, and cookies, all broken into bite-sized pieces for the little ones and guzzled down various bottles of milk. Afterward, Princess Cadance smiled and led everyone out to play in the snow.
The foals bounced around, throwing snowballs at each other for a bit before Pinkie Pie proclaimed! "Hey, maybe we should go buiwd a snowmare!"
"Yeah, tat wouwd be so coow!" Pound chirped in delight.
But Pumpkin scratched her head. "What is tat, though?"
"Oh, is a mawe made of snow!" Pinkie explained while bouncing on her diaper. "We gots to buiwd her with snow fiwst, ten use bits of coaw fow eyes and ta nose, a cawwot fow a hown, and sticks fow wings!"
Discord started to roll a bunch of snow together as he shouted. "Tat sounds so coow! Wet's do it!" With help from the grown-ups, the foals built the snowmare as best they could. When they were finished, it looked rather lumpy and uneven.
Cadance, however, marveled at the structure. "Oh my, you foals did such a great job! I have to go get a camera! Stay right there!" She then flew into the castle.
After Princess Cadance left, Pinkie Pie whispered. "I remembered tis owd song as a fiwwy about a snowman coming to wife when they put a magical tiara on its head. Bu snowmawes dun come to wife." She plopped down on her padded rump.
The lord of chaos pondered for a second and then snapped a paw as a sparkly tiara made of ice appeared atop the snowmare's head. Then, all of a sudden, a blast of light engulfed the area, and the snow formed into a flesh-like body: The carrot turned porcelain, the eyes glowed a crystal blue, and the mane became a swirl of white and blue as wings flared out, reflective like ice!
The newborn alicorn flexed as it blinked and looked around, seeming to try to gauge its surroundings. The Cake twins and Pinkie Pie were in awe at what had just transpired (while the grown-ups were all staring in disbelief) as the snowmare turned to them and blinked, looking confused at the foals as she asked. "Hello, who are you?"
The rest of the foals weren't sure how to respond at first. But Pinkie Pie was the first to bounce over and waved a hoof. "Hewwo! My name is Pinkie Pie!"
"Pinkie Pie? Names?" The snowman's confusion depends.
Discord blushed and explained. "Sowwy, uh, names are what we caww each other. I'm Discowd, and ya just met Pinkie Pie. She's only a foaw for today," He pointed to the other babies. "The pegasus is Pound Cake, and the unicown is Pumpkin Cake."
The two waved their hooves, and then the snow mare waved back and then asked. "So, um...should I have a name?"
Pinkie bounced up, booed the newborn alicorn in the nose, and cried. "Weww of couwse, is youw biwthday!"
The snowmare's eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"
"Yeah, you were down today," Pinkie Pie pointed out. "Bettew yet, is Heawth's Wawming Day!"
Discord was now getting excited as well and chirped. "Ya has ta same biwthday as me!"
The alicorn's cheeks flushed red ever so faintly as she asked. "Um, what's a birthday?"
The lord of chaos groaned and explained. "Is ta day ya was bown! So today is ya biwthday!"
"Oh ok..." The snowmare began to scratch her head with one of her hooves. "But, um, should I have a name?"
Pound then said. "Wight, um... owa pawents named us aftew cake. Dun tink tat wouwd wowk fow ya 'cause ya made of snow."
"Yeah, but she can be Angew Cake! Tat's a coow name!" Pumpkin chimed in with her sentiments.
Pinkie Pie promptly protested. "I dun tink pastwies wouwd make sense, what about someting wike Snowy?"
Discord nodded in agreement as he pondered and thought about what Pinkie had said made sense. "Yeah, ya Snowy."
"Ow Snowbaww?!" Pumpkin exclaimed.
"Ow snowfwake?!" Pound chirped.
But the snowmare just tapped a hoof to her chin, and then a pair of wings made of ice appeared.
Seeing this, Pinkie bounced up and down as she excitedly squealed! "I got it! What about Snow Angew?!"
"That's a great name. Snow Angel!" The snowmare agreed as her wings unfolded. She flew into the air and came back down after a short flight. "I love it!" She then hugged Discord, who squeaked as her hug was quite cold. "Eek! Wet me go!"
Snow Angel placed Discord down and briefly ruffled his spines. Then she asked. "Okay, so I have my name. What now?"
"Well, guess we gotta teach ya stuff," Pinkie Pie proposed. Looking down at herself, she blushed and asked. "Um...do ya need diapees?"
"Diapers?" Snow Angel pondered and blinked. "What are those?"
Discord nodded. "Yeah, ya just born, so ya pwobabwy dun know how ta use ta potty yet. None of us can eithew."
"Actually, I think I still could," Pinkie pointed out. "But diapees mean I dun have to stop pwaying to go potty. Besides," She blushed a bit as she felt her diaper squish. "I tink I awweady went." She waddled over to Mrs. Cake for a quick change.
The snowmare turned around, confused by the fact that only the ones immediately in front of her seemed to be wearing "diapers". "You mean those white fluffy things around your flanks?"
After being changed, Pinkie Pie came bouncing over, happily showing off her fresh diaper as she then thrust it out and cooed. "Yeah, tese! But ya made of snow, so I dun tink ya need one. Ya pwobabwy dun need ta potty eithew."
"What's the potty? What does it have to do with diapers?" The snowmare questioned.
"Is someting the gwown-ups know about, and when tey say ya weady tey make use it," Pound Cake explained. "It's why they dun weaw diapees. But I tink ya good 'cause ya made of snow."
The snowmare seemed to be satisfied with that answer. "Well, alright. But what about those other things on you?" She asked as she looked at their outfits.
Discord looked at his scarf and jacket and giggled. "Ya wight, we shouwd dwess ya up. Howd stiww, pwease!" He snapped a claw, and the snowmare was suddenly dressed in a cute blue jacket with a snowflake pattern on it, a fluffy blue scarf, and a thick diaper around her flank. Discord squeaked in surprise at the last article of clothing and cried. "Eek, didn't mean to add ta diapee to ya!"
The snowmare turned around, scrunched the padding between her thighs and said with a smile. "It's ok. I like the look of it, and it feels nice. It's so soft. I see why you all like them."
Pinkie Pie then bounced over and chirped. "Why dun we go do stuff togethew, Snow Angew?"
Snow Angel then asked. "Like what? What should we do?"
"Wike, go pway at a pawk. Ya alweady a baby!" Pound added.
"Yeah, ta pawk! Wet's go!" Pumpkin squealed!
"Ok, the park it is!" The snowmare then quickly gathered the foals, placed them all onto her back and then flew off.
"It can fly?!" Twilight exclaimed in disbelief. "That shouldn't be possible. Snowmares can't come to life, or talk, or fly!"
"We'll worry about that later," Princess Celestia declared. "For now, we better follow them and make sure they don't cause any trouble."
Mrs. Cake nodded. "Plus, they didn't take anything with them. Who's going to change their diapers or give them bottles?"
The grown-ups then set off in pursuit of Snow Angel and the foals, all of them still astounded by what Discord's chaos magic had done.
It took a little while for Snow Angel to be directed to a nearby park and play with the foals. As she did so, many of the crystal ponies nearby looked over, confused at seeing a playful-looking "adult" pony wearing foal clothes and a diaper, and acting like a child.
Snow Angel looked around while playing, scratching her head in confusion. "Why are the other ponies looking at us so strangely? What's gotten into them?"
Discord shrugged. "I dun know, tey did tat a wot in Ponyville. But they dun does it to me here cause my new parents' awe ta loyalty called prince and princess."
"Oh really?" Snow Angel blinked while pausing briefly in her playing. "What does being a prince or a princess mean?"
Pinkie Pie paused in throwing a snowball. "Tey wike ta views of this place, and they saved it from an evil king named Sombwa."
"Wow! That sounds like such a cool job!" Snow Angel exclaimed!
"Weww, technically Spike saved ta Cwystaw Empiwe." Pinkie Pie corrected.
"Who's Spike?" Snow Angel wondered.
"A purple and green scared baby dragon. But he doesn't wear diapers 'cause he's not a baby wike we awe," Pinkie explained. "He sure cool," Then she got an idea. "Hey, wanna meet him and the others?!"
"Oh yes, please, that sounds like a lot of fun!" Snow Angel declared.
"Good," Discord said with a blush. "Cause I just realized we didn't take anything from the gwown-ups before we came here. Whenever grown-ups take us somewhere, they always bring awong this special bag that has things for us. Tings we need. We shouwd pwobawby get back ta tem befowe we need someting."
Snow Angel then flew across the empire, with Discord giving her directions. She headed towards the front doors of the crystal castle and landed outside.
Just then, Cadance flew over, looking quite panicked and alarmed if the size of her eyes was any indication. "There you all are! What do you mean by running off like that?! And who's this... creature you're with?"
Discord hopped off Snow Angel, then waddled over to Cadance and apologized before explaining. "Sowwy, Mama. We made a snowmawe, and uh,.." His cheeks flushed pink as he confessed. "Ten she came to wife, 'cause I made hew come to wife. Pinkie Pie gave me ta idea."
"Huh?" Princess Cadance looked up to see the odd snow-like pony and blinked. "Wait, this pony is just a snowmare?"
"Yeah," Discord nodded. "She came to wife and uh, I wanted to show hew to evewypony."
"Oh, well, that'll be fine," Cadance declared. "But she shouldn't come inside if that's the case."
The little draconequus asked. "Why not?"
"Snow melts when it comes close to something warm, like a fire," The princess explained. "And if she came inside, she might melt. That would be really unfortunate."
"Oh no!" Discord gasped in horror! "I dun want my new fwiend ta mewt!"
Pinkie Pie blushed. "Yeah, tat doesn't sound wike a good idea. It'd be weawwy messy."
Discord then pleaded. "Pwease dun wet hew mewt, Mommy! She's my fwiend! I dun want hew to go away. I won't have any fwiends to pway with hewe in the empiwe if she mewts." He shot her the best pair of pleading puppy dog eyes he could muster up.
Princess Cadance sighed, unable to bring herself to say no. "Well, at the very least, I'll get the other adults and see what they can do." The princess of love then turned to the others as they trotted up.
"You shouldn't be running off like that," Fluttershy scolded the babies. "You could've gotten lost or hurt. You should ask for permission from grown-ups before wandering off with ponies you just met."
"Hey, I technicawwy a gwown-up." Pinkie Pie pointed out.
"But you're in diapers right now. I don't think that counts." Shining Armor pointed out, causing Pinkie to blush anew.
Twilight was the most intrigued by what she was seeing and trotted around Snow Angel, poking the snow. To her surprise, it felt like an actual body and relatively solid. "How did you do this, Discord?"
Discord shrugged. "Dun know. It would be like the statues, just a bit of fun. But she's diffewent she's mowe...well, I think?"
Twilight, meanwhile, eyed the diaper and blushed, "Well, she may have just been born, but I don't think she needs a diaper, Discord. She's not like you and me. I don't think she can go to the bathroom. There's no reason for her to wear a diaper."
Snow Angel shook the padding a little, then chuckled. "It feels great, though," Then she asked. "Do you need a diaper, Twilight?"
This got a giggle from the others as Twilight jumped back and cried. "What?! No, of course not! I'm much too old to be wearing diapers."
Cadance chuckled. "Well, in any case, is she...still made of snow, Twilight?"
Twilight shook her head from side to side. "As far as I can tell, Snow Angel's a living, breathing pony.... And I can't believe I said that; that's crazy!"
Discord gulped. "Did I do someting wong?"
Cadance picked the little chaos trod up. "No, of course not, but...maybe don't use your chaos magic to make things come to life anymore. The next time you do it, what comes to life might not be so friendly like Snow Angel or the statues."
"Otay...I wun do tat again." Discord promised.
Twilight then began to shiver. "Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but I think it's getting cold out here. We should go inside...but first!" She then turned to Spike, who came out looking just as surprised as the others. "Hey, Spike. Why don't you produce a small flame for me really quickly?"
Spike, though confused, burped a small spout of flame as instructed, and Twilight caught it in a bubble. She brought it near Snow Angel, who stepped back. But as it went around her body, all Snow Angel did was sweat a little, no melting.
Twilight then had the flame dissipate. "Well, this proves she won't melt. She still looks like she's made of snow but doesn't melt like it."
This got a cheer from the foals, and then they all escorted Snow Angel into the castle.
As the others all went inside the castle together, everypony, including the princesses, just stared in disbelief. Princess Celestia asked the snowpony. "So, um, what's your name again? In all this excitement, I've forgotten it."
"Snow Angel." Snow Angel replied.
Luna then interjected. "Right, well, this is all unprecedented. Are you aware you were created by snow, Snow Angel?"
"Snow...yes," Snow Angel nodded. "That's what Discord called me, a snow mare."
Cadance then asked. "And you do understand that you are just born?"
"Yes, it's my birthday!" Snow Angel chirped in delight.
Celestia sighed as she explained, "So, um, this leaves us with an issue, as you need to be cared for. You need somepony to teach you right from wrong and ensure you don't get into trouble." She then turned to Cadance, who bristled in excitement.
"Which means it would probably be best if you started over as a baby." Princess Cadance declared.
The snowmare blinked and then asked. "A baby? Me?"
"Well, the little ones that created you are babies," Cadance explained. "If that's okay with you." She pointed to the smaller foals, all still gawking at Snow Angel.
The snowmare then gave a nod of approval, "I see. So I'll be smaller?"
Luna nodded. "Yes, you can grow and learn about our world and enjoy a childhood; it would be much more difficult to do so in an adult body."
Snow Angel nodded along. "Oh, that sounds fine!"
Celestia and Luna both gave Discord an approving nod. Then, with a flick of his paw and claw, the adult mare was turned into a pudgy baby alicorn. He then hugged her as she hugged back and then giggled. "Tis is ta best pwesent evew! I just got a sistew!"
Cadance let out a slightly exaggerated but annoyed sigh. "Oh dear, I wasn't expecting two foals."
Shining nuzzled his wife and added. "The more the merrier, I say. Why not? We've got a castle, and I'm sure we can hire a nanny if we have any more. But I think we should see how we handle two. Especially one that's going to go into potty training soon."
Later that evening, Pinkie Pie was turned back into an adult after a lot more fun playing together. "Being a foal again was fun! I hope I can do it again sometime!" She said to Discord.
Then, after a heartfelt farewell from Fluttershy and the other birthday guests, Discord and Snow Angel were taken upstairs by Princess Cadance to Discord's new nursery, which had a yellow and green puzzle piece floor mat. The walls were painted sky blue and in hues of bright pink. There was a diaper-changing table, a wardrobe full of clothes, and a treasure chest full of toys.
The little lord of chaos waddled about, admiring his new room with Snow Angel waddling by him. "Wow, what is tis pwace?"
"It's my nusewy. Ya, and I gonna be doing a wot together." Discord explained.
"That's right. Now come on, it's late," Cadance scooped the two up and had them both dressed in thick night-time diapers and some cozy sleepers. She tucked the two babies into the crib and left them with a baby monitor turned on.
Snow Angel whispered as the two foals cuddled up in the crib. "Discord."
"Yeah?" Discord whispered back.
"Tanks fow making me," Snow Angel told him. "Sowwie if tis causes pwobwems."
"I dun tink so," Discord replied. "Besides, ya seem to be different from other babies. Ya, dun cwy and seem aware of things, like me. I tink Cadance and Shiny won't mind. And besides, if they adopts ya, ya will be a princess."
Snow Angel blinked slowly. "Pwincess?"
"Yeah! Member, I told ya princesses awe super cool? Ya Pwincess Snow Angew." Discord declared.
"I like tat..." Snow Angel nodded before whispering again. "Discord?"
"Yeah?" Discord asked her.
Snow Angel then cuddled beside him and wrapped her wings around him as she whispered. "I wuv you."
Discord nuzzled back and then whispered. "Wuv you too." They then snuggled together and slowly fell asleep together, with Discord smiling. Seeing his first Hearth's Warming Day and birthday was the best he'd ever have. |
It takes a Kingdom to Raise a Draconequus | Chapter Eleven: Hearts and Chaos | Discord was up, waiting for a breakfast of heart-shaped pancakes. And as he chomped away, he was wondering how to make this year's Hearts and Hooves Day special for his adopted parents. He turned to Snowflake and whispered. "Hey, so, I got something important to say."
"Wha's tat?" Snowflake asked.
"Well, I want to help Mommy and Daddy have a fun Hearts and Hooves day," Discord explained. "They have been working so hard since coming to the Crystal Empire. Tey dun even has time fow themselves 'cause they so busy taking care of us."
Snowflake paused as she said. "Uh, do you know what that is?" The little lord of chaos then explained the holiday to his baby sister, who nodded along. "Tat's coow, so what do you tink we shouwd do fow tem?"
Discord smirked as he took out a book. "I dun know how ta wead, but I saw ta pictures and thowt we can make a wuv potion to help tem wuv each other more!"
"Otay, sounds wike fun!" Snowflake cheered.
After breakfast, the two then went to work making the potion together in their room (Discord having secretly found a way to smuggle in the ingredients by poofing them into his diaper, pulling them out as needed), with Discord and Snowflake making quite a mess. But the two did their best to clean it up so that the grown-ups wouldn't get suspicious. Then they wrote out some sloppy-looking letters, Discord using his chaos magic to try to make them look more formal.
The letters to Shining and Cadence told them to meet in the palace gardens. So they did.
Underneath a gazebo, the two babies waited, anticipating Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, looking exhausted. As they sat together, Snowflake got rather impatient and whispered to Discord. "Do ya tink tis wiww wowk?"
"Yeah, is gotta, we have been over tis," Discord pouted. "Shining Awmow and Princess Cadence wove each other about. So I got tis romantic wunch aww set up fow tem, along with ta potion."
"Hopefuwwy ya know what ya doing," Snowflake replied in uncertainty.
"Yeah. We got the potion wight, and Mommy and Daddy will be hewe any minute. We already did the had part. So now we just gotta sit hewe and wait." Discord explained.
Princess Cadence and Shining Armor soon came to the meeting spot, completely confused at being called out on such short notice. They soon spotted the lunch. Unknown to them, Discord and Snowflake were watching from afar, waiting to see what was going to happen.
The crystal couple looked around, then talked and laughed as if everything was normal.
"It's cute that Discord thinks we don't know he's doing this," Princess Cadence giggled. "He's even smarter than Twilight was when she was just a filly."
Shining Armor giggled back. "Probably even before then. I thought Twily was pretty smart even when she was in diapers. Discord is so smart; he could probably change his own diapers and make his own bottles, and he's not even two years old yet."
"Well, it would be a shame to let his hard work go to waste," Cadance commented, eyeing the punch. Neither she nor her husband suspected anything was amiss about it.
"Yeah. He wouldn't make anything that could hurt us; he loves us too much." Shining replied. And as soon as the cups were full of punch, he and his wife drank it. Then they both gave each other confused looks as they made light talk, unable to take their eyes off each other. The two babies watched with anticipation, expecting to see something happen.
But the crystal couple eventually grew weary. Princess Cadence let out a yawn. "I think I might have to call it an early day and go to bed. I don't know what it is, but I'm so tired."
Shining Armor nodded back. "Same here, hon. Guess all that planning for the Equestria Games has worn us out more than we thought. It's only gonna be more exhausting if we have to start potty training Discord."
"Let's hold off on that until we're both fully rested and ready to commit to it," Cadance suggested, and she and her husband went their separate ways.
As the two grown-ups faded from view, Discord and Snowflake groaned as they plopped down in disbelief, and Discord shouted. "What happened?! Did we mess it up or something?! Ta potion was supposed ta make tem wove each othew mowe, not tiwe tem out."
"Maybe tey just too busy," Snowflake added. "Ta potion didn't wowk."
Discord let out a sigh and shrugged. "Guess tat's it. It was a good twy, though."
"Duh, is obvious the speww we made didn't work. I'ww wook over the book we got and see if we missed something." Discord groaned. The foals went back to their nursery as the little lord of chaos wondered how his potion went wrong.
The next morning, Princess Cadence entered into her royal bathing chambers and started to groan as she wondered if all that candy Shining had given her yesterday was making her sick. Her belly felt heavy, almost like she was going to have a baby. But after waiting for a moment, the feeling seemed to die down, so she continued to go through her morning routine by hopping into the shower.
That was when the princess started feeling weird, like her body was becoming bigger. She felt as if her entire form grew, her back legs becoming stockier, and she saw in her bathroom mirror that she was taller. Then she turned to see her tail was now much shorter, and her face was pronounced like Shining Armor's. She felt as if something was off: She wasn't Princess Cadance; he was Shining Armor, and he should be out there to make sure that the empire was safe!
Shining then trotted out of the house and through the streets of The Crystal Empire, with the cool morning breeze going through his mane as he headed out to find the rest of the soldiers.
Meanwhile, that morning, Shining Armor was also waking up from his slumber and yawning as he stretched his limbs to get ready for work. But then he saw he felt something was off as he got out of his bed, feeling much lighter with a bounce to his step. He turned to see that his body was much longer, and his coat and mane were curling around his head. Looking in a mirror, he was surprised that he looked like his wife, Princess Cadance. In fact, he was Princess Cadance! And she should be out making sure couples were doing well in the Crystal Empire, spreading love as it was her duty! But first, she had two babies to care for, and she flew off to find her foals.
A little later, with the sun slowly shining through the window of Discord's room, the little baby draconequus slowly woke up to see a white-coated mare tending to him. "Discord, it's time for a diaper change."
The little baby was groggy and could barely make out the mare, but she assumed it was her sister and mumbled. But then he got a good look at the mare and blinked in surprise, seeing the familiar face of Shining Armor staring back at him. "Uh, Daddy?"
"I'm not Daddy, sweetie. It's Mommy!" Shining cheered as she lifted him out of the crib along with his sister's.
Discord blinked again, seeing the voice sounded a bit like his mommy's, but she had the same coat and mane color as his daddy's. What was going on? "Um, Mommy, what are you doing, hewe?" He asked Shining.
"Getting you up to have some playtime. Now, come on! You don't wanna be sitting in that soggy old diaper all morning, do you? What kind of Mommy would I be if I let you get a diaper rash?" The mare lifted Discord up and took him to a diaper change.
During the change, Discord got a good look at this strange mare, seeing the white coat with a savvy, blue-striped mane going down the side of her face that was curled and trialed around her right shoulder. Her cutie mark was a shield in the shape of a heart. In that instant, Discord realized that the love spell that he and Snowflake made had done this! Horrified and stricken with guilt, he cried. "I so sowwy, Daddy! I didn't mean to tuwn ya into a girl!"
"Princess Cadence" blinked, looking confused, then asked. "What do you mean? You didn't do anything wrong. I've always been a mare," Soon afterward, she finished the change and cooed. "There we go. We'll see what your daddy thinks about starting your potty train next week, okay, sweetie? And Snowflake, we'll need to start buying more supplies for you. You can't keep using Discord's spare diapers all the time. You need diapers that fit you."
Discord was stunned and nervous, seeing that he had to do something. Shining Armor now thinks he is his mom, Princess Cadence. He didn't want the real Princess Cadence to see Shining Armor like this. But he knew he needed time to whip up a cure as soon as possible to get Shining back to normal. And he soon got to thinking that the best option was to keep him here. "Hey, uh, Mommy, awe ya busy today?"
The mare looked confused. "Well, no, actually. Hearts and Hooves Day was yesterday. But Shining Armor and I want to just hang out today."
The little lord of chaos gave her some puppy dog eyes and then cried, "Pwease, I promise it'ww be quick!"
"Princess Cadence" placed both foals down in a playpen and started playing with them. After playing a ton of games, usually involving "Mommy" to chase them, she started to get tired and soon collapsed on the nursery floor, snoring. As she did so, Discord waddled to Snowflake and said. "Listen, we gotta make a new potion to change Mommy and Daddy back to nowmaw."
"So, ya want to sneak tem messages wike we did yesterday?" Snowflake replied.
"Yeah! Wets get to wowk!" Discord chimed in.
"Shining Armor," meanwhile, was busy trotting around the castle with various other guards just gawking at him, wondering who he was. The stallion was rather confused by the looks and shrugged. He'd always been this way. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, he heard something and saw a letter fall onto his head.
Opening the letter, Shining read that his wife wanted to meet him for lunch at the gazebo. His stomach growled, reminding him that he had skipped breakfast to get an early start on his patrols. "There's no harm in taking a lunch break," He said to himself, then trotted off towards the gazebo. "Everything's nice and peaceful in the empire."
Not long after the messages were given, Discord and Snowflake hid behind the same bush as before: Everything was the same as it had been yesterday.
Snowflake looked the most worried, however, and asked Discord. "Do ya tink this wiww wowk?"
"Of couwse I do, it'ww wowk...Hopefully." Discord gulped, hoping he and Snowflake had managed to get the potion right this time (or, at the very least, able to undo what they had done).
Meanwhile, the white-coated mare looked over and said, "Oh, Shining Armor, I didn't expect to see you here. Did you give me an invitation for lunch?"
The pink-coated stallion shrugged. "Not that I know of."
"Right, you're not much of a talker," The white-coated mare giggled. "But I assume you got an invitation from....me?"
"Yeah, I did weird, huh?" The pink-coated stallion replied. "And you got a message from me?"
"Well, I didn't write one.... It seems somepony set this up..." The white-coated mare realized, looking all around. "But it would be a shame to let these dandelion sandwiches and punch go to waste."
So the two sat down and drank the punch as the foals watched from the bush in anticipation. At first, the two grown-ups reverted back to how they had always been: Shining was Shining, and Cadance was Cadance. But then the two foals watched in horror as the ponies began to shrink in front of their very eyes, becoming babbling babies mashing their hooves into their half-eaten sandwiches!
Snowflake rubbed her eyes and cried! "Discowd, wha did you do?!"
"I...I didn't mean fow tem to tuwn into foaws!" Discord gasped in horror! "I thought I got the cute down wike the book said!" He and Snowflake then rushed over to the foals as the little lord of chaos said to his sister. "We need to get these two to the nursery, now."
"Yeah, who knows how long they'll be like this whiwe we twy to turn them back to adults?" Snowflake replied. "Is so weiwd having Mommy and Daddy in diapees wike us."
"Wight, but we gots no choice!" Discord declared. The two then hastily grabbed and led their regressed parents back to the castle, hastily poofing them into the nursery. With a lot of effort and struggling, they got the two squirming foals into diapers and had them playing with some foam blocks or doodling with crayons while Snowflake was keeping an eye on them.
Meanwhile, Discord was going through the book of potions as the pegasus snapped at him. "Ok, so wat did you do wrong tis time?!"
Discord's cheeks flushed pink as he realized his mistake. "I tink instead of a pegasus feather, I used a alicorn feather," He picked up a white feather and explained, "I tought tis wowld make ta potion wowk."
"Well, guess it made things worse!" Snowflake whined as she then tried to keep the babies from eating some crayons. "We need to do someting! I dun know how wongew we can keep tis up. Wha we gonna do if tey need a diapee change?"
"Just keep tem busy. I'ww whip up a cuwe, I pwomise!" Discord cried, and went to work looking for an age-reversal cure. He hastily pulled out a flask literally out of thin air with a bubbling blue potion. "I tink tis will work. Is from a zebra who makes potions, so she should have a cure." He explained, then clumsily poured it into two foal bottles.
The bottles were then given to the regressed crystal couple as the foals chugged down on their bottles rather greedily. After guzzling their meals, the two foals gave loud burps, and then the babies watched as the two foals grew up to become adults again. But then massive trunks grew out from their noses, their bodies bloated until the floor couldn't hold their weight, and they crashed toward the ground!
The babies coughed as dust and debris flew all around them. They looked up to see massive white and pink elephants standing over them. Then, the elephants started running off towards the gardens, splashing around in a fountain and spraying each other with water from their trunks.
As the pair of elephants trampled off, Snowflake turned towards Discord with an angry look, and he collapsed on the ground and groaned. "Ok, we need hewp. And there's onwy one creature tat can hewp us!" He had no choice but to teleport himself and his sister into the Everfree Forest.
As they came to a large hut. Snowflake whispered to Discord. "Awe ya sure ya want to do tis? Zecowa gonna be mad when she finds out ya took one of her potions."
"I dun have a choice, it's my fault they ended up as foaws and now ewephants," Discord replied. "I have to deal with the consequences."
"Yeah, but... we couwd just say tey stepped in poison joke or something," Snowflake whispered.
Discord thought it over, wishing he could lie about it. Then he shook his head. "No, we need to tell Zecowa the truth so she knows how to cure them: We can't weave Princess Cadance and Shining Awmow as elephants forever. We gots to change tem back!"
"Yeah, ya wight." The other foal grumbled. Then they went up to the hut, and Discord gathered the courage to knock on the door.
Zecora opened it, surprised upon seeing the foals. "Hello, you three. I apologize, but I wasn't expecting company."
The babies looked downwards, with Discord coming up to her and saying. "Zecowa, we have a problem, and we need your help." He hastily explained all that he'd done.
"So I see. You turned your mother and father into elephants, so you have come to me," Zecora replied.
"Uh yeah, that's everything. Can you help?" Discord asked.
"Let me see," Zecora put a hoof to her chin, deep in thought. "You first messed up the potion and had them swap lives. And you did this by sending letters that were lies. The cure for turning them back was almost right, but using an alicorn feather to turn them into babies frightened you. You made a proper age progression potion. But you added too much cloud, turning their species into elephants stampeding in motion."
"So, can ya fix tem?!" Discord asked in a concerned tone.
"I believe I will," Zecora firmly nodded. "But you need to stand by and help me, so for now, stand still."
So, the foals worked with Zecora to mix a bubbling green liquid in the cauldron and then pour a small amount of it into a flask. "Now have the two drink this brew, and they'll finally turn into ponies. It's true." The zebra told the foals.
"Tank you, Zecwra!" Discord shouted.
"Yeah, tanks zebwa!" Snowflake chimed.
The foals then teleported back to the Crystal Empire with Zecora accidentally in tow. It proved very difficult to track down the elephants despite the trail of destruction they were unintentionally leaving.
At last, however, they managed to get the flask's contents into the elephant's trunks, reverting them back into ponies.
Shining Armor looked down at Discord with an angry look. "Will you please explain what happened, Discord?"
"Weww, uh..." Discord gulped as the grown-up's eyes became fixed on him, causing him to wet his diaper in fright.
Zecora eyed Discord, telling him. "Discord, you will tell them the truth even if it means your doom. Or perhaps they will have you confined to your room."
Discord was too ashamed of himself to talk at first, hoping just to bury all of this and forget about it. But deep down, he knew Zecora was right. So he sighed and said. "Ok, I've explain everything." And he did.
After Discord finished the story, Princess Cadence blinked, looking surprised. "I wouldn't believe what you just said if it weren't for Zecora here."
"Yes, I agree," Zecora nodded. "Now it's time for their punishment, I believe."
"Oh yeah, there's no getting out of this one. You two are both grounded for a month," Shining Armor replied rather angrily. "You can forget about playdates or any other fun things."
The two babies groaned as Princess Cadance came over. "Dear, I think I have a proper punishment. Don't you think they should help clean the place up? Their actions caused quite a mess in the empire," Shining Armor and Zecora turned to her as she continued. "I understand what they did was wrong and that they probably deserve a more proper punishment. But in the end, they did the right eventually thing and helped turn you and I back to normal. Zecora's hut is probably a mess too, so they can help clean that up. Unless there any objections?"
Zecora shrugged, "I can use a helping hoof. I'll make sure they behave under my roof."
Shining Armor was the most reluctant, but seeing Discord's puppy dog eyes may have helped as he gave a slight nod, "Fine. But you're still grounded for a week, mister."
Zecora then took the foals to help to clean up the mess.
Later that evening, everyone else was all fast asleep, except for Discord, as well as Zecora who was tucking him into bed. Discord looked at the zebra and whispered. "I sowwy fow causing ya twouble."
"Don't fret. Everything is fine now, you should not have regret." Zecora reassured him.
"But is not fine!" Discord retorted. "I got my sister and I in twoubwe, I and was the one who made tose dumb potions."
Zecora turned and said softly. "I'm sure you are sorry, and you should remember, little one. Your actions can hurt those around you even if you think there will be none."
"Yeah, I guess." Discord blushed.
"You messed up, I admit," Zecora continued. "But you decided to be honest and brave coming to me, which takes grit."
Discord gave the zebra the book. "Teww me, can ya show me wha I did wong? Not the wove potion we twied, tat was a mistake...but I want to know how I swapped their gendews, ten tuwned them into babies, and ten ewephants."
Zecora laughed. "I see you want to dabble in potion making? Is that what I believe you are saying?"
"Yeah," Discord confessed. "I weawned my wesson about twying to experiment on my own."
"It's fine to experiment as it advances the craft," The enchantress told the little one. "But you need to know the fundamentals before you go on your own path."
"Wiww...wiww ya teach me?" Discord pleaded.
"Of course, but not now for it's late. You used a lot of chaos magic cleaning up, and you cannot go in this state." Zecora tucked him into his crib along with Snowflake.
Snowflake whispered. "Tanks again fow saving ouw fwanks."
"No problem, but now you owe me one," Zecora replied. "If either of you are going to be my apprentice, be prepared to work and wun."
"I will, I want to make potions to help ponies and creatures wike you." Discord yawned as he then curled up between his sister and slowly fell asleep. |
It takes a Kingdom to Raise a Draconequus | Chapter Twelve: Ms. Harshwhinny's Day as a Foal | "Discord, it's time to wake up." The little draconequus groaned as he slowly got up from his slumber and turned to see that Princess Cadence was standing over him. He yawned, seeing that the sun wasn't even up yet. He was a bit annoyed as he rubbed his muzzle, then eyed her and asked rather grumpily, " Why are you getting me up so eawy?"
The princess gave him an apologetic look. "I apologize, but there's an important guest today. The inspector for the Equestria Games is coming to see you, and we need to get ready!"
"Ok, ok!" Baby Discord whined as he kicked about, slowly getting up and giggling. "Guess ta inspectow wants to see mowe since she didn't get to do tat yesterday."
"Yes, I know," Cadence sighed. "It's a relief that Ms. Harshwhinny was impressed by the other mare's tour. But I find it odd she's so insistent on meeting you."
"Maybe I'ww make fow a bettew touw guide ten Twiwy and hew fwiends!" The baby draconequus chirped, remembering how Twilight Sparkle and her friends had all shown the tour of the Crystal Empire to the wrong pony.
Princess Cadence then picked Snow Angel up, took the two babies to the kitchen, and fed them as quickly as possible: Shoveling a bunch of foal food into their mouths and then had them chugging down foal bottles filled with milk.
As the mare were wiping their mouths, Shining Armor trotted over, disheveled and a bit on edge as he asked, "Are the foals ready?"
The mare turned to face her husband with a smile. "Yes they are. Their diapers changed and their bellies are full."
Shining Armor eyed Discord with concern "I think that it might be best if she doesn't see him. Not that I don't trust you, but if your chaos magic comes out, it'll be bad, and she could change her mind about the Crystal Empire hosting the Equestria Games."
Discord looked down, feeling a bit anxious. "Yeah, maybe Daddy is wight...I dun know if I can fuwwy contwow my magic with tat much pwessuwe."
Princess Cadence rose up and waved a hoof. "Oh stop, the inspector will love to meet our babies. And you will be on your best behavior, won't you, Discord?"
"I wiww, Mama." Discord mumbled as he and Snow Angel were both taken to get dressed, Snow Angel was given a cute little blue dress while Discord got a little suited onesie. He blushed, seeing it was cute around his body, showing off his dragon-like tail and the diaper material poking from the leg holes. They were then taken to another room and waited patiently and played together in their nursery as Princess Cadence ran about sprucing up the place, putting away any stray toy she found and constantly checking their diapers.
They waited until Ms. Harshwhinny came through the doors with that dark auburn coat and straw blonde mane combed over and her stern, teal-colored eyes scanning the nursery. She seemed to hesitate before saying. "Now Princess Cadence, I know we had the formal tour yesterday despite the mix-up. But the truth is, I wanted to see your little foals myself, especially since I've been hearing so much about your adopted son, Discord."
Princess Cadence nodded. "Yes, these are my adopted children: Discord and Snow Angel. They're actually very smart for foals their age. We were thinking we might actually start potty training Discord soon since he's maturing so fast."
The mare was still looking stern but Discord noticed she was a bit off as she said. "Well, that's all fine and dandy. But you see, the reason I came here today is that as much as I enjoyed the formal tour, despite the mix-up, I have to do another inspection!"
The princess of love blinked, looking a bit confused. "Yes, of course, but why did you need to see my adopted son, specifically? Is there something wrong with him? I assure you, I can take care of him, his little sister, and manage my responsibilities as a hostess."
Ms. Harshwhinny's stern demeanor started to crack, and a nervous smile crept over her. "Well, actually, the truth is..." She hesitated, then whispered. "I wish to explore The Crystal Empire as a foal."
Princess Cadence and Discord were both taken aback and in utter shock as Ms. Harshwhinny's face turned red, and she slammed a hoof. "You heard me! I want to inspect this kingdom in a way that no pony will ever expect. As a foal, it will give me the best opportunity to enjoy your delightful kingdom, without anyone knowing it's me!"
Discord was at a loss for words as he stammered. "B-but uh...tat's cwazy! I suwe thewe awe other ways, wike wearing a disguise!"
"I am aware that my request is a bit outlandish," The inspector admitted. "...But I desire it nonetheless! If you refuse, that is reasonable. But I wished to see if this can be done, nonetheless."
"We can make that happen. But uh, how old do you want to be again?" Princess Cadence nervously asked.
The inspector rose up, waved her hooves in front of her face, and cried. "Well, not in diapers of course, for Celestia's sake! I just want to be a school age filly again!"
An awkward silence followed as the three looked at each other. Then Princess Cadence gulped. "Well, Discord can do that. But I must warn you that his magic isn't perfect. He might regress you to a younger state than you intend."
"I understand the risks, but I still wish to go through with this." Ms. Harshwhinny firmly declared.
The princess of love then slowly trotted over to Discord and whispered. "Do you think you can do this? This is rather ridiculous, so I can just tell her no."
Discord sighed, rubbing his head. "I dun tink tis is a good idea, but we wanna make a good impwession and make up fow ta mess up yestaday."
His mother nodded in agreement and added. "I don't think this is a good idea either, but she's given us the honor of hosting the games even though we messed up. You have gotten better with your chaos magic, right?"
"I have, and age wegwession is easy. I'ww do it..." He came over and sighed, looking at Ms. Harshwhinny. "Otay, ya gotta howd stiww. Awso, do ya gots a pictua of youwsewf as a foaw? It wouwd hewp."
The mare's cheeks flushed red as she said. "Sadly, I only have this," She took out an old photograph and hoofed it to Discord. He looked down to see it was a picture of her as a toddler. Ms. Harshwhinny gulped, then said. "Try to imagine that but a year or two older, ok?"
"Otay, I'ww twy," Discord sighed, knowing that it wasn't going to be enough and he might regress her a bit younger than she thought. But he would do his best to keep her potty trained at least. And with a flick of a claw, the middle-aged earth pony started to regress.
When the spell finished, the adult mare was now in the much smaller body of a toddler filly, but she was a bit smaller than Discord originally planned as she looked over her body. "A little younger than I wanted, but this will do," She shrieked, hearing her voice, "My goodness, I sound so young! How old am I?"
Discord shrugged as Cadence came over, looked over the filly, then said. "From what I estimate, no older than four."
The little lord of chaos crossed his chubby claws over his chest and grumbled under his breath, "Oh deaw. Can I twy again?"
"No, this is fine!" The now toddler aged Ms. Harshwhinny protested. "Being a toddler again sounds like fun!"
Princess Cadence couldn't help but snicker. "Well, you won't require diapers. But I'll help you if you need to use the potty."
"Yeah, that's okay! Now, why don't we go and have some fun? I want to explore everything there is to offer here!" Ms. Harshwinny excitedly exclaimed! She ran off and made it to the doorway, before Cadence pulled her back with her magic.
"Hold your horses," The princess of love protested. "Now that you're a foal, you need to listen to me: No running off on your own."
"Ok, fine!" Harshwhinny whined with a pout.
Snow Angel waddled over and, with a giggle, asked, "So, ya is a baby now?"
The little orange-coated filly raised her nose up, then stomped a hoof as she cried. "No, I'm a bit older than ya, and I don't need diapers."
"Yes, but again, you're a toddler, so I don't think you're too independent. Now come on, let's get going." Princess Cadence chimed in as she led the foals through the castle to the grand hall.
There, Prince Shining Armor stood by and looked rather confused. He then glared at Discord, but Princess Cadence raised a hoof. "Wait, hold on, he didn't turn Mrs. Harshwhinny into a foal against her will: She wanted this to happen."
The little filly looked a bit nervous as she explained. "It's true, Prince Shining Armor. I wanted Discord to turn me into a filly again! I want to explore your kingdom like this!"
"Um, ok?" Shining blinked in surprise. "Well, if that's the case, uh, Discord, just turn her back to normal, ok?"
"I wiww." Discord replied as Shining nuzzled him, then whispered to his wife, who whispered something back and then kissed him as she led the foals out through the castle doors.
As they went out into the great city of the Crystal Empire, Ms. Harshwhinny looked around with bright eyes, enjoying all the sights of ponies trotting by. She couldn't contain her excitement as she giggled and bounced around.
Discord then waddled over. "Ya weawwy wike being a fiwwy, huh?"
"Of course I am! This is so much fun! I can't believe that this is real!" Harshwhinny chirped, then nuzzled Discord. "So, what should we do?"
The draconequus pondered for a second, then suggested. "Weww, thewe's a jousting contest neawby. I heawd tat's fun."
"Otay, let's go there!" Harshwhinny eagerly exclaimed!
Princess Cadence nodded. "Alright, let's head to the jousting arena. Please stick together, and don't run off by yourselves."
"Otay, Mama," Discord and Snow Angel chimed in unison.
"Yes, Princess Cadence." Harshwhinney chirped, The other foals giggled, and Ms. Harshwhinny's cheeks flushed red. "Sorry, you're not my mama. So I gotta call ya Princess Cadence, right?"
Princess Cadance laughed, "Well, for now, you can just call me Cady to make it easier."
"Okay, Cady." Harshwhinny replied.
They soon came to the jousting arena, and upon arriving an armor crystal stallion bowed and said. "Princess Cadence, we were not expecting you here today."
"It's alright," Cadence replied. "I'm just taking my foals and their new friend to watch the jousting tournament."
"Of course, your majesty. Understood." The stallion nodded back, then led them to the front rows and had them seated.
The princess and the foals sat together, watching the massive stallions flying at each other with staffs that shattered against their chests. Ms. Harshwhinny cried and threw her hooves up as they clashed, quite frightened by the violence. So during the next bout, as the two stallions went at each other, Discord waved a claw, and the ends of the staffs were covered with foam as they bounced off each other, and two fell onto a foam-covered ground in a soft padded floor, not unlike one you would find in a nursery.
The crowd was in shock while the foals in the stands burst out laughing, with Harshwhinny starting to giggle. Princess Cadence eyed her son, who blushed and said. "Hey, tey being too wough. Tis way tey dun get huwt."
The princess of love couldn't help but giggle when she saw the stallions smashing into each other onto the foam ground, so she kissed her son and then said. "Alright, I agree with you on this one."
The jousts continued with the new equipment despite it being a bit foal-like. And the foals all watched until Ms. Harshwhinny began to squirm about and whined. "I gotta go potty, Cady!"
"Come on!" Cadence declared as she picked up her children, and led the toddler away to the bathrooms. Fortunately, Ms. Harshwhinny only required assistance getting onto the toilet seat, she was able to do everything else herself.
After she went potty, Ms. Harshwhinny jumped down and hugged the princess. "Thank you, Cady."
"No, thank you," Cadence smiled as she turned to Discord. "I hope you were paying attention, Discord. That's how you're supposed to go potty when you're in potty training. Think you can manage that when we start your training?"
Discord gulped a bit, eyeing the toilet. It looked pretty big to him, even though Harshwhinny had used it no problem. Still, he put on a brave face for his mother and said. "I'ww twy."
Cadence nodded. "That's all I can ask for. I'll have to talk with your daddy and see what he thinks. But let's work on getting you potty trained in time for the Equestria Games. That should give us at least half a year to perfect it." Then after helping Ms. Harshwhinny to wash her hooves, she exited the bathroom with the foals and went to get some lunch.
They all went to a nearby park and ate some sandwiches with crystal berry jam, which the foals got all over their faces.
Ms. Harshwhinny was sucking on her hooves as she cooed. "Oh, that's so good! I love the crystal berry sandwiches!"
"Yeah, tey so good!" Discord squealed as he continued to chomp on his.
Meanwhile, Snow Angel was being spoon-fed a jar of mashed crystal berries and nodded. "Tey gweat! Tey taste weawwy good!"
The little draconequus then wondered if Ms. Harshwhinny was enjoying herself and asked. "So, wha do you tink of expwowing the Cwystaw Empiwe so faw?"
Ms. Harshwhinny replied. "As a foal, I'm getting so many raw details of this place: How kind your ponies are, how they have so much fun, and how the food is amazing. It makes me so glad I picked the Crystal Empire to host the Equestria Games!"
"So, wha do we pway now?" Snow Angel asked.
"Yeah! Wet's pway tag!" Discord squealed. The foals then chased each other around, trying to smear mashed crystal berries onto each other. As they chased each other around, the little orange-coated filly spotted some sheep in a pen nearby. Her eyes went wide, and she squealed in delight, rushing over and shouting. "Cady, can we go pet them, please?!"
"Of course." Cadance chirped. She took the three and cleaned them up, then led the foals to the pen. Then they all came over and started to pet the soft wool, and nuzzled it.. Their wool was the softest in all of Equestria; Discord's blankets and pillows were all made from it. He saw that Harshwhinny was enamored by the sheep as they brushed their hooves over them. They spent hours feeding and playing with the sheep until it was getting late. After some diaper changes, Princess Cadence thanked the shepherd, and she led the foals back to the castle.
Later that evening, after dinner, Ms. Harshwhinny was back in the nursery as she and Snow Angel were having a tea party together, sitting at a cute little pink plastic table and sipping tea from sippy cups.
Discord sat aside, seeing they wanted to have some "filly time," and he couldn't help but feel left out as he whined. "Why can't I join?!"
Snow Angel giggled and said. "You a cowt, and only fiwwies can join us!"
Ms. Harshwhinny rose onto her hooves, and twirled about in a fluffy pink dress. "Besides, you have to wear pretty clothes."
"Oh, ha-ha! I can dwess up top!" Discord snorted. With a claw snap, a cute frilly yellow dress, and a bonnet appeared around his head.
Snow Angel squealed, flapping her wings, and cried! "Aww, you wook so cute, Discowd!"
Ms. Harshwhinny snickered as they continued their tea party. Discord then said. "I tink I got's a way to make tis tea party even bettew!" Then, with a snap, his claw again made the plushies come to life. They started wobbling about, serving tea and cupcakes as the foals took them and ate them gleefully.
As they drank tea and ate, Discord couldn't help but notice Harshwhinny squirming about and smirking as he asked. "Do ya need to use the potty?"
The little filly pouted and then snapped. "No, I can hold it! It's rude to go potty while at a tea party!"
"I can't hold it!" Snow Angel giggled, showing off her already soaked padding.
Discord laughed and then did the same, showing his diaper was slightly yellow. "I did too!"
"Well, since you two are wearing diapers, can I also wear one just in case?" Ms. Harshwhinny asked with a blush.
"Uh, otay." Discord then snapped his claw a third time, and a fluffy white diaper suddenly poofed into existence around Ms. Harshwhinny's waist. It wasn't long until she started to use it, with it growing yellow. She looked rather embarrassed, trying to hide it with her dress, but the foals continued their tea party without Discord or Snow Angel teasing Harshwhinny over her "accident".
Princess Cadence then suddenly trotted into the room, looking rather surprised at the little chaotic tea party. But she was even more surprised by Harshwhinny's attire as she asked. "Ms. Harshwhinny, you wanted to be in a diaper?"
The orange coated filly blushed. "Well, I had to use the potty, but I didn't want to interrupt the tea party."
Princess Cadence dawwed."Well, if that's what you wish. Just, um, are you comfortable with me changing your diaper as a result?"
The filly raised her head up and cried. "Of course I am! Treat me like a baby, just for now, okay?"
"Alright," Cadence cooed. "Now let's get those diapers changed," She then lifted the little ones onto the changing table and went about changing each of the foals. After doing so, she then turned to Discord and asked. "Now, before we go to bed, can you clean up your mess, please?"
Discord looked to see the plush toys still playing tea party, and he quickly clapped his paw and claw together. The plush toys all plopped to the ground as the dress around him dissipated, leaving him in a light blue sleeper. "Thewe! See? Aww cweaned up!"
"You're doing so well with your chaos magic." Princess Cadence chimed as she lowered him into the crib, laying him between his sister and Mss. Harshwhinny. As Princess Cadence dimmed the lights, Harshwhinny and the baby draconequus cuddled together for warmth.
Discord turned to see the earth pony filly with her curly blonde mane already drifting off with the hiss of her filling her diaper. He blushed, seeing she was relaxed and enjoying her time as a foal, and thought deep down that she had wanted to be in diapers but was too embarrassed to say anything before. Then he nuzzled her, popped a pacifier in her mouth, and let it bob up and down as they all slowly fell asleep.
In the morning, Discord woke up and turned to see Ms. Harshwhinny squirming about. He saw her getting up to her first soggy diaper. He then turned to see Princess Cadence come back into the nursery with a comforting smile. She went over, nuzzled Discord, and asked. "How is she?"
"She swept aww thwough the night, even with hew diapee soaked." Discord yawned as he got up, stretching his tiny limbs.
The princess of love then went about changing each of the foals' diapers. In the middle of Ms. Harshwhinny's change, the filly cried out in surprise, but the pink-coated mare hushed her and then quickly strapped her in a new diaper. "Ok, my darlings, it's time for breakfast." She then took the three charges to the dining hall, placed them into high chairs, and fed them all a good helping of baby oatmeal mixed with crystal berries.
Ms. Harshwhinny gobbled her meal greedily as she joked with Discord. When they wrapped up the delicious breakfast a short time later, Harshwhinny wiped her mouth and sighed, "Guess I gotta go back to being a big pony now. But I would want to stay like tis for a bit longer."
Discord, seeing that Mrs. Harshwhinny wanted to stay as a baby, spoke up. "Sowie, but ya gotta gwow up. You need to be settin up fow ta Equestwia Games, and you can't do it as a foaw."
Ms. Harshwhinny pouted as she thought things over, then said. "Alright, I'm ready."
Discord then snapped with a steady claw, and the filly turned into an adult again as she adjusted her purple scarf. "Well, I dare say this kingdom has so much to offer, and it's so interesting from a foal's perspective." She then bent down and said, "As for you, Discord, I have a special offer" Why don't you be the mascot of the Equestria games?"
The lord of chaos pointed at himself and asked. "Me? Why me?!"
"First of all, you're adorable--there's no denying that--and you had such wonderful ideas while I was exploring the city as a foal!" Ms. Harshwhinny explained. "Also, you can use your chaos magic to liven things up a bit, seeing as you have it well under control! You are just what we need for the Equestria Games, and it will be an honor to have you as the official mascot."
Princess Cadance stepped forward. "That's great, but Discord might not be ready for all of that responsibility, he's still just a baby."
Discord pouted. "I can do tat! I wanna hewp, pwease!"
The princess of love then let out a sigh. "Well, alright, but I'll be monitoring everything. And ponies are going to know about you, so be prepared and behave."
"Otay, I wiww." Discord promised.
"Excellent! Oh, this is so exciting!" Ms. Harshwhinny declared, then skipped off, still acting a bit like a foal, as Shining Armor came over and commented. "Well, it seems things went well."
"Yeah, I gonna be ta mascot for ta Equestwia Games!" Discord cheered and jumped onto Shining's back.
The stallion blinked, looking confused at his wife as he asked. "Uh, Cadence, what is Discord talking about?"
Princess Cadence gave an exasperated sigh and then said. "It's a long story."
> Chapter Thirteen: Growing Up For The Games
"Discord, you can do it!" With that encouragement, the little draconequus squealed in delight as he ran down the castle halls, avoiding the various ponies getting in his way! He made it to the bathroom with seconds to spare, plopped down onto a well-worn training potty, and used the bathroom by himself: Both number one and number two!
Discord was so proud of himself, proud of the fact that he no longer needed diapers! It was every bit amazing as Cadence and Shining Armor had said it would be. As a result, he felt like a weight was lifted off of his shoulders, and his mom and dad were so proud of him.
It was all the more delightful and enjoyable considering the not-so-slight "mishap" that had occurred when the potty training had begun:
It had started off simple enough. One morning not long after Ms. Harshwhinny's departure and the Crystal Empire being awarded the Equestria Games, Princess Cadence had come trotting into Discord's nursery. She checked up on him like always, and seemed to smile even more than usual when she discovered that his diaper was dry. "I think you're finally ready for it, Discord." She had decided.
"Weady fow what?" Discord blinked, suspecting nothing.
Cadence then scooped Discord up with her magic, carrying him to a bathroom within the castle. "Shining Armor and I were talking about, and we've decided that we should get you potty trained before the Equestria Games. It'll be easier to get you all dressed up if your diapers aren't getting in the way."
The baby draconequus was still puzzled a bit, even as he recalled what he'd seen Miss. Harshwhinny do when she was a foal. "So, I no weaw diapees anymowe?" He pondered aloud. And when he got a confirming nod he questioned. "So, what, me have to..." With a gulp, he turned towards the toilet in all its gleaming, porcelain glory, and how it seemed to tower over him. "Use potty?"
The crystal princess nodded as she lit up her horn again. "Yes, Discord. But don't worry, you don't have to use a toilet just yet. That can wait until you're a little bit older and a little bit bigger," She proceeded to plop down a pink-colored plastic bowl that had seen better days. "So instead, from now on, I want you to do your pee-pees and poo-poos in this. It was Twilight's old training potty. You can thank your Grandma Velvet for letting me use it. It's the same one your daddy and your Auntie Twily were potty trained with."
Discord eyed the plastic bowl with skepticism. Much as he was intrigued by the idea of getting out of diapers, he wasn't sure if he liked the idea of using something so... boring. Plus, it sounded as if he would have less freedom if he wouldn't be allowed to just go to the bathroom whenever he wanted to.
Cadence just pulled down Discord's diaper, placing him on the training potty. "I know it probably doesn't sound like fun, but you'll see that it can be very enjoyable to not be in diapers anymore. You'll have lots of new freedoms to explore," Then she instructed. "Seeing as this is your first day, I just want you to try. If you don't have to go, that's fine. I simply wanted to get you used to the idea, so you'll understand what Shining and I expect."
The little draconequus sighed, but nevertheless, he obeyed. If Cadence and Shining wanted him to try, he would try (even if he didn't really want to). Fortunately, he didn't have to sit for long before he could hear the sound of something tinkling and echoing into the bowl beneath him. He started to realize what was happening! "I... I doing it! I doing it, Mommy!" He giddly exclaimed!
Princess Cadence just waited until the baby draconequus was finished, before showering him with praise by patting him on the head. "Yes, you did, Discord! See how easy that was?"
Discord nodded. "Uh-huh, Mama."
"Good," Cadence smiled as she then helped him to stand. "From now on, if you think you have to go, just come get either your daddy or I, and we'll help you," Then, after emptying the training potty's contents into the toilet and flushing it all away, she helped Discord wash his claws and told him. "Since you did such a good job on your first try, I think you deserve a reward. I was thinking you could go without diapers for a little while and see how you do."
"I get to be naked?!" Discord excitedly exclaimed and giggled at the prospect!
The crystal princess nodded. "Just for right now. I have to wait for my Aunt Celestia to deliver pull-ups that will be compatible with your body and immune to your magic, so you can't just take them off whenever you feel like it. But remember, not wearing diapers is a privilege. It can be taken away if you have too many accidents."
But Discord stood up and gave a salute! "No wowwy, Mommy! I gonna make you and Daddy pwoud!" He puffed out his chest, then excitedly ran out of the bathroom, delighted in running about with nothing on him anymore! It felt so good, so liberating!
Upon returning to his nursery, Discord immediately made a beeline for the crib he and Snow Angel shared! And he proudly showed off to her! "Guess what?! Guess what?! I no need diapees anymowe! Now I in potty twaining!"
Snow Angel's reaction was not what Discord had been expecting. Instead of being happy for him and sharing in his joy, his little sister seemed to greet the news with an unhappy vibe. "Oh... tat's... gweat." She said sadly.
"Hey, was wong?" The baby draconequus asked upon noticing Snow Angel's less-than-enthusiastic response. "Awen't ya happy fow me?"
Snow Angel nodded quite slowly. "I am. But ya not weawing diapees."
"So?" Discord questioned.
Snow Angel replied. "Tat mean you not gonna be abwe to pway with me as much anymowe. Now you gonna be a big boy, and pway with big boy toys. Ten you gonna go to school, whiwe I'ww be aww awone hewe."
The baby draconequus paused upon hearing his baby sister's statements. He hadn't fully considered it, but he realized she was right. If he was already getting into potty training now, how long would it be before he'd have to confront other things that came with getting older? And meanwhile, it seemed like Snow Angel wouldn't even come close to starting potty training any time soon. Now that he thought about it more, Discord wasn't so sure he really liked potty training. If it meant giving up all the things he enjoyed now, why should he have to go through with it?
And so it was that Discord's little mind started to scheme. He decided then and there that he was going to make his potty training impossible. The fastest way to do that would be to get rid of that old training potty that had been set aside for his use. So he shut his eyes, picturing the potty and its location in his mind. Then he thought of someplace to send it where no one but him could ever find it. With those thoughts set, he snapped his talons. He hoped he had made the training potty disappear.
Princess Cadence, unaware of this and other developments, just strolled into the nursery. "Ah, there you are, Discord," She said in a mostly playful tone of voice. "You really shouldn't run off like that. You could get lost or hurt. This castle is a very big place, after all."
"Sowwy, Mommy!" Discord sincerely apologized.
The crystal princess just smiled as she turned her attention to Snow Angel. "Well, just make sure you stay where I can see you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to change your sister's diaper. Then we'll all have breakfast. And wait 'til I tell your daddy you used the potty on your first try! I'm sure he'll be overjoyed to know that he won't have to change your diapers anymore."
The diaper change for Snow Angel was completed quickly. Cadence quickly disposed of the old diaper and then put a new one on the filly, ensuring it was securely powdered and strapped up. "There we go, all nice and clean," she cooed as she lifted Snow Angel off the changing table and set her down. Now, let's see what's on the menu for breakfast today."
However, before further actions could be taken, Discord began to clutch at his stomach! His eyes widened as he realized what that feeling was and what it meant! If not for what had just happened earlier this morning, it wouldn't be a problem. But now it was. Even though part of him wanted to just let the problem take care of itself, another part of him didn't want to lose all the praise and affection Cadence had showered on him during his earlier successful trip to the potty. So he started jumping up and down, grabbing at her tail. "Mommy, I tink I gotta go potty!"
"What?! Now?!" Princess Cadence blinked in surprise! She got a confirming nod as she saw the strained face on the baby draconequus. She feared that if she didn't resolve the issue soon, she would have a very big problem on her hooves. So she hurriedly called for a guard, instructing them to stay with Snow Angel while she took Discord to the bathroom.
Mother and child reached the bathroom just a moment or so later! And it was clear that Discord was fighting a losing battle to hold in his urge to go! "Okay, Discord, just hold on a little longer, please!" She pleaded with him. "We'll get you on the potty, then you can go!" Yet, as she looked around the bathroom, she couldn't find any sign of that well-worn training potty that she knew had been there earlier. So where was it now?
Discord felt a knot form in his stomach. His plan had succeeded a little too well. He had indeed made the training potty vanish. And he was too fixated on his need to go to get a clear picture in his mind about where he'd sent it. He continued to clutch his stomach, even as he could feel the pressure slowly building up inside of him.
A now frantic Princess Cadence poked her head out of the bathroom door, hollering down the halls! "Honey?!"
Much to the princess of love's relief, the voice of Shining Armor called back. "What is it, hon?"
"Do you know where Twilight's old training potty is?" Cadence asked. "I thought I left it in the bathroom for Discord to use, but I can't seem to find it. Did you happen to take it somewhere?"
"No. I didn't even know you had it set up," Shining Armor replied. "Why do you need it?"
Cadence sighed. "Discord needs it, he has to go: Badly."
But Discord had an idea as he looked to the toilet. Specifically, he was remembering what Cadence had done after emptying the training potty. Maybe he could use that to his advantage, to really make sure she and Shining Armor would think twice about continuing his potty training for the time being. So he said to Cadence. "Mommy, me wanna twy the big potty!"
The crystal princess hesitated, eyeing the toilet with concern. "You sure you want to do that, Discord? I could just put you back in diapers. I promise, I wouldn't count it against you."
The little draconequus protested. He'd set his mind to using the toilet (albeit for his own desires), and not even an offer to go back to diapers for a minute or so could persuade him otherwise. "Nu-uh! I wanna use the big potty!"
"O-okay, but we'll have to be quick about it!" Cadence hastily agreed! She used her magic to lift up the toilet lid, then floated Discord onto the seat in a very clumsy fashion. "Okay, you can go now!" She told him. "I've got you!"
Discord shut his eyes, concentrating deeply (but not for the reasons Cadence might have thought).
Suddenly, the handle of the toilet was pressed down as if by magic. There was a click, and the flush cycle began. And that's when it happened!
Princess Cadence suddenly felt herself lose her magical hold on Discord! In the blink of an eye, he slipped off the seat and fell into the toilet bowl, quickly swept up by the flushing, draining waters! "Discord!" She exclaimed in fright, hastily trying to grab him and pull him out of the toilet! But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to get a strong enough magical grip on him! Desperately, as the flush cycle was reaching its conclusion and pulling the baby draconequus down with it, she tried to reach out a hoof to pull him out manually.
It was no use! Before Princess Cadence's horror-filled eyes, she watched as Discord disappeared from sight, fully flushed away, and swept down the drain! And when the toilet was refilled, there was no sign of him anywhere. He was gone!
Shining Armor came trotting into the bathroom a short time later, unaware of anything that had transpired. As a result, he was most surprised to find his wife standing over the toilet, repeatedly pushing a plunger up and down. All she seemed to be doing was splashing water out of the toilet and onto the tiled floor. "Honey, what are you doing?" He asked her.
"Trying to get Discord out!" Cadence frantically replied as she kept on plunging. "I lost my hold on him after the toilet flushed, and I couldn't get a hold of him again."
Shining was utterly astounded by what he heard! "You mean he actually went down the drain?!"
The crystal princess nodded before turning her attention back to the toilet. "Yes. And now I have to get him out! He's got to be stuck in the pipes somewhere!" She started plunging again, to no avail. "Come on! Come on! He has to be in there; he has to be!"
"How did this happen?" Shining Armor pondered. "I thought you were using Twily's old training potty that my mom gave you."
Cadence sighed, momentarily pausing in her plunging as she explained. "I was, until it disappeared somehow. It was the strangest thing. I know it was there early this morning when I started Discord's potty training. He used it to go pee-pee. Afterward, I told him he could go bottomless for a while since we didn't have any pull-ups for him yet. He seemed to really enjoy that because he ran off and made me chase after him."
"And then the potty disappeared when you brought him back into the bathroom?" Shining questioned.
"Yes," Cadence explained. "And it was weird because when I caught up with him, I saw him talking to Snow Angel. I didn't catch the whole conversation, just the end of it. But it sounded like he wasn't as happy about getting out of diapers after he talked to her. Then, as we were all going to breakfast to meet up with you, Discord said he had to go again. So I brought him here and..." She trailed off. "You can figure out the rest."
The prince processed the information before asking his wife. "And you're sure you didn't just misplace the potty and that you didn't start the flush cycle yourself?"
Again, the crystal princess nodded. "Yes, I'm quite sure. It was like magic."
"Magic..." Shining Armor thought aloud before he gasped as it suddenly came to him! "Wait a minute, Cadence! I'll bet this was all Discord's doing! He made the training potty disappear, he made the toilet flush, and he made it so you couldn't get him out!"
Princess Cadence was shocked to hear such a suggestion from her husband, even as she eyed the toilet! "You think he let himself be flushed? Why would he do something like that?"
Shining explained. "I think that after talking to Snow Angel, he didn't really like potty training and wanted an excuse to get out of it. And when you brought him into the bathroom, he must've decided that flushing himself down the toilet was the best way to do it. Given everything else we know he's capable of, I wouldn't put something like that past him."
The princess of love sighed. "Oh, it's all my fault. I tried to potty train him too soon."
The prince replied by putting a hoof around his wife. "It's not your fault, Cadence. Your heart was in the right place. I think what we should've explained to Discord before we started this is that potty training isn't an overnight thing. It's okay to take your time on it. I mean, look at me, I was a late bloomer on potty training, and I still turned out fine. Twily even held off on starting her training until she felt she was old enough. It seems to run in the Sparkle family."
Cadence's sigh deepened. "I wish you'd told me that sooner, Shining. I know we wanted to have him fully trained in time for the Equestria Games. But I never thought about asking Discord what he would want," She then lamented. "Now, he probably hates everything to do with his training because I pushed him too hard. I thought he'd enjoy the freedom that comes from giving up diapers."
Shining Armor just told his wife. "Well, we'll have to see what Discord wants. That's what's most important. And even if he didn't want to potty train now, that doesn't mean he had to go so far as to flush himself down the toilet," He then declared. "We'll have to make sure he understands there's no need for such dramatic actions."
Just then, Princess Cadence thought she felt a tug on the other end of the plunger. Hoping beyond hope it was what she thought it was, she yanked hard on the plunger! In spite of that, it seemed to be pulling her down! "I think I've got him!" She shouted to her husband! "Help me pull him out!"
So Shining rushed to his wife's side, and together they used their combined magical powers to pull the plunger up as hard as they could! They were nearly thrown backwards by the force, and thought they heard a faint popping sound.
Yet to the dismay of both husband and wife, they had nothing to show for their efforts. The water in the toilet refilled itself again, but there was no sign of Discord anywhere. And that could mean only one thing: He had passed through the pipes and been swept into the sewers. That was where they were going to find the baby draconequus.
Sure enough, the sewers beneath the Crystal Empire was exactly where Discord had ended up after he was flushed down the drain. The entire trip down had been very quick, sending him sliding along through cold, dark, metal pipes as he was thrown one way and then another. Then, at last, the drain had spat him out with a plop, plunging him into dark, dingy waters.
The baby draconequus slowly stood up, his entire body soaked with the foul colored, foul smelling sewer waters. But he didn't care. Even if he couldn't swim back up the way he'd come into the sewers, he was certain he was in no real danger. And seeing as this is where his number one and number two ended up anyway, he saw nothing wrong with finally taking care of that urgent need right on the spot. He grunted and started to push, soon being rewarded with a series of audible plops and splashes. And the pressure in his stomach subsided as he relieved himself.
Discord then snapped his talons, summoning up the first paper substance he could think of, a bunch of old newspapers he was sure nopony ever read anymore. He used them to wipe himself clean as best he could, then discarded them into the sewer waters below and watched as they were carried away along with his waste. Unconcerned and curious about where everything was going, he walked away, silently wading through the yucky waters.
Part of him felt kind of bad for scaring Cadence in such a fashion, and Discord was starting to feel just the smallest bit guilty about having tricked her. Perhaps, once he found a way out of the sewers, he would apologize to her and tell her honestly about his newfound lack of interest in potty training. Even if he'd have to go through it eventually, that didn't mean he had to go through it now, right?
Suddenly, there was a faint rumbling sound from somewhere up above. Something seemed to be moved, and the little draconequus saw the light start to creep in from an opening that hadn't been there before.
"Discord?! Discord, are you down there?!" The familiar voices of Shining Armor and Princess Cadence called!
Reluctantly, Discord waddled over to where the light was coming from and sheepishly he answered. "I am." Seconds later, he felt himself be surrounded by magic and lifted up through the opening, brought back into the light of day. Then, he was completely enveloped in a protective bubble that he knew could come from only one source.
Sure enough, there were the crystal couple, looking equally parts relieved and unhappy to have the little draconequus liberated from the stinky sewers.
"Discord, don't you ever scare me like that again!" Princess Cadence sternly scolded! "You could've drowned or gotten sick! If you really didn't want to potty train, you should've just said so."
Discord whimpered, shrinking from the crystal princess' gaze. "I sowwy Mommy and Daddy! But I no wanna potty twain, even if I get to go naked! I not weady to gwow up yet, ow go to schoow, ow do any othew big boy tings! I wike being a baby and gwowing up awongside Snow Angew!"
Shining Armor could only sigh and put a hoof on his forehead. "Discord, just because you're in potty training doesn't mean you have to start growing up and doing all those other things. Those come later, much later. The only reason we're potty training you now is because you're developing and maturing differently from other babies, including Snow Angel."
"That, and we really think it'll be easier to get you dressed up for the Equestria Games if you're not in diapers," Cadence explained, then sweetly apologized. "But I'm sorry I didn't ask you if that's what you wanted. I'm sorry your daddy and I didn't explain sooner what potty training is and what it means. If you don't want to go through it just yet, then that's fine. You can go back to diapers and just do your pee-pees and poo-poos in them for a few more months. If you're still in diapers by the time of the Equestria Games, that's okay."
However, the baby draconequus sheepishly replied. "But me wike being naked and not having to weaw diapees aww the time. Potty twaining doesn't sound so bad anymowe. And me want ya to be happy too, Mommy and Daddy."
After thinking it over for a moment, the crystal princess decided. "Well, how about this, Discord? At least until your pull-ups arrive, you can stay in diapers, and we won't try to force you to potty train. If you want to use the potty, you can. And if you don't want to, your daddy and I will change you. But once the pull-ups arrive and everything else is settled, you need to start using the potty as often as you can. We want you to at least have made enough progress to wear pull-ups full time by the time of the Equestria Games."
Shining Armor then asked. "So, if we do all of that, do you promise us you'll bring back the training potty we got for you? And that you'll never try to flush yourself down the toilet, or use it without our permission?"
"Uh-huh," Discord promised as he then closed his eyes, concentrated, and snapped his talons as he made the well-worn pink training potty reappear. "Hewe it is, is safe," And he whimpered. "Pwease don't teww Gwandma Vewvet I made it disappeaw."
Shining gave a knowing wink. "Don't worry. This will just be our little secret."
"Now, let's get you back to the castle and get you cleaned up," Cadence said quite firmly. "And remember, if you need to go to the bathroom for any reason, you're to come get either me, your daddy, or another trusted grown-up." And with that, she and her husband carried the baby draconequus back to the crystal castle, already dreading the task of having to bathe him and scrub him down so that there would be almost no chance of him getting sick. They brought the training potty with them, making a mental note to keep it carefully guarded so that Discord couldn't make it disappear again.
The flashback ended as Discord stepped off the potty and then went straight towards his parents. Cadence scooped him up and cooed. "You did it again, sweetie. We're so proud of you!"
"Yeah!" Discord cheered! "Ya see me, Mama! I did it!"
"Yes, indeed," Princess Cadence smiled as she helped wipe him clean and then emptied the training potty's contents into the toilet. "Wanna do the honors?" she asked the draconequus as he floated towards the handle.
Discord happily reached out to grab the handle, held safely and firmly within Cadence's grasp as he forced it down, flushing his waste away as he waved goodbye to it. Then he was set back down, and Cadence helped him wash his claws.
Afterward, the crystal princess declared. "Alright, now we have to get going: We're going to meet Twilight and Spike at the train station. I know they'll be happy to see you."
Discord was then taken to Snow Angel's nursery, where she was picked up by Cadence and changed as Discord snickered. "You don't have to do tat with me anymowe."
Shining Armor turned to his adopted son and snickered. "That's right," Then in a more serious tone of voice he instructed. "I hope that you won't have any accidents while we're out and about. Remember, your pull-ups can't handle as much as your diapers could. So, are you gonna go back on your promise to us?"
"Nope, I'ww, be on my best behavior!" Discord chirped as he gave off a salute.
Shining returned the salute and then finished strapping Discord's baby sister into the stroller while his wife carefully slipped a crystal blue pull-up onto Discord. It had a special yellow star that housed an enchantment which prevented the baby draconequus from taking off his pull-up by himself (or doing anything to it). Once they were all set, the royal crystal family headed out of the castle.
The group was escorted from the castle to the train station, and there, they could see that there were way more ponies who had come from all over Equestria to watch the games. Discord was overwhelmed by the crowd, unable to keep his eyes off everything as it was all so mesmerizing.
Then, on the platform, the family saw Twilight and Spike. Upon seeing him, the dragon ran over, scooping the baby draconequus up and squealing. "Hey, Discord!"
"Spike!" Discord replied as they hugged, and Spike then threw him up in the air, making Discord squeal in delight.
Then Spike told the baby draconequus. "Did you hear we're going to host the games together?"
Discord blushed and replied. "Oh, so uh... do we gotta do an act or something?"
"Um, yeah, I guess. We can figure that out later," Spike replied with a shrug, then asked as he took notice of what the little draconequus was wearing. "So, you're no longer in diapers, I see?"
Discord raised his claws up with a smile and said. "Dun need them! I potty twained and in puww-ups!"
"Well good for you!" Spike cooed and laughed.
Discord then turned his attention to Twilight."Hey, Auntie Twiwy!"
"Awww, Discord, it's so good to see you again!" Twilight cooed, picking up the little one and hugging him. "You've grown a lot since I last saw you. You're already out of diapers, I see. I'm so impressed!" She then set him onto her back as she, Spike, and the Crystal family headed down the road toward the stadium constructed specifically for the games.
Discord was even more blown away by the crowds here compared to the streets of the Crystal Empire; the stands were filled to the brim with ponies. He and Spike were then escorted to another part of the stadium, where they met with Ms. Harshwhinny, who was talking with dozens of other ponies. Then she came over and said to them. "So, I think that the best way for us to proceed is through a routine to really energize the crowd. I think you two are the most adorable critters in Equestria, and we should reflect that cuteness at tomorrow's opening ceremonies."
Spike was a bit surprised and replied. "Oh, uh, I thought it was because I was the hero of the Crystal Empire?"
Ms. Harshwhinny looked down at them and said. "That too, but cuteness sells. Now, the important task I have for you two is to come up with a routine to light the brazier tomorrow."
"That's it?" Discord and Spike questioned at the same time.
"That's it: Light the flame, and your job is done." Ms. Harshwhinny instructed in a matter-of-fact tone.
Discord threw his claws over his chest and scoffed. "Tat sucks! You made me pose fow pictuwes fow months, just to wight some stupid fwame?!"
"Well, that is your job. Discord," Ms. Harswhinny told him. "I will allow you to use your chaos magic, but try to have some restraint. Remember, it's your adorable nature that we should focus on, not your chaotic side."
Discord was rather disappointed to learn he was just going to light some dumb flame, and he simply grumbled, "Fine."
Spike threw his claws up and shrugged. "I don't think it's a bad idea. Us lighting the flame together sounds like a great idea if you ask me."
"Is not bad, but I wanna do mowe!" Discord protested. "I don't just wanna just wight a dumb fwame."
"Listen, I would like it to be more interesting, but this is stressful enough," Spike pointed out. "We have such a massive task ahead of us, so we better just do as Ms. Harshwhinny says."
Discord tapped a claw to his chin and suggested. "I have a way to spice it up! What if we battwed it out to see who would wight the fwame?"
Spike eyed the little draconequus, then asked. "Battle it out? Can you explain what you mean by that?"
"Yeah!" The baby draconequus nodded. "I can make us gwow super big, and we'ww get into a cute fight! Then the winnew gets to wight the fwame!"
Spike paused for a moment, thinking it over. "I don't know about that. Can you handle your chaos magic enough to make sure we don't grow too big?"
"Of couwse I can! I'ww even wet ya win! And it'll be cute," Discord insisted with a giggle. "We can use foam swowds, tat way no one gets huwt."
Spike paused and tapped a claw on his chin. "Hmmm, well, that's not a bad idea. Okay, why don't we practice?"
"Suwe ting!" Discord snapped a claw as foam swords appeared into his and Spike's claws, and then Discord held his up and exclaimed! "Engawde, dwagon! Siw Discowd is hewe to wight the fwame!"
"No way, that's the job of the Brave and Glorious Spike! I mean Spike the Brave and Glorious!" Spike roared in response! The two then started to practice whacking each other. Spike, at first, wasn't really running around. They made cute little flourishes with their foam weapons, and the two really got into the spirit of the contest, to the point they were continually fighting each other with those foam toys. The two were in high spirits as they continued to whack and smack each other.
Then Spike giggled, "This is so much fun! I wish we could do this more often."
"We definitewy shouwd!" Discord chimed in, then waddled over and hugged Spike. "Tank you, you wike a big bwothew."
Spike dawwed and ruffled the draconequus' spines. "And you're like a cool little brother. Now come, on let's get going! The show is about to start!"
As the opening ceremonies started and the Cutie Mark Crusaders brought in the flag for Ponyville, Spike and Discord arrived at the center field, where they stayed and waited for their cue. Spike was looking really anxious and Discord was rather concerned for him as he whispered. "So, um, awe you weady?
"Yeah, I think so," Spike replied. "But are you sure you can do this spell properly?"
"Twust me, ok? I'm way bettew with my chaos magic now!" The draconequus insisted. Then, with a flick of a claw the two started to grow in size until they were towering over the crowds. The crowds looked up in awe at them as they took out their big, oversized foam swords and began whacking at each other. The crowds were rather nervous, but the two did a good job of keeping the fight from getting out of control. They continued to whack and smack each other whilst playfully running around the stadium.
As the two continued their fight, Spike drove his foam sword through Discord's armpit and he cried out! "Oh no! Spike ta Bwave and Gwowious got me!" He then fell onto the field, slowly turning himself back to his small normal self as Spike triumphantly stepped up to the brazier, gave a spurt of flame and lit the brazier. This got a rouse of applause from the crowds as they cheered.
Once finished, Spike reverted back to his small dragon body. Then he ran to Discord and threw his claws around him while happily crying, "Thank you, Discord! That was so awesome!"
Discord laughed. "Yeah, it was. But why awe ya tanking me?"
Spike blushed and admitted. "Well, the truth was, I was somewhat nervous, ya know? This was a big moment: I didn't know if I had the guts to pull it off."
"You did just fine," The baby draconequus replied. "I'm happy fow ya, weawwy."
Twilight dawwed as she came over. "Awww, you two were so cute! I got a ton of adorable pictures! Now, how about I take my two big heroes to something to eat, and then we can all watch the games together?"
"Yeah!" Spike cheered as he put Discord onto his shoulders and then carried him off to the stands, the little draconequus bouncing up and down! They all settled together with Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, and Snow Angel.
Discord was so happy that, for once, nothing went wrong; he really was growing up. |
Equestria Ninja Girls Easter Time | pre | Back to the left
[Melody]
And do it once again-a
[All the girls]
Oh, hopperena!
At the last hop, the girls all did a mid-air twirl and giggled.
"That was fun!" Melody admitted.
"Yeah it was!" Clover said.
"Now we get why you do like it so much," Apple Bloom noted.
"See," Diamond Tiara said.
"And you mastered the dance so quickly!" Silver Spoon added.
"Well it is pretty easy to follow along," Sweetie Belle pointed out.
"Let's keep going!" Scootaloo said, and the girls kept hopping.
Meanwhile, Rarity was walking still working on her bonnet when she heard the music and looked inside, seeing the girls hopping around.
[Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon]
Hop to the left
[CMC, Melody, and Clover]
We do the Hopperena!
[Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon]
Then hop to the right -
"Hold it!" Rarity barged in, and they stopped hopping. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, hi Rarity," Sweetie Belle said. "Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were showing us this dance craze!"
"I noticed," Rarity replied. "Anf forgive me for being critical, darlings, but I'd hardly call that a dance craze."
"What do you mean?" Diamond Tiara asked, feeling irked.
"Well, hop to the left, hop to the right, hop to the left, hop to the right again - that isn't really a dance, it's hopscotch," Rarity explained.
"That's Hopperena!" Silver Spoon stated.
"A dance has to be more involved!" Rarity went on. "You need more steps, more room for interpretation!"
"We have bunny ears," Clover noted.
"You think it's so easy?" Diamond Tiara challenged. "Let's see you do it!"
"I beg your pardon?" Rarity asked.
"Come on, Rarity!" Sweetie Belle urged. "It's fun!"
Rarity sighed. "Oh, very well." Then she began hopping to the left and right until Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon stopped her.
No, no, no, no, no!" Diamond Tiara said. "You need the ears and feet." Then she gave Rarity her slippers while Silver Spoon put her bunny ears on the fashionista's head.
[Diamond Tiara]
Rarity is a serious fashionista
[Silver Spoon]
I believe you'd probably agree with us!
[Diamond Tiara]
The best way to not be a sourpuss
[Both]
Do the Hopperena!
[Diamond Tiara]
Hop to the left!
[Silver Spoon]
She does the Hopperena!
[Diamond Tiara]
She hops to the right!
[Silver Spoon]
Try not-a to complain-a!
[Diamond Tiara]
Back to the left
[Silver Spoon]
And do it once again-a!
[Both]
Hey, hopperena!
As Rarity was hopping left and right, she started to enjoy herself. "This is actually quite fun!"
"Told you," Sweetie Belle said.
"Let's see..." Rarity began. "I hop to the left..."
[Sweetie Belle]
Hoppy hopperena!
[Rarity]
Then
[Apple Bloom]
Hop to the right!
[Rarity]
I love the Hopperena!
[Scootaloo]
Back to the left!
[Rarity]
I'll do it once again-a!
Hey Hopperena!
Rarity laughed as she continued to hop around. "Oh, ha ha, haha! This is quite fun! Ha, ha, ha, haha! La, ha, ha, haha!"
"She's really enjoying the dance," Melody muttered to the others.
"Ahm, can I have my ears back?" Diamond Tiara asked, but Rarity was too busy hopping to pay attention.
"Ha, ha, ha, haha!"
"Okay, that's enough, thank you!" Silver Spoon said, but Rarity still wasn't listening.
"This is very pleasant!" Rarity continued to hop all over the room until she froze. She noticed that all her friends, the Turtles, and Allies were standing in the doorway. She stood and smiled nervously, removing the bunny ears. "Um, hello darlings. You didn't happen to see..."
"You hopping around all over the place?" Sunset noted.
"Yes, yes we did," Donnie confirmed.
Rarity blushed as Diamond Tiara said to her, "I am embarrassed for you!"
"That looked super fun!" Pinkie gushed.
"I wanna try!" Mikey said.
Then the two began hopping the Hopperena. |
Equestria Ninja Girls Easter Time | Once upon a Turtle PT. 1 | After the Annual Egg hunt settled down and they helped clean up, The Turtles, Rainbooms, CMCs, Allies, and Mutanimals had Easter dinner at Sweet Apple Acres farm. Some of their friends, including Wallflower Blush, Sapphire Night, Juniper Montage, and the Rock n'Beats, joined them as well. As they enjoyed themselves, They were getting to know their newest friend, Hokum Hare, who in turned was getting to know them as well.
"And then those varmits ran away. Then I got acquainted with Celestia and you know the rest." Hokum finished before munching on a carrot.
"Wow! You sure are tough, Hokum." Pete chirped.
"Least he's fighting on our team." Bandit smiled.
"And I'm looking forward to it. Sure has been lonesome since my mutation."
"Trust me. I was like that when I had to live in the ocean before I met these guys." Ray sympathized.
Hokum then looked at the automatic Easter egg machine. "So you guys made that thing that made the eggs for the hunt?"
"Yep. It was a team effort." Donnie spoke for him, Twilight, and Rockwell.
"Pretty impressive."
"Well, we had a bit of an adventure to finish on time." Twilight added.
"We helped as well." Lancer pointed out for him, The Rock n'Beats, and the CMCs who all nodded.
"So what happened?" Wallflower asked.
Leo decided to start the story. "Well, it all started after Mikey fell into the machine and we stopped for breakfast......."
Earlier that day....
Before the egg hunt, and the meeting of Hokum Hare, the Turtles and Allies were cleaning up the mess while Donnie and Twilight were fixing the Easter egg machine. The Mutanimals had gone to deliver the unbroken eggs.
Mikey, as punishment for causing the mess, had to be a make-shift mannequin for Rarity's new bonnet. And he also had to deal with Raph, Casey, and Rainbow Dash laughing at him.
"Looks good on yah, Mikey!" Casey chuckled.
Rainbow snapped a picture on her phone. "Oh, that's a keeper!"
"Hey, text me that photo," Raph said.
"Mmmm!" Mikey grunted. He wasn't allowed to talk until Rarity was done, either.
"Alright you three, you had your fun," Applejack walked by, carrying a bucket full of egg yolk. "We still got some cleaning to do."
"Eyup." Applebloom followed.
"Fine," Raph grumbled. "Besides, we gotta think of some bonnet puns."
The three walked away, still chuckling, while Mikey though to himself, 'I am so gonna get them back for this!'
"I'm sure Michelangelo has learned his lesson." Leatherhead tried to vouch for Mikey.
"Trust me, Learherhead. It takes a while for Rarity to forgive anyone who damages clothing." Pinkie warned.
"Tell me about it." Rainbow cringed, remembering the time in Gotham when she and Mikey crashed into Rarity and she got pizza in her hair.
Just then, the Rock N Beats along with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo came in.
"Hey guys," Half Note said.
"We came to see if you needed-" Lancer began.
"Whoa!" They all exclaimed when they saw the mess.
"What happened?" Sweet Note asked.
"Mikey," everyone answered in unison.
Then the kids saw Mikey in the bonnet and could help but giggle.
"That's uh, nice bonnet, Mikey," Patch said, through giggles, while Mikey huffed and crossed his arms.
"So what happened?" Scootaloo asked.
"Donnie and Twilight were showing us their automatic Easter egg machine while making Easter eggs for Canterlots annual Easter egg hunt." April began to explain.
"But Mikey accidentally got caught in the machine and kinda broke it." Mondo grinned.
"And damaged Rarity's new bonnet." Rockwell pointed out.
Sweetie Belle patted Mikey on the hand. "Trust me. I've been there."
"We'll, the machine's all fixed," Donnie said, wiping his forehead.
"Now we can finish the rest of the eggs," Leo stated.
"Just one problem," Twilight pointed out. "The kraang crystals we were using to power the machine got destroyed in the explosion."
"So does that mean we get to go to Dimension X to get more?" Mikey asked, until Raity pulled him back.
"Up-up-up," she said. "I'm not done."
"Actually, we don't need to go to dimension X," Donnie said, and pulled out a device. "According to the Utroms, the Kraang have crystals stashed away in other dimensions. I just need to pinpoint one that has enough crystals."
"And Vola!" Rarity proclaimed, showing everyone the bonnet still on Mikey. "I am finished. What do you think?"
"I think Mikey looks like Little Bo Peep," Rainbow joked.
"Ha ha!" Mikey grumbled.
"I don't suppose they would be in dimensions we've been to like Gotham or Moo Mesa." Sunset pointed out.
"I doubt it. Bishop was strict on keeping any remaining Kraang from coming back to those universes." Donnie added.
"Is there anyway we can help?" Lancer offered. "We're aware it could be dangerous but we could also use the training."
"I suppose if it's not too dangerous." Leo pondered.
"But y'all better stay close to us at all times!" Applejack pointed out.
"Well we'll see once I find a dimension with the crystals." Donnie added before his device started beeping. "Bingo!"
"You find one, Don?" Keno asked.
"Yep," Donnie assured. "But it's an unknown location, so we'll no idea what we'll find."
"We gotta do this," Pinkie declared. "For the Easter egg hunt!"
"Alright then," Leo said.
"We'll stay behind to deliver the finished eggs," Slash said, on behalf of the Mutanimals.
Donnie pulled out his portal ray. "Good thing I brought along my portal projector." Then he opened the portal.
Leo turned to the kids. "Remember, stay close," he reminded them.
"Got it," they replied.
Then the Ninjas and kids went through the portal, as the Mutanimals left with the eggs. But as they all did, the gate opened and two girls walked in. One had pink skin, lilac eyes, and wavy black hair with a bun and white streaks. The other girl had grey skin, crimson eyes staring through glasses, and wavy dark red hair.
"Pinkie Pie, we're here to help with the... eggs..." the first girl trailed off, as both she and the other girl saw the portal.
"Uh, Mag," the other asked.
"Yes, Losty."
"What the heck is that?!"
"I don't know?" The two walked closer to the portal and when the first girl was reaching out, she stepped on a egg yolk that hadn't been cleaned up, slipped and fell into the portal.
"Mag!" The other girl jumped into the portal after her as it closed.
Soon, the ninjas came out of the portal and into a bright meadow.
"Wow, we just walked into another dimension!" Clover gushed with excitement.
"I hope there's nothing dangerous here," Sweetheart said, in worry.
"Chill, SH," Ace assured. "We're ninjas, we can handle a little danger."
"Actually, there doesn't appear to be anything dangerous here?" Donnie said, looking around.
"So where are those Kraang crystals?" Rainbow asked.
"Well, according to this, there are multiple signals here," Donnie answered, looking at his device.
"Then we better split into teams so we're back in time." Leo said before putting the teams together. "Lancer, you're with me, Twilight, Sunset, and Karai. Raph, you take Casey, Rainbow Dash, Ace, and Patch. Melody Note, Sweet Note, and Half Note will go with Donnie, April, and Rarity while Clover, Logan, and Sweetheart go with Mikey, Pinkie, Shinigami, and Fluttershy. Keno, you'll take the CMCs. Now, each team goes to a location, find the Kraang crystal and we'll meet back here in an hour at the latest. If you have trouble, call our T-phones. Let's move."
And after choosing their destinations, the teams headed out to find their Kraang crystals.
After they had gone, the two girls fell out of the portal and into a heap on each other.
"Dang it!" The second girl grumbled.
"Uhhh!" The first girl known as groaned. "Lost are you okay?"
"If by okay you mean, falling through a freakin' portal and crash landing in some flipping unknown place, then NO!" The second girl know as Lost said, in sarcasm.
The other girl rolled her eyes as they both stood up. "Where are we?" She wondered.
"How should I know, Magpie?" Lost retorted.
The girl known as Magpie sighed. "I agree to Pinkie Pie request to help her and her friends with the eggs for the Easter Egg hunt, while also getting to meet these "special friends" of her's from New York, only to fall into some... portal thing-" She was interrupted when they felt the ground shake. "Whoa! Earthquake!"
Lost turned around and froze, her eyes wide. "Mag... not an earthquake," she said, pointing up.
A giant shadow fell over them as Magpie looked behind them and then looked up. "Oh.. my..." was all she said, before she and Lost screamed as the some big reached down and grabbed them!
Meanwhile, Leo and his group were walking along a road searching for the crystals.
"According to Donnie's intel, the crystal should be around here."
"I wonder what kind of dimension we're in?" Karai wondered.
"At least nothings going wrong." Twilight pointed out.
Suddenly, a blur ran past the group, causing Leo to spin like a top.
"I gotcha this time, Tortoise!" The blur shouted as it ran past them.
"And now something happens." Spike grumbled from Twilights bag.
"What was that?" Lancer gasped.
Then, the blur came back, revealing it to be a humanoid hare. He stopped in front of a dizzy Leo.
"What's the matter, Tortoise? Loosing your A game?" He taunted.
"Is that a giant rabbit?" Karai asked.
"I'm a hare," the Hare replied, then he pointed to Leo. "And as you can see, Tortoise and me are in the middle of a race."
"Me?" Leo asked, in confusion.
"Yes, you," the Hare replied, and started hopping around him. "Now quit lollygagging! We got a race to finish! Can't beat you if you stop to talk to folk."
"Race? What race?" Twilight inquired.
"The one Tortoise and I are in," the Hare stated, like it was obvious. "Did you you not hear me?"
"What are you talking about?" Karai demanded.
"Oh, well Tortoise once beat me in a race!" The Hare grumbled. "Which wasn't a fair race, because I stopped to take a nap. So I challenged him to a rematch."
As they talked to the hare, Lancer pondered and then realized something.
"Listen. You probably have me confused for someone else." Leo tried to reason with the Hare.
"You think that disguise is gonna get you off the hook? We. will. Race!" The Hare scoffed.
Sunset was about to lose her cool with the hare when Lancer nudged her. "Could I talk to you guys for a sec?"
"Excuse us." Twilight politely told the hare as she, Sunset, Karai, and Leo huddled to Lancer. "What's up?"
The others huddled to Lancer as he spoke, "I know this is gonna sound impossible but, I think he might be the Hare from 'The Tortoise and the Hare'!"
"The Tortoise and the Hare?" Karai said, in surprise. "But that's just a fairytale."
"Well, technically, it's a fabel that was told by the greek philosopher Aesop," Twilight noted.
"We get the idea." Spike rolled his eyes.
"Could we be in some sort of fairytale dimension?" Sunset breathed.
"Looks that way." Karai looked around.
"Either way, that hare is not gonna let us pass unless I race him." Leo glared.
"What are you guys talking about?" The Hare butted in. "Your not planning some kind of cheat to win are you?"
"No," they answered dryly.
"Alright," Leo said. "I'll race you."
"Perfect," the Hare clapped, and pointed. "We'll race all the way toward Prince Charming's castle. And you won't beat me this time. Cause I'm not taking any naps."
"Let's just get this over with," Leo said, in annoyance. He wanted to get this over with so they could look for the Kraang crystals.
"Winner gets bragging rights," the Hare stated. "And this shiny rock I found." Then to their surprise, he held up a Kraang crystal!
"That's..... a Kraang Crystal!" Gasped Twilight.
"You got to be kidding." Karai said bluntly.
Leo glared at the crystal. Now he had to race the hare. "Very well. But all I'm getting is that crystal." He then got in position and the hare followed.
Soon the two lined up as Twilight started them off. "On your marks... get set... GO!"
Then the Hare shot off down the road, kicking up a cloud of dust on Leo. The turtle leader coughed and heard the Hare calling, "See yah at the finish line!"
Then Leo took off running after him, while the others followed along.
"I hope the others are having better luck then we are," Sunset said.
To be Continued |
Equestria Ninja Girls Easter Time | Once upon a Turtle PT. 2 | Meanwhile, Mikey and his group were walking through the forest.
"That Kraang crystal's gotta be around here somewhere according to Donnie." The party dude pointed out.
"In this forest?" Clover complained. "It'll take forever to find."
"Nope. Not in here. Nope. Nope. No crystal here!" Pinkie was bouncing around looking under stone and logs faster than a dog sniffing for a bone.
"Maybe not." Logan noticed.
"Well we better start looking." Shinigami said.
"Could it be in there?"
Everyone looked to where Sweetheart was pointing to. There was a house in a clearing of the woods.
"Maybe the owner could give us directions as well?" Fluttershy suggested.
"Eh why not?" Mikey shrugged so they walked up to the house.
"You better hide, Mikey," Fluttershy cautioned. "We don't wanna scare whoever lives here."
"Got it, girl," Mikey hid inside a bush by the house.
Then Fluttershy gently knocked on the door. "Excuse me?" She called softly, but there came no reply, so knocked again and spoke a bit louder. "Hello?"
After that, the five girls and Logan waited. Sweetheart tapped her foot, Logan whistled, and Mikey even poked his head out of the bush to see if anyone would answer.
When no one did, Pinkie spoke up. "Maybe you didn't knock loud enough?" Then she rapped at the door and shouted. "ANYONE HOME?!" Then the door pushed open and they saw it wasn't even closed. "That's odd?"
"Who'd leave their door open?" Shini wondered.
"Only one way to find out," Mikey jumped out of the bush and went inside.
"Mikey!" Fluttershy called, as they followed him in.
As they all entered, they couldn't help but look around in awe at the house's decor.
"This looks like something out of a storybook." Fluttershy whispered.
"Either that or my grandma's house." Logan added.
"Wonder if they got anything to eat around here?" Mikey wondered.
"Hey, guys!" Clover called.
"Did you find the crystal?" Mikey asked.
"No, but I found food," Clover pointed to three bowls resting on a table. One was big, the second was medium, and the third was small.
Mikey looked inside the big bowl. "What's this glop?"
"It's porridge," Pinkie said. "It's the european version of oatmeal."
"I love oatmeal," Logan said. "I'm sure whoever made this won't mind if I have a little taste." He took a spoon and scooped some into his mouth. Then his eyes widened and he spat it out. "Yeow! It's hot!"
Sweetheart dipped her finger in the medium bowl and tasted the porridge. "Yuck! This one's cold."
"There isn't even any in this one," Clover held up the small bowl to show it was empty.
"Weird!" Pinkie said.
"Everyone, look in here," Shini pointed into another room and they looked inside. There were three chairs. A big armchair, a medium cushion chair, and pieces of what looked like a small rocking chair.
"Double weird!" Pinkie said, looking at the broken chair.
"I feel sorry for whoever owns that chair," Clover said.
"Let's look upstairs," Mikey motioned to a latter.
He climbed up it and pushed open a hatch. The girls and Logan followed him and found themselves in a bedroom. There were three beds of different sizes. A big one, a medium one, and a small one.
Then they heard small snoring and looked at the small bed. Someone was sleeping in it!
Mikey motioned for everyone to be quiet as they crept toward the bed and he slowly pulled the blanket off to reveal... a little girl with blond curls.
"Aww!" Pinkie cooed. "It's a little girl."
"Oh she's adorable." Shini cooed.
"At least she's no Cozy Glow." Mikey smiled.
Suddenly, Fluttershys eyes perked up. "Guys I think I know where we are!"
"I think I do too" Clover agreed.
"Three bowls of porridge."
"Three chairs, plus the broken one."
"Three beds with a gold haired girl sleeping in one."
"We're in a fairytale dimension!" The two concluded.
"Whoa! Backup! Are you telling me that that girl is Goldilocks? THE Goldilocks?" Logan questioned.
"I guess we are." Shini agreed.
Pinkie gasped. "Oh my gosh! Ohmygoshohmygosh! A fairytale dimension?! We're in the house of the three bears with Goldilocks! Do you think Mother Goose is here too?" She bounced all around the bedroom until Sweetheart gasped herself.
"Oh no!" Sweetheart exclaimed. "If she's Goldilocks, then who do you think owns this house?"
"It's owned by the three bears," Pinkie answered, before realizing that was a bad thing for them. "Uh oh!"
"Oh, the bears weren't really bad," Fluttershy explained. "They were just mad at Goldielocks for trespassing."
"Um, aren't we trespassing as well?" Shini asked, knowingly.
"Oh yeah," Clover realized. "Then let's get out of here before the bears come back!"
"Wait! We can't leave Goldielocks here," Mikey said, and started to shake the girl awake.
Goldielocks yawned and rubbed her eyes. "What's going... on!" She stared at Mikey.
"Hi," he said.
Goldielocks screamed and then Mikey screamed.
"A green monster!" She wailed. "Then she caught sight of Shini. "Aahhh, a witch!" Then she saw the two Rainbooms and three Rock N Beats. "Aaahhhh, strangers!"
"It-It's okay, Goldilocks," Fluttershy tried to calm her down.
"How do you know my name?"
"We read your story," Pinkie said.
"We're friends, Goldilocks," Sweetheart assured. "Listen, this house belongs to three bears! And they'll be mad if they find you here!"
"So we gotta get out of here before they show up!" Mikey said.
But suddenly, they heard voices from downstairs.
"Someone's been eating my porridge!"
"Someone's been sitting in my chair!"
"Someone's eaten my porridge and broken my chair!"
"Too late," Clover said.
"Shhh!" Hissed a big gruff voice which must have been the Papa Bear. "Let's look upstairs. That someone might still be here."
"The bears are coming!" Logan whispered.
"What'll we do?!" Sweetheart asked, frantically.
"Hide!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Where?" Shini inquired.
"In there," Mikey pointed to a closet and the group and Goldielocks huddled inside and closed the door.
As they hid in the closet, Mikey and Shini blushed as they were were face to face with each other, but had to regain focus as they heard the bears in the bedroom.
"Someone has been sleeping in my bed."
"Someone has been sleeping in MY bed!"
"Someone has been sleeping in my bed and..... now they're gone!"
"They couldn't have gone too far."
Everyone kept quiet as the bears searched the room. Sweetheart then felt something sharp poke her in the seat. Luckily, she stopped herself from screaming. But was wide eyed with what poked her.
"Um ms. Fluttershy?" She got the shy girl's attention who also looked surprised.
"Guys. Look." She whispered. Everyone looked to see Sweetheart holding up a Kraang crystal.
"Alright! A Kraang crystal!" Pinkie quietly cheered.
"Good work, Sweetheart." Clover commended.
"Now we gotta ditch these bears and meet up with the others." Shini pondered.
The mama bear was fluffing out one the pillows from her bed. As she did, feathers were flying out. One feather flew through the cracked door, landing on Pinkies nose. The party girl began to feel a sneeze coming to everyone's shock. Mikey tried to block her nose but was too late.
"AAAAAACHOOOOOOOO!"
Pinkie sneezed so loud the closet door flew open, causing Pinkie and Mikey to fall over, getting the bears' attention. As the bears stood surprised, everyone just stood smiling as Mikey politely pulled the door shut again.
"Maybe they didn't see us." He sheepishly shrugged as everyone looked at him confused.
Suddenly, the closet door opened and the group was face to face with a bellowing Papa bear, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN OUR HOUSE?"
"Uh... leaving," Mikey answered, before he hollered, "RUN AWAY!"
Then screaming, the group bolted from the closet, down the latter, and out the door, Fluttershy pulling Goldilocks along with them as they all ran as far away as they could.
The bears just stared off after them.
"Who were those guys?" The Papa Bear wondered.
Once they felt they were far enough away, the group and Goldilocks finally stopped running.
"I think were safe now." Mikey panted.
"That was close." Logan sighed.
"I don't think those bears were going to harm us." Fluttershy pondered.
"Maybe. That papa bear sure sounded mad." Pinkie gulped.
"At least we got the Kraang crystal." Clover smiled as Sweetheart held it up.
"Well I learned my lesson. I'm never entering other people's homes uninvited. I'm going home." Goldilocks started to leave. "Thank you again for helping me."
"You be good now." Shini smiled.
As they waved goodbye to Goldilocks, Mikey said, "One crystal down, more to go."
"Let's hope the others found theirs," Fluttershy said.
Raph's group was walking through another forest.
"So this is where Donnie said the crystal's supposed to be?" Rainbow asked.
"Yep," Raph replied, dryly. "Not that we'll find it in this place."
"The forest is huge, yo!" Casey grumbled.
"How are we gonna find the crystal in the middle of a forest?" Patch asked.
"It's like finding a needle in a haystack!" Applejack stated. "It'll take us forever to find it."
"And I'm hungry," Ace noted, and everyone looked at him. "What? I am."
Just then, Rainbow stopped and sniffed the air. "Hey! Do you guys smell that?" She asked.
Everyone else stopped and sniffed too.
"Yeah," Applejack agreed. "It smells like... gingerbread?"
"This way!" Raph led the group.
Before long, they found an opening where stood a tall gingerbread house. It was covered with gumdrops frosting and candy. There were lollipops positioned like flowers.
Aces eyes lit up. "That looks mighty tasty."
Applejack however was not impressed. "You have got to be kidding me."
"Whoa!" Rainbow Dash awed. "Where did this come from?"
"I've got to try some." Patch heard her stomach growl.
"I hate to have this person's dental bill." Raph joked as he took a piece of the house.
"But what does this mean?" Applejack questioned.
"It means this guy's got just desserts." Casey smiled as they all started to take pieces of the house and eating them.
The only one who didn't eat was Applejack. She couldn't help but feel liked she'd seen something like this before, when suddenly, they cries coming from inside the house.
"Help! Help!" Two young voices cried out.
"Yo, what was that?" Ace asked.
"It's coming from inside," Rainbow said.
"Uh, maybe we should knock first?" Applejack suggested.
"Like this?" Raph walked up to the door and kicked it open.
They walked inside and gasped at what they saw. Inside were two children, a boy and a girl, locked in an iron cage.
"Holy Chalupa!" Raph said.
"Who are you guys?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"My name is Hansel and this is my sister Gretel."
"You mean like the fairy tale?" Applejack wide eyed.
Hansel and Gretel looked at each other in confusion before Gretel continued. "Anyway, Hansel and I got lost in the woods when we stumbled here. the lady who lived was nice to feed us. Until we discovered she was a witch!"
"This is bad!" Patch shivered. "If this is like the fairy tale, This witch could be trouble!"
"You need to hurry before the witch..." Hansel trailed off, as he and Gretel started in horror at something.
"What?" Patch asked.
"What are you staring at?" Casey added.
"She's right behind you!" Gretel whimpered.
The group stared before they slowly turned around. Standing in the doorway was the witch herself!
"Oh! Uninvited guests!" She smiled wickedly, and magically placed door back on and locked it. Then she stalked toward them. "Won't you stay for DINNER?!"
"Ah sewer bunnies!" Raph grumbled.
Meanwhile, Mikey and his group was walking in the woods when Clover's phone rang.
"Guys! It's Patch." she answered. "Hey Patch, how's it going? Wait! What? Let me put you on speakerphone."
Everyone gathered as Clover pushed a button so they heard Patch on the phone.
"We're in trouble! We're in a gingerbread house! We tried to save Hansel and Gretel, but the witch was too crafty! We need help! Please!" Patch pleaded as she and Ace were in the cage with Hansel and Gretel while Raph, Casey, Applejack, and Rainbow were tied up as the witch prepared her stove.
"We're coming!" Mikey called.
As Patch hung up, everyone saw Pinkie gasped then getting steamed from what she heard. She was about as mad as she saw someone break a Pinkie Promise.
"Nobody uses sweets to trap and eat my friends!" She growled before taking off like a bullet.
"Follow that Pinkie!" Mikey declared before they hurried to follow her.
Back at the gingerbread house, the witch was seasoning the four trapped friends and she had stuffed apples in their mouths.
"How fortunate that more weary travelers came by," she said with delight. "Now I a much bigger meal!"
"Hey, witchy!" Ace yelled. "When I get outta here, your about to Face the Ace!"
"Oh yeah, that really intimated her," Patch rolled her eyes.
The witch only cackled. "I think I save you for dessert!" Then she turned back to Raph and the others. "As for you four, TIME TO COOK!" She lifted them with her magic and floated them toward the oven.
Raph spat out his apple. "This is just like that nightmare with the Dream Beavers!"
Suddenly, there came a knock at the door. The witch stopped her magic. "Ooo, more food!" Then she walked up to the door and called. "Who is it?"
"Booyah," came the reply.
"Booyah who?" The witch asked, in confusion.
Suddenly the door exploded by Pinkie's magic, sending her across the room.
"Booyakasha!" Mikey's group burst in.
"Mikey!" Raph gasped before realizing something. "Oh great! Now I'm never gonna hear the end of this!"
Casey spat out his apple. "How'd you guys find us?"
"Patch called us and Pinkie was able to find you quickly." Clover explained.
"No one uses treats to kidnap and eat my friends! NO ONE!" Pinkie declared.
The witch was able to pick herself up. "How cute. A sweet tooth."
Fluttershy turned to Clover, Logan, and Sweetheart. "You three free the others while we hold her off!"
The three nodded and headed to the prisoners while Mikey, Shini, and Fluttershy stood by a still angry Pinkie.
The witch summoned a broom and rose up on it. Then she fire magic blasts at the four who dodged and scattered.
Shini landed next to her and the witch asked. "What's this? Another witch?"
"Not exactly," Shini replied, as she jumped up to avoid a magic blast and vanished in a cloud of smoke and bats swormed the witch.
She shrieked and batted them off right before Shini came out of nowhere and kicked her to the ground.
"Hey, witchy!" Mikey called, and blew a raspberry.
"I'll make turtle soup out of you!" The witch rose on her broom again and blasted at Mikey, but the turtle jumped to avoid one blast then jumped and stood on one hand to avoid another.
Then he somersaulted over the witch, landed against and pushed off a wall, and knocked the witch off her broom. Then he got on it, but started to fly out of control.
"How do you steer this thing!" He cried.
The witch chacked at the sight, before she was hit with a double kick by Fluttershy. She shot magic at the shy girl, but she back-flipped to avoid it and shot darts at her, only for the witch to stop them in mid air.
"And what was that supposed to be?" She asked.
Fluttershy smirked. "A distraction."
Pinkie popped up behind the witch. "Surprise!" And splattered two pies on each side of her head.
As Pinkie fought the witch one on one, Sweetheart, Clover, and Logan crept to the cave where Ace, Patch, Hansel, and Gretel
Were held.
"Have you out in a sec." Clover whispered as Sweetheart pulled out her Chain claw and slammed the lock off, freeing them.
"Thank you so much." Gretel cheered as they were helped out. Then, they hurried to the others to untie them.
"You youngins are definitely doing well on your training." Applejack smiled.
As the witch was trying to blast Pinkie, she was beaned in the head by an apple. Then Rainbow ran circles around her, spinning her around.
"That's for trying to cook us!" Rainbow said.
"You'll regret that!" The witch shot magic at her, but Rainbow dodged it with her speed and raced past her, making her spinn again.
When the witch stopped spinning there stood Applejack holding a giant candy cane.
"Howdy," she grinned, and swatted the witch into a wall with it.
Casey skated in and dumped out his hockey pucks. "Eat this, ya old hag!" And shot each one. Only for the witch stop them with her magic and send them back at him, hitting him all over.
Then Raph grabbed the witch, body-slammed her on a table, breaking it, and spinn-kicked her on the ground close to the oven.
"Nobody tries to cook us and get's away with it!" He growled.
The witch stood up in a rage. "I'LL COOK YOU ALL!" She shouted, her magic flaring.
"I don't think so!"
Everyone looked up and saw Mikey riding the broom like a surfboard, straight at the witch.
"Booyakasha!" He jumped off and the broom collided into the witch, sending her rocking right into the oven.
Then Hansel and Gretel slammed the door and bolted it shut. The witch screamed like a banshee as the oven turned bright red.
"Everyone clear out!" Applejack yelled.
Everyone ran out of the house just in time to see it explode, sending sweets everywhere. They shielded themselves from the blast and looked back. The house was destroyed and all that was left of the witch was her hat.
"Now that, was intense!" Ace said.
"Thank you all for saving us." Hansel thanked as he and Gretel bowed in thanks.
"It's what we do." Casey grinned.
Just then, a voice called from a distance.
"Hansel! Gretel!" Merging from the bushes was a woodsman.
"Father!" Hansel and Gretel ran and embrace the woodsman.
"Oh! Thank goodness! I thought I'd lost you both. Confound that mother of yours."
"We're alright, Father. Thanks to our new friends." Gretel pointed to the group.
Their father walked up to the ninjas. "Oh thank you so much for helping my children, my good...." he looked up and down at Raph and Mikey. "Gentlemen."
"It was our pleasure." Mikey grinned.
"Please allow me to give you this. I found it in the woods. And I want you to have as a token of my gratitude." The woodsman pulled out his pouch the Kraang crystal Raphs group was searching for.
"The Kraang crystal!" Rainbow Dash cheered.
"Thank you, kind sir." Raph smiled as he accepted the crystal.
"Come, my children. Let us go home."
"Goodbye!" Hansel and Gretel waved as they followed their father home.
The ninjas waved back until they were gone.
"Now we got two Kraang crystals." Mikey held his up next to Raphs.
"Thanks for coming to help us." Patch thanked.
"Just don't tell the others that we were gonna get eaten by a witch." Raph grumbled.
Mikey put his arm on his brother's shoulder. "Well, if it makes you feel better, we were almost attacked by bears."
"I'm telling you those bears weren't going to hurt us." Fluttershy huffed.
"Cmon." Applejack said. "Let's go back to meet up with the others."
And so they sent off to meet with the others.
The CMC and Keno were walking through a countryside.
"You sure Donnie said the crystal was here?" Scootaloo asked. "Cause all I see are fields."
"That's what Donnie said," Keno noted.
"If I were Kraang, and I'm so glad I'm not, where would I hide a crystal?" Apple Bloom wondered.
Sweetie Belle stopped walking and stared at something. "Um, maybe in that straw house?"
"What straw house?" Keno asked.
"That one with the walking pig," Sweetie Belle pointed ahead and they saw a little straw house. And to their surprise, sitting outside the house was a pig wearing clothes.
"Let's give it a try." Applebloom walked up to the pig and poked it. "Um excuse me, Mr. Pig?"
The pig snorted as he woke up. "Wha ? Is the wolf here?" He then noticed the three girls and guy. "Oh. Hello there. Can I help you with something?"
"We're looking for like a crystal. Have you seen something like that, mr.-?"
"Oh where are my manners? I'm Percy. And you are?"
"I'm Applebloom. And this is Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and Keno."
"Hey," Keno waved.
"That's a... nice looking house you got there," Scootaloo said.
"Why thank you," Percy replied. "I built it myself. As for your question, no, I've haven't seen any-" he suddenly squealed in alarm.
"What is it?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Everyone inside!" Percy shot up and pushed them all into the house.
"Ow! Quit pushing!" Apple Bloom said.
"Hurry! He's coming!" Percy exclaimed, as he got them all inside and locked the door.
"Who's coming?" Keno inquired.
Before Percy, a loud knock came which started the pig into hiding in a pile of hay. Then a deep gruff voice called out, "Little Pig, little pig, let me come in!"
Keno and the CMC double taked when they heard that and became more surprised when Percy told the voice, "Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin!"
"Little pig?" Scootaloo repeated.
"Chinny chin chin?" Sweetie Belle chimed in.
"Y'all don't think that Percy's..." Apple Bloom began.
"One of the Three Little Pigs?" Keno guessed. "But that's just a-"
Before he could finish, they heard the gruff voice say, "Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blooooow your house in!"
Then they heard someone take a huge breathe and they were knocked down by what felt like a gail force wind that blew the whole straw house into pieces. Including the hay Percy was hiding under.
When it stopped, the four and the pig looked up. Standing over them was a very big wolf, about as big as Wolfatizer.
The wolf laughed. "Did you really think straw would protect you from me?! He asked. Then he caught sight of Keno and the CMC. "And who do we have here?"
"The Big Bad Wolf!" The CMC squeaked.
"Must've be visiting from Red Riding Hood's place. Oh well. I always loved small fries with a ham sandwich." The wolf smacked his lips.
"Yeah? Well dinners to go!" Scootaloo quickly threw a smoke bomb at the wolf, disorienting him.
"Now's our chance. Run!" Keno ordered.
"This way!" Percy led the way as they ran as fast as they could. "We'll go to my brothers. Hopefully, his house is stronger than mine was!"
As they ran into the woods, they heard the wolf shouting in the distance, "You will not get away so easily!"
The group ran as fast as they could, until they came to a house that was built from sticks. Another pig was outside, playing a banjo.
"Peter!" Percy hollered, as they came running up.
"Percy?" Peter asked. "What's going on? And who are all these people?"
"There's no time!" Sweetie Belle said, in a panic. "The Big Bad Wolf's right behind us!"
Then as if confirming her claim, they all heard a howl and turned to see the wolf crashing through the bushes after them.
"Inside!" Peter yelled, and they all rushed into the house and locked the door.
"What happened?" Peter asked his brother.
"I was taking a mid morning nap, when these fine travelers came along, asking about a crystal," Percy explained. "Then the wolf showed up and blew my house away." He motioned to Scootaloo. "But this little girl threw some kind of thing at him and we got away."
"Goodness!" Peter exclaimed, then he turned to the four. "Are who are you guys?"
"I'm Apple Bloom."
"Sweetie Belle."
"Scootaloo."
"And I'm Keno."
"Nice to meet you all," Peter smiled. "I'm Peter."
"Say, Peter?" Sweetie Belle asked. "You wouldn't happen to have seen a crystal around here, have you?"
"No, I don't think I-" Peter was interrupted by a loud knock at the door.
"Little pig, little pig, let me come in," came the wolf's voice from outside.
"It's the wolf!" Percy cried.
"Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin," Peter rebuffed.
"Then I'll huff! And I'll puff! and I'll blow your house down!"
As The wolf began to take a deep breath, Applebloom realized something.
"I'm afraid this stick house isn't strong enough!"
"What do you mean?" Peter raised a brow.
"Granted sticks are stronger than straw, but that wolf blows like a hurricane!" Sweetie Belle added.
"And sticks blow just as easily." Scootaloo finished.
"Oh." Keno started to say just as the house was blown down on them.
Peter and Percy glanced up and saw the hungry wolf smiling down at them, showing his sharp teeth.
"So?" He asked. "Which one of you wants to be eaten first?"
"I vote neither!" Keno rushed forward and shoved a sick in the wolf's mouth.
"'Ay! 'Hat's 'onning 'on?!" The wolf asked, unable to close his mouth.
Sweetie Belle showed him a picture in a Filly Guide tip book. "Filly Guide tip number 204," she stated. The picture showed a Filly Guide scout doing the same thing to an alligator. "See ya later, alligator!" And with that they all ran away again.
The wolf bit down hard and snapped the stick out then he chased after them again. He saw them all disappear into a bush and quickly followed. Unfortunately, when he did, he found himself standing in mid air over a cliff. Then he fell down and into a pond. The group peeked over the edge, smiling smugly at him.
"Bye!" They said, and took off.
The wolf shook his fists, "I'll get you morsels!"
As they were all running, Peter spoke up. "Quick, to our sister's house!"
Hurrying, Peter and Percy led the group to a brick house. There was a female pig carrying a cauldron full of water.
"Paula!" greeted the big brothers.
"Peter? Percy? What's going on?" Paula saw the group. "And who are they?"
"This is Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Keno. They're looking for a crystal and asking us if we've seen it when the wolf came and blew our houses down."
Then, as if right on cue, they heard a howl in the distance.
"The wolf! Inside! Quickly!" Paula opened her door, letting everyone in.
"Here. Allow me." Keno helped get the cauldron inside.
"Why, thank you." Paula smiled.
Once they got inside, Paula said to her brothers, "I told you that sticks and straw wouldn't be strong enough to keep the wolf away, but you two were just too lazy to listen!"
Percy and Peter smiled sheepishly, as the CMC giggled.
"So, where do you want this big pot?" Keno asked, Paula.
"Put it in the fireplace," Paula instructed, as Keno dragged it over to it. Then she turned to the CMC. "Now what's all this about a crystal?"
"We need it for a friend of ours," Sweetie Belle explained.
"Don't suppose you've seen one around here?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Now that you've mentioned it," Paula walked over to a cupboard. "I did find this, while I was gardening." She held out and Kraang crystal.
"The crystal!" The girls exclaimed.
"Well I have no need of it so you can have it as a thank you for saving my brothers." Paula gave the crystal to Sweetie Belle who accepted it gratefully.
"Thanks." Scootaloo smiled.
"Alright. Now let's get moving before-" Keno was interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Little pigs. Little pigs. Let me come in."
"Too late."
"Not by the hair on my chinny chin chin!" Paula retorted.
"Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blooooow your house!" The wolf growled.
"Your welcome to try!" Paula scoffed.
"Take cover!" Peter and Percy squealed, underneath a table.
"Oh, I don't think we need to worry, this time," Apple Bloom said.
Then they heard the wolf take a huge breathe like before and blow. But this time nothing happened. They heard the wolf try again. And again. And again. They looked out the window and saw the wolf panting from exhaustion.
"You really built this house good, Paula." Sweetie Belle complimented.
"Thanks. Took a while but it was worth it."
Outside, the wolf gave up huffing and puffing. "There's got to be a better way!" He growled before walking away.
"Hooray, we're saved!" Percy and Peter cheered.
"Don't celebrate just yet," Paula warned. "I don't think the wolf will give up that easily."
"She's right," Scootaloo confirmed. "He's gonna try to climb down the chimney!"
"How do you know that?" Percy asked, in confusion.
"Uhh, lucky guess?"
Then they all heard a scuffle on the roof, as well as the wolf laughing.
"It's the wolf!" Peter cried. "He is gonna climb down the chimney!"
"Well luckily, I planned for this," Paula said. "Quick, get some wood and light the fire!"
Meanwhile, the wolf had climbed onto the roof and went, legs first, into the chimney.
"Here I come, pigs!" And he slid down and landed in the fireplace, laughing evily. "Now I've got you little-" he paused, and sniffed. "Hey, what's cooking?"
The pigs, CMC, and Keno grinned smugly, as Apple Bloom said, "You are!"
The wolf looked down and saw he was sitting in a pot of boiling water.
"YEEOOOW!" He screamed, shooting back up the chimney.
They looked out the window again and saw him running away with his behind smoking. Then they all laughed.
"I don't think he'll be bothering us anymore," Paula stated.
"And with him outta the way, we probably should get going now that we got what we came for." Keno said as they all left the house.
"Yep. Thanks again for the crystal." Applebloom thanked.
"Feel free to come by anytime." Paula waved.
"Same with us . When we rebuild our houses." Peter added as Percy nodded.
After the group left, the two pigs turned to their sister. "You uh got any bricks left?" Percy asked.
Paula just smiled.
"Applejack is not gonna believe what we went through." Applebloom said.
"If this is a fairytale dimension, I think she would know." Keno sighed.
"At least we got the Kraang crystal. So we can meet up with the others." Scootaloo smiled as they headed to the meeting point.
Meanwhile, the Hare was racing along the road at a great neck speed.
The girls and Spike were watching from afar. They looked back and saw that Leo was running as fast as he could, but the Hare was much faster.
"Man, that hare's as fast as Raindow Dash," Spike noted.
"I hate to say it, but there's no way Leo's gonna win!" Sunset stated.
"That hare is too fast even for him," Twilight said. "And the tortoise only beat the hare because he stopped to take a nap."
"And the hare just said he's not taking any naps this time," Karai put in.
"Wait! I got an idea." Twilight grinned as they all huddled up.
The hare looked back and smirked. "I got that tortoise beat now! So much for slow and steady winning this race!"
Twilight and Sunset Shimmer were able to get ahead with their ninja training. Then, Sunset called out to the hare. "Yoo-hoo! Mr. Hare!"
It was enough to get the hare to stop and scoot back to the girls. "What can I do for you girls?"
"We were wondering if we could have your autograph? It's obvious that our friend is no match for a fast hare like you."
"Well, let me see if I-" the hare began to look for a pen when he realized something. "Wait a minute! I see what your trying to do! Your trying to distract me so the tortoise can pass me!" He pushed the autograph paper into Twilight. "Well, nice try! But there's no way I'm losing to that tortoise again!" And raced off.
But what he didn't notice, was Karai had been standing behind him and had swiped the crystal.
"That wasn't exactly the idea," Sunset said.
Leo came running up, having seen everything. "Good... work... girls!" He panted. "Now let's regroup with the others before that hare realizes the crystal is gone.
Then the four took off down another road. While up ahead, the Hare looked back and noticed them running away and stopped.
"Ha! The tortoise is bailing out!" He laughed. "I knew he wouldn't be able to beat me! Now I have the braging rights and this shiny-" he stopped, as he reached into his pocket for the crystal only to find it wasn't there! "Where is?! Where's the-" it suddenly dawned on him. Those girls must've stolen it. "Hey! Cheaters!" He yelled and raced after them.
After they hurried aways, the group stopped in the woods.
"I think we lost him." Lancer looked back.
Leo sat down as he panted.
"Are you alright, Leo?" Twilight feared.
"Yeah. Just need to take it easy. I don't think I ever ran that fast in my life."
"Least we got the crystal." Karai smiled.
"Now we can get back to the others and fix the machine." Sunset nodded.
Suddenly, they heard rustling in the bushes.
"Oh tell me he didn't follow us!" Leo groaned.
Emerging from the bushes wasn't the hare but a little girl wearing a red hood carrying a basket.
"Oh! Excuse me." She politely greeted.
"Um hi?" Twilight waved back.
"Good morning," the girl said, then she noticed Leo's state. "Oh no, is your friend alright?"
"He's fine," Karai said. "He just lost a race." Leo frowned at that.
"Okay," the little girl smiled. "I'm Jennifer. But everyone calls Little Red Riding Hood. What are your names?"
"My name's Sunset Shimmer," Sunset introduced.
"I'm Twilight and this is Spike," Twilight showed her Spike.
"Aww, puppy!" Red Riding Hood petted Spike.
"I'm Karai," Karai then motioned to the turtle leader. "And that's Leo."
"And I'm Lancer," Lancer shook hands with her.
"What are you doing here in the woods?" Leo asked.
"I'm going to visit my grandmother," Red Riding Hood replied. "She's not feeling well, so I'm bringing her some baked goods from my mother."
"You know, the woods can be dangerous," Leo warned her, remembering all the monsters and mutants he and his family faced at April's farm house. "You should be careful."
"Oh, I've walked this way many times, so I know my way," Red Riding Hood assured. "And anyway, I've got to be going now. It was nice meeting you all, bye." She waved then she skipped away singing a little tune.
"Sweet kid," Karai said.
"Yeah." Spike agreed before Lancer realized something.
"Hey! If that really is Little Red riding hood, then wouldn't that mean she'd be in danger with the big bad wolf?"
Everyone went wide eyed realizing he was right.
"We gotta help her!" Declared Twilight.
"What if she met the wolf by now?"
"Then we better head to grandma's house." Leo got up and lead the group through the woods.
Soon they came to the grandmother's house and Leo knocked at the door.
"Who is it?" Came an old woman's voice.
"We're friends of Little Red Riding Hood," Leo answered.
"Lift the latch and let yourselves in," the Grandmother's voice replied.
Leo lifted the latch and they hurried inside before shutting the door.
"Well, hello there," the Grandmother greeted. "I didn't know, Jennifer had friends?"
"That's cause we just met her this morning," Lancer explained. "Listen, your in danger!"
"Danger? Whatever are you talking about?"
"There's a wolf coming here and he plans to eat you and your grand daughter!" Karai warned.
"A wolf?" The Grandmother asked. "What wolf?"
Then they were startled by a loud knock at the door.
"Who's there?" The Grandmother asked.
"It's me, Grandmother!" Came a gruff voice, that was trying to sound like a little girl. "Little Red Riding Hood!"
"Jennifer dear, are feeling alright? You sound different?"
"I just have a sore throat!" The voice coughed.
"That's not your grand daughter!" Leo warned. "It's the wolf!"
Spike peeked out the window and froze. "Yep, it's the wolf alright!"
"Did that dog just talk?" Grandmother asked.
"No time to explain," Twilight said, as she and Sunset helped her out of bed.
"Just hide in here and we'll take care of the rest!" Sunset advised, and they put into the closet.
Then Leo, Karai, and Lancer dressed the scarecrow into a night gown and put into the bed. Then they covered it with the blanket and they, Sunset, Twilight, and Spike all climbed out one of the windows.
Twilight called back. "Lift the latch and let yourself in!" Then she ducked out of sight.
The wolf open the door, then he rushed to the bed, grabbed the scarecrow, and ate it in one bite. The grandmother had seen everything through the cracked in the closet and fainted.
The wolf laughed wickedly. "That was too easy! But the old woman tasted funny? Oh well, a meal's a meal. And speaking of meals, that foolish little girl will be here soon. And I'll have her as my main course!"
The ninjas watched him through the window as Sunset muttered, "Not if we have anything to say and or do about it!"
Leo turned to Spike. "You know what to do, Spike."
"On it," Spike saluted, and ran off.
Inside, the wolf was searching for a night gown to disguise himself. "Maybe the old woman has one in the closet?" He wondered aloud, and walked to the closet where the grandmother was. Just as he was about to open it, he heard a howl.
"What was that?" He said. "Another wolf?! Well he's not getting my meal!"
Then the wolf leaped out the window and ran in the direction of the howling. Once he was out of sight, Spike came running back to the group.
"Great work, Spike!" Twilight said.
"Let's go check on Grandma," Lancer said.
They climbed back in through the window and opened the closet to find the Grandmother had fainted.
"And Grandma is out cold." Sunset said bluntly.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
"Grandma? Are you there?" It was Red Riding Hood.
"Come in, Red. It's us." Twilight greeted.
After she let herself in, Red Riding Hood went to the bedroom where everyone was.
"How'd you guys get here before me?" Red then saw grandma fainted. "Grandma! Is she all right?"
"It's okay. You're grandma is fine she just fainted." Twilight assured her.
"Red, were afraid that you and your grandma are in danger. The wolf tried to eat your grandma and he might come after you."
"We were able to trick the wolf. But he might come back to get you," Karai added.
Red riding hood gasped. "I thought that wolf was my friend! What do we do?"
"It's okay. We have an idea to trick him again. But we need your help." Twilight calmed her down.
Short after, the group went into the flower garden after Grandma woke up. She helped dressed Karai in another red hood to make her look like Red Riding Hood.
"There. That ought to do it." Grandma smiled.
"And right on time. Here he comes!" Lancer pointed to the wolf who snuck in the bedroom window.
"You know what to do." Leo looked to the disguised ninja.
"I am so gonna enjoy this."
Karai grinned as she walked up to the front door.
She knocked at the door and heard the wolf reply in the grandma's voice, "Come in my dear!"
Karai walked in and saw the wolf in the bed, wearing a night cap and pulling the covers over his nose.
"Good morning, Grandmother," Karai greeted.
"Good morning my child," the wolf said. "You look bigger than last I saw you?"
"Why, Grandmother, what big eyes you have?" Karai said.
"All the better to hear you with, my dear," the wolf replied, then he saw Karai's eyes turn green. "My what green eyes you have?"
"All the better to see you with, Grandmother," Karai said. "And what big ears you have?"
"All the better to hear you with, my dear," the wolf then saw Karai's skin turn white and scaley. "And what scaley skin you have?"
"The better to feel you with, Grandmother," Karai smiled, showing her snake fangs.
Now the wolf was nervous. "Um, Red Riding Hood, what sharp fangs you have?"
"All the better... TO POISON YOU WITH!" Karai transformed into her mutant snake form and hissed.
The wolf screamed, then bolted from the bed and ran out the door and as far away as he could.
Everyone laughed as they reentered and Karai reverted back to normal.
With the wolf gone, the group helped grandma back into bed.
"That wolf shouldn't bother us anymore." She smiled.
"And I learned a lesson in talking to strangers." Red nodded.
"Well good." Leo nodded.
"Thank you so much for helping us. I found this while picking flowers. I want you to have it." She held up a familiar crystal.
"Another Kraang crystal!" Lancer smiled.
"We've been looking for one of those. Thank you." Twilight accepted the crystal.
"Well we need to get going. Our friends are probably waiting for us." Sunset said.
"Come back anytime." Grandma smiled as she and Red waved them goodbye as the group made their exit.
Donnie's group were jumping across the houses in a village. Where it was night. Soon they stopped and overlooked the town.
"It was morning where we all branched off," Half Note stated. "How is night time here?"
"Well, different dimension, different laws of physics," Donnie explained.
"So, where's the crystal supposed to be, Donnie?" April asked.
Donnie checked his device. "According to the tracker, it's somewhere over there." He pointed ahead toward an elegant manor.
"My word, what a lively estate," Rarity marveled. "If we're going to search for the Kraang crystal, then we must ask permission from the owner of that lovely home."
"Uh, Rarity, I don't think the owner of that house is gonna let a bunch of strangers look around their property," April said.
"Oh pasha, April darling," Rarity waved off. "You just have to know how to ask elegantly."
Soon they made their way to the manor and Donnie hid in one of hedge bushes as the girls walked up to the door. As they did, they saw two young women and a middle aged one, dressed in ball gowns, exit the manor and got into a coach.
"Excuse me, dears. First and foremost, I want to say your dresses are simply devine. We are looking for something and we were wondering-"
"What gives you any right to compliment our gowns with such horrible outfits yourselves?" The elder woman named Eleanor rudely interrupted. "And what gives you the right to search other people's homes? Disgraceful!"
"They must've scrape the bottom of the barrel for such tasteless outfits." insulted one of the girls named Greta.
"What?" Rarity gasped.
"What do expect? From such commoners!" Huffed the girl named Gretchen.
"Now, if you'll excuse us," Lady Eleanor went on. "We must be on our way to the King's royal ball."
"And common peasants like you aren't invited!" Gretchen added.
"Oh, but before we go, here's a little something..." Greta held up a bucket of dish water and dumped it all over Rarity.
Eleanor and Gretchen laughed.
"That's more funny then when you did that to Ella!" Her sister chuckled.
"Coachman, to the castle!" Lady Eleanor ordered the driver.
The coach then rode off as the three women continued to laugh hysterically, leaving Rarity standing there, dripping wet and a shocked expression on her face.
April and the girls walked up to her.
"Uh, you okay, Rarity?" Sweet Note asked.
"I'm wet, and thoroughly insulted," Rarity frowned. "So, NO I'M OKAY!"
"I hate to say I told you so," April grinned. "But I told you so."
Donnie walked up to them. "Well, on the plus side, with them at this ball, we can search for the Kraang crystal."
"So where is it?" Melody asked.
Donnie checked his device again. "I believe somewhere in the back." And they all began walking around the house.
"If I ever see those horrid women again, they'll rue the day they crossed Rarity!" The fashionista growled.
"Hey," Half Note spoke up. "What's that sound?"
Everyone stopped and listened. They could just hear the faint sound of someone sobbing. They hurried to the back of the back of the house and into a garden. There, they saw a beautiful young woman sitting on her knees and crying into her hands.
Looking at each other in concern, they walked up to her.
"Uh, hello?" April said.
The young woman looked up in surprise. "Who are you?" She asked.
"Just passerbys," April replied. "I'm April. And that's Donnie, Rarity, Melody, Half Note, and Sweet Note."
"Oh, hello," the woman said. "I'm Ella."
"Why are you crying?" Melody asked.
"Because, I wanted so much to go to the royal ball," Ella explained. "But cruel stepmother Lady Eleanor wouldn't like me!"
"We just met her," Rarity said, still irked. "And cruel fits her to a T!"
Ella noticed that Rarity was wet. "Oh, did one of my step sister dump dish water on you? She did the same to me."
"Yes, she did!" Rarity huffed.
"But why were they cruel to you? Aren't you family?" Melody raised a brow.
"Not really. They're my step sisters." Ella teared up.
"That shouldn't make much difference." Sweet Note stated.
Ella just whimpered.
"It's okay, Ella. Maybe Rarity could make something for you at the last minute." April smiled.
Ella just continued to cry. Nobody knew what else they could say until a glowing light appeared. Emerging from the light was middle aged woman in a bright dress and a magic wand.
"Who are you?" Ella gasped.
The woman smiled. "Do not fret, my dear. I'm your fairy godmother."
"Fairy godmother?" Everyone gasped.
"You know what this means?" Melody gleamed.
"That we're in a dimension where fairytales exist?" Donnie guessed.
"That and we are standing next to THE Cinderella." April pointed to Ella.
"Wow!" Half note gleamed.
"I knew it!" Sweet Note grinned excitedly.
"I don't understand?" Cinderella said.
"I've been watching you, Cinderella, you have a good heart," the Fairy Godmother explained. "And because of that, you deserve to go to the ball."
"But how," Cinderella asked.
"With my magic, I can send you there," the Fairy Godmother replied. "But you must look your best." She helped Cinderella to her feet. "First, you'll need fine carriage." She waved her wand and shot a stream of magic at a pumpkin. Then it grew into a majestic carriage. Then she waved her wand toward some mice and a lizard. The mice transformed into white horses while the lizard transformed into a Coachman.
"Soo, cool!" Melody gushed.
Just then, Donnie's device went off. "Guys, the crystal's close by!"
"Ah, let's not forget the best part," the Fairy Godmother said. "The outfit!"
Meanwhile, the group was looking around, until Half Note said, "I found it!" She held up the crystal.
"Perfect!" Donnie said. But just as he reached for it, it was magically lifted out of Half Note's hands and floated over to Cinderella by the Fairy Godmother. "Huh?"
The Fairy Godmother waved her wand and magic swirled all around Cinderella then her clothes transformed into a beautiful white ball gown. Her hair became wavy and done up nicely.
"My stars!" Rarity gasped.
"A now for the final touch," the Fairy Godmother lowered the crystal toward Cinderella's feet.
"Wait!" Donnie cried, but it was too late.
In a sparkle of magic, the crystal transformed into two glass slippers.
"Uhh!" Was all Donnie could say.
"Oh no!" The girls gasped.
"Oh my! This is all so wonderful!" Cinderella exclaimed in joy, and hugged the Fairy Godmother. "Thank you ever so much!"
"You are welcome, my dear," she replied. "But I'm afraid it won't last. You have until the stroke of midnight. By then, the spell will be broken. Now hurry, while you still have time."
"I will," Cinderella nodded, and hurried inside the carriage. Then the coachman snapped the reins and they rode off.
"Um excuse me, ms Fairy Godmother?"
The fairy Godmother turned and saw the group.
"Oh! Why hello there. How can I help you all?"
"I'm April and this is Donnie, Rarity, Half Note, Melody, and Sweet Note. We were around looking for a crystal."
"I found it when you made Cinderella's dress, but it got caught in your magic and turned into her slippers." Half Note added.
"Oh dear! My deepest apologies! Sometimes I don't own my own magic." The Fairy Godmother waved her wand and made another pair of glass slippers. "Now, just have Cinderella switch slippers and when it strikes midnight, the other slippers will turn back into the crystal."
"Thank you very much." Melody accepted the slippers.
"How are we gonna get into the castle to give these to Cinderella?!" Melody asked.
"I think I might have an idea?" Rarity said, coming back with something behind her back. "I'm sure that her stepmother and sisters won't might if we barrow some of their outfits..." and held out some dresses and a suit.
Before long, they all arrived at the palace curtesy of the Fair Godmother. They all wore dresses Rarity found from the stepsisters closets. But before they could enter, Sweet note groaned.
"What's wrong, Sweet?" Melody groaned.
"I should never have worn these shoes! They don't go with my purse!"
"Won't matter! Once we get those slippers, we won't stay long!" Half Note assured.
April looked around. "Wait! Where's Donnie?"
"Over here." Rarity pointed to a pillar before she cleared her throat. "Donnie? Donatello? WILL YOU GET IN HERE?"
Donnie walked away from the pillar, wearing a dark purple suit and a white powered wig. "So glad Raph and Mikey aren't here," He glared before they all entered the ball.
They found themselves in a grand ballroom where many people in gowns and suits were dancing.
"So, where will we find Cinderella?" April inquired.
"It shouldn't be too hard to find her," Rarity said. "I remember that gorgeous gown she was wearing.
"There she is!" Melody pointed.
Sure enough, not too far away was Cinderella dancing with the prince.
"Aww!" Sweet Note cooed. "How romantic!"
"Oh no, look!" Melody pointed.
Watching the two were the stepmother and stepsisters. And they did not look happy.
"Who is she?" Gretchen snarled.
"Who does she think she is?" Greta growled.
"She looks familiar." Eleanor pondered.
"Oh no! If we get close enough, they'll probably recognize us and find out we took their clothes!" Melody feared.
"Personally, I wouldn't mind a little payback ninja style!" Rarity glared as April held her back.
"Easy, Rarity. We don't want to make a scene."
"Not to mention we still gotta find a way to get crystal," Donnie reminded her.
"I think I have an idea? But it will cause a bit of a scene," Half Note said, then she whispered it to everyone.
"I very much like that idea," Rarity grinned.
"We better do it fast!" Sweet Note pointed.
The stepmother and sisters were making their way toward Cinderella. The group quick ninja'd through the dancers. As the lady Eleanor were nearing the maid turned princess, the Rock N Beats girls stuck out their legs and tripped Gretchen and Greta, making them fall flat on the floor. Lady Eleanor looked back at them and when she did, Rarity generated a diamond disk underneath all three of them. Then she yanked it away, making them all land in a heap.
Everyone stopped to look at the, even Cinderella and the Prince. When they did, April used her powers and ever so carefully lifted Cinderella off the ground. Then Donnie rolled in, took the crystal slippers off her and placed the glass ones on. Then April set Cinderella down on the floor and she didn't even feel a thing.
The group then snuck through the crowd and regrouped at the entrance to the ballroom.
"Did it work?" Melody checked in.
"We got the slippers." Donnie held up the slippers.
"She didn't even know we were there." April grinned.
"Great. Now we can get out of here." Half Note gleamed.
"Leaving so soon?"
Everyone turned in shock to see Eleanor and the two sisters glaring at them.
"Did you really think you could sneak in the ball unnoticed?" The stepmother glared.
"Well, that was the general idea," Donnie said, nervously.
"So you were the ones who caused us to embarrass ourselves!" Eleanor accused.
"In front of the prince!" The daughters added, in anger.
"I'd say you had it coming!" Rarity smirked. "Especially after you insulted and dumped that water on me!"
"Look! They've stolen our clothes!" Greta pointed out.
"Eeew! The freak is wearing my dress!" Gretchen glared at Donnie.
"We'll report you all to the king for stealing our wardrobe!" Eleanor stated.
"Just one problem with that," Donnie pointed out. "We won't be here!"
Then he threw a smoke bomb in their faces. And while they were coughing, Rarity lept in and knocked them down with a three way split kick.
"Never insult the fashion!"
Then the group bolted from the entrance. As the three started to get up, the clock struck midnight.
"Oh no!" Cinderella quickly ran out, accidentally trampling over Eleanor, Gretchen, and Greta as she fled.
"This is not our night!" Gretchen groaned.
As they hurried away from the palace, the group noticed that it was day again.
"How is it morning again?" Melody looked around.
"Different dimension. Different physics." Donnie reminded.
He then held up the slippers, that sparkled as they turned back into the Kraang crystal.
"At least we got the crystal." Rarity smiled.
"Let's get get these dresses back and regroup with the others." April said as the others nodded.
Soon after, they snuck in the house and began to put the dresses away without being detected. And they were about to leave when-
"You hear that?" Half Note paused.
"What?" Melody raised a brow as they listened.
"Somebody! Help me!"
"That sounded like..... Cinderella!" Gasped Sweet Note.
"It came from over there. Come on!" April led to a small room.
"Cinderella! Are you in there?" Rarity called.
"Rarity? Oh am I glad it's you!"
"What's wrong?"
"My stepmother locked me in here!" Cinderella cried.
"Why'd she do that?" Melody asked.
"I left one of my glass slippers behind at the ball," Cinderella explained. "The prince found it and requested that every maiden in the village try it on. He wants to find the mysterious princess. But my stepmother found out it was me and locked me in here."
"Just hang on!" Donnie called. "I can pick the lock."
"Why that scoundrelous woman!" Rarity growled. "She won't get away with this!"
Half Note peeked over the staircase. "We got trouble! The prince is here!"
"What'll we do!" Sweet Note asked.
"Stall them!" Cinderella called. "And please hurry!"
"Rarity and I will go. You three stay here while Donnie picks the lock." April told the three Rock n'Beats.
"You got it." Melody thumbed up as the two teens went down stairs.
Rarity and April arrived just as the stepsisters failed to have the slipper fit their feet.
"Are there any other woman in this house?" The prince asked the stepmother.
"No." Eleanor said.
The servant then saw the two girls. "Sire, what about those two?"
Everyone saw April and Rarity who nonchalantly waved.
"You!" Eleanor growled.
"I never saw them before. Strange seeing them not in gowns." The prince pondered. "Oh well. We'll give them a chance."
"Well, my friend here and I heard the Prince was having every girl in the kingdom try on the slipper so we want to try it on." Rarity explained.
"What you two are is trespassing! Arrest those two!" Eleanor demanded.
The Prince held his hand. "They haven't done any harm. so they're fine." he then motioned the two to come over. "Alright, who's first?"
"Rarity, my friend?" April politely offered.
"Why thank you, April darling." Rarity sat down and took off one of her shoes. She then tried on the slipper, resulting in it being too big for her.
Rarity then pretended too be disappointed. "It doesn't fit! I will never be with the Prince!" She quickly winked at April, who smiled at her friend's performance. "Besides, the glass would squish my toes."
"Your turn, my dear." The Prince said as April took her boot off. The slipper was just a little too small for April's foot.
"Guess it wasn't meant to be." She shrugged nonchalantly.
"Well, I guess we'll have to look else..." the Prince began, until.
"Wait!"
Everyone looked up and saw Cinderella hurrying down the stairs. "I'd like to try it on!"
The prince gazed up at her. As if he instantly recognised her.
"Oh, don't bother with her!" Eleanor blocked her off. "She's just a serving wench! Besides, she didn't even go to the ball!"
"Madame, the prince requested that ALL maidens try on the slipper," the servent retorted.
The prince just walked up to the young woman. "What is your name?"
"I am Cinderella," she replied.
The prince led her into a chair. Then Cinderella slowly placed her foot into the glass slipper and it fit.
Eleanor, Gretchen, and Greta gasped in shock and disbelief.
"It is you!" The prince exclaimed.
"No! It can't be Cinderella!" Eleanor denied. "It just can't!"
"Actually, it can be," everyone looked to see Donnie standing at the staircase with the girls. "And it is."
Melody then held up the other slipper that they found outside the palace after they left the ball and gave it to the prince who then put it on Cinderella's other foot and that fit just as well. Then, Cinderella's dress magically turned into her ballgown curtesy off her fairy godmother who was behind the group and carefully made sure she didn't hit the Kraang crystal this time.
"I also do weddings and bar mitzvahs." She told them.
"But! But! But!" The stepsisters protested.
"Sorry, girls," April said. "But Cinderella is the prince's true love."
"Oh, and another thing..." Rarity said, before she raised up a bucket on one of her diamond disks and dumped mop water all over them. "That was for last time!"
"Aargh!" They cried.
Cinderella chuckled, before she got some towls and dried them off.
"Why did you do that?" Greta asked.
"After we were so cruel?" Gretchen added.
"Because you two are my sisters," Cinderella replied. "And nothing will ever change that."
The two sisters looked at each other and their eyes filled with tears, then they both wrapped Cinderella in a hug. "We're sorry, Ella!"
Cinderella happily returned the hug.
"Aww!" The three girls cooed.
"Well, I think our work here is done." Donnie smiled.
"Thank you all so much." Cinderella thanked.
"And again, sorry about the mixup." Fairy Godmother apologized.
"No harm done." Rarity smiled.
"Happy to help a friend." Melody added and the group took their leave.
As they walked, Donnie spoke into his T-Phone. "We got the crystal."
"So did we!" Mikey called in.
"And my group," Raph said.
"So did mine," Leo called back. "Now let's all meet back and go home."
To Be Continued |
Equestria Ninja Girls Easter Time | Once upon a Turtle PT. 3 | Soon everyone had regrouped back where they started.
"So, I take it the rest of you found out we're some kind of Fairy Tale dimension?" Donnie inquired.
"Yes," everyone answered.
"Leo almost lost a race to the Hare," Karai said, embarrassing Leo who then laughed at by Raph.
"And we saved Little Red Riding Hood from the Big Bad Wolf," Lancer chuckled. "And Karai scared him away."
"Well, we defeated the wolf with the Three Little Pigs," Apple Bloom stated.
"Wonder if it was the same wolf?" Sweetie Belle thought aloud.
"And we ran into the gingerbread house from Hansel and Gretel," Applejack said.
"They almost got eaten by the witch and we had to save them," Pinkie noted.
"Pinkie!" Raph, Applejack, Casey, and Rainbow shouted.
"What? You told Mikey not to tell them, but not me," Pinkie said, and Leo laughed at Raph.
"And we met Goldielocks and almost got attacked by the bears," Mikey stated.
"Those bears weren't going to attack us!" Fluttershy repeated, in annoyance.
"What about you guys?" Scootaloo asked.
"We helped out Cinderella," April said.
"You met Cinderella?!" Clover asked, in excitement.
"We sure did," Melody confirmed.
"I am pleased you all did well in this place." Leo smiled at the young ninjas.
"Yep. These should be enough to finish the eggs for the egg hunt." Twilight agreed.
"Well then, we ready to head back?" Applejack checked.
"Actually," Donnie spoke up. "We need just one more crystal."
"Seriously?" Rainbow groaned.
"Don't worry, my device can pinpoint where it is," Donnie checked his device and pointed. "The signal's coming from... that direction."
"Then let's hurry up and find it before we run into something else that wants get us!" Raph grumbled, as everyone hurried off in the direction.
What they didn't know, was that the Hare was nearby and spotted Leo. Then he ran after them. "I'm not letting that tortoise out of my sight! He's not cheating this time!"
As the ninjas followed the signal, Twilight asked, "How much further is the signal?"
Donnie checked his device. "By my calculations, the signal should be-Holy Chalupa!"
Everyone stopped and looked up. Right in front of them, stretching high up into the sky, was a massive beanstalk.
"Is that?" Leo began.
"The beanstalk from Jack and the Beanstalk?" Sweetheart asked.
"Looks like it," April said.
"Tell me it's ain't where I think it is?" Applejack asked.
"Yep," Donnie said, looking at his device. "According to this, the crystal's up there."
"There's no way I'm climbing all the way up there!" Raph refused.
"We might not have to climb it," Donnie said, taking out his portal ray. "Theoretically, I might be able to open a portal at the top of the beanstalk? But it's an untest theory."
"And why would that stop ninjas that don't know any better?" Raph asked sarcastically.
"It might save time if it works." Twilight assured.
"And if it doesn't?" Applejack raised a brow.
"We may or may not pay our other dimension friends a visit."
After a pause of unsurely, Pinkie stood tall. "For the egg hunt! Beam us up, Donnie!"
Donnie nodded and opened a portal and they all walked in.
As they entered, the Hare was not far behind.
Once they existed the portal, they found themselves in a land at the top of the clouds and a gigantic castle stood in the distance.
"Looks like it worked!" Donnie said.
"Wow, everything's so big here!" Pinkie marveled.
"So where's the crystal supposed to be?" Apple Bloom asked.
"It should be this way," Donnie pointed, and the all hurried in the direction of the castle.
After they left, the Hare hopped out of the portal as it closed. "That tortoise isn't taking any shortcuts this time!"
Soon the ninjas found themselves standing at the door of the castle. It's door was as big as Tokka.
"Wait, guys, don't you remember the story?" Logan said. "Like, who or what lives here?"
"The giant!" All the kids gasped.
"The giant?" Casey echoed.
"As in 'Fe Fi Fo Fum, I'll grinde your bones to make my bread' giant?!" Mikey added.
"Oh no!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.
"If he catches us here, we're all in big trouble!" Apple Bloom feared.
"Emphasis on BIG trouble!" Scootaloo stated.
"Then your all not gonna like this," Donnie said in worry, looking at his device again. "The crystal is somewhere inside the castle!"
"Of course it is!" Sunset face-palmed.
"Well, I am gonna wait out here." Ace started to leave. "Let me know how it turns out."
Patch rolled her eyes as she grabbed him. "Look, the guys warned us that there might be danger in this. And I ain't backing down."
"And we've gone too far to quit now!" Pinkie declared.
Everyone showed mixed opinions about the situation before Leo stood up. "Pinkies right. We have gone too far to quit now. And maybe we might get lucky and won't have to face the giant."
Everyone nodded as they stood as well. "Well, let's get this over with." Raph sighed.
Everyone began to enter the castle and snuck in quietly.
As they crept in the giant's castle, everyone looked around to see everything enormous.
"Now I know how a mouse feels." Applebloom whispered.
Donnie checked his scanner and was about to check the location of the crystal when another figure crashed into him, startling the group. It was a boy wearing green and he screamed at the sight of Donnie.
"Whoa! Whoa! It's okay. He's not gonna hurt ya!" April calmed.
The boy breathed. "My apologies. For a moment, I thought you were going to attack me. My name is Jack by the way."
"THE Jack?" Half Note asked.
"Uh, yes?" Jack replied, in confusion. "And who are all of you?"
"I'm Leonardo," Leo introduced. "And that's Raphael, Michelangelo, Casey, Karai, Shinigami, Keno, and you already met Donatello and April."
"I'm Sunset Shimmer. And Twilight Sparkle, her dog Spike, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash."
"I'm Apple Bloom. And these are my friends, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo."
"And I'm Lancer. And that's Melody, Sweetheart, Half Note, Sweet Note, Ace, Patch, Logan, and Clover."
"Nice to meet you all," Jack greeted.
"What are you doing here?" Keno asked.
"It's kind of a long story," Jack replied. "You see, my mother and I are very poor. So I traded are cow, Milky White, to a strange old man who gave me some magic beans. Mother was furious and threw the beans out, saying I had been cheated. But it turned out the beans were magic, as they grew into a giant beanstalk. So I climbed it and came to this castle looking for food. I take it the rest of you climbed up here as well?"
"Not exactly," Donnie said.
"We just came here, looking for a crystal," Twilight noted.
"A crystal, huh?" Jack pondered. " Can't say I've seen one."
"Hey, you guys hear that?" Sweetie Belle perked up.
"Hear what?" Casey asked before hearing.
The group looked up at the table and saw a pony shaped harp playing melodious music and humming beautifully.
"What a beautiful harp." Rarity awed.
"Maybe she knows where the crystal is." Fluttershy suggested.
"Worth a shot. C'mon everyone." Leo lead the group up the table while Applejack carried Jack on her back. When the harp finished her song, she then noticed the ninjas.
"Oh! Hello, travelers." She greeted.
"Hello." Leo greeted. " sorry if we bothered you but we were wondering if we could ask you something."
"But of course. My name is Louise. Now, what can I help you with?"
"We are looking for a crystal. Have you seen one by any chance?" Twilight asked.
"I'm terribly sorry. I'm afraid I have not." Louise shook her head.
Just then, everyone heard a rather angry girl's voice growl, "Mag, next time you wanna surprise Pinkie, do me a favor, and leave me the fricking out of it!"
"What was that?" Jack asked.
"Oh, that was one of the giant's new captors," Louise explained. "She's been yelling and griping since they got here."
Pinkie on the other hand, recognized the voice. "Lost Narrator?"
"Pinkie Pie?" Came another girl's voice. "Is that you?"
"Magpie?" Pinkie ran across the self and saw the two girls from before, locked in a cage. "Girls? What are you doing here?"
"Yeah, I think the question is better directed at you!" Lost retorted. "Also are those giant turtles behind you?"
"Pinkie, you know these two?" Raph asked.
"Sure do," Pinkie confirm. "Everyone, meet Magpie Pony and Lost Narrator. Lost and Magpie, these are my friends from New York. Leo, Raph, Donnie, Mikey, April, Casey, Karai, Shinigami, and Keno."
"Uh, hi?" Magpie waved.
"Hi," Lost said, dryly.
"Sooo, what are you two doing here?"
"Um, I heard you and your friends were making the eggs for the egg hunt," Magpie explained. "So I wanted to surprise you by showing up to help. Then me and Lost found this doorway and we fell in."
"Then we got grabbed by a freaking giant who locked us in this flipping cage!" Lost added.
"Did you say giant?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, no duh, of course I said Giant," Lost stated. "Who do you think lives here? Little Miss Muffet?"
Just then, they all heard the sound of loud foot steps coming. And big deep voice bellowing, "FE FI FO FUM! I SMELL THE BLOOD OF AN ENGLISHMAN!"
"Oh no!" Louise cried. "It's the giant!"
"So much for avoiding him," Clover said.
"Everyone! Hide!" Leo ordered and everyone ran to hide from the giant.
As they hid behind a kettle, Lancer spoke, "what're we gonna do? How are we going to fight a giant?"
"I'm afraid even with my magic, I'm no match for him." Applejack sighed.
"I'd rather not go near him." Sweetheart shuddered under a napkin.
"Maybe if we find that crystal, we can leave without him noticing." Leo pondered.
"I'm afraid that's not an option anymore, Leo." Karai looked.
Leo sighed. "Let me guess. The giant has the crystal?"
"The giant has the crystal." Everyone looked from their hiding spots and to their shock the giant did have the last Kraang crystal.
Raph looked up to the ceiling saying to no one in particular, "I'm being punished, aren't I?"
The giant sniffed the air. "I SMELL SOMEONE HERE!"
"It's probably just us you smell," Magpie suggested.
"NO, I SMELL OTHERS!" The giant said.
"There's no one else here but us!" Lost snapped.
"QUIET!" The giant roared.
Then he sat at the table and placed the crystal in front of him. Then from one hand he placed a white goose next to it.
"LAY!" He commanded, and the goose laid a golden egg.
"The goose that lays golden eggs!" Jack whispered in surprise. "I wondered where it disappeared from the Farmer in the Dell's."
The giant laughed greedily. "PERFECT! WHAT SHINY GOLD EGGS! AND THEIR ALL MINE!"
"Uh, Mr. Giant?" Magpie asked. "If my be as so bold, just are you planning to do to me and Lost?"
The giant laughed. "WHAT I DO WITH ANYONE I FIND, GRIND YOUR BONES TO MAKE MY BREAD!" He roared with wicked laughter.
Everyone hiding gasped at that, especially Pinkie.
"No....!" Magpie whimpered.
"Don't ask questions you don't want answers too!" Lost said, in fear.
"We gotta do something!" Rainbow whispered.
"But what can we do?" Shini inquired.
Spike glaced over at Louise and got an idea. Then he jumped out Twilight's bag.
"Spike!" She cried.
The dog crept around other giant items and snuck over to the harp. He whispered his idea and Louise nodded. Then Spike snuck back over to the others as the harp called out, "Oh giant! Would you like me to sing you a song?"
"COME TO THINK OF IT, YES I WOULD!" The giant said. "SING!"
Then Louise began to play her strings and sang a soothing song. The giant started nod, his eyes drooping, until he finally laid back and fell asleep.
"Great thinking, Spike." Twilight complimented as everyone came out of their hiding place.
"I forgot that the harp could put the giant to sleep." Leo realized.
"I've been reading the book." Spike smiled. "I found some old storybooks that Cadance used to read you."
"Smart thinking, little buddy." Karai petted the dog.
"Good dog." Sweetheart added.
"Indeed." Jack added. "Hey, do you guys mind if I take the goose and Louise home with me?"
"Help yourself, bud. We just want the crystal." Mikey smiled.
After Donnie opened the cage, Lost pushed past him, "Finally!"
"Your welcome," Donnie frowned.
"Don't mind Lost, that's just her way of saying thank you," Magpie said.
"Now let's get that crystal before the giant awakens," Rarity stated.
But just Leo was about to pick up the crystal, a blur rushed by and grabbed it.
"Got it!"
Leo and his group couldn't believe who snatched the crystal. It was the Hare!
"You again!" Leo gasped.
"You've got to be kidding me?!" Karai said, in disbelief.
"Oh no!" Twilight and Sunset face-palmed.
"That's right, cheaters, me again!" The Hare replied, before he noticed Raph, Donnie, and Mikey. "Well, no wonder I couldn't beat you in the race, there's four of you!"
"You have exactly five seconds to give us that crystal before I TIE YOUR EARS IN A KNOT!" Raph threatened.
"Cool it, Raph!" Sunset pulled him back. "Listen, I'm sorry we tricked you, but you need to listen. We need that crystal."
"If you want this so place, Then I want a fair and square! And I don't take kindly to cheating tortoises in this here parts!"
The hare demanded, unknowingly kicked a pepper shaker causing pepper to fall near the giant. It was enough to wake the giant with a sneeze.
"Gesundheit!" Pinkie said before the group turned in shock to see the giant awake.
"Nice going, you stupid rabbit!" Lost shouted.
The giant looked down at everyone.
"Uh, what up, giant dude?" Mikey waved nervously.
Then the giant saw the hare with the crystal and Jack holding Louise and the goose in his arms.
"THIEEEEEVES!" He roared.
"Ruuuunnnn!" Rainbow shouted.
Everyone screamed, bolting off the table, sliding down one of the legs, and ran for the door.
The giant got up and grabbed a mace. Then he ran after them and swung it down.
Leo saw it and shouted, "Scatter!"
Everyone ran in different directions, just missing the mace.
Sunset pulled out her kunai before hesitated. "I couldnt even pick his teeth with these."
"What can we do ?" Applebloom cried.
While hiding, Leo noticed the laces on the giant's boots and got an idea. Which Raph noticed.
"I know that look," he said. "What are you thinking?"
"I've got a plan," Leo said.
"And what plan is that?" Magpie asked.
"There's no time to explain," Leo shook his head. "I just need you all to keep the giant distracted, but keep him in the same spot until I give the word."
"Hey big guy! Is that your stomach or you happy to see us?" Rainbow insulted before dodging his mace.
"Yo, tough guy! Your mother was larger than life!" Mikey teased before dodging as well.
While Everyone kept the giant busy, Leo snuck down to his feet and tied his shoelaces together.
"Oh, Mr. Giant! You're a .....big....meanie?" Sweetheart hesitated.
"Really?" Melody raised her brow.
"What?" Her sister shrugged.
"Move!" Keno grabbed her before the mace could hit her.
Once Leo was done, he gave a signal to Jack to start running and he did.
The giant kept swinging his mace and missing the ninjas, when he spotted Jack running away with Louise and the goose.
"GIVE BACK MY GOOSE AND HARP!" He tried to run after him, but because of his tied laces, he tripped and fell over.
"Tim-ber!" Mikey called, as the giant hit the floor with a loud crash.
"Just you really just say that?" Magpie asked, dryly.
Lost ran over and punched the giant in the eye. He roared in pain and covered it.
"That's for locking me and Mag up, you jerk!" She growled.
"Everyone, move!" Leo ordered, and they all ran out the door.
As they ran, they looked back to see the giant had gotten up and was chasing after them.
"GIVE BACK MY SHINY STONE!" He roared, and that made everyone run even faster.
Soon everyone and Jack had reached the beanstalk.
"Quick, Donnie!" Rainbow cried. "Open a portal!"
"There's no time!" Donnie pointed at the giant coming straight at them.
"Looks like we're climbing down!" April said.
Then everyone got onto the beanstalk and climbed down as fast as they could, which wasn't that hard for the ninjas because of their ninja training. Then they felt the beanstalk shake and looked up to see the giant was climbing down after them!
"Does that giant have anything better to do?!" Lost complained.
"Climb faster!" Magpie exclaimed.
As they were nearing the bottom, they saw all the fairytale characters they had met before looking up at the beanstalk.
"Guys, look!" Lancer pointed as they neared the ground.
"Red Riding Hood?" Karai said.
"Hansel and Gretel?" Applejack raised a brow.
"Cinderella?" April asked.
"Peter?" Applebloom noticed.
"Percy!" Sweetie Belle pointed.
"Paula!" Scootaloo noticed the third pig.
"Goldilocks?" Shinigami added.
"AH! The three bears!" Mikey screamed.
The Papa Bear held up his paw. "Relax. we're not going to hurt you."
"I told you." Fluttershy huffed.
"What are you guys doing here?" Leo asked.
"We saw the beanstalk," Red Riding Hood said.
"And we heard the giant shouting," Paula added.
"So we came here to see what was going on," Hansel said.
Goldielocks screamed and pointed up. "Giant!"
Everyone looked up to see the giant appear from the clouds.
"Mother!" Jack hollered. "Bring the ax!"
Jack's mother came running up, holding an ax. "Here, Jack!" She handed it to him, then looked up and screamed at the sight of the giant.
Jack held up the ax and started chopping the beanstalk.
Leo pulled out his swords and turned to his team. "Everyone, let's help Jack!"
The ninjas that had bladed weapons began hacking at the beanstalk. Soon the other characters pitched in. The pigs, the Papa Bear, Hansel and Gretel's father, and even Cinderella all chopped at the beanstalk.
Then finally, the beanstalk began to topple over. The giant lost his grip and fell off the beanstalk then came crashing to the ground with an earthquake.
After a moment to regain their composure, the group all stood up. As everyone cheered, the ninjas all faced the hare.
"Hand over that crystal please." Twilight pleaded.
The hare just stood there glaring.
"Please, Mr. Hare." Applebloom pleaded.
"No!" The hare continued to glare. "Not until I get my race!"
"But we need that crystal!" Sweetie Belle cried.
"And I need my race!"
Leo almost lost his cool. "For the last time, I am not RACING YOU!"
Clover then noticed something. "And besides, the real tortoise is crossing the finish line!"
The hare then looked and saw she was right. He kept looking at Leo then the tortoise over and over until, "NO!" He hurried over but was too late. He fell flat on the ground, dropping the crystal which the tortoise caught.
"I believe this belongs to you nice fellas," he tossed the crystal over to them and Donnie caught it.
Everyone cheered for the tortoise while the hare threw a tantrum.
"No fair, no fair, no fair!" He ranted.
The tortoise patted him on the head. "Well, it's like I said before, buddy, 'Slow and Steady Wins the Race'. Now I think you owe these nice folk an apology."
The hare sighed and walked up to the ninjas. "I'm sorry for forcing you into the race. And for stealing that crystal. And for waking up the giant."
"Oh you're gonna feel sorry all-" Lost was cut off by Magpie.
"Losty?!" She frowned.
"Fine," Lost frowned.
"Apology accepted," Leo shook hands with the hare.
"Well, now that we got all the crystals, we can head for home," Donnie said.
"Sounds good to me." Lancer breathed.
"We gotta finish the Easter eggs for the hunt!" Pinkie bounced.
"Well then. What're we waiting for?" Casey smiled as Donnie pulled out his portal tracker.
Fluttershy turned to their new fairytale friends. "Thank you all for helping us ."
All the characters waved goodbye then Donnie opened the portal and the Turtles, Rainbooms, Allies, kids, Magpie, and Lost went in as it closed.
"Magic..." all the characters said in astonishment.
Soon the group had arrived back at the farm.
"We're home!" Sweetie Belle cheered.
Clover checked her watch. "And they were right! Look! It looks like we've only been gone five minutes!"
"When you've been dimension hopping like we have, you tend to get use to it." Mikey put his arms on them.
"Now we can finish the eggs in time for the hunt."
Leo smiled.
"It should only take a minute to install the crystals."
Donnie assured as he and Twilight inserted them into the machine. Soon, the machine was working well again.
"Now we can finish the eggs and get them to Principal Celestia." Twilight smiled as four baskets were done already.
"Lost and I will start delivering the first batch to CHS." Magpie volunteered as Lost nodded in agreement.
"Well, I think we'll just go deliver some more eggs," Rainbow said, as she, Raph, and Casey tried to leave.
"Hold up!" Mikey said. "Aren't you guys forgetting some?"
"Oh no!" They groaned.
"Forgetting what?" Sunset asked.
"Well, it's like this," Mikey explained. "I was mad at them for making fun of me when I had to wear Rarity's bonnet. So I bet that if they got in trouble and had to be bailed out, they'd have to do something. And they did!"
"So, what do they have to do?" Patch asked.
At the egg hunt, the three stood by frowning, while helping Hokum Hare. Raph was dressed in the bunny suit. Casey was dressed in a chicken costume. And Rainbow was not only wearing Rarity's bonnet, but an Easter dress as well.
The others couldn't help but snicker at the sight.
"How long do they have to be dressed like that?" Keno asked.
"For the whole hunt!" Mikey grinned.
"Tell anyone about this, Mikey, and you'll regret it!" Raph threated.
The present day.....
Back at the Easter dinner, the group had just finished telling their story about their adventure.
"That was amazing." Leatherhead nodded.
"Glad you were successful in getting the crystals." Rockwell agreed.
"If I was there, I'd probably look for Mary and ask how her garden grows." Wallflower shared.
"And this happens to you guys alot?" Hokum asked.
"It's true." Applejack nodded.
"Sounds great. I think I'm gonna like it with you guys."
"I felt the same way." Ray agreed.
"This calls for a group photo!" Pinkie cheered.
Everybody all gathered together while Fugitoid extended a camera with his as he got everyone in the picture.
"Okay everyone! Say 'Happy Easter'."
"HAPPY EASTER!" Everyone cheered as the camera clicked. |
Equestria Ninja Girls Easter Time | BONUS True meaning | (WARNING! This chapter contains elements of Christianity. You are more than welcome to skip this one.)
After the Turtles and Rainbooms deal with with Hokum Hare and Easter egg adventure, they enjoyed the rest of the easter afternoon.
"It's a beautiful day for Easter." Leo said
"Yep. Nice day indeed." Twilight agreed.
"Yeah, perfect for chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, and best of all. Easter egg hunts!" Mikey cheered
" There's more to Easter than candy and eggs, you too." Donnie pointed
"Yes. It's also about life renewal." Fluttershy nodded.
"What do you mean by that?" Rainbow Dash asked
"Well, it's..."
Donnie was interrupted when Rarity cam up to them.
"Guys, I just got a text from Star Blaze. He wants us meet him at the theater for a private play for us to watch."
"Really, when does he want us to meet him there?" Leo asked
"At 3 AM"
"Aww, isn't that nice of your boyfriend to invite you somewhere on this holiday." Applejack teased
"Stop it, Applejack!" Rarity scolded "You know he's no inviting just me."
"What's this play about? Mikey asked
"It says that it's about the "true" meaning of easter."
"Oh, a play? Can I come?" Hokum Hare asked.
"The play is private for a mutant like you. You are most welcome to join us." Mikey offered
"Yay, thank you! Thank you so much!" Hokum cheered.
Later, at the city theater, the Ninja Turtles, their allies, and the Mighty Mutanimals sat on the seats of the theater, waiting for the play to start.
"What's taking so long?" Raph groaned
"Have a little patience, will you, Raph?" Leo said
And finally the light went off and light streamed to the stage. And person none other than Star Blaze papers on the stage.
"Hello Ladies and Gentlemen...and Mutants. Welcome, it's time you all knew the true meaning of easter. You may think it's all about candy, chocolate, jelly beans, easter eggs, even...the easter bunny. But there's someone else who is more sweeter than candy, someone who is full of love."
The crowd was confused.
"I'm gonna leave that rest to a guy who knows that way, the truth, and the life."
As Star Blaze moved backstage, there was a screen that appeared and it had a cross and book symbol. Then it glitches into the view of a guy close up to the screen with sci fi glasses on.
"Hello? Is this thing on? Echo, Echo!"
"That's enough, Cypher, it's on."
He moved out the the way reveling to be a man and his team in hero suits and armor.
"Hello everyone, Bibleman here. And my great friend Star Blaze brought you here today so that you all can understand the true story behind easter. You see, we know that what you love about easter is all candy, chocolate, eggs, even the easter bunny. But there's someone more important about this holiday, someone who loves you and who gave this life for you so that you may live peacefully. And that person we're talking about...is Jesus Christ."
The whole crowd was shocked to hear something like that as Bibleman continued on.
"For those of you who are confused, I'll tell you what makes Jesus the important part of Easter. Jesus loves us and he wants you of his own. He made sacrificed his life for you and easter not just about sweets and candy, it's about love, hope, peace, and salvation. To show and example, sit back and enjoy this skit that Star Blaze had put up for us. Enjoy."
The screen went black as light went on the stage revealing an ancient city background with Bibleman telling the story.
"Imagine, you see a man who you ever met before calling your name. How did he even know your name? He looked like a distant figure, there was something about him, something in my heart made me want to follow him and trust him. Is it possible that he is the one? The lamb of god? The christ? The son of god? It's time you experienced it yourselves."
As the play went on, actor came on stage and began the whole story. They acted out Jesus' entry to Jerusalem, Cleansing of the temple, Judas Betrayal, the Last Supper, Gethsemane, and finally...The most passionate and horrifying scene ever, the Crucifixion.
The Turtles, their allies, and the Mighty Mutanimals were shocked and horrified to see what was happening to a man getting beaten, whipped and hang on a cross. As the stage light went right to just the actor on the cross, a sudden light of red that was disguised as Jesus' blood was trailing all the way to surrounding the crowd.
"He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed." Bibleman called out. "Jesus didn't die for nothing, he died for our sins. He died for you, for me, and for the whole world. Matthew 20:28 says that the Son of God did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
And finally they showed the beautiful scene of all...the Resurrection!
The actors dance and sang for the great story ever told. And finally, the scene where Jesus ascents to heaven was final. The crowd cheered and clapped for the actors.
"Whoa, that was awesome!" Mikey cheered
"Yay! Now I know what it's like to love someone and hug them." Pinkie Pie shouted as she hugged Mikey tight.
Then the lights went back off and the light showed only a stool and a microphone. Then a girl with a guitar walked towards the stool and sat on it and brought the microphone close to her mouth and played her guitar to begin a song.
[Girl]
I'm forgiven because you were forsaken
I'm accepted, You were condemned
I'm alive and well
Your spirit is within me
Because you died and rose again
I'm forgiven because you were forsaken
I'm accepted, you were condemned
I'm alive and well
Your spirit is within me
Because you died and rose again
Then a crowd of the actors came on stage and joined her.
[Actors]
Amazing love, how can it be?
That you, my king. would die for me
Amazing love, I know it's true
Its my joy to honor you
Amazing love how can it be?
That my king would die for me
Amazing love I know it's true
Its my joy to honor you
In all I do
I honor you
[Girl]
I'm forgiven because you were forsaken
I'm accepted, You were condemned
I'm alive and well
Your spirit is within me
Because you died and rose again
[Actors]
Amazing love, how can it be?
That you, my king. would die for me
Amazing love, I know it's true
Its my joy to honor you
Amazing love how can it be?
That my king would die for me
Amazing love I know it's true
Its my joy to honor you
In all I do
I honor you
You are my king
You are my king
Jesus, You are my king
Jesus, You are my king
Amazing love, how can it be?
That you, my king, would die for me
Amazing love, I know it's true
Its my joy to honor you
Amazing love, how can it be?
That you, my king would die for me
Amazing love I know it's true
Its my joy to honor you
In all I do I honor you
In all I do honor you
The Turtles, their allies, and the Mighty Mutanimals cheered and clapped as the actors bowed.
Then Bibleman came back on the screen.
"Now you all know the importance of a holiday, full of joy, hope, love, and salvation. This girl here is Faithful Rose, a girl has put her faith in Christ. As may all know that Jesus loves you all ver much, so much that he died on that cross to pay the price for your sins so that you live in eternity with him...forever. Even for you...Turtles."
The turtles realized what he just said and were confused.
"Did he just say turtles?" Donnie asked
"How did he know?"
"I know...because I'm here." Bibleman and his team suddenly appeared in person on the stage, the turtles were shocked in fear.
"Wait a minute, you've been here this whole time?" Raph asked in worry.
"It's okay, Star Blaze told me all about you all. He wanted to set up this skit to teach all about Jesus, so he thought about inviting us in to help him out." Bibleman said
"And it's a good thing we're here. Because, we are children of god, and it's good thing we preach the gospel to many people through the world, especially you guys." Cypher pointed out
"Mark 16:15 says, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation." Biblegirl said.
"This is not religion we are talking about, we are talking about a relationship with the man who gave his life for you." Melanie said "If you receive his love and embrace his love and except him as your savior you will get to live in eternity with him forever."
"What happens if we don't?" Rainbow Dash asked.
That got to the Bible team, they didn't want to ruin it by telling them that they could face eternity without him.
"That we can talk about another time." Bibleman said. "For right now, I want to encourage you to pray this simple prayer after me."
Together everyone held hands and began...
"Dear Jesus, I have admit I have sinned, and I ask you to forgive my sins. Because I believe that you paid the price for my sins when you died on the cross. And that's why I choose to follow you today, and tomorrow, and everyday for the rest of my life. In Jesus Name, Amen."
After the prayer, everyone was outside in the hallway in the theater. Rarity noticed Star Blaze.
"Hey, Star Blaze!" She called
"Oh, hey Rarity."
"That was a great play you preformed for us, I loved it." Rarity said
"I'm glad you loved it, how do you feel?" Star Blaze asked.
"I feel...different."
"That's because God touched your heart. Now he is with you all the time, even if you can't feel of see him."
"Thank you." She blushed
"You know, you are most welcome to join my church."
"THANK YOU!" She jumped, and that broke into silence with the crowd looking at her. Rarity blushed harder than ever.
She cleared her throat. "I mean, Thank you."
"Your welcome, hey you want dinner later at Pinkie's dinner?" Star Blazed asked.
"I love to, after all it is a loving holiday for a celebration." She laughed
"Alright, I'll see you there."
"You too."
Rarity left while Star Blaze watched her leave.
"Soon the lamb becomes a lion." He joked, as Bibleman came to him.
"I bet you all can make a great pair." He said
"Yeah, and that pair is a diamond and a believer."
They both laughed.
Today wasn't just a day of Candy and the Easter bunny. It was a day of Love, because of what Jesus did for the whole world 2,000 years ago. And the lord will always be in their hearts forever. |
Equestria Ninja Girls Easter Time | Singing in the Parade | After cleaning up from their Easter dinner, The Turtles, Rainbooms, Allies, Mutanimals, headed to the Canterlot Easter Parade downtown. Hokum Hare donned his Easter Bunny disguise and gave candy to children there as the mutants all wore civilian disguises. The groups all watched the parade that was full of great Easter floats. Before long, The Rainbooms appeared on a float that looked like an Easter basket and was really a stage. Each of the girls was wearing a special bonnet made by Rarity. Then they began to sing softly.
Here comes Peter Cottontail,
Hoppin' down the bunny trail,
Hippity, hoppity,
Easter's on its way.
Bringin' every girl and boy Baskets full of Easter joy,
Things to make your Easter bright and gay.
Then, Rainbow began to shred it on her guitar as the tempo changed.
Here comes Peter Cottontail,
Hoppin' down the bunny trail,
Hip, hop,
Easter's on its way.
Bringin' every girl and boy truckload full of Easter joy,
Things to make your Easter bright and a okay.
He's got jelly beans for Tommy,
Colored eggs for sister Sue,
There's an orchid for your Mommy
And there's something for your Daddy, too.
Here comes Peter Cottontail,
Hoppin' down the bunny trail,
Hip! Hop! Easter's on it's way!
Everyone in the crowd danced to the song. Hokum took the liberty to hop on stage and have a little dancing moment before he bounced back to the kids as the girls continued the song.
You'll wake up on Easter morning
And you'll know that he was there
When you find those choc'late bunnies
he's been hiding ev'rywhere.
"Try to do the things you should."
Maybe if you're extra good,
He'll roll lots of Easter eggs your way.
Oh! here comes Peter Cottontail,
Hoppin' down the bunny trail,
Hip hop,
Easter's on it's way.
here comes Peter Cottontail,
here comes Peter Cottontail,
Hip hop,
Easter's on it's way.
Hip Hop,
Happy Easter Day!
As the song ended, everyone applauded to the performance. The CMCs were a little far back a ways to get a good view. Then, Sweetie Belle noticed something.
"Hey girls. Look at this!" Applebloom and Scootaloo looked to see Sweetie Belle pick up an Easter egg.
"Where'd that come from?" Scootaloo raised a brow.
"Maybe Hokum hid it." Applebloom pondered.
"Nope. Can't say I did." Hokum shook his head as the girls asked him about the egg. "Besides, I'm giving out candy this time around." He then took his leave.
"If Hokum didn't hide this, who did?" Sweetie Belle wondered.
Applebloom had a thought. "You don't think.... It was him?"
"You mean.... The real Easter Bunny?" gasped Scootaloo.
As the girls wondered, a large rabbit's foot appeared in an alley as it's shadow showed it taking his leave. |
The Visiting Team -- Part II | pre | "Yeah!" Rainbow added. "I mean, we're with ya a hundred percent. But we're not exactly a magical commando squad, here."
Sunset looked up at them in surprise. "Oh, I wasn't talking about any of you," she said. "I was talking about me." She stamped a hoof in frustration. "I'm so used to having five other overpowered unicorns backing me up, I didn't even think about what I was getting us into!"
She gazed out through the window next to her, at the green wall of the forest. And then sighed, helplessly.
"How does she do it?" she asked. "Twilight, I mean. She wouldn't goof up like this. Somehow she knows just what to ask of each of us, without even thinking about it. Because she knows us, knows what we can do, knows our strengths and weaknesses. Because... she's such a good friend."
She looked sadly around at the others.
"I'm sorry, gang. I wasn't paying attention, and I nearly got us all hurt. Some leader I turned out to be, huh?"
Applejack trotted over, put a hoof around her. "Don't beat yourself up, sugarcube. All of us walked into this with our eyes open. What matters now is we're all safe, and we've got another chance to get it right."
The others nodded readily.
"Absolutely!" Rarity agreed. "Though if we can possibly choose a path that doesn't involve running into those walking compost heaps, I would be more than gratified." She wrinkled her snout disgustedly.
"Yeah!" Rainbow agreed. "We're with ya, Sunset -- totally! So, what's the plan?"
"Just... gimme a minute here, gang," Sunset said, putting a hoof to her head and shutting her eyes. "I gotta rethink this a bit..."
And then she suddenly looked up, staring around at all of them. Five ponies, five personalities she already knew, all so well... from their counterparts at CHS, on the other side of the mirror.
"Okay," she said. "I think I've got it now. Fluttershy, you're crazy good with animals."
"Um... yes?"
"Can you ask the birds and squirrels and other creatures in the Forest to act as lookouts? To let us know if there's anything dangerous in our path, or sneaking up on us from the sides?"
She nodded in surprise. "Of course I can."
"Rainbow," Sunset went on, "you're wasted flying low. So fly higher, where there's less underbrush. Keep watch for anything coming at us from above."
The pegasus nodded. "Can do!"
"Rarity," Sunset said, "You're good with pinking shears."
"Afraid it's about all I'm good with, my dear."
"That's okay, it's just what we need. Can you help clear a path for us? Trim back the branches and creepers in our way, so we're not distracted with struggling through them?"
Surprised, she nodded willingly. "Of course, darling!"
"Applejack, you're the strongest of us. So you bring up the rear. You watch our six, and keep everypony safe, okay?"
"Not a problem, Sunset. Be glad to!"
"And Zecora, you and I will take point. But I'll let you lead, since you know your way better. I'll focus on keeping the group together."
The zebra smiled, nodding in approval.
// One who follows //
// leads best, they say, //
// from taking time //
// to see the way. //
Sunset smiled in return.
"And Pinkie," she said, "you're, uh..." She waved a hoof, not sure how to put it. "You're our wild card, our ace in the hole. The pony they'll never see coming. You do whatever's needed, okay?"
Pinkie was somehow suddenly wearing full tactical gear, including night-vision goggles. She snapped to attention, saluting.
"I... am...on it!"
The others laughed, and Pinkie stared around, surprised. "Whaaaat? I'm just getting into character!"
Sunset laughed with them all, then stared out through the window at the green wall of the Forest.
"Okay, gang," she said determinedly. "Let's do this..."
"Wow, I'm glad that's over with," Twilight said. She and Starlight had retreated to the quiet of the audience room. And Twilight had her head resting in her hooves, her elbows on the table. "I mean, I don't know how many more ways I can say 'I don't know' without sounding like a complete idiot!"
"You did just fine, I thought," Starlight said. "And maybe now we can get back to dealing with Ponyville, huh?"
"Maybe," Twilight said. "But we still don't know what to do yet."
"Excuse me, Your Highness?"
Twilight looked miserably at Raven. "Tell me there isn't something else?"
"Afraid so. But this should be quick." She consulted her clipboard. "We need you to witness the signing of the latest trade accord with the Griffons, on behalf of the realm."
"Um, not an expert here," Starlight said, "but... priorities? Is now really the time to be worrying about trade negotiations?"
"In this case, yes. We've been working on this for months, and have finally gotten all parties on board. We just need to meet with the ambassador to ratify and sign the treaty."
"Fine," Twilight said. "So, where is it?"
Raven looked puzzled. "Highness?"
"This treaty? I'm not signing anything on behalf of Equestria until I've read it first."
"That... may take some time, Highness."
"Why? It's just a trade agreement, right?"
Several minutes later, Twilight and Starlight were staring at multiple stacks of paper and numerous scrolls, piled on the table before them.
"Seriously?" Starlight said. "What are we trading here? Whole continents?"
Raven shrugged. "There were many details and nuances which needed to be carefully spelled out. The griffons can be... picky about such things."
"Well, all right," Twilight said. "Let's get to it, then."
Starlight reluctantly nodded. "Sure. Can't be much more complicated than cramming for a final exam, right?"
Half an hour later, both of them were already bleary-eyed, and they'd only put together an outline of the agreement.
"I'm still not entirely clear on what we're agreeing to here," Twilight said. "I mean, this section here --" She pointed at a passage midway through a stack of paper. "Is this even Ponish?"
"And this scroll," Starlight said, unrolling it. "on the boundary demarcations with Trottingham. Who wrote this thing? It looks like the Griffons are ceding half a township here, and getting nothing in return. That doesn't make sense."
Twilight glanced through it herself. "You're right, that has to be some kind of clerical error. Maybe somepony didn't read it through properly." She stared around at the rest of the documents. "In fact, they're all like that. It feels like a wordy, half-finished rush job. Maybe... maybe as long as we're reading through all this, we might condense it a bit, put it into some kind of order. That should help in the final sign-off."
"You think we should?" Starlight said. "Raven said this took a while to put together."
"I don't feel comfortable signing something I can't even follow myself," Twilight said. "We can at least make it easier to read. Spike, help us out here. Starlight and I will summarize things. You copy them down for us."
"You got it, Twilight!" He picked up a new blank scroll, and held up his quill.
Starlight shrugged, and willingly helped Twilight sort the scrolls into a useful order.
An hour and a half later still, Twilight and Starlight were just putting the finishing touches on a single, carefully-lettered scroll.
"Ha!" Starlight said. "It is like doing the final roll-up on a School project."
"Ow..." Spike groaned, kneading his claw and making faces, "just like, from my point of view."
"You did great, Spike," Twilight told him. "Now let's talk to Raven and show this to her."
But when they requested Raven's assistance -- Twilight utterly refused to think of it as summoning her -- and proudly showed the administrator the single, compact scroll, Raven began making the uncomfortable-looking faces of a pony trying very hard not to say something career-limiting.
"It's just that," she finally said, "negotiations with Griffonstone have taken so long, and been so tortured, even over seemingly minor details of wording. If we change anything now, it's likely to set the entire effort back to the start."
"So, you don't think this is a good idea?" Twilight tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice.
Raven winced. "It might be best at this juncture to retain the treaty's original composition. Any issues can be ironed out in the periodic reviews, which are spelled out in an appendix to the agreement."
"Oh." Twilight looked at the mountains of paper on the table, then at the simple, almost spell-like document hovering in her magic. And then she set the summary scroll on the table.
"You're right, Raven," she said. "I'm only in charge temporarily, so I shouldn't disrupt work you and the staff have put so much effort into."
Raven smiled gratefully. "Rest assured, Highness, we do appreciate the leadership you and your friends have shown. If you're ready, I'll work on scheduling time with the ambassador and his party. Say, in a couple hours, if that's suitable?"
"Sounds good to me," Twilight said.
As Raven departed, Starlight shrugged. "Well, at least we tried, huh? So, what do we do in the meantime?"
Twilight considered it. "We could help to search for the Princesses," she suggested. "But the guards must have already thoroughly quartered the Palace by now, looking for clues."
"Maybe," Starlight said, "though you know, there's one place they likely haven't searched all that thoroughly."
"Where?" Twilight asked, puzzled. And then looked uneasy.
"Oh..."
Meanwhile, down in the Palace's celebration area...
"Thank you, Canterlot! You've been a marvelous audience, ah... today. Yes, definitely today. And don't worry! The Grrreat and Powerful Trrrixie -- aided by her great and powerful friends -- has matters well in hoof!"
There was an agreeable, if muted, round of applause. Trixie aloofly trotted down the stairs of her wagon's fold-out stage, and then into the crowd of autograph-seekers, with Guard ponies accompanying her to keep back the more enthusiastic fans.
"A wonderful show, my dear!" said a portly matron with a gilt-frosted mane. "Simply wonderful. My little niece and nephew here adored it."
The filly and colt with her obligingly smiled on cue.
"Well," Trixie purred, chucking each of them under the chin, "we aim to please!"
"How do you manage it, Miss Trixie?" asked a pudgy delivery pony, scratching his tan mane. "I can't tell whether you're using real magic or not."
"Oh!" she replied mysteriously. "One never knows, with the Great and Powerful Trixie. Is it real magic, or simple illusion? Is Trixie faking it? Or does she have extraordinary powers, beyond the ken of mere mortal ponies?" Trixie dimpled, then giggled mischievously. "Trixie likes to keep her adoring fans guessing."
A nervous-looking businesspony raised a hoof. "Do you know if they've found the Princesses yet?" he asked. "Twilight and the others, I mean?"
"They will find them, won't they, my dear?" the matron asked, fearfully. "The children do worry, you know..."
Her niece and nephew looked up at her in confusion.
"I used to complain," mused a lordly-looking noble, "about Princess Celestia's confusingly progressive tax policy. But right now, I'd give anything to have her back on the throne again."
"I feel the same," sighed the delivery pony. "They'll find Her Highness soon, won't they?"
Now the matron's niece and nephew looked worried. "I miss Celestia," whimpered the colt. His sister nodded sadly.
"Well," Trixie said, a little testily, "my friends and I are hard at work on that. And rest assured, the Great and Powerful Trixie -- and her capable friends -- shall not rest until the Princesses are restored!"
This prompted a small, though encouraging, round of applause. But there were more questions along the same lines, as Trixie continued to sign autographs. Everyone wanted to know about Celestia.
Celestia, Trixie grumbled to herself. Always Celestia.
Finally tiring of the constant questioning, the demands for reassurance, Trixie turned away, claiming a prior engagement, and closed up her wagon. Then she headed for the Palace, the guards in tow. And as she went, she looked up at the two tallest towers of the Palace -- in particular the one to the left, which held Luna's private suite.
It's like they've forgotten all about you, Trixie thought to herself crossly. Well, Trixie hasn't, that's for sure.
She trotted up the front stairway and through the doors into the main entrance hall. And here she found Cheese Sandwich, conducting an impromptu call-and-response singalong for a group of the guards and staff. Trixie shook her head, amazed despite herself. Somehow, with just a wheezy accordion and a mind like a butter churn, the party pony had the entire crowd belting out the chorus to Chancellor Puddinghead Fell Down The Stairs like it was Hearthswarming Eve.
Huh, Trixie though proudly. At least I'm not some kind of song-and-dance pony. I'm a miracle worker! And if nopony else is going to trouble themselves to look for Princess Luna, then I guess it's up to the Great and Powerful Trixie!
Jamming her hat tighter onto her mane, Trixie turned and headed for the stairs leading up to the Royal Residence wing of the Palace.
Back in Ponyville, Sunset's party again approached the Forest, this time by the path near Sweet Apple Acres, which was broader and sloped up a short rise before diving into the vine-strangled shadows.
With Fluttershy's animals keeping watch ahead of them, and Rainbow keeping watch overhead, and Rarity efficiently clearing brush out of their way, they made much better progress this time. Of course, every now and then they had to wait impatiently until Pinkie Pie returned from whatever covert operation she'd assigned herself to, rambling like a hunting dog through the underbrush around them. But they made their way without incident deep into the Forest's dark interior.
They came at last to a large, gnarled elm tree, with a wooden door and windows set into its base, its trunk decorated with traditional masks and its gnarled branches with hanging bottles. The door stood open and then windows were dark, making the tree look abandoned and lonely. And it was thoroughly enmeshed by the black, coiling vines.
Zecora gazed at it miserably as they passed.
"Is that your home, Zecora?" Sunset asked her.
The zebra nodded. Then her normally placid expression turned darkly stern.
// To magic of all kinds //
// this plant seems drawn //
// Spell, potion, and chanter, //
// the list goes on... //
// So, perhaps towards its magic //
// out paths should now roam, //
// to drive back this menace //
// from hearth and home! //
"We're with ya on that, no question," Applejack said. "But these vines are all over the place. How do we follow 'em back to their source?"
Sunset tapped her horn with a grin. "This thing isn't just for looks, you know." She swung her head back and forth, one eye closed, her horn faintly glowing. "You're right, though. It's hard to pin down exactly. The dark magic of these vines, it feels strongest... thattaway." She gestured with a forehoof.
"Oh, do let me guess," Rarity said, dryly. "That way will lead to the darkest, muddiest, most dangerous part of the Forest, yes?"
Zecora smiled.
// The heart of the Forest //
// is dark, it is so. //
// But if I recall rightly... //
// I know which way to go. //
Unhesitatingly Zecora set out along a smaller, winding track, leading away among the surrounding trees, and after a moment the others uneasily followed her.
After what felt like over an hour of tramping, single-file, along the narrow track, it opened out into a relatively thin part of the Forest. The trees were spaced father apart here, large swathes of night-dark sky visible overhead. The ground was mostly bare, with patches of scraggly underbrush.
"Huh. Don't look nearly so bad here," Applejack said.
Zecora shook her head warningly.
// Appearances can deceive, //
// mislead, and mislay. //
// And this place has always //
// felt wrong in some way. //
"It might have something to do with that," Sunset said, pointing.
Ahead of them, and stretching as far as they could see in either direction through the trees, was a vast thicket of the black, thorned vines. The vines erupted from the ground and then spread laterally, like a banyan tree: rising, branching, then plunging back into the ground, in an immense, impassible tangle.
"Yep," Applejack said, "This looks like the source of them weeds, all right."
"Ohhh, how are we going to get past all that?" Fluttershy whispered.
Rainbow waggled her wings. "Duh!" She leapt into the air.
"Rainbow, wait!" Sunset called. But the pegasus simply blasted past her, arcing upwards over the wall of vines. The pegasus had only gotten a few yards, however, when a large frond on one of the vines snapped open, like a clawlike mouth, and then launched at her.
"Woah!" Rainbow yelled, as she dodged it. She jinked away from another of the fronds snapping at her, and then evaded a third. "Okay, that's not gonna work," she muttered, turning back.
But now there were more of the mouth-like fronds, rising from the underbrush all round the group.
"Back to the path, gang," Sunset called. "We'll have to go around."
"Sunset! Behind ya!" Applejack shouted.
Sunset turned and found one of the fronds gaping right before her, hissing angrily. It suddenly expelled a puff of blue, swirling gas right in her face. Sunset coughed and choked. She felt dizzy and light-headerd. She turned away from it... and another frond blasted her in the face with more of the gas.
Sunset blinked in confusion, on the verge of passing out. The landscape before her swayed drunkenly. The frond spread wide, like a huge mouth, closing in viciously, implacably...
... until a lasso of black creeper looped over it, yanked tight and hauled it down out of the air, to slam hard into the ground.
"Listen here, ya rabid rhodadendrons!" Applejack yelled. "Ya mess with one of us, ya mess with all of us!"
"Yeah!" Rainbow added. She darted upwards into the air, waving tauntingly. "Up here!" Turning in midair she took off like a shot, one of the fronds chasing her.
"Come and get me!" Pinkie Pie shouted merrily, leading another frond in a different direction.
"Don't forget me!" Rarity called lightly, with a frond chasing her in a different direction.
Still dazed, Sunset looked around herself in increasing amazement. She wondered if she was dreaming. The five ponies from Ponyville had somehow completely forgotten their fears. Applejack was fashioning lasso after lasso from the creepers, and steadily roping and hog-tying the plants, left and right. Rainbow and Fluttershy were darting about through the air, leading the fronds into helpless knots. Pinkie Pie and Rarity were doing the same on the ground.
Applejack leapt over and under the increasingly stymied vines, leading the remaining fronds into weaving themselves into hopeless snarls and tangles. Very quickly the attacking fronds were reduced to a helpless, wriggling mass, struggling on the ground.
"Ta daaaa!" shouted Pinkie Pie. And somehow she made confetti fall out of thin air, all round her.
"Wow..." Sunset shook her head to clear it. "That was just... amazing work, gang. Great job!"
Pinkie Pie waved a hoof. "De nada! Anything for a friend, Sunset!"
And then, right behind Pinkie, a loose front reared up. It roared angrily, then flung itself down upon the pink pony, catching her unawares. It slammed tight shut on her, engulfing her on the spot.
"Pinkie!" Rainbow yelled. Arrowing down out of the air, she slammed into the frond, knocking it to the ground. But when they'd finally pried its jaws open, there was no sign of the party pony.
They all looked around, hoping Pinkie had pulled one of her strange jaunts out of harm's way in time. But there was neither sign nor sound of her, anywhere they looked in the silent clearing.
"She's just... gone," Rarity moaned.
"Pinkie..." Sunset gasped. |
The Visiting Team -- Part II | Seek and Find | There was a sound of hooves on stone steps, echoing up the long winding spiral staircase in the rightward spire of the Royal Residence Wing. Plus two ponies very much out of breath. "I wonder how many steps this is," said Twilight.
"Ninety-two so far," Starlight said. She shrugged, seeing Twilight's surprised look. "What? I didn't have much else to do on the way up."
Twilight grinned. "I thought it was closer to eighty-five, actually."
Starlight considered it, then grinned. "You're not counting the landings."
"I was, believe me," said Spike, clambering up the stairs behind them.
"When I was little," Twilight said, "I don't recall it taking nearly this long, coming to visit the Princess." She paused for a moment, uncertain. "Maybe she made it easier, somehow? Like, she made most of the steps go away?"
"Maybe," Starlight agreed. "A good teacher would make sure the difficult stuff is what you really need to focus on."
They finally reached the short corridor at the top, and stood before the set of tall, golden doors bearing Celestia's solar icon. Twilight stared at the doors, uneasily. And Starlight nudged her shoulder.
"You need to check everything, Twilight, even here. Maybe we'll find a clue. Maybe Celestia managed to leave a message behind somehow."
"Maybe." Twilight reached out a hoof, and pushed open the doors.
Beyond was a broad suite, a large fireplace to one side with a comfortable day-bed set before it. Across from that was a small vanity, and a much larger desk with a comfortable chair. Beyond was the arched doorway leading out to the suite's balcony, which looked down upon the Palace, upon Canterlot, and upon a seemingly endless vista of Equestria besides. Through it fell the dim, yellowed half-light of the arrested dawn outside, giving everything an antiqued, shadowy look.
And without the large, shimmering, reassuring presence of Princess Celestia in the midst of it all, the suite felt empty, silent, and abandoned.
Twilight deliberately drew herself up, all business.
"Right," she said. "You check that side of the room, I'll check this."
"Gotcha," Starlight said, and trotted to the right. She inspected the daybed and the fireplace, then trotted over to the arched doorway and out onto the balcony, just to be sure. Then she turned back into the room.
And she found Twilight standing on the chair before the desk, her hooves resting on its edge. Starlight found it hard not to smile at that. Twilight was practically full-grown, yet the difference in scale between herself and Celestia meant that leaning on the Princess's desk like that, she looked like a small filly, nervously inspecting her mentor's workplace.
Then Starlight saw what Twilight was staring at. It was a large, heavy book with gilt clasps, lying in the middle of the desk. Almost as if it had been left there, deliberately.
"I wonder what it is," Twilight whispered as Starlight came over, and hopped up on the chair beside her.
"Maybe a history book?" Starlight suggested. "Or a grimoire Celestia was studying?"
"Maybe it's a photo album!" Spike said, clambering up to sit on the desk next to Twilight. "I wonder if there might be any pictures of me in it, from when I was little."
"Or maybe it's an autobiography," Starlight suggested. Then she frowned. "Though you'd think, after a thousand years, it'd be a bit thicker, huh?"
"Or maybe..." Twilight said uncomfortably, "it's her diary?"
She and Starlight exchanged a look. "Might be," Starlight agreed. "Sure looks like one."
Twilight looked conflicted. "Do you think we should be reading something that private?"
Starlight smiled. "Are you afraid you might learn something unexpected? Like she really cares about you, and trusts you to do the right thing? Why else would she leave something that important just sitting around on her desk?"
"I suppose." But Twilight still hesitated. And Starlight put a hoof on her shoulder.
"What is it?"
"I just feel like," Twilight said, "us being here, searching her room like this, going through her private documents... it's like we're admitting she might not be coming back. That she might be gone for good."
Starlight nodded. "That would be scary, wouldn't it?" She sighed, shaking her head. "But we've got to face it. Until the Princesses return, we're the ponies in charge. And we may have to make some tough calls."
"Yeah." Twilight nodded. "I'm sure we will."
"Look, we only want to find out what happened to her," Starlight said. "So if it is her diary, just look at the last few pages. I doubt there's any deep dark secrets hidden in that!"
Twilight smiled sheepishly. "You're right, Starlight."
And, taking a deep breath, she pulled over the book and flipped it open.
A short distance away -- at least, as the alicorn flies -- another set of hoofsteps echoed up another long staircase.
Trixie finally reached the top of the tower. Trotting down the corridor and around the corner, she came at last to the tall, ivory-white doors of the Lunar Suite. And paused to catch her breath. Even with her pitifully weak levitation spell to help her, it had been a long climb getting to the top.
Recovered at last, Trixie nervously trotted forward, reaching out a hoof to push open the doors.
"Princess Luna?" she called, just out of habit, not really expecting an answer. Hearing none, she trotted forwards, through the doorway and into the dark and shadowy suite beyond.
Its furnishings, tapestries, and lamps were merely dim outlines against the general dusk. Across the room, the doorway leading to the room's broad balcony cast a stream of cold, brilliant moonlight across the broad marble tiles. The room itself held the strange, disquieting stillness of a place where somepony normally expected to be there, unexpectedly wasn't.
Trixie strode forwards into the room, her snout held high and proud. Then she stopped in the middle of it all, peering around, uncertain of what she was looking for.
Casting a fitful luminance spell with her horn, she crossed to the large writing desk and hopped up onto the hard-backed chair. On the desk in front of her was a large book, leather-bound with silvered clasps.
Trixie unhesitatingly pulled it over and flipped it open.
It turned out to be a journal, written in Luna's exact, almost typeset horn-writing:
I am returned. And yet, this place is unfamiliar to me. My sister, the castle, all of it... it feels like a dream, almost. And I do not recall what came before...
Intrigued, Trixie paged through the few entries that the journal contained, finally coming to one near the end:
Tea with my friends again. Such a trivial, informal occasion. Yet it is the one constant, the one anchor, in my new life. I need keep no secrets from them, for I have none. They seem to know me so well, even as I struggle to recall myself. Especially Trixie: at once so confident, and yet so needy. I see myself in her. If only I could recall the kind and caring Princess that she sees in me...
Trixie looked away from the page, her eyes shut, fighting back tears.
Shutting the journal, she hopped down from the chair, and crossed over to the balcony. Above her, the sky was the same half-dawn, half-dusk as ever. And directly in front of Trixie was the disc of the Moon, hovering above the horizon.
Hooking her forehooves over the railing, Trixie stared at it.
We'll find you, Luna, she silently promised. No -- I'll find you. I promise.
And then she grimaced. But what if we can't? she thought. Who'll raise the Sun and Moon then?
Trixie stared helplessly at the cold white disc of the Moon, anxious and afraid.
And she thought she saw it shift, just a tiny bit.
Trixie blinked, not sure if she'd only imagined it. She squinted, staring intently at the Moon's disc, trying to measure its position against the distant hills. And thought she saw, just barely...
"Hey, Trixie? Are you in here?"
Trixie looked round, almost guiltily. She saw Moondancer peering in through the Lunar Suite's open doors.
"Out here, Moondancer," Trixie called.
The beige pony trotted into the room, then crossed to the balcony. She joined Trixie in leaning on the railing. "Thought I saw you heading up here. Find anything?"
"No." Trixie glanced up at the Moon briefly, then shook her head. "Nothing that tells us what happened to Luna. Or the others."
Moondancer put a hoof around her shoulders. "Don't worry, Trixie. We'll figure it out. We'll find her."
"But what if we don't?" Trixie demanded, crossly. "What if we never do? What if it's all left up to us?"
Moondancer shrugged. "Then we'll just have to come up with something. We're the Heroes of Equestria, just like it says on the tin. It's... kind of our job now."
"I guess." Trixie hunched inside her magician's robe, feeling worried. And occasionally glanced the Moon. Did I just move that? She wondered. And if so... what do I say? Should I say anything? Would they believe me, or just think I'm crazy?
"You wanna hear something interesting?" Moondancer said, breaking into her whirling thoughts. "With help from the Archive ponies, I've been doing some research on the Everfree Forest. And I think I know why it is the way it is. Why it's such a magical desert. Because --"
"Because it was where Celestia and Luna fought, that final time," Trixie said, grumpily. "And afterwards, Luna was gone, and Celestia never went there again, because it reminded her of what she'd done to her own sister. So the magic and light and hope was removed from the Forest, and it became a haven for the creatures of the Night that Luna had summoned to aid her in battle..."
Trixie fell silent, blinking. Now how the hay did I know that?
Moondancer stared at her. And then laughed. "And here I thought I was being so scholarly! You spent so much time with Nightmare Moon, I should have come to you first. She must have told you all about it."
She never told me anything, Trixie said to herself. "Oh yes," she said aloud. "All about it. But... it's not something Trixie likes to dwell on."
Moondancer nodded. And then she hugged Trixie companionably.
"I miss her too," she said quietly.
Trixie hugged her back, feeling conflicted as she did so. After all, here was the one other pony who, more than any, felt the same way that Trixie did. And thus, perhaps, she was the one pony Trixie could trust.
Trixie opened her mouth, about to speak...
Then her gaze fell on something a lot closer. It was difficult to see, silhouetted against the half-night sky. She stared, trying to make it out. Two winged shapes were steadily flapping their way up the tall spire of Celestia's tower across the way.
"Are those... griffons?" Trixie said, pointing.
Moondancer looked herself. "Yeah, I think so. Looks like Egmund or whatever his name was. And his aide."
"They're heading for the top floor." Trixie grabbed Moondancer. "That's Celestia's suite!" she hissed.
"Twilight's searching over there!" Moondancer said. "I saw Starlight and her heading up the tower stairs. We need to warn her somehow. But how?" Moondancer looked around, at the very tall tower they themselves were standing in. "We can't fly over there. And these darned vines, they're still disrupting our magic."
"Not all magic," Trixie said proudly. She brought up a smoke-bomb.
"Trixie..." Moondancer warned.
But the showpony was on a roll, seeing a chance to save the day. "Reward favors risk!" she yelled. Hugging Moondancer, she flung down her hoof.
A few moments later, as they clung to the lightning rod atop the very tip of Celestia's tower, Trixie bashfully cleared her throat.
"Trixie would like to point out," she said archly, "her aim has been improving of late..."
In the corridor outside Celestia's suite, a side door opened a hair, and a yellowed, avian eye peered through. Seeing no one, Ambassador Egmund flung the door open and stalked out into the corridor. He was careful to keep most of his weight on his rear paws, so his foreclaws didn't tick on the marble tiles.
Behind him, his aide Cherp caught the door, almost on her beak. Then she gently shut it behind them as she followed Egmund into the corridor.
"Sir, is this wise?" she asked, in a long-suffering tone. "This could be counted as trespassing, at the least. Or far worse..."
"There's strange business going on here, Cherp," Egmund replied portentously. "Strange business indeed. And we need to get to the heart of it. We depend upon these ponies not to muck up the weather, to say nothing of the very day and night itself! And now Equestria has seen fit to put an inexperienced stripling on the Golden Throne. And you can see the result, can't you? Well!" He fluffed up his feathers importantly. "Before we sign any kind of treaty, we need to make our feelings known to this new adminstration, in no uncertain terms!"
"Yes, sir," Cherp sighed. She followed along loyally as Egmund stalked haughtily forwards, towards the golden doors at the end of the corridor, going over his intended opening remarks in his head.
But they'd only gotten a few paces down the hall when the everburn torches all along the corridor abruptly guttered and snuffed out. The hallway was plunged into dim shadows.
Behind them, a door slammed, and there was a sound of pattering feet underfoot. Ahead of them, a large hedgehog hurried through the golden doors of the Royal Suite. Turning, he paused with his paws on them, and smirked.
"Heh, heh!"
And slammed the doors closed.
Egmund was taken aback. He paused, squinting in the sudden fall of darkness, waiting for his eyes to adapt. And then he heard, in the darkness behind him, a metallic tap-tap-tap of armored shoes. A sullen electric crackling and whiff of ozone filled the air. Turning, Egmund saw a vision out of a nightmare: a scowling visage, hovering in the darkness, lit only by the electric blue sparking of its broken horn. A scarlet-maned unicorn, with a scar across one eyelid...
... and a look of cold, unrestrained ferocity in her eyes.
"I had my suspicions about you," Tempest growled. "I'd hoped that you might be just as fat and stupid as you look. That you wouldn't try something so ridiculously dumb."
"Now see here!" Egmund huffed. "You are speaking to an official representative, you know. My aide and I got a little turned round looking for our suite. And I --"
He got no further. He found himself forcibly shoved against the wall, with Tempest's gritted teeth inches from his face.
"Don't even try it. You're nowhere near where you've any right to be. And you've got five seconds to convince me not to take you down myself, right here and now!"
"Er... diplomatic immunity?" Egmund offered, feeling that it was a bad move even as he said it. "I am an ambassador."
"Really?" Tempest smirked. "And I am a Commander. You know what that means? It means in time of war, I have absolute authority to deal with any threat to the realm as I see fit."
"But we're not presently at war... er, are we?"
"Depends how you look at it." Tempest snorted heatedly. "Attempted assault on the person of the Princess herself? I think anypony would agree that could be considered an act of war..."
"I did raise that point, sir," the aide whispered, her eyes wide in terror.
"Quiet, Cherp." Egmund stared Tempest square in the eye. "I... I don't believe you have that kind of authority. Or that your sovereign would condone such behavior, were she aware of it."
"You might be right about that. Twilight is the Element of Friendship, after all. I'm sure she'd be all pleasant and agreeable and understanding. And you know why she's like that?" Tempest scowled. "Because she has somepony like me, backing her up, making sure nothing happens to her. But right now, she's not here... and I am. And she can only court-martial me once -- after the fact. So take my advice," she added tightly. "Don't be worth it to me!"
"Uh... er..." Egmund pressed back against the wall, terrified. "Well, the truth of it is, you see..."
"Yes?" Tempest purred, like a cat with a particularly interesting mouse. "Go on. Surprise me..."
Twilight and Starlight were staring at the last page of the diary. There was a brief message, written in Celestia's neat, florid quill-writing:
If you are reading this, my beloved student, it is reasonable to assume I am unavailable to you, and you are faced with a uniquely difficult challenge. Know then, by this writing, that I grant you full and complete authority and freedom to act as you think best, to defend Equestria and its citizens, as well as the principles that we all hold dear.
You may feel the task is too large, too important, that you are not ready for the responsibility. But know this: neither was I, when Equestria's future was first entrusted to me. I only succeeded because I had excellent teachers, and mentors, and good companions to help me all along the way.
I was not alone. And neither are you.
I believe in you. I always have. Do what you need to do.
-- H.R.H. Celestia, Princess of Equestria
"See?" Starlight said, in awe despite herself. "I told you she trusted you."
"She thinks of everything," Twilight agreed, humbled and misty-eyed. "But this still doesn't tell us what happened to her." She paged back through the blank sheets preceding the final note, looking for the last actual diary entry.
Before she could find it, there was a loud thump and a scrabbling on the roof-tiles overhead. The sound seemed to slither across the ceiling, towards the balcony.
And Trixie and Moondancer half-dropped, half-fell onto its marble floor.
"Trixie?" Starlight asked, amazed. "You do know there are such things as doors, right?"
"Later, bestie!" Trixie said, turning to Twilight. "The griffon ambassador is after you!"
"We saw him and his aide fly up to a window," Moondancer added carefully, "on this floor of the tower. Which does seem suspicious, I agree."
"Suspicious like a marked deck!" Trixie snapped. "Which," she added quickly, "being the Element of Honesty, Trixie knows nothing about..."
There was a pattering of feet behind them, making them all turn. Grubber charged through the suite's doors, swung round, laughed through them, then slammed them closed.
And then he turned to find Twilight and the others staring at him.
"Oh, hey gals," he said brightly, attempting to look casual. "What's up? The boss, uh, she told me to come and see if I could be any help here. You know, looking for the Princess and all?"
"Tempest..." Twilight said, worriedly.
In the clearing in the Everfree, the ponies were still staring at the frond that had grabbed Pinkie Pie, trying to get over their loss.
Then a cheery voice called to them across the clearing.
"Hey, gang! Whatcha doin'?"
Astonished, they turned to look. And saw Pinkie Pie standing in one of the downed fronds, holding its jaws open with a hoof.
"Pinkie!" Applejack called. "You're all right!" They all rushed over to hug her, relieved.
"Of course I am!" she answered with a shrug, as if not understanding their concern.
"You had us worried," Sunset said.
"Pinkie, dearest," Rarity demanded. "How did you escape being eaten?"
"I didn't get eaten, Rarity -- I teleported!"
Sunset blinked. "I thought earth ponies couldn't work teleport spells."
"Not me, silly! This plant." She hefted the frond's jaws, then let it slam closed. "It teleports things. It's like a whole network of weird magical tunnels inside. Each of them leads to one of these frond thingies. I popped in there --" She pointed a hoof. "-- and I popped out here!"
Sunset shook her head. "Must be that old party-pony magic, at work again. Only Pinkie Pie would discover that a pony-eating plant is actually a living teleport network."
"Aw! Thanks, Sunset! But you told me to do whatever was needed, so I did!"
"Okay, so Pinkie isn't plant food," Rainbow said. "Which... is good. That still leaves us the problem of getting past these vines, or going around them, to whatever's behind them. Whatever's the real cause of all this."
"Or..." Sunset said, thinking dangerously. "We go through them."
"Huh?"
Sunset turned to Pinkie. "Do you think you could lead us through this teleport network? Like, to a frond somewhere on the other side of this thicket?"
"Sure I can!"
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Applejack asked, nervously. "Maybe it only works for Pinkie."
Sunset shrugged. "We don't have a lot of time to waste, trying to go around. And if we can turn these vines to our advantage, so much the better. But I'll go first, just to make sure it's safe." She smiled at the party pony. "I trust Pinkie Pie. She won't let me down."
"Not on your life, Sunset!"
"Well, all right..." Applejack said. "We'll wait right here for ya."
Sunset turned back to Pinkie. "Ready when you are."
"Wheee!" Pinkie shouted happily. And grabbing Sunset's hoof, she hauled open the frond and dove in, yanking Sunset in after her.
It wasn't like normal teleporting, which was a brief flash and a little disorientation as one adjusted to suddenly being somewhere new. It was a long, blurred, disembodied sensation, in which the only sense of solidity Sunset had was Pinkie's unseen hoof still gripping her own. Sunset felt like she was being quickly whisked along dozens of glowing, dimly-lit tunnels, winding and criss-crossing in a bewildering tangle.
Some of that is probably our doing, she thought. Shouldn't have tied them into so many knots.
She began to worry about whether Pinkie actually knew how to navigate this bizzare thaumic continuum. Maybe she'd just gotten lucky in finding her way back out the first time. Maybe we'll be wandering around in here for days, Sunset thought. Or years. And what happens if Twilight finds a way of dealing with these plants while we're still in here? What if they kill off the plant, trapping us inside? What if we never get out? What if --
Sunset abruptly found herself ejected from the mouth of a frond, landing heavily on an unfamiliar stretch of forest clearing, just far enough away from the wall of vines that the fronds didn't try to attack them.
"Ugh," Sunset said. "I've got to stop stress-thinking the way Twilight does..."
"See? I told you I could do it!" Exhilarated, Pinkie Pie turned a happy somersault.
"You sure did." Sunset said. She was still feeling dizzy from the whirling, tumbling journey. "How do you even find your way around in there?"
"Easy! There's this really strong sensation, like something powerful and kind, located over this way. I use it like a compass. I just stay focused on that, and it keeps me from getting turned around in there." She shrugged. "The rest is just, ya know, taking whichever tunnel seems to be heading the right way."
"Well, that is officially the weirdest way I've ever traveled," Sunset said. "But where the hay are we now?"
"I dunno," Pinkie said. "Maybe we should ask at that funny-looking ruins over there?"
She pointed, and Sunset turned to look. And stared.
Across a large ravine, much like a dried river-bed, there was a rise of ground on which stood the shattered ruins of an ancient castle. It was little more than crumbling stonework, overgrown by trees and creepers, but Sunset knew it all too well. It was the Castle, hidden deep in the heart of the Everfree Forest, where Celestia had once brought Sunset, seemingly ages ago, as a young filly...
... to show her the Elements of Harmony.
And all around the Castle, among the trees of the Forest, Sunset could see the tangling, winding black vines. They formed a huge wall, encircling the Castle, fencing it in. The Castle looked under siege almost.
"I think," Sunset said cautiously, "we should go get the others, and bring them all here. We may have just found what we're looking for..." |
The Visiting Team -- Part II | Bring It All Together | The doors of the Solar Suite swung open. Twilight and her friends hurried out into the corridor.
Which was brightly lit again. The griffon ambassador was standing, hunched and apologetic, with his aide beside him looking similarly embarrassed. And Tempest was standing behind them both, a self-satisfied smirk on her face.
"Tempest?" Twilight asked. "What's going on here?"
"Oh, the ambassador and I were just having a little chat," she said languidly. "About how he'd gotten turned around on the way to his quarters. And since he was in the neighborhood, he thought he might just pay a call on Equestria's rightful ruler, and beg the indulgence of a brief audience." She snorted. "Right, Ambassador?"
"Ah... yes," Egmund said quickly. "Very true, Commander. If we might be so bold, Princess?"
"Well, certainly," Twilight said. "What did you want to talk about?"
Egmund glanced at Tempest, and then tossed his claws in the air. "It's about this treaty, Highness! I have to say, I'm not entirely sure it's reasonable. But I can't get anyone here or at home to listen to me. In part because I can't point to anything I think is wrong with it. Because... to be quite honest, I can't make head or hindquarters out of it myself!"
"Really?" Twilight asked, surprised.
"Indeed! The thing was started under my predecessor. And it's been back and forth through diplomatic channels so much, and rewritten and expanded on so many times, that I find it impenetrable! I just don't feel it's right to ratify an agreement when I can't tell if the terms are favorable to Griffonstone or not."
"Wow." Twilight glanced at Starlight, then at Spike. "I... wonder whether you might like to take a look at a simplified version of the agreement that we put together? Spike?"
Spike quickly produced the scroll, which he'd hung onto earlier, as part of his role as her note-taker.
Egmund took it doubtfully, read it over. And his expression turned from doubt to pleased surprise. "But... this is so clear and straightforward, Highness," he said. "It can't possibly be a legal document, it doesn't even read like one. But, nevertheless..." He held up a claw, examining it closely once more. "Yes, this all makes sense. I see you've even been kind enough to address the issue of that township that got cut in half. I could never figure out why we let that happen."
"So..." Starlight asked cautiously, "you'd be in favor of proposing this as an alternative?"
"More than that!" Egmund said. "I'd be happy signing the thing right now. Or, at an official ratifying ceremony, if we really need to have one. I suppose one must follow protocol that much."
"Really?" Twilight asked, amazed.
Egmund laughed. "Your Highness, I have no problem signing something even I can follow. And something tells me I should do so quickly, before the bureaucrats get their claws into it again."
"Then if it's all right with you, I'll ask the staff to make copies," Twilight said, taking it back from him. "And set up an official ceremony?"
Egmund bowed. "I would be much obliged, Highness. And may I say, though I had my doubts at first, if this is any indication of how Equestria's new administration plans to operate, then I look forward to doing business with Your Highness in future."
Tempest grunted in amusement. "Good to hear it," she said. "And now, perhaps the ambassador's party should return to their proper quarters? To get ready?"
"Of course, Commander, at once. If you'll pardon us, Your Highness?"
Bowing profusely, Egmund bustled off at speed, with Cherp scampering along in his wake.
And Twilight looked up at Tempest, an amused smile on her face. "Do I even want to ask what was going on out here?"
Tempest gave her a studied blank look.
"Just keeping the peace, Your Highness."
"The Castle of the Two Sisters," Sunset whispered in amazement.
It had taken a while, one pony at a time, to bring the others through. But finally they were all standing together on the edge of the chasm, staring at the ancient ruin on the far side.
"Uh... the what now?" Rainbow asked.
"The original Palace," Sunset explained. "Where Celestia and Luna once ruled a thousand years ago, back when the Everfree Forest was a lot nicer than it is now. Even after Canterlot's Royal Palace was finished, the Princesses still used this place as a kind of summer palace and retreat. They weren't ready to abandon it completely. Until, well... you know..."
She stamped a hoof in irritation. "I'm sorry, gang. If I'd known this was where we were headed -- and I should've guessed -- I could have saved us the walk. The Guards could have brought us here by chariot. They could have just flown us over all this."
"You couldn't have known for sure, dearest," said Rarity, putting a consoling hoof on her shoulder. "And if we did go the long way round, at least we know we didn't miss something. Being thorough counts, right?"
Applejack nodded. "Measure twice, cut once. But how do we get over there? There's a hoof bridge, but it's come unhitched from the other side."
"Hey, no problem!" said Rainbow. "I'll just zip down there, grab the end, retie it, and we're golden. Won't take a minute."
"Hold up, Rainbow," Sunset said. She pointed at the black, thorned creepers writhing across the ground all around them. "Those vines... they're not headed for the Castle."
"Oooh, you're right!" Fluttershy pointed fearfully into the yawning chasm below them. "They're headed... down there!"
Rainbow flapped a bit higher, peering into the distance. "Yeah, they're headed for some kind of cave opening down at ground level."
"Well, that's just grand," Rarity said. "And how do we get down there?"
Sunset checked her horn. It was still misbehaving due to the effect of the vines, so levitation or teleportation was out. She was about to ask if Applejack could fashion some kind of rope for them to use to climb down. Or if Rainbow and Fluttershy would mind ferrying them down.
Then there was a loud, painful-sounding series of noises coming from the chasm to their right:
"Woah! Oof! Ouch! Ow! Ugh!"
And, from the floor of the chasm below, Pinkie Pie scornfully called up to them. "Use the stairs, sillies!"
They hurried over and looked. There was indeed a long series of heavily-weathered steps set into the wall of the chasm, leading down into it. With Sunset in the lead, the others single-file behind her, the group made their way down the stairs to join Pinkie on the chasm floor. And then, carefully crossing over and around the vines converging on the cave entrance, they peered into the dimness within.
"The vines are thinner here than up there," Sunset said. "So it looks like they're heading in, not out. But who knows what we'll find in there, following them?"
// Nevertheless, into the dark //
// we must go. //
// For what these vines seek //
// we must know! //
Rainbow frowned at the zebra. "You're pretty gung-ho for a pony who was carting everything she owned away from this forest a while back."
Zecora looked calmly unoffended.
// Zebra in herds //
// are usually found. //
// With companions like these //
// my resolve is sound! //
Sunset nodded, then risked a luminance spell again. She found it was still weak and flickering, but reasonably stable as long she didn't apply too much power. "Okay," she said. "Let's check it out. Stay close."
The group edged into the darkness, huddled tightly together as if attempting to keep within the circle of light projected by Sunset's horn.
"Ouch! Uh, a little less close?" Sunset suggested, after having had a hoof trodden on for the third time.
"Sorry, Sunset," Rarity said. The group spread out a bit.
The cave tunnel ahead of them narrowed slightly, twisting a bit, then abruptly opened out into a large rocky cavern. And Sunset found her luminance spell was no longer needed. There was a dim greenish glow, filling the chamber. But what was causing the glow made them all gasp.
In shape, it was very like a tree, but formed entirely from crystal. It had a solid trunk that forked into narrower, angular branches. In color, it was a weak, sickly grey, and was projecting a dim, fungus-like glow, which made one feel ill just looking at it. The trunk and every one of the branches of the tree were ensnared tightly by the vines, as if the vines were deliberately strangling it.
"I think it's dying..." Fluttershy whispered, mournfully. "Those vines are sapping the life out of it."
"Well, all right," Applejack said. "So this is what we came looking for, a dying tree of some kind. So how do we go about saving it?"
Sunset edged closer, stopping when some of the nearer vines twitched threateningly in her direction. She was counting the tree's branches. There were five in all, each with a kind of dimple near its tip, where something had been removed. Something gem-shaped...
"Wait a second," Sunset breathed. "The Elements!"
"Ooh, ooh!" Pinkie bounded happily. "Did Sunset just figure it out?"
"Maybe, Pinkie. This tree reminds me of the big tree-like stand the Elements of Harmony are kept on: five branches, each holding an orb which, when unlocked, becomes a gemstone. There are five branches here, each with a place where a gemstone would fit."
"And the tree itself is made of crystal," Rarity observed. "So maybe this tree thing is where the gems came from in the first place?"
"Yeah!" Rainbow added excitedly. "Celestia and Luna! They must have gotten those Element thingies from this tree!"
"Wow..." Sunset said. "It adds up. But there's still something I don't get. Celestia told me pretty much everything there is to know about the Elements when I was her student. I wonder why she never mentioned..."
Then Sunset's gaze fell on the large, six-pointed shape, set at the tree's heart. It looked very much like a pony's cutie mark... a very specific pony's cutie mark.
"And... as usual," Sunset observed quietly, "Twilight's hunch was right on the money."
She turned to the others, suddenly all business. "Okay, I think we've got our answer. We need Twilight and the Elements here, right now. Without them, this tree is unable to fight off these vines. We need to reactivate the Elements, and put them back on the tree to save it."
"Uh, awesome plan, Sunset," Rainbow agreed. "Totally with ya there. Just one tiny problem? We're here -- and Twilight and the Elements of Harmony, they're all the way up in Canterlot."
"And we've no way to reach her. Ugh," Sunset grunted impatiently. "I wish I'd thought to ask Twilight to loan me Spike. We could get a message to her pronto. But Spike's with Twilight, too."
"If wishes were horses..." Applejack said, shrugging. "Maybe we need to find some other way to reach her?"
"Except... wait a minute." Sunset tested her horn. "Yeah... it's a low-power spell, so it might get through the interference from the vines."
"What sort of spell, Sunset?" Rarity asked.
Sunset smirked. "Like I said, Spike's with Twilight -- which is exactly where we need him to be. Now give me a minute to recall this properly. After all, I only saw Princess Celestia do it once..."
Having witnessed the signing ceremony with the griffons -- to the evident pleasure of the griffons, and the befuddlement of the Equestrian diplomats, who found themselves with a copy of the new treaty they could carry home in a lunchbox -- Twilight and Starlight returned to the private audience chamber, and gratefully shoved the piles of paper and scrolls off the table.
Then they stared at each other.
"Now," Starlight suggested, "maybe we should think about organizing a rescue effort for Ponyville?"
Twilight nodded. "Assuming nothing else needs doing around here."
As she spoke, she heard the doors to the corridor opening behind her. Groaning in frustration, Twilight thumped her head on the table. Then she whirled to the doors, hopping mad.
"No! Whatever it is, it can wait this time! I need to send help to my friends in Ponyville, and I --"
She abruptly fell silent, registering who was standing in the doorway. There was Moondancer, of course, staring back at Twilight, wide-eyed. But behind her was a gray-maned, richly berobed pony with a very sharp-eyed gaze. Unoffended, he was regarding Twilight with the quietly indulgent amusement of an academic who has seen it all.
"I'm... very sorry about that, sir," Twilight said, astonished. "I didn't mean to shout."
The elderly pony bowed respectfully. "Chief Researcher Paradigm Shift," he said formally. "At your service, Highness. Though I'm only here because your very diligent Minister of Research here has made an unanticipated discovery, which she wished to inform you of. I came along merely to lend color and insight, if needed."
Moondancer grinned sheepishly. "Oh, it was team effort, sir, believe me! But Twilight, I did come across something important, something related to the Elements of Harmony." She trotted over to the table, and levitated a couple of small journals onto it. Paradigm Shift nodded to the assistants accompanying him, and they brought over several other volumes. But he and they remained in the background, merely looking on with interest.
"See," Moondancer said to Twilight, "we started by looking into who might be behind this: who might have a grudge against the Princesses. And of course, Discord's name came up pretty quickly. But since he's been reformed, it didn't seem likely he'd be behind this. But it got me wondering, how did the Princesses take him down so easily? You saw what a hassle he was for the seven of us. Legend tells us that Celestia and Luna used the Elements of Harmony to stop him. But where did those come from?"
She pulled over a journal, and flipped it open.
"I found this in the Star Swirl wing. It's one of his later journals, where he talks about using the growth of crystals to construct a living organism, which might last for a millennium or more. And look what I found, folded in amongst the pages. It wasn't even cataloged as ephemera, it just fell out as I was reading it."
Twilight looked at yellowed paper, bearing a brief series of notes in strict, almost typeset lettering. "This looks like Princess Luna's writing!"
"Yep. And she mentions not only this journal, but a couple other references as well, which I looked up." She pointed to a scroll and a journal which the assistants had brought. "The bottom line is, she believed Star Swirl the Bearded had somehow constructed a tree from crystal, to serve as a repository of magic, and potential source of balance in Equestria. Or as he called it, harmony."
"Okay," Twilight nodded. "A crystal tree, which is connected to the Elements of Harmony somehow?"
"More than that," Moondancer said. She brought over another journal, this one written in florid, graceful lettering. "Princess Celestia notes in one of her journals immediately following the Confused Era, that she and Princess Luna found this tree. The Tree of Harmony, they called it. And from it, they obtained the Elements of Harmony. This tree literally grew the Elements that she and Luna used to defeat Discord!"
"Wow. And then later," Twilight said, "Celestia had to use those same Elements to banish Luna." She gasped. "No wonder the Elements went inert. Using them for something like that -- it would be the very opposite of what they were created for."
"Right!" Moondancer nodded eagerly. "As Celestia describes it, the Tree was meant to serve as a kind of lynchpin, a source of harmony for all of Equestria. In particular, for the Everfree Forest. Look at this." She pointed to a particular passage in Celestia's journal:
Even without these Elements, the Tree of Harmony will still possess a powerful magic. As long as that magic remains, it will continue to control and contain all that grows here...
"Do you see?" Moondancer was practically hopping like Pinkie Pie. "Something must have happened to this Tree, because the Everfree is so out of control."
"Wait a second," Twilight said. "The Elements came from the Tree -- but they were never returned to it. What if the Tree needs them to survive?"
"Yeah," Starlight said. "And what if this magic Celestia speaks of, that the Tree has to contain and control the Everfree... what if that's just about run out?"
Twilight nodded. "We should go have another look at the Elements, I think."
Working together, they gathered up the journals and scrolls that Moondancer had brought. And then they all set out at a brisk trot, with Paradigm Shift and his assistants accompanying them. Soon they reached the main gallery of the Archives, where Twilight stared up at the orrery, and the inert spheres of the Elements.
"I knew we needed these for something," she whispered. "The Tree of Harmony..."
Starlight nodded. "If only we knew where that was."
Moondancer shrugged. "Star Swirl himself didn't say where he'd planted it. And Celestia and Luna's journals and notes don't say either. I think maybe they felt it was necessary to keep the location a secret for some reason."
"Okay, we know what to do," Twilight summed up. "And how to do it. The only thing we don't know," she added sadly, "is where we need to be..."
Spike suddenly looked ill. Then he made a face and belched flame. A small scroll materialized in the air before them. "Huh? Where'd that come from?" Spike stared at it. And then grinned. "Woah! You think it might be Princess Celestia? Trying to reach us from whereever she is?"
"Maybe. Only one way to find out." Twilight took the scroll in her magic and opened it. "No," she said, in surprise. " It's from Sunset Shimmer."
"Sunset?" Starlight asked, amazed.
"Hey!" Spike demanded. "What's she doing using my message spell? That's for the Princess!"
"Maybe be outraged later, Spike?" Starlight suggested. "Right now we need to save the world?"
"Yeah, yeah," Spike muttered, crossing his arms. "Whatever."
"Well?" Moondancer asked, "what does she say, Twilight?"
Twilight read aloud:
Dear Princess Twilight (hey, sounds cool just writing it, huh?),
Have found strange crystal tree in cave near Castle of the Two Sisters. You know, in the Everfree Forest? Need you and the Elements of Harmony here soonest.
-- Sunset Shimmer.
P.S. Pinkie Pie says to say 'hi'.
"Sunset's already found the Tree?" Moondancer gasped. "That's amazing!"
Starlight shook her head. "What would we do without her, huh?"
"We'll ask Cheese to throw her a thank-you party," Twilight said. "Right now we need to get there -- and fast!"
Tempest was already waving over a nearby guard. "Locate the other Advanced Projects members," she snapped. "And have the Chariot and an escort made ready for immediate departure."
"Yes, Commander!"
"And," Twilight added quickly, "we'll need somepony to help us with gathering and moving these." She nodded to the Elements.
"At once, Highness!" The guard hurried away.
Twilight stared up at the Elements again herself. "I only hope we're not too late..." |
The Visiting Team -- Part II | And Save A Tree | Sunset Shimmer stood inside the cave entrance, looking out at the riverbed beyond and scanning the sky in what she thought was the direction of Canterlot.
"Ya think she got the message?" Applejack asked.
"I hope so," Sunset said. "I think I did the spell right, but if not, I don't know what to fix. If she doesn't show, we could try it again, but--"
"But I don't think we'll have to!" Rainbow called, pointing.
Overhead they could see the Royal Chariot, sweeping about in a long curve above the treetops. It lined up with the chasm, and the Chariot's flyers brought it in for a rough, bumpy landing on the riverbed. Standing on the Chariot's platform were Twilight and Spike, accompanied by Tempest, Grubber, and Cheese Sandwich.
"Hi, everypony!" Twilight called as she hopped down. "Hey, Sunset -- I got your message."
"Great, Twi. But where are the others, and the Elements?"
"We had to split up," Twilight said. "These things aren't designed to seat eight plus luggage." She pointed upwards, to where a second chariot was lining up with the chasm. The Royal Chariot took off, and the second chariot came in for a landing. Aboard it were Starlight, Trixie, and Moondancer, plus a rope bag containing five of the stone orbs. The sixth, larger one had been roped securely onto the platform behind them.
"Somepony call for an order of Elements?" Trixie asked archly. "The Great and Powerful Trixie does not disappoint!"
Ignoring her, the ponies all helped unload the orbs, and set them in a loose circle. Then they looked at each other, uncertainly. "So... we've got them," Rainbow said. "Now how do we wake them up again?"
"I'm... still not sure," Twilight said hesitantly.
"Twilight." Sunset looked at her sympathetically. "That's not really true, is it?"
"Huh?"
"You've known, all along," Sunset went on. "You just haven't wanted to admit it, even to yourself." She gestured to the Ponyville group. "It's like you said: these ponies are your friends, some of the best friends one could have. And having spent time with them, I've seen why, first-hoof. They're smart, capable, and caring. And when it really matters, they don't give up."
"All true!"
"Shut up, Rainbow," Applejack muttered.
"And," Sunset went on, "unlike us ivory-tower students, these ponies aren't so steeped in magic and spellwork that they can't see a way through without them. They don't need magic: they just need the Element of Harmony that each of them represents." Sunset put a comforting hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "All you have to do is accept that, and be the Element you represent: Friendship. That's all it takes."
"I know that, Sunset."
"So? What's this really about, then?"
Twilight looked at her miserably. "What if... what if by taking on the Element of Magic, I can't be part of our group any longer? What if the Elements interfere with the Field of Harmony in some way, so we can't use it? What if --"
Sunset held up a hoof for silence. And then she stared at it in surprise, and both of them laughed in recognition. "You know, that's exactly what Princess Celestia would do," Twilight said, "whenever I'd been stressing out aloud too much."
"Guess I've picked up more than a few things from being her student," Sunset agreed. "But the point is, Twilight, you don't have to worry, not ever. So what if you're not able to power the Field with us? Or if we have to rely on using the Elements instead? We'll manage, like we always do. And we'll still be your friends. All of us, no matter what."
Twilight glanced around. The other ponies were all nodding, proudly and willingly. But Twilight still looked doubtful. So Sunset played her final card. "You know," she said, "I could try activating the Elements with Applejack and the others. I could try taking your place here."
"Really?" Twilight asked. It wasn't clear if she was relieved or regretful at the possibility.
"Could, but for one thing," Sunset said. "C'mon, I wanna show you something."
Sunset led the way into the cave, to the dying tree. Twilight gasped, seeing it. "The Tree of Harmony!"
Sunset blinked. "Is that what it's called?"
Twilight nodded. "Moondancer found a description of it, more or less, in one of Star Swirl's journals."
"I really need to brush up on my history," Sunset admitted. "In any case, look at the center of it, the very heart of the tree."
Twilight was looking, her eyes wide. "My cutie mark..."
"Uh huh. You were right, Twilight. The six of you were always meant to be together, meant to be friends, meant to reactivate the Elements and use them together. And then restore them to the Tree of Harmony to keep it from dying."
"And restore that power," Twilight quoted, "that will defend and maintain balance in all Equestria." She grinned sheepishly. "That's from Star Swirl's journal, too."
"Lemme borrow it sometime when we get back home. But right now, we've got a tree to save, huh?"
Twilight nodded. "You're right, Sunset."
Working together, the ponies brought the six stone orbs into the cave, and spread them in a loose circle, with one of the ponies from Ponyville standing by each of them.
Twilight looked around the circle. "Is everypony okay with this?" she said. "I realize it's a big ask, but--"
"Twi," Applejack said. "If we weren't willing to help come what may, none of us'd be here. Just tell us what to do."
"I don't think you need to do anything. It's all on me. Just be ready."
"Fire away, then," Rainbow said. And the others nodded, too.
Twilight stared at the orbs, uncertain.
"You know, Twilight," Sunset said quietly, "when Princess Celestia originally tasked me with finding a way to reactivate the Elements, I always assumed I was the pony to wield them too. But I think my job was simply to find somepony who could do that. And I've done that... It's you, Twilight. You can do this. You should do this." She smiled, nodding. "Go on."
Twilight nodded, then cleared her throat. She pointed a hoof at each of her friends, naming them:
"Applejack, Element of Honesty.
Fluttershy, Element of Kindness.
Pinkie Pie, Element of Laughter.
Rarity, Element of Generosity.
Rainbow Dash, Element of Loyalty..."
She took a deep breath.
"... and Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic."
The ponies waited. And waited... and waited some more.
Nothing happened. The orbs didn't even flicker.
Rainbow had been holding her eyes tight shut. She opened one of them and peered around. "Is something sparkly and rainbow-lasery supposed to be happening right now? Just askin', cause I don't wanna miss it..."
"It's not working!" Twilight said, frightened. "In the other timeline, all I had to do was name my friends and our respective elements."
Fluttershy pointed at the Tree. "Maybe the Tree's too far gone?" she said. "Maybe it doesn't have enough power left for this to work?"
They all stared fearfully at the strangled, dead-looking crystal tree.
Sunset stamped a hoof. "Maybe it doesn't. But we sure do." She looked around at the Canterlot group. "The Field of Harmony, gang! We'll use it to give the Elements a jump-start. We'll pair up, each of us with the pony whose Element matches ours." She pointed rapidly. "Starlight, you're with Twilight. I'm with Fluttershy. Cheese, you're with Pinkie. And the same for the rest of you."
"Let's use the seven-gem solution," Starlight suggested. "That way, Twilight can help power the Field as well."
"Works for me," Sunset said. "Trixie, you have the spare set of Field gems?"
"Hmph! Why else do you think I stashed these away before we left?" Removing her hat, Trixie produced the Field necklaces from it, one by one, and hoofed them round to their respective ponies.
"Do you think it'll work, Sunset?" Moondancer asked. "The way these vines distort our magic..."
"Of course it'll work," Sunset said. "Because the vines only block regular everyday magic. The Elements -- and our Field gems, too -- they use a very different kind of magic..."
"... Friendship," Twilight agreed, nodding.
"And we won't be trying to work a spell," Sunset went on, "so much as provide a pool of magic for the Elements to draw on."
Rainbow shrugged. "Worst case, it doesn't work. And we're toast. So no loss in trying, huh?"
"Not when you put it like that." Moondancer grimaced.
The ponies swiftly teamed up. And Applejack looked around the ring of paired ponies, grinning.
"Huh! Just like dance night in Appleloosa. Bow to your partner, bow to your own, and so forth..."
"All right, gang!" Sunset said briskly. "Let's fire it up."
Together, the Canterlot ponies triggered the Field spell. In seconds, the cave was gleaming with the swirling, spectral light of the Field's storage ring. They were lifted off the ground, eyes gleaming, their manes and tails gently flowing. And the five Ponyville ponies were lifted with them, held securely in the air.
OKAY, TWILIGHT, Sunset said, her Voice booming in the confined space. WHENEVER YOU'RE READY.
Twilight nodded, and looked around the circle. She pointed, and named the elements:
"HONESTY... KINDNESS... LAUGHTER... GENEROSITY... LOYALTY...
... AND MAGIC..."
The stone orbs crackled with power, gleamed briefly... then exploded into swirling clouds of gleaming shards. Each of these swept upwards, to one of the six Element Bearers, reforming into a glittering necklace for each of them, plus the lavender star-gemmed crown for Twilight.
Amazed, Twilight peered up at the crown, then down at the Field gem she was wearing. Both were gleaming with power, feeding their separate magic auras without conflict.
IT WORKED! she called, overjoyed. OKAY, NOW FOR THE HARD PART...
TWILIGHT! Moondancer called, LOOK OUT!
Attracted by the surge of magic, vine shoots were flinging madly at the group. They quickly snared all twelve ponies in midair. The vines twisted around their hooves, their necks, their horns, tugging at them, pulling them in different directions, trying to draw them apart.
KEEP IT TOGETHER, GANG! Sunset called. GO FOR IT, TWI!
Twilight hurriedly redirected the Field's magic, to gather up each of the six Element gems, one from each pony, including herself. She tried to levitate them towards the Tree, but then a vine wrapped around her face, covering her eyes and blocking her view. For a moment, her levitation spell faltered, the gems trembling perilously in midair.
Shaking her head fiercely, Twilight managed to get one eye uncovered. With that, she took firm hold of the gemstones, and swept them over to the branches of the Tree, dodging tendrils and creepers that were attempting to grab them.
The gems swept up to their places on each of the Tree's branches. Each gemstone slotted smoothly into its socket. The center of the tree opened like the mouth of a starfish, accepting the final magenta star gemstone.
For a long, tense moment, nothing seemed to be happening. The ponies struggled against the pull of the vines. The Field of Harmony's storage loop thrumming dangerously, threatening to unbalance, to overload...
And then there was a blaze of cleansing, soothing light. The Tree flared brilliantly, its energy fully rekindled. A wash of power blazed outwards from it, crumbling the vines to dust, which blew away on the winds. The explosion of power briefly bottled up in the cave's narrow tunnel, and then simply blasted outwards, taking a chunk of the cliff-face with it, exposing the cave to the open air outside.
The explosion of power moved on, magnifying as it went, spreading outwards across the Everfree Forest, across Ponyville and Canterlot, wiping out the vines wherever it encountered them, eradicating them utterly. And the ponies could all feel it happening directly, as if they were flying along with the blaze of power themselves, all across the land. It was a wonderful, marvelous feeling -- like finally, finally cleaning up a mess that had been allowed to gather and fester far too long.
Feeling dazed, Twilight glanced around at her friends, who all looked just as bewilderedly pleased as she did.
STAND DOWN, she called, gratefully.
The Canterlot group complied, winding down the Field spell. The ponies' eyes and manes returned to normal, their hooves settled to the ground.
And then they all stood and stared at the Tree of Harmony. It was utterly transformed. No longer gray and sickly, it glittered like a fireworks display. Its branches were draped with strands of sparkling light, the gemstone Elements gleaming brightly.
Rainbow spoke first. "That... was... awesome!" Leaping into the air, she turned several loop-the-loops, threatening to brain herself on the cave's ceiling.
Zecora nodded, smiling ear-to-ear.
// I don't have to ask //
// if you did it right. //
// I could tell myself -- //
// it was so bright! //
Rarity touched the empty necklace at her throat. "It does feel strange however -- getting the Element gems back, then having to turn right around and give them up again."
Twilight glanced up at her now-empty crown. "I feel the same way, Rarity. But it had to be done. And we don't have to worry now. The Tree is restored, and we still have the Field of Harmony if we need it to defend Equestria."
"Now," said Sunset, "we just need to figure out what happened to the Princesses."
"And to Discord," Fluttershy added quietly.
"Unless," Applejack said, half-seriously, "ya feel like continuing to rule Equestria... Princess Twilight."
She bowed respectfully, and the other ponies did likewise.
Twilight smiled ruefully at them. "If it's all the same to all of you, I really just wish we could find the Princesses and put things back to normal. I've had more than enough of being in charge for one day."
"Hey!" Pinkie Pie said. "What are those heaps of vines doing there?"
The gleam of the Tree was slowly settling down to a less eye-watering level, so they could now see that there were four piles of vines left, around the Tree's roots. Abruptly, these swirled with energy, then were eradicated like all the rest... revealing the Princesses, Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. Plus a very embarrassed-looking Discord.
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight shouted. And she ran forwards to hug her mentor, tightly and relievedly.
"Twilight!" Celestia said gratefully. "And Sunset," she added, as Sunset hesitantly came up to hug her as well. "I am so very proud. Both of you have done extraordinarily well. Equestria owes its safety, and we owe our freedom, to the two of you."
"It was a team effort," Sunset said. "Twilight was a great leader. She stepped right up and took charge."
"And Sunset was the best backup I could ever ask for," Twilight said. "I was afraid I wasn't doing enough to help Ponyville. And I shouldn't have been. Sunset had it covered the whole time."
"Most of the time," Sunset allowed. "And we had a lot of help from our guide, Zecora, here."
The zebra bowed her head respectfully to the Princesses.
// Pleased I am, //
// and honored, too, //
// to meet those who rule //
// by knowing what to do. //
Twilight felt a hoof at her shoulder, and she turned to find Princess Cadance smiling thankfully at her. Twilight smiled back at her, lost for words. Then she looked around at the others as well. Trixie was hugging a startled Princess Luna tightly, like she never wanted to let go. And Starlight and Moondancer were with her as well, smiling and letting the younger Princess know just how much they'd missed her.
The ponies from Ponyville were standing a short distance away, their expressions a mixture of relief everyone was back safely, and awe at being in the presence of all the ruling ponies of the realm at once.
Even Discord was being welcomed back. He and Fluttershy were exchanging a heart-felt hug. Then the draconequus reluctantly set Fluttershy back on the ground, and came over to the Princesses. And bowed, ashamedly.
"I guess I owe all of you an apology," he said. "But it's my own fault, really. All these vines? They're my doing... that is, the old me, I mean," he added, seeing the shocked look on Fluttershy's face. "I planted those plunderseeds a thousand years ago, in hopes they'd snare Celestia and Luna, and drain the Tree of its magic. Of course, that was right before the Princesses showed up with the Elements and gave me that rather permanent time-out. So I wasn't able to do anything further about them." He stared up at the Tree in amazement. "But even without the Elements, the Tree had enough magic to keep the vines from sprouting, even after all this time. It's astonishing when you stop to think about it. Say what you will about Star Swirl -- and believe me I have, many times -- he knew his stuff."
Discord glanced around, shamefacedly.
"But, like I said, that was the old me. And when I suddenly recalled yesterday, while talking with Fluttershy, that the vines were still down there waiting to spring up and cause all this trouble, I decided I'd just go and root them out quietly. I probably should have said something, left a forwarding address and so on. But I was hoping I could just go take care of them, and no pony would be the wiser. Nopony would need to find out about my elegant little booby-trap." He rolled his eyes. "But, fool that I was, I forgot the most important rule about dealing with booby-traps --"
"Don't get caught in them," Trixie said, smirking at him.
"Don't get --" Discord frowned at her. "You stole my thunder."
Trixie beamed smugly.
"So now that we're all free again," Discord went on breezily, "if I promise to help clean up and get things back to normal, could I ask you all to overlook my little lapse of judgment? I didn't mean for things to get so out of hoof." Then he twiddled his thumbs, looking innocent. "Though I will put my paw up to having thoroughly enjoyed the resulting little hiccup in the daily routine!"
Celestia glanced at Luna, then at Cadance. Then she smiled at Twilight. "I'd say that's for the current Princess of Equestria to decide."
"Huh?"
"Well, Twilight, as far as anypony else knows, you're still in charge."
Twilight smiled uneasily. "I'll be more than happy for you to take over again, Princess. You and Luna both." Then she glared at Discord, who at least had the decency to look worried. "Just as long," Twilight said, eyeing him, "as there aren't any other little leftovers from that other timeline that we'll have to deal with."
"Nothing on my slate," Discord said. "But to be honest, I don't normally plan these things in advance anyways. It's so much more fun when I'm just as surprised by the outcome as everypony else."
Twilight sighed. "Then I'd say we should all just get back to civilization, and let everypony know they can stop worrying and get on with their lives." She glanced around at her Canterlot friends. "And then we should head back to the Royal City," she added. "To hand things over to the Princesses, and help get things sorted out up there."
"Oh..." Fluttershy said. "Already? We'd only just gotten used to having you here."
"Indeed!" Rarity said. "We knew it wouldn't be forever but... we'll miss seeing you, Twilight."
"We'll be glad to have the pleasure of your company again," Applejack said. "Any time y'all want to come visit."
"Oh, you're coming with us, Applejack," Twilight said. "I still want to hear all the details, but it sounds like you five and Sunset did a terrific job protecting Ponyville, and then figuring out where the Tree was."
"Ah, no biggie," Rainbow replied smugly. "We were just awesome!"
"Strange, but I feel the same way," Rarity said. "While it might mean having to get my hooves dirty just a bit, it was nicely exhilarating."
"I guess I really am cut out for a life of adventure," Fluttershy agreed. Then she hunched meekly. "As long as it's not too adventurous..."
"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie was suddenly dressed as a cheerleader, and waving pom-poms. "We knew just what to do, 'cause our friendship is so true! Yaaaayyy, us!"
"So I'm thinking," Twilight said, "what if we made the five of you official members of the Advanced Projects group? You wouldn't have to actually move to Canterlot, or give up your lives here. But if we needed the extra hooves on deck, so to speak, it would be good to be able to think of all of you as our backup team, here in Ponyville."
Applejack smiled, and glanced at the others.
"Twilight, we're already your friends. And we'll always be glad to pitch in and help, whenever ya need us. But if you want us with ya more formal-like, then just speakin' for myself, I'd be plum honored to sign on with ya."
"Yeah!" Rainbow said. "Do we get to wear official jerseys, or something? Just so folks around here know we're on the team?"
"We can come up with something," Twilight said. "Or at the very least, make an announcement, while we're still here in town. And then let's all head back to Canterlot. After all, we'll want your input on adding some new rooms in the tower, so you five have a place to stay whenever you come visit us."
"Seriously?" Rainbow asked, grinning. "Do ya mean it, Twilight?"
"Yay!" Pinkie shouted.
"Absolutely," Twilight said. "'Cause it's like the old saying goes: one should always take good care of the visiting team... exactly the same way that all of you took care of us."
"You know, Twilight," Celestia said, "I had thought about suggesting you consider expanding the membership of your group to include earth and pegasi ponies. Once again, I find you anticipating me. And given how well you handled being in command of Equestria itself, I believe I made the right decision in making you the leader of this group."
"I was only able to manage it because of my friends," Twilight said. "And because you've always trusted me and believed in me, Princess. Just like you said in that note you left me."
"Twilight?" Celestia looked puzzled. "What note was that?"
"On the last page of your diary?" Twilight said. And then she blushed and looked uncomfortable. "Um, not that I was reading it or anything... but, on the last page, it did say --"
Celestia looked astonished. Then she laughed out loud. "Oh, Twilight! That message wasn't written for you. Well, I suppose it is now, and I'm more than happy to have it apply to you. But to be strictly truthful, I wrote that note in my diary years ago -- when Sunset was my student."
"Princess?" Sunset looked both surprised and pleased.
"Sunset, only fate kept you from being where Twilight is now. And I consider both of you to be my most faithful of students."
"Sister," Luna asked plaintively. "Do you think we might leave this cold, dark cave now, and head back home?"
"Seconded, Auntie," Cadance said. "We should get back to the Royal City soon, before Shining Armor implodes from worry about me."
Celestia nodded. "That's an excellent suggestion. If you'll be good enough to lead us, Princess Twilight?"
With Twilight at the head of the group, they all left the cavern, heading back to the Chariots still waiting outside. Which just left the small problem of where to seat everypony. "We might have to make a couple of trips," Twilight finally said. "I'm not sure there's room for everypony, even with both Chariots."
"Then isn't it a good thing we have more?" Tempest pointed to where a third platform and team were coming in for a landing. "I asked them to join us later. I figured we might need the extra space coming back."
"Tempest!" Twilight grinned.
The Commander shrugged. "Standing around watching things means you always have time to plan ahead."
"Well... even with the extra space," Twilight said, "we should allow the Princesses to go first."
"Oh, I wouldn't hear of it!" Celestia said. "You ponies are the heroes of the day. It's only fitting for you to return in style. And besides, having been snared in those vines for hours, I feel like stretching my wings. What do you say, Luna? Shall we 'wing it', as the saying goes these days?"
Luna looked a little doubtful, then nodded. "It shall make our return all the more impressive, Sister," she said.
Cadance nodded willingly. "I'm up for it, Auntie, if the two of you are."
In the end, they divided the group so that Twilight, Sunset, and Tempest were on the lead Chariot, with Trixie and her companions on the following one, and the ponies from Ponyville on the third -- aside from Rainbow, who insisted on flying on her own to make more room for the others.
And as the flyers took wing and drew the three Chariots up into the air, Twilight glanced left, to where Trixie was standing at the railing of her Chariot, which was being escorted by Luna. Then to the right, where Cadance was escorting Twilight's Ponyville friends. The Ponyville ponies were all staring around in awe at the scenery passing below.
Finally Twilight looked up, to the graceful form of Princess Celestia overhead, her wings flapping powerfully. As the Chariots approached Ponyville, Celestia's horn sang with golden magic and the Sun finally, finally completed its ascent into the sky. At the same time Luna, concentrating fiercely, sent her Moon down below the horizon, bringing the strange half-day/half-night to a close.
And from the streets below, a loud, roaring and stamping cheer went up from the citizens, young and old, as their sovereigns and heroes returned in triumph.
Looking at it all, listening to it all, Twilight smiled. The kind of smile she felt all over.
It was that kind of moment...
Behind them, in its cavern, the Tree of Harmony suddenly gleamed brighter. The gleam coalesced into a glow, which spread downwards along one of its roots. There, a single flower emerged, then bloomed, revealing a small blue, crystal chest, hexagonal in shape...
... and having twelve keyhole-shaped slots on its various facets. One for each of the members of the Advanced Projects group, both old and new.
As if the Tree itself knew, somehow, that more help would be needed this time round...
The End
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, its characters and indicia are the property of Hasbro.
No infringement is intended. This story is a work of fan fiction, written by fans for fans of the series. |
Skitter, Scurry and Screech (Iota Force Issue #4) | pre | They'd been met at the ponyhole by the sewer worker who had let them into the tunnels before - a very cheerful lady whose parents, in a staggering lack of foresight, had named her Aroma Dream. However, she didn't let them go right away, instead insisting that they accompany her back to her office. Once there, she spent a short while preparing three bowls of hot water with a mixture of salts, herbs and various things Icy couldn't identify dissolved into them.
Fifteen minutes after they had emerged, it became clear why - it turns out that just because you can't smell the stink doesn't mean that it's not getting inside your nose. According to Miss Aroma, the remnants in her nose didn't smell a tenth as bad as being in there. Icy wasn't sure she entirely believed her, but definitely didn't want to find out.
Still, after about ten solid minutes with towels over their heads huffing the steam from Aroma's smell-mixture (or "cleanse-it-with-fire water,'' as she called it), they had managed to get the smell out of their noses. Then it was just a question of getting it out of their coats.
Fortunately, the office had a very big shower and a wide selection of very powerful soaps and shampoos, presumably for this precise situation. They'd all taken it together - for a species that rarely wore clothes, this wasn't much of a taboo - which meant it was much hotter than Icy usually took it. Still, that was probably for the best, given what it had to clean, and Icy was willing to put up with a fair amount of discomfort in order to eliminate as much of the she-didn't-want-to-think-about-what from her skin as she could.
Of course, that meant that the moment she'd got home, she immediately went upstairs and took another shower. And then a bath. And then another, make-double-super-safety-sure shower.
It wasn't entirely paranoia - Icy's hair was hard to manage at the best of times. The fur of her coat tended to clump together and her long mane and tail seemed to get continually tangled. No matter how much she washed it, how thoroughly and how much shampoo and conditioner she used, it would tangle again within a day or two. Now, normally, this would just be a minor annoyance, but those clumps and tangles getting suffused with stink and sewage was a real problem.
Still, it had taken several hours, half a bottle of shampoo, three combs, countless pulled-out hairs and no small amount of pain, but Icy finally felt clean.
Then, when she came down for dinner, her mother informed her that she knew a spell to help clean one's coat, mane and tail extremely thoroughly that she would have gladly cast on her had she thought to ask.
To her credit, Icy only screamed a little.
"Not that I don't appreciate you enjoying the smell, sweetie, but I think I'd like it more if you actually ate it."
Her mother's voice pulled Icy out of her thoughts and she looked up.
"Sorry, Mom," she said, sitting back in her chair and skewering a thick slice of mushroom on her fork, "I'm still a little out of it after, you know..." She tilted her head in the direction of the bathroom.
Sunny Flight shrugged, smirking a little. "No more than usual."
Icy rolled her eyes at her mother's playful jab, not answering for a moment - that slice of mushroom had taken a while for her teeth to penetrate, worth it though it was.
"Sorry for taking up the bathroom for so long."
Sunny waved her daughter's concerns away with a hoof. "Oh, it's no trouble - believe me, I know what it's like to schlep through muck and grime. You ever had to pull out an entire coatful of burrs? Not. Fun." She took another mouthful, pondering for a moment. "Might have to pay an extra couple of bits for water, but those are in no short supply."
Icy swallowed a mouthful of rice and peas. "Okay, if you're sure." She picked up another forkful, taking a moment to smell it before putting it in her mouth.
Sunny raised an eyebrow and lifted her own forkful to her nose, taking a quick sniff before bobbing her head from side to side for a moment, her face declaring the smell fine.
"Sorry, Mom," Icy said, blushing a little. "It's just..."
"No, that's fine, I get it." Her mother smiled at her. "After where you've been, smell-stopper or no, anything'd smell good by comparison. Besides, I know how useful smell can be."
"Useful?"
"Yeah. When we were going somewhere big where people could get lost, we'd always make sure to have something cooking or brewing so they could find their way back to the main group by smell."
"Really?" Icy asked, beginning to get enraptured, as she always did with her mother's stories.
"Yep. I mean, sometimes it also led animals to us, but we knew how to handle them. But yeah, we used to say "if all else fails, lead 'em by the nose."
"Were the smells nice?"
Sunny chuckled. "Depends who was doing the cooking and what they were using. Sometimes the smell would practically pick us up and float us towards it like in one of your cartoons. Other times, you'd have to play a game of hot-and-cold with your gag reflex. I remember this one time..."
As her mother launched into the anecdote, something twigged in Icy's mind. She wasn't sure what, but it felt important. Still, she thought as she focused her attention on the story, it'd probably come to her.
"So what do we do now?" Archer asked as she lent her chair back, her feet up on the big table.
It was the next day, around eleven in the morning, and the team had gathered at their headquarters AKA Pip's basement. Well, most of them had - Dinky was exhausted enough from the previous day that they'd all agreed to let her have a long lie-in, but the rest of them were there, trying to figure out what their next move would be.
It wasn't going especially well.
"Hard to say," Truffle said, his hoof stroking his chin. "I checked by the market today - thought I should do something since I wouldn't fit down there - and everypony I talked to said the raids had stopped, or at least put on hold last night."
"Won't last," Alula said, her eyes wandering as she thought. "They seemed to be gathering food to feed the colt controlling them - once he runs out, they'll start taking food again. But now they know we can track them, they would make sure to spread thin and go complicated routes so we can't follow."
Scootaloo snorted, a tone of frustration edging into her voice. "Well, we gotta do something soon."
Pip looked over from his seat on the sofa, listening but, until now, not really taking part in the conversation. "What's the rush?
Scootaloo opened her mouth to answer before stopping, a contemplative look coming on to her face. "Well, I mean... we're gonna have to figure out where he went eventually if we're gonna stop him stealing again. So, should probably do that quickly."
Pip shrugged, leaning back. "I guess, but I don't see as we can do much unless we know where to start."
Alula nodded. "Have you had any ideas?"
Scootaloo looked away, a little embarrassed. That had been the stumbling block for the last ten minutes.
There was silence for about thirty seconds as everyone thought about it, but no one had an answer.
Eventually, Truffle let out a loud sigh. "Well, no use thinking about it on an empty stomach, eh? What say we go out and get something to eat - maybe full bellies'll make full minds."
There was a general murmuring of agreement - not as enthusiastic as the suggestion, but then few were more enthusiastic than Truffle when it came to food.
That said, now that Icy thought about it, she was pretty hungry - she had slept a little late that morning and had forgotten breakfast, so a muffin from Sugarcube Corner sounded pretty good. Not to mention almost certainly looking, feeling, smelling and tasting goo-
Smelling!
Icy blinked as she recalled what her mother had said the previous night.
"Hey, could we... I dunno, use something he has to track him. Like... by smelling the fruits he has?"
Everyone paused in the middle of getting up, thinking about what Icy had said.
"Well, smell wouldn't work - the sewer would cover it up," Alula said after a moment. She thought for a split second more then continued before Icy got a chance to feel stupid for her suggestion. "But using something to home in on... could work, there are spells for that, but we'd need to either find him first to cast it or have something of his and get it back to him."
Icy's ears drooped a little at her idea being shot down - she knew Alula was right, but it had felt like such a revelation. "I guess we don't have anything like that, do we?"
A hoof landed gently on her shoulder, causing Icy to jump for a moment before turning round and seeing Lance, his face sympathetic. Icy breathed for a moment - in these sorts of big discussions, it was so easy to forget Lance was there, as ashamed as that made her feel.
"Even if we did," Alula added, standing up again, "we couldn't get it back to him to track unless we knew where he was. I mean, unless it was something that'd just go back to him on its... own..."
Alula trailed off as the idea expanded across the room like a gas, each ponies eyes lighting up in inspiration as it reached them.
"Of course!" Truffle bellowed, leaping to his feet and making a small tremor go through the room as he landed. "We can use the rat we captured! We'll just..."
A loud gurgle from his stomach interrupted him.
"Do something after lunch!" He finished, his voice no less exuberant than before.
Icy sighed in contentment as she trotted along the path out of Ponyville, enjoying the feeling of a full stomach.
On the way out of Pip's house, they'd run into Dinky, out of breath and apologizing profusely for sleeping in and missing the meeting. Once she was told that they didn't call her since they figured she'd be too tired, she'd been... well, not offended, exactly, as that would require her to think something negative about her friends, but certainly put out.
She cheered up when Pip offered to share a milkshake, though.
After lunch, Icy, Dinky and Truffle had volunteered to go and handle the rat they'd caught, as well as a couple of stops beforehand. Dinky had suggested that it might be easier and nicer to just put the tracking spell on a piece of food and track that, rather than casting it on the rat, who might suspect something was up if that happened. So, they'd gone by the market to pick up an apple. They'd intended to get a carrot for variety's sake, but when Applejack overheard their intention as they passed her stand, she subjected them to a five-minute lecture on why they should never buy from Carrot Top "no matter how good she... er, her carrots look."
Icy shook her head. Adults are weird.
After that, they quickly stopped by Spike's place to ask if he knew of a spell to track it. He'd referred them to Princess Twilight, who had barely looked up from the book she was reading as she cast the spell. They'd thanked both the Princess and Spike, then left.
Well, in Icy's case, she'd been dragged out by Truffle the moment Spike pulled out a comic and her mouth opened, but that technically counted as leaving.
So now they were heading out of town. Icy didn't know exactly where they were going, but she assumed that Fluttershy, whoever she was, lived away from other ponies. Fair enough, Icy could certainly understand the desire for solitude, but they did seem to be getting uncomfortably close to the borders of the Everfree Forest.
Eventually, they came upon a small cottage right beside the outer edges of the forest. At least, Icy assumed it was a cottage, as piles of foliage didn't usually have walls around them. Although, this was near the Everfree, so who could say what kind of weirdness there was around the area. Oddly enough, the leaves covering the place were still full and green, despite the snow covering the ground and the bare trees surrounding the small grove.
Icy giggled internally. It must be like living in a big Hearth's Warming tree.
Still, on the outside, Icy steeled herself. Sure, Applejack's words had seemed to imply that this Fluttershy was fairly nice, but she still lived right next to one of the most dangerous places in Equestria. Anyone who did so willingly would have to be incredibly tough, totally fearless and generally not someone you'd want to mess with.
Truffle knocked heavily on the door and Icy could have sworn she had heard an eep from inside. After a few long seconds, the door started to open slowly, then stopped after a moment, a pair of eyes peeking out from behind the gap.
"Hello?" The figure behind the door asked in an incredibly gentle voice. From what Icy could see, she seemed to be fairly tall and wispy and was looking at the three children in front of her door with an expression of worry.
Well, Icy thought, I got one out of three. I definitely wouldn't want to mess with her. Just not for the reasons I thought.
Fortunately, it seemed no amount of caution could stand up against Dinky's sheer cuteness, as all it took was the little unicorn smiling at the pony for the door to be opened wide.
"Hi, Miss Fluttershy!" Dinky said brightly. "Could we come in, please?"
"Oh, of course," Fluttershy said, gently waving them in, "please come in. What, um... what can I do for you?"
"Well, we were hoping we could talk to that rat we caught," Icy asked as she looked around the interior of the cottage. It looked fairly standard and homely for the most part, with the only notable feature being the multitude of small animals nestled in various places around the cottage's walls - some sleeping, some eating, some simply watching the new arrivals with mild interest. Or, in the case of one white rabbit, a suspicious glare.
"Oh, you mean Sweee?"
Icy jumped as Fluttershy's voice was suddenly interrupted by what sounded like a rat. She whirled her head round to where it had come from, but saw only Fluttershy.
"What?" She asked.
"Sweee?" The sound came again, apparently from Fluttershy doing a near-perfect imitation of a rat. "That's her name. She was a little afraid to give it at first, but after a nice lunch and a little petting, she opened up. It's a bit odd," She continued, a puzzled expression coming onto her face. "Normally animals don't give each other names that ponies can pronounce, so I have to come up with my own, but Sweee was sure that was her name." She shook her head and shrugged. "I suppose Skrik must have given it to her."
"Skrik?" Truffle asked, sitting down next to the sofa in the centre of the room. "Who or what is Skrik?" His eyes widened as he looked at the others. "You don't suppose...?"
"Well, when I asked Sweee why she was taking food, she said it was to feed someone, a friend, called Skrik." Unlike Truffle, Fluttershy spoke the names like a rat would say them. "I asked if Skrik was another rat, but Sweee told me he was a "rat-that-wasn't-a-rat". I think that he's some sort of pony, but I'm not sure."
"A Colt, actually," Truffle said just as Fluttershy finished. "As far as we can tell, there seems to be a young colt living in the sewers of Ponyville, controlling an army of rats and stealing food. If I had to guess, I'd say that's our "Skrik"."
Fluttershy's eyes widened. "Oh my! That's terrible. The poor little pony." Icy was taken off-guard by Fluttershy showing sympathy to the thief. Though, in hindsight, she really shouldn't have been, given what she'd heard and seen of her, plus the fact Skrik didn't seem to be intending any harm. "Are you going to try to help him?"
"Well," Dinky began, looking away and scuffing a hoof on the ground, "we're gonna try, but we kinda sorta have to stop him from stealing stuff."
"Oh. Okay." Fluttershy seemed a little put out, but accepting. "And you want Sweee's help?"
"Sort of," Icy replied, opening her left saddlebag. "We wanted to let it... let her go and..."
Icy was cut off by a tiny but very noticeable growl. She looked around to see the white rabbit from before glaring at her and shaking its head.
"Now, Angel," Fluttershy said, giving the little bunny a gentle smile, "I'm sure that Applejack won't mind if we just let Sweee go."
The rabbit shook his head, but Dinky quickly interjected. "That's right, she told us so herself."
Angel raised an eyebrow, not looking convinced, until Icy trotted up and whispered the plan into one of his big ears.
The rabbit's eyes widened briefly before smiling and nodding. When Icy finished, though, the smile dipped slightly and Angel looked towards Fluttershy.
"Of course you can check with Applejack," Fluttershy said, not seeming to register the bunny's suspicion. "I'm sure she'll say it's okay."
Angel nodded and hopped down from the table he had been standing on. He scampered over to the door before pausing, then going over to a hole in the wall, pulling out a carrot, and then hopping to the door again and out of the flap.
"What in Equestria was that all about?" Truffle asked.
"I... honestly don't know," Fluttershy replied, still looking at where Angel had left. "He seems to always either want carrots from Applejack or bring them to her. Whenever I ask, Angel just says it's for a "project", but he won't tell me what it is." She smiled. "Oh well, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. Anyway, you wanted to see Sweee?"
"Er, yeah." Icy wasn't sure she agreed with Fluttershy's assessment, but decided it wasn't worth pursuing.
As Fluttershy went out of the room, Dinky piped up quietly. "I don't like this. I don't like lying to Miss Fluttershy or to this ra- er, Swee."
Icy nodded, having been having similar thoughts, before Truffle replied.
"I wouldn't worry. I think this definitely counts as a white lie. It's not as if we want to hurt this Skrik colt, we just want to stop this spree of thefts of his. Don't worry, Dinky my girl," he slapped a hoof on her back cheerfully, nearly knocking her to the floor, "I'm sure everything will work out fine!"
Icy was about to question this when Fluttershy walked back in, a small rat clinging to her back and hiding behind her hair.
Icy walked slowly up to the rat, making sure to stop a good distance away. Not that that stopped it from shrinking further back.
"Hi, little guy. We just wanted to say we were sorry for keeping you in captiviv... capivi... stopping you leaving like this. We understand you were just trying to help your friend."
The rat didn't stop cowering as she reached back and pulled the apple out of her saddlebag. "Wm Jmft wmmted tm..." She placed the apple on the ground and backed off a couple of steps. "We just wanted to give you this to say sorry."
The rat looked down at the apple, then up again at Icy. It slowly started to move closer, checking that Icy wasn't moving, before scampering down Fluttershy's side, eliciting a giggle from the pegasus, and over onto the apple.
It sniffed cautiously at the apple for about fifteen seconds before taking a slow, nervous bite out of it. It squeaked happily as it did before grabbing the apple by the stem and running off with it out through the door's pet flap, chittering happily as it did so.
"She says "thank you"," Fluttershy translated.
There was a long pause as the three younger ponies let out a sigh of relief that the plan seemed to have worked.
"So," Dinky began, looking at the others nervously, "does this mean we're going to have to go back into the sewers?"
Icy nodded, grimacing a little. "Yeah, I think we might." |
Skitter, Scurry and Screech (Iota Force Issue #4) | Chapter Four: Into the Depths | Icy sighed. It seemed that the group was making a habit out of misusing the word "we". As it turned out, she had meant "I might be going back into the sewers."
Not alone, admittedly, but not with Dinky. It made sense - this time they had a specific signal to home in on, so her magic wouldn't be necessary to track Skrik or his rats. Which was fortunate, since she was still a little magically drained after the previous day. Also, as she had pointed out when faced with a horde of tiny opponents, her abilities weren't really sufficient on their own when it came to a fight. That was the same reason Archer wasn't coming with them - one arrow at a time wasn't brilliant against a hundred enemies - she could disrupt them, but stopping them would be tricky.
It was hard to tell with Archer, but Icy could have sworn she'd heard a touch of resentment in her voice when she admitted that.
And so, Icy was going down with only Lance for company. Truffle had jokingly suggested that he probably wouldn't fit, but his reason for staying on the surface was that he was far from the fastest of the group, so if it came down to a chase again, he'd be more of a hindrance than a help.
However, he, Dinky and Archer were not staying back at base. As it turned out, the aetheroscope had found the apple's signal very near the town's sewage treatment plant. By cross-referencing with the sewer map, Alula was able to figure out where Skrik was probably holed up - a decently-sized chamber a few hundred meters from the plant's sewer entrance. As such, they were able to come up with a plan.
Nodding to her teammates hidden on the hill above the entrance, Icy looked around. She was in no way familiar with the workings of sewage treatment, so all she saw was a bunch of cylindrical pools. Ponyville was a small town, so they were neither as large nor as numerous as they probably were in the big cities, but Icy still felt ill at ease around them. And only partially because of the things other than water they contained.
"If anything happens," Icy asked, looking Lance in the... face plate, "you won't have much room to swing or stand. Will you be okay?"
Lance gave a nod, swinging his sword from his back and holding it in front of him. Normally, he would stand on his hind legs, but this time he kept his right forehoof on the ground as well, giving a few demonstrative thrusts and swings. It was clear he wasn't as manoeuvrable like this, but could still handle himself.
Icy smiled. "Okay, just making sure. I guess when you're rearing up most of the time, it's easy to make yourself smaller." She began to turn towards the tunnel entrance when something occurred to her. "Hang on," she put a hoof to her badge, "Alula!"
"Yes?" Came the reply after a second.
"You're a shape-shifter!"
There was a lengthy pause.
"I appreciate the reminder."
"No, I mean," Icy shook her head and refocused, "you said we were going down without you because we were the smallest. So why couldn't you just shift yourself smaller and come too?"
There was another pause, this one not as long, but still a little longer than it should have been.
"Well, aside from my point about not crowding things, I could indeed do so, though I would have to keep at least a small part of my mind focused on it. However, I doubt it would prove that advantageous for us, since I lack the physical skills and abilities to really aid in your endeavours. The only service I could theoretically provide is stealth and scouting which, as it's likely our quarry can see in the dark, would not be especially useful. And, since I think I am more use here, it seemed unnecessary."
"Hmm... okay." Icy said, nodding slowly. That made sense, certainly, and she might have accepted it except... there was something slightly off about the pause before Alula had said it. Like she had to recall her reasoning; like it wasn't her primary motivation.
A silent tilt of the head from Lance broke her out of her thoughts. "Oh, sorry." She shook her head, resolving to question it further later.
Together, the pair headed into the tunnels. Fortunately, the route they were going was very simple, with only a couple of corners that they had memorized beforehand. Well, Lance had definitely memorized them and Icy was pretty sure she had as well. This meant that not only did they not need to talk, but their head lamps could be left very low so as not to give away their presence early. However, there were a couple of other things to remember.
After about fifty metres, they two came to the first branch of the tunnel system to their left. Lance indicated it with a hoof and Icy nodded. Gathering her energy in her wings, she started flapping slowly but forcefully. Within a few seconds, a sheet of ice began to form over the tunnel.
She kept flapping as the ice thickened. Given how warm it was down there, any ice she made would melt fairly quickly, so she had to make it as thick as she could. However, after about thirty seconds, she was confident that the sheet would last long enough for what they had planned.
She panted a little, both from fatigue and the warmth of the sewer, but straightened herself up regardless. If the map was accurate, there were only two more tunnels to block up.
As it turned out, this was a very good thing. After the third one, she genuinely wasn't sure she could manage a fourth. She might have even suggested going back and letting Lance handle the rest of the plan. However, even if her conscience permitted that, which it wouldn't, it wasn't possible. The third tunnel was the last before they reached the chamber they believed Skrik to be hiding out in. As a result, they had gone down that tunnel to circle round him and Icy had blocked it behind them. Now, there was no choice but to continue the plan.
They crept down the tunnels as they curved around the chamber in a side arc. Soon, they came to another four-way junction, one exit leading deeper into the tunnels, one where they were going and one leading to the chamber.
As they came within sight of the junction, Lance looked at Icy, indicated the junction and tilted his head. Icy shook her head, flapping her wings lethargically to show that she couldn't block it up, then indicated with a hoof down in the direction of the chamber - even if she could, he might see it before they were ready.
Lance nodded and reached a hoof up to his head lamp before Icy stopped him with a raised hoof of her own. She indicated him, mimed him going around, then pointed to herself and pointed down. She wasn't as good at non-verbal communication as Lance, but she was trying to suggest that she stay there and he go to the other end to cut of their quarry's escape.
Lance shook his head, flicking a hoof in two directions - that might make him run through one of the other exits rather than the one they needed him to go down, making their preparations useless. He indicated forward, that the best plan was to try to corral him down the correct tunnel.
Icy nodded, barely needing a second to understand what he was indicating. Lance's non-verbal communication skills were a high bar.
Lance reached up again and turned off his head lamp, then reached over and turned Icy's off as well. She nodded, mostly to herself as she now couldn't see Lance, and silently moved down the tunnel, putting her side up against the wall to her right to keep her direction and her balance. She tried desperately not to think about what the wall was rubbing into her coat.
She probably wasn't moving for more than ten seconds before she came to the junction, but that was a complete guess as it felt like minutes. If it wasn't pitch black, it was certainly close enough that it made no difference to Icy's eyes. She had nothing to focus her eyes on and the need to keep absolutely quiet meant she couldn't hear anything but the echoing sounds of flowing sewage from deeper in the tunnels. She could barely hear her own breathing. In fact, the only way she was able to sense her own body in relation to the world was through the wall she was touching, making for quite the surreal experience.
When she did come to the junction, she stepped forward, stuck her hoof out into the right tunnel and lost even that for a few moments, leaving only the feeling of her hooves on the ground. This was somewhat different from the previous sensation since hooves, or at least the hard part of them that was in contact with the ground, didn't have a direct sense of touch, only the feeling of pressure transferred to the soft bits of her leg. Not that this was unusual, it was always like that for ponies, but the lack of any other real stimulus made Icy consider it for the first time. She briefly considered pressing the frog of her hoof - the fleshy bit inside the hard rim - to the ground to see what it felt like. However, while the boots she was wearing were thin enough that she could have felt the ground through them, she figured the more space between her hooves and the sewer floor, the better. Perhaps if she...
Her outstretched hoof bumped into the far wall of the tunnel she was sticking it down, knocking her out of her thoughts. She almost gasped before remembering the need for stealth and closing her mouth just in time. Putting her coat back against the wall, she continued forward. This time, she counted ten seconds in her head, both to know when she could stop and turn on her light again and to keep herself focused on something.
As she reached ten, she stopped and reached up to her helmet's light. She turned the knob down even further than it had been before, then switched it on.
It flickered to life, just barely able now to illuminate the outline of things. However, after a minute or so in near complete darkness, the change was more than enough for Icy. She looked up, only to see no other pony forms in the corridor. Briefly confused, she turned around to look for Lance, only to see him a fair distance behind her, having just come off the junction.
He looked up at her and sped his pace up a little, coming off the wall he had put a hoof on. It made sense, Icy thought - not only was his clothing somewhat bulkier, but seeing through that face mask couldn't be easy. Lance had always insisted... well, insisted through action, which probably counted as insisting, but Icy wasn't sure... anyway, he had always insisted that he could see just as well as anyone else, but she had her doubts. Though he did admit that his peripheral vision was slightly reduced.
Icy still wasn't sure how he had managed to convey the concept of "slightly reduced peripheral vision" though only expressions and small gestures, but she figured it was better not to question these things. Don't look a gift monkey in the mouth, as the saying went. Although, now that Icy thought about it, that was kind of a weird saying, since the only time she could think of where a "gift monkey" was a thing was the wooden monkey of Trough, where the Troughans definitely should have looked a gift monkey in the mouth to make sure there wasn't a legion of Unicornian soldiers inside, so maybe...
A hoof on her shoulder brought her back to reality. She looked up to Lance and gave an apologetic smile, but he simply pointed down the tunnel. Turning around, she saw that they were only a few metres from the next junction - the one they need to approach the chamber from if they wanted to get Skrik where they wanted him. Turning back and nodding, she turned her lamp off again, twisting the knob back up in readiness for when they got where they were going. She held out her hoof as Lance turned his lamp off. She felt him take her hoof and she pressed her coat against the left side of the tunnel this time, leading the two of them down and around the junction. It might not have been strictly necessary to hold hooves, but it was probably best that they didn't get separated again.
After a couple more minutes of silent walking, she felt the wall vanish from the front of her side, indicating the tunnel opening out into the chamber. She stopped moving and held her hoof rigid to indicate for Lance to stop.
She strained her eyes, trying to see into the chamber, but it did little good. With their helmet lights off, the wall next to her and the open space in front of her were the exact same shade of black. Not only could she not see her hoof in front of her face, she could barely see her eyelids whenever she blinked.
However, after a moment of staring into the void, Icy's ears perked up as she heard something. It took a moment to pinpoint and identify it, but she smiled invisibly when she did.
It was the sound of somepony breathing. It wasn't loud, but it sounded deep and, after a few seconds of listening, completely regular. There was a slight rasp to it as well. While Icy was no expert on pony lung noises, it seemed to indicate something very encouraging.
The pony, whoever it was, was asleep.
Icy moved her hoof a little to where the noise was coming from and felt Lance's hoof dip slightly in acknowledgement. When they had made their plans, they had assumed that they would have to chase Skrik down, given how skittish he had seemed in their (admittedly brief) previous encounter. However, it had been agreed that, if they could confront him without a chase, they should, and him being asleep seemed to indicate that was the case.
Unfortunately, they had forgotten something.
Icy felt Lance tug her hoof a little in the direction of the sound. Taking that as an indication to go there, she started creeping towards the sound, Lance's hoof moving along with her.
One step. Two Steps. Three steps. Squelch.
The sound was unmistakable and rang out like a gong in the silent tunnels. Icy had stepped in something. Something slick and semi-solid. A tiny speck of solid matter gave her the clue as to what it was. The speck felt like a pip, meaning she had stepped in some sort of fruit.
Of course, the food pile!
She'd forgotten that the rats had moved the pile of rotting food. By the sounds of it, she had just stepped in some of it.
For an all-too-brief second, it seemed like the sound had gone unnoticed. The tunnels returned to near-complete silence, the only noises being the slight echo of the squelch and the breathing, uninterrupted.
Then, from the same direction as the breathing, a momentary small squeal came. There was a tiny, near-imperceptible flash of motion in the darkness.
Then the squeal rang out again, louder and longer this time. Then a few more squeals joined it, before one final squeal overshadowed them all, louder and deeper than any other. Icy recognized that as the cry Skrik had given. She let Lance's hoof go and quickly reached up with a wing to click the light of her helmet on.
The light flashed into existence, illuminating the form of the grey colt they had seen during the previous day's chase. He thrust a hoof over his eyes and gave a pained squeal, presumably not used to the light. He was nestled within the relocated nest of straw and hay. Scurrying over him in agitation were about half a dozen rats, their eyes shining in the sudden light and glaring at the two interlopers.
After half a second of non-motion, Skrik darted off the bed and away from the two, managing an impressive acceleration given the softness of his starting point. The moment he did, Lance darted off around the other side of the food pile and Icy, only fractionally slower, surged forward, the two engaging in a pincer movement around the pile to corral the colt down the tunnel they wanted.
Of course, the rats he was carrying didn't take kindly to this and leapt off him, scampering towards Icy. Her eyes widened and she leapt over them, going into a brief glide and landing behind them. She didn't dare look back, but she knew it would take them a moment to turn around and give chase.
Skrik sprinted down the tunnel opposite to the entrance Icy and Lance had come in from. The two joined each other again as they followed. Icy smiled and, though she couldn't see Lance's face in her peripheral vision due to his mask, she got the feeling he was smiling too.
Well, she thought as she remembered how Lance usually looked even with his mask off, on the inside, maybe.
Her own smile increased when Skrik moved to the right of the tunnel, making ready to turn down the left exit coming up, only to see the ice blockade Icy had created and squeak in panic. He quickened his pace, beginning to increase the distance between them, but Icy doubted that would do him any good.
He let off a louder squeal as he came to the next junction, only to see that exit covered in ice too. He suddenly dashed across the tunnel, ramming into the ice at an angle, presumably so he wouldn't have to stop if he didn't break through. Fortunately for the two chasing him, he didn't manage it and the impact did slow him down a little. Although, it might have been Icy's imagination, but it seemed like he was slowing down anyway for some reason.
Nevertheless, the chase continued for another short while. There was only one other iced up offshoot between there and the surface and he tried to smash through that as well. There was a brief moment of panic for Icy as she heard it crack. If he managed to break through, he would lead them deeper into the tunnels, probably lose them again and all their work would have been for nothing.
However, it didn't break. As Icy got closer, she could see the massive cracks the impact had made and she estimated Skrik could have broken through given one or two more attempts, but all three ponies knew he didn't have time to stop for that.
She looked back up, the light of her helmet beginning to merge into the light streaming from the end of the tunnel. She could see Skrik a lot more clearly now as he looked back at his pursuers, his dark eyes wide and his hooves moving with absolute certainty despite not looking where he was going. After a couple of seconds, he turned to look in front of him again, catching sight of the opening to the outside world.
The moment he did, his hooves locked up, bringing his retreat to a sliding stop. He let out a huge, high-pitched scream that echoed back down the tunnels, making Icy and Lance stumble to a halt themselves and put their hooves over their flattened ears.
Skrik backed away from the tunnel exit a couple of steps before whirling round to face Icy and Lance again. His hooves started scraping frantically against the ground and his eyes shrunk to tiny dots. He started chittering and squealing in distress as he curled up into a ball.
Lance and Icy exchanged a look of confusion. Icy turned back to the terrified colt and raised an eyebrow. "Are you... are you okay?"
"Bad!" The colt yelled out suddenly, making Icy step back and Lance move a couple of millimetres in shock.
"You can talk? Do you-" Icy managed before Skrik interrupted her to continue.
"Bad! Bad place!" He said, his words rapid and rushed as he pointed a hoof towards the exit. "Big place, bad place, big place, bad place, don't go, don't make Skrik go!"
Icy took another couple of steps back, jerking her head to indicate Lance to follow. "Okay, okay, we don't want to hurt you, we just want to talk."
Skrik tilted his head jerkily. "Talk? Ran, ran at Skrik, not talked at Skrik, why ran not talked?"
Icy sighed. "You ran from us, remember? You saw us and you ran."
Skrik shook his head. "Came to Skrik. Came for Skrik. Didn't..."
He trailed off as a smaller series of sounds came from his feet. Looking down, Icy saw a rat with its front paws on Skrik's leg, squeaking at him.
He gave a brief glare to Icy and Lance with a distinct undertone of "Don't move, I need to talk about this." He started squealing back at the rat. Icy had no idea what was being said, the most she could make out was "Shhht hwi hwo hiw sweee sui twi" or something of the sort. She was about to say something when another series of squeals come just onto the edge of her hearing. The echoing of the tunnels made it impossible to tell where it was coming from, but there was definitely a lot of it. And, unless Icy was very much mistaken, it was getting louder.
"Talk." Skrik said, looking up from his conversation with the rat. "You talk? We talk. What we... talk..." He trailed off as he looked behind the two.
Turning around, a sudden sense of imminent doom slowing her movements, Icy looked behind her.
Flood. That was the only word to describe the amount of rats streaming towards them. They were surging forward in one great, long mass, covering the floor so completely that barely a hint of the stone beneath was visible. A few were even scurrying along the lower parts of the curved walls, like splashes of water coming up onto a riverbank. The tunnel behind them faded quickly into darkness but, even if it didn't, Icy doubted she could have seen the back of the horde. They were moving chaotically, weaving in-between each other, even sometimes clambering over each other, looking like some furry waterfall.
And, while Icy was by no means an expert in reading animal moods, she got the distinct impression that they were not happy.
She barely had time to flare her wings before they were on top of her, swarming all over her. She tried to gather her energy, but the sudden scratches at her wings made it impossible to concentrate or keep the energy focused. She felt her hooves leave the ground and she fell backwards, landing on the tide of rats and finding herself carried forward towards the light.
She got a brief look back and saw that Lance was faring a little better, his sword swings deflecting many of the rats that tried to jump on him, but he was quickly becoming overwhelmed.
As she moved forward, struggling but unable to get her balance long enough to resist, she rushed past Skrik, who was gesticulating and squealing wildly, as if to stop the onslaught. Unfortunately, by now, it had gained enough momentum that even he couldn't control it.
She reached back toward him, but it was too late - she found herself bundled out of the tunnels and carried out towards the massive pools near the entrance.
For a moment, she panicked, flailing her limbs and knocking away a couple of rats, though not nearly enough. Her own pupils constricted as she considered what the rats were about to do to the filly who, as far as she could tell, they thought had threatened their king. She closed her eyes and held her breath.
A sudden whoosh of wind blew across her face, followed by a boom noise and an intense light briefly penetrating her eyelids. She opened her eyes to see a small patch of the rats on the outskirts of the swarm scurrying away. She barely had time to register this when another whoosh came from the other side of her, and she turned her head just in time to catch an arrow landing on the other side of the swarm before bursting into a flash and a bang.
She let out something between a gasp and an inhaled sigh at the reminder that her friends were here, and they were ready for this sort of thing.
Another arrow impacted and burst in the middle of the horde, just beneath Icy's stomach, sending many of the rats in the middle scurrying towards the edges and thinning the mass even more. Struggling through them, Icy managed to get a couple of hooves on the ground and lift herself up, her body swaying but, if nothing else happened, soon to find its balance.
Unfortunately, something else happened.
"BANZAI!"
Truffle's weight was a curious thing. While he was generally the first pony to admit to, even boast about, how fat he was, he didn't look it at first glance. He was big, certainly, no one would dispute that, but he didn't look like the lump of flesh and fat in a vaguely equine shape one would expect from one with his level of pudginess-pride. In fact, like his surprising level of fitness, it was due to his Special Talent. If his body truly reflected the amount he ate, he'd barely be able to move his shoulders enough to walk. As a result, the magic of his Mark made him internalize fat in a different way. It didn't disappear, it was just compacted and squeezed into his only-somewhat-larger-than-normal frame.
As a result, his body was dense. Very dense. Not solid, of course - hitting him in the stomach wasn't like kicking a brick wall, but more like hitting an incredibly overstuffed pillow. It would go in a little, maybe send a slight ripple across if it was hard enough, but not disturb it particularly.
Now, this compactness had a lot of advantages besides the extra agility it gave him - he wasn't exactly an Equestria Games gymnast, but he could certainly move if he needed to. For one thing, he had told Icy that it actually meant he hit harder, particularly when jumping on things. It was something about more weight in a smaller thing meaning more pressure. She didn't entirely understand, if she was honest, but it certainly sounded science-y.
Normally, this extra-hard impact was good. This time, however, he was hitting the ground very near a filly who was already quite unbalanced and teetering on the edge of a large body of water. The impact sent a tremor through the ground. Not a massive one, but more than enough destroy what balance Icy had achieved.
For a split second, she hung there, tilting at an angle over the edge of the pool, her limbs desperately screaming at her brain for directions it was too terrified to give.
Then she fell.
She saw Truffle, his eyes wide as he realized what he'd done, try to leap forward and grab her hoof, but it had taken him a moment to pick himself up and, again, he was far from the fastest of the group. His hoof fell short by two feet.
Icy plunged into the water, briefly blinded by the bubbles that surrounded her and made a trail from the surface. Panicking, she flailed her hooves, trying to shove herself upwards. Unfortunately, even if she could swim, which she couldn't, the tension in her body and the terror in her mind made certain she was incapable of stopping or controlling her descent.
She could feel the water around her, both on her skin and in her soul, clinging, cloying, wrapping around her and pulling her in. She tried to reach a hoof up, but felt the water shift with it, flowing up away from her and propelling her further down. She started fidgeting desperately, as it trying to shake off the chains she felt like she was wrapped in, but the water just shook even harder, spinning and vibrating into a maelstrom that spun Icy around and made her unsure which direction was up. She heard a faint scream, but wasn't sure if it was coming from the surface or from her.
A moment later, she felt the water pull on her, carrying her backwards. It took a moment to realize what was happening and by the time she knew what was going on, she found herself rushing away from the concrete-walled pool and into a pipe that flowed out of it. A small part of her registered that the water she had been in was clean, so probably the last place the water went before it left the plant, but that meant she had no idea where she was heading.
Shaking her head, she placed her hooves against the walls of the pipe, trying to halt her progress. She didn't think about why or whether that would help, she just wanted to stop her uncontrolled journey. For a moment, it seemed to work - she skidded to a halt and the water actually seemed to stop flowing.
Unfortunately, the pressure behind her seemed to build up and, after a couple of seconds, the flow started again much harder, knocking her from her hoofholds and sending her tumbling. She tried to right herself, but it was no good - every movement she made, the flow made as well, sending her spinning in a different way. It didn't help that the pipe was completely dark and she couldn't even make out when she was facing down the pipe and when she was facing a wall.
Her lungs screamed as her hoof started hitting her stomach in agitation. She was about to try to grab the walls again when she felt the flow of water around her fade. Looking around, she realized that there was light and open water around her.
She floated for a moment, gravity reasserting itself and letting her hooves face down once again. She looked to the side to see a slope of soil, and, steeling herself, looked down. The depth of the water nearly shocked her into another round of wild flailing, even in spite of her bracing herself, but the sudden chill kept her still. It looked like she was in a small lake of some kind - not as big as the main lake, hence why that was called "the Ponyville lake", but still a sizable body of water. And, hopefully, one with a surface.
However, as she looked up, that brief flicker of hope was drowned. The lake did indeed have a surface - one that was completely covered in ice.
Were Icy in a more contemplative frame of mind, she might have thought about the irony. As it was, she just felt despair fill the ever-increasing void in her lungs.
She found herself floating up towards the ice, as if it were mocking her, her limbs kept still by the cold. She placed a hoof against the ice and beat at it slowly with the other, her hoof flowing along with the water, but it was no good. Even if her energy wasn't being rapidly drained by the temperature and suffocation, she couldn't have smashed her way through it.
Icy closed her eyes, feeling her tears diffuse into the water. Her fear had plateaued into a bizarre kind of calm that allowed her to fully appreciate her situation.
I'm gonna to die here. I'm gonna fall unconscious and drown and my body'll be found when the ice melts and Mom's gonna scream and cry and hate my friends and my friends are gonna feel horrible and not wanna defend Equestria anymore and I'll never learn to ice skate and OOMPH!
She was knocked out of her thoughts when a hoof wrapped around her barrel and yanked her downwards. The force knocked what little breath she still had out of her, sending up bubbles that rose up and bumped lazily against the ice. Blackness began to creep in at the edge of her vision as she looked back at whoever had grabbed her. Between her failing consciousness and the light fading as they descended, it was hard to make out, but Icy could just about see what looked like a thin, coltish face and a probably-grey mane and tail.
Wait, she thought as the light faded completely, the two entering some sort of underwater cave, it can't be...
In her last moments of consciousness, she felt the water around her recede as they broke to the surface. However, it was too late to stop her eyes flickering closed and her mind slipping into sleep. |
Skitter, Scurry and Screech (Iota Force Issue #4) | Chapter Five: Over the Hurdles | "...o the hospital, just in case."
Icy groaned as her eyes flickered open, catching the tail end of Dinky's words.
"You're right, of course." Icy both heard Truffle's voice beneath her and felt the vibrations of it through her stomach. "But let's not get ahead of ourselves, we'll need to..."
"Could always ask her." Archer said from behind her. "Looks like she's waking up."
"Wha... uh?" Was all Icy could manage to say before Dinky leapt up, putting her front hooves on Truffle's back and, as far as Icy could tell, just about restraining herself from giving the newly-conscious filly a hug that would suffocate her all over again.
"Oh, thank Celestia, I was afraid you were really hurt and..."
"No need to worry, Dinky my girl!" Truffle said, the boom in his voice echoing down the tunnels. "Icy's made of tougher stuff than that, I'm sure." Icy herself wasn't sure, but appreciated the boost in confidence. Although, Truffle's natural exuberance did seem a touch forced as he spoke.
"What happened?" Icy asked as she looked down to see herself lying over Truffle's back.
"We were kinda hoping you could tell us that." Archer said. Icy turned her head to see that the bowmare wasn't even looking at her, keeping her gaze down the tunnel behind them, her ears languidly pricking up at every sound. "We saw you fall in, then nothing."
Icy nodded, gathering her thoughts as her ride set off again. "Well, after I... fell in," she squeezed her eyes shut, grimacing as a wave of terror and nausea surged through her body at the memory, "I got pulled down a pipe and sent out under the ice at one of the lakes. I tried to break through, but I couldn't. I thought I was gonna die until someone grabbed me and pulled me... somewhere."
"Underwater cave, looked like." Archer said, still looking behind them. "Connected to the sewers. Guess you're lucky he knew the tunnels so well."
He? Oh, right.
"It... it was Skrik, wasn't it?"
"That it was." Truffle said, nodding slowly so as not to upset his rider's balance. "I tried to grab you, but I didn't reach you in time. Was wondering whether to jump in and grab you - I'm not that good with water, tend to sink like a stone - when a colt came barrelling out of the tunnels, closing his eyes and shrieking like a banshee."
"Was about to hit him with an impact arrow," Archer interjected, as if worried Icy might have doubted her abilities or, at least, as worried as Archer ever got, "then I saw him leap into that water himself. After that, the rats all scurried off and we were left standing there wondering what in Equestria just happened."
"But everything worked out okay!" Dinky said, smiling at Icy. "Alula told us your badge had stopped moving and guided us to where you were. We found you, you were asleep but alive, we started moving you to the surface, you woke up and that's where we are now!"
Icy blinked hard. "So... why did he leap in to save me?"
"No idea." Truffle answered, not pausing in his steps to shrug, "But it's just as well he did, don't you think?"
"I was going to, so was Lance." Archer said with incredibly mild exasperation. "He just got there first is all. Still, I guess we owe him one."
"I think I owe him more than one." Icy said, before chuckling weakly as she realized something. "Hey, at least I won't have to take another bath to clean off!"
This did not get the laugh she was expecting. In fact, everyone looked suddenly uncomfortable.
"Do you wanna tell her or...?" Archer trailed off before Dinky spoke up.
"Um, you see, you know how, in the sewers, there's a path that's above the, um... the you know."
Icy raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"
"Well," Dinky drew in a sharp breath through her teeth, "you kind of... weren't on the path. You were in the..."
"Sewage." Archer finished matter-of-factly.
"Oh." Icy said before what had just been said sank in. "Oh! Ooooooeeeeeeww!" She raised a hoof before letting it fall again, feeling like her fatigue was the only thing stopping her skin crawling. "Why would... why?!"
"Probably saved your life." Archer replied, turning her head a little and flicking an eye briefly back at Icy. "Remember what Alula said - that stuff makes a lot of heat. And since you were probably freezing, makes sense to warm you up like that."
"Oh." Icy sighed, resting her head on the well-padded body beneath her. She would probably be even more disgusted later, but for the moment, she just didn't have the mental energy. "So, he was trying to save me. I'm... I'm gonna ask him why."
She made to get up before Truffle reached a hoof back and pressed her down firmly.
"Not tonight, you're not! You're getting to the surface, going to hospital and staying there until you're definitely okay. Then, and only then, are you coming back down here."
Icy made a token effort to push off Truffle's hoof, but it was obvious she couldn't have, even if she was at her full strength. "Okay, I guess that makes sense." She flopped back down, sighing deeply. "I'm sorry I caused so much trouble." A small thought suddenly popped into her head. "And that I'm getting muck all over you, Truffle."
"Don't be... Don't be ridiculous, Icy!" Truffle said, an uncharacteristic hitch in his voice. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I was so busy leaping to the rescue, I didn't notice you were stumbling and what my weight would do. I... I truly apologize." He cleared his throat noisily before continuing. "Besides, you're only getting it on the suit. And with how little gets through it, what with the magic and all, it'll wash right off!"
A hint of a smile flickered onto one side of Icy's mouth. "Well, in that case," She reached forward slowly and put a hoof on Truffle's cheek, dragging it down and leaving a small trail of goop on it, "we're even."
Archer snorted as she looked back at the two, Dinky looked at Icy with a hint of disapproval even as she giggled and Truffle just laughed, loud and long, not even bothering to wipe off the muck.
Nursery Rhyme sighed as she looked up from the chart she was examining, the neutral expression quickly morphing into a glare in the distance between the clipboard and Icy's face.
For her part, Icy just lay on the hospital bed, staring in trepidation at the young filly. The team's assigned medic was wearing a nurse's outfit, but with a doctor's expression. She gulped, feeling herself sweat a little despite the cool temperature of the room. She'd seen Nursery Rhyme a couple of times before, when the others got hurt, and had heard some of her... unorthodox approach to bedside manner, but had never experienced the care (if one used the term loosely) for herself. As she withered under the young nurse's stare, she did not regret this fact.
"Well, Miss Flight," she began, the high pitch of her voice doing little to disguise the annoyance beneath it, "I guess this is kind of a milestone for you - you finally got yourself hurt. Real shame, too," she sighed before speaking again, cutting off any attempt to respond, "got to admit, I did hope I might not see you here. Thought maybe you were smart enough not to get yourself nearly killed all the time like your friends do. And like they're determined to do to me by raising my blood pressure through the sun-damned roof! But nope! Proved me wrong there, congratu-frigging-lations."
There was a pause before Icy dared try to say something. "So, am I-"
"I mean, do you have the slightest idea how lucky you are?! No, no of course you don't, why would you, it's only your life we're talking about here!" She slapped a hoof against the chart. "If you'd been down there a few seconds longer... if you hadn't been warmed up so quickly... Celestia, let's forget about the water and look at how many scratches you got to your body and wings before being immersed in raw sewage!" A growl escaped her at that remark, making her turn away and ignore Icy's disgusted face at the memory. "I mean, if a single one of those had drawn blood, do you have any idea what kind of infections you could get?! You're lucky your wings didn't melt!"
"Er, okay, but..."
"And don't try to tell me it wasn't your fault. I heard enough of that from Truffle and it's a load of horseapples - you still put yourself right in the path of danger and you've got no one to blame but yourself, are we clear?"
Icy gulped. "Yeah, pretty clear, I think. So, am I gonna be okay?"
Rhyme's scowl intensified a little. "Well, there might still be complications, so we're keeping you here tonight, but it looks like yes, you have successfully escaped the consequences of your idiotic actions. Well done, looks like you'll fit into the team nicely."
Icy was about to say something to that - exactly what, she didn't know, but definitely something - when she heard the door to the ward open. She turned her head just in time to see her mother bearing down on her before she wrapped her daughter in a hug, threatening to do to her what the water had failed to.
"Oh Celestia, are you okay, Icy? No, of course you're not okay, you wouldn't be here if you were okay, but are you going to..."
"She'll be fine, Mrs Flight." Rhyme said, her scowl vanishing into an encouraging smile so quickly it looked like another filly had switched places with her via teleportation.
Sunny sighed, releasing Icy from her affectionate vice-grip and turning to Rhyme. "Oh, thank Celestia... and Luna and Cadance and Twilight and anyone else who's listening." She started to turn back to Icy before pausing. "Oh, and it's "Miss"."
Nursery Rhyme nodded. "Oh, sorry, Miss Flight. Anyway, she probably shouldn't do anything too strenuous for a few days, but assuming no complications happen overnight, she should recover fairly quickly."
Sunny nodded as she faced her daughter. "Well, don't worry, I'm sure she won't be having any more adventures for a while."
"Um... actually," Icy said, hesitant to interrupt the moment, but feeling the need to voice the thoughts she'd been having since she'd reached the surface, "I was thinking I'd go back down there tomorrow."
There was silence as Sunny and Rhyme turned to her, staring in disbelief.
"I'm sorry," Rhyme said, cleaning an ear with a hoof, "you're gonna have to repeat that. I was treating Rainbow Dash earlier today and I think I still had some stupid stuck in my ear."
Sunny shook her head for a moment, broken out of her stupor by Rhyme's words. "Are you five kinds of crazy? This... rat-colt, whatever they said... he nearly killed you and..."
"No!" Icy interrupted, a slight frown coming to her face. "The rats did cause they thought we were hurting him. He saved my life." She closed her eyes, breathing out slowly and calming herself down before opening them again "I think... I'm not gonna go in there alone, but I think I can talk to him and... I dunno, make friends."
Sunny looked at her daughter intensely. "You're sure?"
Icy hesitated for a moment before meeting her gaze. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure." She gave a small smile. "I promise I'll be careful, Mom - the moment something goes wrong, I'll get outta there."
Sunny held the gaze for a moment before closing her eyes, chuckling a little. "Okay, honey, as long as your friends promise to protect you."
Icy breathed a sigh of relief. "They will, Mom."
The moment was broken as Nursery Rhyme spluttered. "Buh... I... you... you can't... you're not seriously going to..." After a couple of disbelieving throat noises, she exhaled, turning around. "Excuse me for a moment, I have some... things to do. Feel free to talk about whatever, I'll be back in a bit." She left the room in a daze, letting the door swing shut behind her.
Smiling, Sunny and Icy hugged again, pointedly ignoring the sound from outside of a young filly banging her head against a wall.
Icy gulped a little as she looked down the staircase that lead to the sewers. She hadn't been lying when she said she was sure of this plan's safety, but that didn't mean she wasn't nervous. There was just something about a near-death experience that tended to put one a little on edge. Weird how that worked.
She looked away for a moment to calm herself. The alley they were in was just next to the town square, so she focused on the sounds of the market - the movement of hooves, the exchange of bits, the sound of Applejack and Carrot Top arguing...
Well, Applejack was arguing, at least. Carrot Top, on the other hoof...
"Are you sure?" She asked, beseechingly. "I've got a lovely bunch of chantenays that would make a delicious cak-"
"I told you," Applejack yelled, "I don't want any damn carrots - I only got that one cause I had to, so would you stop tauntin' me!"
"I'm not..." Carrot Top replied, sounding very hurt. "I just thought you'd maybe like some..."
"Well, I wouldn't!" Applejack snapped. "So you just march your sex- er, your second-rate flank back to your stall right now!"
Icy raised an eyebrow. Adults are really weird.
"Area's clear, you can come down now, Icy."
Icy shook herself back into the moment before descending the staircase and entering the sewers for the third time in three days. With how often she's been going down there lately, she probably counted as a frequent flyer (or tunneller, perhaps). Although she doubted there was any kind of reward for regular service and further doubted she'd want it if there was.
Still, as before, at least she wasn't going down there alone.
"So, Icy?" Dinky began. The moment Icy had announced her intentions to go back down, Dinky had volunteered to come along, both to keep her safe and, if things went wrong, to help her escape with a bit of time wizardry. "I like the idea of talking things out with Skrik, but how were you planning on finding him?" She asked as, judging by her tone, a genuine question rather than a criticism - she assumed Icy had an answer and was just curious what it was.
"I'm still not entirely sure we should." Alula said, a slight edge to her steady tone. She hadn't volunteered to come with at first, but Icy had gently insisted, arguing that they may need her intelligence during their talk. To her credit, she didn't take much convincing and agreed once Icy had convinced her she would be useful, but she still looked over her shoulder frequently and gave off an air of quiet resentment. Icy was getting the distinct impression that she didn't have solely tactical reasons for why she preferred to stay out of the front line.
That said, Icy did feel a little satisfaction that this time, when she'd said "I thought I'd go back down there", she'd actually meant "we would"
"Well," Icy said, looking both ways down the tunnel, "He'll have probably moved again, but I think we just need to get his attention."
Alula nodded. "Well, that shouldn't be difficult." A green light rose up around her.
Icy tilted her head. "What are you doing?"
A small smile edged onto Alula's face. "Making myself louder."
The green distortion to the air overtook Alula for a moment before it faded to reveal another form that, Icy agreed, was more likely to be heard.
"SKRIK!" Truffle's voice rang down the tunnels, echoing loud enough to hurt Icy's eardrums. "WE WANT TO TALK WITH YOU!"
A chorus of squeals sounded out, coming from both sides of them and, though it was hard to tell due to the echo, seeming to come from every tunnel and offshoot.
As Icy looked around, she saw another green glow in the corner of her eye. Turning around, she saw Alula again.
"Well, that should bring him if he's coming. Now we just have to see if that was a terrible idea."
"Well, if anything goes wrong, we're still near the exit, so we can get away." Dinky pointed out, giving an encouraging smile.
Alula looked behind her. "Oh yes. I hadn't thought of that."
Dinky and Icy nodded, not calling her out on the obvious lie.
Then the waiting began. Long periods of silence, with occasional moments when rapid sequences of squeals registered on the edge of Icy's hearing. She couldn't tell how far away they were, how many were involved in each burst of noise and whether they came from actual rats or from a colt who could speak rat.
Dinky passed the time by humming a tune quietly to herself. Alula passed the time looking both ways down the tunnels, the turning of her head her only movement, barring the occasional flick of an ear.
Icy, on the other hoof, chose to occupy her time by trying to interpret the squeaks they heard and what the rats were talking about. Within ten minutes, she'd built up a rich narrative involving a pretty young female named Ratchel, an emissary from a far away land named Moustafa and the various stories of their life as they met, fell in love and created a life safe from the evil Rodent empire.
She was just trying to come up with a name for their first child - coming up with rat puns was harder than it sounded - when she heard the squeals start increasing, both with more rats making noises and with them getting closer.
"Get ready." Alula said, her eyes flicking back towards the stairway out of the area.
After a moment, a horde of rats came down the tunnel to their right, illuminated by Icy's lamplight, and the noises from behind them indicated that another group was coming from the left. Icy's legs tensed, ready to fire her back up the stairs if needed.
However, once the front of the horde got within fifteen feet of them, it stopped, the swarm behind it all coming to a halt in rough rows. They glared up at the three and, although Icy still wasn't an expert on animal expressions, she got a sense of "come no closer" from them.
A movement on the other side of the swarm caught her eye and she raised her head and her light to see Skrik walking towards them. As he stepped into the carpet of rats, they scurried to the side, making a path for him.
Icy breathed a sigh of relief. They weren't attacking, they were forming a blockade. Which, admittedly, was still fairly intimidating, but at least indicated that they weren't going to make the first move.
Alula stepped up next to Icy as the colt came to a stop five feet from the front of his army. "Skrik, I presume?"
Skrik recoiled for a moment, making Icy briefly terrified that he was going to flee, which would mean he wasn't willing to talk and that the rats would come at them to stall them and...
"Skrik is Skrik." Skrik answered, relaxing again.
Icy blinked away her imagination and focused on the task at hoof. "Can we talk, Skrik?"
Skrik looked at them, eyes flicking between them as if looking for a sign they were lying. "Talk? Not run?" His expression not changing, he nodded. "Talk."
Nodding, Icy opened her mouth, only for nothing to come out. It took a moment to understand why, since this was exactly the situation she'd been preparing for. Or, rather, she realized, she'd been preparing to find out whether or not she was right and had been so busy with that, she hadn't thought about what she would say if she was.
Fortunately, after a second, Dinky saved her the trouble. "Well, we need you to stop stealing food."
Skrik tilted his head, brow furrowing in thought. "Ste... Stealing?"
Icy's mouth stretched to the side, a little exasperated. She honestly couldn't tell if Skrik didn't think what he and his rats were doing was stealing or if he just didn't know what the word meant.
Deciding it best to play it safe with the latter, she clarified for Dinky. "Taking. You need to stop taking food."
Skrik's head moved back a little, slowly, his suspicion increasing. "Stop...? Need food. Need to get food or khhrk." He said. The last word sounded like rat-speak, but the meaning of what would happen without food was clear.
"But that food belongs to other ponies." Dinky said, giving Skrik her most powerful cute-eyes. "It's theirs and they need it."
Skrik's eyes also widened, his guard lowering but his resolve remaining. "But... others not there. Not have it. Not their food." He said, though it sounded like he was beginning to doubt himself.
"Hm." Alula interjected before Icy or Dinky could say anything. She pondered for a moment, her eyes looking to the right, before speaking. "Your food... pile?" She said, pausing. She was presumably checking that Skrik knew the word, as she continued when he nodded. "I can take some stuff from it?"
Skrik frowned, glaring at Alula, his fur raising slightly. "No, can't!" He hissed. "Can't! 'smine!"
Alula raised her eyebrows, feigning confusion. "Is it? But you're not with it right now, are you? So that means..."
"No!" Skrik interrupted, an angry sneer coming onto his face. "Still mine!"
Alula smirked. "So, just because you're not with it right now doesn't mean it doesn't belong to you?"
Skrik nodded. "Yeah! It..." he trailed off as his eyes widened, the implication sinking in, "Oh." He looked down and away from them for a moment. "Sorry. Not know..." He shook his head. "Still need food!"
Dinky smiled. "Don't worry. We can arrange something. Maybe find someone to care for you. If you just come outside..."
"NO!" Skrik yelped. The rats beneath his started shifting slightly before Skrik took a deep breath and gave a squeal that seemed to calm them down. "Not go out. Bad place."
"Ooh, sorry, I didn't tell them." Icy picked a hoof up, almost putting it to her mouth in shame before she remembered where that hoof had just been. She turned to the others. "I think Skrik's afraid of the outdoors."
"Not 'fraid! Just bad place!" Skrik insisted, the tone of his voice indicating otherwise.
Alula nodded. "Agoraphobia. Not really surprising."
Dinky frowned, confused. "But then..." She looked up at Skrik. "If you don't want to go outside, why did you go out to save Icy?"
Skrik shivered and shook his head, his pupils dilating a little at the thought and his speech accelerating. "Didn't want to, no, didn't want, needed to. You went down, couldn't get back up. Skrik not go, you stay down and khhrk."
"But, why did you care?" Icy asked, not noticing how the question sounded. "Why was me being in trouble enough for you to go outsi... go into the bad place?"
Skrik looked blank for a second, as if not understanding the question. "Because you're nice."
"Nice?"
Skrik nodded. "Sweee said you were nice. Said you gave Sweee food."
"Oh!" Icy said as she remembered. "That wasn't... sorry, but we did that to find you. Used a spell on nng!" She was cut off as Alula stepped on her hoof, giving her a death glare.
It was too late though, as Skrik nodded. "Oh. Didn't know how found me. Put thing on food." He thought for a moment before he asked. "Why on food?"
Alula turned around to look at Skrik again. "What?"
"Why on food. Why not put on Sweee? Could have put on Sweee?"
Alula nodded. "Yes, we could have."
Skrik nodded decisively. "Could have. Didn't. Still gave Sweee food. Two food. Still nice."
Icy blushed a little. "Well, actually the second one was Dinky's idea."
Dinky nudged Icy playfully with a shoulder. "You still agreed to it."
Skrik nodded again, looking between the two. "You and you gave food? You and you are nice." He said, as if explaining the concept to someone who didn't understand the idea of two ponies being "nice."
He looked Icy in the eye. "Were nice. Shouldn't khhrk."
Icy stayed in eye contact with him for a moment before breaking it. "Well, thanks, I guess. You saved me... but we still need to figure out what we're going to do now."
"Actually," Alula said, stepping forward, "I think I have an idea. Skrik? How did you get here? To these... tunnels? This small place? Did you come through the... big place?"
Skrik nodded a little hesitantly. "Mm-hm. Came in... small place in big place. Small, lots of..." He mimed several objects with his hoof pointing straight up.
It took a moment for Icy to realize what he was saying. "Trees? Er... big, tall, bendy things?"
"Mm-hm. Trees." Skrik said, his breath starting to get a little more rapid.
"So," Alula said, speaking slowly to calm Skrik down, "you can go out into the big place if you have to, as long as you're in a small place when you do." She concluded, seemingly unconcerned with how little sense her statement made. "Well, for the moment, that won't be necessary, you can stay here and we'll try and see to it that you're provided for without having to steal. However, how would you like to go to a place with bi- with a lot more tunnels, more sewers where ponies... nice ponies will give you food and help you if you do things for them in the tunnels? More tunnels, more food, more rats."
"More friends?" Skrik asked, briefly overjoyed about the idea before a hint of suspicion re-emerged on his face. "Can do that? How?"
"Well, any decently-sized city has sewers and needs ponies to work in them, but Ponyville's a little small to need you and all your... friends. So if you go to a bi- to the small place under a big city, they could probably use your help and give you food in return."
Skrik's face scrunched up in thought, as if he was having difficulty with the concept. After a few moments, though, it seemed to get through to him. "Where?"
"Canterlot? You want to bring him to Canterlot?"
"That's correct, Colonel." Alula replied to the screen.
"I see." The face on the screen said, raising an eyebrow. "May I ask your reasoning for... Miss Flight, could you stop that, please?"
Icy froze, her head in mid-movement. She hadn't been aware that the machine could see her, so she'd been moving her head to different angles, fascinated by how the screen would shift from normal to negative and back again. She sat back down, blushing a little.
In fairness, she hadn't previously been aware that the aetheroscope also had a system built in for communicating with Head Office in Canterlot. In fact, she wasn't even sure what "Head Office" entailed other than being the team's bosses. It was understandable that she didn't know, of course, as Pip had told her it was rarely used. It wasn't solely an emergency line, but it was generally discouraged for them to use it when a letter would do just as well. It was mostly used for when, like now, they needed to discuss things with their superiors, rather than just report or take orders. All in all, it was a neat little system.
That said, Icy had been a little disappointed. She knew intellectually that the Princess wouldn't handle all, or even most, of their briefings and debriefings, but the two times it had happened before had given her hope it might be a regular occurrence. However, this time and, it seemed, most times, it was handled by Colonel Steward, who was... well, again, she wasn't exactly clear on his position or what it entailed, but he was in charge of things relating to them.
The colonel nodded, his moustache twitching a little. "Thank you. Now, perhaps you could explain your reasoning." He said, his clipped South Trottingham accent gaining a slight crackle as it came out of the speakers.
"Well, we have a colt who lives in the sewers and commands an army of rats..."
"Yes, I understand that part." The colonel interjected, as if slightly annoyed at restating the obvious.
Alula continued, unbothered by the interruption. "So, instead of attempting to force this to change, why not make use of him? Ponyville's sewers are too small to need such a pony, but Canterlot's are far bigger. So, you can use his abilities to help in managing them and, in return, he can be given food so he doesn't have to steal it. Plus, there are dozens of teachers and psychiatrists there who can gradually help him acclimatize and, eventually, integrate into equine society. Which will probably be much less difficult and harmful than trying to force him to live on the surface."
The colonel nodded as Alula finished her explanation. "I see. Well, you may be right that it would be better for him, but I'm not convinced that the benefits for the city would outweigh the risks. We are talking about the capital of Equestria and home to any number of vital governmental organizations." His eyes went up for a moment, perhaps thinking about all the decidedly non-vital governmental organizations there as well, but he didn't say anything. "Having someone who can mobilize and potentially weaponize the city's rat population seems dangerous. Are you sure this Skrik fellow is safe?"
"Um," Icy spoke up before Alula could respond, "I don't think he wants to hurt anyone. I mean, if you make him mad, he'd probably be dangerous, but I don't think he'll be a problem unless someone hurts him first."
"Hmm..." The colonel said, his expression and tone making clear that he was only half-convinced. "Well, I suppose I can see your reasoning. However, I'm not sure that simply bringing him here would be best, even if he's not inherently dangerous. Even if he thinks he's prepared, moving to a new city might be enough of a shock to cause problems and would almost certainly make him hesitant to trust anypony who tried to rehabilitate him. On the other hoof, you seem to have already gained his trust enough that he would be better suited to staying in Ponyville for the moment. So I'm going to have to say no to the immediate transfer."
Alula nodded, keeping her face neutral. "I see. I admit I hadn't considered that. It simply seemed that he would be far more useful in Canterlot."
"Indeed he would and I do agree that that should be the long term goal, it's simply problematic in the short-term." The colonel replied. "The best idea, I think, would be to send a Crown psychiatrist down there to evaluate him, make sure he's not going to be a threat, gain his trust, prepare him for when he makes the journey and accompany him while he does. That way, he'll have a point of contact if and when he gets here, which should lessen any problems considerably."
Icy breathed a sigh of relief, sure that whoever was sent would see that Skrik was har- mostly harmless. As long as you didn't try to get him onto the surface. Although...
"Um, how are we going to get him to Canterlot?" Icy asked.
Alula looked back at her. "Well, the train is an enclosed space, so we could use that."
The colonel thought for a second. "And, if that doesn't work, I can have one of my unicorns make a force-tunnel for him to travel between forests until he reaches the city's catacombs. Shouldn't be a problem when it happens. In the meantime, keep an eye on him and do what you can to keep him from causing trouble, at least until the psychiatrist arrives and preferably afterwards. Right, well, if that's all..."
"Yes, nothing else to report." Alula said, reaching for the controls to disconnect.
Icy smiled. It seemed like everything was going to work out fine. |
Skitter, Scurry and Screech (Iota Force Issue #4) | Epilogue: Carrying the Consequences | "And you're sure about this?" Sunny asked her daughter for what felt like the thousandth time.
"Yes, Mom, I'm sure." Icy said, rolling her eyes. Her hooves fidgeted slightly as she stood outside the bathroom door - she didn't want to sit down until she'd had this bath so as not to get too much muck on the carpet. "He's definitely not a bad pony, so we should at least try to find an answer that makes all of us happy. And he's okay with trying it, so... yeah."
"Alright..." Sunny said as she exited the bathroom, her voice making it clear that she was going to take some convincing.
"Don't worry about it." Icy said as she trotted into the bathroom, head held high. She didn't like to be smug, but she felt like she had definitely earned this bath. She put her hooves up on the edge of the tub and looked down. "Everything's go- going... to be..."
She trailed off as her eyes widened and her pupils shrank. Her hooves went completely rigid, the tension in her muscles making them vibrate. She stood there, frozen, looking down into the steaming water.
It was silly. She knew it was silly. She yelled at herself in her own head that it was silly. It was just a bath, there was no danger at all. She tried to force her hooves to move forward, but they stayed firmly attached to the rim of the tub, screaming at her not to make them move.
She heard her mother come in and gasp. "Oh my... Sweetie? Are you okay?"
"I... I..." Icy responded, beginning to hyperventilate a little. She wanted to say, tried to say that everything was fine. She certainly couldn't see anything wrong - the water didn't look different than it ever had before, didn't move different, didn't feel different. And yet, for some inexplicable reason, nothing was fine. It was wrong and bad and she didn't know why.
Sunny rushed to her side. Out of the corner of her paralysed eye, Icy saw her mother follow her line of sight, gaining a look of understanding. She reached down through the water, eliciting a sympathetic shudder from Icy, and pulled the plug out.
For a few moments, as the water receded, Icy felt herself relax, the nervous energy bleeding out of her.
Then the water got low enough that she could see it rushing down the plughole and a wave of nausea spread through her. She watched as the water spiralled away and could practically feel it rushing down, flowing in an unstoppable wave through the pipes, pulling anything caught in it along with it, with no way to stop it or escape it or...
With a yelp, she fell away from the bathtub, landing in a quivering heap.
"I... I..." Icy stuttered, noticing but not caring how pathetic she sounded. "Can... Can I just have a shower instead?"
Sunny knelt by her daughter and stroked her hair. "Of course, honey, I'm sorry, I should have realized..."
"No!" Icy blurted out, cringing at the slightest hint of her mother blaming herself. "It's not... It's my fault, I... I dunno what's..."
"It's okay." Sunny interrupted her, her voice gently forceful. "You had a traumatic... a bad experience. It's okay to have... issues after something like that. It's not unreasonable, it's not irreversible and it's not your fault. Tomorrow, I'll go and find a good psychiatrist and we can start working on helping you through this."
Icy gulped, nodding rapidly, trying to convince herself as much as her mother. "Okay. But what about now?"
"Now?" Sunny said, smiling gently at her daughter. "Now, you have a shower. I'll be right here to help you get everything out of your coat and to help if anything happens. Okay?"
"O... Okay." Icy replied, getting up and willing her wobbly legs forward. It wasn't easy - nothing about this was going to be easy. But... but she told herself she had every reason to believe her mother.
With her help - with the help of her family and her friends and everyone else, she could get through this. She had to. |
Skitter, Scurry and Screech (Iota Force Issue #4) | Next time on Iota Force... | The young colt smiled as he saw Canterlot on the horizon. He looked over the sides of his ride at the countryside whizzing by far below.
Canterlot! He thought to himself. Capital city of Equestria, home to the most powerful and important ponies in the world and chock full of both things to take and ponies to take them from.
He nodded to himself as he lay back for a few moments, his ride continuing on its path. He was flying high to make sure no one saw him... yet.
"Can't rush things." He mused out loud. "Have to get ready to let them know who I am."
As he thought, he pulled two small square pieces of paper out of his saddlebags. He took one at a time and started folding them, so quickly that any hypothetical observer would have barely had time to register what he was doing before they were both folded into crooked hourglass shapes. He then took one in each hoof and, again with so much speed as to be barely visible, he folded them together to create the shape of a shuriken.
He tossed the shuriken up and down in his hoof a couple of times before something on the ground caught his eye. He peered over the side to see that he was nearing the building he had chosen to use as his base of operations. Smirking, he willed his ride to start lowering.
As he came back to the ground, he kept tossing the shuriken up and down, before catching it for the last time. As he did so, a tiny glow seemed to come over it for a fraction of a second.
He hopped off his ride and strolled towards the building's front door. He could see that it was locked, but that was no problem. Without breaking stride, he threw the shuriken at the door's edge, where it sailed clean through the lock and into the building.
The colt casually pushed open the door, looking at the far wall from the entrance, where the shuriken had embedded itself.
He walked over to it, took off his saddlebags and hung them on the protruding shuriken before turning around, looking out and up towards Canterlot.
"Get ready, Canterlot. Get ready to play... and get ready to fold." |
The Opera Phantom Discord | pre | Discord felt a grin return to his lips as he recalled the Prince's displeasure at the note he ordered Madame Luna to deliver. Prince Blueblood did not believe in the Phantom, he was far too "rational" for such things. However, Discord knew how greatly upsetting it was for the stallion to receive such reminders of the Phantom's existence. His grin grew wider as he thought that one day soon, Blueblood would not be able to deny his very real presence.
The bells of Notre Mane sounded the hour, reminding Discord of the vast amount of work that still needed to be done before the opening gala tomorrow. "Faust" would be the first opera of the season; thank God the managers followed some of his instructions. Indeed, there were still a great many things to be done. If only he could find a soprano to replace the harpy.
That night, Fluttershy barely slept a wink. Her dreams were plagued with a dark figure, cloaked in shadows, calling out her name in a haunting voice, while sweet chilling music played in the distance. She could not see his face, yet she went to him, his voice beckoning to her like a siren's. She tried to touch him, but he would move away. However, she felt his hooves upon her; they were large, rough, a worker's, yet they were also gentle, touching her as if she were a finely tuned instrument waiting to be played for the first time.
Every dream was the same: haunting, chilling, erotic. And when she awoke, she was covered in sweat and her body was throbbing for the touch of her ghost. These thoughts and feelings frightened her, for she had a funny feeling she knew very well who the stallion was in her dreams.
The sun came all too early. Fluttershy groaned when her father came to rouse her out of bed. "Come, we have much to do today...for tonight is the opening gala of the opera season!"
With much reluctance, Fluttershy forced herself out of bed and hurried off with her father to the busy Opera House. The place was a scene of chaos. While the gala would not begin till seven, there was a frantic state to get everything in order. The managers were running here and there, trying to please Fleur De Lis and be sure everything was prepared on stage. Madame Luna worked meticulously with the dance, telling the mares that only perfection would satisfy her. The orchestra rehearsed the entire opera, complete with chorus and one star. Fancypants sang, but Fleur De Lis believed herself to be well beyond ready, and chose to spend the day pampering herself. Meanwhile, Fluttershy carefully added the final touches to Fleur De Lis' costumes and gently laid them out for the over-confident star to change into.
Throughout the day, Fluttershy kept hearing talk about mysterious notes. Dancers and stage hooves gossiped about the letters that were mysteriously arriving by the hour to the managers, demanding perfection for the evening. Fluttershy couldn't help but grin when she heard two dance mares giggling that one letter demanded for Fleur De Lis' understudy to perform instead.
Yet Fluttershy found herself even more confused than before. She spent so much energy the previous day trying to convince herself that the letter Madame Luna had delivered to Prince Bueblood was penned by the cold dance mistress herself. However, there was that small annoying voice in the back of her head that kept telling her it was him, the mysterious Phantom. Now, with talk over all these notes, she found that voice growing louder and louder.
The day went by in a whirl. Before anyone knew it, night had fallen over the Opera House, and slowly, dressed in their elegant silks, linens, and furs, the creme de la creme of Maris society arrived in dazzling carriages. Fluttershy managed to sneak away for a few minutes and watch from a balcony overlooking the grand foyer, the arrival of the toast of society. Her eyes quickly scanned the crowded scene before her and saw no sign of the handsome Prince. She thought it odd that a stallion who patronized the Opera as well as he, would not come to a performance, especially the opening opera of the season. However, she remembered how upset he appeared to be after reading the infamous note. Perhaps it was her words; perhaps she was able to sting him with the truth and he was unable to remove her stinger. She couldn't help but grin a little at that thought.
Meanwhile, Fluttershy's father was back stage tuning his instrument, trying to desperately calm his nerves. He hadn't played before an audience in what felt like centuries, and at last his opportunity had come. He needed to calm down; his hooves were shaking so violently he was afraid he wouldn't be able to properly play! What he truly needed was some fresh air, or at the very least, a brief walk away from the auditorium. While patrons were not yet being seated, he could hear them in the foyer and in their private lounges, clinking glasses of champagne and laughing gaily amongst themselves. Yes, he needed to walk away and mentally prepare himself for this wonderful, yet slightly terrifying opportunity.
"I ain't goin' down there!" muttered a gruff looking stage hoof. Time Turner turned his head to see a group of strong unshaven stage hooves argue over who needed to fetch a prop for the opera.
"Well I ain't doin it!" another said just as fiercely. "Cranky always warned us that if you went down there without permission, you would never return alive! Remember Mr. Breezy? Has anyone seen him since he disappeared below stage a year ago?"
"Well someone has to go down there!" another added. "Flim says they need that piece, that it's vital for the opera-"
"Hang Flim and the whole lot of them! They don't understand the things we risk and put up with here. He wants it so bad? Let him get it!"
Time Turner cleared his throat, and the small group of stallions slowly turned towards him. Their eyes went wide at the sight of the stallion who was asking for their attention. "I beg your pardon gentlecolts, but...I do not understand why there is this fear of simply going below stage to retrieve a simple prop?"
The stallions looked at one another, then back at the old stallion, then at one another again, as if to understand they heard him right. "Don't understand?" one of them asked. "Don't you know about...about...you know, the ghost?"
Time Turner made a sound with his lips that signified disbelief. "Oh come now, I would not think that stallions like you would believe in such ghost stories?"
"They be true stories!" one of the stage hooves argued most gruffly. "I've seen him! He lurks in the shadows, and I was lucky to get away with me life! He had his Punjab lasso with him, and he was going to put it around my neck, when I-"
"When did this happen to you?" one of the stallions asked looking extremely skeptical.
The other who had been telling story became flustered at the question. "W-why...surely you remember, that day...a few months ago, when I didn't come to work? I was sure I told you..."
"I remember that day you didn't show up for work, because you were as drunk as a sewer rat! That's one of Cranky's stories about the Phantom, you lying-"
"GENTLECOLTS!"
All the stage hooves turned to look at the old stallion again, surprised that he had such a voice. Time Turner straightened his shoulders, knowing that anyone of these stallions could squash him like a bug if they wished. Yet he could not believe that such filly stories had this gruff looking lot shaking in their boots. "If none of you are willing to fetch whatever prop this is-what is the prop?"
"A spinning wheel," one of them muttered. "It's been in storage for years, but apparently Fleur De Lis' character needs it."
Time Turner nodded his head. "Very well, since none of you will venture below stage to retrieve this spinning wheel..." he sighed heavily, as he did when he was handling Fluttershy's fears when she was a small filly, "then I will go and fetch it."
The stage hooves stared blankly at Time Turner, as if they weren't quite sure if they heard him correctly. Then, all at once, the whole lot burst into hysterical laughter. "Y-y-you!" one of them said between chuckles. "You old stallion...are going to go below stage...into the Phantom's domain?" They all burst into laughter again.
Time Turner grunted, straightening his shoulders even more and glaring at the buffoons before him. "Yes!" he said with determination, lifting his chin proudly. "I will! I, a violinist, will do the job of a stage hoof, the job of stallions who are too afraid of the dark!"
They all kept laughing. "You w-w-would be afraid too, if you k-k-knew w-w-what was down t-there!"
Time Turner shook his head and turned on his heel. "Which way do I go?" he asked, looking for a door that would lead him away. The stallions's laughter rose to new levels at this question.
Time Turner despised being laughed at, especially by ponies who looked at him and thought him inferior. His beloved wife's family, were no different. Even when he announced to his own family that he was going to become a renowned violinist, he was met with laughter. Only Fluttershy, his beloved child, believed in his dreams. And she knew that when he was determined, he could be most foolish, due to his stubborn pride.
So naturally, when these stallions continued to laugh at him over and over again, he felt his pride rising along with his stubbornness, and knew that he had to fetch this silly spinning wheel to prove that he, a old stallion, was not afraid of any figment. So he set off, spying a door that he was sure led below stage, marched over to it, and turned one last time to look at his laughing companions.
It was slowly beginning to die down, as they looked at him before he descended the darkened steps beyond the door. "I'll return soon with your precious prop," Time Turner snapped, before taking a deep breath and stepping through the dark passageway.
No one was laughing now. For deep within their hearts, the stage hoofs knew, especially after they exchanged worried glances amongst themselves, that the old stallion had descended to his death. |
The Opera Phantom Discord | Darkness | Darkness
It was dark below stage. Darker than the velvet black curtains that hid the back stage world. Time Turner was slowly beginning to regret his decision to fetch this silly spinning wheel that no one until now had thought to retrieve. After all, it wasn't his job, he should have made one of those stage hooves come with him. But a stallion's pride could also be the bane of his existence, and Time Turner knew that he had let his foolish stubborn pride bring him to this dark netherworld. If Fluttershy knew what he was doing and why...oh he would never hear the end of it.
"I should have brought a light," Time Turner muttered, his hooves reaching out to touch...anything really. "So this is what it's like to be blind..." he whispered to himself, not liking it one bit. He continued a few more steps before sighing and stopping himself. This was foolish, damn foolish, and he had a job to do as a violinist. Wasting his time below stage seeking something that he couldn't even see, let alone having no clue where to find the spinning wheel, was a horrible idea. Best that he turn around and head back-
"Ow!" Time Turner stumbled backwards after hitting the hard surface. Did he just walk into a wall? But...how could that be? He had just come from that direction, all he had done was turn around...
"Strange," he muttered, rubbing his forehead and attempting to side step the wall or hard object he had hit. The problem was...there was no where to side step. "How?" He kept trying to go around the wall, but it was as if the wall just kept on going! "What's going on?" he asked, his voice rising with panic as he attempted to move again, but kept coming in contact with a hard unseen barrier.
Time Turner turned a different direction, hoping somehow he could find his way back...but it too was blocked off. "What the devil...?" he was completely stunned. He knew there wasn't a wall there before, but somehow...it had appeared! It was like...he was slowly being boxed in...
"HELLO?" he cried. "CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?"
Silence.
"HELLO? I NEED HELP! I'M TRAPPED DOWN HERE-"
Hoofsteps. He heard hoofsteps slowly approaching. "Oh thank goodness," he muttered, his hoof patting his chest gently to ease his heart. "Hello? I'm afraid I'm stuck, can you-"
The hoofsteps paused. Time Turner listened closely, but not a sound was being made. "Hello?" Faintly at first, but growing ever so slowly, was the sound of heavy breathing. Time Turner swallowed a rather large lump in his throat, his hoof trembling as it patted his chest. "H-h-hello?"
The breathing continued, and it was different now. It was as if there were several ponies breathing. And it seemed to be coming from all around him. Time Turner attempted to remain calm, but found it extremely difficult. "N-n-now s-s-see here..." he said while mustering up some courage. "If you're n-n-not going to help me...t-t-then you best leave..."
There was a long silence...until a voice, low, gruff, and deep, muttered, "You shouldn't be down here..."
Time Turner gasped and found himself backing up against the mysterious wall. "W-w-who are you?" he demanded.
"You're a trespasser," the gruff voice accused. "We don't like trespassers..."
Time Turner clutched his heart. "W-w-w-we?"
"L-l-l-leave h-h-him alone, R-r-rainbow Dash!"
"Stay out of this Derpy! You know the Master's rules about trespassers! Or do you want to return to the carnival?"
The other voice began wailing in fear. Time Turner couldn't see a thing, but the studdering voice sounded like a young female, strange indeed. He flattened himself as much as he could against the wall.
"There was no need for that, Rainbow Dash," a new voice warned. This voice was also gruff, yet not nearly as frightening as the last. The new voice then began to speak tenderly to the wailing figure.
"Don't lecture me, Shortround! I'll speak to her as I please! Besides, she's always like this whenever somepony-"
"She's a child, Rainbow Dash! Or very much like one...she doesn't understand."
Time Turner heard a scoffing sound, and assumed it came from the voice named "Rainbow Dash". "She should know better! And if she thinks I'm frightening, wait till the Master discovers she allowed a trespasser to go-"
The wailing grew ever louder. Through the wailing, Time Turner could hear both comforting and swearing. He felt along the wall, hoping to find something that would set him free from this dark frightening prison, but it was all in vain.
"All of you, stop this at once!" A new voice emerged, calm, older, another female?
"Rarity-"
"No Rainbow Dash, you listen to me..." she icily snapped. "I'm tired of all this bloodshed; I'm tired of this whole mess. What is this stallion's crime?"
There was a gasping sound, almost as if someone was shocked by the mere question. "What has he done? He's trespassing! You know the Master's rules!"
Before Time Turner knew what was happening, he found himself speaking to the darkness. "I...I d-d-didn't mean to trespass. I swear, I came down to find a prop for tonight's opera. A spinning wheel...please, I didn't mean to offend."
There was a pause, before the mare's voice spoke again. "Put on your shrouds," she ordered.
"WHAT?" Rainbow Dash shouted.
"Put...on...your...shrouds!" she hissed, her words clipped and even.
There was a shuffling sound, as if someone were moving quickly. The sound was interrupted by Rainbow Dash's protest. "Am I the only one who cares about what happens to us? Am I the only one who share's the master's feelings on this matter? Have you all so easily forgotten what the carnival was like?"
The wailing began to start again, but the mare's voice quickly silenced both. "Go then Rainbow Dash, go and be gone. I will take responsibility."
Time Turner listened as the hoofsteps vanished somewhere in the darkness, and the wailing came to a series of sniffles. Without warning, a light flickered, and an oil lamp appeared, illuminating the small space.
The light hurt his eyes, and Time Turner peered through the shadows, attempting to see who held the light. He gasped when he saw two shrouded creatures before him, a Pegasus with a severe hunch who only had a face cover, and the other he could not say, for the body was completely covered, but certainly smaller than the other.. "Come monsieur, we will show you what you are looking for...and a different way out."
Time Turner was almost too shocked by what had happened and was taking place before him. The smaller shrouded figure gestured for him to follow. "You can't go back that way monsieur, believe me. And if you wish to escape, you had best follow Derpy and me."
"I...I..." he was stumbling over his words, trying to find his voice but to no avail. Who were these ponies? What was going on? And...who was this mysterious "master" they kept referring to?
The smaller shrouded figure gave an exasperated sigh, then came forward and grasped his arm tightly. "Monsieur, you must follow us." The words were clipped, and it suddenly occurred to Time Turner that the voice of the smaller figure was the mare's voice he had heard earlier. "My name is Rarity, and we shall lead you out of here." He didn't say anything, simply nodded his head and allowed the mare to pull him by the arm.
The larger bent over figure grunted, and began to follow from behind. Time Turner swallowed the growing lump in his throat, unsure what to think or believe, and wondering if he was truly safe.
As if reading his thoughts, the small mare said, "Have no fear monsieur, Derpy is quite harmless."
The bent over figure who was following started to laugh at the words, but it was a filly's laugh, one full of merriment and excitement. "D-do you know g-g-gypsies?"
Time Turner was thrown back by the question that Derpy had asked. "W-w-what?" he asked, still being dragged by the small mare, but attempting to turn and face the bent over pony.
"Gypsies! I...I k-know a s-s-story...with a b-beautiful g-g-gypsy mare!" she stammered happily.
Rarity sighed. "Ever since I told Derpy the story about the hunchback and the gypsy girl, she dreams of meeting gypsies."
Time Turner nodded his head, but he was at a loss for words. It was as if...as if these ponies led normal lives and discussed normal things...yet lived below the Opera House!
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of something scraping along the hard earthen floor. "W-w-w-what was that?" Time Turner asked, trying to calm his voice.
"Shortround," Rarity said simply.
It was so matter of fact that Time Turner felt foolish for asking. "W-w-why can't I s-s-see him?"
Derpy was quick to answer. "Shortround i-is a dwarf! He-"
"Derpy!" Rarity barked. Derpy instantly shrank back. They continued on, although Time Turner found himself in deeper confusion with horrific images flying through his mind. A dwarf? And these two in shrouds? What sort of place was this!
"Here we are!" Rarity announced, after what seemed like a short eternity through twisting tunnels and dark caverns. The shuffling sound that the small mare had identified as "Shortround" moved quickly to a ladder behind them. "You would never have found the spinning wheel without our help I'm afraid," the mare announced. "I've been using it to make clothes," she explained. "I often forget that I must share the props with the actual Opera House," she chuckled, to which Derpy joined her.
Time Turner gasped when he saw the spinning wheel being lowered by a rope from overhead. "Ah! Thank you Shortround!" the mare said brightly. "I'm not very good at climbing, but he's wonderful," she quickly explained.
Time Turner simply nodded his head, the lump in his throat never allowing speech to come through. "Derpy, I want you to hold this, and mind the spindle," Rarity instructed, handing the large creature the prop Time Turner had come to find.
"If I'm n-not c-c-careful, I m-may fall asleep for h-h-hundreds of years! J-just like t-the s-story!"
Rarity nodded her shrouded head to Derpy's words. "Exactly, so be very careful." She then turned back to Time Turner. "Now monsieur, we shall find you a way out-"
A great gust of cold wind blew through the tunnel, knocking the oil lamp Rarity had been holding out of her hoof, the flame disappearing into the shadows. Darkness enveloped the cavern, and Derpy gave a cry of anguish, before dropping the spinning wheel and rushing past Time Turner, her large body causing the old stallion to lose his balance and fall to the ground.
"Master!" Rarity cried. "Please, allow us to explain, this stallion simply came to retrieve-"
Her words were cut short by a roar of rage. "TRESPASSER!"
Time Turner gasped at the sound. He had never heard anything like it! It...it barely sounded pony!
"You did this Rainbow Dash!" accused the voice of Shortround, who was speaking overhead.
Rainbow Dash's voice filled the cavern, responding to Shortround's accusation. "He would have learned sooner or later! And you know the rules! See, master? I was against it all alo-"
"SILENCE!"
Both Rainbow Dash and Shortround shrank away, and the only sounds Time Turner could hear were heavy steps, and his own heartbeat, ringing loudly in his ears.
He was trembling, clutching his chest again, attempting to back away, yet still the steps approached closer, louder, each sound more ominous than the last. He wanted to plead for his life, beg forgiveness, anything that would wake him from this nightmare!
There was a menacing pause, and then, with hot breath hitting his face, Time Turner heard the most frightening voice that had ever filled his ears. "Who are you..." the voice was a hiss. A hiss that would shame a snake and make anypony plea for his life. "...and what are you doing here?"
"I...I...I j-j-just w-w-w-wanted..."
"Do you know what I do with trespassers?" the voice asked, in a menacing tone.
"I...I d-d-didn't mean to t-t-t-trespass! I...I j-j-just w-w-wanted...p-please!"
"Master!" Rarity's voice interceded. "He did not know the rules, he is new, I've never seen-"
"I KNOW WHO HE IS!" the dark voice snapped. "And I know that he knows my rules."
Time Turner had no idea who this pony, or maybe not even that, more like a monster was...but a horrifying feeling was filling him and causing his whole body to convulse and tremble with the cold knowledge. "P-p-please..."
"You know the rules..." the voice hissed. "And yet you disobeyed. You just wanted to come and see the Phantom...didn't you?" the sound of sinister glee rose with each word. Time Turner attempted to shake his head, but he was scared stiff. A sudden flicker of light illuminated the cavern floor. "Well...I wouldn't want to disappoint..." The light rose off the floor, higher and higher, until Time Turner's eyes widened with horror at the sight illuminated before him.
Despite the noise of the crowded foyer and auditorium, those that worked back stage jumped at the sound of the old stallion's screams.
"I swear! I could KILL that stallion!" Flam shouted in frustration.
Flim paled at the words of his colleague, quickly signaling for Flam to lower his voice. "Quiet! The last thing we need is for Fleur...or the Prince for that matter, to learn that something is amiss!"
Flam threw a hoof up in the air in exasperation. "How could he do this to us Flim? After allowing both him and his mouse of a daughter jobs in our theater! How could he do this to us?"
"Calm yourself Flam," Flim attempted.
Flam however was going to be anything but calm. "What are we going to do? We need that violin! Fleur de Lis sings with a violin solo during Act II! No one else knows that solo but Time Turner!" Flam began pacing. "It's just like Caramel! He's disappeared! He's taken our money and he's left, without a word, without a reason, without-"
Flim marched up to the stallion and slapped him hard across the face. "Get a hold of yourself!" he hissed, before glancing to the side to see if anyone saw them. The two managers were back stage after being called by Madam Octavia, the orchestra conductor. Octavia filled the mangers' ears with a litany of complaints, all centering around the fact that Time Turner was nowhere to be seen, no one could find him or knew where he was, and the opera had been delayed for ten minutes!
Fleur de Lis was pacing angrily, wondering what the trouble was, and indeed, out in the auditorium, the patrons were beginning to grow restless. After learning the news, Flam and Flim found themselves panicking, wondering what should be done--besides firing Time Turner, once he was found.
Madame Luna had already been sent to fetch Fluttershy, who was hard at work with preparing a frustrated Fleur de Lis. "I'm sure the mare knows what's become of the stallion," Flim attempted to reassure his business partner.
Flam was less convinced. "And if not? Then what? We still need to start the opera! These ponies paid good money! We can't lose that money! This is the first performance of the season! We'll be ruined if-"
Flim slapped Flam again. "Shut up!" he hissed. The two suddenly realized they were being watched and turned to see a bewildered and somewhat pale Fluttershy standing beside the dance mistress.
"I was told you wanted to speak with me?" she asked, her voice timid for she feared something was wrong.
Flim cleared his throat and nodded his head, his eyes holding hers. "When did you last see your father, mademoiselle?"
Fluttershy's already pale face turned even whiter. "My father?" her tone was high and full of worry. Madame Luna placed a reassuring hoof on the mare's shoulders to calm her. Fluttershy looked back and forth between the two managers. "What's happened? Is he alright? What's wrong?"
"Mademoiselle, please remain calm," Flim whispered, attempting to remain calm himself. "Madam Octavia has not seen him since earlier this evening, before any patrons were seated. And...well, as you very well know, we need him to play that violin piece, and no can find him-"
"He's missing?" Fluttershy practically shrieked. Flim placed a hoof to her lips to silence her.
"Hush! We can not have a scene! We-"
But it was too late. Fleur de Lis, looking more exasperated than ever, waltzed over to the managers with Fancypants close behind. "WELL?" she screeched. "What are we waiting for?"
"Senora, please, you must keep your voice down-"
"I WILL DO AS I PLEASE WHEN I PLEASE, AND I WILL SPEAK AS I PLEASE!" she barked. "Now tell me...what is going on?"
Mustering up as much calmness as he could, Flam stepped forward to explain. "It appears Monsieur Time Turner is missing, and we are-"
"MISSING?" she shrieked. Wincing with pain from the sharpness of her voice, both the managers nodded their heads. Fleur de Lis eyed them coldly, before turning on her heel. "Then fire him! And start the overture!"
"What?" Fluttershy shouted, staring at Fleur de Lis in horror. "You can't fire him! Something is wrong! He would never miss a performance! We must find him! Please! He...oh no, he could be hurt! Lying somewhere and no one can hear him!" hot tears of fear and worry were streaming down Fluttershy's cheeks.
"Who gives a damn!" Fleur de Lis spat.
Silence filled the small space. Silence...and then the sound of Fluttershy walking up to Fleur de Lis and without warning, throwing her hoof directly into the mare's eye. "YOU DESPICABLE UNTALENTED HEARTLESS TOAD!" Fluttershy shouted, her hoof wailing at the screaming prima donna who was pleading for Fancypants to save her. Everyone was frozen in shock at the scene before them, and it took a blood curdling scream from Fleur de Lis before anypony responded by pulling the angry costume mare off the sobbing soprano.
"Mademoiselle! Control yourself!" Flim shouted. Madame Luna pulled Fluttershy away from the managers and wrapped her arms around the mare who was trembling and sobbing with anger and worry for her father.
Fancypants helped Fleur de Lis up, cooing over her, to which she pushed him away. "That little BITCH better be gone by the time the first act is finished!" she spat. "Ugh! My make-up is ruined! My hair!" she wailed as she stalked off. Flim and Flam stared at the retreating figure of their beloved star, unsure what to say or do, but any thoughts on that matter were quickly gone when an usher appeared.
"Pardon me, but...the Prince is here and is growing impatient and says the opera should start, or he will demand...his money back," the stallion whispered in horror.
Both managers paled at those words of doom. "Tell Madam Octavia to start the overture RIGHT NOW!" Flam ordered.
Flim turned to the sobbing costume mare who was still being held closely by the dance mistress. He sighed and locked eyes with the older mare. "Madame Luna, if...you would please escort Mademoiselle Fluttershy out," he whispered. Madame Luna simply returned Flim's words with a cold stare. The managers turned and left, leaving the two mares behind.
"There, there, child, it will be alright..." the dance mistress soothed.
Fluttershy pushed away from the mare. "Alright? I...I just hit Fleur de Lis! I've lost my job! My father is missing! And...and I just cost him his opportunity at achieving his dream!"
Madame Luna knew that no amount of reassuring words would help Fluttershy. She sighed and found herself glaring into the shadows. She knew Discord was to blame for the stallion's disappearance, she only prayed that the Phantom showed some small amount of compassion and had let the old stallion live. Yet she highly doubted it.
The notes of the overture rose into the air, and the lights dimmed and the sound of applause filled the auditorium as the curtains slowly opened. Madame Luna took hold of Fluttershy's shoulders and forced the mare to look at her. "I will help you, but you must listen carefully to what I say," she whispered. "Right now, I have to help with the performance of this opera. If I don't, more disaster may occur. But as soon as it is over, I will...make inquiries..."
Fluttershy's brow furrowed at the mare's words. Inquiries? What did she mean? Yet before she could open her mouth to ask, the dance mistress continued. "You must trust me Fluttershy, I will learn what has happened and find him, I promise you. In the meantime, it would be best if you went home."
"But-"
"Please, I know this must sound confusing, but you must trust me on this. You should go home before Fleur de Lis has another fit."
Fluttershy felt numb. Was this really happening? She nodded her head to the mare's words, who smiled warmly at her, with a dash of sympathy, before turning and leaving the costume mare alone in the shadows of the back stage.
Fleur de Lis's harpy-like voice filled the auditorium, and Fluttershy found herself seething with anger. She had never met anyone in her whole life that she wished more ill will upon. And the louder Fleur de Lis sang, the more the anger boiled within Fluttershy. No, she would find her father, she would find him right now! And...she had an odd feeling...
The smell of tobacco filled her nostrils and she turned her head to see three stagehooves chuckling amongst themselves. The odd feeling grew more and more...
"You!" she hissed, approaching them without a thought or care that they could snap her in two if she angered them enough. "You know something about my father, when did you last see him!"
They stared at her, amazed at her boldness to approach them with such a tone, and found themselves somewhat intimidated. "W-w-what?" one of them asked.
"Monsieur Time Turner! My father! The violinist! Have you seen him at all?" she demanded.
They glanced back and forth between themselves and looked back at her, their faces contorting with worry. "What? Tell me!" she demanded, knowing they knew something.
One of them sighed and shook his head. "We tried to warn him, but he wouldn't listen. He was too stubborn."
Fluttershy grabbed the stallion by his shoulders and shook him hard, despite her much smaller frame. The stallion found himself amazed by the mare's strength. "TELL ME!"
The stallion shook Fluttershy's hooves off him. "He went below!" he grunted. "Down...down there..." he pointed to a door just a few feet away. "I'm sorry mademoiselle, but...he's gone."
"G-g-gone?" Fluttershy asked, her voice trembling, not wanting to hear what she knew they were going to tell her.
"No one is allowed down there without the Phantom's permission. Everypony knows that. We warned him, over and over...but he wouldn't listen."
Fluttershy stared at the door while the stallions spoke. "I'm sorry mademoiselle, but...you'll never see your father again."
"NO!" Fluttershy shouted, stalking over to the door and gripping the handle with both hooves before pulling it open. "I'll find him and I'll bring him back," she swore.
The stallions stared at her. "Mademoiselle, you can't be serious? The Phantom! He'll...he'll kill you if you go down there-"
"TO HELL WITH THE PHANTOM!" Fluttershy cried out angrily. "I don't care...I'm going to find my father." She grabbed one of the lit oil lamps that was back stage and disappeared into the darkness, closing the door behind her.
The stage hooves stared in shock at the closed door. The costume mare was surely doomed, just like her violinist father. The Phantom never showed mercy, everypony knew that. The stage hooves began to pray for the soul of the brave mare who had just entered the mouth of hell. |
The Opera Phantom Discord | Choices | Choices
The clang of the stage door closing behind her sounded like an iron gate that was locking her in. Fluttershy stood silent for a moment, holding the oil lamp with a shaky hoof and observing the never-ending darkness that stood before her. She was alone; no one chose to follow her for they were too afraid, and Fluttershy could hear a tiny voice in her head telling her how foolish it was for her to go into the unknown all by herself.
But her father needed her. He was down here somewhere, she could feel it. He could be hurt, he could be trapped, he could be lost in the shadows. She had to find him, she had to save him, he was all she had left in the world.
Fluttershy took a deep breath and reached up to touch a rusty locket that hung around her neck. The metal was tarnished and beyond repair, but the picture inside was of her mother, and it was all Fluttershy had left of the mare. She said a silent prayer and with it, ventured into the dark unknown.
"She's...she's here!" Derpy cried out happily. Despite her size, she was jumping around like a joyful filly at Christmas, clumping her hooves and grinning madly.
Rarity, who had fallen asleep near the spinning wheel that only a little while ago they had gone to fetch, awoke with a start to Derpy's jovial dancing. "S-s-s-she's here, R-r-r-rarity!" she stuttered, grasping the mare and twirling her around. "S-s-she's come a-a-at last!"
Rarity squealed when she felt her hooves lift off the ground. "Derpy! Put me down at once!" she cried, preferring to be dropped than crushed to death by the exuberant pony. Derpy blushed and then immediately placed the mare back on the ground, but her grin never disappeared. Rarity straightened herself. "What on earth are you talking about?"
Derpy found herself dancing again. "T-t-the gypsy mare! I...I know it's h-h-her!"
Rarity sighed, regretting telling her that story in the first place, especially since she lied about the ending. "Derpy, that's only a story, there is no-"
"NO!" she shouted, her smile disappearing. "I s-s-saw her! S-s-she's here! S-s-she's wandering near the old p-p-p-prop r-r-room!"
Rarity stared up at Derpy, her brow furrowed. She knew Derpy could get carried away with the stories she read to her, but this time was different. She could tell by simply looking into her eyes that it was true, she had seen a mare, and that the mare she had seen...was here.
"Near the old prop room?" she asked, feeling her hooves carry her away from the cavern they had been occupying. Derpy simply nodded her head before giggling again. Rarity was glad that she was so happy, but her blood ran cold at the thought of the innocent mare becoming another victim of Discord's booby traps...or of Discord's rage. "Come Derpy," she whispered. "Take me to her."
In a further cavern, Shortround sat by candlelight reading quietly. Rainbow Dash was sitting a few feet away, sharpening a knife on an old piece of leather. Now and then she would glance at the stallion, rolling her eyes as she watched Shortround lean close to the book he held.
"How many times have you read that stupid thing?" Rainbow Dash asked irritably. Shortround made no comment. "Waste of time," Rainbow Dash grunted.
Without lifting his head, Shortround muttered, "I have nothing to say to you, so continue sharpening your toy and leave me to read in peace."
Rainbow Dash cast Shortround an angry glare. "What's wrong with you?"
"You mean besides the countless times you mock me?" Shortround muttered, without looking up. "How about...you running to the Master to tattle on the rest of us?"
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and rose to her hooves. "The stallion was a trespasser! Does that not mean anything to you?" she threw her front legs up in frustration. "Tell me something Shortround, did you like the carnival? Did you like performing for those clops and being called names? Because I know I didn't! And I am never going back there!"
Shortround sighed. "The stallion only wanted a spinning wheel-"
"And the second he came back to the surface, he would tell everypony about us down here and a mob would be after us in a second! Think what you like Shortround, but you're wrong! I for one share the Master's feelings, I for one will not go against the Master's orders! I-"
"Papa?"
The word was soft and distant, but it rang out loud and clear and both were silenced immediately upon hearing it.
"W-w-w-what was that?" Rainbow Dash asked, whirling her head around the cavern.
Silence, and then another call. "Papa?" This time it sounded closer.
"Sounds like...a mare?"
"A MARE!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, her eyes widening with horror. "Are we to have no peace? How are these ponies finding us!"
"Quiet!" Shortround ordered. Both he and Rainbow Dash moved to a crack in the cavern wall, peering out to see if the voice was coming from that direction.
Sure enough, after a few seconds, a small light appeared in the distance, and with it, another cry. "Papa? Can you hear me? Are you there?"
"It is a mare..." Shortround whispered.
"I KNOW WHAT IT IS!" Rainbow Dash exploded. "WHAT I WANT TO KNOW IS HOW DO WE GET RID OF HER!"
Shortround winced to Rainbow Dash's cries, and then paled when he heard, "Papa? Is that...you?"
"See what you've done!" Shortround hissed. "She's heading this way!"
"No...I...I'm not going back there...I'm never going back there!" Rainbow Dash mumbled, stepping back frantically and stumbling.
"Get a hold of yourself!"
But it was no use. Despite Shortround's attempt to calm her, Rainbow Dash rose to her hooves and immediately took off down a dark passage wailing for the Master. Damn! "Papa?" Shortround froze; the voice was nearly there! He quickly moved himself away, leaving his book and candle behind.
Fluttershy heard the sound of...hooves? She wasn't sure, but she quickly followed the sound, especially as she heard the sound moving faster. "Wait!" she cried out. "Please, I'm trying to find my father-"
She entered the cavern and saw the small candle glowing as brightly as it could, lying next to an open book. Somepony was here. It could have been her father, but...why would he run from her? The shuffling sound echoed off a cavern wall, coming from a dark tunnel; Fluttershy took off after it. "Papa! Please! Don't run away, I just want to find my father, Monsieur Time Turner! Please! I-"
"F-f-fluttershy?"
Fluttershy froze as her father's voice filled her ears. He was alive. He was HERE! "PAPA!" she cried, whirling around the darkness, trying to find him. She lifted her lamp, which was quickly running out of oil, to try and spot him. His voice sounded so faint, she could hear his ragged breathing, which was interrupted by violent coughs. "Papa, where are you? I can't see..."
"It...doesn't...matter!" he said through his coughs. "You must...get yourself out of here!"
She continued to look around, and finally, in a tiny corner of the stone floor, she saw a small iron grate, and her father's hooves clinging to the bars. "PAPA!" she cried, rushing over to the bars and immediately grasping a hold of the cold iron and attempting to force it open.
It was hopeless, the bars were too strong, and it was clear that the tiny door was locked. She looked down at her father, horrified to see him lying on his back in such a tiny space. His face was hidden by shadows, but his hooves gripped the bars with all his strength. He was wet too, his body barely rising out of dark murky water that surrounded his prison. The space so was tiny, it was as if he were...buried.
"Fluttershy-"
"Who's done this to you?" she asked angrily, placing the lamp down and seeking out a hairpin. She remembered from one of the gothic novels her mother had read to her about a mare who picked a lock with only a hairpin. She prayed that that part of the story was true.
"There's no time my dear, you must leave, now!"
"No! I'm not going to leave you down here to waste away in the earth!" she went to work with picking the lock, cursing the bitter cold for making her hooves clumsy.
"Fluttershy, please, if you love me, you'll leave this place! He'll be here any second!"
"Who?" she asked, not stopping one second with the lock. It was the only way she could avoid allowing the fear to overtake her.
"The Phantom! He's real, Fluttershy! He'll kill you for sure! He's-"
"...right behind you."
Fluttershy froze. The voice was dark, lower than anything she had ever heard, and every hair on her coat stood on end at the deep growl that reverberated around the cavern walls. Before she could begin to turn her head, a claw grabbed her by the shoulder and whirled her around, so rapidly, that her oil lamp broke and she was encased in shadows.
"W-w-w-who's there! What do you want with us?"
She could hear movement, and felt a soft wind hit her face with each step. "Who am I?" his voice was a deep sinister growl that sent freezing shivers down her spine. "Your father knows..."
"RUN FLUTTERSHY! SAVE YOURSELF!" the old stallion shouted.
Fluttershy had never felt so frightened. She found herself reaching for the locket of her mother and pressing it tightly into her neck. She wanted to run, she wanted to flee for her life, but she couldn't abandon her father! She prayed for courage, prayed for resourcefulness, prayed for anything to have this...creature, show mercy upon both she and her father. "Please let my father go..." she whispered. "He didn't mean any harm, it was all a mistake-"
"MISTAKE?" he shouted, causing the cavern walls to shake. "HE KNEW THE RULES! NO PONY IS ALLOWED DOWN HERE! NO PONY!"
Fluttershy wailed, throwing her hooves over her head, afraid a piece of rock would come crashing down and hit her. The movement continued, and Fluttershy bit her lip, forcing herself not to cry. She had to show courage! "P-please..." she whispered. "My father...he'll catch his death if he stays in there..."
A dark menacing chuckle came from the Phantom's lips. "Catch his death?" he chuckled some more. "My dear...I am death."
The chuckles were more than Fluttershy could take. She found her own anger flaring up at the sound of the laughter, at the sound of someone mocking her concern for the life of another being. She bolted to her hooves and squared her shoulders. "You want to punish somepony so badly for breaking your rules? Fine! TAKE ME!"
The Phantom's laughter ceased. There was a long pause of silence before Time Turner cried in protest. "Fluttershy! W-w-what are you saying? Don't do this!"
The Phantom looked at the mare before him. After years of living in darkness his eyes had adapted to the point of where he could see clearly through shadow. Indeed, he had never seen the costume mare like this. She was small; the top of her head would come just to his chest. But she was no waif-like creature. She looked strong for somepony so small, and his eyes began raking up and down her body. She wore a simple dull blue dress, which lacked lace and ruffles. She was not thin, but deliciously curved; indeed, he could not help himself from gazing at her chest which rose and fell with every breath. Her hair was a vibrant pink, cascading down her shoulders and back in beautiful waves that seemed to have a life of their own. Her beautiful face was a natural beauty, with rosy cheeks that lacked the over-zealous amount of make-up that Fleur De Lis threw upon herself. Her coat was a mellow and soft yellow with wings that were pert and well formed, though they were small enough that they were probably not useable. Her eyes were wild, a light blue, that right now held a fire within them. Of course he knew she was spirited, he had witnessed that several times now since she came to his theater. Indeed...having her as his personal slave was not an idea he was against. He moved around her, knowing she could not see him, but enjoying how she looked for him whenever she felt the breeze billowing off his cape. "Do you know what you are asking?" he whispered darkly.
Fluttershy lifted her chin. "Yes."
"Are you sure?" he asked, his claws reaching out and with the touch that felt like a soft wind, brushing against her hair. "Because there's no going back. You do this, you can never return. You'll be mine...forever."
Fluttershy felt a lump rise in her throat. Trapped for all eternity in this hell, with no sunlight, no love...nothing. But a protesting cough that escaped her father's lips resolved Fluttershy's decision.
"I promise you," she said with a shaky voice, pressing against the locket tightly. "I will stay and take his place."
"NO FLUTTERSHY! NO!"
The Phantom breathed out a heavy sigh, amazed that he had been on tenterhooks while awaiting her decision. "Then it's done," he growled, removing a key from his pocket and quickly unlocking the small prison door that contained her father.
Fluttershy crumpled to the floor, gasping as the weight of what just took place overcame her. She had agreed to be this creature's prisoner, his...his slave, for...who knows what. She trembled at the thought and felt the bile rise in her throat.
"Fluttershy! What have you done?" she felt her father's arms envelope her from behind, and she turned to cling to him. "I'm an old stallion who has lived his life, and you're still young with so much ahead of you! Please, don't do this, I-"
He was yanked out of her arms violently by the unseen Phantom before Fluttershy had the opportunity to say anything. "Wait!" she cried to the darkness, her hooves seeking out her father, but finding nothing. "Please! Let me say goodbye!" But her pleas fell on death ears.
"RAINBOW DASH!" the Phantom bellowed. The mare immediately appeared, and the Phantom pushed the old stallion into her arms. "Take him away," he growled.
"NO! Please! Spare my daughter! Take me back!" Time Turner wailed.
Rainbow Dash was still in shock. "T-t-t-take him away? You mean...release him? Master, are you sure that's wise?"
One glare from the Phantom said everything Rainbow Dash needed to know. She quickly dragged the screaming old stallion away, leaving the Phantom alone with his silent captive.
Fluttershy was numb. She lay in a crumpled heap on the cavern floor, her breathing slow and uneven. Did this just happen? Did not that morning her father rouse her out of bed, happy and excited for the opening gala that would be taking place? Was it not a week ago that they had come to Maris with such high hopes? She had lost her father; she had lost everything she had ever dreamed for. She was truly alone.
The Phantom looked at the mare who lay on the floor before him. She seemed so small and fragile compared to the other times he had seen her. The spirit he admired was gone. He had at least expected the mare to be lost in hysterics, sobbing endlessly or attacking him with what strength she had. But this was not what he expected, this mute shell of a mare. She simply lay there, lifeless, save for the odd sounds that her breathing made.
Now what? Should he approach her? If he did, what then? The prison he had placed the old stallion was an ancient torture chamber where the victim was boxed in a tiny space, while water slowly flooded into the area, bringing the agonizing reality that the pony trapped would soon drown. He couldn't put her in there, although she was a trespasser and deserved death like all the others. But he had never killed a mare; frightened a few into insanity he was sure, but he had never killed one.
Clearly he hadn't thought this plan through, however, to his credit, it had landed upon him out of nowhere. He had to do something with her, he just couldn't leave her there with the opportunity to escape; she would wind up killing herself from one of his elaborate booby traps.
Mares; he was beginning to understand why he never got involved with them; they were too much of a hassle to try and figure out what to do with!
"Rarity," he muttered. The mare appeared at the sound of her name. "Take the mare...to the Southern chamber."
Rarity stared up at him. "But Master...that's where the costume cages are kept-"
"Exactly," he simply said. "Place her in one of those until I decide what to do with her. Or at least till the opera is finished."
Rarity couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You're going back to the opera?"
The Phantom looked down at the little mare, wondering why the shock in her voice. "It's opening night Rarity; I must see that everything is going as it should."
"BUT...THE MARE!" she shouted. Fluttershy still lay lifeless on the ground, not even flinching to the conversation taking place. "Master...you cannot leave, not like this at least. We must...we must do something; she's only a filly, look at her! She's just lost her father and freedom-"
"THEN SHE SHOULDN'T HAVE TRESPASSED!" he growled harshly. Rarity jumped and took a step back, not wishing to anger Discord more than he already was. That was one ill fate she did not wish on the poor mare. He groaned and ran a paw through his short brown hair. "Do as I say...take her to the Southern cavern, lock her in one of the cages, and after the opera, I will be down to see her."
"Yes Master," she whispered. Satisfied, Discord turned to leave, but a soft small voice stopped him dead in his tracks.
"Before you go..." came the faint voice of the costume mare, "...I have but one favor to ask..." A death-like silence filled the cavern. "...let me look upon my captor...so that I may know the monster to which I gave my life away to."
Her words were bitter, filled with anger and hatred. It was expected, but Discord had no pity for the mare, it was her decision and she gave her word. It was too late for her. And because of this reason, he had no problem granting her meek request. Without a word, he lit a match and walked over to the far side of the cavern wall. Every cavern had a candleholder, and Discord proceeded to light it, his back to the costume mare.
As the light slowly illuminated the cavern, Fluttershy peered through the shadows and began to make out a shape, it was tall, thin, and black. She realized that the blackness belonged to his cape that hung from his nonexsistant shoulders all the way to his ankles. Slowly, so slowly, he turned, revealing more of himself to her eyes. His body was too long and thin to be a ponies. She squinted, thinking she could see something more in the darkness. "Come into the light and remove your cape..." she whispered.
Without any word, he slowly moved his body forward and lifted his head to where the candlelight was streaming. She saw amber eyes, like that of a panther, glaring back into hers. His face looked like that of a pony, his left cheek of any stallion; rough and hinted with a few age lines around the mouth and eye. But it was the other half of his face that caused her eyes to widen and her heart to stop. The paleness she had seen earlier belonged to a mask; a smooth off-white mask that covered the right side of his face from the corner of his mouth all the way up to his forehead. His body seemed a mismatch of many different parts. He was much different from anypony she had seen, a deer antler on the right of his head as one horn and a goat horn on the left. His mouth held one long fang, a snake tongue, and a goat beard. His right arm was that of a lion, the left a claw of an eagle, with the right leg of a lizard, and the left leg of a goat. He even had a bat's right wing, a Pegasus' left wing, a horse's mane and a dragon-like snake's tail with a white tail tuft. The shape of his body resembled that of a snake. She was frozen in terror at this monstrously mysterious creature. It was true...everything she heard from the stage hooves and the dancers; the Phantom was real.
Discord held his arms out from his side, as if displaying himself. "Behold your captor my dear; behold your eternity."
She said nothing. Her eyes fluttered slightly, before rolling back and collapsing on the floor. |
The Opera Phantom Discord | Truth | Truth
Her head hurt. Fluttershy groaned as she slowly awoke, her head throbbing with pain as if somepony were banging it like a drum. Why did her pillow feel so hard? Almost as if it felt like...stone?
Her eyes flew open as a sudden memory filled her brain. "Please...it had to have been a nightmare..." she whispered to herself. But as her eyes slowly took in the dim light that was all around her, she could see that her nightmare was more terrifying than she thought possible.
Bars. Before her she saw nothing but cold iron bars. She was in a cage.
"No..." she whispered, quickly rising to her hooves. "Hello?" she cried, banging on the bars, knowing she could not pry them apart, yet still her body tried. "Somepony? Please? HELP ME! CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?" she continued banging on the bars, praying that someone somewhere...other than the Phantom, would hear her cries.
The Phantom. She trembled as she remembered him, standing before her, a monstrous creature, clad in black, darker than midnight, save for his pale mask. Why did he wear a mask? What was he? Was what she saw real? Was it to enhance the terror his reputation had already sent forth? Or...was it something far more sinister? She recalled some of the stories she heard the dance mares chattering about when Madame Luna was not present. Stories about the Phantom and his terrifying face and body.
However, his face and body were the least of her worries. Her father! The Phantom had her father removed...but where? Did he release him as he had ordered? Or was it all a trick? A trick to have his revenge on her father while still keeping her for...
Her stomach twisted in knots at the thought, and she felt the bile rise slightly.
No, she would not let any stallion have her, not that way, never! She would kill herself before it happened! Or kill him...
"There must be a way out of here," she muttered, stepping away from the bars and examining her prison. Was there a door? She could not see one, but there had to be one! She peered all around her, noticing for the first time hanging racks filled with nothing but elaborate costumes...costumes that she realized had long since been forgotten. Perhaps there was a door behind the racks! She pushed through the fabric, trying to see if she could find anything, when a loud thump startled her.
Fluttershy whirled around to where the noise had come from, peering out past the bars, but saw no one. "H-h-h-hello?" she asked the air with a shaky voice. She could hear breathing, but saw no one! "Is someone there? Hello?"
Nothing...
And then, "SHE'S AWAKE!"
Fluttershy screamed as a large hunchbacked pony emerged from the shadows out of no where, her face pressed against the bars. "She's awake! She's..." she stopped when she realized Fluttershy was screaming, and then she too, started screaming.
"Derpy! Stop it at once!" a figure cried. A stallion came from a cavern, however this stallion seemed to be only half the size of a normal pony. Fluttershy continued to scream as the pony turned to Fluttershy, biting his lip with worry. "Please don't scream mademoiselle, you'll only frighten Derpy more!"
Derpy continued screaming, her cry terrifying and sharp, causing the cavern ceiling to shake. "DERPY!" as if on cue, all the noise stopped, as another pony emerged, throwing her shroud off and immediately coming to the hunchback's side to comfort her. "There, there," she whispered. "It's alright, you just startled her is all, she's not terrified of you...she won't hurt you..."
Fluttershy stared in bewilderment at the three figures that were outside her cage. A disfigured mare, a hunchback mare, and a dwarf; they were all...
"Freaks," the disfigured mare said out loud, as if reading Fluttershy's thoughts. "We accept it," she sighed, finally calming Derpy down to where she curled herself up into a ball and rocked herself back and forth, staring at Fluttershy behind the bars. Satisfied, the mare turned and did a small curtsy. "My name is Rarity," she greeted warmly. "And this is Shortround," she added, indicating the dwarfed stallion. "And...well, you've met Derpy," she said with a smile, rubbing a hoof over the hunchback's arm.
Fluttershy was at a loss for words; she didn't know what to say! "W-w-who...h-how..."
Shortround cleared his throat and began to speak. "We work for the Master, and...were told to keep watch for when you awoke," he explained.
"The Master?" Fluttershy asked, staring at the three of them. "Do you mean...the Phantom?"
Shortround and Rarity exchanged glances. "Well," Shortround muttered. "That is one name...but he prefers 'master'."
Despite the unbelievable chaos of the situation, Fluttershy's face contorted to one of anger at the words. "He is no master of me," she hissed, before turning her face away to hide the angry tears that threatened to show.
Rarity sighed and approached the cage with sympathy. "My dear...please do not despair...the Master is truly good-"
"GOOD?" Fluttershy whirled around at the words. "Good? He imprisoned my father! He threatened to kill us! I'M IN A CAGE!" she shouted, rushing to the bars and beating them with her hooves.
The three figures stepped back and Derpy whimpered. Rarity immediately placed a calming hoof on the hunchback's arm and her whimpering ceased. The mare was right; the Master behaved like a monster earlier, how else would she think of him?
Fluttershy stared at the figures then turned away, sitting on the rocky ground and tucking her legs up under her chin. Rarity gazed upon the mare's crumpled form, sighed, and turned to the others. "Why don't you both go and wait for the Master to return." Shortround took the hint and urged Derpy to follow.
"G-g-g-goodbye gypsy mare!" Derpy said somewhat happily, before turning and leaving with Shortround.
Fluttershy turned her head slightly to watch as the two figures left. Rarity smiled softly, although her eyes were filled with utmost sympathy. "Derpy loves the story of The Hunchback of Notre Dame...I confess, I changed the ending somewhat for her...now whenever she sees a beautiful mare, she thinks she's Esmeralda," she chuckled softly. Fluttershy still remained frozen. "My dear-"
"Please," Fluttershy whispered, "Just...just leave me alone."
Rarity bit her lip. "W-would you like me to bring you something hot to drink? Are you hungry? I-"
"Please go," Fluttershy whispered again, curling herself up into a tiny ball and hugging her legs even closer than before. Rarity sighed and lowered her head in defeat. Time was what the mare needed most.
"Here, in case you get cold," the little mare whispered, pushing a wool blanket through the bars. Fluttershy didn't say a word, she simply lay where she was. Rarity sighed and began to walk away. Yet she stopped, paused, and turned one more time. "I just...I just wanted to say...that I think what you did was extremely brave. I don't think many ponies would have been able to do what you did..." Fluttershy didn't respond at all. Rarity gave a soft smile, tears threatening her own eyes, before turning and leaving the mare alone in her cage of iron and despair.
For the longest time she lay there, still as a mouse, listening to her surroundings, listening for the agonizing sound of footsteps. Yet none came. She turned her head slightly, looking around her dim surroundings (a single torch illuminated the cavern, which hung near the cavern's only entrance), and satisfied that she was truly alone, sprung to her hooves and frantically began to look for a way out.
Somewhere...I know there is a door here somewhere! She pushed through the layers of dusty cob-webbed covered costumes, coughing and sneezing here and there, desperately seeking the way out of her prison. And then...at last, hiding behind a large heavy black drape, she found it...the tiny door that kept her and freedom apart.
It was locked, as she suspected, but that didn't matter. She would get out, she was quite determined! She grabbed the last hairpin she had, causing her already loose hair to fall completely down her back and shoulders, and set to work. She had to hurry, for she could hear, ever so softly, the last chorus of the opera being sung.
"HEY! GET OUT OF HERE! THIS IS NO PLACE FOR DRUNKARDS OR BEGGARS!"
Time Turner gasped in pain as he felt a sharp thick boot kick him hard in his side. He glanced up, his eyes red and swollen, seeing a stallion in a maroon uniform glare down at him. He immediately recognized the uniform as belonging to one of the doorponies of the Opera House. Why was he outside the Opera House, and why was this stallion kicking him and urging him to move along?
And then it all came back.
"FLUTTERSHY!" Time Turner cried, quickly rising as fast as his legs would allow. "My daughter! Oh you must help me!" he wailed, gripping the lapels of the doorpony's coat. "He has her! He has my daughter!"
"GET OFF!" the doorman shouted, shoving Time Turner away. "And move on before I call the police!"
Police? YES! That was exactly what he needed! "Yes! Please! We must get the police at once! I need to speak with Monsieur Flam and Monsieur Flim, they will help me, I know it!"
The doorpony stopped Time Turner and shoved him again, this time sending the old stallion to the ground. "GET OUT OF HERE YOU DRUNKEN FOOL!" he shaking his hoof in a threatening manner, and Time Turner suddenly realized in his panic that the stallion was not going to let him by. The stallion didn't know him, and Time Turner looked at his own tattered coat and mud-caked clothes and knew it was a lost cause. Who would believe that he was an employee of the Maris Opera House?
"Are you deaf you old pony? I SAID GO!" Time Turner quickly sprung to his feet before the doorpony had the opportunity to kick him again with his boot. He quickly scampered away, hearing the doorpony's threats behind him, knowing he had to find somepony who would help him...but who? Would the police believe him? No, he needed someone who knew him, somepony who would help him find a way to get Fluttershy back! But who? Who had such influence to help a grieving old stallion?
"And...remember the way she paused, because there was supposed to be...that violin solo!" laughed a well dressed gentlecolt, before taking another drink from his brandy glass.
A small group of stallions erupted with laughter, each pounding one another on the back, lighting cigars, and drinking brandy as the minutes ticked by.
"That was priceless..." another stallion chuckled. "Oh Blueblood, you sure picked a good star! At least we all now have something to entertain us at that bloody place!"
Blueblood gave a small trying smile to his friend's comment, his hoof rubbing his forehead as he inwardly dealt with his irritation. The evening was somewhat short of horrible. At least the horridness disappeared when Fleur wasn't on stage. Unfortunately, there were only three scenes in the whole opera when she made no appearance. And despite the money he was making off her name and so-called talents, he hated feeling like a fool, which was exactly what his friends were doing.
"She reminded me of my dog," one stallion added. "Except I think that bitch can actually hit a proper note!" the others burst out laughing, while Blueblood simply glared.
"Oh come now Blueblood," a grey and white-haired stallion chuckled. "Despite the mare's less than spectacular performance, the evening was a success."
"Here, here!" the others crowed.
"Indeed!" the light grey and white-haired stallion continued. "No doubt, thanks to our friend Black Marble," he said, lifting his glass in the direction of a light colored curly haired gentlecolt who was sitting with them, "who as we all know has such a high influence with the papers, a good review will be published and more ponies will come to see the mare, and more money will be placed in our pockets! See? Everypony wins!"
Blueblood gave a glare to his friend, but then a smile spread across his face. "Indeed, you are right Hoity Toity," he said, raising his glass. "To Fleur de Lis and the money she will bring to us all...was I not right to encourage you to invest with the Opera?"
The stallions chuckled. "Indeed, except for poor Caesar, who only goes because his wife insists!"
Caesar gave the others a glare. "How else am I to convince Lyra that I'm not going out every night to be with my mistress? I swear the mare has spies following me!"
"Oh who gives a damn what the mare thinks," Hoity Toity grumbled. "It's your own bloody fault that you got married in the first place!"
"I needed an heir!" Caesar defended.
"Don't we all?" Black Marble added. "Yet you don't hear the rest of us who are married complaining. Why? Because we know who is the head of our households, and it's not our bloody wives!" several other stallions cheered to Black Marble's words and lifted their glasses in a toast.
"Too true," Hoity Toity added, lighting another cigar. "Really Caesar, the next thing you're going to tell us that she insists that you actually give her pleasure when you're bucking her!"
"If she lets you," Black Marble added. The stallions burst out laughing while Caesar turned a bright red.
"Leave the stallion alone," Blueblood interjected, although he had been laughing along with the others. "The point of a mistress is so that you don't have to sleep with your wife! And Caesar is the only one who's future is secure with at least two heirs."
"Legitimate heirs," Caesar grumbled.
"Here, here," Black Marble chuckled.
"Speaking of mistresses," Hoity Toity commented, "How does it go with the dried up soprano?"
Blueblood was sipping his brandy when he heard the words. He glared from the rim of his glass at his friend, but forced a polite smile. "She still serves her purposes," he simply said. "And you good stallion? Still pursuing young male falsettos?"
Hoity Toity turned a deep shade of red while the other stallions burst out laughing. Blueblood couldn't help but grin wickedly.
"Come now Hoity Toity," he muttered with a cigar between his lips. "We are all friends, are we not?"
Hoity Toity forced a smile at the Prince. "Actually, I have met a delicious dance mare by the name of Applejacqueline. Very beautiful for a dancer, and has a mouth like you wouldn't believe...not to mention a throat..."
The others were leaning in close, practically drooling at the stallion's words. "And she tells me Blueblood, that you've been seen attempting to...seduce the new costume mare?"
The other stallions turned to the Prince with surprised looks. "A costume mare? Blueblood, I distinctly remember you saying how the lowest a stallion could sink was with a chorus mare...but a costume mare? What has bucking Fleur done to you?"
Before Blueblood could speak, Hoity Toity continued. "Not only has he been seen attempting to lure this mare to his bed-"
"-or lounge," Caesar chuckled.
"But it seems that...could it be...the costume mare has spurned you?"
The others stared in horror. "Blueblood...if a mere costume mare spurns you...there's no hope for the rest of us."
"She did not SPURN me!" Blueblood growled, chewing on his cigar. "And I will have that mare...and if you had seen this mare, you'd understand why she's worth the pursuit! Luscious curves, an ample bottom that's never felt anything other than the fabric of her undergarments...not to mention nimble little hooves that could grip anything hard and thick..."
Now the stallions were drooling at Blueblood's description. Hoity Toity snorted with disgust, causing the trance to break.
"Point being that you haven't succeeded in bedding her," he grumbled. "Now, if you'll excuse me gentlecolts, I am meeting the delectable Applejacqueline who is going to introduce me to one of her dear little friends, and the three of us are going to go back to my apartment for a private party, while you sorry lot sit here and smoke cigars with one another. Good evening," he said, before tipping his hat and heading towards the door.
Yet the second Hoity Toity reached it, an old stallion, looking frantic, burst inside, crying the Princes's name. "Prince Blueblood? I'm looking for the Prince? Have you seen him? Anypony? Please!"
Hoity Toity looked at Blueblood from across the room, and Blueblood rose to his hooves, locking eyes with his friend before looking at the muddy old stallion. "Please! I have to find him! He can help me, I know it! I-MONSIEUR PRINCE!" Time Turner rushed to Blueblood's side and practically fell to his knees. "Monsieur, you must help me! Please! He has her! He's taken her! WE MUST GET THE POLICE AT ONCE!"
"Who are you?" Blueblood asked in disgust, moving away from the lunatic that had fallen at his hooves.
Time Turner glanced up, surprised by the Prince's words, not to mention his tone. Yet he was covered in mud and dirt, he was probably unrecognizable. "Why it's me monsieur, the violinist? Monsieur Time Turner? You once complimented me on my playing."
"Did I?" Blueblood asked, lifting an eyebrow. "I confess, I do not remember speaking to somepony like you...but then the Opera House is filled with many..." he looked Time Turner up and down before removing his scented handkerchief and lifting it to his nose. "Anyway, why do you come here sir, interrupting the merriment of my club in such a distressed state?"
"HE HAS HER MONSIEUR! WE MUST SAVE HER! PLEASE!" Time Turner was gripping the Prince's evening coat, holding on for dear life, praying that this stallion would believe him.
The Prince was overwhelmed by the stench the stallion was in, and managed to push the feeble old stallion off him, coughing at the smell. "Remove him from here," he muttered to some of the staff who had come to see what the commotion was all about.
"NO! Monsieur, my daughter is Fluttershy! The costume mare! You have spoken with her, on several occasions, am I not correct? Please! You must help me get her back!"
"Come on old fool!" one of the staff members grumbled, dragging Time Turner away.
Blueblood rolled his eyes. "Get her back from whom?"
"THE PHANTOM! THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!"
There was a brief moment of silence, before the whole room burst into laughter. Everyone save for the Prince. He hated talk about the Phantom. It was a myth that was created by Cranky Doodle Donkey, but he hated how it continued to live on, and how there were those that felt it necessary to make the myth seem real by sending threats and demands, not to mention the hysteria several ponies at the Opera House had over the silly ghost stories.
"Get him out of here," Blueblood growled, before sitting back down at his table and taking a long drink from his glass.
"NO! MONSIEUR, PLEASE! HE HAS HER! WE MUST SAVE HER!"
"Your daughter probably ran off with a stage hoof to offer him her so-called virginity. I mean what can one except from a costume mare?" Raoul's comment was greeted by hysterical laughter, and Time Turner stared in horror at the Prince as he was dragged away and thrown out onto the street.
"STAY OUT!" they shouted at him, before slamming the door in his face.
Time Turner stared at the closed doors, the horrible words ringing in his ears. The one pony who he thought cared for his daughter was a cad...and he was truly alone. The managers wouldn't see him, no one would let him back inside the Opera House, and now its most powerful patron had abandoned him as well...not mention had turned out to be snake.
"I'll go to the police myself!" Time Turner said with determination. "I have to save her...I must!"
Madame Luna had waited till the theater was practically empty, save for a few stage hooves that were cleaning up. She had urged Twilight to go home with several friends and explained she had some important matters to discuss with the managers. Now that she was alone, she made her way towards the secret door that she always used to gain access to the secret labyrinth of the Phantom. Yet the door was locked. It had never been locked before, it was a secret passage that only she and Discord knew how to open! And only Discord had the power to lock it...
"Good evening madam," Discord greeted coldly as always.
Madame Luna whirled around, staring at the shadows in front of her, before seeing the tall masked figure image from the darkness. "Discord! W-w-what are you doing up here!"
"I may feel free to move about my theater however I please," he explained, before extending an envelope to the mare. "Here is a note I wish you to give to my dear managers. It's rather thick...due to all the corrections they need to make before the next performance."
Madame Luna stared up at Discord, his face always unreadable, mask or no mask. "Perhaps the performance would have been better if a certain violinist was present."
Discord snorted. "I highly doubt it...that harpy can butcher anything, from a simple scale of notes to the most beautiful opera composed. No violin solo would have saved the evening."
"Where is he Discord?" Madame Luna asked, feeling her body shake with fury. She hated these games, he only said such things to prolong the agony, like a cat that had caught a mouse, but was merely playing with it before killing the wretched creature.
Discord had been pacing when the conversation began, yet now stood frozen, his amber eyes catching the dance mistress'. "You know my rules," he growled.
"Discord, please! He didn't mean you any harm, and you know it! He's an old stallion, he's barely been here long enough to know anything about you! He-"
"THEN IT WAS HIGH TIME HE FOUND OUT!" the Phantom barked, retreating to the shadows, his cape billowing behind him. Yet he had not gone. Madame Luna could still hear his breathing, could still feel his presence in the small space.
"Is he dead?" she asked, her voice heavy with weariness. How could she approach Fluttershy with such news? "Discord?"
"You know my rules, madam."
"DAMN YOUR RULES DISCORD! IS THE STALLION DEAD?" she had had enough of this nonsense.
There was a long pause, so long that Madame Luna wasn't sure if he was still there or not. Discord had the uncanny ability to move about like...well, for lack of better words, a ghost. Unseen, unheard, yet very present.
Finally, the silence was broken. "You forget yourself madam," he hissed from the shadows. "You forget that I allow you to enter my world. You forget that you are a guest...and you forget that I have the power to control whether those booby traps that you pass so easily go off or not. I do not take orders from you...and I do not answer questions unless I wish to."
Madame Luna felt a cold shiver run up and down her body. Was he declaring her an enemy like all the others? The last thing the Opera House needed was a war, and she knew that if Discord's madness was driven beyond the point of no return, a war was what would happen. The ghastly things he was doing right now were by no means the crescendo of his fiendishness.
"Leave madam," Discord whispered; the harshness of his voice was somewhat less, but the coldness remained very present. "Go home and rest. The dance has much to work on before the next opera."
Madame Luna's face tightened into one of anger. How dare he tell her how to properly run a ballet company! She was a dancer, not he! "Stick to your compositions Discord," she hissed. "I do not tell you how to write music, do not tell me how to train my dancers."
Discord found himself taken aback by her words. "This is my theater madam, I run things here!" the rage was boiling in his voice. "And you shall deliver that note-"
"DELIVER IT YOURSELF!" she shouted, throwing the note on the floor and stomping on it with her boot. "I am done playing your messenger," she hissed to the shadows. She turned on her heel then and began to stalk off, her black skirts billowing behind her.
"HOW DARE YOU-"
"NO!" she cried out, wheeling around. "How dare you! How dare you threaten an innocent old stallion, how dare you commit heartless murders, how dare you patronize my years of extensive research and training in the art of dance!" she had never felt such fury. "You know something Discord...I am sorry that the world turned its back on you because of your face and what you are. I'm sorry that the world spat at you, that the world denied you, that the world caged you and then laughed at you and called you names. But how you are perceived now is your own responsibility! You control the monster, not the world! The way you show no compassion for anyone or anything! The way you threaten others, the way you...you use mares for whatever lusts you crave! And the way you talk...how this is your theater, how these are your rules! Do you have any idea who you are sounding like?" There was a long silence. She took a deep breath, not sure if he were still there or not, but knew she had to say it. "I see no difference Discord...no difference whatsoever between yourself and Prince Blueblood!" With that, she turned and picked up her skirts and ran, not looking back, not once.
Discord was in the shadows, he had not gone. He had stayed that whole time, listening to her words, wanting to lash out, wanting to scream, but he was frozen. Did he breathe? Did his heart beat? Did he have a heart?
What did she mean by that? No difference between himself and the Prince...there were PLENTY of differences! Discord appreciated music, all the Prince cared about was money! The Prince was this blonde Apollo figure, while Discord was more like the disfigured Hephaestus. Yes, Discord paid for mares to...but he did not leave them pregnant and ruin their promising careers! He groaned and stamped his cloven feet, damning his uncontrollable lusts for flesh, damning all that the world had done to him! He couldn't go out into the world! He had been put into a carnival freak show! His own mother had abandoned him as a child! What else could he do? He had no choice but to go into hiding, and if no one else was going to care for the Opera House, for the art of music, then he had to! He looked like a monster, but he was not like the Prince, he wasn't...he wasn't...he...he...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" in a roar of rage, Discord headed down one of his many passageways, down to his labyrinth, down to his hell, down to his sanctuary! And while he fled, he remembered the mare, remembered the body that he found himself lusting for when he first saw her there in the cavern, her fiery spirit shining like a beacon in her wild blue eyes.
And he had never been more disgusted with himself. He actually thought himself above the Prince, but he realized that by doing what he intended, by turning the mare into an unwilling sexual slave for his own pleasure...
Madame Luna was right, damn it! He was no different than the Prince!
He shouldn't go to her; he should leave her where she was and not have anything to do with her! He could release her like her father, send her away, be sure the Opera House would not take her back, get rid of her as he got rid of the old stallion and never be plagued by her beauty again! That would make him different from the Prince!
Yet despite these thoughts he found himself running, flying it seemed, through the dark tunnels, through the dimly lit chambers, past rocks, past the underground lake, past deeply cut pits that he truly believed led to hell itself. He flew to the area of his world where he knew she was kept, and he did not stop till he reached the cavern.
It was quiet. Too quiet.
He listened, but he couldn't hear the sound of her breathing.
He swiftly approached the cage, not caring if she screamed, just having to see her, not sure why, but feeling the need to simply look at her face, look into her sky-colored eyes and somehow, find something in them that resembled what part of humanity he had, that did not reflect the Prince, but reflected his own monster, that reflected himself.
He gripped the bars, unsure what to say. What was her name? He had heard the dance mares say it often...Flattershy? Flittershy? FLUTTERSHY! Yes! But should he reveal that he knew her name? Did it matter? He simply wanted to look at her! Her sleeping form would suffice, anything, just...
He froze.
On the ground, inside the cage, lay a blanket and several costumes that had fallen from the hangers they had been hung on. He didn't have to peer inside to see what had happened. He already knew, for on the ground, shining dimly from the torch light lay a glistening hair pin.
And next to the pin, was an open door. |
The Opera Phantom Discord | Hero | Hero
Empty.
The cage was empty.
She was gone. She had promised to take her father's place, and now she was gone.
He felt like a fool. He had actually felt sorry for her! Felt sorry for taking her prisoner, for frightening her, and for the threats he had made. And he had flown to this cage, hoping that somehow he could find some thread of humanity within him by simply looking at her.
And she had abandoned him.
"RAINBOW DASH! SHORTROUND! RARITY!"
Within moments, the others arrived, looking frantic and worried when they saw their master, his whole body rigid with fury.
"The mare is gone..." he growled.
Rarity gasped and looked at the cage, seeing the open door. She should have stayed, she shouldn't have left, the poor filly. She blamed herself completely for this.
"She's out?" Rainbow Dash sputtered, her body beginning to tremble. "She'll tell...she'll...she'll tell the others...they'll...they'll be down here after us!" her voice broke into hysterics. In two strides Discord had Rainbow Dash by the back of the neck and slapped the mare so hard, she would have stumbled backward had not Discord been holding her upright.
"FIND HER!" he hissed. "She will not tell anyone...find her NOW!"
Shortround and Rainbow Dash turned and left the cavern as quickly as they had arrived. Rarity was holding a hoof to her mouth, looking frightened and worried. "She'll get herself killed Master...she does not know these tunnels like us! She'll-"
"Fetch Derpy and look for her..." he growled, turning his back on the little mare.
"But Master-"
"DO AS I SAY!" he roared, turning abruptly, his amber eyes wild with rage. The mare squealed and ran away, calling for Derpy as she went. Discord felt his body sag, like a weight had been lifted. The rage of the moment had passed, but only momentarily. He needed to quench his fury, and there was only one way that he could turn his anger into art; turn his madness into beauty.
He raced to his private cavern, the place where he kept his beloved organ, and once there, threw off his cape, his hat, even his dress coat, and seated himself at the bench, sweat dripping down his forehead, his heart pumping wildly, as he drew the score to the music stand. His leather-gloved claws moved over the familiar keys, and without looking down, he began to play. The song was his own composition, one he wrote during a very bad mood, and it was a song that could either soothe the rage he felt...or kindle it to wildfire.
The only good thing about emotions was the artistic drive they gave for his compositions. He played passionately, his claw and paw large and rough, yet so skilled and quick, moving over the keys like a harsh caress. He pounded on them harder as he felt the fury grow more and more in his blood. He played faster, his whole body shaking with each note, the organ causing the ceiling and walls to tremble. His body was tense, rigid, every muscle rippling in his back, shoulders, and arms, and yet he continued to play, not caring for the pain he could feel, or the blood that dripped from his blistered claw and paw.
In a tiny corner of the dark room, Fluttershy lifted her head from behind a stone pony she had been using as a hiding place. Once she had escaped her prison, her joy was short lived, for she realized all too soon that her true prison was this underground labyrinth of rock and shadow. She moved quietly through the stone caverns so as not to attract attention from the Phantom's servants. There had to be a way out, if she could find the way in which she had come...but then strange things began to happen. She had turned a corner, decided it was the wrong way, and upon turning around, found the way she had come blocked off. When or how this happened she was unsure, but she realized that she was in far greater danger outside of the cage than in it.
She continued on her unknown journey, her hooves the only thing that guided her, for she had no lamp and there was no light in these tunnels. She heard voices overhead, and then she heard the furious scream of the Phantom; he had just learned of her escape. She had to hurry.
She moved as quickly as possible, her hooves stretched out and unsure, but she continued moving. Several times she stumbled and fell, feeling her skirts ripping, but not caring, forcing herself up and moving onward. Then, up ahead, she saw light. It was dim, but it was still light. She moved towards it, faster and faster, gasping as she felt her leg cut against something sharp. She bit her lip and held back the painful cry, especially as she realized her leg was bleeding somewhat. But she continued, and finally, she reached the dimly lit place, and found herself staring in wonder at her new surroundings.
It was a large cavern, bigger than some of the others she had seen. There were lush Persian rugs on the ground, silver candle operas, and vibrate medieval tapestries that hung from the walls. There were mahogany chairs and tables, covered with musical instruments and piles upon piles of parchment. She looked at one pile, and realized that it was a musical score. No...an opera! One that she had never heard of...Don Juan Triumphant.
A breeze rushed through the cavern and made a soft howling sound. She looked up to see what caused the sound and gasped loudly at the sight of the magnificent pipe organ that seemed imbedded with the rock. She began to approach it, but then heard a noise...like footsteps...in the distance.
Somepony was coming. Or worse, he was coming. She had to hide. Somewhere, anywhere! She saw a curtained area off to her left and dashed for it, flinging the curtains open, looking for a place to hide, but finding instead...a bedroom? Yes, a large mahogany bed that looked as if it belonged to a Middle Eastern sheik. It was covered with soft sheer veils, large purple and scarlet gold-trimmed pillows, and a lush blanket that looked like velvet and silk combined. Was this the Phantom's bedchamber? It reminded her of something she had read in a gothic romance, but all thoughts of such things vanished when she heard the footsteps quickly approaching. She could not hide here, what if he came in? Her only other option was behind a large stone pony that filled a tiny corner at the far end of the organ room. And so she hid, and she waited, and she held her breath as the raging Phantom entered the chamber, throwing off some of his garments, and began to play most passionately at the organ.
She bit her lip as she watched him. The way he played...as if he was tortured by something. She had never seen anypony play with such passion, or with such fury. She should be afraid, yet she wasn't...she was intrigued.
The haunting music sounded familiar in some way to her, like she had heard it before in a dream. She found herself being drawn from her hiding place, rising slowly and softly from the shadows and stepping into the soft candlelight. He had his back to her; the emotion in which he played had all his attention, she even wondered if he could hear her. She knew that the others would be looking for her, yet she believed she had a better chance of escaping with them in pursuit than with the Phantom. This was her chance. She could slip out, unnoticed, and seek an exit. She would find something, she was sure of it. She just had to do it before he realized she was behind him.
But a different voice gnawed at her. He had imprisoned her father, threatened to kill him, threatened her own life, and placed her in a cage. He was cruel, a villainous fiend that was more of a monster than any kind of pony. And perhaps because he was a living being and not a ghost, was what made him so monstrous.
And she should seek out her revenge.
That was what the voice was telling her. What was he? Why does he wear a mask? Why does he live beneath the Opera House? What is his secret? She wanted to know, and had a feeling that by removing his mask, she would learn it. It all lay there, the answer to all her questions, beneath that mask, and all she had to do was reach out and grab it. He wouldn't know; he didn't know that she was there right now, and before he realized what had happened, she would have her revenge. Revenge for holding her prisoner, revenge for harming her father, revenge for all those other people who had lost their lives to the Phantom's wrath.
Four steps. She was four steps away from him. Four...three...
No! Just run and leave!
Two steps. She was only two steps away. His body was slumped over the organ, every muscle tense, every fiber of his being locked with the music. And yet he was still unaware that she was behind him.
Leave Fluttershy! Leave now! Don't do this, you'll regret it!
One step. She was only one step away. She could easily reach out and grab the mask...one tiny step was all it took.
You should have run...you'll never escape now.
Discord was lost in the music. The song had changed from the furious sound in which it had begun to a lonely melody filled with both passion and despair. A song of longing, a song of need; a song that was his autobiography. He played with such emotion that it wasn't until he began to feel the breeze against his deformed cheek that he saw the shadow in the candlelight behind him and noticed the curtain to his bedchamber was fully open, with a small trail of blood on the floor.
And then he felt nothing.
His mask was gone. His face exposed. The cold air hit it like a knife, and he stumbled backwards at the shock of it.
Fluttershy stumbled back too, shocked at what had just happened. Without even thinking, she had reached out and grabbed a hold of his mask and now held it in her small hooves. The Phantom sprang to life from his musical enchantment and whirled around to face her, his amber eyes wild and filled with shock, fear, and rage. Rage most especially.
"YOU!" he shouted, his paw flying to his face to cover his exposure.
But it was too late. She had seen it.
Fluttershy stared, her eyes wide in horror. Her mouth fell open, as if wanting to scream, but no sound came out. She stared at the sight of his misshapen deformity and felt her stomach tie up in knots, felt her knees go weak, and felt her head become light. The side of his face that she had unmasked was a mirror opposite to the other. His "normal" side was rough-skinned with a strong jaw line, like any pony who was a workpony. But the other...the skin was pulled over bones that seemed to want to poke through it. A part of his cheek was sunken in, almost looking skeletal, and several large deep red scars stretched out over the sunken flesh, looking like blood spots. His dark hair that fell across his face hid a nasty scar that looked as if someone had hit him with a rock and the wound had never healed, as if a part of his skull was missing, and only had hair growing over it. And his nose; on one side it looked like any nose would, perfectly sloped, but on the other, the slope of the nose stopped altogether, the nostril sunken in somewhat. His lip curled upward, exposing a few teeth in the corner, and a small pile of baggy flesh, that should have been where his cheek was, settled over the eyebrow. She had never seen anyone like this. She had never imagined anyone like this.
"YOU LITTLE WITCH!"
Fluttershy stared up at the Phantom as he advanced upon her, his paw still tightly clamped to his face. "DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!"
Fluttershy backed away, her body trembling as he advanced. She hadn't realized how he towered over her. He could easily crush her in two by just wrapping his slim body around her...and she had a feeling he wanted too. "DON'T JUST STAND THERE! SPEAK YOU LITTLE VIPER!"
Fluttershy trembled and cowered, backing up more and more as he closed in. She couldn't speak, all she could do was stare and damn herself for her foolishness. Her hooves were shaking so that she dropped the mask, but in lightening speed, he reached out and grabbed it before it hit the ground. Just as quickly, he placed it back on his face, which calmed him somewhat, but his rage was still kindling. "Why...didn't you tell me..." he growled, "...that you wanted to see the PHANTOM!" he roared.
Fluttershy squealed as he threw his arms out, grabbing hold of a table and throwing to the ground. "I...I..." she stammered.
"WHAT?" he roared again, grabbing hold of a chair and throwing it against the wall, causing it to splinter and crumble apart.
"I...I'm s-s-s-sorry..." she barely whispered.
"SORRY? YOU'RE SORRY?" he bellowed, causing the ceiling to shake. "YOU'RE ONLY SORRY THAT YOU SAW WHAT YOU SAW!" he accused, to which he threw another chair across the room.
Fluttershy cried out and turned on her heel to flee. As she did so she could hear the Phantom's thunderous voice shout, "GET OUT! GET OUT!"
She ran; ran through the darkness, not caring what she encountered along the way, just having to leave. She gasped when she felt something hard, and almost screamed when she felt it move.
"GYSPY MARE!"
Fluttershy looked up to see Derpy grinning at her. "I f-f-found her!" she shouted down the tunnels. "She's h-h-h-here!"
Rarity was there in a matter of seconds. "My dear!" she panted. "Where h-have you been?" she asked while catching her breath. "We've b-b-been so w-worried!"
Fluttershy looked back and forth between the two figures, and then just over Derpy's shoulder to see Shortround and Rainbow Dash come into view. Behind them she saw...sky? Was it her imagination? No! Shortround and Rainbow Dash had just come from outside! They were shutting a door behind them!
"Derpy!" Shortround cried. "Did you just say you found her?"
"Yes!" she cried out joyfully. "S-s-she's h-here! She's-"
Fluttershy pushed past them and bolted for the door where the other two figures had just emerged. The others were so shocked that they didn't have time to react. "WAIT!" Rarity cried out. "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" But Fluttershy didn't look back, she just ran as fast as she could, through the door and out into the Maris night.
They may pursue her, she was unsure, so she didn't look back. She was free! But she would not relax, she continued running, down long dark allies and past old crumbling buildings. There was no moon, no stars; Fluttershy could smell rain in the air. Yet she continued running, happy for the dim lit lamps of the Maris streets, happy for the air and wind that was hitting her face. She had no idea where she was, or where exactly she was heading. Maris was still very new to her, and at night, she couldn't tell what street was what, but she ran till her sides throbbed and she was gasping for air. She found herself lost in one of the many back allies of the city, one with a dead end and no indication of where she was.
She knew she should turn around, turn and try to find a way home...or to the police at the very least to try and find her father, but the second she took a step, she cried out as pain shot through her leg. She remembered how she had cut her leg back in the tunnel, and gasped as she saw the trail of blood she had left behind her. She bent down and ripped off a scrap of fabric from her already torn dress and proceeded to dab at the wound and bind it. She winced with pain as tied the knot of her homemade bandage, but all thoughts of pain disappeared when a voice spoke over her.
"Well, well, well...hello pretty thing."
Fluttershy bolted upright at the voice, seeing three large burly looking ponies standing before her, all smelling of alcohol, cigarettes, and vomit. It was enough to make Fluttershy gag. "Been a long time since I've had a mare," one of the stallions remarked. He had a large gut that hung over his trousers and his clothes reeked of sweat and urine. It was understandable why a mare hadn't gone near him for quite some time.
"Come with us pretty," another stallion belched, reaching out for her. Fluttershy stepped back, lifting her eyes skyward and wondering why all these horrible things were occurring in one night. The stallion burped again and took a few more steps towards her. "Come on, we can go somewhere quiet...we'll pay you well."
The other two snickered at the comment, while Fluttershy stared wide eyed at them. They thought her a prostitute? She knew she was dirty and her dress was torn, but she did not think she looked like a lady of the night from that alone!
"I'm not for sale," Fluttershy hissed. Unfortunately they were blocking the only way out of the ally and when the three of them stood side by side, it was like standing in front of a brick wall. She was trapped and she knew it...she just couldn't show that she knew it.
One of the stallions frowned at her statement. "Our money is just as good as any other ponies," he grumbled. "Come on...been a long night, and we want some company."
"No," Fluttershy stated again, her jaw set, her eyes steady, while her mind was screaming for help. She could pretend to be what they thought she was, pretend so that they would let her pass, thinking she was leading them back to her bordello, and then make a run for it. She was sure she could outrun three drunken over-weight louts, but her leg wouldn't carry her far, the very idea of running caused it to throb with pain. Also, from the look of these ponies, Fluttershy had a feeling they could care less of where everything took place. They probably expected her to service them right there in that ally, which would explain the mud on their clothes and the stench of urine that perfumed them. While they may not be able to run fast, she knew they could still be dangerous and she had to play things very carefully.
"No?" one of them growled. "Why not? You saying that Cranky Doodle Donkey ain't good enough for you?"
Cranky Doodle Donkey...why did that name sound so familiar? She looked closer and realized that the pony speaking was no pony at all, but a donkey. Suddenly, he lunged for her and Fluttershy easily twirled out of his reach, and then it all dawned on her. This was the same donkey that had lunged at her back stage at the Opera House on that first day! And apparently Cranky hadn't forgotten the incident either, for his eyes went wide with realization after he recovered himself from his unsuccessful attempt of grabbing the mare.
"You..." he whispered, looking at Fluttershy, the realization dawning more and more. There was a wild look in his eyes and Fluttershy swallowed a growing lump in her throat. No amount of twirling would help her for long. "You...you cost me my job," he accused.
Fluttershy stood with her chin up. "You cost yourself your own job, all I did was step out of the waAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" She cried out as suddenly a stallion lunged at her and caught her around the middle, holding her wriggling and struggling body against his over-grown beer gut.
"I got her Cranky! I have her! And..." he grunted as she continued struggling against him. "She's quite a hellcat, this one!" he laughed.
"LET ME GO AT ONCE!" she screamed. "RELEASE ME! HELP! HELP!"
"Cover her mouth with something!" Cranky hissed to the stallion holding her. "We don't want all of Maris coming!" Fluttershy continued screaming even after the stallion who had caught her placed a large disgusting hoof over her mouth. She gagged as she could smell and taste the filth from his body.
"You know this mare?" the third pony of the group asked Cranky. "She's not a prostitute?"
Cranky shrugged his shoulders. "All mares are whores, that's my motto in life. Whores to be used whenever you need one," he chuckled. Fluttershy's eyes narrowed with hate at the donkey's words. She kept wriggling and squirming against her captor who was now showing signs of struggle with holding onto her.
"God almighty, she's a hellcat!" the stallion who was holding her grunted. "Careful Cranky, she may lash out."
Cranky Doodle Donkey spit on the ground, a sign that he had no worries whatsoever. "Let's open this pretty package!" the other stallion cried out, reaching for Fluttershy's dress. Fluttershy struggled even harder when she realized the stallion's intentions.
"Ah!" cried out the one holding her. "Stop it!" he ordered, although she continued to struggle. "It felt nice having her delicious rump wriggle against me, but now it's hard to hold onto her!"
"Shut up," Cranky growled, and pushed the stallion out of the way. "I'll unwrap this flower...and I get her first."
"No fair!" protested his third companion. "The last time we had a mare, you had her first! She was too tired when she got to me!" Cranky simply grabbed the stallion by the collar of his shirt and glared at him. The stallion quickly relented. "Fine, you can have her first," he whimpered cowardly.
Fluttershy's eyes went wide when she saw the evil smirk on the former stagehoof as he reached out and much to her horror, grabbed both sides of her dress and ripped it apart, leaving her only in her corset and undergarments. She screamed in protest beneath the hoof that covered her mouth, not believing this was actually happening. She was better off with the Phantom.
"Mmmm...pretty," Cranky grinned, eyeing her body from behind the pale white fabric that covered her. His large grubby hoof reached out to touch her, and Fluttershy summoned up all her strength, before swinging her leg out and kicking him HARD in the groin, and then when he dropped to his knees, in the chin. The stallion holding her cried out Cranky's name, and at that point, Fluttershy bit down HARD on the stallion's hoof, causing him to yowl in pain. His blood dripped from her mouth, and she wriggled herself loose from his grip. Before the other stallion could advance upon her, Fluttershy pushed the now howling stallion towards the other, and the two ran into each other, causing them both to fall down. Without another look, she took off, wincing at the pain in her leg, but fighting through it, she just had to get out of the ally, she just-
"AAAAAH!" she screamed as she felt a something hit her ankle and knock her down to the muddy ground. Cranky Doodle Donkey, who was still gripping his balls in one hoof, had reached out and tripped her, succeeding in twisting it in just a way that would cause her to sprain herself. She would not be running now.
"You little BITCH!" he spat, his large body flopping on top of hers. "I'll teach you! I'll show you!" Fluttershy screamed and cried, her face now wet with tears as she could feel his dirty hooves reaching into her undergarments, seeking out her legs which she kept tightly shut. "You'll like this, I promise you that," he grinned wickedly, his disgusting mouth coming down on hers. Fluttershy was able to move her head away just in time, and she screamed as she felt his tongue and lips on her skin. She wriggled, squirmed, kicked, bit, scratched, whatever she could do to free herself. "Hold her down, damn it!" Cranky yelled to one of his friends. "And shut up!" he shouted, shaking Fluttershy roughly, before raising his arm to backhoof her.
Fluttershy prepared herself to feel the stinging fire spread across her cheek, but it never came. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" Her eyes flew open at the sound of one of Cranky's friends whimpering in fear, and standing just over her, she saw the Phantom, gripping Cranky's arm in his large leather clad claw.
"I wouldn't, if I were you," he growled dangerously.
Cranky stared up at the dark being before him, his eyes wide in both horror and shock. He told the Phantom's tales to frighten the dance mares, but...he never truly believed the ghost stories. Yet now, as he gazed up at the . . . thing clad in black, with a cape billowing around its body, and its face covered in the shadows, save for the outline of a pale mask, he knew...he knew this was the infamous Phantom of the Opera. The Angel of Death himself.
The stallion who had his hoof bitten rose and with a shout charged at the Phantom, but he easily side stepped the stallion, who went headfirst into a pile of garbage. The other stallion rose and attacked, but Discord whirled around before lashing out with his leg, kicking the stallion in the gut, causing him to double-over, and then proceeding to elbow him hard in the spine.
With those two on the ground groaning in pain, Discord then turned his attention on Cranky Doodle Donkey, who was still on top of the costume mare. "If you release her now, I'll let you and your friends live...if you do not...well, you know the stories Doodle."
Cranky Doodle Donkey stared up at the Phantom, his mouth open but no sound coming forth. However, a grin slowly spread across his features as he saw one of his friends rise up slowly behind the Phantom, holding a long shard of wood in his hoof, aiming it at Discord's head. "I don't take orders from a masked freak," Cranky spat.
Discord sighed. "You just did a very stupid thing, monsieur."
Discord's senses were keen, like a wolf, and he bent just in time as the stallion swung at him with the wood. He kicked the stallion hard in the balls, then took the wood from his hooves and used it as a club against him, hitting him hard across the face with it. Cranky stared in horror and turned his attentions to his other friend who was still groaning on the ground. "DON'T JUST SIT THERE! FIGHT THE BASTARD!"
Fluttershy took this opportunity to bite down on his hoof, causing him to yowl in pain and remove his filthy body just somewhat off her. With all her strength, she kicked her knee up which made contact with Cranky's groin, before screaming at Discord, "BEHIND YOU!"
Discord whirled around at that second to escape the lunge caused by Cranky's other friend, who was holding a knife. The blade did however make contact with Discord's cape, tearing a large hole in it. He growled and grabbed hold of the stallion's hoof, twisting it till he dropped the blade. "I love this cape," he hissed, before kicking the stallion with his boot, sending him backwards into a wall.
Yet once again, as soon as he was done fighting one stallion, the other recovered and leapt to his hooves, attacking Discord again, this time throwing his whole body on top of the Phantom's. Discord was not prepared for this attack, and therefore taken by surprise by the burly stallion's strength. He winced, but did not cry out in pain as he felt the stallion punch his lower back. He threw his cape off then and wrapped it tightly around the stallion's head, causing him to throw blind punches in the air, to which Discord kicked the stallion hard in his left shin, before punching him even harder in the jaw.
Cranky was now recovered and grabbed Fluttershy by her hair, causing her to cry out painfully as he lifted her off the ground. "YOU!" he shouted at the Phantom. Discord turned around warily, seeing Cranky hold the mare tightly in one arm, while the other revealed a pistol to which he now held to her head.
Fluttershy who had been struggling stopped as she felt the cold metal of the pistol touch her temple. "DON'T TAKE ANOTHER STEP!" Cranky ordered, thrusting the pistol hard against Fluttershy. "OR I'LL BLOW HER BRAINS ALL ACROSS THIS ALLY!"
Discord did not say a word, he simply faced Cranky head on, his back to his other enemies, knowing he was vulnerable to whatever violence they wished to send his way. He stretched his arms out from his sides, revealing a sword that hung from his right hip. "PUT THAT ON THE GROUND!" Cranky ordered, indicating to Discord's sword. Discord did not make a move, but calmly, removed the sword and, with excruciating slowness, placed it on the ground.
What game was he playing? Fluttershy had a feeling he knew what he was doing, or at least she hoped he did. She wasn't sure what was going to happen to her, and she was surprised the Phantom had followed her all this way. Why was he risking his life for hers? She had unmasked and humiliated him, she would have thought that of all ponies, he would take pleasure to see her death. Well, after Fleur. But why was he doing this...did he truly want to save her life? Or did he simply want to kill these monsters now...and then her later?
"Now..." Cranky said, trying to sound calm, but anyone could tell he truly wasn't. "You don't move...you let me go...and I won't hurt the mare," he explained, backing down the ally with Fluttershy still held tightly to him.
"Let the mare go first," Discord ordered.
"SHE COMES WITH ME!" Cranky shouted, before quickly calming himself. "When I know you're not following me...then I'll release her...but right now, she comes with me."
"No," Discord whispered, shaking his head. "That's not how it works." Fluttershy gasped as she watched him take a step towards them.
"STOP RIGHT THERE OR I WILL SHOOT HER!"
Discord paused...and then took another step.
"I MEAN IT!"
Fluttershy squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the hot tears pierce her skin as they ran down her face.
"Why not point that gun at me Doodle?" Discord reasoned. "Killing me will actually solve all your problems."
Fluttershy's eyes flew open. Was he serious?
Cranky Doodle Donkey stared at the Phantom in shock. Discord took another step closer. "After all, it will answer that question of whether the Phantom of the Opera is truly a ghost...or a monster." He took another step. "And think of the fame, Doodle. The fame you'll receive as the donkey who killed the horrific Phantom." He took another step.
Cranky shook his head. "This mare means something to you!" he accused.
"Well she is amusing, after all you lost your job because of her."
"SHUT UP!" Cranky shouted, now aiming the pistol at Discord.
And that was what he wanted. In a flash, Discord's paw stomped down on top of the handle of the sword in which he laid on the ground, causing the blade to leap in the air, and before Doodle could react to what was happening, Discord gripped the sword and lashed out, cutting off Cranky's hoof that held the pistol, the blood spewing out like a fountain and splattering Cranky in the face.
"MY GOD!" he screamed, falling to the mud and gripping his lifeless bleeding arm to his body. "MY GOD!"
Fluttershy stared in shock at what had just happened, her own face and body splattered with Cranky's blood. She gasped when she saw Cranky's friends rise to their feet, each groaning in pain, each clutching the bleeding wounds on their bodies, but nothing they had compared to what Cranky was suffering. Discord turned immediately and lifted his sword at them. "Leave now," he growled. "I'm not normally this forgiving...in fact I never am...so I advise you to take this rare opportunity, and flee for your lives." he growled, before adding, "and don't bother coming back for your friend."
The two stallions didn't need to be told twice. They fled the ally with their tails between their legs, like the cowardly dogs that they were. Cranky was still wailing like a banshee on the ground. He reached out and grabbed his now dismembered hoof, cradling it like a mother would cradle a baby. He removed the pistol from the now lifeless hoof, and gazed up at Discord in rage. Suddenly, his sobs turned to a cry of fury and he lifted the pistol to Discord's head.
"NO!" Fluttershy screamed, grabbing Cranky Doodle Donkey's shirt sleeve with her teeth and tugging hard, causing him to reel back, but it was too late. The pistol had fired its shot.
Discord whirled around at the sound of Fluttershy's scream. When he saw what Doodle was doing, he wasted no time, took the sword and slashed at the former stagehoof's throat, causing his life's blood to spill out over chest. The pistol had been fired, but the bullet did not make the contact it had intended. Fluttershy quickly released the gurgling Cranky, stepping away as she watched him convulse and his life leave his body, till he lay still like a rock in the mud.
It was raining. Fluttershy wasn't sure when it had started, but her hair was sticking to her face and she could feel what was left of her clothes clinging to her body like paper. She lifted her eyes then to the Phantom, not sure what to say or do, but gasped when she saw him fall to his knees before her.
"Good God, w-w-what is it?" she asked, going to his side in an instant. She caught him before he crumbled to the ground, her arm going around him, trying to prop him up as best she could.
His breathing was heavy, ragged almost. He was groaning in pain, and...blood. There was blood on the white linen shirt he wore. She had thought it was Cranky Doodle Donkey's blood, but no...it was coming from somewhere on him!
She pushed back his shirt, gasping in horror at finding the source of the blood. The bullet hadn't missed him like she had thought. Cranky was aiming at the Phantom's head, but instead, the bullet had hit him in the chest, just below the shoulder. Fluttershy's clothes were soaked and caked with mud, they would do no good for a bandage. She then began to rip the sleeve off his shirt and pressed it against his chest. "You need to hold this there," she instructed. "Please...you need to hold this over your wound...you...monsieur? MONSIEUR!" His eyes had rolled back and he lay lifeless in her arms.
She wasted no time but bent her head over his chest. Yes, she could still hear a heartbeat, although it was very faint. She had no idea where she would be able to find a doctor; she wasn't even sure where she was! No, the only option was to take him back to the Opera House. True, she knew she was free and could run away from this place and pretend nothing had happened...but she refused to lower herself to such selfishness. She would not let a pony . . or whatever he was, who had risked his life for hers, die in the mud. She looked all around her and spotted several barrels of garbage lying on top of an old wheelbarrow. She pushed the barrels away and then used what strength she could to lift the Phantom onto the wheelbarrow. After she was sure he was secure, she draped his torn cape across his body, then proceeded to move him out of the ally and back to the Opera House. She only prayed that she would find it before her rescuer perished. |
The Opera Phantom Discord | Plans | Plans
He was dead.
He had to be. He felt nothing; his body was lighter than air. All he could see was blackness, a thick blackness that enveloped his entire body.
And yet he could hear voices. Angels? No, he would never be in a place where there were angels. He had been abandoned long ago, and he wasn't sure if the devil would have him either.
Then he felt the pain. It shot through his body like lightening; a searing wrenching pain that caused him to hiss and groan in agony.
The voices that were mere murmurs came to a stop, then he heard the sound of hooves shuffling around him and felt something cold touch his forehead. He was alive? Impossible! And yet his eyes began to flutter ever so softly and he could see the dim candlelight shining through the darkness.
Where was he? He heard one voice...a strange voice, a mare's voice, call out to somepony. He felt a small soft hoof touch his arm, then move to his forehead to lift the cool object and brush it across his cheeks.
His cheeks! His face was exposed! His mask was gone!
Discord bolted upright to Fluttershy's great surprise, his eyes wide and crazed, his muscles tense, and his right paw quickly moving to cover his exposed cheek.
"WHERE'S MY MASK?"
"Calm down, please-"
"GIVE ME MY DAMN MASK! GIVE IT TO ME NOW!"
Fluttershy stood her ground despite every fiber of her being telling her to flee. She had seen the wrath of this creature, it was unlike anything she had ever experienced. He could kill her if he wished it, and she knew there was a delicate strand between sanity and madness with him. She was walking that strand and it was in danger of breaking.
"Please, you must lie down, the bandage is still fresh, it could break-"
Discord released his scarred face and grasped her arm in a powerful death-like grip. "Give...me...my...mask!" he hissed between each word, his amber eyes like molten lava, burning through her own.
He twisted her arm ever so slightly to show her he meant business. Fluttershy bit her lip in an attempt to show him she didn't feel the pain he was causing her. Reasoning was going to be impossible. "Shortround!" she called out. The stallion appeared from the other side of the room. He had retreated there when he heard Discord's angry command. "Give your master his mask," she told him.
Shortround looked at Fluttershy for a long moment then glanced at his master. A few hours ago Fluttershy had stormed through one of the Opera House's secret entrances with Discord bleeding in a wheelbarrow. She announced what had happened and that he needed medical attention right away. However, calling for a doctor was out of the question, as Fluttershy soon learned after Rainbow Dash fled down one of the dark passages and Derpy calmed down from her panicking. She and the others had to take things into their own hooves; remove the bullet, stitch up the wound, and somehow bring his fever down. To do this, his shirt and mask had to be removed. "It's alright Shortround," Fluttershy whispered.
Shortround shuffled forward and held the mask out to his master. Discord moved quickly, grabbing the mask and then shoving Shortround aside. "NEVER ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN AGAIN!" he roared at the trembling man.
"There's no need for that!" Fluttershy shouted in Shortround's defense.
Discord turned to the mare, his eyes wide with shock at the tone of her voice. Who did she think she was? SHE WAS HIS PRISONER! SHE HAD NO RIGHT TO-
A burst of pain split through his chest and he found himself collapsing back against the plush Persian pillows on his bed. "See? You need to calm yourself or you're going to make it worse!" Fluttershy scolded, gently dabbing at the bandage which was beginning to seep blood again. "Shortround, find Rarity and tell her I need fresh bandages." The dwarf nodded his head and quickly shuffled his way out of the room.
Discord winced with pain and moved his paw to his chest. "W-w-w-what's...w-w-what's happened to me?"
Fluttershy bit her lip and gently brought a cool wet cloth to Discord's chest to dab at the blood. "You don't remember?"
Discord growled his frustration. "Now if I did, do you think I would be asking you such a question?" he barked, before hissing in a breath as the pain swept his chest again. "I...I remember you running away!" he groaned.
Fluttershy ignored his sarcasm. "You were shot-"
"What?" Discord stared at Fluttershy in disbelief. He had no memory of being shot! When did this happen? And then...slowly, like ripples in a pool, it came back to him. The ponies he fought in the ally, and the donkey, Cranky Doodle. He had the mare by the hair, threatening to kill her. He had a pistol, and Discord remembered "removing" the pistol from Doodle the only way he knew best. But everything after that...was darkness.
"He...he tried to kill you," Fluttershy explained, gently dabbing at the wound. "He missed just barely."
Discord groaned as she dabbed at the blood. "Seems to me he was right on target."
"You're very lucky," Fluttershy whispered. "The bullet didn't hit your lungs or your heart."
"Bravo to me," he muttered. "Perhaps it was not luck...simply the fact that Doodle is a very bad shot-AHHH!" he roared as she dabbed somewhat too roughly over his wound. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"
Fluttershy jumped at the change of his tone, however her feelings towards the Phantom had changed since he first took her prisoner. Oh she despised him still, that had not changed, but her fear of him had melted, and now she found that he was not the fearsome creature he pretended to be, simply a spoiled creature who threw great tantrums when he did not have his way, be that with the opera itself, or anything. "I'm trying to help you," she hissed at him, feeling her patience waste away.
"Help me?" he asked menacingly. "I do not recall asking for your help...and it rather feels like you're trying TO KILL ME!" He collapsed back against the pillows as the pain seared through his body, sucking in sharp breaths and gritting his teeth.
"You need to lie still!" she ordered. "You already broke the previous stitches, and I've never sewn flesh together before, so they aren't the strongest. Please, just lie still." Discord watched her through narrow slits as he saw her prepare a needle, burning the tip in a candle flame before lacing thread through it.
"You will keep that thing away from me," he growled low and deep.
Fluttershy was not intimated at all. "Hold still; the sooner you let me do this, the sooner it will be over and I can leave you in peace."
She moved to pierce the area of the wound, but Discord would have none of it. He was wriggling away from her like a babe who didn't want his medicine, and when she finally was able to make contact, he gave a roar as he felt the needle prick his already painful wound. "GET YOUR HOOVES OFF ME!"
That was it; her patience was gone. He wanted a fight? He was going to get one. "Perhaps if you listened to me it wouldn't HURT!"
His eyes widened for a moment, shocked that not only had she raised her voice to him, but that she was not intimated by him at all. "Need I remind you..." he growled. "That if you had not run away...this whole thing would not have happened?"
Fluttershy's eyes went wide at his accusation. Was he truly blaming this whole ordeal on her? "Perhaps if you hadn't thrown a chair at my head I wouldn't have run away!" she snapped.
"WELL YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN IN MY CHAMBERS, LET ALONE REMOVE MY MASK!"
"DO NOT BLAME ME FOR THAT! THIS WHOLE THING COULD HAVE BEEN TRULY AVOIDED IF YOU HADN'T TAKEN ME PRISONER!"
"I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN FORCED TO TAKE YOU PRISONER IF YOU HADN'T COME BELOW THE OPERA HOUSE IN THE FIRST PLACE!"
"Both of you stop it at once!"
Fluttershy and Discord turned to see Rarity standing in the entryway of the bedchamber, holding a basket full of bandages and clean scraps of cloth. Derpy stood just behind her, hovering in the shadows, holding a hoof over her mouth to keep from making a sound. It appeared she was trying to stifle some giggles.
"Honestly, the two of you, behaving like little fillies!" Rarity scolded, coming around Discord's bedside and handing the basket to Fluttershy, who was now a deep shade of red. Discord simply laid there, sulking and biting his lip as he felt Rarity tut at him before proceeding to sew up the wound that Fluttershy had begun. "There," she said with satisfaction after she finished her work. "That wasn't so hard now, was it?" she asked her master. Discord didn't say a word, he simply frowned heavenward.
"I'll dress the wound," Fluttershy whispered, removing a clean bandage from the basket. She glanced at Discord who's eyes continued to look elsewhere. What was he thinking? Was he embarrassed by this whole incident? After all, the infamous Phantom of the Opera now did not come across as frightening as he had before. Did he truly blame her for all this? Fluttershy quickly shook her head, wondering why she found herself caring about such things.
Rarity's voice broke Fluttershy's thoughts. "I'll make you some tea, Master, and perhaps some soup?"
"No, no tea and no soup!" Discord growled. "I'm not a filly to be coddled! Just...get out, all of you..."
Rarity rolled her eyes and turned, tugging on Derpy's hoof. Fluttershy moved to finish the bandage, but Discord began to fidget beneath her hooves. "I told you to leave, I want to be left alone!"
"I'll leave you as soon as I'm finished with this," she whispered, gathering any patience she could find.
Discord groaned and continued to sulk. "Why?" he finally asked.
Fluttershy was thrown by his question and looked at him, feeling extremely confused. "Why what?"
He groaned with exasperation. "Why are you doing this? Why did you bring me back here? If I recall, you had escaped, was that not your plan?" He didn't need an answer, he knew that was her intention. "You were free, and after the...incident, shall we say, you were still free...yet you brought me back here; why? I do not understand and I demand an answer!" he growled, pounding one of his paw and claw hard on the mattress.
Fluttershy sighed and eased herself away from him, the wound now properly dressed with a new clean bandage. "You saved my life," she whispered. "I was...simply returning the favor."
Discord rolled his eyes and made a sound of great disdain. "Do not flatter yourself my dear," he scoffed. "I am no prince and this is no fairy tale; I merely pursued you because I can't take the risk of you telling others about my lair. If it were just me, I wouldn't care...but it's not just me, there are others that depend on me to keep them safe, and I will not have some...country chit ruin our lives!"
His words did the trick; Fluttershy could tell that the sting of his tongue had indeed affected the costume mare. There were tears pooling in her eyes, he could see them shimmering in the candlelight, and for a brief moment, he felt the pangs of regret for what he had said. Somewhere, deep within his chest, he felt a pang squeeze at him and fill him with guilt. He shook his head, believing it to be his recent wound.
Fluttershy refused to cry before him; she was not going to show him that he had any power over her, especially her emotions. "I share your opinion sir," she said icily, lifting her chin in defiance. "Believe me, I had no 'romantic notions' with your so-called rescue; you are far from being a prince, monsieur," she spat. She rose to her hooves and quickly turned on her heel to leave the chamber at once.
"Just one moment!" he shouted.
Fluttershy didn't know why, but she stopped, her back facing him. "Explain to me why you felt the so-called need to remove my mask...again," he muttered. "Did you want a better look at the monster beneath? Had not your eyes received a good enough look earlier?"
His tone was dripping with sarcasm, and while she did not turn to see him, she could picture a smirk on his face. If she could see it, she would march over to him and slap it right off. "I had to remove your mask so I could tend to the fever that was raging within you," she explained. There was silence again between them, and once again, Discord felt that odd feeling stir within him. He opened his mouth to say something, but her words took him by surprise. "And the true reason I brought you back was the same reason in which you pursued me," she turned to face him, the tears once again shining in her eyes. "Your servants, if that is what they are to you, have been the only ones who have shown me any ounce of kindness or understanding since I've been brought here," she spat. "I know that they depend on you for their safety, and truly, it was them that filled my mind when I brought you back here," she lied. Here words held some truth, she had thought of the Phantom's servants, if that was what they were to him. Yet they were not the only ones that filled her head when she was rushing him back to the Opera House.
Discord felt the feeling in his chest harden to ice at her words. He didn't know why he was upset, but he was. "Do not think about trying to escape again," he warned. "You were lucky last time that you weren't killed in one of my tunnels."
Fluttershy lifted her chin once more before turning on her heel and leaving. "Say what you will...but I've already proven monsieur that no cage you create can hold me if I so wish it."
Blueblood was rubbing the bridge of his nose, preparing himself as his carriage slowly pulled up to the Maris Opera House. This was the last place he wanted to be.
His head was still pounding from the previous night's antics, and he knew once he set foot inside the damn place he would hear nothing but complaints and worries. It was customary, the day after an opera, for the managers to beg their most powerful patron to come and talk about the previous evening. Truth be told, the previous evening from a theatrical standpoint, had been a disaster. Blueblood was all too aware of this as several reviews in the morning paper did not feel the need to be tactful or kind. However, what did their reviews matter? The opening gala had been a success as far as he was concerned; the place had sold out, as were the next several operas. Besides, this was not the first time Fleur de Lis had performed badly, and still the tickets sold.
No, he knew all too well what would be on the managers lips the second they saw him, and his blood boiled at the very thought...
...the damn Phantom of the Opera.
Blueblood knew that ponies who worked in theater were a superstitious sort. He knew that before she performed,Fleur de Lis had a ritual she had to go through in order to prepare herself, even if it meant delaying the curtain from going up. Many of these superstitions were welcomed by the Prince; it was one way to lure unsuspecting dance and chorus mares into his bed. But this Phantom...of all the foolish things in the world to believe in...this Phantom irritated him beyond anything else.
For as long as Blueblood could remember, there were notes that the supposed Phantom had written, full of demands and directions for how the Opera House should be run. They were a complete joke of course, but they infuriated the Prince like nothing else. Why? Because Blueblood liked having complete control of everything in his life; his fortune, his mares, and his business ventures. The Opera House was one of his largest business ventures, and he would see it reach a success that no one thought possible. And that success would be entirely his own.
The so-called Phantom of the Opera represented someone who was outside his control, a nemesis that threatened the control he had over the Maris Opera House. How dare anyone else attempt to have power over his theater! Blueblood vowed that he would personally squash whoever was behind the mysterious "Phantom" notes like a roach beneath his boot.
"MONSIEUR BLUEBLOOD!" exclaimed both Flim and Flam as Blueblood entered their office. Just as he had suspected, they began to fill his ears with worries and concerns over the recent reviews in the morning papers, as well as inform him about the Phantom's threats and demands in their most recent letter.
Fleur de Lis was there as well, with Fancypants by her side attempting to win the heart she did not possess. She was too angry by the morning reviews to even attempt flirting with him. Blueblood knew that this would mean a much "longer" session in her dressing room in order to calm the vain prima donna down. What used to be pleasure was beginning to become a chore.
"AND THAT DAMN VIOLINIST! THIS IS ALL HIS FAULT! DID I NOT TELL YOU I NEED A VIOLIN TO PLAY BESIDE ME DURING THAT PARTICULAR SOLO? IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO FOLLOW MY NOTES WITHOUT IT!" Fleur de Lis screamed at the managers, who simply stared at her wide-eyed.
"Senora, we tried to explain to you last night-"
"You two are idiots!" Fancypants snorted. "You run this theater do you not? You should have had a substitute at the very least for my beautiful Fleur de Lis-"
"Oh do shut up Fancypants!" Fleur de Lis screeched.
Blueblood rolled his eyes and removed the note from Flam's hoof and began to tear it up into little pieces, which caused the whole office to fall silent.
"D-d-do you think...t-t-that's wise monsieur?" Flam stammered, staring at the pieces of paper that fell to the floor.
"Flam," Blueblood groaned, "how many times have I told you both that THERE IS NO PHANTOM!" the two managers jumped from the Prince's sudden change of tone, which even surprised Blueblood himself, who normally kept a cool facade in his business matters. He ran a hoof through his blonde hair, smoothing it back and appearing calm and collected as he normally did. "From now on...we are going to treat these letters as they should have always been treated...as empty threats."
Flim paled at the Prince's words. "Empty threats? Monsieur, say what you will, but...well...strange things have occurred around here to...well...let us just say that it is not that difficult to believe that this place very well could be haunted-"
"Flim," Blueblood groaned, "you are a stallion in his prime, I believe you are a little old to be terrified of ghost stories." Flim turned a dark shade of pink before shutting his mouth and keeping it that way. Blueblood eyed both managers carefully to see that they would listen closely. "I want all letters by this supposed Phantom to be brought to me, and IGNORED, gentlecolts, from now on."
"But-"
"IGNORED, gentlecolts..." Blueblood repeated once more. The two managers glanced at one another and slowly nodded their heads in reluctant agreement.
Fleur de Lis rolled her eyes dramatically. "To hell with that! I need a new costume mare!"
Blueblood's attention changed immediately. "What do you mean, you need a new costume mare?" he demanded.
Fleur de Lis was shocked by his question at first, then pouted when she realized his sudden interest. "That mare I had before? I fired her!" she couldn't help but smile in triumph, especially as she watched Blueblood pale before her. That should teach him, she thought.
"WHAT?" Blueblood immediately calmed himself after taking a deep breath. Fleur de Lis stared at him with both shock and disgust. She knew all along that he wanted the little chit for his own "amusement". "Why did you fire her, my dear?" he knew he had to sweeten the mare. "Did she offend you my dear? Was she unkind to my star?"
That did some of the trick, for Fleur de Lis began to melt somewhat to his words. However, she kept a wary eye. "She struck me!" she pouted. "I have been able to cover up the bruise with powder, but...the ungrateful toad struck me! She is a violent little witch! I had to get rid of her!"
Blueblood had to summon all the will power he could in order to not burst out laughing at the thought of someone, especially someone as small as the costume mare, hitting Fleur de Lis hard enough that it would leave a bruise. That mare had done what he only dreamt about doing. "Well you did the right thing," he reassured the soprano, although he wanted to ring her neck for letting the beauty escape him. He was going to have her, one way or another, he had never failed in any conquest.
"Tell me, where is the mare now?" he inquired. Fleur de Lis, who was leaning against the Prince's chest and pretending to sob for the pains she had to go through in life, snapped her head up at Bluebloodl's words. However, before she opened her mouth to let out an ear-splitting shout, he quickly added, "I think any person that dares harm a lovely hair on your beautiful golden head should be locked away! The mare is obviously mad, not to mention jealous of course," Blueblood lied, smiling to himself at the success he was having on the prima donna. "Flim! Flam! How could you both hire such a hellion?" he angrily demanded.
Both managers were at a loss for words, but that didn't matter, he was determined to carry on his charade long enough to discover the whereabouts of the delicious costume mare. "I am going to pay a visit this very afternoon to her and demand that she not only apologize to our dear star, but also send her to the nearest asylum, where she should have been all this time!"
Fleur de Lis squealed happily and threw her arms around the handsome Prince. Fancypants snorted his disgust from a corner while Flim and Flam exchanged weary glances. "We...we do not know where Time Turner and his daughter live," they admitted. "You'll have to ask Madame Luna-she helped them find the flat."
Blueblood groaned at the thought of approaching Madame Luna with such a question, but it was the only way to learn where Fluttershy was. He left the office then in pursuit of the dance mistress, only discover her waiting for him just around the corner.
"Good morning monsieur," she greeted coldly.
"Madame Luna," he replied, just as coldly, with a slight nod of his head.
"I understand you wish to ask me a question?"
Blueblood stared at the mare in disbelief. Had she been eavesdropping? Before he could say anything she was already answering his question. "You will not find her at the apartment she and her father had occupied since coming to Maris. She is gone...most likely both she and her father have left Maris and are traveling back to the countryside." This was all a lie of course, Madame Luna had no idea where Fluttershy was. After the incident with Discord the night before, she raced to the Turner residence in hopes to find Fluttershy, but the mare was nowhere to be found. She had told Fluttershy to return home and wait for her, but the mare had not listened, or...
She did not want to think the alternative. Yet she was not going to reveal any of this to the Prince.
"I'm sorry monsieur, I'm afraid you...missed your opportunity."
Blueblood scowled at the mare. Of all the ponies in this company, she was the one he despised most of all. Once upon a time he had considered making her daughter one of his conquests, yet the mare proved to be a cobra waiting to snap; no mare, no matter how beautiful, was worth pursuing with such a mother.
"Thank you for your...information, madam," Blueblood replied through clipped lips. He gave a small bow then turned on his heel, not bothering to say anything further to either the managers or Fleur de Lis who were calling out to him as he walked out the doors of the Opera House.
He got into his carriage, barked for the driver to return him to his town house at once, and settled back for a long sulk. He wasn't entirely sure why, normally Blueblood did not upset himself over a mare this much. Maris was filled with beautiful mares, many who others had claimed to be utterly unattainable, but Blueblood had proved those voices wrong. Nothing had stopped him from a conquest, nothing. And the ones that proved to be difficult were not worth his time, such as the dance mistress' daughter. But this mare...it was becoming an obsession almost.
No mare...had ever refused him. He began to grind his teeth at the memory of Mademoiselle Fluttershy walking away from him after accusing him of grossly insulting her. The little wench! She should be grateful that a stallion like himself took notice of a penniless country-born ingrate on the verge of spinster-hood, like herself! No...he would have her, make no mistake about that. And he would have her, whether she came willingly to him or not.
The carriage pulled up to the Prince's fashionable town house, but his frown deepened when he saw a policepony waiting at the entrance. "Beg your pardon Monsieur Blueblood, but we have an urgent matter that we need to discuss with you right away."
Blueblood's already deep frown deepened even more. He did not want his servants spreading idle gossip about, nor did he wish to give this stallion the proper time he apparently wished to have in Blueblood's presence. So, Blueblood stepped back inside his carriage and invited the inspector inside.
"What do you want inspector?" Blueblood groaned, feeling a headache coming on.
"I am Chief Inspector Silverstar, and last night, an old stallion covered in dirt and smelling like sewage, stormed into one of our posts and started screaming about a monster kidnapping his one and only daughter."
Blueblood's brow furrowed at the inspector's tale. This was sounding strangely familiar to him. "Well, the stallion was obviously mad," Silverstar continued, "and we had no choice but to lock him away, at least for the night; after all, we could not have such a lunatic roaming the streets and upsetting people!"
"Quite right," Blueblood muttered. "I beg your pardon inspector, but do you mind explaining what any of this has to do with me?"
Silverstar sighed and nodded his head. "Well, you see monsieur, the stallion started raving that he had approached you last night! That he had gone into your club, and begged for your help! Then he started raving about how he was a violinist for the Maris Opera House, and that his daughter was a costume mare-"
"Costume mare?" Blueblood interrupted. Now he remembered.
Time Turner. The old stallion that burst into his club last night after Blueblood had already had several drinks, and hysterically started screaming about his daughter being kidnapped by the Phantom of the Opera. Utter nonsense of course...but it was a connection to the mare.
"Monsieur?" Blueblood shook his head and came back to the present when he realized Silverstar was talking to him. "Monsieur...do you know this stallion? Naturally I assumed he was simply crazed, but...our post received several complaints from that particular club about a homeless beggar upsetting several patrons, not to mention the owners. And...well, I just wanted to know, monsieur, if this was that stallion, and if you wished to file any complaints of your own."
Blueblood opened his mouth to speak, but then quickly closed it. A plan...a plan was brewing.
"You say...that the stallion is in your custody at the moment?"
Silverstar's brow furrowed with confusion, but he nodded his head. "Yes, we still have him in our custody. Outside of disturbing the peace, the stallion has committed no crime, however we plan to contact the nearest asylum and have him delivered-"
"No..." Blueblood interrupted. "Do not send him away...just yet."
"But monsieur, we can not hold him for a lengthy period of time, he belongs in an asylum! The stallion is clearly-"
"Insane? Yes, quite right," Blueblood muttered. "But...truth be, I know the stallion, yes, I know him."
Silverstar's eyes widened in amazement. "You do monsieur? You know who he is?"
"I know of him," Blueblood explained. "And...I know the stallion's daughter. Now, as you have obviously seen, the stallion is quite mad, his daughter has not been kidnapped by a monster...she is simply missing at the moment, nothing to worry about of course," Blueblood quickly explained before Silverstar could respond to this piece of news. "She is a fickle sort of mare...always scampering off with handsome stallions of large fortunes, no doubt hoping some stallion will see past her...disabilities, you know what I mean."
Silverstar simply snorted a reply.
"Now we can't have the stallion thrown into an asylum, at least not until the mare comes forward to claim him. However, we are unsure where she is...so allow me to offer my assistance in this matter."
Silverstar stared at the Prince with great confusion. "I beg your pardon monsieur?"
Blueblood could only grin, a wicked grin for the plot he was setting up. "I will find the mare, after all, she is attracted to single stallions of great wealth, it will only be a matter of time before she falls into my lap," he drawled. "And when I finally have her, I will then explain the horrid news of her mad father, and that if she does not claim him, the dear police will have no alternative but to send him away."
"But monsieur-"
"AND, inspector," Blueblood interceded. "I am prepared to make it worth your while..." The coachman appeared. "Tell my valet to contact my banker immediately...I wish to pay 150 franks in gold to the good Chief Inspector for his...pains." The coachcolt nodded his head and went to deliver the message at once.
Silverstar's mouth hung open in shock. "Monsieur Blueblood, I...I can not possibly-"
"This is simply a deposit, of course," Blueblood explained. "For every week that the stallion occupies your jail, I will pay another 100 franks in gold to you."
Silverstar was speechless. "And...then when you find the stallion's daughter, you will bring her here...and if she refuses to claim him..."
"I will see to it personally, that he is delivered to the asylum."
Blueblood grinned. Silverstar was sold, and the plot was sealed. Fluttershy would have no choice but to play along if she wanted her father back. Yes...she would prove to be a most...willing student to the art of lovemaking, if she truly wished to see her father again. It was all too perfect.
Silverstar stepped outside and bid farewell, leaving the pompous Prince to congratulate himself on a great victory. "I informed your valet," the coachcolt announced after the inspector left. "He is writing a letter as we speak to your banker and plans to deliver it this very afternoon."
"Good," Blueblood said with great satisfaction. "In fact, I feel like celebrating...the best kind of celebrating...take me to Madame Sapphire's, I think a few hours of cards, drink, and company, will turn this rather dull day into something memorable."
The coachcolt nodded his head and prepared to take the Prince to his favorite high-society brothel. However, before they set forth, the coachcolt, who knew his master extremely well and who had been listening to the entire conversation between the Prince and the inspector, asked, "begging your pardon monsieur, but...what if the mare does not respond as you hope? What...what if she truly has been kidnapped?"
Blueblood rolled his eyes. "She has not been kidnapped, especially from the so-called 'Phantom'," he groaned. "And she will come forth...oh she will...and when she does...I'll be waiting." |
The Opera Phantom Discord | Stories | Stories
She was a vision; a vision in white with the sun gleaming behind her. He couldn't breathe; she was so beautiful.
She stood facing him, her face a blur, but the closer he came, the more he could see her face. It radiated light, warmth, beauty, and all the other things he yearned for but would never have. Her arms were stretched out to him, beckoning him to come to her. Her lips moved, but he could not hear her words.
He moved closer and closer, yet she still seemed far away. He gasped when the vision before him changed. The white flowing gown that she wore began to cling to her body...a beautiful delicious body from what he could tell; soft body, round hips, luscious thighs...he wanted her unlike anything he had ever wanted before. The vision was changing; the light disappeared and was replaced by rain. The rain was the cause for her gown to cling to her beautiful body. He then noticed that it was not a gown she wore...but a thin slip and corset, which deliciously displayed the flesh beneath. "My angel..." she whispered.
Angel? Him? Impossible, for in truth, she was the angel...yes, for nothing of this world could be so beautiful. But her smile disappeared; she began to shiver and her expression changed from one of happiness and desire to one of fear. Then her ear piercing scream filled his ears the same moment he heard the gun go off...
Discord awoke with a start, gasping and drenched in sweat. He looked wildly around him, searching frantically for familiarity and realized that he was in his own bed. It had been a dream...simply a dream. A throbbing pain spread throughout his chest and he glanced down at the bandage. Now he remembered everything...
"Master?" he glanced up at the voice that came from the entryway of his bedchamber. Rarity emerged, holding a small tray in her hooves. "Ah! I am pleased that you are awake!" she said with more cheerfulness than Discord could take. "I have brought you some soup to which I added a few herbs...special herbs that I believe will help with the pain."
He ignored her words and threw the blankets off. Rarity frowned at Discord's behavior. She gasped when she realized what he truly had in mind the second she saw him attempt to swing his legs over the edge of the bed. "What do you think you're doing?" she gasped, rushing over to stop him.
"Out of my way mare," he growled, hissing back the pain that was searing through him as he attempted to lean forward.
"Master, you are in no condition to be walking about!" Rarity scolded, attempting to stop him from going any further. "Please, you must lie back and relax! It's the only way we can be sure that you'll heal properly!"
Despite the pain that he was feeling, Discord refused to listen. "I...am...not staying...in this bed!" he groaned between jabs of pain. His feet touched the floor, but his legs could not even begin to hold him and he toppled back onto the bed. "DAMNATION!" he swore.
Rarity clucked her tongue and began to draw the blankets up to his chest again. "Master, you have no strength, you've been sleeping the whole day and have not eaten anything since the day before! You are in condition to be-"
"I KNOW VERY WELL WHAT MY CONDITION IS!" he roared, causing Rarity to practically topple over by the power of his voice. He regretted it instantly, as the pain split across his chest. "Please," he groaned, "I...I have an opera to run..."
"All in good time," Rarity grumbled, tucking him back in. This time his only protests came from his mouth. She was grateful he was not attempting to rise again.
"No, I...I must see to things, be sure that...those bloody managers are...are not ruining my theater!" he groaned.
"First things first," Rarity said matter of factly, bringing the tray of soup she had brought to his bedside. "You need to eat in order to regain any strength."
"Later."
"No, now," she insisted with an edge of force to her voice. She was the tiniest one out of all of them, but she was also a force to be reckoned with. "Come now Master, eat up."
She had taken the spoon and was leaning as close as she could with it to his mouth. Discord grumbled his disgust at her gesture. "I can feed myself!" he snapped before snatching the spoon from her hooves. "I may have been shot, but there is nothing wrong with my head!"
Rarity hid the grin that was threatening to spread across her features as she watched Discord gobble down his soup like a greedy filly, grumbling here and there while he ate. Yes, he would soon be back to his normal "charming" self. "The herbs will help," she happily whispered. "I have a whole pot brewing, and I intend to have you drain every last drop."
Discord grimaced. "If I am to be confined to this bed for a lengthy period of time, I at least think I have the right to compose, do you not agree?" he grumbled.
Rarity smiled slightly and went to fetch him some parchment and ink while he finished his soup. "There you are Master...and do not fret so, in a few days you'll be as good as new," she added warmly, pleased that he had drained the bowl as she had hoped. "I'll fetch you another bowl at once."
Discord said nothing; he simply put on a sulk. Rarity knew he was grateful for the soup and for the healing herbs especially, but she also knew that when Discord was in a mood, cordiality was the last thing to expect. He watched the little mare turn to leave, and then called out to her before she was gone.
"Where's the mare?"
Rarity paused, her back still to Discord. "You mean Fluttershy? For that is her-"
"Yes, yes, I know that is her name...this is my theater, is it not?" he muttered. "I know more about her than you may have thought...I know that she's the violinist's daughter, I know that she's from the country, I know that she's rather smart with a needle and thread-"
"Did you know that she has dreams of singing?" Rarity interrupted, turning to face him.
Discord rolled his eyes. "All mares who come to the Maris Opera House believe themselves to be great singers...and many of them are not, as we have good proof," he growled, thinking about how much he wanted to strangle Fleur de Lis. "Now, answer my question, where is she?"
"She's with Shortround and Derpy in the northwest cavern," Rarity explained. Discord simply snorted to the news, however his body seemed to relax somewhat. Rarity nibbled her lip. "I...I've been meaning to ask you Master...what shall we do with her?"
The relaxation was gone. Discord's brow furrowed at the question. "What do you mean?"
"Well..." Rarity placed the tray back down and came back to his bedside. "It seems that...that well...Fluttershy will be with us for...quite some time, would you not agree?" He didn't say anything, simply stared right back at Rarity, his expression dark and exasperated. "What I mean to say is...I do not think the costume cages are...suitable shall we say, to a young mare...w-w-would you not agree...master?" she didn't dare look up into his eyes, she could feel them burning through her.
"And did you have any...suggestions, my dear mare?" he asked, his voice dark and dangerously low. His whole world was being turned upside down from one mare.
"Well, as a matter of fact, I...that is, myself, Shortround, and Derpy, thought...perhaps she could stay in our quarters? We have beds, and...well, I'm sure we can find something suitable for her around here, if not above in the dressing rooms-"
"No," Discord said, his voice dark and unreadable. Rarity was surprised by his quick dismissal of her idea.
"Master...you can't...you can't expect her to simply be locked away! She won't run away again, at least...I don't believe she will, besides, she's injured-"
Discord's eyes went wide at Rarity's news. "What?" he asked, sitting up a little too fast and groaning as he felt the pain hit him like a stone. "What do you mean injured? How?"
"Oh, not badly Master," Rarity quickly explained, although she was surprised by his reaction. He still did not relax. "Her leg was cut, that's all, but I was able to tend it, nothing more than a scratch I assure you."
Discord relaxed somewhat, however the concern that was written across his face did not disappear so easily. "I am glad that you have helped her," he whispered, not meeting Rarity's questioning gaze. "And...when I said 'no' earlier, I had not yet finished to what I meant..." For the life of him he had no idea why he was about to say what he was about to say. "I do not want her sleeping in the same quarters that you all share...I...I think it would be easier on her...as well as for everyone else if...if she is given her own place," his voice was practically a whisper when he had finished.
Rarity however and heard every single word. "You...you want us to prepare her... a room?" she asked, making extra sure she was hearing him correctly.
Discord gritted his teeth. "Yes...I think the southeast cavern would be a good place...it's close to the lagoon, and it's small, but warm and dry. I think that would be a very suitable place for her."
Rarity found herself smiling with pride at his words. "I agree Master...I shall tell the others to begin searching for bedding right away-"
"Wait," Discord interrupted. "I know exactly what I want you to fetch for her..."
Rarity's mouth went wide when she read the thought in Discord's eyes. "Oh, but Master, do you think that's wise?"
A wicked grin was beginning to spread across his face. "Oh yes, I think that will do very nicely," he leaned back against the pillows of his bed feeling much better. "I think I will have another bowl of soup Rarity," he said, sounding extremely peculiar. Rarity realized what it was; he sounded somewhat happy.
"T-t-his one's m-my FAVORITE!" Derpy cried out happily as she shuffled over to Fluttershy with the book in her mouth. Fluttershy smiled up at her and took the book to have a look at the title.
"The Hunchback of Notre Dame?" she read. "Oh yes! Rarity told me you loved this story..." she looked at Derpy with a warm smile and wondered how on earth she could have screamed in her face earlier. She wasn't fearsome looking at all to be honest. She was large, and hunched over but...she wasn't frightening to say the least. And as she sat there with both her and Derpy...she realized just how much more "pony" they were than most she had encountered in her life above.
Derpy plopped herself down right next to Fluttershy, who was sitting on a blanket on the cavern floor, grinning as she opened the book. "H-h-have you r-r-r-read it?" she asked, stuttering from her excitement.
Fluttershy smiled at him. "I know of the book, but I confess I have never read it."
"It's w-w-w-w-wonderful!" she exclaimed! "There's a h-h-hunchback bell ringer, he l-lives in the bell t-t-tower high above Maris...a-a-a-and a b-beautiful gypsy mare...she f-f-falls in love with him!"
Fluttershy's smile faded somewhat. While she had never read the book, she knew that was not how the story went. Truth be, the hunchback died and Esmeralda fell in love with a handsome stallion. However, she had a feeling that Rarity had "altered" certain parts of the story for her. "It sounds lovely," Fluttershy whispered, feeling that she would enjoy Derpy's version much more than Hugo's. "Perhaps one day you can read it to me?"
Derpy blushed. "I...I c-c-can only r-read a little," she confessed, looking down at her hooves. "B-b-b-but Shortround is t-t-t-teaching me!"
Fluttershy looked over her shoulder at the dwarf, who was sitting on a rock, with a small worn leather-bound book in his hooves. "Shortround r-r-reads alot," Derpy explained. "He was r-r-raised in a m-m-m-mon...m-m-mon..."
"Monastery," Shortround finished. Fluttershy's look of surprise gave him cause to smile. "I never knew my parents," he explained. "I think it was easier on them to leave their 'freak of a son' with someone else than raise him themselves."
Fluttershy bit her lip at the revelation. "I...I'm so sorry," she whispered. She couldn't imagine what it may have felt like to be abandoned.
Shortround, however, continued smiling. "Oh don't be, I have no regrets," he stated quite sincerely. "In fact, I'm very thankful for my upbringing, truly. The monks that took me in were very kind, and it was through them that I received a wonderful education; I do not know if my parents could have done that. And through their kind and charitable example, I have come to accept myself and believe that I am not an abomination of the pony race." He smiled at this, and proceeded to continue reading the page he was just on.
Fluttershy found herself smiling at his words. "How then did you come to be here?"
"We w-w-were in a c-c-carnival!" Derpy exclaimed. "But t-the Master, he-"
"Derpy!" Shortround hissed, quickly quieting the pony who bit her lip, realizing that she was telling too much. Fluttershy had paled at Derpy's first words; a carnival. Had they...were they all on display? A surge of anger shot through her as she imagined poor Derpy with her sweet nature being forced to show off her body for the wealthy upper classes, and Shortround with all his great intelligence, being reduced to less than an animal for the viewing pleasure of others. Truly...they were not the freaks of this world.
"Still here, I see," came a low grumble from the shadows. Fluttershy glanced up to see Rainbow Dash emerge from the darkness and felt a cold chill run down her spine. Of all the Phantom's servants, she was the one that still frightened her. Rarity, Derpy and Shortround had shown nothing but kindness to her, but Rainbow Dash...Rainbow Dash wanted nothing to do with her, and she was making it extremely plain.
"I w-was s-s-s-showing her my f-f-favorite books!" Derpy exclaimed happily, pointing at a pile that was on the ground next to Fluttershy. After tending to Discord, Rarity encouraged Derpy to take Fluttershy to the northwest cavern, the place that she soon learned was where they all slept. Compared to the Phantom's chambers, it was extremely humble...but it held a warm inviting glow that oddly enough reminded her of home back in the country. Like the Phantom's chambers, the cavern had plush Persian rugs that aligned its floors, and pieces of beautiful cloth that hung from its walls. In the center of the room, was a small fire pit with a kettle boiling over a healthy fire. There were four beds, each as different as the four seasons of the year. Shortround's bed was a hammock of deep green cloth that hung between two tall skinny boulders. Derpy's was a boat, with all the seats removed, replaced by blankets and pillows. Naturally it was the only thing that could fit her great size. Rainbow Dash's bed seemed to be a pile of mattresses and blankets thrusted back in a dark corner; fitting for her, she thought. And Rarity's bed actually looked like a bed one would find in a house, clean and soft. Each corner was also marked by the distinct personalities of each person. Derpy had pictures of animals and piles of books near her bed, whereas Shortround had a small pile of books, and an old wooden cross near his. Rarity had a spinning wheel beside her place, with several yards of fabric, and Rainbow Dash...Rainbow Dash's space was bare; a mystery to enhance her already dark persona.
Yes, out of all of them, Rainbow Dash still caused her blood to run cold. Unlike the others, Rainbow Dash's deformity was not one she was born with. She was tall, but skinny. Her hair hung limply from her head. Her hair wasn't normal though, and Fluttershy understood that was where Rainbow Dash had gotten her name. She wore a tattered gray hat and tattered trousers. She wore no shirt, and her ears, lips, and nose were covered with piercings. Fluttershy flinched when she saw her body, imagining the pain she must feel. Why would anyone do anything like that to oneself? She would never understand...and she could not see herself having the courage to ask Rainbow Dash why.
Perhaps the most frightening thing about Rainbow Dash was her back left hoof...or lack thereof. Rainbow Dash's left hoof was gone...replaced with a think piece of wood that looked as if somepony long ago had shoved into her skin. Indeed, skin from her hoof seemed to be growing along the edges of the wood; she had to look away for fear that she would be sick.
Rainbow Dash snorted in disgust to Derpy's exuberance over showing Fluttershy her book collection. "Isn't it time that she's placed back in her cage?" she asked Shortround.
"Rarity s-s-said that she c-could s-s-stay here...w-w-w-with us!"
Rainbow Dash paled at Derpy's joyful words. "WHAT!"
Fluttershy flinched to Rainbow Dash's bark. She wasn't entirely thrilled with sleeping in the same place with her either, but the cavern was much warmer than the cage she had originally been placed in.
Rainbow Dash looked at Fluttershy with coldness and growled, "Why can't the Master simply kill her like all the others?"
Fluttershy paled at her words, which was the exact reaction she was seeking. She couldn't help but chuckle evilly. Shortround however sent Rainbow Dash a look full of warning, to which the mare with the wood leg swore, before stalking off to her pile of mattresses and collapsing on top of the heap.
"Don't mind Rainbow Dash," Shortround said to Fluttershy just loud enough that Rainbwo Dash could hear. "She's always in a foul mood, that's her true deformity."
"At least I don't believe in absolute rubbish!" Rainbow Dash hissed from her dark corner.
"My faith is not rubbish!" Shortround snapped. "How dare you-"
"I see that filly behavior is running rampant this evening," Rarity grumbled as she entered the cavern. Shortround sent Rainbow Dash one more angry look before turning away. Rainbow Dash simply grinned to herself before placing her tattered hat over her eyes.
"How's the Master?" Shortround asked, lowering himself down to cavern floor.
"Much better, although I had to stop him from getting up," she groaned, sitting herself down on the edge of her own bed. "The Master is too concerned with the Opera House than with his own health," she muttered, rubbing her tired aching hooves. "The only way to get him to stay was bring him parchment and ink so he could compose," she rolled her eyes. "If I hear one note coming from that organ, I swear, I will steal his parchment back!"
Fluttershy had her legs tucked under her chin while she listened to Rarity's complaints about the Phantom. How curious, she thought. Had it only been a little over 24 hours that she had believed the infamous opera ghost was a myth? In her brief time there she had learned he was a draconequus; an almost mythological creature native to Persia, which explained the Persian style of his home. He was a frightening creature, but...a creature with a family of sorts, a creature with a love for music.
She remembered the night before when she had been hiding in his chambers and saw him play at his organ with more passion than she had ever seen anyone exhibit over music. Her blood went warm at the memory of watching his large skilled paw and claw fly over the organ keys; he pounded his spirit upon them, and yet there was also a strange gentleness he displayed with the instrument. "My dear?" Fluttershy blushed and looked up from her perch on the floor, realizing that Rarity was talking to her. "Are you alright?" she asked. "You seem...distant."
Fluttershy could feel her cheeks burning pink. "I was...just...well, I-"
"Thinking about your father?" Rarity asked, her eyes filling with sympathy for the mare.
Her father. Fluttershy wondered what had become of him. She had vowed to take his place for the Phantom in return for his life to be spared. Had that happened? Had the Phantom truly set her father free? Or had it all been a trick? A vicious trick to lure her into his trap while keeping her father prisoner in a different area of the Phantom's underground lair, or worse, killing him? After all, it was Rainbow Dash, a mare who had no toleration for outsiders, who had been ordered to remove her father...even if the Phantom ordered him to set the stallion free, would Rainbow Dash have done that?
"It'll be alright," Rarity murmured, reaching out and patting Fluttershy's shoulder with a reassuring touch. Fluttershy smiled at the pat and knew that her father was free and alive; if he wasn't, she knew that she would have learned from Rarity and the others the truth. Yet she still worried for him...especially as she thought of the sadness he was enduring at the moment over losing her.
"Rainbow Dash! Shortround! Derpy!" I will be in need of some assistance from you," Rarity commanded. Rainbow Dash grumbled her protest to which Rarity immediately ignored. "Come, we need to fetch some things for Mademoiselle Fluttershy," she instructed.
Fluttershy looked at Rarity with confusion while Rainbow Dash's silent protest became quite loud. "WHAT? I am doing nothing for her!" she growled. "Let her sleep in that bloody cage; that was the Master's original orders-"
"The Master has changed his mind," Rarity said through clipped lips, cutting Rainbow Dash's protests off immediately. The mare with the wood leg stared at Rarity, her eyes and mouth wide with shock. "The Master has ordered that we fetch some things from above for Mademoiselle Fluttershy, so that we may create suitable living quarters for her-"
"SUITABLE LIVING QUARTERS?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "YOU MEAN HE INTENDS FOR HER TO STAY? WITH US!"
"Yes!" Rarity shouted back, her patience waning greatly. When Fluttershy brought Discord back after the accident, Rainbow Dash disappeared, wailing that a mob would be down in seconds after the whole lot of them, that the Master was going to die, and they would all starve to death, depending if the mob came for them. Her panicking upset Derpy immensely, and when they needed help to care for the Master, he was no where to be found. Now Rainbow Dash was proving to be more of a nuisance as far as Rarity was concerned, with her complaints towards Fluttershy and her ill temper with everyone else. "The Master has instructed that we create a living space for Mademoiselle Fluttershy in the southeastern cavern near the lagoon, and that we begin immediately," she shot a look at Rainbow Dash. "If you don't like it, then go to the Master and inform him of your complaint."
Rainbow Dash said nothing; she simply pushed past the little mare out the cavern entrance. Fluttershy chewed on her lip as she watched the mare stalk out. True, she found her frightening, and the idea of a place away from her sounded pleasing, however, making her hate her even more was the last thing she wanted. "I...I don't want to be a burden, and I fear that I am," she whispered.
"Nonsense," Shortround muttered. "Rainbow Dash is bent on making everyone's lives miserable when she's unhappy...give her time and she'll come around...she's really a good mare." Fluttershy looked at Shortround and found herself feeling reassured by his confidence. It seemed to her that Shortround found the good in every person.
"Come, come, we must fetch these things at once," Rarity clapped her hooves. She then turned to Fluttershy. "My dear, for this night, you shall sleep with us, but I promise you, by tomorrow, you will have your own chamber," she said with a smile.
Fluttershy smiled back, however she felt that this was all happening so fast. One night she was a prisoner in a cage...the next night, she was a guest who would be receiving her own private quarters! Had something happened to change the Phantom so? Perhaps he was taking pity on her for saving his life...however, if he truly pitied her, he could release her. She sighed, knowing that if he did release her from his captivity, she would not go, at least...not until she knew he would be alright.
"Rarity, you have had a trying day, why don't you stay and rest?" Shortround offered.
"Oh, I couldn't possibly-"
"It's alright R-r-r-rarity," Derpy stuttered. "We'll f-f-find items f-f-f-fit for a princess!" she grinned at Fluttershy and blushed slightly when she smiled back.
Rarity opened her mouth to protest, but did not say a word. She had been on her feet all day and evening, keeping watch with Fluttershy over Discord's recovery. He had slept most of the day after they had finished stitching up his wound, yet she remained close by, waiting for him to awake so he could get some food in his system. "I won't argue," she admitted. "My hooves are hurting quite badly."
"Then you stay and we shall fetch the items the Master wishes us to find," Shortround smiled. "And if he is instructing us to go above...then...well, there is only one place I can conceive that the Master would insist upon..."
Rarity could only grin. "You would not be wrong."
Shortround nodded his head and lead Derpy out of the cavern. Rainbow Dash, who had appeared to have stalked off, was truly waiting for them outside the cavern, and her voice filled with complaints when he saw them emerge. "About bloody time!" she groaned.
Fluttershy watched as her new friends left both her and Rarity behind in the small cavern. "Can I get you anything?" Fluttershy asked, as the mare climbed into her bed. "Some tea perhaps? I could boil some over the fire for you, it would be no trouble."
Rarity smiled at Fluttershy's offer. "You are very kind my dear, but I am fine," she then pointed to a small pile of mattresses and rags nearby. "I'm afraid that was the best I could do at the moment for a temporary bed," she sighed. "I'm sorry my dear, it will be for only one night," she reassured.
Fluttershy smiled back. "It will be far warmer and softer than the floor of that cage."
Rarity smiled faintly at Fluttershy's words, but frowned as well. "I'm sorry you had to endure that my dear...I can understand why that experience, as well as being parted with your father...and all the stories I'm sure you've heard above, would have tainted your view of the Master."
Fluttershy was wiping dust off the blankets of her bed while Rarity spoke. She paused and chewed on her lip some more. "I will not deny that...I found your Master to be a bit of a...of a..."
"A monster?"
Fluttershy looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry, I-"
Rarity clucked her tongue. "Nothing to apologize for my dear, that is the image the Master wishes to express. However, I never truly believed him capable of monstrous behavior till I saw him take you prisoner and order you to be placed in that cage," she grumbled coldly. "I know that may sound strange...after all, those stories that you've heard of the Master killing intruders...they are not pure acts of fiction."
Fluttershy felt her blood run cold. She knew she shouldn't be surprised by such news, after all, her father was trapped and it seemed the Phantom had every indication of murdering him. So why was she affected so? Why did it bother her to think of him as a villain?
"The stories are greatly exaggerated, however," Rarity clarified. "I know that the stagehooves and dance mares make it sound like masses of ponies have come below and have lost their lives at the Phantom's wrath...but if that were the truth, do you think that they would not have stormed down here seeking the murderer?" Rarity did have a point, Fluttershy could not argue that. "Truth is, only a handful of stallions have ventured below and have lost their lives; these caverns and tunnels have been carefully booby trapped to stop any trespasser. Most of the traps are simply designed to scare people away, or perhaps cause a minor injury, nothing serious. However, some are designed to do more..." she shuddered. "The Master is more than simply a musical genius, he is an inventor as well, and has designed some of the most elaborate contraptions you have ever seen!" She found herself smiling with pride as she told Fluttershy the tale. Then her smile faded once again to a frown. "However, I...I know that does not excuse the Master for what some of his contraptions have done..."
Fluttershy agreed with Rarity; nothing could excuse murder, however...after getting to know the ponies who lived below with the Phantom...she began to understand why such precautions were being made. "Forgive me...I understand if this is something you do not wish to discuss, and I will not raise it again-"
"You wish to know how we came to be here?" Rarity asked, her eyes shining with understanding. "I'm an old mare my dear, I know a curious face when I see one."
Fluttershy blushed deeply. "It's just...well, Derpy started to tell me something about a carnival...but Shortround quickly shushed her."
"Ahh yes," Rarity sighed, before waving her hoof for Fluttershy to come closer. She immediately obeyed, picking up one of the blankets she had dusted and drawing it over to Rarity's bedside. "Well...what Derpy was going to tell you is true...there was a carnival...and that was how we all knew each other."
Fluttershy looked down at her hooves which were clasped tightly together. "Was it...a...a freak show?" she whispered, not caring for the word at all.
Rarity nodded her head. "Unlike the others, I was not kept in a cage constantly. I was more of a servant really. The owners had me move about, fetching things for them, giving them food and drink, picking pockets off the viewers when they were looking upon the others," she muttered in disgust. "At night, they caged me with Derpy, because she would cry in the dark. I was the only one who could keep her calm," she smiled softly at the memory. "Derpy is very much like a daughter to me," she whispered.
Fluttershy smiled at Rarity's words, but felt her anger kindle at the ponies who had treated Rarity and the others like animals. "Besides myself, Rainbow Dash had been there the longest," Rarity continued to explain. "She was not born like that, as I'm sure you could guess. No, she was their first 'freak' put on display. They did that to her body...I remember hearing her cries of anguish whenever they placed a new piercing on her," she shuddered as the memories flooded her. "But even after they the mutilated her body, they still were not satisfied. So they burnt her hoof off her arm-"
Fluttershy gasped. "They burnt her hoof off her?"
Rarity sadly nodded her head. "Yes...and before the wound had time to heal, they rammed that horrid wood into her flesh..." she whispered. "To this day, I can still remember the screams...and the blood, oh God in heaven, there was so much blood."
Fluttershy felt her stomach churn at the thought. All her thoughts towards Rainbow Dash had now changed; she could completely understand why she disliked her and she didn't blame her. She represented the world that had turned her body into a perversion. No, she did not blame Rainbow Dash for her suspicions in regards to her at all.
"Shortround's life was not nearly as harsh," Rarity continued.
"Yes...he told me that he was raised in a monastery," Fluttershy explained.
Rarity nodded her head. "Yes, he was very fortunate," she sighed. "The monks were good to him, they gave him food, warmth, love, and an education," her expression changed suddenly. "However, the Father who was head of the monastery died, and a new one came to take his place. This stallion saw Shortround as an abomination, a punishment for the sinful ways of pony nature," she sighed sadly. "He sold Shortround to the carnival...I remember that day very clearly. He became known as 'half a man', and was forced to perform stunts for the wealthy," she forced a smile, although it was sad. "Still amazes me how despite all that, he is able to find the good in everyone..." She sighed again, her small wrinkled hooves playing with the ends of her blanket. "And Derpy...poor Derpy..."
Fluttershy sniffed back the tears that were already threatening to descend. She was not sure if she could bear hearing Derpy's sad tale.
"Derpy came to us as an infant. Her mother..." she paused for a second to collect herself. "Her mother was a gypsy, barely 16 if I remember correctly. She had been raped and did not wish to keep the babe, especially after seeing her deformed figure. The carnival offered a handsome price for the filly, so without second thought, she sold her to their display," she looked up at Fluttershy, her own eyes reflecting the tears that mirrored the young mare's. "Ironic, is it not? Derpy dreams of meeting a gypsy mare one day...and her own mother, a gypsy mare, sold her off."
Fluttershy wiped her eyes, her heart breaking for Derpy as she remembered her telling her her version of Victor Hugo's novel. She smiled through the tears at the memory of her calling her "gypsy mare", but more tears came at the thought of her mother selling her to a side show freak carnival.
"Those were very hard years for us," Rarity whispered, wiping her own eyes. "But...thank the goodness, the Master came to be with us...and helped us escape."
Fluttershy sat forward at the mention of the Phantom. "Was he...in the carnival as well?"
"Oh yes, he became a star attraction for them," Fluttershy explained. "He was the last to join. You see, the carnival traveled all across Europe, and I remember being in the east...Romania, Bulgaria...we may have even been in Turkey! But wherever we were, there was a Persian caravan that passed us by. Little is known of the Master's origins, whether he was born in Persia, or if one of his parent's was Persian, but he was in their caravan and they were looking for a way to make some money, so for a hefty price, they sold him to the carnival."
Flutterahy imagined the Phantom, the fierce dark figure that he was, exposed to the ridicule of others in a freak show. Her heart swelled with pity for him. "How old was he?" she asked.
"He was young, 13, perhaps 14?" she sighed. "They called him the 'half stallion monster'; one side of his face looks like that of any other stallion's...but the other... and his body . . .she shivered slightly. "Well my dear, you have seen him without the mask and seen his body." Indeed she had...and yet Fluttershy remembered the second time she saw his face and not fearing it...rather finding it fascinating. She blushed at the thought as Rarity continued her story. "They used to open the curtain to his cage, exposing only the unscarred side of his face. They then would ask one of the young mares to come forward to the cage and pucker her lips for a kiss."
Fluttershy felt her insides churn again at the thought. Of all the cruel things to do to someone; her sickness turned to rage.
"Then, after the mare finished giggling and had her lips puckered for a kiss, they would tell the Master to turn and face the young lady head on, exposing his scars," she trembled again. "They would show his body and would turn and scream and blubber about, agitating the Master and forcing him to attempt at kissing the already screaming mare," she shook her head. "Sometimes he refused to turn and face the audience, so the carnival owners would lash him in front of everyone..." she wrapped her arms around herself as if seeking comfort. "It was horrible, those years in that place."
Fluttershy's fists were tight round balls of rage. "Monsters...they were the real monsters."
"I agree," Rarity sighed, settling herself back in her tiny bed. "But we did escape, as you can see," she smiled. "We owe that to the Master, actually."
Fluttershy looked up at Rarity with curious eyes. "He helped you all?"
"Oh yes, it was his idea actually," she smiled. "One night, the watchpony was very drunk and the Master saw the opportunity. I was already in my cage and witnessed the whole thing from it. You see, he started to insult the watchpony, calling him names and throwing pebbles at him that filly's had thrown at the Master earlier that day."
"Charming," Fluttershy muttered.
"Well, the watchpony, who had the keys around his belt, got irritated and threatened that he would come into the Master's cage and beat him within an inch of his life. Of course the Master continued his insults," Rarity grinned.
Fluttershy was leaning close, her head resting in on top of her hooves, her body leaning against the small bed. "Then what happened?"
Rarity's grin spread further. "Well, as he promised, the watchpony grabbed the whip that was normally used when any of us 'acted up', and proceeded to enter the Master's cage with every intention of beating him," Fluttershy was holding her breath, anticipating Rarity's every word. "Once he entered the cage, the Master then lashed out, kicking the watchpony hard in the groin, before slamming his head against the bars of the cage."
"And no one heard it?" Fluttershy asked in amazement.
Rarity shook her head. "They were all drinking in their little hut, singing loudly and very off key. Even if the watchpony had cried out for help, they wouldn't have heard it."
"So then what happened?"
"Well, the Master got hold of the keys, and immediately set about releasing us. There were others," Rarity explained, "but they chose to go their own way...to this day I don't know what became of them," she sighed sadly. "But Derpy, Shortround, Rainbow Dash, and I...we all chose to follow the Master. We were just outside Maris, so we took our chances and wandered into the city. At that time, the Opera House was being completed, so the Master thought we would be safe hiding there. We found some stairs that led down...and heard water below...so we followed the sound, and...discovered this," she finished, holding her arms out to the cavern. "We believe that it was part of the underground catacombs used in the middle ages."
Fluttershy was amazed by the whole tale. "How long...how long have been down here?" she asked, amazed that no one else had discovered their secret.
Rarity counted softly in her head. "The Master was 17 when we escaped so...just over 20 years."
20 years. No one, till now, knew of their secret which had been kept well for over 20 years. "Amazing..." she whispered. "And...he saved all of you?"
Rarity smiled proudly. "He could have run and saved his own skin, but...not our Discord. He's a good creature, truly he is."
"Discord..." Fluttershy whispered. The Phantom had a name.
"Now my dear, you need your rest," Rarity shushed. "Climb into bed and get some sleep...tomorrow you'll have a new place all your own."
Fluttershy wanted to smile to Rarity's words, but her thoughts were elsewhere. She missed her father and was worried about him; yet she was also grateful for the new friends she had just made. And then there was the Phantom.
Discord. The name really did suit him, with all that mischief and murder. She shivered and wondered how he came to it. Was it given to him by his captives? Or did his mother give him the name before something happened to her? Did she sell him to the Persian caravan? Or did a tragic accident occur, causing him to be ripped from his family? So many questions were still waiting to be unveiled, but one thing was now understood: this place, this world, was his to protect. These people were not his servants, they were his family-yet they felt obligated to treat him as their master for the salvation he had given them. Yes, despite his harsh behavior to her, Fluttershy could see the good that hid within the shadows of his persona.
"Goodnight Rarity," she whispered to the mare as she burrowed under the soft blankets of her temporary sleeping place. She wondered about her captor, wondered about the sudden change in his attitude for wanting to give her a place of her own, instead of throwing her back in the cage. Perhaps it was just pity he felt for her...but she couldn't help the feeling that she wanted it to be more. Friendship perhaps? Surely that was all it was...wasn't it? Fluttershy blushed at the thought and told herself to go to sleep.
Fleur de Lis' screams filled the Opera House's walls, causing Fancypants and the managers to come running to her side. "Fleur de Lis! My beloved, what is it? What's wrong?" Fancypants cried, finding his prima donna standing aghast in the doorway of her dressing room.
"WHAT HAS HAPPENED?" she screamed. The managers arrived just then, huffing from their sprint and peered inside to see what had caused the soprano to be so upset.
"Good God," Flim gasped. The dressing room was in shambles. The dressing table, the chaise lounge, all the elegant furniture was gone, leaving only several gaudy dresses and tangled wigs here and there. "What happened senora?"
Fleur de Lis turned on the managers and released her fury. "DO YOU THINK I WOULD BE ASKING YOU IF I KNEW? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" she stormed past them, nearly knocking them to the ground. "I HATE THIS PLACE!"
Somewhere, far below Fleur de Lis' dressing, someone was grinning at the harpy's screams. "I really must do that more often," Discord chuckled. |
The Opera Phantom Discord | Bargaining | Bargaining
"Fluttershy..."
Her eyes fluttered open at the sound of her name. Fluttershy lifted her head, looking around her, remembering once again that she was not in the apartment she and her father occupied, but beneath the Opera House. The cavern was dark save for a few orange embers that glowed from the hearth in the center. Who had spoken to her? All she could hear now were the soft snores of her new friends. And then she heard it again...
"Fluttershy..."
She rose from the bed, a blanket wrapped tightly about her body. The voice seemed to be coming from beyond the cavern.
"Fluttershy...come to me, my angel..."
The voice was hypnotic. Low and deep, rich and soft. A whisper; yet loud and clear. She felt like a ship at sea, and the voice was her beacon guiding her to safe harbor. Or, it could be that of a siren, luring her to her death. Either way, she was under it's power and could not turn away. "I am coming..." she called back, following the voice through the darkness of the tunnels.
The voice was replaced by music. Music she had heard before in her dreams; soft and sad, yet so beautiful and passionate. She continued her unknown journey, her feet carrying her as if she were as light as air.
"Sing for me, my angel..."
Futtershy opened her mouth willingly to the request. Was it a request? The voice was soft and sweet, yet the words seemed commanding. She opened her mouth, yet no sound came out.
"Please sing for me...I long to hear your voice mingle with my music..."
Her skin tingled in the most wonderful way. She felt something within her begin to burn, begin to come alive. The music rose higher in its passion, and as it did so, she felt her blood rise with it, the heat of her body climax with each note.
The blanket fell away, like a puddle at her bare hooves. She wore a sheer gown, its material touching her like a thousand silken hooves. Funny, she did not remember putting such a gown on.
"Yes my angel...come to me...sing for me...stay with me..."
Fluttershy opened her mouth again, willing her voice, forcing it almost, to obey the other's commands. She wanted to please her ghost, her angel of music who was playing for her and her alone.
"Oh angel...how I long to hear you sing..."
Fluttershy attempted again, but her voice stopped in a gasp as she felt something touch her. A paw? She gasped again as she felt the paw, strong and large, spread over her stomach...and then move down, slowly, running along the length of her thigh.
"Mmmmmmmm...your body was meant for singing..." the voice whispered. She gasped for she could hear it in her ear. She felt a claw touch her throat, spread across her neck and then move downward...further and further.
She held her breath.
"I shall teach you to sing...a very, very special kind of song..." the voice promised, as a silky tongue darted out to taste her earlobe, and the paw on her thigh moved between her legs and the one on her chest moved to her nape.
"Oh Fluttershy...Fluttershy..."
"FLUTTERSHY!"
Fluttershy awoke with a start, her face flushed, her brow covered with beads of sweat, the blankets sticking to her body. She gasped and shook her head, looking around and trying to comprehend what had happened.
A dream. It had all been a dream, and standing near her bed, looking extremely exuberant, was Derpy who was practically hopping up and down. "C-C-COME AND SEE!" she exclaimed, her large hooves grasping her shoulders and pulling her out of bed.
Fluttershy squealed, blushing and thinking she was wearing the silken sheer gown as she had in her dream, but she soon realized that instead, she was still wearing her drab blue dress from the previous day. No wonder her body felt stiff.
"Derpy!" Rarity scolded. "Put her down at once!"
Fluttershy realized that her hooves weren't touching the ground; she was so concerned about her state of dress that she hadn't realized. Derpy looked ashamed and quickly put her down, turning a bright shade of red and shrinking her large size into a small ball. "S-s-s-sorry F-f-f-fluttershy," she stuttered, scuffing her feet and looking sad.
Fluttershy smiled and patted Derpy's face, to which she grinned, although she herself was disappointed by being interrupted from her erotic dream. Or perhaps she was more disappointed that it had turned out to only be a dream. Who was her mysterious angel? It was not the first time she had had such a dream; however this one was much more...realistic.
"C-c-c-come and s-see!" Derpy cried again, gently tugging on her hoof to follow. Her gentle tug was truly a good hard pull, but she was trying.
Rarity rolled her eyes and shook her head. "She won't be satisfied till you follow her my dear...I'll make you some breakfast while you're looking."
Fluttershy was so confused. Looking? Looking at what? What had gotten into Derpy? She grinned and tugged on her arm to follow her, which she had no choice but to follow, as her tugs were quite insistent.
She led her through the dark tunnels and passages of the underground labyrinth with ease. Some tunnels were pitch black, yet Derpy navigated the two of them without any problem. Everything looked the same as it had the night before...how did they know when it was morning and when it was evening? She was not sure if she could stand living a life underground, but then she reminded herself that her new friends had little choice.
Some of the tunnels looked oddly familiar...like the tunnels of her dream. She tried to remember the route she was taking her, but after a while, every passage looked no different than the previous one. Fluttershy wondered how far they were going, as it seemed they had been walking-running practically, for Derpy's steps kept getting wider and wider-for quite some time.
"Almost t-t-there!" Derpy said happily, pulling on her arm a little more. Fluttershy continued following, curious to see what it was that had her in such a state. She was surprised when Derpy suddenly stopped in front of her, causing Fluttershy to run into her large frame. "There..." she pointed towards a small glittering light that was coming through a sliver in the cavern wall. Fluttershy looked around her, her gaze following the direction her hoof was pointing. She saw the soft golden glow that was softly illuminating a nearby rock. She realized that the glow as coming from just beyond the rock. What was it? Her first thoughts were that it was the light of morning, streaming through a crack in the cave's ceiling. But as she slowly approached the light, with Derpy's instance, she realized that it was artificial, and not the sun.
"G-g-go on!" she encouraged, grinning from ear to ear. Fluttershy nodded her head at Derpy, slowly going towards the glow, wondering what lay beyond the rocks that blocked her initial eyesight. She realized that the rocks were not hiding the light, they were simply in front of it. She did not have to remove them; she simply had to go around them. She side stepped to her right and went beyond the rocks, finding a small entrance into a cavern. The glow was growing brighter...and her curiosity was growing wilder. The entrance was small, but not to the point where she had to bend down, as she initially thought she would have to do. She gasped when she saw a lacy white curtain covering the "doorway" to the cavern. How did this get here? It was beautiful to be sure, but...where did it come from? Fluttershy pushed the curtain aside...and her breath stopped.
The cavern was small...no bigger than some of the dressing rooms that the chorus girls occupied above...but it was adorned in the most exquisite state she had ever seen. Before her was a rich scarlet rug, unbelievably soft, which stretched to the far reaches of the tiny cavern's floor. In one corner was a beautiful mahogany dressing table, adorned in brightly colored bottles of perfume, cream, and soap. The scent of lavender and rose petals filled her nostrils, reminding Fluttershy of the rose bushes she and her father kept back at their old farm. The dressing table had a pristine mirror which reflected the elegant area she was standing in. There were several beautiful works of art that hung from the cavern walls, and several stone pedestals that held crystal vases filled with all sorts of colorful flowers. To the left of the dressing table was a scarlet chaise-lounge, which had a lovely lace throw adorned across it. She heard the soft trickling of water and glanced to her left and gasped. A tiny waterfall trickled from the ceiling down to a small pound that was at the bottom of a tiny slope. Before the slope there was a mahogany table with two chairs, each with the same scarlet cushions as the chaise-lounge. A single pink rose in a slender crystal vase adorned the table. Light glittered off the falling water and Fluttershy's followed it to see where the light came from. Several large beautiful crystal oil lamps hung from silver hooks on the cavern's walls...yet they were not causing the odd glittering glow. No, the glow was coming from what the light of the oil lamps were bouncing off...which was a small beautiful crystal chandelier, which seemed to sparkle with diamonds, which hung from the center of the ceiling. And then...in the very middle of the room, was a bed. It was not small, but not overly large. Two could sleep on it if they wished, but they would have to be pressed very close together. Fluttershy found herself blushing at the thought. The bed was four posters, and was covered with lace curtains that were held back by white ribbons. The sheets looked as if they were made of silk, and the blanket that covered it was a deep velvet scarlet, same as the other furniture. Needless to say...the cavern took her breath away.
"And just in time for breakfast!" came a merry voice. Fluttershy whirled around to see Rarity smiling as she held a small silver tray, adorned with eggs, several kinds of sweet cakes, and a cup of tea. "Here you are my dear...I'm afraid we were not able to build you a fireplace just yet, but do not worry, all in good time you will have one," she smiled.
Fluttershy was flabbergasted. She could not find her voice, her eyes were wide with amazement. This...this was hers?
"R-r-rarity..." she murmured looking around her, not knowing where to start.
"D-d-d-d-do you l-l-l-like it?" Derpy asked, her stutter even stronger due to her nervousness. She wanted to make sure she loved it, she had worked very hard with the others the previous night to make sure it was perfect.
"Like it," Fluttershy whispered. "I...I don't know what to say?" Derpy's face fell at her words. "It's the most beautiful room I have ever seen!" she exclaimed. Her face instantly broke into a large smile. "I...good Lord, where did this all come from?" Fluttershy asked, her body whirling around the room, taking in everything she was seeing. Rarity and Derpy smiled at one another. "I...I just...I don't know what to say..." she whispered, feeling happy tears form in her eyes. "But...I can not accept this...this is too kind, why...it's fit for a princess! And I'm just a country mare-"
"T-t-t-the Master w-w-will be upset if you d-d-don't take it," Derpy quickly interrupted. "Please say you w-will stay?" Fluttershy was moved by Derpy's words, not knowing that when she made her simple request, she was asking her more than simply accepting the room.
"Oh Derpy..." she looked at Rarity then as well. "Thank you both...and please thank Shortround and Rainbow Dash for me as well! I can only imagine how tired you must all be," she whispered, wiping her eyes and giggling as she remembered that both Shortround and Rainbow Dash were snoring in their beds when Derpy roused her.
"We are not the ones who deserve the thanks my dear," Rarity simply stated. "This was all the Master's doing. He merely directed us to fetch the furniture; he designed the room himself."
Fluttershy stared wide-eyed at Rarity. "The Phant-I mean, Discord...he...he..." she could not believe it.
"Yes," Rarity sighed. "Despite how I told him to stay in bed, he insisted on being here while the others brought the furniture. At least he didn't attempt to move it himself," she thanked heaven for some small favors. "He was present with directing where things should go and designing the whole space," she explained, before taking Fluttershy's arm and leading her towards the table by the small waterfall. "Now, come along and eat your breakfast before it gets cold."
Was this another dream? Fluttershy gazed at the lace that covered the top of the bed, relishing in the soft sheets that she lay upon. The previous night had been alright, but it wasn't the best sleep she had received. The mattresses she was given for a bed were old with springs that popped here and there. She had tossed and turned throughout the night and her back ached somewhat. But now, as she laid upon her new bed...oh she had never felt anything softer, as if she were laying on a cloud.
She truly did feel like a princess; she had never seen anything finer. And yet...she did not feel deserving of this extravagant gift. Were the others content? Why was she given luxury when they continued to sleep in their present quarters? Were they happy with what they had, or would they begin to envy her? Was it right for her to have such luxuries? After all, she was a prisoner. And then there was the Phantom...
"Discord," she whispered the name again. His name was both mysterious and beautiful. Ever since Rarity had told her the story of how they all had come to be there, she could not stop thinking about him. Despite his dark mood and cruel exterior...she had learned that he was caring and devoted to those he felt responsible for. They all called him "Master", and had adopted the understanding of being servants for him; that was her first prejudice towards him. Fluttershy knew of several wealthy families back around the country village in which she grew up. They were all snobby and arrogant, commanding servants to do whatever they wished, even if the command was humiliating. The family of her mother, who snubbed her after marrying a poor musician, taught Fluttershy how far ponies were willing to go to view others as equals...and it wasn't that far.
Yet the Phantom...was different. He was the equal of the others; he too lived in that horrid place and suffered the same humiliating cruel acts that they had faced. And when the time came for his escape, he could have easily left without anyone else. But he released the others, and in return for their freedom, they wished to serve him with whatever he needed. And it did not end there either, for he cared for them, provided them food, clothing, shelter, and whatever else they wished. While this underground labyrinth was amazing with all its secret treasures...Fluttershy had a feeling that many of the things that were there, such as Rarity's yards of fabric for her sewing and Derpy's book collection, came from the Phantom himself. And this entire room...where it had come from, she did not know...but he, as she was reminded many times by the others, had wished for her to have it, and was present with the organization of it.
Why had he changed? Was it not one day ago that they were blaming each other for one another's troubles and throwing insults back and forth? Did he feel pity for her? Was this his way of showing thanks for her bringing him back and helping to save his life? Whatever it was...she needed to thank him. Oh she could envision it now, she thought with a wry grin. Yes, she could see herself strolling into his elaborate chambers, and thanking him for the beautiful room and all that he had done...and then receiving scoffing remarks and sarcastic laughter. No, the Phantom did not strike her as a man who would listen to compliments and gratitude.
...and yet she still felt the need to go to him and somehow thank him, even if it was simply seeing his face and body again.
His face and his body. Funny, she thought. The first time she saw him without his mask, she was terrified. Never had she seen anything more horrific in her whole life. But when she reflected on the situation the second time she removed his mask to place a cool cloth on his cheeks and forehead and took off his clothes to ward off the fever, she discovered she truly was not terrified...but intrigued. She concluded that what startled her initially was the way he suddenly turned around after he felt the mask being removed. It was the rage that she saw etched across his face, as well as the odd duality; one side was "normal" while the other...wasn't.
But when she looked at him again without the mask...her eyes studied his scars, and her hooves lightly played over them while he slept. The scars were hard, and had a somewhat leathery texture. She could feel the bones of his nose and right cheekbone, which had skin covering them, but no muscle tissue. The bag of flesh that hung slightly over his right eye was hard as well, despite looking somewhat squishy. How he came by these scars she did not know...but the more she studied them, the less afraid she felt. She gazed upon the other side of his face, the side that looked like that of any workpony's. It was not handsome, at least not by fashionable society's standards, but then, when was she considered fashionable? It was rugged in texture, pale, but there was a soft hint of brown to his skin. She remembered how Rarity mentioned that one theory of Discord's origins was that he was from Persia; perhaps that explained his coloring? His face was not slender, but with a strong set jaw. The cheekbones were not high, but they were sleek, offering a more rounded look. His eyes however...that was where she remembered her breath being stolen.
His body also scared her a little at first, simply because it was so strange. However after she had taken a longer look, it stopped scaring her and more interested her. His body was . . .unique to be sure. He appeared to be a miss match of things all put together into something quite horrifying at first glance. But now that she had seen his body more from their encounters and his fever, she felt that it almost. . . suited him in a way, a representation of the insanity that plagued him, and the passion. slim yet strong, a mix of many things that in the end, all worked together very well.
He had the eyes of a panther; large and golden. In the shadows they looked amber-a soft shade of brown with flecks of gold. But when the light shown on his face, and when his eyes went wide with shock or surprise, they turned a golden color, one that drew her into its depths and made her feel like drowning.
And his voice. It was not silken, but deeper, richer...more like the scarlet velvet that adorned her bed. Soft, yet textured; dangerous, yet warm.
His slimness added his gracefulness, another panther-like quality. The way he moved when he was fighting was like a dance of sorts. And when she watched him play at his organ, she saw the graceful way his paw and claw played over the keys, despite the passionate fury his very soul was screaming. Her blood grew hot at the memory; she had been mesmerized by his playing, his music as well as his very being calling out to her like a siren. Was his music the one she heard in her dream? Was it his voice she had heard? She blushed deeply and sat up; she had been laying on her back and yet she had felt dizzy.
The gothic romances her mother had read to her were full of dark suspense, mystery, a little gore here and there, and plenty of ghostly passion. She remembered how as a filly she thought the notion of ghosts was quite romantic, and she even felt that way upon her first arrival to the Maris Opera House. Her feelings on such things had changed; no longer did she find such ideas fascinating or romantic, but frightening and foolish. Yet now...for the first time since her first day in Maris, Fluttershy found herself once again believing in ghostly romance and gothic fantasy. Even though she knew what lay beneath his mask...she could not help but be lost in the mystery of it.
"I'm being so foolish," her practical side scolded. "He said so himself, this is no fairy tale and he is no prince...he is my kidnapper. He may be kind to those who suffer the same way he suffers, but that means I'm his enemy and will always be such in his eyes." So why did these thoughts upset her?
She had to see him; that was the only way to put an end to these silly feelings that were awakening her body to unknown sensations...as well as her heart.
One insult would be all that she needed to remind her silly heart what was her true situation. She could go to him, thank him for his gift, and then allow him to ridicule her for being so foolish as to come to him and think such things. Yes, she would do that, that way she would do the right thing by thanking him...and be reminded of her real situation, that she was prisoner and this beautiful room was her new cage.
So why was her heart breaking at the thought?
"Oh Fluttershy," she grumbled, rising to her hooves and taking one of the oil lamps off the wall and using it as a guide to carry her through the darkened tunnels. "You truly are a foolish country chit!"
Yet her personal insults quickly came to a stop and were replaced by surprise as she found herself going down unknown tunnels...and yet feeling as if they were leading her in the right direction. She had never seen these tunnels before...yet she felt as if she knew them...
Lo and behold, in a matter of minutes, Fluttershy found herself standing just inside the first chamber that belonged to the Phantom. She looked again at the beautiful mighty pipe organ that seemed to be embedded in the rock. By closing her eyes, she could see him sitting at it and playing passionately as she had seen him do only two nights ago.
She shook her head and told herself to continue onward, that she had come here for a purpose.
Quietly, she tipped-toed towards the second chamber, the one in which he slept, and so softly, peered through the shadows to see if he was conscious. Instead, she was greeted by the soft even sound of his breathing, and saw him sleeping, looking utterly exhausted. Fluttershy couldn't help but grin at the sight of him. He wore the mask (she had a feeling he rarely took it off) and on his stomach lay sheets of parchment, while in one paw he held a pen and in the other claw, an inkwell. He looked so peaceful, but she reminded herself that a lion looks just as peaceful before pouncing on its prey.
She knew she should leave him be, but she found herself drawn to him, even in his sleeping state. She quietly approached the side of his bed, and carefully, so as not to wake him, removed the inkwell and pen from his paw. She placed the two items next to the bed on a small table, and then she proceeded to pick up the paper that was scattered across the bed. He made a sound which caused her to jump somewhat, but she noticed that he was still sleeping quite peacefully. She had the amazing urge to bend over and place a soft kiss on his forehead, but she resisted. Instead, she blew out the single candle that was lit by his bedside, and took the parchment into the next room, leaving the slumbering Phantom in peace.
Fluttershy placed the parchment on top of a beautiful piano that sat near the pipe organ. She would come back later or perhaps tomorrow and thank him then. But something on the parchment caught her eye and drew Fluttershy back. It was a song, one that looked as if it had been freshly written.
She recalled the score she had discovered those two nights ago with the words Don Juan Triumphant written at the top. She was not familiar with an opera by that title, and while she had grown up in the country, her father, a lover of all things related to music, had told her much about many operas, the famous and less famous alike. Like that score sheet, this song also contained the words Don Juan Triumphant written in small letters in the upper right corner. The title of the song was "Point of No Return". Fluttershy felt a shiver run down her spine.
The song was a duet, sung by the main figure, Don Juan, and a girl by the name of Aminta. She found herself blushing as she read the first few lines, realizing that it was a love song of sorts...yet the lyrics were extremely erotic, as Don Juan attempts to seduce Aminta. The music was odd as well. One minute, the notes were moving to a graceful slow rhythm, and the next, they changed dramatically to a thunderous exclamation. Without realizing it, she found herself humming softly to the melody...and then, as her eyes reached Aminta's part, she discovered herself singing the role.
"You have brought me
to that moment where words run dry,
to that moment where speech disappears
into silence,
silence..."
She took a breath and continued on, her voice growing a little more confident as the music began to flow through her, casting its spell upon her soul.
"I have come here,
hardly knowing the reason why...
in my mind,
I've already imagined
our bodies entwining, defenseless and silent-
and now I am here with you:
no second thoughts,
I've decided,
decided..."
"What are you doing?"
Fluttershy gasped and whirled around, her hooves gripping the piano to keep herself from fainting with shock.
She had been caught. There he stood, towering over her as she remembered the first time she met him. His shirt was gone; all he wore were a pair of crumpled black suit trousers and his mask. He stood in the entrance between the two chambers, eyeing her. Even in her frightened state, Fluttershy could not help but look at his bare chest and take in the body she saw before her very eyes. And yet everything in her being told her to run, to get out of there, that she had been meddling in private things and now she was going to pay dearly. She couldn't look into his eyes, she feared what she would find.
So instead, she turned on her heel and darted towards the entrance that led out into the dark tunnels just beyond. This was his lair, nothing could stop him from pursuing her, but right now she wasn't thinking practically, simply following what her instincts told her to do which was run.
"STOP!"
Why, she did not know, but Fluttershy turned her head to look over her shoulder at his thunderous voice, only to find that he wasn't there...but had somehow moved in front of her. She gasped and stared up at him, as he was literally only a breath away from her body. How was that possible to move so quickly?
"I...I..." she swallowed the lump in her throat. "I...I'm sorry, I only...that is, I only came to...to thank you for the room, and...you were asleep, s-s-so I thought...I simply thought that...I only intended..." she was backing away from him and gasped when she discovered she was back against the piano. He was slowly stalking towards her.
"I...I didn't mean to pry, please forgive me, I just...I didn't do any harm, I didn't mean any harm, I...I..." she had nowhere else to go, her back was against the piano and he was still stalking forward. She felt like shrinking, and then, she stopped babbling when she felt his paw reach out and touch her lips.
"Hush now..." he whispered. His voice was not filled with anger...but...fascination. She was instantly quiet in that moment, and she slowly lifted her lashes to gaze up into those molten eyes that were watching her with such intensity.
"I'm going to ask you a question," he murmured, his paw still against her lips. "And I want you to answer me truthfully, nothing else." He paused to see if she understood. "How...when..." he swore softly to himself, for he discovered he too was stumbling over his own words. "Who taught you how to read music?" he softly demanded, yet with great gentleness.
Fluttershy locked eyes with him once more, and read the earnestness in them for his need to know the answer. Slowly he removed his paw from her lips and waited, while she took a deep breath. "My father taught me," she whispered, her eyes not leaving his. "He would play music to me on his violin...and I learned how to read it by singing over his shoulder while he played."
"Amazing..." Discord whispered. It was then that he realized how close he was to her, and he quickly took one step back, providing a little more space between them. "And...how did you learn to sing?"
Fluttershy looked confused by the question. How did she learn to sing? Some people, when they found themselves in the water, could swim like fish. Others could climb rocks and trees as if gravity itself did not apply to them. For her, singing was like breathing; it was just something she could do and had always been able to do. "No one taught me," she whispered. "I...I just can."
His eyes changed, from amazed to scrupulous. He studied her for a long hard moment. He was a connoisseur of music, he knew how to play a variety of instruments, knew all the masterworks by the great composers, and had written several symphonies, cantatas, requiems, marches, and operas, and yet he did it all by thorough and meticulous study. He was born with a gift, but it was gift that did not come so easily, no matter how hard he tried to will it.
But this mare...was it possible for one to have such God-given talent? Only one way to find out...
"Sing this for me," he demanded, finding a song from his opera and slamming it down on the piano.
"W-w-what?" Fluttershy looked confused and felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She felt as if someone were setting a trap for her.
"Sing this, now!" he demanded again, moving to the piano bench and playing the first few cords of the song. He looked up at her, wanting to scream for her to obey and do as he had said, but he stopped himself and saw the fearful confusion in her eyes. His heart instantly softened. "Please..." he whispered. "Please, sing this for me...I need to hear it..."
His voice sounded so pleading, Fluttershy felt herself melting. She took a deep breath and looked down at the sheet of music before her. It was a song that the girl, Aminta, sung earlier on in the opera. She read the first few cords that opened the music, hearing him play them over and over as he waited. She looked at him one more time, finding his eyes locked on hers as he continued playing those same cords over and over. She looked back at the music and began to sing.
"Think of me,
think of me fondly
when we've said goodbye...
think of me,
once in awhile
please promise me you'll try...
when you find
that once again you long
to take your heart back and be free,
if you ever find a moment,
spare a thought for me..."
The playing on the piano came to an abrupt halt and Discord pushed himself away from the instrument, rising to his feet in lightning speed and began pacing the chamber like a caged tiger.
Fluttershy had been lost in the beautiful song; the melody was so sweet and soft and the lyrics so loving, that she was startled by the abrupt stop which brought her crashing back to earth. Had she upset him? She knew she had no formal kind of training when it came to singing, but she didn't believe she was horrible.
Discord's eyes latched onto hers, never leaving their blue depths as he continued his pacing. Incredible, amazing, outstanding; there weren't enough words to describe her voice. It was something that had been missing in the Maris Opera House for years...purity. She had such a pure voice, the tone and pitch clear like a bell. Never had he heard anything so exquisite in all his years at the Opera.
She had the voice of an angel.
Fluttershy felt herself grow more and more uneasy with each step he took. She was going to go mad if someone didn't say or do something. "Monsieur, I...I'm sorry if I offend-"
He stopped. "Sorry?" he said with awe. "You're APOLOGIZING?"
Fluttershy practically jumped at the sudden change of tone in his voice. She couldn't tell if he was surprised, elated, or...upset. "I...well...that is..." she looked up into his eyes, her own filled with confusion. "Yes?"
Discord shook his head furiously. "Don't apologize, do not EVER apologize for..." he wanted to say "the most beautiful divine sound I have heard from another living soul", but he didn't. Instead, he said, "...the talent in which you have been blessed."
Fluttershy felt her cheeks burn at his words. Was that...a compliment? She did not think he would ever say such a thing to her. "Thank you," she whispered, her eyes quickly darting away as his caught hers again.
Discord sighed and carefully approached her once more. "I have...I have never heard such a sound before," he stated honestly. If it had been somepony else who had said such a thing, she would have laughed, feeling that that pony was humoring her. Yet she knew that this stallion was being entirely sincere. "Your voice is truly remarkable," he whispered with awe. "The tone, the pitch...everything...it's so clear..." he turned away, rubbing his brow.
Fluttershy stood perfectly still, not entirely sure what to do or say.
"Yet..." he continued. "While it is quite lovely...it is obviously untrained." Fluttershy had blushed to his words and a small smile formed at the corners of her mouth, but after these words, she felt the smile fade away. "You have astounded me with your first attempts at these songs, especially the first one," he murmured. "I know it may sound like bragging, but I have been writing music ever since I've been here...and it is a fact that I am very good at it," he turned to face her once again. "I study music for countless hours every day; most of my compositions end up being burnt for the lack of talent that they possess," he honestly stated. He did believe himself to be good, but he also knew that he was not perfect. "Yet this opera...I do believe is my masterpiece. And you...someone who has had no formal kind of training...can sing the part of Aminta...as if this role was written for you."
Fluttershy's mouth fell open at his statement. Surely he was jesting! Yes, her voice was untrained, yes, she had no formal singing experience, but...she was not as good as he was claiming her to be!
"Monsieur-"
"I'll make a deal with you, mademoiselle," he murmured, sitting himself back down at the piano, his claw lightly running over the ivory keys. "Don Juan Triumphant is an opera that I want performed here in Maris...and now I feel that it is ready to be performed at the end of the opera season. Allow me to be your teacher...to train your voice so that you can perfect the gifts you have been blessed with...and truly emerge as Aminta."
She could not believe what she was hearing. "You...you want to train me?" she asked with bewilderment. Was this the same stallion who had screamed at her the day before, and then had given her the most beautiful room she had ever seen? Now, instead of being furious with her for singing his music...he wanted to be her teacher?
"Yes, you silly mare," he muttered, feeling his patience thinning. How he longed to take possession of her voice and hear her sing Aminta's part only in the way that he had dreamed.
Fluttershy frowned at his words. "I am not a silly mare," she muttered back. "You can not blame me for being a little...flabbergasted to say the least, by your offer," she stated.
He found himself grinning. Ah, that spirit of hers...he did so admire it.
"My apologies," he whispered, which in itself was a bit of a shock for Fluttershy. He smiled even more at this. "So, will you allow me to be your teacher?" he asked again. "I will not lie to you," he warned. "I will be extremely demanding and expect perfection at every rehearsal. I know that you came to Maris with hopes of singing in the chorus," he continued, ignoring the surprise that was in her eyes at this fact. "I am not preparing you to be a chorus mare...I am preparing you to be a star. The part of Aminta is not for a chorus girl but for a diva, a mare who can carry the role with perfection. That is what I am demanding...perfection," he stated quite plainly. "Rehearsals will be long and hard...and no doubt you will come to despise me even more than you already do," he sighed. Fluttershy stared at him when he said these words, her heart going out to him, but her mind reeling with everything he was telling her. "But I can not help that, I am a slave to music and it is my greatest passion. And I demand so much because...I can hear the potential for greatness by what you have sung thus far," he murmured in awe once again. "So, what do you say? Will you let me teach you?" while it sounded like a question, it was truly more like a demand.
Fluttershy let everything he had said soak in. She had no sense of what formal training was like. If she had sought it from somepony else would it be as grueling and demanding as he was warning her? Did she have a choice?
She lifted an eyebrow and stared back at him. "You said this was a deal...what did you mean by that?"
Clever mare. His admiration for her was growing by the minute.
"Let me train you, and when I feel that you are ready, that you have reached your pinnacle and can step forward as the new star for the Maris Opera House...I will release you from your captivity."
Fluttershy was floored by his last words. He would set her free simply by accepting his offer to train her voice?
"Understand that it will depend on whether I and I alone believe you are ready," he explained one last time, giving her fair warning. "But yes...when that time has come...you will be released."
He wasn't sure why...but he felt a stab of pain under his left rib after he said those words. Funny, the bullet hadn't hit him there...
"So give me an answer mademoiselle before I lose my mind with waiting."
Fluttershy gazed into his amber eyes once more, losing herself in the golden brown pools of his being.
Freedom.
She could almost taste it.
And yet she felt a strange wave of sadness come over her for a brief moment. She quickly shook the feeling away, unsure what it was or what it meant, and refocused her gaze with his. By agreeing to his bargain, not only would she be released from her captivity, but her dreams of singing on stage at the Maris Opera House would come true as well! Yes, it would be hard work, she had no doubt...but she was up to the challenge.
"Yes," she whispered, locking her eyes with his. "Yes, I want you to train my voice."
Discord felt such elation at her words that he almost fell off the piano bench. But he hid it all in his heart and simply nodded his head to her. "Wonderful. Now, first order of business," he began quite seriously, "is to get a proper night's rest. We will begin early tomorrow," he rose from the bench and brushed past her towards his bedchamber. A brief shock of electricity passed between them as she felt his arm brush her shoulder. She cursed the dress she was wearing, knowing that it looked horrible on her, and then wondered why she was caring at all about what she wore in front of him.
"Goodnight monsieur," Fluttershy called out, her back to the Phantom, before slowly walking towards the entrance that led out of his music chamber.
"Fluttershy?"
She came to a halt as she heard her name being spoken on his lips for the first time. She felt a strange fire burn between her legs as the words dripped off him like warm honey. She slowly turned her head and glanced over her shoulder at him. Once more, he was standing in the entryway between his two chambers.
"Do you like your room?" he simply asked, his eyes boring deeply into her own.
She swallowed and simply nodded her head. "Y-y-yes...thank you," she whispered.
"My pleasure," he whispered back, before turning and disappearing like a ghost into the shadows of his bed chamber. |
The Opera Phantom Discord | Desires | Desires
She wasn't going to get any sleep that night. She had tossed and turned for what felt like hours, and was finally succumbing to the fact that she was simply not going to get any sleep. Why? Because she felt she had somehow made a deal with the devil himself.
After her surreal encounter with the Phantom, she returned to her chamber and threw herself onto the bed, praying that sleep would come to her, feeling utterly exhausted by everything that had taken place, not to mention the strange feelings that were swirling around in her head...and heart.
He liked her voice, he thought she had talent, he knew her name! She moaned softly as she remembered the way her name dripped off his lips, like honey melting off the comb. His voice was so hypnotic; deep, rich, soft. Did he sing? Fluttershy believed that a musician of his talents must be able to sing. If he sang to her, Fluttershy knew that she would faint away from the first few chords his voice brought forth.
She groaned and fidgeted some more. Why was this happening to her? He was her kidnapper! Why was she feeling this way? This wasn't some dark romance that she read, this was real; and he had stated quite plainly to her that he was no hero with a happy ending to offer. She was young, true, with what some would call "frivolous dreams", but she was also realistic and level-headed. She had dreams of romance and adventure, but she knew the line between dream and reality...and this was cold reality. He liked her voice, he thought her talented, but that was it! He was in this for himself, for his own opera, not for her. She had to keep telling herself that, or else she would be in danger of...of...
No, she would not think it, for if she did, then she would be in danger of believing it. She did not have feelings for this Phantom! She didn't! She groaned again and crushed her face into the pillow.
All she could see was him; the way he carried himself; regal and mysterious, like a cat stalking its prey. She remembered how he had somehow come around and blocked her way out of the chamber, and how he approached her, his great height towering over her, his paw rising to stop her lips from speaking. His face may be scarred under the smooth mask that he wore and his body may be different, but she could not remember a time when she had found another stallion so handsome and desirable as he was in that moment.
Oh God above, she needed help. She did not understand such feelings, such passionate desires that were coursing through her blood. Her mother died before she had a chance to talk about such things, and her father, bless his heart, well...a mare could not ask her own father such things!
No, she must force herself to put away such thoughts and focus on the bargain that she had agreed to. Her freedom depended entirely on how well she sang for him. She had no doubts that he would be extremely demanding, and she had no doubts that she would come to despise him during those long strenuous rehearsals. But she would have to keep reminding herself that with every note, with every song, with every hour that passed while she sang...would bring her one step closer to her freedom. She should be smiling with joy at such thoughts!
...why did she feel so unhappy then?
Fluttershy threw the blankets off and sat up. How she longed for a book! That was what this beautiful room was missing, a simple bookshelf filled with stories to tame her anxiety. Perhaps she could borrow some of Derpy's books, or maybe Discord could find-
Discord. His name alone sent a strange shiver down her spine.
Fluttershy looked down at herself then, a disgusted look passing over her features. She was still in the same drab blue dress she had worn since the night she was taken prisoner. The dress still had remnants of mud and blood stains from the night she escaped, and while Rarity had been able to sew up the horrible rip that Cranky Doodle Donkey had caused, it still looked awful. It was beginning to smell as well, despite the wash it had received the night she brought Discord back to his underground lair.
The sound of falling water drew her attention to the small waterfall and pool that lay in the far corner of her room. She remembered the perfumes on the dressing table and glanced over, wondering if there was any soap. To her happiness, she saw a small bar of rose-scented soap, next to a basin and pitcher. There was also a white fluffy towel that lay beneath the soap. Fluttershy rose from the bed and dashed over to the soap and towel, a blush covering her cheeks at the thought that was forming in her head. She gathered the items and then went over the pool, the smile immediately fading.
It was too small; the pool was not even deep enough to cover her whole body. But then she noticed a tiny opening against the wall. Yes, the water was leading out of the chamber! She left her chamber and followed the sound of water around several large jagged rocks till finally, she came to a clearing, streaming with moonlight upon the gentle waters of an underground lagoon. Her face lit with such pleasant surprise at her discovery. She blushed and wondered if she was safe from any prying eyes.
The others were further away, and no doubt sleeping. Besides, she remembered Rarity assuring her that no one would disturb her unless she asked for anything. And Discord...
She blushed at the thought but quickly shook her head. He was asleep, of course, and would have no interest in seeing her at all till time came for their rehearsal. No, this was as good a time as any.
Quietly and quickly, Fluttershy shed her dress and undergarments, before being welcomed into the cool refreshing waters.
He wasn't going to get any sleep. He was trying, by God he was trying. He needed the sleep, especially after the new discovery that was made about the costume mare. She could sing! And not just any song, but his own! Discord knew he was being arrogant but he couldn't help it! Don Juan Triumphant was a masterpiece, his masterpiece, and Fluttershy was the first mare he had ever encountered that could sing the part as if she were the living breathing character of Aminta herself!
All he could hear was her voice, beautifully ringing loud and clear in his head. The way she sang those songs, it was outstanding! Yes, she badly needed some training, but she was a miracle all the same! It would be early, it had to be early, he could not wait till mid-morning, let alone mid-day to begin her lessons. But he would mold her and prepare her for stardom, and that was exactly what she would become...a star of opera!
Something deep inside him tugged at the memory of the deal that he made with the mare. He was so desperate to get his paw and claw on her voice that he would have done anything for her...and that's exactly what he did. He promised her the freedom he knew she longed for in exchange for his opportunity to train her to play the part. It was a fair bargain after all, it was what they both wanted...yet that strange tugging feeling worsened at the thought of her leaving for good.
Discord took one of the large pillows and crushed it against his face. Damn it! He was not going to go through ANYTHING like this again! He remembered the pain of pining away for the lovely dancer, Pinkamena, and the jealousy that burned within him as he watched her give herself to the young future Prince. He had been such a fool, writing her stupid love poems and songs of his affection, all the while hiding in the shadows while she bragged them to the other dance mares, thinking they were coming from Blueblood. How he longed to wrap a noose around the stallion's neck!
Love was a curse. He learned long ago that when one had needs, they were best settled with a "professional" than with cards and poems. And that was all he was feeling...lust; simple blind lust. It had been a long time since he had last had a mare. In fact, he had not gone above to see any of the prostitutes since the night that silly mare had entered his life. He needed a long hard fuck with one of the many mares of the night, preferably against an ally wall; they were quicker that way, and Discord never went inside with these mares.
Yes, that was it; he just wanted to feel a mare's legs wrapped around him. This mare was indeed pretty, and he felt his body begin to stiffen at the memory of seeing her standing before him, in her undergarments, the rain falling around her, causing the fabric to be nearly transparent. That was all he wanted, a female body, not this particular mare.
Then why was it that he could only think of her?
Damn this wound! If he could move about better, he would abandon all thoughts and go above to lose himself with one of those mares. Yet a part of him, deep down, knew that no matter how many hours he spent in a prostitute's company...his lust would not be truly satisfied.
He threw the blankets back and rose from the bed, praying that music would be able to soothe the savage need that was coursing through his blood. Yet the second he sat down at the bench to his organ, he found that he could not bear to play. It was all because of her! If he began to play, the thoughts of her face, of her body, of her voice would come streaming back, and there would be no hope for him at all then.
He buried his face into his paw and leaned against the instrument, groaning to himself. What was he going to do? He was going to go mad! Only one thought came to him...he had to see her.
It was foolish, and he felt like a fool for even thinking it, but he knew that if he didn't see her, he would explode! They didn't have to speak; she didn't even have to be awake, for no doubt she was sleeping. But he needed to see her all the same, just to have one look at her beautiful face, to remind him of the ugliness that was beneath his mask, of his body, to remind him of the life he could never have. And then his desire for flesh would be transformed into anger, and music would flow from his anger like rain in a storm.
With new determination, Discord rose from the organ bench and grabbed a linen shirt, throwing it over his head and quickly darting out of his chambers. And then a new thought stopped him short...
Fluttershy had been wearing this horrid looking dress, in fact, if he remembered correctly, she had been wearing the same dress those last few days! He could see the remnants of the mud from the ally that caked it, not to mention the blood of both himself and Cranky Doodle that soiled it as well. Somepony who was going to be trained to become a star needed to look the part as well.
He had a task, and this was exactly what he needed, something for him to focus on what this was truly all about, making his opera become a reality. He hurried as quickly as his healing body would allow to the costume cages, the place where he had her first imprisoned. He couldn't help but grin slightly at the opened door. He went inside and plucked several gowns that hung from the cage's wires, all of which looked to be the right size, and then quickly dashed back to where her chamber lay.
It was quiet as he approached, and he could tell that all but one of the oil lamps within the chamber was lit. She was most likely asleep, which meant he could simply leave the gowns near her dressing table without her knowledge. He felt strange as he approached the entrance, like a colt almost, and he ground his teeth at the thought. What was wrong with him? He held his breath as he came around the entryway to her chamber, wondering how she would look...would she even be dressed? What should he say if she saw him? He looked at the bed where she lay...and frowned. She was not in the bed, and he whirled around, realizing she was nowhere to be seen!
Discord swore under his breath and threw the gowns onto the bed. No, he would not lose her now, not after he had heard her sing!
He stormed out of the chamber, prepared to go on a crazy search throughout the whole labyrinth, when a splashing sound caught his attention. He turned his head towards the sound and heard it again. And a smell filled his nostrils, the smell of...roses?
His brow furrowed in confusion, Discord followed the sounds and the strange smell, easily moving in the darkness and around the rocks that blocked his path, till he saw moonlight fill an open space. It was the lagoon, the secret underground lake that lay beneath the Opera House that no one knew existed. He had no idea where the splashing sounds were coming from, the water looked still, as if nothing had disturbed it. But something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and his mouth fell open when he saw the dress and what lay beneath it lying in a pile by the lagoon's shoreline.
And then, a great splash sounded off to his left, and Discord's eyes went wide as the sight of the beautiful naked Fluttershy emerged from the waters.
Her back was to him, but it was all he needed to see in order for his heart to skip a beat. Before she had the opportunity to look over her shoulder and catch him, he darted behind a rock, the shadows shielding him from the moonlight. He knew how to disappear in the shadows, he had been doing so his entire life. From his hiding place he found himself staring at her back, the strands of her long pink mane dripping down onto her luscious yellow skin. He gasped when she dove one more time beneath the waters, catching sight of her rounded hips and delectable bottom. And when she emerged again, she was facing him now, and he thought he had never seen such beauty...
Her hooves were in her hair, smoothing it from her eyes. The water lapped at her front. Discord felt his mouth water at the sight. She was smiling as she slowly waded towards the shoreline, fetching a bar of soap that she began to lather across herself. He took in everything; her legs were slender, the hips and thighs round ...and at the center, the doorway to paradise. Discord's eyes were locked for the longest time and he groaned inwardly, never before feeling so hard as he did right now. She was a goddess...and he knew that if she beckoned him at that very moment, he would be her slave for life.
Fluttershy had no idea that he was there, which perhaps fascinated him most of all. The way she bathed herself, the way she ran the soap over her body...it was so innocent, and yet it drove his desire beyond anything he had ever felt. He forced himself to turn away from the beautiful sight. She mustn't know he had seen her. However, he couldn't resist playing a little...
Fluttershy rinsed herself clean one last time before finally being satisfied that she had wiped away all the grime from the last few nights. The water had been most refreshing indeed, and Fluttershy felt that perhaps she would make this a habit every night. She emerged from the pool, wiping her body with the towel before placing her chemise and pantaloons on her body. Her skin was still slick from the water and she knew that the pale fabric did very little with covering her skin, however it was only till she got back to her chamber...who was going to see her?
She fetched her dress and the rest of her things and headed back to her chamber, humming one of the songs she had sung for Discord that evening. She was so merry from her bath that she didn't realize before it was too late, that she wasn't alone in her chamber.
"Lovely evening for a late night swim, don't you think?"
Fluttershy gave a high-pitched shriek when she saw Discord standing before her, his frame leaning against one of her bedposts, his arms folded across his chest, his face unreadable as usual...although she thought she could see something of a smirk, despite the mask.
"W-w-w-w-what a-a-are you d-d-doing here?" she stammered, clutching her dress to her body, trying to conceal as much of herself as she could.
Discord couldn't help but grin a little more at her behavior. Truly, he had never thought she looked more delectable, more delicious, than she did at this very moment. He felt the stirring in his loins again, but he ignored it. "I simply came to see how you were, my dear," he said simply.
Fluttershy stared at him, blinking for several seconds before she found her voice. "To...to see how I was?"
Discord nodded his head. "And I can see that...you've more than made yourself at home." She gave a squeak as she realized his eyes were raking over her body, and clutched the dress against herself even tighter.
"W-w-w-well, I'm...I'm doing very well, thank you," she replied, lifting her chin and trying to show him that he did not intimidate her one bit.
Discord could only grin more at this. "I'm glad," he whispered, and then looked at the dress she was clutching to herself and frowned. "And I thought perhaps...you would appreciate some new clothes."
Fluttershy stared at him with confusion, and then gasped as his paw indicated to the gowns he had placed upon her bed. Forgetting for a second that he was in her room, standing near her bed, and she was only wearing her undergarments, Fluttershy went to the bed and with tentative hooves, touched the beautiful fabrics that lay there. "Oh they are lovely!" she exclaimed.
"Yes..." Discord agreed, although he wasn't looking at the gowns.
Fluttershy glanced up and blushed even more as she realized how close they were standing to one another. She quickly took a few steps back, her knuckles turning white at how tightly she clutched the dress to her body. "T-thank you, monsieur," she whispered, looking away from his burning eyes.
Discord could not take his gaze off her, the urge to take her in his arms was burning every fiber of his being. He was not a stranger to sex, but he had never been with a mare on a bed, surrounded by softness and the scent or roses, and that was exactly how she smelled and he knew that would be how she would feel. Soft and sweet...how he wanted her.
"You are most welcome, mademoiselle," he whispered back, before taking a few steps back from her as well.
The two of them locked eyes with each other and in that brief moment, a shock of electricity went through them both. It was Discord who broke the spell, saying, "Since we are both awake, I see no reason why we should waste time any further. Quickly get dressed and then come to my chambers and we shall begin." Without another word, he turned on his heel and left her alone in the chamber.
Fluttershy stared at the space where he had been standing, her breathing slightly ragged and her legs trembling. She reached out to grip the bedpost in order to keep from melting away. Oh heaven above, she was lost.
Discord didn't stop moving till he reached his chamber. Once there he retreated into his darkened bed chamber and collapsed upon the bed, groaning as the lust surged through his body. He could not help it, he found his paw reaching down. Discord rarely touched himself, he was always disgusted with the simple thought of his body, but now, he could not help it, all he could think about was her body, her beautiful body rising from the water, and her sweet voice filling his ears, and her fiery spirit, matching his own, even when she was afraid. He imagined her body tangled with his, her voice singing the song of pleasure and passion, and her spirit boiling with his own as together they strove to reach the pinnacle of their desires.
Never had the thought of a single pony have such an effect on him. And never had he felt such desire before.
However the pleasure quickly disappeared. He was disgusted with himself and rose to quickly change his trousers. He was a monster, simple as that. He knew it, and he had a feeling she knew it as well. So what if she had seen him several times without his mask, he knew she would never be attracted to him, and while once upon a time he had thought of making her a personal slave to his every lustful whim, he knew he could never-WOULD never do such a thing to such an angel.
Angel. Yes, that was what she was. Not a goddess but an angel, something that was far out of reach, something he could never obtain, no matter how hard he repented.
His anger grew more and more with each passing second. Anger for his deformity, anger for her beauty, anger for the world that would never truly accept him. He stormed into the music chamber, seating himself at the organ and began to play with such furious passion, none like he had ever felt.
He played for a long time, losing himself in the music, before he felt her eyes upon his back. He would always feel her eyes upon him, especially after the incident when she removed his mask. "You're late," he muttered, his playing never ceasing or missing a beat.
Fluttershy's mouth fell open at his words. She had been as quick as she could; she just hadn't been sure which dress to wear. The costumes were all so lovely, but they were designed for acting, not for walking about in or...for rehearsing in. Discord turned then and eyed her, his gaze judging her from the start.
In truth, she looked beautiful, wearing a royal blue peasant gown that the character of Marguerite wore in "Faust", but he was a creature who wore masks, and so he masked his pleasure at the sight of her, and instead, stalked past her to his piano and seated himself, opening the music before him.
"Right...let us begin," he instructed, playing the first few notes on the score before him.
Fluttershy swallowed the nervous lump in her throat. Oh heaven above, what have I gotten myself into? |
The Opera Phantom Discord | Tension | Tension
"Flim! Oh thank Goodness, I have to speak with you at once!"
Flim turned to see a breathless Flam run to his side, his cheeks red and puffy from exertion. The older stallion groaned and began rubbing the bridge of his nose, already having a bad feeling about what his partner had to say. "Don't tell me..."
Flam gasped, but nodded his head. Flim groaned. "That makes the twelfth one we've received this month!" he cursed.
Flam, finally having the time to catch his breath, groaned with frustration along with his business partner. "We've been receiving notes filled with threats about allowing Fleur De Lis to perform, about changing the opera season, and...well..." Flam handed the note to Flim. "I'm afraid, this one is once again, about that unknown opera..."
Flim swore. "Not again! I don't care who this...prankster thinks he is! I happen to agree with the Prince, we shall not be intimidated by some foolish, masked-"
Flam hissed at Flim to keep his voice down. They were in the grand foyer of the Maris Opera House, where ponies of fashion came to lounge and discuss whatever gossip was going about society, and several heads had turned to overhear Flam and Flim's passionate discussion.
Flam gently pulled Flim's arm and led the gentlecolt to their office where they could not be heard. Once the door was shut, Flam turned to face his partner. "I know that you think me a fool for saying this, let alone believing this-"
"Flam-"
"But I'm starting to believe that...that these letters are not the work of an idle prankster!" he was sweating profusely, and Flim had noticed that Flam seemed very jumpy. He kept looking around, as if trying to make sure they were truly alone and no one would hear what they had to say. "I too believed that all those notes and tales we had heard about the infamous 'Phantom of the Opera' were simply jokes that Cranky Doodle Donkey had played in order to scare the dance mares...but...Flim...these threats...they are becoming real!"
Flim groaned and collapsed into his desk chair. "Now see here Flam, the only reason that we are receiving more of these letters is because we are not reacting to them the way he had in the past! The prankster is trying to scare us, and from the looks of things," he muttered, adding the note Flam had given him and throwing it into a pile with the other notes they had been receiving, "I'd say that our so-called 'Phantom' is getting desperate."
Andre shook his head. "Flim, do you not remember the last two performances?"
Flim shuttered at the memory. Nearly three weeks ago, Fleur De Lis was scheduled to perform, and on the day of her performance, a note had arrived, threatening that the understudy should go on in Fleur De Lis' place, or else a great scandal would occur. Needless to say, the managers ignored the letter, as the Prince had instructed. However, they found themselves eating their words when that evening, Fleur De Lis went on stage, and her voice went from singing...to croaking!
To the horror of everyone on stage, plus the managers, Fleur De Lis could not stop croaking! She finally fled the stage, screaming-if that was what her croaking was meant to sound like-and the patrons demanded their money back.
Only two days ago, Fleur De Lis was scheduled to perform again, and yet once more, another letter filled with threats arrived. This time, it said that if her understudy did not go on for her, a fear greater than anything they had known would come true.
This time Flam summoned the Prince for advice, but the Prince, like the last time, told the managers to ignore it. Fleur De Lis was eager to perform and show whoever this prankster was that he could not mess with her! But 15 minutes prior to when the curtain would go up...Fleur De Lis went missing. She was not in her dressing room, she could not be found anywhere back stage...it was as if she had vanished into thin air!
Fleur De Lis' understudy was to go on while the managers and the police searched high and low for their beloved prima donna. The understudy, a mare who was never given the opportunity to learn the opera, let alone perfect her singing skills, went on to give a most mediocre performance. Once again, the patrons demanded their money back, and the Opera House lost all its profits.
Finally, an hour after the bad performance had ended, Fleur De Lis was discovered locked in a broom closet, a scarf in her mouth, a blindfold around her eyes, and her hands tied to her ankles. Pinned on her sleeve was a note that read "I hope, dear gentlecolts, you will not test my patience further."
Flam needed no more proof; he truly believed the Phantom was real!
Flim was still skeptical, mainly because he felt somepony around here had to be. True, the letters had been coming faster than ever before. Strange demands were being made, such as changing the opera season, adding a new opera by an unknown composer titled Don Juan Triumphant. If the managers agreed to the Phantom's terms, the threats would end and the score would be sent for the orchestra and company to practice.
If these demands were not met, more outrageous scandals would occur. Costumes, props, and tools had already gone missing, some of the patrons' lounges were ransacked, and members of the staff were threatening to quit for fear of ghosts that they swore they had seen. The Phantom was haunting them because he was upset for the Opera disobeying him, or so they believed.
Still, Flim held close to the fact that this was all some elaborate trick to make both him and Flam look like fools. He had several suspects; he knew the elaborate opera company in Canterlot was jealous of the Maris Opera company's success, and it was rumored that Manehatten was willing to pay a handsome fortune to have Fleur De Lis appear for the rest of their season.
Something had to be done and fast, especially before Fleur De Lis learned about Manehatten.
"That note is yet another demand that we push everything else off the opera season and devote all our time to this...this Don Juan Triumphant!" Flam muttered, running a hoof over his sweating face. He could see the money they had made fly out the window.
"Calm yourself, my friend," Flim grumbled. "We will do nothing of the sort; we will continue things as they are scheduled-"
"But Flim-"
"Now is NOT the time to be changing things!" Flim hissed, rising from his chair and glaring out of the glass at the ponies that casually strolled about the grand foyer. "If we change things we will lose more money than this...this PHANTOM could ever cost us!" he turned and faced Flam, the annoyance and frustration that he felt towards this unknown prankster clearly written across his features. "Our patrons...especially our most powerful, will not tolerate changing the season that they wanted...especially if we do it for some...some unknown piece of...we don't even know what it's like, we've never seen it!"
"But Flim-"
"And furthermore Flam, we can not simply...cut Fleur De Lis off the opera season! I mean, you saw how much money we lost those last two performances! The ponies want to see her and no one else!"
"But Fleur De Lis is threatening to leave!"
Flim's face paled at this news. "W-w-w-when did you hear this?"
Flam groaned and removed his handkerchief, using it to wipe his brow and nose. "Just before I received the letter...she...she is getting fed up with her treatment here in Maris, not to mention the horrible reviews that have been coming in ever since the opening gala."
Flim's voice was a hushed tone and he leaned forward so no one could hear him, despite the fact that it was only the two of them in the office. "Does she know about Manehatten?"
Flam shook his head. "Not yet, but..." his voice trailed off, afraid to even comprehend the thought of his money flying out the window.
Flim nodded his head, groaning at the thought of Fleur De Lis' shrieks of rage for her displeasure. "Then there is only one thing that is to be done..." he sighed. "Send word to the Prince."
Rarity sighed and shook her head, sympathy written all across her face as she handed Fluttershy a hot cup of tea. "Drink this my dear, it will soothe the vocal chords," she whispered. Fluttershy gratefully took the cup, her throat feeling so tight that it was hard to accept the warm liquid, which burned as she swallowed it.
One month. She had been in this underground place for an entire month, and yet it still felt as if only yesterday she had been taken prisoner.
Prison. Yes, that was exactly what this place was. She had been foolish once upon a time to think that it was something more, that she was in a mysterious romantic gothic fairy tale and that the Phantom was her dark prince.
Ever since he discovered the truth about her singing capabilities he had become a most militant teacher, commanding her to sing beyond the brink of what was humanly possible for her. He was ruthless, summoning her at odd hours whenever inspiration struck him, to perform the scores of music he had composed the previous night. When he told her that he would be demanding, he was not joking. Every day it was the same: they would start with warm-ups which consisted of a wide variety of scales, her voice being stretched to the far ends of the sound spectrum. Following the warm-ups came time to practice the great works of the masters of opera. This would go on for hours, and every now and then Discord would stop his playing to reprimand her for doing something wrong, and to teach her the story and history behind the work she was singing.
The final hours of rehearsal were solely dedicated to his opera, Don Juan Triumphant. There were many songs that he had composed that Fluttershy liked, such as the two she had sung the night he learned about her voice. But there were others, many of which were extremely difficult, and over all, while the music she thought was brilliant...she could not find herself liking his opera as much as he did. Perhaps it was the story-Aminta was a beautiful mare and Don Juan was a grotesque figure who lusted after her. Like most operas, the story ended tragically, although in this particular opera, the part that Fluttershy truly could not stand, was the way that Aminta betrayed Don Juan, even after professing eternal love for him. Aminta seemed so passionate, and so sad, but the sudden character change was too extreme. She loved Don Juan, but for no reason, betrayed him by sleeping with another stallion, and once Don Juan discovered her treachery, killed both her and her lover, before falling upon his own sword-this was of course after he had sold his soul to the devil, ala Faust.
Fluttershy couldn't understand how Discord could compose such a story...but then, she knew he hadn't had the easiest life.
She whimpered softly in pain as she felt the hot liquid burn her throat. She could feel the healing vapors of the tea begin their affect, yet it still hurt to swallow. She was in danger of developing a serious throat disease, Rarity thought. Her brow furrowed at the thought of Discord's cruel meticulousness.
"I'll have to have words with him," she muttered under her breath, but Fluttershy heard her.
"No," she said hoarsely, before taking another sip of the tea. "I'm alright, truly...and I knew what I was getting into when I agreed to have him train me."
Rarity raised an eyebrow at this. She had a feeling Fluttershy didn't know what exactly she had gotten herself into, but she knew that Discord must have promised her something in return for allowing her to be so strictly trained. Rarity knew that music was Discord's greatest love; it was the only thing he could depend on. Therefore he was going to treat anything harshly when dealing with his love for music. She recalled how Discord had informed her and the others that he was going to become Fluttershy's vocal teacher, and that unless it was a true emergency, he was not to be disturbed. If he needed them, he would call for them, but otherwise, he wanted to be left alone.
Rarity sighed and began cleaning the kettle that the tea had been boiled in, wondering what had come over Discord. True, she believed Fluttershy's voice was very beautiful; she had heard it echo off the cavern walls and throughout the tunnels, yet it was something else that disturbed her. Discord was obsessed, so obsessed that he was truly losing coherent thought and sense when it came to, well, anything really, but especially to the limits Fluttershy's voice could go. If Fluttershy didn't say anything to him, then somepony had to...and she had every intention of telling him what she thought.
"How are the lessons coming along?" Rarity casually asked while scrubbing the kettle.
Fluttershy swallowed another gulp of the hot tea, feeling the soothing effects on her throat, but no smile came to her lips at Rarity's question. "Oh...wonderful, truly," she lied, taking another sip.
Things had changed, in Fluttershy's opinion, ever since she came to his chamber for her first rehearsal.
She was foolish to think that Discord had truly changed, despite the small kind acts he had bestowed. After creating her room and giving her the dresses, Fluttershy thought that perhaps there was a chance that she and Discord could be...friends. She blushed at this thought, thinking herself stupid for even contemplating such a thing. Why? Why had she even considered that she wanted to become his friend? She sighed, knowing that it was because she was afraid of the strange feelings that...that he was awakening within her. Perhaps she would be safe from such feelings if they were friends.
She wanted to get to know Discord more, he was fascinating to her; a tragic figure with a passion for music, a romantic that hid in the shadows, a stallion with so many secrets, and yet he seemed to be yearning for something...acceptance? Recognition? She figured those were the most obvious reasons, and through his opera, he may finally achieve them. This was what drove him, as he had explained to her during their rehearsals. Finally, for the first time ever since he started composing, he could see something of his become a reality, and despite Fluttershy's humility, he told her over and over that no other voice could sing the part.
When Discord first said this, Fluttershy remembered blushing and denying the truth of the matter, but she could not help but smile somewhat to his compliment. Yet now she frowned, realizing that it wasn't a compliment, that he didn't admire her or her voice, he simply wanted to use it for his opera. It didn't matter that it was her voice, it was the voice of "Aminta", and that was all he cared about.
From that first rehearsal, his true colors showed brightly, just as they had the night he took her prisoner. He was cold and cruel, barking commands and directions that were hard for her to follow, shouting at her when she didn't do something right, and having her repeat lines and scales over and over again, demanding perfection, always insisting on perfection. For one whole month it had been like this; she had no idea that hell would look like a piano. Once she thought she would love the rehearsal times with him, thinking that she would get to know her mysterious seductive captor, but she was wrong. He was a cruel taskmaster, and she dreaded rehearsing. In fact...she was beginning to hate singing.
I should be happy, Fluttershy thought to herself. This is what I wanted, a reminder that I should despise him with every fiber of my being and not allow my stupid, filly fantasies to take control of my mind...or heart.
Rarity saw the mare's expression darken more and more as she reflected on her rehearsals with Discord. Rarity was more determined than ever to get to the bottom of all this. "My dear," she sighed, putting the kettle aside and taking Fluttershy's free hoof in her own, "you may be a prisoner here...but you deserve kindness. You should demand it, you-"
"You're late. I've been waiting for over twenty minutes."
Both Rarity and Fluttershy gasped upon the cold dark voice that echoed off the cavern wall. In the faint candlelight of the entryway stood the Phantom, his head lowered, his body covered in black, his cape draping down from his shoulders like a bat's wings. He was beautiful and terrifying at the same time.
Rarity's brow furrowed at his coldness. "She can't sing," she said with contempt. "Her voice needs to rest-"
"Since when did you become an expert of the pony voice?" Discord snapped, his eyes falling on Fluttershy who stood before him, shivering under his intense gaze, but he could see her spirit slowly rising to the challenge.
Rarity was shocked by the tone of voice Discord had used. He had yelled before, but...this was different. This was a creature she did not know! She opened her mouth to say something but Fluttershy stepped in front of her. "As soon as I finish my tea, I will be ready," she said calmly, taking another sip from the cup.
Discord glared. He was in no mood to test how far his patience could go. "You will come, now," he growled.
Fluttershy ignored him and took another sip, relishing the brew that slid down her throat, knowing it would be the last pleasant thing she would feel for a long while. She knew that she was being stubborn, but Discord needed to be taught a lesson. She wanted her freedom, now more than ever, and she had not forgotten the bargain that she had made with him. But she had learned how desperately he needed her too, and unless he started treating her with some respect, she was not going to come like a dog whenever he wished.
Discord growled, tired of this power play, and reached out and grabbed Fluttershy by the wrist, yanking her away from Rarity, causing her to both gasp and drop the tea cup. "Don't EVER make me wait again!" he hissed, before dragging her out of the cavern and down the tunnel that would lead to the music chamber.
Fluttershy protested the whole way, telling Discord to loosen his grip, telling him that he was hurting her arm. She was suddenly reminded of the Prince dragging her to his lounge at the Opera House, much to her displeasure. Both stallions were vile in her opinion; at least the Prince didn't hide the fact of his intentions. It was obvious he was trying to seduce her. Discord may not be doing that, but he was prostituting her voice as far as she could tell.
Finally they reached the music chamber and he released her, only after almost hurling her towards the piano. She glared at him while he went around and sat down, his paw and claw crashing down on the keys. "Now, since you've wasted away our warm-ups, you'll just have to go right into singing-"
"No." Fluttershy was just as shocked as Discord when she realized what she had said. She had enough! She was a living being! She demanded to be treated like one.
Discord's eyes widened at her words. "No?" Fluttershy lifted her chin in defiance and Discord's fist came crashing down on the piano keys, causing Fluttershy to jump at the thunderous sound it made. "NO?" he growled, rising from the bench and causing it to fall over. His eyes were the color of fire and he glared at her with such fury.
Fluttershy felt the terror grip her, but she knew she couldn't show it, that she had to be strong and stand her ground, so she glared right back at him. "My throat hurts...and my voice is tired..." she said hoarsely. "Rarity is right, I need to rest it."
Discord's eyes became fiery slits. "I am your teacher..." he growled. "I will tell you when your voice needs to rest!"
Fluttershy's blue eyes became a storm that sent a threatening message back. "And it is MY voice and MY body!" she hissed back. "And I know it better than anypony!" she spat, leaning towards him, her shoulders squared and her jaw set.
Discord stared in awe and disbelief at the defiance she was having towards him. She should be shaking in terror! But here she was...arguing with him, the Phantom of the Opera! He was not in a sick bed now, he was towering over her, his very form threatening her...and yet she refused to back down.
"You forget your place," he growled.
"It's right here in front of you," she hissed back.
"You forget who I am...that I'm the one who controls whether to release you...or let you rot in this pit!"
She lifted her chin and took another step closer, her whole body shaking with anger and her heart pounding loudly in her ears. "And you forget, monsieur, that your masterpiece would still be gathering dust if not for my voice!" it was a selfish remark, but he had made it true from everything he had said...and he knew it.
Discord was a creature who tolerated many things, even when he disapproved of them. But insulting music...especially his music, was something he would not stand for. With panther-like speed, he was around the piano and had Fluttershy by the shoulders, turning her and pinning her against the piano and his body. She cried out in pain as she felt the piano dig into her back and gazed up at him with hate. How had she ever fancied herself attracted to him?
"I have never killed a mare before...but you're not making it difficult for me to imagine!" he spat, shaking her by the shoulders, angry, and yet very much aware that he was against her, his body molded against her own.
"You're a MONSTER!" she screamed, before spitting in his face.
Discord growled, ignoring her action and squeezing her extra hard, causing her to cry out. "I could kill you now, you know, I could crush you with my own claws!" he threatened.
She looked up at him and said in a voice filled with such deadly calm, "my spirit would still be free."
Discord did not know what it was; the calm coldness in her voice, the cool bitter glare that she returned to him, or simply the fact that the two of them were so close, but whatever it was...he felt a weakness that threatened to consume him. He was so close to her...so very close...his eyes, which were wild and fiery, glanced at her lips...moist and pink...so inviting. He could kiss her, he wanted to kiss her, but he was furious with himself and with her for being right. Her words stabbed him deeply, for it was true; no matter what he tried to do to exert his power over her, it wouldn't matter, because the truth was he was her slave...slave to her voice, slave to the music, slave to these strange sensations that she had been stirring within him ever since he clamped eyes upon her. Before that; ever since he heard about her from Madame Luna! This mare was going to be his undoing, and while it was tempting to lose himself to the uncontrollable urges of passion that were roaring through him, he had to grasp at some sanity, what little of it he contained.
He pushed himself quickly away from her, his eyes wild as he stared at her, watching her as she grunted from the pain of her back being held tightly against the piano. She whimpered slightly and rubbed her back and her arms, her eyes still cold and ruthless, matching his own wild stare.
He had to get away from her. She had to leave, now, or else... he was unsure what would happen, but he had to get her away!
"Leave!" he barked, turning his back on her, fighting the rage, fighting the urge to turn around and either strangle her...or take her in his arms and ravish her on the piano itself!
Fluttershy was shocked by both his reaction and by his command. She did not understand this creature, nor did she think she truly wanted to. But she herself could not deny the strange electricity that passed between them.
But it frightened her; his rage, the change of his mood, and her feelings for him that still seemed to be as strong as before. He was right...she had to get out of there.
"GO NOW!" he shouted again, his roar causing the cavern walls to shake. Fluttershy didn't need to be told again, she fled from him as fast as her legs could carry her.
He watched her go and cursed under his breath. Damn him! Damn her! Damn everything! What had just happened? He had almost lost all control and he could have killed her.
"What is wrong with you?"
Discord was surprised by the voice that interrupted his thoughts. He looked towards the entryway to find Rarity standing there, her face pale and her eyes wide; she looked at him as if for the first time, she was horrified by the ghastly scars on his face.
"Discord...I...I do not know you! You are not the creature that I remember...you...you are a stranger to me!"
His heart was breaking as he heard her words. Rarity, who had been a mother to them all, the only recollection of a mother he knew he would ever have, and she was afraid of him. It was so unusual to hear her call him by his name...but the way she said it was as if she were trying to bring whatever ounce of humanity back before the beast took total control. "Why are you doing this...w-w-why are you pushing her so? I...I thought..."
Discord wanted to be alone. Her shame was more than he could handle, he was ashamed with himself. He simply wanted to be left alone, alone with his music...
"Please go away Rarity," he whispered.
She ignored his plea. "I don't understand Discord...I mean, after she brought you back...I thought things had changed. I thought that perhaps...perhaps..." she didn't know how to say it. Discord had made Fluttershy a room fit for a princess. He gave her gowns, food, even shared with her his most beloved compositions...Rarity thought that surely Discord was changing. That perhaps somewhere in his cold heart...he was learning to...to love. It was a foolish notion, she knew, but she thought it perhaps possible. Yet now...now her fears that this whole month of bitterness and obsession was driving him beyond the brink of madness, looked as though they may perhaps be true. She had followed them both and watched in horror as Discord attacked her. Fluttershy had called him a monster...perhaps the mare was right?
"It does not matter what you think," Discord hissed coldly, turning his back on the mare and retreating into the darkness of his bed chamber. "Leave me alone Rarity."
"Discord!" she cried out. "What is it that you're so afraid of that you must do these things?"
He paused but did not look over his shoulder. "Myself," he whispered.
Blueblood groaned as he shut Fleur De Lis' dressing room door behind him. He quickly did up his trousers and began to briskly head towards the managers' office. He was angry; upset that the idiots could not control the spoiled soprano and had him sent to come and calm Fleur De Lis down the only way that he knew how. He could still smell the outrageous perfume that she wore; it made him want to vomit.
Once upon a time, Fleur De Lis proved to be fun. Now, she was soiled goods that he would not bestow upon his lowest servants. Her screeching and jealous rages were more than he could handle. He remembered how she mewed with pleasure to the filthy names he had called her while he was had her. Ironically, he meant every single name.
Fleur De Lis was now sated; her threats to leave Maris were over...at least for a while. At this point, Blueblood would gladly be rid of the bitch, yet she still proved to be an icon, and as such, the tickets continued to sell. However, the last two performances had lost him more money than gaining it.
He was prepared to storm into the managers' office and release his rage when he caught sight of Madame Luna speaking to her daughter in a hushed tone. Normally Blueblood avoided the stone-faced dance mistress like the plague, but something intrigued him about this conversation she was having.
"I don't understand why you have to leave now?" Twilight asked, looking confused at her mother's strange behavior.
"I will not be long my dear, just go through the dance as I have taught," Madame Luna muttered as she pulled on a pair of black gloves.
Twlights's eyes clouded with even more confusion. "But we need your guidance-"
"You will be fine," Madame Luna assured. "Now go on Twilight, I will return shortly." Twilight nodded her head, but still looked worried for her mother. Satisfied that her daughter would not ask any more questions, Madame Luna quickly turned on her heel and headed towards the grand foyer. Intrigued, Blueblood quickly followed at a safe distance.
Madame Luna had a carriage waiting for her and gave the driver the directions of her destination. In thirty minutes the carriage came to a stop outside a tall building that looked as inviting as its cold stony exterior. Madame Luna did not hesitate; she walked up to the door and banged the loud iron knocker that hung in its middle. The door opened a few seconds later, a chamber maid curtseying as Madame Luna brushed her way inside. "I need to speak with Monsieur Crafty Crate, is he available?" she asked the maid as she stripped her gloves off.
"Right this way, madam," the maid replied softly, showing Madame Luna to an oak door at the end of a dull dilapidated hallway. The maid knocked on the door to which a gruff male voice grunted permission to enter. Madame Luna followed the maid inside, thanking the mare after she was introduced.
Monsieur Crafty Crate was a stallion with a balding head, and greasy five a'clock shadow, and he appeared to have several teeth missing. The stallion also wore excessive amounts of jewelry, not to mention outrageous colors and fabrics on his body. No wonder the building looked so drab; the man spent every penny on his own attire.
"Have a seat, madam," Crafty Crate said politely, although he was already admiring the purse she held in her hooves. "What can I do for you?" he asked again, the same polite friendly tone in his voice, however Madame Luna did not smile or bat one eye as she sat, her back straight, across from the greasy stallion.
"I understand, monsieur, that you are a...private investigator of sorts?" she asked, eyeing him with much contempt.
Crafty Crate however had not recognized her distrust in him and was beaming from ear to ear. "Indeed madam! In fact, while I am a humble stallion, I do pride myself on being the best that one can find here in Maris!"
"So I've heard," she muttered.
Crafty Crate continued beaming. "Yes, I have worked for many of the great families here in Maris, including the Countess Fleur de Lis! Why, she hired me to find her sister who had been missing for 25 years...25 years, can you imagine! I had very little information to go on, but I did find her! She was staying in Trottingham, now that I remember-"
"Yes, yes, that's all very good monsieur, but I need you to find two ponies," Madame Luna interrupted.
Crafty Crates expression changed at her words. "Oh I see...well...I must say madam, it will be somewhat more expensive, you see...tracking two ponies down. Not to mention that it may take longer-"
"Do not fear monsieur, you will be paid quite handsomely."
Gone was Crafty Crates apprehension, his beaming smile returning at once to her words. "Splendid!" he exclaimed before pulling himself closer to the desk before him. "Now who are these individuals that you'd like me to find?"
Madame Luna watched him closely as he took notes on what she was saying. "The stallion's name is Time Turner," she explained. "He's in his 50's, brown coat, thin, with gray hair and a gray mustache and beard. He's from Sweetlan, but has been living in Prance for quite some time," she paused to be sure that Crafty Crate had gotten everything she said thus far. "The mare's name is Fluttershy, she is his daughter. She's the same height of her father, perhaps somewhat taller, with light pink hair, a yellow coat, and light blue eyes, which are the same color as her father's. About 20-21 years in age," she explained.
Crafty Crate nodded his head as he wrote down the descriptions. "And you believe that they are in Maris?" he inquired.
Madame Luna shrugged her shoulders. "Monsieur Time Turner and his daughter worked very briefly for the Maris Opera House. Monsieur Time Turner is a violinist," she explained, before adding, "I would appreciate it, monsieur, if you left the Maris Opera House and those that are connected to it...out of your list of inquiries."
Crafty Crates brow furrowed at this, but nodded his head. "I shall do all that I can madam," he said while rising from his chair to show Madame Luna out. "And I shall inform you at once when I learn of anything."
"I would like to be informed within a week, monsieur."
Crafty Crate practically stumbled at her request. In truth, it was more of a demand. "A week?" he choked. "I beg your pardon madam, but...a week is hardly enough time to learn anything!"
Madame Luna lifted an eyebrow at his words. "I thought you were credited as being the best? After all, did you not tell me that you had been able to find the sister of the Countess Fleur de Lis who had been missing for 25 years?"
Craft Crate cleared his throat, straightening his jacket. "Well, I do not wish to brag...but there are those that have esteemed me as such," he explained. "But you must understand madam, the Countess Fleur de Lis was a mare with connections! It is much harder to find, forgive me, a common violin player and his daughter."
Madame Luna slowly rose from her chair and handed the private investigator a small card. He took the card, looking most confused, before glancing at the name, his eyes widening as he read it. "The Marquis Filthy Rich?" he gasped.
Madame Luna nodded her head. "Monsieur Time Turner told me that Fluttershy's mother, his late wife, was the daughter of the Marquis Filthy Rich." Crafty Crate simply glanced back and forth between Madame Luna's calm features and the card he held in his hoof. "I believe, monsieur, since connections are what you seek...that will be a good place to begin."
"Indeed," he whispered, tucking the card into his inside coat pocket. "One week...I will contact you and tell you everything that I can," he murmured.
Madame Luna gave a thin smile to the private investigator before producing a check from her purse and placing it on the desk. Like a greedy colt who had just been given candy, Crafty Crate snatched the check, his eyes wide as he read the numbers. "As a down payment," she explained, before putting her gloves on and walking towards the door. "I must stress, monsieur, how important it is that you find them...I pray that you will not delay the search."
"No indeed madam," Crafty Crate replied, tucking the check into his coat pocket and rushing to open the door of his office for the dance mistress. With a curt nod, Madame Luna walked out of the stone building, leaving the bewildered investigator to take in everything he had just been told.
"Bonbon!" he cried, and the chambermaid from earlier, came quickly. "I will be out all afternoon, on business...in fact, I will not be able to take any new clients for at least a few weeks," he instructed. The maid gave a small curtsy, handed her employer his hat, and opened the door for him.
Crafty Crate nodded his thanks before descending the stone steps of his building and heading west. He had just gone around the corner when a large silver-tipped walking stick struck out from the shadows to stop him. Crafty Crate cursed as he nearly tripped over the stick, prepared to unleash his anger at the individual, but swallowed his words as he gazed upon the handsome face of Prince Blueblood.
Blueblood gave a wry smile to the investigator, glancing briefly ahead of him, and watching the coach that carried Madame Luna, head north. "Whatever she's paying you...I'll double, for the same information." |
The Opera Phantom Discord | Changes | Changes
Discord was pacing in one of the shadowed tunnels of the underground labyrinth. But it wasn't simply any tunnel...it was the tunnel that led to her chamber.
He cursed himself over and over as he paced, feeling like such a fool for being there. What was he doing there anyway? He ran a paw through his black hair, knowing the full reason why. She had called him a monster...and she was right.
Ever since the night he heard her sing and saw her bathing in the lagoon, he did not trust himself around her. She was beautiful, seductive, and had the voice like an angel. Music was his greatest passion, and she embodied music. She had shown him countless times that she was a unique mare. She had a spirit that did not cower before him or other stallions, she stood by those she loved, her nature was kind, and she was not so easily blinded by the illusions others created in front of her...like the Prince. And he still didn't understand why...why when she had the chance to run away and be free, that she returned to the Opera House, and helped nurse him back to health. Was it pity that she felt for him? If so, he didn't want it, and perhaps that was why he was so cold to her.
But he knew it was more than that. It was not pity that he saw her give to the others; she had become a close friend to all of them...with the exception of Rainbow Dash who wanted nothing to do with her...although Discord had noticed that Rainbow Dash was less grumpy these days.
No, she didn't pity him, pity was the last thing she felt towards him. Discord sighed, knowing he had been cruel, that he had been ruthless. Yes, he had warned her he would be hard and demand much from her, but...he had been blinded by his own discovery of her voice to forget that the voice belonged to somepony...and he had not made that realization until he had her in his arms against the piano.
He groaned as he remembered how she felt in his arms. She was trembling slightly, but it was out of anger and contempt. That was not the way he wanted to feel her against him. Discord knew it was impossible, she would never allow such things to happen...but he longed to feel her tremble willingly in his arms, to feel her sag against him and clutch at him for strength. He groaned again and felt his loins stir at the thought, but he quickly shook the thought from his head.
When Rarity had asked him what he feared, he could not look into the mare's eyes, for the answer would reflect in them. Over twenty years ago Discord had watched as a mare he believed himself in love with throw herself at another stallion. He had felt so happy in those days when he wrote her songs and poems, watching her from afar, ready to protect her at all costs if someone dared to attack the beautiful dancer. But Pinkamena was like all the others; a handsome face with money flattered her dancing, filled her head with sweet compliments, and within the blink of an eye, she was on her back with her legs spread wide for the spoiled Prince. Discord knew since that day that love was a weakness designed to make stallions go mad. And that was exactly what he was experiencing all over again with Fluttershy...madness.
So he resorted to treating her like an object instead of a living being; after all, that was how he was treated for the first seventeen years of his life. By being cruel he would not be able to care; and she would come to despise and hate him, which should insure that the damn stirrings within his soul and heart would disappear. But he was wrong...
He devoted himself to music, composing and conducting, loosing himself in his masterpiece. He wrote letters to the mangers, demanding that they prepare for his opera, knowing he could not wait; he wanted it to be performed before the season was over. He threatened them, frightened them, even kidnapped Fleur De Lis, and yet still he could not get the mare out of his head. He had gotten to the point when he was able to separate her voice from herself...but that all changed when she refused to sing and he became violent.
He hated himself for that. He had done many things in life that he was not proud of...but he truly felt that was one of his lowest moments.
So here he was...pacing in the tunnel near her chamber. Rarity didn't tell him to come and apologize, to go and speak with her...he just felt the need to do it himself. But he still felt like such a fool.
"I'm being more of a fool for standing out here," he grumbled to himself. With a sigh, Discord descended down the tunnel, prepared to look like an absolute idiot.
Fluttershy was lying on the bed on her stomach, gazing at the tiny trickling waterfall that poured into the tiny pool. Her throat was beginning to feel better, however the rest of her felt sore from the fight that she had had with Discord. She wanted to hate him, felt she had every right to, but still, no matter how hard she concentrated, there was still a part of her that wanted to embrace him, to show him that not everyone in the world was cruel, to teach him happiness and...and...affection?
Fluttershy groaned and buried her face against her pillow, unaware that she had a visitor.
"Is this a bad time?"
Fluttershy gasped and turned around at the sound of Discord's voice. She stared up at him as he stood in the entryway of her chamber. She swallowed the lump in her throat and quickly sat up, smoothing the skirts to the yellow and blue dress that she wore, one of the many costumes he had given her.
"I...I am not prepared to sing, if that is what you have come for," she said, trying to sound angry, lifting her chin and looking stubborn.
Discord fought the grin that was trying to break free from looking upon her expression. "I have not come here to ask you to sing," he explained.
Fluttershy stared him, unsure what to say next. What was it that he wanted then? The anger on her face disappeared, now replaced by confusion, which Discord could not help but smile a little at. She frowned when she noticed his smile and rose to her hooves, squaring her shoulders and meeting his gaze. "You may see yourself as lord and master of this labyrinth monsieur...but this is my room, therefore I demand that you tell me what business you have and then be gone."
Discord stared at her, somewhat flabbergasted at her words. Then, remembering the reasons as to why he had come in the first place, he too stood straighter and folded his paw and claw behind his back. "I...I have come to...to..." why was this so hard?
Fluttershy folded her arms across her chest, waiting for him to finish whatever it was that he was having great difficulty with saying.
He grimaced at her expression and finally came out with it. "I've come to apologize." There, he'd said it.
Fluttershy stared at him. That was the last thing she had been expecting.
"I...I beg your pardon?"
Discord groaned. "Fine, I'll say it again if that will suit you, I apologize for the way I treated you...for the way I have been treating you..." he whispered, his gaze falling to his hooves.
Fluttershy stared at the creature who stood before her, tall, thin, dressed in black, his white mask giving off a persona that was ice cold. Yet she knew he meant every word.
"The truth is...music has been the only thing that has given me joy in this life," he continued, his gaze never leaving the ground. "And when I heard your voice..." he paused and looked up at her, his amber eyes catching hers. "I meant it...and I still mean it, your voice is unlike anything...it's...it is exquisite," he sighed, not being able to think of better words for such a beautiful instrument. Fluttershy blushed at his words, her own eyes falling to the floor this time. "And when I heard you sing that night...I just...you have no idea what this opera means to me," he rushed. "I have been working on this opera for most of my adult life, and...and when I heard you sing, I simply...I have never felt more inspired..." he whispered, his eyes burning as they gazed upon her.
Fluttershy felt the heat rise in her cheeks, but she could not look at him, she was afraid that if she did, she may melt where she stood.
"I know I have not been the easiest of people to get along with," he grumbled, "and I did warn you that I would be hard...but you were not expecting a slave-driver, I'm sure." She lifted her eyes then, feeling his genuine regret. "And...while I want this opera performed more than anything, with you in the role of Aminta...I do not want to be your task-master."
Fluttershy opened her mouth to protest, but Discord raised his paw to silence her. "I do however want to be your tutor...and a proper tutor at that, someone who cares about his protegee...and not simply the music she is singing."
There, he had said his peace. He wasn't expecting anything from her, and he wasn't saying he would stop being strict, but he was hoping that she would still sing for him. The idea of her not singing again, the idea of him not being able to hear her angelic voice...it was more than he could bear!
Fluttershy nodded her head slowly, looking down quickly so that he would not be able to see the blush on her cheeks. "Thank you..." she whispered. There was a long pause before she realized he was waiting breathlessly to hear whether she would still sing for him. "Yes, I would like to continue learning with you, monsieur." After all, what choice did she have? It was still her only key to freedom.
Discord wanted to smile and shout to the heavens, but he contained himself and gave a small bow. "Thank you, mademoiselle," he said simply. "And...please, call me Discord." Where had that come from? Discord couldn't believe what he just said and imagined what an idiot he must have sounded like, however all those thoughts drifted away as Fluttershy whispered his name for the first time to his ears.
"Discord...you are most welcome, Discord."
Discord gave another bow, turning to leave, but stopping quickly. "How is your throat feeling?" he asked, his eyes lit with concern.
Fluttershy couldn't help but smile a little. "It is getting better, thank you," she whispered.
Discord was glad to hear it, but his concern was still etched across his features. "Rarity was right...and I'm sorry I pushed you despite it. Tomorrow you continue resting your voice. If you're feeling up to singing the day after, then we shall begin again."
Fluttershy smiled and thanked him again. It was hard to believe...but it did seem that he truly had changed!
"You're very welcome mademoiselle," he replied, and then turned to go again.
"Fluttershy!" she called out. Discord who was standing in the shadowed entryway emerged back inside, like an animal of prey rising from the shadows. Fluttershy had to grip the bed post in order to keep her balance from the seductive sight. "It's only right, I think," she quickly explained. "That if I am permitted to call you Discord...then I wish for you to call me by my name."
"Fluttershy," he practically purred, and she tightened her grip on the bed post.
"Goodnight, Fluttershy," he whispered, and then without any warning, he leaned in and took her hoof, raising it to his lips and kissing the it ever so softly. A sharp current of electricity streaked throughout her body.
"Goodnight...Discord," she whispered, watching him turn and leave her alone in her chamber, with nothing but the strange feelings that scorched through her heart to keep her company.
Blueblood tapped his cane impatiently against his boot as he sat and waited for Crafty Crate to organize himself in his tiny cold office.
It had been one week since their last encounter in the ally near Crafty Crates' building. One week since Blueblood cut a deal with the private investigator to inform him of everything he was seeking out for Madame Luna. And he was beginning to lose his patience...
Things were getting complicated with the police keeping Time Turner behind bars. Time Turner was proving to be an expensive chore; Blueblood had not expected a whole month to go by without word from Fluttershy. And the police themselves wanted to be rid of the stallion; twice he had to convince them not to send him to the nearest asylum, and hold him just a little longer.
When he learned that Madame Luna was seeking the aid of a private investigator, Blueblood felt that at last an answer to his prayers was coming! But now he was having serious doubts as Crafty Crate clumsily cleared his desk from the piles of papers and cigarette butts that littered it.
"I beg your pardon monsieur, I was not expecting you..." he quickly explained, hurrying as best he could.
Blueblood gave an aggravated sigh. "Do you have any information at all, monsieur? I am a busy stallion and-"
"Oh! Oh I do monsieur! Information that you will take great pleasure in, I believe!"
Blueblood eyed the private investigator, feeling serious doubt, but waving his hoof at the stallion. "Have at it then."
Crafty Crate straightened the tie at his neck and folded his hooves on the desk before proceeding. "I am not sure if you are aware monsieur, the connections that Time Turner and his daughter have in society."
Blueblood rolled his eyes at this. "What sort of connections do a violinist and a costume mare have?"
"Well, very large ones, monsieur," Crafty Crate grinned, before taking one of the papers he had shuffled through and passing it towards the Prince. "This is the birth certificate of the one and only daughter of the Marquis Filthy Rich."
Blueblood eyed the piece of paper and handed it back to Crafty Crate. "And this means...?"
"Well, you see, nearly twenty-two years ago the Marquis Filthy Rich's daughter was discovered to be in a state of marriage that was most disagreeable."
Blueblood waved his hoof in an irritated manner, urging Crafty Crate to continue. He hated dramatics.
"Apparently, although no one entirely knows how, the mare met a young Sweetlin immigrant by the name of Time Turner!"
Blueblood practically fell out of his chair. He stared at Crafty Crate, the expression on his face both shocked and disbelieving. "What are you saying?"
Crafty Crate grinned. "That the filly produced from the disagreeable marriage...is the granddaughter of the Marquis Filthy Rich."
Blueblood was in total shock. Fluttershy, the costume mare, the country bumpkin...had noble blood running through her veins? "Tell me more," he urged, leaning forward and eating up every piece of information.
"Well," Crafty Crate continued, putting on some spectacles and leafing through some more notes. "As you can imagine, the marriage was never accepted by the family and the mare was shunned from both them and society. Yet she lived quite happily with the stallion known as Time Turner on a country farm where they had their first and only filly, a daughter, named Fluttershy."
Blueblood nodded his head. "You have proof that this was the exact stallion?"
"I made some inquiries with the household of the Marquis Flithy Rich, as well as traveled to the farming village that Time Turner and his family lived," his expression changed to one of sadness. "Quite tragic actually; while Time Turner and his bride lived contently with their daughter, the Marquis and his family never spoke to her again, shunning her completely, and after the poor mare died five years ago, the Marquis seized the land that Time Turner lived on and sold it, thus forcing the violinist and his daughter off the property."
Blueblood could care less about this. "Yes, yes, extremely tragic," he groaned sarcastically. "But tell me about the granddaughter's connections to the Marquis? Was her mother disinherited from the family?"
Crafty Crate shook his head. "Most the villagers believed so, but from a conversation I had with the Marquis' household, apparently not! While the mare was shunned for marrying Time Turner, the Marquis never changed his will! She was promised a hefty allowance after the death of her father, and that allowance would be passed on to any children that she may have."
Blueblood stared at Crafty Crate with wide eyes. Fluttershy was rich. She had a fortune waiting for her...and from the sound of things, the mare was not even aware of it.
"What of the Marquis?" Blueblood asked, leaning against Crafty Crates desk, desperate to learn all that he could. "Is the stallion in good health? I thought I heard rumors that he had fallen ill..."
Crafty Crate sighed. "Sad, but true. The household informed me that the Marquis is in a bed ridden state. As you can guess, he is a very old stallion, with extremely poor health and it is believed he will not last past this upcoming winter."
"Utter tragedy," Blueblood whispered, images of the Marquis' money appearing before him.
"And that's not all!"
Blueblood awoke from his day dream and stared at Crafty Crate like a starving stallion. "Tell me..."
"Well, this granddaughter of the Marquis is the only living relative. The Marquis had three children, two sons and a daughter. I learned that the two sons had died years ago; one was in the army and died in battle while the other...well, sad to say, he had a bit of a gambling problem, and he was shot when caught cheating at cards," he sighed. "The poor wife of the Marquis killed herself by slicing her wrists open after learning that her eldest son was dead. And the Marquis has no other living relatives. So, if it is as the household has told me and the will has not be changed...not only does this Fluttershy receive her mother's fortune...but also the land and all the titles that go with it upon the Marquis' death."
Blueblood was like a dog, salivating for a beef bone. Fluttershy was rich; she was nobility; she was an heiress.
...And she was totally unaware of it.
"Monsieur?"
Blueblood awoke from his thoughts and looked at Crafty Crate with wild eyes. "Have you told Madame Luna any of this?"
Crafty Crate shook his head. "I have not seen her yet, but I am expecting her at some point today. Shall I tell her the same news?"
"NO!" Blueblood barked, before quickly calming himself, running a hoof through his blonde hair and fixing his jacket. "No...in fact, tell her nothing. Simply explain to her that you were unable to learn anything from the tip that she gave you but that you will continue trying."
Crafty Crate nodded his head, watching the Prince intently as he rose to his hooves and began to pace across the small office. Fluttershy was an heiress! A single mare of great fortune! Blueblood knew that one day he'd have to marry in order to create an heir for his own title, but he had resorted to waiting another five years before taking such steps. Yet now...now the lovely Mademoiselle Fluttershy had landed on his lap with her great fortune; and to think he was only interested in bedding her!
No, now Fluttershy proved to be a much "worthier" cause for discovery. He had to find her before she learned about her fortune, before her grandfather died! By marrying her, he, being her husband, would come into full rights for the land, title, and all that went with it. And, he could use some of that money; his own gambling debts were climbing higher and higher, and the Opera business as of late was proving to be more of a headache. But with Fluttershy as his wife...it was the beginning to a life of endless possibilities! He just had to figure out what to do with the old stallion...perhaps he could still serve his purpose as an object for blackmail?
"Monsieur?" Crafty Crate asked nervously, not sure if it was wise to interrupt the pensiveness of the Prince.
"Have you learned anything else?" Blueblood asked.
Crafty Crate shook his head. "Not yet monsieur, but soon! I understand that Monsieur Time Turner and his daughter were last seen at the Maris Opera House-"
"Forget the old stallion," Blueblood ordered. "In fact, don't waste any more of your time in this investigation on him...I want you to spend all of your time, morning, noon, and night, on learning the whereabouts of his charming daughter."
Crafty Crate opened his mouth, prepared to protest, but remembered the handsome payment the Prince had offered him and remained silent. "What shall I tell Madame Luna?"
"Anything, make-up whatever you want," Blueblood grumbled, waving his hoof in a dismissive manner. "But find me that mare...and I promise you Crafty Crate, I will make it very worth your while."
Blueblood left the stone building of the private investigator, the look on his face extremely pleasant and satisfied. He climbed into his carriage, whistling a jolly tune, much to the surprise of his driver. "Home, monsieur?" the driver asked.
Blueblood grinned. "No my good stallion, we have some shopping to do!" Blueblood said with good humor. "I have a wedding to plan..." |
The Opera Phantom Discord | Friendship | Friendship
Fluttershy awoke that morning feeling energized and happy, a feeling she had not had in a long time. She stretched her arms over her head and yawned before she realized what day it was.
Today she would begin singing again.
One week ago Discord had told her she needed to rest her voice. Originally it was for a day, but he later informed her that a week would truly be more suitable and thus gave her strict instructions on how to take care of her voice, from drinking Rarity's special tea to doing breathing exercises that would help her draw upon the strength of her diaphragm for support rather than her throat.
Fluttershy had to admit, when he informed her of this, she was somewhat disappointed.
Truth was, her voice and throat felt much better; however she followed her tutor's instructions, although she was saddened by the simple fact that it would be a while before she could rehearse with him again.
She didn't know why she was eager to rehearse with him, after all, the other times had been grueling and stressful; yet now...after he came and apologized to her, she found that she couldn't wait to see him...and be alone with him again.
She liked how her voice pleased him. She tried to not let his praises go to her head, but now and then she couldn't help but feel like a star, a prima donna in the making. She just hoped and prayed that if she ever got her chance to perform on stage in a leading role, she would not become like Fleur De Lis.
The days that passed during her resting period were long and rather dull. She tried to pass her time by doing specific activities, such as helping Rarity repair holes and sew new clothes for the others, to being an audience for Derpy who was so excited at her progress with learning to read. Shortround showed her how to get around the tunnels of Discord's labyrinth, and what to watch out for if she ever got lost. Fluttershy was adapting more and more to her underground home; her eyesight was growing keener in the darkness, and her ability to know what time it was despite the shadows that surrounded them was improving as well. Even Rainbow Dash was beginning to become comfortable with her presence, even though he continued to keep his distance. She recalled how earlier in the week the three came to her chamber announcing that they had specific instructions from Discord to build Fluttershy a fireplace. They set to work right away, Rainbow Dash supervising for the most part, demanding that it be perfect. Several hours later, their work was complete, and Fluttershy had a cozy little fireplace to keep her chamber warm as the late autumn nights grew colder and colder. She thanked all of them and it was Raindow Dash who replied a simple, and somewhat gruff, "you're welcome", before turning and leaving. Fluttershy could have sworn she saw the hint of a smile on her lips, but she knew that she would never admit it.
The week went on slowly, and while she was grateful for the company of Rarity, Derpy, Shortround, and yes, even Rainbow Dash...the creature she longed to be with most kept himself hidden away in his chamber, composing.
Sometimes late at night, Fluttershy would lie in bed and listen to him playing his organ. She had never realized what a beautiful instrument the organ was until she heard him play it. Sometimes he would play sonatas by the great composers, other times he would play what she assumed were his own creations. But all of them were beautiful, and she would be lulled to sleep by their haunting lullaby.
It was two days before the end of her resting period when she finally saw Discord again. She was in her chamber, sewing a patch onto one of the dresses he had given her which she had accidentally ripped, when he announced his dark presence by silently standing in her entryway, not saying a word until she noticed his form casting a dark shadow upon the ground.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, his voice deep and rich, yet filled with genuine concern.
Fluttershy couldn't help but smile, and quickly rose from the chair she was sitting at, patting out the crinkles in her skirt, and walking towards him, her hooves folded in front of her. "Much better, thank you," she said brightly, blushing as she realized how silly she must sound.
Discord however smiled at her cheery tone, his own posture relaxing as well. "I'm glad to hear it...but we will wait till the week is over before we begin again," he instructed. Fluttershy nodded her head, knowing that was what he would say, however she couldn't help but feel disappointed.
"Are you practicing those exercises like I taught you?" he inquired, fully entering the chamber now and pacing around the small space. Discord couldn't help but feel somewhat out of place. The chamber was small and lovely, with lace and velvet and silk to decorate it and the smell of lavender and rose petals perfuming the air. Basically, it was everything he wasn't. He feared that if he turned too abruptly he may break something!
Fluttershy smiled and blushed a little more. "Yes, every morning and evening for twenty minutes at a time."
Discord turned and smiled at her, feeling pride for his young pupil. Things were different now; her eyes seemed brighter and her face seemed to have this beautiful glow that radiated off her skin despite the darkness that surrounded her. He too felt the difference; once upon a time he feared that being close to her would cause him to lose control...yet now, he had resorted to not only be strictly "professional", but...somewhat friendly as well. He was sure that by behaving in such a manner, he would be able to keep his emotions in check, and not stress so much about their next encounter. Plus, his compositions were being inspired with new intensity and life! Indeed...he was glad things were changing.
"Good, keep it up. When we next meet to rehearse, your diaphragm will be able to help you with those higher notes, as well as perfecting your breath control for the longer sets." Fluttershy nodded her head, a small sad frown forming on her lips as she saw him turn and head out of the chamber. "Oh!" he turned around and pulled something out of the pocket of his jacket. "I thought...perhaps you would appreciate these to pass the time?" Discord felt somewhat foolish as he held out a bulky paper package, imagining what he must look like.
Fluttershy was surprised by the gesture, and noticing his embarrassment, quickly took the package from his paw, blushing as her hoof and his paw brushed for a moment, and then quickly unwrapping it. Discord winced. "You really don't need to do that now..." but it was too late, she had unwrapped it and gasped.
"The Bronte sisters...the poems of Lord Byron...and a collection of gothic short stories!" Discord was not expecting the reaction to which she had. Her face lit up like a star, her eyes glowed with happiness, and she actually began to jump up and down! "Oh thank you so much! I have missed reading, especially books like these!" Suddenly, without warning, Fluttershy threw herself around him and hugged him tightly. Discord did not know what to do! He was surprised to say the least! Before he had a chance to react, Fluttershy suddenly released him, her cheeks aflame as she realized what she had done.
In that brief moment, Discord caught the smell of her hair, which reminded him of fresh cut roses and jasmine. He felt the smoothness of her coat against his neck as she stood on her tips to hug him, and he felt the gentleness of her body against his chest, which caused his body to stir with passionate awakening.
As for Fluttershy, she had felt the strength of his muscles beneath his finely made clothes, and there was a pleasant fragrance about him...the smell of candle wax from the long nights he stayed up composing, and incense that he had burning in his chamber. It was a sweet masculine smell; she blushed for she did not know what stallions should smell like...but she believed that they should smell the way Discord smelt. "T-t-t-thank you," she stuttered, blushing furiously for her boldness. "How...how did you know?"
Discord straightened his jacket and shirt, his posture going stiff again. "I had the book of Byron's poems...sometimes I look to them for inspiration while composing...and as for the others, I...well, I found them...above..." In truth, the previous night Discord had gone above to the streets of Maris, keeping himself hidden in the shadows. There was an old bookshop near the Opera House that Madame Luna had gathered many of the books for himself and the others. Not being on present speaking terms with her was not making life easy for all of them, but Discord saw a colt in the same ally he occupied, looking very hungry. With his hat tipped low and the collar of his cape lifted high, he promised the colt several gold coins for food if he would fetch some books for him in the shop ahead. The colt eagerly took the list of books Discord had given him and set about on his task. Pleased with what the colt was able to get, Discord kept his promise and awarded the colt with enough money to not only feed himself and his family for that night, but for a whole week.
"Derpy had told me how much you love to read..." he rambled on. "And...she also explained the type of books you liked. I just thought that perhaps...these would help, with passing the time..." he could kill himself for how foolish he sounded.
But Fluttershy was more than happy. Books like these were childhood friends to her, and more than that; they reminded her of her mother and of the nights they would stay up late finishing the chapter they were currently reading, and then having to read the next for fear of what would happen to the heroine and her lover. "Thank you so much..." Fluttershy whispered, so moved by his kindness that she felt some tears behind her lashes. She quickly blinked them away.
Discord gave her a soft smile before bowing, as he seemed to do whenever they were together, which made her feel like a princess. Before he turned to go, he glanced at her fireplace, seeing the small but warm glowing embers burning in its center. "Are you warm at night?" he asked, once again showing her some genuine caring and concern. "Is the fireplace doing its duty?"
Fluttershy smiled and nodded her head. "Yes, thank you, it's very lovely."
Discord smiled and bowed once more, before retreating into the shadows beyond her chamber. Fluttershy listened as his steps faded away into the distance before leaping with joy once more and jumping onto her bed with a large flop. She grinned as she picked up one of the books, settling back for a wonderful adventure of gothic mystery and romance.
And that was how she spent her last few days of resting. Now the morning had come when she would begin again. A part of her was somewhat worried; had things truly changed between her and Discord? True, they seemed to be friendlier now, and he was showing her more kindness than before...but what would happen when she started singing again? Would the task-master resurface? She knew that he would still be demanding and strict, but would he be considerate and caring as well?
She shook her worries away, feeling that today was the beginning of something new. Today she would sing for him not because she had to, but because she wanted to. She loved music just as much as she loved her books. And she would show him the same passion he had for music, and perhaps then they could truly grow into what she hoped for, more than anything...friends.
"And again..." Discord commanded, his paw and claw brushing over the keys of the piano with both delicacy and precision.
Fluttershy nodded her head and took a deep breath, singing the familiar cords once more.
"Think of me...
Think of me fondly
When we've said goodbye...
Remember me,
Once in a while
Please promise me, you'll try.
When you find,
That once again you long,
To take your heart back and be free...
If you ever find a moment,
Spare a thought for me."
Discord stopped playing and Fluttershy bit her lip. What had she done wrong now? They had been rehearsing for about two hours now, and for the last hour they had been working on Don Juan Triumphant.
When she first arrived, Fluttershy decided to wear a purple gown with lace ruffles that she remembered Discord admiring once in the past. When he first caught sight of her entering his music chamber, his breath caught in his throat. She looked beautiful; beyond lovely, and it wasn't the dress, for he had seen her wear that dress before. It was the way her hair fell about her face, the way her blue eyes sparkled in the candlelight, the way her smile spread across her fine features. Discord rose from the piano bench and bowed, to which she gave a gentle curtsy. "Monsieur Discord," she greeted, with a warm smile.
"Mademoiselle Fluttershy," he greeted back, feeling a smile break across his own hard features. She approached the piano with confidence, ready to sing, but before they began, Discord had her go through a few breathing exercises once more, just to be sure she was ready. He cursed himself when he realized that his eyes had drifted over her body while she went through the exercises. A professional instructor does not leer at his student, Discord inwardly reprimanded. He then began to play some scales on the piano, to which Fluttershy sang back to him.
After the scales, Discord chose to play some Italian arias for Fluttershy to sing. "On 'la'," he instructed, and she followed his lead. "You need to support yourself more during this bar; sneak a breath in if you must, although you need to try and get to a point when you can fully rely on your breath support to get you through." Fluttershy nodded her head and did as he instructed, going over the arias several times before Discord felt she was finally gaining confidence in her breath support to get her through. At this point, he felt it was time to move to Don Juan.
For the last hour they had been practicing various songs that Aminta sung in the opera, and for the last twenty minutes, they had been working meticulously on one of Aminta's main songs, "Think of Me." If Fluttershy had to pick, she would have to admit that this was her favorite song of Aminta's. However, there were little things that caused Discord to moan and groan over; she needed to carry the notes further, she needed to remember her cut off, she needed to save her breath for this bar, not that one. Yet Discord's suggestions were not like before; yes, it was obvious that he was demanding perfection, but now, instead of dreading to sing, Fluttershy felt encouraged, even empowered, to do better. She too wanted it to be perfect, and so each time he asked her to sing it again, she did, with new confidence that she was going to get it better.
She looked at him after he had her stop, wondering what she had done wrong and what she needed to do better. She waited for his instructions, but instead, he was staring at her, a small smile slowly spreading across his face. "That...was perfect," he whispered.
Fluttershy stared back at him. "A-a-are you sure? Because...I thought that perhaps I stumbled a little there with those notes around the second measure-"
Discord found himself chuckling. "Good God, I've created a monster," he laughed, grinning up at her and smiling as he saw her smile back. "You sang that beautifully...and I would like it very much if you could sing the whole thing now, no stopping, and with as much confidence that I know you possess. Let your spirit shine through Fluttershy," he instructed, his voice dark and sensuous, causing shivers to run up and down her spine. She nodded her head and listened as the introduction to the song began again.
"Think of me...
Think of me fondly
When we've said goodbye...
Remember me,
Once in a while
Please promise me, you'll try.
When you find,
That once again you long,
To take your heart back and be free...
If you ever find a moment,
Spare a thought for me."
He continued playing, conducting her with nods of his head, and Fluttershy continued singing, closing her eyes and pouring her heart into the song.
"We never said,
Our love was evergreen,
Or as unchanging as the sea-
But if you can still remember,
Stop and think of me..."
"Think of all the things we've shared and seen-
Don't think about the things which might have been..."
She opened her eyes then and looked directly at Discord.
"Think of me,
Think of me waking,
Silent and resigned.
Imagine me,
Trying too hard
To put you from my mind.
Recall those days,
Look back on all those times,
Think of things we'll never do-
There will never be a day, when
I won't think of you!"
Their eyes were locked with one another and Discord continued playing, for this was a large orchestral interlude in the middle of the song. Her voice was like heaven...he had never known such exquisiteness, that such purity could exist in such a world. And while their gazes were focused on each other, Fluttershy didn't miss a beat, she continued singing when the interlude ended, closing her eyes and feeling the music wrap around her like a blanket.
"We never said,
Our love was evergreen,
Or as unchanging as the sea-
But if you can still remember,
Stop and think..."
She paused. In the song, she was supposed to continue and end like she had earlier, but instead she seemed to be lost in her thoughts. Discord was both puzzled and worried, and his playing immediately came to a stop. But before he could ask her what was wrong, her voice, like a crisp clear bell, rang throughout the cavern.
"A-a-a-a-ahhh! A-a-a-ahhh! A-a-a-a-a-a-a-ahhhhhhhhhhhh...." She carried the notes out as if she were performing a scale and Discord was at a loss.
Then, his instinct for music kicked in, and his paw and claw came crashing down on the piano, matching what her voice was doing for a large climatic finish.
"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhoooof me!"
His paw and claw hit the final cords of the piano, and they both let out long ragged breaths, each surprised and startled by what had just happened.
Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes, the spell of the song coming to an end, and her lips curled in a beautiful smile. She had no idea what had just happened, but it was like the music had urged her to make the song her own, to possess it, to lose herself in its passionate cords. She looked at Discord, her smile bright and wide, but it quickly disappeared as she saw the dark expression on his face. He was displeased.
"I...I'm sorry," she whispered, her cheeks turning a bright shade of red. "I...please, forgive me, I don't know what came over me...I just...I thought..."
"That you would improve the song?" he asked, lifting his unmasked eyebrow.
Fluttershy paled. "Oh no! No, it's beautiful the way it is! I would never dream of-"
"There is no need to apologize," Discord interrupted, his voice entirely sincere. Fluttershy stared at him, trying to read his eyes, to see if he meant it...and was surprised to see that he did! "It was beautiful..." he whispered. "You did something that I had never dreamed possible...and I am extremely humbled."
Fluttershy opened her mouth to protest, but Discord lifted a claw. "No, I mean it. You improved the song, greatly, and I don't want you to change it at all. I shall rewrite it tonight and add your valuable correction to it."
Fluttershy was unsure what to say. She was flattered by his words, but she also felt embarrassed and disheartened for what she had done. Did he now think he was horrible? Far from it! His music was so moving, so captivating; let people say what they will about the great composers, Fluttershy was convinced Discord was one of them. "Discord, I...I want you to know..."
"I think we have had enough rehearsal for today, my dear," he said shortly, his eyes not meeting hers. Fluttershy bit her lip, feeling that she had indeed done something wrong.
"A-a-already?" she whispered. In the past, they would sometimes rehearse the whole day. "But it's only been two hours-"
"It was wrong of me to force you to sing all that time before," he simply said. "A good tutor knows when it is time to end for the day, and today is a perfect time. We have reached perfection my dear...there is no point with trying to out do it."
Fluttershy could understand what he was saying, but she still felt responsible and guilty for what she had done. "But-"
"Please," he whispered, raising a paw and rising from the piano bench, his height and width towering above her. They were so close that they could feel the other breathing. "Don't apologize for what you have done..." his gloved claw reached out to brush away a few curls that had fallen across her cheek. Fluttershy stood frozen as she felt the gentle brush of his leather-clad paw and claw. Discord himself could have sworn that despite the glove, he could feel the softness of her coat. "I want you to promise me something..." his voice was rich and silky, his gaze hypnotic and locked with her own. Fluttershy knew that no matter what he asked, she would not be able to deny him. "I want you to promise me that you'll never hold back, that you'll always share your thoughts, your ideas, and your feelings when it comes to music," his claw gently continued brushing her cheek, his own eyes drowning within hers. "I want there to be truth between us...will you promise me this?" Fluttershy read the plea in his eyes, and more than anything, she wanted to wrap her arms around him and tell him she'd do anything he wanted, that she could never deny him, especially when he looked at her that way, and spoke to her so gently, and touched her as if she were made of hoof-cut glass.
Somehow, she found her voice, and quickly answered him. "Yes," she whispered. "I promise you."
Discord felt relief flood him at her promise, and reluctantly withdrew his claw. He had been lost in her voice, in her song, and now simply in her presence.
And it frightened him.
"Now," he cleared his throat, moving away from her. "I suggest you go and rest your voice, and we'll begin again tomorrow."
Fluttershy watched him as he gathered his parchment together and continued to move further and further away from her. She suddenly felt very cold, and wrapped her arms around her body, knowing that she must go, but wanting to stay more than anything. She was scared; scared of the feelings he was stirring within her, and scared of what it all meant. Could one's opinion, one's outlook, and one's very feelings towards a person change overnight or within a week? She would have said no once upon a time...but now, as she stood in the presence of the Phantom of the Opera...she had to admit that yes, it could happen. She did not see this creature as her enemy anymore. She wanted to call him friend. And her heart...she was so confused with how her heart wanted to know him.
"Good day then," she whispered, giving a small curtsy, to which he responded with an elegant bow. She had hoped he would reach out and take her hoof once again and kiss it, but he made no such gesture, and it was just as well, she thought. But before she left, she turned to him and said, "I just...I want you to know that...you may come and visit me whenever you like..." she felt the heat rise in her cheeks, knowing how foolish she must sound, but wanting him to know that he was welcome. "Good day," she quickly said, before rushing out of there before he could say anything to her.
Once upon a time Discord had told her he was not a princely hero at the end of a storybook romance; that day, Fluttershy realized how greatly she disagreed with that thought. |
The Opera Phantom Discord | Discovery | Discovery
The rehearsals that followed the lesson when Fluttershy sang "Think of Me" were very much the same. For two whole weeks, the two of them met, speaking politely to one another, sharing thoughts on the music at hoof, as well as insights. Unlike the past, Discord was curious to what Fluttershy thought of the music, especially his music, and if she had any ideas for improvements. He was civil to her, demanding, but cordial still. Every day he had something good to say about her singing, about how quickly she was learning, how greatly she was improving, and how proud he was as her teacher.
And that was the extent of their time together.
Fluttershy was grateful for it, she liked being with Discord and looked forward to their lessons together. But the lessons always seemed to end far too early, and after the lesson was finished, she would not see him again until the next day at the next rehearsal.
And it was driving her mad.
She knew she was his student and he was her tutor, and thus, he was acting extremely professional as a good tutor should. But she longed for him to stop being that way, to open up some what, to talk to her and ask her about her feelings and thoughts to things other than music. Was music all he thought about? She knew the answer was yes, for after every rehearsal, he would keep himself hidden away in his chamber, to compose and work on his opera.
For two weeks this continued, and Fluttershy did not know what to do. She felt she was being silly, that she had no right to complain, after all, anything was an improvement over how their lessons used to be, and that was something she did not want to go back to. But when she was in her chamber and she heard noises outside, she would stiffen and hold her breath, hoping it would be Discord. But every time that happened, it was Derpy or Rarity, coming to see her or letting her know that dinner was ready.
Fluttershy had gotten into the habit of eating her dinner with the others; she preferred it instead of eating alone in her chamber. There was a small dining area near the cavern that the others slept in, it contained a simple table with six chairs; the sixth chair always unoccupied. The meals were not fancy and often meager, but it was the company that Fluttershy looked forward to the most; at dinner she would hear Derpy telling her about her progress with reading, Rarity prattling on about the gossip she had heard from the dance mares through the pipes in their dormitories, while Rainbow Dash would grunt and complain about something, and Shortround would end up joining Rainbow Dash in an argument. Yet the dinners were always wonderful and pleasant, no matter what the talk was about, and Fluttershy would share her news on her lessons. But her eyes would often drift to the vacant chair at the table and a look of sadness would pass over her face.
She missed him dearly, and she missed him even more when she could hear him playing his music into the night.
It was extremely early one morning when Fluttershy was awakened by something soft, wet, and cold hitting her cheek. Her face contorted as she wiped away at the intruding coldness, but she felt it again and opened her eyes.
Above her head, tiny white flakes were falling from one of the small cracks in the cavern's ceiling. She scrambled out of bed, her arms wrapping around her body, as the cold hit her. She lifted her hoof to where the flakes were falling, catching a few in her hoof and feeling them melt.
"FLUTTERSHY!"
Fluttershy whirled around to see Derpy, panting and grinning as she stood in the entryway of her chamber. "C-c-c-come and s-s-see!" she stuttered happily, before disappearing. Curious, Fluttershy quickly grabbed her dressing gown and followed, hearing her cries of excitement coming in the direction of where the underground lagoon was. She finally reached her, seeing her jump up and down at the shoreline, and before she could ask her what had her so excited, she saw her reason...and her breath was taken away.
The ceiling of the great cavern above the lagoon had many holes that moonlight would stream through. Now, along with the fading light of the moon, were thousands of snow flakes that flew above the water like swarms of butterflies, sparkling in the light like diamonds. Derpy was grinning happily, her tongue out to catch the flakes. "S-s-see?" she cried. "Snow! It's s-s-snowing!" she lifted an arm above her head and began to dance around, laughing as the flakes tickled her face. Fluttershy couldn't help but grin. "The s-s-s-snow d-d-dances with you!" she explained. "D-d-d-dance w-w-with it, Fluttershy! Dance w-w-w-w-with it!"
Fluttershy laughed and found Derpy's enthusiasm contagious; soon her own hooves were lifted above her body, then she lifted herself in the air with her wings and twirled in a circle. She grinned and giggled as she felt the snow hit her face, her eyes closing as the flakes stuck to her lashes.
"Master!"
Fluttershy stopped dead in her tracks and landed on the ground, her eyes flying open at Derpy's words.
There, wrapped in the shadows, stood Discord, his body somewhat hunched, his arms, wrapped inside his cape, were folded across his chest, and the only thing that shown in the darkness was the soft reflection of the moonlight against his mask. And yet his eyes, which were locked on her, burned through her very soul.
Slowly, he emerged from his hiding place, coming towards both her and Derpy. "Isn't t-t-t-this w-w-wonderful, Master?" Derpy asked happily, her tongue hanging out to catch a few more flakes.
"Yes Derpy," Discord answered, however his amber gaze never left Fluttershy's face.
"This m-m-means t-that...that Christmas w-w-will s-soon be h-here!" Derpy cried, her arms lifting heavenward to catch more snow flakes. She then turned his attention to Fluttershy. "I l-love Christmas...w-w-we g-get presents, a-a-and Rarity cooks us a f-feast, a-a-and sometimes...s-s-s-s-sometimes-"
"Calm down Derpy," Discord said gently, a small smile coming to his lips as he looked at the pony's excitement.
Derpy blushed, but she continued hopping around happily. Fluttershy smiled softly as well, turning her attention to Derpy. "You celebrate Christmas?" she asked, somewhat surprised.
Derpy grinned and nodded her head. "Oh yes! W-we each get a p-p-present...s-s-s-sometimes I g-get a new book! Or...Rarity w-w-will make me something! And t-t-there's a feast...and we p-p-play games...and s-sing songs...and Shortround r-r-reads to us, and-" Derpy nearly tripped over her two feet from her excited hopping, but Discord reached out and caught the pony's arm, helping her find his balance. "T-t-thank you, Master," she whispered, blushing from embarrassment, but still very excited.
"You should go back to bed Derpy," Discord instructed. "It isn't even dawn yet."
Fluttershy watched Derpy as he said these words, and Derpy nodded her head, agreeing with her master that it was very early, and then dashing back down the tunnel she had come from. "G-g-g-goodnight Fluttershy!" she called back, waving before leaving her alone in Discord's presence. Fluttershy grinned and waved back at her, all too soon very much aware that she was alone with the Phantom.
A silence passed between them for a while. The awkwardness of the moment was almost more than Fluttershy could take. "Is...is it so close to Christmas?" she asked, her hooves tightening about her robe. She had lost track of what date it was since she had come there.
Discord's arms folded behind his back, his body straightening upwards, his gaze steady on the flakes that fell to the water. "Yesterday was the first day of December," he said simply, his gaze remaining on the lagoon.
As for Fluttershy, she could not believe how much time had passed since she had come to be there. It was winter already, Christmas would be coming in a matter of weeks, and she had no idea how quickly time had passed. She wondered what her father was doing, if he was alright, and her heart ached at the sadness of missing him.
"I finished it last night," Discord whispered, his words interrupting her thoughts. Fluttershy turned to him, her gaze one of confusion. Without looking at her, he answered her question. "The last song for Don Juan," he explained. "I want the company to begin rehearsing for it after the new year."
Fluttershy's breath caught in her throat at his words. "So soon?" she whispered.
Discord then turned to look at her. "There is still some polishing to do here and there...I need to begin planning the stage directions, the lighting and art design, not to mention cleaning up the overture, but for the most part...yes, it is finished." He couldn't help but feel pleased with himself, and he looked at her face, his smile quickly fading at the worried pensive look that spread across her features. "What's wrong?" he asked.
Fluttershy blushed at his question, shaking her head. "Nothing...just...I...I'm surprised, that's all..." she tightened her arms around herself even more, her gaze now focusing on the snow.
Discord eyed her suspiciously. "You are doing exceptionally well in rehearsals," he said simply. "There are still many songs for us to go over, but for the most part, you have perfected the role of Aminta better than I could have imagined," he said warmly, smiling down at her, still surprised that she did not share his joy. He cocked one eyebrow. "Fluttershy-"
"Thank you, monsieur, I am pleased that I have won your favor."
Discord frowned at her words. "Monsieur?" he asked. "Don't be silly, you know you're doing exceptionally well, what's this talk about...winning my favor?" he turned to fully face her, frustrated that she wouldn't look at him. "Fluttershy...tell me what's wrong." It was not a question; it was a command.
"Nothing is wrong monsieur, I-"
Discord groaned. "Again with calling me 'monsieur'!" he threw his paw and claw up into the air, holding his temper in check before turning and facing her once again. "I've been noticing that this past week...you constantly refer to me as 'monsieur' instead saying my name."
Fluttershy blushed. "I...I was simply being polite-"
"Polite?" he grabbed her by her shoulders and forced her to look at him. "You're acting childish is what you're doing, especially right now," he snapped. Fluttershy looked up at him, knowing there was no turning back now. "Have I offended you Fluttershy?"
Her eyes went wide at his question. "No, of course not-"
"You're lying," he growled, his paw and claw gripping her shoulders again to keep her looking at him. "Tell me the truth...what is wrong? His paw gently reached down and cupped her chin, lifting her face to gaze back at his. "What have I done to lose favor with you?"
She felt like a fool. And that was exactly what he would think of her when she told him. She refused to cry in front of him, she would not show her tears, but even now she could feel a few betray her and fall down her cheeks. "What am I to you Discord?" she asked, feeling bold with her question, as well as foolish.
He was taken aback. "W-what?" he asked, releasing her shoulders.
"What am I to you? It is a simple question, is it not?" she asked.
What was she getting at? Discord was still unsure what to say. "Why are you asking this?"
Fluttershy felt her jaw tremble somewhat. "I...I just...I'm trying to understand who I am to you...so I know how to behave with you," she whispered, feeling her cheeks on fire with embarrassment. Discord stared at her, dumbfounded, before finally opening his mouth to speak, but she silenced him by raising her hoof. "Today is December 2nd, yes?" she asked. "That means...I've been here for...for well over a month...practically two! And yet...despite all that time you and I have spent together..." she bit her lip. "I know nothing about you."
Discord stared at her, his brow furrowed with confusion. He opened his mouth to protest, but she continued on. "I know about your history, yes, Rarity's told me that, but...Discord, you're the one I spend the most time with here...and yet you are a stranger to me." She sighed and refocused her attention once again on the lagoon. "I know so much about the lives of the others...yes, even Rainbow Dash!" she said, laughing somewhat at the amazement of it all. "Why...just yesterday, she was telling me that if she wasn't...wasn't cursed with how she looked," she was pained to say those words, "She would want to become a flyer for the Wonderbolts. Did you know what a love she has of flying?" she asked. "It's extraordinary, really! She longs to properly fly in the sky, but knows she never will, which pains her more than those piercings and that leg those freaks put on her," she spat bitterly. She took a few calming breaths before continuing. "I know so much about the others...but you are the one I am with the most..." her eyes lifted up to meet his. "And you are a stranger to me."
Discord had to speak. "You came to this theater with hopes of becoming a singer, Fluttershy, and that is what I am doing! I am trying to help you become a great singer! But that means maintaining a professional teacher/student relationship as any professional singer would know-"
"Then why do you insist on such informalities as first names!" she spat back, feeling her heart break at his words. "If being a true professional is what you want, then by all means monsieur, that is how I shall behave...good day!"
Discord was stunned by what she had said and could not believe she was turning and walking away from him! "STOP!" he shouted, and in two strides had his paw gripped her and was whirling her around to face him, his strong paw and claw lifting her up and placing themselves about the waist to hold her steady. "Are you saying...that you're upset with me for...for treating you with respect and courteousness-?"
Fluttershy shook his paw and claw off her. "No! I...I am saying that..." she took a deep breath knowing that this was her only chance. "I want to be more!"
Discord stared at her, his breath catching in his throat, his heart skipping a beat. More? What...what did she mean?
Fluttershy saw the question in his eyes and knew she had to continue, despite the embarrassment that had permanently changed the color of her face. "I...I want to be more to you than...than just your student..." she took another breath and continued. "I want...I want to be your friend."
Discord's eyebrows lifted at her words. "Friend?" he asked, the word sounding foreign from the way he said it, as if it were unknown in his vocabulary.
Fluttershy nodded her head, not able to look into his eyes. "Yes..." she whispered. "Please understand that I value everything you have done...the opportunity to learn how to sing professionally, the chance to see my dreams come true...I am so grateful for all that," she said with every bit of sincerity, her lashes lifting to meet his eyes which were locked on her face. "And I greatly value the times we spend together...our lessons and rehearsals..." she wanted to tell him that she treasured those times with him, but she knew he would truly believe her a fool for saying something like that, so she remained silent. "But, I...I want to know you better...I want to hear your thoughts, share your ideas, and have discussions on many things...not just music..." her words had drifted into whispers at that point. What must he think of her? "I...I have invited you to come and see me whenever you wish, hoping that you will...but you never do..." she bit her lip. "I know this must sound foolish to you, but...I...I just...I'm very grateful for everything you've done, and I just...I want..." she sighed, knowing it was useless. "...to be your friend."
She stood before him, her shoulders slumped and her eyes cast downward in defeat. She awaited his laughter, or a sarcastic comment, anything to ridicule her for thinking and behaving like a child. He was right of course, a true singer, a great singer, would not seek friendship with her tutor...yet she could not imagine being anything less than a friend with him, and she longed to know the pony behind the mask better. Yet it was all for loss...
Discord studied her for a long moment, her words sinking into his mind and emotions. A silence fell between them once again, neither of them speaking or moving, until finally, after what felt like an eternity, Discord said, "Come...there's something I want you to see."
Fluttershy was startled by his words. His voice was gentle, soft, and coaxing...not at all what she had expected. "W-w-what?" she asked, looking up at him, confused.
He was already leading the way when he paused to face her again. "Come," he said again, this time holding out his paw for her arm. Curious, and perplexed, Fluttershy allowed him to lead her into the shadows of the unknown.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
Discord chuckled. "You'll just have to be patient and see."
He continued to lead her through the darkness, easily moving through the shadows as if it were as bright as day. Fluttershy stumbled here and there, but maintained her balance and did not complain once. "You have adjusted to my world quickly," he whispered to her. "And I understand you have learned how to get around rather well on your own."
Fluttershy pressed herself closer so as not to lose him in the darkness. "My eyesight is nothing like yours," she replied, gasping as she almost lost her balance.
Discord caught her. "My apologies," he murmured. "I should have warned you about the path...it does get easier, I promise..."
"It's alright," Fluttershy whispered, wondering if he could see the flush of her cheeks despite the darkness.
He smiled and took her arm again, his paws tenderly wrapping around her small arm, cradling it against him. "You have only been here for a few months...I have had over twenty years to learn these tunnels," he said, before coming to a stop. "Wait here," he commanded, before releasing her hoof and disappearing.
Fluttershy missed his touch, realizing just how warm she had been when he had been holding her. She felt so cold now that his presence was gone, but before she could wrap her arms around her body, a light illuminated the shadows out of the corner of her eye. The light came from an oil lamp, that hung...she couldn't quite tell what exactly, but it looked as though...Discord, who was behind the light, was floating towards her! And then she realized...he was floating...but not on the air; on a boat. The lamp hung from the front of a gondola, and Discord was standing in the back, a large oar in his paw and claw, pushing the boat towards her. "Come," he whispered, holding his claw out to her. Without asking, Fluttershy took his claw, and entered the boat, settling herself down as he then began to paddle them across the water.
"W-w-where are we?" she asked, looking out into the murky waters, trying to see if the lamp could illuminate anything else.
"Your lagoon is not the only body of water under the Opera House," he said. "In fact, the Mareine empties into an underground lake here, one that is quite vast, and rather deep," he looked down at her. "Can you swim?" he asked.
Fluttershy shivered as she imagined the bottomless waters of the lake they were sailing. "A little," she replied. "There was a pond behind our farmhouse...in the summer I would sometimes go swimming in it...but it wasn't very deep."
Discord nodded his head, moving the oar at an even pace, grateful for the shadows, for in truth, he knew she could swim, as the memories of that night when he had watched her bathe in the lagoon came flooding back to him, as they did every night.
"How far do the tunnels go?" she asked, interrupting his thoughts, which he was grateful for.
"I have explored many...and yet I am not sure if I have explored them all," he simply stated. "I do know that those," he indicated towards his left, "lead to the infamous catacombs of medieval Maris. Trust me; those are some tunnels you do not wish to explore."
Fluttershy felt a shiver go down her body at the thought of coming across ancient skulls and skeletons of the mares and stallions who lived so long ago. A part of her yearned to know how he knew about the catacombs, but another part of her felt just fine without fully knowing as well.
They reached the other end of the lake and Discord jumped out of the boat, the water going up to his knees, as he pulled the gondola ashore and tethered it to a simple wooden post that rose out of the earth. He then removed the lamp from where it hung and extended his paw to Fluttershy. She wanted to know what he was going to show her, where exactly they were traveling, but she didn't ask, she simply let him take her arm and allowed him to lead her further into the darkness, past rocks and caverns, past pipes and tiny underground streams. She felt as if they were traveling to the center of the earth, but it came to her realization that instead of going down deeper, they were in fact...climbing upward.
The hard earthen ground had changed to stone steps. And there were lamps along the walls that Discord was slowly lighting one by one. The steps were wide, and they twisted in a spiral format. Fluttershy looked around her as Discord lit the lamps and noticed that there were stalls along the steps, some containing old blankets, others with moss and straw on the ground. "They used to keep animals down here," Discord explained, not having to see the curiosity on Fluttershy's face to know what she was thinking. "In the older days of the Maris Opera House, they sometimes had horses, cattle, and sheep on the stage for such operas. They aren't used anymore, but I remember when I first came here, all the noise they would make," he chuckled to himself. "The stagehooves never learned who was milking the cows when they came down to do it themselves."
Fluttershy smiled and could easily imagine the confusion, as well as Derpy's excitement at finding animals, if she knew about this place. After passing the animal stalls, Discord led her down a long passageway, passed large wooden wheels that were as big as a small building, with great ropes tethered around them. "What is this place?" she gasped, looking at the wheels with amazement.
"The mechanisms that control the curtains," Discord simply answered. "They aren't simply controlled by those ropes and sandbags that the stagehooves operate," he stopped her then. "Careful...there are some loose floorboards here."
Fluttershy's eyes went wide and looked down at her hooves, noticing that the boards where she stood did indeed look moldy and weak. She looked at Discord and how he was moving, that only on certain boards did he place his whole weight. She mimicked his steps, her confidence slowly growing, but let out a squeal when she felt one board give way beneath her hoof.
As before, Discord was there, his arm wrapping tightly around her and twirling her out of danger in front of him. "Are you alright?" he asked, seeing how she was panting from her sudden fright.
"Y-y-y-yes," Fluttershy stammered, trying to get her heart to beat at its normal rhythm. "Thank you," she whispered, blushing as she realized that his arm was still around her.
Discord released her, but took her hoof again, leading her past the giant wheels, through some more darkened chambers, ever climbing upwards. They continued their journey, till they reached what appeared to be the inside of a tower. Discord led the way, up a long and narrow spiral staircase, which contained no sconces for Discord to light. In fact, the staircase was so narrow, that Discord couldn't take the oil lamp with him as well as keep a hold of Fluttershy's arm, so they were climbing in pure darkness. Fluttershy kept her body flattened against the wall as they climbed higher and higher. She had no idea where he was taking her, and her curiosity was consuming her with every step, but she didn't want either of them to fall and break their necks!
"Stop here," he commanded. Fluttershy did as he told her, wishing she could see what was going on. She could hear him grunting as he pushed against something, and she squinted her eyes as she saw...a sliver of light? There was the sound of iron being moved, and then, before she could blink, her face was bathed in a flourish of snowflakes that fell from the ceiling door Discord had just opened. "At last," he sighed, emerging into the snow covered air, his paw guiding Fluttershy up through the door, helping her out...and it was then that she realized where they were.
"Oh dear heaven!" Fluttershy gasped, looking all around her. She was outside. The snow that was falling and swirling around her body and hitting her at every angle was not falling through holes in a cavern's ceiling...but from the actual sky above her head! They were standing on the roof of the Maris Opera House.
Discord chuckled at her reaction and walked over to edge of the roof, leaning against the familiar stone gargoyles. "Behold...Maris at dawn," he said quite simply, holding his paw and claw out to the city that still very much seemed asleep.
With tentative steps, Fluttershy followed Discord and gazed out at the city before her. Tiny lights dotted the streets, a few carriages were traveling here and there, but other than that, there wasn't a single living soul moving around. There were no fine mares or gentlecolts of fashion dressed in their silks and furs, parading their wares like peddlers at a market. There were no colts in front of the Opera House, advertising the next opera, and the beggars that were frequently seen to line the streets seemed to have disappeared from view as well. It was so quiet; in her brief time in Maris, Fluttershy had never seen the city this quiet.
Discord studied her as she gazed out over the sleeping city, admiring the way the snow clung to her pink hair, the rosy color of her cheeks, and the brightness in her eyes as she gazed upon the outside world for the first time since she had brought him back on that stormy night. "It's so lovely," she murmured. Discord couldn't help but agree, but it was not the city that had his attention. He couldn't imagine a time he thought she looked more beautiful.
"The view is breath-taking, but the one from Notre Mane is better."
Fluttershy stared at him with disbelief. "You have been to the top of Notre Mane?" she gasped.
He couldn't help but laugh. "Once, when I was much younger; I ventured out into the night without a care in the world, but even I, who have no fear of heights whatsoever, felt uneasy with being up there."
Fluttershy was simply amazed. "You...you go out often?" she asked, curious about everything that he did.
Discord felt his cheeks flush, as he all too well knew the reasons that drove him out into the night. "On occasion," he whispered. "I actually have...some who help me, by getting supplies for us, such as food, wine, fabric for clothes, blankets, oil for our lamps, etc." He grimaced somewhat. Madame Luna was his link to the outside world, and since their fight, they had not been on speaking terms with one another...which was not making life easy for all of them. It was his own damn fault, he knew, and it was his responsibility to settle things; he couldn't afford to be selfish.
He cleared his throat, changing the subject. "I wanted to bring you here for a reason," he murmured, fighting the urge to reach out and brush a strand of hair from her cheek.
Fluttershy couldn't help but smile somewhat. "You mean you didn't bring me up here to throw me off the roof?"
Discord realized her joke and found himself chuckling to it. "Tempting, it's true...but..." his voice grew serious again. "I wanted to show you...another part of my world that I know you have not seen...in fact, you are the only other pony who has come up here, besides me."
Fluttershy's eyes widened. "None of the others?"
Discord shook his head. "They don't care for heights, and...they shun the light of day even more than me," he sighed, feeling pity for his friends. Despite the scars he wore, he had more freedom than they could ever have.
Fluttershy blushed as realization came over her. While he had not yet said it to her directly, Discord was telling her by bringing her here, that he trusted her with the kind of trust one would give to a friend. He had taken her beyond the underground lair, into the Opera House itself, and above it. He was tempting her with a taste for freedom from his prison...but she did not feel the urge to run for her life, to escape him or the world he lived. She did however feel her heart ache for her father. She gazed out over the cold streets of Maris and wondered where he was. Could she see the apartment they had occupied from here? She peered through the mist, wondering if he was there. Was he worried about her? Was he alright? Would she ever see his face again?
Discord saw the pain in her eyes, knowing what she was thinking, but said nothing. Instead, he removed his cape and gently placed it around Fluttershy's shoulders, offering a smile of reassurance.
"Thank you," she whispered, pulling the cape closer around her body, her eyes fluttering shut as she breathed in his scent. "And...thank you for showing me this."
"Tis nothing," Discord whispered, turning his back to her and leaning against one of the stone ponies. "I have thought about what you said earlier..." he looked over his shoulder at her. "What is it that you wish to know about me?"
Fluttershy was taken aback by his abruptness, and at first thought perhaps he was mocking her. But she realized that he was being very sincere, and that this was a somewhat awkward moment for them both. He had not dismissed her request for wanting to be friends. "Well...I...I am curious...about Don Juan," she began. "How did the idea for the opera come to you?"
Discord couldn't help but give a cynical laugh. "You want to know about the story?" he clarified for her. "Well...when I first came to this theater, I knew very little about music and nothing at all about opera...but it just so happened that on the first night we had arrived...they were playing Faust. I snuck up to the catwalks high above the stage and watched the entire show from there. I was mesmerized by the spectacle..." he whispered, his eyes clouding over with memories. "And instantly, I felt a connection to music...so, as you can see, I have dedicated some of my work to my first exposure to opera."
Fluttershy did understand that, after all, Don Juan, like Faust, sold his soul to the devil, however in Discord's opera, it was to seek out revenge over the beautiful Aminta and her handsome lover. "And...the rest of the story?" she inquired, hoping she was not overstepping her boundaries.
Discord breathed in deeply. "I was 17 when I came here. Young and foolish; I knew nothing of the world or how it worked," he paused before continuing. "And nothing at all about mares."
Fluttershy had not expected this. Her entire attention was upon him like a rabbit being stalked by a wolf.
"Her name was Pinkamena," Discord continued, his teeth grinding somewhat as he said her name. "She was a dancer...a star, really. Graceful, beautiful, young...and stupid," he spat. "I was an idiot too, charmed by her beauty, dazzled by her talent, I composed songs, sonnets, all manners of love-sick poetry to her, signing them as if I were a mysterious ghost...thus giving birth to my infamous pseudonym," he chuckled, although there was little humor in his voice. "For two agonizing years I kept to the shadows, not once revealing who I was, thinking that she would seek me out, and when she did, she would be so in love with me that she would not care about my face or body...that she would see past it..." his voice was full and bitter. "But her true face was soon revealed to me," he growled.
He suddenly turned to face Fluttershy, and she took a quick step back as she saw old anger flare in his eyes. "Do you find the Prince handsome?" he asked, bitterness and hatred pouring out of his voice.
Fluttershy did not know what to say. Yes, strictly going by appearance, Blueblood was quite handsome. But she had a glimpse at the stallion beneath the invisible mask, and from what she could tell, he was pompous, arrogant, narcissistic, and disrespectful. Discord grew impatient. "Naturally you think so, all mares do," he grumbled, turning his attention back to the city.
Fluttershy opened her mouth to protest, not liking to be judged based on some silly thoughts by members of her sex, but Discord continued. "He was only 16 at the time...but he was just as much a hunter then as he is now."
Fluttershy wrapped the cape around her even tighter, feeling the cold invade her bones.
"I remember the day he came to the Opera House. He too found Pinkamena to be irresistible, and all it took for him was a sweet word or two, a kiss on the hoof...and she was on her back, her legs spread willingly from east to west, in a matter of seconds." Fluttershy flushed deeply at Discord's course words, but said nothing. Pain dripped from his lips as the melted snow dripped from her hair.
He sighed deeply, painfully. "What I had been doing for two years...the Prince had accomplished in a matter of minutes," the anger flared once again in his voice. "She assumed he had been the author of her romantic tokens, and he was all too willing to take the credit. I realized then the creature she truly was...vain, spoiled, conceited," he slammed his fist against the stone pony. "And so stupid..."
Fluttershy chewed on her bottom lip, clutching Discord's cape close to her body, yet also wanting to comfort him for his wounds. But she dared not move. "What happened to her?" she whispered.
"The stupid mare thought the Prince loved her and wanted to marry her, so she ran away to be with him. A year later, Blueblood returned, but Pinkamena was not with him. In fact, no one ever saw Pinkamena again, stupid mare," he muttered, flinging some snow over the edge of the roof.
Fluttershy felt Discord's pain as she took in the sad story he had told. Was the character of Aminta based on this mare? Fluttershy was not comfortable with the thought of herself playing a past love interest of his. "Satisfied?" Discord snapped.
Fluttershy flinched at the coldness in his voice, but refused to let it get to her. "I'm sorry Discord," she whispered.
Discord scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Please, the last thing I need from you are apologies for her."
"I'm not apologizing for her!" Fluttershy protested. "But I am sorry for the pain that you went through! I...I can tell from the way you mentioned her that...that at one point you loved her dearly-"
"I did not love her," Discord growled. "I was dazzled by her beauty and flattered by the way she read the poems I wrote for her...but I never loved her."
Fluttershy's brow furrowed. "B-b-but you said-"
He turned on her then, advancing towards her. "Have you ever been in love Fluttershy?" he asked.
"W-w-what?" Fluttershy took several steps back, suddenly feeling like the roof had shrunk.
"Have you ever been in love? Do you know what it feels like to love another and have that love returned?" he was practically yelling at this point.
What could she say? No, she had never known of that kind of love to be returned, but...she was so unsure of the feelings that were beating inside her heart. He confused her; he haunted her thoughts while awake and her dreams while asleep. His music constantly played over and over in her head, and when he stood before her, even now, looking all dark and menacing...she could not help but feel new unknown passions awaken in her blood. And despite his intimidating presence...Fluttershy knew she had nothing to fear of him. There was a trust she felt for this stallion, who several times that day had already caught her before falling. With these thoughts, she found herself standing her ground and squaring her shoulders to him. "The love that you speak, I...I have not known, but-"
Discord wasn't interested in hearing her reason, he was sick of reason; he just wanted to make his point and be done with it. "Then how can you possibly know or comprehend what I feel or have felt? Of all the ponies in this world, don't you think that I would know my feelings better than anyone else?" he turned from her then and stalked back over to the stone pony.
Fluttershy glared at his back, not ready to end this now. "I didn't force you to tell me this story!" she shouted. "But you did answer my question...now I know your basis for Aminta."
Discord kept his back to her. "Aminta is not Pinkamena. She is just a copy of what mares really are."
Fluttershy felt her face pale at his words. She stalked to where he stood and grabbed him by the shoulder, not caring that it took her whole strength to turn him around and face her. "And what am I, Discord?" she shouted. "After all, I am a mare...best that you tell me what I really am!"
Her spirit was alive and kindling with wildfire. Discord had never seen it in such a blaze, and for the first time in his life...he felt himself shrinking before another. "Calm down," he ordered in a hushed voice. "Do you want all of Maris to awake and know of our whereabouts?"
" To hell with them!" Fluttershy spat, surprised by her own crude words. "Tell me what you meant Discord! After all, I think I'm entitled as the mare who is playing this Jezebel for your opera!" she shoved her hooves against him. "You are saying that we are all deceitful creatures! That we use good stallions and their romantic tokens as means to make ourselves feel powerful, and then destroy them by throwing ourselves at the first handsome face with wealth and power that comes our way! My Goodness, is that what you truly think?"
Discord was growing annoyed by her words. "Am I wrong?"
Fluttershy threw his cape at him. "YES!" she shouted, stomping her hoof good and hard, breaking the snow all around it. "And how DARE you belittle me for feeling sorry for you! I do NOT pity you Discord! But I am sorry for the pain that she caused you, and I despise her for tainting your view on all mares! But let me assure you that not all mares are so fickle, conceited, and self-absorbed!"
Discord cocked his head to one side, admiring the fire that was fueling through her. "Really?"
"YES!" she shouted again. "I do not know the kind of love that you asked me earlier...but I know myself and what I have been taught. I have seen it with my very own eyes! My mother was the daughter of a Prench aristocrat, but she abandoned that life to be with my father, a poor immigrant. She loved him for the stallion he was, not for money or power or fame. And while it broke his heart that he could not give her all the luxuries she had before, she could never truly make him understand that those things meant nothing to her. He was all that mattered; his love was all that mattered! And I will not be judged upon the horrid deeds of Pinkamena and other mares like her!" Fluttershy stomped angrily.
Discord bit his lips to not grin at her.
"When I love a stallion...I will love him with my whole heart, with all of my being, my soul, and my mind. I will not cast him aside the second another enters my life, no matter how wealthy, handsome, or powerful he may be! I will not lie to him, I will not deceive him, but I will fight for him and stand loyally with him," tears were beginning to stream down her cheeks as she continued speaking. Discord's amused grin disappeared and he slowly began walking towards her. "When he is ill...I will nurse him, and when he is sad, I will comfort him," she choked. "I will be everything to him...his friend...his companion...h-his l-lover...a-a-and if he will have me...his wife," she whispered. She couldn't look at him now, especially since he was standing right in front of her, his body so close to hers.
Had he realized that she was talking about...about him?
Had she realized it? Perhaps she always knew...
Discord's heart felt strangely warmed by this mare. The feelings that had been raging through him ever since Fluttershy came into his life were reaching a boiling point. His memories of Pinkamena had threatened that stone exterior he kept around himself, and his fears for rejection, ridicule, and desertion came crashing back.
But Fluttershy's words filled him with new hope. Was it possible to believe that this beauty could love the beast that he was? She had asked him earlier if it was possible for them to be friends. Yes, yes, he wanted to be friends with her very much.
But it almost seemed too much to dream for anything more, despite the new hope Fluttershy gave him.
Fluttershy wiped her cheeks with the back of her hoof, shivering uncontrollably as the cold seeped through her dressing gown. "C-c-can we go back inside?" she asked. "It's very cold..."
Discord nodded his head and led her back towards the door they had come through. "I do not think the sun will be rising today," he murmured, surveying the cold gray sky overhead.
Fluttershy sighed. "I have almost forgotten what the sun looks like."
The trap door was open once again, and Fluttershy bit her lip, wondering how in the world she was going to climb down those steep steps. "Allow me," Discord murmured, going in front of her, and tethering a rope that was connected to the trap door. The rope was long and disappeared into the dark abyss. He wrapped his leg around the rope, creating a holster and securing himself within it. "Hold tight to me," he urged Fluttershy, his arm already moving around her waist.
Fluttershy was not sure about this; in fact, she had just realized how much she was scared of heights. "Discord-"
"Trust me, Angel."
She looked at him, his words melting over her like honey, and his arm felt strong and secure around her body. He had never called her that before...but she liked it very much. She nodded her head, her arms going around his shoulders and gripping him tightly, her head burrowing against his chest, biting back the scream as with one arm, he held onto the rope, and they gently, yet swiftly, floated to the ground.
It was over before she knew it. Fluttershy was still holding tightly to him even after her hooves were securely on the ground. "It's alright," he whispered, running a soothing paw through her hair.
Fluttershy lifted her head, looking around and realizing that they truly were back on the ground, and then her hooves began pounding against his chest. "Warn me next time about that being the only way of coming back down when you take me up anywhere!" she hissed, but she wasn't truly upset, just...shaken from everything that had taken place. It was more than simply arguing with him on the roof of Maris...it was coming to terms with what she had admitted to herself when she was declaring to him the kind of mare she would be...
She was in love with the Phantom of the Opera.
Discord's paw and claw lingered on her, his face so close to her own. So much had happened; this mare had the voice of an angel, she inspired his music like nothing else, she ignited his soul, and for the first time in over twenty years...she brought hope back to his heart. He was a monster...and yet she made him feel like a stallion.
"We best return, don't you think?" Fluttershy whispered. "B-b-before any stagehooves find us here?"
A sad smile crossed his lips. "You're right," he sighed. "Although all the stagehooves know that this is part of my domain...and that I choose to share it with them," he said simply. "If they saw me...and some of them have...they know best not to tell anyone, except to keep the legend of the Opera Ghost alive."
"Yes, but what would they say if they saw me with you?" she asked.
Discord grinned as he led her back to their lair. "That the Opera Ghost has a friend?"
Fluttershy stared up at him, a smile spreading across her lips. It was a start. Perhaps with time, she could teach the Opera Ghost to love again... |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.