The Fire of Life

Chapter 12

Everyone was piling into the main ball room, crowding through the front doors of Town Hall and through the lobby. They all rushed in, gathering promptly for the arrival of the Princess. It wasn’t a thing to be late for, after all it was royalty, and the Princess’s subjects were always asked to show the utmost loyalty and appreciation to their leader. It wasn’t that Princess Celestia was an iron hoofed ruler, anypony would say that she is just like the rest of them; kind and sweet as can be. It all simply fell to tradition.

The room was packed full of ponies; all gathered to see the rising of the sun at Celestia’s own doing. It was her task as ruler of Equestria to raise the sun, day in and day out, and after the corruption of her sister, Luna, it fell upon her to take after the night as well. But Luna had learned her mistake, and is now once again ready to take back the job of watching over the night, letting out the stars and the moon as night falls.

The room was silenced; anybody could have dropped a blade of grass on the floor and have it heard from the back of the room by all. It wasn’t long after that the sound of a small fleet of pegasi flying over and the call of “attention” bellowing out from Equestrian soldiers could be heard outside.

The doors at the back of the room squeaked as they swung open, and the in step march of the soldiers echoed through the room. The royal guard came marching in, three of them walking through the door in a sort of triangular formation, parting the crowd through the center of the room as they made their way to front stage. They turned and stood at attention as they met front stage.

Princess Celestia followed in after, accompanied by Princess Luna and followed up by three more guards. The crowd of ponies bowed as they crossed the floor, all of them dropping to a knee in a wave like fashion that moved through the room. The Princesses took to the stage, standing before their subjects in the bright spotlight. The ponies stood again, eagerly awaiting Celestia’s words.

“Things have been done quite differently this year, so I’ve been told.” she said, her fruity voice casting excitement over the room.

“We still have some party left, right?” asked Celestia. The room full of ponies could barely contain itself; the silence was replaced with a quiet chatter.

“Do we have some more dancing to do?” Celestia was getting answers back from the crowd as they began to come back to life, the chatter escalating to cheering now.

“Who’s ready to party?” shouted and announcer, pumping up the crowd further.

“We are!” interrupted a voice from the back of the room, bringing the crowd back down to a standstill.

A large group of ponies wearing hooded black capes moved through the crowd, cutting the path back through the middle of the room again. There were too many to count; their presence crowding the room full of people even further. They all wore an insignia on their capes; a teal colored crescent moon that gave off a spooky glow. Some of these ponies were unicorns, some of them pegasi, and a few of them earth ponies. They all appeared to have messy, pale coats as well, as if they hadn’t been grooming themselves. None of these ponies appeared to be townsfolk or anybody that was recognized by anyone else in the room. They must have been wanderers; stragglers roaming Equestria, a form of cult moving together as a herd. If so, then what sort of involvement could they want with this gathering?

The front pony, his face hidden by his cape, held his hoof outstretched to the townsfolk, catching their attention.

“Citizens of Ponyville! We are here to spread the word of Nightmare Moon, on this night of the eve of the summer solstice! Let us thrive in the everlasting night, the stars and the moon lighting up the sky with magical wonder!” he preached.

Ponyville became restless, its citizens becoming fearful for what was happening before them. To some, the event seemed all too familiar to them.

“Art thou thy followers of Nightmare Moon?” called Luna, stepping forward on stage to confront her “admirers.”

“Princess Luna…” called the lead unicorn, conducting himself properly in front of Luna and bowing before her, the rest of the cult following in his example. “… Miss Nightmare Moon. we are at your service, my liege.”

Luna laughed awkwardly, holding a hoof over her face to hide her graceless smile. The hooded ponies looked at each other, exchanging awkward looks as they began to stand back up.

“I am no longer any mare of eternal night.” said Luna.

“Your highness! We are your disciples! We are here to serve you!” said the unicorn with a pause.

“I’m sorry, sir. Nightmare Moon is no longer a part of who I am.”

The unicorn removed his hood, revealing a dim grey coat and colorless eyes that stared soullessly at the alicorn Princess. He capped his anger; his ear twitched as his eyes narrowed.

“Thou are Nightmare Moon!” he proclaimed. “The one who would bring the veil of the shadows of the night to the land! The one who would not let the blinding sun shine over us anymore! The one who, after a thousand years of exile to the moon, returned to seek vengeance on all who opposed your will!”

“And it was on this very night that I returned, so many years ago. Yes, I remember good sir.” said Luna, standing tall over the stage and her subjects. “But as you said, I was banished to the moon for a thousand years because of it all. I have learned the error of my ways.”

The group of ponies all stepped forward, gathering behind their leader who was staring Luna down with a cold expression. The room went quiet as Ponyville watched their highness and an entire cult stare each other down. Celestia too stood fast to what they were up too, as did her guards.

The unicorn replaced his stance, widening his hooves to get a lower center of gravity. Lunging forward, he let loose a blinding beam of electricity from his horn, the bolt jumping through the air and across the stage, connecting with Luna. The building was rocked with the explosion of thunder. Luna shrieked as she was blown away by the blast of energy from the unicorn, throwing her backwards and to the floor with a loud thud, leaving her lying center stage unconscious. Princess Celestia ran to her side, falling to the floor beside her and rolling her over. Two guards climbed up on stage and guarded them.

Ponyville gasped as they watched in horror their Princess falling victim to the unicorn. The townsfolk backed away from the cult, practically climbing over each other to give the group some space. The guards closed in, forming a perimeter around the group.

“If even our Queen of the Darkness does not want an endless night, then it looks like we are going to have to take it by force!” shouted the unicorn, eyeballing the ponies with a menacing gaze. “And we are ready to fight an entire town.”

The silence was deafening, the only sound in the room was the clopping of the unicorn’s hooves on the floor as he paced around.

Applejack stood back behind the crowd, watching it all from a bird’s eye view. The sight of Luna being struck with lightening was enough to make her jump. Her eyes continued to follow the unicorn trotting back and forth. She could hardly unlock her eyes from him, anticipating his next bold move. But as he walked in front of the stage, Applejack’s eyes caught sight of Celestia frantically trying to bring Luna back to. That alone was enough to drive her out from behind the crowd, replacing her cowgirl hat and striding forward as she pushed through the crowd.

“That can be arranged, partner!” said Applejack, throwing her apron off.

The unicorn whipped his head around, surprised by the equal amount of audaciousness Applejack was expressing. From the other side of the crowd, Rarity emerged, followed up by Pinkie Pie. Twilight too made her way forward to face the group as well. Rainbow Dash, paired with a frightened Fluttershy, also joined in on the scrap. More ponies continued to follow their example, coming forward and forming a large mob of towns’ ponies in front of the roughens. They began to back off as Ponyville and Celestia’s guards began to close in around them. Behind them, they heard the sound of doors slamming shut. It was Big Mac and Wildfire, both of them with one hind leg planted firmly on the closed exit.

Nightmare Moon’s disciples had nowhere to go. They stood fast, lighting their horns and letting their wings stand; all darkly gazes locked in a fierce stand off as the crowd of towns ponies gathered around the menacing ponies.

“Would you like to apologize?” asked Wildfire, the red flickering in his green pupils giving the illusion that his eyes were on fire.

The leader unicorn responded with another blast of lightening, making the building shutter again with the clap of thunder that came with it. The bolt hit a couple of the towns’ folk, sending them flying back into the angry mob. They were caught out of the air by the pegasi of Ponyville and placed back on their hooves, both of them ready to fight.

Ponyville closed in, charging forward at the Nightmare Moon ponies with great speed and ferocity. The cult met them and charged at the charging mob. The two packs mixed, clustering them all out as all hell broke loose in Town Hall.

Applejack charged one of the earth ponies and, literally, butted heads, pushing against each other in a battle for dominance. Another cult member came up behind Applejack, pulling at her tail to get her to the floor. Her hooves began to slide back on the marble floor, screeching along as she lost grip and leverage. Applejack fought, fending off both ponies in a struggle to stay up. She got her balance, bucking the pony behind her in the face. The force from her kick was enough to knock over both ponies. The shock was even enough to make Applejack dizzy.

Fluttershy flew over, desperately searching for an escape from the brawl. But for every way she turned, she was met with a pegasus pony chasing her down. She dove behind the seating area, taking refuge under one of the tables. She peered out from under the table cloth, watching the battle rage on. Her friends all fought, trying to escape the disciples all fighting against them.

From beneath the table, she could see across the room, all the way over to where her birds were attacking one of the larger cult ponies. The giant swatted at them like a swarm of bees, knocking them out of the air. The pony went on to buck another one of her friends in the side, knocking them over onto a table. The sight of all of this flushed the fear out of Fluttershy’s body, and replaced it with pure rage. She flew up to the gargantuan, tapping him on the shoulder. He turned, and was met with Fluttershy’s stare; wolfish and soul breaking. The giant was stricken with fear, fleeing from the pursuing Fluttershy.

Fluttershy chased him right on by Applebloom and Pinkie Pie who were both throwing pies and cakes and different food items that they had collected from the buffet for ammunition. They tossed them into the air at the pegasus ponies flying about, dead actuate with their throwing arms. The pegasi they were able to hit were left blind and crashed into the floor or the walls.

A couple of pegasi spotted them throwing things around, and both plotted to take them out. One dove down behind Pinkie Pie, and the other behind Applebloom, both of them planning to sneak up on them from behind. Applebloom turned to pick up more cupcakes to throw at the pegasi flying about, Pinkie also turned to reload. They both looked back up to the ceiling behind one another, seeing the pegasus dive at them just in time to warn each other.

“Behind you!” they shouted at the same time.

They both threw their cakes simultaneously, hitting the speeding pegasi in the face and rendering them blind, leaving them to collide head on in the air as they ducked for cover. They both stood back up, taking a look at the pegasi piled on top of each other. They both cringed at the ugly sight of their bodies merging in a painful fashion.

Other Ponyville pegasi took care of what other ponies that Pinkie and Applebloom couldn’t reach up near the domed ceiling. Among them were a couple more special guests for the night, Soaring and Spitfire; members of the Equestrian flying team, the Wonderbolts. They tackled the other ponies and threw them aside, sending them crashing down into the tables and walls or through the upper level windows.

Most of the ponies crashing to the floor fell through the hanging decorations in the room, the room being rained down upon by torn streamers and banners. The biggest banner of all of it fell from its ties, floating to the floor below like a piece of paper and landing at Rarity’s hooves.

“I didn’t do all of that work just to have it tore to shreds by you roughens!” shouted Rarity.

She looked at her banner as it lay on the floor, getting trampled by dozens of other ponies, friend and foe. She huffed, her eyes going back to the battle around her; several pegasi flying about above her, and several more unicorns and earth ponies galloping around, casting spells and kicking at each other. Then her eye was caught by Rose, another mare from Ponyville, who was looking back at her with a curious stare. Rose looked down at the banner beneath Rarity’s feet.

Their eyes meeting again, Rarity smiled as an idea quickly formed in her head. She picked up one end of the banner, smiling cheekily at Rose as she signaled her to pick up the other end. Rose smiled back, getting the message and taking the banner in her mouth as well. They ran forward, holding the banner low as they drug it along the floor. They aimed it at the caped ponies, toppling them over as Rarity and Rose pulled the hooves of the ponies out from under them.

Joining in on the fight was a couple of other younger colts, mindlessly charging into battle as they cried out loud.

“Hey, wait. Snips!?” said one colt.

“Yeah, Snails?” said the other colt.

“What was out plan?”

“You mean we don’t have a plan!?”

They both skidded to a stop, running head first into a unicorn mare, her horn lighting up the room around her. Both the colts bolted back in the opposite direction, quickly fleeing from the enraged unicorn. The mare chasing the colts was quickly stopped by a blast of energy shoving her to her back.

Twilight charged in, quickly disabling all of the unicorn ponies she could find, casting anti-magic spells and blasting away any other pony that would get in her way. Spike took to her side, chucking cupcakes at the ponies behind her to keep her flank covered.

Up above, Rainbow Dash joined in on the scramble to get the Nightmare Moon disciples out of the building, shoving aside all unfriendly ponies in her path. Other ponies tailed her, unable to keep up in the tight, hard to maneuver space. She used it to her advantage, causing the ponies pursuing her to crash on their own.

Wildfire also flew about, taking armfuls of apples and chucking them at the pegasi from the air. At the speed he was moving at, the force was enough to seriously bruise someone. He took to Dash’s side quickly, trying to round up the rest of them.

“Hey! Let me have some of those!” demanded Rainbow, pointing to the bundle of apples Wildfire was scrounging up.

He didn’t argue; he quickly handed over half of his apples to Rainbow Dash. She too didn’t waste any time at all. She chucked them all at her pursuers, the apples mashing against their faces and sending them careening out of control. With no apples left for either of them, they resorted to throwing the ponies aside, taking them by their tails and whipping them hard to the floor.

Celestia was still trying to bring Luna back. The guards kept them safe as Celestia worked on her sister, shaking her around to try and get her to awaken. It seemed like forever that she was out, the battle behind them both continuing on. Finally, Luna opened her eyes, holding a hoof to her aching head. Celestia was relieved to see her sister awake, but now she could turn her focus back to the brawl that filled every corner of Town Hall. She was furious that her sister had been harmed by the cult, her own willing disciples; clearly they were not a force that Ponyville would accept. Nor would Celestia allow them to terrorize the town of Ponyville any longer.

Celestia leapt into the air, wings spread wide and head held high. Her long horn began to glow a blindingly bright shade of gold, and it beamed into the darkened hall. The fighting stopped as the light grew brighter and all attention turned to Celestia. Behind her, through the large broken pane of glass on the second level, the stars and moon disappeared and the sky began to turn orange. The sun peered out over the horizon and shined its light on the city of Ponyville, rising at an unnatural speed.

The cult all writhed as they were bathed in sunlight, shielding themselves beneath their dark capes as they cried out.

“My brothers! My sisters! Retreat!” screamed the lead unicorn, making way for the exit and breaking it down with one last blast of lightening.

The Nightmare Moon ponies quickly ran, others limped away slowly. It wasn’t long though that the building was vacated by the entire group.

Town Hall was left a mess after the scuffle. Tables were either flipped or split into two or more pieces. Most of the banners and streamers were torn from the posts they were tied to. Food littered the floor, creating a sticky mess that painted the walls and ceiling with everything that was once laid out on the buffet table. Broken glass and shards of wooden framing from broken windows even littered the floor. Some of the equipment on stage had also fallen over, shattered lights and exposed wiring piled all over the stage and the dance floor.

Ponyville collected itself, helping hurt ponies up and to their hooves, helping them to walk off their injuries. Others began picking up tables and chairs, cleaning up the mess of food and decoration.

Twilight and Spike went back to the middle of the room, calling their friends over and checking up on everyone to see if they were alright. Everyone walked back over slowly, catching their breath for a moment. Dash and Wildfire glided back down from the top, also both winded.

“Is… everyone… ok?” asked a winded Twilight, talking between breaths.

Everyone nodded yes, also all breathed.

“Well…” said Dash to Wildfire, slightly winded. “… looks like we can agree on something.”

Wildfire looked around at the destroyed hall, and with a sigh nodded, “I guess.”