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 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 seemed to double the amount of ponies in the room. 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 mod 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. A flash of white jutted up from the stage and quickly threw itself in between the lightning and the townsfolk. The lightning struck it, the light of the energy revealing the shape of an alicorn, taking the blast of energy to the horn like a lightning rod. The room stood still in shock as they watched as the blinding flashes and deafening claps of the thunder quickly die down in the ball room as the energy stopped just as quickly as it started.

With nothing but a slight burn mark to her horn, Celestia stomped to the floor with an enormous thud, landing right in the cult leaders face. She bowed her head in fury, lighting her horn with a heavenly glow that blinded all ponies in the room. The cult leader backed off, defensively meeting Celestia’s slow advance with his horn, still arcing with electricity.

“I will not let my subjects fight this battle in my place.” said Celestia, furrowed brow revealing a pair of furious eyes that did not relent.

The eyes of the two ponies remained locked, unmoving. The rest of the cult did not remain so still though. A couple of the unicorns grabbed some of the tables from the room, tossing them at Celestia at break neck speeds. Celestia swiftly leapt back, taking flight into the ball room high above the group of Luna’s disciples. The unicorns again picked up a couple tables each, launching them into the air at Celestia.

Twilight leapt forward, snatching the flying furniture out of the air and throwing it right back at the cult. Most of the ponies were able to side step it, but a few of the disciples weren’t able to dodge them, taking the full blunt of the violent toss back at their small army. A few of the cults pegasi fought back once more, taking flight for Celestia, as well as Twilight.

Rainbow and Wildfire quickly darted to them, tackling the pegasi out of the air and slamming them aggressively to the floor and pinning them down hard. Applejack came forward quickly to Twilight’s side, turning swiftly to buck the incoming pegasus back towards the cult. He took both of Applejack’s hooves to the face, immediately falling to the floor and sliding all the way back to the cult unconscious.

The cult leader grumbled, standing his ground firmly. The rest of the mares came forward; Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy all standing before Celestia, defending her at their own cost. The cult began to back off, the entire town still standing before them. Even Luna had finally come to and, although a bit woozy, stood against them.

“Leave now!” shouted Celestia, her voice echoing into the hall with a gargantuan tone.

She began to light her horn even brighter, the light growing painfully blinding, as if the sun had come down to earth. The cult all writhed as they were bathed in the light, shielding themselves beneath their dark capes as they cried out.

“My brothers! My sisters! Retreat!” shouted 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, and some were even carried away. 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 as a result form the furniture that was tossed about the room. Food littered the floor, creating a sticky mess that painted the walls and ceiling with everything that was once laid out on the tables. Broken glass and shards of wooden framing from broken windows even littered the floor.

Ponyville collected itself, picking up tables and chairs, cleaning up the mess of food and decoration.  Celestia took back to the stage, quickly going to Luna and throwing her arms around her sister, Luna falling over a bit and leaning on Celestia for support.

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, taking their time as they collected themselves. Dash and Wildfire glided back down from the top, both winded.

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

Everyone nodded yes, their eyes wandering the room as they took in the destruction.

“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.”