Chapters It seemed like only yesterday when Rainbow and the other elements destroyed Tirek. I wasn't there, to be honest, I don't remember much of the whole ordeal. All I really remember is a strange horse-bull thing charging into Ponyville. But that's not the point. I bet Rainbow was so AWESOME when she became rainbowfied. Can you IMAGINE a RAINBOWFIED Rainbow? I can...
We were in our Tree House. It was a beautiful Summer morning, and we were going to spend the whole day Crusading... This time hopefully actually gaining our Cutie Marks.. Due to the fact it was Summer, we had a special guest round to stay: Babs.. As a treat, she was staying the whole six weeks. When we found out, it was so amazing! We spent the first couple of days catching up and what-not. Today was her fourth day here.
On the list for today was: Apple-Bucking, Weather Controlling, Dress making, Animal Caring, Party Planning and... Whatever it is Twilight does. We decided on these since we've never figured we could have the same talents as the six Elements of Harmony.
We made our way to Sweet Apple Acres, where we found Apple Jack. "Howdy Y'all, what y'all doin' fer crusadin' t'day?" Apple Jack asked as we tried to creep past her.
"Huh... Oh! Erm, just you Apple Jack, well we're doin' cutie mark... A...a... ADVENTURIN'! Yeah, cutie mark adventurin'..." Apple Bloom smiled.
She signalled us to run. Apple Bloom slowly backed away, turned and ran, closely followed by us. We ran through parts of the Acres, almost getting lost in this world of fruity trees. Suddenly Apple Bloom stopped. Not expecting this, we all crashed into her.
"You'd be a get a great cutie-mark for being the best liar ever," I said sarcastically
"Nu-uh, she'd make a better Cutie-Mark Crusader: getting us lost in woods," Sweetie replied.
"Would not,"
"Would too,"
"Would not,"
"Would too,"
Babs and Apple Bloom stared at the strange argument Sweetie and I were having.
"Would not,"
"Would to-"
"GIRLS!" Apple Bloom shouted, "I'VE TOLD Y'ALL BEFORE, YER NOT GETTIN' YER CUTIE MARKS FER LYIN'!"
Sweetie and I stopped. We looked down and blushed.
"We're sorry," we said in unison.
Babs was the first to try harvesting apples. She reached her legs up and kicked, narrowly missing the tree. She tried to keep her balance, but failed, falling into Apple Bloom and knocking her over. She scowled, but didn't say anything. Next it was my turn. I tried kicking the tree, but I did it a bit too gently. The tree only bent backwards, so I stopped pushing it. The tree sprung back, sending me flying, actually flying. That was until I crashed into a tree. I rebounded onto the floor and then stood. As I turned to face the others, five apples fell from the tree, all landing on my head. The others rushed over
"That's a mighty interestin' method y'all get there," Apple Bloom laughed. I glared at her then turned away.
The rest of the crusading didn't go too well either. The weather controlling caused an electric spark to hit Babs and for the rest of the day, she would have random electric shocks. In the dress making, we accidentally set fire to the boutique, causing Rarity to go into one of her meltdowns. How were we to know that dresses were highly flammable? By taking care of the animals, we accidentally bumped into an Ursa minor, that didn't seem to happy to see us. At least the party went well, until they found out the secret ingredient in our cupcakes... Which was worms. It was Babs' idea.
We entered the library, Twilight wasn't home. This was our last bit of crusading for the day. We didn't exactly know what it was she did, so we asked Spike, who was sleeping.
"Oh Rarity, I love you too... Oh you naughty girl.." He muttered in his sleep. We gave each other concerned looks then backed out of the room. We walked up to Twilights desk and saw a blank scroll.
"I know what she's good at: sending letters to the Princess. Why don't we do that?" Sweetie asked.
"Or," said Babs, "We can be Cutie Mark Crusaders: Prankers..."
We looked at each other, should we? Apple Bloom grabbed a quill and we began writing:
"Deer prenciss celestiya,
I liyke yoor but; ile bee seeing yoo sooon, yoor faythal styudent,
Twilyte Sprkle"
We giggled and rolled the parchment up, then I held it in front of Spike's face while the others got something loud. They found a cymbal and crashed it together as loud as they could. I ran before they crashed it, they dropped the cymbals and hid next to me. Spike woke with a start, sending a fire in front of him, sending the letter. We hoof-bumped and ran away giggling.
At the tree house we were still laughing. There was a knock and we suddenly stopped.
"Only Cutie Mark Crusaders allowed!" Babs shouted.
"It's important," Came a deep toned reply.
"Big Mac, is that you?"
"Eeyup,"
What's wrong? Come in, come in,"
We opened the door and he entered. The house wasn't built for almost fully grown stallions, so he had to crouch. He sat down and took a deep breath.
"The Elements are gone, we've already put up a search party, I just wanted to warn you that you might not see them for a while, just in case,"
We stood there, unable to take it in.
"The elements... As in RAINBOW DASH? And the others... Are they ok? Will we find them? Are you part of the search party?" I said.
"Eeyup, Eeyup, Eeyup, Eeyup, nnope,"
"THEN JOIN IT," I shouted, "WE NEED TO FIND RAINBOW DASH... and the others,"
"Oooh," Babs said, "CUTIE-MARK CRUSADERS RESCUING ELEMENTS!"
With that we ran our of the treehouse and into Everfree forest.
We walked through the forest, careful not to run into any monsters. The towering trees obscured any light that could have made it through. It was dawn and the four of us were starting to grow scared. We had been walking for what seemed like hours through this desolate land of trees.
"Yo, girls, I found somethin'," Babs said, after pulling her head out of a bush.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Well, I figured since we are in this forest an' kinda also lost-"
"We are not lost, I know where we are," Sweetie argued, "Now... We just take a left here, a right there, go past this, then we end up at that...?"
"Look, girls, why don't we just let Babs finish what she was sayin' an' then we decide what were gonna do, Kay?" Apple Bloom stated. We nodded in agreement.
"K, well, ah found somethin' in this bush, it's an abandoned rabbit burrow. Ah figured we could use is as a make-shift den?" Babs said.
"Great ahdea, Babs," Apple Bloom replied.
We looked at each other.
"Well, who's going to go in first?" Sweetie asked. The reply was an awkward few moments of silence, before some pony stepped up.
"Ah'll do it," Babs murmured, whilst crawling into the bush. A few sounds of struggle could be heard as she rummaged through the bush, trying to squeeze her way into the abandoned burrow. Eventually she got in, and we heard a muffled call,
"It's all clear, could use a clean up but it seems good enough. " Babs called from inside.
We followed in, Babs was right. The inside was very dark, and muddy. I knew at once that the elements hadn't been here, if they had, Rarity would have spruced it up. Though it was in pretty bad condition, it would do for a make-shift den. Though the elements clearly hadn't been here, it seemed that some pony else had. There was a large pile of straw, that we separated into four beds. It was a tight fit, but it would do. By now , the moon was rapidly rising through the sky.
"Thank goodness Princess Luna raises the moon for us, I'm a little scared of the dark," Sweetie whispered sleepily. I rolled over to face her, and put my hoof on hers. I shut my eyes and drifted to sleep.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" Somepony screamed. My eyes opened and darted over to the side. The muddy roof of the burrow was no longer there, instead there was a gaping hole in which a creature had grabbed Babs from. Babs was struggling in its grasp, screaming for her life. It was a manticore. Sweetie was the first to react, she got up, screamed and started running in circles. I joined her, unsure what else to do. The manticore dropped Babs from its grasp from the shock of two fillies screaming. Babs joined us in our crazy-out-of-control-running-in-random-directions plan. The manticore screeched in its rage and swiped at me, knocking me onto my side. This caused the chorus of screams to get louder. I stood again, and backed into the corner.
"GIRLS!" Apple Bloom shouted, "We ain't gonna get anywhere when y'all 're shoutin' like that. We need ta calm down an' work t'gether. So, fer a plan. Ahm thinkin' that Sweetie, you can make the distraction. Scoots, you an' Babs can attack the monster, an' ah'll join Sweetie here in helpin' distract,"
We nodded and the plan's first phase began.
"Yoo hoo, over here!" Sweetie shouted as she ran in one direction.
"Nope, over here!" Apple Bloom cried, running in the other. The manticore turned, confused.
"Nu-uh," Babs shouted from behind, "over here!" She kicked its tail, sending the scorpion stinger into its back.
"Scoots, your turn!" Sweetie shouted, "I know you can do it, I believe in you!"
I leapt into the air, frantically flapping my wings. I was really high now, this would be my equivalent of the Sonic Rainboom. I plummeted to the ground, right hoof out front. Here came the critical point. I spread my wings: despite the fact that I couldn't fly, it added extra balance. I could feel the speed gaining, the pressure building. The impact could go either way, good or bad. I didn't care, this was my chance to be like my life-long hero: Rainbow Dash. The punch landed on the stinger, causing it to delve deeper into the manticore's body. A slight hissing noise could be heard as we regrouped, discussing how awesome the last few minutes had been.
"Cutie Mark Crusaders: Manticore hunters!" I shouted. Each of us checked our flanks, waiting for the amazing view of our new cutie marks. My heart began to race and I was filled with "butterflies". As Pinkie would put it, I was nervited. Unfortunately, no marks were there, and the chorus of groans repeated again.
The hissing was becoming louder and more noticeable. We turned to see that the manticore's venom had caused its entire body to swell up. The hissing was in fact the body inflating like a balloon. Suddenly the hissing stopped. BANG! The manticore exploded into a yellow goo, most likely what the venom had turned its insides into.
"Guess we shouldn't sleep in a place like this," Sweetie noted as we began trekking through the gloomy forest again.
"Sweetie, weren't y'all scared o' th' dark yesterday?" Apple Bloom giggled.
"Yes, I was," Sweetie replied, leading the way through the thick hedges of entangled, enchanted trees, "but I know that with Luna's moon watching over us, we can be safe, and I realised that yesterday. Not only that, but we make for quite a team."
"Quite?!" I added, "We're practically as AWESOME as Rainbow Dash," I jumped into the air and hoof-bumped an imaginary Rainbow Dash.
Quite some time ago, we had gotten separated from the path of the forest and were now lost between thick trees.
"What was that?" Sweetie asked, as we heard a small rustle from a nearby bush. Babs was first to investigate, followed by Apple Bloom, me and then Sweetie.
"Ah don't know, ah don't see nuthin'," Babs mumbled, her voice muffled from inside the hedge, "Wait, what's thi-- aaaaaahh!" She screamed, as she was pulled further into the hedge.
"Babs? Babs?" Sweetie asked frantically,
"WHATDOWEDOAPPLEBLOOMSHECOULDBEGONEFOREVERORDEADOROROROROR-"
"What we do," interrupted Apple Bloom, "is remain calm, so that we can think of somethin' t'do. Right now, ah think our best option is to join her, and save her from inside the bush, so are y'all ready?"
We nodded. I went into the hedge first, then Sweetie and Apple Bloom last. In the hedge was a small tunnel that lead to a bunch of caves. I went down the middle route of the fork. It was the largest so nopony was gonna feel claustrophobic. The tunnel was dark, and obviously not well built because, along with the clip-clop of our hooves, you could hear the drip drop of water leaking through. The air was damp and musky, and had a terrible smell to it.
"Did you hear that?" Sweetie whispered.
"What?" Apple Bloom replied.
"THAT?!"
Suddenly I heard a muffled laughing sound, coming from several creatures. We looked at each other before making our move, I was the first to run, they might be hurting Babs, she needed our help. I ran round the caves, following the laughter, so it might lead me to Babs. The laughter was much clearer now, high-pitched, much more like cackles than what it first seemed. I took a peek through the archway that I was hiding behind, and saw who we were facing.
Several of the creatures were gathered round a fire, and one was on the top of a set of stairs, holding a tied-up Babs. He was speaking in a language I didn't know, and every time he paused there would be a chorus of cheers from the creatures gathered round the fire. These creatures were the diamond dogs. I crept at the back of the circle, making sure not to be spotted. It was like an obstacle course but with dog-tails. I swiftly manoeuvred myself halfway through the room without any issues, the next half would be a breeze. A couple more tails later and I had two more to go. I crawled past the first, but the last was a problem. It could most likely sense that I was there. It turned, and I froze. Then I heard it. A deep rumbling noise that spread all the way down to the part of its body that my head was next to. I knew what was coming next, and that I couldn't move quickly enough or I would be spotted. pfffffffffffft It smelt disgusting, worse than anything I had ever smelt. It was more rancid than rotten eggs (or the scrambled egg we crusaders tried to cook) and made my eyes water just because of the stench. I felt like I was gonna vomit, so just in case, put one hoof over my mouth. I crawled the last part, happy to get away from the smelly diamond dog.
The leader was about to drop Babs into the pit of fire, but I knew that I couldn't save her yet, timing was everything here. To early or late and she would still meet her fiery doom in the "oven". It was almost time, NOW. I jumped high, catching Babs just as the dog let go. Babs was heavier than I thought and instantly I began falling too.
"Flap!" She yelled at me.
I tried but it didn't seem to help. C'mon Scoots, your life depends on this I thought to myself. I flapped harder and harder, till I could barely feel my wings, that's when I noticed that we were hovering.
"I'm doing it, I'm flying!" I shouted to Babs, who didn't seem as ecstatic as me. That was when I realised that I actually wasn't flying. A dog had grabbed me and now I was gonna meet the same fate as Babs was. I had done nothing but put myself in the same situation as her. He began tying me up in a thick, coarse rope that seemed to cut into my flank. Both Babs and I were lying on the top of the stone steps, whilst he continued his speech. That was when I saw what was happening, all of the dogs were falling over, passing out. They were muttering complaints about a stench, before passing out on the floor. The leader suddenly got a whiff of the scent.
"What stupid dog did this terrible stench?" He cried, holding his nose. He lasted a couple more seconds before calling the guards and passing out. The unconscious body rolled down the steps and into the fire. Suddenly ten guard dogs ran in, to see that all but one dog was on the floor. The dog who committed the crime, the one who had passed wind. It backed away against the wall whilst the guards circled it. The culprit, we found out, was called Ruffles.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were suddenly behind us, and I wondered how they got there, but at the time it wasn't relevant. They untied the ropes and my limbs were finally free.
"It was them!" Shouted the agitated Ruffles, happy to get his name cleared. The guards turned to face as. We looked at Apple Bloom, waiting for instuctions.
"RUUUUUUN!" She shouted. We galloped as fast as we could through the hundreds of tunnels. Though it was like a maze, it was easy to find your way out. The less of smelly dog fart and sweat it smelt like, the closer you were to fresh air. We found our way out quite quickly and ran into a bush just outside the one for the dog-den. The dogs didn't seem to follow us, so we jumped out of our hiding place. We carried on walking, Apple Bloom in front, who wasn't looking where she was going, instead she had her head turned as she was talking to us.
"That was a close one, Ahm so glad we got to ya in tahme. Y'kno-- oof!" She said as she crashed into a Stallion-Pegasus, wearing silver armour.
"Are you the Cutie Mark Crusaders?" He asked, looking down at us. We nodded cautiously, wondering why a member of the royal guard would want us. "Princess Luna has requested to see you, something about the fate of Equestria lying in your hands--" He continued as if he could read our minds.
"What're hands?" Babs interrupted.
"I DON'T KNOW?!" Shouted the guard in confusion. "cough Erm, I mean, the fate of Equestrian lying in your hooves... So I would advise you leave now, the Princess of The Night doesn't enjoy waiting... I should know," He shuddered.
We followed him into a carriage that we thanked him for, no more walking! The carriage took off into the night sky, and we began wondering why the Princess would need us.
We ARE the Cutie-Mark Cru-Saviours
The castle was much grander than in our school's history books-though they were ten years out-dated, due to a budget crisis. Cheerilee taught us little about the castles because they were supposedly the Princesses' privacy. It was made out of pure white stone, and had large spirals with golden turrets. Though it looked quite modern, it still had historic elements to it, such as the fact there were no windows, just holes (though that might be because of the numerous attempts I've had to break in). The carriage landed beside the entrance, and we got out, accompanied by two royal guards, one a Unicorn, one a Pegasus. Strangely there were no day-time guards, just Luna's. We followed the two Stallions through the castle, twisting and turning. Suddenly the guards stopped, causing us to crash into them. The Unicorn knocked on the door.
"Just one minute!" Came the reply. The Pegasus produced some headphones out of nowhere and began listening to music. The Unicorn used his magic to secretly pull the cord of the headphones out of the iPod the Pegasus was using. Suddenly a loud beat began playing and echoed down the hallway:
We're Bronies forever,
Bronies together,
A fandom but so much more,
No matter what comes we will face the haters,
We're Bronies to the core.
The guard, noticing the music echoing through the hallway, abruptly yanked the headphones and iPod. He flew away, throwing them into a river; then returned.
"What's a Brony?" Sweetie asked just as the door swung open to reveal a navy-blue Allicorn.
"Come in," she said. Both guards led us in.
"NOT YOU!" She screeched at the Stallions who ran away, a faint crying could be heard from the hallway. We looked around, she had a large bedroom filled with posters of certain ponies. In one corner of her room was a pony with long hair that covered his face. The writing: "Gives you seizure" was written over a crossed out "Justin Beiber". On this pony were many darts that had been thrown on. The only ponies that didn't have stupid names written over their true ones were a couple of video game characters. A large cloth covered a strange object in the center of the room. Sweetie ran over it.
"What's this?" she asked, pulling the cloth.
"NO DONT--" Luna shouted, but it was too late.
A gasp as the three other crusaders stared at the screen. It was a magic box, and it had a pony trapped inside. She seemed to be shaking her flank.
"What's she doing?!" cried a transfixed Babs.
"Twerking," replied Luna, "And singing-- that's enough of that," Luna switched off the magic box.
"Aww," Sweetie groaned, then started jumping up and down and singing, trying to be like the creature on the screen, "my Anaconda don't--"
"I SAID ENOUGH!" shouted Luna.
Everypony was suddenly silent, staring intently into her eyes. She coughed then began to talk:
"ahem Yes, I suppose you are wondering why I brought you here," Luna said as we nodded in agreement, "well, a slight problem has appeared in Equestria, and we don't actually know what it is. Two weeks ago, Celestia went on a little power-hungry rampage and the next day, her and all her guards were missing. Since then, numerous disappearances have occurred in several parts of Equestria. We sent your friends, the Elements of Harmony, to go and find out what was going on, but we have had no reply."
"You see, because you are all closely related to the elements, we figured that you would know what to do. Not only this, but on your journey here, you have proven your efficiency on the field. Your mission is quite simple: find the source of these disappearances, and defeat whatever evil is occurring. I don't know why, but we sense a strange magic emitting from each of you when you are united. Good...but strange."
"We know this sounds hard, but we already know where the evil power is coming from, so my guards will take you there. Next to discuss, oh yes. You needn't worry too much, we have a professional with us who will be helping you. She is an all-time hero--"
"Ooh, ooh," I interrupted, "is it Rainbow Dash?"
"No, but it is somepony who Rainbow looks up to, thinks is awesome, and admires--"
"So it's Rainbow Dash?" I replied.
"Ha ha, very funny--"
"I wasn't joking,"
"Oh- well no, it isn't Rainbow Dash, it's Spitfire, a member of the Wonderbolts,"
"Oh, riiiiight," I said.
We looked at each other, not sure whether to take on this new challenge. Apple Bloom nodded then shouted at the top of her lungs.
"CUTIE MARK CRU-SAVIOURS...hehe get what ah did there: MISSION: SAVE THE EMPIRE FROM EVIL. TEAM: BABS SEED, APPLE BLOOM, SCOOTALOO, AND SWEETIE BELLE. READY? LET'S DO THIS!"
We climbed into the carriage once again, happy to be accompanied by the Royal Guard. The sun was high in the sky, and giving off a light temperature. At that moment I wondered whether Luna was controlling both day and night. If she was, it was nice of her to make it sunny for us.
"So, 're y'all ready?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Yeah," we replied.
"Ah was thinkin' that we needed ta get our plan ready, cause we ain't nothin' without a plan," Apple Bloom began, " there ain't no point 'n distractions this time, so we all gotta attack. Ah think we should separate, making it harder for 'em t' catch all of us. Anyone disagree?"
"I do," I stated, "Apple Bloom, why are we doing this? For our cutie marks? For fame? Is it really worth dying for those? I mean, Luna even said herself: Celestia and ALL of her guards have gone missing, not a trace left. What if they are who we are facing. Can three--"
"--four," interrupted Babs.
"Sorry, four fillies that don't even have cutie marks... And one Pegasus really take down the entirety of Celestia and all of her Royal Guards, not to mention the fact the elements have gone, they could be on her side too! Except Rainbow Dash, she's good. I think not, we could barely defeat a pack of diamond dogs, just by running and one of them farting! And anyway, surely Luna and her Guard would be an even match, why send us? "
"Listen Scoots, I know you're worried, and you have good reason. But don't be. After all, who defeated a large manticore?" Sweetie said.
"We did," I muttered.
"And are so rebel, let out the evil king of chaos: Discord?" She added.
"That was an accid--" I began.
"We did!" She interrupted, "and who is strong enough to be able to sing a really bad song in front of the whole of Ponyville and not cry after?"
"But we did cry!" I argued,
"So we did!" Sweetie laughed, "Well, who has to put up with annoying bullies everyday?"
"We do!" I shouted, she was right, we had done so many things.
"And who became Princesses after switching our friends' cutie marks around?"
"Uhh, Sweetie that wasn't us..." I groaned.
"I mean," she quickly said, after realising her mistake, "WHO IS GONNA DEFEAT AN EVIL ARMY OF ROYAL GUARDS AND THE PRINCESS?"
"WE ARE!" All four of us shouted in unison.
Suddenly there was a crash as another carriage bumped into us. It was golden and had two guards pulling it. Two of Celestia's guards. The pony inside the carriage was wearing a cloak over itself so nopony could identify it. The Pegasi driving our carriage began to descend.
"When we land, get out, it's safer," one said.
"You hide whilst we deal with this enemy," the other added.
The descent wasn't very fun. The whole time we were being smashed into or knocked out of balance. Sweetie, Babs, Apple Bloom and I had to hold onto the sides of the carriage for our dear lives, if we let go we would be knocked out of it and meet our deaths. The Pegasi landed with a thump and we quickly hid behind a bush.
The other two Pegasi- the day guards- landed, the pony they were carrying hopped out.
"Don't move a step closer, or we will have to attack in the name of Luna!" Ordered one of the Pegasi who drove us, he was green and his partner was blue. The other pony's Pegasi were both white and began chuckling. The pony obscured by the cloth suddenly whipped wthe cloth off, revealing itself to be Princess Celestia. Celestia walked up to Luna's guards, who stood there, frozen in peril. She sent a magic beam at one, causing it to lose its wings and grow a horn. The newly transformed Unicorn began to panic, he told the green Pegasus to attack. The Pegasus flew into the sky, only to be tackled by both of Celestia's guards. They began punching and kicking till their hooves were red with blood. Both of Luna's guards knew it was over. They accepted their fate and stood before the princess. Celestia, instead of killing them let off a bright red light that shone into the guards' eyes. The guards stood there, and then Celestia took her orders.
"My new Guards, and my old Guards, find the ones they call, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and bring them to me!"
The guards began searching through nearby bushes. We looked at Apple Bloom.
"Well, girls, this is where we meet our end, but we ain't goin' down without a fight, so we're gonna split up and if one o' us is in danger, someone ought t' go an' help 'em, got it?" She sighed.
We nodded and began running in different directions. I stayed hidden for a while, before running at Celestia from behind. I charged as fast as I could go, then, just before I hit, the green Pegasus landed in front of me. I slowed to a stop, and started to back away. My backside bumped into something. I turned and saw one of the white Pegasi. He threw a punch, but I jumped and it hit the green Pegasus. I began floating, I thought Celestia had me, but then I realised that I was surrounded by a green aura. Both guards kept throwing weapons but they missed, because whoever was levitating me made sure none of the attacks met their target. I only knew one person who had a green aura. I looked and saw Sweetie, she beamed. Suddenly she screamed and I dropped to the floor, two guards had grabbed her, and she was going to be caught. I ran towards her, but suddenly Celestia grabbed me with her magic. She threw me against a tree, and the world began to turn dark. The other Crusaders had already been caught. The last thing I saw was the Princess leaning over me and laughing to herself.
Seeing Things From A New Light
I opened my eyes to see a large hall, made out of shining crystals. Next to me were the other crusaders, each of them tied up. That was when I realised I was tied up too. I tried moving but it only seemed to make the knots get tighter. There was a crash as some pony opened the door. Two guards walked in, followed by Princess Celestia.
"If you're gonna kill us, do it no---" said Babs as Apple Bloom covered Babs' mouth with her hoof.
"hehe She don't mean no harm," Apple Bloom hesitantly murmured.
The princess strode to the end of the hall where her thrown stood, tall and glimmering in the sunlight. She smiled and signalled to her guards, who immediately came over to us. They dragged us up to the thrown, then untied us. Up close, Celestia was a sinister figure, and we knew our place immediately. I sat, silently, in peril. Unable to even move my body. Celestia rose and then began to speak.
"Look at you, you look so scared. Equestria is doomed, and everything went according to plan... Kind of... I guess you are wondering what my plan was and is, and I'm gonna tell you, because you're three--I mean four-- dumb fillies, and I'll enlighten you before you meet your deaths."
"It started a couple of years ago, when Cadence and Shining Armour got married. I knew that I had more power than ever, I just needed to find a way to use them. I always had my magic, but I wanted to make a certain... Enemy of mine look bad. That's right, the pony you see is not Celestia. I am using her body, because everypony has to obey Celestia, and if they don't I always have my hypnosis."
"Anyway, stage one was to get Celestia, which was a lot easier than I expected, after she was gone, stage two was Luna, who somehow avoided my hypnosis. I decided to leave it, and disguise it as a power hungry rampage, then I left with all of my guards under the spell. I escaped, only to be pursued by the Elements of Harmony. I knew that if I used them, it would be way too suspicious, so I had them go to a...faraway land. Then my plan was complete, until Luna sent you three--um-- four losers under the suspicion that I was trying to do evil."
"I captured you with ease and am now ready to do the last part of my plan. I'm going to use you three-- er-- four as sacrifices for power, power that I will use to become the strongest pony ever, so strong that I will rule over the whole of Equestria AND NOPONY CAN STOP ME!!!!" She finished.
We stared at her for a while, before remembering that we were sacrifices. I finally felt my body again, and looked down, feeling a wet sensation. Where I had been sitting was a wet patch, I had wet myself. I moved backwards, trying not to make it obvious that I'd had a little accident. The three of us looked at Apple Bloom, who just sat there, looking bewildered. She shook her head, trying to hold back tears. Each of us knew that we had taken everything a step too far, and now we were going to meet our deaths. The world seemed to turn darker and darker like the brightness of hope was fading. Sweetie seemed to be the only one holding it together. She was looking up to the top of the roof, hoping and praying that this was just a bad dream. I ran over to Apple Bloom, who began crying into my shoulder. Babs glared at Celestia. We stood for a while, wondering why Celestia didn't make a move. Then she started laughing, laughing at us, four fillies who were about to die.
Suddenly there was a crash as a flash of yellow zoomed into the scene. A Pegasus was flying in circles and a tornado began to form. It sucked Celestia up, and we heard her screaming with every lap round the hurricane. The yellow Pegasus landed next to us and introduced herself as Spitfire. Celestia kept on spinning until the tornado subsided. She crashed into the wall, then stormed up to Spitfire, who was laughing hysterically. Celestia got close to Spitfire's face and then began the hypnosis. A bright red light shined from her horn as Spitfire began to standstill. Celestia laughed and then gave her order.
"Attack them, kill them for me!" She yelled.
Spitfire began to walk towards us, we screamed and ran. The yellow Pegasus turned around and kicked Celestia in the gut. Spitfire began laughing hysterically again.
"I'm not hehe under your huff spell!!" She giggled.
"How could this be, I did I right," Celestia exclaimed.
"Probably because I'm wearing these!" Spitfire said, taking her goggles off in the process of indicating to them. She realised she had taken off her protection.
"Sweet Celestia's mane, I guess it's over for me," she said, before falling to the ground, locked in a trance.
Celestia began to walk towards us. I took a step backwards, but it wouldn't help now, we were trapped. Celestia's eyes began to turn a deep red colour as her horn illuminated in the same shade. The light was so endearing, I had to look at it. Cheerilee once said something about bright colours being more attractive to the eye. My eyelids began to grow heavy, I was gonna give in to the light.
Suddenly there was a bright flash of crimson light. It began to surround me. My head felt itchy, like something was growing there. I began to levitate, like a large mass of power was flowing into-or out of- my body. I turned to look at Apple Bloom, the same was happening for her, except the light was a turquoise colour. On her head and sides a bright white light was evolving into the shapes of two wings and a horn. A crown had appeared on her head. Both Sweetie and Babs were also experiencing this, Babs' light was yellow, and Sweetie's green. The light suddenly faded and we dropped to the floor, wondering what just happened.
The green Allicorn rose to her hooves, and began running away. I went to use my magic, but nothing happened. That's when I realised the affects must have stopped. I was no longer an Allicorn. Sweetie sent a ball of fire at the runaway, and got a direct hit. The Allicorn fell onto the ground and Celestia grabbed her with her magic. The Allicorn stood there, defeated. Apple Bloom took a step forward and began to speak.
"Explain yerself. Who are ya and why did ya do what ya did?" She said, a stern look on her face.
The Allicorn sighed, "I am Azure Shine, second sister of Celestia, the only sister that didn't get any kingdom to rule! It wasn't fair, but I wasn't going to sit there and deal with what I got, no! I was going to create my own fate. I went up to Celestia, and she said no! I went missing after that, I ran to another dimension so that I had enough time to think things through. AND THEN I CAME BACK TO EXECUTE MY PLAN. It was going so well, until you three--umm-- four fillies arrived and ruined my plan. And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids," She looked up, "as for the reason, I wanted to be special, I wanted to be unique. I guess it was the fact that jealousy over took me, and when I think back now, I realise h-how stupid I w-was" she began to cry.
Celestia trotted over to her, and they hugged for a while. Suddenly Spitfire fell from the wall. She landed on the ground, then stood and darted towards Luna.
"Are you ok, Princess?" She asked.
Luna looked up, and saw a face smiling down at her. She struggled to her feet and limped over to Celestia and Azure.
"Sister!?" She shouted, seeing the familiar green. She ran over and joined the hug.
A faint orange aura surrounded itself around Luna, healing all the wounds she had gained whilst fighting her sister.
Azure used a spell, and she began to fade into her aura. The Allicorn began to disappear; she was committing suicide.
"Apple Bloom, fate is a strange thing. You can tempt it, or ignore it, or hope that it isn't true. You can use it, run away from it. Some people use it wisely, others don't. I didn't use mine wisely, but now, I am going to sacrifice myself. I will die, but I will still live on in your soul. I have chosen my fate, but have you chosen yours?" Azure had completely disappeared by now, the only remains were her orange aura and her crown. The aura began to circle around Apple Bloom, who was once again an earth pony. The light lifted her and cloaked her. A flash, and the aura sucked into Apple Blooms body. The lights gave way and Apple Bloom fell to the floor. She looked up. What I saw, I couldn't believe. Apple Bloom was an Allicorn, but permanently. We bowed immediately (as a joke), and Sweetie levitated Azure's crown onto Apple Bloom's head.
"Mission complete?" Babs asked.
"Yeah," Apple Bloom replied.
"If only we'd have gained our cutie marks doing it," I groaned.
"Yeah," murmered Babs and Sweetie.
"Erm, girls...Ya might want ta check that," Apple Bloom giggled.
We looked on our sides, and sure enough, our cutie marks were there. Babs' was an arrow, that was on fire. Sweetie's was a star, it had sparkles coming out of it. Mine was a diamond, shaped like a wing. And Apple Bloom's was a set of golden scales. On the right of the scales were all three of our cutie marks, but minimised and on the left was a crown. It had gems that were the same colours as the Elements of Harmony on it. We sat there, wondering what our hidden talents were. Suddenly, Babs spoke.
"The power of courage, like a burning fire..."
"The power of faith, like a bright star in the sky...!" Sweetie exclaimed.
"The power of admiration, like a diamond carved from stone...!" I smiled.
"The power of leadership, like a journey of courage, faith, and admiration," said Apple Bloom, "when the strength of friends is combined into one..."
"Then true power and friendship are created," we finished.
"Got it!" Exclaimed Apple Bloom, "Our cutie marks aren't our hidden talents, they're what make us, us! We've tried for so long to be good at different activities, but the whole time, our cutie marks were just what our hearts are saying. That's why we never got our cutie marks before, because ski boarding doesn't represent us, true courage, faith, admiration and leadership does. All this time we've been doing it wrong!"
"Wow, you make a valid point," I said, before we began laughing. We trotted out of the castle and into the warm evening, a stunning multi-coloured sunset painted across the sky.
"So are you, like, permanently an Allicorn now Applebloom?" Babs asked.
"Yes!" Sighed Applebloom, but suddenly Sweetie gasped,
"This must be Larson's doing!"
"Erm, who is that?" I questioned.
"Well, when a Stallion and Mare love each other very much-"
"Woah, we don't need a biology lesson, and how does that have any relevance to my question?"
"Cause you asked how fillies were made!"
"What?! No I didn't, look just forget it!"
True Power and Friendship
I blinked twice, just to be sure that I wasn't dreaming. The others gathered round, and we looked at each other. Some strange spell had occurred, causing a bright light to emerge from each of us. This light had turned each of us into Allicorns and a tiara had appeared for all of us. Each Tiara had a different colour gem to it. Mine was a deep crimson/pink colour. Sweetie's was a lime green, Babs' yellow and Apple Bloom's turquoise. We looked at each other again, all desperation now lost. We turned to Celestia, who had frozen in her tracks. She sent a beam of fire at Babs, but it narrowly missed. The beam flew past all of us and smashed into a statue of herself in the corner of the hall. It was a game of cat and mouse, except the mouse was chasing four cats. We knew she had nothing against four Allicorns. We began to make our move, positioning ourselves in different directions. Then at the same time, we each sent a beam of magic at her. The beams collided, causing an explosion of rainbow. When the colour display subsided, we saw that the Princess was no longer there. Had we done it? Had we defeated the Princess that easily?
Suddenly the Princess dove from the air and smashed into Sweetie who collided with the floor, making a large crack sound echo through the hall. We gathered round to see if she was alright. Luckily she was still alive, just unconscious. Next Celestia rammed into Babs, causing her to fall onto her side. Babs recovered steadily and charged at the Princess. Both Allicorms sent beams of light at each other, each trying to defeat the other. Three guards appeared at the doorway, hearing the commotion from outside. They grabbed Babs and pinned her against the wall. Babs kept struggling despite the fact there was no way for her to get out. The princess flew over to the pinned Babs and punched her square in the face. Babs was immediately knocked out and the guards shouted,"K.O!" Before dropping her roughly to the floor. Babs landed next to Sweetie with a loud thump.
"Two down, two to go!" Shouted the Princess in her triumph.
She charged at me, I swiftly dodged and then shot a bright green laser beam at her whilst her back was turned. The princess sent a shot of mud at me. In the attempt of dodging it, the mud hit my face instead of the wings it was aimed at. I was temporarily blinded. I listened carefully, but knew that with all the other commotion, it was impossible to try to attack like that. I landed and felt my way to a corner of the hall. I sat in the corner and sent flames all around me, nopony was gonna get past all of those. The only problem was that the flames were in front of me, not above. A yellow flash crashed into me, making me land on my side. The blow knocked all of the wind out of me. Apple Bloom sent a water jet at my face that blew the remaining mud off.
"You couldn't have done that earlier?!" I shouted sarcastically from the other side of the hall.
"A movin' target ain't easy!" Came the reply.
I realised that the yellow flash was Spitfire. I looked around, but she seemed to have vanished. I heard a shout from above, and knew where she was. The Pegasus was diving down at a great speed, from that acceleration and height, there was no doubt she was going in for the kill. I tried to move, but my body was frozen in peril, my brain and body had been disconnected: I was as good as gone. I shut my eyes, waiting for the impending danger. Nothing. I opened them to see a navy allicorn using a protection spell, holding back Spitfire. She used another spell to send the Wonderbolt into one of the walls of the crystal hall. It was Luna.
"Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, please go and tend to your teammates," she ordered, "whilst I go and deal with my sister over there,"
I flew to Babs and Sweetie, but still watched Luna, transfixed by her heroic-ness. The Princess of The Night flew over to her elder sister, and sent a navy blue beam of light at her. Celestia sent a bright yellow beam to counter the one that Luna had sent. Luna and Celestia were head to head, each trying to get their magic stronger than the others. Luna's beam began to edge closer to Celestia, but suddenly Celestia's smashed right through Luna's, sending her flying. With a scream Luna fell to the floor, exhausted and defeated.
"LUNA!" I shouted, but there was nothing I could do. Celestia flew other to her fallen sister and began to talk.
"This is what happens when you mess with me! Your little saviour Princess fell right into my trap, and now you have no pony to save you! mwahahahahahahahhahahahahah! " she cackled.
Sweetie, Apple Bloom and Babs rose to their hooves. I could feel a deep, fiery anger building up inside me. I wanted to run up to Celestia and punch her face but ,thankfully, common sense tied me to the floor. To my side, Sweetie put a hoof on one of my own, Apple Bloom's hoof on my other one. We held hooves in a line, and began levitating again. Babs reached across and held Sweetie's; the circle around Celestia was complete. The four of us began rotating faster and faster around Celestia. The feeling of magic swelled up inside of me again, and the rush of power stretched across my body. Babs began to speak.
"The power of courage, like a raging fire," she said.
"The power of faith, like a bright star in the sky," Sweetie added.
"The power of admiration, like a diamond carved from stone," I stated, it was like I knew the words, like they came from my heart.
"And the power of leadership, like a long journey of faith, courage and admiration," Apple Bloom said, "When the strength of friends is combined into one..."
"True power and friendship are created," we finished in unison.
A bright light emitted from each of our hearts, causing a rainbow. The power was unbelievable, there was no way Celestia could have dodged it. When the lights faded, Celestia lay on the ground, a dark green Allicorn rubbing her head next to her.
"W-where am I?" Asked the real Celestia dizzily.
We sat in our newly made castle. It wasn't a proper castle, just our normal treehouse, but with a turret and a draw bridge. Inside we were discussing the past few days in full detail. Since she had become an Allicorn, Apple Bloom had grown great respect in our class, and we were no longer the targets for bullies! We had changed our club name to: Cutie Mark Cru-Saviours. Our job was to help young ponies find who they are in their hearts, and to save Equestria from danger. We never got a reply from Celestia, with the prank-letter we sent. Maybe she knew that it was us. When we were "out in the field" our group's code name was: Order of The Saviours. It turns out, the Guard Pony had been listening to the next biggest song when we first met Luna. And soon,"Bronies to the core" was one of the biggest hits, though we never found out what it actually meant.
In the "treecastle", there were different spy gadgets that we could use out on the field. I had learnt to fly by now, too. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. A royal guard entered, he smiled.
"The Elements of Harmony have been found, but are in grave danger. Will you assist them and bring them home unharmed?" He asked.
We looked at each other and nodded.
"Give us five minutes," Babs said.
THE END
