Chapters Before and Beyond - Disharmony in an orb
Author's Note
This series of fanfictions replaces seasons 8 and 9, meaning that the events of these two seasons aren't canon.
Starting from season 8, there are two major consequences: the young/student six never met, and Cozy Glow is not relevant.
I will try to go into the history of Equestria, the civilisations living far away, and some other AU
Shattering Chaos
It was a seemingly calm afternoon in Poneyville, Spike was sleeping in the throne room before being awakened by a rumbling coming from the hall, intrigued and still a little sleepy he walked toward the doors and stretched his arm to open them.
BLAM – the doors slammed right in the face of spike while Twilight rushed toward the library with a strange orb floating at her side.
“What is happening?” asked spike as he stumbled back up.
“I don’t have time to tell you Spike, just send a message to everyone, I need my friends here as quickly as possible,” shouted Twilight, visibly concerned. “I think I found something dangerous, and if my books are right, we need to act fast!”
Spike tried to ask for more details, but Twilight had already locked herself up in the library to do more research. Having nothing else to do, he decided to do as Twilight said and started writing a message.
Hello everypony, Twilight just came back and seemed worried about a strange orb she was holding. I was asked to send you this message to let you all know that equestrian might be in danger, and we need all of you here. Come to the Friendship Castle Throne Room as fast as you can.
“It’s been half an hour, Spike,” cried Pinkie Pie. “I’m starting to get bored.”
“I agree, I was promised an adventure against a threat to Equestria, but all I see is a closed door and six pony waiting in front of it!” Dash added, furious.
“Sugarcube, are ya sure Twi asked for this message to be sent?” asked Applejack in a sweet tone.
“Yes Spike, maybe Twilight was just stressed,” Rarity calmly said. “You know she didn’t leave Canterlot since we fought the Storm King!”
Spike started to grow anxious, it has been multiple hours since he sent the message and Twilight did not leave the library since, he started counting each pony in the room, everypony was there. Having no other choice, Spike started to climb Twilight throne and started to speak.
“I know everypony here is starting to grow bored or nervous, but I can assure you Twili – “
Twilight slammed the door, the sound messed with spike balance, stopping him in his speech.
Twilight was frenetic, she took a deep breath and started speaking, “Finally, you are all here, I hope you don’t have anything important to do this week. A group of archeologists found this orb while digging in the altered hills, and I have been doing some research.”
“We’ve seen that” Dash said while giggling.
“Don’t cut me off!” Twilight shouted. “As I was saying, I was doing some research and I think i found out what this orb is. This is the alteration orb, it’s imbedded with a magic similar to that of Discord and, when activated, will change his surrounding by giving magic to the wielder in the way that will cause the most chaos.”
Discord appeared in the room, interrupting Twilight. “I’m starting to love this artifact!”
“Stop interrupting me!” Twilight shouted again with extreme violence. “It’s important.” She was on the edge of exploding, this was really not the time to joke and laugh, Equestria could be in danger if they didn’t act quick.
Discord was startled by the anger of Twilight, but couldn’t help and responded, “I was just wondering why you didn’t invite me, again; it seems like each time something interesting happen, I’m just excluded of the party.”
“If you had n’t stopped me you would have already known.” Twilight stepped back to sit on her throne. “As I was saying, this magic is similar to yours, Discord, so you can’t really do anything against it.” She opened an history book and placed it on the Cutie Map. “As shown here, this orb was first discovered by Clover the Clever, and was sealed in a cave. But it resurfaced during the Great Hills’ War, Where the ponies and the zebras fought the runefoxes.”
“The runefoxes, what are those?” asked Starlight, intrigued. “I’ve never heard about them.”
Twilight, pleased by the question, quickly answered, “runefoxes came to Equestria some generations after the three ponies’ tribes united, they came with the zebra and the three species lived in harmony for a while, but some decades later, the runefoxes’ society started to grow unstable as they started to lose territories to the dragons. Vulpina Wild, the queen of the runefoxes –”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Dash shouted, stopping Twilight in her story again, “so you’re telling us that zebras and ponies lived together, and runefoxes, another whole species no ones know about are the ones that introduced them? Why does nobody know about them? Where did the zebras go?”
Fluttershy continued, even thought her voice was considerably lower. “Your story doesn’t answer any questions, but just make us even more lost.” She turned to her left and looked at Discord. “Did you know about that?”
Discord looked back and, taking a defensive tone, replied, “to be fair, Equestria’s founding had stopped so much chaos that I decided to exile myself and cause chaos somewhere else, and I think we all know what happened when I came back.”
“Can I go back to explaining why I am holding one of the most dangerous artifacts of Equestria?” Twilight started to lose patience, and before going back to her presentation, she took several breaths, trying to calm herself. “Anyway, Vulpina Wild knew that the runefoxes’ magic wasn’t enough to defeat the ponies and the zebras, so when she found the alteration orb, she decided to use it for its raw magical power, after activation, the orb started to weaken the creatures around them, alternating almost all of the zebra army. The rare zebras who were left unchanged after the ambush fled to the west of the continent, the chaos erupting from the orb had left an oppening and one unicorn took the opportunity and took it down, and as Vulpina and most of the runefoxes were arrested and imprisoned, some of them fled and disappeared with the orb.” Twilight closed the book and stood up; the orb started to glow as Twilight made it float above her hooves. “This orb reappearing at the same place where it was lost mean that the runefoxes didn’t run away with it, but it can and will cause chaos if not purified because it has now been activated again, so that’s why I needed all of you here, I need everypony to start researching a way to drain the magic of this dangerous artifact.”
“And how did it not blow up already?” asked starlight.
“How did I forgot to talk about that,” responded twilight, a little embarrassed. “I casted a spell creating a temporary shield around it, stopping magical leaks for roughtly the next twenty-four hours.”
“So we gotta un-magic this magical sphere in less time than it took me to gather an harvest of zap-apples?” retorqued Applejack. “Ya sure this here thing is even possible?”
“That’s why you all need to start working, Sunburst is on his way, he put his hooves on an old magic manual that might be useful” Finished Twilight, visibly relieved.
As each pony drifted in different direction across the castle, Twilight returned to the library and got back to her favorite pastime, reading.
It started to darken outside as Luna elevated the moon in the sky, Sunburst had left the castle to search in the archives and reports of the archeologist and had to take the last train, Twilight was the only one still awake in the castle, only seeing with the small light shimmering from her horn. She just finished Tales of unenchanted artifacts , but still hadn’t found a way to purify the strange orb floating above the Cutie Map. She closed the book and put it back on the shelves, but a small breeze lifted a rogue page and carried it to the ground, it was a timeline of the event of old Equestria, Twilight took it and started reading, “why didn’t I think about it before?” She fought to herself, of course Starswirl would know something about this orb.
As Twilight was thinking, a shadowy figure entered the castle through the library door and snuck past her, slowly walking toward the throne room, and weaving through the piles of books on the floor.
As the figure arrived in front of the doors, Twilight had already moved and was now blocking the doorway. “What do you think you’re doing, intruder?”
But the intruder did not answer, and instead pushed one of the piles of books on Twilight, giving them just enough time to jump over her and approach the orb. The eyes of the intruder started to glow purple as the orb glowed the same color and was snatched from its original position, slowly descending toward the one trying to steal it.
Twilight realizing what had happened, flew toward the mysterious figure to stop it from stealing the dangerous artifact.
As the two collided, the intruder lost their focus on the orb, making it fall immediately. The impact broke twilight protection spell and shattered the orb into six pieces, launching white rays of pure chaos magic across the room.
The intruder fled as chaos started to ensue and Twilight tried to contain the orb explosion, but knowing she couldn’t do it alone, she sent a magic message to every pillars, hoping to wake them up and get some help. Equestria needed Starswirl's magic, and it needed it now.
Chaos continued to erupt in the throne room, walls changing colors and texture, chickens appearing out of nowhere, books floating and small tornadoes flying around the castle. Twilight couldn’t contain this much magic and started to get tired, but three other unicorns joined her. While Mistmane and Starlight holded the fragments in place, Starswirl started to annulate the chaos spells produced by it, giving Twilight time to cast multiple shields around the fragments, the magic of the broken orb was still more powerful than the four of them, but they were able to slow it enough for Twilight plan to work.
“Did you take the element with you?” Twilight used all her energy on containing the orb, unable to look back.
“You are the only one to not have them on,” replied Rarity.
Somnambula flew toward Twilight, putting her crown on her head. “Here it is, Twilight!”
Everyone was ready and positioned themselves around the fragments while Starlight tried to hold them back together, each element was activated by each of their respective pony conterpart, supported by the pillars who made it; the elements started producing multicolored rays toward each fragment, calming them until they finnaly stopped moving, the chaos magic stopped flowing everywhere as each of the fragment were struck by one of the elements of harmony.
Everything seemed to be going as planned until Twilight noticed that her crown was losing colors. The orb wasn’t being purified by the elements, but was stealing their magic.
The element started to see their magic and colors drained more and more quickly, until they finaly all faded to a tone of grey, falling to the ground as they were left totally magic-less.
Meanwhile, each fragments of the orb, now colored by the element’s magic, flew outside of the castle, swiftly going toward the horizon, each in a different direction. As everypony looked through the window, each of their Cutie Mark started to glow.
They were all being called by the Cutie Map.
Before and Beyond - Disharmony in an orb
“I can't believe I have the opportunity to visit Griffonstone while saving Equestria,” Rarity said enthusiastically.
“Don’t let the beauty of the world distract you from our current objective,” answered Mistmane “The map probably sent us here to retrieve the fragment.”
“I’m not sure about that darling.” Rarity seemed happy to spend time with the element of beauty. “The Cutie Map had always sent us to stop a friendship problem, so the fragment probably already started to caused chaos”
“We’ll know soon enough.” Mistmane tone was lower as the two unicorns approached a steep mountain.
As the gates of Griffonstone started appearing, Rarity repeated after her, “We’ll know soon enough.”
The train was a little late, a grey and white griffon was waiting on the station, accompanied by a cart full of ingredients. “Finally, do you know who I am?”
A black earth pony was pushing the cart. “Who could… dare make the great… Gustave wait ?” he added, out of breath.
“It’z Gustave le Grand,” replied the griffon in a strong accent. “But I want you, Ashed Icing, to stay in Mareseille, ze Châtel Gouteux need someone to take care of it.”
The gray-maned pony stepped back. “Thi… This can’t be real, how could you give me this much responsability, I’m just your apprentice.”
Gustave gave him a recomforting look. “It’s been a long time since I was gone from Griffonstone, and I will not be ze alone, a friend of mine, Gabriella, is waiting in ze Train.” He put a claw on Ashed Icing’s shoulder. “You are ready, your work is très magnifique.”
Ashed Icing waved his goodbye as the train was starting to move; Gustave was actually kinder than he let on , he thought to himself.
The renowned Griffon Chef was pushing his cart through the alley to place it in the luggage wagon when he was interrupted by a young griffon that seemed extremely energetic.
“Gabriella, it’s been so long since you send me ze letter!” said Gustave.
“Aw, You know you can call me Gabby!” replied the other griffon
After the cart had been tied up, the two griffon friends looked through the window toward their destination. Gustave was lost in his thoughts, Gabby, seing how stress his friend was softly replied “You know, since Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash came to Griffonstone, people started to become nicer to each other. Everygriffons that remember you will be happy to see you come back.”
Gustave seemed surprised by what Gabby said and responded, “Really, did zis pink pony come to Griffonstone ?”
“You know Pinkie Pie ?”
“Of course I do,” answered Gustave, “She take pâtisserie as an art form, just like me!”
The two griffons looked at each other, and started laughing, it had been a really long time since they had seen each other. While they turned back into the wagon, a strange purple crystal swiftly flew past the train.
The two unicorns could see the entrance of Griffonstone, they kept walking toward it, discussing about what could be the reason they were sent here until a voice called them from behind. “Rarity! I didn’t know you would be here too!”
Rarity turned toward the voice, seeing two Griffon and a cart flying towards them, one of them waving at her. “Gabby! Sweety Bell told me you left Poneyville a week ago, so why did you only come back now?”
Mistmane extend a hoof, presenting herself. “I’m Mistmane, a friend of Rarity, and you two are?”
Gabby replied, happy to start making new friends already, “I’m Gabby, I’m friend with Rarity sister, and this is Gustave, he was like an uncle to me until he moved to Mareseille to become one of the greatest pastry chef!”
The group of four continued presenting themselves but were stopped when a griffon crash-landed in front of them.
“Gilda?” gasped Gabby as Rarity and Mistmane lifted her so she could stand up.
“Ow, that did really hurt.” Gilda shook her head, trying to put her thoughts back in place. When she saw rarity and Gabby, she flew over them and started talking, “I need all of you, right now.” She took a deep breath, pausing for an instant. “Griffonstone is going crazy!”
The city entrance was deserted, no creatures where here to be seen. Gilda, even if her feathers got a little rufled, guided everyone to a house where a blue griffon was hiding beside a couch, when seeing Gilda enter the house with a bunch of strangers, he exclaimed in a worried tone, “Are they normal, or have they already gone mad like everygriffon else?”
Gilda reached him a claw, trying to calm him. “Gallus, they aren’t crazy, they just came here and they could help us.”
“Gallus?” asked Gustave, confused. “Since when do you know zis griffon, Gilda?”
“Since you left us,” responded Gilda in a bitter voice. “I felt alone so I took him under my wing like he was my little brother.”
“Ok, we get it, you had a different,” said Rarity, “but now isn’t the time for that. Gilda, could you care to explain what caused everyone to go mad?”
Gilda looked through a window, Griffons were fighting outside. “It all started this morning; I saw a strange crystal floating outside but didn’t pay much attention to it. When I got out of the house, everygriffons were fighting each other, I tried to fly outside to see why, but I was stopped by Grampa Gruff, he told me he would be the first to get the Idol of Boreas”
“But it was lost,” said Rarity. “Maybe that’s what the alteration orb’s fragment did here!”
Rarity took the lead, and started explaining what had happened at the friendship castle, Mistmane proposed to make a plan so the griffons realised that what they were doing was wrong until Gabby told the group the history of the golden Idol.
The plan was simple, they needed to draw the attention of the griffons so Rarity could give a speech, the griffons had gone mad, and Rarity though she could make them come back to their senses.
It was noon when rarity stepped on the highest platform above the city center, Gallus and Gilda were shouting to pay attention while Mistmane, Gustave and Gabby blocked the entrances to the city square.
Rarity used a spell that Twilight showed her to amplify her voice. “Everygriffons, Listen to me. Why do you all want this Idol? Because it’s an object with a great historical value for all of you!” The crowd started to pay more attention to Rarity “But do you remember what it represents? Unity!” Every griffon in the square where listening to her. “As the story go, the Idol of Boreas was something so great and beautiful that it gave your whole species pride. Every single griffon bowed allegiance to a king, just so the idol would be protected, this unity gave your nation a way to flourish until it disappeared.” The griffons started to change their mind about the Idol, and started talking to each other. “Then why is the reappearance of this symbol the reason for so much chaos? Do you think having the artifact representing the unity of griffons is worth disharmony?”
The crowd cheered in a mutual “no!” and one griffon started flying above the other, holding the Idol, when rarity saw it, her eyes flashed gold for an instant, and she shouted without any second thought, “It’s mine!” jumping from the platform towards the Idol, When the crowd of griffons saw the idols a second time, they all started to fight again.
Seeing that Rarity was falling toward the mess of fights underneath, Gilda flew as fast as she could, catching Rarity and gliding toward her house.
“What happened?” Asked Mistmane to Rarity
“She became mad like the other” said Gallus in a judging tone.
Rarity stopped him to answer the question, “I do not really know, I was giving a speech, but when I saw the Idol of Boreas, I could only think about getting it for myself.” She started to cry a little. “This isn’t who I am. I am someone generous, not selfish.”
Gustave approached Rarity and put one of his wings around her. “Zere, zere, I know what it is for other to zink all you do is just for yourself, but we know you tried to help.”
Mistmane took an empty notebook from the cabinet and started drawing the Idol of Boreas, coloring a part in purple. She turned back toward the rest of the group and hanged the drawing on a wall.
“This purple piece is not a part of the original Idol,” Stated Mistmane, “so there is a high likelihood for it to be the fragment we research.” She lifted a box out of her saddlebag. “Twilight gave me this box to stock the fragment, it will stop the effect of the magic for a full day.”
Rarity stood back up and commented, “You forget that seeing the Idol compel you to try and take it.”
“And who said anything about seeing it,” Replied Mistmane. “I have a plan”
Rarity and Gabby were waiting behind the castle’s ruins while Gustave and Gilda baked in the back of the court, Gallus was doing some scouting around Griffonstone and Mistmane was trying to cast a powerful spell.
Gustave walked toward Gabby with a plate of freshly baked griffon’s scone.
“Where is Gilda” asked Gabby
“She’s waiting for Gallus, we just need him and we’ll be ready to go” answered Mistmane
“Talking about me?” asked Gallus, walking side by side with Gilda
The group walked down the hills, trying to be stealthy. Mistmane stopped behind a house as Gustave and Rarity derived from the group and walked to the left with the scones, Gallus flew blindfolded toward the city center, guided by Gabby.
Gilda was flying over the fight, She looked around her, everyone was ready. “Everygriffon, Listen, we made a party for everyone today, so it’s time to see the beauty of Griffonstone!”
Following the interuption, Mistmane casted a spell that grew vines around, lifting Rarity as Gustave flew with the scones, throwing them to the fighting griffons underneath while Rarity lifted ribbons and banners around, redecorating the city square by restoring its former glory. The fighting started to calm as Gabby flew toward the center of the conflict, followed by Gallus, they needed just to distract the griffons a little longer.
“You need to continue alone Gallus,” exclaimed Gabby, “I don’t have a blindfold!”
Gallus nodded, his claws stretched in front of him.
“It’s a little to the left!” Shouted Rarity.
Gallus felt a cold metal piece touch his left claw and grabbed it without wasting a second. He started running his claw around the Idol, trying to find the unpurified fragment, and when he finally dislocated it from the ancient artifact, a burst of magical energy was felt throughout the city, ending when it was placed in the box given by Twilight.
Mistmane took the little box and placed it back on her saddlebag, after thanking and giving advice to the little group they formed, she turned back toward Rarity, she was repairing a house destroyed by the fights.
Mistmane started the conversation, and said, “We need to go, The box will only contain the fragment’s magic for a day, and we don’t know if Twilight found a way to purify them.”
“You know, I think we were both right, the Map did send us here to retrieve a fragment,” replied Rarity, “but we also stopped a friendship issue!”
Both mares started to walk toward the train station, this quantity of chaos was a little too much for a Week-End.
Before and Beyond - Disharmony in an orb
Cadance was supervising the fair from the castle balcony, The Storm King did not get to the Cristal Empire, but the fear he induced had weaken the Cristal Heart. Shining Armor came to her side, holding Flurry Heart with his magic.
“So how is the fair going so far?” asked Shining Armor, struggling to hold Flurry Heart in place.
Cadance was about to answer, but stopped as she saw a strange blue crystal flying at a rapid pace toward the library. “Did you see this?”
Cadance jumped from the balcony, following the crystal while Shining Armor gently deposed Flurry Heart in her bed, ready to run down the stairs. Cadance was almost able to grab the crystal but it moved toward a window, disappearing into the house.
“Did you get it?” exclaimed Shining Armor, who just arrived at the house.
“No, it passed through that house and disappeared from my sight,” replied Cadance. “Did you know what it was anyway?”
“No,” Shining Armor looked around him, searching for said crystal. “But a rogue magical crystal is never a good sign.”
Cadance landed in front of him, and said “Well, we didn’t hear anypony scre –“
A distant cry was heard, “Help!” This single word was enough for Cadance to bounce off the ground and fly towards the library. As she approached the location of the screams, they grew quieter until finally going deaf.
The library was totally quiet, not a single sound could be heard, not even a fly or cough. It seemed strange as the library was habitually busy at this hour, and she did not see anypony since she entered.
She looked around again, trying to find who called for help, until she peaked toward the “Mystery” alley and saw an azure-coated crystal unicorn through the missing books of the bookshelves, It was the Crystal Empire’s Head-Librarian, Biblia Calm.
“Biblia! Are you okay?” shouted Cadance
The Librarian’s head snapped toward Cadance, looking straight into her eyes in a blank stare, only letting a “Shh!” be heard.
In response, Cadance lowered her voice and whispered, “What is the problem Biblia, is someone dangerous here, does it have anything to do with…” She didn’t finish the sentence as her gaze stopped onto the bracelet worn by Biblia, the gem incrusted in it was a light blue crystal, exactly the same shape and color as the one she saw flying over the castle.
A slight grin formed on Biblia face, her horn started to glow as she shouted, enraged, “Silence!” A light blue ball, the same tint of the gray-maned unicorn, started forming above her, exploding in a magical shockwave that pushed Cadance out of the library, her muzzle vanishing in magi-chaotical sparkles at the same time.
“So this is what you call a ‘train’ right?”
Pinkie Pie looked toward the greenish-maned pink Pegasus, surprised by the question. “Hum… Yes?” she didn’t really know what to say, she was never interested in technologies and you couldn’t really say she would be fit as an engineer. “You know Somna, I can call you like that right? If you were hoping an explanation on how it works, I’m kinda the wrong pony.”
Somnambula smiled before answering, “Well, you could say I’m good at hoping.”
The two pink ponies got along pretty well, even though one was calm and the other… wasn’t.
The train stopped moving, and a strong voice shouted from the front of the train. “Terminus, Everypony’s off!”
Pinkie Pie stumbled on one of the steps, falling onto a crystal-blue unicorn who seemed to be searching for something. She got back up, apologizing “Sorry Mister Unicorn, I’m Pinkie Pie!”
The Crystal Unicorn put his armor back in place, and in a serious tone said “I thought you would be more…” He looked around searching for the others ponies that were described to him, but none matched those descriptions. “But you need to come with me.”
Somnambula was still behind, asking the train controller question on the functioning and inner-workings of trains, intrigued by the iron beast, when she peeked back over her shoulder, Pinkie wasn’t here anymore.
“This can't be a good sign” Somnambula thought to herself as she jumped and started flying around the train station, before finally spotting the festive earth pony entering the castle, dragged by two heavily armored guards.
Pinkie Pie had always been a free-flowing spirit, so being restrained by two stallions wasn’t really a pleasant surprise. It felt strange for the guards to drag her like that, after all, she was friend with at least two alicorn, she represented the element of laughter and was designated to be the royal sitter of Flurry Heart, being dragged by people directly under the orders of her best friend’s brother seemed wrong, this was either a surprise party, or she was called here for a REAL problem.
Pinkie sighed, “I hope it’s a surprise party.” She thought to herself.
“Guards, is that a way to treat a guest?” A familiar voice rumbled, while the sentence was said jokingly, Pinkie could sense a smidge of distress in the voice.
The two stallions dropped Pinkie Pie to the ground and stiff in place, as if they apologized by making a salute. One of them broke the silence, stammering. “Well… Sorry Captain, We didn’t know what to do… You just told us to get them here right as they would arrive.”
Shining Armor walked down the stair, revealing himself to Pinkie’s eyes. “And where are the other?”
“She was alone when we found her!” answered the second guard almost immediately, as if they were on a time trial.
“Hey, That’s no tru –“ Pinkie’s remark was cut off by a loud banging on the two doors of the front entrance to the castle, making one of the guard startle.
The doors kept banging as the two guards slowly backed up towards the stair, closing the distance between them and Shining Armor. The rooms grew silent, if it wasn’t for the extremely louds bang on the door of course, as everypony watched the doors being pushed farther and farther from their bounds, threatening to blast off into the room. The strange atmosphere was stirred away as Cadance arrived in the room, flying downward util she landed. “What in tartarus is going on here? Don’t you hear how much noise you make?”
The pink alicorn seemed furious, but mostly anxious about the sound, she stared at her husband before turning towards the doors, right at the moment the lock couldn’t handle it anymore, and another pink pony, a Pegasus this time, flew down on the princess, crashing into her.
“So, Would you care to come around a tea,” sighed Cadance. “It seems like I still need to put a clear on some things…”
Soon enough, Cadance, Pinkie Pie, Somnambula and Shining Armor sat all around an oval shaped table, engraved with a plan of the Cristal Empire. While the room was big, it felt crammed with all of the armors and weapons lying in random piles on the ground or hanged on walls. The table had multiple figurines lying around it, outlining an area in the southern side of the city, centered around the library, multiple pony-shaped figurines lied in groups around the outline.
“As you can see, She gained terrain since I sent you the letter, I though you would be more, but I guess Twilight didn’t send both of you without a plan.” Declared Shining Armor seriously while pointing a hoof toward the outlined area. “But our army as been able to evacuate most of the citizens, her magic is growing stronger with times, even Cadance null’s spells can’t annulate the alteration around the library!”
While Pinkie Pie was looking at a butterfly through the window, Somnambula features convulsed from surprise, she opened her muzzle, but words didn’t got out immediately. “What letter? Who is She? What are you even talking about, the only thing Twilight gave me is this wooden box!” she shouted while grabbing a hoof-sized wooden box with lead engraving running across it from her left saddlebag.
Cadance and Shining Armor looked at each other, then back at Somnambula, then at each other again, flabbergasted. Cadance wanted to start explaining whatever misunderstanding was here to explain, but Pinkie was faster. “Maybe the orb’s fragment flew here to cause mischief, that caused a friendship problem we were sent to stop, said problem turned out to be an evil magical librarian that want everything to be quiet and started to fight the cristal empire by making everypony she heard unable to talk!”
Cadance stared at Pinkie Pie, looking even more surprised than before. “How… How did you know that?”
Everypony looked at Pinkie Pie until a sudden cry could be heard, not one of fear or sadness, but one of a baby alicorn who just awaken. And it was loud, very loud…
Biblia Calm was walking down a dark street, even thought it was noon, the protection sphere she just casted blocked most of the sunlight, causing the whole block to be engulfed in grim light, the sound of silence was a pleasure for her ears, for once in many years, there were no more distant chatter, no more crying ponies looking for help, no more action-heated egghead trying to pick a fight, no, it was only peace and quiet, silence and calm, like the whole world was asleep. Her azure coat seemed darker, and her cutie-mark, once a phoenix quill, was now obstructed by a new one, a little light blue crystal surrounded by a white sphere. Biblia was smiling, exploring this southing experience that pure silence was, her smiled widened as she started to talk to herself, but it wasn’t a smile of joy or sympathy, it was a slightly wicked smile of victory.
“I could show what real calm is to everycreature in the crystal empire,
I could make the princesses experience it,
I could…
I could calm the whole Equestrian continent!”
Biblia shooked for a moment, a shudder going from her mane to her tail, as if she was bit by the cold, one of her pupils tinted to a deep blue for an instant as she tried to repress the uncontrolled thought, but it didn’t last, and her whole eye had gone back to black, the empty stare directed toward the Castle, where she could hear a distant cry, distant but loud and clear, and it was disrupting the peace she worked so hard for.
She grinned slightly again, the fragment of pure chaos magic on her left hoof slightly glowing, and as sparks of the same color flew around her horn and magic floated across her crystallized fur, the ground started shaking. Biblia started to lean on her back hooves, putting more and more pressure on the ground, until she suddenly released all of the magical and physical energy, propelling herself in the sky, before crashing into one of the Castle’s windows.
The cries of the baby alicorn stopped for a moment, turning into a small laugh as Biblia struggled to get back on her hooves, the slightly mad unicorn wouldn’t get any of these mockery, and even less from a loud child, magic started to erupt in the air while Flurry Heart was starting to be surrounded by a spell-casted sphere, Flurry Heart’s laughter’s and tears muffled by the spell as fast steps could be heard coming from the stairway, rapidly approaching the bedroom.
The doors opened in a crash, the princess of love and her husband rushing in the room, but nopony else was present here, nor an intruder, nor Flurry Heart, and the only trace of anypony ever being here was the destroyed window and the pieces of shattered glass across the floor.
“We need a plan!”
“But she’d just gone too far!”
“Calm down, all hope isn’t lost!”
“Calm down!? Did you just skip what happened?”
The upper royal bedroom, normally quiet, was now entering a phase of pure chaos as four ponies started to argue and fight, while Pinkie was restrained by Shining Armor, Cadance was arguing with Somnambula, shouting as rage started to engulf her; Even if every pulsion wanted for her to fly and get revenge from the one who stole her child, Cadance knew that she couldn’t go without a plan, trying to take deep breath as Somnambula reassured her.
While panic left Cadance mind, we could not say the same for the ‘Royal Sitter’, for Pinkie, Flurry Heart was like her baby, she would always spend most of her time in the Crystal Empire playing with the young alicorn, and seemed to be one of few capable of calming her when she was sad. “Kidnapping a baby, what monster could do that?” she shouted, almost crying. “Let me go! We need to go! She’s probably crying for help right now!”
Shining Armor seemed to lose his grasp around Pinkie as her normally bright pink coat turned into a flaming red, heat and steam boiling around the furious earth pony. “I won’t be able to hold her for much longer!” he said, trying to get help from the two other ponies in the room. In response, Cadance horn glowed in a magnificent turquoise light, and as a small but steady stream of magic connected the two pony, Pinkie stopped cry-shouting, her coat going back to her original pink shade and her eyes slowly shutting. “What!? It’s just a little sleep spell Luna told me, it isn’t as powerful as her, but it should do the job for five to ten minutes!” Cadance calmly stated, as the two other ponies seemed surprised by whatever just happen.
“Well then, we have five minute to figure out a plan,” Said Shining Armor as he snapped back to reality, “if I’m correct, we can’t go directly face to face, she’s too powerful.” Cadance nodded in agreement, “-And we can’t try to reason her, she’s not Biblia anymore.” Cadence nodded again, but more slowly this time. “So… What can we do?”
Somnambula stepped forward, the wooden box put into evidence in her front-right hoof, “You told us your problems, but remember that we came here to retrieve a magical fragment well known for spreading chaos, if we can put it inside this box, that should stop it from controlling your friend!”
“You seem to forget something.”
“And what did I forget, Shining Armor?”
“THE FACT THAT SHE IS LITERALLY MORE POWERFUL THAN ONE ALICORN AND AN ENTIRE ARMY!” Shining Armor shouted back, his words so loud and mixed it seemed like he was trying to start a ritual. He paused, trying to stop getting on his nerves, before continuing, is voice drifting as if he had lost all hope in winning, “We also sent a letter to Celestia and Luna, if they didn’t come, then we are not the only ones deep into to trouble…”
“If its just that,” Somnambula noted while almost giggling, pushing Shining Armor deeper into incomprehension. “Then don’t worry, because I got a plan!”
“You want me to do what!?” Pinkie Pie almost shouted, only stopped by Cadance stuffing her hoof into Pinkie’s muzzle, effectively silencing the pink pony.
“Shh! Remember about being quiet” Cadance quickly responded, almost whispering.
“But you just told me to –“Pinkie was stopped again, small steps could be heard in the library’s main hall, Cadance having just enough time to cast a small invisibility spell around the group as Biblia walked in through the narrower corridor, and turning to the left toward the deeper part of the reserved library, Cadance spells disappeared and in response to Shining armor confused looked, said slowly “What? It’s just another spell Luna showed me!”
“How many spells did she teach you?”
Cadance didn’t respond to her husband and instead turned toward Pinkie Pie. “We all know you aren’t the best at being calm and quiet, so that’s why you will be the distraction, so when we are all in place, you need to be as loud as possible.”
The roles were dispatched, While Shining Armor would be closing all escape paths, Pinkie would throw as much sound as she could, letting Cadance search for Flurry Heart while Somnambula would discreetly try to approach Biblia and steal the bracelet, sealing the chaotic fragment in the nullifying box Twilight gave her. Each moved toward completing their respective task, they needed to take as much profit from Biblia absence in the library, but Pinkie sat still for a few moments, she looked down to her hoof, where Cadance had left a small object, it looked like an engraved stone in the shape of a heart, she then pressed the small button at the front of the stone, letting blades-like crystals out of the thin divot, surrounding the stone to form a sort of shield.
Almost all possible exits were sealed, Cadance was already searching the upper levels and Somnambula was ready to act, they all waited for a signal, and after a few second, the loud, powerful and melodic sounds of an organ could be heard in the whole library, the tune resonating in each room. Biblia was quick to react, and instantly started to teleport around the building, finally stopping when she was in front of the imposing instrument, the music continuing to play as a barrage of spells coming from Biblia’s horn lit up the room, reflected by sets of mirrors placed around the organ.
While her eyes started to flicker between a deep blue and a dark black, the unicorn was fighting the dark presence imposed in her by the chaos magic, but when the shatter on her bracelet began to glow and a crooked smile laid on her features, darkness taking back her eyes, Pinkie knew that she will have to fight, and in a final taunt, said "Come on Biblia, Let's Dance!"
The music sped up as Pinkie leaped toward Biblia, shield first, the impact sending a shockwave through the room, extinguishing the few candles left burning and plunging the hall into darkness, illuminated only by the light rays that passed through the blinds of the windows. Pinkie stood back up, unaffected while Biblia stumbled back, her grin turning into a frown. The unicorn launched a few bookshelves toward Pinkie who was able to barely dodge them, Biblia’s horn lit up again, a ray of magic bursting out, cutting through the pillars in the center of the room, the ceiling cracked and started to fell, the crystal’s rubles that started to pile on levitated, forcing Pinkie on the defensive to evade the multitude of projectile flying through the air. The wall to her left crumbled as a large metal pipe was torn out of it, small bolts and scrapes of metal joining the sphere of ash, books and crystal floating between Biblia and Pinkie.
As the organ struck deeper and more powerful notes, Pinkie jumped on a mirror floating from the unstable magic the filled the room, the mirror shifted and turned toward the sphere of debris, putting Pinkie in the perfect position to dive onto Biblia who was still bursting with magic, she turned the sharper edge of her shield toward the golden bracelet on the librarian’s hoof and with a powerful kick, threw it downward at an incredible speed.
The shield hung still in the air, the razor-sharp blade only centimeters away from the orb fragment, a light-blue hue keeping the shield in place, Pinkie’s eyes widened in shock as the crazed unicorn smile grew even larger, her head slowly turning toward her “You thought this would be enough?” the voice resonated, it was grave and wicked, almost as if Biblia was stuck in a voice-crack, it almost seemed to have multiple layers, and her words mixed into each other, fading in a grim noise.
Biblia’s voice wasn’t the only thing to crack as an ear-piercing sound could be heard coming from the ball of ruble, the magic crushing crystal and metal together, while shatters of the mirror flew in a ring around the sphere who was starting to take the shape of a sword. When the ashes and dust flew away, they revealed a long-crystallised sword embedded with a reflective glass panel along the edge, the grip was covered with a thin metallic band and two long streaks of iron were carved in the base of the blade. Biblia smiled only grew larger and larger, almost starching across her whole face when Pinkie Pie stepped back, she threw the shield which lodged in one of the few walls still standing, and plunged toward the pink pony, who was unable to fully avoid the blade’s sharp edges, a small streak of blood poured from Pinkie’s cheek as a shallow wound took place on her features, her eyes widened as the organ hit two notes so deep they were almost inaudible, the situation started to look unwinnable and Pinkie Pie was being forced into a corner, between the organ and two fallen over bookshelves.
The melody sped up again, the notes arranging themselves into a chaotic yet beautiful sonority, taunting the calming sounds of silence, Biblia’s sword was held above her head, ready to strike the now stuck and cornered Pinkie, even if the blow wasn’t fatal, another quick one would do the job. Pinkie was stuck here in front of her, at her mercy, yet Biblia didn’t strike, the sword could be seen clutching back and forth as the eyes of the librarian flickered again, become a deep blue for a few seconds where she spoked, in a different voice than the wicked one heard earlier. “RUN.”
Black tendrils started to form around the unicorn who was engulfed in the magic of the sky-blue fragment, the tendrils oozed around Biblia, forming an armor before surrounding her head, starting from the neck and shaping themselves in a helmet, the darkness started to grow around Biblia’s coat, who was slowly turning as black as her eyes, Pinkie was shivering from fright until without any warning, the monster that formed before her crumbled to the ground, revealing a pink Pegasus behind, holding a wooden box where a recognisable blue fragment was contained.
“Somnambula!”
The two ponies hugged for a moment until Somnambula saw the blooddrops falling from Pinkie’s cut. “We need to get that checked, did you see Cadance or Shining Armor?”
Pinkie Pie tried to respond but was only able to point a hoof toward the unicorn behind them who was rising back up. Somnambula turned to see what Pinkie was pointing at, and almost dropped Pinkie when she saw the sword slowly rise up, grasped into Biblia’s magic.
“Let me help,” exclaimed biblia, a shoulder resting on her sword now used as a cane, “It’s kind off my fault.”
Cadance accented null-spell worked, and the only sign of a battle ever happening was the small scar on Pinkie’s cheek and the burns around Biblia’s coat.
Pinkie walked toward Cadance who was holding and hugging a laughing Flurry Heart. “Here is your shield” she said, lending the small heart-shaped stone to Cadance.
“Oh no, you can keep it!” the princess answered with a smile radiating from thankfulness, “See it as a gift for your help!”
Somnambula approached the group, giving a little head-pat to Flurry Heart before pointing the sun with a hoof. “It’s almost dusk Pinkie, we should get back on the train now if we want to be home tonight!
The pink pony nodded, and waved goodbye to Cadance, Flurry Heart, Shining Armor and even Biblia Calm, who was sitting in a corner, getting taken care off by two nurse-ponies.
“Goodbye.”
“Goodbye!”
Before and Beyond - Disharmony in an orb
"Aargh, I can't take it anymore," groaned Rainbow Dash clearly annoyed by the long march, "In all Equestria, of course we had to be sent to the only place without a train station..."
“Can you stop whining” responded Flash Magnus, eyes focused on the little leathered book he was holding.
“The only reason we didn’t fly here is ‘cause of that stupid book.”
Flash rolled his eyes, closing the book he was reading. “Do you at least know where we are?”
“Yeah, Yeah, Ponizonian jungle, The temple of Forasem and all of that…”
“And from where did you get that from?”
Rainbow Dash was now hovering above Flash Magnus, playing with a little machete. “Daring Do and the gilded staff, Volume two!”
Flash put his book bag into his saddlebag while giving a judging glance to the blue pegasus. “You came in a hostile environment with the only preparation being fiction novels? How great!”
“Don’t you dare call it fiction!” Dash had come down to Flash’s eyes, giving him a look that likely meant “I’m ready to fight over this.”
Flash Magnus didn’t react, only adding “And did your really real source talk about the SIlvathorns, because that might be a more important facet of the Ponyzonian Jungle than artifact retrieving!”
“The thing Twilight talked about, who cares?” Dash answered, flying in circle around her elder, “We’re here for the fragment thingy, not an history lesson!”
Flash sighed deeply, he wanted to correct the pegasus about the numerous errors and misjudgment Rainbow Dash just spitted out, but he knew that whatever he said, it would never change the stubborn mare mind. He instead hopped in the sky, joining Dash in her flight, and only warned her about the Eastern Wind, who was pretty strong this far south.
“We can cover more terrain if we split up, If you still have the flare I gave you.”
Rainbow Dash only nodded in response, letting the golden pegasus fly away, maybe he would be able to finish is chapter in peace.
Rainbow Dash spotted a colored shimmer through the foliage, and plunged downward to what she thought was the fragment they researched. Branches and leaves slapped around Dash’s body, leaving small scratches on her sky-blue coat as she finally reached the ground, the forest down here was oppressive, the trees and foliage were covering Dash’s whole vision, and the small blur she had seen was nowhere to be found. With no choices left, she took her machete, a small lighting-shaped blade that Luna had offered her after she defeated a troop of revolted changeling by herself, and started to slice the lush green around.
The thick jungle abruptly led to a well-maintained path who didn’t seem to lead anywhere as it twisted and turned, the end hidden by the trees and the flowers. Dash glanced back to the mess she left on her way here, whether or not this path would lead to the fragment she was seeking, it would be way better than having to cut back through the deep jungle, she examined the two sides of the path, until she noticed smalls hoofprints covering a muddy puddle, somepony had just been here, and Rainbow Dash was ready to find who.
From an outside observer, Rainbow Dash would only be seen as a light-blue blur across the jungle, the pegasus was flying so fast that even she had difficulties to navigate through the twisting path, the hoofprints were sparce, only seen in the rare muddy puddles across the path’s edge, but they were fresh and seemed to all go in a single direction, Rainbow Dash’s eye were meticulously looking around, the few wigs on the ground snapping as she flew above them, but the pegasus braked before taking a tree right in the face, even if a little dizzy from the impact, she frantically examined the nearby area, but the efforts were in vain as the prints had vanished.
Rainbow Dash slowed down, walking around the place where she had last seen the print, an ear tended to any sound she might hear, whatever was here betrayed his position when a crack could be heard, Dash’s head snapping toward the origin of the sound but she couldn’t see anything, only hearing scattered and frightened breaths.
The breaths grew heavier and more unpacked as Rainbow Dash walked closer, she couldn’t see what was making those sounds, but she knew it was here.
Rainbow Dash had closed almost all the distance between her and the sounds, her hooves felt a warm fur, and the pegasus stumbled on the invisible creature that was here. The shock may have also disoriented whatever was here because a form slowly faded in existence, the invisible creature revealing itself.
A delicate pale-green coat started to appear before Dash’s intrigued gaze, the form of the creatures slowly taking shape as it was disoriented by the Rainbow Dash fall onto it.
The creature body was almost one of a pony, but his legs were slender and taller, the pale-green fur disappeared to a lush green moss-like mane stretching from the top of its head to his back, ending in a small bunny-like tail. The creature’s head was adorned with a single antler in the center of his cranium, between its deep silvery eyes and his flower-filled mane.
Dash tilted her head to look into the creature eyes, filled with curiousness. When she finally met the gaze of the creature stuck underneath her, it stared directly into Rainbow Dash’s eyes, its eyes filled with terror and stress.
“Hey, calm down, I won’t hurt you.” Softly said Dash, trying to relieve the strange creature she had just encountered.
“You… Are you the sorceress?” The creature struggled to find the words to express itself, only letting a barely comprehensible babble out, “You want to cast evil spells on me!”
“Sorceress?” Dash was almost laughing, “I’m not a unicorn, silly, I can’t cast spells.” The mentions of a sorceress still intrigued her, “if there’s something or someone wrecking havoc around here, it was surely under the influence of that shard” thought dash, and with a quick hoof movement who sent the creature startling, grabbed a small cylinder, pushing the pin underneath.
Flash Magnus was still flying over the northern part of the jungle when he saw the multicolored flare coming from within the trees, Rainbow Dash was calling for him and she was either stuck in a delicate situation, or she had found something.
The book Flash held was quickly put back in his saddlebag and replaced by a small coppery shield, the golden pegasus rushed toward the rainbow flare, and as he approached the location, started to shout in the air. “Rainbow Dash, is everything okay?” Without any response, Flash flew downward, approaching the treetops, the foliage of the jungle seemed impenetrable, only small rays of light passing through the compact arrangement of flora.
Flash followed along the branches, he spotted a hole into the thick blanket of plantlife, the branches supporting his body weren’t as thick as the rest of the forest, and snapped under his weight, letting the pegasus fall into the jungle.
Thump - The sound of Flash Magnus falling onto the grass stopped Rainbow Dash one-way conversation, the pony and the creature turning to see what had just fallen right next to them.
“What happened Rainbow Dash?” asked Flash Magnus as he was getting back up.
“I stumbled on that” answered Rainbow Dash, a hoof pointed towards the still laying creature
Flash’s eyes widened as he saw what Rainbow Dash was referring to. “A silvathorn!”
The creature met the eyes of the Flash Magnus, her expression now closer to wonder than fear. “The gilded pegasus?”
The two stared, Flash reassured by the presence of the creature and the silvathorn shocked by the sight of the legendary pony standing before him.
“Allow me to introduce myself, O powerful gilded pegasus!” said the silvathorn, now less stressed in the company of Flash Magnus. “I’m Mint!”
Flash looked in incomprehension toward Rainbow Dash who was even more lost, but their staring contest quickly stopped as the voice of Mint continued “Dear gilded pegasus, may you lend us your help once again?” Mint was bowing down so far that he was almost laying on the ground. “The jungle is uncontrollable, and Great Oak think that a traitor or a curse might behind all of that!”
Flash Magnus didn’t really know how to respond, but Rainbow Dash was eager to intervene, a little jealous of Flash’s legendary status among the silvathorns. “Of course, that’s why we’re here!”
Mint gave a mistrusting glance to the blue pegasus, before she faced back Flash Magnus and asked “Is she with you?”
Flash snapped back from his thought, is mind still trying to find the best way to interact, and in a moment of clarity, said, “Yes, That’s Rainbow Dash, and you can call me Flash Magnus, not whatever that name was!” a wide smile streaking the silvathorn’s face as he spoke.
Mint turned back around and was now guiding the group toward her village, he was followed closely by Flash Magnus, and a little less closely by Rainbow Dash who was still jealously rumbling on her own. The blue pegasus took Flash’s hoof and discreetly dragged him away from Mint. “Can you explain what just happened?” she whispered, trying to not be heard by the silvathorn.
“You would know if you had read my book instead of mumbling about walking.” retorqued Flash, teasing Rainbow Dash.
“Please explain it to me, I don’t get what’s going on at all!” almost implored Rainbow Dash who was now walking backward to keep her eyes on Flash Magnus.
“You really want to know?” Flash’s question was answered by a small nod from Dash. “Well, when I was a member of the Cloudsdale Royal Legion, I was sent here to stop an invasion of cragadiles, and to do so I had to team with the silvathorns so we could force the creatures back to the swamp in the south. I guess I became a part of the folklore after I disappeared for a thousand years!”
“Yeah, Yeah, that’s great and all of that, but what is he?”
“Didn’t you listen, he’s a silvathorn, they were a big ally to Equestria before they cut off all bridges and secluded themselves in the Ponyzonian Jungle, their deep connection to nature permitting them to live in total autarky,” Continued Flash Magnus. “From what I was told, their ability to change the color of their fur to blend in the surroundings had caused them to be recruited as assassins or spies during the Great Hill’s War, but Star Swirl never told me more about this conflict.”
“That’s really how it happened, Gilded Pegasus?” asked an intrigued voice to his left, Flash Magnus and Rainbow Dash didn’t realise that Mint had noticed them talking, and they didn’t even know since when he had been listening to them. After all, the silvathorns were really good at going unnoticed.
“Anyway, here we are!” stated Mint, his antler emitting smalls jade-green sparkles as the vines in front of him slowly retracted, revealing a dimly lit clearing in the jungle. The clearing was pretty wide and almost empty if it wasn’t for the gigantic oak tree in the center, most of the rocks and trees that formed the ‘walls’ around the clearing were carved to accommodate housings and workplaces, there were also twisted black vines whose covered the ground and some of the trees, but even if that was normal, the place had an eerie quiet to it, this was a place were people should be running around, doing their daily life, but no one was here, or at least was seen.
“This feel… Empty.” Stated Rainbow Dash, startled by the quietness of the place.
“Since the jungle as gone wild, those dark vines started to grow, and everyone is accusing each other to do it!” replied Mint quickly, his voice carried away by his annoyance.
“But I thought changing your fur color took a lot of magical energy from you?” added Flash Magnus, he had seen Silvathorns use their magic before, and keeping their furs changed for hours seemed extremely hard, so he couldn’t understand that mistrust would lead them to do it all day long.
“No, they aren’t invisible, they keep hiding in their homes, behind closed doors, the only ones outside is great oak and some guards, who have keeping guard on the vines around the clearing!”
Rainbow Dash sighed, exasperated by how lame her mission seemed to be, “But I came here for action, not to play a game of Clue with an unknown species who can’t even trust itself!” she complained, resulting in a quick shoulder-kick from Flash Magnus who was looking her straight in her eyes, reminding her that they had come here to help, and not to do some Daring-Doesque adventure in the temples.
Rainbow Dash sighed again, louder this time, “Fine, but I’ll help my way!”
“Dash, calm down, remember what we came –“ Flash tried to grab one of Dash’s hooves, but the pegasus was quick enough to evade and fly toward the majestic overlooking oak tree. “– here for…”
The blue pegasus was now gliding around the immense tree, looking around and trying to spot an entrance, and there it was, on one of the sides where a bunch of branches twisting to form a balcony, and a circular opening could be seen at it’s side, leading into the interior of the millennial tree, without thinking much (it’s Rainbow Dash, what did you expect?) , Dash sped up, small leaves flowing in her trail as she entered the tree in a loud crash. She looked around, her gaze met by three silvathorns, two of them were a deep emerald green, covered in a turquoise armor and armed with a long wooden spear with an intricate carved blade made of aventurine, the ‘peace-giving stone’ the last silvathorn was different, he was way skinnier and wrinkled, his coat was brown like the bark of a hundred-year-old tree, his antler was almost as long as his neck and covered in slightly glowing lichen and vines, and two nubs-sized mushrooms could be seen on the right side of his head, even though his appearance was making him look weak and fragile, he carried a war-hammer about twice his size, and was wearing a pure black helmet made of obsidian.
Dash’s impact was almost instantly answered by the disappearance of the three beings, vanishing as only their weapons and armor pieces could be seen, the two floating spears were brandished to the neck of the stumbled pegasus before them, and the face of the elder silvathorns started to appear again, seriousness drawn on his features.
“Who are you, little pony?” asked the floating head in front of Dash.
“Um, Rainbow Dash, the greatest flyer of Equestria?” answered the sky-blue intruder, while she had crashed and was now on the ground, she didn’t let her pride go away.
“Wrong answer, little pony! We didn’t see any of your kind for generations, and you suddenly appear when the jungle descends into madness? We know what you did, little pony.” The silvathorn voice was deep to an almost eerie point, it was like he was speaking directly into Rainbow Dash head. “Guards, put her in a rooted cell.”
Dash tried to protest, but was quickly overpowered by his unseeable adversaries. As she was dragged toward a curved stairway in a side of the old tree, another loud THUMP could be heard behind her, followed quickly by the sound of a spear getting dropped, the grasp of her invisible foes loosing up, she quickly turned back to see what at just landed on the balcony.
“The Gilded Pegasus!?” the voice of the elder silvathorn gasped. “Is it you, The savior of Grand Fir and the guardian of the Foraweln flow?”
“What the hell happened in the last thousand years?” shouted Flash Magnus as he took a step backward, while this was only the second silvathorns since he came back, all of them had seen him as a divinity, and this was extremely confusing. Yes, he did save Grand Fir from cragadiles, but it was part of his mission and he wasn’t even alone, the fact he was only referred as the ‘Gilded Pegasus’ was truly starting to annoy him, the years had transformed his story and he was given way more credit and responsibilities that he could hold, but at least that meant the silvathorns would listen to him, right?
Great Oak reappeared and walked toward the center of the room, his antler sending brown sparkles onto a large stump underneath, the stump started to be overgrown by moss and flower, drawing a map of the Ponizonian Jungle ontop of it.
Great Oak pointed one of his hooves toward the western side of the map-stump where a small stream of water was flowing. “Gilded Pegasus, the western forest is in shamble, covered by dark vines, and whoever is doing that is still hiding it, as we can’t guess who or why somesilvathorn would be doing that.” The voice of Great Oak resonated across the tree. “Everything western of the Foraweln flow is under the vines control, and no silvathorn was able to stop them. For now, a group of guards were able do divert the vines towards the southern temples.”
“So everycreature here is a potential suspect” continued one of the onyx-green guards
“it could be somecreature, or it could be something!” Exclaimed Rainbow Dash, she was in a corner playing with her machete again, listening with one hear as she looked over the edge of the clearing, losing against an old guy had shattered her ego a little, but she was still giving herself the credit of finding the silvathorn.
“Do you really think that it could be?” replied Flash, starting to comprehend what Dash was referring to.
“I’m not thinking, I’m certain about it, it must me the broken magical thing that bolted away from the orb,” answered Rainbow Dash. “I guess I will do an adventure after all!”
The three silvathorns seemed confused, but there was no time for explaining the whole story, so Flash quickly resumed the goal in a single sentence, “We need to find where this red shard is!”
“A red shard? Like the one in the fern valley at the side of the Foraweln flow?” a smaller voice said from behind the group, it was Mint who had been able to enter the tree after longs minutes of climbing up its sides. “I was watching this part of the jungle before SHE stumbled on me!”
“So now we have an objective and a location, what are we waiting for!” Rainbow dash was excited for whatever trial was next, she had already spread her wings out and was ready to take off toward wherever the Foraweln flow was.
“You won’t go alone,” Great oak said, his war-hammer placed at his side. “I need to get everysilvathorn here to try and get them together so they could offer support against the vines, and I’ll need the guards for that, but Mint is a great archer, and he’ll go with you”
“What! but I can’t! it’s too dangerous! and I’m not strong enough! What if I fail! Or what if I –“ Mint was stopped in his panic attack when Flash came to his side and wrapped his wing around him.
“Calm down, get your courage back. Why would anything bad happen to you, you’re with the ‘gilded pegasus’ remember!” he added, half joking.
One hundred meters ahead, beyond the calming sounds of the flowing river was a large field of ferns covering an area as big as the clearing, it would have been a cool sight, maybe the perfect place to play hide and seek, if it wasn’t for the thick spiked vines twisting around, cracking the trees and burrowing the muddy soil around the edge of Foraweln flow, literally meaning “The Flow of the western forest” in old silvean.
The creeping vines were starting to twist around an old structure, a red shimmering crystal could be seen on top of the stone pedestal, radiating a nauseous magical glow. The vines quicky embedded the stones around the pedestal, and the rocks started to slowly move from the chaotic magical grasps, controlled by the shard of the alteration orb. The piles of rocks were now no longer just inanimate platforms and started to move on their own, kept together by the vines, as the golems who had just been created moved away, the vines continued to grasp onto other stones, repeating the same steps, the jungle seemed to create an army of stony servant to help propagate the infestation of the magical vines around, and it started to get really out of hoof.
Mint was standing on a branch not far away from the river, the vines were too omnipresent for the group to fly directly to the crystal, and the current was too strong for them to simply swim by, so he was left with a single solution, pulling on a thin string of ivy, he shot an arrow of his bow made of ornated hazel wood, the arrow split the air in two and reached the other bank, the ivy rope still firmly tied behind, now creating a bond between the two sides, "Go on, climb on it!" exclaimed Mint, confident in his plan "It's extremely resistant!"
The two pegasi knew that flying was too risked, a single blow at their wings from those vines would make them fall in the river and incapacitate their flying capacity, letting them drift away in the current if they were lucky enough to not drown
“Well, I guess it’s my turn to do a Somnanbula!” Flash Magnus was clearly trying to brighten the situation, but his joke only left Rainbow Dash unphased and Mint confused
The river was only two or three meters large, but the precarious rope was their only safe way across; It didn’t deter Rainbow Dash tho, as the pegasus didn’t bother answering Flash’s pun and instead jumped on the ivy rope stretching above the hungry waters of the unchained river underneath. “Hey, I said resistant, not indestructible!” commented Mint, but it wouldn’t be enough to stop Dash in her adventurous quest, who was quick enough to get to the other side, landing on a bunch of vines who were creeping around the buried arrow. “Your turn Mint!”
The silvathorn jumped from the tree, holding onto his bow as it split on the ivy rope he created, letting him cross the river like he was on a zipline. The silvathorn was now on the other side, but the vines started to move closer and closer, and he needed to help Dash fighting them back so Flash could cross, and in a flick of magic, Mint’s horn started to emit his recognisable jade-green sparkles, moving large fern’s leaves to shield them and force the struggling vines to back up.
Flash Magnus needed to cross fast, and in the blink of an eye, threw his iconic shield up, flying at his side and landing on top of it, surfing on the ivy rope. The shield then pierced through one of the ferns’ leaf wielded by Mint while Flash leaped above it, landing on the other side with the shield in hoof, pushing through the vines, Dash was just behind, cutting the ones remaining from Mint and Flash’s combined effort with her machete.
The push-trough wasn’t gone unnoticed by the shard, as a small army of golems made of rocks and polished bricks started to approach the group. The team was only a dozen of meters away from the red shatter when they began to be surrounded by the golems and forced into confrontation with the rocky creatures. With no option left, Flash Magnus and Rainbow Dash turned ready to fight what was blocking the way.
“You go alone!” Flash ordered to Mint, the small silvathorn only answering by disappearing in front of them, pushing deeper into the vines and toward their prize.
“Guess I got what I wanted after all!” Rainbow Dash was throwing her machete, flying through the vines and rushing toward a gigantic golem made of what seemed to be an old archway; Her blade was cutting through the plants like they were made of butter, and was sharp enough to slice the golem stone-legs in half, letting the rocks roll back in their inanimate form. While Rainbow Dash seemed to enjoy the little fight sequence, Flash was left alone to face the twenty-something other golems who were starting to lock him in place, vines growing upward and forming a dome around him, he was a little rusty from over a thousand years of being in this limbo-state, but a little battle against magical creature who will decide the fate of Equestria might be the perfect way to unclog the mechanism. Flash smiled; it might be time to give a little lesson to Rainbow Dash on what real fighting is!
Rocks flied in the air as Flash’s shield struck the abdomen of one of the golem, the fragments of limestone piercing through the dome of vines that surrounded him, the opening was little, but gave him the opportunity to escape the dire situation, and in a powerful leap, he passed right in-between the cluster of golems, pushing them out of the way, and as his body appeared in the sunlight and out of the sphere of magical flora, did he spreaded his wings backward, giving a strong push to the air underneath that propelled him even higher. Flash Magnus was now above the golems, their stone-body brought into life by the intertwining’s roots keeping the rocks together; Being out of reach of the creeping’s vines? Flash stretched out his hooves to the back of his armor, unfolding two long wings of yellowed metal; Wingblades were rarely used as they impaired the users’ flying capabilities, but Flash’s ones were so precisely forged that they almost seem like another pair of wings, letting him have full control on his gliding capabilities. The sight of the armored pegasus was taken to another level when the shield he had thrown earlier bounced back to him, bonking two golems who crumbled down from the shock in the way, Flash clipped the shield right on the front of his helmet, covering his face like a mask, the two holes used as handles now only letting his piercing turquoise eyes. No wonder why he was being referred to as “the gilded pegasus” .
Flash Magnus was now hovering above the vinefield, and the golems started to diverge toward Rainbow Dash, abandoning their previous target, in the corner of his sight, he could still see the slim shimmer of Mint’s bow who was looking like a wooden snake slithering toward the center pedestal, still unremarked by the chaos shard, everything was according to plan, and Flash could join back the fight to help Rainbow Dash.
And join the fight he did, he recurved back his wings, now only gliding on the metallic ones, the speed was pretty high when he fell onto a larger golem, shattering him in thousands of pieces as small as pebbles, his wingblades leaving a cutting through the vines and rock as if they were mere pages of papers. Rainbow Dash was just behind, fighting a slender golem carved in what seem to be the remnants of a solar quadrant, her machete was leaving deeps cut into the creatures and her punches were cracking his friable limestone form, but she could see the fast-approaching boulder-like golem rolling toward her, but Flash was quicker than the rolling stone, his wingblade slicing it in half with a laser-like cut. “Not bad!” said the blue pegasus, a little jealous of Flash Magnus’ fighting skills.
The vinefield was covered in the fragments of the obliterated golems, the stone building a graveyard of all of the now back-to-inanimate magical creatures, the vines and roots were no match for the razor-sharp blades and the quasi-instant reflexes of the pegasi who were making their way to the center of the fern forest, and now concentrate all of its magical capabilities onto of gigantic fern-leaf, the leaf grew, and grew, and grew even more, almost stretching to the canopy, the flow of magic was so intense it formed a riverlike bind between the fern leaf and the red shard. Now that’s the leaf was standing tall, it started to get ripped apart, carving claws, teeth, legs, eyes and arms in the curved plant; The creature’s leafy skin thickened as it roared in an angry, beasty manner.
Mint was right behind, he had been able to get to the shard and contain it, but it didn’t seem to affect the leaf monster who was still very much alive and angry, he quickly reappeared, waving to his two newfound pegasi friends to let them know he had succeeded in his task, before he drew his bow back, the arrow with mint leaves covering its tip didn’t rest longer onto the string as it was flunged in the air, piercing the gigantic monster, the impact had crushed the mint leaves who liberated a fresh light-green smoke barrage, the blow distracted the leaf monster, and in an incredible coordination, Rainbow Dash used herself as a spring to propel Flash Magnus right into one of the monster’s sides, his sharp wingblades cutting the leafy body and ripping a whole side apart, letting Dahs rush to the other side and make it fall onto the ground. The monster was now lying on the ground, and mint pulled his last arrow out of his quiver, it was covered into coal dust and small tumbleweeds, the arrow lit up as it was shot off, and struck the monster right above it’s left eye-hole, the flames engulfing the leaf and the vines around, burning quickly the creature to a crisp.
The ferns around seemed to flee the fire, the leaves curled on themselves and moved outward so they wouldn’t be set ablaze, preventing the fire from spreading to the rest of the jungle, such control over the plants was quite impressive. The three creatures quickly regrouped and Flash took the little box where the chaos shard laid and carefully place it in his saddlebag.
“So now that we have retrieved the magical thing, we can go back to the old guy and tell him that we stopped the jungle from going crazy right?” Asked Rainbow Dash, dusting off her coat.
“You’re lucky Great Oak can’t hear you,” Sighed Flash in response.
“Oh, but I can.” a voice aired behind them, from the other side of the river. The two pegasi turned back as silvathorns started to appear from the trees and foliage on the other bank of the Foraweln flow, the distinct silhouette of Great Oak shaping itself in the center of the groups of silvathorns, “You didn’t think Mint could pull such magical control alone, did you?”
Flash Magnus had retracted his armored wings and unclunched his shield-mask, if they flew quick enough, they might get back to Ponyville before Luna would bring the moon up; while he was ready, not the same could be said for Rainbow Dash who was still discussing with Mint.
Seeing that Flash was ready to fly off, Mint ended the discussion, his tone colder and gloomier. “Well, it’s time to go I guess, you promise you would come back to say hi Dash?”
“Hey, if you’re really that sad about us going home, why don’t you join us!” Dash answered, her smile shining bright. And with that said, the blue pegasus launched the silvathorn onto her back, “I can easily carry you with me!”
The silvathorn nodded in agreement, and the two pegasi launched off in the distance, flying above the tree and toward the sunset, going home with the artifact retrieved and new friends made along the way.
Before and Beyond - Disharmony in an orb
The town hall felt overcrowded, Mayor Bluehooves was surprised at the number of ponies inside. Clocktown never had many inhabitants, but seeing all of them in the same place was a pretty big feat; Yes, she had an important announcement, but this building was only made to house a handful of ponies at the same time, not the whole town.
Bluehooves approached a small microphone attached on her desk, and as she started to speak, everypony stopped chattering and looked at her. “As you may know, my dear ponies, I have decided to retire from my position as mayor. Today, you are all here to know the results of last week’s elections, and I’m proud to announce without more suspense that with sixty-eight percent of all votes, Mister Mc Bookreader is now officially the new mayor!”
Almost all of the crowd cheered, but even though some ponies might have favored another candidate, none were truly devasted by the news. Mc Bookreader was known for being a good manager and as somepony who took the safety of others at heart.
The chatter slowly faded as a large silver-gray stallion walked toward Bluehooves, taking the microphone. “First, I have to thank everypony here who entrusted me, as I won’t disappoint you!” Exclaimed the blue-maned earth pony, putting a pile of paperwork he was carrying on the desk. “Secondly, I would like to talk about what I plan to do, and as you may already know, it’s mostly improvement on our very farm-relying lifestyle, like for example, hum…” Mc Bookreader was clearly struggling with his papers, and was now turning the pages of a large folder, pulling a long list out, “The mechanisation of the too time-consuming unicorn-based tasks!”
Mc Bookreader felt good, this was his time to shine, but that feeling disappeared when a small orange blur passed in his peripherical vision, quickly approaching. The small blur became what seemed to be a broken part of an sphere as it closed the distance with Mc Bookreader. When the shard finally hit, A loud impact sound was emitted and a global “gasp” could be heard across the Town Hall.
The impact didn’t seem to hurt Mc Bookreader much. Quite the opposite actually, he felt great, he felt powerful, like the world could be at his hooves. No, the world SHOULD be bowing down at his hooves! Mc Bookreader normally impartial look shifted to a darker one, as a crooked smile shaped upon his features; The world would be at his hooves .
The shard had lodged itself inside the rectangular purse he carried, where most of the folders resided. It pulsated in a deep, mesmerizing orange hum, the magic coursing around the bag, across the leathery straps, slithering through Mc Bookreader’s features and surrounding his eyes, which started to pulsate in a fiery, malevolent orange.
“Ponies of Clocktown,” Mc Bookreader shouted, “The truth was revealed to I. We must protect our little town from the barbaric invaders threatening it!” Some ponies started to step back, but the majority was intrigued and kept listening; Mc Bookreader’s words were mesmerizing. “Earth ponies, rise at my side! The other tribes just want to take our work freely!” The small bunch of unicorns and pegasi still left in the room tried to back up, but the minuscule mayoral house was too crowded to let them go anywhere; “We must protect this town from every outside invader; The pegasi and unicorns will try to rob us again!” the mob of ponies rushed onto the five unicorns and two pegasi still in the room, quickly able to subdue them by strapping them to chairs or just straight up knocking them out. “Ponies, today we’ll fight for ourselves! Let’s throw those robbers to rot in a cell, so they’ll finally learn this one lesson, No one can push the earth ponies around without getting shoved to the ground!”
The place was engulfed in chaos as an angry wave of ponies rushed across the town, searching for the last few who weren’t imprisoned. Prime witness of the gigantic disorder festival unfolding before his eyes, Bookreader only smirked, the crystal only glowing brighter and brighter.
“So, lemme get this straight, ya don’t know what runefoxes are?” Applejack was staring directly at Rockhoof, a little lost, Twilight seemed sure that Starswirl knew about them, so his friends should surely know about it, right?
“Well, I know they existed, but that’s all, Starswirl was very picky about not asking on this subject. now that I think about it, he always seemed worried whenever someone started searching for any info on the great hills’ war.” Rockhoof answered, the piercing scream of the train engine almost covering his voice.
“And ya ain’t got no information ‘bout that strange orb either?” Applejack was desperately longing for any kind of answers about the hundred question Twilight had just popped in her mind, a strange artifact, lost history, a forgotten war, an exiled species coming back for revenge; It all just didn’t tie up!
Rockhoof was about to try and reinforce the fact that no, he did not have any intel on those topics, But the braking of the train indicated that it had arrived at their station, and that it was necessary to descend quickly, speculation could wait.
“We’re at the Southern Wheat Fields, Two stops left until the last!” The controller voice aired into the background noise as Rockhoof was struggling to get out of his seat that was clearly not designed for this big of a stallion.
The sun was still pretty low, the events of last night had rushed everything, and now Applejack was thousands of kilometers away from ponyville in a completely new environment, accompanied by Rockhoof, former pillar of Equestria and living legend, tasked to find a dangerous broken fragment of an even more dangerous artifact nopony knew nothing about, from what she remembered, Twilight had labelled the town she needed to find as “Clocktown” , it was apparently very ostracised, as most of its inhabitants worked in the wheat industry. “like every single pony in the Southern Wheat Field!” She thought
Rockhoof had just got out of the train with his shovel, almost falling in the process. “So, got a map or anything to where we need to go, because it’s mostly wheat in this direction. And all the others too…”
“Well, I guess that big clock tower ova’here could be tied to somethin’ named Clocktown, don’t ya think?” exclaimed applejack in response, a hoof pointed toward a large tower peeking out above the field, harboring a magnificent golden clock. The tower didn’t seem so far away, only a dozen minutes of walking and they’ll be here, but the only paths seemingly going in this direction all seemed to be blocked or hidden by haystacks and wheat-piles, it was strange, like something was trying to refrain them in going onward, but it wouldn’t be a few stacked blocks of packed wheat that would stop a farm pony and her legendarily strong friend!
Rockhoof shrugged in response, getting his shovel ready before rushing in the hay like a bull, the grain flew everywhere, not being able to even slow down the incredible force of nature that Rockhoof was, and the precarious structure of wheat crumbled, weakened from the impact. Applejack had thought of a more ‘parkoury’ alternative, but she couldn’t deny the efficacity of Rockhoof method. “I guess that worked!”
The low sun only allowed a few quantities of light to shine down in the vast wheat fields, and it almost felt like it was a corn-maze, barely able to distinguish shapes in the semi-darkness, the pair of earth ponies mostly guessed their way around the multiple intersections of path, Rockhoof destroying some haystack blocking the way from time to time, using the towering clock has a guiding point toward what they guessed was their objective.
“A maze? That’s all the magical glass piece gonna do? What a joke!” Exclaimed Applejack, laughing right in the face of the darkness. She knew from Twilight reaction that this thing was dangerous, but like Pinkie would have said, a joke never hurt anypony!
Applejack was immediately put back on track when she bumped into Rockhoof, who was standing still, “I guess it isn’t just a maze.” He pointed out, his gaze high in the air, looking toward something clearly unconventional for a maze. A gigantic electric fence stood tall before him, and opening on a wasteland of ground-level cut fields of what seemed to be more wheat, but it would be hard to tell as not much was left, in the distance could the clock tower be seen in its entirety, standing amongst a cluster of other houses, barns and small buildings, the town was pretty small and could not be inhabited by more than sixty ponies, and even that number seemed too much, and almost felt dead, not a single soul could be seen roaming the streets or harvesting the whatever-left fields around the town.
“Ya got a metal clamp?” asked Applejack, prompting Rockhoof into researching his saddlebag, before finally getting his shovel. “No, but I have this!” he added as he stretched out his shovel and quickly dug a pony-sized trench in front of the fence, digging an underground passage to the other side in the following instants.
Now that they were on the other side, it seemed the place had become eerier, the sound of the crunching stems of the remaining fallen-over plants was like the one of bones, and the atmosphere seem to grow darker as they approached the first houses, the sheer absence of light was strangling, but as the two walked closer, they quickly realised they weren’t alone, rhythmics hoofsteps could be heard coming from within the town, someponies were patrolling the area.
As they crept closer to the sound, Applejack and Rockhoof could see the silhouettes of ponies moving in the morning darkness, walking back and forth between the buildings.
Applejack whispered to Rockhoof, “I’mma be honest, this place gives me the heebie-jeebies, gotta be careful and find that artifact soon.”
Rockhoof silently nodded in agreement, still tightly holding his shovel. As they maneuvered through the narrow alleys and deserted streets, the constant rhythmic sound of hooves clapping on the paved ground could always be heard from a direction or another, it was like the patrols were everywhere around them, this metronomic sound only sometime broken by the wind flowing through the wooden structures.
Some hoofsteps seemed to be closer, and when Applejack finally reached the town square, they also seem to be faster, like somepony was running, Rockhoof looked around, and finally saw the approaching silhouettes of two hearth ponies, one holding a scythe and the other a hoe. “Hey, you two, stop here now!” the biggest one shouted, prompting Rockhoof and Applejack to run as well, taking a sharp turn into the clock tower, as the two tried to catch their breath, voices could be heard coming from the outside of the building.
“Any sign of the intruders” one pony asked.
“Negative, but I was sure I saw them enter this pathway!” another replied.
“We can’t let them escape, it’s just like what the mayor told us!”
“What do you think they’re after?”
“What do you think? We only have wheat and some weird machines!”
“Still, It’s weird, why would anypony come all the way here for wheat and scraps?”
“I don’t know, you can ask them once they are in jail, go search for reinforcement, I’m going to look in the clocktower.”
As the door creaked open, the shadow of pony drawn onto the ground, Rockhoof readied his shovel, and when the pony had fully entered the clocktower, he swung it right into their face, knocking them almost instantly in a loud CLUNK. After that encounter, Applejack and Rockhoof busted the door back open, and ran through the street, it seemed like the mayor was behind all of this, and next stop was the town hall.
The metallic impact sound didn’t come unnoticed, and the ponies patrolling the area were all converging toward the clocktower, Applejack and Rockhoof were forced into smaller and smaller passageways, almost crammed between the walls, they were ponies on both sides of the passage, while Rockhoof was ready to sweep them away with his shovel, Applejack stopped him in his momentum, and whispered, “If we get captured, we go directly to tha leader, so just let’em restrain you.” Rockhoof wasn’t sure of the strategy, but had faith in Applejack, the five patrolling ponies had badly tied them up and were now dragging them toward a small building at the side of the townhall, it seemed like a barn repurposed into a prison.
The room was engulfed in darkness, the sounds of hooves on the cold stone floor reverbing around the barn, the doors of the room were replaced by iron bars. Rockhoof was dusting his shoulders while Applejack was trying to analyse the surroundings room
After a few moments of silence, a voice spoke from the totally dark back of cell, “Are you okay?” A pink unicorn appearing in the small sunrays getting through the planks, her emeralds eyes filled with fear. “Sweet Lily, be careful!” a light brown pegasus shouted from behind before dragging the unicorn back into the darkness, whispering to her “We don’t know what they did!”
The presence of other ponies in the cell surprised Applejack, her green eyes trying to separate the pegasus and the unicorn forms from the darkness of the cell. “We ain’t trouble” she said, walking to what seemed to be the pegasus. “My name’s Applejack!” she added, lending a hoof to the two ponies hidden in the darkness.
A soft breath could be heard before the pegasus accepted the help. “I’m Dustcloud, and this is my friend Sweet Lily” the unicorn rushed to Applejack, shaking her hoof so quickly Applejack thought it might break. “And who’s your big friend behind?” added Dustcloud, brushing off her green mane off her face.
“I’m Rockhoof, pleased to me–“
“Silence prisoners!” shouted a pony on the other side of the iron bars, barely visible. “Mayor Bookreader wants to see you two.” The pony walked closer to the cell, his face almost in contact with the fence, allowing his fierce look to be seen “Separately.”
Applejack took Rockhoof by the shoulder, dragging him farther into the cell, before they were both shrouded in the same darkness that had engulfed Dustcloud and Sweet lily, “Guess we got what we want,” she whispered, “But I don’t like the ‘Separately’.”
“So… Jailbreak?”
“No Rockhoof, we gotta know who’s behind all that.”
“And if I know exactly who’s behind all of that?” Added Dustcloud, joining the conversation. The pegasus had sat so silently with her unicorn friend that Applejack had forgot about her presence, and her interruption almost made her jump. “That old Mc Book as gone rogue since the elections!”
“Who?”
“Mc Book, You know, Mayor Bookreader? The pony who turned this town in a dystopia in less than a day!”
The sudden animosity in Dustcloud was strange, even more than the total absence of reaction from the guard, don’t they react immediately if a convict starts to get a little to angry? “Wait, ya know them?” applejack asked, you wouldn’t give a dictatorial leader an affectionate nickname if you weren’t friend with them.
“Of course, he’s an old friend” interjected Sweet Lily, answering the question instead of Dustcloud, “He’s just been… Strange since that crystal struck him, he keep lying and making stories up, and everypony believe him! It’s not his style at all.”
“A crystal ya said, I bet ya my left ear it was orange!” Applejack was piecing everything together, A whole town led to chaos by one pony, who was in contact with a crystal, all of it starting toward the same time as the intrusion in the friendship castle, awfully suspicious isn’t it?
Applejack suddenly calmed down, she had just realised how loud she was, and felt like an idiot for letting so much info out. Yet no reaction, the guard pony didn’t let a single sound out, didn’t even try to intervene or…
“What’cha you doin’ Rockhoof!” Applejack shouted, the cyan earth pony had his front hooves stretched into the other side of the iron bars, the form of the pony guarded knocked out on the floor.
“I’m jailbreaking!” Rockhoof large body easily pushed the bars out of their sockets, leaving a large opening in the iron fence.
Applejack was fed up, she was trying to think and make a plan but Rockhoof was already on the run again, the large pony had rushed to the lockers and was already retrieving his gigantic shovel and his saddlebag.
“Hey big boy, wait for us!” shouted Dustcloud while rushing out of the cell in a leap filled with energy. The pegasus was quickly followed by Sweet Lily who seemed more cautious and stressed about the evasion than the brown blur Dustcloud had became.
The jail-barn was strangely empty, remarqued Applejack, while Dustcloud and Rockhoof were getting their stuff back from the lockers, nopony had stepped in to stop the evasion, leaving only one pony in guard of the whole prison was strange. The light of the sun shimmered thought the misplaced planks making the ceiling of the barn, it was hard to tell what hour it was, as the fog was diffusing the light everywhere.
“Now that we’re out, what’s the plan big boy?” asked Dustcloud, hovering around the rest of the team, the fog stopping her from seeing more than a few meters away.
“Call me Rockhoof, it’s –“ Rockhoof paused for a moment, readying his shovel as rapidly approaching hoofsteps could be heard “– less strange.” He whispered before swinging the shovel in the air, striking the guard and knocking him out.
The foggy streets became silent once again, if it wasn’t for a light chatter, like a far away discussion, but the words were barely audible and weren’t comprehensible, their presence only peaking the group’s interest, it was clear that something was going on over there.
“We should go see what’s makin all’that noise!” proposed Applejack, and the unanimous nod of everypony present quickly approve the idea.
“Thank you everypony, thank you for coming, because tonight, we are saving equestria from the pest that stole this land from us! Tonight, we’re waging war on the pegasi and the unicorns!” Mc Bookreader eyes were piercing through the fog, the orange corruption flowing across his body like pumping veins.
“But, how do ya plan on winnin’ against them, they’ve got an army, and we got nothin’!” asked a orange pony in trying to walk through the crowd
“Great question my dear, the orb as revealed to me a power beyond understanding, and it show me how to use it!” As he uttered those words, the fog started to dissipate, revealing a large, bulky tractor, with cogs turning in every direction, and two long pipes coming from the sides, fuming with smoke darker than the sky, “This, is my army. No, this is ou– ”
“Now Rockhoof!” the orange pony screamed, plunging at Mc Bookreader’s purse.
“ –What?” Bookreader tried to back off and enter his machine of death, but was blocked by a shovel, and the wall of stallion keeping it. “Wh- Who are you ponies?”
“We’re the one that put a stop to this, and I ain’t liar” Rockhoof snarled, “now give up this shard, will you?”
“NO, I NEED TO HELP MY PEOPLE, I NEED TO SAVE THE EARTH PONY FROM TIRA– “ Bookreader was once again interrupted, this time by Applejack landing a nasty kick in his jaw, sending the stallion flying in Rockhoof’s shovel.
“Well, that shall be enough dontch’ya think?” Applejack said, “you can come down now!”
Dustcloud landed by her side, holding sweet lily while she moved the shard into the magical box Twilight had given to Applejack. “Glad it’s over”
When the shard was finally sealed, The orange veins across Bookreader started to vanish, and as they did, the stallion seemed to wake up from a deep slumber.
“I’ll let ya handle that for us, I don’t want to miss ma train!”
“We’ll do, Applejack, Thank you for your help” Sweet Lily nodded
“And thanks to you to big boy!” Dustcloud continued, shooking the hoof of the legendary hero. “If you ever come back around, come say hi!”
“I’ll do Dustcloud. Goodbye.” Rockhoof finished, before walking in back toward the wheat fields, “But I have a train to catch, and a world to save!”