Just a day in Equestria

by dave89898989

24 - The gathering

The sky was a dark shade of purple, with orange coloured clouds hanging over me. Somehow, over the raging fires and the loud screaming of ponies and other background noises, the sunset almost seemed serene. Dusk is always nice to spend your time looking at before the moon replaces the sun, but everything should move on, not stay the same forever.

The orbs were never explained to where they were, but I had a feeling that they were given to Opare’s other former friends, the defenders of harmony. It doesn’t look like they have much chance to defend anything now, though. I remembered where each member of that group lived, and visited each place. But, every home was practically destroyed, so I doubt they would still be there.

Fluttershy’s cottage came first. Empty; all her pets had been freed, and the whole area had been turned to rubble. Sugarcube corner was the next place to go. A whole chunk of the building was missing, as I observed when I approached it. Of course, nopony was in there either. Okay, maybe Rarity’s boutique might still be standing. I galloped fast as I didn’t want to waste any time. Plus, Lepouri were all over the place, and who knows what they could have done to me if I stood around. The surrounding grass had been blackened, and thick smoke engulfed the air. I arrived at Rarity’s place, and to my surprise, the whole structure was toppled onto its side. I looked through the window, and saw that the interior was bare. This isn’t looking good. Where is everypony when I need them? Applejack’s farm had to have still been intact, it was pretty far away. I spread my wings and took off. The fires grew larger as they spread across the town, so there was definitely no time to waste. I flew and circled the farm, but most of the area had been burned down. Alright, another location ruled out. Cloudsdale was the place to go. Surely the chaos couldn’t have spread there? I raised my altitude to get to the sky city’s level, and flew towards it. There were some signs of explosion damage, which isn’t a good sign at all. I hovered through the streets, searching for Rainbow Dash, but she was nowhere to be found.

With a disappointed look, I dropped back down onto the ground, with a slow, safe landing. Oh yes! I had almost forgotten about Twilight’s library! They have to be there, I just know they are! I rushed towards the towering tree to the edge of the town, and knocked on the door furiously after stopping there.

Twilight opened the door steadily. I was relieved to see them all alive and in one piece when I peaked around the gap.

“Oh, it’s you, Destiny...you’d better come inside,” She said, hurriedly. I followed her orders and slipped past the slightly open door.

The whole group was huddled in a circle, looking pretty scared as the surroundings were being slowly destroyed. Twilight’s home was one of the last places standing in Ponyville, which is strange as it’s basically a tree, and trees catch fire easily. But, the purple unicorn had magic on her side, so there had to be a forcefield defending this place. Books were open and scattered around the place, a drawing board was in the corner with complex scribbles covering it, and the six orbs were placed in the middle of the room. Just what I needed.

“So what brings you here while we spend our final moments together?” Rainbow dash interrupted my thoughts.

“Oh, well, those orbs are what I need to stop this madness,” I said, pointing at the glowing, colourful circles.

“What, do you know what to do with them?” Rarity intervened.

“Well, apparently yes,” I confirmed. “If I give these orbs to Opare, as well as all of all her old friends and family being there at the same time, I can bring her down.”

“And how in the hay would you know that?” Applejack joined in the conversation.

“It...came to me in a dream. The original Blue was there, telling me to form this plan. She told me to wait and see what would happen when the plan was complete, but I’m guessing that it would everything would be good in the end,” I explained.

“Well, we better give them up then!” Pinkie pie shouted, grabbed some saddlebags, stuffed the orbs in to them, and placed them on my back.

“Uh, thank you Pinkie, now I should get going before anything worse happens. You should all come too, you were her friends after all.” I offered, and headed out the door with a good pace. The group followed me out, and we made our way to the Canterlot castle.

*Azure Spark’s POV*

That ‘sister’ of mine has gotten totally out of hand. The younger generations are more able to stray from the path these days, especially my sibling. She should have just stayed with me back on earth, instead of running away to be with a gang of bandits. Who knows what could’ve happened to her...argh, I should have looked for her sooner, and then this all could have been smoother.

Right now, the train I’m on is speeding down the tracks to Canterlot. Braeburn, Twisha and I are sitting in the same carriage, and we’re all ready to bring down this so called ‘Princess Opare’ and her reign of terror. There was absolute silence from all of us, so all we could focus on is the plan, and the sound of the wheels turning. I was almost ready to settle down and have a simpler life now that time is getting on for me. Even if I’m only thirty, I’m starting to feel older than I should do.

The landscapes changed colours and appearances and they rapidly passed us like a blur. Suddenly, the train slowed down as is approached the station. Three ponies hopped on board our carriage, sat down in the seats adjacent to us, and the steam engine resumed its journey.

“Oh, hi again Cyan!” Braeburn called out to the new passengers.

“Hey Brae, how’s it going? I found Opare’s parents by the way, haha!” This light blue colt replied. Sitting next to him were the mother and father of Opare. They looked quite aged, but their aging was good to them, nonetheless. Wait a minute, she has parents in this world?! But how? And why would she want a second set?

“Hey, you two, are you really the parents of Bl - I mean, Opare?” I asked, with my abrupt tone.

“Why, yes we are, and we were proud to have her in our care until...this happened...” The mother answered me. She was an earth pony, with a pale pink coat, with light yellow and baby blue hair. Her mane was thick and curly, and her tail was straight. She had yellow eyes, giving off a happy, but unsure look at the same time. It was almost impossible to see the resemblance to Opare; this couldn’t be right.

“Did she ever tell you that she had a brother?” I interrogated these ‘parents’.

“No, she hardly ever talked about anypony we didn’t know,” The father said. He was a pegasus, who had a earthy brown coat, with a black mane and lighter brown highlights. His mane looked combed to one side to look sophisticated, and his tail was slightly messy and wavy. His eyes were the standard blue colour, with the serious shape formed. Again, there were hardly any similarities to my sister.

“Hmm, interesting...did you know that she came from a different planet too?” I couldn’t help but spill that fact.

“Oh heavens...really? How do you know all these things?” My attention turned to the apparent mother of Opare.

“Well, I was her brother, and we both came from Earth, a planet where humans lived. I’m sure you haven’t heard of them before, but I’ll fill you in on the details. Humans were creatures who stood upright, had flatter faces than us, and only had hair on their heads. I’ll have to show you a photo later, if Opare still has her camera...” I rambled on.

“That’s certainly news to us...” The carers of Opare said in time with each other.

“Ugh, forgive my tone, I’m just very irritated by what my sister has caused. Anyway, introductions. I am Azure Spark, and this is Twisha, my fillyfriend, and this is Braeburn Apple, Destiny Bond’s coltfriend,” I told them.

“Destiny has a coltfriend?!” The father exclaimed. “Huh, our little foal has grown up! Uh...oh yes, um, my name is Thunder Hum, and my wife’s name is Zap Flower.”

“Um, now Braeburn, are you taking good care of Destiny for us?” Zap Flower asked the settler colt. This is the strangest partial reunion of sorts.

“Yes ma’am, ah’m doin’ the best that ah can for her!” He proudly showed his status off.

“Thank you young stallion, please keep it that way for us,” Thunder Hum praised my friend.

“Right, I’m sorry to get serious here, but we have a crisis on our hooves. We must all go to Canterlot castle, and confront Princess Opare with Destiny and whoever she’s rounded up. Destiny will handle the rest, so I’ve been told. It’s as simple as that.” I explained.

“It won’ be that simple, ‘cause of those Rabbit creatures bein’ all over the place,” Braeburn corrected me.

“Alright then, whoever is able to fight, will have to defend us until we get to the throne room. Any candidates?” I hoped that the majority of us would raise our hooves, but only two did. Me and Braeburn.

“Cyan, waddabout you?” Braeburn asked.

“Oh, we were meant to raise our hooves? Oh sure, yeah I’ll fight!” Cyan threw up his hoof, when the time to had already passed.

The train was slowing down again as we arrived at Canterlot station. We all got up and shuffled out of the carriage, one by one. I didn’t expect the city to be in such a state as I observed it, but the rampage of Opare’s rule was in charge around here. Debris was strewn across the streets as we walked through them cautiously, and all of the buildings were either blown to bits or set alight. In the distance I could see a large clearing, with some sort of metal scaffold shaped like a ring being constructed. The sounds around us ranged from burning to screams to warped squeaking sounds. I noticed some of the rabbit creatures passing by us without noticing, probably because they were too busy chasing other ponies. Even though they were these tiny, fragile beings, they looked terrifyingly mutated, like some sort of environmental experiment gone wrong.

For the most part, they looked like rabbits, but had larger eyes than normal, which were angry and soul piercing. Their heads looked almost like a human head, but bald and sporting long, spiky ears. Enlarged bat wings sprouted from their backs, as well as numerous tendrils. The arms were feathered, like a bird’s wings, and their feet were webbed and resembled leaves. All of them looked slightly different from each other, but collars were affixed to their necks, with a glowing orange gem in the middle of the grey metal ring. I had never seen anything quite so horrible in all my life.

As we traversed the destruction of the city, we made our way out and approached the castle. I’m glad that we didn’t have to resort to violence yet, but there’s no doubt that where we’re going to will be heavily guarded. The path was peaceful for once, as the smoothed, crushed pebbles showed us the way to the gates. The grass swayed slightly as I could feel a calming breeze flowed by us. The access to the castle was strangely unguarded, and the gates were lifted, as if we were expected guests. This is the end now, after we go through with this, life can return to normal.

“Wow, the security here is unbelievable!” Twisha remarked.

“Hush Twisha, we have to be silent, just in case of an ambush,” I said cautiously.

“Okay Spark, sorry about that,” She replied through whispering.

Our group sneaked through the garden, over the bridge standing above the river, and opened the double doors to the main halls. The long, red carpet extended across the chequered black and white floor. The ceiling was way too high for any normal pony to reach, but that was purposeful as the stained glass windows covered the outer walls. We kept walking through, towards a room with open doors already. This had to be the place to go, as every other set of doors were closed and locked tight. I signalled behind me to stop, while I carried on alone, just to check if the open room was the right place. I peeked one eye around the door to the right, and beheld the huge throne, with its back support reaching almost to the ceiling. This particular chair was painted gold, but possibly it was all made out of the same metal as the colour. To the left of the magnificent throne was a cage, holding Princess Celestia herself. How could she have been defeated so easily? Perhaps she was getting old after all. No matter, we probably should get her out of there after this is over.

Suddenly, Destiny and her company had smashed through the largest window facing the throne. She noticed us and ushered us over with a hoof gesture. Everypony was reunited again, and just in time to take back what was rightfully Celestia’s.

“Oh, hello everyone. How are you all today?” The new Princess casually asked.

“We’ve come here with the orbs, Opare.” Destiny took off her bags and unloaded six glowing balls of coloured light. Hmm, they seem...awfully familiar.

“Well done, my little courier, you’ve done something right, for once.” Opare jumped off of her throne, and walked slowly up to us all. Every step she took made us mutually scared, getting worse the closer she came.

“And now it’s time for you to be taken down!” Destiny cried, making us all circle around my sister.

“Oh yes, it’s time for me to be defeated by the acts of a pure heart. Ha, you’re all here, and that’s nice. But what good is it to me when there is no place in my heart for noponies?” Her cold words stung us all.

“What? Do you even know us anymore?” Destiny bravely asked, holding back the negative emotions.

“Nope, I can’t say I’ve ever seen you ponies before. But I’m glad that you brought me what I needed. Now I can summon all the creatures I want, to cause even more terror!” Opare excitedly shouted.

“Forget it Destiny, she has too much darkness inside of her to remember now.” I consoled the white coated filly.

“Oh, but I haven’t just yet. I have one last memory I need to share. Think back to the dream that you had,” Opare said as she pointed to Destiny. “You thought that she was the real Blue? Pah, it was just me in disguise, giving you false information! It just goes to show how weak minded you all are, you’ll believe anything!”

“No, this can’t be...” Destiny replied, with trembling lips.

“I suppose you’ll want to put up a fight now; Plan B hey? Yeah, about that, haha...” She trailed off, but snapped back like a flash.

A huge sphere of shadows was summoned immediately, which covered us all except the Princess, and everything turned black all of a sudden. This must be what it looks like in Opare’s heart. I couldn’t even see my own hooves when I put one in front of my face. I blinked, and just like that, we were all in a prison. Two groups in two separate cells. The defenders of harmony were next to us, sitting there in silence, with blank expressions on their faces, and so was everypony in my cell. This only lasted for a few seconds though, then all the ponies came back to reality one by one.

“Finally, you’re all awake again. You took your time!” Opare said as she paced across the hall.

“Just how long have we been asleep for?” I asked.

“Oh, let’s see...about a month. Yeah, a month’s worth of you not being here, and the place has just gone haywire!” She snarled back at me.

“That’s harsh, Opare.” I touched the cell bars for a brief moment of frustration.

“Ha! You shouldn’t have been so quick to blame with that month of me being gone, should you now?” The hooded mare laughed.

“Listen, Opare.” Destiny cut in the conversation, “it wasn’t your fault. I know it wasn’t your fault.”

“Oh?” the Princess stopped in her tracks.

“You did leave us all yes, but none of us would have known about the infestation, not even you,” Destiny tried to empathise.

“Pah. That’s where you’re wrong. They showed up in my life before. When I was a human, they were all over the place, tearing up homes as well as people. This is burned in my mind. All of these animals that have been mutated beyond normal recognition were there, making my decaying world speed up the process of destruction.” Opare almost sounded like her old self, for a second. “But now, they’re under my control, and I can rule freely over you peasants!”

“Ugh...what made you succumb to the darkness?” I whispered under my breath.

“Take a look at this book that was generously donated to me,” She continued, as she pointed to the weirdest creatures that I have ever seen. “I can summon them to provide more of a workforce over your terrible ponies. Go on, look out the window behind you.”

We obliged, and gazed out of the small, barred hole near the low ceiling. That large construction site was almost completed, as it now resembled a large, cannon shaped object. There wasn’t a pony in sight however, just those twisted animals, acting like slaves. Rabbits, birds, bears, wolves, fish, and horses were what they all might have been once before, but not now. As the book said, they were ancient creatures, so maybe they came before the ones we would usually see today. They must have really changed through the many years of being alive. But these ancient creatures seemed more intelligent than their newer counterparts; more sophisticated and aggressive.

“Astonishing, aren’t they? They’re very efficient towards my cause,” Opare grinned in a slightly sinister way. “Anyway, I must be off now, have fun.” She left from the corridor, back up to the throne room.

“Great, so now what do we do?” Rainbow dash groaned from the other cell.

“Well, one of us will figure something out, hopefully,” Twilight added.

“Hey, yer Opare’s brother, ain’t ya?” Applejack called to me.

“Uh, yes I am, why do you ask, my friend?” I answered back, walking closer to the bars holding us in.

“Whaddya think Blue would do in this situation?” The orange country mare asked.

“To be honest, she’d kill herself again,” I answered.

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