Don't you remember?

by PinkieIsMahWaifu

The Announcement

By the time of the announcement, a crowd of worried and angry-looking ponies had gathered in the plaza under the royal balcony. They had been waiting for quite some time. On the balcony stood two guards, a white unicorn stallion and a blue pegasus mare. Both were fully-clad in the appropriate armor and their faces remained expressionless. Behind the curtains leading to the balcony, a very nervous princess stood.
'Discord, please come out there with me. I can't face that crowd alone. Please.' Celestia's expression darkened. You held onto her hoof and stroked it to comfort her.
'I can't.' You said quietly. 'I'll be right here. If anything goes wrong, you can just come back inside and I'll be waiting.' The Princess nodded, before heading outside to face the crowd. She was greeted with jeers and booing, something which was not uncommon for Celestia.
'What is she doing out here?' a green mare whispered.
'Kid, go and get your mommy and daddy, okay?' A blue unicorn stallion called out. The crowd murmured in agreement.
'Hey, nopony insults the Princess!' Victory rose into the air, but Celestia bit onto her rose-colored tail and pulled her back down.
'Let me handle this.' she whispered. 'WE DEMAND SILENCE!' Celestia boomed, letting her true royal Canterlot voice erupt forth. However, her plan was feeble and only resulted in more jeering from the crowd.
'You're just a young mare! Why should we listen to you?' another stallion called out.
'We only answer to the King and Queen! Who put you in charge?' an orange mare yelled.
'Actually, my parents were killed. And I am in charge. SO YOU WILL OBEY!' the Princess held back no fury in her voice. The crowd realized that she was now the new ruler of Equestria, and immediately hushed. However, the Princess was not done.
'WE MAY NOT BE A KING OR QUEEN, BUT ARE A PRINCESS. WE DESERVE TO BE TREATED AS SUCH, AND WE DEMAND THE SAME RESPECT YOU WOULD SHOW MY PARENTS. WE HAVE THE POWER IN ONE HOOF THAT MATCHES THE POWER OF THIS CROWD, AND WE COULD BANISH YOU IN AN INSTANT. ARE WE CLEAR?' The crowd understood, and the rows of ponies bowed down before their new ruler. You were horrified. How could a crowd be so easily controlled just by who was in charge? How could they change so quickly when they found out Celestia was the new ruler? How could she act so grim?

The rage on Celestia's face evaporated and her voice returned to its normal serene tone.
'As I was saying.' She continued. 'A pair of rogue draconequus gained entry to the castle and used the cockatrice spell on the King and the Queen. Before they were cast in stone, they set up a spell that would cause myself and Luna to move the sun and moon that night. We now hold the power of the celestial bodies, and are now the new rulers of Equestria.' The green unicorn mare from earlier raised her hoof.
'Uh, your royal highness, does this mean there are still two draconequus on the loose?' She said weakly.
'No, one was killed, but the other got away. However, I can assure you it will not be returning anytime soon.' The crowd sighed in relief. As you watched, you couldn't help but pity the crowd outside. They were all snobby Canterlot ponies, mainly, only sucking up to whoever was in charge. They were shallow, heartless creatures in your eyes. And for all you cared, they could-
'AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!' You were pulled from your thoughts by a sharp scream from behind you. You turned around to see Luna, Celestia's little sister, cowering at your sight.
'MONSTERRRRRRR!' She cried in her squeaky little voice. Almost immediately, two of the royal guard burst in through the door. They glared at you menacingly, and slowly started to approach you. You backed away as they advanced, cornering you and pushing you out on the balcony.

Naturally, when the crowd saw you, panic spread quickly. Some ponies even burst out screaming, whilst others started to pick up things nearby like sticks and stones, preparing to attack.
'Oh hay.' You cursed quietly.
'STOP!' The Princess echoed, causing the advancing guards and crowd to halt. 'Uh- if.... if you touch it, you'll die!' she lied. 'Only alicorns can defeat them!' The crowd started to stir again.
'Do something, Princess!'
'Save us!' Your eyes widened as Celestia threw you an evil glare and snarled.
'WHY HAST THOU RETURNED, BEAST?' Tia's expression briefly changed to one that told you to play along, before changing back into a sneer.
'Uh.... I HAVE RETURNED TO... TAKE OVER EQUESTRIA!' You yelled, causing the crowd to gasp in horror.
'Well, beast, I shall just have to show you your place!' And with that, Celestia leapt on top of you. The crowd cheered as you bobbed out of sight behind the balcony. Tia started to stomp on the marble floor around you to make noises of impact.
'Take that, fiend!' She snarled, before leaning right close into your face. 'Go to the fields.' She whispered. A few of the pegasi from the crowd had flown up to get a better view and the Princess suddenly realized they could see you. Without thinking, she bit down on your ear before rolling off you and back into a fighting stance. You yelped from pain before taking to the air and heading to the place where you played as children. You felt small amounts of blood bead where Tia's teeth punctured your skin.
'You won't win, beast!' Celestia followed hot on your trail. She turned briefly back to the crowd. 'Uh, don't follow.... It might be, um, dangerous.' She flashed them a quick grin before speeding off after you.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

You tumbled out of the sky onto the grass, still not perfect at flying long distances. Celestia arrived shortly, landing delicately next to you sprawled out on the ground. She helped you up onto all fours.
'Well, I suppose you were right about not going out there with me,' She laughed. 'Oh, and sorry about biting you. Here, let me take a look.' She leaned in close and inspected your ear.
'Heh, I really bit hard, didn't I?'
'It's fine. Better than being stoned to death by a crowd.' You laughed nervously, trying to make light of the situation. You heard a small rustle behind you. You turned to discover a baby bunny wandering out of the bushes and looking rather lost. It hopped over to you and Celestia squealed in delight.
'Hey there little bunny!' You cooed, scooping up the ball of fluff in your paw. It looked up at you with big bright eyes. 'Are you lost?'
'It's so cuuuute!' Celestia whispered, trying not to scare it. It seemed perfectly at ease with you, as most animals did. After growing up around you they seemed to trust you by instinct. 'How are you so great with animals?'
'I don't know.' You said modestly. 'I guess I jus-' You were cut off when Celestia jumped on you, causing the bunny to fly out of your paw onto the grass. Upon landing, it dashed away toward the forest again.

'There's a pony over there by the trees, watching us.' She whispered. 'We have to pretend to fight again.' She hit you across the cheek with a hoof before springing into the air. A glowing aura tugged on your tail, causing you to be sent sprawling again.
'GAH!' You screamed as Celestia continued to assault you. You glanced over to the treeline, where the cloaked pony stood. The bunny that you dropped had ran over to the figure and was resting on her shoulder. It was strange; the animals normally only trusted others that lived in the forest with them. The identity of the hooded mare then hit you. 'Wait-' a hoof connected with your chin.
'Come on, Discord! Fight back!' She whispered.
'No-' She kicked you in the side with a back hoof. Those tiny gold horseshoes hurt!
'That's Z-' she bit down on your tail, causing you to wince.
'-ecora!' Celestia stopped attacking you, and turned back to look at the cloaked pony. The hood fell back, revealing a rather stunned-looking zebra.
'Oh.' Celestia said, muffled by the fact your tail was still in her mouth. She dropped it as Zecora cautiously approached.
'Celestia, why are you attacking Discord?' Zecora's sweet harmonic voice flowed. 'You are wasting time we cannot afford.'
'Wasting time?' Tia asked.
'Yes, I'm afraid I have to tell you. Now listen, what I say is true.
There is talk of a monster loose. The citizens want it dead, no excuse.
Princess, you need to kill the beast. If it finds ponies, it will feast!' Zecora finished her warning. It was not met with the response she had hoped. In fact, she was horrified to find the pair of you stifling laughter at the peril of the nation. After a few seconds of contained giggles, Celestia let out a snort leading to riotous fits of mirth from the both of you. The bunny resting on Zecora's back pulled down its ears to block out the sound.
'Oh no! Discord, please, have mercy on Equestria!' The Princess threw herself at your feet.
'Never!' You gave an evil laugh, before scooping her up in your arms. 'Now, I will feast!' You nibbled on her ear, causing more laughter to erupt from the Princess.
'Oh- stop! It -HAHA- tickles!' She giggled. Zecora raised an eyebrow at the sight. You placed Tia back on the ground were she collapsed, still laughing. When she finally composed herself, she got up and faced the zebra.
'If you haven't guessed, the 'monster' they're talking about is Discord.'
Zecora sighed and turned away, walking back into the forest.

------Author's Note------
Wooooo. Sorry this chapter took a while guys, but my body would not let me write until I had nutella in my bloodstream. Also, I'm sorry to say that my chapters might start to become a little less frequent. For more on that, read my latest blog post. I think I titled it something about naan bread...

PinkieIsMahWaifu XOXO

Comments

[SevenVenom]

BAHAHAHAHA!
Best chapter.

[Feren]

*crack* :
"...she bit down on your ear before rolling of you..." - "off" .
"...landing delicately next to you sprawled out on the floor." - this one I'm not sure about; shouldn't it be "ground" ?
"How are you so great will animals?" - "with" .

As for the chapter... I found it odd how rudely the crowd treated a princess... a freakin' princess! Considering that nobles would probably try to score as many points with the King and Queen as possible - treating their offspring with respect would only make sense, no?

As I understood - the guards that rushed to Luna's defense weren't the ones on the balcony, so the screech was pretty loud, I imagine, but the guards on the balcony didn't hear it? And neither did Celestia? I understand that that crowd probably produced quite the noise, but a high-pitched screech is easy to distinguish even among all those buzzing murmurs.
But that's just me nitpicking. Don't let it give you the impression that I didn't enjoy the chapter.

As always - thanks and cheers!

~F~

[PinkieIsMahWaifu]

263060
Edited!
About the whole crowd thing- yeah, I wondered about that for a while but decided to keep it because I just needed something to reinforce the fact that the Canterlot ponies are all sheep, just following the head honcho.
Also, the scream. I have no real explanation for that, except it happened and that's life. I derped.

[SevenVenom]

263698 You yelled, causing the crow to gasp in horror.
crowd

[Feesh]

Hey, is this based at all off of this song???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQB0WPu2KV0

[PinkieIsMahWaifu]

264444
It was not, I had never heard that song before.
But now I have I can't stop crying.

264419
4.bp.blogspot.com/_bll4t6lNvW0/SOI37sPx8lI/AAAAAAAACqU/G3h-nUyKOmU/s400/crow.jpg

[itrial1]

PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASSSEEE Don't make them hate Discord forever! Even though you'll proberly have to eventually to fit canon.. Gah, why can't I hold all these emotions? I havn't commented in a while, so I thought i'd remind you. Amazing work, keep it up, your incredible! ^3^

[SevenVenom]

266846
OK, OK, YOUR CALL!

[La Barata]

266846 BAhahahahaha okay you made my day with that picture.

[PinkieIsMahWaifu]

267038
Try and focus on the now and not worry about what's gonna happen in the end. I got loads more stuff before we even get near that.

[Greasebrony]

264419

fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/218/6/5/epic_meal_time_by_nuisancebeareull-d45pjbx.jpg