Chapter 20
“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Shining Armor cast a hesitant look around. The pathway the zebra had led them down had turned into a long spiral staircase spinning downwards into the dark and gloom. The only light came from Zecora’s staff and the horns of the two unicorns. The stairway was chilly, and it did nothing for Shining’s peace of mind that every faint noise seemed amplified, nor that the crystals refracted the light into myriad ever-moving shadows.
It was about the third or fourth time he had asked Zecora that question or one very much like it. Zecora suppressed a sigh. Traveling with Dinky and her friends had been more enjoyable: at least they didn’t ask a dozen variations of ‘Are we there yet?’
“Surety is most assuredly a lie. Through one’s life the only certainty is the unexpected, so we must adjust as we go by.”
“Okay, fine, but do you know where you’re going right now?” he pressed. “Are we lost? Twily and the others could need us right now and we’re off looking for something we don’t even know exists--”
Cadance looked at her fiancée tiredly. “Shining...” she said warningly. “Don’t antagonize her.”
“I’m not!” He protested. “But if we’re lost, I think I’d like to know!”
Zecora exhaled through her nose, asking her ancestors for patience. “I can understand your worries and your desires.” She spoke slowly, letting an edge of hardness creep into her voice as she turned around to glare at him. “But I will not have a back seat driver!”
Shining Armor drew back. “Sorry.” He bit his lip. “I guess you don’t have some special zebra magic that can just get us this artifact, or whatever it is?”
“I don’t have any voodoo or hoodoo or magics of the kind which you describe.” She paused. “Nor do I have any friends on the other side.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind.” Zecora faced forward and continued on her way down. “We have a magical item to find.”
Cadance and Shining Armor exchanged a look and followed her down the winding staircase. There was an awkward lull for a while before Cadance gently coughed. “So, Zecora … tell us a little about yourself. You’ve helped us so much, but we know so little about you. Where you’re from, why you’re here? Do you have any family? Any friends? A coltfriend?”
Zecora half-turned her head so that she could shoot Cadance a skeptical glance, her eyebrow elegantly quirked upward. “Down in the depths of fear and gloom, your first question is to ask me if I share my bedroom?”
“Well, it is a big part of pony's life.” Cadance defended herself sheepishly. “Besides, I just got engaged. I'm allowed to have romance on my mind.”
“I suppose you are entitled to have your mind be somewhat fickle,” Zecora allowed. “But please remember, Princess, that we are still in something of a pickle.” She faced forward, not breaking her stride.
Cadance nodded. “I’m aware of all that, but is there some reason you don't want to answer the question?” Silence answered her. “You’re a long way from your home. I suppose unless you can find a pony who makes you happy...”
“My goal in life is not my own personal joy,” Zecora responded, a touch of gruffness entering her voice. “It is … enough that I can assist the good, without worrying about a girl or boy.”
“Come on, miss,” Shining Armor scoffed from the back. “Even I know there's more to life than service.”
Cadance sighed gently. “I’m sorry. I didn't mean to bring up any painful subjects.”
Zecora paused before answering. “I have journeyed far, and long have I roamed. I am far from the familiar faces of my home.”
“Why did you stop at Ponyville?” the princess asked.
“Because there was a call I heeded: I knew I was needed.”
Curiosity tinged Cadance’s next question. “How did you know that? Are you only staying until the current crisis is ended?”
“There will always be another disaster,“ Zecora replied, effectively ignoring the first part of the inquiry, “though peace is what I'm after.”
“That sounds ominous,” Shining noted.
Zecora shrugged languidly. “If you desire comfort, seek a pillow. I am merely telling you what you should know.”
Shining Armor snorted. “Never a dull moment.” He sighed. “Can we at least finish one disaster before moving onto the next?”
“When Night has been overthrown and Fear is passed, you shall know Chaos at last,” the zebra intoned solemnly.
The two lovers exchanged a worried look. “Chaos?” Shining questioned. “That's not exactly comforting, miss.”
“When do we get to the nice happy times of peace?” Cadance all but pleaded, her hope beginning to falter.
Seeing as much, Shining Armor gave her a supportive nuzzle. “I don't know. Stopping Sombra's a start, then...” He shrugged. “We'll deal with whatever else until we get there.”
Zecora turned her head to regard the two of them. “Life is unpredictable, at best. You fight the bad, and then live at peace for the rest. My words were meant not to scare—certainly not to lead you to despair.” Her tone was gentle, even friendly. “You ponies are strong in will and happiness and life. With friendship you can do no wrong, nor will you yield to strife.” Her almond-shaped eyes radiated strength and conviction.
Deep down, Cadance knew with the utmost certainty, that everything would certainly be fine. “Thank you.” She breathed in a whisper.
A smile crossed Zecora’s striped muzzle. “In life you may struggle and fight—but I can at least promise you bliss on your honeymoon night,” she teased, chuckling.
The recently engaged pair sported a matching set of bright red blushes as they coughed and mumbled for a moment, attempting to buy time for their dignity to return. Cadance recovered first. “Well ... um ... yes.” She cleared her throat. “That's good to know. I just hope whatever trouble we have to deal with is resolved in time for us to raise our foals in peace.”
Shining Armor managed to trip over the flat surface of the stairs at ‘our foals,’ apparently not having thought that far ahead, and went tumbling down about a dozen steps before coming to halt.
“Shining Armor!” Cadance gasped as she ran past Zecora. “Are you okay?”
“’M fine…” Shining groaned as he picked himself up. “Must’ve been a loose stone.”
“Crystals make up all the stairs,” Zecora helpfully pointed out. “There are no loose stones in there.”
Shining shot the zebra a dirty look as he shook himself off, grumbling.
Relieved, Cadance elbowed him gently. “Oh, don't be like that, Shiny. You’ve always been somewhat…” she fished for an appropriately accurate but not cruel word. “...absent-minded, at times?”
Shining drew himself up with a huff. “I absolutely am not! I’m always attentive and alert when I’m on duty.”
“Oh yes, I know.” Cadance smiled at him. “You’re the best guard in all of Canterlot—but that doesn’t mean that you haven’t, say, accidentally walked into the mare's room.” The look on Zecora’s face prompted Cadance to smirk and elaborate. “Well, Shiny used to be ... less than careful about making sure he used the proper bathroom facilities.”
“ONE wrong turn in the middle of the night—once!—and you never hear the end of it.” Shining grumbled, feeling suddenly outnumbered by the two chuckling mares.
“Princess Luna was rather ... loud about it.” Cadance giggled.
A wince and a groan was Shining’s response as he started to rub his ears. “It took months for the ringing to stop.”
“Well, that's what you get for getting caught by the Princess,” Cadance replied.
Zecora laughed. “Was it mishap? Or was he hoping to have a private moment with his princess, perhaps?” Her teasing elicited another pair of blushes from them. “Ah, such pleasing stories of fun and merriment. May they keep the gloom away from our current predicament.”
“Yeah, yeah laugh it up. Let’s go find this artifact, or whatever it is,” Shining grumbled as he beat a hasty retreat, putting himself at the head of the group. Zecora quirked her brow as Shining Armor took up position ahead of her. She thought about pointing out that he had no idea where they were going, but held off. It was a stairway, after all. And besides, she had to admit, the view was nicer from the back.
& & &
The moment after the new crystal wall was formed and Rainbow Dash was cut off from her friends, pandemonium reigned.
“RAINBOW DASH!” Twilight shouted as she vainly thumped her hooves against the wall. “Nonononono--! Rainbow … you featherbrain!”
“This looks a job for my—” Pinkie Pie reached into the nth dimensional space within her poofy mane and took out an impractically large, impractically pink sledge hammer. “—Pinkie-Pico Hammer!” She vigorously applied it to the wall, but with no visible effect.
Rarity looked over the reinforced wall with distress. “Oh dear … this wall is much thicker than the last one. I don’t think we’ll be getting through that one the same way—not that I have a problem with Pinkie Pie running her saliva-coated hoof down my neck again, of course,” she added parenthetically.
The bushwoolies formed a wide arc and had the five remaining mares pressed against the strengthened wall, grinning and leering maliciously as they closed in.
Fluttershy squeaked as she narrowly avoided the claws of a snow leopard. “W-what do we do?!”
Applejack tilted the brim of her hat down slightly. “Looks like we gotta buck these broncos ourselves.”
“Yeah!” Pinkie nodded, taking a break from her wall-whapping. “And Applejack—you’re really good at apple bucking. That’s why you have so much muscle in your rump!” Applejack grumbled something about the size of her rump compared to Pinkie’s, but the pink pony missed it as she paused in thought. “Hey, why do they call it apple-bucking? 'Cause I heard you can use 'buck' to mean other things too, and that makes your job sound really, really gross.”
The face Applejack made would later accompany the dictionary entry for ‘nonplussed.’ “…Wut.”
Pinkie just laughed as Applejack held her hat over her face, grousing angrily into it. “Why aren't you laughing, Applejack? Don't you get it?” Pinkie giggled. “It sounds like you have sex with apples!”
Applejack huffed, crossing her hooves. “Makin' fun of a mare's honest work, fer shame....”
“Oh, I getcha!” Pinkie gave her an exaggerated wink, then pulled an apple out of her mane and hoofed it over to AJ. “Have fun!” She merrily bounced off.
Applejack stomped her hoof and swore in a wordless rage before she could remember that she knew basic speech. “ConSARN it girl! It ain't like that!”
“Girls!” Rarity barked. “Might we try focusing our attention on the horde of vicious monsters, please?”
Twilight nodded. “We need a plan.” She bit her lip. “What would a brave pony like Rainbow Dash do?”
“Didn’t we just see what she would do?” Rarity asked, not quite rhetorically. Then she stiffened. “Twilight, darling, please tell me you’re not—”
“CHAAARGE!” Twilight bawled out as she rushed out to the ranks of the bushwoolies.
“...she did.” Fluttershy finished for Rarity, who was too busy applying her hoof to her face.
“Dadgum, crazy ponies—it’s spreading!” Applejack fumed. “C’mon gals, we can’t let her go alone!”
“Woo-hoo!” Pinkie Pie bounced happily with the others as they ran after Twilight.
Twilight Sparkle puffed as she ran. Her friends were in trouble, her big brother best friend forever and her former foalsitter (and new sister-in-law to be!) were lost in the underbelly of the city looking for some ancient artifact, and Rainbow Dash was trapped on the other side of the wall. And her? Twilight was stuck in a place where her magic ability was suppressed, unable to help her friends or family. Useless.
She gritted her teeth as she summoned her magic. “No…” Her horn flickered and sputtered as it pressed against the dark crystals diverted her magic before she could form a cohesive spell. “I won’t let my friends down!” The black crystals began to vibrate and hum as they diverted more and more magic—but Twilight was just putting out more and more magic. “I WON’T!” Her horn flared into a solid white beacon, glowing brighter and brighter as she approached the bushwoolie and snow leopards, who threw up their paws to cover their faces from the light. Even the trio of windigos circling overhead whinnied in fear and backed away.
Horror began to gnaw at the guts of Sombra’s minions as they realized that his promise that the ponies could perform no magic in his domain, no longer held true. They began to back away, but not fast enough. Just as Twilight Sparkle reached the front ranks of the bushwoolies, her magic discharged.
Then everything went white.
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A couple of typos.
Should be walked.
Other then that, great chapter! Stand by for my thoughts on it!
That didn't take a few hundred years to update.
It was enjoyable though.
Yeah, c'mon Twilight! Let's see some more good ol' fashioned explosions! Make them proud!
Did Twilight just went nuclear and the end!?
So the next big bad is...Discord?
The princess and the frog reference.
Ugh...Shinning >.<.
Well, ain't no way that's any type of Foreshadowing to Discord's release!
denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw2379-99229_-_animated_applejack_Applelie_liarjack_what_.gif
So it seems Zecora is Resigned To The Call, since she doesn't seem all that eager about her duties, but knows that they have to be done. And Shining Armor entering the ladies room by accident when Princess Luna was in there...looks like he'll Never Live It Down!
Then we go to the rest of the Elements of Harmony, where Pinkie Pie uses her Pinkie-Pico Hammer as a Shout Out to Sonic the Hedgehog! Too bad it didn't do any good. Then she makes a dirty joke about bucking and applebucking, much to Applejack's disgust!
Then Twilight decided to follow Rainbow Dash's example and charge at the remaining enemies, and she apparently managed to push past the Anti-Magic powers of Sombra's crystals! That ending...I just hope the rest of the gang isn't hurt by the explosion.
Badge time! *teleports badges straight to Trinary* And just to make sure no one tries to steal them...*uses The Stare on Web of Hope*
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Can't wait for the next chapter! And here's a song for you!
Can't wait for the next chapter!
I'm imagining the White Apocalypse move from Grandia 2.
And so the wait for the next chapter begins... X3
SA: Hey, Zecora, Are We There Yet?
Z: No.
SA: Are We There Yet?
Z: No.
SA: Are We There Yet?
Z: No!
Cadence: Can we talk about our sexual lifes in the meanwhile?
Z:
But you have mastery over the fourth wall, haven´t you?
Mr. Trinary has done a good work until now increasing the show villain´s competence and menace (and making the mlp´s world Darker and Edgier). While there are other fics portraying Discord as a complete, sadistic, manipulative monster, I´m curious about how will be this time.
i cant wait for this to continue but i think ill settle for this updating more
Nuclear Twilight is best Twilight.
2747594
Main timeline or Dark World? Because as far as I'm concerned, they might as well be two separate beings, with how different they are.
Entertaining little chapter here. The opening scene was funny and it was good to see what that trio was up to, and I want to see the aftermath of whatever Twilight just did.
...Good Lord, you referenced Amy Rose's Pico Pico hammer? Quite literally the last thing I expected to see...
2751669>>2746732 Either that, or it's a reference to Maple Story, whatever the hell that is. However, if Pinkie Pie really is channeling her inner Amy Rose, then all three of you, Trinary included, have misspelled Piko Piko Hammer.
On another topic, I remember last year in the Rainbooms and Royalty comments when people simultaneously loved and hated Trinary for ending just about every chapter on a cliffhanger. I'm not seeing very much of those comments now, even though this story takes it a step further by completely ignoring the cliffhanger set in a previous chapter. Trinary, you troll.
2751847 I did think Pico looked wrong compared to what I remembered
that whole thing about apple bucking was a bit blunt and out of place
2754961
We're talking about Pinkie Pie, here.
2758478
OK, so Pinkie is fairly blunt but even she still has some sense of social decorum.
There is being blunt and then there is walloping someone in the face with a comment.
I could actually have let it slide if she hadn't added the thoroughly unnecessary clarifying statement at the end.
Everypony present and every reader knew what she was talking about.
Besides it is a hard rule of comedy that if you have to explain your joke then it wasn't funny.
And holy Discordian foreshadowing batman! One wonders how Zecora knows this...
“I don’t have any voodoo or hoodoo or magics of the kind which you describe.” She paused. “Nor do I have any friends on the other side.”
PRINCESS AND THE FROG REFERENCE! ALL MY LOVE!
And that end? That's how Fallout: Equestria happened.
2746732 nope, no foreshadowing... at all... me: so why isnt rainbow dash doing her 120 percent aprroved thing? you: shes was doing a barrel roll during the comercial break thaty we took the recordings in. me: oh i got ya, so scootaloo as replacment? doesnt realy capture the real thing, does it?
though...
you: i meant it to be a diss. me: oh, i understand. i still would have prefered
2751847 Ever hear the word pun? Because it seems to me that's what we got here.
2762253 I don't follow. The only pun I see is trying to substitute Pico/Piko with Pinkie, an attempt that is partially hampered either by a typographical error on Trinary's part or a confusion on everyone else's part concerning which cultural reference is actually being made. And while Amy's Piko Piko Hammer and Maple Story's Pico Pico Hammer are somewhat similar in appearance, I've seen nothing to indicate that either one is a reference to the other. In fact, looking at the stats of Maple Story's Pico Pico Hammer, there doesn't seem to be anything noteworthy about it at all.
2762321 Of you're simply not able to appreciate the pun.
Now please excuse me while I read Myths and Birthrights. New chapter and all that.
2762331 Well if you're not going to be straightforward about this, then I urge you to stop wasting my time as well.
2761913 You so do not want to play the Deus ex Machina card with that. It has no bearing on the story and would prevent it from being able to reach a satisfactory conclusion.
2760217
Didn´t you read the end of "Rainbooms and Royalty"? Zecora has a blue book from a certain Doctor.
2766666
Well yes, of course. It's just been a while. It slipped my mind!
2771026
Awesome.
Fairly certain that comma's not supposed to be there.
2766666
Wait, what? I just read Rainbooms and Royalty a day or two ago...how did I miss this? And where did it say it? Like, at the end? Or somewhere else??
Oh my god pinkie
Ohhh yay discord, (But aren't we missing Changlings?)
8346960
My guess, is that they'll use the distraction Discord inadvertently provides them to sneak into Equestria and attack.