My Little Pony: The Brothers of Discord

by mr.myxsiple

Crisis in Ponyville

CHAPTER 16
CRISIS IN PONYVILLE

Several weeks earlier...

The library was dark and peaceful, silent except for the deep breathing of a unicorn and the slightly louder snores of her dragon assistant. The two of them slept peacefully and dreamily, Twilight about Celestia awarding her for her discovery of a new star cluster and Spike about what else but gems and his favorite mare.

As they spend their happy moments in dream land, the window bellow in the main library slowly slid open without waking up the library's residents. Twilight however grunted and turned in her bed as a set of hooves landed on the library's floor.

"OK; coast is clear." a hushed voice said.

A second set of hooves hit the library floor. "Where are they?" a second hushed voice asked.

"Over there; we just need one of them."

Just as Celestia was about to award her with the keys to her own personal wing of the Canterlot Library, the sound of glass breaking woke Twilight up. She was still sleepy when she did so and thought the breaking glass was just part of the dream she was having.

"You idiot! You could've woken them up!"

The hushed shout caused Twilight to bolt up on her bed now completely wide awake. Pausing for a while, she heard the two intruders continue to argue about the noise they made. Gingerly, she got out of her bed and slowly peeked into the library bellow.

"Wh...who's there?"

"Ah dammit!"

There was a sudden, great flash that momentarily blinded Twilight followed by the sound of something hitting the floor. Blinking the spots out of her eyes, Twilight looked over at the library again and saw that it was empty. The only thing out of place were a few shards of broken glass and something golden glittering on the floor.

Illuminating the room with light from her horn, Twilight raced downstairs where her worst fears were confirmed. As Spike turned and finally woke up, she gently picked up the object on the floor, a golden necklace with a jeweled apple on it. She quickly turned to the display case whose glass was shattered and counted six items.

"T-Twilight? What's going on?" Spike asked peeking down at her. She turned to him, giving him a look of panic.

"Spike...Somepony tried to steal the Elements!"

---

Present day...

"Ok...you can do this. You can do this. You can do this!" Ironhead said as he neared Sweet Apple Acres. He had been travelling for several minutes and was still a little nervous about confronting Applejack.

As he crossed the streets of Ponyville wondering what to do, he passed by several ponies stopping in their tracks, looking at something. Ironhead, busy with his own problems, failed to notice them until he bumped into a blue, stationary earth pony stallion muttering something to his companion.

"Hey, why're you-"

It was only then did he finally see what everypony was staring at.

Black smoke bellowed from someplace in the distance into the sky above. Ironhead joined the others ponies while a group of pegasi flew above them. The smoke was too far away from the town to affect it, but judging by its location, there was only one possible place it could be coming from-Sweet Apple Acres.

G...Granny...Big Mac...Applebloom...

"APPLEJACK!"

Several ponies jumped to the side as Ironhead shouted, and several more did so as he galloped past them. His earlier problems suddenly vanishing, he yelled at a few ponies ahead of him to get out of his way. He ran faster than he had ever done in his life towards the farm before it was too late.

As he reached the road heading to the farm, Ironhead started begging in his head to Celestia, heck, to both princesses, that the Apple family would be unhurt. The fear only seemed to give him more energy, allowing him to speed up and reach the barn.

To his relief, the barn was untouched. The fire seemed to be taking place in one of the fields. None of the Apples were in sight.

"Ironhead!" a voice from the barn called out. The colt galloped towards it just as the door opened revealing a shaken Applebloom and Granny Smith.

"Applebloom! Granny!" Ironhead cried out glad to see them unhurt. His relief turned to dread as the other Apple siblings failed to make an appearance. "Where're-"

"Tryin' ta put out the fire." Applebloom answered already knowing what he would ask.

He nodded shakily. "OK. Stay here Applebloom; I'm gonna go help them."

He left them and started searching around for a bucket or something to carry water. "Ironhead!" came another familiar voice. He turn and saw, to his great relief, Applejack covered in soot and sweat. He ran over to her as she filled up the bucket from a nearby well.

"We gotta stop the fire from spreadin'." she told him hurriedly.

Just then, two groups of pegasi flew towards the fire, each group with a rain cloud. "That's not enough. Shouldn't there be more of those guys?" he asked as he watched.

"They're busy with somethin' else. C'mon, we gotta fire ta stop!" Carrying the bucket in her mouth, she made a beeline for the flames.

"Applejack, wait!" She stopped, allowing him to catch up. "The trees that're on fire...you can't grow anything on them right?"

She shook her head in response. Now Ironhead knew what to do; to hell with laying low. The farm needed him; the farm needed his powers. To AJ's surprise, he gave a loud cry and charged towards the fire carrying nothing at all. Applejack went after him worried that he might hurt himself or something.

Eventually, he found several trees on fire. The smoke made his eyes water, and the heat drove him back a bit. The wind wasn't in their favor either as it fanned the flames, making them spread faster.

Big Mac was there tossing a bucket of water on one of them which made the flames die down a bit. Another got doused with the rain clouds the pegasi were carrying, and the flame was put out almost instantly. As they flew away to get more, Ironhead eyed a burning tree that was threatening to set the one in front of it on fire. Not on his watch.

Applejack arrived just in time to see Ironhead gallop at full speed towards the burning tree. She panicked as she saw him approached it, afraid that he'd get hurt. Once he was close enough, Ironhead jumped, allowing his momentum to bring him forward.

His shoulder collided with the tree with full force. This was followed by a ripping sound still audible over the crackling of the flames. The tree tilted over and completely fell away leaving the tree it was threatening untouched. The sight made Big Mac's jaw drop; the same happened to Applejack, the bucket hitting the ground without spilling its contents. With several more trees to go, Ironhead galloped to another burning tree and gave it a good buck, knocking it over and stopping it from spreading the fire.

Applejack could only watch with awe as he knocked over tree after tree. It was only then that he realized the intensity of his strength. It was just too unnatural; no pony, not even the strongest pony in Manehatten, could possibly uproot entire trees with just a single buck.

She began to wonder just who the pony she trusted completely really was.

---

Once Ironhead left, Scar started flying around looking for Rainbow. She probably had work to do, but he wouldn't mind helping her out with it if it meant giving them some time together. Maybe they could go hang out together. Or maybe eat someplace again. Or maybe practice their moves. Or maybe have a race. Or maybe...have her help him fulfill his life-long dream.

"A whole day with Rainbow...This...is...AWESOME!" he cried out excitedly pumping his hooves into the air. "This is the best thing ever; nothing can ruin this day!"

Something large suddenly collided with him mid-air. Scar tumbled around several times before finally stabilizing himself. Rubbing his head, he saw a blonde maned grey pegasus rubbing her head as well. She opened her eyes revealing one of them to be looking at a different spot as the other.

"Sorry!" she yelled out before flying off. As Scar watched her, several more pegasi flew past him. Wondering what was going on, he scanned the horizon eventually finding a large amount of smoke billowing into the sky.

"Scar!"

Said pony turned around and saw Rainbow fly towards him looking stressed out. "We need your help."

"What do you need?" Scar asked without hesitation. Rainbow flew off in the direction the other pegasi flew with Scar following her. "Is this about the fire?"

"No; I already got a team dealing with that. We need help for something else." the mare said putting up a burst of stopped which Scar matched. He opened his mouth to ask what it was, but they stopped flying as the answer showed up in front of them.

It was a large cloud around thrice the size of an average pony. Unlike the other clouds in the sky, this one was very dark grey. Several pegasi flew around it and tried pushing it in one direction before suddenly breaking away as if they just felt a powerful electric shock. True enough, a bolt of lightning suddenly shot out of the cloud and almost hit a group of pegasi that tried to approach it.

Another bolt shot out in their direction. Scar and Rainbow flew sideways to avoid it. They circled around the cloud watching it crackle and shot out more lighting. "Why the hell did you guys make this?!" Scar asked out loud.

"We didn't make this!" Rainbow cried out as more pegasi tried pushing the cloud. "This thing formed in the Everfree Forest! The wind must've blown it into town!"

"Can't we just keep hitting that thing until it goes away?!"

"It's hard OK?!"Rainbow answered back. "It's shooting lightning for crying out loud! Plus, we gotta get it out before it gets to town; it already started a fire at Sweet Apple Acres a few minutes ago!"

Hearing that news, Scar feared for his brother's safety. He tried putting it out f his mind; Ironhead was tough. A fire wouldn't stop him from doing what he can at the farm. He focused on the task at hand-getting the storm cloud out before it could harm anything else.

Together, he and Rainbow flew in and managed to get their hooves on the cloud. They could feel the electricity crackling at the surface, making their hooves tingle slightly. They beat their wings and started pushing the cloud towards the Everfree Forest.

The electricity on the surface suddenly increased causing them to withdraw their hooves. Sensing a bolt about to fire, they dove backwards; Scar managed to avoid it, but Rainbow wasn't as lucky. The bolt shot out and singed the tip of her left wing causing her to lose control and plummet to the ground.

Scar's heart seemed to plummet as well. "RAINBOW!" The red-maned goof ball dove after his rainbow-maned crush before she could hit the ground.

But there was really no need. Rainbow managed to regain her bearings and flew upwards at the cloud. Recovering from his shock, Scar caught up with her.

"What? You though that'd be enough to take me out?" she asked him. The tip of her wing was only slightly burnt but was otherwise alright.

Scar couldn't talk for a while. "I...I was so scared..." he admitted.

Hearing his tone made Rainbow think for a moment, but thinking would have to wait. There was storm cloud threatening Ponyville above them that needed getting rid off. Putting her thoughts aside, Rainbow charged in with Scar and several other pegasi, ready to keep at it.

---

As Solstice left to find the library, another pony set off from her home with her own mission in mind. After feeding her animals her breakfast and finishing her own, Fluttershy nervously set off towards the Everfree Forrest filled with timber wolves, hydras, manticores...

No; I can't back down now...She gulped as she entered the woods. Her eyes darting around in case anything sneaked up on her, she made her way to the clearing where she and Ash first met. It was empty when she arrived, so she just sat down and waited for him to arrive.

This seemed almost pointless. She wasn't even sure if Ash would show up that morning or that day for that matter. She tried checking the clearing during the previous day, but Ash was nowhere to be found. She briefly thought about venturing deeper into the forest, but her own fears kept her from going beyond the clearing.

Rarity told her to be careful and to tell somepony if Ash tried to hurt her again, but Fluttershy really thought that she could get through to him despite his attitude. Beyond the anger and the threats he displayed, Ash did indeed look like he was in pain.

After several minutes, nopony else entered the clearing. Just as she thought that this would be another wasted day, a dark shape appeared in the sky. A few seconds later, the shape revealed itself to be a dark pegasus stallion. Ash touched down in the clearing, folded his wings and made his way to a bush, his eyes downcast. He didn't seem to have noticed her.

"Um...hello Ash."

Startled, Ash looked up only realizing then that he had company. While he looked at her with surprise, Fluttershy thought on what to say or do next, but nothing came to mind. She spent so much time waiting for him to show up, and now that he was there, she didn't know that to say to him at all.

"What do you want?" Ash asked wanting some solitude.

"I um...W-well...You see...I...How do I put this...?" she stuttered.

"Spit it out!"

She saw it again, the hesitation and panic in his eyes. They told her that Ash didn't seem to be angry at her. He seemed to almost regret his outburst.

"I just...want to talk." she told him slowly.

"Talk? What's there to talk about?" Ash replied. "Anything I say...it'll hurt you."

He turned away and yanked a leaf out of the bush with his teeth. "Do you really want that? Do you really want to hurt me?" she asked.

Ash growled and turned to her. His eyes turned scarlet, surprising her a bit. He looked her in the eye wanting to say it to her face, but as he opened his mouth, all that came out was a chocking sound. He growled and tried to get a spiteful yes out, but it didn't come.

Say it! Say it to her face! he thought as he struggled to get the word out.

As he did, Fluttershy noticed the mental struggle in his eyes. Ash couldn't even get a straight yes out, so maybe he didn't want to hurt her at all. Ash finally sighed and bowed his head in defeat, the leaf in his moth fluttering away in the wind.

"You don't want to hurt me do you?" Fluttershy dared to ask. All she got was his silence. She took a tentative step forward. "It's OK to admit it. It's really nothing to be ashamed of."

"This isn't about shame." Ash told her. "I'm...the most evil pony in the world. I...I live to make others suffer...It's...It's what I am..."

"But...but you always look so hurt when you say or do mean things?" Fluttershy pointed out. "If you're as mean as you say you are, why do you always look so hurt?"

Ash's eyes widened as he took a step back. "Sh-shut up!" he roared. "Don't say those things...You know nothing about me!"

She flinched at the shout and backed away a little. "You're right. I still don't know you, and I still don't get why you have to act so mean all the time and why you always look scared when you are." The colt turned away but saw her approach out of the corner of his eye.. "But...if you just let me...know you a little more...maybe...I can help you stop being so miserable all the time..."

The offer made Ash turn back to her. With cyan eyes filled with kindness he didn't believe he deserved, she shyly approached.

"Ash...If you don't mind that is...would you like me to be your friend...?"

The colt was stunned.

F...Friend...?

---

"I must say Twilight, had I not checked twice, I probably wouldn't have believed it myself."

"Really? Well, I have to agree that it's something you don't see everyday. Would you like a cookie Rarity?"

"I'd love one."

"H-Here you go my sweet."

"Why thank you Spike."

That same morning, Rarity paid a visit to the library. She would always do so whenever she had a fresh piece of gossip that was just too juicy to keep to herself. While Twilight never really enjoyed such things, it was nice to have her around and have her stay for a cup of tea. Spike surely didn't mind.

"I mean honestly. There I was picking up some fabric when I see who else but Applejack going to a restaurant with a colt!" Rarity told her. "It was all I could do to not check in on them."

"You mean spying?" Twilight raised an eyebrow.

Rarity looked flustered. "Heaven's no! I would never...let them know I was watching them." she said. She didn't say she wasn't going to spy on them.

"If you really want to know what happened, you'll just have to wait for AJ to tell you about it." Twilight said taking a sip of her tea.

Her companion sighed and took a sip as well. "It seems like Applejack has found her special somepony before either of us have."

"They've only been on one date Rarity. I think it's too early for something like that." Twilight said.

"Oh but still." Rarity sighed once more. "It's been so long since my last relationship..."

"Well, you said they looked happy with each other. That's good enough for us." Twilight told her. "Well, I hope they're happy. I don't really know anything about these sort of things aside from the things I read about."

"Never? Not even just a teeny crush?"

Twilight shook her head. "Not really. It was all study study study for me back in Canterlot. I've never really noticed nor been noticed by other colts before."

That earned a surprised look from Rarity. "Really now Twilight? Well, Ponyville is so much different from Canterlot. Perhaps your special somepony is somewhere here."

Just then, there was a knock upon the door. Twilight stood up to get it. "Here in Ponyville? Rarity, while there are plenty of nice colts here in town, none of them really caught my-"

She opened the door.

"A...uh...attention..."

Wow...he's...cute...

Comments

[Alicon Glactistar]

Fuck.
You need to write MOAR,
And fast.