//------------------------------// // Rise and fall // Story: Ponyville Generations: Spike's story // by Paradise Oasis //------------------------------// Rise and Fall- "All right, girls!" Lily Lightly exclaimed, looking up towards the two winged ponies. "Take my unicorns up to the top of the dome!" Thistle Whistle and Coconut Grove nodded, and slowly lifted the two horned ponies into the air. Carrying the unicorns in two sling harnesses, the Pegasus rose high above the clouds, where blasts from the unicorn's horns struck the key points of the barrier. "I hope this works, Starcatcher." Lilly Lightly told the Pegasus beside her nervously. "That dome is so high up there, those four ponies could easily hurt themselves." "It will work, Lilly!" The queen of butterfly island replied. "If Spike's calculations are correct, this could be our ticket to freedom!" As the two pony leaders looked back up at the sky, they failed to notice the small cracks forming along the dome's interior… … Meanwhile, a discussion of some importance was occurring at Breezie Blossom. It was a debate between the three leaders of the miniature equines over the recent turmoil in Ponyville. "Zipzee, this situation is getting serious!" Tralala told her friend. "The ponies have no idea the trouble they are about to unleash!" "Who cares what kind of conundrum the ponies get themselves into, Tralala!" Tiddlywink replied nonchalantly. "What concern is it of ours if they are in peril?" Zipzee couldn't believe her ears! Were these the friends she had known her entire life? They had always seemed to care about their pony friends, why the sudden lack of concern. "Girls, anything that affects the ponies, affects us too!" The leader of the Breezies replied. "Can't you see we have to be worried about what happens to them?" "Oh, we have to be worried about the ponies, all right." Tralala agreed. "Because there is more going on here than you realize." "Wait…" Zipzee replied, her eyes darting back and forth between the two nervously. "What exactly are you two talking about?" The two Breezies looked at each other guiltily. "We were involved in the anti- Spike plot." "You WHAT?" Zipzee sputtered out, her eyes going wide. "How could you! HOW DARE YOU?" "We were only trying to protect our home!" Tralala protested. "Spike's plan to break the dome open would destroy us all!" "What?" The now angry Zipzee snorted. "Why would that happen?" "Sit down, Zipzee." The two other Breezies replied in unison, lowering their heads. "We'll tell you everything..." ... In the Celebrations Castle throne room, Princess Wysteria was consulting with Pinkie, Puzzlemint, and Sorybelle, over the recent events of the past few weeks. "We have rooted out two of the culprits now, Princess. Though we have not yet discovered the motive." Puzzlemint told Wysteria. "We will need to question one of them, if we are to get any awnsers." "And what of Spike?" The Princess asked. "Is he being kept safe?" "Spike is currently with Rainbow Dash at the Ponyville clinic." The chancellor told her. "Lily sent two unicorns to treat Dash and Cheerilee for their... recent affliction." "I see." Wysteria replied, thinking to herslf. "And Storybelle, you told me you have something to report on these matters?" "Yes, I'm afraid so." The troubled library mare replied. "Kimono and I found a book, that talks about the magic failsafe in place to prevent anyone from ever leaving the Ponyville region. It mentions an entity called Twinkle Wish, but says very little about it." "Did someone try to leave the Ponyville region? Was it Spike?" Princess Wysteria's ears perked up. "Storybelle, what is going on here?" The library mare said nothing, and merely looked away. Finally, she replied. "All right, I guess it's time to come clean..." "I think I can also explain, your highness." It was then, that Zipzee, Tralala, and Tiddlywink flew into the room, and landed on the throne's arm rest. "Zipzee? What do you know about this?" Pinkie Pie asked curiously. "It's a looong story..." Zipzee replied. What followed was a careful, long-winded explanation of the details of the plots and schemes of both sides. Wysteria and Puzzlemint asked questions here and there, and seemed to get angrier and angrier as the explanations went on. Finally, when both sides had told their whole story, Wysteria slammed her hoof down in anger. "You foolish, foolish ponies!" She snorted loudly. "Both of your little secret groups have put us all in danger!" "But it was Spike who-!" Tralala raised her voice in protest. "Spike is a dragon! You know thier personalities from our dealings with Whimsy Weatherbee, that female dragon in the mountains! His own draconic nature dictated his actions!" Wysteria gestured away from the throne. "But the rest of you are ponies! You should have known better!" "Princess, if what they say about the 'protocol' is true, we need to get you out of here!" Pinkie insisted. "Puzzlemint, you and Fiesta escort her out of town at once! Storybelle, you and I shall quietly begin evacuating the other ponies!" Storybelle nodded. "Let us pray we are not too late..." ... At the same time, two unicorns finished working on Cherrilee and Rainbow Dash, their horns glowing as they put the final touches on their handiwork. "Oh, Darling! It is soooo good to be back to our old selves again!" Rainbow Dash commented, speaking in her old accent and voice once more. "You look so much better with your unicorn horn!" "I didn't think that spell would last more than a few weeks." Cheerilee said with a sigh, her old voice having returned, as well. "My horn really didn't go anywhere, the spell just gave me an appearance of an earth pony. Actually changing one type of pony into another permanently is far to powerful a spell for even the strongest unicorns to cast!" "Still the parties we had over the past few weeks were simply splendid, darling!" Rainbow Dash added. "The seven of us will always be friends now!" "I am pleased to see the two of you back to your old selves!" Spike declared, having watched the whole procedure. "But it still leaves me to wonder where the conspirators have gone, and when they will strike next!" "I have no idea, Spike!" Cheerilee replied. "But once I get back to Unicornia, I'll start a unicorn investigation at once!" "But will that help, darling?" Rainbow Dash asked. "It seems we're fighting against hopeless odds, trying to hold back an ocean of troubles!" "It kind of reminds me of the time I stuck my finger into that leaking dam-" Spike started. "No, wait... that was the boy in the story..." Both Cheerilee and Dash chuckled- Spike's forgetful storytelling was one of his most endearing qualities! "I still can't believe our Skywishes and Sunny Days were involved in that whole sordid mess, darling!" Rainbow Dash shook her mane sadly. "There has to be some reason they would help those uncouth savages!" "I don't know your friends well enough to judge what they are like, Rainbow Dash." Cheerilee snorted. "But for their sake, I certainly hope you're right..." ... Far below the walls of Celebration castle, the four remaining conspirators met within a secret room. It was the old control room for the theme park. Built almost fifty years before the park's closure, it was a high tech room filled with buttons, switches, and monitors that displayed what was going on in every portion of the park. The chamber, the conspirators believed, was mostly unknown to the other ponies in the park... save those families descended from the owners. It was from here that the conspirators usually observed and monitored what transpired, and plotted and schemed to keep things going their way. But right now, one of their number was currently disagreeing with the rest. "Come now, Skywishes!" Sparkleworks told her, as the other mare looked away angrily. "You know we're in the right!" "I know no such thing, your dirty traitor!" Skywishes replied bitterly. "The only reason I'm helping all of you is because you forced me to!" "Oh, don't be so bitter, Skywishes!" Cloud Climber replied, trotting into the room. "So long as you cooperate with us, we won't activate the park's destruct sequence for Butterfly island, and all of your Pegasus friends will be safe!" "But you're a Pegasus pony, too!" Skywishes whinnied bitterly, "How can you betray your own tribe?" "If it means sacrificing them for the greater good, then so be it!" The Pegasus snorted. "Anything to prevent Twinkle Wish from awakening!" "All of our sacrifices might have been for naught..." Another flying pony replied, flapping into the room. "I have learned that Tiddlywink and Tralala have ratted us out to Zipzee!" "What!" Sparkleworks whinnied in shock. "How could they? Why-?" "Apparently, they thought their friendships were more important to them than your agenda." Skywishes laughed bitterly. "All those schemes, forcing me to betray my friends...it all came to nothing in the end! I only hope my friends can forgive me for what I've done when I tell them!" Sparkleworks ran to a control console. "Tell them, and I'll hit the button to destroy Butterfly Island!" "Forget it, Sparkleworks! We've got bigger problems than Spike or our secrecy at this point!" The other flying pony- Starsong- replied, as she emerged from the shadows. "I had hoped, that my presence among Spike's little group would slow their plans down, but it is too late! The dome is cracking, and Twinkle Wish is about to awaken!" "Then... then we're all doomed!" Sparkleworks replied bitterly, as she collapsed to her knees. ... It was afternoon in Ponyville, when all of the Ponies who were out and about saw a strange star rise into the air from somewhere within the castle, and hover over Ponyville. besides it being strange that a star that big was out during the day, it was also odd that the star seemed to have a face... "What is that thing?" Cotton Candy asked. "One of Razaroo's birthday decorations?" "I dunno." Minty replied, looking up at the star. "I've never seen anything like it!" "TWINKLE WISH PROGRAM INITIATED!" The massive star boomed out. "PROTOCOL 3.5 ACTIVATED!" It was at that point, that Spike and Rainbow Dash came running out of the clinic, and saw the star floating high in the air. "Protocol 3.5?" Spike asked in confusion. "What is -" "Darling, LOOK!" Rainbow Dash screamed in terror. All around them, the very ground itself seemed to tear open. From beneath the surface, these... things crawled their way up through the soil. They looked like ponies, but had horrifically small bodies, and terrifyingly large eyes. The sickeningly cute monstrosities crawled froth from their holes, as the ground sealed up behind them. "Look, Dash!" Spike yelled in horror. "T-that one looks just like you!" "Hi, I'm Rainbow Dash!" The little abomination declared. "And I love to dress up!" "A-and that one looks like Cheerilee without her horn!" Dash replied in terror. "And that one looks like Scootaloo, darling!" "Hi! I'm Cheerilee!" The Pink one squealed. "And this is my sister, Scootaloo!" "They-they must be magical constructs of some sort! Copies of al the ponies in Ponyville!" Spike realized." But what are they going to do?" For a moment, they all stared at each other... the ponies of Ponyville, and their weird, miniature doppelgangers. It seemed like, for a second, that both sides would stare at each other silently for an eternity... ...until the little monsters attacked. "Aieeeee!" One pony shrieked, as a swarm of the miniature horrors dragged a mare to the ground... and proceeded to tear her body limb from limb. "They're cannibals!" Minty shrieked in terror. "Run for it!" Every pony in town fled from thier homes and shops, running as fast as they could from the tiny monstrosities. Although the evacutaion Wysteria had ordered was quietly underway, many ponies simply ran in every direction to get out of town. "Keep running! Yes Yes Yes!" Razaroo yelled, looking back at the town. "They are not following us!" The rest of the ponies looked back, and sure enough, the little terrors stopped following at the outskirts of town, happily devouring the dozen or so mares and stallions they had managed to catch before the others had fled. It was then that Wysteria, Puzzlemint, and Fiesta, who had all fled town earlier, trotted up to all of the others. "Is everybody all right?" Wysteria asked her subjects. "Pinkie Pie, are all of the Ponyville ponies accounted for?" It was several minutes and a headcount later, that Pinkie Pie replied. "Most of us made it out ok, Princess... but we did lose a few!" "Oh no!" Our friends!" Minty burst into tears, and collapsed to the ground. "We have to make for Unicornia, Rarity will give us refuge there." Wysteria replied bitterly. "Sunny Daze, Puzzlemint... take the lead." "Our homes..." Razaroo lamented. "Our lives..." "muy mal..." Fiesta Flair agreed. "Great Celestia..." Spike whispered, still reeling in shock. "What have I done?"