//------------------------------// // Ch. 2 - The Gathering // Story: The Devourer // by Dandelo //------------------------------// “What I’m about to tell you can never leave this room. You are smart enough to know why as soon as I’ve told you. I trust you. You know what you’ll have to do and I know that you’ll understand my reasons. Okay?” She is silent. “No one can find out”, she insists. “Do you understand?” Reluctantly, she agrees. Her head is heavy and hurts as if someone hit her temple. “I know that I put a huge pressure on you. But it has to be this way. Otherwise, everything would have been in vain. If this plan doesn’t work out they died for nothing. I need you. Do you trust me?” “Yes.” She lets out a huge sigh of relief. You can feel how flimsy the thread is that is weaving the scheme. “We don’t have much time”, she says. “Let’s begin. The sooner we begin the better we can prepare for tomorrow.” Four days before the last sunset To know or not to know. It’s always about what you know and what you don’t. It differs what exactly is better – depending on the situation and the pony. Many ponies strive for more knowledge, to learn and better understand the world and everything in it becomes their most important goal, their meaning of life. Twilight had always thought herself to be this kind of pony. But now, the day after Celestia’s announcement, she too asked herself the question: to know or not to know. To not know what happened in Canterlot… or to know who has managed to flee. And with this knowledge, also knowing who wasn’t as fortunate. No one could say exactly how many ponies had arrived with the princess, but the town was bursting with ponies although most of the pegasi had already been brought to Cloudsdale. Every house sheltered at least two other ponies – Rarity’s boutique even housed nine – the Red Cross of Ponyville was working day and night with lots of volunteers; the hospital didn’t have enough beds for everyone so many doctors and nurses had to tend to the ponies at home. There were varying types of wounds, ranging from small scratches to broken wings and damaged horns, lacerations and traumatic brain injuries. Absolutely all ponies had a weird expression in their eyes – one moment you thought they were gray and blind, the other moment you could swear that a whole unspoken nightmare was showing in them. But they didn’t remain unspoken. The ponies that dared to open their mouth soon told the others about last night in Canterlot, this dreadful night in Canterlot. And soon everypony knew about the events, the dark things – and the dead ponies. But nopony knew concrete details, so the market square was full of ponies as it had never been before in the history of Ponyville. The uninformed were waiting there for over two hours and between them, right next to the hastily built podium, there was Twilight Sparkle with her best friends. She knew one thing for sure: her family wasn’t among the refugees. She had looked for them to no avail. It was seventeen minutes before 10 am, the air was full of suspense. Breathless silence and upset mumbling was turning like the tide. The majority of waiting ponies was composed of Ponyville ponies and a few pegasi from Cloudsdale – only a few ponies from Canterlot were there. Among them there were a few famous ones from High Society but they melted into the background in view of the latest events. Most of them – even those without any physical wounds – chose to stay in their quarters, sleeping or at least trying to and resting. Trying to process the darkness in their memories. Every pony seemed to count the seconds until 10 o’clock, their eyes were glued to the clock tower that watched over the city like an imminent, steep cliff. The city hall behind the podium, deserted on this murky day, looked like a gray image of itself. Heavy clouds were hanging in the sky because nopony had bothered to watch over the weather schedule. It should have been a day full of sunshine – but now, there were only shadows. “It’s so terrible,” Rarity mumbled. You could see the fear in her eyes. “Horrible, simply horrible.” “Th-- this can’t be happening,” Fluttershy cried. “But it does,” Rainbow answered drily. “I can’t believe it, no…” “Well, you should start believing it now!” Rainbow Dash snarled at Fluttershy who hunkered down and started stammering apologies while tears dampened her cheeks. Applejack pushed the two pegasi apart. “Now that’s no reason to scream at her. You know that this is worrying her to death.” “Aha.” “So?” “So… what?” “Apologize and stop with that horse crap.” “Don’t tell me what I have to do!” “Rainbow Dash, how can you be so horrendous?” Rarity intervened. “I’m nothing like that.” Rainbow spread her wings angrily, looking at them. “This is all horse crap! Why didn’t the princess tell us everything yesterday? This stinks, like, all the way up to the moon! I want to finally know what happened in Canterlot and I want the princess to tell me in person. I don’t want to know it from you, or from the other ponies here, and definitely not from – from Spitfire.” She was crying angry tears. “She lied to me, it has to be, she didn’t even manage to look me in the eye. It’s so – it’s just – it’s…” “Dashie?” “What, Pinkie, what?” she shouted and turned around. Pinkie Pie looked at her sadly without saying something. She laid a hoof on her friend’s shoulders and smiled pained. Then she gulped. It was unbelievable but somehow Pinkie’s actions sparked something. Rainbow Dash cramped and felt heat crawling into her limbs but the next second all her anger vanished. She let her wings and head down and closed her eyes. Pinkie hugged her. “She's sorry,” she then said over Rainbow’s shoulders to Fluttershy who was sitting next to them. When Pinkie released her hold on Rainbow, she took a deep breath. “Thank you,” she whispered. “That was for yesterday. We’re even now.” Pinkie let out an amused wheeze. Rainbow Dash looked at her and laughed too, although it didn’t sound very convincing. She could remember how she had managed to break Pinkie free from the paper streamer by tugging on it until it broke. The memory of her looking for a nice quiet place to take a nap was still vivid, and then… then she had seen them. Them. The others. She could feel everything in her boiling up again and bit on her lip to prevent her from saying something wrong. While Pinkie tried to calm Fluttershy now, Rarity leaned over to Applejack. “She really doesn’t want to acknowledge what happened,” she whispered and gestured to Rainbow Dash. “Do you want to?” “No, I mean… I meant…” “No one wants to. None of us. The question is if we can or not and apparently, Rainbow can’t.” “Well, no surprise. Think about what Spitfire told her yesterday. She was devastated. I’m pretty sure she didn’t sleep at all last night.” “She isn’t the only one. Look around. Show me a pony that can say that they are fine and I can assure you they are lying. Even our Twilight looks like she’ll keel over anytime soon.” “What do you think the princess has already told her? Do you know anything?” “I’m pretty sure she told her about her family.” “But there has to be more.” She shrugged. “If she only wanted to tell Twi it probably was something important.” They looked to Twilight who stood a few feet away looking paralyzed. Spike was with her, patting her and whispering in her ear but she didn’t seem to acknowledge him. Her eyes were red. From time to time she looked into the sky and mumbled something. It seemed like she was talking to an unseen entity up in the clouds - or maybe beyond them. “I’ve been told that she threw up. Yesterday. And her whole body had shivered. Spike had to watch over her the whole night long. The poor, poor thing. I wanted to do something for her so bad but I didn’t know what.” “Me too,” Applejack agreed. “But Sweet Apple Acres was on fire yesterday. We were nonstop giving out apples for every hungry pony. And we prepared everything that was still left for the next days.” Rarity gulped. “Or weeks.” “Maybe, maybe not. We have to be prepared for everything.” “I just hope that this nightmare will be over soon,” Rarity said after a short while. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy now were reconciling and were watched by Pinkie Pie. “We all do.” “What do you think?” “What? How long it will last? No idea. After everything I’ve heard…” She didn’t finish her sentence. Rarity knew what she was about to say. “And do you… do you think… that it will end well?” Rarity asked, hoping to receive a comforting answer – no matter if it was actually true. She had to force herself to not automatically add “If it ends”. She remember the faces of the ponies whom she was giving shelter to. She could feel tears welling up inside her and tried to compose herself. Applejack stared into the distance. She searched for words with care but not quite knowing what she wanted to say. But it all became obsolete because a scream was starting in the midst of the crowd, growing like the waves on a still pond when someone threw a stone in it. Within seconds every last pony was screaming and everyone knew that the door of the city hall had been opened. It was 10 o’clock. The princess was stepping onto the podium, the mayor in tow. “Citizens of Ponyville!” she said. A magical surge carried her voice through the crowd – everypony could clearly hear what she had to say although she wasn’t speaking louder than normally. Everypony went silent. Even the birds stopped singing. The world stood still. “Citizens of Ponyville,” she repeated. “You all know me very well. During all of my years as a princess I’ve never asked for anything. I never wanted anything else than you living in peace together. But I don’t want this to be an apology nor an excuse for what I had to ask of you yesterday – and what I still have to ask of you. I’m sure some of you already know what happened and why we’re all here in this depressing hour.” She paused as if waiting for acknowledgment but other than a few nods here and there no one moved. “Three days ago, the city of Canterlot and their dear citizens has been the victim of a brutal and vicious ambush. No one had even dreamed about such an iniquity – but it’s true. We were attacked.” Dismay started to appear on the faces of the ponies. The words that came out of the princesses mouth had made the stories of the wounded a bitter, definitive truth that was undeniable. The princess raised a hoof and spread her wings to show that she wanted to continue and everypony was silent again. “I can’t remember an event similar to this. In the history of this – our – beloved country there is no incident with a similar violence, cruelty and brutality. The attack came without warning and caught us offhand. They came to the gates of Canterlot under cover of darkness, managed to get in and started – ” “Who or what are they?” a voice in the crowd asked. Celestia hesitated. When she finally spoke her words sounded very ominous: “It were ponies that were attacking us. No, no, let me talk; they were more like creatures that mimicked ponies but they were as black as the night and possessed by an unquenchable desire for corruption. In their wild fury they were attacking everypony and everything that was in their way, but: their attacks weren’t random. They were organized soldiers of the night.” “And nopony did something?” a citizen shouted upset. His words were met with the approval of some other ponies. “As soon as we recognized the threat we started taking appropriate measures,” the princess assured them. “Many brave ponies have fought against the superior ponies; I’m saying they were superior because they were hundreds, if not thousands. But almost everyone of our brave ponies died because of the cruel ways of our enemies or was severely wounded. My own guards have been pushed back although they had been fearless. Even I tried to stand in their way to protect my subjects, but it was to no avail – I’m embarrassed because I couldn’t stop them, not even with all my magic. I could do nothing against them.” Her voice didn’t change, but anypony that looked her closely in the eye could see the pain that she tried to hide very carefully. “Magic cannot harmed them. An inconceivable power is surrounding them that even I cannot penetrate.” “But there has to be someone,” another voice shouted, “Who can prevail against them!” “Yes! The Wonderbolts!” a different voice from the other end of the crowd said. “The Wonderbolts can help us! The Wonderbolts can fight them!” Rainbow Dash could already guess what the answer of Princess Celestia would be, but she still hoped and told herself that it would somehow be contradictory to what Spitfire has told her when she had left Twilight and crashed into the stream of refugees where she had seen the pegasi. Her lips quivered, her eyes were burning and she fought the truth that she already knew because it couldn’t be true, it just couldn’t be true. Then, the princess said the same sentence Spitfire already had mumbled: “There are no Wonderbolts anymore.” The crowd went as silent as tombstones on a gloomy graveyard; it was unbearable. “When we saw the threat the Wonderbolts bravely tried to stand in their way to stop them while the city was getting evacuated – but only one pony returned. They sacrificed themselves and many ponies’ lives were saved. Do you now understand the gravity of this situation? Do you understand the kind of emergency we’re in?” During the next words Twilight was grinding her teeth: “I don’t want to withhold anything from you. You should know the whole truth because it concerns everyone of you. The motives of our enemies are unknown as of now. We were attacked and we’re all still in shock. But we mustn’t let our fears lead the way. The enemy is on it’s way to this town. Every day that will pass is a day on which they will destroy life. If we don’t do anything this will be the end of this country – no, the whole world! We can flee – but where? We can hide – but for how long? It’s not easy for me to ask for this because it seems like an unsolvable task: the destiny of the whole world and every living creature and every generation from now on is entirely in your hooves.” “Her majesty is giving us a choice.” The mayor was now speaking. It was more than apparent under what kind of pressure she had been the last few hours. “I discussed with her the last few hours very thoroughly and… the choice is ours. We can either flee from this terror and leave Ponyville forever – or we try to stop whatever it is that is out there; we can flee, or we stay and defend our home.” Screams of fear were yelled; the horror the ponies were feeling was almost tangible like a thick fog over the market square. Defend? Fight? This was impossible, no, no! The mayor tried to reassured the crowd but it was only for Celestia’s voice that the crowd finally fell silent. “I know it seems impossible,” she started, knowing that the situation could escalate again at any time – the silence was as fragile as thin ice, “But you have to know that we can beat this enemey as long as we’re working together. We can win! As the mayor has already said, I’m giving you a choice. Either leave your home and all of your belongings behind and flee into a future where the shadows will come and get you some day – this is certain. Or we stop them once and for all, here, in Ponyville. Listen to me for a few minutes and I will explain to you how to fight them. Will you trust me? Or don’t you trust me that has been ruling this country for centuries kindly and fairly? Please listen to me, I beg you.” This seemed to reach the audience. Most ponies were calmer but still remained tense, wondering what the princess had to say. “If we decide to fight them – and I really don’t want to say this word – then we’ll have time. Not much, but some time to prepare for their arrival. It’s a big army, they are slow and have to take a detour through the valley; this will delay them and gives us a chance we’ll probably never have again. But they travel day and night. Sunlight is their biggest weakness, it makes them tired and slow; they have to march under the safety of a huge black cloud that protects them from the light. While we were travelling to Ponyville I’ve sent scouts to watch them. We only have a few days to build or defenses. If you decide to stay and fight I will make arrangements immediately. There are messengers at my disposal who will set out to the surrounding cities and call for help as soon as I order them to. We’re not alone in this time of need because this is the destiny of every citizen of this land. I know you’re hesitating because you hear the word ‘fight’ - this is only natural. Peacefulness is maybe to most important quality of ponies. But let me melt at least two of your fears: you won’t be fighting defenseless. If you decide to fight and defend Equestria I will see to it that your bodies will be protected by the fury of the enemies – no harm will come to you as long as you are acting cautiously and observantly. And don’t be afraid to try everything to defeat the enemies: you cannot kill them, they’re not alive, they are nothing more than the shadows’ puppets. If you attack them their soulless vessels will disintegrate into dust. These creatures – they feed on their own hatred. It’s the hatred of anything alive that’s giving them strength. They will attack you without hesitation, they don’t know mercy, they don’t feel pity. This is why you have to fight against them. I said that I will see to your protection, but you’ll have to find your courage for yourself and the ones by your side. And you will need courage to face them. We’ll need every pony that’s able to fight. Old, sick and young ponies should leave the town as soon as they can – at least for now. We will evacuate the city in two days so we can get enough space between them and the enemies. But until then we’ll need every hoof to set up the defense. Of course I understand if you want to flee rather than fight – and of course no pony should ever have to make that choice because it is against our nature. This is why I won’t hold it against you if you want to choose flight: there is no wrong decision and I will support you no matter what you do in order to stop as much bloodshed as I can. If you don’t choose to defend you will have to pack immediately everything you need. Only take the bare necessities. And tomorrow, before midday, we will leave this place forever. I give you time until dawn – we can’t wait any longer. Until then I will stay in the city hall and prepare for everything. Everypony can visit me and tell me their decision – or you decide together. If you have further questions or sorrows you can also always call for me. But think about this: we will probably never again face another chance to eliminate the enemy before they are at their full power. I trust all of you. The future is in your hooves.” With these words she left the podium and stepped back into the city hall. The mayor directed a few last words to the crowd: “Please, think about this thoroughly. Don’t decide rashly, weigh everything up. Trust the princess, trust yourself and also, trust me. I’ve already made my decision. Think about it. I beg you.” With that, she too left. When she closed the door to the city halls behind her, a surge dispersed – you could feel it spiraling into the sky and volatilize. With it’s disappearance sounds from the outside reached the crowd again: wind, leaves rustling and birds chirping. A tremor ran through the mass of ponies. They were looking at each other as if they were slowly waking up from a never ending dream. Someponies couldn’t find words, other could find more than necessary. Here and there a few discussions started, a lot of ponies were still too numb to realize what had just happened. Foals were nuzzling against their parents that were staring at each other helplessly. The words of the princess were looming over the day like ominous wings and every little gust of wind was ripping a hole into the masses on the market square until the ponies were dissolved completely, wandering around town aimlessly, afraid and not knowing what to do. It’s always about what you know and what you don’t. And now, the knowledge turned into fear. ~ ~ ~ As soon as the princess was gone nothing could keep Twilight on the market square. She forced herself through the rows of ponies while they were listening to the mayor’s words. Some ponies let her pass immediately, others didn’t seem to even notice her until the unicorn shoved them to the side. Finally she managed to leave the crowd and was able to breath freely. “You’re going home?” “Well where should I go, Spike. There is no other place I could go to.” The dragon didn’t leave her side. “How are you now?” She sighed heavily. “I don’t know. It’s tearing me apart. I don’t know what to think; I need some distance.” “Wow, I’d never have thought you’d say something like that.” “Well you also wouldn’t have thought that Canterlot would be razed to the ground, yeah?” Her voice was soft. “Well who has these kinds of thoughts… Twilight, please, how do you feel?” “How should I answer this? I don’t even know it myself! I’m torn… On one side I’m shocked and appalled because of what happened. On the other side I’m… I’m… I’m happy, Spike. Really, really happy.” “Your family?” She nodded. When she hadn’t found them amongst the refugees she was already expecting the worst. But when the princess told her that they hadn’t even been in town when the attack had happened she almost collapsed. She played the scene in her mind for the maybe thousandth time and still, tears of joy welled up inside her. She sent her thank yous to whichever powers that had decided that her parents had made a spontaneous trip to Fillydelphia with her brother. Thinking about almost losing them had made her puke. The whole night long she had played multiple horror scenarios in her head, only occasionally finding sleep and if she did, she woke up after only a few minutes, tormented by nightmares and fear. “What the princess has said really upset you, right?” “Not only this…” “You mean yesterday.” “Yes.” “Have you already decided?” Twilight was silent. “Twilight?” “You know what I have to do. I don’t have another choice.” “You still trust her.” It wasn’t a question. “I don’t have another choice,” she repeated. “I have to trust her. I have to.” “Yes… and it’s not that I don’t trust her, but… it frightens me that she lied to us.” “We’re all afraid.” “Yes, but – argh. It’s hard.” “Hard to believe?” “Yes, that too. Or to even imagine it. That she thought about everything and so on. That she planned every little detail.” “She knows what she’s doing, Spike. The princess never left us alone.” “Yes I know, but don’t you think…” “Of course I have doubts!” she exclaimed. “Not because of her, never. But because of her practices. I don’t know if I should approve it – or even can. Why do you think I was so upset during her speech? She lied to all of my friends and they don’t even know it! You and I, we’re the only ones who know. I shouldn’t even have told you.” No one must know about this, the voice of the princess resonated in her head. “I know the princess for more than half my life. But I never experienced her like this. You should have seen her face, Spike. She would never admit it but she’s desperate. I could see it, I could feel it even today. She relies on me. I can’t disappoint her. I have to rest before I start. I need a break. This will maybe be my hardest test to date.” They were silent for a while. Then Spike asked the question that had been burning inside him since Twilight had told about her conversation with Celestia: “How can you be sure that she didn’t lie to you?” He never got an answer. ~ ~ ~ About two hours before the end of the deadline only a few ponies had made their decision. No one seemed to want to decide; everypony was afraid to disappoint the others with their decision. Under them was Applejack. Usually the hard-working pony was never shy to decide but now she longed for the night to come. Her mind was dizzy and she had a headache so she tried to work to lift her mind. So, Rarity found her working at Sweet Apple Acres when she arrived there at the late afternoon. Her greetings were short. “What do you want here?” the earth pony said tired and deposited a wagonload apples in front of the barn. Big Macintosh started to put the apples into the cellar. Rarity and Applejack went for a walk on the plantation. “I could use a little distraction,” Applejack confessed. “Big Mac and I have been working the whole day long. And there’s still more to do. Most apples aren’t really ripe, but what can you do? And tomorrow we’ll have to do the same.” “I’ve decided, Applejack,” Rarity ignored her speech. Applejack wasn’t surprised. “Did Twilight visit you?” Rarity nodded. “Twilight visited us all. She talked to everypony.” “And you agreed with everything she said?” “… You have to understand.” “I understand very well,” she said honestly. “But I guess not everypony is agreeing to you?” “Fluttershy said straightaway that she would decide against fighting. But she didn’t talk to the princess yet. Rainbow Dash has chosen directly after you left. You can probably imagine what she said. And Pinkie is hiding in Sugarcube Corner. But I think she will decide to stay, too. Hard to imagine Pinkie making such a huge decision.” “Why are you here?” She didn’t answer immediately. “I just wanted to see you. That’s what friends do, right?” “Sure.” “So anyway… I had to be alone for a bit. I mean, not really alone, just… alone, you get it? All the commotion is bad for my fur.” The joke didn’t land but they both didn’t care. “I just needed some silence… went for a walk… brought Sweetie Belle to our parents… a little bit of everything. Just go outside for a bit, I’m sure you can relate, right?” Applejack turned away from Rarity. “I have to keep working now. Big Mac is probably waiting.” Rarity stamped her hooves. “You want the truth? Okay, have at it: I’m afraid. Yes I’m horribly afraid. And I wanted to talk to you to – to feel better! To be sure that I make the right decision!” “And this is why you've come to me?” “You’re strong, Applejack. Stronger than me and many ponies here. And you’re smart. You could always handle these kinds of situations best.” “These situations…” She almost spitted the words but there was no malice in it. “So you want me to justify your choice? Is that what you want?” Rarity didn’t answer. “Go home,” Applejack said and turned to leave. “There is no right or wrong and there definitely is no solace. But if you want to hear the truth,” she said without turning around, “I have no idea. As long as you can believe the pony you trust the most I think you’re making a wise decision.” Rarity stood lonely between the trees. The day was drawing to a horrifying close. A cold wind made the leaves whisper but even they couldn’t tell her how to decide. ~ ~ ~ The night came and the sun died down like a huge spark on the horizon. Darkness was spreading over the land like a dusty coat. The world was dragged down to the depth of an unknown future by a monstrous creature called night. In front of the market square the masses were gathering again. Muffled whispers were spreading and buzzing through the air like moths. The ponies had decided. A minority had opted out of voting, amongst them Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. At first no one had dared to visit Celestia but as time passed a huge crowd had gathered in front of the city hall. Only a few ponies were talking openly about there choice: they were entering the city halls and emerging swiftly; a few relieved, a few depressed, but everypony ashamed as if they had committed a horrible crime. But one pony didn’t hesitate to spread her opinion: Twilight Sparkle went through the crowd with her head held high. Everyone knew of her relationship to the princess and she was a celebrity in Ponyville. She had been walking through Ponyville all day long, talking to a lot of important ponies; everypony knew that she was fully committed to Celestia and Equestria. She would stay and fight. This had been two and a half hours ago – now Twilight was standing at the edge of the crowd and watched everything with a certain distance. Her friends were all with her but she was certain that only Spike was really standing behind her. Because only he had been able to look behind her mask. For the second time today the doors to the city hall opened. The princess and the mayor were walking up to the podium surrounded by masses of ponies. Immediately, a surged swept through the crowd. “The decision has been made,” the princess said. The tension was infinite, everyone was captured. Princess Celestia held her head high and declared the decision. “We won’t give up our home. We will stay. We will fight.” The words soaked the minds and hearts of the ponies like water that was flowing through a broken levee. Everypony could feel the icy cold gripping them. They had decided – but could anypony be happy about this? About this decision that gave sole responsibility for the destiny of the world to one city? The sun set. Magical lanterns were ignited, insects dancing around them. Twitching shadows were cast onto the street and Twilight closed her eyes one more time.