//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - The Re-Shaping of Equestria // Story: Tirek's Reform // by Harratot33 //------------------------------// Manehattan. This famed and hugely-admired Equestrian city had once been home to some of the tallest and most iconic skyscrapers in the whole of the land. Sadly, those were no more. The blaze generated by Spatium's controlling of the stars had spread across all of Equestria very quickly. But it's residents were safe; Spatium had ordered his right-hand men (residents from all over whom he had transferred his evil intentions into) to re-locate everypony to the one place he had avoided setting ablaze: the Everfree Forest. "Can't have the elements of harmony going up in smoke, can I?" he had chuckled to himself. "I will need those! I will need my slaves! But most of all...the Everfree Forest is right next to Ponyville...and if Twilight Sparkle and her friends refuse to serve me...they will be slaughtered!" He gazed at the many, many ponies in the city who were still kind-hearted. "As will these!" Down below, Cranky Doodle Donkey and his wife Matilda were discussing the recent tragic events. "Celestia and Luna have never evacuated an entire town in the thousand years they've been in office!" "You really think it's another attack by an evil force?" "Well...I...I don't think Matilda, I know it is!" Spatium swept down from the sky. "You are correct," he hissed. "But unfortunately for you two, you will not be correct about me being evil for very much longer!" He bent down, and his horn began to glow a pale white. Following a short pause, scanty, cigarette-smoke-like threads of silver began to move out from the pair's body in much the same motion as a snake would sliver towards helpless pray. This strange substance was every last bit of goodness in their personalities, and without it, it would be extremely difficult for anypony to convince the pair that Stellas Spatium was the best pony in the world...and not omni-benevolent... and...not their true ruler. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Do you think Sweet Apple Acres is still standing?" Granny Smith asked Big McIntosh. The two were being taken by Cranky and Matilda to the Everfree Forest by cart from Maretropolis. "...Nope." Big McIntosh said sadly. "The blaze reached everywhere in Equestria bar the forest." "Whatever could've caused such a fire?" Granny Smith asked puzzlingly. "It was Stellas Spatium!" Cranky exclaimed proudly. "Eh...who?" The two earthponies were completely confounded. "You will hear him later on," said Matilda. "He is addressing everypony in Equestria at lunchtime." "I demand to know why the Everfree Forest is the only darn place in Equestria that wasn't lit up like a..." Granny Smith started. "Spatium wanted to save it," said Cranky. "He is giving everypony a better life there." "How in tarnation is a dirty, smelly forest filled with Timberwolves better than a sophisticated, cosmopolitan city such as Manehattan?! I sure hope this Spatium fella knows what he's doing!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I certainly hope you know what you're doing!" Trixie yelled to Spike. "Come on, it's the last element and then we're done," Spike was attempting to retrieve the element of generosity from its place in the Tree of Harmony. "Uh...wouldn't it be easier it I just used my magic to lift it out?" "We tried that with Fluttershy's element, it took like...forever!" "Look, I think you're kinda annoying, I'm not gonna lie..." "Thank you very much!" "UHH...you do annoy me, but I wouldn't dream of you falling and hurting yourself." Then she giggled more softly: "Well...maybe in the odd nightmare on occasion." Mere milliseconds passed between this tasteless remark and Spike finally managing to prise the element from its natural spot. "There, I'm done! Let's go rendezvous with Twilight!" "Do you have to use those nerdy words all the time?" Trixie asked, as Spike hopped onto her back. She began to move out of the magnificent room. "What...I see them in my comic-books all the time and I just thought...ya know, they make me sound smarter and all that." "UHH!" ml>