Scootaloo cackled at her former friends, Princess Luna and the soldier who betrayed her. She looked crazed while wobbling back and forth, chuckling her mirth at the situation she now found herself in. She would never lie and say that she didn’t think a scenario like this would never happen, but that Sweetie Belle was one of them that would betray her? She would never have guessed it.
The team that came to stop Scootaloo watched her warily as the orange-coated filly laughed.
“I knew that there would be traitors during this war... it is inevitable,” Scootaloo said, smiling at her former friends, Princess and Soldier. “However, Supreme Leader Sweetie Belle, you were the last one I ever believed would betray me. How come? Has Princess Luna brainwashed you?”
The accusation made Sweetie Belle chuckle merrily and Princess Luna’s jaw harden.
“You dare accuse me of brainwashing Miss Belle when you have brainwashed your subjects since the day you took over? If so, then you and I aren’t so different,” Luna spoke with a cold tone that carried throughout the lab and made the workers shiver.
Princess Luna stood tall and proud, looking down on Scootaloo who seemed unfazed by the accusation. The Princess Of The Night spread her wings, stretching them out to show their true length and began to speak in the royal Canterlot tone which she only did during speeches.
“Citizens of Ponyville, I have come to free you from Supreme Leader Scootaloo’s tyrannical rule, you don’t have to fight anymore nor do you need to heed her words any longer, Ponyville is free once more and will always be part of Equestria!”
The speech made Scootaloo raise a brow. “You don’t honestly believe anyone of them will listen to you? I promised them to free our home Kludgetown from the tyrannical king known as the Storm King who has ruined many lives due to your in-act of doing anything. For example; Storm King invaded the kingdom of Hippogriffia, forcing the citizens to flee to Seaquestria. What did you or Princess Celestia do? Nothing. You did nothing to help, which I found strange. It was said that both you and Princess Celestia were good friends with Queen Novo so why didn’t you help out?”
The tension was high in the air. Scootaloo was unnaturally calm, staring at Princess Luna who refused to back down. The workers looked at the debate with interest, wanting to see and hear what the Princess or Supreme Leaders had to say about it.
“I’ll tell you why; your all cowards,” Scootaloo finished when it became clear Princess Luna wasn’t going to answer. “The fact that I, a child under Equestrian law, Isn’t afraid to stand up to the Storm King is evidence enough that I am the most suitable ruler the planet and galaxies have been waiting for.”
Suddenly, Scootaloo was struck in the chest by a green magical spell, sending her back into a stone pillar with a loud ‘thud!’ that echoed throughout the lab. The area quickly rose with tension, looking all over the place for the spellcaster. Everyone looked shocked when they saw Sweetie Belle walk forward, her horn ready to fire another spell.
Sweetie Belle stopped in front of Scootaloo’s unconscious body, the magic from her horn, slowly withering away with the air.
“You asked me why I betrayed you,” Sweetie Belle spoke, her words loud and clear. Princess Luna, Supreme Leader Applebloom and the Soldier looked on in surprise. “I betrayed you because I never wanted to start a war, I wanted to punish the ponies of Ponyville for what they did to us, but we went too far in the end. We became something far worse, something so much worse, I wouldn’t be surprised If we ended up as one of the Top Ten Most Dangerous Villains to have walked Equestria.”
The marshmallow-coated filly leaned her head back and sighed.
“For the longest time, I was angry at every creature for betraying us in this wretched town. But as the years moved on, I learned to accept what happened and moved on, but I knew that you could never move on. I always saw this... this... darkness in your eyes that I could never shake off. It was like you became... corrupted by something.” The unicorn filly lifted Scootaloo’s unconscious head to her eye level. “I don’t know what happened to you Scootaloo, but do know, I will always love you as my friend and crusader, but I cannot walk down this path with you.”
Suddenly, there was a ringing that echoed throughout the lab, causing the workers to trip over themselves.
“What’s going on!?” Princess Luna demanded with narrowed eyes as she watched the workers trying their best to fix something.
The Soldiers’ eyes narrowed. “I have... no Idea, but whatever it is, it Is scaring the workers,”
“Prepare to counterattack!” One of the workers shouted, causing every creature there to feel dread of what was about to happen. However, the alarm suddenly stopped and the labs' power all shut off in the blink of an eye. Princess Luna and Sweetie Belle used their horns to light up the area. Soon, other creatures who could use magic or light up the place came together and created make-shift torches and similar items to see each other.
The mare from before, Starlight Glimmer, ran up to Sweetie Belle and Applebloom.
“Supreme Leaders! What’s going on?” She asked with a worried voice.
“We’re just as clueless as you are,” Applebloom explained while glancing over at Scootaloo. “Princess... what will we do with Scootaloo?”
“First, we need to figure out what happened, then we can concern ourselves with Miss Scootaloo,” Princess Luna said while glancing over to the orange-coated filly.
“There is no need my dears!” Came a chirper voice that held mischief. At the sound of a snap, there was light that covered the room brightly enough to see everything in sight. In the middle of the room, stood a creature with mix-matched body parts that made the creature have a very odd shape and features.
“Discord?” Princess Luna asked, surprised at seeing the draconequus.
“Princess Luna!” Discord spoke with a delighted tone, his lion paw and eagle claw holding together. “I was worried that Miss Scootaloo would have done something terrible to you by now. I’m glad she failed in her endeavour.”
“I’m fine, Discord, just a little shocked,” Luna explained. “Was that you who shut off the power?”
“Yes, it was!” Discord spoke with pride, his eagle claw over his heart as if giving a salute. “You see, the Airship that Miss Scootaloo managed to shoot down belonged to the Storm King, not that it’s any strange but the impact caused the airship's machinery to start acting out of control and have delayed reactions. One of those delayed reactions was a cannonball that was hurling towards this lab. I managed to stop it and send it to my home where it’s floating in a chaotic realm.”
“That’s interesting, Discord,” Sweetie Belle admitted with a sigh. “But that still doesn’t explain why you shut off the power,”
“Oh, of course, that’s all you care about!” Discord childishly pouts as he hovers in the air with clouds on his back and chocolate milk in his paw. “If you must know, when I opened the portal, it is a possibility that some of my powers interfered with the electricity of the lab which caused them to shut off, but that’s just a theory a Discord theory!”
Suddenly, they heard groaning noises. Every creature turned to see Scootaloo groaning and moaning in pain and trying to stand up. Discord looked with keen interest. Princess Luna looked at the filly with caution while the last two crusaders observed with blank looks.
“Soldiers... kill... them... all...” Scootaloo mumbled, clearly not awake or fit to lead. The soldiers, luckily, didn’t respond to Scootaloo’s plea and instead opted to follow Applebloom and Sweetie Belle as the true leaders.
Capper forced two of the doors to the lab open and led a squad of soldiers inside with something large behind him and his soldiers. Princess Luna observed Capper’s grim look. “Supreme Leader... Scootaloo? Uh, we caught the Storm King but there’s one problem...”
Capper showed the Storm King in all his glory, but the problem was that the once great King that ruled the Badlands was now reduced to a statue that couldn’t move. Beside the statue, was a unicorn with a broken horn. She looked like a true warrior, but any creature in the room could tell that she was afraid, especially of the three Crusaders.
“You... you caught... the Storm King?” Scootaloo mumbled from her tired state. “Great... then... then we can imprison him and use him to vent our frustration.”
“Uh, Supreme Leader... he turned to stone... we don’t know why as of yet,” Capper explained, his back straight as he faced the Supreme Leader of Ponyville.
“It was because he dropped it,”
There was silence in the room, every creature turned to face the mare that had spoken, it was the warrior of the Storm King, the hornless unicorn.
“He dropped the staff,” she clarified. “When we were hit by... whatever that thing was, he dropped the staff which fell to the ground and broke, unleashing some kind of curse that turned Storm King to stone. I don’t know why or how it happened, but that’s what I saw before we crashed,”
Scootaloo chuckled. “It... seems... my... greatness... was... too... much... for... Storm... King... to... handle...” She laughed like it was the funniest joke she had ever said.
In response, Discord snapped his claws, causing Scootaloo to disappear from thin air. “I teleported her to my house, we can pick her up later if you want, Princess Luna,”
“Thank you, Discord,” Luna said with a small smile. “Now, you, who are you?” Luna asked the mare who worked for the Storm King.
The mare stared at Princess Luna for such a long time, that the other creatures in the room believed she wouldn’t say anything until she did. “Tempest Shadow, but that’s not my real name, my real name is Fizzlepop Berrytwist.”
“Geesh, talk about an emo mare,” Discord whispered to Luna who smacked his claw.
“Which name do you prefer?” Luna asked, her voice devoid of emotion.
“If I must pick, I’ll pick Tempest,” Tempest replied, looking towards the floor in fear.
“Okay then, Tempest, I see that you worked for the Storm King, why is that?” Luna questioned with a hint of bite in her tone.
Tempest Shadow gulped at the tone, feeling more than a little afraid for the first time in a long time. “I lost my horn as a filly, I was bullied because of it, called a freak and a monster. So when I was old enough, I set out to try and find the most powerful creature I could find, work for them and hope I get my horn back. The Storm King was the first I came across and worked for him ever since,”
The creatures around the lab felt bad for Tempest, that must have been a very hard life to live. Even Princess Luna looked at Tempest with sympathy.
“I’m sorry little one, it could not have been easy surviving without your magic,” Luna sympathised.
“I can still do magic, but my magic is extremely unstable, mostly causing fireworks and the like,” Tempest explained.
That is when Princess Luna came to a decision.
Princess Celestia had finally reached Ponyville but was shocked to find a gigantic airship crashed into the ground, with splinters of wood all over the town. The shock didn’t die down when she got to see Ponyville for the first time in what felt like centuries. The town was so much more... advanced, ahead of its time with machinery and buildings that made Canterlot look like old buildings.
The royal guards stood by her on either side, ready to follow her command.
“What is all of this?” One of the guards asked, looking at the new Ponyville that looked nothing like the cosy town that was once recommended for travellers.
“Ponyville,” Celestia answered and slowly moved towards the gate of the town.
The guards followed their princess with their weapons ready.
Princess Celestia cast a spell to detect the heat signatures of her little ponies inside but found that most of them were inside their homes with only the soldiers patrolling the streets in moving wagons. What confused the Equestrian Princess, was that the wagons also had heat signatures and moved without anything pulling the wagon. Slowly, the princess and guards made their way to the wide open entrance.
The guards clenched their weapons tightly around their hooves and mouths. One of the commanders whispered to his princess.
“Princess Celestia, what do we do?”
The rainbow-maned princess looked lost in thought as she looked at the entrance. There were soldiers there, guarding with their weapons, ready to defend their home. There weren’t just ponies that were guards of Ponyville, there was a whole array of creatures, even a changeling!
‘What is a changeling doing here?’ Princess Celestia thought, getting instantly worried for her little ponies. Wanting to have all the facts before she attacks random soldiers of Ponyville, she orders the pegasi to see if they can fly to the top and see if there is a dome that covers Ponyville.
The pegasi came back, confirming that there was no dome any longer or that it was disabled. Princess Celestia looks for the heat signature of her sister, but cannot find her anywhere, meaning that Princess Luna is deeper in the town of Ponyville, making her worried. The night sky had clear skies, showing the stars that filled Princess Celestia with determination. The Princess of Equestria ordered the pegasi to fly into the town.
The pegasi salute and take off. “Okay, I need the unicorns to teleport inside of Ponyville, how many of you have been here before?” She asked, her voice clear with seriousness. One-third of the unicorns raise their hooves. “Try to teleport inside and try to find the base with the pegasi, the rest follow me,”
The unicorns that had been to the town before, teleported inside, leaving the rest with Princess Celestia. She carefully made her way to the entrance, activated the heat spell again and saw the heat signatures of the creatures inside Ponyville. The soldiers stood guard, not making much noise, their eyes peeled for movement. There was a watchtower on top of the entrance made of metal and made noise whenever the soldiers moved from one position to another.
Princess Celestia got an idea. She cast a spell on the rest of her guards that made them invisible. She cast the spell on herself and together, they carefully walked through the entrance but almost immediately stopped when they saw the tall buildings of Ponyville and the propaganda that was all over the place. One large red-bricked building had a depiction of Scootaloo, one of the former missing Crusaders’. She had a military salute, with a text underneath.
The Greatest Leader The Planet And Galaxies Have Waited For!
Princess Celestia felt alarm bells go off in her head as she read the text. This was worse than she thought.
The soldiers don’t comment, just waiting for her to move.
Princess Celestia begins to move further into the town and look all over the place, seeing similar propaganda of all three Crusaders’ saying how great the Crusaders were and how they would bring peace and prosperity to the world. There was also a large statue in the middle of the town of the three Crusaders together, holding a hammer, sickle and sword with the words; Peace Through Tyranny! underneath.
Princess Celestia watches as her pegasi and unicorns stealthily manoeuvre around the soldiers before they’re spotted. Princess Celestia and her guards see moving wagons that are driven by the Crusader soldiers inside, confusing them with the technology.
“What is that?” One guard whispers.
“I have no idea,” another replies.
Princess Celestia shushes them and they continue to move. The roads aren’t dirt anymore, instead filled with concrete stone, similar to Manehattan or even Canterlot in some cases, but it was very different. There were roads for the strange wagons to drive on and a pathway for the civilians to walk so they didn’t get run over. The Princess of Equestria then sees a sign that stands out to her.
Ponyville Military Base 20M N