//------------------------------// // Chapter Four: Reunion // Story: Dawn of the Crusaders // by VietNinja220 //------------------------------// “No! Miss Cheerilee!” Apple Bloom yelled. Cheerilee was surrounded by three ponies, all of whom looked around the same age as Apple Bloom herself. The pony to the front was no stranger. Her light pink coat and purple tiara cutie mark brought back horrible memories from elementary school. Her pale purple and white striped mane looped around the top of her head and fell in curls down to her chest. On top of her head, she wore her trademark blue and white tiara. It was none other than Diamond Tiara, the same pony who bullied the three Cutie Mark Crusaders throughout all of elementary school for being the last three ponies in the class to gain their cutie marks. To the left stood a gray pony with brilliant blue framed glasses and a well groomed silver braid as her manestyle. She wore an exquisite pearl necklace and had a cutie mark reminiscent of her name, a silver spoon. Another pony stood at the right of Diamond Tiara. A dark blue hooded cloak covered the majority of her body, showing almost no signs of the pony’s coat. A dark red mask covered her face, shielding her identity from the three. Nothing could be seen of her other than her hooves, which were unmistakably brown. “Give Miss Cheerilee back!” Scootaloo yelled. She crouched down with wings stretched out, preparing to fight whenever she had the chance. “Nuh uh, Scootapoo! One step forward and Miss Cheerilee is going to be wishing she had wings like you!” Diamond Tiara replied. She nodded her head slightly and Silver Spoon turned her back towards Cheerilee, preparing to kick her back down the portal in which they came. “No, you wouldn’t!” Sweetie Belle yelled hesitantly. “I won’t, if you hand over the Elements of Harmony!” Diamond Tiara suggested. “Why do you need the Elements? How did you get in here in the first place?” Apple Bloom yelled. “Why we need the elements is none of your business! And how did I get in? Well you could say thanks to your little unicorn friend right there.” Diamond Tiara explained. “You see, the group teleportation spell isn’t an instantaneous spell, but a continuous spell. Your teleportation was still open for a few seconds after you had casted it, giving us three the power to teleport using the small window that you created!” Sweetie Belle flinched. “Then you just followed us through the tower?” “You catch on quick...for a loser. Yes, we simply waited until you were up in the portal then we ran after you. We were actually hoping to catch all four of you at the altar and surprise you, but we were lucky enough for you to leave your little schoolteacher as a gift to us.” Diamond Tiara explained with a grin smile across her face. “So, the elements or else!” “No, save the elements!” Cheerilee cried. “Forget about me!” “Diamond Tiara, I don’t think they will give up the elements that easily.” The cloaked pony whispered. “Well, why don’t you go take it from them?!” Diamond Tiara yelled. The cloaked pony sighed. “Fine, as long as we don’t hurt Apple Bloom.” “Who cares if she’s hurt!? What matters is that we get the elements!” Diamond Tiara yelled. “Now go!” The cloaked pony walked up to the three. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were poised to defend anything that this pony would do, whether it would be magic or just brute strength. There was a minute of silence as the ponies had a miniature standoff. The cloaked pony acted first, charging recklessly to the left, trying to strike down the exhausted Sweetie Belle first. Scootaloo then dashed straight into the path of the cloaked pony, ramming her hoof into the mask of the cloaked pony and knocking her into the brick wall. She shook her head and stood up once more. Small red shards started falling from the right half of the mask. Piece by piece, more of the pony’s face had been revealed. She started charging once again, this time aiming for Apple Bloom. Scootaloo again started flying towards this cloaked pony, but she was ready this time. In a split second, the pony planted her front right leg into the ground and started spinning counter clockwise until she was facing directly away from the approaching threat. She then lifted her legs and, before Scootaloo could stop, kicked the Pegasus across the room. Scootaloo flew a great distance before landing on the floor and sliding back first on the tiles. While the pony wasn't looking, Apple Bloom ran up and planted her left hoof into the floor and spun exactly as the cloaked pony did. As the mystery pony turned, a yellow hoof was headed towards her face and there was no time to dodge it. The pony was launched back to the wall that she had hit before, but this time, more shards started falling off her mask. Bit by bit, more and more cracks starting appearing on her mask, mostly concentrated on the right eye. A large chunk then fell off the right eye portion of the mask, revealing a light brown coat and a bright green eye. Locks of red hair could be seen as well. “No, it can’t be.” Apple Bloom muttered. The pony ran right past Apple Bloom and whispered. “I’m sorry Apple Bloom, but I have no choice.” The mysterious pony turned and launched a devastating kick to Apple Bloom and sent her towards Diamond Tiara and the portal. “No, Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo yelled. She immediately jumped up from the floor and sprung into action, flying as fast as she could to catch Apple Bloom. “Now’s our chance, Silver Spoon! Let’s go!” Diamond Tiara yelled. The three started running towards the Elements of Harmony while Apple Bloom was flying through the air. Apple Bloom bounced on the floor several times but did not slow down. Cheeriliee, who was trying to catch up to Diamond Tiara, ran into the bouncing earth pony and was sent rolling towards the portal as well. Scootaloo flew as fast as her wings could take her. She knew that even though she was no Rainbow Dash, she could make it if she just tried a little bit harder. The more she pushed herself, the closer she got to Apple Bloom and Cheerilee. The two stopped bouncing and slid across the tile for the rest of the 5 meters between them and the portal. “Here’s my chance!” Scootaloo said as she started passing up the two. She flew directly in front of the two and turned around. She put her front hooves on Cheerilee’s back and her back hooves onto the floor. The three started to slow down, but were still headed closer to the portal. Scootaloo pushed harder on the tile, slowing the three even further. Inches away from the portal, they stood to a halt. Scootaloo, exhausted from that event, fell on her side, breathing heavily as she tried her best to recover from such an incident. “At last, the Elements!” Diamond Tiara said with a wicked smile stretched across her face. She jumped up and grabbed the treasure chest containing the Elements of Harmony using her mouth. “Alright, we’ve done what we came to do, now let’s go!” Diamond Tiara carefully placed the treasure chest in her saddlebag and started galloping towards the portal. Silver Spoon shortly followed and the brown pony shorly after. As they ran, the presence around the room shifted, having a totally different feeling. Sweetie Belle noticed this and was frozen in place by the change in atmosphere. “What? What’s happening to me?” She knew that this was no ordinary effect, but a magical effect, which was the reason why only she could feel such a sensation flowing though her body. The alter itself started to glow bright gold, pulsing a white light that illuminated the entire room. “See ya, losers!” Diamond Tiara yelled as she walked down the portal, followed by Silver Spoon and the brown cloaked pony. The altar started pulsing faster with every second and the room started shaking violently. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom both felt a short energy burst flow through them and got up immediately, as if they were never exhausted at all. Sweetie Belle moved forward, trying to resist the great forces at work that put her in the situation that she was in before. “What’s going on??” Scootaloo asked. “The elements have been removed from its resting spot. It’s a trap!” Cheerilee yelled. The ceiling started to crack open with a strangely straight opening. The ceiling split into four equal parts, each rising slowly as the altar started to pulse faster and faster. Every tile started to glow in their respective color and beams of light shot out of them, headed towards the altar. The ceiling opened up, each part of the ceiling rising, as if it was connected by some sort of joint, until every point created by the splitting was pointing towards the sky. Dust and gems started raining down on the room, making it near impossible to stay in there. “We’ve gotta get outta here!” Apple Bloom yelled franticly. “Yeah, let’s go!” Sweetie Belle agreed. The four galloped as fast as they could to the black void that led to the lower area of the sanctum and jumped into it without hesitation. The rest of the tower was feeling the same effects, with every tile shooting a beam of light into the center of the ceiling and violent shaking making the stairwell extremely hard to traverse. “There’s no way we can make it in time!” Sweetie Belle yelled. “The longer we take, the more powerful the magic will be, and then we’ll be all destroyed!” “So you got any suggestions??” Scootaloo asked. An idea popped up. “This may not work, but it’s our only hope!” Sweetie Belle yelled. “Stop and huddle around me!” Sweetie Belle closed her eyes and started concentrating, hoping to cast the group teleportation spell once again despite being almost completely out of energy. She suddenly felt another huge surge of energy flow through her body and a large burst surrounded all four of the ponies. They opened their eyes once again and saw themselves standing on the cobblestone streets of the Canterlot marketplace. [Canterlot] The four looked around the area and were shocked at the amount of ponies that were roaming around. None. No pony was out in the usually bustling marketplace of Canterlot. It was eerily empty and the four knew exactly why. To the east, they can see the tower from where they came from, except it was glowing rapidly in different shades of colors, from blue to green to purple and more. A giant crowd was surrounding the tower, wondering what had happened. After a few seconds of watching, the top of the tower started glowing. A giant ball of light appeared coming from the room where the Elements of Harmony were located before Diamond Tiara had stolen them. The ball of light grew larger and larger. The citizens of Canterlot started retreating, knowing that an explosion was bound to happen sooner or later. The four took advantage of this chaos and headed closer towards the tower. The closer they got, the more magical energy Sweetie Belle could feel. Although it wasn’t to the scale as the energy that Sweetie Belle met in the element room, it was still enough for her to feel a drastic change in the atmosphere. They decided to stop a block away, in order not to cause any suspicions. From here, they could see the royal guard members surrounding the tower, knowing that there was absolutely nothing that they could do to stop this explosion. The captain of the royal guard, Prince Shining Armor, was at the front of the gate, casting his well known barrier spell around the tower. Since it was used at such a small scale compared to the Canterlot Invasion, it was much stronger and almost impenetrable. Even Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had come out to see what was happening to the Elements of Harmony. All of a sudden, there was a loud noise reminiscent of an explosion. A giant rainbow colored beam shot out of the top of the tower. The barrier that Shining Armor made was shattered instantly and the beam shot further, piercing the heavens. Small twinkles were seen exciting the opening and flowed with the wind until they dissipated in the air. The tower slowly began to stop pulsing and shaking, yet the beam continued to stream out of the opening. The sky around Canterlot changed color just as the tower did, from its normal blue to red, green, purple, and more. The clouds were nearly destroyed due to the shockwave of the beam and made an almost perfect circle shape, despite being torn to shreds. “What’s happening?” Sweetie Belle asked. “The Elements.. So that’s why! It wasn’t a trap after all!” Cheerilee muttered. “But when Twilight Sparkle and the others went to retrieve them, nothing happened.. So something like this would only happen if the wielders of the Elements have passed on...” “So since Applejack and the others are…. not here… then the tower would act up like this?” Apple Bloom asked. “At least that’s what I think, Apple Bloom.” Cheerilee replied. “When the Elements of Harmony are removed and the wielders of the Elements at the current time are no longer on this world, then the magic that was contained in the Elements are unleashed, the magic that was used by ponies everywhere over one thousand and five hundred years ago.” A voice said behind them. The four turned around to see long white slender legs. They slowly looked up as they greeted with the stern face of Princess Celestia looking down on them with great anger. “What? Ho-“ Cheerilee started. “I know what you four did, and there will be severe consequences for you.” Princess Celestia said crossly. “Come, you have a lot of explaining to do.”