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// Equestria Goes Grey 
// Story: Rush in Equestria 
// by RustyNails 
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Celestia rose the morning sun into the sky, covering Equestria in a beautiful sheet of golden amber. In Ponyville, the yellow rays lit up the Victorian structures of the village. The ponies of Ponyville rose to greet the day; opening up the shops and cafes and setting out to mingle in the streets.

At the cottage near the EverFree Forest, the sun's rays shone through the upstairs window waking a sleeping Fluttershy from her slumber. Fluttershy sat up in her bed, yawning as she gave her hooves and wings a stretch. Looking out the window, she took a deep breath from the fresh spring air and sighed.
"Ahhh, what a wonderful morning."
Two robins flew up to her window and perched on the sill.
"Oh, good morning Mr. and Mrs. Robin."
The birds tweeted to Fluttershy.
"Yes, I remembered the flying lessons for your children. After I have breakfast and feed my critters, I'll be right over."
The robins chirped a thank you and flew away. Fluttershy clopped down the stairs to her kitchen for some breakfast.
"Mmmm sweetened oats, Apple family apples, and a glass of fresh orange juice from my orange tree. My favorite way to start the day."
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At Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack threw open the doors of her barn and took a deep breath of the fresh spring air.
"Ahh, just smell that sweet, sugary air. The smell of the first apples of the season waitin’ to be bucked off their trees."
Applebloom and Big Macintosh joined Applejack.
"Applebloom, ya'll ready?"
Applebloom pulled goggles over her eyes, squinting with determination.
"I'm ready!"
"Big Mac?"
Big Mac split a two by four with his hind hoofs and spread charcoal under his eyes.
"Eeyup."
"All righty then, let’s give these apples a good buckin."
The team trotted out to the apple fields.
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At Carousel Boutique, Rarity was at her sewing machine sewing together pieces of a new hat.
"Just a few more stitches and...perfect!!"
Pulling out the hat with her magic, she placed it on her head and stepped into the sunshine through her window.
"Oh Rarity, your creative intuition has exceeded your expectations again!!!!"
The blue and gold sequined hat sparkled in the sunlight, lighting up her bedroom.
"This gold sequin hat looks just marvelous, and when combined with this blue and satin dress, it goes from marvelous to simply divine!!! Haa!! I need a stroll around Ponyville right now. This is simply to perfect an outfit to keep indoors."
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“Lalalalala!!” Pinkie Pie pranced about the kitchen at SugarCube Corner, preparing baking pans and measuring spoons.
“A perfect day to bake the best new cake Ponyville’s ever seen Gummy!”
Gummy just stared into space as he normally did.
“It’s a new recipe I made up myself, and what makes it even more special is my extra special secret ingredient…Glitter!!!”
She spread a cloud of glitter around the kitchen, covering the gator so much that he shined like gold.
“Thanks for sharing my enthusiasm Gummy, you’re the best!”
She kissed Gummy on the forehead, getting glitter on her lips.
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Inside Golden Oak Library, Twilight was practicing a new spell on Spike.
"Ready Spike?"
"You bet, give it to me."
"Okay. Here we go."
Twilight lit up her horn and concentrated while Spike raised his claws and expanded his chest in a manly pose. A sparkly purple aura appeared around Spike's body. In a flash, Spike suddenly had large, buffed muscles.
"Wow!! Check me out!"
"Whew," Twilight wiped sweat off of her mane. "Muscle spells are always a tough one."
Spike flexed his large biceps in a mirror.
"But the results are awesome. Ohh wait till Rarity gets a look at these babies. Hey Rarity. What? I look different? Oh yeah, I've been workin out. Check out my bis, and my tris, my lats, and my pects."
He kissed his bulked up biceps
"Oooh man I'm pretty."
"Sorry Mr. Bravo." Twilight giggled. "Although you make quite a hunk, those muscles need to go."
"No wait..."
Twilight changed Spike back into his normal form.
"Aughhh, I was really digging those muscles."
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Rainbow Dash…wasn't doing anything. She was sleeping on a lone cloud above Ponyville.
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The Apples reached their first bucking spot in the field.
"Just look at those apples. Plump, juicy, bursting with fruity goodness. This has gotta be one of the best crops we've grown. All right ya'll, grab a tree and get kickin’."
Applebloom balanced three buckets on her head and placed them around the trunk of a tree. Giving the tree a good whack, the apples fell right into the baskets. Applejack bucked her tree and the apples fell off. Big Mac reared up and bucked a tree, but when his hoof hit the wood there was a loud boom.
"Golly Big Mac!" AJ tripped up. "You don't have to hit it that hard."
Big Mac blushed. The team went back to applebucking. Big Mac reared up and hit the tree again. There was another boom.
"Lan’ sakes, ya'll tryin to kill that tree?"
Big Mac sweated nervously.
"Eenope."
He gingerly reared up again and there was another resounding boom.
"For the last time, stop..."
Applejack saw her brother wasn’t even touching the tree.
"I take it that wasn't you makin’ those noises."
"Eeyup."
There was another boom in the sky.
"Golly, there's not supposed to be any rain today. What in tarnation is causing those booms?"
Applebloom looked up toward the sky and started to get scared.
"Look!"
They all looked up and gaped at what they saw.
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The booms in the sky startled Fluttershy, making her spill her juice.
"What was that?"
She looked out her kitchen window.
"That's funny, there's not a cloud in the sky. How could there be thunder?"
A commotion came from Fluttershy's living room. She entered to find Harry the bear, dressed in a pair of swimming trunks, hiding under her sofa.
"Harry? What's the matter? Shouldn't you be at the beach?"
Harry shook his head and explained in bear talk.
"You were on your way there, but turned back because of loud noises and a scary cloud approaching? That's silly, it’s probably just..."
Other critters from the woods crowded into Fluttershy's living room.
"Oh goodness!
The critters were all shaking in fear.
"Whatever is the matter?
A chipmunk covered itself with Fluttershy's mane to hide while a pair of ducks quacked to her, pointing outside.
"There's a big scary dark cloud covering the sky?"
The ducks nodded and covered their eyes. Flutters head for the door.
"I'm sure it’s nothing to be scared of. It's probably just a last minute thunder show..."
Looking up to the sky outside her door, Fluttershy's pupils shrank up. She turned a paler shade of yellow...and screamed.
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Ponies all over Ponyville looked up to the sky. A dark grey cloud was covering up every corner of the sky. In trance-like states, the ponies watched motionless as the cloud spread over them. Twilight came outside.
"What's going on? What's everypony looking at...Oh my gosh!"
"What's happening?" Spike quivered. "What is that?"
"I don't know, but it doesn't look like anything good."
The cloud blocked out the sun, covering the land in darkness.
"Oh no!!" Rarity shrieked. "My hat isn't shining anymore!"
"Forget about your hat, Rarity!" shouted Applejack. "Something’s clouding over the sky."
"AAUUUGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!" Pinkie Pie screamed. "All the glitter for my glitter cake isn't glittering anymore. I spent all my bits just for this glitter too."
"Where's Rainbow Dash?" said Applejack.
"Where she usually is right now." replied Twilight.
Rainbow Dash was still sound asleep on a cloud.
"Rainbow...Rainbow Dash...Rainbow Jennifer Dash."
Rainbow didn't hear her.
"Shoot, her middle name always gets her. Anypony got a pebble or somethin?" said Applejack.
"I've got something better."
Twilight shot a pulse of magic. The jolt startled Rainbow off the cloud and onto the ground.
"Hey! What's the big idea zapping me when I'm napping?"
"Sorry Rainbow, but we've got a weather related problem."
Rainbow looked up and saw the giant cloud.
"Whoa! You don't say."
"Can you do something about it?"
"No sweat. We'll have clear sunny skies lickety-split."
Rainbow took off into the sky racing toward the cloud.
"Once I get above it this baby will be...OW!"
Rainbow hit the cloud and fell back down to Ponyville. The Mane Six gasped, running to her aid.
"Rainbow! You okay?"
Rainbow slid down the trunk of a tree.
"I'm fine."
She got up rubbing her head.
"That's no cloud. Clouds you can fly through, but this thing is rock solid."
"Wait," said Twilight. "I think I know a spell that could work. Let me try it."
Aiming her horn at the sky, Twilight concentrated. She fired a beam of magic at the sky, but the beam bounced off the cloud with no effect.
"This isn't good at all," said Twilight. "That cloud isn't weather and it’s not responding to magic. Whatever is causing it, I can bet it's something bad."
The cloud was moving in below Cloudsdale. The pegasi abandoned the city, fleeing for the ground below before becoming stranded behind.
"Oh no, Tank's up there!"
Rainbow took off for her house, darting inside and back out with Tank in her hooves just before the cloud blocked it from sight.
"You okay buddy?"
"Twilight dear," said Rarity. "Maybe we should think about getting to the princess?"
"Yeah," said Applejack. "Discord could be loose again or something."
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In Canterlot, Celestia and Luna hovered above their palace firing magic at the cloud to try and break it up. Luna, sweating hard, fired more magic from her horn.
"Sister, we've tried all the magic we have. Nothing is working!"
"There has to be something." said Celestia.
She fired more of her own magic, but even with both their magic combined the mysterious dark cloud was impenetrable. Exhausted and sweaty, the two sisters flew back into their throne room. The Mane Six and Spike hurried inside.
"Celestia! Luna!" called Twilight running up to them.
"Twilight!"
"What's going on?"
"What's this thing that's clouding over Equestria?" Fluttershy asked worriedly.
"I don't know," Celestia panted. "I've never seen anything like this before."
"We have been trying to destroy it for hours." said Luna. "We've used all of our magic and nothing has worked."
"Where's Discord?" said Rainbow Dash. "If that creep’s stirring up trouble again..."
"It's not Discord." Luna interrupted. "This is too plain for him."
"And besides," added Pinkie. "He's right where we left him."
She pointed out the window to where Discord stood petrified in the sculpture garden.
"So what else could it be?" asked Rarity.
"It's something you little ponies can't defeat!"
A cold, two-toned voice echoed among the columns and stained-glass.
"I'd know that voice anywhere," said Luna.
"Chrysalis!" Celestia gasped. "Show yourself!"
A burst of green fire appeared in front of the princesses' thrones, and the changeling queen revealed herself.
"We should have known it was you!" Celestia shouted.
"Guilty as charged."
"What are you doing here?" Luna demanded. "What are you doing to Equestria?"
"Covering it in eternal darkness. Something you, the princess of the night, once tried to do yourself."
Luna teared up; she hated being reminded of her own dark past. Shaking her head she regained her composure and stood next to her sister.
"How are you causing this?!" Twilight shouted.
"Twilight Sparkle,” the changeling hissed. “You disappoint me. Surely a staunch student of magic such yourself has heard of…the Grey Crystal."
"The Grey Crystal?!" 
Twilight was surprised. 
"But that's just an old legend."
"Oh no, it's very much real. My changelings and I found it in the jungles beyond Equestria. I’ve activated it by charging it with my changeling powers, and it's creating the cloud of dark energy you see blocking out the light of your beloved princess. By midnight tomorrow, the dark energy will have spread to every corner of Equestria, covering it in an eternal darkness.”
"Just you wait!" shouted Rainbow Dash. "We'll find a way to destroy it..."
"Oh no you won't, no magic of this world can destroy the cloud or the crystal..."
Chrysalis buzzed down close to the ponies' eyes
"Not even the Elements of Harmony."
They gasped.
"You won't get away with this Chrysalis," Celestia challenged.
"But I already have, Princess. Next to the Elements, the magic of you and your sister is the most powerful in all of Equestria, and the two of you couldn't even make a dent in it."
Celestia’s face went forlorn realizing the changeling queen was right.
"Enjoy your world while you have it my little ponies, for soon it will belong to me!!!!"
Chrysalis laughed maniacally before disappearing in a cloud of green smoke.
"What do we do Princess?" Twilight asked.
Celestia and Luna hung their heads sadly.
"I'm sorry my little ponies, but there's nothing we can do."
The Mane Six looked at each other worried.
"Eternal darkness?” Rainbow Dash quivered.