Cutie Mark Crusaders United! Chapter Two: Sooner is Better
by Princess Amazing Pony
Roseluck proudly and happily watered her roses, sprinkles of water dropping onto the red flowers. She did not only sell roses; she sold daisies and forget-me-nots, but the roses were her most popular. As the last rose was watered, Roseluck noticed a change in the sky. It turned very dark.
"Wait, huh?!" exclaimed Roseluck. "How-- It's not supposed to storm until Friday!"
Raindrops by the thousands poured onto the village, lightning and loud thunder shortly after. Roseluck watched as the ponies walking down the streets ran everywhere for shelter, confused and cold as they were. Roseluck sighed and switched her "OPEN" sign to "CLOSED" and ran to find shelter, too. She ran for the nearest building, Sugar Cube Corner, to find Mr. and Mrs. Cake inside making hot cocoa.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Cake," said Roseluck. "How are you?"
"Hello, Roseluck," said Mr. Cake. "We were on our way to the markets on Mane Street until it started pouring rain unexpectedly. I heard it was not supposed to rain until Friday, two days from now."
"I know," Roseluck replied. "Why isn't Rainbow Dash handling this?!"
"Well, she and the rest of the Elements of Harmony have been called to a meeting in Canterlot with Princess Celestia," Mrs. Cake answered. "But they should have been back about half an hour ago. Pinkie Pie, being an Element of Harmony, had to be there too. She should have been back thirty minutes ago when we opened the bakery. It's been a mess without her helping, so we had to close it."
"We were getting worried," added Mr. Cake. "We tried to write to her, but she doesn't appear to have seen it yet. Normally, she would have written back by now. I would went to Canterlot myself, but it appears the next Canterlot Express is not for about three or four hours, but by then she should be back."
"Wow," Roseluck said. "How much chaos is around Ponyville when the Elements of Harmony are gone? I can name quite a few bits."
"Well, until the storm clears up, you can stay with us if you like," Mrs. Cake offered. Roseluck smiled and nodded. "You're welcome to some cocoa."
Cheerilee finished lesson planning for Ponyville Elementary for the following day. She lay out textbooks of The Pony Body and Fancy Mathematics for Mules on each desk. She walked out the school house and shut the door. She realized it was pouring rain, totally unexpectedly.
Lightning hit the school house, causing it to flame and then burn to a crisp as Cheerilee watched in horror, jaw practically hitting the ground. Thunder boomed and echoed in the distance as Cheerilee sighed and looked at the remains of the school house, some was left, but most of the school house burned, singed, burnt to a crisp, caught flame from the powerful lightning bolt.
Thunder struck again. Cheerilee sighed again and swore, "Aw, fiddlesticks." She now had to rebuild the school house, which wasn't gonna be easy. Cheerilee wasn't totally ticked at the fact the school house was 76% burned, because the items, books and everything survived the flame.
She thought, Forget the school house, I need to find safe shelter before I get burnt to a crisp, too!
Cheerilee saw the strong wind was picking up, blowing rain and cold air into the pony's face. The leaves on every tree had fallen off from the wind, from Cheerilee's view Ponyville was in a poor state. Things were burnt, destroyed, vanished. Ponies scrambled and scurried around from all over to find safe shelter from the storm.
Ponyville...
Lyra and Bon Bon exited their small house in Ponyville, only to find that a storm was brewing, strong wind picked up, striking cold into the ponies. They shivered as they watched lightning strike nearby plants and trees, causing them to flame. Thunder roared as the lightning hit again, to a nearby house, causing it to flame too.
Vinyl Scratch and Octavia scurried out of the flaming house in a hurry, surprised how their house had caught on fire when being struck by a simple lightning bolt. The ran over to Lyra and Bon Bon. Vinyl said, "Run for your lives! You're not safe anywhere!"
Lyra and Bon Bon exchanged looks. Then, unexpectedly, the flame from the house spread, coming toward the four ponies. They all yelped and ran as far as their four hooves could carry them. They ran to the only place they could: Away from Ponyville. They stopped at the "Welcome to Ponyville! Population: 50" sign. The flame did not come this far, but the wind picked up and the rain seemed to pour harder.
Flame from the village was still visible from the eyes of the ponies, but faint as the flame died out a little bit. Just a LITTLE bit.
The whole town was doomed. Its fate was in question. Nopony was brave enough to stop this chaos, nopony. Twilight Sparkle and the Elements of Harmony were in Canterlot. Princess Celestia certainly couldn't visit Ponyville. Nopony could stop the whole town from burning down.
Without the Elements of Harmony, nothing seemed possible.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders, wet and cold, continued their investigation on why the whole town was doomed. What was going on? The Cutie Mark Crusaders wanted to find out what everypony had not known. Nothing, absolutely nothing, was gonna stop them from figuring this out.
The Crusaders walked around, heads held down so that they didn't get too wet. They walked through puddles, watching as lightning struck again and made buildings catch on fire. They watched as the wind blew all the leaves off of trees and bushes.
"Who is that?!" Scootaloo exclaimed. Before them stood Electric Aspect, turned away from them. His wings lit up a yellow and red, and more lightning hit Ponyville. He turned around.
"Um, hello...?" Apple Bloom said. King Aspect looked at them suspiciously and then shrugged.
"Some more baby fillies," said Aspect. "Just leave them, Aspect. Just leave them." He flew off into the distance, wings still lighting up that same aura, making it rain harder, wind more stronger.
"HEY! YOU DON'T CALL US BABIES!" Scootaloo called out to Aspect.
"I bet he's the one behind all this!" said Sweetie Belle.
"We should stop him!" Apple Bloom said.
"Yeah!" Scootaloo agreed.
"Well, sooner is better!" Sweetie said. "Let's plan on stopping him!"
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER VILLAIN STOPPERS, YAY!"
Princess Celestia got up on her four legs, dizzy and unsure what had just happened. She found herself laying on the ground, got up, and recognized where she was; she knew this place, a place she had found being trapped in a long time ago...
King Aspect's prison for the Elements of Harmony.
This wasn't a jail of some sort, it was another dimension. Far, far away from Equestria. This dimension seemed to be nothing, really, except a giant space with no gravity. It looked just like space; it was all dark, there were stars everywhere, no gravity... Whatever the ponies seemed to walk on was nothing.
The other Elements got up and looked around confused and baffled. Twilight Sparkle rubbed her eyes to make sure she was not dreaming. She found out she wasn't.
"Where are we, Princess?" Applejack asked as the princess looked around.
"Yeah, I don't remember this place," Rainbow added.
"This isn't Canterlot Castle, is it?" Twilight said.
"This is the prison I was telling you about," said Celestia. "The dimension Electric Aspect had imprisoned my sister and I in. He doesn't want us to mess everything up back in Equestria, so he sent us here."
"Mess everything up?" Rarity asked. "We'd never mess anything up, would we?"
"He knows if we were there," Princess Celestia answered. "we'd mess up his plan to take over Equestria. For what I know, there's a high chance he's going for Ponyville first."
Fluttershy shuffled her hooves, while floating in the air. She was extra nervous when she was around the Princess.
"Then how do we get out?" asked Fluttershy.
"I don't think it's possible," said the Princess. "Not unless somepony back in Equestria knows where we are and casts a spell to get us back. But what kind of pony would be able to to that?"
"Princess Luna?" Pinkie Pie asked. "Or Princess Cadence? Somepony must know we're gone, or--" Pinkie's eyes teared up for a bit. "Everypony must be having fun without us!" Pinkie calmed down for a bit.
"I don't think Luna is awake yet," Princess Celestia replied. "She doesn't wake up until midnight. And as for Cadence..." Celestia paused for a moment before speaking again. "Well, Aspect may have freed King Sombra again, which is very bad for the Crystal Empire. I don't think Cadence even has time to free us, and even if she did, she wouldn't even know we're gone."
"But what about Ponyville?" said Twilight. "What might the ponies be going through there?"
Back at Sugar Cube Corner...
Roseluck sipped her cocoa as she read the weekly magazine, Horseshoes. Mr. and Mrs. Cake frantically checked their mailbox outside, waiting for a letter from Pinkie Pie and the Elements of Harmony. No luck was found, and they'd been waiting by the mailbox for almost twenty minutes.
Mr. and Mrs. Cake went inside Sugar Cube Corner, sopping wet, shivering like madness. Roseluck tried not to laugh, but she could barely stop herself. The Cakes shook all the water off, Roseluck griped a little as some water droplets splashed onto her face.
That's what you get for laughing at them, Roseluck, Roseluck thought.
"Oops," Mr. Cake said, half smiling. He thought the same thing: That's what you get for laughing at us!
"Uh huh," said Roseluck, frowning.
"No, really."
"Sure..."
At Ponyville Elementary...
Cheerilee looked from the next door house at the remains of Ponyville Elementary and frowned. That was thousands of bits that had been put into that one school house, and it was all gone. Another thousand bits to go. The leaves from the trees had turn brown and red, and they littered all over the yard of the school house.
The rain poured even harder, if it even seemed possible. The lightning continued striking things and setting them on fire, with the "boom" that sounded from the thunder. There were occasional times when the pouring softened a little.
Cheerilee didn't know how this storm had lasting so long, and how it kept pouring rain hard without running out of rain. And she didn't know how lightning could be as powerful as this.
But Cheerilee didn't know who was behind it and what was gonna happen next. Nopony knew besides the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Around the borders of Ponyville...
Lyra, Bon Bon, Vinyl Scratch, and Octavia were still standing at the "Welcome to Ponyville" sign, getting rained on hard. Lightning still struck, but not near them. The safest course of action would be to stay where they were and run if any fire or dangerous things came near them.
What had happened to Ponyville, they did not know. Not even in the history of Equestria had there been a storm this big, something strange was going on, and they wanted to know.
"I bet Discord or or someone has been messing with Ponyville again," Lyra said.
"Nuh uh!" argued Vinyl. "I bet that that griffon with anger issues named Gilda is trying to get her revenge on us. Rainbow Dash said Gilda usually spends most of her time in the sky, arranging weather patterns like Dash herself does."
"I bet it's Trixie Lulamoon!" Bon Bon argued. "Remember what happened last time? All of Ponyville was destroyed and discorded because Trixie had some sort of powerful amulet on her neck!"
"I bet it's King Sombra, that king who tried to take over the Crystal Empire Twilight told us about!" Octavia joined in. "I mean, first he tried to take over the Crystal Empire and lost. I bet he's came back to get Ponyville instead!"
The ponies argued and argued, which made Lyra feel bad inside.
Oh, Celestia, please! thought Lyra. Please, help us! This is tearing everypony apart...
At the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse...
"Okay, so we know that that weird pegasus is causing all this chaos," Apple Bloom started. "and we need to stop him. Soo... any plans?"
"Uh, no," Scootaloo said.
"No, not really..." Sweetie Belle said. "Ooh, wait, I have an idea! How about we get the Elements of Harmony to defeat him?"
"Actually, they're in Canterlot," replied Scootaloo.
"And if THEY defeated him, we would never get our Cutie Marks!" said Apple Bloom.
"Oh, yeah..." Sweetie said. "But HOW are we gonna drive off that pegasus? We have no Elements of Harmony or anything like that. And how can we even have any at all if we don't have our Cutie Marks?"
"Hmm, yeah, you have a point there..." Apple Bloom replied.
"Why can't we just activate the Elements of Harmony ourselves?" Scootaloo asked.
"Well, we don't even know where the Elements of Harmony are," Sweetie replied. "And even if we did, we wouldn't be able to activate them anyway."
"Why not?" asked Scootaloo.
"Only Twilight Sparkle and her friends can activate them. If we even could activate them, how would we know HOW to activate the Elements?"
"We could ask Princess Celestia," Apple Bloom said.
"No, we couldn't. First of, we can't bother the Princess. You might have to book for months before you can see her. Second, well, she probably wouldn't tell us or let us since it's only Twilight Sparkle's job to activate the Elements."
"Well, can't we just ask Twilight or her friends if they could ask Princess Celestia to help us?" Scootaloo asked.
The three exchanged looks. This might be a good idea.
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER VILLAIN STOPPERS A-GO!"
Princess Celestia paced back and forth, thinking of a plan on how to get out. The others, on the other hand, were playing a relaxing game of Ponopoly that Pinkie Pie had, for some reason, brought in her saddle bag. Twilight was not.
"Come on, Princess, there's got to be a way," Twilight urged Princess Celestia.
"I'm sure of that, Twilight," said Princess Celestia. "But it seems there isn't. The last time I was here, nopony even knew I was gone until Princess Silver Wings noticed and spent days making a spell to get us out."
"But Princess Silver Wings isn't around anymore."
"Exactly. This time, we may be staying here for all eternity." Oh, no.
Electric Aspect chuckled as he forced lightning to hit another house and set it on fire. The flame spread around the area, also spreading through Aspect as well. He was immune to fire, being a powerful being. Aspect flew off and landed on a tree which had lost all its leaves from the strong wind.
King Aspect watched as King Sombra teleported to atop of the tree and next to him.
"I'm gonna go... See if the Crystal Empire is near," said Sombra, grinning.
"Fine with me," Aspect replied. "In the meantime, I'm gonna be making a few more changes to my new village. I really have been practicing my pegasus magic."
"See ya," Sombra said and waved good-bye. He teleported off of the tree and onto the ground.
Sombra imagined the Crystal Empire's crystalline streets, ponies sparkling from head to hooves, cobbled paths, the Crystal Castle, and... Princess Cadence. He felt his magic working, that familiar tingle in his horn, the aura engulfing his body, and the light growing brighter around him. In a flash, he appeared at the Crystal Empire's entrance.
This is gonna be awesome! thought Sombra. He felt his magic working as black, sharp crystals sprouted and formed across the crystalline land, the black crystal spreading throughout the whole empire. Everything did not even seem crystalline now, thanks to Sombra's magic.
Princess Cadence, in the Crystal Castle, glanced outside and her heart just about stopped when she saw who was at the entrance of the Empire.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders, still at their clubhouse meeting, have just came up with an idea.
"Scootaloo, you go see Rainbow Dash and tell her about the plan!" said Apple Bloom. "Sweetie, you go tell Rarity about our plan, and I'll go tell Applejack about it. Go!"
Apple Bloom ran over to the barn where Applejack was supposed to be. Apple Bloom walked through the whole barn, calling out Applejack's name, but the orange mare seemed to be nowhere in sight. Apple Bloom was certain Applejack would be back from her meeting by now, but she wasn't.
Apple Bloom, concerned, ran around the farm to find Big Mac harvesting corn for supper. Big Mac turned around to see Apple Bloom with a concerned face.
"Big brother," said Apple Bloom, "Applejack isn't here. She should have been back here by now, but apparently she isn't."
"Ee-yup," replied Big Mac.
"And I was becoming concerned," Apple Bloom continued. "So maybe you have a clue to where she is?"
"Ee-nope," answered Big Mac.
"Oh, okay. Thanks for helping, anyway." Apple Bloom glanced at the cluds above. "Why are you harvesting corn in the rain, anyway?"
"The corn gets washed off in the rain, so I thought it would be good to harvest them while they got washed off."
"Mhm. Well, see ya!"
"Rarity?" Sweetie Belle called out as she entered Carousel Boutique. "Rarity? Rarity!" Sweetie walked around Carousel Boutique, looking for her sister. The strong wind entered the Boutique, forcing paper, dress designs, thread, and a ton of Rarity's things around the floor. Sweetie shut the door and found the floor was wet.
She told herself she would mop it up later and she continued looking for her sister. She opened every door in the Boutique, but Rarity was not in sight. Rarity, of course, did not leave her Boutique when it was stormy out, for she worried her hair would get messed up.
Sweetie assured herself she would find Rarity, and when she did, she would tell her about the Crusaders' plan. But Rarity was not found anywhere in the house.
Carousel Boutique was never empty anymore, Rarity had let Sweetie move in with her a few months ago. When Rarity was gone, Sweetie was usually there. When Sweetie was gone, well, Rarity was there most of the time.
"Something isn't right," said Sweetie as she knocked on the bathroom door. Nopony was in there. Sweetie Belle sighed and exited the Boutique and walked back over to the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse.
Scootaloo spead her wings to try and fly up to Rainbow Dash's cloud house. Scootaloo's flying had gotten better ever since the Cutie Mark Crusaders had met. Scootaloo made it to Dash's house and knocked on her door.
"Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo said. "You in there?" No answer. "Huh."
Scootaloo opened the door to see if Rainbow was home, and she wasn't. Scootaloo looked around the house, all over, in the kitchen, bedroom, guest room, storage room, all of Rainbow's rooms. Dash was not there.
"Rainbow Dash? Where'd you go?"
Scootaloo had no luck in finding Rainbow Dash, so she exited the cloud house and hopped on down to the ground, getting rained on even harder. She ran towards the Crusaders' clubhouse in the distance.
Twilight Sparkle looked at Princess Celestia. She looked back at Twilight.
"Princess," said Twilight. "What do we do now? What can we do while we're gone?"
"I'm not sure," said Princess Celestia. "Last time I was trapped here, Luna and I just-- Well, we didn't do anything, really. We just kind of... Sat here, catching up with our thoughts."
"So you mean you didn't really do anything while you were here last?"
"Not really. Mostly we either sat here to catch up with our thoughts or rest. We, of course, are in the dimension of nothing. We can't do anything, we can do nothing."
"Well, if it weren't for Pinkie--" Twilight pointed to Pinkie Pie, still playing Ponopoly with the rest of the gang-- "If it weren't for Pinkie, we would be bored out of our minds. She brought all sorts of fun stuff."
"Like ONE board game."
"Ponopoly's fun! And we're lucky we have anything entertaining to do, if it wasn't for her we would probably just be sitting here for all eternity."
"Twilight, we have other things to worry about other than Ponopoly. First of, we have no clue what's going on back in Equestria. We cannot be there to save them, so we must hope that somepony back in Equestria knows we're gone and get us back somehow."
"Well, you have a point. Eventually somepony's gonna notice that we're gone, and news will spread around Equestria and everypony will pitch in to help."
Electric Aspect's wings lit up that same aura, resulting in more rain, lightning and thunder. He chuckled as he forced lightning to hit right next to all the ponies scrambling all over, trying to find shelter. Ponyville was in a very poor state.
He flew around, trying to find more pieces of Ponyville to invade before trying to earn the ponies as servants, as his own, just the way Sombra had corrupted the Crystal Empire a while back. He grinned wide as the ponies tripped and scurried to their homes, or other shelter if theirs had been burnt or destroyed in any way.
Sombra, at the Crystal Empire, entered the Empire and was soon met by Princess Cadence.
"What do you think you're doing here, Sombra?" Cadance asked in a tone of displeasement. "I thought you were gone. Even if you have a logical reason... No use in trying to corrupt the Empire." Cadance looked around at the dark crystals forming on the ground and at the yellow sky. "I see you already have."
"I must get my revenge," said Sombra. Cadance's horn lit up, ready to blast at Sombra. "for that corrupting the Empire is my job. Besides, even your measly little "Crystal Heart" (blaggh) is not even gonna stop me! I have back ups."
"Oh yeah?" Cadance's horn aura faded. "What kind of back ups?"
"My brother," said Sombra, grinning. Cadance's face turned from a defensive face to a baffled one.
"You have a brother?"
"Only the most powerful ever. He's basically an Alicorn. He can fly and do magic at the same time!" Cadance stared blankly at Sombra. "No use in trying to defeat me! If you at least try to, he'll know and back up me."
"Oh... Ah..." Cadance, at first, thought there really was no use. But maybe Sombra was kidding. Maybe he just said that so Cadance really wouldn't try to defeat him and victory would be his. Cadance's horn lit up blue aura and blasted at Sombra hard. Sombra laughed as electric sparks blasted out of his own body and threw away the aura Cadance blasted at him.
"I told you." Cadance stared, mouth wide. "I told you!"
But what was the use in giving up there? Cadance flew quickly over to the Crystal Heart as Sombra watched and grinned evilly. The Crystal Heart lit up Cadance's aura and spun around quickly, blasting a rainbow aura across the Empire. The blast was strong enough to blast away all of the black crystals and turn the yellow sky back to robin's egg blue.
But this time, Sombra was immune to the Crystal Heart.
"But... But... That's not even POSSIBLE!" Cadance shouted. "The Crystal Heart worked last time, but not THIS time! What the heck! Holy Celestia! That's not even..." Cadance paced back and forth, thinking of something that would get Sombra out of the Crystal Empire for good.
"Ha ha ha! I told you it wouldn't work!" Sombra boasted, grinning wide and evilly. "I really AM armed this time! Nothing can stop me!!!!!"
Gulp.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders gathered around the clubhouse table, discussing what happened.
"When I went to the barn, Applejack wasn't there!" Apple Bloom started, only to be looked at by Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.
"And when I went to Carousel Boutique, Rarity wasn't there!" Sweetie Belle added. "What a funny coincidence! Almost too weird. I thought the Elements of Harmony bearers would be back home by now from the meeting. It's been hours, and some weird pegasus with freaky magic is ruining Ponyville!"
"You know, it's such a crazy coincidence," said Scootaloo, "because the same thing happened to me. I was checking every cloud, even Rainbow Dash's house, and I couldn't find Rainbow Dash herself! I called out her name all over the place, and somehow I couldn't find her. What happened?"
The Cutie Mark Crusaders shrugged. Apple Bloom stared out the window at the rain pouring heavily down on the village, followed by the "enchanted" lightning and thunder. "I don't think anything bad's happened to them, though. The train's probably late. Let's just cope with this storm until the Element bearers get back," said Apple Bloom.
"Yeah, 'cause it's a crime to be messing with weather patterns and such," Scootaloo said. "Plus, he's using weird lightning to burn down houses and trees and things. That's two crimes. Two Ponyville laws broken."
"I bet that the storm is just the tip of the iceberg," Sweetie added to the conversation. "I bet he's trying to invade Ponyville, so he's keeping us indoors and letting us have no fun and panic and such so that we would warm us up for some really evil thing he's trying to do."
"Yeah, that kind of makes sense," Scootaloo said. "I mean, it's clever but dirty. He probably has something to do with the Element bearers being gone." Sweetie and Apple Bloom exchanged looks.
"That makes sense, Scoots," Apple Bloom said. "I mean, it's not normal for the Canterlot Express being late. And it's unusual for the Element bearers being gone for almost six hours in a row. Something odd or evil must have happened to them."
"Yeah, nothing like that has happened before," said Sweetie. "I've never even seen that pegasus in Ponyville before in all my life, and here he's just ruining it. He randomly comes into Ponyville and decides to shatter it into pieces."
"Can't the Mayor do something?" asked Scootaloo.
"The Mayor is too *cough cough* scared to even do anything about it," Apple Bloom answered. "I saw her shut the door to Town Hall and hide in there with a worried look on her face. I don't know why she even bothered, since that pegasus could burn it down in a jiffy if he wanted to."
"But who is that pegasus, anyway?" Scootaloo asked. "I doubt anypony knows."
"I don't know, but he's really powerful," said Sweetie Belle. "He's not your average pegasus, I'm guessing. I mean, we saw him do magic and such. I've never seen a pegasus be able to do magic. Except Alicorns, but Alicorns are not pegasi. Pegasi do not have horns, they have only wings."
"Um, ahem, we know that already," said Scootaloo. She flapped her wings.
"Well, can't we do something about it without using the Elements of Harmony?" Apple Bloom said.
"No way!" Sweetie replied. "I mean, there is no defeat in history without involving the Elements of Harmony. Except that Crystal Empire story, where they used some crystal heart to defeat an evil king.
"Again, sooner is better!" Scootaloo said. "Come on, we've got to find a way to do this. If not, Ponyville is gonna burn to a crisp, maybe its ponies. The Elements are gone. We've got to prove that things can be possible without the Elements of Harmony."
"Cutie Mark Crusaders UNITED!"