//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Several Stops Along the Way 5/10 // Story: The Curse of Discord // by Creative Charmer //------------------------------// The residents of Ponyville were all enjoying this day as they would any other day, all minding their own business and each having a normal day. But then, the ponies out and walking around Ponyville halted what they were doing when a certain sound was heard. Initially low in resonance, the sound grew louder, becoming clear that this was the sound of rushing water. And then, without warning, a large wave of water suddenly came out from behind a building, rushing towards several ponies, who, on the sight of the flood, began running away in a panic so as to escape this aqueous doom. Ponies ran every which way they could across the streets of Ponyville, trying to avoid the onslaught of flood water in any way possible. They ran inside houses, climbed on top of crates and barrels, or hid inside carts, but many ponies still managed to be caught in the raging rapids and were washed away with the flood. Up in the sky, Rainbow Dash had gotten an aerial view of the flood's wave of destruction, much to her horror. She flew back to her friends to inform them of this disaster, and they all became just as horror-struck as she was. "This is terrible!" "It's a disaster!" "It's a terrible disaster that's really bad and also horrible!" Pinkie exclaimed in alarm. "Well, what are we gonna do about it??" Applejack looked around at the disaster befalling Ponyville. Ponies running and screaming, terrified for their lives as their town is drenched in the water of an unstoppable flood. This had to stop, and it had to stop now. "There's only one thing we can do," everyone turned towards Applejack. "...we have to stop Twilight again." Everyone gasped in shock. "Stop Twilight?" "How can we stop Twilight??" "Yeah! I don't have any cake to use this time!" "Everypony calm down. Ah know what we have tuh do." "Really?" everyone huddled together in front of Applejack. "What do you want us to do?" "Fer now, I want y'all tuh wait here," everyone was perplexed by this decision. "Ah'm gonna go and try to talk tuh Twilight." "Talk??" Rarity responded in astonished distress. "This Twilight doesn't want to talk!" "Rarity's right! She's going to try and hurt you!" "Yeah! She'll just use her magic to blast you away or something!" "Ah know that may happen, but ah'm willin' to take that risk for my friend, and ah was hopin' you'd all be willin' tuh do the same," Applejack looked around at her friends, who all looked unsure in Applejack's assertion. Applejack was none too pleased to see her friends not immediately in agreement with her, and she had to remind them again as to why they needed to be of the same mind. "Well, no matter how evil Twilight may seem right now, she's still our friend, and ah still believe that if we try hard enough, we can pull our friend out of that evil cursed mind," soon after her speech, Applejack's friends shifted to much more determined expressions, right along with Applejack's. "Glad tuh see y'all in agreement," the pleased Applejack stated. "Now, ah'm goin' over there tuh start talkin' Twilight out of there," she turned around and began walking towards Twilight. "Wait! Don't you want us to come, too?" "No, not yet," Applejack said as she stopped and turned partway back around. "Why not?" "Because she'll think we'll be tryin' to fight her into stoppin' with her chaos, and she'll stop us with her magic. If just one of us approaches her right now, she'll probably just do her jokin' around instead. That's why I just want it tuh be myself right now. Ah don't want tuh see any of you get hurt, understand?" Everyone appeared to understand Applejack's plan, saying their agreements concerning it. "Okay then, ah'm headin' over there," she began walking over to Twilight again, but turned her head back while doing so, "Just wait until you think it's time to join in," her friends nodded in concurrence. Now that that loose end was tied up, it was time for Applejack to face down this evil being, though she knew this would not be an easy task, due to the fear welling up inside her; not fear for her own safety, but the fear of losing her friend trapped within the confines of this malevolent individual. "Ha ha ha ha ha ha haa!" Twilight laughed wickedly as she continued her literal wave of destruction upon the town of Ponyville. "Twilight!" Twilight turned partially around to see Applejack standing behind her. "What is it?" she complained. "Can't you see I'm busy spreading my glorious pandemonium to the ponies of Ponyville?" "Twilight, it's me: Applejack!" "Yes, I know who you are. Why are you reminding me?" "'Cause I'm remindin' the real Twilight that her friends are still here, and they want her to stop this catastrophe!" "So are you asking me to stop this flooding?" "No, I'm asking Twilight to stop the floodin'! You're not Twilight!" "Oh, I'm not?" she replied slyly. "No, you're not!" Twilight and Applejack looked to see it was Rarity who had just spoken out. "Twilight is a kind pony who has only ever done what is best for Equestria: never intentionally causing harm to anypony or anyone!" "Yeah!" Rainbow Dash shouted, having just come over. "That's something that you don't have, which shows that you're not Twilight!" "Yes, I can see why you would think tha—" "You may have Twilight's body," Spike interrupted. "And you may tell us you're Twilight, but those things aren't what makes Twilight Twilight!" Twilight's smirk began to fade a bit as she noticed the rest of her friends gathering around her, giving her a strange sense of uneasiness. "Twilight has many things on the inside that make her who she is! Special qualities that make her the good and true friend she is to everyone!" "Oh...really?" Twilight stuttered. "Yeah! Like how she's super-smart!" Pinkie Pie threw in. "Really really super-smart! So smart that she's smart enough to know that doing means things like this doesn't make anypony happy!" Twilight looked around at everyone, looking to be fully taken with what they were all saying, and looking more and more nervous with each new line spoken. "And she's a sweet and gentle pony!" Fluttershy affirmed, sounding much more obstinate then usual. "A pony who knows how to treat others nicely and not treat them with such cruelty!" With each friend's new comment about the real Twilight being a good friend, Twilight slowly floated closer and closer towards the ground, until she finally landed on her bottom, looking relatively deflated from everyone's remarks. "We all know the real Twilight is in there!" "The real Twilight would not cause all this chaos!" "And ah fer one know that if yer the real Twilight, then yer definitely not going to flood Ponyville with all this water!" Applejack stated unwaveringly, and now everyone was silent so as to see how Twilight would react to all they had said. Twilight looked around at all her friends as she sat upon the ground. Her distraught eyes and sagging ears gave her a rather crestfallen appearance—as if Twilight was actually feeling remorse for what she had just done; meaning that all of the words spouted at her friends contained the strength to have drawn out the real Twilight trapped within and bring her back up to the surface, giving them back their friend. Everyone stood, waiting in almost unbearable anxiousness to see what Twilight's next move would be. Twilight continued to sit in that one spot, completely unchanged n her outward appearance of gloominess. Then, after a short while, she finally uttered some speech, "...you know...you're right." The faces of Twilight's friends slowly turned to joy over this sudden revelation. "...if I'm going to flood Ponyville, I'm going to need a lot more water!" Twilight finished, sounding just as sinister as ever. Twilight's friends instantly switched from joy to horrified shock. On that note, Twilight swiftly levitated herself up into the air, and hovered off to find and additional source of water in town, leaving her friends wide-eyed, stunned, and speechless.