//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 - The Tragedy // Story: Pinknesia: The Darker Descent // by Wolokai //------------------------------// Ponies scrambled for cover, ran blindly about, and screamed. Royal Guards tried their best to usher and push them towards overcrowded Chariots and carriages that were flying and rolling away once filled to the bursting point. Quill requisitioned one chariot, and slipped the unconscious Pinkie Pie onto it, giving two Royal Guards orders to escort Pinkie back to Ponyville, and told them once again to bring the Wielders of Harmony to the Mayor's Office. Buildings exploded as several clouds of blackened magic flew about, slamming into buildings and igniting them with thunderous power. Quill looked about, shouting at the top of his lungs "HURRY!!! GET THESE PONIES OUT OF HERE!!! CAPTAIN!!! WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME!!! GET EVERYPONY HERE, NOW!" The Captain saluted him and quickly barked out orders, redoubling his soldier's efforts to get the evacuation running smoothly. ~~~ Celestia rasped for air...dragging herself further down the empty, already evacuated streets of uptown Canterlot. A large trail of blood followed in her wake, her impaling wound refusing her any stability. Her horn was sparking, but she had saved up enough magic for what she intended to do. Canterlot could not be saved, not at this point. The magical Auras would leave Canterlot once it had burned to the ground, and find other towns to destroy. She...could NOT allow this to happen. She was going to die, she knew that...no matter what she did her life would end today like her poor Luna's. Two mares ran by across the street, one stopping to catch sight of Celestia. She gasped and began to make her way over to Celestia, her friend stopping to see what had happened and she too rushed over. Celestia gave the best smile she could as the two mares approached her, tears in her eyes. Celestia magicked a quill and a feather pen out of the air and rapidly wrote as she spoke "My little ponies...do not feel sad at my state...instead, I want you to look forward to a future...a bright, happy future. My time has come...but it may not truly be the end. Find Detective Quill at the chariot area...give him this...and go! Flee!!! Run, carry forth the future of Equestria!!!" The two mares nodded, one picking up the rolled up quill in her mouth and together they dashed away. Celestia didn't bother to watch them go, instead she continued to drag herself towards the square. She needed to hurry, she HAD to hurry! Her last act as Princess had yet to come...she had to give everypony a chance! She looked up, catching sight of a giant statue resembling the one that rested in Ponyville. It was the statue that commemorated the raising of the sun, during the Summer Sun Celebration which she flew in front of with her magic to give her ponies the greatest light show they would ever see. She felt tears in her eyes, smiling as she remembered one particular year in which she saw her star-pupil, Twilight Sparkle, a tiny filly then...her face bright and her smile wide. Celestia couldn't have been any more proud of Twilight for how she has grown over the years, and it was with this memory that she could die in peace. She crawled in front of the statue, the last of her magic flaring and building up. A look of furious determination and anger grew upon her face as her horn gleamed a furious yellow. "It's time..." ~~~ Quill was seated on one of the chariots, several more surrounding him with refugee ponies and guards. Everypony...every single one looked back, watching the city slowly crumble. Suddenly one pony gasped and pointed back towards the city, Quill immediately looking in the direction of interest. His jaw dropped and his eyes grew wide as he beheld Celestia weakly flapping her wings, carrying her bruised, bloodied, and broken body upwards. Magic swirled dangerously around her as she flew up and began to hover. Her eyes moved slowly over to stare, stare directly at Quill. He could feel her gaze as Celestia whispered to the air "Remember..." Celestia let out a savage roar, throwing her hooves up in the air and spreading her rear legs apart, her magic swirling around like a savage tornado. The Black Magic was drawn to her power, the deadly auras streaking back to Celestia, in hopes to finish her off. Her form gleamed a bright yellow as the statue behind her flared with immense magic. As the auras flew into the courtyard, racing for her...Celestia let forth one final scream of... "RETRIBUTION!!!!" ...and unleashed her magic. The city lay quiet for a moment, until a tiny spark flared from the center, where Celestia was...and exploded. The entire city went up in a yellowish explosion of light and fire, the entire mountain itself that the city rested on, crumbling and detonating with magical fire. It looked like Rainbow dash's Sonic Rainboom, only this explosion was on a magnitude forty times greater and at least a hundred times more destructive. A ring of yellow light blasted outwards as a cloud resembling a mushroom flared upwards. Chariots and Carriages nearly fell from the sky and ran off the road as the rumbling of the explosion flared outwards, setting a lot of the surrounding area on fire. Quill looked down from witnessing Celestia's final moment...to the quill that read on one part of the roll "For Detective White - Celestia's Final Command". He carefully unraveled it, holding it up and reading it quietly as one of the Royal Guards read it over his shoulder There are so many things to say...and no time to say them. My life and time as Princess...is over. By the time you unravel this, Canterlot will be gone, obliterated, destroyed. The Entity cannot win Quill! The spellbook in your possession has been translated to the best of my ability to the common language, so that you may read it and discover what went wrong Quill. Oh Quill...I am so sorry...for all of this. I should have read the inscriptions more carefully...please forgive me. What I do know...however, is that The Entity must grow in power in order to make his chaos permanent...you have three days Detective, to destroy The Entity...or Canterlot, as well as Luna and myself...will remain history. Please Quill...save Equestria, save my little ponies...save us all. Quill looked down near the bottom of the page, the guard nodding as he too read the next few lines. I, Princess Celestia of Canterlot, hereby relinquish, temporarily, my title as Ruler of Equestria, to Grand Scribe White Quill of the Canterlot Archives. My Royal Seal shall follow, and this order shall forever be marked as my last command as Princess. ~~~ The Explosion rocked Applejack as she tried to climb the ladder, making her tumble off the second story of the barn and into a large pile of hay. She sat up on her haunches and looked about frantically, shouting "What in tarnation?" She ran outside and gasped as she beheld the giant ring of yellowish fire pass over her farm, high up in the sky. Big Macintosh was out in the field, and he too was utterly amazed at the ring of fire that soared by. He looked down towards Applejack, shouting "What in the hay is that Rainbow Mare up to?" Applejack shook her head, still staring up at the ring that began to diminish and shouting back "I...I don't think that was Rainbow Dash...you stay here Macintosh Im'a head into town and see what all the fuss is about!" Big Macintosh shrugged and went back to plowing, sighing his usual "Eeyup..." ~~~ Fluttershy, Scootaloo, and Rainbow Dash were all seated in the park, enjoying a nice, relaxing picnic when all of a sudden the rumbling of an explosion reached their ears and the yellowish ring of fire blasted outwards overhead. Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped as she squeaked "NO, WAY! There's no way someone else can do the Sonic Rainboom!!!" Scootaloo looked over towards Rainbow and blinked in surprise "I don't think that was a Rainboom..." Scootaloo said, Fluttershy poking her head out of bushes she had jumped into at the sight of the ring. They heard galloping soon after, and the voice of a country pony holler "Hey! What in tarnation is going on? I could see that giant ring all the way from the farm!" Rainbow Dash shook her head in disbelief, as confused as the others when the sound of flapping wings began to draw close. The girls looked as two Royal Guardsponies dropped from the sky, landing and drawing themselves up to their full height. One of them spoke "By order of Temporary Leader Quill, the Wielders of Harmony are to report to the Mayor's Office in Ponyville AT ONCE!" Before the girls had a chance to say anything the guards took off as quickly as they had come. They all looked at each other for a moment, Applejack the first to speak "Temporary...Leader? What the hay?" Scootaloo shook her head and shouted "Well we're not going to find out here, come on!" ~~~ Quill was situated at a long wooden table, at one end, head in his hooves as several Royal Guard, Canterlot Officials, and Mayor Mare herself looked at him with concern and worry from their seats. Another Royal Guard walked in and cleared his throat, stating "Leader Quill, Mayor Mare, all refugees have been situated in the north fields, tents and provisions are being delivered and distributed smoothly." Quill sighed and mumbled through his hooves "Thank you...see to it the Guard remains on high alert...make sure the Refugees are well cared for." The guard nodded and backed out of the room, the Mayor speaking with a bit of impatience "Quill, what is this 'Leader' business about, and why in Celestia's name did Canterlot just EXPLODE!? What has happened!?" Before Quill could answer the door opened and Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Scootaloo all walked inside, worried and curious expressions on their face. Quill looked up and sighed "Oh good...you're here." Applejack didn't waste no time in hollering "Now just what in the hay is going on here Quill? What was that giant ring we saw in the sky, why are you being called 'Temporary Leader', just what in the sam hay are you doing?!" Quill sighed and motioned to empty seats to his left, waiting until they had been seated to speak. "I was hoping to have ALL of the wielders here...but we're short on time. Pinkie Pie is currently be tended to by Nurse Redheart, and my guards have yet to return from gathering Twilight and Rarity. I will explain the situation to you all now and to them at a later time...there's no real easy way to say it so..." Quill stopped for a moment, shuddering a little and taking a deep breath, proclaiming "Princess Luna is dead...and Princess Celestia, with her final sacrifice in keeping us all safe...died as well, taking Canterlot with her." Quill sighed, being bombarded with the expected shouts and questions as to how this could have happened, what they were going to do, and some just out of sheer disbelieve. He looked over towards a unicorn in red scribe robes and the scribe nodded, using his horn to cast a sort of 'silencing' spell across the room. Voices were immediately quieted as Quill spoke again "Listen...in the time when Luna was first becoming Nightmare Moon, a dark Entity that Starswirl the Bearded trapped in the moon had begun to reach out with its magic, slowly influencing Luna's mind and emotions to challenge Celestia with her eternal night. Once Celestia banished her to the moon, The Entity had free reign over her mind, and for 1,000 years, it fully poisoned and invaded her thoughts and brain. Upon Nightmare Moon's return, The Entity came with her, and began to gather its power again. It could not do so on the moon, because of Starswirl's wards. When the Wielders of Harmony destroyed Nightmare Moon, they released the Entity...however, it was in a very weakened state...so it needed to invade the mind of another...the closest of you all to it.......Pinkie Pie." The others were wide-eyed throughout this explanation, the Mayor stuttering "B...but the Princesses...Canterlot...how?" Quill sighed, speaking once more "Luna and I had our suspicions about The Entity when Pinkie told us about her deeds in Hoofington being done with a clear mind, and how she could feel her sanity slowly waning on the moon. Celestia confirmed it to us...that The Entity had indeed taken root in Pinkie's Mind. Celestia prepared a spell that would hopefully destroy The Entity...but something went wrong, backfired...The Entity escaped and tried to kill me...but Princess Luna sacrificed herself to save me. Celestia was in a weakened state because of the spell...and with The Entity drawing in so much Power in Pinkie's Mind, it easily overpowered Celestia. She gave me this spellbook in hopes that I could find a way to defeat The Entity...and relinquished her ruling rights to me. With her final act...she destroyed the dark magic that threatened the outlying towns...and herself in the process. I won't lie and say that everything is going to be ok, because quite frankly I'm not sure of it myself. Celestia told me we have three days to stop The Entity, as it takes time for The Entity's Chaos Magic to actually permanently stain Equestria's history blood. I don't know why this is...or even how to even stop it...but I promise I'll find the answer soon, I just need time to read this spellbook. Alright?" Everyone nodded slowly, many with tears in their eyes as they heard about both Princess's final acts of bravery. Quill looked up and sighed once again, muttering "Now...all we need to do is wait for Rarity...and Twilight" ~~~ Rarity squealed with delight, hearing about Twilight's 'Late Night'. She sipped her tea and said with glee "Oh DARLING! That's simply wonderful! Tell me, was he good?" Twilight blushed a horrid shade of red and whispered loudly "Rarity! Sheesh! Way to invade my privacy!" Rarity gave her a sly smile...eventually making Twilight sigh and mutter "He was pretty amazing...I still can't walk right." Rarity squealed with delight again and tapped her hooves together in applause, exclaiming "Oh Twilight that's simply amazing! You've finally found yourself a good, classy, and I must say, delicious colt to be with! See? I told you it wasn't hopeless at all!" Twilight nodded a little, smiling. They both jumped suddenly, however, as the sound of an explosion was heard and the library shook violently, books and other items falling from their shelves. After the rumbling had settled, Twilight poked her head out of a pile of books and muttered "Whoa...what in the world?" Rarity looked about as well from under the books, shrugging and emerging from the mess. She headed over towards the door, opening it and looking outside, seeing the giant ring of fire pass overhead. She gasped "My WORD, what in the world is going on?" Twilight began to make her over as well and suddenly stopped, gasping. A black miasma of magic began to rapidly swirl in the library, growing larger and larger. It grew into the shape of a whispy ball and shot forward towards Rarity. Twilight shrieked as her horn glowed a bright magenta "RARITY!" Her magic harnessed around Rarity and tossed her to the side, the black ball flying out of the Library. The white mare landed with a loud "OOF!" as Twilight slammed the door shut, locking it quickly. Rarity stood up and looked towards Twilight with fury "Really now, is that anyway to treat a lady!?" She huffed, and suddenly squeaked in fright as something heavy smashed into the door. She began to back up towards Twilight as she whimpered "What...what is that?!" Twilight shook her head, her horn still glowing and a look of fear upon her own face, whispering "I don't know!" Both girls screamed as the door exploded inwards, wood and splinters flying about and the black ball flying back in towards Rarity. Twilight saw this and pushed her out of the way, diving into its path. Rarity hit the ground hard, an explosion of light illuminating the inside of the library. She laid there for a minute, dazed. The light subsided for a moment, rarity hearing the sounds of magic and something moving, scraping even, from somewhere in Twilight's Library. She opened her eyes, looking over and seeing Twilight, her back turned to her, unmoving. Rarity breathed a sigh of relief, getting up and exclaiming "Oh Twilight! Thank goodness you're ok, I thought that dark...thingy, was going to hurt us both! What in the world was th-" She stopped, her face blank and mouth open in mid-sentence. She closed her mouth slowly, blinking and looking down. A knife protruded from her chest, blood beginning to seep down her body and stain her white coat. She looked up, tears brimming in her eyes as Twilight turned her head towards Rarity. Her face was contorted into a look of rage, her lavender eyes sadistically blood shot and aglow with the color of red. Her horn no longer glowed of magenta, but instead, a sickening, void-like black. Rarity felt herself starting to sway, her limbs growing weak. She whimpered "Twi..light...w..why?" She fell over and twitched a little as Twilight walked towards the door, opening it and looking back. She glared towards the book, her horn sparking and causing a jet of flame to shoot upwards and ignite most of the books. Fire spread about quickly as Twilight took her leave, Rarity watching her and beginning to slowly crawl towards the door herself, trying to escape. Fire spread throughout the easily flammable house, heading towards the kitchen, towards some very sensitive gas lines. Two Royal Guards were galloping quickly down the street, barking at ponies to get out of the way. They skidded to a stop as they beheld the Library Tree set ablaze, fire spilling out of the windows and sending a giant column of smoke up into the air. One of the guards shouted and pointed towards the door, where they could see a bloody Rarity trying to crawl out. The guards rushed towards Rarity who looked, seeing them coming and weakly raising a hoof, whimpering "H..help me, Help m-" She never finished her cries for help. The guards were thrown back violently as the fire inside hit the gas lines in Twilight's kitchen, setting off the Library like a giant bomb. Rarity, along with several buildings nearby, were engulfed in the explosion. The Guards were dazed, several ponies running about and shouting, trying to either flee or get water to put out the huge fire. One of the guards stood, groggily shouting to his fellow soldier "G..get Quill!!! I'll alert the Ponyville Weather Team!!! We need to get rainclouds, stat!" The other saluted, rushing off and leaving his friend to look towards the Library, a tear in his eye. No amount of words could express his sorrow for the white mare...the one they called Rarity.