//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: The Rain of Crystals // Story: My Little Pony: The Day Equestria Stood Still // by Thunderwing250 //------------------------------// In Canterlot, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna paced back and forth, trying to figure out what might have caused such a catastrophic storm, until a guard ran in. “You Highnesses! News from the Crystal Empire! It appears Princess Cadence has reported that the Crystal Empire was... well... decimated, and some kind of an orange crystal has appeared in the middle of the city. Neither she nor Prince Shining Armor have knowledge of it, and they request orders on what to do with the object.” the guard said in a hurry. Princess Celestia lifted her head. “This is starting to become very strange,” she said to Princess Luna. She turned to the guard. “Tell Princess Cadance and Shining Armor not to touch the crystal, but to wait for further instructions. As of now, keep it away from other ponies,” she ordered. The guard bowed down in compliance and ran out of the throne room. The rest of the guards remained for further orders. Confused, lacking answers, and not knowing what to do but provide a facade of calm, Princess Celestia ordered all her guards to remain on watch for the time being. They understood and proceeded with their duties, leaving Celestia and Luna alone. Concerned, Luna walked beside her older sister. “Such a disaster like this has never occurred and it is strange it happened so suddenly. What must we do?” she asked. Celestia remained silent for a few moments. She then turned to her sister. “I don’t know, little sister. I just... don’t know. But we must get to the bottom of this,” she answered. For that moment, both Princesses of Equestria felt a sense of hopelessness and could not even respond to the event. Back in Ponyville, Twilight and her friends continued working alongside other ponies, repairing nearby damages to structures. One by one, each structure was put up accordingly, making the work fast and easy. Once the last home was repaired, the ponies gathered at the Main Hall for quick congratulations and continued preparations for Winter Wrap-Up, which let them put the meteor shower behind them. After hours of work, Twilight, with her friends beside her, watched as everypony cleaned up what had remained of the snow. Everypony then gathered back at the Main Hall, waiting for Mayor Mare to step forward. Twilight and the others stood alongside the Mayor as she stepped up to the podium. “Well, eveypony, due to today’s earlier incident, I have to say I have never seen such strong teamwork from everypony here and want to congratulate all of you on everything you did. Not only did we complete repairs, but we also cleaned up winter in one whole day, so well done, everypony! Winter is officially wrapped up.” She announced. Everypony cheered in joy and in happiness, for their work was completed. Even though they were celebrating, Twilight still wondered about what had caused the meteor shower at such a strange time. Later that afternoon, after the crowd died out, Spike looked around, searching for Twilight, wondering if she was still walking around. He then returned back to the library, to find Twilight, looking through her shelves. Spike walked up to her. “Um... Twilight...? What are you doing?” he asked out of curiosity. Twilight remained silent. She seemed not to realize that Spike was behind her. “Twilight?” Spike repeated. Yet more silence. Frustrated, Spike ran around her and jumped up in her face. “TWILIGHT!!!“ he yelled. Twilight jumped, dropping the books she held. “Oh, Spike. I’m... I’m sorry. It’s just... That meteor shower that is still puzzling me. And yet I can’t find a single book regarding meteor showers occurring around this time of year. I know they happened hundreds or even thousands of years ago, but this... it’s very unusual,” she replied. “Okay. Sorry I yelled in your face, but I went looking for you thinking you want to eat something. I guess not,” Spike replied. Twilight turned to her assistant. “Yeah! Guess this meteor shower really got to me,” she giggled. Twilight returned all the books to the shelf and then levitated Spike onto her back. “Let’s go and get something to eat,” she said. Spike smiled as they both headed out the door. --- In the depths of space, the Alicorn spotted a dim, blinking light of the explosion and soon took flight, heading towards Equestria. As he flew through space, at the speed of light, he released another set of meteor flares from his armored body, only this time, the power was tripled and quickly rained towards the planet, non-stop. --- Continuing their course, nighttime fell over Equestria as Twilight met her friends and they enjoyed a peaceful dinner together. As everypony enjoyed their meals, Rarity noticed Twilight did not touch her food once and was curious. “Eat, darling. We did have a rough day and we all could use food and rest,” she said, smiling. “Twilight’s not eating!” Pinkie Pie shouted in excitement. “There’s only one thing to do!” Pinkie Pie, wearing a physician’s coat, and stethoscope, looked at Twilight. She opened her mouth, checked her throat, eyes, and ears. After a few seconds, she rubbed her chin. “Well. I see nothing wrong with her,” she said, throwing off her coat and stethoscope. Applejack stood. “Something on your mind, Sugarcube?” she asked. “It’s nothing,” Twilight replied. There was silence as her friends stared at her. Twilight sighed. “It’s just this meteor shower that just happened is bothering me, and I’m afraid it’s going to happen again. And... I don’t want anypony to get hurt, so I'd rather keep an eye out,” she said with concern. Everypony smiled and walked over to hug her. “Don’t worry Twilight, we'll all be at your side,” Fluttershy whispered. “You bet. We’re with you all the way” Rainbow Dash replied. “Oh, girls” Twilight said, tearing up. She hugged them all in return. Distracted, a waiter came out and stopped by the table. The waiter cleared his throat. “You young ladies do know that we are closed, right?” he said. The mares looked at him and laughed. “Oh right. Guess we hugged for a while,” Twilight giggled. The group of friends soon cleaned up their mess and went their separate ways, wishing each other a good night. Walking away, Twilight's relief from her friends comforting her was short lived, for she still feared that something was about to happen. Once inside her castle, she went directly to bed. As she tried to close her eyes, all she could think about was the safety of her friends. She started to cry quietly, hiding her face against her pillow. Before she knew it, Spike walked over to her side. “Twilight?” he whispered. Twilight picked up her head, her eyes still watering. She quickly jumped off her bed and embraced him. “Oh Spike... I’m scared. I don’t want to lose you or my friends. If I did, I just don't know what I'd do,” she whimpered. Spike smiled and couldn't help but tear up, touched by her words. “Don’t worry Twilight. We’re all here for you. You're our family... My family,” he replied. They cried together for a little while until Twilight managed to get a hold of herself. She felt a little better. She wiped Spike's eyes, and then her own and gently tucked him back into bed before returning to try to get some rest herself. Confident in her friends’ words, she fell asleep. --- Up at the Crystal Empire, one of Princess Celestia's guard had successfully alerted Princess Cadance and Shining Armor the news. Even though half the city was decimated, they tried to investigate the crystal, now embedded into the ground. Surrounded by guards for protection, an electrical pulse flashed out of the crystal, knocking all of them back and away from it. After a few seconds, Princess Cadance stood back up on her hooves and turned to the guard. “Whatever that was, it doesn’t seem friendly” she said. All of a sudden, an earthquake rumbled in the surrounding area when the crystal seemed to blink and shot a beam straight up into the sky. After a few seconds, the light vanished and the rock disintegrated into sand. Not knowing what it was, Princess Cadance turned to her husband. “Shining Armor, I need you to double the defenses while I take another group and begin evacuating,” she ordered. Everypony paused at her command. “But, Princess? The Crystal Empire?” one of the guards said. Princess Cadance remained silent. “You heard the Princess. Let’s get to it,” Shining Armor commanded. Royal guards complied and went to their duties. Shining Armor walked beside his wife, looking at the damage. He rubbed his head against her for comfort. “No matter what happens, I will be here for you,” he replied. Princess Cadance turned. “Thank you, Shining Armor. I’m... I’m just worried about the Princesses, including Twilight,” she said. “Don’t worry. I have faith in Twiley. You should too! She’ll be fine,” he answered. Cadance sighed, nodded, and turned away. “I’m going to bed. Let me know if something happens,” she said, walking towards her room. “Good night, Cadance,” Shining Armor replied. --- Back in the peaceful, silent Ponyville, everypony was enjoying their rest. However, twisting and turning, Twilight began to sweat. In her dreams, she saw Ponyville engulfed in flames and ponies fleeing for their lives. Hurrying to rendezvous with her friends, she saw them chained up to posts as the fire got worse. Calling out to them, she raced to reach them, but in doing so, they seemed to get further and further away. Suddenly, a building tumbled down blocking her path. Seeing nowhere to go, her friends disappeared from the distance. Feeling hopeless, she fell to her knees in fear. Then, a mumbling, deep voice spoke from a short distance. She turned to it and saw a strange creature. It resembled an Alicorn, but nothing she had ever seen before. Afraid, she crawled backwards as its distorted form walked up to her. The Alicorn chuckled under his helmet. Twilight’s eyes widened as a giant, scaly beast appeared behind the Alicorn. As the smoke cleared, Twilight's eyes began to water at the shock of what she saw. “No... SPIKE!!!” she wailed out. The monster roared, striking fear in Twilight and the Alicorn disappeared within the fire. All of a sudden a whisper came to her. “Twilight” the voiced called, and continued, until she woke up. Awakening, from her nightmare, Spike shook Twilight, in a hurry. “We gotta get out, Twilight. It’s happening again,” Spike cried. Twilight and Spike hurried outside her castle and froze. Twilight’s nightmare was real and horrific. Immediately, she hurried through Ponyville, dodging meteors crashing onto the planet’s surface, destroying homes, stores, statues, and even local wildlife. Unfortunately, Ponyville was not to the only city getting slammed with rocks, but all over Equestria and even lands outside the Kingdom. Meteors came down like a rain of fire, obliterating every object in their path, creating worldwide panic and fear. Equestria was facing its apocalyptic moment with ponies fearing their minimal chance of survival. Not willing to give up, Twilight grabbed Spike and threw him on her back searching desperately for her friends. On the way, she spotted Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Before Twilight spoke, Rainbow Dash informed both of them to meet up at Sweet Apple Acres. After continuously dodging the fiery rocks, they arrived at Sweet Apple Acres taking shelter and safety. On her way, she witnessed the powerful flames, created by the meteor impacts, destroying everything in their path. Arriving at Sweet Apple Acres, she ran right into Applejack's house, where her friends hid. Frightened and tired from fleeing, Fluttershy began to cry. “Oh... the poor creatures. And... I can’t do anything to save them” she cried. Rainbow Dash paced back and forth, feeling impatient. Her frustration soon hit its peak. “AAH! I can’t take it anymore. We gotta do something to put out the fire,” she yelled out. Applejack walked forward. “Well, I ain’t no Pegasus, but even if you tried to put out the fire, these meteors will still crash down, and the worst part is... it’s not even over,” she stated. The friends knew for sure this meteor shower was going to happen again, but just couldn't figure out why and what was its cause.