Chapter Seven: “For Equestria.”
“Okay, Your Majesty. Just some final signatures here, here… and here, please.”
Mayor Mare passed Twilight the final piece of paper from the large stack they had worked through. As she had over the past half an hour, she sat still and patient while Twilight pored over the details.
The quill lifted off the bench and moved toward the paper as Twilight scanned it, her eyes roving over where Cheerilee had already signed. The quill hovered over a point, but stopped just over the first dotted line.
“Mayor? I’m a little confused about this section,” Twilight said. She peered closer to the paper. “And with the signing of all three parties named here, Missus Cheerilee Turner, of Ponyville, Equestria, with the good graces of Mayor Mayor Mare and Her Majesty, Queen Twilight Sparkle I, shall ascend to the role of Mayor of Ponyville, representative to Her Majesty in Ponyville.”
“Something wrong, Your Majesty?” Mayor Mare reread the paragraph through her thick glasses. “The sentence seems perfectly functional to me… if you don’t mind me saying so. What gives you pause, exactly?”
“Oh, nothing about its content, my dear Mayor. Just the way the information is presented, specifically,” Twilight said. She hovered her quill point over the second ‘Ponyville’ in the statement. “It’s just that with this comma where it is, the words ‘representative to Her Majesty in Ponyville’ are applying to the word it follows. So it reads as if Ponyville is the ‘representative to Her Majesty in Ponyville,’ instead of it applying to the full title of ‘Mayor of Ponyville.’ That would make the town itself its own representative, and render poor Cheerilee’s upcoming position completely redundant.”
Twilight set down her quill. “I’m afraid I can’t sign this legal document as it is.”
Mayor Mare’s eyes narrowed at the sentence as she did a double take. “Oh… er, yes, you’re absolutely right, Your Majesty. So, how to fix it?”
“Oh, it’s quite simple.” Twilight crossed out the comma and wrote the word ‘and’ in its place. “There. Now, after we both initial the change, I can sign away!”
“That’s lucky then,” Mayor Mare said. “It would be a shame if we had to produce a whole new set of documents and get Cheerilee to sign them all again.”
Twilight set her quill down again, looked up, and raised an eyebrow at Mayor Mare. Seconds passed... until she shrugged. “Yes, it would be. I’d hate to have to come back and go through all this with you again over a silly mistake.”
As she lowered her head and resumed signing, she never saw Mayor Mare slowly exhale, or the way she said a silent prayer to herself.
“Well, there we go. The final signature… done!” Twilight beamed as she brought all the papers together. “Cheerilee is now Mayor of Ponyville. Please forward my congratulations onto her when she returns from her class... trip...”
Mayor Mare flinched as Twilight leapt to her hooves, wings spread. “What is it, Your Majesty?”
“I just remembered. The forest. I thought I felt something earlier—some powerful magic being activated. And that’s where Cheerilee and her class are right now.”
“Powerful magic? From the Everfree Forest?” Mayor Mare tilted her head. “But, Your Majesty, that’s impossible. Surely it would require an astronomical flare for you to detect it at this distance, and you are the only one in Equestria who possesses that degree of magic.”
“Yes, I’m aware. Which is exactly why I’m going to check up on them, make sure everything’s fine.” Twilight’s horn glowed, its blood-red aura filling Town Hall. Mayor Mare shrank back in her chair.
“Have a good day, Mayor. Enjoy your retirement. I’ll deliver Ponyville’s new mayor the good news myself.”
* * * * *
As Zecora led the six out of the cave, Toffee Swirl covered her stinging eyes. The daylight blinded her after the dim glow inside, like the sun had come out at midnight without warning and caught her staring at the moon. With her head turned down and to the side, she listened to the sound of her classmates trotting away.
“Wait up, everypony,” she said, head down and hoof covering her eyes. “I can’t see anything.”
“Get over here, Toffee!” she heard Ambrosia shout. “Zecora said the potion’s gonna wear off any minute now.”
“I don’t care about the potion!” Toffee lowered her hoof and squinted through the dazzling daylight. “I just want out of this forest already. I’m scared, and... and I wanna see my momma again!”
“Toffee, we gotta go now. We’re runnin’ outta time.”
“No! I wanna see my parents!”
She heard a sigh, saw a yellow blur, and gasped when she felt herself shaken hard.
“Don’t you get it, silly filly?” Ambrosia pulled her face close to Toffee’s. “If we don’t all do this, we won’t have parents to go home to!”
Toffee recoiled, tail between her legs. “But… but… I didn’t w-want this.” She sat down, covered her face, and began to sob. Tears leaked out from under her hooves, and hiccups soon followed. “I j-just want…”
“Urgh. Fine! Be a little sook then.” Ambrosia snorted and turned on her heels. “We’ll find somepony else who actually cares about wanting a better world.” Leaving the distraught filly behind, she grumbled and flicked her tail. As she passed the others, she eyed their expressions and stopped. “What? She ain’t gonna cooperate. What else are we s’posed to do?”
Zecora sighed, drawing Ambrosia’s gaze. “There is no other, Ambrosia Bloom. Toffee must join, else all meet their doom. But I suggest, instead of rage… perhaps appealing to her age?”
“Her age? Ya mean, little filly stuff?”
“I believe what Miss Zecora means, Ambi—” Liberty walked over “—is that we should not try to make her fear punishment… but instead, offer her encouragement. When you threaten a young foal, all that happens is they become more afraid, and less likely to do what you want.”
“Oh, really?” Ambrosia raised an eyebrow. “Ya know, when I was a little filly, Mama’d always threaten me with a kick up the rear when I was bein’ naughty. I never believed her, but then she did it one day. And that scared me, and I was never naughty again.”
“But you were raised differently to Toffee,” Liberty said. “You’re a strong Earth pony with strong Earth pony parents. Toffee is a unicorn, and… are her parents unicorns, too?”
“Her ma is. Her pa’s a pegasus though.”
“Okay, sure. Now think about this. Queen Twilight needs as many strong Earth ponies as possible to keep farming, to keep growing food for everypony in Equestria. But what do pegasi and unicorns do? She looks after all the weather, and she is very strict on policing how unicorns use their magic. I expect that Toffee has had a much more sheltered environment than you, or even I.”
Ambrosia brought a hoof up and rubbed her chin. “Hmmm. Ya know, I never thought like that. She’s just always been that annoyin’ little brat at school to me.”
Liberty nodded. “And she knows how you perceive her. As long as your ingrained feelings come out in everything you say to her, she will never listen to you.” She took a deep breath. “Let me try talking to her instead. She doesn't know me like the rest of you, so maybe I can calm her down.”
“Where d’you get all them brains from, Libby? Was the store havin’ a sale or somethin’?”
“I read. A lot. You might have noticed.”
Liberty and Ambrosia turned at Zecora’s laugh. “What?” Ambrosia said.
“Liberty Belle, you are wise beyond your years. Perhaps you can dispel Toffee’s youthful fears.”
Liberty nodded. “I will try.”
As Liberty trotted off to Toffee, Ambrosia turned around again and met with the others in the circle. The familiar tingle shot through her hooves as she sat down, doing her best to ignore the sensation. She shared a look with Wild, Heat, and Snow.
“Hey, guys. Do y’all think I was bein’ too rough with her?”
Wild guffawed and knocked Ambrosia’s shoulder. “Ambi, you’re the toughest filly I know. And we’ve had tough parents, even if they are nice enough most of the time. Shoot, you’ve never been afraid to put me in my place. Now, Toffee? She’s a wuss. She’s a fragile little flower compared to you. She’s undisciplined, sheltered, and wouldn’t know a plow from a hoe. She’s never had to work like us.”
“Huh.” Ambrosia fell silent, staring at the ground with a frown.
“Don’t worry too much, Ambi,” Heat said. He lifted her chin with a wing. “You know, I’m actually kind of scared myself. But I’ll be a minotaur’s uncle if I don’t do something to see my dad happy. And if it means getting Mother back too, I’ll face whatever comes. Even if they have to… believe I’m not… coming home.” He coughed and turned away.
“My mind’s still spinning about all this, honestly,” Snow added. “I can see why Toffee’s upset. You might think she’s being soft, but this is a big thing. Like, a really big thing. And we had no warning at all. We’re just expected to go along with these ‘plans’ and…” He rubbed his face and moaned. “Well, nothing for it. Up and away, I guess. But—hey!” He glared at Heat and rubbed his shoulder. “What for?”
Fire blazed in Heat’s eyes. “Dude! ‘Up and away!’ Guess what we’re gonna be able to do?” He spread his wings. “Ey? Ey?”
Snow’s eyes gleamed like an aurora. “Whoa. I never thought about that at all… nice!” He and Heat shared a high wing, whooped, and leapt into the air. “Oh, heck yeah. I’m never walking anywhere ever again!”
Wild Seed grinned at them and stood up. He tilted his head from side to side, enjoying the sensation of his neck popping. “Well, the sooner we get on with it, the further ahead of Queen Twilight we get. Now we just have to hope—oh, here they come.” He pointed.
All four looked around as Liberty and Toffee approached Zecora. Liberty spoke some words, shared a glance with Toffee—who nodded slowly, her face still shining—and then made her way over to the rock circle, Zecora and Toffee in tow. She stood still just before them all, her companions on either side.
“After some more sensitive discussion with Miss Swirl here, she has agreed to join us,” Liberty said, smiling at Toffee. “But—” she narrowed her eyes at everypony else “—she has conditions.”
Ambrosia raised an eyebrow. “Conditions?”
Liberty nodded. “Number one: you, Ambrosia, apologise for being mean and yelling at her all the time.” The ghost of a grin crept onto her face.
“But… but... I don’t…” Ambrosia spluttered and stamped her hoof. “I’m not mean! And I don’t yell. I’m just tough—there’s a difference! A-and, uh… realistic! Sometimes ya just can’t fool yourself, and ya shouldn’t fool others neither.”
She looked around for support, but found only amused smiles. She sighed and dropped her head below her shoulders. “Fine.” Looking up into Toffee’s eyes, she took a deep breath and steadied herself. “Toffee Swirl, I’m sorry I was mean to you earlier. I went about tryin’ to convince you the wrong way, and I didn’t think that you might have different feelings about things. And… I’ll try to not raise my voice too loud no more.”
“Thank you, Ambrosia,” Toffee said.
“The second condition—” Ambrosia looked up at Liberty “—is that we don’t talk about all the bad things that might happen if we don’t do something, or we fail. Instead, everypony has to stay positive and talk about all the good things that might happen when we succeed and this is all over.” She eyed the hovering twins. “I see you two have already embraced this mentality.”
They grinned and bumped hooves.
“Lastly… if Toffee ever gets upset about being homesick, or missing family, or anything similar, we are not to dismiss her, or call her a crybaby, or anything else demeaning. If she wants to talk… if she wants comfort, we support her.” Liberty took a deep breath. “That last one goes for all of us, too. We are in this together, and we need to work as a team, just like Harmony wants. It is the only way to revive the Elements and defeat Queen Twilight with them.”
All exchanged murmurs of assent.
“Are you okay now, Toffee?” Liberty asked.
Toffee nodded and wiped her nose, but stepped forward into the stone circle. “Yes. Let’s just get going, can we?”
Liberty nodded and looked at the others. “Now, if we are all agreed on this, everypony put your hooves in the middle. We are seeing this through, and by Celestia, we are going to succeed!”
She thrust her hoof forward. Wild’s went in first; Toffee’s shaking light-brown hoof covered them all.
“Right.” Liberty turned to the smiling Zecora. “I believe we are ready now, Miss Zecora. What must we do?”
Zecora nodded. “The Elements lie in capable hooves. But the road is long, and you must plan your moves. First, all step inside this ring, and embrace your bodies’ tingling. Second, stand up straight and tall, for this next step to work at all. Third, altogether, these words three: ‘Urafiki ni Uchawi.’”
“You’re a freaky... what?” Ambrosia hung her tongue out of her mouth.
Zecora chuckled. “Perhaps some practise I advise, as memorising would be wise.” Without warning, she stiffened, her pupils retracting. Her next words spilled out in a verbal torrent: “But hasten fast, Harmony’s chosen, lest you find your progress frozen.”
“You okay, Zec—”
“Now! Say the words, say them together!” Zecora had turned pale as a cloud. “She approaches—it’s now or never!”
The foals gasped.
“Everyone, stand up and say the words. Come on!” Liberty jerked her head around to Zecora. “Yoo...rahfiki ni... Ucha...wi?”
Zecora nodded. “Urafiki ni Uchawi. One last thing—find Zubu. My old friend—he will aid you.”
“Urafiki ni Uchawi, Urafiki ni Uchawi, Urafiki ni Uchawi…”
As the six chanted on and on, a shimmering pillar of light encased them. Shining brighter and brighter—on par with the sun—their bodies began to glow. In a final flash, they vanished, leaving only a pile of crumbled debris.
After lowering her hoof, Zecora stared at the extinct teleporter and breathed a sigh of relief. It was done. Finally, after years of hope, decades of planning… the world had a second chance at life.
As the red flash appeared nearby, she closed her eyes. Nothing else mattered to her now. The end result was worth any price.
“What the...? How did…?”
Queen Twilight Sparkle stared at the archway, her mouth agape. “I sealed this entrance thirty years ago! Why is it wide open like this?”
Zecora groaned and sat down against a tree, its shadow covering her face.
Twilight’s ears twitched. “I see,” she said. “So this was your doing.” She spun around, eyes filled with shining bloodlust, her Amulet pulsing at her neck. “You know, Cheerilee told me something very interesting a minute ago. She’s been waiting at your hut for close to half an hour now, with seven of her class. No sooner had she told me that, than I felt the echoes of a positively tremendous outpouring of magic.
“Where, may I ask, are the other six?”
Another flash, and Zecora found herself against the tree. Winded, she gasped while her patch flicked up and over her face. A jagged scar covered the skin, stretched taut over where her left eye should have been. Bathed in the scarlet aura, Zecora shivered.
“I see that punishing you as vengeance for my friends taught you absolutely nothing,” Twilight continued. Her eyes shifted a little past Zecora’s face, and a striped leg extended from the tree. “Perhaps it is time for another lesson.”
Zecora screamed as her right hind tibia snapped.
“What did you do, Zecora? Where are the foals, and why is my seal broken?”
Zecora flinched away from Twilight’s powerful voice. Panting, tears leaking from her remaining eye, she looked back into Twilight’s bloody gaze. “I have... not done a single thing, though... a terrifying fate did bring... those wayward foals to their deaths, gone in... but a single breath.” She ground her teeth together and moaned through the pain. “I warned them of that dreadful tree, protected by Your Majesty. Yet all my warnings they ignored... and with us now, they are no more. Naught but ash... remains of all, of whom the tree’s wrath did befall. Queen Twilight, their souls are free… to reside in eternity.”
Twilight smiled a dangerous smile. “So, you would have had these foals revive the Elements.”
“Dear Twilight, please, you must see, my intent was not what you believe—”
“Do not lie to me!”
Another break, a femur this time. Twilight rose into the air and hovered before her crippled, howling victim. “You wanted to turn them into a weapon!” she snarled. “A weapon to use against me. Well, guess what? Your plan backfired. That’s right, Zecora—however long you planned this, it was all for nothing!”
Another crack like thunder shot through the air. Twilight descended again as Zecora’s screams sent birds flying from the treetops.
“Now I have to explain to five sets of parents that their foals are never coming home, from a class field trip that I myself signed off on—that you assured me would be perfectly safe—all because of your utter foalishness.”
Twilight inclined her head, and Zecora flew through the air, landing in a crumpled heap at Twilight’s hooves.
“You know something, Zecora?” She shook the trembling, broken, aged zebra. “I was having a decent day today. Breakfast was great, seeing Scootaloo was nice—heck, even signing papers didn’t feel such a chore as usual. But now you’ve gone and ruined that. Can you even imagine how this is going to damage my reign?”
Zecora forced her head up, her eye on Twilight’s furious red horn. Ignoring the inferno coursing through her nerves, she spoke barely above a whisper.
“Your reign… with this my final dare… can rot with Tirek... for all I care.”