//------------------------------// // Not So Ordinary // Story: Not All Is Set In Stone // by Tails_155 //------------------------------// The bells chimed on the large structure as the mouth opened and dozens of foals spewed forth from the doors. Various students, some energetic, some drowsy, chatted away as they headed toward their homes, downtown, or, for a couple foals, just out of town, down the path between Ponyville and Port Mane. Three brightly colored fillies bounced happily down the path debating what would be their newest hobby to try out. "We should totally be stunt ponies! You could be the Cannonball Mare, I could be the Winged Wonder and you could be The...White... Unicorn." "You've been reading those comics too much, lately, Scootaloo." Apple Bloom rolls her eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?" Scootaloo says, adjusting her saddlebags, the latest issue of Superpals: Crash & Burn tumbling into the dirt. Scootaloo mutters inaudibly and picks up the comic, checking to make sure she didn't tear it. Sweetie Belle giggles. "She is saying you sound like you're coming up with our super hero names." "Well, if we could be superheroes that'd be cool, too." "Not what I meant." "I know that! I'm not a mule. Uh, no offense." Scootaloo turns to a mule standing outside Sugarcube Corner. "None taken." "The line seems so long, today. Must be the weather--" Apple Bloom looks to the clear sky, then to the busy exterior of Sugarcube Corner. "Yeah, Rainbow Dash has given us some awesome weather this week!" Scootaloo interrupts. "What do ya say we just go to the clubhouse? I can get us some apple pie after we drop off our stuff." Apple Bloom suggests. "Yeah, the sooner we get to the clubhouse--" Sweetie Belle starts. "The sooner we can get our cutie marks!" Scootaloo steals the sentence once more. "Fervent, today." Sweetie Belle turns to Scootaloo. Scootaloo looks at her, unsure whether to be insulted or not. She refuses to ask what fervent means, though. The trio abandon the idea of shakes. They head to the clubhouse and drop off their bags. Sweetie Belle pulls out her Writing Conventions For the Elementary-Aged Foal and glances at the homework. "This should be cake." "Ugh, I hate homework. Do we really have to start with homework?" "It's best to get it done, then it's over with." Apple Bloom answers. "But it's soooo boring!" "It's... five questions." Sweetie Belle sighs. "Five questions worth of wasted time. Our cutie marks are waiting!" "If you have any trouble, just ask us!" Sweetie Belle repeats her offer she has given many a time before. "I don't want to be the stupid pony." Scootaloo slumps down, her voice somewhat bitter at her ineptitude. "You're not stupid; you just don't pay attention." "Well, if it weren't so boring..." Scootaloo trails off. "If we get a snack first, will you chill out and do the homework? Again, it's just five questions." Apple Bloom looks at the assignment. Scootaloo sighs. "Fine, whatever." Apple Bloom nods and heads for the clubhouse door when the old tree below creaks, and the ground begins to rumble. "What's going on?" She exclaims. "How should I know?" Sweetie Belle shouts, competing with the trembling bass that feels like all of Equestria is ripping open. "Should we be in here? What if this thing falls?" Scootaloo tilts her head, instinctively hovering, staring at the open window. "Let's get outside, away from the trees." Apple Bloom suggests, a sudden crack of a nearby tree rattling a branch to the ground adds an exclamation point to her suggestion. The trio bolts for the door of their now wholly disorganized clubhouse. All three fillies look at each other, concern rising. The sky's light fades and a focused point of light overpowers everything, making opening one's eyes a struggle. The rumbling gets harsher, and boards of the clubhouse's balcony fall to the ground. The fillies run for the main road, away from anything that could fall. Eventually the brightness becomes too much and the trio duck and cover by the roadside, shielding their burning eyes. The noise reaches its peak, as the sounds of explosions echo across the horizon, the land seeming to rip open a huge scar north of Canterlot. The rumbling subsides slowly, eventually Ponyville's tremors subside down to a more controllable rumble. "What in Equestria is this, anyway? This is not normal." Sweetie Belle shouts over the last of the tremors. "Really? I thought this happened all the time." Scootaloo rolls her eyes at Sweetie Belle who gives a mildly irritated scowl in return. The rumbling subsides and the air is eerily quiet at Sweet Apple Acres. "We gotta go check on Granny Smith! Who knows what happened to my house?!" "I gotta check on Rarity!" "Let's split up and see if everypony is okay." Scootaloo bolts for town without awaiting a counterargument. Sweetie Belle looks to Apple Bloom and shrugs. Apple Bloom nods, and they both part ways, heading for their houses. -------------------- The giant scar across the terrain has brought train travel to a halt along the north end of Canterlot. Guards stare over the battlements at the tear in the land that clearly was not there even a few minutes ago. The tear emanates a glow of lava, as well as a more ominous muted rainbow glow that shifts. The guards' hearing is so shocked by the crashing and rumbling that the sounds of crawling, scraping and climbing are inaudible at the distance of the castle. Princess Celestia makes her way to the end of the castle where guards have informed her of an anomaly. Her eyes narrow as she beholds the sight of crystalline beings of all shapes and sizes making their way from the chasm. "Get to your families." "But Princess, who will guard the walls?" "I doubt that will matter much longer. Get to your families." This did no good toward putting the guards at ease. "Princess?" The princess says nothing else. The guards leave their post, a mild tremble to their movement. -------------------- A voice, equal parts deep and shrill echoes up the chasm, as a large alicorn, even by Celestia's standards, makes its way to the surface. "I never thought I would see the sun's brilliant rays reflect upon me again. It has been a long time." The creature doesn't quite resemble a standard equine of the land, he is far more angular and his eyes blend into his face, seemingly chiseled from a single stone. His color is that of an iridescent grey. "Time to take back what was once my father's, and now rightfully mine. I swore I would avenge you, father." The creature spreads its crystalline wings and rears back in determined triumph. The ranks surrounding him grow in number, as creatures of all builds and forms flood the edges of the chasm. The walls an enormous geode of brilliant colors. "After all these years those ponies have flourished, I see? Well, maybe it is time they received a taste of their own medicine. A rightful tomb of stone for what they did to us." He mutters angrily to himself. His swordlike horn glows a faint glow, and a brilliant light flashes across the lands. Any ponies within direct contact of its light are petrified where they stand, coated in a shell of rigid crystal. The enormous equine takes to the sky, heading toward the castle, which has suffered significant damage from the quakes. After landing within the barriers, he turns to a family cowering in the streets. An expression resembling a grin reaches his transparent face. In a flash, the adults among the huddle are crystallized, leaving the foals overcome with tears. "Now, now, young ponies. It is only fair." The harsh voice, like a deep pitched series of nails on a chalkboard, hisses at the foals. "I shall leave you hopeless and alone, much like your kind did for me and those like me. Trapped in the ground for millennia, I would spit at your hooves. Selfish whelps. Begone!" The towering creature barks. The foals run off, wailing. He gives a satisfied smirk, turning to more ponies attempting to escape the wrath of this being. He turns, playing with his victims. He fires a single red beam from his chest, striking a single pony, whose limbs immediately fail it, falling to the ground, terrified. The stone prison that escapes from its ribcage climbs across the helpless creature's body until all that's left is the helpless head, face messed up in a tearful yelp of agony. The pony screams until it is finally muted by fully crystallizing. The ponies who caught sight run away in a panic. Not long after, Celestia makes her way to the center of town, where she witnesses the being picking off victims one at a time, laughing in a harsh tone devoid of anything a normal soul would call joy. Shining Armor makes his way to the center of Canterlot, as well. "So you must be Beryline. I showed your kind mercy, giving them control of the depths of Equestria. It is reckless of you to squander that for some bitter claim of revenge." "You should know what it is like to be without sunlight, did you not suffer the wrath of your sister? How is she doing, by the way? Happy to be back from her prison? Oh, yes, word does travel, even if we could not. I heard you needed a precious pack of pony pals to bail you out. Pathetic, sending your lessers to do your job." "Silence! I am willing to show you mercy once more if you retu-" A bolt of light is fired toward the only two ponies still in the center plaza. Shining Armor releases a blue barrier that dissipates the blast into nothingness. "Hmph. If that's how you wish to behave, then we shall see what becomes of you." Celestia fires a neon green blast toward the beast who begins firing blast after blast. The duo backs up, reaching the walls of town, where they are flanked by the countless creatures which have made their way to the entrance of the city. A sudden thunderclap is heard, and the duo disappears. "Typical Celestia, running to hide behind her minions. We shall deal with them, later. First, to reclaim land for you, my friends." The monstrous equine slowly hovers high into the air and lets out a terrible flash of muted colors, which crystallize vast swaths of the town, leaving only terrified foals cowering in the blast. "I like the thought of that. Let these young creatures come to learn our pain. Maybe one day they will learn to respect us, or if nothing else, fear us." A smirk of determination reaches the ambiguous face. "Maybe one day we can live in peace." Another solemn cackle escapes the would-be lips of the equine.