//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Chaos Falls // by Black Hailstorm //------------------------------// Confrontation Princess Celestia was not happy. In fact the word “happy” would be an insult to how she felt right now. The mare of the sun was frankly, displeased. Staring at the hazel stallion, the eight mares and the kangaroo she honestly wasn’t surprised to see them all, having learned from Spike that they went on a mission by request of the map. However the news she had received hours ago, was what brought her here to Twilight’s castle in the first place. And she had also had the strange pleasure of meeting Starlight Glimmer, who had refused to say anything past a “hi princess” before the two had waited in silence. “Is there a problem?” Hailstorm asked. Princess Celestia merely frowned. Of course there is. “Yes, in fact there is a problem. I received word from the mayor of Macropulian City two hours ago that their temple has been vandalized and an ancient relic has been destroyed. They do not know how or why it happened but they have reason to believe that it is based around a certain group of ponies” she said her eyes now directed on Twilight and the others before turning back to the former human. “And I want to know why” she said her frown disappearing and taking on a more serious look. “Twilight I believe I have taught you enough about the laws of other countries and how to respect them have I not?” Twilight’s ears wilted in shame. “Yes, princess.” Daring Doo stepped forward. “It’s my fault they got dragged into this mess.” Celestia raised a brow at the light gold mare in question. “And you are?” “Daring Doo, your highness. Also author of the-” “Of the Adventures of The Daring Doo” Celestia said with a somewhat amused smile. “I see. So you travelled to the Kangaroo Islands to study their treasure did you not?” Daring nodded. “I made sure I was granted permission before entering.” “I see” Celestia said her eyes turning back to the ponies whose heads were now bowed in shame. “However it seems some ponies did not do the same.” “Excuse me” I interjected. “Yes?” “Princess, if you please we had a tour guide. Twilight and the others didn’t blindly walk into the temple they had our friend here Swift Strike” I pointed at the kangaroo who merely grinned and waved back. Celestia merely stared at the kangaroo in consideration. A few seconds of silence passed before the jack broke it. “They’re right your highness. I was wif ‘em the entire time. I work part time with a organization that helps guide the tourists to the temple, as well as through it. These ponies were merely trying to help their friend here who simply got stuck in the temple’s traps.” And as an afterthought he added, “I can reassure you, they were with me the entire time. The organization knows and they have ties with our governmental system, so the buck of Macropulian City should’ve known” he stated. A few more seconds passed before Celestia’s stern gaze softened if only a little. “Very well then. However that doesn’t answer one question.” “And what’s that princess?” asked Pinkie. Celestia’s gaze turned on me. “How did you activate the temple to get the device?” Everyone in the room froze. It was as if the room temperature in the room had dropped from 60 degrees to a chilly 32. Screwball took a step forward in what I could only assume was an attempt at my defense. “Princess, what do you mean the device was already-” “Screwball is it?” Celestia asked with a kind smile. Screwball actually froze and nodded slowly. Celestia’s smile did not falter. “I understand you are trying to protect Hailstorm. But I need to know how he did it.” “But Princess” Twilight began only to be cut off by Celestia raising a hoof for silence. “My little ponies, I have traveled to many countries and nations in my time. I have visited the macropulian race before. I know of their temple because I have seen it myself. I also know that there is one and only one way to get to the device the mayor mentioned in his letter. None of you could have activated it.” Her magenta eyes turned towards me. “Which means you are the only solution.” I could feel everyone’s eyes now fall on me at Celestia’s statement. And if I had wanted to fake any form a heart attack right now, I couldn’t help but feel now was the best moment to do so. “Hailstorm” Celestia said softly, my attention turning back to her. “How did you open the gate?” She took a step towards me, and like a fool I took a step back. My heart had begun racing. I could feel it pounding in my chest at this very moment, I didn’t know what to say, and now that I thought about it, when I had reverted back everyone including Swift Strike had seen my true form. I glanced over to Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Daring Doo, AJ, Pinkie and Dash only to see all their eyes reflecting the very same curiosity that the princess of the sun had in her own as she crossed the room towards me. My eyes glanced over to the mare I had seen in my dream, not once but twice Starlight Glimmer’s face now completely void of tear stains -no doubt through magic- and now she was moving towards me with the same curiosity her peers held. Swift Strike I could tell was behind me, but I was sure he didn’t know what to do in this situation, because I had heard him move and to me it sounded like he was extremely uncomfortable at this moment. And Screwball...she was nowhere to be seen. “Well Hailstorm, How did you unlock the relic that no known creature in Equestria has been capable of doing since it’s creation?” Celestia asked dragging me out of my thoughts as I tried to plan a way to answer this question. “Um...uh” I stuttered, a few beads of sweat slowly sliding down my face. “You see-” I was never able to finish the sentence, because the next thing I saw was smoke envelope my vision along with the others. Shouts between Twilight and the others occurred before I could see a faint glow of gold aura, but before anything else could happen a blur zoomed towards me. Then the next thing I knew I was back in my room, pinned to the ground and looking down at me with a slightly increased pace of breath, her disposition screaming concern. Was Screwball. Screwball’s eyes were no longer cross-eyed as they’d been before but were now focused as she stared down at me with a heavy breath. I honestly was at a loss for words by the mare’s quick movement and ability to drag me all the way upstairs to my room so quickly before I’d even noticed what had happened. I waited for her breathing to relax before asking her to get off me politely. She hesitated at first, I noticed a sly grin cross her lips, one she quickly brushed away before moving off of me and allowing me the chance to get up. Once on my hooves the mare’s focused eyes looked at me with concern. I didn’t know what to say, especially by how quickly she’d brought me up here as if to protect me or even say something of extreme importance. So I simply stared back in silence. This continued for a few seconds before I heard Dash’s voice say. “Where’d he go?!” “I think I heard his door slam shut” Spike called directly across from my room. Wow Spike. Just wow. “That’s it I’m going up there!” I heard Dash say annoyance clearly displayed from the tone of her voice. Screwball turned to me the concern still in her eyes as she stared. “Look Hailstorm, I don’t know what to say but, I know you’re hiding something. And I also know you’re not from this world” she said speaking as quickly as she possibly could, when the sound of a loud thump slammed into the door. “HAILSTORM!” Dash yelled. My eyes raised up in the direction of the raging pegasus who was know tapping her hoof against the door frame. “Open this door!” she yelled. The sound of hooves from below had now come to join her. Screwball turned my attention back to her, tilting my head back in her direction. “Hailstorm listen to me” she pleaded. “I don’t know why but-” she bit her lip, her face contorting into one of confliction like she was struggling with herself to say something yet at the same time refrain from saying so. “What? What is it?” I asked, the look on her face only making the anxiety that had been building up clearly show on my face. “Tell me Screwball, what is it?!” Screwball’s ears wilted when she looked back at me. Her eyes losing their focus on me and going back to their cross-eyed state, before the door knob turned. “I’m sorry” was the last thing I heard her whisper before, something fell out of her tail crashed into the ground and blinded me with the light the that emerged from it. Rubbing my eyes after the flash bomb had exploded, I fought for visual till the door swung open, revealing the foggy image of the princess and a ticked off Rainbow Dash all staring at me with her friends. Screwball was nowhere in sight. My eyes were squinted as Rainbow Dash’s triple figured image came flying at me and pinning me to the ground for a second time, the three versions of her each glowering at me menacingly in silent fury. And as the three Dash’s collided into one Rainbow Dash, the mare’s glare never left her face as I blinked her back into normal perceptual imagery. “You’re not getting away from us that easily.” Rainbow Dash had, had enough. The mare had saved the stallion’s life during his tumble to death and not only had he refused to tell them anything about who he was, he was also a fraud considering he had transformed before their very eyes, and even now attempted to escape from them. The very mares who thought they were his friends. In all honesty she couldn’t speak for the others, seeing as they seemed to still show concern for the stallion, especially Swift Strike who had scolded her for being so forceful upon bringing Hailstorm back to the common room, but she could say for sure that her trust in the stallion was slipping. As for Screwball, she didn’t have the time to bother where that bizarro was, and why Starlight was here was even less of a topic for discussion. Right now she just wanted to know why the stallion had tried to run. She could still remember the last thing that strange device had said before the group had been knocked out by some kind of electric shock. “This is my warning to you.” the words resounded in her mind as Rainbow stared at the stallion who now sat in the center of the elemental seats. Princess Celestia having been brought a seat of her by Spike, and Swift Strike having been content with using his own tail as a sort of cushion. “Hailstorm why did you try to run from us?” Fluttershy asked gently. Dash watched the stallion shift uncomfortably in his seat at the center before he replied, “I didn’t run. I got dragged.” Dash scowled, more lies. “Now can you tell us how you were able to open the door Hailstorm?” Hailstorm sighed. “They can tell you what happened Your Highness, Isn’t that right AJ?” Dash turned her attention to the farming earth pony who looked taken aback having been given the spotlight. “Er, yes. Yes Ah can.” She coughed to clear her throat before continuing. “Ya see princess, when we found Daring Doo trapped within the temple, something mighty strange happened.” “And what was that?” Celestia asked from her seat beside Twilight. “Well, that’s just it.” Applejack’s attention turned back to the hazel stallion. “We don’t know. All we do know is that he started to glow and then became something akin to a minotaur.” Dash scoffed, getting a few glances from Twilight and the others. “Is something wrong Rainbow Dash?” the princess asked. “Yeah there’s something wrong. Princess, this guy’s a liar!” she said raising her hoof at me. “Don’t ya think that Ah would be the best one to tell if he was lying Dash?” Applejack asked with a raised brow. “Well you’re not doing a good job are you?!” she fumed turning her attention back to Hailstorm, with a scowl. “Rainbow Dash darling what’s got you so upset? True I don’t quite agree with our friend here hiding things from us but calling him a liar because he didn’t tell us he could do that is a bit...much don’t you think?” Rarity said. “Of course not! Look, girls, princess, Hailstorm’s hiding something. He obviously didn’t intend for us to find out that he could do” she waved her hoof around him. “That!” she spat. “I mean C’MON! We all saw his reaction when he changed into that human or whatever, and who knows if he’s just some kind of shape-shifter that came out of the Everfree!” Silence. Hailstorm’s ears were wilted and at the moment the stallion wasn’t looking up. Good, Dash thought her rage still boiling. Teach him a lesson to hide something of that importance from his friends next time. An angered snort left her nose. “Now I can quite understand why ya’re so upset Rainbow Dash” said Swift Strike. “But, I can also understand why Hailstorm, would want to keep something like what we saw a secret.” “Yeah but why?” Daring Doo asked. “He must be hiding something big if he’s willing to hide something like that.” “I can only assume it was so he wouldn’t cause panic” Twilight said with a hoof to her chin. “He’s, still here you know” Spike caustically stated, drawing the group’s attention to the grimace the stallion was trying to restrain. “Sorry about that Hailstorm” Twilight said with an apologetic smile. “Don’t apologize!” Dash exclaimed shooting the stallion another glare. “Settle down.” Celestia said calmly. It seemed to work because the mare was no longer on the edge of her seat, slouching back down into her chair with an annoyed pout on her face. “Hailstorm” Celestia said drawing the stallion’s attention. “Please tell us, what you are.” A few seconds of silence passed as everyone waited to see what the stallion would say. If he really were a changeling Dash wouldn’t hesitate to lash out at him for deceiving her, her friends and the princess. But if he told them the truth, maybe, just maybe, her faith in him would return. Even if it was small. So they all sat waiting in silence as Hailstorm shut his eyes blocking them all out and contemplating what would be the best course of action. Pinkie had now started to bite her hoof a bit in anticipation and worry for her friend, afraid he would do something to ruin the friendships he’d made with them, but Dash kept her eyes focused on the stallion. Eyes slowly narrowing as if she expected him to attack. A couple more seconds passed, and Celestia simply remained patient. Waiting for whenever he was ready to speak while, Daring Doo simply sat in silent patience as well, just as curious to see what the strange stallion would say. It had been almost an entire minute, and Dash felt she would explode any second now if the stallion didn’t snap out of his statue like state immediately and tell them what they all wanted to hear. The truth. Then they all heard him rise. His eyes opening and revealing those light brown eyes that stared at all of them before they heard him say: “I am a human.” I waited, my attention now away from the others and focused on the princess who now stared at me with an inexpressive face after my declaration of what I really was. To say I was not nervous would be a lie. Dash’s reaction alone had told me that I had already messed up despite the warning’s I’d recieved from this Pines fellow, and what was even worse it wasn’t even my fault. However this didn’t change the fact that I now have to be extremely careful in what happens from now on. Because if Dash was willing to throw me to the shark’s because I had accidentally revealed my true form. Then who knows what sort of thoughts was going through the others minds. I pushed those thoughts away, actively listening and focusing all my attention on the princess as she had not spoken in what felt like minutes but was possibly seconds in reality. I suppose pressure really does change your concept of time. She smiled. “A human” she said almost nostalgically. “It has been a long long time since I have seen one, but to see one in such a form as this is probably the most astounding thing I’ve seen aside from the elements here” a wider smile crossing her face as she glanced around at Twilight and the others. Turning her attention back to me, Celestia’s smile seemed to drop a bit. “However if you really are a human Hailstorm. How did you get here?” That was the million dollar question wasn’t it. Not how, but more of a why I was here. I couldn’t tell them the truth. Not now, it was too early. There were still too many things I needed to take into account. My dreams being one of them. “The princess is right. How did you get here?” Starlight asked me with a raised brow. And once again all eyes were on me. My eyes looked in the direction of the mare that had just addressed me. I’d been told her name was Starlight, as for her exact connection to the group of mares I hadn’t been told much except she was being reformed. Or at least had been reformed. Why and for what she’d done to make her go through such a process I’d been left in the blank but if it was any consolation it seems she was the same mare I’d seen in my first two nights on this planet. I walked up to her, ignoring the question she had asked me, since I personally didn’t want to answer. Instead I decided I’d gain their attention a different way, by creating a distraction. So I did just that. I changed the sway of conversation by doing the one thing I knew I’d come to regret the second I’d done it. I trotted up to Starlight, and since I was generally taller than her and the others I merely goaded her back a bit away from the others with every step I took. She seemed to be intimidated as I proceeded towards her, I’m not surprised though with my rugged looks any girl of any species would back away. That or slap me. So as I moved towards her and she moved away, I noticed the groups attention had turned away from the direction of the conversation and back to what I was currently doing. Perfect, I thought with a small smile. Starlight simply looked confused by what I was doing, so she tried to go around me but I confronted her with a sidestep and blocked her path. It was then I noticed her cutie mark. My eyes widened at the realization that she didn’t have the same one I’d seen in my dream. And then I did the exact thing that turned everyone’s attention away from the topic of where I’d come from and what I was. I did the thing I knew, I’d come to regret, but not as much so. I touched Starlight’s flank, all due to my surprise of seeing her actual cutie mark instead of the one I’d seen in my dreams. And no sooner had I touched her flank did the mare whinny, scowl her cheeks taking on a crimson than drive a hoof squarely across my face, knocking me back as she did so. I had just been slapped by a horse. As I nursed my horseshoe marked face, I did my best to ignore the chuckles that came from Dash and Spike and the looks of disdain Rarity, Twilight and Starlight gave me. Fluttershy seemed to have been too embarrassed to even look at me, so it seems I may have lost points with her as well. Celestia held an amused smile but said nothing more on the matter. “As I was saying-” she paused, the sound of hooves clicking on the stairs, making a hasty rush towards us now that silence had once again taken over. And then quite suddenly emerging into the room and bursting open the doors was Screwball, out of breath, looking tired and rather a tad frightened she dashed into the room and began speaking insanely fast. The likes of which none of us could understand. “Hold on Screwball, I can’t understand what you’re saying speak slower.” Pinkie chimed in at this point. “She said and I quote “The Everfree Forest is acting up!”” “The forest that does stuff on it’s own?” I asked Screwball nodded. Then my eyes widened. “Wait! Didn’t you say there was a zebra that lived in the Everfree.” Twilight’s eyes widened as my words began catching her attention. “Zecora!” I didn’t waste a second afterwards, to get any orders. Instantly dashing out of the room and leaving the group of mares behind I barked orders out to them as I left them in my wake. “Screwball, Pinkie Pie and Dash, with me! Twilight, Daring, AJ and Rarity find Zecora!” Pinkie, Screwball and Dash quickly joined my side. “What are we going to do?” Pinkie asked as we burst our way out of Twilight’s castle and on to the streets of Ponyville. “We’re going to investigate the problem. And find out what’s causing this.” Although I have a pretty good idea what or who is.