//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Confrontation // Story: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Anarchy // by Simply Anarchy //------------------------------// The ponies exit the dungeon and proceed back to the main throne room. An uneasy feeling has hushed the group and left them deep in their own thoughts. Even Pinkie Pie had nothing to say about what they had just heard. Pinkie Pie had nothing to say. That right there should say something. That would be like Rainbow Dash, in peak physical condition, losing in a race against Fluttershy. It just simply doesn't happen. "I still can't believe somepony would manipulate another into petty robbery." Rarity commented breaking the silence amongst the group of friends. "I mean, that is about as low as one can get." The white unicorn was brushing dust off of her coat. She didn't want a single trace of that filthy dungeon on her. Applejack rolls her eyes at the sight of her fashionable friend doing this. Although she did share her grief of the current situation. "Ah hate to admit it, but ah kinda feel sorry for those two." the country pony stated adamantly. "Imagine somepony you love and care about in that same position. Wouldn't you do anything in your power to help them?" Starlight looked to the orange mare with uncertainty. "Hopefully, none of us will ever have to make such a decision." she answers, while picking up the pace a bit to walk beside Twilight. "Are you okay?" Starlight asks the alicorn with concern in her voice. "I'm fine." Twilight responds snapping out of her thoughts. The truth is that she doesn't exactly know what to make of their predicament. "I just keep thinking about that message. 'Anarchy is here.' Why go through such lengths to tell us that?" "Sounds like a lot of hot air to me!" Rainbow Dash snorts. She is flying about two feet from the ground beside Applejack. Flying was the one thing that calmed her down. Stress, anger, sadness, no matter what the problem, it could be conquered by a good flying session. But even that wouldn't filter her opinion. "It's probably just another bad guy trying to scare us. We just have to show him that we aren't afraid of him. When he sees that he's outnumbered, he'll curl up in a corner and cry like the little schoolfilly that he is!" "Wow, Dashie! That was harsh even for you!" Pinkie Pie adds noting the blue pony's hostile insult. "Well, he deserves whatever he gets for ruining all these ponies' lives." the pegasus retorts standing firmly by what she said. Twilight turns back to Rainbow Dash and nods. "Which is why we are going to catch this pony and bring him to justice. For the Rich family and Pestle and Mortar's family, as well." Her determination was very evident, and it actually surprised her friends a bit. But they all nodded in agreement. "Now let's go tell the princess what we have just learned." _________________________ Meanwhile in Ponyville, in an abandoned workshop, another diabolical plot unfolds. "Those two foolish ponies are in Celestia's custody, Mr. Anarchy." A bald white stallion states sternly. "But from what I hear, they haven't been talking." "It makes no difference." The trench coat wearing villain swivels in his leather office chair. "A statement has been made, regardless of their incompetence on delivering a simple message." "There is something else you need to know, sir." Another maneless white pony chimes in. His body shape and size exactly resembled the previous stallion's. "The princess of friendship was spotted en route to Canterlot castle. Intel informs us that she has been asked to talk to them." The gray pony rubs his chin and smiles deviously. "The princess of friendship, you say? Well, this could still work out then." The white henchpony approaches his boss once more. "How should we proceed?" "Don't you see?" Mr. Anarchy quizzes his minion. "We have been graced with an opportunity here." He climbs on top of an old creaky desk, which appears to be quite sturdy for its age. "Listen up, everypony!" He grabs the attention of every pony in the shop. There are twelve of them in total and they were all standing at attention awaiting for their boss's speech. "There has been an unexpected turn of events! The princess of friendship herself has decided to stick her muzzle where it doesn't belong. Now she stands between you and your redemption against Princess Celestia. So tell me.... Are you going to stand for this?" "NO!" the gang of white stallions exclaims in unison. "That is what I like to hear! With that said, we are left with two options." the sinister villain proclaims. "We can proceed with our attack on Celestia, knowing full well that Princess Twilight and her pathetic friends will intervene, slowing our efforts down tremendously. Or.... we can postpone our invasion, for the time being of course, and teach her the true meaning of the word 'anarchy'." "Let's bring Twilight down!" one of the pale ponies interjects. This causes the rest of them to shout in unanimous agreement. Anarchy laughs maniacally as his soldiers rally in unification over their common goal. "Fantastic! It's settled then! Let's bring Twilight Sparkle down to our level and stamp her out like the insignificant mare that she really is!" he boldly asserts. "YEAH!" His troops all burst out chanting. "This is going to be fun!" the evil mastermind muttered. Then he threw his head back and let out a long dreadful cackle. _________________________ Several hours later, Twilight and her friends have returned to Ponyville, after speaking with Princess Celestia. The sun was still high in the sky, as it shone brightly over the crystal tree that she calls home. Twilight approached the giant door to her home. "Well, that definitely didn't go as planned." the princess huffed in disappointment. She opened the door and let her friends inside. "At least Princess Celestia agreed to help Mortar's sister." Rarity stated optimistically. "Despite all that those two had done, she still displayed such remarkable mercy. Truly inspirational!" "You said it." Applejack agreed while tipping her hat to the unicorn. "It was mighty kind of the princess to do such a thing for them. Hopefully, after they get out of jail, they will follow her example." Rainbow Dash flew down beside her orange friend. "Another job well done." Rainbow added patting herself on the back. "It's no wonder the princess always chooses us for these missions. We're awesome!" Twilight grins at her friends' remarks. But then she remembers that the real mission is still underway. "I'm happy that we have helped Mortar's sister, too." the alicorn said assuredly. "But it is not time to celebrate just yet, girls. We still have their 'boss' to worry about. This isn't over until we find him." "Awwww! But I already brought out my party cannon!" Pinkie whined. "Can't we celebrate just a teensy bit?" Pinkie puffed out her bottom lip trying to do her best puppy dog face to convince the purple alicorn to reconsider. Twilight just shakes her head. "Not yet, Pinkie." she says neglecting to acknowledge the party pony's facial expression. "Let's focus on our mission first." Rainbow Dash sees Pinkie's shoulders slump in disappointment. She swoops down and lands beside her hyper friend. "Besides, you'll need to save all of that confetti for when we catch this guy!" the pegasus chimed in an attempt to cheer up the pink pony. Pinkie's expression lit up with excitement. "Yippee! I can't wait!" she exclaimed loudly. Twilight and the other girls laughed together. Moments like these made her thank Celestia for sending her to Ponyville to learn about friendship all those years ago. She could not imagine what her life would be without them. Twilight looked to her friends with a determined smile. "Let's get started then, shall we?" she inquired rhetorically. "I was thinking that maybe we should start--" Spike bursts through the front door of the castle cutting Twilight off. He was sweating quite profusely as he approached his pony friends. "Uhh.... Twilight. I think there's something you should see." Spike mutters nervously. "What is it, Spike?" Twilight questions feeling concerned for her dragon friend. "Come outside!" Spike cried out frantically. He runs out the door with his friends trailing not too far behind him. He leads them outside the castle. There is a large crowd of ponies gathered around in a circle for some strange reason. Twilight and her friends begin making their way through the crowd to the center to see what all the fuss is about. They finally made it through what seemed like the entire town of ponies to see a gray pony wearing a black trench coat standing on a crate. His eyes were red and his hair was jet black, including his goatee. He is surrounded by eight or so buff white stallions, all of which were bald and bared no cutie mark on their flanks. The gray one smiled wickedly at the sight of Twilight. "I was wondering when the princess was going to grace us with her presence!" He declared blithely. "Fillies and gentlecolts, Princess Twilight Sparkle! The pony who has been held up to you as the prime example of friendship and unity! Clearly.... Celestia is getting desperate." He begins laughing as if he told a hilarious joke. A very unamused Twilight gives him a stern look. "Who are you?" she asks. The gray pony stops laughing, but the smile never leaves his face. "Oh, how rude of me. I just assumed you already knew me. Some ponies just can't deliver a message." he states slyly. Then he glares at the purple alicorn. "Then again, the message wasn't for you in the first place. It was for Celestia. But I do understand the confusion. You both have significantly large sticks up your as--" "Enough!" Twilight interjects cutting off the stallion before he could finish his insult. She looks back to Rainbow Dash, who is trying to hold back a laugh but trying to stay serious at the same time. Whose side is she on anyway? Twilight dared not to ask that. She looks to the red-eyed stallion again. "Message? The only message I know about is...." the alicorn stops abruptly in realization of who she's talking to. "It was you?" "Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner everypony!" he proclaimed excitedly. He then pulled a bit out of his pocket and held it up for the whole crowd to see. "Here! A little something for your clearly strenuous efforts!" He then tossed the bit at Twilight. It bounced off of her muzzle and rolled on the ground at her feet. Twilight rubbed her muzzle while she looked at the ground for what hit her. It was a piece worth one hundred bits! She gazed back up at the sinister pony. "So, you were the one behind the robbery?" The stallion just sighed and let a grin slip across his face. "A bit slower than I gave you credit for. If this is how things are going to be, then this will be easier than I thought, boys." he teased as he tapped one of his henchponies on the shoulder. "Yes. It was me, your highness." He let out with a hiss. "Why would you come here knowing full well that we were looking for you?" the princess of friendship asked feeling unnerved. The trench coat wearing pony just laughed at her confusion. "You sure do have a lot of questions. Aren't you supposed to be the smart one?" he questioned mocking her. "I wanted an audience! I wanted your whole precious town to be here for what I have to say!" He looked around at his captive audience. The sight made him smirk wickedly. "Citizens of Ponyville! For years now, you have had to hear the same spiel over and over and over again. 'Friendship is magic.'" He winced as he said the quote. "Let me ask something, princess. If friendship is so pure, then why are there little ponies being bullied in school by other ponies? Why are there so many gang muggings on city streets? Why are ponies forced to change who they are when other ponies don't approve of them?" Twilight was left speechless, as she just stood there and took in his many questions, most of which she really didn't know the answers to herself. Applejack stepped forward to defend her friend. "Nopony can make you change who you are!" the orange mare intervened. "Really? Ha ha ha ha ha ha! Hey! Starlight, is it? Care to say anything about that?" the gray pony retorted. Starlight just frowned as she took a step back. "Fine, I'll help. You believed in equality. A fair, albeit absurd, concept. And rather than letting you share your ideals with the world, Miss Friendship over here forced you to change!" he gleamed at the alicorn princess now. "Or what about my fallen idol, Discord? A creature of chaos forced into resenting his true nature. I suppose if it isn't convenient for your precious Princess Celestia then it is bad, am I getting this right?" He quizzed angrily. Fluttershy stepped forward timidly, still hiding behind her hair as if it will protect her from the evil pony. "Princess Celestia just wanted Discord to stop using his magic for bad." she insists shakily. "For bad? So he isn't allowed to act like himself because it is viewed by others as bad? Exactly my point. Thank you for proving me right!" the villainous pony sneered. "And that is why I'm here. To prove you wrong. To prove you all wrong! Above all, though, I'm here to embrace MY special talent. To fulfill my destiny!" "Oh yeah?! And what would that be?!" Rainbow Dash interjected angrily. A dastardly smile formed on the boss pony's face. "Watching Equestria burn! That is my special talent. Causing mayhem and misery wherever I go!" he proclaimed deviously. "Nopony's talent could possibly be that! Obviously, you have misread your mark!" Twilight implied. "Have I?" the gray stallion riddled. He then removed his trench coat to reveal a red 'A' enclosed within a circle, the universal symbol for anarchy. "It is my destiny to be your undoing. I represent everything you hate. I am what Discord was and should still be. I am disorder." "We don't want or need your chaos here, ruffian!" Rarity states in a posh manner. "How blunt and shallow of you to say. Let me propose something to you then, my dear. And it certainly isn't marriage, you self-indulgent mule. It is a question. Could there be order without chaos?" the stallion scorned. His comment was enough to make Rarity burst into tears. Pinkie hugged the sobbing pony to comfort her. Twilight looked around and saw the crowd of ponies talking amongst themselves, obviously shaken up by what this pony had to say. Then, she looked to her friends, one of which was sobbing uncontrollably. She glared at the chaotic pony. "Enough talking. We won't let you get away with what you have done! It's time for us to bring you to Princess Celestia. You will be punished for your crimes." the alicorn declared trying to remain civil, but a hint of anger still managed to escape her voice. The sinister pony let another smirk cross his face. "Well, as enticing as that sounds, I am going to have to decline. I have major plans for the world, Twilight!" he exclaims menacingly. Then, he steps off of the crate and notions them to crack it open. He beams at the alicorn princess. "You asked me what my name was earlier. I will tell you now, and I'm sure you won't forget it. My name is Simply Anarchy. There! Now you know me, and I know you. I know all of you!" He points to Twilight and her friends. The crate finally cracks open and the lid is removed. Anarchy dips his arms into the crate and pulls out an armful of bits. His henchponies do the same. He looks to the alicorn and her friends, then to the crowd of ponies surrounding them. "It's time to spread the word! And the word is anarchy!" He proceeds to throw the bits into the air. They scatter all over the ground. This causes the crowd to look with envy at the glistening currency covering the ground. Then they all simultaneously look at the villain. He looks back at them. "Have at it! Take what belongs to you!" After his command, the ponies begin swarming in to collect the money. Ponies begin trampling over one another just to get to the bits. Twilight and her friends get separated in the sudden swarm. Twilight managed to get one last glimpse at her evil adversary before he and his crew disappeared into the crowd. All the while, she could still hear his voice. He was singing in a very sinister manner. "No I can't slow down. I can't hold back, though you know I wish I could. No there ain't no rest for the wicked, until we close our eyes for good♪" He let out a very evil laugh, and then, just like that, he was gone. Twilight emerged from the crowd, looking left and right for any trace of the villain. Of course, as she expected, there was none. She then searched for her friends, but before she could even begin to look, they were all running towards her. They had all made it out. Thank, Celestia. Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight frantically. "Where's Anarchy?" she asked. Twilight looked to the ground and shook her head. They had him! And just like that, they lost him. How would she explain any of this to Princess Celestia? Even worse than that, what will Anarchy do next?