Hail to the Queen

by Snowfeather

Chapter 5-From Death to Life

“Are you ready?” Apple Bloom asked Glitch.

The sun was beginning to make its descent down the sky as nine ponies met in a clearing in the Everfree. This was no ordinary meeting; it was the group who would, hopefully, vanquish the Queen.

Glitch nodded.

“Check to make sure Twilight has that spell on her, okay?” Scootaloo asked.

“Okay, I will,” Glitch said.

“Good luck!” Sweetie Belle said as light flared around the unicorn mare. In an instant she was gone.

Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle turned to the five ponies before them.

“Today is the day we take down Twilight,” Scootaloo said. She gave a few words about this mission and Twilight. The tiny crowd cheered when she finished.

Apple Bloom stepped forward to say something, but they were interrupted as a light shined brightly a ways from the group. The glow faded and Glitch galloped forward to the group.

“She still has it on!” Glitch called out.

“Okay, everypony, stand close to Glitch so she can teleport us to the castle,” Scootaloo called out while everypony shuffled closer.

In a flash of light, they were standing in an open doorway. On one side was the throne room; on another side was a hallway. Glitch, although she was looking tired, remembered what to do and cast an invisibility spell on all nine. Scootaloo took a second to memorize where everypony was before they vanished.

Scootaloo extended a hoof and tapped Sweetie Belle’s shoulder, pulling her to come forward. Sweetie squeaked, and Scootaloo realized she was touching Sweetie’s muzzle. Running her hoof lightly down her neck to her shoulder, she pulled the mare forward.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo crept into the throne room from behind. There was Twilight, talking to some stuffy looking dark blue pegasus with a yellow and blue mane. Sweetie Belle tensed next to Twilight, indicating she was undoing the sleeping spell. While Sweetie was casting the undo spell, Scootaloo gently lead her forward, until they were standing between the Queen and the pegasus.

The invisible pegasus squirmed as Twilight seemed to gaze into her, but she knew she was looking past her to the dark blue pegasus. As Scootaloo looked up at Twilight, the Queen’s eyelids drooped, and she collapsed, slumping over and eyes closing. Scootaloo could faintly hear a snore as she watched her defense spells turn off, one by one.

“Now!” Scootaloo said quietly. The seven ponies standing in the doorway rushed forward, the invisibility spell turning off. Sweetie Belle powered up her horn and shot a bolt of light green magic at the Queen. However, the alicorn was encased in her own purple magic. When the green hit the purple, Sweetie’s magic expanded, surrounding Twilight and pressing inwards. The green magic swiftly overtook the purple, and in an instant, the Queen was gone.

She’s dead. Twilight Sparkle is dead, Scootaloo thought. She whooped in joy as the ponies from the Rebellion joined her.

“What happened?” Someone cried out.

“The Queen is dead!” Scootaloo called out. “We are the Rebellion and this mare here,” Scootaloo pointed to Sweetie, “has killed her!”

By now a good amount of royal guards were milling about, staring at the empty throne uncertainly.

“She’s really gone?” One of them called out.

“Yes!” called back the Rebellion. Scootaloo felt the butterflies in her stomach flutter. If they decide to fight back for revenge, we’ll never get away in time.

One guard let out a cheer. More began to join in.

Soon the entire throne room was cheering, crying out for the same reason. “The Queen is dead!”

---

As the ponies cheered, Tornado Bolt pulled Glitch aside.

“Don’t do it.” Tornado Bolt looked at Glitch desperately. “We can’t betray them so soon after succeeding.”

“There’s no other time!” Glitch said back. “Sooner or later somepony is going to call out somepony and tell him he’s or she’s their new king or queen. We have to make the deal before they have a leader.”

“What if the deal doesn’t work?” Tornado Bolt said. “What if they go back on their word?”

“I have the capabilities to conquer them. Now that there isn’t an alicorn on the throne, it’ll be easy. With Celestia and Luna, and especially with their recent additions of Cadence and Twilight, it would have been impossible. I’ve been waiting for this moment my entire life. My entire life I’ve been in hiding, and now is the time to break free.”

“And I’ll stay with you?” Tornado asked.

“Of course. I promised your parents I’d keep you safe throughout all of this. I’m not about to go back on that.”

“Okay,” Tornado Bolt sighed, “lead the way.”

---

Scootaloo let out a shout as the lights flickered and died in the room. She could still see the sun through the windows, it was just none of the light seemed to get through the stained glass. All the light was concentrated on one spot: the throne.

The pegasus looked up to see Glitch, standing there with Tornado Bolt off to the side. The lights were then restored to what they should be, but everypony had their eyes on the unicorn mare standing in front of the throne.

Her horn lit up, and she was lifted into the air. As magic swirled around her, she appeared to grow from a normal mare’s height to Princess Celestia’s height. Glitch descended slowly, her cloak waving wildly.

When her hooves touched the ground she was much taller than Tornado Bolt. Everypony stared at her in confusion.

“Glitch?” Apple Bloom called out. “What are—”

The unicorn ignored her. “I have an agreement to make with you all. You can choose between two options: either let me be your new queen or you have to promise to give me a small bit of land on the edge of Equestria and leave me and Tornado Bolt alone. Let us do what we want and leave us alone.”

“But let me tell you,” Glitch said, “I advise you to choose the latter. I will not be as nice as Twilight.”

“What about the third option?” A stallion from the Rebellion called out angrily. “We kill you!”

“No, that’s not an option,” Glitch said, beginning to remove her cloak with telekinesis.

However, before she could finish a scream was heard. It didn’t come from the throne room but somewhere in the vast hallways of Canterlot Castle. Because of the echoing effect, nopony could tell exactly where the scream originated but they could all confirm one thing: it was a scream of shock and surprise.

The hushed chatter in the throne room fell silent as each pony listened. Glitch kept her cloak on and powered up her horn, ready to cast a spell if anything happened.

The door opened with a slam, and everypony turned around to see Twilight Sparkle, alive and well. She looked a little tired, but other than that she looked completely healthy.

Twilight’s horn lit up, and before anypony could start dashing away, each pony was frozen in place. The members of the Rebellion stared at the Queen with their jaws practically touching the floor, while the ponies that had been in here before the Rebellion arrived were looking at the Queen in terror of her finding out they had been excited she had died.

Scootaloo waited for Twilight to notice Glitch—wait, where was Glitch? The mysterious unicorn and her companion Tornado Bolt had disappeared from the throne room.

“You’re dead,” Apple Bloom stated in denial. “Sweetie disintegrated you. You’re dead.”

“Whenever I fall asleep outside of my sleeping chambers I get teleported there automatically. It teleported me there before the disintegration spell hit me,” the Queen explained.

“But…why didn’t your spell turn off?” Sweetie Belle said.

“It wasn’t on to begin with,” the Queen answered.

Guards that were still loyal to the Queen began to enter the room to arrest everypony there that was frozen.

“You killed Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo screamed suddenly. “You killed all of them!”

As the tears came running down Scootaloo’s face, she felt a sudden pain around her wings. Crying out, she looked up to see the Queen’s horn glowing. Twilight approached her.

“I did not kill them,” the Queen said darkly. The pain in Scootaloo’s wings increased dramatically, and she whimpered. As a guard approached them, Twilight released her spell and the pain went away. Scootaloo’s wings hung limp at her sides, burning as she was led away.

---

As the Queen finished her speech on how they had defeated the Rebellion and on how Twilight wasn’t dead, she looked on as Ponyville’s citizens cheered. Twilight stepped back to let the next pony speak to the crowd.

Twilight stood off to the side of the stage set up in front of the town hall. She wasn’t really listening to speech, already having known what he was saying, and gazed absentmindedly into the crowd. Everypony’s eyes were fixed on the speaker, except one pair of eyes that were cross-eyed. Those were looking at her. Twilight’s heart leapt with joy.

Twilight’s horn glowed, and Derpy felt herself in her magic embrace. In a flash of light both ponies were gone.

They reappeared on an intersection not far from the town square.

“Derpy, I wanted to talk to you because you gave me such good advice last time.” Twilight said quietly. “I did what you told me to do, but it backfired and Applejack told me to be less controlling and now they’re all gone.” Twilight sniffled, willing herself not to cry. “I don’t know what they were up to. They wouldn’t just free Applejack and Fluttershy just to free them; there had to be some point to it.”

“And now everypony doubts me because they think I killed them!” Twilight exclaimed. “They say that the explosion of the chariot crash couldn’t be enough to vaporize their bones, and I agree, it doesn’t make any sense, but it has to be true and it doesn’t mean I did it!” The alicorn paused, waiting for Derpy to say something.

“If it doesn’t make any sense then why do you believe it?” Derpy asked. Twilight just looked at her, confused.

“How do you know they’re dead?” the pegasus restated.

Twilight gasped in realization. “You’re right, this would be the perfect cover up for someone trying to fake their deaths! They may be still alive!”

The Queen turned, setting her focus on the forest on the outskirts of Ponyville. “I’ll go check the site of the explosion to confirm it.”

“I have to get back to Dinky,” Derpy said sadly. “She’s still at the town square and I don’t want to leave her alone after they finish. I’m sorry I can’t help you with your mission.”

“It’s okay,” Twilight said. “You’ve already helped me so much. Thank you.”

Derpy smiled, her sadness forgotten. “You’re welcome!”

---

The Queen flew over the Everfree, looking for the site of the crash. She knew what it looked like, having seen pictures of the hole in the trees. After spotted it, Twilight gradually descended.

The grass was scarred and scorched. Bits and pieces of the wagon were strewn everywhere, but there was no sign of any ponies.

Twilight attempted to put herself in her friend’s horseshoes. My two friends have just been put in the dungeon by Twilight, who is a horrible, evil pony—

No, they couldn’t have been thinking of me that way. Try again.

My two friends have been put in the dungeon by Twilight, who we want to…help, I hope.

So we’re going to help her by faking our deaths? Why would my friends want to fake their deaths? Maybe there’s some crazy psychological thing that comes with believing someone is dead and they are really not—

I don’t know. But if I was alone in the Everfree and needing shelter, where would I go?

I’d go to…Twilight began searching her mental map of the Everfree. Zecora!

They’re at Zecora’s house. They have to be.

Twilight continued through the Everfree on foot, unable to fly due to the fact she wouldn’t be able to spot Zecora’s house from the air because it was covered by trees.

---

The Queen approached the hut. It reminded her of Golden Oaks Library, considering both were in a tree. The lights were on inside. Well, that’s a good sign.

Twilight peeked in the window to the house. She was afraid of what she would find. Slowly, slowly, she cracked open her eyes to see the bottom of Applejack’s tail. Eyes flying open, she saw her friends gathered around a table, talking. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were alive. They looked perfectly healthy, ruling out the possibility that they had somehow survived the explosion and Zecora found them. Two young pegasi that Twilight didn’t know also sat off by themselves. The alicorn couldn’t spot Zecora herself, however.

Fluttershy, the one facing the window, roamed with her eyes around the far wall. Twilight ducked down, but it seemed to be too late. The Queen heard a ruckus inside, and then it quieted down.

Twilight considered casting an invisibility spell, but she didn’t really want to. She wanted to know why her friends had faked their deaths. The door opened. Looking up, Twilight saw Rainbow Dash standing in the doorway. Twilight rose to her full height again.

“Oh, hi Twilight,” Rainbow said awkwardly. “Wanna…um…come inside?”

“Absolutely,” Twilight agreed, following the pegasus into the hut.

Her friends looked at her with expressions that contained so many emotions it was muddled and hard to make sense. They looked at her with sadness, anger, kindness, fear, friendship and so many others. Twilight remained near the door in case she had to flee.

“Why did you all fake your death?” the Queen blurted out.

Twilight watched them closely as they all glanced at each other. Fluttershy opened her mouth once or twice, but closed it, looking at Twilight sadly.

However, Twilight was able to make out a barely discernible shake of Rainbow’s head. Whatever their reason was, they weren’t going to tell her.

“It was for the best, Twilight,” Rarity said vaguely.

“Ah’m no historian,” Applejack began suddenly, “but Ah think that the best ruler of Equestria so far has been Princess Celestia.” She paused, waiting for Twilight’s reaction. Twilight stiffened and gave Applejack a warning glare. “So why don’t you try and rule like her? Give it a shot, Twilight. The first thing is, the princesses didn’t have the logs.”

“I know she didn’t,” Twilight interrupted. “But the logs were an improvement.”

Rainbow Dash flew into the air, hovering. “The logs are stupid. It’s for the worse; the bad stuff outweighs the good stuff, making it an overall bad thing! You can’t make ponies do what’s required or even like doing it. They’re starting to figure out how to cheat the system.”

“Well, I disagree, Rainbow,” Twilight stated, ready to defend the logs as she had defended so many times before when somepony knocked on the door. The Queen was pretty sure it was Zecora. Her second question was going to ask where she was, but then Applejack had begun to verbally attack her.

Twilight, having been standing the closest to the door, was expected to open it. She peeked through the peephole to see a royal guard standing there with some other ponies behind him. The Queen opened the door, certain he was on her side.

“My queen,” he said respectfully, bowing after the door was opened. “We have been searching for you.” As he rose, he glanced at the five ponies crowded around the far end of the table and the ponies in the back.

“Those are the escaped prisoners and those who helped free them!” He said, pointing. Knowing they were Twilight’s friends, he waited for her to tell him what to do.

Those are my friends, Twilight thought, that have stuck with me since the very beginning. I could tell the guard to let them by and wave their charges. They want me to remove the logs; I could do that. I could very easily do that and everypony would be happy. They could return to their life in Canterlot and things would go on as normal, as usual. It would be a nice outcome.

Maybe I could get out of them why they faked their deaths. So far it seems like they won’t tell me. Why won’t they tell me? If it had been that weird psychological effect I was thinking, I would be feeling it and it wouldn’t have hurt for them to reveal it to me. It had to have been something else. Why do normal ponies fake their deaths? To hide, to live on in secret, to begin a new life, to do something illegal, to run away…none of those seem like my friends. Were they delivering a message? But who would it be to?

They don’t trust me. They don’t trust me enough to take the news of why they faked their deaths. They might doubt me again, which might lead to them trying to overthrow me again. What if they succeed, and then they torture me and tell me exactly why each of them hates me and it’s all because I’m a—

It doesn’t matter why! What this means is if they don’t trust me, I can’t trust them. They’re too risky, too dangerous. I can talk with them later.

“Guards,” Twilight said, “arrest them. Arrest all of them.”

Author's Note:

Does anyone know what Glitch's real name is?