Hidden Spark

by EbonyDanger

Shattered Harmony

It had taken Applejack some time to crash the crystals, that had entrapped them, with her hindlegs. As soon as she had freed Rainbow Dash, the blue pegasus had flew after the dark twin of Twilight to catch up. In the meantime Applejack walked to the others and freed them as well.

Soon Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Applejack met one another in the middle of the barn. It was barley damaged. Only a few shattered pieces of the purple stone laid here and there together with scratches in the wood. And of course this large hole in the celling. Great!, thought Applejack bitterly and eyed the gap angrily, Now I will have to repair this barn again. But that was the least of her worries.

„Mon dieu“, called Rarity. She whipped off some crystal shards, that stuck in her mane. „What was Twilight thinking? For a short moment, I thought, she tried to kill us.“
Fluttershy gulped and looked down. She caressed her hoof and whispered: „Killed us.“ She shrieked fearfully at the thought and hided herself behind her wings.

„Oh yes“, said Pinkie Pie, „She has become so evil. Have you seen her face? That was the one of a demon. I mean, reddish eyes and sharp fangs. That is some monster. Huuuuuhhhh!“ The Earth Pony rose to her hindlegs and waved her frontlegs and made a creepy, weird face. „Maybe she wanted to eat us. Our brains. What if she had become a zombie?“ Fluttershy yelped and jumped behind Rarity.

The unicorn said: „Calm down, Fluttershy. You know how exaggerated Pinkie Pie can be from time to time.“ Applejack lowered her head and scratched her neck behind her head. Sure, Pinkie's theory is exaggerated. But still I have seen this face before. Applejack cudgeled her brain on this matter. Why had Twilight's „transfomration“ looked so familiar to her? Even the voice. She had heard that before.

„You will not find Twilight Sparkle. She is from home!“ Applejack gasped as the memorie arose from the depths of her subconscious. When she had travled with Rarity to Ponyville after the bat incedent, she had met a dark mare with yellow eyes in front of Twilight's house.

„Hidden Spark!“, shouted Applejack and the sudden call made everyone jump upwards.
„Who?“, asked Pinkie Pie and put her head to one side.
Rarity lifted a perfectly clean eyebrow. „I beg, you pardon“, she said quietly and politley, „It is not really nice to shout all of the sudden. It is rather unpolite and rude.“

Applejack crunched her teeth ennerved and rolled her eyes. Typical, Rarity. You can not stop correcting my language, even if we are in a dangerous situation. The farmer explained: „I have seen this Twilight before. I met her in front of the library that day, we defeated the Vampire Bat's plague on my farm. She looked just like Twilight, but her mane was darker and she looked ugly. Although I cannot tell, what made her ugly. Perhabs a deformation in her body, but I could not find one. This mare....“

Suddenley Pinkie's tail started to twitch widly. „Oh-oh“, she called, „Applejack, watch out!“ Applejack turned around to ask the pink mare, what was about to fall down, when the answer came in no time. Rumms! With a blast of rainbow behind her tail, Rainbow Dash rushed through the hole in the celling and crushed into Applejack. Both ponies rolled backwards in a mass and landed near a few balls of hey.

Applejack grunted in pain. She had hit the ground with her head hard. Now a numb pain drubbed in the backside of her head. „Ouch“, grunted Applejack.
„Sorry“, appologiced Rainbow Dash with a wide smile, „I was not looking.“ She climbed down from the farmer.
Applejack came to her shaky feeth and rubbed her head. This is going to be a bump the next morning.

Rarity asked: „What do you wanted to say, Applejack?“
The farmer replied: „This mare called herself Hidden Spark.“
Fluttershy peeked around Rarity's hindlegs and asked worried: „So you mean, this mare, we have questioned, was not Twilight?“
„Eyyupp“, she responded.

„Rainbow Dash“, asked Pinkie Pie, „Have you found Twilight or Hidden Spark?“ The pegasus explained in a dramatic tone: „I flew as fast and as high as I could. Hidden Spark was only inches away from me. I tried everything to reach her. I flew over the mountains. I followed the railway through snow and ice and....“

„Rainbow!“, shouted Applejack ennerved and stamped on the ground with her hoof, „Cut it short and tell us the important facts.“
Rainbow Dash sighted and flapped her wings. She revealed: „I lost her close to the mountain, that seperates Ponyville from Canterlot. She was too fast even for a flyer with my incredible skills.“

They fell silence. Applejack bite her bottom lip. Great, just great!, she thought ironically. What were they supposed to do now? After all the mane five stood in a broken barn, Hidden Spark was out there somewhere and nopony actually knew what this mare was capable off and the remaining Elements of Harmony had no clue what to do. The situation was damn bad.

„Now what?“, asked Pinkie Pie and broke the silence with her long stretched, ennerved sounding question.
Rarity lifted her shoulders. „I guess, nopony has an idea, Pinkie Pie.“
Fluttershy whispered: „Usually Twilight is the one, who has the plans, tactics and ideas, but now without her....“ She sighted and did not cared to finish the sentence. But Applejack knew what she thought. They all were like long released prisoners, who had no idea what to do with their freedom.

Twilight did not just represented the element of magic, but for the mane six she had always been the leader. Applejack was sure, nopony had asked the alicorn or better former unicorn to become their leader, but they all had accepted her as the one, who made the great decisions, because of her smartness and magical abilities. And also because she had the bravery and awareness for her surroundings and people a natural born leader should have. Sure, Twilight's magic had often caused serious problems in the past, but the unicorn always had taken responsible for it and fixed it. Perhabs this was one of the main reasons, the mane five saw her as the leader.

Now without Twilight it was as if they had a gap, which was waiting to be filled. Who should be the one to take responsiblity this time? Applejack realized, how hard this was for each one of them. Taking responsiblity meant that other ponies relied on you to make things right. And never before this had been so important. The future of Equestria depended on it. Applejack sure could take on responsibility on the farm – she did this all the time – but this was a different case.

Ah am not sure, if Ah could handle this. Applejack looked into her friend's eyes. She saw the same mixture of unease and anxious waiting in their eyes. They all feared of taking responsibility and at the same time they hoped somepony else would make the first step.

Their awkward silence was shattered as the door sprang open and Spike ran into it and with him the Cutie Mark Cursaders. The young dragon stopped and stammered: „What had happen? I realized, Twilight was acting weird and I saw her fly away from your farm. Holy Celestia“ – he seemed to check on his surroundings just now – „what has happened here?“

Rarity replied: „A long story, Spike. Twilight is no longer the Twilight you know. In fact she is possessed by someone, who refers to herself as Hidden Spark. Twilight has become a monster.“ The dragon stood there, rooted to the spot. Applejack could see the change of expression on his face: First confusion, then shock and disbelief, finally terror.

„This can't be true!“, Spike shouted all of the sudden and stamped on the ground, „Twilight would never do this. She would never let something like this happen to her. She is far too strong for that. Isn't she?“ Doubt filled his last sentence. Together with the tears in his eyes.
„Oh, Spikey-Whikey.“ Rarity rushed forwards and pulled him into a thick embrace. She too was crying. „I am so sorry.“

The other mane four had problems not to cry too. Soon they all hugged Spike, crying and whining, while they tried to whisper words to him to comfort the small dragon. Not that any word could give Spike any comfort about the fact that Twilight was gone and a monster had taken her.

Only Applejack's eyes staid dry. She had closed her eyes and lowered her head. The farmer was not disrespectful or half-hearted. She simply cried on the inside, mourning the loss of Twilight and her pity for Spike. It was an old habit, Applejack had got from the time shortly after the burial of her parents. She had felt so sad, desperate and lonley, that she had numbed her heart against any joy, any anger, any regret and any tear. Only Granny Smith had finally helped her to get a softer core, to make her really blossom.

Applejack suddenley adressed the Cutie Mark Cursaders: „What are yah doing here anyway?“
Applebloom explained: „We had just finished our last cursading – trying to back cherry tarte – and went back to the farm, when we spotted a group of soldiers, walking towards it.“
„Therefore“, Scootaloo added, „We ran as fast as we could to warn you about them.“
Sweetie Belle finished their describtion with the sentence: „They did not seemed really friendly.“

Applejack's core again seemed to harden. Her face eclipsed. They had no time to mourn for Twilight or even comfort Spike. The mare stared over the three fillies at the small, sandy path, which connected the farm with the town. Her ears trembled as she thought she could hear the sounds of hoofshoes, trampeling over the earth. How many were they? She did not know.

Applejack pushed her hat deep into her face to hide the grimdark expression. Her serious voice wrenched the others from their sorrow: „We get visitors and Ah can smell, that they won't be really friendly.“ The farmer turned towards the Cutie Mark Cursaders: „Applebloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Spike, hide! Hide somewhere in here. Let the big ponies talk.“

„But...!“, protested Applebloom and her friends to opened their mouths to voice their disagreement.
Applejack lifted his head angrily and said sharply: „No buts! Hide! And do not come out, no matter what happens. Do you hear? Don't come out!“ The yellow filly turned around and looked at her friends. Applejack had never sounded so serious and worried before. This meant something really bad was about to happen. The tension in the air spoke of it.

Applebloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Spike jumped behind the next balls of hay and sacks of dry apples. The others, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, grouped around the mare and in a sharp pitch in her heart Applejack realized, she had just taken the step everypony had been waiting for. She had taken responsibilty and her friends believed in her.

For a short moment doubt flashed her mind, but Applejack angrily shook her head. There was no time for such a feeling. Not now. She bared her teeth and waited together with the others. The guards swarmed into the farm. Their golden armors glowed in the sun and the usually dull and expressionless faces showed brutal force and grudge.

Within a few seconds the mane five were surrounded. The guards directed their spears at their chests.
Rarity gasped. „I demand an explantion!“, she shouted.
„Silence! No one has asked you to speak, changeling.“ The captain of the Royal Guard stepped forwards. White fur, a blue mane and red glowing, blanc eyes. Shining Armor, Twilight's brother, was no longer the kind and brave stallion, Applejack remembered from the Canterlot wedding.

„Changeling?“, repeated the farmer and lifted an eyebrow, „Excuse mah?“
Shining Armor answered sharply: „The Princess had seen through your disguise, vermin. You wanted to invade Canterlot by taking the form of my sister's friends.“
„That's blasphemy!“, shouted Rarity, „I beg you pardon, we are Twilight's friends. You won't adress us in such manners, Shining.“

The guard's spears seemed to come a little bit closer. Now they were only inches away. Rainbow Dash, who flew beside Rarity, adviced her: „Maybe we should keep our mouth shut for a while.“
Shining explained: „You are arrested for conspiracy against Equestrian royality and its ruling class.“

The guards pushed the five ponies roughly in a line. Each one was flanked by two guards, who directed their spears on them at all times.
Applejack called at Shining Armor, who was about to turn his back on her: „Who had given you that order?“
The white unicorn turned his head around, until their eyes met. Shining explained with a sinister smile: „You will see before long.“

***

Ouch, my head! Grunting Applejack tried to open her eyes. Her limbs seemed to weight a pound and her head was as heavy as a stone. Her lids trembled as they went upwards. Applejack tasted dust in her maw, which made her cough. Her body shook violentley. She felt so fragile, so weak. Several cuts burned in her face, neck and flank.

She looked around. Complete darkness. Applejack could not see a thing. What had happen? Those weirdos had not tortured her, hadn't they? Well, her body spoke otherwise. The farmer slowly came to her shaking feet. She felt something hard, stiff and cold around her ancles. As Applejack tried to lift her frontlegs, she could hear the rattling of a chain. Great! Those guards had tied her fronthooves together.

Ah need to find out, where Ah am and what happened with the others. „Hello?“, Applejack called, „Is anypony here? Fluttershy? Rarity? Pinkie Pie? Rainbow Dash?“ She walked backwards and bumped into somepony.
„Watch, where you are going, dude“, said a familiar voice.
Applejack let out a sigh of relief. „Rainbow Dash“, she called and turned around, once more, hitting the pegasus with her head in the chest. She would have loved to hug the mare, but those conditions did not allowed it.

„Yeah, it is me, AJ“, responded Rainbow Dash.
Fluttershy whimpered in a corner to the farmer's left: „Oh, thank goodness, you are here! I was so scared.“
Pinkie's voice came straight after that: „Are we in chains? I like that sound.“ One could hear the rustling, which was followed by an ennerved sight.
„Of course we are in chains, Pinkie!“, called Rarity.

Sweet Celestia, Ah am so glad, ya're all here! Applejack laughed weakly. At least they had one another. The guards did not seem to have thought about the opportunity to place them into several dungeons and just one big one. Besides, were they actually in the dungeons? Shouldn't there be a light somewhere? Anything, that could fight off the darkness and show them their surroundings?

Applejack carefully ran over the ground with her hoof, trying to figure out, on which material she was standing on. It felt cool, smooth and plain. Was this stone? If so why was this stone so polished? Why would they even bother to polish a stone?

Applejack asked: „Rarity, can you make a simple light spell so we can see, where we are?“
„Of course, Applejack.“
There was a moment of silence. Applejack softly breathed into the darkness. Her ears twitched worried. She suspected Rarity's spell to work and light to fill their place of imprisonment, but that did not happen.

„Rarity?“, asked Applejack, „What is wrong?“ She heard a fast movement. Probably the white unicorn was checking on her horn for any injuries.
A quiet gasp could be heard, followed by the words: „My horn! Somepony had placed something on my horn. It feels like the scab of a wound. Aaahhhh!“ Rarity sounded terrified.

„Great!“ Applejack heard the flapping of Rainbow Dash's wings. She turned her head around. As she reached one hoof, she felt the taut strained chains. Probably the pegasus could only fly a few inches above the ground. Rainbow called: „What do we do now? Besides, where in all of Equestria are we?“

„The Canterlot Caves.“ Suddenley light filled the room. Fluttershy shrieked and pressed her hooves above her head, while pressing herself on the ground. She looked terrified and seemed to wish, she could just melt with the ground. Applejack and the other ponies gasped too in shock, disbelief and fear. The light was coming from several crystalls, that stuck in the polished, black walls.

The owner of the voice showed herself in a very large, crystalled wall. It was Twilight, but she did not looked like Twilight at all. Her coat had darken even more. Now it was black with a purple shimmer on it. Her body had changed. Now she was as tall as Celestia and even had a swan-like neck with a long muzzle and huge eyes. They were yellow with a small slit as a pupil in them. The mane had become way more longer and almost floated around Twilight's neck.

Applejack breathed out her name: „Hidden Spark.“ The dark mare explained: „Long ago greedy ponies searched in this cave for diamonds and gems. But now they are abandoned. Nopony knows, that they even exist. Therefore they are the idle place for a prison. The memorie's of a host body can be such an advantage. Thanks to Twilight's memories of the Canterlot Wedding, I know about this great opportunity.“

„What have you done with our friend?“, shouted Rainbow Dash, who seemed to have found back her voice. She was about to turn on Hidden Spark, when Applejack yerked her head around and snapped the tail of the pegasus with her teeth.
„Easy partner!“, she grumbled, while Rainbow furiously kept pulling.

Hidden Spark laughed and looked upwards, seeming rather amused. „Why, Rainbow Dash? Shouldn't you asked Rarity this question?“ The white unicorn gasped in shock as the serpent eyes rested upon her. In the purple light Applejack saw purple crystals, stucking all over her horn, blocking her magic obviously.

Rarity's eyes filled with tears and she shook her head, unable to speak. „Come on“, whispered Hidden Spark. In an almost caring smile she revealed her sharp teeth. „Tell them, who I am.“
Rarity hissed: „Leave me alone. They should already have recogniced you as the spirit of Nightmare Moon.“

Pinkie Pie gasped in huge surprise. „Oh no! Not the spirit of Nightmare Moon!“, she called. Then the Earth Pony bent down to Fluttershy and whispered behind a hoof: „I did not even knew that it existed.“ The yellow pegasus wheeped and buried her face in her hooves.

Rainbow Dash kept bashing her wings through the air, although Applejack hold her with all her Earth Pony strength. „You won't get away with this! The Princesses will stop you.“
Hidden Spark chuckled. She turned her head around. „Such a pity. I already have“, she mocked. The dark mare smirked. „Well, remaining Elements of Harmony“, Hidden Spark explained, „I guess, you should feel honoured. Because you are imprisoned and Twilight is in my possession, nopony can stop me now. You just have made an area end. A new one will start. But you sadly won't be a part of it.“ And she left.

„Hey! Come back!“ Rainbow Dash finally was able to break free. She shot upwards – and was pulled backwards by the chains for their length had stopped. With a gasp of shock the blue pegasus fell on the ground and landed disreputable on her chin. The cave was covered in smooth darkness again.

Applejack sat on her butt and turned her face away. Shattered. She could find no other word to describe what Hidden Spark had just done with her heart. She had appeared in front of them and nopony would knew that this had been Twilight, if they were not searching for the right evidences or had been told. Instead of Twilight Applejack had just faced a monster.

Rarity stammered: „This rude, selfish, cruel monster! She won't get away with this.“
„Yeah!“, agreed Rainbow Dash angrily and she almost sounded insane, „We will defeat her. Isn't that right, AJ?“ Her smile faded as the ponies could hear a whimpering sound. „AJ“, repeated Rainbow Dash worriedly, „AJ, are you....crying?“

Applejack was sitting there. Her body shivered and her head hung down. Her hat had floated down and laid crunched besides her hooves. Tears ran down her snout and soaked into her fur. The farmer had never cried scince her parent's burial. „What are you even thinking?“, Applejack shouted at them with a trembeling voice, „Can't you see the facts? We are trapped! Miles beneath Canterlot. We are in chains. Rarity's magic is blocked. We cannot get out of here! We can not save Equestria this time. We can not save Twilight!“

The ponies gasped. Rarity moved closer and leaned against the crying farmer. „Applejack“, the unicorn asked, her voice too trembeling, „You are not telling me, you give up, do you?“
Applejack's head flung around and she faced the white mare. Tears floated out of her smaragd eyes. „Yes, I do give up!“, said Applejack firmly.

Rainbow Dash said: „Twilight is not lost, we still can....“
„You do not understand!“ Applejack furiously pushed herself out of Rarity's caring embrance and walked away as far as she could. „You may have lost a friend in this night.“ Applejack laid down and sighted low. She caressed her head. „I lost more.“

Comments

[fightstopper]

Wo, that's pretty cool.

[EbonyDanger]

6065217
Thank you.

[ponybornhuman]

6065367
That ending is was so simple but I had a major effect.
(I'm so sad right now )

[EbonyDanger]

6067111
Thank you. I love dramatic endings and cliffhangers.

[Misty Spell]

She simply cried on the inside

That's blasphemy!

I wasn't aware that The Mane 5 were gods.

Why doesn't Hidden Spark just mind control them as well?