Twilight Then, Twilight now

by Paradise Oasis

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

"Wake up, ya blasted ponies!" A goblin growled, throwing a bucket of water on them. "The master wishes to speak with ye!"

Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity came to... along with their stallions. As they looked around groggily, they noticed they were all in cages, all placed in a semicircle. They also noticed Applejack was also there with them, glaring out of her cage at a dark figure standing in front of them. From the looks of things, the stallions thought to themselves, this looked like a warehouse over in the city's business district.

"Well, I am glad to see that you're all awake." A dark, growling voice rumbled, sending shivers down all six of their spines. "I was afraid you were already dead, when my Troggle guards had brought you in. Not that any of you are going to live long, anyway."

A large, menacing- looking goat towered over the six of them. His eyes radiated dark magic, and his scarred horns looked sharp enough to skewer any one of them.

"Grogar the cruel." Avian snorted. "Warlord of the Purple mountains, and former crime boss of Manehatten. We all know who you are."

"So pleased to be recognized." Grogar replied. "I was afraid my reputation amongst Ponykind had diminished."

"You'll never take Tambelon, you overgrown sheep!" Sureshot snapped.

"Oh, I'm afraid I already have, my good stallion!" The warlord sneered. "As we speak, my Troggles are pacifying the last pockets of resistance in the city, and it's only a matter of time before I capture the last two harmony bearers."

"Then what do you want with us, foul villain?" Slick Styles asked the monstrous goat. "Why do you simply not slay us, since you clearly believe we are no threat to you?"

"To enlighten you foolish equines about the true nature of reality!" Grogar sneered. "With my victory here, it is the beginning of the end of all that you hold dear. Within a month, my forces will march upon your precious Equestria, and burn it to the ground!"

"You don't stand a chance!" Rainbow Dash laughed. "The Princess and her armies will-"

"-Will be greatly outnumbered by my goblin and troll legions." The goat interrupted. He pointed to the glowing bell around his neck with his hoof. "And as to your precious Princess, I have a little toy here that will make short work of both Celestia and Luna. Without the harmony bearers, Equestria will be helpless!"

"You fiend, is that what you plan to do?" Rarity asked in a dramatic fashion. "Bring an end to ponykind?"

"What? Oh no, Ponykind will survive my assault, of that I have no doubt." Grogar gloated. "What I seek is to bring an end to your kinds most precious of gifts. I am here to be the harbinger of the end, of your sickeningly sweet age of Friendship!"

"Now listen here, you big goat bully!" Fluttershy suddenly stood up, glaring into the goat 's eyes with 'the stare'. "You can't just destroy friendship, no matter how mean and scary you are!"

Grogar glared back with flaming eyes, empowered by the magic of the bell. The stare failing before such magical might, the yellow Pegasus whimpered and slumped to the bottom of her cage.

"Ponykind will survive the death of friendship, but now you'll all become like the rest of us." The warlord sneered. "In this dark age to come, self-interest and a thirst for the blood of your enemies shall become the way of the herd. Equines will radiate a hate so great, even the Windegoes will be sickened and perish by absorbing it!"

"Y'all won't succeed, ya ornery critter!" Applejack snorted. "Twi an' Pinkie are still free, and thar aint' no way ya'll gonna get them!"

"Stupid earth pony!" Grogar roared, vibrating the bars on the cages. "It's only a matter of time before I have the last two harmony bearers! There is no place left in this world for you and your precious friendship!"

The Goat angrily stormed out of the room, leaving the six ponies to themselves.

"T-that monster..." Rarity said in shock. "there is no way we can let him win!"

"We gotta find a way outta here!" Rainbow Dash snorted. "Slick, can you use your magic on the lock?"

"Already tried." He whinnied sadly. "The cages have been magic-proofed."

"Figures." AJ snorted. "Fluttershy, Ya'll think ya could use 'the stare' on one of the goblin guards when they come by?"

"No good." Avian told them, as he tried to comfort the terrified Pony in the cage next to him. "The stare doesn't work on humanoids. Believe me, I've tried."

The other ponies stared at him. "What? You think Fluttershy's the only pony with that ability? How do you think all ponies with animal special talents keep their charges in check?"

"Well. we've got to find some way out of here." Sureshot groaned. "We can't just lest this jerk take over equestria!"

"My sentiments exactly!" A mare's voice echoed out.

Suddenly, a ceiling panel was moved out of place above their heads, and a rope was lowered to the floor. Two unicorns slid down the rope to the floor, and quickly dashed over to the cages.

"Twilight!" The mares yelled.

"Booker!" The stallions whinnied.

"How did you two get down here?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"A few stealth spells here, a little sneaking there." Twilight Sparkle smiled. "But we'll talk about that later! Let's get all of you out of here!"

The two ponies soon had all of their friends free, thanks to Booker's skill at lock picking with just his horn. The mares and stallions embraced, as Twilight looked out the exit.

"Girls, I need you all to get the other ponies free, and get them out of town." Twilight instructed. "See if you can get Pinkie Pie on the way out, as well."

"But what about you?" Rarity asked, in a worried tone. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go and keep Grogar busy." Twilight replied. "Booker and the Stallions are going to the laboratory to retrieve some kind of weapon he told me about, that will defeat Grogar once, and for all."

The mares all nodded, all but Applejack looked over at their lifemates. All seven of them spoke to each other in unison.

"Be careful."

After the mares had galloped off, Sureshot looked at Booker. "So, what weapon are we going to get from the lab that can overpower that collar bell?"

"Yea, I was wondering about that." Slick replied. "I don't recall you talking about any weapon that could produce magic of that caliber."

"There is no weapon." Booker replied, closing his eyes to hold back the tears. "I am initiating operation 'Bell of Freedom'."

The four Stallions gasped in shock, then looked down sadly. Their hearts sank in their chests, even as they realized what they had to do.

"The girls will get the other ponies out, and keep Grogar and the Troggles distracted." Avian said knowingly. "And after they get out of the city..."

"We send Grogar, his lackeys, and Tambelon outta this world... for good." Sureshot finished.

"It's not fair though, Booker." Slick sighed. "We just met the loves of our lives, and now we have to-"

"Bury your feelings, my friends... don't let your lifebonds give away what we are planning to do." Booker interrupted him. "For the mares would surely stop us, if they knew what we were planning..."

...

The four mares felt a burst of shock and pain from their mates, and almost turned around to rush back to them. But it quickly subsided, and they returned to the task at hoof. But all four felt that the boys were hiding something from them, suppressing their emotions. And all four of the girls swore to themselves they were going to have a long talk with their stallions when this was all over.

After splitting off from Twilight Sparkle, the four mares snuck their way to the former city hall, where all of the prisoners were being kept. Moving quickly, they slipped past the Trolls standing at the entrance, and made their way though the building. They soon found themselves on a walkway above the hall's auditorium, with a Pegasus-eye view of the room below them.

"There they are!" Rarity whispered, looking down at the cages containing the survivors of the goblin and troll massacre in the city. "But how are we going to get past all those guards on patrol?"

"Leave that to me, girls!" Fluttershy whispered proudly, having finally snapped out of her shock. "I know how to take care of those creeps!"

"Oh, and what are you going to do?" Dash asked sarcastically. "Beg and plead with them to leave?"

At that moment, a thousand birds of every color and type suddenly explode into the room, swarming over everything. Too shocked to react, most of the goblins screamed and fled from the hail of pecking and cawing.

"FLY! FLY MY PRETTIES! FLY!" The yellow Pegasus laughed maniacally, standing up on her back hooves. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!"

The other three mares stared at her, their jaws hanging wide open.

"Oh, well, ummmm..." Fluttershy slunk down, suddenly becoming self-conscious. "Avian had me make friends with most of the birds, and they all got loose during the goblin attack..."

"Good Work, Fluttershy." AJ said with a smirk. "C'mon, girls! Let's get these ponies outta here!"

...

"By the Horsemaster... what has happened here?"

Sky Runner was staring down at Tambelon in shock, seeing the smoke rising from the city. He had just come trotting up over that last mountain... and had been greeted by death and carnage on a level he had never before seen. Even from this distance, he could smell the scent of goblins cooking thier evening meal fires, the odor of the meat roasting on open spits, over roaring flames...

...the smell of roasted pony flesh.

"A beautiful sight, isn't it?" A voice behind him called out. "Grogar and his goblins have done wonders for the city, don't you think, Sky?"

Sky Runner spun around, recognizing the voice.

"Midnight? How did-" His eyes went wide, as realization dawned on him. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!"

"I'm so glad I was able to have a part in it!" Midnight chuckled. "Ponykind's perfect future, I mean! Once I stop Grogar's rampage with the rainbow of Darkness... Luna is sure to sit up and take notice of my work! Why, I'll be put in charge of the Dream Valley project, and I will be able to shape the future of ponykind as I see fit!"

Shaking his head, Sky Runner levitated the golden locket off of his neck, and opened it. For the first time, a rainbow-colored band emerged from the locket, glowing with the collective positive energy of every living thing on the planet.

"Oh, you want to bring your rainbow of light into this, eh?" The half-crazed stallion opened the bag around his neck, and a dark-colored band, made up of the world's suffering, emerged. "Light versus dark, let's see who triumphs! BRING IT!"

The two energy bands flew at each other, and exploded in a deadly kaleidoscope of color, as they battled it out in the skies over Tambelon.

...

The Goblins raiding the hospital ignored the flashing patterns of light in the sky. Instead, these scavengers went from room to room, making meals of the remaining staff, and patients too weak to be moved. It was when two goblins came upon a room with a green stallion lying in bed, with a pink mare sitting beside his unconscious form, that they thought they had an easy meal.

"Ohhhh, boy and girl pony!" One of the monsters chuckled. "Good meal! Yum!"

"You know, something occurred to me..."

It was the pink mare that had spoken up, though she hadn't looked at the goblins, but instead was facing the opposite wall. This mare wasn't running, screaming, or crying like the others had... which puzzled the goblins enough to let her continue.

"...see, it occurred to me that I've always been a nice pony. I always threw parties and acted silly. And I was always able to make friends with every pony, and always able to put a smile on everypony's face, and make everypony happy."

Her voice was as calm as still water, and as cold as frozen ice.

"But you monsters, you'll never be friends with anypony." She stood up straight, still looking at the wall. "You don't want cakes, or parties, or dancing... you just want to be mean. You only smile when you hurt other ponies, like you did the ones I saw you hurt down on the street. And you only laugh when you cut them open and watch them bleed, screaming for mercy while you giggle at their misery."

She turned towards them, and suddenly the goblins were filled with terror. Pinkemina Diane Pie's face was contorted in a look of rage, and her eyes burned with an emotion few Ponies had felt, since the founding of Equestria over two Millennia ago...

Hate... not mere anger or indignation- but raw, unrestrained hate for the creatures before her.

"You hurt my Hoppy-woppy once with you nasty arrow, and now you want to hurt him again... and me, too." Using her mouth, she picked up a scalpel off of the operating tray before her. "I won't let you hurt my Hopper, you big meanies!" Pinkemina dove at one of the goblin's throats, the blade turned outward...

The screams from the hospital room were so horrible, they made the other goblins flee in terror. It was not until the wails of pain had died down, that the soft sobbing of a mare, who had never wanted to hurt any living creature, could be heard...

Comments

[KartalTheWriter]

Pinkie should be out there fighting by herself. She could stop the whole army of baddies with a single scalpel.

[Leave a Whisper]

its okay pinkie sometimes we have to do whatever it takes to keep our loved ones and ourselves alive