Equestria's Demise

by misseljebel

Chapter 2

It was the next day. Twilight met up with her friends, nervous about telling them the news. She had gotten up early to read a bit more about Clades, and it wasn't good.

Pinkie Pie suggested they go try the new smoothie shop in town. Twilight was reluctant, because she didn't want to tell them the news in public to avoid panic, but a smoothie sounded good. She decided she would tell them afterwards.

They reached the smoothie place. It was near the outside of town, but still close enough in that it would get business. It had been there for a few weeks, and Pinkie was already friends with the owner, of course.

They walked up to the counter. They had many different smoothies, and different things they could add in, such as a metabolism or energy booster. At the counter was a unicorn, a light yellow color with a darker yellow mane and tail with small white stripes in it. Her mane was up in a ponytail. She had soft purple eyes and a necklace with a sand dollar on it. Her cutie mark was a piña colada.

"How may I help you?" She asked. She had a Spanish accent, and then her eyes landed on Pinkie and they grew wide. "Hola, Pinkie! How are you?"

"I am super fantastically amazing!" She beamed, her voice high pitched. "Meet my friends! Colada, this is Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle! Guys, this is Colada!"

Colada dipped her head in respect. "Hello friends of Pinkie. And Princess Twilight Sparkle! Oh, it is an honor to meet you." She bowed, her voice soft. Twilight's cheeks burned red.

"Oh! You can just call me Twilight," she informed. Colada smiled, tilting her head respectively to the side.

The door flew open, and two ponies walked in. One was a Pegasus, with a deep pink coat and blue, purple and pink striped hair. She had blue eyes and freckles, and she had green bracelets on one of her front legs and one of her back legs. Her cutie mark was a microphone.

The other pony was a light green earth pony was azure colored hair that curled at the end. Her eyes were green and her cutie mark was paper and a quill.

"Eey, Colada, girl!" The pink pony waved her hoof, and the green pony rolled her eyes, a scowl on her face.

Colada waved back. "Hello Reverb and Azure," Colada greeted. The two ponies sat next to the other six.

"The usual," Reverb ordered. Colada nodded and punched the price into the cash register. Reverb looked over and saw Pinkie. "Pinkie gal! What's up?"

"Reverb!" Pinkie jumped forward and hugged her. Her head swiveled over to face Azure. "Azure! I haven't seen you in a while!"

"I've been doing a lot of important work like avoiding ponies," Azure responded bitterly. Pinkie giggled, holding her stomach.

Reverb's eyes lit up and she elbowed Pinkie. "Hey, these are your friends, aren't they? The Elements of Harmony?" She looked at Twilight and grinned. "And the princess of friendship! Heh, Azure could learn a lot from you!"

Azure glared at her. "I don't need any lessons on friendship," she growled. "I am perfectly content all alone."

Reverb snorted. "Yeah, whatever you say." She smiled when Colada handed her her smoothie. It was a pink color, and she took a sip. "Mmm!"

Rainbow stared at her. "What flavor is that?" She questioned.

"Island Breeze!" Reverb answered. "It's my favorite!"

"Hmm, maybe I'll get it," Rainbow thought out loud.

Pinkie hopped up and down excitedly, looking like she was about ready to burst. "I'm gonna get the Mango-Mango!" She squealed. She looked at Fluttershy. "It has mangoes in it!"

Fluttershy wasn't sure how to respond. "Oh, does it?" She murmured.

They each ordered their smoothies. Pinkie was about to get an energy booster, but the others scolded her and told her not to, so she just asked for extra sugar. They got their smoothies and all took sips, their eyes widening in surprise.

Colada smiled nervously. "Well?" She piped up. "How is it?"

"Fantastic!" Twilight mused. Colada smiled happily, and the others nodded in agreement.

"So, y'all just moved here, right?" Applejack started. "Where from?"

"Cloudsdale, baby!" Reverb shouted. Rainbow beamed.

"Me too!" Rainbow told her. Reverb held up her forehoof.

"High hoof, sista!" Reverb yelled, and Rainbow slapped her hoof, laughing.

"I'm from Manehattan," Azure mumbled. Rarity let out a squeal.

"Manehattan! One of the most beautiful cities to ever exist!" Rarity bubbled. She looked dreamily at her. "Didn't you just love it?"

Azure narrowed her eyes. "Oh, yes, I just LOVED all the ponies!" Azure replied sarcastically. Rarity was too amazed to care.

"I am from the Gallopagos Islands," Colada informed. Twilight gazed at her, interested.

"I've never met any pony from the Gallopagos Islands!" Twilight mused. "What's it like?"

"Well, beachy, sandy, hot," she laughed. Twilight chuckled. She then ordered a smoothie to go for Spike.

As they talked, the door opened up and Cheese Sandwich walked in. Pinkie whipped around to see who walked in and she gasped.

"Cheesy!" She squealed, jumping off her seat and rushing up to him, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him. He kissed back.

They pulled back and he walked up to the counter, taking a seat next to Pinkie. She grabbed another straw and stuck it in her smoothie, and they both sipped out of it. Pinkie swished her tail happily.

The happiness almost made Twilight forget about the problem at hand. She drank more of her smoothie, thinking of the right time to tell her friends.

Within a few minutes, they were done. They talked for a few moments, and then Twilight got up.

"We best be going, it was a pleasure meeting you three," she said, giving them a warm smile and trotting out the door. Her friends followed close behind, and the three new ponies waved their hooves.

Once they were outside, Twilight took a deep breath. Her eyes scanned her friends, then she noticed Cheese Sandwich. She didn't want to be rude, but he shouldn't listen to what she was going to say either.

"Cheese," she started. He stared at her. "I'm really sorry, but there's some important business I need to discuss with the girls. I'm afraid you'll have to leave."

Cheese opened his mouth to say something, but Pinkie interrupted her, a grin on her face. "Hey! Whatever you say to me you can say to Cheesy too!" She protested. Twilight rolled her eyes, giving in.

"Fine, I trust you Cheese, but you gotta promise to not tell anypony else." She ordered.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" Cheese Sandwich responded, sticking a hoof in his eye. Twilight winced, not knowing how Pinkie and Cheese could not do that without experiencing pain.

She started explaining. "Okay, so you remember how I said I had a bad feeling yesterday? Well, I figured out why. Clades is attacking."

The others stared at her, confused. "Who's Clades?" They asked.

"He's-" she said, but she was interrupted by Colada. She held a smoothie in her hoof, and Reverb and Azure were with you.

"You forgot your smoothie to go," Colada told her. Twilight froze, hoping she didn't hear what they were talking about. Unfortunately, they did.

"Clades?" Azure asked, her eyes wide. "You mean the Clades? The one that terrorized Equestria centuries ago, slaughtering hundreds of ponies and feeding off of their bodies?" The others stared at her, horrified, and Twilight nodded sadly.

"What a horrible pony!" Fluttershy wailed, looking as if she was going to cry.

"Oh, he's not a pony. He's a Duplex Maxillam, or double-jaw. A species of carnivorous creatures that eat ponies. He's the last one." Azure explained, her eyes narrowing. "That we know of, at least. There could be more."

Fluttershy squealed and hid behind Applejack, and Azure smiled sadistically. Twilight stepped closer to Azure.

"How much do you know about Clades?" She asked. Azure glared at her.

"Oh, quite a lot. I've read a lot of history books on him. He's really dangerous." She replied, cocking an eyebrow. "You say he's going to attack?"

"Yes, Princess Celestia told me," Twilight told her. "We six gotta get going to Canterlot to meet her about this."

Rainbow did a flip in the air, clapping her hooves. "We'll take this double-jaw to the ground!" She shouted, her voice cracking. An idea popped into Reverb's head.

"Hey, how about we come with?" Reverb suggested. Colada stared at her, her jaw open in shock.

"I beg your pardon?" She murmured. Reverb flapped her wings, lifting herself into the air and giving Colada a shake.

"Come on, sister! Don't you want to explore? Venture to far off places to which we might never return?" She asked. Colada watched her with concern.

"Now that you put it that way, especially no!" She responded fearfully. Twilight smiled, appreciating Reverb's enthusiasm.

"I'm glad you'd like to come, but we can't just being random ponies along," Twilight informed. "You need to stay here, where you'll be safe."

Reverb grew disappointed, landing back on the ground and crossing her forehooves. "It's not like we're scared!" She shot back.

"I'm scared!" Colada cut in. Reverb glowered at her.

Rarity walked over to Azure, how shrank away angrily from her, not wanting to be close to anypony. "What about Azure?" Rarity pointed out. "She seems to know about Clades a lot more than the rest of us."

Twilight thought for a moment. She knew some things, but Azure knew who Clades was immediately. She could be of use, if she still had those textbooks. "Azure, do you still have those books on Clades?" Twilight asked.

"Yes," Azure mumbled.

"Do you mind if we see 'em?" Applejack asked, smiling at Twilight. The princess smiled back, Applejack always knew what she was doing.

Azure grimaced. "Ugh, that means you have to go to my house," she complained. They smiled nervously.

"Azure! I know you don't like having ponies at your house, but this is all for ponykind!" Reverb waved her forehooves in the air. Azure tilted her head back and groaned.

"Fine!" She spat, then turned and walked toward the direction of her house. The rest of the ponies followed her.

After a few minutes, they reached the outskirts of town. There was a small house, and Azure grabbed a key and unlocked the door, throwing it open. She trotted inside and turned on the lights. The others walked inside, looking around.

"It has been a while since I have been in here," Colada said. Azure lit a candle.

"Yeah, well, I like it that way," she hissed. She then led them into another room. It was a large library. Twilight gasped and looked around, grinning.

"This is amazing!" Twilight gawked. Azure let out a huff and went to grab the history books on Clades. The others waited patiently, and Twilight's purple eyes scanned the books on the shelves. Most of them she had, but some of them she hadn't ever read. She wanted to ask Azure if she could borrow them, but she could tell Azure wasn't the most personable pony.

Azure set the books on a table and opened it up. She flipped to the pages about Clades and tapped them with her hoof.

"Read to your heart's desire," she muttered, turning and walking away to sort her books.

"Clades, Duplex Maxillam. Terrorized Equestria in the Middle Ages. Killed around two thousand ponies. Used his top jaw to catch the pony, then chewed with his bottom jaw located on his neck. About twenty feet in height. Long, slender, large sharp claws. Tried to overthrow the government. Failed and was banished to the underworld." Twilight skimmed through it. Fluttershy let out a wail and leaned on Rarity, looking sick. Rarity pet her hair.

"How in Equestria are we supposed to stop this monster?" Applejack asked, staring at the book in fear. Twilight sighed, but Cheese elbowed her shoulder.

"Well, you all defeated Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, Tirek, is there anypony I'm missing?" He asked, shaking his head. "Point is, you've fought all these big bad guys before, you can totally take on this Clades character!" He looked excited and cheerful, and Twilight felt a little comforted, but she still felt worried.

"Well, how did they defeat him before?" Reverb asked, butting in to look at the book. Twilight flipped a page over.

"Extremely powerful magic," Twilight responded. Reverb punched her shoulder in a friendly way, but it hurt and Twilight groaned.

"But you're the Princess of Friendship, and you're all the Elements of Harmony, so this will be a breeze!" Reverb pointed out. Twilight wasn't too confident though.

"I guess, but we're gonna need even more powerful magic," Twilight responded, worry shaking in her voice. "I'm afraid it won't be that easy."

Reverb wrapped a forehoof around Colada and pointed at Azure. "Well, if you need us, we're here!" She grinned. Colada and Azure stared at her, but they didn't say anything.

Twilight thought for a moment. Reverb seemed so eager, but Twilight doubted she had any experience in fighting monsters. She wasn't sure though. They would need all the help they could get, but she didn't want to put random ponies' lives in danger. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized they would need these three new ponies. Cheese Sandwich could help too. She sighed heavily. They could fight on the sidelines if they wanted.

"Fine, you three can come along, and you too, Cheese Sandwich," Twilight decided finally.

"What?!" Colada and Azure shrieked, looking horrified.

"Yes!" Reverb shouted, driving her hoof in the air. Cheese hugged Pinkie happily, and she giggled.

Twilight grinned, feeling more secure. "Great. It's a pleasure to have you. We leave for Canterlot immediately."