Chapter 15
After a few hours of trotting through huge forests and trying not to attract any attention, the group of outcasts finally made it to Ponyville.
“Home, Sweet Home!” Pinkie Pie squealed with excitement.
“Finally, some sanctuary,” Rarity said with relief.
“Somethin’ doesn’t seem right,” Applejack said suspiciously.
“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked.
“It feels… different.”
Everyone paused for a moment to listen to and observe the town. It was very quiet and usually ponies would be trotting around and going about their business but there was no sign of anypony anywhere. This was beginning to make the group nervous.
“Where is everypony?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Hello!” Rarity called. “Is anypony there?”
Pinkie anxiously ran to Sugarcude Corner and started knocking on the door of the bakery.
“Mr. and Mrs. Cake?” she nervously called while knocking on the door. “Pound and Pumpkin? Is anypony there? Please answer!”
Then the door cracked open a little. Pinkie cautiously backed up a few inches preparing for anything hostile.
“Pinkie?” said a voice that sounded like Mrs. Cake. Then the door opened completely to reveal the pink mare’s two beloved employers.
“You’re okay!” Pinkie exclaimed happily. She immediately gave the two a big warm hug and they returned the gesture.
“We’re so glad you’re okay, Pinkie,” Mrs. Cake said in a warm motherly tone.
“We heard you were banished from Equestria a week ago. How did you get back?” Mr. Cake asked.
“It’s a long and sad story,” Pinkie said glumly as she prepared to tell them.
Meanwhile, Applejack had made her way back to Sweet Apple Acres. The place was very quiet with no signs of movement. What really disturbed her was the huge lack of apples in the trees surrounding the farm. AJ ran to the front door of the house and bagged on it.
“Apple Bloom? Big Mac? Granny Smith?” she called for her family. “Is anypony in there?”
Then the door cracked open a little and a small filly with a pale light olive coat, an amaranth mane and tail, and a light crimson bow on top of her head appeared.
“Applejack!?” the filly said surprised.
“Apple Bloom!” AJ said with tears of joy in her eyes as she pulled her little sister into a hug.
Then her older brother, Big Mac, and Granny Smith entered the room and after a brief moment of staring in surprise run over and joined in the group hug.
“What happened?” Apple Bloom asked concerned. “We all heard you had been banished from Equestria.”
“Ah was,” AJ answered. “But then Jewelius set a trap an’ lured us back ta Canterlot so he could torture an’ execute us personally.”
“That’s awful!” Granny Smith said horrified.
“Eeyup,” Big Mac agreed.
“What’s worse,” AJ continued. “He managed ta manipulate everypony in Canterlot, even Twilight, against us.” She held her head in sadness while her little sister gently patted her back in an attempt to comfort her. “How’ve y’all been?” She asked concerned. Her family’s first response were faces of extreme sadness.
Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Spike, Shining Armor, and Rainbow Dash had arrived in the town square and were looking for anypony to talk to. Rarity and Fluttershy had already gone to their respective homes to search for anyone.
Celestia walked up to the town hall and knocked on the door. “Is anypony there?” she whispered nervously. There was no answer. She turned to leave when she heard the door creak open and reveal the face of Mayor Mare.
“Good Heavens! It’s the former princesses of Equestria!” the Mayor quietly exclaimed.
“Mayor Mare,” Cadance addressed her in a gentle and pleading voice. “Is there any chance of you and the citizens of Ponyville to offer us shelter in these dark and troubled times?”
The Mayor hesitated for a moment, but then she made her decision. “Quickly and quietly come in,” then she opened the door and let the fugitives inside. Inside, there were quiet a few ponies who looked extremely miserable, amongst them was Scootaloo.
“Rainbow Dash!” the little pegasus filly said happy to see her idol.
“Scoots!” Rainbow replied equally happy. The two ran to each other and exchanged warm hugs.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Scootaloo said teary-eyed.
“Me too,” Dash replied just as teary-eyed.
Celestia observed the other ponies in the hall. They all looked like they’d been through some rough hardships. “What’s been going on in Ponyville while we’ve been in exile?” she asked Mayor Mare.
“Things haven’t been very good since your nephew, Jewelius, had you exiled and proclaimed himself king,” the mayor sadly explained. “Shortly after your exile, he said that since five of the traitorous former wielders of the Elements had come from Ponyville, the town was just as guilty as they were and had to be made an example of. Then he raised taxes and forbid any trading with the town. Whenever somepony becomes desperate and tries to break any of these new laws, he sends his guards down here and…” she hesitated and a fearful look spread across her face. Then she regained her composure and continued. “Well, it’s best we don’t get into details. Sometimes guards come here and cause trouble for no reason at all. Ponies have become so scared that they lock themselves in their homes rather than risk an encounter with the king’s guards should they arrive at anytime. Most of the ponies in this room have resorted to thievery in order to help provide for the needy and I keep them safe because, as mayor of Ponyville, it’s my job to ensure the well-being of my people. But everyday life gets harder and ponies are getting poorer, starving, and running scared,” the mayor started shedding tears. “We need help!”
The three alicorns, Spike, Shining, and Rainbow all stared in horror at what they’d just heard.
Back at Sugarcube Corner, Mr. and Mrs. Cake were finishing telling Pinkie their tragic plight. The couple had tears in their eyes.
“Now our business is going under because we can’t do business with others,” Mr. Cake tearfully explained. “We barely have enough to feed ourselves.”
“We feed most of what we have to the babies, but it’s still not enough,” Mrs. Cake said bursting into tears while her husband tried to comfort her. “I don’t know what we can do!”
Pinkie had a look of utter devastation on her face when she heard this. She couldn’t fathom how somepony could be so outlandishly cruel for such petty reasons. She also couldn’t help but feel responsible for the situation the Cakes were in.
Back at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack had heard the terrible whole story from her family.
“An’ so we’ve been harvesting as much apples as we could to provide food for the ponies of Ponyville,” Granny Smith sadly explained.
“But since the demand for food is so big, we hardly have enough time to grow more apples,” Apple Bloom said. “We can’t keep this up forever, but everypony is starving, they need food!”
“Eeyup,” Big Mac sadly agreed.
“Ah can’t believe things have gotten this bad since ah’ve been gone!” AJ said absolutely horrified with tears streaming from her eyes.
Meanwhile at the town hall, the fugitives were still pretty shocked and disturbed by the news of what has been transpiring during their time in exile.
“I can’t believe my own cousin would do this!” Cadance said greatly mortified.
“How could I not have seen this side of him?!” Celestia said just as disturbed.
“I think I did,” Luna shamefully admitted getting everypony’s attention. “When I first met Cadance and Jewelius after being freed from Nightmare Moon, I felt a darkness stirring inside the young prince’s heart. But I dismissed it believing it to be a lingering effect from being Nightmare Moon, and now look where we are. This is practically all my fault.”
“No sister,” Celestia argued in a comforting tone. “I’ve been with Jewelius longer than you have. I should’ve seen this coming. But just like with Nightmare Moon and the Changeling Queen, I failed and now it’s too late.”
Then the door of the town hall opened up and in walked Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rarity’s sister Sweetie Belle. All three of them looked extremely sad.
“I take it you have heard about what’s been going on around here as well?” Shining asked them. Both Rarity and Fluttershy nodded their heads.
“Why would Jewelius want to punish all of Ponyville for our mistakes?” Fluttershy tearfully asked.
“He’s responsible for everything bad that’s happened so far!” Rainbow answered angrily. “He probably did all this to Ponyville as a way just to spite us!”
“Well we can’t just keep hiding and sitting around here,” Spike said. “We gotta do something!”
“If we had the Elements of Harmony and if Twilight were here, we’d probably stand a better chance,” Celestia said in a sad tone. “But Jewelius has poisoned her mind. Even if we had the Elements, without the Element of Magic, there is no hope.”
“What happened to you, Auntie?” Cadance asked with a mixture of surprise and disappointment. “You used to have so much faith in Twilight. Just like at the wedding rehearsal, you misplaced your faith in your student. Please don’t do that again.”
“I know how much Twilight means to you, Cadance. But I’m afraid-”
“Twilight is one of the most special young unicorns I’ve ever had the honor of meeting. You need to have faith in her. We all need to have faith in her. Promise me, auntie. Promise me that you will still have faith in your student.” Cadance asked in pleading tone.
After a moment of thinking it over, Celestia finally agreed. “Alright, I will have faith in my faithful student.”
“And you, Shining Armor?”
“I will have faith in my sister,” Shining agreed managing a warm smile.
“I will too!” Spike happily said.
Other ponies voiced their agreement.
“We all have to trust that Twilight will do the right thing,” Cadance said staring out a window with a hopeful expression on her face. She was really hoping that Twilight would eventually come around and help out everyone dear to her.
Back in Canterlot, Jewelius had gathered a huge crowd in front of the castle entrance to hear Twilight Sparkle speak and tell them that he had the Changeling situation all under control. Unfortunately, Twilight knew this was a lie, Jewelius was putting more effort into searching for the fugitives than the more threatening creatures. She didn’t want to lie to the ponies who trusted her greatly, but she knew her new mentor wouldn’t be happy if she didn’t do as he instructed. Twilight stood in front of the castle doors facing the huge crowd while the king and his assistant stood of a balcony directly above her. He stared down at her from the balcony with a sly, untrustworthy smile. Twilight felt uneasy with him staring down at her expecting her to carry out his lie. The happy smiling faces of the citizens all staring at her with so much trust for her in their hearts made it even worse.
“My beloved subjects,” Jewelius addressed the crowd. “My dear protégé has something she would very much love to tell all of you.”
The crowd erupted with excited cheering that immediately settled down when Twilight stepped forward. Sweat dripped down Twilight’s face as she faced the eagerly awaiting crowd. She took a deep breath, wiped the sweat from her face, and was ready to speak.
“Thank you for coming, everypony,” Twilight said. “I’m very glad to see that many of you are okay after the escape of the changelings last night. I know that some of you are probably wondering if any precautions against another attack by these horrible creatures are being taken.”
“Are we safe from those horrible monsters?” one male pony asked. Soon more ponies where asking similar questions.
“I won’t lie to you,” Twilight continued. “The truth is…” Twilight hesitated becoming nervous again. The trusting innocent faces of everypony looking to her for guidance was eating at her insides. Jewelius looked down at her with a face that said ‘Go on, tell them what they want to hear.’ Twilight took a moment to search her heart, she figured out what she needed to say. “The truth is… I don’t know.” The entire crowd gasped in confusion. Jewelius’s jaw dropped in disbelief as Twilight continued telling everypony the truth. “I don’t know what plans the king is making to counter any possible future attacks from the changelings.” The crowd began to chat suspiciously amongst themselves.
“What is she doing?!” Jewelius whispered furiously. “Stop her!” He commanded Vivian who took off to carry out the order.
“He seems more focused on catching the fugitives than making Equestria safer from another attack,” Twilight sadly continued. “And there is still no new word on the search for my parents. I’m worried-” But before Twilight could finish her speech, two guards accompanied by Vivian came out the castle doors and forcibly escorted the purple unicorn inside.
“It appears Miss Sparkle is still suffering from the trauma she experienced during the whole wedding ordeal,” Vivian informed the crowd. “But don’t fear, His Holy Majesty has everything under control.” With that, she went back into the castle leaving the crowd confused and suspicious.
Back in the castle, Twilight was being escorted down a hallway by the two guards.
“Stop,” she protested. “There is no need for this!”
Then they were met by Jewelius, who looked very angry and disappointed.
“Come,” he angrily ordered the guards. “I need to have a little talk with my protégé and future wife.”
Twilight had an extreme look of nervousness as she escorted by the guards who were following their king down the hallway. She had a terrible feeling she was going to be in big trouble.
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8157172 Well, no need to anymore.
8157701 Can you please to make sure that Jewelius is going to be stooped?.
I want to see karma handed to this douchebag
8157881 That makes two of us.
You started work on the next chapter right
8158172 Not yet, but soon.
Looks like Twilight's beginning to not fall for your sly tricks, Jewelius. Won't be long till she finds out the truth and your precious plan comes crashing down on your filthy head.
8158381 karma is good
8158032 Three.
8158713 Don't know.
8158867 have you started yet
8158645
8158898 You know, YOU nagging at him like this will NOT get him to write the chapters OR the story any faster!
So why don't you do us ALL (and especially him) a BIG favor, and just back off with your incessant, irritating "Have you started the chapter yet?!"; etc.'; and MAYBE he could get things done WITHOUT your incessant whining and nagging!
SOME of us actually DO have a life outside this site and writing ponywerds, you know.
8158936 gee sorry
8159027 You should be.
Nagging someone about updates is NOT the way to get them to happen.
Dial it back a bit, be patient like the rest of us, and the new chapters will be up before you know it.
Keep going!
You know what would make this story even better?
8159140 what
8159184 It would be better if Celstia's original student Sunset Shimmer & Discord was here to witness all of this. Not only would she see Celestia being punished for what she did to her in the past, but also facing up for her other wrongdoings before hand including this. As for Discord, he'd both get the last laugh & would see first hand that she's no better than any of the other villains already faced, him included.
I smell a war coming in the future chapter and a final battle.
Today is my sister graduation
8160112 Congrats to her. Where is she graduating from?
8160632 saint rose university in Albany how work coming along
8164933 I don't see any stories in your profile page. Tell you what, you try writing a story then you might see it's not as easy as it sounds. Understand?
8165224 no its not I guess I'm just excited for the next Chapter since twilight said that stuff about jeweliius are you halfway done
8165226 Well, if you don't think it's that hard then try it out yourself. I'll be patiently waiting.
Look I don't know I can be as good as you and I've been a pest to you ever since I joined, but what you and I want is jeweluis to get his royal flank kicked hard, I'm writing a crossover, but I'm don't think it will be good
8165492 I understand your wanting to hear Jewelius get his comeuppance, I'm very excited to eventually write it. But there a couple more chapters before that, I still have a couple more things to add to Jewelius's list of crimes. I also have fans of other stories that are waiting for new chapters and I can't keep putting them off for the sake of just one. Hope you understand and thanks for your support.
8167974 I understand how work on your other stories
8167979 I recently published another chapter to the Equestria Girls + Hatred Crossover and I'm trying to work on the next chapter to Anniversary in Another World, which is another Canterlot Wedding story.
8168005 are you halfway done with that chapter of the anniversary story
how that anniversary story coming along, do you think hildread will have that metaql wing cut off
8170080 I'm having a bit of writer's block on Anniversary. Maybe she might lose that wing.
8172599 You know what, the next chapter for Anniversary is taking too long. I'm just going to work on the next chapter for this.
8181707 Thank you, I guess.
8181728 Weather's getting hotter, making me more tired.
8190942 I'm getting there! I'm getting there!