Martha & Skits's Adventure in Ponyville

by Zenitram Nadroj

Battle for Tyranny

The queen gathers the citizens and makes her announcement.

“Attention, everypony.”, she says. “I've decided who will be my next heir.”

Everypony talk in confusion.

“The pony who will succeed me will be...the royal squire, Vespyron.”, she says reluctantly.

The squire then walks up and sits on the throne.

“Now then. Everypony will be tasked with various needs of my choosing.”, he says.

“Everypony was now stuck with Vespyron as king.”, Luna says. “And Nebula did manage to see her daughters...in the dungeon.”

The queen approaches the door and enters the dungeon. She then sees her daughters chained to the wall.

“Hello, my dears.”, the queen says.

“Mommy, what's happening.”, the first daughter asks.

“I just made Vespyron the new king.”

“What?! You made that jerk the new king?!”, the second daughter asks.

“I'm afraid so.”, she says. “And I'm going to have to keep you two a secret if I want to see you everyday.”

Soon she hugs her daughters goodbye and goes back out.

“The queen had to keep up with the charade to keep both of her daughters safe.”, Celestia says. “Soon Vespyron saw how much work the citizens have been doing and then had a thought.”

“Attention, everypony.”, he shouts.

All of the citizens then turns to him.

“After seeing how you all are doing. It seems that it's not enough for me.”, he says. “So I've decided to make everything more productive by making myself a higher rank than king. I hereby appoint myself as emperor of Equestria.”

“And?”, Martha and Skits asks.

“That's it.”, Luna says.

“What?”, the group all ask in unison.

“That was the last thing we read before we found the rest of the pages torn out.”, Celestia says.

“And now, I myself can finish the story.”, Keretomatus says.

He takes out the pages and reads them aloud.

“The decision of the king making himself emperor, Nebula decided enough is enough and confessed everything.”, he says.

She bolts out and heads to the dungeon. She bursts in and uses magic to break the bricks the chains are attached to.

“Mommy, what are you doing?”, they ask.

“I'm not keeping up this charade anymore.”, the queen says. “Somepony needs to expose that stallion for the jerk that he is.”

She then takes the princesses out and heads back to the throne room.

“Stop!!!”, Nebula shouts. “You don't have to do this! The princesses are safe!”

She presents the princesses and everypony gasps in shock.

“Nebula, what are you doing?”, the king asks.

“I'm not gonna be your puppet any longer.”, Nebula says. “This king hid them from us to make sure he's the only pony to be succeeding me.”

He then growls and powers up his horn. And then impulsively shoots the queen. Everypony gasps in shock at the action.

“All along, he's been nothing but a hypocrite.”, she says.

“A hypocrite? I thought he was a squire.”, Skits says.

“No, Skits.”, Discord says. “A 'hypocrite' isn't a job title. A 'hypocrite' is a pony who engages in the same behaviors they condemn others for.”

“The king claimed to have adored his citizens, but in reality, he used them for slavery.”, Shining says.

“Oh. So that made him a hypocrite.”, Skits says. “I get it know.”

“Getting back to the explanation.”, the emperor says. “Everypony then starts turning on their ruler.”

“Who are you going to listen to?”, the king asks. “This former mare or your new emperor?”

The guards then surround him and put him in chains.

“What are you doing? You can't send your new ruler to the dungeon!”, he shouts. “I command you all to release me at once!”

“The former emperor was thrown to the dungeon with magic proof chains.”, Keretomatus says. “And had been restrained to use any more of his magic. He had remained there until the day of the princesses coronation.”

He then growls.

“If I could get my hooves on that mare, I'd... I'd...”, he says before he feels pain.

“But suddenly, he began to feel pain.”, Keretomatus says.

“What's happening to me?!”, he exclaims.

He then starts to grow bigger and grows black fur all over his body. His bottom hooves turn into minotaur hooves, while his front hooves turn into dragon claws. He then loses his horn and grows minotaur horns on top of his head. His tail turns from a pony's tail into a lion's tail. His teeth then grow into fangs, he starts growing dragon wings on his back and his eyes turn red and start glowing. He then stops feeling pain, but then sees his body has completely changed. He then roars out of rage. The guards notice the roar and look inside the dungeon. They see the monster trying to break free and enter the room. The monster shoots his powerful magic to repel the guards and then breaks the chains off. The monster then bolts out and heads for the throne room.

“Wait a minute!”, Martha and Skits say. “You were Vespyron?”

“Yes. Well I used to be. But not anymore.”, Keretomatus says. “The monster went through every wall and every guard who stood in his way.”

Everypony gathers at the coronation.

“Everypony, I hereby make my new daughters my new successors.”, Nebula announces.

Everypony cheers wildly until it is interrupted by the doors opening. They then see a monster walking across the room as he sees all of the citizens staring at him.

“Drop those crowns.”, the monster says.

“Who are you?”, Nebula asks.

“As if you don't remember me, Your Highness.”

She then realizes who it is.

“Vespyron?”, she says. “Is that you?”

Everypony is in disbelief. The monster that was standing before them was the tricky squire.

“What happened to you?”

“I've been turned into a hideous monster.”

“OK, stop.”, Skits says.

“What now?!”, the emperor asks.

“Me and Martha keep hearing that word. What does it mean?”, Skits asks.

“'Hideous' means ugly or disgusting to look at.”, Keretomatus says. “Now no more interruptions!”

None of the characters objects and he clears his throat.

“Anyway, the monster then revealed how he became a monster.”

“I was jealous that you and your beloved king dubbed your daughter the new heir. Which was what I was supposed to take.”, the monster says. “So I had some help in getting new found magic.”

“Who would ever help you?”, Nebula asks.

“Why none other than my old friend...”, he then gestures to the stallion wizard. “Star Swirl the Bearded.”

“Star Swirl? You gave him this magic?”, she asks.

He then sighs in defeat.

“It's true, Your Highness.”, he says. “He came to me and asked to give him magic to prove to you that he was meant to be the supposed heir.”

“Which seemed to go along smoothly until that other princess was born.”, the monster says.

“But I warned him not to use that magic for his own desires. But he didn't listen.”, the wizard says. “And as a result, he was transformed into what you see before you.”

The monster then grabs the stallion by his neck.

“Then change me back you codger!”, the monster says.

“It won't work.”, Star Swirl says. “There's no reverse spell.”

“Then that means...”

“This is who you will be now.”, the stallion says.

The monster then roars with rage.

“I'll be sending you to the dungeon for turning me into this!”, he shouts. “But first, you better relinquish your throne, Nebula!”

“I'll never give you my daughters positions!”, the queen says.

“Nebula, either you give me that position or I'm going to make you give it to me.”, the monster says.

“Guards apprehend him!”, Nebula shouts.

The guards then surround him and point their spears at him.

“Very well. Have it your way.”, he says.

The monster then starts attacking the guards. The guards fend off themselves while keeping him at bay. Soon, more guards then pile on him. It seems that he'll be put down, until the monster uses his magic to blast all of them off him. He gets surrounded and then uses a new spell to summon minions. The monster is amazed and sends them to attack the guards. The guards are then defeated and the citizens run out of the castle in terror. He then faces the queen and her daughters.

“It's just you and me now, Nebula!”, the monster says.

“Guards, take the princesses out. I'll take on this monster.”, she commands.

Guards enter and take the princesses out. The monster then charges at her and soon, she and the monster are now in a fight to the death. The fight becomes so intense, it's taken outside in a populated area. The citizens duck for cover while the battle is still happening. No matter how much the queen tried to fend off the monster, he wouldn't stay down. She then uses a burst of magic to blast him far away. She then senses the monster getting back up and then charges.

“The queen began to realize no standard magic attack would enough to put down the monster.”, Keretomatus says. “So she did the last and only thing that would save the kingdom.”

She closes her eyes.

“Citizens, guards, my daughters, I know what I must do in order to save the kingdom.”, she says. “I'm going to use all of my magic and release it on him”

“Your Majesty, if you do that you'll...”, a guard says.

“There's no other option. None of my standard magic is weakening him.”

She then approaches her daughters.

“My precious daughters. I'm going to save everypony, but at a big price.”, she says. “Just promise me that you'll always remember me and your father.”

They both hug her.

“We will.”, the first daughter says.

“We'll miss you, Mommy.”, the second daughter says.

“I'll miss you too.”, she says. “Make me proud.”

The guards then take them to shelter. After that the queen closes her eyes and musters all of her magic into her horn. The monster gets closer and closer.

“The queen gathered all of her magic into her single horn as the monster is about to finish her. He almost succeeds, until...”, the emperor says.

The monster then pounces. But the queen opens her glowing eyes and releases all of her gathered magic; creating a massive explosion that spreads throughout the area. The citizens then emerge from their hiding places and see that the queen is nowhere to be found.

“With the queen nowhere to be found, they suspected that she had saved everypony. The monster was defeated.”

Everypony then cheers. The daughters then see ahead and stop cheering. They see something and are horrified to see what it was.

“Oh, no!”, they both say.

The citizens and guards notice the alarmed fillies and turn to their direction. They're all horrified themselves to see ahead. The dust clears and reveals the monster completely unscathed.

“Or so they thought.”, the emperor says.

“You call that an attack?”, the monster says. “I've felt more pain from a splinter when I was still a stallion.”

“The monster was completely unaffected by the explosion. Which meant the queen's sacrifice was in vain.”

“Well since there is no king or queen now, I suppose I shall be taking that new position as emperor.”, he says. “And another thing, the name, Vespyron, will no longer be addressed. I shall henceforth be called by a more menacing name. From now on I will be know as...Emperor Keretomatus!”