A World Above

by KidatHeart5

Glitz, Glam, and Melee

Author's Note:

The song in this chapter is a tweaked version of “Prima Donna” from The Phantom of the Opera. Please listen before you read.

There will be a gag from DreamWorks’ Home in here. Keep an eye out for it!

If you don’t recognize Jack Pot and Big Bucks, they are the stage magicians in “Grannies Gone Wild”.

One more thing: a shofar is a ram’s horn that is made as an instrument. It plays an important part here.

Tonight was going to be a very special night. Gladmane could feel it. Now that Dandy Grandeur was in Las Pegasus with the sisters and their princes, everything was going to fall neatly into place. All he had to do now was look his best and act his best.

Gladmane said to a servant as he sat at his large multi-mirror vanity, “I’m ready for my grand debut. Bring the gang in here.”

The mare nodded, “Yes, Your Highness.”

Before she could leave the room, he added, “Oh, and tell ‘em to sing this time.”

“Will do.”

Several moments later, Jack Pot, Big Bucks, and an entourage of seamstresses entered the room with many lavish fabrics and accessories in hoof.

The stage magicians – who were also Gladmane’s personal attendants - began to sing, “Your Majesty, King Gladmane of this land…Your devotees are on their knees to implore you…”

Big Bucks sang, “Can you bow out when they’re shouting your name?”

Jack Pot sang, “Think of how they all adore you…”

They both sang, “Your Majesty, enchant us once again…”

The purple Earth stallion sang, “Think of your muse…”

His partner sang, “And of the queues ‘round the castle…”

The magicians then sang together, “Can you deny us the triumph in store? Shine, Your Majesty, once more…”

In the quarters he shared with his comrades, Blackthorn sang in worry, “I fear this night won’t end well…”

Gladmane sang as seamstresses put various pieces of clothing on him, “Your Majesty, your shine shall live again…”

The magicians sang, “Think of your public…”

Gladmane overlapped, “You won’t be snubbed…’cause there’s a public who needs you…”

In his guest room, Discord sang, “What do you know about the amulet, Gladmane?”

The magicians sang, “Those who’ve seen your face liken you to an angel…”

Gladmane sang, “Think of their cry of undying support…”

Big Bucks sang, “We get our gala…”

Jack Pot whispered in song, “He gets his limelight…”

Their king sang, “Follow where the limelight leads you…”

The magicians sang together, “Wealthy monarchs are a trial…”

As Gladmane was being carried across the palace in a large and fancy sedan chair, he sang proudly, “Your Majesty, your shine shall never die…You’ll shine again and to unending ovation…”

Pen Pusher sang to Starling in the room they shared, “Appeals, requests, lunatic demands…”

Jack Pot and Big Bucks sang, “Lunatic demands are regular occurrences…”

Gladmane sang, “Think how I’ll shine on the large ballroom floor…”

“Surely there’ll be incidents worse than this…”

“Beeeeecause I will shine once more!”

Starling then sang, “I must see his requests are rejected…”

The magicians sang, “Who’d believe that Gladmane, who was merely a tradespony’s son, would become a rich stallion? Through his amulet, his kingdom he did get…Though he may seem kingly, he’ll look at you kindly…He always gets his way…The hardest hearts, he’d sway…He will calm the high-strung with just his silver tongue…It’s just the sort of story everypony adores…It’d be a perfect opera…”

The king sang, “They will all love me at the gala…”

Everyone in the palace sang, “Your Majesty, the world is at your feet…A nation waits and how it hates to be cheated…Light up the halls with that age-old rapport…Shine, Your Majesty…Once more…”

---

The gala was going splendidly. Guests who were royal, noble, or famous came from all over to Las Pegasus for another one of Gladmane’s fabulous parties. The extravagant ballroom was alive with bright lights, festive decorations, and lively talk among the guests. The only things that were missing were Gladmane, the Canterlot royals, and Dandy Grandeur. Just then, the lights dimmed and a single spotlight shone on Iron Will as he walked up to the platform.

He bombastically spoke into the microphone in his hand, “Fillies and gentlecolts! When everything’s going right, it’s sure to be the best night! Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for is finally here!”

As Iron Will spoke to the crowd, Gladmane and the Canterlot royals waited behind the curtains of the right side entrance of the ballroom.

The fancy king said confidently to Discord, “As soon as he says my name, that’ll be your cue.”

The draconequus smiled deviously as he rubbed his hands together, “Oh, I’m counting on it.” He chuckled sneakily, which thankfully didn’t draw Gladmane’s attention.

The minotaur announced, “Give it up for the one, the only…Kiiing Gladmaaane!”

Discord then teleported Gladmane onto a platform within the platform and the smaller platform magically lifted the king upwards towards the dancing spotlights.

Gladmane greeted with a friendly smile, “My honored guests, I welcome you to this here…” When he noticed he was going too high, he said, “Uh, a bit lower.”

The platform suddenly dropped from under his hooves, causing him to fall with it.

He cried as he fell a few feet onto the lowered platform, “No! No! No! No! Up a bit! Up a bit!”

When the platform rose to its intended height, Gladmane looked towards the side entrance and said, “Perfect! Don’t change it! Don’t change it!” He stood up and congeniality returned to his face as he looked upon the crowd. He started to address everyone, “My honored -“

The platform shifted a bit, interrupting him again.

After the trace of bother on his face disappeared, he resumed, “My –“

When the platform shifted again, Gladmane shot a perturbed glare towards the side entrance.

He slowly said as the platform shifted once more, “Honored…guests.”

He was about to address the crowd again, but the platform shifted for the last time, causing him to give an annoyed glare towards the side entrance. Discord chuckled in glee of messing with Gladmane like that. At first, he had caused the platform to drop drastically to try to get the amulet off the king’s neck. Even though that hadn’t worked, Discord had decided to have a little fun with the platform.

When he was sure the platform stopped moving, Gladmane cheerfully addressed the crowd, “Welcome! Thank y’all for comin’ to this here ball, which I’ve prepared in honor of my regal guests, the Canterlot family!”

On cue, the Canterlot guests flashed onstage and waved to the cheering crowd.

Gladmane, who was now on the stage with them, continued, “It’s been a real treat having them here in Las Pegasus, though not for the reasons I expect. Ya see, their youngins are missin’ and these frazzled and worried parents are tryin’ to get ‘em home.” His face then switched from sadness to joy, “But don’t y’all worry! They’re the cleverest royals Equestria has ever seen, and there ain’t no plan of theirs that’s failed yet! Give it up for the Canterlot royals! Uh-huh-huh!” As the crowd cheered wildly, he finished, “Let’s celebrate their soon-to-be success!”

The Canterlot royals then dispersed into the crowd and mingled with the other guests. After a while, Starling met with Discord at a corner of the vast ballroom and whispered between themselves.

Starling asked, “You spiked Dandy’s drink with Veritaserum?”

Discord asked in return, “You sent your letter to good Queen Mother, telling her all about the wonderful machinations dear King Gladmane possibly has?”

His niece nodded with a semi-annoyed look on her face, “Yes.”

“Then yes, I did. You know, if anyone can smell a rat, it’s your mother.”

“Hey, there are other members of the family who can do it, too. The moment Gladmane started mentioning alliances and threats of war, I knew there was something going on.”

“Indeed. One doesn’t throw celebration after celebration just for honoring one’s royal guests.”

“Still, we had to give Dandy truth serum just to see whether or not he is responsible for the Dark Rider attacks.”

“Are you sure we couldn’t give the serum to Gladmane instead? He knows more than he’s letting on.”

“I agree, but we have to play it safe until we have proof he’s up to no good.”

He scoffed impatiently, “As you wish.”

After a few minutes of lively chatter and laughter, the time was drawing near for Dandy to make his public appearance.

Behind the curtains of the side entrance, Dandy chortled, “Oh-ho-ho…My public awaits.”

Gladmane walked up to him and suavely said, “They’ve been waitin’ a long time to see your handsome face again. Now is the night to show your true colors to the adoring crowds. Make them forget about the past and move on to a better future. Let’s make your debut one they’ll never forget.”

As Dandy walked past him, Gladmane turned to follow him before bumping into his side.

When Dandy’s speech cards fell from his vest pocket and onto the floor, Gladmane quickly apologized, “Oh, I am so sorry, Your Wonderfulness! Here, let me pick those up for you.”

When Gladmane handed him his speech cards, Dandy magically took the cards as he grunted with a cross look on his face, “Hmph!”

As the kings walked up onto the side of the stage, Iron Will announced, “Now, fillies and gentlecolts, we would like to present the poshest of posh ponies, the toast of Marisian nobility, the crème de la crème of Prance’s elite! Give it up for Dandyyy Grandeuuur!”

Dandy walked up to the microphone and smiled and waved to the small applause in the ballroom. He knew the crowd’s reaction was to be expected given his past…errors, but he spoke with confidence and flair, “Thank you for your presence tonight, everypony. It has been years since my unfortunate abdication from the throne. I am regretful of the poor choices that led to my downfall. But now, I am here in hopes of restoring everyone’s faith in me and rebuilding my reputation from the ground up. I know how difficult that will be, but I promise you that you will look upon me with amity and good grace from now on. I want to thank King Gladmane and the Canterlot royals for giving me this chance to make my good-hearted intentions known.

“So with that, I say…” He slid his front speech card to the back and continued, “…Dark Riders, attack!” When he realized what he said, his eyes shrunk and he looked at his cards. He uttered in bewilderment, “What?”

Before anyone could react, small metal balls crashed through the windows and burst into smoke between the high ceiling and the crowd. Panicked murmurs and shrieks of fear filled the ballroom as the guests’ eyesight was obscured by smoke and darkness.

“Aaaaahhh!”

“What’s going on?!”

“We’re under attack!”

“What should we do?!”

“We’re gonna die!”

“Someone, please help us!”

On the platform, Starling tried to use her horn, but nothing happened. “My magic is gone!”

Discord repeatedly snapped his fingers, which had no effect. “Mine, too!”

Rainbow Dash tried to fly into the air, but she fell back down when she was a foot above the platform. “I can’t use my wings, either!”

Spike gulped, “Smoke that disables magic, flight, and chaos magic?! Wait!” He tried to summon his fire breath as an experiment, but even that failed. He let out a wheezy cough before fretting, “Okay, fire breath, too. This is really bad.”

WHUD!

Everyone gasped as they heard the double doors on either side of the ballroom slam open and saw silhouettes of lean soldiers pour in. The terrified guests screamed and cowered on the large floor as the mysterious figures swiftly weaved through the crowd. Yes, it was the Dark Riders, now wearing green strips that filled their visors. No doubt it was to provide night vision to guide their way through the darkened and misty ballroom.

Discord grumbled, “And just when things couldn’t get any worse.”

Sky Blitz suggested, “You don’t think they’re after Gale, do you?”

Whirl scowled as he crouched down, “If they are, we have to stop them before they do.”

He tried to lunge off the platform, but Applejack held his tail back with her mouth. She said after his tail fell from her mouth, “Now hold on. We don’t know what they’re here for. It could be another one of them scare-and-run sort of attacks. They ain’t targeted a single soul yet.”

Just then on the ballroom floor, the leader ordered two of his comrades, “Take the Crystal princess!”

Like her relatives, Skyla couldn’t see past the smoke and had no choice but to wait till the Dark Riders left. Suddenly, a burlap bag enclosed her and trapped her inside its cloth. The royals saw two armored silhouettes capture one of their own with a bag and tried to run towards the Riders. However, one of them took out a shofar and blew very heartily into it. The deafening sound stopped the royals in their tracks, but to the Dark Riders, it served as the signal for retreat. The leader gestured towards the double doors leading to the gardens and he and his comrades rushed out of the ballroom, taking Princess Skyla with them as their captive.

When the smoke cleared just a minute later, the Dark Riders had already vanished and the guests were slowly and shakily getting up from the floor. Panicked murmurs flew around as the dark ballroom gradually became lighter again. The royals themselves were just as shaken from Skyla’s sudden kidnapping and didn’t know what to do.

Gladmane then came up to the microphone and said, “Friends, friends! Settle down, please!” When the ballroom became quiet again, he continued in an angered tone, “What just happened here moments ago was no mere scare-and-run like those cursed Dark Riders are known for. No, this was an attack! An attack that endangered the safety of this beloved kingdom and now every royal in Equestria! Before tonight, the Dark Riders just scared the livin’ daylights out of many, but now, they have kidnapped Princess Skyla!

“And you know who is to blame?” He pointed his hoof at Dandy and shouted, “Dandy! He ordered those Dark Riders to attack and they did! You saw his heinous act right before your eyes, you heard his grievous act with your own ears! Yes, my friends! He’s the one behind those attacks on our innocent kingdoms, for he is the leader of the Dark Riders!”

The crowd erupted into angry jeers and shouts. Dandy froze where he stood, shocked and dumbfounded by what was happening.

Gladmane ordered, “Guards, arrest the devilish fiend!”

As the guards apprehended Dandy and began taking him away, the Marisian noble loudly protested, “No! I am innocent! I had nothing to do with this! The words were on a card that was planted with my other cards!”

One of the guards took the speech cards from Dandy’s vest and looked at each of them. He replied, “Nope. I see nothing in here about the Dark Riders.”

Gladmane added, “Which means you were planning to unleash the Dark Riders all along.”

Dandy took the cards and frantically searched through them as he said, “No! It was in here! I swear!”

Gladmane told the guards, “Take him away before he loses it.”

The guards once again seized Dandy and took him away while the noble continued protesting.

Gladmane walked up to the other royals and sadly consoled them, “I am deeply sorry that young Princess Skyla has been taken by the dastardly Dark Riders.” His face then hardened into a soft form of anger as he continued, “Rest assured, Dandy Grandeur will be dealt with most severely for his crimes against you and every royal in Equestria.” He then added, “And, uh, maybe…” A small smile crept on his face, “…we can work on that alliance when Princess Skyla is found. War is coming, friends. Make no mistake about that.”

After Gladmane left the group, Applejack scowled, “I don’t trust him one bit.”

Starling nodded, “And you have every reason to. We slipped Veritaserum into Dandy’s drink before the gala. We had planned to question Dandy about his motives after his speech. He would’ve had to tell the truth regardless because the serum prevents anyone who drinks it from lying.”

Fire Spark surmised, “Which means the serum would’ve still been in effect when he was arrested.”

Sunset added, “And Dandy wasn’t lying when he said he was innocent.”

Mothball concluded, “That means our one guilty party is none other than Gladmane.”

---

At the castle on Paraddock, the travelers were eating an excellent supper with Steven Magnet.

The sea serpent asked, “How are you enjoying your food?”

Skater gulped her food and praised, “This is really great!”

Sky Stinger nodded, “Uh-huh! You’re a really good cook, Steven!”

Steven smiled bashfully, “Thank you. I’ve been cooking for myself for a very long time. It’s nice to hear others compliment my cooking.” He then sighed, “I only wish I had more food to give you, but a lot of the food trees are dying and –“

Suddenly, an alarm started blaring throughout the castle and red lights were flashing. The kids covered their ears to drown out the deafening noise.

Oddball asked, “What is that?!”

Steven’s eyes shrunk and he cried, “The Eye! Someone’s in danger!”

Apple Butter said, “Let’s go!”

Before anyone could leave the dining room, Mischief cried, “Wait! I’ll teleport us there. It’ll be faster."

In a flash of green magic, the group teleported from the dining room to the room where the Eye was kept. Mischief felt slightly dizzy and exhausted from using his spell on a large number of people, but when Flurry touched his hoof and smiled at him, he felt better in an instant. The bejeweled eye on the mirror flashed red before Steven pressed the flashing jewel. When the eye stopped flashing red, a swirl of light appeared in the center of the mirror and quickly blew into a scene of a ballroom. There were the Canterlot royals, Dandy Grandeur, and Gladmane on the stage with a crowd of guests on the floor below. Suddenly, small metal balls crashed through the windows and exploded into clouds of white smoke. A few moments after the whole ballroom plunged into darkness, the doors on either side of the room burst open and Dark Riders poured in.

Steven shrieked, “Oh, no! It’s them!”

Blaze asked in concern, “What are they doing in Las Pegasus?”

Nova suggested, “I don’t know, but it may be the same thing that happened in the Crystal Empire.”

However, to everyone’s shock, two of the Dark Riders jumped onto the platform and stuffed Skyla into a burlap bag.

Flurry cried, “Skyla!”

Skater pointed out, “Except for that.”

The group watched as one of the Dark Riders sounded the shofar that caused the others to retreat while he and his comrade followed behind. As soon as the last Dark Rider rushed out the double doors, the image of the scene faded, leaving only the group’s reflections in the mirror.

Flurry, now filled with anxiety, said, “We have to save Skyla!”

Steven said, “On it!”

He went to the table and grabbed a large compass. He pressed his finger into the ring of the arrow and turned the arrow in three directions. They waited a few moments for something to happen until Steven began to frantically repeat the same movements.

Roller was afraid to ask him in case the situation was what he thought it was, but he dared to. “Steven, what’s wrong?”

The sea serpent exclaimed, “IT’S NOT WORKING!!!”

Mischief asked, “What do you mean it’s not working?”

Steven explained in a panicked tone, “Capri put her spell to move Paraddock in this compass. You turn the arrow so the little circle can record the first three letters of where you want to go. But it’s not working right now!”

Zealot said, “So that’s it? We’re just sitting ducks?”

Skater said, “Maybe, but I think we can still use the Eye to see what’s happening.”

Blaze asked, “With who? The Dark Riders or our family?”

Flurry spoke up, “Skyla’s in the most danger, so we need to find her first.”

Apple Butter then said, “While you’re using the Eye to look into Skyla’s situation, we’ll put the kids in bed so they won’t be scared by the Dark Riders.”

The kids protested, saying they wanted to see if Skyla was okay, but the adults won the argument and ushered them to their guest room with Steven as their guide. Celaeno and the pirates also left, knowing it was a personal matter.

As soon as most everyone left the room, Flurry spoke to the mirror, “Roaming Eye…I wish to see Princess Skyla.”

In response to her request, the mirror conjured up an image of two Dark Riders running along a field with a heavy burlap bag enveloped with magical auras emanating from their antlers.

Comments

[Godslittleprincess]

Wait. Antlers? That means... Oh, I think I like where this is going.

[Godslittleprincess]

The party is so lavish that I am half-expecting a beggar mare to come in and curse Gladmane with beastliness.