Equestrias Forever

by Pentatonic

Chapter 5

Equestria 116

Tsunami wandered through the forest, a pair of goggles covering his eyes. He’d already met a group of ponies who questioned his identity. Not that he blamed them. The war with the changelings had made them very suspicious of anypony found alone.

Another pony was walking just a few steps behind him. Her name was Applejack. She was living in the village Tsunami appeared in and, upon learning who he was looking for, insisted on joining him. She didn’t care what he said about needing the queen’s abilities. Chrysalis couldn’t be trusted and she was not about to let him go searching for her alone.

Tsunami had been opposed to her joining him. He didn’t even like having to explain the situation to her. Ponies were prone to panic and the more of them knew about the situation, the harder it would be for him to complete his mission. Unfortunately, his calculations had been off and he’d appeared right in the middle of a village. Luckily, the village leader Zecora had used her mysterious abilities to verify his validity. But then Applejack insisted on coming with him to find Chrysalis.

His thoughts were interrupted by a rustling sound. Before either of them could react, a group of changelings descended upon them. The two ponies soon found themselves caged and being dragged to a nearby changeling camp. What looked like hundreds of changelings surrounded them before their leader stepped forward. She was much talker than the others, with a head of long, web like hair.

“I must admit,” she began. “I never thought any of you ponies would be foolish enough to just wander the forest alone. But I guess natural selection always eliminates the weak minded first.”

Tsunami ignored her taunting and looked around at the army surrounding them. Finally, he smiled and turned back to the front.

“Well how else was I supposed to get to you all. But you’re not the one I want.” He said before turning to a changeling in the middle of the crowd. “She is.”

The changelings looked at each other, confused as he continued.

“These goggles counter changeling magic. You’re not Queen Chrysalis. She is.”

After a moment of surprise, the singled out changeling stepped forward and returned to her natural form as the true Chrysalis.

“I’m impressed.” She said. “But that doesn’t change the fact that you’re both now my prisoners and I’m going to drain every bit of love you have.”

“You might as well get it while you can before we’re all destroyed.”

Chrysalis stopped at this. She had no idea who this strange unicorn was but his bravado amused her. She listened as he told the story of the pony eliminating universe after universe. Then she did something unexpected. Instead of scoffing or disregarding his words, she merely asked a single question.

“Can you prove it?”

The other changelings began to argue, one specifically coming up to her.

“My queen.” He began. “You’re not really taking this seriously, are you?”

She turned to him. “I’ve maintained control and fear by learning not to underestimate any potential threat. This pony, if real, could pose a definite threat.”

She released Tsunami and Applejack from the cage and stood before them as Tsunami pulled the transporter from his saddlebag.

Applejack put a hoof on his shoulder. “I’m coming with you, right? I don’t trust her anymore than a fruit bat in an apple orchard and don’t like leaving the fate of the world up to her.”

“I insist that she come.” Chrysalis added. “If this is a trick, whatever that little device does will happen to her as well.”

Tsunami was hesitant but finally agreed. He gathered the three of them together and they teleported away.

. . .

Equestria 58

Twilight led her team through a dark, mountainous valley. Rainbow looked around cautiously. She wasn’t particularly scared, just ready to fight should anything attack them. Spruce and Screwball were huddled close together, following the others.

“Are you sure the next member of the team is here?” Spruce asked, her voice shakey.

Twilight looked at the transporter again. “According to the coordinates she should be somewhere around here.”

As they moved further in, Screwball began to notice something. It was getting darker, though it shouldn’t be. There weren’t any clouds in the sky. The stars were still in the same places they had been. It didn’t even seem like the shadows from the mountains should be causing it to be getting as dark as it was.

Finally, she decided to speak up. “Is anyone else noticing that’s it’s getting weirdly dark all of a sudden?”

“Aww. Is the darkness bothering you, little one?”

Everyone jumped and looked around for the source of the voice. Suddenly a cloud of purple smoke floated into view before forming into a frightening pony. Her purple, star filled mane flowed around her. Her cutie mark, a group of diamonds flashed in contrast to her coat which was black as night.

“Rarity?” Twilight asked, nervously.

“Nightmare Rarity if you please.” Came the response.

Twilight turned to the others who were equally taken aback. Finally, she cleared her throat and began explaining why they were there. As she spoke, the area around them continued to get darker making everypony even more nervous.

Suddenly, a thick layer of black aura shot from Nightmare’s horn, covering them all before they could even react. The ponies began to have visions of their greatest nightmares run through their heads. Nightmare laughed, enjoying the looks of fear and torment on their faces. However, that enjoyment ended when she noticed a change happening.

Spruce’s nightmare had become to much for her and she started losing control. Her cries of terror began to change to deep growls of anger. Her coat was darkening and she was beginning to grow. Within moments, she was no longer Spruce Spanner, but the massive Saddle Rager.

Nightmare backed away in shock as the giant pony roared in fury. This broke the spell she had on the others, allowing them to regain their senses. Nightmare ran for it, Rager right behind her.

“We need to stop her before she kills Rarity!” Yelled Twilight, trying in vain to telekinetically hold her back.

Rainbow grabbed Rager, trying to stop her, but the angry monster easily threw her off. Screwball was next, forming a brick box around Saddle Rager but she slammed through it like it wasn’t even there.

Nightmare made a wrong turn in her desperation and found herself caught in a dead end with Saddle Rager looming not far away. She let out another roar and charged at the dream master.

Suddenly, a tiny kitten jumped in front of Nightmare Rarity and Saddle Rager stopped, her eyes widening. The kitten meowed softly and looked up with big eyes. Rager smiled and began to shrink back down to her normal size. A few moments later she was back to normal Spruce.

Rainbow, still a little dazed ran over. “What just happened?”

The kitten began to morph as well, changing into Chrysalis. Tsunami and Applejack came beside her.

“I see the recruiting went well.” Tsunami said.

Spruce looked around, embarrassed by what had happened. The others gathered together as Tsunami walked over to a still shocked Nightmare Rarity.

“You might be better off working with us.” He said. “I know I wouldn’t want to be on her bad side.”

She glared at him, angered at being made to look weak but knowing what would happen if she argued. Finally, she scoffed and went to join the others.

Tsunami stood before the group to speak. “We’ve got one more left to get. I want all of you to head back to the pocket world. The last girl is a different species entirely and we would stand out quite a bit.”

With that, he transported away as the others made their way back to Starswirl, none of them noticing inside Scout watching them from the shadows.

Comments

[Pegajen]

His thoughts were interrupted by a rustling sound.

It's a trap! 😱

Applejack put a hoof on his shoulder. “I’m coming with you, right? I don’t trust her anymore than a fruit bat in an apple orchard and don’t like leaving the fate of the world up to her.”

Or anymore than Rainbow Dash in their cider cellar.

Within moments, she was no longer Spruce Spanner, but the massive Saddle Rager.

Everyone run for their lives!

“We’ve got one more left to get. I want all of you to head back to the pocket world. The last girl is a different species entirely and we would stand out quite a bit.”

A different species entirely, eh? I can't wait to see who it is! Also, this is my favorite chapter so far!