[Untitled.Uncertainty]

by GMBlackjack

VIII - Declarations - GMBlackjack

SIDE 1

Applejack walked out of the hospital to the rest of her friends. “Twi’ll be out soon, her alicorn magic’s healin’ her up real nice. Rarity will be hospitalized for a while, but she’ll be fine.”

“That’s a relief,” Starlight said, letting out a sigh. “Why is it that things have to explode like that?”

“Because magic!” Pinkie said.

“Magic never hurt Twilight this bad before…” Fluttershy said.

“Clearly it wasn’t normal,” Rainbow Dash asserted. “It’s space magic! We’ve never dealt with space magic!”

“Legends say Chrsyalis’ throne was forged of the remnants of a fallen star,” Starlight commented.

“We might be onto something…”

Pinkie chuckled. “Maybe, maybe not. All I know is that stuff is brewing! Big stuff! We need to get on it!”

Fluttershy gasped. “Without Twilight?”

“She can catch up with us later. We shouldn’t let these meteor fragments fall into the wrong hooves!”

“Pinkie’s right!” Rainbow Dash said, flying into the air. “For all we know, right now there’s some evil pony in the Everfree Forest picking up fragments of the meteor and using them for their own nefarious purposes! We’ve got to go get them!” She flew away in a burst of rainbow. Pinkie hopped behind her.

Starlight facehooved. “Well, I guess I know what I’m doing today.” She looked to Fluttershy and Applejack. “You coming?”

“I’ll watch over Twilight and Rarity,” Fluttershy said.

“Ah’ll come,” Applejack said. “Teleport?”

“We’ll be there before them,” Starlight said with a smirk. They vanished in a puff of magic.

~~~

Zecora had filled half a wheelbarrow with fragments of the mysterious meteor. Every one of them gave off a strange magical signature, but she sensed it was nothing more than a remnant of something else. So long as she didn’t aggravate the energy, it wouldn’t explode. Probably.

She was finding more and more fragments – there were so many. How big was this rock? Too big to keep track of, that was sure…

Evil ponies would easily be able to get a hold of some small fragments, no matter how diligent Zecora was in her collection. She could see this being a problem in the future. Such easy access to magical power…

Still, she followed the rocks to the center. The main body of the rock. The source. It had created a rather large gash within the earth and destroyed more than a few trees.

One Tree in particular had stopped it right in its tracks. The largest chunk of the purple rock was about the size of Zecora’s skull and it rested, devoid of all evil magics, at the base of the Tree of Harmony.

Zecora approached the Tree in reverence, head bowed. It decided not to smite her, for which Zecora was thankful. She examined the larger rock – completely dead. There was a small pool of dark liquid in it – a sign that something had once been alive in there. But not anymore. Either the Tree of Harmony had been too much for it, or there simply wasn’t enough of the sludge here to survive.

Zecora opted to play it safe. She dumped her wheelbarrow next to the Tree of Harmony, allowing its harmonious energies to purge the stones of any power. “Forgive me if this pains you, but it is something I must do.”

The Tree did not complain. Someone else did.

“Such a waste of useful material,” a black pegasus said, walking into the clearing. “Clearly there is more, but why remove the properties of so much.”

“Who are you who thinks he can play with evil stones? And how dare you speak in such an arrogant tone?”

The pegasus shrugged, playing with a platinum telescope in his wing. Zecora sensed a power coming from it – did she see a magic crystal on it as well?

“My name is not important. I’m just asking you, nicely, not to remove the properties of all the stones.”

“If you think I’ll bow to the likes of you, then you’ll find my response hard to chew!”

The pegasus sighed. He pointed the telescope at her as if it were some kind of weapon. “Then I suppose I’ll just have t-“

Rainbow Dash flew in out of nowhere, punching the pegasus across the clearing. “HA! I knew bad ponies would try to grab the rocks!”

“Good work!” Starlight said, teleporting on the scene. “Now le- where is he?”

“Huh? I just ki-“ Rainbow Dash looked at the place he had been just a moment ago. “OH COME ON!”

Zecora narrowed her eyes. “It appears we have a mystery here that’s about more than just the rocks, dear.”

~~~

The Mass found the amulet. The black body of the Mass could not touch the amulet directly – but, as it turned out, it didn’t need to. All it needed to do was grab a stick and poke the amulet from a short distance. This proved to be ineffective in destroying the amulet or understanding it further.

The same went for smashing it with rocks.

And woodland creatures.

Entire trees didn’t help either.

The Mass could at least rest easy knowing that the amulet was completely surrounded by its unholy sludge. Nopony was getting anywhere near it. The other power though… That was still nearing. The Mass needed to think of a way to defeat it.

It remembered how the woodland creatures had reacted when it tried to use them as blunt weapons.

Maybe that could be useful…

~~~

Steadfast Hoof and Silver Sigil entered the Grove, Steadfast’s impressive control over his amulet scaring away all the mysterious denizens of the griffonian forest.

“Your amulet’s signature is muddled,” Steadfast said.

“I’m telling you, it’s the black blob!”

“Possibly,” Steadfast said without a hint of fear. “Most likely, in fact. But I’ll show you how it’s truly done. Don-“

A wolf appeared out of nowhere, utterly covered in black sludge, giving it the appearance of a shadow – or it would have, were it not for the piercing orange eyes. It opened its mouth and roared, its throat pulsating with a powerful orange energy.

The roar carried enough energy to push them back.

“What i-“

“It’s covered in the sludge!” Silver shouted. “We’r-“

Steadfast held out a hoof. Without so much as batting an eyebrow, his amulet activated and purged the wolf of all darkness. What remained was a horrific melting hunk of flesh. Without the sludge on it, it fell apart with an agonized whine.

“Clearly, it can control other creatures,” Steadfast declared. “However… It clearly cannot control them for long. It dissolves them with its mere presence…” His face was suddenly serious. “This is indeed a great evil. Let us be glad you found it so quickly.”

“MASTER HOOF!”

Steadfast purged an incoming manticore of the dark sludge. “I see it Silver, I see i-“

“NOT THAT!”

A tendril connected to the primary body of the Mass had taken over a nearby tree. It lashed out, but soon found the power of Steadfast’s amulet too much. The tree fell to pieces and the Mass was forced to recede.

“Come, Silver! I have it on the run!”

Silver nodded – everything was fine. Steadfast had this all under control. Everything wa-

Then Silver saw a hornet covered in the darkness ram right into Steadfast’s neck.

“OW! Stupid bugs…”

“Master! It had the sludge on it!”

“It wha-“ Steadfast grabbed his heart as the tiny amount of sludge made it into the vital organ. He tipped over, scrambling with his hooves. “I… I… Ig…”

“Master! What do I do? Wha-“

Steadfast grunted and tossed the amulet to Silver. “Go.”

“Bu-“

“I SAID GO BEFORE YOU ARE CONSUMED AS WELL!” The outburst forced Steadfast to choke.

Silver saw the actual body of the Mass making its way back… eagar for easier prey.

Silver did what his master ordered and ran, tears in his eyes.

The Mass soon covered Master Steadfast Hoof, ripping him apart piece by piece, absorbing everything about him… The information about culture, science, and magic was discarded. The Mass wasn’t particularly smart, after all, and generally had a one track mind.

All it cared about was learning how to deal with the amulet…

~~~

The yellow pegasus with the pink mane decided she needed to leave Zecora’s cottage. She was just getting a bad, bad feeling about all of this. According to the readings on her device… Magic was all over the place. She doubted that was normal.

They might have followed her. They might have found her…

But they couldn’t have. She made so sure...

Regardless, she needed a new place to hide. Somewhere that wasn’t in the middle of a magic forest. Somewhere more… Normal.

She placed her pack inside a much more ordinary looking one of Zecora’s. She left a few chips on the counter. They were probably worthless to Zecora, but the material contained within them would probably pay for the simple sack.

She slung it over her shoulder, spread her wings, and took off – careful to stay below the canopy to avoid prying eyes.

SIDE 2

Party Blower threw her hooves wide. “Welcome to my apocaparty!” she blurted.

She had taken over an area of the park a few hours ago with the intentions of making a party for the end of the world, and then her talent had taken over. She wasn’t even really sure what she had been thinking while she set up the party, but she had no dobut it was good. Unlike Pinkie – who could set up a party in a matter of seconds – Party Blower had to make do with running back and forth across town.

She had grabbed several tables, adorning them with tiki-torches in the middle. The cutlery and silverware were all decorated with images of stars, planets, and as many shooting stars as she could manage. The types of foods were all snaky feel-good stuff with a large quantity of cake and peanut butter flavored dishes. She vaguely remembered that she had tried to purchase alcohol at some point, but that had fallen through quickly. Instead there was a lot of salsa and extra-flavored punch. She’d even asked Vinyl to show up and play the best ‘last day on Equis’ jam she could. The unicorn was perhaps a little too ecstatic about that.

And just like that ponies had started driving up in their cars. Very few ponies her age showed up, but she didn’t mind – if she was a party pony, she could throw parties for all ages. This was a testament to her talent!

She smiled as she walked among the partygoers, glad to see that her party was basically running itself at this point.

Scootaloo walked up to her. “This… Is sure an interesting party,” Scootaloo admitted. “I’m not sure what it’s about, though.”

“I heard some of the adults thinking the meteors meant the end of the world, so I threw a party just for them! It appears to be working!”

“I’m just surprised ponies want to party at the end of the world.”

“Pff, what else are they going to do? They’ll want their last moments to be good ones.”

“I dunno… Doesn’t seem quite right, Party Blower. “

“Hey, who’s the one with the special talent, you or me?”

“You,” Scootaloo admitted. “I dunno though. These ponies are starting to look a little crazy.” She gestured at a couple ponies who looked like they had gotten into a fight, and another set who were passionately kissing. One of the tables had already been broken.

The tiki-torches reflected brightly in the orbs that were Party Favor’s eyes. “I like a little crazy… This, Scootaloo, this is the kind of party I’ll make. Not like Pinkie’s at all…”

“Party Blower, you’re being creepy.”

“Oh! Maybe I should make a creepy party next!”

“…Right. I’m going to go grab the rest of the crusaders. Stay here, okay?”

“This party won’t be over until the sun rises tomorrow! If that happens.”

Scootaloo nervously dashed off.

~~~

It was evening when Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie arrived in Canterlot. Their limosine pulled into the front of Canterlot Castle, surrounded by hectic paparazzi.

Twilight sighed. “We just have to make it to the front door, girls.”

“Can’t we teleport?” Rarity asked, groaning.

“It wouldn’t be right. But don’t respond to any of their questions. That means you, Pinkie.”

The three of them stepped out and the cameras started flashing. Since they were making a public appearance, they all had to be in their unique combat uniforms and have their weapons ready – save Pinkie, who was allowed to skirt this custom because the Laughing Cannon was a bit cumbersome to carry outside of wherever Pinkie normally stored the thing.

Twilight and Rarity’s uniforms were similar – dominantly white jackets with spiked edges on the sleeves that left their flanks exposed. Twilight’s highlights were purple while Rarity’s were a deep blue. Twilight’s jacket had white protrusions that extended to line her wings, and she wore a golden tiara that held a light blue visor over her eyes. Rarity had no tiara, but she did have a purple visor affixed to her ears. Pinkie was the only one that liked to keep her expressions visible in public.

Pinkie’s ‘uniform’ was decidedly simpler. It was a plain blue shirt with pink diamonds all over it. The shoulders were on fire. Pinkie never got burned by these flames and nobody asked her how.

Of course, nobody really cared about the uniforms. They all cared about the legendary weapons – Twilights Magic Wand, and Rarity’s Generous Rapiers. The Wand held a starburst amethyst-like gem at the tip that was ringed by three metallic blades while the Rapiers were identical pure white twin blades, save for the hilt of one that held a deep purple crystal.

The three of them moved forward, refusing to answer the questions of the crowd. Pinkie couldn’t help but wave and smile at a few of them though, such was her way.

They managed to get into the halls of Canterlot without incident. They walked to the throne room, glad to hear the noise of the crowd die down behind them.

Rarity took off her visor and Twilight retracted her own into the tiara, revealing a decidedly annoyed expression. “I hate that so much,” the princess muttered.

“At least we got to go through it together,” Rarity commented. “I don’t even know what Applejack, Rainbow, and Fluttershy are going to do.”

“What are the chances Rainbow or Applejack are even going to show up?” Twilight asked.

“…Lower than I would like to admit.”

Pinkie shook her head. “Let’s not talk about that! Celestia wants to see us!”

The three of them entered the throne room. Only one of the thrones had an occupant – Luna was apparently out.

Celestia turned to them and smiled. She wore her golden regalia with pride, and the Solar Lance she held in her hoof brimmed with the power of the sun, making it hard to look at.

“Just the three of you?” Celestia asked.

“Fluttershy should be here eventually,” Twilight commented. “I wouldn’t count on the others. They know, at least.”

“Starlight?”

“You only asked for the Elements. I had to tell her to stay behind. Unless that was a mistake?”

“No, it was fine,” Celestia admitted. “Fluttershy has already been here, and I sent her to deal with a minor incursion in the Temple of the End Times.”

Always the overachiever, Twilight thought.

Celestia continued. “For the rest of you I have a much more pressing matter. As you know, a meteor has crashed into Canterlot Mountain. I already sent a team of guards to investigate, and none have returned. They are presumed dead. I know nothing of what lies within there, but all with a strong enough sense believe it to be a great evil. You are to go in there and neutralize the cosmic threat.”

“Yes, my princess. Do we have teleporting coordinates?”

“Yes.” Celestia transmitted them with her horn. “Go forth, heroes of Equestria.”

“We won’t let you down,” Twilight said with a bow. She teleported the three of them away.

~~~

The Temple of the End times forced three altar beams of light together, focusing on a monumental moment in history. It had finally come to this, after so long they had waited… But the Order had accomplished what they had set out to do. All four of them were smiling – some evilly, others merely with anticipation. Needless to say, motivations for activating the Temple of the End Times was mixed.

Steadfast Hoof felt the shadow of death pass over him, forcing his grin to vanish.

“Master? What is it?” the unicorn asked.

“Nothing, Silver… Nothing at all…” Steadfast said, shaking his head. “We have been waiting for this moment so long, nothing will be able to stop us now.”

The lights all shut off in an instant, the intersection point leaving behind a single cubic crystal. Its red color was so deep it burned itself into the eyes of all who saw it.

Steadfast Hoof grinned. “There it is… The Weapon of the End.”

“If that’s really what it is,” the griffon pointed out. “We have no idea what it does, what its powers are, or anything else.”

“And you never will,” a calm, soothing voice said. Dozens of green arrows pierced the legs and wings of all four members of the order, pinning them to each other. None of them screamed, none of them even dripped blood – for these were not regular arrows.

They were from the Kind Bow.

Fluttershy descended to the ground between the four ‘archeologists’ and the red Weapon Core. Her uniform was made of green leaf-like materials, and instead of covering her face with a visor an extended leaf kept her eyes hidden in shadow. She had her bow ready to fire in case any of them figured out how to escape the arrow restraints – the weapon was a beautiful green with a pink crystal above where the arrows were created and fired.

“Fluttershy!?” Steadfast roared. “How did you know!? How did…”

Fluttershy pocketed the cubic crystal, smiling sadly at her opponents. “I was tipped off.”

“I BET YOU WEREN’T TIPPED ABOUT THIS!” the griffon shouted, shattering all the arrows in an instant, revealing a gun in his hand with a silver crystal in its side. “This is the Sheer Revolver! It will protect me from your arrows.”

Fluttershy didn’t react the way he wanted. “Oh. I see.”

“Also it can shoot bullets.” He fired – he was a decidedly horrible shot, grazing Fluttershy’s wing. She winced, but took the opportunity to shoot one of her arrows into the Sheer Revolver. It knocked the weapon right out of the griffon’s hands.

“…Frick,” he said, unable to do anything about the next volley of arrows that pinned his limbs to each other.

“The guard will be here shortly, I hope you’ll be co-operative.” She smiled at them, lifting her head up so they could see her eyes. “I’ll even vouch for you if you behave.”

Steadfast said nothing, cursing himself for not seeing it. Cursing himself for not being able to use the amulet while stuck like this. Cursing himself for putting the Weapon of the End in the hands of the government…

~~~

“Thank you for your tip, miss…” Fluttershy said, looking closely at her informant.

She was a purple earth pony – even more purple that Twilight. Even the blacks and whites of her eyes were not devoid of the color, making it seem as if nothing but different shades of the color purple existed for this mare. “Aura.”

“Aura. Thank you, you’ve done a great service for Equestria by letting us know they were in there.”

“I’m a simple mare. If I think the Order is somewhere, I make a report.” She smiled kindly. “You’d do the same, right?”

Fluttershy didn’t answer the question. “I’ll make sure you’re rewarded.”

“Okie!” Aura said. “I don’t have a house right now, so hold on, I need to figure out who you can send it to…” she took out a phone.

“Say no more,” Fluttershy said. “We’ll get you a small apartment as your reward.”

“Oh! Thank you! Where?”

“Where would you like?”

“Canterlot seems nice.”

Fluttershy smiled. “It does. It might be a bit smaller there than elsewhere, though.”

“Oh, I don’t mind, I’m getting a free apartment. Woohoo!”

“Then that’s what we will do. You can come back with me, if you want.”

“Nice!” Aura said, following Fluttershy.

Inwardly, she grinned. And now I’ve gotten myself closer to the top… It’s only been a day. This is going to be easier than expected.

The great evil laughed inwardly – but the form of ‘Aura’ continued to look completely innocent.

Aside from being overly purple.

She really needed to find a way to fix that.

SIDE 3

Twilight sat in her ‘throne’ at the top of the largest building in Ponyville District, the Crystal Spires. Grandiose ships flew across her field of view through the giant windows.

Twilight hardly did any ruling from here, anymore. Not since what she had done.

They thought Twilight blamed herself. Twilight let them all believe that – it was better that way. It was better than the truth behind it.

Twilight pressed a button on her headset again, displaying a holographic file in front of her face. It showed the image of a yellow pegasus with a pink mane – Fluttershy.

Her official file said she had died in an accident at a royal factory.

The unofficial version Twilight had access to thanks to her princesshood told a different story. It was a criminal file.

The things the mare Twilight had once called her friend had done…

They were unforgivable.

It was best if the others never knew the things Fluttershy had done, but Twilight knew.

And despite what all the files she had access to said, Twilight knew she was still alive.

Just because she couldn’t be detected anywhere in the universe didn’t mean a thing.

Twilight left her throne, flying over to her balcony and into her private ship. She flew off – she had a secret lab to check up on. The sprawling city-surface of Equis was left behind…

~~~

Rainbow Dash couldn’t sleep.

Fluttershy was standing next to her – like always. “Rainbow, you need to be calm…”

“How can I be calm? I’m in a hospital! That’s… Not something to be calm about!”

“Being calm lets you heal faster.”

“Fluttershy… I… I don’t want to anymore! How long have I been here!?”

“A few months?”

“IT FEELS LIKE YEARS, FLUTTERSHY!”

“Shhhh you’ll wake everyone up! You-“ She froze in place, unmoving.

“Uh… Fluttershy? What are…”

Fluttershy’s entire form flashed green for a moment. Actually, did everything turn green for a moment? Am I going crazy?

“What an interesting time to think that,” Fluttershy muttered.

“W-what?”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “You said ‘am I going crazy’.”

“Oh… I said that?”

“Yes. Yes you did.”

“Huh… Weird.”

“And as to what you said before, Dashie… I think maybe it is time to get fed up with how long we’ve been here. We could get up in the morning and walk out.”

“Yeah! That’s exactly what I was saying!”

“Who knows? Maybe we could even show a few of the staff what we really think when we leave.”

“Uh…”

“You know. A kick there. A punch here. Show them up for what they’ve done to us…”

“They’ve been nic-“

Everything flashed green again. Rainbow Dash didn’t notice. “They either don’t know anything or are keeping us here on purpose, Rainbow Dash! Think!”

Yeah… Yeah that made perfect sense! Almost none of them ever addressed Fluttershy! But she was always here!

“You’re right! I’ll go give them a piece of my mind right no-“

“Let’s be smart about this,” Fluttershy said. “Turn some of the others to our side. I’m sure they will be much more… open to me now that we’ve had this little chat.”

“You think so?”

“I know so. Their minds will all come around…” Fluttershy grinned evilly. “All of their minds…”

“Great!”

~~~

In a world that we all know, a mass runs rampant with orange power.

In a world of weapons and fame, a purple power plays chess with the lives of ponies.

In a world far ahead, a green disease worms its way into the thoughts of all.

Author's Note:

Written by... ME! With the purpose of making the story a little less confusing.

-GM, master of consolidation.

Comments

[LostArchivist]

And despite what all the files she had access too said

to

Grandiose ships

She hardly did any ruling form here

The ships did what? Also, you meant from.

[Cosmic Potato]

Question 1: Will there be potatoes involved?
Question 2: Do beavers exist?
Question 3: How many cake flavors are available?

[GMBlackjack]

9055956

Most likely.

Yes.

All of them.

-GM, master of responding to comments because WHY NOT.