Chapter 272 - Hopeless
“RAAAWRRR” Smolder blew another stream of fire at it, but it refused to dissipate or budge. “What’s going on here?! What is this thing?”
“It appears to be some sort of barrier. But, how did everypony on the train manage to pass through it? Unless…” Ocellus felt a sense of dread within herself. “You can only pass when… when…”
A barrier… So, that’s her game. Hypnotize an army, then spread out and attack. Of course! But she didn’t realize you had your own weapon to disarm her, an armor that could beat out this barrier no problem. “Everycreature stand back, I’m going to break this thing down.”
“Ooooo!” Silverstream let out a sound of awe, amazed at your power. “Are you going to blast it like hero colt Anon would?”
Hero colt Anon? Right, the hippogriffs practically worshipped Anon for the defeat of the S-Why are you even thinking about this? You had a sister and wife to save! “No! Something better, I’m going to use changeling tech against Chrysalis! Here I go! And if you feel like you can’t use magic, that’s normal, it just means this barrier is going bye bye too! Nmmm, mnnnnn, RAAAGH!” You began to charge the armor with your magic, to expand its magic nullifying power against the barrier.
“Hey!” Suddenly, Smolder plopped to the ground, puffs of smoke leaving her maw. “What gives?! What’s going on?!”
But you didn’t answer, you focused as much power as you could on the armor. And as you did so, you could see a part of the barrier start to sparkle and sputter in front of you, thinning up, almost like a part of it was becoming inverse and disappearing at the same time. “Yes! Yes!” You walked as close as you could towards the barrier. It began to strike with bolts of magic back at you in defense, but it all either dissipated or curved away. “It’s working! It’s- huh?! What?!” But even with you getting as close as you could, the barrier wasn’t clearing enough for you to pass through. You could feel it fighting back with force, stopping your encroachment. “What’s going on?! Why isn’t the barrier making a hole for us?!”
“Hold on, Yona make hole!” Yona, noticing that the barrier was thinning where you were standing, began to charge head first towards her target. Unfortunately, the moment she made contact, she was sent hurtling backwards. “Gyah!”
“No way! That’s impossible!” You growled. “Why isn’t this working?!”
Ocellus slowly approached you, she seemed to notice what you were doing, or at least what you were trying to do. “U-um, Mister Shining Armor, sir? Is that armor, perchance, um, made from the throne of Chrysalis?”
“Yeah, why?” What was she getting at?
“Oh… Erm…” Ocellus seemed rather nervous about something. What was it? You needed everycreature to focus right now on coming up with an idea to get past this thing. “It’s just… You’re not going to get through that with, well, whatever you did to it.”
“What?! What do you mean by that?! I made it better and controllable! Well, our researchers at the Crystal Empire did, but it is better! Just watch, I’ll destroy this barrier with my own magic!” You aimed your horn through the thinning part of the barrier and fired a powerful blast… That exploded into nothing the moment it passed the threshold of where it wasn’t affected by the armor. “... O-or not. What, what just happened?!”
“That’s what I was trying to explain. Erm, you made it a lot weaker. O-or, your researchers did anyway. The barrier is being supplied with a constant supply of some weird magic, it isn’t going to go away with that armor. I-if it was at full power, it’d get rid of it for sure.” Ocellus explained to you.
What?!
“B-but, it just ate my own blast! And Smolder over there looks like she’s not able to fly or throw fire either. So how come we can’t do anything but the barrier gets to stick around? We have to destroy it! Twily and Cadance are in there!” You exclaimed at her.
“I-I know, but the source of the barrier’s magic seems to be coming from that castle over there. It is making more magic than the armor can destroy. It’s stopping everycreature else’s magic because we're so close to its influence.” Ocellus once again explained.
You felt it, you began to feel anger well up inside you. The armor was useless, and you couldn’t break in to save your family. “GRAAWWR! Then what was the point?!” You stared angrily at the castle in the distance as you waved your hoof. “Chrysalis, you won’t get away with this!”
“Chrysalis? You mean Hero Colt Anon’s friend? What does she have to do with this? I thought she didn’t live in Ponyville.” Silverstream said as she let Flurry play with her talons adorably.
“I mean, think about it! Hypnotized ponies? Making an army of them after her own children saw the light of friendship? A barrier? It screams ‘Chrysalis’!” How could they not see it? You could see Ocellus tensing up, surely she realized her former queen was behind this. “You know, don’t you, Ocellus?”
“T-that’s the thing…” Ocellus gulped as she became even more nervous. “T-this isn’t her, i-it has nothing to do with her.”
“And what makes you say that?” You asked, now suspicious of her.
She then pointed at the castle, pointing at the far off banners. “T-those banners, they aren’t her’s. T-that’s Tirek’s insignia.”
“Who?” Smolder asked, utterly confused. “What’s a Tirek?”
…Tirek?! But how?! Unless… “Not a what, a who. He’s an evil centaur who can absorb magic from others to power himself up. He’s supposed to be locked up in Tartarus, but somehow, he returned. So that means… Chrysalis must have freed him and teamed up with him to conquer Equestria!”
“Look, I don’t get your whole thing with the bug queen. But as Ocellus said, I don’t think this has anything to do with her. Last I heard, she was actually warming up to Professor Fluttershy. Why would she try to take over Equestria?” Smolder asked, obviously confused to Chrysalis’s true nature.
“Because she’s evil! What other reason can there be!? How could you tell me this has nothing to do with her?!” Like, how?!
“Erm, I-I don’t normally like to defend her. But she doesn’t team up with anycreature, for any reason. Unless you’re working under her, she considers any would be partners, erm, a traitorous, and erm, 'petulant' kind of creature. And, um, Tirek isn’t known to work well with anycreature either. Also, those hypnotised ponies… It wasn’t changeling magic.” Ocellus explained.
…Okay, m-maybe she has a point on that one. Tirek betrayed Discord the moment he had the chance. And if Chrysalis knew he was traitorous, then maybe she wouldn’t team up with him? But then, what gives with the hypnosis? ”What do you mean ‘not changeling magic’.”
“I mean, it felt… Different. Like some sort of new magic, or a mixture of magics. Plus, I could feel their emotions, it isn’t like Chrysalis where she clouds your mind or bends your will. They all genuinely felt an uncontrollable sense of friendship to… Somecreature… Or somepony. I don’t know what it is, but it almost felt like they were loyal to a pony. It almost feels like something is controlling their love and friendship itself. ” Ocellus explained before shivering. “It was such a horrible feeling.”
“So, no Chrysalis?” So, it was… Tirek? He was behind all of this? How?! This didn’t seem like his M.O. What was going on?! NO! NO! “NO! TIREK! GIVE THEM BACK! YOU HEAR ME?!” You could feel your rage building once again. Your horn began to fill up with magic as you stared at the barrier once again. “TIIIIREEEKK!” You fired the strongest magic you could muster. But, due to the armor, it was heavily weakened as it hit the barrier, doing nothing to it other than enraging you further. “GRRRRRRRRRRRRAWWWWWWRRR”
“Okay, Yona can see new plan needed.” Yona then turned her attention to Ocellus, as she seemed to be the closest to understanding the situation. “What we do, Ocellus?”
Ocellus just turned and silently looked at your armor for a moment, thinking deeply. Then, suddenly she stiffened up. “I-I h-have an idea. B-but, I-I don’t like it.”
“Well, whatever it is, it’s gotta be better than this.” Smolder said as she put a claw to her hip, pointing over at your hopeless cause. “So, what is it?”
“...W-well…” Ocellus began to whimper, and locked up. Turning into a rock.
Wait… What?!
How did she?!
Your rage suddenly turns into confusion as you look over at the rock-changed Ocellus. “How did you do that?”
“T-transform?” Ocellus sounded confused. “W-we changelings could always do this, r-remember?”
“I know that!” You shouted angrily. “I mean how did you transform while the armor is activated?!”
“E-erm, umm…” She didn’t answer. However, your answers seemed to anger Smolder and Yona, who began to approach you. Silverstream hung back, holding back Flurry to protect her from anything that might happen.
“Hey, buddy, lay off her, alright?!” Smolder said, angrily poking at your armored chest. “We’re all worried about what’s going on in there too! We care about Headmare Twilight, and the ponies. We also don’t even know what happened to the professors, Anon, Cozy Glow, Sandbar, or Gallus! We don’t even know what happened to Counselor Starlight! So if you’re gonna be angry at somecreature, be angry at this Tirek guy!”
“Yeah! Ocellus not do anything wrong to you! So leave her alone!” Yona shouted at you, standing in front of her to protect her.
…
…
Your ears folded as your anger began to subside. That anger, Cadance was warning you about it all this time. The same anger that made you break Anon’s leg.
Cadance…
Twily…
You hung your head down in shame. Maybe if you had listened, and had been more vigilant, you could have saved them. Now? All you were doing was being a shameful moron that none of your family liked being around. “I’m sorry. I’m just… I’m scared for them. I don’t even know what’s going on. He has my wife, and my sister. I just…”
Suddenly, you felt a set of talons gently hold the side of your neck. It was Silverstream, giving you gentle, soft eyes. “Hey, we get that. We’re all really really scared, okay? But you gotta be strong! Strong for everycreature, strong for us, and strong for your really cute daughter! We’ll figure it out! Ocellus, you already got a plan, right?”
She slowly began to change back, her ears hung low as she looked at you with eyes that looked rather apologetic. “I-I… But… I…”
Smolder then walked up to her, doing the same for her that Silverstream did for you. “Hey, Ocellus, whatever your plan is, we’re all in this together. We ain’t leaving your side, no matter what. So if you got a dangerous plan, then hey, it’s better than nothing! We’ll do whatever you want us to do!”
“W-well, that’s the thing, I-I don’t want us to do it at all. Erm…” Finally, Ocellus sighed and drummed up the courage to state her plan. “Look, it looks like the way through the barrier is that armor. I-if we’re even going to have a chance of saving everycreature, then we’re going to have to see… Her.”
“Her?” Yona asked, confused.
…No, she didn’t mean… She couldn’t. “Are you seriously suggesting we go see that witch?!”
Ocellus recoiled from your outburst, then gathered herself again. She wasn’t thinking of how frightening she was, she knew there were more important things than giving in to her fears. In fact, it was almost like, maybe, somepony had shown her that being afraid of her wasn’t even worth it. “We have no choice. That armor is the only way we can break through this barrier. And the only one who can properly restore it is… Chrysalis. I know where she lives, we have to go see her, even if we don’t like her.”
You said nothing at first, your mind heavy in thought. It once again prompted Smolder to approach you. “Look! I know you don’t like it, but you gotta come with us! If she can get us through that barrier, then we got a chance of saving everycreature in it! Including your wife and Headmare Twilight! This isn’t about us anymore, okay!? We’re the only ones not being affected by this thing. And if it isn’t affecting us, then it isn’t affecting her either. I know it’s weird for you to hear that from a dragon, but we gotta do the right thing! Got it?!”
…So that’s it then?
Yeah, that was. Even though you hated it, you hated what Tirek was doing even more. And if you let your anger control you, then it’d just be failing everypony that is depending on you. Even Cadance was willing to give her a chance. Twily already has, even after the attempt on her life.
It looks like you’ll have to too.
You sighed as you began to calm down. “...Alright. If it means saving everypony, then I’m in. But if she does have something to do with this, I’m bringing her down!”
“Okay…” Ocellus then looked over towards the direction of the Everfree Forest. “T-then follow me. Oh, and Mister Shining Armor?”
Hm? “Yeah?”
“P-please don’t unpower the armor until we at least reach the forest. Whatever influenced those ponies, it can influence you too now. It's not safe to unpower the armor until we reach the forest, away from whatever is changing everypony.” She said to you. Could she feel the power of this 'influence'? She said it ran on friendship and love. So maybe that was it.
“Huh? You mean the armor was protecting me the whole time?” You asked.
“No… Just when you powered it. I-I think your hatred towards Chrysalis is what was protecting you before. Whatever this is, it redirects the positive feelings of ponies towards somepony else. You were so full of hatred, it didn’t affect you.” She told you plainly as she began to hover forward.
“Oh…” Well, erm, a-at least your anger was good for something.
You all entered deep into the forest. As soon as you entered deep enough, Ocellus asked you to depower the armor with your magic. You complied. If a group attacked you in any way, even without magic on all sides, you could still be overwhelmed. If you had to stay and fight while any of the fliers took Flurry for her protection, then so be it. Better than everycreature being unable to fly away and lose instantly. However, that made you wonder, why were they even here? “So, um, why are you guys here anyway? I thought you’d be home for the holidays?”
“A dream.” Silverstream said with zero hesitance.
“A dream? What does that mean?” What did she mean by that?
“Oh… Yeah, the dreams. Look, we’re not crazy or anything, but we all were having some crazy dreams. Which then turned out to all be the same dreams.” Smolder said.
“What do you mean?” What were they talking about?
“I mean, well, we all saw Headmare Twilight, but she was all sparkly. She told us some weird stuff, like we’d be going on an adventure, and that she apologized that she couldn’t prepare us for it in time. It was all so crazy. She basically said we all had to come back to Ponyville.” Smolder said, as she rubbed the back of her head in slight embarrassment. “I almost didn’t pay attention to it at first, but everytime I closed my eyes, I saw the same dream. Turns out, we all were having the same dream because Ocellus and Silverstream came to me the moment they had it. I guess me and Yona were too stubborn to really take it to heart at first. But yeah, we just flew over to get Yona, and took a train back to Ponyville. Turned out it was the same train you were taking.”
What? “So you all had the same dream? Really?”
Silverstream nodded “Yup! I knew it meant something the moment I had it! I flew over as soon as I could to see Smolder, then go see Ocellus. But, hehe, Ocellus sort of had the same idea. I just…” Suddenly, Silverstream began to feel downtrodden. “I just hope everycreature is okay in there. I wonder if Gallus, Sandbar, and Anon had the same dream. I don’t even know why I’d have that dream, I don’t know what I could do to help. Well, I guess I am helping, your daughter has been pretty calm since you gave her to me. What’s her name?” Silverstream asked as she hovered ahead, holding Flurry gently as she sleeps in her arms.
“Flurry Heart.” You answer, letting out a sigh as you try to get unsettling thoughts out of your head. “Thank you for taking care of her so far. If I knew this was going to happen, I’d have come alone. I just… I just wish I knew what happened. Did any of your dreams have any kind of information? It seems odd you’d all have the same dream, but like, totally not know what’s going on.”
Yona spoke, but there was some anger in her voice. “No, and that make Yona angry. If Yona knew this happened, Yona would ask Prince Rutherford to bring yak army. Yak army break barrier like nothing!”
“Yeah, I would have done the same and asked Princess Ember for some help too. I mean, not all the dragons are okay with ponies, but this? This is beyond messed up, none of us would let this go on.” Smolder said.
You let your horn light up as the path became darker, the night of Hearthwarming eve coming upon everycreature. So, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are still okay if the sun and moon cycle hasn’t been disrupted. That’s good.
But there was still one more thing. “So, we’re really doing this then. Look, don’t get mad at me for asking this, but are we sure we can trust Chrysalis?”
“I’d… I’d like to…” Ocellus had trouble answering for a moment. She had to stop, and catch herself once again. It looked like she had her own prejudices after all, and she was doing her best to look past them. “I… I want to think that’s where Anon is too. It’d make sense he’d be there, since they're best friends. M-maybe they’re making plans to break the barrier?”
Smolder snapped her claws, realizing how sensible that was. “Yeah, that’s where he is! I just hope he isn’t trying to come up with any puns for when he charges in there. I don’t think I could ever forget what happened the first time we met.”
“Yeah! Duh, of course the hero colt is making plans to attack that castle. And I bet everycreature is there with him. Headmare Twilight, the professors, Gallus, Sandbar! Everything is going to be okay!” Silverstream said with optimistic enthusiasm.
Until, that is, there was a very loud growl coming from somewhere further in the forest.
“Oh, Flurry Heart, are you hungry?” Silverstream asked as she poked her belly, making her giggle. “That was the loudest belly growl I ever heard.”
You jumped in front of the young group, standing guard as their shield. “Everycreature, back off. I think we’ve been spotted by some creature in the forest. If you have to, take Flurry and leave me behind. Once you're far enough, I can activate my armor and take it on bare hooved!”
Suddenly, there was a loud gruff laugh as a deep voice penetrated the air. “Is that so, Shining Armor? You have not turned, but you are not welcome to step any further. Encroach on her lands, and you will be eliminated.”
You began to shout out ahead of you. “Where are you, coward?! What are you even talking about?! I don’t know you, and unless you attack, I mean you no harm! I’m just trying to get everycreature here to safety!”
Suddenly, there was loud boisterous laughter. “Do you expect me to believe that!? This is not the time. Heed my warning, or be torn to shreds!”
“Look, whatever this is, it means business a-what are you doing?!” Suddenly, Yona stepped in front of you, ready for a fight.
“Yona not know who you are either, but Yona say Prince Shining Armor telling truth! Yona ask for passage, or Yona will fight!” Yona said, standing her ground.
“Yona?" The voice became softer, and even cuter, as the bushes ahead began to rustle. Suddenly a dog popped out from the bushes, looking rather confused. “Oh, it’s Anon’s friends who are really bad at snowball fights! I didn’t know you were here. You all can pass…” Wait, that dog. That’s Scrappy. You remember him, he’s Chrysalis’s faithful servant and strangely enough, part of the Apple family. He suddenly gave you a poisonous gaze as he continued. “...Except for you. I know why you’re OW!” Suddenly, a pinkish-purple hoof gave the small dog changeling a bop on the head.
“Scrappy! Remember what we talked about in case we found anypony out here?” Starlight asked him. Wait, Starlight? Why was she out here? She was wearing a black cloak for some reason, her horn alit for light.
“B-but, he reall-” But he is interrupted again
“I don’t care what’s going on. We’re in a crisis, okay!?” Starlight said with a tired huff before looking at you all with worry, and yet, with some relief and surprise. “What.. What are you all doing out here anyway?! You’re all supposed to be home, and Prince Shining Armor… Wait, you were supposed to be here actually. And…” That’s when she noticed. “Oh no… Where’s Princess Cadance?”
You hung your head low. You felt shameful. She wasn’t with you, and you failed to protect her. “She’s, I… I don’t even know. Starlight, why are you out here? What’s going on?! I-is Twily around? Is she with you?”
Starlight’s eyes suddenly saddened, you even saw a few tears come from her eyes as she began to tense up. “Oh no… You don’t… You don’t know what’s going on?”
“What is going on?! Counselor Starlight, why are you even out here? What happened to Ponyville?!” Smolder asked in a demanding fashion.
Starlight stayed silent for a moment, furrowed her brow, and looked over at Scrappy. “Scrappy, go to Big Mac and Trixie and continue the search with them. Keep them safe, okay?”
“B-but, you said you’d help find Master Applebloom and the others! Please, you’re really really helpful!” Scrappy said, tears flowing from his eyes as he whined doggie-like noises.
“And I will. I promise. Let me just get them to the manor safely, okay? I promise I’ll be back out in no time.” Starlight assured him. “We’ll find them.”
“Mnnnn…” Scrappy said with another whine. “O-okay.” And without another word, he saluted towards her, and rushed back the other direction, deeper into the forest.
“Alright…” Starlight said, facing away from all of you, her tone melancholic. “Follow me. There’s… There’s a lot going on, and a lot to say.”
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Oh boy time for the really bad news, Anon's friends are gonna be devastated.
holy shit, shining armor
puh at least some got away, but oh no the kids are missing
uh the bad new's will suck for them now
Me remembering Garble was talking actual war with the ponies, implying murder and consumption, and none of the dragons spoke out against him. Sure Smolder, I'm sure they couldn't stand that. It totally has nothing to do with the fact the staff is a mind control stick essentially. She has less reason to have faith in her species than humans do.
Not out of character, for the record, in fact that's perfectly in character, I just like to complain about that part of Smolder's character. "Father knows best" characterized that flaw perfectly.
Anyway, back to reading, I legit stopped there to dig at her person.... Aight finished.
I strongly wonder if Starlight is going to know what happened with Anon and if Fluttershy and Chrysalis made it out.
Chrysalis firing that magic blast at Tirek and Cozy Clow caused her to complete her transformation into a colorful deer beetle thing or whatever the fuck.
Could anon come back with the help of the harmony tree but with a halo on his head like Vegeta did when he came back
11528823
From what chapter 270 showed, Chrysalis managed to teleport away, but it cost her a lot of energy.
Fluttershy didn't make it out.
head-first (?)
The period should be a question mark.
you
Ocellus
The first comma should be a period. (?)
Missing comma after ‘gentle’. (?)
Missing comma before ‘then’. (?)
any way
Missing comma or period.
every time (?)
they're
Missing comm after ‘Suddenly’. ×2 (?)
tense up (?)
doggie-like
I might be wrong about some of the above.
I thought it was weird that the students were on a train towards Ponyville last chapter. It was manor enough to ignore. Nobody pointed that out either. Now, in the following chapter, you had an answer for that.
It's just an interesting thing to think about. That your preferred chapter length kinda forces you to make them more contained.
At this point it’s just rediculous and I love it!
Where ARE they?