Amethyst Star Isn't Prepared For This

by MagicS

Amethyst Star Doesn't Save the Day

Periwinkle didn’t know what to do. He could barely move under all the ponies dog-piling him even as he pulled up all the strength from within his body. The Prince had to stop the Songstresses, had to do something, he knew he couldn’t let it end here but no matter how hard he struggled it seemed hopeless. Inevitably the Songstresses would have his earplugs taken out and he’d become a mindless slave like all the rest, but he’d rather die then let that happen. If Diminuendo was going to be no more then he’d go with it or at least go down fighting as hard as possible.

“I can’t… I need to do something!” He wheezed as his hooves scraped across the ground.

Wait… earplugs. My earplugs! Periwinkle’s mind suddenly formed a crazy idea. He looked up as best he could and was barely able to make out Daylight Gleam still standing on the stage. The guards had stopped holding her, the Songstresses had stopped paying attention to her, if he could teleport his earplugs into her ears maybe she could break Amethyst’s crystal!

But would that even work? Periwinkle frowned. If she’s already under their spell would the earplugs have any effect on her at all? I want them to break the Songstresses magic over her but they might not do anything to a pony already brainwashed. And if they didn’t then I’ll immediately fall prey to their magic after teleporting away my earplugs… and even if they did and Daylight failed…

Again, Periwinkle was torn and didn’t know what to do. Everything hinged on this. Everything. He was a Prince, he knew he would be faced with tough decisions during his rule, but he never thought anything like this would happen. Sacrifice. He knew a ruler needed to do that for his ponies but what if it didn’t matter? It’s possible his plan was completely harebrained and wouldn’t work at all and his sacrifice would be pointless, or any number of things could happen to ruin it.

“I don’t know… I don’t know!” He whimpered as the ponies on top of him forced his face to the ground and tears began to stream from his eyes.

But it was through those teary eyes that he saw something. Two somethings.

A pair of small green earplugs sitting on the ground just a foot or two away from his face, under the legs of the crowd. Periwinkle stopped his crying as he took a sharp intake of breath.

Amethyst Star’s earplugs! He realized. Without even stopping to think about it, Periwinkle grasped the earplugs in his magic and strained his neck to look up at the stage, zeroing in on Daylight Gleam’s blank face while the Songstresses continued their melody. “Take them, Daylight!”

The earplugs blinked away in a flash of magic, finding themselves nestled right inside Daylight’s ears. Instantly the white unicorn felt changed, the fog from the Songstresses magic lifted, their control over her disappeared and she returned to normal as the earplugs broke the stream of magic from the crystals. She blinked and gasped in confusion at what had just happened. Why was she suddenly cognizant again? Her eyes shifted over to Amethyst as she sang, oblivious to the fact that Daylight was no longer under her control. Daylight Gleam’s eyes narrowed and she quickly charged up her horn with magic.

Amethyst and the Songstresses had just finished their final verse and she began cackling madly on top of the stage. The magical opera was over.

“Yes, yes, this is it!” The unicorn Songstress drowned in the delight of her accomplishments.

“No,” Daylight Gleam said as she pressed her horn against Amethyst’s crystal and activated her destructive spell.

“What?!” Amethyst looked in shock at the formerly brainwashed white unicorn who had suddenly appeared next to her. She had no more time to dwell on that through as the powerful magic tore through her command crystal, cracks and electricity running all over it as a powerful and piercing shriek came from the red crystal while it vibrated in pain. “No!”

It was the only thing she could yell as the crystal’s vibration reached a peak and it shattered into a million pieces of red dust that faded into the air like nothing. The other four Songstresses watched as their crystals began to crack and vibrate as well, before following suit and breaking into pieces along with Amethyst’s.

“My magic! My crystal! This can’t be! You, you-” Amethyst screamed as she looked down at where her crystal was supposed to be.

Daylight wound up a hoof and punched Amethyst straight in the face, sending the unicorn sprawling to the ground. “You’re finished.”

The other Songstresses weren’t fully aware of what had just happened but they weren’t about to let Daylight keep attacking their leader, they jumped on the unicorn and started brawling with her while Amethyst recovered on the floor of the stage… and while a great change in the audience and all the ponies of Diminuendo was occurring. Similar to how Daylight felt the magic evaporate from her the other ponies also all began to snap out of it now that the singing had stopped and the magical Siren crystals were destroyed.

“What happened?”

Periwinkle could hear one of the ponies on top of him say. They all started to get off of him, muttering in confusion and trying to figure out how they had gone from listening to the Songstresses concert to this. It was like their memories from the moment the singing had started were all muddled or just plain gone. This effect washed over the entire crowd, Gilded Shield, Tasky, and Brilliant Sky all noticed this and started to make their way to the stage as they were no longer being accosted by the guards and other ponies.

“Citizens? Could you please make way and allow me to get to the stage?” Periwinkle said as he slowly got up, body a bit sore.

“P-Prince?!” One of the mares said in shock as she saw him.

“Oh, right, I’ve been missing. I shall explain everything to you all soon, just please, help me get to the stage,” Periwinkle asked them.

The ponies quickly moved out of his way and he ran the short distance to the stage as fast as he could, hopping up on top of it to see Daylight in a tussle with the four other Songstresses while Amethyst cried despondently over her destroyed crystal off to the side. The guards that had been standing by were staring in befuddlement at what was going on, not sure if they should help the Royal Songstresses or try to figure out why they were in such a daze first.

“Guards!” Prince Periwinkle shouted, getting the attention of them and the six mares on the stage. “Arrest the Royal Songstresses immediately!”

They looked surprised to see him and just stared with open mouths at him for a second instead of moving.

“Well? What are you waiting for?” Periwinkle commanded.

“R-Right, sorry my Prince!” One of the guards said and motioned for the others to get the Songstresses. The rest of the guards that were on the stage came running over as well.

“Hey!” Opal screeched as she was grabbed off of Daylight Gleam. “Amethyst, help us!”

Amethyst quivered as the guards surrounded her. Formerly under her complete control, formerly just puppets on strings for her. “N-No, stop this, I command you!” It was pointless though. The magic was gone and the guards subdued her along with the others. “No! This isn’t right! You’re mine, listen to me!” She continued to wail, refusing to submit, refusing to admit that it was over. Refusing to accept the harsh truth that she had been stopped and failed yet again in her goals.

Amethyst Star meanwhile was in the crowd, shaking her head along with many other ponies as she came back to her senses. The unicorn from Equestria heard the commotion and looked up at the stage to see the Songstresses being taken down.

“All I remember is my earplugs falling out… looks like everything ended up going alright though. Did I have anything to do with that?” She wondered as she walked towards the stage.

While the Songstresses were rounded up, Periwinkle and Daylight Gleam checked to make sure each other was okay. Daylight pulled the earplugs out of her ears and smiled at the Prince.

“Well, thanks for that.”

“Just a bit of quick thinking on my part,” Periwinkle smiled and pulled out his own earplugs. “Glad we don’t have to deal with these uncomfortable things anymore.”

“Prince!” The old voice of Brilliant Sky yelled.

Periwinkle and Daylight both looked over at the voice to see Brilliant Sky, Gilded Shield, and Tasky running towards them from the side of the stage.

“Speaking of which...” Periwinkle grinned as he hugged the old wizard.

“You’re both okay?” Gilded Shield asked.

“I could ask the same of you three,” Daylight Gleam let out a short laugh.

The crowd of thousands saw them all up on stage now too, wondering what their formerly missing Prince was doing and why the Songstresses were being put under arrest. This was a very odd scene for all of them.

“I guess I should probably explain to everyone what happened?” Periwinkle sighed as he looked out over the crowd. “I’m very glad things are over though.”

“Will your voice carry? Maybe we should just announce an end to the concert and have the news spread tomorrow,” Brilliant Sky mused.

Periwinkle nodded. “I could… really use a good night’s sleep.”

“AAARGH! This isn’t fair!” The shout from Amethyst drew their attention. “I can’t, I refuse to go back to how things were! We were so close, Diminuendo was ours, Equestria was ours, the world was ours! I am not a failure!” She tried fighting the guards holding her, stepping on their hooves, biting at them when they got to close. “I am destined for great things! You’re all going to regret this!”

“Oh for the love of...” Daylight Gleam rolled her eyes and walked over to the frothing Songstress to help the guards, Gilded Shield walking with her.

“Tasky and I will go gather up the other guards,” Brilliant Sky told Periwinkle as he and Tasky walked away to leave the stage. “You just catch your breath.”

Periwinkle nodded, for once at least willing to let someone else do something. He closed his eyes and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm himself down and prepare for the inevitable mass confusion and problems that were surely going to arise out of this. At least Diminuendo was okay. At least things could quiet down now and the threat of the Songstresses was gone. Things could go back to normal now.

“Hey, Prince!”

His eyes snapped open and he looked to see Amethyst Star walking towards him, a happy smile on her face.

“Sorry about me kind of not following up on the plan, lost my earplugs. But it looks like the Songstresses were stopped? Awesome, I-”

*CRACK!*

The sharp sound whistled through the ears of all the ponies on stage, followed by several gasps from ponies in the crowd who had seen just what the Prince had done.

Daylight and the other insurrectionists looked to see the Prince facing Amethyst Star, his hoof raised in the air while Amethyst Star looked at him in plain shock, holding a hoof of her own up to her reddening cheek after Periwinkle slapped her. She didn’t have any words. The Prince just hit her. In full view of everybody. And if the angry look on his face was any clue, he didn’t seem to be stopping just there.

“You idiot! Do you have any idea what almost happened because of you?! Do you have any idea at all?!” He screamed in her face. “How could you be so stupid? The Songstresses almost succeeded because of you, do you understand that?!”

“I-I...” Amethyst Star shook, his painful words and the ferocity at which he spoke them breaking her down. She looked over at Daylight Gleam, who grimaced and turned away from her. She looked past Periwinkle at Brilliant Sky, who sadly frowned back.

They agreed with him.

They were thinking the same thing about her.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“Didn’t mean to?!” Periwinkle shouted. “Of course you didn’t, but that’s not good enough! It was so simple but you screwed it up and put us all in jeopardy. Were you thinking at all? Or were you still stupidly thinking about how this was just some quest or adventure for you? Did you forget things were serious? Did you forget how much danger we were all in or did you just think you could handle it anyways?”

Amethyst Star looked down in shame, she had no idea how many ponies in the audience were watching and listening to this as well, she didn’t want to know, she didn’t want to know how many were seeing her be humiliated like this. She tried to defend herself. “I was still trying to help...”

If anything that just made him angrier.

“Trying to help?! Well you shouldn’t! Because you’re an idiot! You’re out of your depth, you’re oblivious, you shouldn’t be out here looking for an adventure to go on if this is how you do it! You’re not meant for it and you should just go home!” Periwinkle was breathing heavily by the time he finished his rant, red in the face and a headache threatening to break out from behind his skull as he tore into Amethyst Star.

The pink and purple unicorn hiccuped and reached up to rub the tears from her eyes, looking around again to see if anyone would speak up for or defend her.

But there was no one.

“Look, I’m-” she paused. What could she say? Was he… right? Amethyst Star didn’t want to admit that. She had come so far out here to prove herself, she… did she deserve what he was saying to her? Amethyst Star glanced at the crowd now, seeing the faces of thousands of ponies.

Did she almost fail them all?

Did she almost let them all be brainwashed because of her mistakes and ineptitude?

Would… would that have been something that happened to Twilight, Starlight, Applejack, and all the other ponies she considered herself to be just as special and amazing as?

More tears dropped from her eyes to the ground as she did the only thing she could in this situation. “I’m sorry.”

She apologized one last time and ran. Ran off the stage and into the crowd, pushing her way past the ponies and just going and going, no idea where or in what direction she was traveling now. As long as it was away. Away from her latest and biggest failure. Away from the ponies angry and disappointed with her. But not away from her own thoughts and doubts. Those were impossible for Amethyst Star to run away from now. It could not be ignored anymore, she shouldn’t have been here and she wasn’t prepared for this.

Comments

[Alondro]

HA HA HA HA!! That's what you get, foolish little pony! You're no HUMAN WITH A DARTH VADER MASK!! You can't possibly do anything right! Only Displaced humans who randomly get dropped into Equestria have ALL THE POWERS and win at everything despite being idiots!!

(I still hate Displaced stories...)

[Mini-Joe]

Wait, is this where daylight goes immediately after the whole merlantis arc? I thought she would stick with Senax because they seem to be great friends, but maybe she needed to be here for some reason...

[MagicS]

11556808
Well I'm afraid I can't answer that question at the moment.

[RoboRed]

And this, I feel, is the turning point.

“Sorry about me kind of not following up on the plan, lost my earplugs. But it looks like the Songstresses were stopped? Awesome, I-”

*CRACK!*

Damn.