Three Evil Rulers, Three Cold Hearts

by Matthais Unidostres

Chapter 7: Scramble for the Elements

Chapter 7: Scramble for the Elements

"Quit defending and fight, you coward!" Trixie shouted.

Twilight had put up a purple force field around herself, which blocked all of the energy blasts Trixie threw at her. This really did show some magical expertise on Twilight's part. Trixie was hurling some pretty powerful blasts, and yet Twilight's shield held up to them all without so much as a flicker. It was as if flies were trying to take down an iron wall.

"Trixie! You're a lot stronger! How?" Twilight said, slightly surprised at Trixie's light show.

Trixie stopped her onslaught and smiled, bowing elegantly, "Yes. The Great and Powerful Trixie had greatly impressed the mighty Princess Platinum. She gave The Great and Powerful Trixie access to some rare spell books that doubled, neigh, tripled the power of The Great and Powerful Trixie." Trixie then smiled wickedly as she scrapped the ground with her left-front hoof, "Powerful enough to obliterate you!"

Trixie then shot a huge energy beam from her horn, which crashed into Twilight shield.

"Alright! I've had enough!" Twilight said, and with a flick of her horn, she dispelled her shield, and sent a beam of her own at Trixie's, which caused it to vanish in purple smoke.

"What?!" Trixie gasped in shock, but then she shook off the shock and sent a ball of magic at her opponent.

Twilight zapped the ball of magic with her own magic, turning it into a ball of green slime, which then sprayed all over Trixie. The azure unicorn screeched in disgust as some of the foul sludge got into her nose and mouth. The rest of the mane six couldn't help but laugh at the amusing scene.

Trixie's eyes narrowed in hatred and rage as she produced a huge thundercloud, charged with lightning, and hurled that at Twilight. As the cloud hovered over Twilight, she merely closed her eyes and focused. A beam shot up from her horn and into the cloud, which caused it to break up and scatter across the room. Then, they all made a beeline for Trixie.

Trixie let out squeal of pain after squeal of pain as she desperately tried to dodge the miniature thunderclouds. One after another, they slammed into the unfortunate unicorn's rump, exploding with electricity on impact. The others felt that it was fun to no end, laughing excitedly each time one hit her.

Rainbow Dash fell onto her back, tears of laughter coming out of her eyes as she called out, "Oh, look at Trix! There's another one! Go on! Jump!"

ZAP!

"Whoops! Too high!" Applejack shouted.

ZAP!

"Whoops! Too low!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

ZAP!

"Whoops! Too in-between!" both of then shouted, then they bro-hoofed and went back to laughing.

Pinkie Pie hopped around excitedly, "Come on Trixie! Just a hop, skip, and a jump!"

ZAP!

"Aww, come on Trixie! You hopped when ya should a skipped! Do it right!"

Rarity momentarily composed herself and called out, "Oh, don't worry Trixie. A green coat and black rump look a lot better than, hmm, I don't know, maybe. . .GREEN HAIR!" Venom dripped in her voice as she yelled out vengefully.

After what seemed like hours, the last cloud finally collided with Trixie's rump. She fell down on the ground hard, exhausted from all of her dodging. She lay there, covered in green slime, and her flank blackened with shoot, partially covering her Cutie Mark.

Trixie slowly looked up at Twilight and panted, "Nothing. . .nothing works. . . against. . .against you. . .why?"

Twilight stomped her hoof and said, "Because I studied hard for years and years! I didn't just quickly learn some spells some evil pony gave me. Also, I have friends. Friends that will always support me. Friendship is magic, Trixie. The reason you can't beat me. . ." Twilight took a good look at the unicorn in front of her. She sighed sadly and concluded, "Because you're too proud, boastful, and egotistical to make any friends."

Trixie just blinked twice and looked up at Twilight.

"Twilight. . ." Trixie said.

"Yes?" Twilight replied kindly, wondering if there was still hope.

"Die."

Trixie somehow managed to reach deep inside her and come up with that last bit of energy that's found at the very limit of one's strength. She sent a powerful beam straight at Twilight's face, only to have it blocked at the last second by a beam from Twilight's horn.

"Augh! Don't you get it!" Twilight shouted, mostly in annoyance, "I've been holding back all this time!"

KABOOOOOOM!!!!

---

The mane six all looked down through the broken window, down at the magician and prince that lay unconscious. Twilight shot another spell, and both were secured to the ground by crystal shackles.

"That'll keep them there till this whole mess is over," Twilight said.

"Oh - my - gosh! That was-," Rainbow Dash began, but Twilight put up a hoof to silence her.

"No time for that, we have to stop this war!" she said, and she ran over to the vault door.

"Wait! Didn't Celestia say only she could open the door?" Applejack said nerviously.

"I'm sure Twilight can open it!"

Everypony turned to Fluttershy, who had not spoken at all during the battle, but stayed back in the corner. She shyed backwards at first, but then she swallowed hard and stepped forward, "Well, Twilight's the best at magic, and she was the Princess' student, so, I'm sure she could figure it out."

There was suddenly a purple glow of light that filled the room. Twilight had placed her horn into the key hole, and was focusing her magic into it. After a tense minute of concentration and strain, the six circular lights on the door lit up one by one. Twilight gasped as she was thrown back from the door. As she slowly got back up on her hooves, the door opened.

"Yay," Fluttershy cheered softly.

"Wait, they're still in there, right?" Applejack asked, still nervous.

Pinkie Pie noticed Applejack's nervousness and slight pessimism. She snorted and suddenly produced a glass of water. "Applejack, is this glass half-empty or half-full?" she asked.

Applejack blinked. "Half-empty, of course. What's that got to do with anything?"

"I rest my case," Pinkie said solemnly.

Twilight used her magic to take out the chest containing the Elements of Harmony. Everypony held their breath as Twilight slowly opened the chest.

Everyone breathed out in relief. The Elements were still there safe and sound.

Twilight smiled and said victoriously, "And now it's time to save Equestria!"

Whooooosh!

The celebration was interrupted by a brown blur that zoomed in through the open window, snatched the chest, and zoomed back out.

"GILDA!!!!"

Rainbow Dash shot off in hot pursuit.

---

"Commander Hurricane was right about them having 'Super Weapons,'" Gilda said to herself as she flew. She chanced a backwards glance, and saw Rainbow Dash hot on her tail.

"Pull over!" she shouted.

"Not in a million years, Rainbow Crash!" Gilda shouted back.

She then dived into some trees an began weaving in and out of them. Dash followed behind, expertly weaving through the trees as well. Both griffon and pegasus looped, dived, and flipped through the sky. However, Dash never seemed to get any closer to the griffon.

"Stop this madness, Gilda! Hurricane and the rest of them are gonna destroy Equestria! do you really want to be responsible for that?" Rainbow shouted angrily, frustrated with the griffon's stubbornness.

Gilda laughed and yelled back tauntingly, "Huh! Yeah right! When the Commander wins this war and kills those other two lame-os, I'm gonna enslave every lame pony in Ponyville! And then, I'll feed all five of your new pony friends to a hydra, or a dragon maybe. Of course I'll have to give Pinkie Pie a good scourging first!"

A fire erupted in Rainbow Dash' heart. It blazed intensely and quickly worked up into her eyes, heightening her red irises. "You do not hurt my friends!" she shouted.

Gilda took another backwards glance. She didn't see it at first, but then it soon became apparent. The cone of air that was forming around the pegasus' body. Dash's face was scrunched from both concentration and the wind blowing against her face. Dash pushed on, her winds going, her adrenaline pumping, the mach cone she was bushing against getting tighter and tighter.

Gilda's heart skipped a beat as she felt the air itself stretch from the fast moving pony behind her. She knew what was gonna happen next.

"Oh crud," she whispered.

BOOOOOOOM!!!!!

The rainbow colored shock-wave filled the sky as Rainbow Dash shot down and forward at a 30 degree angle. She made a direct hit with Gilda's back, and the two smashed down into the forest below them, sending a huge dust cloud up when they collided with the hard ground.

Luckily, during the chase, the two had gone in circles. Their landing place was actually in the vicinity of Canterlot, and with the dust cloud and Sonic Rainboom marking the spot, the rest of the mane six were able to find the landing area in no time.

Pinkie got to Dash first, tackling her in a hug, "Dashie, that was so super-duper-awesome-amazing! It was like swoosh, boom, bang, crash!"

Dash gently pushed Pinkie off of her, "Yeah, yeah. I know I'm awesome, but I"m kinda sore after that, so. . ."

Dash's eyes slowly made there way to where Gilda lay unconscious. Twilight wasted no time binding her in crystal shackles, and then teleported her to where they had left Trixie and Blueblood.

"She'll be okay, right?" Dash asked nervously.

Twilight shrugged, "I'm no doctor, but from what I could see from the way she got hit and was lying, as well as the way her spine was stretched a bit, she'll probably just wake up with a really, really, really badly wrenched back."

Dash sighed and looked down sadly, "Well, I guess she kinda asked for it-."

"The Elements? Where are they? What if they got thrown miles away or something?" Applejack said anxiously.

Pinkie groaned, "Oh come on Applejack. You've been misses Pessismister three times already! Lighten up!"

Dash pointed, "Relax guys, the chest landed right in those bushes when we crash landed."

The six ponies ran through the bushes, only to find a square of squashed grass from where the chest landed.

"Oh no!" Twilight shouted, and then sat down hard on her rump, "It's over! They're gone! We've failed!"

Applejack rolled her eyes, "Now who's being pessimistic! Come on girls, all we gotta do in follow those." Applejack then pointed to two sets of small hoof prints leading away from where the chest was.

---

The Canterlot train station was completely deserted. The only thing on the rails was an old hoof-cart. However, it was soon joined by another hoof-cart that was slowly making its way up the track. This hoof-cart was being run by blank flanked three fillies.

As the cart came to a stop in the station, Scootaloo suddenly yelled out, "Hey! Sweetie Belle didn't do any pumping at all!"

Sweetie Belle jumped up angrily and said, "Well it was my idea to sneak off and help them! I even came up with the perfect distraction: setting loose all the pigs!"

Applebloom moaned and face-hoofed, "Applejack and Big Mac are gonna kill me!"

The three fillies jumped onto the station. Sweetie Belle trotted forward and said, "Look girls, all that matters is that we're here, and we've gotta do our best to help save Equest-."

Sweetie Belle was cut short when two other fillies ran into her, knocking her flat. A medium sized chest that they were carrying landed hard onto the wooden landing.

"You two?!" Scootaloo shouted angrily.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon got up and dusted themselves off.

"What are you Blank Flanks doing here?" Diamond Tiara asked angrily, disgust in her voice and her face.

"The horseshoe is on the other hoof!" Scootaloo shouted back defiantly.

"Well it's none of your business what we're doing-," Diamond Tiara shouted back, but Silver Spoon interrupted her.

"Hey, get away from there!" she shouted at Applebloom.

Too late, Applebloom had already opened the chest. She gasped, "These are the Elements of Harmony!" Applebloom slammed the chest shut and glared at the two bullies, "You stole them!"

Diamond Tiara made slow motions with her hooves to indicate that she wanted Applebloom to calm down. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Relax girl. Just listen."

"No way!" Scootaloo shouted.

"I wasn't talking to you, Chicken Little!" Tiara shouted.

Applebloom opened her mouth to defend her friend, but then Tiara asked, "Do you know what will happen if the good-goody gang uses the Elements of Harmony?"

"Those three creeps will all loose and everything goes back to normal," Applebloom said.

Tiara smiled wickedly and nodded, "Yes, back to normal. That means back to suffering for the Apple Family."

"Wha-?" Applebloom gasped.

"All those bills, the expenses, the financial problems, always in the red, how sad," Tiara continued, her wicked grin suddenly becoming sad, almost compassionate, "I'll bet one bad year could destroy Sweet Apple Acres."

"No, no, you're making all this up!" Applebloom shouted indignantly.

"My dad's a business pony, Applebloom. He's always doing business with Sweet Apple Acres. He talks about the Apple Family's financial problems, and I overhear," Tiara said calmly, her face still sad, "Think of what Puddinghead's victory could do for your family."

"Providing that she even wi- oof!" Silver Spoon's mumbling was silenced by a buck in the stomach by Diamond Tiara.

"When Chancellor Puddinghead wins, Earth Ponies will run this world," Tiara said, her smirk growing again, "Hardworking business ponies like my dad, and strong farmers like your family will be on top Applebloom. Earth Ponies like them, like us, will be the main suppliers of all the food and products Equestria, ahem, Earth needs. We'll have all the money and resources will need. The world will be our oyster, its pearl ripe for the picking. Industry and farming will rule!" Tiara reared up on her hind legs and shouted, "The hammer and the sickle, Applebloom! The hammer and the sickle! That's Chancellor Puddinghead's sweet, beautiful Communist Manifesto! The other's will suffer, but we will thrive!"

"Don't listen to her, Applebloom!" Sweetie Belle called out.

"Oh yes she will!" Tiara replied, "She has to! Think of all of it. Finally get that new plow! Finally fix that roof!" Tiara lowered her voice and spoke in a very serious tone, "Finally fix your granny's hip."

Applebloom's eyes lit up.

"Give me the Elements," Tiara said simply, still acting very seriously.

"No! It's a trick! Applebloom!" Scootaloo shouted.

Applebloom looked at her friends, then at Diamond Tiara, and then at the chest in her hooves.

She sighed, and she said, "I'm sorry girls..."

"NO!" Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo shouted as Applebloom quickly scampered in front of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

Diamond Tiara smiled wickedly, "YES! Now, let's get these to Chancellor Puddinghead!"

"You'll have to get past us first!" Scootaloo shouted back.

Applebloom narrowed her eyes and said, "Don't worry, Ah'll take 'em!"

The only one who didn't gasp in shock was Diamond Tiara.

"You're gonna fight your frie- oof!" Silver Spoon started, only to get bucked in the stomach a second time by Diamond Tiara.

"Applebloom. . ." Sweetie Belle said softly, a tear falling from one eye.

"Ah'm sorry girls, but Ah have to do it. . .for mah family," Applebloom said solemnly. Diamond Tiara's evil grin grew even wider.

"Alright! Fine! Bring it on, traitor!" Scootaloo growled angrily.

Applebloom nodded and said, "Yes, but first, ah've got one thing to say." Applebloom turned around and met Diamond Tiara's gaze, "Diamond Tiara. . ."

Tiara blinked in confusion as Applebloom suddenly reared up on her hind legs with the chest.

"Happy landings!" Applebloom shouted, and she slammed the chest onto the wooden floor with all her might. The heavy chest forced one end of one of the boards down, causing the other end to shoot up like a see-saw. Diamond Tiara was standing right on top of the other end, and was catapulted straight up into the air. The filly screamed in fear as she went up a few feet into the air, and then landed on the hard wooden hoof-cart, headfirst. The filly's body shuddered a bit, and then rolled onto the track, knocked completely unconscious, with a lump already forming on her head. Her expensive namesake lay in pieces, crushed between the hard wood and her hard head.

"Wow. . . just. . .wow. . ." Scootaloo gasped in shock.

Sweetie Belle ran up to Applebloom and gave her a hug, "I knew it! I knew you would never betray us!"

Applebloom smiled and said, "Of course not! I would never betray you or Equestria!"

The fillies bumped hooves and shouted, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, EQUESTRIA SAVERS! YAY!"

Suddenly, the mane cast charged into the scene.

"What in tarnation are you girls doing here!" Applejack shouted angrily.

Applebloom held up the chest proudly, "It's okay everypony! We got the Elements of Harmony back for you!"

Scootaloo pointed to Silver Spoon and the unconscious Diamond Tiara, "It was them, they stole them!"

Rarity placed a hoof over her mouth in shock when she saw Diamond Tiara, "Oh my goodness! What did you do! What did you do?"

Sweetie Belle waved her hooves frantically, "Wait! It's not what you think. Applebloom didn't mean to, it was just, there was loose floor board, and it went up, and Tiara went up, and she, well. . ."

Fluttershy quickly flew over to Sweetie Belle and placed a hoof on her shoulder, "It's okay, We know none of you would wan to hurt anypony on purpose."

Applejack eyed Applebloom seriously, "Right, Applebloom."

Applebloom nodded, "Oh, sure big sis. Ah just wanted to scare her off, buy some time, ya know. Ah just. . ." Applebloom suddenly stopped and looked back at Diamond Tiara. Her eyes widened, "Oh gosh, did ah. . .but. . .how did ah. . ." Applebloom began shaking violently, and suddenly fell to her knees.

"Applebloom! You okay! Speak ta me!" Applejack said frantically, hugging her little sister close.

"Oh dear, it must be the shock of it all, finally catching up to her," Rarity said compassionately, now fully composed herself.

Twilight walked over to Diamond Tiara. "Well, it looks like the entire Rich family were conspirators for Puddinghead in all this. . ." She then placed crystal shackled around her, and sent her to the growing pile of traitors that was building up in the Canterlot Sculpture Gardens.

Twilight then turned to Silver Spoon, who had been frozen in fear during all this. Silver Spoon let out a small cry of fear and fell down, begging and groveling at Twilight's hooves.

"No, no, no! Please! Don't hurt me! Don't arrest me! Don't send me into a dungeon! Diamond Tiara made me do all that bad stuff. She kept bucking me! Ask them, they'll tell you! She threatening me into going along with her. I'm not really with her. Just trust me, please! Spare me! Look, I can help you. I know where the battle's gonna happen! It'll be in Saddle Plain! Trust me! Please!"

Twilight just looked at the groveling filly below her. She sighed, and turned to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. "Girls, this is very important. You must take Applebloom an Silver Spoon back to Sweet Apple Acres and stay there. No matter what, you understand?"

"Listen to Twilight, Sweetie," Rarity said, stepping up to her sister to give her a warm hug, "This is dangerous, and I don't want you to put yourself in any more danger."

Rainbow Dash smiled as she ran her hoof roughly through Scootaloo's hair, "Yeah, you better leave this to the professionals, squirt!"

The fillies nodded. Twilight's serious tone had sunk in.

---

Soon, the four fillies were on the hoof cart, and Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were ready to pump. Silver Spoon kept taking deep breaths, and Applebloom was doing her best to compose herself.

Applejack went up to her sister and said, "Listen here, ah know it's never a nice feeling to get into a fight, but when you're a fightin' for what's right, then that's a time to feel mighty proud. You understand, sugarcube?"

Applebloom let her sister's words sink in, and then she nodded.

Applejack smiled and said, "Good, stay safe now."

And with that, the hoof-cart was off.

"Now I gotta pump all the way back too?" Scootaloo grumbled.

"Well, at least I'm pumping too this time!" Sweetie Belle replied.

"This is still so. . . so. . .so. . ."

"Strenuous?"

"What are you, a dictionary?"

Applebloom moaned, "Aw come on girls! Can't you save it until we get home?"

As the four fillies disappeared into the distance, Applejack turned to Twilight. "Well, what happens now sugarcube?"

Twilight turned dramatically to the west, where the paralyzed sun now cast eerie shadows. Her horn flashed, and the Elements of Harmony all flew onto their owners. "You heard her," she said, "We go to Saddle Plain. And we fight the final battle for Equestria!"

Comments

[Nox Knock Jokes]

Wow. One more chapter and this all ends. That seems kinda short.