[Redacted]

by McPoodle

Chapter V4: Anger

 

[Redacted]

- Chapter V4: Anger -

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Yesterday

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“What do you want?” the doorman asked Vinyl Scratch.

“Pony Joe sent me,” she said, and was admitted inside.

Vinyl had picked up the pass-phrase thanks to her oversensitive ears. She had found the door by overhearing and then following Double Echo to this spot.

Double Echo in turn was the sound effects pony for Oars in Wells.

Inside the small dilapidated theater she encountered a close group composed almost exclusively of stallions. Vinyl circulated around to get a feel for the place (and to confirm that Pony Joe was definitely not in the building), and then found a spot right next to the stairs leading up to the theater’s stage. She didn’t feel safe in this building, and she had heard a door closing only a few steps backstage in this direction.

“Gentleponies,” Prince Constant said as he emerged from behind the curtains and onto the stage. “I trust you’ve all heard by now of the events in the Senate from last night?”

The angry grumbling in the room made that abundantly clear.

“Citizens of Canterlot,” the Prince told the crowd, “I share in your outrage. Before I learned the truth, I was fooled into thinking that the dragons were an empty threat, but now my eyes have been opened! And what of the source of this deception, our ‘fair princess’? Just what sort of ponies does Celestia think we are? Does she think we would faint at hearing what the Emperor had planned for us? Does she think we would be cowardly enough to try to surrender Luna to him? Well, are we?”

“NO!” the crowd shouted.

“That is not the voice of cowards!” the Prince told them. “That is the full-throated voice of true warrior-citizens! Do you remember the traditions, my friends? Do you remember what it was like when stallions ruled Canterlot, when this city was the capital of a mighty kingdom? No king of Canterlot ever backed down from a righteous fight! No king of Canterlot would lie to his brave subjects! Do we want more of the Princess’ lies?”

“NO!” the crowd shouted once more.

“Under kings, Canterlot stood atop the world. Under kings, Canterlot was respected and produced artists the likes of which the world has never known! What have we gotten under the rule of the Princess? Friendship.” He spat this last word out like it was poisonous to him. “Canterlot under kings created the greatest masterpieces of art and science. Canterlot under Celestia has invented...the cuckoo clock. Let Celestia remember who she is: the goddess of the sun. We are thankful for that, but that is all she is. For six thousand years, that is all she was, while Canterlot ruled supreme!

“You remember, of course, how Celestia became our ruler: Because we felt sorry for her! Our ancestors saw how she grieved at the banishment of Luna, and we gave away our sovereignty so she’d have something to do, something to distract her from her sorrows. Well look around you: can’t you realize that that was a mistake? She has taken our power, and made us into milksops! Well no more. NO MORE!”

“NO MORE!” echoed the crowd.

“It is time for Celestia to step down. It is time for her to become merely the goddess of the sun once more. And if we tell her this, she has no choice but to step down. She would have no choice but to respect our wishes!”

One of the ponies in the crowd stepped forward. “We will demand the restoration of the Kingdom of Canterlot! Who will be our king?”

“KING CONSTANT! KING CONSTANT!” demanded the crowd.

The outside door of the theater suddenly burst in, letting in a stream of ponies. “Treason! Treason!” they shouted, and started to assault the crowd.

“The Royal Guard!”

In Vinyl Scratch’s experience, all Royal Guards carried the faint smell of a rather unique bleaching chemical on their coats. These ponies completely lacked that scent.

Taking the ruckus as her cue to leave, Vinyl quickly made her way up the steps and out the side door. Hearing somepony about to follow her outside, she climbed up and into an empty dumpster.

Two ponies emerged from the side door. One of them turned and locked the door they had just used.

“That went...rather well, don’t you think?” The voice had begun as the audience member who prompted the crowd to nominate Constant as their monarch, but midway through it transformed into the voice of Oars in Wells with the faint “pop” of a disguise spell being broken.

“I must compliment you on your performance,” Prince Constant told him.

“Oh that? Riddled with flaws. You should have heard me in Hearts in the Clouds! It’s the sad truth that I started at the top in the acting business, and have been working my way down ever since.”

“What about those so-called ‘guards’?” Prince Constant asked. “Are you sure they will fall to that rabble? I saw an awful lot of them.”

“Don’t you worry about those ponies’ worthlessness in a fight,” Wells assured the prince. “Beating the royal guard will be just the thing to cement their loyalty to you.”

“So I have myself an army now. What about the Princesses? You don’t actually believe that nonsense about them standing aside and letting me take over?”

“I have that well in hoof, my future sovereign. Even now the Etheric advances my plan.”

Vinyl tuned into the Etheric, and was surprised to hear the voice of Oars in Wells. “The existence of these strange flying machines can no longer be denied! I humbly request that the Princess herself investigate this matter, before one of these ships decides to do something more than just observe us.” It appeared that Wells had invented a means of recording Etheric broadcasts, and then kept that invention to himself.

“You make a very good point,” Princess Celestia replied Etherically. “Citizens of Canterlot, I intend to lead an expedition to the Everfree Forest, which my student Twilight Sparkle has just discovered is the resting place of this mysterious flying object. I will be bringing Twilight and her friends along on this expedition, and I extend my hoof in invitation to Oars in Wells, who has been so diligent in collecting information on this craft and bringing it to my attention. We will be leaving by dirigible in one hour.”

With her level of magic, the Princess was probably making her reply directly from the palace instead of visiting the station. Nevertheless, Vinyl heard the producer pony make a mad dash for the station as soon as he recognized her voice.

---

Vinyl Scratch needed to make a report. She had certain evidence of a plot against the Princess, the raising of a private army, the mystery of what happened to the Perturbs, and finally, there was the matter of poor Pony Joe’s good name. He had refused to give a donut discount to Oars in Wells, and now it appeared that the producer was getting his revenge by associating the loyal baker with a conspiracy of which he was completely ignorant. For some reason, this was the charge that outraged Vinyl the most.

Vinyl raced through the streets of Canterlot until she arrived at DJ AJ4X’s place of business. The door was unlocked, but the building was empty. She went to the desk and used her trailer key to unlock it. Behind the false back of the second drawer she found a piece of paper. The words had been deliberately written with a heavy hoof, allowing her to read the message by brushing the back of the paper against her lip.

“I am on an urgent mission for the Princesses,” the message read. “Do not try to find me.” This was followed by details of the five parties she was expected to host by herself that night.

Vinyl sighed in frustration, then burned the message to ashes with her magic, reset the desk, and made her way to the palace. Along the way, she wondered how far up Prince Constant’s conspiracy went. Who could she trust in the palace with what she knew?

There was a huge crowd gathered in front of the palace.

“Please step aside,” she insisted as she tried in vain to make her way through the crowd. “I need to warn the Princess!”

“So do I!” raved the pony beside her. “An army of angry cucumbers is hiding in the dirigible’s basket!” Her voice was being amplified somehow.

“The UFO is beaming farm reports into our brains!” another mad pony declared, with the same magnifying effect. “Tin foil is your only defense!”

Vinyl could faintly make out the sounds of the Princess and her party boarding the dirigible right in front of the palace.

“Princess Celestia! Twilight Sparkle! Pinkie Pie! You are all in terrible danger!” Vinyl shouted, trying desperately to be heard above the crowd of lunatics surrounding her.

“Nightmare Moon has returned, and she’s living in my box of Puffy Wuffies!” bellowed a member of the crowd, easily drowning Vinyl’s voice out.

“Farewell, My Little Ponies!” the Princess said, as the airship took off.

“Slumber party!” a pony declared, unrolling a sleeping bag.

The rest of the crowd unrolled theirs as well.

“John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt! That name is my name, too!”

The entire crowd of over a hundred ponies started singing. They couldn’t stay in the same key to save their lives.

Vinyl turned in despair and walked away.

“And a good evening to you, Miss,” Double Echo muttered to herself as she continued to operate the audio equipment that ensured that nopony would be able to stop the departure of the dirigible.

---

Vinyl arrived back at her trailer a half hour later. She hoped she would have enough time to come up with a viable way to get a message to somepony trustworthy at the palace.

“Welcome home, Miss Scratch,” a voice ominously welcomed her as soon as she had shut the door.

“Waking Terror!” she replied in shock, which soon turned to relief. “Princess Celestia is in terrible danger--you’ve got to warn her!”

Waking Terror was a spirit, similar in nature to Nightmare Moon, who had been assigned the job of corrupting Princess Celestia. She had betrayed her sinister master by siding with the ponies, and for this was rewarded with the body of a young dragon created for her by Celestia, since she could not exist in this dimension without a body of some kind.

“About Oars in Wells?” the disguised entity asked calmly.

“You know?” she said, sitting down in amazement.

“Well, we had our suspicions.”

“And you allowed this to go forward?”

“My dear Vinyl,” Miss Terror assured her, “this is how a magical war is fought.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Shall I tell you?” Miss Terror asked eagerly. “The truth is a rather ugly thing in this case, far, far worse than any raving of the mad Prince Steadfast.”

“I can handle it,” she told him with a steely voice.

“You know what? I believe you. Out of all the ponies I have met, you appear to have an almost endless appetite for absorbing misery while retaining your sanity. Alright, this is what happened...”

---

Vinyl Scratch woke up. She was on the floor, curled tightly into a ball, and sucking on the edge of one hoof.

“I had to erase your memory again,” Waking Terror calmly told her. “This is the third time now. Are you sure you want to hear this?”

Vinyl stood up and faced her. “Yes.”

Miss Terror sighed. “Well, you have been lasting longer and longer before your inevitable collapse. Maybe you’re building up a resistance.”

“Just tell me.”

“Very well,” the false dragon said, and then began her explanation:

Emperor Vasilyevich is the most-powerful being on the planet. His power dwarfs that of Celestia and Luna combined. This is because he is in possession of the source of all magic in Equestria.

In a forgotten castle deep in dragon territory, there lies a portal to Faerie, the realm of magic. All the power that Celestia and Luna possess, they derived from that portal, seven thousand years ago. One day a few hundred years ago, a tiny dragon named Vasilyevich stumbled upon this castle. He had been exiled by his fellow dragons for daring to question the official dragon opinion that the Battle of Pelican Fields had been good for dragonkind. He found a boarded-up spot in the basement, and he passed through the pillar of fire that dissolved his very being and transported his spirit into Faerie.

There he encountered the ruler of Faerie and my former master, the Great Will, and utterly destroyed it, making himself the ruler of the realm. Infused with immense power, Vasilyevich took over the mind of Prince Steadfast and used him to free himself, forming a new body. With the ability to take over any dragon mind, and nearly any pony mind, he rapidly conquered Draconia, and set his sights on Equestria.

By the rules of magical warfare, only one mage from each side are allowed to fight each other. The use of armies is strictly forbidden, except in the unlikely case that the mages manage to wipe each other out. The princesses have agreed that Celestia would be their champion, while Luna would command the armies. So far, Emperor Vasilyevich has attempted to defeat Princess Celestia three times, using the tricks that the Great Will planned to use against her, and thanks to my counsel, has failed miserably all three times. Celestia has in turn attempted to defeat Vasilyevich four times using her magic, and has unfortunately not yet succeeded. Those attacks were within the first few days of the war. Since then, the Emperor has not attacked, and the Princess has been unable to find the Emperor.

He is clearly playing a waiting game. He knows if he waits long enough that the ponies themselves will tear Equestria apart for him.

“Now that’s taking your cynicism too far!” Vinyl interrupted.

“Oh, is it now?” Miss Terror replied archly. “Tell me, Morale Officer Scratch, how has the morale of the capital been faring over the past two days? Even as we speak, your fellow DJ is trying...and failing, to stop an anti-Celestia riot in the marketplace, sparked by the ‘Lunar Republic’ propaganda of the past few nights. If he does not succeed, Professor Stein will be forced to call in the Royal Guard, which will only serve to make things worse in the long term.”

“The ponies are being provoked. Controlled. This is not what they are like.”

“Ah, but this is what they are like. Miss Scratch, you have the unique privilege of seeing Celestia’s little ponies as they truly are. For seven thousand years the Princess has been using her magic to tame you, but under the strain of searching for both her enemy and her lost sister, she has allowed that spell to fail. The Princess likes to talk about the world she will leave behind when she finally departs this plane of existence. Well, you’re witnessing it right now.”

“You lie! We can get through this!” Vinyl insisted.

“The alicorns created the ponies in their image. But the alicorns themselves are created beings. The Ancients created them for one purpose, and one purpose alone: as beasts of war. To carry their masters upon their backs, and to kill each other at the whim of those masters. Why else do you wear bridles and saddles, but to be ridden? That is how Stalliongrad was taken: the ponies were subjected to so many nightmares that they gladly surrendered themselves into the Dragon Army to escape! That’s why all of the pony army but the most-powerful unicorns are stuck in a training camp on the opposite end of Equestria from the front, because otherwise they’d be fighting against Equestria instead of for it! Face it, Vinyl, feeling fear and inflicting terror are the only two things every pony can do well. Every other aspect of alicorn and pony society is a sham!”

“No!” Vinyl replied with a steely voice. “That is what the Great Will believed of us, but that is not the truth. We have the power to transcend our origin, to become anything we want to be. Our cutie marks are the visible sign of this.”

Miss Terror said nothing for several moments, and then barked out a harsh laugh. “You actually made it through the entire explanation this time. Congratulations.

“Celestia and I suspect that the Emperor is using Oars in Wells as his last attempt to strike at her, and so she has deliberately stepped into his trap. But at the same time, he is alone on a dirigible with no allies. Wells alone is no threat, so wherever he is, Vasilyevich himself must be close by. In fact, he’s probably in Canterlot this very moment. I will keep you informed of any further developments. Now I believe you have a party or four to host.”

A second later, Vinyl Scratch was alone in her trailer. Waking Terror was after all the inventor of the teleportation spell, and was therefore justifiably fond of using it to make her entrances and exits.

The parties that night were, if possible, even more intense than the previous night. After the misogynistic rally of earlier that day, Vinyl was acutely aware of the fact that these parties were exclusively populated by mares but not stallions. They numbered politicians, businessponies, the movers and shakers of Equestria, now literally moving and shaking themselves on the dance floor.

Vinyl put on the song “Boogie Wonderland” by The Three Elements. The song was nearly as old as she was, and one of her “go-to” tunes to get a particular mood out of her guests. And yet this was the first time in her life that she actually bothered to pay attention to the verse:

Midnight creeps so slowly into hearts of mares who need more than they get
Daylight deals a bad hand to a stallion who has laid too many bets
The mirror stares you in the face and says, “Filly, uh, uh, it don't work”
You say your prayers though you don’t care; you dance and shake the hurt.

---

In her imagination, the dancers on the floor before her transformed into the fleeing ponies of her nightmares, but these ponies were running towards their destiny instead of away from their torments. Bridles and saddles materialized in their mouths and on their backs, and bestriding each saddle and gripping the reins were tall insubstantial dragons, ready to over-ride them to do anything their master wanted of them. The song had become a march, and Vinyl’s fans had become an army of death.

---

Today

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Vinyl swiftly brought down a hoof and smashed the record, breaking the spell.

At that moment, the clock struck midnight.

---

The next morning, the sun failed to rise.