Rebirth of Magic: Find your Voice

by JimmyHook19

Tartarus Hath no Fury

I knew I had to keep going, and that the palace wasn't safe. I looked around, sensing all sorts of things going wrong. Alarms were blaring in the corridors, and doors were being opened and closed constantly by soldiers. I stopped in one corridor seeing a soldier coming the other way.

"Visual on the Princess!" he shouted.

Oh no.

I was about to turn and run, when suddenly a member of household staff sped past.

The soldier looked at him. "Royalist scum!" he shouted, and took off after them.

That was my chance. It was my time to go. I sped off down the corridor he had come from and listened carefully for any other audio clues as I galloped along.

I soon got my warning on that front. Doors were being opened, and guns were being fired into the rooms they sat before. The soldiers were shooting whomever happened to be inside the rooms!

I stopped, and then saw a way out. A window was there, and I headed towards it. As I reached it a voice shouted out.

"STOP RIGHT THERE! COME QUIETLY UNDER THE LAW AND NO HARM SHALL COME TO YOU!"

I looked at her. She looked at me. We seemed to hold still for what felt like hours. But I decided on the course of action then and there.

I reached back and flipped the window open, then jumped out of it, sliding down the rooftop towards the guttering. As I saw the end of the space flying towards me, I then had an idea. We pegasi might not have been able to fly, but we could glide- Zipp showed me how it worked when we were in her workshop. Speaking of Zipp, I intended to give her a piece of my mind when we next crossed paths.

I reached the edge, spread my wings, and jumped. I managed to catch some sort of wind as I flew along, and turned down and along the landscape along the side of the palace. I flew downwards, seeing a city in a state of chaos!

There were explosions all over the place, and gunfire could be heard all over the place! The land below didn't seem too safe to land, and as if I didn't have enough to think about somepony was shooting at me.

A chopper thundered past, several soldiers onboard. It seemed they didn't spot me, or else I'd have been mincemeat before long. I was now able to get my bearings, and suddenly spotted Misty running along. My eyes narrowed as I saw her. That mare had a lot to answer for.

Avoiding a roadblock, I touched down in a crash landing, rolling in a heap until I came to a very undignified stop. I untangled myself and tried to shift my mane out of my eyes. The dirt and muck could be dealt with later. I headed into a nearby pathway, and looked around.

Sure enough, there they were. And I heard Misty speaking. "The army's hunting the princesses."

I stepped forward, kicking a can to get their attention. I had hidden the crystal under my wing, and opened it to take it out, before stomping over to them. "Which one of you is going to explain to me why that damn piece of metal is so important you had to ruin my whole show over it!?" I grabbed my phone and showed it to the others. "The army's arrested her! I saw them beating her before I ran!"

Sunny looked at Izzy. "Wait, Zipp didn't tell Pipp the plan?"

"Was she meant to?" I heard Misty ask. So she was in on this as well? Just goes to show she had chronic backstabbing syndrome.

"Yes," Izzy said. "And that means we're one princess down. But at least we have one! Her mom's the queen. The one they arrested."

Hitch looked at me. "If Pipp's mom is the queen, that makes her a princess."

Well obviously, dodo brain! Before I could provide a longer form response, my phone suddenly buzzed, and I looked at it again. Dazzle, the morning news host from ZBS, was on a podium, addressing us. "And now, at the request of the New Government, General Gulfstream addresses the nation."

A pony in military uniform stepped forward and looked down at us. I was getting distinct dictator vibes from his clothing choices alone. And when he spoke, I realised he was the voice I had heard in the throne room!

"My fellow pegasi, you have all overseen the complete farce that befell our country tonight. The very foundations of our society, on which our glorious nation was founded, were shown to be nothing but lies, convenient props for a false leadership. The former Queen was exposed as a consulate threat to our future, a weak and pathetic leader. During her twenty five years on that throne, she transformed our nation from a feared global power to the laughing stock of inferior races. This cannot do."

So, he was an enormous bigot on top of being nuts? Plus ca Change. That's a shorthand for the more things change, the more they stay the same.

"Your former monarch, to whom you dedicated so much of your affection and time, is a traitor. She has agreed to confess to her crimes."

The camera turned to mom, who was looking awful! They'd beaten her! "Mom!"

Mom began to speak, coughing badly from what I suspected were internal injuries. "I, Queen Haven, of the House of Cornuequus, do hereby confess to crimes against the State. I conspired to defraud the Bank of Zephyr Heights, spied for foreign powers, committed High Treason, and the worst charge of all- I was a phoney pony full of baloney. I humbly apologise for wronging you all, and sincerely hope you can forgive me."

No way she made that confession of her own free will. Was somepony holding a gun to her head?

She suddenly looked back at the camera. "Pipp! Run! Save yourself!"

As she was attacked again, I tuned the rest of the broadcast out. Those were the same words she'd shouted to me in the throne room. But something troubled me. She'd only mentioned my name, not Zipp. And in the movie she says both their names. So that meant-

Those bastards had Zipp!

"He's turned himself into a dictator!" Izzy said, which brought me back to reality.

I looked at them, still struggling to process that any of this was actually happening. The new life I had been given by whatever this magic did was disintegrating before my very eyes. "We have to go back!" I yelled. "We can't just leave mom and Zipp with those pigs! Who knows what they'll do to them!"

"We can't!" Sunny said.

Oh, really? Who are you to decide what we do or don't do given you got us into this mess, huh? I walked over to her, and got my face as close to hers as I could, to the point I could see the hairs in her nostrils. "And why is that?"

Sunny calmly pushed my face back before she started speaking again. "Because if we do, then we might get killed and all of this will have been for nothing! We have to move on and get to Bridlewood!"

Izzy then spoke. "She is right, you know."

Oh, of course she'd take Sunny's side. It's not as if she's the reason everything's such a mess right now! If metaphor works, Sunny was like the bulldozer knocking our lives into pieces, and for what, exactly?

Before I could say anything, Izzy continued. "We can bring back magic, but we need the crystal. We get magic back, we save your folks. Deal?"

Looks like Izzy was filling Zipp's role here, but we still had the party of six with Misty on our side. Speaking of Misty, she spoke again. "Uh, guys? Soldiers over there! We can't go back!"

Running them into gunfire would have been tempting- but on the other hoof those crystals could allow us to reverse this mess. I glanced back, then forward. "Fine! I know a way out. Follow me."

We set off on our way into the wilderness of Equestria, beyond the shining city that was now turned into a place of utter madness. I led them along a path and down to the lowlands, with only the vaguest sense of where we were going.

Make no mistake, this was an alliance of convenience. Given how those ponies had messed things up, it was a miracle I hadn't strangled them then and there. In hindsight, it was a good thing I didn't, huh?

But as we pushed on into the terrain, we eventually stopped for the night, and I slept in a tent. A TENT! Only mules do that!

I listened in the night, my hooves shining in the light, and briefly heard screaming from Sunny's tent. No doubt a nightmare.

Well, she deserved it, I thought to myself. Punishment for messing everything up.

I know bitterness towards others isn't a good emotion to hold, but in the circumstances it was hard to see the positive side of anything. I was lost, alone, scared, out in the wilderness of an alien world.

And two ponies I loved were in danger. And there was nothing I could do.

Author's Note:

We now leave Zephyr Heights behind. :)

Comments

[Comickook]

Another well done job on the dialogue, characterizations and future chapter set-up. Really liked "Pipp" remembering that, even if "she" can't fly yet, "she" can still glide (which might serve as a clue for how "Zipp", "Haven" Thunder and Zoom could have survived the crash at the end of Phase Three of "Zipp's" story [or it might not]). As well as the fact that I can understand the frustration "Pipp" had concerning "Haven" and "Zipp" being in danger and the others not trying to help (though, to be fair, they ARE just five ponies against a massive number of heavily trained and well-armed military, so, yes, they DO have a better chance of helping by restoring magic). And, yes, "Pipp" noting the renegade military cutting off the gang before they COULD attempt a rescue anyway makes a lot of sense, as does only agreeing to the temporary alliance because it is needed for right now (though "she" warms back up to them later on, that's, well, for later on).

Anyway, really looking forward to more of this.

[JimmyHook19]

11801414
Indeed =3