Stone Roses
Carried by their determination, the three ponies galloped so fast through the woods that Spike had to be carried magically by Rarity to keep up. At their head was Applejack, trudging on without even bothering to check if she was on the right track like the others. She knew where she was going. She wasn’t going to mess this one up this time.
Above them, Rainbow Dash had taken a head start to scan the woods from overhead, and was now returning to the group.
“I found her! This way!” she cried out. She flew back the way she came, followed by the rest of her party.
Having left from one clearing, they eventually arrived at another. This one was larger in size, and didn’t feel as cramped. Still, what the ponies found there made them twice as anxious as they had felt back there.
In the middle, perched on a lone tree stump and hunched over like a thinker, Discord was eyeing them with a sly grin, under a pair of golden eyes glowing with something not too different from a rage spell.
“Welcome,” he said. “We’re having a little tea party.”
Ponyville Paintball
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Chapter XII
It was a nasty day to be out. Rain poured hard and straight under a grey sky laden with heavy clouds, and the force of the storm was definitely not helping the young filly with her balance.
Her grey pelt could have easily made her blend with the foggy weather and disappear from sight. However, she wanted to be seen, in case she needed help. Stretching her arms out horizontally, and sticking her tongue out in concentration, the filly took another prudent step forward.
Her hoof met with the ground and slipped on the wet grass. In a pang of fear, she flailed about with her arms, but eventually fell backwards on her little rump. For a second she said nothing, and then burst in loud wailing on the ground.
At the sound of her cries, a pink mare from the Royal Canterlot Orphanage, who had been standing nearby in case something like this happened, rushed to the the filly’s side.
“Oh dear, Ditzy,” she said, cradling the young pegasus in her hooves. “Did you fall again?”
The pegasus cried even harder, now more from shame than from the pain of falling. “I can’t do iiiiit!” she wailed.
“I told you we could do this another day! It’s pouring cats and dogs today, wouldn’t you rather wait until Summer?”
“No!” yelled Derpy, her voice cracking a bit in anger. “I’ve got to learn how to walk, now! I’ve got to! How am I supposed to be a normal pony if I can’t even walk?!”
The pink mare tightened her embrace around the foal. “Come now, dearie,” she said soothingly, while Derpy hiccuped and sobbed under the rain. “It’s not so bad. You’re an excellent flyer! In all my years at the orphanage I don’t think I’ve ever seen a young pegasus learn flight so fast!”
“But I can’t walk normally!” said Derpy, choking on her damp words. “All the other foals can run around and play, and I can’t even see straight in front of my hooves!” She punched the ground angrily, while the pink mare tightened her grasp just a little to avoid having the little filly start thrashing about. “It’s not fair!!”
The pink mare nodded. “Nopony ever said it would be,” she said softly, making Derpy sob again. “Some things are just harder to bear for no reason.” She released her grasp on Derpy and, placing two hooves on her shoulders, stared straight into her lopsided golden eyes.
“But when you know you have a flaw, you have to remember nopony else has it. And you have to turn it into a good thing. Something that’s yours, and that nopony else can have. Do you understand?”
Derpy nodded cautiously, and the pink mare hugged her once more.
“You are a normal pony, Ditzy Doo,” she said. “And you’re a very strong little filly, too. Don’t let anypony make you ever doubt that.”
The two ponies said nothing, leaving the patter of the rain to fill the air with sound.
“Come on, now. Let’s get you up and out of the rain.”
She was awoken by gentle touch on her snout. At first she was not fully conscious; just enough to feel it. Then came another. And another, sooner this time. Eventually she was pulled out of her slumber by a rapid succession of droplets of rain on her body.
Her eyes slowly opened, and she began to register her surroundings. She was now staring at the blank grey sky. The world around her was silent, but for the sound of rain playing in a distant background. The air smelled fresh and pure around her. Under the drizzle, she let the drops fall and slide off her coat and her open eyes.
She’d had that dream again.
A painful memory, but one that had shaped her. It would often resurface from the past to her in times where she felt she needed to prove herself. That was when Derpy knew she had to live up to the creed she had made for herself.
Although it had always been there, it was only now she noticed the massive outcropping of moss-covered rock standing tall above her and cutting into her field of vision. In a moment she was reminded of what had just happened. She remembered a shout… Twilight's shout. And a flash of green that had knocked her out cold. She had fallen, the world around her going dark…
She blinked once, and tried to stand up. It was painful, and she felt a rib jab her painfully in the side. She groaned, her voice ringing strangely in her head as though she had not heard it for years. It hurt, but at least she was alive.
She looked around. Apparently, she had fallen on a bush below. She looked at it with an air of bewilderment. There were sharp twigs sticking out, and seeing them she registered that she had bruises and scratches on her back and rump from falling on them, but not one of them had actually stabbed her despite the apparent likeliness that it would happen. The bush had safely cushioned her fall, and all she had to do was to take a step on the side to be back safely on the ground.
Although still numb and drowsy, she felt relieved. She couldn’t believe her luck. But the feeling was short-lived, as that of fear kicked in late from the events she had just remembered.
Twilight was in danger. More than that, everypony was in danger. All this time she’d been chasing the wrong enemy, and if she didn’t act now, the situation would be irreparable. She shook herself mentally to be fully awake; time to grab her sniper and--
My gun! Suddenly, panic shot through her in a jolt. Derpy looked around frantically, but it was nowhere to be found. Rushing over to the bush she had fallen on, she pushed it aside. Her muffin-adorned satchel was there, but the sniper was not. The pegasus was starting to hear the sound of her own heartbeat pulsating in her ears harder than the rain.
“It’s here.”
Derpy’s panting breath was cut as she spun around with a visibly scared look in her eyes. But the fear was quickly replaced by surprise, as she witnessed none other than Princess Luna standing just behind her, looking solemn. Next to her, the sniper was floating, shrouded in the princess’s cloud of magic.
Derpy frowned, still looking a little surprised from the unexpected appearance. Cautiously, she put a hoof forward, motioning Luna towards her.
“Give it to me,” she said in a slightly lower tone than her usual low-key mare voice.
Luna slowly flew the gun over to her using her magic. As soon as Derpy had in her grasp, she snatched it towards her and in an incredibly swift motion, spun the barrel straight towards Luna, all while charging the weapon.
“Stay right where you are!” Derpy snapped. While she would usually sound more poised, she was still a little shaken up from the recent events, and not ready to trust lightly.
Luna did not blink. She expected no less from the silent protector of Equestria.
“Were I a Changeling, I would have surely killed you sooner,” said the princess calmly. “I can assure you, I’m the real Luna.”
Still panting, Derpy kept a steady stance while staring as straight as she could in Luna’s eyes.
“What does Celestia call you when you pout?”
Luna slowly closed her eyes and sighed loudly. She had thought that the mare might use that particular test. Any dark and past events aside, admitting that she was the younger princess of Equestria always struck a nerve.
“... Anything exc--” She heard the familiar click of Derpy’s gun and frowned. “Alright, alright! She calls me her liddle Woona!”
Derpy stared at the princess for a couple of seconds more before she was satisfied with her genuine discomfort. It was something only the three of them knew with Celestia, when the princesses had begun taking Derpy under their wing and spending time together. She then lowered her sniper and began reloading it.
“That’s for taking my gun,” she muttered, a ghost of a smirk on her face.
“I had to make sure nopony passing by would steal it from you,” replied Luna. “The woods aren’t safe anymore…”
Derpy wanted to reply that they never really were, but she instead simply nodded. “Yeah… I heard you from up there,” she said, before adding “How long was I out?”
“I’m not quite sure, I only found you just now…” replied Luna, a little embarrassed. “But when I announced there were Changelings in the woods, it was maybe half an hour ago.”
Derpy swore under her breath while she put the turn-down bolt of her gun back in place with a sharp noise. “Then we gotta hurry,” she said, as she put a forehoof through the leather handle and looked at Luna with concern. “Twilight is in serious danger.”
Luna nodded. “Yes, I had a meeting with the other element bearers. They left to rescue Fluttershy, who is under the spell of Discord, while Twilight Sparkle remains missing. I’ve been searching for her myself.”
“She was with me,” said Derpy. Luna raised an eyebrow in surprise at that statement.
“All this time?”
Derpy winced. “Yeah, not exactly.” She trudged past Luna, who seemed to have caught her drift, towards the treeline that was just next to the foot of the bluff. “The Changeling queen took her place for a while, until the real Twilight showed up. She knocked me out and… actually, I don’t know what happened after that,” she said, suddenly worried that her kidnapping theory might be false, and that something more gruesome awaited her up there on that bluff.
Luna walked up to her from behind and put a hoof on Derpy’s shoulder, which caused her to start and be pulled out of her morbid daydreaming. “I flew to the top of the bluff, just to be sure. There are signs a of a struggle, but neither of them are there.”
Derpy relaxed a little, but still worried about the alicorn’s fate. “Well, if she’s out there, we gotta save her.”
The two pegasi spread their wings and took off in the rain, flying low above the treetops and scanning the forest with their gaze.
At the edge of the clearing, Pinkie, Rarity and Spike stood rooted to the spot and terrified before Discord, whose chuckling echoed around the woods like thunder. Applejack and Rainbow Dash, however, were not so easily intimidated and stepped out in front of their friends.
“Alright, now see here,” said Applejack in a commanding voice. “The jig is up, Discord. Where is she?”
Discord straightened up a little and looked about him in mock confusion. “She? Why, who ever do you mean?”
“Don’t give us that crock!” spat Rainbow, digging into the ground with a hoof like a mad bull.
Discord resumed his position. “Perhaps if you didn’t leave your friends lying about, you’d know where they are.”
“That’s it! I’ve had it with this joker!” growled Rainbow in fury, getting ready to strike
“No! Wait!” cried out Applejack, but it was too late. With a flap of her wings and hard kick to the ground, Rainbow shot straight towards Discord.
Suddenly, a shot whizzed down from above Rainbow, making a sharp whistling sound. Out of sheer reflex, she managed to sense it incoming and made a barrel roll to her left to avoid it. She flinched as it came crashing down to the spot on the ground above which she’d found herself only a split second earlier, followed closely by its shooter.
The five friends became mute with shock upon seeing the state in which Fluttershy now was. They stared slack-jawed at her, having virtually fallen from the sky and now kneeling on the ground where the grass was still faintly smoking from the impact. Her coat was dark and grey, even darker than the last time. Slowly Fluttershy raised her head, revealing two soulless and stone-coloured eyes that stared at her fellow elements with nothing but blind, focused rage.
Rainbow Dash’s previous bout of anger seem almost petty now. The pegasus absently backed away from her friend and towards the other ponies, gaping in complete disarray at her.
Discord flashed them a fangy smirk.
“Oh, you mean her!” he mocked, as if he’d just caught up. “Yes, sorry about my little puppy here, she hasn’t learned not to bite yet.”
There was no response from the other group. Every one of them wanted to step forward, to reach out and say something to Fluttershy, but none of them dared to get too close. It was hard for them to imagine that she could really be in this state, that she couldn’t hear nor recognize them. And yet, it was happening right in front of them.
“Fluttershy!” said Applejack, calling out to her friend. “It’s me! Applejack! Don’t you remember?”
“I’m afraid she only answers to me now, dear Applejack,” said Discord. “You lost her, I found her. But don’t worry, she remembers you! Right, Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy, now hovering above Discord and glowering down upon her friends, stared at Applejack straight in the eye. Her soulless gaze met with Applejack’s own unbelieving and tearful eyes.
“One shot. Straight and true,” she said.
Her usual half-whisper had become a low, cruel voice. Down below, Applejack kept staring at her friend before shaking her head slowly and gritting her teeth.
“Now hold on just a second here!” screamed an angry Pinkie Pie, bumping Applejack aside like a bowling pin and pointing a hoof towards Fluttershy. “You can’t just go around doing your scary choasy whadjamacallits to her! Fluttershy is our friend!”
Discord chuckled and shook his head at her statement. “Finders keepers!” he chimed.
“You’re not getting away with this!”
“And what will you do? Hmm? Believe it or not, Flutters here is now faster than your anti-physics -- by the way, big fan of those, you should really consider joining our t--”
While he was talking, Rainbow hazarded a shot towards Fluttershy to kick some sense into her. But Fluttershy was faster and with a deft flick of her gun shot the paintball round itself with one of her own, making them both collapse in a splash of gray and blue. Rainbow took a step back with a disapproving grunt while Discord eyed the exchange with an intrigued look.
“... Yeah. I didn’t think so,” he said, before resuming his initial position and eyeing the ponies before him, silently daring them to make another move. Rainbow Dash, for one, was seriously considering that option, but was trying to find an opening in Fluttershy’s game. The pegasus was eyeing her with full concentration, and it seemed to Rainbow that she wasn’t going to let up anytime soon.
She gritted her teeth, and felt a chill down her spine from seeing her friend in her possessed state. While she brooded, that feeling of tingling along her spine grew stronger. At first she didn’t notice, but after a few tense and silent seconds, it occurred to her that beyond just a feeling, there was definitely a breeze picking up and running down her back.
Looking behind herself, Rainbow saw that her friends had also noticed the shifting wind. She looked to a point far behind them in the trees. It seemed to be drawing the air from the forest towards its center.
“What’s going on…?”
The rain was starting to fall hard on the strange trees of the Everfree Forest. The dampness of the weather gave the woods a strong musky smell, and made slow wisps of fog creep up from the very earth. It was in this unsettling climate that a large group of ponies was making its way out of the forest. They moved forward carefully and slowly, none of them making a sound. All looked about nervously, expecting an unseen enemy to pop up at any second and claim more than just their guns.
Suddenly, an orange stallion at the front of the pack lifted a hoof and stopped the mare next to him in her tracks. The mare gasped and stared in front of her, followed by the rest of the crowd that had caught up and understood that their pack had stopped.
The ponies at the front of the pack stared wide-eyes at the same spot in front of them. Hidden in the mist, a large silhouette stood before them unmoving.
The stallion gulped. “Sh… Show yourself!” he commanded in a shaky voice.
The figure obeyed and, taking a confident step forwards, Princess Luna appeared to the group of ponies. A wave of murmuring crept through the crowd at the impressive sight of the princess.
“Princess Luna!” said the orange stallion, sounding relieved. “Boy are we glad to see you here!”
He flashed her a cautious smile of relief. Luna simply stared down onto them with a hard look. The stallion’s smile faded somewhat, but still he looked at her hopefully.
“Please help us, Princess… We’re just a group of survivors trying to make it out of here. There are mares and foals with us, and we’re afraid for our lives because of the Changelings! Please, could you guide us through the woods to Ponyville?”
Luna stood unmoving, defiantly staring at the stallion straight in the eye. He was about to ask her if everything was alright, when suddenly he saw a grey pegasus step out from behind her and join her side. At her sight, the crowd held their breaths as if petrified.
Derpy eyed the crowd with the same look Luna was giving them. After a second she signaled to the cowering mare next to the head stallion.
“You there,” she said. “What’s your name?”
The mare’s eyes grew in worried surprise, and the ponies at the front looked at her expectantly.
“Uh… Morning Dew?” she answered hesitantly.
“A little old to be lacking a cutie mark, aren’t you?” asked Derpy.
The mare gasped and looked at her flank. It was indeed bare. She looked up with terror in her eyes, but not at Luna and Derpy. Her look was for the orange stallion next to her. Looking back at her with harsh disappointment, his previous nervousness seemed to have disappeared completely.
He turned his head towards Luna and Derpy, staring back at them impassively. His move was mirrored by the entire crowd, looking at the two pegasi with terribly serious looks.
Suddenly, the lot of them burst into a great fire of green flames, illuminating the forest around them and making drops of rain evaporate as they got close. Many creatures retreated from them, scurrying in between Luna and Derpy’s legs to various places of shelter. The fire died down and in a cloud of steam revealed, as Luna had expected, a great horde of Changelings. In the orange stallion’s stead now stood Chrysalis.
The Changeling queen and Derpy locked in on each other, Chrysalis’s condescending gaze meeting with Derpy’s fiercely determined own. They all stood so for a silent moment while the rain washed down their coats and manes.
Eventually, Chrysalis scoffed.
“Well, well,” she said. “If it isn’t the one-eyed menace.”
Behind her, the Changelings cackled loudly. The sound of their jeering reverberated around Derpy, enshrouding her. But she would not yield to mockery like she might have in the past.
“You’re a sturdy one, do you know that? I expected that knocking you out and disabling your wings would have been enough, and yet here you are. Such endurance would be well put to use amongst our ranks, should you consider joining our cause…”
Luna stomped the ground with a hoof placed forward. “You will pay for your crimes against this realm, Changeling queen!”
Chrysalis glanced Luna’s way and smirked. “Ah, and yes, of course. Equestria’s beloved princess. She who uselessly governs the long hours of the night, and idles away while the enemy claims her home from the inside.”
The Changelings erupted in laughter once more, their wings buzzing with glee. Luna tried her best to remain stoic, but the Changeling queen’s stab at her made her heart sink with the painful reminder of the wedding incident. Derpy saw Luna’s slight wince of pain and stepped forward as well, clenching her sniper in her hooves.
“This ends now,” she said sternly. Something in her tone told Chrysalis that the pegasus was seriously out for revenge, and she dropped her scornful attitude, adopting one of calm resistance.
“And how exactly do you plan on ‘ending’ this? For all the skill you have with that weapon of yours, you cannot defeat us. We are too many. See here...”
She made a single gesture to the pack, which split apart. In the middle they revealed the limp figure of Twilight, bruised and beaten, laying on the ground with her limbs and wings tied.
“The overtaking of Equestria has begun,” she continued, “and you are all powerless to stop me.”
“Do your minions know you had me take ‘em out on purpose back on that hill?”
Stumped by the question, Chrysalis’s smirk vanished. She gave small weary glances from the corners of her eyes to the Changelings at her sides. All eyes were upon the Changeling queen, some giving her looks of confusion. After a while she turned her slitted pupils back to Derpy with a growl.
“How dare you, you filthy pony,” she snarled. “These Changelings are my children, and they will follow my judgement for as long as I live. One word and they will submerge you with their wrath. Try firing at only one of us, and you shall witness our might and despair for the fate of your precious lands.”
Luna cautiously looked at Derpy, determined to fight but fearing that the pegasus’s resolve might falter. Nonetheless, Derpy stood strong and raised her gun.
Chrysalis understood that she truly meant war. She grinned, and flaring her wings she lit up her crooked horn with a powerful green light. The Changelings did the same, a few rising above the ground. Luna poised herself in response, her horn flashing a bright blue.
“Let us not waste any time,” said Chrysalis.
The gust had grown to a full-blown wind that even Fluttershy couldn’t ignore. She swayed above the ground and looked intensely at the source of the blow. The other ponies also looked around them anxiously, fearing that more trouble might be on the way.
Suddenly, from the depths of the Everfree Forest, three pegasi emerged with great speed, flying straight towards Fluttershy and Discord. As they rushed above Rainbow Dash, she watched them fly and recognizing them, let out a cry of victory.
“It’s the Wonderbolts!”
The athletic trio lost no time in taking out their guns and firing shots in mid-air towards Discord, who looked genuinely surprised to see them. Fluttershy let out a furious grunt as they flew inches away from her, throwing her off her balance and preventing her from retaliating. However she quickly recovered and starting chasing them with shots of her own. The Wonderbolts changed course and chose to make a tactical retreat to the ground, landing solidly next to Rainbow Dash, before Spitfire turned around towards the enemy.
“Hold your fire!” she commanded as Fluttershy swept down upon her like a hawk, and with a single wave of Discord’s paw, she stopped in her tracks and moodily retreated back to him.
“Ugh,” huffed Discord. “There’s always somepony to rain on my parade,” he whined. With a snap of his fingers a pink Polomare umbrella popped up in his claw, under which he took shelter with an exaggerated pout on his face.
“We should have known you were gonna show your ugly mug around here!” growled the Wonderbolt known as Fleetfoot.
Joining here, Rainbow Dash was ecstatic. “I can’t believe it! The Wonderbolts, here! It’s really you!”
“Hey kiddo,” said Spitfire with a confident grin her way.
“How in the hay did ya know ta find us here?” said Applejack.
“I really can’t tell ya,” replied Spitfire. “We were tryin’ to find the rest of our squad and get outta here when we heard the news, and suddenly we got this weird vibe that made us feel you were here and that you needed help.”
“We do! Fluttershy has gone completely bananas!” interjected Pinkie, a half-eaten banana having suddenly appeared in her hoof that Spitfire watched with a creeped out expression, wondering if the pink pony and Discord weren’t actually distant relatives.
“Fluttershy? Isn’t she on your team?” asked Soarin.
“She is,” replied Applejack. “It’s jus’ this goshdarn Discord here played with her emotions!”
The group of ponies shot murderous glares towards the Draconequus, who simply shrugged in response.
“Oh come now,” he said. “I only told her what she needed to hear, and she made up her own mind. You’ve got to give a pony credit for knowing where her best bets lie, don’t you?”
“She ain’t made up her mind none! You abused her trust again! Darn it, Discord why do ya keep-”
“Oh it’s like that, is it?” replied Discord angrily, tossing the umbrella aside. “Well then, if you ponies are so sure that friendship is the answer to every question, why don’t you try to win her back, hmm? That way you’ll get to hear everything she told me from the horse’s mouth, about how your precious friendship doesn’t involve looking behind your shoulder for any ponies feeling left out!”
Applejack opened her mouth to reply, but couldn’t find the words to. Discord’s words dealt a blow in her heart, filling it with questions she would have to ask Fluttershy when she would get her out of this mess.
Spitfire was busy contemplating the grim situation when she felt Rainbow’s hoof on her shoulder.
“Ya know,” said Rainbow, “as much as I hate to admit it, he’s got a point. It’s our fault we weren’t keeping an eye on each other, and he used that to his advantage.”
“What do you suggest we do?”
“We gotta try to shoot Fluttershy!” said Rainbow, her spirits lifted by the fact that Spitfire of the Wonderbolts had actually asked her for advice. Behind her, Rainbow’s friends stared wide-eyed at her, and Discord chortled loudly.
“What are you saying?” said Rarity. “Fluttershy’s too fragile, we could damage her!”
Rainbow shook her head. “I don’t like the idea… But if there’s a chance that the spell on her will break if she’s shot, then I’ll take it!”
“Rainbow’s right,” said Applejack. “Besides, we gotta show this varmint here that our friend ain’t as weak as he makes her out ta be.”
Discord’s chortle gave rise to a full bout of laughter. “Oh you ponies!” he said. “First you abandon your friend, then you want to shoot her in the back? That is rich!”
“Darn it if he says one more word I’m gonna--!”
“I just find it excellent that you’re missing the other and far more obvious solution here,” cut in Discord. “Why don’t you just nip this one in the bud and shoot me?”
“Hey that’s right!” said Pinkie. “Maybe if we shoot Discord, the spell will be broken!”
“Gotta admit, it makes more sense,” said Spitfire.
Pinkie stretched a grin from ear to ear and took out her minigun from inside her mane where it was impossibly concealed. “This calls for another serving of the old--”
“No!” cut in Rainbow to the general surprise. “This is Discord we’re talking about! He’ll probably whip up some sort of shield against your rounds, and Fluttershy will shoot you down! Actually, I don’t think any of you guys should interfere, it’s too risky. What this calls for is an aerial attack.”
“How d’ya figure that he ain’t gonna shield himself from aerial shots as well?” said Applejack, concerned that she might not be able to personally deliver Fluttershy from her accursed state.
“Why, because I was the one who suggested the idea of course,” said Discord, beaming at her. “You think I’m gonna let you quadrupeds have a little party amongst each other and not partake in the fun? No no no, sister, I wanna be at the heart of it big time! And I mean…”
Discord snapped his fingers, and slowly but surely, the draconequus began to grow taller and taller. The ground began to rumble from all the weight that was being added to it, and soon Discord’s head stood a little above the highest treetops, looking down upon the now minuscule ponies with a devilish smirk.
“... big time,” he said, his low voice booming in the forest.
The ponies below looked up in shock at Discord. Rainbow Dash was the first to snap out of it, and turned to a gaping Spitfire.
“I say we circle around him and look for an opening.”
“But what about Fluttershy?”
“She’s gonna try to take us down for sure. But if we leave enough space between each other, we’ll have her completely surrounded and she won’t be able to keep track of all of us at the same time.”
Rainbow Dash looked to the Wonderbolts for approval. Soarin and Fleetfoot nodded, albeit with visible concern.
“Let’s do it,” said Spitfire, and at once they took off. Rainbow led the way, followed by the three Wonderbolts as they started flying around the colossal body of Discord, who stood as unmoving and calm as he had been when he could sit on a tree stump. Shots were fired towards him, only to be expertly deflected by Fluttershy’s own rounds colliding with them, and it was not long before the grounded ponies below watched in apprehension as a ballet of paintball shots fired between the four ponies and Fluttershy took place above them.
For the second time that day, Twilight Sparkle awoke from the veil of darkness that had been thrown over her. She heard sounds; distant and muffled at first, but growing in her ears as the hard splatter of pouring rain made her open her eyes slowly. She could hear the cries of a whole swarm of Changelings, buzzing here and there around her and chilling her spine. Eventually she was fully awake, but chose not to move a muscle in case some of the creatures might notice her. She simply lay there, cautiously scanning her surroundings with half-opened eyes and trying to make out the situation as best she could.
Twilight witnessed in horror as a huge battle was taking place. She saw Changelings rushing past her with bared fangs and furious hissing, while flashes of green and blue from behind lit the eerie forest in front of her, followed by cries of defeat. She cringed at the thought of unseen chaos taking place right behind her.
Useless.
Useless as a paintball player, useless as a defender of her pony kin, and utterly useless as a princess. It flooded her mind with pain, pain so strong that it blocked out the battle in the world around her. Tears ran down her cheeks and blended with the drops of rain there. From the start, she had been helpless and unable to do even the simplest things. She considered that, if Equestria was to live to fight another day after this new Changeling onslaught, the other princesses would tacitly change their mind about her. It would be the start of a very long reign of smiling and waving. She almost wanted to just scream at the top of her lungs in anger and sadness, and let the Changelings take her and get it over with.
Her morbid thinking was cut short however, as the body of a Changeling fell to the ground inches away from her muzzle and made her start. It consumed itself in a bright green fire with a hollow rale, and even when it had disappeared she stared at the same spot for a few seconds with wide eyes and held breath.
In that moment, Twilight changed her mind. She felt as though she’d been slapped some hard sense into her and that she had finally awoken at last.
She would not let this happen. She would not be made a victim at every turn.
Still making sure she wasn’t caught awake, Twilight tried to break out of her captivity. But it was no use; her limbs had been bound tightly by some strong Changeling-made rope, and she cursed as it burned her skin with every move she made. Slowly she craned her neck to see if there was anything behind her that might help.
Laying on her back, she witnessed the heart of the battle from a bizarre angle. She saw Derpy, firing rapid shots here and there as the Changelings attacked her from all sides. Her mane and coat were a mess, and in her eyes Twilight saw a fiery resolve that was clearly making the pegasus lose herself in the moment. Next to her, Princess Luna was in no better shape, firing beams of her strong magic against the Changeling armada, which strangely had the same effect on them as Derpy’s bullets.
“Fight! Fight them, you fools!” roared Chrysalis, her own magic beams firing straight towards the two ponies with terrible strength. “Kill if you must!”
Twilight stared at them aghast before looking around with growing panic, wondering what she could possibly do.
The passing hours since the Wonderbolts had started their attack on Discord seemed like minutes to all the ponies that were there. Darkness was slowly falling upon the woods without them even noticing.
The team of pegasi fighting against the strong push and pull of the wind were now down to three. Although the demented Fluttershy struggled to fight against the four of them at the same time, as Rainbow had expected, she had managed to fire an effective shot at Fleetfoot, who had fallen to the ground and now stood by the other ponies below, unable to help with her disabled gun.
Rainbow was having a hard time making anything out of the blur that was the world around her. Her wings seemed to move on their own, and she gritted her bare teeth as she was whipped around by strong gales and daggers of cold rain while shooting at a large grinning pillar that never seemed to be touched by any of her countless shots. The only thing that kept her going was that somewhere in the eye of the storm was a grey pegasus that needed to be saved.
Suddenly, she heard a loud cry that pierced through the turmoil. It was followed by another cry, that of Spitfire, and the sound of ominous laughter that carried through the air. She didn’t have to see what was going on to understand, with a painful pang of despair, that Soarin had been shot.
She noticed Spitfire flying in towards her until they were both side to side. “Retreat!” yelled the Wonderbolts captain before flying towards the ground. Rainbow didn’t want to stop now, but being the only airborne pegasus would put her at risk of being shot by Fluttershy, so she made her descent as well.
Once on the ground she galloped towards Spitfire, who stood by a moaning Soarin. “How is he?” she asked worriedly.
Spitfire looked at her with a very serious look. “It’s not good at all… I think his wing is broken.”
Rainbow felt a slight feeling of deja vu. “We gotta get him with the others and go back up there! Help me out!” she said. Going to Soarin’s other side and crouching to lift him up, she expected Spitfire to do the same; but Spitfire did not budge.
“Come on!” cried Rainbow, looking up towards the pegasus. She stared into Spitfire’s eyes and saw something there that caused fear to creep within her. There was a look of utter despair in those eyes, and Rainbow did her best to fight the depressing idea that was forming in her mind.
“... It’s no use, kid,” said Spitfire. Through she spoke at a normal volume that wouldn’t carry during a storm, Rainbow heard every word.
“... Come on, Spitfire!”
“We’re not gonna be able to save her.”
Rainbow felt a ball of ice drop to the pit of her stomach. “Don’t say that…” she whispered. She then stood up and kicked the ground. “Don’t say that! You gotta help!”
“We’re gonna get shot if we go back there!” yelled Spitfire. “Maybe we had a chance when there were four of us… but your friend is gonna be able to keep track of both of--”
“You can’t do this!” bellowed Rainbow. Her voice was cracking and she could feel hot tears welling up at the base of her eyes. “The Wonderbolts are fighters, they never give up! They don’t quit!” she cried.
Spitfire sighed and stared at the ground, shaking her head under the rain.
“I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash… But today, they do.”
Rainbow felt as though her breath had been stolen from her. She stood frozen by shock as Spitfire pulled Soarin off the ground and heaved him strongly onto her back. She took a few steps away, and with a last sigh, took off into the woods.
Rainbow galloped behind her, mouthing the word “no,” and whimpering as she saw her idol take away until she was swallowed by the trees. Even after she had left, Rainbow still watched the spot in woods where she last was, shaking her head. She had a hard time coping with the truth, that she had distorted and buried and which now lay bare to her. The truth that, deep down, the heroic quality of the Wonderbolts was all just for show.
She felt a hoof being gently posed on her shoulder. Applejack had joined her side, watching her friend sadly.
“Sorry, Rainbow,” she said with empathy. Rainbow slowly bowed her head to the ground and started shaking. She felt Applejack embracing her, and going along with it she slumped to the ground, where she cried purely and genuinely, like her pride would usually never allow her to in front of her friends.
“There, there,” whispered Applejack. “Let it all out. Ya gotta understand… the Wonderbolts are sport athletes. They’re not meant ta handle stuff like this.”
Applejack saw that Rainbow was too shaken to answer, and that it would take a while for her to come to her senses. She decided to simply stay by her side.
Next to them, Spike and the other elements of harmony watched the two ponies silently with great sorrow in their hearts. They couldn’t bear to wonder if they would have to live their lives without the element of kindness. They were all so distraught that didn’t even notice Rarity stepping away, only Spike catching a glimpse of it from the corner of his eye. Turning around in curiosity, he saw her stand confidently in front the the towering draconequus before here and look up into his massive yellow eyes.
“See what you’ve done now?” she asked, her voice shaking in anger. “This is all your fault!”
All heads turned towards her but for Rainbow’s.
“Why? Why are you doing this?” Rarity continued as tears of her own ran down her cheeks. “Why do you bring all this madness onto us? We thought you were our friend, that you’d changed!”
“Rarity...” said Spike with concern as he joined her, but Rarity shrugged him off.
“You keep creating trouble where you shouldn’t! Why? Fluttershy believed in you, and you, you… You just keep betraying us again and again!!”
Discord silently stared down upon her with a wistfully amused expression. “Chaos is what chaos does, my dear…” he said in an ominous tone. “As for your winged ‘heroes’... That has nothing to do with me.”
“It does, damn you! It does, it’s all your fault! It’s your fault for lying, it’s your fault because you spread all this chaos, it’s your fault because you took this game and you twisted it, you lying, deceptive, hopeless coward! You--”
Discord cut her rambling with an impatient snort, and with a single snap of his fingers, Fluttershy fired a bullet which hit Rarity square in the back. The white unicorn swayed for a few seconds on the spot, staring into space as if in a daze, before falling to the ground as well.
Pinkie and Applejack gasped in unison. Next to them, Spike stared wide-eyed at his companion, his mind becoming fuzzy with raw fear. “N-no!” he finally managed to squeeze through his chest, which felt tight.
Nervously he waddled over to the spot where she had fallen. Laying next to her, he found the mare gasping for breath, as if she had worked up a high fever.
“Rarity?” he asked weakly. He couldn’t tell whether or not she could hear him, but saw her move her eyes about as if having heard a distant, familiar voice. Eventually her eyes found the little dragon looking down at her with terrible worrying. She gave him a weak smile, as if recognizing him from an long forgotten memory.
“It’s gonna be alright,” Spike whispered. “You’re gonna…”
He was interrupted by the sight of a strange patch on her coat. He watched as it slowly grew, turning the hairs of her fur gray and making them brittle to his touch.
A horrible feeling ran through the poor dragon’s body as he realized what was happening. “No! no, no, no!” he whimpered, but it was no use. Below him, Rarity slowly and painstakingly managed to lift a hardening leg up to his face, gently laying her hoof on his cheek.
Her touch stole all the sound around Spike. All he could comprehend now was the smile his friend was giving him.
She tried to speak, but all her words were lost in shallow little breaths. Her eyelids flickered as she felt them grow heavy, before they wouldn’t move anymore. A grey curtain swept her delicate features, sealing them into place.
The last thing she felt was a tear run down her hoof from the young dragon’s eye.
Several hours had passed since little Pipsqueak and the rest of the foals had been warped back to Ponyville. Their arrival had caused quite the commotion in the small pony town. Incredibly fortunate as it were, there were no hidden Changelings among any of the townspeople. The local foals and their parents had been reunited in a moment of relief, while the other worried foals were being sheltered by adults and taken into their homes.
Now, in the dead of night, a crowd had formed at the edge of the village, where they listened in fear to the sounds of a distant battle taking place at the heart of the forest. Among a wave of frantic and worried talking, and a few crying mares, Mayor Mare struggled to maintain order with the help of Canterlot guards that had been dispatched to Ponyville for protection. Pipsqueak himself watched the events take place from a rooftop, where he could see in the distance a spot in the forest where flashes of green lit the night sky, and only hope for the sun to come up soon.
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Jesus Discord what the hell?
In the everfree forest?
I'd expect this story to only last one chapter before they're all eaten by manticores and/or running out screaming.
5151833 True that
5151854 To each his own. I believe she makes for a good character if you don't fall into all the tropes.
5151868 Still camping bruh.
5151902 Plot twist: all unicorns are ligars (best animal ever)
Dark tag please.
... It's been a while.
Am I the only one expecting Twilight to go Bezerker in the next chapter and wipe the forest floor with every changeling and Queen in the righteous fury of a newly minted alicorn? (Might even give Luna reason to walk on eggshells around an inscensed Princess Twilight for awhile) She'll also have to get to the clearing and do something heroic to save the day since it's going right down the crapper for the rest of the Elements of Harmony. And yes, Discord needs a time-out as well, getting too big for his britches in this chapter.
5151777
img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111008152650/mlpfanart/images/1/17/Trollface_Discord.png
turned to stone? the only two things I've seen do that are the elements and the cockatriece
5183728 No that Troll face does NOT make this any better you plothole and you know- *Sees Fluttershy with a paintball sniper in her hooves* Everyone just CALM down now.
4374930 And then I drink some 7-up and get 7 moar lives.
5191830 Nope, Derpy has a sniper.
Will the Elements win against Discord and his minions? Will the elite team defeat Chrysalis? Will I need to go to school tomorrow? Tune in next time for the answers to those and more!
You might want to find another word to describe both of them because one of them is technically not a pegasus.
Suggestions:
"Both of them spread..."
"The two concerned ponies spread..."
Is this going to continue?
I haven't even read the story, but upvoted just for the description!
I liked this fic, but where's the new chapter?
Holy crap Discord! What the hell is wrong with you huh?! I agree with Rarity on this one. Just because you control chaos itself, doesn't mean you have the right to go around and stab others in the back! And don't you dare give us that "chaos does, what chaos does" bullshit either! If you truly are someone's friend, then you don't. Freaking. BETRAY THEM!
As far as I'm concerned, Rarity's description of you is downright perfect! You are nothing but a deceptive, spineless, hopeless coward! When this is all over and done with, I sincerely hope that you get turned back into stone! No. Scratch that. I hope that get imprisoned in Tartarus itself and become cell mates with Tirek! Because I'm absolutely sure that he is dying to see you again! So burn in the pits of hell you traitorous son of bitch!
Also, go team Elite (Luna and Derpy)! Best of luck to you to Twilight! Don't ever doubt yourself for one minute. You can do this. Great emotion filled chapter, and I look forward to the next chapter!
~ Super-Brony12
Ah, I remember this story. Still do. Never going to forget it due to the incredibly random comment battle I had with Butterwings.
But I am saddened to see it dead. I really was invested in seeing who would win, ya'know? You're probably not going to see this, Wisher, so there's really no point in asking for this story to return...
I've changed since then. I'm no longer as random as I used to be; now I sometimes wax complex sentences in the vain, knowingly false hope of sounding wise. So... well, goodbye. May all who read this story find better things to pursue, but try not to forget what once was.