The end of magic

by Brosparkles

Chapter 4: Civil Unrest.

Celestia looked at them, with very serious and stern eyes.

“As I’m sure you could tell, he let you get away.” Celestia said. “He wanted you to come here. Now then, we are stuck in a rather bad situation. I don’t want a war on my hooves. Not now. The people are starting to lose faith in me, I can tell. But if we don’t challenge him, it will be a sign of weakness. The people will see that I’m powerless to stop him, and he might as well have won.”

“We could defeat Blueblood and his armies no problem!” said Rainbow.

“You’re right. I’m not disputing that. But it would cause casualties. Many more than acceptable. The people already think of me as unnecessary, outdated by technology. They’d be more than willing to be done with harmony if a war comes.”

She put her hoof to her head, seeming quite pained. Luna slowly approached her, entering from a corridor to her right. She lay her hoof on her sister’s shoulder.

“Sister, you know what must be done.This cannot go unchallenged.”

“...You’re right. If we don’t act, we might as well give up now. But if we’re going to do this, we have to be prepared. Twilight will you do this?”

“Yes, of course, Princess.”

“We may need the Elements of Harmony. Go gather your friends, and meet us back here.”

Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity, and Spike left, and headed back to the Whirlwind.

“Applejack is first. She’s still in Ponyville as far as I know.”

The ship flew gracefully through the clouds, cutting through the sky.

“Ponyville is close by, it shouldn’t take long.” said Rainbow.

Indeed, they could see the small town just off in the distance. The ride was rather quiet, they didn’t have far to go, and exchanged idle chatter. The ship landed outside the town, and everypony was somewhat excited to see their old homes. but they were here on business, not to visit. The town had hardly changed, just some minor changes, like new houses. The town seemed strangely empty as they walked through it. They head off towards Sweet Apple Acres, but saw a large group of rowdy young ponies gathered around the center of town. Five large stallions in white armor guarded a red mare speaking to the crowd.

“Citizens of Ponyville!” she said to the crowd. “Do you not tire of this tyrannical rule? Celestia is a villain, who must be stopped! Her harmony no longer rules us! Our savior, Prince Blueblood himself, will save us from this evil!

Twilight could feel the disharmony radiating from the crowd.

“Blueblood knows that harmony is no longer necessary! He shall liberate you from your imprisonment! Oh, sure, Celestia may make it seem like harmony is good for you. But it is a relic of the past, when magic was still relevant. But in this new era, she is an outdated, useless, and ineffective ruler!”

Twilight’s anger was growing from this speech, but she didn’t want to start a fight. The crowd was dis-harmonized enough already. Scroll could see the hatred in her eyes, and was feeling it himself too.

“Blueblood knows what the common pony wants. Celestia’s harmony is not what you need!”

The red mare began looking through the crowd.

“Some of you may think we are liars. Those of you brainwashed by Celestia, hear this! Celestia is the cause of the cold, harsh winters! If she really cared for her people, wouldn’t she use her control of the sun to keep the land warm? Instead, she and her noble lapdogs sit up in Canterlot and watch you freeze and starve! She is the reason Discord destroyed your towns! She could have had him killed, but she showed him mercy. Why? Because her harmony wouldn’t allow her to kill him, even though he deserved it! We’ve seen this happen with our allies to the north as well! The Crystal Empire was enslaved by Sombra, because Celestia let him live! Where do you think those damned changelings went off to? Blueblood would have dealt with them, but Celestia let them go! They are undoubtedly plotting against you now! If you still need proof, she is sisters with Nightmare Moon herself! Oh sure, she has her under control, for now! Who knows when Luna may snap again? We got lucky once, but I doubt she would be stopped again! Celestia couldn’t even keep control of her own country! She has her six lapdogs do it for her!:

“Ah, think you’d best shut your mouth.” said a southern voice.

The red mare began to look around through the crowd, and so were Twilight and the others. Applejack and Big Mac approached the crowd.

“Mac, I think we should knock some sense into em’, don’t you?” said Applejack.

“Eeyup.”

Applejack picked up several small stones from the ground, and bounced them on her hoof.

“I’d suggest you all get outta here, because I’m gonna start kickin’ flank, and I don’t want to hurt too many of you.” Applejack said with a slight grin.

“You’ve got no idea what you’re getting yourself into...:” said the red mare.

The white armored stallions charged them. Applejack just shook her head, threw the rocks into the air, and kicked them towards the armored stallions, the rocks cutting through the air. Two of them were hit, falling down from the impact. One of them lunged at Applejack, but was interrupted by a kick from Mac, collapsing on the ground. Twilight and the others turned to see what was happening, and ran towards the apples to help out. One of the soldiers managed to hit Applejack, but she barely even flinched.

“Ya’ll hit like fillies.” she said.

Scroll slammed into the soldier, but only managed to shake him a little.The crowd was riled up from this, and a small group of them charged the apples as well. Scroll saw he rocks Applejack had flung, and focused on them. They began to levitate, but this battle was wearing on his concentration. He threw them, not going nearly as far as he had hoped. They bounced right off of the soldier’s armor, causing him a little pain, but not much. One of the ponies in the crowd kicked Scroll down, and he was trampled by several others. Twilight had snapped, her rage easily visible. She started to focus her magic, but not on the rocks. She grabbed several of the ponies from the crowd, along with one of the guards, and levitated them high up. She then threw them down violently. Not hard enough to kill them, but hard enough to hurt them badly. Spike charged at the last guard, and raked his claws across him, breathing a stream of flame. The crowd scattered, terrified. The red mare left with them, blending into the crowd.

“You guys didn’t even leave me one of them.” said Rainbow disappointedly.

“What are y’all doing here?”

We came here looking for you, actually.” said Twilight.

“We need your help.” said Rarity.

“The princesses wanted us to find you.” said Spike.

“I can already guess what this is about. Celestia wants us to stop Blueblood?”

“How could you tell?” asked Rainbow.

“This isn’t the first time they’ve been spreading their propaganda ‘round here.”

“So will you help us?” Twilight asked.

“I...don’t think so, Twi.” she said.

“What?” she exclaimed.

“But we need your help!” Rainbow said.

“I can’t just leave my family here alone. They’ll come back, I know it.”

“Sis, I can-”

“I know you think so Mac, but...I just don’t feel right about it. I can’t leave you here. I can’t stand the thought of them getting ya’ll while I’m not there. I’m sure you feel the same way.”\

Mac let out a sigh, and nodded.

“I know Sis, I know.”

“Ya’ll should at least come down to the farm before you leave.”

The group followed her towards Sweet Apple Acres, which still hadn’t changed a bit. Granny Smith was sitting in a rocking chair on the porch, and looked as if she had nodded off a while ago.

“Wake up, Granny! We got visitors!”

She snapped awake.

“Eh? Oh, hello! Haven’t seen you all in a while!”

“It has been quite a while, hasn’t it?” said Twilight.

“And who are you?” she asked Scroll.

“My name’s Scroll Seeker, I’m Twilight's student.”

“Nice to meet ya” Applejack said. “Come on in.”

She opened the door, and hey all headed inside. The smell of a baking apple pie floated through the house.

“Caramel! We have visitors!”

Loud hoofsteps echoed through the house, as a light brown stallion came in.

“Oh, hello. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen any of you. You’re Applejack’s friends, right?”

Twilight nodded.

“It’s been so long, you haven’t heard the news, have you?” asked Applejack.

“What news?”

“Me and Caramel...are married!”

Twilight and the others were taken aback quite a bit.

“She finally settled down with the nice neighbor boy a year or so ago.” Granny Smith said.

“The second newest addition to the apple family!”

“Second?”

“Where is she?” Applejack asked.

“She was tired, I put her to bed.” Caramel said.

“Who’s she?”

“Oh, you haven’t met Honeycrisp yet! She’s just the cutest little thing. Follow me.”

They followed her into a bedroom, where a foal lay in a crib, sleeping.

“Wait, you have a...daughter?” Rarity asked in her quietest scream, as to not wake her.

“Isn’t she just the cutest?”

Honeycrisp lay in her crib, her light brown mane still quite short. She was an orange-ish color, similar to her mother, but a bit darker. They left the room, still confused about all of this.

“So wait, you got married?” Twilight asked.

“She sure did! Mac, you could learn a lesson from your sister.” Granny Smith said.

“Mac simply ignored her, he headed out to the fields.

“You didn’t invite me, either? You know I would have wanted to hear about this, remember what my brother did?” Twilight said.

“Ah’m sorry, but I haven’t been able to contact any of you. Y’all left ponyville for your own reasons, and I haven’t been able to find any of you.”

“I guess we’ve all been too caught up in the busyness of our own lives to stay together...” Rainbow said.

“I still have no idea where Pinkie and Fluttershy are, or what they’re doing.” Twilight said.

“Wait,” Rarity said. “You said Caramel is a new addition to the Apple family. So he took your last name?”

“Caramel Apple just seemed too good of a name to pass on.” Caramel said.

They spent some time reminiscing, but had to leave eventually.

“Are you sure you can’t come with us, Applejack?” Twilight asked.

“I can’t just leave my family.” she said.

“I think you should go.” Caramel said.

“What? But I can’t-”

“We can’t let this go unopposed. Me and Mac can protect the family, but you have the
whole world to protect.”

“...I guess you’re right. I’ll go with y’all.” Applejack said semi-regretfully.

“I’m glad you’re coming with us.” Twilight said.

:We’ll need your strength. You’re almost as strong as me!” Rainbow said. “Almost.”

“Where’s Applebloom?” Spike asked.

“Oh, she’s off with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, doing some ridiculousness, I’m sure.” Rarity said.

Twilight and the others said their goodbyes, and headed towards the ship once more.

Comments

[Brosparkles]

So how many people hate me because I didn't ship Applejack with Rainbow?

[Brosparkles]

The next chapter might be delayed, my left hand is a little limited. I was involved in a crash, and hurt it pretty bad. EDIT: I can move it better now, my thumb is the only finger that's still a problem, and I don't really need it to type.

[mythfan12]

2163934 completely understandable and in answer to this>>2162803 i don't think the army, mob, group of rainbow dash and applejack shippers will be very mad

[Charzoid]

2162803 Don't worry if anything this fandom needs more hetero pairings in fanfics. Do you plan to have somepony secretly tell prince blueblood hes got someone running around different towns and using his name against his auntie or will it be like funny awkward discovery for him like:
Rarity:Okay blueblood,I've heard of a big secret you've been keeping from Equestria and your guards have been telling many ponies. Is there any truth to this?
Prince blueblood: Damn! I told them not to tell anypony but since its out in the open I'll show you since everypony knows I guess.*goes to a changing curtain*
Rarity:*thinking*That was easier then I thought.
Prince blueblood:*comes out of curtain dressed as daring doo* I know its childish but I just really can't help love dressing up like this when I'm alone and pretending to do scenes from those whimsical books.I think this wig looks good on me too.
Rarity:*staring weirdly with a raised eyebrow*O__o
Prince blueblood:........What?....This isn't what you were talking about at all is it?