The end of magic

by Brosparkles

Chapter 5: Deals with a changeling.

The decadence of Blueblood’s palace only extended as far as Blueblood went. As such, Diadem’s room was very cold and grey. Diadem sat in silence, flipping through some texts on his shelf.

“Diadem!” Blueblood yelled.

Diadem put the book down, and. slowly headed upstairs.He undoubtedly needed an answer to an obvious question.

“Yes, your highness?” Diadem asked wearily.

“I never heard from Aunt Celestia’s student and her friends, did you see them leave?”

“That dragon and the colt? I’m sure they left after realizing how boring this backwater town is. You really deserve a higher position, you know.”

“Their airship is gone, so I suppose they flew off.”

“Airship? One of them is a pilot?”

“That Rainbow mare, I believe.”

“There’s more of them?” Diadem thought. “This changes everything! Now I have to account for four of them!”

“Oh, right.” Diadem said. “Was that all?”

“No, I had something to ask of you.”

“Whatever do you need, your highness?”

He despised being so servile, but it was necessary.

“I will need your assistance in this...what did you call it again?”

“Our glorious overthrowing of the tyrannical rule of Celestia? Taking your rightful throne?”

‘Yes, that. You really think it’s possible? That we can do it? That she plans to have me stripped of rank?”

“She plans to make you a dirty commoner, rankless and powerless. She knows you are a threat. But we shall make a stand against her power.”

“But how?”

“Let me handle that my lord. I am your advisor after all. I already have agents in Ponyville and in Fillydelphia spreading the truth about Celestia’s tyranny.”

“And the masses actually believe me.” Diadem thought

“I trust you know what you are doing. Continue your good work.”

“Thank you my lord.”

Diadem took his leave, and headed back to his room.

______________________________________________________________________________

“So, who’s next?” Rainbow asked.

“I’d say we go for Fluttershy next.” Rarity responded.

“Sounds good.” Twilight responded.

“You sure seem to have lots of friends.” Scroll said.

“Just wait until you meet Pinkie.” Spike said.

Scroll had always been a bit of an introvert, not very social. But these ponies he could handle. They seemed much better than the ponies in Manehattan, not nearly as class obsessed or snobbish.

“Fluttershy’s house is nearby, it’s not far from Ponyville.” Rainbow said.

After a short flight, they arrived outside her home. It somehow seemed even smaller than before. But it was certainly cozy. Everypony exited the airship, and Rarity knocked on her door. No response. She tried again. No response.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow yelled.

Still silent.

“She must be out.” Twilight said.

“Should we just come back later?” Spike asked.

“I’m sure she’ll be back soon.” Twilight said.

They began to turn back, when Scroll noticed an eye peeking through the window.

“Um, hello?” Scroll asked.

It came closer, and was revealed to also have a yellow face and pink mane. The door slowly opened.

` “Fluttershy?” Rainbow asked.

A hoof motioned them in, and they followed. The house was dark, the blinds closed and no light within. There were no animals bustling about, it was silent.

“Fluttershy, why are you hiding in here?” Rainbow asked.

“They can see in the windows, they’ll know I’m here.”

“Who?” Rarity asked.

Scroll felt something else brush against his face, a feathered beast. The animals started to make all sorts of noises, and a look of fear shot across Fluttershy’s face.

“They’re back!”

Everypony else looked around, but saw nothing through the windows.

“Fluttershy, are you okay?” Rarity asked.

“Y’all seem real shook up.” Applejack said. “Even more than usual.”

“I, I’m fine, really.” Fluttershy said.

“There’s nothing out there.” Rainbow said.

“Then it was one of you, wasn’t it? You’ve been gone for so long, why would you all be back now?”

“”It really is us, Fluttershy, and we need your help.”

“The only dangerous thing in here is leaving the lights off with these animals everywhere.” Rainbow said, as she was bumped into by some sort of bird.

“Where’s Pinkie? She should be with you. If you’re trying to impersonate my friends, you’ll have to try harder than that!”

“Fluttershy, I don’t know what else you need us to do to prove it’s really us, but we need your help.” Twilight said. “All of Equestria is counting on you.”

Twilight reached into her bag, and pulled a golden object from within.

“The elements?” Fluttershy said. “It really is you!”

“Of course! Don’t y’all recognize your own friends?” Applejack said.

Scroll felt something touch his hoof, but he couldn’t tell what. It was certainly furry.

“Applejack, what was going on down there?” Fluttershy asked.

“Just some rowdy idiots.” Applejack said. “But what are you doing holed up in here?”

“All of this excitement outside...it’s terrifying.” Fluttershy said.

“You could at least let some light in.” Twilight said.

Fluttershy slowly opened one of the blinds, letting in a small crack of light.

“There” Fluttershy said, before blocking the window once more. “So, what is everypony doing here?”

“We came for you, we need your help.” Twilight said.

“With what?”

“Blueblood is planning on overthrowing Celestia!” Rainbow blurted out. “We need to kick his flank and save Equestria!”

“Oh, my. I don’t know about this, that seems really dangerous, and-”

“Fluttershy, for some reason these ponies need your help.” Scroll said. “And you need to help them! It might be dangerous, but not nearly as dangerous as letting Blueblood overthrow Celestia and Luna!”

Everypony was a bit taken aback by Scroll’s sudden interruption, as he had stayed quiet for most of this recruiting.

“I got to see the evil in that stallion’s eyes myself. He has to be stopped.”

Spike nodded.

“That guy is tough, he didn’t go down even after I sunk my claws into him.”

“Spike, he drugged you, I don’t think it was a very fair fight.” Twilight said.

“What?” Fluttershy asked.

“Ah’ didn’t hear this, either.” Applejack said.

“His advisor, Diadem.” Scroll said. “He’s the real threat. Blueblood is just a dumb figurehead.”

“I’ll do it.” Fluttershy said. “If he wants to hurt my friends, he’ll have to deal with me, too.”

“Now, let’s go find Pinkie.” Twilight said.

“So, you mean this disguise won’t work?” said a pink mare, opening the door.

“Pinkie?” Spike asked.

“Not quite.” the pink mare said. Green flames enveloped her, and a changeling was revealed.

“Stand down, you clown.” A much deeper voice said.

“Who is that?” Fluttershy squeaked out.

“We mean you no ill, we bring a letter from our master’s quill.”

“That rhyme was terrible.” the changeling said.

The zebra let out a snort towards the changeling.

“Gather all the help you desire, you cannot stop this rebellious fire. All of your actions have been planned out, of that you should have no doubt. Even as we speak, armies are rallying around Blueblood, the leader they seek.”

“That’s it?” Rainbow said. “You just came here to talk down to us?”

“Our master can be a little...egotistic” the changeling said. “But we also brought a gift for you.”

The Zebra stared up at the sky, waiting for something.

“Where is that fool! I swear, he is as dumb as a mule!”

“Hey, watch it.” The changeling said. “I have several good friends who are mules!”

“We should really be going.” Twilight said.

“I’m sure your surprise was amazing and all, but you’re kind of our enemy.” said Scroll.

“You can’t just leave!” the changeling said. “We had this all planned out!”

“We’re kind of in a hurry, how long will this take?” said Rarity.

“He was supposed to be here already.” the changeling said.

A loud crash was heard, and a small airship landed roughly nearby. A look of shock shot across both the zebra and the changeling’s face.

“Uhm.... this is embarrassing.” the changeling said.

“Diadem is going to be furious if that crash was injurious.” said the zebra

“That’s barely even a word.” replied the changeling

“Don’t worry, I’m okay!” a male voice called from the wrecked ship.

“You aren’t the one we’re worried about!” the changeling yelled.

“We cannot lose this advantage! This was a necessary vantage!”

“I think it’s okay! I still hear it!”

“What is it?”Spike asked. “This is just getting ridiculous.”

“It was supposed to look a lot cooler.” the changeling said.

“I’m sure.” Rarity said.

“Yeah, it’s fine!” the voice yelled.

As it approached, it was revealed to be a rather odd looking earth pony. The three of them made a strange group. A trying too hard to be cool zebra, complete with cloak, a cheeky little changeling, and a bumbling yellow pony.He carried a sack with him, sealed tight.

“MPHMPHMPHMHHPM!: the being within the sack said.

“What is that?” Scroll said, shocked, and also intrigued.

“We have no idea. Diadem said to bring it here, and we don’t like to disagree with him.” the changeling said. “You can let it out now, just keep it bound.”

The earth pony opened the sack, and revealed a pink mare, with her hooves tied together, wiggling about, mouth taped shut.

“This yours?” the changeling asked. “She’s becoming a nuisance to have around.”

“Pinkie?” Twilight exclaimed.

“What did you do to her?” Fluttershy demanded to know.

“Relax, she’s fine. We didn’t do nothin’ outside of the normal kidnapping for ransom business, we aint’ that evil.” the changeling said.

As he spoke, Fluttershy jumped at him hooves prepared for impact with his face.

“I don’t think you want to do that.” the changeling said. “True, my face may be quit punchable, but think of this poor little Plinky, or whatever you called it. It’d be quite a shame if she were to get harmed, she looks pretty valuable.”

Fluttershy stopped, but was still quite enraged, and Applejack was pulling on her hooves with all her might, trying to bring her back. Fluttershy’s sudden stop sent them both flying backwards.

“Now then, I have a task that you need to do, and I really don't want this Ponky on my hooves anymore than I need. So what do you say we make a trade?”

“That depends on what you want us to do.” Twilight said.

“It’s a simple task, really. We just need you to attend some of our rallies. The one in ponyville is out, they saw what happened there. But we need you to go to them, and renounce your elements. Swear yourself to Blueblood. Do this, and you’ll get your precious pink thing back. Or, we could see how high she bounces after falling out of an airship.

“Uh, boss.” the earth pony interrupted.

“Oh, right. Well, I’m sure we can do something else threatening, so long as we don’t leave you in charge anymore.”

“Sorry.” the earth pony said slowly.

“You see, the people see you all as paragons of harmony. Even now, when harmony is weak, you are what holds the people’s faith.” the changeling said.

“When Equestria is at it’s worst, we shall swoop in headfirst! Be the heroes that the ponies need! Save them from Celestia’s greed!” The zebra added.

“So, will you do it?” the changeling said. “Or will your pink thing make a beautiful corpse? Well, I wouldn’t say beautiful. She’d make a cute corpse is more like it.”

Everypony looked at each other, with grim looks upon their faces. They each slowly and painfully nodded.

“We’ll do it.” they all said.

Pinkie’s yelling silenced, and a grin shot across the changeling’s face.

“Excellent.” the changeling said.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the very long delay, an injury, lazyness, and testing kept me from writing. (Mostly the lazyness.)

Comments

[Brosparkles]

Sorry for the long delay, I've had an injury, testing, and lazyness to get over to write this.(TF2/DARK SOULS! Y U SO FUN!)

[mythfan12]

ok 2 things; how did they even catch pinkie, and couldn't twilight just blast them all?

[Brosparkles]

2242183 I'll explain what happened to pinkie, no spoilers yet. As for Twilight just blasting them, that's not really an option when they have Pinkie as a hostage.