Scorched Earth

by Shorty Sparkle

Chapter 3

Chapter III

The castle was truly amazing. Canterlot had so many things that I had never seen. People were dressed so strange that I couldn’t stop staring at them. I looked over at the other ponies on the trip. Diamond Tiara was shouting her nonsense how one day she would be a princess just like Celestia and Luna.

Then there were the Cutie Mark Crusaders who where all arguing about the smallest things. They couldn’t seem to ever get along even though they were such good friends. Scootaloo would keep saying how the princess would see how awesome she was. Sweetie Bell was going to sing to the Princess and show her the voice she had. While Apple Bloom already had the plan to get the Apple Family’s farm noticed with all the Apples she brought with her.

Then there was that mysterious pony that came with them as well. Not many ponies knew anything about him. All I knew was that his name was Stormbreaker and that he hated Pegasi. Everything else was unknown about that pony. Nopony had any idea where he came from at all.

I was ready to meet Princess Luna however. She was such a great Pony who really did care about other ponies. Princess Luna worked so hard for everypony else but no one really cared about the Princess of the night. It made me sad to hear about it.

“So you see my little ponies.” Our teacher Cheerilee was talking that whole time. “That is how Equestria got our great princesses.” I had missed the whole lesson! I was about to ask what she said when I saw a familiar site in the distance. The Castle was looming in the distance. I just couldn’t wait to go there.

“So, ya’ ready to meet the princesses there Celestial?” Apple Bloom was talking to me while I was just staring out onto the castle.

“I really want to meet Luna. She is such a great Princess and just the thought of getting to meet her makes me so happy!” I had been so happy to meet those princesses I almost didn’t hear the response from Apple Bloom.

“I can’t wait to show her my apples!” I looked at her in amazement. Out of all the things she wanted to do with her time in Canterlot and with the princess was sell groceries to the princess.

We had grabbed a stagecoach and starting the trek up the mountain. On they way I took it to myself to try talking to Stormbreaker one more time. “So, Storm, what are you looking forward to here?”

He gave me this look like I wasn’t welcome on this planet! It took him a few moments but he finally gave in. “I just want to meet the princesses to see if MAYBE there is a way to find a place for me.” He sighed and looked off in the distance before continuing. “My family has been poor for so long. I just want to get a job so I can make them some money.” He looked at me expecting me to slouch off feeling bad for him.

Instead I responded. “I am sure they have something for you. A talent like that sets you apart from all other unicorns. I am sure there is a place that needs a unicorn to control weather.”

He glanced at me and smiled a bit. He was happy to hear that someone thought he was useful. I could only imagine that he hasn’t been told that for years.

It took us some time but we finally made it to the castle. When we got to it we found a group of guard ponies waiting for us. They escorted us into the castle and took us first to the royal archives. “So you see my little ponies. This is where all the information from everywhere comes in. Actually there is a spell that takes all things sent via magical spells. The items are copied and sent here just in case.”

Diamond Tiara raised her hand. “Ms. Cheerilee, if I wanted to send something to someone who I liked and the message was kinda,” She paused thinking about whether or not she should say it or not. After a second she raised her head and spat it out. “Graphical. Is it still kept here?”

Giggles jumped around the group of ponies and Diamond Tiara blushed a bit. Then Ms. Cheerilee slapped a huge smile and said. “How about we find out?” She walked over to the pony in charge of the whole archive. “So, can you give a demonstration?”

The pony broke out laughing and his horn started glowing. With that a box came down labeled Diamond Tiara. He sorted through them all the while Diamond Tiara had “Excused” herself to the bathroom. He pulled out a letter and showed it to Cheerilee. Who in turn blushed at the words on the paper. She decided to keep that particular message from being said in front of the ponies around her.

They kept walking down a hall and saw a lot of rooms. There was the Royal Dining room where the princesses ate with their guests. Of course they didn’t need to eat but they loved the taste of food. A rumor went around that Princess Celestia was a total pig at the table. No one who ate with her ever talked about it though.

Finally they went to the meeting room where the princesses met the public. There in the room where the two ponies that I had dreamed to meet all those years. Luna looked at the 13 ponies in front of her and smiled. Celestia was looking on us in a very regal manner. With them 6 other ponies sat smiling. I gasped at those six. It was the Elements of Harmony! Not just that. It was the 6 ponies helping raise me!

I went running to see them when the flash happened. A terrible light went throughout the room. The world remained dark. I could hear crying from the other ponies. I finally got my eyes open to a struggle. Stained glass had been broken. A fire was raging around the throne room. I looked around thinking that I should be dead when I heard his voice.

“Everyone calm down!” It was Stormbreaker who had used a burst of wind to clear out the flames around the ponies. I was looking for the princesses. Or the Elements of Harmony. My mother! They were gone. Screaming was coming from behind the door. Spells were being cast as the pegasi guards were fighting. I could hear the sounds of swords clashing on metal.

“Alright, let us get this all settled. Someone cast a fire spell into here and we need to get out of here now!” The chaos was insane and to make things worse the guards were dieing outside. Stormbreaker was leading everyone out through the door that the princesses normally used. Everyone there were either crying or about to cry.

That is everyone except Stormbreaker and I. We both realized that something was going to have to be done if our princesses would be okay. As we ran through the door though a pony was waiting for us. It was wearing armor so one of the little ponies ran up to him asking him what happened.

By the time I realized his horn glowing it was too late. The pony was fried to ash in front of us. I flew at the man in armor as fast as I could. Thanks to Rainbow Dash who taught me some skills when it came to flying. I clashed into the stallion and he went flying across the room into the horn of unicorn’s statue.

But rather than blood coming from the now dead pony he just evaporated. Darkness coming from the armor then all the armor fell to the ground. “Of course!” I said. “Nopony in their right mind would actually kill anypony!”

Stormbreaker countered “You did.” I gave him a shocked look when I realized he was right. Sure I didn’t actually kill anypony but I had no idea that pony wasn’t a pony. Right then I broke down. Another one of those dark things came in though and put a hoof on me. I looked up to the pony and saw a sword rise up.

My life had flashed before my life as the blade came down. Actually, it didn’t. The bolt of lightning that struck the dark pony on the other hand DID flash before me. I looked over at Stormbreaker right as his horn died down. He was panting then looked at me. We both knew what we had to do.

The other ponies with us were still scared and cowering in the corner. I walked to them. “Everypony! We have to get out of here. This castle is under attack! Whoever is doing this is killing a lot of ponies right now and wont hesitate to kill us on sight.”

Cheerilee spoke up. “She is right. Come on Ponies let us get you all home right now.” She looked at me and Storm who had walked up next to me. “You two will need to help us.”

The next few minutes were total hell. A battle was going on in the courtyard with ponies dying a lot quicker than the dark ponies. So much death going on and still no word from the princesses. We were running to the stagecoach that we had ridden up.

I hooked myself up to the front of it with Scootaloo who had just gotten her wings grown out enough to fly. We started running and flapping our wings. We wouldn’t get the coach in the air but that extra speed was just enough to dodge a massive bolt of fire that soared behind them.

They got to the hill and started gaining speed very fast. The coach soared down the mountain gaining speed at an alarming rate when the Dark Pegasi Ponies flew up behing them. Storm launched another bolt of lightning on one of them but didn’t have enough time to get the second one. Which slammed into the coach making it shake very fast.

He had hit his head against the wall and was knocked out. I didn’t see what happened after that. I just heard the scream from the teacher. “YOU WILL NOT HURT THESE PONIES!” followed by the sound of glass breaking and children screaming. According to the others Cheerilee jumped out the wagon and grabbed the Pegasus. It took them both to the ground killing them instantly.

When we reached the bottom we just kept going. When we reached the gates of Canterlot we just kept going. We didn’t stop until we made it to Ponyville. Already under attack as well the village was in just as much chaos as Canterlot was.

I knew what they were after however and untied myself as we got out from the wagon. I rushed into the library and grabbed a book. After Discord happened Princess Celestia had decided to keep the Elements of Harmony with their owners. I had seen them but thought they were just accessories that Twilight used.

I ran out biting on the book. It was then that the first spell from that dreaded creature hit Canterlot. The dark figure with both a horn and wings. An Alicorn flew over the ponies standing in shock.

At first I thought it was Luna. That was quickly dashed as the spell launched from the creatures horn. A large black sphere went flying. It had gone far out of sight by the time it hit Canterlot. Fire competely engulfed the whole city. It destroyed everything. Everyone screamed as the destruction rocked the whole country side.

Stormbreaker looked defeated almost right off the bat. I gave him a wondering look and he just shook his head.

I looked as the fires destroyed the landscape where Canterlot had once been. I almost started crying when the Alicorn came back. “Hello ponies of Ponyville!” She shouted with a voice that rocked the town. “I have been given a second chance by the stars to do what I failed those three years ago. I, Nighmare Moon, will take this land for myself.”