Chapter 73

Spike grumbled angrily as he collected the apples from Applejack… He avoided talking to her as he was still angry at everypony. Both the dragon and pony’s attention was caught by the sound of giggles and cheers.

They both turned to see the Cutie Mark Crusaders happily playing as they made their way over. Applejack returned to resting her head on her hoof and Spike continued his angry shopping

“Why are you three so happy?” Spike growled as the fillies got close. They returned with happy smiles, ignoring Spike’s sour attitude

Applebloom jumped next to her sister “We get ta be best friends with Dave and Celestia’s baby!” she beamed at her friends as Applejack groaned

“Girls I take it ya haven’t heard” She rubbed her eyes as the fillies suddenly became curious “Dave was actually somepony called Odio, he’s… gone” She said the last word with a hint of joy, causing Spike to growl

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow “No he hasn’t” She smiled again “Dave’s fine!” the small Pegasus began playing a small chasing game with Sweetie Belle around the apple stand

It was Spike’s turn to ask a question “What do you mean he is fine? The elements turned him to stone and they threw him into the badlands. The fillies began laughing loudly as they rolled on the floor

Sweetie Belle managed to stop laughing to speak “You two are funny, we just saw Dave at his house” she smiled at her friends while Spike and Applejack gasped. Applejack turned to run but Spike grabbed her neck

“NO! I won’t let you tell the others,” Spike yelled as Applejack attempted to shake him off “You will send him away again!”

The earth pony shook the dragon off her back with ease “Ah gotta do this Spike” she frowned at the fillies before galloping away towards the library. Spike groaned as he climbed out of the apple basket he was thrown in

“No, no, NO!” He dropped his head as he punched the apples “They are gonna get him again!” He took a few breaths to calm himself “We have to slow them down… somehow”

As the Cutie Mark Crusaders helped Spike out of the apples and onto the ground, as they exchanged worried faces their ears were filled with a loud screech. They all turned and gawped as they saw the cartridges of the train rolling down the street, ponies narrowly avoiding the carnage

Spike ran towards the library, avoiding the rubble that sprayed into the air, his short legs moved quickly until he was well in the doorway. He panted as he saw Twilight and Applejack exchanging scared looks. Twilight added something to the bottom of her scroll

“Spike can you send this letter?” Twilight passed the scroll to the dragon but he swatted it away

“No! Dave did nothing wrong” Spike held his mouth shut and his arms crossed “I won’t let you hurt him again”

Twilight frowned “Spike look outside” She indicated to the broken cartridges outside “We both know who did that, he isn’t the Dave we used to know” She levitated the letter over to Spike again. Spike groaned as he reluctantly blew the scroll away before helping anypony outside

Meanwhile…

Celestia sat on the edge of her bed, her royal regalia were still strewn around the room and her mane was not flowing as peacefully due to it being drenched in tears multiple times. He gaze remained on the floor as her door opened and Luna stepped in

“Are you proud of yourself?” She said as she sat next to her sister “Are you proud you tried to have your child removed?”

“No and I can’t have it removed” Celestia sighed, “I feel like such a failure,” she sobbed again as Luna held her in her comforting hooves

The princess of the night rocked slowly back and forth “This isn’t the Celestia everypony knows” She smiled “You can make it through anything, I know because you are my big sister”

“A sister that stole your coltfriend that turned out to be the reason I sent you to the moon” Celestia hated herself and sobbed into Luna’s chest “I’m sorry, please forgive me,” she pleaded

Luna smiled “You have nothing to be sorry about, you have to…” She was cut off as a scroll appeared in green flame, slowly she unravelled it and Celestia shuddered

Dave has been sighted and the train has gone missing, I thought I should warn you. We will be ready to act at any moment

Twilight Sparkle

P.s. He is on his way

Celestia snarled, “I want all the guards at every post and to prepare for anything” she stood up “Get Adamas to get the elements as I fear Odio may suppress our attempts at teleporting”

Luna nodded “We will have to help the elements this time, if he broke out then his magical resistance is still holding out” She used her magic to clean Celestia and put on her regalia “With all of us together and if we strike at the right time, we should do it”

The white alicorn walked over to the window and glared out “We will make him suffer, we will make sure he remembers that it is the princesses that defend Equestria” she turned and nodded to her sister

Luna stood “I will make sure he can never hurt us ever again” she nodded “Don’t worry sister, we shall end this… together”

Meanwhile…

Dave snapped the brake leaver as Odio forced as much coal into the furnace as possible “Alright I hope the driver doesn’t mind us stealing the train” Dave chuckled as he watched the town’s train station move away, the driver tied up in rags

“Nah, it isn’t stealing it’s just… borrowing for an amount of time it is likely it will never be retuned” Odio forced the lid shut on the furnace and pulled the whistle “I always wanted to do that”

“Its strange that I am having so much fun doing this” Dave sighed as the speed of the train picked up beyond safe limits “I never thought that this was how it would turn out for me… attacking a city with a giant, evil fog”

Odio moved back into his new position around Dave’s chest and arms “Well what is the worst that could happen? You turn to stone and we break out an hour later”

“Yeah I suppose,” Dave shrugged as he climbed up the small pile of coal and stood at the back of the speeding train “Tell me when” Dave sighed as he braced himself

Odio’s fog engulfed Dave’s legs “Alright…three” Dave took one final deep breath as he felt the fog grip his legs and flow into his muscles “Two…” Odio saw the tunnel approaching and moved his eyes to look up the rocky mountain face “one” He fully moved back into Dave’s body, flooding him with energy

“Go” Dave smiled as he jumped, the energy from Odio sent him upwards while the momentum from the train helped him soar up the mountain. He only had to use his feet to push himself the final few feet before he began his decent the other side, his running kept him on the path for the large road leading into Canterlot’s main gate

He pushed off the mountain, giving himself time to see the train crash through the train station. The guards quickly assisted everypony from the platforms and made sure nopony was injured. One Pegasus guard noticed a set of scratches across the side of the train

“Knock Knock motherfucker?” He read aloud to his fellow guards, his eyes opened in realization as the alarm from the main gate sounded

He took flight and landed on a section of wall above the closing gate, his face gawped at the human marching towards the city, a large black fog slowly expanding upwards and outwards from his back. The fog quickly hid the city from the outside world, red lightning striking the ground as Dave continued his hate-filled march. The guards noticed the large dragon fly over the rising wall as it headed for the castle, its arms crossed as it held something precious

The guard shuddered as the black fog grew, the unicorns near him began to charge magic and closed the gate, the giant door was reinforced with two large metal beams that took ten unicorn guards to lift each. One was golden and was designed to look like a solar flare, the other was silver and looked like a shooting star

The Pegasus flared their wings, the unicorns brought their horns down, aiming at Dave. The earth pony guards were helping the ponies on the streets get into homes or shops. When the streets were empty they began to help prepare defences at the castle gate and the castle interior

Shining Armour walked along the wall and stopped in the centre “Guards! Pegasi, unicorns and earth pony alike. This enemy has a way of beating each of you but together he cannot defeat us” He allowed himself a glance at Dave “We are not a group of guards, we are the greatest force this world has ever known!” The guards slammed their hooves repeatedly “This enemy wants to hurt the princesses, the ponies of Equestria, your families! Will you stand for this?”

“NO!” The guards said in unison as they glared at Dave, each with the intent on making him suffer. Shining Armour nodded as he put his helmet on

“Then let us drive this foe back into the abyss in the sky!” He yelled as the guards cheered, he dropped his horn as he awaited the princesses’ order. He could see Dave clearly as the human chuckled.

Odio’s fog crackled loudly and the noise made a thunderstorm sound like a cough “Cute speech” Odio chuckled into Dave’s ear “I take it you are gonna keep yours short”

“My name is Dave Shield!” Dave bellowed, the fog amplifying his voice “Don’t worry, everything is going to be over soon. Move now and you won’t be harmed” His smile dipped sadly before it took on a slight snarl as he saw the white princess fly from her castle, she yelled something before flying back to the castle. Dave sighed as he saw the volley of magical missiles fly towards him and Odio’s fog, the black smoke flashed lightning as the first fight for Canterlot began