"Thank you. For everything."
Twilight Sparkle had just accepted her new role as ruler of Equestria. A big title for a very small pony, but one of great importance. One title was determined to fill. She looked teary-eyed at her predecessors as she thanked them for all they had done for her over the years.
Twilight's friends were all standing behind her, the ponies that had helped her through thick and thin, the ponies that had helped her realize what friendship was all about, and the very same ponies that had fought beside her when the evil of the world would come to bring about another catastrophic event.
Everypony present were overwhelmed with emotions. After a week of planning and coming to terms with a significant life change, it was a relief to have a moment to reflect on everything that had happened. Not only in the past years but in recent events as well. Twilight felt like the retirement of the two alicorns who had been in power for over a thousand years symbolized the passing of their title and a final farewell between them. Feeling overcome with this emotion of finality, she jumped into Celstia's hooves and hugged her tightly, and her friends joined them shortly after.
The day of the celebration was over sooner than she would have liked, and Twilight had to see her friends off at the train station much sooner than she wanted to. It was as if they were already on a different path, and she still hadn't fully adjusted to that fact. Before she knew it, she and Spike were introduced to their new rooms at the palace. Spike mentioned that he didn't care much for having separate rooms, he wanted to sleep near Twilight like they were used to. He felt safer that way.
Twilight didn't mind that at all.
In the following weeks, after Twilight and Spike had gotten to know their surroundings a bit more, she had to legitimize her new title as princess of the country. Nopony had replaced the rulers for thousands of years, so a lot of documents needed to be updated to modern criteria. Celestia, Luna, and other government officials would assist with that.
She was told she had to wait a few months before all that would be dealt with so she could start signing papers. So, until then, she would spend her time adjusting to calling Canterlot Castle her new home. Spike and Twilight had been placed in Celestia's old chambers. Some changes had to be added to the interior decor around the palace to suit the new theme. Having Celstia's colors and characteristics everywhere didn't feel right to her; she needed to make it her own.
Living in a castle in Ponyville definitely had prepared her for living in Canterlot Castle. She wasn't intimidated by the size of the castle, so she didn't mind living there. It was just that she couldn't have as much free time as she used to, and that was the only real negative thing about it.
It was hard having to say goodbye to her friends, but it wasn't goodbye forever. They knew it would be this way and were all prepared for it. Twilight was ready to lead as a good and kind princess, and the others fully supported her in her new goal.
It helped her more than they could ever know.
The elements of harmony had decided to create a monthly gathering called 'The Counsel of Friendship,' aptly named by Pinkie. The first meeting happened during Twilight's first week of ruling after the crowning ceremony, and it was mostly spent laughing about how silly the ceremony had been.
Without having officially been given the title of princess yet, despite the coronation, Twilight couldn't hold day court, nor would she be able to host any important events anywhere in the country. Those were the most ordinary duties for the princesses, and it would be a big part of her life from now on. As far as she knew, anyway. At least, she had Spike by her side, which helped her keep her mind in check.
Twilight's friends in Ponyville promised to meet whenever they could outside of her duties and their monthly counsel, but other than that, Twilight wouldn't see them as much as she would have liked. She would mostly read through previous court cases that Celestia and Luna had been through and get tutors for etiquette and whatnot. Things that were needed for diplomacy, addressing subjects properly, and everything in between.
Twilight had her own ideas about how to address her own subjects. Still, even Celestia had told her to avoid getting too familiar with the elites, as they would likely try to take advantage of Twilight for their own benefit, especially now that she was ruling alone.
Twilight had a faint idea of what she was heading into. She had read the princess' diaries several times over, and she was getting lessons from them directly lately. They both had come by personally several times in the first few weeks to see how Twilight was adjusting, which was a big help to her. Just seeing the two gave her a sense of familiarity.
The previous princesses had undergone a few changes just weeks after they resigned. They still had magic, but they gave me a large amount of what magic they possessed in order for Twilight to lower and raise the moon every day.
During the third week of Twilight's rule, she, Celestia, and Luna were all chatting outside in the castle courtyard, making their way towards the main gates of the castle grounds.
"Oh yeah, the girls should be arriving soon, and we plan to go to Donut Joe's to get some donuts for our stargazing date later. Do you two want to join us?" Twilight asked.
The two sisters looked at each other amusedly, and Celestia spoke up. "Oh? Skipping duties, are we?"
"Nope! I did everything for today just so I could do something nice for a change." She grinned as she gestured for them to follow me. "Come on, they're probably just arriving at the cas-"
Before she could complete her sentence, a massive explosion made them cover their ears on instinct from how violent it was. It was accompanied by a shockwave not even a second later.
"What in Equestria just happened?!" Luna exclaimed as she removed her hooves from her ears.
"Take cover!" Was the last thing Twilight heard before she was teleported to a different part of the courtyard. Something slammed down forcefully in the courtyard moments after.
Completely confused, she turned around and looked behind her, to where she heard whatever it was slamming into the ground. There was a creature of some sort. It looked like a massive, black serpent, covered in a flowing liquid that seemed to have a mind of its own as it moved around rapidly over the scales of the snake. The serpent was massive, a little longer than the courtyard in width, and at least five ponies thick.
"What..?" Twilight whispered when she saw some legs and armor sticking out at odd angles from underneath the serpent. Blood was pooling underneath. From her position, she saw at least three ponies that had met their fate under this creature.
Celestia and Luna were next to her, ready to attack. Guards were scattered, and any ponies that had been nearby were either engaging or fleeing.
There was no time to react; whoever this new enemy was, it was attacking. It had killed.
And it was now moving.
The serpent hissed so low that it almost sounded like a growl. It raised its head and hissed at the fleeing ponies. It looked like it wanted to give chase, but the alicorns had other ideas.
Twilight, Celestia, and Luna all channeled very powerful magic into their horns to send a large amount of it directly into the head of the snake, and it hissed as its head was thrown back by the amount of power that connected with it.
However, it didn't do nearly as much damage to the serpent as they intended.
Twilight noticed her friends, the elements of harmony, were now running into the courtyard behind the serpent with a large selection of guards.
The serpent started to slither its way around to face them more directly, and when it did, it dragged around the dead ponies under it and left some of them behind as they were squeezed out from its weight. It made Twilight sick to her stomach, and she wanted to barf up everything she had in her just from seeing the bodies of ponies being tossed around like that.
Celestia and Luna were right there with her, and they had their horns ready to fight. Twilight could feel their anger grow as they eyed the snake, fully intending to disable it for good.
"This thing is strong. My blast barely did anything," Celestia warned. The serpent hissed again, now getting ready to strike at them.
"We have to distract it before it has a chance to gain any leverage," Luna added, at which both Celestia and Twilight nodded. Without a word, she vanished with a flash of her magic.
The snake was fast. Before they had time to blast it with magic, it charged at them with a speed they weren't expecting. The only thing that stopped it from devouring them was Twilight's teleportation reflex. She snatched Celestia with her in the spell and vanished into thin air just as Luna had a moment earlier, and when they reappeared, they were on the other side of the large creature, together with the rest of the elements.
Luna was flying around the serpent, zapping it with her magic to draw its attention away from the ponies unable to fly away from its vicinity.
The serpent screeched at Luna and whipped its enormous tail at her with surprising speed, which caused her to conjure up a shield on instinct. What followed was Luna being sent flying from the force of the tail connecting with her shield.
Having already made quick work of the distraction, it turned its attention towards the ponies trying to surround it somehow. Desperately, guards and other military units who were nearby had mobilized around the serpent, preparing for a counter-offensive. Twilight and Celestia were barking out orders for everypony present.
"Surround it! We need to do all we can to keep it away from civilians!" Celestia yelled around her.
"Girls! We need to-" Twilight instructed to the other elements of harmony, just as the sserpent suddenly lunged forward to snatch her. She teleported herself and everypony near her away from there.
Once they reappeared, she saw the snake had crashed it's head into the cobbled ground, trying to rip it's large fangs out of the ground.
"Twi! Pinkie's still over there!" yelled Applejack, one of her closest friends. The serpent was close to one of the walls surrounding the area, and Pinkie looked to be trapped between the wall and the monster.
She was outside of my reach... Twilight thought in panic.
"Pinkie! Hold on!" She shouted as she took off into the air towards where Pinkie was now backing away as the serpent finally managed to get its fangs out of the ground.
"Twilight!"
Rainbow Dash, another one of Twilight's nearest friends, had joined her. They both flew to get Pinkie Pie before the serpent could get to her. "Dash, you get Pinkie! I will lead it away from her!"
It was only a split second that happened, but the creature had decided to snap its large head in the direction of Twilight and Rainbow Dash. So, as the only solution, Twilight needed to strain her already distressed state to perform another teleportation charm.
"Twilight... Pinkie Pie..." muttered Rainbow Dash as she watched in frozen horror at the scene unfolding in front of them.
Guards that had been trying to grab the snake's attention had perished at the tail whipping around wildly, others were still firing off magic at it, to absolutely no effect. Luna was nowhere to be seen, Celestia was teleporting ponies away, Rainbow Dash was frozen in fear, and Pinkie...
The snake's attack was sudden and left no time to prepare. Twilight watched in horror as its large head struck the ground where Pinkie Pie was, her back against the wall moments before. Rainbow was visibly shaken, pointing at the snake's head, now hidden from view.
It lifted its head, now with something in its mouth. A pony's upper body hung limp from the mouth of the snake.
A pink pony by the name of Pinkie Pie.
Twilight didn't think; she blasted the snake at its throat, and head, some shots missing entirely and flying into the skies. Her vision was bubbling over as she desperately tried to stop this thing from...
The snake barely felt the blows even as Luna, Celestia, and the guards joined in with their magical barrage. It felt like hours passed by as they tried to disable the unaffected monster before-
CRUNCH
Amidst the sounds of magic, a disturbing noise echoed. The sound of a pony's body breaking, followed by a swallow. Time stood still as everything stopped, and Twilight's senses heightened, capturing every detail of the heart-wrenching moment she would never forget; the moment she lost her dear friend forever.
She could see particles of dust dance before her as memories with her friend flashed before her eyes once she realized what had just happened. That moment in the courtyard felt like it lasted for an entire lifetime.
But, that moment ended when the world was blinded by a burst of fire from above, which enveloped the beast in a sea of flames.