Deeper Than Tartarus

by SolarCloak

Chapter 3: Equestria In Chaos

The battalion finished burying the last of the dead at the edge of the city. The four princesses stood infront of the sea of makeshift tombstones. There was too many to count and the wooden crosses went as far the eye could see. Luna began to mumble a prayer quietly to herself, blessing the ponies with safe passage to the next life. Celestia stared at the mass graveyard, a broken expression on her face.

"Your majesty." one of the guards said, trying to capture the princess's attention."We should begin our journey back to Canterlot. He is still out there." the guard said. Celestia glanced at the guard. She wiped a tear from her eye and gave a small nod.

"You're right general. We should get back to Canterlot as soon as possible. Ignatius could still be lurking nearby. We're sitting ducks as it is, what with burying all the ponies." the princess of the sun said."Everypony, move out." the princess ordered. The battalion shifted into action and began to march. The four princesses stood at the front of the battalion. Celestia stared at the ground as they marched. Luna took over control of the battalion as she saw that her sister was not of able mind at the current time. Twilight went over to Celestia to try and console her.

"You need to be easier on yourself." The purple alicorn said."Even if we had made it in time, who knows if we would have been able to stop what happened." Twilight said, trying to comfort the princess of the sun. Celestia looked at her prized student.

"Thank you Twilight." The white alicorn said. Cadence joined the two alicorns.

"What's important now is that we don't let something like this happen again." the princess of love said. The other two alicorns nodded in agreement."From what I could gather, it looks like he is heading in the direction of Canterlot. As far as I'm aware, there are no other towns or cities between here and Canterlot." The pink alicorn said. The alicorns marched on.

"He'll plan to strike the city, and when he does we'll be ready, throwing everything we've got at him." the solar princess said. The pink and purple alicorns nodded in agreement. They continued their march back to Canterlot.

***

Ignatius continued his walk towards Canterlot. He had left the battalion long behind, as they had stopped to bury the dead. As he walked he tries to think of what might have happened at the city. He hadn't felt any unusual power surges during the chaos. He had been walking along the outskirts of the city when he heard the first explosion. The moment he did he transported himself out of the city to the nearby hill. If he had known how bad the damage would be, he would have transported the population out also. Sadly one of the skills he lacked was time travel. He continued to think about the incident as he walked along the Equestrian countryside. The fields stretched as far the eye could see and were as green as emeralds. Equestria was truely a beautiful place to behold. He couldn't understand how such a place of peace, could have such chaos.

***

A hooded figure trailed Ignatius as he walked along the outskirts of Vanhoover. As the figure was following Ignatius, he stopped near the edge of the city. The figure looked at one of the buildings beside Ignatius. He pictured the building bursting into flames. The firgure raised it's hand and the building caught fire. Instantly screams could be heard through the city. The figure turned around to see that more than one building had caught fire. He had not yet gained full control over his new powers. He turned back to find Ignatius, but he was gone. The figure turned back to the city, and a wicked smile grew on his face. He raised both his hands and the city went to hell.

***

The battalion was halfway back to Canterlot at this point. Celestia had taken back control of the battalion. As they were marching a small gourp of pegasi flew down to them. They were a group of wonderbolts. Spitfire landed infront of Celestia.

"Your majesty." The yellow pegasus said bowing.

"What news have you got?" The solar princess asked.

"A cloaked figure was spotted heading in the direction of the Crystal Empire. They have already been alertes and are on standby." the captain of the wonderbolts said. Celestia thought for a moment.

"This doesn't seem right. Why would he go to the Crystal Empire. This could be a trick. I will go to the Crystal Empire with Cadence. Twilight, I want you and Luna to return to Canterlot. I will need you both to defend the city if we fail at the Crystal Empire." Celestia said. Cademce nodded at her aunt. Luna and Twilight both looked at the white alicorn. Luna nodded a silent goodbye. Twilight hugged her mentor before flying off with the princess of the night."Let's get moving to the Crystal Empire" the princess shouted at the battalion. They turned and headed in the direction of the Crystal Empire.

***

Princess Luna and Princess Twilight arrived back at Canterlot shortly before dusk. Luna ordered all the guards to stay on high alert and to be prepared for an imminent attack. She also ordered the guards to start evacuating citizens to nearby cities, until the crisis was averted. Many of the citizens were in uproar about being moved from their homes. When they were told about what happened at Vanhoover, they were more than willing to leave. Soon enough the entire city had been evacuated of all civilian personel. The city was placed in lock down. Nopony was allowed in or out without permission from the princesses. Luna and Twilight sat in the throne room.

"This is like the calm before the storm." Twilight said. Luna looked at the purple alicorn.

"You worry for my sister and your sister in law?" The princess of the night asked.

"Of course, you saw the damage this thig did. How will they be able to defeat it?" Twilight asked the dark blue alicorn. Luna looked at the young alicorn.

"What Celestia and Cadence need right now is our belief in them to stop Ignatius. If they feel that we doubt them, then they will doubt themselves also, guaranteeing their defeat." the lunar princess said. The two alicorns sat in silence in the throne room. Time passed slowly as the princesses waited for an update. As they waited Luna's horn began to glow. She cast a spell creating a small mirror. In the mirror Celestia and Cadence could be seen.

"Sister." Luna said."Is everything alright?" she asked the solar princess.

"Everything is fine. Ignatius has arrived at the Crystal Empire. He is currently walking towards the city. We are planning an attack as we speak." The princess of the sun said.

"We have evacuated the city." Luna said to her sister."Incase things come to the worst.".

"We did the same here. Hopefully we will be victorius in our battle against Ignatius." The white alicirn said. Suddenly a guard burst into the throne room.

"Your majesty, he's here. One of our scout spotted him approaching from the north west." The guard panted. Luna looked at the guard, wide eyed.

"What does thou mean, he is here. That is impossible, he is at the Crystal Empire." Luna bellowed. The guard just shook his head.

"The scouts confirmed it was him, he'll be here within the hour." the guard said. Luna turned back to face her sister.

"This isin't possible." Luna said. Her sister looked at her through the magic mirror.

"I don't know what's going on, but if he is somehow here and there then you need to prepare to engage him." Celestia said to her sister."We need to stop two of him now." The solar princess said.

"What if we do not have the strength to stop two of him?" Luna asked her sister.

"Then Equestria will be destroyed." Celestia said bluntly, stopping the mirror spell. Luna looked at Twilight with a hint of fear in her eyes.

"Prepare for the hardest fight of your entire life Twilight." Luna said as she left the throne room.

***

Ignatius reached the top of the small hill. He could see Canterlot castle on the edge of the mountain from here. His goal was in sight. He would soon be able to seek revenge for his wrongful imprisonment.

Far to the north the cloaked figure continued advancing towards the Crystal Empire. He could see the ponies in the distance, setting up defences to slow him down. He looked at the large Crystal city infront of him. He imagined all the crystal with large cracks running through them. He raised his hands and pointed them at the city.