> Outcasts of Equestria
>  by Old Ben Kenobi
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1-Urgent Summons
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight Sparkle and her five friends were all very tired. They had just come back from joining Fluttershy to see the Night Swallow migration. The Night Swallow was now a very rare bird in Equestria; after Princess Luna was banished, their numbers slowly went into decline, and not even Princess Celestia could help them. Many experts were worrying that they could go extinct, something that almost never happened in the lands of Equestria. However, since Princess Luna was restored, the animals were starting to increase in number. Fluttershy had been even more excited to see the migration than she had been when she was going to see the Breezies,and nopony could possibly have denied her offer to go and see the migration. And everypony agreed it had been wonderful:the birds were very beautiful, and had dark blue, shimmering feathers that looked as if they were imbubed with the light of a thousand stars, and when they caught the light of the moon, they looked as if they had been bathed in silver. However, the migration had lasted well into the night, and when the ponies got back, there was a full moon hanging in the sky,
As they reached the town square of Ponyville, Rainbow Dash gave a large yawn.
"I don't know about you guys," she said, "But I think it's about time for me to hit the hay."
The rest of the ponies, except Fluttershy, nodded and muttered in agreement. Even Pinkie Pie had drooping eyelids. Fluttershy, however, was sitting near the  gentle, tinkling fountain, staring up at the night sky. A soft wind blew through her mane. 
Twilight noticed and walked up to her.
"Fluttershy, is there something wrong?" she asked in a concerened tone.
"Oh...no,"said Fluttershy,"No, nothing is wrong,"She paused, "Well, nothing here, I think,"
"What do you mean by that?" asked Twilight curiously.
"I don't really know, Twilight," she replied, "But I think this night is important, somehow."
At this, Twilight smiled.
"The swallows were really beautiful, weren't they?" she said, "I've read that if their quills are used correctly, they can be very powerful at channeling magic..."
"No, Twilight," interrupted Fluttershy, "It's something bigger than the Swallows, something more dangerous..."
At that moment, a small, two legged baby dragon came running from the direction of the Golden Oaks Library towards the ponies.
"Twilight!" he yelled, panting for breath"I have...a message...from the Princess..."
"Spike, dear, whatever is the matter?" asked Rarity. There was a bright green flash, and a scroll appeared from Spike's burst of flame. Twilight levitated it with her magic, and read it out loud.
"My dearest Twilight Sparkle," she began," I do not have much time to send this letter. Come to Canterlot as fast as you can. Bring only those you trust the most. Do not let anyone else know you are coming.
Your Mentor,
Princess Celestia."
Twilight turned the scroll around, but there was nothing written on the back. She looked exceptionally worried.
"Come on, everypony," she said, "I don't know why the Princess wrote me this, but I can tell that there is something very serious going on. We're going back on the train!" She trotted back towards the station, and her five friends followed her. She stopped, and called,
"You too, Spike!"
The six ponies and Spike all walked, sleepy eyed, onto the train, which slowly chugged forward towards the City of Canterlot, which was silloueted in the large, full moon.
> Chapter 2-The Meeting in Canterlot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The train rolled inside the city of Canterlot. At night, its glowing, ivory beauty stood out in stark contrast to the dark,cold forbidding mountain which it was built on. The train suddenly shuddered and ground to a halt. Everyone in the train rose their heads;this had not happened before. The ponies and Spike looked out of the window, to see a group of Royal guards standing in front of the train.
"What in tarnation do them Canterlot guards think they're doing?" said Applejack.
Twilight looked puzzled,
"I don't know," she said, "But I think we should go and investigate," 
Twilight and her friends stepped out of the carridge, only to see the point of a spear thrust in her face.
"Halt!" Shouted the white pegasus guard.
Everyone looked at the guard in shock. Rainbow Dash suddenly flew upwards in a rage,
"Hey!" She shouted, "Do you know who you're talking to? This is Princess Twilight Sparkle!"
"Rainbow Dash..." said Twilight, but Dash ignored her.
"Take that lame stick out of her way!" Said Dash, "Or I'll..."
"Silence!" Shouted the guard. "You are all under arrest!"
"What?" Exclaimed Twilight Sparkle, "We haven't even done anything..."
But at that moment, a loud,terrifying voice shouted,
"Guard C-129! Step down immediately!" It was Princess Celestia.
Everyone was dumbstruck. None of them had ever heard her use the Royal Canterlot Voice before, and after that experience, none of them ever wanted to again.
"These are my guests!" Said Princess Celestia in her quiter, but no less angry voice, "And this is Princess Twilight Sparkle! You are dismissed!"
The guard did something which shocked the seven friends even more. He looked at Celestia with a scowl of utmost loathing, then spat at her hooves and galloped away.
Princess Celestia looked at him go with a trace of sadness in her eyes, then said to the company
"Follow me. We need to head towards my chamber as fast as we can."
Twilight Sparkle walked side by side with her mentor, while her six friends followed behind.
"Princess," began Twilight, "Why..."
"Quiet, Twilight," hissed Celestia, "I will explain everything when I can."
They trotted silently through the halls of Canterlot. Twilight Sparkle noticed there were much more Canterlot guards around than usual.
"Don't look," whispered Celestia, "Ignore them. We need to focus on getting to my room."
They ascended a flight of stairs until they reached a wooden door. They walked in, one by one, and Celestia closed the door with her yellow magic. The room was very luxurious; there was a large bed in the corner, the room was painted red and had a dark crimson carpet and there was a flickering fireplace in the wall.
Celestia turned around and faced the others, a look of fear on her face.
Twilight opened her mouth, but Celestia raised a hoof to silence her.
"I know you will all have questions you want to ask me," she said, "But I will have to be brief. I will tell you everything you need to know."
The room was silent, except for the faint crackling of the fire.
"Over the past few weeks,"Celestia began, "I have been noticing my guards have been behaving strangely. Few can still meet my eyes, and the display you saw there was only one of many."
"Why don't you do something?" Interrupted Rainbow Dash,"You're Princess Celestia! You could have them banished or thrown in a dungeon in ten seconds flat!"
Princess Celestia looked at Rainbow Dash.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple, Dash," she said sadly, "You see, I have a feeling that there is something behind this. Someone wants to rise to power, to take over Canterlot. And for that, they would need me out of the way. I know some of the guards are in on it, though I would like to think some remain loyal. If I were to banish anyone in the current situation, it could be just the excuse they need to arrest me and take my throne."
The ponies looked on, wide eyed. All the things that had posed a threat to Celestia so far had been magical and even alien, though now they were seeing a very different threat-a threat from the inside.
"This is why I have called you here," continued the Princess ,"You are the only ones I can fully trust to investigate this issue. I know none of you will let me down."
Suddenly, the wooden door burst open to reveal a dark brown pegasus guard. He bowed to Celestia, then got up.
"My lady," he said, "I have come to warn you,"
"What is it?" asked Celestia,
"Downstairs, in the Hall," said the pegasus, "There appears to be some kind of revolt!"
Celestia's eyes hardened.
"They've made the first move," she said, half to herself, then she rushed down the stairs, followed by her student and her friends.
> Chapter 3-A Skirmish In Canterlot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight raced down the stairs after her mentor. She had never seen Celestia run before, and was surprised at just how agile the large alicorn was. 
They burst through the two huge doors, as Celestia herself had done at the Grand Galloping Gala almost a year ago. The sight they beheld was very reminiscent of that occasion. The whole room was alive with chaos;guards were fighting guards, and pegasus feathers fell from the roof, as a group of them were involved in an ariel scuffle.
Suddenly, some unicorn guards spotted Celestia.
"It's the Sun Princess and her student!" the lead one shouted, "Seize them,  quickly!"
Some of the pegasus guards above turned their attention away from their flying opponents, and dived straight towards Princess Celestia. However, before they could reach her, a blue flash intercepted them, and they were knocked onto the ground.
"That's for the Princesses!" shouted Rainbow Dash, as the pegasi hurled towards the ground.
However, every guard in the room was alerted to their presence. Suddenly, two thirds of the guards in the room started trying to surge forwards towards Celestia, and the others tried desperatly to push them back.
"Quick, my ladies!" Shouted one of the guards to Twilight and Celestia, "Retreat whilst you still can!"
"No," said Celestia, "You are my subjects, and I will defend you!"
She shot out a golden stunning spell, and an Earth pony fell to the ground, unconscious.
"Twilight," Urged Celestia, "You must get out of here. Alert Princess Luna. I don't think I can hold them for long!"


Twilight looked up at her mentor, then nodded. She turned around to see her friends, staring at the scene in horror.
"Okay, everypony," she said, "Let's go!"
They turned around and ran down the corridor, only to come face to face with a battalion of unicorn guards.
"Celestia!" yelled Twilight.
"I'm sorry!" shouted Celestia back, "I can't get to you! They've pinned me here! You'll have to face them yourselves!"
Twilight gulped, and watched on as the malicious unicorns advanced towards her and her friends.
Twilight, in a desperate effort to stop them, cast her multi-stunning spell, and the group of unicorns was temporarily stunned.
"It won't stop them for long!" she shouted "The more ponies under the spell, the weaker it is!"
"But Twilight, dear, we have to protect Princess Celestia from them," said Rarity.
"There's no time!" replied Twilight, "We can't hope to face a squad of fully trained Canterlot Unicorn Guards! We must get back to the Princess!"
The others followed Twilight and they returned back to Celestia.
"Princess," panted Twilight, "We can't get past the unicorn guards. I'm sorry, Celestia."
"There's no need," replied Celestia, as she used a discharge of gold magic to repel a brown pegasus that was charging towards her. "Look ,"
The other side of the room started growing dark, and out from a door, a tall, dark blue Alicorn charged in.
"Sister," shouted Luna, "I'm here!"
The guards on her side of the room charged towards her, but Luna conjured a dark, black cloud over her head and there was a huge, bright flash of lightning. The guards were thrown backwards.
"Luna," Shouted Celestia, "There is a battalion of enemy Unicorns approaching from my direction!"
Princess Luna was firing beams of dark blue magic at approaching guards as she shouted back her reply.
"Don't worry, Tia!" She said, "If we can keep these ones busy for long enough, we will have already won the battle!"
"How?" shouted Celestia
"He's coming!" Said Luna, simply.
The battalion of unicorn guards was fast approaching the group.
"We'll have to hold them off!" Shouted Twilight to her friends.
The guards galloped towards the group, and Twilight shot out some purple  spells and the oncoming crowd and a few of the guards fell to the ground. However, the others created a magical blue shield around the entire group, leaving them resistant to any magical attacks.
Rainbow Dash charged at them, but the lead one fired a well placed stunning spell at her, and she was thrown backwards.
"Rainbow!" screamed Twilight as the blue pegasus was launched towards her.
"I'm...fine," said Rainbow Dash weakly, "I just...need to lie down..."
The others looked in shock at the guards, then charged towards them. Applejack took out her lasso from under her hat and managed to grab onto the nearest guard, but he was only slowed down for a few seconds, as he used his blue magic to lift the rope off of himself. 
"Step down!" shouted the guard, "Or you will be responosible for the consequences!"
"Never!" shouted Twilight, "Why are you doing this? Who is your leader?"
The guards of course did not answer, but instead they all stopped about twenty feet away from the group. They all closed their eyes, and their horns started burning bright blue in unison. Suddenly, a wave of magical energy surged forwards, engulfing Spike and the mane six. They tried to move, but found they were frozen in position.
"Get this off me!" Shouted Rainbow Dash, but it was no use. The spell was too strong, and the unicorns trotted right past them towards Princess Celestia.
"Celestia!" shouted Twilight, "Look out!"
Celestia turned around, but it was too late. The guards shot a single beam of magical energy at her, and she too was stunned in place. 

Luna had almost finished with all the guards in the room. Just a few more...
Suddenly, a beam of magical energy hit her, and she was stunned in place.
When this happened, the Unicorn guards smiled confidently.
"Looks like the Princes coup was a success," the lead Unicorn said confidently.
"Thou should not hold thy breath," said Luna, and at that moment, a fiendish cackling rang out through the room, the same cackling which had been heard a long time ago in the same room.
The lead Unicorn looked to his side, and there he saw Discord, Lord of Chaos, examining his claws.
"My, my Celestia," he said, without looking up, "I never thought I'd see the day you were defeated by a bunch of pampered Royal Guards,"
"Stop him!" Yelled the lead guard, and they all fired the stunning at him. However, by the time it reached the spot, Discord had gone.
"You Royal Guards really are quite slow, aren't you?" Said Discord's voice, eminating from behind them. Fifteen seperate spells were fired in Discord's direction , but he was gone yet again.
The guards felt something wet rolling down their faces, and looked up to see a group of pink candy floss clouds above them, dribbling chocolate milk rain.
"Stop it, serpent!" Shouted the unicorn guard, "I order you in the name of Canterlot!"
"But Canterlot is not rightfully yours, is it now?" Came the draconequus's snide voice. "Release everypony if you want me to stop, or continue and deal with the consequences.
The chocolate milk puddle forming on the ground suddenly transformed into a puddle of banana skins. The guards tried to run out, but ended up slipping over, much to the amusement of Discord. The few concious Earth pony guards were still slopping in the chocolate puddles and the pegasus guards found themselves entangled in the candy floss clouds. It looked as if Discord had won.

From the two wooden doors where Celestia, was trapped, a tall, white unicorn strode in.he was wearing an expensive tuxedo and had a manicured blonde mane. When they saw him, all the Unicorn guards bowed down on their front hooves.  Despite her being stunned, Rarity could not help let out a shout of disgust.
"You!?" She said, aghast.
The figure walked up to the guards with an irritating smile on his lips.
"My lord Blueblood," said the lead Unicorn, "We have failed you."
> Chapter 4-The Capturing of Discord
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The frozen ponies and Spike looked on in shock. They had all heard about Blueblood from Rarity, and gathered that he had been a complete jerk, but none of them had expected him capable of this. Celestia, however, looked furious.
"Blueblood," she snarled, "You were the one responsible for this?"
"Who else in Canterlot could have the guts or intelligence to pull this off?" he said, arrogantly.
"I don't understand," said Celestia, "Why would the guards follow you? What could you have done to them to make them betray me?"
At this, Blueblood laughed.
"Celestia, Celestia, " he chuckled, "Most of the Royal Guards have been in my pocket from the very moment they started serving here in Canterlot. I was the one who funded their lives here in Canterlot before they were accepted into the guard in the first place. Few of them would be in any place to deny me once I gave them the order to plan the attack."
Discord suddenly appeared next to Blueblood.
"Oh, if it isn't Prince Boring, or whatever your name is," said Discord, "You know, out of all the ponies in this tedious little town, you were always by far the worst."
Blueblood scowled at Discord.
"And you were always an uncivillized brute," remarked Blueblood, "You obviously have no idea of what high class society is like,"
Discord smiled, then vanished.
"And if you are anypony to judge by," came his echoing voice, "I'm very glad I don't!"
Suddenly, all the pink cand floss clouds coelested upon Blueblood, and chocolate milk rain poured down, ruining Blueblood's beautifully manicured mane.
"Help! Help!" shouted Blueblood, "This horrid chocolate milk is destroying my manicure!"
He rushed for cover, but the pink clouds started chasing him around the room, and he could not escape.

Fluttershy looked around at her friends in terror. There must be some way to help them, she thought, especially poor Spike. He's only a baby dragon, after all.
She started feeling a strange tingling feeling, like pins and needles. Suddenly, she found she could move her back leg. She heard a voice in her head, saying
 I'm lifting the stunning spell  . It was Discord's voice. She remained silent, determined not to let Blueblood know she was being released.
 I'll distract the prissy fool,continued the voice Get away and raise the alarm
Fluttershy could finally feel movement returning to her limbs. As Blueblood was desperatly trying to wipe off the chocolate milk from his mane, she tiptoed towards the double doors.
Suddenly, she felt a force grab her back hoof. A Unicorn guard that had been incapacitated during the fight was returning to consciousness, and when he noticed one of the prisoners escaping, he saw it as a chance to redeem himself. So he reached out with his magic and held onto her hoof to stop her escaping.
"My Lord Blueblood!" he shouted, "One is escaping!"
As soon as Blueblood heard this, he drew his attention away from the chocolate rain and started galloping towards Fluttershy. The rainincreased in intensity, and the clouds even started dropping snowballs of mozerella cheese, but nothing stopped Blueblood.  He pulled Fluttershy towards him and held his glowing horn to her throat as she yelped.
"Discord," he panted, "Give yourself up, or she dies!"
There was silence in the room, except for the pitter patter of chocolate milk on the marble Canterlot floor.
"You know I can do it, snake!" Shouted Blueblood, and his horn burned brighter as Fluttershy sobbed.
"Fine," came Discord's disappointed voice. He materialized in front of Blueblood, snapped his fingers, and the pink clouds vanished, along with the chocolate rain and the mozerella snowballs.
"There, happy?" Said Discord.
"Give yourself up, now!" Shouted Blueblood, and he held his hirn closer to Fluttershy's neck.
Discord rolled his eyes and conjured up a pair of handcuffs, which he placed on his front hands.
"Good," said Blueblood, and he let Fluttershy go. Since all of Discord's magic had been dispelled, the unicorn guards had been freed. They recast their spell on Fluttershy, and stunned Discord.
"Not this again," said Discord, "I've had just about enough of being frozen in place for one lifetime."

The battle was over. The Princesses were magically levitated away to a top secret location, leaving Discord, Spike and the mane six alone.
Blueblood marched up to them and spoke;
" Too long have you been under the rule of those Princesses," he said unto them, "Too long have you been the slaves of the tyrannical rulers who forcefully control the day and the night. If you follow me, we can force the Princesses to bring forth the sun and the moon. Then, we will be able to rule my new empire, together! What's your answer?"
Twilight looked at him with disgust.
"You want to know our answer?" She hissed. Using all her stregnth, she shot a blast of dark magic at him, causing the breath to be knocked from his lungs. He collapsed and started wheezing.
"You are all traitors to my state," he puffed, as he tried to get up, "I will lock you so far in the ground that you shall never come to light! Guards, take them away!"
The prisoners were lifted by magic and taken down the corridor. Many remembered their family and friends at home. They hadn't even been able to say their last goodbyes.
> Chapter 5-The Canterlot Caves
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Royal Guards marched the prisoners down the hall, led by Blueblood. When they finally stopped, they were in a new room, with a sign :  Canterlot Public Library 
The room was filled with bookshelves. There was an hourglass in the centre, and a huge, sunny window with a view of the entire City of Canterlot.
At this, Twilight's eyes widened.
"Spike," she whispered, "This was the last room we were in before we moved to Ponyville. It seems so long ago!"
"Oh, yeah," said Spike, "Never did manage to give that present to Moondancer," he added, with a hint of regret.
Blueblood trotted up to the huge hourglass, and gave an order to his troops.
"Guards, open it!" He shouted.
The guards nodded, then their horns all glowed blue. The hourglass was surrounded by a blue aura, which caused it to levitate away, revealing a huge hole in the floor.
"This is where my worst prisoners will go," he laughed, "There will be no way for anyone to find you here, as I will close off these caves forever."
"Our families will hear 'bout this," shouted Applejack, "They'll come looking!"
"No they won't," Blueblood smirked, "Because the last time these caves were discovered, Princess Celestia removed all information of the caves or how to access them, to stop invaders like the Changeling Queen from using them again. There is no way your family could find you, even if they tried!"
At this, Rarity finally lost her patience.
"Sweetie Belle will be worried sick!" She snarled at him, "I cannot believe I could have had anything to do with you!"
At this, Blueblood smiled. He walked up to her and held her head in his hoof.
"My dear Rarity," he said, "Had you stayed with me, you could have been so much more. You could have ruled with me, as a Princess, and Sweetie Belle would have been next in line for the throne!"
"You are insane if you think she would want anything to do with you!" Retorted Rarity,
"So be it," said Blueblood. He turned to the group of unicorns.
"Guards," he barked, "Lower the prisoners into the minecart."
The ponies, the dragon and the draconequus were levitaed down the hole, each into individual carts. 
"Don't forget to write!" Blueblood remarked snidely, and the prisoners felt their carts being pushed forwards, and they fell downwards into the dark abyss.

Fluttershy felt like she was going to be sick. She had never liked it when she had been in the Junior Flight Camp and she had seen the others fly at speeds she could not dream of ever doing. They had made her feel slightly dizzy. She had gotten over that now, but she had never travelled so fast before in her life. She opened her eyes to see huge, dark caverns of crystal and stalagtites rush past her vision. She covered her eyes and hugged the floor of the cart, hoping it would be over soon. 
The minecarts finally ground to a halt. Everyone rose slowly out of their individual metal caskets and converged together on the stony floor. The cavern they were in was huge; crystals and rock stretched on for as far as the eye could see. The only light source was the soft glow from Twilight's horn which illuminated the cave.
"Is everypony okay?"She asked.
There was a collective 'yes' from everyone in the group, except Fluttershy, who was still laying flat on her minecart.
Rainbow Dash flew up to Fluttershy and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Uh, Fluttershy?" said Dash, "I think you can get out now,"
Fluttershy crawled out of the cart and slowly joined the rest of the group.
"Hey, Twilight," said Dash, "How is it that we can move again?"
"If we are far enough from the unicorns who cast the spell, " explained Twilight, "It automatically wears off,"
"What should we do, Twilight?" Asked Applejack, "There must be someway of getting out of this darn cave system."
"I don't know," said Twilight. "I was thinking that we could try and follow the minecart track, but Blueblood is likely to expect us to do that, so he has likely blocked it up."
"If I may, Princess," interrupted Discord, "I was under the impression that you have been in these caves before. Surely you have some idea of how we can get out?"
"Well," said Twilight, "After I got out, I did do some research on these caves before Celestia removed the information, and I think if we we head west, there might be a way out."
"But how will we know which way is north?" Asked Pinkie Pie, "Everywhere looks the same in this place."
"Don't worry, everpony," said Twilight, "I have a spell which will point us north. Just give me a few seconds of concentration..."
Twilight closed her eyes, and her horn stared to glow. Suddenly, she was lifted a few centimetres off the ground, and she slowly started turning, like a magnetised needle on a piece of paper in a water dish.
When she had turned about 90 degrees, her horn stopped glowing, and she landed on the floor.
"According to my spell," she said, "North is this way. Therefore, if we head in that direction," she turned to her left, "We should be able to find the exit."
"Well, what're we waiting for?" said Rainbow Dash, "Let's get out of here!". She flew forwards, only to feel herself being pulled back by her tail.
"Hold yer horses, girl," came Applejack, who was holding onto Rainbow's tail with her mouth, "We should wait for Twilight to come up with a plan. These caves are likely to be dangerous, after all."
"Applejack's right," said Twilight, "We'll need to tread carefully; the mining has made the rocks and crystals in these caverns very unstable, and they could fall in at any moment if they are disturbed."
Twilight cantered forwards, and the others ran behind.
	
> Chapter 6-The Beast in the Caves
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight and her friends walked across the dark, stony path with crystals rearing up on either side. Rarity looked at them with wide eyes.
"Twilight," she whispered, "Are you sure there is absolutely no way for us to collect some of these crystals? It seems such an awful shame to let them go to waste like this."
"Rarity," said Twilight, "Most of these crystals are resilliant to magic, so 0it would take immense amounts of magic to remove them. And even if we could, the crystal formation in this cave is very delicate-I don't think it would be very enjoyable to be covered in shards of crystal while we try to get out of here."
Rarity nodded, but still looked at the crystals wistfully. 
The group continued on their journey through the crystal mines, unaware of the  pair of cold, reptillian eyes warching them from the huge, dark cavern ceiling.

As the company walked on, Spike asked Twilight a question.
"Uh, Twilight?" He said. 
"What is it, Spike?" said Twilight.
"If we get out of here, what are we going to do? Are we going back to Ponyville to tell everypony about Blueblood?" 
"I was thinking the same thing, Spike," replied Twilight, "But that's the first place Blueblood would expect us to go. He will very likely ordered his guards to take the place over. Although I don't think Blueblood expects us to escape from here, he still would probably try and subdue Ponyville anyway: it is the nearest place to Canterlot, and the most likely place to be an immediate threat to him."
"Then what do we do, Twilight?" Said Spike.
"Right now, we should focus on getting out," said Twilight, "We can worry about where we'll go after that."
Suddenly, Discord appeared next to Twilight, lying on a floating white cloud.
"Well, Princess," came Discord's voice, "It looks like you finally know what it's like to be in my position."
"Your position?" Remarked Twilight incredulously.
"Oh Twilight Sparkle," chuckled Discord in amusement, "All you've known for your life is being on the winning side. When I first came to Equestria, I was all on my own, against the regin of Royalty. Now, the exact same thing is happening to you, Princess Twilight!" 
Twilight Sparkle said nothing for several seconds. She then turned back to Discord.
"You're wrong, Discord. There's one thing I have that you didn't when you came to Equestria-
"The magic of friendship," Discord finished in a bored voice, "Yes, I suppose you're right. But perhaps, when friendship is all you have, we both may find out if it really is as powerful as Celestia makes it out to be..."
"Twilight," came Applejack's voice, "There's a light up ahead."
There was a large stone wall ahead of the group. It had lots of stones jutting out that they could use to traverse it, and at the top of the wall, there was a bright light.
"That must be the Western exit," said Twilight, "If we head up that way, we should be able to find our way out of these caves."
Suddenly, Fluttershy stopped in her tracks. She started quivering and looking up at the ceiling.
"Fluttershy, dear," said Rarity, "Whatever is the matter?"
"I saw...something m-move," she stuttered,
"It was probably just a bat, Fluttershy," said Pinkie.
"No," said Fluttershy, "It was too big...and too dark....and..."
"Yes?" said Twilight
"And it was moving towards us."
Suddenly, there was a growling noise eminating from behind them. They turned around, and beheld a terrifying sight.

The creature looked like something from the gates of Tartarus. It had an emerald green snake's head with two blue eyes, sparkling with malice. It had the  body of a leopard, the front paws of a lion and the back legs of a deer. It padded towards them, snarling.
"What in the hay is that thing?" shouted Applejack.
"That's...that's the Beast Glatisunt!" Replied Twilight.
The creature roared, and pounced at the nearest living thing, which happened to be Rainbow Dash. She flew out of the way, then dive bombed it from above.
"Rainbow,no!" shouted Twilight, but it was too late. With unbelieveable speed, the creature dashed out of the way of Rainbow, who pulled back just in time before she hit the ground.
"How can that thing travel so fast?" Said Rainbow Dash.
"It's magic means it is impossible to touch or capture," replied Twilight, "Any attacks on it by us will be useless!"
The creature appeared on top of the ledge that they were trying to reach. It barked like a hundred dogs, then jumped down towards Twilight Sparkle. However, just as it was about to land on top of her, a large, pink mass fell in the way. Discord had created a cloud, blocking Twilight from the beast. It dashed out of the way and onto the path from which the group had come from. Discord grinned. He snapped his fingers, and hundreds of meters above, a small brown hammer materialised.
"Princess," said Discord, "I think now would be a good time to use your shield spell,"
Twilight looked at him with a confused look, but then her eyes turned wide in realisation.
"Everypony, to me!" She shouted.
The hammer swung, knocking a tiny crystal out of place. Everyone, including the beast, looked up. A huge crack was forming in the crystals above them. Suddenly, all the crystals shattered into a billion, glistening shards. The Beast turned tail and ran, as the pieces of crystal showered from the heavens. Luckily, Twilight had cast her shield spell, so all the crystals bounced away from the group, leaving everyone unharmed.

After the event had finished, Twilight turned to Discord, her eyes filled with fear and anger.
"Discord," she said, "Why did you do that? You coukd have gotten us all killed!"
Discord grinned.
"Now is that any way to talk to a friend who just saved your life?" he smirked, "And besides, did you have any better ideas?"
"I suppose not," said Twilight, "Sorry, Discord."
"Well, I'll accept your apology this time, but it better not happen again," said Discord, and floated up to the top of a ledge on a grey cloud.
The group walked up the ledge after him.
"Twilight," said Fluttershy, with worry, "Is he okay?"
"Who?"
"The creature. It wasn't his fault:he was hungry."
"Oh, he'll be fine," she said, "You saw how agile he was. And besides, he can't be harmed that easily."
"But what was he doing here, Twilight?" Asked Applejack, "Why would a creature like that be found here, so close to Canterlot?"
"I had always thought the Beast Glatisunt had been a myth," said Twilight, "It was first reported a thousand years ago, when Nightmare Moon had been banished. Legends say that it only appears when great Kingdoms or alliances start to fall. Apparently, even Princess Celestia, with all her power, was unable to capture the creature, so she sent it away,never to be seen again. Now that she's...gone," Twilight gulped, " Who knows what kind of creatures will  return to the lands of Equestria?"
The company reached the top of the ledge and saw the beautiful daylight, but they were silent. With the realization the Princesses were gone came a feeling that they were on a losing side that was gradually becoming more futile with every step they took.
> Chapter 7-Escape
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The dishevelled band tread towards the light. Although it wasn't particularly bright, the grouo had been in the caves long enough for it to dazzle them, as they approached the exit to the outside world. However, as they approached the cave exit, they noticed something was wrong. There was a huge black gate barring their exit, and a group of guards, with members of all three races, were in front of the gate, all asleep except one unicorn.

"Twilight," said Spike, "That gate is made out of that same black crystal you were trapped by in the Crystal Empire."
"I noticed that too, Spike," said Twilight, "There's no way I'll be able to teleport through."
"Halt!" said the unicorn guard, "None may pass through!"
Rarity walked up to Twilight and whispered in her ear; "I'll deal with this,"
Rarity trotted up to the gate, her eyes wide.
"Excuse me, Noble Sir," she said, "But would it be possible for a handsome stallion such as yourself to let my friends and I out of these dreadful caves ?"
The guard snorted.
"I'm not that stupid, lady," he said, "I know you're the prisoners that we were told to stop from escaping."
But Rarity would not be dissuaded. 
"But what harm could a small band such as ours do against ones so mighty as yourselves? Surely it couldn't hurt to let us out of this ghastly place?" She fluttered her eyelashes, and a small tear formed in her eyes.
The guard looked uncomfortable. However, he suddenly seemed to make up his mind.
"Good soldiers follow orders," he said. Then he turned around and started walking towards his sleeping companions.
"Wait!" said Rarity, as loudly as she dared, but it was no use.
"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you," came a voice from the shadows behind Rarity.
The guard stopped and turned around.
"Who are you?" 
"That is of no importance. The question is, my friend, who are you?"
"I'm a soldier," he said, "And I follow my orders."
"Ah," said the voice, "But what if you were ordered to be someone you're not? Could you follow that order then?" Discord materialised out of the shadows, his eyes swirling.
The unicorn turned grey immediately. 
"Orders?" He hissed, "I don't follow orders!" He then placed his horn in the lock of the gate, opening it and freeing the prisoners.

The group crept out of the gate, being completely ignored by the grey unicorn, who was wandering off in a random direction, abandoning his post.
In front of the group, the wide expansnes of the Unicorn range were spread out. They did not stop walking until they were well away from the guards, the mountain and Canterlot rearing up threataningly as they trotted away. 
"Twilight," said Pinkie Pie, "When the Princesses were captured before, day and night happened at the same time. Why isn't that happening now?"
"When those vines ensnared Celestia and Luna," said Twilight, "They were kept in a state of unconciousness. As long as they are kept conciouss, they should still be able to raise the sun and moon for Equestria."
Suddenly, a question occured to Twilight.
"Discord," she said, "I was thinking about what you were saying before, when you told me about when you were working against the Princesses."
"Hmmm?" said Discord, intregued.
"I remember when you came to Ponyville-you had managed to take over the entire village in a matter of seconds. When the Princesses stopped you, you had taken over Equestria! Why can't you stop Blueblood like that now?"
"Ah, if only it were that simple, Twilight Sparkle," replied Discord, "You see, back then," Discord snapped his talons, and a black and white projecter and screen appeaers out of nowhere, showing ponies lying in the ground in misery, as clouds floated across the sky, producing dark rain, "I had used my chaos magic to its full extent. Since it was so chaotic, even I was unable to control it, so it went around, making life miserable for everypony. Not that I minded in those days, of course," he added," But now, since you have 'reformed' me, I do not think it would be wise to unleash these powers again."
"But surely you can teleport yourself to Blueblood and stop him, or at least to Ponyville to warn everypony?" Said Twilight desperatly,
"I'm afraid not," said Discord, "Because for my long range teleportation powers, I would require the world around me to be under my chaotic magic, which I have already explained won't work. Besides, aren't you a Princess? Surely you must have some kind of spell to teleport to Ponyville, or something of that kind?"
"I can't teleport that far!" Replied Twilight,
"You managed to teleport Rarity, me and Spike when we were chased by those dragons," said Rainbow Dash, who was flying nearby them.
"That was different!" Said Twilight, "I had no control over it then;sometimes my magic just happens without me thinking about it, and I can teleport myself to places I wasn't intending to. There's no way I could travel that far without at least a week of solid concentration!"
"Then it looks like we're all stuck here," said Discord. 
"Come here, everypony," said Twilight, and everyone gathered around her. "We need to come up with some kind of plan to stop Blueblood and free the Princesses."
"But we don't even know where they are!" Said Spike, "Blueblood will soon take control of everywhere! There's nothing we can do!"
"Now Spike," said Twilight, "What use is that kind of attiutude? I know we've never been in this kind of situation before, and I know you're scared; I am too. Butbwe can't just give up. Anypony have any ideas?"
"There's no way we can just hide out here!" Said Rainbow Dash, "If Equestria is in danger, we have to stop Blueblood, no matter what it takes!" 
"Ah agree," said Applejack, "We need to find someway ta restore the Princesses, or Equestria is doomed!"
"But how?"Asked Twilight, "Blueblood is already the most powerful unicorn in Equestria, and he has an army of guards at his side. We would need some kind of army of our own to stand any sort of hope against him!"
"An army?" Said Applejack, "Hmmm, ah may know where we could find one of them."
The group stared at her, wide eyed.
"You...you know where to find an entire army?!" Said Rainbow Dash, flabbergasted.
"Well, not me specifically," said Applejack, "But Granny Smith was always telling me stories of a place where some of my kin live:the Hollow Shades."
Twilight was the only one in the group to show any flicker of recognition in her eyes.
"The Hollow-what now?" Said Rainbow Dash,
"Granny Smith told me stories of a group of ponies that live in a part of Equestria called the Hollow Shades. These ponies have devoted their lives to the study of magic and such, and some say they have secrets not even the Princesses know about. Their base is hidden in some forest in the east, but ah'm afraid that's all ah know. Granny Smith could probably tell ya more, but she's in Ponyville, and if Twilight's right, Ponyville won't be easy to enter." Suddenly, something occured to Applejack.
"Twilight," she said, "Our families in Ponyville will be alright, won't they?"
"Blueblood will be trying to win them over," said Twilight, "He wouldn't try and hurt them, but I have a feeling he will try and stop anypony from getting in or out of Ponyville, so that other towns cannot be alerted."
"It looks like Applejack's idea is the only one we have," said Rarity, "What should we do, Twilight?"
"I think we should try and get into Ponyville," said Twilight, "First, we need to find out if everypony is safe and well, but we  also need information about these mysterious Hollow Shades from Granny Smith. If we move now, we should be able to reach Ponyville by nightfall. Does anypony have any objections?"
"Ummm...Twilight?" Said Spike, "Won't we need some kind of plan before we ho rushing into a place that is probably heavily guarded by soldier right about now?"
"We don't know how well guarded it is yet," she replied, "We will need to survey Ponyville before we come up with any sort of plan to get in."
No one else had any questions to ask, so Twilight moved south, in the direction of Ponyville, and the others followed.
> Chapter 8-Journey from Canterlot
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The skies above the company were turning dark, as black clouds started forming above. There was a slight drizzle pouring from them, covering the friends below.
"Hey, this shouldn't be happening!" said Rainbow Dash, "The pegasus ponies' next raincloud cycle was due for tommorrow!"
"I was thinking the same thing too," said Twilight, "Blueblood must have kept the pegasi from performing their duties outside of Ponyville. He must have ordered the unicorns to create a shield around the town, like Trixie when she tried to keep Ponyville under her control."
"Oh no," squeaked Fluttershy, "Does that mean...these areas might start become more like the Everfree Forest?"
"Fluttershy," said Twilight earnestly, "If we don't find some way to restore the Princesses,  all of Equestria might go the same way as the Everfree."
Fluttershy gulped. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash's stomach grumbled.
"I'm hungry," she said, "Twilight, what are we gonna eat?"
"You know ladies," said Discord, "Sometimes I feel like you ignore me. With a question like that, somepony might as well assume that I wasn't here at all!"
And with that, a floating cone of candy floss appeared in front of Rainbow Dash.
"Oh yeah, I forgot you could do that Discord!" She said, as she grabbed the cotton candy and started eating it. 
"Evidently," muttered Discord, and he turned his back and floated away.
Immediately, he noticed a small, yellow shape floating near him.
"What is it, Fluttershy?" said Discord, not bothering to look around.
"Is there something wrong?" she asked, "I mean...if you don't want to tell me...that's fine...but I just thought that maybe..."
"Thank you for asking, dear Fluttershy," said Discord, "You see, I am beginning to think none of your friends have ever really trusted in me, even after I was reformed."
"They do have trust in you, Discord," she replied, "Some of them just haven't quite got used to you, that's all."
"But I think there's more to it than that," Discord said, "You remember how quickly Rarity, Applejack and that Rainbow Dash were to try and turn me back to stone the first chance they got. Do you remember when I said being turned to stone does not keep me from hearing everything I say? Imagine being frozen for a thousand years in a block of stone, with nothing to look forward to but another day in front of your capture, a simple statue to be laughed at by those who had kept you imprisoned for all those years."
Fluttershy clearly looked uncomfortable. However, she decided to press on.
"I don't think the Princesses would laugh at you, Discord. And besides, you had just taken over Equestria. I don'tbthink the Princesses would have done that unless they absolutely had to..."
This made Discord look even more dejected.
"You know Fluttershy, after I was reformed, I thought much the same as you do. But after a while I realised something; nopony had ever shown me friendship before. And then I thought to myself; had the princesses perhaps tried a little harder, perhaps if they hadn't been so quick to use the Elements against me, much could have been different."
A single tear appeared in Discord's eye. Fluttershy wiped it aside with her wing.
"There, there, Discord," said Fluttershy, "I'm sure we've all done things that we will regret, and I'm sure we will do so in the future. What matters is not what we were, it's who we choose to be now."
Fluttershy gave him a smile, and Discord gave a small smile back.
"I suppose you're right, dear Fluttershy, I suppose you're right."
Discord snapped his fingers, and a plate of cucumber sandwiches appeared in fromt of her, alongside a small framed picture of Discord and Fluttershy.
Fluttershy smiled sincerly, and she ate one of the sandwiches. However, she handed him the picture back.
"I want you to keep this," she said, "So that if you ever feel alone or in doubt, you will know that you have a friend."
Discord looked genuinely touched. He snapped his fingers, and the picture vanished.
"Thank you, Fluttershy," said Discord. 
" Hey Discord!" came Rainow Dash's voice, "You got any more?"
Discord turned to face her. "Now, now Rainbow," Said Discord with his usual bouncy demenour, "I may not know that much about friendship, but I do know that it never hurts to use the word 'please'."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
"In your dreams,Discord!" she said, and flew towards the sky.
Fluttershy felt confused. The way Discord had snapped back to his usual, energetic self as if nothing had happened unsettled her somewhat. She wondered if Discord had ever felt like this before, but not shown it, and just how little she knew about her friend...

Twilight suddenly stopped. She pointed forwards with her hoof.
"Look," she said, "There's the shield Blueblood must have ordered to be set up to entrap everypony in Pinyville."
Across the river in the distance, there was shhield, striped with flecks of gold and blue. It appeared to be composed of the magic of several different unicorns all combined.
"How in the hay are we supposed to get past that?" asked Applejack.
"Never mind that," said Twilight, "First we have to figure out a way to get over this river. Now, I'm not a hundred percent sure ifnthis will work, but I just learned a new spell which..."
"I'm sure Discord would be able to get us across," interrupted Fluttershy.
The mane six and Spike stared at her. None of them had heard Fluttershy interrupt anyone before. Fluttershy blushed.
"I-I mean, " she stuttered, "If you're not sure if it'll work, Twilight, maybe,um, you could perhaps let Discord do it? I mean, if-if you're nor sure if it will work, maybe it would be safer if-"
"Yes, Fluttershy, you're probably right," said Twilight, somewhat irratibly, "Fine, Discord, go ahead."
"Well, it's about time somepony actually asked for my help for a change," said Discord, "Sometimes I get the feeling many of you would rather not have me around at all!"
Everyone except Fluttershy rolled their eyes at Discord. He snapped his fingers, and an ancient looking stone bridge appeared, complete with green vines and flowers growing in the cracks. Discord smiled.
"Voila!" he said.
"Hmmm," said Rarity, "I would have made something more tasteful myself."
"Rarity, as long as it does its job and gets us across safety, who cares what the darn thing looks like?" said Applejack, "Hey, Discord, it will get us across safely, right?"
"Why ever would you think otherwise?" said Discord,a little halo appearing over his head. "I'm reformed,remember?"
"I wouldn't put anything past ya..." said Applejack.
"Everypony, I'm sure it will be safe," said Fluttershy. She tentatively placed her hoof onto the bridge, then trotted to the end. "See?"
Discord disappeared in a flash of light, then reappeared at the other end of the bridge. He grinned and waved at the ponies and Spike.
The others eyed the bridge suspiciously, but they allow followed in single file. Rainbow Dash was the last to get onto the bridge. She examined the ground in front of her before stepping forwards. She was halfway across, when she felt something tug her leg.
"Hey!" she yelled as a vine pulled her upwards.
"Discord, what are you doing?" Shouted Twilight, but Discord was floating high in the air, next to a clone of himself. 
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash felt herself being enveloped by a huge, bright green jacket and a tasteless yellow scarf.
"Get it off me!" yelled Rainbow Dash
But the two Discords ignored her.
"Hmm, it's an interesting design, but it needs something more..." said the Discord on the left.
The second Discord, in an eeriely accurate imitation of Rarity, said;
"It needs more rainbows, darling, rainbows!"
"Discord!" said Fluttershy's stern voice, "Let her go!"
Discord looked at Fluttershy with disappointment, but her expression did not change. He rolled his eyes.
"Fine," he muttered, and snapped his fingers. Rainbow Dash fell to the floor.
"We don't have time for mucking around!" Said Twilight, "We need to get to Ponyville as fast as possible!"
The group made it across the bridge, which promptly melted into a cloud of small jelly beans which grew tadpole-like tails and swam downriver. 
The companions looked ahead, and rising above them was the huge, blue force field encapsulating Ponyville.
Twilight gulped. "Now all we need to do is get inside."
> Chapter 9-Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sky blue expanse glared in sharp contrast to the bleak, stormy skies above. The once friendly and quaint town of Ponyville now seemed dark and forboding. Inside the shield, several small groups of Canterlot Soldiers marched menacingly, rounding up the inhabitants of Ponyville into the Town Hall. Twilight suddenly noticed how exposed they were- if one guard were to simply look out the force field, they would be spotted. She whispered,
"Quick, everypony behind that rock,"and she jumped behind a large boulder. Everyone else did the same.
"You know," whispered Rarity, "I can't help but think that this rock feels somehow familliar to me..."
"Shhh!" Said Twilight.
"What's the plan?" whispered Spike.
"We need somepony to infiltrate Ponyville," she replied, "I know there's a book in my library which has some information on the Hollow Shades. The only problem is, if any of us go in, we'll be recognized immediately."
"I think I may have the solution to that, Twilight Sparkle," came Discord's voice, and when she turned around, she saw a grey stallion with a tornado shaped cutie mark looking back at her.
"D-Discord?" she whispered,
The stallion nodded, smiling. 
"Those mindless guards would never visit Ponyville unless ordered to," he explained, "So none of them will be able to tell me apart from anypony else."
"But how will you get past the force field?" Whispered Twilight.
"Like this,"
Discord's horn glowed blue and he quietly teleported into the other side of the field.
"But how could he get past-" began Twilight.
"He's Discord," Fluttershy reminded her with a smile.

Discord looked around Ponyville, and even he could not suppress a feeling of shock for what he saw. The Ponyville as he knew it was gone. Sugarcube Corner was boarded up, Carousel Boutique looked as though it had been closed for years and Twilight's library was cordened off with yellow and black tape. Suddenly, an orange pegasus with a blue mane stormed up to him.
"You there," barked the guard, and Discord saw a nameplate marked 'Flash Sentry'. He didn't know why, but Discord felt a strong surge of loathing for this pegasus.
"Why aren't you in the Town Hall?" Shouted Flash.
"Why, I thought Ponyville was a place which allowed ponies to go about their buisness unhindered?" Said Discord.
Flash could have sworn he had heard this voice somewhere else, but couldn't quite place it.
"The days of your weak Princesses are over," snarled Flash, "And Lord Blueblood has decreed that everypony in Ponyville must be rounded up in the town hall. So move!"
Discord had no choice but to follow the mass of ponies crowding into the hall.

The town hall had never been so packed since the last Summer Sun Celebration, which was when Nightmare Moon had returned. As soon as the last few ponies were herded into the hall, the doors closed. And the lights dimmed. A spotlight lit up a small podium on the stage, and onto it walked a large, white unicorn stallion. It was Prince Bluebood. He trotted up to the podium, cleared his throat and began to read.
"My subjects,' he began, 'My dear, uncultured subjects. Since you were born, and since many of your ancestors were born, you have all been under a terrible, terrible tyranny. The Princesses who ruled over you have been threatning you with eternal night and blackmailing you with refusing to bring forth the night and day unless you submit to their rule.''
There were gasps of shock and outrage from the audience. No one there (except Discord and the guards) had ever actually met Prince Blueblood, but since he was royalty and all of them had liked the Princesses well enough, they all assumed he was a fairly decent stallion. Now many of them were starting to reconsider their assumption.
'Well,' continued Blueblood, 'I come bearing good news. For I, your glorious Prince, have overthrown and imprisoned the two upstart oppressors and replaced them with a far smarter, wiser, more handsome and better candidate in every regard! Myself!' He grinned, obviously expecting some show of gratitude from the citizens of Ponyville. What he recieved was an all encompassing silence. Discord realized this was the perfect chance to create a distraction and escape, so, making sure nopony was looking, he summoned a box of tomatoes and telekenetically launched one at the stage. It hit Blueblood directly on the muzzle. Suddenly, the entire crowd started booing, and the unicorns in the Hall started telekinetically launching tomatoes from the box onto the stage. As the uproar continued, Discord silently slipped out the double doors into the quiet streets of Ponyville.

As soon as he was out, Discord instantly snapped back into his draconequuine form. He stretched himself and shuddered.
'How do those ponies manage to survive so long in such short, predictable bodies?' he mumbled. He looked around, and saw Twilight's library rearing up ahead of him. He grinned. That wasn't too difficult, was it? He thought. He snapped his talons and was instantly teleported to the interior of the library. He looked around the room, then realised something which he knew he should have seen ages ago-he had no idea what this book looked like or how he would find it. He said out loud, with a paw over his brow, 'Ugh, this is just like Twilight Sparkle-she thinks she has everything figured out, yet there's always some flaw in her thinking not apparent until the very end.' Suddenly, he heard a voice.
'Who?' It said.
'I would expect everyone to know who Princess Twilight is,' he said to the disembodied voice, 'At least, anyone who hasn't spent these past years bansihed from Equestria.' 
Discord looked around, and staring at him from outside the window was a small bird-an owl.
'Ah yes,' Discord said, 'Twilight's little avian friend,I should have guessed. I suppose you know the location the book on the Hollow Shades that your owner has so wisely neglected to inform me of?' The owl hooted again and flew over to the bookshelves, where he picked out a book entitled 'Expert Mages of Equestria.' Discird grabbed it and said to himself while walking towards the door 'That moron Blueblood didn't lift a hoof to stop me. Hmmf, how the Princesses could have been outwitted by him I really have no-' as he opened the door, Discord was greeted by an scowling Blueblood and a small legion of 15 Royal Unicorn Guards. Discord gulped at the sight.
'Oh pooh,'
	
> Chapter 10-Discord's arrest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash paced across the dry, dusk grass. She, Twilight and Fluttershy were on watch whilst the rest of the group rested in Twilight's magically conjured tent.

''Where's that draconequus gone to?'' Whined Rainbow Dash. ''He should have been back hours ago! What's taking him so long?''
"She's right, Twilight,''Fluttershy whispered "Discord shouldn't be gone this long...''
Twilight sighed.
"We entrusted him to carry out his mission in secrecy,'' she explained ''It won't really be very helpful if the six most wanted ponies in Equestria trot into Blueblood's lair and raise everypony's alarm."
"You...you could stop them!" Fluttershy persisted. ''You just became an alicorn and-''
''I'm sorry, Fluttershy. I may be an alicorn, but even I am not capable of taking on every single member of the most elite mages in Equestria. The only way I'd even stand a chance is if I had the powers of all four Princesses, but I doubt that'll ever happen. No, we'll have to wait for Discord until morning."
"Until MORNING?!" Exclaimed Fluttershy. ''But what if he doesn't come back?"
"Fluttershy, I know this is hard for you, but the fate of Equestria is in our hooves. I'm sorry, but we need to do what is right, not what is easy.''
''But how will we know how to get there without Discord's book?''
" I already know the location of the Hollow Shades,'' said Twilight, ''We could get there in 2 days if we travel fast enough.''
''Hopefully it won't come to that, sugarcube,'' came a voice from behind them. It was Applejack, who was followed by Pinkie Pie and Rarity. They had come to relieve the girls of guard duty. "Now go hit the hay. You'll wake up tomorrow and see Discord right as rain!"
"I hope you're right," yawned Fluttershy, as she trotted towards the blue, glowing tent.

"Ugh, this is SO humiliating!" 
Discord was floating through the air, surrounded by a gold and blue aura and restrained by a pair of glowing handcuffs.
"Do you ever stop talking?" Complained Blueblood, from his golden chariot that was pulled by two very tired looking pegasus guards.
"Make me,'' Discord snarled. A burst of blue light shot from Blueblood's horn and Discord yelped in surprise.
"You will address me as 'Prince Blueblood' from now on, knave, or you will be dealt with the punishment you deserve."
Discord chortled.
"Oh really, Blueblood, you ponies crack me up! Do you actually think you can tame me with a few magic tricks! I'm as old as time itself and I have been turned into a stone statue for over a thousand years! Honestly, I'd feel insulted if you weren't so hilarious!"
Blueblood glared at Discord.
"You'll have that grin wiped off of your face soon, serpent."
Discord smiled.
"We'll see, Blueblood, we'll see."

When they arrived at Canterlot, Discord was taken to the highest watchtower. Several layers of shield spells were placed around it, making any attempt to escape impossible.
Blueblood dragged Discord up the stairs and threw Discord into the room, locking the door behind him
"And don't think about getting any ideas of teleporting out!" Blueblood grinned.  "Those handcuffs are one of a kind and stop all and any magical effects! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll need my third daily manicure'.
Blueblood slammed the doors and trotted away, leaving the spirit of chaos clinging onto the bars with narrowed eyes.

Owlowiscious looked out from behind the bookshelves. Everypony seemed to have gone. As he cautiously crept out, he noticed a flash of white in the corner. It was there only a second, but it appeared to be heading for the door. He flew over to the spot, only to hear the door creek open and then slam shut loudly dislodging a book from the shelves. Owlowiscious read the title 'An explorer's guide to the Hollow Shades'

Angel bunny scampered out of the oak tree. He knew something was wrong-Fluttershy had never left him alone this long without someone to care for him. And those guards which took away that ridiculous draconequus did not look friendly at all.  There was only one thing to do. Though he strongly disliked Discord, he was the only person who knew where Fluttershy was. Angel bunny needed to save Discord.

The train station was packed with Royal Guards attempting to get back to Canterlot. Prince Blueblood had evidently thought it far below his station to give orders to mere plebs, so he had left them to get on with it. The result was pandemonium. Angel bunny attempted to squeeze past them, but he was lucky not to get stepped on by a careless earth pony, let alone successfully able to board the train. Angel buried his head in his paws. He glanced at the timetable and noticed it said, in glowing, magical writing ''FRIENDSHIP EXPRESS IS EXPERIENCING SLIGHT DELAYS'. There must be some other way to get into Canterlot quickly! He thought. He saw a group of pegasi flying away one by one. He would never convince them to let him across, unless... Suddenly, an idea formed in angel's mind.

The nearest guard was a bright orange pegasus with a blue mane. He looked down and saw a white rabbit standing at his hooves. He frowned at it and raised his hoof, about to stomp on the small, white thing. Suddenly, it leaped onto his foot and bit, drawing a drop of blood.
'Argh!' The guard screamed. 'This vicious, rabid animal just attacked me! Get me a cage!''
A guard with a small animal containment cage levitated angel and dropped him in.
'Now,'Said the orange pegasus 'You are going to Prince Blueblood, and he will decide what to do with you. Hopefully, I can convince him you are a diseased pest and he will put you down like the vermin you are!'' 

And with that, the pegasus took the cage in his mouth and flew towards the ivory tower in the mountains.
> Chapter 11 - Home is Behind
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blueblood tried to get to sleep on what was once Princess Celestia's Royal bed, but he couldn't. The noise from the tower was just too loud.
"Urgh," He muttered 'Does that vulgar serpent ever rest? How am I supposed to recover from having to deal with all these ridiculous commoners without my beauty sleep?" He thought about sending another guard to stop him, but decided against it. There were already too many guards with spaghetti for manes in the Hospital Ward without having to add more to their number. Irritated, he put a cushion over his head to try muffle out the constant roars and shrieks coming from Discord's jail cell.

Discord lay on his couch, surrounded by beasts and creatures that looked as if they had been taken from the deepest and darkest pits of the imagination. The Draconequus seemed oblivious to their yammering as he absent mindedly clicked his fingers to change the images on the screen in front of him whilst using his paw to eat kernels of popcorn. 

"No, I am your father!"

* Snap! *

*I will take the Ring to Mordor!"

* Snap *

*Yer a wizard, Harry!"

With one final snap of his claw, the screen turned off. The moment it did so, the beasts that were fighting and roaring vanished instantly. This moment of silence was short lived, however, as Discord produced a grammarphone and it started playing the sounds of the beasts no more quietly than before.
"Don't want our friend downstairs getting too comfortable, now do we?" He muttered to himself.
Discord got off the couch and started pacing up and down his cell, with rubber boots on that made a squeaking noise with every hoofstep he made.
This is worse than being encased in stone, he thought. At least when he had been in stone, he had had some sort of a plan to get himself out. The elements' power wanes after a few millennia, and he needed only to be patient to free himself. Now, however, it was different. With a battalion of mages enchanting his cage every night, there was precious little chance of ever getting out without help. Discord reflected on how ironic it was that he, the spirit of Disorder and Strife needed to rely on the bearers of the Elements of Harmony to save him. But deep in his octarine heart, he knew there was no hope for them to save him. He summoned a bed and fell asleep, with his last thoughts before unconsciousness being a vague hope that Flutterhshy at least would not be resigned to a similar fate to his.

"Halt!" Shouted an earth pony guard to an orange pegasus flying towards Canterlot. "You are currently flying in restricted 
airspace! Land in the designated zone and prepare to be taken to Prince Blueblood!''
"Relax," called the pegasus. "I'm here to see Blueblood anyway. This mangy flea-bag attacked me and I want it destroyed under section 287 of the diseased animal act!'
"Hmm..." the guard lent down and saw the white rabbit sitting in the cage with his paws folded and not looking too impressed by the situation.'
"He doesn't look diseased," the guard said, sceptically. "I say we let it go!"
Flash scowled at him.
"Need I remind you that I outrank you and if I want this beast taken to Blueblood, then that is my right under section-"
"Fine, whatever," the guard grumbled. "Take it to Blueblood. But it's not my fault if you get imprisoned for interrupting his 'beauty sleep'!"
The pegausus grinned and trotted to the palace, carrying the cage containing angel bunny in his teeth.

The pegasus knocked upon Blueblood's door fur times. As he did so, a very messy maned princes opened the door.
"What is it that you want?" The prince replied gruffly. "Have you come to deliver my new tail extensions? They should have arrived 3 hours ago!"
"No, Your Majesty," Said the pegasus, " I have come to have this beast put down. He is diseased and-"
"Whatever," Groaned the irate Prince as he levitated angel's cage. "I'll put this...thing on my dresser."
"But Your Majesty,2 the Prince said desperately, "It needs to be put down imme-"
The door slammed in his face and he heard the door bolt.
Disgruntled, he flew into the skies of Canterlot and headed home.

Fluttershy awoke at dawn. She rubbed her eyes with a hoof and trotted out of the tent. There was a thick mist in the air and Fluttershy squinted, hoping to see the form of Discord somewhere in the mist to greet her. There was nothing but cold, blank space wherever she looked. She felt a hoof on her shoulder and jumped, only to see it was Twilight Sparkle, looking at her with a grave face.

"Oh, it's you Twilight," Fluttershy muttered softly "You...startled me."
"I'm sorry about this Fluttershy," Said Twilight in her most sympathetic tone, "But Discord still hasn't come back. We're going to have to go t the Hollow Shades without him."
"But Twilight," Protested Fluttershy, "He has the book! How are we going to get there without him?"
"I already have a rough idea as to where it is," Said Twilight. "And it looks like we have no alternative. Blueblood's troops will be marching out of Ponyville soon, and if we don't leave now, they could catch us. And Discord's sacrifice would have been for nothing."
Fluttershy's worried look turned into a scowl.
"Well, then you can take our friends and go, but I'm not leaving until Discord comes back."
Twilight sighed.
"I know this is hard for you, Fluttershy, but I do not think Discord would want for you to get captured, too."
Fluttershy looked unconvinced.
"Perhaps if we just stay a few more hours-" she started, but Twilight silenced her.
"In the end, I cannot force you to come with us." Twilight said, "The decision to stay here or leave must be yours. But please, Fluttershy, do not make a decision on the spur of the moment. Think of what would be best for everypony, Discord included."
Fluttershy looked into the mist one more time. She could just make out the houses of Ponyville, looking familiar yet somehow different, like they were asleep in the gloom. Her heart sank as she realised that she would not only be leaving her home if she went with Twilight, but Discord and her animal friends. But what other choice did she have? She turned to face Twilight, dejected.
"You're right, Twilight. Let's go."
	

> Chapter 12-Out of the frying pan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Angel Bunny looked around the room from his cramped metal cage. There was a mirror a couple of centimetres away from him in which he could see his own reflection scowling back at him, as well as a selection of wigs and hair curlers on the mahogany table he was currently situated on. And at the other side of the room, on a Princess sized bed, was the still form of a sleeping white unicorn stallion. Angel smirked at this-now was the time to put his plan into action! 

Prince Blueblood awoke to a horrible screeching noise. Across the room, the cage was making a horrible screeching sound. No, not the cage, but the occupant inside it. He got up and hauled himself over to see why the beast was making such an odious racket. 
"What is it now, you disgusting creature?" Blueblood said. 
He examined the beast closer. It started coughing and retching, as if about to be sick. Blueblood jumped back as if he had been stung.
"Get away from my suit, you beast!" Blueblood snarled 'It's worth a thousand times more than your mangy hide!"
Angel bunny gave a loud, hacking cough.
"Urgh," said Blueblood "This creature is quite obviously infected with some terrible disease! If I don't get rid of it, I could become sick too! My new subjects won't be able to bathe in my radiance if I become ill due to some mangy fleabag!"
Angel bunny smiled inwardly. Now was his chance! Prince Blueblood would let him out and he'd be able to find Fluttershy and...
"ANIMAL CONTROL!" Blueblood shrieked, his voice magically enhanced to reverberate through Canterlot. "COME TO MY QUARTERS HAVE THIS DISGUSTING BEAST INCINERATED!"
Angel's thoughts skidded to a halt. Blueblood yawned and fell back to sleep again.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and a very tired and ill-kempt Blueblood opened it to reveal a grey, grizzled old unicorn stallion. He had a shiny, golden badge which read  'Trapper Hooves:Animal Control'
and a cutie mark depicting a sickly-looking squirrel behind bars.
"About time you got here." Whined Blueblood "What took you so long? Still throwing rocks at harmless, innocent animals, eh?"
The old buck gave a malicious grin, and Blueblood smiled in return.
"Which is exactly why I chose you for this position." Blueblood said. "Now, begone with this wretched beast. Your King needs his beauty sleep."
Trapper Hooves grabbed Angel's cage, none too gently, and trotted off in the direction of the gates to Canterlot.

Angel's heart was thumping in his chest. This was not how the plan went in his head. He shrieked and tried pulling at the cage door, but it was no use. If he had hoped his screeching was off putting to his captor, then he was sorely disappointed-if anything , the old buck seemed amused by his pained cries.
"That noise will stop soon enough," he chuckled "And instead I'll hear the beautiful crackling of burning fur."
Angel bunny stopped and looked up to the heavens, desperately begging them for mercy. All he saw was a single bird, circling the site where he was headed.
Probably a crow, thought Angel dejectedly, waiting to devour me afterwards.

The old buck stopped on the path to the gates as an orange Pegasus took the cage from him.
"Finally," grumbled Flash "The old fool's let me give this beast what it deserves."
Trapper smirked.
"I wouldn't let the King hear you say that if I were you. He's never taken too kindly to ponies who don't worship him."
Flash rolled his eyes and flew off to a large, round pit filled in with bundles of sticks. He took out a match, lit it, then threw it into the pit. At once, a huge, roaring flame got started. Flash laughed mercilessly as he took out the squirming Angel bunny from his cage.
"Now maybe you'll think twice before touching me again," He hissed. "Or more likely, never think again."

The eagle had been starving. Ever since he had caught word of a diseased animal in the castle, he knew they would take it to the old fire pit. Perhaps the Princesses, in their wisdom, would have taken the creature to a vet to be fixed, but luckily for him, Blueblood did not seem to be a wise or humble pony. The eagle would be getting a good meal tonight!

Angel stared up into the merciless eyes of his tormentor one, final time. Suddenly, he was tossed towards the vengeful flames of the pit. He shrieked and his eyes closed, expecting to feel the flames engulfing his body. But that moment did not come. He felt his body jerk at a nauseating speed, and then a sensation of flying upwards. He dared to glance upwards into a cold, hard face with a cruel, hooked beak. He looked down and could see Flash Sentry shouting and flailing his hooves, yet his slow and untrained wings could never hope to match the speed of the wings of the raptor now carrying him-wings which had been honed by millions of years of natural selection to carry off prey as swiftly as possible. 


************

The wind whistled harshly in Angel's ears and rippled coldly through his fur. He had been granted a few more moments, he believed, to collect his thoughts. How could he escape and get to Fluttershy? He instinctively tried to reach for the talons and tug them off, but then stopped himself. That would probably not end well. He glanced down at the ground and saw an old, brown stallion looking up at him. It had a raised hoof which suddenly shot forward, catapulting a small, grey object directly towards Angel!
The stone hit the eagle directly on the head, but did not quite knock the bird out. The animal did, however, lose its balance and started plummeting downwards, towards a tall tower in Canterlot. Angel braced for impact and landed flat on his face into a cold, white surface. His dazed would-be predator looked around and saw something which seemed to spook him, so he took off as fast as he could fly.

Angel got up. He had a terrible headache. He looked upwards and saw several metal bars looming up at him and behind them, a pitch darkness. Suddenly, a noise reverberated through the still night. It was deep, loud and unsettling, as though it contained a millennia of amusement with the smallest hint of malice. And it came from the darkness inside the cage, and into the light stepped the master of chaos himself.
> Chapter 13-The Hollow Shades
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 13-The Hollow Shades


The towering trees of the Hollow Shades enshrouded the 6 ponies and dragon. It was as if they had travelled back to the first day that they had met, under the creaking willows of the Everfree Forest. These trees felt just as ancient but somehow even more foreboding.
"Well gang," Came the voice of Twilight Sparkle, "We're here."
Spike gave an audible gulp. 
"Do we have to go in there?" He said, nervously. "Can't we send a message there using your magic?"
Twilight shook her head. 
"And risk alerting anything that might be unfriendly?" She said. "No, we'll have to get in there quickly and quietly."
Spike nodded. 
"Alright y'all," said Applejack, "We might never have been to see these ponies, but I do know a tale or two from my old Granny Smith. So follow me!"


Applejack lead them beneath the trees across the path. It seemed to Fluttershy that the forest itself was displeased with their presence: she would occasionally see large, insectoid eyes in the branches that would scamper away as soon as she looked at them, and more than once the group tripped over roots that they were sure weren't there mere moments ago. 


As they walked, they came to a fork in the path. On one side, there was a still pool and on the other, a churning river. 
"Ah great, which way now?!" Said Rainbow Dash, "I'll check both." She tried to down one of the paths, but Applejack grabbed her tail. 
"Hey, what gives?" Said Rainbow Dash. 
"We can't just go chargin' down any path we find!" Said Applejack, "Who knows what varmints we'll find in here..."
"Do you know the way, Applejack?" Asked Rarity. 
"Ah'm not sure," Applejack replied, "Though Granny did tell me that a riddle got people through these parts. Never managed to solve it though."
"Do you remember it, Applejack?" asked Twilight, "Can you recite it to us?"
Applejack coughed, then began. 


"To all things and mares I appertain,and yet by some am shunned and distained. 


Fondle me and ogle me til you’re insane, but no blow can harm me, cause me pain. 


Foals delight in me, elders take fright. Fair maids rejoice and spin. Cry and I weep, yawn and I sleep. Smile, and I too shall grin. What am I?"


The group stopped. Each of them tried to silently figure out the riddle.
“Foals delight in me, elders take fright...time, perhaps?” Said Rarity, “Sweetie Belle was always looking forward to the future when she would get her cutie mark...”
“Maybe,” said Twilight, “Though I don’t see how the line ‘Smile, and I too shall grin’ works with that...”
“Well if time is right,” said Rainbow Dash, “Perhaps we should go towards the river? That flows ahead, like time!” 
Suddenly, a loud screech filled the air. It sounded like a cross between the mournful braying of a pony and the snark of an enraged hydra.
All the company gasped, but the worst affected was Fluttershy. She collapsed into a shuddering, whimpering heap.
“Fluttershy, do you know what that was?” Asked Twilight, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.
“K-kelpie,” she whispered.
“Are you sure?” Said Twilight, “I know there used to be a race of kelpies in Equestria’s past, but I thought they were all extinct.”
Fluttershy shook her head.
“Kelpies used to be a friendly, but rare, race of Pony that lived in rivers and lakes,” she explained, “They always preferred water, but would sometimes find secluded areas of land to stay in and even help other ponies. But as more of Equestria’s land became inhabited, there were fewer and fewer places for them to live outside the water. Then, something changed,” she gulped. “Maybe they found something that changed their race from good to evil, or perhaps they spent too long inside the darkness of water and not on land with other ponies,  it they became more and more cruel. Now, only some of them still survive, not ponies, but dangerous monsters who drag ponies into their lakes...and are never seen again.” She looked positively terrified now, and the rest of the group did not seem much better off. 
“I’ve never heard that story before,” said Twilight, somewhat impressed.
“I had to know which creatures can’t be tamed or reasoned with,” explained Fluttershy, “And they’re one of the few examples.”
“And I’ll bet there’s one in the wrong water,” said Rainbow Dash. “Okay, this riddle just got way more intense.” 


As the company sat around, Pinkie Pie leapt up.
“I know the answer! I know it! It was so obvious!”
And she started hopping off to the pool. 
“Pinkie, wait!” Called Twilight, and the group ran after her, “You have to tell us first!”
But it was too late. Pinkie was staring into the still pool, and where she stared, ripples appeared on the surface. Something was rising out of the water. 
Twilight’s horn flared with purple magic, flecked with dark black sparks, ready to blast whatever the horrible entity in the pool was into oblivion. Except the entity wasn’t what she expected. It had curly pink hair and a pink body, with three balloons as a cutie mark. A clone of Pinkie Pie!


The original Pinkie looked back at them, then smiled and waved. Her clone did the same, in union. 
“The answer was a reflection!” Pinkie Pie said, “I remembered back to when I used the mirror pool to clone myself!”
The group was relieved, though Twilight looked annoyed.
“Pinkie!” She said, “Don’t run off like that again. Especially when there are dangerous creatures about!”
Pinkie looked abashed.
“You’re right, Twilight,” she sighed, “I just got excited. Won’t happen again.”
“Thank you, Pinkie,” Twilight’s haze softened, “And well done for figuring it out. None of us got it that fast.”
Pinkie beamed, at they all took the road by the pond. Her clone gave one last wave, then jumped right back into the pond. Fluttershy lagged behind a little and gave the river one last look. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she could see the head of something. It’s mane hung down like clumps of blackened pondweed, and it’s eyes were as white and blank as a pearl. But when Fluttershy tried to get a closer look, it vanished, and the river was empty. Her heart racing, she ran to catch up with the others.


After some walking through the dark, ancient woods, they were stopped. 
“Look over there!” Said Rainbow Dash, “Lights!”
And there were lights. The lights of the ancient Pony civilisation that dwelt in the heart of the Hollow Shades.
> Chapter 14-A Tyrant’s Destiny
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 14-


Each member of the group was expecting the Hollow Shades to look different. One thought it would have gem-encrusted buildings, their sheen so bright it would look like day even in the blackest night. Another was expecting each tree to be crackling with magical energy. Yet another thought their power could come from the earth itself. 




The settlement in The Hollow Shades did not look like any of these. The lights were simple firefly lanterns, and the buildings were simply huts with thatched roofs. And all around, there was nopony to be seen. 
“Um, are you sure this is the place Applejack?” Asked Fluttershy quietly.
“O’ course,” Said Applejack, though she seemed uncertain. She looked around, and saw a hut larger than the others, “Ah’m sure if we look in there, there’ll be somepony who’ll know how to help us stop Blueblood.”
“Strange,” Said Twilight, “I don’t sense any powerful magic here.”




“ Perhaps they have found some way of disguising it, darling.” Suggested Rarity.
“I suppose it’s possible...” responded Twilight, though she seemed unconvinced. 
They walked towards the hut in the centre. It had a huge, oaken door. Rainbow Dash knocked, and it swung open with a creak. In the centre of the room was an elderly, male stallion sitting at a desk. He made no response to any of them.
“Excuse me, sir?” Said Twilight, her horn barely illuminating the dark and dismal atmosphere. “We’ve come to ask for help.”
The old pony turned around. Twilight was reminded of Starswirl the Bearded, though this pony had a much greyer beard. 
“In all my years as head of wisdom here,” Said the stallion, “I have never turned away a pony seeking help, and I shall not do so here.”
“We came here because we heard your people have a power greater than any other,” Said Twilight cautiously.
The stallion chuckled.
“Yes,” he said, “That is true.”
“Yes!” Said Rainbow Dash, “Finally, we stand a chance to defeat Blueblood!”
The old stallion looked puzzled, then smiled.
“Ah,” he said, “You think our power allows us to fight. We know of the secrets of the earth, and the sky, and we continue to delve the deepest mysteries of friendship and love, but we have no power over the physical realm.”
The companions’ expressions turned from relief to horror.
“So you can’t help us?” Said Twilight, aghast.
“Oh, now I wouldn’t say that,” replied the stallion, “We can help you spiritually and psychologically, but none of us have any training in the ways of combat and domination. And If you are in need of accommodation, you may use our guest hut.”




The companions sat around a campfire in the night, with the guest hut looming over them. 
“Well, that was a waste of time,” said Rainbow Dash.
“I don’t know; I think it’s nice here.”
“Fluttershy,darling, ” Said Rarity,” whilst this village is, um, charming in its way, you can’t deny it was useless coming here now.”
Twilight wasn’t listening to their arguments. She simply stared out, dejectedly, into the woods. Then she thought she heard something; a little ‘click’ of talons, and briefly saw a bright magical flash.
“Quiet!” She hissed, “Did you guys hear that?”
Suddenly, the leaves to their right began to rustle, as if something were coming out of the woods towards them. They got up, ready to fight or flee, until it jumped out. It was small and white, and Fluttershy gasped.
“Angel!” She cried, as the rabbit jumped into her hooves. 
“Angel?” Said Rainbow Dash, “What are you doing here?”
“Surprise!” They heard a voice call from their hut, but when they looked around, no one was there.
“Oh for pony’s sake,” Said the voice, “Up here!”
They looked on the roof of the hut and saw the Discord hovering above it.
Fluttershy looked relieved, but the others seemed suspicious.
“How’d you get away from Blueblood?” Asked Rainbow Dash, “For all we know, Discord might be working for him!”
“Tut, tut, tut,” said Discord, “Why, I thought you ponies were meant to be sweet and kind and forgiving, y’know “friendship is magic” and all that. Well, if no one here appreciates all I’ve been through then maybe I shouldn’t have come back at all!”
“I’m glad to see you, Discord,” Said Fluttershy, and she scowled at Rainbow Dash. 
Twilight, on the other hand, looked more concerned than anyone else.
“Discord,” she said seriously, “Did you check yourself for any enchantments after you escaped?”
Discord looked unconcerned.
“Why, I doubt the fools had the presence of mind to-“
“Check, now!” Said Twilight, more forcefully.
Discord clicked his talons, and a blue aura emirates around him. He began to look a little sheepish.
“Ah,” he said, “It looks like there may have been a teency, tiny-“
“Tracking spell!” Exclaimed Twilight, and suddenly they heard the unmistakable sound of teleportation. And it didn’t stop at one. Or ten. Or even twenty. 
“How many are there?” Asked Rainbow Dash, the panic in her voice rising.
Twilight sat down, her eyes looking utterly defeated.
“It’s the entire guard,” she said quietly, “With the Princesses gone...we’re the only threat left.”
“Well then, Twilight,” Said Applejack suddenly, “What are we going to do?” 
Twilight Sparkle was silent for a moment.
“I don’t know, Applejack.”
“What do you mean?” Asked Applejack, incredulously, “We’ve fought worse odds than this!”
“But this is the Royal Guard. Could we kill any of them? Really? And even if we could, what are we supposed to do against an entire army of them?” 
The group was silent. They could hear the matching of hooves getting closer and closer to the village. The ponies that lived there, their last hope, were simply cowering in their huts, weak, alone and defenceless. Much of the village was made of young fillies and colts, who may never live to see one more sunrise.




The first ponies to surround them were the Unicorns. Each one was armed with a full body paralysis spell, and as the group looked out of their hut, they saw the Pegasi flying in towards them. 
“I don’t understand,” whispered Pinkie Pie, “Where’s Blueblood?” 
She heard Fluttershy gulp.
“I think,” Fluttershy whispered, “That’s him.”
At first, it looked as though a giant, blue, spherical creature was forcing its way through the forest, crushing all the trees in its wake. But this was no creature; it was a shield spell, created by four unicorn guards. And in the centre of the shield was a floating bed, with a pure white Unicorn stallion with a brilliantly coiffured mane; Blueblood. The unicorns levitating him were obviously struggling, but he didn’t seem to care in the slightest. In fact, it looked like he was asleep. 
“Now,” his magically amplified voice boomed, without bothering to open his eyes, “I’m a busy King and I’m only going to say this once. You are an enemy of Equestria, and shall face summary execution unless you turn yourselves in right now!” 
“Oh, I’ll turn myself in all right!” Growled Discord, “When his bed turns to chocolate pudding!” And he raised his talons to snap then.
“Discord!” Hissed Twilight, “Not now! We don’t know what he’s capable of yet!” She turned to the window. 
“We refuse to surrender,” she called, calmly, “We do not recognise your authority!” 




“Shame,” drawled Blueblood, “Because if you don’t, or if you try and set your pet Draconequus on it, I shall have my unicorns level this village to the ground. There shall be nothing left but a faint haze of magical energy, and all these innocent ponies will have died because you were too cowardly to face justice!” 
Of all the things they were expecting Blueblood to say, that was not one of them. They could scarcely believe he had fallen so low in such a short amount of time. Even the guards were beginning to look confused, and scared.
“We can get out of this,” Said Discord, “Just day the word, and I can teleport us all out of here!”
“They’ll find us again,” said Fluttershy, “And you’ve seen what Blueblood is capable of; he’ll destroy each and every one of these ponies.”
“Fluttershy’s right,” Said Twilight, “We have to face him.”
“But we’ll all do it together, right?” Said Spike.
Twilight looked down at him, and for the first time in days, had a genuine smile on her face. 
“Together.”




The 8 friends walked out of the hut, and down the dirt path, to where the army was waiting.
“So,” Said Blueblood, “Her ‘Royal Majesty’ has finally bothered to get up and face her responsibilities.” 
Twilight refused to dignify his comment with an answer. 
“Do what you will, traitor,” she spat, “But spare me your ill conceived one liners.”
Her friends, especially Spike, were noticeably taken aback.
“Oh, very well,” yawned Blueblood, and turned to the nearest guard, “You there. Kill them now, and start with the lizard.”
“It will be done, my Lord,” he said, and turned to Spike, his horn flaring blue with a killing spell. Inwardly, Twilight was disappointed. She had hoped that this would be a step too far, that one of the guards would object, but no one said anything. Not a word. She could feel Discord’s chaos magic readying behind her, knew the moment one side fired a shot it would be over for this village an likely all of them, too.
“Wait!” she called out, both to the guard and Discord. The guard’s magic twinkled out.
“What are you doing?” Blueblood snarled, “Finish them!”
“She’s still a Princess,” called the guard, “She has the right to last words.” 
“Rex?” She said, “That’s your name right? Rex?”
“Twilight,” he said, “Don’t make this any harder than it is already. Stand down, and I shall make your executions painless.”
“I’m not going to plead,” Said Twilight, “I’m simply going to ask, what happens next?” 
“What do you mean?” 
“When you’ve destroyed us, what will you do?” 
“Continue to do what we have always done; defend peace and harmony in Equestria.”
“No, I mean right away. What is next on the agenda?”
The guard paused. He already didn’t feel comfortable with the execution, but if he had to do something just as bad next...
“Sir,” he called out to Blueblood, “What are our orders after I have dealt with the traitors?” 
“Oh, we’ll find this village guilty of harbouring fugitives or something,” he said nonchalantly, “It’s horrible and dirty here. We’d be doing Equestria a favour by wiping it off the map forever.” 
Rex looked horrified, and Twilight smiled a sad and grim smile.
“Well?” She said, coolly, “What’s it to be?” 
The guard looked into the windows of each hut and saw the cowering and huddled fillies and colts inside. With a clank, his helmet came off.
“I joined the EUP guard to help Equestria, and the innocents therein,” Said Rex, “I will have no part in a massacre! I resign.” 
Blueblood looked genuinely shocked for a moment, but regained his composure impressively quickly. 
“Well,” he said, “That’s very noble of you or something, I’m sure. But I still have an army behind me, and you have nothing!” The stallions behind him readied their weapons. 




“Kill him!” Snarled Blueblood, “ Kill them all!” 
But no one budged. Killing some traitors was one thing, but an entire village? It went against everything they had been taught by Celestia, about forgiveness and compassion. 
“Sir,” Said one Stallion, “Are you sure you’re alright?” 
“Alright?” Hissed Blueblood, “Now is not the time to question me!” 
An idea occurred to Rex.
“I still have loyalty to you, My Lord!” Cried Rex, “Of course you’re not unwell!”
Blueblood smiled.
“Very well. I might actually rescind the death sentence if you tell everypony here the truth!”
“Stallions,” cried Rex, “I have heard some disturbing rumours; that Blueblood’s mind has been compromised by the sudden strain of ruling an entire Kingdom! That he is not fit to lead a single one of you, or that he is in need of psychiatric health! None of these rumours are true!”
“What?” A guard shouted, “His mind is compromised?”
Suddenly, Blueblood realised the momentous error he had just made. 
“Um, Twilight?” Said Applejack, “Is it my imagination, or is the army gettin’ smaller?” 
Applejack was right. The guards at the back were starting to filter out.
“No,” said Blueblood, “No, come back!” 
Suddenly, the bubble around him popped and the guards stopped levitating him. He fell to the ground with an undignified ‘crash’. 




The dirty white unicorn was left, alone, on a bed in the centre of a desolate village. The dust that had been kicked up by the guards now covered him, ruining his mane and reducing him to a silent, quivering mass.
Out of all the ponies, the first to approach him was Twilight.
“Blueblood,” She said, quietly, “I know this has been hard for you, but-“
“Silence!” He snarled, “Spare me your speeches! Leave me alone!” He began to weep, “I had everything! Everything! And you, you took it from me!”
Suddenly, Twilight felt a hoof push her aside. It was Rarity.
“Blueblood!” She snapped. The stallion stopped his weeping and looked up.
“Enough! You have done enough to every pony around you, so don’t you dare fall into self pity! If we had behaved the same way as you, then you’d have lost far more than your power!”
“Rarity?” He whispered, “Not you too. I could never understand why you would throw your lot in with these ingrates!”
“Then,” came an old, gruff voice from behind them, “Perhaps we could teach you.”
They looked around. It was the old stallion who lead the village.
“We are always here to welcome the dispossessed, the homeless. Humility is among our greatest virtues, in fact.”
“Lived with you?” Cried Blueblood, “In this hovel? I would rather starve!” And he got up, and ran into the woods.
“He’ll be back,” chuckled the old stallion, “When he realises his armies, his power, were nothing compared to us.”
Twilight turned, astonished.
“You knew this would happen?” She said.
“Oh yes,” he said, “We have not survived for these centuries by being weak. We merely have a different kind of strength.”




“Y’know,” Said Rainbow Dash, as they trotted back to Ponyville, “I was expecting a huge battle or something, like what happened with Celestia and Chrysalis! Huge magic beams and explosions and stuff.”
“Sometimes that happens,” Said Twilight, “But more often that not, dictators aren’t forced out via strength or epic battles. 9 out of 10 times, they merely end up sad and alone, and forgotten by history. And maybe that’s for the best.”




The End