Canterlot was in chaos. As the game Lightning Blitz had come to call 'The Battle of Canterlot' went on, more and more battles raged, destroying street after street. Despite only wanting to fight Lightning and his minions, the ponies of Canterlot found themselves forced to fight friends and allies instead. Rune after rune activated around them, causing everypony to erupt into a sea of violence and destruction, which was just what Lightning Blitz wanted.
In one part of the city, the unicorn Fancy Pants found himself trapped inside a barrier along with an earth pony stallion who was a member of the royal guard. "This is ridiculous!" he yelled as he created a shield to defend against his opponent's spear. "You do realise we're playing right into Lightning's hooves, don't you? This is what he wants!"
"I'm sorry citizen," the guard replied as he steadied his spear, "but I must do my duty and bring that traitor to justice. And the only way to do that is through you."
"Very well," Fancy said charging his horn, before lowering his shield and firing a blast which struck the earth ponies spear and caused it to melt. "Let's begin. Shall we?"
Meanwhile...
In another part of town, two more ponies were fighting. One was a light purple bespectacled unicorn with a dark blue mane and an atom for his Cutie Mark. The other was an earth pony whose fur was similar to Flash's, but had green hair and a recycling symbol Cutie Mark. The two were rushing down the street, the earth pony throwing whatever he could get his hooves on at the unicorn while the horned pony dodged everything in sight.
"Give it up Sandal," the unicorn said as he adjusted his glasses. "I've already calculated eighteen different scenarios where you lose."
"Enough of the mumbo jumbo!" the pony named Sandal barked back. "You know you can't beat me! I have the strength of the earth on my side, and once I get my hooves on you, I'll take you down!" He grabbed a trash can with his tail and flung it at the unicorn, who once again dodged it with ease.
"Saw that coming a mile away."
"SHUT UP!"
Yet another part of Canterlot...
Moondancer found herself surrounded by four other mares, who she all knew. Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bon had been in Canterlot for the festival, along with two of her friends from magic kindergarten, Minuette and Lemon Hearts.
"We're sorry it has to be this way," Lyra said as she flared her horn.
"Twilight and her friends have done a lot for us," Bon Bon sighed before grounding her hooves into the pavement. "This is our way of thanking them."
"I want to save Twilight too," Moondancer replied before her horn began to shine a brilliant light. The other four slowly backpedalled at the sight. "And I'll do whatever it takes."
More and more battles were taking place all over, the ponies fighting trying anything they could think of to be the victory. Big Macintosh found himself in the same situation as he faced two more ponies within the runes. As they both bum-rushed him, the stallion let out a roar before striking back.
"Take this!" he yelled, slamming both of his hooves into the two ponies, sending them flying into a wall. The barrier immediately disintegrated, causing him to let out a sigh. "This is too much." Mac then moved over to the two he'd knocked out and checked to make sure he hadn't done any major damage. Seeing they were all right, he turned to leave. "I'm sorry. I have to save my sister."
While this was all happening, Flash and the others were at the castle, watching as the purple writing continued to report on the outcomes of the battles. The CMC's eyes were glued to the wall as they read every announcement in unison.
"Fancy Pants verses Steel Sentinel, the winner is Fancy Pants. Micro Chips verses Sandalwood, in progress...Big Mac just took out two more."
"Moondancer takes out four others," Spike added with a slight growl. "This isn't good."
"Those fools!" Grand Hoof roared as he slammed his hooves down again, breaking another table. "What do they think they're doing? Why is this happening?!"
"It seems Lightning is getting his wish," Luna muttered as she continued to watch the writing. "This truly is 'The Battle of Canterlot'."
"I can't believe Lightning would go this far." Flash said as he looked back at Twilight and the others. Their statues just stood there, unmoving as the chaos continued outside. "I know he was a jerk, but...taking the girls hostage, making everypony fight...why? What's the point of all this?"
"I don't know what is agenda is," Celestia replied as she grimaced at another line of battle new appear. "But until we can find a way out of these runes, there is little we can do."
"But we're running out of time," Velvet said, looking at the timer.
2:18:34
2:18:33
2:18:32
She then looked back at the stage, where the statues of the seven mares stood. She put her hooves over her mouth as she stared at her frozen daughter. "When that timer hits zero, Twilight and the rest of the girls will be...will be..." she couldn't say it.
"It's okay," Night Light hugged his wife as she wept into his chest. "Its okay honey...its okay."
"No, it's not." Flash grumbled as he punched the barrier again. "Lightning might have always been a jerk, but he's gone too far this time." He charged forward and his body slammed the barrier, trying to force his way through. "COME ON YOU STUPID RUNES!" He yelled continuously, "LET ME OUT!"
"Flash!" Celestia told him as her magic aura enveloped his body. "Stop that. You're just going hurt yourself."
"I don't care!" he yelled back. "Why is it keeping me trapped here?"
"I don't know," Celestia shook her head. "But slamming against the wall will do nothing except waste your energy. Energy you'll need to face Lightning when we find out how to get you out of here."
"But why is he stuck in here?" Velvet asked. "We know he can't be over sixty. We've known him since he was a foal."
"Maybe Lightning had Solid secretly write the runes to keep him here?" Night asked.
"No," Luna explained as she tapped the barrier with her hoof. "The thing about runes is they can't hide anything from those trapped inside. So either Flash really is over sixty years old, or he's a stone statue."
"But I'm neither," Flash moaned as he sunk down into the floor. "I'm just a regular young pegasus pony!"
"It's okay Flash," Springer told his partner as he hugged his shoulder. "We'll figure this out."
Celestia simply stared up at the flying writing, trying to figure out how many of her subjects remained now. It couldn't be much more then half, and that fact stirred both rage and fear inside of her.
Meanwhile...
"Take this!" Sandal yelled as he threw another trash can at Micro Chips, who simple ducked down and let the object fly overhead.
"You're open," Micro said as his horn glowed purple and fired off a blast, which struck Sandalwood and made him keel over.
"What did you do to me?" Sandal asked as he tried to pick himself up but his legs refused to move, "I can't move."
As the barrier disappeared, Micro turned to leave. "It's a spell which causes muscle failure." he explained as he began to walk away. "Sorry. Don't worry, you'll be okay in an hour. I promise I'll make this up to you afterwards."
Meanwhile, near the boarder of the city...
A certain blue unicorn named Trixie was running as fast as she could through the streets. Her ears suddenly twitched as she heard somepony nearby, causing her to come to a screeching stop. Her horn quickly sparked as she cast an illusion around her, turning her into a barrel. Seconds later, a pony ran out of an alley, looking for an opponent. Seeing nopony around, she quickly ran into another street. Seeing this, Trixie sighed in relief before turning off the illusion.
"I have to keep going," Trixie said to herself as she took a second glance down the alley before running down another street. "Princess Luna trusted me to get help and I can't let her down." Trixie then let out a small sigh, thinking back at the situation. "Twilight, you helped me find the courage I needed to become the pony I want to be, now it's my turn to help you." She continued to run as fast as she could, despite her legs feeling like they were about to explode. Suddenly, she saw the walls marking the border of the city and the main gate, causing her to smile. She was finally there, just about to exit the city.
That is, till her face suddenly hit an invisible wall.
BAM!
"Ow," she yelped, rubbing her nose as she stepped back and looked at what she had just run into. "It can't be...no..." she gasped as she looked along the walls of the town and saw the same purple writing she'd seen in the castle. "Don't tell me Script set up an enchantment around the entire city."
"I did!"
Trixie froze at that voice, before looking up and seeing Solid Script standing atop the exit.
"I knew the princesses would try and send somepony to help, so I made sure they couldn't. Nopony leaves until The Battle of Canterlot is over." Trixie was shaking in fear at the sight of the unicorn, whose emotionless face made her very blood freeze. "You're not trying to break the rules of the game, are you?"
"Please don't hurt me," Trixie whispered as she tried to backpedal into the barrier. "I don't wanna fight."
"As Princess Luna's student, it is your duty to battle in her stead." Script yelled as his horn glowed and he suddenly disappeared, only to reappear right in front of her with a violent grin. "Prepare yourself."
The center of Canterlot...
Soarin had taken to the air, flying through the town as his eyes scanned the town. He'd already had to take out a few other ponies, including one of his own teammates, but he didn't care. His mind was only thinking one thing. Find Lightning and stop him, that's it.
"This sucks," he moaned as he went down another street. "I've been all over town and I haven't seen hide nor hair of those creeps. I can't keep doing this, I gotta find one of them! If only there was a-"
BOOM!
Suddenly, the ground below him exploded, sending dirt and rock up towards him. The Wonderbolt quickly shot into several aerial maneuvers he had trained years for, his body dodging every bit of debris. As he dodged the last pebble, two voices in perfect sync spoke up. "Hello Soarin! Do you wanna play with us?!" he looked up to see two wooden dolls, one red and one blue, floating above his head.
"Wild Smile..." Soarin hissed.
"Yo! Big shot! Down here!" Soarin looked down, following the next voice, only to see a dark blue unicorn leaning against an entrance of a shop. A laugh soon followed before the unicorn zipped into the store. "Catch me if you can!"
"Get back here!" Soarin yelled, trying to bolt down before a yellow, green and pink puppet suddenly appearing before him, shooting out a beam. Soarin did a quick barrelroll, barely dodging the blast before trying to rush towards the unicorn again.
"What do you say we have some fun?" Wild Smile mocked with a massive grin on his face.
"You won't think it's so fun after I punch that grin off your face!" Soarin yelled back, anger flooding his face.
"Why so serious Soarin? You're usually so carefree and chipper." Wild waved his hooves, his tongue sticking out. "You're taking this way too personally for a group of girls you barely know...oh." Wild's eyebrows arched as he saw Soarin land in front him, examining the fury on his face. "Or not...does somepony have a crush on one of the statues?" WIld then put his hooves behind his head chuckling. "I can see why, those girls were nice to look at. I'm torn between the pink and blue one myself. I wonder if one of them is-"
"SHUT UP!"
On the other side of Canterlot, Shining Armor had managed to track down the last of Lightning's posse. The white stallion huffed a pile of steam from his nostrils as he glared down the mare that had frozen the Mane 6 and Cadance. "Gorgenia!" he yelled, charging at the unicorn while his horn glowed a brilliant light. "How dare you take my sister and Cadance hostage! Turn them back now!"
"Now why would I do that?" She chuckled before raising her glasses. Knowing what was coming, Shining closed his eyes. Unfortunately, doing so made it impossible for him to see her attack coming. "Bye bye." she said as she launched a powerful blast at the guard captain, sending him flying back into a building window. Seeing this, she began cackling at the sight. "What hope do you have against me, oh captain of the guard? You know it's impossible to beat me without looking. And the second you do, I'll just turn you to stone."
"Wrong!" Suddenly a magic beam shot out of the window, forcing Gorgenia to dodge as it struck the exact spot she'd been standing. Shining Armor stepped out of the window with a white sheet over his eyes. Gorgenia backpedalled at the sight, surprised that her opponent was now blindfolded.
"What's this? What are you-"
"I didn't make captain for the royal guard by dating one of the princesses, you know!" he yelled as a volley of beams flew out of his horn, causing the green unicorn to start running as the attacks littered the street. "I made it by working hard every day of my life, mastering as many fighting styles as I could."
"So you learned to fight blind?" she asked as she leaped out of the way of another attack.
"Grand Hoof wasn't the only pony Flash learned his fighting styles from!" Shining said as he fired another blast. "Grand Hoof once told me I could be a knight if I wanted to. I declined since being a guard was all I ever wanted to be, which means I'll do whatever it takes to protect Canterlot!"
Gorgenia had to admit she was impressed. He must have been tracking her through her breath and hoofsteps. "How resourceful...but keeping track of me must require a lot of concentration." Her horn glowed and shot of several balls of light, all which flew around Shining. They didn't release a single sound, causing him to not even notice them. And then...
BOOM!
They exploded in his face, causing him to yell and step backwards. His ears were ringing, making it difficult to keep track of Gorgenia, which was exactly what see was hoping for. "Say hello to my Stone Cutter Blast!" She yelled as she unleashed a powerful burst of magical energy, striking him in the chest. Shining let out a scream of pain as he flew backwards and crashed into a nearby building. His body flopped to the ground, groans of pain following the blow. Gorgenia smiled as she trotted over to the guard captain and magically removed his blindfold. "They say the eyes are a window into the soul," she removed her glasses again as Shining began to come around. "I hope you find my eyes...entrancing."
One look was all it took. Shining Armor had been turned to stone.
"Gorgenia verses Shining Armor..." Grand Hoof read, his eyes going wide as he read the next statement. "the winner is...Gorgenia. Shining KO'd. No..."
"Oh no," Velvet cried into her husband's chest. "Why is this happening?!"
"I thought he'd have no problem beating her." Spike said as slumped down into the floor. "What'd we do?"
"It also says Soarin's fighting Wild Smile...and Trixie's fighting Script." Flash grumbled as his eyes continued to watch the magic writing. "This isn't good..."
"Indeed. Lightning's friends are finally making their move." Celestia agreed. "I suppose we'll just have to have faith that Soarin and Trixie can defeat their opponents."
Meanwhile...
Trixie was rushing down the street, Solid Script in hot pursuit by merely teleporting in front of her, forcing her to change course. She had managed to evade all of the enchantments Script had tried leading her into, but now she faced another obstacle. "Oh no." she said, seeing the alley she'd run down to was a dead end.
"This is the end of the line." she turned to see Script warp into the alley. The unicorn stallion stepped closer to the mare, a big malicious grin on his face. "I hope you're ready coward, because-"
"Hold it right there!" yelled a sudden voice, causing Script to turn around. His eyes went wide as he found himself seeing Twilight Sparkle standing at the other end of the alley, looking ready for battle.
"What in the-I thought you had been turned to stone!"
"The spell wore off, so I came after you." Twilight replied, shrugging.
"Is that so?" Script hissed, his horn starting to shine.
"Tell me where Lightning is," Twilight told him.
"Now why would I do that?"
"Because if you don't, I'm taking you down."
"Oh really?" Sensing something was off, Script turned back to where Trixie was, only to find her trying to climb over the alley wall. "So...that's what you were up to. Its a nice try, I'll give you that." he said as he shot a beam at her, which struck her and imprinted some purple writing on her body.
Pain
"Witness the power granted to me by Lightning and the Alicorn Amulet!" Script yelled as his horn kept glowing from the spell. "One of the ten forbidden spells, Life Print!"
Suddenly, the word glowed and Trixie's entire body was consumed by pain, unequalled by anything she had ever felt before. She quickly let out a horrified scream as the agony doubled every second the passed. She instantly lost her grip and fell off the wall, crashing into the ground while continuing to scream. Just a few seconds later, the word disappeared, the pain vanishing. But it had already done the damage, causing Trixie to curl up in the fetal position, tears in her eyes. Twilight vanished in a poof of smoke, confirming what Script had suspected.
"Your illusions are good," he told her as he turned to leave. "If you had picked somepony else, I may have been fooled. Only Gorgenia can revert them back, so the spell wearing off is impossible. It would take more than a thousand years to do that, and the level of power need to complete the transformation back is beyond any average pony."
"Twilight isn't your average pony." Trixie muttered, pain making it hard to say anything else.
"Maybe...but it doesn't matter now. Lightning will win this day."
"Why...*cough cough*...why are you doing this?" Trixie asked, making him stop. "I...I heard about you. A prodigy who wanted nothing more than to...than to help Equestria grow. So why do this?" She looked up at him. Script looked back and it was then she saw it. His eyes were blank, as if he wasn't fully there. Then it hit her. "Hypnosis..." were her last words before losing consciousness.
"They took out Trixie," Scootaloo said as she hung her head, her words instantly causing Luna to hang her head as well.
"Looks like we won't be getting any outside help." Flash added as he hit another table. "Why is this happening?!"
"Its happening because its necessary. And besides, it wouldn't have helped you anyways." Everypony froze at hearing that voice. It was Lightning. Spinning around, they then saw a transparent version of him, standing in the center of the room. "Hello everypony."
"YOU!" Night Light growled. "How are you here?!"
"Astral Projection magic." Lightning replied before seeing the now awake Flash Sentry. "Well look who's finally awake. I thought you were still knocked out...wait a minute, don't tell me you hiding in here." Lightning let out a cackling laugh, his eyes glowing from the amulet's power. "What's the matter? Is the oh-so-great apprentice of Grand Hoof scared?"
"I'm not scared jerkface. I'm stuck here thanks to your stupid runes."
"Interesting," Lightning said as he rubbed his chin in thought. "Don't tell me you're over sixty. What's your secret?"
"What do you want?" Celestia interrupted, causing the unicorn to arch an eyebrow. "Just tell us already."
"Oh don't be such a spoilsport Celestia. You see all the ponies of Equestria as your children, don't you?" Lightning mocked as he let out another round of laughter. "Must be tough seeing all your little kiddies tear each other apart, am I right?!" He looked back at the stage and smiled at the seven statues. "Though I gotta say, it's to bad that Flash and Cadance can't join the game. Looks like you got nopony left that's strong enough to beat me and my friends."
"Don't underestimate the power of some of the ponies out there," Flash countered, pointing his hoof at the cackling unicorn. "Soarin taught me everything I know about aerial combat. He'll could take you down."
"Soarin huh? You're gonna put all of your hopes on that loser?"
"Don't underestimate a member of the Wonderbolts," Celestia replied, gritting her teeth. "They exist as Equestria's air force for a reason.
SMASH! BAM! WHAM! CRASH!
That was the sound of several store shelves flying through a store, all of them smashing into the nearby wall. Right beside them was Soarin, who was dodging a volley of energy waves coming out of Wild Smile's puppets. "Puppet Tower Blast!" Wild yelled as his puppets stacked on top of one another until they were a totem pole. The totem shot out another magic beam, cutting a fourth of the store into nothing. Soarin just barely managed to dodge, causing a series of shelves to break instead. "You're not half bad," Wild commented as he clapped his hooves, causing his puppets to deform from the totem. "But you're still no match for me."
"Oh yeah?!" Soarin yelled back as he grabbed a nearby manikin in his tail and spun it around, striking one of the puppets and sending it flying into another shelf. The following store wall ornaments came crashing down on the wooden menace, causing it to be instantly buried. "That's one down."
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Wild exclaimed as he saw one of his sidekicks get taken out.
"Winning, that's what." Soarin swung the manikin again and aimed for the blue one, only for it to stop mid swing. It was here that Soarin realised something was wrong. The manikin in his tail suddenly started glowing, or specifically, its eyes started glowing yellow. "What the hay?!"
"Surprise!" Wild laughed as he placed his hoof over his red puppet, maliciously grinning. "Didn't you know? It's the souls of my puppets that I control, not the puppets themselves. Knock one down and I'll just move them to another body."
"You gotta be kidding me," Soarin barely said before the manikin struck him, sending him flying. "AUGH!"
"How'd you expect to win when I've got an immortal army on my side?"
"On his side! On his side!" the red puppet sang.
"That's right little buddy! How can this loser beat me if you guys can keep going and going while he gets tired?"
"Gets tired! Gets tired!" it sang again.
"This is gonna be a real pain," Soarin said as he picked himself up, shaking his head. "But If I can't beat them..." Soaring pointed at the unicorn with a look of grim determination. "I'll just have to beat you instead!"
Unfortunately, Wild's puppets turned to their totem form again, firing another laser. As they did, Wild just laughed as he began to run out of the store. "Go ahead and try! If you can catch me that is..."
"Get back here!" Soarin yelled as he flew after him, only for another volley of lasers to follow his pursuit. The Wonderbolt quickly spun around, dodging the fire, only to crash through a store window in the process. This didn't faze him though, as Soarin soon saw the fleeing unicorn as he ran down a nearby street. "Blast it! Get back here and fight me like a real stallion Wild!"
The chase continued down street after street, as Soarin found himself just barely missing the unicorn each time. As their run continued, the puppets would always just barely hit the pegasus, but nothing to fully injure the Wonderbolt. That is, till Soarin was just about to catch Wild, only for him to make a sharp left into another alley. The pegasus instantly followed, only to find that Wild was gone. "What the?! Where did that crazy freak go?!"
"Peekaboo!" said a certain slimy voice, causing Soarin to look up. There, Wild was propped up on another one of his puppets, his tongue sticking way out. "Hey buddy! How's it going?"
"Why you little-" Soarin grumbled before flaring his wings. As he did, he suddenly felt something. His wings continued get any air under them. "What the...what's going on?"
"Look around wingboy." Soarin did, and found that Wild had lead him into one of Script's enchantments. The writing on the wall made Soarin's eyes shrink in fear. Wild just cackled as he pointed at the pegasus, laughing. "Surprise! This enchantment prevents pegasi from being able to fly! HA!"
"You stinking cheat!"
"Don't blame me bub! You should have watched where you were going!" Wild mocked him before clapping his hooves. "If you did, you would have seen the runes." As his last words rolled off his tongue, his puppets in totem form appeared before Soarin, ready to attack. "Too bad. Without your wings, you don't stand a chance." With that, another beam shot out of the wooden tools.
BOOM!
"Oh well. I was having fun." Wild said to himself as he leaned back on his puppet again. "Too bad pegasi have to always have the high ground to be fun to fight."
"Oh yeah?!" yelled a sudden voice, causing Wild to look back down at the explosion that had been caused from his puppets. There, a blue pegasus hopped up the building like a frog, quickly getting up to his level.
"What the-ack!" Wild yelped as Soarin slammed his hoof into the unicorn's face. A second later, Soarin grabbed a nearby railing, staring at his opponent with deadly eyes.
"Did you really think that the Wonderbolts wouldn't train for situations where we can't use our wings?!" Soarin boasted as he tried to hit Wild again, only for Wild to suddenly be lifted higher into the air due to his puppet. "Get back here!"
"Smart." Wild grumbled as he called for his puppets again. They appeared behind the young pegasi, who smirked seeing them. Once they fired, he saw that he could move out of the way and they'd hit Wild. Seeing them charge their attack, Soarin was about to move when he suddenly saw something in a nearby window. A young unicorn filly was watching their fight and if he and Wild both moved, she'd be hit by the stray blasts. With no other choice, Soarin stayed where he was as the blasts struck him in the back, sending him flying into one of the alley walls with an explosion.
"Don't tell me that's all you got?" Wild asked, however Soarin once again leapt out of the explosion and swung around, striking Wild with his tail and sending him flying towards the ground with a crash.
That was all Soarin had left and he began to fall. "Sorry Rainbow..." he muttered before crashing into the ground as well.
Wild Smile stood up and shook his head. "Listen, you jerk! When my friends hit you like that, you're supposed to stay down!" Seeing that the pegasi was no longer moving, he stepped over and kicked him. No response. "Too bad, you were a fun opponent." With that, he turned and left.
"One more down." Lightning mocked when they saw the report announcing Soarin's loss. "So what was that about him being the one to beat me?"
"You cheater!" Flash yelled again. "There's no way Soarin would lose to any of you in a fair fight!"
"Whatever." Lightning said before turning to the princesses. "So, who ya gonna put your faith in now, your majesties?"
"Iron Core," Grand Hoof countered, pointing at the projection of his grandson. "His strength is equal to Flash's. He'll take you down."
"Oh really? Then why haven't I seen him compete in any fights? If he was out there looking for me, he'd have been caught in an enchantment by now. But...I haven't seen his name. Looks like the apprentice knight doesn't care about your little friends." Lightning spat before bellowing out another round of laughter. "So I'll ask again, which loser are you gonna say will beat me?!"
"If you're here to just gloat, then leave already." Luna barked, glaring at the projection. "We have no need to hear your mocking."
"I'm not here to gloat," he said with a wave of his hoof. "I'm here to offer a deal."
"A deal?"
"Yeah. A deal." Lightning explained as a huge evil grin plastered itself on his face. "Its really simple and it'll guarantee your little friends don't get turned into gravel."
"Out with it already," Grand Hoof yelled.
"If you wish to save them and stop everypony else from fighting..." Lightning said before giving an evil smirk, "then Celestia and Luna will renounce their title as rulers of Equestria and proclaim me as the new king."
Everypony went stiff after hearing his demand.
"So this was your plan all along," Celestia hissed as she glared at the unicorn. "You wish to force us into making you the new ruler of Equestria."
"Of course!" Lightning guffawed before pointing to his chest. "It's time Equestria got a new, better leader. One which will rebuild this kingdom anew, who will make Equestria the mighty, fearsome kingdom it once was." His eyes glowed for a second as his next statement left his mouth. "One where power is truly understood and feared."
"Sounds to me like you just want a world were the strong rule and the weak fall by the waste side."
"And want's wrong with that?" Lightning asked, his tongue flailing at the remark. "I'll rip this kingdom down and rebuild it from the ground up. And when it's done, there'll be no room for such useless ideals like friendship and teamwork."
"You can't do that!" Scootaloo screamed.
"Yeah!" Applebloom added. "We like Equestria just the way it is."
"That's because you're weak. You're just weak ponies from a weak kingdom." He turned back to the princesses. "You've only got an hour and a half before the statues crumble. So, if you want to save them, then announce your renouncing your claim to the throne to all of Canterlot and appoint me as your new king." Lightning just shrugged at this next part. "You can choose the method, I don't care. Royal Canterlot Voice, mind linking magic, whatever. However you wanna do it, just make sure I'm king at the end of the deal."
Everypony frowned upon hearing this.
"What means more to you? Your children or your title? Chose carefully." With that, he disappeared.
"That no good creep." Flash muttered as Springer put his paw over his shoulder. "I can't believe I'm stuck here while he trying to do such a stupid thing!"
"Princess," Grand Hoof said to Celestia, "you can't go through with this. My grandson has no right to-"
"I know," Celestia interrupted. "But unless we can find a way to defeat him, I might not have a choice. We must find Iron Core. He's our only option right now."
"But what if he's not even trying to find Lightning?" Night asked.
"Don't say that," Grand shook his head at the question. "Iron might be rough around the edges, but he's a good pony at heart. Skybreaker wouldn't have chosen to train him if he didn't believe that."
"He's Skybreaker's apprentice?" Flash asked. "I didn't know that."
"If Iron hasn't be trapped in an enchantment, it's because he's making sure to avoid them." Grand said as he stared at the writing again.
"And it's really slowing me down."
Everypony spun around and found Iron Core step into the castle, Piecemaker at his side.
"What are you doing back here?" Flash asked.
"I can't track this Lightning guy down if I'm busy trying to avoid those enchantments." he explained as he put his weapon down for a second, catching his breath.
"So you're just going to give up?" Velvet asked angrily, her husband holding her back.
"No, but I can't risk getting trapped in a fight. As a knight, it's my duty to keep the safety of all citizens of Equestria. I came back here to see if you all know a way we can nullify them." Iron explained before grimacing at his next thought. "Or we wait until there's no one else for me to fight except Lightning and his minions."
"Neither of which we can afford to do right now." Luna said in low, grim tone.
"I'm sorry your highness." Iron bowed in slight shame.
"It's alright Iron," Celestia said before looking up at the board as it showed more and more fights going on. "After all, if this situation keeps spiralling out of control like this..." she grimaced as she saw several new lines appear on the wall.
Moondancer V Fancy Pants V Wild Smile
Big Macintosh V Solid Script
"Big brother..." Applebloom whispered as she put her hooves over mouth, her two friends comforting her as she watched the barrier wall. "Please be okay."
"Blast it." Grand grumbled as he hit another table with his hoof. "Where are all the soldiers? What are they doing?!" His question was soon answered as another line appeared, showing several names fighting Gorgenia. Unfortunately, as soon as the line appeared, everypony's ears caught the sound of an explosion in the distance. With that, every name but Gorgenia's quickly said: 'KO'd'.
"This does not fare well." Luna said as she tapped the barrier with her hoof. "At this rate..."
Meanwhile...
Gorgenia was in the Canterlot graveyard, now standing atop a pile of unconscious royal guards. She adjusted her glasses as she said to herself. "How boring, they weren't even a challenge. If only I could have taken on Cadance instead..." She grit her teeth at her own statement as she continued. "Tch, it seems nopony truly appreciates my beauty."
The unicorn then looked up, her eyes now watching two unicorns running from several floating puppets. Gorgenia recognised one of the runners, it was Fancy Pants. She hopped off the pile and adjusted her vision again, only to see a volley beams fly out of the wooden dolls, Wild Smile laughing as he rode one of them while doing this. "At least he's having fun."
BOOM!
"And his fun is now gone." Gorgenia giggled to herself as the two unicorns Wild was chasing fell to the ground, their bodies battered and bruised from the explosion. She then shouted to her friend. "Hey Wild! I think you played with your toys a little too much!"
"HA!" Wild laughed back as he leaned back on his puppets, his hoof waving to Gorgenia. "They were nothing. I'm just getting started!" The maniacal unicorn then saw the pile behind Gorgenia. "Though it looks like you played with your toys a bit too much as well."
"Eh, they weren't up to snuff." Gorgenia shrugged. "So, where's Solid? Is he still putting runes everywhere?"
"I dunno. I haven't seen the guy." Wild replied before scratching the back of his head. "But knowing him, he's using some weird rune to beat somepony. Takes the fun out of it really."
"True. But it does put the odds in our favour."
As they said this, Solid was just down a few streets, standing in the middle of the main park in Canterlot. In front of him was Big Mac, who was just barely standing on his hooves. Exhaustion had hit him like a carriage, as he went through more fights than most ponies in the city. The stallion could barely stand while Solid was mostly at full strength.
"So, your Applejack's big brother, am I correct?" Solid asked as he rubbed his chin in thought. "Tell me, are you in any position to even try to fight me, brother of the Element of Honesty?"
"Grrr...you bet I am!" Mac yelled as he ground his hoof in the dirt, steam blowing out of his nostrils like a bull. "Thanks to your enchantments, I've been forced to fight and hurt innocent ponies. I told myself I had to for AJ, but that doesn't make it right."
"Is that so? How sad for you."
"Shut up! I'm gonna beat you! Right here, right now!"
The two stared each other down for what felt like an eternity, until finally Mac let out an almost beast like roar and charged towards the unicorn, who remained perfectly still. The earth pony grew closer until he suddenly stopped dead, placing his hoof to his throat. "What's happening?" he asked painfully before collapsing onto the ground. "I...I can't breathe."
"The one who attacks first in this barrier will be robbed of oxygen." Script explained while pointing to some floating writing. "Had you bothered to read it, you would have known that."
"Applejack," Mac forced as he began to black out. "I'm sorry."
"This is the end of Celestia's reign." Script said in a drone, robotic like voice. "Soon, all of Equestria will be under the rule of a true king."
"Big Mac!" Applebloom yelled as tears filled her eyes as the news of her brother appeared on the wall.
"It's alright little one." Velvet said as she pulled her into a hug. "Don't worry, it'll be okay. I promise."
"This is getting bad. The number of players keep dropping." Iron commented before looking at Grand. "Maybe I should go ahead and head out."
"No," Grand shook his head. "You need to save your strength for Lightning. You're the only one left who stands a chance."
Meanwhile, Flash and Springer were on the stage. There, the orange pegasus looked up at the statues that were once his friends, tears starting to appear under his eyes. "I'm sorry girls. I'm supposed to protect you, but I can't." Flash hit the stage in frustration, glaring at the stage floor as Springer just gave him a slight hug. "Darn it! Why am I completely useless right now?!"
"It'll be okay Flash." Springer said as he continued the hug. "It'll work out."
"I know buddy. I just...just..." Flash replied before looking up again. His eyes suddenly went wide as he saw something horrifying. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things, only to still realize it was real.
There was a large crack on Cadance's wings. The stone statue was cracked.
"Oh no..." Flash gasped before yelling at the others in the room. "EVERYPONY! We have a new problem!"
Everypony all turned to him and then rushed over. As they did, Celestia spoke up first, "What's the matter Flash? What's wrong?"
"It's Cadance! Look!" he yelled as he pointed at the crack. "That's not good, is it?"
The others gasped at the sight except Celestia and Luna. Velvet gasped as she looked at the other statues. "What's wrong? Are they beginning to crumble? Don't tell me I'm going to lose my daughter even sooner?!"
"That no good snake!" her husband hissed as he glared at the statues. "Just like him to break his own rules. Why If I could get my hooves on-"
"No." Celestia interjected. "I don't think this is them crumbling. I think Cadance is possibly...well, maybe..."
"What?"
Celestia didn't reply and instead paced on the stage, muttering to herself. "Is she's still...yes! And if I tried to...that's right, so that would mean...yes."
"Does anyone know what the heck she's saying?" Flash asked, only to see everypony else just shake their heads. Flash blinked at the sight, soon realising where Twilight got her thought process from. That is, till Celestia beamed a large smile.
"That's it!" Celestia exclaimed as she looked back at Cadance's statue. "There's a way we can revive Cadance!"
"THERE IS!?"
"Yes." Celestia nodded before explaining. "You see, the forbidden spell of petrification works at a genetic level. The caster has to know what they're turning into stone."
"And that helps Cadance how?" Spike asked.
"When Gorgenia cast the spell on Cadance, she was trying to turn an alicorn to stone. But Cadance isn't an alicorn, or at least, not a full one."
Flash's eyes went wide. "That's right! Before she ascended, she was an pegasus like me."
"Exactly! Because of that, her DNA will have traces of pegasus despite now being an alicorn." Celestia explained before walking up to the statue. "But she's been like this for almost two hours and only a small crack has formed. The time it would take to recover completely will take too long. That is-"
"Unless we try to funnel our magic through that crack?" Luna continued, causing a nod from Celestia. "If we did that, then we might be able to speed up the process."
"It's worth a try. Come sister, let's see if we can wake up Cadance."
The two stood side by side as their horns glowed together. They then both shot a beam at the crack, hitting hit and enveloping Cadance in a bright light. Slowly, the crack began to grow larger and larger...
SMASH!
The stone broke and crumbled away, leaving Cadance standing there as if she was perfectly fine, if not a little disorientated. The others cheered as they saw their princess of love turn back to normal. As they did, Cadance blinked at the sight before rubbing her head. "What the?! What's going on?"
"Cadenza," Celestia replied before leaning down to her niece's level. "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"
"I think I'm okay." Cadance said as she shook her head. "What happened to me? Why do I feel so stiff?" Her eyes then saw the other statues, causing her to go wide-eyed. "What in the-why are there statues of Twilight and her friends?"
One explanation later...
"That snake!" Cadance growled, her face turning into a wave of pure rage. "When I get my hooves on him-"
"You need to find Gorgenia first." Grand told her as he pointed to the statues. "She's the source of all this. If you defeat her and make her reverse the spell, Lightning won't have any hostages."
"Though I must ask, are you sure you're up for this?" Luna questioned as she put her hoof over Cadance's shoulder. "You have just awoken. We will understand if you think you are not ready."
Cadance just shook her head before heading towards the door. "I'll be fine. I'll make sure this games ends no matter what." As she exited the room, she turned and gave them all a look of both courage and anxiousness. "Wish me luck."
"You don't need it," Flash said while crossing his hooves. "Go kick her flank."
Mi Amore Cadenza has entered the game
"WHAT?!" Lightning yelled as he slammed his hoof on his chair, almost breaking the chair's arm. His eyes went over the text he was reading again. "How did...I thought she as a statue as well?! Then...fine. So the princess of love has recovered, who cares?" The unicorn then leaned back and cricked his neck, his eyes still shining. "Doesn't matter. In fact, if good old Flash manages to find his way out of the castle, that'll make three of Canterlot's best coming head to head. That's when the fun begins..." He smiled as the amulet around his neck glowed, causing his eyes to take on a red tint. "The festival's main event draws near. Show me what you got Canterlot!"