//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: War in Equestria // by FlamingSamurai //------------------------------// Hope... Inside of a tent pitched just outside of the Badlands, a lavender colored unicorn with turquoise hair awoke from her sound sleep. Next to her lay another unicorn, grey in coat color and hair black as night. Above the two hung a lantern turned out for the night, while all around the tent, supplies were scattered about, a red cape with white fur on the edges, a brown cloak, and a saddlebag with three black crystals inside. The lavender unicorn yawned and sat up. It was still dark outside, but for some reason, she thought she heard someone calling her name. She looked down at her companion. He was still asleep, so whoever or whatever was calling her it couldn't be him. She cautiously opened the tent entrance and peeked out at the dark landscape surrounding her. When the voice failed to say anything, she sighed and zipped the entrance back up. "Hope?" With a squeak, Hope turned around and saw her companion was now awake. “Are you alright?” Sombra groggily asked her. “You seem a bit troubled.” “Sorry, Sombra”, Hope replied. “I thought I heard someone calling my name. I guess I’m just anxious to get Princess Amore back is all.” “Well, it may take a while”, Sombra said, sitting up and yawning. He then reached towards some nearby saddlebags and pulled out a tan-colored scroll and unraveled it. A map of all of Equestria was drawn on it, with a continent on either side of it. “When I was lost in my darkness all those years ago, I specifically scattered the pieces of Amore’s statue all over the world. That includes everything outside of Equestria,” Sombra said, motioning towards Griffonstone, the continent to the east of Equestria. “We may have to travel overseas in order to find all of the pieces, thirty-two more to be exact.” Hope was unable to conceal an excited smile. “Oh, I can’t believe this!” she exclaimed quietly. “We’re actually journeying beyond Equestria! I’ve never been to Griffonstone before!” “Indeed”, Sombra said. “I’ve heard the kingdom itself is majestic.” He then looked down at the ground for a moment. “And to think I came close to enslaving them…” Hope frowned and thought back to over a thousand years ago. She remembered how she learned that her childhood friend Sombra, had turned out to be an umbrum, a pony of pure shadow, enslaved the Crystal Empire, and turned its ruler, Princess Amore, into a crystalline statue which he broke into several pieces and spread them around the world . When Princess Celestia and Princess Luna imprisoned him in ice, the entire empire disappeared. Once it returned, Sombra tried to take back what he believed was his and was defeated. Radiant Hope had gone to great lengths to try and save her friend, but he seemed too chained to what he believed his fate. But in the end, Sombra had redeemed himself and to atone for his actions, he promised to find Amore's shards. Even after all of that, however, Sombra was still feeling guilt over what he had done. Hope brought a hoof to Sombra’s chin and lifted his head so their eyes met. “Sombra”, Hope began, “I know that you hurt a lot of people. But if I can throw away my destiny as a princess to save you, then you can throw away your destiny as a harbinger of fear to save Princess Amore. Besides, the princesses believe you’re worthy of a second chance. So please, forgive yourself.” Sombra smiled at her. After everything he had been through, this was something that he needed to hear. He grabbed onto Hope and pulled her into a hug, a move that initially caught her off-guard. But soon, Hope nuzzled her head into Sombra’s chest and wrapped her hooves around his torso, returning the favor. “Thank you, Hope”, Sombra replied. “What else are friends for?” Hope giggled. “Hope…” a third voice suddenly whispered. Sombra and Hope froze. A moment of silence passed before the two were brave enough to look around, but they saw nothing. Before the two could say anything, they heard it again. “Hope…” "That's it!" Hope whispered. "That's the voice calling me!"   "Hmm..." Sombra pulled himself out of their embrace and headed towards the entrance of the tent. “Sombra, wait!” Hope protested. “Stay here, Hope”, Sombra commanded. “I’ll check it out. It sounds like it came from outside.” Ignoring the scared look on his friend’s face, Sombra opened the tent flap and his horn glowed with a green aura. As he stepped out into the darkness, he closed the tent flap behind him and scanned the area for the source of the voice they had just heard. Someone was out there, Sombra knew that much, even if he couldn’t see them. “Hope… Hope…” the voice’s repeating of Hope’s name was become unbearable. It was feminine, but seemed to sound… modulated. Sombra took a few more paces away from the tent. “Wait a minute.” A thought suddenly entered his mind. “That voice… I’ve heard it before. When Hope brought me back to full strength… when I tried to retake the Crystal Empire, she had gathered several others with her as accomplices. There were only two others apart from her that were female. One was that annoying pegasus with a yellow mane. And the other…” “Hope… Hope…” Sombra’s eyes widened. “No…” he whispered. “It couldn’t be…” Moments later, that same voice spoke up, louder than before and from the way he heard it, coming from directly behind him. “Greetings, Sombra.” Sombra turned his head behind him, only to see the entrance to the tent. Before he had any chance to react further, several figures suddenly emerged from the ground and swarmed it. Sombra fired a blast of green-colored magic from his horn, knocking a line of attackers down and then turned to the right and fired another blast that knocked out another one. A group of attackers ambushed him on his left side and tried to pin him down. Sombra struggled underneath them and looked into one of their faces. It was a creature with black skin, fangs, strange wings, and pale blue eyes and wearing dark blue armor. Sombra’s eyes widened with horror. “No…”. He fired a bolt of magic that knocked the creatures off of him. As he rose to his feet, he looked up and froze where he stood. The tent had been torn from the ground and thrown aside. Where it stood, Sombra saw Hope lying on the ground unmoving and above her stood a tall alicorn-esque creature with an unusual-looking crown on her head behind her horn, the same strange and broken-looking wings as the other creatures, and a greenish-blue mane and tail. She wore green boots covering all four hooves, green armor that covered most of her torso (with holes for the wings to stick out of), and a green war helmet with yellow eyes and horns on the sides of it. The head creature smiled ominously and held up her hoof and all the others surrounding them dropped their stances and stood still. Then, the leader’s gnarled horn glowed green and using its magic, removed the helmet, revealing a black face with green, dragon-like eyes that Sombra recognized from the Siege of the Crystal Empire. “Queen Chrysalis.” Sombra spat. “I’m surprised you remember me at all, Sombra”, Chrysalis said, her ominous smile remaining where it was. “I assumed that you were ruling over the Crystal Empire by now. But one of my spies informed me otherwise. Where are the umbrum anyhow?” “Where they belong”, Sombra said. “Banished to their home where they cannot hurt anyone else. I made sure to that myself.” Chrysalis’ eyes widened before she burst into laughter. “You actually banished your own people? HA! How the mighty have fallen!” “I have changed my destiny”, Sombra stated. “My friend showed me there was a better path for me to take.” His horned then glowed green as he charged up another magic blast. “And if you know what’s good for you, you will step away from her right now.” Chrysalis giggled. “I don’t think so,” she said. “The love your friend has for you is strong. I haven’t tasted love this powerful since I fed off of Shining Armor’s love for his precious Princess Cadance.” “You refer to my successors”, Sombra said. “You’ve encountered them before?” “Indeed”, Chrysalis replied. “When they were about to be wed, I captured Princess Cadance and impersonated her to feed of her fiancé’s love for her. I had hoped that consuming it would give me enough energy to conquer all of Equestria. But they defeated me.” “I should have expected such behavior. From what Hope told me, you’re nothing but a complete coward”, Sombra jeered. “You left the Empire right after I turned the royal sisters to stone.” “Because the umbrum do not have any love for my changelings to feed on. I knew that if you unleashed the umbrum, my children wouldn’t stand a chance. But now that you have so foolishly turned on your own people, our conquest of Equestria shall resume”, Chrysalis said before lowering herself down to where Hope lay and her ominous smile widened into a malicious grinned. “Starting with the one person you care about the most.” “No!” In his rage, Sombra leapt towards Chrysalis, his horn still glowing with magic. But Chrysalis simply stepped to the side and let Sombra fly past her and hit the ground. Before Sombra had the chance to recover, Chrysalis, with great speed, pinned him to the ground and opened her mouth. A sickly green aura emitted from Sombra’s entire body and was sucked right into the Changeling queen’s gaping jaws. Moments later, the glow faded and Sombra collapsed, barely conscious.             “Whatever… you’re planning… it won’t work”, Sombra muttered weakly. “They’ll… stop… you…”             “Shh…” Chrysalis put a hoof to Sombra’s mouth and lowered his head to the ground as he lost consciousness. “Oh, I know. The princesses and their little pets. They are no match for me. With you and your friend’s love for one another acting as a food supply for my children, Equestria will be mine.” Chrysalis then lifted her head up high and a yellow aura surrounded her horn . “Prepare yourself, Princess Celestia. This is war! We will conquer Equestria and your subject’s love will be ours at long last! Your time is now over, now! DO YOU HEAR ME!?” Once the glow died out , the Changeling queen cackled as she and her changelings took off into the night with Sombra, Hope, and their supplies in their tow. ------------------------------------------             Queen Chrysalis’ awful warning and laughter echoing in her mind awoke Princess Celestia from her slumber and into a cold sweat. Taking a few seconds to calm down, she threw the covers aside, got out of bed, and looked out the window. She only saw her beloved city of Canterlot in the beautiful night cast by her younger sister, Princess Luna, peaceful and quiet. Celestia then turned her attention beyond the city and into the distance.             “I saw what she did. I heard her say it. And now, she’s really going to do it”, Celestia thought to herself. “I prayed a day like this would never come...” Celestia heard the doors to her chambers open and she turned to see her sister and two grey-coated guards entering the room, a worried expression on her face. She was shorter than Celestia, dark blue in color with a black flank. Her blue, starry mane and tail rippled just like her own, which had pink, blue, and green assorted like a rainbow. She had a black crown with a blue diamond in the center and a piece of royal armor over her chest with a white crescent moon on it, a moon which was also her cutie mark. Her eyes were blue, like the rest of her. “Sister?” Luna asked. Celestia just simply walked over and hugged her, a tear sliding down her cheek. Luna wrapped a hoof around her neck and held it there for a few seconds before looking up into her big sister’s sad eyes. “Sister, please”, Luna asked. “What is it? Was it some sort of nightmare? Another vision?” “I’m afraid so, Luna”, Celestia bowed her head. “Chrysalis has returned.” She paused and looked at the two guards on each side of Luna before staring into her sister’s eyes. “And she wants war.” Luna and the guards’ eyes widened with shock when they heard this. “War? But that’s just ridiculous!” Luna exclaimed. “There hasn’t been a major war in Equestria for hundreds of years.” “I know”, said Celestia. “After you were banished along with the Nightmare forces, the only major conflict I suffered was with the griffons. We eventually called a cease fire, but after that, no real activity happened until after you were restored. Chrysalis did launch a siege on the city of Trot, but I was able to dispatch her.” “I see”, Luna said before she thought to herself, “Maybe that’s why all the Changelings have holes in their hooves and wings.” Luna then walked over towards the window, her two guards remaining in place. “Do you really think she means it?” Luna asked. “After all, we have beaten them plenty of times before.” “Do not underestimate them, sister”, Celestia replied, pulling Luna’s attention away from the view of Canterlot. “Every time we’ve faced Chrysalis, she and her minions always come back stronger than ever. We must be ready for everything they throw at us and we will need all the help that we can get.” Celestia then turned towards the guards. “You may leave us.” “Yes, your majesty”, the two replied simultaneously and left the room, closing the doors behind them. Celestia then turned towards Luna once more. “Luna, I want you to personally contact Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor in the Crystal Empire. They will want to know about this. I will contact Princess Twilight and ask her to bring her friends tomorrow. We must prepare for what is coming.” The expression on Luna’s face changed from worried to skeptical. “Sister, are you sure all of Twilight’s friends are fit for war? I have no doubt that Twilight, Pinkamena, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash can handle themselves, but Fluttershy is far from a fighter and Rarity… well, you know how she feels about getting dirty.” “Trust me, Luna”, Celestia replied, placing a hoof on her shoulder. “There is more than one way to help in times like these.” “Alright, then.” Luna hesitated for a second, then hugged Celestia one more time before she too left the room. Alone, Celestia stared out the window once again. As she looked down on the city, she thought of all the innocents that would be harmed should Canterlot come under attack. She thought of all the ponies across Equestria that may fall to Chrysalis’ mad quest for power. But most of all, she thought of her adopted nieces, Cadance and Twilight, the latter of whom was once her prize pupil, and how this would affect them and her friends. But then something else echoed in her mind. “We will need all the help we can get.” Her mind then immediately drifted back to before Twilight became her protégé, to someone else who had once held that title. Someone who had gone cruel and dishonest after not getting what she wanted so quickly. Someone whom Celestia had hoped would one day return after seeing the error of her ways. Someone just as skilled in magic as Twilight is. And worst of all, when they last saw each other… “This is the biggest mistake you’ll make in your entire life.” “One of many.” “But it wasn’t really a mistake”, Celestia reasoned. “She chose that path and carved her own destiny. I needed to do something to stop her. But from what Twilight told me and if... after all of this time…” Celestia walked over to her desk, took out a scroll, and put ink on her quill. “My dear Princess Twilight…” she began to write, unaware that flaming objects were falling from from the sky.