Spike the Dragon finds himself alone, wandering aimlessly among the deserted streets of the demolished Kingdom of Canterlot. His former home now leveled to the ground by the magic of a unicorn pony that he thought was one of his friends. What's worse is he lost his princess, taken away by the same unicorn. None the less, he is determined to get her back and to protect his remaining friends.
As the small dragon passes under a crumbling ivory colored tower, he stops when a piece of debris falls before him. He looks up to see a large section of the tower crumble and break off. The section begins to fall on top of him. Spike runs desperately trying to get away from the crumbling tower before it buries him but he isn't fast enough. Just as he thought he wasn't going to make it, his body is enveloped by a pale magenta colored light. The light lifts the dragon and immediately pulls him out of harm's way. The tower falls behind him with dust and a loud rumble.
The pale magenta light lowers Spike to the ground safely. The dust clears and he turns to see a brilliant azure colored unicorn pony with pale blue colored mane heading towards him. She wears a black top hat and a black bow tie. Her Cutie Mark is in the form of a five pointed star tipped magic wand crossed over a glittering cloak.
Spike recognizes the pony who had just saved him. "Trixie!" He greeted.
"Spike! Are you okay?" The distressed unicorn mare runs up to the small dragon. "What's going on? One minute, Trixie was setting up for her magic show, the next, Starlight appears out of nowhere and starts destroying the city."
Spike, happy to see a familiar face, gets up and hugs the azure unicorn. "I-I don't know. I don't know what to do, Trixie. Starlight took Twilight. She and Sunburst are kidnapping the alicorn princesses."
"What? Why would Starlight do something like this?" Asked Trixie.
Spike shakes his head. "Look. I have to get to the Crystal Empire. I-I have to warn Cadence. They'll be going after her next. Will you... Will you help me?"
Trixie pauses for a moment then smiles at the little dragon. "Trixie has come a long way from the days of spreading lies and using a soul sucking amulet to cause mischief." She takes off her top hat and throws it high in the air. Her horn glows with magenta light. Spike watches in wonder as the top hat bursts in a puff of magenta colored smoke and scatters little multi-colored flowers everywhere. The flowers gently float to the ground, surrounding Spike and making him feel... Lighter?
Trixie levitates Spike with her magic and gently rests him on her back. She looks at the small dragon and says. "It doesn't matter what happens. The show must go on!" And as fast as she can, Trixie with Spike on her back, gallops for Canterlot's train station.
A few moments pass. The pair come across even more destroyed buildings. They would occasionally see ponies helping other ponies cope with the loss of their homes and livelihood. What remains of the Royal Guards are seen helping too. Thankfully, it didn't seem like a lot of ponies got hurt but a lot of lives got ruined.
Spike couldn't help but think what possible reason would his friend, Starlight, have to do something like this. "I don't get it, Trixie. I mean, I know Starlight used her magic before to enslave an entire village of ponies but that was a long time ago. Sure she did a lot of bad things in the past but she's been working real hard with Twilight to change for the better."
Trixie thinks for a moment. "There can be any number of possible answers. You said they're capturing alicorns so maybe Tirek is behind all this?"
"Could be but it doesn't seem like his style mind controlling ponies to do his dirty work." Spike replied.
Trixie thinks again then says. "What about King Sombra, the dark magic wielding umbral unicorn stallion?"
"When the Crystal Heart was used on him, he exploded and we haven't seen him since. I think he might be dead." Replied Spike.
Trixie tries a third time. "What about evil alternate reality doppelgangers from an evil alternate reality mirror dimension?"
"Are you serious? Sounds like something that would only happen in a spin off." Replied Spike.
"Nightmare entity?"
"Sounds like something that would only happen in a comic book."
"Discord?"
"Fanfic."
Their conversation is cut short as Spike and Trixie arrive at the train station. The two are filled with a feeling of dread when they see the train tracks blocked by large wreckage preventing any train from leaving the station.
"Now what? At this rate, its gonna take us days on hoof to reach the Crystal Empire." Spike exclaimed.
The azure unicorn mare proudly smiles at her dragon friend. "Don't sweat it, Spike. Trixie's got this."
Spike looked at Trixie sarcastically. "Unless you can fly, I don't think so."
"Just sit back and enjoy the show. When the Great and Powerful Trixie says the show must go on..." Trixie's horn begins to glow with magenta colored light. "The show *will* go on!"
A bright flash covers everything causing Spike to shield his eyes. When he opens his eyes, he realizes he is no longer sitting on Trxie's back. The train station, everything has disappeared and its as if he is now standing in a void of pitch black. He looks around for his friend. "Trixie?" But his attention is drawn when he hears the click sound of two spot lights being turned on before him.
"Mares and Stallions, foals of all ages!" From where the two spot lights meet, the azure unicorn, Trixie, appears in a poof of smoke and glitters standing on her hind hooves with her front hooves spread high in the air. "If you've managed to read this far into the story then the Great and Powerful Trixie would like to show her appreciation and say thank you!" She announced and bows gracefully.
Spike looks around confused. "Story?... Who are you talking to?"
Trixie continues. "As you may know, one of our heroes, Spike the Dragon is in a bit of a pickle. He lost his best friend Twilight. His former home of Canterlot, destroyed. Something is wrong with two of his other friends, Starlight and Sunburst. And now, he needs to get to the Crystal Empire to warn his remaining friends of impending danger and hopefully rescue his princess Twilight. But he can't because the trains aren't running. How will he get out of this situation?"
Trixie winks and her horn begins to glow with light. She conjures a black baton and a black top hat appearing in a poof of smoke. She catches the top hat and baton with each of her front hooves. She tosses the top hat and it lands on her head while she twirls the baton and points it at Spike. "The Great and Powerful Trixie will show you how! Watch as she saves this hopeless situation by performing her most daring and most dangerous magic trick yet!"
"Yeah! Go Trixie!" He couldn't explain what was going on but the little dragon, Spike, finds himself getting swept away by Trixie's show. Only a second ago, he didn't know what to do but now, even though he still doesn't know what to do, Trixie's illusion magic is making him feel like everything is going to be fine.
Trixie continues. "Every pony knows that any unicorn who has mastered the teleportation spell can make themselves or others disappear from one place and reappear in another instantly. However, no pony has ever tried to teleport themselves from the Equestrian capital of Canterlot all the way to the once cursed isolated city at Equestria's end known as the Crystal Empire... Until today!"
"Wait, what?" reacted Spike. "Trixie, this isn't a joke. Even Twilight won't attempt to teleport that far."
"Of course she wouldn't. This is a death defying act." Trixie's horn begins to charge with magical energy. She levitates Spike and places him on her back. "Drum roll please!" A drum with two drum sticks appear in a poof of smoke. It floats in mid air and performs a drum roll by itself. "Will the Great and Powerful Trixie succeed and save the day? Or will she and her dragon friend fail and disappear into oblivion? No pony knows what's going to happen next!... Unless you browse later chapters!"
Spike fearfully hugs the back of Trixie's neck. "Wait! W-what if we poof inside solid rock. We might-"
Trixie interrupts him and says with a smile. "Ever since Starlight taught Trixie... Taught me this teleportation spell, I've been using it every night in my magic shows. Spike, I've had lots of practice. When every pony gave up on me, when I lost hope on myself, my best friend Starlight did not. Don't give up hope."
Hearing Trixie's plea, Spike calms down and places his trust in the azure unicorn. Trixie's horn continues to gather large amounts of magical energy. Shortly, a flash of bright magenta colored light takes Trixie and Spike away leaving behind a poof of smoke and bright glitters.
Meanwhile, at the Crystal Empire, news has spread of the disaster that hit Canterlot. Crystal Guards are seen everywhere guarding the pony citizens that live in the large city. Every crystal street, every crystal corner, a guard stands to watch over it. Even the skies are watched by the paroling winged Crystal Guards. Small green glowing orbs called teleportation wards placed on posts are erected everywhere to prevent unicorns from using teleportation spells to enter the city. There is great unease.
High above the empire's Crystal Castle, hundreds of feet in the air, a bright flash of light appears followed by the appearance of the small purple dragon, Spike and the azure colored unicorn mare, Trixie.
Trixie sees the Crystal Empire far below them. "Aha! We're here! Was there ever any doubt that the Great and Powerful Trixie could-"
"Get us killed?" Spike yelled as the two of them plummet towards the city's crystal streets.
They scream and panic as they continue to fall but out of nowhere, a Crystal Guard appears to swoop in and catch Spike on his back while grabbing Trixie with his hooves. Trixie looks up to see an unusual looking Crystal Guard. Sure, he is wearing the traditional helmet and saddle plates worn by the empire's many winged Crystal Guards but this one wears gold armor instead of platinum. His coat is of a light gamboge yellow and his mane was of a moderate sapphire blue color. This was not like the normal crystal sparkling coat and mane of ponies that lived in the empire. The saddle plates on his flank covers his Cutie Mark.
The guard looks below him towards Trixie and greets her. "Miss?" And then he looks behind him towards Spike and greets him. "Spike, the brave and glorious hero of the Crystal Empire. Its an honor. What're you doing all the way up here?"
Spike pulls the guard's face close to him. "Never mind that. Can you take us to Cadence and Shining Armor. Its real urgent."
The guard nods his head. He starts his decent and flys for the Crystal Castle. He lands by the castle's huge arch way beside the spinning heart shaped crystal object and sets both Spike and Trixie safely on the ground. The two quickly head for the castle's throne room. Soon Spike meets with Princes Cadence and her husband, Shining Armor.
Shining Armor, now wearing regally purple colored and gold trimmed armor, greets them. "Spike, you're back. Where's Twilight?"
Spike worriedly runs up to him. "S-she's gone! Starlight took her! She and Sunburst are taking all the alicorn princesses and I think they're coming for Princess Cadence next!"
Shining Armor exchange looks of concern with his wife. "Caddy?"
"I know, dear but it has to be." Cadence replied. "A bud will soon blossom into an enduring flower but not without great hardship. If the Reclused Wizard and the Mad Sorceress are after me, there's no reason to have the citizens of the empire involved."
Shining Armor nods to Cadence. "Very well. I'll have the Crystal Guards organize an evacuation and then we'll make our stand right here in the throne room." He then leaves to speak to a couple of near by Crystal Guards and gives them orders.
Trixie walks up to Princess Cadence. "Trixie doesn't mean to be disrespectful, your highness but are you nuts? Aren't you leaving with your ponies? Its dangerous to stay here."
"I can't believe I'm agreeing with Trixie but Canterlot looked like it got hit by an earth quake and then got trampled by several ursa majors. Starlight's magic is strong but I've never seen her like this before." Spike added.
Cadence thinks to herself for a second as if looking for the right words to say. "We all have a role to play. I'm just playing mine. That's as much as I can say for now. And speaking of roles, I'll need both your help with a very special one."
Spike and Trixie look at each other for a second then Spike looks back at Cadence and says. "Um... Sure?"
Cadence leads Spike and Trixie out of the throne room. The three of them walk down a hall, climb up a flight of stairs and enter a room. A baby's nursery room. The walls are colored with pale soothing hues. There are a couple of drawers and cabinets containing baby clothing. Some infant's toys are on the soft carpeted floor. A colorful mobile hangs from the ceiling. In the center of the room is a small, wooden, decorated crib with a little baby foal sleeping in it.
Cadence approaches the crib accompanied by Spike and Trixie and says. "Please. I need your help. Take my daughter as far away as possible from the Empire and keep her safe."
Spike looks at Cadence with wide eyes. "Us? Take care of Flurry Heart? Why not just send her away with a bunch of Crystal Guards?"
"Because she's not their responsibility." Said a voice from outside the room. A light gamboge yellow pegasus stallion with sapphire blue mane steps into the room. "Their loyalty is to Princess Cadence."
Trixie looks at the ordinary looking pegasus pony and observes his Cutie Mark being in the form of a yellow lightning bolt in front of a blue kite shield. She easily recognizes him even without his golden armor. "Wait! Trixie knows you. You were that Crystal Guard that saved us from falling earlier."
Cadence turns to the pegasus pony and introduces him. "This is Flash. He is a high ranking Crystal Guard but he is... Not my Crystal Guard. He will be the one responsible for protecting Flurry. You merely need to accompany him on his two fold mission for support."
The pegasus stallion, Flash, bows to Princess Cadence. "We Royal Guards always stand by our princesses." He then looks at Trixie and says. "While the the rest of the guards are assigned to protect Princess Cadence, I am solely assigned by Captain Shining Armor to be Princess Flurry Heart's personal guard."
"You know what to do, Flash. Stay away from the Empire." Said Cadence. She goes to the baby foal sleeping in the crib, looks at her lovingly for a second and then gives her a gentle kiss on the cheek. Cadence then hesitantly walks away from the crib and leaves the nursery room. Flash bows to the princess once more as she walks by him.
Hours pass. The Empire's citizens have been quickly relocated to near by neighboring pony villages and settlements recently established within the Empire's surrounding flat lands. The city is deserted except for platoons of Crystal Pony Guards occupying the streets. Each platoon, stationed at a city block, guards a teleportation ward. With the Princess of the Sun and the Princess of the Moon gone, their magic to make the sun and the moon switch places cannot take effect. The day stands still and the sun stays high.
Hours pass even more. The guards wait patiently, silently for anything. The silence is broken by a commotion among the guards. One pony guard turns to see that one by one, his fellow guards are falling asleep where they stand. Glimmering turquoise colored dust falls from the sky, surrounding the entire city causing any guard who touches it to fall asleep. Soon, not a single guard remains awake and a pair of little unicorn ponies walk the empty crystal streets, heading for the castle with no resistance.
Within the castle, every pony guard is fast asleep. Within the throne room, the Captain of the Guard, Shining Armor, stands beside Princess Cadence. Shining Armor's horn glows with rose colored light generating a special bubble shield spell that protects himself and his princess. The bubble shield projects several glowing glyphs designed to ward off both physical and magical intrusion. It protects them both from the effect of the sleep enchantment now surrounding the entire city.
The knight and the princess hear the sound of hoof steps from two ponies slowly making their way through the castle's now deserted halls and into the throne room. Shining Armor stands ready to face the intruders but he's distracted by turquoise colored magical chains that appear and slowly surround his shield. The chains creep all over and begin to tighten causing cracks to slowly appear on the surface of the shield. Shining Armor strains to maintain his spell.
Two little ponies enter the throne room to join the knight and the princess. A unicorn stallion wearing an old, blue, torn up wizard's cloak walks beside a unicorn mare wearing an old, crimson and damaged sorceress' cloak. The unicorn stallion smiles kindly from behind round cracked glasses while the unicorn mare's face is shrouded by her hooded cloak. They approach the knight and the princess.
Shining Armor quickly recognizes them. "Sunburst! Starlight! We hoped the news would be wrong but It really is you!"
Sunburst pushes his glasses up his face with a hoof. "Please don't resist. It'll be easier this way for all ponies involved."
"Why?" Shining Armor glares at the two unicorn ponies from behind is bubble shield spell. "Do you even understand what you've done? Any act to over throw the Two Sisters is punishable by banishment!"
"A law should protect all pony kind. Not just two ponies." Sunburst approaches Shining Armor's shield and traces its surface with a hoof. His demeanor changing from kind to grim. "When everything is in harmony, everything is unchanging. A thousand years of harmony is a long time. Once Starlight and I are done, everything is going to change."
The bubble shield projected by Shining Armor's horn shatters under the weight of the magical turquoise chains crushing it. "No!" With the shield out of the way, the chains phase through Shining Armor but they wrap themselves around Cadence's body and horn. Shining Armor, now exposed to the glimmering turquoise dust in the air, immediately drops and falls asleep.
Fearfully, Cadence tries to use her magic but struggles as the light from her horn is prevented from forming by a mysterious force. "My magic? Its not working!"
"Surprised?" Starlight pulls back her hood revealing the turquoise glow of her horn. She smiles at Cadence evily. "Those chains halt any form of magic movement from their prisoners. Normal magic, dark magic, chaos magic, the chains stop them all." She slowly starts circling Cadence. "They draw strength from their caster's confidence. Sunburst made this little spell for me to level the playing field against alicorns like you. Isn't he so thoughtful?"
"Sunburst?" Cadence looks at Sunburst carefully from head to hoof. At first she was confused why the kind and soft spoken Crystaller she knows would even play a role in any of this anarchy but her confusion quickly turns to shock when she realizes what it was exactly standing right beside Starlight. "You? ... Of all the threats I could imagine... It had to be you... if I only knew, I would never have let the citizens of the crystal empire leave."
For a second, Sunburst's eyes glow faintly. "The Crystal Heart's magic cannot harm ponies but it would easily defeat the likes of me." He approaches Cadence, maintaining his calmness. "Its powered by the light and love of your precious crystal citizens. Too bad you sent them away. Without them to power the Crystal Heart, it cannot be used against me."
The alicorn Princess of Love, Cadence, struggles desperately against her binding chains. "Starlight, wake up! That's not Sunburst! Where is our Crystaller? What have you done-"
"He's not *your* Crystaller!" Starlight shouted. A flash of turquoise colored light incases Cadence and suspends her in a large glowing crystal of magical energy. "He doesn't belong to you and you've kept him away from me long enough!"
"You are as dependable as always." Sunburst said, walking up to a teleportation ward in the middle of the throne room. He knocks it over and the green glass orb breaks as it hits the floor. "Now, bring in the rest of the offerings."
Starlight happily complies. Her horn gathers magical energy preparing a teleportation spell. Shortly, three flashes of light followed by three large magical crystals containing three different alicorn princesses appear around the throne room. The Princess of Day, The Princess of Night, The Princess of Friendship and now, The Princess of Love, the four alicorn princesses of Equestria, sealed and suspended in time, surround Starlight and Sunburst from where they stand.
Starlight admires her work proudly and then turns to Sunburst happily. "Day, night, friendship and love. All four alicorns together under our control. Just like you wanted. Now can we end this?"
"Soon." Replied Sunburst. "My Grand Master Spell requires all alicorn magic. We need one more."
"One more? But who else is..." Starlight thinks for a second then realizes who Sunburst was referring to. "You mean Flurry Heart?"
"Of course. She is an alicorn. The first born alicorn in Equestrian history. And now she's going to be the last." Sunburst replied darkly.
After hearing that, Starlight hesitantly takes a step back from Sunburst feeling confused. "But you said your spell will destroy the princesses in the process. Sunburst, Flurry Heart is just a baby. Are you really- Agh!" Starlight puts a hoof to her head and strains to concentrate. "Why is it so hard to think?"
Sunburst walks in front of Starlight. He gently raises her head with a hoof making her meet his gaze. He smiles and says. "Starlight? Its me, Sunburst. Do you trust me?"
Starlight hesitantly nods.
"Do you believe I'll never tell you to do anything wrong?" Sunburst asked. His eyes glow faintly for a second.
"Y-yes..." Starlight hesitantly answers. "You always know what to do. And you're always there to help me."
Sunburst leans forward and gives Starlight a loving kiss on her forehead. "I'm sorry I left you behind once. That was a mistake I won't make again. I promise you that we will be together forever and I intend to keep that promise no matter what it takes."
The confusion on Starlight's face is slowly replaced by satisfaction. She blushes and gently leans on Sunburst's chest. The stallion grins darkly and puts a hoof around the mare. He kindly pulls her closer to him as Starlight's Cutie Mark, once again, begins to over flow wildly with radiant magical energy.