//------------------------------// // Episode 19: Princess Prisonbreak // Story: EoH Evolution: Season 6 // by Bahamut0 //------------------------------// Castalot Castle, shortly after the rescue of Starlight Glimmer and the Dazzlings Twilight watched as more of the Lancers' robotic forces patrolled around Castalot. Ever since the daring rescue mission performed by the Elements of Heroism, Blitz had begun to crack down on finding the heroes and defeating them. Burst Stream being the particular cause of Blitz's furious effort and temper. A large number of Scout units were deployed to scout out the Elements of Heroism while Blade and Guardian units were sent out with the objective of capturing the heroes. 'And since Lancer HQ is still busy constructing the forces needed to march and occupy the rest of Unity, alongside Blitz Surge's focus being the Elements of Heroism, there's no better time than now!' Twilight thought to herself as she called out to her Harmony Keeper in her quarters! While her magic may have been sealed, the princess of friendship and avatar of magic was far from defenseless! "Time to make use of that alternate method of attack my staff has!" As Twilight sat up, scorch marks from energy blasts could be seen on one of the walls! Celestia closed her eyes as she took a deep breath and donned her armor once again. The last time she'd worn this, it was during the Royal Wedding Rumble when she swooped in to save Burst Stream from Queen Chrysalis. The sun goddess found it hard to believe that she would now be wearing this armor while fighting to get out of the city instead of defending it. "Then again, Castalot's already been taken over by an evil force." Celestia thought out loud as she looked out the window sadly. It pained the princess's heart to see her people living in fear like this. Despite Blitz Surge's declaration of security and safety, the robotic soldiers patrolling the streets and the drones hovering in the air made the citizens of Castalot feel anything but safe. "I refuse to let my people suffer through this. Once we're free, we'll join the Elements of Heroism. And something tells me that the rest of Twilight's friends won't be far behind." "Well, you've already got me by your side." Twilight answered as she knocked on the door after opening it. "Excuse the mess outside. The doormen were being rude, so I had to show them a thing or two." In the hallway outside, the wrecks of two Blades stationed to guard Celestia's quarters. "By the way, is that shield new?" "This old thing?" Celestia asked as she raised a golden shield with her symbol on it. "Just a little something that complements my blazing sword. I see you're already prepared to leave. That just leaves Luna, Cadence, and-" Before Celestia could finish, both she and Twilight lightly flinched when they saw the Blade guarding Nightmare Moon's quarters get impaled through the chest by what looked like a blade made from the night sky itself! The robot sparking as it twitched before going offline as the sword withdrew from its chest! But just before the Blade toppled over, the room's door was kicked down sending it crashing into the floor! Nightmare Moon walked out with her broadsword drawn, a satisfied smile on her face, and clad in her iconic armor. "Ah, this reminds me of breaking the chains of harmony that bound me and Luna to the moon." Nightmare Moon sighed as she stretched. "Quite the liberating feeling, isn't it?" "Masterful pun crafting aside, we have more pressing matters." Luna announced as she approached the group. "I was able to slip out easily because Blitz didn't station any units to guard me. He must have assumed telling the truth of our relationship rocked me too hard to try anything." "Then he underestimates just how strong you truly are, sister." Celestia answered with a warm smile. "Just like how he underestimates our fighting capability without the use of magic." "Not to mention that Moon still hasn't made use of my late Hearth's Warming gift to her." Luna joked. "I would've imagined you'd be showing it off." "Oh, you mean this?" Nightmare Moon smirked as she summoned the present Luna had given her. A silver lance with azure glyphs in the shape of stars along the blade portion of the lance. "I love the star glyphs you put on it. They nicely add to my theme." "As much as I enjoy the two of you getting along, we'd best pay Cadence a visit." Celestia stated firmly. "So let's move!" Celestia led the group to Cadence's quarters, and quickly made work of the Blades guarding the princess of love. "Ready?" "Not my first time escaping captivity." Cadence smiled as she slung her bow onto her back. "Let's go!" "Good thing the Elements of Heroism's disruptions have got Blitz's attention." Twilight muttered as she and the other princesses made their way to the secret mine entrance located in the castle's lower levels. "Otherwise, we'd be facing more resistance besides the standard grunts. If Blitz is mad now, he's gonna be furious once we're out of here!" Sure enough, the princesses arrived at their objective. Celestia moved the false wall, and the passage to the mines was revealed. The princesses spread their wings, and prepared to take flight. All except for one. "Luna?" Celestia asked with concern. "I've been meaning to ask, but why didn't you bring your weapons with you? You also don't seem to be ready to leave with us." "That's because. . . I'm not leaving with all of you." Luna sighed sadly. "Once you leave, you'll be leaving without me." "What?!" Nightmare Moon snapped in disbelief! "Why are you staying behind?! You didn't knowingly cause any of this! Blitz Surge USED you!" "You're right Moon." Luna replied. "But while I may not have consciously facilitated Blitz's take over, I still made it possible because I was too blinded by having a champion who doubled as a lover like Celestia did." A bitter chuckle escaped the lunar princess's throat. "Heh. This is twice now that jealousy of my sister led me to doing something stupid that negatively effected everyone including myself. The only difference between then and now is that I wasn't stopped in time. You were right Moon. Over a thousand years passed, and I'm still so childish." "Luna, stop trying to punish yourself." Celestia pleaded. "You needn't worry about that Celestia." Luna said with resolve lighting up her eyes. "I'm not staying here as some form of atonement or punishment. I'm staying here to show Blitz that despite what he's done to me, I refuse to let it break me. When he planted the idea of creating the Tantabus in my head, he wanted me to feel like I was worthless. Like I didn't deserve any love or acceptance from anyone. But he was wrong about me, and he's wrong if he thinks that he's taken the fight out of me. I'll make sure he KNOWS that my defiance is anything but dead." Luna summoned her weapons to her hands, twin scimitars with blades shaped like the crescent moon. "Now go!" With much regret, the other princesses nodded and flew through the mines towards freedom! Nodding in satisfaction, Luna turned away and flew out of the castle! Breaking through a window with her departure! Luna noticed she was being pursued by Valkyrie and Scout units! Narrowing her eyes, Luna halted in midair, and turned to face her enemies! The blades of her scimitars glowing with a silvery light as she charged into battle! Tearing through the robotic warriors like they were scrap metal! Luna then noticed more units converging on her, and smirked as she led them towards Castalot Square! "Everyone's watching." Luna said to herself as she noticed people gathering towards their windows, and assumed that her breakout was being broadcast to the entire city through the drones Blitz had linked to the media. "Time to give them all a show." Luna got into a fighting stance as Lancer forces surrounded her! Letting out a fierce battlecry as they charged at her! "FOR UNITY!" Luna screamed as the top of her lungs as she began tearing her way through the Lancer forces! Her blades flashes of silver as they cleaved through the robots as she moved with speed and grace through the enemy's ranks! 'I know you're seeing this Blitz.' Luna thought as she sent more mechs to the scrapheap! Her eyes narrowing as more robots showed up and attempt to detain her! While her enemies weren't that hard to defeat, it had been ages since Luna had last taken part in combat. And the battle was starting to wear her out! 'Are you just going to keep sending your toy soldiers to fight me, or are you actually going to face me to satisfy your wounded ego?' Luna soon received her answer as the Blades, Valkyries, and Guardians halted their attacks and stepped back while making way for the Lancer leader himself. Blitz Surge looked absolutely livid as he stomped towards Luna! His entire body trembling with rage! "First my brother and his band of pretenders humiliate me, and now you decide to declare your defiance." Blitz Surge growled as his free hand gripped the handle of his katana! "Why can none of you let me have my dream?! Why can't you accept that I'M the hero?! I AM THE CHOSEN ONE! THE SAVIOR! THE TRUE SON OF AETHER! THE ONLY REAL HERO!" "Because you aren't any of those things." Luna answered calmly. "Aether probably looks at what you've done in shame and horror. If he knew that you had left Burst Stream for dead in the Everfree Forest, he would never want anything to do with you. But most of all, you're not a real hero. Not in the least. There are many who are worthy of that mantle, and you will never be one of them. All you've ever thought of, all you ever fight for is yourself. I pity you Blitz Surge. For even in victory, you will still lose because you'll have nothing left. There's no point in killing you because you've already thrown away your life." "SILENCE WENCH!" Blitz roared as he charged towards Luna with his sword drawn! The power of harmony engulfing the blade as he slashed at Luna! "YOU WILL PAY FOR DISRESPECTING ME!" "I can't disrespect you if you've lost any respect I had for you." Luna scoffed as she blocked Blitz's furious swings with her scimitars! "And even if you beat me, you'll still lose this battle. My job is done." "If you think the other princesses will prevail in this little uprising, you're sorely mistaken!" Blitz growled! "All I would need to do is have the troops that I intended to deploy to the rest of Unity converge on their location! When they are weary from their fighting, they will be of no threat to me! You and my brother's pitiful resistance ends here!" Blitz slammed his katana into the ground! Releasing a shockwave of harmony that disoriented Luna! "Who said anything. . . about the other princesses fighting?" Luna smirked defiantly as she propped herself up with one of her scimitars! "By now, they're probably clear of the city and on their way to link up with the Elements of Heroism. So go ahead and beat me. You still lose!" Blitz's face contorted in pure, unfiltered rage! "HARMONY'S JUDGMENT!" Blitz unleashed his signature attack on Luna! Forcing the lunar princess to her knees as he approached her! "You will face justice at my hands back at the castle." "No, Blitz." Luna groaned as she glared at him! "YOU will be facing true heroes soon." "Get her out of my sight." Blitz said coldly as he teleported back to the castle! To his anger, he found the wrecks of Blade units that had been left behind in the princesses' escape! Castalot's mines, around the same time Celestia led the way as she and the other princesses traveled through the mines beneath the city. The princesses' journey was a mix of flying and running through the vast network of tunnels. It seemed that freedom would soon be within their reach when a large boulder blocked their way. "We can't use magic to levitate it out of the way." Twilight sighed. "I didn't have time to test how large of a blast my staff could fire off, so I might accidentally make things worse." "Now, now my faithful student." Celestia answered with a warm smile. "Didn't I teach you to come to me if you needed some help? Stand back, please." Celestia unsheathed her blazing sword and took a deep breath before thrusting her sword forward and firing a massive blast of flame that reduced the boulder to a molten puddle! The solar princess letting out a sigh of relief as she saw light from the outside shine through the now unblocked path! "Looks like we've made. Any idea where to go from here Moon?" "Your old castle in the forest." Nightmare Moon answered. "Something tells me we just might find what we need there." "I need to get back to the Crystal Empire as soon as possible." Cadence said urgently. "Shining Armor and Flurry Heart are probably worried sick about me, and it's likely the whole empire's on high alert given Blitz Surge's declaration." "We understand Cadence." Twilight nodded sadly as she shared a goodbye hug with her former babysitter. "Make sure to get there safely. Chances are, you'll have a lot of help though. " "Thank you, Twilight." Cadence sighed as she flew off towards her own domain! Careful to avoid being spotted as she left! "We'd better start towards the Everfree right now." Celestia suggested as she spread her wings. "Come on. Let's not waste any more time!" "There's no need to rush." A familiar voice called out. In a flash of light, Discord materialized before the princesses. But instead of his typical mischievous smile, the lord of chaos's face looked quite solemn. "I can take you all directly to where the Elements of Heroism are in a snap." And that's just what he did. Needless to say, the guys were pretty surprised to have some royal company. "With that, I'll take my leave." "Wait Discord." Twilight called out. "Thank you. For helping us." "Don't thank me Twilight." Discord said solemnly. "Because there's one more thing I have to do before I can truly say I've helped any of you." And he disappeared in a swirl of darkness. "TWILIGHT!" Nightfall screamed as he ran into Twilight's arms! "You're alright!" "It's been too long Nightfall." Twilight said with a loving smile. At the same time, Burst approached Celestia and Nightmare Moon. A relieved smile on his face. "Sorry I didn't storm the castle sooner." Burst said sadly. "But then again, we're not a typical fairy tale." "No. We're not." Nightmare Moon said with a loving smile as she hugged Burst tightly before looking back to Celestia for a moment. "And we wouldn't have it any other way."