//------------------------------// // Prologue: Broken Coronation // Story: The Shadow // by The_Darker_Fonts //------------------------------// “And now, it is my pleasure to announce the new ruler of Equestria, Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia called out to the now cheering crowd of ponies below. Among them, Twilight could see friends from home and abroad, all here to support her as she strode to stand in between her former Princesses. She felt an unsure smile spread across her face as she watched friend and family alike clap and cheer. With each face she saw, memory of the adventures they’d shared filled her mind, turning her smile into a much more genuine edition. Each pony, dragon, changeling, hippogriff, griffon, cat, and yak below had helped her on her journey somehow, and to each of them, she wanted to spend hours thanking them. She knew now that from this point on, however, they weren’t merely her friends, but her subjects too. They would need her now in more ways than they had when she was just Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship. Now, she had their welfare and livelihood to defend, and their trust to lead them to the best of her abilities. The thought was admittedly daunting, but she knew she had friends willing to help her rule. She saw Spike in the crowd, sitting at a table with Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Even now, he gripped his glass, ready to give her a cheer as soon as beverages were passed out. Applejack sat closest to him, her face set with a determined smile with a glisten in her eye that had to be tears. Pinkie was almost hovering off her seat out of excitement. The sight of it made her giggle. She could feel the eyes of Rarity on her back, and resisted the urge to tug at her velvety soft dress. She also knew that out there, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were about to do their parts in supporting her. The thoughts of so many friends here to support her made her teary eyed, and she resisted crying lest it ruined the delicate makeup work by Rarity. The alicorns on either side of her nodded to each other. In unison, they used their magic and pulled the crowns from off their heads. Twilight watched in wonder as the eyes of all in Canterlot went to the crowns as they floated into each other. In a bright flash of light that nearly blinded the spectators, the two crowns combined into a spectacular new one. The golden crown was three-pronged with her cutie mark dead in the center of it. It was really too much, and Twilight would have said so herself, if it hadn’t been for the fact that something shining to the left caught her eye. Turning her head slightly to look at it, she saw a bright blue flash of light shooting her way. Before she could react, Celestia leapt in front of her, throwing up a sunflower yellow shield. The blue beam deflected off the shield, smashing into the archway behind them. A large explosion erupted from where it hit, stone shrapnel shooting towards the three of them. Luna was prepared, however, with her own midnight blue shield. Dust and stone enveloped them as the crowd below finally reacted with screams and exclamations of surprise. Twilight’s eyes shot back to the crowd below, searching for the source of the attack, a stunning beam already prepared. Her eyes found a brown unicorn with a blue mane running through the now surging crowd below. She tried to line up a shot as she noticed two Royal Guards approaching the stallion, but couldn’t without risking hitting a member in the crowd. She watched in horror as the pony shot a spliced beam of red light at the two Guards, rocketing them back into the crowd. Screams and yells erupted from the area with renewed passion, and Twilight caught somepony yelling, “He killed them!” Twilight let out a short scream as a second orange blast struck right in front of her face. This one shattered on impact, leaving Celestia’s shield glowing, precariously on the edge of destruction. With a grunt of effort, Celestia reinforced her shield as a third bright green flash smashed into the balcony below their hooves. Instead of exploding, the structure crumbled away, forcing the three alicorns into the air. Twilight gasped as she saw three pairs of pegasi flying in from behind the castle. Each of the pairs went to a separate unicorn, where earth ponies and other unicorns were holding off the Royal Guards. Twilight quickly made some mental calculations, firing her stunning spell at one of the swooping pegasi. It hit it squarely in the chest, sending it spiralling into the ground and smashing into a nearby table. Luna had shot her own stunning spell, this one aimed at one of the unicorns that Twilight had failed to see until now. It hit the purple mare, sending her slumping to the ground as her pegasus allies flew in and lifted her up. The same thing occurred with the other two, although with only one pegasus to help carry him away, the third and final unicorn and his pegasi escort were slow and easily picked off by the unicorns in the Royal Guard. The carrying away of the unicorns seemed to be a signal to the other ponies fighting amid the crowd. Flashes of light signifying teleportation went off, along with large puffs of smoke, obscured much of the writhing crowd, and, unfortunately, all of the insurgents. Both Celestia and Luna were flying in front of her now, blocking her view, and pegasi members of the Royal Guard now flanked her from behind. “Move Twilight into the dungeons until further orders, and set up a guard of as many unicorns and pegasi as you can to defend her,” Celestia commanded. “We need to protect her as much as possible.” She turned to her sister and instructed, “Stay with her and take charge of defending her. I’ll head out and lead the investigations and interrogation of the captured insurgents. It seems somepony doesn’t want our dear Twilight on the throne.” Luna nodded to her sister, turning to Twilight and gesturing for her to follow. She did so, feeling the watchful pegasi guards behind her closing the gap. She could still hear the shouts and other noises of the crowd as she and her escorts flew back towards the entrance from the balcony. The rubble had mostly cleared, but Luna levitated the last few pieces of larger rubble aside dismissively. In doing so, she revealed the corridor that Twilight had emerged from what seemed only minutes ago. It also revealed a white unicorn lying on the ground with a large bruise already formed on her head. “Rarity,” Twilight exclaimed, rushing to her fallen friend. Pressing her hoof against her neck, she felt a firm pulse. She looked back up at Luna, who had landed beside her with a worried expression. “She’s unconscious, but not hurt too bad.” Luna nodded in understanding, turning to the guards behind her, she commanded, “Take her with us.” As the pegasi flew to pick her up, Twilight frantically asked, “What about Fluttershy and Applejack and Pinkie? What about Spike and Rainbow Dash? What will happen to them.” “Already taken care of,” Luna replied curtly, looking around suspiciously for any other signs. Looking directly into Twilight’s eyes suddenly, she said, “I know you have a lot of questions for what’s going on, as do I and my sister, but you must get to safety first and foremost.” Upon Twilight’s nodding, she turned back to the guards, she commanded, “Come. We must get the Princess to the dungeons.” ****************************************************************** *Three hours later* The snowy mountains of the Crystal Empire were currently being windswept by a large blizzard. Polish Mark plodded along the little trail slowly with the remaining Alter squad. They had lost Heler, Pitch, Akson, and Fir to the fighting, the latter before the plan had been initiated. His stomach grumbled, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten since dinner last night. He solemnly straightened his stride. This climb wasn’t easy on purpose. It would be a tragedy if an innocent foal accidentally stumbled upon their hideout. Speaking of which… The small mouth of a cave appeared on the side of the mountain, as if by magic. The sight didn’t give him pleasure, rather dread. The Author wouldn’t like it that they had failed their mission. Why did Gallant have to initiate the plan ahead of schedule? That stupid pony didn’t deserve to be a part of the team, let alone lead it. Not that he actually thought the mare was good for anything, her shot had only put the alicorns in the air. If only he knew her actual name, or anypony’s in this operation. At least then he would have something to put on their grave. He was the third to squeeze through the tight gap, feeling the icy walls cold embrace. He shivered, despite going through the prospect time and time again. He emerged from the confines into a dark chamber, lit entirely by the natural pale blue light flooding from the large crevice hundreds of spans above. A cold, damp mist spread the light unevenly through the rest of the chamber, giving the room a more dubious mood. Polish kept his jaw tight and his lips pursed as he approached one of the darker, mistier parts of the chamber, knowing it was where the Author was waiting, watching silently. Snowflakes drifted about, remnants of the storm that was silently raging above. The remaining three ponies entered the chamber after him, their faces unreadable as they conjoined in a small cluster. “Come,” a low, gruff voice called from the shadows, eliciting a wince from the incompetent mare in front of him. As soon as they were but a few spans away from where the shadows and mist were thickest, the voice commanded, “Report.” “The mission was a failure,” Gallant replied, having the sense to step forward and keep her chin up. “We found that Fir was secretly with the Royal Guard and attempted to contact them, but Faux dealt with him accordingly before he could ruin anything. We initiated the attack as the Princess was being crowned, but she was protected by both Princesses. Faux had to kill two of the Royal Guard to escape, and possibly a member of the crowd, and I was unable to access a clear shot at Captain Shining Armor. Pitch, Akson, and Heler were all captured in the fray, and we have no knowledge as to how many of our grunts were captured as well.” “Pray tell,” the low, whispery voice asked, nearer now than before, “why you initiated the attack before the intended time.” “W-well,” the mare stammered, her guard breaking. “I noticed that from Faux’s position, he had a clear shot at the Princess without any further need of movement. I also noted that the Royal Guard was weakest in the right middle flank, where Akson was located. I deducted that the moment was right to strike since the Royal Guards had stopped their patrol to watch the crowning, and everypony else was looking up. I… I forgot that the Princesses were… were as powerful as they are.” “Interesting,” the voice said in an almost contemplative tone. “It sounds like you had doubt in my plan and took matters into your own hooves. And now it looks like your actions risked the entire base of operations I have spent decades building.” “I had no intent of-” the unicorn began desperately protesting, only to be interrupted by the soft voice of the mist. “Silence.” A hooded head suddenly emerged from the mist, a gray horn poking out from the shadowed hood. It tapped the tip of Gallant’s own red horn, the mare opening her mouth in surprise. A sudden pass of silver lightning passed along her, provoking a pained scream from the mare. She stumbled back as all eyes watched her pain grimly. Polish himself was resisting the urge to smile at the cruel irony befalling his former companion. Hadn’t this same, wretched, cloven-hoofed fool been threatening him about her immense prowess only hours ago. Pitiful. The mare continued to shriek in pain as the tip of horn began turning into a smooth gray stone. It spread to her head, freezing the panic and pain in her eyes in stone. Her screaming was cut off as her throat became stone. Her entire body fell to the ground, her stone upper parts now outweighing the rest of her body. The head and neck cracked off into separate pieces as the rest of her bodice transformed into cold, dead stone. As it finished transforming, new cracks appeared in the stone. It spread like breaking glass until the pieces were entirely covered with cracks. Finally, the pieces began breaking down into dust, until all that remained of the arrogant pony was a collection of dust. Despite his best efforts, Polish had found himself smiling at the whole affair. The others around him seemed to find less pleasure in the morbid display, though not too openly. Some had pale faces, while most just stared at the pile of dust with the same expression they had held upon entering the chamber. Impressive, since he’d seen some of these same ponies lose their lunch to less horrific… displays. “Faux,” the voice called from the mist. The head had disappeared for the time being, but he had little doubts that the Author would poke out again to reward the next failure. “Step forward.” He did so, deliberately trodding over the dust of his failed ally. The voice seemed to enjoy that as what sounded like a chuckle emitted from the mist’s depths. He erased his smile, making his face as blank as the other’s and tilting his chin up. “Congratulations, Captain,” the voice said slowly. “You’ve been promoted.” “Thank you,” the unicorn said with a modest bow. “I will do my best, my liege.”