Gallop glared at Luster. “We got to go back now! We can’t leave her there!”
Luster shook her head. “I told Georgia to fly back to Canterlot if we didn’t make it out. She might have escaped already.”
“But what if she didn’t?” Gallop asked. “What if she got captured?”
Luster didn’t answer right away. “I-I don’t know. But I do know that Georgia wouldn’t want us to go back there after we both worked hard to get all of you out.”
“I hope she’s alright,” River Song said.
“Yelena too. But Luster right, Georgia not want friends to risk freedom after we just got it.”
Gallop scowled at his friends.
“I hope for your friend's safety as well,” Princess Flurry Heart said. “But right now, we need to tell my aunt what's going on at the Crystal Empire.”
They made their way to the throne room of the Canterlot Castle. There sat Princess Twilight, sorting paperwork with Spike.
“Luster? Flurry?” Twilight cocked her head in surprise. “What-what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you both be in the Crystal Empire?”
“Aunt Twilight!” Flurry ran up to her aunt, tears streaming out of her eyes as the trauma of her experience finally caught up to her.
“Flurry, what’s wrong?” Princess Twilight got off her throne and pulled her distressed niece into a hug.
Flurry sniffled. “The Crystal Empire… Starcutter… it's been… sniff… taken!”
“Flurry, calm down,” Twilight soothed her niece with a gentle voice. “Tell me from the beginning, what happened?”
Flurry took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself. “Starcutter, he-he overthrew me!”
“What!?” Spike exclaimed, reminding Luster of when she’d last been in the room.
Flurry gave a weak nod. “He came to my room with a group of guards and just… tied me up and put me in… in the Crystal Dungeons!”
“Oh, are you alright?" Twilight asked in concern as she nuzzled Flurry, trying to comfort her. "How did you escape?”
Flurry sniffled and nodded. “I’m okay. But… I’m worried about my subjects… Luster… she and her friends saved me!”
Twilight turned to her student. Luster blushed as the princess looked at her with a small smile of gratitude.
“Thank you, Luster. You saved my niece.”
“It-it was my pleasure,” Luster said. “I was just trying to save my friends. They were all taken prisoner when we arrived in the Crystal Empire.”
“But Georgia’s still there!” Gallop said. “We don’t know what happened to her! Princess Flurry Heart teleported us all here before we could get back to her!”
“I told her to come here if I didn’t make it back!” Luster reminded him.
Twilight looked up to her royal advisor, still seated on a chair next to the throne.
“What are we going to do, Aunt Twilight?” Flurry Heart asked. “We have to stop Starcutter and take back the Empire! He’s put every pony under some sort of spell! Oh, I’ve only been the ruler of the Empire for a short time, and I’ve already lost my crown to a usurper!”
Twilight turned back to her niece. “We’ll stop him, Flurry. I just can’t believe that he betrayed you! My brother... Shining Armor, he trusted him.”
Princess Twilight looked down, likely thinking of her beloved brother that had been taken from her.
“Starcutter has to be stopped," she said. "We will find out why he has betrayed us, and then punish him accordingly.”
“What would my parents say if they saw me like this?” Flurry asked aloud. “I let them down! I let the Crystal Ponies down!”
“It wasn’t your fault, Flurry,” Twilight assured. “There was no way you could have known Starcutter would betray you. Shining Armor and Cadance would never be disappointed in you. They would be happy that you managed to escape and get back here. If there’s anypony they would be disappointed in, it's Starcutter. He served as a Captain of their Crystal Guard, and now he’s a traitor. We’ll stop him, and I think I know just the pony to handle the job.”
She was silent for a moment, then looked at Luster.
“Me?” the unicorn asked.
Twilight nodded. “Consider it a Friendship Test.”
Luster gulped but nodded. She’d longed for a chance like this, the chance to accomplish something like Princess Twilight had back in her days saving Equestria.
“It is your generation's turn to protect Equestria from the forces of darkness that threaten it,” Twilight said. “I knew you had great potential when I saw you turn the sun back more than a full day to dawn. I don’t know what Starcutter is planning, but if he has turned the Crystal Empire’s own guards into an army, it must be something big. He might simply want control of the Crystal Empire, or maybe he intends to try and conquer the rest of Equestria. The latter is usually the case with villains.”
Flurry shivered. “All my own guards, being used to try and conquer Equestria. That’s terrible! Starcutter has made them train hard for years. In the last few guard competitions, the Crystal Empire has always won!”
Twilight nodded with a sigh. “Perhaps he has been planning this secretly for years! Perhaps the pony my brother was friends with was a lie! It reminds me of when I was betrayed by a student at my School of Friendship.”
“You mean Cozy Glow?” River Song asked.
Princess Twilight nodded.
“You don’t think that Cozy and the other two could be involved in this, do you, Aunt Twilight?” Flurry asked.
“I hope not,” Twilight said. “It was hard enough to defeat them all on their own! But somepony or creature had to free them. I couldn’t see Starcutter doing it since he’s an Earth Pony who doesn’t have magic. But how has he managed to get the helms enchanted to have mind control?”
“I don’t know,” Luster said. “I didn’t get to find out how he managed to do that. Though there was one unicorn there who wasn’t under a spell. Maybe he did it?”
“Perhaps,” Twilight said. “Well, Georgia will likely be here within a couple hours like Luster said. Why don’t you all use this time for a breather? I’ll have suites assigned to you in the castle while you wait. In the meantime, I must get the army prepared in case of an attack.”
Luster and all her friends bowed, heading out to leave the throne room. But as soon as they got to the door, it burst open with Pinkie Pie emerging.
“All the planning is done for the Grand Galloping Gala, Twilight!” the party pony said. “Oh, hey, Flurry. What are you doing here?”
Twilight hesitated. “Um… Pinkie, I think we may need to put the Gala planning on hold for the time being.”
Luster and her friends stopped as they heard this.
“Put the party planning on hold?” Pinkie exclaimed.
Twilight nodded. “Starcutter has taken over the Crystal Empire and overthrown Flurry Heart. Until this crisis is dealt with, I’m afraid I have to postpone all activities.”
Pinkie looked down but understood the seriousness of the situation and nodded.
River Song, however, didn’t.
“No! Princess Twilight, you can’t! We were all looking forward to going to the Gala! Yelena wanted the food, and Luster and Gallop are supposed to have a date!“
Princess Twilight looked surprised at this. She looked at Luster and Gallop.
“Is that true, Luster? You and… Gallop… were going on a date to the Gala?”
Luster grinned slightly while blushing, “We were planning on it.”
“Hmph!” Gallop frowned.
His reaction spurred anxiety in Luster as she and her friends walked out of the hall. They were escorted into the castle suites of Canterlot by a pair of guards.
…
“You creatures just make yourselves at home,” the griffon captain said.
Four of the Future Five went into Luster’s room. After the pink unicorn closed the door behind her, Gallop rounded on her.
“Luster! I can’t believe you just left Georgia behind!” he shouted. “You don’t leave friends behind! You stick with them until the end!”
“I didn’t leave her behind!” Luster said, defensively. “I told you! I didn’t know we were going to be teleported straight to Canterlot! My plan was to get you guys and get out so we could all escape! Princess Flurry Heart teleported us all out, and if she hadn’t, we would all be captured right now!”
“Oh yeah… well, why didn’t you bring her along when you came to spring us?” Gallop asked.
“Because… because I needed her to escape to tell Princess Twilight if I got captured,” Luster said.
Gallop looked at her for a moment, then sighed.
“Well, I hope she makes it.”
Luster nodded, “Me too.”
“It’s just terrible!” River Song said.
“Yelena agree. Georgia probably flying through frigid northern winds trying to get here!”
River Song gave the yak an annoyed look. “No, I mean, Luster and I already paid good bits for our dresses, and now it could be canceled thanks to that dumb Starcutter! If we wanna be able to go to the Gala, we have to beat Starcutter first!”
“You really think we can defeat him?” Yelena asked.
Gallop smashed his hooves together. “No problem! He’s just an Earth Pony with a sword! We can handle him, I think. We took on that manticore at the festival, remember?”
“He could really hurt one of us, though,” Luster said. “And we weren’t able to form a rainbow laser back then. We still might not be able to yet!”
“I’m sure we can form one by now!” River Song said optimistically.
Luster shook her head. “Maybe we could, but we need to have an alternative plan, just in case.”
She took a piece of paper and a pencil with her magic, drawing pictures of herself, her friends and Starcutter.
“Okay, so let's say Georgia returns, and we can form a rainbow laser. We save the day,” Luster said.
She drew a rainbow around them and had it go after Starcutter. Then she crossed it out.
“But let's say it doesn’t work, what then?” Luster asked. “We have to start from square one.”
She took up a second piece of paper and drew the beginning scene again with them facing Starcutter.
“He’ll come after us with his sword, no doubt,” Luster said. “Plus, he probably has other guards with him.”
She drew some Crystal Empire guards.
“We have to defeat the guards and then somehow deal with him, but how?” Luster wondered aloud.
“No sweat, Yelena, and I will just give them some good hoof punches!” Gallop said. “Then, once they are dealt with, we can do the same to Starcutter!”
Luster frowned. “Are you forgetting he has a sword? He could really hurt you guys! You don’t want to attack him with bare hooves!”
Gallop thought for a moment, “Hey, maybe we could get some armor like what you have on!”
Luster looked at the helmet that was still on her head. In all the chaos, she’d forgotten she was still wearing it.
“Well, that could help you guys,” Luster said. “But I don’t think it'd be much use to me. Really slowed me down when I tried on the full set.”
Gallop sniggered. “I ain’t a bookworm like you though!”
Luster frowned at him. “If I weren’t such a magic expert, I wouldn’t have been able to sneak into the castle in the first place!”
Gallop got up. “I’m gonna go to see if Princess Twilight will let me borrow a set of guard’s armor. You wanna come, Yelena? River?”
“Yelena in!” the yak said.
“I’d like to see the Canterlot Armor,” River Song said.
Luster shrugged and followed her friends out.
…
“You want to try wearing some armor in the battle with Starcutter?” Princess Twilight asked once Gallop made the request. "Well, certainly, I wouldn’t want any of you to get hurt. Though I’m afraid, we don’t have any armor for Yak guards.”
“That’s okay, Yelena strong,” she replied.
Princess Twilight and Gallus lead them to the Canterlot Armory. Gallop was outfitted with a set of gold armor. Once it was donned, he looked in the mirror with a smile. Luster’s eyes widened as she saw the athletic Earth Pony in the armor. Her heartbeat slightly faster.
“Well, do I look cool in this armor or what, girls?” Gallop asked.
“You certainly do,” River Song said. “I could probably sing a song about it. Maybe I’ll do that after we prevail!”
“The armor is made to protect your core - it should work well against a sword,” Princess Twilight said. “But be careful of parts that aren’t protected by the armor.”
“It looks good, though I could probably smash it,” Yelena said.
Twilight nodded. “Heavy blows would definitely break through.”
Gallop looked at Luster.
“So, what do you think, Luster?”
“Umm…” Luster rubbed her foreleg with a hoof, her cheeks turning red. “You look… nice.”
“Like a knight in shining armor!” River said.
Saying that in front of Princess Twilight was a mistake, as it reminded her of her lost brother. She felt it like a knife to her heart, the brother she had outlived. The brother who was no longer here. The brother she could never see or do anything with again.
Tears formed in her eyes as she thought back to Shining Armor. How she would bounce around him while he flailed his hooves whenever they were both just so happy. Twilight missed him greatly, along with Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. Before her friends, Shining Armor had been the only pony friend Twilight ever had. Her big brother best friend forever. She would never get another brother like him.
“Princess?” Luster looked over at her mentor, noticing her freeze. “Are you alright?”
Twilight shook, snapping out of her statue-like state.
“I-I’m fine,” she lied.
“Hey, look at this armor!” River Song said, approaching a mannequin in the middle of the armory. It was Shining Armor’s own. “Wow, it's really cool.”
Using her magic, River Song lifted the helmet off of the mannequin.
“Don’t touch it!” Twilight said. “That was my brother’s armor!”
The force of the princess's voice caused River to drop the helmet. It landed on the floor with a clatter. Twilight gasped as she saw it hit the ground and immediately dove for it. She took it in her hooves and held it like a child.
“Oh no, no, please be okay, Helmy!” Twilight shouted.
She looked over her brother’s helmet, but to her relief, it looked as though it didn’t have any dents from the fall.
“You could have broken it!” Twilight shouted turning to River.
The Kirin looked up at the princess with wide eyes.
“I’m very sorry, Princess! I just wanted to look at it!”
“Well, keep your hooves off it! This armor is not to be touched! It's for display, not for any pony to use! It serves as a way for the guard to remember my brother!” Twilight said.
Luster was surprised by her mentor’s sudden outburst. She had never seen the princess get angry with anypony before. Luster vaguely remembered that the Twilight's brother and sister-in-law had been killed the day she had taken her entrance exam.
“Princess, River meant no harm,” she said.
Twilight looked at her student. Seeing the sad and guilty expression on Luster’s face, Twilight realized her mistake.Taking several deep breaths to calm herself, she regained her composure.
“I’m sorry, River Song, but this armor… it's… special to me. I’ve kept it ever since my brother passed,” Twilight said.
River looked up at the monarch. “It's alright, Princess. I’m sorry, I should have noticed the sign saying do not touch.”
Twilight set the helmet back on the head of the mannequin.
“Well, you all best get ready...”
…
Luster and her friends returned to their castle Suite. They waited for several hours until finally, Gallus entered their room and said, “Great news, everycreature! A black griffon has been spotted flying in this direction!”
The group smiled eagerly. They ran to the front of the castle and sure enough-
“Georgia!” They voiced in unison.
The black griffon had just entered through the front door. Her beak fell open as she saw her friends reached Canterlot before her.
“How… how? I thought you’d all been captured, and I didn’t see you come out!” she flew over and hugged them one by one.
“I managed to get in and free them as well as Princess Flurry Heart,” Luster said as she received her hug. “But there was a fight, and we couldn’t sneak out. Princess Flurry Heart teleported us out before we were captured.”
Georgia let out a breath of relief. “Oh, I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Right back at you!” Gallop said as he hugged Georgia now. “I wanted to go back for you!”
“Yeah, he got all mad with Luster for a little bit,” River said.
Gallop looked at Luster with remorseful eyes. “Hey, sorry about that. Are we cool?”
Luster nodded. “Of course. You were just worried about her is all. I would have blamed myself if she’d been captured because I told her to stay behind and wait for me.”
Gallop approached her and offered a hoof as though to shake. But Luster hugged him. Surprised, he returned the embrace.
“So... what do we do now?” Georgia asked.
“Princess Twilight says we’re gonna be the ones to take down Starcutter!” River Song told her. “Isn’t that great? They might start singing songs about us! We might get a stained-glass window of ourselves!”
“That'd be cool!” Gallop said.
“Yelena like the idea of being put into window!”
Luster took a breath. “I guess this might be my time to shine.”
She thought back to that day she’d gone into the throne room before Princess Twilight sent her on her journey. She’d wanted to accomplish as much as her mentor had, and it looked like today might be the beginning. She was going to face Starcutter just as Princess Twilight faced Nightmare Moon. Luster thought that she could have done it all on her own, but now she realized how foolish that had been. She needed the support of friends if she was going to overcome obstacles. Starcutter had an army on his side, but they were just pawns to him. His army followed him because he’d mind-controlled them, nothing more.
As Luster thought of that, she smiled.
“If we work together, I’m sure we can overcome Starcutter. Rainbow laser or not, I have faith in you as my friends. These past two months have been the best of my life, aside from… you know… my parents kicking me out to protect me. But I’m glad to have made friends with all of you. Its had its ups and downs, but the ups are much better.”
River smiled. “We’ll show that Starcutter what for! Now we just wait for him to come.”
…
Starcutter led his army through the country along the road of the train tracks. They went through Galloping Gorge and Unicorn Range. He could see Canterlot in the distance now atop the mountain, but the capital of Equestria was not his current target.
“Continue on! We cross the river to the other side to take the path to Ponyville. We conquer there first!”
It was a long march, but they eventually came to their target. With the moon shining in the sky, the ponies of Ponyville were all beginning to turn in for the night. Only a few wandered the streets.
Starcutter turned to Sharp Eye.
“Is your magic ready?” The sword-wielding Earth Pony asked.
The unicorn nodded. “Just a moment.”
His horn lit up black and from it spread a bubble that engulfed Ponyville in seconds. There was a flash of darkness, and then the bubble vanished. Several ponies that were out walking the streets looked around in confusion. But nothing appeared out of the ordinary in their town. The event happened so fast the residents barely had time to notice it.
Sharp Eye smiled. “Now, no pony or creature at a distance shall be able to see us conquering Ponyville. They won’t be able to enter the town either. Not with the shield I learned to form with Shining Armor’s tutelage combined with the illusions I studied from a tome of dark magic left behind by King Sombra in the palace.”
“Excellent," Starcutter said. "We shall have no outside interference. No one enters this village, and no one leaves it. Main division, attack!”
The majority of Crystal Guards shouted and sprinted down upon the unsuspecting town ponies. There were screams as those in the streets were quickly rounded up. Starcutter smiled as he watched before turning to the other teams he’d handpicked for the other part of his plan for taking Ponyville.
“The rest of you know what to do.”
They nodded and moved out. The first team headed to the Castle of Friendship, second to Sugarcube Corner. The rest went to Sweet Apple Acres, Carousel Boutique, and the last went to the small cottage. One by one, the residents were all taken prisoner. With surprise on their side, Starcutter’s hard training and raw numbers, even the great magic skills of Starlight, Sunburst, and Trixie, were not enough to resist their captors.
Starlight had been prepared for thieves breaking into the castle, but not an army of royal guards. All three unicorns were apprehended at the castle.
The guards broke into the rest of the smaller homes and took the ponies inside prisoner. Applejack and her family, along with Rainbow Dash, Pinkie’s husband and son, as well as the Cake family, Yona and Sandbar, Fluttershy and even Discord, were all captured. Each of them chained in a special metal.
“Unhoof me at once, you ponies! Discord protested. "I am the Spirit of Chaos, and you dare to take me prisoner! I’ll show you!”
He snapped his fingers, yet nothing happened.
“What?” Discord exclaimed, astounded. He snapped his fingers several more times, but the result was the same. His magic was useless.
Starcutter looked over his prisoners and smirked.
“Cuffs carved from the same type of rock that once made Queen Chrysalis’s throne, they prevent any magic besides changeling magic from being used.”
He looked at Ocellus, who had been captured along with Silverstream and Smolder at the School of Friendship.
“But we have another way to suppress your magic.”
He looked at Sharp Eye, who levitated a magic suppressing ring designed for use on changelings up in front of her. Recognizing it, Ocellus struggled to free herself from the restraints, but it was in vain and the ring settled upon her horn.
Starcutter looked at his prisoners, counting them up.
“That’s all of Princess Twilight’s friends as well as the students who are friends with Gallus,” he said. “We have them separated. We’ll see what they do now… without the Magic of Friendship.”