The sky was a swirl of twisted, feathery grey clouds, that wrestled with one another for dominance. The air was warm and wet, and the wind cast calm and gentle breezes. Ruby Heart was leaning against the wall of a Ponyville home, gazing off at the glamorous capital city of Canterlot in the distance. The wind blew ripples into puddles of wet, watery mud, and every now and then she could feel a stray drop of rain.
“Ma’am!”
Ruby Heart swiveled around to see one of her subordinates running towards her, seemingly with something important to say.
“There’s somepony here to see you,” the pony said, stepping to the side to reveal a burly blue stallion with a white mustache.
“Stride,” Ruby said, coldly, not happy at all to see him, “You’re supposed to be up there, distracting everypony.”
Stride scoffed, finding it adorable that Ruby could even attempt to spin the blame on him.
“I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t let Princess Twilight and every single townspony walk right up into Canterlot...It’s over, Celestia knows we’re planning the attack. We can’t go through with it now, they’ll be too well defended.”
“It’s too late to wait any longer. Haven’t we waited long enough? We have the jewel, and Starlight Glimmer, and now we even have the means to brainwash all those pathetic ponies into serving our every desire. We should attack as soon as possible, before the city can get its reinforcements,” Ruby said. Stride sighed and shook his head, reluctantly agreeing that she was right.
“Now get back to that city, stall their defenses for as long as you can. It’s time to mobilize.”
Stride nodded bitterly and left Ruby alone, making his way to head all the way back to Canterlot. Ruby felt a pain in her stomach, and a strange sweat on the edges of her forehead. She was nervous. Sure, they had the ultimate weapon in Equestria, but still, defeating three princesses was no small feat. She had conviction, however, that their time had come at last. The city wouldn’t be ready for them. She turned back to take a look at her troops, now containing the mind-controlled Ponyville residents who had the misfortune of being captured. The troops were organized, walking in sync to their marching exercises. Starlight Glimmer was at their helm, lifelessly making the motions back and forth. Ruby Heart couldn’t help but smile to herself. After so much preparation and planning, at last her dream would come true. The end of Celestia and Luna’s reign of arrogance and futility, and the birth of a new nation, one built on the precedent that only the strong should survive.
Twilight Sparkle had been out of breath for an hour. She had committed herself to preparing the city as best as she could for the upcoming assault, aware of the power their enemy possessed. She had assigned each of her friends to round up ponies and guide them to the safe zone at the palace, where they could be better protected more so than being stuck out in the open.
While she was flying along the ramparts and checking in with the soldiers at their posts, her eyes would often be drawn to Ponyville down below, reminding her that this was her last chance to prevent the complete devastation of Equestria. She wasn’t sure what their enemy wanted or what they were after, all she knew was they were dangerous.
“Twilight!” called out a stallion’s nasal voice from down below on one of the battlement walkways. Twilight recognized the pony instantly, excitedly flying down to greet him.
“Sunburst, what are you doing here?” Twilight asked, confused why the bookworm wizard would choose to visit now of all times.
“Oh, well see I heard about what happened, all of it, from Celestia. We were all so worried about Cadance, and Shining Armor, I mean, I had to watch after Flurry Heart, she’s being kept safe, but I just had to come down and help!” Sunburst sputtered, flustered by the tumultuousness of recent events.
“Help?” Twilight asked, not having assumed Sunburst would be too eager to join in the fighting.
“Right! Help in any way I can!” Sunburst confirmed, eager to contribute to the rescue of Equestria.
Twilight pondered on what task she could give him, until she remembered the obvious.
“Sunburst, do you know what the Queen’s Jewel is?”
“The Queen’s Jewel?” Sunburst said, laughing at the very notion that he wouldn’t know about it, “It’s only one of the most dangerous artifacts ever detailed in Kanthaka’s Book of Facts and Artifacts. Capable of wiping out cities from the face of the earth, genociding ponies by the thousands, raising forests, parting the seas, controlling minds, practically anything the user wants. It’s just a myth though, thankfully.”
“It’s not a myth. It’s real. And the ponies who are coming here, to cause chaos and destruction, they have it.”
Sunburst wasn’t sure if she was serious or not.
“Sunburst, I’ve seen it! They used it on Starlight, she’s under some kind of trance…” Twilight said, recalling the unfortunate current state of her former pupil.
Sunburst stared at her with a puzzled face, shocked to learn that not only was Starlight back in his life again, but she was also in danger.
“A trance? Are you sure?” Sunburst asked.
“I need you to find out a way to reverse the effects of the jewel, otherwise I’m not sure how we’ll be able to get her back.”
Sunburst hesitated, finding all of this news quite overwhelming. He nodded his head, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down.
“Alright, I’ll be in the library,”
“Good, tell me when you’ve found something. We have to get her back. She’s still in there, Sunburst, I know it…” Twilight said, though the uncertainty was palpable in her voice. Sunburst nodded again, determined to see the task through. He broke into a light jog down the steps of the battlements, leaving Twilight on the wall to stare down at the small world below. She hoped with all her heart that Starlight wasn’t yet past the brink, that by some miracle the world could be made right again. But standing there praying for success would certainly not bring her any, and she knew it. She spread her wings and took flight once more, continuing her unending race to prepare the city for battle.
Dust Bunny had been offered a place in one the safe zone with the rest of the Canterlot populous, though she decided to decline. What she was predominantly concerned with was finding Elodea and Crestfall, whose lives were currently being held in jeopardy. Of course, she was prohibited from seeing them, the guards all highly suspicious of another breakout attempt.
Left astray in the streets of Canterlot, which were filled with crowds of ponies rushing to the safe zone and lines of soldiers marching to their posts, Dust Bunny was a wanderer, unsure what to do without the benefit of her friends being around to help and guide her.
She considered getting out while she could, to run back home to safety while she was still alive. But she couldn’t abandon Crestfall and Elodea to death, nor Starlight as a prisoner of that dreadful Ruby Heart.
She clutched Jackpot’s wooden crossbow, which she was still in possession of, and held it close to her, hoping to find some sort of peace of mind with the memories of what she used to have. She watched as the crowd of Canterlot ponies shambled through the streets past her, terrified of the mysterious threat soon to arrive.
But Dust Bunny didn’t follow them, instead she stayed where she was, waiting. She couldn’t leave, run and hide, and under no circumstances give up, even if she was alone and relatively helpless. She made a promise to Starlight back home, that she would stick by her, even through the worst of situations. And it couldn’t get much worse than this, she thought, but that didn’t matter. She had unfinished business that needed to be settled. If she ran away, she knew she would never be able to move on from the regret of leaving the others to die. It was all up to her now, whether she liked it or not.
Queen Chrysalis and Violet Heirloom were crouched behind a bush on a ridge, listening to the periodical stomping of hooves. Below, Cellestrous’ armies, led by Ruby Heart, were trudging through a small valley, stepping through fields of green grass, darkened under the forebodingly grim stormy sky above.
“There’s more than I thought,” Violet said, peeking out from the bush a second time to make sure what she was seeing was real.
“They must’ve had more ponies come in from around Equestria...Ponyville was just a meeting point,” Chrysalis said, realizing it would now be even harder to steal the jewel back with so many ponies to get through.
Chrysalis had been going through a sort of on-and-off phase of hesitation regarding her intense desire to steal the Queen’s Jewel back for herself, and subsequently go on to conquer Equestria. Violet was well aware of this, but hadn’t gone out of her way to start a heated argument over it, since they had to be careful not to be noticed by the traveling army below.
“You know, Chrysalis,” Violet whispered, deciding to make one last attempt at tugging at Chrysalis’ deeply-buried conscience.
“We save that city from these ponies...It may improve your public image,” Violet suggested. Chrysalis scoffed at the very idea.
“Those ponies loathe me. Don’t you know what I’ve done to them?” Chrysalis asked, as if she didn’t even believe she deserved any sort of redemption.
Violet stayed quiet, leaving Chrysalis to marinate in her own internal conflict. She was struggling to see what good has ever really come out of her evil ways. Her own kingdom had betrayed her because they were starved and unhappy, and absolutely nopony had much sympathy for her. Should she claim that jewel for herself, what would come from it? Just more war and death and destruction. Chrysalis couldn’t remember the last time she was truly happy. Most of her life consisted of suffering and aggressive retribution for that suffering. An endless cycle of pain received and pain dealt out. She felt no ounce of love in her heart, as she was only ever capable of consuming others’. A miserable life, that she was predestined to experience without any chance of breaking free. She could never change, and she knew it. She was too far gone already.
Chrysalis sighed, disappointed with the reality that the world presented her with.
“Come on, we should start making our way to the city...You know how to get to that secret back entrance you were talking about?”
“Hopefully it’s still there, yeah,” Violet replied.
The duo crawled away from the edge of the ridge, out of sight from Cellestrous’ armies. Once they were far enough, they both stood up, wiping off the dirt, and shook out their stiff bodies. Between them and Canterlot was a vast expanse of fields and grassy hills. If they were to beat Cellestrous’ army, who was taking the faster main road there, they’d have to hurry.
Below the ridge, in the far back of the organized parade of troops, Cellestrous was marching tall, preparing herself for the fight of a lifetime. Every step she took was one step closer to seeing herself sitting on the Canterlot throne, one step closer to victory.
“Aluminon, I’m going to have you take your detattachment around, and attack by the north...We’ll force them into the center of the city and crush them there,” Cellestrous commanded to Aluminon, a tall stallion, dark grey in color with a hard jaw, an unshaven face and sunken eyes. He was acting as Cellestrous’ number two, Ruby Heart being his own personal protégé.
“Very well,” he replied, “Should I take Ruby with me?”
“No, I want her with me in the initial assault...You’re well equipped already, now go on, there’s no time to waste,” Cellestrous said.
Aluminon passively accepted the order, breaking off from the main army, calling over several groups of soldiers to follow him in a different direction.
Starlight Glimmer was at the front, close to Ruby Heart, walking ahead of the line of mind-controlled Ponyville slave soldiers. Ruby Heart was already feeling triumphant, as she paraded the defeated Starlight around like a trophy she had won. Still, staging an attack on Canterlot was an intimidating feat to pull off nonetheless. But she had to stay focused and determined, after all she had once thought capturing Starlight Glimmer was an impossible task too. But now, it seemed victory against Celestia was almost certain.
Canterlot was quieter than usual, its typically bustling streets now empty, its ponies all having deserted the city for the royal palace, where they could enjoy the protection of Princess Luna herself. Twilight was still tremendously stressed over the impending attack, but was relieved to know that everypony was reasonably safe, as safe as they could be.
Inside the foyer of the royal palace, Princess Luna was impatient pacing in circles, worried over the potential danger of this new threat to Equestria. Behind her was a crowd of hundreds, filling up the entire foyer from front to back. There were only four royal guards stationed alongside Luna, as every other soldier was being committed to guarding some other part of the city and defending against the raiders. Not that Luna really thought she needed the help, but having somepony to talk to never hurt. Also in the crowd were Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Spike, Trixie, and nearly everypony from Ponyville.
“Sergeant, keep the door bolted shut unless I say otherwise,” Luna instructed. She was nervous, and hoped that the other ponies hadn’t yet noticed. She was a princess after all, and she wasn’t supposed to ever be nervous. But still, the ambiguity of the approaching invaders made her uneasy for whatever reason.
On a Canterlot avenue, Twilight was patrolling around, making sure there weren’t any stray ponies who missed the memo that the city was under attack.
“Twilight!” said Rainbow Dash, flying down right beside where Twilight was walking. Twilight was a bit frazzled by Rainbow’s unexpected entrance.
“Twilight, everypony’s with Luna. They’re safe, until those rotten ponies start pouring in through the gate,” Rainbow said.
“You should get inside with the others too, Rainbow, it isn’t safe,” Twilight warned.
“You think I’m gonna miss this? Please!” Rainbow said, energetically flying in circles.
“Um, Twilight,” said Sunburst, startling Twilight, who wasn’t even aware that the spectacled unicorn had silently crept up on their conversation.
“Sunburst! You shouldn’t be out here, get back to the-” Twilight began, before Sunburst interrupted her.
“I know, I know, I just had to tell you...I did as much research on that Queen’s Jewel as I could...It’s so old not many books care to talk about it. But I found one, and there’s a technicality we may be able to take advantage of….the book said that whoever’s in possession of the jewel, controls its power. If we can get the jewel for ourselves, we can possibly reverse the spell put on Starlight,” Sunburst posited.
“Why not just destroy the stupid thing already?” Rainbow suggested.
“We can’t just destroy a priceless ancient artifact!” Sunburst yelled, shocked by the very proposition.
“But if we did….wouldn’t Starlight be freed? The jewel wouldn’t have any power anymore,” Twilight said.
“I suppose that’s a possible route...What matters the most is getting control of it for ourselves,” Sunburst said.
“Right,” Twilight affirmed.
“You know, this whole thing could’ve been avoided if we had just-” began Rainbow, before the blaring sound of the city alarm caught all of them by surprise.
“Uh-oh...” Twilight said, caught off guard. She thought they would at least have a few more hours of waiting.
“Twilight, I think we should get down to the gate,” Rainbow said.
“Sunburst, head back to the palace,” Twilight instructed, before taking flight and following Rainbow Dash through the air down the winding city streets.
Sunburst was already pale with fright, scurrying in the opposite direction, hoping he’d be able to make it back to safety in time before he was captured or killed.
Twilight and Rainbow rushed through the streets all the way down to the city’s front gates. Both ponies froze mid-air when they arrived, their jaws both hanging open. There was practically anypony there at the gate, just a measly defense unit consisting of only around twenty soldiers. Twilight flew into them, her heart racing.
“Where’s everypony else?! The alarm’s gone off, we’ll be under attack any moment!” Twilight yelled.
“The Commander left! Then everypony else ran off!” said one, relieved that Twilight had arrived to help them. The other soldiers who had left had seen little point in fighting an army of raiders without a commanding officer’s guidance, fleeing to a different defense post to avoid the slaughter.
“Commander? Which Commander?” Twilight stammered, her suspicions about a certain somepony being triggered.
“Commander Stride, he was in charge of the welcome garrison. None of us know where he's gone off to,” said another of the soldiers, clearly bitter about being stuck defending the front gate of all places.
Twilight had been suspicious of Stride since she first met the pony, but this incident was strong enough evidence to thoroughly convince her that he wasn’t really on their side.
“Rainbow, go around, find as many ponies as you can, send them here, or else we’re in big trouble,” Twilight said.
Rainbow didn’t even waste the time to respond, blasting off into the air to find them some more help.
Twilight made her way to the front of the group of soldiers, eyeing down the tall city gates, which were locked tight with heavy metal bars and magic-sealed bolts.
She could hear the unmistakable sound of stomping hooves grow louder and louder from the other side of the gate, heading towards them, fast.
“Everypony get ready...It’s just us for now,” Twilight said, trying to be brave for the sake of inspiring the terrified soldiers. Even with an alicorn on their side, they were fighting extraordinary odds.
Standing firmly at the head of the pack, Twilight’s horn was glowing a preemptive purple, her eyes narrowing as she could hear the herd of enemy soldiers march right up to the gate. They were wild, yelling and shouting a variety of unintelligible jeers and taunts.
There was brief pause, and a wave of silence slowly washed itself over the army of enemy soldiers. Twilight wasn’t sure what was happening. Her objective was clear, defend the city and its ponies at all costs.
Then, in a flash of light and fire, both doors to the city forcefully came crashing open, swinging across to the sides. As the smoke descended down on Twilight and the soldiers, she was frozen for a moment, shocked at how easily they had broken through.
Through the smoke, as Twilight wiped her eyes with her hoof, she saw a bright green light, glowing through the carnage of what used to be considered an impenetrable gate.
It was Cellestrous, unimpressed with the pitifully small group of royal guards waiting for them. Without a word, she turned and walked back the way she came, into the smoke. The royal guards all shared a naively celebratory look of excitement, though Twilight knew it wouldn’t be over this soon, not by any miracle.
Not a second after Cellestrous disappeared back into the smoke, the army of raiders came running out, charging at full speed towards Twilight, hollering and waving their weapons in the air.
Twilight paid no mind to the immense size of the army running towards her, as she prepared to cast her first spell. Even if she was the last pony standing in this city, she was not going to let these ponies get away with all that they’ve done. This had to end, here and today.
Crestfall and Elodea had found themselves lucky enough to be sharing a prison cell together, while Spice, Slick Sleeve, and Pink Mist sulked in misery in the cell right next door. They were trapped in the royal dungeon, which Crestfall found to be mildly preferable to the bleak, lifeless detention center he had been freed from earlier that day. There were no guards in the prison block, as every soldier was busy out preparing the city for the attack. The royal dungeon was high up in the palace, about six stories, severely limiting the possibilities for escape for any non-pegasi.
Crestfall was staring out the cell window at the city below, taking some time to enjoy the gentle breeze, the kind that often preceded a terrible storm.
Elodea and Crestfall had mutually agreed to withhold from engaging in any romantic shenanigans while they were incarcerated, preferring to wait until this whole mess had been sorted out.
“If they’re so desperate for ponies to fight, why don’t they free us?” Pink asked, annoyed with being stuck in a jail cell during the only actual battle she would ever have gotten to be a part of.
“Because Stride’s in command, and, if none of you were aware, I don’t think he’s particularly fond of us,” Crestfall said, dismissively, turning away from the window.
“Why’s he in command anyways, where’s the princess’ brother? Shining Armor?” Pink asked.
“Gone somewhere, probably at home in his crystal palace…” Slick answered.
Before Pink could ask another question, all of them collectively jumped at the sound of some sort of large explosion, coming from somewhere else in the city. Crestfall quickly turned back around to face the window, scouring the city for signs of what happened.
“What was that?” Elodea asked, slowly rising to her hooves.
“One of the wall’s been shot,” Crestfall answered.
“Shot? With what?”
“A cannon or something else...I think the city’s under attack,” Crestfall said.
“It’s those ponies? The ones from the train?” Spice asked.
“Most definitely,” Crestfall replied bitterly. These ponies, Stride among them were the real enemies, yet here he was serving out a prison sentence he didn’t deserve.
He jumped down from the prison cell bench, walking back to the barred door. He inspected it for any vulnerabilities, for the seventh time, and still found nothing.
“We should be out there!” he yelled, angrily.
“I hope Dust is okay,” said Elodea, realizing she wasn’t entirely sure whether Dust was even alive. Her recent exploits with Crestfall had apparently distracted her.
“If we could just...wait, do you hear that?” asked Spice.
The other four all paused to try and hear whatever Spice had heard, though all of them only came back with silence.
“No,” Crestfall replied, bitter and tired.
“Wait, just listen, I swear I heard it,” Spice repeated.
Again, they all got quiet, and after a few moments the others all began to hear the same noise too. A high pitched sound from outside, seemingly getting closer.
“Hold on…” Crestfall muttered, nervously walking back up to the window.
As soon as he got a small glimpse, he quickly turned back and jumped out of the way, tackling Elodea to the edge of the cell.
“What are you-” Elodea began, slightly hurt by the powerful shove, though she quickly realized why, when an explosion burst through the outside-facing wall of their prison cell.
The blast was ferocious, tearing the wall apart, nearly searing Crestfall and Elodea to a crisp medium well, though luckily they were both far away to not receive anything worse than some slight burn irritation.
When the blast settled, Crestfall pushed himself off of Elodea, landing on his back, gasping for breath. They were both glad to be alive, just a few seconds away from being completely cooked.
“Thanks,” Elodea muttered. They were leaning against the prison bars, holding hooves, taking deep breaths and watching the small flames left from the blast wither down in the wind.
“Are you guys ok?! What the hell was that?!” Spice yelled from the other jail cell.
“Fine. Thanks for the heads up, you’ve got good ears,” Crestfall said, coughing as the smoke cleared.
“That wasn’t a cannon,” Slick said, gravely.
“No, that was something magic…” Crestfall said, standing up slowly and walking towards the edge of the large hole in the wall.
“The city’s being pelted with ‘em,” Crestfall said, watching as more fireballs of magical energy were thrown from beyond the walls inside the city, destroying everything in their past.
“Some weapons these ponies got, huh,” Elodea said, slightly impressed, kicking some rubble from the wall explosion off the edge down below.
Crestfall realized that he and Elodea could now escape, though unfortunately not with Spice and others, who were still trapped in the other cell, as the hole didn’t extend far enough.
Elodea joined Crestfall at the edge, shocked by the amount of damage already done to the city. The sky was raining fire.
“You guys should go, we’ll be fine,” Spice said.
“Don’t die,” Pink said, worried.
“Great advice, Pink, I’ll remember that,” Crestfall said back.
He turned to Elodea, who was a little nervous herself to join a fight of such great proportion. She was more accustomed to knife fights in an alley, not capital city sieges.
“Ready?”
“Ready,” she replied, grabbing a hold of his hooves as he spread his wings.
Carrying Elodea in his arms, Crestfall took flight into the desolation of Canterlot, gritting his teeth as the air began to blacken with smoke.
“Hold on tight,” Crestfall said, dodging the streaks of magical fire that ran across the sky. Elodea, who wasn’t at all used to flying so high in the air, held on as tight as she could, trying to avoid looking down, trusting Crestfall not to make a mistake and get them both killed.
Crestfall flew as fast as he could to avoid being struck by any of the magical projectiles. He eventually reached the nearby western wall, making an intentionally gentle landing to try and impress Elodea. He set her down and gave a great sigh of relief, glad to be alive and free once again.
“Hey, you’re that traitor!” yelled one of the soldiers at the wall battlements, rallying some of the other stray guards to close in around them.
“Hey, fellas, let’s be smart right now, ok? I’m on your side,” Crestfall said, though he knew he wasn’t getting through to them. There were now six soldiers in front of them and five behind, each drawing their weapons, deciding to go ahead and perform the execution without the ceremony.
“What the hell are you guys even doing here? The battle’s down there!” Elodea yelled, pointing at the other side of the city where the front gate was.
“We’re posted here,” answered one of the soldiers.
“Bullshit. What are there, ten of you? What station has more than five ponies at it?” Crestfall retorted.
The soldiers struggled to come up with an answer, confirming what Crestfall had suspected.
“Right. Most of you just ran over here, to get away from the battle, to avoid having to fight, is that it? Am I in the ballpark here?”
“Would you like to go down there and get yourself killed then, traitor? It’s suicide. They’ve got a superweapon, you know, that’s what everypony’s been saying,” one of the soldiers said, defiantly.
“Soldiers of the crown fleeing from their posts? Forsaking every oath you’ve ever sworn? If we don’t go down there right now, and help everypony else, then this city will be overrun, and you’ll be killed for sure then. And if you do manage to escape the city, it’ll be too late anyway. They’ll find you eventually, and kill you. So for the love of Celestia, you’ve all got to grow a pair, and take a stand! Not later, there won’t be a later!” Crestfall yelled.
The soldiers paused and glanced at each other. His rousing speech was meant more as a distraction so he and Elodea could escape should the soldiers try and kill them. Instead, one of them tossed him a spear, which he caught with confused hooves. The soldiers seemed to either be truly invigorated by him, or just amused by his passionate war spirits. Either way, he was glad to see that killing him wasn’t at the top of their to-do-list.
“Lead the way.”
Twilight Sparkle had been mowing down wave after wave of ponies, though they never seemed to stop. She hadn’t killed anypony, resorting to weak stun attacks that wore away after only about thirty minutes. The royal guards, meanwhile, were struggling even more, taking care of the raiders that made it past Twilight. Though even those small numbers proved too much for them. The raiders just kept coming and coming, some slipping past the line completely and making their way into the city. Four of the royal guards had already been killed, and Twilight was really beginning to wonder what was taking Rainbow Dash so long with those reinforcements.
Twilight blasted pony after pony, undeterred in her defense, until at last one of the raiders landed a sickening blow to her temple with a beefy metal club.
Twilight collapsed to the ground in an instant, her head rocking back and forth, as she quickly tried to recover. Another raider was already on top of her with a knife, but right before he could plant it in her neck, he was swatted to the side by another pony’s spear.
As her rescuer helped the princess to her hooves, Twilight expected to be thanking one of the royal guards alongside her, but instead found a familiar face. It was Lance Crestfall, who she had briefly met, and had also inadvertently gotten arrested by bringing him to the palace.
“Thanks,” Twilight said.
“Don’t mention it, Princess,” Crestfall said. He meant to add something else, but was distracted by another raider lunging at him.
Crestfall, Elodea, and their newly recruited band of cowardly soldiers had arrived at the front gates, joining Twilight’s heroic efforts to prevent a mass invasion of the city.
Twilight was feeling more confident now than ever, now that they had more ponies to fight back with, though her mood quickly darkened when she made out one pony with a recognizable face approaching her from the smoke.
It was Starlight Glimmer, her eyes still an unsettling glowing green color, her head slightly tilted to the side.
“Starlight…” Twilight said, hesitantly, unsure whether Starlight was even able to recognize her.
Starlight’s glowing horn was enough to tell Twilight that her former pupil was indeed not on her side. She quickly jumped out of the way, narrowly avoiding Starlight’s magical beam of death.
Twilight backed away slowly, as Starlight fired a series of rapid attacks at her. Twilight assumed that Starlight had been sent specifically for her, to distract her from the main battle. She was stuck on the defensive, blocking each of Starlight’s attacks as they came down without ceasing. She didn’t want to hurt Starlight, though the need to get back to the battle was beginning tugging at her. Without Twilight’s magic, the royal guards would have a vastly harder time defending the gate.
To Twilight’s despair, Starlight did manage to get a lucky shot, tagging Twilight in the leg, sending her plummeting to the ground in pain. Twilight weakly raised her head as Starlight moved in for the kill. But, before Twilight could get too familiar with Starlight’s deadly capabilities, Rainbow Dash came soaring through the air, landing a devastating kick to Starlight’s chest, sending her flying across the ground.
“Rainbow!” Twilight said, relieved to see her friend alive, and even more relieved to be alive herself.
“Sorry I was late...I had to get some help,” Rainbow said, nodding towards at least three platoons of soldiers rushing out from one of the city streets to join the battle, which was now an all-out brawl. Ponies were using every weapon they could get their hooves on to try and incapacitate or kill the other. Crestfall had assumed Twilight’s position in the front, with Elodea close behind, brandishing a knife she had found on a raider’s dead body.
“In a line! Shields in front, spears behind!” Crestfall called out, sifting back behind the first line as the soldiers reorganized themselves.
The raiders’ strategy was more or less to completely disrupt the guards’ structure, as they fared worse in individual combat than they did as a unified fighting force.
Rainbow helped Twilight up, dusting herself off, grunting as she wiped some blood from the injury on her leg she took from Starlight.
Starlight was back up already, despite the nasty bruise on the side of her body, courtesy of Rainbow.
Rainbow and Twilight both caught sight of Starlight back on her hooves, though Rainbow had expected her kick to leave some decent lasting damage.
“You think she’s gonna be mad at me?” Rainbow asked, nervously.
“No...No, I think she’s just after me,” Twilight replied.
“Oh awesome! I mean uh, well good luck with that,” Rainbow said, smiling.
“I’ll try and lead her away from here, so she doesn’t hurt anypony else,” Twilight said, as Starlight slowly made her way towards them.
“Suit yourself,” Rainbow said, darting off to go join the proper fight.
Twilight slowly began backing up away from the battle, cautiously. Starlight reignited her horn and started firing another barrage of relentless attacks. Twilight blocked them all and turned to run, hoping to spare everypony else from the unstable danger of Starlight.
Rainbow excitedly ran into the center of the fight, kicking and punching every raider in sight. She was on a rampage, fueled by a furious sense of adrenaline. Until, her mind broke apart, at the sight of a pony of whom she recognized, walking towards her with a glowing horn.
“Lyra?” Rainbow asked, confused what the pony was doing in the middle of this chaos. Lyra Heartstrings' answer was to send a magical blast directly towards Rainbow’s face, which Rainbow narrowly avoided, dropping to the ground. Lyra had never been familiar with offensive-type magic, certainly not anywhere near Starlight’s level. But the jewel’s influence was strong enough to still pose a considerable threat to anypony who got in her way.
“Hey!” Rainbow yelled, outraged at being attacked by a pony she could consider a friend.
Rainbow put two and two together and realized that Lyra was in a similar predicament as Starlight, and that possibly other ponies they were fighting might be too.
She ran straight for Lyra, catching the mind-controlled pony off guard, and slammed her head into a nearby pillar. Lyra fell to her knees, dazed and confused, and fell to the ground in a heap, now unconscious.
“Sorry about that,” Rainbow muttered, scanning the crowd for anymore brainwashed ponies she would have to spare from an accidental death. She feared the soldiers would mistake them as raiders and try and kill them, heightening the stakes of the conflict. She rushed back into the fray, hoping to protect as many innocent ponies as she could from a tragic accidental injury, or even worse, death.
Cellestrous had returned to the front gate after letting her subordinates have some fun. Ruby Heart was close beside her, slicing open royal guards as they pushed their way through the defenses. The raiders were beginning to overwhelm the royal defenders, sifting into the city streets, running amuck to stir up as much destruction as possible.
Cellestrous took a long, sinister gaze at the city. It was practically already hers, she thought, all that was left was to clean it up a bit.
Holding the scepter with the Queen’s Jewel in one hoof, Cellestrous went about her way through the city, zapping any royal guard or stray Canterlot pony she saw. She had a deliciously evil grin on her face, getting a sick thrill from the smell of fresh pony corpses.
Far away from the front gate, up through a small passage below ground, were Chrysalis and Violet, popping their heads out of a trap door that was disguised as a part of the floor in one of the eastern battlements.
“That was some shortcut...I’m filthy,” Chrysalis complained, climbing out of the trap door hole.
“We made it through, didn’t we…” Violet said, grunting as she came out second, tumbling to the ground, exhausted from the long trek through the tight tunnel.
Violet waited for an expected sarcastic response from Chrysalis, though it never came. Confused, Violet lifted her head and turned to see what Chrysalis had become fixated on.
Canterlot was not at all how Violet nor Chrysalis remembered it. Instead of flawless white stone buildings and bustling streets, the city was darkened in smoke and fog, the streets were filled with Cellestrous’ raiders and royal guards running back and forth, chaotically trying to either fight another pony or join up with larger groups for protection. Nopony could see much through the thick smoke, though the occasional light of magical hellfire up above helped illuminate the formerly grandiose capital of Equestria.
Chrysalis and Violet were both at a loss for words.
As they watched the chaos unfold, the scattered drops of rain they had been experiencing all afternoon escalated to a light, misty rainfall, gently beating down on the fires that had ravaged the city. They both just stood there in silence, unsure how much responsibility they had for all of this destruction.
Back at the front gate, Crestfall hadn’t budged more than an inch at the front of the group of royal guards, who were beginning to spread out more and more as the raiders continuously poured in through the front gates. Crestfall was aware that Twilight was distracted with Starlight, but still, he couldn’t help but feel slighted by her absence.
This morning the city was very ready to kill him, but now he was the first in line to defend it. It seemed like a cruel joke, though Crestfall didn’t find it very humorous.
He was blocking, slashing, and stabbing his way through every raider that dared approach him, Elodea not more than a few yards away, doing the same with the knife she had acquired.
Crestfall was covered in blood, that wasn’t his for the most part. He was panting heavily, exhausted from the non-stop fighting and the thrill of being in the heat of the battle.
“I thought I’d find you here.”
Crestall stopped where he was after finishing off another raider with a spear to the chest, turning around slowly to see Gallant Stride, standing mightily in his royal guard armor, minus the helmet. They were facing each other down, surrounded by the crowd of ponies scrambling to kill each other. Crestfall was repulsed by Stride’s very presence, the stallion who betrayed him, framed him, and nearly got away with killing not only him, but also Elodea and his friends. The stallion he had once respected above all others in the military was now the very pony he wanted dead the most.
“It’s a bad time for a confession, I suppose,” Stride said, chuckling. Crestfall was staring at him with murder-craving eyes, as he held onto his spear tightly.
“Crestfall, my boy, it shocks me that you’ve made it this far, you were always so careless...Come now, you don’t really think that this little act of valor is going to save your hide? It’s over, Crestfall...Even if we lose today, Princess Celestia will be just as merciless to you as she was when I was whispering into her ear...You’ve got no future here, not with them, and not with us...So why don’t you just run...Take your mare, and get out of here, there’s nothing left to fight for. They were going to kill you, remember?” Stride said, trying his best to be persuasive.
Crestfall noticed that Stride also had blood splattered across his chest. He couldn’t help but assume that Stride had killed some royal guards during the battle, his own ponies, the ponies he was supposed to protect and lead.
“You could be content. You have the chance to escape all this, and be free...Take it, for your own good,” Stride said.
Crestfall didn’t respond right away, though he was barely convinced by Stride’s suggestion.
“As long as you’re alive, I’m not content,” Crestfall said, doubling down on his resolve to have his vengeance.
Stride sighed, deciding he wouldn’t mind killing Crestfall himself, to finally be rid of the nuisance that nearly ruined all of his plans.
“You’ve never once impressed me, Crestfall...I don’t think today will be any different,” Stride said, smugly. He was brandishing a longsword, which Crestfall knew had been given to him as a present from Celestia upon his promotion to high command. They only gave those swords to officers, the truest, most loyal, brave ponies in Equestria. Some joke that was.
Crestfall, unable to contain his rage anymore, took a tremendous leap towards Stride with his spear raised, seeking to finish Stride’s scheming once and for all.
Twilight had put some good distance between her and Starlight, aided by the speed enhancement that came with a pair of wings. Catching her breath, she limped into an empty building to find some cover.
The building was a restaurant, though it had been recently trashed by a party of raiders. Twilight bent down and took a seat behind a flipped-over table, sighing in exhaustion after having to fight for her life non-stop.
She examined the wound on her leg Starlight had given her, a smoking black mark, festering with red-hot magic. Twilight had been dreaded the possibility of having to fight Starlight for months now, ever since her pupil first disappeared. Everypony had been telling her Starlight was a monster, but she never once gave into that belief. It was a cruel twist of fate, therefore, that despite Starlight indeed being innocent of the villainous resume she had been bestowed in the wake of Chrysalis’ rampage, Twilight still found herself having to face down her own friend, in what would inevitably escalate to a life-or-death conflict if she wasn’t careful.
Spraying her wound with a minor healing spell, Twilight leaped back to her hooves, eager to get back out there and prevent as much damage to the city as possible.
She ducked back down almost immediately, when she saw a furious ray of green magic zap across the street outside the front window of the restaurant in the street. There was a group of guards, no more than five, backing away slowly from something coming towards them, from the same direction as the blast. Twilight got back up and approached the front of the restaurant, when she saw another blast of green magic, this one cutting right through all five of the soldiers, gruesomely dividing each of them into two distinct halves. Twilight, appalled, ran out the front door of the restaurant into the street, and caught sight of the pony responsible for the murders. Cellestrous, still wielding her scepter, was waiting several yards away. The Queen’s Jewel’s magic was dimming down after just being used, while Cellestrous left a smug smirk as the soldiers’ only eulogy.
“What do we have here? A princess? In the worst of places to be, I’m afraid,” Cellestrous said, already confident that Twilight wouldn’t pose a threat to her.
Thunder cracked from above, and the rain began falling even harder, forming small rivers at the edges of the street.
“Your reign of terror is coming to an end today...Give up, and we might be merciful,” Twilight said, trying to overcome her trembling voice and her embarrassing limp. Against the power of the jewel, Twilight figured it would take all of her strength to be able to even stand a chance. But if Starlight was to ever be freed, she had to get it somehow.
“Your city is lost, Princess. My army’s already broken through...and there’s even more will be coming from the west soon enough...Do you think we’re stupid? It’s quite obvious that you’ve hid all your ponies in the palace somewhere...it won’t take long to find them…”
Twilight, predictably, found this news quite unsettling. She had to get that jewel from Cellestrous, otherwise all those ponies’ lives would be at stake.
“Poor Princess Twilight...Her home’s taken from her, she’s ignored, she’s stuck doing all the work defending this city...It’s not fair, Twilight, isn’t it? You can’t possibly believe that now of all times Equestria doesn’t need a change...How many ponies have been killed already? Before you or Celestia or anypony did anything about it? This is inevitable, Twilight. But you’re different. You’re not like Celestia...You have a place in the next world, the world that I will build. There’s no point in dying here, Twilight...Not when you’re all alone.”
Twilight stood her ground on the other side of the street, facing down Cellestrous with wide, fearful eyes. She was watching her world collapse around her, and if she didn’t do something about it, there would be no coming back. But that was it, there really was nothing she could do. No matter how hard she was to try, her magic just wasn’t strong enough to contest the power of the Jewel.
“She’s not alone.”
Up above, a beam of sunlight managed to burst its way through the swirling dark storm clouds, guiding the path for Princess Celestia, descending from the heavens, a radiant aura of magic crackling around her horn.
Cellestrous took a few steps back out of instinct. Even with the world’s most powerful superweapon in her hoof, going toe-to-toe with Celestia would make even the bravest of ponies nervous
Around the corner of the street, Dust Bunny was stumbling alongside the face of a dumpster, cautiously trying to avoid encountering any ponies that may want to try and kill her.
She hadn’t encountered anypony directly since the raiders had successfully broken through into the city, ravaging block by block. They looted, burned, and smashed everything they could find, though none of them found any of the cities’ ponies to be taken captive. They kept to senseless destruction, waiting for orders before moving deeper towards the palace.
As soon as Dust stepped past the corner edge of a street, she practically fell backwards, desperately trying to avoid being spotted. She saw Celestia and Twilight Sparkle standing together, facing off against Cellestrous farther down on the street. Dust was far too afraid to try and intervene, choosing instead to stay hidden and watch.
Twilight glanced up at Celestia, her beloved mentor and parental figure, and immediately regained her confidence in what she was fighting for. Their horns simultaneously began glowing, as did Cellestrous’ scepter, and an all-out duel seemed imminent, until a fourth pony’s stream of magic came screaming out from even farther down the alley. Twilight narrowly blocked it, though the impact of the blast was strong enough to push her back a few inches.
Starlight Glimmer had finally located Twilight after being outran. Despite being so emotionless, she was clearly very determined to finish off Twilight.
“Twilight, is that-”
“She can’t control herself...Princess Celestia, we have to get that jewel,” Twilight said.
Celestia looked from a distressed Twilight to the green jewel in Cellestrous’ scepter, and began to understand.
“Twilight, don’t tell me that’s-”
“Queen’s Jewel. It is,” Twilight said, slightly condescendingly, as she had warned Celestia of the jewel being involved before.
For the first time in an unknowable amount of time, Celestia felt a tinge of fear that she didn’t think she was capable of. She stared down Cellestrous, who seemed more confident in her chances of success now that she had Starlight’s help.
Dust Bunny, taking advantage of the distraction of Starlight’s arrival, darted across to the other side of the street, slipping inside one of the buildings and taking cover once more, still unseen. She wasn’t sure what she was doing, perhaps she just wanted a closer look. Or maybe, she wanted to help, to be the hero for once. She peeked out from the base of the storefront window, careful to avoid being spotted.
Now a two-against-two, Starlight attacked first, lifting herself up into the air with her magic and charging towards Twilight. Twilight wasn’t expecting such an upfront attack, falling victim to being tackled by Starlight through the air, all the way across the street, straight through a brick wall of a cutlery store, on the side of the street opposite to where Dust Bunny was hiding.
Twilight and Starlight crashed to the floor through two wooden tables decorated with a variety of on-sale forks and knives, landing on the floor in a painful thud. Twilight threw Starlight into the ceiling with her magic, leaving a sizable crater up above. Starlight caught herself mid-air before she could fall back down, hovering in front of a discombobulated Twilight.
Starlight began firing blast after blast, Twilight blocking each and every one.
Despite Starlight’s insistence on killing Twilight, the Princess of Friendship never made any effort to try and seriously hurt Starlight, resorting strictly to defensive blows.
While Starlight and Twilight were battling inside the store, back out on the street, Celestia was still preparing herself for her confrontation.
“I’ve always wanted to meet you, Princess...Just like this...I can see it in your eyes, you know you’re already beaten,” Cellestrous said, her words slithering out of her mouth.
Celestia, in a flash of anger, concentrated her magic into one explosive blast of white light, roasting every piece of dust floating in the air, cascading down the street like a title wave of fire. Celestia watched as her spell completely consumed Cellestrous, her foe disappearing behind the blinding light.
To Celestia, as well as Dust Bunny’s shock, as the spell dissipated and the smoke cleared, Cellestrous was still standing, completely unharmed. There was an aura of green magic coating her from head to hoof, protecting her from any and all exterior threats. Cellestrous gave a hearty laugh, finding the esteemed sun princess’s attempt at a finishing blow to be absolutely unimpressive.
“My turn,” Cellestrous said. The scepter began to glow once more, and Celestia braced for an attack.
But she wasn’t ready at all, when the wave of green fire ran right towards her, exploding on impact, draining Celestia of all her strength in an instant.
Cellestrous laughed again, wickedly, as she strutted towards the slumped-over body of Celestia, who was not halfway between unconscious and dead.
Dust Bunny was mortified at the sight of Celestia’s defeat, cowering back down behind the window sill of the store she was hiding in, hugging Jackpot’s crossbow, as it was the only thing she had to look to for comfort.
Cellestrous stared down at Celestia, realizing how close she was to actually being able to rule Equestria. For some reason it had always just seemed so unimaginable. But now, she was watching the defeated Equestria from above, ready to step on it and claim it for herself.
Dust Bunny was paralyzed with fear and disbelief, having just witnessed the most powerful protector of Equestria be taken down with one single blow. She at last managed to start moving again, crawling farther down the floor inside the building, until she reached a second front door. She carefully stuck her hoof through the crack in the door and peeked outside, seeing if there was any place to hide. And, lo and behold, she spotted a toppled-over wooden wagon, practically right in front of where Cellestrous was standing.
Cautious as to not make any noise, Dust crept out from the door and crawled up to the wagon, crouching behind it, praying for somepony to come and save her and her friends. But there was nopony else, just her.
Dust heard some more commotion down the street, and saw Twilight being thrown out of the building she and Starlight had crashed into. Twilight tumbled across the white stone ground, her muscles exhausted and her mind fuzzy. Her refusal to take any offensive measures had proven disastrous for her. Starlight landed a total of three blows to Twilight, beating the alicorn down into submission.
Starlight walked out of the store, following after the weakened Twilight.
Cellestrous’ smile grew even wider at the sight of Twilight defeated.
“Bring her to me,” Cellestrous commanded.
Starlight obediently moved to drag Twilight across the ground back down the street to the waiting Cellestrous. She dumped Twilight right beside the unconscious Celestia. Tears swelled in Twilight’s eyes, and hope began to wither. Without Celestia, she wasn’t sure she could handle Cellestrous herself. She was already in a weakened state and not able to do much.
“Well Twilight, it was an admirable effort. I’m not sure what to do with our beloved Princess Celestia here...Should I just...Kill her? Right now?” Cellestrous said, the scepter beginning to glow again.
“No! No, don’t…” Twilight said, weakly trying to pick herself up from the floor. Cellestrous raised Twilight to her knees with a hoof, smiling.
“Maybe, maybe not...But you, Twilight, I don’t wish to kill...I think you’d do nicely serving me the same as your little friend here,” Cellestrous said, poking Starlight with the scepter.
Twilight was too weak to resist, especially once Cellestrous had a hold on her with the magic of the scepter. Cellestrous raised the jewel down towards Twilight’s eyes, and almost immediately, Twilight found herself unable to look away. She saw a comfortable place through the reflection of the jewel, a place free of cares and worries, free of fear and of desires. Just thoughtless servitude. The jewel’s magic was persuasive, as Twilight was unable to look away, while Cellestrous prepared to cast another brainwashing spell.
Dust Bunny was watching this all happen from the edge of the street, still hiding behind the toppled wagon. She wanted to call for help, but that would likely mean her death. And besides, nopony was around, and nopony else would be able to get here in time.
Dust hated to face the fact that she was the only one who could save Twilight, before she ended up a mindless slave the same as Starlight. She was no alicorn, or even a unicorn for that matter, so there wasn’t much at all she could do. But she could still do something.
Taking a deep breath and saying a few prayers in her head, she scoured the ground and picked up the first thing she could find: a rock.
Dust forsook her cover and sprung up, surprising Cellestrous, who had been focusing on casting her mind control spell.
Before Cellestrous could react and zap Dust with a fatal green blast, Dust took the rock and chucked it straight towards the scepter, and, miraculously, made her target.
Not only did she manage to hit the scepter, she hit the jewel itself head on, knocking it off of the scepter, sending the two pieces flying out of Cellestrous’ hooves onto the ground beyond her.
“You insolent brat!” Cellestrous screamed, enraged at this unprecedented interruption in her glorious moment of triumph.
Twilight felt herself be pulled out of the trance, shaking her head back and forth in confusion. Realizing she was free and Cellestrous was without the jewel, Twilight wasted no time in turning to an absent-minded Starlight and blasting her into the wall of a nearby building. Now that she knew Celestia had been defeated, she couldn’t risk playing it safe with Starlight anymore, no matter how much it hurt.
Powering through her injuries, Twilight took flight, zooming into the air to put some distance between her and Cellestrous, who was desperately rushing across the street to retrieve the separated scepter and jewel. Before Cellestrous could reach the jewel, however, Twilight put all the strength she had into one spell, specifically intended to destroy the jewel into a thousand tiny pieces. Her rage-filled blast simply rebounded off of the jewel, however, and Twilight unexpectedly caught the full impact of the powerful attack right to the face. The blast sent Twilight tumbling through the air, landing on the ground in a smoking heap, out of commission for the time being.
Cellestrous cackled in glee at the sight of Twilight bringing about her own downfall, and picked up the jewel with one hoof, squeezing it tightly, and inspecting it for damage. It seemed to be free of dents or cracks, to Cellestrous’ relief.
Dust Bunny was still standing behind the wagon, her face pale with fear.
She did try though, which was enough to make her believe she wouldn’t be dying in vain. To be brave, she had to accept that bad things were going to happen. This was her chance, and she had already taken it. Now she had to remain strong, and face the consequences. Cellestrous, now holding the jewel in her hoof, approached her ever so slowly, tauntingly.
Cellestrous used her ordinary magic to grab a hold of the earth pony, lifting her into the air, holding her tightly so that she couldn’t break free.
“Tell me, little girl, how would you like to die?”
Dust, now with tears in her eyes, squirmed within the grip of Cellestrous’ magical bindings. Cellestrous’s face was contorted around her sinister smile, as she took in the thrill of victory.
Inside the foyer of the royal palace, Princess Luna was nervously peeking through the glamorous front windows, watching as the once-pristine city of Canterlot was ravaged and torched. The rain was pouring down hard now.
None of the raiders had made it to the palace yet, fortunately for the few hundred ponies inside. Morale was critically low, everypony having to sit tight and do nothing while their city was invaded.
Through the window, Luna saw two ponies running through the rain, up the walkway towards the front gates. Naturally, she assumed them to be the enemy, rushing to the front door to defend everypony else. The crowd began to mutter in uncertainty, becoming aware that somepony was coming towards them.
“Princess,” said one of the few guards left with Luna in the palace, after taking a look of his own out the window to see what Luna had seen.
“I know. Make sure the doors are bolted shut,” Luna ordered, though the soldier neglected to follow through with that.
“I said,” Luna began.
“Princess, they’re two of ours. I think...I think they have injured,” the soldiers replied.
“It could be a trick, they could be wearing our armor,” Luna said.
“No, that’s Trailblazer! They’re ours,” said the other soldier at the door, taking a look for himself.
A knock on the door barely resonated through the dense rain. Luna hesitated, though the soldiers had already unlocked the door.
“Open up!” yelled one of the soldiers outside, sopping wet and undoubtedly exhausted from making the long journey all the way up to the palace level.
The palace doors swung open to reveal two soldiers, carrying a stretcher with another royal guard laying on top of it.
The soldiers shut the doors behind them as they shambled through inside.
“Make way!” one of the guards yelled to the crowd, who quickly shuffled to make space for them to set the pony down.
“Princess! We need a medic!”
Luna turned to one of the guards, who nodded, understanding he was to go find a doctor somewhere in the crowd.
“Why have you come here?” Luna asked, while the soldiers set the wounded pony down on the ground.
“There wasn’t anywhere to drop him, so we came here,” answered one of the guards.
“What’s the status of the front line?”
“Which one?” the soldier replied.
“The ponies at the gate!”
The soldiers glanced at each other, unsure how to answer.
“Dead, mostly. Maybe three or four still stuck in the crowd fighting to the death...It’s madness, the ranks were all broken. They were separating us from each other, picking us off,” Trailblazer answered, before pointing down at the wounded pony, “Ask him, he was at the gate, I think.”
Luna took a moment to grieve the fallen, before slowly approaching the wounded pony and bending down beside him.
“Princess Twilight, and my sister, are they alright?” Luna asked.
The wounded pony was wide awake, how could he not be, with a large, painful hole in his stomach leaking blood at a constant rate. His face was pale from blood loss. Outside, a trail of his blood was being washed away in the rain. He took a moment to muster up some strength to answer Luna, who was deeply concerned for Celestia and Twilight’s safety. She regretted not listening to Twilight earlier, and now she was witnessing the results firsthoof.
“Princess Twilight...got separated...chased by the unicorn.”
Luna wondered if ‘the unicorn’ meant Starlight, but decided not to bother asking.
“She was alive-” the pony began, pausing to cough, “-last time any of us saw her...I don’t know about Princess Celestia...Everypony’s fallen back, there’s too many...The line’s been broken,” the pony explained, struggling to speak the words while having to tolerate the pain of his injury. He grunted and fell back in the stretcher, barely clinging onto staying alive.
Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity, nearby in the crowd, all shared a sense of relief, happy to know Twilight wasn’t in any danger. Luna stood up from the injured pony’s stretcher, realizing that she would very likely end up the last defense against these invaders. She quickly became sullen, over the unthinkable possibility that Twilight and Celestia were in danger, or worst of all, already dead. She wanted to go find them, to make sure they were alright, but she couldn’t leave all these ponies alone undefended. She could only hope that the others had survived, and that the battle would soon turn in their favor.
Twilight and Celestia, meanwhile, despite Luna’s hopes, were indeed in critical danger.
Ruby Heart had arrived on the scene by accident, having been wandering through the city, searching for any surviving royal guards she had yet to destroy.
She found Twilight Sparkle keeled over on the ground in a smoking heap, and, if she hadn’t felt her pulse, she would’ve thought her to be dead. Ruby spotted Cellestrous farther down on the street. She dragged Twilight’s body down towards Cellestrous, while Starlight Glimmer crawled her way out of the wreckage of the destroyed building Twilight had sent her crashing into.
They met each other in the middle of the street, encircling the defeated, unconscious Celestia.
“You’ve done it,” Ruby Heart said in amazement.
“Of course I’ve done it,” Cellestrous said, as if there was ever any doubt. She dragged the still-bound Dust Bunny over and threw her to the ground, right next to Twilight. Ruby Heart did a double take when she saw Dust again, not having expected she’d have been able to stay alive so long.
“You think you’re clever, trying to get in my way, do you?” Cellestrous said, kicking Dust Bunny back down to the ground after she tried to stand up.
“The jewel cannot be destroyed! Not even Twilight Sparkle’s magic could overcome its power!” Cellestrous said, gloatingly, her eyes darting madly, like she could see things in the air that weren’t there. Ruby Heart was beginning to feel ever so slightly concerned with how unstable Cellestrous was becoming. She had been in close contact with that jewel for so long, it undoubtedly must’ve begun to corrupt her mind. Twilight finally awoke after being unconscious for a short while. Her body ached, and she wasn’t exactly sure what had happened prior to blacking out. She was on the ground again, surrounded by Starlight, Ruby Heart, and Cellestrous, the latter of whom was still in possession of the jewel. Her breath drew short as fear seized her completely. As long as Cellestrous had the jewel, she was unstoppable. Dust Bunny and Twilight shared a look of regret and sympathy for the other, both now at the mercy of Cellestrous. Twilight glanced up at Starlight, who still paid her no attention. Twilight hoped Starlight was still in there somewhere, still able to be brought back, that hope wasn’t lost. Though with Cellestrous in her deranged, power hungry state, Twilight’s options were currently slim.
“I defeated Princess Celestia! I am now the ruler of Equestria! Who are you to even think to try and stop me?! A pitiful earth pony! Laughable!”
Dust gritted her teeth in anger at Cellestrous’ verbal humiliation, though she was in no position to do much about it.
“There’s no need to be cruel, dear,” said the voice of a new arrival, echoing from down the street behind Cellestrous.
Cellestrous turned around and flashed a hideous scowl at Chrysalis, and Violet too, the duo having finally located the pony they had come for. Chrysalis’ eyes became fixed on the jewel in Cellestrous' hoof. Everytime she came close to it, she felt that familiar sense of intense longing, an unquenchable desire for its unrivaled power.
“Chrysalis?!” Twilight yelled, shocked by Chrysalis’ involvement in this plot.
“Oh if it isn’t Princess Twilight Sparkle,” said Chrysalis, cockily, “Funny seeing you here.”
“Chrysalis…” Cellestrous began, tired of Chrysalis’ constant attempts at undermining her.
“Yes, Twilight, I suppose you’re due a confession….It won’t matter in a few moments when the jewel is mine...Yes, it was me. It was me the whole time. Me, who murdered all those ponies and turned cities to ash,” Chrysalis said, phasing into her Starlight Glimmer disguise in and out, intentionally trying to provoke Twilight for no other reason than personal spite.
“You...You…” Twilight said, unable to process how furious she was. Of course, she had believed it was Chrysalis masquerading as Starlight since the beginning, but the sheer, unapologetic evil Chrysalis was flaunting made Twilight sick to her stomach. So much death and pain, and all it seemed like to Chrysalis was a big joke.
“Chrysalis, I find it very rude of you to be interrupting me….yet again,” Cellestrous said, glancing at Ruby Heart, who stepped out to the side, preparing for a fight.
“Here is my final offer...You’re going to give me the jewel, right now, and I’ll forget all about your pathetic little insurrection,” Chrysalis said. Violet, who was standing right beside the Changeling queen, was keeping her eye on Ruby Heart, wary of being caught by a surprise attack.
“Little insurrection? Look at where you are!” Cellestrous said, throwing her hooves into the air. The rain had lightened up slightly, though the smoke from the many fires set in the city only added to the dark clouds circling up above.
“We never needed you, Chrysalis. And we still don’t. So why don’t you just do what you do best, and run away.”
Chrysalis’ reply was a fiery blast of magic, heading straight for Cellestrous’ head. Cellestrous jumped out of the way just in time, though she did sustain some mild scalding on her left side. The rest of the blast would’ve hit the kneeling Twilight and Dust, though luckily both managed to drop to the ground in time to avoid being hit. Ruby Heart fired at Violet, who deflected the blast back at Cellestrous. Cellestrous again was able to leap out of the way, before setting her sights on an attack of her own.
Cellestrous raised the jewel in her hooves, and concentrated her mind on its power, drawing from the lustrous gemstone to manifest a spell of her own.
However, as the jewel began to glow brighter in her hooves, Cellestrous began to feel a strange sensation, a terrible burning pain on her face and hooves.
Both Chrysalis and Twilight realized what was happening, silently watching as Cellestrous began screaming in agony. She was unable to put down the jewel, even after it glowed brighter and burned hotter. Its magic was radiating into her body, tearing her apart. Her skin was practically melting from her bones, and still, she was staring deep into the mesmerizing green glow of the jewel. She was soon reduced to a charred corpse, collapsing to the ground, dropping the jewel.
There was a brief moment where nopony was quite sure what to do. Chrysalis glanced at Violet, who then recalled that Chrysalis had warned her once before that nopony could handle the jewel’s power without a device to channel its magic. Violet wasn’t sure what that meant, until now, realizing how gruesomely dangerous that jewel really was.
Ruby Heart was stunned, as now it was up to her, her responsibility to wield the jewel and lead their armies to victory. She hadn’t expected Cellestrous to go out so soon, and least of all by her own careless mistake. She bent down and picked up Cellestrous’ scepter, which was close to where she was standing, and became resolved, accepting herself as the replacement for Cellestrous as leader of their army.
Dust Bunny wasn’t sure whether to be thankful that Cellestrous was dead, or feel guilty for indirectly killing a pony. She couldn’t lie to herself that Cellestrous probably had it coming, but still it felt strange, to be the cause for the end of another living being.
Twilight nervously turned her head at Starlight, who was still in her robotic brainwashed state. Twilight had initially had hoped that with her controller dead, Starlight would be free, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Rather, it seemed, she was a dog without a master, stuck in her trance-like state with nopony to answer to. Twilight remembered what Sunburst told her, that perhaps with the jewel they can undo the effects of the mind spell.
Practically all at once, Chrysalis, Violet, Twilight and Dust Bunny, and Ruby Heart all started dashing for the jewel, while Starlight stayed stationary.
Ruby Heart was closest to it, zapping Chrysalis in the chest and grabbing a hold of the jewel with one hoof. In one swift motion, she forced the jewel back into place in the scepter, feeling the power run all the way through her arm. Twilight and Violet were both heading straight for her, though Ruby Heart was prepared.
“Starlight! Kill Twilight Sparkle!” Ruby yelled, as the jewel began to glow once again, its power now kept under control in the scepter.
Starlight sprang to life again, turning and firing a blast of magic towards Twilight, who flew out of the way.
Twilight sighed, now stuck having to fight with Starlight yet again.
Twilight dodged Starlight’s relentless attacks. She was progressively becoming more unhinged with offensive strikes on her former pupil, worried that they would lose their window to reclaim the jewel.
While Starlight and Twilight’s fight gradually carried them away from the others, Dust Bunny ran back to the toppled-over wagon to take cover from Ruby Heart’s barrage of magical attacks, fueled by the mystical green magic of the jewel.
Violet had been pushed back by Ruby Heart as well, reuniting with Chrysalis, who had just received a bloody nose from her near fatal blast from Ruby Heart. They were hiding behind a parked carriage, both taking their time to recover.
Chrysalis eventually had enough of their small break, attempting to jump out from their hiding place to restart the battle. But before she could, Violet grabbed a hold of her and held her back.
“What are you doing?” Chrysalis spat.
“Just wait...We have to wait until she’s vulnerable,” Violet cautioned.
Chrysalis hesitantly agreed, crouching back down behind the carriage.
Ruby Heart was firing at Dust’s wagon repeatedly, feeding into her deep-seeded bloodlust. Dust was helpless from behind the wagon, with the exception of one item. Jackpot’s crossbow was still leaning against the wagon wheel, right where Dust left it She picked it up, cautiously, still uncomfortable using a weapon of any kind. But as Ruby Heart slowly chipped away the bits of wood acting as her cover, she knew her time was limited.
Pulling back the lever to load the crossbow, Dust jumped up and fired a single shot, and immediately came back down, uncertain whether she hit Ruby.
Ruby’s sudden fit of laughter told her that she hadn’t.
Dust took a deep breath, forcing herself to remember Jackpot’s death, to remember that it was Ruby Heart directly behind it.
She jumped up a second time and fired a second shot, which was again a miss.
Ruby continued her gradual approach, taunting with Dust as she struggled to reload.
“Poor little pony...Your friends aren’t here to save you this time, are they…” Ruby said, grinning. Chrysalis sprung out from behind her carriage cover, but retreated just as quickly, after Ruby Heart fired a shot in her direction, without even turning her head.
Dust tried to make herself even angrier, confronting the humiliation and torment she was forced to endure at that warehouse in Vanhoover, where Ruby Heart let it all happen. Scars that would never heal, because Ruby Heart tried her very hardest to ruin her life.
Dust came up a third time, and fired yet another shot, and this time she was sure it was going to hit its target. But Ruby was faster than Dust thought, blocking the crossbow bolt with her jewel-enhanced magic.
Dust realized she was down to just two arrows, and she couldn’t afford to miss another shot.
Ruby Heart was practically on top of Dust, until Violet managed to surprise her, jumping out from the carriage and firing a fiery magenta magical ray at Ruby.
The blast was so powerful that it required Ruby’s full attention, turning to Violet to block the blast. Dust, realizing she had an opportunity, jumped up a fourth time and shot the crossbow once more. But this time, she didn’t crouch back down. She had never felt more alive, than when she watched the arrow she shot plunge itself deep into Ruby’s back left thigh, forcing itself all the way through one side and out the other, twisting itself through bone and muscle. Ruby hollered in pain and fell to the floor, accidentally letting go of the scepter.
Violet ran towards the scepter as it tumbled to the ground, and grabbed a hold of it with her magic, levitating it in the air. After so long, she had finally stolen the jewel back for herself.
Chrysalis followed her, stopping a few yards behind. She noticed something in Violet’s eyes, a change of heart perhaps, or just the classic selfishness. Somehow, they both knew what was going to happen. Maybe they even knew since they first met each other. Alliances of their sort never truly lasted forever, after all.
“You know how it is...” Violet said, smirking.
Chrysalis tilted her head, as if to beckon Violet to reconsider. But the unicorn already had a plan in mind, dashing off in the opposite direction. Chrysalis fired six shots at the pony before she started to give chase, though every single shot was deflected by the magical green shield that Violet had cast to protect her.
Chrysalis ran off in pursuit of Violet, who was fleeing off into the city, having won the jewel.
Dust Bunny, despite knowing that the jewel probably wasn’t safe in that changeling or her friend’s hooves, didn’t see anything she could really do about it. Twilight had been carried somewhere else during her battle with Starlight, leaving just Dust Bunny, the wounded Ruby Heart, the charred Cellestrous, and the unconscious Celestia in the showdown alley.
Dust Bunny stepped out from behind the wagon, slowly walking out into the open street. Ruby Heart was lying in the street, groaning and whimpering in agony. Ruby saw Dust approach her, and almost seemed impressed, though Dust hardly cared what she thought.
“Well...Look at that, you got me…”
Dust kept her hardened stare, disgusted with this pony, who was the principal cause of all the misery she had experienced in the past few weeks. Ruby’s careless attitude slowly disappeared, as she realized that Dust might actually be serious about finishing her off. She hadn’t thought the earth pony maid had it in her.
“Come on now, Dust Bunny, there’s no point in it right? It’s over! I’m done for anyway!” Ruby said, apologetically and seemingly terrified of death. Dust, despite how much she hated this pony, couldn’t help but pity her. Behind that awful exterior was just a pony, the same as herself, who had fears and desires and all those other things. She wasn’t some monster from another world, she was just like anypony else. Anypony else, should they be raised to think the way Ruby does, and act the way she does. Dust came to the realization that perhaps it wasn’t her place to judge Ruby, despite how much of a personal vendetta she had against the pony.
Ruby saw Dust begin to give into her pleas, and took advantage of it as soon as possible. But, the second Dust saw Ruby’s horn begin to glow, she fired her very last arrow straight through the unicorn’s head, sending her falling flat on the white stone street, a pool of blood puddling beneath her. Dust lowered the weapon, staring deep into the now-lifeless eyes of the pony who had single-handedly brought about this entire disaster. Dust didn’t feel sorry, not in the slightest. But she couldn’t help but wonder whether she could’ve been able to turn Ruby Heart around, whether there was even any merit in making an effort. But it was over now, finally. Ruby Heart was dead, and for Dust, she finally felt as though she could move on with her life. She glanced down at Jackpot’s crossbow, and felt rectified, believing it to be some sort of cosmic justice, that Jackpot ended up getting the last laugh in the end after all.
At the front gates of Canterlot, nearly every soldier who had originally been assigned to its defense had either fled to somewhere else in the city or been killed.
Lance Crestfall, who had become the unofficial leader of the front gate defenders, had become distracted by the pressing threat of his bitterly belligerent commander, Gallant Stride, wielding a majestic sword against Crestfall’s army standard spear.
The royal guards’ ranks had been completely broken, and now the raiders had completely invaded the city, pillaging as they pleased and making their way through every street, borough, and plaza.
To make things worse, Crestfall had lost track of Elodea during the chaos, his only constant factor in the battle being Gallant Stride trying to kill him. Their fight was constantly being interrupted by wild raiders, who Crestfall would have to defeat before resuming his confrontation with Stride.
They're battle carried them into the central city plaza, which was littered in pony corpses, both royal and raider.
Crestfall backed up towards the fountain, catching his breath and holding his spear outwards defensively.
Stride too had to catch his breath, not used to such rigorous physical exertion since his days as a grunt. He glanced up at the sky, and caught sight of the sun peeking out from behind the grey clouds. The rain had died down, and the thin rays of sunlight reflected off of stray puddles of water. The smoke from the city ascended high above, red embers falling down alongside light droplets of rain.
“The city’s lost, Lance...Why even bother?” Stride said.
Crestfall wiped his face of blood, sweat, and rain water, gasping for breath as he held onto his spear as if his life depended on it.
“Forget the city...Forget the crown. Forget the ponies...I’m here for you,” Crestfall said, coldly. Stride chuckled to himself, amused by Crestfall’s relentless persistence.
“Then by all means sergeant, come and get me,” Stride said, with open arms.
Crestfall readied his spear as he and Stride began walking in a circle, keeping the same distance around them the whole time. There were spats of fire covering the plaza ground, surrounding the great fountain, which had miraculously stayed undamaged. The fountain water was black from the smoke, and the small fires seemed to burn forever.
Crestfall leaped towards Stride, launching his spear right towards the commander’s throat. Stride waved his sword to the side and forced the spear to the floor, taking his other hoof and smacking Crestfall across the face. While Crestfall staggered back, Stride let out a hearty laugh.
Crestfall let his anger control him, swinging the spear back around, getting it caught in the crossguard of Stride’s raised sword. Spinning the sword around, Stride brought the blade down right towards Crestfall’s head. He blocked it with the shaft of his spear, using both arms to try and push the sword off of him.
Crestfall managed to overpower Stride, forcing the sword to the side and bringing the spear back around to stab him through the gut. But before he could, Stride’s other hoof had located a knife in his waist-held sheath, drawing it without Crestfall realizing.
Crestfall believed he had already won, as he brought the tip of the spear towards Stride’s stomach. Stride was faster though, bringing the knife back and thrusting it forward into Crestfall’s side. Crestfall, focused solely on killing Stride, was so consumed by his adrenaline that he didn’t even notice the knife, sticking the spear straight through Stride’s stomach, the blade poking out the other end. Stride lurched over and started to drool blood, staring into Crestfall’s eyes as he felt himself grow weaker. He tried to spit out some cheeky last words, but they only came out as a foul gurgling.
Stride collapsed to the ground, dropping his sword and wheezing for breath as he choked on his own blood.
Crestfall dropped his spear, finally having won his long-toiled victory over Stride.
“Impressed yet?” he muttered, spitting onto Stride’s dead corpse, now just another name in a large catalog of dead ponies.
Crestfall suddenly felt his head go dizzy, and then he felt the searing pain in his side. Prior to his death, Stride had managed to stick the knife deep inside Crestfall’s side. Crestfall glanced back at the corpse, outraged that he didn’t win unscathed, but there was really nothing more he could do to the pony, since he was already dead.
“Lance!”
Crestfall felt his vision go black, sauntering backwards, falling to the ground
not too far from Stride.
It was Elodea who had called out to him, having lost track of him during the chaos of the battle, finally having located him.
“Shit!” she said under her breath, at first believing Crestfall to have been killed. Running up beside him, she gave a sigh in relief to find he was still breathing.
She briefly checked to make sure he was unconscious, before grabbing the hilt of the knife in his side and yanking it out.
“Ow!” Crestfall yelled, angrily grabbing Elodea by the throat out of instinct.
“Stop! It’s me!” Elodea yelled.
He blinked a few times as his mind readjusted, and he let go instantly.
“The bastard stuck me with a-”
“I know...You’re not dying, I don’t think,” Elodea said, though truthfully she had no idea.
She dragged him to the edge of the fountain, which was still running with water. She propped him up against the edge, and sat down beside him, exhausted. They sat together in silence, listening to the sound of the fountain water flowing, trying to ignore the grotesque number of corpses surrounding them.
“You look terrible,” Crestfall said, his voice wispy and grainier than normal. Elodea was caked in dirt and blood, all soaked through into her coat and mane from the rain water.
“You should check a mirror,” she said, equally disgusted by Crestfall’s lackluster post-battle appearance.
“I think this counts as our first date,” Crestfall said, smiling.
Elodea snickered, until Crestfall broke out into a coughing fit, sending Elodea back to her grave demeanor.
“You should go...Get Dust, and get out of this city...There’s too many of them,” Crestfall said, desolately.
“I’m not leaving you,” Elodea said, firmly, “I’m staying here, with you, and don’t you dare pass out on me again.”
“Yes ma’am,” he said, giving a sarcastic salute.
Elodea turned away from him, scouring the streets ahead for any approaching enemies. She was lucky that they were both alive, she wasn’t going to even attempt to risk losing the happiness she had finally found. All her life she had only ever thought she could count on herself, but now, she had never felt more eager to put her life on the line for somepony else.
Through the increasingly-heavy rain, high above the ravaged city of Canterlot, was Twilight Sparkle, desperately trying to fly steady through the increasingly heavy rainfall. She wasn’t nearly as acrobatic or nimble as Rainbow when it came to flying, meaning she had to focus twice as hard. Behind her, was Starlight Glimmer, levitating herself in an aura of blue magic, following in hot pursuit.
With Ruby Heart’s death, Starlight was left with only one remaining command to carry out, that being the last thing Ruby instructed her: kill Twilight.
Twilight, naturally, was beginning to worry about leaving Dust Bunny alone with Ruby and Chrysalis and Violet, though was too preoccupied with Starlight to do much.
Twilight at last made it to cover out of the open air, landing on a covered terrace extending off of one of the palace towers.
Starlight landed on the same terrace, immediately moving to continue her persistent effort to exterminate Twilight for good.
“Starlight! Starlight, I know you can hear me,” Twilight said, with an outstretched hoof. She wasn’t sure reasoning with her would prove effective, but it was worth a try.
Starlight didn’t stop walking towards her, though Twilight did notice her eye twitch, and hoped that it meant Starlight was still inside there somewhere.
“Starlight, it’s me, it’s your friend...You’ve got to fight it, Starlight! I can’t break you free!” Twilight said, almost desperately, hoping she wouldn’t have to resort to real violence in the name of self-preservation. Despite her passionate pleas, Starlight didn’t stop, as if there was no sign of the pony Twilight once knew.
“I miss you, Starlight! And I miss our friendship...I took you for granted, I should’ve let you be more open with me about what you were feeling...But I love you, Starlight, and I’m sorry...I was wrong, but I want a chance to be friends again! Things weren’t the same when you were gone...I can’t be happy without my friends, Starlight, I need you…” Twilight said, choking up on her tears.
Starlight’s eye twitched again, and for a second there was some sign of conflict visible on the unicorn’s face, but only for a second.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Starlight,” Twilight said, still unsure whether she could live with herself if she damaged or accidentally killed Starlight, even if it was in self defense.
Twilight backed down, her horn dimming, while Starlight continued her slow approach.
Twilight was breathing deeply, staring intently into Starlight’s eyes, hoping that by some miracle, Starlight would come through for her.
Starlight came to an abrupt halt, her glowing green eyes flickering in a whirlpool of agonizingly intense magical short-circuiting. Starlight was gritting her teeth, desperately focusing all of her strength into resisting the compulsion to go ahead and burn a hole straight through Twilight’s forehead.
Starlight had never been as driven to do anything as she was to try and stop herself from killing Twilight in that moment, her body convulsing in uncomfortable and strange ways, her mind fragmenting as she sacrificed every ounce of strength she had in her to try and regain control of her body.
Twilight watched on, unsure what was happening to Starlight, and if she should take this opportunity and leave. She felt compelled to stay though, finally seeing her chance to reunite with her lost friend.
Twilight suddenly felt herself become dizzy again. She had already sustained numerous injuries to the body and to her head that were beginning to catch up to her, and now she was starting to wane on consciousness, some parts of her skin burned or torn open. There was a large bloody gash on her forehead where that raider had struck her with a club, it was a miracle she didn’t have a concussion. Her attention shifted back to Starlight, who was now groaning in agony, grabbing her head and shaking it back and forth. Her horn was beginning to glow, and Twilight realized that she was going to have to make a choice: stop Starlight and risk killing her, or risk her own death.
Before she could even make the choice, she saw Starlight suddenly take a tremendous gasp for breath, her eyes suddenly flushing away the glowing green magic, her body no longer convulsing. Starlight was panting heavily, and then realized she had done it. She had freed herself from the jewel’s power, miraculously. She glanced up at Twilight, whose eyes were shut tight, still waiting for Starlight to land a finishing blow.
“Twilight!” Starlight said, smiling.
Twilight opened her eyes, and at first wasn’t sure whether Starlight was really back. She knew for sure though, when Starlight ran up to her and hugged her tightly, Twilight embracing her back, the two finally reunited.
“Starlight, you’re ok!” Twilight said, joyously, unwilling to let go of Starlight.
They held each other tightly for a few moments, both silently acknowledging how much they missed the other.
“Starlight, I….Starlight?” Twilight said, after realizing Starlight had become limp in her arms.
She backed away, and realized Starlight had fallen unconscious, likely from the physical strain of overpowering the spell she was bound to. Twilight sighed. She was glad to have Starlight back, but in such a terrible situation, she couldn’t find much motivation to celebrate.
Twilight laid Starlight down gently on the floor, and turned around to witness the storm over Canterlot, fire, smoke, storm clouds, and a downpour of rain leaving the city in near-desolation.
Violet Heirloom had made it to the other side of the city, though Chrysalis wasn’t far behind. As far as they could tell, the raiders’ luck in the battle had gone south, struggling to stay organized after Cellestrous and Ruby’s defeat and the loss of the jewel. Violet and Chrysalis would kill any raider they came across, further decreasing their numbers.
After a grueling several hours, nearly all of the raiders had fled the city, having lost all organization, motivation, and leadership during the battle. At least a hundred ponies collectively from both sides had been killed, and countless more wounded.
Violet finally made it to the western wall, where she planned to make her escape. The Queen’s Jewel, now under control in the scepter, was stuck in her satchel, and she was absolutely ready to get the hell out of there.
“Not yet,” said Chrysalis, finally reaching the edge of the street opposite to the wall, where Violet was about to teleport herself around.
Violet turned around, the two former allies finally having given into their respective selfish desires.
“How many ponies have died for this dumb thing already? You really want to add yourself to the list?” Violet said.
Chrysalis snickered, “Don’t be foolish. Give it to me. Now.”
Neither was incredibly enthusiastic about trying to kill the other, but when it came down to who was going to walk off with the jewel, all ties of fellowship were broken.
Chrysalis attacked first, Violet meeting her fiery beam of green magic with one of her own, meeting in the center. Chrysalis was impressed with Violet, able to hold her own against Chrysalis more than she had expected. Chrysalis respected Violet to a degree, for abstaining from using the Queen’s Jewel to her advantage, making the fight drastically more even-matched. Though the truth was, Violet just wasn’t entirely sure how to activate the jewel’s power.
Right as Chrysalis was about to increase her effort, they were both distracted by the sound of a booming explosion, tearing apart a portion of the wall not too far from where Violet was planning to escape from.
Chrysalis and Violet came to an unspoken truce to see what this was about. Chunks of stone and clouds of dust fell to the ground as the rubble cleared, and in came another segment of Cellestrous’ army, led by the dark-grey earth pony Aluminon.
The army, rowdy and excited to get in on the ravaging of Canterlot, came to a stop behind Aluminon, who immediately recognized the Queen of the Changelings.
“Chrysalis. What a surprise,” Aluminon said, amused by her undying persistence.
“Your boss is dead, Aluminon, your armies are being cut down as we speak. You’ve lost,” Chrysalis replied.
Aluminon’s army’s high morale was shattered by Chrysalis’ few words. Even Aluminon, who rarely showed any indication of being anything more than cold-blooded, found this news troubling.
“Ruby will have the jewel,” he said, as if he was trying to comfort himself.
“She’s dead too,” Violet said, though she wasn’t actually completely sure, “And I’ve got the jewel,” she said, revealing from her satchel the green gemstone in Cellestrous’ scepter.
Aluminon’s army all instinctively began backing away, with the exception of Aluminon himself. He was deeply at a loss for Ruby Heart, who was his own apprentice, yet knew there was no point in wasting time to grieve on it now.
“Stay as you were,” he commanded his troops, staring down Violet with menacing eyes.
“Don’t you know when to quit?” Chrysalis asked.
“Get the jewel!” he yelled, though his army didn’t budge. He turned to face them, disappointed with their cowardice.
“Now!” he yelled, leading the charge towards Chrysalis and Violet, who were both considering reigniting their temporary alliance.
Chrysalis waited for Violet to begin firing off spells using the scepter, though it never happened.
“What are you waiting for?!” Chrysalis yelled at Violet, who had yet to activate the jewel.
“Give it to me!” Chrysalis yelled.
Unwilling to wait around to be killed, as Violet kept struggling to figure out how to use the jewel, Chrysalis wrestled it out of her hooves. Focusing her mind on the jewel’s power, Chrysalis was able to control it in a matter of moments.
She aimed the scepter at Aluminon directly, blasting a ray of green energy right at his face.
The hardened stallion broke down in an instant, and began crying out in pain as his face was burned to the bone, leaving nothing but wet, burnt flesh and torn-apart facial muscles.
Chrysalis waited for the rest of Aluminon’s troops to witness what she had done to their leader. And, just as she had expected, nearly all of them were reasonably convinced that perhaps this invasion effort was no longer worth the risk of certain death. About two thirds of them slowly began turning back and running out of the city the way they came. The remaining soldiers followed suit as soon as they saw the jewel begin the glow once more.
Soon enough Chrysalis and Violet were alone again, though this time Chrysalis had all the power, gripping the scepter tightly, unwilling to part with it ever again. She turned to Violet, who was already backing away slowly.
“Go ahead, do it,” Violet said, “I’m no different than anypony else you’ve slaughtered...No different than him,” she said, nodding at Aluminon’s horribly maimed body.
Chrysalis held the scepter in her hooves, feeling that addictive glow resonate inside her heart. The jewel was telling her to go on and kill Violet right then and there. She had tried to betray her, after all, so why shouldn’t she.
But, strangely, Chrysalis decided not to, lowering the scepter.
“Let’s get out of here,” Chrysalis said.
Violet slowly relaxed herself, and nodded, deciding their alliance could go on just a bit longer.