//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: New Dawn // Story: Turmoil Rising // by JFT //------------------------------// Calm night laid over Canterlot. The gentle night breeze blowing through the flags was the only sound that was disturbing the near-perfect silence. Then, the sun began to rise over the horizon, marking the coming of a new dawn. And as the light illuminated the tallest spires of the city, it also lighted the new princess responsible for its coming. Princess Twilight Sparkle watched over her new kingdom that the previous monarchs had left in her care. Just as Princesses Celestia and Luna stood on top of that same structure every day for countless generations to raise the sun and moon, it was now her duty to do the same for both. She closed her eyes and inhaled, trying to soak in the first fresh sparks of morning light, the gentle breeze passing through her mane. Suddenly, the breeze turned into a strong gust, disturbing the calming moment. Twilight saw something on the horizon. A great mass of shadow emerged from the land itself. It began to grow and grow until it ate the sky, plunging Equestria into darkness. She took flight. It was up to her to banish the mysterious darkness threatening her home. The shadow moved, advancing with great speed on Canterlot, consuming everything in its path. Twilight met it halfway. She concentrated her power into her horn and shot several spells at the shadowy mass. Before the smoke from the explosions cleared she concentrated a large amount of her magic into a single shot and released it, causing an eruption that enveloped everything in a destructive fire. It was ineffective, all of it. The mass of shadow continued to advance undeterred. Fear settled into the princess all of a sudden. She flew back to the city, calling for the citizens of Canterlot to evacuate immediately. But somehow the darkness already skipped into the city with miraculous speed and began to devour everything and everyone in sight. She tried to make one last-ditch effort to protect the citizens, firing spells at the darkened mass, but to no avail. Several tentacles suddenly shot out of the shadow, wrapping around Twilight, and proceeding to drag her into itself. She struggled, desperately trying to free herself, but couldn’t. She was simply too weak. Alone. With nobody to help her. BOOM! She heard a breaking sound echoing in the air and before she knew it, she was torn out of the dark grasp in a split second, carried off by a familiar rainbow-maned blue pegasus. “Rainbow Dash!” she shouted in surprise. “Did you really think we’d just leave you hanging like this, Twilight?” the pegasus said with overwhelming confidence. They flew past the mass of shadow as it desperately tried to grasp at them, unable to keep up with Rainbow Dash’s speed. The pegasus redirected herself and started flying back towards the castle. That's when Twilight finally saw four other very familiar faces. “Darling, I’m so relieved Rainbow Dash got you out of there at the last moment,” Rarity said. “We were worried you wouldn’t make it,” Fluttershy joined her. “Now, tell us what needs doin' to stop that thing,” Applejack inquired. “I got the heavy artillery all ready to go off!” Pinkie Pie loudly announced as she brought her party cannon. But Twilight’s heart sank. “I’m sorry, everypony. But I’m afraid I don’t have anything to counter that thing. My own magic wasn’t strong enough to do anything. It just devoured everything in sight. I couldn’t do anything to help protect Canterlot or its residents and now it will consume all of Equestria. I’m a horrible leader... I failed.” She felt completely hopeless, overcome with despair. An orange hoof reached out to her shoulder. “Twilight, don’t say that. You know full well that’s not true.” “Yeah,” the blue pegasus joined her. “We got into a similar world-ending situation like a hundred times at this point.” “Celestia and Luna left you in charge knowing fully well that no matter how dire the situation gets you would always come up on top,” the white unicorn added. “I know not everything will always go the way you hope, Twilight- “ the shy pegasus joined before the hyperactive pink pony smushed them both into the princess. “But that’s why you got us here, to keep your spirits up!” She felt content. After such a long time she had almost forgotten what it was like to share an embrace with friends. She has missed it, she missed all of them. And reminding her that they’re here for her in this dark hour moved her to tears. With her spirit lifted, she felt light rising within her. Empowered by the magic of friendship radiating from the 6 ponies, a bright rainbow light shot out of them and redirected itself at the mass of shadow, slowly pushing it back. Twilight knew it was over. In the end, they succeeded. NO! Twilight’s eyes opened as she suddenly heard a sinister cry originating from the darkness. The dark mass stopped retreating and resumed the advance; it was no longer deterred by the rainbow light. Five faces began to form from the shadow: the first breathed cruel icy cold, the second roared with crackling thunder, the third fraughted at the mouth with a raging fire, the fourth wailed as water gushed from its openings, and finally the fifth, a single shadow, slithered like a constrictor among the other four. It reached the six ponies and tentacles shot out of the shadows, one by one tearing Twilight’s friends from her embrace, devouring them whole, until only she was left, surrounded by the sinister faces, their voices bearing down on her. UNFORGIVABLE! FAILURE! TRAITORS! HOPELESS! Only the fifth face remained silent. It approached, separating itself from the mass of shadow and taking on a weaselly shape, coming to Princess Twilight, who was overcome with tears of despair, its green eyes meeting hers. She looked at it and all other voices were deafened out as she finally heard it speak. WHAT MAKES YOU SO BETTER? And as it said that, Twilight saw a pair of gigantic purple eyes open behind it. The sixth face materialized, opened its gaping maw, absorbing all other faces into itself, and lunged at the princess. “NOOOO!!!” Twilight Sparkle screamed in full horror. Shadows haunted the castle’s sculpture gardens. It was the royal guard Brightmane's turn to do the nightly rounds and he hated it. He was a morning bird, not a night owl, and walking through the gardens was the last thing he wanted to do. Even though the moon cast its light, illuminating the grounds, the shadows that were formed because of it frightened him, even if he did know what statue lies at every corner. This is why he was especially anxious with the last addition to the menagerie of statues in the garden. Not that it was just one, but three in one. Three figures stood on the pedestal. Three creatures capable of great evil: a frightened little pegasus child, Cozy Glow, a cringing frail old centaur prince, Lord Tirek, and last but not least, a ravenous monster, the Queen of Changelings, Chrysalis; turned to stone, forever frozen in time in their final moments of defeat. Brightmane finally came by them and he just wished to get away as quickly as possible. Two of them looked absolutely pathetic, but the third one… that razor-sharp open maw, the look of hatred carved into the eyes, and her pose literally charging in for the kill. He knew she can’t do anything, but in the dark of night, the reality blurred. She was just standing there, pretending… waiting… craving for her next meal… ready to attack at the moment’s not- “NOOOO!!!” a loud voice cried out, frightening Brightmane, causing him to stumble backward into the bushes. He peeked past the leaves, seeing the shapes remained unmoved. He sighed in relief. That shriek of terror didn’t come from statues. He climbed out of the growth and looked around but saw nobody until he turned his sight skywards and saw a light turn on in one of the castle rooms. “Oh… it’s this again,” he thought to himself before he trotted off. “Well, at least now I know it’s a perfect sign for shift change.” “Twilight?! Twilight, are you okay?!” Spike burst into the room. The princess was sitting in her bed, in a cold sweat, breathing heavily, trying to recover from the state of shock. “It happened again, huh?” She nodded. “That’s happened for two weeks straight now, Twilight. Should I schedule an appointment with a doctor?” “Which one, Spike?” she asked in a frustrating tone. “Because I don’t think there’s any other in Canterlot that didn’t prescribe the same methods.” Overworked, overstressed, required sleeping medication. Those were always going to be the responses from them. “What about doctor Manebrane? She said that bad dreams normally come from suppressing subconscious feelings about something.” He walked over to the side of her bed. “Are you sure that nothing’s happened in the last three years?” “Spike, you’ve been with me all the time since I took the throne. If anything had happened you would’ve been the first to know.” She climbed out of bed, into her regal horseshoes, and trapesed over to the table, her sight still a bit foggy. “Maybe we need to add more lavender then?” And as he said that, Twilight bumped her head into a flower pot. She shook her head. They looked around the room and there were at least a dozen pots of the said plant spread about. “If we added any more lavender, my room would turn into a greenhouse,” she said as she reached the table, picked up the brush, and started to comb her mane. “But what other option do we have left then?” the dragon asked in a concerned tone. “You can’t just keep going through that every night.” “I know, Spike, but honestly there isn’t anything else I can think of that would make the nightmares go away. The only other option now would be to use unorthodox means.” She paused for a moment before turning to her companion. “We’ll have to go and visit Zecora.” “Twilight, you know that’s currently not possible,” Spike protested. “We got a whole schedule set for the next week. We barely managed to squeeze in the appointment for the last doctor in Canterlot and even then, we were 15 minutes late for the meeting with Fancy and the rest of the noble committee.” “Ugh. Don’t remind me.” She grimaced. “I know Fancy Pants is quite forgiving, but the rest were giving me unpleasant looks. But still, I have to try.” “We’ll have to figure that out later. I got your morning checklist ready.” “Wait. You already have my schedule?” She looked at him surprisingly. “I thought you came to check up on the commotion?” “Well... it’s just that after this same thing has happened for 14 days in a row it just kind of became predictable, like a clock I guess.” She scowled. “Does… does the castle staff know about this as well?” The dragon only gave her an awkward smile and a shrug. She groaned before bashing her face on the table. They all knew what was happening. She put on the chest crest and her crown, took in a deep breath, and exhaled. “You know what, never mind. Let's just get this day done with.” She opened the drawer and pulled out a magically charged amulet. She recalled receiving it from Princess Celestia, who imbued it with her own and Princess Luna’s power, so she could raise the sun and the moon in their absence. That first try really didn’t go well when she accidentally put both of them in the sky and then broke the amulet in a desperate attempt to fix all of it. Now, all those years later since they left, it became a mundane routine, like turning on the lights. She walked over to the balcony and looked to the dark horizon. She brought the trinket before her and activated it using her magic. The moon slowly drifted from the sky and disappeared beyond her sight. Then, the light began to peek over the horizon, marking the beginning of a new dawn as the sun finally rose. Twilight closed her eyes and inhaled, trying to soak in the first fresh sparks of morning light, the gentle breeze passing through her mane. NO! The horrifying voice from her dream echoed and the princess suddenly saw the world darken, the shadow from her dream being materialized, the faces of great evil roaring. “Twilight!” Spike shook her. She snapped out of her daze and in a moment of weakness, the amulet slipped from her hold, falling over the edge of the balcony. She bent over the railing and caught it at the last minute, sighing in relief and after Spike pulled her back, she looked on the horizon again. There was nothing. Just bright light illuminating the land. “UGH,” she vented. “The day's just started and it’s already going downhill.” “I’m really sorry, Twilight.” The dragon tried to comfort her. “But at this very moment, there’s nothing that we can do. Let us just try to get through the first half of the day and hope things improve.” “Okay.” She sighed as she returned to the bedroom and put the amulet away. “Now, for real. Time to tackle the day,” the princess said with confidence as she opened the door. “Twilight, wait!” Spike called out. “What is it, Spike?” She stopped and turned around before she could walk out. The little dragon pointed at the measuring tape on the wall. “Seriously?” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Hey, I’m just trying to keep the record straight.” She sighed, as she walked over to the measuring tape and straightened herself out. The little dragon flew up to her head height and drew the line on the tape at the edge of her head. “It’s getting close to three inches. And in only 3 years.” “Is that really necessary, Spike?” “Hey, I want to see if you’re going to end up as a giraffe at the end of it.” The dragon grinned as he said that. “Oh, hahaha. You’ll be lucky if you ever even grow to my size.” Twilight playfully rubbed his head spines. “Oh, you just wait 'til I catch up to you, sister.” They giggled. “So, NOW are we ready to tackle the day?” Spike thought for a moment, scratching his chin. “Yes.” They finally walked through the bedroom door. “So, it goes as follows,” the dragon began to read out as the duo walked down the hallway, ”first, we need to review the royal guard’s nightly report, then check up on the state of the kitchen staff, all that’s daily trivia. After that we have to meet the delegates from Abyssinia, to sign a trade agreement- “ “Oh, pony feathers!” That interrupting noise came from around the corner. They saw a unicorn wearing a cleaner’s outfit standing in front of the large foreboding doorway, rummaging through his satchel, grumbling to himself. “Misplaced your key again, Moppin?” They approached him. The cleaner got startled. “M-my sincere apologies, Your Majesty. I know this is mighty inconvenient, but with the number of rooms I have to deal with I just tend to end up taking the wrong keys with me.” Twilight giggled. “It’s no biggie. Here, let me help you with that.” The princess turned her horn on the doorway. The intricate mechanism moved within and it opened. “I-I promise it won’t happen again, Your Majesty, I swear.” “It’s fine, Moppin. We’ll pretend this didn’t happen.” She smiled. The cleaner smiled nervously and dragged his cart through the door. “You know, you probably should get somepony more reliable to clean the room where all those magical artifacts are being kept in,” Spike complained as they continued to walk down the hall. “Cut the guy some slack, Spike. Since the regular custodian’s been away on medical leave since last week I need his apprentice to fill in. He’s going to be replacing him one day, so he might as well get some early practice.” “Yeah, well, we’ll see if you'll still stand by that when he accidentally triggers one of them one of these days.” Twilight Sparkle opened the gates leading to the castle courtyard where the royal guard had gathered. The morning light shined off their polished golden armor, so much so it nearly blinded her. The moment the guard captain saw her exit he commanded at the top of his lungs for his men to stand to attention. They lined up at moments' notice. Though it was normal for the captain himself to gather reports from his soldiers, Twilight chose to take a more direct approach and hear the reports from the guards personally. One after another she would talk to them individually to learn every detail. It served two-fold: to hear every detail of their experience and in turn also to build a closer bond with them in the process. One particular soldier at the far end of the line was not all there, however, swinging back and forth half asleep as if he hadn’t shut an eye in a while. “BRIGHTMANE!” the guard captain shouted. “YOU’RE TO STAND TO ATTENTION WHEN HER MAJESTY ADDRESSES YOU!” The poor blonde-maned stallion snapped out and shot out, trembling from shock. “Brightmane, is it?” The princess walked up to him. “Is something the matter?” “Y-y-your Majesty, may I speak frankly?” “NO, YOU MAY NOT, SOLDIER!” “Captain. It’s fine.” She raised her hoof against the captain, before turning to face him. “You may speak freely, Brightmane.” “F-f-for the last few nights I’ve been selected to patrol the sculpture garden grounds. Normally I wouldn’t have a problem with a night shift but… I know this may be a tall order to ask, but… Can you please move that set of statues somewhere in a secluded place where they can’t be seen unless you try to look for them?! Every time I go past them in the night they give me nightmares the following day so I can’t even have a good rest before my next shift.” “Soldier, are you complaining to Princess Twilight about garden arrangements?!” captain raised his voice again. Twilight silenced him quickly. “Brightmane, I sympathize with you, but I’m afraid I can’t do that. Those three were put on display there so that future generations of ponies learn of the dark forces that were once trying to destroy our world, and it’s up to the Royal guards like you to make sure they’re kept safe.” “I… understand.” He sighed in disappointment. “However, if it would help, I could have you rescheduled to NOT patrol the grounds at night.” “But… but Your Majesty,” the captain protested, “I can’t do that! I already had the whole roster set up for this month, I’d have to redo the whole schedule!” She twirled the tip of her hoof on the ground in embarrassment. “Could you… do it anyway? Pretty please?” She gave him an awkward smile and without even putting up a fight the captain relented and nodded in submission. “Great!” she said in delight. “If there’s nothing else to report you’re all free to go.” The pegasus captain declared dismissal. And as all the guards walked off to start their duties, so did Brightmane, with a smile on his face… until the said pegasus captain pulled him over with one of his wings. “And where do you think YOU are going?” “Errr… to rest, Sir?” the guard nervously replied. “Oh no, you’re not. You just got me into quite a mess by getting the princess to change the roster just for you after I’ve worked three days on it, so now you’re going to help me re-work it.” “B-but Sir, that’s not fair-!” Brightmane protested. “Do you want me to have drill sergeant Magnus put you through the wringer instead?” “N-no, sir.” “Okay, guard inspection, check,” Twilight told the little dragon as they walked across the courtyard and back toward the castle. “Now off to the kitchen and meet the staff.” Spike intervened after checking out the list. “You know Twilight, that guard may have had a point. Do you think it’s a good idea to have petrified Cozy, Tirek, and Chrysalis just standing in the backyard? It might’ve been better to move them to a safe location where nopony would be able to interfere with them in any way.” “Spike, you heard what I said. The future generations of ponies must know what we had to go through to enjoy a new age of friendship and prosperity when every creature stood together for the first time in Equestria’s history against a common enemy. They must learn what happened to those whose dark desires overcome their own sense for love and kindness so nobody else will ever walk down the same path.” “I mean, I get for two of them, but Chrysalis was just a monster. Besides, Discord sat in that same garden for about a thousand years and he eventually escaped. So, doesn’t that kind of make my point?” the dragon questioned. “And that precisely why I have the guards patrolling the grounds frequently now, for preventive measures. Anyway, as far as we know that’s the worst that the world had to throw at us, so who can be worse?” she said with overconfidence as she opened the door. “WE’RE UNDER ATTACK!” a pegasus guard flew over, sounding the alarm. Spike scowled and looked at Twilight. “You just had to jinx it, didn’t you?” She glared at him. Some time ago, before the sun rose, on the edge of Canterlot and Ponyville, the Everfree Forest laid silent in the night, pacified after Sombra’s invasion and destruction of the Tree of Harmony, so for a while there was peace again. Yet the forest itself was ancient, harboring dark mysteries forgotten by pony kind, for that which is eternal can lie without fear of decay, and with countless centuries even decay may perish in the presence of eternity. Darkness began to creep out of the forgotten corners of the woods, dark shadowy tendrils coiled through the trees and rocks, imbuing them in the process. Then there was a movement. Rocks and growth began to merge into a mass of shapes, forming an army of creatures of the earth itself. TOO LONG HAVE WE DREAMED… TOO LONG DENIED. WE GO NOW TO RECLAIM WHAT IS OURS BY RIGHT. Spurred on by the command of the sinister whispers, the horde of elementals marched on Canterlot. Several minutes later at Canterlot’s main gate, the night guards had already switched with the fresh replacements, so they could go report to the princess. For a moment the guards enjoyed the sweet, calm, radiant morning… until it was interrupted by sudden rumbling. They looked over the castle wall and saw a huge army of earth elementals slowly marching toward the city. The horn was blown as several more guards joined at the front gate and the bridge leading to it has risen. The horde of rocks didn’t stop however, as they continued to push forward, they didn’t even stop at the moat, they just fell in. But as more and more elementals fell into the water, they became so numerous that the moat was filled up and the animated rock creatures began to climb over each other until they finally climbed over the city wall. “Get reinforcements!” one of the unicorn guards yelled and a pegasus guard flew off. The Canterlot royal guard in the meantime faced the elemental army with unfavorable results. Bucking them and using magic to shatter them did partly break them, but after a while, the loose rocks would re-attach themselves to their owners and it didn’t help that more would appear while the wounded ones regenerated in the meantime. Inevitably, however, the elementals destroyed the bridge control, causing the drawbridge to lower and while the gates still held shut, it didn’t take too long before the horde broke it down under its massive force. The earth elementals broke through the main gate and begun to advance on the castle itself, like an unstoppable tide. Soon the whole royal guard amassed on their path, blocking their passage. Suddenly a wide pink screen appeared in front of the charging horde, they stopped as the face of Twilight Sparkle appeared on it. “Attention, mineral and floral creatures! This is Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria!” The alicorn princess stood on top of one of the towers, projecting her image below. “You have invaded the sovereign territory under my protection and have thus incurred the wrath of all Equestria. I will give you one opportunity to apologize and depart without further delay, or we will be forced to use force against you… Please.” There was a moment of silence and it didn’t take long before it was broken. The warning to elementals fell on deaf ears and they proceeded to charge once again. She groaned. “Why did I even expect a different outcome. You can’t reason with a rock.” “Unless you’re Maud,” the dragon quipped. “Not helping, Spike! Come on, we need to help them below!” she responded and they both took flight. The unicorn guards summoned magical shields in order to block the creature's advance, and while it did work, they put themselves under a great strain as the assault just kept coming without delay. “Everypony move out of the way!” the sound echoed across the sky as the guards looked to its origin. Twilight flew down and dashed past other guards on the ground level at high speed. Her horn lighted up and the purple light enveloped her, turning into a living spear as she thrust through the elemental army, breaking them apart in the process. She landed and sighed in relief. Then she noticed as the broken rocks began to reattach back on their owners. Her attack did little. Then a group of them jumped and piled on top of her. “Twilight!” Spike shouted in panic as he flew towards her, past the guards. Purple light erupted from the rock pile and they were repulsed. The princess knew she was in over her head at this point. She tried to fly back behind the magical shield barricade, but halfway there the passing elementals managed to grab her by the wings. After she got dropped to the floor, more of them ganged up on her again, their weight beginning to crush her. “GET OFF OF HER!” Spike yelled as he took a deep breath and breathed fire in a straight line through the horde, all the way to the pile where Twilight was. As the smoke cleared, Twilight was enveloped by a small purple bubble, panting heavily. Spike managed to land by her side, trying to inquire if she was okay, but before he could speak, Twilight grabbed him and pulled him inside with her, as one of the elementals almost jumped him. “Thanks, Spike!” “No problem, Twilight,” he said as the living rocks started to approach the shield. “But I don’t think that did much good if they just keep coming.” “That’s not true Spike. Look!” He looked around, seeing the horde approach, but he noticed some of the elementals were deformed as if they were missing parts of their body, and all they had were scorched marks in their places. “They do have a weakness. If they don’t have natural material close to them, they can’t regenerate. And your dragon fire’s strong enough to melt rocks away.” He gave her a confident look. He was born for this. “Okay. On a count of three.” She stood up and they prepared themselves to jump out of the bubble. “One. Two. Thr-!” CRASH! They both stopped and turned to where the sound was coming from. A gargantuan earth elemental had climbed the mountainside and while the castle guards were busy with invaders at the front, it leaped over the castle wall and landed on top of the castle towers, crashing into them in the process. Things have just gone worse. Together they could’ve managed to deal with the horde of little elementals without a problem, but that giant one was about to start demolishing the castle. “THREE!” Twilight yelled, the bubble popped and they leaped into the air as the mass of rocks collapsed in their place. “Everypony!” she called out. “If you have anything that can dissolve rock use it against them! Spike, let’s go!” The duo flew to the castle. The huge elemental broke through the walls as it was climbing downwards. “Spike, I’ll draw its attention. While it's distracted, breath fire on it.” The dragon nodded. Twilight got to the elemental and started to fire shots at it. It didn’t take long before it got aware of her presence. It tried to reach out with its massive hands for her, but she was too fast. Spike flew in closer range and prepared himself to take a deep breath. Unfortunately, as the beast was wriggling about trying to strike the target, the vines on the trees that the elemental carried on his back swung out and one of them wrapped around the dragon’s leg, pulling him along with the motion. Twilight noticed it and as she tried to get around the rock elemental, but the creature only followed her and as it turned, Spike ended up getting tossed into one of the broken rooms. “Spike!” she panicked. A moment of distraction was enough for the elemental to catch her in its grasp. She struggled to get out, but the beast didn’t even bother with her attempts at escape as it continued to descend the castle, puncturing further holes into the structure. FLASH! At the high speed, a powerful force chipped away at the elemental’s grasp, severely loosening it, allowing Twilight to wiggle herself out. “My apologies for the slow response, Ma'am!” The princess recognized that voice immediately. It was a familiar yellow pegasus wearing ancient centurion armor. “Flash Magnus! You’re a lifesaver.” “The captain and the rest of the men are still handling the army below as you requested. How do we deal with this one?” “We need Spike. His fire’s strong enough to melt away the rocks so it won’t regenerate. Keep it busy!” “Right on it, Ma’am!” Flash saluted and proceeded to buck the giant as much as possible to keep it preoccupied. Twilight in the meantime flew up to the open room where her dragon companion was tossed. There was rubble and broken furniture everywhere. She called out to him several times until he finally groaned and she dug him out. “Spike, are you okay?” She held the little dragon in her hooves. He coughed. “Yeah, I think so- OW! But… I think I sprained my wing.” “Don’t worry, I’ll carry you. You just make sure to keep that flame alight.” Meanwhile outside, Flash was still flying about keeping the giant earth elemental busy, and much like with Twilight earlier, Magnus was just too fast for it, but at the same time, the vines from the trees on its back were flailing around each time it turned. Eventually, one of the vines hit the pegasus and clipped one of his wings. He got caught off balance and hit the wall before he managed to stabilize himself in the air again, unfortunately, the animated rock brought its hand down on him and broke him through the castle wall itself, before finally pulling him out, holding him tightly in his grasp. It then brought Flash over to its face and opened the gaping maw and roared. “Hey, bulkhead!” Spike yelled as he rode on Twilight’s back to rescue the drill sergeant. “Eat this!” He took in a deep breath and unleashed an inferno at the rock elemental. The flame throw cut through the animated rock’s hand, allowing Flash Magnus to fly off, but it also melted through its other hand that was holding on to the castle wall and being severely weakened by the melting flame, its hand was no longer able to support its massive weight. It snapped off and the elemental roared as it fell off the side of the castle, plunging right into the sculpture garden below, shattering into million pieces as it crashed onto the ground. Twilight grimaced. Their actions may have just destroyed a precious part of Equestria's history and it’s all going to be on her. “I’d say the threat’s been neutralized, Ma’am.” The pegasus tried to keep up a brave face despite his obvious injury. “Flash, are you going to be alright?” she asked in a concerned tone. “Nothing I can’t handle, Ma’am.” “I need you to go and rejoin with others at the front. Take Spike with you. If they’re still unable to stop the elementals you’ll succeed with his help.” “Wait. What about you?” the dragon asked. “I need to check up on the damage that was done to the garden below. I know that doesn’t seem like a big deal right now, but I have to make sure that nothing important was destroyed and that the pile of rocks doesn’t reform.” She picked him off her back. “Can I count on you to do that?” He nodded and after he was sat on the back of Magnus, they flew off, while Twilight descended upon the garden below. She landed, slowly moving the rubble left behind the creature, making sure that the pieces stayed as far apart from each other as possible, all the while taking precautions not to potentially damage any statues. In meantime, the guards at the front managed to stop the advancement of the rock horde, although there were difficulties as only a few unicorns were able to cast fire spells hot enough to melt the opponents. It wasn’t until Flash Magnus brought Spike, who was later mounted on another pegasus that the tide of battle had completely turned, as the dragon breathed fire down on the battlefield as he flew by. After several minutes, Spike was completely out of breath, but the battle was finally over. The invaders have been melted away and the damage was kept at a minimum for the most part. Moments later a group of royal guards at the head of the captain and Spike returned to the sculpture garden. Twilight had pretty much sorted all the rocks apart to make sure the elemental wouldn’t reassemble and luckily none of the statues were destroyed by the monster crushing down… except for one. There was a pile of boulders stacked together that hasn’t been cleaned up yet. It had her worried about what’s become of THEM. They may have been villains, but this wasn’t a fate they deserved. She hoped this wasn’t the case as she slowly lifted the boulders to reveal… Nothing. The statues were no longer standing there. Tiny rocks lay all around and in their place a hole in the ground was open. “Twilight! It’s over!” Spike ran to her side. “Those living rocks on the street have been cleared out. Canterlot is safe again.” “Thanks, Spike. Although… I wish the same could be said for them.” It was strange. There was a sense of sadness hanging over her. Yes, those three beings were evil; they deserved to be put away where they couldn’t hurt anybody ever again, yet to see them perish like this… Only once has she seen one meet such an end, and that was when the Storm King got turned to stone and ended up getting crushed to pieces as he fell from the balcony and onto the castle courtyard. This was different; he perished from the mistake done by his own hands, but it was HER actions that lead to the three’s demise. She, with Spike’s help, was the one who caused the giant earth elemental to fall on them. It felt like… guilt. “Twilight,” her companion put his hand on her side to try and comfort her, “you could not have predicted it would come to this.” “I wish I could believe that, Spike. I really wish I could…” the princess’s voice trailed off. A light shone through the hole in the royal garden where the three statues once stood. Unknown to Twilight, however, they weren’t destroyed. They lay deep at the bottom of a chasm that was caused by the earth elemental's attack. Combined statues of Cozy Glow, Lord Tirek, and Queen Chrysalis lay to the side, with the latter being dipped into a mysterious glowing substance, a magical stream that ran through the caverns beneath Canterlot. The mysterious liquid began to spread from the pool in which the Queen of Changelings was dipped, trailing all over her face and body until she was completely enveloped by it. FROM EARTH SHE WAS BORN. THUS, FROM EARTH SHE MAY DRAW STRENGTH. OUR EARTH… OUR STRENGTH. The Changeling Queen regained consciousness. It was an unusual sensation. A moment ago, she was trying to make one last desperate attempt to attack the Royal Sisters and the spirit of Chaos, and then the next thing she knew, she was surrounded by near-total darkness, with a tiny source of light coming from far above. It may have been a coincidence that she managed to somehow escape her petrified prison, but she was not about to let that chance go to waste. Forget Tirek and Cozy Glow, they’ll be of no use to her if she was going to get caught with them when the Canterlot guards come to investigate. She followed the upstream current of the strange substance and disappeared into the darkness.