//------------------------------// // Chapter Six: The Fall of Canterlot // Story: The End of All Things // by Boltstrike58 //------------------------------// "...and then Twilight teleported me outside the city, and I rushed here as fast as I could so I could tell you!" Spike said in between pants. The dragon had arrived at Canterlot Castle only minutes ago, where Celestia, Luna, and Tempest were overseeing the cleanup from the Storm Creatures' failed attack. He'd immediately grabbed their attention, and relayed his story. How Grogar had been behind the attack as a distraction, how he'd brought back all the villains, how they'd shattered the Tree of Harmony, and how Grogar had apparently defeated Discord. His stamina spent, the dragon bent over, taking deep, heaving breaths. Celestia, Luna, and Tempest could only stare in horror, as their brains tried to process this new information. "Grogar...has returned?" Celestia repeated, fear creeping into her voice. "The Element of Harmony are gone?!" exclaimed Luna. Spike nodded. "And now, Twilight and the others are battling those six villains." "But if Discord couldn't beat Grogar alone..." Celestia whispered, as though the thought was so terrifying she wouldn't dare to voice it out loud. Tempest merely swallowed, looking down at the ground. Her biggest fear, upon the initial attack, was that the Storm King had somehow returned from the dead. However, not only had that turned out to be true, it was even worse than that. Tempest knew the tales of Grogar and his power (every foal in Equestria did), and they struck fear into her. The fact that the ram was able to resurrect the Storm King spoke volumes of his strength. She looked up as Celestia gritted her teeth, shaking her head. "It doesn't matter," insisted the solar alicorn. "We must mobilize the Royal Guard and make our way to Ponyville at once! Perhaps Twilight and the others can stall them long enough for us to get there!" "Sister..." Luna breathed, making eye contact with Celestia. She didn't have to say the words. If Discord couldn't beat Grogar, what chance did Twilight and the others have? Spike didn't seem to care, however. "Yeah! We gotta hurry! Maybe there's still time!" Celestia turned. "Tempest, can we count on you to help?" "Of course," she replied. It only took a few minutes for Tempest to gather all the Royal Guards. Celestia, Luna, and Spike all helped as well, knowing how urgent it was. They all armed themselves, though Tempest didn't have her armor from the Storm King anymore. She was confidant she could fight without it, but considering what they were up against, it would've been useful to have. Now, all the guards were assembled in the courtyard, suited up and prepared for battle. Celestia and Luna stood at the head of the crowd, while Tempest and Spike stood off to the side. Celestia and Luna had put on their own armor, clearly willing to to go to war themselves. Whether or not they could accomplish anything was another matter. Celestia, being more used to doing so, took charge. "Soldiers," she announced, magically amplifying her voice, "we only have time to give you a very brief summary of the situation. The legendary sorcerer known as Grogar has returned to Equestria, and plans to take the land from us. We have learned that he and his gang of villains that have assaulted Equestria previously have destroyed the Elements of Harmony, defeated Discord, and are now engaged in battle against Princess Twilight and the other Element Bearers on the edge of the Everfree Forest." None of the guards showed any emotion, as they were trained to do, but Tempest's trained eyes could tell that fear still creeped into them. As previously stated, every foal in Equestria grew up hearing tales of Grogar's tyranny, and now that those tales had been proven to be true, they weren't sure they could take him on. Not to mention that the Elements of Harmony, Equestria's greatest weapons against evil, had fallen. In the past few years, they'd grown so used to the Elements disposing of whatever monster popped up with little trouble. Now, that was no longer an option. Even Discord had failed. Obviously, that didn't do anything for the army's confidence. "We are unaware of how long Princess Twilight will be able to hold against Grogar," Celestia continued, "which is why we must rush to her aid as quickly as possible. I ask you all to muster your courage, to fight for Equestria as you swore to do, and—" Celestia was interrupted, as a bolt of black lightning came down behind her, striking the earth with a massive boom. Celestia, Luna, Spike, and Tempest all whirled around to face the impact site, while the soldiers all tensed up, grabbing their weapons. "Really, Celestia, do you honestly believe your heroic speech will do anything to stop me?" said a frighteningly familiar voice. Celestia's blood turned to ice. She looked up, discovering six figures hovering above them, cloaked in a black and yellow magical aura. Grogar and his entourage levitated downward, coming to a stop on the ground in front of the two alicorns. "Grogar..." Celestia snarled, grinding her teeth. The ram let out a dry laugh. "If it's any consolation, Princess Twilight and her friends did their best. It's just that their best was meaningless against me." "What did you do to them?!" Spike demanded, panting green flames. "I broke them," Grogar answered simply. His horns began to glow with sickly yellow light, and sparks of black electricity began to race down them. "Now it's your turn." "And we're gonna do the breaking," added the Storm King, as he formed a ball of blue lightning in his palm. "You'll be broken into so many pieces you won't even be able to glue yourself back together!" "You're kind of ruining the metaphor," Tirek snapped, glaring at his comrade. "Fine by me. I never was a metaphor kinda guy. I mean, why would you wanna metaphorically blow something up when you can—?" Sombra's horn lit up with purple light, forcing the Storm King's jaw closed. "I swear, you talk almost as much as that pink pony." "Allow me to show you," Grogar continued, ignoring his minions' banter. He lit up his horns again, opening a dimensional pocket. Out came a large slab of iron, to which Twilight and her five best friends were all chained. They appeared to be conscious, but they were all bruised and bleeding, and their faces clearly looked depressed, especially Twilight. Celestia tensed up. Her heart was pounding with rage and despair. Grogar hadn't killed Twilight or the others, but he had done something just as evil to them. Looking to her side, she could tell Spike, despite the tears running down his face at the sight, was having similar feelings. For what he'd done, Celestia would ensure Grogar would pay for this. "You monster!" Luna shouted, a bit of the Royal Canterlot Voice creeping in. "How can you be so cruel?!" "Not my fault your puny species is too weak to defeats me, Princess Luna," Grogar chuckled. "I'm going to bring Equestria to its knees. Because I can. Because I want to. And there is nothing you can do about it." "We'll see about that, you old goat!" Tempest shot back, as her broken horn began to spark. But before anybody could move, Grogar ignited his horns agains, focusing his telekinesis on his bell, and rang it. The sound was hollow, but loud, reverberating across the entire city of Canterlot. Every living creature in the city trembled at the sound, as some sort of primal fear began to creep through their spines. Above the city, unnaturally black clouds suddenly appeared, beginning to swirl like a violent maelstrom. Lightning bolts zapped between the clouds, and the ground itself began to rumble. Everyone except Grogar trembled at the quaking, and giant cracks began to rise up the side of Canterlot Castle. Then the cracks arced across the ground, and large, black spikes began to stab out of the earth. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" screamed Celestia, taking off with a flap of her wings. "Brought my home to you," Grogar replied, with a massive grin. "Welcome, Celestia, to the Castle of Tambelon!" From the spinning vortex in the sky came a floating island, with a castle of similar size to Canterlot Castle. This castle, however, was very different. It was completely black, and looked partially ruined, with holes in the sides and towers. Cracks ran up the brick wall. Despite this, nobody would want to go near the place, considering it had an aura of sheer terror surrounding it. The spires were pointed and jagged, the fence around it looked like it could impale you, and overall, it looked like a place one would go to die. Slowly, the floating island descended lower and lower, knocking the towers of Canterlot Castle away and sending them plummeting to the ground. Bricks fell like raindrops, forcing the Royal Guards to rush away to avoid concussions. Celestia and Luna hurriedly put up a giant shield to deflect some of the projectiles, but in the process, they left themselves open, allowing Grogar to blast them in the backs, knocking them out of the sky. "Princesses!" yelled Spike, flying over to them. Celestia grunted as she rose to her hooves once more, waving the baby dragon off. Grogar rang his bell once more, and the dark castle stopped its descent. "Don't worry, Celestia. I won't completely crush Canterlot Castle. I'll leave some of it as a reminder of how you ponies belong under my hoof." Celestia ground her teeth again, before thrusting one hoof forward. "ATTACK!" she screamed. It was all she had left to say. The Royal Guard obeyed without question, charging the group of villains with weapons primed. Tempest and Spike joined in, with Celestia and Luna bringing up the rear. Grogar simply smiled, then thrust his own hoof forward, directing the others to attack. Tirek, Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, Sombra, and the Storm King all shared his wicked grin as they charged to meet the opposition. Tirek was the first to reach them, leaping into the air and coming down to land on all four hooves, along with a heavy overhead smash. From his point of impact, a massive shockwave radiated outwards. The unicorns in the guard were able to throw up shields, and the pegasi took to the air, but the earth ponies had no defense. Tirek's attack bowled many of them over, creating cracks in their armor and sending their weapons flying. The pegasi in the air soon found themselves becoming targets for bolts from Sombra and Chrysalis, who opened fire without mercy. Some of the pegasi managed to dodge, but several were blasted out of the sky. Those that charged through the assault slammed into a massive black crystal spire generated by King Sombra, who laughed at their misfortune. "STOP!" Tempest roared, as she reared her head back and thrust it forward. From the broken horn, a massive ball of blue lightning came, launching towards the group of villains. "Storm King," Grogar ordered without moving from his spot. He didn't need to say any more. The Storm King smiled sadistically, before cupping his palms together and gathering his own magic. He thrust his hands outwards, sending a bolt of lightning towards Tempest's blast. The two electrical attacks collided in mid-air, creating a massive burst of energy and canceling out both. Tempest covered her eyes with one hoof to shield them from the resulting light, then lowered it to glare at the Storm King. "I was hoping you'd still be hanging around with these loser ponies, Tempest!" cackled the Storm King, as he advanced on his former minion. "You cost me my empire, my life, my EVERYTHING! So now, I think I'm gonna—" The scarred unicorn suddenly leaped from her standing position, whirled around in the air, and gave the Storm King a roundhouse kick across the face. "You always did talk too much," she grunted. The king's hand snapped upwards, seizing Tempest by the tail. With one movement, he flung her into the ground, then struck her with an electrified kick, zapping her and sending her spinning across the ground. "I'm gonna enjoy this," he growled. While her comrades were focused on the battle, Cozy Glow departed from Grogar's side, flying over to where Spike was trying to help some of the injured Royal Guards. She grinned, charged up the magic in her energy horn, and fired a single blast at the baby dragon. Fortunately for him, Spike heard the attack coming and ducked just in the nick of time. "Hey! No fair, Head Assistant Spike!" snapped the filly. "You're not supposed to dodge!" Spike didn't answer, merely inhaling a deep breath and sending a stream of emerald fire towards the pseudo-alicorn. Cozy swooped to the side to dodge, but this turned out to play right into Spike's claws, as he flew straight upwards and clocked her on the chin with an uppercut. "Why are you doing this, Cozy?!" he demanded. "Did you learn nothing from those friendship classes?!" "Oh, yes," Cozy snarled. "I learned that those with the most friendship have the most power." She charged her horn again and blasted Spike in the stomach. "And now, I have the most powerful friends of all. And Equestria's gonna be ours!" Spike grunted as he rolled backwards to avoid another magic beam. Climbing to his feet once more, he inhaled and spat a handful of fireballs. Cozy executed a quick loop to dodge them all, then returned fire, forcing Spike to take off with a flap of his own wings to dodge. Celestia and Luna had taken to the air, flying over the center of the battle. They hoped the others could at least keep Grogar's comrades busy while they focused on the ram himself. Though he clearly saw them coming, they didn't hesitate, charging their horns and firing their magic beams. Grogar didn't even bother moving from his spot, merely raising a black energy shield around himself that completely blocked the attack. Celestia was, naturally, frustrated by this development. She poured her magic into the blast, which began glowing the same color as the sun. Grogar's shield continued to take the brunt of the energy, but inside his barrier, the temperature began to rise. Grogar could feel the searing heat building up around him, and knew that if he continued to do nothing, eventually, Celestia would cook him alive inside the shield. It took little effort on his part, though. With a pulse of black magic, he teleported away, leaving Celestia's blast to incinerate the grass he'd been standing on. Luna was the first to spot him in his new position, and swung her horn in an arc, launching a crescent-shaped blade of magic energy towards him. Grogar leaped over the attack, and countered with a bolt of black lightning from each horn, which Celestia and Luna barely managed to guard against. "Surely you two don't believe you can overcome my power?" he asked, canceling his attack. "Even Discord wasn't a match for me. What can you hope to gain by fighting?" "I don't think even Discord did as much evil ranting as you," Luna groaned. Celestia's only response was an enraged shout, as she lit up her horn, causing her forehoof to become engulfed in fire. She zipped down towards Grogar and punched with the burning appendage, an attack Grogar nimbly avoided. Spinning on one hoof, Grogar turned his back towards Celestia and bucked, both of his hind legs connecting with Celestia's head. The solar alicorn was sent spinning across the ground. "TIA!" Luna screamed, diving down to her sister. "Are you okay?!" "I'm fine," Celestia grunted, rising to her hooves once again. "I'll keep Grogar busy. Can you do something for me?" She whispered the next few words to Luna. Luna's ears flattened against her head, but she gritted her teeth and nodded. "I will do what I can," she replied. Celestia took off again, flying straight towards Grogar. The ram smiled smugly again, before the studs on his necklace lit up, creating a pair of giant arms formed of magic. The hands opened up, before coming down, attempting to slap the alicorn down. Celestia, a strong flyer, managed to dodge the physical attacks, flying straight up to Grogar. Before the ram could raise yet another shield, Celestia clocked him in the face with a roundhouse punch. Grogar's head was forcefully slammed into the earth, but he rolled with it, managing to rise to his hooves. He fired another pair of black lightning bolts from his horns, and Celestia only barely managed to shield herself in time. "You couldn't even defeat an empowered Queen Chrysalis!" Grogar mocked. "You are no match for me." "Luna was right, you do talk too much!" Celestia snapped back. She fired another heat beam from her horn, which Grogar narrowly dodged. While the two were busy duking it out, Luna flew over to where Twilight and her friends remained chained up. The six ponies seemed to still be lost in the throes of despair, but they were at least conscious. Luna was joined by Spike, who'd managed to get away from Cozy Glow for a moment. Lighting up her horn, Luna created a long, curved, magic blade around the appendage, and with a few slashes, severed all their chains, causing them to drop to the ground with pained thumps. "Ow," said Applejack, flatly. "Are you all able to flee?" asked Luna. Five of the six mares struggled to their hooves, clearly wounded by the previous battle. Their bodies were covered with scratches and other wounds, and blood leaked out from several of them. "I don't know," admitted Rainbow Dash. "I could probably get out of here by myself, but that wouldn't do any good, and I'm not strong enough to carry more than one of you." Everyone's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a small sniffling sound. Princess Luna and the five mares turned their gaze to the source, Twilight Sparkle. The purple alicorn was sitting on her stomach, her legs splayed out, trembling. Tears slid down her face, and her shoulders shook every couple of seconds as she sobbed. Her injuries didn't look any worse than those of her friends, so it probably wasn't the pain. "Twilight...?" ventured Fluttershy, reaching a hoof for her friend. Twilight ignored the pegasus, turning instead towards Princess Luna. "I'm sorry..." she whimpered. "I failed you...you believed in me, and I failed you..." Then she buried her head again and sobbed. Celestia blasted Grogar off his hooves with another magic beam, before rushing over to Twilight and the others. "Twilight...?" she whispered. Twilight could only manage one more despair-filled glance at her former teacher, and croaked out "I'm sorry," one more time. She then put her head back down and cried more. "Princess Celestia!" called one of the Royal Guards, whose name was Guardian Soul. "You need to flee! We're not going to win this fight and—!" She didn't get to finish, as Tirek fired a massive beam that blasted her off her hooves. Celestia swallowed, as shame rippled through her. She didn't want to leave the Royal Guard, or any of her subjects alone with these monsters, but even if Twilight had been at full power, and the three alicorns combined their power, they wouldn't have been able to teleport everypony out of here. Grogar was getting back to his hooves, looking as though Celestia's efforts had done nothing more than mildly annoy him. She knew she had no choice. "Tempest!" she called out. "Get over here!" Tempest was in the middle of a battle with the Storm King, the two of them exchanging lightning bolts across the courtyard. Upon hearing Celestia's order, the unicorn charged up and fired another ball of electricity at her foe, forcing him to blast it away and giving her time to rush over to the others. "We're running away, aren't we?" Spike asked. "Let's call it a strategic retreat," replied Luna. "Come, sister! We'll need to combine our magic! Fast!" continued Celestia. Luna nodded, and the two alicorns lit up their horns. Gold and blue light collided, and the magic began to coalesce around their group. Grogar saw what they were doing, and tried to fire at them, but it was too late. The combined spell completely enveloped the two alicorns, seven mares, one baby dragon, and with one pop, they all vanished. Grogar stared for a few moments, as his minions continued to bring down the Royal Guard. It was clear the ponies didn't have chance. "A minor setback," he grunted. "We'll hunt them down soon enough."