//------------------------------// // Chapter 31: Evil Empress into the fray // Story: Prisoner and Savior: Part 2 // by efug25g //------------------------------// During the fight in the city streets, at the same time when Twilight, Zeck, and most of their friends are holding off the advancing Sectanium soldiers and Warriors..... Xul and Trine are both wrestling each other while on the ground, with their knives at each other's throats. Just when Xul held her knife up to Trine's neck while on top of him, she felt her lower stomach get slammed in by Trine's knee cap, making her gasp in pain as she laid onto her left side. As Xul loses her grip on her knife and clutched her bruise, Trine got up and ran to the other side of the city, near the entrance to the palace itself. "T-T-Trine!! No!!" Xul gasped in pain as she struggled to get up on her feet. At the palace courtyard, Trine sees Captain Shinning Armor using his magic to maintain his spell with the aid of a group of unicorn guards. Unbeknownst to the unicorns, Trine takes out a flashbang grenade from his belt and immediately hurled it right into the middle of the group. *FLASH!! BOOM!!* *GAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!* As the grenade went off, Shinning and the unicorn guards screamed before they lose their control over the huge shield barrier protecting the palace and most of Canterlot's city sections. While they unicorns became disoriented, Trine lunged at blind-sighted Shinning Armour as he wrapped around the stallion's neck with his rope and held him down before shooting the rest of them before they had a chance to recover from the stunned effects. In the ensuring struggle, Shinning was screaming blindly as he was not able to see who is jumping on top of him. Once all of the unicorn guards are shot down, Trine knocked Shinning at the back of his head with his gun. As Shinning blacked out, Trine looks up to see that the huge shield dome protecting most of Canterlot has finally shattered. Grinning with triumph, Trine takes out his phone to establish contact with the Empress. He remembered earlier that as soon as they start fighting with the city's defenders and the UFF once again, he will have permission from General Zulux to go on ahead and take down the source of the huge shield barrier. Now that the shield is down, Trine takes out his phone to establish contact with the Empress who is still onboard her flagship. "Your majesty!! The shield is down!!! I repeat, the shield is down!!!" "Good work, Captain Trine!! Time to ring in the apocalypse. Have your men take cover!! The admiral will initiate a full barrage upon the city!!!" "YEH!! TAHW ERA UOY KINHT ER'OUY GNIOD?!" A white alicorn mare shouted, startling Trine. The moment Trine turned around, he sees another group of ponies attack him with their magic. *WHIZZZ!* *SHOOOM!* Celestia and Starswirl came into the palace courtyard and opened fire upon Trine, making him flee with an unconscious Shining Armor! At the same time, he hurls a smoke grenade from his belt. As the grenade exploded in front of their hooves, making both the elder unicorn and the white alicorn got caught up in the grey smoke. *COUGH!* *COUGH!* Seeing the two ponies get distracted in their coughing from within the billowing smoke, Trine fled from the palace courtyard with his captured hostage. In the next minute afterwards, Celestia flies out of the smoke to see where did the red-skinned Sectanium ran off too. However, after surveying the surroundings in front of her, Celestia growled up realizing that the Sectanium attacker is no longer in her sights. "YOU DAMN COWARD!!!" Celestia roared in anger as her wings spread out while her horn lit up in a yellow hue. For Starswirl the Bearded, he appeared from the smoke only to discover something is wrong with the scene he and Celestia are both in. "Hey wait!! Where's Shining Armour?!" Starswirl asked, realizing that one of their own ponies is missing from the fray. *KA-BLAM!!!* As soon as Twilight charged up her horn to the fullest, she let loose a massive blast of magic upon a nearby enemy squad of Sectanium soldiers. After that, Twilight was hovered up into the air before shooting out a barrage of missiles at two more warriors, obliterating them both. After seeing that the shield dome protecting the Canterlot Palace and the inner city has been compromised, Twilight has ordered her Royal Guards to fall back to the palace courtyard to make their final stand. For Twilight's friends in Equestria and from the UFF, they are all trying to make a run back to the palace too. However, some of the UFF Marines stayed behind to man the anti-air guns stationed at roofs of several buildings all around the city square. In just 20 meters away from the palace courtyard, the Empress' flagship has appeared along with several squads of Sectanium Interceptors looming 1,000 feet above the city of Canterlot. "Keep going every creature!!! They're right above us too!!!" Twilight shouted as she flew as fast as she could to the palace courtyard with most of her friends following her from behind. While the ponies and the rest of the UFF are on the run, the interceptors set all of their weapon systems on them as they opened fire with their laser cannons and missiles. *SHOOM!* *SHOOM!* *SHOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* In the impeding destruction, several ponies and UFF marines were sent spiraling out of commission after getting struck by the interceptors before Tempest, Rarity, Starlight, and Twilight all raised their magic shields to protect most of their friends and allies while on the run. However, the surrounding buildings are getting struck by the horrendous, destructive force of the Sectanium Interceptors as lobs of concrete came crumbling down from its walls and crushing every creature that got too close to the rubble. In the continuous destruction, several ponies got buried underneath the rubble crushing the latter to a bloody pulp. For the UFF marines, they ran as fast as they could to the palace courtyard not looking back. "Take cover every creature!! I got this!!" Discord appeared as he raised both of his hands up to the sky, casting a large shield dome to block most of the enemy fire from above. As the explosions all hit the shield dome, Discord held his position while letting the UFF Marines and the ponies enter the palace courtyard. The gun emplacements on top of the undamaged buildings immediately opened fire into the air, causing the entire sky to get covered with explosive flaks before several enemy interceptors get blown sky high. Before she made it to the palace courtyard, Twilight spots an unconscious Xul Sona lying on her stomach as if she was in pain. Just like from her escape from Terram, Twilight did her best to help save Xul from her unacceptable demise since she was able to come to an understanding earlier. So as soon as her horn lit up, Twilight lifted Xul with her magic and carried her all the way to the courtyard to have Fluttershy take a look at her bruises. Just when the surviving pony defenders, conscripts, and the UFF marines made it to the palace courtyard, Discord and Celestia appeared as raised another combined shield barrier to protect most of the surrounding area and the palace itself, relieving Twilight, and her three unicorn friends from straining themselves with their shield spells. Since it's just two creatures raising the shields now, they weren't able to get enough people to shield the rest of the city anymore since most of the unicorns are incapacitated and Shining Armor is MIA. Sadly, most of the buildings in the city plaza, the marketplace, and the residential square have been reduced to rubble. In addition to the structural damage inside the city, windows are completely shattered, with trees and plants got caught on fire, and most of the guard towers near the outer walls have came down, trapping the gun crews as they suffocated before they meet their doom. So as soon as the rest of the defenders held position in front of the palace, the UFF Marines and the crossbow guard ponies reformed the line into a firing stance at the palace's main entrance while the Royal Guard and the pony conscripts held up their spears, their swords, and round shields towards the entrance leading outside of the courtyard. As for Twilight and her friends, they stood at the front of the Royal Guard formation while holding their position in an aggressive stance. "HOLD FAST MEN!!" Twilight shouted to her guards in a Royal Canterlot voice. "We still have our reinforcements heading towards us." After regrouping in the palace courtyard, Zeck appeared from the palace's entrance while holding up a blaster rifle in both of his hands. "Princess, what's happening? I heard loud noises coming from outside the palace after getting Luna to the hospital ward." "Sorry Zeck. Something happened to the unicorns that were supposed to maintain the shield barrier all over Canterlot that made it disappear. The enemy saw it as an opportunity to bombard most of the city. So, we had to fall back to the palace courtyard for the time being!!" Princess Twilight explained briefly. As Zeck looked further beyond the courtyard, he can see that the anti-air gun emplacements that his men setup are already firing back at the interceptors. However, the Sectanium Battleships are approaching the Empress' flagship from a distance of 200 miles away, much to his horror. He feared that if the battleships start firing too, he, his men, and Twilight's men may not last much longer. Ultimately, Zeck only has one option to do. "Twilight, can you get your Royal Air Fleet up in the air?" Zeck asked, giving the Princess of Friendship a request. "I'll do my best, sir!! But you may need to back them up with your ship too." "I understand, your highness!!" Zeck replied before he head down to Port. After seeing Zeck disappear, along with 5 UFF Marines, Twilight ordered Captain Grey Wing to deploy the Royal Air Fleet to help Zeck's Battlecruiser keep the Sectanium Battleships and Mandor Cruisers at bay until allied reinforcements arrive. Meanwhile, onboard the Empress' flagship...... Empress Vanista is sitting on her throne while cackling like a maniac as she sees the interceptors finally unleashing destruction upon the city of Canterlot from the command bridge. "Foolish little ponies. They can't hope to outwit my fighters from the air, can they?!" Vanista grinned with an insane voice. For Admiral Jiarius, he is seen standing on the Empress' left while watching the interceptors shooting down chunks of buildings as they pass through the city's overhead. He couldn't help but grin at the smell of fire and metal billowing from the black smoke caused by the attacks of his interceptors. As soon as he heard a beep coming from his phone, Jiarius picks it up only to hear that the other Sectanium captains are standing by to fire too. Right after he puts his phone away, Jiarius turns to face the Empress of his immediate report. "Your Majesty, the rest of the fleet is in position. They're standing by for another bombardment attack." "Not yet, Admiral!!" The Empress denied as she held her right hand towards Jiarius. "I want to settle some personal matters with their foolish excuse of a leader!!" "You mean you want me to escort you to the palace?" "I'm going to give Princess Twilight one last chance to surrender before I raze that silly palace of hers to the ground!!!" Vanista hissed as she gripped tightly on the scabbard holding her rapier. "Actually, I want to see if she can face me personally first!!!" "It will be done, milady!!" Jiarius said as he bowed towards the Empress. As Jiarius went back to his station, the Empress gets out of her seat before heading down to her bedroom to gear up. When Vanista makes her way into her sleeping quarters, she comes up to a red dresser seen across from the doorway that she was standing and changes her clothes from her regal dress into her obsidian battle armor. After just a few minutes of shooting down most of the city with their interceptors, the Sectanium fighters pulled back leaving most of the anti-air gun crews confused. All around them, about 1/4 of the city was decimated by the destructive force of the enemy interceptors. Just when they were about to be at ease, Chmone spots another enemy ship from a distance away advancing past the city overhead. He sees that the Empress' flagship is hovering past them only to be heading straight to the Canterlot Palace itself. "Pam, the flagship is heading straight for the palace!!" Chmone said on his phone, trying to warn the rest of the UFF marines and Canterlot's defenders about the current situation. "Copy that!!" Pam's voice spoke from Chmone's phone. The moment the Sectanium Fleet started bombarding all over Canterlot outside of the palace courtyard, Trine and General Zulux, who made an immediate recovery after seeing the ponies flee from his sight, ordered their men to seek cover near every open building they can find before the explosive shrapnel hit their marks. After hearing a ominous whooshing noise coming from above, their attacking interceptors, the Sectanium Soldiers and Mandor grunts took cover inside most of the unoccupied buildings off the main streets. For every explosion caused by the Interceptor's weapons, they left behind loud booms of smoke and fire bombarding wildly on the streets for a few minutes tops. Just like the ponies and the UFF marines, some weren't lucky enough to seek cover from the blasts as they were sent flying off the ground before they collapsed critically injured on the road pavement in most of the clearing areas inside Canterlot. After a few minutes of explosions carpeting most of the city of Canterlot, Zulux, who is now seeking shelter inside an abandoned store along with Trine and his soldiers, sees that the interceptors have stopped firing. Before he could advance forward, Zulux receives a phone call coming from the Empress' Flagship as he realized that the Admiral has a message for the Sectanium General to hear. "General Zulux! The Empress is arriving on the battlefield. Have the area secured for her to land!!" Jiarius spoke as his voice boomed from Zulux's phone "Roger that!!" Zulux replied, receiving new orders from the Admiral himself via phone. The moment Zulux turned to Trine, he pointed his hand towards outside of the store, relaying the Admiral's orders to Trine and his men. Taking Zulux's orders for granted, Trine gets out of the building he was hold up at and leads three squads of Sectanium soldiers into the opening. While they secured a landing zone for their Empress, Trine's men opened fire upon the ponies and UFF marines that didn't make it back to the palace courtyard in time, injuring or crippling most of the latter before restraining them. *BANG!!* *BANG!!* *BANG!!* After neutralizing most of the fleeing defenders, the Sectanium soldiers led by Trine advanced towards the bridge leading to the palace courtyard as they formed up in a huge circular formation. At the same time, several enemy drop pods came down from the Sectanium battleships. As soon as the drop pods crash down into the city streets, more Sectanium soldiers and Mandor grunts came out all armed to the teeth. Not a moment too soon, another drop pod came down right in the middle of the circular formation that is in front of the bridge leading to the palace. As the drop pod landed in place, Empress Vanista came out along with another group of Warriors escorting her. When the Empress is out on the battlefield, she is now seen wearing an set Sectanium battle armor, with knee caps, combat chest plate, and combat shoulder pads all painted in an obsidian red color. As the sun shines bright on her, the Empress' battle armor is shown to have a huge yellow eye in each armor plate and a black cape bearing the Sectanium Royal Emblem flowing on her back. As the Empress marches alongside the Sectanium Army, she held both of her rapier and her firearm up to her hips before looking out towards the palace seen from the other side of the bridge. Far and Wide, the Empress sees another shield barrier that is only protecting palace and its courtyard at the end of the bridge in front of her while most of the ponies defending the city and the UFF Marines are holding their ground in front of the palace. She couldn't tell whether to feel intimidated or amused by such a cowering display. However, Vanista still needs to avoid getting too cocky since two of her comrades are still being held prisoner inside the palace. No matter, she finally managed to capture several, incapacitated guard ponies as Vanista ordered them to be tied up in ropes at the moment. When Vanista turned to see their hostages up front, she sneered at one that happens to be a white unicorn stallion with a blue mane and tail, totally tied up by all four of its hooves with its mouth gagged. When she remembered seeing the white blue mane unicorn standing alongside Princess Twilight last night, Vanista couldn't help but gloat at the restrained, gagged stallion giving her another wild idea. Xul finally wakes up from her unconscious state as she groaned in pain coming from her lower stomach. Right beside her, she looks up to see Fluttershy sitting in front, while showing a compassionate, smiling expression on her face. "Hey, Xul. How are you feeling?" Fluttershy asked in a sweet, soothing voice. "Uuuugghhh!!" Xul gasped as for air as she slowly got up on her feet. "I'm sorry every pony. Trine was...... he......!" "It's okay, Xul. Be grateful they didn't shoot you yet." Fluttershy said, showing the outcast Sectanium some sympathy. "Well, we're not done yet. The enemy is still getting closer to the palace." As soon as Xul got her bearings, she sees that a handful of UFF Marines and a large mob of Royal Guards and pony conscripts, including Big Mac, are still holding their ground at the palace courtyard. In front of the Royal Guards, Xul sees that Princess Twilight is still standing in tall and diligent as she looks far towards the bridge in front of her, despite that her armor is stained with her blood and that she is no longer wearing her helmet. Xul also sees that only a smaller dome of the shield barrier is covering most of the palace courtyard and the palace itself. However, Zeck is nowhere to been seen at the moment. Before Xul could ask Twilight what is going on, Twilight glared intensely as her horn hit up in a brighter magenta color; its as if she is ready to strike at another creature again with her magic. When Xul looked towards the same direction Twilight is, she sees that Empress Vanista Rantu as appeared from the bridge right in front of the shield barrier. Just as Twilight is preparing for another attack from the Empress herself, she sees something that changed her eyes from anger to horror. As soon as Xul looked again, she sees that Captain Trine is holding a white stallion hostage while holding his gun directly into the stallion's temple, tied up and gagged. "Shinning Armor!!" Twilight gasped in terror, realizing that her brother is being held at gunpoint by the enemy. All at once, most of the guard ponies, Celestia, and Twilight's friends also gasped in horror that one of their own commanders is being held hostage by the enemy. Before Twilight could move, she sees that Trine shoved his gun straight into the white stallion in the temple, still tied up and gagged. "Not one step further, Princess!!" Vanista hissed in amusement while using the translator up high. "First of all, I want to see that Lord Hampt and Ash are both still alive before we can reach an agreement here!!" "They're still doing fine." Twilight responded in a positive tone, trying to stay cool while seeing her brother held against his will. "I haven't done anything harsh to them yet." "You better not!! Anyway, I need to see them in-person to make sure you're being honest." Vanista said, grinning in malice. Twilight, on the other hand, is suspecting that Vanista is likely going to be pulling off another double-crossing trick that will get her exposed and vulnerable to the enemy. However, Twilight needs to make a decision quick before she sees her brother's blood smear all over the palace courtyard. Within the group of Royal Guards and pony conscripts, Spike finally makes his entrance as he starts off a private conversation with Princess Twilight Sparkle. "We might as well let them both go. With those two monsters in our custody, it may just make things worse for our country." Spike suggested to Twilight. "Your brother's life is at stake." "They brought all of this upon themselves, Spike. I mean, you should've all seen it when I was still stuck on Terram." Twilight said. "Now that you mentioned it, I couldn't help whether to blame myself or them for letting this madness occur on our doorstep." "Twilight, please. We have to save Shinning Armour!!" Spike begged. "He's family after all." As Twilight takes a deep breath, she went over everything she had been through after she escaped from Terram and evaded recapture three times. She already said it herself that Twilight needed to punish the aliens that wouldn't stop harassing and threatening her right from the start. However, even if Twilight was able to gain the upper hand, she still has to pay the price for putting most of her friends and family in mortal danger. Worse, not only are the Sectaniums merciless, they are not that easy to negotiate with since Vanista couldn't get along with any creature at such a young age. Now that Vanista is 31 and with Twilight 29 years old, they both have limited options to keep both of their respective countries alive. Recently, the Sectanium race is fighting for superiority in order to spare themselves from being humiliated and from facing extinction. For the creatures of Equestria, they're fighting for the sake of their friends as well as sparing themselves from being conquered and enslaved. Twilight is left with a tougher choice; it's either her family or this country. Other than that, its also either her ponies or them. Every choice or royal decree that Twilight makes always comes with a risk where even the smallest of them can lead to a disastrous consequence. After seeing Shinning make panicked muffling underneath his breath, Twilight will have no choice but to give up Ash and Lord Hampt. "Bring out the prisoners!!" Twilight reluctantly said to her guards. Feeling satisfied, Vanista grinned as she turned towards Trine and nodded at the Sectanium Captain. Seeing Vanista's head gesture, Trine slowly lowers his gun away from Shinning's head as he smirked underneath his breath. Heeding Twilight's orders, two unicorn Royal Guards left the formation and went inside the palace before heading down to the dungeons to let the prisoners out of their cell. In just two minutes, Ash and Hampt are seen held in the grip of their magic while being lifted into the air by the two unicorn guards, still chained up by their wrists. As the guards went down the stairs while holding the prisoners with their magic, they stopped in front of the pony crowd as they put the prisoners on the floor. "I'm sorry Vanista!! I-I was....." Lord Hampt stuttered in fear before Vanista replied back to him. "Please, not another word." Vanista said as she raised her palm towards him. "So, where were we?! Oh yes....." As Vanista turned to face Twilight again, she makes another negotiating term. "Now that everyone is here, you might as well meet your fate Twilight!!" Vanista grinned with malice in her eyes. "Since my men made a foolish act that was rendered unchallenged, I'd say we settle this in one-on-one!!" When Twilight takes off her helmet, she is now seen with blood coming from her left temple down to her neck while still glaring profusely at the Sectanium Empress. "I find it hard to believe that some unlikely alien race would actually possess stranger powers than that of my Warriors, almost had the strength to face them in battle. Never in all my years have I met a small but worthy foe amongst the stars. Yet, you're still getting pushed back all the way here?!" Vanista cackled in such amusement. "So pathetic. I'm expecting more!!" "Well, I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you, Vanista!!" Twilight hissed. "From what Somnambula said, there will always be hope, regardless of how grim the circumstances are!! Yet, you're already giving up your friendship and your salvation for your country too easily, let alone selling your soul to the devil. So, you will have to face the error of your ways sooner or later!!" "Oh really?! If you think you can rule over this country with friendship at the request of your mentors, then you might as well fight me!!" The Empress snorted as she taunted the Princess of Friendship. "If I win, you will be forced to watch your whole pitiful city burn before I sent you straight to Satria, along with those UFF losers!!! Speaking of which, most of the other alien rulers that stood in my way, before they surrendered, have also met with the same fate on Satria too. Also, you might as well have all of your friends and your family watch too, so that they can bear witness to your humiliation prior to your defeat. Don't let any of them get involved in this fight or else you'll violate the agreement." "Fine, but if I win, your men will have to stand down at once or else my allies will kick their flank as soon as they arrive." Twilight said, while gritting her teeth. "Then again, I will put a work order for Mage Meadowbrook to deal with the Red Virus whether you'd believe me that she can do it or not." As they stared at each other with stern looks in their eyes, Vanista grinned with eagerness to take down another alien leader. In fact, most of the leaders that stood in her way have most of their severed heads placed all over the battlements of her citadel back in Sacreus. Because of the dark power that was granted to her back in the citadel, Vanista couldn't help but feel overconfident with triumph in a one many ways. Regardless of the powers that Princess Twilight currently possesses, she can only hope that her winning streak will remain untouched. After seeing Vanista disappear back into her army ranks, preparing for a duel with the weapons she is using, Twilight turned to face her friends, Celestia, and Luna one more time. "If I don't survive this, I wanted to say that I'm really sorry for letting all of this happen guys. I never wanted Equestria to get involved in this war between the UFF and the Sectanium Empire but overall, the Sectaniums aren't very nice people." Twilight said, feeling anxious in facing the evil Empress herself. "I didn't know what I did to them that made me end up in that dreadful prison back there. I-I-I-I thought was....." Before Twilight could say anymore, Celestia pressed her hoof on her mouth, prompting her not to say another word. *Sssshhh!* "It's okay, Twilight. We didn't know either. You're not the only pony ruler that would get entangled into such a mess like that, neither would you be the last. Me and Luna always had to take risks when we defend our homeland against invaders that we didn't comprehend; it's always been like that since we both ascended the throne in Canterlot more than a 1,000 years back." "We're all in this together, Twi!!" Rainbow said, trying to bright up Twilight's morale. "If they think they can rob us ponies of our power just to ensure that their power and their salvation remains intact, that's their problem." Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie have all nodded in agreement with Rainbow. In fact, they can only hope that Twilight will survive this to see another dawn for Equestria. "Just remember Twilight, from what Xul told us about the Empress, all I can say is that they're all blinded by a desperate struggle that went on for years. You and your friends have already proved yourselves by making it this far in defending Equestria from enemies not of this world." Luna said, mentioning Twilight's recent success. "Since you were able to get away from their grip, you might as well show them that Equestria will not be theirs for the taking." "I understand." Twilight said, as she took a breather. "Its just like what Discord said, its considered to be one of your tests to see if you're able to do our job." Celestia said, reminding her of what happened before the villianous trio attacked Canterlot back then. "I know I should feel disappointed of his actions, but whether or not it was his fault, these things will always happen over and over again no matter what. So, you might as well show them what you're good at." "Thanks, Celestia." Twilight said as she made a smile one last time before wiping the blood off her head before putting her helmet back on. "Good luck, Twi!!" Rainbow cheered. As Twilight turned to face the Empress on her own, she draws out her rainbow sword from her scabbard before approaching the entrance. The moment Twilight's sword lit up, it made a small rainbow hue that is flowing through its metal. For the Empress, Vanista came back as she drew out her rapier and pointed the blade towards the advancing purple armored alicorn. Before long, Vanista held her hand up towards the shield barrier as she used her dark magic coming out of her palm to create a small opening for her to pass through. As a small hole opened up in the shield barrier, Vanista stepped into the palace courtyard with her rapier at the ready. When the opening behind Vanista closed up, she smirked at the purple alicorn while holding onto her rapier with both of her hands. As Twilight leered at Vanista with her sword held by her magic, she gets ready to initiate a full frontal charge at the Sectanium Empress. Without further a due, the Sectanium Empress and the Alicorn Princess of Equestria charged at each other to see who would win and who would lose, poising their blades to strike where it hurts.