Celestia sat in her throne as always, preparing for the big day. Luna walked in with all of the energy drained out of her from the fight against Nightmare. "Good morning sister. I have prepared you some very delicious pancakes in the dining room. Please, enjoy." Celestia began to write a few letters, sending it to multiple ponies all around Equestria.
"No time sister. I have some very important matters to discuss," Luna found it difficult to breath as she talked.
"As do I, Luna," Celestia said. "I'm sure you have heard of the big wedding tomorrow. Everything should go as planned, however, I'm afraid security in all of Canterlot must be increased severely. A threat has been made against Canterlot and I will make sure nothing will ruin this special day."
"A threat? Well, I would like to inform you, sister, a threat has also been made onto the dream realm. I require assistance now, unless you want everypony in Equestria to never ever sleep again!" Luna fell onto the castle floor after her hooves slowly gave up on her.
Celestia dropped the letter and quill. She had just now noticed the condition Luna was in. Trotting up to her dear sister, she supported Luna as she struggled to stand up. "Tell me everything. I will not allow any harm to come to you, Luna, I promise." Celestia gave Luna a hug.
"A demon." Luna turned her head away in anger. "Every time it feeds on our negativity, it becomes stronger. I fear it plans on using the dream realm as it's source of power. Soon, it will find its way into the real world and consume all of Equestria into complete darkness. Please sister, the fate of Equestria and our subjects depends on us if we do not do anything now."
Celestia paused for a moment after hearing the word demon come out of Luna's mouth, but Celestia snapped out of it and nodded her head in agreement. She had thought demons had gone extinct after the great war thousands of years ago. Seeing the condition Luna was in, this was no joke or laughing matter. Demons were nothing but heartless killers, destroying everything in their path with no mercy.
"Very well, I shall do everything in my power to stop the darkness to which you say exists. But first I must keep Canterlot on guard from whatever threat is to come during the wedding. I will even ask for additional protection," Celestia carried Luna out if the throne room and into her room.
Twilight woke up filled with energy. The day had just started, and Twilight had already planned on tackling Shining armor to the ground. Before she could wake Spike up, something popped in her head that something was missing. Looking around, she remembered a bottle sitting on that very table. Twilight slammed a hoof on her forehead. "Oh no." Twilight couldn't believe that she had forgotten to search Lyra for the dark fluid. 'Ugh. I'll have to deal with that later. Right now, I need to deal with my brother.'
Twilight walked downstairs to see Spike reading a letter. She approached Spike slowly while noticing another letter folded up on the ground next to him. "What do you got there Spike?" Twilight tapped him with a hoof.
Spike turned around in surprise. "You're awake! Here, I've been wanting to give this to you." Spike handed her the letter. "It's an invitation to a wedding in Canterlot, happening today and tomorrow." Spike noticed her mood changing from a bad mood to a good mood after reading the letter.
"Thank Celestia!" Twilight felt relieved. "For a second there I thought my brother, Shining Armor, had forgotten all about me." Twilight picked up the second letter next to Spike and began reading. The letter contained details on what she and her friends will be doing. Applejack makes the food, Rarity makes the dresses, Pinkie Pie plans a party, Fluttershy gets the birds to sing, Rainbow Dash does a sonic rainboom, and Twilight is the one to make sure everything goes as planned.
"Come along Spike, we have a train to catch." Twilight left the library with Spike following her from behind. Reaching the train station, Twilight saw her friends standing there having a conversation with each other, while waiting for the very slow train to come.
"Hey girls! Here comes Twilight!" Pinkie shouted, grabbing the attention of the other mares.
"Yea yea, I bet you are all as excited as I am." Twilight smiled, but it wasn't as exciting compared to the others, especially Pinkie's.
"Oh yeah! It's gonna be awesome!" Rainbow Dash said.
"My oh my, Twilight. You don't seem to be excited about this trip at all. Whatever is the matter darling." Rarity only got an annoyed expression from Twilight as an answer.
All of the five mares saw Spike walking up from behind Twilight, completely exhausted.
Spike fell to the wooden floor and lifted his head to speak. "Come on Twilight. You know I can only run so fast on two legs. Can you at least slow down for me when you're running off somewhere?" Everypony stared at Spike and giggled. It wasn't too long until they could hear the sound of a whistle. All of the mares turned to the direction of the sound in joy. The long wait finally came to an end, as they all boarded the train.
They each sat in a seat while talking about the events they experienced yesterday. Pinkie Pie had a simple party with lots of cupcakes to eat. Rarity and Applejack had to deal with their differences once again, but that would never break up their friendship. Twilight told them about Lyra being all crazy in the head about humans again, resulting in everypony in the train to burst out in laughter.
"Ha! Classic Lyra. She's always so obsessed with those things. And to make things better, me and Fluttershy believe we saw a real one fighting against a pack of timberwolves!" Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves with a smile.
"Really? Ya sure ya ain't makin that all up? Where in the wide world of Equestria did ya see all that?" Applejack looked at Rainbow Dash with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, just somewhere in the Everfree Forest. Right, Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash faced Fluttershy expecting her to act nervously.
"Y-yes. I-It was h-horrifying to see." Fluttershy felt her own sweat down her muzzle. Before Twilight could ask questions, everypony saw something pink pass right through them as the train came to a stop. As Twilight and her friends left the train, they were immediately accompanied by multiple guards surrounding the area. It felt a little over kill to have a whole pink magic barrier surrounding Canterlot.
Twilight galloped past the guards in anger, while her friends looked at her worried. She continued to search for Shining Armor, but he was nowhere to be seen. "Hey um, do any of you guys know where Shining Armor is?" Twilight asked one of the guards patrolling the streets.
"I'm sorry ma'am, but Shining Armor is busy trying to catch the monster responsible for the Elements of Harmony's disappearance not too long ago." The guard pointed his spear towards what appeared to be holes on the castle wall, leading up all the way to the room containing the elements.
"Monster? What kind of monster?" Twilight said.
"We are unsure. One of us who were knocked out by it, said it was like a dragon except scaleless, wingless, stronger, and smarter. It also has the ability to climb walls which is why you see parts of the castle walls ruined because of the monster's carelessness. And it is believed the monster is still here trying to find a way out." The guard directed Twilight to a shattered glass all the way to the top. "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza said it jumped out of that window with the elements in its hands."
"Wait, what?! The elements are gone?!" Twilight froze.
"I'm afraid so. We don't know what the monster's intentions are with the elements. But no matter what, the elements should never fall into the hooves of somepony else except for Celestia's. Now if you would excuse me, I have a meeting to attend to." The guard walked past Twilight and into the castle.
"Could this day get any worse?" Twilight took out her list of preparations for the wedding. Applejack was the first on the list and the closest. Twilight followed the path leading towards the bakery with an upset frown on her face. Today has been rough for Twilight. Shining Armor, getting married to Princess Mi Amore what's her name without being told in person. And a monster roaming around Canterlot, keeping Shining Armor way too busy to spend any time with her.
The path leading to the bakery felt too long for Twilight, so she decided to take a shortcut instead. The area to her surprise, turned out to be completely guard free. Only a few ponies were there, enjoying their day. Twilight recognized one of them being Octavia from Ponyville. Octavia gave Twilight a friendly wave after ordering a drink. Twilight did the same and carried on until she stumbled on another familiar pony.
"Sorry, I didn't see you there," Sweetie Drops said.
"No worries. I didn't see you either since I've been thinking about how bad this day could be." Twilight put a hoof under her chin, thinking whether she should abandon her tasks for the wedding just so she could spend all the time getting back the dark fluid from Lyra. Sweetie drops made an awkward smile and began to walk away until Twilight decided to ask. "Say, Bon Bon, have you seen Lyra anywhere?"
Sweetie Drops paused and took a deep breath. "Yes. She's out on the streets asking every pony to try out that dark potion she calls soda. And I apologize for defending Lyra; I was only doing what friends are supposed to do. These humans Lyra keeps mentioning every day is driving me nuts! Not only does it make her look bad, but it also makes me look bad!"
"It's alright Lyra, helping your friends in need is a good thing. But there are times where you have to say no, even if it means losing a friend." Twilight wrapped her hoof around Bon Bon's neck. "I could be your friend if you'd like."
Bon Bon's face turned from regretful to grateful. "Thanks Twilight." Sweetie Drops dug into her saddlebag to grab a very unique book. "Here, I've been planning on giving this away. Lyra wrote this book for me many years ago. I got to say it wasn't all bad for a book about a human."
"Huh? She wrote an entire book on just one human?" Twilight grabbed the book with her magic and studied the cover. The cover was a simple drawing, plain green hills, a beautiful sky with clouds, and a familiar bottle sitting right next to what looked to be a young alicorn with the look of concern. "What's this book all about? And what's with the weird monster like thing hiding in the darkness above?"
"The book is about a prophecy Lyra made up. She thinks a great evil will be unleashed upon Equestria and a human will show up to save the day. In the end, the human sacrifices his own humanity to defeat the evil monster. And is cursed to live forever in Equestria as a pony, only because he cared for us all. Pretty good story if you ask me." Sweetie Drops walked away from Twilight and hummed.
Twilight carried on down the guard free path while carrying the strange book with her magic. The search for Lyra kept on until Twilight found a cave leading underground. Twilight, being so focused at the task at hoof, kept on walking and stopped when she heard hoof steps coming from the cave. She stood there for several seconds, curious to why some pony would be down there.
A tall, pink pony rushed out of the cave, panting. Twilight gasped with a wide-open smile. "Cadance! Is that you?!"
"Twilight!" Cadance welcomed Twilight with open arms.
Twilight's misery fell right off at the sight of the best foal sitter in all of the history of foal sitters. "Sunshine sunshine lady bugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake." Cadance and Twilight both sang. Twilight's beautiful moment ended when she saw a tall figure standing behind Cadance. Twilight backed away.
Cadance eyed the figure and turned back to Twilight with a smile. "Don't worry he's harmless. He's the one who helped me escape from the cave underneath Canterlot."
"Escape? You were imprisoned?" Twilight asked.
Cadance let out a sigh. "There's no time to explain. My doppelganger is going to ruin everything if we don't stop her now." Cadance turned to face Sam, begging him for his assistance. Sam didn't say a word but stared up from above. Twilight and Cadance stared in the same direction to see Cadance/Chrysalis flying in the air with several guards by her side, including Shining Armor.
"Those little twerps are the targets! Seize that imposter!" ordered Cadance/Chrysalis. Cadance/Chrysalis smiled and shot something green into the air from her horn. The green blast exploded in mid-air like a firework.
"Alright, good to see you guys, but I'm out of here." Sam took off running leaving Cadance and Twilight to fend for themselves as the guards charged at them with no hesitation. Sam kept running expecting to see more guards, but none came. When he got to the areas of Canterlot more out in the open, he realized what was keeping the guards. "What the. I don't remember the changeling invasion happening this early."
Sam looked around at the barrier surrounding Canterlot, to see it being attacked by changelings. Did Chrysalis decide to start the invasion a day early because of Sam's actions?
The first thought that came to mind was bad luck, but he figured it could be used as a great opportunity to escape since the changelings were banging themselves hard on the barrier, causing it to crack a bit. And since Chrysalis didn't have as much time to weaken Shining armor, it should take the changelings a while to break through, allowing Sam to prepare.
"Don't let the monster escape with the elements!" said Shining Armor. A few guards started chasing Sam as fast as they could. Sam once again knew he couldn't outrun a creature on all fours. Once he got close enough to the barrier, he turned to face them. One guard pointed his spear and stabbed him in the chest. The guard felt what seemed to be a brick hitting him on the side of the head as Sam punched him with his hardened fist. And with that, the fight begins.
Two pegasi guards flied at Sam from both sides. Sam punched the one on his right and blocked the one on the left by turning his left arm into a dark shield and smashing the pegasi guard into the ground. Then there were four more guards, one of them being Shining Armor.
"Hand over the elements now!" Shining Armor put up a magic barrier around himself as Sam picked up an unconscious pegasi guard and threw him, knocking down all of Shining Armor's help as if they were bowling pins.
"The elements are needed for my quest to save this world. So, unless you want everypony to die, I think you should let me go. And I know you can be a little overprotective, Shining Armor." Sam grabbed the spear in his chest and pulled it out, allowing his body to fix the wound.
"How do you expect me to believe that? And how do you even know my name, monster?" Shining armor took a step forward while keeping his guard up.
"Oh, come on. Can't you see the real threat here? It's literally all around us right now. Chasing after me is only distracting you." Sam turned his right arm into the same sledgehammer used to destroy the door containing the elements.
"Princess Celestia and Luna will protect us all. And the elements can stop any threat that comes our way. You will pay for not only stealing artifacts crucial to everypony's survival, but also for scaring my future wife to death." Shining Armor pulled out a sword with his magic ready for a fight. Sam swung his hammer attempting to hit Shining Armor out cold. A strange pinkish barrier surrounded the stallion as Sam's sledgehammer failed to reach the target, hitting only the barrier.
Sam felt a sting come from his entire left arm. He looked to see his left arm sliced off by Shining Armor's thick sword. Sam jumped back letting his arm regenerate. Shining Armor swinged his sword around the air with a smug grin on his face. The outcome for this fight became very clear. Sam wasn't about to win unless he finds some way around that stunt the stallion pulled.
The fight continued with Sam's entire body being sliced and diced. All of Sam's attacks were failing to cut through the barrier. And the more Sam regenerated. The more dizzy and tired he felt.
'Darn, I'm using way too much of my energy on regeneration. I need to find a solution and fast.' Sam threw a spear from one of the guards laying on the ground. As Sam predicted, the spear had no effect. Then, something caught his eye. The sword Shining Armor carried, passed right through the barrier as the stallion swung it around in confidence. Sam couldn't help but smile as a genius idea came up in his head. He got on his knees and cried out for help.
"Aw, isn't that sweet. Are you giving up, monster?" Shining Armor threw the thick sword at Sam, expecting it to be the finishing blow. Sam lifted his head and caught the thick sword in his hands. It sure did burn like a raging fire on his hands to stop that amount of force, but at least he prevented any major damage.
"It's over!" Sam yelled. The human stood back up and charged at the cocky stallion. Shining Armor rolled his eyes, believing the monster had become desperate. Before the stallion knew it, an immense pain came from his chest as he was knocked onto the dirt. Shining Armor opened his eyes to see his sword stolen by the monster, covered in blood. The chest plate, stronger than the average armor was shattered into pieces. Shining Armor looked at his chest in horror to see a huge cut has been made.
"You...monsters...won't...get away...w-with.......t-this." Shining Armor's eyes closed by themselves slowly. Sam dropped the sword filled with regret. Did he just kill some pony? It was never in Sam's nature to take away one's life. Sam thought to himself, was he a monster now?
*Killed Shining Armor; 450pp earned.*
"ARGH!" Sam felt as if the sun had touched his back as he was shot by something many times hotter than fire. He got back on his feet and touched his back only to wince in pain. Turning around to confront the pony or thing responsible. A tall white mare stood in front of him. Her mane sparkled and flowed endlessly. And a golden tiara sat on top of the tall mare's head.
"Princess Celestia," Sam looked at her with both comfort and fear. He knew he was in a heap of trouble just by examining the princess's face. Celestia would always make an effort to smile throughout the entire day. Sam decided to make an effort to smile even though showing emotions definitely wasn't his strong suit. Then, he lifted his arms into the air as if a cop told him that he's under arrest.
Celestia only stared at him with anger and frustration until she spoke up. "Please. Hoof over the Elements of Harmony. If you comply, your punishment will be reduced."
"Before I do. I've got a question for you." Sam's smile grew until he started letting out a chuckle.
"And that would be?" Celestia said.
"Has anypony in the wide world of Equestria ever called you...good looking?" Sam felt proud of himself for showing all that honesty. It's always good to tell the truth(not really). Celestia blushed and her eyes widened. She shook her head and gritted her teeth. Sam's smile faded away because it was at this moment that he knew, he messed up.
Celestia's horn glowed along with a flame surrounding it. Flames as hot as the sun erupted from her horn, burning Sam nonstop. "AAAAAH! GOD!" Sam moved and jumped around to avoid the flames of rage and hatred only to fail. The heat Sam felt was like burning your finger on a lit candle except having your entire body burned to crisp. "OKAY! OKAY! I TAKE IT BACK! AAAAAH!"
Celestia took a deep breath and let it out to calm herself. The flames around the monster cleared leaving only a skinless, black goo skeleton that fell to the ground along with the traveling bag containing the elements. Somehow, the bag was completely fine, untouched by the barrage of flames Celestia sent. Did the elements have a mind of their own to protect themselves from incoming attacks?
Celestia checked both Shining Armor and the monster, to see if they're still alive. Shining Armor was still breathing but barely. If the stallion were to stay laying there any longer without any treatment, there is no doubt in Celestia's mind that Twilight would be the one to bury him. As for the monster he appeared to be dead. No pulse, breathing, or movement. Celestia studied the creature more. It was nothing anypony has ever seen.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of something big shattering into a million pieces around her. Shining Armor's spell protecting all of Canterlot was now broken. Everypony including Celestia herself, were too focused on the elements and the monster, that they have forgotten all about the changelings chipping away at the barrier.
Everypony screamed and galloped in panic as the changelings dived into Canterlot. Many of the bug ponies smashed into the ground and hissed at the ponies. To make things worse, all of the guards did a poor job at defending, most were captured and stuck in some green, liquid, gooey stuff. While the rest managed to fight a few off but retreated when hundreds more came.
"Well, well, well, look who finally decided to show their face." Cadance/Chrysalis said from behind Celestia's back and smiled. A short burst of green flames surrounded Cadance/Chrysalis revealing her true self, Queen Chrysalis. The alicorn became speechless as to what was going on. Chrysalis took the opportunity to shoot the princess in the chest while the distraction of the pony's cries got to the alicorn.
Celestia got back up and desperately tried to grab the Elements of Harmony from the bag next to the possibly dead monster. Before she could, Chrysalis stood in the way and ordered a few changelings to guard the monster with her. "Nah ah ah. The elements now belong to him. I made a deal to be sure of that." Chrysalis's horn glowed ready to blast the princess in the face. Celestia thought about fighting back, but realized she stood no chance against a whole army.
Celestia teleported away before she took any more unnecessary damage. All of Canterlot's defenses are now gone. Celestia failed, all of the guards along with Cadance have been captured, Shining Armor is out cold, the elements are still in Sam's possession, and Luna was too busy dealing with Nightmare.
"Aw, I was hoping for a fair fight," Chrysalis looked down in disappointment.
"Should we search for her your highness?" One of the changelings said.
"Hmph. It matters not. Canterlot is now ours. And the elements are in our hooves." Chrysalis looked at the creature and sensed life. "I will take care of the creature. Do what you want with the stallion."