//------------------------------// // The Siege of Canterlot // Story: Beyond the Dark // by Ashrunel //------------------------------// The throne room shook again. Distant screams could be heard. “Luna! Remain with the Guardians of Friendship! Protect them at all costs!” Celestia shouted, spreading her wings to ascend into the air. “Sister?!” Luna cried. “Where are you going?” Celestia turned to look at her sister, a grim expression on her face. “Twilight Sparkle has made her move before we were able to adequately prepare. This outcome, though unfavorable, was predictable. All we can do now is take matters into our own hooves. I move to engage the enemy, Luna. Remain here and hold the throne room at all costs. It is our stronghold. And let no harm come to the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. If I cannot defeat Twilight Sparkle, then they may very well be our last and only hope.”  With that, Celestia disappeared in a blinding flash of light, leaving Luna and the other five ponies in a grim silence. None of them spoke as more distant booms sounded. The screams were getting louder. After what seemed like an eternity, Rainbow Dash broke the silence. “This is stupid! We can’t just do nothing when other ponies are in danger! As the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, we shouldn’t be sitting around here like a bunch of cowards! We should be on the front lines with Princess Celestia!” Luna turned towards Rainbow Dash. “You are indeed the bearers of the Elements,” she agreed. “But that makes you all the more valuable, and therefore it is of utmost importance that you stay out of harm’s way.” She turned and walked towards one of the large stained glass windows of the throne room, gazing out of it. Soft bursts of orange light glowed through at different intervals, each one coinciding with one of the distant booms. “We must have faith in my sister. If anypony has the power to deal with this, it is her.” Rainbow Dash grumbled but didn’t argue any further. Deep down, she knew the princess of the night was right.  “I can, however,” Luna continued unexpectedly, causing all of them to perk up, “equip you to defend yourselves, should the need arise. We must make haste. My sister’s power is not infinite.” … Celestia came out of her teleport in another blinding flash of light. She was high above Canterlot Castle, in order to get a good view of the situation at hoof. Along the eastern edge of the city, she spied the source of the distant booms: orange explosions of magical light. Celestia gasped. Even from her place high in the sky, she could sense the raw magical power emanating from the blasts. Celestia knew that everypony in Canterlot was in danger. She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath, before speaking in a magically-amplified voice that could be heard by all in the royal capital. “Citizens of Canterlot, we are under siege by a powerful and dangerous enemy! All ponies are to evacuate to the western gate immediately! To my soldiers and royal guards, take up your arms and fight to defend our home! Make with all haste for the eastern gate, for that is where our enemy has breached our walls! Now, my ponies, to war!” With that, Celestia steeled herself and teleported to the eastern gate. The instant she came out of her teleport, a flash of orange light blinded her and she was hit by a concussive force so powerful it sent her flying backwards into a building, demolishing it instantly. Her alicorn stamina rendered the blast virtually ineffective, thankfully, and she was on her hooves again within a second. Still, though, the fact that the blast had been powerful enough in the first place to knock her off her hooves… She quickly sensed the ruins of the building she had accidentally demolished to see if there were any ponies trapped beneath the rubble. To her relief, she found none. Her magical senses told her that the hundreds of ponies that resided in Canterlot, save for her guards and soldiers, were racing for the western gate as she had instructed. Good, she thought to herself. Now I can fight in this area of the city without holding back. She stepped out of the ruins of the building to survey her enemy. She instantly spied a large group of figures that vaguely resembled ponies. They were pitch-black and had black-gray fire for their manes and tails. Their eyes glowed an unnatural white, and they all sported a pair of skeletal, demonic-looking wings. Celestia glowered at the group of enemies, before closing her eyes and incinerating them in a golden ray of pure sunlight that burst forth from her horn. The strange beings uttered an unnatural, bone-chilling screech as they were reduced to ashes in a mere instant. When the light faded, nothing remained save for a pile of smoldering embers. Celestia sighed. Had Twilight--if she could still be called that--attacked with underlings as weak as these? She almost laughed to herself. Her star pupil would have to do better than that to even phase the princess of the sun. Suddenly, a strange noise caught her ears. She looked to the pile of fading embers, and was horrified to see the ashes rising up into the air, defying gravity. They slowly blended together into a swirling mass until distinct forms began to take shape. Celestia could only stare in shock and terror as the ash settled to reveal twice the amount of black-flamed creatures as before. What in the name of Equestria? What kind of dark magic is this? That shouldn’t be possible, not even for someone touched by the Dark Beyond.  Celestia grimaced. She would just have to obliterate her enemies so entirely that not even atoms remained. … The group of nearly two hundred Equestrian soldiers and royal guards galloped through the dark, empty streets of Canterlot. Leading the charge was Brimstone Noble, the general of Celestia’s armies as well as captain of her royal guard. He was a pale red unicorn who wore a brilliant white cloak emblazoned with Celestia’s shining sun. He grimaced to himself. In all the decades he’d served Princess Celestia, he had never heard her sound so alarmed as when she had relayed that magically-amplified message. And when did she ever mobilize the entire army and the royal guard? Just what kind of threat were they facing?  The answer came to him quicker than he expected as he and the mass of soldiers behind him rounded a corner and came face-to-face with a large group of hideous-looking creatures wreathed in black flame, about twenty in total. He held up a hoof and he and the army behind him came skidding to a halt. He eyed the group of creatures wearily before speaking up.  “This is unlike anything we’ve ever seen,” he said to his army without turning around. “These dark forces have our princess and ruler worried, which is a bad sign in and of itself.” He threw out a hoof to the side. “Split into ten groups and sweep the eastern half of the city! We must ensure that none get past us and harm the escaping citizenry!” The army responded with a resounding cry of “Yes, sir!” Doing as they were told, the mass of ponies broke off into smaller groups and galloped off down numerous side streets. Noble now stood facing the group of unnatural enemies, flanked by about twenty of his remaining soldiers and royal guards.  “Now,” he said to his group, “forward to battle!” He cried out and charged forward, the soldiers behind him following suit, uttering their own resounding battle cry as they surged towards the enemy. They were quick to reach their opponents, who had seen them a long while before and had assumed hostile positions. Just as Noble was about to collide with the first enemy, he teleported in a flash of red light and reappeared behind the group of Darkflames, effectively flanking them in under a second. The creatures were slow to realize his presence, and by the time they did, four of them had already been cut down by a blood-red glowing blade that Noble had produced from seemingly nowhere. It was at this moment that the Equestrian soldiers rammed into the enemy at full force, piercing them with spears and hacking at them with swords. They fought tooth and nail, and between them and Noble, the group of Darkflames were wiped out in about thirty seconds. All that was left was Noble and his men, standing over the corpses of the Darkflames that were strewn across the ground at their hooves. “They were easier to take down than I expected,” Noble stated, sheathing his red blade in a holster at his side. “Their strength may only be in numbers. If they are all as weak as this, we can divide and conquer them. That strategy should allow us to gain victory.” The moment the words were out of his mouth, however, a horrible squelching noise filled his ears. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Noble whirled around, trying to locate the source of the noise, until something grabbed his hoof. He looked down in horror to see the corpse of one of the Darkflames latching on to his leg, struggling to stand as its fatal wounds seemingly healed themselves. He yelled in shock and drew his blade, shearing off the Darkflame’s forearm in an instant. He leapt back, away from the reach of the other Darkflames, who were all somehow coming back to life.  “Get back!” He shouted at his soldiers. His brave men, however, were rooted to the spot in fear, the sheer horror of the scenario playing out before their eyes paralyzing them. The Darkflames’ forms twisted and bent. Wounds healed, broken bones mended, and black blood flowed backwards into their bodies. At the same time, severed limbs and other body parts began to morph and grow, forming legs and heads. In a matter of moments, double the amount of Darkflames as before were standing before them, fully healed, and more vicious-looking than ever.  For a moment, there was only silence. Then, the Darkflames moved. Almost quicker than the eye could see, they had advanced upon Noble’s men with a horrible, earsplitting screech. Overtaking the soldiers, the Darkflames produced sharp appendages resembling blades from their very flesh, rending them through Noble’s men in an instant. They all screamed, blood spilling from fresh wounds as they collapsed to the ground, dead.  Noble was surprised at the speed the Darkflames had moved with. Why hadn’t they attacked like this when they first encountered the army? And how in the name of Equestria did they not only come back from the dead, but also multiply upon reformation? No magic he knew of could do that. So just how were they going to beat these enemies? Killing them, at least by conventional means, seemed to be impossible, and would only serve to multiply their forces. They were, from a purely objective standpoint, the perfect soldiers. He would have to retreat for now. He needed to reach Princess Celestia and have her use her magic to warn the rest of his soldiers to hold off and not attack the enemy, at least until an effective counter-strategy was developed. And if anyone could come up with that strategy, it would be Princess Celestia.  Suddenly, a bright orange glow appeared out of the corner of his eye. Noble silently cursed himself. He had been distracted by his thoughts for a brief moment. He quickly teleported away, but not before the brunt of the blast hit him. He came out of his teleport, flying from the force of the blast, hair singed, and crashed headfirst into a market stand, destroying it in a shower of wood splinters. He groaned to himself, struggling to get to his hooves. The blast had gotten him good. And where had it even come from? It hadn't seemed to have originated from the Darkflames themselves, seeing as how they had slaughtered his men with grotesque weapons made from their own body. No, the blast had been the work of something else entirely. But what? The raw power behind that blast had been unlike anything he had ever felt before. It made him feel weak in comparison. If he hadn’t teleported when he did, the full force of the blast likely would have killed him. Thankfully, his quick escape had at least allowed him to get away from the group of Darkflames, at least for the time being. He shook himself off and galloped off down the dark street, reaching out with his magical senses. He had to find Princess Celestia, and fast. He hoped that wherever she was, she was faring better than him. … She was not. Celestia was a ball of energy, moving so fast that she was only a streak of light. She was cutting down Darkflames left and right with a blade that seemed to be made of pure sunlight. No matter how many she killed, however, two more took their place thanks to their harrowing multiplication ability. She was, despite her immense power, starting to become overwhelmed. She had tried so many different methods of killing to see if any of them would fell the Darkflames for good, but nothing seemed to be working. Whether they were burned to ash, beheaded, bisected, drowned in their own black blood, impaled through the heart, or anything else in between, they always reformed with a second partner by their side, fully-healed and ready to attack the princess.  She needed to stop. To fall back and retreat for the moment, lest her actions render the Darkflames too numerous to even count. Yes, she decided. She had to return to the throne room and form a new plan with Luna and the other Guardians of Friendship. And she would have to order her soldiers to retreat as well. If she was having this much trouble fighting the Darkflames, she could only imagine what horrors her men were experiencing. She spread her wings and shot up into the air, avoiding a group of Darkflames who had lunged at her, and teleported back to the skies over Canterlot. She opened her mouth to address all of Canterlot on the change of plan but suddenly stopped. The air around her had suddenly changed. It felt cold, and…wrong. Evil, even. The hairs on the back of Celestia’s neck stood up. She glanced around wildly, trying to find the source of this new and horrible sensation.  In an instant she wished she hadn’t.  Hovering in the air not fifty feet from her was Twilight Sparkle. Or at least, what used to be Twilight Sparkle. Much like the Darkflames, her mane and tail were now composed of black fire, and her coat was entirely black as well. Around her neck was the Element of Magic, glowing a bright burning white. Her eyes glowed this same color. And she was looking-- Celestia shuddered. Her faithful student was staring directly at her, and the expression on her face was something that did not belong on Twilight Sparkle. It was twisted in a grotesque, sadistic smile. Celestia could do nothing but stare at Twilight in shock. “Hello, princess,” Twilight sneered. Celestia noted that her voice sounded the exact same despite her change in appearance. “Did you miss me?”