//------------------------------//
// Chapter Twenty-Two 
// Story: The Gates of Equestria 
// by SapphireRose87 
//------------------------------//

When Sapphire arrived at the throne room she paused before going in because she heard the loud and angry voices of Princess Twilight, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They were arguing along with the voices that belonged to Elder Facade, and Elder Dazzleflash and Elder Firefly. 

"Elder Facade! What is the meaning of this?" Elder Firefly shrieked.

"It's nothing really," Elder Facade said, "I'm just making sure that Equestria comes under new management."

"New Management? Seriously?" Princess Twilight roared. "I don't know what you're talking about! You have no authority to do this! Let me out of this cage right now!"

Elder Facade gave an evil laugh, "Oh I don't think you're in any shape to make demands from me little missy! And if Sapphire's smart she'll hand over the deed to Equestria and make me the true ruler! If Sapphire's not going to step up and do her job then I'll do it for her. Honestly, I don't understand why that mare decided to forsake her duties as ruler and  let the puppets take the lead."

"No, if Sapphire's smart she'll realize something is wrong because we put in a section in the document that says no one can order her to use it. It is hers to use at her own discretion!" Princess Celestia declared. "I have no idea why she didn't take her rightful place on the throne but that just shows that she's not a corrupt ruler. And from what I've seen she tends to be very territorial when it comes down to protecting her home and her loved ones!"

Princess Celestia's declaration about Sapphire's character was all Sapphire needed to retreat and summon the Gate Guardian's to the training area and put the training area on lockdown until she figured out what to do next. 


***


Sapphire got to the training area and every Gate Guardian got there and included a few Gate Guardians from the reserve team to replace the West Gate Guardian. Most of the Guardian's there were confused. Melody looked worried because she didn't see Fancy there and Thunder was grumpy because he had been woken up so early in the morning. 

But when Sapphire stepped on the stage before them dressed as a soldier ready to go to war the Gate Guardian's there knew the situation was serious. Sapphire's outfit consisted of steel toed boots on her hooves, a metal plate hanging from her shoulders and snuggly fit around her waist. There was a huge sapphire jewel plated into the metal plate. She had a helmet on that was made of metal and had metal stripes at the sides and there were slits on the helmet at the top to let her ears stick out at top comfortably. The helmet also had a long red tassel hanging out of it that went down the back of it. The helmet did have a hole on the top of it so her horn could stick out comfortably.

Sapphire stepped to the podium and sighed, "Let me take this helmet off so I can address you guys properly."

"Head Guardian Sapphire, excuse me for speaking out of term but what's going on?" Melody asked. 

"At the moment we aren't just on a high alert situation," Sapphire said. "We are in a code red situation which means war is just around the corner!"

Everyone in the room gasped and Sapphire continued, "Yes I know this is shocking, but there are a few reasons why war is sure to be coming. The first reason is this…"

She pressed a button on the podium and a flatscreen Tv came down from the ceiling and hung behind her. On the Tv screen showed a video of the surveillance cameras in the throne room. It showed Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Twilight in three separate cages. Next to the cages were two soldiers guarding them and there was another cage that held Elder Dazzleflash and Elder Firefly in it. Elder Facade was standing in front of the cages with a small army of soldiers with a mix of mares and stallions standing behind him. 

"Elder Facade has decided to stage a coup and he is holding the Princess's captive until I hand him the keys to the kingdom. He wants to rule over Equestria because he thinks that I have not been doing my job correctly and he can do it better," Sapphire said.

Aether frowned when Sapphire said that. "Excuse me but the last time I checked Princess Twilight was the ruler of Equestria!"

Applejack surprised everyone by speaking up, "Well Princess Twilight isn't the ruler of Equestria, Sapphire is. She just chooses to step aside and let Princess Twilight call the shots. Sapphire added checks and balances in every aspect of Equestria's government. That way everyone, and that includes Sapphire, would have to answer to someone."

"Yeah that's exactly why I was a little upset that I didn't get paired up with Head Guardian Sapphire!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Seriously Rainbow?"

Aether's jaw dropped. "What the heck? Why doesn't everypony know about this?"

"It's a secret for a reason," Sapphire answered, "The truth of the matter is that I let Princess Twilight rule over Equestria in my place because I felt that I wasn't up to the task. Now I see how much of a mistake that was." She gave a bitter chuckle, "Yeah it only took me over two thousand years to realize it. If the wrong pony found out about this they might try and use me as a bargaining chip in order to take over Equestria. I never imagined that one of the ponies that I held in high regard would stab me in the back like this."

She pushed the button on the podium again and a document appeared on the Tv screen. On the document it looked like a decree written in Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's handwriting. 

The document read like this:

From the two sisters Princess Celestia and Princess Luna that rule Equestria, we declare that the true ruler of Equestria is the last surviving Royal Family Member of the Nints Empire, Princess Sapphire Rose. We are returning the land of Equestria to Princess Sapphire Rose, the very land the Founders of Equestria stole from her. 

Princess Sapphire Rose is free to use this document at her discretion to take the position as ruler of Equestria as she sees fit. Whether it be in times of war, or in times of civil distress or if she feels that she is finally ready to take her rightful place on the throne. 

The document was sealed with Equestria's Royal Family seal and it had Princess Celestia's cutie mark and Princess Luna's cutie mark along with Sapphire's cutie mark on it. 

"I know some of you might be a little bit skeptical about this document. But this is the document that Elder Facade is waiting for me to give him in order to destroy it," Sapphire said. "But the document is binded by law and magic so as long as the ones who signed the document are alive the document cannot be destroyed."

She gave everyone a moment to look over the document. Once they did that, she turned the Tv screen off for the moment and pressed another button on the podium and the floor next to her opened and a small altar that looked much like the one that was used at the Appointing Ceremony slowly appeared. 

"The first order of business is to replace the West Gate Guardian. I have no idea what happened but from what I found out early this morning the magic that is connected to the West Gate cut itself off from the Guardian that was supposed to be guarding it," Sapphire said. 

"Oh I know exactly what happened!" Pinkie Pie said, "Fancy left in the middle of the night but he left this letter behind."

Pinkie Pie handed the letter to Sapphire. When she read it she groaned and did a facehoof. "Seriously? He left because he feels Phantasia is the rightful ruler of Equestria?"

Melody sighed, "I was afraid that was going to happen. That's the real reason I was going out with him. I know I shouldn't have lied to everyone and I hope you'll forgive me someday for that but I overheard Fancy talking to himself about wanting to join Phantasia. I knew I couldn't just go and accuse him of being a traitor because he hadn't done it yet and I didn't have any proof that that's what he was going to do."

Applejack nodded and looked at Melody. "Although I don't like the fact that you lied, you did it for the good of Equestria and that's something to be honored. But after this war you and I are going to have a talk little missy!"

Melody sighed again, "I know."

"Okay then, let's worry about replacing the West Gate Guardian first," Sapphire said. "Would the three guardians from the reserve team please step forward?"

Three ponies stepped forward, there were two mares and one stallion. One of the two mares was a unicorn and the other was an Earth pony. The stallion was a unicorn. 

"Would the pony named Stormynight please step forward?" Sapphire asked.

The stallion who was standing next to the two mares on the stage stepped forward and said, "I am Stormynight and it would be an honor to be able to guard the West Gate if I am chosen."

Sapphire nodded and motioned for him to step on the gold plate and she placed the Element of Laughter's Crystal next to the gold and waited for a moment. When nothing happened Stormynight frowned and then bowed. He left the stage.

"Okay, would the mare named Lily please step forward?" Sapphire asked. 

A young mare stepped forward. Her coat was light green and her mane was a dark brown color. Her cutie mark was a bouquet of flowers that were lilies and she was a unicorn. "I am Lily and it would be an honor to guard the West Gate if I am chosen."

Sapphire did the same thing she did for Stormynight. This time the gold plate glowed a bright yellow beam of light and Element of Laughter's Crystal glowed as well. Sapphire smiled and nodded. She turned to the rest of the Gate Guardians. "Everyone, welcome Lily! She is the new West Gate Guardian!"

Everyone in the room cheered, Sapphire cheered along with them. After everything was fixed as far as choosing a replacement for Fancy, Sapphire stopped cheering and brought everyone to silence. 

At that moment, Spike came running into the room. He stopped to catch his breath, "Head Guardian Sapphire… I… Have three messages for you!" 

Sapphire gave Spike a look of surprise when he handed her three scrolls. The first scroll held a message from Princess Twilight telling Sapphire exactly what she already knew about Princess Twilight and the other Princesses being captured. The second scroll surprised Sapphire because it contained a message saying that Equestria's military headquarters was under attack by an army that was about the same size as Equestria's military. But thankfully the message said that Equestria's military was winning for the most part. The third scroll surprised Sapphire even more because it held a declaration of war from Phantasia! 

The third scroll said that Equestria's military had attacked Phantasia's army first so he felt the need to declare war. He demanded that the Gate Guardians surrender and the ruler of Equestria surrender as well so there won't be any more pointless blood shed.

Sapphire had no doubt that the soldiers attacking Phantasia's army were a part of Elder Facade's faction who supported him and not the actual military in Equestria. 

After Sapphire read the scrolls she immediately came up with a plan. She turned to the Tv screen and pulled up the map of Equestria. "Okay, these scrolls contain urgent messages and in order to take care and protect Equestria I'm dividing the Guardians up into the three groups." She zoomed into the area that was the location of Equestria's Military's Headquarters. "The first group will be sent to the Headquarters of Equestria's Military to help aid in the fighting over there. Apparently there's another army that decided to attack Equestria as well. I'm going to assume these soldiers are part of the Elder Facade's faction." 

She lit up her horn and casted a spell that gave her access to the Headquarters security cameras to see how bad the fighting was. The fighting looked really bad. There were dead bodies just about everywhere you looked in every room in the headquarters building and outside the building. Thankfully none of the ponies dead looked like soldiers from the Equestrian Army. 

Sapphire looked around the room and saw the horrified looks on everyone's faces. "I know this is hard to see but this is what you've been trained for! In times of war it is important that Equestria stays safe! Equestria is your home, don't let anypony take it from you just like my original home was taken from me." She continued, "The next group of ponies I'm going to send to the front lines where the war is taking place."

She pointed at the screen where the border of Equestria was. "I don't have any security camera footage that I could show how bad the fighting is over there. But regardless of how bad the fighting is, give it your all!" She pointed to the screen that showed where Canterlot's Castle was. "The third group of ponies will be coming with me to the throne room. I already showed you the security footage there."

She nodded and turned off the Tv screen once more and the Tv rose up into the ceiling and disappeared. She divided the Gate Guardians up into three groups and put a pony in charge of the group that was going to help Equestria's Military. She put a pony in charge of the group that was going to the front lines in battle with Phantasia's Army. The last group of the ponies that were headed to the throne room with her were the main Gate Guardian's. 

Before Sapphire and the main team of the Gate Guardians along with the Elements of Harmony Bearers left to go to the throne room she turned around and said, "Remember what I said. This is what you have been trained for! Now let's go show Equestria and its enemies what the Gate Guardians are made of!"

With a loud battle cry, Sapphire and the Gate Guardians behind her charged out of the training area and into battle.