//------------------------------// // Chapter Twenty-Four // Story: The Gates of Equestria // by SapphireRose87 //------------------------------// Sapphire and Phantasia stood staring each other down and they readied their fighting stances.  “Do you really think I’m afraid of an Alicorn?” Phantasia sneered. Sapphire chuckled, “Well if you’re brave enough to challenge Equestria to a fight then I’m pretty sure you’re not afraid of an Alicorn. Or was that supposed to be some trash talk before a fight? If so, that’s very cliche of you.” He rolled his eyes. “Whatever, let's do this!” At first there wasn’t any magic involved because true to Sapphire’s nature when it comes down to a fight she wants things to be fair. But when she saw the murderous look in Phantasia’s eyes she thought instead of giving him a fair fight she would destroy him with any means necessary.  During the fight it was hoof to hoof combat at first. But right when it seemed that Phantasia was getting the upper hoof, Sapphire lit up her horn and summoned her Windigo. Her Windigo was the ruler of all Windigo’s! It had been a tradition passed down from generation to generation that every Head Guardian would bond with the ruler of the Windigos. In return, the Head Guardian would give them room and boarding along with food for the Windigos to have a comfortable life in Equestria.  Sapphire’s Windigo didn’t have a name because the Windigo didn’t bother to tell her what its name was. That was also a tradition for every Head Guardian.  Phantasia scoffed, “An Alicorn needing the help of a Windigo to win a fight?” “Actually, my Windigo’s on standby just in case I need the help,” Sapphire said. “It’s a tradition.” She turned to her Windigo. “Isn’t that right?” The Windigo nodded its head in agreement. Sapphire readied her fighting stance once more. Phantasia pulled out his weapons which were a variety of just about every weapon you could think of. He fired his bullets at Sapphire and she effortlessly dodged them. One bullet and flames from a flamethrower almost clipped one of her wings but Sapphire managed to dodge it just in time.  She casted a spell and grabbed every single one of Phanstia’s weapons and turned them all into dust. A group of his soldiers came running in and stood at his side ready to open fire on Sapphire if need be. Now it was Sapphire’s turn to scoff, “And you talk about me needing my Windigo to help me. Nice hypocrisy there.” He laughed, “Yeah one word from me and I’ll make sure that your pretty little head is turned into Swiss cheese!” Sapphire rolled her eyes. “Of course you will!” She smirked and cast a spell and suddenly six different swords appeared in front of her. Phantasia gave her a look of disbelief and burst into laughter. “Nice! The Alicorn decided to bring swords into a gunfight! You know you might as well go ahead and use your Windigo to help you!” “Well go ahead and have your soldiers pull the trigger on their guns,” Sapphire said. “We’ll see how far that gets them!” He shrugged. “If you say so.” He turned to his soldiers and nodded. “You heard her! Fire!” Phantasia’s soldiers did as they were told and Sapphire used her swords to deflect every single bullet. She had two swords in front of her deflecting the bullets, one sword to the left of her and one sword to the right of her and two swords behind her. Once Phantasia’s soldiers were done emptying their bullets on her, she stood tall without a scratch on her!  When Phantasia saw this his jaw dropped and he once again gave her a look of disbelief. “How the-" He narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?” Sapphire smirked. “I told you I am the true ruler of Equestria! And you will meet your end soon. You’re all out of ammunition, I’ve turned all of your weapons into dust and your soldiers will die as well and I sure as hell know that you won’t be getting anymore backup anytime soon.”  Sapphire didn’t say anything else when she took her swords and beheaded every single one of Phantasia’s soldiers. She pointed her swords at Phantasia’s neck. “You’re coming with me!” Before Phantasia could react Sapphire grabbed him in her magic and teleported to the throne room. *** Once Purple got to the throne room what he saw made his blood boil. He saw the very Elder that fired him, Elder Facade sitting on Princess Twilight’s throne and Princess Twilight, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were cages along with the other two Elders.  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Purple snarled. “Let the Princesses go now!” Elder Facade looked at Purple and laughed, “Wow! I should’ve known Sapphire would send you to face off against me. I knew she was getting too soft being a Head Guardian! She sent you? You got to be kidding me! She sends a Prince who's a yellow belly who'll run away in the next twenty seconds!" Purple shook his head. “Actually she’s dealing with Phantasia. And somehow she managed to turn herself into an Alicorn! I've killed almost ten thousand ponies and other creatures as a soldier. I smoked dozens and thousands of fools before and I ain't adding to the count unless I have to. And I will! When I do, you're going to be number nine thousand nine hundred and ninety eight!" Elder Facade snarled when he heard that. “That little b*tch! That means she invoked that document! She was supposed to be a good little worker and hand it over to me! The keys of the kingdom were supposed to be mine!” Instead of being terrified, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Twilight were smiling like they had been given the best present ever on Hearth's Warming Day!  “She did it! She did it!” Princess Twilight cheered. “I was wondering when she was going to do that!” Purple paused. “She did what?” Princess Celestia grinned. “You’ll see.” Before Elder Facade could say anything else, there were gunshots and a loud boom at the entrance of the throne room. Sapphire had teleported into the throne room with Phantasia gripped in her magic by his neck. She stomped on the ground with her left forehoof and green ivory vines popped up and surrounded Phantasia and kept him in place.  At this point in the fight Sapphire was covered in blood and the Sapphire who had been the voice of reason for a long time was long gone. The Sapphire who was standing in the room with Phantasia trapped in the ivory vines was standing tall, she looked like an Alicorn and like a warrior. This is the real Sapphire, the one who is the true ruler of Equestria. Sapphire hated the fact that she had to step out of the shadows and take her place on the throne once more, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Elder Facade gasped, “Sapphire is that you?” “Oh it’s me alright! It’s bad enough that we had to deal with a bitter pony like Phantasia wanting to rule over Equestria, now I have to deal with a cranky Elder who seems to think way too highly of himself wanting to take over Equestria,” Sapphire growled. “Looks like Equestria’s mother needs to take over and punish the children! Do you know how many ponies I’ve added to my kill count because of your stupidity Elder Facade?” Elder Facade smirked. “Well it’s about damn time you stepped up and did your job as ruler! It’s a little too late because once I kill the Gate Guardians and your Princesses it’s game over!” “Yeah right, like that’ll ever happen,” Sapphire said. Just then all of the Gate Guardians burst through the entrance with Elder Facades soldiers following them. Sapphire groaned as she pulled out her swords once more. She threw her swords at every single one of Elder Facade’s soldiers and beheaded them!  The main Gate Guardians stood behind Sapphire and she found herself smirking again. “You were saying?” By this time in the fight Purple had pulled out his gun and pointed it at Elder Facade. “I think you need to stand down. This war is coming to a close and it looks like you’re on the losing side of it.” Elder Facade dropped his weapon and held up his front hooves to show that he surrendered. He gave a nervous chuckle, “H-hey Prince, look we can talk about this right? Soldier to soldier let’s be civil now-“ Purple cut him off, “Excuse me? If I recall correctly, you were the one who fired me and got right up in my face. What did you say to me? Oh yeah that’s right, something along the lines of 'I’m in charge and I don’t like your tone!” He scoffed, “Talk about this like civil ponies? You mean like how civil you were to me? Yeah right! And I’m not a Prince! I put in my papers to resign and abdicate my position so it’s Lieutenant-General Purple ya dumb moron!” “That’s enough Purple! We got him and since I’m in control Elder Facade, Elder Dazzleflash and Elder Firefly are fired! I’m done with the checks and balances that I put in place when I helped set up the military,” Sapphire said. She casted a spell that unlocked the cages that the Princesses and the other Elders were being held in.  They stepped out and Purple ran to Princess Twilight and hugged her. She laughed, “It’s okay Purple, I’m fine. And judging by how weak my powers have gotten in a short period of time, that means that Sapphire’s invoked document 6.6.6! Which means she has decided to come out of the shadows once again and take her rightful place on the throne! It’s about time!” “Thanks for the praise Princess. But the war isn’t over yet,” Sapphire said. Princess Twilight nodded. “Yeah I know. Looks like we’re going to have a couple of live executions.” “Would you allow me the honor of doing them?” Sapphire asked. Princess Twilight laughed, “What do you think Princess? That’s up to you to decide.” Sapphire nodded. “Alright.” She sighed, “We have to explain to the people what’s going on of course.” “Yes indeed we do,” Princess Celestia said. “You know you’re more than capable of ruling over Equestria right? I know you have a dark side Onyx Thorn but I know you can control her. Just like Princess Luna controls Nightmare Moon.” Sapphire looked over and saw Princess Luna nodding in agreement. Sapphire sighed, “Yes I’ll do it. I mean I kind of have to now don’t I?” Princess Twilight chuckled, “Well if you need any help I’m always happy to assist!” She turned to Spike and nodded as he came running into the room and hugged her. “Spike, I need you to boot up the throne room's cameras. We have a war to finish.” Spike nodded. “Right!” Sapphire grabbed Phantasia and Elder Facade in her magic and placed them in front of Princess Twilight's throne. She made them sit on their haunches and stare right into the camera before Princess Twilight addressed the subjects of Equestria. Princess Twilight smiled at the camera that was focused on her at the moment and cleared her throat, "Soldiers of Equestria still fighting this war on both sides, I, Princess Twilight demand a cease fire! To the enemies fighting, Elder Facade's supporters and Phantasia's army we have your leaders captive! And when I say we I mean me and the true ruler of Equestria, Princess Sapphire Rose!" Everyone except the Gate Guardians in the throne room gasped. Princess Twilight put up a hoof to silence them. "Yes I know this comes as a surprise to you guys but not to us. Princess Sapphire is our trump card when it comes down to winning any war. Princess Sapphire was the one who helped us set up Equestria's borders to help keep Equestria safe, she was the one who helped set up Equestria's military to help keep Equestria safe, she was the one who helped stop the Windigo's from freezing the land to help keep Equestria safe and she was also the one who worked with Star Swirl the Bearded to create the Elements of Harmony to keep Equestria safe.  "A long time ago, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna created a document that is both bound by law and magic that Princess Sapphire could invoke anytime she needed to take her rightful place on the throne. That document is this document…"  The camera showed the document 6.6.6 on the Tv screen:  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 Nintis 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.  "Most of the time over the years, Princess Sapphire chose to step aside to allow me to run the country to the best of my abilities," Princess Twilight continued with her speech, "She has only had to invoke this document five times in Equestria's history. Including this time it makes six. She has already proven herself capable of protecting Equestria by capturing the leaders of our enemies, Phantasia and Crimson Facade also known as Elder Facade." The camera panned away from Princess Twilight and showed Phantasia and Elder Facade being held down by Sapphire's magic in front of Princess Twilight's throne. Princess Twilight nodded and it was Sapphire's turn to speak. "And now as my first act as ruler I will execute these two traitors who are threats to Equestria!" Sapphire pulled a couple of her swords out again and beheaded Phantasia first and then she beheaded Elder Facade next. After she beheaded Phantasia and Elder Facade the war was declared over with Equestria claiming the victory.