Twilight Sparkle
By the time Twilight and the others had left the train the battle had been in full swing for almost a half hour now. Applejack shouted “We ‘ave to help them!!!!” And Twilight replied, “Okay then, you and Pinkie try and keep everypony calm. Rainbow and Fluttershy, you two help the Pegasus guard; they look like they need the help. Rarity, you and me will try to keep their numbers down.” Rarity replied “Dear darling, I don’t know any spells useful for combat.” Twilight answered “I’ll teach you a quick combat spell and the rest of you get going.” Rainbow and Fluttershy made mock salutes before flying off and Pinkie and Applejack galloped off to help with survivors.
Twilight got to the area of the main battle and shot off a few magic missiles, hitting several of the abominations, but not taking them down. “This is going to take longer than I thought.” She said as she dodged a bolt of magic. Rarity galloped up beside Twilight a few seconds later, “Darling, are you sure about this.” Twilight replied, “It’s us or them.” Then Rarity fired off a few bolts of magic, hitting a few and taking them down. Twilight looked over at Rarity, and she asked “What?” Twilight replied “Are you enjoying this?” To which Rarity replied “maybe.”
Rainbow Dash
After a few moments of fighting alongside the Pegasus guard, one called her down to equip her properly for fighting. Full body armor, magically modified by a Unicorn guard to fit her and enchanted to reduce its weight, allowing her to maneuver easily in the armor, and shin guards to protect her hooves. “Thanks guys, this should help.” Celestia flashed into existence nearby. “Rainbow Dash, I have a mission of great importance for you. It may help secure some assistance for this battle.” Rainbow saluted her, “What is the mission.” Celestia told her about the mission. “Are you sure about this Princess?” she nodded “desperate times call for desperate measures.” Rainbow nodded, “I better get going if I’m going to get there in time.” She took off in a multicolored trail of light, going towards the south of Canterlot castle, causing a sonic rainboom inside of the fight happening. The guard was prepared, but the creatures weren’t. They became stunned for the next few moments, allowing the Pegasus and the Unicorn guard to easily take down a large number of them.
Applejack
“Everypony, please remain calm. The situation is being taken care of.” Pinkie pleaded with the crowd, and they understood but remained in a slightly panicked state. Applejack shouted “EVERYPONY, CALM THE BUCK DOWN!!!!!!!” They didn’t argue. “Now, please go back to y’alls houses. It’ll be much safer fer y’all.” They didn’t argue and promptly went into their houses.
Twilight Sparkle
She saw Rainbow fly overhead and create a sonic rainboom in the middle of the group of creatures. “That’s how you do it!!” She shouted. Then she remembered something important. She ran over to a medic pony attending to the injured. “Has a Dashing Light been found?” The medic replied “If he has, he’s been released. You should ask the Captain.” Twilight thanked the medic and went to find her brother. She eventually found him getting set-up for a renewed offensive against the creatures. “Shining.” She shouted. He looked over, “Twilie.” He ran over and hugged his sister, “What are you doing here, this isn’t safe for you.” She replied “The princess sent for us before the attack.” He responded “very well, where are the others?” Twilight told him that Aj and Pinkie were helping keep the city calm and helping prevent a panic, Rarity was trying to help take down some creatures, Fluttershy was using her skill in Flew-jitsu to help the Pegasus guard and Rainbow was last seen going to the south at sonic rainboom speeds. “To the south? Are you sure?” Twilight nodded, “Yes, I’m positive.” Shining replied, “I hope she knows what she’s doing.”
Shining Armor
After a half hour of fighting the Pegasus guard was losing the battle. Fluttershy was out of action due to several injuries and fatigue, Rarity was complaining about her mane getting dirty(big surprise) and Aj and Pinkie were helping in the triage center. Shining came into the Ward and asked, “How’s Fluttershy doing?” a nurse replied “She’s doing alright. Her injuries were thankfully minor, but it’s the fatigue that really took her out of the fight. If she wasn’t so tired and stressed, I’d say that she’d probably still be fighting.” Shining shook his head in disbelief “Who knew that Fluttershy had it in her?” he mentally asked himself.
It’s was then that they took note of a buzzing coming from the south of Canterlot castle. Shining galloped outside and noticed a large black cloud, he immediately cast a far-look spell to get a better look, and was shocked to see a changeling swarm, but was even more surprised that the ones leading the swarm were Rainbow Dash and Queen Chrysalis. Queen Chrysalis landed next to Shining, who immediately assumed a combat pose. “Calm down, we are here because Celestia asked for our assistance, in exchange for lowering restrictions placed on Changelings. We will fight alongside you, if you will fight beside us.” She extended a ‘hoof’ to him and he reluctantly shook it. They took notice of a cerulean blue shield over the tower that the rift was on. “Get one of your drones to tell Twilight that Dashing is up on that tower.” Chrysalis replied “How do you know that’s him?” Shining replied “No other pony I know has that color for magic.” Chrysalis nodded, and sent a drone with the message to Twilight.
Twilight Sparkle
She jumped at the sight of a changeling landing in front of her, she immediately assumed a fighting pose. It changed into a rough shape of her brother. It said “A message from Shining Armor. Dashing Light has been located; he is currently on the platform with the rift. That is all.” Twilight calmed a little, and then the changeling changed back into its normal shape before flying off to join the fight taking place in the sky. “That was different.” She thought out loud, before galloping off to the tower that Dashing was on. Meanwhile up the sky, the Pegasus guards were shocked when the swarm impacted the fight, bringing the fight to a steady draw.
Once Twilight got to the top of the tower she saw Dashing sitting in the center of the platform with his head held low. She tried the gallop over to him only to hit her face on the blue shield that was covering the platform. Dashing looked up at her and thought “Why can’t ponies ever keep their eyes open?” He walked over to the shields edge and looked at Twilight, who was rubbing her slightly bloody muzzle. “I suppose you know what this is?” He pointed at the rift. “But what you don’t know is how to close it.” Twilight looked at him, “But you do?” He nodded. “This is what I was meant for.” Twilight asked, “What do you mean?” He replied, “I was meant to sacrifice my life to save a world that was never mine to begin with.” Twilight was taken aback by his words, and tears started to drop from her eyes “W-W-Why? Why you?” He smirked, “It’s always been me. I once asked myself, ‘If given the change to sacrifice yourself for the greater good would you do it and would you do it without hesitation’ My answer has always been the same. Yes.” Twilight was tearing, “But I love you, ever since I first laid eyes on you I knew you were the one. You’re kind, caring, gentle and loyal. The perfect stallion.” She put her hoof onto the shield, “Please don’t do this.” He put his hoof on the shield resting it where hers would be, “I love you too, but this has to be done. For Equestria.” She noticed a flash in his eyes before he turned and walked back to the center. “Okay now, this is it.” His body floated up several meters and became surrounded by light. As massive amounts of magic flowed through his body his wings flared out to their full length and little bolts of lightning could be seen jumping between his primaries. And suddenly an extremely bright burst of light came from within the shield, so bright that it overwhelmed the senses of poor Twilight, whose brain shut down to protect itself.
She woke up after roughly 2 hours to find that the battle was over and everypony was alive. The creatures had disappeared. She looked over towards the platform and saw that the shield has collapsed. She looked up and saw that the rift had indeed been closed. But then she looked at where dashing had been, and screamed when she saw the he had been completely encased in a clear pillar of pure crystal. She conjured up a crystal shattering spell she had learned, only for it to be dispersed by a field surrounding the crystal. She knew enough about shields to know that any further attempts would be futile. She placed her hoof on the crystal, the field allowing for physical contact. “I will never forget.”