The White Dragon
"Okay everypony, please listen to me!" Yelled Twilight Sparkle to the once again free citizens of Ponyville. It was a glorious morning, fortunately the sun was shining and the smoke clouds seemed to have vanished. Not a single dragon, apart from Spike and Garble, could be spotted in or nearby the town. A day so perfect hadn't been in weeks! Half of the townsfolk were too busy looking with amazement at the duo of Ursas that were resting in the little open space they found, with Luna being close to them just in case. The other half was simply happy to finally stop fearing for their lives, even if for a short time, before the dragons came back. It certainly felt even better to see the sun shine; they weren't even sure if it was the sun shining so intensively or that they had gotten used to the depressing smoke covered sky.
"Thanks to a collaborated effort from Spike, the princess, and us, we managed to survive this sudden invasion that struck us for several weeks. And now, the dragons have left." Cheers could be heard all over the place, it was certainly the best thing the ponies could have heard, despite the bad news that followed. "However…" She began, silence taking over the place "We have been informed, that Canterlot, and Princess Celestia, are suffering their full army attacking. Should we not help them, Canterlot might fall, and so our land of Equestria"
"Ptss… Twilight" Rainbow Dash whispered to her so her words wouldn't be overheard by the megaphone. "Remember we still need to leave some sort of defense plan here, just in case they come back"
"You're right" she then turned to the citizens "Although we'd like to take all our forces to confront the dragons, our small home of Ponyville requires some protection as well, so please pay very special attention to princess Luna, who'll be giving you some instruction on civil defense".
Having said so, Princess Luna stepped forward. Twilight offered her the megaphone, but the Princess politely refused her offer. Instead, she appealed to her famous royal Canterlot voice. "Citizens of ponyville" half the ponies needed to cover their ears from the loud voice the princess possessed. "We require you to form different teams: Pegasi, Earth Ponies, and Unicorns. Those who have had any battle experience please step forward; otherwise, please follow my orders."
Almost as fast as Rainbow Dash could be, the ponies quickly separated into the three said groups. Of course the younger fillies were out of the question, they may help in some other way. As expected, the majority of the ponies were earth ponies, but there was also a good number of pegasi; unicorns on the other hand, were scarce in the town, and the few that resided there didn't have such a useful use of magic like Twilight did. There was also no time to teach anything, after all it was supposed to be a provisional defense, their aim was to protect themselves and buy some time.
"I highly recommend the pegasi to use their weather controlling powers to create a storm, the bigger the better. A strong rain will diminish their flames and help stop fires, and thunder might be helpful against their flying soldiers, forcing them to land and be within range for everypony. Earth ponies…" she began; materializing with her magic dozens, if not more, pairs of bows and arrows, both carrying a moon as an emblem on them, before her. "It is absurd to confront a dragon face to face, so take a bow and remember to always keep your distance from the enemy, also be prepared with pools of water placed through the town as much often as you can, in case some of you catch fire. Practice is not needed in this case; this magical bows and arrows are enchanted, to always hit the desired target, if within range. The arrows will also paralyze the target, though it may need a good amount of hits on bigger dragons. Unicorns, if talented in magic, I'd recommend you provide with healing spells; if not, just do the same as the earth ponies."
"What about us the fillies?" asked Scootaloo, standing alongside her crusaders friends.
Luna was silent for what seemed a minute, standing in the same place and thinking maybe? Then she answered "The younger fillies will carry on the most important task of all…" she said, pausing for a couple of seconds, then in a much calmer voice she concluded "…Live. If everything fails, remember that you are the future."
Where did all this deepness come from? Was Princess Luna so afraid she felt forced to say that? Were the odds of total destruction really that high? Of course all this thoughts were avoided by the civil, who were convinced that they'd survive; but what if not? Then it'd be really the fillies job, to survive any means possible, to keep the species living, and maybe giving the ponies another chance to recover their land. On the other hoof, they didn't really know what king White was planning after conquering Canterlot. If he really was planning to burn the entire land then they didn't really have any other hopes than defeating him now.
After her speech, the princess moved away from the crowd, to meet with the element holders, and others. Her expression wasn't a happy one, in fact it could be seen how concerned she was both for her sister and Ponyville itself. It was a tough choice, but only one place could be saved; and Princess Celestia was a priority, in this case.
"Everypony, you have five minutes before we leave, should you greet anypony do it now. I highly recommend you do anything you don't want to regret not doing." Her voice didn't sound as calm as when she talked to the fillies, this time it was the exact opposite; it clearly felt like a direct order, if not in the Royal Canterlot tone.
Taking in account how serious the princess was, both Applejack and Rarity didn't hesitate and hurried to greet their families, and Pinkie Pie greeted every friend she had (yes, having only five minutes she galloped even faster than Dashie). Rainbow Dash as well, decided she'd at least give her fans a last moment. Fluttershy and Twilight however, didn't leave the princess' side. The shy pegasus just couldn't afford saying goodbye to her friends, so she decided she'd simple skip that awful part. Twilight for one, noticed how the princess glared at her with such petrifying eyes, she knew that if she were to go, the princess would stop her. She was right.
"Twilight Sparkle" the princess began "You certainly showed some leadership skills when calming down everypony, and some powerful magic abilities from what Spike has told me." Twilight blushed slightly "and as a reward for your performance, I'd like to give you the opportunity to try your hoof at something not even Celestia could ever do"
"And that is?" Twilight asked, eyes shining from excitement.
"Taming an Ursa Minor." That excitement the young unicorn felt soon turned into terror, as she looked up to see Luna's Ursa Mayor, whose face was so high up she could barely see it.
"Excuse me princess, but isn't that impossible?" she tried to sound calm.
"It clearly isn't. What would be impossible would be taming one once it has grown. Besides, I already heard some rumors about you calming this very Ursa Minor down." Luna was really proud of the lavender unicorn, already in her age and she possessed such powerful magic, no wonder she represented that element. But magic itself didn't have much to do with taming wild animals, especially this one. But maybe, just maybe, she might do it.
"I'll give it a try" Twilight hesitated to reply, but then asked "How exactly do I do it?"
"Well, first you need to befriend it and earn his trust. I can tell it kind of trusts you a little, but you still need to show it who's boss. All you need to do is show no fear, prove yourself to be kind and a great leader. If the Ursa recognizes these attributes in you, it'll most likely obey you."
"Most likely? What happens if not?" asked the unicorn.
"oh, it differs. It may stomp you, eat you, etcetera." Replied Luna, giving Twilight an indifferent look. Once she spotted the horror in her face, Luna chuckled and comforted her student. "Just having some fun with you; how's it said? Pulling your… hair. But in serious, a wild Ursa Mayor might do such things if not tamed from a child. I mean, it's like thirty times bigger, and one hundred times as dangerous."
"Ok, I'll give it a try" Twilight said to herself in shyly voice almost as high as Fluttershy's.
The lavender pony proceeded to face the Ursa Minor, which seemed to irradiate fear in the young pony's mind, as it would do on anyone; but Twilight had a good feeling about all this, she did see the Ursa smile at her before after all, and it was definitely a good sign. But now the moment of truth had come, and her self-confidence had vanished. She had her horn ready to teleport out of danger just in case, she'd have another chance again, or better if not. With no place to hide, her eyes met with the Ursa's. Both seemed utterly determined in staring each other to death, but eventually, Twilight performed a bow, parting her eyes from the Ursa's. Unexpectedly, the Ursa answered to the reverence; Twilight could not believe her very own eyes, the fearful Ursa Minor seemed to respect her as a friend!
'This is amazing!' She thought 'Maybe I can communicate with it with a telepathy spell' She tried said spell, asking it to lie down. In fact, a couple of magic waves could be seen coming from Twilight's horn and into the Ursa's ear. What was odd was that pretty much like when she used a wind spell to perform a lullaby to calm it down, the Ursa had a sleepy and pleasure full face; nothing Twilight asked it to do.
"I don't get it!" Twilight yelled in frustration with herself, it wasn't common that she failed with such an easy spell, what misunderstanding could there have been in her message? Then she found out the problem had nothing to do with her at all, in fact it had to do with somepony else. Both Luna and Twilight stared in amazement as the kind and shy Fluttershy calmly rubbed the now lying on its back Ursa Minor without any sign of fear.
"Wow, Fluttershy…" Twilight began "I knew you were good with animals, but not that much!" The pegasus stopped petting the bear. "You could have showed up when it crashed into Ponyville!"
"Well, It must have been the time I was calming the devastated mother who couldn't find her child" Fluttershy answered, referencing both Ursas. "And how can you fear this cute little shiny bear?" She said in a ridiculously lovely voice as she tickled the giant creature on its belly.
"Why don't you try that telepathy spell again, and see whether it has decided to befriend you?" asked Luna to her student.
Twilight did just as she was told to, and for her surprise, there was actually an answer, she could hear a loud, yet feminine voice coming from the Ursa's way; was this the Ursa's inner voice? Anyway, she could also understand it as if it was speaking to the perfection. Her telepathy spell had worked this time! Not only that, but the answer was intriguing as well.
'I shall do as you say, my friend; but remember I'm just doing this because of the current situation. You have yet to impress me in order for me to accept you as a true master' that was the Ursa's voice in Twilight's mind, the feeling of having a different voice inside one's head was just too confusing, having two minds instead of one; If she didn't keep her spell under control she mind lose it and end up with mind sickness.
'Thank you, my friend' replied Twilight with another reverence 'By the way, I don't enjoy referring to you as your species, would you mind telling me what your name is?' she tried to sound as formal as possible, she clearly wanted to be as elegant and smart as possible in front of her new friend to earn her respect.
'My name is Ursula' Replied the gigantic bear 'I've heard you're Twilight Sparkle. I am terribly sorry for what happened that awful night, and thank you for reuniting me with my dear mother'
"Ugh… my head" Twilight groaned as she suffered a painful migraine, obviously from that spell she had been using. "I'd better take it easy with that spell, or I might not need it to read everypony's mind.
"Look on the brighter side, my little pony, you seem to have succeeded in gaining the Ursa Minor's trust" Luna exclaimed.
"Ursula" Twilight interrupted "Her name is Ursula"
"My apologies dear Ursula" Luna told the bear.
Five minutes were certainly too little time for the ponies to say farewell to her friends, Pinkie had the worst time ever. One cannot simply imagine Pinkie Pie saying goodbye; maybe a see you later, but never a farewell. It wasn't easy for the others either, Applejack shed gallons of tears just from the thought of having to leave her family, same with Rarity, only a little more dramatically. By the way Luna talked, it sounded like a suicide mission. Not a very good sign, but on the other hoof, it was better they did this, before the dragons could attack their families again. After short heartbreaking moments, the four ponies returned to where the others were, expecting their arrival for they could leave in the act.
"Princess" Pinkie Pie called her "Why do we need to leave so soon? I didn't get to greet half my friends!"
"A fair question, young one." Replied the princess "shall we leave this instant, we should be arriving Canterlot by dusk. Thus both my power and the Ursas' would be stronger. It's just simple logic."
"Aren't you the one who controls the Moon? Can't you control when it's going to rise?" Asked Rainbow Dash.
"But I do not control the time the sun sets." She quickly said "besides, I honestly do not want the night to stay more than the naturally necessary, for it was what first taunted me to do what I will always regret." Luna kept some unsettling silence, everyone knew what she meant; she had depressed herself somehow. Putting all her past behind her, Luna stood up once again and gave the order to leave.
Luna would obviously be riding the Ursa Major, and alongside her were Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rarity; all of them not believing they were actually riding it. On the Ursa Minor was as you might guess by now, Twilight Sparkle as lead, Fluttershy and Spike by her side. Garble was still a bit afraid from the bears, and honestly didn't like them that much to sit on their backs, so he decided to fly all the way. His excuse however, was that he was way too proud to be riding another creature that was 'inferior' to him.
Silence was essential for their inadvertent trip to Canterlot. Dragons could be spying on them on that very instant, waiting for the instant to attack, or maybe big dragons were lurking the skies, and they definitely didn't want to bring their attention. It already didn't help that the Ursas were notorious, but speaking would only worsen it. It was rather tedious though, such a boring trip even Pinkie Pie had fallen asleep. Rarity joined her as well, for beauty purposes.
'I know we need to cover ourselves in a silence coat, but isn't there any other way?' asked Twilight to the princess telepathically 'I mean, even Pinkie Pie is asleep. Aren't you bored?'
"Hey Garble" Spike called the dragon "would you mind giving us an aerial view from over the smoke clouds?" He asked "that way we can at least talk until you tell us not to"
"Why do I have to do it? There are many pegasus here" complained the cranky dragon.
"what do you think will happen if any dragon sees a pony?" he quickly said, in a stating the obvious tone "you're the only who wouldn't blow our cover"
"Fine…" Garble gave up and flew up above the smoke. He would descend a little once in a while, so he didn't split from the others.
"Hey Spike" Twilight asked "The letter we got from White says that he already knew your plan. Any idea how he figured it out?"
"Maybe we didn't fool him with the fake skull" Spike shrugged "it was a regular wolf skull that I shaped into a unicorn one. It's possible he noticed it."
"It looked real to me!" She complimented her brother's crafting abilities "And I don't think that was it; he'd have included in the letter something about Garble as well then. Also, you took all of us down after that, I bet any doubt he had you'd have re-earned his trust when doing so."
"Maybe" Spike hesitated to say "Maybe he wasn't lying when he said he had already beaten Celestia. Maybe she told him, or maybe he saw any of the letters I sent her"
"You know" Twilight began "for being such a terrible and fearful dictator, he did a good job teaching you about magic. In just a month you were almost as good as me!"
"It wasn't his doing, Twi" Twilight didn't really know if he was being modest or just returning the compliment, or simply being honest "I learned that quickly because I used to help you so much. I actually learned from that!" He exclaimed, happy to finally get it out of his mouth. He was really grateful to Twilight for being her family, for being who she was and for teaching Spike everything about life. It was clear for Twilight how hard it was for him when the time came that they had to fight.
"And what exactly have you learned? Anything I don't know?" Twilight asked, intrigued.
"Is there anything you don't know?" Spike replied joking. Twilight chuckled. "I know some basic and intermediate, but not that many tricks. Levitation, magic blasts, force fields, metamorphosis… that's it"
"Metamorphosis is quite an advanced spell, Spike!" Luna interrupted.
"Not if I use it to turn into simple things, like a boulder."
The little dragon had quite matured in that month, not only mentally and in abilities, but in his body as well. Twilight didn't notice it at first, but Spike was her same height now; not a considerable and dangerously fast growth to be worried about, considering his last experience in growing up big time, but a more natural growth. Twilight was so proud and happy to be reunited with him again, not only because he now possessed magical abilities that made him unique, but because she… they all missed his presence; they missed him, she missed him. It was necessary for the young unicorn to bring the dragon to an embrace and let a tear of joy escape her eyelids. The dragon of course responded to the hug, smiling like he hadn't in so much time.
A tear, cold in comparison to his warm heart, could be seen in his eye, something he actually enjoyed feeling. Such sweet moment could turn any hatred into pure love just by watching it, even Discord, the god of Chaos, wouldn't be able to prevent such tear to be shown and his pride to rain from his face. The dragon actually felt like this, ashamed of himself from showing such weakness, but at the same time it was a new and unforgettable experience. He could feel his inner fire burn hotter than any time before. Yes, Garble's soft side had been revealed. And he enjoyed these new feelings, so very different from the hatred towards other creatures he used to have. Even his fellow dragons would never express such affection, making this the only time he realized what had been missed because of his brutish behavior.
"Young dragon, is that a tear of joy I can see?" teased Princess Luna.
"What!?" he shouted, rubbing the tear off with both arms as fast as possible and on its place forming a very pronounced frown. "Where would you even get such idea?"
"It is not a shame that you show your feelings. Most dragons do not, and in turn they do not enjoy to feel this warmth." Princess Luna's words were from experience, Spike could tell, knowing she too, had a dragon of her own as well as experience with wild ones. Garble was too stubborn to give up to his pride though, so he fled from facing his feelings by flying overclouds to fulfill his duty.
"Princess…" Spike felt this was the only time he could get honest answers "I'd like to know about the relationship between your dragon and you, and Celestia and hers." It wasn't only Spike that was curious about this, everypony there immediately stared at the princess and lifted their ears to pay full attention.
"Why of course, Spike" responded Luna. "But given the fact that we don't have enough time to tell the full story, I'll just jump to their childhood" Luna also knew Spike had read the full book, so he must had a good idea of what exactly had happened, but details such as relations between brothers weren't as well explained in the book as actual facts of things that happened, especially the last couple of fights between them, were Discord was included.
"You must already know about White, huh? The extremely proud of being a dragon and always firm to his beliefs, who would never accept a no for an answer" Luna asked. In fact, that was the King White Spike had to deal with for a month. "But he wasn't always like that" Luna explained "In fact, his true name, the one my sister granted him, was rather different and unbelievably unthinkable. I hardly think you could ever guess it if you had to." Luna seemed to be chuckling a bit before finally saying his name "His name was… Snowy." Luna couldn't help it, and burst out laughing, leaving everypony a little bit confused by her sudden action. But after a few seconds, Pinkie, Spike and Garble followed to laugh as well.
"Snowy!" Spike laughed heavily "Oh, oh, oh, did he spit ice?" he continued to laugh.
"Or maybe ice cream!" Pinkie added, while breathing and laughing at the same time, kind of a weird noise was produced when doing so.
"T-That's the lamest name for a dragon! Hahaha" cried Garble.
"I know, right?" Luna asked, a tiny bit calmed down "My sister was never good with names" she laughed a bit more before finally calming down completely. "Anyhoof, he used to stand tight, and never to retreat his words, or let anyone question his beliefs. But he did like the natural way of every creature being unique the way they were. In fact, the dragon treaty was originally his idea, to separate dragons from ponies, so that peace could be eternal, and that everyone could live their natural way. Dragons within each other for thousands of years per life; and ponies within ponies for around eighty years.
"Appart from Discord bringin chaos between dragons and ponies, how did the two species get along with each other?" Spike asked.
"Very well indeed." Luna replied with a smile "except for a couple of small conflicts such as dragons snoring smoke, peace was ruling the lands. In fact, some dragons and ponies used to work together".
"But after the conflict between the two brothers…" Twilight guessed "the dragons decided to live separately from ponies, like King White wanted to." Twilight still couldn't understand why exactly White wanted to separate the species if they did get along so well. But it seemed like a question not even Luna could answer.
"King Black" Luna continued "my dragon, was black scaled and had dark blue eyes, spikes, and claws. But his scales also had a unique feature: they'd shine, as stars in the galaxy; thus I named him Nebula." she stated "he was like any other younger sibling. He loved his brother even more than he loved my sister or me, and he always wanted to exceed at everything his brother did, thought always failed miserably. A feeling I shared with him as well. He was energetic and never gave up, even though he never seemed to make such good decisions and required of his brother to correct his mistakes. But his heart was always in the right place, and in the end his heart was both with the dragons and the ponies. He embraced the idea of a life together; after all, what could be stronger that such alliance?"
"So then Discord got between them and the conflict arose, right?" Rainbow Dash asked, sure to finally understand.
Luna hesitated for a second before replying "not exactly. The conflict came before Discord, at least between the dragons and their subordinates." Luna explained "There was peace, but a couple of conflicts and threats between the two species. And so, the two ideas surged: A life together in harmony and friendship trying to get through the hardships as good friends, or separation of territory for eternal peace. The Dragons split into either Black or White followers, and what I think brought the attention from discord, was that these two groups had a severe fight."
"Then Discord acted and made the brothers fight each other, giving the problem a trivial solution; winner decides. Though Nebula refused to fight and well, he…" Twilight assumed and hesitated to answer knowing saying such words might hurt the princess. Princess Luna gave her a warm smile and nodded proud of the young unicorn's intelligence.
"Well my fellow companions, as much as I'd like to go on with this story, it is time for me to perform my duties." Luna said "Rainbow Dash, how fast can you clear the smoke?"
"Ten. Seconds. Flat." Rainbow replied firmly.
"Then go. It is time for the moon to shine upon Equestria for another night."
The cyan pegasus did as told and took off already in a dash and immediately became a blurry multicolored stripe in the sky. Busting cloud by cloud, the weather patrol got rid of the smoke and allowed the last of the sunlight in, in what she had promised: ten seconds flat. The wind suddenly blew cold. After so much time covered by smoke and fire, the slightest cold wind could make the ponies shiver intensely, like autumn's wind after summer. On the other hoof, it refreshed them to a point they enjoyed the shiver, and embraced it for it could possibly be the last time they felt cold in a while. They were fighting dragons after all! Amazed, Princess Luna thanked the pegasus, and proceeded to focus on the task at hand with much proud.
The mystical mare's horn began to glow slightly in a dark blue light, as well as her eyes. Looking at the night sky, it could be seen how one by one the tiny dots known as stars appeared in the firmament. It was the first time Twilight experienced a Lunar rising, so she was as excited as the first time she saw Celestia raise the Sun. Once the stars were ready, the moon was to come. Luna's horn this time glowed intensively, and taking impulse to raise the giant star, She lifted herself in the air with the help of her wings and from the mountains in the horizon the moon began to raise and raise until it was atop of them.
Out of air, Princess Luna landed in the Ursa Mayor once again and gasped moderately. The others meanwhile, looked in amazement at the beautiful sight that was the sky. The stars, the thousands of sparkling lights that illuminated the darkness above; and the moon, shiny like diamonds and allowing its full self to be contemplated. It was just a breathtaking marvel. No wonder Nightmare Moon wanted the night to last forever, who would want to let pass of this?
"I don't mean to be a party pooper" Garble interrupted Luna "but won't we be seen now?"
"Now that the moon is above us, the Ursas will have no problem dealing with any dragon. If they see us, they are prone to flee like rats" Luna answered, confident about the giant bears. "Besides, we're already at the entrance; there's no point in hiding anymore."
The princess couldn't be more correct; in less than a minute, they could already see a large fireball coming their way. Luckily enough, the princess power was certainly stronger now, to simply reduce it into the nothingness without breaking a sweat. Though far from the castle, they had already reached the city, and apart from the fireball they had just received as a welcome, it was notorious how the dragons had taken control of the place: Everywhere one looked it couldn't be avoided to spot at least one or two large dragons flying by, terrorizing the entire population. Houses were burning in a raging and unstoppable fire so hot, the cold wind they had felt just before reaching the city was easily forgotten and replaced with drops of sweat covering the ponies' bodies, protecting them from the dreadful heat. Not even on Celestia's warmer summer days could one fell such heat! Was it not for Rainbow Dash clearing the skies a couple of seconds ago, and princess Luna summoning a powerful wind to help clear the smoke, the full sky would be nothing but blackness and sickness; however, it now was a beautiful full-moon night. The stars unfortunately were covered by the light of the fire, but their presence could be felt by the single fact that the sky was clear of smoke after so much time under tits despairing fog of fear.
"We must head to the castle!" Luna yelled in her famous royal voice "I bet White is where my sister."
"But what about the ponies here?" Asked Rainbow Dash.
"I shall take care of the situation here with the help of Big Blue; you all go on without me and use the elements of harmony on White; that should stop all this madness!" Explained Luna.
With nothing else than a simple nod, their subjects obeyed and with the help of Garble, Applejack and Pinkie Pie jumped from Big Blue's back into Ursula's. Rainbow Dash denied to sit on this one, and if she could do anything to help the ponies in need she would try her best, so by flying close to her friends she could at least do a quick rescue with her blinding speed and save at least a life. She also wanted to stay a little away from Twilight's reach, since she wouldn't approve her reckless, yet well intended behavior.
"Hey, Spike" Garble called the dragon "remember that group of dragons that were against White?" he asked; Spike nodded in response "Well most of them are here. I'm gonna gather all together and then meet you in the castle"
"Excellent idea" Spike commented "But I'd prefer you helped princess Luna for a while" Garble didn't answer, he just flew away in search of their friends. How many would he gather? Ten? Twenty? It didn't really matter to Spike, just knowing that there were dragons willing to help their cause were some incredibly awesome news. And he knew princess Luna was going to need all the help she could get; obviously Twilight was going to send Ursula to help her once they got to the castle safely, but they would also need some help against White; he was sure to be mightier than any ordinary dragon.
It was extraordinary easily to get around the city on the Ursa; not only she was faster than all of them (but Rainbow Dash), but since most dragons were afraid of her, and the ones that weren't, were busy with the mother who was causing a lot more havoc. On the other hoof, it was a big target, so though less, a lot of attacks were aimed at them.
"Spike, can you give me a hand?" Twilight asked. She was sure he had the same idea as her, and indeed he nodded and followed his intuition. Together, they used their combined magic, to provide the Ursa Minor, with a mobile magic force field. It wasn't of highest quality, but it was strong enough to deflect enemy's fire attacks and thus allowing Ursula to move forward and not to lose time evading. Twilight's purple shield protected the front and the back of Ursula, while Spike's green shield protected the sides. Everypony watched in awe as the hundreds of flames headed their way had absolutely no effect on them for as long as their two friends could keep up with that massive and exhaustive combined spell. It was clear though, that Spike was still far below Twilight's abilities, his power was about half as hers, and it could be seen by the size and color opacity. But for his friends sake, for everpony's sake… for Rarity's sake, he'd make his best and keep up or even surpass Twilight if he needed to!
Luckily for the exhausted magicians, the castle was within inches now. They now only needed to walk right in while Ursula distracted the dragons outside. She was going to be okay, it wasn't a helpless creature; in fact, Luna had mentioned something about the full moon giving it powers; what exactly did she mean? The Giant bear, probably reading Twilight's mind, leaped her head close to the ground, so the passengers could safely get off. They all did as they intuition told them to and as soon as they landed on the ground they ran for it towards the castle doors. Rainbow Dash got there first, obviously, and as she looked back she could see the raging Ursa Minor calling the attention with a big thunderous roar that was far louder than any dragon she had heard. Soon, the Ursa ran away from there, followed by dragons; she was probably going to get the dragons away from them, and closer to her mother, who most likely treated them like practice dummies.
As soon as the seven entered the castle, Twilight quickly closed the door with her magic. She turned around just to be… surprised. She could see the very same expression on her friends as well. The place was absurdly… quiet. To be honest, she was expecting dozens of guards to be standing near wherever White was to be, not this. It didn't surprise her though that the Canterlot Royal guards were absent from the castle. After all, they did need to protect the civilians. And her brother must most likely be commanding all the operation.
"I think we're in the wrong place" Pinkie said "I don't remember this place being so boring" she made emphasis on boring.
"Come on, let's hurry to the throne room" Twilight said "I'm sure we'll find someone there. And I hope the princess is still okay"
A couple of silent stairs, doors and corridors later they reached the throne. From the distance Twilight could see the horror of what she feared though they had already been warned about. Princess Celestia lying on the floor, defeated. Her horn grey most likely from overuse; her wings and coat covered in ashes and bruises. And on her throne, sat White; expecting their arrival for quite a long time. The mighty dragon focused his eyes on one little target.
"Spike…" he said.
"White…" Spike replied.
"pfff, Snowy! Hahaha" Pinkie laughed.