The six ponies reached the throne room, and saw a sight that shocked Twilight most of all.
“Princess Celestia!!” said Twilight, rushing towards her mentor, who lay on the floor in her sister’s arms. She turned towards her friends: “Quick! Get the doctor!!”
“Twilight, the doctor’s dead...” said Fluttershy
“I-It’s ok, I’ll summon the one from Ponyville then!” She concentrated all her powers on her teleportation spell. Then she felt a hoof on her foreleg.
“T-Twilight,” Celestia gasped, “l-listen t-to me”
“You’re growing cold, sister” Luna said, panic in her voice
“I-It’s ok, Luna” Celestia turned towards her most faithful student, “T-Twilight”
“Y-yes, Princess?” said Twilight shakily
“I-I have a new a-assignment f-for you” said Celestia weakly, “My fate is s-sealed. I am b-beyond any healer’s s-skill. Equestria will s-soon be overrun. T-the C-changelings w-will be here within moments. You m-must protect as many ponies a-as y-you can. G-get them to t-the C-crystal E-empire, y-you’ll be safe there.”
“B-b-but P-princess, I-“ sobbed Twilight.
Princess Celestia put her hoof on Twilight’s cheek and smiled weakly, “I’m so proud of you”
Discord moved closer to Celestia, his eyes getting foggy, “Celestia” he said gently, putting his soft lion’s paw on her wounded face.
“D-discord, I want y-you to take c-care of L-Luna and Twilight, and a-as m-many s-subjects as you can…for me”
Discord kissed her forehead, “Anything for you, my ray of sunlight. I promise.” he whispered in her ear.
Celestia turned towards Luna, whose beautiful face was drenched with tears, “Don’t leave me, ‘Tia” she sobbed under her breath.
“I’ll always be with you, d-dear one, r-right here” Celestia whispered, pointing her shaking hoof to the centre of Luna’s chest, “I-I do not need to remind y-you of what you have t-to d-do”
Luna's tears continued to fall.
“B-but there is o-one last g-gift I-I m-must give to you, my Luna. I-I’m sorry t-to add t-to your responsibilities, b-but”
“’Tia, you can’t” said Luna, knowing where her sister was going with this
“W-what’s going on?” said Twilight confusedly.
“She’s giving Luna the power of the Sun,” whispered Discord
“If I don’t p-pass it on, Sanctus w-will have it” said Celestia determinedly, “There is n-no one e-else I trust with such power. You must take it, Luna”
Twilight and Discord looked at Luna, whose stunned expression seemed to last for hours. She was speechless.
Celestia smiled, and she concentrated on her spell. A blinding light filled the room, and receded back into her horn. Her flowing mane and tail grew bright. And from their ends they lost their colour and grew limp. Then Celestia’s pearly white coat became a dull grey. A golden light accumulated in her chest, and then entwined Luna’s body like a thick ribbon. Luna looked around, scared and confused amidst the bright light surrounding her.
“I love you, LuLu” she heard her sister’s voice say as the light rushed into her own chest.
She then saw Celestia, whose now grey eyes looked without seeing. Life seemed to freeze at that moment. Then Celestia’s body shattered into little diamonds, which scattered all over the marble floors of the throne room.
Every occupant of the room seemed to have stopped breathing. Princess Celestia, the ruler of Equestria, the one who possessed the power of the Sun…dead?
Luna gave a loud cry. For she had now lost the only family she had.
***
A drop of Luna’s tears splashed onto the floor. And at that second, the earth shook. The magnificent crystal chandelier above them rattled. And then the great mahogany doors swung open.
“Princess, sightings of changelings approaching from the east have been reported” a guard said, “Princess?” he said, looking towards Luna, confused. For she looked slightly different. She was slightly taller than she was a few moments ago, and she now donned golden armor on her legs instead of her usual silver. Her crown was also golden, and had both the Sun and Moon engraved upon it.
“Where is Princess Celestia?” the guard asked. The rest just glanced to the diamond shards strewn across the ground. And by looking at Luna’s tearful, bloodshot eyes, the reality of the situation dawned upon his face. He took off his helm and bowed his head.
With a deep breath, Luna regained her composure and addressed the guard, “Shadowfax,” she said, and he saluted, “this army is great in number. My sister, Discord, and myself have discovered their intentions. They mean to exterminate our race. We must make evacuating the citizens a priority.”
“Where to, my lady?” asked Shadowfax
Luna looked towards Twilight, who inhaled deeply and said: “The Crystal Empire.”
Luna continued, “Dispatch squadrons of troops to every state of Equestria.” Shadowfax nodded. “The mission is to evacuate as many ponies as you can, minimal casualties. You are to follow Discord’s instruction in Canterlot, for I shall rally my own troops and send them down for aid. I shall return shortly.” She turned to Twilight, “Twilight, I must ask you and your friends to retrieve the Elements of Harmony once again. I’m afraid, it’s one of those times”
“I-I understand” said Twilight, a broken expression upon her face. Luna held her head up to look her in the eye, “There will be a time to grieve later, my friend, but for now, we have the lives of millions of ponies at stake”
Twilight straightened and took a deep breath, “What else must I do?”
“Get to Ponyville, take a squadron of guards with you, and initiate evacuation”
Twilight nodded determinedly. Then there was a flash of bright light as Luna teleported to rally her army.
Twilight turned to her friends, who gave encouraging looks, and that settled Twilight’s heart. “For the princess” she said, before turning to Discord.
“Look Twilight, don’t think of these changelings being similar to those you faced during your last encounter, because they’ve taken a turn for the worse. They’re far more deadly now,” he said.
“I know, I've seen what one of them did to the castle doctor, I've seen what they did to Princess Celestia. I know what they’re capable of, and I’m not going to let them hurt anyone else…not on my watch”.
And with that she galloped towards the location of the Elements of Harmony.
“Be careful, Twilight” said Discord, watching them exit the castle.
He then turned to his armed squadron as he cracked his knuckles: “Let’s create some chaos…”
***
Twilight and her friends reached the door that lead to the hall containing the elements of harmony when they heard it: a blood curdling scream soon drowned out by the rattling of the incoming Changeling swarm.
“CHAAAARRRRGGGEEEE!!!” cried Discord’s booming voice, leading a silver sea of Pegasus guards that came crashing down upon the black sheet of Changelings. Rainbow Dash turned her head just in time to see a familiar face of a light blue Pegasus stallion looking at her from afar, reflected in the moonlight. Soarin’ nodded at her as he gave her a slight smile, he twisted in mid air, and was lost amongst the squad of attacking guards, sounding a battle cry.
Rainbow hovered in the same spot, staring at the point which Soarin’ disappeared. She felt the desire to fly in after him, join in the fight. However, she restrained herself. She shook her head and zoomed into the hall to join her friends. She had higher priorities.
Twilight levitated each Element of Harmony onto their respective bearer’s necks. She threw down her crown and placed the Element of Magic on her head in its place.
“Ok girls, I don’t know what we’re in for, but just be careful. I - I don’t want to lose another member of my family tonight”
“You be careful too Twilight” said Rarity gently, putting a hoof on her shoulder, “they’ll be targeting you more than us. And we don’t want to be losing you either.”
“Oh girls” said Twilight, and the six ponies embraced each other, never wanting to let go. But when they did, Twilight took a deep breath and looked at her friends, a fire blazing in her heart: “Let’s do this”.
And the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony galloped off into the moonlight. They had a squadron of their own to rally.