Outside the hallway, a full company of Royal Guard Stood at the ready, prepared to head into battle. They could hear, moments ago, the sounds of vicious fighting from the entrance to the castle and had rushed in to engage the threat to the princesses. Now, all they heard was silence and the crackling of small fires just around the corner from them.
Lieutenant Dusty Spearhead did not want this. He only joined the Royal Guard because his grandfather expected it from him, and to help pay for college. He never hoped to see action, but now it seemed that he would be seeing some very intense action within the next few moments. And from how it was sounding, it could easily be his last and only action.
Even with the terror he felt inside, he knew that he had his duty to Equestria and to the princesses. He would do as he was sworn to do.
Poking his head around the corner, the sight he saw only scared him further. The hallway leading to the Throne Room was a total wreck, and the Throne Room itself was in even worse shape. He could see many bodies littering the confines of the room beyond the demolished entrance. And then he saw Twilight walking down the hall towards him. Only this was not the same Princess Twilight Sparkle he had seen before on several occasions. This Twilight was nearly as tall as Princess Celestia, and she positively radiated that same power.
Sweet Luna, did Princess Twilight truly cause all of this? The first thing he noticed was the way she carried herself, especially how her expression matched one of a ruthless brute walking toward her next victim. He could only imagine what she would do if he were to order his personnel to engage against her. The thought of flies came to mind. But he has his duty to Princess Celestia.
He thought he’d caught a lick of movement when he pulled back behind the wall. Another peek downrange confirmed it. Near the opposite end of the Throne Room, he could see Princess Celestia was in fact alive, but she appeared to be injured. Damn, this changes things drastically. It was imperative, at all costs, that he got his troops to the Throne Room and secure the safety of Princess Celestia.
Just before he ducked back again, he made eye contact with Twilight. Mother of Celestia! Those eyes! He knew right then and there that if he were to engage with Princess Twilight, he and the whole company would be obliterated.
“What is the plan, L.T.?” asked First Sergeant Silverwing. “From the look on your face, I’m guessing that we’d be screwed if there is a battle?”
“Princess Celestia is alive. Getting her safe is the top priority. Problem is that it appears that Princess Twilight is the coming down the hall, and it looks like she just killed a hundred or more guards. How in Tartarus will we get past her? Any suggestions, Sarge?” Dusty asked. He uttered a quick, quiet prayer that the pony he trusted the most could come up with something, and fast.
“How about we just let her pass, Sir? Maybe if we all just stand aside, and not do a thing to threaten her, she will just walk on by, letting us secure the Throne Room, and get the Princess to safety,” Silverwing suggested. “We can send a Pegasus right now back to those behind us of our plan, and have him tell them what we have found.” To Silverwing, this seemed the only possible choice. If it worked, they lived, and they would be able to help Princess Celestia, and any other survivors they found. And if it did not work... Well, maybe Princess Twilight would be kind enough to make their deaths quick and painless.
This is why Dusty valued First Sergeant Silverwing so much. He knew he could rely on his wisdom and quick thinking to save the day. “You heard the Sergeant! We’re letting her pass unmolested. Get into position, everypony!” he commanded. “Private Flare, head back immediately and inform the Captain the situation.”
As Private Flare galloped down the hall, another private, and Earth Pony new to the guard, asked, “Do we salute, Sir?”
“Unless you foals want to piss of the Alicorn that just killed off at least a company’s worth of highly capable veteran guards, I’d suggest it,” Silverwing chided the private.
At that moment, Twilight turned the corner. As she did so, the Lieutenant barked out the command, and every soldier raised their right hoof in salute to her. Walking between the two ranks of Royal Guard along the walls, her gaze shifted left and right, taking note that every single one of them seemed very afraid of her. It was fortunate for them that they had leadership intelligent enough to not get in her way.
When she got to the end of the two rows of troops, she stopped, and without turning, she told them, “There are survivors in there. If you’re smart, you’ll focus on your wounded and not on me.” With those words, she continued on her way.
Dusty wasted no time. On his command, his troops formed back up and they double-timed into the Throne Room. If things looked bad to them in the main hallway, it looked even worse inside the room. A quick look around told Dusty that there would be a lot of funerals soon. The carnage was worse than anything he had ever seen in his life. Stallions and mares were strewn all over the Throne Room, most of them unmoving. There were survivors though.
“Corporal Hearts, take a fire team and check on Princess Luna. Sergeant Still Waters, grab a fire team and check Prince Shining Armor. Sergeants Stone Cutter and Forest, pick two teams, and come with the First Sergeant and I. The rest of you, check for survivors.” As the guards rush to do as instructed, Dusty and Silverwing, along with those detailed to them, headed over to where Celestia and Cadence lay.
When they got to Princess Celestia, they found her quietly sobbing while she laid on the floor. Having seen enough injuries on the Guard training grounds, as well as playing hoofball on school, Silverwing recognized the dislocated hip immediately. He quickly detailed Stone Cutter to tend to her while Forest went to Princess Cadance’s assistance. Silverwing noticed something else as well. Neither princess had their cutie mark. Something told him that he would find the same lack of a cutie mark on Princess Luna as well. So, it would seem that the scuttlebutt floating around the Guard barracks may be true, that Princess Twilight had somehow taken the magic from the other princesses, and had gone rogue. This was some seriously bad news, if it turned out to be true.
Dusty noticed the same thing, but kept quiet about it as he kneeled next to Celestia. “Your Highness, we need to get you to the Royal Infirmary to have your hip checked and fixed. It’s been dislocated, but I’m sending for medical teams now.”
Celestia looked up at him and said, “Go tend to the others, they need your help more than I do.” She laid her head back down. She just wished to be alone in her shame and sorrow. She felt that she had failed Equestria, and more importantly, she felt that she had failed Twilight. “They deserve the help more,” she added, almost at a whisper.
“I have others already helping them, Princess. Please, let us help you,” he asked of her. When she nodded her head giving her permission, the medic went to work stabilizing her leg and hip.
“Your Highness, I’m going to give you a painkiller for your dislocated hip,” Stone Cutter informs her before injecting her hip with an ampulet of morphine. “It should help some, until we can get you moved to the infirmary.”
Seconds later, a couple guards informed the Lieutenant of the status of the other two princesses and Shining Armor. “Princess Cadenza has a broken foreleg, but other than that, she appears uninjured. Sergeant Forest is applying a splint to her injury as we speak. Still Waters says that Prince Shining Armor appears to have a couple of broken ribs, but also has a head injury that will most likely leave him with a nasty concussion.”
Hearing this, Celestia raises her head, asking, “What of my sister? Is she okay?”
Corporal Dancing Dead delivering the news, looked crestfallen as he spoke next. “Your Highness, it’s her back.”
With fresh tears and trembling lips, Princess Celestia demands that she be brought to Luna. “I do not care how, just get me to her. Please,” she pleads with them, desperate to be with her sister.
The First Sergeant calls a few Unicorns over, and tells them what they need to do. When they are ready, they call upon their magic to lift the princess, and Silverwing carefully helped keeping her leg steady and still by supporting it with his wing as the other three carry Celestia over to her sister. They get to her just as the first medical teams from the infirmary arrive with stretchers.
When they set Celestia down, Luna looks over to her sister. Reaching out with a forehoof, she sobs, “I can’t feel my hind legs, Tia.”
~ ~ ~
When Private Flare delivered his message to the Captain of the Royal Guard, the decision was quickly made that Princess Twilight would be allowed to pass unmolested. To gather enough forces that would be sufficient to even come close to stopping her, or even survive the attempt, would take more time than they would have. Squads were sent out to watch here, and to report in on her actions, but they were given specific instructions to take no further actions unless it was to save an innocent life. Star Caster, Captain of the Royal Guard, could only hope that Twilight left the city quickly, and without causing any further damage of loss of life.
As Twilight left the Castle grounds, she took note of the Guard squads watching her every move. They seemed to hold no intention of attacking her, but she was prepared, just in case.
Down the street, about ten minutes away by hoof at a normal walking pace, was her destination. The House of Nobles, where the numerous minor princes and princesses held Congress. They formed the half of the government which primarily made the laws in Equestria, and served to balance the power that the Alicorn princesses wielded over the nation.
Her reason for heading there was to make it known of the changes which she will be implementing. She did not look forward to this, chiefly because the majority of the dukes and duchesses were pompous flanks with about as much common sense collectively as a turnip. Still, they could potentially cause headaches with what she had planned, and it is possible that Celestia could rally them behind her as a means to try to stop the change of leadership.
There was a very real risk of that happening too. The minor nobles in Equestria generally preferred the status quo, and would be quick to bicker, fight, and generally spend their time creating a tangled web around anything which threatened that.
That was something she would have to change.
Walking up the steps to the House of Nobles, Twilight noted that the guards just outside the door looked nervous enough to jump out of their own skin. They most likely had no idea what to expect, considering that word had to have gotten to them about the battle within Canterlot Castle.
The word had gotten to them, as well as the instructions to not interfere with her in any way, and to show the proper honors due a princess of Equestria. When Twilight reached the top of the stairs, the two guards opened the doors for her and rendered as crisp salutes as their fear filled trembling allowed for.
“Sweet Luna, did you see her eyes?” said the Pegasus guard after Twilight had passed. “She looks like she is possessed!” The mare decided there and then that she would not be re-enlisting when her tour was completed. Maybe I should talk with my cousin in Ponyville about joining the weather team. Thunderlane says it’s a nice place, she thinks to herself.
It was much the same all the way to the Chambers of the Noble Senate, where Twilight could already hear the heated debate going on when she focused her magic to nullify the magic privacy screen and augment her hearing. She decided she wanted to hear what they were debating about.
She was also hungry. Without turning her attention away, she sent one of the guard ponies by the hall door to go get her a sandwich. He was quick to comply, nearly tripping over himself to appease her.
As she waited for her food, she listens in through the closed door. Apparently, they had been instructed to evacuate once things exploded in the Throne Room. The refused, of course, and instead, they were arguing over what the events meant. Also thrown around was speculation on the rumors that Princesses Celestia, Luna and Cadence were without their power, and they of course argued about this too.
Nobles… about as useful as a parasprite, and about as likely to ruin anything that touched their hooves.
Listening further, she heard more news. Apparently, the secret that Celestia hoped would remain a secret was no longer so. Scuttlebutt and rumors is all the nobles had heard so far, but it was enough for them to piece things together. From what Twilight heard, a couple of the nobles had been inside the Throne Room when the other princesses had returned from Tartarus upon Tirek’s death. Always on the lookout for new ways to weaken the stance of the ruling princesses in order to strengthen their own positions, the lack of any cutie marks confirmed that they had not received their powers back when every other pony in Equestria had.
She continued to listen in while she ate her meal, which had just arrived. So, Duke Obsidian seems to be the one rallying the the dissenters away from the princesses, while Prince Blueblood and Duke Fancy Pants are rallying support for Celestia, she thought. She was not surprised. Obsidian was always hungry for power, and would not hesitate to place a dagger in anypony’s back, if it would further his cause. He also had quite a few followers, all hoping for their share if he were to eventually rule over the Kingdom. He might make a useful ally, though one whom would have to be watched closely. Twilight knew very well that Obsidian would not hesitate to place a sharp blade between her wings if he saw an opportunity.
The fact that Blueblood and Fancy Pants were strongly supportive of Celestia, Luna and Cadance was of no surprise. Blueblood was always a staunch supporter of the Princess Celestia, even when he was being a complete pain in the flank, or worse, a cowardly moronic fool. That and the fact that he currently held the position of House of Noble’s Leader, made him potentially the one to be most worried about. Celestia would rely on him the most to keep the House inline with her through this.
The fact that there was bitter blood between Blueblood and her only strengthened her resolve to deal with him.
Fancy Pants supporting Celestia was expected, whereas he had always supported her, even before he was christened as a duke for his works at improving the lives of ponies all over Equestria. Even though he had only been a duke for less than a year, he had a lot of influence, and if he could be swayed over to her side, he would be an invaluable asset. The problem being that he was not a pony known for changing sides, or for one that could be pressured. He was smart though, and maybe Twilight could work with that.
Pushing the doors open, she strode into the room with a purpose. The air about her seemed to shimmer with the power she let flow from her body, and her increased size only added to the effect. The debate going on ceased as all eyes fell on her. She had their full attention.
“I am certain that you noble ponies by now know of the failures of Princess Celestia, which she had inflicted upon our nation time and time again. Furthermore, I know that you are aware of her current state of powerlessness,” she informed them, looking around the gathered nobles, aids, and guards. “You do know my purpose here, today, so I will cut to the chase. As I have told Celestia earlier, the leadership of Equestria will formally and finally change hooves over to me as the presiding Princess. She is to work alongside the House of Nobles in arranging everything so that the transition can proceed smoothly.
“Work with me on this; do not oppose me, and everything can return to normal quickly and efficiently. Stand against me, and you will fall.”
This did not go unanswered. Standing from his seat, Prince Blueblood marched down onto the floor. This was his arena, and Twilight Sparkle had crossed the line on his home turf. In his mind, it was time to put her in her place. “You uncouth upstart! How dare you barge on in here as if you were Princess Celestia, herself! This place is above your stature, and you are not welcome in these hallowed halls. You will not receive any support from any noble in this House,” he told her, standing not a foreleg’s length away from her. With a snort of righteous contempt, he added, “I would not have expected this from you, Twilight Sparkle. Your traitorous acts have sullied your family name, and you have betrayed the trust of Equestria. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”
Twilight did not bother to even glance at him. To her, Blueblood was nothing more than a gnat buzzing around a dead body. Actually, she mused to herself, that is not a bad description of him, politically. “You’re starting to annoy me, Blueblood. I suggest that you sit back down, and consider your options, before you run out of opportunities to do so,” she replied, absentmindedly. Turning around, she moved to walk out of the room.
By now, Prince Blueblood’s two personal bodyguards had joined him, realizing that their boss might be in danger. Powerfully built Unicorns themselves, both taller and more muscled than Big Macintosh Apple, they looked like they could have taken on the whole Changeling army themselves, and walked away eating a bowl of bug soup. And they had smarts too, to back up their brawn and magic abilities. They had seen the look in her eyes, and they could feel the power she radiated. They sensed that Princess Twilight was a dangerous opponent, but they also were loyal to the stallion who paid them. If they even thought they saw any threat to Blueblood, they would respond immediately, and with lethal force. “Prince, shall we let her go?” one of them asked.
“Arrest her!” demanded the incensed prince, pointing his hoof at Twilight.
His bodyguards responded to the order immediately, both sending out bolts of energy towards her head in an effort to take her out swiftly. They did not take into account the heightened reflexes which came with her augmented power, and she had just as quickly brought up a shield spell, deflecting the potentially fatal bolts fired from their horns.
Twilight’s anger flared inside of her, and her eyes immediately glowed a bright red as she grabbed one of the guard’s horns with her magic, and violently ripped it from his skull. As he fell to the floor with a blood curdling scream of mindless agony, Twilight turned to the other, and used the removed horn as a dagger to his throat, killing him with barely a thought.
The few Royal Guard within the room responded as they were trained to do, and that was to attack any threat within their assigned area. A total of four guards leaped at her with their spears, which she brushed aside effortlessly. When they continued their attacks on her, she ruthlessly cut them down.
The guard ponies outside the door rushed in at this point, and they were immediately hit with a magic blast. The Pegasus guard was hit square in the chest by the blast, and the explosive force of the energy released from Twilight’s horn crumpled the armored mare like an apple under a stallion’s hoof. The other guard, an Earth Pony private was caught by the edge of the bolt, and knocked aside to land several feet away from his dead fellow guard pony. Unable to do anything, he curled up, trembling in terror.
Twilight now turned her focus back to Blueblood, who just stood there in utter shock. Never before had he witnessed such violence, and it scared him to the core. When the enraged Alicorn approached him again, his back legs gave out from under him from the horror he felt. Princess Twilight’s eyes had turned into glowing, red orbs, and her mane and tail seemed to be flowing with dark energy on their own accord. He was able to get out one terrified cry before her right hoof jabbed violently into his throat. Prince Blueblood’s adam’s apple crushed with a sickening pop, and he collapsed to the floor, unable to breath through the ruined trachea, drowning in the blood that started to pour into his lungs from the ruptured carotid artery that the blow caused.
With the biggest threat in the room to her rule removed from the picture, she wheeled around and walked back to the lone surviving guard. Rage boiled within her blood, and she wished for more blood. This guard had foolishly attempted to stop her, and he would pay for what he did. They would ALL pay for what they did. Ignoring his desperate pleas for mercy, begging to not be killed, she lifted his spear from the floor, and put it to his neck.
“PRINCESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE! STOP THIS MADNESS IMMEDIATELY!”
Turning her head to the sound, she found that it was none other than Fancy Pants that had raised his voice to her, making demands of her that he had no right to make. Forgetting about the lone remaining guard, she walked over to the newest Equestrian noble, carrying the spear in her magic with her. She did not have to walk far, whereas he was already on the floor, and marching to her like a soldier would. He finally came to a stop when she raised the spear to his throat, just under his chin.
“Kill me now, Princess, and all of your plans will come tumbling down upon you in ruin,” he bravely told her. Though he wasunable to hide his fear, he pushed it aside to do what he saw as his duty. Pressing the advantage his words gave him, he continued, “What happened to that wonderful, young mare I met a few years ago? Where did she go?” he asks her, trying to get past her anger and to the mare he once knew, even if only for a short time.
“That mare died when Tirek took Spike from me.”
There was an audible gasp of dismay from the other side of the room. Twilight turned to the sound, and found her mother there, a look of sorrowful shock on her face. walking over to her, Twilight informed her of the sad new. “It’s true. Spike is dead, Mother. He was killed due to Celestia’s failure to stop Tirek when she had the chance.” Twilight’s mane and tail returned to normal, as her rage dissipated. Her eyes remained changed; though they no longer glowed brightly, they remained crimson.
“Forgive me, Mother, for what I must do. I cannot allow any more of her failures to continue to threaten this land. I must go now, but I shall return soon.”
When Twilight left, Dutchess Twilight Velvet was left to deal with her grief alone. None of the other nobles would have anything to do with her, for it was her own daughter that had caused so much destruction and death in Canterlot on this day, and she knew that Twilight was lost to her as well.
~ ~ ~
It had been a tense twenty four hours for Princess Celestia. They had quickly gotten her sister to the infirmary, and from there, to Canterlot General where they had a surgeon who specialized in back injuries. Princess Luna’s back was treated to the very best the doctors and nurses could provide, but without the Alicorn magic, Luna’s back could not be healed fully, and unless her magic was returned to her, and soon, then she would never walk again.
Her own hip had been healed enough that she could walk, though it did still hurt to do so. Princess Cadance was regulated to a wheelchair for the time being. Her foreleg had been badly broken, and it would take time to heal enough that she could safely walk on it. Shining Armor was doing well enough, having had his ribs healed, and the concussion treated.
This was on top of having to deal with the aftermath of what Twilight had done. The death toll for the day was over a hundred, including Prince Blueblood, and General Ironside. Not only that, but now Canterlot was in near chaos, and she was barely able to hold onto her position as Princess with the loss of her power.
“So, it is true that she killed Prince Blueblood?” Princess Luna asked Celestia. Though she was in great pain, she had only accepted the minimum of painkillers, so that she could keep her head clear. “This is not good at all. He was one of our strongest supporters, and with him gone, I fear that Duke Obsidian will make a powerplay, and soon.” Obsidian was one of the first of the nobles to welcome Luna back when she had returned those four years ago. It had been quickly established, though, that he was doing this for the sole purpose of currying favor with the younger Princess, in hopes that he might drive a wedge between the two of them, and step in to claim the throne. Both Celestia and Luna quickly nipped that one in the bud, and had been watchful of him ever since.
Prince Blueblood had been much slower to trust Luna, though he accepted her, as it was Celestia’s wish, and that was enough for him. And with his acceptance, and eventual support, he had gotten most of the other nobles to accept her as well. That support may well have gone up in smoke with the death of the prince.
“Don’t worry about such things right now, Luna. You need to rest, to give yourself as much chance to heal,” Celestia gently told her sister.
“That will not do me one bit of good, Tia, if we are unable to convince Twilight to return our power. I know the score, dear sister, and we both know what will have to be done.”
Shining Armor had been sitting with his wife, listening in on the conversation, and he too, knew what would end up being the outcome. It would go one of two ways. His sister would win, and thus Equestria would fall within a year as a result of the inner turmoil and outside forces taking advantage of a greatly weakened nation. The other other possible outcome would be that the Princess would win, but there was only one possible way that they could do so. He could not bring himself to think of that outcome. “Twilight will not give back your magic,” he somberly informs the three Princesses. “I just wish I knew WHY Twilie did this. Why would she turn on you, and kill so many like she did? She is not the same sister I knew.”
“I do not know the answer to that, Prince Shining Armor,” Princess Celestia said to him.
“DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE lie to my husband, Aunt Celestia!” Cadance yelled from her chair. Rising to her hooves, she hobbled over to her aunt getting muzzle to muzzle with her before she continued, “We discussed what could possibly happen if Twilight were to accept our powers, and yet, Luna and I agreed with you that we had to take that risk. Why not tell him what really happened to his sister, Celestia?” she demanded.
Celestia sighed, not looking forward to telling him this, but too many lies had been told, and now, it was all coming back to bite her in her now bare flank. “Have you ever heard the phrase, ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’? There is a real reason behind that phrase, Prince Shining Armor. When Discord betrayed us and allied himself with Tirek, I realized that Tirek would not stop until he had everypony’s power, including us Alicorns. At that point, we had a decision to make. The four of us could jointly attack him, and maybe overpower him, but there was a strong possibility that he might defeat one of us and take the fallen one’s power. If even one of us four were to fall, then it would be all over, because he would become strong enough that the remaining three would be insufficient to stop him, and all of Equestria would fall.
“The other choice would be that Twilight would be given our power, and from there, go into hiding. We were fairly certain that he did not know that there was a fourth Alicorn princess, and even if he did find out, she would be able to hide long enough to be able to pick and choose the time and place where she would defeat him. Unfortunately, there was a risk involved with that. When a Unicorn or Alicorn has an extreme level of power within them, it can cause the pony’s mind to become… unstable. It can even lead to an magic overload, which can be permanently damaging, or even fatal.”
Shining Armor was floored by this revelation. “You mean to tell me that you KNEW this shit could happen? You knew that Twilight might not be able to handle the increased power, but you did not say a damn thing?” He could feel his own rage building up inside at Princess Celestia, knowing that the Princess knew the danger but had kept silent to that. “Maybe the accusations my sister claimed are actually true. If it was not for the fact that Equestria would most likely collapse and fall within a year’s time if Twilight wins, then I myself would be demanding that you step down!” he yelled at her. Cadance tried to calm him, but he just shrugged her off.
Princess Celestia could not look the former Captain in the eye, she felt that much shame. “Had I chose to go after Tirek myself, or even send Luna or Twilight, instead of sending Discord, then none of this would have happened. In that, Twilight is right,” she said, feeling the leaden weight of her remorse upon her soul. She turned to walk out of the hospital room, but Shining armor stopped her.
“Don’t you DARE turn from me right now, Celestia!” he demanded as he grabbed her by her shoulder, pulling her around.
“I highly suggest that you remember just whom it is you are speaking to, Prince Shining Armor,” Celestia replied, her temper suddenly flaring.
“Do not try that with me, Celestia,” snorted out the Prince. “You no longer have the right to lord over me in that manner. I am no longer your Guard captain. I am now the Prince of the Crystal Empire, itself a separate nation unto it’s own, and therefor, you and I are equals,” he informs her as he would a junior Lieutenant who had messed up back when he was Captain of the Royal Guard. “The ONLY reason I have not walked out the door and left for the Crystal Empire is due to the fact that I still have feelings of loyalty to the citizens of Equestria. Whereas they are in jeopardy due to YOUR failures, I feel personally honor bound to stay and help correct this situation. So, I suggest that YOU remember just whom it is that you are speaking with, and mind your OWN manners, Princess.”
Cadance just sat there in tears, feeling powerless to do anything. On the one hoof, she felt she should be backing her husband in this, whereas he was right in what he was saying. But she also felt a strong loyalty to her aunt. On top of all this, she too knew just what will have to be done in order for them to have their magic returned to them, and she was not prepared to have to pay that price. Even after all of this, she loved Twilight Sparkle as if she were her own sister, and not just her sister-in-law.
“Tia, Shining, please stop fighting,” Luna asks them from her hospital bed. “We will all fall if we cannot work together in this. Please, no more fighting amongst ourselves.”
The room fell silent as they heard a knock on the door. When told to enter, a guard Sergeant entered, bearing a scroll for Princess Celestia. When she finished reading, she looked to the others and informed them of what she had just read. “It seems that we have more problems. Duke Obsidian has left Canterlot for Ponyville, along with numerous other nobles. Going with them was General Oak Leaf, whom I had appointed to replace General Ironside. He took the whole Equestrian Guard Division stationed here in Canterlot with him. They’re defecting to Princess Twilight’s side in this.”
The others grew silent upon hearing this. They knew that with the defection of a whole Division over to Twilight’s side in the oncoming conflict, the odds against them just grew that much greater.
“All is not lost, though. I had sent for somepony who would be able to help us. She should be able to get past Twilight’s formidable power advantage, and prevent Equestria from falling in defeat,” Celestia informed them. “Please, come on in, Zecora.”