//------------------------------// // Taking Canterlot: part 1 // Story: Destiny Book 1: Dark Vengeance // by SirScribe //------------------------------// ‘Call in an army’? Sure, Twilight will send out a scroll to her brother and all her contacts across Equestria and organize a well-planned coup against the four overlords of the country. With one a Changeling queen who is bent on feeding her hives with all the love in Equestria, an alicorn who only wishes to have the ponies of the realm respect her eternal night, a unicorn who rose from the dead and learned the remaining 1,000,000 words in the English language and a snake-like trickster who absolutely hates organization, a coup would be easy for the Princess of Friendship to plan. For some strange reason, it actually was easy. Thanks to the Doctor, many of Shining’s royal guards were found and unhypnotised. With more than enough to take back the Empire, the prince waited for his wife to finish the conversation she was having with the Time Lord. Thanks to a spell in his library, the Doctor had given the royal family the right spell to send messages via magical links. This made it easier minus the baby dragon who used to send letters to Celestia from the 6. Outside the borders of the Crystal Empire, Cadence sighed as she reviewed the Doctor’s plan. “Are you sure about this? We have found the Heart, and it may not be possible to restore it,” Cadence said. “King Sombra only has a hold as long as he is in the Empire. Right now, he isn’t. If you can get to the Crystal Heart and cast the right spell on it, you should prevent it from being cursed in the event he tries to return. Just keep it within your magical hold until I give the word. When that happens, activate it,” the Doctor said. Cadence sighed. “Very well. How are my sister-in-law’s friends? Have they all been recovered?” “Yes, and they are eager to get some payback for Sombra’s little stunt. Believe me, Canterlot is falling tonight.” The Princess of Love smiled. “Fantastic. We will be waiting for your cue.” “Good.” Meanwhile in Canterlot Castle, Sombra untwisted his tail and cursed as Discord laughed his snake-like butt off. He had dragged the king of shadows halfway across Equestria without realizing it, then took the longest route possible just to bring him back to Canterlot. Chrysalis also tried suppressing her laughter while Sombra cursed the god of Chaos. “Through the Unicorn Range, Discord? You had to drag me through that damn range?!” Sombra boomed. “I’m trying to have some fun here, in case you are unaware. See, I got Chrysalis to laugh at you behind your back and Nightmare has only made eye contact at me. I succeeded in making this boring takeover interesting!” Discord said as he continued to laugh. “You should’ve seen your face when we flew into the desert!” “A cactus! You flew me straight into a bucking cactus!” Sombra raged. “Go pull pricks out of your ass,” Discord remarked. Sombra snorted. The Changeling queen shook her head. “I was not laughing behind your back, in case you want me to make that clear,” she said. “Thank you.” “I was quietly chuckling at the cactus needles sticking out of your flank,” she said. Discord lost it. He continued to laugh as Sombra charged his horn. With a blast of dark magic, Sombra’s one tooth turned into goo. Discord stopped when he realized he was choking on his tooth. With a snap of his claw, his running tooth hardened and returned to normal. Sombra smiled as Discord gave him a disgusted look. Then, he smiled as he realized that Sombra pulled a joke on the god of Chaos. Chrysalis smiled as she sipped her beverage. Her servant, the baby dragon Spike, had given her a tea found in Celestia’s private kitchen. A kitchen, she later found out, filled with various cake recipes, including something called the MMMM. She had no idea what it was, but if Celestia were to return, she would go to this recipe. She hid it in the vegetable drawer in Luna’s kitchen. “Dear dragon, bring me more tea!” “Yes mistress,” Spike said. Discord looked at the two interacting. While he made his choice to take Equestria over, he felt almost guilty of doing so in the first place. That small part of his mind screamed at him, telling him to go back and fix everything, but he knew that was impossible. All the villains in the room would rip him apart should he suddenly turn his back on them. A bright light illuminated the room which they were all in. Nightmare Moon appeared, and she was not in a pleasant mood. “Discord, you have some explaining to do,” she said. “Hot chocolate volcanoes were not my idea entirely. I found it enjoyable after a pony said that chocolate milk rain was not considered chaotic,” Discord said. “Not that! Wait, what?” Chrysalis looked over at the god of Chaos. “Hot chocolate volcanoes?” Discord shrugged. “It’s a popular beverage in the winter, but its spring right now.” Chrysalis face-hoofed. “Anyway, I’m talking about the walls of Canterlot. There are a bunch of ponies out there calling for you.” Sombra raised an eyebrow. “Ponies know about you?” Discord chuckled. “Yeah, um, I may’ve had some contact with the residents of Ponyville in the past. They may know more about me than I let on," he said. Blood started to rush to Nightmare’s head. “YOU SOFT-HEARTED FOOL! YOU ALLOWED YOURSELF TO GROW WITH THEM?!” “Like I had a choice! It was either be released from stone and conform to them, or remain in my prison and you all would’ve never been here, drinking the golden drink that is victory!” “I’m going to pretend you didn’t compare our victory to a golden drink,” Nightmare said. “Just get out there and deal with this!” Discord rolled his eyes and teleported to the outer walls of the city. When he appeared before his pony citizens, he was almost nailed with an empty tin can. The can, somehow, was thrown with a stone in it. The draconiquus smirked at the weapon and looked over. It appeared as though all of Ponyville came to the city. The god of Chaos scanned the city. He smiled as he noticed the Mayor of Ponyville leading the crowd. “Discord! Can you hear us?!” “NO!” he responded. Nopony cracked a smile. “Discord, we demand that you open the walls of the city! We want our princesses back!” Discord laughed at the Mayor’s demand. “And what will you do if I don’t!” “Then we will come in ourselves!” Discord froze. That wasn’t the Mayor. On the ground, ponies parted like the Red Sea, and two ponies took the front. One of them was Trixie without her magician’s hat. The other was a pony with a snow-white coat and an electric blue mane. The pony wore a pair of magenta glasses and had a wild grin on her face. The draconiquus smirked. “Trixie Lulamoon. I see you formally declined my invitation to the party. I see you also made your choice when it came to unlimited power!” Trixie sighed. “Trixie made her choice a long time ago, Discord! Trixie chose her fellow ponyfolk over you fake gods! Trixie will not force her brothers and sisters to bow to her again, not after the Alicorn Amulet scandal that tarnished her image.” “You tarnished it a long time ago, Mediocre and Weak Trixie. Besides, what power do you have to burst through this wall?” Trixie’s strength in her stance nearly diminished. Twilight had asked for her help, even though she had little legitimate power, but damn it all to Celestia she was going to do whatever she could. She reformed her stance and smiled. “This time, Trixie does not have the power to bust through. Trixie would like to introduce a pony who had a similar beginning as Trixie. A very old friend of mine, whether you believe it or not. Behold the DJ Pon3, Vinyl Scratch!” Vinyl cheered as her name echoed up the wall. “Thank you for having me, Trixie!” “Trixie is honored to have you here!” Vinyl laughed. Discord laughed harder, and that grabbed the pony’s attention. “You brought a DJ to break these walls? Oh that’s rich! What is she going to do, spin some tracks?!” he laughed at his own joke. “This is DJ-Pon3 and I am here to say: tear down this wall! My lyrics don’t rhyme ‘cause don’t you see, I have no real musical talent!” The DJ’s smile faltered. She was just insulted. “My friend Trixie, I need your help. I need the black suitcase that’s back there.” Trixie smiled. “The Great and Powerful Trixie will fetch your black suitcase.” Discord laughed even harder. “If you get it quick, maybe she’ll toss you a bone!” Trixie disappeared into the crowd, and later returned with the case that Vinyl wanted. The DJ thanked the magician as she set the case down. The draconiquus looked down at the case. It was a long and rectangular suitcase, and it looked like it weighed a ton. The DJ smiled up at the god of Chaos. She unclicked the locks on the suitcase and waited for Discord to stop laughing. He looked down at the DJ. “And what, pray tell, is that?” Vinyl smiled. “Oh, it’s nothing special—” The lid flew open as Vinyl hoisted herself on two hooves. Using her magic, Vinyl lifted the object inside. It appeared to be a minigun in structure. It had two record players attached to both sides along with dual speakers. The barrel of the weapon was long and painted white like the owner. The two chambers at the end were stereos. Using her magic, she locked two mechanisms to her hooves and raised the barrel of the gun at the wall. “It’s just my Bass Cannon!” With a flick of a switch, the weapon charged up. The two records on the sides started turning as a song began playing. When the bass dropped, however, the walls of Canterlot were blown apart by a wave of pure energy. The bass escalated as the energy blast impacted the wall. Discord and a few other guards were sent packing as the concrete wall caved in. Vinyl’s newest track began playing as more of the wall fell. Discord screamed as he flew through the air. The Draconiquus turned to the reader with a confused expression. "I thought she was a mute!" Trixie reared up with her horn charged up. “CHARGE!” All the ponies in Ponyville roared in response, and they all stormed the city. Slowly following the crowd was the DJ continuing to fire her Bass Cannon at the structures within that were built by the Shadow Ponies. Discord teleported to safety, but he knew that nowhere in the city would be safe. He looked up into the sky, and it was filled with Pegasi flying in from Cloudsdale. The draconiquus did a double take when he noticed some of the Pegasi carried unicorns with them. Without a second to think, Discord teleported back into the throne room with the other 3. Sombra screamed as Canterlot was quickly filled. Legions of Shadow Ponies and Changelings met with the rebellion, but were quickly overtaken by them. Nightmare Moon growled as she grabbed one of the Shadow Ponies nearby. “RAISE THE SHIELD OVER THE THRONE ROOM! DENY ANY ATTEMPT AT TELEPORTATION!” “Y-yes your majesty!” Chrysalis immediately grabbed Discord. “You promised me victory!” Discord raised his claw and paw up in innocence. “This was not something I foresaw!” “You swore there would be no resistance! How am I supposed to get what I want when there is a rebellion?!” Suddenly, a magical window opened in front of Sombra. “Your Majesty, the Crystal Empire is under attack! It’s Shining Armor and Princess Cadence! We need reinforcements!” Another window opened in front of Chrysalis. “Mother Chrysalis, Appleloosa has fallen. We request assistance!” Another opened. “Mistress Nightmare, Manehattan has fallen! We’re getting slaughtered out here! We need reinforcements!” Discord gulped hard. Chrysalis walked toward the window of the throne room. She watched as her Changelings were overrun by the ponies. She scanned the horizon, and her heart dropped. She could swear, that in the distance, a familiar blue box was flying through the sky. Behind the blue box was a swarm of Pegasi and unicorns. The city below was already overrun. Chrysalis shook her head. “It’s him! It’s the Destroyer! The Dark Lord is here!” Sombra looked over. “What are you talking about?!” “My kingdom! In the old days, my hive was once an empire. We rose to take all of Equestria and feast on their love long before those Sirens did. He stopped us! He destroyed my clans and forced us to hide in shame!” Discord produced some binoculars and trained them on the box. “The Dark Lord has returned! The Destroyer of the Changeling Regime! The Doctor is here!” And headed straight toward them.