Silence!” Twilight shouted. “The next of you to challenge my decree I will personally exile from this court!”
The large chamber was finally silent. The Queen of Equestria stood at the center podium where Celestia and Luna used to give their announcements to the court chamber. Over a hundred legislators and spectators would listen in. Not this time, however. The court was different now. It had begun to shift ever since the royal sisters left. It was late and only the legislators affected by the issue were present - of which there were still plenty.
Whoa, Nelly, Applejack gulped in the hivemind. She could feel Twilight's anger even though she was across the city in the marketplace.
Twilight had been in the court for hours, arguing back and forth with dozens of the legislators who had been fighting against her orders involving Cloudsdale's new weather distribution plan. What had once been a narrowly avoided disaster was now becoming a slightly different problem with very similar consequences.
One thickset teal mare spoke up anyways. She was one of the dissenting ponies who had been involved with the last Cloudsdale crisis. “You have no legal standing to do so and threatening of this court is completely out of line! I move that the court remove Ms. Twilight Sparkle's privileges as overseerer and head speaker of this chamber! She is clearly not fit for the role.”
It didn't escape Twilight's notice that her title of Queen was intentionally left out. Chrysalis had been waiting outside, but now entered with Direway and Midnight Strike. The hivemind motivated their actions due to Twilight's influence, though each would have come in on their own. They had been listening in on the rising tone of the chamber all along.
“Queen Twilight has full authority as given by Clause-” Blue Moon tried to interject with his small opposition party.
“Out of bounds!” one of United Equestria's Elite's coalition parties pressed. “Such procedure is unregulated! I second a move for reconsideration!”
“The court has ultimate power to override Princess Celestia's Edict of Absence!” another legislator, this time a yellow stallion, added in.
“Treason against our Sacred Sun!” a fourth party leader cried out. He was a member of the court's small but mainstay loyalist party often accused of outright worshipping the old princess. They had enjoyed a recent surge in chamber seats and popularity after Twilight's alicorn ascension, which gave them an entirely new group of enthusiasts.
That was the last straw for the chamber. All members broke out in shouts, complaints, accusations, and insults all at once. Twilight's patience had run its course as well. She was not about to tolerate this late night session devolving into a mad frenzy because of the Elite party's immoral grab for more wealth. After all, that was what this weather plan had been made to rectify in the first place.
Whether because of the humid post-rain air, the exhaustion of the night, or the dozens of insults – direct and otherwise – that had been thrown her way over the past week, Twilight was finally through. Her forehoof pounded the podium with a contained crack of green lightning. Fury was in her heart and every muscle. She stood there in the center of the packed chamber of ponies with the strength of a mare who would bow to none.
“Silver Coin, Golden Chalice, and Sterling Star will be removed from this chamber at once!” Twilight commanded with a boom of her voice.
“How dare you!” Silver Coin shouted back.
Chrysalis started to follow Twilight's two present guards to guide the three legislators out of the court.
Noticing the changeling in the room, one of the other Elite legislators pointed at her. “Changelings are forbidden in the court!”
In no mood for it, Twilight added that pony's name as well. “Shallow Hills will be removed as well!”
The chamber was in a constant uproar at this point. Over a hundred ponies packed in the room were trying to shout over each other to be heard. It was chaos and not of the kind Discord would find amusing. Direway gripped Sterling Star by the shoulder and then by the midsection to haul the resistant and thrashing pony from her legislator's seat.
“Guards!” Sterling called to the six Royal Guards lining the chamber as she was gripped by Direway. “To arms! Protect the court!”
To Twilight's honest surprise, the guards actually obeyed.
“Stand down!” one of the white unicorn guards bellowed as he rushed to Sterling's aid. He readied his spear at Direway. Another did likewise with Midnight Strike while two went for Chrysalis and the remaining ones advanced through the seating aisles to the central stage where Twilight stood at the podium.
Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and her two off-duty guards instantly began rushing towards the court building. Twilight was enraged even more, though. She began to shout her warnings to the chamber guards not to interfere. And then something unexpected happened.
One of the two chamber guards approaching Chrysalis intentionally swung the mid-section of his spear's pole at Chrysalis' neck. The blow, however blunt, sent the tall being falling sideways to the stone floor. Her tough changeling hide protected her, but she still felt the pain from the fall. Somehow, she had allowed herself to be open to the blow upon the assumption that the guards would not actually intend her physical harm.
It was likely the assault that forced Twilight to her next action. Perhaps her fury would have been isolated to the guards if not for the fact that over half the chamber of legislators cheered at Chrysalis' fall. They cheered.
“AAAGH!!” Twilight bellowed with a deep crack of thunder erupting with her outcry. Thick bolts of green and purple lightning shot from her horn. The intense energy caused the papers of the podium to fly in all directions as her mane whipped backwards from the force.
The guard that attacked Chrysalis was hit straight in the chest and sent flying back into the chamber wall where he fell with sparks of crackling energy. The other chamber guards tried to rush to Twilight, but she blasted them all with the same immense force so quickly that the last one never made it into the clearing between the seating rows and the podium.
Ponies screamed in terror as they rushed the door to flee. Some had been singed by the flying bolts. Direway and Midnight Strike gave up on their earlier orders to remove the ponies now that so many wanted to be removed on their own. That was save, of course, for a few minority parties that had been supporting Twilight all along. Blue Moon's Equestrian National Party and Morning Glory's Golden Dawn both remained seated, albeit with a heavy silence and contemplation of the events.
Rainbow Dash burst through the doors, knocking back a dozen legislators that hadn't made it through yet. “Hold the train!” the pegasus glared at them. “Nopony is going anywhere!”
Twilight had leaped with her wings to Chrysalis. Though they exchanged conversation in the hivemind that let the queen know her changeling was alright, Twilight still wanted physical reassurance. She noted the fallen chamber guards were still breathing. Her power had not been fatal.
“Listen up!” she shouted to the ponies trapped between her and Rainbow Dash, who kept pushing back any that tried to make it around her. All those wanting out were of the same Elite party. “One of you is going to tell me who replaced the chamber attachment!”
Twilight knew Storm Sword had staffed the court with loyal guards to prevent this very kind of situation. Somepony had switched the guards and done something with the missing attachment. Where was Storm for that matter? Before she could wonder more, her hivemind informed her of a rapidly unraveling situation outside.
Applejack! Twilight widened her eyes in distress.
“Get off!” the farm mare yelled in her dizzy state.
The two turncoat Guards held her upright on each side by her forehooves while a third readied the blunt end of his spear. She would have easily had the strength to throw them off if one of them hadn't knocked her in the face when she was running around a corner. Her head was still spinning.
Thankfully, before the third guard could do anything more, he and the other two were sent flying in a variety of directions after being hit by unusual arcs of green lightning. They lacked Twilight's power but they were still quite effective. Pinkie Pie landed with a loud hum of her wing turbines just as Applejack fell back to all four hooves and shook the dizziness from her eyes.
“I owe you one, Pinks,” Applejack groaned and touched her sore head.
Pinkie Pie, however, was not wearing her usual smile. She frowned deeply and looked around frantically. “Not good. Not good,” she repeated and pranced in place with her mechanical wings and horn. “Got to go. Got to go!”
A blast of energy from the turbines on her shoulders sent her careening back into the air and whipped AJ's mane and tail back from the force. The legislators that had escaped the courthouse were shouting something in the streets around the Earth pony. Royal Guards were seemingly coming out of the old city's woodwork and from alleyways as well. City posts stationed by loyal guards were suddenly fighting with the surfacing guards who sported blue cloths tied around their left forehooves.
Applejack now found herself in the middle of a sudden citywide brawl. She readied her two powerful back hooves as two more Blue Guards ran towards her.
Flash Sentry found Storm Sword just as his queen ordered him to. She was directing one of her own units in front of Canterlot Castle. The mare was illuminated just barely by meager moonlight and a few cobbled together lanterns on a slapped together map table in the castle courtyard. Her group of guards bore the new fire-powered weapons that they had been using experimentally in the northern regions.
“Reload tranqs only!” Storm added as they rushed out of the front gate and she stayed behind.
“What's going on?!” Flash hurried an explanation out of her as he stopped just short at the table.
Storm looked up from the city map on the table for only a moment. “Coup d'état. We just got booted out of the castle. Got the foyer but we can't take the rest back without more guards,” she slammed her hoof on the table. “Just sent my last out to secure East Street. Ten minutes in and I've lost contact from all of the east side, half of the north, and parts of everywhere else.”
“Hey,” Flash reeled from the violent irritation in the Captain's voice. He tried to be encouraging. “You still got a map table. Not bad.”
The mare stared at the low rank recruit.
“If you've got time for bad humor,” she whispered in a low tone, “then you can get out there and take back the streets.”
“Twilight wants me to keep her informed through you. She just sent me back here,” Flash tried keeping his courage in the face of the most terrifying superior he had yet met in the Royal Guard. “I guess she figured I'd be best used as a hoof messenger.”
“No hivemind? Fine,” Storm sighed and shook her head. She wasn't in the mood for this. She wasn't in the mood for any of this. “They planned this from the beginning. I don't know what they've tried in the courthouse but I assume based on our conversation so far that Twilight is more than okay. I suspected she would be. But there's no way this is a coincidence. I've got word there's over five hundred Blues in Canterlot. They stuffed them in every cursed rafter in the city. We've only got half that and the surprise took out a third of our force already.”
“Why?” Flash asked. “What are they trying to do?”
“Captain!” a dirty exhausted-looking guard galloped up to them from the darkness of the front gate. “We're cut off from all city exits and our pegasi squadron is down. They have the square. One of the court ponies is there giving some kind of speech.”
“Focus on the castle,” Storm ordered and then commanded the messenger to rest and recoup. “Ignoring your present orders, you're tasked with the protection of Twilight and her entourage, right?” Storm Sword looked back to Flash.
“Yes, ma'am!” the orange pegasus replied sternly.
“Then you'd better give me a hoof,” Storm blew out the lantern at the table and raced to the castle doors with Flash in tow. “We need to secure the queen's quarters before the traitors break the doors down. Fluttershy and some of the servants are holed up in there.”
"I thought you said we needed more guards to take the castle!"
"We've lost the city exits and the Blues have air superiority," she bit out just as they entered the brightly lit foyer. Only a hoof's worth of loyal guards were there holding the doors against a mob of Blues. "We're not getting reinforcements, so it's time to rush with all we have!"
“This puppet plans to make us all slaves!” Shallow Hills shouted from the stage in the city square. A sizable mass of ponies had gathered here from across the city to find refuge from the fighting. As guards clashed with guards, the citydwellers were plunged into panic and fear.
“I knew she was too young for it!” one sharply dressed mare shrieked.
“She's no goddess!” a thin stallion strangely added.
Shallow Hills continued with a lengthy speech so neat and orderly that it sounded rather rehearsed to a few of the more politically savvy in the crowd. He finished with a call to action as he rushed back down the steps of the stage.
“Part of the guard is still loyal to our democracy! We must join them in taking back the court!”
Most of the ponies in the crowd began to follow Shallow Hills down the street when a single voice shouted out from the back of the crowd. It was an older heavyset stallion. He had the swagger of a retired guardpony in his gait.
“Wait! We need to gather intelligence first! This could be a coup!”
A magically-strong unicorn near the back of the departing group shot a beam of magic that not only locked the elder pony in a magical cage but also gagged him.
Another pony, a pink mare with a yellow mane, tried to rush to his aid but was caught in the same trap as the attacking unicorn was joined by five others to fight the small number of dissenters in the square. Shallow Hills smiled at the victories. With the Blue Guard having taken the square and adjacent streets alongside his strategically worded speech, the residents were prone to think they were the proper side.
Now with the crowd with him and the small amount of opposition in check, the Elite party's months of careful planning were about to pay off. In the case of the Blue Guard, it had been literally years of planning. Since most of the actual Canterlot populace was more interested in social gossip and small group financial gain, few would be politically literate and bold enough to question an actual legislator.
Everything they had expected to happen had indeed happened. Once the courthouse was taken using Canterlot residents along with a portion of the Royal Guard, news would spread in their favor. The ponies would cheer for a “democratic” court and force a complete elimination of Celestia's given authority to the Queen. Or so it went in the mind of Shallow Hills.
Without the crown to back them, the minor opposition in the court would be useless and the Elite party would have full control to eliminate them. The Cloudsdale Fair Weather Plan would be struck down and the noble's east fields would finally get the five-star attention needed for profit growth. Of course, it would be silly for the plan to be only for that. No, there were a hundred more things they could do with this power. Perhaps they could even eliminate that profit-killing law that mandated that businesses had to provide water and breaks to their manual laborers!
What didn't go as planned was their arrival at the courthouse. The massive flight of decorative stairs leading up to the ornately finished front was not currently held by the Blue Guard. In fact, they were tied up with rope in the street. All of them were unconscious and a group of four non-Blue guardponies were standing watch over them. The small group didn't look at all bothered by the far larger crowd that had come to take the courthouse.
The reason why left Shallow Hills frozen on the first step of the stairs.
“Shallow Hills!” bellowed out a fear-inducing voice from above.
The otherwise snide stallion looked up to see Queen Twilight flying in place a good three stories above the crowd behind him.
“You're under arrest for conspiracy against Equestria!” she declared with a level of self-assurance that annoyed him deeply.
“You're not our dictator!” one of the crowd ponies shouted back up to her.
Far from any mood to handle matters rationally, Twilight replied with vengeance in her voice. “Silence!”
“How dare you!” Shallow Hills finally spoke up to encourage the ponies with him.
“Down with the crown!” the crowd began to cheer even as it stayed on the street before the courthouse. Since those present were solely those not in favor of the monarchy, no argument arose within them.
The four loyal guards looked confused as to what to do. However, Twilight's two personal guards present were not conflicted in the least. Midnight Strike followed the lead of his fellow guard in surrounding Shallow Hills. Direway had him in a four-way lock of hoofchains faster than the stallion could even recognize the guard had the chains with him.
This, however, only enraged rather than placated the crowd. Some part of Twilight was wise enough to know that would be the result, but she directed Direway to do it through the hivemind anyway. The incident with Chrysalis in the courthouse had ignited a flame of fury within her that yearned for conflict to release her anger through.
She got what the dark part of her mind wanted.
Shots of magical energy shot from multiple unicorn horns in the crowd. Some were aimed at Twilight's guards, others at the loyalist guards, and still others were bold enough to be directed at Twilight herself. It was a needless encouragement for her at this point.
All in the pony hive felt the hatred that burst out of Twilight's fury. It was sharp within the hivemind. Spike and Rarity were frightened by it from their helpless distance in the Crystal Empire. Fluttershy huddled under the sheets at Canterlot Castle's royal bedroom. She was locked inside with the maids and temporarily safe from the Blue Guards outside.
“Wait, my queen!” Blue Moon exclaimed as he and a few of the other loyalists ran down the court's stairs. He had been troubled by the whole series of events and, though he knew the Elite's coup had to be stopped, he had no desire for Queen Twilight to lose her rationality.
Even Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie tried to urge some manner of calm back into Twilight. But it was useless because she was no longer willing to play nice with those that would hurt Chrysalis or her hive. Celestia's words echoed in her hivemind's memory.
Don't worry about being harsh, Twilight.
Queen Twilight Sparkle blasted the crowd below her with crackling lightning. It exploded on the stone roadway, causing entire bricks to splinter and fly upwards. Ponies went careening in all directions. Only the persistence of the others in her hivemind ensured she casted countermeasures to keep those below from being seriously injured.
Remember this moment when I gave you all of the explicit permission you might need in the future.
The crowd quickly dispersed in all directions in fear. None of the unicorns trying to fight back could land a hit on her flying so far above. Even if they could, she would deflect them without even a thought. Some part of Twilight enjoyed this. Those who would see Equestria fall to the tyranny of the Elite party would be cast away as easily as a feather on the high winds.
The only way Equestria will ever fall is if you are too afraid to use the power given to you.
“Hahahaha!” Twilight laughed loudly and heartily.
Even as Shallow Hills' gathered force dissolved, Twilight mustered her near limitless magical energy inside. Ponies began vanishing in smoky explosions as they were teleported in rapid succession straight to Canterlot's military dungeon located within the Royal Guard barracks still held by the loyalists. It took great amounts of magic, but Twilight had plenty to use.
Once all of the Elite's sympathizers were teleported away by her swift magic, the queen landed with her changeling shoes onto the beaten and pocketed road. She smiled as she whisked Shallow Hills himself away even while his mouth hung open in awe.
Blue Moon still stood there with the others but, unlike them, he was able to voice his nervousness. “I'm not sure I like how this is going but at least nopony is hurt. We can still sort this out as peacefully as we can. Nopony is hurt, right?”
“Both sides of the guard,” Applejack answered as she approached from further down the street, “have no casualties. So far as I've seen, anyhow. Got to give the traitors some credit. At least they didn't have it in 'em to seriously hurt their old comrades.”
“There's still fighting going on,” Rainbow Dash readied for another takeoff.
“Come on,” Twilight nodded to her hive members. She pointed at Chrysalis to make her stay and then looked to the guards. “Let's brig the rest of them. When this is over, I have a feeling a lot is going to be changing here in Canterlot.”
“Flash!” Storm Sword shouted out but was too late.
A heavy hoof came from an open doorway they were passing and succeeded in shoving the running stallion over. Before Flash could recover, the big male attacker leaped from the doorway and knocked him out cold.
“Sorry, kid,” Centurion frowned. “But you're on the wrong side.”
“Cent,” Storm Sword stood her ground a few ponies distance from him. She took her stance. “Why you? I thought you were loyal.”
“To Celestia!” he barked back with a surprising amount of passion. “I knew Twilight was going to take this path when the princesses left. If Celestia were here, she'd never allow a takeover of the court!”
“How would you know anything about that?” Storm countered. “Didn't you serve under her? Do you even know what kind of pony the princess was?!”
“Shut it!” Centurion shouted as he rushed her. Clearly he had no intention of mincing words.
As intimidating as he was, big body and thick muscles, Storm had spent years fighting the same at the northern border. Centurion may have been a veteran of Celestia's guard, but he had few actual engagements to match his lengthy years of service.
Centurion barreled into her, fully expecting to use the force of his body and hooves to knock her out. So he was dumbfounded when she sidestepped last second and stood so close to him that their bodies pressed together. His armor was against her currently useless camouflage suit. He was so used to having room to wind up his blows with that he had to be the one to step back just so he could retaliate.
Storm did all of this on purpose. She knew how brute force fighters worked. Nothing scared them more than an enemy being point blank. They had no room to put velocity into their punches or kicks. They didn't know what to do because nopony ever had the guts to get that close. She stepped with him to stay near.
“Gragh!” he tried enveloping her in a deadly hug instead. He figured he could crush her into unconsciousness if he couldn't punch or kick. It would look ridiculous but all he cared about was getting the job done.
Storm anticipated this as well. After all, it was always what her opponents tried next. With his strength he might actually be capable of crushing her, so she wasted no time in dropping from under his circling forehooves. She dove under his chest and then used her horn to blast him from beneath. He was sent flying onto his back several ponies' distance down the hall.
He was tough, so he tried to get up quickly with a grunt. Not wanting to waste time with him while more Blue Guards were approaching from his end of the hall, she grabbed a knockout grenade from her suit's vest and threw it. It exploded on the floor next to him and spewed a cloud of gas that had him safely unconscious in seconds.
Storm Sword dropped to the floor and drew up the baggy section of her suit that was around her neck. It extended up and covered her muzzle, effectively acting as a mask to filter the fumes. She had to crawl quickly to Flash Sentry, though, and press a filtering cloth to his face. She didn't want him being out any longer than he already was. She might still need his help, after all.
The Captain of the Guard reached into another of her vest's many utility pockets to get to her waking salts. The way this was going, she'd need a complete restock when she got back to the barracks. While some guards would have preferred a more lengthy fight of honor with Centurion, Storm was of a practical mind only. She had been taught through her service to put duty before ceremony.
A trio of Blue Guards leaped through the smoke still emitting from the grenade. They were wearing standard issue gas masks and wielding battle spears. Even with the haze in the air they still locked gazes with the female guard vet in quick order.
“And Twilight said I was over-prepared,” Storm commented dryly to herself, muffled through her suit's filtering cloth.