//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Rush to Canterlot 
// Story: The Rise of Nightshade 
// by Brickbrock24 
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The Rise of Nightshade
By: Brickbrock24

Chapter 3


“Are ya sure it was a good idea stealin’ that lunatic’s treasure box, Rainbow?” asked Applejack as she and her friends galloped out of the forest and towards their destination.
“What’re you so worried about, Applejack?” asked Rainbow Dash, “Nightshade stole a bunch of apples from your farm, as well as your brother! If you ask me, I think giving that punk a taste of his own medicine was the right thing to do!”
“I don’t think two wrongs make a right,” said Fluttershy, “If anything, I think stealing that box from Nightshade will only further motivate him to hurt more ponies. I mean, you did hear him scream in rage back there, did you not?”
Twilight and friends had galloped out of Everfree Forest and were blitzing through the streets of Ponyville. The rain had ceased a moment ago; but the thick blanket of dark clouds had refused to ebb from the sky. The harsh winds continued to sweep across the land. Although they didn’t howl with as much force as before, the gales still maintained the ominous ambience of the situation. 
“Twilight, dear,” said Rarity, “Why are we running all the way to Canterlot when we could’ve just gone to your castle and had Spike send a message to Princess Celestia about Nightshade’s plan?”
Twilight was quick to answer, “Because this kind of information is far too important and complicated to be summed up in a letter! There’s so many things that I gotta discuss with Celestia about this predicament. I have so many questions that my brain is turning into spaghetti! Besides, we don’t have time to stop. I’m pretty sure Prince Nightshade sent a bunch of his goons out to get us. It would be really bad if they caught us during a breather!”
“I’m guessin’ they want that box that Rainbow went and stole,” said Applejack, “If ya ask me, I say that box will attract ‘em to us like bloodhounds to a scent!”
“To be honest, I’m hoping they actually do find us and try to take the box back by force!” said Rainbow Dash.
Rarity looked at her with a bewildered look, “Why would you want that?”
“Because fighting off an army of baddies would be super awesome!”
The group continued to trek forward, continuing their conversation as they went. As they approached the foot of the mountain that Canterlot rested on, a group of black hooded pegasi suddenly swooped down and landed in front of them, barring the path of Twilight Sparkle and her friends. They stared at the girls with icy gazes through their red tinted goggles as Darkling pegasi descended from the sky to join them. 
“Well, speak of the devil!” said Rainbow Dash.
One of the Darkling pegasi, presumably the captain of the unit, stepped forward and spoke, “Well, well, well, looks like we’ve gotcha surrounded, little mares,” As he said that, Twilight and friends glanced behind them to find that about fifty Shadow and Darkling ponies and unicorns had showed up. They glared menacingly at their prey as they pointed their spears and aimed their drawn bows and ink-filled water balloons at Twilight and her friends. The Darkling captain spoke again, “I believe you have something we need.”
“A better leader?” yelled Rainbow Dash. The Shadow Ponies and Darkling hissed at the insolent remark.
“You dare insult his majesty, Nightshade the Great?” angrily snarled the Darkling captain, “Do you fools have any idea of how furious you’ve made Prince Nightshade?! The worst part is that we ran out of ice cream to keep him calm. I reckon that fat Sponduli Moolalli friend of his wolfed it all down like the gluttonous pig he is and couldn’t be bothered to leave even so much as a spoonful for us to make Nightshade a banana split! Now, please, give us back what you stole!”
“Why? What’s in that cutesy-wootsey little box of his?” asked Pinkie Pie, “Is it treasure? Oh-oh! Maybe it’s an embarrassing secret or an idea for an asparagus-powered blimp! Or maybe-”
The Darkling captain cut in, “Will you be quiet?! Seriously, ans asparagus powered blimp? What in the hay goes on in that head of yours, pink one? Look, I’ll be frank, I haven’t the foggiest idea what Prince Nightshade hides in that box. What I do know is that the contents of that box are more valuable to my Prince than Sponduli’s multi-billion bit fortune. If I don’t seize that box from you, Nightshade will have my head on a platter!”
“OH! OH! OH! It must be embarrassing photographs! Or maybe it’s a secret stash of sweets or maybe something totally weird and creepy,” enthusiastically shouted Pinkie Pie, she was having a blast guessing the contents of the box, “After all, Dashie was telling us how she found these drawings of Twilight in his tent in Everfree Forest, apparently Prince Lightglade has this weird thing for Twilight, which, if you ask me, is super-duper-”
“SHUT UP!” yelled the Darkling captain, to which Pinkie Pie immediately zipped her lip, “Sweet Celestia, Nightshade’s right! You really are an annoying pink party freak! Seriously, is there an off button on you?”
Fluttershy spoke up, “Oh my... Um, that was a bit uncalled for…”
“Oh, lookie ‘ere!” scowled a soldier, “The yellow-bellied scrub thinks she can jus’ preach to us like we’re a buncha kiddies visitin’ some anti-bullyin’ assembly. Well, I got news fer ya, wuss, we’re-”
The captain shook his head, “That’s quite enough, corporal,” he said with a grimace, the Shadow Pony responding with a dissatisfied grunt, “I’ll finish it from here.” He took another step towards the mane 6 and spoke in a lower, more serious tone, “Now, listen up, you lowly mules, I will not go back to Master Nightshade empty-hooved!”
“Why? Is your dumb prince gonna spank you or something?” teased Rainbow Dash.
“Even worse…” responded the Darkling, Twilight Sparkle noticed that he was trembling slightly. He took off his helmet and Twilight and her friends immediately noticed that his mane, along with his tail, were violently glowing a fiery orange color with brighter white crack-like patterns that flashed every now and then. When they listened closely, they could hear a slight ticking sound, much like that of a clock. “He’s turned me into a living bomb…”
“A living BOMB?!” exclaimed Twilight. In her many years of studying magic, she had never heard of such a magical curse.
“If I don’t get that box back from you, this curse will explode and kill not only me, but everypony around me, too! Which is why there is no room for failure! I will ask you one more time, Princess Twilight, give us the box, or we will confiscate it from you by force!”
“Tell us the part where we have a choice,” said Twilight, “If we do give you back the treasure box, how do I know you won’t just attack us anyway?”
The Darkling captain grinned maliciously, “Of course we’re gonna attack you! You know Prince Nightshade’s plan to invade Canterlot and we cannot let you warn that whelp Celestia!” He suddenly pointed his hoof at his prey, “Enough stalling! FIRE!!”
The Shadow Ponies and Darklings surrounding the heroines released their arrows and threw their ink balloons in a terrifying volley. Twilight Sparkle was ready for them, however, and quickly summoned a magical shield that surrounded her friends. The horseshoe arrows and ink balloons bounced off the shield like birds flying into a window. 
“Quick, everypony!” shouted Twilight Sparkle, “Let’s move!” With careful concentration and a slam of her hooves, she launched the shield directly at the adversaries in front of her, knocking them down like pins in a bowling game. Her friends were quick to listen to Twilight and followed her as they made a mad dash to start scaling up the mountain to Canterlot.
“Don’t let ‘er get away!” shouted a Shadow Pony, “Get ‘em!” 
Rarity glanced behind her, “They’re following us!”, she shouted. She looked up at the sky and saw enemy pegasi soaring above them. They landed in front of the group to attempt to bar their path.
“Good, let ‘em come!” shouted Applejack as she tackled a Shadow Pegasus that landed in front of her, “I could sure use a way to get some of this bottled up anger outta me!” She gave the pegasus she tackled a mighty kick to its head with her hind legs, causing the whole thing to explode into black smoke with sparkly yellow glitter. 
“Look, there’s Canterlot!” shouted Rainbow Dash. The group looked and saw the great city was finally in their sight. Rainbow Dash was having fun with this predicament, toying with her enemies and belittling them by calling them ‘too slow’. 
The gang rushed through the gates, which quickly closed behind them once all six of them were inside. Twilight and her friends looked back and saw their enemies seething with anger at the fact that they had escaped them. Shortly after, the girls heard a loud bang from the herd of enemy forces they had just outran. 



Twilight and friends burst into the throne room of the castle without any sort of hesitation. Inside, not only did they find the majestic Princess Celestia, but also her sister, Princess Luna, and Twilight Sparkle’s brother, Shining Armor. 
Princess Celestia looked at her faithful student with a bit of scorn, “You know, I remember a time when ponies used to knock before entering.”
“Princess, I’m sorry,” panted Twilight, still out of breath from the arduous journey she had to go through to get to Canterlot in the first place, “But we’ve got a predicament! A huge, HUGE predicament!”
“Um, Twilight?” said Shining Armor, “If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly happened to your face?”
“Oh, she got hit with a water balloon filled with ink!” said Pinkie Pie, “Honestly, I didn’t expect that, I was trying really hard not to laugh! I was expecting water, but that Nightie’s a real knee-slapper! I wonder what else he could’ve filled the balloons with? Oatmeal? Cream? Milk? Flour? Fake slime? Rainbow paint?”
“Wait,” said Princess Luna, ignoring the rest of what the hyperactive pink pony was rambling about, “Who’s ‘Nightie’?” 
“Hang on,” said Shining Armor, a bit of apprehension began to get sprinkled into his voice, “Twilight, are you saying you met-”
“Yeah, we encountered Nightshade,” admitted Twilight, “And you’ll never believe what this pony’s got in store for Equestria! I don’t even know where to begin!”
“Why don’t start by telling us what happened, Twilight.” calmly said Princess Celestia, it amazed the others how the princess could stay so calm during dangerous situations such as the one being discussed.
“Oh, I’ll tell ya what happened!” quickly said Applejack, who was quite eager to start the story of what happened, much like a filly enthusiastically begging for the teacher to pick her to go first in some sort of fun assignment, “I was mindin’ my own business, enjoyin’ the lovely weather as I went about my daily chores: bucking apples, sweepin’ the barn, stuff like that. Then outta nowhere, these malicious ponies wearin’ fancy-schmancy armor, some were in black, some were in red, went and rushed into Sweet Apple Acres like a herd of rampaging cattle! Me and my brother, Big Mac, tried to fight ‘em off, but there were just too many of ‘em!” Anger began to fill Applejack’s voice as she got to the next part of the story, “That’s when that rat-scallion entered the scene actin’ all high and mighty as the leader of those armored thugs! That Nightshade’s a real hoof full, talking about that weird malicite stuff and talking in a confusing language while starin’ at me with those creepy yellow eyes!”
“Uh, I’m pretty sure he was just using higher level vocabulary, Applejack,” interrupted Twilight, “I can assure you he was speaking normal Equestrian!”
“Eh, whatever! That’s not the point!” said Applejack, eager to continue with her tale, “While Nightshade’s thugs cornered us against the wall of the barn and that ketchup-headed menace went on babbling off insults and other jibber-jabber that I can’t remember fer the life of me, the rest of his soldiers were out in the field stealin’ our apples straight off the trees and carrying ‘em to the Everfree Forest. That’s when Big Mac whispered to me to go find Twi and the others. So, he charged straight at those weirdos to distract them so I could slip out and gallop to Ponyville to get help!”
Princess Celestia nodded, “I see. So Nightshade attacked your farm with a squad of his soldiers just like that? And when you were surrounded, your brother distracted the enemy so you could run to get help?”
“Yeah,” said Applejack, “I remembered Rarity sayin’ something about Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow helpin’ her out with her fashion designs that day, so that’s where I went first!”
“Why, yes,” started Rarity after Applejack had passed her the baton, “I was on an inspirational blitz for the past two days and had so many ideas that I just needed to try out! I couldn’t do all of that work by myself, of course, so I asked Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash to help me!”
“That was when we received your letter, Shining Armor, and saw a wanted poster of Nightshade, courtesy of Fluttershy,” said Twilight.
“If I may interrupt for a minute, Twilight,” said Princess Celestia, “I have a question for Fluttershy.”
“Um, yes?” quietly murmured Fluttershy, “Wh-what is it, Princess Celestia?”
“I am very curious, Fluttershy,” said Celestia, “The letter that Shining Armor sent to Twilight Sparkle should have been delivered to her by a mail courier. How exactly did you come to obtain it?” 
“Oh, um…” stammered Fluttershy, a question like that instantly made her go into ‘submissive wimp mode’, “Sh-should I not have t-taken it? Oh, I-I’m so sorry! It’s just that I-I was taking a walk in Ponyville wh-when I saw a mailmare collapsed on the road.”
“What?!” uttered Shining Armor, “What happened to her?!”
“I-I don’t know!” whimpered Fluttershy, feeling as if Shining Armor was uncomfortably pressing her, “He w-was horribly bruised and somewhat mangled, a-as if s-somepony beat her up!”
“Hmph,” said Princess Luna, “I’m pretty sure we all know who’s responsible.”
“I went up to her to try and help her,” continued Fluttershy, “She recognized me as one of Twilight’s friends and asked me to deliver the letter to her. I really wanted to go get help for her, but the mailmare insisted that that particular letter was more important than her condition.”
“So, then you gave in and decided to carry out her wish to deliver the letter to Twilight,” said Celestia, who had already finished Fluttershy’s story in her head, “Is that correct?”
“Y-yes,” answered Fluttershy, “As I was cantering to Rarity’s, I saw a wanted poster of that scary pony we saw earlier and decided to take it along with me.”
“Why did you feel the need to do that?” asked Princess Luna.
“I-I’m sorry,” unnecessarily apologized Fluttershy, “I-i just thought it should be something my friends should see. After all, I’ve never seen that wanted poster put up in Ponyville until today.” 
“I don’t get it,” suddenly said Rainbow Dash, “Why in the hay would the mailmare in your story, who you claim was ‘horribly beaten up’, not want you to get help? Like, I know some ponies are really dedicated to their jobs; but jeez, that’s just super weird!”
“Okay, first off, the correct term in that sentence is ‘whom’, not ‘who’, Rainbow Dash,” said Twilight, “And second of all, that’s not important! Can we please just continue where we left off?”
Princess Celestia shook her head, “Patience, my faithful student. We mustn’t rush this retelling of the events that have transpired tonight. The gravity of this situation is not to be taken lightly.”
Twilight sighed, “I understand, Princess.”
Rarity decided to pick up where they left off, “So, after we got the letter and wanted poster from Fluttershy, some of Nightshade’s goons broke into my boutique and tried to force me to give them a large quantity of gems to them! Luckily, Applejack showed up in the nick of time and gave them a little surprise!” Applejack smiled smugly to herself at that remark.
“Alright, let’s just fast forward to the part where we encounter Nightshade already! We don’t have all night, y’know!” impatiently shouted Rainbow Dash, the crankiness that ensued from her weariness had started to show its ugly face.
“Oh! Oh! Oh! I wanna tell this part of the story!” suddenly hollered Pinkie Pie, “Pink me! Pick me! Pick me!”
Shining Armor chuckled to himself, “You’re just as enthusiastic as always, Pinkie Pie. Very well, let’s hear what you have to say about what happened next. I assume this where you encountered Nightshade?”
“Yup-a-rooni! Although he prefers to be addressed by his full title ‘Prince Nightshade’. I couldn’t remember his name very well at first and he’d get really cheesed off when I said his name wrong. Now, I just call him ‘Nightie’!”
“Um, th-that’s great, Pinkie Pie,” said Shining Armor, unsure on how else to respond to the hyperactive pink pony, “But could you actually tell us what happened now?”
“Okie-doki-loki!” said Pinkie Pie. Being the dramatic fun-loving pony that she was, Pinkie Pie decided to narrate the story in voice that resembled a storyteller retelling some epic tale or legend. As she spoke, she made prance all around the room, acting out scenes and making weird balletic gestures with her hooves, “So, there we were at Sweet Apple Acres. Dark clouds were spread across the sky like chocolate frosting over a cake and the wind was howling like an angry monster! We looked all around to see all of those armored soldiers causing ruckus in the farm! Some were in black armor, some were in red! Some were stealing apples, some were surrounding the Apple family that had been cornered at the barn! OOOOOOH! It was just like this dream I had two nights ago where I was a lone vigilante on a mission to protect sweets like cake and candy from the vegetable thugs that prowled about and filled the town with evil! So, I was wandering about when suddenly I saw a donut being mugged by three stalks of broccoli! At the speed of sound, I whipped out my laser pistol and was all like: Pew! Pew! Pew! And the broccoli thugs were all like: Splat! Splat! Splat! OOOOOOOH, but the best part of my dream was when-”
“Pinkie Pie!” shouted Shining Armor, though it didn’t sound like he was surprised by what the energetic pink pony had just told the group, “You’re getting way off topic! Slow down a bit and continue with the story without making any connections to… whatever it is that goes on in your head!”
“Laser pistol?” said Rainbow Dash, just as bewildered as everypony else was, “That’s sounds like something from a comic book or movie.”
“Let’s not ponder about Pinkimena’s… strange dream and get back on track,” said Princess Celestia, “Pinkie Pie, if you would please…”
“Alrighty, then!” continued Pinkie Pie, still in her ‘dramatic story teller’ character, “So after we arrived at the barn and saw what was going on, we cantered down to where the Apple family was cornered at the barn to help them! And that was when we met the villain of the hour: Prince Nightshade! But now I just call him “Nightie”. Anyway, there he stood, all smug and handsome like the heinous crook that he was. I’m pretty sure he mumbled something about Twilight at first. Then, he started talking about some mumbo-jumbo that I didn’t exactly understand.” 
“What was not to understand, Pinkie?” interrupted Rarity, “He introduced himself, threw an ink balloon at Twilight, turned two emeralds into what I believe he called ‘malicite’, and gave us a lecture about his magic and how he uses it to make his soldiers.”
“Hold on for a minute,” said Princess Luna, “Did you say he turned emeralds into… malicite?”
“Mhm,” responded Twilight, “He even gave me a piece.” Twilight Sparkle pulled out the malicite crystal that Prince Nightshade had given her as a memento of their encounter and presented it to the two princesses. Celestia’s eyes widened as she stared at the ominous gemstone that her faithful student held in her hoof.
“I-It can’t be…” stuttered Celestia, which surprised everypony.
“Princess, do you know something about the gem in my sister’s hoof?” asked Shining Armor. 
Celestia stood silent for a moment, slightly looking down at the floor while deep in thought. She looked up and answered Shining Armor’s question, “Yes, I do. I do not know much about these crystals, as they are quite rare. There have been only a small hoof-full of documented cases of these gems during my long reign as the monarch of this land.”
“So, what exactly is malicite, Celestia?” asked Twilight, her immense thirst for knowledge had filled her with enthusiasm.
“Malicite is a very dangerous magical crystal,” she began, “It’s dark magic energy either comes from being infused with pure dark magic or the soul of a malevolent entity. I do not know what these crystals are fully capable of, considering how finding one here in Equestria would only happen once in a blue moon.”
“Wait just a sec,” interrupted Applejack, “Didn’t that creep use those flashy purple gems to create those Shadow Pony soldiers of his?”
“Oh yeah, I forgot about that,” said Rainbow Dash, “While we were in the forest, we saw Nightshade create pure magic clones out of those malicite crystals!”
“I see…” said Celestia, “There are many things that intrigue me about this case…”
“Same here,” admitted Shining Armor.
“Hey, what about my story?” asked Pinkie Pie, her eagerness to continue with her story made her all jittery and bouncy, as if she had eaten an entire bag of jelly beans in one sitting and was trying to hold in her urine as the sugar rush kicked in, “I was getting to the good part about how Nightie made Apple Bloom fly with his telekinesis and the part about how he got that really painful headache and there was weird lightning around his head that was all like: Bzzzzzzzzt!! OOOH, and the part where we followed him and spied on him and his friends that he was having dinner with!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up for a minute,” cut in Shining Armor. He turned to his sister with a mixture of shock and scorn expressed on his face, “Twilight, you followed Nightshade into the Everfree forest?! Didn’t you read my letter at all?!”
“I’m sorry, Shining Armor, but I had to!” said Twilight, her ears drooping a bit in shame, “This all happened out of the blue. We needed to know what was going on and Prince Nightshade was the only pony that would give us that information one way or another!”
“Alright, let’s skip to the part where you actually spy on Nightshade,” responded Shining Armor, trying to piece together the story in his mind like a jigsaw puzzle, “What exactly did you learn from him?”
“Well, we learned a bunch of things from that dinner conversation,” said Twilight.
“Who exactly was he having dinner with?” asked Princess Celestia.
Rainbow Dash was the one who answered her question, “Let’s see… One of them was this pegasus in green armor. I believe that one was called ‘Sky Blade’ or something. Then, there was this hooded alchemist named Hitchcolt and the other one was this really REALLY fat pony in a tuxedo that went by the name of Sponduli Moolalli.”
Upon hearing the the names spoken, Shining Armor’s flabbergasted facial expression turned on like a light.
“Sk-Sky Blade?” he stuttered, “A-as in… S-S-Sergeant Sky Blade?! And did you you also mention Sponduli Moolalli?! As in the Sponduli Moolalli?!”
“I really have no idea what in the hay you’re talking about when you say ‘sergeant’,” said Rainbow Dash  “But yeah, I’m pretty sure we all heard those names clearly.” 
“Do these ponies ring a bell, Shining Armor?” asked Twilight Sparkle, whose curiosity grew as she watched her brother recollect his memories.
“Yes, I do know who Sky Blade is. He was a member of the royal guard back when I was captain and used to live in Canterlot.”
“Really? I never noticed,” responded Twilight, “Then again, I never really went to great lengths to memorize the names of all of the guards of Canterlot. None of them really stood out like a sore hoof.”
“Let me finish, Twilight,” continued Shining Armor, “Sergeant Sky Blade was one of the best there was. He was a remarkable pegasus warrior. His skill with a sword was legendary. Criminals feared him for not only for his persistence and his ferocity as a warrior, but also his unusual hind leg muscles that allow him to walk and run on two legs like a human.”
“He can do that?! That sounds awesome!” said Rainbow Dash. She hadn’t thought much of him when she first spied on him back in the Everfree Forest. But hearing about the cool things Shining Armor was telling her made Rainbow Dash want to meet this pegasus as much as she wanted to get an autograph from all of the Wonderbolts.
“I warn you, Rainbow Dash, he’s just as good of a flier as you are. In fact, Princess Celestia called him the best flier in Equestria before you came along and took the title.”
“What about the other one?” asked Rarity, trying to change the subject, “That ‘Sponduli Moolalli’ character?”
“I don’t know him personally,” answered Shining Armor, “But I’ve heard my fair share of rumors about how powerful this pony is financially. He is the owner Moolalli Industries, a very successful monopoly in Manehatten that is constantly expanding.”
“Oh, I’ve heard of that company,” said Rarity, “They provide much of the quality textiles I use in the boutique. My goodness do they put a hefty price on their products!”
“I, too, have heard of this pony,” contributed Princess Celestia, “Sponduli Moolalli is by far the richest pony in all of Equestria.”
“Not to mention the fattest,” mumbled Rainbow Dash.
“I am very glad you’ve decided to speak up, Rainbow Dash,” said Princess Celestia, eying Rainbow Dash with a gaze that made her afraid and lost for words, “Because I have another question for you. What is in that chest you are holding? And, more importantly, where did you get it?”
Rainbow Dash felt the sweat trickle down her face as all eyes in the were fixed on her, awaiting a response.
Pinkie Pie, however, beat her to the punch, “Dashie totally swiped that from Nightie like a master thief! She totally gave Nightie a taste of his own medicine after he stole Applejack’s apples.”
Princess Celestia shook her head in disgust, “You should have let sleeping dogs lie, Rainbow Dash. Now our enemy will be more determined than ever to take us all down.”
“I am curious to see what exactly the contents of this box are,” said Princess Luna, ”If only we had the key…”
“I’ve got yer key right here,” said Applejack, “Twi, hold it steady!”
Twilight Sparkle levitated the box out of Rainbow Dash’s hooves. With a swift kick of her back legs, Applejack shattered the tiny lock, making the chest pop open. Twilight levitated the contents out the box. The items included a white plushie-like pegasus doll with blue button eyes and an azure mane and tail, an old pair of glasses, and a family portrait.
“What? That’s it?!” shouted Rainbow Dash. The fact that what was in the box wasn’t what she expected was a killjoy for her, “There I was thinking the chest was brimming with treasure and what I get for risking all of our lives when I took it was just a hunk of junk!”
“I wouldn’t be so quick to say that,” said Fluttershy, “One pony’s trash is another pony’s treasure. I’m pretty sure Nightshade valued this stuff if he sent soldiers after us to get it back…”
“Let’s not worry about the box,” cut in Princess Luna, “I’d like to get back on track to the important information. Twilight, what did you hear Prince Nightshade say at the dinner table?”
“Well, he mentioned something called “Project: Dark Sun” which apparently involves this ‘ooze’ that the alchemist is cooking up,” responded Twilight, “But the biggest news is that most of Nightshade’s army is on its way down; he’s going to invade Canterlot at nightfall in four days!”
“What?!” gasped Shining Armor, “Did you hear exactly how big of an army he’s bringing?”
“Approximately fifteen thousand…” said Twilight Sparkle. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Shining Armor stood with with horrified expressions on their faces, completely at loss for words. Yes, even Princess Celestia was shocked at what her faithful student had told her.
“F-fifteen THOUSAND?!” stammered Celestia, everypony was shocked that she showed fear like this, “Twilight, are you absolutely sure of this?!”
Twilight nodded, “Mmhm, fifteen thousand soldiers, all fully armed and ready for war.” Everypony stood in awed silence before Rainbow Dash spoke up,
“Well, we’d better start getting ready!”
“Excuse me?” said Shining Armor.
“I said we’d better start getting ready! We know that creep Nightshade’s comin’ up. So, let’s quit dawdling and prep the city’s defenses to send that nutjob back to whatever dark void he came from. We can’t waste time standing here with our hooves up our noses just because ‘Ketchup Head’ has a few extra goons!”
“Did you not hear the number my sister said, Rainbow?” said Shining Armor, “This invasion must be at least twenty five times the size of the Changeling force Queen Chrysalis used to attack the city not too long ago!”
“And this is no mindless Changeling horde that’s coming!” added Twilight, “These are Shadow Ponies and Darklings; Clad in armor and equipped with tools for maiming and killing.”
“Not to mention they’ll be led by Prince NIghtshade and Sergeant Sky Blade,” added Princess Luna.
“No, Rainbow Dash is right, we mustn’t waste anytime!” said Celestia, she had regained her composure and started to piece together a plan, “Shining Armor, go back to the Crystal Empire and bring back as many soldiers as you spare. Twilight Sparkle, go down to the archives and see if you can find any information regarding malicite or Prince Nightshade’s mysterious eyes. Rainbow Dash, go to Cloudsdale and see if you can get any pegasi there to join our cause. Whether or not you succeed, come back to Canterlot and help train our soldiers. Fluttershy and Applejack, assist the citizens of Canterlot with tasks to help them prepare for the inevitable siege. Rarity and Pinkie Pie, help out with creating weapons, armor, and other supplies our soldiers might need. Princess Luna and I will stay and try to convince the citizens of Canterlot to join the garrison.” After getting their instructions, everypony set off to do their tasks without question. “Go and prepare yourselves, my friends,” shouted Princess Celestia as everypony was taking their leave, “For as of this moment, we are at war!”