Shining Armor rushed outside only to see several explosions go off and dark shadowy figures infiltrating the kingdom.
“What….are those things?” he asked himself as he watched them.
The figures moved in an awkward manner, it was as though they weren’t completely whole. As Shining Armor stepped forward to confront them, he was graced with the presence of several other crystal guards.
“We shall hold them off for you, your highness,” said one of the guards.
As they stood in the way, several of the guards began shooting the shadows with their magic. The bolts of magic seemed to dissolve the dark figures, but in seconds they reformed themselves from the shadows around them.
“What? Did our magic not work?” asked one of the guards in confusion.
“So, their strength lies in the shade? That gives me an idea,” Shining Armor stated.
“Listen up, all of you, I want you to evacuate all residents to the emergency emerald bunker. Once that’s done I want you to await further orders, understand?”
“Sir!” all guards replied in unison. They all gave a quick salute before dashing off in the direction of homes.
Shining Armor ran back into the castle and began to make his way to the top of the roof. Once there, he noticed how much damage had actually been done to the kingdom. Several homes lay in ruin, shops and stands were now nothing but ruble, and several violent fires began to spread towards the center of the kingdom as more of the dark figures followed.
‘Can’t worry about that now, I have to focus for this spell’ Shining Armor thought to himself.
As he closed his eyes and cleared his mind, Shining Armor’s horn began to glow brightly. It took a few moments, but eventually his horn emitted a barrier which quickly engulfed the kingdom; subduing the flames and expelling the strange creatures from the kingdom with a bright and powerful flash.
Once done, Shining Armor gave out a sigh of relief as the kingdom was safe…for now at least.
“Sir,”
Shining Armor turned around to face one of his guards staring back at him.
“Awaiting further orders sir,” he said as he bowed his head before Shining.
“Send an emergency letter to Princess Celestia informing her what has happened here right away,” Shining Armor commanded in a serious tone.
“She is in Canterlot, correct sir?”
Shining Armor stared at the guard with a puzzled look as he asked this.
“Of course, you should know this. Now hurry there is no time to waste” he replied as he grew irritated by the question.
In a quick flash, the guard transformed into a unicorn wearing an evil grin, one whom Shining Armor didn’t recognize.
“That’s all the information I needed, your just as gullible as your wife. Your no alicorn so I have no need for your magic,” she said as she zapped him with a beam of red magic which fired from her horn.
Shining Armor felt a quick surge of pain, and then collapsed to the ground. The grinning unicorn was the last sight he had seen before blacking out.
Twilight burst threw the doors of Princess Celestia’s throne room in a quick gallop.
“I came as fast as I could once I got your letter princess, what’s the emergency?” she asked once she stopped to catch her breath.
Twilight noticed that the look on the princess’ face was one she hadn’t seen before. Seeing this, she knew this was no ordinary friendship emergency.
“Earlier today, the Crystal Empire came under attack by an unknown threat. The kingdom suffered no casualties but the amount of damage done is devastating,” said the alicorn as she walked over to Twilight.
“No….that means…” Twilight began as a look of fear and concern filled her face.
“Don’t worry, your brother and Cadence are fine. However Cadence has apparently had her magic stolen from her during the invasion and is currently incapacitated at the moment; but she'll be fine nontheless,” Celestia reassured the young Princess.
“How is that even possible? I didn’t think an alicorn’s magic could be stolen....at least not so easily, wasn't Tirek the only one capable of that?” asked Twilight in a questionable tone.
“I’m not entirely sure myself,” Celestia said with a nod.
“I want you to go to the Crystal Empire and gather more information about the incident. However, I’d like to keep this incident as isolated as possible which is why I want you to tackle this assignment alone,”
“I….I understand,” Twilight said with a defeated sigh.
“You won’t be going alone,”
Twilight turned around to face princess Luna who stared back at her with a serious expression.
“Sister, I’d like to accompany Twilight to the Crystal Empire. The moon has been giving off a strange presence and I believe this attack may have something to do with it,”
Celestia nodded in acknowledgment of Luna’s request.
“Yes, I’ve felt this presence as well, it certaintly is a remarkable one. If you wish, you may join Twilight,” Celestia said as she turned to face her sister.
“Very well, we shall depart at once, come Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said in her royal Canterlot voice as she exited the room.
Twilight and Luna exited the train to be greeted by several crystal kingdom guards who wore conscerned expressions. One
unicorn stepped forward and took charge of the situation.
"Forgive us Princess Luna, but I'm afraid we'll need to ask you both some questions before you may proceed any further into the kingdom," the unicorn said in a serious yet nervous tone.
"What? What is the meaning of this? Do you not know who we are!? We are Princess Luna and we demand passage!" the princess boomed in her royal canterlot voice at the group of ponies who appeared to back away frightened.
"I'll take it from here,"
From within the group of guards, a white unicorn with blue hair emerged, one that recognized Twilight right away.
"Forgive me for the extra precautions Princess Luna, but our enemy was able to change her appearence at will. We just wanted to make sure she isn't planning an aftermath attack," said Shining Armor as he bowed his head to greet the princess.
"Understandable," Luna replied.
"Shining Armor, is Cadence alright?" asked Twilight with a worried face.
"Yeah, she's tired and is resting right now, but she'll be fine,"
"Can you tell use more about what happened during the attack?" she asked as her, Twilight, and Shining Armor were escorted to the castle by the group of guards.
"We came under attack so sudden, there was little time for us to react so I had all the civilians evacuated to the emerald bunkers underneath the kingdom,"
"This was no ordinary attack, it was premeditated. The enemy quickly took out the medical centers and places which held food before assaulting the civilian homes. It is a strategy which was used in olden days, old but effective," replied Luna as she looked around at the destruction.
"You said the enemy could change it's appearance at will, is it possible this was a changeling attack?"
"No, not likely, considering the fact that she used magic and her soldiers were not of changeling descent,"
Twilight kept turning her head, acknowledging the destruction that had been caused. The kingdom was almost unrecognizable from the old Crystal Empire her and her friends visited in the past on numerous occasions.
"Who would do such a thing?"
The unicorn approached the giant crack in the earth and proceeded to the tree which was glowing dimly in the dark. She bowed her head as if in the presence of royalty before speaking.
"Mother, I got one just as you asked, and I know where to get the next; Princess Celestia in Canterlot," the unicorn said as she spoke to the tree of harmony. She then began to talk as though somepony else was there with her.
"You need 4? Well that shouldn't be too hard considering I already got one.....yes I suppose your right, they will be on their guard now that I stole Princess Cadence's magic.....what's that mother? A distraction you say?........yes I know of the pits of Tartarus," the unicorn had a dastardly grin form on her face as she sat in silence.
"Yes mother, your right. This......Tirek creature will make a fine distraction,"