There were some worries about attracting too much attention by moving with such a large group, but the soldiers seemed to have pushed almost everypony else in the city back towards the castle now. Twilight's group need not bother with stealth, so they focused on moving as fast as possible to keep up with Rainbow Dash as she darted through the air. Twilight vaguely realized they were moving back towards the train station, though they were avoiding the main roads. She would've thought in an invasion, the enemy forces would've made locking down the train yard a top priority. Then again, perhaps if they were relying on Shining Armor's barrier, maybe they thought there was nowhere for the trains to go?
Well then they were just going to have to show them how wrong they were.
Or at least that was the thought that was going through Twilight's head as she rounded a corner and came face to face with an entire platoon of Imperial Guards. The train yard was crawling with soldiers, and it was clear that new trains were arriving even now and disgorging even more of the armored Crystal Ponies. Not just them, but long flatbeds of what looked to be hunks of dark crystal as well, each pulled by massive freight trains. She had no time to pay attention to those, however, as a point of magic blossomed into a flash of energy that made Twilight and her friends shield their eyes. Shining Armor appeared in the wake of a wave of dark energy, taking his place at the head of his army of disquieting, grinning soldiers.
"Ah, there you are my dearest sister," smiled Shining Armor, false sweetness dripping from his words. "I must say, as your brother, I'm mildly disappointed. I half expected you to see through this ruse, but I suppose you aren't quiet as suspicious of your own friends as you might be of your siblings fiance."
"What's going on here?" asked Applejack angrily. "Rainbow Dash, what'd you do?"
"Oh, nothing much Apple Smack! I just saw the light," replied the Pegasus Pony as she reclined on a cloud, the same dreamy smile on her face as every other brainwashed citizen and soldier alike.
"As you all will," added the Shining Armor as dark crystals erupted from the ground at his feet. "Just hold still. This will go much easier for you all if you just.."
"SCATTER!" cried Twilight Sparkle as her group split and ran or flew in every direction.
The Crystal Emissary gave a heavy sigh. "Not what I was going to say Twilight. Now is it what I would have wanted for my little sister." Shining Armor turned back to his troops. "By the Empresses command, release the Juggernauts."
At his word, heavy chains that had held the hunks of dark crystal on flatbed cars fell away, and the stones began to rise into the air. They hurtled through the sky like meteors, pelting the city of Canterlot, huge plumes of dust rising up where they came down with a thunderous crash. Several landed right in the paths of the fleeing ponies, scattering them backwards with the sheer force of the shock waves their landing produced. Behind the screen of dust, the crystal hulks seemed to move and change.
"Whoa nelly..." gulped Applejack, as one such obelisk took its first cobblestone shattering step out of the swirling cloud and into the light of day. It was massive! Standing on two tree trunk like legs with long arms nearly scraping the ground, each arm ending in a set of three long claws, the behemoth looked like a small mountain had suddenly decided to go for a walk. All of its features were rough-hewn, as if inexpertly carved from amethyst, and it lacked a head or any of the sensory organs that would be associated with one. Instead what it had was a hole in the shape of a broken heart punched through its center. It was this void that swung towards the country girl like a great unblinking eye.
The crystalline monstrosity that stood before Applejack was not the only one. More shapeless hulks of crystal stomped into view, some dark amethyst, others a bright rose quartz, and others the deep bloody hue of garnet. The Crystal Juggernauts were beautiful, but difficult to look at, at the same time. There was something off-putting about seeing something inanimate move so smoothly, as though it were not just animate but alive. More than that there were vague shapes beneath the crystal surface, that writhed and squirmed unpleasantly. Before anypony could get a good look at what exactly they were seeing, the Juggernauts raised their clawed arms as one, and began firing beams of magic. The same magic that the Broken Heart crystal had fired earlier.
Beams swept back and forth over the ponies as they tried to flee from this new threat. Now that the rays were coming from every direction, it was impossible for anypony to dodge for long.
Applejack clearly decided running was no longer an option. She ran up to the behemoth that had appeared before her, and bucked its crystal leg as hard as she could. Unsurprisingly, it was like bucking solid stone, it had no effect... Not even so much as a crack appeared in the Juggernaut's surface. The country pony was picked up in the claws of one hand, while the other fired a beam of light in her face point blank. A smile spread quickly across her face. The Juggernaut set her gently back on the ground, before ignoring her to stalk fresh prey. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.
The next to try her luck was Rarity. After all, these overgrown statues were just larger than average gems to her. She could read where they were and when they would attack easily. Pinkie Pie followed her lead, trusting her Pinkie sense to guide her as she giggled her way past one Juggernaut's defenses after the other and dodged between their legs. The pair moved gracefully between the dancing beams, as elegantly as leaves floating on the wind. That is, until several nodes beneath the exterior of one Crystal Juggernaut began to glow.
A strange sound, like the beating of several hearts, lub-dub...lub-dub, intensified as heart shaped runes embedded inside the hulk were connected by lay-lines of magic energy that cut intricate patterns that led to its broken heart shaped center. There the magic gathered into one massive spell! Without warning a wave of pink magic exploded from the center of one Juggernaut, engulfing the entire street in a massive flow of power. Rarity and Pinkie's eyes had only a moment to widen before they were completely overwhelmed. They sat on their hunches, dazed, smiling as if they were a pair of love struck fillies.
With that, only two remained of the six friends who had not yet been caught. Twilight was doing her best, flying between the beams and repelling the magic blasts with her personal shield. Even so, one mistake and she'd end up just like her friends. She tried to teleport ponies out of harms way, or extend her shield to protect them where she could, but everytime she tried she found another Juggernaut waiting to take advantage of her momentary split in concentration. The fact of the matter was that Twilight was fighting a losing battle, and she knew it. There was something wrong about the crystal golems. They were far too powerful and far too quick for mere stone constructs. She tried her best to study them as she continued to dodge their attacks.
One of the faceless Juggernaut's stomped towards Fluttershy. The timid pegasus had chosen to hide under an overturned cart, shivering and shaking. As the crystal monster leaned down to get a better look, its three clawed hand already rotating into position to flood the underside of the cart with magic, a sudden burst of magic from another source caused it to stumble back. "Whoops! Pardon me!" Came a jovial voice. "Didn't mean to get in your way there sport. It's just time for my afternoon tea with Fluttershy." remarked Discord, the spirit of chaos with a wide toothy grin. "Fluttershy, oh Fluttershy dear?" he called, "Hmm, I was sure she was here just a moment ago... Ah there she is!"
The draconequis hauled Fluttershy out from her hiding place, and held her aloft in the air before squeezing her in a huge bear hug. "Discord! What are you doing here?" asked Fluttershy in surprise, staring up at her friend with a mixture of disbelief and relief.
"As I said dear, dear Fluttershy. It's time for tea!" He exclaimed smiling, settinghis friend down on the ground. As he finished this, a beam of magic arched toward his head. A hole opened, allowing the beam to pass harmlessly in one ear and out the other. "And if you don't mind me saying, it seems you have some rather rude guests. Should I show them the door?" Discord turned and a giant door appeared. He pushed it open, smashing the Crystal Juggernaut in what would have been its face if it had one, sending it tottering back. That was when, for the first time, Discord truly beheld the bedlam that was the city of Canterlot. "Oh my goodness! Fluttershy, are you ponies having a riot!? And you didn't invite me!?" He folded his arms in front of his chest and started to pout. "I swear Fluttershy, sometimes you can be such a very thoughtless friend."
"Discord, please, you have to help my friends!" begged Fluttershy, her eyes pleading.
"Oh, very well." grumbled Discord. "But after this, be sure to make up a batch of that lovely chai tea I like so much with lots of milk and sugar!"
Suddenly Discord was wearing the overalls and hard hat of a construction worker. A giant jackhammer was slung over his shoulder. He walked up to the fallen Juggernaut that had been menacing Fluttershy, and proceeded to bust it down into chunks of stone and rubble. He wiped the sweat from his brow and gave a satisfied grin... Before the stones began floating back together and assumed their previous shape. Both claws extended, the Juggernaut fired six beams at once in rapid succession. Discord dodged them all easily, but a look of annoyance crossed his face. He snapped his fingers. There was a puff of smoke, and the Crystal Juggernauts claws turned to joke flowers that squirted water. This only lasted for a moment though, before six new claws extended and the rapid fire magic resumed.
Discord's annoyance turned to anger. So he couldn't crush it and he couldn't transform it. Well then he knew exactly what to do about that. Discord raked his claws through the air, ripping open a huge portal to another dimension, and prepared to send the crystal monster hurtling though...
"No! Discord, wait, don't do it!" called Twilight Sparkle as she flew over to the draconequis.
The draconequus paused, "Now, why ever should I? Can't you see that these things are making me late for a very important date... er, I mean tea party?"
"You can't send them to another dimension or destroy them. Look beyond their crystal shells! Look inside them!" Discord did so, growing massive in size so that he held the Crystal Juggernaut in his hand like a toy. As he held the behemoth up to the hazy light of the sun, he could see why Twilight had intervened. Ponies... at least four or five of them were embedded inside the crystal like insects trapped in amber. That was what had been writhing before, and that was also the source of the Juggernaut's power. Heart shaped sigils pulsed with magic at the chest of each pony, and each were connected through the others to the void at the center of the crystal monster. "We have to find a way to free them!" cried Twilight.
"Well, of course. That's just kind of gross, isn't it?" sneered Discord as he shrank back down a bit and reached his lion paw into the Crystal Juggernaut. It passed through the stone as if it were water, the crystal rippling like liquid. However, as Discord reached deeper and almost touched one of the trapped ponies, the Crystal Juggernaut pressed a clawed hand to the draconequus' chest. Crystal of the same hue as the hulk that touched him, began to slide over Discord's sinuous body. "What's this? What's going on?" He tried to brush the crystal film off, but only succeeded in spreading it faster, as it climbed up his arms and throat. As the crystal thickened and engulfed Discord, he found it harder and harder to move. He tried to blink away in a pulse of magic, but it was to no avail. "No, not this again... I hate being trapped in..." his last words were cut off as a perfect statue of Discord fell to the earth.
As Twilight watched, horror-struck, the crystal that engulfed Discord swelled and grew. In no time at all, it became another Crystal Juggernaut, though this one was much larger than its fellows. Its crystal was a reflective onyx black that shone darkly in the smoke choked light. Unlike the other ponies, Discord was plainly visible coiled around the large broken heart shaped void in the center of the Juggernaut. Once more he was imprisoned in stone. Twilight could see the sigil of a heart flare just over the trapped draconequus' chest as the lub-dub, lub-dub sound that it made chilled her blood. Lay-lines of magic flowed through the Juggernaut as it shook to life. Suffused with magic, the jagged crystal hole turned towards Twilight, and she could almost feel the baleful gaze of the eyeless monstrosity.
"If you refuse to see the light of the Empress, then you will know her wrath." intoned Shining Armor solemnly. Twilight didn't know when he had caught up to her, but he stood beside the black Juggernaut as calm and serene as if he could not hear the screams of the few ponies that remained as they desperately tried to escape. his eyes turned to the last of Twilight's friends. Before Fluttershy could flee, he sent a beam of magic arching from the Broken Heart crystal that floated in front of him, striking her down on the spot. Instantly the fear on her face melted into a goofy grin. Shining Armor saw this, and allowed himself a smile of his own.
"Brother, why are you doing this?" sobbed Twilight.
"Why do we do anything Twilight? For love. I'm doing everything for love." Was her brothers sincere reply. He then turned away, and in a harsher voice commanded "Take her!"
The Imperial Soldiers, her brainwashed former friends, as well as the Crystal Juggernaut's turned towards Twilight as one. The Alicorn Princess spread her wings wide. If she was going to go down, she would go down fighting! The massive black Juggernaut reached out to seize her from the air with its thick obsidian claws, but she was too fast for it. Beams of magic bounced off the shield she erected around herself as she took to the air, moving out of the reach of most of the other ponies, but not the ones who could fly. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash followed hot on her trail, taunting her. "Just give it up Twilight! Trust me, it's much better to see the light then get trapped inside one of those Juggernaut things!" called Rainbow Dash behind her. Unsurprisingly, the blue flier was gaining.
"It's really not so bad Twilight!" called Fluttershy, not far behind her childhood friend. "The Empress's love is all around us! You just have to let it in!" Twilight concentrated, and in a burst of magic she teleported away, appearing in another part of the train yard. She may have given Rainbow Dash the slip for now, but not the Juggernauts. They stomped over the trains as if they were toys, firing beams of the 'Empress's love' at her as they chased her down.
"Listen to your friends Twilight!" called Shining Armor. "You don't want to end up like Discord. Just stop fighting and give the Empress your love!" Twilight grit her teeth and teleported again.
She was closer to the barrier now, close enough that she could do what she came for. She readied the spell for punching a hole in the barrier. That was when her brother appeared standing before her in a sudden flash of magic. His eyes flared with the darkest of sorcery, purple energy streaming between his horn and his sisters. Thick black crystals grew all over Twilight's horn, and the spell she had been preparing was choked out and died. The backlash of magic caused Twilight's knees to buckle, and she fell into the dirt at her brothers hooves. It wasn't long before she was surrounded by soldiers, and two Crystal Juggernauts had her pinned to the ground.
"That's enough running, and enough magic for today I think," said the Crystal Emissary. "Twilight Sparkle, last Princess of Equestria! As you are my sister, I will give you one more chance. Will you accept the light, the love, of the Empress!?"
Twilight looked up through blurry eyes. Her head was pounding. All around her the faces of the Imperial Soldiers leered frighteningly at her. Her eyes wandered to her friends and the other ponies from Ponyville. All had the same mindless grins and their eyes were unfocused, as if they were looking at something far away. Only her brother seemed to be looking at her intently. Good. Then he wouldn't see what was about to happen. "I don't know what happened to you... Or to Cadance. But this, whatever this is, it's not love. You can't force people to accept new ideals anymore than you can force them to accept new leaders. What you're doing is wrong, Shiny!" The kick to her face was a shock, more so because it came from her brother.
"Do not call me that! I am the Crystal Emissary! And don't you dare refer to the Empress by anything less than her title!" roared Shining Armor. "You may be my sister, but there are limits to the Empress's mercy."
Twilight spat a gob of blood onto the ground. "Just like there are limits to mine, brother." As she said this, her eyes flared with dark magic of their own. The crystals embedded in Twilight's horn melted away as purple and green flames shot from her eyes. In a flash, a fireball composed of the same twisted energies surged towards Shining Armor, who barely dodged at the last moment. The spell continued streaking through the air, and ripped a massive hole in the shield barrier behind the self declared Crystal Emissary. The look on his face was one of pained shock.
"Do it," was his sad response in light of his sisters defiance. Crystal began to flood over Twilight's pinned body from the behemoths that held her in place. Her last act of rebellion would be be for naught. It wouldn't be long before she would end up just like Discord and all the Crystal Ponies who had defied their new Empress.
That was when Starlight Glimmer and Spike made a break for it!
They ran from the cover of the Friendship Express that they had been hiding behind, and jumped though the hole in the barrier that Twilight had made. Though it was shrinking fast, it was just the right size for one unicorn and a baby dragon. The Imperial Soldiers and the Juggernaut's thundered after them when they realized they were trying to escape, but the shield had already healed completely by the time they arrived.
It would have done no good to open the shield to let them pass through. A flash of magic, and the pair were gone, teleported far away now that the shield couldn't interfere with Starlight's magic.
"Let them run," said Shining Armor indifferently. "There's no place for them to hide. Soon the world will know the love of the Empress. Besides, what can one unicorn and a baby dragon possibly accomplish?"
"More than you might think," whispered Twilight, a slight smile on her face as her body was completely swallowed by milky white crystal.