//------------------------------// // Chapter Three: Mission Canterlot // Story: Crusader Saviors // by GildaTheGriffon //------------------------------// It was the probably first time, yet cutie mark crusaders did not notice, they were heading to a castle with no guards... Where were them all? Did they leave the castle? Crystal Empire was preparing just like an apocalypse spreading to Equestria, hitting every land of it one by one... What was causing all these? How come all the villains had time to find each other and unite? How did they plan and applicate this? Each of them surely had one thing in common. Smelling the taste of causing fear on ponies. One thins was sure and it had to be known by everypony that exists in this kingdom. There is always contrasts. For instance, with goodness, there is evil or with peace and harmony, there is also war and disharmony. If there is somepony that had or have not accepted this condition, it will be and would be harder to maintain their lives. Life is not a fairytale and especially those three fillies actually saw the real face of the life. Life was actually more than trying to find a cutie mark in this kingdom. From all the days they had spent and wasted by searching a cutie mark, now they found out there were much worse and harder situations and conditions that life causes than being a 'blank flank'. All fillies started to enter the castle and passed the gates. They were trying to rush, but also did not want to attract and be in the center of attention. They did not want to cause another panic in ponies and in addition, they could not trust anypony. Since the last tree house meeting that they had, changelings were the main issue and trouble. Yet, they may have lost some ponies, including Princess Cadance, and left them maybe behind. However, one thing was sure that all three of them, and even Diamond Tiara, that joined the mission of theirs', never lost hope. They were still hopeful about their relatives and ponies that they love. They were lucky that they have not get caught but life can change anything. With one step, with one wrong idea or attempt those ponies can even be forced to face the worst nightmare that they have even never seen before. "Wait... I know Cadence said that we should look for Shining Armor. However are we sure that we can find him here?" asked Apple Bloom with a little-confused face. "Princess Cadance said so, I do not really know. But, since Princess Cadance believed that the changeling which was at the front of the Canterlot Castle was Shining Armor, I can guess that she was expecting Shining Armor from here. We have to look for Shining Armor!" said Sweetie Belle. "We do not have to..." Scootaloo said. Every other pony gasped. "What do you mean?" Diamond Tiara asked. "You are telling me that, you brought me here for nothing blank flanks?" she said angrily and then face hoofed. "No, we can be something with or without an adult near us! We are cutie mark crusaders! We can do anything! We can success this. And I never brought you here and forced you, you wanted to come, so... Please think twice before you speak." said Scootaloo. Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes. "Look, chicken. What I tried to say was, you could have said this on the train. Yet, you preferred this after a long trip that we made..." said Diamond Tiara. "We are doing it for Cadance!" Scootaloo said. "That is why I am here and you are still being rude. You never decided to come here with us. If you wanted to stay in Canterlot with an army of changelings, it was up to you... You saw us on the train and then you felt lonely and then wanted to come. We could not and can not leave a friend that is in trouble." "I am not your frie-! Ugh, whatever!" Diamond Tiara said and rolled her eyes and decided to walk a little front of them. "Shining Armor? Prince? Are you here?" Apple Bloom was crying out for the prince. "The smartest and safest way to find the prince..." Diamond Tiara said and rolled her eyes. Every other pony said 'Hush!' to make her stop talking and keeping her attitude. "Whatever!" she said. "Surprising you are searching for your prince... You are late however and a little early I must say. You were so lucky that Nightmare Moon did not see you. However, I did. She handled the prince by herself. You are mine now! I must congratulate you three... You got your backs good. But not it is time for you to say 'Hello dungeons!'." someone said and appeared in front of them. "You are coming with me!" the new character said and cast a quick spell and put all the three on his back and left Diamond Tiara alone. Diamond Tiara ran away... "Stop it Discord! We have to stop them! You can not unite with those evil villains! We were friends!" Scootaloo said to Discord. Discord giggled. "Are we? Well, I need to take you to the dungeon, though we have the elements of harmony, and all your sisters in our Canterlot dungeons, we have the two princesses. Hold me tight now, we are going to Canterlot!" he continued. "You know where our sisters are? Where are they? WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Oh, they are in the cells. I did not do something personally to them. It was the princess of the night's order. So they are all in there. I have nothing to do..." Discord said and giggled once again. "Don't worry, you three. I am taking you to them. Just in the way that I want. Misery and suffer. With the chaos of course! Oh by the way, do you know that I am the king of Ponyville from now on?" Discord asked. "What?" Apple Bloom asked. "Hahaha... You must see your face... It is hilarious. Yes, I am afraid, I am telling the truth. Nightmare Moon gave me this role, Chrysalis will be the queen of Crystal Empire and Trixie will be the queen of Canterlot. Nightmare Moon will rule the whole Equestria herself." Discord said. "So, though within this chaos, you even did not achieve to get the highest rank? And still need a pony to rule Equestria?" Scootaloo asked and laughed. She winked at the others and they all laughed together. Discord got mad but he did not say anything. He stopped and let them go. "You are not going to take us to cells? Why?" Apple Bloom asked. "If you still want I can?" Discord said. "The truth is, I do not want that mare to rule my kingdom and go on so try to save your friends. So that both sides will win. And I will always win. They are at a cell which a secret path that is under one of the beds of the guards lead. Your sisters and friends, there is a hidden pathway going down, under a bed of one. If you tell I said and gave this information, I will be your first and worst nightmare. Now go on, and hurry. Nightmare Moon can be back at any time after she returns from Crystal Empire!" Discord said and disappeared. With Discord's words, all three ponies rushed to the Canterlot Entrance. There were bat pony guards, instead of royal guards. They saw royal guards fighting with the bat ponies. Cutie mark crusaders tried to enter to the guards' restroom to search under the beds. They searched more bed than fifty, but they could not even find any. Soon, they noticed another room, which led to the assistant captain's room, Flash Sentry. Under his bed, there was a pathway. When they were about to enter down, they heard some bugle horn. They were hard to hear anything but some cheers and boos. "Ladies and gentlemen, queen of Equestria, Nightmare Moon!" some bat pony introduced her. All three fillies looked at the window and saw Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon looked at the window and with a rush they leaned down. Luckily, she did not notice anything. When each of the royal guard's of Celestia was making boo sounds "ENOUGH!" Nightmare Moon screamed and knocked her left front hoof down to the ground. It shook them a little. "Take them all to her princess then, they will regret and beg me to come back! Go on now!" she said. "Where is Chrysalis?" Apple Bloom asked. "Why you want more trouble? Of course, she is not here... Queen of Crystal Empire remember?" Sweetie Belle said and rolled her eyes. Even saying it was totally disturbing and disgusting. When Nightmare Moon started to walk into the castle, the royal guards were about to taken to their cells. So all three jumped down and walked the pathway. Nightmare Moon came to the room. It was empty. However, she saw that someone found out the secret pathway. The bed was not fixed and was pushed to the left side to be opened for. "Rush everypony! This can be a danger! Find those traitors! Nobody can betray their Princess!" she said. "And I will be doing the Winter Moon Celebration from now on! Let the eternal night begin!" she said and laughed. She lowered the sun and raised the moon with a cast of magic with her horn. Guards started to rush to the hidden room, to search for them. There were torches in the hidden room and yet, they could see many cells. Each cell had one pony or two. They started to walk one of them and saw Rarity. "Rarity!" Sweetie Belle screamed. "It is me, sister!". Rarity opened her eyes, she tried to came but then fell. She just tried to smile calmly. "I-I am so thirsty and hung-hungry." Rarity said and closed her eyes. Sweetie Belle screamed 'NO!' but then they heard some trotting sounds coming from the upstairs. Scootaloo grabbed her and Apple Bloom and hid behind a pillar. Nightmare Moon walked in. She got mad and yelled. "How can you lose the track? How can you not find even a pony?" Nightmare Moon asked. There was a laugh behind. Someone occurred in front of Nightmare Moon. "A princess who fell to darkness... Trying to take over the things that I provided? Is it even possible?" said someone. "I must confess, you enslave ponies well, but no one can escape from my cell!" someone continued. It sounded like a stallion. It teleported in front of Nightmare Moon and cast a spell and punched Nightmare Moon to the wall. All the bat guards started to attack but with another blast spell, the stallion made them fall. "You must defend yourself better and much more careful princess..." "How can not you invite me to your tea party, Nightmare Moon?" King Sombra asked. His shadows tied all the other bat ponies. It was only him and Nightmare Moon now. Nightmare Moon stood up. "You have never changed Nightmare Moon, since the time my darkness provided you to turn into this. You owe me! You owe me everything!" he yelled. "I must say, you are full of surprises. Yet, you are late. The every step you take and your foot touches belong to mine King! Let's begin this again shall we?" Nightmare Moon said and cast a spell. Sombra cast another spell and they started to fight. Nightmare Moon laughed. "I should have guessed the intruder was you. You serious? A unicorn versus an alicorn? I doubt it!" she said and laughed and cast another spell. While they were fighting, Scootaloo grabbed the keys from the guard who was tied. The guard screamed and noticed Scootaloo. Nightmare Moon saw her. Scootaloo and her friends tossed each other the keys while Nightmare Moon was chasing them. Scootaloo for the last time threw the keys to Sweetie Belle and she opened the gate of Celestia. Celestia flew out. She was weak, but still she had power. She cast a spell on them both and stopped them. Sweetie Belle tossed the keys to Apple Bloom to save her friends. "Quick, I can't hold them forever! Save the elements of harmony!" Celestia cried out. "No, no! I must say, I can not let you do that." Queen Chrysalis came in front of Apple Bloom and her army blocked everywhere and surrounded them. Chrysalis cast a spell and Sweetie Belle saw it was coming to Princess Celestia, so she tried a counter spell. Though, Chrysalis' spell crashed it away and hit Celestia. Celestia fainted. Nightmare Moon and Sombra fell down. Chrysalis ordered and with her army she put Sombra to jail. Cutie mark crusaders started to sneak out and run but they got chased. Apple Bloom fell and Chrysalis caught her. The other two was trying their best to rush. They hid themselves to a corner street and got rid of the army. "We need to save Apple Bloom!" said Sweetie Belle., "We will! We will save her!" Scootaloo said and behind a wall looked at the castle once again. A tear dropped from one of Scootaloo's eyes. -MORE COMING SOON-