Forever and For Always

by ShaD-23

The First Wave

As a lively waltz played in the grand hall and everypony danced, all dressed in regal fashion, Twilight sighed, hoping this night would be over fast. Numerous ponies were bowing and saluting to both Cadence and Twilight, as per usual. It still made the latter feel uncomfortable.

Growing stiff, Twilight began to walk through the crowds of ponies. All of Canterlot was there, it seemed. Rarity, done up in a glimmering blue ballgown, schmoozed with a couple of the high society ponies at a table nearby, Fancy Pants, a fairly popular bigwig Rarity was good friends with from a previous visit to the royal town. Spitfire and a handful of her fellow Wonderbolts chatted with some of the guards present, Twilight suspecting they were here for extra protection. The Gala really seemed much bigger this year.

Looking out through the giant windows that lined the hall as she passed, Twilight wondered what was keeping Celestia and Luna. It seemed all the guests had arrived, so they should have entered the hall themselves by now. Just as Twilight walked back to join Cadence, the whole hall rumbled and shook, everypony tolling to the floor and screaming in shock. Guards immediately flooded the hall, glaring out the windows. Dragons were attacking, descending the mountainside opposite the main gate to Canterlot.

“Everypony run!” Cadence called, ushering out the high society ponies. As the unicorn guards began to send powerful bursts of magic at the dragons to fend them off, pegasi guards flew circles around the beasts to distract them and lead them away, Spitfire leading a squad of Wonderbolts in similar form.

“Twilight, c'mon!” Cadence called for her friend. Twilight, however, stared at the massive battle that was going on. The spells the dragons were struck with looked brutal and the pegasi landed powerful blows on the rampaging dragons, who were clearly in pain from these attacks, but they didn't retreat. She could already see it. A faint blue glow illuminated their eyes in the pitch black night, just like before.

“These dragons are under control.” she breathed quietly, although nopony could hear her with the havoc going on. “Cadence!” Twilight called, turning to her fellow princess. “These dragons are being controlled, too! We have to snap them out of it!”

“Twilight, that's impos-” was all Cadence managed to say before the young alicorn spread her wings and flew off into the fray, much to Cadence's terror.

=====

Celestia, covered in gleaming golden armor, flew to and from between a mass of mindless dragons as they came upon the city limits of Canterlot. These must have been victims of Tirek's transformations that Discord spoke of. They attacked relentlessly, a number of them even snapping and thrashing at one another.

“Sister! We must restore them!” Luna called as she narrowly evaded a bust of frigid breath from an icy dragon. Celestia knew whatever these dragons were before, they didn't deserve this. Nevertheless, a restorative spell powerful enough to purify the rampaging drakes would not be easy to cast in the given situation, even for alicorns as powerful as Celestia and Luna.

“There's too many of them, Luna!” she cried as she swooped under a swooping, razor-sharp wing. Swallowing hard, the regal princess flew for the dragon and kicked it hard in the face, causing it to roar out and flail in pain.

“Sister! I will distract them!” Luna called, casting a whirl wind around a few attacking dragons, causing one of them to spread their wings and fly off into the night. “Hurry, before more escape!” she added, the other dragons turning angrily for her. Celestia nodded. If they escaped, there was no telling where they could be headed. They might be lost for good. Curving her wing, Celestia zoomed through the snapping jaws various hazardous breaths the dragons blew for their would be prey, coming up on the escaping dragon. Putting her giant horn to it forehead, she managed to restore it to its previous form, a falcon, which spread its wings and soared into the night. Turning, Celestia could see other dragons coming up on Luna. There was no way she could hold them off and not seriously harm them. Swooping at high speed, Celestia headbutted a particularly spiny dragon, making it roar out and topple into another of the beasts.

“Make them fight one another, Luna!” she called. “Then we can better focus on them individually.” she called, putting her horn to another with plate-like scales, turning it back into a moose and letting it the the ground where it immediately turned and ran, escaping off into the night. Luna nodded as she spotted a scant few dragons flying off. Shooting at high speed, Luna came up to the first and turned it into a small bat which fluttered off in an instant. Turning to another, she restored it to a small weasel, catching it as it began to plummet to the ground. Flying down to the ground to release it, Luna watched helplessly as a third dragon disappeared into the night sky. They couldn't allow much more to escape.

=====

Twilight and Cadence zoomed through similar hazards as the other two princesses. The unicorn guards sent blast after blast of magic for the descending dragons, trying their best to slow them down, but they still lumbered senselessly for the castle, stopping only to attack the pegasi guards and the two princesses. Coming up to another dragon, however, both Twilight and Cadence combined their magic and restored a shiny purple dragon's mind instantly.

“What was I-” the dragon began before Twilight shot away from it.

“Run!” she called back toit. “Hurry away, please!” she called as other dragons began to come up on the freed dragon. Frightened and confused, he spread his wings and soared into the night, back over the mountain range.

“Twilight! We need to evacuate Canterlot!” Cadence called as a powerful burst of steam sent her spinning in the air. Coughing and sputtering, Cadence could barely see enough to dodge the sweep of a dragon's spiny tail. Instantly, Twilight swooped to the smog spewing dragon and placed her horn on her head, restoring her memory.

“What happened to my home? Why am I in Canterlot?” she asked just as another, much bulkier looking dragon came barreling into her. Enraged, she swung her spiny tail for it, knocking it back.

“Please, run away!” Twilight plead, a clasping jaw ripping her beautiful black dress to shreds.

“But I don't-”

“JUST GO!”

Giving one last look back, the dragon stomped off into the valley. Cadence shook her head of soot and zoomed for a beast that had almost made its way into the exposed ballroom, several guards firing with everything they had. Putting her horn to its head, she snapped the dragon out of its mind control, the creature stomping off as well. Just as she was about to return to the fray, Cadence saw a glow of red in the distance.

“Captain!” Cadence called for the newest captain of the royal guards. “Send a squadron to the main gate immediately!”

“But the castle is the highest priority-”

“THAT'S AN ORDER!” Cadence thundered, the captain saluting and gathering a handful of unicorn and pegasi guards to meet with the other two princesses. Glaring, Cadence shot back for the dragons, shoving Twilight out of the way of a giant burst of fire. Looking over the onslaught, the two could see the guards were fighting valiantly, but it wasn't enough. There were too many dragons. Just then, a burst of smog swirled around the attacking dragons, causing them to hack and wheeze.

“We will not allow you to fight alone!” they heard. Turning, everypony could see the dragons who had come to their senses had come back. “We will repay your selflessness, princesses!” called the purple dragon as he spread his majestic wings. Maybe they did have a chance of saving Canterlot.

=====

The captain's squad dodged a blazing fireball as they charged through Canterlot. They could see the princesses shooting through the attacking dragons, completely taken aback by the occasional disappearance of one or two of the dragons. Just as they made their way through the main gate, they saw Celestia falling to the ground, her armor dented and scarred. Immediately, the unicorns gathered under her and cast their magic, causing her to stop in midair. Shaking her head, Celestia shot up into the night sky once more, striking a much larger dragon with her sharpened horn. It roared out and stomped in place as Luna put her horn to its head, turning into a middle aged pegasus who began to plummet to the ground.

“Guards, tend to the falling ponies and animals!” Celestia called as Luna flew to catch up with another escaping dragon. The guards scattered at her command, diving for the falling animals and ponies, some of them narrowly avoiding the stomping feet of the mindless drakes. Just as it seemed they were clearing out all the dragons, one climbed over the great wall around Canterlot.

“Sister!” Luna called, turning away from an escaping dragon. “The city! Canterlot!” Immediately, the guards shot into the town to wrangle the dragon, leaving Celestia and Luna alone again. Turning, sweating bullets, the two princesses zoomed for more dragons, restoring the last of them. Just as it seemed they would be able to join the guards in the city, more dragons suddenly came up from the waterway, the two shooting at blinding speed for them. These dragons, however, were clearly under the control of Tirek, both princesses spotting their glowing blue eyes.

“Mind controlled dragons?” Celestia said unamused. “This will be easy, sister.” Luna added as they zoomed through the dragons, restoring their minds with little effort. “Surely this cannot be the fullest extent of General Tirek's power?” Luna pondered as the freed dragons began to leave. Just then, the escaped dragon came up behind them and caught them both in a burst of fiery breath, sending them both falling unconscious (Luna reverting to her tiny filly form, her armor falling off in the gale) into the aqueduct.

=====

Twilight and Cadence breathed heavily as they restored the final dragon's mind. The guards cheered as the dragons slowly lumbered off, a small few nodding or thanking the princesses as they left.

“Well, that was fun.” Twilight breathed as she sank to the floor. “It's a good thing I came here, huh? Otherwise Canterlot would have been in some serious trouble, hm?” Cadence opened her mouth to agree, but suddenly a blast of fire struck the ballroom floor. Immediately, unicorn guards flailed and cried out in terror as they fell through the massive crater, Twilight, Cadence and the pegasi guards swooping to save them from the fall. Looking up, one final dragon looked over them.

“This one is a pony!” Twilight called. “I can see it in its eyes!” she said, noticing they did not glow blue, dodging the biting gale of its wings.

“We'll really have to pull some stops to restore it, then, Twilight!” Cadence called. "Discord said returning a dragon to pony would not be easy!”

“If Discord was here- GYAA!” Twilight shrieked as she narrowly dodged a blast of subzero breath.

“This dragon can use both fire and ice breath?” sh gasped. There was no denying this was one powerful beast. Swerving away from its clasping jaws, Twilight and Cadence both flew up and put their horns to the dragon's head, mustering all the narrowly depleted power they could to bring her back to pony form. Even for two alicorns, this would not be something easy to do. Just then, Twilight gasped.

“Zecora!” she called as she saw some of the zebra's memories. Cadence didn't look away. She clung to the flailing dragon's forehead.

“Twilight! Help me!” Cadence called. Immediately Twilight put her horn to the Zecora dragon's head, both Cadence and Twilight feeling faint. Finally, they did it. The dragon's scales melted away, leaving an unconscious Zecora plummeting for the shattered ballroom floor. Twilight and Cadence both flew as fast as they could, hoping they'd be able to catch their friend. Just as it looked as if they would be too late, a white streak shot by, Rarity having just caught Zecora.

“Rarity?”

“Great work!”

Both the princesses beamed as they saw Rarity carry Zecora to the guards, coming to a landing on the far edge of the chasm, collapsing as they did.

“That was pretty fun...” Twilight breathed, Cadence giving a small laugh at this. They were both exhausted from the whole ordeal, they didn't notice bits of marble falling down around them. When Twilight finally saw a few pieces, she and Cadence both looked up and shrieked as a portion of the castle wall slowly tipped toward them, snapping and falling down a moment later.

“We'll be crushed!” they both called in union, to fatigued too fly off. Just then, a tiny shape flew overhead, both of them staring in total awe as a lone pony torn the giant chunk of marble and stone in half, the giant shards falling down around them. Turning just enough, they saw Shining Armor landing just behind them, covered in scrapes, dust and bruises with a giant, shining sword with a gold and lilac hilt clasped in his mouth.

“Hello ladies.” he breathed. “Did I miss the party?”

=====

Celestia and the tiny Luna drifted through the Canterlot sewers, both out cold. Just as they were coming to a fall, however, a pony in a heavy traveling cloak caught them in a net and dragged them out of the rushing water, Celestia's armor clinking all the while.

“Evening, princesses.” he said as he shook his head, the hood flying back off his blue mane, Luna stirring awake as Celestia coughed out a mouthful of water. “Flash Sentry, at your service.”

Author's Note:

For those of you who will undoubtedly have problems with him, Flash Sentry only has a cameo in this story... although he might just come back.