The Decline and Fall of West Equestria: Twilight's Tale

by StormLuna

Riots in Canterlot

The Calm Before the Storm

After Celestia and I addressed the crowd that afternoon, they seemed to disperse for the most part although a few of the upper class ponies remained. While they were not shouting anything we knew that they did not have good intentions. That evening Celestia and I set down for supper and I asked, "Celestia, do you think things will remain relatively calm tonight or do you think there will be more protests?"

Celestia replied, "Well there are always a couple ponies yelling things at night but it is nothing major. Unless there is some sort of festival or celebration going on, nights are usually rather quiet." She put her wing up to her face and continued, "Well except for the royal guards being lynched at night here recently, things have been pretty safe."

I replied, "That is good to hear."

After supper Celestia and I headed out on to the balcony so she could do her royal duties which surprisingly were uneventful. Celestia gave me a smile when she saw that there were no ponies whatsoever gathered out there. She said, "Well this is a nice change, normally there are a few ponies down there yelling at me when I am lowering the sun and raising the moon."

I asked, "What do they yell?"

Celestia replied, "Well they yelled at me claiming that I drove Luna away, they yelled at me for not treating her as an equal, they yelled that things would be far better had I let Luna run everything and of course like they shouted today, they yell the word 'tyrant' at me."

We headed inside and I could sense a feeling of relief from Celestia but I did not have the same feelings. I had a feeling that the peaceful evening was a sign of bad things to come. Celestia saw my look of concern and asked, "Twilight, what is wrong? You look concerned."

I replied, "I just have a bad feeling about tonight. I don't know why but I think that things are going to get violent tonight."

Celestia gave me a half smile and replied, "Twilight, didn't you see how calm and peaceful it was when I did my royal duties? There wasn't even a single protester out there tonight! Everything is going to be just fine."

I said, "I certainly hope so."

Before we knew it the time had come for bed. Celestia headed for her chambers while I headed to Luna's old sleeping chambers. I couldn't help but feel a little bit weird crawling into her bed but it certainly was comfortable! It was even more comfortable than my own in Ponyville. Eventually I was able to get to sleep but that would not last for long.

---

The Riots Begin

Around midnight I was awaken from my slumber by screaming and yelling outside. I wanted to get a better look at everything that was going on so I crept out my window and flew to the top of the castle. What I saw would terrify me. I saw ponies not only screaming and yelling outside of the castle, in the business district I saw ponies breaking windows out of businesses and looting. The biggest targets were the jewelry stores. They probably figured that if they could sell the rings and other items that they could at least stock up on food. It was almost as if Canterlot had gone from a city of high society to one that would break the law just to survive.

What surprised me the most was that the working class ponies and the upper class ponies were working together in these riots. Normally you would think that the gentry and nobility would never engage in rioting, much less mingling with the working class. Then things would only get more terrifying, ponies were beginning to set businesses on fire and calling for the heads of all royalty. I then looked off in the opposite direction and saw a huge mob headed towards Prince Blueblood's castle. I knew what was going to happen but when I saw that the guards protecting the castle were being assaulted and ponies were trying to breach the castle entrance, I flew back through my window and shut it.

I crawled in a ball in the corner and began to cry. During the whole time I lived here and even after I moved to Ponyville, I never imagined things like this would ever happen in Equestria. I thought that such things were reserved for countries with less stable governments and less loved monarchs. I guess now we are the less loved monarchs and with the bad economy, this shouldn't have surprised me but it did. My biggest concern now was that the rioters would breach the entrance and unleash their wrath upon us. All I can do right now is hope that if they do get inside, the unicorn guards will take care of them.

---

A Royal Nightmare

While I was incredibly tired, I just couldn't get to sleep. I looked out the window and smoke from the fires was beginning to fill the sky, the yells were getting louder and then I heard something incredibly scary. I heard a pony yell, "We did it, we've tore the door down! Let's go in and kill them!"

It was at this moment that I realized the castle had been breached so I quickly headed into Celestia's room. I nudged Celestia but she is not an easy pony to wake so I had to figure out a different way to wake her so I yelled, "Princess Celestia, wake up! The castle has been breached."

This caused Celestia to shoot up in her bed. She asked, "Twilight, are you ok?" She began to giggle a little and continued, "I don't know if I was dreaming this but I could have sworn you said that the castle has been breached."

I was in shock that she would take something like that so lightly. I frantically shouted, "It has Celestia, we have to get out of here. They are coming for us!"

Celestia sighed, "Twilight, I hear the yells....." She then sniffed the air and smelled smoke. She asked, "Twilight, I smell smoke. Is the castle on fire?"

I replied, "No, but these protests have turned into rioting. There is looting in the business district and buildings are being set on fire."

Celestia was mortified. She began to panic, "Twilight, we need to get out of the city. If they have breached the castle they will likely start fires in here and try to hurt us."

I nodded and we rushed out the door. Unfortunately though, we were meet by a huge mob. Most were armed with pitchforks and spears. While Celestia would normally know what to do in this situation, she began to panic. She rushed back into her room and I felt myself being trampled by many, many hooves. While I was grunting and trying to get up, I heard horrible, painful screams. It was that of Princess Celestia. The mob got to her and launched a full attack. After what seemed to be an eternity I heard the screaming stop. I heard the mob screaming and cheering before they then came after me. They began to stab me with their spears and while I screamed at first, I managed to go silent despite still being stabbed. I realized the only way to survive this was to play dead, and it worked. Finally they left cheering in victory, believing that they had wiped both of us out. Once they were out of sight I crawled into Celestia's room to check on her.

When I got into Celestia's room I found her laying at the foot of her bed. She was covered in blood and she had many, many stab wounds. As I crawled closer to her I began to tear up as it looked like the mob had been successful in killing her. I laid over her and began to cry, "Why? Why? Why did this have to happen? Why did they do this when she has been nothing but kind and loving towards them?"

I felt something move beneath me. Could it be, could Celestia be alive? I heard a weak voice say, "Twilight, is that you?"

I got off of her and began to cry, "You're alive?" I hugged her and continued, "I'm so glad you're alive."

Celestia replied, "Yes, I'm alive, but just barely."

With as badly as she had been injured I knew there was not much I could do except clean her wounds, get her into bed and watch over her. I said, "Celestia, I am going to have to get something to clean your wounds. Will you be ok?"

Celestia replied, "Yes Twilight, I will be ok."

I headed to her private bath where I found alcohol pads, gauze, stitching materials and band-aids. When I returned I saw a guard pony in there with her. He saw me and asked, "Princess Twilight, did you know that Celestia was attacked?"

I was not thrilled with his question, especially given that he saw me bringing in medical supplies. I replied, "Yes, I know. If I hadn't known I wouldn't be bringing in things to clean her wounds now would I?" I glared at him and continued, "And where were you during this attack? Why is it just now that you showed up?"

He replied, "Well I was off duty when I heard what was going on. I got into my armor and got here as fast as I could. When I finally did arrive, I saw four of my fellow guardsponies had been killed at the entrance, that the doors had been completely torn down and even worse, most of the royal guard has abandoned their posts. There are only a few of us left to protect you two."

Celestia began to cry, "That is horrible, what are we going to do?"

I looked at the guard and ordered, "I want you to get all the remaining loyal guardsponies and bring them here to protect Celestia." I then smiled at Celestia and continued, "And I want to get your wounds cleaned up and give you the stitches you need."

Celestia gave me a weak smile and replied, "Thank you Twilight, you have no idea how much this means to me."

The guard left to go round up the remaining guardsponies while I began to work on Celestia. I know the alcohol was stinging her as she was moaning in pain and she was gritting her teeth as I was stitching her up. Three hours later I had got her wounds cleaned and had her wounds stitched shut. Yes I had my own wounds that needed taking care of but taking care of Celestia's wounds is far more important than my own.

Although it was difficult and painful for her, I was finally able to get Celestia into bed and I began working on my own wounds. While mine weren't as bad, cleaning them still stung and sewing them up was rather painful as well. I guess this is where being a unicorn or an Alicorn has it's advantages, you can take care of your wounds on your own if you have to.

I was trying to get Celestia to go to sleep but she just couldn't do it so we talked to keep her mind off of the pain. Suddenly we heard horrible crying and screaming coming from outside. I rushed over to the window and saw that the ponies had piled a bunch of wood together and lit it on fire. I saw a pony that was tied up struggling and trying to get free but it was all for naught. I took a closer look and it was Prince Blueblood. I could hear his cries but I heard snide yells from his captors as well.

"Good riddance you parasite!" yelled one pony

"May you rot in Tartarus for all eternity you miserable waste of space!" yelled another

A third pony mocked Blueblood's voice, "Eww...Me mingle with commoners?, I think not!" He then sneered, "Well too bad Bluebitch, tonight you have no choice!"

They then threw the struggling unicorn into the fire and his cries and screams were so loud that Celestia and I could hear it easily in her room. She tried to sit up and asked, "Twilight, what is going on out there?"

I began to weep, "It's Prince Blueblood. He was abducted by an angry mob and they are burning him alive in the courtyard below your window."

This caused Celestia to become enraged. She tried to crawl out of bed and yelled, "They're doing wha.....OWWW!"

She slipped out of bed and tore one of her stitches open so I had to clean it and stitch it up again. Celestia began to cry, "I know he wasn't the friendliest of ponies or the most well liked member of the royal family but they didn't have to kill him. He had nothing to do with this."

I replied, "I know Celestia but right now I think they are out to get anyone in the royal system. We just have to hope that the remaining guards will follow their orders and protect you."

Celestia replied, "I hope so as well......Twilight, with me being in this shape, I won't be able to go outside take care of the moon or sun, what am I going to do?"

I replied, "Well when I had all of the Alicorn magic, I did it from inside the library so maybe you can do it from in here."

Celestia said, "Well it's worth a try. If I can't do it I guess the land will be shrouded in darkness for a while."

When the time came Celestia did discover that she could lower the moon and raise the sun from her bed. While I was relieved that she could do that, there were other problems I was worried about. I was not sure how much food the castle had in it and I had my doubts that there would be any more shipments coming in given the chaotic state the city was in. Finally after having some breakfast I was able to get Celestia to go to sleep. Seeing her in this state bothers me so much, not just because she was my teacher and mentor but also because she is like a second mother to me. Sometimes I feel like she was more of a mother for me than my biological mother ever was.