Defenders of Harmony

by chillbook2

Loss

If I learned one thing from my time with the Six, it’s that we are horribly bad at managing time. In the blink of an eye, it was February 13th.

“How did this happen? It felt like just yesterday we figured out when we needed to be ready and now, poof! It’s tomorrow!” I said that night.

“Yeah, it’s almost like the author is having some problems with keeping the continuity up.” said Pinkie. “He doesn’t seem to be able to keep a handle on how time progresses in the story, so he just skipped around the days that didn’t have any relevance to the plot!”

“What are you talking about?” I asked in confusion.

“She’s been saying it all day, just roll with it!” called Robert from downstairs. He had been lifting weights for two hours, while me, Fluttershy, Isaiah, and the Mane Six sat down and planned.

“What are we gonna do?” asked Twilight. “We have a couple of hours before Heart’s and Hooves Day. What’s the course of action?”

“Here’s what I say:” said Fluttershy. “We leave at the crack of dawn and go straight to Canterlot, get the Princesses out, and wait there for Chrysalis. What say you, Silver?”

“I think that’s a great idea. Gives us enough time to get our gear in order and get some sleep. Did Robert get new weapons yet?” Apparently, when we escorted Robert from the changeling bunker, the smoke we saw was from his shotgun exploding. As for his hammer, we have no clue. He was pissed and has been looking for some replacements ever since.

“War! Did you get new weapons yet?!” called Pinkie.

“Hold on! I just need to… Here ya go!” yelled Robert. He ran upstairs, brandishing a giant hammer, a yard long shaft and a 2-foot wide square head. “Say hello to Mjolnir!”

“Got a gun yet?” I asked. He whipped a shotgun off of his back. It was jet-black and about half the length of his arm. He cocked it back and said, “When do I get to break these bad bitches in?”

“Patience, Robert. We have to wait a until morning.” I said.

“It is morning.” said Pinkie.

“What are you talking about? It’s 10 pm.” I said.

“No it’s not! It’s 6:30 in the morning! The girls and Isaiah are downstairs already, waiting for you!”

“How is that possible?! We’ve been talking for two minutes!”

“Told you: he skips over the non-relevant parts of the story. He’s probably gonna get some grief in the reviews, but I doubt he cares. Besides, the author is really excited to get into the next part. Come on, Silver! We have to go!” said Pinkie, running downstairs.

“Did you notice any time passing?” I asked.

“Nope. It doesn’t matter too much though. We should leave. They’re waiting for us.” replied Robert. He transformed into War and ran downstairs. I switched to Silver and followed him, still confused as to what just happened. I entered the briefing room to get down to business. With the mares in front of me and my Earth friends (both in pony form) by my sides, I felt ready to get started.

“Alright. We’re going to leave, now. Is everypony ready?” They all nodded. “Are you sure? Once we leave, we’re not coming back until the Princesses are safe. That means no visits to Ponyville until we’re done. Got it? No visits to Sweetie Belle or Applebloom or Scootaloo or Angel or Sugar Cube Corner or your library! We have to do this without goofing around or somepony is gonna end up dead!” I shouted.

“The only pony I’m worried about dying is you, Silver.” said Fluttershy. “We understand, alright? Just open the goddamn Rift!”

“Fine, fine. Just nervous.” I said, extending my hands. I gripped the air and ripped it apart, leaving silver energy hanging in front of me. I stepped through slowly, tripping through to the otherside.

“Ahahaha!” I yelped, stumbling slightly. Suddenly, I felt a sharp blade tip touch my throat. The pony holding it was an orange pegasus mare with blackened steel armor, her face obscured by her helmet.

“Who goes there?” she asked, in a familiar cracking, high-pitched voice. I heard the others step out from behind.

“Don’t move.” I said. “I’m thinking.”

“Rainbow Dash!!” shouted my captor. “I thought you were dead!!” She whipped off her helmet, revealing an unmistakable, purple, wind-swept mane.

“Scootaloo?!” said RD, running past me. She swept up that not-so-little filly up in a back breaking hug.

“Drop her!” I shouted. Why didn’t I bring my detector book?! “It might be a changeling!”

“I’m not!” yelled Scootaloo. “Why would the changelings impersonate me?”

“Then what are you doing here?!”

“My job. I’m Princess Luna’s head swords-pony! I even got my Cutie Mark!” she shouted in excitement. She turned around and showed us her Cutie Mark, two crossed swords behind a shield with a crescent moon on top. “After you guys left, I started taking up fencing. I got really good, and entered a few tournaments. I won and got the honor of performing for the Princesses. Princess Luna saw my skill and offered to take me up as her student. I’ve been head of her sword department ever since.”

“And she’s been doing a marvelous job, I might add.” came Luna’s voice, stepping out of the shadows. “It is good to see you all again.” I dropped to my knees and bowed, the others following behind me.

“Princess Luna.” said Robert. “You and your sister are in terrible danger!”

“Oh, but you must be Robert. And the other must be Isaiah. Lovely meeting you. I take it that you have eliminated the threat?” replied the princess of the moon.

“Not exactly. Perhaps Fluttershy should explain. I was out of comission for a while.” I said.

“Princess, we have killed Sunset Shimmer and Discord is M.I.A. I took his arm and tail, so I don’t think he’ll be coming back.” reported Fluttershy. “Sombra and Chrysalis are still on the loose, which is why we’re here. We have reason to believe that-”

“Why did you kill Sunset Shimmer? Me and my sister made it very clear that they should be captured. I was not aware that ‘capture’ meant ‘murder’ on Earth.” said Luna disapprovingly.

“I did what I could, princess. After Silver was… unfit to lead, I took over the operation. I apologize for not following orders, but when shit hits the fan…”

“We don’t have time for this!” shouted Twilight, getting to her hooves. “Princess Luna, you and Celestia have to leave. Now! Chrysalis is coming to kill you, today. We need to get you out.”

“I see. We must warn my sister immediately.” said Luna, turning tail. She walked into the shadows she entered and began to ascend. I followed her up the staircase, listening to the conversation behind me.

“Scootaloo, my dear, have you spoken to Sweetie Belle lately? I’m worried about how she’s been keeping up without me.” said Rarity.

“Oh, don’t worry about her. She’s here too! Head of firearms department. Dead-eye aim. Applebloom is here as well.” added Scootaloo. “She’s actually the leader of Princess Luna’s Royal Guard. We’re still friends and all, we’re just busy.”

“Ah knew Applebloom would find her talent. Just never thought she’d be a soldier. Ah always thought she’d pick up on the apple farm. Oh well, as long as she’s happy.” said Aj. “On a completely unrelated note, how much of the moo-lah is she bringin’ in?”

“Don’t worry about that!” laughed Luna. “If Applebloom plays her cards right, she’ll never work a day past forty. Unless she wishes to stay on the Guard. She seems to enjoy it.”

“And don’t worry, Rarity, I made sure to let Sweetie Belle know not to start making dresses. After that whole fiasco at the talent show, she felt it was the best course. You’ll be able to see them soon.” said Scootaloo as we approached the throne room doors. I threw them open and was shocked to see Luna and Celestia sitting on thrones, side-by-side, with Scootaloo standing next to them.

“Imposter!” called the Scootaloo that came with us and the Luna on the throne, in unison.

“Look who’s talking!” shouted our Luna and their Scootaloo. If this wasn’t such a dire situation, I would have died in laughter.

“Whoah! That’s unusual!” I said, walking to the center of the room. My friends followed behind me, pulling their guns out and pointing them at both pairs of Luna and Scootaloo.

“Put down the guns.” said our Scoots.

“No way.” I said, walking up to her. “Not until we find out who’s real.”

“The ones who came with us are real.” said Twilight.

“How do you know?” I asked, not taking my eyes off of them.

“Because the real Scootaloo would never hold Celestia at gunpoint.” answered Fluttershy solemnly. I turned around to see my friends dropping their weapons while the Princess dropped to her knees and put her hands up. Pressed against the back of her head was an emerald-green pistol held by Scootaloo.

“Not quite according to plan, but this will do.” said Fake Scootaloo in a sensual, insectoid voice. “No point in hiding anymore, Sombra.” Fake Luna and Fake Scootaloo burst into bright green flames. Laughing manically, a tall, slender figure stepped out of the flames. Her mane fell on her shoulders, teal and riddled with craters. Her tall, black body looked as hard as stone and her green eyes pierced through my soul. Stretching out her tattered wings, she pushed the gun harder against Celestia’s skull.

“Hurry up and kill them.” growled Sombra, stepping out of the other plume of fire. “We don’t have all day, Chrysalis! Unless you want your people to starve. Is that what you want, Chrysalis?”

“Shut up, Sombra. I’m looking for the other one.” she answered in her echoing voice. “There is supposed to be ten.”

“What are you talking about? There’s only nine, and they’re all right here.”

“No, no, no! After Silver Rift died, they replaced him with another. Speaking of which, why is he here? I thought you killed him. Looks like you screwed up. We’ll discuss this later. Go look for the tenth!”

“I assure you, there is only nine! Kill them now, so we can take Equestria for our own!” shouted Sombra angrily. Then, something odd happened. Chrysalis looked me in the eyes and mouthed a single word.

“Help.”

Then, something even odder happened. I listened.

“You’ll never find Kyle!” I shouted. “You idiots left your entire base undefended, huh? Sunset’s dead and Discord is in Fum-Buck Egypt! Who’s defending your troops? Nopony, that’s who. Kyle can take out 100 changelings a minute. Say you have 200,00 changelings on base. You do the math.” Sombra stepped over to me and placed his index finger on my forehead, reading through my mind.

“Seems I was mistaken.” he growled. He turned to smoke and flew out the window. “Kill them before I return.” The room was silent for a minute after he left, until Chrysalis broke it.

“Come clean. Who’s Kyle?” inquired Chrysalis.

“An old friend of ours. He died five years ago, in a car accident. Sombra wasn’t too bright and only looked to see if he was real. Didn’t check to see if he was alive. Now you. Why did you want Sombra to leave?” I asked.

“I needed him gone so we could negotiate.” she replied.

“What makes you think we would negotiate with you?!” yelled Scootaloo.

“Really? You’re kidding, right?” answered Chrysalis, pressing the gun against Celestia’s head once more. “Here’s what’s gonna happen. I give you Celestia, you give me the Elements of Harmony and I walk away.”

“What do you want the Elements for?” I asked curiously.

“My people will feed off of it’s love magic.” said Chrysalis plainly.

“Are you stupid?” asked Fluttershy. “They’re called the Elements of Harmony. Harmony. Not love. Harmony.”

“Fine! You’ll use them to create some love for my people to feast on. How about that, huh?” yelled the queen.

“You need to go back to Magic Kindergarten, Chrysalis.” said Twilight, matter-of-factly. “Let me refresh your memory. The father of modern magic, Starswirl the Bearded, set three fundamental laws of magic. No matter how powerful the unicorn, nopony can manipulate time, nopony can revive the dead, and nopony can create love.”

“And if you want to learn more about Starswirl the Bearded, you can read the author’s previous story, Starswirl’s Story. You can do that by clicking here.” said Pinkie inexplicably. We chose to ignore her.

“Chrysalis, you know there is no alternative.” said Celestia. “You have to-”

“Silence! Hold your tongue, princess of the sun!” shouted Chrysalis.

“Don’t talk to the princess that way!” replied Twilight.

“Keep your mouth shut or I’ll put a bullet in between your eyes!”

“I have been patient with you Chrysalis, but I will not tolerate you threatening my student.” said Celestia, rising to her hooves. “Chrysalis you have wasted enough of our time, so why don’t you just do what I suggested earlier?”

“Don’t play with me, Celestia. Just get me some love for my people and I’ll leave you alone. I’m sure you can handle Sombra on your own.”

“Did you notice it as well, Twilight?” said Conjure softly.

“Yes, but it doesn’t make any sense. Why would she do that?” asked Twilight.

“What are you talking about?” asked War.

“You guys haven’t noticed? Suppose you wouldn’t. Something only we geniuses would catch.” he said smugly.

“Can you say that again? All I heard was ‘Please Robert. Please bash my head in!”” replied War.

“A lot of hostility! Fine, I’ll tell you. I think Chrysalis wants to die.”

“Conjure, don’t be an idiot. Why would she want that?” asked Fluttershy.

“I haven’t a clue, but you know I wouldn’t say such a thing without amble proof. First off, she allowed us to keep our melee weapons, and she didn’t tell Chris to drop his gun at all. You could say that she wasn’t worried about us, considering she could probably kill Celestia before we got to her. But then you think about the fact that she had Celestia on the floor instead of using her as a shield, but you could argue that she didn’t want to get too close to Celestia, which would make sense until you consider the fact that she allowed Scootaloo and Luna to get so close to her.” I looked to the sides and, sure enough, he was right. Luna was to Celestia’s right, while Scootaloo was to the left of Chrysalis.

“But then one could argue that Scootaloo is the only one with a weapon and she could probably overpower her. But then you consider the one fact that proves that she is trying to get killed: we can still use our magic.”

“You can use your magic?” I asked.
“Yes. I’ve been using it to scan the area for enemies this entire time.” he replied. “I haven’t taken her down yet because I’m curious. So I ask, why, why does Queen Chrysalis want to die? The answer, you ask? Oh, well, I’ll tell you. She is acting as a martyr.”

“Hahahahahahahaha!” laughed Chrysalis. “You think I would die just to fire up my people? When I could just inspire them by being here? My changelings all would happily die for me, and my dying won’t change that.”

“Then why do you want to die? You are basically begging for us to end you.” said Twilight.

“You are wrong.” said Chrysalis. “You couldn’t be more wrong if you tried.”

“Your people are dying, Chrysalis, and I’m sorry for that, but it’s time we face facts.” said Celestia calmly.

“Back on your knees, princess, or you die!”

“Ha! You think that scares me, Chrysalis?” laughed Celestia. “You are older than me, by at least a thousand years, so you know even better than me that death is not something to fear. Death to me would be like visiting an old friend whom I’ve been arguing with for a while, us finally apologizing to one another. Long story short, you have nothing to threaten me with.”

“Shut up, Celestia! Back on your knees!”

“I’m sorry, Chrysalis. Your people are starving, and I know you think this is the only way, but I have to do this.” said Celestia, horn glowing. “It has to end this way.”

BOOM!

Have you ever read a book, or saw a movie or T.V. show, where something so unbelievably bad happens, like a character dies, and time begins to slow down? Believe it or not, that does happen. It’s just that nothing you’ve ever seen could do the real thing justice. Time doesn’t slow down. It stops completely. As the bullet entered Celestia’s head, she paused in mid-air. There she hung as we all watched in horror. Even Chrysalis couldn’t believe it. Slowly, time began to return to normal. She drifted to the ground, falling awkwardly on her face. A large hole was in the back of her head, gushing blood down her neck.

“YOU PIECE OF SHIT!! YOUR BLOOD WILL PAINT THESE FLOORS!!!” shouted Luna in her Canterlot Voice, rushing towards Chrysalis.

BOOM!

Luna fell to the ground slightly faster. She hit the ground next to her sister, large wound in her chest. Blood gushed, pooling around them both. I dropped to my knees in disbelief. The Regal Sisters were dead.

“They… dead.” whispered Chrysalis quietly.

“What did you say?” said Twilight. I looked and saw her trembling. Not that I can blame her. I reached out and grabbed her arm.

TSSSS!

“OW!” I shouted, retracting my hand. I looked down at it, which was burned red and raw. Oh no. Her coat began to glow an orange-ish white. Her eyes slowly reddened and her mane and tail grew orange.

“What did you just say?!” she repeated. “You just killed Luna and Celestia, and you have the nerve not only to say that you did it, not only to stay here in my presence, but the nerve to use… incorrect grammar?!?!” With that, she exploded. Her mane burst into bright orange flames and she exerted heat like an open flame. “You killed my mentors and don’t even have the courtesy to use full sentences?!?! That’s a fragment!!!” She rushed at Chrysalis, rearing back her fist. She swung, hitting the Queen in the face and knocking her to the ground.

“That’s for Princess Luna!!” she said. Dropping to her knees, she punched Chrysalis in the ribs. She swung at her face with a ferocity I didn’t know Twilight possesed. She jumped to her feet and pulled out her sword.

“And this is for my mother!!” she screamed, jumping in the air, sword pointed downwards onto Chrysalis. I ran forward when…

SNAP!

I froze in a blob of gelatin. Yeah, you read that right. If you want to go back and check again, that’s fine. I’ll wait. I ran forward to stop Twilight when I was stopped in a cube of grape gelatin. Twilight was halted as well, her rapier’s tip a mere few inches from Chrysalis’ throat.

“BWAHAHAHAHA!!” laughed a maniacal voice. “Little Twilight Sparkle is ready to kill mean ol’ Queen Chrysalis! Didn’t Celestia teach you better than to resort to violence?”

SNAP!

A long, lanky figure appeared in front of Chrysalis. He had the head of a pony, but a serpentine body, an eagle claw, a lion paw, a hoof and a lizard claw. He stroked his short white beard, laughing maniacally.

“What was that last part, Twilight Sparkle? Did you call Celestia your mother? I wasn’t aware Celestia had any children.” chuckled Discord.

“I didn’t mean it literally!” blushed Twilight. “She was the closest thing to a mother I’ve ever had.”

“Oh, whatever you say, Twilight Sparkle. As to you, Chrysalis, I am disappointed. I didn’t think you were dumb enough to mock Celestia in front of her favorite student.”

“She didn’t just mock her. She murdered them both!” shouted Twilight.

“Don’t you think I know that?! Why do you think I came here in the first place?!” shouted Discord angrily. “It surely wasn’t to visit my dear friend Shutterfly!”

“Discord, call me Shutterfly one more time. I dare you. Didn’t you learn from the last time?” said Fluttershy.

“Yes. If I do recall, you violently removed my arm and tail. What good friends we are!”

“Speaking of which, how do you have them back? Can draconequus regrow limbs?”

“I can do whatever I want. I’m the spirit of chaos, so the rules don’t exactly apply to me.”

“Hate to interrupt this heart-warming reunion between friends, but can you release me from this?” said Twilight, tail and mane extinguished. “I’m in the middle of something.”

“Sorry, Ms. Sparkle, but you won’t be exacting your revenge today.” said Discord smugly. “Chrysalis should have left already, but maybe she missed the memo, so I’ll tell her myself: leave now, Chrysalis. Before things get too heated.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Discord. I’m staying to finish the job.” replied the queen.

“Chrysalis, my two oldest friends are now dead, but I am not upset about that. What upsets me is the fact that you keep pretending like it was you who killed them. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s a phony-pony. Drop the illusion that you murdered Celestia.”

“What are you talking about, Discord? We sat there and watched her kill both of the princesses.” said Twilight angrily.

“Hohohohoho! I see what’s happening! Celestia didn’t tell you!” giggled Discord. “Well, if she didn’t tell, I won’t either. What I will do is give you a hint. Think about this: Princess Celestia has been in power for over a thousand years. Don’t you think she’s been an assassination target before today? Well, I’ll tell you, she has. Many times I was the would-be assassin. Don’t you think she would have developed some way to prevent herself from getting shot?”

“Why are you spreading these lies, Discord?” said Chrysalis. “Celestia had nothing to do with this. I killed her, plain and simple.”

“Just because I stopped Twilight from killing you once doesn’t mean I’ll do it twice.” said Discord. “I suggest that you shut up and walk away, before your people die.” She looked at him, then at Twilight, then back to Discord. Exhaling loudly, she stood up and

POP!

She was gone.

SNAP!

THUD!

I fell forward on my stomach, completely free from my JELLO prison. Twilight hit the ground next to her sword with a THUD!

“It’s been fun talking with you, but I really must go.” said Discord, walking towards the door.

“Where do you think you’re going?” said Twilight. “You’re not leaving until you explain what you mean!”

“Explain what?” asked Discord. “There’s nothing to explain.”

“Why did you say Chrysalis didn’t murder Celestia?”

“To say ‘murder’ would imply that she didn’t have permission.” he replied simply.

“Permission? What are you talking about?!”

“I don’t want to spoil anything for you, so I’ll just say this: I’m not going to mourn Celestia; you shouldn’t either. Remember, Celestia always has a plan. Don’t doubt her.” he said, grabbing the door handle. “If you want more information, maybe you should go see Cadenza. No doubt she needs you, what with so many tragedies happening at once.”

“Tragedies? Besides this? What do you mean? You’re making even less sense than usual!”

“Well, that’s all a matter of perception. Princess Cadence will make sense of it all. Well, I will bid you farewell! Goodbye, my friends. Conjure, War, Silver, good luck with Sombra.” he pushed open the door and fell through the floor, nowhere to be seen.

“Twilight?” said Conjure softly. “Are you alright?”

“Oh, I’m fine. I’ll be even better when we go see Cadence and Shining Armor to find out how we’re going to kill Chrysalis! Come on, everypony, let’s go!” replied Twilight, reaching her hands out. “I have the strength to take us all this time.” Slowly we all linked hands with her. She closed her eyes and…

POP!

Ice-cold air whipped me in the face. I released Twilight and looked around. A giant diamond structure was before us, two large, intricate doors flung wide open. Something was wrong. We ran in, Twilight at the lead. We made our way into the castle where we approached two doors at the end of the hall. Twilight kicked in the door and rushed in. Twilight fell to her knees in horror, shocked by the noose-hung body of a pink alicorn with a purple and pale gold mane. Taped to her stomach was a folded piece of paper. I ran forward and grabbed it off of her.

Unfolding it, I read the note aloud.

“Dear Twilight Sparkle,

If you are reading this, I am (obviously) dead. I’m sorry for the grief I may have caused, but I just couldn’t take it anymore. When Celestia told me her plan, I told her it was crazy but she insisted. She was sure that this had to end with her death. Luna wasn’t in on it, but I think we both suspected that she would get caught in the cross-fire. I was supposed to rule in her absence, but everything changed. Shining Armor is gone. He went out to attack a changeling base and he hasn’t reported back. Yesterday, that base was bombed. We found no remains. I’m so sorry. Without the help of Shining Armor, I don’t think I can do it. I can’t lead alone, and there is nopony to help me. I wish there was another way, but it is too much pressure. So, I’m leaving it up to you. You are a much better candidate for princess than me. You have to do this, Twilight. I have faith in you. Once you have cleaned up this mess, you must be leader of Equestria and the Crystal Empire. A tall order, I know, but you have the ability. You have the power of friendship. You aren’t alone, like I was. I will never forget you

Signed,

Princess Cadence”

“T-twilight?” I asked carefully. She had curled herself up in a ball, tears streaming down her face. “We will fix this. Sombra and Chrysalis will pay for what they’ve done.”

“You don’t get it, do you?” said Twilight shakily. “They haven’t done anything. This was all part of Celestia’s plan. There’s nothing we can do about it.”

“That’s not true.” I said, not very confidently. “We can bring Sombra and Chrysalis to justice. Avenge the princesses.”

“We’ll never stop them. Every attempt we’ve ever made to take out an enemy has failed. Even when Fluttershy killed Sunset Shimmer, Sunset gave herself up, expecting some compassion. I wish we could ask the princesses for advice.”

“We can!” shouted Isaiah. We all looked at him in confusion. “Or rather, we might. If Celestia played her cards right. She planned for her death, so maybe she planned for this.”

“Wanna tell us what ‘this’ is?” asked RD unimpressed.

“Princess Luna could enter the dreams of others. If Celestia knew they were going to die, she may have boosted that power to the point where they can do it without being awake… or alive. Tonight, concentrate hard on the princesses while you are going to sleep.” he walked up to Twilight and touched her shoulder. “Qui regnum sib in somnis.” he muttered, horn glowing green.

“What did you do?” asked Twilight.

“Basically said ‘sweet dreams’. You may not see them tonight, but you will, eventually. I know it’s not much, but it’s the best I can do. Remember? 3 fundamental laws of magic?” he said. Twilight stared at him for a second, then grabbed him by the collar, pulled his face to her’s and kissed him furiously.

“Really?” I asked in disbelief. “Not to be a buzzkill, but is this really the best place for that?”

“You’re just mad that you’re not getting any, aren’t you Silver?” mocked Rainbow.

“I wouldn’t say that. Can you two break for a second? We have to leave.” I replied. This entire day was too horribly absurd to be true. “I’ll open the Rift.” I reached forward and opened up a Rift.

“Wait.” said Twilight. “We can’t leave her here.”

“What do you want to do?” I asked.

“Come with me, Conjure. I need your help. You guys can meet us outside the castle.” she said, grasping Isaiah’s hands. She closed her eyes and…

POP!

She and Isaiah were gone.