To Save Equestria

by KalaAWild

Chapter 5: Canterlot Under Siege

Chapter 5: Canterlot Under Siege

Silvershot jetted to Canterlot at his fastest flying speed. The faster he flew, the closer he could see Canterlot. He slowed himself down to see how Canterlot was doing, but he was too late to help. Vanguard Knights ran through the streets of Canterlot, wielding their guns with their mouths or wings. They captured stallions, mares, colts, and fillies, and brought them all to Canterlot Castle. Anypony that tried to resist was killed. Silvershot hovered over the city in shock. Bodies of loved fathers and brothers scattered the streets as they tried to fight back for their families. He felt rage grow within him; rage toward the Vanguard Knights, and his father.

He dropped down from the sky when he spotted five Vanguard Knights holding guns to a group of colts and mares. The Vanguard Knights clicked the firing pins of their guns. The mares and the colts huddled together and held each other’s hooves before bidding each other farewell. The Vanguard Knights were just about to pull the trigger, until Silvershot came to the rescue.

He gave a couple of kicks to the Vanguard Knights and disarmed them all. In nearly a flash, the Vangurd Knights were knocked unconcious. He huffed a breath of air and checked up on the ponies he just saved.

“Is anypony hurt?” Silvershot asked the seven ponies.

“No, everypony is fine.” The oldest colt spoke for the group. “Thanks.”

“It’s not a problem. Go through the city and try to help as many ponies as you can.”

“I will. Dairy, Skywing, come with me. Cantle, go bring your brother and sister out to the gates.”

The pony and his friends went with him to a street where a couple of other ponies were being chased by Vanguard Knights. The others followed his orders and headed south toward the city gates.

Having the comforting thought that he had at least saved some ponies from a near certain death, he flew to the Canterlot Castle and landed in the garden. The garden was peaceful, probably the only peaceful part of Canterlot during its siege. The animals were nowhere to be found, and no ponies could be found, either. Silvershot walked around the castle, trying his best to avoid Vanguard Knights.

With a little bit of Fortress’ luck, and his keen ninja skills, he managed to get inside the castle by climbing through a window and dodging a few close encounters with Vanguard Knights. Silvershot got to the main hall, where the Canterlot ponies were being brought together for a big announcement. Silvershot blended in with the crowd in a sneaky manner. At the top of the main staircase were Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, who were tied up in ropes and knots. Silvershot moved through the crowd silently as Silver Lancet held two guns to the princess' heads. One false move could alert Silver Lancet to shoot.

"Today is a glorious day!" Silver Lancet announced to the entire population of Canterlot. The ponies muttered and whispered to each other in fear. "The day we stop being led by a monarchy is the day we are liberated of childlike rule. I have taken up my duty as King of Venturia Reign for this position. With my leadership, we can lead Equestria to a new age. And my reign of freedom begins with the death of our princesses."

Silvershot couldn’t allow Silver Lancet to kill the princesses. If he did not do anything, the princesses would die. He breathed in a deep breath and bellowed out, “No!”

The crowd of ponies separated into a rift, exposing him to Silver Lancet. In an instant, Silvershot maked his throwing star appear and threw it at Silver Lancet's guns. The throwing star broke the guns in two and came back to Silvershot. Silver Lancet dropped the handles of his guns to the floor and turned to Silvershot.

"Silvershot, what a surprise. Actually, no, not really," Silver Lancet joked.

"This time I will end you. Even if it’s the last thing I do!" Silvershot glared at his father.

"The tables have turned this time, my son."

Silver Lancet bit his lip and whistles. A group of Vanguard Knights came to him, carrying a small wooden jewellery box. They stopped in front of Silver Lancet and placed the box on the floor next to his hoof. Silver Lancet opened the box and took out a necklace with his wing. It was golden, like Silvershot’s boot and Fredrick Goldhoof’s decorations. The necklace was the element of guardianship.

Murmurs from the crowd stirred and Celestia and Luna were more silent than the Everfree Forest at night. The fabled missing element of harmony Celestia and Luna were told about as fillies was real. Silver Lancet put the necklace on and activated its awesome power. There was nothing happy about the element of guardianship.

The necklace’s star shaped jewel glowed with a magical white light and shot a beam at some Vanguard Knights. The light from their bodies was absorbed by the necklace and it charged the necklace with more power. Screams from the crowd of ponies could be heard as the Vanguard Knights dropped dead. Silver Lancet's eyes glowed with the same color as the element’s magic, and the orb fired off several more beams.

The beams of light scared the Canterlot ponies, but the pony that was the most scared was Silvershot. The ray of light from the element of guardianship sped through the air and struck Silvershot's head. The beam hit Silvershot's goggles and knocked them off his head. He was lucky to have survived the attack, but he was thrown to the ground.

Silvershot looked back at Digger's goggles that were sent flying through the air. They were broken on the stone floor beyond repair. Silvershot felt his right eye; it was burned from Silver Lancet’s attack. The scar from the carriage accident still remained, unscathed.

Silver Lancet called for more Vanguard Knights to come, but each of them were scared of the Element of Harmony he possessed. All the ponies, even those loyal to Silver Lancet were scared of him. He became furious, and expelled the magic of the necklace at his own knights again.

Silvershot was then shot with another beam of light, and his boots were ripped off of him as the laser shot his legs. One more hit and he could punch his own ticket out. He had to think about the facts of the element of guardianship. Maybe a split second of thinking might help him. He looked at the facts; the name certainly didn’t match how raw the power was, it was certainly not guardian-like if the necklace killed for strength, and how come the name did not sound right?

Silvershot realized what the element’s true name was.

He stood up from taking the second hit from the Element of Harmony. His hooves were burnt this time and every step was painful to him. Only his will kept him standing up. Silvershot's eyes had a blank and tired look in them. It was very melancholic.

"It doesn't have to end like this," Silvershot muttered. He took a step forward and groaned a bit from the pain. He had not rested in hours, and he had done more fighting for his life than ever before.

"What are you saying? Killing the princesses is the only way to end it!" Silver Lancet yelled, slightly crazy.

Silver Lancet shot another beam at Silvershot, but it missed him by a couple of inches. He was slowly slipping into insanity, and Silvershot could see it. He was weakening mentally, and Silvershot knew he could easily overcome his father now.

"That element of harmony has taken too many lives, and you are not its rightful owner." Silvershot took another step which caused him to ache with pain again.

"Stay back! Just because you are my son, it doesn't mean I can't kill you!" Silver Lancet launched yet another beam, but it hit the far wall more than one hundred hooves away.

"I know that, but I want to save you," Silvershot's horn glowed with a grey light. The element of guardianship glowed with the same color.

Silvershot ripped the necklace off of Silver Lancet’s neck with his unicorn powers and wrapped it around his own neck. The necklace's magic energy didn't want to steal anypony's life energy anymore. Silvershot allowed the necklace to sap his own energy dry as a sacrifice for its strength. Silver Lancet took a hoofstep back every time Silvershot got closer. He was getting stronger, stronger than Silver Lancet ever was.

"You know, the name 'guardianship' didn't really match the whole ‘friendship’ concept." Silvershot's said out loud. "The power wouldn't match. I know its true name. No friendship is possible without sacrifice. I should know; I lost my eye for my girlfriend."

Silver Lancet fell on his flank as he was tripped by Luna. Luna chuckled, but Celestia bumped into her to settle her down. Even in the face of danger, Luna still found a way to laugh.

Silvershot stood in front of his father, with the element of sacrifice around his neck. Everypony below Silvershot gazed in awe at the gallant pony.

"If it weren’t for my amnesia, I probably wouldn’t know about all of this. But there are some things I still want to know," Silvershot said to his father. "Why did you burn Venturia Reign? It was our hometown that you ruled already."

"I had to start my conquest somewhere. Equestria was a bigger fish to catch, and I almost got away with my revenge."

"For what? What could you have possibly lost when you already have everything?"

"I lost my wife! Your mother. Princess Celestia knows about it."

Silvershot froze for a moment. The princesses knew something about his mother's death? Slvershot delved deep into his memories to find out anything, but he couldn't remember. He turned to princesses and freed them using the power of the element of sacrifice. Silvershot asked them what happened.

"This is all started on the day of your birth," Celestia retold the story. Even though Silvershot was paying attention to Princess Celestia's story, he kept an extremely close eye on Silver Lancet. "Your mother had a serious problem with internal bleeding in the abdomen after many hours of labor. Your mother just gave birth, and we didn't have any surgical doctors to help. Your father came to me, asking for any healing magic I knew. I had more pressing matters to attend and I had to hold him off for an hour. By the time Silver Lancet and I came with a medical spell book, the doctors pronounced your mother dead. Silver Lancet ran away from the hospital and he isolated himself in Venturia Reign."

"You could have saved my wife! If you dropped what you were doing all those years ago, my wife would be safe!" Silver Lancet hollered at her.

"It was either Equestria having to declare war against the griffins, or your wife living. I hate to say this to an old friend of mine, but your wife's death saved Equestria."

"You let her die! That is why I would be a better ruler of Equestria! I wouldn't stop at taking control of Equestria, I would have had a conquest war against the entire world! Then there wouldn't be any wars to worry about. No more conflicts to stir up."

Silvershot could not bear to listen to his father's idiotic rant any longer. Even though there was no way to save his mother, there could have been something Silver Lancet had done. He could have stayed with her until her dying breath. He could have tried healing her like Silvershot did to heal Fortres. Silvershot charged the element of sacrifice one last time, the very last time. He sacrifices almost all of his energy into the very last shot to end it all.

Silver Lancet's eyes kept staring at the element of sacrifice and at Silvershot. He was against the wall with his son wearing the most powerful weapon in the known pony history. He wanted the element of sacrifice back to finish what he started. The reflection of the element of sacrifice's magic shines in his eyes. He accepted defeat with no other option, and closed his eyes for the end.