> The Destruction of Equestria
>  by Deathstroke3170
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: The Moon is Gone
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Destruction of Equestria:

Unicron has come

Twilight Sparkle was so happy, her insides were filled to the brim with excitement as she was brought to Celestia’s personal stargazing equipment. It was the most powerful telescope in the whole of Equestria and she couldn’t wait to stare at the stars. The telescope was set up on the balcony of Celestia’s room where it was one of the highest points in Canterlot apart from Luna’s room, in which she instead used her vantage point to create the night sky.

Twilight had originally asked Celestia to borrow one of the observatory telescopes for a scientific report on the sky in the name of astronomy, but when she asked Celestia, she let out a laugh.

“Twilight, since you are my personal and my favourite student, you are allowed to use my personal telescope which is the best in the whole of Equestria, I haven’t used it much in recent times with royal duties being such a hoof-full” Celestia said, “Anyhow would you like to use it now as it is nearing dusk and you need time to prepare?”

“Would I ever!” Twilight replied almost shouting with excitement.

“Follow me then,” Celestia said, trotting her way to her chambers.

“Why are we going to your chambers?” Twilight asked, climbing a set of stairs.

“Have a guess Twilight,” Celestia said, opening her chamber doors.

“Oh, I know…because it’s the highest vantage point in Canterlot,” Twilight said.

“Right you are, then you didn’t have to ask in the first place,” Celestia teased.

“True,” Twilight blushed in embarrassment.

“It's just on the balcony, right now I need some shut eye, if you need me come get me,” Celestia said relaxing herself on her comfy bed.

“Alright, Princess,” Twilight said.

“Remember Twilight, no need for formalities,” Celestia said.

“Right Princess,” Twilight said before realising what she had said, smacking her head in the process. Celestia giggled at the now pink hoof mark on her face before giving Twilight a nice warm steamed towel to comfort her. Twilight thanked her and neared the telescope, the strange device looked confusing to the normal pony eye, but to Twilight it was simple science of reflection and refraction and mirrors. She looked up to the sky, the sun slowly falling beneath the horizon it’s beauty glistened and dazzled and sparkled in the sky the stars slowly appearing. But what surprised her was that there was no moon.

“That’s weird,” Twilight said, waiting for the moon to appear but nothing happened, she waited some more, pacing to and fro on the balcony before she couldn’t wait anymore and knew something wasn’t right and barged inside the chambers. Inside she didn’t even realise that Luna had come in, there were tears down her face as she was being hugged by Celestia. Twilight became very confused, as her brain shifted into high gear trying to work out what had happened but came up with only basic outcomes. Being that Luna hadn’t been able to lift the moon up and was crying because she would be mistaken for being Nightmare Moon again and take the blame. All something along the lines of that, as Celestia saw her.

“Twilight would you please sit down, there are some things we need to talk about,” Celestia said gently.

“It is about the moon that’s missing, isn’t it,” Twilight asked sitting down, then Luna eyes began to widen and she buried her head into Celestia soft white wings.

“Yes it does, Luna was trying to lift the moon if not 10 minutes ago, but nothing has come up, it is as if the connection to the moon has been severed,” Celestia said, hugging Luna.

“Have you tried to lift the moon up?” Twilight asked, thinking about the possibilities.

“I have not tried but I feel that the power to overcome the connection to the moon is a very powerful magic user,” Celestia said in concern, as she concentrated, her horn glowing with power before it fizzed out.

“That’s strange, I have not experienced this before,” Celestia said, looking up at the night sky, darkness was all she saw through the balcony. “This even frightens me,” Twilight looked up to her mentor, teacher, and princess, her eyes widening at the fear that Celestia had in her eyes. The dilated pupils terrifying Twilight as she had not seen anything like it before. To her recollection, Celestia was and has been considered a goddess to the lands of Equestria, but to see her like this was terrifying her.

“Celestia, is everything alright?” Twilight stuttered.

“No…it can’t be,” Celestia whispered almost inaudible to everyone in the room.

“What was that?” Twilight said craning her neck in confusion.

“You promised!” Celestia cried out, as she looked up to the skies, her tears falling down her face.

“What is it sister?” Luna asked still sniffling.

“He is coming…” Celestia said.

“Who is coming?” Twilight asked.

“Unicron is coming,” Celestia said collapsing onto the floor, her body going into shock, whimpering on the ground.





Unicron, Lord of Chaos, The Chaos Bringer, The Destroyer and Planet-Eater. Names given to him as he destroyed countless civilisation, his quantum computers telling him the vast universe so far has been reduced by 22.56% from his own doing. Unicron’s computer telling him of the nearby solar system which only consisted of a moon, sun, and a planet. It was one of a kind and he knew everything about it already,

“EQUESTRIA!” Unicron boomed, as he neared the system. His quantum computers whirling as, like memories, the data files about Equestria, the video file, loaded on to his screens, the first contact with Equestria.

It was another day and another night had gone by and it was back before the ages of Celestia and Luna. Their parents, King Sol and Queen Eclipse ruled in peace and harmony, their everlasting rule seemed like it could last for an eternity but it was when the shadow covered the Sun, in which changed the whole history of Equestria. Unicron had appeared, his ominous features frightening everypony and creature on the world and was ready to devour the planet. But it was King Sol and Queen Eclipse who sacrificed themselves in order to protect the world with duty and honour. Beamed up towards the mouth of Unicron leaving a despaired child, Celestia, and Starswirl the Bearded holding on to her while also holding the carriage for Luna.

Celestia cried out for her parents for days on end, looking up to the sky waiting for them to come back but they never did. King Sol and Queen Eclipse leaving a will for their two daughters, for the kingdom to be left to them when the time is right and the whole truth of what had happened. For Unicron, he had left the planet with the Alicorns inside as prisoners, heralds and batteries, using them till their last breath promising that he will not harm Equestria in anyway but as they died without food he absorbed the magic within them. To him it was not magic, it was energy, more specifically it could be converted into energon. He didn’t need energon to sustain himself, it was only used for devastating weapons which he could use. And he didn’t care about the pathetic lives of ponies, they were very much beneath him.

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfcmin_p7xs Unicron theme Beginning*

The system told him he was nearing the moon of the solar system, the moon in which Nightmare moon was banished, the computer had a recording of the events and placed the evidence together, informing the truth to Unicron. There was a civilisation of moon ponies on which Nightmare Moon had conquered in her time of 1000 years of banishment.

His beam activated, reaching the moon as he drew closer to the planet. The moon ponies had no idea what was coming as the society continued normally, before, when Nightmare Moon had conquered them in the first place, they were ruled by an iron hoof, terrified to act against her. After her ruling they created a whole democracy, in which everything was put fairly, with very little corruption. The time on the moon was much different as the days and nights were very shot compared to Equestria and this confused everyone as a shadow passed over them as it had only just been morning.

The sun was blotted out of the sky and this caused everypony to stop what they were doing, the foals stopped playing games, the adult ponies stopped working and as they looked up, they all fell into despair as they saw the giant mandibles of Unicron coming closer ready to crush. The shadow crawled over the moon as the ponies quickly fled, running in panic looking for a place to hide as they thought that Nightmare moon had returned. Some knew it was the inevitable and started hugging each other in a tight embrace while others went inside the basements of their houses. The beam of golden light blinding ponies as they were slowly lifted towards the hole, the gravity non-existent as the ponies tried to fly away, or grab onto anything, hanging on for dear life.

The claws reached the surface of the moon, driving itself into the surface of the moon, creating a dust cloud as it tore through the rock and metal. The civilisation that had lasted for millions of years crumbled as the moon shook. The claws retracting slowly to the maw to Unicron, as the ponies that had survived the first onslaught witnessed something horrific as if the planet had grown a mouth. Metal panels opened up revealing rings of metal sharp and razors as the pincers slowly brought the moon to the maw of the planet. The maw chomped down breaking the surface of the planet into more pieces, chewable sizes for the goliath planet as ponies lost hope. The sizable chunks moving through the digestive system of Unicron, the chomping metal circles of death crushing and compounding down the debris in to a slushy like mixture. The moon ponies had all been wiped out, the liquid moving through multiple tubes, electrifying and converting the contents into energon. The energon coursing through Unicron’s body, like food it helped speed everything up, illuminating the ring around Unicron. And Unicron satisfied with the destruction of the moon he made his way towards Equestria.

With the moon now destroyed, Unicron knew it would cause pain to Luna as she was now the heir of the moon and he was right. During the day something had snapped inside Luna, she had grimaced in heavy pain waking up with a sweat but later it subsided, to Luna she had thought it was just stomach pain. But what she didn’t realise was that her starry mane had started to lose its lustre and she was now becoming lighter in shade.

*End Song*





“Buck,” Luna whispered, readying a lightning shock, knowing that her sister had done this once before under really extreme pressure and stress. She let it go shocking Twilight as Celestia stopped, shaking and shook her head.

“Thank you sister,” Celestia said. “I needed that, I must tell you of the story of what has transpired, we do not have much time,”

And Celestia told them everything about Unicron, the death of her parents and the promise crying at the most part. Luna was shocked to hear the majority of it, as she was not told about the reason the death of her parents, she looked at Celestia with tears in her eyes, trying to comprehend everything. Twilight looked at her mentor astonished by her past and started crying as she heard the past, the heartache that Celestia had felt must have changed her forever.

“How could you?!” Luna cried out, “Why would you hide it from me? All this time I thought our parents died a peaceful death but this, A SACRIFICE TO A PLANET!”

“I’m sorry Sister, it was the only way to keep you sane, I didn’t want to tell you about this burden I hold, I am the eldest and I didn’t want you to be depressed, you don’t know how long it took to get over the fact that our parents died at the hands of a monster.” Celestia said collapsing on to the floor in a heap, “I am so lost now, he is coming and there is nothing we can do to stop him,” The guards burst through, making everypony jump.

“Sorry, Princess, the citizens are getting restless, they are amassing in front of the gates wanting answers” the guards huffed,

“What are you going to say Sister?” Luna questioned, “Everypony will blame me, for the disappearance of the moon and then I will be branded as Nightmare Moon again,”

“The truth, they all must know the truth, lies cannot hide this in anyway,” Celestia said solemnly looking at Luna, Luna sighed and walked towards the balcony with Celestia and Twilight. They flexed their wings and soared to the main balcony in which everypony was in front of the gates. Majority wanting answers, while others were in fear.

“Open the gates guards,” Celestia ordered,

“But Princess!” The guard said,


“No buts Soldier,” Luna sighed as the gates golden glint were slowly opened as everyone poured through the gap and waited patiently in in the main courtyard ready for the news.

The citizen ponies stared at their Alicorn princesses, wondering what was wrong with the moon. Some looked towards Luna who was not in her form of Nightmare Moon which made a few sigh and relaxed. Others looked towards Twilight, the recently new Princess, they saw Twilight's concerned face, especially her friends who knew by the look of her worried face that something was up. And the majority looked towards their ruler Celestia as she looked back towards them formulating a speech to say.
> Chapter 2: Stand United
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2: Stand United

*Mountain of Hope – Dreamscape Music*

Celestia stood tall and proud her face filled with grim, ready with her speech and looked at everypony. She nodded to her sister who nodded back and both horns illuminated causing everypony to look away before the felt a strange buzzing in their ear.

“Fellow Ponies, Griffons, Dragons, and every other sentient creature on Equestria, we do not have much time, I fear our time has come, I have guarded a secret about what has passed in the history of Equestria.” Celestia said with sorrow, “I have tried to hide from it, hoping that this day would not come and I am sorry, Equestria is going to be…” Celestia choked, thinking about the death and carnage that would occur when they see the monstrous metallic creature come down upon their beloved world. The whole of Equestria was hearing her voice including all the villains of Equestria, the Draconequus Discord, Queen Chrysalis and her changelings , King Sombra, Lord Tirek, and the Demons of Tartarus. They all had listened intently to Celestia, wondering what her most guarded secret was and why they were hearing specifically Celestia voice but what they heard next surprised them.

“Destroyed,” Luna said, solemnly putting her head down, causing everypony to start panicking. The guards all around had looked intently at their Princess hoping she had a plan or the fate of Equestria would end.

“STOP!” Luna boomed, “Hear what my sister has to say.”

Celestia sighed heavily and looked to the starry sky, praying “Father, Mother I pray to you every night wanting to speak to you and now I am need of help, if you can hear give me strength to stand for what is right, give me courage to lead the creatures of Equestria into a better life and may I make the right sacrifices that are required.”

“Citizens you must stay calm, but I need you all to listen intently on the history that I have hidden from you” Celestia boomed causing everypony to stop frantically running away. Celestia told of her secret, the past with her parents and the sacrifice they had made. Twilight looked towards her friends, she wished she could do something about the threat but she knew even the element of harmony wouldn’t damage something bigger than they can see. Twilight thought long and hard while Celestia moved on the disappearance of the moon and ended it there. When Celestia finished everypony had terror in their eyes, the fear reeked in the air as some wet themselves while others where petrified. The main 6 were astounded by what they heard, as they looked towards Twilights now horrified face. Twilight didn’t realise the extremities of Unicron and his motives figuring that Unicron would just enslave the whole of Equestria but this shocked her to the bones knowing that the wonderful world she was living in was going to be destroyed. She felt herself start panicking, breathing heavily trying to think of a way to stop Unicron, her mind thinking about all the possibilities that could happen but came up with nothing.

Her friends could see her thinking intensively, it was when they saw Twilight crying that they realised that their homes would be destroyed. Applejack thought about the farm and her family, she felt the duty of caring her family and the farm till death but now Unicron was on his way to do that . She became so lost in her thoughts what made it worst was Twilight’s tears that she saw dripping. Rainbow Dash usually full of life suddenly realised that her life wasn’t important anymore, that being the fastest flier Equestria meant nothing when the world was ending when she couldn’t even fly away from Unicron that in the end she was insignificant. Rarity hugged Sweetie Belle close to her thinking about her not wanting to lose her sister to a monster, she always thought they would have died of old age retired, happy and full of grandponies and money but their hopes were crushed. Pinkie Pie was usually cheerful and optimistic but the news hit her like a train in the face, as she realised there was no good news, there was going to be no more parties no more anything and she felt her sanity start to crumble away. Celestia sighed knowing this would cause a massive panic but then it was Fluttershy that spoke for the first time in a while who was hovering above the rest of the ponies.

“We can beat him” Fluttershy said with her determination, it was unlike her for the timid Pegasus to speak but she felt inside the need to speak up as she saw her closest friends go into despair and everyponies fear. She was about to cry before, thinking about all her animal friends and pets when she realised Unicron’s full potential at destroying the whole of Equestria but when she realised that she had been bullied too many times for being weak, shy and timid. She now realised that the need to stay together as friends was important, that no matter the situation they would always be there for each other thick and thin.

“Are yah crazy?” Applejack whispered at Fluttershy, “that thing is bigger than us and could destroy you in one hit, shoot he could murder all of us in one go, how in the hell are we gonna do it,” Fluttershy on the other hand did not answer as she continued on.

“We may be smaller but with numbers we are greater than that, dragons were always bigger than us, but we still manage to stop them from bullying us,” Fluttershy said loudly looking towards everyone as she hovered in the air. Something in Twilight’s mind clicked causing her to speak aloud to as she sniffled and wiped her own tears away.

“Fluttershy is right, we must stand united, if we cower in fear, this Unicron will beat us before the battle even began, it is up to us to save ourselves but to do so we must join forces friends or foes, it does not matter, if we stand united we can accomplish anything, see the elements of harmony always needed more than one pony to wield it, whether it being 6 or 2 numbers do count, and so I ask that you stand with us to stop Unicron, we will stand up against him with all our might and magic till our dying breath, for we will not cower in the fear of Unicron, we shall overcome him and bring Equestria to a new age.” Twilight said with confidence as everypony stared intently at her. Then one shouted “For Equestria!” and soon the whole of Canterlot was reverberating with the chanting of “For Equestria!” Then from Ponyville, the echoes of chanting as it swept across the land, spreading everywhere. From city to city Equestria boomed with the words “For Equestria.” Discord smiled and looked towards Fluttershy who was picked up by all her friends and lifted up into the air for her courage and bravery, he sighed and slowly a warm feeling was felt inside of him, “FOR EQUESTRIA!” he yelled and started placing banners up for everyone to see. All around Equestria the banners started appearing causing everyone to realise that friendship and unity was very important in times like this where they must fight for their planet and the good of the world generations to come.





Meanwhile in the centre of the nest of Changelings, Chrysalis was listening intently, it was then when she heard Fluttershy and Twilight’s motivational speech that she realised that evil and good can unite for the greater good. “I may appear as an evil queen but I shall fight for life of the colony, and in doing so I shall fight for Equestria,” Queen Chrysalis said, “FOR EQUESTRIA!” The changelings all responded repeating the phrase with enthusiasm following the commands of Chrysalis.





King Sombra who was shattered, had only just regained conscious had heard of Unicron’s approach and grew angry at this, it was his destiny to change the world and this creature called Unicron will seize his opportunity. With that in mind, King Sombra grew angry and in a flying fit of rage, the crystallised parts of him formed back together, he took in deep breaths as he felt very weak and he trudged towards the Crystal Empire and yelled “For Equestria!”

*End Song*





Lord Tirek, heard the chanting of words and realised that he could help but it was then Unicron’s deep voice echoed towards Tirek scaring him.

“I am Unicron,” Unicron said, as Tirek looked up towards his prison. Beams of light danced around his cage causing the words “For Equestria” to cease.

“State your business,” Tirek said, inside Tirek was feeling jittery.

“This is my command, you are to stop the ponies at all cost, they plan something that I cannot foresee so that I can annihilate Equestria,” Unicron boomed,

“Why should I, if I do it I will die and will lose everything that I live for?” Tirek asked, realising that Unicron was manipulating him and it wasn’t succeeding because Tirek himself was a manipulator.

“I shall give you a new body, a body capable of withstanding the extremities of vacuum of space and weapons of unimaginable power and destruction.” Unicron boomed.

“And what would happen if I don’t want to?” Tirek argued.

“You belong to me now,” Unicron said as the beam of light turned a flash of red as the metal cage surrounding Tirek, started forming. The metal twisting and turning, Tirek was terrified and stood in the centre looking for a way out, but what surprised him was the metal moving towards him. It suddenly snaked towards his mouth, making him scream in pain as the metal moved throughout his body. It formed outside of his body taking over his motor functions, red metal eyes and two giant cannons on his wrist and a full metal silvery body slowly formed his shape of a centaur. Inside his body, the metal was rewiring his whole body, the brain rigged with metal synapses and a permanent link to Unicron, the insides killing the organs inside and turning it into energy for Tirek to use. Tirek on the other hand was screaming as he tried to tear himself apart from the metal with no avail as Unicron continued with the transformation. When Unicron was done, nothing of Tirek original looks except for the body shape, Unicron had formed a transformer out of a biological body which made Unicron satisfied at his accomplishment.

“Stop the ponies,” Unicron boomed as Tirek finally regained conscious but Tirek’s mind was wiped clean as a new computerized voice spoke.

“As you command Unicron!” Tirek cried.
> Chapter 3: Sombra's Return
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3: Sombra’s Return

Sombra trotted through the Crystal kingdom, a majority of the crystal ponies jumped out of his way while others started throwing whatever they had on them at the time including fruits and vegetables realising that Sombra was weak and not a threat. Sombra ignored everypony and continued limping to where Shining Armour and Cadance had been listening to the motivational speeches which was in their throne room.





Shining Armour was first shocked about the end of the world and slowly started losing hope and looked towards Cadance who was on the verge of tears. Cadance had never really felt scared, she never wanted to be a mare that was weak in the eyes of males and learnt how to fight with Shining Armour. Even as the Princess of Love she realised that love is a two way street and one cannot dominate over another, that was for other times, but it was at this point when faced with losing Shining and Flurry Heart that made Cadance feel her world come crashing down upon her. 

Shining saw this and hugged his only lover while snuggling with Flurry Heart and tried to comfort them both with his body, it was a good gesture as Cadance snuggled closer to her husband’s strong muscular body as they listened intently to the silence. Flurry Heart had no clue what was happening but when she first saw her mother crying she tried to call for her “Mu…” and “Da…” Shining and Candace heard the little cry and snuggled together making Flurry feel better as she could see the smiles on her parents. They had been sitting in the throne room and had dismissed the nobles not wanting to hear what they had to say about the end of the world. The throne room was special where the emotions of the family changed the colours of the crystal layout, it was a soft blue hue of sadness at the moment.

It was then after hearing Fluttershy’s and Twilight’s speech that changed everything, the colours of the crystals turned to a bright yellow and pink. Shining was so proud of Twilight when he heard her rallying everypony “She would have made a good commander” Shining thought and wished he was there to comfort her and congratulate her on bringing Equestria together. He knew that there would soon be a meeting of all the leaders of Equestria and that they would be needed to discuss a plan of attack and defence against the planet. 

“What can we do?” Shining thought, it was an important question that had no answer at the moment, but as he laid on Cadance’s sweet smelling mane that they could hear the echoes “For Equestria” travelling towards the Crystal Empire. The chanting reverberated throughout the Empire making the family’s spirit lifted from the rock bottom of Tartarus to the highest point in the world, that was until a guard burst through the door yelling “KING SOMBRA HAS RETURNED!”





The two pegasus and unicorn guards saw Sombra trudging towards the main courtyard and started cowering and shivering at him, wondering what to do but they soon realised that Sombra was in a broken state by the fact that his armour was broken, tears in the joints and the chest plate were burnt at the ends while his red royal cape was scorched. Then one of the pegasi started laughing at, the now pathetic looking, Sombra. Before the tales of him were terrifying and not many ponies wanted to work as the guard for the crystal pony empire because of his actions but now looking at the broken Sombra was hilarious to him.

“LOOK at him, he’s so weak now we can take him on,” the stallion pegasus guard laughed,

“Sergeant, what do we do?” the mare pegasus guard asked, pointing towards Sombra in slight fear who knew better than to underestimate the broken unicorn. She had heard many tales of Sombra and knew of the feats that he had performed.  

“We tell the Princess of course and go find Captain Shining Armour right this instance, I will hold him off till then” the Unicorn Sergeant said, preparing his magic.

“But sir, that’s suicide. You do know who he is?” The mare pegasus guard asked.

“Definitely not a King!” the stallion pegasus guards said raising a hoof waiting for a high hoof, but when the Sergeant gave him a death stare he knew it was time to shut up.

“JUST GO ALREADY!” the Sergeant shouted, before zapping a ball around Sombra.

“Yes sir!” as the pegasus rushed off towards the throne room.

Sombra stood quietly knowing he needed an audience, at this point of time he was in no condition to make demands. The Sergeant was a bit sceptical about Sombra not doing anything and decided to converse with him wondering about his intentions and how he survived the Elements of Harmony.

“How did you survive the Elements of Harmony Sombra?”  the Sergeant asked.

“I do not know myself, to be honest with you.” Sombra wondered, “But I do know this, I am not the enemy today.” and stayed quiet until Shining appeared. The Sergeant had no idea whether to trust Sombra at all, but after listening to Twilight’s speech he was in a state of turmoil. Shining’s face was full of distaste as he trotted towards the Sergeant and told him to stand down.

“I do not know why you bothered coming here after what you have done!” Shining said, moving closer towards Sombra ready to fire a beam of magic towards him if he did anything suspicious. A crowd was starting to appear behind Sombra all holding makeshift weapons eyeing him while Sombra himself was staring at Shining, studying him and thinking about his next words carefully.

“I know I do not deserve anything from this Empire and should not be here but I am here to fight for Equestria, I have heard Twilight’s speech and rather was impressed with her ability to rally everypony,” Sombra said.

“Don’t you dare talk about my sister like that,” Shining shouted barely keeping his anger under control. “And you expect me to believe you after what you have done? How can I trust you? Do you want me to list everything that you did? You tried to imprison the Crystal Empire twice, you cursed this land to disappear when you were imprisoned, you hid the crystal heart, and you killed Princess Amore with your bare hoof, and now tell me this: Why in Celestia’s name should I trust you?”

“If I wanted you dead I would have done it already so just listen to what I have to say, I know you do not trust me, no one here will ever trust me ever again but you will need me, a criminal I may be but you will need me when the time comes.” Sombra said.

“And what will this thing be when the time comes?” Shining questioned, still suspicious of Sombra, his true intent still mysterious to Shining. Shining was trying to study his opponent, but he couldn’t tell if Sombra was lying, the posture was fine and Sombra’s green and red eyes showed no sign of deceit. On the other hoof Sombra sometimes wished he wasn’t the bad pony, it was so hard for him to converse to anyone.

“I am a powerful unicorn, I have great power within me and I can do many things, and when the time comes I will be needed for assistance.”

“As if, my sister is still more powerful than you’ll ever be!” Shining said.

“Ah but can she take on a planet by herself?” Sombra retorted, “You need me either way, you could kill me now in my weakened state.”

“I still do not trust you, you know I really have no words for a sadistic being like you however I did read a bit of history about you and I learned some interesting things about you.”

“Well if you know everything about me then go on tell everypony around me the truth!” Sombra shouted, “They should know the real truth of who started all this, and why I have become like this.”

“Your story is sad, Twilight told me about you and further from Princess Amore’s letters and diary, but what I’m wondering is what went wrong.” Shining pondered.

“WHAT WENT WRONG?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA ON WHAT SHE DID TO ME?! SHE NEVER ONCE SHOWED HERSELF TO ME ON THE CRYSTAL FAIRE, WHEN I WAS DYING!” Sombra yelled, the audience behind him all gasped and all of a sudden had sympathy for him. The dark past that Sombra had kept from everypony changed their view on him immediately and wished they could have helped him and change him into something better.

“But that doesn’t mean you can become an evil tyrannical leader, because something didn’t go your own way. Look at the ponies all around, if you had asked for help they would have helped you in any way possible,” Shining sighed, “I would have too if I was alive back then but since you decided to release your anger on everypony during that time, you then lost everything and everypony’s trust, now if you excuse me I have a family to attend to and you are coming along with me.”

“What?” Sombra asked, slightly confused about what Shining had just said.

“You are right about one thing, I hate to say it but we will need you for the upcoming battle, Twilight was right. But if you touch or hurt my family in any way, I will break every bone in that body of yours, and make sure you stay dead.” Shining threatened, “You are dismissed.” Shining shouted to the audience and trotted back to the throne room to tell Cadance of what had transpired.
> Chapter 4: Equestria under One Flag
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4: Equestria under one flag

Celestia, Luna, Applejack, Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie,Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Discord gathered in the throne room area as the echoes “For Equestria” had only just died down. After everyone was done shouting Celestia told everypony to stay calm and to continue with their daily business until they had thought up a plan. Before they ended the spell of everypony hearing each other, they had convened a council meeting with all the leaders of the capitals in Canterlot. Each of the 4 alicorn princesses helped in teleporting the leaders into the same room. Cadance, Shining Armour, Flurry Heart and Sombra were the first ones to arrive, but everypony in the room went ballistic preparing their magic again when they saw those green eyes. 

Discord on the other hand looked in disgust at Sombra, “Ugh, why does he have to be here, you know reader’s you should ask to read my thoughts. I know I am a fictional character that was created by Lauren Faust I read my own wiki but anyway you are probably wondering why I feel disgust about him, well firstly he is a boring antagonist that only wants to conquer the crystal empire which is so dull. No sense of expansion or making an army, secondly since this is non-canon fanfiction where this is an alternative timeline Sombra is lucky to still be alive, he should be still dead in this. And thirdly I didn’t get my own chapter, now move along let the story continue.”

“Hold!” Shining said calmly, raising his hoof in front of Sombra.

“Are you sure big brother, Cadance vanquished him, he shouldn’t be alive,” Twilight said, with a bit of concern, she looked at Sombra’s state, “He wasn’t missing any body parts, which is a relief, he isn’t a Zompony, those are just works of fiction.”

“I dunno if he can be trusted,” Applejack stated, “Yah think that since he returned that he would learn his lesson of taking over the empire, but to be honest with yah he still has that evil glint in his eyes.”

“Oh my, the royal red cape is ruined, must fix.” Rarity whispered, looking ready to faint.

“He is such a meanie!” Pinkie Pie yelled and pulled a pie out of nowhere ready to throw.

Fluttershy didn’t know what to say as she looked towards those glowing eyes, Discord however stood valiantly in front of her and yelled, “I’ll protect you,” holding out his hands. It was a funny position for Fluttershy and made her giggle.

“I’m gonna knock him out first before he can do anything to us,” Rainbow Dash yelled rushing forward towards him. Shining on the other hoof was getting tired of this and held a bubble of magic around Rainbow Dash in which she protested and started banging on the ball. The Princesses hadn’t moved at all, their wings were flared out with their horns sparkling with magic as they were keeping a wary eye on Sombra, but the intensity of the stares was like they were having an internal conversation. Cadance was trying to calm Flurry Heart as the tension in the room was thick as fog but it was then Princess Celestia nodded towards Sombra, and Princess Luna nodded towards Sombra.

“Well you did say Twilight, friend or foe, we need as much help as we can get,” Luna said, looking sourly towards the sky, it was such a weird sky as it was now just sparkling stars but without the moon to enlighten the sky it was dark. A bit too dark for her liking, she was going to make Unicron pay.

“You are right, we most likely need him for whatever we plan on doing,” Twilight said lowering her magic, all her other friends decided it was best to also stop attacking Sombra. Twilight then rushed forwards towards her BBBFF and hugged him tightly.

“It’s good to see you Twilight” Shining said, placing the bubble down on to the floor, releasing Rainbow from her prison. While Twilight hugged him, she stared intently towards Sombra, the green eyes looking away as if in shame.

“I must go now,” Luna said sourly, still looking at where the moon should be but before she vanished Celestia hugged her.

“It’s alright Sister, we will win this, we must,” Celestia said, comforting Luna “For everypony’s sake.”

“I must go too,” Twilight said hugging Shining one last time. The warmth of her brother was comforting to her but she had to go.

Twilight and Princess Luna teleported away for a split second and then brought in two new leaders who the majority were not familiar with. One being the leader of Griffonstone, and the other being the leader of Saddle Arabia.

“I am the appointed leader for Griffonstone, my name is Blackbeak II son of the commander of the Griffon defence force.” Blackbeak II said before bowing, his majestic black wings unfurled.

“And I am Amira, the corresponding ambassador for Saddle Arabia.” Amira said, her pink horse like features amazed everypony around.

“Yes, please have a seat while we wait for the other leaders to arrive,” Celestia said, ushering them towards the giant round table that had been set up in the throne room thanks to Discord’s chaos magic but what surprises he had for them when they all sat. Celestia vanished next as everypony and Discord conversed about the approaching threat that was looming. As time progressed more leaders popped up, Ember the dragoness, Scorpan the Gargoyle, Mayor Mare, Sendak the elder Centaur and many more from different races. By the time everyone was in the room the Alicorns were exhausted from the constant magic, and it was with Discord floating around like a lunatic trying to make their lives comfier that got everyone worried as they were needed the most in the plan against Unicron.

“Fellow citizens of Equestria it is time for us to reunite as one kingdom as once done by my father, it is in this dire time that we must put aside our differences and amalgamate so that we can defeat the greater threat, the threat called Unicron,” Celestia said confidently, “Now let us sit and discuss what we must do.”

But as everyone sat the sound of a fart could be heard from everypony. Everypony looked towards Discord immediately while the non-ponies looked at each other weirdly.

“Is it too early to do this?” Discord asked innocently.

“DISCORD!” everypony shouted.

“Alright, alright, it isn’t the time or the place to do it, yada, yada, yada.” Discord said, “Shouldn’t we be focusing on the threat anyway?” The alicorns in the room face hoofed themselves simultaneously which made Flurry Heart giggle and copy them, but she started crying while every other pony groaned. The non-ponies had no idea what was happening but before any of them could ask they were interrupted.

“Why is this fool here anyway?” King Sombra asked, “Aren’t you powerful enough to alter reality, you could just make the planet vanish away.”

“Well to answer that question deceased unicorn,” Discord smirked, every non-pony’s attention shifted to Sombra wondering how he managed to survive death and studied him suspiciously as Discord continued, “The planet is called Unicron and he is a lord of Chaos himself if I have heard correctly, whatever I do to him only empowers him,” Discord retorted, “But yes I do have the powers to alter reality, but I am also chaos in that whatever I do will not help us in anyway as it will cause disharmony to whatever we plan to do.”

“Ok, any other suggestions?” Luna asked plainly wishing that somebody have a great idea, “How about you Starswirl, you must have a spell that could destroy a planet?”

“Sadly, I do not, nor is there enough time to create a new spell,” Starswirl said, still pondering.

“Well instead of wondering how to stop him, first we need to know how much time we have, he already destroyed the moon, some of you have not witnessed it because of the time zone but if you look outside Luna’s moon is destroyed,” Twilight said, there were soon shocks and gasp as they looked through the window to see a pitch-black sky with white spots.

“If the moon is destroyed, how come Unicron hasn’t attacked us yet?” someone asked in the crowd.

“That was my thought exactly, he is not attacking us for a reason, whether it is because he fears us or is taunting us I have no clue, but from my readings of wars previously, there have been multiple reasons that the enemy does not attack,” Twilight said.

“But Twilight those are about old wars about ponies, we are fighting against a planet, a planet that knows our history. But yes you are right for the planet is sentient and you raise a valid question on what is he waiting for,” Celestia said, everyone in the roomed murmured in agreement, but no one said anything.

“I know!” an old gray hermit said as her disguise slowly dissipated, everyone in the room stood there shocked not realising that she was in the room, disguised as an old pony hermit. No one in their mind had thought to question the old hermit before and Chrysalis was getting tired of hobbling over like an old pony and saw that this meeting was going nowhere. “It has come to my attention that we are in a dire situation, and that we need a plan to stop a giant planet from eating us alive, the reason he is waiting is he is scouting ahead, as I used to do myself, when I first invaded the Crystal Empire, it took months of planning and scouting ahead so I can only assume that he has placed a spy among us,”

“She does have a point, it’s like a liar knows a liar kind of thing, I myself should know, I know everything,” Discord cackled, twirling his grey goatee, as everyone in the room agreed, but they all looked towards each other. The intense stares filled the room as they try to spot the spy, the enemy within, but it was Shining that slammed his hoof on to the round table cracking it ever so slightly that got everyone’s attention.

“There is no point of ratting out the spy in this room, we can’t frisk everyone in this room to tell us who is the spy, it may not even be that someone is helping Unicron. From what I heard he sounds like a God, he could be listening to us right now, so there is no point in fighting against each other. If we keep blaming each other, we will get nowhere with this meeting and every moment we spend bickering with each other we waste precious minutes that we might not have.

“Well spoken,” King Sombra said who was in the corner of the room, the darkness in him was slowly spreading, it was because his body was still healing that he appeared in a wisp like form that the darkness had spread.

“Shut up,” Shining replied, then he looked towards Cadance and Flurry, but Flurry was playing with a black tentacle made out of shadows and it was coming from Sombra, “And put yourself back together faster, you’re scaring my daughter,”

“Thanks, Shining, that could have gotten out of hoof, I don’t understand why no one is making any good suggestions,” Twilight whispered.

“You know whispering would work if everyone in the room was talking but now since you got everyone attention it’s kind of hard not to notice,” Discord whispered while trying not to giggle out loud. Twilight blushed and looked towards the floor, but before anyone could say anything about her Sombra intervened.

“I have a solution, how hard is the spell to create the same shield against the blistering cold and me,” Sombra asked Cadance.

“Not very hard but to hold it requires extensive magic and depending on the magic user it can only cover a certain distance,” Cadance replied.

“I think we can cover the whole of Equestria in a shield,” Sombra said, everyone in the room looked at him if he was crazy.

“Um, what do you mean?” Luna asked.

“I mean that if every single unicorn or magical being uses the same spell we could cover the whole of Equestria, and that should protect us from Unicron attacking us, the shield you placed up Cadance lasted for as long you emitted magic, if we take turns we could survive,” Sombra said.

“THAT’S GENIUS!” Twilight shouted unexpectedly, causing everyone in the room to shift to her, she blushed again but continued with every word bringing courage in her. “If what Sombra said is correct, which I hope it is, we could theoretically last as long as we have magic, and find a proper way to stop Unicron.”

“But how much force can the barrier hold, if I am not mistaken from what my father said, Unicron is 3 times the size of our planet, the amount of pressure that Unicron exerts could demolish through our shield,” Celestia said grimly.

“Well Cadance stopped me for a week at most,” Sombra said, “If everypony where to create the same shield we could potentially hold the barrier against Unicron, for a year. What stop giving me those looks, I did not have a good education!”

“All in favor,” Celestia asked,

“Aye, there is nothing else we can do” Scorpan said, “It is the best solution so far.” everyone else agreed and said “Aye” simultaneously.

“Then it is settled, rally all magic users that are possible, and we will tell them of the plan. Twilight and the other smart beings in this room will help work out how many magic users we need theoretically to hold against Unicron, and the rest of you will help me to decide on how to stop Unicron once and for all, meeting adjourned,” Celestia said, tapping her hoof on the table as the same spell was casted.  
> Chapter 5: Shields of Hope
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5: Shields of Hope

It was cold, the darkness that had swept over Equestria was causing everyone to shiver. Was it the fear of death? The agonizing dread? it was a question Celestia was thinking about when she looked towards the dark cold sky. She could smell death coming as she looked towards the empty space of the moon, it had been a tiring day, not just for everyone but her especially. The entire council meeting had been troublesome in that nothing was planned and had been taxing her magic with the transportation. 

Celestia was now waiting for Twilight, Starlight Glimmer and other smart beings for the calculations on the number of unicorns required to stop Unicron from devouring the planet and the preparations of the unicorns. She was so lost in her own thoughts, thinking about the possibilities, the stress had been creeping up her like a cold feeling along the spine. This feeling was irritating her, but she couldn’t help but think what would happen to the world that she governed, it was a beautiful world where she grew up and the world where she would die on if Unicron won. 

The dread of the possibilities on surviving this ordeal was worrying her to the bones, it was something that she had trouble believing that she of all beings would die. It was upsetting her that she had defeated countless enemies, sometimes with only her wits but now that she would die by something that was just bigger than her. It was then that soft wing feathers tickled her back as a warm wing embraced her while she looked behind her. It was the blue twinkling stars fading slowly from Luna’s shining mane that concerned Celestia deeply as it was turning grey by the hour, but she had a look of determination on her face that said that she would not give up that easily.

“It’s alright Sister, we have to pull through this together, like what you said from before, I will get my revenge on Unicron and we shall live for many eras to come.” Luna said, looking outside the window. Fire torches had been lit throughout Canterlot as the magical lamps that had been usually used ran out of power. The lamps had been usually powered by the sun rays, storing the energy into a giant source crystal and whenever needed, the energy would be transmitted by special magic waves. It made it much more sustainable and environmentally friendly which Luna found it intriguing when she had just returned from the moon. The fire glittered in Luna’s eyes as she waited for Celestia to respond.

“But it’s not alright Luna, we are the rulers of this land and we must defend it at all costs but how can we? I have nothing within my powers to do anything, we are useless. Everypony and everyone else looks up to us as protectors of the land and all we are doing now is just planning, no action has been taken to stop Unicron and I…” Celestia cried, but then hesitated “Yet during my speech towards everypony I didn’t say anything inspiring, I only lead everyone to despair and torment. What I saw was truly horrific it’s like those time you see a pony suicide, their faces…but it was only Twilight and Fluttershy that managed to bring everyone back. I am scared sister, I truly am.” Celestia said sadly shivering slightly as a cold draft of wind blew from underneath the doorway. It was one of her greatest fears, Unicron coming back had been a nightmare she dreamt about almost every night as a young filly. Something that she feared would happen to herself, but it was now becoming a reality and that terror had taken hold of her. She was hyperventilating, the breaths quickened but the reassurance of Luna helped a little bit.

“It’s alright to fear sister but do not let it take control of you, I for one have faced astronomical odds countless of times during my hunts against beasts from all over Equestria. Ranging from Hydras to Wendigos, but I still pressed on. To tell you the truth I thought I would have died in some of those hunts,” Luna sighed “I felt the exact same as you, I didn’t want to lose you because of my stupidity in thinking I could hold against them but it was my duty to do so. I did it by channeling the fear that I had and turning it into something else, I created the courage that was needed to face my opponent and willed myself to confront the threat. You cannot have courage without fear, you must embrace it.” Luna said, confidently. 

“But sister, we are talking about a planet, a planet 3 times greater than our one and could devour us without even trying. How can you have courage to stand against it? Look at you now, you are fading Luna, I don’t want to lose you, not like our parents.” Celestia cried, placing her head on to Luna’s. Tears fell from Celestia face, but Luna did not cry.

“Ssh, sister do not give up hope, if you give up now Unicron wins already. Like what Twilight said, we need as much help as we can get now. We have Chrysalis, Sombra, hundreds of thousands maybe millions of ponies that are willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Do not give up hope sister, I am here by your side forever for as long as I may live. Just like you did with me all those many years ago when I was a foal. Even though you had no time to play with me, you always did or when I was scared, you were by my side every hoof step of the way,” Luna said brushing Celestia’s mane away from her teary face. “I may be fading but I still fight with honour and freedom, I did not give up hope and so shall you. And if I am not here then I want you to promise me something.” Luna sighed, knowing that she had to make her sister continue fighting no matter what.

“No, I can’t lose you too, I…” Celestia cried, but a wing was placed on her mouth before she could say anything else.

“You will promise me this sister, to continue fighting until the fight end. Do not weep for me, do not try to defy the laws of nature to bring me back. If I am gone, I am gone. You must end the fight, it lies within you to and when it is done then you can mourn for me,” Luna said sternly, “I do not want you to fall into despair and lose hope in the middle of the fight, if you do, you will die, and I will not forgive you for it. I love you with all my heart and don’t want to lose you but what happens, will stay that way.”

Celestia was about to say something when the door opened with a stressed Twilight. Twilight had been annoyed for the past three hours with Star Swirl the bearded. There was just constant arguing between the old ways of alchemy and the now new scientific way of doing things that got the group assigned nowhere until Star Swirl walked out of the room with disgust in his eyes. It would have been much quicker if Star Swirl gave in to the new method and not be stubborn in his ways. She would have exploded with magic if it weren’t for her student Starlight Glimmer that calmed her. 

She trotted towards Celestia, but she saw her quickly brush her mane away from her eyes and wipe the tears away and look towards her trying to act with hope and determination. Twilight on the other hoof saw the red sunken eyes of her teacher and knew she had been crying and saw something was up but decided against it knowing that there was not much time left which scared her.

“Twilight my faithful student, I hope you have good results,” Celestia croaked, before coughing a bit and clearing her voice.

“Well there is some good news and bad news Princess,” Twilight said holding the clipboard with magic, the results were detailed but still lacked important answers. “The good news is that there are enough magical beings in this world to create a shield around Equestria and it would last for roughly 2 years or so if we take turns holding the barrier up. We have roughly 3 times the amount of magical beings to hold the shield up.”

“That is good Twilight but what is the bad news,” Luna said plainly, wanting to get straight to the point.

Twilight sighed she hated this part of the results because of how vague it had become.
“The bad news is that even with Unicron’s rough estimate in size it is too hard to determine the shield strength. If we could do more tests and had more time we could resolve this issue, but we have only Sombra’s example showing against the shield that Cadance used and this creates a lot of variables and so forth” Twilight said, Celestia deflated a bit but Luna did not mind at all and by the look of both faces Twilight saw an internal conversation between them but before she could say anything Celestia spoke.

“Alright it is time,” Celestia said, while moving her neck left to right and the audible cracks could be heard.





Unicron’s path of destruction was evident as he continued through planet after planet, his never-ending appetite for chaos reigned supreme, he continued destroying other planets in the nearby areas as he waited for his newest minion to stop the Equestrian’s plans against him. The countless lives lost were either floating dead bodies in space or inside the giant machinery, dropping the various life-forms into vats of chemicals that would dissolve the body into energy which would become usable for Unicron. But it was then he detected a giant spike in energy that caught his attention. 

Something was off in the readings and he now headed towards Equestria once again to confront this plan that was put forth. It was there a clear blue layer was forming over the planet as hundreds of thousands of unicorns and other magical creatures all used their magic encasing the planet. Unicron calculated the strength of the barrier that was presented to him and was quite surprised at the outcomes, the shield would hold but barely. He foresaw a plan, but he did not expect this.

“It is time Tirek, go now and stop this,” Unicron echoed creating a massive shadow over Equestria.

“You have only delayed the inevitable, Celestia and Luna, you shall now witness the dismemberment of Equestria and you are powerless to stop me,” Unicron boomed as the mandibles reached the shield.  





Celestia and Luna had heard Unicron and did not like it one bit, but their concentration held strong as they looked at each other briefly before they felt the shield being strained. The tension between Unicron and the barrier was intensifying as unicorns started groaning in pain. As some fell from over exhaustion new ones took their place and with that the first contact between the mandibles and barrier held strong. Unicron was not happy but was mildly amused at the world’s effort, he could detect that 4 Alicorn Princesses were using their magic each at strategic places to cover the most ground. Unicron was still pressing on and new that Tirek had to strike at one of the 4 corners of the Alicorn Princesses for his plan to succeed. 

The pressure spread but with the 4 Alicorns holding the barrier up it did not falter, Unicron however also detected very strong energy sources as he continued trying to eat the barrier with no results. There were a few Unicorns that caught his attention as names and databases of them appeared on his screens. King Sombra, Shining Armour, Star Swirl the Bearded and Chrysalis the changeling were the main culprits for the strong magic and they were some of the key points that strengthened the shield. Unicron then came to realize that it was the 4 Alicorns that were the base of the shields the foundation of the barrier that was being held right now and that the powerful unicorns were reinforcing the shields so that it would not crack, or falter and the rest were the meat of shield. It was interesting to Unicron as he analyzed the shield with extreme precision, finding weak points and chinks that he could eat but none was found. It was the perfect strategy to hold against him.

It was however going to be the end for Equestria, Unicron knew that, it was imminent, death was certain but he had to be patient and to break the ponies one by one.
> Chapter 6a: Death
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The dark looming shadow of Unicron was covering the bright sun in the sky, the giant embodiment of death had swept the entire planet into a perpetual state of darkness. The feeling of being watched was scaring citizens from around the globe, the animals on the other hand did not understand a thing that was happening as the cycle of night and day had ceased to exist for them. Time was short, and it was altering the world as time went on, the sun never reaching the surface where it was cooling the temperature of the planet. Something that wasn’t foreseen by anyone as the temperature started dropping, what was worse was everyone was preoccupied. 

The ponies had to split up so that the barrier was evenly distributed to hold the strength of Equestria. Cadance, Shining Armour, King Sombra and Twilight Sparkle were at the Crystal Empire holding off the left mandible of Unicron, while Celestia, Luna, Chrysalis and Starswirl were at Canterlot holding off the right mandible of Unicron. The blue barrier of pure magic was holding off Unicron successfully and was to such an extent that Unicron was worried that he would not be able to pass through. But his plan for domination was in place, so it wouldn’t matter either way, he was chaos and would destroy anyone in his path, one way or another. Agony was the one word that every magical creature felt as the shield groaned, some ponies felt it more than others and would pass out in pain, while others would pass out from exhaustion. Whatever the case was, the numbers were slowly diminishing.

Pinkie Pie was a mare of few words when the world was ending, the lack of smiles was worrying her friends as they could see that she had lost her happiness. Even with Twilight’s and Fluttershy’s inspirational speech it still came out moot, her tone had gone to a world of depression and she only clung on because of friendship. But even then, what was it all for when the world would end, when her friends would die. It was a question bothering her to the point of insanity, as the long night was waning on her. What was worse was when the group had to split, a choice that would ultimately change her. 

She had decided to follow Twilight and Rainbow Dash to the Crystal Empire for support, but it meant leaving Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack in Canterlot which upset her more dearly. As the group finally hugged each other and said their goodbyes they were gone in an instant. Pinkie had never felt sadder in her life before, depression had locked her down. As they materialized at the crystal empire main castle, it was a sight to behold even for Pinkie. With the sun gone, the afterglow was affecting the city, as it had become a beacon of hope, the last light source before going to the more primitive ways. Every time the sun sets in the Crystal Empire, the crystals would emanate an afterglow of the sun rays turning the beautiful city into a night display that astounded everyone. The colours of the rainbow dazzled everypony new to the kingdom which included Twilight and the gang as they had never been at night time, it was an amazing sight. But something was a bit off, the place was deserted to say the least, well there were not any citizens but there were hundreds of Guards and other magical beings. They were all scurrying around getting everything set up, the town square had turned into a camp where hundreds of military unicorn guards were getting ready to prepare the shield, King Sombra coughed though gaining their attention.

“We must go now, we do not have enough time to dilly dally,” Sombra said.

“He’s right,” Shining said, already walking to the nearest sergeant to get a report on the progress.

Cadance and Twilight had been positioned at the very centre of the empire, something that worried them but Shining assured them it was fine, it was just strategy. All unicorns were helping with the magic barrier leaving only the earth ponies and the pegasi to defend and support the unicorns as they did their jobs. Rainbow was helping the pegasus guards with patrolling as there had been more reports of wendigos and other creatures lurking at the barrier of the Crystal Empire which had caused panic, but it was taken care of with Shining’s leadership. Pinkie was in the midst of things, a little lost in her thoughts, well that was until Twilight booped her on the nose.

“Why did you do that?” Pinkie asked.

“Thought you needed someone to cheer you up,” Twilight said, as they walked to the centre again.

“But that’s my job,” Pinkie whined.

“Well you’re not doing a very good job being depressed like this” Twilight sighed waving at her with her wings, “You know I had always been jealous of you Pinkie, to never worry, to never care in the world, to tell you the truth I thought you were ignorant, you were always happy no matter what, it’s kind of like a gift if you think about it, but to see you like this is something I thought I would never see in my entire life. You see me I can be stressed at times, my mane sticking out and my speech becoming weird and all.”

Pinkie starting giggling at that, remembering all the times it had happened, it had even gotten worse with the creation of the friendship castle the politics that made Twilight look insane and mad and it was even sometimes over the smallest things, but Pinkie had always been there to cheer her up when needed.

“You have always been a good friend Pinkie, honest to Celestia, I have cherished you as a friend from the first time I met you in Ponyville, even though you were strange at first and I want you to be happy through this tough time, it’s not like you to be like this. I know the world is ending, everyone on the planet now knows that its ending but I cannot bear to see you like this, it’s best to live life to the fullest like what you do usually but the only way we can do that is to fight and to do that we need you to smile and be your normal self, we all love you as a friend Pinkie, never forget that!” Twilight said, seeing the tears in Pinkies eyes, something that she had never seen before in her life and she rushed to hug her friend. The wet feeling on the shoulder as it all came out, Pinkie’s sob made Twilight feel bad but a tighter embrace by Pinkie made Twilight smile.

“You’re right!” Pinkie sniffled, wiping her nose with a tissue that she got out of nowhere and blew in it. “This is not the real me, thank you Twilight, you have helped me find my inner happiness again, I shall go help anyone that feels depressed now” and bounded off bouncing up and down unexpectedly to Twilight who saw the cheerful nature in Pinkie again. She was about to say something to Pinkie but before she could, she heard Celestia’s and Luna’s voice echo in her mind, it was time.





*Start James Paget - Together As One*

Time was the enemy for Twilight as she felt the full strain of Unicron, the pain unimaginable, agony burned her head, her skull screaming at her to stop the pain but couldn’t. Magic was straining every inch of her body as she tried to fight back. She had read once in a fairy tale about a regular pony carrying the weight of the sky on their shoulders. Something that she laughed at before at the way the pain was described but now she could believe very much of it as Unicron kept pressing on. As a princess and a friend, she had to put up with the pain, she was feeling the burn reaching her body, exhaustion was reaching her eyes, but it had only been a few hours which made her feel bad now as the world was ending. 

But she pressed on nevertheless. She looked to the right of her to see Cadance with the same problem, the deep intense concentration, the sweat running down her face and the whimpers from time to time. Shining and King Sombra on the left of her were dealing with the same problem but looked like they were more in pain, groans and the sounds of hoof stamping was echoing across the Crystal Empire as they had a slightly different job in the shielding. An odd silence had now been resonating in Twlight’s ears because of the deep concentration, not even the winds that would sometimes howl, it was just utter silence, which was scaring Twilight. unicorn guards had been falling every 30 minutes, but they were replaced in an instant by other unicorns. The exhausted unicorns would rest up until they could wake up which according to the doctors and nurses was in roughly a whole day. But over usage of magic was a dangerous line that they were crossing but no one was complaining as the end of the world had been coming.

But something or someone was coming, tremors were starting to be felt as if an earthquake was about to strike. Tirek was coming, the sound of the cantering hooves was the loud thundering that could be heard but he wasn’t alone. While he was waiting for Unicron’s orders he had built soldiers using bits of his own body, a neurotransmitter. Being all machine with no thought it was only the instructions that had been implanted in his head that allowed him to control the demons. He had released them into Tartarus, the place of his imprisonment, and the metal would infuse with the closest demons and would turn them into mindless servants no matter how strong willed. One he was surprised with was when a huge three headed dog came bounding towards him, the three heads had glistened with metal turning their eyes red and the brown fur now a deep purple. The purple three headed dog was Cerberus, a myth of nightmares but now coated in metal ooze he was beyond nightmares. Tirek had two options when he saw the barrier go up, according to Unicron’s mental link he could attack either, Canterlot or the Crystal Empire his main target was one of the Alicorn Princesses where if one of them fell then Unicron could break through the barrier.



 

Twilight felt a slight tremor, something that was unexpected to her and was thinking whether to speak or not as it takes a lot of energy, the continuous burning pain was unbearable as she tried her hardest not to stop, her life depended on it, everyone’s life did.

“Did you feel that?” Twilight asked, feeling another tremor rattle her bones.

“It’s coming from the east,” Sombra replied, “And it’s coming closer,”

“Status report, Sergeant,” Shining groaned.

“We don’t know yet sir, we sent our fastest flyers, but they have not yet returned, the outpost hasn’t sent any warnings either,” the Sergeant responded, before looking towards the sky,  “Wait someone is coming, they’re injured quick medic unit approach him or her at once,”

“GET OUT OF THE WAY,” the approaching pegasus shouted, the cyan furred rainbow blur crash landing into the crystal floor, her wings singed at the edges and pink burn marks covered her body. She was huffing and puffing, the sweat pouring down her face as she felt her wings burning in pain. Twilight heard Rainbow’s voice and opened her eyes for the first time in hours to find her friend suffering from second degree burns.

“OH, MY Celestia, what happened to you Rainbow?” Twilight asked as concern was raised when the medical team arrived placing ointment on her. Twilight could see the fear in Rainbow’s eyes something that she rarely had seen, almost as if sad too. “What happened out there?”

“Dead, they’re all dead, they are coming I…” Rainbow stuttered almost breaking down as the medical team assessed the damage on her.

“What do you mean dead, who are they?” Shining asked, “I need details, we don’t have time. Sarge prepare your defences we might not have enough time,”

“I dunno…the flying team was just briskly flying towards the outpost, I let them have a head start in flying as I could make it quickly, but when I flew towards the outpost …there was nothing left of the squad, strange metal things were blowing up the walls of the outpost.” Rainbow responded sadly, trying to hide her fear but it wasn’t enough, the tears started flowing down her eyes, rolling down onto the hard crystal floor, shining realised what had happened the same time as Cadance, King Sombra and Twilight.

“No,” Cadance murmured, the shock in her face, her hoof covering her face as the truth hit all of them in the face.

“I tried to save the ones at the outpost, but they were long gone, I could hear their screams of help, the cries they still echo in my ears, the flying squad died at my hooves and as I was lying there holding the dead body of a friend I had just made. I tried to help, I was so close to helping them, but the metal beings started shooting at me, I just couldn’t leave them there, but it was so hot. The beams seared my skin and wings I didn’t know if I would be able to fly ever again. Twilight they ripped ponies in half, there were metal beings and a giant three headed dog. All I can see now are the skulls of the dead rolling towards me…I’m scared” Rainbow cried before passing out on to the floor the shock reaching her.

The medic captain wing was placed to find on Rainbow’s neck immediately to find a pulse but there was none, “QUICK WE NEED TO SHOCK HER!”  

“NO RAINBOW DON’T DIE,” Twilight cried, she couldn’t bare watch looking away, the tears rolling down her face as she saw the lifeless body of Rainbow haunting her for days on end.  

“Sarge get your defences ready now, we need dozens of unicorn squads ready on standby, pegasus in the air for lookout and earth pony fighters.” Shining shouted, “We are not letting this mare die in vain.”

“WHERE IN CELESSTIA’S NAME IS THE UNICORN MEDIC?” The medic shouted, “WE NEED HIM NOW OR THIS MARE WILL DIE!”

“He’s not here we don’t know where he went,” one of the guards said sadly.

“No, she can’t die,” Twilight cried on to the body of Rainbow’s body, something that she thought she would never do in her lifetime. The arrogant brash pegasus wasn’t going to stay dead not if Twilight could help it. 

“I will do it,” Twilight said psyching herself up but before she could do it, Sombra stepped in her way. 

“I will do it,” King Sombra said, “I will not let this mare die, I have killed to many and I must have redemption,”

“But if Sombra if you do it, you will die, your using too much magic at once that can overload your system” Twilight strained from the intensity of keeping her concentration with the hit of Rainbow dying was waning her down.

“Twilight I don’t care about my pathetic life, I died once and I will do it again, all the time I was taking the Crystal Empire I was doing it for myself, for my own personal ego because I wasn’t treated right,” Sombra labored, “But I want you to know this I am willing to sacrifice myself to save your friend because…I love you,”

“WHAT?” everypony in the vicinity shouted.

“It’s true, the moment I laid eyes on you at the Crystal Empire, bah, there’s not enough time,” Sombra said, “If I survive I tell you the rest,” quickly concentrating as everypony cleared the way, Sombra’s horn burning bright of blue lightning, sizzling at the sight before touching Rainbow’s body. A jolt ran through her but nothing, a second shock coursed through Rainbow’s body but nothing, with every shock tiring Sombra making him stagger slightly. “I WILL DO THIS FOR TWILIGHT!” Sombra shouted in his head before striking a third time, the lighting jerked her body and a gasp for air.  Sombra collapsed on the floor, his legs gone to jelly as he felt the world around him spin, the exhaustion reaching his eyes, but he stayed where he was, he couldn’t fail the barrier. Twilight looked at the now panting Sombra, his words hit her like a freight train to the face, when she realised that Sombra had a crush on her. She became so lost in thought, even when Rainbow was put in a stretcher and moved away but before she could do anything Sombra wheezed something.

“You don’t have to say anything yet Twilight, I know I don’t deserve anything from you or anypony, but I just wanted to let you know before dying, being a hero is one thing, but redemption is another. I am no hero, I wanted to redeem myself from the past mistakes I have made, I distanced my only friend Radiant from myself, just leave me be.” Sombra said, before slowly falling into a slumber.

“TRIXIE AND STARLIGHT USE YOUR MAGIC NOW, KING SOMBRA IS DOWN,” Shining said looking at Twilight who was lost, her eyes unfocused on the world around her. “Twilight, pay attention, if one of you alicorn princesses stop the shield all is lost,”

*End Song*
“Right,” Twilight said shaking her head, but uneasiness was still coursing through her head.
“LOOK OUT!” A pegasus mare yelled.

Shouts echoed across the city as the empire started shaking, the crystal square was rumbling, as a giant purple dog burst through a crystal home, something that no one ever though they would see. The cantering of hooves echoed towards the group as the shape of Tirek appeared. Except it wasn’t him, the metal covering him completely astounded the group. Tirek already was scanning the area for the alicorn princesses and detected them but they were surrounded by several squads of earth ponies and pegasus. The pegasi had donned on wing blades that had been enhanced so they could slice through metal with a flick of their wings while the earth ponies had donned metal boots which were light weight but packed a heavy punch when bucked that could easily break through reinforced magic doors.

“CHARGE! PROTECT THE PRINCESSES AT ALL COST!” Shining shouted, already moving the centre group away from the action as the two forces collided. The pegasus guards swooping down to slice the demons that had stood there silently not making any noise.  However, some were unlucky as the demons had grabbed the swooping guards and started tearing them limb by limb. The earth ponies had rushed towards the enemies and started bucking away with the unicorns as artillery support. Magic rained on the enemy, but it still wasn’t enough as it appeared that Tirek had enslaved all of Tartarus. More demons filled in the gaps and what was worse was that Cerberus was demolishing the guards. It ripped through, tearing ponies apart causing great panic and fear to rise through the ranks of the Crystal Empire. Tears were brought to ponies’ eyes as loved ones died, demons poured through the ranks and the sounds of audible bone crunching filled the air. This horrified Twilight making her feel sick, as she staggered backwards behind the ponies that started forming a shield ring.

However, she spied Pinkie in the dense spears and bodies holding a giant cannon. The three headed dog Cerberus bounded towards Pinkie and was about to chomp her in half with the bloodied teeth when the party cannon went off causing a deafening pop noise. Cerberus middle was hit with cake with enough force to knock down it down. This caused it to run in the opposite direction as if scared into the opposition causing chaos and mayhem. Tirek was not happy and brought up both wrist mounted fusion cannons, it powered up in a flash up as the giant three headed dog approached Tirek and fired killing the dog in an instant and the whole body flopped onto the floor. Shining stared in awe at the cannon that killed the great beast in a second and knew they had to escape.

“We have to go NOW!” Shining said, “I will go get Flurry Heart. Cadance, you stay with Twilight and Sombra, there isn’t enough time to argue just go,” and already sprinted towards the steps of the castle. The battle was not going great as Cadance was already cantering away slowly with Twilight a little bit far behind towards the grizzly north, it was the only way out. She hoped that Shining was alright and that they would make it out. King Sombra was placed on a Crystal Earth Guard and had been jogging with them waiting for orders. However, Tirek saw that they were escaping and started cantering towards them not caring who was in front, squashing whoever was in his way. The sounds echoing in Twilights mind as she vomited her contents out. A giant shadow approached them slowly, the right arm of the fusion cannon raised towards Cadance who stood in shock, not knowing what to do, when an earth pony valiantly carried by a pegasus launched a full backwards buck to the face causing Tirek to stagger.

“A valiant effort but I wasn’t aiming for you” Tirek computerized voice responded and swept the pegasus and the Earth pony into the nearest building causing it to crack. His cannon already facing Twilight and fired. Time slowed for Twilight she looked at the battle that she was in the middle of as she already tried to scamper away from the cannon, but the blast size was still too big to fully escape, and she didn’t know what to do. But it was all over in a second as Shining pushed her to the side and creating his own shield which already dissipated the moment the beam touched it.

A clatter was all that Twilight heard as she looked through the haze of magic expecting to see Shining but to only see a crying Cadance cuddling closely a confused Flurry Heart.

“NO!” Twilight shouted before her surrounding erupted in white.
> Chapter 6b: Death
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The dark looming shadow of Unicron was covering the bright sun in the sky, the giant embodiment of death had swept the entire planet into a perpetual state of darkness. The feeling of being watched was scaring citizens from around the globe, the animals on the other hand did not understand a thing that was happening as the cycle of night and day had ceased to exist for them. Time was short, and it was altering the world as time went on, the sun never reaching the surface where it was cooling the temperature of the planet. Something that wasn’t foreseen by anyone as the temperature started dropping, what was worse was everyone was preoccupied. 

The ponies had to split up so that the barrier was evenly distributed to hold the strength of Equestria. Cadance, Shining Armour, King Sombra and Twilight Sparkle were at the Crystal Empire holding off the left mandible of Unicron, while Celestia, Luna, Chrysalis and Starswirl were at Canterlot holding off the right mandible of Unicron. The blue barrier of pure magic was holding off Unicron successfully and was to such an extent that Unicron was worried that he would not be able to pass through. But his plan for domination was in place, so it wouldn’t matter either way, he was chaos and would destroy anyone in his path, one way or another. Agony was the one word that every magical creature felt as the shield groaned, some ponies felt it more than others and would pass out in pain, while others would pass out from exhaustion. Whatever the case was, the numbers were slowly diminishing.





Applejack was in a state of shock, even then that wasn’t enough to make her realize the reality of things when the world was ending. She had grown up to be a strong mare with bucking apple trees at the farm all day, with that she could fight off anyone. She never usually felt anything unless it was for her friends but even then, she never showed it like the time with Rainbow Dash’s turtle Tank it just wasn’t like her but in the end, with Unicron coming to end the world she was crying. Holding her friends in an everlasting group hug, she was holding the group so tight that she didn’t want to split but had to. Twilight, Rainbow and Pinkie had to strategically go to the Crystal Empire, while Rarity, Fluttershy and her had to stay at Canterlot to help with Celestia and Luna prepare against Unicron. It was devastating for them to split up, but it was the only way as Shining predicted that if Unicron did indeed have a spy amongst them that they couldn’t target all the elements at once as it was still an option to use the elements of harmony. Walking down the long hall of Canterlot castle Applejack had just got a surprise visit from her family. It was one hell of a ride for Applejack as she turned soft on them crying her eyes out as she cared for her family so much, she hadn’t felt like this in forever, the ability to care about someone and show it. It was sad to hug Applebloom, Big Mac and Granny Smith as it could have been the last time that they hugged. 

Small words were exchanged to each other as they stayed in one of guest room of Canterlot for now as the train had just ran out of power. Applebloom had been staring outside the window, a young filly at mind but she felt old, as responsibilities now weighed her down. She couldn’t believe that she had to grow up already, like she wouldn’t be able to live a normal childhood as a filly, she was scared for her life. She sighed looking towards the empty sky, wondering to herself why did it have to be. Similarly sitting right next to her was Scootaloo who had gone depress not seeing Rainbow Dash one last time, but she still had hope seeing her again. She also pondered about seeing her aunts again or even her parents after their long disappearance, she never understood where her parents went, it just seemed to her that they were only there to give birth to her and then leave without a trace. She wanted answers, she asked her aunts and all they replied was “they will come back,”. She needed better answers, it was a lifelong dream that she wanted to know about and now with the end of the world happening it would have been a good time to see them, but she knew realised that she wouldn’t see them anytime soon. It was heartbreaking to her that her parents never wrote, never showed up to her birthdays and Hearth’s warming day for many years of her life. She didn’t want to hate them but as everyday past when she sleeps she had always prayed a little to Luna or Celestia to find her parents, it was sad as it was getting the point of hating or even loathing. But Scootaloo luckily had all her friends around to let her forget majority of the times with the Cutie Mark Crusaders adventures she experience the joys and wonders of life. Sweetie Belle had gone to see her big sister Rarity who was next door and she had hugged her tightly, a warm embrace that helped the filly comprehend on what was going on, especially with their parents knocking on the door. Reunions was the times of joy for the everyone as time became non-existent anymore with the sun gone, the only speck of hope that ponies had in them before the end of Equestria. 

Fluttershy had no one though, alone in her room, the stars light had shone on to her window as if a sign but her family did not come to visit her. She was looking at the fires being lit throughout Canterlot, the old primitive ways something that sparked her worries about all the animals at home. Especially Angel the rabbit, her long-life time friend that she would cuddle to sleep sometimes, oh how she worried for them dearly, it was something that she wished she could go there now but she was here to help with Luna and Celestia. That was until her younger brother burst through the glass window with her parents behind. Zephyr could not see very well in the dark especially being lazy in flying that he had almost forgot how to do it in the first place. Fluttershy was overwhelmed with her family appearing and was crying with joy, she couldn’t keep her act for long, she was scared. Something that she was amazed that she managed to rally everypony to the heavens, but those moments of bravery didn’t last long however her parents where beyond proud. 

An alarm rang, which echoed throughout the hallways of Canterlot as Celestia had sounded the bell to announce that the plan of action was now in motion. All unicorns in Canterlot Castle had to proceed to the main court area in the sculpture garden area where the maze was burnt to the ground and instead a camp was set up. The E.U.P guards worked overtime as the world was coming to an end, armouring up the guards for sieges and giving the Unicorns magic boosting potions and preparing stretchers. It was a massive operation but without Celestia’s and Luna’s instructions and planning that it would not have worked out perfectly. They stood at the centre of the once extravagant maze, now gone with Star Swirl and Chrysalis by their sides waiting for the rest of the unicorn guards to come by. Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy opened their door simultaneously as they headed towards to the camp area now. None of them spoke to each other, it was strange to see the scene like that but with the end of the world happening everyone was so deep in their own personal thoughts. Applejack and Big Mac was walking side by side while Granny Smith looked after the Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Applebloom however Scootaloo kept on complaining that she wanted to come along and help. It was no help, no one could contain her except for Rainbow’s figure but it was with Applejack quick thinking about the disappointment in Rainbow to see Scootaloo not safe which made Scootaloo stop and think about leaving which left enough time to lock the door and leave.

“Um…Rarity, are you going to help with the holding of the shield?” Fluttershy asked, who was wondering how her friends would help during this time, she hadn’t even decided herself what she would do and wanted an idea, so she wasn’t alone.

“No darling, I believe I will just help with the bandaging and taking care of the veterans, I can’t bare to take the brunt it’s not very lady like of me to do such a thing.” Rarity replied, thinking about whether she should actually try and use her magic but decided against it, “I could expertly bandage somepony easily, it should be just like fitting clothes,” 

“Well, I’m so pent up with frustration, I’m gonna help the guards out with Big Mac and hope I can release soma steam,” Applejack said, walking down the stairs but at the end of the stairs was a blue shining azure coat and a white and purple striped mane was arguing with a Canterlot butler something about the whereabouts of Twilight. 

“Oh no…it’s Velvet and Light, they didn’t get to see Twilight before she left, they must be worried sick,” Fluttershy pointed out shyly. 

“Indeed,” Rarity said, “We should intervene, before it gets out of hooves,” and trotted to Night Light and Twilight Velvet, “Hello there, Miss Velvet and Mr Light I am Rarity owner of the Carousel Boutique in Ponyville, I am one of Twilight’s best friend,”

“Ah yes, your one of Twilight’s friend element of generosity, we have heard all about you, do you know where she is now, we are worried sick and wanted to see our angel before something…” Velvet said but Night Light shook his head not wanting to jinx the situation. “This stallion right here said that she’s at the Crystal Empire, is that true?”

“Oh, sorry madam but truthfully, yes she ain’t here, she’s at the Crystal Empire, she had to go according to Shining’s order because it was to even out the barrier thing,” Applejack intervened before Rarity could saying anything, “Howdy, by the way ma names Applejack, one of Twilight’s best friend,”

“Ah so it is true, thank you Applejack, well we better get going to where the princess told us to be, it’s the end of the world,” Velvet said sadly already trotting away to the direction of the maze.

“I’m sorry about that, my wife is a bit upset to not say any good bye, you must all be great friends of Twilight, that’s all I hear about from her in the letters, including you Fluttershy and I want to thank you for being they’re for her, for being with my angel I thank you dearly,” Night Light said genuinely before trotting already away and nuzzled Twilight Velvet. Fluttershy was surprised that they knew her name even when she didn’t announce herself causing her to feel shy again.  

“Wow, Twilight must be a good dear and write eloquent words about us, I wonder what she wrote about me,” Rarity said as they headed outside. The night sky was dark, but the path was illuminated by torches, something that had not been used in centuries. However there came into view a white unicorn wearing his extravagant suit that you could see a mile away flashing that he was rich. It was none other than Prince Blueblood, “PRINCE, that’s the worst title to give that stallion, he can shove that title up his royal ass, for I care.” Rarity thought, her blood boiling at the sight of him, something that could be seen by Fluttershy and Applejack from behind at Rarity pasty fur turning red by the second. 

“Shouldn’t we do something Applejack, she looks ready to…blow,” Fluttershy said normally which was her whispering voice. 

“I think yah right, she’s ready to pop like a corn sitting on the farm in the sun too long,” Applejack replied already steering Rarity with her earth pony strength away, which was kind of hard with Rarity’s legs trying to go in the opposite direction as if going up to Blueblood and slapping him across the face kind of way. “It’s not the time or the place, Rarity we need all the help we can get, he’s not even worth it I reckon, save it for when we’re attacked or something, there is no point wasting your time on him.” 

“Your right darling, I should stop this behaviour, I should be on my best behaviour when in front of a stallion even though he was a jerk,” Rarity said sarcastically, and walked briskly past Applejack and Blueblood without even looking at him in the face, but Rarity evil intentions were still in plan as she did a quick spell so that he slapped his own face something that she always wanted to do, a dream come true even. Applejack face hooved her face and galloped faster than Blueblood could canter and caught up with Rarity as she could hear Rarity giggling.

*Start Immortality-C21FX*

Celestia and Luna was sitting waiting for the unicorns to come through while the guards prepared a perimeter, then they saw Applejack and Big Mac splitting of to the now barracks area and Rarity and Fluttershy to the medical area. It disheartened Celestia that the friends had to be split up but that in times of war sacrifices must be made to ensure that the citizens could live in peace it was the curse of immortality. Standing from her sitting position she cleared her throat and gained everyone’s attention by activating the spell so that everypony could hear her, it was vital to have the team work and to stand united or else the world would be destroyed, and she could not bear to witness the world she was on destroyed. She looked up to the dark sky, the foreboding clouds did not show good omens but everywhere she looked she felt the resonance of evil in the air, chaos to say the least something that didn’t stink like Discord’s magic. No, it was something more sinister, Discord was full of pranking and in truth wasn’t in any bit evil, he didn’t even murder any pony, the feeling was something more as if something that should have stayed dead had arisen from an eternal slumber. It was fear taking hold of her again something that she had to control. This all happened in a split of a second before she regained her sanity and posture and breathed, preparing the spell so that everyone on Equestria could hear. 

“I, Celestia princess of Equestria and co-ruler with my sister Luna ask that all of you who can help point your horns to the heavens and chant the shield spell Walleum no shieldeo” Celestia said, pointing her long white unicorn horn to the sky arming to the brim with magic, magic so potent it was as hot as the sun’s surface, and released it into the sky. A yellow beacon of hope emblazed the sky, shining a new path to a future that everyone hoped to see as other beams of light lit up the sky. Different colours of the rainbow launched into the sky some colliding with each other as the numbers increased brightening up the sky into a multitude of colour and turning the night sky into something of beauty never before seen. It was a sight to behold as all the non magical creatures where astounded with everlasting hope and life to see a barrier started forming at the atmosphere of the planet. Luna was especially bewildered by the sight before her, the starry night sky that she worked for countless of centuries was now more exquisite and stunning than before. The atmosphere thickened with magic where the 4 Alicorn Princesses slowly form the basis of the barrier, the blue barrier encrusted with strength was then strengthened by the 4 unicorns Sombra, Shining, Chrysalis and Star Swirl. The impediment further thickened with the rest of the unicorn’s magic creating a layer that was 10 km thick full of all the hopes and dreams. A strong bond of hope flashed as the shield resonated in the atmosphere alerting something in the distant stars. 

Celestia opened her eyes to see the now changed sky, leaving her with a weary smile as she felt the intense magic flowing from her body. Something she both hadn’t done in a while, as she thought about her parents as the stars aligned into something that she thought she wouldn’t see again in a long time. “Hello father, mother…I miss you so much, I am doing the best I can to save Equestria but I don’t know if we are doing enough, or even if we are able to stop Unicron, I wish I could speak to you in person, I feel like I have been awake for days on end, I wish you were here to give me advice and help me with my decisions.” *End Song* Celestia looked wistful when she felt the sun call to her, a warm feeling in which she then felt emblazed with renew energy sparkling within her. The eternal body clock in her telling her that it was nearing dawn, something that she thought would never come. She felt the strain of using two different type of magics at once which was already causing a burning sensation in her internals and on her horn especially, but she pressed on hoping to see the new light that would bring hope to Equestria’s citizens. Looking towards the now dark sky it was starting to illuminate into a new age. The sunrise sparkled in everyone’s eyes and tickled Celestia, absorbing into her fur reviving her with energy as rejoice was echoing through Equestria as they felt warming feeling of the sun. Celestia felt renewed vigour and felt overwhelmed by the praises of everypony around her, the sun was something of beauty, as it never felt harsh no matter where you were it was always the right temperature. It was daunting to her that Unicron was almost the size of the sun something that she did not think about until recently. But what could she do when the world was coming to an end, thinking deeper into it was a mess as she had no plan. The whole point of putting up the barrier was to have more time to think of ways to stop him, but it was too late as the celebrations died down, a dark shape appeared over Equestria, the menacing shape devoured the sun’s rays putting Equestria into the dark again like a snuffed-out fire. 
Nothing could penetrate through Unicron, the sky became dark and inky like a black hole, all that was lighting up Equestria was the light of fires. Unicron was something that no pony and everyone else had ever seen before, the atrocity that Unicron possessed. The maw of a never-ending hole that would continuously devour to fill the insatiable needs of Unicron. The features were daunting to everyone as fear took a grip of their hearts as the ponies and creatures alike cowered away at the giant thing in the sky, something so close so terrifying even causing panic throughout the ranks of the guards. The royal E.U.P guards had knees of jelly, valour and honour went right out of the window as they looked at the swords, the gleaming edge so easy to use, so easy to cut themselves but were too stunned at the thing blotting out the sky. Luna had seen many things in her life, monsters from Tartarus itself didn’t even give her nightmares, it was something pitiful really, she never felt scared anymore except her own self maybe but now looking at Unicron was a whole different story as she felt insignificant. This creature had destroyed her moon but even with the motivation of anger it was something different to fulfil the desire of Unicron gone when the creature suddenly collided into Equestria. The dark blue and orange bits weighed down onto barrier scaring everyone on the planet, the barrier rippled with stress and strained under the heavy weight of Unicron. Unicron was done playing waiting he was hungry for the death of this civilisation, he had left it too long to live for, promises where so easy to break and hearts where even easier.
“You have only delayed the inevitable, Celestia and Luna, now witness the dismemberment of Equestria as you are powerless to stop me,” Unicron boomed as the mandibles crunched into the barrier, trying to break through but the barrier stood its ground. Celestia and Luna looked towards each other in hope to see that Unicron didn’t have enough force to break through the barrier. Unicorns started fainting from the pressure of the barrier, forcing Rarity and Fluttershy and other medical ponies to catch them and transport them to the infirmary. It was a hard job especially for Fluttershy as she did not have a lot of strength in her wings to hold the fainted ponies. What was worse was that some of the unicorns were buff, she could feel rippling muscles on some of them with her wings causing her to blush severely, but she had to move them and not waste time. Unicron in the sky absolutely terrified her, somewhere to the point of making her lose control of her bladder. It wasn’t a creature she could tame, and which made it worse to her as she couldn’t talk to Unicron and understand his motives on destroying the wonderful planet she lived on. She didn’t really know how to respond except that she knew that she needed to help at all cost. Applejack was feeling wobbly at the knees, even with Big Mac Sheer size, he was arched as if trying not to be noticed, Unicron was that big and scary to make even the stallion with few words say nothing. Not even a sound came out of Big Mac’s mouth, no breathing it was just utter stillness as if her was trying to play dead. Rarity tried not to notice the giant thing in the sky blocking the sun, she was sweating heavily but it was getting cold at the same time which was not a good combination, but she continued bringing Unicorns to the infirmary tent which was huge, it took up half a stadium. Unicron was horrifying for many ponies up close the maws of death were starting to shift with red as if painted in blood. Unicron’s massive planetary body gravity would be greater than the planet causing it to be sucked up into the tube but because of the barrier that was put up, everyone was safe from the side effect, for now. Unicron’s mouth emitted a deep yellow colour illuminating Equestria like the sun bringing light to the world but the light felt artificial and something so alien. Unicorns were falling like flies, every 10 minutes another one dropped from either exhaustion or the pain in their horns. What was worse was Celestia and Luna were already feeling the effects of over usage of magic, it was taxing their energy levels heavily and it became harder to stand up and not fall asleep. There eyes shifted with concentration and even with the effects of potions running through their veins it was hard to concentrate. They had to stand up to Unicron, they didn’t want the world to end neither did everyone else as unicorns and magical creatures felt the raw energy of hope. 

But something or someone was coming, tremors were starting to be felt as if an earthquake was about to strike. Tirek was coming, the sound of the cantering hooves was the loud thundering that could be heard but he wasn’t alone. While he was waiting for Unicron’s orders he had built soldiers using bits of his own body, a neurotransmitter. Being all machine with no thought it was only the instructions that had been implanted in his head that allowed him to control the demons. He had released them into Tartarus, the place of his imprisonment, and the metal would infuse with the closest demons and would turn them into mindless servants no matter how strong willed. One he was surprised with was when a huge three headed dog came bounding towards him, the three heads had glistened with metal turning their eyes red and the brown fur now a deep purple. The purple three headed dog was Cerberus, a myth of nightmares but now coated in metal ooze he was beyond nightmares. Tirek had two options when he saw the barrier go up, according to Unicron’s mental link he could attack either, Canterlot or the Crystal Empire his main target was one of the Alicorn Princesses where if one of them fell then Unicron could break through the barrier.

*Start The Protectors – Epic Score* 

Canterlot shook, its foundations on the mountain trembled in agony as cracks appeared underneath Equestria’s capital city. Tirek had arrived, his army crashing through the gates of Canterlot, as if an earthquake had erupted from the mountain causing destruction throughout  Canterlot as the E.U.P guards quickly performed a defensive ring around the burnt maze recovering from the shocks. Pegasi and Earth Ponies stood valiantly at the now approaching demonic army with their spears, swords and other various weapons, sharp to the point of cutting through an inch of metal. Equestria’s capital was in ruins when the army was done searching for the Alicorn princesses, to which many civilians were lost as they tried to run away but it was in these times of war there were no survivors. Canterlot was blazed in fire as Tirek had torn through the houses of Canterlot, blasting and destroying countless number of lives while Cerberus bounded towards the now formed perimeter of Earth and Pegasi backed up by Unicorns as artillery support, but it wasn’t enough. It drove through the ranks of the ponies as if they were nothing but paper, mauled and eviscerated. 

The demons poured through the main gates demolishing it to the ground, turning the once beautiful and magnificent castle, the capitol of Equestria into nothing with the thunderous charge. Chunks of rubble rained down, as Granny Smith burst through the window of the balcony trying to find a safer place for the fillies as they felt the castle supports weaken with every second wasted. The sounds of torment and despair filled the air as the E.U.P fought valiantly holding the position, the earth ponies crunching their through bucking at every chance possible the way they were trained in. Pegasus flew as air support dive bombing and slicing the heads of the demons clean off, leaving only stumps and unicorns raining death from above. The cutie mark crusaders were beyond shocked, they saw real blood spewing, ponies of all kind dying fighting for the Princesses. They were truly aghast as the saw demons filling the empty spaces. It was an even match in the war as the demons only had numbers, they were only useful in close combat with the claws tainted in pony blood and were covered in metal while the ponies had ranged attacks and were better organized. However, Tirek was causing great terror as he blasted with his two fusion cannons, lighting the battlefield with purple streaks as it vaporized and disintegrated rows and rows of ponies as if they were nothing. Starswirl, Chrysalis, Celestia and Luna were concentrating hard at the task but when they felt the tremors and saw the castle that they use to live in get destroyed, the observatory towers, Luna’s and Celestia’s room deteriorated and started to fall, squashing guards and demons who where unfortunate to move away. The group saw a flicker of orange and red rushing towards the wreckage, climbing the stairs to the main castle as if looking for somepony, it then dawned to Celestia and Luna that it was Applejack and Big Mac looking for their family. Another sound boomed in front of them they knew it was time to retreat but were conflicted. 

“We can’t just leave, all these valiant stallion and mares will all die, we need to help them, and I will not let it happen after my reign as Nightmare Moon, I have murdered too many, I must have redemption,” Luna exclaimed while groaning at the same time as the group felt Unicron pushing extra hard, trying to break in. 

“I agree Sister, we must fight for the future of Equestria,” Celestia agreed, “I will not cower under my own rule, if we fight we shall die trying,” 

Starswirl and Chrysalis on the other hoof did not agree, “But if you die, there will be nothing to live for anymore as Unicron will destroy the barrier,” Starswirl pointed out.

“Try and stop me old stallion,” Luna smiled wickedly concentrating hard for a second before a scythe landed from the sky next to Starswirl, its dark purple and black outline with a gleaming crescent shaped blade landed so close to Starswirl’s face that it shaved a bit of the old stallion’s beard. “Oh, how I missed you, Night Fall, you haven’t tasted blood since Sombra’s time of reign,” and already flew into the air, the scythe already thrown with magic into the unsuspecting demons that were holding broken guards. A feat that should have burned out Luna’s magic reserves, but she was done with pain, she was done with hiding, she was done not showing her face in public, she will set things right. The blade spun cleanly slicing the head of the demons, spewing blood onto Luna’s face as she helped the guards onto their feet, not caring that her royal attires were stained and ruined. 

“How dare she leave without my permission, I am thousands of years older than her, I’ll…I’ll” Starswirl stammered, stamping his hoof in frustration. 

“Do nothing, she is my sister and my responsibilities if you wish to cower Uncle then I suggest you do so of now, I am going into battle whether you like it or not,” Celestia said before concentrating hard, she felt a searing pain in her as she suddenly shone in a beam of light as bright as the sun, her battle armour clasped onto her warm body. The gold and purple plating gleamed in the battlefield as Celestia's weapon landed next to Chrysalis, who gulped in surprise. A halberd, the sun emblazed onto the polearm axe end, with gold covering the blade on a long white handle. It was kept under lock and key in her parents’ room which has been left untouched in the old castle, something that had been used by her father in the great 1000-year war. Its giant blade was weighted evenly for Celestia and she could feel her father’s essence on the halberd, the magic flowing within the weapon helped her focus as she swung it aggressively at the unsuspecting demons charging into battle following the shadow of the night. 

Luna flew into the battlefield as she helped anyone that was in need, she could see many things, heads flying, bones being crunched and vaporized into only dust, but they were losing. The scythe was given to her as a hundred-year-old gift, where it was Luna’s mum original weapon in the great 1000-year war. The metal was light but tough as nails as she swung with skill and precision even without using it for a millennium and out of practice, skills that she learnt over years of experience flowed threw her mind as she never waned from the over usage of magic that was poured into holding the blade and keeping the barrier up. She then realised that she should go help Applejack and Big Mac, and sailed towards them, starting to feel the intense pain in her horn, and her wings burning with desire to rest and stop. She would not stop though and found Applejack kneeling holding a forearm of green, it dawned to her it was the body of Granny Smith between the rubble.
*End Song* Her body had turned icy as she set her scythe standing as she leaned on for support, she was too late. Big Mac was mumbling, his tears cascaded down his face as he hugged Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, comforting them as they were beyond scared. It was something that they wished could be removed from their minds, but it was too late, scared and engrained deeply into their filly minds. Luna didn’t know what to say, she had never met Granny Smith in person, just that she was Applejack’s Grandma and she realised that it must have been heavy for Applejack, but she stood still and on guard thinking about what to do, when Celestia, her face plastered with demon blood along with changeling goo, trotted towards them shock in her eyes and full of regret. Celestia couldn’t form words at the loss but there wasn’t enough time to mourn, not yet, as they were needed in the battle.

“I’m sorry for your lost Applejack,” Luna said solemnly and gave the orange mare a tight hug, the metal armour clanking together from Applejack’s new guard armour and the scythe dropped onto the floor with a thud. “She will live on as a great heroine for saving the cutie mark crusaders, but it is no time to mourn now, we are at war,” flying off with the scythe already in action. Celestia on the other hoof was a bit conflicted, thinking quickly on her hooves she looks towards both Applejack and Big Mac.

“You have done enough Applejack and Big Mac, you are relieved of your duties, go and hide somewhere safe with these fillies, it is the only way for you to keep safe now,” Celestia said sternly, she did not want to lose more lives than needed and walked from the rubble ready to clear a path of destruction. 





Rarity was frightened to move out of the infirmary as she was swayed to and fro from the earthquake and was having second thoughts of leaving the safety of her room. That was till she saw the whole side of the castle collapse and realised it wasn’t an earthquake. An orange blur ran past the tent towards the site of the broken castle and it occurred to her it was Applejack. She then started to notice the demons fighting the royal guards through the hole in the tent and started stepping away slowly feeling jittery. Fluttershy and her were surrounded by demons and she was quite shocked that demons existed, there red scaly skin with horns and claws tainted with the blood of ponies. Some where constantly on fire while others were deformed and took pony shapes. The demons of Tartarus had already gripped Fluttershy's heart with fear, the swirling talons of darkness had latched on to her heart, the beats constricted by shadows of terror eating her soul away. She however stood her ground holding her wing to he erratic heart as she took big deep breaths to soothe it. She was tending to a Pegasus wings and was following the same steps she did when helping with Rainbow's wings when hurt, it was a much happier time then. The infirmity was surrounded by multiple guards where they were holding off the enemy. It was a losing battle with the demons getting closer to the tent and no way to move the sick and exhausted unicorns from the bed. It was something that scared Rarity as she saw a large shadow approach faster than the train to Ponyville. With a leap she tackled Fluttershy out of the way from the bed.

A giant silver and purple three headed dog barreled through the infirmary tent killing many unicorns and it stopped as the medics ran away in terror. Cerberus had arrived with the many teeth of silver death dribbled. The machination of nature and machine caused the once cute tame dog to a nightmare beyond words and Rarity was speechless. The sound of war was loud in the background of Rarity and Fluttershy but there was a silence as they both stared at the huge beast. Something snapped inside Fluttershy as she suddenly shook uncontrollably, her hoof trembling with intense anger and suddenly took off and flew in rage towards the beast before Rarity could do anything. The beast didn’t notice it before being punched in the right face but to it, it only felt like a light tap that it didn’t even register until it looked her into the eyes. Rarity stood in horror at her enraged friend who was too shocked to move as Rarity saw Fluttershy cradle her hoof close to her chest. The maw of metal opened wide already closing around Fluttershy's head happening in slow motion to Rarity as she felt helpless trying to will her body to move and help but it was hopeless, she was going to a lose a friend. The creeping silence of death ringed in her ears as she looked away not wanting to see the death of someone she could of known better. Then a loud eruption blew in her ear as she felt the searing heat of a magical flame erupt in the face of the monster while the magical blue aura caught the startled Fluttershy from the blast. Out came a bearded wizard in his blue star hat and wooden staff of power from the broken tent hole and strutted towards the now staggered beast. The beast trained it’s eyes on to the fearless wizard as he stared back with intent of protecting. Rarity hugged Fluttershy  so tight that Fluttershy had to start struggling for breath, but the battle wasn’t over as Star swirl the bearded landed next to them realising that the explosion did no real physical damage to the beast. Star Swirl was already yelling at them to move as the giant paw came crashing down onto them. They all scrambled from there position already cantering out of the broken tent that was threatening to collapse on them already which gave Star Swirl an idea and already lit the supports of the tent. Already galloping to the hole, Rarity, Fluttershy and Starswirl dived for the exit as the whole tent collapsed onto the monstrosity. Rarity looked at Star swirl in shock as she realised that there other ponies that was still inside the tent.

“Why would you do that, you just killed many so many unicorns without even thinking” Rarity huffed already poking a hoof at Starswirl

“Um, can we stop arguing…” Fluttershy whispered her right hoof bruised and already purple but no one was listening.

“I did it so we could survive and save more lives, that beast was capable of killing all of us without a sweat it was toying with our forces as we nothing but chew toys, you should be thanking me” Starswirl argued

“Ok then” Fluttershy looked towards the destroyed tent with the mound starting to shift and move. It was still alive. “It’s moving!” 

“Well you shouldn’t get to choose who lives and who dies that is not up to us and up to fate” Rarity argued back “Yes I am grateful so I thank you humbly darling but don’t use other ponies as a means to an end” while brushing the dust and dirt of her fur but it was too late. The mound exploded as it showered in wood and fabric and dead bodies, Cerberus emerged his eyes a glowing a deep red and it wasn’t happy.

*Start Courage in the Sky – Epic Score*

A slight buzzing occurred in everyponies ears simultaneously, noisy as cicada’s making everyone stop fighting. The feeling was mutual to all as they could not comprehend the sound that was being made, then a guard pointed to the heavens to see a dark foreboding black cloud, like a storm. Tirek wasn’t happy as he looked up to the sky, a swarm, blanketing the sky as if giant colonies of bees had arrived, flying from the south, the hundreds of thousands of creatures came pouring like a tornado striking the ground. Tirek enhanced his vision to find that they were black and had insect shaped wings. The changelings had arrived, the giant swarm of black stunned everypony and demons looking at the sky, the artificial light of Unicron’s light continuously caused the swarm to appear more terrifying. However, these changelings were devotedly loyal to and worship Chrysalis, not to the new upstart King Thorax. The changeling swarm swirled around the battlefield in a whirlwind of black and blue, before smashing their bodies against the demon. It was a sign of hope and courage for the E.U.P who were desperately outnumbered. 

The guards were scared at first at the giant black cloud in the sky but as they saw they weren’t a threat they joined the alliance with the Changelings. The black changeling cloud was swarming in  a hurricane and in the eye of the storm was Chrysalis calling them. Giant changelings crashed onto the battlefield like a giant meteor in the sky, they were genetically modified to have super strength and where originally going to be used against Celestia and Luna. They had bulging muscles as if on constant supply on potions like a drug and were trying to hold down Cerberus with their strength, but it was no use. They were still much smaller than Cerberus and were being ripped apart by the terrifying dog of the underworld, its maw like a vice and its teeth like saws which shredded and cleaved through the changelings.

Luna and Celestia looked towards the Changeling queen in surprise as in all their times as rulers of the land, an enemy of the country of Equestria they thought they would never see any good in Chrysalis always thinking she had a heart of darkness. Chrysalis was smiling at the reinforcements that came, she was in dire need of help as she was suddenly surrounded by demons of Tartarus and was done with cowering. If she was going to make a change, she was going to change for the better, a hero to be more exact. Originally Chrysalis felt that with Luna and Celestia helping even though they were at full capacity with using their magic that she should help in some way, not like Star Swirl the Bearded who she last saw was cowering. Luna and Celestia could see that the Changeling Queen was surrounded and was about to charge and help when Chrysalis had a surprise up her non-existent sleeve, transforming into the exact same demon  that was about to attack. The demon of red was utterly confused with the situation and hesitated a bit not knowing what to do when it’s head exploded with Chrysalis smashing her two hoofs together. The blood splattered across her face, but she licked it with relish, feeling the blood slide down her throat, she had heard stories of demon blood and what extraordinary powers it had but to her dismay she felt nothing. No matter she charged valiantly into battle with no fear as the changeling swarm continued fighting for the Queen. The strength in numbers where able to match the demons as the sounds of swords clashed against the claws but the numbers where slowly diminishing by the fearsome Tirek. He was too strong and no guard had dared face him head on as they could see the power he held within by the giant fusion cannons on his arms. Luna could see that he was the greatest threat looked towards her sister Celestia and already leapt ahead to kill Tirek once and for all. She hated the new rules of killing where it was considered now murder even to you enemies, and found the idea ridiculous but with war she felt the freedom.

*Start Destroyer of God’s – Epic Score*

Celestia eyes trained on to the demons as she waded through the blood bath, the resort to violence was something that she didn’t want. Her early life had been like this when her parents left. When their parents died wars broke out causing mayhem and destruction to the land. It was after peace was restored that she hated the wars and the killing that was heavily involved. Bringing nations down wasn’t fun and was something she thought she wouldn’t experience again in a long time. Death was all she felt, blood splattered on the pristine white fur and on the royal yellow and purple armour as she flew through air killing and creating a path to Tirek. She knew he was the greatest threat and was feeling the exhaustion reach her trying to get to him but knew it wasn’t over. Except she was tackled by the demon dog Cerberus and was almost crushed by him. She could see glimpses of Luna already in combat with Tirek and it was a dangerous game of tag. She kept trying to approach and help her sister but Cerberus was blocking her path and trying to bite her face off. It was a tough battle as she swiped the polearm at the dog pushing it back. However the dog took a giant bite at the halberd and became lodged inside the beast mouth.

Celestia while struggling with the weapon noticed that Star Swirl and Chrysalis joined the battle with Luna but it was a losing battle. She could see that Tirek was too strong even when the three were attacking at the same time. She couldn’t look long because of the other sides of the dog ravaging her face too. She felt the stinking stale of the dry blood and the rotting meat inside of the mouths of the dog. All of a sudden the dog started shaking it’s head around, causing Celestia to lose control of the halberd and was thrown towards the ground not within magic range. Celestia was almost defenseless when the giant mutt landed on top of her, pinning her down. The slobber of blood and meat rained down near her face causing her face to scrunch and look away for a split second. She could see Tirek blasting at Chrysalis but Star Swirl had placed up a shield to defend her but he was in agony trying. Luna had driven the scythe in one eye of Tirek causing him great anger as he tried to catch her. Celestia couldn’t see anymore as she let loose a glimpse of the sun toppling the dog over. She got up and started running towards Tirek who had ripped out the scythe from his eye socket, what was left of the glowing red eye was purple liquid of energon from Unicron. His broken right eye had swiveled to Luna who was dancing to and fro between the feet of the centaur and trying to find another weak spot to sink the sharp blade in but it was too strong. Celestia didn’t notice till the last second but Cerberus came rushing at her in an instant and head crashing into her causing her great pain. She could feel a wave nausea roll over her as the barrier above weakened as Unicron’s giant teeth moved closer to its goal as she landed onto the hard ground. She wheezed a bit before flapping her wings to dodge the next ram. The dog was relentless and had to be stopped but she could not leave her little sister to fight against Tirek without her. 

“Come on sister, I know you can do this,” Celestia huffed under breath, ‘I have to believe in her that she can kill Tirek without my help, if we are able to do this then the war should stop' 

Celestia's eyes never left Cerberus and charged into battle with her halberd flying back into her magical grasp and striking forwards into the maw of the monster, the most unprotected part. Except Cerberus was smarter than what he seems and already hit it with his paw and instead caught the handle in his mouth while simultaneously swinging it. She moved backed and glanced towards the raging battle between Tirek, Luna, Chrysalis and Star Swirl. She gasped as she felt the sinking teeth of Cerberus into her left foreleg, the jaws shutting tightly against her amoured left leg but it wasn’t just that causing her the agony.

Tirek had stopped blasting and backhanded Chrysalis but Star Swirl hastily summoned a shield to stop the force but it wasn’t strong enough and sent Chrysalis sprawling across the stained floor onto some dead guards. She tried to get back up but both her front legs were broken making her wince in pain. Before Tirek could blast Chrysalis into a burnt crisp Star Swirl launched an explosive volley into Tirek's backside to turn his attention. Tirek on the other hand had other ideas and launched a surprise buck to the face, where the blow knocked Star Swirl instantly. Luna in rage flew up and tried to protect them but it all came to an end as the scythe was ripped from the magical grasp from the giant metal hand before the other one grabbed the horn of Luna. Luna screamed out in pain, that was all she felt, the searing inside her horn had grown exponentially and she felt her horn glow tremendously hot.

“You are worthless!” Tirek said autonomously with the metal hand crushing more in strength. Luna thrashed in agony and could already feel her side of the barrier loose shape and form. She couldn’t do anything and was weeping from the excruciating pain. She tried to punch with her hoofs but it was no use as she was lifted towards the broken face of Tirek. 

Celestia’s eyes already filled with tears of regret as she could see that Tirek was something now entirely different from before. Now a weapon she was scared but she caught eye of Tirek whose left red eye had trained onto her, whilst the right one was causing her to shrivel in disgusts. However what he did next was unspeakable, and the cracking of bones and a wail before Celestia’s exploded in a shower of white light.
> Chapter 7a: Sacrifices...Unedited
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 7a: Sacrifices 

*Start: Moments by James Paget*

Gleaming white light shone in everyone's eyes, the deafening sound of a crying sister in the air could be heard in all of Equestria. Twilight Sparkle was broken on the inside. In the midst of Shining pushing her aside she only heard the clatter of something heavy and opened her eyes to find all that was left was a majestic white horn and Cadance holding Flurry Heart close to her chest and crying and in that moment, she knew Shining was gone forever. Her BBBFF, vaporised without any goodbye or his face saying I love you. No longer would Flurry have a father to adore, Cadance have a husband to love and herself have a big brother to look up to. She never felt so much raw pain; it had caused her heart to thunder as she couldn’t control herself anymore. The mental pain was worse than she could ever imagine, more painful than any physical pain she had ever felt. Tirek shadowed over the crying pony, as the bright light faded to reveal Twilight sitting defeated, her wings splayed across the floor and tears dropping, eyes closed. The fighting around them stopped with the white light catching the attention of everyone, the clashes of blades and claws hung in the movement as the E.U.P, crystal guards and demons turned to see their Princess defeated. No one spoke, only shock was running through everyone’s mind as Twilight’s horn dimmed. The silence was something you wouldn’t usually hear in the middle of the battle as Celestia and Luna watched from Canterlot, but no one was moving too afraid to do anything as the Princess life was on the line. 

Twilight could only think about all the good times that she had with Shining such as the laughter they shared as they were younger, the tough times they have gone through and pulling themselves up and always being there for each other. Twilight’s mind was starting to fracture. Her mind flashed forward before the events all of this madness against this being in the sky, the last time they did something together where there were no threats or any drama’s just a simple day of living life normally. It was a beautiful sunny day where Twilight, Shining, Cadance and Flurry where sitting in the park having a simple picnic. Cadance was laying on Shining as always snuggled together romantically, while Twilight was holding Flurry Heart with magic and blowing her tummy to make her giggle. A sweet innocent scene and as Twilight look towards Shining, he smiled causing her heart to feel warm and fuzzy to have the best brother in the world. But that all changed when suddenly he faded away in an instant making Cadance fall over. Shocked Twilight jumped onto her hooves to find the world plunged into an inky darkness as the demons of Tartarus started rising from the ground around her, but she couldn’t see anything when suddenly a yellow beam of light lit the scene like flashes. She was terrified as she saw Cadance struggling against the demons trying to pull them apart to reach Flurry. But the demons held on to all limbs of Cadance causing insufferable pain as they started pulling in opposite directions. The screams of Cadance and Flurry was all she heard as Twilight powerlessly tried to use her magic and call out to Shining but no answers only whispers. However, she charged into the fray with determination to free her best foul sitter only to witness the scene darkened making her slow down. She wasn’t going to lose her family to some demons as she cautiously trotted through the darkness trying to light her horn. But the place lit up with yellow and to her horror all that she found left of Cadance and Flurry was skeletons. She had no words as she stumbled backwards trying to unsee the remnants of her beloved family, Twilight felt everything taken away from her, the acceptance of her losses made her mind shatter especially when the demons turned towards her. Their pony faces were faces of her friends and families, full of blood and eyes of the milky dead came crawling towards her full charge and she accepted it closing her eyes. 

*End song*





*Start Nova by End of Silence*

Celestia and Luna watched from an orb of magic as the news of the siege reached them by letter a few moments ago from a unicorn guard something that left the rulers of the day and night stunned to hear and the cause of the earthquake. Celestia wouldn’t believe that her student was defeated, she felt responsible for this not teaching her the real morals of war and the outcomes that happen. Celestia knew they haven’t had any wars in Equestria in a millennium and decided it was best not to teach the horrors but now she realised it was a mistake. The mistake of teaching Twilight the ways of friendship and that it always conquers all. There will always be those that want to watch the world burn and nevertheless Celestia felt she could have prevented this. She continued to look in dismay as the barrier was slowly weakening with Twilight not using anymore magic and she could feel even more pressure in her magic reserves being built up, with Luna’s face also scrunching up in pain. The barrier was fracturing. The unicorn messenger broadcasting the orb was lifted by a pegasus and flew up in the air to see a ring of demons had surrounded Twilight and Tirek, the first ring laid a broken Cadance and Flurry who was confused why her mother hugged her fiercely and covering her face. Tirek’s fusion canon was aimed with no remorse or guilt a mindless machine at Twilight’s face as the internals started whirling powering up the weapon, the heat not even fazing her. 





Cadance was breathless, she wanted to shout to Twilight to ‘move’ but her tongue was caught by her teeth in the nick of time. If she said something now, she didn’t know if Tirek would vaporise Twilight and she definitely wasn’t going to lose her sister in law, not for the whole wide world. All that was in between Tirek and Twilight was the white horn of her husband something she didn’t know if she could get over as she cried even more. The love that she had for her family was so great that in the castle the relic that was protecting the Crystal Empire had shattered into millions of fragments, irreparable the damage. The pain of losing her special pony was too much for her as she felt living by herself all alone always a never-ending pain in her never ready to move on. She knew the risk of Shining losing his life in battle as being Captain of the guard in Canterlot before and now currently being ruler of the crystal empire alongside herself but in reality, she never thought that would happen and right in front of her eyes. Cadance had no idea what to do anymore so lost as she saw the demons surrounded Twilight and Tirek, but she was unfazed by them from grief and hoping for a miracle. Tears of regrets and sadness flowed like a leaking tap letting Flurry know that something was wrong, but Flurry tried to cheer her mum up with snuggles except it wasn’t working. 





“Get up Twilight...” Celestia whispered, knowing it was useless as she started crying. She couldn’t do anything to save Twilight of this inevitable fate as her magic was being spent on holding the barrier and held her sister in a tight embrace. The mare of the moon was also lost for words, Luna always thought it wouldn’t end like this for Twilight. She always admired Twilight’s selfless courage and willing to help anypony in need and with all the villains she defeated with the help with her friends, she honestly thought they were invincible. She felt the wet tears of regret on her chest and tried comforting her sister, and too was hoping someone or something would stop this madness.





Pinkie Pie was confused, she was blasting demons with her party canon feeding them cake and explosive presents only to find a blinding white flash causing her to trip over herself. Something that she didn’t expect and when the light faded, she saw everyone turn in a general direction making her wonder what all the commotion was about but in reality, she wished she had looked sooner. She popped throughout the crowd before materialised in the first ring of demons with Cadance and Flurry. There one of her best friend in the whole wide world was crushed and being targeted by Tirek and she didn’t know what to say. Many things soared through her mind as her pinkie senses returned, to see everypony around her were worried and hoped that a miracle would happen. But then she was the first to realise that she shouldn’t give up on Twilight the same as Twilight never gave up on her when she was depressed. 

“TWILIGHT STAND UP, DON’T GIVE UP YET, I’M HERE FOR YOU!” Pinkie shouted from behind the demons hoping for Twilight to stand and fight. This started a wall of cries and cheers for Twilight, Starlight and Trixie especially shouting their hearts out to bring Twilight out of her senses. A spark of hope raised throughout the crowds, as the demons around grew restless but to their surprise blades started sprouting through there chest. The distraction proving useful in culling the demon’s numbers down. Tirek was thoroughly annoyed at the shouting getting louder as he fired the cannon to finish his objective of eradicating the barrier in the sky.





All Twilight felt was pain and suffering, the emotional stress of trying to save Equestria through the conventional way of friendship wouldn’t work. She was out of options, to kill was the last thing she could do, and as that thought came to her she felt something inside her snap. Emotions of distraught, loss and something much more, had wracked up and tuned to her magic glowed in power as Tirek's beam of destruction touched her. 

Everyone got blasted back from the shockwave as smoke blanketed the battlefield covering the outcome for Twilight. The yellow beam of light produced by Unicron was a scene from a horror movie, as the gargantuan transformer tried to break through barrier. The first one to get up was Pinkie and looked around to see ponies and demons dazed on the floor. A battlefield that was littered with dead bodies, she couldn’t believe all the fighting that had been happening all around her. Cadance was the next to rise up holding Flurry protectively close and Pinkie shouted out Twilight’s name but there was an eerie silence. Everyone was getting back up as they looked through the smoke trying to make out what had happened only to realise that Cadance was looking away in defeat crying silently. Everyone was silent with respect and honour for the Princess. However, no one could believe that Twilight Sparkle had died…everyone fighting had realised that their lives had been affected by Twilight and her friends. By either saving them from dire threats or to have a better understanding with one another through friendship.

Celestia sat in the open field with Luna next to her as the background and her vision became blurry, she felt like she couldn’t continue on with her life as she couldn’t make out the scene. The guilt was the same as when she had felt with banishing Luna to the moon. Twilight was family to her always had been, the moment Celestia had laid eyes on her in her school performing magic she knew that she was the perfect student, ‘She can’t be dead…’ and she let go of hope, and something quelled up inside her. A forever ending guilt that she as a mentor failed to protect and nurture the ones she loved. A torture of some sought but it wasn’t just herself causing this. Up in the sky Unicron watched, waiting for the impending doom that awaits the ponies. Unicron as an essence of chaos and evil can manipulate those who are at their weakest points of their life and Celestia was at that point. Unicron was consuming and feeding Celestia the true nature of himself, deteriorating her mind and filling her conscious to eradicate all will to continue holding the barrier. But something flickered for Celestia as she continued watching. 

Something purple. 

Hope was brought back into Celestia’s mind vanquishing and cleansing Unicron’s conquest of her mind. As purple lightning creeped from the smoke and caused a stir in everyone, Lord Tirek rose from the smoke dazed from the blast. A confusion on his face was plastered as the smoke cleared to reveal that Twilight Sparkle lived standing face held high, horn at the ready. Celestia cried in joy as everyone cheered on but she knew something was up, 'Her eyes are glowing red' Twilight Sparkle with eyes of red glowed intensely and Tirek’s face was full of distaste as he aimed again releasing a full blast which could obliterate mountains. But Twilight continued walking on as a barrier lit up. A shockwave swept everyone off their hooves again at the power held in the blast and even Celestia and Luna toppled over. Everyone was in shock and awe as Twilight would not stop, continuing to walk forward with her horn glowing brighter by the second letting loose and released a searing beam of pure hatred and rage towards Tirek. It pierced right through the beam that Tirek fired and as it touched the metal exoskeleton, it started melting away. Twilight continued to rip of Tirek's metal coating returning him to his most feeble state as he screamed in agony. Terror struck through everyone as they witnessed their Princess kill for the first time. No one could blame her, but Celestia feared something worse was happening. Tirek was ripped to shreds turning from his fiercest form, limbs torn apart and shoved into a blood ball. When Twilight was done, she dropped the ball of once Tirek and turned to the rest of the demons alive. They tried attacking her, whatever way possible but Twilight was killing with no remorse. Magic was tearing them apart and for everyone watching they didn’t know if she would stop. She flew up into the air, her horn glowing red with might lasered down demons until they were nothing but ashes. And as Twilight finished of the final demon the battlefield became silent. Pinkie jumped up and down and leaped towards her floating friend with the biggest hug but was caught with magic. Twilight’s red eyes flashed with anger and threw Pinkie into the nearest wall. Pinkie collided into the crystal wall causing it to fracture, the action surprising everyone as their weapons drawn. Pinkie slid down the wall coughing blood up as she looked towards her friend with terror before passing out causing wide spread panic. 

Celestia got up from her position startling Luna in the process who was watching in confusion at Twilight action. 'I have feared the worse Twilight has lost control over herself, I can’t let her!’ as Celestia tried with all her might and vanished from her spot. Luna was dazed only to find that Celestia was at the Crystal Empire ready to face Twilight on the magic orb. Luna was immediately concerned not knowing if a battle was going to ensure , ‘Oh…no has Twilight lost control…I must help my sister, she won’t do what is necessary,’ but when she stood up, she felt aches striking through her legs from sitting down for an extended period of time. Desperation entered Luna’s mind as she felt that she needed to act, or something worst would happen to her sister, but Star Swirl placed a hoof on her shoulders with Chrysalis in the background opening her eyes to see the situation. 

“You mustn't follow, this is your sister’s fight...” Star Swirl said grimly, looking at the orb. Luna was about to argue but Star Swirl cut her off “If you go there, their will be an imbalance in power for the shield, too much on one side would allow the darkness to come through, even now the barrier is already fracturing. You must stay,”
 
Luna looked back towards the orb and sighed knowing that Star Swirl was right, 'Stay safe Sister!' Luna whispered as she drank some water, wondering what she could do to help. Chrysalis had stood closer to watch the orb and realised that Twilight had turned evil and Celestia was facing off Twilight, she never thought that, even in a millennium and was very concerned at the power Twilight held. She made a silent prayer, thanking Celestia she didn’t decide to kill one of Twilight’s friends to take over Equestria.

Celestia stood on the Crystal Empire’s main street, majestic wings flared as she landed on the ground. Everyone bowed in respect instantly they saw her however Twilight did not. Twilight had turned to face and her and Celestia was already dreaded this and the outcome that could occur if she wasn’t careful. The guards parted ways for Celestia as she walked to Twilight feeling guilty for all this and hoping that she could get through to Twilight before Unicron destroys them all. Celestia felt the strength of Unicron as he gnawed through the barrier. Time was running out.

“Twilight Sparkle, listen to me, I am sorry for your loss but you don’t have to wreak vengeance upon those that have done nothing, you must overcome your guilt,” Celestia spoke, hoping to reawaken Twilight’s true self but to her dismay Twilight had flown up in the sky charging her horn again. Celestia prepared herself, as a giant beam of magic was launched at her, Celestia placed a barrier in the nick of time only for it to start fracturing from the power. Holding 2 barriers was something that was becoming painful for Celestia as she didn’t know she could hold on anymore. The beam of magic lit up like a super nova, blinding everyone in the vicinity. Celestia knew she couldn’t lose, the world was at stake and instead she pushed the barrier upwards into Twilight with anguish cancelling the magic beam letting Celestia some breathing room. She didn’t want to do this, Twilight was like a daughter that she never had, and was already regretting hurting her. But Twilight got back up with no signs of injury and already firing bolts of magic towards her in retaliation. The guards started moving to protect their princess, but Celestia shouted at them to stay back. It was an ordeal that she had to face alone and extended her wings, the grand might within them as she flew towards Twilight dodging the beams and trying to reason with her along the way.

“Twilight, please snap out of this, you are better than this, your friends are here for you, they have been with you from the very beginning of this and you gave up on them. That is not the Twilight I know, we need the Twilight that loved her friends and would never dare hurt them, we need the one that would inspire others in friendship and to always stick together,” Celestia shouted through the battle raging on. Nothing seemed to be sinking into Twilight as she never slowed down but Celestia on the other hoof was not doing as well. She was getting tired, wings dropped slightly and her eyes struggling to stay open. Celestia didn’t know what else to say, as the next beam hit her flatly in the chest causing her to spiral downwards and tumbling across the floor and smashing into a crystal house. Everyone gasped, holding their command of staying put as Twilight landed a few metres away. She started walking towards Celestia who was coughing up blood and was staining her own pristine white coat. Luna had been watching this whole time and was rigid with fear of losing her sister. It came to her what she had to do as she let herself fall into the dream realm. Slipping away her body fell onto the floor while Star Swirl caught her with magic and started barking orders to be prepared for anything. Star Swirl looked up to the looming sky, the blue barrier filled for all the hope in the world of Equestria. It was diminishing and it was up to Luna and Celestia. Celestia opened her eyes the bright light of death laid above her, Twilight’s magic ready for the final kill and it was a sight that no one wanted to see. 

But Celestia wasn’t going down and fired a magic beam hoping it would knock out Twilight. However, she regretted it instantly as her student deflected it, ricocheted right back at her and pierced her in the chest. Everyone was shocked and rushed forward to help, before Celestia could say anything Twilight let out a shockwave knocking back everyone. Celestia wheezed heavily the stupidity and the random luck that her downfall would be from her own doing. ‘I’ve taught her to well’ Celestia smiled when she could see Twilight’s horn once again light up raised high into the air ready to lay the final strike. Time. She had to delay, one last chance. 

*End Song* 

“TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” Celestia boomed in her royal Canterlot voice, something she hadn’t used in a long, long time. Twilight lowered her magic and stepped backwards in confusion. Celestia felt hope running through her veins and she stood up from the rubble of a crystal house even though more blood dripped from her mouth and chest. She immediately hugged Twilight before Twilight could do anything else. There Celestia let her emotions control her knowing she had been approaching this all wrong before. Tears cascaded down Celestia’s face as she held on tightly to the now frozen Twilight with the glimmer of hope inside. Twilight was a rigid stone trying to budge her off but still Celestia held on as if it was the end of the world. The wound was painful but she pressed on knowing that if she didn’t there would be no hope left for everypony.

“I am sorry Twilight, this is all my doing, you have and always been a daughter to me, you have lost a brother, somepony so very important, I understand that. I lost Luna for a millennium and everyday after I sent her to the moon I was always thinking about her day and night, trying to save her from Nightmare Moon with all my power,” Celestia sighed, hoping that she was doing something to reawaken Twilight and looked up from all around her. Battle worn guards, friends and families unified together, fighting to live. She couldn’t believe how they managed to unite all areas of Equestria, and she realised it was all Twilight’s doing. Something that made her proud, in a way that in the lowest of low that Twilight and her friends could accomplish anything. “Twilight if you can hear me, please come back, we need you, I need you...”

Luna traversed the dream realm trying to find Twilight’s dream self, but it was much harder to pinpoint. Something was altering the location messing up Luna's senses. Luna appeared through a blue portal to find herself in a park, and there she saw Twilight herself huddled up on the floor cradling herself, her eyes unfocused and was holding something. 

“Twilight...” Luna asked, when suddenly the once sunny sky of Celestia’s sun darkened blocked by the monstrosity of Unicron, his artificial yellow glow revealing the truth. Luna gasped, at what the light really showed and to her horror her stomach was turned inside out. Demons, she wasn’t afraid of that more the fact they were tearing up ponies specifically her favourite niece Cadance and the baby Flurry Heart. She was stunned and to find that Twilight on the ground was holding a white horn, Shining's horn, matters worsened to see Twilight was being eaten. 

“No...” Luna whispered trying not to draw attention to herself and turned opposite direction. She followed her heart and decided to look elsewhere, ‘This place is dead already, I must find her quickly before her mind deteriorates into nothing' disappearing to wherever Twilight’s last location. Her home, the castle in the Everfree forest, it was strange to look back at it as she hadn’t been there since she transformed causing fears to reignite. But she pressed on, flying through the front doors that was jarred opened almost ripped off the hinges instigating her to be on guard. Inside the library which Luna guessed where Twilight was heard a loud sobbing coming from underneath the far table Luna soared to that spot and peeked underneath to find Twilight but this time, she looked fearful. 

“Twilight are you alright?” Luna asked, not seeing her true face, hoping that she was fine. Twilight Sparkle dashed out from her hiding place and galloped to the exit already into the forest. Luna was quite surprised but found under the table was a book. Specifically, a photo album. And the page it was on surprised her. It was of Nightmare Moon and the day she was separated from her. Something she didn’t understand and realised she was wasting time. Already leaping into action, she smashed through the glass panel and flew over the Everfree Forest, but it all changed when the monstrosity appeared. The clouds parted and the yellow beam of death lit up the world and Luna knew what she had to do. Eradicate the evil within as she readied herself for battle, flying high into the air and started channelling her magic. Luna’s magic absorbed the surroundings, charging her devastating spell and the immense power of Luna grew rapidly. With one final swing Luna released the magic while soaring into the heart of evil as Twilight from down below saw Luna being swallowed.
> Chapter 7b: Sacrifices Unedited
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 7b: Sacrifices 

Celestia felt only pain, the battlefield littered with bodies of the fallen as she saw they were losing the war. Time slowed down for her, as she observed her surroundings, Chrysalis out of action with broken front legs and Star Swirl hopefully knocked out but judging by the bleeding forehead she didn’t know. And then Luna her beloved Sister, who had been fighting Tirek by herself, a battle that she wanted to help so badly was being held by the horn, about to break.

“You have a put up a good fight, Princess of the Night but I shall fulfil Unicron’s demands, and you shall be the one that dies first,” Tirek said autonomously, lifting up the struggling princess.

*Start You must Overcome-Epic Score*

Celestia cried for her sister, where Cerberus had been gnawing on her to get a good hold and about to rip her apart.  Celestia didn’t know what she could do, thoughts flew out her head from the pain, the burning pain of metal teeth dug into her flesh and was blocking her concentration to perform magic and trying to escape she felt powerless. Not in a million years had she feared battles and wars, nor, she would feel so defenceless but as of now, she was beyond terrified. Luna struggled in Tirek’s crushing grip and her strength was being sapped but the scythe glowed very lightly still held with magic. And then Luna struck with full force at Tirek as she tried to lodge the scythe into the other eye but only for Tirek to catch the blade with full of disappointment. Tirek did the unspeakable deed, tossing Luna's body up and down against the floor hearing the audible bones breaking and then threw her body against the castle wall. It fractured which caused a massive crater and Luna slumped down to the floor. Luna didn’t move. 

“NOOOOOOOO!” Celestia yelled trying to get up from her fallen position, Tirek looked towards her and pointed to her as if saying that she was next. Facing Luna, Tirek aimed his cannon ready to vaporise the Princess of the night and something snapped inside Celestia, she was not going to lose her sister again. Celestia felt the world turn upside down as the barrier started automatically collapsing. Its structural integrity was diminished when Luna’s magic stopped working and Unicron’s horns started piercing through. Celestia went supernova, her emotions controlling her actions but still somewhat controlled. Celestia knew if she went absolutely over the edge that she could accidentally wipe Canterlot off the map and could kill everypony that she grew up to love and nurture. She glowed as bright as the sun, her wounds healed, her armour reforged to become stronger and her weapon came flying back to her and Cerberus let go scampered away, blinded by the light. There was no time as Celestia's burning eyes saw the impending shadow. She let loose a scream making a move she had bet her life on literally. With most of her magic reserves depleted she moved it with all her might, despite all the pain, it was one last chance. Tirek and Cerberus adjusted to the light and looked towards Celestia ready to kill her. Celestia didn’t care, she would protect her sister to the death. Celestia launched towards and fired magical beams of pure sunlight but Tirek sidestepped the blast. Celestia whipped out her halberd and smashed it with all her might at the one she hated the most however Cerberus leaped towards her and maw opened, the glint of silver teeth shimmered and stained with her own blood. The swing connected and destroyed Cerberus left face, where a massive dent with nothing left functioned inside. Tirek backhanded Celestia and she spiralled into the same wall as Luna had done but that didn’t faze Celestia, her pain tolerance had skyrocketed with not caring anymore. She was fighting to the death. Cerberus had leapt towards her again over Luna’s lifeless body and succeeded in knocking down the wall with Celestia in it. The rubble exploded and Celestia laid sprawled across the floor before she lifted up her halberd for the monstrosity of the hellhound to snap at her face. She had one chance left, her magic was waning withholding her halberd and the barrier and from earlier on, moving it. Her magic was failing her, but she took aim, Cerberus's saliva splattered on her face and covered her line of sight. She fired anyway leaving it up to chance as the beam pierced Cerberus right head through the eye and into the brain which caused the head to slump on to the floor. Celestia was out of magic, there was just enough to stop Unicron from breaking through at the very moment and enough to hold onto her halberd. She looked down to find that Cerberus had a small gap barely visible if you weren’t on the floor which wasn’t protected by the metal armour. Celestia groaned and pushed Cerberus of herself and onto the floor with her Alicorn strength and her enhanced state, the full underbelly exposed. She ripped out the halberd from Cerberus's mouth and plunged the bloodstained weapon into the belly of the monster. It pierced the heart of the creature and Cerberus thrashed about before Celestia twisted her weapon. Cerberus laid still as the metal coating slithered back to the source. 

Celestia leaned onto the polearm for support, she was beyond exhausted but before she could catch her breath Tirek punched her into the side and ribs broke upon impact. Celestia tumbled across the cracked pavements and out of her castle, the affliction of being hit was like a train running over her. She looked up to the sky, the internal pain making her lose focus of the barrier, the dark sky of Unicron and the dim yellow lamp light shining nearby moved closer as the one side of the barrier creaked, it was only Celestia who held the barrier up against Unicron. However, she could see that something bright was approaching Equestria. A glimmer of hope...but before she could celebrate Tirek leaped high into the air and about to fully impact into her with his 4 legs. She hastily rolled with so much pain that her insides felt like they were on fire. She retrieved her halberd from the body of the beast, the squelch of blood and organs ripped from the cavity, but she felt no regret or compassion. Tirek fired his fusion cannons towards her and destroyed whatever was in the way of him and wanted Celestia erased with it. However, to his agony, Celestia leapt out of the way in the nick of time and shot past the waging war. She screamed with all her might and whirled the halberd into Tirek. Unfazed Tirek deflected the strike, the metal clashed against each other and grabbed the weapon. Celestia to her horror saw her father's weapon snapped in half, broken and tossed aside like it was a toothpick. Her only memory of her father and she was beyond mad. Celestia with all her power and spirit charged at Tirek and surprised him. He toppled over as to avoid the horn of Celestia who was using it as a weapon. She didn’t even care if her horn broke, she was going to end the fight one way or another and it was going to be right here and right now. 

“YOU SHALL NOT TOUCH OR HURT MY SISTER AGAIN!” Celestia screamed as she did the unexpected of quickly zooming into the air and driving her hoofs into the face of Tirek. The force creating a shockwave knocking everypony of their feet.  She continued punching her energy levels diminishing with all her strength being put into the punches. “THIS IS FOR EVERY BROKEN BONE THAT YOU DID TO MY SISTER, EVERYPONY THAT YOU HURT, EVERYPONY YOU KILLED TODAY, EVERYPONY THAT I LOVED!” 

Celestia relentlessly continued to pummel Tirek into the ground. A crater started forming as Tirek tried to get up only to be punched again. Tirek’s systems were compromised as the metal exoskeleton structure was crushed under the constant force and pressures. Celestia immediately picked up her father's broken halberd the blade already cutting into her hoof as she plunged into the weakest point of Tirek. And with one final smash, Celestia reared upwards Tirek’s hand raised to slow and landed full force into the head of Tirek only for the head to explode. The metal encasing squeezed the remains of Tirek’s mind, brain and all. Tirek was no more, the purple blood of energon leaked out and sprayed onto the floor. Celestia stood valiantly on top of the body of Tirek, a sight of holy success but at a price. She could see the demons of Tartarus fleeing as the Tirek was the one controlling them, and she sighed only for her body to shut down on herself as she collapsed onto the floor. 

*End Song*

Her magic had failed, the enhance state from her sun drained from her body. Unicron pierced through the barrier. The massive maw of Unicron parted the clouds as the orange mechanical horn struck the mountain. Chaos erupted, the horn dug through the mountain that Canterlot resided on, the summit destroyed and crushed and to Celestia's horror, it almost touched Canterlot. But to her surprise Unicron could go no further, the barrier at the crystal empire wasn’t broken yet. It had heavy fractures though as the orange horn tried to eat its way through. Celestia hoped with all her heart that her plan would work, and she looked to the sky for hope. Unicron’s giant pincer scared everyone as they looked in horror at the monstrosity and that Canterlot was almost destroyed. Only the tip of the pincer drilled itself into the summit of the mountain, the rest of it, orange and mechanical everypony had no idea what to do. When Luna’s condition sprang into her mind as she struggled to crawl towards her sister her horn light receding into darkness. Celestia’s eyes grew droopy with every inched she pulled herself, she hoped her sister was alright. But swiftly she was lifted with magic into the air surprising her and was expecting a guard only to be none other than her student Twilight Sparkle. Confusion ran through Celestia’s mind only for them to be answered.

“Twilight what are you doing here, aren’t you meant to be at the Crystal Empire?” Celestia wheezed as she was brought next to the body of her beloved sister. The answer blurred when she stared at her sister's broken state. Luna was not in a good form she didn’t seem to be breathing and Celestia couldn’t bear watch her sister die in front of her. Hooked up to a machine of some sought that allowed Luna to breathe but only the slightest. Twilight decided it was best for her to leave and let Celestia have her private time with Luna. Twilight felt devastated that her mentor had to go through all the mental pains of almost losing her sister, she couldn’t even begin to imagine what it felt like losing her brother Shining Armour and realised that she should go back in there to comfort her. But she was interrupted by all her friends where Pinkie had tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention and Twilight could see that her friends had survived the battle with mostly minor wounds. Fluttershy, Rarity and Applejack were gathered by Pinkie who was feeling a lot better from her existential crisis and had been listening to their sides of the story and what happened. Twilight was shocked to find out that Granny Smith had passed away while saving the cutie mark crusaders. So many losses, so many deaths, so many loved ones and all from one crisis. Twilight felt so insignificant now when she came to look at Unicron's face trying to break through the barrier, Cadance, Shining, Sombra and herself were the main ones holding up the remains of the shied but she didn’t know if she could hold it much longer. Meanwhile, Celestia could feel her heart skipping beats, not knowing the outcome of her sister’s fate; she had been so lost for words that she basically got up from her bed and laid her face next to her sister’s body.

“Woona...are you still there, please...talk to me...I could have done so much more to save you but I didn’t and now you're in this condition. All because I wasn't ready for all this,” Celestia croaked, she placed her hoof on Luna’s arm delicately to feel any signs of her sister. She knew it was her fault, only if she reacted in time that maybe the outcome would be different. 

A pony came up from behind her to tell her the news. Good or bad she prayed, to whom she did not know. 

“Princess Celestia, is this a good time to talk to you about the condition of your sister?” the doctor asked, with a slight paleness on his face. “You may want to sit for this.”

“Yes, I must know!” Celestia cried, as she went to her bed, the pain within intensifying before subsiding away, the way the doctor was acting frightened Celestia. “Is she going to live?”

“We don’t know...” the doctor said fumbling with the clipboard and dropped his pen a few times. 

“What do you mean you don’t know,” Celestia said seriously.

“All we found was the bones inside her legs, arms, ribcage, and wings are all broken and her horn has a fracture, her mental state is however unknown. We managed to rescue your sister while you were fighting the mutt of a dog but when we asked her simple questions she didn’t respond straight away, it’s like she’s in a different realm.” The doctor said cautiously, Celestia’s face scrunched up in concern and hope. 

“Thank you, doctor, that is all, you may go now,” Celestia said trying to keep her pained face from showing but her eyes betrayed her. Celestia knew what her sister was doing and it was going to be a while till her sister returned.  

“I’m also here to check up on you...” the doctor said, still nervously holding the pen with magic.

“I said that is all!” Celestia raising her voice slightly, as the doctor left with a hurry. Celestia realised that they were in a navy blue private tent with only her sister and herself inside. She had no more magic to mend her own wounds, the last of it on its way “Maybe I shouldn’t have sent the doctor away”. When suddenly Twilight and the rest of her friends barged in through the tent causing such a commotion that Celestia had to laugh trying to fit in all at once. A small smile and giggle warmed her heart that she accomplished the impossible but then she came to realise at a price. They won the war against the metallic version of Tirek and the demons. She looked through the little square window of the tent to see the sky still dark, the only thing glowing was Unicron’s maw. The yellow light of despair and darkness eating away and illuminating his presence, the power that he held over them...however she could see a faint yellow in the distant of something she had wagered on. Celestia could hear a massive racket of noise outside and realised that her little ponies were in need of guidance. Twilight came towards her with a face of tiredness and hope, extreme use of magic etched into her face and Celestia could see that Twilight wasn’t afraid, not anymore with her dim lit horn.

“Celestia, I don’t know what to do, I came back to Canterlot because I thought you were in need of assistance with the sudden earthquake but the threat has now become so much worse, I don’t think I can hold the barrier up any longer. I need your guidance, I’m losing my concentration...” Twilight pleaded, while Celestia processed the words and thought about it carefully. Taking into consideration all the possibilities with what she did and believed there was only one solution. Celestia could see the pain in Twilight’s purple eyes and that they were shaking, with the idea of losing everything and everypony you ever loved. The elements of harmony were needed. But she still had doubt, even from the very beginning, when they had convened at the meeting, Unicron was the embodiment of chaos a never-ending evil, could the power of friendship truly beat him. Unicron was massive and even if they do unleash the magic on Unicron does it matter if they hit him on the outside or does have to be right at the heart. So many questions but not enough answers. 

To her horror, Celestia was about to answer Twilight when the maw of Unicron rumbled the planet and Twilight lost concentration on the shield. All of Twilight’s friends toppled over each other as the monstrosity’s power demolished through the remaining bits of the barrier and the giant pincers started digging again. Everything shook violently as the mountain was almost completely annihilated, the supports fracturing and almost broken into pieces but Celestia’s hope had arrived. The glaring ball of fire had arrived in the distant and was launched directly at Unicron and Celestia had bet her life on it. The magic involved in moving the sun from its original trajectory was almost too much for her before and nearly destroyed herself doing so. Celestia hobbled out of her bed helping Twilight along the way to witness the incoming impact of the sun and damage it should cause. Unicron’s orange horns continued to dig up the planet but then a massive supernova of light and gasses exploded knocking everything down and rippling the atmosphere. The sun size was about a 2/3 of Unicron’s size and as it crashed, it created a massive plume of smoke and debris. The mountain shook heavily as the pincer that was embedded had pulled out of the mountain with full force and disappeared back into the sky. The sun seemingly destroyed Unicron and pushed him away from Equestrian. Everypony cheered when the light of Unicron faded away into nothing but Celestia knew something was off, she couldn’t feel her sun anymore, the warmth or the aura of it.

“You underestimate me, Celestia!” Unicron thundered as the smoke cleared to reveal the planet still largely intact. The horror of the beast revealed the broken bits of its blue body and showed orange metal underneath only for it to start patching itself up. The blue mechanical parts flew back into place forming a wall to cover the burnt patch that Celestia's sun had done. The parts flew at crazy speeds, the healing factor regenerating multiple parts, and this was part of Unicron's true might and power. Everypony has gasped as the giant figure healed the wound and Celestia looked away in panic and desperation. She didn’t know what to do, it was the end of the planet and she couldn’t stop thinking about what she could have done to save everypony. Unicron, however, wasn’t done showing his capabilities, the worst yet to come.