Prologue: The Element of Loyalty

Prologue:  The Element of Loyalty

1,030 years ago...

Two guards stood still on the other side of the river from the gate leading into Canterlot, the gentle moonlight casting their shadows across the ground.  They scanned the hills for anypony who was hiding or edging towards the gate.  They guarded the capital of Equestria, where the land’s social elite lived.  Nopony approached them, leaving them alone for the night.

There were others lined up around the city’s perimeter, standing atop the high towers and the walls surrounding the inner plaza.  They gazed out far beyond the outside of Canterlot’s borders, guarding the wealthiest strip of land in Equestria.  They kept an eye out for every tree and tuft of grass that moved.  Their bodies were stiff, ready for anything to happen.

Down the pathway leading to the gate, a black-hooded pony with a green horn protruding from below her hood trotted towards the city.  Carrying a golden chest on its back, it lingered alone, and the guards watched it close the distance.  They stood up straighter, and the unicorn stopped before them.  They crossed their wings like lances, barring the way.  The pony lowered its head without a word.

“Halt,” the guards commanded together.  One of them stepped forward.  “Do you have a letter confirming your admittance to the grounds?”

The unicorn didn’t speak.  It raised its head to look up at the guards’ wings and the closed gate in the distance.  The guards grumbled.

“I will ask you again.  Do you have—”

The unicorn tossed its head back, revealing its green fur and the dark golden tiara on top of its head.  The blue star on the crown glistened, and her dark, overlapping straight-cut bangs and grey eyes shone under the moonlight.  Her mane reached down to the sides of her front legs, the horn still jutting through the green strands.  The guards' eyes widened as they stared at her, her majestic appearance and the cuts on her nose and cheeks forcing them back.  Why was she wearing a crown, yet looking at them so plainly?

“Identification will not be needed,” she informed in a sultry feminine voice.  The guards growled, stiffening their wings until the chest on her back opened.  Five amulets of the same shade as her crown hovered out, two of which floated out by the unicorn’s side.  A green aura coated around them, each one facing the guards as their owner’s plain expression shifted into a grin.  “But if you must know, my name is Malice--and I shall be entering.”

The necklaces darted towards the guards and latched on around their necks.  They backed up in horror, rearing back to sound alarm, but the grips on their necks tightened.  Their cries were stifled.  Their eyes flashed green, and their trembling stopped.  They brought their legs together, regaining their composure.

The unicorn’s horn shone a gentle green.  “Now, open the gate!”

“Yes ma’am,” both answered in a monotone voice.  They turned around to the gate and raised their wings to signal for the other guards to lower the bridge.  The guards on the other side acknowledged them with a nod, and the wheels spun to bring it down  The wooden bridge slowly lowered, opening up a view of the city within.

Malice smirked as she walked forward, leaving both of them with her amulets behind.

“Thank you,” she said sarcastically as she passed them by.  “You two are fine gentlecolts indeed.  You help a mare well.”  She trotted onto the bridge as she looked forward.

The guards twisted back around, only falling out of the hypnosis once Malice entered Canterlot’s grounds.  The bridge reeled back up, and once she was gone, the amulets dissipated.  Their consciousness returned, shaking their heads as the effects wore off and their eyes returned to their normal shade.

Malice chuckled at the thought of the confused guards beyond the gate.  A deep laughter emitted from her muzzle, while the two amulets re-materialized beside her.  She lingered further into the city.

‘This is too easy,’ she thought.  ‘They’re all somanipulable.’

She looked back for any guards.  A quick glance around told her there wasn’t anpony watching.  She smirked, then sprung into a gallop down the streets and turned a corner around a store, running from the view of the guards atop the towers. She turned again into an alleyway, whipping her head back and then forward to toss her hood back on. It laid on her mane and horn, covering her in a veil of darkness.

‘I know the Element of Harmony is somewhere here,’ she thought, ‘andI must find it soon.  If I* could just locate it by the end of tonight, I’ll be able to create the final *Element of Distortion.Then I will prove what I said to Princess Velvet.’

Malice closed her eyes as the aura around her horn glowed again, glowing brighter as she came closed-in on her target.  The signal took her through several blocks and empty alleyways, whizzing her way through Canterlot before she reached her destination.  She pushed her hooves into the ground and came to a grinding halt behind a two story house below a window, where the city’s castle towered above the buildings around it. She spent the moment absorbing the image of the household and closing her eyes again, interpreting her horn’s senses.  Her feelings confirmed the Element of Harmony was inside the house.  She was sure.  Her eyelids slowly rose up again as a smirk crept across her face.

“At last, it is near my grasp,” she muttered with a sneer.  “But first…”

Malice moved in closer to the window and stood up on her hind legs to peer in.  In the darkness of the alley, she blended in.  She saw inside the house, scanning the current  room for the amulet.  She searched every visible spot, only seeing couches, portraits, rugs, and shelves.

“…I must plan…how I will get in unnoticed…  Where is it?”

Chattering came from her left side.  Two older unicorns entered the living room, talking about their lives as they trudged towards one of the couches.  Malice shifted her gaze to them, her pupils dilating as she leaned in closer.  She growled at the tall, dark blue-furred male with a short light blue mane.  He could get in the way.  The pony next to him was a plain white-furred mare with longer, multicolored hair.  Malice brought her head in closer, trying to listen to their conversation.

“Do you really think Celestia is old enough to wear the last element, dear?” the stallion asked his wife, hopping onto the couch.  She followed suit.

“She is five years old and has been loyal to us.  Giving it to her will make her a good role model to Luna.  Plus, Velvet has been looking to take her under her wing soon.  She’ll need it.”

“But what if Luna gets jealous?  How will that affect their relationship?  She is only one year younger...”

“It’s for the best, and we were supposed to give it to her soon anyway.”

The couple rested together, quietly leaning against each other.  Their next few words came slower as they sighed, growing exhausted from the years of debating when to hand their daughter the last remaining Element of Harmony.  It was when when Princess Velvet, the ruler of Canterlot, had trusted them with the amulet that their lives changed.  She met both of their daughters, Celestia and Luna, at the Grand Galloping Gala when they were infants.  It soon became the parents’ sworn oath to eventually give them the last remaining Element after she deemed their personalities fit for the role.  She claimed one of them would find use for it in a ‘time of need,’ and that she would like to train them someday.  They would possibly be spellcasters under her rule.

And that was where they were still stuck.  The mother and father cuddled each other more until the stallion spoke up again.

“I guess you’re right,” he mumbled, laying his head against the couch.  “She’s already making good judgements on her own.  It may just be time.”

His wife looked up at him with dark bags and nodded, standing up from the couch and shuffling  towards the shelf at the back of the room.  She grabbed a lone box with her teeth and carried it over to her husband.

From the window, Malice leaned in further and licked her teeth, eying the mare.  She watched the husband’s horn glow as it was set down next to them.  The top opened up, and within it rested a golden amulet sparkling under the light, resembling the shape of the ones Malice carried with her.

Malice’s smirk widened as she watched it hover out.  The chest on her back glowed a green aura, and her eyes changed to the same color.  They never moved as she stared, her jaw hanging lower.  Her body stiffened, and she stifled a laugh.  Her breath smeared against the window as she let out more until her body wobbled.

Malic’es eyes shot wide open, and she stepped back and shook her head.  The hood fell off, exposing her face with strands of hair sticking up and to the sides.  She panted, staring at the ground with her eyes turning back to grey.  The chest’s hue faded.

“This magic...gets the best of me.”  Malice’s breathing slowed, and she grit her teeth.  “I must be careful.  Another Element of Distortion, and I may not retain myself..”

She raised her face up at the window again.  Her eyebrows narrowed, horn glowing as the chest lifted itself off her back and the cloak’s knot untied itself.  Her clothing fell off, revealing scars on her ribs and legs.  She stood still as a breeze blew her mane.

“Now getting in shouldn’t be too hard,” Malice said, the glow in her horn dimming as the cloak and chest dissipated.

The two unicorns sat on the couch inside the house, the box still beside them.  They raised the Element of Loyalty with their magic to see it at a better angle.  Their eyes widened, and their jaws hung.  To them, it was their most beautiful possession.  Its shine was magnificent, and its texture was clean.  They rotated the necklace to view it fully.  They kept staring, ignoring each other until a soft knocking came from the front door.  It drew their attention away from the amulet, dropping it back on the couch.  The husband looked at his wife confusedly as she returned the gesture.  He grumbled and stood up, trotting out of the room.

“I’m coming,” he announced. The stallion stopped at the door and opened it, gathering himself to tell the other horse it was late for anypony to be going around to other people’s houses until he saw the unicorn standing beneath him.  She panted with her tongue hanging out.

It was a green mare.  Her fur was dirty and weathered, her legs were sprawled, scratches covered her body, and her dark mane with its bangs hid her face.  She wore nothing, and looked up at him with bags under her eyes.

“I need…help,” she muttered, edging forward to enter the house.

“I can see that,” he said, stepping in front of her.  “What happened to you?”

“I was…chased after…by somepony.  A robber…  They took all my things…  I don’t know who it was.  I had to…run away…as fast as I could.  So can I please…stay in here…for the night?”

The two stared silently at each other, the suffering unicorn giving him a look with begging eyes.  They eyed each other intently until the stallion sighed, then took a step outside to look both ways.  The mare took the hint, and raised her head up high with large eyes.  She smiled brightly.

“You’re letting me in?!” she exclaimed.  Her eyes widened, and he looked down mercifully.  There was another long pause without words, and then he stepped back behind the door.  He gestured for her to enter.

“Yes,” he confirmed.  “But I’d like to know exactly what else happened to you as well.”

She smiled, and then trudged into the house.  The stallion shut the door behind her, following her as she dragged herself towards the family room.  He hadn’t seen anypony in such misery before.  She slowed down the farther she went in, taking deep, pained breaths and drawing out each step.  As she walked, the older stallion found himself suspicious of her movements.  Her limps looked almost practiced, and she never grunted…  Maybe some unicorns were resistant to pain, or hesitant to show it?

They entered the family room where his wife was levitating the Element.  The green unicorn grinned upon seeing the amulet, but withdrew her smile as soon as the mother noticed her.  The stallion walked up behind the injured pony and spoke to his wife, “She said a robber attacked her.  Not much else, but we might be able to...”

He stopped himself before glaring at Malice.  She looked back at him and smiled weakly.  “...help her for the night.”

The sound of voices calling out for somepony traveled in from outside.  The three perked up their ears up to listen.  The voices disappeared once a moment passed, and the wife gasped and stared at the injured horse.  How grave had the situation become?

“So who is she?” the wife asked.

“She hasn’t told me yet.” He faced their guest. “And I haven’t told her who we are, either.”

Mally maintained her expression, looking at both of them as she shivered while balancing on her legs.  “Well, I’m...Mally.”

“Mally, huh?  And do you have a last name?” the stallion asked.  His face was stern , but he soon continued with a quieter voice.  “Well…you’re tired.  I shouldn’t be too hard…  Anyway, I am Sol, and my wife is Cielo.  We also have two daughters upstairs, but I’m sure they have gone to bed.”

“That’s…fine,” Mally reassured.  Sol still glared at her.

“Anyway, you should get washed up.  We have a tub just down there.”  He pointed to his right, down where there was another door.  She looked at it, then back at him, and nodded again.

“Thanks.  I’ll use it in a second.”

“But before you go anywhere, we just want to know what exactly is going on.”

“Dad?” interrupted a chipper voice from elsewhere.  Mally turned her head to take a look at the source of it.  Just behind her, a unicorn a head smaller than her walked from around a corner next to the base of a set of wooden stairs.  Its appearance caused her jaw to drop.

It was a white unicorn filly with a straight pink sparkling mane.  The hair reached down to the top of the unicorn’s back, and her purple eyes were accentuated by the style.  She bore a resemblance to her mother, but held her head higher.  her inquisitive stare intimidated the green mare.  Mally froze, her green eyes locked on to the filly’s face. Her heart rate picked up as she kept looking into the disquieting gaze.  “What’s going on?  Wait, who’s this?” the filly asked.

“It’s a…guest of ours who will be staying the night.  Her name is Mally,” her father responded.

“Mally?”  The curious unicorn stared harder at Mally, absorbing more of her details. Mally’s baggy eyes, dirtied fur, and gashes.  The filly raised an eyebrow at the damage she saw, and pressed with more questions.  “Is she o…kay?”

“She’ll be fine, Celestia,” her father reassured.  “Anyway, shouldn’t you be in bed?  You do have to help Luna with her first day of school tomorrow.”

“Yeah, but I can’t sleep.  It’s too noisy.”

“But you’re young.  You need-”

Celestia scrunched her eyes and looked at him without moving.

“I.  Can’t.  Sleep.  Dad.  You guys woke me up.”

“Well, we’ll be keeping it quiet…  Ugh, nevermind,” he said, shaking his head.  “We might be talking for a while.”

Mally continued eying Celestia.  Was this the one they would give the Element of Loyalty too?  Did she need to be…disposed of?

Mally watched as the filly, who was only as tall as her legs, passed by the group, trudging next to the desk behind them.  Dark circles rested under her eyes.

‘She is far different from any other unicorn,’ Mally thought.  ‘I can’t put my hoof on it, though, but since her parents are entrusting her with the Element, I’ll need to do something about her…Celestia…’

“But maybe you should at least try to sleep--” her mother said before she was interrupted.  Celestia stopped in her place.

“No Mom, I can’t, and I want to see who this is.”

“But it’s past your bedtime, and-”

Celestia shot her the same glare, and the parents stopped and sighed.  She moved on without paying them any attention.  Behind her, her father emitted a low growl and stomped over to the filly.  He positioned himself directly in front of the her and stared down at her.  She bumped into his leg as she was pacing, and squealed in shock, retreating as she looked up at him.  She fell on her haunches, and her father picked her up with his magic, placing her on his back.  Celestia cried, but the older stallion trotted back up the stairs to her bedroom.

The filly continued screaming, and Mally’s eyes followed the echoes after they left the room.  She stared at the walls up above.  Her silence was only broken as the mother walked up beside her.

“Here, I’ll set up everything for you so you can get washed up,” the mother added, standing next to Mally.  “We have an extra room for you as well.  I’m sure my husband will be perfectly fine with you staying the night after I talk to him.  He’s usually rough around the edges with strangers, but he warms up quickly.”

“Okay…” she muttered, staring into the room Celestia and her father disappeared into.

Cielo left for the bathroom, leaving Malice to stand alone in the family room.  The worn-out unicorn straightened herself, losing her pained appearance, and breathed quietly.

“Yeah,” she mumbled to herself, smirking.  “I’ll wash quickly…and then I’ll go to bed.  I don’t wanna disturb you guys...”

The darkness of the night had settled in.  Malice was given her own bedroom, and she kept the blanket up to her neck as she tossed and turned in the bed.  She grumbled, making comments about her plan of attack.

Voices came from outside.  Malice’s eyes opened, and she sat straight up, throwing the covers off and perking her ears up to listen to the sounds from the streets.  She twisted around to glance outside the through the bedroom’s window, checking to see if there were guards patrolling the city.

‘They must really be feeling cautious at this point,’ she thought, watching as two of them were walking in front of her.  They quickly turned her way, and she spun from the window.  She fell back into her bed as she laid quietly before they left.  Her cloak and golden chest materialized, surrounding her body in darkness before she stood back up.  ‘But it doesn’t matter.  I’m this close, and I’ll be gone without a trace.’

A minute passed before she pushed herself off the bed to stand up.  Her magic pulled the chest over towards her and balanced it on her back as the hood fell over her head.  She trotted over to the bedroom door.  She eased it open and slipped out of the bedroom. The rooms beyond were illuminated by the moonlight pouring through the windows.  The house was dim, until the tip of her horn lit up.  It glowed, exposing everything on the ground around her.  The family room remained unchanged, and she moved towards the bookshelf where she had seen the Element placed.

The spot was empty.  She recalled Cielo putting it back there, but now there was only an empty shelf.  Malice grumbled to herself, careful to keep her voice down.  She cursed as she muttered how much more difficult her night would now be.

]i]‘Wait, didn’t they say they would give it to their daughter…Celestia, was it?’

Malice looked around the bookshelves and into another room, with stairs leading up to a second floor.  Malice recalled first seeing the white unicorn there and looked up to see a small hallway.  She took the first step up, her horn lighting the path.

‘Yes, it was Celestia,’ Malice confirmed as she slowly tip-toed up the stairs, carefully placing each hoof to keep the noise level down.  A few quiet creaks seeped past.  ‘That…pesky little child.  Urgh...  She’s just irritating.  But that’s how kids are, I suppose.’**

She reached the top and walked down the hallway, turning a corner slowly as she examined each wall and piece of furniture her horn revealed.  There was another couch, and a wooden door.  Malice stopped in her tracks and looked at the door closely.  Was this Celestia’s room?

“And here we are,” she said quietly, bringing her head low as her eyes narrowed.  “The one who they will give the Element of Loyalty to.  Such foolish parents.”

Malice used her magic to twist the doorknob, carefully letting the wooden frame swing open with a hushed squeak.  She silently edged forward into the bedroom while keeping her head low.

“But there was no way they could have suspected this.  Oh, how I feel sorry for them...”

Her horn lit up the area around her.  She dimmed her light as she entered.  Nothing moved or stirred.  No one rustled in their beds or snored.  She scanned the room, squinting her eyes to distinguish each object she saw.  With the faint tip of her horn, she was lost in the room.  All there was to see was its size.

And it was huge.  Bookshelves were lined up on one end while portraits were on the other, each one depicting a famous pony or unicorn from years past.  She was in the house of a high-class family.

‘Yet with all that money, you’d think that would mean they’re smart and would catch on to me.’

When she looked below the pictures, she spotted the body of a pony lying in a bed.  Malice gasped, dimming her light again and stepping back.  She took a few more steps back until she noticed there was no response.  She sighed, easing herself as she looked down at the body.

‘That…could have been close.’

She lit up her horn again to see who it was.  There in the bed laid a filly with the same fur as the father she just met, with dark blue hair that only left her face exposed.  She was asleep, resting on her side to face Malice.  The green unicorn dimmed her horn again once she saw the closed eyes.

‘There is no shortage of my kind here.  But where is the Element?’

Ignoring the sleeping unicorn, she turned away and continued looking around the room.  There were books littered in various places, some of which she stumbled over and made her to fight to regain her balance.  Others, she spotted ahead of time and sidestepped around them as she kept searching.

“Ahhhhhh,” somepony yawned.  Malice instantly turned towards the source of the voice behind her and reared her head to aim her horn.  Her muscles tensed and her eyes shot back and forth across the dark room.  But again, no other sound came.

‘Wait…  That one was from a different direction than the other one.  Perhaps…’

Lowering herself with knees bent, Malice crept over towards the direction of the sound.  She moved several books aside, and she winced whenever when they would brush against the floor and stir up dust.  The last thing she wanted was for anypony to wake up in the middle of her search.

She stopped after seeing a wooden bed’s legs.  Malice looked up to find the source of the noise sleeping in a bed.  She stood up to her full height and looked down, and there slept the white unicorn she had met earlier, not making a sound as she faced Malice...

With the Element of Loyalty on the table beside her.

Malice grinned.  Her teeth were exposed, and she stifled a heinous laugh, looking with narrowed eyes down at the amulet lying in front of her.  She levitated it with her horn and brought it to her face.

“Finally,” she muttered, “It is in my possession...”

“I’m awake, Dummy.”

Malice jumped back and looked down again at Celestia, the mare’s jaw dropping as she saw the filly twisting around in the blankets.  She screeched and fell back on her haunches.  The Element of Loyalty dropped, and her horn’s light went out.  She could hear another unicorn mixing around in their bed, yawning just as loudly.

“What’s…going on?” asked another, lighter voice.  Malice could hear rustling coming from beyond the bedroom, and she froze.  She knew how much quicker she was going to have to be now.

‘Nevermind killing this young filly.  I just need to take this Element and leave NOW!’

“Somepony’s in here, Luna,” said Celestia as the rustling from the other bed grew louder.

“Who?”

“I don’t know, but-- Hey!  My necklace isn’t here!”

Malice’s hood was thrown back on, the chest rebalanced itself, and the Element of Loyalty hovered back in front of her.  She searched around quickly for an exit.  Footsteps from nearby within the house grew louder, and there was no window she could see for her to escape through.  She looked towards the bedroom door and took a step towards it until the trotting beyond it came closer.

‘I’ll just have to rely on my horn’s light to find me something in here really quick then.  Something in this room.  This better work…’

Seconds after she turned it on again, she was greeted by a glaring white filly who stood up on her bed.

“Hey!  That’s mine,” Celestia declared.  She growled at Malice, despite their size difference.  The filly saw the element hovering beside her and reared back to lunge.  “Give it back!”

Malice kept searching.  She found a window between a bookshelf and a hung-up portrait, but as she lifted a hoof towards it, she felt a blow connect with her side, and the weight of a smaller body toppled her over.  She was pinned to the ground.

“Hey!  I’m talking to you,” Celestia shouted.  “Luna, help me!”

“What’s happening?!” Luna asked as she backed up against the wall.

“A bad guy’s in here!”

Celestia was thrown off by Malice’s legs.  The small body left the unicorn, and Malice leapt right back up, growling at the filly lying on the ground recovering.

“You would dare attack me?” Malice asked, lowering her head as she gritted her teeth.  Her pupils turned green, and the glow from the chest added a tint to the light from her horn.  “You little piece of-”

“What’s going on in there?!” cried an older male’s voice as Sol and Cielo ran in.  Malice’s eyes and mouth widened, her ears perked up, and she spun her head.  The parents lit up the room with their horns, exposing the hooded unicorn.  The light revealed Malice’s green fur, and they stared in awe at her black coat and golden glowing chest balancing perfectly on her back.  Her eyes also made them step back, and Sol and Cielo looked down, both screaming when they saw Celestia lying in front of her.  They immediately kneeled down, horns jutting out, and charged for her.

“Oh god,” Malice moaned out as they approached.  “You two really are just as stupid as I thought.”

She brought her own horn down, electricity surging from it before deploying a green shield in front of her.  The parents galloped straight into the spell, and once they connected, their horns plunged through the barrier.  They were stuck, even as they pushed harder.

The electricity traveled down along the shield and into their horns, surging through their bodies.  The currents rode through their fur, and Sol and Cielo cried in pain.  Their bodies jolted, pushing their hooves into the ground to attempt to step back. They kept protesting, and Malice grit her teeth as she electrified the shield further.  Sparks lit up the entire room.  The tint in her eyes brightened, and the electricity wrapped around both of the parents’ bodies.  Their movements were disabled. She watched on and gave low chuckles until their screams faded, then breathed a deep breath as she retreated the shield.

The spell disappeared, and the parents’ horns were freed.  Their bodies remained still before blowing back against the wall in the hallway, leaving large cracks against it.  The impact knocked both of them out-cold.  Their bodies slid down into a heap and laid motionlessly as the sparks lit up around their bodies, their eyes wide open.

Luna watched their parents as they collapsed. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she backed up against a wall, while Celestia listened to the electrocution and pounding.  The injured filly looked up while recovering from her daze to see both of her parents on the floor.  Her own eyes remained still.  The two unicorns who were Gods to her, on the floor.  The two unicorns who saved her from every nightmare, on the floor.  The two unicorns who told her that everything would be okay, on the floor.  The two unicorns who could not possibly die, no matter what.  They were eternal, on the floor.

The glow from their mom’s and dad’s horns faded, and Malice’s dimmed as she turned to face Celestia.  “And now for you,” she yelled, the aura from the chest rising up.

“Mom…  Dad…” Celestia muttered as she stared at the immobile bodies of her parents.  A tear fell from her eye.  Her body shook, and she gradually stood up, returning the green unicorn’s stare.  “Why…  WHY?!”

“Save it!”  Malice stomped to in front of the filly, towering over her.  “I’ll have my way with you *yet…*”

The box on her back opened up, revealing the dark amulets inside.  Celestia watched as a tiara materialized on top of Malice’s head.  The display of magic dropped the filly’s jaw, watching as the Elements of Distortion hovered beside Malice.  She lost her breath, and just like Luna, backed away towards a wall.

The amulets rose up and floated towards her.  Two of them followed her as far back as she went, closing in on her face.  She rubbed up against a wall, and the necklaces both unlatched to wrap around her.  The defenseless filly screamed in fear and shut her eyes, waiting for her death.

But then they stopped moving.

The first was opened to latch itself on.  Malice screamed along with Celestia, but in pain instead of fear.

Malice shook her leg several times.  She looked behind herself to see a dark filly biting into it with blood trekking down.  Luna was shaking in fear, but her eyes narrowed.

“Leave Mommy, Daddy, and Sister alone,” she mumbled out with fur between her teeth.  Malice snarled at the filly and shook her leg faster to throw her off.  Luna clamped down deeper as her body flailed.  She penetrated in until her nose pressed against the green fur, and Malice screamed even louder.

“Urgh…  Why you little PEST!”

Malice flung one of the amulets she sent to Celestia towards Luna, and the dark Element clasped around the filly’s belly.  Luna squealed, and was forced to release her grip as the Element of Distortion yanked her away, hovering her in the air.  A black aura extended over Luna’s body, immobilizing her.  Malice smirked as she watched the filly who couldn’t make a sound.

“You two are admirable, I will give you that,” Malice complimented as the amulet holding Luna descended to the ground, releasing her.  The filly was coated in a black mist.  “And you’ve both made me change my plans.  I was going to leave peacefully, but neither of you were okay with that.  Now both of you will pay-”

The sound of a door bursting open resounded throughout the house, stealing her attention to look through the doorway.

“The cavalry is here,” she commented snarkily.  “Seems they’ve deemed me a large enough threat to have brought that much force.”  She looked back at the incapacitated fillies with disdain, growling at them as one reached a hoof out while the other laid motionless.  “I must go now.  Farewell, both of you.”

The Elements of Distortion left Celestia and Luna, hovering and settling back into the box.  Luna was coated in a veil of darkness that was slowly fading away.  Her eyes remained shut, and her chest heaved as the dark aura dissipated, leaving her sister as the only one who watched Malice preparing her escape.

Celestia saw the Element of Loyalty as it floated away with her.  The filly grit her teeth and threw herself back up on all-fours before dashing for the amulet.  She leapt and grabbed it with her mouth before it could be placed into the box.  Missing Malice herself by inches, she crashed into a pile of books on the other side of the room.  Mom and Dad, the parents who had died protecting her, had given it to her.  It was hers.  She would keep it, no matter what.

Malice’s jaw dropped when she caught wind of the sudden maneuver, and looked back to see Celestia laying in the stack.  The hoofsteps were turning into thuds.

“Why you little…” Malice cursed.  She spun and reared back to get ready for a dash through the window to escape.  There was no more time.  She would have to leave without the Element of Loyalty.  Before she left, however, she shot the filly holding it on the ground a glare.  A glare that would make her stay still with fixated eyes.  “Don’t think that you and I won’t ever meet again, Celestia.  I will be back one day for that amulet.  And you will pay!”

Malice jumped through the window, breaking the glass, and sent the shattered pieces crashing to the ground below.  Her hooves struck the pavement beneath before she sprinted down the city’s streets.  Her coat hid her from everypony’s sight.  She sprinted into the distance until the house was a fading image behind her.  She was back in the shadows, looking behind herself to see that no pony followed.  Malice breathed a sigh of relief, then faced forward again.  The green in her eyes and the aura surrounding the box seeped away, her expression returning to its blank state.

“You’re a lucky pony, Celestia,” Malice muttered.  “Real lucky.”  She galloped away far into the city until she was nowhere to be seen.

In the house, Celestia and Luna laid in the room quietly.  A group of stallions in gold armor entered the bedroom where the fight had broken out and gasped at what they saw. They lit the candles, spotting the two fillies.  Only one of them was conscious and able to talk, clutching tightly to her Element of Harmony.  The other was sprawled a few feet away from her.  However, the sight of their parents made them pause and shake their heads.

The leader of the unit, wearing grey armor and pushing through to the front, ordered for one of the guards to go out and call for medical assistance as soon as he saw the two bodies on the ground.  The appointed guard left, flying out through the broken window. The leader looked out into the distance behind him after the he flew away to search for the assailant.  He saw no one suspicious, and hoping to find out more, he turned to the white unicorn lying on the ground.  She laid against the books with her hooves around her amulet.  She trembled as she returned his stare with her purple, soggy eyes.

The sight of the Element made him drop his jaw, and he trotted slowly over to her.  He stared more intently at Celestia’s face, who hid behind her amulet the closer he came.

“I know this family,” the leader muttered.  He narrowed his eyes, and turned to look at a couple of the stallions standing at the bookshelf to his side.  “Alright, you two.  I want both of you to fly these two fillies to Princess Velvet--do not worry about any protests, because she will more than welcome them.  She knows them personally.  The rest of you, we will fly out and rally up all of our guards to begin a citywide search.  The intruder has successfully attacked and was after the last Element of Harmony, so we are on red alert status!  Move out!”

Each of them nodded, and Celestia and Luna were scooped up by the pegasi before they were flown out the window and towards the castle.  They traveled high above the city’s neighborhoods, with Celestia, in the clutches of one guard, shifting her eyes from looking at her carrier to the moon that shone in the distance.  She held on to her Element tightly.  The sensation of the amulet between her forelegs brought out a thought that came out through her voice.  It was a thought that was loud amidst her crying, one that even made the guards crunch faces as they looked towards the castle beyond them.  Her words stuck with them for the rest of the night.  They never said another word as long as she was with them, and the phrase was one that would never leave their minds, no matter how hard they tried to push it away.

“Mommy…Daddy…”