Attack of the Equine Empire

The sun hit Applejack's eyes as it began to poke through her window. Time to get up, she thought. It was easy for Applejack to get out of bed that early in the morning, she was used to it. Often she would get up even earlier. Her friends, however, were a different story. When she walked across the hall into Dash's room she wasn't surprised that Rainbow was in her bed, snoring loudly. "C'mon sugarcube. Get up," she said as she opened the curtains blocking out the sun.

"It's too early," Dash half said and half moaned as she turned away from the light.

"C'mon, Twilight's startin' her diplomacy thing soon." Applejack stood over Dash and lightly shook her with her hoof.

"We don't even have to be there. For the love of Celestia, let me sleep."

"If Twilight has to get up this early then we might as well too."

"That's stupid," Rainbow said. She swatted away Applejack's hoof and curled up even more in her sheets.

"Okay then, you got me. Ah just enjoy watchin' you suffer." Rainbow let out another moan. She rolled out of bed and landed on the floor with a plop. Applejack smiled as she left the room. Maybe she did enjoy it, at least a little. The others were able to get up on their own. While waiting in the hall for the others, Rarity told Applejack that at first she couldn't sleep at all last night, until she talked to some guard or something. Then she said she had one of the best nights of sleep in a long time. Applejack wnet to inspect Twilight, who was still in her room by the time even Rainbow was up and ready. She found Twilight was pacing her room in her new royal dress, making Applejack wonder if she had been up even earlier than her.

After a few minutes they were all up and ready to go. The plan was that while Twilight and Spike were at the meeting with Cornaria, the rest of the girls would be exploring the city. "I simply can't wait to go to some of the shops here," Rarity said as they strode down the massive halls.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay here with Twilight?" Rainbow asked. "Windswept will probably be at the meeting."

"So?"

"So? You've only been drooling over him since we got here," Rainbow said as she chuckled. Rarity's cheeks turned a deep red.

"I have not," she proclaimed. She had. It was obvious from the moment they got off the train. Applejack didn't get it. Sure the pony was more handsome than the usual stallion, but that was about it. She didn't really see much else in him. She was about to say as much, if Spike hadn't said it first.

"He's not so great," he said, pushing his way in between Rainbow and Rarity. "And he's kind of annoying too. Remember how he never seemed to stop talking yesterday? He just blathered on and on the whole time."

"Yes... he had so much to say about everything in the city. He must really love this place," Rarity said as she sighed.

"I bet he hasn't even been to most of those places."

"Maybe," Rarity said, sighing even more.

"Ah don't think you're gettin' anywhere, Spike," Applejack whispered when she leaned in close to him. Speaking of obvious, Spike was upset by Rarity's interest in Windswept, just like with all the other stallions she ever showed interest in. Applejack felt a bit sad at times for the poor little guy. One could call it pity, but Applejack never saw it that way. She just thought it was kind of sad. "Well," she started, "Ah think he's-"

Applejack was interrupted when somepony slammed into her and she found herself on the ground. When she looked up, she saw that a hole had opened in the wall next to them and a pony came tumbling out. "Princess!" the pony shouted from the floor. Applejack shoved him off her, and as he staggered to his hooves she finally recognized him as Flickering Flame, the pony they had met the day before. "You're not safe. Come with me. Hurry. We don't have much time," Flick said. Instead of soot he was covered in dust, he was sweating and out of breath, and his eyes darted around the hall as he waited for a response.

"Umm...Flick?" Twilight asked. She backed up a little as Rainbow helped Applejack up off the floor.

"I said we don't have much time, but we can't talk here. Now get in the wall." He ushered towards the hole he had emerged from. Applejack could see cobwebs and the faint light of a torch coming from inside it.

"Flick, what's going on?" Twilight asked, taking another step back.

"I'll explain when you're in the wall," he said again. He looked over each shoulder and then stared at the girls with his eyes open as big as they could have possibly opened.

"I'm not getting in the wall until you explain yourself." She put her hoof down, showing she wasn't going anywhere.

"Wait," Pinkie said. They all looked at the pink pony. She sniffed the air intently. "What is that super fantastically awesome smell?"

"What?" Flick asked after doing a double take. "That's probably just the kitchens making breakfast." She darted off at once to find the source of the sweet smell. Applejack sniffed as well. It smelled like freshly baked pastries to her. "No you stupid mare!" Flick yelled, jumping up and down in anger "Why is nopony listening to me?!"

"I'll go get her," said Rarity. She trotted off after their pink friend, and that only made Flick inaudibly exclaim something through tightly clenched teeth.

"Flick," Twilight said sternly, "talk to me. Tell me what's going on."

"You're all in danger," he said. He grabbed Twilight by the shoulders and leaned in close to her face. "Something's going to happen. I'm not sure what. We can't talk here. Anypony could walk down this hall at any time. We have to go now."

"Hey Twi, I'm going to to go tell Cornaria that you're going to be a little late," Spike said. He slowly backed up from Flick and departed down the hall. Fluttershy followed suit, and Applejack decided it was the best thing to do.

"Ah'm goin' too," she told them. "Whatever Flick's talkin' about, Cornaria should probably hear about it. Ah'll see y'all in a bit."

"No! Why aren't you listening to me. I'm trying to help you. Get back here and get in the wall, damn it!" It wasn't long before his yells had faded. Applejack figured that he either gave up or kept his yelling quiet so not many ponies would hear him. She only hoped that Twilight and Rainbow wouldn't be far behind her. His warnings gave her an odd feeling at the pit of her stomach, but the way he was acting made her unsure of what was really going on.

They entered the throne room and found Cornaria talking with Windswept. They also found a very large number of guards. During the meeting the throne room would be closed to the court, and the room looked full near to bursting with ponies and uniform. Danger or no, the sheer site of them made Applejack feel at ease. "Umm, Princess?" she asked.

"What? What is it?" Cornaria inquired. Windswept counted the ponies and for a split-second, what seemed like a nervous look danced across his eyes.

"Where is Princess Sparkle?" he asked.

"That's what Ah wanted to talk to you about. On our way here Flick stopped us and was yammerin' on about how we're in danger or somethin'. We didn't really take 'im seriously, him bein' weird and all. Still, we thought we should at least ell you about it."

"That old fool," Windswept said. "The Palace is the safest place in all of Bastion." A bead of sweat trickled down the side of his face.

"Uhh...Windswept. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. It's just that...where exactly is Twilight right now?"

"She and Rainbow are probably down the hallway, but they should've been here by now. They're takin' a lot longer than Ah thought they would." She looked back down the hallway and saw tow guards closing the throne room doors.

"I'll go get them," he said as he started walking towards the door.

"No need Windswept," Cornaria said as she looked out the window and to the sun so she could get a bearing on the time. "They'll be here soon. The meeting's supposed to start in less than a minute, but it won't hurt to delay it." Windswept sighed after he looked outside.

"I had forgotten the time your majesty," he said. His eyes remained fixed to the ground, as if he refused to lift them to meet her face. "I'm sorry."

"There's no need to be sor-" A bright light filled the room. It blinded Applejack. She staggered to the floor as she rubbed her eyes. She heard a bang far above her head, guards shouted things to each other, noises and movement all around her, then clangs of medal and something tearing. Her sight returned to her.

That looks like...blood, she thought. Why is there blood on the floor?

"Pinkie! Where are you?" Rarity called out when she entered the kitchens. They were very busy preparing the morning's breakfast. Cooks and servants rushed about between the stoves, sinks, and each other, frantically preparing breakfast for the Palace residents. The girls were hoping to have eaten some of it before they headed out. It did smell fantastic, so Rarity wasn't really surprised that Pinkie ran down there for some early treats. She could have sworn she saw Pinkie run through the kitchen, but all she saw were cooks hard at work.

"Hey, Miss. You're not supposed to be here," one of the cooks said. The cook was very tall with a plain face and a square jaw. Rarity thought he looked more like a soldier than a chef. He was holding a whisk that he used to point at her and at the kitchen's exit.

"Oh, I do apologize," she said, "but my friend came through here and I'm trying to find her."

"Is she the pink one with a lot of energy?"

"Yes, have you seen her?"

"She ran right through here and out the door over there. It leads outside." He point at the door on the far end of the kitchen.

I thought she came here for the pastries. "Thank you," she said. A bang sounded overhead. The castle shook momentarily. A bit of dust from the ceiling fell into a pot of something on a stove, making the cook that was stirring it grimace and curse. A bright light emanated from the door that led outside for a brief instant.

"What the hell was that?" one of the serving mares asked.

"I don't know," the large cook said. Rarity walked outside to see what it was when she heard shouting from behind her.  She turned and saw two guards talking to the cook who gave her directions.

"What's going on?" the cook asked. When talking to the guards the cook easily stood taller than the two.

"Something's happened. We need to get all of you to safety," one of them said. The cook looked at them suspiciously.

"You two are new right?" he asked. "Some of the ones Windswept hired a few days ago?"

"That's not important right now. Follow us inside the palace where you'll be-"

"I think it's important," he said, stepping closer to the guards. "I'm not moving an inch until you tell me what's going on." The guards looked at each other and nodded. The blunt end of one of the guard's spear flew up into the cook's face. He fell and the others gasped at the sight of it. He looked up to the guards, blood beginning to flow from where the weapon made contact, his face contorted with anger.

"Now shut up and get inside. Come on, move!" one of them yelled. They herded the cooks and servants inside, prodding them with the sharp ends of their spears. Then they started to look around for any others. Rarity gasped when she saw the chef get struck. What in the name of Celestia is going on? she wondered. She slowly backed away to avoid the gaze of the guards, until she backed into somepony. She almost screamed before realizing it was Pinkie.

"Pinkie. What are you doing? And why do you smell so awful?"

"I came down here to have a snack when my Pinkie sense went completely cuckoo. It happened right before that thing showed up." She pointed her hoof to the sky, where a gigantic dark blue bubble had engulfed it completely. "I think it's covering the whole city. I guess bad guys aren't very creative. So I hid down in this hole to the sewers but then I remembered that all my friends were still here so I came back and here I am now let's go get everypony else."

The guards finally spotted them. "Hey you two!" one of them shouted. Rarity didn't have time to think.

"Pinkie, I don't think we have any time fo-"

"Okey dokey. Come on." She jumped down the hole in the ground. Rarity looked at it, then to the guards running towards her, then back to the hole. It took a second of consideration before she dove in after her pink friend. She tried to use her magic to help her float, or protect her from what she was about to land in, or do something, but nothing seemed to work. She landed with a splash.

"Shhh...do you hear that?" Flick said in a hushed voice. Twilight leaned in closer to the wall. She could hear muffled sounds through the old stone.

"It sounds like..." Twilight wasn't completely sure.

"Fighting," Flick said. Twilight had only really been in a fight once, against the changelings. The noises on the other side of the wall sounded different. Visceral.

"But who's fighting who?" Rainbow asked.

"By the sounds of the voices," he said as he also leaned in close to the bricks, "I'd say the guards who are still loyal to the Princess and the ones who started this mess. The fools should just give up. Maybe they'd live."

"But their job is to protect the Princess."

"Well their job right now means going up against at least a few hundred ponies who have a different view of the situation. I can only hope some of them survive this." Twilight looked down when she thought about it. Then a thought hit her.

"The girls are still out there," she yelled. "And Spike too. We have to do something." Flick shushed her and put his ear against the wall.

"That's not a very good idea, Princess," he said. When there was no sign that they had been discovered he backed up once more. There wasn't much room  for any of them move around within the walls. The tunnels were small and cramped as they twisted throughout the Palace.

"I'm not going to just stand by while they're killed," Twilight said once more, softer yet without losing any sternness.

"Twilight, this isn't some random attack on the Palace. This was a plot. Planned and executed very carefully." A cry penetrated the walls, a loud shriek of a pony meeting his end. "Maybe not executed too carefully, but still. I don't think they'll kill any of the unarmed ponies, staff or guests."

"We don't know that," she continued to protest. She tried to go back the way they came before Flick in front of her, blocking her path.

"Then we hope for the best," he said. "If you haven't noticed already this tunnel is currently lit by torchlight. All powerful, magic wielding alicorn Princess, please grace us with a demonstration of a simple illumination spell." Twilight frowned and attempted the relatively simple spell. She closed her eyes and focused her mind. She imagined the tunnels lit up as clear as day. After a few seconds of nothing happening she tried again. She clenched her teeth, forced her eyelids as close together as physically possible, and strained at the thought of light as she felt the veins on her forehead bulge. Her horn didn't even spark.

"What the..." she said, opening her eyes to a still dimly lit tunnel.

"Just as I theorized," Flick said. "That bang we heard earlier was an anti-magic bubble over the palace. I suspected as much when my horn became incredibly useless. The bubble makes it so that only the unicorn who created it can cast spells while within it. On the outside, the bubble no-doubt looks like a normal shield spell, and ponies will assume that Cornaria is just enacting what she views as necessary precautions. But this isn't just some simple force-field that keeps things out or in. This is something that reaches out and fundamentally changes each pony within it. Very powerful magic. I'd be astounded, if it wasn't utterly terrifying. The only thing that scares me more, though, is the pony who made the damn thing, whoever he or she is. The important thing is that right now you're powerless, and going out there won't do much good."

Twilight felt something similar to the strange feelings at the pit of her stomach from earlier, only worse. She felt like she was going to start hyperventilating. No, she thought to herself, I'm not going to do that. I am one of the Elements of Harmony, and a Princess of Equestria. This isn't even the first time I've lost my magic. It didn't stop me before, and it won't stop me now But if she really thought that, then why was there a rock in her stomach so big that every step she took made her want to throw up. "Come on," Flick said as they walked down the tunnels, "we have to get out of here. I use these tunnels to get around faster, and to avoid talking to ponies I don't like, but mostly to get around faster. It won't take long to get away."

"I'm still confused about what's going on," Rainbow said as she trailed behind the other two. The top was too low for her to hover so she walked with the others.

"It would seem that a hostile takeover of the Palace has just been enacted. A coup against the Princess that I believe was orchestrated by our good friends the Equine Empire. A few days ago, Cornaria confided in me about a dream she had. She said it told her that the Equine Empire was moving in to attack her, hence the sudden influx of guards. Despite the odd relation between her dreams and the world around us, I dismissed it all as her usual paranoia. This morning, however, I was on my way to the meeting when I heard a noise through the walls. You see, these tunnels have been around for as long as the Palace, and they were made for the sole purpose of eavesdropping. Two guards were talking to each other. The one reminded the other of the time the plan would be executed, and to make sure that both Princesses were captured. I realized that Cornaria's dream had come to fruition, and acted as quickly as I could."

"Their plan didn't go as perfectly as they had hoped," Twilight said solemnly. She would have felt better about foiling their plans if the thought of her friends taking her place hadn't burrowed itself into the back of her mind.

"What do you think they want?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Along with no doubt many other reasons, a small group of soldiers taking over the capital is a lot less costly than a full on invasion of the country, I think. They've no doubt wanted to take over Mustangia for a long time now, and they just might have done it today. But that's not all they're after, I'm afraid."

A growl type noise could be heard behind Twilight. Since Rainbow Dash walked at the back of the line the other two ponies hadn't even noticed that she shared the same frustration as Twilight, and was even worse at hiding it. If Rainbow clenched her teeth anymore she would've broken her jaw. "All of our friends are in danger," she finally shouted, "and not only can't we do anything, but we're down-right refusing to even try."

Flick shushed her without even slowing his pace. "It's not about refusing to take action, Ms. Dash," he said. "It's about choosing the smarter option. Living to fight another day. And they're not my friends, they're yours."

Rainbow stopped dead in her tracks. "Excuse me?"

Flick stopped as well, and turned to face her. Twilight moved aside for a moment. "Look," he said, moving in close to Rainbow's face. "I have my reasons for helping the both of you. I'm not doing this for your friends. I'm not doing this for Cornaria. I'm not doing this for my city. Not even for my country. I'm doing this for the sake of the whole world."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, stepping between the two.

"I mean that an alicorn of your skill may be the only hope we have right now. There was something else they mentioned. When I heard the ponies talking earlier, talking about what they were going to do, one of them was giving commands. He mentioned how important the task at hoof was, and to not forget that what they wanted to achieve today was not all that they were there for. The Equine Empire isn't just here to take over. They're after something else entirely. By the way the ponies talked, I think I may know what it is."