Chapters Saints Row: Equestrian Intervention
Celestia woke up drenched in a cold sweat and was panting heavily for the third time this week, even though it was the middle of summer and the nights were warm. The same haunting dream about an alien invasion throwing a world into utter chaos replayed in her mind over and over as if it was stuck on an endless loop.
She knew by now that trying to go back to sleep was a pointless endeavor as her mind wouldn’t let go of the recurring nightmare. She groaned, pulling the now damp covers off her body and slowly crawled out of bed. She paused to stretch her wings before making her over to balcony to some fresh air and collect her thoughts.
Why can't I get this dream out of my head?" She thought, as she pushed the door to the balcony open. The last time she had seen such chaos was when she defeated Discord, which had been nearly a millennia ago. Silently watching her sister's moon hang high in the sky, Celestia breathed in deeply before closing her eyes and replaying the dream in her head.
It always started out the same way. The alien mother ship would arrive in a flash outside the blue planet before scores of smaller ships flew out, making their way down to the planet to begin their assault. Mass chaos erupted in the streets as the inhabitants of this world watched the invading ships open fire, destroying their homes and business’ alike in one fell swoop.
It wasn’t until the ships arrived at a large, white structure that the assault ceased momentarily as the aliens teleported from their ships and down atop of the structure before making their way inside. Once the initial wave entered, the largest of the aliens teleported into a well decorated room where dozens of beings were gathered. He addresses the crowd as ‘humans’ and tells them to rejoice that the best and brightest have been selected to join the Zin Empire.
A human female quickly interrupts him, ‘I am smarter than all these people.’ she proudly states.
‘Delightful’ he replies as he teleports her way in a beam of red light.
Celestia shuddered at the thought that these invaders would even think about doing such a horrible thing to these so called humans and that one would willing give herself up so easily. She let out a small sigh and continued.
From the side of the towering alien, a female with a brown mane and red eyes rushed towards him shouting only to be tackled to the ground by fellow humans that referred to her as the president just as another female runs past, jumping over them, trying to strike the invader only to be caught mid jump by his hand clamping around her neck as he turns his head to her.
‘I do love your spirit, my dear.’ He evilly grins before introducing himself. ‘I’m Zinyak. A pleasure to meet you.’ He pauses for a moment as he stares into her eyes as she struggles to free herself. ‘Would you like to join me for a ride?’ Her eyes go wide as she redoubles her efforts to escape. ‘Splendid.’ he chortles, not really expecting a response anyway as the air around them is basked in a red glow before they disappeared.
She paused for a moment before continuing. She hated this next part of the dream. Thinking about all the unnecessary killing and violence send a chill down her spine as the warm night air blew gently over her.
‘Get off me!’ the president shouted as she flung the two humans that had pinned her to the floor moments ago. She pulled a small metallic object from within her suit and ran down the hallway. She stopped in horror as an alien being picked up a human and threw them as hard as he could into a wall, their neck snapping from the impact. The president came back to her senses and held the metal object in front of her, aiming it directly at the alien’s head. With a quick pull of her finger, a loud bang came from the object and the invader’s head exploded in a shower of his own blood as his body went limp and fell to the ground.
She continued down the hallway, meeting up with another female just outside the entrance to a large oval room.
‘There you are, thank god you're alright.’ the female spoke in a worried tone.
‘You okay? Where’s Matt?’ the president questioned as they both ran into the room.
‘He’s upstairs, trying to find out what’s going on.’
‘What is happening?’ She frantically asked as she moved the head of a bust backwards revealing a hidden button that she promptly pushed.
‘All out war, by the looks of it’
Sections of the walls start revolving revealing many different metallic objects as the president looks over each one of them quickly before jumping over the desk and grabbing one of the large objects before running out into the hallway, killing more aliens as they teleported in. Turning the corner, she saw two humans and yelled out to them.
‘Pearce! Ben! We gotta mov-’ She was cut off by and blown back by an explosion that ripped through the roof of the building, right above Pearce and Ben.
‘Shit, player! Save yourself!’ Pearce yelled to the president.
The room immediately filled with a bright red light as the two unlucky souls were lifted into the air.
‘Fuck that! Save me~!’ He frantically screamed as he was sucked up into the belly of the alien craft that was directly overhead.
The president yelled out to the other humans but was too late to save them. She quickly got back to her feet and ran down the hallway, killing dozens of invaders along the way with no remorse before she reached the exit and stepped outside onto the now crumbling porch. She stood in complete shock as the destruction happening all around her. Human airship and alien crafts were engaged in dogfights in the sky above, one of them came crashing down only a few hundred feet in front her, erupting into a large fireball that turned the sky reddish-orange for a brief second as she shielded her eyes.
‘Holy shit!’ she muttered, looking past the airship wreckage to the encroaching army of alien foot soldiers that were headed directly for her. ‘How many of you are there?’ She raised her wrist up to her mouth before speaking. ‘Bert to Ernie. Bert to Ernie. Activate Southport defenses.’
Seconds later, two large, slanted poles that rested on a round base rose up from their hiding spot in the ground.
‘Let’s do this, you beautiful thing.’ She smirked as she jumped off the porch and slide down a column that had fallen a few feet away from the round base that was supporting the poles. She jumped off the pole and ran to the back side of the object, as she did, large metal wings rose from the seat that was between the large poles. She leapt of the back of the seat and the object seemed to come alive as she grabbed the handles in front of her.
More alien crafts emerged from the mother ship and flew towards her position. She pointed the poles directly at the crafts as they let out roaring booms, left then right, left then right, over and over again. She downed many of the alien’s crafts with this device before a rather large craft appeared on the horizon. It was heading straight for her, shooting out rays of red light that exploded when they made contact with the ground or anything else. She aimed the device she was controlling at the large craft and let the craft have it, scoring a direct hit to the underside as it started to explode from the inside out. It wavered slightly before losing its ability to stay in the air; fire was shooting out from several ruptures in the hull. She watched in terror, not able to move, as the craft now looked to be on a direct collision course with her location.
Luckily the alien craft fell short and slammed into the ground with a thunderous sound. The impact shook the ground for miles around and many of the humans and aliens alike fell to the ground from the resulting impact. It left a large depression in its wake as it slid across the ground, throwing dirt and rocks and anything else in its path into the air before coming to a halt mere feet from the president. She picked herself off the ground and charged the downed alien craft, leaping into the air, shooting out the windshield just before she passed through it only to have Zinyak himself grab her throat in mid jump with his enormous hand. Zinyak let out a snarl as he slammed the president into the broken console of his ship.
‘Why do you humans enjoy leaping so much?’ He growled as he kept the human pinned in his grasp, waiting for her reply.
‘Get off my lawn you son of a bitch!’ She shouted back at him.
Zinyak let out growl and flung the human across the cockpit where she landed hard on the metal floor and rolled to a stop. She coughed, holding her side as she rose to her feet, letting out a war cry and bolted at Zinyak. She slid in between his legs punching him in the groin, causing him to fall to his knees as she recovered and started punching him repeatedly in the face.
‘Now now, not so fast.’ He scolded, the blows to the head not fazing him in the slightest as he grabbed her arm and threw her across the room a second time. She coughed a few more times and staggered to her feet, swaying slightly as it was becoming harder to stand. They stared each other down until the president reached out her arm at him, motioning with her hand from him to come closer. Zinyak was enraged by the gesture of defiance as they both let out a war cry and charged each other. Zinyak threw a strong right hook that she ducked under and slid past him in the last second and pull out the same small metallic object from before, pointing it directly at the back of his exposed head.
‘Say goodnight.’ She spoke, pulling the trigger on the device, causing a small explosion at the tip only to have Zinyak disappear in a flash of red light. She stood there dumbfounded for a second before Zinyak re-appeared behind her. She turned around just as he head butted her, sending her careening to the floor
‘Ha ha ha. Did you really think you could stop me?’ He spoke as he gave out a hearty laugh while holding out the red-glowing palm of his hand, levitating the human in his power.
She said the only thing that came to mind as she floated there, helplessly in his grip. ‘Shit!’
‘Ah, human arrogance. Is there anything more charming?’ He asked, slamming her off the walls of the cockpit, causing her to choke and spit up blood. He slammed her down on the floor a final time as she gasped for air as Zinyak slowly levitated her up again. ‘Oh ho ho ho! I’m going to have fun breaking you.’’ he laughed maniacally as they both were surrounded in a red beam of light.
Celestia sat there, looking up at the stars as a single tear ran down her face, knowing that her dreams were never to be taken lightly, especially ones as troubling as these. She let out a soft sigh, the feeling of impending doom never leaving her mind as she looked past the city boundaries, perusing the entirety of her kingdom. She had to make sure the humans could stop the invaders, if not; it would only be a matter of time before Equestria would be invaded as well.
Standing up, she turned around and walked to her desk, taking out a piece of parchment, inkwell and quill. She sat down and levitated the tip of the quill into the inkwell and began to write out a letter to her faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.
Author's Note
Welcome to our experiment! On behalf of ReFro and I, welcome to Saints Row: Equestrian Intervention. We hope you enjoy your stay, and as always, constructive criticism is appreciated. See you in the next chapter!
Chapter Author: ReFro
Saints Row: Equestrian Intervention
“Twilight, wake up!” Spike shouted as he ran into her bedroom clutching a scroll in his claw. “I just received a letter from Princess Celestia!” The unicorn in question grunted in disapproval. “Huh?” She muttered, cracking open an eyelid to see the silhouette of her number one assistant standing next to her bed. “Ugh, give me a moment, Spike.”
Yawning to herself, Twilight begrudgingly threw her warm covers off and slightly shivered as the cool night air washed over her body. Spike stood there patiently waiting for Twilight to collect herself, before holding out the scroll from the Princess. Twilight blinked twice trying to focus on the object Spike held in front of him.
“Is that…?” Twilight quickly grabbed the scroll with her magic,”A letter from the Princess! Spike! Why didn’t you tell me!?” She practically yelled as she quickly unfurled it.
Spike crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her, “I did tell you…” He muttered under his breath.
Twilight took a deep breath, ignoring what the baby dragon said, and started reading the message out loud.
My Dearest Twilight,
I am very sorry to disturb your slumber but I have an urgent matter that I must discuss with you and the other bearers at once.
Please gather your friends at once. I have dispatched a carriage to Ponyville and it should arrive at the library within the hour. I shall explain more in detail when you and your friends arrive.
I will be awaiting your arrival.
~Celestia
The room fell silent as Twilight stared at the letter until Spike broke the silence.
“What are you waiting for, Twi? Shouldn’t we go wake up the others?” Spike questioned as he raised an eyebrow at her.
Twilight shook her head quickly back and forth. “You’re right, Spike,” she briskly stated as she furled the scroll back up, placing it on top the table next to her bed. "I need you to head on over to Carousel Boutique and Sugarcube Corner and notify the girls. Let them know that it is an urgent request from the princess and they need to be back here as quickly as possible. I'll go round up the others, and bring them here.” Twilight explained, her voice was ominously calm as she noticed Spike shuffling his feet nervously. “You think my number one assistant can handle that all by himself?" She cooed, giving him some much needed encouragement.
Spike proudly nodded then rushed out of the room. “I wonder if Rarity will be in her nightgown…” He chuckled to himself.
After hearing the downstairs door slam shut, Twilight sighed gently to herself before grabbing her saddlebag from the closet, placing it gently on her back and filled it to the brim with various objects that might be required. After triple checking to make sure everything she wanted to bring was in her saddlebag, Twilight blew out the single candle that was illuminated her room, and walked briskly downstairs.
~~~
Twilight had to practically carry Rainbow Dash back to the library after spending nearly ten minutes just getting her out of bed. The rest of her friends were much easier to rally, though they were still not happy about being woke up in the middle of the night. By the time Twilight got back to the library with Rainbow, Fluttershy and Applejack; Spike, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were already loading there things into the carriage. They all greeted each other and quickly finished loading their belongings as Twilight and nodded to the two pegasus stallions that they were now ready to depart.
The first rays of morning light had begun to illuminate the clouds as the cool pre-dawn air flowed briskly past the carriage passengers. The journey was silent except for rather loud snoring coming from a certain prismatic maned pegasus. Applejack looked around the carriage for a few moments then cleared her throat. “What do y’all think Princess Celestia needs? It must be serious if she’s summoning us this late at nigh–” AJ said, a hint of worry in her voice as she rubbed her eye and looked up to the sky. “err, morning now, I reckon.”
The girls diverted their attention to Twilight, who shrugged lightly. “The princess didn’t say what she needed us for exactly. However, I did notice that her writing that she seemed a little bit… off, like she was under some stress or hadn’t slept in a while.” Twilight replied. There was no reply for a few seconds as the girls looked nervously to each other.
“Well, whatever it is that the princess needs, we all gotta be ready to help her out. Ah’m ready to help,” Applejack announced with the rest of the mares nodding in agreement. “Just let me get some more shuteye first.” She said with a yawn as she slid her brown Stetson over her face.
As Applejack nodded off, the remaining girls made small talk to pass the time.
~~~
Morning was in full swing by the time they descended into the Royal Courtyard. The girls gathered their belongings and were escorted by the awaiting guards to the Throne Room. Celestia smiled, getting up from her throne to greet Twilight and the others as they came into the room. Twilight ran up to her mentor, and nuzzled her neck as Celestia returned the affection.
“Greetings to you all, as well, my little ponies,” the princess said, looking to each of them as they bowed to her.
“We came as soon as possible, princess.” Twilight stated as she noticed that Celestia didn't quite look like her normal self, “What is the—”
“Oh! Oh! Oh! I know! I know!” Pinkie shouted, interrupting her friend. “Are the evil changelings attacking again? The big’o meanie pants Discord up to his old tricks again? Oh! OH! You want us to stop a giant gopher—Mfftt!” Her rant was cut off by Applejack’s hoof in her mouth.
“Oh my,” Fluttershy meeped. “That poor gopher.”
“Come now Fluttershy, you don't really think there is a giant gopher on the loose,” Rarity retorted, “That would be just silly, now don’t you think?”
Celestia giggled slightly at their theatrics before speaking up. “I bet you girls are hungry,” she asked seeing them all nod, she turned, heading to a side door, “Then let’s go to the dining hall and get some breakfast while I explain the situation.”
~~~
“So what, you’re telling me is that there is an alien race attacking another alien race of, of—”
“Humans, Rainbow.” Rarity interjected as she dabbed a bit of oatmeal off the side of her mouth.
“Yea! Those things and you want us to go risk our necks just help these, hugmans?!” Rainbow was nearly spitting the food out of her mouth with each word she spoke.
“Humans, not hugmans,” Twilight sighed.
“Well, whatever. Why is it so important that we help them in the first place?” She glared at the princess.
“I’ll have to agree with her. What do these humans have to do with us, princess?” Rarity asked as she cocked an eyebrow.
“My dreams are different from normal pony’s dreams. Over the course of thousands of years, my dreams have always come true and I fear that this one is no different from the rest,” She sighed, “That is why we need to aid the humans and stop this threat before it can spread, not only to Equestria, but to other planets as well.”
“Whatever the threat is, I won’t let it harm Equestria or ma friends an family.” Applejack stated with a gleam in her eye.
“Yea! Same here!” Rainbow jumped out of her seat and did a quick hoof pump as Fluttershy hid herself behind her pink mane.
“I wholeheartedly agree,” said Twilight.
“Me too!” Pinkie exclaimed, appearing directly to the side of the princess and pointed to the stack of pancakes that remained on her plate. “You gonna eat that?” She said as her tongue darted out, wrapping around the stack of pancakes several time as she pulled them into her mouth, eating them all in one bite.
“Pinkie Pie…” Twilight facehoofed as the rest of them looked on in shock.
~~~
The group followed Celestia down a set of well worn stairs as they entered a part of the castle that looked like it hadn’t seen the presence of a pony in decades. A long hallway with a plethora of doors on either side came into view as they reached the bottom of the stairs.
I have never seen this part of the castle before, where could we be going? Twilight pondered as the disturbed dust started to tickle her nose. “Princess, where ex, ex, —Achoo— exactly are we going?” She asked rubbing her nose.
“There is a camber down here where I safely open a portal that will allow you girls and Spike to crossover to the human’s world.” Celestia spoke as a cold chill went down her spine. Being back in this part of the castle brought back some haunting memories. Twilight nodded as the group continued to make their way down the hall.
“We are here.” The princess stated. The door creaked and moaned as she pushed it open with her magic and stepped inside.
The room was pitch black until she began lighting the candles that hung on the walls. Everyone, except Celestia, stood in awe at the sight before them. To say that it was a large room would be a huge understatement. The room was large enough to fit several hundred ponies comfortable if it had not been filled with all sorts of ancient artifacts that were scattered haphazardly around the room in no apparent order and the walls were lined with dozens of massive bookcases, brimming with old tomes and scrolls.
“This is where I keep the most dangerous artifacts and forbidden knowledge,” Celestia stated, seeing the curious looks on the group’s faces as she walked over to an area of the room where the was an empty space on the floor in the shape of a circle, “I have placed a magical barrier that encompasses this entire room, blocking all spells from penetrating it, to keep these items from falling into the wrong hooves. Now,” She stated, stopping at the edge of the circle, “if you girls are ready, I will start the spell to open the portal.”
They all shook their heads yes as Celestia began channeling her magic into the floor.
The aura around Celestia’s horn faded as a blinding flash filled the room making them turn away and shield their eyes. They turned back to see a large rectangular door, that was made of pure light, had materialized in the middle of the runes.
“This door will take you to the human’s home world, close to the area in my dreams. Help the humans defeat the Zin and return as quickly as possible.” She nuzzled each of them as she walked past, “Please be careful, my little ponies, this could prove to be the most dangerous mission you have faced yet.”
“Don’t worry, princess. We will stop those Zin guys in ten secon-” Rainbow had started to say only to be cut off mid sentence.
“Please, Rainbow. Must you use that incessant phrase all the time?” Rarity scoffed at her friend.
“Whatever, Rars. I happen to like that saying.” Rainbow huffed as she rolled her eyes.
“Come on, y’all. Them humans need our help, not us fightin’ amongst ourselves.” Applejack reminded them.
“You’re right, Applejack,” Rarity stated as she turned to the pegasus, “I’m sorry Rainbow; we shouldn’t bickering at a time like this, forgive me?”
“You must hurry now, the fate of our world and others rest in your hooves.” Celestia quickly interjected.
“Come on everypony, let’s not waste another second.” Twilight said as she walked through the portal, Spike hot on her heels with the rest of the group close behind.
Author's Note
I'm tired as fuck. -Soarin'
Chapter Author: ReFro
Saints Row: Equestrian Intervention
“You requested my presence Lord Zinyak?” asked Abu-Dal as he bowed to the Zin Emperor. Things had gone surprisingly well for the Zin Empire during the invasion of Earth, with victory after victory being scored against the humans. Millions of humans had been captured and thrown into a simulation made by Zinyak, leaving him in a rather happy mood.
Zinyak chuckled, motioning for Abu-Dal to have a seat in the chair in front of his desk. As soon as Abu-Dal took his seat, Zinyak leaned forward, and placed both his hands on the desk.
“Thank you for coming Abu-Dal. As you know, our invasion of Earth is going as planned. I just wanted to ask you if there is still room in the containment bays.” Zinyak announced.
Abu-Dal nodded, taking out a portable holoboard and quickly glancing at it. “Yes sir, but the space is rather limited. Unfortunately we only have 7 pods unoccupied, all located in Containment Bay 26. The ZTS Shabudai should be arriving by tomorrow, so we’ll have a lot more space soon.” He explained.
Zinyak nodded, then slowly sank back in his seat and pressed his hands together. “Good, good. We’ll be needing exactly 7 pods at the moment.” Zinyak replied, his voice ominously neutral.
Abu-Dal looked at Zinyak in confusion for a few seconds, then started to sweat. “So… why do you need exactly 7 pods sir?”
Zinyak leaned forward and pressed a button, watching as a large hologram of the ship appeared before clearing his throat. “I just recently detected a warp signature on the Engineering Deck. Checking the feeds, we have 7 unwanted visitors aboard our ship now. Your job is to go capture them, and place them in the remaining pods. Capturing them should be easy. Do you have any questions about this task?” Zinyak explained, as he pointed toward the Engineering Bay on the holomap. Abu-Dal looked at the map for a few moments, then back at Zinyak. “Just this one, sir. What exactly are we facing?”
Zinyak laughed, hitting the button to turn off the holomap. “Six equines and a drake. The drake is a toddler however, so it shouldn’t be a problem. They all arrived unconscious, so if you move with haste you might be able to capture them without confrontation. Any other questions?” asked Zinyak. Abu-Dal shook his head before getting up and bowing to the Zin Emperor. “No more questions, Lord Zinyak. I shall head to the Engineering Deck right away.” Abu Dal replied. Zinyak smiled, before sitting back down at his desk. “Good. You are dismissed.”
~~~
“Stay on your guard! We don’t know what these intruders want or what they’re equipped with, so make sure all of you are ready to shoot if an issue arises.” Abu-Dal shouted, as the squad of Zin under his command quickly checked their weapons before taking positions outside the door leading to the room containing the intruders. Abu-Dal had quickly identified that the intruders had warped into an empty storage room in the east section of the Engineering Deck and gathered a squad of elite Zin infantry before quickly rushing to the position. The rest of the Zin shouted “Yes sir!” before looking at Abu-Dal for the signal to storm the room.
Abu-Dal took out his trusty pistol, and took a deep breath before stepping to the left side of the door. “For Zinyak! For the Zin Empire! GO GO GO!” Abu-Dal shouted. The Zin soldiers all shouted out battle cries, before one of them opened the door using the panel, and they all charged in.
The first thing the Zin soldiers saw were six creatures resembling small horses and a small dragon passed out on the floor. The Zin quickly split into two equal size groups, before taking to the sides of the room. Abu-Dal was the last to enter, instantly training his pistol on the unconscious horses.
There were a few moments of awkward silence, until one of the horses, a purple one with a horn like appendage on its head, stirred. The Zin soldiers instantly trained their weapons on the purple horse, silently waiting to see what it would do. The horse groaned loudly before opening its eyes, and looked around, freezing when it’s gaze found the Zin soldiers.
There were a few more moments of dead silence, until Abu-Dal cleared his throat and stepped forward. “You are trespassing on the Zin Mothership under the command of High Emperor Zinyak. I am Marshal Abu-Dal, of the Zin Expeditionary Army, and I speak on behalf of our glorious leader, High Emperor Zinyak. Emperor Zinyak demands that you surrender immediately, or be wiped out by our superior forces. Will you comply, and surrender yourself? Or do we have to kill you?” Abu-Dal shouted, channeling as much authority in his voice. The horse like creature looked at Abu-Dal with an expression of fear on its face, before it shrank back and opened its mouth.
“We… well... umm it doesn’t look like I have much choice, now do I?” It asked in a wavering tone. Judging by its voice, the Zin soldiers could guess that it was a female and in its young adult years. Abu-Dal laughed, nodding slowly at the horse. “No, you don’t.”
The Zin soldiers all started moving towards the small horse, making sure to watch it for any sudden moves when one of the other creatures suddenly started stirring, a cyan one with wings and rainbow colored hair. The Zin soldiers were quick to stop moving and immediately trained their weapons on it, warily watching to see how it would react.
With a groan, the horse looked around, quickly noticing the Zin in the room, and made a sound of confusion.
“Uhh, Twilight… what are these things?” it asked, turning to the purple horse from earlier. The rainbow one had a more masculine tone to her voice, but it was also distinctly female.
Twilight looked at her friend, then gulped nervously. “They’re… they’re Zin, Rainbow.”
As soon as Twilight said the word “Zin”, Rainbow’s eyes show wide open as she quickly jumped up, doing a flip, and landing onto her feet.
“So these are these Zin things Celestia was telling us about. Time to go kick some flank!” Before anyone could react, Rainbow quickly spread her wings, and shot into the air. She got only a few inches off the ground however before a purple glow grabbed her tail, instantly bringing her back to the ground.
The Zin soldiers were quick to react, all running at the horses with full speed. None of the creatures had a chance to react before the Zin hit them with their rifles. The group of horses were quickly knocked unconscious, slumping to the ground with loud thumps. Abu-Dal grinned, then turned around. “Get them to the remaining containment pods, then report back to your stations. Good work, all of you.”
Author's Note
No, your eyes are not deceiving you. This is the next chapter in our little experiment, this time written by yours truly, General Soarin'. Enjoy the chapter, and I will see YOU. In the next chapter. Bye!
Non story related, there is a group that I mainly run, and needs some love. Go here: http://www.fimfiction.net/group/199964/the-1st-equestrian-lawnmower-brigade and join up! Please? We talk, post stories, and overall have a good time.......maybe it would be better if you joined!
Saints Row: Equestrian Intervention
Prisoner 2639 “Twilight” Simulation Theme: Failure
The first thing Twilight felt when she came to was the feeling of cold marble under her body. This was confusing to her because the last time she was conscious, she was on an alien ship and was being taken captive. Groaning, she cracked open her eyes and dragged herself onto her hooves.
Looking around, Twilight immediately recognized it as the Royal Throne Room back in Canterlot. Baffled, Twilight pinched herself to make sure that it wasn’t a dream, surely enough realizing that what she was seeing was real. Somewhat disturbed, she walked over to one of the walls, inspecting it and giving it a few taps. How in Equestria did I get into the throne room? she thought to herself, walking over to one of the windows and peering outside.
Again, Twilight was met with surprise when she saw the glorious city of Canterlot outside the window, cementing the fact that she was indeed in the throne room. Suddenly a muffled screaming from behind her forced her to turn around and look at the opposite windows. A shadow fell with great speed past the window, making Twilight run over to it. That shadow almost looked like the shape of Spike… but it couldn’t be him, could it? Twilight could sense if he was in trouble, if he fell from the roof she’d know… Before Twilight could ponder this some more, the sound of the opening throne room doors made Twilight snap her attention to the entrance.
In walked nopony else but Celestia, a rather flat look on her face as she headed towards Twilight. Twilight blinked a few times before crying out in joy. “Princess Celestia! I’m so happy to see you!” she exclaims, running straight towards the Sun Princess. Celestia only frowns, watching Twilight suddenly stop in front of her.
“Oh, it’s you Twilight. Just the pony I was looking for,” she says coolly, keeping her eyes locked on her student in front of her. Twilight cocked her head to the side, wondering why the Princess wanted to see her. Opening her mouth to speak, she was interrupted by Celestia raising her hoof for silence.
The throne room remained in a tense silence for a few moments until Celestia scowled. “Do you know what you’ve done, Twilight? I put my trust in you and you failed miserably. Thanks to your failure to stop the Zin, Equestria has fallen. You’re a disgrace to Ponykind, and I couldn’t be more ashamed to have a failure of a student,” she snarls. Twilight’s joy to see the Princess immediately shatters upon hearing this, the feelings of extreme shock and sadness moving in.
She had... what? She couldn’t have failed Equestria! “B... but Princess, I was-” she begun before suddenly getting struck across the muzzle by Celestia.
“Shut your mouth you disgusting excuse of a pony! I don’t want to hear your excuses!” she snarls, her eyes burning with rage.
Twilight backpedaled as hard as she could away from the Princess, eventually backing into a wall. Her jaw stung from the hit she had just received, but her emotions had taken a far worse blow. Tears spilled from her eyes as she looked at the Princess with a look of sheer pain. “Prin... Princess... I’m so sorry….” she chokes out.
Celestia only snarls, preparing herself to charge. “I don’t want you to be sorry, Twilight Sparkle, I want you to pay for your actions. You lived as a failure, and now you’ll die a failure!” she shouts before charging at Twilight. With a yelp, Twilight only narrowly managed to scamper out of the way of the charging alicorn, her mind going into overdrive mode. She had no idea why the Princess was acting this way, but she did know that Celestia had the intentions of killing her.
“Princess stop! I’m your student, why are you attacking me?” Twilight shouted, narrowly dodging a ball of magical energy that the Princess launched at her. Celestia only roared, launching another spell at Twilight with the sole purpose of killing her former student. Twilight yelped, quickly lighting up her horn and teleporting out of the way of the spell. Celestia was fully bent on killing her... Twilight had no other option but to fight back. “I’m so sorry Princess, but you leave me no choice!” Twilight calls as she launches an explosive spell at her former mentor.
Celestia only narrowly managed to dodge this magical attack, the heat of the explosion singing her coat a small bit. “You’ll pay for that, Twilight Sparkle!” she shouts as she retaliates with another blast of magic that narrowly misses Twilight.
All of Twilight’s senses were now in overdrive as adrenaline surged through her veins. She was now fighting the Princess, something she thought would never be possible. Letting out a shout, Twilight uses her magic to propel herself like a bullet toward Celestia with the goal of knocking her back. Celestia had no time to react as Twilight slammed into her at great speed, causing her to go flying across the room, slamming into the wall at full force. Dazed, she struggled to get to her hooves and retaliate. “If... if that’s the best you got, Twilight, there’s no wonder you failed,” Celestia growls, spreading her wings to take off.
Twilight only growled, preparing another attack. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Princess, but I won’t die now. I can correct my mistakes and free Equestria, you just failed to give me a chance!” Twilight shouts, launching her spell.
Celestia only grins, using a quick flap of her wings to shoot upwards and out of the way of the attack. “You don’t deserve a chance!” she shouts, launching another spell. Twilight rolls out of the way again, growling deeply. There was no way this was the Princess she knew and loved... this was some sort of imposter that needed to die.
Lighting up her horn again, she looks up at the imposter Celestia, baring her teeth. “I don’t know who you are or what you’ve done with the Princess, but I will not let you kill me! You’ll pay for this!” Twilight shouts before letting loose a large blast of magic. The blast was too big for Celestia to avoid, the impact sending her careening into the ceiling before dropping to the floor. She had no time to recover before the angry Twilight had teleported over to her, her eyes lit up with rage as she put her hoof on Celestia’s throat. “I’m only going to give you one chance you imposter... what did you do with the real Princess?” she snarls, pressing her hoof down enough to prove that she was serious.
The imposter only laughed, looking straight into Twilight’s eyes. “I am the real Celestia you fool! You failed Equestria, Twilight, and now it’s up to me to kill you and avenge the fall of my beloved nation!” she retorts.
Twilight shook her head, keeping her hoof firm on Celestia’s windpipe. “The real Celestia would never try to kill me if I failed! She’d be more understanding, knowing full well that while I’m alive I’d do everything to save Equestria. I don’t know what you did with her, but I’ll find her. Mark my words,” she growls. Before the imposter Celestia could respond, Twilight pressed down with all her strength, crushing Celestia’s windpipe. Celestia floundered around under Twilight’s hoof for a few moments as she quickly suffocated from her broken windpipe before finally going still. Twilight held her hooves down for a few moments before withdrawing them with a shaky breath. She had just killed a pony... yet for some reason she didn’t really regret it. Whoever that imposter was, she had done something to the true Princess Celestia and it was up to Twilight to find her.
As Twilight pondered on how to find the true Celestia, she failed to notice the air shimmering in front of the actual throne as a white door started to form. The door remained unnoticed for the longest time until Twilight looked up and noticed it. Confused, she studied it from afar before hesitantly walking towards it. From what she saw, it looked like just a plain white wooden door with a golden doorknob. Once next to it, she ran a hoof down the door, confirming that it was indeed wood. Once certain that the door was indeed real, she hesitantly reached for the doorknob. With a creak, the door opened inward, revealing nothing but a white abyss behind it. Twilight’s curiosity got the better of her, and she hesitantly stepped forward into the white abyss. As soon as she stepped inside, her world flipped upside down and she immediately blacked out.
Author's Note
Spike Death Count: 1
I just wanted to apologize to those people that have been waiting since September. Writer's Block has hit me so hard in the past months...only now have I started to break it slowly. Expect chapters to come out sooner than a couple of months next time. Thank you for your loyalty, and I do hope you enjoy this chapter. ~Soarin'
