A Lost Soul in a Dark World

by TasteTheSun

Rating: teen
Tags: Princess Celestia, Alternate Universe, Twilight Sparkle, Sad, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark
Length: 56455

When Twilight is ubducted, all her friends are devastated. A thousand years later, she returns, but in a different way, an evil way. But is there something more than to this than ruling Equestria?

On a dark and foggy night, Twilight receives some visitors. That is the last anyone ever hears from her.

All of of her friends and family go on a desperate search to find her, but it is all to no avail and they give up on the search. Years turn into centuries, eventually adding up to a thousand years since her disappearance, but Equestria has never forgoten her.

After a thousand years, Twilight returns with no memory of who or where she is. Her captors give her a new name and title for her, but not only that, but she has also been given an assignment, to destroy Princess Celestia.

But is there something much more to her captor than just ruling Equestria? With the help of a group of friends, one princess will see just how magic can be used, whether for good,

or evil.

•••

I would like to thank 1Jaz for this great drawing. Well done man!

And a big thanks Ephraim Blue for editing this story!

Published 2014-03-23 18:40:04 UTC
Last updated 2015-03-23 20:44:39 UTC

Chapter 2: Missing

Spike ran through the streets of Ponyville in search for the rest of his friends. Luckily he managed to find all five of them just outside Sugarcube Corner. He ran up to them and attempted to explain to them what was wrong, but all he was able to force out of his mouth was: "Twilight! Ponynapped! Gone! Help! Save Her!!!!"

"Huh?" is what all five mares said in unison, trying to get what he was trying to say. Spike then began to hyperventilate until somepony gave him a paper bag to breath in.

"Alright Spike, jus' calm down an' take a few deep breaths," Applejack instructed Spike on what to do. He did as he was told and began to breathe into the bag, which did help calm his nerves a bit. "Better?" she asked.

"Better," Spike replied.

"Good, now tell us what you were gonna say a moment ago."

"OK, so last night, I was making some veggie soup for Twilight, and then there was a knock on the door. Twilight went to see who it was, and I wanted to see too, but I was busy with the soup so I couldn't. I think it was some doctor who came, and I heard her talking about a project at a school, and the next thing I know, they kitchen door was slammed shut. I went to see what was going on, but the door was locked. I had no choice but to break it down, and when I finally did, Twilight and the other pony she was talking to were gone. I've searched all over Ponyville ever since."

"Well we gotta go save her!" Rainbow Dash said as she was about to take off, only to be halted be Applejack who restrained her by holding her tail down.

"Hold up now. Ok, look, we don't know what happened t' Twilight, nor do we know where she could be. Best if we split up and search for her here. Rainbow Dash, you n' Fluttershy fly around Ponyville and the surroundin' area and see if you can spot Twilight from up there," Applejack commanded.

"No problem,. Come on Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash replied with a salute and motioned Fluttershy to follow. Afterwards, she took off in a rainbow haze, leaving Fluttershy to desperately catch up with her.

"Good. Now Rarity, you n' Pinkie Pie search for Twilight down here and ask the pony folk here if they've seen any sign of her."

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie Pie said as she went bouncing off to help with the search.

"Don't worry Applejack, you can count on us," said Rarity. She then went off to catch up with Pinkie Pie.

"Ok, Spike, you n' I are gonna send a letter to the princesses. We need t' let em know what's going on so that they can help us."

"Alright, come on," Spike motioned Applejack to follow and they both darted off towards the library.

•••

Business in Canterlot had been always in full swing. There was morning, afternoon, and night court, along with whatever else the princesses had planned in between. Right now, the princesses were in the middle of morning court, having to listen to all of their subject's problems. Princess Celestia sat on her throne next to her sister Luna, listening to somepony's problem when suddenly, a cloud of green smoke comes in through an open window. It then transformed into a scroll.

Celestia took the scroll with her magic and looked at it to see who it was. When she saw that the letter was from Ponyville, it struck her as odd because she hasn't received any letters from Twilight in a while. She knew something was wrong.

"I'm sorry everyone, but if you would excuse me, I need to see what this is about." Luna nodded, and with that, Celestia went to the far side of the room. She opened the scroll to read what it had to say.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

We have a terrible crisis here in Ponyville. Twilight was ponynapped last night. We've already begun a search for, but we haven't found her yet. Please your highness, in our time of greatest need, help us search for our friend. We really miss her.
Spike"

Those words hit Celestia hard, as if someone had thrown a brick in her face. She rolled up the letter and trotted towards Luna.

"Luna, I need to speak with you in private, we have a situation."

"In the middle of the court?" Luna asked. Celestia nodded and then turned to the crowd of ponies.

"Attention everypony, I hate to tell you all this, but I'm afraid we will be ending court early this morning. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have brought to you." Celestia announced to the ponies as they started leaving. They also began murmuring about the change in events.

Once the throne room was empty, Celestia motioned Luna to follow. The nearby guards quickly fell in line next to the princesses to provide an escort for them. In no time, they arrived outside of Celestia's private chambers. Celestia told the guards to wait outside before going inside. Once they were for sure they were alone, Luna trotted close to Celestia.

"Alright now, what is it that you wanted to tell me about?" she asked. Celestia however didn't have the strength to tell her. So instead, she levitated the letter up to her. Luna took the letter in her magic, unrolled it, and began to read it. When she finished, she dropped the letter to the ground, revealing a shocked expression on her face.

"So now you know. I can tell that you are as shocked as I am," Celestia said with her head down and her back turned to Luna.

"Well I... I don't know to say about this. How could this have happened?" Luna asked. Celestia got her head up and turned to face Luna with a determined face.

"I do not know how this could have happened, but I do know that whoever committed this heinous crime will indeed be punished. We must find Princess Twilight at once. There's no doubt that her captives are holding her for ransom. Luna, I need you to dispatch the Royal Guard to search for Twilight. Send them beyond Equestria's borders if you need to. We must find our friend!" Celestia commanded. Luna nodded and was about to head out when she stopped and turned back to Celestia.

"Mind if I ask, but what are you going to do?" she asked.

"I just wish to be alone at the moment. Let the guards outside know I wish not to be disturbed," Celestia said as she trotted towards the window.

"Very well sister, I will see you soon," Luna said before leaving. Once the door closed, Celestia looked out the window into the Equestrian landscape.

"Where are you Twilight?"

•••

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Any errors are accepted, Always room for improvement!
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Chapter 3: Gone

Celestia stood outside the door of Twilight's parent's house. She needed to tell them the bad news, although she didn't have the heart to do it, but she figured it was best for them to hear it from her instead of the front page of any newspaper. She lifted a hoof and knocked it on the door. A moment later, the door opened, revealing Shining Armor behind it.

"Shining Armor, what brings you here?" Celestia asked.

"Afternoon your highness," Shining Armor said, bowing and then getting back up.

"I just came here to pick up a few possessions, why? Is there something wrong?" he asked.

"I'm afraid so, are your parents home?"

"Why yes, please come in,"

When Shining's parents came to see who it was, they stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Princess Celestia in their living room. They quickly knelt down until the princess told them to rise. "Good afternoon Princess, what brings you to our home?" Twilight Velvet asked.

"I am here to bring you some devastating news," Celestia told them. Twilight's parents gave each other worried looks before sitting down, pressing Celestia to continue.

"It has come to my attention that..." she stopped, trying to clear the knot that had formed in her throat. "...Princess Twilight has been ponynapped."

Twilight's mother nearly collapsed fainted when she heard that, only to be held together by her loving husband.

"What!" Shining Armor exclaimed with his eyes wide and his jaw dropped.

"Is it true?" Cresent Moon asked. Celestia couldn't respond from all the guilt and sorrow she felt inside.

"Is it true!?" He asked again with more force in his voice.

Using every little bit of strength she had, she managed to say one word. "Yes."

Shining Armor got up and headed towards the door.

"Shining Armor, where are you going?" Celestia asked.

"I'm going to look for my sister, and then kill the heartless monsters who done this," Shining said stopping in front of the door.

"Violence won't solve anything Shining, I've already dispatched the Royal Guard to search for her and those who abducted her.

"Then let us join the search for her," Twilight Velvet said as she began to come out of her slump.

"I suppose I can let you help with the search,"

"Please your highness, if anyone is going to search for her, then it has to be us," Shining Armor said, with a hint of pride in his voice.

"Very we'll then, Shining Armor, I'm putting you in charge of the search for your sister in The Crystal Empire. Have the castle guard there search the surrounding area as well." Celestia instructed.

"Yes your Highness," Shining bowed and then trotted out the door.

"What about us?" Cresent Moon asked.

"You may help with the search for Twilight here in Canterlot." Celestia instructed.

"Very well your highness," Twilight's father said as they both followed the princess out the door.

•••

"Hey Maxspell, look at this," Longspear said, dropping a newspaper in front of her. Maxspell bent down to read what it said.

"Princess Twilight Missing!" "According to what the princesses confirmed, Princess Twilight Sparkle has been reported ponynapped! The Royal Sisters have already dispatched the Royal Guard to search for her and her captors. If anyone has any information on the whereabouts of Princess Twilight, Please report to the nearest guard you see."

"Wow, it took them two days to find out she disappeared," Maxspell said when she finished reading the headline on the newspaper.

"Didn't you read that paper correctly? There going to arrest Princess Twilight's nappers, in this case, US!!!" Longspear said worriedly. He didn't know what they might do to him if the princesses found out they were the ones who captured her.

"Not if they don't find out," Maxspell reassured him.

"They're searching for her in all parts of Equestria, which means there's no doubt they will search here," Longspear protested.

"Which is why I'm going to hide her in here," Maxspell said as she used her magic to remove a mat from the floor. Then she opened a small door on the floor.

There was a small room underneath filled with rusted scrap metal. She turned towards the the preservation chamber Twilight was in and levitated it up. She moved it to the opening in the floor and slid it down through it, into the small secret storage room. Finally, she closed the door and covered it up with the mat.

"There, see, know there's nothing to worry about," suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"You were saying?" Longspear told Maxspell with a sarcastic tone and look on his face. Maxspell gave him an annoyed look in return before trotting towards the door. Before she could open it however, the door burst open, revealing two guards on the other side.

"Sorry to intrude, but we are searching for Princess Twilight Sparkle," one of the guards said while entering the building.

"We'll just do a quick search and... wait a minute, I thought this old blacksmith workshop was abandoned a long time ago? And last I checked, no one was allowed to trespass here. What are you two doing trespassing on private property?" the other guard asked suspiciously.

Longspear bit his lip. He knew they were going to find out. He just did. Maxspell however, smiled and walked up to the guards.

"Princess Celestia has granted us access to this place so that we may get some research done for the experiment we are conducting, and we are on a major breakthrough right now. I don't want to have to tell the princess that we couldn't continue with our research because some lowlife guards kicked us out for trespassing now would we?" Maxspell lied.

"Uh... well... I uh... Sorry to disturb you ma'am. Lets get out of here private," the guard said to his companion before quickly leaving out the door. Maxspell quickly closed the door shut behind them. Longspear was dumbstruck at what he had just witnessed.

"Well that was easy." Maxspell smirked as she trotted past Longspear.

He just remained where he was standing. "Ok, what just happened?"

"Are you just going to stand there all day or are going to help me with this furnace," Maxspell demanded. Longspear rolled his eyes before going over to where Maxspell was.

•••

Celestia was on her balcony in her private chambers by herself. She watched as she was setting the sun, making way for Luna to raise the Moon. The sky was cascaded with orange and reddish light. It looked simply amazing. Normally, such a sight would fill her heart with warmth and joy, but over the past few months, it wasn't enough to fill the dark an empty hole in her heart. She was in a deep depression.

The door to the balcony opened behind her. Turning to see who it was, and to tell them she doesn't want to be disturbed, she was staring face to face with Luna. "Oh, evening Luna, any news?"

"Afraid not my sister," Luna said as her horn began to glow. Over on the eastern horizon, the moon began peeking out. "Celestia, you've been like this for several weeks now," Luna said beside Celestia, not tearing her gaze away from her.

"What do you mean?" Celestia asked, staring at the Equestrian landscape.

"Well, you've been in your private chambers for quite a while now, and from the looks of it, you haven't been getting enough sleep. Is there something you would like to talk to me about."

"What is there to talk about? She's gone and we are yet to find her."

"Is that what this is about?"

"You don't understand, do you know what it's like to have something you love snatched away from you?"

"Actually, I do, it was when I was banished to the moon. You will not believe how I felt being trapped with not only the anger and jealousy I once had, but being forced to be trapped with the guilt and sorrow of what I've done to you. I'm sure you felt the same way."

"You may be right about that. I just miss her so much, and it's tearing me apart."

"I know, I miss her too."

"I have been doing some thinking lately, and I have decided I'm going to end the search."

"What! You're giving up?"

"What's the point in moving on? We have been searching for nearly six months now. Most of the guards have already stopped searching, and the only ones who are searching is Twilight's friends and family. It's over."

"So that's it, you're going to give up hope on her that she is still alive somewhere out there."

"Hope, I don't know what that means anymore." Celestia said with a tear drop in her eye. Luna was struck back at what her sister had said.

"I apologize if I hurt you in any way, but my mind's made up, now if you will excuse me, I have pressing matters to attend to," Celestia said this as she entered her chambers, leaving Luna alone on the balcony.

"Oh Celestia," she said worriedly.

•••

Questions, comments, complements,
Any errors are accepted, Always room for improvement!
Be sure to like and follow both here and twitter (@Pony3T)

Chapter 5: Princess Black Iron

"Hey Maxspell, why don't you quit staring at the sun and come help me dig up Twilight's coffin," Longspear said sarcastically while moving the table and rug off the trap door. Maxspell rolled her eyes as she took her gaze away from the window to go help Longspear.

"Move over, I'll get her out." Maxspell wrapped the door on the floor with her magic, and, with a little bit of difficulty, managed to get the door opened. A cloud of dust emanated from the secret room. Once the dust settled and Longspear stopped coughing his lungs out, he jumped down into the room. When he came back up, he was pushing the chamber through the door.

"You know you could help!" He complained.

Using her magic, Maxspell pulled the chamber out and held it in mid air, with Longspear dangling at the end. "Would you quit hanging around so we can get this done," she said in an annoyed tone.

"I would if you would PUT ME DOWN!!!!" Longspear said, hanging from one end of the floating box.

"Oh, sorry," Maxspell said as she settled the chamber, along with Longspear on the floor. Longspear went and grabbed a crow bar, and placed one end in between the lid and the rest of the box. Using all the strength he had, he pushed down on the crowbar to open the lid. It was a bit difficult considering how rusty it was. Finally the lid popped open. Maxspell picked up the lid and threw it to the side, revealing a sleeping Twilight.

Maxspell lifted her up out of the chamber with her magic and laid her on the table. After a thousand years, she still remained the same as she was when she was abducted.

"Ok, so what I'm going to do is that I'm going to erase her memory before waking her up, then I'll make up a new one,"

"I don't like this one bit Maxspell, not. one. bit." Longspear said.

Maxspell in return gave him an angry glare. "You know, if you'd understand the pain that I feel, then you would definitely be doing what I'm doing,"

And with that, Longspear just let out a grunt out of annoyance. Maxspell ignored it and went back to what she was previously doing. She lit up her horn and wrapped her magic around Twilight's head. It remained there for a while until it faded away. Immidiately after, Twilight began opening her eyes. She rubbed them a bit before sitting up on the table. She looked around before centering her gaze on Maxspell and Longspear.

"Uhm, who are you, and where am I?" she asked nervously.

"Why, your at our home, child," Maxspell said with a sinister tone.

"Excuse me?" Longspear said a bit surprised .

"Hush!, don't mind him, he's just cranky at times. Now tell me, how do you feel?"

"Well, I'm a little tired, plus I don't seem to remember anything," said Twilight.

"Well don't you worry a thing, dear, I'll make sure you remember who you are in no time."

"Thanks, can you start by telling me who I am and what happened to me?"

"Certantly. Now, what happened to you is that you hit your head really hard, and was out for a few days, and it seems that you've received a bad case of amnesia," Maxspell lied. Longspear rolled his eyes at that. Twilight only soaked in those lies.

"I guess that makes sense. So who are you?" She asked

"My name is Maxspell and I am your beloved teacher who's helped in you in every step in your life." Maxspell continued lying.

"WHAT!!!" was Longspear's reaction to the lie.

"Would you be quiet!" Maxspell hissed. "And that's my ignorant assistant, Longspear. And you, you are our beloved princess, meant for great things."

Even though Twilight felt uncomfortable from their bickering, she did perked up when she heard princess. Maxspell smiled. "Yes, but if you are going to be our princess, then you need to look like your true self. Longspear, bring her, her armor.

Longspear rolled he's eyes as he went into the other room. When he came out, he was carrying out the new Royal Guard armor presented to them long ago. Maxspell took up the armor in her magic. "Here you go dear, go to the other room and try it on," Maxspell requested. Twilight got off the table as Maxspell placed the armor on her back. Twilight went to put it on in the other room.

Once she was inside and out of earshot, Longspear stepped up to Maxspell. "Maxspell, this is ridiculous. How can you even sleep at night knowing that you've messed her life up! This is not revenge, this is insanity." He complained

"This, is how you destroy your enemies. Strike them deep, where it hurts, that way they become weak, spineless, foolish, pathetic," Maxspell creepily said.

"Ok you're really creeping me out," Longspear said with a worried look. Maxspell simply snickered at that.

"Listen, we can't win her trust if we're arguing all the time, so PLEASE let me handle this" she said.

Twilight came out of the room, and she looked different. Her body was covered in metal. The parts of her body that weren't covered was from her upper neck up, and her wings. Her armor looked different from that of the Royal Guard's. It was black and the gems were changed from blue to purple. Maxspell was in awe when she saw her in her new suit.

"Oh my, you look beautiful," she said. Longspear rolled his eyes. "Now for the finishing touch." She went over to her saddlebag and pulled out a metal tiara. It was also black, and in the center was a small fire ruby. Maxspell levitated it over Twilight's head and lowered it in place. "Now you look like a true princess. Now all you need is a name." She stood there for a while deep in thought. "I got it! Princess Black Iron."

"Really. You're going to name her after this old place," Longspear said sarcastically.

"I think it's swell name, afterall, this place is her birthright," Maxspell argued.

"Well thanks for the name and everything, but what am I suppose to do now," Twilight asked.

"Now we need to show you how to use your magic, and to fly," Maxspell informed her. Twilight perked up at the idea and quickly followed Maxspell outside. Longspear just stood there thinking to himself.

"Celestia save us all,"

•••

"Ok, we're going to work more on your magical blasts. What I want you to do is to destroy that old statue there with a magical blast," Maxspell instructed. Twilight nodded, planted her iron plated hooves into the ground, aimed her horn at the statue, and fired. A beam of magical energy shot out from her horn and went directly towards its designated target. In the blink of an eye, the statue exploded into a million pieces. The debris from the blast fell upon the three ponies.

"Nicely done princess. You're doing fine," Maxspell said, praising her student.

"I hope you don't mind if I tell you this, but why are you teaching me combat spells and such?" Twilight asked.

"I'll explain everything to you later. Now that we've gotten all of the combat spells out of the way, we can now focus on other things, like levitation. What I want you to do is to lift the entire blacksmith's shop out of the ground and into the air,"

"What?! Are you crazy?! Shouldn't she start small?" Longspear said surprisingly.

"She is totally capable of doing so. Her magic is strong enough to lift an entire city off the ground without breaking a sweat, and plus this is small," Maxspell protested. She directed her attention back to her student. "Are you ready?"

"I guess?" Twilight replied sheepishly. She turned towards the workshop with her horn and the gems in her armor aglow. The whole building was wrapped in the same purple magic as that of her own. She narrowed her eyes and went into a deep concentration. The building began to shake, as well as the ground. It shook faster and faster. Eventually, it began to crack around it. Her horn and gems grew brighter as she added more magic and strength into lifting the place, and it seemed to have been working.

The workshop began to rise. It rose higher and higher until Twilight and the others saw that it was floating a few feet off the ground and was still intact.

"Excellent job Black Iron! Now set the place back down because we are about to work on your flying capabilities," Maxspell commanded. Twilight complied with the order and lowered the workshop back down until it was back on the ground. Once that was taken care of, Twilight went back towards the two ponies.

"Alright, the first thing I want you to do is to stretch your wings out," Maxspell advised. Twilight went ahead and did just that. It seemed pretty easy to her so far.

"Good, now try flapping them," Maxspell ordered. Again, pretty easy.

"Good, keep going,"

Twilight kept flapping her wings. Eventually, she noticed that her hooves were off the ground.

"Hey, look at me! I'm doing it!' She said excitedly.

"Just keep doing what you're doing," Maxspell advised. Twilight then decided to pick up the pace with her wings, so she flapped them a tad faster. That in turn, caused her to fly up even higher. She continued until eventually, she was practically soaring high through the skies.

"WOO HOO!" She exclaimed out of pure excitement. She then heard Maxspell calling for her from below. She slowed down and began her descent. A few seconds later, her hooves touched the ground.

"My, aren't you a fast learner! Now, I believed we've covered everything you need to learn, I think it's time you and I have a little chat inside," said Maxspell as she headed towards the workshop. The other two followed behind. Once inside, Maxspell led Twilight into an empty room and locked it. She turned to face the alicorn with her horn lit up, although something was different about it. It glowed black, and it reached out and touched Twilight's horn. She flinched, but then began to relax as she felt it run through her mind.

Twilight didn't recognized the kind of magic that was being inserted into her. But Maxspell did. For it was, indeed, dark magic. In it was the hatred and Jealously that Maxspell was pumping into Twilights mind. The dark magic was enhancing all the dark thoughts in her mind. She could even hear Maxspell's voice in her head.

"You were meant to rule this place, not like that blasted, Princess Celestia. She's a bad influence. You must go and teach her a lesson. You must treat ALL the ponies of Equestria, who is indeed, their rightful ruler. You must show them the truth, with this amazing gift that I'm giving you. Destroy all that stand against you. Destroy Princess Celestia. Destroy them all, Princess Black Iron,"

Twilight's eyes glowed green, with black smoke emanating from the sides. As she was absorbing all of the dark magic's secrets and promises, she began to chuckle, which then turned into a sinister laugh. Her coat turned a darker shade of purple, and her teeth grew into fangs. Once the last bit of dark magic was absorbed, the green glow in her eyes began to fade, revealing the irises in her eyes had changed from purple, to red. She was no longer Princess Twilight Sparkle, she was now Princess Black Iron.

Maxspell regained her self control from the depletion of magic and examined Black Iron's new status. "How do you feel?" she asked.
Black Iron gave an evil grin when she heard that.

"I feel ready to take my rightful place as ruler!" she replied evily. This only made Maxspell jump for joy on the inside.

"Excellent! Now, we must go and spread the word. The real princess of Equestria has arrived," said Maxspell as she opened the door to let them out.

Longspear simply sat down on a nearby couch when he heard the door open. When he got up, he was shocked to see who had come out.

"Twi- er, Black Iron, what happened to you?" He asked.

"I saw the truth of things, and now I understand why I was brought into this world, too lead ponies with an iron hoof! No pun intended by the way," Black Iron replied. Longspear simply nodded before trotting up to Maxspell.

"Maxspell, what have you done to her?" he asked.

"I just showed her the truth. Now, enough questions. We must be on our way. Princess Black Iron is about to take Manehattan!" Maxspell replied with an evil grin on her face. One to match the one Black Iron had.

Longspear just stood there dumbstruck while also thinking to himself.

"Celestia, save ME at least!!!"

•••

Questions, comments, complements,
Any errors are all excepted. There's always room for improvement.
Be sure to like and follow me both here and twitter. (@Pony3T)

Author's Note

Hey guys, thanks for your comments on the story. I read them all! I just want to say I'm sorry for all the grammer errors in this story, but don't worry, I went back and fixed them. Its just a bit difficult trying to write these stories from my phone. Anyway, I'd like to thank Ephraim Blue for spotting several of these mistakes. Thanks man, I appreciate it. Also, I'm going to be working on my other two stories which you should go check out. I will come back to work on this story, its just that I'll be alternating between them, so again, thank you so much guys, sorry for the grammar, like and follow me, and keep on reading!

~From your number 1/03 pony, Pony 03!

Chapter XXVI: Manehattan Down

All three ponies were trotting across the great Equestrian plains. Black Iron took the lead as Maxspell and Longspear followed behind. None of them said a word to each other since they left the blacksmith's shop. They continued on until they the Manehattan skyline come up on the horizon.

"Black Iron, go on ahead and scout the city from above. Oh, and make sure you use that cloaking spell I taught you a while ago," Maxspell ordered.

"Yes Maxspell," was Black Iron's reply as she took off into the blue skies above. Once he was sure Black Iron was out of ear shot, Maxspell once again confronted Maxspell.

"Maxspell, I know you've heard me say stuff like this a thousand times, but just answer me this, what did you do to her!?" Longspear said in an aggravated tone. Maxspell simply smiled and chuckled to herself.

"I told you, I made her see the truth,"

"Would you stop it with the riddles or whatever and be specific, what did you do to her!?" Longspear repeated.

"I shared my gift with her. Something much more powerful than your average unicorn magic."

Longspear stood there for a while thinking to himself. He was trying to connect the pieces to the puzzle until he finally put two and two together.

"Did you give her dark magic!?" He asked shocked and worried at the same time. Maxspell only gave an evil grin at him. Longspear got his answer from that grin alone.

"Maxspell! You fucking brainwashed her! What the hell!?"

"It was just a little bit of insurance Longspear. We don't want our princess to choke when she confronts Celestia now do we?" Maxspell said in a coo voice. Longspear simply rolled his eyes at that.

"Well whatever. How did you get dark magic anyway?" He asked, but Maxspell didn't reply. To her relief, Black Iron came back and landed right in front of them.

"Ah, Black Iron, anything to report?" Maxspell asked, changing the subject from the previous conversation.

"Nothing major to report. All the ponies in that city over there are simply going on with their day," Black Iron reported.

"Excellent. Now, just do what we planned before left and we should have Manehattan in our grasp in no time," Maxspell instructed. Black Iron nodded and flew back up into the air.

"I'm know I'm not going to like this," said Longspear worriedly.

"You might not, but I'm going to love every second of it," Maxspell replied excitedly as she took off towards the city with Longspear desperately trying to catch up with her.

•••

Manehattan was probably one of the most busiest cities in all of Equestria. Every hour, ponies moved from one area to another, simply carrying on with their day. They did not know that today, would be one they wouldn't forget. High above in the sky, Black Iron observed the ponies below. With a flash of her horn, she teleported from the sky to the streets. All the surrounding ponies fell back at what had just appeared right in front of them.

Black Iron quickly recovered herself from the motion sickness and took in her surroundings. She saw the ponies around her backing away, cowering in fear. The sight of that filled her with pleasure. She looked up over the crowd of ponies and found her destination. She began to move forward. The crowd of ponies cleared a path for her, either out of respect or fear. Either way was fine for Black Iron.

She continued trotting on until she made it to her destination, which was in fact Manehattan City Hall. Standing in front of the steps, she planted her metal plated hooves firmly in place while she charged up her horn with her gems in her armor and her eyes aglow. In a split second, a blast of black glowing magic blasted through the front doors of the building, creating a giant, gaping hole in the wall.

All the ponies in the surrounding area galloped away screaming in fear. This filled Black Iron with joy on the inside. She trotted up the stairs, and into City Hall, passing through the crowd of cowering ponies running for their lives. In an instant the lobby of the place had been cleared out. In the distance, Black Iron could hear sirens getting louder and louder.

Using her quick wits, she gripped all of the furniture in the lobby with her magic and stacked them in front of the gaping hole in the wall. In no time, the front exit had been sealed off. No one could get in nor out now.

"That should hold them off long enough," Black Iron told to herself as she trotted across the enormous room.

As she crossed the front desk that seemed to have belonged to a secretary, she could have sworn she heard somepony cough. Activating her horn again, she wrapped the desk in her magic, tore it out of the ground and tossed it across the lobby, revealing a scared pony in a cradle position. Black Iron wrapped her in her magic and lifted the pony off the ground and held her up at eye level.

"Excuse me, but where's the mayor's office?" Black Iron asked.

"D-do you h-have an a-appointment with w-with h-him?" the Secretary asked.

"Why yes! It's important for me to see him. We have certain matters to discuss," Black Iron replied.

"W-well, I-I would t-tell h-him that y-you're c-coming, b-b-but you k-kinda threw my d-desk over t-there." Black Iron brought her in closer til they met eye to eye.

"Just tell me where the office is," Black Iron said through gritted teeth, with her furocious red eyes starring straight into the secretary's eyes. She felt as if those red eyes were burning her soul.

"ITSONTHETOPFLOORATTHEENDOFTHEHALL!!!!!!" she said rapidly from pure fright.

Black Iron smiled, gave her a 'thank you', and threw her at the wall across the room. She fell to the ground unconscious after leaving a pony shaped hole of her body on the wall. Black Iron turned her attention towards the barracade she made and heard constant banging on the other side. She turned and headed towards the long stairsway. Once there, she looked up, lit up her horn, and in a flash, she went from the bottom floor to the top.

Opening the door, she steped into the hall. Turning to her left, she found a door at the end of the hall, just as how the secretary claimed. As Black Iron walked down the hall, she noticed that the hall was a mess. Possibly because of all the chaos she's been causing. She also notced several ponies cringed in fear as she walked by, and why wouldn't they. Her appearance alone striked fear into anyone foolish enough to challenge her.

And that someone, just happened to be a chief police officer who was already on the scene before the attack.

"HEY YOU, FREEZE!!!" he called out as he ran up to tackle her. Black Iron, however, only stayed on coarse towards the office. Right as the police officer was a few inches away from tackling her, Black Iron bucked him in the face with her right foreleg, without tearing away her straight gaze. The cop was sent flying across the hall and into the wall. He too left an imprint of his body on the wall before falling towards the ground unconscious.

Black Iron came up to the double doors of the mayor's office and knocked on the door.

"Come in," somepony said on the other side of the door.

With that, the two doors opened by themselves, revealing a bit of an elegant, large, circular room. It was even enough to impress Black Iron. There were elegant wooden furniture, wine glass case, and even a miniature bar. On one side of the large room was a fire place with a portrait of an elder, light brown, grey maned, wrinkly stallion wearing a suit and tie hanging above it, but at the end of the room, across from the doors, was a desk with a wheel chair facing the large, glass windows.

"Are you my 2 o'clock appointment?" the same pony from before asked.

"Uhm, yea. I'm hear to discuss about a business proposal with you Mayor," Black Iron replied.

"What kind of business proposal?"

"One that involves the future of your city Mayor."

That last comment Black Iron gave was enough to make the pony swivel around to face who he was talking to. What he saw made his eyes widen in shock. When Black Iron saw who it was, she was surprised to see that the stallion from the painting was the same one as the one she was speaking with. While she was analyzing him, the stallion opened a drawer and took out two cigars from it.

"Do you smoke?" he asked while lighting up the one he put in his mouth. Black Iron didn't reply. Instead, she took it in her magic. Without removing her gaze from the mayor, she engulfed the cigar in a miniature ball of flames until they fell on his desk in a pile of ashes. The mayor was actually impressed by what she done while he smoked his cigar.

"My, aren't you quite the magic user. By the way, I believe we haven't introduced ourselves. The name's Pennysacks, Mayor Pennysacks, and you are?"

"Princess Black Iron."

"Princess eh? well nice to know that those other two princesses aren't the only princesses around here."

"Yes, they will see who Equestria's true leader is," Black Iron replied, agreeing with Mayor Pennysacks logic.

"I apologize. I'm getting off topic here. I mean when your'e old, you tend to forget things and... there I go again. Anyway, that was quite the ruckus you caused down there. Care to explain?" Pennysacks asked.

"I just needed to make sure I got your attention. Also, I needed to clear out most of the ponies here, but lets not worry about that now and lets talk more on my business proposal," said Black Iron.

"Alright then, I'm all ears!" Pennysacks replied.

"It's quite simple really, all you have to do is resign your position as mayor over to me, and well, lets just say I might let you see your beloved city another day!" Black Iron said. This made Pennysacks' jaw drop, as well as his cigar. He was simply dumbstruck from what he had just heard.

"Are you serious?! I can't just handover the city to some pony who claims to be princess, even if you do have wings and a horn, as well as some weird, menacing looking armor. Now if you don't get out of my office this instant, then I'll have no choice but to call security!" Pennysacks said. This really aggravated Black Iron. She then used her magic to wrap around Pennysacks' throat to lift him up off his chair.

"I think you might want reconsider that thought," Black Iron said as she tighten her magical grip around her victim's throat.

"I'll... let... you... have the... city... over my... dead... body," replied Pennysacks, struggling for air. This only made Black Iron advance in her approach.

"Very well then," she said as she threw Pennysacks out crashing through the window and down several stories towards the city streets. Just then, the doors to the office opened with Maxspell and Longspear coming in from the other side.

"Maxspell, Longspear, what took you two so long, and where have you two been?" Black Iron asked noticing that they were covered in sludge. She also noticed the stentch emminating from them.

"We needed an alternate route into the city," Maxspell replied.

"And that alternate route would be?"

"The stinkin' sewers!" Longspear answered annoyedly. Shocked, Black Iron covered her muzzle with her hooves ad ran for the smashed window, desperately gasping for fresh air.

"Well, now that we've gotten that covered, how'd it go? Did the mayor come to agree on our little proposal?" asked Maxspell

"You could say that, you could say that he sort of "dropped out," but don't worry, he said that I could have the city, so yea! Manehattan is ours!" Black Iron cheered along with Maxspell as she was getting her head back inside. Longspear however simply rolled his until he thought of what Black Iron had just said.

"Whoa wait, what do you mean by "dropped out" and why is that window broken?" he asked. It didn't take him long until he figured out what she meant.

"Black Iron, did you-"

Black Iron cut him off with a nod.

"Oh my sweet Celestia!" he said as he ran towards the window. Looking down, he saw several ambulances at the foot of the building. Turning his attention back to the two mares.

"Why you little-" he said before tackling Maxspell and pinning her to the floor.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE MADE HER DO!!! he exclaimed until he felt his body being gripped by something. Looking down upon himself, he saw his body was being wrapped in a black glow. In an instant, he was then thrown towards the other side of the room. Black Iron then went to assist Maxspell.

"Thank you Black Iron, I have no idea what has gotten into Longspear," Maxspell said as Black Iron helped her up. Longspear got himself up while trying to wok through the pain that Black Iron caused. Just then, banging was heard from the front two doors.

"Aw crap, the cops!" Exclaimed Longspear.

"Maxspell, you and Longspear head towards the roof while I deal with the police." Black Iron ordered.

"Are you sure you can handle them on your own?" Maxspell asks worriedly.

"Trust me, I have an idea."

"Well alright then, come on Longspear," Maxspell said as she motioned for Longspear to follow. They both quickly golloped towards a door at the far right with a picture of stairs in it.

"I hope this works," Black Iron nervously thought.

Once the two were gone, Black Iron stood her ground as the ponies on the other side of the door continued trying to break it down. It wasn't until they actually managed to break it down. All the police officers swarmed inside. The police officer in front of the pack happened to be the police chief Black Iron knocked out a while ago.

"You?!" he exclaimed.

"Me?" Black Iron replied.

"You're going to pay for what you've done, and this time, we outnumber you ten to one. What do you say about that?"

"I'd say, you've just made my job a whole lot easier. Now bow to your true ruler!"

With that, Black Iron lowered her head and shot a beam of dark magic at the police chief. It was to fast for him to dodge, so instead, it shot into his head, and then it split and went into two, then four, then eight, and so on. Eventually, all the ponies in the room were under Black Iron's control. Their irises in their eyes all turned red. The police chief knelt down before his ruler and said "My League," to her. The rest of the ponies their followed his example. This made Black Iron very giddy, even though she was trying not to express it.

"Ok troops, you're apart of my Royal Guard, which means you must protect me at all costs. So, for now I want one of you to escort me to the roof while the rest of you follow me towards the roof. Now let's see, you," Black Iron said pointing at the police chief.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Police Chief Ironhoof your majesty," he replied.

"Well congratulations, you are now captain my new guard, and my escort."

"Thank you your highness. You won't be disappointed."

"You better hope I won't be. Ok troops, lets move out," Black Iron commanded. Iroonhoof came to attention and stood near to where Black Iron was as they both went towards the stairs. The rest of the ponies quickly got up and followed the two.

•••

"What's taking her so long? Do you think she's ok?" Maxspell frantically asked Longspear. He didn't reply. They both head behind an air duct so that they wouldn't be spotted by the hovering news chariots flying above city hall. Just then, the door to the roof opened. Longspear peeked over to see who it was. To his relief, he saw that it was just Black Iron. Maxspell jumped and and galloped up towards the pony. She then gave her a tight hug.

"Thank goodness you're alright," she said, but was interrupted when something tackled her and pinned her to the ground.

"AAAAAHHHH!!! Get him off me!" Maxspell exclaimed. Black Iron wrapped Ironhoof in her magic and lifted him off of Maxspell. She went to help Maxspell up while she lowered Iroonhoof to the ground.

"It's ok Captain, she's a friend," Black Iron said.

"Sorry Princess, I thought she was posing a threat to you," he replied.

"Honest mistake, just don't let it happen again," Black Iron said threateningly. Iroonhoof nodded at that nervously.

"Uhm, Black Iron, who's this?" Longspear nervously asked.

"Everypony, I'd like for you to meet Iroonhoof, captain of my royal guard,"

Both ponies exchanged confused looks at what Black Iron said. Suddenly, the rest of her royal guard came marching out of the stair well and formed a perimeter around the roof. Maxspell was amazed at what her little protege had done.

"Black Iron, you have no idea how proud this makes me!" she said as she hugged her once again.

"Thank you, now if you'll excuse me, I have some import things in need to discuss with my subjects," Black Iron replied as she moved away from Maxspell and trotted towards the front side of the roof. Several news chariots and pegasus reporters saw her and flew up right in her. Standing on the ledge, she adjusted her crown and used her magic to amplify her voice.

"Citizens of Manehattan. I am hear to tell you that your former mayor has officially resigned and has left me the city. So now, you are all my royal subjects who will be loyal to me. If you are, then you will be treated fairly, and if not, well, you will just have to answer to me or to anyone in my Royal Guard. Also, no one is allowed to enter, nor leave the city. Otherwise, you'll be punished severely.

But don't think of me as an evil dictator. I'm just here to improve Equestria help it move forward, making it a better place than it ever was. Let this be the day that I, Princess Black Iron, will rule FOREVER!!!!"

"Oh boy, this won't end well," Longspear whispered to himself. Black Iron got off the ledge and went to give out commands to Iroonhoof.

"Captain, I want you to send out the pegasi to get air superiority in the skies above the city while the unicorns share my gift with the rest of the Manehatten police force," Black Iron commanded. Iroonhoof nodded and went to give out the orders. Black Iron then went back to the ledge and saw the news cameras flying above her. She smiled and let out a menacing laugh.

•••

Celestia was just about finished with the afternoon court when a guard came and approached her.

"Princess we have a problem. Is it ok if we discuss in private?" he asked whispering in her ear. The princess nodded and turned her attention to the crowd of ponies.

"Thank you everypony for coming and feel free to return for evening court later, and have a good afternoon."

All the ponies began exiting the throne room. Once it was finally empty, the princess returned her attention to the guard.

"Alright, what's the problem?" she asked.

"Manehattan has been over thrown!" the guard exclaimed. Celestia was very confused by what he said.

"What do you mean over thrown?"

"I mean somepony went in, killed Mayor Pennysacks and claimed that she's taken over the city! She's even taken over the entire Manehattan Police Department!"

"Well who is it?"

"She calls herself Princess Black Iron."

"I better head over there and see this for my self," Celestia said as she got up from her throne.

"Actually, she's on the news right now," said the guard as he pressed a button on her throne. A large glass like screen arose from the floor and switched on to the locall news. What Celestia saw on the screen was something she could not beleive.

"Is that Princess..."

She imidiatly fainted when she saw who it was.

Just then, Luna entered the throne room and saw her sister passed out on the ground.

"CELESTIA!!!!" she exclaimed as she ran up to help her sister. She cradled her sister's head and fanned it with her hoof. She then turned her attention to the guard.

"Get the paramedics in here NOW!!!" she commanded forcefully. The guard nodded and galloped out of the throne room in a flash. Luna continued trying to wake her sister when her gaze fell upon the large screen. What she saw was something she neither could believe.

"Is that Princess..."

Just like her sister, she too fainted when she saw who it was.

•••

Questions, Comments, Complements.
Any errors... are done on purpose.
Happy April Fool's Day!!! ;)
Be sure to like and follow both here and twitter.(username: @Pony3T)

Author's Note

Due to the recent popularity jump, I've decided to focus my attention on this story. For those who have read my other stories, I will eventually work on them. Be sure to like and follow, and I hope you've enjoyed the story so far.

~From your number 1 and 03 pony, Pony 03

P.S Happy April Fools Day!!!

Chapter 7: A Mare, A Plan, and a Surprise Attack

Fire and smoke arose from the city outside the windows. Celestia continued trotting through the empty and battered halls of the palace. Blood stained the walls all over the hall, which was strange considering there was no one else with her. Just the sight of that sent chills up to her neck. She then heard distant laughter coming down the halls. She quickly took off to where the laughter was coming from. After passing several twists and turns through the palace, she arrived to the source of the laughter, the throne room.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and went inside. What she saw made her blood run cold. She saw Black Iron sitting casually on her throne.

"Twilight? What are you doing here?" Celestial asked nervously.

"For one, my name is Black Iron, and second, I'm here to take what's rightfully mine!" she replied harshly.

"And that would be?"

"My throne!"

Celestia was shocked to hear what Black Iron had just said.

"I'm also here to rule this kingdom and help it rise up from the ashes you kept it in. I'll lead this place far better than you ever did in a thousand years!" Black Iron added while stomping her metal platted hooves on the ground for emphasis. Celestia tried to mask her nervousness with a face of seriousness and determination and attempted to speak reason to her.

"Twilight, this isn't like you. You're not an empress threatening to rule Equestria with an iron hoof. Now please come down so we can work this out. I don't want this to be a repeat of what happened to Luna."

Black Iron smiled and wrapped her magic around Celestia and lifted her up off the ground. She held her up to where they were both at eye level. Celestia tried to break free, but the magical grip was too strong.

"I'm sensing a bit of fear and worry deep within you. Not from death, nor from losing your precious kingdom, but the loss of something precious, something that means a lot to you? Is it that I remind you of how your beloved sister turned into Nightmare Moon and threatened to rule Equestria under an eternal night? Is it that she actually saw the truth of things in my opinion? How you yourself ruined this kingdom under your weak compassion and merciful grace!? Or is it, that you are worried about losing your beloved friend the same way as your sister, of how you banished her to the moon? Tell me, did you do it for the sake of your sister, or the sake of you and your kingdom?" Black Iron said in a sinister tone.

"You monster! It was something I never wanted to do! I just didn't have any other choice. It's something I still think about and even regret to this day! And plus, Luna never saw your truth! She was consumed by the darkness, hatred, and jealousy that very much consumed you! So just as I said before, I didn't have any other choice!" Celestia replied forcefully.

"Oh Celestia, you pathetic oaf you. I'm afraid you're wrong about all that. And this is the very reason why you are just unfit to be ruler. You just don't seem to see the obvious. You also don't have the will to do what others cannot. All you do is worry. Worry about your sister, your so-called friends, yourself even! How do you think I came this far? Compassion is the true enemy that defeats us all. So remember this: no compassion and no mercy. Do that, and no one would dare to stand up against you. That's how one progresses in life!"

Celestia was terrified inside by what she was hearing, although she tried hard not to show it. Black Iron then floated up a long dagger from behind her and held it up next to Celestia's neck.

"Oh and one other thing I forgot to mention. Its always a good idea to remove certain ponies here and there in order to reach your goals," Black Iron said as she turned Celestia around, facing the windows.

"Let your burning kingdom be the last thing you see, and don't worry, I'll take good care of it for you," she said before turning Celestia back around while moving the dagger closer. It was then that the princess officially started to panic.

"Twilight, please! You don't have to do this! If there's anything I can do to make it up to you, I'll do it! Please don't let it end like this! I'm sorry!!!"

"The name is Black Iron!" she said with a cold and cruel voice as she slowly continued moving the dagger closer and closer to Celestia's throat. She finally snapped.

"TWILIGHT!!!!"

•••

Celestia shouted as she tossed and turned in her bed in her private chambers. She finally managed to wake up from her awful nightmare. She quickly began gasping for air as she rubbed her hoof around her neck. To her relief, it wasn't slit. She looked down on her pillow and felt that it was damp. She figured she'd been sweating a lot.

As she began to calm down, she got down from her bed and trotted towards the window. Looking out, she saw the moon high up in the night sky. As for Canterlot, it looked the same as usual, which was very good. That's when it hit her. How was Luna able to raise the moon if she wasn't around to lower the sun, and how long was she out?

Just then, her sister came bursting in through the doors.

"Celestia, are you ok?!?!" Luna asked frantically. Celestia then ran up to her sister and gave her a tight hug.

"Oh Luna, it was awful, just awful! I'm just so glad your ok," Celestia said as she continued hugging her sister.

"I'm glad your ok Celestia, but mind if I ask, were you dreaming about Nightmare Moon again?" Luna asked.

"I'm afraid it was much worse than that."

"Oh? Then what was it?"

"It was awful. I dreamt that Twilight, who looked exactly like that mare from the news, had taken over Equestria. But what was worse is that she was a lot different than what I remember."

"How different?" Luna pressed on. Celestia released her grasp on her sister and gave her a concerned look.

"She was evil. As evil as Nightmare Moon herself. Oh Luna, I just hope-, wait, you don't suppose...?"

Both princesses exchanged looks at the realization.

"Oh no, we got to find her to sort this out, where is she?" Celestia asked.

"From what I've been hearing, she's seized control over Manehattan and its entire police force. There's even a rumor going around there that she plans on capturing Ponyville before coming here," Luna said.

"Then there's no time to waste! We must dispatch the Royal Guard and alert Mayor Appleseed at once!" Celestia commanded. Luna nodded before heading on out the door. She was then stopped when Celestia asked her a question.

"Luna, how did you raise the moon without me lowering the sun for you?"

"Well, you've been out for quite a while so I had to lower it myself. I won't lie, it was a bit of a struggle doing so," Luna said.

"Thank you Luna," Celestia said before her sister left the room. Once she was sure she was alone, Celestia headed out onto her balcony and looked up at the starry night sky.

"Oh Twilight, please don't be that mare," Celestia whispered to herself.

•••

Manehattan

What once was a small town had blossomed into a great, powerful, and successful city through a thousand years of progress. It had once been a place where ponies would come to do business or simply come and sightsee. Now, it had practically gone to Tartarus.

The citizens there were in chains, forced into harsh labor. Wether to build defenses around the city or to simply do whatever their new leader told them to do. None of them were able to leave or even escape the downed city since the majority of Black Iron's guards kept patrolling around the it. They knew what the risks were in trying to escape. It got to the point to where they simply gave up on all hopes of freedom, and salvation.

They had to work until they dropped. If they didn't comply with their ruler's orders, then they were as good as dead.

Black Iron and Maxspell observed the city below from city hall. In the distance, they could see several of Celestia's guards around Manehattan. Both mares moved away from the windows. Black Iron then took a seat on her makeshift throne her gaurds made out of the former mayor's chair. The guards also turned the office into a throne room, decorating it with valuable items fit for royalty.

In the mean time, Longspear went rummaging through the mayor's desk. All he could find were documents and important bills that had never been signed, or vetoed. He then came across a drawer filled with cigars. He decided to grab one and popped it in his mouth.

"Eh, Equestria is going to hell anyway, so why not?" he thought as he lit the cigar. After taking in a breath, he immediately spat out the cigar and started coughing up black smoke that looked that of a dragon's.

"Ah... fuck me!... what kind of... brand are these!... there awful! I'm surprised... that old coot... didn't die sooner...!" he said in between coughs. Maxspell and Black Iron noticed, and all they did was give Longspear an annoyed glare.

"Longspear, quit goofing off and help us plan a way on how we are going to get passed Celestia's goons! They have us barricaded within this city, and we need to move on with our master plan!" Maxspell commanded. Longspear ignored her as he continued coughing up all the smoke from his lungs. He then grabbed the cigar and tossed it out the shattered window. Once he was sure all the smoke was out, he went to join several guards who were trying to open a wall safe. Maxspell and Black Iron also ignored him and went back to more pressing matters.

"Well, as I was saying, we need to find a way around those brutes, if we are to advance on to the capital," Maxspell said. Both mares then went into deep thought. After a while of thinking, an idea suddenly came to Black Iron. One that she would hope to work.

"I believe I might have an idea!" she said with a bit of enthusiasm in her voice. This filled Maxspell with excitement. She then returned her gaze towards Longspear, who was still trying to crack open the safe along with Ironhoof and several other guard members.

"Longspear, would you and Ironhoof please stop messing around and get over here!" she said forcefully. Ironhoof nodded and marched over to the two mares. Longspear rolled his eyes before trotting over to them.

"Ok, so what's the plan?" Maxspell asked.

A smile crept onto Black Iron's face of what she was about to tell them.

•••

The night had fallen upon the land. It was pitch black, considering that the moon couldn't provide it with its blueish glow due to the approaching thunderstorms. The only light there was, was the light that was emanating from the city. All of Celestia's Royal Guards had fallen asleep. Some stayed awake to cover the shifts they'de been assigned. All they did was just standing around guarding their fellow guards. One stallion, however kept his eyes focused on the city. One of the guards took notice of him and decided to confront him.

He went up and saluted. "Permission to speak freely Captain?" he asked formally.

"Permission granted, and at ease Private," The Captain replied.

"Any detectable movement Captain?"

"Nope. Nothin' ta report, yet. Although, ya know what's strange, all that aye been seein' are the enemy patrols and the enslaved civilians. Ah mean, we've been out here for several days now, an so far, there hadn't been any large enemy group movements, no... no enemy transports goin' in an out of the city, nothin',"

"I still don't understand why we can't go in and take whoever it is who took over Manehatten down?" the young private said.

"Because, we got explicit orders from the princess statin' that we do not interfere or else they might start harmin' the civilians. We are authorized to attack only when they are killin' the civilians... or us."

That last sentence sent chills up the private's spine. The Captain took notice of it.

"Listen son, don't you worry about nothin'. Just stick to your training and you'll make it outta here in one piece like we always do. So long as ya hold on ta that rifle there," he said, pointing at the private's assault rifle slung across his waist. He then nodded, gave a salute to his superior, and returned to his shift. The Captain also returned his gaze towards the city when suddenly, all the lights there were turning off. From the street lights to the lights in the office buildings, all of them were going out until the area was officially pitch black. Only the flashes of light from the lightning provided small glimpses of the city.

The old stallion quickly took out his binoculars and switched on the night vision. He looked out into the city to see if he could find anything. At first nothing, but as he started zooming in, he noticed the silhouette of a pony standing on the roof of one of Manehattan's tallest buildings. He continued zooming in so he could get a better focus on it. What he saw shocked him a bit.

Black Iron stood firmly in place on the ledge of the tall skyscraper. With both her horn, and the irises of her eyes aglow, she could see the guards out in the distance. She saw them scurrying around in the dark, trying to comprehend the situation. She then flew up into the stormy sky in hopes of blending in with the darkness around her and turned west towards an open field. She charged up the magic in her horn and fired onto the open ground. What followed was an enormous explosion. If the guards ponies didn't notice the lights going out in the city, then the big explosion surely did.

"Come on, take the bait!" Black Iron thought nervously to herself.

All of the guards below were frantically trying to get their gear ready. As for The Captian, he simply stood there watching the entire show with a smirk on his face.

"Ah Black Iron, ya crazy girl ya, what are ya plannin' there lass," he thought to himself before turning his attention towards his fellow guards. "Go an' investigate the source of that explosion. Aerial team, ah want ya ta get an aerial view of the area from above, now MOVE MOVE MOVE!!!" he commanded. All of the guards did what he told them to do and were off. The Captain then returned his gaze towards Black Iron through his binoculars, only to find that she was gone.

"What?! Where she go?!" he said as he frantically searched for her in the night sky.

•••

"I was really hoping we weren't going to come back down here. Aw shit that smells!" Longspear complained while walking through the sewer tunnel. Maxspell simply gave him an annoyed glare.

"Would you quit your bellyaching and get a move on! And that goes out to all of you too!" she said, referring to the hundreds of Black Iron's Royal Guard ponies. They complied with the command and began marching faster.

"How long is it til' we reach The Ponyville section of the sewers?" Longspear asked. Maxspell got a map out of her saddlebags and looked to see how much of a distance they were.

"About...... 20 miles straight ahead."

Longspear moaned at that as they continued behind her lead.

"Once all this is over, I'm spending the next few weeks trying to scrub all this gunk off me,"

Maxspell snickered and found joy in her accomplice's suffering as she continued on.

•••

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Any errors are accepted, always room for improvement
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Author's Note

Hey guys!

Sorry for the long update. Been busy these last few weeks, what with all these final exams I need to do. Thankfully I was able to get this one up. Hope you enjoy, and I have no idea when I'll get the next chapter ready.

~From your number 1 and 03 pony, Pony 03

Chapter 8: Blasts from the Past

"We're here," Maxspell said. They arrived at The Ponyville section of the sewers. Longspear was at the brink of passing out from not only the stench, but from holding his breath for a long time. Maxspell turned to address her commands to the guards.

"Alright everyone, head over to a ponyhole," Maxspell commanded. All of the guards went and did what they were told. They all separated into groups of three or four and stood near the ladders that led up to the surface. They waited patiently with their weapons gripped tightly in their hooves for their next command. Maxspell, along with Longspear and Ironhoof also stood near a ladder under a sewer cover.

"Now wait on my command," she said with anticipation.

•••

Mayor Appleseed sat at her desk, trying to deal with all the problems happening in her city lately. She's already been told that Black Iron's forces were coming to her city, she just didn't know when. She's had to evacuate her citizens out of the place to keep them from getting injured, or worse. Feeling exhausted, she stood up, and trotted up towards the open window.

Looking down into the city below, she watched Celestia's Royal Guards patrolling the streets. They would go a great length in protecting not just The Princess, or Equestria, but to make sure every pony stays safe from any danger. As for the pegasus guards, they were clearing away all the clouds above, revealing the early morning sunrise.

Running her hoof through her long, red mane, in hopes of helping her relax a bit.

"Get it together Appleseed, ya got nothin' ta worry about. Ya already evacuated the city, an The Princess's Royal Guards are here keepin it safe. Why, ah bet they've already seized control over at Manehattan. An plus, that there Black Iron's got another thing common' if she messes with me an ma fellow ponies," Appleseed told herself. She continued looking down into the city when something caught her eye. She thought she saw the metal sewer cover move.

•••

"Wait for it," Maxspell said while peeking out of the metal cover. She waited until the guards standing close by had passed. Just then, something hit the center of the ground hard, creating a cloud of dust and debris. Once it had settled, it revealed to be Black Iron. This was the signal. Maxspell turned towards the guards to let them know.

"NOW!"

•••

Appleseed was shocked to see Black Iron down below, but what really surprised her was seeing ponies jumping up out of the sewers. It was something she didn't see coming.

"Well played Black Iron, well played, but if ya want ma city, yer gunna have ta pry it out a ma cold, dead, hooves!" she said as she moved towards one of the drawers and took a .45 magnum revolver with a carving of an apple on the handle.

She then flipped her desk over to provide cover, and then quickly began barricading the door with whatever furniture she could find. After doing so, she quickly moved behind the desk, with her pistol held tightly in her hooves. She also took off her ancestors hat and held it close to her chest.

"Oh Apple family, with Celestia as ma witness, I swear to ya that I won't let any pony mess with our city. I just hope ah don't have ta suffer for it." She prayed nervously.

•••

Black Iron casually trotted through the streets of Ponyville as if nothing was happening around her. She really didn't have to worry, considering her royal guards surround her in order to protect her when she arrived.

As she continued on down the road, she passed by The Ponyville Library. She then noticed something that struck odd to her. It wasn't the shear size of it, nor the oak tree sitting on top, but the statue standing in front of it.

It resembled a pony that looked both oddly, and yet, strikingly familiar.

That pony, looked just like her.

Her gaze couldn't tear away from the monument. She knew it looked just like her, but then again, it didn't.

Unlike Black Iron, the statue of her didn't have any armor. But other than that, the resemblance was still there. They both had a horn, wings, and the same physical features.

Just then, Black Iron began to get a migraine. She clenched her eyes tight while rubbing her temple with her hoof, when suddenly, she began to see a faint vision of something in her mind. They were very quick, but she could see some faint images of the same mare from the statue.

After a few seconds, her head stopped hurting, and the faint vision was gone. When she opened her eyes, she saw her guards staring at her with confused expressions on their faces.

"Are you alright your majesty?" one of the guards asked.

"Oh um, yea... I just have a headache, that's all," Black Iron replied.

•••

She heard sounds coming in on the other side of the door. Sounds of ponies screaming for their lives. It lasted for several minutes until everything fell silent. It stayed that way for a while, until there was a knock on the door, then it turned into a loud banging. Finally, an explosion emanated from the other side of the room. Appleseed knew who that could have been. Placing her hat on top of her head and taking a deep breath, Appleseed jumped up from behind the desk, and aimed her gun at her adversary. When she saw who it was, she felt chills run up her spine.

"A-alright p-partner, I-I hate ta use force on ya, b-but after what y-you've been pullin, y-you leave me no choice but ta use this!" Appleseed said trying to keep her aim steady. When she met Black Iron's gaze, she noticed something odd about her. She looked as if she were in pain. Her eyes were tightly shut. She rubbed her head with her hoof.

In her head, she once again saw flashes of the purple mare, only this time, she saw her with another pony that resembled Appleseed. It was as if she were saying flashbacks of the two mares spending quality times together as friends.

What did those visions mean, who was that purple alicorn, and why was she seeing flashes of her in her mind.

While Black Iron continued going through what looked like a mental breakdown, Appleseed continued staring at her with a confused expression on her face.

"Um... you alright there hun?" she asked.

She didn't know what to do, whether to end her right there on the spot, or help her. Then something caught her attention. She heard voices outside of the office entrance.

"What are you waiting for?! Kill her!!!"

"Are you crazy?! Can't you see she's in pain! We have to help her!"

"If she doesn't kill that blasted country excuse of a mayor, than I will!"

Moving her sights away from Black Iron, Appleseed shot several rounds from her gun into the wall next to the doorway. She knew she hit her mark when she heard someone cry in pain and agony. Unfortunately, it was enough to snap Black Iron out of her mental trauma and focused her magic towards Appleseed.

In an instant, she fired a deadly magical blast at the earth pony. Right when the blast was a few inches away from Appleseed, she whispered something to herself.

oh buck!

The blast was so powerful, it blasted Appleseed through the wall and down towards the city streets. Even though The Ponyville City Hall wasn't as tall as the one in Manehattan, it was still enough to potentially kill her.

Her body crashed into a parked chariot, breaking her fall.

She felt so many levels of pain all over her body. The magic that was shot into her burned and ate away at her skin as if someone had dumped acid all over her.. Parts of her mane, tail, and her entire coat were singed. Her family revolver that was still in her hoof had slid off and fell to the ground.

She started seeing the world swirl around her, until her vision began being consumed by darkness.

She decided to just simply slip away into a never ending slumber; no longer being able to wake up, and why would she. She's done the best she could to defend her city. The one her family has lived in for generations ever since its founding centuries ago.

Now, she would be with them. No longer tied down to this Earth.

Closing her eyes, she fell back on the broken carriage, enduring a slow, agonizing, painful death.

•••

Black Iron looked down towards Appleseed's dying body. She felt chills run up her spine. Normally, she'd have no problem taking the life of some pony, but this felt different. It felt as if she had just killed an old friend from long ago. She even felt tears beginning to form. It wasn't until Maxspell and Longspear approached her that she wiped away the tears from her eyes with her magic.

"Great work Black Iron! At this rate, we'll be at Canterlot in no time! An soon The Princesses will soon meet their downfall!" Maxspell said triumphantly while trying to heal her wounds Appleseed inflicted on her. Longspear simply turned away, not wanting any part of it. Black Iron finally moved away from the window, and followed Maxspell out of the office. Longspear soon followed right behind them.

•••

"Your highness! I bring tragic news!" a guard said as he came bursting into the throne room. Celestia had just finished with the morning court when he noticed the guard burst in.

"I see, and what news do you bring to me that is so urgent," Celestia said.

"Your highness, Black Iron just took over Ponyville just a while ago, and has even assassinated Mayor Appleseed!"

The Princess felt her heart skip a beat. Her eyes went wide with shock. She knew she was running out of time. Who knows when that crazed, evil mare will show up at her doorstep.

After taking a few deep breaths, she returned her attention towards the guard.

"Alright then, we know Black Iron will come for Canterlot, we just don't know when she'll strike. Private, I want you to alert all The Royal Officers and have them Summon every single Royal Guard member and have them form a defensive perimeter around Canterlot while also evacuating many of the citizens here. I don't want to have to find out the number of casualties being higher than what I wan it to be."

The guard bowed before heading towards the door, only to be stopped by The Princess.

"Oh, and Private, would you please go to the kitchen and tell the chef to bring up a slice of cake?"

The guard bowed once more before finally exiting the room.

•••

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Chapter 9: A Broken Kingdom

For the past few days, Black Iron has been experiencing a lot of nightmares. Some of them would be about Appleseed's death, but most of the time, she would see the purple alicorn. Unlike her visions of her, she would actually speak to Black Iron in her nightmares, but the only thing she would say is one question, one word.

Why?

Every night, Black Iron would wake up, drenched in sweat and gasping for air. Usually, she would simply cry herself back to sleep. Some nights, she would just look out the window and stare at the starry night sky, thinking about the events that had occurred, and the actions that she has done, up until the sun would begin to rise. On one occasion, she even went to Appleseed's office and, in hopes of her spirit listening, she would say to her that she was sorry, and beg for her forgiveness.

Sadly, the nightmares continued, and they were tearing her up inside.

•••

Black Iron's Royal Guards were ready to fight. They spent the last few days either brainwashing Celestia's guards, or simply training in combat. They were large in numbers, but were still outnumbered, and Maxspell was a little concerned.

Maxspell knew Celestia, and she knew she's had more than a millennium of life experience, and that included in defending during the war times long ago. But she figured their small army would be a simple diversion so she could use her secret weapon.

That weapon is the one and only thing powerful enough to stand a chance against The Princesses. She may be a princess, but to Maxspell, she's nothing more than a simple pawn in her little game of chess, and her opponent was Celestia herself, and right now, she had the upper hand.

All day, she spends her time making battle plans with Black Iron, Ironhoof, and several other royal officers. Just like before, Longspear would not want any part of it. Instead, he would simply stay behind the sidelines, only stepping in when Maxspell, or someone else needed assistance.

•••

After a few days of nonstop thinking and planning, they had finally formed their plan of action.

"Alright, after a long time of thinking, I believe I know just what to do!" Maxspell said excitedly.

"Ok, as we know, Celestia always has her Captain of her Royal Guard set up a magical barrier around Canterlot. She probably has hundreds of guards patrolling the city, the palace, and the entrances. Now according to what our scouts and undercover operatives have informed us, a train filled with supplies, and weaponry will be entering the city, which is the only time they will provide an opening in the barrier for it.

So the first thing we're going to do is have Black Iron sneak on the train until it arrives at the Grand Central Station. Once you're there, you'll use that cloaking spell I taught you to sneak past the guards. Hopefully your magic is powerful enough to fool their high-tech equipment! They're technology is powerful enough to spot a changeling in a crowd of ponies!"

Black Iron gulped at what Maxspell had told her. She felt drops of sweat stream down her face.

"Next, you're going to find the Captain of the Royal Guards and take him out, that way his defense shield will go down! That's when our forces will storm in in three groups just less than a mile away from Canterlot. They will serve as our diversion while you'll go and confront The Princesses."

Once Maxspell had finished speaking, Black Iron took in a deep breath before simply nodding in reply to her commander. Ironhoof replied with a salute before returning with his fellow royal officers.

Finally seeking his chance, Longspear went ahead and approached Maxspell.

"Maxspell, are you sure you know what you're doing?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Maxspell asked in reply.

"Well for one, you're dealing with The Princesses of Equestria! One of them might not have been around for a thousand years, but I can assure you that the eldest of the two has more than two thousand years of life experience, maybe more! Don't you think she has experience on how to defend her kingdom in the threat of an attack? And plus, why are you only having Black Iron fight the two alone? They outnumber not only her, but all of us in strength, numbers, weapons, and magical abilities! It's a two to one ratio there, and that's not fair!"

Maxspell simply chuckled at her assistance's worry. "Longspear, darling, you worry too much! Trust me, it's like a game of chess, and The Princesses are going to freak when I bust out my secret weapon! And plus, she's also an alicorn. With that armor on, she'll be as powerful as they are! Now, shouldn't you go and get fitted for armor plating yourself?" Maxspell asked, shoving Longspear out of the tent. She then went and approached Black Iron who was going over the plans on the table.

"Are you going to be ok?" she asked, in a soothing, motherly tone.

"I'm just a little nervous. I'm going to go up against The Princesses. Do you think I might stand a chance against them?" Black Iron asked in a worried, nervous tone.

"Look, I think you're strong enough to take down those rotten monarchs. No matter what happens, I know you won't back down, Alright?" Said Maxspell.

"Alright." Black Iron replied, comprehending with what her mentor was saying.

"I think I'm ready to take my rightful place as ruler of Equestria! And to bring an end to the dreaded Royal Sisters!" Black Iron said with a hint of pride in her tone. It was the kind of attitude Maxspell liked to hear.

"Excellent, now go and get some rest, for we attack at dawn!" replied Maxspell.

•••

For the last few days, Celestia has been preparing for the potential attack on her kingdom. She has evacuated her city, set up defenses and traps everywhere, and even called in all of her remaining Royal Guards. All of this has driven her into having sleepless nights almost every night. She's even stopped eating in order to use every minute possible in either setting up the defenses, or helping with the guards.

Luna has been just as worked up as her sister. Both Princesses were exhausted, and on the brink of passing out. The guards have noticed that and pleaded for them to rest, only to be rejected and sent back to work, but they were right, and they knew it.

The problem was, if they went to sleep, there was the chance of their city being attacked, and them not being there to help. But as the days went on, and still no attack, and the train with the surplus due to arrive in three days, the two sisters decided to give each other shifts. One would watch the other while they slept. During their shifts, they would also take the time to eat while keeping an eye out for any attacks.

After all the hard work they'd put in, they deserve the few hours of sleep.

•••

Staring out into the distance, one of the scouts spotted a train coming in over the horizon through his binoculars.

"Bingo!" the scout said to himself. "This is Eagle Eye to Black Iron, come in,"

"This is Black Iron, what's the situation? over," Black Iron replied through her headset.

"The train is now in my sights, commence the next phase in the plan, over,"

"This was the moment Black Iron had been waiting for. Flying up out of her hiding place in a tree, she quickly activated her new cloaking spell Maxspell had taught her. In an instant, she disappeared. Fortunately for her, only she was able to see herself, unlike every other pony.

"At first, when she managed to perform the spell, she thought she did something wrong until some pony had given her a mirror. When she looked at it, she didn't see her reflection, which meant that she did it right.

Now, she wasn't sure if the spell worked since she doesn't have a mirror, and she can't check if she casted a shadow since the sun hadn't risen yet.

Taking a big gulp and a deep breath, she then flew after the train, in hopes of no pony finding her.

After several minutes of flying, she managed to catch up to the train, and sneak inside the caboose. There, she sat and waited while the train carried her towards her destination.

•••

"Private Starstrong, status report," said The Captain from Manehatten.

"Well, so far we haven't had any signs of an attack yet from the enemy, all of our defenses, including your magical barrier, and traps are up and running, and the train carrying all of our supplies has an ETA of half an hour Captain Strong Heart," replied Startrong.

"Excellent lad, at this rate, it would be impossible for Black Iron ta take Canterlot. Now, go an get yerself fitted inta yer armor laddie, cause you are gunna fight thee. Despite yer wee size lad, you'll become a powerful juggernaut in no time!" Strong Heart said. Starstrong faintly grinned and saluted before heading off towards the armory deep within the barracks.

Strong Heart continued standing watch at the barrack's watch tower. He then called upon his magic to further strengthen the barrier surrounding the large city. Staring out into the horizon, he could see the sun's rays peeking out. He could also see the train carrying all of their weapons, ammunition, armors, canons, and even battle carriages. Everything that he and his comrades needed in fighting against Black Iron's small army.

"Let see ya try an escape from this lassie," Strong Heart said as he continued staring at the train. The very train carrying his adversary.

•••

During the long, excruciating train ride towards the capital city, Black Iron took the time to sabotage the Royal Guard's weapons and artillery, that way her small army will have a fair chance when they go up against them.

Looking out the window of one of the train cars, she was able to catch a perfect view of Canterlot. It was bigger than she had expected. She saw skyscrapers all along the bottom of a mountain. Some looked as if they were made of steel, others made from stone. It was a step up from Manehatten of how big and breathtaking it was. Everything looked new and modern, except for a certain area of the city.

On the side of the mountain, she saw what looked to be like a city of its own. She figured it must have been part of the old district of Canterlot. She could consider that the buildings on the side of the mountain looked like they were made out of marble.

Black Iron also noticed a castle deep within the old part of the city. That must have been where the princesses are stationed at.

She then got a feeling of déjà vu as she continued looking at the old district. It was as if she's been there before. But she just set aside the feeling and focused on the matter at hoof.

She quickly took note of the large magical barrier surrounding the city. She remembered how she had to find the captain controlling the barrier and take them out.

•••

It didn't take long until the train reached its destination at the train station. Without hesitation, Black Iron snuck out through the caboose of the train and made her past the guards that were checking the shipment and into the station.

She continued sneaking past guards as she tried to find her way out of the station. Even though no pony could see her thanks to her cloaking spell, she still raised the risk of bumping into something that could cause unwanted attention.

As she snuck passed the empty ticket booth, she heard voices coming her way. Acting quickly, she managed to sneak inside the large booth. Ducking behind the counter, she sat there quietly, waiting for the guards to pass. Although luck was not on her side since what sounded like there were two guards engaged in a conversation, not far from where Black Iron had hidden.

"I mean yea sure he's okay, but to tell you the truth, he can be a bit crazy! Ever since he's been promoted to captain, he's been working us to death. Why, if we ever go to war, I think he's gunna be the one to kill me!" One of the guards said.

"Well we kinda are, so that might just happen. Speaking of which, where is Strong Heart?" The other guard asked.

"He's at the barracks watch tower, keeping an eye out for Black Iron, while also keeping the barrier up. I spoke with him just a while ago, and he told me to put this hunk of scrap metal on. Says that I'll be 'A powerful juggernaut in no time!' Can you believe it?!" He said imitating Strong Heart's accent. The second guard chuckled at that.

"Wow, I guess he is a bit crazy! Well, come on Starstrong, we better help bring that shipment back to the barracks before Captain Strong Heart serve our heads on a platter to The Princesses," the second guard said as they both headed off on their way.

Black Iron slowly took a peek outside of the ticket booth to make sure the coast was clear. Thankfully it was.

As she got out, she recalled what that guard said earlier.

"Okay, so I need to find this Captain Strong Heart guy if I'm going to bring the barrier down," Black Iron thought aloud.

After a while of wandering around, she managed to find the exit.

Finally out of their, Black Iron took the time to catch her breath and took in her surroundings. Looking around, she saw many sky scrapers towering over her. Then she realized she was in the new district of Canterlot. Looking around, she found a map of the entire city of Canterlot on the wall of the station. Looking at it, she searched for where the barracks might be. After a minute of searching, she managed to find it on the map. Sadly it was in the older district, which meant that it was in the part of the city that was on the side of the mountain.

Giving a long sigh, she extended her wings and took flight towards the upper level of the city.

After a while of flying, she made it to the city main entrance. There were several patrols, but she decided to pace herself and let the cloak do the rest.

As she continued on, she trotted passed a donut shop. Making a complete stop, she turned and looked at the shop. Suddenly, the pain in her head returned, and in her mind, she saw the exact same donut shop, and sitting at a table outside of the shop were six ponies and a small dragon. Amongst them was the purple alicorn, laughing and having a good time with what looked like her friends. A few seconds later, the vision vanished and the pain had gone away.

Black Iron opened her eyes and saw several guards passing by her, unaware of her presence. It took a while for her to tear her gaze away from the shop and to continue on towards the barracks. But along the way, she continued seeing visions. Some looked like they're from different points in time. From the times when the alicorn was a filly to when she was a full grown mare. It was so excruciating that she had to pick up the pace.

Finally she arrived at the barracks. Now the next thing she had to do was find this so called Captain Strong Heart. She took the time to come up with a plan on how to complete her objective. It didn't take long to form one.

Her eyes fell upon a lone guard passing by on patrol. She quickly ducked behind a nearby building, and aimed her horn at the guard's head. She charged up her horn and fired a bolt of magic at the gaurd's head. Fortunately, it hit right on target. It took merely a few seconds for the magic to take control over the guards mind.

Black Iron then used her magic to communicate with the guard through their minds.

"You are now under my control. Do you understand?" Black Iron asked. The guard replied with a nod.

"Good, now I want you to know that I can see and hear everything your eyes and ears pick up. Now, I want you to go and find Captain Strong Heart. Do you read me?" The Guard replied with a nod and trotted over towards the barracks. Black Iron closed her eyes for a few seconds, and when she reopened them, she saw herself trotting up towards the barracks, except it wasn't really her, but instead it was the guard. She was seeing everything he was seeing.

The guard continued on through the barracks. He went through many twists and turns within it. He also passed by rooms that were filled with weapons, others with armors, ammunition, or sleeping chambers. He even passed by a door that led to a large open area that had a bunch of guards training. That must have been the barrack training grounds. Judging by their numbers, they're going to be ready for any attack.

It didn't take long for the guard to reach the top of the watchtower. However Black Iron didn't notice since her mind had drifted off someplace else. There she saw two other guard ponies standing watch. One was wearing the simple armor of the Royal Guard. The other one's armor did look different than the other. His was purple and his helmet had a long plume running down vertically. That had to be him.

"Okay, now bring Captain Strongheart to me," Black Iron ordered. Her guard replied with a nod, and approached Strong Heart.

"Captain, your presence is needed at once!" the guard said. Strong Heart gave a confused expression.

"On who's behalf laddie?" Strong Heart replied.

Black iron bit her lip, but managed to come up with something that seemed believable.

"The Princess sir," the guard told him. Strong Heart seemed a bit surprised at that.

"Well then, we better hurry along, we don't want ta keep da we princess waitin'. Go on, I'll follow."

Leaving the other guard to stand watch, The two went back down into the barracks. It didn't take long before they exited the place. Black Iron's guard continue leading the captain, unaware of his fate.

The two stopped at a nearby building not far from the barracks. "We're here," the guard said. Strong Heart looked very confused.

"Laddie, this ain't Canterlot Castle, an I don't see a princess anywhere in sight."

Right on cue, Black Iron disabled her cloak, causing her to look as if she appeared from nowhere. "There is one now," she said.

Strong Heart was shocked when he realized he'd been tricked and led into a trap. "Well played lassie, I'm surprised you were able ta trick somepony like me, but you're forgettin an important detail," he said when pulled his gun out and fired at her. She fell back, but quickly got up seeing that the bullet didn't do anything. Strong Heart was surprised and was about to fire again before being tackled by the guard standing next to him.

"What do ya think you're doin?!" He yelled from his spot on the ground, and the guard on top of him. Black Iron slowly approached him and used her magic to pick up the pistol Strong Heart dropped. She then aimed it in between his eyes.

"Look, I just want you to know, that this is nothing personal. I just need your little barrier spell disabled," she said, aiming at his horn. Strong Heart tried fighting back, but somehow couldn't. Then he realized he couldn't move his legs. Looking down at them, they had been magically restrained. Black Iron only found it amusing watching him suffer.

"Don't worry, I'll be sure to send your resignation notice to The Princesses, as well as the entire Royal Guard. Any last words?"

Strong Heart laid there helpless. All he could do was to wait for the inevitable.

"Do you're worst Black Iron, you can take ma life, but y'all neva take over Canterlot. The Princesses will surely send ya back to wherever hellish place ya came from! Long live Celestia! Long live THE PRINCESSES!!!"

That sparked a flame of rage deep within Black Iron. Without any hesitation, she pulled the trigger, ending his life.

In no time, the barrier began coming down. Throwing the gun away, she went off on her way to confront The Princesses. To put an end to this once and for all

•••

Several miles away from Canterlot, Maxspell kept watch from within the top of a tree, waiting for the barrier spell to go down. She and the rest of the small army were in their positions, waiting for the signal to charge. Longspear was with Maxspell, being forced to sit there and wait.

"Maxspell, how do you know this is going to work. She's been there for more than an hour and that shield is still up. How do you know she's not gunna back out?" Longspear asked.

"Because I know her, and I know she wouldn't back out, unlike you," Maxspell replied coldly. Just then, she saw the barrier going down.

"See, what did I tell you," she said mockingly. At this point, Longspear didn't care. What he did care about however, was Black Iron and the fate of Equestria. He knew by the end of this, they'll probably be executed for causing so much trouble.

Both ponies jumped down from the tree to meet up with Ironhoof, and the rest of the guards. They arrived at the edge of a nearby forest. Ironhoof peeked out and saw the two had arrived.

"Is it time?" he asked. Maxspell replied with a nod. An evil grin grew on his face as he pulled his radio out.

"This is General Ironhoof, on my mark..... CHARGE!!!"

A split second later, hundreds of ponies charged out of the forest. All of them heading towards their objective.

Maxspell simply stood there with an evil grin on her face.

"It won't be long now!"

•••

"I won't be gone for too long. Are you sure you can handle things while I'm gone?" Celestia asked as she was putting on her own armor. Luna, already in hers, gave a reassuring nod.

"Don't worry my sister. I'll be sure to take care of Canterlot while you go handle things with at The Crystal Empire." Replied Luna.

Celestia gave a warm smile as she placed her helmet on her head. "You've always been there when I needed you."

She then walked out onto her balcony, and extended her wings and took off. Using her magic, she opened a hole in the barrier to let herself out.

As for Luna, she then made her way to the throne room. There she sat on the throne, while several guards flanked her left and right. All she could do is sit there and wait for her sister to return. She knew that the guards would risk their lives to protect this place, and plus, with that magical barrier, their is no way for any pony to get in.

"Everything is going to be fine" she told herself.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed something wrong. Looking out the windows, she saw that the barrier was going down. Her jaw fell as well. Something's wrong.

"Private, go down to the barracks and go see if Captain Strong Heart is okay," Luna ordered the guard to her right. He replied with a salute and galloped out of the throne room.

Taking deep breaths, Luna tried to keep herself under control.

"Everything is going to be fine. It's probably just something wrong with his magic. He probably strained himself from using it so much of it for so long. There's nothing to worry about."

Just then, several explosions went off in the new district of Canterlot. At this point, Luna was officially aggravated.

"Oh you got to be kidding me!" She said annoyingly. She turned to the remaining guards to give them their new orders.

"I want the majority of your forces to go deal with whatever is attacking us over at the new district, but be sure to leave a few guards here," Luna commanded. The guards saluted before galloping off out of the throne room, leaving Luna alone there, trying to keep herself under control.

•••

The New District of Canterlot was like a mirror version of Manehattan, as well as Ponyville and many other cities in Equestria. The only difference was that it was more classy, and sophisticated, where many of Equestria's greatest ponies lived. Everything there was amazing and great.

Now, it was a full blown war zone.

Bullets were flying everywhere. Sounds of explosions, gunfire, and ponies dying were happening everywhere.

Even though Celestia's Royal Guards were large in numbers, they still seemed to be losing. Some of their guns kept jamming, their battle carriages would malfunction, and their canons would blow up on their own.

Black Iron's forces didn't seemed to be having any troubles. If they ran out of ammo, they can get some more from some pony who had already been killed. If some pony on their side died, a unicorn can spread their dark magic to someone on their side to fight for them. All in all, there was a large possibility of Celestia's Royal guards losing.

Because of that, the older district of Canterlot laid barren. The streets and buildings lay empty, and not a single guard could be found.

This was a good thing for Black Iron, since she didn't have to worry about any pony stopping her.

She stood outside of The Royal Palace alone. Her guard had left to go join the others in battle. Taking a deep breath, she slowly made her way into the castle.

The main hall of the castle looked elegant and classy. Everything was fit for a princess.

As she continued through the castle in an attempt to search for the throne room. Along the way, she kept getting visions every time she would look at a certain area. But the one area that gave her the most visions was the main hall that led towards the throne room. Every time her gaze would fall upon one of stained glass windows, she would see a real life event of what the windows would represent. Most of them would have the purple one.

After a while of excruciating pain and sheer force, Black Iron managed to reach the doors to the throne room. Upon entry, her gaze fell upon a blue alicorn sitting on a throne in front of her.

Black Iron knew this pony. She's seen her in a few of her visions, and was told who she was by Maxspell. It was Princess Luna, Celestia's little sister.

Even though she didn't have as much will, hatred, and purpose with Luna as much as she did with Celestia, Black Iron wouldn't take the chance on underestimating her.

"I didn't expect you to be here alone without you're beloved sister, Princess Luna, or should I even call you that?" Black Iron

"Well, It seems you care more about my sister, rather than me. Am I not worthy enough for you?" Luna replied.

"Oh, it's just that Celestia seems too 'outshine' more than you do. I mean, she's been praised for more than a millennium, especially when you were not around to be with her."

"What do you speak of?!" Luna furiously questioned.

"Come on, it was no surprise ponies liked her more than you way back when became Nightmare Moon. I am not even surprised that she banished you for a thousand years."

Luna felt a fiery rage burn deep within her, just for being reminded of the mistake she made long ago.

"Although I will be honest and say that say that I don't blame you becoming jealous of her. Celestia loved tending to their every whim, with her pathetic love and compassion. Always has, and thus, won the hearts of many. As for you Luna, you were simply left with the duty of raising and lowering the moon. No pony knew you, no pony even cared about you. Tell me, has that ever changed from before you were banished to today?"

Every fiber of her body wanted to rip that wretched pony's tongue, as well as her heart out, however, Luna managed to herself hold back.

"You are wrong about Celestia, and about me. Ponies today appreciate me as much as my sister now than a two thousand years ago! And there was never anything wrong with Celestia's way of ruling!"

"That is something only you and your sister would say. Her love and compassion over these ponies is simply poisoning their minds, thus, seeing you nothing more than a joke. Only ruling with an iron hoof will get these ponies know who they are dealing with. That way they can give you the respect you deserve. I guess you found that out back then when you saw the truth like me."

"The only thing I saw was darkness and hatred, and especially lies when I became that wretched mare. And thats a path I will NEVER go down again, unlike you Black Iron! Now I will kindly ask you to leave before I personally escort you out." Luna said firmly. Black Iron however, only smiled as she slammed the throne room doors shut. Her red irises in her eyes began to glow, as well as her horn.

"I can't leave now, I still have much to discuss with you," she said as she slowly approached the throne.

•••

Celestia was on her way back from The Crystal Empire. She was right about how it wouldn't take her too long. As she approached Canterlot from the sky, she saw smoke rise from the horizon. She knew something was wrong.

As she got closer to the city, she also noticed that the magical barrier was down. She started feeling butterflies in her stomach. She called upon her magic and teleported over toward the city.

Looking down, she saw that her royal guards were either dead or helping the enemy. She knew this could only mean one thing. She once again used her magic to teleport to the palace. She then appeared in one of the castle's grand halls.

Fire and smoke arose from the city outside the windows. Celestia continued through the battered halls of the palace. Blood stained the walls all over the hall. Just the sight of that sent chills up to her neck. Somehow, she's seen something like this somewhere before, she just couldn't put h hoof on it at the moment.

She then heard distant laughter coming down the halls. She quickly took off to where the laughter was coming from. After passing several twists and turns through the palace, she arrived at the source of the laughter, the throne room.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and went inside. What she saw made her blood run cold. She saw Black Iron sitting down on her throne, with Luna lying on the floor in front of her. Her body was all battered and bruised. Blood ran down from several cuts and open wounds. Not even her armor could protect her. Parts of it were scattered all over the throne room.

Celestia felt like her world was going numb. She couldn't tear her gaze away from the two. Black Iron also couldn't take her gaze away from Celestia. From the first moment she saw her, she instantly started seeing the visions. As she clenched her eyes shut, in her mind, she saw visions of Celestia with the purple alicorn as well as the other five ponies. She couldn't help but feel like this were not visions, but more like memories. She actually felt a little comfort within them,

Suddenly, something changed about them. The dark magic within her were poisoning them, making Celestia look and feel like the enemy Black Iron hated. The pain in her head increased. Purple smoke emanated from her eyes. All the anger, jealousy, and hatred were now being enhanced, and taking hold of Black Iron. Her coat, then changed to a dark gray, and when she opened her eyes, the whites of her eyes were now green will the sides were emitting smoke. Her irises were still glowing red.

Looking down, she furrowed her eyebrows as she saw Celestia, who had snapped out of her gaze, and quickly approached her fallen sister. She wrapped her legs around her and held Luna in her embrace.

"Luna! Are you alright?" Celestia asked in a panicked state. The only response her sister gave were moaning sounds. Blood trickled from her nose as her eyes were rolled in the back of her head. Celestia thought for sure her sister was dead, but was thankful enough that she felt a pulse. Luna was still alive, hanging by a single thread.

Celestia was about to perform a healing spell when something grasped her entire body. She was lifted up and was carried away from her sister until she was face to face with Black Iron. She felt her heart skip a beat when she saw who it really was.

"Twilight, is that you?" Celestia asked nervously. Black Iron felt furry wash over for what her enemy had called her.

"For one, my name is Black Iron, and second, I came here to take what is rightfully mine!" She replied harshly.

"And that would be?"

"My throne!"

Celestia was shocked to hear what Black Iron had just said. She felt as if she had heard that before.

"I'm also here to rule this kingdom and help it rise up from the ashes you kept it in. I'll lead this place for better than you ever have in a thousand years! Black Iron added while stomping her metal platted hooves on the ground for emphasis. Celestia tried to mask her nervousness in order to speak reason to her.

"Twilight, don't you remember me? This isn't like you. You're not an empress that's threatening to rule Equestria with an iron hoof. Don't you even remember who you are." Celestia asked calmly.

"As a matter of fact, I do remember you, and if memory serves, I faintly do remember a little bit of my past. It may just be bits and pieces, but I'm going to tell you right now that am NOT the mare you once knew." Black Iron replied cold and flat.

"I also remember how you were supposedly friends with me, and that you poisoned me with your pathetic love, compassion, and worst of all, your friendship. Well I can assure you that you will no longer poison me with your lies, and also that I am no longer your friend."

Celestia felt as if she had been emotionally stabbed in the heart of what she had been told. Black Iron then turned Celestia's body, facing the windows.

"Let your burning kingdom be the last thing you see, and don't worry, I'll take good care of it for you." Back Iron said before turning Celestia back around. She then took out a magical dagger from behind her and floated it up in front of Celestia's fore head. "Its time that I put and end to this once and for all. Soon you will end up just like your pathetic sister, except that she will still be alive for just a little while longer."

Celestia now knew where she has seen this all before. She had seen this in her nightmares from a while back, only this time, it was happening in real life, thus, like in her dream, she panicked.

"Twilight, please! You don't have to do this! If there is anything I can do to make it up to you, I'll do it! Please don't let it end like this! I'm sorry!!!"

"The name is Black Iron," she said with a cold and cruel voice as she slowly continued moving the dagger closer to her.

Just then, Celestia remembered something very crucial to her situation. This was not a dream, which means that even though a normal dagger would mean no harm, a dagger of pure magic, would definitely kill her. But then, she remembered something else, she could probably fight back, and with her armor, that makes her slightly more powerful than Black Iron.

She then used her magic, and fired a bolt of it, and managed the hit Black Iron's eyes, stunning her, thus weakening the magical grip around Celestia. Using all the strength that she had, she was able to break free, and used her wings to fly a few feet away from her.

Black Iron recovered and saw what had happened. This enraged her. She unfolded her wings and shot up towards the ceiling until she was at eye level with Celestia. She transformed the small dagger into a long, black, magical sword.

Celestia knew where this was going. She didn't have a choice. If there was any way to get to Twilight deep down, it was to fight and defeat Black Iron. In response, Celestia used her magic to form a long golden sword.

In an instant, Black Iron launched herself at Celestia and swung her sword over to her. Celestia, however, managed to block her attack. Soon, the room was filled with the sounds of swords clashing.

Black Iron then swung her sword too wide, leaving an opening for an attack. Celestia took advantage of this, and managed to strike Black Iron in the side, causing her to fall back towards the ground. She quickly got up and shot a bolt of magic at Celestia.

She managed to block the shot with her sword, reflecting it off the blade, sending it across the room. Celestia floated back down to the floor, keeping a safe distance from Black Iron.

"Twilight, I don't wish to fight you. Please end this now, and I will guarantee your safety," Celestia said in form tone.

"Shouldn't it be me telling you to surrender? I'd never give in to a pony like you. You will be the one who falls!" Black Iron yelled as she charged at Celestia while swinging her sword at an arc. Celestia once again blocked it. The sound of metal clanging echoed throughout the throne room.

Celestia thrust her sword at Black Iron but she was able to dodge it by using her wings to fall back. She threw her sword at her opponent, but this time, the clash of metal against metal was Black Iron's sword against Celestia's armor. It was able to cut deep into the armor from the shear strike. Even though her armor could withstand anything, it was still an older model from a thousand years ago. It could not withstand something of equal power. In other words, she was vulnerable to Black Iron's magic.

Thus, in response, Celestia swung her blade against Black Iron and pressed her blade against hers in order to break through her defense, but Black Iron wouldn't give up that easy.

"I will not let you have my kingdom to rule with darkness and have ponies cower in fear." said Celestia.

"Typical, you care more about yourself, and your kingdom than others," Black Iron said through gritted teeth.

"You liar! How much of Nightmare Moon you remind me of! Only left with nothing but hatred and jealousy. Very well then, if you want my kingdom, your going to have to pry it out of my cold, dead hooves!"

"Don't worry, I will have that arranged," Replied Black Iron. With a turn of her blade, Celestia fell with her sword digging into the marble floor. She then proceeded by striking down on Celestia's helmet. The force of the blow sent it flying off while Celestia hit the ground hard. The blow left a nasty gash close to her left eye. Blood was trickling down the side of her head. Black Iron moved in closer to finish her assault when suddenly, Celestia got up, and using all the magic she could muster, fired a large blast of magic at Black Iron, sending her crashing through the window, and down several stories towards the streets

She crashed down on the pavement, leaving a small crater below her. Normally, an attack like that would be enough to kill a pony, but thanks to her armor, she was able to resist more than half the damage.

Looking up, Black Iron saw Celestia stumble towards the window high above. Despite her extreme headache and her blurry vision, she was able to heal up with the little bit of magic she had left and healed her lethal wound enough for her to survive.

She extended her wings and flew down to where Black Iron lay.

Black Iron saw Celestia approach her, and quickly formed an idea. She laid her head down and closed her eyes, making it seem like she had been knocked unconscious.

Celestia arrived at Black Iron's position, but kept her distance away from her. She saw her lay there motionless, and felt a bit worried.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"Question is," Black Iron said quietly. "WILL YOU BE?!" She said before she quickly jumped up and fired a strong bolt of magic at Celestia, sending her flying into a nearby office building.

Now she was in serious pain. She couldn't afford to withstand another hit like that. A majority of her armor had already been damaged or destroyed from the recent attack. It was now useless to her.

She took it off, revealing several cuts, wounds, bruises, and a lot of blood all over her body. She stumbled towards the large hole in the wall leading to the outside. She flew back down towards the ground, only to be met by a small building flying right towards her. Once again, she had to call upon her magic to form a small bubble around her.

It was strong enough to resist most of the damage being inflicted on it, but it was still too much, resulting in her magic to give out. She was then buried from all the rubble. Black Iron felt victorious at her latest accomplishment. Sadly, it was short lived. She saw Celestia digging herself out.

Enraged, she fired another shot of magic at her. Luckily for Celestia, the shot missed, giving herself time to escape.

After pushing away all the rubble, she spread her wings and took off into the air.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Black Iron asked mockingly as she shot up into the air in pursuit. She fired several shots, but Celestia kept dodging all of them. They flew around the buildings and through the streets of Canterlot, one pony after the other.

Celestia then attempted to lose her pursuer down below in the new district, but when they got there, she saw that the majority of her royal guards had lost to the enemy and were now under Black Iron's control.

As she flew past several sky scrappers. The guards below took notice of the chase above, and decided to help Black Iron by firing their weapons at Celestia. She might have been capable of dodging Black Iron's shots, but not so well with the enemy guards below. Several bullets dug deep into her body. The pain she was feeling almost made her crash into one of the buildings.

Without hesitating, she turned and flew back towards the old district. Once there, she continued evading in hopes of making herself harder target.

As for Black Iron, she felt as if she was about to strain her magic from constantly firing it.

"Face me you coward!" she called out. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw her sword lying on the street. She levitated it up to where she was at.

Looking out, she saw that Celestia had stopped to catch her breath more than a hundred feet away from her. Black Iron hoped that she wouldn't notice the oncoming threat considering the sword's thin size and lack of visibility from a distance.

Aligning her shot, she used her magic, and launched the blade with great force and high speed.

After taking a quick break to catch her breath, Celestia turned and noticed something was approaching her, however, considering how fast the object was going, she didn't have time to react.

After realizing what it was, it was too late. The blade had punctured through her stomach, and the other end was sticking out from her back

Suddenly, she lost all feeling in her wings and mid section. She fell limp fell down into the palace, crashing in through the ceiling and onto the throne room floor.

She saw darkness circling her vision. She didn't even know if she was dead at this point. As she struggled to keep her eyes open, she saw Black Iron land in front of her and slowly approached her.

"Look at every pony's beloved princess now," Black Iron said as she turned and bucked Celestia in the face.

"Soon I will be relieving this country from this great burden that lies before me. Now you know how I feel deep inside. Don't you have anything to say about that?" Black Iron said after forming another small magical dagger and pressed it against Celestia's temple.

"I... I just.. want you to know that.... you have always been... my closest friend. The best I had... in a long time. I'm sorry for not being there... to save you... when you were abducted. I'm sorry... for not being there... when you truly... needed me. I'm sorry," Celestia said through the pain she was enduring, both physical, and emotional. Black Iron only felt outraged for what she was hearing.

"Lies! You're not sorry! You never were! You never cared much about me, or your sister. Why do you think she became Nightmare Moon? Your actions are what caused us to become jealous. It's how you won the hearts of many that made us hate you. And that hatred made us grow stronger. Your sister could have been the true ruler every pony needed, but what do you do? First, you send her away for a thousand years, then later, you turn her back to her weak and pathetic self. Tell me, did you do that for her sake, or for the sake of you and your beloved kingdom?" Black Iron said in a sinister tone.

"It... it was something... I never wanted... to do. Its something... that I still think about... and.. regret to this day. She... was consumed... by the... darkness.... that consumed... you. I... just didn't have... a choice!" Celestia replied forcefully. Black Iron only smiled at that.

"Oh Celestia, you pathetic oaf you. I'm afraid you're wrong about that. And this is the very reason why you are just unfit to be the ruler. You just don't seem to see the obvious.You also don't have the will to do what others cannot. All you do is worry. Worry about your sister, your so-called friends, yourself even! How do you think I came this far? Compassion is the true enemy that defeats us all. So remember this: no compassion and no mercy. Do that, and no one would dare to stand up against you. That's how one progresses in life!" Black Iron replied.

Celestia remembered those exact words from her nightmare, and now, it looked like it was going to end the same way. Not with her waking up, but to actually dying at the hooves of her old friend. Black Iron continued pressing down on Celestia's head with the dagger. Blood began to trickle down her cheek.

"Good bye Celestia. Its been a pleasure knowing you. Say hello to Pennysacks and Appleseed for me. Oh and Captain Strong Heart as well," Black Iron said. She was finally going to bring an end to her enemy's rule, when suddenly, the doors to the throne room opened, both mares looked and were shocked to see who it was.

"Excellent! Well done Black Iron!"

"Maxspell?!" both ponies said in unison.

Surprised to see me, I see," Maxspell said in a perky mood. Longspear followed right behind her.

"I am... surprised. How... are you... still alive... after.. a thousand years?" Celestia replied painfully.

"Oh, you can thank your old friend Starswirl the Bearded for that," Maxspell replied.

"Well then... what are you... doing... here?"

"I just didn't want to miss my old rival be defeated by my own creation."

"What... do you mean.. your own... creation?" Celestia asked, but then immediately realized what she meant when she looked at Black Iron.

"You did this?"

"Indeed!"

"YOU!...... It was you... all along! The... ponynapping... the attacks... the murders... EVERYTHING!" Celestia said forcefully.

"We'll, look who's FINALY catching on!" Maxspell replied sarcastically.

"I should have known... you were behind... all this... but sadly... you were one... I least expected. Why?"

"Well I would tell you, but it's stuff you already know. I would talk about how you fired me and nearly had me sent to a the dungeon because you disapproved my actions and methods in magic. I would also go into wanting revenge and watching you suffer, but you're already get the point. So I started thinking, who would be a better leader than Celestia? At first I thought of your sister Luna, but she already tried and failed. Then I thought of Princess Cadance from a thousand years ago, but nopony was getting anywhere with her, and it would be a repeat with what KIng Sombra did, and he too failed. Finally, I remembered Princess Twilight, and I knew she would be perfect for your downfall. What better way than to be double crossed by your old friend! " Maxspell said.

"You... sick... twisted... mare! And Longspear... it upsets me... that you've returned... to you're old... criminal ways... but... I guess... it's not entirely... your fault. I made you... be with her. I can tell... she probably... manipulated... you as well... and... that's my... mistake," Celestia said in between gasps. She began coughing up blood. Longspear in response, looked away in shame. Maxspell then grew impatient.

"Enough talk! It's time Equestria witnessed the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one. Black Iron, you may proceed with the execution. Do it, and Equestria will be yours!" Maxspell said.

Black Iron smiled and returned to what she was previously doing before Maxspell interrupted her.

As she pushed down on the dagger into Celestia's skull, she noticed something. She saw a single tear drop run down Celestia's cheek. In that tear drop, Black Iron saw her own reflection in it, and her reflection stared right back at her.

After staring at herself, she reflected back on the events she previously did, not just from today but from the past week or so. She remembered Appleseed's expression on her face before dying, as well as Strong Heart's. His words echoed in her mind.

Then she stared at Celestia. Every fiber of her mind and body hated everything about her, and would have wanted nothing more than for her to lay their dead. But there was one part of her mind that was feeling something else. Not hatred, nor jealousy, but sympathy and guilt. She felt sorry for her, and guilty for what she's done to her, and those feelings were now starting to take over most of her mind.

"What are you waiting for?! KILL HER!!!" Maxspell shouted. Her shout snapped Black Iron back to consciousness.

"GO ON!!! KILL HER!!!" Maxspell pressed on. Black Iron looked down at Celestia. She couldn't bring herself to complete the dark deed. She was to sympathetic than hateful now.

"I... I-I can't," she said as she made the dagger vanish. Everypony in the room was shocked when they saw what Black Iron had done.

"WHAT?! Why not?!" Maxspell hollered with fury.

"B-b-be-because, I-I work better with a larger audience! I mean, don't you think it would be better to have a public execution? That way ALL of Equestria witness the death of their beloved princesses, and the rise of their new one?" Black Iron said. Maxspell found the idea to be a good one.

"You know, you're right, I mean, why bring sufferment to two ponies when we can bring it to hundreds! Well then, it's settled! Well have the execution at sundown! And their deaths will be at the end of a nice long noose at the castle entrance!" Maxspell said triumphantly!

"NO! I-I mean, not now. Don't you think we should wait and have my guards bring in a crowd of ponies while also building the gallows. And plus, I'm the ruler here! Which means I make the decisions here, and I say we will have they're hanging in, um, two days!

Maxspell was puzzled by the change in the date, but she had a point. They needed more time to prepare, and she didn't want to argue with her new leader.

"Very well then. In the meantime, Celestia and Luna will spend the next two days in the dungeons. If they can last that long. I'll have the guards take them down there. I'll make sure they don't use their magic to try and escape," Maxspell said. In no time, several unicorn guards came in and levitated the princesses up off the ground and carried them out of the throne room. Maxspell and Longspear followed behind before she stopped and turned to look at Black Iron, who was still standing in the same spot.

"Aren't you coming?" Maxspell asked.

"You go on, I'll catch up," Black Iron replied before facing away from them.

"We'll, don't take too long. You still need to make your proclamation as Equestria's new ruler," Maxspell said before she and Longspear exited the room.

Once she was sure everyone was gone, Black Iron turned back around, and found herself staring face to face with the purple alicorn. She saw streams of tears run down the alicorn's cheeks.

Without a single word, she turned and faded away.

Black Iron fell to the ground, with tears running down her cheeks, feeling as if a part of her had been torn away.

•••

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Author's Note

Hey everypony! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, as well as the story so far! I just want to let you know that I will be updating my story once at the end of every month. Sorry, I have matters in life that need to be dealt with, but I will always make time for this story! Anyway, thanks for your support! Hope you enjoyed it, and be here to see what happens next in the next chapter!

~ From your Number 1 and 03 favorite pony,
Pony 03.

Chapter 10: Who Am I?

Celestia and Luna were escorted to their cell deep within The Canterlot Dungeons. Earlier that day, they were rushed to the hospital, on behalf of Princess Black Iron to be treated for all of the injuries that were inflicted on them. Luna only suffered several major cuts and wounds, as well as a broken leg. Celestia however, was far worse out of both of them.

Besides from having the magical sword removed from her abdomen, she had several broken bones, and severe damage to her jaw, hind legs and wings. Though with enough magic, and state-of-the art technology, her legs and abdomen were encased in metal casts to help heal her injuries, and allow her to move around. They spent the rest of the day at the hospital, until they were strong enough to move.

Later that night, Black Iron’s Royal Guards escorted them to their imprisonment. There, they were given raggedy old clothing so that they could keep warm at night. They were also forced to where a suppressor on their horns so that they can't us their magic at all.

Once the two were in their cell, one of the guards slammed the door shut and locked it, leaving the two sisters alone, with nothing but one cot, and a luminescent gem to provide light in the dark cell.

Sitting down on the cold stone floor, Celestia lowered her head as she silently wept. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Luna took notice of the situation, and slowly, but painfully moved closer to her sister's side.

"Celestia, are you alright? Is there something wrong?" Luna asked. Celestia continued facing the ground, not even bothering to look at her sister.

"How could I have been so foolish?" she said. Luna was puzzled by what her sister had said.

"I beg your pardon, but what do you mean foolish?" Luna asked.

"Remember that talk we had several days ago, when you said that how everything that disappears always seem to return after a thousand years?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, it seems that you have forgotten one important detail."

"And what is that?"

"It seems that whenever something disappears for a thousand years, it always seems to bring back something evil."

Luna was a bit surprised when she thought about what her sister had said. "What do you mean 'brings back something evil'?" Luna asked.

"Think about it. When you returned, did you return as your normal self?" Celestia asked, finally facing her sister. Luna only remained silent.

"And what about the Crystal Empire? What did that bring? Nothing but hatred and evil in the form of an evil unicorn, that's what it brought. And that's exactly what happened to Twilight." said Celestia.

Luna was speechless from what she had been told. "Oh my, I never thought of it that way! So what do you plan to do?"

"Nothing," Celestia said in a flat, depressed tone. Luna was shocked by what she had just heard.

"Nothing?! You mean to tell me you're just going to sit here and wait for our execution in two days? Are you really going to let your kingdom fall to the hooves of a crazed mare intent on getting revenge? I heard what happen back in the throne room, and I don't think you should let that nutcase Maxspell get away with this!" Luna replied forcefully. Celestia went back to staring at the ground while slowly weeping.

"My kingdom. I feel like that's what caused so much. If only I had cared more about the ponies that were important to me, then I wouldn't have to pay the price. Why should I even bother? It's over. We lost. There's nothing more we can do. I failed not only you, but her as well. I don't deserve my position as ruler. I might as well just accept my fate." Celestia replied depressingly. Luna was simply disgusted by what she had been told.

"Very well then. If you choose to die over your problems, rather than resolving them, then that's fine by me," Luna said annoyed as she slowly lifted herself up onto the cot to lie down.

"I'll see you in Tartarus then, sister," said Luna as she turned her back towards her sister. Celestia only sat there as she soaked in those final words her sister had told her.
•••
"How do you define a nightmare? Would you say it's just a bad dream, a figment of your imagination, or a terrible reminder? Better yet, would define a nightmare as an awful memory from your past?" Black Iron asked. Maxspell was puzzled. She didn't know how to answer that kind of a question.

"Well, tell me how you would define it, and by the looks of it, it seems that something is bothering you. Mind telling us why?" Maxspell asked. Black Iron sighed before she was about to let everything out.

"Since you’re the one asking me now, I would say it's the third option I mentioned earlier," Black Iron replied. Maxspell nodded, indicating her to continue.

"I have been experiencing a lot of nightmares recently, and it looks like they have gotten much worse. I keep seeing a purple alicorn who looks exactly like me. I see her with several other ponies, but they're hard to make out. I can't exactly recognize most of them. It's as if I'm missing something that helps me remember them."

"Really! You don't say," Maxspell replied nervously. Her worst fear had been realized. Black Iron was beginning to remember her true self. In no time, she will remember everything, and then Equestria's new era will be over before it even begins, which means it will go back to how it used to be. She could not allow that.

"Anyway, I can't help but feel like those nightmares last night were really more like memories! What do you think it means?" Black Iron asked. Maxspell began to panic a bit, although she did a great job not expressing it.

"Memories?! Don't be silly. I mean, it may just be a bunch of bad dreams. You have nothing to worry about!" Maxspell said, in an attempt to keep calm, while also trying not to look suspicious. Black Iron was confused by her leader's behavior. Just then, Longspear entered the room from the throne room balcony.

"They're ready when you are, your majesty," Longspear said.

"We'll talk about this later," Black Iron told Maxspell. She replied with a nod.

All three ponies then trotted out towards the balcony. It overlooked majority of the old and slightly devastated district of Canterlot.

Below were many of Black Iron's guards, as well as a large number of ponies, most them being the city's residents.

On the balcony, Ironhoof, along with several guards stood near the edge at attention. The three ponies continued on until they reached the end of the balcony so that everyone below could see them.

"Alright, now give them the speech I gave to you to memorize," Maxspell instructed. Black Iron nodded before she moved up a little bit closer until she was standing on top of the ledge. Extending her wings, her gems in her armor, as well the irises in her eyes began to glow. She activated her horn so that she could call upon her magic to amplify her voice. She began giving her speech.

"Ponies of Equestria, the dawn of a new era has begun, for your beloved princesses have been utterly defeated. They have handed the throne over to me, which means that you will all be loyal to me now!"

Everyone below gasped when they heard the devastating news.

"Do not worry however. Now that I'm in charge, there will be a few minor changes now that I'm here. For one, you will all address me as Queen Black Iron!

"Hey! That's not what I wrote for her!" Maxspell whispered furiously. Then she noticed Black Iron had turned her head towards her, winked, and smiled before returning her attention towards the crowd.

"You may also continue with your puny little lives like you normally would, and if any of you try step out of line, or even disappoint me in any way, you will either be sent to the dungeons, or you can help my guards in rebuilding all of the damage they had caused. Oh, and everything must be approved by me before any of you can do whatever it is you plan on doing. All of that may be done in court, but you must have an audience present with you, or else you won't be allowed to see me. I will also remind you that we will be holding the execution of The Royal Sisters tomorrow, so for now, go home and stay indoors, for we are about to help this kingdom rise up out of the ashes it has always been kept in!"

Every pony below stood in silence for several seconds before they began to cry in panic. It took all of Black Iron's guards to keep the panicked crowd under control. As for Black Iron, she turned around and headed back towards the throne room.

Maxspell stood there shocked by what she heard earlier. She felt like she was about to go on a rampage.

"Did you hear that?! That wasn't what I wrote for her! Did you hear her mention anything at all about enslaving all the ponies of Equestria and ruling with an Iron Hoof?! I think not!" Maxspell said furiously.

"I guess your little plan is beginning to backfire!" Longspear said casually and humorously. Maxspell ignored him and went straight towards Black Iron to confront her. She then grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around.

"Would you mind explaining to me what happened back there?” Maxspell asked. "What you said was nowhere near what I wrote!"

"Well I did read your little speech, and I just want to say that I had to make a few improvements." Black Iron replied.

"Why?!"

"I’m a royal, am I not?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then that means that whatever I say, goes, right?"

"Right but-"

"Which means that I should be the one giving orders, not you."

"What are you saying?" Maxspell asked puzzled.

"What I'm saying is that I'm the one who decides what's best for my kingdom, and you have no right to tell me otherwise! I'm your new queen now, which means that you do what I say, not the other way around. Do you understand?" Black Iron said as she moved in closer to Maxspell until the two stared at each other face-to-face. Just then, a smile grew on Maxspell's face.

"Spoken like a true leader! I believe it's time for me to let you go, and allow you to give orders from now on. Even though I don't agree with your ways of leading this kingdom, I for one am not going to be one to judge."

Black Iron smiled as she backed away, feeling satisfied. "Excellent! For now, I need you to assist the guards by supervising them as they rebuild all the damage done at the new district. I also wish not to be disturbed as I retire to my new bed chambers for the rest of the day, for I wish to catch up on some sleep." Black Iron commanded.

"Yes your majesty" Maxspell replied. She then motioned for Longspear to join her as they both left the throne room.

Once she was alone, she also left the throne room, and made her way to what once was Celestia's bedchambers.

When she got there, she entered the room, locked the door, and then made her way to the enormous, king-sized bed. After, everything that she's been through, as well as the lack of sleep from previous nights, she felt like she deserved it.

She crawled into the covers and made herself comfortable. She didn't care if she still had her armor on. In fact, she's also realized she hasn't taken her armor off since that first day, but she didn't care. She felt comfortable, as well as attached to it.

Finally, despite it being almost one o'clock in the afternoon, according to a nearby digital clock, she fell asleep instantly.

•••

Pitch Black. Nothing could be seen. Somehow, Black Iron could see herself just fine. In the distance, she could see her. Both her and Black Iron trotted closer to each other until they were a few feet apart.

"What's happening? Who are you, and where are we?" Black Iron asked, only to be silenced by a raised hoof, motioning her to be quite.

Just then, the purple alicorn look alike spoke.

"You are not who you think you are," She said. Black Iron was a little confused by this.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that you are not who you truly are. You and I are one of the same,"

"I kinda know that already, considering we do look alike."

"Yes, but that's not all. Your name isn't Black Iron, It's really Twilight Sparkle." The figment Twilight said.

"I had a feeling that might have been, considering that I have been called that often," Black Iron replied. "But tell me. If my name is not Black Iron, and I'm not a queen, or a princess at the least, then who am I?"

"The princess part is true, it's just that everything else you've been told is a lie. From you being an evil ruler to you hating Celestia. All a lie!" Black Iron felt a bit shocked from hearing that. "But it seems you are remembering bits and pieces of your past life,"

"How?"

"Whenever you see something familiar, you start seeing odd visions. Those visions are memories."

Most of the things Figment Twilight was telling her were things Black Iron had already figured out.

"But it seems that those memories aren't entirely clear, which means you need something that will surely jog your memory." Figment Twilight explained.

"Like what?" Black Iron asked.
Figment Twilight turned and walked away before turning her head back around.

"Head towards The Ponyville Memorial Library. There should be something there to help," she said before turning and fading away.

"No wait!" Black Iron cried out before she saw her world swirl around her. Then suddenly, she jumped out of bed, drenched in sweat.

Looking towards a nearby digital clock, she saw that was almost seven, which was the time for the sun to set.

Heading towards the balcony, she used her magic, and with great effort, attempted to lower the sun, and make way for the moon.

After a minute or two of excruciating work, she was able to do the job. She could now see the stars beginning to shine, along with the full moon.

Looking down towards the city streets, Black Iron saw her guards patrolling the area. She then looked out, and saw the lights of a city in the distance, past the new district. She figured that had to be Ponyville, considering that it was the city closest to Canterlot. Remembering what Figment Twilight had told her, she figured that if she wanted to get answers about herself, and her past, it would be there.

After leaving a note for Maxspell telling her she had gone on an evening flight, Black Iron extended her wings, and took off.

•••

It didn't take more than five minutes to arrive at Ponyville. Gliding through several tall skyscrapers, she arrived at the Ponyville Library. It was a bit different then the way she saw it the last time she was here.

For one, the windows were shattered, there was graffiti all over the walls, the entrance had been broken into, and the large statue representing the figment Twilight was now representing Black Iron. From her head down, her body was painted black, and the eyes looked just like Black Iron's. They were green with red irises. They also managed to change the expression from a warm smile, to an evil frown. Black Iron looked at it with disgust, and continued on towards the library entrance.

Inside, everything was ransacked. Bookshelves were turned over, books were everywhere on the floor, and there was even a pile of ashes, showing the possibility of several books being burned. Somehow, the sight of that ached in Black Iron's heart. She didn't know why she felt sorry for the entire library, as well as some the destroyed books there.

Then suddenly, her gaze fell upon a portrait. She slowly approached the portrait while also giving it a hard long look over it. The portrait showed a small group of ponies, and a small dragon. Amongst the group, she saw a certain pony she recognized. She saw figment Twilight surrounded by the other ponies. As she continued staring, she started feeling a sharp pain in her head again, this being as painful as the one from yesterday during her encounter with Celestia.

In her mind, she saw the other Twilight with her friends. They were all happy and enjoying a good time, and expressing their friendships for one another. Slowly, Black Iron began to remember who those ponies were. She also began remembering the memories of her past. From the time she was a filly, to the times she was a full-grown mare. She remembered everything now.

Opening her eyes, she looked around and took in her surroundings. She was shocked when she remembered what happened and what she had done.

"Oh no! No no no! What have I done?!" she said frantically as she looked down upon her. "What have I become?!"

"I figured I'd find you here," a new voice called out from behind Black Iron's back. Turning to see who it was, she saw Longspear standing just a few feet away from her.

"L-Longspear? W-what are you doing here?" Black Iron replied nervously.

"I was helping out the guards clean up some of the damage done in a small shop just a across the street, then I saw you come here."

"And Maxspell?"

"She's in Manehattan, which means that she shouldn't return for another couple of hours!

"Ok then, how did you know I might come here?" she asked.

"Because, you have been acting a bit strange lately,"

Black Iron sighed as she lowered her head down. "Is there something wrong?" Longspear asked.

"I remember,"

"You remember? Remember what?"

"I remember who I am. I know everything about who I really am now. I also remembered all the things I've done this past week."

Longspear felt nervous at first, but was also filled with joy knowing that she somehow had managed to regain her memory. "At least you have your memories now," Longspear reassured.

"Yes, but how can I live with myself knowing what I have done!" she replied while raising her tone a little. "I took over all of Equestria, I killed possible hundreds of ponies thanks to my little invasions, I even tried to kill Celestia! How can you just stand there having such a positive attitude knowing that I have brought all of Equestria to its knees?!"

Longspear forced down a knot that had formed in his throat.

"Well, all I can say is that you are right about all that. The only difference is that I'm not enjoying this as much as Maxspell is."

"Oh really? If that's the case, then why didn't you try to stop her and go straight to The Princess?"

"Because she holds my fate in her hooves." Longspear told her.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I can't go against her. I have to obey her or else she'll mount my head on the wall, and I can't have that. I've sworn an oath to serve her until the day I naturally die, and you don't want to know how that's been going for me.

"Wow! I never thought of it that way. Why do you have to obey her every command?" asked Black Iron.

"It's a long story," Longspear told her. She wasn't satisfied. Thankfully however, she did calm down a bit. Now, there was one more thing she had to clear up.

"Longspear, can I ask you something, and when I do, will you be honest with me?" she asked. Longspear agreed.

"What happened on my last night? All I can remember was sitting in the library reading a book, and then Spike called me in for dinner. After that, it's all still a blur, but I'm sure you know what happened," Black Iron told him. Longspear knew where this was going, and he sighed.

"Alright, I'll tell you, but don't hate me when I tell you, because I never wanted any of this to happen, alright?" Black Iron replied with a nod as she sat on the floor.

"Ok, so it was late at night, and Maxspell and I were approaching your home roughly around midnight. Maxspell knocked, you invited us in, and there she started tricking you into agreeing to do a special project for her, and sadly, you agreed. That's when she threw a sack over you, tied it up and forced me to carry you into a small wagon so that I could pull you to our hideout.

You'd think you could have been heard screaming and hollering from outside of the bag? Well, you couldn't. Maxspell had enchanted the bag earlier, making it where whatever was inside the bag couldn't be heard, nor could the items in the bag move at all, so you pretty much couldn't do anything at the time.

Once we arrived at our hide out, we brought you inside and dumped you out of the sack, and no offense, but you looked terrible when we released you from it. But anyway, Maxspell told you her plans for revenge and how she wanted to use you to usurp The Princess. You were about to fight back, however, Maxspell wasn't dumb. She had everything planned out for months now, so what she did was she put you to sleep. She then placed you in some magical box that would keep you preserved for a thousand years.

As for us, she somehow stole a powerful spell made by this Starswirl fellow that would make any pony immortal. As you can tell, she cast the spell on both of us so that she could keep track of Equestria's progress, and let me tell you that these last couple of centuries was the worst years of my life!

Why you ask? Besides from having to put up with Maxspell, deep down, I knew that what we were doing was beyond wrong. The guilt I felt from knowing how devastated your friends and family were. They searched for you for months! Why, even The Princesses joined in on the search, as well as nearly all of Equestria's citizens. There was this one time when two of Celestia's Royal Guards showed up in trying to search for you. They were really close to finding you when Maxspell stepped in to lie to them, and got them to leave.

Around a few months later, there was a special memorial service held right here at this Library! Back then it was just an oak tree, but now look at this place! All of this was dedicated to you, including that statue outside. Later, all of your friends came up to say a few words about you, which was by far, one of the saddest thing that has ever happened in my life. But believe it or not, Maxspell found it quite amusing. Because of that, we had to leave early.

After a while, most of your friends, and family were able to move on for about a week or two, but their depressions got the better of them.

They all died of broken hearts.

Even Celestia herself nearly fell victim to it, but thankfully, she was capable of dealing with it and moving on. Can you imagine how she felt back then, knowing that everyone she knew had been torn away from her in an instant?

I just hope I didn't hurt your feelings too much, and I'm extremely sorry for what happened to you. I know I just threw a lot of shocking news at you, but what I want you to know is that I never wanted ANY of this. In fact, every day, I wish I could back and fix all of this, but I can't," Longspear said. He saw tears run down Black Iron's cheeks. Doing the one thing he knew best, he wrapped his legs around Black Iron, and held her close to his chest. That's when she began bawling her eyes out.

"H-how could s-she... d-d-do such a thing?" Black Iron cried out. Longspear continued holding her tightly. They stood there for what felt like ten minutes.

After a while of nonstop crying, Black Iron was able to calm down. She backed away from Longspear's embrace. Even though it was hard to tell because of her dark coat, Longspear could see it had turned to a shade of red. Her eyes were really puffy and wet from all the crying.

"H-how could she do such a thing? S-she made me bring terror to a lot of ponies; she made me attack The Princesses. Why, she even made me kill ponies! She also brought grief to all my friends! SHE RUINED MY LIFE!!!" Black Iron cried out in agony.

"You're not the only one. Have you tried living with her, doing everything she says, being forced to do things you don't want to do, and having to deal with knowing that she has brought pain and hardship to a lot of ponies for a thousand years?" Longspear asked. Black Iron shook her head while wiping the tears away from her eyes.

"You know, I never asked to be with her! In fact, I was forced to be with her! But that's not the worst part of it! The worst part is that I can't stop working for her until she says so!"

"But how did you get stuck with her?" Black Iron asked.

"Like I said before, it's quite a long story. I'd have to explain so much so that you could understand! I'm sure you don't want to sit here and listen to me talk about my back story for a long time."

Black Iron smiled and approached him. "You know my backstory, now it's my turn to know yours!" Longspear smiled in defeat to that.

"Alright then. Sit down, 'cause this is going to take a while. Oh, and it's a little sad at first, but I think you can handle it now."
Black Iron nodded.

"Ok! Here we go..."

•••

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Author's Note

Hey there every pony! Sorry for the long update, had some things that got in our way that I do not wish to discuss. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, cause the next one is going to deal with our little companion Longspear. So stick around for the next chapter!

~From your Number 1 and 03 favorite pony
Pony 03.

Chapter 11: Honor Among Theives

About a thousand and thirty five years ago, I was just a humble little colt. From the day I was born, to the time I was around twelve, my family and I would always struggle to survive. Even though it was just my mom, my dad, and I, life back then was rough. During the earlier years of my life, we'd move from one place to another trying to find food, water and shelter.

When I turned six, we settled in Manehatten under a bridge. Every day, we'd sit in the street, begging for spare change. We'd be lucky if we had enough to buy something to eat, which would take days, or weeks. Even to this day centuries later, I still get chills from those dark times. I remember how I would always fall asleep at night with an empty stomach. Can you imagine what it was like for a colt that age to nearly starve to death? I'm surprised I didn't.

It went that way for the next six years. But one day, my dad was really excited. He came to where my mom and I were begging and told us he actually got a job for him AND my mom at a construction site. It was the greatest thing that had ever happened to us in a long time.

After a while, we finally had a roof over our heads with food and a nice warm bed! It was as if The Princess herself blessed us!

Life was great for the next three years, until that faithful night.

The three of were heading home from a night of family fun and stuff, when suddenly; these three stallions jumped out of nowhere and dragged us into an alleyway.

"Give us all your bits, or else!" one of them said.

"Or else what?" my dad replied.

"Oh, you'll see!"

"Just do what he says dear. We don't want to get into any trouble!" my mom urged my dad, so he did just that, but while he was handing over all of his bits, one of the thugs approached my mom.

"Well aren't you a fine young lady. What are you doing wasting your time with these two, when you could be experiencing pleasure every night." the thug said in a flirty tone. My mom, however, didn't find what he said so appealing.

"EXCUSE ME! I'll have you know I'm far better off being with my husband and child then being with the likes of you!" she replied.

"Oh really? Well, we'll just see about that!" the thug said as he approached my mom. She responded, by turning and bucking him in the face. My dad saw what she did, and did he same. After that, we turned and took off in the opposite direction, with the three thugs in pursuit.

We ran past buildings after buildings, block after block, and even through alleyways. We knew the only safe place we could go to was the police station, but that was still a great distance away, but we still went after it. Unfortunately, luck was not on our side. We reached a dead end in some alley. We did lose them, but it wouldn't be long before they'd find us again.

I knew for sure we were going to die, but then I noticed that my mom was coming up with something. Finally, she whispered something in my ear.

"Longspear, on the count of three, your father and I are going to fling you up towards the fire escape over there. You'll climb up and onto the rooftops, alright?" my mom told me. I was in shock by what she wanted me to do.

"What?! Are you crazy?! I'm not going to leave you guys.” I said in protest.

"Listen Longspear, you're our little miracle! You're the light in our dark world, and I would hate it if something bad ever happened to you. It's already too late to save ourselves, but there's still time to save you! You must trust me on this one! Do it for us! Do it for me!” my mom begged. Every part of me wanted to say no, but I knew it was for the best. They don't want to see a child like me go through such abuse. So I accepted.

As I got in front of my parents, the thugs found us and were slowly approaching us. Right before we were going to put our plan into action, my mom whispered one more thing to me.

"No matter what happens, or where we are, we will always love you, and we will always be together."

My heart broke when she told me that, and to this day, I can still hear her whispering that to me.

With one final kiss, they both threw me on the ladder on the fire escape.

As I held on for dear life, I tried to climb up while trying to block out the sounds of my parents being tortured.

In no time, I was able to climb up onto the roof of the building. While I was catching my breath, I heard something. The fire escape began to rattle. That could have only meant one thing.

Without hesitating, I ran across the roof and jumped from rooftop to rooftop. Looking back, I saw three of the thugs were really close. I knew I had to lose these guys, and the only way to do that was to get down from the rooftops.

It didn't take long for me to find another fire escape. Doing what I previously did, I climbed down from the roof and onto the city alleyway. Once my hooves touched the ground, I continued running through the alleyways in hopes of losing my pursuers. Sadly though, I picked the wrong alley to turn into.

It turned out that I ran into more of those thugs, and they didn't look too happy to see me. I knew I was going to die this time, so I simply crouched down and closed my eyes to wait for the inedible.

I did hear a bolt of magic, but it didn't hit me.

Looking up, I saw that a fight had broken out. I quickly ducked behind a nearby dumpster in an attempt to avoid getting shot.

Peeking out, I saw that the majority of the thugs were either lying motionless, or were running for their lives.

The fight didn't last that long either. After what seemed like two minutes, I emerged from my hiding place and looked around. The area looked terrible. That's when I noticed the three unicorns that approached me. Two of them were stallions; one of them was a young mare. They looked as if they were part of some cult or something.

The mare and stallion's coats were gray with black manes. The other stallion looked different. His coat was like the color of obsidian, with the same black mane.

"You alright kid?" the obsidian colored stallion asked. I slowly nodded in fear.

"Boy do I hate these guys!" the gray stallion said, but was motioned to be quiet by the gray mare.

"Wh-who are you guys?" I asked nervously.

"That's something you don't need to know," the gray mare told me.

"You better be heading on home now. The streets are no place for a colt like you," the obsidian one told me before motioning the others that they were heading out. I simply stood there, confused. I thought about who they were, and why did they save me. I knew I had nowhere left to go, considering I was probably already an orphan. So I figured I knew whom to follow.

"Hey! Wait up!" I called out. The three unicorns turned and saw me running up to them.

"You can't just save me and just leave me here alone by myself,"

"Don't you have someplace to be? Your parents are probably worried sick about you!" the gray stallion told me.

"That would actually be nice, if they were still alive that is," I replied.

"What do you mean ‘if they were still alive’?" the obsidian one asked in a confused tone.

"Those thugs you just took out, they killed my parents not too long ago. So now, I have no one. I'm all alone."

The two gray ponies looked heartbroken. The obsidian one though, didn't look any different.

"Alright, that was a cute little sob story, now quit wasting our time and beat it!" he replied. That made me furious.

"Sob story?! That wasn't a sob story! I really did lose my parents to those jerks, and now I want to get back at them for it!" I replied furiously.

"Now hold on a minute Ender! He may be telling the truth! His parents could be those two dead ponies we saw back at that alleyway, and plus, we did see several of those guys
climb up that fire escape. Tell me, what other reason could they have climbing up there besides chasing him," the gray stallion said in my defense. Ender then examined me in suspicion before sighing.

"Very well then. You can come with us if you like, but you have to do EXACTLY what I say! Do you understand?" he asked furiously. I nodded nervously.

"Alright then, I'm afraid we haven't gotten your name,"

"Longspear," I told him.

"The name is Ender," Ender said, introducing himself. The gray stallion was next to introduce himself.

"I'm Archer. The best shot there is!" Archer said in a boastful tone. The mare was last to introduce herself.

"And my name is Eagle Eye! I may not be so good with my shots like what Archer claims, but I'm pretty good at spotting targets!"

"We're known as The League of Thieves. Come, we'll tell you all about us!" Ender said as we walked away from the scene of the crime.

During our walk together, they told me everything about themselves. Apparently they’re a group of thieves who would not only steal from the rich, but also from other gangs. It all started when Ender ended up like me as an orphan whose parents were killed by a bunch of thugs. He eventually took up stealing in order to support himself. Then one day, he realized that there were other ponies like him who were suffering. So he decided that whatever he stole, he would share it with the other homeless ponies without telling them where he got it. Soon, he formed The League of Thieves.

Archer told me that the reason he joined was because of something about a drug problem, and his ex-wife divorcing and leaving him with nothing, so he didn't want that to happen to any other pony, and Eagle Eye joined because she was kicked out of her home for doing "things" with her ex-boyfriend or something. I don't think their relationship lasted, so in the end, she was left with nothing and no one wanted her. I can't be too sure, it’s been a REALLY long time, but that's how they joined the bandwagon.

At one point, they had hundreds of members in their group, but after a while, they all got caught and were thrown in jail. Some received harsher punishments than others, depending on what they stole.

You'd think they would keep all the stuff they stole, well then you're wrong. They actually gave their riches to the poor ponies outside of Manehatten. At first, they did give their riches to the ponies there, but soon found out that the majority of the ponies would use the money to buy drugs, so they decided to extend their charity to the locals.

But like I said before, their numbers had been dropping in recent years. Now it was just Ender, Archer, Eagle Eye, and a few other members, including myself. It was interesting how they would initiate new members to their group. Apparently, you have to steal something valuable from any pony. What I did was I picked
Pocketed from all the ponies in the streets. Eventually they let me into their group.

Oh, and there was this part where new members would dye their coats gray and their manes black. Ender and I were exceptions because he was the one who started it years back, and I because, well, as you can see, my coat is already naturally gray, and my mane is naturally black. All they did was they dyed my flank, covering my cutie mark, which did explain why the others didn't seem to have one. It made sense considering they didn't want to be recognized.

So for the next 10 years, we pretty much stole from ponies, whether they were gang related or not. We did at some point recruit several new members from time to time. I believe we went from fourteen to forty-ish. It was great, but then I kept feeling guilty. I felt as if I became the kind of pony I despised, but I would remind myself that I wasn't like those thugs from long ago, and that I didn't kill anyone. I just simply stole from the rich and gave it to some struggling communities outside of the city.

Now, the one thing that was important to all of us was our honor, which is one of the main reasons why I'm telling you this. A thief’s honor was that he or she would look after one another, be honest, stay true to your word, like keeping a promise or something, and most of all, only steal. Never commit any other crime. Only steal what you think is valuable, which meant we could pickpocket, break into houses, and rob stores. There was this one time where all forty of us robbed a jewelry store, and didn't get caught!

Then one day, we realized that our funding was low, and we needed money. That's when Ender had the idea. In my opinion, it was the worst one ever. If he hadn't had thought of that plan, then I wouldn't be here!

Anyway, he had his thoughts on one particular place. If it would end successfully, then they would be well known throughout Equestria, and they could end poverty as we know it, OR, if it fails, it could mean the end of the league. His job was to rob the Equestrian Treasury building in Canterlot.

We all rejected the idea, but Ender was the leader, so he had the final word. He claimed that he had everything planned out to the smallest detail. That really didn't ease our continence

So it was settled. We would go and break into the Equestrian National Treasury building and steal all the bits from the vault there.

•••

After several weeks of preparation, we were all on our way to Canterlot. I remember having butterflies in my stomach during the whole train ride there. Not even Ender could ease the worry that I harbored within me.

In no time, we arrived at The Grand Central Station. What was surprising was the fact that we were the only ones there, but that was probably because it was two in the morning, which was good, considering our gray coats would blend in with the darkness of the night. Once we were all ready, we began to put the plan into action.

We were split into two groups. The first group would scout out the area and taking out any guards by knocking them unconscious. The second group would quietly make our way to the treasury building.

Now I will tell you this: when we got there, it was a real pain trying to break in without setting off the alarms, getting past several checkpoints, and sneaking past guards. It was tricky, but we managed to arrive at the vault. There, Ender, along with sever other unicorns used their magic to try and bypass the spells on it and open the door. It took quite some time, but by some fluke, they managed to get the vault door opened. What lied behind it was beyond any pony’s dreams.

It was like a sea of gold! There were bits everywhere! Not only that, but it was filled with gems, and fine jewelry. We knew we hit the trillion bit jackpot!

Without a moment to hesitate, fifteen of us would go in and load up all the loot in large sacks, while the other five would help move the sacks out of the treasury while keeping an eye out. Everything was running smoothly, until everything came crashing down.

Apparently, and to this day I still don't know how it happened, some pony accidentally tripped the alarm. You can imagine how panicked we were at the time. Fortunately, we had already stolen a very large portion of all the riches in the vault. All that was left was to take the remaining sacks and get the hell out of there.

We were able to get out of there, but it was too late. The guards had already surrounded the place. Nearly all the thieves were caught and arrested, including Archer and Eagle Eye. Ender and I were the only ones left. The guards were about to storm into the place, which meant that there was only one place left we could go, and that was the roof.

I was about to go, until I noticed that Ender wasn't following me.

"Ender? What are waiting for? Come on!” I called out to him.

“It's over Longspear. I knew this would happen, and this is my fault. You go on. I'll stay here and hold them off long enough for you to escape," he replied.

"Oh come on Ender! We can get out of this! You and I can escape, and then we can come up with something afterwards! So come on!" I urged him.

“I can't. I have to live up to my honor. I have to be there for others, and if they go down, I'm going down with them."

"Well, if that's what you're going to do, then I just want to say, it’s been a pleasure knowing ya,"

"Remember, honor among thieves!" he called out, before I left him there to fend for himself. That was the last time I ever saw him.

I quickly ran up the stairs that led to the top of the roof. Once I got there, you'll never believe whom I ran into. The Princess landed right in front of me and cast a spell upon me, making me unable to move.

Being arrested by a guard is one thing, but being arrested by Celestia herself is something far more different. That just shows that you've really done something wrong.

Every single thief was taken to the dungeons, and the bits were returned to the vault. Ender however, wasn't so lucky. As for myself, I was taken somewhere else.

I was riding on the same chariot as Celestia. We were on our way to the royal palace.

Once there, several guards carried my immobile body inside the palace. They finally placed my body in what looked like an interrogation room. What made my situation even worse was the fact that The Princess was the one who was going to interrogate me.

By the time the two of us were alone, she began to ask me questions. At first, they were simple questions, like what my name was, and where I lived. Soon enough, though, she began asking the questions she wanted to know. She asked me about who we were, what we did, and why we planned to rob the treasury.

Normally, I would keep my mouth shut, but my honor forbid it, so I had to spill the beans. When I finished, I could have sworn she was furious deep inside, but she never expressed it.

"Well, Longspear, by the looks it, it seems you've told us quite a lot, about not only your group, but yourself swell. We've tried to pull up your records, but apparently, to us, you don't exist, but don't worry, we've written down everything you've told us. Now, by the order of The Equestrian Council, you have committed the crime of trespassing on government property, breaking and entering, and attempted burglary of a federal building. I hereby sentence you to-" just then, Celestia was called in from outside of the room.

"If you will excuse me for just one moment," she said before exiting the room. I waited nervously in the room, while wondering what my sentence would be. Then suddenly, I began to hear arguing on the other side of the door, which then turned into yelling. After what seemed like ten minutes, Celestia re-entered the room. That’s when she entered my life. I stood there and watched Maxspell enter the room with such professionalism.

"Longspear, it appears that thanks to Dr. Maxspell, who was capable of convincing me otherwise, I have reached a new verdict. Your sentence will be to work for Dr. Maxspell for the next ten years, for she wishes to try and reform you, as part of an experiment she's conducting. You must do whatever she says, and you must follow her every command she gives you. She will report to me on your progress in being reformed, for if you either step out of line, or simply not do what she says, then she will report to me, and then YOU will have to deal with me. Do you understand?" she asked with a bit of a threatening tone. I replied with a simple 'yes'.

"One more thing, once your ten year sentence is complete, it will be up to Dr. Maxspell to decide upon your fate. She will either grant you your freedom, or have you continue being her assistant. I have enough confidence to trust Dr. Maxspell with this great responsibility." said Celestia. I felt like I was being cheated in my sentence.

"Well that's not fair! What if she want to kill me once my ten year sentence is up?!" I called out in protest. Maxspell was about to open her mouth to say something, but was cut off by Celestia.

"I will make sure that it will not happen," Celestia replied. That really didn't make me feel any better. Just then, I was able to move my body. Celestia had lifted the spell from me. After that, we were escorted to the castle entrance. Once there, Maxspell led me to her home not too far from the palace. She didn't say a word on our way there.

When we arrived, she began to explain how my life was going to play out for the next ten years.

"Alright, Longspear, is it? As you know, my name is Maxspell, and I work at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, which means that you're going to be there with me, helping me with whatever I need help with. I just want you to know that for these next ten years, you are going to be facing the jaws of a never-ending world of hell. Do you understand?" Maxspell asked with a bad tone. I simply nodded in reply.

"And one more thing. After your ten year sentence is over, if you disobey, or double cross me, then I will personally mount your head on the wall with my bare hooves!"

"B-but what about what The Princess said?" I asked nervously.

"She said that after your ten years are up, I would decide your fate. Now, do we have an understanding?" I nodded nervously.

"Excellent! Now go get some rest. Your first day of hell begins tomorrow!"

•••

"Oh, it was hell alright. In fact, what was supposed to be ten years of suffering turned out to a thousand years of torture? Of course, she did report to Celestia that I would continue being her slave, to which she agreed. So for a thousand years, we laid low in hiding. Obviously we had to fake our deaths to guarantee that we wouldn't be discovered.

So that's almost the whole story of my life and how I got here, and boy have they been the worst." Longspear said. Black Iron Got up and trotted up to him.

"You know, ponies make mistakes. I probably can't do anything about my mistakes, but that doesn't mean you can't either. You should start changing your ways and start doing what
you know is right, like what your honor says,"

"What are trying to say?"

"What I'm saying is that you should stop doing what she says!"

"WHAT?! She'd literally throw me in hole so deep that I will have no idea which way is up if I do something like that! You know what she is capable of!

"Not if I anything to say about it! It's time for her reign of terror to come to an end! Are you in or not?" Black Iron proclaimed.

After moment of thinking, Longspear sighed before agreeing.

"You may not be a thief, but you are my um... companion, and we should always stick together and be there for each other!"

"Honor among Thieves huh?"

"Yup, now come on, I know who we can go to for help." Longspear said before he and Black Iron left the library, and into the night.

•••

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Chapter 12: Sabotage?!

It didn't take long for the two to reach Canterlot, considering that Longspear had to ride on Black Iron's back as they flew back to the city. Once they got there, they made their way to the Canterlot Dungeons.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Black Iron asked anxiously.

"It's the only way we can stand a chance against Maxspell," Longspear reassured her.

The two reached the cell of the ex-Royal Sisters. Luna was staring at the wall, while carving a line on it, marking the days. Celestia however, was in a far worse condition. She was lying down on the cold stone floor facing away from the iron bars of the cell.

"Um... Princess?" Black Iron said softly. Luna turned to see who it was, but only frowned and furrowed her eyebrows when she saw the two.

"What does thou want?'" Luna asked as she turned to face the wall again.

"Has thou come to take us to our execution, Queen Black Iron?"

"Actually, the name is Twilight. Princess Twilight Sparkle," Twilight proclaimed. This caught the attention of both princesses.

"What do you mean your name is Twilight? You can't be Twilight Sparkle. The REAL Twilight Sparkle disappeared a thousand years ago. You may represent her by her physical features, but that doesn't give you the right to call yourself that. The real Twilight would never do what YOU'VE done this past week!" Luna replied harshly.

"But it really is me! Why would I come down here asking for your help if I truly wasn't her?" Twilight replied back.

"Still. How do we know you truly are the mare you claim to be?"

"Because I have a witness!" Twilight said as she motioned at her companion. Both Princesses turned their attention to Longspear.

"Ok then. If this pony can claim that you are Twilight Sparkle, then we will believe you.”

Longspear took a deep breath before revealing the truth.

"She truly is Twilight Sparkle, and I should know, because I was there when Maxspell and I pony napped her many moons ago. I was there during the search for her, the memorial service, her transformation into Black Iron, the fall of Equestria, EVERYTHING. But if there's one thing I will say, is that I am not lying when I say that she is in fact Twilight Sparkle, for that would go against my honor," Longspear said as if he were speaking to a grand jury.

The Princesses didn't looked too convinced,

"You may be telling the truth, but I want to hear it from her," Celestia said for the first time as she motioned towards Twilight.

Twilight looked around anxiously before finally sighing. "Well, I don't know what else to say. I honestly don't blame you for not believing me. I've done so many unforgivable things to ponies, I've taken over all of Equestria, I almost killed both of you because of my hatred, jealousy, and anger towards you, which will become a reality by tomorrow. I have done so much wrong that I don't deserve to be the ruler of Equestria. Not like this. I don't even deserve the title as princess either. I mean, what else can I say when the world can only see a monster within me. So go ahead and don't believe me. I'm not the Twilight I use to be, but if there's one thing I would say, then it would be, 'I'm sorry.’” Twilight said with tears running down her dark gray cheeks.

Celestia slowly stood up and looked down upon her. "Only the Twilight I know would say something like that."

Twilight saw the compassion in her mentor's eyes and smiled.

Using her magic, she picked the lock and opened the metal gate separating them.

Both princesses united to give her a big hug.

It was a reunion worth waiting for.

Sadly, it had to be cut short.

"Um... I hate to put a damper on your little reunion, but we need to go if we want to avoid some serious problems," Longspear advised. The three princesses agreed and made their way back up to the surface.

•••

Back in the throne room, Celestia sat on her rightful throne, while the others stood at her side.

It was almost time for the sun to rise. Twilight managed to remove the suppressors from The Princesses horns so that they could perform their duties.

After another while of waiting, all four ponies perked up when they heard the throne room doors being pushed open.

"Is everything alright Bla-...?” Maxspell cut off when she saw who stood in front of her.

"W-what's going on here?" she managed to say after swallowing the knot that had formed in her throat.

"Hey Maxspell. I hate to say this, but, I quit," Longspear said casually, in an attempt to hide his fear towards her.

"YOU!" Maxspell exclaimed. "How dare you stab me in the back! When I get my hooves on you, you're going to be-"

"Maxspell, you have committed the crime of pony napping, theft, homicide, and plenty more," Celestia said, cutting off Maxspell's ranting. She frowned when she heard what The Princess had told her.

"It's over Maxspell. Your reign of terror ends now. And I'm done being your pawn in your corrupt game of chess, so you take back the armor you gave me," Twilight said as she brought her hoof up to the collar of the armor to pull it off, but something was wrong.

The armor wouldn't come off.
Twilight tried pulling at it again, but it wouldn't budge. She continued pulling until she began to feel pain. She tried other parts of the armor, but she would get the same results.

"Hey, what's going? I can't take this thing off!" Twilight said as she began to panic. Longspear then came to her aid.

"Here, let me try," he said as he gripped the color of the chest plate tightly.

"On three. One... two... three!" he shouted before pulling as hard as he could on it, but was halted when he heard the screams of pain and agony from Twilight. Only then did he stop pulling.

"Why won't this thing come of?!" exclaimed Twilight before noticing that Maxspell was chuckling to herself.

"Oh Twilight. Did you really think I could be defeated that easily?" She said mockingly.

"What have you done to me?!" Twilight shouted.

"You see, I was afraid something like this would happen, so I took a few precautions in my plan by adding this little failsafe spell."

"What kind of failsafe spell?"

"The kind where the armor fuses to your skin, making it become part of you."

Twilight was shocked when she hear what she'd been told.

"You mean, I can never take this thing off?" she asked. Maxspell nodded in reply. Twilight took a few breaths to calm her emotions inside.

"Very well then, but that doesn't keep me from kicking your sorry flank!"

"I'm afraid you're too late for that, as well. Do you think I'm dumb enough to cast only one failsafe spell?" Maxspell replied before she closed her eyes. When she reopened them, the irises in them were glowing red, as well as the magic around her horn.

All the other ponies felt nervous for what was going to happen. Then they noticed that something was going on in Twilight's armor. The fire ruby in her crown, and all the other gems in her armor glowed red as well. In an instant, the sharp pain in Twilight's head returned, only this time, it made her pass out on the floor.

"Twilight!" all the ponies cried, horrified by what they saw.

•••

Twilight stood motionless. She didn't know where she was. She saw that to the left half of her was bright white, and the right half was pitch black.

Looking to her left, she saw Figment Twilight, her good side, in the bright white side.

Looking to her right, she saw Black Iron, her evil side, in the black, dark side.

Twilight began to feel something tugging at her right hind leg. Looking down, she saw a strand of the darkness wrapping around her and beginning to pull.

It dragged Twilight closer and closer to the darkness, and to her evil self. She tried to fight back, but she couldn't budge out of its grip.

Because of this, the darkness was making her evil on the outside.

•••

"Twilight, are you alright?" Longspear asked as he slowly approached her.

"Question is..." she whispered.”... WILL YOU BE?!" Black Iron said aloud as she sprang up, turned, and bucked Longspear in the side, causing him to fly across the room, and smashing into the wall.

"You have no idea how long I wanted to do that to you Longspear!" Maxspell called out.

"Maxspell, what are you doing to her?" said Celestia.

"I'm simply showing my puppet here whose boss," Maxspell replied.

"Now then, Black Iron, attack The Princesses!" Maxspell commanded. Black Iron eyes flashed, indicating that she had received the command. She went ahead to do what she had been told.

She began to charge at The Princesses. Luckily, they were able to move out of her way by flying away from her. That didn't stop Black Iron though. She extended her wings and shot up into the air to engage the two sisters in combat once again. She fired several shots of magic at them, but she would always miss.

On the other side of the room, Longspear slowly got up off the ground to see what was happening. What he saw didn't please him at all. He did notice something interesting when he saw Maxspell. She looked as if she were controlling something. That's when it hit him.

He slowly limped over to the back of the throne to keep himself hidden from Maxspell's view. He quickly called for Celestia's attention. She noticed him below, and then motioned her sister to keep Black Iron off of her. Luna agreed, and approached Black Iron.

"Black Iron, you have quite a terrible aim. Do you have difficulty hitting a moving target?" Luna said tauntingly. This enraged Black Iron, causing her to charge over to where Luna was.

As Luna distracted Black Iron, Celestia flew down to where Longspear was.

"What's wrong Longspear?" Celestia asked.

"Princess, I think I know why Twilight is acting this way. Take a look at Maxspell," Longspear said. Celestia did what he said and took a peek at Maxspell from behind her throne. She did notice something about her.

"See what I mean? I believe she's controlling her mind! If we don't stop her, we may risk losing Twilight again!"

Celestia sat there to think for a minute.

After a while, she had an idea on what she could do.

She peeked out from behind her throne, aimed her horn at Black Iron, and activated her magic.

In an instant, Black Iron got a sharp pain in her head, followed by her passing out and falling back down to the ground.

•••

Twilight was almost completely consumed by the darkness. She could hear the laughter of her evil self from the back of her head. She knew she was done for. All she could do was to hold out her hoof, in hopes of someone grabbing on to it, and pulling her out.

Thankfully, her prayers had been answered. She felt something wrap around her leg. It began to pull her out of the darkness.

As Twilight's vision began to clear up from the darkness that she was being rescued from, she saw something bright wrapping itself around both legs and upper waist.

It didn't take long for her to reach the middle, but when she got there, she felt her lower waist down being pulled back as well. Now she was being pulled from both sides. She felt as if she was in the middle of a tug-of-war.

Fortunately, the good side was stronger, and it was pulling her closer. As for the darkness, it began to burn off as it crossed sides.

Twilight felt like she was being saved. She was being pulled closer and closer to her good self.

•••

Slowly opening her eyes, Twilight saw nothing but bright light, which only lasted for about a few seconds before regaining her vision. She rubbed her eyes as she slowly got up from the ground.

Looking around, she saw that the throne room looked even worse than before. She noticed that someone was peeking out from behind the throne as well.

"Did it work?" Longspear whispered.

"It should have," Celestia responded while she rubbed her temples with her hooves. Longspear gulped before stepping out from the throne.

"Twilight, are you all right?" he asked.

"I think so. I mean other than the pounding headache I have right now, then I guess yea," she replied, to which she was greeted by a sudden death grip of a hug.

"Oh thank goodness you're alright!" Longspear said excitedly while squeezing all the air out of Twilight. Suddenly, the other two princesses joined the group hug. After a few seconds of hugging, they finally let go of her.

Out of the corner her eye Twilight noticed something unusual. Maxspell was picking herself up off the floor, while rubbing her head. The angry look on her face was scary enough to scare the living daylights out of any creature living in Tartarus.

"Curse you Celestia! You've severed the bonds to my puppet!" Maxspell yelled from across the throne room. Twilight approached her with a smug, satisfied look on her face.

"Sorry to rain on your padre Maxspell, but it seems that you've lost this little game of yours," Twilight said mockingly.

"On the contrary my dear. I still have one more trick up my sleeve," Maxspell replied as she brought her horn to life with her magic.

"Trick? What kind of trick?" Twilight said confusingly, when suddenly, she felt her entire body turn and buck Longspear, who was standing right next to her, really hard. He went flying across the throne room and crashed into the wall a second time. He slowly picked himself up while also trying to work his way through the pain he was feeling.

"Hey! What was that about?!" he called out in agony. "Oh boy! I think you broke my leg, and a rib or two."

"Longspear, I'm so sorry! It wasn't me, I swear!" Twilight apologized frantically when she heard Maxspell chuckling in the background.

"I never get tired of doing that!" Maxspell said amusedly.

"Maxspell, what have you done?" Celestia asked, her tone full of authority and anger.

"Oh, well, remember what I said about one more trick up my sleeve? Well, that was it! I've cast a third spell on the armor, which gives me full control of it. In other words, I can control Twilight's body whenever I need to."

Everyone else was shocked by what they had just heard.

Suddenly, Twilight felt her body turn towards the Princesses. She couldn't move on her own at all. She was stuck, and there was no way anyone could free her this time. She felt herself begin to move closer and closer towards the two sisters.

"Like I said before, did you honestly think I was foolish enough to cast just one failsafe spell? Please," Maxspell said as she continued controlling Twilight.

"You may have severed my puppet's strings mentally, but not physically. Now, let’s pick up where we left off shall we?" Maxspell said with a sinister tone on her face.

The Princesses were nervous at first, but were able to push that feeling aside so that they could focus on saving their friend. It wasn't like they have never fought a corrupt unicorn that was mad with power before. They knew they might stand a chance at winning this one.

••• 10 minutes later...

Celestia and Luna laid helplessly on the ground in pain and agony. Maxspell stood triumphantly over them, with a big smirk on her face. Twilight stood behind her with tears running down her face. She couldn't stand being forced to watch herself attack the only friends she still had in this world.

"Well, that was quite a plot twist! Isn't this the part where you defeat the evil being, banish it to who knows where, and then it's happily ever after?" Maxspell said mockingly to the two half dead ponies on the floor. She didn't know if they were dying or not, but she didn't care. They were going to be executed the next day anyway.

Suddenly, two guards came in to take the two sisters out of there.

"Be sure to take them to the hospital. I want them to be in good condition for their execution tomorrow," Maxspell ordered. The guards saluted in reply, and helped the two princesses out of the throne room. As they were making the transaction, Maxspell laid eyes on Longspear, who was still standing in the same spot where he was flung.

"As for you Longspear, you've double-crossed me, and you know what that means, right?" Maxspell asked. Longspear shook his head nervously in reply, but deep down, he did know what it meant. He was going to die.

He frantically scanned the room, searching for a way to escape. The only exit he could find was the windows. He knew it would be very risky try to smash through them, but what other choice did he have? After all, desperate times called for desperate measures.

"It means that I'm finally going to do the one thing I've always wanted to do, and that's to kill you. Any last words?" Maxspell asked.

"Well, if that's what you're going to do, than all I have to say is..."

Before he could even finish, he made a quick dash towards the window on three legs. Using all the energy, and the force he could muster, he was able to smash through the stained glass window.

Fortunately, the throne room was only two stories high, which lowered the chances of the fall killing him. That, and the large bush that was there to break his fall.

After digging his way out of the bush, he quickly limped toward the palace entrance.

Maxspell saw him limp away, which only fueled her anger even more.

"You think you can escape that easy from me Longspear? Do you know whom you are dealing with? You can run, but you can't hide!" Maxspell yelled out to Longspear. She turned around to find Twilight smiling for her friend's escape.

"As for you, you and I are going to have a LONG discussion between the two of us," Maxspell said as she forced Twilight to walk alongside her.

Twilight feared what she was going to do to her. She could only hope for Longspear to come back and save them all from this death trap.

•••

Questions, Comments, Complements,
Any errors are accepted, always room for improvement!
Be sure to like and follow me both here and Twitter(Pony3T)

Chapter 13: A Thriving Friendship

Limping the through the streets of Canterlot, Longspear tried to put as much distance between him and the place.

In no time, however, he did arrive at the train station, only to find out that it was crawling with Maxspell's goons. No doubt they have already been told to capture him if they see him. Obviously that wasn't going to happen.

Putting his skills to good use, he sneaks around the guards, eventually making it to the caboose of a train that was stationed there. The whistled blew, the engine hissed. It was about to leave. Without hesitation, he sneaks inside right as it was leaving the station.

Sitting inside the caboose, Longspear examined his left foreleg. It looked pretty bad. It was a bloody mess with the bone sticking out. With an injury like that, he's surprised he was able to escape without collapsing.

"Ok, I've managed to escape the wrath of Maxspell with a broken leg. I have no idea where this train is going, but that doesn't matter. As long as it's far away from Canterlot, I'm okay with that! I just need some time to come up with a plan to save Twilight and the princesses, and fast, but first, I think I need hospital."

•••

Darkness. Pitch black everywhere. It seemed like an endless void when suddenly, a light appeared. It was small at first, but it got bigger and bigger by the second. It became some big, and bright enough, it was blinding. Then it started to clear. Eventually, the fluorescent lights on the ceiling could be seen.

Slowly opening her eyes, Appleseed quickly took in her surroundings. She found herself lying in a hospital bed in a fairly small hospital room. In an attempt to get up and walk around, she found out she couldn't move at all. She saw that her lower body was encased in a full body cast.

Looking around, she saw dome objects on a table next to her bed. On it were some flowers and a photo of a group of ponies, with her amongst them.

Just then, the door opened. On the other side, threw ponies trotted in. One was wearing a nurse's uniform.

"Well look who's finally woken up!" said one pony. She was a pegasus with a dark purple coat, and colorful mane with different shades of blues, greens, and pinks. It was like an aurora of colors.

"Nice to see you too Aurora Flash," Appleseed said to the pegasus pony in a sarcastic manner. She then went a placed her ancestor's hat on her friend's head.

"And how's are wonderful patient today?" asked the nurse, who was also a pegasus with white coat and sky-blue mane.

"Eh, I've been better Softheart."

"Softheart, did Appleseed get any cool, super powers from her accident? ‘Cause that was a pretty intense blast of magic?" asked a cheerful white, pink mane earth pony.

"Oh... um... I don't think so Sweetie Pie," Softheart replied. Sweetie Pie simply shrugged and focused her attention on her injured friend.

"Oh well, no biggie, but you what will you feel better in no time? A Party!"

Aurora rolled her eyes after hearing such a silly response. "Sweetie, now's not the time to throw a party."

"Aurora, when your friends are sick, and they need some cheering up, you MAKE the time!" Sweetie Pie replied.

"Um, alright then. Now Appleseed, we encased your body in a healing cast that should help treat your injuries much quicker. Plus, you get to move around with it. Aurora Flash, would you mind if I ask you to help me get Appleseed out of bed?" Softheart asked kindly.

Aurora agreed to help, and both pegasus flew up to carry Appleseed out of bed. They quickly set her back down on the ground. She winced a little bit expecting the pain that never came. She felt fine, as if she wasn't even injured.

"Woo-wee! Boy this cast is pretty amazin’! Thanks Softheart," Appleseed thanked in delight. Softheart simply gave a shy smile in response.

Suddenly, the door to the room burst open, revealing a frantic beautiful unicorn mare with a blue coat and purple curled mane. "Oh sear, I'm so sorry I'm late!" she cried frantically.

"Elegance, where have you been?!" Aurora asked in an annoyed tone.

"Well, if you must know, I was trying to get here, but getting stopped repeatedly by those roughens in armor outside. It seems certain some ponies have forgotten their manners!"

"Alright, look, we don't have time ta argue. So can someone please fill me in on what's been goin’ on since I was out?" Appleseed said.

"Well for starters, Equestria has fallen under the wrath of Queen Black Iron, which means that we're pretty much screwed." Aurora replied. Appleseed frowned when she heard the news, but then noticed a smile creeping up on her face.

"But don't worry, I have an idea on how we can fix this,"

Now Appleseed's jaw dropped. "Wait, yer telling me that YOU know how ta fix all this?! I hate ta burst yer bubble there partner, but you have no idea who you're dealin’ with. Ah mean, look at what she did ta me!

"Which is why we're all going to do this together, and the first thing we need is to get one of those guards to reveal any important information, that way we can sneak into Canterlot."

"Oh Please. They're not gunna spill their beans ta us."

"You don't know if you try!"

Appleseed was lost for words. She was too annoyed to continue this argument. She then went and sat down in the wheelchair that Soft heart had brought for her and all five ponies left the room and down towards the hospital entrance.

When they all exited the building. Appleseed frowned at the sight of the city. Buildings were in ruins, Guards were everywhere, and garbage and debris littered all over.

"Look at this place," she said in a depressed tone.

"All the more reason we should stick with my plan," Aurora reminded her.

In the distance, they notice a gray stallion limping towards them.

"I say, who is that young stallion coming this. He looks oddly familiar," Elegance said. All five ponies looked closely at him.

"Hey, I think I've seen before. Yea! He's the guy the hangs around with Black Iron all the time! Forget the guards, we'll use him to get us to her!" Aurora Flash said.

They all grew quiet as he limped past them and made his way inside the hospital.

"Oh dear, did you see his leg? Oh, I got to go help him!" Softheart said anxiously as she began to flutter towards him, only to be halted by Aurora.

"Softheart, I know you have good intentions, but you can't heal him yet. We need him alone first. Sweetie Pie, do your thing," Aurora commanded. Sweetie Pie shook her head before bouncing off after Longspear. She caught up to him and bounced in front of him blocking his path.

"Hi there! I never met you before, which means you're new here! Are you passing by or planning on staying here?" she asked excitedly.

"Um, just passing through, I guess. Hey, do you know where the doctor is, I really need someone to tend to my leg here," Longspear replied.

"Ooh, my friend Softheart can help with that. She's a nurse here, which means she's good at tending broken legs!"

"Great! Where can I find her?" Longspear asked looking around the lobby, only to have Sweetie Pie turn his head back towards her with her hoof.

"Oh she's around, I'll make sure to let her know you need assistance."

"Well I need assistance NOW! So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to find this 'Softheart' character and have her patch me up!" Longspear said as he limped around the white and pink mare and limped towards an elevator, only to have a rag pressed against his muzzle. He tries to fight back, but something was making him sleepy, very sleepy. Eventually, he passed out on the hospital floor unconscious.

•••

Longspear slowly began to awaken. He squinted his eyes, trying to block out the bright light shining above him. Outside of the circle of light was nothing but darkness.

Struggling to move, Longspear noticed that he was bound to a chair. He did notice that his broken was treated and is now in a metal cast.

"Hello? Is there anyone here? I'd like to know where I am and why I'm here," Longspear said.

"SILENCE!!!" a loud, low, booming voice called out for within the shadows. "We ask the questions, and you only talk when you're spoken too, understand?" Longspear nodded in fear.

"Who are you, and where do you come from?"

"M-m-my name is L-Longspear a-and I j-just came here f-from c-c-Canterlot."

"Who do you work for?"

"W-well, I-I used to w-work for M-Maxspell and Twi- er Black Iron."

"Who is this Maxspell you speak of?"

"S-she use to work for P-Princess C-Celestia, but now she um... is kinda having a p-problem in her life that she's dealing with."

Silence. The voice didn't ask nor respond

"Um, I hope you don't mind if I ask, but who are y-" Longspear was cut off when he felt a hoof slapping him in the face. What he saw standing in front of him made his blood run cold. There was a pony wearing a dark cloak. He couldn't see the pony's face since it was covered in darkness.

"I SAID NOT TO TALK UNLESS SPOKEN TOO!!!” the pony screamed when suddenly, a light lit up the entire room, revealing three other ponies, and one standing at a doorway, near a light switch.

Longspear saw whom the pony in the cloak was, who turned out to be a dark purple pegasus mare wearing a mask around her mouth. She then turned to face the pony near the light switch while taking off her cloak and mask.

"Sweetie Pie! Why did you do that?!" she asked furiously.

"What? It was really dark and I couldn't see. Besides, why are you interrogating him in the dark? Sounds really silly if you ask me Aurora Flash," she said while munching on a cupcake.

Aurora rolled her eyes at her before returning her attention to her captive.

"Alright, since Sweetie Pie here blew my cover, I guess I'll introduce ourselves. My name is Aurora Flash, you already know Sweetie Pie, and that's Softheart, she fixed your leg by the way, and that's Elegance and Appleseed," Aurora said pointing to each specific mare she named. Longspear was surprised when he saw Appleseed standing in front of him alive and well.

"Appleseed, you're alive?" he asked.

" Surprised ta see me huh? Well it jus' goes ta show ya that it takes whole lot more ta bring this pony down," Appleseed responded.

After taking in his surroundings, and the level of the situation, Longspear began to chuckle, and then burst out laughing.

"Oh man, are you kidding me? And for a second there, I thought I was actually in some serious trouble. You had me worried there, although, I will admit, you did do a good job putting on such an act until it got ruined. So what do you say if you just let me go and pretend this whole incident never happened," Longspear said, only to have Aurora Flash slap him in the face again.

"Don't underestimate us. We're scarier than you think. Now why don't you cooperate with us, or else we'll have to resort to other methods of making you talk."

"What kind of methods?"

"You'll see," Aurora replied with a suspicious smirk on her face. Longspear was beginning to grow impatient.

"Well then, what do you want from me?"

"We just need to figure out a way into Canterlot."

"For?"

"So we can defeat Black Iron of course."

Longspear felt like he was losing his marbles after hearing what he just heard. He then turned to Appleseed, as seeing she's the only serious one in the room.

"Is she being serious?" Longspear asked.

"You betcha, an believe me when ah say that when she's talkin' serious, she means business," Appleseed replied.

"And all of you guys are on board with this?"

"To be honest, we really think this is a bad idea, but after seeing what has been happening recently, I don't think we have a choice," Elegance replied.

Longspear sighed in disappointment before looking up at his captives.

"Well believe it or not, I myself am trying to do what you all are doing. The only difference is that I'm going after a different mare while trying to figure out how to rescue another three at the same time."

Everybody looked at him with confused expressions. Aurora quickly changed her expression to a determined one.

"And just who are you going after, and who are rescuing?" Aurora asked.

"Do you remember me mentioning a mare named Maxspell?" Aurora nodded. "She's the one I'm going after," Longspear replied.

"And who are you rescuing?" Softheart whispered behind her mane.

"The Princesses, ALL three princesses."

"Huh?" was what all five mares said simultaneously.

"Pardon me darling, but what do you mean three princesses when clearly there are only two," Elegance replied.

"Nope, three princesses, and one of them happens to be Princess Twilight," Longspear said. Everyone else was once again confused and in disbelief.

"What do you mean the third one is Princess Twilight? She was pony napped LONG ago!" Aurora argued.

"Then you're going to laugh when I tell you that Black Iron is actually Twilight herself. Have none you seen the resemblance?" Longspear asked.

"Ya know, now that ya mention it, I can kinda see a resemblance between tha two," Appleseed said.

"How do we know you're telling the truth? For all we know, you could be lying to us, just to get us off Black Iron’s trail," Aurora said deceitful. Everyone else exchanged looks and began to slowly move closer to Longspear. The fear he felt before was coming back to him now.

"Wait, you have to believe me! I mean, how else could I know this stuff, and plus, my code of honor clearly states that I can't lie, so you have to believe me," Longspear pleaded, however, not all of them were buying it. But one pony standing in the back, with her blue mane covering half of her white, pale face, stood there trembling. She wanted to go and intervene, but her nerves wouldn't let her. Finally, after building up enough courage, Softheart quickly moved in-between her friends and Longspear, pleading them to stop.

"Softheart, what are you doing?" Aurora Flash asked.

"You need to stop! He's telling the truth!" Softheart replied frantically.

"How do ya know he's tellin' the truth?" Appleseed asked.

"Sometimes, you just need a little kindness to see the good in people," Softheart replied sweetly.

A few minutes had passed, and everyone else finally backed off of the two. Softheart smiled and went ahead and untied Longspear's restraints, freeing him.

"Gees thanks, I don't know how to thank you, considering you've already done so much for me," Longspear said to her.

"Oh um, it was nothing," Softheart said nervously behind her mane. Longspear quickly moved towards the others.

"Ok, I don't care if you like me or not, but it's important for you all to trust me. Now I can probably get us into the city so we can begin with the rescuing, but in order to do that, we're going to have to do this as a team. So, are with me or not?" Longspear said. After exchanging glances, everyone came to an agreement.

"Appleseed, are you sure you're going to handle this?" he asked.

"Jus tell me what ta do. I'm sure ma body can handle a little more," she replied to which Longspear smiled. Aurora Flash was the last one to go on board with this.

"All right, but if you get us all killed, then I'm going to haunt you for the rest of your life," Aurora said threateningly.

"Great! Now the execution is tomorrow morning, so here's what we're going to do."

•••

Alone Twilight sat on Celestia's throne. She couldn't move due to the fact that Maxspell's magic was keeping her body still from moving. She just sat there with no one else but her thoughts. She just couldn't stop thinking about the execution in the morning. She couldn't bear watching her remaining two friends die in front of her. She tried to come up with a plan, but rather did not bother doing so considering her body was not under her own free will. Suddenly, her thoughts came to a hilt when she felt something hit her right cheek.

"Psst, Twilight," a whisper sounded near the broken windows. Twilight could barely turn her head to see who it was until Longspear entered her field of vision.

"Longspear? What are you doing here?" Twilight asked while Longspear climbed up into the throne room and approached her.

"I'm going rescue you," he replied before noticing all the cuts, bruises, and the black eye on Twilight's face.

"Whoa, what happened to you?”

"You can thank Maxspell for this. After you left, she tried to insert more of her dark magic into my mind, but somehow it kept rejecting it. So in a fit of rage, she took her anger out on my face, and then left me here," Twilight replied. A wave of anger consumed Longspear.

"Oh that's it. When I get my hooves on her, then she'll be the one whose head will be mounted on the wall!" he said seething with rage. "Where is she?! I'll tear her limb from limb! Hell, I should just turn her into glue for all I care!"

"Longspear, calm down!" Twilight said urgently.

"Calm down?! I know that mare is evil, but she just crossed the line!"

"You can have your revenge later, and I can probably have myself healed up if I regain control of my magic, but right now, you need to calm down and tell me about how you are going to rescue me."

After taking a few deep breaths, Longspear was able to hold himself together.

"Alright, alright. Now here's what I was going to explain to you earlier." Longspear said before explaining his entire plan while receiving a lot of different facial expressions from Twilight.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" she asked.

"Nope, but what other option do we have?"

"I guess you're right. Just DON'T MISS alright?"

"I'll try." Longspear replied. Just then, the sound of hooves was growing louder and louder along with the sound of some pony complaining and giving out orders.

"Oh no, she's coming back!" Twilight frantically said when she saw the look of anger in Longspear's eyes.

"Longspear, you have to get out of here! Like I said, you can have revenge later, just go!" She urged him to leave so that he wouldn't get exposed. He finally returned to reality and rushed toward the windows.

"Are you going to be able to sneak out of here?" Twilight asked.

"Come on, I can sneak into any place I want! I was a thief remember?” Longspear said as if he'd been asked 'why is water wet?’

He finally jumped back down and was on his way, leaving Twilight smiling for the speck of hope she had been granted.

•••

The sun was slowly rising over the horizon.

Every pony was gathering around the palace entrance.

A large gallows were constructed at the entrance with two noses, both wrapped in magic.

All the guards rallied a crowd of ponies below.

Several other guards surrounded the edge of the gallows. One began playing taps on a drum.

Celestia and Luna slowly trotted up to the nooses. Everyone was shocked when they saw the two in a horrible condition. More than half of their bodies were covered in metal casts. Their faces had cuts, bruises, and a scar or two.

Twilight and Maxspell were next to trot up onto the gallows, with Maxspell moving Twilight behind the Princesses. Just like before, they were all shocked when they saw her face's condition.

Maxspell noticed something odd about her. She looked very anxious, but she set the thought aside thinking it was probably because she was about to see the death of her only friends in this world.

Twilight however, was anxious what was going to come to her.

Maxspell trotted up towards the edge facing the crowd.

"Mares and gentlecolts. I am pleased to see so many of you here to witness the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one. Today you will watch the death of a corrupt kingdom, and watch a better one rise up from the ashes that your children, and your children's children will live in. The heart of this retched monarchy will soon beat for the last time." Maxspell announced. Using her magic, she lifted the nooses and settled them around the two sister's necks. She then approached them and whispered something to them.

"Don't worry, I'll take good care of your precious kingdom," she said before turning her attention to a guard standing by a lever.

"On my mark... and... NOW!!!"

•••

Longspear watched the gallows as the guards trotted around it through a sniper scope. Aurora Flash and Appleseed both were lying down beside him.

"You sure this is going to work?" Aurora anxiously asked.

"As long as everything goes according to plan," he replied. He then saw Maxspell and Twilight trot up onto the gallows. He kept his sights focused on Maxspell with his trigger hoof itching. He could have ended that mare's life if he wanted to, but he took a deep breath and remembered what Twilight said.

"An' what exactly are ya aimin' at?" Appleseed wondered.

"Just the one thing that's essential to Maxspell."

"Which is?"

"You'll see."

After a few minutes of waiting, he finally saw his moment to act. He watched carefully as Maxspell finished her speech turned to the Princesses for a few seconds, then turning towards the executioner. Right when she said now, he pulled the trigger. The bullet traveled faster than the guard's reaction time and was able to hit its target; the fire ruby in Twilight's crown.

She stumbled back a little bit while Maxspell was blown back a few feet. The magical connection was disrupted, thus releasing its magical grip on both Twilights body and the nooses.

Twilight slowly began gaining control of her body again, and quickly noticed the lever had been pulled and the trap doors underneath the Princesses hooves were open.

Without hesitating, she used her magic and quickly cut both ropes before they snapped taut, causing the two ponies to fall to the ground hard. Twilight rapidly jumped of the gallows and fluttered down to where the princesses were. She wrapped her legs around them and called upon her magic to teleport away from the area.

They teleported from rooftop to rooftop until they reached the one Longspear and the others were on and were teleported away.

•••

Maxspell slowly got up while rubbing her head. She felt very confused and yet again, very worried. Did somebody shoot her? She did feel a sharp pain in her head, not to mention being flung a few feet away. She felt around her head in search of a bullet hole. To her relief, there wasn't one. Then she noticed something else. Something that ignited pure rage deep within her.

She saw the two ropes that were cut and dangling with nothing hanging at the end, and worse, all three princesses were gone.

She quickly approached the nearest guard and gave him an order.

"I want you dispatch every single guard we have. Find them and bring them to me alive! I need their hearts pumping, for now. GO HURRY!!!" she commanded. The guard saluted and all the guards on the gallows quickly left, leaving Maxspell by herself.

"You will be mine princesses. It won't be long now."

•••

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Chapter 14: An Old Friend

"I wonder what's taking them so long," Elegance said with concern. Sweetie Pie and Softheart sat there quietly waiting for their friends. The three were at the Pie Family Rock Farm, waiting in the guest room.

"Oh, I hope they're all right," Softheart said nervously.

Another minute passed, when suddenly, a flash appeared in the middle of the room, revealing 6 other ponies, all collapsing on the floor. The other three mares quickly ran to their aid.

"Oh goodness! Is every pony alright?" Softheart asked. They all nodded, except for Longspear, whose face looked green in color. He quickly ran towards the nearby trashcan to dispose of all the contents of his stomach.

"Oh my, look at your face!" Softheart exclaimed while motioning to Twilight's injured face.

"Oh, it's nothing really. I'm fine," Twilight said in protest.

"Well I'm not taking any chances. What kind of a pony would I be who wouldn't help another, no matter how good or bad they are."

Twilight winced by that. This pony was kind. In fact, she was almost as kind as another pony that she knew.

Softheart frantically got out her medical supplies from her saddlebags and went to work treating Twilight's injuries. After cleaning, disinfecting, and bandaging up her cuts and bruises and treating her black eye, she moved on to help the Princesses.

"Well, that was pretty exciting," Aurora Flash said sarcastically as she helped the Princesses up on their hooves so Softheart could treat her.

"Thank you," Celestia thanked nicely.

"The name's Aurora Flash your highness."

"Oh, well, thank you Aurora Flash."

"Um, mind if I ask, but where are we?" Twilight asked, to which Sweetie Pie bounced right in front of her.

"You're in the guest room of my family rock farm! Don't worry, we should be safe here!"

"Rock farm? What do you mean family rock farm?"

"This is the Pie Family Rock Farm! The Pie family has been tending these lands for more than a millennium! Here we grow all kinds of rocks! I thought I was going to spend my entire life farming rocks, but then one day, I preferred throwing parties and making ponies smile!" Sweetie Pie informed her. Twilight's jaw dropped after hearing what she just heard.

"Hold on, are you telling me you’re a Pie?" Twilight asked in disbelief.

"Well I might be part of the Apple family, but I'm not entirely sure,"

"APPLE FAMILY?!?!" Twilight said surprisingly.

"Yea, which means I'm probably related to Appleseed!" Sweetie Pie said, pointing a hoof at the farm pony herself. Twilight's eyes widen when she saw her, and quickly ran towards her.

"Appleseed, you're alive?!"

"Eeyup! Like ah said before, it takes a whole lot more ta bring this pony down."

"Appleseed, I'm so sorry about what I've done to you. Please know that I never meant to bring any harm to you or any pony," Twilight said apologetically.

"Aw no sweat sugar cube, it ain't your fault you're in this mess," Appleseed said in an attempt to reassure her. Twilight smiled when she heard that. She turned her attention to the others.

"And who might you all be?" she said to them. Aurora quickly flew right in fort of her to introduce herself.

"My name's Aurora Flash, the fastest flier in Equestria!"

Twilight held her breath not to freak out when she heard her say those words. Aurora Flash then pointed to her other two friends.

"That's Softheart."

"Um... hi," the shy pegasus said.

"And that's Elegance," Aurora said.

"A pleasure to meet you darling. Nice to know you're not really an evil tyrant as we thought you would be." Elegance responded.

As for Twilight, she was on the verge of having a panic attack. She didn't know if she was either going crazy, or if this group of ponies not only looked, but also acted like her original friends! Besides the difference in their names and colors, they looked almost the same, talked the same, sound the same, and even acted the same way! Then a thought came to mind. If these ponies are almost like their friends, could they be descendants? Sweetie did say that she was a member of the Pie family, and Appleseed being in the Apple family. It was something worth pondering about, but now wasn't the time. After taking several deep breaths to calm her nerves, Twilight turned her attention to the Princesses.

"Are you both alright?"

"Yes, we're fine for now. Thank you Twilight for rescuing us," Celestia replied.

"Don't thank me, thank Longspear. He was the one who came up with the idea to save you both," Twilight said, motioning to Longspear, who was lying near the trashcan. Both Princesses were surprised when they found out. They slowly approached him to where he was on the floor.

"Is this true?"

"Well yea. I mean I couldn't just let Maxspell kill you just like that," Longspear told them. The two sisters exchanged looks before showing him a look of compassion. They bent down and gave him a hug. Longspear only sat there confused. Why weren't they mad? Was saving them enough to get them to forgive him? He wasn't sure, but he didn't care. He simply enjoyed their warm embrace. A few seconds later, they let go.

"Ok now that we've finally rescued the Princesses, what do we do now?" The night themed pegasus asked.

"Now we go after Maxspell," Longspear responded with determination in his tone. The others, however, weren't well on board with it.

"Longspear, how do ya plan on doin' that?" Appleseed said.

"I have no idea," Longspear said sadly. Everyone groaned when they heard that.

"But wait, I'm sure if we come up with another plan, we can surely beat her! Somehow."

"How can we get into Canterlot now?! She probably has the entire Royal Guard looking for us. Why, it would take an entire army just to stand a chance against her." Aurora Flash said.

Longspear slumped to the floor. He didn't think he would get this far, and he certainly didn't think ahead.

"Well you know what, you're probably right. We would need an entire army just to get in. Do you have any ideas yourself?" He asked sarcastically. Aurora winced and backed down at that.

Luna, having been quiet the entire time, suddenly spoke up to the others.

"You said we need an army, say about a thousand ponies, correct?"

Longspear nodded.

"Well then, we may not need a thousand ponies. In fact, we may just need one being that's worth a thousand ponies."

Everyone was puzzled by what Luna said; not counting the suspicious smile that grew on her face.

•••

Snow rapidly falls all around. The northern winds blow through the mountains, like a low whistling in the distance.

Trudging up a mountain, all nine ponies slowly make their ascent through the furious snowstorm.

"Are we almost there?" Aurora called out so she could be heard over the storm.

"Not yet. Just a little higher," Celestia responded.

"Princess, where are we going exactly?" asked Twilight.

"We need to find a cave at the top of the mountain. There we will find someone who can help. I just hope he will be up for it."

"Who exactly?"

"You'll see." Twilight was confused after that. Who were they going to see?

They continued trudging. Eventually Longspear couldn't take much more of it.

"Ok that's it! We've been trudging through these mountains, eating snow for hours and for what? I'm surprised we haven’t froze to death yet."

Several hours later, they arrived at a cave on the side of the mountain.

"We’re here," Celestia announced.

Upon entry, it became warmer. As they went deeper into the cave, the warmer it got. They noticed a faint glow at the end of it. It grew brighter as they approached it. They found out later that the glow was coming from a large pile of gems.

"Oh my, would like the number of gems there are! It’s gorgeous!" Elegance said marveled at the beauty of the gems. The others ignored her as they stared at the pile confusedly.

"Princess, by all means, why have you brought us to this cave filled with all these gems?" Twilight asked. The Princess gave a warm smile when she looked at her.

"Wait for it."

Despite her leg being injured, she stomped as hard as she could in a rhythmic pattern that echoed throughout the cave.

A few seconds passed with nothing but silence. Then a groan was heard behind the pile of gems. Slowly rising above the gems was a large creature. It was large enough to almost touch the ceiling. Everyone else gasped when they saw who it was. The large creature was a dragon with purple scales and green spikes running down its spine and tail.

"Greetings Spike, it's been far too long," Celestia greeted. Once he was done yawning and stretching, he realized who was in his domain.

"Your highness," he said in a low booming voice as he bowed in respect. When he raised his head back up, his eyes fell upon a certain mare in the group. His eyes furrowed with anger.

"Why did bring that in here?" He said pointing a claw at Twilight.

"Spike, it's me Twilight."

This ignited the anger within the dragon.

"Don't you dare say that name! I know who you truly are, Queen Black Iron. You may have fooled the Princesses, but you're not fooling me!"

Twilight felt her heart break.

"How do you know all about me being Black Iron?" she asked, to which Spike picked up a large orb and held it in his claw.

"Ever since I moved in here, I've used this orb to view the world outside this cave. This is my window to the outside world that keeps me updated on current events happening in Equestria and it has been in a state of turmoil lately, thanks to you, now why don't you gather up all your little friends and- oh wait, that's right, you don't have any, so why don't you get out of here!" The dragon exclaimed with such force.

Twilight felt as if she was about to burst into tears. She could not believe that her friend, the friend she raised since he hatched from that egg long ago, the one that she took care of, was forcing her to trot out of his life.

Luna and Longspear wanted to intervene, but Celestia held out a hoof to prevent them.

"Spike, you might not recognize me right now, but behind all these bandages and this armor, I'm the mare that has taken care of you since I hatched you from that egg. I'm the one that took care of you and even loved you as a sister. You were like a brother to me. Please believe when I say to you that I'm really am your friend Twilight!"

Spike then grabbed her and held her in his grip as he held her in his grasp.

"I don't know how you know all that. You might have gotten the Princesses to tell you all that, but I'm not falling for your tricks Black Iron, in fact, I can just end you right now, after all, us dragons have the greatest power of all," he said before opening his mouth. It started to glow deep inside.

Luna and the others tried to stop him, but were all prevented by Celestia. She wanted to see where this would go.

Twilight felt her world fall apart all around her. She didn't blame him for not believing her. For all that she has done, she deserved this fate. Lowering her head, she whispered something as a tear fell from her cheek and landed on the dragon's claw, getting his attention.

"I remember."

Spike closed his mouth as he stared at her with confusion.

“You what?" he asked.

"I remember."

"Remember what?"

"Our last night together, before the pony napping. I know you spent months searching for me. I know how upset you probably were back then when you came to the conclusion that I was officially gone. I just want you to know that it wasn't my fault. I would never do anything bad like I just did, but if there was any pain or heartache that I caused, I am greatly sorry for it."

Spike soaked in those words. He was stuck. He didn't know whether to believe her or not. But as he looked closely at her, he saw the streams of tears running down her cheeks. He had to admit; an evil queen wouldn't go as far as what this mare he was holding did. He also knew that only the real Twilight would know all that, especially on their last night together.

After a few minutes of thinking, he finally lowered her back down on the ground. Twilight looked up to find him smiling.

"You really are Twilight," he said.

"I would never lie to a close friend like you Spike."

•••

"Alright, so let me see if I got this whole story right. You got kidnapped, turned into an evil princess, took over Equestria, and almost killed the Princesses?!" Spike said astonishingly.

"Don't forget that all of this is because of that meanie-ants Maxspell" Sweetie Pie chimed in.

"Yes, and I believe now, Maxspell is the one in charge, considering she's still back in Canterlot," Twilight added.

"I still say we should burst in and buck her out," Aurora said while Appleseed gave her a rhetorical look.

"Sure, we can go in, an’ have the guards tear us ta pieces!"

"Well arguing about it won't solve our problems,'" Celestia said intervening. “Now, Luna has an idea, so I wish for you all to listen to what she has to say.”

Everyone obeyed as they turned their attention to Luna.

“Thank you sister, now the reason why we brought you all here is because we are in need of some assistance in getting into Canterlot, but to do that, we would need an army, but what if we had someone that’s as strong as an army,” she said motioning to Spike.

“Spike, would do the honors as to help us on our mission to retake Equestria?”

Spike sat there to think about what Luna said. He was big and strong, and his thick scales could protect him from harm. Plus he would make a good diversion while the others did what they had to do. It was an offer he couldn’t pass up on. He wanted in.

“It would be my pleasure princess.”

•••

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Author's Note

Hey folks, I just want to give you all a heads up by telling you that this story will be wrapping up in a few chapters, but before then, I would like to know what you all think about the story so far and what you liked! Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed, and get ready, the end is coming soon!

~From your number 1 and 03 favorite pony,
Pony 03.

Chapter 15: There will be Soft Rain: Part 1

Droplets of water drizzled down towards the Earth, like a light spring shower. A cold wind blows through the land. Dark gray clouds loom over the horizons, bringing faint thunderous booms along with them. The storm is coming.

Maxspell watches from the castle balcony. The only thought in her mind was the Princesses lying dead at her hooves. She knew they'd come back for their kingdom. She knew they wouldn’t come alone.

•••

All eight ponies; including Spike stood several miles outside of Canterlot. They stared at the city, which was now a shadow of its former glory. It brought pain to Celestia every second she stared at it. How could she have let it all comes down to this, but she remembered not too constantly blame herself for everything and focus on the task at hoof.

"Ok, let's go over this one more time," Luna announced, to which Aurora Flash responded with a groan. Twilight shot a glare like daggers at the pegasus before returning her attention to the Princess of the Night.

"Twilight, you and the others will go through the new district in order to get to the train station. Once you're there, follow the tracks until you reach the bridge connecting the two districts, there you will find a hatch. Open it and use the tunnels to reach the palace, where you all will confront Maxspell so that we may bring her into custody. And remember to use the signal if you are in need of assistance. Do you understand?"

Twilight nodded. "Yes princess, but I might I ask, what are you and Princess Celestia going to do?"

Celestia approached her to stand by her sister's side.

"I'm afraid we're in poor condition to assist you all on your journey. However, we will come if you are in need of help. I am sure I don't need to remind you to signal us only in the event of an emergency."

Twilight smiled as she went to hug the two alicorns. Afterwards, she went and approached the large dragon standing nearby.

"So you’re leaving again?" he asked.

"I'll try to make it back Spike."

"Yea, I hope you do. I just don't want to lose you a second time."

Twilight patted his scaly hide.

"Um, I hate to interrupt, but we need to get moving if we're going to save Equestria," Aurora said, pressing the two to hurry up. Finally, Twilight waved goodbye before joining the other five ponies.

•••

Guards stood at the entrance to the city. More were guarding inside. The six arrived not far from it.

Hiding in the brush, Twilight noticed a sewer cover. She hoped she wouldn't have to go down there, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She levitated a rock and threw it several feet away from the guards. It got their attention and went to investigate, giving Twilight and her friends to head for their target.

Everyone, with Elegance diving in last, entered the sewers. Twilight’s horn illuminated with magic to provide light in the dark.

"Alright, which way?" Aurora asked.

"Forward. Hopefully this tunnel will connect to the one need to reach. Hopefully there aren't any guards down here too," Twilight informed, with Aurora rolling her eyes at her.

They headed forward, just as Twilight said. Along the way, they did encounter the occasional guard now and then, but they were nothing the six of them couldn't handle.

A while later, they reached a dead end.

"I told you we should have taken that turn back there!" Aurora Flash argued.

"Well I don't hear you telling us where to go," Elegance retorted.

"Hush y'all! We don't have time for ya arguin’. We need ta keep movin’!" Appleseed scolded at the two arguing mares before going up the ladder towards the surface.

Lifting the cover up high enough to catch a glimpse, she quickly took note of the surrounding area outside of the sewer cover. She first noticed that they were in the middle of a road, but ahead of them was an alleyway. Surprisingly, there were no guards anywhere. It was another chance given to them by fate. They needed to act fast.

Appleseed quickly explained to the others what to do, to which they were all on board.

The first to exit the sewer was Softheart. Next was Sweetie Pie, then Elegance, then Aurora Flash. They continued this process with Appleseed checking to make sure the coast was clear ever now and then.

Twilight was next to go. Before leaving the sewer, Appleseed peeked outside, and saw that her worst fears had been realized.

Two guards were approaching the pony hole and the alley.

"Hold up there," Appleseed told Twilight.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Appleseed stood there coming up with a way for her friend to get past the two goons. Then an idea hit her, and she didn't like it.

"Alright look, there are two of ‘em guards out there. Now I'm gunna go out an’ distract ‘em while you go an’ fly ta safety with the others."

Twilight didn't like this plan either.

"Are you CARZY!?"

"Ah know it looks bad, but you have to trust me, an’ when ah say you'll be safe, ah speak the honest truth."

Twilight still felt doubtful, but what other choice did they have.

"Alright, but be careful."

Appleseed nodded before slowly climbing out of the pony hole. The two guards had their backs turned towards her. She slowly moved a few feet away from them and whistled for their attention. They turned and saw her waving her flank with a smug look on her face before running off in the opposite direction.

"Why that little!" one guard said as the two gave chase.

After witnessing the events that took place, Twilight emerged from the sewer and took to the air, not so high as to get spotted by nearby patrols, but to find the rest of her companions. She did in fact see them making their way through the alleyways. She quickly flew to their location and landed right in front of them, causing them to jump.

"Whoa! Gees Twilight, don't scare us like that," Aurora complained.

Twilight simply smirked as they carried on.

•••

As they continued on, they stared at all the devastation in the city. Buildings were in ruin, citizens running in fear, and dead bodies everywhere. Softheart and Elegance had to cover their eyes every time they'd pass something like that to prevent either one of them from falling over.

As they turned a corner, they spotted a mother and child cowering next to an injured guard. As the five ponies approached them, they saw that the guard was somehow not under Maxspell's spell. The reason they could tell was that all of the corrupted guard's irises were red. This one's was his normal blue color.

When the mother and child spotted Twilight and the others, they quickly bowed in her presence. This made her feel both guilty and uncomfortable.

"It's alright, we mean no harm," Twilight said with ease. This didn't seem to change the two pony's attitude.

"Please, you have no reason to fear us, we're here to save you from this awful mess."

"A-and how d-do you p-plan on d-d-doing that?" the mother stammered in fear.

"Don't worry, will find a way."

This did seem to calm the two’s nerves a bit.

Twilight turned to see if she could help the injured guard in any way, but she was already too late for that.

Softheart had been already hard at work treating him. In no time, his back and hind legs were bandaged up.

"There, that should help. Oh I wish I had some better equipment to help heal your injuries, but I um... hope that's still alright with you I mean." The guard slowly propped himself up on a stick that was nearby.

"Gees, thanks miss. No one's ever patched me up like that before," he said with a rough voice.

Softheart smiled before quickly attending the mother and colt to see if they needed any medical help. Twilight smiled as she watched her friend finishing up with her two patients.

"Wow Flut- er, I mean, Softheart, that's really kind of you."

"Well, as I always say, all we need is a little kindness.

•••

At last they reached the train station. There they met up with Appleseed.

"Appleseed, what happens to you? What did you do with those guards?" Twilight asked.

"Well let's jus’ say they ended up jus’ like the other guards we took care of. An’ might I add, this cast is doing me wonders."

"Oh, alright then." Twilight replied as they ducked behind a building when they saw a guard come out of the station.

"That there place mus’ be crawlin’ with guys like ‘em," Appleseed commented.

"Well how do you suppose we'll get passed all of them? Elegance asked.

"Ya know we don't really need ta go through the station." Appleseed told her, to which everyone responded going "Huh?" in unison.

"Ah'm serious. The tracks are right down there. We can jus’ climb down an sneak right under their muzzles," Appleseed suggested. All gave second thoughts before finally agreeing to follow her. They quickly made their way to the tracks several feet from the station.

All of them climbed down onto the railing and slowly moved in single file, leaning against the concrete wall. No one made a sound. All of them kept their breathing steady.

Sweetie Pie was at the back of the line, holding her breath. They managed to get a good amount of distance and out of earshot from the station that they began to relax. However, it wasn't far enough. Sweetie Pie released a full breath of air when suddenly; something tapped her on the shoulder.

"Yes can I help-" she cut herself off when she turned and saw the two gargantuan guards standing before her.

"You?" she squeaked.

One of the guards, a unicorn to be precise, held her in a magical grip.

"Hey! Put me down!" Sweetie demanded. Everyone saw what was going on. They quickly dashed to their friend's aid. Twilight was able to free her considering her magic was stronger, but her friend wasn't finished with them.

"Ok, we can play this game," the white, pink mane pony giggled. The two guards were about to tackle her, but before they could, Sweetie got her puffy tail and rubbed the end of it on their noses. Both quickly fell to the floor laughing. Sweetie also joined in on the laughter as she tickled all over them. Everyone else stood there wide-eyed and jaws dropped, but then they decided not to judge Sweetie Pie's methods of torture. Instead they joined in on the laughter.

After a few minutes of torturous tickling, the two guards quickly got up and bolted.

Everyone laughed, even harder at the embarrassing scene.

"Now that was pretty funny," Aurora chuckled.

"A good laugh always makes things better," Sweetie giggled.

•••

The tunnel underneath the rails of the bridge was not too hard to find. Celestia was correct in telling them that the tunnel would lead them straight to the Old District. However, she was wrong about one thing. When they arrived at the end of the tunnel and went up to the surface, they found that they were not in the palace, but in the Canterlot Archives.

"I don't understand. How did we end up here? The tunnel didn't branch out. Did we use the wrong one?" Twilight asked herself. Everyone shrugged. They were confused as she was. Just then, a cloud of green smoke came in through a hole in the ceiling, which then turned into a scroll. Taking it into her magic, Twilight began to read it.

My dear Twilight,

I'm afraid we have made a mistake. The tunnel underneath the bridge will not lead you to the palace, but to the Canterlot Archives. We apologize greatly for the confusion. For now, just continue on with the mission.

~Celestia

"Oh shoot," Twilight said in a panic state.

"What's wrong?" Softheart.

"It looks like we're going to have to figure out another way as to getting into the palace."

Everyone groaned at that, and Twilight couldn't blame them.

"Ok, the palace isn't far from here. We can probably sneak our way through the sculptor gardens."

"And then?" Aurora asked.

"We're just going to have to figure it out as we go," Twilight told her. She motioned everyone to follow her.

As they made their way out of the archives while sneaking past more guards, they would pass rooms that were ransacked. All of them would bring pain in Twilights heart. Just the thought of priceless historical artifacts being stolen or destroyed sent chills up her spine.

They exited the archives and made their way to the sculptor gardens.

The rain began to pick up.

Upon entering, they found saddlebags and suitcases all around them, with some of their contents spilling out.

One of the suitcases was opened and had clothing scattered around it. Amongst them was a gorgeous dress. This caught Elegance's attention.

"Oh my! What a beautiful dress!" she exclaimed.

"Dag gum it Elegance! We don't have time for this!" Appleseed complained.

"I can't just leave this here so it can get ruined later on! A dress like this must be seen,” she said as she quickly put on the dress.

"Girl, you're gunna get killed jus by wearing that."

"Says the pony wearing nothing but metal."

That stung Appleseed. She decided to simply leave her be. She just didn't want to have to say to her 'I told you so'.

Deeper within the sculptor gardens were ponies in tents, huddled near the fires that kept them warm. They had converted the gardens into a refugee camp. Everything about it looked depressing. Most of Equestria's highest elite ponies were now huddled together wearing raggedy clothing and eating soup from a can.

Every pony there gave Twilight dirty looks as if she was the cause of their misery, and who’s to say they were wrong.

Twilight ducked her head to avoid the burning glares.

They passed one mare that was huddled near a fire, shivering from the cold and rain. When she spotted Elegance's dress.

"My, what a b-beautiful d-d-dress you h-have th-there," she chattered. Elegance felt praised for the nice comment.

"I-I always w-w-wished I c-could have d-d-dress l-l-like that."

This made Elegance confused.

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Well, I-I'm c-could never afford s-such luxury, w-which is why I-I moved t-to Canterlot for a b-b-better l-life," she said before chuckling.

"Funny though. I g-guess I moved a-at a b-b-bad t-time."

Elegance felt sorry for the poor mare. All she wanted was to look as elegant as she was, and look where it had brought her. She couldn't let this pass. This should have been a crime against fashion itself.

“I-I feel like I-I-I’m gunna f-f-freeze to death out h-here.”

Elegance took off the dress she was wearing and handed it to the poor mare.

"Here, take this. Not only do you need this more than I do, but you deserve it as well."

The mare took it in her hooves and smiled, with tears forming in her eyes.

"I... I-I d-don't know w-what t-to say. Thank you miss, may f-fate r-repay you double!" the mare thanked in delight.

The pride Elegance felt before was nothing compared to the warm, generous feeling in her heart.

Appleseed approached her, bit her mane, and dragged her back towards the others.

•••

"So you gave her that dress you found?" Twilight asked curiously.

"Indeed. The poor darling was so upset that I couldn't have just left her there freezing to death. Besides, I have another that looks exactly like it back in Ponyville," Elegance replied. Twilight rolled her eyes at that.

They drew closer to the palace, and the closer they got; the more guards appeared, monitoring the ponies in the camp.

It got to the point where the group had to split up, agreeing to meet up at the exit. Twilight didn't want to have to do that, considering the last time they did something like this, their memories were corrupted by Discord back when he was evil.

Several feet away, Aurora Flash was crouched near a barrel fire in order to avoid detection. Slowly crawling towards the back of a tent, Sweetie Pie appeared from underneath a statue, startling the aurora colored mare.

"Sweetie Pie, what are doing?" Aurora whispered.

"Shhhh!!! I'm sneaking!" Sweetie whispered back as she disappeared back underneath the foot of the statue. Aurora shrugged as she continued on.

With her head down, she passed another tent, but something caught her eye. There was some pony in there, a guard to be exact.

This looked just like the situation with last one, but something was different.

Drawing closer to him, Aurora went to see what was wrong. She'd soon regret it.

The guard turned around with his eyes glowing bright for a few seconds before dying. Opening his mouth, a black mist emitted from it. It quickly shot into Aurora's mind.

There she saw images of devastation, destruction, and death everywhere, as well as an army of royal guards marching through Equestria, with Aurora Flash as their captain. She was enjoying the idea of her being their leader, and then she heard a voice in her head.

"All of this can be real my dear. However, this comes at a price."

Aurora Flash nodded for the voice to continue.

"I just need you to do one small thing. Kill your friends. Kill them for me."

Aurora nodded. She turned and left the tent. She looked around to find the first friend to kill. That pony, happened to be Twilight.

Twilight saw her and felt a little relief.

"Aurora Flash, have you had any problems moving through this camp, cause there's a lot of guards here,” Twilight asked.

Aurora stared at her with an angry glare.

"Aurora, are you alright?" she asked, right before she noticed it. She saw Aurora's eye color change from magenta to red.

"Aurora?" Twilight asked nervously.

Then she jumped on her, both tumbling around on the ground. Twilight tried to pry her off, but she wouldn't budge. She was trying to break her neck. It got to the point where Twilight needed to use her magic to pry her off.

Levitating in a magical grip, Aurora shook around trying to break free.

"Aurora, listen to me, whatever's controlling you, you have to fight it!" Twilight urged as she slowly got up from the ground. Aurora wasn't listening. She was too far-gone now. To corrupted by the dark magic in her.

Twilight didn't know what to do. She thought of how she could free her friend, so she decided to try the one spell she performed before.

Lowering her horn on her friend's head, she tried to perform the memory spell, but instead, something else happened.

Opening her eyes, she found herself in a bright room. In front of her was Aurora Flash, and beyond her was darkness. She saw Aurora talking to someone.

That someone was her.

Like what happened to Twilight, Aurora Flash was being lured into the darkness of her alternate evil self.

"Join us. No one will dare stand against you. No one would be a better flyer than you. Picture it; Aurora Flash, leader of the entire Equestrian army!" her evil self-persuaded her. Aurora stood there thinking about it, she did like that title.

"I will admit, that does sound pretty cool!" she said.

Then she heard another voice behind her. Turning to see where it's coming from, she saw Twilight calling for her from the brighter side of her mind.

"Aurora, don't listen to her or you or... whatever! Don't fall for it! Don't go through what I've gone through!" Twilight urged.

Aurora Flash stood there nervously eying both of them.

"Don't listen to her. What has she ever done? Only boss you around and making you risk your life for her. You deserve better," her alternate said.

A black slimy tentacle emerged from the darkness and coiled itself around Aurora's leg.

She stood there thinking until she finally came to a decision.

"Well?"

She took a deep breath before speaking.

"Thanks... but no thanks."

Twilight and Aurora Flash's evil alternate were both surprised. The tentacle burned off her leg.

"Thanks for the offer though, but my answer is no."

Her evil alternate growled as it disappeared within the darkness.

A bright flash came and Aurora slowly got up from the ground while rubbing her head. She then saw Twilight getting up next to her.

"Twilight, are you all right?" she asked as she helped her up.

"Yeah I'm fine," she replied.

"Did we have the same dream or something?"

"You were corrupted by the dark magic in the guard. I tried to help you and then somehow I ended up in a really strange place."

"Was I talking to an evil version of myself?" Aurora asked.

"Yeah, that's right. What happened back there Aurora?"

"I'm not sure exactly, but let's just say, I would never leave my friends hangin’."

•••

The six mares reached the end of the gardens where they regrouped and were fairly close to the palace. The problem now was to figure out a way inside without alerting any of the guards.

Twilight stopped to think of a way to get inside.

"Come on Twilight, think. How are we going to get passed hundreds of guards patrolling the palace without alerting any unwanted attention?" she asked herself.

"If only we could turn invisible that way we don't have to worry about being seen," Sweetie Pie suggested.

Then it came to her. The one thing Twilight had completely forgotten about. It irked her how she had forgotten the one thing that could have been essential to their entire plan.

"Pin-, er I mean, Sweetie Pie, you're a genius!"

"Yeah, I know. I get that a lot," she replied.

With her horn aglow, Twilight immediately vanished.

Everyone began to panic. "She's GONE!!!" Sweetie Pie said shockingly.

"Sweetie, I'm right here," Twilight said from nowhere.

"Eek! A ghost!" She cried in fear.

At that moment, Twilight reappeared in front of them.

"Oh hey Twilight! I thought you were a ghost," Sweetie Pie said.

"Don't worry Sweetie Pie, it's just a cloaking spell," Twilight told her.

"Woo wee, now that's a cool spell right there," Appleseed said.

"And you couldn't have used it earlier?" Aurora accused, causing Twilight to blush.

"Eh he he," she chuckled. "Um, anyway, you will be happy to know that no one will be able to see us now."

"Wait what?" Aurora asked?

"I've just casted it on all of us, I think."

Everyone looked at each other, and weren't buying it.

"Well we don't look invisible."

"Trust me, you are. You can only see each other because you are all under the same spell."

"Prove it," Aurora challenged. Twilight sighed as she looked around and saw a nearby guard. She approached him stood right by him with a smug look on her face while the guard simply stood their unresponsive. They all stared as their minds were blown away.

Aurora Flash flew up to the guard's face and made silly expressions. The guard did not respond.

She tried hard to resist the urge to laugh so she won't get caught. All of them moved away from him and made their way inside the palace.

•••

Twilight led them through the halls of the royal palace. The only thing she found harder than sneaking past guards, was to keep her friends from messing with one.

Thankfully it didn't take them too long to reach the throne room. Outside of it, Twilight deactivated her spell, and all were now visible to others.

"Alright every pony, Maxspell is in there, and we're going to get her to surrender, whether she wants to or not," Twilight said motivating the others. Everyone felt excited and was ready to do this.

"On the count of three, we breach. One... two... THREE!!!"

She burst through the door with her magic, and all six ponies raced inside.

Examining the room, they found Maxspell staring out the shattered window.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my little pawn," Maxspell said, not tearing her attention away from the outside world beyond the shattered window.

"And I see you've brought some guests."

"It's over Maxspell. It's time for you to end all of this misery and suffering," Twilight demanded. Maxspell only chuckled.

"Aw, now? I was just getting started."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, that's none of your concern dearie," Maxspell said, moving away from the windows.

"And might I ask, how did you get back here without alerting the guards?" she asked.

"Oh, that's none of your concern dearie," Twilight replied with a playful look.

"Ha ha, real cute, but I'm afraid your time is up for all of you."

"Oh really?" Twilight asked unamused.

Maxspell smiled before she called for the guards. Soon, a great number of them stormed in and encircled all seven mares, with their weapons pointed at them.

"Believe me when I say that your time is up," she said with an evil grin.

Twilight and her friends looked around nervously.

"Any last words princess?" Maxspell asked. An idea surfaced deep within Twilight's mind.

"Why yes, but if you don't mind, I would like to submit my final words in writing."

"Well I um... I guess not," Maxspell said confusedly.

Twilight then got a piece of parchment and a quill to appear with her magic. Furiously, she jotted down exactly what she wanted to write. Once she was finished, she rolled it up and sealed it, but before Maxspell could take it in her own magic, it instantly burst into a cloud of smoke and floated out a large hole in the ceiling.

"Why on earth did you do that for?" Maxspell asked.

"You'll see," Twilight told her.

Just then, a faint burp was heard in the distance.

"What was that?" Maxspell asked again, but decided to rather ignore it and return her attention to her captives.

"Well, as I was saying-" she said before being cut off by a pony screaming. She looked to see what was wrong and saw a large claw approach them. It grabbed one of the guards, dragged him outside, and released its grip on him from high up in the air, allowing him to fall to his death.

Though some the guards ran out of the throne room for their lives, others stayed to fight. That turned out to be a huge mistake for them. Instantly, they met the same fate as the first guard.

Finally, the room was cleared of guards. Everyone was silent for a minute until Twilight broke it.

"Thanks Spike!" she called.

"My pleasure Twilight," he replied.

Maxspell stood there dumbstruck with her jaw dropped.

"Wow, that was quite an event," she said.

In that very moment, Celestia and Luna descended from the ceiling, with Longspear riding on Luna's back. He got off once they touched the ground.

Maxspell stood there now feeling humiliated.

"Maxspell, it's time for you to surrender immediately. Release the royal guards at once so that they may bring you to custody," Celestia said with full authority. A wave of anger washed over Maxspell.

"Seriously? You think I am going to give up that easy? If that's the case, then you are awfully mistaken. I don't need a bunch of buffoons to take care of you," she said before turning her attention to Longspear.

"And you. Don't think I haven't forgotten about you. Once I'm through with these two, you're next."

"Fuck you," Longspear insulted her. She wanted to skin him alive just for saying that to her. The only thing that prevented her was the Princesses.

"Face it Maxspell. There's ten of us, and one of you. What makes you think you are going to win?" Twilight asked.

Maxspell stared at her, with the irises of her eyes glowing bright red.

"You don't know what I am. I have the power to destroy all of you. And this time, nothing is going to prevent me from killing the one pony I solely desired dead for a long, long time. But you know the old saying, if you want something done right, you gotta do it YOURSELF!" she yelled as she fired a deadly bolt of magic at Celestia.

Without a split second to hesitate, Longspear hurled himself in front of the Princess, absorbing the shot of magic into his chest. He then tumbled a few feet away from them.

Everyone gasped at what happened. Maxspell only watched with anger at what happened.

"That no good fumbling idiot! He blocked my shot! Why is it always so difficult to kill you?!" Maxspell exclaimed.

Twilight could not stand for what just happened. She knew Maxspell had done so many awful things, but this was the final straw. She had reached her breaking point.

Deep inside her, she felt a spark of anger. It was a spark she hadn't felt in a long time. Not since she was trying to find an explanation for Pinkie Pie's strange senses.

Immediately, that spark ignited her. She then burst into flames, with both her coat and armor glowing white hot, and her mane and tail a blazing inferno.

Everyone in the room was shocked at what they were seeing.
Instantly, she charged at Maxspell, tackling her to the ground and pinning her there. She screamed in agony as her skin began to burn under the fiery mare.

Right there, Twilight began to buck Maxspell in the face, emphasizing statements with each and every buck.

"This is for pony napping me, this is for hurting my loved ones, this is for making me kill ponies, and THIS. IS. FOR. RUINING. MY. LIFE!!!!" she screamed as she continued pummeling the mare beneath her to a pulp.

Only then did the others had enough. Celestia used her magic to levitate her poor friend off of her adversary.

Twilight fidgeted around wanting to go back to try to end the wretched mare's life.

It took her a minute to calm down. Her body cooled down before returning to normal, only leaving scorch marks all over her bare skin. Celestia lowered her back on the ground, where she eyed one last time at the pony that she almost killed.

There she lay half dead, with her body badly burnt and blistering. Her face was a different story.

Twilight stood there watching until she remembered Longspear. She and the others quickly dashed to where he lay. There he clenched his chest as he lay there in agony. She moved his hoof to see where he was hit, and saw a big black splotch where his heart is.

"Twilight..." he uttered.

"Longspear, what's wrong? Please answer us," she asked.

"She... she struck... my heart. The... immortality spell... is what keeps... my heart pumping," he said working through the pain.

Twilight turned to her friends for help.

"Softheart, is there anything you can do to help him?"

"Oh my, this is far beyond my capabilities. I'm sorry Twilight." Softheart said half-heartedly.

"Princess?" Twilight asked, turning her attention towards her.

"I might be able to save him, but it may take some time," she said. Twilight then felt a tap on her shoulder.

"No... Please... leave me be," Longspear said. Twilight clinched his hoof.

"No please, not you too," she said worriedly.

"Twilight... I've waited... for this moment... for so long… please..."

"I don't want to lose you too,"

"Listen Twilight... all my life... I never knew... much about friendship... but thanks to you... I get it now. It was... slow... but I got it."
Tears ran down Twilight's dark gray checks, faintly hitting Longspear's chest.

"Even though... we've only known each other... for a short time... I think... you're the greatest friend... anyone can ask for."

Everyone's heart ached. This was getting too painful for many.

"You're... a good friend Twilight... believe me... I know," he said before lying down on the marble floor. The clouds cleared for a short time, allowing the sun's light to shine down through the hole in the ceiling. Longspear looked up at the light and smiled.

"I'm going home... I'm going home..." he chuckled as he closed his eyes, allowing his heart to beat for the final time.

•••

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Chapter 17: The End of Something New

All was calm and back to normal, but Equestria will never be the same.

After the outstanding victory against the Children of Tartarus, one mare was not in a happy mood.

Though a majority of Equestria's citizens had forgiven her, as well as celebrated her return after a thousand years, others did not share the same mindset.

Some refused to pardon her for her crimes, and had even requested she'd be stripped of her title as a princess and to be locked in the dungeons for life, though thankfully, all requests for trial by punishment had been rejected.

Despite the refusals, Twilight didn't blame them. She did in fact committed major crimes, most of them being her temporary takeovers of cities and killing possibly hundreds of ponies; ponies with families.

This left her confused. Was it all entirely her fault? She was controlled by a dark force, and it wasn't until the magic of friendship reminded her who she truly was. Plus, her new friends had forgiven her. Was it or was it not her fault.

Wandering through the Canterlot National Cemetery, she stopped in front of a specific grave. She stared at the one on in the middle of two other graves and read the tombstone.

~Longspear~
Son, friend, and a true hero.

Below his name were the dates marking the year he was born to the year he died. The dates were also emblazoned in gold to show the significance of them.

Beside his grave were those of his parents, courtesy of Twilight herself. It had taken a lot of effort, but they managed to move both graves to Canterlot, that way his family could once again be together.

Several feet away from Longspear's family plot, underneath a dead tree was another grave. Standing in front of it, Twilight became upset when she saw whose it was.

It was Maxspell's grave, and on the tombstone, some pony spray-painted a message on it saying:

Maxspell is burning in Tartarus where she belongs!

Twilight turned away from it. The writing on the tombstone made her feel even guiltier.

Only now did she realized it wasn't Maxspell's fault. She couldn't help getting possessed by a demon in search for power.

In the distance, she saw her friends trotting towards her. She quickly wiped the tears away with her magic before they would notice.

"Hey Twilight, how's it hanging," Aurora Flash asked.

"Oh, it's been alright I guess," she replied.

"You don't sound alright. Is there something botherin’ ya hun?" Appleseed asked.

"Yeah, what's with loooooonnng face?" Sweetie Pie asked while stretching out Twilight's face for emphasis, then letting go.

Rubbing her face, Twilight told them what was bothering her.

"I know we went over this, but I still can't stop thinking about what happened."

"That's all in the past now darling, and you shouldn't have to worry about it anymore," Elegance said.

"I know, but I just can't help but feel like this was my fault."

"And how's it yer fault?" Appleseed asked.

"Lots of innocent ponies died because of me, I took over all of Equestria, and I almost killed the princesses! How's it not my fault?" She responded before dropping to the ground with her head down and tears coming out of her eyes. All of her friends surrounded her to provide comfort and support.

"Listen sugar cube, none of it was yer fault, an’ ya know why?" Appleseed asked, to which Twilight shook her head.

"You were under that crazy demon's spell. It was like you were her puppet and she was the master jus pullin’ the strings."

Twilight did take that under consideration. She was right. It wasn't entirely her fault. She remembered this back when she thought about Maxspell and how it wasn't her fault either.

"I agree with Appleseed. You weren't the one who was truly doing all of those awful things," Softheart said.

"Yeah! Besides, you know how that demon was messing with our minds. We knew she wanted us under her control," Aurora added.

Twilight smiled as she slowly got up while wiping away the tears in her eyes. Suddenly, Sweetie Pie gathered them all for a group hug.

"We all forgive you for everything that happened. After all, that's what friends are for!"

Twilight held on to those last few words.

"You guys really are the greatest friends any pony could ask for. Almost like my old friends," Twilight said as she got out of the group hug. Appleseed quickly approached her to prevent any more heartache from her.

"Listen Twi, I know how much you miss your old friends, and don't think of us as replacement's or anything either, but as long as you remember the good times y'all had, their memories will live on, and they will always be with you."

Appleseed’s words of encouragement sunk into her, and she was right.

"Think of us as if you made friends with five more ponies, an’ your jus addin’ us with the others," she said.

"You're right Appleseed. My friends may be gone, but at least they live on in my memories. It's funny though how all of you remind me so much of them. That must explain why we were able to defeat the evil creature!" Twilight said outstandingly.

"Um Twilight, what in Equestria are you even talking about?" Aurora Flash asked.

"Don't you see? You all represent the six friendship virtues, and I was the last piece of the puzzle, and Sweetie did mention she's a descendant of the Pie family, which means you all are descents of my original friends! I cannot believe this! If only I had figured this out sooner, than maybe we would have saved Equestria a whole lot sooner."

All of her friends simply stared at her with forced smiles as they listened to her friend go on and on about friendship and descendants as they all left the cemetery.

•••

Outside of the reconstructed Ponyville National Library, Twilight starred at the significance of it and how much it changed from being just a small oak tree.

At the foot of the stairs was the statue of her, now fully restored to its former glory.

Going inside, she found Spike in the center of the Library. She was surprised that the room was large enough to fit him.

"Hey Spike!" she called out.

"Hey Twilight! Is everything all right?" he asked.

"You can say that. I'm feeling a little bit better now."

"Well that's great to hear," he replied.

Trotting closer to him Twilight noticed something in the middle of the room. Right next to the enormous wooden bust of a horse was a display case. In it was a journal. Twilight recognized it. It was the journal where she and her friends wrote all of their lessons about friendship.

Starring at it, she knew she had to write in it, for old time sakes.

Slowly approaching it, she noticed that the case was locked. Looking around, she saw the librarian sitting at the front desk hidden behind a book. She went towards it and introduced herself.

"Good afternoon. My name is Princess Twilight Sparkle and-"

"Princess Twilight eh? It's been quite some time since I heard from you dear."

That voice. It sounded extremely familiar, yet Twilight couldn't put her hoof on it. When the Librarian lowered his book, Twilight was shocked to see who it was.

"DISCORD!!!"

"Twilight! Long time no see. How's it been?" he asked as he teleported right in front of her while vigorously shaking her hoof.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I'm the new Librarian of Ponyville! Are you impressed?"

"How long have you been the librarian here?"

"Well let's see. Today is Tuesday, so I'd say, a thousand years."

Twilight was surprised when she found out a guy like him would be the librarian for that long. Then the realization hit her.

"Wait a minute, you've been here for a thousand years correct?" she asked, to which he agreed.

"Ok, so my only question is, where you were when Equestria was under attack by me and all those evil demons?" she furiously asked, only to get a confused look from him.

"Attacked? Demons? What on earth are you talking about? When did this all happen?" he asked.

"About a month ago."

After a few minutes of gathering his thought and memories, he was able to recall his recent actions.

"Oh of course, how could I forget? Well, about a month ago, I went over to the griffon empire to discuss some affairs, while resolving some personal tensions," he said nervously.

"Then finally, I was relaxing at a tropical island getaway for the reminder of the month, and let me tell, you that the service there was quite terrible," he said when suddenly he was wearing a flowery shirt and sunglasses.

"So let me get this straight, you were on VACATION!!!" Twilight shouted.

"Shhh! Hush now Twilight, we're in a Library remember."

"Do you realize how much help you could have been if had stayed here the entire time?"

"You try relaxing while constantly feeling magical imbalances. Besides, by the looks of it, I see you did quite alright without me,” he said while pinching her cheeks.

As much as Twilight wanted to argue, she didn't have the strength to continue.

"Look, let's just forget about it. Can you please open the display case with the journal in it," she asked.

"Oh goodie! I always hoped to get some new material from it!" Discord said cheerfully as he went and unlocked the case.

Twilight took the journal out with her magic and blew the dust off of it, with some landing on Discord.

Grabbing a nearby quill, she sat down and gathered her thoughts together to write a new journal entry once more.

If there's one thing I learned these past few months, I learned that magic could actually depend on whether you want to use it for good or bad. The choice is always yours to make, and if you decide to follow your heart and do what's good, you'll find that with a little friendship, that magic can turn into something greater.

I also learned that no matter what kind of pony they are, whether they're related to each other in any way, you'll always find at least one of the six friendship virtues, as long as you look in the right place. Once you find those virtues, together, you can conquer anything!

Sincerely,

Twilight Sparkle

~The End~

•••

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Chapter 1: A Ponynapped Princess

"Hey Twilight, your soup's almost ready," Spike said as he poked his head through the kitchen's door.

"Great Spike! You have no idea how hungry I am!"

"Well then, just give me five minutes and you can come right in," the dragon said before disappearing back into the kitchen. Twilight was just about to put away a book she was reading when all of a sudden, there was a knock on the door.
Twilight quickly stored away the book, made sure she looked presentable, and quickly trotted towards the door to see who it was. When she opened it, she was greeted by a bluish-grey unicorn mare with a brown mane. Twilight also noticed that she was wearing a lab coat and a pair of glasses. Next to the unicorn was a grey stallion earth pony with a black mane. The unicorn walked up to Twilight to introduce herself.

"Good evening, Princess Twilight Sparkle. Please allow us to introduce ourselves," she said while she grabbed Twilight's hoof and firmly shook it. "My name is Dr. Maxspell, and this is my assistant, Longspear. We work at the School for Gifted Unicorns, which I believe is where you attended as a filly?"

"Why yes, that is correct," Twilight said, felling the pride of being recognized there.

"Well then, you see, we are working on a project, and we need your cooperation to help us achieve this goal," Maxspell said. Twilight felt uneasy about the subject.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked.

"All we need is your participation and all will be revealed."

"Well, I guess I wouldn't mind helping the school achieve their goals. I accept."

"Excellent! You won't regret it," Maxspell said.

And with that, she used her magic to slam the door to the kitchen shut and locked it. Twilight turned to the door to see what had been done. She could hear Spike banging on the door, pleading Twilight to let him out. Twilight turned back to face Maxspell, but instead she saw a sack fall upon her.
Maxspell tied the sack closed and placed a spell on it so that Twilight wouldn't be able to move around, and unable to call for help or even hear anything outside the sack. She had been tricked. Maxspell wrapped the sack with her magic and began to carry it out the door.

"We've got the package," Longspear said.

"Indeed, now let's hurry back to the warehouse before we draw any suspicion."
Maxspell said as she dropped the sack in the cart they brought. "Don't worry boss, we got the cover of night to protect us." Longspear secured the cart to the harness he wore.

"You can never be too careful." The two ponynappers where now on there way back to their base of operations with their new prize in the back.

•••

After several failed attempts, Spike finally managed to break the door down. Spike frantically looked around the room, only to find that it was empty.

"Twilight!?" Spike called. No response. His eyes then fell apon the opened door that led to the outside. He continued calling for her as he ran off to search for her in the night.

•••

Twilight feared for what her ponynappers were going to do to her. Were they going to hold her for ransom? Leave her for dead in a ditch somewhere? She wasn't sure what they're capable of. All she could do is lie there crying, unable to move, unable to cry for help, and unable to hear what was going on outside.
It felt like an eternity since her abduction. Where were they taking her, again, she had no idea. She did though feel the cart she felt she was in come to a halt.

•••

"Finally, we're here," Longspear said, exhausted after pulling the cart a great distance from Ponyville to where they were now.

"Quickly, get her inside before someone sees," Maxspell commanded. They quickly pulled the cart with their captive inside an old blacksmith's workshop. Once Maxspell was sure they were safe inside, she lit some candles to provide light in the dark workshop. Longspear detached the cart from his harness and went to carry Twilight out of it.

"She's... a bit... heavy," he said before lowering the sack to the ground. Maxspell then removed the sack from Twilight. Her eyes were red and puffy from all the crying she'd done on her way here.

"What do you want with me?" Twilight asked in fear of what awaited her.

"Let me explain why we have brought you here. You see, I did work at the School of Gifted Unicorns, but one day when I brought forth my 'ideas' on how to improve Equestria for the better, they were all rejected. I was even fired from the school by the Princess herself. You have no idea how that made me feel. But then I started thinking, and I had come to the conclusion that the princesses are 'afraid' of progress. For they are not worthy to rule Equestria. And then I remembered you Twilight. I was there on the day of your entrance exam." Maxspell revealed to her captive.

"No, that's impossible, I don't remember you being there, and I should know because that was the day I earned my cutie mark. And plus, the princesses are far worthy of ruling Equestria," Twilight said, trying to deny what Maxspell had just to her, but Maxspell just continued on.

"Anyway, you Twilight have the potential to dethrone the princesses and take over Equestria. And with me and Longspear by your side, we will surely be victorious!" Any traces of fear Twilight had inside her was replaced with anger.

"I would never do such a thing, and I would never join you in your act of revenge. Now let me go or you'll wish you hadn't captured me in the first place!" she said with a determined and enraged look on her face while charging up the magic in her horn.

"Child, did you really think I wanted you to do all of that today? Haven't you ever heard the old saying, 'all good things come to those who wait'?"
And with that, her horn started glowing, and she wrapped her magic around Twilight's head. She began to feel tired, and her eye lids were getting heavy. In an instant, she fell to the ground, out cold, and was in a deep slumber.

"Perfect. Now, Longspear, go get the preservation chamber."

"Sure thing," Longspear said. He went off into the other room and came back out pushing a metal box out. "Maxspell, can you explain to me why we need this box for? "

"It's magically enhanced so that it would preserve whatever you put in it for long periods of time. In this case, this is where we'll keep Twilight Sparkle in," she said as she lifted Twilight's unconscious body into the the box and then closed it up with the lid.

"Okay, I get that, but how long do you plan on keeping her here?" Longspear asked, confused.

"Until Equestria undergoes the industrial revolution I predicted to happen. Hopefully by then they'll have the technology we need for our plan, so I'd say we might need to wait a thousand years or so."

"WHAT!!! Are you nuts? We won't be alive in a thousand years!"

"Not unless you have an immortality spell that you've managed to swipe from the most secured and forbidden part of the Canterlot Archives."

"Oh, well when you put it that way-"

"-Enough talk. I must preform the spell on ourselves so that we may keep track of our progress."

Maxspell took out a scroll from her saddlebags and opened it up to read what it had to say. A few minutes later, she put the scroll down, closed her eyes, and lit up her horn. Both her and Longspear were wrapped in her magic, which caused them both to float up into the air, and then suddenly, a bright flash emanated from her horn in an instant, until they both fell to the ground. Lying there, Maxspell knew her plan was already coming together.

•••

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Chapter 4: A World of Change

"Hey Maxspell, look at this," longspear said giving the newspaper to Maxspell. She held it up with her magic and began to read what it said.

"Memorial Service for Princess Twilight Sparkle, Today at Two."

"Oh my goodness, this is to good for me to miss. Quick, what time is it?" Maxspell asked frantically.

Long spear looked at his watch to see the time. "One thirty, whyyyyyy!!!" Longspear said as Maxspell pulled him quickly out the door with her.

•••

Everyone gathered around the Ponyville Library. Celestia noticed that when her chariot landed smoothly on the ground. A snowflake fell on top of her nose. She looked up and saw the weather ponies placing clouds over the village. It was lightly snowing, which was exactly how the princess requested it to be.

She and Luna got off the chariot, thanked the pegasus gaurds, and then made their way to the front of the library. Everyone bowed when they saw the princesses. They took their place alongside Twilight's friends and family as the memorial service was about to begin.

Mayor Mare trotted up to a podium set up for the special occasion. "Thank you all for coming today, for it is a sad time here in Ponyville. I will now hand it over to Princess Celestia," she said as she bowed and backed away from the podium. Everyone bowed as Celestial approached the podium.

"Thank you all for coming here as we mourne the loss of not only a beloved princess, but a daughter, a sister, and a friend. Which is why, with great honor, that I dedicate this memorial of Twilight Sparkle to her family and friends," Celestial said as she turned to a tarp covered object. Moving the tarp with her magic, it revealed to be statue of Twilight Sparkle.

All the ponies there lightly stomped their hooves. Celestia raised her hoof to motion them that she is about speak again. The crowd went silent. "Thank you, now, I am also decicating the Ponyville library in honor of Princess Twilight. It will be part of the new Twilight Sparkle National Memorial. So, if any of the ponies who are standing here with me would like to say a few words, you may come up now," the princess said as she backed away from the podium. The first few ponies who came up to say some words were Twilight's parents.

•••

Pinkie Pie had finished speaking a few words about her friend. She was just as devestated as her friends were. Even her mane wasn't as poofey as it normally was. The last one to come up to say some words was Spike. He was a bit small to reach the top of the podium, so they had to provide him a stool so that everyone could see him better. He began to speak.

"I just want say that I really miss Twilight. To me she was like a mother, and a sister, and I can't help but feel like this is all my fault. I should have been there to help her, that way none of this would have happened. Twilight's gone and it's all my fault," Spike said as he got down from the stool, but then he fell to his knees and began to cry.

All five of Twilight's friends surrounded him and took him in their embrace as they all began to cry with him. Twilight's family joined them and they too were crying. Even though the princess had trained herself to keep a strait face no matter what, this was too much her to handle. This was her breaking point.

Celestial approach the group and wrapped them all in her wings. She too began to lightly cry. Luna trotted over to her heart broken sister and placed her wing around her. As for the crowd of ponies, they all lowered their heads, either out of respect or sadness.

One pony in the very back however, was on the verge of laughing. She grabbed her companion and quickly snuck out of their. They past several buildings until they were finally out of the village. Once she was sure she was out of ear shot, Maxspell began laughing uncontrollably.

"Ha ha ha ha, oh my... did you see... that... oh... I can't breath... even I'm crying!" Maxspell said between laughs while wiping away some tears in her eyes. She began to calm down a bit though. "Oh... boy that was... the greatest thing I have... ever seen. Who says revenge isn't sweet!"

"Maxspell, don't take this the wrong way but, you are a sick, heartless, evil mare," Longspear said, giving Maxspell an angry glance. Maxspell regained full control of herself and returned the glance to Longspear. "I wouldn't be saying that to the sick and heartless mare who saved you from being throne into the dungeons."

Longspear just stood there silently. He didn't have anything else to top that comment. "Come on, we have a lot of work to get back to," Maxspell commanded. Longspear snapped out of his silent gaze and quickly went to catch up with Maxspell.

•••

Months turned into years. Everypony had returned to their normal lives. Including Twilight's friends. Eventhough they were in a deep depression, they were able to over come it and eventually returned to their normall lives. They figured that's what their friend would have wanted.

The years turned to decades, and later into centuries, and Equestria had changed a lot during that time. It had undergone an industrial revolution, along with an economic boom. Villages and small towns had blossomed into great cities. Brand new inventions and technology had sprouted. It has been considered a new chapter in Equestria's history, which was exactly how Maxspell predicted it to be.

Even in the Royal Guard, they were increasing in their progress of defense, which was what the princess demanded it to be, and today the scientists there were going to unveil their latest creation. It was something Maxspell could not miss out on. It was nice and sunny outside of the barracks. A stage had been constructed in front of the barracks for the presentation.

Maxspell and Longspear arrived outside of barrack for the unveiling. They had to conceal themselves amongst the crowd so that no one would be able to recognize them. In this case, the princess. Celestia was also there to witness the new change to the guard. She hopes this would help with the certain issues that arose from the previously new weapon made for them.

Just then, a brown stallion in a lab coat stepped up from the long line of ponies who too were all wearing lab coats. The stallion was given a portable microphone so that everyone could hear him. He began to speak to them.

"Greetings everypony, I am more than honored to see many of you witness the new innovation we've made for the Royal Guard. As you know, our recent invention that was made for the guards about a century ago, the fire arms as we call it, has preformed beyond expectations. Unfortunately, they are so powerful that they pierce through our armor like tissue paper. Which is why over the past century, we have been working on something to counteract this."

"Today, we are here to unveil a new kind of military tech that we hope will help save the life of a guard in battle. May I present to you, the next generation of the Royal Guard!" he said as he pointed to a unicorn stallion coming up on the stage. He was wearing something never seen before by pony kind. "Behold, the Magic Enhanced Armor, or MEA for short."

The armor was quite unique. From his lower neck down to his hooves, his entire body was covered in metal. The armor was gold to represent the original version of the armor. The armor also consisted of several blue gems. There was one in front of each hoof, and two on both sides of his body. The only thing that was recognizable was his helmet, which was the only thing that remained the same.

Everypony (even Celestia) awed in amazement at the sight of him. "THIS is the next step in our advance towards a better Equestria. Now allow me to present to you some of its features. The armor is able to repelle anything that comes its way. Ranging from bullets to magical blasts. Not only is it light weight, but it also provides a lot of flexibility to provide as much movement needed. It will feel like your not even wearing it, and that's not the end of it."

"For you see, it's not called the Magic Enhanced Armor for nothing. For it is, hence the name, magically enhanced. Its magic can increase a pony's strength, speed, and perception. And that is just for non magical ponies. This armor can increase a unicorn's magic by twenty five percent!"

"Now according to our studies, the strength of an average unicorn's magic is roughly about twenty seven percent, so really, it more than doubles when wearing this armor. If you don't believe us, then allow us to demonstrate," he said, directing the crowd's attention towards the unicorn.

His horn began to glow. His magic wrapped a small building behind the crowd. Using the little effort he had, he used his magic to try to lift the building off its foundation. It began to tremble, eventually, the ground began to crack, and in no time, the building came out of the ground and was floating in mid-air.

The crowd was in complete awe at the sight. "How does feel private?" the scientist asked.

"It feels like lifting a small rock, heck, I'm not even breakin' a sweat," he responded.

"How do you like that folks. And for those of you who doubt our capabilities, I would like to ask a question to the princess." Everyone turned towards Celestia.

"Princess, if I may ask, do you think an average unicorn would be capable of lifting an entire building off the ground and hold it in mid-air without breaking a sweat?" he asked. The princess felt a nervous shiver down her spine, but attempted to ignore it and answered his question.

"Well, it is highly unlikely for a unicorn to do such a thing without the slightest difficult, but I have to say that that is quite an invention you have their. With that armor on, anypony can be as strong as that guard there. Just make sure that you keep the armor among the guard. I wouldn't wish for it to fall in the wrong hooves."

"Thank you your highness, and thank you all for being here to witness the next step in Equestrian defense. Feel free to ask any questions you have to me or the other scientists here, other than that, thank you for coming, and I bid you all, a good day! Alright Private, you can set that building down," the scientist said before stepping off the stage.

The guard ever so gently, set the building back in its rightful place. All the ponies there surrounded the scientists and the guard and began asking a ton of questions. Maxspell and Longspear however, were on their way back to their hide out. "So Maxspell, something tells me that armor is going to be part of your plan." "Indeed Longspear, it's coming together nicely. Celestia will see her downfall in no time." She said with an evil look on her face.

•••

The centuries finally added up to a millennia. Everypony in Ponyville are frantically setting the place up for the annual memorial service. The princesses were also getting ready for the event. Although Luna noticed something wrong with her sister. She was standing on her balcony, starring into the night sky. This was something all too familiar. Luna knew what was going through her mind.

"Celestia, it will be a thousand years to the day soon, are you sure you will be alright," she asked.

"Oh, I don't know my sister. You know, this feels just like the summer sun celebration," Celestia replied.

"Oh, and why is that."

"Because back then, they were horrible reminders of how I had to banish you to the moon. And now these memorial service we do every year, in honor of her, are just horrible reminders of the lose of a friend."

"I didn't know it meant that much to you, I'm really sorry Celestia."

"It's alright Luna. I'll get by it."

"But look on the bright side. If you haven't noticed, most of the things that disappear always seem to return after a thousand years." Luna said trying to left her sister's spirits.

"What do you mean?" Celestia asked.

"Well, when I was banished to the moon, I came back a thousand years later, and The Crystal Empire disappeared, and it came back a thousand years later as well."

Luna's strategy seemed to have been working. Her sister showed signs of hope at her words.

"Do you think she might return?" Celestia asked.

"It is a possibility, but it's just something I hadn't thought about until now," Luna Replied

Celestia smilied and gave her sister a tight hug before they headed off to Ponyville.

•••

The princesses carriage landed near the Ponyville City Library. It had changed a lot in the past thousand years. It was an enormous stone building that looked to be several stories high. It looked even better than the Canterlot library, and on the top was the oak tree. Right at the foot of the stairs that lead to the entrance of the library was the statue of Twilight.

Everypony in the city gathered around for the Memorial Day Celebration. Just then, the Mayor of Ponyville, Mayor Appleseed, steeped up to the podium in front of the steps to began the ceremony.

"Good mornin' everypony, an welcome ta the one thousan' annual Memorial Day Celebration, where we honor all of our heroes, from those who's in the Guard ta those who are plain, average pony folk. We also honor all of our fallen heroes, an' the way we do it, we raise the sun for em. I now present to ya, the princesses of Equestria," the orange, red maned earth pony went on to announce.

Everypony stomped their hooves when she announced their names. Luna took to the sky. Her horn began to glow, and slowly, she began lowering the moon. Celestia flew up to join her sister. Once she was at the same level as her, she lit up her horn and began raising the sun. It began to peak over the horizon, the light colored the sky from red, to orange, to yellow. The sky went from a dark blue to a light blue in an instant. The ponies below cheered at the sight.

Celestia closed her eyes and whispered to herself. "This is for you Twilight, my friend." She felt a tear drop trickle down her cheek.

•••

Maxspell starred out the window at the rising sun. Longspear approached her from behind. "Damn, I can't believe it's been a thousand years since we comminuted this hanis crime,"

"The time's acometh. The princesses will see their final sunrise," Maxspell said in low voice as she continued starring at the sunrise.

•••

Questions, comments, complements,
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Chapter 16: There will be Soft Rain: Part 2

"No, please no!" Twilight cried. She shook Longspear's lifeless body, hoping that it would be enough to bring him back.

"Please no! Don't leave me."

She cried a river of tears as she wallowed on his chest.

Celestia approached her, resting her hoof on her shoulder. Twilight jerked away, refusing her accompaniment. Celestia frowned. She wiped the tears away from her eyes in order to stay strong for her friend.

"Twilight, I'm sorry for your loss. I really wish I could help but-"

"And why didn't you?" Twilight mumbled, cutting Celestia off.

"I beg your pardon?"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU!?" Twilight blurted out at her, standing face to face. Celestia was taken aback by the sudden mood change.

"Why couldn't you have done something? You could have healed him, and he would still be alive! All of you could have," she said, criticizing all of them. Celestia tried to ease her friend's pain.

"Twilight, you don't understand-"

"He was probably one of the only close friend I had besides all of you, and now he's gone!"

"Twilight, you need to calm down," Celestia ordered. Twilight though, was too hysterical to calm down. She simply collapsed on top of her friend's chest, feeling the world go numb around her.

The others didn't know what to do. Their friend had suffered yet another great loss, and they weren't so sure on how to cope with it.

Celestia sat next to her friend, trying one last time to end her suffering.

"Twilight, you know what he said before he passed. Do you know what he said?"

Twilight didn't bother answering. Instead she scooted further away from her.

"Well, if you must know, he said he didn't want me to heal him. He wanted something far better than being healed. Do you know what he wanted?"

Twilight didn't answer.

"Freedom. That's all he ever wanted, and that's exactly what he got."

Finally, Celestia's encouragement was getting to her. She raised her head to face her friend next to her.

"He's free now Twilight. He had been trapped in this awful prison Maxspell had set up for him, and now he's free!"

Twilight eyed both Celestia and her fallen friend. She did have a point there. After suffering for a thousand years, any pony would want to earn the exact same freedom Longspear had received.

After one last minute eyeing her friend, she finally got up to join the others.

"Sorry for snapping at you all like that. I have no idea what came over me," Twilight said apologetically. All of her friends came to forgive her, including another familiar voice.

"Yes, yes, quite a tragedy if I do say so myself," the voice said behind Twilight's shoulder. Turning to see whom it was, they could not believe what their eyes were seeing.

Maxspell stood next to Longspear smiling. She looked as though she was never attacked in the first place. There wasn't even a scratch on her. She was perfectly fine.

"How are you alright? You were basically close to dying after our little confrontation?" Twilight asked stunned.

"As I said before, you don't know what I am," Maxspell said in a dark manner.

"And what does that supposed to mean?" Aurora asked.

"Oh, then why don't I show you?"

With her horn glowing red, her coat turned black before a dark cloud covered her whole body. A blinding flash appeared in the blink of an eye, clearing away the dark clouds, revealing an enormous monstrous creature before them.

To them, it looked like a large serpent with the head and forelegs of a pony. Its body dripped with black ooze, and on its head was a curved unicorn horn.

It opened its eyes, revealing its dragon eye pupils and blood red glowing eyes.

It looked down upon the group of ponies and furrowed its eyes at them.

Softheart immediately fainted. Every pony else starred in both shock and horror at the creature.

Its horn began to glow, and in every pony's head, they heard a similar voice in all of them.

"I see you all are surprised by the sudden change in events," the voice in their heads said in a feminine tone.

"Who said that?!" Aurora frantically asked.

"Why me of course," the creature said.

"Who are you, and how are communicating with us?" Twilight asked nervously.

"My kind have been known by a lot of names, but we prefer to be known as the Children of Tartarus, and the only way for us to communicate with you mortals is telepathically with our magic," it said as it slithered closer to them.

Twilight couldn't believe what was happening. "All this time, you were really a demon in a fake body, and none of us ever found out up till now?"

"I wouldn't call that body a fake. In fact, I have been using that stupid mare's body for quite some time now."

"You possessed her? Why?"

"I needed someone who worked very closely with the princess in order for my plan to work."

"And what might that plan be?"

"Well, considering each and every one of you are going to die, I might as well tell you," the creature said as it slowly slithered around them.

"My kind have always fed off of the one thing that keeps us alive and makes us stronger, but before you may ask, let me make it clear that it is not an emotion, but rather something far greater than that."

"And what exactly does your kind fed off of?" Twilight asked.

"Souls."

"Souls?"

"Indeed, but don't get me wrong, it's quite difficult to obtain these souls. In order to do that, you'd have to claim the life of a pony yourself, and it's been a bit of a challenge trying to do that ever since we've escaped from Tartarus thousands of moons ago.”

To demonstrate, the demon slithered over to Longspear's body. It slowly opened its mouth; revealing two long fangs on either side of its mouth like an actual snake, with even more black ooze dripping from it. A cloud like substance was sucked up away from Longspear and into the demon like a vacuum cleaner.

Twilight starred at it with horror.

Once it was done feeding, a red halo glowed around it, as it got stronger.

"Now that felt good," it said, satisfied with its meal.

"So the souls make you stronger, then what about the magic?"

"I think of it more as a bit of a 'perk' in these little souls."

"But as I mentioned before, it’s difficult for us to steal souls from you mortals without having to deal with your laws against murder, so I began to ponder for a while, and I realized that the one thing that's making our lives difficult is a certain mare. A kind princess to be exact."

Everyone turned their attention towards Celestia, who stood there nervously.

"For centuries I have been observing this little pony without her noticing, and I've seen how she rules this pathetic little kingdom. This is why I chose you Twilight to usurp her, to kill her with the magic that I gave you. To bring an end to this era of kindness, and to begin a new era of darkness."

Celestia and Twilight stared back at the creature with determined looks.

"Is that why you treated me as a pawn in your little game? Is that the reason why you snatched me away from the life I once had for your own personal game?" Twilight furiously questioned, to which the monster in front of her agreed.

"Alright then, I can understand that, but the thing I still don't understand is why do you badly want the princess dead?"

"You really are a fool. What is the one thing she and I have in common? What is the one thing different between all of you?"

All of them didn't seem to understand what it was asking them.

"She's an immortal! She has an immortal soul!" it said, eyeing both Twilight and Celestia.

"But not just any immortal soul," it said as it slithered towards her and wrapped its body around her.

"No, her soul was already immortal since the day of her birth. Can you imagine the kind of power one would obtain when claiming an immortal soul?"

Celestia did not dare to reply. She was simply disgusted just by looking at the demon's smug look on its face as it rubbed its hoof on her cheek like a transfixed lover.

"And that's not the best part! The best part is that with the return of the beloved Princess Luna, that meant twice the power, but that also meant twice the work."

"Oh how I've tried claiming both of your souls for a long time, and the measures I had to take just to do it, yet every time I come close to do so, something always prevents me from achieving my goal," it said, uncoiling itself from Celestia and slithering closer to the six other ponies until it stood face to face with Twilight.

"As for you, I am not sure how you and your little pegasus friend were able to break free from my spell, but whatever it was, it's not going to work now."

Suddenly, Aurora Flash came to the realization of what the demon had just said.

"Wait a minute, it was you who was trying to make me betray my friends?"

"Who else did you think it was?"

Aurora seethed with riotous anger. "I ought to tear you apart piece by piece you little-" she was cut off when Appleseed held her back by her tail.

It however simply ignored her as she slowly approached the Princesses.

"The time has come for you to meet your doom, and you will not cheat on me this time," it said. Pulling its head back, it quickly shot at Celestia, piercing her chest with its glowing horn.

She uttered a cry of agony at the pain she was enduring as the demon's horn was killing her with its magic. Everyone cried out her name in shock. They tried to help her, but found that somehow they could not move. They were being held back by its magic.

As for the princess, as much as she tried, she could no longer resist the killing pain within her. She slipped off its horn and fell to the ground dead.

Blood dripped off its horn as it basked in glory of its victory.

Seeing her friend lay there dead horrified Twilight. She could not believe what had just happened. She furiously tried to escape the monster's grip, but it was too strong.

Satisfied with its kill, the creature turned to face Luna, who showed a face of anger at her.

"How dare you do such a thing? You'll never get away with this you monster!"

"Oh, I already have."

Without another word, the creature released Luna and levitated her off the ground. Its horn glowed, and Luna felt an awful pain in her chest. It was squeezing her heart tightly.

A minute later, her body fell limp. The creature laughed as she dropped her body next to her sister's.

Tears emerged from Twilight's eyes as she screamed at the creature to stop. It ignored her cries as it stood over the two bodies, ready to feed. As it opened its mouth, the two pony’s souls emitted from the two bodies, which were then sucked in by the creature.

Suddenly, something changed. Before the remaining six ponies very eyes, minus Softheart, they saw the creature transform.

It grew five times larger, its head and forelegs became that of a dragon, and on its back grew a pair of demonic wings.

They were all terrorized at seeing these events unfold.

The creature, marveled at its newly obtained power, looked back down upon the six.

"Your time is up little ponies. Witness your world as we raise Tartarus!"

"We?" Twilight nervously asked.

"Indeed."

Suddenly, its magic rippled from its head all across Canterlot, and later, reaching all across Equestria.

With all their might, they turned to look out the window.

The sky had turned red. Hundreds of black demons, identical to one another were rising up from within the bodies of ponies, and were now terrorizing the others. Hundreds of ponies were being slaughtered as their souls were absorbed by the same demon that killed them.

"Behold the future of Equestria." The creature marveled. Extending its wings, it flew up through the hole in the ceiling and high up into the sky.

The creatures who were nearby noticed it and gathered close to it from the ground.

"Brothers and sisters, we have now achieved our greatest victory in all our lifetime, and you will all be glad to hear that the Princesses are dead at last!"

They all cheered with excitement.

"No longer will we fear the prejudice of the leadership of this kingdom. From this day on, Equestria will be ruled the Children of Tartarus, with me as its queen!"

Twilight listened to everything the demon was saying. She knew she could not allow all of this to happen. She had to stop it somehow.

"Enjoy your glorious feasts my subjects, but be sure to keep a good number of them. We do not want them to go extinct now do we?"

All the other demons comprehended their leader’s words and went back to their feeding frenzy.

The creature flew back down towards the throne room in order to tie up one last lose end.

"Before I kill you all, I do want to say how grateful I am for helping me achieve this great goal. I probably wouldn't have done this without any of you."

"The feeling isn't mutual," Twilight replied. "Although, is it ok if I do say a few words for real this time?"

The demonic creature eyed her for a second, and then starred at her suspiciously.

"Well, since I am going to steal your souls, I'd say way not, but no tricks. I will be keeping my eyes on you."

"Thank you."

The demon released her magical grip on the six ponies. Twilight, now free to move, turned to face the others.

"Listen, before anything happens, I just want to let you all know how thankful I am for all of your help. I don't how I could have made it this far without you."

"Aw, don't sweat it sugar cube. That's what friends are for." Appleseed said.

That strummed Twilight's heartstrings. "Really? You guys consider me your friend? After all I have done to you?" she asked.

"Hey, it's not your fault you were being controlled by a crazy demon. Believe me, I know," Aurora Flash replied. "Besides, to us, you're our friend."

"Aurora's right! We're besties now, even if we are about to have our souls taken." Sweetie Pie chimed in.

"Indeed, and in case you still hold this awful burden, just know that we do forgive you," Elegance said.

"I agree with Elegance, and Appleseed, and Aurora Flash, and Sweetie Pie!" Softheart said with smile.

Twilight was speechless. She couldn't believe that these ponies were immediately accepting her as her friend. Just like how her old friends did. Suddenly, she found herself in the middle of a group hug.

She returned the hug, not caring about the tears flowing down her cheeks, not caring about the impending doom that was left to come. She had friends again, and that was all that mattered to her.

"Well isn't this sweet?" the demon interrupted as it made a gagging sound, indicating how disgusting it was to it.

"That's enough final words from all of you. It's time for you to meet your fate. Let this new era of Equestria be the last thing you see, just as what your beloved princesses saw."

With its head forward and eyes aglow, two massive beams, both merging into on struck the group with full force, followed by a minor explosion, throwing the demon several feet back.

As all the dust and debris was settling, the demon was anxious to claim its prize. However, that prize would never come.

Standing in the exact same spot without a single scratch were the six ponies. All of them were surrounded by a protective aurora of magic. The creature was stunned at the sight of it.

Twilight was the first to realize that they were still alive. Everyone noticed the magic around them.

"That's impossible! You're supposed to be dead, all of you!"

Without another minute to lose, Twilight seized the opportunity by calling upon her magic to teleport out of the throne room to safety.

Out in the palace courtyard appeared the six ponies from nowhere. Everyone except for Twilight were feeling nauseous, but were able to recuperate. In the distance, they could hear a loud roar coming from the throne room. A second later, the creature flew back up into the air and called out in a loud booming voice, enough to cause a slight migraine in the mares’ heads.

"You can't escape me! This is my world now you foolish mortals. I will have your souls!"

The five mares cringed at the sound of that, but not Twilight. She had cheated death, and she wasn't about to let a second chance to fix things slip passed her. Several feet away from her, she saw Spike already trying to fight off one demon at a time. Sadly though, he was being overwhelmed.

She stood there and thought for a moment, until coming to the realization that she was out of ideas.

She went to face the five mares.

"So what are we going to do?" Aurora asked.

"Nothing. I'm all to of ideas," Twilight replied. They were shocked at that.

"What do you mean nothing? We can't just let Equestria go down the drain. We have to do something!"

"What can we do Aurora? We're too outnumbered, and half of the ponies in Equestria are either dead or imprisoned. There's nothing we can do now."

Just then, they noticed they were surrounded by a large number of demons, and to make matters worse, The Creature was approaching them.

"Tsk, tsk. I expected more from you Twilight. Who'd a thought that a pony like you wouldn't know what to do."

Twilight hung her head low in disgrace.

"I have you all right where I want you, and there is no escape. I think this time I'll kill your friends one by one in front of you, starting with this no good little hayseed," It said as it levitated Appleseed off the ground.

"Hey, put me down!" Appleseed cried out.

Twilight's head shot up. She couldn't bear seeing any more of her friends dying. Then she noticed something. Something she hadn't seen in a long time. Eyeing each and every one of them, her friends, she felt something special about them. And there it was. The spark. Now she knew why these ponies were so familiar. She never lost her friends; they were here all along. She just couldn't see.

The creature released Appleseed, allowing her to fall to the ground. Pain shot through every inch of her body. Aurora and Softheart were the ones that helped her up.

Before the creature was about to kill them one by one, Twilight approached her friends to say the one thing that needed to be said.

"Guys, before we meet our doom, I just want to let you know that I'm glad you all consider me your friend, and I realized now that you all are my friends. Thank you all for everything," She said, giving them one last group hug. All of them did the same.

Within that moment, everything changed. The spark within them had finally ignited. A bright light emanated from the group, blinding those who stood near them.

Rising up into the air, a beam in a rainbow of colors shot up into the air before aiming down upon the creature like a fiery judgment. It struck the creature hard and in the midst of all the colors, it began to disintegrate. Bits and pieces of it were burning off of it. It roared from the pain and the loss of power.

At the same time, small streaks of rainbow colors were striking the other nearby demons, immediately disintegrating them to nothing.

In the middle of the group, with Twilight's eyes aglow and a smile on her face, a wave of bright light washed over all of Canterlot, spreading all over Equestria.

The brightness faded, revealing a bright and beautiful sunny day. In the palace courtyard laid the six friends. Appleseed was the first to rise up off the ground, then Aurora Flash, then Softheart, and so forth.

"Is every pony ok?" Appleseed asked. The only reply she got was from Aurora who was moaning about her head. Sweetie Pie got up and was surprised when she saw Appleseed.

"Oh my! Appleseed look, you're all better!"

Appleseed looked down upon herself and noticed that she was no longer wearing the body cast, and her body was fully healed.

"Well yee-haw! I'm all better now!"

"Everyone, look!" Elegance said, pointing a hoof at Twilight, who was just now rising.

"Twilight, are you all right?" she asked.

"I... I think so," she replied.

"Well, might I say, you look a lot better without your armor, and lavender does suit you."

"Armor?" Twilight asked, completely forgetting about it until now. Looking down upon herself, she saw her familiar lavender coat and wings. Lying at her hooves was the shredded remains of her armor. She stared at her friends with big grin on her face. She hopped up and down cheering yes over and over again.

Sweetie Pie joined her giddy friend as they jumped up and down for a full straight minute.

Afterwards, Twilight looked around, and saw that everything looked normal again. High up in the big blue sky, she noticed some strange, gray, smoke-like objects floating around. She knew those must have been the captured souls. Some were returning to their host bodies, while others that didn't merely faded away.

Two significant souls floating around in the sky stood out amongst the others. One of them was pinkish while the other was blue.

"The princesses’ souls," Twilight thought as she saw the two souls float towards the palace throne room. A while later, the two sisters trotted out of the palace entrance and into the courtyard. Twilight galloped towards them and hugged them both.

"We knew you would save us all," Celestia commented.

"Don't thank me princess, thank my friends. Without them, we would have never saved you all," Twilight said. Celestia, with a warm smile, thanked them all. They jumped with excitement at having the princess personally thank them.

As they all went off on how they were glad to have helped save Equestria and all, out of the corner of her eye, Twilight noticed a patch of gray smoke, a soul. Slowly approaching it, she made out the physical features of it and instantly knew whose soul it was. Slowly the soul approached her ear and whispered "Thank you Twilight," very softly and quietly before vanishing.

"You’re welcome Longspear," she replied.

"Who are you talking to?" Sweetie Pie said, whispering in her other ear, causing her to jump. All of her friends were standing near her now.

"Oh um, let’s just say, I've helped some pony get what they've always wanted."

No one except Celestia understood what she said.

Then they heard moaning. Just beyond them was a large crater in the middle of the courtyard. Right in the middle of it was Maxspell, the real Maxspell.

Every pony slowly approached the crater. Standing just several inches from the edge, Twilight saw Maxspell raise her head and utter something, just two words.

"Thank you."

Her head fell back down on the ground dead.

•••

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