Equestria Has Fallen

Chapters

New Beginnings
Welcome to Trottingham
Closure
The Grid
R and R
Melodies of the Night
Canterlot Falls
Morning After
The Nuclear Option
Intermission: Knowledge is Power
Prologue
No Fighting in the War Room!

New Beginnings

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Welcome to Trottingham

As Twilight and Thunderer walked up to the forcefield Twilight focused on the wall behind it, it was huge; larger than Canterlots' outer wall. The wall was made from reddish-brown bricks, Twilight recalled a book she'd read on Equestrain defences. Trottingham was built before the reign of the two sisters, it was an earth pony settlement chosen for its rich natural resources including: coal, iron and gold. When the three tribes were at war with each other during "The Long Winter" the walls had been enchanted to deflect all unicorn spells and cannons had been built to deflect pegasi assaults. The defences were Trottinghams' claim to fame. The walls were so thick that the barracks could be hidden within the walls themselves and still survive an onslaught of catapults. Due to the walls being so incredibly thick Trottingham had expanded many times over the centuries, this meant that even if the outer walls were breached then troops would have to spend the same time attacking the inner walls.

"I've never been to Trottingham before" Twilight said, breaking a long silence.

"I grew up here" Thunderer said, "It certainly is one of a kind."

"Are there really houses and shops built into the walls?"

"Yup, you can spend several hours just walking through the tunnels to get to them."

"So how come you can't answer all my questions?" Twilight finally said; she'd been wanting to ask for a while.

"It's not that I can't, it's just...... it needs to be left to the right pony" Thunderer said sighing.

The two of them approached the forcefield and stepped through it, the feeling was the exact same as when she and her friends entered Canterlot on the train, which to her was a few days ago, she still tried to rack her brain to somehow comprehend that it was now two years ago. They were met by a unicorn and an earth pony guard, both of whom pointed spears at them. Twilight noted they wore royal armour but the crest in the centre was different to the Canterlot guards.

"Password?" the unicorn asked.

"The password is Starswirl" Thunderer said.

"You may pass, but your friend may not" the unicorn said. The two guards pointed their spears to Twilight.

"Why?" Twilight asked, taken aback.

"Because I left by myself, and we've had changlings try to infiltrate before" Thunderer explained.

"But I got through the forcefield, surely that's enough!" Twilight complained.

The two guards held their spears at Twilight, the spears were sharp and Twilight didn't understand why they were pointed at her.

"They'll only take you to a holding cell, I will find someone who can vouch for you" Thunderer said.

The two guards let Thunderer step forward away from Twilight, their spears still pointed at her.

"Open the gate, Ranger returning!" The earth pony called.

The large metal portcullis behind the two guards slowly lifted. Thunderer trotted off down the tunnel, the armour bounced up and down as he went through the tunnel. The two guards had moved behind Twilight and were gesturing for Twilight to move down through the tunnel. They walked a short distance to a crossroad within the tunnel, they turned left. After a short time they arrived at a desk in what appeared to be a building within the wall, there had been no partition between the building and the tunnel. The only difference in this room to the tunnel was the fact it was bigger and better lit. To the left of the desk was a large wooden door, to the right a smaller door.

"One for the holding cell, awaiting interrogation" the unicorn guard said to the desk clerk.

Two more guards exited the smaller door, which Twilight guessed had to be their personal quarters. The two new guards guided Twilight through the large wooden door and down the stair case behind it. At the bottom of the stairs was a hallway filled with iron bars, each one a prison cell. The two new guards led Twilight to a small dank cell, inside the cell contained an area of straw and a hole in the ground in the opposite corner, there was no window and no artificial light within. The guard closed the door behind her.

"The walls are enchanted against unicorns so you won't be escaping any time soon" a unicorn guard said with a cruel smile.

Twilight sighed and realised how tired she'd become during the day, she reflected on the days events. Everything was different now, how could she be two years in the future, she'd used a spell a couple of months ago to go into the past but she could only be there for a short time. It must of been Starswirls spell she heard Luna and Celestia talk about. She flopped onto the straw she no longer cared for comfort, her brain had spent most of the day trying to figure out how she could be in one place at one time, and then other place two years later. For the first time today she felt safe, tomorrow she would try and find her friends, the spell had been cast on all of them so they should all be here; somewhere. She began to close her eyes and instantly fell asleep, hopefully Luna would visit her in her dreams and explain why it was suddenly two years later and everything had changed.

Twilight awoke to somepony pushing her.

"Mmmm.... five more minutes Spike" she said sleepily.

"Miss Sparkle the Princess is demanding your attendance" an unfamiliar voice said.

"The Princess!" Twilight awoke with a start and pleasant surprise.

Twilight got to her hooves quickly, she looked around expecting to be in her library, but she wasn't there. The pegasus guard that should have been Spike looked at her. Twilight calmed herself down, she started to remember what happened and soon her mood went from panic to calm to depressed. She was in Trottingham a strange pegasus had escorted her here, before that she'd been in Canterlot; the wedding. Twilights' ears drooped and she walked towards her cell door that the guard was holding open for her. She walked back up the stairs and towards the desk where the guards had escorted her to. A pony was waiting for her, someone she recognised from Ponyville. He was an earth pony with a brown coat and dark brown mane and an hourglass cutie mark; Time Turner.

"Ah Twilight!" he said.

"Time Turner, what are you doing here?"

"There's no time for that now, we can't keep the Princess waiting" Time Turner replied.

Time Turner produced an apple and gave it to Twilight, she took it and took a large bite from it. Sadly it was no Sweet Apple Acres' apple. Time Turner thanked the guards for not interrogating her and led the way out. It felt like ten minutes before the two of them left the tunnel system. Twilight finally got her good look at Trottingham, the houses were of the same brick as the wall, except the houses looked nice despite being all identical, some had hanging baskets others had tables and chairs outside. There were other ponies around, they seemed to not have a care in the world.

"Thunderer told me that you can't remember what's happened in the past two years.." Time Turner said as they walked down a street.

"The last thing I remember was Luna and Celestia casting a spell on my friends and I in Canterlot, then I was alone in a forest."

"Goddesses" Time Turner said to himself.

"Something I said?"

"No, nothing like that but I doubted the use of Starswirls forbidden spell, I just can't believe its true, you have no idea how much it will mean to everypony."

Twilight went over the events of last night, the only thing she remembered was the bodies, changling and pony and the blood; there had been blood everywhere, so much blood. She remember the abominations that were trying to attack her, how somehow they just kept standing up. She shook the thought from her head and focused on the buildings and scenery.

Trottingham had a large river flowing through it, this was now one their left as they trotted along cobbled streets, several bridges crossed the river. On the other side of the river were large chimneys, thick smoke passed through the forcefield. Further along on their walk Twilight spotted a large tower penetrated the forcefield. The top of the tower was missing, it had been struck by something because the top was missing along the line of the forcefield. The tower looked vaguely familiar, then it clicked, it was Trottinghams' clock tower, its most notable landmark aside from the walls.

"Changling mortars" Time Turner said looking at the tower, "As soon as the field went up the top of the clocktower fell, we are the last stronghold in Equestria to call a safe-haven" Time Turner said with sadness in his voice.

They approached a round building with a domed roof, around the roof was a line of carvings of ponies. The dome was white while the rest of the building was a deep red, there were two banners draped on square outsets of the building. The banner on the left held the sun and moon crest of Celestia and Luna, where the one of the right contained a heart; Cadences' cutie mark.

"I will wait outside" Time Turner said as they approached the large double doors, "I'm afraid you won't like most of what you hear, two years have passed since Canterlot fell".

Time Turner placed hoof on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry Twilight". Time Turner said sincerely.

Confused, Twilight entered the building not knowing what to expect or even who to expect.

Author's Note

"The Long Winter" refers to a period when the three tribes were at war with each other.

Closure

Twilight Sparkle entered the domed building, inside there was another set of large double doors connected to a wall that ran around the entire circumference of the building creating a round corridor. Twilight however was not able to walk around the corridor, guards were filed either side of her making the journey through the double doors non-negotiable. These guards carried no weapons, there was no need this deep into the city, as Twilight stepped forward a pair of guards would salute as soon as she was in front of them. Each pair did this except for the final pair who were unicorn guards, these two guards opened the large double doors with their magic. Twilight stepped through these doors into a grand rectangular room, this meant that the corridor behind her also led to other rooms in the building. The room she was in was a courtroom, in the centre was a round pedestal with a statue of a unicorn upon it. Twilight inspected the statue; it was her brother Shining Armour. The statue showed Shining rearer up in a fighting pose, the statue looked so lifelike it felt he was in the room with her. The statue appeared to show Shining in full royal guard armour, some of the armour was dented and scratched. There was a brass plaque with an inscription on it located at the foot of the statue, Twilight read the inscription.

"This statue is dedicated to Shining Armour; Captain of the Royal Guard, who was turned to stone defending his wife; Princess Cadence and the city of Trottingham. Shining Armour gave his life to provide sanctuary, his eternal love provides shelter for us all and will continue to defend us to this day. Gone but never forgotten."

Twilight had to read the plaque several times, she felt empty like someone had just ripped out her heart. Her B.B.B.F.F was gone, only half a day ago she'd last seen him and that hadn't ended well he'd been under Queen Chrysalis's control. Tears ran down her face and she sniffed, her legs felt weak and she couldn't help but climb onto the base of the statue and hug her brothers' leg. A box of tissues was levitating in front of her. Twilight used her magic to pull a few tissues from the box.

"I'm sorry," Twilight said climbed down to the ground.

"Don't be ashamed, I still do the same" a feminine voice replied.

Twilight looked up. It was Princess Cadence, but she looked different as Twilight studied her. Cadence had cut her mane short and she also looked thinner. Cadence smiled softly and outstretched her hoof and then placed it around Twilight, the two of them embraced for some time before one of them spoke.

"I'm really glad you're here, its been so long since I last had someone to call a friend" Cadence said calmly.

"Has it really been two years?" Twilight sniffed.

"Yes, the spell Luna and Celestia cast on you and your friends was one of the forbidden spells made by Starswirl the Bearded."

Twilight left the embrace and stood beside Cadence.

"Come" Cadence said.

The two of them walked away from the statue part of Twilight didn't want to leave. As the two of them approached the side of the room Cadence raised her hoof and tapped a column that was set half in the wall. A door revealed itself and slid open, behind it was a staircase leading down. Cadence walked towards the staircase, they both walked down and came to a guarded door ahead of them. The two guards saluted.

"At ease" Cadence ordered.

Both the guards relaxed but eyed Twilight suspiciously, the room they were guarding must be very important, Twilight thought.

"This is Twilight Sparkle; Celestias' former student, she has access to the War Room and all of Trottingham." Cadence said, "Ensure this message is passed on."

One of the guards trotted off Twilight barely notice him brush past her she'd drifted off in thought when Cadence said former student. Twilight hadn't realised that she was no longer a student, but then it had been two years Celestia would have likely taken on a new student or more likely not have to time to train a new student given they were not at war. The remaining guard opened the doors for them both and they both walked into a large circular room. They were on a metal walkway which was suspended all around the room there were two walkways that met in the middle of the room. At regular intervals on the walkway were stairs leading down to the main level below. Twilight looked down at the main room, there were several ponies surrounding a large table in the middle, the table itself was shaped to look like the landmass of Equestria. On the table were little model buildings and smaller figures a unicorn was using their magic to move some of the figures.

"There are things you need to know Twily" Cadence said, "And it must be me that tells you them." Cadence said in an oddly cold voice.

Cadence walked around to a room that led off from the metal walkway, the room was set into the wall. The room had one door and two glass windows either side, two guards were posted outside.

"No one is to interrupt us" Cadence said to the guards and entered the room.

Twilight followed her new sister-in-law into the room. The room itself was small and was decorated in old posters that promoted the Wonderbolts and the EUP Guard. There was a desk that Cadence sat behind, she then used her magic to pull another chair for Twilight to sit in.

"I'm afraid this isn't going to be easy" Cadence said as Twilight sat, "We're losing the war on several fronts. We've been losing every since Discord turned your brother to stone."

Cadence looked away trying to hide the tears.

"Your brother was able to use his shield spell to protect this city, but it was the only one he could save" Cadence said.

"How did he do it, keep the shield permanently strong if he's.... if he's..." Twilight said trying to force back the tears.

"Your Ponyville friend; Time Turner designed a device that could harness your brothers' and mine love for each other. The device regenerates the shield around the city, making it the only safe-haven in Equestria. There are other cities out there with ponies still living there, but they're constantly at war with the changling army and the abominations" Cadence explained.

"Couldn't Luna or Celestia have helped, they wouldn't leave us to fend for ourselves!" Twilight said shouting because she upset.

"They wouldn't, but that's the thing" there was a long pause, "Celestia was killed soon after she cast the spell."

There was a deafening silence, Twilight tried to speak but her emotions stopped her. Instead tears streamed down her face, there was a high pitched squeal from Twilight and she broke down.

It was nearly half an hour later when Twilight was able to regain herself, Cadence stood over her and caressed Twilight's mane. Twilight felt weak, angry and tired all at once, her eyes were red from crying but the pain in her heart was stronger. She nuzzled Cadence and sniffed repeatedly.

"There there Twilight we were shocked when we found out too" Cadence said her hoof continuing to stroke Twilight.

Twilight tried to make herself small. She couldn't get rid of the pain.

"Twilight I'm afraid it gets worse, Queen Chrysalis took Luna prisoner." Cadence said when Twilight was silent

"Queen Chrysalis destroyed Canterlot" Cadence continued, "she used her army to blow it off the side of the mountain, I watched it fall from here. That was the day I thought we lost hope, but your brother... He wasn't going to let that happen."

Cadence stood up and walked to the office window.

"Your brother, he organised all this" Cadence swept her hoof for effect, "The Resistance."

"When I was teleported here there were those things, those... abominations, what are they?" Twilight said her voice croaky.

"You see that was the one thing Queen Chrysalis didn't count on, the changlings sucked corpses dry and they stood back up. When the changlings absorb all the love in ponies that's what they become; husks, abominations, the living dead. The husks don't care what side you're on, they just bite you and when they do, you become one of them. That helped us slightly, it drew most of the slaughter away from us for a while. That's why Chrysalis kept Luna alive; so she could raise the sun and the moon. You see Chrysalis had to change her army's habits, now they need food and natural light to survive. Instead of killing everyone she keeps anyone who doesn't fight alive."

"Why?" Twilight asked, joining Cadence at the window,

"She wants to start a new empire so she tore down the old, she keeps ponies as her slaves so they farm the land and provide her and her army with food. Places like Trottingham resist, so she tries to eliminate us. Other ponies though, they want to survive so they joined her and now they work for her." Cadence said looking down in disappointment.

"What do we do now?" Twilight asked regaining herself.

"You do not need to worry about that, I've given you enough sorrow for a lifetime and my war council needs me. You're upset, you need time to recover and understand how things have changed since you've been away. I want you to take a few days to get your bearings here, Luna visits me in my dreams and we have plans for you and your friends but you must be well for the journey ahead. Time Turner has agreed to let you stay with him, he will be able to explain some of the plan to you, but you need to rest first and let your emotions go, its okay to be upset." Cadence said, placing a hood on Twilight.

The Grid

Author's Note

Popular culture - popular culture everywhere!

Not sure how people will feel about this chapter, part of my thinks I could have made the separate elements more seemless.

The Grid

Time Turner sat in his favourite chair in the house he'd been given by the Princess. In his hoof was a clipboard with pieces of paper attached to it, with his mouth he used the pencil to factor in more calculations and variables. His head was sore; he'd been working on these calculations since he'd returned from escorting Twilight Sparkle to Princess Cadence. He heard a pony coming down the stairs and looked up to the hallway. It was Thunderer much to Time Turners' discontent.

"She'll be back soon" Thunderer said as he entered the room.

Thunderer sat in a chair opposite Time Turner. Thunderer still wore the armour he'd met Twilight in, but then why was Time Turner surprised. Thunderer nearly never took the armour off, nor the metal wings that went with it. The only difference was that Thunderer had retracted the two cannons; they were only to be used outside the city. Time Turner knew more than most that Thunderer blamed himself for what happened in Canterlot that day, he kept the armour on as punishment. As Time Turner sat in thought he barely heard Thunderer speak to him.

"Hello is Doctor Time Turner in?" Thunderer said.

"Yes sorry" Time Turner shook his head, "It's just these calculations make no sense, it is possible but we need a large power supply for it to work."

"The Grid?" Thunderer asked.

"Yes, my current hypothesis is that with a greater power source we could expand the shielding capacity by tenfold."

"But?" Thunderer pushed further.

"Doing so would cause the nuclear reactors to overload. Trottingham would be completely destroyed, there may be no point in overloading the shield." Time Turner sighed.

There was a knock at the door. Time Turner leapt up, it was about time she returned. He enthusiastically galloped over to the front door, he flung it open.

"Hello my Muff...oh" Time Turner stopped mid-sentence.

Instead of his wife, two guards and a lavender unicorn stood before him. One of the guards produced a scroll from his saddlebag.

"By royal decree of Princess Cadence the unicorn and former pupil of Celestia the Great; Twilight Sparkle is being assigned as your assistant, effective immediately. Your daily ration will be compensated accordingly" the guard read allowed.

"I already know," Time Turner replied.

He and Princess Cadence had discussed it the previous night when word made it to them both that she'd arrived.

"We have also been ordered to retrieve Thunderer, he is to attend the war council immediately to discuss your current progress." the guard continued.

Thunderer had been listening in on the conversation from the living room and stepped past Time Turner.

"I'll inform them of our progress but we need to decide what happens next" Thunderer said to Time Turner.

The two guards dispersed and left Twilight Sparkle standing on her own. The unicorn looked upset her eyes were red and puffy, the only logical conclusion was that Twilight had been told about Celestia and Shining Armour.

"Cadence said you were working on something to fight the changlings with, I thought you'd need more space than a house for a lab." Twilight said

"Trust me, its bigger on the inside" Time Turner said, "Come."

Twilight followed her new mentor into the house. The houses looked all the same on this street so she noted the number "221b". Inside she was met with a staircase leading up and a narrow corridor, there was also a room to the right. Time Turner led her down the corridor, the room to the right was a sitting room with three chairs surrounding a table. Ahead of them was the kitchen, it was small and messy typical of two colts living together Twilight thought.

"Did Princess Cadence tell you how the city retains its shield?" Time Turner said.

The two of them stepped into a small room that was located under the stairs. There was a lever in front of them.

"She said there was a machine that fed off the love between them" Twilight said quietly.

"Hmm well not quite love but a unicorns' signature when they cast their magic. My machine; The Grid absorbs the Princess's' magic and rejuvenates the shield."

"Not the love between them?" Twilight asked confused.

"There is a science behind unicorn magic, I studied the field; that's what I got my Doctorate in."

"So this Grid, how exactly does it work?" Twilight asked.

Time Turner threw the level and the both of them descended on a platform. As the machine passed through the foundations of the house Twilight was treated with what looked like another city below. Twilight was gob-smacked at how much space there was below the city, she looked around the gigantic cavern and saw all the pipes and large machines that looked like buildings from above. The platform they were on was descending into what felt like was a microscopic area of the city, in reality the area they were heading to was massive.

"This is The Grid" Time Turner said smiling, "I spent years building it as part of my studies, then when Canterlot fell and Cadence and Shining Armour arrived I was ordered to re-purpose it. Now The Grid absorbs Cadences magic to fuel the shield around the city, I only just finished it when Discord led an army of changlings into the city. I wish it could of been sooner."

A tear tried to roll down Twilights' face but she no longer had it in her, she so wanted to be angry at Time Turner but really it wasn't his fault.

"What Thunderer and I are working on now is a way to expand the shield to cover all of Equestria, doing so would kill all the changlings and abominations." Time Turner explained.

The platform arrived at the bottom level. Twilight stepped out and looked at all the objects around her, there was a Buckingham blue police telephone box, a blue cube that levitated between two machines and a Manehatten phone box.

"What is all this?" Twilight asked looking at the blue cube.

"That's a tesseract, its a cube within a cube, Thunderer built it to help with my Doctorate, I was trying to master the teleportation spell as part of my studies into Starswirls forbidden spells. It doesn't work" Time Turner said disappointingly.

"And the phone boxes?" Twilight asked.

"I like to take phone calls down here" Time Turner replied.

When Trottingham was originally built the earth ponies used the natural springs below the city to help fuel its' industry, as the town expanded so did the power output, but the input remained constant. When the first radioactive elements was discovered Trottingham scientists voted to build new generators to harness the new power source. To fit the generators the city decided to excavate the ground beneath the city, the resulting cavity meant there was masses of space to fit as many generators as possible. A few years ago Time Turner used this same space to test his understanding of magic, to gain his Doctorate Time Turner had tried to put understanding behind Starswirls forbidden spells and recreate them. The one that intrigued Time Turner the most was the ability of time travel. For several years Time Turner tried to crack the spell, but being an earth pony meant he was limited to what he build, and he wasn't very good at building. That's where Thunderer came in.

A long time ago Thunderer and Time Turner met each other in Canterlot university. They both took advanced magic, but being the only non-unicorns on the course they struggled. Thunderer eventually dropped out of the course in favour of engineering, but Time Turner continued. Years later Time Turner sought out Thunderer to help him build a device to harness the power to cast Starswirls forbidden spells. They had little success, even with setting up below Trottingham to make use of the extensive power source it still wasn't enough.

Time Turner eventually gave up and soon moved back to Ponyville where he'd grown up, he married a grey pegasus called Derpy and not long after had a child. When Time Turner learned that the child was a unicorn he accused Derpy of cheating on him with another colt. He left Derpy and Ditzy for a while; returning to Trottingham where he plunged into his work. Dissociating himself with others Doctor Time Turner became obsessed with the forbidden spells, he often asked himself why they were forbidden but the answers to those questions couldn't be found until he cast the spell. It was Thunderer who pulled Doctor Time Turner back from the brink, Thunderer came to keep him company and work on the machine, that's when it happened.

As Time Turner set the tesseract between the two magnets it began to levitate between them. He pulled down his goggles and flipped a switch. The gigantic cavern filled with noise as the power was diverted towards Time Turners separate circuit. Time Turner checked the gauges, they were still in the safe zone.

"Now!" Time turner shouted to Thunderer.

The pegasus gripped the wrench with his teeth and pulled it back, he flapped his white wings several times to help him. Eventually the wrench moved and the valve opened. A stream of energy flew out in a beam as the valve opened. The beam began burning a chalkboard as Thunderer pulled hard, he was covered in sweat, it dripped down his fur and over his wrench cutie mark. The beam moved into the tesseract after burning everything in its path. The tesseract began absorbing the beam and changed colour from steel to blue. Time Turner checked his equipment, it was going haywire, far off from his predictions. Thunderer used his wings to shield his eyes from the bright light that was emitted from the tesseract. The energy beam stopped and there was silence in the room, all the lights in the gigantic cavern went off leaving the tesseract as the only light source. The two of them starred at it. As the two of them moved closer, the tesseract had a mind of its own, it projected a beam by itself. Thunderer shielded his eyes again with his wings. When he lowered them he was speechless at what he saw. In the middle of the their work area was a crack, but the crack wasn't in anything it was suspended in mid-air. Time Turner moved forward to investigate the crack, he carefully reached up and touched it. It didn't feel of anything, the crack edge moved to his hoof and then when Time Turner realised it was safe to do so, he placed both forehooves on the crack and opened it. Light entered the room and the two of them were looking at something, but it looked older, like a film from years ago.

"Dear Celestia, we've done it!" Time Turner exclaimed.

"That's your grandfather" Thunderer said, unaware of Time Turners comment.

Time Turner looked in the crack as well, Thunderer was right, but this pony in the crack was young, his grandfather had passed away years ago. The pony was talking to someone; a unicorn.

"But daaaad!" Time Turners grandfather whined.

Time Turners' jaw dropped, if what he saw was true, then he was related to a unicorn. He thought back to his little filly and the comments he'd said to his wife, he'd been here two months working on this project and then it occurred to him he'd never named it.

"It needs a name" Time Turner said.

"How about Delorean?" Thunder said

Thunderer was inspecting the equipment, he lifted an instrument with his wing, "88" was the only number on it. Thunderer dropped it and returned to the crack, fissure or tear, he wasn't sure what it was. He poked both his wings through.

"I was thinking Time and relative dimension in space machine"

"Dimensions would be more accurate if your theory is correct and lose machine, maybe make it an acronym." Thunderer said moving his wings in the tear.

"So what? T.A.R.D.I.S?" Time Turner said playing with the idea.

"Yes something like tha...."

Thunderer was cut off, the crack suddenly disappeared. Thunderer tried to scream the pain so immense, he scrambled backwards trying to find them but they were gone. Time Turner was unsure what was happening, he scrambled to find a light, he found one on the burnt desk the energy beam had destroyed. He pointed the light at Thunderer; half of his wings were missing. The crack had cauterised them off. Thunderer passed out when Time Turner told him.

After the incident Time Turner returned home to his wife, he and Thunderer grew apart of the next two years, that was until Canterlot fell. A few days after news came that Celestia was dead, the changlings stormed Ponyville. They destroyed his house and everything he'd built there. He told Derpy to fly to Trottingham she resisted because she didn't want to leave their daughter here, but she had no choice, changlings tried to attack her in the air, she flew away as fast as her wings would thrust.

It took Time Turner a week to get to Trottingham, he knew of the Changlings but never anticipated the abominations. They'd cornered him and Ditzy on the 5th day, he'd managed to fend them off with a sharpened stick, but they bit Ditzy. In his anger he killed the abominations around him and tried to seek help for his daughter. After a few hours she turned too. That was the hardest thing Time Turner had to do, he could only remember smashing her head with a rock; that was all he had at the time. She stood up again, Time Turner had to force back the tears as he did it again, and again until he was certain she would not rise again. He spent the following day burying her, and the two days after that wondering whether to jump off the cliff he was on.

This was why Time Turner wanted to rebuild the TARDIS rather than the overload the shields, he could change so much through one simple action; killing Queen Chrysalis.

R and R

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay, but currently there hasn't been much of a demand in people reading this, but hopefully that will change soon. Anyway some more chapters are on their way.

R and R

Twilight Sparkle had wondered around The Grid for a while now, the entire complex was as large as the city above it. Time Turner had explained how the machine worked but she was still trying to wrap her head around it. Now that she'd had the time to wonder round Twilight was beginning to tire, she returned to Time Turner and sat on a couch that was placed looking at a clock. As her thoughts on The Grid began to drift thoughts of her friends and family entered her head. She knew not where her friends were only that they were not here. As for her family; she knew they were gone, never to return. Her time for crying was over she no longer had it in her, she remained staring at the clock its 3 hands turning faster than normal. As the lavender unicorn stared at the clock with unusually fast hands she was unaware that two pegasi had entered the room. She knew both of them but did not turn her attention away from the clock to properly recognise them. The grey one with a yellow tail and unkept hair placed something on the side table. The face of the pegasus interrupted her line of sight with the clock, Twilight saw through the mis-matched eyes that stared at her and continued to out-stare the clock before her.

As Thunderer returned from the war council a grey pegasus was already unlocking the door to their house.

"You're back home early" Thunderer said, catching the grey mare by surprise.

She dropped her keys and struggled picking her keys up, she constantly moved her head so she could spot them better.

"I wish you wouldn't do that Thunderer" she said scrunching her muzzle.

Derpy Hooves eventually found her keys and unlocked the door, the two of them both entered the hallway, where Derpy took her mail-mares' hat off and set onto the rack by the door. Thunderer followed her in and shut the door behind them.

"There's something you need to know first" Thunderer pipped realising Derpy didn't know, "I found the Bearer of Magic last night."

"That's good, Time Turner's said that having the Elements of Harmony would help him." Derpy said with a smile.

"Well you see... Princess Cadence has ordered that this..." Thunderer tried to recall the name, "Twilight Sparkle is to stay here to help Time Turner."

"Oh" Derpy said, she didn't seem to want to say anymore.

"Our rations are being adjusted, I just thought you should know seeing as you and Time Turner still aren't right together." Thunderer was now dreading the reaction.

There was an awkward silence as Derpy stripped her work shirt from her. She unknotted the tie with a sharp tug from her mouth and it fell to floor. With one hoof she then proceeded to unbutton her shirt, pulled one hoof out, used her wings to pull the shirt over her back and step out of the other sleeve. She gathered the shirt up from the floor and carried it through to the kitchen.

"It's been eighteen months" She finally said, "we're still together but I can't forget what he did. People still haven't forgiven you"

The last comment stung Thunderer. Derpy carried on by putting her shirt into the basin and filled it with water. She then hovered above the ground to get to the overhead cupboards, she opened one and pulled a brown bag from it. Thunderer remained grounded, it was harder for him to fly in confined spaces.

"I heard the report from Manehatten... Is it really that bad?" Thunderer asked looking to change the subject.

As Derpy landed her expression changed from angry to sad. Her eyes worked in sync for the few seconds it took her to place the brown bag on the table and try to hold back the tears.

"Yes, they reckon they don't have long, it was horrible, that thing... that dragon it just turned up and wiped half of the aerial fleet out. I only just got out with the messages." Derpy didn't want to continue any further.

Thunderer called the platform from The Grid. Derpy placed four stale muffins on a silver tray. She looked worse for wear. Being a mail-mare hadn't been easy before the war, and now if one went out they were lucky to return. Given that Cadence had just held a council it was likely that Derpy wouldn't be staying long. The platform arrived in the small walk-in wardrobe. It was a tight squeeze for both of them as they descended. Thunderers' armour didn't help with the space issue. The moved down in silence, below them Time Turner was working on a large blackboard while Twilight Sparkle sat on a couch staring into space.

Time Turner finished writing the last line of his calculation when Derpy and Thunderer arrived. He was pleased to see Derpy he trotted over and wrapped his hoof over her neck. The response was the same as it always was, she felt cold and distant from in, then she'd lean her head in and return the feeling but would never return the hug. As he left her side she walked over and placed the stale muffins on a workbench.

"How has it been?" Thunderer said drawing Time Turner from his thoughts.

"It's been quiet, I still can't solve the power problems, I'm sure we need the Elements of Harmony to provide the power even then an overload is still likely."

"Just for overloading the shields or creating this time spell you want to cast?"

"Both" Time Turner replied disheartened.

While they'd been speaking Derpy had taken a muffin over to Twilight. Derpy was trying to talk to Twilight but she didn't speak.

"She's been like that all day." Time Turner looked at the clock; it was early evening.

"It's been a lot for her to take in, we need to distract her thoughts for a while." Thunderer said

"She owned the library in Ponyville, she was really into her books" Derpy said returning to the group.

"The only books we have are on time or war" Time Turner said.

"Yes, well you stallions could really benefit from a mares' touch around here." Derpy said wiping dust with her wing from a table.

"Well maybe if you didn't insist on relaying messages all the time you'd be here to make it" Time Turner said.

At that moment Derpys' wings flared out in anger, he expression changed so fast that as soon as the sentence was uttered Time Turner regretted it. Derpy sunk down on her forelegs as if she was about to charge and snorted.

"If I was around here more.... If I was around here more. Remind me, which one of us hid away here when they couldn't face the face that their daughter was a unicorn!" Derpy shouted.

The loudness of Derpys' voice was enough to turn Twilight's attention from the clock she was fixated on. Thunderer decided he still wanted to live and ducked away from Derpys' war path. He grabbed Twilights' hoof and dragged her away. Twilight tried to resist at first but gave up.

"You really don't want to be here" Thunderer said to her.

"All I meant was that you're always away on relay missions, I get few chances to see you." Time Turner said to his angry wife.

"I do what is necessary for the war effort as do you!"

"I know you help out, but is there a less dangerous way one where you don't get killed?"

"No there isn't! I learned to fight just like everypony but I don't because I'm not like Thunderer I cannot just take lives and feel nothing from doing it. And speaking of dangerous but correct me if I'm wrong but isn't this machine of yours responsible for clipping Thunderers' wings?!"

"It is, but we both knew the risks." Time Turner said defensively.

"And I know the risks too, I know I could die but I'm still here, you haven't left the city in nearly two years. Not everypony dies out there, there are those that survive just fine without magical barriers to protect them. Those ponies have lost ponies too, but they still live out there facing the risks each day." Derpy began to cry.

"I'm sorry my muffin but being outside of the city walls brings back terrible memories, even Thunderer tells me he suffers from them too. I have been outside the walls and I hate every minute of it."

Time Turner was used to these breakdowns, Derpy had them ever since their daughter died.

Twilight walked behind the lumbering stallion once more, they'd been following the pipeline for some time. Every section looked the same, she was surprised that Thunderer knew his way around but then he would be much more used to flying around here. Then turned down a narrow corridor which the largest pipe also seemed to follow. The entered a round room that was a bright white. In the centre of the room was a pedestal. On the pedestal were six stands, in one of them was a rock blue in colour and shaped like.

"Wait, is that what I think it is?" Twilight said in a high pitched squeal of delight.

She quickly ran over to the stand to look at the blue balloon. The Element of Laughter sat on one of the stands and seemed to be resonating some kind of magic.

"How did you? I mean where.."

"Your friend; Pinkie Pie arrived here in Trottingham several months ago, she had the Element of Laughter with her."

Twilight recalled Thunderer saying someone had arrived at Trottingham but then left.

"Where did Pinkie Pie go? Is she okay? Can we go and find her?"

Thunderer laughed.

"I had a meeting with Cadence and the war council. Time Turner and I believe that the Elements of Harmony can help us defeat Queen Chrysalis. I plan to lead a team to help you find all your friends as for Pinkie Pie. Yes she came here, but she wanted to leave to help her family on their rock farm, it's a couple of days travelling from here. As for her mood, I just don't know. The Elements are linked to their respective bearer and the magic given off from them is affected by their mood."

"If you're leading a team I want to come!" Twilight said adamantly.

"Of that I have no doubt I need you. I only came to show you this, we should go back now maybe I can find you a book if you're bored."

"You know what? A book would be great about now" Twilight said.

Melodies of the Night

Twilight looked through the few bookcases in the living room. As she scanned the books she noted how uncared for they were, most books were coated in a thick layer of dust. The few that weren't were all about war, war tactics, Starswirl or Starswirls' forbidden spells. There was one book that caught Twilights attention, its back had been broken so many times from over-reading that the title was no longer legible. She used her magic to levitate the book out of the shelf and down to her, "The History of the Long Winter War", the book was large. Twilight did not usually care about a books' length but she couldn't help herself think that the book would be too long by Rainbow Dashs' standards. The thought made Twilight feel unhappy again, she shook her head to suppress the thoughts. At that moment Derpy entered the room.

"I was just looking for something light to read" Twilight explained.

Derpys' right eye drifted the book and back to Twilight. The left followed the same path a few seconds later and returned to its offset position.

"I...er... prepared a room for you to sleep in, its a bit tight but neither of the two stallions in the house would've thought to prepare sleeping arrangements". Derpy purposely said the last part loudly.

Time Turner entered from the kitchen with a mixing bowl in his hoof.

"Food is more important than sleep" Time Turner said mockingly.

Twilight was unsure whether the two ponies were playfully bantering or were on the approach to a new argument.

"I'll show you up" Derpy said.

The house was three stories high, all connected by a narrow staircase. The second floor of the house contained the bathroom and master bedroom. Twilight assumed Time Turner and Derpy shared this room. As they climbed the second flight of sets a beautiful noise reached Twilights' ears. It was a song, played on strings a deep pitched instrument; bass clef. The song she'd heard it before, a few days ago.

She was in Canterlot. The cobbled square was one of the creative districts that housed many of the fashion boutiques that Rarity had dragged her to see. One of the corners was a trio of ponies all were playing instruments, one a harp, the other a piano and the main star; a violoncello. The three ponies had attracted a small crowd of high society ponies. Rarity tugged at Twilights' hoof and pressed her to move fast.

"Darling, wedding attire is flying of the shelves faster than Rainbow Dash when its cider season. We must move fast if we are to get you a dress for your brothers' wedding."

Twilight was unaware she was standing halfway up the staircase. Derpy was calling her from the top, Twilight gathered her thoughts and moved up the staircase. The source of the noise was indeed from a cello, but it was not the pony from Canterlot playing the beautiful instrument. Thunderer had placed the instrument in a stand and was holding the bow in his mouth, he had well practised precision as he moved the bow along the strings. He then stopped and slacked the third string, he restarted unaware of his audience.

There were only two rooms on this level, Thunderers' room took up the bigger space as he was the bigger pony. Derpy led her into what appeared to be a child's room. The wall paper was a dark brown but there were toys and filly books in all the shelves. The room contained a mattress on the floor, a toy box, a small bookcase and a wardrobe. That was when Twilight noticed it, hanging on a hook of the wardrobe was a Mail-mares' uniform. Derpy picked up the uniform with her wing and draped it over her forehoof.

Twilight placed her book down and closed the door with her magic.

"I thought you and Time Turner were together?"

Derpy smiled weakly, "We are just... just not in the way you'd expect."

"What happened?" Twilight asked, she needed to speak, she'd been quiet all day and now she longed for someone to talk to.

Derpy picked up a framed photograph and passed it to Twilight. The photo was of Derpy, Time Turner and a unicorn filly.

"It happened not long after Canterlot fell" Derpy began.

Thunderer packed the cello into its case and placed it on the small of his back. It was perfectly balanced as he descended the staircase. Even without his proper wings Thunderer still had some talents that other pegasi had. As he reached the bottom level of the house. He went to speak to Time Turner. He was still in the kitchen making dinner.

"You've not been eating again" Time Turner said before he entered the room.

"I've not been hungry, besides you need it more."

Time Turner placed the bowl on the side.

"How long must you punish yourself! It was three weeks last time and countless weeks before that, you passed out on a scouting mission for Celestias' sake" Time Turner said half shouting.

He cared for his friend, but everypony made mistakes and no matter the severity everypony had to get over them eventually.

"I'm fine" Thunderer replied cooly.

"Its been eighteen months now, I know most ponies still hate you but the ones that don't are your friends and we're worried about you. Look at Lyra, everypony hated her now she's one of the most respectable members in the militia."

"We've been over this, Lyra was brainwashed, the choices she made she didn't make them herself. The ones I made, I chose them."

"And with good reason!" Time Turner replied quickly.

"No! I've had enough of these conversations, I'll eat when I'm hungry and right now I'm going to the bar to see Octavia!"

"Please don't tell me you still have a thing for her?" Time Turner said disappointed.

"Why? so you can tell me I'm making a mistake with that too!" Thunderer slammed his armoured hoof to the ground.

Time Turner waited for the ringing to diminish.

"She's into other mares..." Time Turner finally said.

Thunderer had enough, he turned on the spot and left Time Turner. It would have been graceful if the wide armour hadn't caught on the door frame and caught Thunderer. Thunderer pushed harder and the wooden frame ripped from its fittings.

"I'll fix that later" Thunderer said as he left the house.

The Silver Pegasus was a bar located in the central districts of Trottingham, it took the best part of twenty minutes for Thunderer to walk there. The cello plus the combination if his armour made the walk hard. There were few ponies out at this hour. As he approached the bar, the deep booming of music could be felt in the cobbled streets. He allowed himself a small smile DJ-Pon3 was on stage tonight which also meant that Octavia Melody would be behind the bar. He knew Octavia and Vinyl had a relationship with each other, but sadly Thunderer and Octavia had been through a lot together since the fall of Canterlot, and for that Thunderers' feelings couldn't be diminished easily. There was a queue outside of off-duty Royal Guards.

"Crap" Thunderer thought.

He approached the door-pony who looked him quickly over, normally Thunderer would have had to of waited in the queue but the feminine cello case allowed him access. As he passed the door-pony he heard some of the Royal Guards grumble.

"Traitor!" One guard said with the intention of Thunderer hearing.

Thunderer suppressed the anger and continued through the door and downstairs to the main bar. He was quickly starting to regret coming. Inside the building Thunderer walked down a metal walkway, he enjoyed the sound his hooves made as they clopped against the metal. It was short-lived as the sound of booming music filled the room again. Below him he could see the stage area was dominated by speakers and turntables. Behind it a white coated unicorn was levitating a new record onto the sound system; the unicorn had a mane of many shades of blue and was wearing sunglasses. As he passed the main stage he nodded to DJ-Pon3 otherwise known as Vinyl Scratch and proceeded to the bar.

The club was quite empty which was no surprise at this time in the evening, it would pick up in the next hour or so when the next shift of Royal Guards would finish. There were two mares behind the bar, one was Octavia who wearing a white apron over her grey coat, her black mane was formed into its neat brushed over look which she pulled off so well. The other mare was Berry Punch who had a reputation for drinking more than she sold. Octavia smiled at Thunderer as he sat on one of the bar stools, the stool groaned under the weight of the armour. Luckily the cannons weren't in the way; he had retracted them into the armour itself. A neat trick he had learned by focusing pegasi magic. He smile back at Octavia.

"The usual please" Thunderer said as he placed a small amount of bits on the table.

Octavia lowered her head and pulled a large bottle up with her mouth from below the counter, the liquid inside was a dark reddish-brown. She procured a small glass tumbler from under the counter, unscrewed the cap with her hoof and poured the whiskey into the tumbler. She placed the bottle on the counter and smiled at Thunderer again, she then glanced at the back and purple cello case.

"Is that what I think it is?!" she said in her sweet Buckinghamshire accent.

Thunderer took a hold of the decorative cello case in his metal wing and lifted onto the counter, it took quite a bit of strength but he managed it. Octavia took a hold of the case as if it were some kind of drug she craved. The clasps were thrown open and the lid was opened. Her eyes widened and a cute "squee" was heard. She then snapped the case shut and lowered it behind the bar.

"This calls for something a little special" she said almost seductively.

The grey mare walked off and disappeared behind a hidden door that led down to the storeroom. Thunderer stared at the pegasi tumbler that contained his poison. It was made using glass and metal; as pegasi all honed a natural magnetism they were able to hold small intricate objects with ease. Although a pegasus could easily wrap a hoof around the glass like earth ponies had to, it required a great deal of dexterity; which after a few drinks was a challenge in itself. Magnetism came naturally to all pegasi which allowed the race to produce intricate metal items over the years.

A door opened further down the bar and the grey mare returned with a small bottle in her teeth. Octavia placed the bottle down in front of Thunderer. The bottle was small and brown, it had a small label that was covered in a thick film of dust.

"Thank you fixing my cello" Octavia said.

"Please, it was nothing. I enjoyed a play on it myself" Thunderer replied as he wiped the dust off the label.

"Sweet Apple Acres' Cider" the label read. It was like somepony had taken every bit in existence and smelted it into a liquid form. The cider had been stored properly so the contents could not have spoiled over the past two years. Octavia placed a bottle opener on the lid and it popped off with a satisfying hiss. Thunderer would have to savour every last drop.

"Vinyl should break your cello more often if this is how I'll be paid" Thunderer joked.

"Hmm" Octavia replied not sharing in the humour, "Sadly that's the last bottle in Trottingham."

"Well you better get yourself a glass then" Thunderer replied smoothly.

A few hours passed quickly and the bar slowly started to fill with ponies, sadly for Thunderer it was mainly Royal Guards. He had only left his stool once to use the rest-room, but his seat was quickly taken and Thunderer relocated to a quiet corner. A green unicorn a with white and green mane pulled the stool back and sat beside Thunderer. The mare was wearing flank bags; not quite as large as saddle bags, they both sat over her lyre cutie marks.

"I see you're back Heartstrings"

"Returned a few hours ago" Lyra replied, she waved a hoof to get Berry's attention.

"Whatever he's having" she said

Berry who had now become their server walked off to get the bottle from Octavia. Lyra and Thunderer both looked at the Royal Guards who were all crowding around Octavia. The guards ogled Octavia that most had forgotten to order a drink. That was partly the reason they were here; just to look at some nice mare.

"I hear you and Spitfire have been at each others' throats again?" Lyra said coolly.

"How did you hear about that?" Thunder said lowering the whiskey he had returned to drinking.

Lyra snorted, "Who hasn't heard about it, the whole militia knows. So is it true? Is the Bearer of Magic really back?" she dropped her voice for that last part.

"Alive and well, she's staying with us until the Princess decides our next plan of action" Thunderer replied also in a low voice.

"I hear you're wanting to put a team together, help bring back the Elements of Harmony. You decided who you want?" Lyra said, a small smile formed on the side of her face.

Lyra had a high reputation in the militia, she was a skilled combatant, able to wield two earth pony swords while standing on two legs. It hadn't been easy to get to that position within the militia. After Canterlot fell, many suspected her of still being under Queen Chrysalis's control. It took her time but now Lyra Heartstrings was a force to be reckoned with.

"You and Bon Bon, Octavia, Vinyl, Derpy and Time Turner. Obviously the other Bearers of Harmony will join us on the way but as we're travelling all across Equestria I imagine Spitfire and the Princess will want us to do some other tasks."

"Do the others know?"

"No, nothings official yet Spitfire and Princess Cadence are talking it over. Princess Cadence said she'd speak to Princess Luna also."

"If Luna's getting involved then they're definitely considering it. Does Time Turner still think we need to attack Tartarus while he does whatever he's been planning?"

Thunderer sighed "Yes".

Thunderer took another sip of his whiskey when something bumped into him. It was less of a bump than a deliberate walk-into. A drunk Royal Guard was standing beside him. His coat was yellow and he had a blue mane.

"Hey look guys" he slurred to his friends, "Its the Equestrias' most wanted."

He pushed Thunderer but his drunkenness made the effect as powerful as a nudge.

"Why don't you show me how you blew the gates. Get those nice big cannons out." The pony laughed wheezily, "Oh that's right, you can't.

The guard tapped his hoof against Thunderers' armour. To those with keen ears the sound caused by the hoof striking the armour was a dull one, and a simple deduction could be made that the armour was quite thick.

"Go home Sentry, you're drunk" Thunderer said placing the tumbler on the counter.

Lyra turned on her stool ready to strike at Flash Sentry.

"If I want to go home, I'll go home. Hell I might even fly home with my perfect wings, unlike your oversized metal ones." Flash laughed harder but nopony else joined in this time.

Thunderer stood on all four legs now and looked Flash straight in the eye. Flash didn't seem to notice or care and continued with his slander.

"You know Shining Armour was going to put me in charge of the Canterlot guard but he chose you instead. Oh you should have seen his face when he found out what you did. If he was alive now..."

The other guards knew Thunderer by reputation only, he was not a kind soul and was somepony who gave no mercy to his enemies. As Flash Sentry continued to anger Thunderer, the guards quickly moved back. They weren't surprised when the over confidant pegasus came soaring past them and crashed into the wooden table.

Flash Sentry stood up and grabbed a glass bottle with his wing.

"If Shining Armour could see you now!" he shouted.

"I was loyal to him like I was to the Princesses. You and your friends may choose to hate me, but I know what I did and I did what I had to to survive!" Thunderer shouted back.

By now Vinyl had stopped the music and the whole bar turned to witness the fight. The Royal Guards had backed away from Thunderer while Lyra and Octavia stayed in their positions. Both pegasi opened their wings and splayed their feathers, Flash has large wings but as he'd said earlier Thunderers' were bigger. The bottle was still held in Flashs' wing, both pegasi bowed slightly as if they were about to charge. If they did Thunderer had the sheer force to know Flash back, but Flash had the manoeuvrability to get around him.

The standoff held for a few minutes until Flash decided to do something stupid. He threw the bottle from his wing straight at Thunderers' face. Thunderer saw the bottle leave the wing, he had to react fast. He slowed his breathing down in a mere instant, time seemed to flow much slower. He thought hard on how to react but his fight or flight mechanism was taking over. The left cannon was extruding from the armour. Very few people had seen the cannons and that had only ever been outside of the city. As the cannon reached its full length, Thunderer fired a shot from it. Although he was drunk his aim was till good, the metal projectile soared through the sky and penetrated the glass bottle. The bottle exploded and glass rained everywhere. There was shrieks and gasps everywhere.

Flash Sentry clamped his wings to his body and tried to quickly run, but his drunkenness caused him to slip and fall. More Royal Guards entered the bar, but they weren't here to drink. Thunderer knew in that instant where he'd be waking up the next morning, and it wouldn't be pleasant.

Canterlot Falls

Twilight Sparkle slept restlessly in the fillys' room. She tossed and turned but she could never get comfy. Now she was alone with her thoughts, they crept up on her out of nowhere. Her brother was turned to stone, her mother and father were among the fallen at Canterlot, her mentor had been killed saving her and her friends were scattered. She felt like a leaf in autumn, everypony had left her and she was still there on the tree. She looked at the bookshelves beside her. The books all had a thick film of dust on them, some where were for little ponies while others were more factual and scientific. The ponies who had owned this house before had been pegasi, Twilight could only base this fact on the amount of pegasi related books that the shelves had on them. The books dealt with the history of pegasi, how to learn to fly and behaviour of pegasi, Twilight picked up a book with her magic and set it beside her.
"Know Your Wings: A Pegasi Guide to Growing Up" The book looked interesting yet would also help Twilight get off to sleep. The book itself was aimed at teenage pegasi, she imagined Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy reading the same book years ago. She smiled at that thought, followed by a tear rolling down her face. "Rainbow Dash....reading."

She'd been reading for about an hour but Twilight was so engrossed in the book time was irrelevant. She read all about how pegasi wings grew into larger wings, mares grew larger wings first followed by colts. She remembered when she was growing up and how her horn would hurt for days on end. She was so embarrassed when she asked Princess Celestia about it. She'd give anything for that moment now, to be with her mentor, her family and her friends.

She pressed on with the book and read into the behavioural side of pegasi, how wings were considered a private part and preening a private act. Twilight blushed while she read about wing-boners, but was then intrigued by how different positions symbolized different emotions. A pegasi would splay their wings fully and bend their forelegs to show dominance or aggression, she blushed some more when she read about when a pegasi was feeling "intimate" or in love their wings would go fully erect but remain straight in line with the body. She read further and learned how pegasi could lock their wings to glide and conserve energy and could also lock their wings to their body when frightened or nervous. She'd seen Fluttershy lock her wings into her when she was nervous. As Twilight read into the next chapter she started to drift off into sleep, she remembered reading that pegasi would protect those they cared about by draping a wing over them and then she was fell into the book and snored loudly.

She was in a forest, one she did not recognise. Something seemed off but Twilight couldn't put her hoof on it. She was surrounded by trees, but as she looked at the trees she saw they were bare. She looked to the ground, there were brown and yellow leaves everywhere. Was it Autumn? No it couldn't be Twilight reasoned, if it wasn't Autumn then why were there leaves on the ground. She moved forward and felt the crunch as the leaves disintegrate under her hoof. Then something caught her eye, in the distance she saw a white stallion gallop past.

"Hey wait!" she cried and galloped towards the stallion.

She passed the trees where she'd seen the stallion but he wasn't there. Twilight looked up to see if she could her bearings, above her were more trees but these were in full bloom, she noted that the smaller trees were bare and lifeless.

"Hey Twily" a voice called from behind her.

She saw Shining Armour and galloped towards him, but there was a noise and then "BOOM!" The ground near Shining Armour exploded and Shining Armour galloped off.

"Shiny!" Twilight called and gave chase.

She reached the newly formed crater to see a changling rise from it. Twilight skidded to a halt and fell on her haunches, she staggered to get back as the changling stood above her. As she studied the changlings' face, it was no changling. It was an abomination. The abomination snarled at her and she tried to right herself. The abomination moved quickly, far faster than the ones she actually met. She fired a concussive spell at the abomination who was knocked slightly and then snarled at her bearing its fangs. Then she saw it; the face.

Her mothers' face was one that Twilight could never forget, but there it was in front of her and Twilight tried her hardest to believe it wasn't so. It couldn't be right, this thing couldn't be her mother, but it was. Twilight tried to summon another spell, but her magic refused, she couldn't hurt her mother. The abomination didn't care for Twilights' inner thoughts, it snarled again and lunged at Twilight. She shrieked and rolled to the side and stood up, she took off into a gallop, the abomination giving chase. Twilight tried to remember her teleportation spell, but nothing was coming to her. She passed more dead trees, only focussing on heading in the one direction. Somewhere in front of her the sun was low and shining through the trees, she headed straight for the sun, using at as a reference to escape this forest. As she ran further towards the sun, the trees became more numerous and gnarled. The trees were trying to stop her as she looked for a clear path she saw the bodies of ponies. The trees had grown around the bodies, thankfully she couldn't see their faces.

Twilight found a small opening under some thorny roots and just as well as the abomination had closed the gap between the two of them. Twilight forced herself through and felt a pain form on her horn. She touched it "blood" she took off again at the same pace as before. As she avoided trees she began to make out the faces of the ponies within them. She saw Spikes' claw in one. Applejacks' hat on another, but the worst one was located in a clearing.

Princess Celestias' corpse stood in the centre of the clearing, she was standing on her hind legs in a striking poise with her wings fully flared. There were roots all around the ground and Twilight carefully stepped over them. She approached Celestias' cold body and a tingle ran along her spine. "No...no,no,no,no,no this can't be it" she screamed internally. Her breathing quickened and she couldn't keep her legs still, they were restless and she had to move them. Her mentor remained exactly in the same pose and said nothing. Tears began to run down Twilights' face, she crept further up to her mentor as if Celestia would somehow see her. "This can't be it, this can't be how it ends. Why did you do it? Why save me and not yourself?" Twilight thought to herself. She reached up with her right forehoof and touched Celestias' body. It was like ice.

"Why me! Why send me forward in time! We could have defeated her together!" Twilight shouted, her anger had been welling up all day.

"Yes why indeed," a raspy voice said from the tree-line.

A dark tall figure crept out from the shadows; Queen Chrysalis looked older than Twilight remembered. Her matte black metallic skin seemed greyer.

"Why would the two sisters scatter their salvation to all corners of Equestria and then scatter their bearers forward in time?" the Queen moved closer towards Twilight.

Twilight acted on instinct she fired a spell at the changling Queen who merely vanished.

"You'll have to do better than that" the voice came from behind.

Twilight turned sharply to look directly behind her; there she was. She fired another spell, again Queen Chrysalis disappeared.

"Over here" Chrysalis taunted.

Twilight turned right and fired again. Again, she disappeared and reappeared somewhere else.

"Nope" Chrysalis smile as yet another spell from Twilight passed through her.

This time multiple Queen Chrysalis's appeared, they surrounded Twilight and Princess Celestia. Twilight looked around, there was maybe ten or twenty Queens. Twilight screamed in anger and fired fire spells all around the circle. The trees ignited and the ring of fire caused all the Queens to disappear.

"Boo!" Celestia said

Twilight jumped and fell on the floor. Celestia turned to face Twilight and struck her hooves at the ground. There was a deafening boom as this happened and the ground cracked beneath Celestias' hooves. Twilight quickly righted herself and with a clatter of hooves she galloped into the dense tree-line. She barely noticed the flames licking her body as she jumped into the wooded area.

She ran again as fast as she could, she ignored her injuries and the pain they caused her. She ducked left and then right; avoiding the trees in her path. Then came a blinding light and a deafening rumble. The trees to her right were engrossed in a blinding white light before completely disappearing, the ground left in their wake was concave in shape and scorched. Celestia was trying to kill her. Twilight could see the edge of the forest ran even faster, she changed direction even more as more beams of white light destroyed all her surroundings.

She was nearly there at the edge of the forest when she was tackled by an abomination. It hissed and bared its teeth as it had Twilight pinned to the ground. She fired a spell from her horn, knocking the abomination back. More abominations surrounded her and Twilight tried desperately to run, but they were all around her. She turned one way; blocked. Another; blocked again. One jumped on her hind quarters and she was pulled to the ground. She screamed as the abominations closed her line of escape. She saw the teeth they bared and waited for them to bite her. She closed her eyes and wished for help.

She awoke in her library. She was standing in the middle of the room looking at the bookcases. She looked around the room, it was exactly the way it had been left when she had left for Canterlot. Blue sky and bright sunlight filled the windows all around the tree. It was like she'd never left, everything was where it should be.

"Spike?" she called hopefully.

There was no reply. Twilight wondered over to the front door. She gripped the door handle in her magic.

"I wouldn't do that, if one was you" Twilight turned ready to fire a beam.

Princess Luna stood before her. Nothing had changed about her, not in her appearance or the way she spoke. None of this concerned Twilight at that present moment. She broke down. The lavender unicorn cowered on the floor and cried, she made herself small like a new-born filly and stroked her tail. Luna walked over to Twilight and placed a hoof on her mane and stroked it. Twilight let go of herself and hugged Lunas' legs.

"There, there" was all she said.

It was all Twilight needed. She held on tightly for a few minutes until the crying subsided. Twilight knew Luna was able to enter ponies dreams, she'd about it before Lunas' return as Nightmare Moon.

"Why didn't you come the night before?" was all Twilight thought.

"Queen Chrysalis keeps me prisoner, somepony has to raise the moon and the sun" Luna replied.

"You can read my thoughts?" Twilight said

"Yes, only in the realm of the night, my powers grow stronger able to see into ponies minds."

"Why am I here?"

"This is your inner sanctum, a place where you feel safe. If you had opened that door you would be back in that nightmare."

"Can't you stop it?" Twilight asked hoping to never relive this dream again.

"No, I cannot Queen Chrysalis has scarred so many ponies that every night is a nightmare. The longer I spend in the dreamscape the weaker I become. With my sister not here, I only eat when they give me food, I am weak Twilight." Princess Luna looked away.

"But you rescued me? You have enough strength to save me why not other ponies?"

"Twilight Sparkle, without proper rest and food my powers grow weak I cannot save everypony." Luna turned and picked up a book off the shelf.

Lunas' face turned red and the book fell from her magic. Twilight picked it up and looked at the cover, she took went red and placed the book back into the shelf. Every book Twilight had ever read was in here, including the books she didn't want anypony to find out about.

"There is no need to blush Twilight Sparkle, everypony has at some point read adult fiction to get them to sleep."

Twilights' cheeks burned furiously as if someone had lit a fire in both her cheeks. There was no point in lying to someone who could see into her dreams.

"I have seen worse, ponies frequently fantasise about me while they sleep, including my own Royal Vanguard" Luna said while rolling her eyes.

"Don't your bat-ponies sleep during the day?"

"Not all, but we digress Twilight Sparkle. I have visited Cadence earlier to inform her of our next move on Queen Chrysalis. In the next week you will be leaving Trottingham to find the Elements of Harmony. Sadly I do not where they are or how long it will take."

"Who will I be taking?"

"Twilight Sparkle you misunderstand" Twilight looked perplexed, "Thunderer will be leading the outfit, not you."

"Why?"

"You have been gone two years, a lot has changed Thunderer is best suited to lead this mission. He has been looking for a way of forgiveness for a long time now" Luna said half to herself.

"Forgiveness"

"That is a story for another time, when you get to know the ponies you will soon call friends" Luna said smiling.

"Can you just answer me one thing first" Luna nodded, "why send my friends and I forward in time?"

There was a pause before Luna answered.

"The spell was untested, it was more complicated that the one you used to go back in time for a few seconds. We had to scatter you and if we scattered you through time then we would have a fighting chance against Queen Chrysalis. She grows weaker without love from ponies so does her army, but she aligned herself with Discord and King Sombra."

"King Sombra?" Twilight asked, the name rang a bell somewhere.

"Another time Twilight Sparkle, dawn approaches. You can reunite your friends as easily as you did before Nightmare Moon, Celestia and I have faith in you to find your friends and the Elements of Harmony."

"I won't let you down, but there is something I need to see."

"Yes" Luna replied.

"I know Canterlot was destroyed, I need to see it."

"Why? It will only cause more pain" Luna replied sternly.

"I need to see it for myself before I see it when I go looking for the Elements."

Luna paused to think on this. She raised her hoof and stamped the ground.

It was evening and somepony pushed her. Twilight stood up but she didn't want to stand, somepony else was doing this. The wind picked up and Twilight felt her mane blow but it felt heavier. The sun was setting on the hill behind Canterlot.

Oh Celestia!

Canterlot stood smouldering on the cliff side, some of the larger towers had toppled and large plumes of smoke filled the sky.

"Why do this!"

The voice came from somewhere deep within Twilight, her mouth had moved to voice the words but these words were not hers, they were; Lunas. Queen Chrysalis stared at her.

"Because you and your sister created this and now you must watch it burn"

She felt a hoof under her muzzle and was forced to look at the castle.

"Is he ready?" the Queen shouted at someone on her right.

"And who better to destroy your home than one of your very own subjects who thought to betray you and Equestrias' darkest hour."

She heard a scream of pain from beside her but she could not see who it was, a horrid smell filled her nostrils. The burning smell was sickening and the screams of pain chilled Twilight to her very core, she wanted to cover her ears but couldn't move. There was a deafening boom and something fast moved through the dusk towards Canterlot.

The explosion caused the whole castle to move suddenly. Twilight watched as her former room began to topple down the cliff. She watched as what was left of the tall towers toppled. In the distance more explosions could be heard and the outer city wall broke apart from the castle and fell down the cliff. She watched as the rest of the city fell down with it.

Noooooooooo! Twilight screamed.

Twilight bolted upright. She was barely aware she was screaming. Two ponies entered the room, one mare one stallion. The two ponies were trying to speak to her but she paid no attention. She could feel her body go cold as the pegasus mare used a wing to touch her horn. She felt a jolt of electricity run down her spines, horns on unicorns very very private places. The wing tip brushed her forehead and the remained there, the pegasus exchanged words with the earth pony stallion who ran out of the room. Twilight could feel sweat run down her brow and then; she simply fell to the side.

Morning After

Twilight awoke on a dull green sofa, its colour had been faded by constant exposure to sunlight. Twilight's mane clung to her face so she parted it with her hooves, as she wiped her brow she was aware of being covered in sweat.

"Welcome to the land of the living" a voice said from somewhere in the room.

Twilight looked around the room she slowly recognised features she'd seen and remembered this was the living room in Trottingham. She saw Time Turner close a medical box and then he turned to look at her. In one of his forehooves he held a wet cloth.

"For you" he gestured.

Twilight picked up the cloth with her magic and settled the cold, wet cloth on her forehead.

"What happened?" Twilight asked unaware of why she'd been moved from her room.

"You had a bad dream... A really bad dream, you woke up screaming and then passed out in a cold sweat. I moved you down here so Derpy could sleep."

"Thanks I guess" Twilight replied.

"Rest a while, I need to go and get Thunderer." Time Turner said a hint of anger quivering in his voice.

The cell was as cold as Thunderer remembered. It was a small cell contained within the walls of Trottingham. The cell was not designed for comfort. Straw had been placed in one corner away from the cell door. Beside this straw was a hole within the cobbled floor. Thunderer looked to the wall on his left. It was covered in tally marks; ninety eight to be exact. Thunderer stood up and the large chains clanked as he did so. There were eight chains attached to him; two locked his wings in placed, four to each leg and the last two help his two cannons in their retreated position. The chains restricted Thunderers movements but he already knew this, he moved towards the tally chart on the wall, using the chains on the cannons he scored in another mark; ninety nine.

"Hey, what happens when I get one hundred" Thunderer shouted to a guard.

The earth pony guard looked up from an adult pony magazine and stared at him. The fully armour clad earth pony knew better than to acknowledge this comment. From the distance of the cell to the guard, Thunderer could just make out the cover of the magazine; "Naughty Mares" it was called. One the front cover was a picture of a pegasi mare with her wings fully erect. This formed some reaction from the iron clad prisoner but the huge chains prevented Thunderer from moving his large metal wings.

After what felt like an hour of waiting he saw Time Turner speak the guard. The guard then stepped up from his desk and reluctantly placed the magazine under the desk. He walked over with a set of keys and unlocked the cell door, he then loosened all the chains that were strapped to Thunderer. The white furred pegasi stretched and looked at some dried blood on his hoof, thankfully it wasn't his own, but the red blood stood out on the white fur. Thunderer chose to ignore the blood for now and hoped his mind wouldn't start to focus on the series of scars that covered his legs and hooves. Time Turner had not said a single since he'd arrived. As the two left the cell he finally spoke up.

"You're lucky Commander Spitfire wasn't here."

"Oh I was here" The Commander said from behind them.

Time Turned jumped and turned quickly. Thunderer chose to turn at his own pace to face the Commander. Commander Spitfire stood before them in her military jacket, several ribbons had been sewn into the top left breast of her jacket. She eyed the two of them.

"I was surprised to get a call that one of my top pegasi fighters had been wounded in a bar fight" Spitfire said coolly.

"Then maybe Flash Sentry should learn some manners" Thunderer replied in the same tone.

Spitfire walked up to Thunderer and stared at his eyes. Spitfire was only a few inches shorter than Thunderer but the colossal armour that Thunderer wore made her feel dwarfed compared to him.

"Look here Thunderer, you may have some agreement with the Princesses but when you harm my soldiers, soldiers you used to serve with then you deal with me."

"Last time I checked the Royal Guards served the Princesses, not you."

This touched a nerve with Spitfire.

"Shining Armour may have had a soft spot for you but I'm not him."

"Yes remember that, you aren't him."

Spitfires' wings flared out into an aggressive posture, she crouched and gritted her teeth. Thunderer remained fully upright, but also flared out his wings. The metal wings dominated the small corridor the three of them were standing in.

"Go ahead, hit the Commander of the Royal Guard" Spitfire said withdrawing her posture, "It will just prove the point you're trying so hard to deny."

Spitfire smirked as Thunderer folded his wings to his body.

"The Princess wishes to see you both in an hour, so for Celestias' sake go clean up" this she said to Time Turner,

"She wants to discuss what you intend to do with the Elements of Harmony and this crusade you're so intent on leading." Spitfire said to Thunderer.

Spitfire trotted off towards the cells allowing her tail to flick as she turned. Thunderer gritted his teeth and turned. He stormed off ahead out of the corridor, quickly followed by Time Turner himself. As they left the gigantic inner wall Time Turner matched pace with Thunderer.

"Do we tell her about the three options?" Time Turner asked quietly.

"You mean where we kill Queen Chrysalis with the Elements or overload the shields and kill us all, or the one where we go back in time and use the Elements there." Thunderer said angrily.

"Erm... yes" Time Turner said unsure about how to proceed.

"Well let's go and clean up then" Thunderer replied.

The Nuclear Option

Time Turner and Thunderer sat at the main table in the War Room. Princess Cadence was the only other pony present in the building it was odd to have the room so empty, normally there was a hive of activity but today the eerie quiet made goosebumps form on both their skins.

"So the Elements of Harmony can power this.... Grid and then you can use the energy to overload the shield here?" Cadence asked.

"Yes, but even with the Elements there is still a strong possibility of a core meltdown and an explosion." Time Turner said nervously.

He'd rarely met the Princesses, being in the same room as them was nerve-racking, he adjusted his tie for the eighth time in five minutes. He didn't want to let the Princess down he was only one pony and an earth pony at that, he didn't have magic like unicorns to build things, he'd used his bare hooves, blood sweat and tears.

"And the other options?" Cadence asked.

"Well... uhm... I'm not sure if you knew but...."

"But?" Cadence pressed further.

"I studied Starswirl the Beardeds' forbidden spells, mainly the spell involving time travel." Time Turner explained with utter confidence compared to a few seconds ago.

It was a subject he'd studied his whole life of course he'd be confident now, this was no surprise to Thunderer who just sat in silence.

"I read the paper yes" Cadence said.

"I want to recreate the spell to open a portal, I've managed it before but it only lasted a minute or so. The plan would be to go back and warn ourselves but Starswirl put in his books that you should never meet yourself in the past."

"And how likely is it to open this portal for a longer time given that you aren't a unicorn?"

"With the Elements and The Grid, I have a device called the tesseract that can open portals in time and space, it just needs power put into it for it to work. Setting the time and place is easy, it works off subconscious thought. This would allow a pony to go back to Canterlot, if they took the tesseract with them then they could return, but we'd a large amount of power for it to work. Which brings us back to problem 1."

"The nuclear explosion?" Cadence asked.

"Yes" Time Turner replied.

"And the third option?" Cadence asked

This time Thunderer spoke up.

"Would be to take the fight to Queen Chrysalis herself and use the Elements of Harmony against her."

"We don't have the resources or the ponypower to do so" Cadence explained.

"All of the options give us an all or nothing situation." Thunderer explained.

"Well out of the three options making an all out assault against Queen Chrysalis is our best one and even then, Equestria is a divided nation now. There's abominations in Buckingham right on our door, I've got Discord waging war with Cloudsdale. Not to mention our dragon problem in Manehatten. Then there's the bandit ponies working with the Queen and the outcast ponies who will neither stand with us or against us. Even when King Sombra tried to kill the Queen she ripped through his heart out and then executed all the crystal ponies."

"You're not King Sombra" Thunderer said defensively.

Cadence shifted in her seat and levitated the crown off her head. She let her short mane cover her eyes, Thunderer wondered if she was genuinely tired or if she was hiding tears. Since Shining Armour had been turned to stone Cadence led the entire Equestrain Resistance. There were those that didn't trust her, mainly from the events at the wedding but most ponies just wanted to get out of the protective walls of Trottingham. Some ponies had legitimate reasons but others turned to crime to live.

"King Sombra had a larger army than ours" Cadence said from behind her mane.

"Of slaves" Thunderer quickly replied, "Ponies who had no choice but to fight for him. You have a Royal Guard and a militia force who carry your banner."

It seems to me we have to come back to this but one thing is constant. We need to find the Elements of Harmony for all three options." Cadence said now returning the crown to her head.

"You've considered my proposal?" Thunderer asked.

"Yes. Luna and I have decided that you should lead a team to reunite the Bearers of Harmony, however you'll have to do some other tasks as well. We can't lose Manehatten or Cloudsdale, Soarin and Fleetfoot are defending the cities as best as they can but it won't be long until they fall too."

"There is something I need to tell you about the Elements" Time Turner said.

Both Cadence and Thunderer had forgotten that Time Turner was sitting in the same room as them, he'd been so quiet for so long.

"The Elements seem to be connected to their Bearer, it reflects their emotions and lately the Element of Laughter is losing power. If it loses power then the shield generator will stop working. I'm working on designs for them to operate independent of the Element but nothing that'll work just yet."

"So we'll need to move soon" Thunderer added.

"Fine you'll leave for Manehatten two weeks today" Cadence said, "That'll give you enough time to collect supplies for the ten day walk and assemble a small team. I'll need to know who you'll be taking soon."

"There's a rock farm on the way there, we only go past it as we're avoiding Buckingham. When Pinkie Pie was here she mentioned her family ran a rock farm, we think she may have fled there. We should go there first and then to Manehatten."

Cadence listened intently and mulled the words over.

"Fine" Cadence said.

Princess Cadence stood up and used her magic to open the doors from the building above. Commander Spitfire walked in.

"Spitfire, bear witness. I Princess Mi Amore Cadenza hearby order by Royal Sanction a team of ponies who have been tasked with collecting the Elements of Harmony and their respective Bearers." Princess Cadence said, her tone taking a deep boom in what most common ponies called the Royal Canterlot Voice.

Spitfire nodded as somepony with her rank would have to approve such an operation.

Thunderer turned to Time Turner.

"This is it."

Intermission: Knowledge is Power

Twilight Sparkle had been in Trottingham for two weeks now. It took her the first few days to get over the grief and a few days after to catch up on some sleep. It was odd knowing Princess Luna could blank out a pony's' dreams but not every night could Twilight enjoy that virtue. Luna had visited Twilight once more, that;s when she explained how she could a few ponies dreams each night. In the same dream Princess Luna confirmed what Princess Cadence had told her; she'd be leaving soon.

It was midday and she trotted alongside Thunderer to gather supplies for their expedition. Part of Twilight was looking forward to exploring this area of Equestria but on the other hoof; she was scared. She hadn't been allowed to leave the city since she'd arrived and now she was starting to feel claustrophobic. The buildings of Trottingham didn't help, the tall grey structures and the massive maze of city walls made Twilight feel small. Even reading didn't help and now Twilight had read every book in the house, she'd wanted to come with Thunderer to escape the small house. As they trotted towards the outskirts of the city Twilight became bored with the silence.

"Why are your wings so large?" Twilight asked looking for something to talk about.

Thunderer tripped up over his own hooves and there was a dull metallic thud as the armour punched the cobblestone ground. A few nearby ponies looked at the pair, the few pegasi who looked at them gave Twilight the did-you-just-ask-that look. Twilight held her hoof out for Thunderer to grip as he stood up. Big mistake. Thunderer was large than Twilight in all shapes and dimensions, she was nearly pulled down to the ground with him. Thunderer flapped the huge metallic wings, Twilight could feel a huge gust wind around her hooves. The gust was more forceful than anything Rainbow Dash could produce but she was of a smaller and more athletic frame, Thunderer was big and stocky but most of that was the armour he wore everywhere.

"You know its very personal to ask any pegasi that" Thunderer said in a hushed whisper.

"I know" Twilight sighed, "Its just I've been reading a book on pegasi and its odd how your wings are alicorn sized rather than pegasi sized."

There was a pause as the two ponies continued walking.

"I lost my wings in an accident when Time Turner were experimenting with that Tesseract."

"That cube within a cube; the one Time Turner says that can open portals across space and time" Twilight said shocked.

"That's the one" Thunder replied.

"You should've made a proper procedure when you were testing it, safety equipment..." Twilight ranted.

"I was surprised we actually succeeded more than anything. We only opened the portal for a minute or so and we nearly drained the Element of Laughter."

"Well even so, you lost your wings"

"And in doing so we found out what could happen if our plan works, if that portal shuts with somepony half through it they're dead, if they're still on the other side they'll be trapped at that point in space/time." Thunderer replied defensively.

"So why build larger wings?" Twilight asked studying the metal wings.

"I was never a strong flier" came the reply.

There was few moments silence as the two ponies walked out of exterior wall of Trottingham, before them was a huge expanse of fields. Each field had a different crop growing in it, there were also a few orchids scattered about.

"This is where some of Trottinghams' food is grown, the rest comes from settlements outside our protection. That's why we have the milita". Thunderer raised a hoof and pointed to a group of ponies entering the shield dome.

In charge of the group was Lyra Heartstrings she was carrying her flank bags which had two long swords attached to them, these ran along her back. The group marched forward until they were all in the domes' protection.

"Alright you mules, that was some good work out there, unfortunately myself and Bon Bon have been reassigned so Bulk Biceps will be leading you" Lyra said standing on her two rear hooves.

There were maons and groans from a few ponies within Lyras' unit.

"How does she do that?" Twilight asked.

"Stand on two hooves?"

Twilight nodded. She looked again at Lyra who returned to four hooves and the unit was dismissed.

"She used to tightrope walk, had quite a knack for it when she was young. When she was older she took to music and played the lyre. Standing on two hooves set her apart from the rest. Still does, you should see her fight with those two swords. Force to be reckoned with." Thunderer explained proudly.

"Wait are you and her...?" Twilight began

"Her and I?"

"Me and him?" Lyra stood infront of them

"Together?" Twilight finished.

"Nah, we may have shared a bed once or twice but things between us are casual. A unicorn does need her horn looked after and pegasi do need their wings played with every now and then" Lyra said with a wink.

Twilight stood there with her mouth agape. Thunderer had looked away a bright red blush forming on his white cheeks. The awkwardness could've been struck with a war hammer and still not diminished.

"I'm not sure I wanted to know that..." Twilight said trying to regain her composure.

Lyra simply brushed Thunderers left wing with her tail and turned to join the trio. She levitated an apple from her flank bags and took a bite. They walked in complete silence towards some vendors. It was Thunderer who discussed business with the ponies while Twilight and Lyra stood on the sideline.

"Why is there a militia?" Twilight asked looking to break the silence.

Lyra snorted, "It's because the Royal Guard has to protect the Princess so they have to stay within the city limits to protect her. The militia is used to clear out abominations from nearby and carry supplies from local towns. We also protect them from changling attacks, but we do scouting and other stuff. One day soon we'll take the fight to Queen Chrysalis herself and I can't wait for that day."

"Were you always so high up within the militia?"

"No, as you'll remember I was supposed to be one of Princess Cadences' bridesmaids at the wedding, so after Canterlot fell I escaped but everypony had already heard how I was helping the Queen. So I had to earn it, I enlisted not long after Shining Armours' last stand, worked my way up since then."

Thunderer returned to the group.

"Whatchu mares talking about now?" he said.

"I'm just telling Twilight where you're sweet spots are if she was ever so inclined" Lyra said in a tone of seriousness.

Thunderer looked taken aback and then Lyra laughed hard a few ponies around them looked in their direction.

"You ponies need to lighten up some more, we may be at war but we're only ponies. You need to let your mane down and have a bit of fun while you still can" Lyra said.

The trio moved onto another vendor and Thunderer did all the negotiating again

"For the record, you wouldn't be disappointed" Lyra whispered to Twilight.

Prologue

Author's Note

This is my first story so I would welcome feedback both positive and negative.

I am also looking for a cover photo, something that shows Canterlot destroyed and falling off the mountain. Any help or offers would be appreciated.

Prologue

*Set during Part 2 of "A Canterlot Wedding"*

The changlings had them surrounded in the chapel, they had been so close to the Elements of Harmony to have their route blocked was like a knife through the back. When the changlings escorted the girls back to the chapel Twilight couldn't help but notice the bodies; they were everywhere, most just lay where they fell. The changlings had sucked them dry, love was what they craved and the changlings had taken every last drop. She watched in awe as Princess Cadence and her brother Shining Armour levitated, their magic joining creating a strange luminous bubble. Twilight heard Queen Chrysalis roar in anger, as Twilight turned her heard she saw Queen Chrysalis fire a shot from her horn. The shot ruptured the bubble, Shining Armour was tossed like a Smarty-pants doll to the floor, the stallion slid along the floor, a wound had formed on his chest, seeping blood into his wedding suit. Twilight tried to run to her brother, but a changling stood in her way, she tried to ram the changling out of her way but two more jumped on her. She lay pinned to the ground as her brother started spluttering blood. Cadence ran over to him tears in her eyes.

"No! Shining!" she cried.

"Hahaha" Queen Chrysalis cackled, "You thought you two were strong enough to defeat me?!"

Cadence turned on the spot and snorted, she powered her horn and shot a beam. Queen Chrysalis responded with the same action, the beams joined together and the ripple that formed in the centre was pushed back and forth. "I need to help" Twilight thought. She tried to push the changlings off her but they were too heavy. In the commotion Applejack had managed to buck two changlings away from her, at the same time Rainbow Dash took her chance and punched a changling. Pinkie Pie hopped up as two changlings went to grab her, Rarity fired two shots from her horn stunning two of the changlings. Twilight felt the changlings being thrown off her. She looked up to see Rainbow Dash.

"Thanks" she muttered.

Twilight then quickly fired a stun shot from her horn at a changling who was going for Fluttershy; Fluttershy who never dealt well in tough situations was cowering behind her hooves.

"We need to help Cadence!" Twilight shouted to her friends.

At that moment the great doors to the chapel were thrown open, behind them a blue alicorn covered in silver armour entered. Two changlings tried to jump Princess Luna but she reared up and struck them both down. The armour Luna was wearing was not too dissimilar to that of her night guards, Luna scanned the rooms for her foes. She eyed the cocoon that held her sister and fired a blast from her horn. The cocoon fell and Princess Celestia emerged her wings outstretched, she landed on the ground and sank slightly; she was too weak to stand let along fight. Luna fired a shot at Queen Chrysalis, the changling Queen was tossed back to the alter. The beam with Cadence was broken and the shot fired through the wall tearing it out, the view outside was no different to inside the chapel. The changlings were everywhere and the royal guards were doing their best to defend Canterlot, but there was rubble everywhere and pits in the ground from where the changlings had landed.

Cadence ran to Shining Armour and cradled his head in her hooves, she leaned into his ear and whispered to him. As Luna marched forward towards Queen Chrysalis, Twilight ran to her mentor as her other friends fought the changlings back. Queen Chrysalis rose to match Luna, she theb fired a shot at Luna, the spell bounced off the alicorn armour and ricocheted into a wall completely destroying it. Luna returned a shot which clipped the Queens' face, the Queen screamed in anger and slammed her forehooves into the ground asserting her dominance.

"Aerial troops! kill them, kill them all!" The Queen shouted skyward.

More changlings dropped through the roof and landed in the chapel, the floor caved from the impact. Rainbow Dash launched herself forward to the changling nearest her friends. They rolled on the floor and Rainbow Dash threw her opponent at the wall, the changling recovered and was powering up its horn for an attack. Rarity took the opportunity and fired first, the changling was thrown through the wall to the outside.

Twilight was trying to aid her mentor to stand, she tried hard but Celestia was much bigger than her and therefore much heavier. Twilight could only watch as Luna and Chrysalis volleyed shots between each other.

"It wasn't supposed to happen like this" Celestia said weakly, "I'm sorry I did not act on your suspicions."

A tear rolled down Celestias' face, she moved her head and her horn powered up. She fired the shot at Chrysalis who was locked in combat with Luna. The Queen was struck the side-on and was thrown into a column, it toppled and covered her in rubble from the ceiling.

"Thank you sister!" Luna shouted

Celestia turned to look at Cadence and Shining Armour. Cadences' face was streaming with tears, Twilight couldn't help but look worried for them both. Celestia turned back to her student.

"I'm sorry but Queen Chrysalis has the advantage, she's too strong"

"No, you can't say that" Twilight replied angrily, "We'll get the Elements of Harmony and defeat her, just like Discord and Nightmare Moon"

"I'm sorry my faithful student, but I must teleport Cadence and Shining away from here."

Celestia did not wait for a reply, nor would she have listened, she powered her horn.

"Cadence, do what you can to keep him alive, without him Canterlot will fall and Equestria with it" Celestia said.

"I... I... I understand" Cadence looked at her fiancée, "I can treat him as best as I can but not here."

"Do not worry about that" Celestia said.

With that Celestia fired her horn at the two of them, a yellow bubble formed and then *poof* they were gone, just like the teleportation spell Twilight had mastered.

"They'll be safe in Trottingham" Celestia said turning to Twilight, "That will buy them some time."

"Twilight!" shouted Applejack.

Twilights' attention had drifted from the fight in the same room as her. A changling was jumping towards her its teeth bared, a white body blocked her view. Celestia had blocked the attacked, there was a groan from her and Twilight saw the changling fly off, blood in its mouth. Celestia slumped to the ground weaker than before a nasty bite mark had pulled some of her feathers out and had damaged the wing. Twilight looked up at the battle field, Luna was battling an onslaught of changlings who were dropping through the roof. Her friends were busy defending themselves, Rarity had cast a blue shield around them. The royal guards were now entering the room, their spears in attacking formations. The guards plunged their spears into the changlings while others threw them, the changlings retaliated by biting and firing magic at the guards.

"Sister!" Celestria called.

Queen Chrysalis threw the toppled column off her and fired a shot at the guards, three or so were tossed back. Luna ducked from the flying debris and shouted some orders at the guards, who then charged the changling queen. Luna glided over to her sister and took her weight from Twilight.

"We need to get out of here the castle is nearly lost, we need to grab the Elements of Harmony, they're our only hope" Celestia said to Luna

Luna looked down in dismay.

"Sister it is worse than you think, there was a break-in in the weapons vault... I had... I had to scatter the Elements" Luna replied.

"Then we must go, we need to regroup in Trottingham, the battle is lost" Celestia said.

"No, we can't!" Twilight said her eyes filling with tears.

"We must, we have no choice" Celestia turned to Luna, "If all else fails we need to use Starswirls' spell."

"Sister doing that would ensure defeat, surely there is another way, that spell is untested. We could lose them for good."

"No, the Bearers of Harmony must remain safe, now go!" Celestia said in her royal voice.

Luna nodded in acceptance of the elder sister. Twilight had never heard Celestia use her royal voice, it must have been worse than she thought.

"I will buy you some time" Luna said

Luna turned to the battlefield and shot more beams at changling drones. Celestia rose and staggered to the doors, some guards formed beside her and defended her frrom the oncoming changlings.

"Girls!" Twilight shouted to her friends.

As Luna fought the Queen the seven of them escaped. They ran to the courtyard where the guards had to file out to defend their Princess. Some of the guards ploughed forward with their spears, the changling blood covered their faces. The guards were trying to defend all sides, including pegasi guards who were fighting off the aerial barrage. The guards seemed unsure of where they were actually going and more concerned with holding back the changlings, they were exposed here and had to find cover.

"To the tunnels!" Celestia commanded.

The guards directed the group to the cliff-side, above them the Wonderbolts and other pegasi were in the air fighting the changling onslaught, Twilight watched as occasionally a pegasi or changling would drop from the sky and land on the ground, Twilight wanted to throw up at the sight of the bodies. What made the matter worse was that some of the guards fell as the group moved, changling mortars struck the ground around them. The guards were quick to react but their numbers were depleting quickly, fortunately the guards changed their formation, allowing the group to enter a building that was built into the mountainside.

"Go Princess!" said one of the guards who threw a spear at a changling.

The Princess did not argue, she staggered into the building with Twilight and the others behind them.

"Twilight" she said weakly, "You must find the Elements of Harmony to defeat her"

"Yes Princess" Twilight replied focusing on moving through the building.

They moved into what appeared to be an armoury, there was a lack of weapons and armour everywhere there was absolutely nothing they could use to defend themselves. Celestia moved towards the wall that was evidently the mountainside; only three walls of the room were made from brick. Her horn glowed yellow and a hidden door revealed itself and moved upwards, they entered the tunnel behind the door and moved down. Twilight aided her mentor as her friends ran on ahead, Rarity used a illumination spell because of the lack of light.

"Er Princess, we have what you might call a problem" Applejack said when Twilight and Celestia caught up.

Celestia saw the cave in, their route was blocked she did not say anything, she only looked down.

"Twilight" she finally said "Whatever problems you encounter remember, you're friends will help you. Find the Elements of Harmony and defeat Queen Chrysalis."

"You're coming with us Princess" Twilight replied.

"None of you are going anywhere" a menacing voice said from behind them.

Queen Chrysalis appeared as well as a small changling army. Two changlings stepped forward and dropped a blue alicorn to the ground in front of Celestia. Luna's' armour was severely damaged it had cracked near the wings and flanks were completely missing..

"I'm sorry sister" Luna said weakly.

Celestia dropped to nuzzle her sister. Only Twilight could she them whispering to each other. Twilight back away to her friends. She could hear Fluttershy shaking that was how scared she was right now, she didn't have to see she could hear the fear around them.

"Surrender now and you'll live to see my new empire rise from the ashes of the old." Chrysalis laughed.

At that moment came a blinding light, Twilight covered her eyes.

"Remember you're lessons Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Rarity. We have never preformed this spell before." Celestia said

The two sisters rose from the ground and turned to Twilight and her friends, both their horns glowed brightly. The two of them shot the beam at the girls and a blinding light took over *poof*, they were gone. Celestia and Luna fell to the ground.

"You think they can stop me?" Queen Chrysalis stood over them, her hoof on Celestias' head.

"The power of friendship will destroy you and your empire" Celestia replied, "I have faith in my students."

Luna watched in her sideways state as the Queen of the changlings reared up, Luna closed her eyes she couldn't face watching, the deafening crack of bone was all she heard. There once was a time where she too would have done the same but being here, being now, everything had changed between the two of them. Luna didn't shed a single tear her elder sister wouldn't have wanted that, the days of the sun were over.

No Fighting in the War Room!

Thunderer sat in the war room around the giant map, he was bored of these meetings when he barely had anything to contribute. Thunderer looked around the table, to his right at the head of the table was Princess Cadence, beside her on Thunderers' right was Commander Spitfire of Wonderbolts fame. The Wonderbolts had been a key resource during the evacuation of Canterlot, the fallout from this was that the three main members of the Wonderbolts were given military promotions. The three members had been split up to lead The Resistance in three different areas, Spitfire to Trottingham, Soarin to Cloudsdale and Fleetfoot to Manehatten. The rest of the members around the table were of no real significance; they led small units, protected supply trains or completed scouting missions. As Thunderer was drifting off into the land of procrastination Spitfire spoke up.

"Bad news" she said slamming her forehooves on the table for dramatic effect, "We've now found out why the changlings have moved out of Manehatten, Queen Chrysalis had moved a dragon into play, it can't fly or breath fire but its giant and takes refuge in a sea cavern near the city. Fleetfoot has had to withdraw her troops and civilians from the city into the outskirts but they couldn't move the changling barrier out of the city in time. She's requesting further orders on what to do, the way I see it we have two; fight back or evacuate."

"What does this mean for us strategy wise?" Princess Cadence asked Spitfire.

"With the changling barrier still within the city, those ponies are exposed on all sides; the dragon in the South and the changlings and abominations everywhere else."

"Can't they build a new one?" Princess Cadence questioned further.

Thunderer spoke up when he saw the dismay in the Princess's face. He knew the answer to that question all to well.

"The changling barrier or shield, whichever you want to call it, was a prototype. Neither Time Turner nor I were able to extensively test the shield, when Spitfire commandeered the device."

Thunderer shot Spitfire the 'I-told-you-so' face. The changling shield was a replica of the shield Shining Armour had cast around Trottingham, but this device was a smaller portable one that created a shield wherever it was placed. As soon as Thunderer had told the war council of its success, Spitfire took the device and gave it to Fleetfoot before the device could be developed further.

"To build a new changling shield generator we'd need the prototype" Thunderer continued.

"Didn't you think to leave drawings or notes when you built it?" Spitfire interjected.

"If we'd had the time to make notes we would have COMMANDER!" Thunderer put emphasis into Spitfires' rank

"And what is that exactly supposed to mean PRIVATE! Oh wait, I forgot you were no longer deserving of that rank, maybe if you'd wanted to be in my position you should've..."

"PONIES PLEASE!" Princess Cadence shouted in an ear-splitting tone.

The two arguing ponies quietened and sank back into their seats. Thunderer folded his ears down at what Spitfire was about to mention, she always reminded him of that day. He regretted his actions ever since, confining himself to the suit of pegasi armour ever since. Nopony trusted Thunderer since then, all except Time Turner and a few others who knew the pony in the armour. The others, they all thought he needed to suffer more.

"So we need to retrieve the changling shield generator to create a new one?" Cadence asked now in a calm tone.

"Yes" Thunderer replied in a monotone voice.

Princess Cadence gestured for Spitfire to continue.

"News from Soarin" Spitfire resumed to the rest of the room, "It looks like Discords' forces are making an assault on Cloudsdale. Soarin says he's seen ground forces mobilise some ancient weapons capable of destroying pegasi cities, he doesn't know how long he can hold the city."

"What about the element of loyalty?" Princess Cadence asked.

"From what I've heard she's quite the fighter, she's come far in eighteen months." Spitfire said with a sense of dismissal.

"And these ancient weapons?" another pony spoke up, he was a yellow pegasus.

"They're old earth pony cannons from The Long Winter War, Discord hasn't figured out how to use them yet but it won't take long" Spitfire finished.

The discussion went around the room with each pony talking about what had happened since the last week. Although all of it was important, it was all uninteresting to Thunderer. It now came for Thunderer to speak about his and Time Turners' weapon. Thunderer put his forehooves on the table like all those before him when they wanted to speak. The armour he was wearing did not cover most of his legs, with both hooves on the table the scars running up and down his legs became obvious. He coughed and used a metal wings to stifle it.

"Time Turner and I are still working out the power issue with overloading the shields. His latest hypothesis is that overloading the reactors will destroy all of Trottingham and most of the surrounding area, and that's only possible if we can find a power source with a big enough input."

"Are there any other options?" Cadence asked.

"As some of you will know Doctor Time Turner studied Starswirls the Beardeds' forbidden spells and believes he can recreate one to win this war, but we also need the Elements of Harmony to conquer the same problem."

"Speaking of which how is the Element of Laughter stone holding up?" Cadence asked.

"As Celestia and Luna have said in the past, the elements are only useful when the ponies are their usual selves. As of late we feel that Pinkie Pie is unhappy, we've noticed that the stones' output is less each time we test it."

"What can we do to rectify this? Although I dislike you personally Thunderer, yours and Time Turners' weapon is our only hope" Spitfire said with spite.

"I've been giving it consideration since Twilight Sparkle arrived and I am of the belief that re-uniting the Elements of Harmony will provide a large enough input for overloading the shields."

"But we only know the locations of five of the elements." Spitfire added.

The look on Spitfires face did not match that of her tone of voice toward Thunderer. He face expressed no emotion, perhaps it could be the scar that ran down her face but she never felt any emotion other than anger towards others. Thunderer had heard the stories of Spitfires' husband during Canterlots' falls; apparently she had to defend the city from aerials assaults while her husband was killed by a changling.

"The element of magic has revealed itself once before when the Bearers of Harmony fought Nightmare Moon, it is very likely that it will again. Reuniting the Bearers of Harmony on the other hoof is no small matter, the six of them all far apart, getting to the others could take weeks not to mention resource Trottingham does not have" Princess Cadence explained.

"Which is why I propose I lead a small team." Thunderer said.

There was a burst of laughter from Spitfire.

"You...lead? Maybe you should bear the Element of Laughter and that will solve all our problems." Spitfire harked.

"Princess, I used to serve under Shining Armour you can easily access his reports of me to determine my suitability. I've been out on many scouting missions and I have this armour. I owe you this as Celestia as my witness to make this right."

"Damn right you do" Spitfire said.

Princess Cadence shot a look to Spitfire who stirred uncomfortable, Thunderer let himself look smug for that fraction of a second it took Spitfire to regain her composure. Thunderer looked to Cadence waiting for an answer.

"I will need to discuss it with Luna tonight, your plan is good but it carries a lot of risk. But it seems to me you've been thinking about this for a while."

"Every night since I heard the first Bearer of Harmony returned. I know I've made mistakes so give me this opportunity to make it right."

Cadence looked away for a second. A long time ago before Shining Armour was set into stone, he sat right where Cadence was looking. That had been long ago but she still looked for his military leadership. Even after what Thunderer had done, Shining Armour considered Thunderer a warrior but all that changed when Spitfire was appointed Commander.

"I will discuss it with Luna tonight, you will need to find ponies you trust to go with you because if Luna agrees you will need to leave straight away, this war has gone on long enough!"

There was a small cheer from everypony except Spitfire, who looked straight at Thunderer.

"War council, dismissed." Princess Cadence announced.