The Return of the lost ruler

Chapters

Family reunion
Beyond the Border
The Constructs
The Battle for Canterlot

Family reunion

The Long awaited reunion.

Far beyond Canterlot, far beyond Ponyville, far beyond even the Everfree forest, the tattered remains of an ancient castle stand in the middle of a barren wasteland. Not a soul insight save for the most insignificant of insects. Past the dilapitated draw-bridge, through the remains of a once beautiful courtyard, and deep within the castle walls somewhere in the main audience chamber, stands an eerily life like statue. An alicorn. The eerie silence is broken as a surge of energy rainbow in color sweeps over the statue, causing a small crack within it's form. And a haunting laugh was heard all around the chamber.

It was a few months after the confrontation with Discord and all the ponies of Ponyville were happily living out their now very peaceful lives.

"Spike hurry up we still have a few things on the list to pick up before we can head home." Twilight sparkle said as she held a quill enveloped in a light purple aura and crossed off another item off her shopping list.

"Hmm quills? check, paper? check, Ink? check, let's see what else is on the list?". Twilight looked through the list as an over encumbered little purple dragon followed close behind.

"Come on Twilight, it's almost lunch time and my arms are getting tired, can't we atleast stop and grab a bite to eat first?" Complained the small reptile.

"Well I suppose that'd be ok, I was getting kinda hungry mysel...*grumble*" Twilight blushed as her stomach letout a loud growl. Luckily for the duo Sugar cube corner was just around the corner.

As Twilight and Spike walked through the door they were greeted by a familiar bouncing pink ball of energy.
"Hiya Spike! Hiya Twilight!" Exclaimed Pinkie Pie as she bounded over to them from the counter.

"What brings you guys here, I mean other than the cakes, pie, cupcakes, and other pastries? Unless that's what you're here for in which case my next question would be What would you guys like? Cake, pie, cupcakes..."

Pinkie was inturupted by another of Twilights stomach growls, which at this point might as well have been a roar.
"Hehe your tummy sounds awefully hungry huh Twilight? Well there's no need to fear Auntie Pinkie Pie is here!" said Pinkie as she bolted to the kitchen and before Twilight could even blink she was back with a plate with two great big slices of cherry pie with whipped cream on top.

"Well that was fast huh Spike?" Twilight asked and was answered with a resounding *drool* from the little dragon.
"Thank you very much Pinkie." said the purple unicorn as she levitated the plate.

"How much?" Twilight asked as a glow enveloped her sadle bags and levitated forth a small purse that gingled with money in it.

"On the house Twi!" Pinkie said with a large grin on her face.

"Just let me know how it is, it's a new recipe I've been wanting to try!" exclaimed the pink pony.

"Well that's very kind of you Pinkie, I'm sure they'll be delicious." As twilight and Spike took a seat and dug into the pie. It was delicious, sweet but not overpowering, with a flakey crust and juicy cherries.

"Oh it's delicious!" Complimented Twilight. "Ungf Ish guhd" Spike agreed with a mouth full of food.

Meanwhile in the barrens far from Equestria, the ruined castle still standing. Inside sat a large ominous figure. Obviously a pony but larger than even Princess Celestia. A coat of pitch black, with a mane that flowed like molten lava, piercing eyes of gold, his horn was long with a slight upturned curve, and his wings were large and batlike. "Hmm, It seems my powers are finally at full strength." The being said as it spread it's wings and stood up on all fours and gave a single mighty flap trembling through the castle crumbling it around him.

As he stood there amongst the pile of rubble, he gave a sinister smirk and said to himself,
"Time for a family reunion sisters." and with that the alicorn took flight and headed for Equestria.

"Urrp, 'scuse me." Spike said with a satisfied smile across his face.

"Spike!" "What? I said 'scuse me." Spike retorted to Twilights scolding.

"Well grossness aside, thanks for the pie Pinkie we should really be going though we still have a bit of shopping to do before...."

Twilight was interrupted by another belch from the purple dragon followed by a letter with Princess Celestia's seal on it.

"Oh my I wonder what the Princess could want at this time of day?" Twilight thought outloud as she enveloped the scroll in magic and unrolled it.

My Faithful student Twilight Sparkle,
I am afraid that Equestria may be in need of you and the other elements again. An ancient power once thought to have been eternally sealed seems to have been awakend and only the elements of harmony can even stand a chance of fending him off. Please gather the other bearers and come to Canterlot as quickly as possible.

Your Princess, Celestia.

"Oh no this can't be good." Twilight said with a worried face.

"Pinkie I need you to find Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, I'll find AppleJack and Rarity, and meet me in front of the library!"
Twilight gave out the command to which Pinkie replied "Okie dokie loki" gave a salute and dashed off.

"What's wrong Twilight?" Spike inquired.

"That note from the Princess said something about an ancient power that could put all of Equestria in great danger, and the princess wants me and the other element bearers to meet her in Canterlot." Twilight said as she levitated Spike and her bags onto her back and raced off to Carousel Boutique to gather up Rarity and then to Sweet Apple Acres for AppleJack.
About an hour or so later the six friends met up in front of the library.

"Whas' goin on now Twi?"

" Yes darling you were in such a rush that I couldn't get a word in as we ran." asked AJ and Rarity.

"Yea it better be important I was practicing this new move that is sure to get me into the Wonderbolts!" Exclaimed one cyan and rainbow colored pegasus.

"Calm down everypony and let me explain, I just recieved a letter from the Princess about an hour ago and it requested that we all see her right away in Canterlot, something about an ancient power that could endanger all of Equestria." Twilight explained.

"Well what are we all waiting fer?" AJ questioned, "This sounds important".

As AJ said this a chariot being drawn by two golden armor clad Pegusi landed by the mane six. One of the guards turned towards Twilight,

"Miss Sparkle? Princess Celestia sent us to pick you and your friends up, hop on no time to waste the Princess says it's imperative that you all arrive ASAP!" As he pointed towards the chariot with one of his wings.

Off were the six towards Canterlot Castle. After a short flight the group made their way into the main audience chamber where Celestia and Luna were pacing around with worried looks on their faces.

"Ah Twilight, I'm so glad to see you all here so quickly. Now hurry this way." As celestia led the way into a hallway leading towards the Elements of Harmony.

"I'm afraid Equestria may be in great danger my little ponies" as the six ponies and the two princesses made their way towards the vault holding the elements.

As the group reached the door Celestia placed her horn within the hole of the lock as magic began to glow unlocking the doors. Celestia was about to reach for the elements but was forced back along with the others by an unseen force. Shaking away the disorientation the eight ponies got back up to there hooves and looked at the large being now holding the elements in his hooves.

"No, no this can't be, you really did break free." Celestia said with fear in her and Lunas eyes.

"Ah but of course dear Celestia, you didn't think that silly little sealing spell was going to hold me forever did you?" The being smirked at the bewildered princesses and the confused ponies.

"Of course we did! We took all your power from you and sealed you forever!" Luna said in a loud yet frightened voice.

"Oh come now dearest Luna, you know better than that! Haven't I taught you two anything? Brother is truly disappointed." He said letting the word "brother" roll off his tongue in a sinister way.

At this point the mane six couldn't keep quiet anylonger.

"Now wait just a second what 'brother' since when did the princesses have a brother?" Rainbow accused feining confidence in the face of this threatening new foe.

"I assume this one is the element of loyalty." The large alicorn noted as he spotted Rainbows cutie mark and compared it to the elements.

"I will also assume that my dear sisters went through a lot of trouble to keep my existence out of the history books." The alicorn now looked at the two princesses with narrowing eyes.

"Oh where are my manners? Allow me to formally introduce myself, I am Prince Noir." Noir said with an elegant bow.
"And this my dear sisters is the declaration of my return." As Noir let the last of his words leave his lips he enveloped the elements in an eerie glow of dark energy and crushed them as if they were paper and tossed them towards his stunned audience.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!" Noir let out a resounding laugh that might as well have frozen the air around them as he vanished in a flame of crimson.

"Soon my dear sisters I shall reclaim my throne and Equestria will cower before me, until then." the voice vanished along with the flames leaving the eight ponies distraught and utterly horrified at what had just happened.

A few unspoken minutes later in the throne room. Celestia finally broke the silence. "I have a lot of explaining to do my little ponies." The princesses eyes were downcast almost hoping one of the six would say it was unneeded but no such luck.

"It was long before Discord, before even the creation of Canterlot, when the three pony tribes were in the thralls of a great war."

" Many ponies fell during this terrible conflict."

"That was indeed our brother, the once great and benevolent Prince Noir."

"He was a force that was respected by all three of the pony tribes."

"He saw the pain the ponies were in because of the war and was desperate to quell the hatred as soon as possible."

"We loved our brother and thought the world of him." Celestia looked at Luna who had the hint of a tear in her eye.

"He taught us how to raise the sun and moon, how to be great rulers, how to care for the ponies under our rule before ourselves."

"But soon the war escalated to a point that broke our brother, he was tired of seeing pony kill pony in a endless war."

"So he took things into his own hooves."

"He stepped in and brought the three rulers from each tribe and gathered them in an attempt to bring about peace, but it was all a feint, once all the rulers were in one place he struck them down mercilessly and claimed dominence over all three tribes."

"He ruled with an iron hoof, striking down any pony who was either brave or stupid enough to stand up to him, he saw the worst in the ponies and decided that it would take the worst to control them."

"United under fear, that was what our brother thought would bring about peace."

"He went mad with power, he stopped teaching us, and even scoffed at our attempts to reason with him."

"That was when me and Luna made the most difficult decision we ever had to make at that point, we used the teachings Noir gave us and forged the elements of harmony and together sealed our brother in what we thought was an inescapable prison."

"We also left our old home and created Equestria where it is now, leaving our brother in his prison where we sealed him."
The six friends were taking in all that they had just heard and trying to piece it together.

"But princess how could Noir have possibly escaped?" Twilight asked.

"It must have been when you six used the elements to re-seal Discord." Celestia thought for a second.

"It had to have been then, the only thing that could've broken that sealing spell would've been what created it in the first place. Not even Discords sealing was as strong as the one we had to use on Noir." This time Celestia was certain this was what happened.
"But why wait till now to show up? We defeated Discord months ago." Applejack said confused.

"It must've taken him some time to restore himself to full power." Luna finally spoke.

"Noir was far too powerful for myself or my sister to handle, so we had to use the elements to not only seal him but drain him of all his power." Luna said to the ponies.

"We tried so hard to keep his existence unknown to the public, Luna and I casted a wide ranged memory altering spell, making the ponies forget about Noir and all he had done." Celestia sounded apologetic, she did not like the idea of having to mess around with other ponies minds.

"So the only way to defeat this guy is with the elements?" Dash asked looking at the crumpled piece of metal that were their only salvation.

"I'm afraid so." Celestia let out a heavy sigh of sorrow.

"Is there anyway to fix them?" Twilight was looking over the hunk of gold and crushed stone.

"That might be possible but Luna and I will not be able to aid you in that." Celestia looked at Twilight.

"Sister is right, there is a way to repair them, but since we are no longer the bearers I'm afraid our powers will not work for them." Luna stood next to her sister.

"Well then I guess it's up to us to try and fix the elements before Noir strikes again!" Dash was feeling confident.

"It can't be that simple, I mean it took both the Princesses to forge them how could we possibly fix them?" Rarity chimed in.

"The only way to repair them at this rate is to re-imbue them with the power they once held, each bearer must put all their heart into their respective element channeled through an ancient idol." Celestia brought up an old tattered map that had obviously seen better days.

"I'm afraid the idol is not even in Equestria though, it is in the lowest chamber of our old castle from before Noirs corruption." Celestia handed the map to Twilight who levitated it into a saddle bag a guard had brought her.

"It is located far past the Everfree forest and beyond the borders of Equestria, in a land that I had hoped never to see again."

"Luna will accompany you on your journey there, this map should help you navigate the caverns once you get to the castle, I will stay here in Canterlot incase Noir decides to show up." Celestia looked over the six ponies and her sister.

"But sister you know that neither of us are a match for Noir, it'll take us both to fend him off." Luna sounded very worried for her sister.

"I can atleast slow him down, I cannot leave the citizens of Equestria unguarded, and you must go with Twilight and her friends, what if Noir decides to attack them on their way to the old castle?" Celestia put a re-assuring hoof on Luna's shoulder.

"And that was several thousand years ago, I'm sure we are both much stronger now then we were then, if nothing else." Celestia tried to comfort her younger sister.

"Very well sister I will accompany them and ensure that Noir not lay a hoof on them." Luna perked up and hugged her sister.

"Alright then lets not waste anytime!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Yea! We beat Nightmare Moon and Discord, this'll be a cinch." Rainbow sounding more confident.

"Ah reckon we'll have that Noir fella back in stone in no time flat." Applejack said re-affirming her own confidence.

"YEAH!!! And afterwards I'm gonna throw the biggest party ever! EVER!!!!!" Pinkie got face to face with Luna as she exclaimed her future plans.

"Quite right Darling, and I'll make all of us even the Princesses some amazing gowns to celebrate our victory." Rarity said flicking a lock of her mane away from her face with a graceful hoof.

"Y-yea....I...I mean, I don't want that big meanie to be our ruler, I want Princess Celestia and Luna to be our rulers...I...I mean if you want to that is." Fluttershy hid behind her long pink hair.

"All right then everypony, head back to Ponyville and pack a few essentials this is gonna be a long journey and meet at the edge of the Everfree forest in the morning." Luna gave the command like a true leader before heading to her room to pack as well.

As the other ponies made their way out to the sky carriage to take them back to Ponyville Celestia looked back down the hall way with the charred floor that Noir left behind. "Good luck my little ponies, we're going to need as much of it as we can get." Worry plastered across her face.

"Hehehe, and now little sisters, it is time for me to make my move." Noir said to himself, in an endless black void deprived of any light save for a small portal like window he was using to spy on his sisters conversation with the bearers.
"Soon Equestria will fall to my feet, and my rule will be absolute." Noir let out a loud cackle before dismissing the portal.

Beyond the Border

Beyond the Border

Back in Ponyville the mane six are gathering together supplies for the long trip.

Fluttershy packs up a large bag with bandages, ointments, antibacterial sprays, and other first aid items.

Rainbow lugs out a couple of tents, canteens, and basic camping equipment.

Rarity is packing raincoats, light jackets, and shade providing hats.

AppleJack in charge of the food loads up a small cart with fresh apples, apple fritters, pies, crumpets, and plenty of raw ingredients and scavanging tools.

Twilight loads her own saddle bags with a few quills, blank scrolls, reference books, and ALOT of ink(She wants to catalog any and everything new she discovers).

And Pinkie, well Pinkie packs up only the essentials for a long periless journey into uncharted territory. That being streamers, confetti, balloons, noise makers, toys, and colorful cupcakes. As stated previously, THE ESSENTIALS!

After each pony finished packing they agreed to meet at Fluttershy's cottage.

"So, everypony here?" Asked Twilight as she did a mental head count.

"Yup we're all here." Rainbow exclaimed eager for a new adventure.

"Now hold your horses there Rainbow, Princess Luna t'aint here yet." Applejack said looking towards the sky.

"She's right Rainbow, Princess Luna's our guide and only protection against Noir remember?" Twilight said looking at the impatient Pegasus.

"I bet we wont even need the Princess, we can take on this Noir guy no problem." Rainbow said in extreme confidence and getting into a boxing pose.

"I'm afraid not oh brave but foolish one." All the ponies jumped up out of surprise now noticing the dark Alicorn standing behind them.

"Princess!" Twilight exclaimed more than a little excited to see her.

"Good morning Twilight Sparkle, and to the rest of you as well." Luna looked towards the other five ponies.

"I'll assume you're all prepared? Don't forget anything this will be a long and arduous journey."

"Of course Princess, we each gathered what we would need, Fluttershy in charge of first aid, AppleJack has the food, Rainbow the tents and other camping gear, Rarity brought some protective clothes for the weather, I packed some quills and paper to document anything we see, and Pinkie.......well Pinkie brought........Pinkie stuff." Twilight listed off each of her friends responsibilities.

"Very well then shall we go then? Oh and Twilight please Luna is fine." Luna said to Twilight and her friends with a warm smile much like her sisters.

"Yea! Lets do this and teach that Noir who's boss." Rainbow bursting with enough excitement and confidence for all seven ponies.

"It's good to such energetic confidence, but do not take Noir lightly, there was a reason he went uncontested for in terms of power for several millenia." Luna looked into the eager Pegasus' eyes and saw doubt.

"Umm.....ok....." Rainbow said the wind from her sails swiftly taken away.

"Um....Twilight....are you sure Spike will be fine not coming with us?" Fluttershy stepped closer to Twilight to get her attention.

"Yup, I left him in good hooves, I sent him to Canterlot to stay with Princess Celestia till we return." Twilight conforted her weary friend, knowing she was in no way thrilled to start the journey.

"All right then everypony let's depart!" Luna brought them to attention.

"Uh, not to be a bother darling but how are we getting there? I don't see a chariot." Rarity looked behind Luna to make sure.
"We must journey there on hoof, the path by sky would be far too dangerous, we'd be big easy targets in the air, not to mention the Wyverns that plague the skies in the outlands." Luna explained.

At the sound Wyvern all the ponies, save for Pinkie, shuddered.

"But I thought Wyverns were extinct." Twilight thought out loud.

"In Equestria yes, but mostly due to my sisters influence, in the outlands they aren't exactly common but they do exist, but do not worry girls I am sure we are more than capable enough to handle a few Wyverns." Luna was trying to reassure the six.
"Now if there are no more interuptions, shall we go?" Luna asked more than a little anxious herself to finish this before it got worse.

"Yup." All six ponies answered in unison.

Finally on their way Luna in front followed by the mane six.

The journey through the Everfree forest to the border was relatively uneventful, except for a Manticore that came out of nowhere but quickly stopped its attack seeing Fluttershy and remembering what she did for him so long ago, Eeyup the SAME manticore, and just licked her and went its way.

It had been almost five hours since they started and Luna halted the little caravan deciding that a rest was in order. AppleJack unpacked some of her treats and a couple of thermos' of applecider and applejuice.

"Pri.....Luna if I may ask what was Noir like before he became.......well evil?" Twilight inquired while taking a bite of apple fritter.

"Well Twilight, it was so long ago, yet I still remember his old self so fondly." Luna said closing her eyes remembering her older brither and a tear escaped her eye.

"If it's too difficult you don't have to....." Twilight tried to say but was interuppted.

"Not at all Twilight, it may be best that you all know more about your enemy....about my brother.

The six ponies closed in tentatively waiting for the story at hand.

"When I was but a little filly, so many eons ago, the only family I knew were my elder siblings Tia and Noir."

"I never did find out about what happened to my parents." Luna said with a tinge of sadness in her voice.

"But it didn't matter much to me, since I had Tia and Noir."

"At the time Noir was the one who raised the sun and the moon, all by himself."

"He was the picture of a benevolent diety."

"He didn't always look like he did a day ago, he had a dark black coat, and a mane that looked almost like an everflowing wave of white fire. His wings were regal with perfectly preened feathers and his cutie mark was that of the sun and moon revolving around one another symbolizing balance and peace."

"I remember once when I was young and still learning to fly I had crashed into a tree and scrapped up my knee, Noir came to me while I was crying on the ground and picked me up and placed me on his back."

"What's wrong he asked me, I told him about me scrapping my knee and he just looked at me and gave a warm smile and said, what scrape? when I looked at my knee the scrape was gone and I almost forgot about the pain entirely."

"He wasn't just kind and compasionate, he was also the most powerful being on the planet."

"I once saw him bring a hundred Dragons to the ground with sheer magical force to stop them from destroying a small village with out breaking a sweat."

"Once the Dragons saw my brother and witnessed his power they quickly turned tail and ran." Luna chuckled a little remembering all the full grown dragons wimpering at the sight of her brother.

"But when the war broke out," Luna's tone changed to one full of sorrow. "Something inside him changed."

"He began to look like he was disgusted at everything he saw in the ponies."

"All the fighting, all the needless bloodshed, and all the needless suffering. He saw hell and he felt it's burn."

"The ponies that once respected and reverred him were now at each others throat. And he made his heart vulnerable to darkness." Luna was now looking down at the ground as if it would hold the answers as to why her brother did what he did.

"He changed, not just physically, but down to his heart he changed into something horrible."

"At first he tried to justify his rule saying he was upholding this tryanny for the betterment of all pony kind."

"But soon that all changed to pure insanity, the darkness that consumed his heart now broke him turning him into a psychotic dictator that saw the worst in all around him and went out of his way to bring it out."

"He built a stadium that he would force ponies to fight in for his amusement, he held public beatings for any who opposed him, he even went so far as to have young fillies and colts taken from their parents to train for that stadium of his."

"Tia and I couldn't stand it anylonger and we chalanged him, we had to fight our once beloved brother."

"At first it was an utter failure, we couldn't hold a candle to his power, I remember the look on his face, that evil look, he was no longer my brother, just a villain that needed to be stopped."

"As he stepped forward to finish us off, my sister withdrew the Elements of Harmony that we forged using Noir's teachings of harnesing the powers of natural Harmony."

"The elements combined with both mine and Celestia's powers weren't enought thought, Noir still could've over powered us, so he first had to rip him of his power."

"The Idol we are after now was what we used, it was created to take and give power, so we took his power and made him weak enough to seal."

"We just couldn't bring ourselves to destroy our brother, and I thought we would never have to go through that pain again."

There was silence amongst the group now as they took in the information.

"That's terrible Luna, I couldn't imagine the pain you went through then." Twilight said as she nuzzled the now crying Princess.

The other ponies followed suit and huddeled in a group hug with their princess.

"Well I suppose we should get to bed then huh?" Luna said wiping the tears from her eyes.

"Agreed, we have to reach the outlands as quickly as possible." Twilight said wiping her own tears away.

"Yea, I'm beat from all this mushy feelly stuff." Rainbow said trying to hide her own tears, failing miserably as she was.

"Eeyup." AppleJack said with her best impression of BigMac.

This made all the girls giggle as they went off in pairs into their own tents with Luna getting her own.

As the morning sun rose so did the ponies, Twilight was the first up and was writing in a journal. Pinkie followed next wiping the sleepiness from her eyes.

"Sup Twi what ya doin?" Pinkie asked looking over Twilights shoulder.

"Oh nothing, just cataloging the events of yesterday." Twilight answered never looking away from her journal.

The rest of the group woke up shortly after and packed up their tents and took off.

A good four or so hours later, none of them had a watch, they arrived at what Luna confirmed to be the edge of the Everfree forest and effectively the boarder of Equestria. They looked beyond the foliage into a dry and desolate wasteland, not a plant or animal in sight. Luna surveyed the parched land pointing in a single direction.

"This way to the castle." She said as she stepped out into the dry cracked earth.

As she emerged from the greenery though she was met with a loud roar as a large reptile with a long serpentine body, large batlike wings, and two slender bird like legs landed before them, half the size of a full grown dragon but three times as vicious.
Luna stared with fear into the eyes of a Wyvern.

The Constructs

The wyvern billowed forth a nouxious green cloud straight towards Luna who quickly dashed to the side avoiding the gasious mist. The cloud impacted the ground and dispersed, as the fumes disappeared it left a large melted crater where it had struck the earth.

"Luna!!!" Twilight yelled from the trees as she darted towards Luna projecting a light purple shield to block another plume of acid gas.

"Twilight be careful of it's breath, a wyvern can't breathe fire like a dragon but it's acid breath is known to melt even the strongest of metals like butter!" Luna turned to twilight who was still projecting the force field.

"HEY! Leave the princess and Twilight alone you oversized lizard!!!" Rainbow yelled at the beast as she charged towards it and swivelled around in mid air and bucked it in the snout.

The wyvern shook it's nose and snorted before glaring death at the pegasi that bravely, or stupidly, attacked it. The wyvern gave one flap of its mighty wings sending Rainbow Dash tumbling through the air until she impacted a tree. As she stuck the tree back first she slid down its trunk and came to a rest at its base. She shook her head to try and get rid of the stars. When her vision stopped spinning she saw AppleJack had already galloped towards twilight with a lasso at the ready. She gave the lasso a good throw and as it soared through the air it found its mark around the wyverns mouth. Applejack pulled the rope taught tightening the loop around the beasts mouth forcing it closed before it could let loose another breath of acid.

"Hoo there big guy!" Applejack grunted as she used all her strength to try and restrain it. Pinkie bounded over from behind a rock and grabbed the rope in her mouth and began to pull with Applejack. The combined strength of two earth ponies wasn't enough though as the wyvern began pulling back, AJ and Pinkie dug there hooves into the ground trying to gain some traction.

"Hold on girls!"Rarity said as she galloped forward and used her magic to pull as well.

Still not enough as the wyvern continued to struggle.
Rainbow finally shook away the groginess and flew over quick, grabbing Fluttershy along the way, who was hiding in a hollowed out stump, and grabbed the rope with their teeth. Now with two earth ponies, two (okay maybe one and a half) pegasi and a unicorn pulling with full strength the five were no longer moving with the creature. They were at a stand still.

"Twilight we must help...OW!" Luna tried to stand up but saw that her rear left hoof was badly burned from light contact with the acid.

"Luna! Your hoof!" Twilight looked down at the afflicted hoof, the coat singed revealing now slightly charred skin.

"I will be fine Twilight Sparkle, but now your friends need you! They can't hope to bring it down by themselves." Luna gave Twilight a stern look before looking back at the tug of war between the massive reptile and the five ponies.

"But....but....fine but I'll be right back!" Twilight exclaimed as she teleported to her friends.

The contest of strength seemed a tie as Twilight joined her friends enveloping the rope in a purple aura.
"NOW GIRLS!!!" Twilight yelled to her friends as they all pulled in unison.

The wyvern began to move again but this time towards the six ponies. It spread its wings in an attempt to take off but was instead lifted into the air by the snout as the six ponies used as much strength as they could muster to toss the reptile through the air and into the forest behind them. A loud gutteral howl of pain could be heard as the wyvern crashed through the trees and landed with a loud crunch breaking branches on its trip to the ground. Then silence. The group slowly approached the downed trees, save for one as Twilight quickly teleported to Lunas side and began using magic to start the healing. As the five ponies peered over the splintered stumps they saw why the wyvern had all of a sudden gone quiet. It had made contact with a large pointed boulder that jutted from the ground, piercing its neck silencing the great beast for good. Fluttershy almost fainted at the thought that she had aided in the death of an animal but was caught off guard as the wyverns body started to wither as if it was dehydrating at a rapid pace before turning into dust and fading away.

"Now what in tarnation happened to it?" Applejack asked taking off her hat and scratching at her head with her hoof.

"It was a construct." Luna limped over being helped by Twilight Sparkle.

"A what now?" Rainbow questioned as she hovered over to the rock they slayed the beast with.

"A construct, a creature manufactered through magic, it was a lost art." Luna looked back towards the wastes. "And only one pony in the world would be able to create such a large and powerful one." Luna eyed the desert as if she could already see Nior.

"If Noir can fabricate such a dreadful creature how are we supposed to beat him?" Rarity was a little more than shaken at the thought of having to fight more wyverns or even worse.

"Heh, whatever we showed that stupid "construct" thing who's boss and we'll do the same when we find that Noir guy." Rainbow somehow made air quotes at the word construct.

"Yea we did, but that was just one Rainbow, 'magine if we had ter fight two or more at once." Applejack stated flatly.

This made Rainbow shrink back a little, one of those things was bad enough but two, OR MORE?

"I...I want to go home." Fluttershy whimpered as she curled into a ball, Pinkie trotted over and nuzzeled her friend to comfort her.

"It's ok Fluttershy, auntie Pinkie Pie will protect you!" Pinkie beamed at Fluttershy who mumbled something about a year and older. Pinkie seemed to just ignore this.

"I'm sorry Fluttershy, but we have to keep going, if we don't find the idol and restore the elements to full power who knows what Noir might do." Twilight tried to re-assure her friend.

"O...okay...if it's the only way." Fluttershy stood up shakily but still had her head down.

"Luna how's your hoof?" Twilight looked over to Luna who had been using her own magic to further the healing.

"I will be fine Twilight Sparkle." Luna looked back at the everfree forest. "But if that's what Noir sent us, I can only hope that Tia is safe."

Meanwhile in Canterlot.
"Quickly get the civilians to the shelters!" Shining Armor commanded as he held off a creature twice the size of a manticore with his magic, lion head and body, with a goat head jutting from its back, and a snake for it's tail. A chimera had Shining Armor pinned against a wall pounding away with it's claws at his barrier protecting a young filly who was cowering beneath his hooves.

"Aye sir!" The pegasus guard standing next to Shining Armor took the filly in his hooves and bolting away form behind the barrier past the chimera as fast as his wings could take him. The chimera turned it's heads towards the pegasus almost grabbing onto his hind leg with the snake head, but before the jaws could make contact it fell to the ground having been cut from the chimeras tail by a sword being held with a aura of light purple magic.

"Hey ugly!" Shining Armor said to the wailing beast. "It's not nice to go and play with others when our game's not over yet."

Shining armor then levitated a spear to his side. The chimera crouched down exposing the goat head which shot out a gout of fire that Shining Armor was just barely able to dodge before thrusting his spear forward into the goat heads eye. The chimera reared back as it howled in pain. This was Shining Armors chance though, he readied his sword and slashed out across the chimeras chest and for good measure pierced it's lower jaw with his spear going straight through its skull. As the beast fell to the ground and began to disappear Shining Armor took up his spear and sword again in his magical grasp.

"Heh well he wasn't so tough." Shining Armor then galloped through the streets searching out any more civilians that may be in trouble, he stopped in the middle of the street though as he was now standing infront of three large as a steam engine monsters made of rock.

"Well this isn't going to be easy." Shining Armor mused to himself as the three golems lumbered over to him towering over the captain of the guard.

"Captain!" Came a cry from the sky as a pegasus and unicorn guard came to Shining Armors side, spears at the ready.

"Well looks like you guys didn't miss the party." Shining Armor smirked at the guards.

"Wouldn't Dream of it sir." The larger of the two new ponies said, a stallion with a light blue coat and a flaming orange mane that stuck out like a sore...hoof with out his helmet on, a zigzag trail of fire adorning his flank for his cutie mark.

"Blaze is right captain, besides I can't let these things off you, you still owe me thirty bits from that bet of ours from the wonderbolt race last month." The pegasus gave a cocky wink at her captain. This pegasus was smaller then the two stallions, obviously a mare, with a light grey coat and mane of crimson red with highlights of light pink running through it, a pair of dice were her cutie mark.

"Well Blaze, Nira?" Shining Armor exchanged looks with his guard. "Let's give these guys a heart warming welcome to Canterlot." Shining Armor smirked.

"This is gonna be fun." Said Blaze as he charged up his horn setting his spear on fire.

"Twenty bits says I take down mine first." Nira stated as she flared her wings spear at the ready in her hooves.

"You're on." The two stallions said in stereo as the three charged towards the moving walls.

Meanwhile in Canterlot Castle.
Celestia was preparing a wide effect spell that would displell or at least weaken the constructs that had invaded Canerlot. A small battalion of guards guarding her in the throne room as she concentrated the magic.

"I do hope Luna and the others are fairing better than we are." Celestia thought to herself.

Back at the wasteland.
Luna was now mostly healed and took to flying so as not to stress her afflicted hoof. The seven ponies now galloped or flew at a steady but hurried pace in the direction Luna indicated on the map. They ran for what seemed like hours before fatigue set in prompting the party to take a break.

"Let's set up camp here." Luna suggested as they approached an outcropping of large rocks they could use for shelter.

The ponies then erected their tents, and readied the fireplace. It was already getting cold as the sun began to set. They were all more than a little tired considering they had just fought and beaten a wyvern and ran for a good few hours straight. Applejack pulled out several canteens from her saddle bag and passed them around knowing that everypony'd be thirsty right about now. Twilight sparked the fire using what few dried up and dead plants they could find for fire wood and one pinata, that a certain party pony reluctantly gave up after spouting off something about pinata emergencies. The seven ponies then sat around in silence as Luna raised the moon again.

"Luna?" Twilight finally broke the silence. "How far until we reach the ruins?"

"Not far now Twilight, come morning we should be able to make it there by late afternoon." Luna gave a quick look at the map just to be sure before nodding to herself.

"Well then I reckon we best be hitting the hay." Applejack said before letting out a yawn.

"I agree, we'll need our rest for tomorrow." Rarity made her way to one of the tents.

"That sounds like a good idea, goodnight everypony." Twilight said as they all entered the four tents they had with them, two ponies per and one for the princess since she couldn't fit with another in the same tent. Twilight then used her magic to put out the fire as they all went to bed.

A few hours later all seven ponies sound asleep, none of them noticed as a large black alicorn made his way to the fire pit they made and sifted around the ashes smiling to himself.

"This would be too easy", he gave a smirk as he stood over the four tents neatly lined up together.
"No I wont end it that soon little sister, I want you to know the truth before I decide your fate." Noir then chuckled lightly to himself before disapperaing in the wind.

The Battle for Canterlot

The Battle for Canterlot

Back in Canterlot during the seige of the Constructs

Shining Armor charged at the center Golem erecting a barrier around his body and plowed into the moving monolith staggering it slightly. As Shining bounces off of the Golems tough stone body he sticks his spear into the ground and uses it as a catapult and launches himself shield holding strong back at the same Golem. This time the impact was enough to make the stone beast fall back onto its rear. But as it landed Shining Armor was sent flying into a nearby house by its massive fist. Luckily his shield held strong and took the brunt of the impact.

"Ow...well you're strong I'll give you that." Shining Armor said as he slowly made his way out of the debris. He then turned to see his two comrades also in the midst of battle with their stoney guests.

"All right big guy lets see how lucky I am today." Nira stated smugly as she flew circles around the lumbering giant. Spear at the ready, she knew it would be useless against its stone body but she also knew that nothing was completely impervious, she just needs to find its weak spot.

"C'mon! You're slower than a turtle with no legs!" She taunted the Golem thinking making it mad would reveal its weakness. Then she saw it. a small crack at the base of its neck was momentarily revealed to her as it raised its head and arms to try and grab at the pegasus. She quickly lunged downward barely avoiding its grasps and lodged her spear into its neck. She was met however with a giant fist coming down on her that she barely dodged. Even so the wind from the collosal hand impacting the ground sent the pegasus mare flying backwards and into a cart of pillows that just so happened to be there. 'Heh lucks on my side today too' she thought as she eyed the beast with her spear sticking out of its neck.

"Get ready to pay up boys cuz I'm just about to win this." Nira shouted smugly, loud enough so her comrades could hear her. She bolted off towards the Golem dodging its downward coming fist again only this time she was past the fist and used the force from the impact onto the ground to accelerate her towards its neck. She lowered her head using the armor on her shoulder to ram into the spear sending it deeper into the crack, 'jackpot' she muttered as eventually the stone started to crumble as its head rolled off of its body. It stood still for a good five seconds, as Nira backed away, and crumbled into a large pile of rocks.

"Heh heh, looks like you guys owe me twenty bits, EACH!" She exclaimed looking back at her friends who only glared back mouthing to themselves 'damn'.

Blaze could only glare at Nira who had just finished off her Golem.
"Aw c'mon!" He exclaimed, before rolling out of the way of a massive foot. Blaze turned his attention back to the Golem before him. He dodged another incoming stomp and charged at the living wall spear set aflame from his magic. Like Nira he knoew his spear would be useless even with his fire magic, but he had a plan. As he dodged another stomp from the creature he reached into his armor and took out several small bags with wicks in them. He then began racing around the Golem jamming bag after bag into small crevises in its body, until he ran out. As he finished placing the last bag he was met with a great amount of force as the Golem back handed him into a stand filled with pies of all shapes and flavors. He wiped some cherry filling out of his eyes and smirked. Even though he definitely had some shattered ribs from the hit his armor protected him from most of the impact. The Golem began making its way towards the downed unicorn, Blaze got back onto his hooves and gritted his teeth in pain as his body registered just how badly the Golem had hit him, if it weren't for the armor he'd probably be dead right now. He pushed through the pain though and galloped towards and around the Golem surrounding it in a ring of fire produced from his horn. He stopped cirling the Golem and backed away about twenty five feet smiling smugly as the Golem made haste through the flames towards the pony. But as soon as it stepped through the ring of flames explosions began appearing all over its body where Blaze had placed the small satchels of explosives, blowing off limb after limb and completely decimating the once towering Golem, turning it into nothing more than a pile of pebbles.

"And that's how I give a 'warm' welcome to Canterlot." Blaze stated triumphantly, which earned a face hoof from Nira.

"Really? That's what you finish with?" She asked unimpressed. "We really need to work on your one liners Blaze." She sighed before turning around looking for her captain.

Shining Armor was chipping away at the Golem bit by bit with his magic infused sword. He surrounded its blade in his barrier magic to strengthen the blade allowing him to nick away at the Golems stone hide dodging and deflecting incoming attacks as he lashed at the beast.

"Ugh this is getting me no where!" Shining Armor exclaimed. Then he suddenly had a briliant idea.

"All right ugly, time to end this!" Shining Armor launched himself off the ground and started taking quick slashes at the Golems chest narrowly avoiding its grasps. He then jumps backwards off the Golems chest and shoots himself back several feet before landing on his hooves and charging back at the Golem. He circled around it to where his spear still lay in the ground and jumped towards it making it propell him through the air like before. He held the sword still encased with his barrier magic pointed towards the Golems chest where he carved out a large X shape.

"Right on target!" Shining exclaimed as he plunged the sword hilt deep into the Golems chest and jumped back from its chest again. With a sly grin on his face Shining charged his horn and began expanding the barrier spell he had around the sword. The Golem tensed up and began shaking before exploding into a million bits from the rapidly expanding field within its body.

"Looks like I rocked its world." Shining said smugly, earning a face hoof from both Nira and Blaze.

"Really captain? Really?" Blaze asked disappointed.

"That was worse than Blaze's." Nira groaned as she rubbed her forehead.

"Well excuse me for not being the prince of puns." Shining retorted.

They all started to laugh, until a loud rumble was heard all around them.

"Careful! I don't think this is over!" Shining said over his shoulder as he levitated his sword to his side and took up a deffensive stance.

"What is it this time?" Blaze asked as he and Nira formed a triangle with their captain backs towards each other.

"What ever it is I bet I can take it down first." Nira smirked.

"We'll see about tha..." But Shining's words were cut off as a shadow loomed over head blotting out the sun.

The three guard ponies stared at the creature that was hovering above them before it landed in front of the captain. It was a large pony with enormous batlike wings, a long horn that curved ever so slightly at the tip, a pitch black coat of fur, and a mane that flowed like crimson lava. An alicorn that would've towered over Celestia was giving them an eerie smirk.

"Well it looks like you broke my toys." The large alicorn stated looking at the now disintegrating rubble of the golems with a voice that would chill dragons blood.

"And now it is two things that you have done to anger me." The alicorn now gave them a stern look.

"Two? What the hay are you talking about? And for that matter who are you supposed to be?" Nira asked meeting the alicorns gaze before shrinking back slightly as it grinned at her.

"Well for starters the second thing you did to warrent my anger was NOT KNEALING!!!" as he said this a force was felt amongst the trio that forced them to thier knees. "And secondly I am Noir, Prince Noir, although I much rather prefer the title of king."

"You will never hold such a title Noir." Said a majestic booming voice before a bright flash of light appeared and disappeared revealing princess Celestia standing between the trio and Noir. "Now leave Canterlot while you still have the chance."

"You say that as if you believe you can stop me, how cute Tia." Noir chuckled a little. "I remember how you always used to ask me to spar with you when you were young, always wanting to get stronger, to be able to beat your older brother." Noir looked at Celestia with cold yellow eyes. "But now is where we see if all that practice will pay off wont we?"

"Please Noir!" Celestia pleaded. "It doesn't have to be like this, please come back to us, to me and Luna." Celestia had the hint of a tear in her eye. Noir said nothing. "Fine...if this is how it must be then so be it." Celestia shook the tears from her eyes. "I will not allow you to harm my little ponies, even if you are my brother." Celestia reared up on her hind legs and charged at Noir.

"Come little sister, let us spar one last time." As Noir held one of his wings infront of his from like a shield and met Celestias magically charged tackle.