The End of Innocence - Prologue:
“How did this happen? How could this have happened?”
Twilight was standing frozen in a deadly war zone that had now engulfed all of Canterlot. Ponyville has been lost, the surrounding cities and settlements have all been lost. Canterlot is all that remains to be conquered.
For the briefest of moments it appeared as if time slowed to a crawl for the young purple Alicorn as she was able to take in every detail of her surroundings. She was standing defensively in the crystal caverns below Canterlot. Everypony that could be evacuated before the invasion was being brought down here for safety. There were only a few openings into the caverns allowing for easier defense where her brother, her sister in law, her 5 best friends, and the Princesses were holding back the unrelenting enemy onslaught. Twilight turned her head to survey her surroundings once more. It hurt to do so, she was badly bruised, and her right wing was hanging limply at her side with a broken bone. She had dozens of small cuts along her body as she defended herself but was not quite fast enough.
The sights before her turned her blood cold. First she spotted Fluttershy. The yellow Pegasus had solid steel resolve to help all of those who were injured. The look of pure determination with absolutely zero fear or hesitation was solidly plastered on her face. That look was only occasionally broken by a whimper of pain from her last injury but was quickly replaced with her previous look, just blink at the wrong time and you would miss it. It hurt Twilight to no end seeing her as she was. Fluttershy’s right side was facing Twilight as she attended a downed night guard, who was bleeding badly from a wound Twilight could not make out. Twilight knew what was wrong with Fluttershy; she could see the blood dripping down her left foreleg. The heart wrenching wound came into perfect view when Fluttershy turned to grab more bandages. Her beautiful wing was completely missing right at the base; only a small bloody stump remained. How Fluttershy was able to continue working Twilight did not know.
Applejack came into view next. She was in the middle of a brutal fight, but one she seemed perfectly able to handle as she bucked three of the enemy into oblivion. She was also covered in a plethora of cuts, bruises and other assorted wounds. The worst of them all however was the large gash across the right side of her face from her ear all the way to the tip of her muzzle. Nopony knows how for sure, but the cut managed to not injure her eye, but that scare will always remain front and center as a reminder of what they were now going through. Even with years of apple bucking, it was clear from her expression that she was fatigued nearly to the point of collapse, but she would not give up.
Rainbow Dash came into view above Applejack. She was in an air battle with two of the enemy as she had just managed to knock two others out of the air with a twirling kick and well placed sucker punch to the face. She was holding out fairly well, having only bruises and no apparent cuts however there was no way of knowing how much longer this fight was going to last. Twilight only hoped that the cyan Pegasus would be able to manage the fight without any major injuries.
Rarity was seen blasting the enemy with such pure unadulterated hate that it actually scared Twilight a little. The usually calm and collected mare who always made sure she looked fabulous no matter the situation was now a complete mess. Her usually pristine white coat was covered in blood, but it was obvious it was not her own but that of the enemy. Her once perfectly styled main was now a charred and burned wreckage of its former self having been hit with a strong magical blast she was able to duck away from with only moments to spare. Rarity might not be the strongest magical unicorn around, but her years of multitasking and carefully manipulating many objects at the same time while making her outfits made her a formidable fighter allowing her to easily fight nearly a dozen enemies concurrently. And it was the manner in which she was able to bring them down that was the real shocker. She did not simply blast them to pieces as most unicorns would do. No she used her ability to finely manipulate her magic to hit just the right spot on each attacker with pinpoint precision and deadly accuracy that they simply dropped like flies as parts of their bodies simply disconnected from the rest and fell to the ground.
“Never make her angry.” Twilight thought.
Pinkie Pie was spotted. This mare frightened Twilight to the core. The party pony was no longer pink, but pure red from top to bottom with the blood of the enemy. That was not the thing about Pinkie that scared Twilight; no, it was her expression. Her normally beautiful blue eyes that shimmered with pure fun, happiness and love were now cold orbs of steel. Her pupils were but pin pricks while the blue seemed to fill the rest of her eyes like an ocean terrifyingly shimmering with absolute excitement and bliss at the same time. Her normally puffy main was now deflated and perfectly straight cascading down the side of her face. The feature of Pinkie that truly made her somepony who could send shivers down the spine of even the toughest of hardened criminals would be her smile. This was not a smile of happiness or joy. This was a smile comprised simply of maniacal jubilance one would expect to see on an inmate buried deep in a sanitarium for the criminally insane. Pinkie was not kicking or punching the enemy, she was literally tearing them limb from limb. Her scientifically impossible ability to sense what is about to happen combined with her ability to defy physics and move in a blink of an eye from one spot to the other in what could only be otherwise described as teleportation allowed her to fight without otherwise receiving a single scratch.
Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadence were in their full set of armor. Nopony had seen Celestia in armor for over a thousand years, and Cadence had never even worn armor ever before while Luna happily wore what appears to be the same armor as Nightmare Moon. Celestia’s armor appeared solid gold covering her entire body including her legs and wings. The armor was expertly inlayed with intricately designed markings filled with turquoise. Cadence’s armor was also gold and also intricately inlayed with designs, but while one could not exactly decipher what Celestia’s armor’s designs were of, Cadence’s armor was inlayed with red and pink versions of her cutie mark. All three of them were directing all of their energy to continue teleporting refugees into the caverns and nothing else, as even Twilight’s magical aptitude did not have the pure stamina that the ancient pony sisters and the princess of love possess to carry out such a non-stop feat.
Twilight’s brother was working hard to keep a shield up around everpony but it seemed no matter how hard he tried some of the enemy made it through. It should have been an impossibility but it was happening all around him none the less. This only caused him to push even more magic into the shield slowing them down a little further but still not stopping them completely. His concentration was so directed towards his spell that he failed to notice one of the enemy firing a magical blast right at his head. Twilight was too slow to do anything but scream.
“SHINING!”
Twilight blasted the enemy in oblivion and teleported right to Shining Armor’s side just has he was in the middle of collapsing to the floor. Tears were cascading down Twilight’s face like a river and she was extending a trembling hoof to nudge her brother on the shoulder. Shinning only moved like a limp rag doll. Twilight wrapped herself around him and checked for vitals, anything to show he was still alive.
“NO!” was all Twilight could scream as she begins to use every healing spell she had ever read (which were numerous) but none seemed to do anything.
Twilight let go of Shinning and sat up on her haunches next to him vision locked on her brother’s body. Her breathing was becoming erratic, as her unblinking eyes narrowed to pin pricks. A slight crackling of energy could be felt throughout the entire cavern but nopony paid it any attention at first as they were all preoccupied with their own situations. Soon the energy could be felt by all but they had no idea what was causing it and still could not afford to look around lest they lose their own fights. Twilight closes her eyes while tears still flow freely down her cheeks. One of the enemy spots twilight with her back to it and eyes closed. Thinking she is an easy target it rockets off the ground towards her but just a few inches away from sinking sharp fangs into her neck the enemy simply begins to dematerialize from the outside in. Black chitin crumbles away to muscle to disintegrate into bone before simply nothing is left but a slight swirl of dust gently blowing past Twilight.
The energy level in the room continues to build until even the changeling swarm comes to a stop not knowing what could possibly be causing such a phenomenon. Fighting soon grinds to a halt as all present, changeling and pony alike are unable to move and are frozen in place as a wave of black energy crackling with dark purple wisps of electricity blasts outward from Twilight’s position. Twilgiht’s horn is glowing, but it is not glowing her normal shade of lavender. Instead it is crackling with deep black bubbling with shades of dark blue and green while lavender arcs of electricity dance between them.
Twilight’s eyes are still closed, but no tears are flowing now. Her face is expressionless and devoid of any emotion while her breathing has slowed to a clam rhythm. Suddenly her eyes shoot open but they are not Twilight Sparkles eyes, they resemble the same eyes King Sombra once possessed. Tendrils of black energy seep out of the corners of her eyes and waft in the air like flames. The whites of her eyes are green, and her previously lavender irises are a deep red marked with only speckles of purple.
“What is happening to me?” Twilight thinks in her usual voice.
“They… will… pay…” Twilight thinks again but the voice she hears in her own head is not of her own, but a twisted and almost demonic version her own voice. The voice is cold but filled with pure logic and reason.
“Yes… they will all pay…” Twilight replies in her own voice before all of her thoughts go dark and only what sound like distant whispers of screams of agony and death can be heard only to tickle the very beginning of her mind until not even the whispers can be heard except for one last voice yelling.
“Twilight! STOP!”