The Siege of Canterlot

WARNING!

The following story contains language, subject matter, and sexist themes that some readers may find unsettling or offensive. If you are uncomfortable with or triggered by such themes, it is advisable that you do not read this story. This work has no connection to the creators/artists of the "Fall of Equestria" comic, and as such any and all displeasure or complaints about this particular work should not be directed toward them or their viewers. If you see someone expressing offense toward this work in the comments, please do not be snippy toward them about it.

Breathing heavily, Ink Rose fell against the fence of a house on the outskirts of Ponyville. Exhausted and her muscles screaming out in agony, she gasped for the fresh, cool night air as she looked desperately around her. All around, lights flickered on and off. No doubt somepony was searching for her.

Trying the door to the house, it swung open and she quickly hurried inside, barring the strong metal locks behind her, before rushing to the back doors and every window to do the same. The metal was unusually firm and warm to the touch. Looking around, she saw the house was decorated lavishly, the furnishings and other knick-knacks seeming otherworldly to her.

Then it dawned upon her. This was Princess Twilight's family home before the fall. Where she'd lived with her wife and daughter before moving to Canterlot...

Her wife!

Ink Rose scrambled around the house, looking for anything that she could possibly use to contact her. Princess Twilight's wife before the fall was an enigmatic creature called a Val'Kyr. A militaristic race that resided in a spaceborn city several light years away. While having been on tense terms for a very long time, the Val'Kyr were now friends to Equestria. And they were powerful. If they had learned what had happened to them...

Ink Rose's thoughts were interrupted when she swung a door open and toppled down the stairs and into the basement. Falling flat onto her face, she yelped in pain as her wing hit the foor at an odd angle. Steadily rising to her feet, she glanced around at the workshop she was in. The basement was lined with racks and workbenches, a massive forge resting in the corner of the room. This must have been where Mrs Sparkle and Sunrise tended to her weapons and armor. In the back of the room, there sat a stone archway. As she approached it, it let out a soft and quiet hum. The drawing sensation it gave felt eerily similar to the Crystal Heart after Princess Cadance had corrupted it. The tempting whisper of the archway both exciting and terrifying her. For a brief moment, she thought that maybe King Dainn had found this house, and that was why it had been unlocked. Or maybe Princess Twilight, who had quickly fallen victim to the Crystal Heart, had gotten here. It was her house, after all.

Either way, Ink Rose couldn't stop herself from approaching the archway, listening to the drawing hum grow louder and louder as she tentatively reach a hand out toward it. As soon as her fingers entered the archway, she was jerked forward and tumbled into a heap on a cold, marble floor. Shivering from the cold, Ink looked up and glanced around. She was on a marble platform that stood above a massive cityscape beneath her. The white stone and metal looking almost heavenly as she shakily got to her feet. The vertigo and her already dizzy mind making her lose her balance as she toppled off the pillar and to the street below. Before she could hit the stone, however, she was caught.

"Whoa there!" said a humanoid woman, holding her steady as she looked her over, "You're Equestrian?"

Ink Rose looked up into the icy blue eyes of the woman. Her hair was a pale white and done up in a braid that stretched down her back.

"My name is Master Tolrah," the woman said calmly, "Are you alright?"

Ink Rose's lip quivered as she buried her face into Tolrah's neck, crying softly. Tolrah stroked her hair as she helped her to stand up.

"C'mon. The Grand Lord is going to want to see you," she whispered softly.