The New Monarchy

Twilight and Fluttershy walk out of the darkness and come out somewhere near Ponyville. Twilight pounds the ground. "Darn It! We won't be able to get to Canterlot fast enough from here. Ok, think Twilight think." She paces on the grass while mumbling to herself.

"We could just fly there." Fluttershy suggests.

"No, we can't. The air is filled with changelings, we'd be lucky if we would make it to the boarder of Canterlot." Twilight stops and stares at Ponyville. "That's it, that's it! Fluttershy, go back to Ponyville and tell everyone to meet me at the train station."

"But what if they don't listen? I did tell them-"

"They will, just tell them that I sent you." Fluttershy nods and begins to run to Ponyville.

"Rainbow!" Fluttershy yells as she remembers her friend. "No, keep running, help her after." She resumes running but can't get her out of her mind. A quick visit, then I'll tell everyone.

She runs into the hospital and pushes past the nurses. She runs into her room and stands by her bedside. She finds a cord and follows it to the heart beat monitor. It's off. "R-Rainbow?" She hits the power button and drops to the ground. A high-pitched, constant, non-stop sound plays through out the air. "N-no." She whispers. Hoof steps come up from behind her.

"I'm sorry Ms. Shy." The nurse that informed her about the cost says as she walks in.

"I-is there any chance?" She tries to let out the tears but, she can't.

"No. It's been five minutes since the monitor told us this. I left to get the morgue manager." Fluttershy looks behind her and sees a blue Pegasus in a lab coat. "I'm sorry."

Fluttershy stares at Rainbow Dash and can't move. She's numb, her body feeling like a broken chair. The morgue manager turns off the monitor and takes Rainbow away, giving his apologies. The nurse escorts Fluttershy out. I-I, I can't believe it. She's...

A pony puts his hoof on her shoulder. Looking behind, it's Write Holliday from the market. "I'm sorry, they told me she would be fine. I didn't know she would die."

Fluttershy grows angry. "What do you mean? You did this on purpose?!"

"H-he said it would start the dawn of a new age! A good age! I didn't know that she would die! I thought she would be fine, he gave me his word!"

"Who?!" He looks down, clearly knowing something bad.

"A-a changeling." Fluttershy stares at him, wanting to kill him for his ignorance, his stupidity, his mistake. But she knows she won't, she can't. The changeling on the other hand...

"If you really feel bad then go from door to door and tell each pony to make their way to the train station." Fluttershy runs off before he can respond.

After an hour of doing exactly that, there is a large mob near the station. Twilight is in front of them, ready to speak. "Excuse me everypony! I appreciate you coming out here, but that won't matter if the changelings win. We need to storm Canterlot and take it back!"

"And how do you propose we get there?" A voice asks from the crowd.

"Simple, we take the train!" She points over to the train that is docked a few hundred feet away. "Who's with me?!" A rush of yells and cheers come from the crowd as they file into the train and prepare themselves.

As the train docks in Canterlot, a small group of Changelings go to check the passengers. Twilight rushes out and tackles one as the others run out and make their way to the castle. Fluttershy and a few others help Twilight, then join the mob. On their way up they fight off small groups of Changelings before facing a small army of them in front of the castle. "Hold!" Twilight yells, getting in front of everypony.

A tense moment passes as the two groups stare at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. "Now!"  A war begins, ponies and Changelings fighting, winning, losing, and fleeing. Twilight and Fluttershy run into the castle and slip past the distracted guards. They see Celestial and Chrysalis staring each other down.

"You have invaded for the last time Chrysalis, leave now or else." Celestial warns, readying her magic.

"You wouldn't dare square off with me, there is no love here for you to defeat me with this time, I'm here to stay."

"Then there is no love for you to feed on either, meaning you are weak and powerless here." Chrysalis smiles.

"Even if you strike me down, there are things far worse to fear." Her horn glows green.

"Don't!" Chrysalis fires a blast of magic at Celestia as she does the same. Twilight creates a protective bubble around her and Fluttershy as an explosion engulfs the room.

Smoke is kicked up and all goes quiet.

"T-Twilight? Are you ok?" Fluttershy asks, cowering behind her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You?"

"I'm ok." The smoke clears and a figure stands there, over the other. Twilight misses a breath.

"N-no, how? This, this doesn't make sense, I don't, how?" Nightmare moon stands tall over Chrysalis, who is motionless on the ground. "But where's-" Twilight is cut off as Celestia is seen under Chrysalis's body. "No!"

Nightmare moon looks up and smirks, casting a wall between her and the two friends. "Well well well, look who decided to show up. It looks like they're both dead, doesn't it? The Changelings should notice soon, then retreat. The others should mourn their precious princess, and then there's you two who know the truth." She looks at Chrysilas. "It wasn't meant to be this way, she was meant to be the queen and I the princess, but not like this. If only Tia didn't get involved."

"You monster!" Twilight yells, tears streaming from her face. "You killed your sister and won't even-"

"She wasn't my sister! She was my distraction, and now she's gone!" Nightmare moon takes a breath and looks at Twilight. "You should know how I feel, I got rid of Rainbow Dash for you after all." Twilight goes pale.

Fluttershy becomes confused. "B-but a changeling told Write to-"

"A changeling sent by Chyrisalis sent by me. You have Twilight here to thank for that."

"Twilight? What is she talking about?" Fluttershy asks, getting worried.

Twilight grows fearful. "You, you didn't. You couldn't, you-"

"I did."

"What?" Fluttershy shakes Twilight.

"I-I had a dream, er, nightmare, the other night that Rainbow died from a freak accident in the market. That started a series of events that led to my ruling. I figured it was ironic this happened after I dreamt that, but now..."

"Pawns, it's all you ponies are, even Rainbow Dash. She was just the first domino to fall. I'm going to leave you two now, have fun finding a replacement." Nightmare Moon flies off through a hole in the ceiling, but the wall stays there, only to disappear soon after.

"Should we chase her?" Fluttershy asks Twilight.

It takes a moment for Twilight to respond. "No, it's useless." Twilight stares at the two bodies on the ground. "Come on, we have work to do."