The Fallen

It was a glorious day in Canterlot. Thousands of ponies had gathered in the center of city. Hovering above them was a massive airship, larger than a hoofball field. Princess Celestia stood on a stage along with princesses Luna, Cadence, and Twilight. Celestia approached a microphone and addressed the crowd.

“Citizens of Equestria! It is my honor to unveil the largest airship in the Equestrian fleet, the Ray of Dawn!” The crowd applauded and cheered. “With this magnificent airship, I and the other princesses will tour all of Equestria. We will be stopping at all of the major cities, from Manehatten and Baltimare to Vanhoover and Las Pegasus. By doing this, I hope to connect with my subjects all across the land and establish a more personal relationship!”

The Ray of Dawn lowered and the princesses began to board the airship. As it took off, the citizens of Canterlot waved goodbye. The Ray of Dawn was escorted by the the Wonderbolts, with Rainbow Dash leading the starboard side, Soarin leading the port side, and Spitfire taking the lead.

Twilight and Spike looked out over the outer deck, admiring the view. “I still can’t believe that Princess Celestia invited you to join her on her tour of Equestria.” Said Spike, a look of excitement upon his face.

“Well, this tour is more about all of the princesses, not just Celestia.” Twilight said humbly. “But I’m really glad that you could come along Spike. I can’t remember the last time we just spent time together as friends.”

Twilight’s words made Spike think. He mostly worked with Twilight as her assistant, but she meant more than that to him. As far back as Spike could remember he viewed Twilight as a big sister/mother.

Twilight and Spike looked out and spotted Rainbow. They waved and she waved back. “Too bad the others couldn’t make it.” Spike said.

A supply crate then burst open, spreading confetti and streamers everywhere. In the center was a certain pink party pony bouncing on her tail. “Hey guys!”

Twilight and Spike both looked in shock. “Pinkie?!” They shouted unanimously.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out!”

“Pinkie, what are you doing here?” Twilight asked.

“I invited her.” The two ponies and one dragon all turned to see Princess Celestia casually walking towards them. “In order to make this tour a success, I brought along the best party planner in Equestria to help with the festivities in each city.”

“And each city is going to have a different party theme! Wild west, circus, pirates, ninjas, summer, winter, balloons, ducks.” Pinkie kept naming off themes for several hours, not noticing that everyone had moved on some time ago.

Celestia stood at the bow of the ship, using her magic to lower the sun. Luna Stood beside her, using her magic to raise the moon. Celestia let out a yawn. “It is time for me to get some sleep Luna. You’re in charge for the night, as always.”

“Very well dear sister.” Luna replied with a smile. “I will make sure that you have pleasant dreams. Celestia then retired to her quarters.

As Rainbow flew on the starboard side, she looked to her right and saw several lights in the distance. At first she thought they were stars, but then she noticed that they bright orange. “Huh, I wonder if that’s the night watch.” Rainbow thought to herself. She then flew up to Spitfire. “Captain, is it time for the night watch to be taking their shift?”

Spitfire gave Rainbow a puzzled look. “It’s only 2100 hours. The night watch shouldn’t be here for another hour.”

“Maybe they’re early?”

Spitfire shook her head. “No, I would have been informed of a schedule change.”

Rainbow became concerned. “Then, who’s flying right towards us?”

Just as Rainbow was done asking the question, fireballs came hurling toward the Ray of Dawn. They impacted the airship, exploding and setting it on fire.

Twilight and Spike were in their room when the attack happened. Twilight was reading one of her books, and Spike was reading one of his comic books when the room violently shook. “What was that?!” Spike shouted.

“I don’t know, but we’d better find out.” Twilight opened the door and went out onto the deck to see what was going on. The sight before her left Twilight in shock. The Ray of Dawn was on fire, and ponies were screaming in pain from burns and splinter injuries.

Twilight began to put out the flames with her magic while spike tended to the wounded ponies. Suddenly, a group of armoured dragons landed on the airship. Their leader, a dragon with green scales, and orange belly, three blue horns(two on his head and one on his nose), blue spikes running down his back, and a trident shaped tail, called out orders to the others. “Search the vessel! Find Celestia!”

“Yes commander Torch!” The dragon soldiers said. Half of the soldiers began searching the ship while the other half battled the guards and the Wonderbolts. Luna attempted to fight off the dragon soldiers, but their armour simply deflected her magic.

Cadence was tending to the wounded when Torch grabbed her by the throat and lifted her into the air. “Tell me where Celestia is, now!” Torch demanded.

“Get your claws off of my sister-in-law!” Twilight shouted.

Torch turned and faced the princess of friendship. “So, you must be Celestia’s star pupil.” Torch released Cadence. “Go ahead, hit me with your best shot!”

Twilight charged up her magic and fired. Torch crossed his arms and blocked the blast with his gauntlets. Twilight stood in shock as Torch didn’t even have a scratch on him.

Torch then charged forward and nailed Twilight with an uppercut. Twilight was sent flying and landed hard. “Gah! I haven’t been hit that hard since I fought Tirek!” She thought to herself.

As Spike aided the wounded, he suddenly found himself surrounded by dragon soldiers. “Traitor!” One of them shouted. Spike curled up as the soldiers were about to pounce on him, only for the soldiers to blasted off the airship. Spike opened his eyes to see Pinkie Pie with her party cannon smoking.

“Pinkie!” Spike ran up to her and and hugged his friend.

“Yesh, what was their problem?” Pinkie asked.
“I don’t know, but we have to find the others.” Spike and Pinkie then set off in search of their friends.

Torch grabbed Twilight and placed a magic-suppression ring on her horn. “So, you must be the star pupil of Celestia that I’ve heard so much about. I must say, I am not very impressed.”

Cadance tried to come to Twilight’s aid, but Torch just struck her with a spinning back kick that sent Cadance flying. “Now, let’s go find your teacher.” Torch dragged Twilight with him as he continued his search for Celestia.

Twilight was barely conscious as Torch dragged her by the scruff of her neck. “Spike, please be ok.”

Torch soon found Celestia’s room and kicked down the door. “Hello Celestia. It’s been a long time.”

Celestia stared at Torch with wide eyes. She looked like she had seen a ghost. “Torch?!”

“I’m surprised you even remember my name.” Torch took a step towards Celestia. “Now we can do this the easy way, or the hard way.”

Celestia gave Torch a dead serious look. “We both know that you can’t take me.”

Torch simply made a sinister smile. “True, however-” He then hoisted up Twilight and wrapped both of his hands around her neck. “We both know that I can easily snap your student’s neck before you can even move an inch. Do you really want to risk her life?”

Celestia lowered her head in defeat. “I surrender. Just please, do not harm Twilight.”

“Very good.” Torch placed a magic suppression ring on Celestia’s horn. “Now we must be going. There is still much to do.” Torch snapped his claws and two soldiers came in to escort Celestia.

Torch turned to one of his soldiers. “We’re done here. You know what to do.” The soldier saluted and flew off. He joined up with other soldiers flying over the Ray of Dawn, and the group staffed the massive airship with their fire breath. The Ray of Dawn completely burst into flames and plummeted from the sky.

The Wonderbolts began evacuating as many ponies as they could. Pinkie and Spike saw Celestia and Twilight being carried off by Torch and his soldiers. “Stop right there!” Spike shouted. He charged at Torch with all of his might, but Torch just swatted him away like a fly, sending him crashing into a wall.

Torch took a brief moment to look back at Spike. “Pathetic.” He said bluntly with an expressionless face. Torch then took off with Celestia and Twilight in tow.

Pinkie rushed to Spike’s side. The Ray of Dawn then tilted sharply starboard, and they both off of the side. The two held each other as they fell, only for Rainbow to snatch them up before they could hit the ground.

“Are you two alright?”

Pinkie nodded her head. Spike looked towards the horizon as Twilight and Celestia were taken away by Torch.

“Twilight.” Spike muttered under his breath. His eyes filling with tears.