Falling back to the Crystal Empire
After staring at Tirek for a couple of seconds, Discord finally snapped out of it when Princess Luna shook him in the side.
"Discord, are you okay?!" Luna asked. "You seemed pale."
"Well I, uh, um...." Discord stuttered as he looked at Luna. "I could've sworn I thought I saw Tirek in a distance."
When Discord turned his face at the direction where Tirek was at, he was gone.
"Actually, I don't really know what I saw." Discord said as he changed the subject. "But I've got a very bad feeling about this."
"LUNA!!! HELP ME!!!!" Celestia shouted as she was loosing her stamina while fending herself from the invaders. The next thing Luna and Discord saw from her was when they started swarming over Celestia like they were army ants overwhelming their prey. Gladius Strife was there too but he was getting beaten back by the invaders as well.
Without hesitation, Luna and Discord moved in and repelled the invaders with their magic. Luna cast a massive chain lighting spell that struck at several Unicornian soldiers, before they collapsed in a state of shock. As Celestia started getting back up, Discord summoned a Plunder Vine whip in his claw and started whip lashing the invaders with full fury, while Luna and some of her men escorted Princess Celestia back into the palace to treat her injuries.
After a few hours of standing their ground at the palace courtyard, the enemy catapults started bombarding the entire area. The royal sisters, Discord, Gladius, and the rest of the Equestrian guards ran inside to seek shelter in the palace while a couple of their unicorn guards stayed outside to form a magical shield barrier around the palace, in hopes of protecting their fortress from enemy bombardment. As soon as their artillery stopped firing, Unicornian troops started charging straight out of the wreckage and into the courtyard from all directions. Discord used the last of his Plunder Vines to form up a defensive circle of living plants around the palace, while the other royal guards started firing their handguns, rifles, and their magic at the advancing Unicornians from the palace windows. As the invaders got closer, the Plunder Vines started hissing at them before they gassed them but not before some of the invaders returned fire with their magic, vaporizing most of the Plunder vines.
"Princess Celestia, what do we do?!" One of the commanders asked her. "We got too many wounded soldiers to take care of. We're sitting ducks here."
Princess Celestia had to find a way to drive back the invaders from the city, but she is running out of ideas. "I don't think we can hold them off any longer, we have to come up with an idea fast."
Luna wasn't able to come up any more ideas. Ultimately, Discord had a light bulb appear on top of his heading, claiming that he have one more trick up his sleeve.
"Sunbutt! Moonbutt! I have an idea." Discord announced. "But I may need both of your help in order to make this one succeed."
"What is it, Discord?!" Luna asked.
The royal sisters and Discord gather around and whispered to each other. After a while, they disengaged from their conversation.
"If you think this is going to work, we'll have to do this carefully at the right time." Celestia suggested Discord.
"There's no easy way out of this Sunbutt." Discord replied to Celestia. "You just have to trust me since we won't get another chance at this."
Meanwhile outside of the palace, the Unicornian guards are able to successfully breach the Plunder Vine defensive circle and charged forward. However, before they can storm into the palace, Discord appeared in front of the palace entrance, standing a couple of feet away from the advancing Unicornian guards.
"Hello, Unicornians. Are you ready for some wind blowing?!" Discord smirked as he snapped his claws to summon a giant leaf blower.
Before any of the invaders could make a move, they started getting blown away by Discord's contraption. They were sent flying from Canterlot all the way to the open fields outside the city. Just when they got back up on their hooves, Discord appeared again. Just in an instant, his claw started glowing yellow before he casting one of his spells on the Unicornians. His magic made a blinding, harmless flash in front of the invaders. As soon as the light faded away, they started turning into a grayish color. Suddenly, without warning, some of the Unicornian soldiers started attacking each other.
"You!! You're a traitor!!!" The 1st Unicornian guard snarled as he pounced a Unicornian guard on his right.
"Come here you fiend, I'll rip you apart!!" The 2nd guard hissed as he unleash a flurry of blows at a nearby guard on his left.
"You want a piece of me?!" The 3rd guard snarled as he lunged at a nearby army officer.
"I'm going to kick your bucking flank!!!" The 4th guard growled as he attacked a nearby guard at the front with his sword.
"You and what army?!" A nearby military officer hissed as he started firing his magic at a nearby guard.
The rest of the Unicornian guards started attacking and beating each other up in similar ways. During the fiasco that Discord had caused, he started displaying a really big smile as he took pictures of the scene with his camera.
"I should put all of this in my photo albums later on." Discord laughed as he teleported himself away from the fiasco.
WHAT IN THE NAME OF TARTARUS IS GOING ON HERE?!!? A unicornian general appeared as he shouted at the top of his lungs.
"It looks like that Draconeques demon has placed a curse on some of our men, making them fight amongst themselves." One of his lieutenants answered to the general.
"DON'T JUST STAND THERE, YOU FLASHY IDIOT!!!!" The general roared at the lieutenant. "STOP THEM, NOW!!!!"
Wasting no more time dilly dallying, the startled lieutenant rushed forward with a few of his non-afflicted guards and attempted to stop the guards that turned traitor in their ranks.
"General, what is going on out there?!" Queen Majesty asked as she spoke from inside the Royal Unicornian Caravan.
"Your Highness, were having a bit of a free-for-all insurrection that needs to be taken care of." The general answered.
Meanwhile back at Canterlot, Discord appeared again at the palace grounds where Celestia and Luna were helping their guards treat the wounded.
"Sunbutt! Moonbutt!! The distraction is now underway. It's time." Discord said to the royal sisters.
"Alright, then." Celestia responded. "On the count of three."
As their countdown began, Celestia began to unleash her magic by aiming her horn up into the sky, while it started glowing yellow.
"One!"
Luna aimed her horn up into the sky too while it started glowing blue.
"Two!"
Finally, Discord raised his claw into the air before summoning his magic.
"Three!!!"
The royal sisters and Discord shot out magic beams up into the sky. As their magic combined into one big glowing orb, it exploded 200 feet above Canterlot, forming a huge shield barrier around the city.
"That should buy us some time to recover and plan our next counterattack against the Unicornian Invaders." Luna said.
"Commander, I'm leaving you in charge in defending Canterlot from here on out." Celestia commanded one of her superior officers in a royal Canterlot voice. "If anything happens, you report back to me immediately."
"Yes, your majesty!!!" The Commander acknowledged with a military salute before moving on.
"Time to go, Princess!!" Discord said as he summoned a doorway leading to the Crystal Empire.
Since the Royal Sisters needed time to recover and think about the situation at hand, they were the first to disappear into the doorway that Discord summoned. Gladius Strife followed them next.
"So long, losers!!!" Discord said to the Unicornians outside of Canterlot. It was the last thing he said before he went through the doorway leading to the Crystal Empire.
After the royal sisters, Gladius, and Discord left Canterlot, the doorway disappeared immediately.
Before the commander continued giving out orders to the rest of Canterlot's defenders, he prayed for one last wish to his Princess. "Farewell, Princess Celestia. May the glory of Queen Faust protect you."
Author's Note
This is just the beginning of the Civil War that Amadeus and his associates declared upon Equestria. I'll stop there for now. Hope you folks enjoyed this short story. Good bye.
Some of the stuff that I wrote in the first chapter were references based on the movie scenes that I watch from my favorite videos: Return of the King and Deathly Hallows part 2. Also, in the second chapter of this story, when I made the enemy general shout at one of officers, his first speech was a reference from a scene in One Piece; where a cloaked Buggy the Clown spots Luffy and Zoro leave the restaurant that they were in and orders one of his lackeys to get them.
[youtube= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9-Jx-DjDaU]
Author's Note
This is usually my way of using my own words in expressing how the Royal Sisters, Gladius Strife, and Discord did their part in defending Canterlot from Unicornia, before they met up with Princess Twilight at the Crystal Empire. Furthermore, this is considered another side story that takes place during chapter 4 in twotonedearly's story. Please, enjoy the story.
Siege of Canterlot
As the royal sisters, Gladius, and Discord made their way out of the palace in Canterlot, they see the bright blue sky completely cover up with smoke and fire. On the streets, they see pony citizens running for their lives in fear of being killed by the invaders, as various explosions starting to erupt all over the city. There were guards scattered across the streets trying to repel the Unicornian troops from entering Canterlot. Royal guards unleashed various magic spells from all over the city while defending the battlements. Those who don't fight with their magic started attacking each other with various weapons, such as spears, swords, 18th century handguns and rifles, and with their hooves.
Not wanting to stand around, Princess Celestia issued the following orders to her soldiers. "Equestria is threatened!! Man the boundaries, protect us, do your duty to our country."
One of the military commanders of Equestria came up to Princess Celestia await for orders. "Princess, the Unicornian Army is attempting to breach our walls from the main gate!!"
Celestia responded by giving her commander the first order. "Get your men up to the courtyard and to the walls. Hold them off as long as you can."
"Yes, your majesty." The commander acknowledged.
"Gladius, help me save as many citizens as you can and escort them out of the city." Celestia told her bodyguard.
"I'm on it!!" Gladius replied.
"Luna, go help defend the main gate!!!" Celestia ordered her sister.
"It's done." Luna acknowledged.
As Celestia and Gladius charged forward onto the battlefield, in hoping to save the citizens of Canterlot from getting killed during the siege, Luna and Discord went with one of Celestia's commanders to the courtyard. As soon as they reached the courtyard, the main gate was immediately breached.
"You are soldiers of Equestria!!!" Luna announced in a royal Canterlot voice. "No matter what comes through that gate you will stand your ground!!!!"
The gate came crashing down in front of a platoon of Equestrian soldiers. As the Unicornian soldiers charged through the wreckage, Luna issued a military command at the top of her lungs. "VOLLEY!!! FIRE!!!!" The Unicornian troops were met by a barrage of magic blasts and gunfire coming from Luna's guards. The moment the invaders got closer, the Equestrian royal guard formed up a spear formation.
A massive clash occurred between the invaders and the defenders in a full frontal assault. Luna flew up into the sky and launched an array of battle spells at the invaders, while Discord summoned his plunder vines to restrain the invaders who weren't engaged in fighting with the Equestrian guards. During the fight, Shinning Armour and Princess Cadence immediately went into one the evacuating airships, along Night Light and Twilight Velvet, before one of towers came crashing down into the castle grounds.
"Are you sure you don't want to help out Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?" Princess Cadence asked.
"I do want to get into the fight too, but I have to make sure our parents stay out of harm's way first." Shinning Armour answered.
"Well, I hope they'll meet us back at the Crystal Empire." Cadence said in a worried tone.
"Don't worry, my dear." Shinning Armour told Cadence. "They already been through a lot of life-threatening situations even before I was born."
"Well, I hope nothing bad happens to Twilight again or to Twinklestar." Velvet said in a worried tone. She already suffered when learning that her daughter, Twilight Sparkle, was assassinated by those monsters that happened to be miserable excuses of Equestrian nobles.
"I'm sure Twilight will meet us at the Crystal Empire, along with her friends very soon." Shinning said to his mom.
The last thing Shinning Armour, his parents, and Princess Cadence saw from the window of their airship, before they disappeared into the sky, was Canterlot burning, followed by various shouts, explosions, and war cries echoing from down below.
Meanwhile, back at the courtyard where the main gate is, the Unicornian invaders kept charging through the gateway like never ending tide. Various Changeling Republican soldiers, members of the Wonderbolts, and Pegasus guards came swooping down from the sky, piercing the invaders with their spears and their magic. However, the Equestrian army was slowly loosing its ground as Unicornian soldiers came scaling down from the wall on both sides of the shattered gate. Discord's Plunder Vines were able to hold their ground above the city walls but in just seconds later, they started getting obliterated by the invaders, as they were launching fire spells at the vines. As Luna continued fighting with the soldiers of Unicornia, Discord noticed that a huge fireball is coming down from the sky heading straight to where Luna is standing.
"MOONBUTT, GET DOWN!!!" Discord shouted as he lurched forward, pinning Luna to ground and not wanting her to get blasted by the fireball. The fireball missed both of them inches away from where they were standing, before it blew up a nearby house that was abandoned.
"Thanks, Discord." Luna said to the draconeques. When Luna got back up on her hooves and saw what was going on, her eyes widen with fear. "If they were bearing down on us with fireballs, then that must mean...."
It didn't took that long for Luna to figure out where the fireballs are coming from. When Luna flew up into the sky again, she saw the invaders using catapults to bring destruction upon the city. Before she can do anything else, more catapults started hurling fireballs all over Canterlot. In just 10 seconds, most of the houses in the city streets have been bombarded with catapult fire, resulting in total collapse of several of them while those that didn't collapse got caught on fire.
"DISCORD!!! Time to run!!" Luna told him in a Canterlot voice before ordering the rest of her guards at the main courtyard. "EVERY PONY RETREAT!!! FALL BACK TO THE PALACE!!!!"
As Luna and Discord started running back to the palace, along with the remaining royal guards and their reinforcements, Luna realized that she can't leave her sister behind. "Discord, get Tia to regroup with me at the palace!!!" Luna told him.
"Understood." Discord acknowledged as he took off on a motorcycle that he summoned with his magic.
During the evacuation, Celestia and Gladius were almost done getting every pony out of the city when all of a sudden, Discord appeared right in front of them.
"Sunbutt! Gladius! The invaders are bombarding us with catapults armed with fireballs and the main courtyard has been overrun. Moonbutt and her men are already falling back to the palace grounds but they're requesting immediate assistance." Discord told them both.
"Captain!!" Celestia said to one her commanding officers. "Help the rest of the other ponies escape."
"Yes, princess!!!" The Captain saluted to her before he went off to finish where Princess Celestia had left off.
"Gladius, let's move it!!" Celestia ordered her bodyguard.
"Yes, your highness!!!" Gladius acknowledged.
By the time Celestia, Gladius, and Discord reached the castle grounds, Luna was already fighting with the invaders, alongside the rest of her surviving troops. Unfortunately, Luna is getting exhausted every time she fired up a spell to blast away the Unicornian soldiers. Not wanting to see Luna fall to the enemy, Celestia and Gladius came to her aid to ward off the rest of the invaders.
Before he can rejoin Luna in holding there ground against the invaders, however, Discord spot a demonic figure from the south, behind the advancing Unicornians. As he looked harder, he saw a familiar foe standing next to a wrecked building. After staring at the figure in the distance, Discord's eyes widen with fear while his heart started beating in a panicked state. The figure turned out a be familiar centaur with red skin, white hair, black vest, and 2 really big horns on his head. It was Tirek.
The moment Tirek saw Discord in the distance during the fight between Equestrians and Unicornians, he glared at him with looks that wanted to kill and drain Discord of his chaos magic.
