How The Mean 6 should have endedby Midnight StarfallChaptersDaybreakDeliverancePower StruggleSalvationRegicideEpilogueDaybreak"Cadence, what troubles you?" Celestia asks, looking down from her throne to her niece, who's clearly deep in thought "I don't know, I just feel something...it's putting me on edge with the inactivity around here" Cadence huffed, she had been in Canterlot for the past few weeks for diplomatic meetings and was eager to get back to The Empire, back to her Shining Armour and Flurry Heart. "If you like, there is a cargo airship heading back to The Crystal Empire, I'm sure it'll be fine if you left a couple of days early" Celestia suggested, lowering her voice slightly out of fear of any diplomats hearing "R-really? But, the delegates..." Cadence did her best to reel in her enthusiasm, it was her duty to be here after all. "Don't worry, I'll handle them, I've managed it on my own for a millennia, a couple of days won't be a problem" The ivory alicorn said with a smile. Cadence could barely hold back now. "Oh thank you aun...uh Princess" She said, bowing slightly before trotting off, a grin plastered on her face and a spring in her step...that gut feeling...she simply shrugged and made her way to the airship docks. As she skipped her way out of the room one of The Royal Guards discreetly slipped out of the room, making his way through the halls of the palace, before entering The Starswirld The Bearded wing, which was off limits for renovations, he headed deep inside, where he was confident that he was alone. He then closed his eyes and a green aura appeared around him, his disguise disappeared, leaving a Changeling drone alone in the empty room, it's horn lit up, casting a spell on a nearby mirror, the surface changed until it didn't seem like a mirror, more like a window leading somewhere, on the other side was Chrysalis. "My queen" the changeling said in a raspy voice, bowing down on one knee and lowering it's head. "Rise drone" She said in a commanding tone "Tell me, what have you learned?" "There is an airship leaving Canterlot for The Crystal Empire soon, they aren't expecting trouble" The drone explained, standing up tall, a grin growing on it's face as it proved it's worth to it's queen. "Good...you have done a good job indeed, now return home, the next stage of our plan must come into effect" Crysalis said, almost exploding in a fit of laughs at hearing her plan going just as expected, but she stayed collected, remembering it hadn't succeeded yet. The Changeling bowed once more, before the spell dissipated, it then re-assumed it's disguise and beat a hasty but discreet retreat back to meet up with the hive. Cadence reached the dock, it was packed with Ponies all heading to passenger liners and the like, thankfully not many paid her too much mind as she squeezed through the crowds, heading instead for the supply docks, this area wasn't as well travelled by regular Ponies, only by those with deliveries to make and other business related goings on. She was having some trouble finding the exact dock and airship though... "Okay...which dock is...Applejack?" Cadence would recognise the orange farmpony anywhere, though it helped she was never without her signature hat. She made her way over to Applejack, who was talking with a dockhand about something, but she turned and smiled at the princess. "Well golly Princess, fancy seein you here" Applejack said with a smile, making sure to respectfully bow when Cadence came over. "Please, you don't need to do that, we're friends after all." The pink mare said, smiling as politely as she could, but to be honest she'd gotten tired of diplomats and royals bowing and treating her like royalty, it certainly didn't help that she was exactly that...but at least her friends can treat her differently. "It's just common courtesy, 'sides...bad habits die hard, anyways why are ya here, if ya don't mind me askin?" She asked, still a little confused as to why royalty was running around warehouses. "Well...Celestia let me go home early, there's an airship around here going to The Empire?" Cadence said, looking around in the hopes of spotting her airship "Lucky we bumped into each other then, I'm hitching a ride on an airship leaving in a minute that sounds just like that" Applejack smiled, turning and gesturing for Cadence to follow. "I mean, it's kinda a passenger ship too...so it ain't just us and a bunch of boxes" she chuckled, waving a hoof at some of the Ponies standing on the deck, she recognised a few from all over the place...but then again crowds always seem to have the same ponies in them...probably a trick of the eye. "Again thank you Applejack, you've been a real help" The Princess said holding her hoof to her heart "I don't know what I'd have done if I didn't meet up with you..." Applejack visibly blushes at the compliment "Aww shucks Princess, I'm sure you'd have done just fine without me, anyway lets get aboard, I'm sure they're itching to set off" With that the two mares boarded the airship and waved to passerby's as they left dock and headed out into the open air. After looking around the ship a little Applejack and Cadence eventually made their way to the command deck, where they met the captain and crew. DeliveranceIn The Crystal Empire, or more accurately, just outside it Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo are sitting relaxing on the shore of a lake, the only sounds are birds and jumping fish. "Heh, the fish are really jumping today aren't they?" Rainbow Dash said, thinking for a second weather fishing was actually an entertaining activity...and if she could fish using a sonic rainboom. "I mean, I guess" Scootaloo replied in a disinterested tone, she seemed deep in thought too...just not about fish. "What's the matter squirt? You know you can tell me if you're worried about anything right?" Said the older Pegasus, fluttering over to the filly to sit next to her. "I don't know Rainbow, I guess I just miss my friends, with them being back in Ponyville..." She said, looking out to the lake with a thousand mile stare "Hey don't worry, I'm sure they're fine...besides you're going home tomorrow, it'll be like nothing ever happened!" Rainbow Dash says, wrapping a wing around Scootaloo and looking out at the lake too. A little way out into the lake a large fish jumps out a few metres and makes a massive splash "Hey did you see that?" she says, pointing out at the ripples on the water "Heh, that was pretty awesome" Scootaloo says with a laugh "It was huge" that's when she glances up and sees an airship in the air "Hey look! It's Applejacks airship, lets watch it land!" She yells, jumping to her hooves and running up the hill "Talk about dull Scoots..." Rainbow says, rolling her eyes "Hurry, we'll miss it!" The filly says, jumping on her scooter and kicking off down the valley, her wings buzzing as fast as they can, dodging past rocks and boulders and other obstacles. Rainbow Dash flies behind, making sure to fly slower to keep an eye on her...can't let her get hurt... It isn't long for Scootaloo to lose control and hit a rock, sending her flying off into the air, Rainbow effortlessly flies under her, catching her on her back and carrying on flying "If you're gonna fly Scoots, fly in style" she says, flying low and ducking through the canyon, with Scootaloo hanging on tight. As they fly Scootaloo looks to the side, spotting a view of The Empire "Why not stop here?" Scootaloo asks "You want a good view right? We're goin right for the top" Rainbow boasts, looking up at the mountain while still flying through the natural obstacle course, the pegasus was sure Scoots wouldn't mind the free air show. Along the route though Rainbow spotted Twilight Sparkle sitting under a tree, probably a spell book...perfect. Rainbow sped past leaving a rainbow streak behind, the whiplash blew both Twilight's book and her hair in wild directions "Rainbow! Fore Celestia's sake I..." Twilight yelled out, but the pair were already gone up the mountain. "Here's as good a spot as any" The blue pegasus says as she lands right next to a telescope, Scootaloo quickly dismounts her friend and runs up to the telescope, turning it to face the airship as it flies past. "Wait...Rainbow there's a hole in the airship!" the filly yells out, zooming in on the damage "Excuse me?" Rainbow quickly runs over, taking over the telescope, zooming in she sees Evil Twilight and Crysalis standing in the opening, Crysalis quickly notices they're being spied on and unleashes a volley of spells at the pair, a few accidentally hitting the airship. Rainbow quickly runs and grabs up Scootaloo just before the spells hit the mountain, starting a monster rockslide "Attack!" Yells Crysalis, the first to fly out of the now doomed airship, quickly followed by Evil Twilight and most of her changelings. Three changelings fly towards Rainbow, blasting spells at the pair that the speedster can just about dodge. "Stay still so I can kill you!" one of the changelings, before it lands and starts spinning up a powerful spell...one Rainbow knows she can't dodge. Then suddenly out of nowhere Twilight flies by, hitting the changeling with a stun spell, that sends it's aim off, causing it to annihilate one of it's friends. Twilight then blasts the changeling with magic, sending it falling down the mountain...the third after seeing this flies away. Rainbow flies down and hovers beside Twilight, who's still panting "Not bad for an egghead" She chuckles "Egghead? I just saved you and you're telling jokes?" Twilight exclaims, before looking back up the mountain and seeing Evil Twilight swoop in, they just manage to duck under a few spells before flying off themselves towards The Crystal Empire. Power StruggleFlash Sentry looked up at the sky, it was filled with changelings, with Queen Chrysalis herself flying overhead, decimating whole buildings, he then ran over to Captain Shining Armour, who was all decked out with his Royal Guard armour and was flanked by Rarity, another Royal Guard and Starlight Glimmer "Captain Armour!" he yelled "What is it Flash?" Shining turned to look at him "Captain, we're outnumbered sir..." Flash replied, the hope drained from his eyes, even though he was standing among heroes of Equestria, it was hard to be optimistic "Tell me something I don't know!" He yelled, blasting a changeling with a beam of magic, then another, then another...there were no shortage of targets...their number had been few before but the longer the battle lasted the more seemed to turn up. "Everyone get down!" Shining yelled, a blast of magic flew in the centre of them, thankfully due to Shining's warning they all dodged out of the way of the explosion. "What do we do?" Rarity cried out, she was used to combat, but not a full scale battle like this. That's when Shining stood up, dusted himself off and turned to face the group. "Flash, you and Starlight, fortify the city..." He commanded "Yes sir"Flash said, saluting "You can count on us" Starlight chipped in "Rarity, find Spike and contact Celestia for back up" Shining said, turning to the white Unicorn Rarity straightened herself up and her brow tightened "I can handle it" "I need to go find the others and get them to safety...we'll all meet in the palace grounds, now move!" The stallion yelled, everypony split up, all aware of their respective tasks...all relied on this plan working...and it was barely holding together. "Come on Starlight, we have to move!" Flash yelled, turning to face Starlight, who was lagging behind "But what about Twilight and Rainbow Dash? They're still outside! If we fortify The Empire they'll be trapped!" Starlight said, unsure whether to move or not "We can't wait, they're both skilled fighters, they can handle themselves out there, lets go!" He yells, galloping away, Starlight is close behind. They both eventually made their way to one of the special towers Starlight and Sunburst had been working on, in case The Empire ever got attacked and needed to defend itself. The pink Unicorn flares up her horn, igniting the dormant enchantments that many hoped would never be used. Throughout the city other towers become active, sending large focusing crystals into the air, walls start raising from the ground and a protective shield starts to form around The Empire. The focusing crystals then power up, sending bolts of magic towards the invaders, not taking out that many, but enough to help. Elsewhere through the city buildings start shifting, growing armour or lowering below the ground in the hopes to minimise casualties. "Okay, lets get back to the palace" Flash says, putting his hoof on Starlight's shoulder, knocking her out of her trance. "Y-yeah...lets go" Her voice waivers, but she's the first one out of the building, galloping down the street as fast as her hooves can carry her, Flash is following close. Then spells start raining down over them, they both manage to dodge, but they just keep coming... "Pathetic fools!" Yells Evil Twilight, still firing spells with no hints of stopping "There's no escape!" the pair keep running, ducking and dodging until they run inside a building that's already half lowered. Evil Twilight attempts to follow but simply crashes, when she tries flying away though there's a problem...her foot is stuck. "Oh no...no no no..." She looks left, then right...two walls at least 50 feet high are rushing towards her, she keeps tugging on her leg, before blasting the ground with magic, flying away at the last moment "Ahhh my foot!!" She screams in pain. "Ha, you think a wall can stop me?" Chrysalis chuckles, she was unfortunately outside the little exclusion zone and is now trapped outside. She blasts the wall a few times with her magic...no effect. "Breach their defences!" At her command two changelings fly down to the wall with baskets, they open them at the base of the wall and tip out their contents...about a dozen Parasprites, they soon get to work chewing away at the wall. "Pathetic, you'd think they'd better defend themselves" One of the changelings says "They're Ponies, they're born pathetic and they'll die pathetic" The other says, tipping it's basket again to make sure it's empty. "Those changelings are in our way Rainbow!" Twilight yells, the pair are speeding towards The Empire at breakneck speeds, no tuning around now. "Wrong, they're our way in!" Rainbow Dash says with a chuckle, speeding up and heading right for the first, delivering a punch right to it's face, at the very least knocking it out cold, as Twilight passes through she makes sure to destroy the Parasprites, before following Rainbow inside. Up high above the battle in The Crystal Palace, the highest tower, Spike is watching over the battle...mostly watching over Flurry Heart, but the battle is far scarier than a sleeping baby "Oh boy...I hope Twilight fixes this..." Rarity bursts in, sweat running down her brow and panting like a dog "Spike!?!" she yells "Rarity? What are you doing here? Get somewhere safe!" The dragon says, rushing over to her "There's no time for that" She says, picking him up with her hooves "You need to tell Celestia what's happening!" "I...okay, okay just write me a letter!" He says, panicking a little "Of course darling..." Rarity says, quickly searching the room for a quill and parchment, finding what she needed Rarity set to work explaining the situation, before sending it to Spike, who engulfed it in green flame. "Now we wait I guess..." he says in a defeated tone "Wait?" She asks in disbelief "With this much magic going on that spell might take longer than usual" Spike says, throwing his arms up in anger. Chrysalis is gathering her changelings at the main gate, getting ready for one big push...meanwhile Starlight and Flash are inside one of, if not the last standing tower tower, the focus crystal is misaligned and Flash gets right to work pushing it back into place...Starlight is taking a little longer though...she's dragging the body of a Royal Guard. "C'mon Starlight...Chrysalis is getting ready to hit us hard, we need to be able to hit back..." He says, straining under the weight of the thing, it's not even moving "Just...give me a sec..." She drags the guard and puts him down next to four other bodies "Okay let me just..." Starlight runs up and helps push the thing, magic won't move it, they're enchanted to resist it, so physical force is the only thing that works. "Need a helping hoof?" Twilight asks galloping in and pushing herself against it, Rainbow and Scootaloo aren't far behind. With the four of them plus Scootaloo pushing it actually starts moving into place. "I...was worried you'd be trapped outside" Starlight says, clearly straining "Hey, I wasn't worried at all...look who you're...talking to" Rainbow pants "I almost forgot...still fastest flyer won't mean anything in this" Starlight glanced over to the small pile of bodies, a couple of them she knew. Soon enough the crystal was in the right position, the ponies all stand themselves up and admire the work they'd done. "Well...that works" Twilight pants, wiping some sweat from her forehead. Then Scootaloo ran up to the window, hiding just behind the window ledge, there she had a perfect view of Chrysalis and her forces on the other side of the wall. "You six...get here and destroy this place" She commanded, yelling out at her troops "Hey guys, over here!" Scootaloo yelled, waving the rest over. What they saw was Chrysalis's clones of The Mane six walk up ahead of the Changeling army and stand in a circle. "What is going on?" Twilight asks in a hushed tone as she watched all six levitate up, hovering around Evil Twilight, their eyes glowing pure white as energy passes from the five into Evil Twilight...then a blast from her horn destroys a chunk of the wall. Flash springs into action. "I'm not gonna let us go down without a fight!" He yells, running over and bucking the crystal. The sudden attack shocks the crystal into life, causing it to fire a blast at the Mean 6, vaporising Evil Rarity. Evil Twilight then turns and looks at where the attack came from, then, using her newfound power sends a whole section of wall right at the tower. "Run!" Twilight yells, scooping up Scootaloo with her magic and leading everypony out of the tower, mere seconds before it's destroyed. After this the survivors dig in behind the wall, spending the whole night throwing spells at the changeling army, with the invaders sending spells flying back. It's a glorious display of colour in the darkness. SalvationThe morning brings more bad news, The Empire is just smouldering ruins, only The Crystal Palace remains in one piece and even then that is barely standing. Rainbow Dash looks around her cover, she'd been taking care of Scootaloo the whole night with Flash Sentry keeping her covered...a quick glance to where his cover used to be confirms that he won't be helping any more. She thought it couldn't get worse until... "Their defences are broken, destroy them!" It was Chrysalis yelling out, what followed sounded like a wall getting ripped to shreds, Rainbow peeked over her cover to see the changeling army advancing. Then she looked up...and saw an airship. Celestia was personally commanding the helm of the ship, sending it on a fly over of the front lines "Soldiers, destroy them!" she commands as several heavily armoured unicorns jump from the ship, firing high powered spells at whats left of The Mean Six, the first few spells connect, destroying both Evil Fluttershy and Evil Applejack. "What is this?" Evil Twilight yells, her power dwindling she fires spells back at them, hitting a few of the Unicorns, but only wounding them, they all attempt to counter-attack, but get dealt with quickly with a few spells, leaving the unicorns motionless on the ground. Celestia stands tall just inside the walls, observing the chaos being wrought "Chrysalis must be stopped...no matter the cost" with that she took off in a gallop, then flight whilst staying close to the ground, zipping through streets, past the destruction. Soon she came up behind the changeling army, who were pouring through the breach in the wall, Celestia started charging through changelings, one at a time, crashing into them so hard they flew off their feet. Evil Twilight was next in her path, but she noticed the huge white alicorn flying right towards her and leapt out of the way, using her wings to propel her into the air. The next set of changelings were more prepared though, they'd turned and were pelting Celestia with spells, most of which simply bounced off of the goddess, she then slammed her feet into the ground, using the force to leap high into the air and sailed over the army, blasting spells at any changelings that dared stand against her. Celestia then entered the palace, finding Chrysalis just inside "Celestia?" The bug queen said in an almost scared tone. "Chrysalis...at the end of this day one shall stand, one shall fall" Celestia said, standing tall and regal, wings spread wide and her horn aimed low. "Why would you throw your life away so recklessly?" Chrysalis taunted "That's a question you should ask yourself" Said the princess, preparing a spell. "No...I'll destroy you once and for all!" She cried, leaping forwards and tackling Celestia "I've gotta help Celestia!" Rainbow yelled, seeing the fight start from afar "No Rainbow, you'll just get in the way!" Twilight called out, trying to reel her friend back in. Celestia threw Chrysalis off of her, sending her flying into a wall, seeing an opportunity to do some damage the changeling queen picked up a fragment of wall in her magic, throwing it back at Celestia, she had no time to react and it hit her square in the side, sending her reeling back in pain. Chrysalis attempted to follow it up with a spell, but Celestia ran up, tackling her into a wall and cracking the Queens bent horn. Celestia backed away, pulling the shard of rock out of her and throwing it aside, but not before Chrysalis picked up a discarded sword and ran at her, slashing at her side, making the wound worse. Celestia backs away again, finding herself at a ledge when Chrysalis leaps into the air, using her wings to assist, then nosedives head first, Celestia simply punches her aside with a hoof, sending the queen flying onto her back. Celestia advances but then Chrysalis kicks her onto her back and then grapples her, trying to claw at her face with a hole filled hoof. "I will tear you to pieces!" She cries, Celestia then overpowers her, throwing her a good distance away, stunning her a little. She then clutches at her side with a hoof, before walking over to Chrysalis, who quickly notices a discarded crossbow... "No more princess, please! Mercy!" Chrysalis cries, her cracked carapace creaking with every movement. "You think I should give you mercy? After all the lives you've taken the past two days..." Celestia starts while her defeated opponent starts crawling towards the crossbow. She reaches for it and... "Uh uh Chysalis!" Rainbow comes out of nowhere, rushing for the crossbow "Get out of the way Rainbow!" Celestia cries, not able to find a clear shot as Rainbow and Chrysalis struggle for the crossbow, the larger creature soon overpowers the Pegasus and uses her as a shield as she unloads enchanted arrows into the alicorn. "Yes! Fall FALL!!!" Chrysalis yells out in glee, watching her enemy get perforated with arrows, when she finally collapses to her knees she throws her shield away like a ragdoll and walks over to Celestia "It's over my little pony..." Celestia is full of arrows and even breathing seems hard, but she tenses up and with one last show of force "Never!" she yells, bucking Chrysalis who loses grip of the crossbow...she attempts to fly to control her decent, but her delicate wings have been ruined, so she simply flies over the edge, hitting another ledge and continuing to fall, before coming to a violent stop on the ground, where she's greeted by one of her last living minions. "How does it feel mighty queen?" Evil Twilight chuckles, kicking the beaten changeling before walking away "Retreat! Everypony, retreat!" She yells and the remains of the changeling army heed her command. "Celestia did it, she turned the tide..." Twilight says, marvelling at the retreating forces "C-Celestia...I'm sorry..." Rainbow sobs, falling to her side, the white alicorn is alive...but remains motionless. RegicideCadence felt a shudder, like the whole airship shook "Wh-what was that?" she asked, looking around, suddenly the room felt a lot more cramped. "Relax, it's probably just turbulence" The helmsman, a cyan unicorn named Lyra, said with a casual wave of a hoof. That seemed to calm the princess's nerves, until there was another shudder. "What was that?" Asked Roseluck the navigation officer in a bit of panic, what followed was more shuddering, then a wall to the back of the room getting blasted in, before anyone could react something powered through the wrecked wall... "Crysalis?" Cried Bon Bon, the first officer, she was the first to turn, running out a little "Changelings!" she yelled Crysalis reared up on her hind legs wings spread, with Evil Twilight Sparkle and a platoon of Changelings flanking her "Die Ponies!" she yelled, her horn igniting, sending a blast of magic right at Bon Bon who staggers, then falls to the floor motionless. The rest of the crew, Cadence and Applejack remain in cover, Lyra being the first to risk firing a bolt of magic, that just misses everything. She's then cut down by a spell from another Changeling, piercing right through her and hitting the windshield. Another Unicorn and Applejack both leap out of cover, the Unicorn tossing spells left and right, Applejack kicking debris at the attackers, sending them back into cover, until Evil Twilight and three other Changelings unleash a flurry of attacks, sending The Unicorn flying back, Applejack takes the brunt of the assault, still just about standing, before a second volley finishes her off. "This was almost too easy Knockoff Sparkle" Crysalis boomed, it was almost ecstasy, this plan she'd been working so hard wasn't just working...it was flat out easy. Behind her Evil Twilight cringed at the name, Crysalis never forgot to remind her what she was...but she knew she was more than that, than her...though, it was better to bide her time...to be a good little minion. "Much easier my Queen, than attacking the real threat, Canterlot Palace" The grey purple Alicorn both suggested and warned, in the hopes of suggesting her own plan. "You're an idiot Knockoff" She said dismissively "When we slip past security in their own airship and destroy The Crystal Empire, The Mane 6 will be vanquished forever!" Crysalis announced with pride. That's when Cadence made her presence known, jumping out from cover, almost overwhelmed with emotion "No! You can't!" She cried, trying to flare up a spell "Such heroic nonsense" Crysalis chuckled, before unleashing a spell right at the pink mare...and another body joined the rest as Changelings took up the crews positioned and continued on course. EpilogueCelestia is lying on a hospital bed, the survivors stand around her, the room is deathly silent except for the life support equipment. "Her wounds are fatal" Starlight finally says, after her third scanning spell "Do not grieve, for soon I will be one with The Sun" Celestia says in a quiet voice "Celestia..." Rainbow says, unable to say anything else... Celestia takes some pained breaths, before turning to face her pupil, Twilight Sparkle "Twilight...my friend...it is to you that I grant my mantle...Princess of The Sun...as it was...granted to me..." she says, each word makes her tense up in pain. "Bu-but Celestia...I'm just a school teacher, I'm not worthy..." Twilight says, hanging her head low. "Neither was I...but...one day...a pony will rise...and use her power, to light our darkest hour" Celestia takes a few more breaths, before slowly closing her eyes, the colour drains from her mane and the machines flat line. Optimus Prime stares at the now blank screen dumbfounded, confused, bewildered. He then looks back at Wheeljack, who's looking back at him expectantly "Why?" he asks "Well Optimus, I was thinkin we could always improve our combat strategies so I threw together this here simulation" Wheeljack, the Autobot scientist explains "Yeah I get that" The larger bot starts "but...why ponies?" "What do you mean?" Wheeljack asks like he'd just grown a third arm "Why ponies? I mean, why not Cybertronians?" Optimus asks, still very confused "Oh uh...no...no reason I...uh" Stammers the scientist "Do you have something you need to tell me friend?" He said, standing up and looking down at the bot "No, nonono I just gotta...uh...debug the dinobots, they're probably lighting stuff on fire again bye" With that Wheeljack leaves as fast as he can, leaving Optimus still confused, then he also leaves, but not before wiping the terminal of all video footage.
Daybreak"Cadence, what troubles you?" Celestia asks, looking down from her throne to her niece, who's clearly deep in thought "I don't know, I just feel something...it's putting me on edge with the inactivity around here" Cadence huffed, she had been in Canterlot for the past few weeks for diplomatic meetings and was eager to get back to The Empire, back to her Shining Armour and Flurry Heart. "If you like, there is a cargo airship heading back to The Crystal Empire, I'm sure it'll be fine if you left a couple of days early" Celestia suggested, lowering her voice slightly out of fear of any diplomats hearing "R-really? But, the delegates..." Cadence did her best to reel in her enthusiasm, it was her duty to be here after all. "Don't worry, I'll handle them, I've managed it on my own for a millennia, a couple of days won't be a problem" The ivory alicorn said with a smile. Cadence could barely hold back now. "Oh thank you aun...uh Princess" She said, bowing slightly before trotting off, a grin plastered on her face and a spring in her step...that gut feeling...she simply shrugged and made her way to the airship docks. As she skipped her way out of the room one of The Royal Guards discreetly slipped out of the room, making his way through the halls of the palace, before entering The Starswirld The Bearded wing, which was off limits for renovations, he headed deep inside, where he was confident that he was alone. He then closed his eyes and a green aura appeared around him, his disguise disappeared, leaving a Changeling drone alone in the empty room, it's horn lit up, casting a spell on a nearby mirror, the surface changed until it didn't seem like a mirror, more like a window leading somewhere, on the other side was Chrysalis. "My queen" the changeling said in a raspy voice, bowing down on one knee and lowering it's head. "Rise drone" She said in a commanding tone "Tell me, what have you learned?" "There is an airship leaving Canterlot for The Crystal Empire soon, they aren't expecting trouble" The drone explained, standing up tall, a grin growing on it's face as it proved it's worth to it's queen. "Good...you have done a good job indeed, now return home, the next stage of our plan must come into effect" Crysalis said, almost exploding in a fit of laughs at hearing her plan going just as expected, but she stayed collected, remembering it hadn't succeeded yet. The Changeling bowed once more, before the spell dissipated, it then re-assumed it's disguise and beat a hasty but discreet retreat back to meet up with the hive. Cadence reached the dock, it was packed with Ponies all heading to passenger liners and the like, thankfully not many paid her too much mind as she squeezed through the crowds, heading instead for the supply docks, this area wasn't as well travelled by regular Ponies, only by those with deliveries to make and other business related goings on. She was having some trouble finding the exact dock and airship though... "Okay...which dock is...Applejack?" Cadence would recognise the orange farmpony anywhere, though it helped she was never without her signature hat. She made her way over to Applejack, who was talking with a dockhand about something, but she turned and smiled at the princess. "Well golly Princess, fancy seein you here" Applejack said with a smile, making sure to respectfully bow when Cadence came over. "Please, you don't need to do that, we're friends after all." The pink mare said, smiling as politely as she could, but to be honest she'd gotten tired of diplomats and royals bowing and treating her like royalty, it certainly didn't help that she was exactly that...but at least her friends can treat her differently. "It's just common courtesy, 'sides...bad habits die hard, anyways why are ya here, if ya don't mind me askin?" She asked, still a little confused as to why royalty was running around warehouses. "Well...Celestia let me go home early, there's an airship around here going to The Empire?" Cadence said, looking around in the hopes of spotting her airship "Lucky we bumped into each other then, I'm hitching a ride on an airship leaving in a minute that sounds just like that" Applejack smiled, turning and gesturing for Cadence to follow. "I mean, it's kinda a passenger ship too...so it ain't just us and a bunch of boxes" she chuckled, waving a hoof at some of the Ponies standing on the deck, she recognised a few from all over the place...but then again crowds always seem to have the same ponies in them...probably a trick of the eye. "Again thank you Applejack, you've been a real help" The Princess said holding her hoof to her heart "I don't know what I'd have done if I didn't meet up with you..." Applejack visibly blushes at the compliment "Aww shucks Princess, I'm sure you'd have done just fine without me, anyway lets get aboard, I'm sure they're itching to set off" With that the two mares boarded the airship and waved to passerby's as they left dock and headed out into the open air. After looking around the ship a little Applejack and Cadence eventually made their way to the command deck, where they met the captain and crew.
DeliveranceIn The Crystal Empire, or more accurately, just outside it Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo are sitting relaxing on the shore of a lake, the only sounds are birds and jumping fish. "Heh, the fish are really jumping today aren't they?" Rainbow Dash said, thinking for a second weather fishing was actually an entertaining activity...and if she could fish using a sonic rainboom. "I mean, I guess" Scootaloo replied in a disinterested tone, she seemed deep in thought too...just not about fish. "What's the matter squirt? You know you can tell me if you're worried about anything right?" Said the older Pegasus, fluttering over to the filly to sit next to her. "I don't know Rainbow, I guess I just miss my friends, with them being back in Ponyville..." She said, looking out to the lake with a thousand mile stare "Hey don't worry, I'm sure they're fine...besides you're going home tomorrow, it'll be like nothing ever happened!" Rainbow Dash says, wrapping a wing around Scootaloo and looking out at the lake too. A little way out into the lake a large fish jumps out a few metres and makes a massive splash "Hey did you see that?" she says, pointing out at the ripples on the water "Heh, that was pretty awesome" Scootaloo says with a laugh "It was huge" that's when she glances up and sees an airship in the air "Hey look! It's Applejacks airship, lets watch it land!" She yells, jumping to her hooves and running up the hill "Talk about dull Scoots..." Rainbow says, rolling her eyes "Hurry, we'll miss it!" The filly says, jumping on her scooter and kicking off down the valley, her wings buzzing as fast as they can, dodging past rocks and boulders and other obstacles. Rainbow Dash flies behind, making sure to fly slower to keep an eye on her...can't let her get hurt... It isn't long for Scootaloo to lose control and hit a rock, sending her flying off into the air, Rainbow effortlessly flies under her, catching her on her back and carrying on flying "If you're gonna fly Scoots, fly in style" she says, flying low and ducking through the canyon, with Scootaloo hanging on tight. As they fly Scootaloo looks to the side, spotting a view of The Empire "Why not stop here?" Scootaloo asks "You want a good view right? We're goin right for the top" Rainbow boasts, looking up at the mountain while still flying through the natural obstacle course, the pegasus was sure Scoots wouldn't mind the free air show. Along the route though Rainbow spotted Twilight Sparkle sitting under a tree, probably a spell book...perfect. Rainbow sped past leaving a rainbow streak behind, the whiplash blew both Twilight's book and her hair in wild directions "Rainbow! Fore Celestia's sake I..." Twilight yelled out, but the pair were already gone up the mountain. "Here's as good a spot as any" The blue pegasus says as she lands right next to a telescope, Scootaloo quickly dismounts her friend and runs up to the telescope, turning it to face the airship as it flies past. "Wait...Rainbow there's a hole in the airship!" the filly yells out, zooming in on the damage "Excuse me?" Rainbow quickly runs over, taking over the telescope, zooming in she sees Evil Twilight and Crysalis standing in the opening, Crysalis quickly notices they're being spied on and unleashes a volley of spells at the pair, a few accidentally hitting the airship. Rainbow quickly runs and grabs up Scootaloo just before the spells hit the mountain, starting a monster rockslide "Attack!" Yells Crysalis, the first to fly out of the now doomed airship, quickly followed by Evil Twilight and most of her changelings. Three changelings fly towards Rainbow, blasting spells at the pair that the speedster can just about dodge. "Stay still so I can kill you!" one of the changelings, before it lands and starts spinning up a powerful spell...one Rainbow knows she can't dodge. Then suddenly out of nowhere Twilight flies by, hitting the changeling with a stun spell, that sends it's aim off, causing it to annihilate one of it's friends. Twilight then blasts the changeling with magic, sending it falling down the mountain...the third after seeing this flies away. Rainbow flies down and hovers beside Twilight, who's still panting "Not bad for an egghead" She chuckles "Egghead? I just saved you and you're telling jokes?" Twilight exclaims, before looking back up the mountain and seeing Evil Twilight swoop in, they just manage to duck under a few spells before flying off themselves towards The Crystal Empire.
Power StruggleFlash Sentry looked up at the sky, it was filled with changelings, with Queen Chrysalis herself flying overhead, decimating whole buildings, he then ran over to Captain Shining Armour, who was all decked out with his Royal Guard armour and was flanked by Rarity, another Royal Guard and Starlight Glimmer "Captain Armour!" he yelled "What is it Flash?" Shining turned to look at him "Captain, we're outnumbered sir..." Flash replied, the hope drained from his eyes, even though he was standing among heroes of Equestria, it was hard to be optimistic "Tell me something I don't know!" He yelled, blasting a changeling with a beam of magic, then another, then another...there were no shortage of targets...their number had been few before but the longer the battle lasted the more seemed to turn up. "Everyone get down!" Shining yelled, a blast of magic flew in the centre of them, thankfully due to Shining's warning they all dodged out of the way of the explosion. "What do we do?" Rarity cried out, she was used to combat, but not a full scale battle like this. That's when Shining stood up, dusted himself off and turned to face the group. "Flash, you and Starlight, fortify the city..." He commanded "Yes sir"Flash said, saluting "You can count on us" Starlight chipped in "Rarity, find Spike and contact Celestia for back up" Shining said, turning to the white Unicorn Rarity straightened herself up and her brow tightened "I can handle it" "I need to go find the others and get them to safety...we'll all meet in the palace grounds, now move!" The stallion yelled, everypony split up, all aware of their respective tasks...all relied on this plan working...and it was barely holding together. "Come on Starlight, we have to move!" Flash yelled, turning to face Starlight, who was lagging behind "But what about Twilight and Rainbow Dash? They're still outside! If we fortify The Empire they'll be trapped!" Starlight said, unsure whether to move or not "We can't wait, they're both skilled fighters, they can handle themselves out there, lets go!" He yells, galloping away, Starlight is close behind. They both eventually made their way to one of the special towers Starlight and Sunburst had been working on, in case The Empire ever got attacked and needed to defend itself. The pink Unicorn flares up her horn, igniting the dormant enchantments that many hoped would never be used. Throughout the city other towers become active, sending large focusing crystals into the air, walls start raising from the ground and a protective shield starts to form around The Empire. The focusing crystals then power up, sending bolts of magic towards the invaders, not taking out that many, but enough to help. Elsewhere through the city buildings start shifting, growing armour or lowering below the ground in the hopes to minimise casualties. "Okay, lets get back to the palace" Flash says, putting his hoof on Starlight's shoulder, knocking her out of her trance. "Y-yeah...lets go" Her voice waivers, but she's the first one out of the building, galloping down the street as fast as her hooves can carry her, Flash is following close. Then spells start raining down over them, they both manage to dodge, but they just keep coming... "Pathetic fools!" Yells Evil Twilight, still firing spells with no hints of stopping "There's no escape!" the pair keep running, ducking and dodging until they run inside a building that's already half lowered. Evil Twilight attempts to follow but simply crashes, when she tries flying away though there's a problem...her foot is stuck. "Oh no...no no no..." She looks left, then right...two walls at least 50 feet high are rushing towards her, she keeps tugging on her leg, before blasting the ground with magic, flying away at the last moment "Ahhh my foot!!" She screams in pain. "Ha, you think a wall can stop me?" Chrysalis chuckles, she was unfortunately outside the little exclusion zone and is now trapped outside. She blasts the wall a few times with her magic...no effect. "Breach their defences!" At her command two changelings fly down to the wall with baskets, they open them at the base of the wall and tip out their contents...about a dozen Parasprites, they soon get to work chewing away at the wall. "Pathetic, you'd think they'd better defend themselves" One of the changelings says "They're Ponies, they're born pathetic and they'll die pathetic" The other says, tipping it's basket again to make sure it's empty. "Those changelings are in our way Rainbow!" Twilight yells, the pair are speeding towards The Empire at breakneck speeds, no tuning around now. "Wrong, they're our way in!" Rainbow Dash says with a chuckle, speeding up and heading right for the first, delivering a punch right to it's face, at the very least knocking it out cold, as Twilight passes through she makes sure to destroy the Parasprites, before following Rainbow inside. Up high above the battle in The Crystal Palace, the highest tower, Spike is watching over the battle...mostly watching over Flurry Heart, but the battle is far scarier than a sleeping baby "Oh boy...I hope Twilight fixes this..." Rarity bursts in, sweat running down her brow and panting like a dog "Spike!?!" she yells "Rarity? What are you doing here? Get somewhere safe!" The dragon says, rushing over to her "There's no time for that" She says, picking him up with her hooves "You need to tell Celestia what's happening!" "I...okay, okay just write me a letter!" He says, panicking a little "Of course darling..." Rarity says, quickly searching the room for a quill and parchment, finding what she needed Rarity set to work explaining the situation, before sending it to Spike, who engulfed it in green flame. "Now we wait I guess..." he says in a defeated tone "Wait?" She asks in disbelief "With this much magic going on that spell might take longer than usual" Spike says, throwing his arms up in anger. Chrysalis is gathering her changelings at the main gate, getting ready for one big push...meanwhile Starlight and Flash are inside one of, if not the last standing tower tower, the focus crystal is misaligned and Flash gets right to work pushing it back into place...Starlight is taking a little longer though...she's dragging the body of a Royal Guard. "C'mon Starlight...Chrysalis is getting ready to hit us hard, we need to be able to hit back..." He says, straining under the weight of the thing, it's not even moving "Just...give me a sec..." She drags the guard and puts him down next to four other bodies "Okay let me just..." Starlight runs up and helps push the thing, magic won't move it, they're enchanted to resist it, so physical force is the only thing that works. "Need a helping hoof?" Twilight asks galloping in and pushing herself against it, Rainbow and Scootaloo aren't far behind. With the four of them plus Scootaloo pushing it actually starts moving into place. "I...was worried you'd be trapped outside" Starlight says, clearly straining "Hey, I wasn't worried at all...look who you're...talking to" Rainbow pants "I almost forgot...still fastest flyer won't mean anything in this" Starlight glanced over to the small pile of bodies, a couple of them she knew. Soon enough the crystal was in the right position, the ponies all stand themselves up and admire the work they'd done. "Well...that works" Twilight pants, wiping some sweat from her forehead. Then Scootaloo ran up to the window, hiding just behind the window ledge, there she had a perfect view of Chrysalis and her forces on the other side of the wall. "You six...get here and destroy this place" She commanded, yelling out at her troops "Hey guys, over here!" Scootaloo yelled, waving the rest over. What they saw was Chrysalis's clones of The Mane six walk up ahead of the Changeling army and stand in a circle. "What is going on?" Twilight asks in a hushed tone as she watched all six levitate up, hovering around Evil Twilight, their eyes glowing pure white as energy passes from the five into Evil Twilight...then a blast from her horn destroys a chunk of the wall. Flash springs into action. "I'm not gonna let us go down without a fight!" He yells, running over and bucking the crystal. The sudden attack shocks the crystal into life, causing it to fire a blast at the Mean 6, vaporising Evil Rarity. Evil Twilight then turns and looks at where the attack came from, then, using her newfound power sends a whole section of wall right at the tower. "Run!" Twilight yells, scooping up Scootaloo with her magic and leading everypony out of the tower, mere seconds before it's destroyed. After this the survivors dig in behind the wall, spending the whole night throwing spells at the changeling army, with the invaders sending spells flying back. It's a glorious display of colour in the darkness.
SalvationThe morning brings more bad news, The Empire is just smouldering ruins, only The Crystal Palace remains in one piece and even then that is barely standing. Rainbow Dash looks around her cover, she'd been taking care of Scootaloo the whole night with Flash Sentry keeping her covered...a quick glance to where his cover used to be confirms that he won't be helping any more. She thought it couldn't get worse until... "Their defences are broken, destroy them!" It was Chrysalis yelling out, what followed sounded like a wall getting ripped to shreds, Rainbow peeked over her cover to see the changeling army advancing. Then she looked up...and saw an airship. Celestia was personally commanding the helm of the ship, sending it on a fly over of the front lines "Soldiers, destroy them!" she commands as several heavily armoured unicorns jump from the ship, firing high powered spells at whats left of The Mean Six, the first few spells connect, destroying both Evil Fluttershy and Evil Applejack. "What is this?" Evil Twilight yells, her power dwindling she fires spells back at them, hitting a few of the Unicorns, but only wounding them, they all attempt to counter-attack, but get dealt with quickly with a few spells, leaving the unicorns motionless on the ground. Celestia stands tall just inside the walls, observing the chaos being wrought "Chrysalis must be stopped...no matter the cost" with that she took off in a gallop, then flight whilst staying close to the ground, zipping through streets, past the destruction. Soon she came up behind the changeling army, who were pouring through the breach in the wall, Celestia started charging through changelings, one at a time, crashing into them so hard they flew off their feet. Evil Twilight was next in her path, but she noticed the huge white alicorn flying right towards her and leapt out of the way, using her wings to propel her into the air. The next set of changelings were more prepared though, they'd turned and were pelting Celestia with spells, most of which simply bounced off of the goddess, she then slammed her feet into the ground, using the force to leap high into the air and sailed over the army, blasting spells at any changelings that dared stand against her. Celestia then entered the palace, finding Chrysalis just inside "Celestia?" The bug queen said in an almost scared tone. "Chrysalis...at the end of this day one shall stand, one shall fall" Celestia said, standing tall and regal, wings spread wide and her horn aimed low. "Why would you throw your life away so recklessly?" Chrysalis taunted "That's a question you should ask yourself" Said the princess, preparing a spell. "No...I'll destroy you once and for all!" She cried, leaping forwards and tackling Celestia "I've gotta help Celestia!" Rainbow yelled, seeing the fight start from afar "No Rainbow, you'll just get in the way!" Twilight called out, trying to reel her friend back in. Celestia threw Chrysalis off of her, sending her flying into a wall, seeing an opportunity to do some damage the changeling queen picked up a fragment of wall in her magic, throwing it back at Celestia, she had no time to react and it hit her square in the side, sending her reeling back in pain. Chrysalis attempted to follow it up with a spell, but Celestia ran up, tackling her into a wall and cracking the Queens bent horn. Celestia backed away, pulling the shard of rock out of her and throwing it aside, but not before Chrysalis picked up a discarded sword and ran at her, slashing at her side, making the wound worse. Celestia backs away again, finding herself at a ledge when Chrysalis leaps into the air, using her wings to assist, then nosedives head first, Celestia simply punches her aside with a hoof, sending the queen flying onto her back. Celestia advances but then Chrysalis kicks her onto her back and then grapples her, trying to claw at her face with a hole filled hoof. "I will tear you to pieces!" She cries, Celestia then overpowers her, throwing her a good distance away, stunning her a little. She then clutches at her side with a hoof, before walking over to Chrysalis, who quickly notices a discarded crossbow... "No more princess, please! Mercy!" Chrysalis cries, her cracked carapace creaking with every movement. "You think I should give you mercy? After all the lives you've taken the past two days..." Celestia starts while her defeated opponent starts crawling towards the crossbow. She reaches for it and... "Uh uh Chysalis!" Rainbow comes out of nowhere, rushing for the crossbow "Get out of the way Rainbow!" Celestia cries, not able to find a clear shot as Rainbow and Chrysalis struggle for the crossbow, the larger creature soon overpowers the Pegasus and uses her as a shield as she unloads enchanted arrows into the alicorn. "Yes! Fall FALL!!!" Chrysalis yells out in glee, watching her enemy get perforated with arrows, when she finally collapses to her knees she throws her shield away like a ragdoll and walks over to Celestia "It's over my little pony..." Celestia is full of arrows and even breathing seems hard, but she tenses up and with one last show of force "Never!" she yells, bucking Chrysalis who loses grip of the crossbow...she attempts to fly to control her decent, but her delicate wings have been ruined, so she simply flies over the edge, hitting another ledge and continuing to fall, before coming to a violent stop on the ground, where she's greeted by one of her last living minions. "How does it feel mighty queen?" Evil Twilight chuckles, kicking the beaten changeling before walking away "Retreat! Everypony, retreat!" She yells and the remains of the changeling army heed her command. "Celestia did it, she turned the tide..." Twilight says, marvelling at the retreating forces "C-Celestia...I'm sorry..." Rainbow sobs, falling to her side, the white alicorn is alive...but remains motionless.
RegicideCadence felt a shudder, like the whole airship shook "Wh-what was that?" she asked, looking around, suddenly the room felt a lot more cramped. "Relax, it's probably just turbulence" The helmsman, a cyan unicorn named Lyra, said with a casual wave of a hoof. That seemed to calm the princess's nerves, until there was another shudder. "What was that?" Asked Roseluck the navigation officer in a bit of panic, what followed was more shuddering, then a wall to the back of the room getting blasted in, before anyone could react something powered through the wrecked wall... "Crysalis?" Cried Bon Bon, the first officer, she was the first to turn, running out a little "Changelings!" she yelled Crysalis reared up on her hind legs wings spread, with Evil Twilight Sparkle and a platoon of Changelings flanking her "Die Ponies!" she yelled, her horn igniting, sending a blast of magic right at Bon Bon who staggers, then falls to the floor motionless. The rest of the crew, Cadence and Applejack remain in cover, Lyra being the first to risk firing a bolt of magic, that just misses everything. She's then cut down by a spell from another Changeling, piercing right through her and hitting the windshield. Another Unicorn and Applejack both leap out of cover, the Unicorn tossing spells left and right, Applejack kicking debris at the attackers, sending them back into cover, until Evil Twilight and three other Changelings unleash a flurry of attacks, sending The Unicorn flying back, Applejack takes the brunt of the assault, still just about standing, before a second volley finishes her off. "This was almost too easy Knockoff Sparkle" Crysalis boomed, it was almost ecstasy, this plan she'd been working so hard wasn't just working...it was flat out easy. Behind her Evil Twilight cringed at the name, Crysalis never forgot to remind her what she was...but she knew she was more than that, than her...though, it was better to bide her time...to be a good little minion. "Much easier my Queen, than attacking the real threat, Canterlot Palace" The grey purple Alicorn both suggested and warned, in the hopes of suggesting her own plan. "You're an idiot Knockoff" She said dismissively "When we slip past security in their own airship and destroy The Crystal Empire, The Mane 6 will be vanquished forever!" Crysalis announced with pride. That's when Cadence made her presence known, jumping out from cover, almost overwhelmed with emotion "No! You can't!" She cried, trying to flare up a spell "Such heroic nonsense" Crysalis chuckled, before unleashing a spell right at the pink mare...and another body joined the rest as Changelings took up the crews positioned and continued on course.
EpilogueCelestia is lying on a hospital bed, the survivors stand around her, the room is deathly silent except for the life support equipment. "Her wounds are fatal" Starlight finally says, after her third scanning spell "Do not grieve, for soon I will be one with The Sun" Celestia says in a quiet voice "Celestia..." Rainbow says, unable to say anything else... Celestia takes some pained breaths, before turning to face her pupil, Twilight Sparkle "Twilight...my friend...it is to you that I grant my mantle...Princess of The Sun...as it was...granted to me..." she says, each word makes her tense up in pain. "Bu-but Celestia...I'm just a school teacher, I'm not worthy..." Twilight says, hanging her head low. "Neither was I...but...one day...a pony will rise...and use her power, to light our darkest hour" Celestia takes a few more breaths, before slowly closing her eyes, the colour drains from her mane and the machines flat line. Optimus Prime stares at the now blank screen dumbfounded, confused, bewildered. He then looks back at Wheeljack, who's looking back at him expectantly "Why?" he asks "Well Optimus, I was thinkin we could always improve our combat strategies so I threw together this here simulation" Wheeljack, the Autobot scientist explains "Yeah I get that" The larger bot starts "but...why ponies?" "What do you mean?" Wheeljack asks like he'd just grown a third arm "Why ponies? I mean, why not Cybertronians?" Optimus asks, still very confused "Oh uh...no...no reason I...uh" Stammers the scientist "Do you have something you need to tell me friend?" He said, standing up and looking down at the bot "No, nonono I just gotta...uh...debug the dinobots, they're probably lighting stuff on fire again bye" With that Wheeljack leaves as fast as he can, leaving Optimus still confused, then he also leaves, but not before wiping the terminal of all video footage.
