Assassination of the Poniesby EquestrianWriterChaptersPilotCanterlotThe gatheringHidden in the shadowsOn a roadPilotNews spread quickly over all of the world of Equestria, ponies cried and panicked, hid and ran. The news was worse than anything anypony had ever gotten, the news so devastating, it quickly broke the Harmony of Equestria. The news broke hearts and bodies of ponies, flared up old rivalries that were once lost, the news that both princesses of Canterlot, Goddess Princesses, leaders and forgers of friendship and peace. Celestia, sun princess, and Luna, moon princess. Had been, assassinated, killed in cold blood, nopony knew who and why, only that the two princesses lay bloody and dead in their main hall. Twilight Sparkle hid in her tree house home, it was pitch black, the doors and windows were locked and bared. Twilight was innocent, she may have been the last one to see Celestia and Luna alive, but she would never kill either of them. Twilight wondered what she had to do to convince everypony that she was innocent. She was on her way out of Canterlot when some royal guards, armed had come up to her: "Miss Twilight Sparkle?" A grey Pegasus asked. "Yes officer?" She had replied. Spears fell and she found herself surrounded. "Your under arrest." A second guard, unicorn said. "What?Why?" Twilight panicked, Celestia wouldn't have arrested her for anything. What was going on? "High treason." The first replied, grabbing Twilight. "What? Treason? Celestia will hear about this!" Twilight swore. "That's the thing traitor, both Celestia and Luna are dead, and since your the last to see them, no other records have been found of anypony else getting in. You must have killed them." "What? The princesses are dead? How?" "Stop faking traitor and come with us." Twilight panicked, her horn began to glow, then darkness. She had awoken in her library, Spike was missing, but she wasn't worried about that, she had quickly found some ply wood and nailed the door frame and windows in with magic. Now Twilight was hiding in the darkness, apart from her friends. Wondering what to do, what to say to prove her innocence. Suddenly the door knocked. "Twilight?" It was Spike. Twilight began to use her magic. "Twilight, there are some royal guards here for you. Please come out." Spike continued, then Twilight stopped her magic. "Look, we must put this traitor on trail and punish her for her acts against Equestria, if you know where she is and are holding back, you will be hanged as well." A second voice said. "Look, the only place other than here she could teleport to is here or the old ruins of the princesses in the Everfree forest." Spike replied, scared for his life. Rainbow Dash nearly flow straight into the two royal guards, just missing their flanks by centimetres. "Erm. Hi?" Rainbow said, confused as why two Pegasi guards were so far from Canterlot and in her way of flight. "Rainbow Dash? Pegasus leader of the Ponyvillian weather team?" One asked. "You forgot best flyer in Equestria." Rainbow blushed. Still wondering what Celestia would want from her. "Your friend, Twilight Sparkle is now a known traitor, she murdered both our glorious leaders, Celestia and Luna, in cold blood. We wish to bring you in for questioning." The first Pegasi said. Rainbow Dash nearly lost her flight control. Twilight, a traitor? But she wouldn't. "Twilight would never even think of harming either princesses." Rainbow pleaded. The two guards looked to each other, then flow away slightly. "That is exactly what the other four said, and the dragon. We don't actually have much evidence against Twilight. Maybe they're right." The second, blue one said. "Or they are all working for the traitor." "Damn it Whiplash, Twilight and her friends have saved Equestria four times now, the Nightmare moon incident, Discord, the Changlings, and the fourth time." "Fine, I'll drop the charges and tell Shining Armor what happened. But we must get embassies of each known race, find the real culprit and sort this whole thing out." Whiplash replied, then flow back to Rainbow. "Sorry miss, we have made a grave mistake. You may go." Rainbow began to fly away. "Oh, and miss Dash, if you find Twilight tell her she isn't guilty and that you must all come to Canterlot for a talk about the assassination." Whiplash added and Rainbow Dash flow away to find Twilight, and the others. The newly crowded Changling queen, queen Cylis heard the news about the pony princesses had been assassinated and had been given a letter asking for an audience in Canterlot. "The nerve of those ponies, they are going to blame my subjects and I over their leaders deaths, here it's a normal thing, I killed the last queen myself." Cylis said to herself. "But I guess I must go, otherwise they will blame me for it. Gilus! Koji! Belador! Get in here!" The three Changling warriors rushed in, convenient that they had been outside. "Yes my queen." Belador said, bowing. "You three will accompany me to Canterlot, we have issues to debate over there." Cylis ordered, the three bowed then went to get ready. 'These ponies shall not blame me.' With Twilight now free to move without guards arresting her, word went out that Celestia and Luna were dead, straight away ponies began to fight, a few unicorns had figured out how to control the sun and moon, but they couldn't hold harmony in Equestria. Old rivalries began to flare up and ponies started to fight on the streets, began to steal. A murder came up, first time since coming to the land of Equestria. Twilight still kept the doors and windows defended, but now fearful from looters and thieves. Spike was sleeping, and Twilight had invited her five closest friends to stay, safety in numbers and all. A scream flared out in the night and Applejack shot up, Rarity and Fluttershy sharing the spare bed, Rainbow was sharing with Pinkie Pie, whilst Twilight and Applejack kept watch, Applejack had opted out of a bed to help Twilight, until the apple bucket had fallen asleep. AJ's farm had been looted badly and both Granny Smith and Big Mac were in the hospital. Applejack had a sprained leg, but was okay. Equestria was in complete disarray and Twilight was surprised Discord hadn't returned. It had been three days since the two princesses had died. So much had happened. Apparently the inter-racial debate over the assassination was in two months, Twilight, Rarity and some elite unicorn named Frebart would represent the unicorn race. Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Ironhead from the southern corner of Equestria would be there for the Pegasi, Applejack, if her leg was better, Pinkie Pie, and a northern Earth pony named Cherry Pots would be there for the Terran Ponies. Apparently, even the legendary Sea ponies were coming, or at least their air breathing embassies. The Changlings were coming, the dragon followers of the east, all over Equestria embassies and leaders of each race were coming together, to find out who had killed Celestia and Luna. But first, they had to all survive. "Day nine. I sent Spike to the market today, for things had died down a little. I was wrong, he hasn't returned and we are running out of food, Canterlot won't send aid, ponies are rioting all over Equestria, this dead line must be sped up, the land can't handle it, I wish Celestia were still alive. Some Earth ponies broke in yesterday, broke Rainbows wings and stole a load of books, we had all been sleeping but Rainbow, now she may never fly again. The fighting is mainly at night now, where old rivals have gotten stronger, and harder, I went up to the balcony, there are pony dead everywhere, only a few I knew, but this was getting out of hand, we are quickly running out of food and we are down to daily rations. The two princesses reined a long time, both together and apart, but the reaction to their deaths is overpowering. Maybe their presence really did keep Harmony, and not just metaphorically, without them, ponies hate, ponies fear, ponies fight. It was wrong.' Twilight had been keeping a diary on some spare parchment over the days to keep herself sane. The others were tired, hurt and hungry. Rainbow stared at her wings all of the day, and cried herself to sleep at night, Rainbow Dash had probably saved all their lives if not for her bravery against the Earth pony looters. "Twilight, get some sleep, I'll keep watch." Rarity said, not her normal, posh self, she sounded tired, like all of them, her black eye from the other days attempt to get food was now a dark purple, much like her mane. "No, Rarity you need your sleep." Twilight replied, as tired as Rarity was. "As do you. Now go." Rarity's hair was messy and broken, none of them had showered in eight days, but being clean wasn't really on anypony's mind right now. Rarity pushed Twilight's flank closer to the stairway. "Fine. How's the eye?" Twilight asked. "It's, it's fine dear." Rarity replied and Twilight looked for the lies in her friends eyes, found them, Rarity was in pain, much like Rainbow and her wings, Applejack and her leg. Most of them now had some sort of wound. Twilight looked sadly at the white unicorn before her and let a single tear fall down her check. A month pasted and still no aid, they had gotten some food, but in return, Twilight had two legs broken, and each had cuts all over them, Twilight wasn't sure where from, but the unicorns had found some knives and swords and was using them against everypony. On their way back, with barely a bag of apples and carrots, they saw Zacora, dead. Among others, dead. Blood was everywhere and limbs were missing. Twilight limped back to the tree house, there was still no sign of Spike and each knew what that meant. Dragon scales, even little ones, would sell a lot. Three weeks until the gathering and Twilight began to wonder how it would go, she'd seen Ponyville, it was in ruins, even her tree house had scars and blood on it, the tree itself was dying and the sun was up much longer, the unicorns in Canterlot losing their powers, the days all together were getting longer, just yesterday, or the day before? Twilight didn't know anymore, anyway, the last night had been almost sixteen hours long, and the daytime was over twenty. None of the group had kept any sort of time and they went to bed when they were tired. Rarity's eye had gotten infected and she was almost blind in that eye. Rainbow still needed medical attention on her broken wings, they were getting worse each day. Fluttershy had flow back to her home to look for supplies, only to find her cottage in ashes. She returned back with a few cabbages and Angel's bloodied body. Twilight had buried him out front when the coast was clear. Derpy Hooves had knocked once, asking for food and shelter, when Pinkie had opened the door Derpy had attacked her, crushing a few ribs and stealing a dozen carrots before anypony stopped her. Pinkie was still coughing blood. "One week until the gathering." Twilight muttered, leg hurting badly. Rainbow Dash limped toward Twilight and whimpered, Twilight had tried every spell she knew on healing, but nopony knew anything about wounds this bad. There had never been a pony war. "That is, if Canterlot is still there, that force field of your brothers went down almost three normal days ago. We all saw it." Rainbow Dash replied. "I hope he is okay. Along with Candace. Her love sure won't save her. But maybe being alicorn, she might have some power." Twilight replied. "Let's just focus on us." Fluttershy snapped, she hadn't been normal since the out burst, but after finding Angel dead, she had snapped inside. Applejack still hadn't heard from Applebloom, and Sweetie Bella was missing too, Scotaloo was knowingly dead, his depressing corpse hung outside the bowling alley. Rarity wished for her sister to be safe, as did Applejack, but now a days, nopony knew who was still out there, the fighting had died down a little and it was relatively safe to go out side now, but the wounded, lost ground waited for the chariots of Canterlot to save them. Take them away to somewhere safe. Some place open and warm, with food and laughter again, Twilight missed the laughter, for the first few days of the riots Pinkie had been normal, now, like everypony else, she was twisted and dark, completely to herself. Harmony itself was falling, now the Elements were as well. Equestria was dead, pony peace and life was at an end, the world was still, fighting amongst itself to survive without a leader. Equestria was done for, no pony would be alive to see the new world forge itself. Canterlot'Two days until the gathering, all we had to do was last two more damned days alone, and they broke in, murders, broke into the tree house. Two days we were okay, then the murders came, they held knives, and when, when Pinkie Pie tried to defend us, they killed her, stabbed her right in the head, blood went everywhere. I burnt the unicorns alive in the tree, Fluttershy was screaming;' "Twilight this isn't right. Stop this." Fluttershy screamed as my horn began to glow, the now disarmed murders were trapped in the corner, Applejack lay next to Pinkie Pie's dead body, Rainbow held Fluttershy back to stop her getting in my way, I heard Rarity try to get me to stop. I kept advancing. The four unicorns were shaking. Fear had overtaken them and my horn was shouting purple magic all over the room. "How dare you even think of hurting of one my friends. Let alone actually kill one!" I shouted, then released the magic. The first instantly burst into flames. As he ran around, screaming and burning I shot energies at two more, incinerating them completely, the last started to cry and I think he wet himself, for there was a big yellow patch underneath him. "Burn or die?" I asked. He whimpered and cried. "Slow and painful, burn." I said for him and set him alight as well. The two unicorns ran around the house burning slowly, the first fell dead after a minute and was so blackened he was almost unrecognizable. The second fell after two whole minutes. We buried Pinkie Pie outside next to Angel and left the two burnt corpses outside as a warning. Fluttershy, and Applejack were both worried for me. But I didn't care, nopony harms any of my friends and lives to tell the tale.' Twilight finished writing, her dark side had definitely come out earlier that day, and by the feel of it, was here to stay. Applejack opted out of keeping watch with Twilight tonight and the rest were all in the same bed, huddled in fear at their now turned, evil friend. "Twilight. They will betray you in time. They will try to harm each other, is it not better to save them from themselves now?" A voice asked. "Twilight, they are your friends, they should not be scared of you. Make it better." Another said. "No, destroy them before they destroy themselves." The first again. Twilight was confused, she didn't want to hurt her friends, but knew eventually they would harm her, or each other. "I-" Twilight started. "Kill them before they kill you. They are not Elements of Harmony, one of them is the one who killed the princesses and started all this probably. Destroy the traitors!" The first voice again. "No. I cannot hurt my friends." "It won't be harming anypony, just stopping them from destroying themselves. Think logically, what would Celestia do?" Twilight knew the voice now. It was, Discord. "Get out of my head." Twilight muttered. "Save your friends, kill your friends, save your friends, kill your friends, save your friends, kill your friends." Discord kept repeating, the world spun for Twilight, then she fell. It was finally the day of the gathering, apparently, it was a sun-time, nopony called it day and night anymore, there were loads of clouds gathering and there hadn't been any rain since the riots. Twilight was reading on time-reversal spells, but couldn't find anything that she could cast without killing herself in the process. Twilight figured she probably wasn't the only one studying, but Twilight was interested in bringing Luna and Celestia back, now it was to bring Pinkie Pie back. Rainbow Dash's wings were probably in a state where no pony doctor could fix it. Not that there were any left down in Ponyville, it had been quiet for some time now, fresh dead would always line the streets though. Fluttershy had squeaked at the on coming chariots and everypony rushed outside to met them. As their decent got closer and closer the ponies began to cheer. "How many of them are there?" Rarity asked, only able to see through one eye now. "Your not completely blond, just look. There are three chariots and at least twenty unicorns, armed and armoured." Twilight said and began to cheer as well. The first chariot landed and off came Shining Armor. "Twili! Your okay!" Her big brother shouted, he had scars and cuts everywhere, his gold armour dented and slashed. "You bastards left us down here!" Twilight shouted, in normal terms, nopony ever swore, but these weren't normal terms. "Look, Canterlot is under siege by a hole load of stuff, mainly ponies, apparently the diamond dogs are leading, I've never seem this so can't prove the roamers, Canterlot is under attack and my magical power is crippled. As are most unicorns in Canterlot and any sane ponies like yourselves are unfortunately left down below, but we are here now. Where's the Earth pony embassy? The pink one I mean." Shining Armor asked. "Where do you think? We've been alone for tw-, who knows how long! It was bound to happen to one of us, Pinkie Pie is dead, all because you couldn't do anything about it, lets just get this gathering done so I can morn for my friend some more." Rainbow Dash replied. Staring at her wings not the royals. So they went of, the guard battalion staying behind to clear Ponyville of any other looters. The entire trip was in silence. No pony dared say anything to the royals and no royal wanted to speak to any pony else, finally Shining Armor spoke, to another guard. "With the second Earth embassy dead we will require a new one, or tensions will rise between the now declared leaders." The captain said quietly, choosing his words calmly. "Yes sir, but who?" The guard replied. "I don't know, get one of the Terran guards." "It will be done." Twilight was sitting with Rainbow Dash, a unicorn had said her wings were not beyond fixing, but would need to wait until they reached Canterlot for some real unicorn healers. Rarity's eye was lost, Applejack:s leg was now relatively fine, except for some sore times and some times where she would wake up with a stiff leg Twilight was fine, except she was still missing Pinkie and how she had died defending the rest of them. Fluttershy had been quiet barely eating, in fact she hadn't said a word since four sun-times ago. Suddenly the sun dropped and made way for the moon. As they flow over Canterlot Twilight saw some pony controlled catapults that were firing on the city there were fires and magical explosions everywhere at the edge of the city, most of it was unscratched but Twilight saw why no aid had come. The group got closer to the main castle and Twilight caught a look at some of the races down there. The chariots landed and the five ponies got off. A white unicorn with a red cross painted to her flank came up to them. "The gathering isn't for another few hours, so, miss Dash, miss Rarity, please come with me, your be fixed up in no time. Applejack limped over to Twilight and groaned. "What about my leg?" Applejack asked. "I guess they only help the most wounded, Rainbow is close to losing her wings, and they probably will have to take them off, and Rarity's.eye is far, far beyond help, its all puss and no eye." Twilight replied, looking at the guards and race embassies. The sea ponies had come themselves, for they had big tanks over their heads full of sea water, gills could be seen sprouting from their necks and all five held the same sea green colour. The presumed leader, for it was a unicorn and the rest were 'Earth' ponies, stood taller than the rest and was the only one to hold a cutie mark, one of a fish. Twilight had no idea what it meant, up on land it could mean a good fisher, down below it could mean anything. The new Changling queen, Cylist or Cyela or something was here with three other Changlings, all in their normal form. The newly crowned Pegasi king, Ironhead stood with two other light grey Pegasi, he had a iron eye patch on over his left eye and had an axe on his back. The Earth queen, Cherry Pots was shouting at Ironhead and blaming the Pegasi on the assassination. Cherry was a, cherry red colour and had scarlet hair, braided a bit like Applejack's. The Unicorn king was also shouting, Frebart or something, he was a gold colour and had a white mane. Nearly every race was shouting at each other over the assassination, all apart from the Sea ponies. Applejack was still next to Twilight and Fluttershy appeared. "All this hatred." Fluttershy said, not in her normal tone. More, well, stern. "I know Fluttershy, its okay." Applejack replied to her friend. Fluttershy turned to Applejack with a cold stare, this wasn't Fluttershy. "How can it be okay! The two princesses were murdered and no pony will stand up to admit it! War is coming because the new leaders are all idiots and blame each other! Pinkie Pie is dead and Rarity and Rainbow Dash are in hospit for wounds they got weeks ago, that no fat cat Canterlot unicorn would fix, because everypony here only cares for themselves!" Fluttershy bellowed, almost quieting out everypony else. Ironhead stared at the yellow Pegasi with one dark eye. 'That will be interesting later.' Twilight thought. After an hour or so Rainbow Dash and Rarity returned, Rainbow had some metal braces on around her wings for support, and Rarity wore a purple leather eye patch. "Those unicorns are miracle workers, they say my wings will be back to normal in two weeks and Rarity's eye is almost back to normal." Rainbow Dash said, gleaming with pride and happiness for the first time in weeks. "What magic did they use? That seems almost impossible." Twilight replied, shocked. "I don't know what they did, they put use both to sleep, when I woke up my wings didn't hurt and Rarity could see better." Rainbow Dash replied. "Okay, how long?" Twilight said, nodding at the eye patch. "Same as Rainbow, two weeks dear, isn't it perfect, I'll be able to see again!" Rarity said, twirling around. "You were never blind Rarity." Twilight muttered. Applejack came back from the bathroom, tail between her legs and greeted her friends back. Twilight swore she heard a buzzing coming from Applejack's legs, but didn't complain, Applejack looked happy to see her friends better, a little to happy though. Twilight laughed at the thought and Fluttershy came back over from her tree hiding place she had flown to after her out burst. The five friends chatted and laughed for the first time in a long time. Whilst the rest were laughing Applejack loosened her tails grip from her legs and Twilight saw what she was hiding and similed. 'We all need it now. After all that.' Twilight thought as AJ repositioned herself a little. The gatheringFinally the gathering started, everypony was told to get in their racial groups and head into the castle, the debates as to who killed the princesses would be in the dinning hall, where the two had been found by some guards as Twilight had left, they had also been blamed, but later to be freed after a lying spell had failed, so they were telling the truth about it, the question came up as to why nopony had used it on everypony else to find out but it was a spell casted on royal guards only, all had been questioned and freed in the months leading up to this day. Twilight and Rarity sat next to Frebart and the kings advisors, none of the mane six had spoken yet, just letting everypony shout across the room, not very good embassies, again the Sea ponies stayed quiet, only speaking when spoken to. They had a strange way of speaking, a foreign way of speaking, as Ironhead had put it. "The only way anypony could have killed Celestia and Luna is by magic! It has to be one of Frebart's pawns!" Ironhead shouted, wings flapping. Ironhead shouted across the table. "Excuse me? We both know the unicorns have been more loyal than any race!" Ironhead replied, Rainbow Dash was still transfixed on her metal wings and Fluttershy was curled up under the table, despite her own personal hatred, all this shouting was making her uncomfortable. As it was for most ponies here. So far the Sea ponies hadn't blamed anypony, and neither had the Changlings. The main accusations were between the two kings and queen. Ironhead, Frebart and Cherry Pots were constantly shouting and cursing at each other, the debate went on for hours, and after some time, less than about twenty minutes, Twilight began to get bored. She started a link up with Rarity with her communication magic, Rarity, bored as well, accepted. "Why must there be so much death and treats, can't somepony just come forward?" Twilight asked Rarity, only the white unicorn could hear her, the other, four also had the magic, as Twilight had asked Celestia to give it to them, before her death. "Well it wasn't me. It was probably one of the leaders. Ironhead looks like the traitor type." Rarity replied, staring at the Pegasus king. "Hold on.-" Twilight said, joining the others to the communication. "Hot, this is boring, if Pinkie were here I'd say that we were better of down in Ponyville, but she's gone, Celestia rest her soul." Applejack said, joining the talk. "Who do you girls think did it? The assassination, assassinations, even?" Twilight asked. "Ironhead!" Rarity shouted, quickly and almost, if it were better terms, humorous. "Hey! Ironhead wouldn't kill the princesses, I think it was Frebart, he's the magic one!" Rainbow replied, then the shouting became worse in the communication than outside, no where was quiet. "Quiet!" Twilight shouted, top of her 'voice'. "Don't any of you start like those idiots of leaders out there. We are Harmony remember. We can't chose sides, we are for Equestria." Twilight continued. "We cannot bicker amongst ourselves for its not right, you guys are my best friends, and I want to stand with you what ever happens here, we must be together and survive this disaster." Then, she caught the real debate. "If none of your unicorns will admit treason, then so be it. I king Ironhead, leader of the Pegasi and warrior of the skies, declares war on all the nations that are not Pegasi!" Ironhead bellowed. 'Oh no.' Twilight thought, knowing what this meant. "Fine! I king Frebart, king or the unicorn nation, warrior of magic declares war on any nation that is not Unicorn." The phrase went through the table and each leader stood with their guards. "Get out of my city!" Frebart shouted, clearly claiming Canterlot as his capital. "No non-unicorn allowed in Cloudsdale, but you will all be burnt by months end. That is, if you can raise the sun and moon without any aid." Ironhead returned, claiming Cloudsdale, Twilight saw the imagine the king had in mind, the rainbows stopped, iron forged in stead, the new recruit flyers would be trained as elite soldiers for this terrible war. "Well I claim Ponyville, we shall destroy you all. I queen Cherry Pots, leader of the Earth ponies, daughter of the Earth and ruler of Equestria, promise you this." Cherry pots vowed, she probably hadn't been to Ponyville in a while so didn't know the state it's in. The Sea ponies, now trapped, also declared war, as did the Changlings. Each leader storming out after their vows to kill the other four. After less than a minute, only the five friends remained. "Now what do we do? I will not fight for Ironhead, as much as any of you would fight for your leaders, the Earth ponies have taken Ponyville, where do we go?" Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash came over to the unicorn. "I don't care, as long as we are together." The cyan Pegasus replied. Applejack and Rarity said the same, now only Fluttershy stood alone. "So? You coming Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked her yellow Pegasi friend. Fluttershy looked to the white marble floor, gulped then began to sob quietly, after a minute she stopped, pushing Rarity's comforting form. Then, nothing. "Fluttershy?" Applejack said, conceded, there was a dark look in the yellow Pegasi's eyes. She looked to the marble floor but still said nothing. Fighting had already started, the five ponies had to get out soon, or the unicorn warriors would come back to find the enemy and, through their eyes, traitors. "Fluttershy come on." Twilight said, an explosion shouted and a scream went up, followed by more, orders were barked and more explosions rung. Magic and fighting in Canterlot's main castle, what a world. "I'm, I'm not coming." Fluttershy finally said, those Earth Pony looters who murdered my Angel are still out there, free of karma from what they did all those weeks ago, none of you were, and are brave enogh to face them, I am joining Ironhead and hunting them down in Ponyville. My little Angel didn't deserve to die." Fluttershy exclaimed, everypony was silent at Fluttershy's dramatic change of character. Fluttershy had really changed down in Ponyville, and before anypony could find the words to convince their friend to not join in the war, Fluttershy flow out and screamed, an explosion sounded close outside and Fluttershy's scream was cut off, she was dead, Angel wouldn't get redemption, some unicorns under Ironhead were guarding the room. "Fluttershy." Rainbow whimpered, another Element of Harmony lost and one of Twilight's best friends, was dead. Along with Pinkie Pie, and presumably, Spike. Twilight's horn began to glow, there was only one way of escape, but Twilight had no idea where to send the now group of four. "Twilight, where are we going to land?" Applejack asked, the orange Earth pony was concerned,she limped over to Twilight, getting closer to the spell as to make it easier for Twilight to cast. Rarity paused, then did the same, Rainbow Dash walked over, wings in the metal linings still, the four ponies huddled together and waited for Twilight Sparkle's reply. "I don't know AJ, just trust me." Twilight's horn was vibrating loudly, magic pouring out. Soon they would be gone. "Okay Twilight, we will do this together. Do it." Applejack said, Rainbow also nodded, as did Rarity. "Well dear, lets get out of here. Let the brutes destroy each other." Rarity pushed Twilight, still gathering magic. After a few more seconds, magical energies sparking and flying everywhere, the purple unicorn released the random teleportation magic. Hidden in the shadowsThe land here was rocky and barren, no towns were in sight and there was a good defendable cave near where the group had landed. Nopony was really sure where in Equestria they were, there was some fresh snow down and lots of overgrown trees, mainly apple trees, some could be bucked down for wood supplies. Twilight scanned the landscape, hoping to catch a glance of something, the clouds were all massive, never changed by Pegasi. The clouds were light grey, snow, Rainbow Dash said. 'Good thing we have a weather pony with us, or this fresh snow would never have given the weather patterns away.' Twilight thought. Rarity was walking around, her hair still a mess, it was losing colour, becoming a browny-dark purple colour. Rarity screamed in delight as she saw something. "Water! Fresh water!" Rarity was shouting, dispute the snow it wasn't actually very cold. Twilight inspected the snow more with her eyes, her magic almost drained for a long while, the teleport had taken all strength out of Twilight but she wouldn't admit weakness to her friends. Applejack rushed to the water and dived in, considering, Twilight was surprised Rarity was in the water. "Come on girls, the waters fine!" AJ shouted, Twilight knew why it was so warm, yet snowy, she panicked instantly. "Girls, this is the void between the dragon lands and the Changling nation, we are trapped in no ponies land, I don't know which side of Equestria we are on and don't know where the country of Equestria is, the dragons have been migrating a lot all over Equestria more recently, well, they were three months ago. The sun set and the moon came out, at about the right time now, the moon had come out and in Canterlot it was about midnight when the group had escaped. Twilight found herself worrying for Shining Armor and Candace. "Dragon lands?" Rarity replied, shocked. "In the east, to the west is Changling central, as far as I can tell, to the south is the endless sea and north is the only way we can go, but the road leads through Changling and dragon lands, the pathway in the mountains leads straight out to Equestria, where we can watch the war and see when it's safe again. This is all from books of explorers, so don't know if it is in deed this side of Equestria, if we are east then we are fine, if not, we will have to pass straight through dragon lands." Twilight said, the group stopped and looked to the skies. Rarity had stopped shouting and was holding a hoof over her mouth. Rainbow Dash tried to flap her wings, but the metal stopped her. As happy as she was to have them back, she wasn't happy to have to wait more time before she could use them. Applejack was now out of the water and was watching the sky now and Twilight was trying to look for mountains, with no prevail. Two days passed and there were no signs of any Changlings or dragons. Applejack was still watching the skies but had somehow gathered a lot of apples, there was some grass here to so they were fairly fine on food and water, probably better of here than Ponyville. Twilight manipulated the rock and carved into the stone graves: Angel, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy. She cried as she wrote more graves, Rarity stood watching, as did Rainbow Dash, Applejack came over to watch as well, tears in each of their pony eyes. Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna. The rocks on their graves conveniently had some natural iron ore in, so their grave stones looked more, well, more than the others. "We will remember them Twilight, and this war shall end one day." Applejack muttered, knowing it a lie. "Yes, but at what cost to Equestria's population, thousands are already dead from unarmed looters, these are trained military figures, fighting because nopony will admit to killing our princesses." Twilight replied, still crying. "We will find out who killed the princesses Twilight, one day a new alicorn shall rise from the war." Rarity replied. "What about Candace? She's an alicorn." Applejack pointed out, in truth, Shining Armor had told Twilight Candace was long dead, died in child birth, sad way to go, but it had happened, Shining Armor wasn't the same, but now fighting under a new banner, he would use that anger on the battlefield, knowing Armor, becoming a great threat to anypony brave enough to attack him. "She's gone, died years ago." Twilight replied. She had gotten the latter only eight months after their wedding, the baby had died too, Shining Armor hadn't spoken to Twilight since, except at the gathering, and he seemed fine. Which Twilight knew was wrong. "Is there any way to turn, heck, you into an alicorn?" Applejack asked. "You have to be born an alicorn, or earn the place." Twilight replied, flattered at her friends suggestion. "Come on, I'm getting tired, lets get back to the cave." Rainbow Dash said. A week later, the four made their first attempts at seeing where they were and how to get home again. Only one dragon had flown over so far, heading into or out of the Changling kingdom. Apparently even the dragons were in the war. "Come on girls, we should find out where we are sooner rather than later." Twilight said, tired, her casting such a hard spell then not being around any sort of natural magic was beginning to take its toll. "Okay, now which way didaya say that mountain of yours was?" Applejack asked. Rarity was sitting on a rock she'd manipulated into a chair somehow and was munching on one of many apples, her eye patch was soggy and wet from Rarity's eighth shower that day, she wouldn't take it off, even whilst in the volcanic water. Some days the water would be boiling, and the ponies would come out lighter, pinker, more raw colours, other days the water would be cold, the days the four ponies would fill the water skins, again, Rarity had made, since Twilight was still worn out from the teleport. Other days the water would be boiling and steaming, too dangerous to go in. Rainbow Dash was excited that in a few days she could fly again, being so long grounded she had taken a custom to being so low down, the rainbow and cyan Pegasus knew she couldn't go too far or too high being in dragon-Changling lands, so was itching to attempt at heading to her war-torn home. "The mountain pass should be about a days gallop north, so fill your skins up and grab the bags, AJ, apples, Rarity, water, Rainbow, watch those wings but bring some blankets. I'll get the spare supplies." Considering they had been away from pony civilization for nearly two weeks, the group, with Rarity's manipulation skills, and AJ's apple bucking, the group were pretty well off. So the four of them geared up and began the march, again not seeing anything on the way. Twilight lead the way north through the rocks and over the barren hills that stood in their way, the day was nearly over, the unicorns getting the right time now, (so they were presumably winning the war. Or showing off to the other factions). But there were no sign of any mountains, Twilight was giving up as they passed over a hill, then, I'm front about half a day away, were some brown-grey mountains. "The Equestrian mountains, named after being used by the chancellor of the Earth pony tribe when Equestria was founded. Apparently the chancellor herself inscribed in the rock a message to anypony that followed and was in need to aid." Twilight said, gleaming with pride they were on the right track. "That could definitely come in handy." Rainbow replied, even after all that time, Twilight was still looking at Rainbow and expecting her to be flying. Not grounded, with metal bars over her wings. "Look darling, whatever the Earth pony wrote would have nothing to do with an assassination or a great pony war." Rarity exclaimed. "Well we should still go and see, for the next generation." Applejack replied, not really thinking. "Next generation? If this war isn't ended than there may not be a next pony generation, if the dragons are provoked enogh it'll be the end of ponies, the end of Equestria and the beginning of another dragon reign." Twilight replied, louder than intended. On a roadThe four set off along the rocky rock, carrying supplies as they went. Twilight began to think of Pinkie Pie, how she would bounce alone any trips and give of random comments from time to time. Twilight felt tears brewing. She fought them back, but when Applejack saw Twilight and told everypony to stop a minute, Twilight allowed herself to cry into AJ's orange shoulder. Twilight let every feeling go, she heard everypony crying, thinking of all those dead back home, and all those still going to die. "Come on y'all, let it all out.-" Applejack said, crying herself. Two of her best friends were dead, as was most of her family. "-because we aren't movin' until y'all have cleared your systems." She finished. The four found themselves huddled together in a square, crying and remembering. "Remember when we went to the Gala?" Rainbow asked, trying to get everypony to think of the good times. "Yeah. When Pinkie started dancing in front of all those fat cats." Applejack laughed, for a second the crying became laughter, only to reverse again soon. All of them had been keeping their feelings inside for far too long. "Or when we all saved of Equestria from Nightmare moon?" Twilight asked, the four told stories to each other, making each other remember the good days. They laughed and cried together. Happy and sad at the same time, glad to be alive, yet hating for those who were not. Mixed feelings went round the four, but each was sorry they were alive, and Fluttershy and Pinkie weren't. For a good twenty minutes the four sat on the rock floor remembering, then they came back to the present as a fire ball shot overhead and crashed over in the direction the four would be heading in. "Meteor?" Rainbow asked. Twilight looked up into the dark, red sky above staring at the dying sun. She was unsure and then a sound rang out and another fireball shot into the ground, closer. "Dragon attack!" Twilight shouted, the four ponies panicked and ran, as fast as they could dodging rocks and hearing explosions ring out. The lavender pony was right, sadly. A medium sized blood red dragon flow over low to the ground, flapping its wings loudly and roaring, fire was being breathed everywhere and the four ponies had to run around to find cover. "Shield up!" Twilight shouted, forming a protective shield over herself and the other three, she couldn't hold it for long, crippled with her teleport spell. Rarity ran under and her horn began to glow, Rainbow and AJ soon followed under the shield, the dragon turned and blasted dragon breathe all over the four ponies, but thankfully the shield held and they were safe. Rarity began to shoot spells at the dragon, targeting its wings and under belly. Rainbow was trying to fly to help but as usual the metal bracers stopped her. Only a few more days and she would be able to fly. "Shoot it!" Applejack shouted, noticing Rarity had stopped. "I can't , my magic is draining, we need to hide somewhere, fast." Rarity replied, then began to hold the shield up with Twilight. The other unicorn just nodded under gritted teeth and sweat. "Move!" Twilight shouted and the dragon began a fire sweep again. The four ponies began to run, where to, no pony knew. Just forward. The dragon followed suit, burning the ground around the four and continuously breaking down the shields protection. "Cave!" Applejack shouted, pointing a hoof as she ran, her blonde hair swaying as she did so. She was right though, almost directly ahead stood an entrance, possibly not a very big cave but enough to hid until the dragon got bored and went to hunt else where. The four ponies practically jumped into the cave, Twilight breaking the shield and losing consciousness as she rolled into safety. Rarity also collapsed and was panting heavily, the dragon roared a few times and breathed fire into the entrance for good measure, before flapping its wings and flying away. Rainbow collapsed onto the ground, panting, Applejack stood her ground but was like wise recovering her breath. "Now. Now what?" Applejack panting. Twilight was gone and Rarity close to it. "We have. Have to wait. Until Twilight and Rarity have their. Strength back, we can't go through dragon lands without- without magic." Rainbow Dash replied. "Anyway, its nap time." And with that, Rainbow fell on her side and fell asleep. Applejack smiled for the first time in a long time and curled up next to her friend and prepared for sleep. It was an uncomfortable floor but her exhaustion from just then and since the chaos, made AJ fall asleep almost instantly. A few hours passed and AJ woke up, she was sore and hurting from sleeping on solid rock and stood up to stretch out her aching body. She looked to her friends. Rarity and Twilight still passed out and Rainbow was on her side making no noise. AJ went over to check on her, the mare soon flipped over staring into the Earth ponies eyes. "Did I wake ya?" AJ asked. "No. I have been awake for about twenty minutes. I think, hard to tell the time out here, no clocks." Rainbow replied. AJ just nodded and sat next to her friend. "How long do you think we will have to wait?" AJ asked. "For what?" Rainbow replied. "For them to be refreshed?" AJ grunted. Pointing to the two unicorns. "No idea. Twilight was still spent before we came out here. Let alone now after having to cast that shield. If we stay for a few days, hope they get better. I will fly back grab some more food and we can move on. Again." Dash replied. The Earth pony just nodded again. Staring at Rainbow. It was getting dark out. The shadows were long and deep. Outside the sky would've been bright with colour. Reds, oranges. AJ decided to say the fact it was getting dark. "But without the Princesses, who knows how long it'll take for sunset." Rainbow muttered. "But ya'll got to admit they are pretty good at it, despite everything. Ah just hope for an end to this." AJ replied, hurting again. "We all do. Just be lucky we ain't the ones out there fighting." "Yeah." Applejack muttered quietly. "Yeah." She repeated. Then went over to the saddle bags and got out some sleeping gear, after helping Rainbow with hers the two went to sleep in the dark empty cave. Thinking of home, the old times.
PilotNews spread quickly over all of the world of Equestria, ponies cried and panicked, hid and ran. The news was worse than anything anypony had ever gotten, the news so devastating, it quickly broke the Harmony of Equestria. The news broke hearts and bodies of ponies, flared up old rivalries that were once lost, the news that both princesses of Canterlot, Goddess Princesses, leaders and forgers of friendship and peace. Celestia, sun princess, and Luna, moon princess. Had been, assassinated, killed in cold blood, nopony knew who and why, only that the two princesses lay bloody and dead in their main hall. Twilight Sparkle hid in her tree house home, it was pitch black, the doors and windows were locked and bared. Twilight was innocent, she may have been the last one to see Celestia and Luna alive, but she would never kill either of them. Twilight wondered what she had to do to convince everypony that she was innocent. She was on her way out of Canterlot when some royal guards, armed had come up to her: "Miss Twilight Sparkle?" A grey Pegasus asked. "Yes officer?" She had replied. Spears fell and she found herself surrounded. "Your under arrest." A second guard, unicorn said. "What?Why?" Twilight panicked, Celestia wouldn't have arrested her for anything. What was going on? "High treason." The first replied, grabbing Twilight. "What? Treason? Celestia will hear about this!" Twilight swore. "That's the thing traitor, both Celestia and Luna are dead, and since your the last to see them, no other records have been found of anypony else getting in. You must have killed them." "What? The princesses are dead? How?" "Stop faking traitor and come with us." Twilight panicked, her horn began to glow, then darkness. She had awoken in her library, Spike was missing, but she wasn't worried about that, she had quickly found some ply wood and nailed the door frame and windows in with magic. Now Twilight was hiding in the darkness, apart from her friends. Wondering what to do, what to say to prove her innocence. Suddenly the door knocked. "Twilight?" It was Spike. Twilight began to use her magic. "Twilight, there are some royal guards here for you. Please come out." Spike continued, then Twilight stopped her magic. "Look, we must put this traitor on trail and punish her for her acts against Equestria, if you know where she is and are holding back, you will be hanged as well." A second voice said. "Look, the only place other than here she could teleport to is here or the old ruins of the princesses in the Everfree forest." Spike replied, scared for his life. Rainbow Dash nearly flow straight into the two royal guards, just missing their flanks by centimetres. "Erm. Hi?" Rainbow said, confused as why two Pegasi guards were so far from Canterlot and in her way of flight. "Rainbow Dash? Pegasus leader of the Ponyvillian weather team?" One asked. "You forgot best flyer in Equestria." Rainbow blushed. Still wondering what Celestia would want from her. "Your friend, Twilight Sparkle is now a known traitor, she murdered both our glorious leaders, Celestia and Luna, in cold blood. We wish to bring you in for questioning." The first Pegasi said. Rainbow Dash nearly lost her flight control. Twilight, a traitor? But she wouldn't. "Twilight would never even think of harming either princesses." Rainbow pleaded. The two guards looked to each other, then flow away slightly. "That is exactly what the other four said, and the dragon. We don't actually have much evidence against Twilight. Maybe they're right." The second, blue one said. "Or they are all working for the traitor." "Damn it Whiplash, Twilight and her friends have saved Equestria four times now, the Nightmare moon incident, Discord, the Changlings, and the fourth time." "Fine, I'll drop the charges and tell Shining Armor what happened. But we must get embassies of each known race, find the real culprit and sort this whole thing out." Whiplash replied, then flow back to Rainbow. "Sorry miss, we have made a grave mistake. You may go." Rainbow began to fly away. "Oh, and miss Dash, if you find Twilight tell her she isn't guilty and that you must all come to Canterlot for a talk about the assassination." Whiplash added and Rainbow Dash flow away to find Twilight, and the others. The newly crowded Changling queen, queen Cylis heard the news about the pony princesses had been assassinated and had been given a letter asking for an audience in Canterlot. "The nerve of those ponies, they are going to blame my subjects and I over their leaders deaths, here it's a normal thing, I killed the last queen myself." Cylis said to herself. "But I guess I must go, otherwise they will blame me for it. Gilus! Koji! Belador! Get in here!" The three Changling warriors rushed in, convenient that they had been outside. "Yes my queen." Belador said, bowing. "You three will accompany me to Canterlot, we have issues to debate over there." Cylis ordered, the three bowed then went to get ready. 'These ponies shall not blame me.' With Twilight now free to move without guards arresting her, word went out that Celestia and Luna were dead, straight away ponies began to fight, a few unicorns had figured out how to control the sun and moon, but they couldn't hold harmony in Equestria. Old rivalries began to flare up and ponies started to fight on the streets, began to steal. A murder came up, first time since coming to the land of Equestria. Twilight still kept the doors and windows defended, but now fearful from looters and thieves. Spike was sleeping, and Twilight had invited her five closest friends to stay, safety in numbers and all. A scream flared out in the night and Applejack shot up, Rarity and Fluttershy sharing the spare bed, Rainbow was sharing with Pinkie Pie, whilst Twilight and Applejack kept watch, Applejack had opted out of a bed to help Twilight, until the apple bucket had fallen asleep. AJ's farm had been looted badly and both Granny Smith and Big Mac were in the hospital. Applejack had a sprained leg, but was okay. Equestria was in complete disarray and Twilight was surprised Discord hadn't returned. It had been three days since the two princesses had died. So much had happened. Apparently the inter-racial debate over the assassination was in two months, Twilight, Rarity and some elite unicorn named Frebart would represent the unicorn race. Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Ironhead from the southern corner of Equestria would be there for the Pegasi, Applejack, if her leg was better, Pinkie Pie, and a northern Earth pony named Cherry Pots would be there for the Terran Ponies. Apparently, even the legendary Sea ponies were coming, or at least their air breathing embassies. The Changlings were coming, the dragon followers of the east, all over Equestria embassies and leaders of each race were coming together, to find out who had killed Celestia and Luna. But first, they had to all survive. "Day nine. I sent Spike to the market today, for things had died down a little. I was wrong, he hasn't returned and we are running out of food, Canterlot won't send aid, ponies are rioting all over Equestria, this dead line must be sped up, the land can't handle it, I wish Celestia were still alive. Some Earth ponies broke in yesterday, broke Rainbows wings and stole a load of books, we had all been sleeping but Rainbow, now she may never fly again. The fighting is mainly at night now, where old rivals have gotten stronger, and harder, I went up to the balcony, there are pony dead everywhere, only a few I knew, but this was getting out of hand, we are quickly running out of food and we are down to daily rations. The two princesses reined a long time, both together and apart, but the reaction to their deaths is overpowering. Maybe their presence really did keep Harmony, and not just metaphorically, without them, ponies hate, ponies fear, ponies fight. It was wrong.' Twilight had been keeping a diary on some spare parchment over the days to keep herself sane. The others were tired, hurt and hungry. Rainbow stared at her wings all of the day, and cried herself to sleep at night, Rainbow Dash had probably saved all their lives if not for her bravery against the Earth pony looters. "Twilight, get some sleep, I'll keep watch." Rarity said, not her normal, posh self, she sounded tired, like all of them, her black eye from the other days attempt to get food was now a dark purple, much like her mane. "No, Rarity you need your sleep." Twilight replied, as tired as Rarity was. "As do you. Now go." Rarity's hair was messy and broken, none of them had showered in eight days, but being clean wasn't really on anypony's mind right now. Rarity pushed Twilight's flank closer to the stairway. "Fine. How's the eye?" Twilight asked. "It's, it's fine dear." Rarity replied and Twilight looked for the lies in her friends eyes, found them, Rarity was in pain, much like Rainbow and her wings, Applejack and her leg. Most of them now had some sort of wound. Twilight looked sadly at the white unicorn before her and let a single tear fall down her check. A month pasted and still no aid, they had gotten some food, but in return, Twilight had two legs broken, and each had cuts all over them, Twilight wasn't sure where from, but the unicorns had found some knives and swords and was using them against everypony. On their way back, with barely a bag of apples and carrots, they saw Zacora, dead. Among others, dead. Blood was everywhere and limbs were missing. Twilight limped back to the tree house, there was still no sign of Spike and each knew what that meant. Dragon scales, even little ones, would sell a lot. Three weeks until the gathering and Twilight began to wonder how it would go, she'd seen Ponyville, it was in ruins, even her tree house had scars and blood on it, the tree itself was dying and the sun was up much longer, the unicorns in Canterlot losing their powers, the days all together were getting longer, just yesterday, or the day before? Twilight didn't know anymore, anyway, the last night had been almost sixteen hours long, and the daytime was over twenty. None of the group had kept any sort of time and they went to bed when they were tired. Rarity's eye had gotten infected and she was almost blind in that eye. Rainbow still needed medical attention on her broken wings, they were getting worse each day. Fluttershy had flow back to her home to look for supplies, only to find her cottage in ashes. She returned back with a few cabbages and Angel's bloodied body. Twilight had buried him out front when the coast was clear. Derpy Hooves had knocked once, asking for food and shelter, when Pinkie had opened the door Derpy had attacked her, crushing a few ribs and stealing a dozen carrots before anypony stopped her. Pinkie was still coughing blood. "One week until the gathering." Twilight muttered, leg hurting badly. Rainbow Dash limped toward Twilight and whimpered, Twilight had tried every spell she knew on healing, but nopony knew anything about wounds this bad. There had never been a pony war. "That is, if Canterlot is still there, that force field of your brothers went down almost three normal days ago. We all saw it." Rainbow Dash replied. "I hope he is okay. Along with Candace. Her love sure won't save her. But maybe being alicorn, she might have some power." Twilight replied. "Let's just focus on us." Fluttershy snapped, she hadn't been normal since the out burst, but after finding Angel dead, she had snapped inside. Applejack still hadn't heard from Applebloom, and Sweetie Bella was missing too, Scotaloo was knowingly dead, his depressing corpse hung outside the bowling alley. Rarity wished for her sister to be safe, as did Applejack, but now a days, nopony knew who was still out there, the fighting had died down a little and it was relatively safe to go out side now, but the wounded, lost ground waited for the chariots of Canterlot to save them. Take them away to somewhere safe. Some place open and warm, with food and laughter again, Twilight missed the laughter, for the first few days of the riots Pinkie had been normal, now, like everypony else, she was twisted and dark, completely to herself. Harmony itself was falling, now the Elements were as well. Equestria was dead, pony peace and life was at an end, the world was still, fighting amongst itself to survive without a leader. Equestria was done for, no pony would be alive to see the new world forge itself.
Canterlot'Two days until the gathering, all we had to do was last two more damned days alone, and they broke in, murders, broke into the tree house. Two days we were okay, then the murders came, they held knives, and when, when Pinkie Pie tried to defend us, they killed her, stabbed her right in the head, blood went everywhere. I burnt the unicorns alive in the tree, Fluttershy was screaming;' "Twilight this isn't right. Stop this." Fluttershy screamed as my horn began to glow, the now disarmed murders were trapped in the corner, Applejack lay next to Pinkie Pie's dead body, Rainbow held Fluttershy back to stop her getting in my way, I heard Rarity try to get me to stop. I kept advancing. The four unicorns were shaking. Fear had overtaken them and my horn was shouting purple magic all over the room. "How dare you even think of hurting of one my friends. Let alone actually kill one!" I shouted, then released the magic. The first instantly burst into flames. As he ran around, screaming and burning I shot energies at two more, incinerating them completely, the last started to cry and I think he wet himself, for there was a big yellow patch underneath him. "Burn or die?" I asked. He whimpered and cried. "Slow and painful, burn." I said for him and set him alight as well. The two unicorns ran around the house burning slowly, the first fell dead after a minute and was so blackened he was almost unrecognizable. The second fell after two whole minutes. We buried Pinkie Pie outside next to Angel and left the two burnt corpses outside as a warning. Fluttershy, and Applejack were both worried for me. But I didn't care, nopony harms any of my friends and lives to tell the tale.' Twilight finished writing, her dark side had definitely come out earlier that day, and by the feel of it, was here to stay. Applejack opted out of keeping watch with Twilight tonight and the rest were all in the same bed, huddled in fear at their now turned, evil friend. "Twilight. They will betray you in time. They will try to harm each other, is it not better to save them from themselves now?" A voice asked. "Twilight, they are your friends, they should not be scared of you. Make it better." Another said. "No, destroy them before they destroy themselves." The first again. Twilight was confused, she didn't want to hurt her friends, but knew eventually they would harm her, or each other. "I-" Twilight started. "Kill them before they kill you. They are not Elements of Harmony, one of them is the one who killed the princesses and started all this probably. Destroy the traitors!" The first voice again. "No. I cannot hurt my friends." "It won't be harming anypony, just stopping them from destroying themselves. Think logically, what would Celestia do?" Twilight knew the voice now. It was, Discord. "Get out of my head." Twilight muttered. "Save your friends, kill your friends, save your friends, kill your friends, save your friends, kill your friends." Discord kept repeating, the world spun for Twilight, then she fell. It was finally the day of the gathering, apparently, it was a sun-time, nopony called it day and night anymore, there were loads of clouds gathering and there hadn't been any rain since the riots. Twilight was reading on time-reversal spells, but couldn't find anything that she could cast without killing herself in the process. Twilight figured she probably wasn't the only one studying, but Twilight was interested in bringing Luna and Celestia back, now it was to bring Pinkie Pie back. Rainbow Dash's wings were probably in a state where no pony doctor could fix it. Not that there were any left down in Ponyville, it had been quiet for some time now, fresh dead would always line the streets though. Fluttershy had squeaked at the on coming chariots and everypony rushed outside to met them. As their decent got closer and closer the ponies began to cheer. "How many of them are there?" Rarity asked, only able to see through one eye now. "Your not completely blond, just look. There are three chariots and at least twenty unicorns, armed and armoured." Twilight said and began to cheer as well. The first chariot landed and off came Shining Armor. "Twili! Your okay!" Her big brother shouted, he had scars and cuts everywhere, his gold armour dented and slashed. "You bastards left us down here!" Twilight shouted, in normal terms, nopony ever swore, but these weren't normal terms. "Look, Canterlot is under siege by a hole load of stuff, mainly ponies, apparently the diamond dogs are leading, I've never seem this so can't prove the roamers, Canterlot is under attack and my magical power is crippled. As are most unicorns in Canterlot and any sane ponies like yourselves are unfortunately left down below, but we are here now. Where's the Earth pony embassy? The pink one I mean." Shining Armor asked. "Where do you think? We've been alone for tw-, who knows how long! It was bound to happen to one of us, Pinkie Pie is dead, all because you couldn't do anything about it, lets just get this gathering done so I can morn for my friend some more." Rainbow Dash replied. Staring at her wings not the royals. So they went of, the guard battalion staying behind to clear Ponyville of any other looters. The entire trip was in silence. No pony dared say anything to the royals and no royal wanted to speak to any pony else, finally Shining Armor spoke, to another guard. "With the second Earth embassy dead we will require a new one, or tensions will rise between the now declared leaders." The captain said quietly, choosing his words calmly. "Yes sir, but who?" The guard replied. "I don't know, get one of the Terran guards." "It will be done." Twilight was sitting with Rainbow Dash, a unicorn had said her wings were not beyond fixing, but would need to wait until they reached Canterlot for some real unicorn healers. Rarity's eye was lost, Applejack:s leg was now relatively fine, except for some sore times and some times where she would wake up with a stiff leg Twilight was fine, except she was still missing Pinkie and how she had died defending the rest of them. Fluttershy had been quiet barely eating, in fact she hadn't said a word since four sun-times ago. Suddenly the sun dropped and made way for the moon. As they flow over Canterlot Twilight saw some pony controlled catapults that were firing on the city there were fires and magical explosions everywhere at the edge of the city, most of it was unscratched but Twilight saw why no aid had come. The group got closer to the main castle and Twilight caught a look at some of the races down there. The chariots landed and the five ponies got off. A white unicorn with a red cross painted to her flank came up to them. "The gathering isn't for another few hours, so, miss Dash, miss Rarity, please come with me, your be fixed up in no time. Applejack limped over to Twilight and groaned. "What about my leg?" Applejack asked. "I guess they only help the most wounded, Rainbow is close to losing her wings, and they probably will have to take them off, and Rarity's.eye is far, far beyond help, its all puss and no eye." Twilight replied, looking at the guards and race embassies. The sea ponies had come themselves, for they had big tanks over their heads full of sea water, gills could be seen sprouting from their necks and all five held the same sea green colour. The presumed leader, for it was a unicorn and the rest were 'Earth' ponies, stood taller than the rest and was the only one to hold a cutie mark, one of a fish. Twilight had no idea what it meant, up on land it could mean a good fisher, down below it could mean anything. The new Changling queen, Cylist or Cyela or something was here with three other Changlings, all in their normal form. The newly crowned Pegasi king, Ironhead stood with two other light grey Pegasi, he had a iron eye patch on over his left eye and had an axe on his back. The Earth queen, Cherry Pots was shouting at Ironhead and blaming the Pegasi on the assassination. Cherry was a, cherry red colour and had scarlet hair, braided a bit like Applejack's. The Unicorn king was also shouting, Frebart or something, he was a gold colour and had a white mane. Nearly every race was shouting at each other over the assassination, all apart from the Sea ponies. Applejack was still next to Twilight and Fluttershy appeared. "All this hatred." Fluttershy said, not in her normal tone. More, well, stern. "I know Fluttershy, its okay." Applejack replied to her friend. Fluttershy turned to Applejack with a cold stare, this wasn't Fluttershy. "How can it be okay! The two princesses were murdered and no pony will stand up to admit it! War is coming because the new leaders are all idiots and blame each other! Pinkie Pie is dead and Rarity and Rainbow Dash are in hospit for wounds they got weeks ago, that no fat cat Canterlot unicorn would fix, because everypony here only cares for themselves!" Fluttershy bellowed, almost quieting out everypony else. Ironhead stared at the yellow Pegasi with one dark eye. 'That will be interesting later.' Twilight thought. After an hour or so Rainbow Dash and Rarity returned, Rainbow had some metal braces on around her wings for support, and Rarity wore a purple leather eye patch. "Those unicorns are miracle workers, they say my wings will be back to normal in two weeks and Rarity's eye is almost back to normal." Rainbow Dash said, gleaming with pride and happiness for the first time in weeks. "What magic did they use? That seems almost impossible." Twilight replied, shocked. "I don't know what they did, they put use both to sleep, when I woke up my wings didn't hurt and Rarity could see better." Rainbow Dash replied. "Okay, how long?" Twilight said, nodding at the eye patch. "Same as Rainbow, two weeks dear, isn't it perfect, I'll be able to see again!" Rarity said, twirling around. "You were never blind Rarity." Twilight muttered. Applejack came back from the bathroom, tail between her legs and greeted her friends back. Twilight swore she heard a buzzing coming from Applejack's legs, but didn't complain, Applejack looked happy to see her friends better, a little to happy though. Twilight laughed at the thought and Fluttershy came back over from her tree hiding place she had flown to after her out burst. The five friends chatted and laughed for the first time in a long time. Whilst the rest were laughing Applejack loosened her tails grip from her legs and Twilight saw what she was hiding and similed. 'We all need it now. After all that.' Twilight thought as AJ repositioned herself a little.
The gatheringFinally the gathering started, everypony was told to get in their racial groups and head into the castle, the debates as to who killed the princesses would be in the dinning hall, where the two had been found by some guards as Twilight had left, they had also been blamed, but later to be freed after a lying spell had failed, so they were telling the truth about it, the question came up as to why nopony had used it on everypony else to find out but it was a spell casted on royal guards only, all had been questioned and freed in the months leading up to this day. Twilight and Rarity sat next to Frebart and the kings advisors, none of the mane six had spoken yet, just letting everypony shout across the room, not very good embassies, again the Sea ponies stayed quiet, only speaking when spoken to. They had a strange way of speaking, a foreign way of speaking, as Ironhead had put it. "The only way anypony could have killed Celestia and Luna is by magic! It has to be one of Frebart's pawns!" Ironhead shouted, wings flapping. Ironhead shouted across the table. "Excuse me? We both know the unicorns have been more loyal than any race!" Ironhead replied, Rainbow Dash was still transfixed on her metal wings and Fluttershy was curled up under the table, despite her own personal hatred, all this shouting was making her uncomfortable. As it was for most ponies here. So far the Sea ponies hadn't blamed anypony, and neither had the Changlings. The main accusations were between the two kings and queen. Ironhead, Frebart and Cherry Pots were constantly shouting and cursing at each other, the debate went on for hours, and after some time, less than about twenty minutes, Twilight began to get bored. She started a link up with Rarity with her communication magic, Rarity, bored as well, accepted. "Why must there be so much death and treats, can't somepony just come forward?" Twilight asked Rarity, only the white unicorn could hear her, the other, four also had the magic, as Twilight had asked Celestia to give it to them, before her death. "Well it wasn't me. It was probably one of the leaders. Ironhead looks like the traitor type." Rarity replied, staring at the Pegasus king. "Hold on.-" Twilight said, joining the others to the communication. "Hot, this is boring, if Pinkie were here I'd say that we were better of down in Ponyville, but she's gone, Celestia rest her soul." Applejack said, joining the talk. "Who do you girls think did it? The assassination, assassinations, even?" Twilight asked. "Ironhead!" Rarity shouted, quickly and almost, if it were better terms, humorous. "Hey! Ironhead wouldn't kill the princesses, I think it was Frebart, he's the magic one!" Rainbow replied, then the shouting became worse in the communication than outside, no where was quiet. "Quiet!" Twilight shouted, top of her 'voice'. "Don't any of you start like those idiots of leaders out there. We are Harmony remember. We can't chose sides, we are for Equestria." Twilight continued. "We cannot bicker amongst ourselves for its not right, you guys are my best friends, and I want to stand with you what ever happens here, we must be together and survive this disaster." Then, she caught the real debate. "If none of your unicorns will admit treason, then so be it. I king Ironhead, leader of the Pegasi and warrior of the skies, declares war on all the nations that are not Pegasi!" Ironhead bellowed. 'Oh no.' Twilight thought, knowing what this meant. "Fine! I king Frebart, king or the unicorn nation, warrior of magic declares war on any nation that is not Unicorn." The phrase went through the table and each leader stood with their guards. "Get out of my city!" Frebart shouted, clearly claiming Canterlot as his capital. "No non-unicorn allowed in Cloudsdale, but you will all be burnt by months end. That is, if you can raise the sun and moon without any aid." Ironhead returned, claiming Cloudsdale, Twilight saw the imagine the king had in mind, the rainbows stopped, iron forged in stead, the new recruit flyers would be trained as elite soldiers for this terrible war. "Well I claim Ponyville, we shall destroy you all. I queen Cherry Pots, leader of the Earth ponies, daughter of the Earth and ruler of Equestria, promise you this." Cherry pots vowed, she probably hadn't been to Ponyville in a while so didn't know the state it's in. The Sea ponies, now trapped, also declared war, as did the Changlings. Each leader storming out after their vows to kill the other four. After less than a minute, only the five friends remained. "Now what do we do? I will not fight for Ironhead, as much as any of you would fight for your leaders, the Earth ponies have taken Ponyville, where do we go?" Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash came over to the unicorn. "I don't care, as long as we are together." The cyan Pegasus replied. Applejack and Rarity said the same, now only Fluttershy stood alone. "So? You coming Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked her yellow Pegasi friend. Fluttershy looked to the white marble floor, gulped then began to sob quietly, after a minute she stopped, pushing Rarity's comforting form. Then, nothing. "Fluttershy?" Applejack said, conceded, there was a dark look in the yellow Pegasi's eyes. She looked to the marble floor but still said nothing. Fighting had already started, the five ponies had to get out soon, or the unicorn warriors would come back to find the enemy and, through their eyes, traitors. "Fluttershy come on." Twilight said, an explosion shouted and a scream went up, followed by more, orders were barked and more explosions rung. Magic and fighting in Canterlot's main castle, what a world. "I'm, I'm not coming." Fluttershy finally said, those Earth Pony looters who murdered my Angel are still out there, free of karma from what they did all those weeks ago, none of you were, and are brave enogh to face them, I am joining Ironhead and hunting them down in Ponyville. My little Angel didn't deserve to die." Fluttershy exclaimed, everypony was silent at Fluttershy's dramatic change of character. Fluttershy had really changed down in Ponyville, and before anypony could find the words to convince their friend to not join in the war, Fluttershy flow out and screamed, an explosion sounded close outside and Fluttershy's scream was cut off, she was dead, Angel wouldn't get redemption, some unicorns under Ironhead were guarding the room. "Fluttershy." Rainbow whimpered, another Element of Harmony lost and one of Twilight's best friends, was dead. Along with Pinkie Pie, and presumably, Spike. Twilight's horn began to glow, there was only one way of escape, but Twilight had no idea where to send the now group of four. "Twilight, where are we going to land?" Applejack asked, the orange Earth pony was concerned,she limped over to Twilight, getting closer to the spell as to make it easier for Twilight to cast. Rarity paused, then did the same, Rainbow Dash walked over, wings in the metal linings still, the four ponies huddled together and waited for Twilight Sparkle's reply. "I don't know AJ, just trust me." Twilight's horn was vibrating loudly, magic pouring out. Soon they would be gone. "Okay Twilight, we will do this together. Do it." Applejack said, Rainbow also nodded, as did Rarity. "Well dear, lets get out of here. Let the brutes destroy each other." Rarity pushed Twilight, still gathering magic. After a few more seconds, magical energies sparking and flying everywhere, the purple unicorn released the random teleportation magic.
Hidden in the shadowsThe land here was rocky and barren, no towns were in sight and there was a good defendable cave near where the group had landed. Nopony was really sure where in Equestria they were, there was some fresh snow down and lots of overgrown trees, mainly apple trees, some could be bucked down for wood supplies. Twilight scanned the landscape, hoping to catch a glance of something, the clouds were all massive, never changed by Pegasi. The clouds were light grey, snow, Rainbow Dash said. 'Good thing we have a weather pony with us, or this fresh snow would never have given the weather patterns away.' Twilight thought. Rarity was walking around, her hair still a mess, it was losing colour, becoming a browny-dark purple colour. Rarity screamed in delight as she saw something. "Water! Fresh water!" Rarity was shouting, dispute the snow it wasn't actually very cold. Twilight inspected the snow more with her eyes, her magic almost drained for a long while, the teleport had taken all strength out of Twilight but she wouldn't admit weakness to her friends. Applejack rushed to the water and dived in, considering, Twilight was surprised Rarity was in the water. "Come on girls, the waters fine!" AJ shouted, Twilight knew why it was so warm, yet snowy, she panicked instantly. "Girls, this is the void between the dragon lands and the Changling nation, we are trapped in no ponies land, I don't know which side of Equestria we are on and don't know where the country of Equestria is, the dragons have been migrating a lot all over Equestria more recently, well, they were three months ago. The sun set and the moon came out, at about the right time now, the moon had come out and in Canterlot it was about midnight when the group had escaped. Twilight found herself worrying for Shining Armor and Candace. "Dragon lands?" Rarity replied, shocked. "In the east, to the west is Changling central, as far as I can tell, to the south is the endless sea and north is the only way we can go, but the road leads through Changling and dragon lands, the pathway in the mountains leads straight out to Equestria, where we can watch the war and see when it's safe again. This is all from books of explorers, so don't know if it is in deed this side of Equestria, if we are east then we are fine, if not, we will have to pass straight through dragon lands." Twilight said, the group stopped and looked to the skies. Rarity had stopped shouting and was holding a hoof over her mouth. Rainbow Dash tried to flap her wings, but the metal stopped her. As happy as she was to have them back, she wasn't happy to have to wait more time before she could use them. Applejack was now out of the water and was watching the sky now and Twilight was trying to look for mountains, with no prevail. Two days passed and there were no signs of any Changlings or dragons. Applejack was still watching the skies but had somehow gathered a lot of apples, there was some grass here to so they were fairly fine on food and water, probably better of here than Ponyville. Twilight manipulated the rock and carved into the stone graves: Angel, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy. She cried as she wrote more graves, Rarity stood watching, as did Rainbow Dash, Applejack came over to watch as well, tears in each of their pony eyes. Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna. The rocks on their graves conveniently had some natural iron ore in, so their grave stones looked more, well, more than the others. "We will remember them Twilight, and this war shall end one day." Applejack muttered, knowing it a lie. "Yes, but at what cost to Equestria's population, thousands are already dead from unarmed looters, these are trained military figures, fighting because nopony will admit to killing our princesses." Twilight replied, still crying. "We will find out who killed the princesses Twilight, one day a new alicorn shall rise from the war." Rarity replied. "What about Candace? She's an alicorn." Applejack pointed out, in truth, Shining Armor had told Twilight Candace was long dead, died in child birth, sad way to go, but it had happened, Shining Armor wasn't the same, but now fighting under a new banner, he would use that anger on the battlefield, knowing Armor, becoming a great threat to anypony brave enough to attack him. "She's gone, died years ago." Twilight replied. She had gotten the latter only eight months after their wedding, the baby had died too, Shining Armor hadn't spoken to Twilight since, except at the gathering, and he seemed fine. Which Twilight knew was wrong. "Is there any way to turn, heck, you into an alicorn?" Applejack asked. "You have to be born an alicorn, or earn the place." Twilight replied, flattered at her friends suggestion. "Come on, I'm getting tired, lets get back to the cave." Rainbow Dash said. A week later, the four made their first attempts at seeing where they were and how to get home again. Only one dragon had flown over so far, heading into or out of the Changling kingdom. Apparently even the dragons were in the war. "Come on girls, we should find out where we are sooner rather than later." Twilight said, tired, her casting such a hard spell then not being around any sort of natural magic was beginning to take its toll. "Okay, now which way didaya say that mountain of yours was?" Applejack asked. Rarity was sitting on a rock she'd manipulated into a chair somehow and was munching on one of many apples, her eye patch was soggy and wet from Rarity's eighth shower that day, she wouldn't take it off, even whilst in the volcanic water. Some days the water would be boiling, and the ponies would come out lighter, pinker, more raw colours, other days the water would be cold, the days the four ponies would fill the water skins, again, Rarity had made, since Twilight was still worn out from the teleport. Other days the water would be boiling and steaming, too dangerous to go in. Rainbow Dash was excited that in a few days she could fly again, being so long grounded she had taken a custom to being so low down, the rainbow and cyan Pegasus knew she couldn't go too far or too high being in dragon-Changling lands, so was itching to attempt at heading to her war-torn home. "The mountain pass should be about a days gallop north, so fill your skins up and grab the bags, AJ, apples, Rarity, water, Rainbow, watch those wings but bring some blankets. I'll get the spare supplies." Considering they had been away from pony civilization for nearly two weeks, the group, with Rarity's manipulation skills, and AJ's apple bucking, the group were pretty well off. So the four of them geared up and began the march, again not seeing anything on the way. Twilight lead the way north through the rocks and over the barren hills that stood in their way, the day was nearly over, the unicorns getting the right time now, (so they were presumably winning the war. Or showing off to the other factions). But there were no sign of any mountains, Twilight was giving up as they passed over a hill, then, I'm front about half a day away, were some brown-grey mountains. "The Equestrian mountains, named after being used by the chancellor of the Earth pony tribe when Equestria was founded. Apparently the chancellor herself inscribed in the rock a message to anypony that followed and was in need to aid." Twilight said, gleaming with pride they were on the right track. "That could definitely come in handy." Rainbow replied, even after all that time, Twilight was still looking at Rainbow and expecting her to be flying. Not grounded, with metal bars over her wings. "Look darling, whatever the Earth pony wrote would have nothing to do with an assassination or a great pony war." Rarity exclaimed. "Well we should still go and see, for the next generation." Applejack replied, not really thinking. "Next generation? If this war isn't ended than there may not be a next pony generation, if the dragons are provoked enogh it'll be the end of ponies, the end of Equestria and the beginning of another dragon reign." Twilight replied, louder than intended.
On a roadThe four set off along the rocky rock, carrying supplies as they went. Twilight began to think of Pinkie Pie, how she would bounce alone any trips and give of random comments from time to time. Twilight felt tears brewing. She fought them back, but when Applejack saw Twilight and told everypony to stop a minute, Twilight allowed herself to cry into AJ's orange shoulder. Twilight let every feeling go, she heard everypony crying, thinking of all those dead back home, and all those still going to die. "Come on y'all, let it all out.-" Applejack said, crying herself. Two of her best friends were dead, as was most of her family. "-because we aren't movin' until y'all have cleared your systems." She finished. The four found themselves huddled together in a square, crying and remembering. "Remember when we went to the Gala?" Rainbow asked, trying to get everypony to think of the good times. "Yeah. When Pinkie started dancing in front of all those fat cats." Applejack laughed, for a second the crying became laughter, only to reverse again soon. All of them had been keeping their feelings inside for far too long. "Or when we all saved of Equestria from Nightmare moon?" Twilight asked, the four told stories to each other, making each other remember the good days. They laughed and cried together. Happy and sad at the same time, glad to be alive, yet hating for those who were not. Mixed feelings went round the four, but each was sorry they were alive, and Fluttershy and Pinkie weren't. For a good twenty minutes the four sat on the rock floor remembering, then they came back to the present as a fire ball shot overhead and crashed over in the direction the four would be heading in. "Meteor?" Rainbow asked. Twilight looked up into the dark, red sky above staring at the dying sun. She was unsure and then a sound rang out and another fireball shot into the ground, closer. "Dragon attack!" Twilight shouted, the four ponies panicked and ran, as fast as they could dodging rocks and hearing explosions ring out. The lavender pony was right, sadly. A medium sized blood red dragon flow over low to the ground, flapping its wings loudly and roaring, fire was being breathed everywhere and the four ponies had to run around to find cover. "Shield up!" Twilight shouted, forming a protective shield over herself and the other three, she couldn't hold it for long, crippled with her teleport spell. Rarity ran under and her horn began to glow, Rainbow and AJ soon followed under the shield, the dragon turned and blasted dragon breathe all over the four ponies, but thankfully the shield held and they were safe. Rarity began to shoot spells at the dragon, targeting its wings and under belly. Rainbow was trying to fly to help but as usual the metal bracers stopped her. Only a few more days and she would be able to fly. "Shoot it!" Applejack shouted, noticing Rarity had stopped. "I can't , my magic is draining, we need to hide somewhere, fast." Rarity replied, then began to hold the shield up with Twilight. The other unicorn just nodded under gritted teeth and sweat. "Move!" Twilight shouted and the dragon began a fire sweep again. The four ponies began to run, where to, no pony knew. Just forward. The dragon followed suit, burning the ground around the four and continuously breaking down the shields protection. "Cave!" Applejack shouted, pointing a hoof as she ran, her blonde hair swaying as she did so. She was right though, almost directly ahead stood an entrance, possibly not a very big cave but enough to hid until the dragon got bored and went to hunt else where. The four ponies practically jumped into the cave, Twilight breaking the shield and losing consciousness as she rolled into safety. Rarity also collapsed and was panting heavily, the dragon roared a few times and breathed fire into the entrance for good measure, before flapping its wings and flying away. Rainbow collapsed onto the ground, panting, Applejack stood her ground but was like wise recovering her breath. "Now. Now what?" Applejack panting. Twilight was gone and Rarity close to it. "We have. Have to wait. Until Twilight and Rarity have their. Strength back, we can't go through dragon lands without- without magic." Rainbow Dash replied. "Anyway, its nap time." And with that, Rainbow fell on her side and fell asleep. Applejack smiled for the first time in a long time and curled up next to her friend and prepared for sleep. It was an uncomfortable floor but her exhaustion from just then and since the chaos, made AJ fall asleep almost instantly. A few hours passed and AJ woke up, she was sore and hurting from sleeping on solid rock and stood up to stretch out her aching body. She looked to her friends. Rarity and Twilight still passed out and Rainbow was on her side making no noise. AJ went over to check on her, the mare soon flipped over staring into the Earth ponies eyes. "Did I wake ya?" AJ asked. "No. I have been awake for about twenty minutes. I think, hard to tell the time out here, no clocks." Rainbow replied. AJ just nodded and sat next to her friend. "How long do you think we will have to wait?" AJ asked. "For what?" Rainbow replied. "For them to be refreshed?" AJ grunted. Pointing to the two unicorns. "No idea. Twilight was still spent before we came out here. Let alone now after having to cast that shield. If we stay for a few days, hope they get better. I will fly back grab some more food and we can move on. Again." Dash replied. The Earth pony just nodded again. Staring at Rainbow. It was getting dark out. The shadows were long and deep. Outside the sky would've been bright with colour. Reds, oranges. AJ decided to say the fact it was getting dark. "But without the Princesses, who knows how long it'll take for sunset." Rainbow muttered. "But ya'll got to admit they are pretty good at it, despite everything. Ah just hope for an end to this." AJ replied, hurting again. "We all do. Just be lucky we ain't the ones out there fighting." "Yeah." Applejack muttered quietly. "Yeah." She repeated. Then went over to the saddle bags and got out some sleeping gear, after helping Rainbow with hers the two went to sleep in the dark empty cave. Thinking of home, the old times.
