EQUESTRIA: Last Light

by Unknown Tale

Rating: teen
Tags: Trixie, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Adventure, Derpy Hooves, Pinkie Pie, Final Fantasy, Profanity, Crossover, Dark, Alternate Universe, Original Character
Length: 5434

A group of misfits form a militia in order to stop Equestria from collapsing in on itself, while fighting off the Legion of Evil's army.

No one is safe.
The fall of Canterlot means the villains are one step closer to winning, but with the destruction of the Chi-Blade, it is now a race against time as two opposing factions try to get the shards. Grouped up with a bunch of misfits, Candy Worthy leads the team through various missions, while also showing the magic of Friendship never truly dies in a war-crazed battlefield. Among these misfits are a force using magician (Trixie Lulamoon), an experienced Lieutenant in the army (Derpy Hooves), a girl with serious depression issues and is apparently part bat (Pinkie Pie), a world displaced lioness (Kiara), and an impossible offspring (Daring Dash).

Crossover Elements
The Lion King/The Lion Guard (Characters), Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts (Weapon), Team Fortress 2 (Weapon), Star Wars (Force Users), The World Ends With You (Enemies)

OCs Featured
Candy Worthy (himself), Daring Dash (not to be confused with the Fusion of the same name; ns20000)

Author's Note: This is an adaptation of a Roleplay Series I was in and heavily influenced. The OCs featured are those from the actual sessions. Characterization may not be 100% correct, but everything featured here has been proofread by the other players.

Published 2022-03-12 05:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2022-04-11 04:00:14 UTC

Episode 1 - The Last Resort

The year was C.R. (Celestic Ruling) 1002.
War between two opposing forces was reaching full effect. Unfortunately for Celestia and Luna, two villains have teamed up to try and take them out, and they know the exact force which is providing the balance of life in Equestria. The Elements of Harmony are a thing of the past in Equestria. Various weapons have been provided to the guard members using various technological marvels to enhance peace keeping. Of these weapons, the Chi-Blade was forged by the pure elements of the world, connecting ponies to the world around them. Luna knew that if Canterlot were to fall, the Chi-Blade would be lost to whoever was attacking them right now. As quick as she could, she ran down corridor after corridor fighting off various changelings before getting inside her secret lab. She was greeted by a young scientist helping her run the place while she was out and about fighting by Celestia's side.

"Luna," she said, "the battle is getting a lot worse. I can hear everything from down here."

"I know, Twilight," the midnight princess replied. "We must act fast if we are to protect Canterlot, and your mentor. Quick now, Ms. Sparkle! Activate the portal and bring Lieutenant Muffins in. It would seem we need reinforcements from unlikely places."

"Yes ma'am." Twilight started pressing various buttons on a control panel while alerting Derpy Hooves over.

The young lieutenant entered the room. "I literally don't know what went wrong this time!" said Derpy. "Everything was going so well until the changelings started appearing out of nowhere."

"We'll worry about that later, Derpy," said Luna. "We need extra help. Can we trust you in finding more urgent recruits?"

Derpy saluted before turning to the portal. It activated a few seconds later, showing an image of what appeared to be a savannah. Derpy turned her head to Twilight and nodded. The scientist set the destination, and a lioness fell out of the portal. The girl tumbled for a moment before looking around, dazed at her new surroundings. She was peach in fur color, tempered with creamy hues. Her eyes were a reddish-brown.

"Who is this?" Luna asked the Lieutenant.

"I have no idea," she replied.

"Here's a better question," the lioness spoke finally getting consciousness. "Who are all of you, and why did you kidnap me?"

"Kidnap is a rather strong word in this situation," Twilight replied. "We're honestly just borrowing you for a while. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is General Luna and Lieutenant Muffins, but some call her Derpy Hooves."

The lioness realized her situation as she felt she couldn't head back home even if she wanted to at this point. "My name is Kiara, Kiara Tumaini," she said to the scientist.

"I wish we were meeting on less severe terms, but..." The scientist stopped mid-sentence to prepare another portal. The device set up randomly chose another location quickly and out came Pinkie Pie, who proceeded to glomp the scientist.

"Twilight!" she said in excitement, "long time, no see!"

"Pinkie, calm down!" Twilight replied trying to get Pinkie to unhug her. "This is not a good time to be hugging ponies!"

"Can I hug her then?" she asked pointing at Kiara. The lioness froze in fear.

"No."

"Damn..."

"Listen very closely you two," Luna started to speak, "we don't have much time before the changelings end up wreaking all sorts of havoc. Under these circumstances we need to have thee equipped for battle."

Kiara tried to protest this idea, but Twilight grabbed her paw and brought her into the weapon chamber of the lab. The scientist started going through all the weapons searching for something Kiara could handle. The problem was that most of them were meant for ponies. "Guns, lances, sabers... Damn it! Isn't there something here friendly to all species and not just guardsmen!?"

Having not much of a choice, Kiara started looking as well before looking over at one special weapon in the back. "What about this one?" she asked the scientist.

"That? Oh, Celestia is still testing that one with me and my brother. She calls this project the Gunblade. It's half gun, half sword. We're still working out the kinks, but when we do it'll be-"

Kiara wasn't paying attention as she grabs hold of the gunblade. It reacted to her immediately, bonding to her as it vanished into blue sparkles around the lioness, forming a passive wrist-chain with a vaguely familiar emblem. It reminded her of her little brother, Kion.

Twilight stood in shock at what happened. "THAT, didn't happen to any of the other weapons."

"I don't know what happened, but I can get used to that," Kiara added, smiling a bit.

The two returned to the rest of the group, where another pony had joined the group thanks to the portal device going off a third time. She looked like Daring Do and Rainbow Dash combined from different bits of DNA.

"Oh, hello new friend!" said Pinkie greeting the new friend with a smile. "Who might you be?"

"My name is Daring Dash, the daughter of Daring Do and Rainbow Dash," she replied.

"Uh, don't you mean the fusion of Daring and Rainbow?" Derpy corrected looking at Daring with a strange look.

"Don't make fun of them that way! I'm not them combined! Who the hell do you think you are!?"

"A lieutenant with a love of muffins." Derpy squeed at her answer.

"Right..." Daring Dash settled. "Anyways, I'm from a World Order organization and I was tasked with helping you girls out."

Kiara nudged Twilight. "Look, another misfit in the group." Twilight rolled her eyes as a way to ask Kiara to be serious about this.

"While you all introduce each other, I need to head out and make sure my sister's alright," said Luna before escaping back to the surface. The others watched as the trap door leading out closed. Kiara hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath. She climbed up and out of the lab as the others followed.

"Don't worry about me," Twilight said to Pinkie before she left. "I'll stay down here and protect the lab."

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie replied before following the others out.

The scientist let out a waning sigh. "I need a raise for this job..."

Pinkie shut the trap door as the group gathers up away from it. As they started to head down the hallway, trouble started brewing in front of their eyes. It turned out one of the changelings Luna told them about wandered away in search of Luna, only to find Derpy, Kiara, Pinkie, and Daring instead.

"What's this?" asked the changeling. "More army recruits from who knows where dare to challenge me?" It laughed as it charged at the group, only to be blocked by a fifth.

A hooded figure emerged from the shadows before taking off her hood, revealing herself to be Trixie. Her eyes glowed red for a brief moment. "Go!" she told the others. "Trixie will handle this one." The four misfits ran down the hallway while Trixie fended off the changeling, drawing her crystal light sword and slashing at it a couple of times. This caused the changeling to convulse in pain.

The group met up with Luna who gave a silence command as they hid behind some crates. She pointed at two changelings. "Those two are guarding the way to the throne room. We need a distraction in order to get them away."

"Say no more," Pinkie said trying to walk into view.

Luna, however, stopped the pink pony from taking another step forward. "No, Pinkie. I'm thinking we should go for a more, magical approach. Kiara?" Kiara looked at Luna. "Do you see the unlit torch next to the right guard?"

Kiara looked over. "I do, actually..."

"Try shooting at it with your Gunblade. You should have a Fire Spell built into the blade already based on what was already tested."

Kiara looked at her bracelet before swiping on it to reveal the Gunblade strapped onto her. She unsheathed it and tried to fire. She missed due to her paws being a bit shaky to the trigger. The guards noticed the small flame but shrugged it off.

"Don't worry about it Kiara, just try again. No one gets it right the first time," said Daring Dash, encouraging Kiara. Kiara nodded and fired again, this time lighting the torch up as intended.

"What was that?" the first guard asked.

"I don't know, man!" the second guard replied. "This place is freaking haunted, I'm telling ya!"

"Let's get out of here!!" The two changelings ran from the scene without a second thought.

"Well done, young lioness," Luna told Kiara as Derpy and Pinkie clapped.

"Thank you," she replied with a feral curtsy.

The five went inside the throne room with Trixie joining the others. "Thanks for the help, by the way, Trixie," Kiara told the light blue pony.

"Trixie doesn't need your thanks, but accepts it kindly," Trixie replied with a smirk.

Inside the throne room, the six find Princess Celestia in a struggle with a larger changeling with a crown. "Sister!" Luna said running to Celestia, only to be cut off by the opponent. "Why are you doing this you damned bug!?"

"Don't worry about me, dear sister," Celestia replied. "I can handle her."

"We need to retreat! You're not safe on the surface right now."

"I wouldn't move if I were you, Celestia is all mine," the changeling replied. "After all this time, I will finally take the throne with my Changeling army!"

"Buzz off, Chrysalis," Derpy said recognizing her. Kiara was rather shocked at what was going on, and a bit spooked by Chrysalis' sudden arrival.

"Silence! Surrender to my army immediately, or die on the field of battle!" Chrysalis demanded as her horn lit up, anger in her words.

"You're never getting your hooves on the throne," Celestia replied, "not now nor ever. Not while we're still alive."

"Very well then, I will just have to kill each of you, starting with the frightened little lioness."

Kiara felt herself backing up against the wall as Chrysalis smirked. The rest of the group tried to step into Chrysalis' way, when Kiara started to hear a voice. It was calm to her, telling her not to give up when the going got rough. Assuming her little brother was with her, she unsheathed the Gunblade once more and growled at Chrysalis. The bug queen paused for a moment, but smirked.

"This one's still got some fight in her. I love it when my dinner wants to fight me."

Through a small start the group fought back against Chrysalis. Her defensive abilities proved to be strong as they fought against her, but they weren't the type to give up, mainly from Kiara's slashing, though one could argue she was just copying whatever she saw Daring Dash and Derpy Hooves were doing, as they unsheathed a sword and a keyblade respectively. Pinkie Pie pulled out a spy knife wanting to backstab Chrysalis a couple times, as Trixie watched on from behind the scenes with her hat tilted down.

"Good grief..." said Trixie. "Their strategy is a mess, unlike Trixie's."

"Why don't you go join the fun?" asked Luna.

"And get Trixie killed accidentally? No way is Trixie going to do something stupid like that."

Kiara slid to a halt along with the others after Chrysalis let out a small burst of energy to push everyone back. "Damn it!" she said. "Nothing's working! We're giving her everything we got and she still won't fall!"

"Not everything," said a voice from above. A dark blue alicorn dropped into the room with a red and blue scarf, coming out of a portal of their own creation from another world. It was a stallion by the name of Candy Worthy who introduced himself to the group later. He looked over at Chrysalis and said, "Forgive me." He pulled out a katana from its sheath and fired a quick Dark spell at the bug queen.

The queen was shocked by the incoming spell hitting her head on, blinding her eyes temporarily. Candy signaled to Trixie to move in and finish things as his portal closes. Assuming he was on their side, Kiara and Derpy continued to fight, performing Fire and Blizzard spells in unison on top of their regular attacks. Candy almost managed to clip Chrysalis' left wing at one point, while Trixie struggled with Chrysalis after trying to throw some lightning at the bug. Eventually, Trixie shouted, "Screw it!" and slapped Chrysalis with her crystal light sword. Chrysalis fell to the ground as the others were surprised Trixie pulled that off. The queen shrugged the pain off as she was only testing the group.

"I'll be back," she swore, "and I'll get my revenge on you, Princess Celestia, if it's the last thing I do!" With that, Chrysalis escaped out of harm's way as the group withdrew their weapons for now.

Candy turned to the group. "You may not know me, but I know all of you from different points in time and space. My name is Candy Worthy."

"Oh, oh!" Pinkie raised her hoof in excitement. "Are you edible? Can I eat you?"

"Settle down, there's plenty of me to go around," Candy replied with an almost seductive expression.

"You're not that kind of candy... I see. Not interested."

Candy then proceeded to conjure up a new portal back to the lab now that the Changelings are starting to flee. "Everyone in. We'll talk more there." Kiara and Daring looked at each other and shrugged.

Once everyone was settled back in, Kiara asked, "How did you know to make a portal back into the lab?"

"I have visited this Equestria once before in my three millennia of travels, but never have I seen it in a state like this," Candy replied.

"THREE MILLENNIA!?" Pinkie, Kiara, Trixie, and Daring repeated in shock.

"Yeah," Derpy replied. "General Luna and I met him before when he was much, MUCH younger. He's an immortal being who could take any form he wants. Whenever he's in Equestria, he takes this form of an alicorn."

"But that's impossible, right?" asked Kiara still in shock.

"Nothing's impossible, Kiara," Candy answered. "In the meantime, you all need to rest up."

"Take a look around the lab and get comfortable," said Luna. "We may need you soon so make sure you all are ready when on call."

The six misfits saluted to Luna. "Yes ma'am."

Author's Note

Characters - Role Player (Main Characters)
Lieutenant Derpy Hooves/Muffins - Rolling Charge (RCharge)
Princess Kiara Tumaini - Unknown Tale
Pinkie Pie - Brinda The Dashie
Daring Dash - ns20000
Sith Lord Trixie Lulamoon - belmontzar
Candy Worthy - Candy

References
The Tumaini last name is a common reference in Roleplays with Candy and belmontzar. This is Swahili for hope.

Episode 2 - The End of Canterlot

Minutes turned to hours as the group recouped from the previous battle. While some were trying to get some sleep for the long night, Kiara remained up, worried about her own home. The only thing which helped her take her mind off her problem was the ability to look around Twilight's lab. She found it interesting the young scientist was able to house an entire lab below Canterlot itself and use it for an emergency situation like the one they found themselves in. Then came the unnerving question. If they were looking for help, why did they turn to me? As it is, I know nothing of Canterlot nor do I know anything about this crazy world of talking ponies. As she pondered the thought process of Luna, Derpy, and Twilight, an alarm started to go off, waking the other ponies.

"AAAAAAAH! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK! EVERYPONY PANIC!!" yelled Pinkie, waking up from her slumber. Daring Dash immediately grabbed her and started slapping the pink pony rapidly.

"Calm down!" she said. "We're not under attack! It's probably just a fire alarm."

Candy re-entered the lab via portal as Kiara returned from looking at the weapons with Twilight. "Correction, Daring," the dark blue colt said, "we are still under siege, but by someone else now. I never thought he'd be as dangerous as he is now, but Sombra has indeed returned, and he JUST captured Celestia as we speak. We must head back to the Throne Room." Everyone but Kiara groaned at the mention of his name.

"Who's Sombra?" she asked.

"We will have time for questions later, Kiara," the colt answered. "Get your Gunblade back on and follow me." He went back through the portal as the others followed.

"But-" Kiara tried to protest.

"NOW," he said slightly poking his head out in anger.

Kiara sighed annoyed she couldn't get any of her questions answered and just followed the others. Luna followed in hopes of comforting the young princess. Even she knew her questions were indeed important, but a lack of time might not let her get any answers she wants.

Re-entering the throne room, the gang could see Celestia battered and bruised on the ground as Sombra laughed evilly. Kiara could piece together slightly that these two had a history with each other as she watched on. Sombra grinned lifting a sword made of smoke and pointing it at Celestia. "Finally," he said, "I have you right where I want you. Canterlot will fall one way or another, but now, you shall reveal to me the whereabouts of your all powerful Chi-Blade."

Celestia looked at Sombra intensely. "Like hell I'd ever give it to you...! If you want it so badly, you're gonna have to kill me!"

"Never say "Kill Me," in front of a cold-hearted killer like myself, because believe me... I WILL." Sombra prepared to stab Celestia straight into her heart, only to be parried by General Luna. Sombra was not taken off his guard knowing Luna is much weaker than him, but Luna was still able to disarm him temporarily to heal Celestia.

"My faithful misfits," Celestia said to the group, "can you try to keep Sombra delayed for as long as you can? We must not let him take the Chi-Blade."

"I will find it even if I have to tear your group apart piece by piece!" Sombra argued.

Kiara could feel her inner predator side kicking in as she unsheathed her weapon once more. "We'll see who makes the last strike," Kiara replied as the others readied themselves.

"Kiara," Candy then said. Kiara looked over at the colt. "Sombra is absolutely dangerous even at your current level. Follow my lead and don't try to do your own thing. None of this 'open spot in the middle' deal, okay?"

"Got it."

Although Kiara got it, Daring Dash ran straight in. "Daring, wait!" Candy said.

Daring did manage to get the opening hit, but to Sombra, the attack felt like a needle barely scratched his armor. He casually kicked his legs out and sent the rainbow pony into the wall into a pile of extra suits of armor. She quietly got back up and said, "I'm okay!"

Candy facehoofed as the others began to fight. He and Derpy lead the charge while Trixie hung back and relaxed through most of the fight. Sombra was able to take Pinkie and Daring down a peg immediately, only to be slapped around by the others. Candy got in front of Sombra and moved his katana behind himself as a spell circle appeared behind him. "Muffins, now!" He and Derpy shot a Blizzard spell from both sides of the king and froze him temporarily.

Meanwhile, Princess Celestia ran deeper and deeper through Canterlot. Every time she thought she found a perfect hiding spot, a Changeling or one of Sombra's Underlings would spot her and force her to run further. She hoped the misfits would just hang on a little more as she continued running.

Things were not looking so good for the team as Sombra broke free angrier than before. Trixie tried to paralyze the king with her Thunder, but all it caused was a small static shock. She was hit back slightly as Sombra focused on her. Candy took the chance to deal another hit only for him to be hit back too. Kiara was a bit surprised Sombra was able to take everything like it was nothing, but that just increased her will to want to erase him from existence.

Candy nodded. "Now. Do something crazy."

Kiara felt the blade become lighter for a brief moment as she slashed Sombra. The king could feel his entire suit of armor become rattled by the hit. "What is this power? I never felt anything like it!" the king said in shock.

"Well feel this!" Kiara responded, slashing six more times in rapid succession. Sombra had no chance to react as each blow stunned him. Suddenly the gunblade glowed a light blue as Kiara prepared one more blow, spinning the blade three times before slicing through Sombra like he was butter. An explosion of magic engulfed Sombra before he was taken to the ground. Still, it was weak enough for him to get back up as he turned angrily to Kiara. Kiara turned her head toward Sombra slowly at the same time he got back up. "You still want more, you bastard?"

At the same time, Celestia finally found a good hiding spot for the Chi-Blade and started performing a spell hiding it within the castle walls. However, something in the shadows was casting a magic spell of their own to try and cancel it out. Celestia tried as hard as she could to make the spell work, but instead, the spell started to go amok outside of anyone's control, and the Chi-Blade wasn't able to handle any further magic pressure. It began to crack multiple times before shattering and being sent all across Equestria. Celestia panicked knowing what this meant, and she had to head back to the throne room and warn the others. The shadowy being grinned and vanished without a trace it was there.

It was already too late, however. Before the six misfits and Luna could continue their battle with Sombra, the ground began to shake. Everyone, including the king, was surprised at what was going on. "What's happening!?" asked Candy.

"Don't ask me," Sombra answered. "I'm just as perplexed as you, pony."

Outside, the generators in Cloudsdale began to fail as it began to fall out of the sky. Derpy, Candy, and Daring Dash were forced to pull back and help the pegasi keep it from hitting the ground. Knowing the battle was lost for him with the Chi-Blade no longer together, and the others distracted by the chaos, Sombra fled and made a daring escape. Meanwhile, volcanoes started to erupt, oceans began drying up, air became thin in various places, eternal winters became more prevalent in the North, and forests began to darken more than they had before, leaving the creatures in a literal eternal night. Luna and Kiara helped Trixie and Pinkie get up after seeing the devastation of the land and started to help them out of the castle. It was only a matter of minutes before they were trapped and crushed by the weight giving way above.

With everything fleeing Canterlot Castle, Kiara, Luna, and Celestia managed to evacuate Trixie, Pinkie, and Twilight out of the castle. Twilight wailed about her science equipment there about to get permanently destroyed, but everyone's lives were in danger at the moment, when all at once as they escaped the castle, it fell down all at once, leaving nothing but ruins and dust as the gang all took cover.

Candy, Derpy, and Daring arrived a couple minutes after. "Princess Celestia!!" Derpy called out.

"Kiara, where are you!?" Daring also called out.

Kiara was the first to arrive, rising from the debris, coughing from the dust irritating her throat. "We're alive, somehow..." Celestia and Luna got up as well stretching their wings out as Twilight and Pinkie were badly damaged. Trixie walked over to Kiara and helped her up.

"Some more than others, but even this destruction won't stop Trixie," the magician added.

"Is Cloudsdale alright?" Luna asked Candy.

"Temporarily," he said. "Our levitation magic can't keep the clouds up there any longer than 48 hours. It'll be a matter of time before Equestria is screwed."

"I think it's completely screwed already as it is," Kiara replied. "Look at what happened to the castle."

"What the hell happened?" Candy asked.

"I was trying to hide the Chi-Blade," Celestia explained even though she didn't know the root cause herself. "I thought I found the best place to hide it, but... as I casted the spell it broke apart... It was my fault in the end."

"It's only an accident, your majesty," Candy interjected. "Accidents do happen."

"Well this accident sure has quite a few implications..." said Kiara walking over to Candy. "With Twilight's Lab wrecked, Daring and I can't get back to our homes. Simba, Nala, and Kovu are going to be so worried about me."

Candy sighed. "I know. None of us can go back, not until this is all fixed. Even my own portal magic got cut off thanks to Equestria getting ass gouged. We need a way to stop this widespread havoc, and fast, otherwise it won't be the planet being the only one getting bamboozled."

"Damn it, where CAN we go from here? Surely they'll find us anywhere we hide out at!"

"Not everywhere, and for the love of god don't call me Shirley, Kiara."

"I wasn't."

Candy pointed down at Ponyville. "You see that little town that was left untouched?"

"That's Ponyville," Derpy answered.

"There is one place we can use in that town as a base, and it's the castle over at the edge of town. Rumor has it this place was gonna be used as someone's kingdom, but~"

Luna sweated a bit knowing what Candy was talking about.

"Hol' up," said Kiara. "Big, crystal castle, right on the edge of town, overlooking it all... Doesn't that sound like it's trying to beckon people toward it? I mean, look at it, it's even a giant middle finger coming out of the ground!"

Candy took another look at it, not looking phased though concerned for Kiara's imagination. "That... bothers you?"

"A little. It's just asking to be attacked, is all."

"No one in their right mind would attack something like that with your logic, Kiara." Candy walked away toward Celestia and Twilight.

"What...?" Kiara was legitimately confused, but tried to shake it off.

Twilight came to, dazed still from all the destruction she and the group escaped from. "Are YOU alright though, Twilight?" Candy asked the purple pony.

"I'm fine," she replied, "but all my research, my science, my everything is gone."

"What about your other lab in Ponyville? We need to use it as our base for a while."

"Guess we don't have much of a choice." She fell asleep on Candy as the others all agreed they should head to Ponyville and stop there for the night. Well, all except Kiara who was busy consulting the Kings of the Past on what to do, but even her grandfather stated the choice to head to Ponyville is right, and not to worry as the Pridelands will be fine even with her away for a while. Kiara joined the rest of the group and nodded, so they left for Ponyville immediately before someone else decided to attack them.

Two to three hours by train was all the group needed to arrive in Ponyville. The locals weren't able to get much sleep from that night's events despite the town being mostly untouched. Arriving in town, Kiara decided to look around a bit before heading inside the castle, that way she can know who's who if she'll be staying for a while. Pinkie, Daring, and Derpy tagged along, while Candy and Trixie settled the princesses and their scientist down.

The first place they visited was a candy shop owned by Bon Bon and Lyra Heartstrings. Although Pinkie was a worker at Sugarcube Corner, she mentioned she liked to visit them from time to time to see what the latest trending sweets are. When asked about her own sweets by the Lieutenant, Pinkie stated "They're Gourmet Candy."

Next, they went to visit Applejack in Sweet Apple Acres. The apple family mentioned they weren't able to sleep due to all the tremors and even seeing clouds falling from the sky like it was the apocalypse. Although apples were their specialty, Applejack and Big Macintosh learned they were going to try and rebuild the Chi-Blade, so they introduced their side business in Weapon Smithing. If the group brought back various weapon parts to them, they would be able to make the team's weapons bigger and better than ever.

Lastly, they arrived at the Carousel Boutique to meet with Rarity. Daring Dash stayed outside the shop while the others visited. Rarity mentioned it has been a long time since a lion ever visited Equestria, asking Kiara quite a few different questions about her story. Kiara mentioned to Rarity that she was engaged to another lion before she ended up in Equestria by force, and Rarity offered to make her a wedding gown free of charge, but any other accessories would cost extra. She also mentioned there was some rare materials she had ordered which never arrived before the world started to go kaput, and she asked the team to help retrieve some during their adventures.

The gang met up with Candy, Luna, and Trixie in the map room of the castle after getting to know the locals and window shopping for a bit. Celestia joined them to give their primary goal. "My fellow friends," she said, "some intel from other lieutenants across Equestria have some intel on the possible Chi-Blade shard locations."

"Where are they, Celestia?" inquired Derpy.

"Their search indicates they're in the farthest corners of our country. The Dragon Lands, Cloudsdale, Yakyakistan, Klugetown, Seaquestria, and Everfree are our main targets."

"We should probably go to Cloudsdale as soon as we can."

"We can't," said Candy. "Half of us cannot really fly or teleport long distances. Pinkie may be a bat, but-"

"I'm afraid of super high heights when flying on my own," Pinkie finished.

"Then where can we go?" asked Kiara. "Are you saying we're practically grounded?"

"We could take an airship over," Daring suggested. "I do have an airship we can use back at home."

"Yes," Candy acknowledged, "but since the portal system is next to nothing right now, we can't bring it in."

"I mean I could call my mom to-"

"CAN'T, bring it in," Candy repeated with a sterner look. "Now, we may have an airship here, but it'll take all day tomorrow to get it ready to fly short distances. Since Everfree Forest is the closest for now, that's the place we have to head to first. I know all of you are probably tired though, and I can see by the looks on your faces, so I won't have you all overworked. Get some rest before the first sunrise. We begin our mission at 1100 hours."

"What?" Kiara was a bit puzzled.

"He means 11 AM," Trixie explained. "It's military time code, not exactly one thousand one hundred hours. We'd be dead by then."

"Oh."

"Now go," Candy instructed. "Get some rest." He yawned as he started walking away. "I need some sleep myself."

"For an immortal you sure tire easily," Daring said before getting a pillow thrown at him by Candy.

"Shut up and sleep."

"Alright, alright..."

The others found their rooms fairly easily and settled in for the night. As Kiara got into bed and wrapped the blankets over her body, all she could do was stare out the window at the stars and the moon. Things seemed bleak for her coming back home, and consequently Equestria being able to sustain itself with what she has seen so far on her first night. Her eyes eventually started to close giving into their heaviness before eventually shutting entirely. Only the sound of the wind outside and the warmth of the bed was able to help her relax, the images of Sombra and Chrysalis probably haunting her for a bit before drifting off into her own little world in her head.

To Be Continued...