Guardians of Equestria : The Emperor's March

Twilight was very nervous right now. Presenting her friends to the princess has always been stressful, but the 3 friends she has introduced yesterday have somehow botched their first meeting with the princess. The meeting started fairly well, but it somehow turned into a fist fight between Drag and Alduin while Pink defenestrated himself in the commotion. Twilight was pacing back and forth through the room, nervously awaiting the princess’s return, for she would then tell her pupil her opinion on her new friends. “Well, that went poorly.” said Drag in a dry voice.

“You don’t say, I thought I was the team leader.” replied Alduin, still angry. Pink decided to share his opinion, albeit with not much confidence.

“Guys come on; we should be at least more respectful in front of the princess. I-I mean, she’s royalty”. Alduin wasn’t very impressed at the meaning of royalty.

“Why should I care much about royalty? I have devoured multiple people of royal blood.” The dragon began to tense up. “I am Alduin, first born of Akatosh, ancient and legendary dragon who has lived for eons. Why must I bow down before a mere steed!”

Drag, however had his two cents to share. “Because she has a lot more respect for mortals than you do, megalomaniac. Besides, why do you look down on her just because she isn’t as high and mighty as you are? You’ve been bested by a guy whose entire talent is to swear in your language like a toddler.” The dragon became visibly angry at the paladin’s remark.

“At least, I am not just a dog on a leash like you, I don’t blindly follow a leade- hey, isn’t your leader named Thrall? Like, his name just means he’s a slave? How pitiful. I guess members of the almighty Horde just have an inferiority complex, which is why they’re always battling the Alliance who, frankly, don’t seem much better than you morons.” The paladin’s uncaring expression slowly turned to heated anger.

“Oh no you don’t! How about we do it right here, right now skull fucker?” said Drag while reaching for his blessed sword on his back.

“Hey! Maybe we shouldn’t fight to the death in the princess’s throne room? That’s very disrespectful, and very illegal!” said a panicked Pink.

“Oh, grow some spine, Pink! The only reason you’re not the team’s leader is because you are too much of a pussy to make a single decision in the heat of the moment! That is why they don’t praise you nearly as much!” yelled the Tauren.

“Oh, that does it for the both of you black sons of bitches!” yelled back the humanoid as he cracked his knuckles in preparation for the incoming battle.

“Guys stop it please!” screamed Twilight in a nervous, panicked voice. “You are not helping your case by getting into a heated argument!”

The argument was cut short once the guards announced Celestia’s arrival. The Guardians quickly took on a more neutral stance, trying to hide the fact that they were indeed about to brawl for the second time in front of the princess. The tall white mare made her way to the throne. There, she stopped to look at Twilight, and then at the three outsiders next to her student. Finally, after a few seconds that seemed like an eternity for the panicking unicorn, the princess spoke up. “I have thought about her meeting yesterday and have concluded, that although our first meeting was rough, I will give the three of you the benefit of the doubt. After all Twilight, I've read all your messages about them. I’m certain that they can do a lot of good for every pony here in Equestria.” The unicorn felt so much relief that she lost her balance and accidentally fell on her back. “Careful not to pass out in front of the princess, it’s very disrespectful and illegal to do so.” said Drag, trying to imitate Pink’s voice.

“Hey! That was uncalled for!” replied an offended Pink.

The princess chuckled at the scene before her. While the group before her seemed dysfunctional, they were strong enough to protect Equestria and most importantly, the Elements of Harmony from destruction.

Now all that remained was for the group to be officially recognised as the Guardians of Equestria. For the time being, they get to stay in the castle, even earning their own rooms, as to avoid any further conflict between these volatile individuals. Eventually, the sun began to set down upon the planet. Twilight was staying in the library with her baby dragon, Spike. She was still trying to find more information about each of the world the Guardians came from. They were after all, living proof that there was more life outside of Equestria. This was a very exciting thought for Twilight who wondered if she could see more lifeforms outside of even the three outsider’s home planet.

“Spike! Have you found anything yet?” Asked the mare to her assistant.

“Nope, I've got nothing on Azeroth, Skyrim or a certain, um, Beef City... as strange of place sounds.”

Twilight was feeling more desperate to find something, anything that could let her learn about these worlds outside of the Guardians themselves, for they were quite busy now.

“Maybe we should just wait until their hands are free, then we’ll get to ask all the questions we want. We’ll just have to note it all down, make our own book about their world that way.” Spike proposed.

“I know, but it will still take a while to get to this point. I can’t wait for a couple more days to even be able to start writing down this book.” replied Twilight, exasperated.

Suddenly, the door to the library opened, nearly making Twilight jump. It was Pink who entered the library, it was a strange sight indeed, for he’s never gone to a library before. “Oh, hey Twilight, I see you’re still in a library even outside of Ponyville. I guess there must be an invisible magnet pulling you into places, with, books... This one was bad.” sheepishly said Pink.

“Pink? What brings you here? I’ve never seen you read a book before.” The unicorn was very curious about the humanoid’s presence in here.

He doesn’t respond however, instead he moved quickly to... the children’s section. Both the unicorn and the baby dragon were visibly confused.

After a few seconds, Pink settles down on a nearby table with a book called “Learn how to do Math”. Twilight approached to get a better of the view of the book. “Why are you trying to learn how to do mathematics?” Pink turns to her, visibly shocked. “Why are there numbers and letters mixed up in this book?!”. Twilight didn’t know how to respond, she was flabbergasted. It was Spike who answered Pink’s concern. “Umm, do you even know what you’re reading?”

“No, I'm trying to learn how to read.” Twilight finally knew what to say.

“How do you not know how to read?! You are much older than me!”

“... I don’t have an education.”

~***~

Heart pounding, nearly about to pass out. Applejack was almost there. Just a few more minutes left before she could get into Canterlot. Then, she had to warn the princess about the lizards that have taken over Ponyville. If she takes too much time, it might be too late to save her hometown. She still couldn’t shake off the image of that big Scaler she saw earlier. Something about him terrified her but she couldn’t figure out what. He felt much different than all the previous evils that have threatened Equestria before.

Finally, she had reached the gate leading inside the city. The guards at the gate saluted her, they have already herd of the elements of Harmony’s accomplishments against Discord and Nightmare Moon. The habitants of Canterlot quickly took notice of the earth pony who was running around town looking extremely tired and injured. “We... are being... invaded! "Yelled the pony between labored breaths. Her message came through, as she could notice the civilians getting more agitated by the seconds. Finally, she could see the castle in sight. She just needed to tell the princess and let her, and the Guardians handle this problem while she could finally get some much-needed rest.

~***~

Yesterday was the last day the Guardians and Twilight would be spending in Canterlot. Now, they’ll have to return to Ponyville. As princess Celestia was preparing to bid her guests farewell, a guard ran inside the castle. “Your honor, we have a very important visitor!” The doors opened more to reveal none other than Shining Armor coming in. Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight of her brother whom she hasn’t seen in years. They haven’t even sent each other a single letter too throughout these many years. She felt a strange mixture of joy and bitterness by looking at the newcomer. Sure, she was happy to finally see him again, but he did not even try to stay in contact with her. Was it wrong to be angry at that?

“Your honor, I'm sorry to be interrupting you at the moment, but I have some very important news to deliver in person. Very bad news, actually.” started Shining as he moved closer to the princess. “You see, it has come to my attention that Ponyville...”

The doors brutally swung open to the point of hitting one of the guards on standby. “Ponyville has been taken over by an army of bipedal lizards!” Screamed an exhausted Applejack. Everyone turned to look at her, very surprised. “From what I have heard, they are called Scalers.” she finished before collapsing onto the ground. The guards nearby went to check on her, as ordered by Celestia.

“Ah shit, here we go again for the twentieth time.” said an unenthusiastic Drag. Pink looked at the paladin for a moment.

“You keeping scores?”

“No.”

Shining looked back at the princess with a serious look that showed his strong and unwavering composure. “Yes, that was the very bad news I was about to announce. We have to act quickly before they can get a stronger footing in Equestria!”

The princess finally regained her composure “I see, we must reinforce Canterlot’s defence first and foremost. Is princess Cadance already preparing to deal with this new threat?” The guards she sent went on to take Applejack to the nearest hospital. Twilight thought about following the guards to check on Applejack, but ultimately decided that she will visit her later.

“Of course, and if you don’t mind, I'll stay here while we prepare a counterstrike on our adversaries.” concluded Shining Armor.

Alduin, however, wasn’t having any of it right now “Yeah sure. Well princess, if you don’t mind, I’ll see myself out.”

The two other guardians chose to go alongside their dragon friend “We’ll go get some rest to uh, better be prepared for the incoming war. K thanks, bye.” said Drag, before following behind the black dragon.

Twilight though about her friends who were still in Ponyville. “Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity! We must act quickly or else it might be too late for them!” Suddenly, the door busted open once more, revealing this time, Rainbow Dash.

“Every pony! You gotta listen to me! Ponyville-”

“We already know Rainbow Dash! I’m fucking out of here.” shouted Alduin, on the way out.

As for Twilight Sparkle, yesterday’s burning desire came back to mind. The desire to read more about what was outside of Equestria. She needed to go to her room in the castle and find out more about these Scalers that have taken over Ponyville. After all, knowing your enemy is half the battle.

~***~

Time passed by quickly this day, it was already dark outside, most ponies were already going to sleep at such a late hour. This wasn’t the case however for Twilight Sparkle and her assistant Spike, who were still wide awake, in search of any information they could find on the invaders.

“Spike, have you found anything regarding the Scalers?” said the unicorn to her apprentice in an ever so growing impatience.

“Nope, sorry. I don’t think we have anything about them.” replied the dragon.

“This is really bad Spike! It’s not a good idea to jump in a war without even knowing what we are up against. All the foes the Guardians have fought clearly demonstrate that one way or the other.” said Twilight while pacing back and forth across her room. Suddenly, she heard knocking on her door. Spike rushed to the door to open it. It was Shining Armor who was standing on the other side. “Excuse me Twiley, for coming out of the blue.” He was the first to speak up with a very relaxed smile. “Now may not be the time, but I believe we’ve got some catching up to do.” Although Twilight was still upset at her brother’s unwillingness to stay in contact with her, she nonetheless was happy that he wanted to spend some time with her for once.

“Sure, I'd be very happy to!” The valiant steed slowly made his way inside her sister’s bedroom. “So, I've been meaning to ask for a while now, how is your life in Ponyville going? I heard you made some friends there.”

“Plenty of friends, some more unusual than others.” replied the unicorn.

“I heard of them, the so-called Guardians, right? Strong warriors that came from outside through unknown means, even to them. They have become quite the talk around all of Equestria.”

“Oh, so you were already aware of their presence here in Equestria?”

“You do realise princess Celestia keeps Cadance informed about what is going on in this region? I’ve read all the letters they have sent to each other.”

“Oh, that’s right, you are in a relationship with princess Cadance, last I heard.”

Shining Armour notices the pile of books on the nightstand, he moves in to get a better look. “Encyclopedia of reptiles. I suppose you’re trying to find out more about these invaders, right?” affirms the steed.

Twilight sighed “Yes, but there is absolutely nothing about the Scalers on any of the books I've read. I suppose they must be otherworldly.”

Her older brother tried to reassure her “I can help you with that, I'm sure there must be a book around here that talks about the Scalers. I’m even willing to spend the entire night looking just for you.”

“You will?!” Joyfully exclaimed Twilight.

“Of course, I’ll do anything to help out my little sister!” said Shining with a warm smile on his face.

~***~

Visiting hours were over at this time of the day, but thanks to Rainbow Dash’s exploit as the Element of Loyalty, she was allowed to check in on her friend Applejack. Her injuries were not too severe thankfully, but all the running she had to do to get here had worn her out completely. She was still awake as the earth pony looked at the Pegasus who had just entered her room. “Coming to check in on an old friend I presume?” said Applejack with a weak smile.

“Well... yeah. You had me all worried there when I saw you being taken outside the castle all injured and barely able to stand up on your hooves.” replied the Pegasus as she looked off to the side, somewhat avoiding her friend's eyes.

“I can clearly see something’s troubling ‘ya. You can tell me what’s on your mind, I'm all ears.” Rainbow Dash stood silent for a moment, her face clearly showing her hesitation to speak up. After a long reflexion, she finally told Applejack:

“I don’t want to go back to Ponyville to fight these creatures.”

“What? But I thought you were the brave one in our group; you even kicked a dragon square in the snout once.” said a sceptic Applejack. Rainbow Dash took a few steps forward.

“I remember that, but this time... it feels different. We’re going to war Applejack! We’re not fighting just one or a small group of baddies, we’ll be fighting an entire army! We’ve never done that before!”

“And one with strong soldiers. It was only one of them who roughed me up this bad, although it was mostly because he dropped some sort of bomb in the middle of the brawl.”

“I’ve always herd stories of soldiers going to war and coming back traumatised and depressed because they lost all their friends during battles. Do you think that’ll happen to us too?” Applejack couldn’t keep her eyes on her friend. She looked away, thinking about what Rainbow Dash had just said. It was true, they never went on a war before and since they are the Elements of Harmony, they will have to participate in battles. This will most likely cost some of her friends' lives, even possibly herself.

“Let’s be positive about this Dash. We’ll make it out just fine... I hope.”

~***~

Somewhere on the moon, Luna was ready to visit the dreams of ponies to make sure Equestria was safe for another night. She had started to descend more and more after the events that took place on Nightmare Night. On that night, she had learned an important lesson about friendship with her sister’s pupil, Twilight Sparkle. There, she had met the Guardians and got to understand them better, but their lives are still shrouded in mystery, for they do not wish to talk more about their past. Tonight, she will start by visiting the dreams of these three in hopes of digging more on their past.

Navigating through the dreamscape, she found the first dream she would go in tonight; Drag’s dream. Hoping in, she found herself on a very peaceful landscape completely alien to her. “Thy must be his home world.” thought to herself the lunar princess. On the horizon, she found a peaceful village surrounded by a small river. When she arrived at the village, she noticed a sign with something written on it. It was language she didn’t know, the language of the Tauren’s. Inside the village, there were multiple Tauren’s walking around, minding their own business. Since it was a dream, none of them reacted in any way to the alicorn casually standing in the middle of the town. Luna looked in many of the houses in search of where Drag’s dream self was located in hopes of learning more about his people’s culture from this dream.

Finally, she had found him in an average looking house. He was sitting at a dinner table looking over at a female Tauren in the kitchen. By the looks of it, this Tauren must be his wife. Suddenly, Drag turned around and noticed Luna peeking through her window. He was quite shocked for a moment before eventually calming down. He gestured at the princess to come inside. As she did, the female Tauren evaporated into nothingness.

“How nice of you to invade my personal space without my consent, Luna.” said the paladin unenthusiastically.

“Pardon my intrusion, I was just making sure everything is fine in here.” replied the lunar princess, masking her true intentions.

“Well... everything looks fine to me. You can go into someone else’s dream now.” The Tauren went on to drink a glass of water. “Yep, I'm lucid dreaming now, this water is tasteless.”

“I can see, your wife disappeared the moment I entered.” Drag’s expression suddenly turned bitter. He threw his glass of water at the alicorn in one quick motion. She barely had time to lift a hoof to her face in order to shield herself from the shards.

“Stop trying to pry into my personal life!” His eyes slowly moved down, and his head soon followed. “Sorry, there’s some stuff in there I'm just not comfortable to talk about. I didn’t mean to react this violently.”

“No, it was my mistake to investigate some pony’s life without their consent. I’m sorry.” She then left the Tauren’s dream with more questions than answers.

As she was wandering around the dreamscape, she found a dream that was very odd to her. A dream that belonged to some pony she didn’t know. That is, if that even belonged to a pony. Without hesitation, she entered the dream. She found herself in a very dark world where there was nothing but blood on the ground forming an endless sea of crimson red. Bodies piled up on multiple spots forming small hills of corpses. Luna felt very nauseous at this disgusting sight. The smell inside this world was putrid, it was harassing all her senses at once. It was too much for her and she vomited in the endless sea of blood. Soon after, a malicious laugh echoed throughout the vast emptiness of this dream world. The alicorn looked around her surroundings to spot the source of this laughter, but it sounded like it came from everywhere at once.

The corpses around her began to stand up and wander around aimlessly. Luna looked around in confusion, wondering if the corpses were going to attack her any time soon.

“Oh my, I didn’t know someone could pop in unannounced. Luckily, I've prepared a nice spectacle for you... if you would please follow my directions.” The voice sent a chill down her spine. The feeling she got from it was terrifying, but she couldn’t pin down why exactly. There was definitely more malice behind it than Discord’s voice. Suddenly, more piles of corpses began to rise from the crimson water, forming a passage towards an unknown location. Luna reassured herself that she was simply in some pony’s dreams, therefore, she wouldn’t put herself much at risk if she went along with what the dreamer had planned for her.

“Who could that be? Someone who’s brave and bold. A unicorn, but with wings. With an interesting mane to go along. I’m dying to know more about you.” the voice returned once more. Luna arrived at an arena in the shape of a circle by the pile of bodies around.

“Who are thou? Show yourself!” boldly shouted the princess. A massive whirlpool formed in the middle of the arena and a massive figure slowly emerged from it. It was Balgo himself, coming to toy with the alicorn.

“So... are you gonna say something? Or am I going to speak first?”

“What are thou? I’ve never seen something like this before. If thou wish to endanger Equestria itself, I will have to stop thou.” replied the princess, taking a defensive stance as her horn began to glow.

“Boldly said... but I remain... unconvinced.” Balgo began to walk closer to the lunar princess. In response, she fired a beam of light at his head, destroying half of it entirely. The giant’s body fell in the crimson water. For a moment, the entire world around her was calm. “Nice aim, how about we up the difficulty a bit?” She heard somethings emerging behind her. As she turned, there were five Balgo’s in front of her. She opened her wings and flew away much to the Scaler’s surprise. Far in the sky, she looked down at the lizard who tilted his head slightly to the side in interest. “Why are you so afraid? It’s just a dream, nothing can hurt you... that is unless you are the exception to this rule.”

Suddenly, the entire ground below her rose to her current height and she was standing on the bloody sea once more. She tried to fly away, but something grabbed at her hooves, locking her in place. One of the many Balgo’s approached her and grabbed her by the throat. “Let me see your soul!” His mouth opened wide, revealing a bright green light inside. Luna could see multiple faces appearing inside the beast’s mouth, screaming at her in fear. Balgo began to inhale, this caused the lunar princess to feel very weak. Her soul was slowly being ripped out of her body as she watched in shock. With the last of her strength, she used her magic to wake herself up.

~***~

When her eyes opened, she was back on the moon all by herself. She immediately jumped on her hooves and looked around frantically to make sure no pony was there. Sure enough, the moon was empty as it had always been. She looked at Equestria, still thinking about the dream she had just entered. “I must warn ‘Tia about this reptile!” thought the lunar princess. However, before she could make her way to Equestria, she felt an imposing presence looming over her. She turned around just in time to see none other than Balgo himself standing right next to her. A sharp appendage made from dark energy formed on his tail and it shot straight into her abdomen, badly wounding her. She fell on the moon floor in agonising pain, spitting blood that slowly fell from the low gravity. “The fun has just started, unicorn. Can’t have you spoil it just now, so you’ll stay here for a while and in the meantime, I’m going to play around.” Balgo slowly turned into a purple mist that flew all the way back to Equestria as Luna helplessly watched. She wasted no time using her magic to stop the bleeding, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the planet.

“This monster must be stopped! ‘Tia, be careful...”

~***~

Twilight suddenly woke up in the middle of the night and now, she was unable to go back to sleep. She kept on rolling and rolling in her bed to no avail. After a while, she gave up and got out of her bed. “Maybe a glass of water will help...” though the unicorn as she quietly got out of her bedroom to make sure she wouldn’t wake Spike up. The castle was dark at this time, the hallways were only lighted up by a couple of torches hanged on the walls. After an uneventful walk to the castle’s kitchen, she was surprised to find her brother there, eating and drinking.

“Shining? You are also having trouble sleeping?” The stallion looked at Twilight in surprise, now aware of her presence.

“Yeah, I’m just really nervous and because of that... I couldn’t sleep.” replied Shining with a somewhat forced smile. “I just have a feeling that there’s something really bad out there, in Ponyville. These Scalers are not to be underestimated.” Twilight began to feel nervous herself.

“They are really that bad? H-Have you seen these Scalers in person?”

“No, but I get the feeling that some of them are much more dangerous than any pony we’ve faced before.”

“As long as we have the two sisters and the Elements of Harmony, we should be fine, right?”

“No doubts about it. I’m certain you’ll be able to handle this Twiley. As long as I'm here, I’ll make sure you’re safe and sound.” Twilight smiled at her brother’s affection.

“Thanks Shining, if you don’t mind; I’ll take a glass of water and then I'll go back to my room. Tomorrow is going to be a big day after all.”

~***~

Twilight woke up to a bright sun outside her window. She was still very tired as she went to sleep at a very late hour. Someone came knocking at her door once more. “Spike please tell whoever is coming that I'm going to be snoozing for a while.” said the unicorn in a somewhat raspy voice. “I’m on it” replied the baby dragon. Spike opened the door to be once again met with Shining Armor, looking somewhat tired. The newcomer glanced at the bed where her sister lied in before looking at the dragon. “Oh, is Twilight still sleeping?” The dragon was about to answer, but was interrupted by his sleepy mentor “No, I'm not asleep, but I'd rather stay in bed just a while longer. I didn’t get enough sleep last night.”

“O-oh, that’s right, we both woke up in the middle of the night. Uh, I was going to ask you to come to the library with me, but since you can’t come for the moment, I'll just go look myself. I’ll show what I found, of course.” said the older brother with an awkward smile, before exiting the bedroom.

A few hours passed before Twilight woke up again, this time from hunger. She was going to miss breakfast if she doesn’t get out of bed. With no other choice, the unicorn got up from her resting place and went out of her bedroom in search of the dining hall. As she was walking down the corridor, she saw a familiar face not too far away. It was Drag, sitting on a chair, looking intently at the window nearby. “Drag? What are you doing here? Said Twilight as she approached the sitting Tauren.

“I’m just enjoying the tranquillity here. Lately, we haven’t really gone for more than a month without something bad happening.” The paladin looks back at the window. “It’s something I've never really got to know. What with the constant war between the Horde and the Alliance back on Azeroth. And then there’s the burning legion, the scourge, the black dragon flight, old gods, orcs from an alternate universe, etc. It’s exhausting just to list it all.” sighed Drag.

“Well, I don’t think this is anything to be too worried about. We’ll defeat these Scalers and bring peace back to Equestria like we always do.” said the unicorn in an attempt to cheer up her unmotivated friend.

“Like we always do? Shit, how long have I been here?”

“Um, it’s been at least a year since you first arrived here.” The paladin suddenly stopped moving altogether. After a few seconds of silence, he got up and walked in direction of the dining room.

“Wait, where are you going?” said a concerned Twilight.

“Thanks to you, I just made a rather traumatising realisation. I’m just going to the dining room to stem real quick and then I'll be good.” With that, the Tauren dashed away. Twilight and Spike both looked at each other in confusion.

“Man, how could some pony spend a full year in a different world without even realising it?” Spike asked.

“I don’t know Spike, I guess deep down, he must still be home sick.”

~***~

Finally, the pair arrived just in time for breakfast. They got to enjoy a nice meal alongside the paladin who seemed to have recovered fairly quickly. But just as they were about to leave, Shining Armor came through the door with his backpack full.

“Oh hey Twiley, that’s a really nice timing! Guess what? I got a very intriguing book that you absolutely need to see.” said her brother excitedly.

“Really? What is it!” replied Twilight as she felt her excitement growing larger and larger by the minute.

“Let’s go to the study, there I'll show you the book in detail.”

Having finally arrived at the study, the siblings sat down at a peaceful table near a window showing a full view of the city below. Shining Armor reached for the book inside his backpack and put it out front of his sister. Her face went from pure excitement to concern, and finally, intrigue. The book her brother had found looked to be a book about soul magic, one whose use was forbidden thousands of years ago due to its brutal methods of casting spells. Soul spells could only be casted by using up a person’s soul, which often made users of this dark art go out of their way to steal other people’s soul to selfishly use theses spells from themselves. After being deep in her thoughts for a while, she realised that her brother was waiting for a response.

“T-that’s a spell book about soul magic. Its usage is completely forbidden.” said the unicorn.

“I know, but I did end up finding something about the Scalers inside it, which is the only reason why I brought it to you. With this, we can learn more about our enemy.” responded Shining.

“Well? Show me, I really want to know literally anything about them!”

Shining Armor opened the book and started scouring through the pages at a rapid pace. After a few seconds of wandering around in the book, he stopped at a particular section of the book titled “The origins of soul magic”.

“Here, let me read it out loud for you. Soul magic is a very powerful type of magic that was first created by one of the mightiest creatures to have ever existed, the Scalers. In particular, one of their gods whose main attribute was to devour the souls of his prey, he was called the devil by many. He was the first to use and refine this type of magic which has been passed down upon civilisations who kneeled before the immortal reptiles. In societies outside of the Scalers reign however, soul magic is forbidden altogether due to its moral transgressions. Should any civilisation be attacked by the Scaler Empire, the best they can do is to surrender without a fight.”

Twilight and Spike froze in shock for a moment once Shining was done reading out loud. They were now going up against an enemy who not only wielded one of the most powerful types of magic to have ever existed, but also invented and refined it. The young unicorn wanted to seek comfort in her older brother “If... they can use soul magic, do you think maybe... the one who created soul magic, this devil... is here? In Equestria?” said Twilight in a frightened voice.

“Probably...” started the stallion in a concerned, yet confident voice. “We’ve got to show this to princess Celestia and the Guardians. They must know what our enemy is capable of! Let’s hurry.”

~***~

As they ran in search of the princess, Shining noticed something beyond the window. “Hey wait a minute!” Twilight stopped dead in her tracks to check out what was concerning her brother. “I believe I can see 3 Scalers just outside the castle! They are entering the cupcake store just over there.”

“That’s bad, we must stop them before they ransack the entire store or even worse, burn it down entirely!” said Twilight in a panicked expression. Spike was worried about this however, “W-wait, we aren’t going to charge in just the three of us, right? We’ll get Drag and the others to help.” Shining objected to this idea.

“No, we can’t, it’ll take too much time! If we don’t confront them right now, they’ll be gone. Come on Twiley, we’re going in!”

And with that, the two ponies and the one baby dragon being dragged into this confrontation sprinted outside the castle and in direction of the shop. Everyone was carrying on their day as normal, unaware of the monsters inside their city gate. The three arrived at the cupcake store just as the Scalers sneaked in. Upon entering, the owners greeted them as usual, asking them what they would like. As Twilight tried to explain the situation at hand, her brother sprinted straight into the back room of the store, much to the surprise of the owners. As he opened the door, he saw knife flying toward him. His magic was thankfully strong enough to stop the knife in mid-air. One of the Scalers complimented his quick reflexes.

“Impressive, I've never seen someone actually stop a knife throw at such a small distance.”

Shining Armor smirked “Heh, maybe you should have just put more effort into that throw if you actually wanted to kill me. Come on Twilight, we won’t let them get away with this.”

The unicorn made her way to her older brother as the owners freaked out and ran out of their cupcake store. They were now in a stand-off against the reptiles but were outnumbered by one. Another Scaler gloated “Hey hey hey, it’s three against two. Those odds aren’t gonna do ya much favors fancy pants.”

“It doesn't matter. Our magic is more than enough to handle the three of you.” started Shining before glancing back at his sister. “Twilight, we’ll need to end this fight quickly, in just one spell. Make it count otherwise they’ll escape.”

“Hey! Don’t forget the part where we kill you two before we hot foot it out of here!”

Twilight prepared her spell, a magical aura formed around her horn. Shining was also preparing his own spell while Spike noped out of there. The Scalers took a cowboy stance, preparing to fire whatever weapons they might have on them. However, as the ponies were about to launch their spell, a Scaler pulled out a jet pack out of his ass and the other two jumped on him, giving their adversaries the middle finger. The three lizards flew upward, smashing through the roof.

“We can’t let them escape! We must catch up to them!” screamed Twilight Sparkle.

“I’m with you on this one ‘sis!” answered Shining Armour.

The two gave chase to the fleeing Scalers. They had just run out of jet pack fuel, forcing them to run on the rooftops to flee Canterlot. Shining looked at them with a look of disapproval “Hey! You can’t just run on the rooftops! With your heavy weight, you’ll just break in through the roofs!”

“Ha! As if I could be that fat!” said one of the Scalers before immediately smashing through one of the roofs he landed.

“Darn, we have to split up now. Twilight, pursue the two remaining Scalers, I'll take on the straggler!” said Shining, mildly annoyed. His sister nodded and kept on running while he waltzed in the house the reptile had fallen into.

Twilight noticed that they were now approaching the edge of the city where the invaders would make their exit. Using her teleportation magic, she got in front of them, blocking their exit from the city. “There’s nowhere left to run! If you want to get out of this city, you’ll have to get through me!” announced the young unicorn with a confident smile.

“Ha ha! Let’s see how fast you can really go if you want to keep up with us!” exclaimed the most confident Scaler. They pulled out a baseball bat and a mace from an undisclosed location, much to the confusion of the unicorn. Just as they were about to fight, they heard a scream coming from the house behind them. Not long after, the third and last lizard jumped out the window with a missing arm, sprinting so fast that Twilight couldn’t react as he jumped past her. The other two soon followed as their expressions turned to intense panic. They had escaped. The unicorn could hear rushing footsteps behind her. It was her brother who had just arrived on the scene, only, he had blood over his face.

“S-Shining? What happened in there?” asked Twilight, failing to hide the anxiety in her voice.

“Oh that? I-i tried to restrain him so he wouldn’t get away, but he somehow broke out of my spell resulting in his arm being torn off. It’s... uh, pretty gross in there.” responded Shining while hyperventilating, though Twilight couldn’t discern if it was from the shock of what had just happened of if it was from something else entirely. It was an odd feeling indeed.

“Anyway, let’s return to the castle. We need to plan a counterattack to take back Ponyville.” continued her older brother.

“Yeah, I don’t want to be lollygagging around while my friends are in danger.”

“And neither do I. I swear on my life and loyalty to Equestria that I will never let you and your friends down ‘sis.”

~***~

Arriving at the castle once more, Shining told the princess that they needed to plan a counterattack immediately now that they gathered a sizable army. They were now standing around a recreation of Ponyville where they will visualise their plan of attack. They however had no concrete plan in mind, everyone but Shining Armor that is. They were waiting for him, as he said that he had a very good plan to push back the invaders. Finally, after a few minutes of waiting around, he came in.

“Fillies and gentle colts, I appreciate your patience for I have come up with a plan to defeat the Scalers once and for all. It is all thanks to this book that I found in an old and abandoned library filled with ancient literature.” He scouts the room, looking at everyone to make sure he got all their attention.

“And of course, thanks to the help of a spy I sent in Ponyville. He gave me a list of all the powerful Scalers and their capabilities. With that, I will now tell you, my plan.” He moves closer to the recreation and starts placing down multiple figurines representing the Scalers and themselves.

“We will send multiple flying troops with princess Celestia and Alduin as their leaders, they main goal will be to take down the flying genie Aruba. He is the second in command of the enemies. The ground troops will charge in through the hill where there is no possible vantage point for the enemy. They will have to make use of ranged weaponries and magic for the Scalers possess strange weapons that can fire from a distance. They will be commanded by Drag and Pink. Meanwhile, Twilight and I will sneak in from the back in the Ever-free Forest where I will cast a spell to rain meteors from the sky once Aruba is distracted. Once that spell is casted, everyone must go near a unicorn to stay in their magic shield to protect themselves from the rain of meteors.”

“Aren’t the meteors going to hit Ponyville too? That’ll just kill everyone in the town too.” pointed out Drag.

“Of course, it won’t happen, the spell will be aimed specifically at the battlefield. Any remaining Scalers inside of Ponyville will be easy to best once their army is down.” said Shining in a reassuring tone.

“Wait, h-hold on!” Everyone turned to look at Applejack, who still wasn’t absolutely sure with the plan. “I think you’re forgetting about the big one. I think his name is Balgo.”

“Yeah, I saw him enter Ponyville before all the other Scalers rushed in. He must be their leader!” added Rainbow Dash.

“Well, I suppose the combined might of Drag and Pink will be enough to overcome him.” responded Shining with admirable confidence.

“Hold on every pony! Where’s princess Luna, shouldn’t she be here to help us?” pointed out Twilight Sparkle.

“I tried to contact her, but I still have no response from her. We’ll have to do Shining Armor’s plan without her. As for the plan, it is a sound plan indeed. Very well, if we are all satisfied with Sir Shining’s plan, then we will begin our counterattack tomorrow morning.”

~***~

The attack had just started, everyone had gotten into position. Though the Scalers were caught by surprise, they reacted fairly quickly, launching multiple aerial vehicles in the air guided by Aruba the genie. “Just as Balgo said, they are launching their counterstrike. All right, let’s give these magical horses a very bad time.” While the battle just began, Twilight and her brother, Shining Armor, sneaked around the entire field, entering the Ever-free Forest. Inside, they ran in direction of Ponyville, hoping to get as close as possible while remaining hidden as to not jeopardise the entire plan. “All right Shining, I believe we’re close enough. Let’s launch the spell.” said Twilight. Ponyville was still far away from them, but also close enough to see it through the foliage.

“You’re right Twiley, this is a very good position indeed. I’m preparing to launch the spell now.” responded Shining confidently. “They won’t know what hit ‘em.” Shining Armor put the book down in front of him, flipping to the correct page. “All right ‘sis, keep an eye on Ponyville, no one must see us while I'm casting the spell or else, we’ll be doomed.”

“I’m on it!” responded the unicorn. Suddenly, Shining Armor looked off somewhere in the woods. Twilight quickly took notice and questioned her brother about it. “What is it? Are there Scalers coming after us?”

“Doesn’t appear to be, it’s just the harmless denizens of the Ever-free Forest. I’m launching the spell now.”

Shining’s horn began to glow a bright white as he was mustering up all his strength to launch this powerful spell. A few seconds later, the air began to crackle as dark clouds filled the sky. Suddenly, the wind began to howl and the owls around the forest were now screeching and flying away in a panic. It didn’t take long before Shining’s horn flashed a bright white light that blinded Twilight for a moment. When her senses came back to her, she could see dark green lightning striking the ground all around her, even reaching out to the battlefield. “Brother, I-I don’t think... that was the... correct spell?” said the unicorn hesitantly. But as she turned her head to look at her brother, she froze in terror. Shining’s body was convulsing and tearing itself apart, but it was also growing considerably in size. His eyes were melting, and his jaw was unhinging, breaking itself apart. His teeth, falling from his gaping maw, as his legs and hooves busted open revealing black clothing underneath. Finally, Shining’s face tore open and fell onto the ground, leaving in place the face of an especially gigantic Scaler, with its body covered in blood and viscera. Twilight couldn’t even muster to the strength to say anything as she fell on her back.

“Well, what’s the matter? Never seen a demon burst out of a fake body? Oh, what am I saying, of course you didn’t. You were too busy worshipping the magic of friendship, right?” said Balgo with an amused expression.

“W-w-who are you? What did you do to my brother?!” screamed the element of magic in fear.

“Primo, I am Balgo, leader of the Scalers, and I am the strongest there is and will ever be. Segundo... absolutely nothing, as of yet. I simply transformed my own body to resemble his. I was very lucky to be honest. You just so happen to be princess Celestia’s protégé and you have a brother whose royalty. Add on top of that the fact that you haven’t seen him in a while and what do you get? The perfect person to impersonate.” responded an amused Balgo.

“T-then, w-what was th-that spell you just casted?”

“Soul magic, my dear. I gave new life to the dead of the region and let me tell you. There have been a lot of death around this region. It’s very surprising, even to me. The dead will walk the earth again and will feast on the living. All except us Scalers of course, for they are in my absolute control.” Balgo smirked as he stared down the frightened unicorn.

“But how? Zombies can’t be controlled; it was stated in the book about soul magic!” Twilight was desperately trying to stand up, but her hooves were trembling too much for her to keep her stance. The horrifying scene she had witnessed was still playing in her mind.

“True, but there is one exception, me. I invented soul magic Twiley, I have more control over all of these spells, it’s only natural that the genius inventor gets more privileges. But now I suggest you run, for the zombies will also rise around you. You’ll be eaten alive if you don’t hot foot it out of there.”

Indeed, his words were true, for zombies were just now starting to dig themselves out all around Twilight and the goliath. They were decaying, dried up corpses rising from the earth itself to feast on the souls of the living. Balgo turned around and walked away, leaving a shaking and nearly crying Twilight Sparkle surrounded by the incoming horde.

“Oh well, I think I'll just go back to my peers now. After all, I’ve spent quite some time as a pony, and I'll be honest with ya girl; I had a really good time back there, being your brother and all. I think this may be the start of something special between the two of us.”