Fall of Equestria: A Flash of Hope

At Canterlot, two days had gone by since Cloudsdale was liberated by rebel forces. King Dainn was of course not happy to hear such news, but was thinking of a counterattack to retake the floating city. So he gathered one of his least favorable admirals and appointed him in charge of an invasion fleet of airships. The caribou king announced his plan.

“Alright you lot, listen." He spoke up to get his soldiers' attention. "Cause I’m only going to say this once. Two days ago, Cloudsdale was taken by rebel forces and freed our slaves. But I have a plan to take it back. We use our newly built airships and only them. So no stepping out and setting hoof on the clouds until our fleet softens them up with ice magic, understood?”

“Understood my liege." One of the soldiers said with a bow. "We’ll retake the city or die trying.”

“Good answer." Dainn replied. "And by the way, if you see those mares that were with that masked stallion, kill them including him. I don’t know why, but his appearance spells trouble for me.” He then let out a tired yawn before he noticed a few of his soldiers also looked very tired. He had very trouble sleeping for the past few nights as he had very troubling nightmares haunting his dreams.

The nightmares of him being hunted down by his old king while the many caribou that he left behind in his old homeland tried to rip him apart. Just the thought of it sent a shiver down his spine as he walked back into the castle. “I need a sleeping drug.”

Later on, he headed for his new mystic chamber where priests and monks were conducting ancient magic. Here they’ve been researching how to get Celestia’s mark off. But that wasn’t the only thing they were working on. Celestia just seemed to be laying on the floor with her arms and legs spread out and bound down, looking all relaxed while the many Caribou around tried everything they could. "Have any of you even started?" She questioned with a smug smile and a brow.

“That was to soften you up a bit." One of the Caribou Stags replied. "Now we shall see how your mark stands up to this old elixir. It might hurt, but an old bitch like yourself can handle it.” Another Caribou poured the elixir on the mark, but she did not flinch in pain nor did the mark even react to the elixir.

"How?!" Another caribou shouted with shock and confusion. "How was it not being removed?!"

“Then how about this?” Another one said as he smeared black powder on it. That only caused the elixir on her to go up and go off like a firework. "Well, it was worth a try."

"You absolute buffoons!" Dainn shouted with impatience. "Five days, and you still can't remove that mark?!"

“We’re doing our best sire, really." One of the Stags said nervously. "I-It’s just… we never worked on something like this before and our old remedies only cause random events. It's like magic we have never seen before or understood.”

"You are just making up excuses." Dainn growled with frustration. “If none of you find a way to remove that mark by the end of the month, I will have you all switched and have you as personal playmates for the war beasts!"

"Aw, it looks like someone's a little cranky.” Celestia teased. “Have you not had any good night's sleep for the past few days?"

Dainn then threw a vial of acid-like substance at Celestia’s body. “You and your sister are responsible for this! I know you are!” He accused me with a look while Celestia didn't even react to the acid.

"How could we when neither of us have our horns?” Celestia questioned with a brow. “Besides, sleep is more like my sister's thing and like I said, we don't have our horns."

Dainn pulled on Celestia’s snout and made her pretend to groan in pain. “I don’t know how, but ever since Ponyville went up in flames, weird things have been happening and you and your sister had something to do with our sleeping. You may think you’re winning but it will be crushed swiftly. And since you tend to resist your role as being my future son’s mother…” He pulled out a hot redden iron and placed it near her face. “Then become Equestria’s ugliest whore.” He then began burning Celestia’s face leaving burn marks all over her once beautiful face.

Once he let go of Celestia's snout, she took a deep breath and it looked like she was concentrating as the burn marks suddenly vanished. Dainn and the other Stags were shocked by this as she gave him a smile. "You forget about the Omens you were warned about, such as some of them have been fulfilled." She mentioned with a brow. "And I have a pretty good feeling that the others will follow, you know, the Tempest shedding tears, and one of my personal favorites, the four Alicorns being restored. You know what that means? It means me, my sister, and Cadance will be free, and I have a feeling that my niece will have very much hatred feelings towards you once that happens."

“You forget sun slut, Shining Armor has her secured and mindful of her duties for her master.” Dainn mentioned as Celestia only laughed in response.

"And you don't think that the resistance won't free Shining Armor when his wife is free as well?" She questioned rhetorically as he only growled in response.

"Throw her in the cage with her sister!" Dainn ordered but not before angrily stabbing her with a scalp blade. “That’s for laughing without my permission whore.”

"Soon your permission won't matter because your reign of terror will fall." Celestia replied with a frown as they took her away.

“No, my reign will last forever!" Dainn declared. "And no resistance of any kind is going to stop me! Not even you, your sister, or anyone!”

Up in Cloudsdale, many airships were modified for a war while the many creatures were getting prepared for anything. "You think putting up a big smoke screen will work?" Fluttershy asked Twilight.

“Well I’m not sure." Twilight replied with a shrug. "But if what Tempest said was true, this should help blind the enemy of ongoing attacks or quick getaways.”

“Oh, right.”

“Twilight!" Applejack called out. "Could ya help me with this crate? I may be strong but I too need help.”

"Be there in a sec!" Twilight replied before she went over to Applejack. “How's Rainbow Dash doing?"

"She's still resting after that double Sonic Rainboom." Applejack answered before she noticed a very unsure look on Twilight's face. “You still think what you did to Windrider was still cruel?"

“I-I don’t know.” Twilight replied as they both set the crate down. “I never made a decision of this magnitude before and it’s somewhat overwhelming.” She then looked down at her own hands with a worried look. "H-He was so selfish about everything that he's done, and I'm worried I might end up just as bad as--"

"Don't you even finish that sentence." Applejack interrupted. "Ya nothing like them, Twi. If ya didn't give him that punishment, he would have just ended up doing the same thing again. An example had to be made sugarcube. It’s not easy, I know, but it’s what a leader or ruler has to make every now and then.”

"She's right, you know." They heard a familiar voice say before they saw Tempest walking up to them. “I’ve had to make calls like that all the time back when I served the Storm King. I knew I had to make the toughest decision to survive, that would include killing.” Tempest then looked at Twilight. "We are at war, and if we're going to win. We have to make the toughest decisions.”

“You…You’re right. " Twilight sighed. “Thanks you two. Remind me to come to either of you for counselling.”

“Will do sugarcube.” Applejack replied.

“Sure thing your highness. But before I get back to work, have you seen Flash Sentry anywhere?" Tempest asked. "I mean…General Sentry ma’am.”

"Flash and I don't like to be formal, and he's busy with training some pegasi.” Twilight informed.

“Formality or not, I’m a soldier." Tempest replied firmly. "I address ponies and creatures with rank and title, no excuses and I thank you for this information. Now with your permission, I’ll carry out my other tasks.”

"Of course." Twilight said before a thought came to her. "Do you know what the caribou did with all the elderly around here? Like Granny Smith, Applejack's grandmother."

“No intel." Tempest replied. "Caribou don’t rape the elders. They put the old to work by making clothes or farming. That’s what they do in their society.”

"That's not what I heard." Spitfire mentioned as she marched up to them. "I heard that they only kept the elderly ponies so they could experiment on how they could deage them. Windrider was discussing this with some caribou right in front of me one day.”

“Huh, this is new." Twilight muttered with a thoughtful look. "The info I received was accurate when I was still asleep and Spike was being a trainer, but if the elders can’t work then they are used for experiments to make the caribou stronger. Unfortunately, they didn't reveal where they're being held.”

"Well I say we interrogate one of the Caribou we captured and have them tell us where they are." Applejack said with a firm yet angry tone. "I ain't going to let my granny suffer the way any other ponies have."

“Now hold on Ms. Apple, we don’t know that." Tempest spoke up. "Besides, a counter attack is highly likely to happen at any given moment. We need to defend this city and hold back the invasion force. We'll find your granny as soon as possible.”

"Hey Twilight!" Chrysalis called out as she flew over to them. “My spy says that they're launching their airships and are coming our way. They'll be here in like 3 to 4 hours."

"Okay, have the dragons create as much smoke as possible and send a small party of flyers over to those airships to get as many ponies as they can." Twilight instructed.

“Okay, but there is a problem with that actually.” Tempest mentioned.

“And what might that be?”

“The dragons refuse to help, on the account of not receiving gold or jewels as reward for their efforts.” Tempest informed.

“Seriously?! Egh!" Twilight grunted with frustration.

"Don't worry about that." Ember spoke up to get their attention. "I will get them to listen.”

“Thanks, but there is another way to pay them off without your rousing speeches." Twilight mentioned. "There’s a gold stash in the city bank with bits worth a thousand pounds.”

"You really want to give the dragons a bunch of coins with Celestia sucking on a dick?" Applejack question with a brow.

“Look Applejack, our speeches may not be enough to convince others as they used to." Twilight told her. "I just so happen to take what I could get, by giving our gold for the greater good. Besides, you can’t put a price on gold that has our princess’ face like the real thing. And dragons don’t care as long as they get their treasure, and in the end that’s good enough for me if it means saving what’s left of our land.”

"Okay, but I'm still going to roar at them into help you guys." Ember mentioned with her arms crossed.

“Alright, you do that. While I have somepony deliver the treasury from Cloudsdale’s bank vault.” Twilight stated.

Later, enemy airships were seen flying through the sky as multiple Royal Guards and Caribou were on board with them. Few were transport while others were warships. The fleet was under command of the caribou’s first sky captain, Captain Skyburner, known for his infamous fetish for burning his enemies, as well as lighting up the sky with flames. "How much longer till we get to Cloudsdale?" He questioned one of his men.

“About three hours sir, give or take an hour depends if the winds are with us.” A stallion answered before each of the men on board let out deep coughs as they passed by some smoke.

“Ack! What’s with this blasted smoke?!” Skyburner questioned before he noticed that more smoke came in and started blocking their vision. “Halt the ship! We can’t move forward without flying blindly. Have the ship stop completely and stay on high alert. This is an enemy tactic, I’m sure of it!”

There was then a loud grunt coming from the back before a couple of more soon followed. Skyburner noticed that one by one, his men were being taken down as he tried to focus his vision through the smoke. “Draw your weapons, the enemy is here!” He called out before he heard what sounded like a fireball being shot before he saw the top of one of the airships lit up in flames.

Multiple shadows were seen flying towards the burning airship and snatching the crew members. “Alert all ships! They’re dragons attacking, use the scorpios!” Skyburner commanded. The caribou then signaled the others to use their countermeasures. Scorpios were deployed and armed with iron tip bolts. They aimed at the shadowy figure while trying not to hit each other's ships. “Fire!”

“Fire!” Shouted another caribou and bolts went flying.

Though the dragons were faster, some of them did knick their bodies as well as kill at least twelve dragons. One male dragon tries to get up front and rip the weapon off, only to get impaled by the bolt through his head as a couple more quickly catch him and fly him to safety. Ember and Waterfall were doing their best to dodge but latched onto the ships to give them some cover.

“Darn it!" Waterfall cursed. "We just lost Brim! What now Princess Ember?”

"We keep them distracted as planned while they do the rest." Ember replied with a sly grin. Waterfall nodded in response as they continued to attack while a small group of pegasi were seen flying below the enemy airships. Flash, wearing his wolf mask, was leading the group with Spitfire and Gilda as they were heading towards the bottom of each enemy airship.

“Alright, get ready those oil lanterns." Flash said as he looked back at the others. "When I break a hole in the hull, light the lantern and throw it in.”

“Gotcha, Flash!” Gilda replied as the others nodded in agreement. He pulled out his sword and shoved it through the bottom. He then created a circle cut through it before kicking it in and climbing inside.

Just as he got in, there were a few caribou running around as the battle progressed. They’ve been reloading the scorpios as fast as they could, and weren’t dressed as soldiers but mere workers. They haven’t noticed Flash yet as he quickly snuck around them before catching his eye of a few stallions up ahead. He quietly and carefully, went up behind them and slashed each on the arms before their bodies glow bright and they were free from the spell. He then did a few hand gestures to tell them to move to the exit.

“Hey! You! What was that bright light just now?!” One of the caribou crew demanded gaining the attention of the now freed stallions. One of the stallions quickly acted as though he was under the spell.

“Oh nothing, just thought I heard something. Just my imagination.” The stallion lied as Flash had to hang on to the ceiling to stay hidden. Just when the Caribou stag was about to leave, Flash quickly dropped down and knocked him out. He then stabbed his arm just to be sure he was under the spell, but nothing happened before pulling him into the hole.

After that, Flash reappeared again facing the now freed stallions. “If you value your lives, let alone want to be free permanently, go out through the hole I made.” He said pointing towards the hole. “There’s a few dragons taking cover but they can’t stay long. So hussle your brussels.” The two stallions saluted before they jumped down the hole just as Spitfire and Gilda entered through the hole. "Let's get to work you two."

The dragons continued to create as much smoke as they could while also snatching up the stallions and Caribou from the other ships. Skyburner had a very furious look on his face as this continued. “Alright men, we may be blind and cannot see the enemy, doesn’t mean we can’t win! Stand at the center and not on the railings of the ships!” He ordered and soon the other caribou merged at the center of the ship.

When dragons showed up to try to snatch them away, caribou were more coordinated as they aimed ranged weapons at the flying creatures. The caribou managed to take down more than the dragons did with them. However, they quickly noticed that the dragons weren't crying out in pain before one landed right in front of Skyburner and he saw that it was just a dummy. They were all baffled by this right before they heard painful grunting coming from their own ship.

Skyburner squinted his eyes to try to get a better look before he saw a figure wearing a wolf mask walking out of the smoke. "I heard you were looking for me." He said as he unsheathed his blade. “Know that I won’t let you take back Cloudsdale again. Nor will I let you go near Princess Twilight Sparkle after the torture you put her and her friends through.”

"It's you…" Skyburner growled before he noticed golden glows coming from out of the smokes. "What was that?!"

"That was the ponies on the ship, along with a few of your Caribou being freed." The masked stallion replied. “Along with your airship. You have a few minutes before it goes up in flames completely."

"Then I'll take that time into killing you then.” Skyburner said as he pulled out an ax.

“You realize I can fly right? How do you plan to escape in case you lose?" He questioned before Skyburner suddenly hit him with a magic blast. He stood up but felt that he could not open up his wings. “What did you do?!"

“My people’s secret magic. I don’t just burn things, I freeze them as well. Thanks to my axe.” He answered as rune magic radiated from the blade with a celtic symbol on it. "Now, shall we?" He charged forward before swinging his axe right at him, which was blocked by the golden sword. As they were fighting, the dragons, pegasi, and griffons were getting the rest of the crew off of the ship.

As they were doing that, Glida was cut on her leg as she was defending the escorts. “Damn, even if we did blind these guys, they still fight more ferociously.” She cursed before a bunch of caribou Stags closed in on her. She gripped tightly on her leg before she jumped up and tackled one of the Stags before she started to clawing out his eyes.

“How many stallions do we have left?” Spitfire questions as she dodged a flying bolt cutting her outfit a bit.

"We almost got them all, along with a few Caribou that were tricked like the rest.” Waterfall replied before she noticed some pony was missing. "Where's Flash?!"

“Don’t worry about him. Just focus on getting the uncorrupted males off this damn ship!” Ember ordered as she got nicked by a stray arrow.

Back on the ship, Flash continued to fight Skyburner as the fire started to grow on the ship. “You gots guts male, shame I have to kill you!" Skyburner declared while flash was stepping back from each attack. "You're wasting your time serving the females!"

"And you should never have come to Equestria in the first place!" Flash replied before he managed to get a swipe right on Skyburner's right eye. Skyburner got an eye scar without losing his eye. He then took his weapon and pommelled the ground making cold air appear. Flash was being blown back by the cold air before he noticed the guard of his sword was glowing red. He then stabbed the ground with the sword as the cold air stopped and fire began to spread around Skyburner. "Huh, that's a new one."

“Aaakkk, what is this?!” Skyburner tried to use his magic to put out the flames, but they only formed into a dragon that nearly attacked him. "What kind of magic is this?!"

"I don't even know, but I'm loving every bit of it!” Flash call down to before he charged ahead and cut off Skyburner's right arm when he was distracted by the Dragon before there was a sound of an explosion. The pegasus stallion looked to see a much bigger airship made internally of metal. “Looks like the cavalry has arrived. Now listen very carefully, I'm going to let you go but only because I want you to deliver a message to Dainn. Tell him that his days are numbered and that he made a mistake by coming here and enslaving us all. Tell him that we're going to free our princesses, and he along with every single one of his followers will suffer for what they did to us."

Skyburner said nothing. Though he did consider relaying the message to his king, but he had his own agenda. So he looked at the masked stallion and asked. “Who are you?”

“I don’t really have a name to be honest." Flash replied with a glare under the mask. "But if you do intend to tell your king. Then tell him my name is Fenrir, leader of the Equestrian Rebellion Army.” Soon he stabbed the ax to shatter it into pieces so that he can use his wings again. "Have fun telling your king how badly you failed."

“Failed? King Dainn does not fall." Skyburner stated. "He simply fails to win, and you’re making a big mistake letting me go, you’ll regret this."

"I said how you failed." Flash pointed out with a sigh. “You really are really stupid." Twilight then appeared next to him before she used her magic to lift Skyburner up by the throat.

"Yeah, and be sure to tell your king that he and his followers are…" Twilight said something in their language which made Skyburner look green with sickness.

The caribou captain vomited a bit before standing up slowly. “As I said before: He merely fails to win. Even if you get me killed, they’re others willing to fill my boots." He said through his choking. "You and the Equestrians won’t last long, you’re a dying breed while we grow stronger."

"We'll see about that. Now before I send you right back to Canterlot with the biggest failure you've ever had, tell me what you've done with all the elderly ponies of Equestria?” Twilight demanded before she injected him with a serum. “And before you say anything, I just injected you with a truth serum. So tell us, what have you done with the elders?”

“We normally use them for farming, but things have changed." Skyburner reluctantly said. "So we use them for experimental purposes. To help enhance caribou and our chances to adapt here then where we used to live. We put the far east of here in a small village.”

"And making all the female elderly young again so you can fuck them too." Twilight added with a brow. “Am I right?" Skyburner reluctantly nodded in response, making Twilight smile. “Good, now good luck with Dainn." She then used her magic to teleport him away as Flash and Twilight then flew off of the burning ship.

Skyburner was teleported right in the middle of the Canterlot throne room as he could finally breathe before Dainn loomed over him. “I take it your operation didn’t go as planned?” He questioned him with a brow.

“Unfortunately yes your grace.” Skyburner said with shame. "They… they were somehow ready for us. And the purple Alicorn knows our language and she said to me…" He repeated what he was told from Twilight to Dainn, which nearly made him vomit.

“Aaaggghhh!!! How dare you use our people’s language against me!” Dainn exclaimed before he looked back at Skyburner. "And what if the masked stallion?!"

“It’s Fenrir, leader of the Equestrian Rebellion Army.” He answered. "They have a bunch of griffons, dragons, and some of our own kind with him!”

“Oh great, just great." Dainn said sarcastically as he paced around. "First the mysterious figure, then the omens, then the destruction of Ponyville as a result of an uprising, now this. What else could go wrong?!"

"Uh, I was also forced to tell them where the elderly are and what they plan to do with them…" Skyburner added sheepishly.

Dainn's eye twitched before he let out a sigh. “At this point Captain Skyburner, I’m so mad that I can’t express it anymore then I was trying to mark up Sunslut’s face.” He said while trying to hold back his rage. "But somehow, no matter what we do, no matter how many times we try to get it off of her, she's able to self heal herself so no scars are left on her. But that mark still remains."

"So… what do we do sir?"

"Send a message to every single caribou outpost, I don't care what it takes." Dainn ordered. "Just make sure the resistance doesn't win!"

"Can I get something for my eye and missing arm first?" Skyburner asked.

“Sure, but next time you come back, you’re on your own and I have need you out in the field again." Dainn growled. "Your attack on Cloudsdale may have been a failure, but I see it as an opportunity for another attack.”

“You’re sending me back out there, sire?”

“Yes, but this time, bring metal airships with mares and females locked in lockless cages and hang them outside the airships.” Dainn said with a look.

"Uh, they already have those." Skyburner mentioned which made Dainn let out a frustrated growl.

"Just get out!" Skyburner quickly ran out of the throne room before Dainn grabbed his hammer and shot a beam of electricity into the sky while letting out a frustrating yell.

Up in the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor got word from one of the soldiers about the news of Cloudsdale. “Are you hearing this?” one of the soldiers asked another.

“Is this some sick joke?”

“Some puny rebels took Cloudsdale and defended it.” A third said with disbelief. "And with those Elements of Harmony bearers as well!"

This was somewhat troubling to the masses, but hardly any trouble for the higher ups. But Cadance was so lost in her thoughts as day after day, she and her master kept on getting letters from Twilight with pictures asking if things are better than they were before. Pictures of how Equestria used to be to how Equestria is now. A battle of arguments was happening inside her head as she felt sick to her stomach. "You are seriously believing what that purple ass bitch is sending you?!" The voice inside her head questioned. "Dainn helped you realize that you belong as nothing more than a cock sleeve to a superior male!"

"B-But everything that Celestia taught me, it feels like it's falling apart and our land is dying." Cadance's conscience replied.

“Forget the land, feel the lustful pleasures of getting rammed by males." The Voice argued.

"But our home…our loved ones… th-they could be…" Her conscience said with a worried tone as images of her times with Twilight when she was just a filly played through her mind. "Twilight…I hurt her so much… I helped the enemy torture her and made her betray her friends…"

“She serves our true masters. We serve our true masters and this is our home, there’s nothing wrong with it. You need to stop doubting things.”

"SHE NEVER HAD FRIENDS BEFORE!!!" Cadance's own voice shouted inside her head with the Royal Canterlot voice. "NEVER!!! HOW CAN I LIVE NOW THAT TWILIGHT'S FRIENDS WILL NEVER TRUST HER AGAIN?!?!?!"

"Cunt!" She heard Shining calling out to her. "What's going on with you?"

"N-Nothing…just feel odd is all, master." Cadance replied with a sad look.

“Oh, well I’m sure you just need a good plowing.” Shining said with a smirk. "But I need to have my men be on guard at every post around the empire. We don't want the resistance coming in and ruining everything. Be in the bedroom and have fun with a toy till I get back."

"Y-Yes master." Cadance replied she crawled away. But as she continued on, her voice of reason was speaking louder than the voice the Caribou placed in her head. Soon guilt Rose inside of her as she came to a conclusion. "Twilight and her friends need to save us all."