The spell echoed in everyone's ears, the magical torrent that shot them through space turned their stomachs but not as much as the time travel spell.
Once again for an instant all Starlight could see was white, though this time sis buried the ground beneath her hooves, it took her a moment to realize that in reality, what was around them was snow, it covered everything she could see, they all seemed to have appeared in a small clearing in the middle of a mountain, the wind was blowing furiously making it hard to hear anything else and the air was heavy making it hard to breathe.

“Are you all right!” shouted Starlight trying to locate her companions, it didn't take her long although she had to squint because of the snow blowing in the wind.

Right beside her Sunburst grabbed her by the hoof and lead her across the clearing, Starlight could see how, pulling Sunburst was Trixie and pulling Trixie was Maud, all moving in a line towards one of the huge rocky walls that surrounded them.
When they finally arrived they had a chance to take some cover from the wind, pulling their bodies together to try to conserve some warmth.

“So where are we going now!” asked Trixie raising her voice above the wind.

“I don't know...!” began Starlight ”The spell only transported us to an approximate position of what we're looking for, we need to find something that will tell us where we can find the army!”

“But we're going to freeze if we don't find shelter!” Maud said barely raising her voice, even so, it was perfectly audible.

“But what is this, a storm!” asked Sunburst.

“I don't think so!” replied Starlight ”I think it's normal weather here!”

“Wait!” suddenly exclaimed Trixie ”Don't you hear that!”

They all fell silent and listened intently for any sound beyond the violent gale, but there didn't seem to be anything.

“I don't hear anything Trixie are you sure that...!” wanted to say Starlight before she was interrupted.

“Quiet Starlight listen!” shouted Trixie putting a hoof in the unicorn's mouth.

Starlight tried again to listen to what Trixie was saying, for a moment all she could hear was the same wind but for an instant she thought she detected something else.

“What the hell..?” she said to herself before a new sound rose up loud and clear.

A guttural roar echoed overhead causing the entire mountain to tremble, a second after the colossal growl ended a huge pillar of fire rose over the peaks on the other side of the clearing, this one was so large it split the clouds in the sky letting in sunlight for an instant before the heavy clouds covered it again.

They were all dumbfounded at the spectacle, unable to think of what kind of creature could be capable of such a feat.

“Looks to me like we found a landmark!” suddenly exclaimed Starlight and without waiting for her companions she went back into the snow.

They all followed her shortly after, but not before exchanging worried glances, struggling to stay together and resisting the strong wind to knock them down, Trixie then stepped forward a bit placing herself next to Starlight and shouting to get her attention.

“Starlight!”

“What's wrong Trixie!”

“Do you really think this is a good idea!”

“What are you talking about!!! It's our best shot at locating and...!”

“That's not what I mean...!” she interrupts ”All this looking for Celestia and Luna's army seems to me a very unwise option, we already have the horn of that crazy pony I think that's enough proof...!”

“Trixie that's not enough! We need more than the memories of a sick maniac to prove that this place existed, we need real hard proof of Celestia and Luna's passage over this world, some insignia or some weapon or at least seeing them directly, with that we can project our memories into the present and there will be no doubt!”

“But putting us in the middle of an armed conflict doesn't that seem a bit too risky?!”

“We're not going to put ourselves in the middle of a full scale war conflict Trixie, we'll only get close enough to take what we need, they won't even notice we were there!”

At that moment the group finally reached the top of the crag and immediately stopped dead in their tracks at the sight before their eyes.

Before them loomed the most horrible chaos any of them had ever witnessed, a huge battlefield, at the foot of the mountain, all that could be seen for miles was only gray rock and, in the distance, black peaks rising up to the clouds.
From that direction dragons of all shapes and sizes were approaching at great speed, some as small as an adult pony others as large as a fourteen story building, beside them, flying pegasus dressed in shiny black armor that covered their entire bodies except for their wings and armed with long spears, were approaching at great speed while roaring and screaming with fury.

On the other side, right at the base of the mountain there was a gigantic amount of ponies gathered, both terrestrials and unicorns, the terrestrials wore worn leather armor, outnumbering the unicorns, armed with hammers and axes they stood firm on the front lines, On the other hand, the unicorns, located a little further back wore elegant armor, some white and some dark blue, they were armed with swords and spears just as beautiful, yet their numbers paled before the imposing wall of dragons that was getting closer.

Starlight looked with full attention as the army next to the mountain was completely still, it seemed not to react to what certainly seemed certain death, this allowed the mare to realize that, carved into the stone of the mountain, there was a huge tower that stood casting a large shadow on the battlefield, looking more closely could see a small camp raised just below that great tower, with huge tents and fires burning.

“I think that's our entrance...” started to say Starlight but at that instant a strange golden flash shot out from the top of the tower and in a second a powerful scream could be heard.

Suddenly the entire army of land ponies and unicorns charged to the front screaming with fury and charging towards their enemy, the four ponies were mesmerized, for some reason they could not look away, even though they knew what would happen and they knew perfectly well that they did not want to witness it.

Before even the army of ponies could get close enough the dragons began to shoot their fire, incinerating hundreds of soldiers instantly while the pegasus descended on them, impaling with their spears two or more ponies with each thrust, the first to fall were the earth ponies which could not do much before the superiority of the enemy, even so, with their hammers and axes gave powerful blows, which occasionally hit some unsuspecting pegasus which fell broken in half.
The unicorns, on the other hand, seemed more prepared, creating shields together to defend themselves from the fire while others teleported skillfully to dodge the attack of the pegasus, surprisingly some groups of unicorns managed to position themselves on the backs of the dragons that were flying too low using their weapons to stab them and cut their wings, knocking them down and, once on the ground, killing them, it was a carnage, the blood slowly began to stain the ground creating a gloomy vision of a red mist over the battlefield.

“I'm not going anywhere near that...”

Starlight heard behind her back, turning to meet Trixie's tear-streaked face.

“Trixie...” began Starlight.

“No Starlight no! This is crazy! Fucking crazy!!!” Trixie turned around and began to back away followed by Starlight as Maud and Sunburst continued to stare at the battle.

“Trixie wait!” as she approached her friend Starlight she could tell how Starlight kept muttering as she kept her eyes straight ahead and her tears were still welling up in her eyes.

“This isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real...”

Starlight then with a leap stood firmly in front of Trixie.

“Trixie stop, where do you think you're going?”

“I'm leaving! I'm getting the hell out of here! Literally anywhere but here! It was one thing to be the homicidal maniac at the farm but this?! Don't you realize how impossible it is that this dead, blood-soaked place is the Equestria you and I know?!!!!” Trixie's voice broke as the tears continued to flow and the unicorn covered her head with one of her hooves.

“And yet, it is...” said Starlight causing Trixie to look up finding that Starlight had begun to cry as well.

“Starlight...”

“You think I don't know that? You think I don't know that this is all absolute madness? That even though we literally traveled back in time and saw firsthand the truth of our world I still can't believe my eyes? Well believe me I do! But we came here for evidence for a truth that we now know is real, so now more than ever we must finish the mission and I...I can't do it without you!”

Trixie stared at her for a long moment, it was impossible for Starlight to know what he was thinking, she saw the fear in her eyes and the doubt until finally she wiped her tears with her hoof and put on a brave expression.

“Then let's get this over with” Trixie forced a smile to try and regain Starlight's spirits something that seemed to work as she responded with the same.
At that moment the roar that shook the mountain sounded again, this time even louder, so much so that the sound of battle dropped for a brief moment.

“Starlight!”

They both turned to see Sunburst still at the top shouting at them.

“Come now!”

The mares ran back in the direction of their friends.

“What...what's wrong...?” began to ask Starlight as she arrived with Sunburst falling silent the instant she rested her eyes back on the battlefield.

Over the horizon, a colossal silhouette rose, as tall as a mountain, with every step she took the earth trembled, above both armies rose the figure of a bright green scaled dragon, with dark red spines coming out of its back and a pair of giant wings, it didn't take Starlight long to deduce that it was the one responsible for the pillar of fire they had seen earlier.

The surprise was even greater when, before the eyes of the four friends, and against any survival instinct or common sense, the army of earth ponies and unicorns continued their attack, running at the feet of the colossal beast, it only watched its enemies for a second and suddenly everything was filled with flames.

The column of fire swept away a third of the army in an instant, turning the ponies hit into ashes, which in turn caused both dragons and pegasus to celebrate triumphantly before continuing their advance.
The giant dragon let out a new guttural roar and seemed to be ready to fire another flare and at that instant, a flash of light illuminated everything.
It was the most intense light that had ever been seen, in less than a second the whole place was covered in white Starlight and company were forced to close their eyes because of the intense glow it gave off, although it faded away as quickly as it appeared, by the time Starlight could adjust her vision again she was greeted with an image that made the spectacle even more terrifying.

Of the face of the colossal dragon only the bone of the skull remained, the skin and muscles that covered it just a second ago seemed to have been completely burned, something impossible to say because there is no being on earth that supports more fire and heat than the dragons, for a moment both armies were silent, while the gigantic body collapsed and crushed a few when it hit the ground.
The smoke that the body raised violently swept over the ponies and pegasus that were closest to it, sending them flying and crashing most of them to the ground.

Silence lingered for a moment longer before the army of land ponies and unicorns shouted with glee, while the dragons and pegasus froze, not knowing what to do, by the time the calcium army resumed its attack the flying enemies were already retreating towards the black mountains in the distance.
The ponies managed to take down a couple more dragons as they fled in panic before ceasing their efforts to pursue them.

The shouts of celebration were not long in coming, these came, mostly from the ground ponies, the unicorns stood impassively under their armor as they slowly regrouped and began their trek back up the mountain.

“This is our chance...”

They all turned to look at Starlight who still kept her gaze fixed straight ahead.

“Chance for what?” asked Sunburst.

“Of infiltrating...” quickly Starlight uses her magic to hood Trixie, Sunbusrt and herself, hiding her horns ”We should infiltrate the camp and take what we can, then sneak out and get far enough away so we can send the message to Spike and return to the present.”

The three friends looked concerned at Starlight's crazy idea.

“Starlight...” began Sunburst ”Maybe we should reconsider.”

“What are you talking about Sunburst?” asked the unicorn confused.

Sunburst took a second to answer.

“Starlight...we have enough, with everyone's memories together, plus the ones from the crazy unicorn's horn, it's more than enough proof, we should go back now...”

“What!” she asked incredulously ”You can't be serious, now that we're so close!”

“Close to what Starlight? Look around you, this place is beyond dangerous, it's completely irresponsible to stay another minute, we should turn back now...”

Starlight watched as both Maud and Trixie stood next to Sunburst, Maud with her usual impassive expression and Trixie looking down at the ground in embarrassment.

“You too Maud?” asked Starlight.

“This was too much already, even for me” admitted the earth pony.

The unicorn felt completely betrayed, her friends, the people she had trusted to carry out this mission, were now turning their backs on her, gritting her teeth and furious Starlight answered them.

“Do what you want then!” the shout startled her friends ”If you want to quit now like cowards do it, but I'm not stopping now!”

Starlight turned and started down the mountain slope in the direction of the camp.
All her friends looked at each other worriedly, doubtful about what to do now, quickly Sunburst spoke up.

“You guys stay here, I'll go with her...”

“Are you crazy!” asked Trixie ”She's likely to get herself killed there!”

“That's why I can't let her go alone, if something goes wrong she'll need help..” Sunburst turned to look directly at Trixie “You guys go behind the ridge and find a safe place, if we're not back in an hour come back to the present.”

“But...but, how are we supposed to do that!” asked Trixie in panic.

“It's not a hard thing to do, just think of Twilight's castle while you use your magic, Spike should get the signal even if you're the one sending it, don't worry the crystal will do most of the work.”

“But what about you guys, if we leave how will you get home?”

Sunburst thought for a moment.

“We won't be able to...so just in case, don't cast the spell unless you're absolutely sure we're not coming back” And without further ado the stallion started down the slope behind Starlight.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Both unicorns walked cautiously through some burnt tree debris as they continued to descend, they advanced in silence accompanied only by the sound of the wind until Sunburst spoke softly.

“Starlight, do you understand how dangerous what you are doing is?”

“Yes” the unicorn replied dryly without turning to look at his friend.

“And do you know how likely it is that something will go terribly wrong?” continued Sunburst.

“Yes” again a dry reply.

“Then tell me, why do you do it?”

That question finally made Starlight stop dead in her tracks, still turning her back to the stallion who also stopped.

“Truth be told, I don't know Sunburst...” The unicorn looked over her shoulder into her friend's eyes “I don't know what it is or why I feel it but there is something inside me, a voice screaming at the top of my lungs that demands I do everything I can to know everything, no matter the cost, and I feel that, if I don't do what it says and satisfy my most morbid curiosity...I will go insane.”

Sunburst took a couple of steps to her friend and placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“Starlight, I've known you since we were kids, and I've seen each and every one of your sides, the good and the bad, so believe me when I tell you, this isn't you, whatever you're looking to find, it's not worth it, not if the price is your life...”

Starlight pondered for a moment, maybe Sunburst was right, maybe it wasn't worth it, maybe they should just leave and be done with it.
But at that moment a sound caught her attention, it sounded like a horn, Starlight thought for a moment that it reminded her of the sound made by the musical instruments of the yaks only deeper, this brought her out of her thoughts and she quickly ran in the direction of the sound, followed shortly after by Sunburst.

After crossing a couple more dead trees and rocks finally before them was the camp, the place was much larger than Starlight would have expected, more than a camp it was a fortress with gaps in the walls made of unfinished logs and many more tents than could be seen in the distance.

Without thinking Starlight hurried towards the camp, stepping into the tents.

“Starlight! What are you doing?” exclaimed Sunburst in a low voice coming after her.

The center of the camp was a mixture of supply store and forge, the huge braziers had anvils with hammers around them, there were huge crates of which, from some protruded what looked like weapons and others seemed to contain food, on the other hand on the ground were several fresh corpses, Starlight assumes they were the badly wounded from the battle who had barely made it to the camp before passing out.
She could see how all the soldiers who had just returned crowded together and began to move, some of them still had bleeding wounds, looking about to faint, and the unicorn could see a couple that were missing complete legs or huge chunks of flesh, even so, they all walk firm and stoic in the same direction.

Starlight didn't hesitate and, at a moment when no one was looking, she darted into the middle of the crowd with her hood up and her head down, Sunburst could only watch from afar as her friend was lost in the tide of ponies, not daring to approach and beginning to follow the crowd around the outside of the camp.

The unicorn began to observe her surroundings, the crowd kept their eyes forward and Starlight began to notice several things: the first thing she noticed was that the vast majority of earth ponies and unicorns present were stallions, with only a few mares standing out in the crowd, the second thing she noticed was that, of the few ponies whose exposed flank could be seen, all exhibited the same cutie mark, this weirded Starlight out for a moment before noticing that they were not cutie marks but rather iron marks, all with the same design of a moon and a sun inside a circle, the third thing she noticed was that, in all the earth ponies, the sun and the moon were the same size, but on the other hand the unicorns wearing white armor had the sun bigger than the moon and those in blue armor the moon bigger than the sun, the unicorn did not take long to deduce what this was due to.

Suddenly a thud was heard behind Starlight, she turned and found the lifeless body of an earth pony, which, it seemed, had just died while walking, the unicorn looked at it for a moment and realized how, no other pony seemed to have even noticed it, they kept walking forward circling the corpse or walking over it.

Starlight then saw an opportunity when she noticed the huge bloody axe hanging from the stallion's back, walking towards him to take it, it took her several attempts to lift it with her hooves as it was extremely heavy, finally placing it on her back, with the last pull the pony's corpse rolled over on its back revealing that it had a huge hole in its stomach, which continued to bleed and from which some entrails were leaking out.
The unicorn had to suppress her nausea at the image and the idea that this pony walked several miles with his entrails leaking out of his body, despite the unsubtlety of her action with the deceased, no pony around seemed to care what she was doing, they just kept walking.

Starlight resumed her march behind the crowd, staying almost at the back of the crowd when suddenly everyone stopped, it was almost as abrupt as it had started and the unicorn nearly collided with the pony in front of her, it was at that moment that a stallion's voice was heard echoing from the front of the crowd.

“Rejoice pigs, for your victory has been significant...!”

Starlight tried to peek over the crowd to find out who owned that voice, but the pinies in front of her were too tall completely blocking her view, all she could do was continue to listen to the speech.

“Your pathetic effort finally bore fruit for our great empire, our enemies have lost the last of their great leaders and are now nothing more than stray animals, our dominion over the northern lands is finally final...!”

At that instant the entire crowd suddenly dropped to their knees, finally allowing Starlight to see what lay ahead.
At the very edge of the camp, there was a huge stone pedestal, this one seemingly carved from the very rock of the mountain and just behind it, in the distance, rose the tower Starlight had seen from above, now towering before her, imposing.

Standing on the stone pedestal was a unicorn stallion clad in dark blue armor, only this one, unlike the dirty and worn armor worn by the other soldiers, was perfectly pristine, even a long cape decorated the back of the armor, adorned with gold and purple accents.
Starlight observed the stallion's face, covered by a heavy helmet, something about him looked frighteningly familiar, but before she could know the one she realized he stood out from the kneeling crowd, she quickly dropped to her knees and ducked her head as the pony continued to speak.

“This victory has been so important that our queens have decided to honor us with their presence, to make an announcement of vital importance, kneel before our queens, your mistresses and show respect!”

At that moment Starlights felt a pressure in her chest, her whole body suddenly tensed and began to tremble for no apparent reason, she did not understand why the sudden discomfort until a shadow was projected over the large crowd, one that gradually descends on them, and then came something even stranger.
Now instead of a shadow what was cast over the army was light, a light that as Starlight got closer and closer she could feel an unbearable heat, increasing the sweat on her body, after a few long seconds of assimilation the unicorn managed to gather the courage to raise her gaze slightly.

The stallion on the pedestal was now bowing, not as exaggeratedly as the rest of the crowd but it was certainly a bow, in front of him, just above the pedestal were flying two figures, figures that opened their huge wings and flapped them with a tranquility that seemed alien to the rest of the place, Both were wearing the most beautiful armor Starlight had ever seen, one, white as snow, with golden details and a huge spear on her back, the other, black armor like night, with hardly any ornaments and a spear on her back, both wore helmets that covered their faces but Starlight was not stupid, she knew perfectly well who they were.

Both alicorns descended on the pedestal and walked steadily to stand right in the center, once there they took a moment to appreciate what was in front of them, not the crowd at their feet, but the battlefield that stretched out behind them.
In a moment Starlight could see how both of them made their horns shine and little by little they took off their helmets and it was there, at the moment when their faces could be appreciated, that Starlight's soul came out of her body.

A burst of light filled the place when the mane made of pure fire of the queen of the sun was finally released from its metal prison, her orange eyes surrounded by black burned with an impossible determination that made Starlight tremble at the sight of them, the fur although still white gave off an intense orange glow and the unicorn could see how, in the huge smile on the face of the alicorn, large sharp fangs.
Luna's face didn't surprise her at all, it was the same she had seen for years in her books in Nightmare Moon's depictions, pure black fur, blue mane like a traveling kite, tied in a tight bun behind her head, and eyes that shone like a torch in the darkest night, she stood a couple of steps behind her older sister with a serious expression, silent as the regent of the sun took another step forward.

Celestia's approach made Starlight feel even warmer on her body, it was as if a huge bonfire was just a meter away from her, threatening to set her fur on fire, even so, she kept her gaze fixed on the majestic mare in front of her, it wasn't until a deep voice made its presence known, that Starlight could feel a shiver run through her from hooves to head.

The voice sounded very similar to the real Canterlot voice she had ever been able to hear, but this one gave off an authority and malice that Starlight never thought possible to capture in words alone.

“Attention my legions! Know that your queen is pleased with the magnificent result your puny lives have brought to the kingdom!”

The words were arrogant and spoken with a tone of superiority.

“After decades of conflict all our enemies have been banished to distant lands, from the griffins in the east, to the diamond dogs in the west, to the qiriness in the south and finally the dragons and pegasus traitors here in the north, you must know that you have all contributed to making our empire the prosperous and powerful place it is today...!”

At that moment his voice changed to a stern and annoyed tone.

“And even after so many years, your filthy lives are still required! Know that your service to the crown is far from over, just at this moment, the remnants of the enemies are plotting, scheming and planning a new strategy to attack us, enemies which you could not guarantee their complete and utter annihilation!” the queen stomped on the pedestal breaking it and turning the whole front part into dust, in turn raising the temperature.

“You are my sword and the hoof that wields it, for generations your lives have belonged to me and have been harnessed to your purpose to serve and obey, and yet you have not been unable to deliver total victory, even today I was compelled to intervene in the battle BECAUSE YOU BUNCH OF REPUGNANT WORMS WERE NOT ABLE TO DEFEAT THE LAST DRAGON KING, YOUR ONLY PURPOSE IN LIFE IS TO KILL AND YOU CANNOT EVEN FULFILL IT WHEN I ORDER YOU TO DO IT! !!”

All the ponies stood perfectly still as the queen continued to spout insults and obscenities while her mane of fire greciated non-stop, Starlight even saw how, the ponies that were closer began to suffer burns on their skin and the armors they wore began to glow red.
After a moment the queen let out a great sigh, lowering the intensity of her flames and regaining a tone of voice that sounded falsely solemn.

“Even so, I cannot deny how useful you have been to the empire, so I have decided to provide you with one last great task, one that, if you fulfill it properly, you may regain the trust I had placed upon you in the first place...!” the sun queen then turned to her sister beckoning her to come closer.

Nightmare Moon walked steadily to position herself at her sister's side and began to speak, her voice was even deeper but her words were not imbued with arrogance.

“As my sister has let you know, our enemies have fled to the far lands, hiding beyond the confines of our, now ,complete kingdom, to prevent them from managing to regroup and a possible future war all our legions will be sent to pursue the, only a very few of you remain in the empire to assist with the segregation of the rebellious peoples, once you are assured that each and every enemy of the crown has been eradicated you will be allowed to return to the kingdom and complete your lives of service to our command...!”

At that moment Daybreaker interrupted.

“The hatchery farms will still be in operation for a couple more generations, only this time each and every mare born will be immediately designated as breeding stock, to ensure prolific generations in soldiers and workers, once the two generation cycle is completed the hatchery mares will be discarded and no more royal legions will be born!”

Nightmare Moon spoke again.

“And when that happens, your debt to us will be paid!”

Starlight had let out some vomit at what she had heard, but for the first time in her mind there was no hint of doubt, she could finally feel the uncertainty and denial in her disappear, here she was, facing the violent incarnation of the sun and moon, those who, she knew well, in the future would be known as Celestia and Luna, the kindest and most benevolent ponies Equestria had ever known, now she knew the truth, what they really were, just tyrannical monsters.
At that moment she realized that the queen was speaking again.

“To accomplish that monumental task, outposts will be built on each of the frontiers, where legions will settle and be able to undertake campaigns to distant lands, and here, in this land will rise the first of them!”
At that moment the stallion who had gathered the crowd approached the regent, placing himself between them, beginning to remove his helmet as Nightmare Moon began to speak.

“And to ensure the success and building of the settlement my sister and I have decided to award the command of this legion to General Sombra!”

Starlite was then able to recognize the stallion's face, and finally discover why he sounded so familiar, sure his mane was not cast in a black mood, his horn was not crooked and just like his eyes, he did not glow that deep red Starlight remembered, but it was certainly him.
The stallion stood firmly before the crowd and exclaimed proudly.

“Attention everyone, I hope you know that you will get no mercy or consideration from me, this work will be done in the shortest possible time, crystals in the black mountains will be used as raw material for construction and there will be no rest until the project is completed, we will raise a fortress so magnificent and lasting that it will make our queens admire it even after millennia...”

Sombra's speech continued while Starlight thought about what her next step would be, she already had everything she needed, now she only had to go back to Sunburst and the others and they could return to the present.
At that moment Starlight felt unable to move, suddenly she felt like she was going back to her childhood days when she would stay up all night because of her fear of the dark, that fear that made her feel completely helpless and at the mercy of something horrible, it was the same thing she was feeling at that moment, although she didn't know why, she looked from one side to the other discreetly trying to find the source but it wasn't until she was looking straight ahead again that she couldn't help but pee herself.

Celestia had her eyes fixed on her, those eyes that looked like two black holes stared straight at her with a mixture of curiosity and doubt, the exchange lasted only an instant but Starlight could feel her heart was about to burst, then she heard it.

“You! Get up!”

Starlight felt compelled to obey, it wasn't a matter of whether she wanted to or not, her body simply took over, she slowly stood up as some urine still leaked between her hooves and the crowd began to turn in her direction, interrupting Shadow's speech.

“Uncover yourself!”

Starlight couldn't breathe, her vision was blurring rapidly but still she obeyed the order, her face was exposed and some surprised expressions could be heard from the ponies around her.

“May I know who you are?”

The question was asked as if they were two ponies crossing each other on the street but it brought tears to Starlight's eyes who, now, had her eyes glued to the ground while her legs were shaking uncontrollably, she didn't even have a second to compose herself when the queen's voice rang out again.

“Answer me!”

“I am Starlight Glimmer!” she shouted without thinking as she couldn't stop saliva from shooting out of her mouth with every breath, she had lost the ability to swallow.

“Starlight Glimmer...” said the queen thoughtfully ”Funny you have such a pretty name, my legionnaires don't have names, so I guess you're not one of them...”

Starlight felt like she would faint at any moment, it was as if death itself was whispering in her ear, as if toying with her.

“I'm going to ask you again and I really expect an honest answer from you, who the hell are you?”

Starlight tried to find an excuse, any crazy thing she could say to avoid revealing her motives but the pressure those words put on her seemed to eliminate her ability to lie, she tried to clench her teeth to keep the words from coming out, she did it with all the strength she had but it was useless, she took a breath to shout her reason for being there when there was a great roar.

Down the hill that Starlight had descended to reach the camp, suddenly an avalanche of huge boulders came crashing into the camp, destroying everything in its path and causing the large crowd to scatter in an attempt to avoid the rocks.
Despite this Starlight remained completely still where she stood, even when a huge boulder passed right by her she found herself unable to move.

“Starlight!!!”

She heard suddenly, that familiar voice made her react, looking up and turning to find Sunburst at the edge of the camp beckoning her to run to him, Starlight finally moved but not before turning to see where the pedestal was.

Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon hadn't even moved Sombra had placed a shield around them preventing the rocks from even touching them, Sunburst still kept her gaze fixed on the unicorn, watching as she slowly moved away and fled through the dead trees.

After a moment of appreciating the panorama Daybreaker raised his voice while the stones were still falling on his army and exclaimed a single word.

“Get her!”

Sunburst and Starlight were running up the hill as fast as they could, dodging the rocks that kept falling one after another.

“Sunburst I'm sorry I should have listened to you I shouldn't have...!”

“This is no time for apologies Starlight, we must get to Maud and Trixie to get out of here!” the stallion replied seriously.

Just as they were halfway there they heard something behind them, Starlight looked over her shoulder and could see how a small contingent of earth ponies and unicorns were making their way through the trees and rocks, the unicorn saw how some of them were crushed by the avalanche and that even when they were on the ground with all their legs broken they continued to crawl in her direction.

“Sunburst!” shouted Starlight to her friend.

The stallion seeing them being chased flashed his horn, grabbing one of the falling rocks and changing its direction so that it would hit more ponies.

“Don't stop!”

They both continued to climb when suddenly a whistling sound crosses the air and a rain of spells and arrows began to fall on them, Starlight reacted in time creating a shield that blocked most of the attacks but she didn't notice when one of the arrows that made it through stuck in her flank, causing her horrible pain and making her lose her concentration, deactivating the shield.

“Starlight!” shouted Sunburst as he stood next to her and activated his own shield.

Starlight was writhing on the ground in pain, she could feel the tip of the arrow scrape against her hip bone and blood gushing out.
Quickly Sunburst approached her and checked the wound, seeing the severity of the wound and realizing that her pursuers were getting closer she concentrated her magic and tried to pull the arrow out but was stopped by Starlight.

“No! no! don't pull it out! it hurts!”

“Starlight I have to pull it out, you can't run like that!”

Starlight analyzed the situation for a second, realizing there were almost no options, then said the first thing that came to her mind.

“Leave me here!”

“What?!”

“I'm not going to make it, take my horn and get out of here, go home and tell everyone the truth!”

Sunburst hesitated for a second, she didn't know what to do, she couldn't abandon her friend, but, wounded as she was they couldn't make it.
Suddenly Starlight felt a tug, intense pain and the arrow leaving her body, then she felt Sunburst's hooves helping her up.

“You run, I'll stop them!!!”

Sunburst opened the shield and shining his horn with all his might stopped most of the arrows, turning them around and sending them towards his pursuers, then taking back control of some of the falling stones he changed their direction again ensuring they were impacting.

“But Sunburst...!” started to say Starlight but was interrupted, not by an angry shout or a plea, but by a calm smile on the face of her friend, who gave her some soft words.

“Easy, I'll catch up...”

Starlight hesitated, she didn't know if it was the right thing to do, she didn't know how to help, she felt powerless, but her friend's words made her focus, take a deep breath and, dedicating one more glance to Sunburst, Starlight replied.

“You better be...”

Thereupon she turned and ran as fast as the pain would allow.

Scrambling up the slope and barely managing to dodge the rocks Starlight managed to hear a voice only a few masters away from the top.

“I see her! Maud I see Starlight!”

The next thing the unicorn felt was a hoof clinging to hers and tugging at her, Trixie grabbed her between her hooves and dragged her the last few feet, Starlight could finally feel the snow beneath her.

“Starlight! Are you okay, where's Sunburst?!”

The blue unicorn began to overwhelm Starlight with questions while she on the other hand tried to get rid of the ringing pain in her ears.

He looked around and could see Maud on the edge of the slope giving powerful kicks to the mountain rock splitting and falling down the slope, she could hear in the distance the screams of her pursuers which were sounding closer and closer.

“Starlight where is Sunburst?” Trixie asked again to the unicorn who this time did seem to hear.

“He...he's coming after me...”

“She's right” said Maud interrupting ”I can see him coming.”

“Then we don't have time...” Starlight began “Trixie do it now, let Spike know so he can start preparing the spell...!”

“Me?!” asked Trixie in a panic.

“I can't, the pain won't let me do magic, just concentrate and think of home! Quickly or we'll all die!”

The fear in Starlight's voice made Trixie see the gravity of the situation, she quickly took a couple of steps away and concentrated her magic, thinking of Twilight's castle and Spike.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

“See you soon Spike” Starlight said before disappearing with her friends in a magical torrent, the little dragon was left alone after the room fell silent.
The dragon let out a sigh and decided it would be best to wait seated for the signal from the crystal, just as he makes his way to one of the thrones around the table the crystal he still held in his hands flickered slightly.

Spike paused quizzically, for a moment he thought it had been his imagination but the crystal glowed a very soft shade of pink again, even the dragon could have sworn he heard something like Trixie's voice coming from the glow, it sounded distant and distorted but it was certainly there.

“Uh hello...?” he asked and in an instant the room echoed with Trixie's loud cry, which made Spike jump in shock.

“Spike!!!”

“Trixie? Is that you, what's wrong?”

“Spike give us back now!!! We're going to get killed if you don't give us back!!!”

At those words Spike panicked quickly ran towards the table stumbling a couple of times as Trixie's screams kept coming out of the glass.

“Hurry up Spike quick!!!”

The dragon leapt onto the table, rushed to the center and in one swift movement placed the crystal right in the center.
Immediately the pink light went out and Trixie's voice stopped ringing, Spike then panicked for a moment, thinking he had done something wrong but suddenly a magical burst threw him away from the table creating a tornado of magic that gradually grew larger.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Around Trixie a tornado of green magic began to form covering her and creating a small area around her.

“You did it Trixie!” exclaimed Starlight struggling to get up ”Maud can you see Sunburst ?!”

“Yes, he's almost there.”

“Perfect, throw a couple more rocks and come towards Trixie, the return spell will activate in a minute!”

Maud did as ordered, threw a couple more kicks and then walked away in the direction of the unicorn and the magic tornado that was getting bigger and bigger.
The three mares were already side by side as Starlight looked in the direction of the edge getting more and more nervous.

“You can, you can, you can....” she repeated over and over as she struggled to stand.

Finally an orange hoof peeked over the edge and Sunburst climbed up a few feet away from them, Starlight couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

“Quick Sunburst!” shouted Starlight ”Only thirty seconds left!”

The stallion quickly recovered and ran towards where his friends were, now he only had a few steps left to enter the magical tornado, he exchanged a relieved smile with Trixie and suddenly, stopped dead in his tracks.

Everyone was speechless, everything seemed in slow motion for a second, not even Sunburst seemed to notice at first, only when he saw the expressions of horror on the faces of his friends he knew something was wrong, he tried to reach them but did not move from him place, he looked down and realized that under him a pool of blood began to form, he tried to say something but felt out of breath, he did not know what was happening, he could not see it but then came the pain.
An abominably horrible pain, so much so that Sunburst would have lost consciousness if it hadn't been for the shock and adrenaline and it was no wonder.

Piercing through him from his back and out his side was a gigantic golden spear, this one too big even for an adult stallion, with a marble hilt and engraved detailing that was now slowly staining red, Starlight watched in absolute horror as her friend was impaled right where he was, with the tip of the spear embedded in the ground, she could see her friend's face slowly fading and his life slipping away by the second, she wanted to go help him, she wanted to run to him, but his hooves just wouldn't move.

Sunburst finally understood what was happening, he knew there was nothing more to do and he knew he didn't have much time left, with the little strength he had left she looked up, seeing the faces of his friends but especially Starlight, his first friend, the most intelligent mare he had ever known and also, the pony he had come to love more than any other, he saw her tears slowly invading her face, in her eyes he saw her hope and joy crumbling, he couldn't let it happen, at least he had to do something so that his death would not be in vain, shining his horn for the last time Sunburst created a small impact at the base of his horn creating a small crack, then another and another until finally, in a last flash of the unicorn's magic his horn shot out in the direction of the magical tornado, entering the range just as it disappeared in a flash and Starlight's face vanished into thin air, with this Sunburst let go his last breath and his body was left inert still standing by the spear.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

There was a second explosion and suddenly the three mares appeared on the friendship map table, levitating for a second before falling to the floor with a crash.
Trixie fell onto one of the thrones, hitting her stomach and letting out a muffled scream, Maud fell backwards onto the side of the table with a thud, from which no scream came out.

Spike quickly got up and walked over to them.

“Girls?! Girls?! Are you all right?! What happened?! They were only gone for a minute!”

“It's better you don't know” Maud said still on the ground, the little dragon was surprised to notice how, from the earth pony's eyes, tears were flowing despite the fact that her face remained serene.

Spike froze, turning to look at Trixie who did not make the slightest attempt to get down from the throne where she had fallen, sobbing silently and covering her face with her hooves.

At that moment a piercing scream, startling everyone present, Trixie and Maud finally got up from where they were and searched with their eyes for the source of the scream.
They found Starlight right in the center of the table crying uncontrollably while hugging something between her hooves, Starlight's screams were horrible, making her friends freeze without knowing what to do, the unicorn just stood there crying horribly while holding Sunburst's horn and pressing it against her chest.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Celestia and Luna walked through the tartarus side by side, both carrying their traveling saddlebags and descending further and further into the huge prison filled with dangerous creatures.

“Celestia, I really think you should reconsider this...” began Luna ”Whatever you're planning to release isn't worth the risk.”

“Oh relax sis, I already told you, we have a guarantee that he will do and kill only who we tell him to” replied Celestia as she hummed happily.

“Whatever you tell him better said...”

“Oh don't be like that Luna, it's not my fault you weren't around during the development of this technology, if you had been I assure you that you would have had your own.”

Luna swallowed her anger and words of complaint, she was not to be reckless, she simply let out a grunt and looked away.

Finally both sisters reached the deepest part of the prison, finally touching the cold ground at the bottom, still they kept walking in the direction of one of the farthest walls and once there Celestia shone her horn, causing a door of light to materialize opening a passage inside the mountain.
The passage was completely plunged in darkness so both alicorns had to light their horns to illuminate their way.

After going down even further for a long time they finally found themselves in front of a gigantic chamber, these were only visible thanks to the light coming from the sisters letting them see a huge amount of cages of all sizes and shapes, some as small as a baby dragon and others so big that they seemed to reach the ceiling of the huge room.
Celestia and Luna made their way through the aisles created by the cages stacked on top of each other, turning right and then left and then right again until finally Celestia stopped.

“Here it is!” she exclaimed gleefully, in front of her was a cage almost as tall as Celestia herself whose contents were kept hidden by the shadows.

“How on earth did you make them survive without food for so long?” asked Luna as she sharpened her hearing and was able to hear endless breaths and heartbeats.

“It's a simple hibernation spell sister, by reducing their metabolisms to a minimum I knew I could keep them alive indefinitely, besides, starving them a bit guaranteed they would be more willing to hunt when I needed them.”

Celestia then pulled a large cloth wrapped package from her saddlebag.

“Alright now, let's test this bad boy...”

She slowly pulled the cloth closer, tucking it between the bars and making it out of sight in the darkness, removing the cloth and beginning to manipulate the artifact.

“Just a little more and...” suddenly there was a shrill click and the sound of magic flowing ”Ready!”

In an instant whatever was inside the cage awoke and began to shriek and shake violently, rattling the cage but unable to destroy it.
Celestia kept her gaze fixed on the gloom, expectant for the outcome while Luna could only recall with horror the memories those horrible screams aroused.

Finally, after a couple more shakes and a last scream the thing calmed down, still breathing heavily but staying completely still, at that moment a small light could be seen inside the cage, a red flicker coming from a gem that seemed to float in the air.

“That's it, what a good boy” said Celestia proudly ”It works perfectly.”

“What the hell did you do to him?” asked Luna incredulously.

“I told you sister, the power to finally control all things...” replied Celestia without taking her eyes off the cage and gesturing Luna with her hoof to come closer.

Quickly Luna obeyed pulling from her saddlebag a pile of old cloth of a dark blue color with golden details, Bek's old clothes.

Celestia received her and with her magic brought her closer to the cage hearing a loud breathing sound, after a moment Celestia pushed the rags away again and spoke in a deep authoritative voice.

“Pay close attention, I want you to find her, kill her and any other being that gets in your way, and I want you to bring me Twilight and her four friends alive...!” Celestia paused before correcting herself “Well, at least live as far as possible, but don't kill Twilight, understood?”

The alicorn received as an answer a guttural roar and more violent shaking inside the cage.
At this Celestia couldn't help but smile broadly while Luna just looked on in fear and concern.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

The six mares were advancing inside a snowstorm, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Pinkie Pie walked side by side holding their hooves while Bek walked in front of them leading.

“I know this is the seven hundredth time I've asked but! Are we getting there yet!” yelled Pinkie at the top of her lungs to get her voice over the wind.

“We must be close!” replied Twilight ”By my calculations we're almost there!”

“And how will we know when we've arrived...!” started to ask Bek when suddenly all the noise of the storm stopped.

Bek suddenly found herself completely startled at the sound of birds singing and the feeling of sunlight on her, even the cold seemed to have vanished all at once for the most part, the mare looked down and was even more surprised to see grass under her hooves, adorned with small flowers of different colors.

Bek couldn't help but let out a surprised sigh at the seemingly impossible sight before her, she really wasn't expecting it, she was so engrossed that she didn't notice when Twilight stood beside her in the company of the rest of her friends who couldn't help but smile in relief.

“We're here!”

Before them, in the distance a beautiful crystal palace could be seen, it shone with a beautiful blue glow that projected into the sky and covered everything around it.

Author's Note

We could mark this as the end of the first season.