The Equestrian Avenger

Luna woke up with a start.

She spoke the first word that came to mind: “Celestia,” Luna tossed the blankets away from her body and dove out of the bed, hitting the floor with what she thought were her front hooves. It was when her arms buckled beneath her and she collapsed in a heap did she realize that something was terribly wrong. She took a second to look at herself. Pale ivory skin, a blue gown fitted around her body; Luna searched the room and found what she was looking for: a mirror.

The moon goddess stumbled clumsily to her feet and staggered to the reflective oval glass, surrounded by an ornate gold frame. She placed her hands against the wall to steady herself as she stared in shock at the person, who stared back at her in equal surprise.

Her blue hair was pulled back in a long, high ponytail. Teal blue irises that seemed as deep as an ocean filled her eyes. Her crown and wings were missing, and she clutched at her head, searching for the thing that made her the powerful pony she was in Equestria-her horn. It wasn’t there.

Feeling vulnerable without her primary line of defense, Luna let out a wail and stumbled away from the mirror.

The normally calm princess was close to hyperventilation, and she lunged for the door, throwing it open and leaning against the frame. The golden hallway was empty.

Playing by chance, Luna turned left, pelting down the corridor in long strides. She careened down random passageways, clutching the corners of the walls as she turned. She had to get out here-wherever that was.

Luna reached a dead end and screamed in frustration, banging the bare wall with her fists. They went back the way she came, taking the opposite hallway. That was where she came across the first guard. Dressed in gold and carrying a spear, just like Celestia’s guards.

“M’lady,”The guard started. But Luna didn’t let him finish. She breezed past him, not planning on stopping until she had reached her destination: Out.

She heard the clink of armor behind her as the guard chased after her. “M’lady, wait!”

Luna didn’t listen. She whirled around a corner, tearing down the halls like lightning. Finally, she reached the top of a wide staircase, which lead down to a huge pair of double doors. A guard stood on each side of them.

She flew down the stairs, charging at the doors. The guards crossed the spears to stop her, but Luna only ducked under them, body slamming the doors open. It seemed as though they couldn’t open fast enough. As soon as it was wide enough, Luna slipped through the narrow crack between the two and skidded to a halt on the paved stones.

They were cool beneath her bare feet, and Luna froze when she saw the night sky. ‘Those aren’t my constellations,’ she thought. They were interesting, but a little piece of Luna died inside when she saw that even the sky was different.

The groan of the front doors became apparent to Luna’s hearing, and she darted down the steps, veering off into the garden. She was thrown back as a yellow blast hit the grass in front of her, searing a small hole into the ground and tearing a gaping hole in the ground.

The co-ruler of Equestria wasted no time scrambling to her feet and started moving again. She ran. She ran from everything. The palace, the guards, the unfamiliar night sky; she searched for something familiar, somewhere safe where she could hide. Luna was finally stopped by a looming hedge that rose high above her head.

The ground shook, and Luna spun around to face a muscular man in a red cape. He carried a hammer.

“I will not hurt you,” He called, walking toward her. “Please just come back to the palace so we may talk.”

Luna weighed her options. She could come quietly, and maybe this man could help her. Maybe he knew how she could get back to Equestria. But a small part of her told her not to trust him. If it was peace he wanted, why had he come armed? More specifically, why had he come to persuade her?

If there was one thing Luna wasn’t, it was an idiot. She stepped back, pressing into the hedge. She shook her head.

“Then we will have to do this the difficult way,” On a whim, Luna bolted. The hammer flew from the man's hand, punching a hole directly in the spot Luna had been. It had been a soft blow. Nothing that would've killed her, but it would've been enough to stun her. The hedge was already starting to grow, patching up the gaping hole that lead to darkness. 'Darkness,' Luna thought.

That was the moment Luna finally found her escape. Gathering her legs beneath her, Luna vaulted through the quickly shrinking hole. The leaved brushed her feet and she gasped as she hit the ground, rolling to a stop against the far hedge wall. Luna pushed her hair out of her eyes and looked around.

"It's a maze," She said to herself.

On the other side, there was silence. Then a frustrated yell and a terrible tearing sound. A shaft of moonlight spilled over Luna as the man ripped a chunk of the hedge away. Luna screamed involuntarily and scrambled to her feet, dashing down the maze's path. Adrenaline coursed steadily through her veins as she chose paths at random, veering around corners and occasionally tripping on the cold grass.

The narrow path of the maze widened out onto a circular clearing, illuminated orange with a fire in the center of the clearing. Someone or something lived here, and Luna had just walked straight into their lair. Still, she took a moment to pride herself in the fact that she had found the center of the maze.

Furled up next to the fire was an empty pile of blankets and a helmet. The helmet gleamed gold in the firelight. Luna knelt and gathered it in her hands. The metal was warm on one side from the heat of the fire, chilled on the other from the night's cold. Growing out of the helmet was a pair of horns, curling backwards like a ram's.

The whole concept of this- the maze, the horned helmet- it reminded Luna of the time she and Celestia visited Tartarus. They had taken a boat ride past a labyrinth, and the gondolier- named Maron- had told them it was guarded by terrible beast.

'What was it called again?'

A Minotaur. Yes, that was it. A Minotaur. A half bull and half another creature that lived in the labyrinth. According to legend, the Minotaur ate ponies.

Luna considered that thought and laughed at how ridiculous it was. Another herbivore eating ponies. Of course it wouldn't scare her. Luna had never been afraid of the dark or what was in it.

Luna folded her legs beneath her, sitting with her back to the fire and the entrance of the clearing. The helmet rested in her lap, cradled by her hands. For some reason, Luna found the protective headgear fascinating. She didn’t dare put it on though. Instead, she examined it from all angles, ran her hands over the curved horns, the textured back.

“Who do you belong to?” She asked it.

“That would be me,” All at once, the fire went out, the helmet was snatched from Luna’s hands and a hand was over her mouth, dragging her back out of the clearing. A familiar heated flash rose from Luna’s feet to her head as she experienced something she had felt only twice: Fear.

Celestia was defeated. So were her guards and Luna’s guards. The staff of Canterlot Castle had fallen to their knees in front of Discord, Vega and Chrysalis. Currently, Celestia was in the throne room, crouched in front of her throne. Chrysalis’ back hooves dug into her back. It was noon, the day after she had pushed Luna into a portal.

She had been stripped of her royal regalia-each had been distributed amongst the three villains.

Discord adjusted the golden yoke around his neck, trying to find a comfortable position for it. Finally he tore it off. “Meh, gloating is uncomfortable and overrated,” He said, tossing it to the hooves of a shaking guard, who recoiled from it as if it would explode. Discord looked to Chrysalis, who lounged across Celestia’s throne, Celestia’s tiara locked behind her horn. Her old one had been discarded at the foot of the throne. “Why couldn’t I have the tiara?” He asked somewhat whiney.

\“Because I’m the queen now,” Chrysalis answered, sinking deeper into the cushy throne. In result, her back hooves were pressing deeper into Celestia’s back. “That was our deal.”

“That sure it an interesting way of sitting,” Chrysalis glared at Vega, who wore the remaining three of Celestia’s horseshoes, which were far too big on her. Vega had plans to melt them down into a crown of her own. Clearly the idea hadn’t crossed Discord’s mind. She raised her eyebrows defensively. “What? I’ve never seen a pony sit like that before.”

It was an odd way of sitting, Chrysalis had to admit, but she had wanted Celestia as her footstool, and footstool she was. The white alicorn sat in silence at the edge of the throne, legs folded beneath her, neck straight. Her eyes were puffy from crying, and several bruises showed through her coat from when Chrysalis had tried to beat the location of Luna out of her. She had to hand it to the former princess- she was tough.

“What are you staring at?” Chrysalis shoved a hoof into Celestia’s back in an attempt to get her attention. She didn’t respond. “I said, what-“

“I heard you,” Celestia said calmly, her eyes not moving an inch. “And I am choosing not to answer your question.”

“You’ll answer it or I’ll-“

“She’s looking at that window over there,” Vega cut in, lifting a hoof and pointing.

“Or rather,” Discord sauntered over to Celestia’s fallen yoke, lazily leaning down and collecting it in his lion paw. “What’s outside the window,” Discord lifted the yoke over his head and let it rest on his shoulders. “I say we take the chariot for a spin and visit the peasants.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Chrysalis mused. “I would just love to see my new subjects. I bet they’d love to see you too, eh, Celestia?”

“They are not peasants,” Celestia hissed slowly.

“Then let’s go,” Vega stepped out of Celestia’s three horseshoes and levitated them ahead of her, trotting down the small dais and leaving the other two to follow her. Discord strutted after Vega, snapping his fingers so the door sprung open.

“You heard them, footstool,” Chrysalis growled, using her wings to hover off the throne. “We have a country to visit.”

Slowly, Celestia rose until she matched Chrysalis in height. Her eyes cast one last look out the window before she walked ahead of Chrysalis, allowing herself to be corralled out of her throne room.

Outside the window, nestled in the countryside, was a small town called Ponyville. A train had just pulled into the station, carrying seven of Ponyville’s permanent residents, fresh from the Crystal Empire.

Twilight Sparkle stretched as soon as she stepped off the train and waited as her friends followed her. Pinkie Pie bounced off, turning to bounce in place right beside Twilight, her equally springy mane rising and falling with her movement.

Rainbow Dash practically knocked Fluttershy over as she escaped from the train, ditching her saddlebags and zooming into the air, eager to stretch her wings. The saddlebags fell on the head of Applejack, knocking her hat off her head.

“Rainbow!” Applejack replaced her Stetson and tilted her head skyward to cuss out the airborne pegasus.

“Thank you ever so much for carrying my bags for me, Spike,” Rarity sashayed off the train, a lovesick baby dragon carrying a teetering pile of suitcases in her wake.

“N-no problem, Rarity,” He mumbled, stumbling out of the train. He carefully set down the luggage, wiping sweat off his forehead.

“It’s great to be back in Ponyville,” Twilight said conversationally.

“Yes, I imagine Opal and Sweetie Belle must have had a wonderful time at Sweet Apple Acres,” Rarity replied.

“Well, I’m hungry,” Rainbow Dash landed next to Fluttershy and nosed her way into her saddlebags. “What’s for lunch?”

“I think we should slip over to the Ponyville Café,” Rarity suggested.

“Sounds good ta me,” Applejack agreed. “Ah hafta stop by the farm to get rid of my bags though.”

“So we’ll meet at the town square in fifteen minutes,” The group dispersed and went their separate ways- Rainbow to her cloud mansion, Pinkie Pie to Sugar Cube Corner, Fluttershy to her cottage.

“Ready to go, Spike?” Twilight looked to her assistant, who was gathering up Rarity’s baggage.

“You go without me Twilight,” He answered from behind a duffel bag. “I’m gonna help Rarity.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and set off for the library alone. She nudged open the door and magically opened the curtains, letting in the much needed sunlight. “Princess Celestia sure did a good job with this day today,” She muttered as she climbed the stairs to her bedroom, where she flipped open the bags and began to put her things away. She almost dropped her notebook when there was a loud banging on the door. She set it on her bed and trotted down the stairs, opening the door to an exhausted Spike.

“What’s wrong?”

“You gotta… town square… Discord,” Spike huffed.

“Discord!” Twilight bolted out the door, slamming it behind her and pulling Spike onto her back.

“Where is he?”

“The town square…but Twilight…”

“Not now, Spike. Where are the girls?”

“Already there…but Twilight….”

“Perfect. We’ll make a plan from there,”

“Twilight…”

“Maybe we can catch the train to Canterlot and get the Elements before he does anything serious,”

“Twilight,”

“I can probably break that spell the Celestia has on it. It might take some time but-"

“Twilight!”

“What is it Spike?” But Spike never got to tell her. Twilight stopped on a bit and her jaw hit the floor at what she saw. The royal chariot was being pulled through the town square by two reluctant pegasi. On board were Discord, Chrysalis and a purple alicorn foal with a closely cropped mane and tail.

Each wore a piece of Celestia’s regalia. The chariot stopped in front of a fountain, where Discord rose up to scan the mumbling crowd on Ponyvilleans.

“Good afternoon, peasants,” He called. “I have special treat for you today,” He reached down pulled Celestia up by her mane. A tremor of protested rippled through the crowd as they saw their beloved princess, stripped of her crown and clearly beaten, being held by her mane in front of her loyal subjects. “Behold, your princess,” he tossed her into the fountain, sending water spraying everywhere.

“Princess!” Twilight dove forward to help her mentor, her second mother, her leader. “Princess Celestia,” Twilight offered her hoof to the dripping goddess, who only stared at her with a weak eye, her muzzle resting on the edge of the fountain.

Twilight spun around to glare at the three villains. “What did you do to her?” She snarled.

“Nothing,” Discord replied.

“It doesn’t look like nothing to me,” Rainbow Dash flared up, hovering above the throng of ponies.

“Look, I’m telling you, I didn’t do anything to your precious princess. I swear.”

“Where’s Princess Luna?” Twilight fired off another question-a very sensible one, and one that made a small amount of muttering run through the gathered Ponyvilleans.

“I can’t answer that,” Discord looked at his fellow allies. “I don’t think any of us can. In fact, I think only Celestia knows the answer. So tell us, dear Celestia; where’s Luna?”

Celestia’s magenta eye flicked from Twilight to Discord. Finally, she raised her head of the fountain and spoke. “I sent her to get help.”

“Help?” Discord erupted into laughter, almost falling out of the chariot. “Oh my, this is a treat. Are you saying that the great and powerful Celestia can’t take on three villains?”

“Not alone,”

“But why did you send Luna? Can’t the Elements of Harmony stop them?”

“The Elements of Harmony are not powerful enough,” Celestia told her. “Not against what they have. Luckily they don’t know how to use it. Yet.”

“Did you hear that, Ponyville?” Discord turned to them. “Not even your elements can save you. In fact,” Discord snapped his fingers, and a cage sprang up around Twilight and her friends. “I think I’ll add them to my collection so I can show the whole of Equestria!”

“Princess,” Twilight whispered. “What do we do?”

Twilight’s mentor, who was always reassuring, who always had the answer to everything, rested her chin on the fountain again and looked away from her faithful student. “I don’t know, Twilight. I just don’t know.”

And with that, Twilight’s world fell apart. She watched as Discord snapped his fingers and the guards unstrapped themselves, wheeling the cages to the back of the chariot. Twilight watched as Big Macintosh held Apple Bloom away from Applejack’s cart, giving a nasty glare to the guard. Rainbow dash fought against the cage’s bars, almost tipping it over. Rarity reached out and touched hooves with Sweetie Belle, who was in tears as she watched her sister being led away.

Slowly, realization spread over Ponyville. The three most powerful villains in Equestrian history had joined together, and not even the Elements of Harmony, the most powerful weapons in existence, could stop them. Their princess was defeated, now being dragged back into the chariot. Their other Princess was gone, where; they didn’t know. The murmurs built to yells and shouts like a crescendo,  and the chariot lifted into the sky, carrying the cages of the six ponies who always knew how to defend Equestria from evil.

Twilight turned around and looked back at her friends, who all bore the same look: Defeat. Applejack was reaching over to Rarity’s cage to comfort her; Fluttershy was huddled in a corner. Even Rainbow Dash was losing her fight. But the most depressing of all was Pinkie Pie. The think, cotton candy-like man had flattened to a poker straight pink that blew in the wind.

At that moment, Twilight knew that if Luna didn’t return with help, Equestria was doomed.

Hopelessly and utterly doomed.