The Path to Decay

by MrDragonStomp

Rating: everyone
Tags: Dark, Adventure
Length: 12243

The return of a mysterious empire sends Celestia's mind into a spin, as an ancient evil has brought forth another thousand-year reign of tyranny.

When an ancient evil returns to threaten the good of a long-lost empire, Celestia is forced to take measures to make sure the citizens of the Mernallian Empire will be free and safe once again. The death of the tyrant was not the end of the suffering for the great people, and it's up to the Mane 6 to put a stop to the new tyrant.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-12-28 17:33:13 UTC

The Return

It was a beautiful, sunny day in Canterlot. The birds were chirping, ponies laughing, and the joyful playing of foals could be seen around. Princess Celestia had awoken from her slumber and was awaiting her breakfast in bed, she liked a nice glass of water, toast and one apple in the morning, and it gave her all the energy she needed for the day.

"Here you go, your highness..." said her servant Buxom Shine, as he handed the princess her breakfast.

"Thank you very much!" exclaimed Celestia, as she began to dine first on a piece of toast, she preferred it to be nicely toasted as to not burn it.

"Well, I better get going if I want to get something for myself to snack on, your highness.", he replied, as he moved over to the door to leave.

As her servant was walking out of the room, he had remembered something that was brought to his attention but one hour ago, which he did not alert her right away since she was sleeping.

"Uh, your highness once you're finished your breakfast we have something urgent to discuss...".

Celestia immediately stopped eating her toast and questioned what the pegasus had just said.

"No, tell me what the problem is. I must know of anything urgent ASAP..." she demanded.

Buxom just looked at the vibrant sun princess and was very nervous about telling her the problem, which normally for him is not a problem, but this was a matter of urgency.

"Well, I'm waiting?" replied Celestia, getting impatient with her servant not telling her of this urgent problem, tapping her hoof on the ground.

"Well, your highness we have discovered the return of the Mernallian Empire, which has been-" said Buxom before being cut off by Celestia finishing his sentence, "-locked away for three hundred years...".

Instantly, Buxom was surprised to know that Celestia had knowledge of this almost obscure empire that had been hidden away for three hundred years.

"Yes, I know all too well of the Mernallian Empire, it was ruled by an evil unicorn named King Slifer, who would beat his own citizens and even lock them in the dungeons for minor offenses such as asking for more to eat, he was pure evil...".

Buxom stopped to think, "Was, your highness? You mean, he's not around any more?" he asked the princess.

"Last I heard from the empire, a group of his slaves had escaped the dungeon and assassinated him, slashing his throat with a makeshift shiv they made from a piece of the steel bar from their prison cell..." replied Celestia.

"Sounds like a rough way to go.", Buxom said.

"It was, but all must not be well if the empire has returned. Last I remember, Slifer had a son who would take over the throne if something were to happen to him.".

"What was his name, your highness?"

She simply replied.

"Morior..."

It was surely a day to remember in Ponyville. Merchants and shopkeepers were doing great business, the schoolchildren out on their summer break time, and our favorite librarian was enjoying a nice bit of company around the library on a busy day. Twilight Sparkle had invited her friends over for a friendly chat about their week among other things. Twilight enjoyed the company of her friends and Spike a lot, and it's hard not to when she had known the greatest 5 ponies to ever enter her life.

"So, what have you been up to this week, girls?" asked Twilight, in her always cheery, and polite manner.

"I managed to smash my all-time speed record in the race yesterday against Thunderlane. Oh man, he couldn't keep up!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, the always confident rainbow-maned pegasus.

"Ah managed to get the whole south side of the fields by mahself, I sure showed Big Macintosh, heh..." replied Applejack. She took pride in her work with the family.

"I managed a great outfit for Blossomforth the other day, she was quite astonished with how it came out!" giggled Rarity, admiring her own craftsmanship.

"I baked the most scrum-diddly-umptious cake in the whole wide world of Equestria!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, in her always hyperactive tone.

"Was the cake for anyone in particular?" Twilight asked Pinkie simply.

"Well uh, no. But it was super sweet and delicious!" said Pinkie.

Twilight simply giggled at her friend's comment, knowing that she's just "being Pinkie Pie" and turned to Fluttershy.

"How about you Fluttershy? You've been awful quiet today, what did you do?" asked Twilight to the pink-maned pegasus.

"Well...uh..I sort of-" Fluttershy softly said before being cut off by Spike's gagging.

"What's the matter, Spikey-wikey?" said Rarity, calling Spike by the little name she had given him.

Then, Spike belched and had revealed a scroll that had been sent to Twilight, by none other than Princess Celestia judging by the fact that only Celestia sends her letters through Spike. Twilight examined the letter, and she suddenly had a worried expression on her face.

"What's the matter, sugarcube? What does the letter say?" questioned Applejack.

"I just got a letter from Princess Celestia, she wants to see all of us, including Spike, at the front of the Palace Labyrinth right away".

Her friends immediately looked worried as to what Celestia wants to see them about so suddenly. The last time they had gotten a letter like this was when Discord had become free from his stone prison, so Twilight, Spike and her friends immediately left the library and set their sights for Canterlot, as there was most likely no time to lose.

After some time later, Twilight and the gang arrived in Canterlot and started to head to the Canterlot Castle, unsure of what could possibly be awaiting her and her friends. Twilight wasn't always one to jump to conclusions awful quickly, but she has had her episodes of being quick to judge, so naturally she was a little on edge, unsure if it was something she did about her studies or if it was something different.

Twilight and her friends made it to the entrance of the Palace Labyrinth, only to see both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna awaiting their presence for quite some time, they too had unnerving looks on their faces, which frightened Twilight a little more.

"It's good to see you in this time of crisis, Twilight Sparkle", said Luna.

"What is this all about, Princess?" asked Rainbow Dash, confused as to why they were called to Canterlot.

Princess Celestia simply took a deep breath and began to explain.

"I've called you all here for a matter of great urgency." said Celestia.

"It seems a long-lost empire has returned from it's three hundred year slumber. It appears that the Mernallian Empire has returned."

"The Mernallian Empire, Princess?" asked Fluttershy in her soft little voice.

"Yes, the Mernallian Empire. It was a long-forgotten kingdom that had been enslaved by the evil unicorn king, King Slifer, for a thousand years. I thought it was lost forever after the assassination of King Slifer, but as it seems his son has taken over the kingdom and has enslaved the poor citizens."

"So you want us to go to this "Mernallian Empire" and kick this king guy's butt?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Not quite how you put it, but you must put an end to the slavery in the empire, go to the Mernallian Empire, and go defeat Prince Morior...or as I guess he is now...King Morior. I'm counting on you girls to not let me down, you have never let me down before, and I have great confidence that you can free the people and remove King Morior of his power. Now go!" proclaimed Celestia, as if she had just given the biggest speech of her life.

As Celestia conveyed this information, a single bead of sweat drizzed down her snowy white fur, due to her evident nervousness.

"But Princess, where is this "Mernallian Empire" located?" asked Twilight.

"About two hundred miles from Dodge Junction, on the outskirts." replied Celestia.

"When will we know we've arrived at the kingdom?" responded Twilight, asking more questions than most, as she's known to do.

"The kingdom's landmark is a giant statue of a blood-red diamond, which if still not there, also should be the visible palace that stands out among the majority of structures in the kingdom." Luna retorted.

Celestia coughed, and looked at her sister, impressed that Luna remembered the details about this kingdom she had told her about.

"Heh, I'm quite happy you remembered that, little sister."

"Well big sister, when an empire is under the rule of an evil tyrant and you want them rid of, you tend to learn as much as you can about it" Luna responded.

"Well girls, are you up to the challenge? Are you ready to defeat King Morior?" stated Celestia.

"Princess Celestia, you can count on us!" shouted Rainbow Dash.

"We will not let you down, princess!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Until we meet again girls, be safe" said Celestia.

"Do it for us, Twilight Sparkle. Do it for all things good." told Luna to Twilight.

Now, the girls had their mission and knew what they had to do; Overthrow King Morior and free the citizens of the Mernallian Empire before it was too late.

As they left, Celestia heard something she had not heard in a long time; The evil laughter of King Slifer haunted her for the moment to be, cackling like a hyena.

"I have a very bad feeling about this, my sister." explained Luna

"As do I, little sister."

"As do I."

The Empire Awaits

Twilight and her friends made it to the Canterlot train station after what felt like a long time to walk from the palace to the station, Twilight was glad to be able to sit down once they got aboard.

"7 tickets to Dodge Junction, please." Twilight told the ticket booth operator.

"Alright, that'll be 40 bits, ma'am." replied the booth operator.

Twilight handed the booth operator the bits needed, which both Dash and Pinkie chipped in for, and the booth operator handed them their tickets.

"Train leaving for Dodge Junction in 10 minutes" spoke the conductor over the loudspeaker, alerting all of those going to Dodge Junction to board as soon as possible.

"Well, this is our cue to go girls." Twilight said.

As soon as everyone was aboard, Twilight felt an unnerving feeling, a single bead of sweat rolled down her forehead and her stomach felt uneasy, something she had not felt since Discord had returned and taken over Ponyville.

"C'mon egghead, you don't wanna miss the train!" shouted Dash to Twilight.

As soon as she said that, Twilight snapped out of her worried state and boarded the train, on their way to Dodge Junction, and on their way ultimately to the Mernallian Empire.

Dark stratocumulus clouds loomed over the Mernallian Empire, the sky was a dark shade of scarlet red, and thunder could be heard cracking throughout the kingdom. A large, ominous palace completely devoid of hue was sitting off in the distance, surrounded by decaying wildlife and the now destroyed blood-red diamond statue that had stood on the far left side of the palace.

Inside this palace, it had looked to be medieval by the gothic chandeliers lit only by candles, the aged grey brick walls surrounding with torches hanging off them to see in the night, and in the throne room were stained-glass windows from the days of King Slifer's reign as king. But there was one subtle difference, since sitting in the palace's throne room, protected by his unicorn and pegasi guards was the masochistic unicorn king himself: King Morior.

King Morior was surely a grotesque sight to see, as he wasn't the typical type of evil tyrant, at least according to his appearance. He wore a ponytail, a jet black vest and his black tribal eyeliner. But his physical appearance was quite a sight, as he had two steel limbs crafted by his guards when his left front leg and right hind leg were ultimately decayed by a strange type of flesh eating disease and had to be removed, and there were still physical signs on his left hind leg of the disease ravaging his unicorn body, as his left hind leg bone is quite clearly visible. He also had fangs, a cream coat and a short, black tail. His horn a decayed black at the botton with a forest green tip to match his eyes, and his teardrop cutie mark quite similar to his father's diamond cutie mark. Like father, like son.

"Servant, I am hungry. Fetch me something delectible to feast upon!" shouted Morior in a deep raspy, but commanding voice.

"As you wish, your majesty" weakly replied his butler, who was nothing but a slave to him.

"And as for you, Regal Will, my favorite unicorn guardian. I shall treat you and your pegasus friend over here to a nice banquet tomorrow in my honor for working your royal hindquarters off to defend me and the kingdom's rule!" proclaimed Morior to his unicorn guard, Regal Will.

"Thank you very much, your majesty. It means a lot to me!" said Regal, very ecstatic to hear such good news come from his king.

"Yes, thank you millions, oh mighty one!" replied the pegasus guard, Cairo.

"Oh, it feels great to be king!" roared Morior, before letting out an ominous fit of laughter.

"I must go check on the dungeon to see how my favorite prisoner is doing, she was quite the hassle to capture but she's mine, all mine!" bursted Morior, before continuing to laugh again.

"I'm going to see my princess..."

"Cadance....."

On the train to Dodge Junction, Twilight's friends were talking about comical things that happened to them earlier in the week.

"Heh, yesterday I managed to cut my hoof open on a piece of glass in the kitchen last night." giggled Pinkie.

"Why is that so funny Pinkie Pie?" asked Rainbow.

"Well, my brain goes super duper silly in the night time that I forget to turn on a light, and when I forget to do that sometimes I'll bump into or step on things I don't see, and have you ever stept on so-" Pinkie replied rapidly before having her mouth covered by Applejack's hoof.

"Slow down, girl." Applejack rebuttled.

"Hehe, sorry..." giggled Pinkie, feeling a little embarassed.

"Don't worry Pinkie, we've all had something like that happen. Even I can remember the night I left a sewing needle out and stepped hoof-first onto it."

"What happened next, did you whine about your fashion career being over?" Rainbow teased Rarity.

Rarity simply looked at Rainbow with an unhappy look, Rainbow could tell she didn't find that comment funny.

"Aw come on, lighten up Rarity I'm just teasin'." replied Rainbow.

As the others went on their way to discuss their week, Twilight was just staring out the window, her melancholic expression told a story on how she was very unsure of what would happen this time, since this was something she hadn't encountered in a long time.

Twilight just put her face to the window to watch the sun slowly setting as they were almost at their destination. After 10 minutes of this, Spike came over to talk to Twilight.

"What's the matter Twilight? You've been sitting there for ten minutes now not saying a word." Spike politely asked Twilight.

"I'm just nervous and scared, what if we don't make it out in one piece? What if Celestia is disappointed in me? What if she's so disappointed she won't continues my studies? What if-" Twilight frantically questioned before being silenced by one of Spike's claws.

"Relax Twilight, you've just had a very stressful day today with this whole "Mernallian Empire" business, maybe we should get some rest once we get to Dodge Junction, I heard Applejack say that Cherry Jubilee has a special resting area set for us." Spike told Twilight.

"Hmm, yeah maybe I just need some rest, thanks Spike." said Twilight, taking in her dragon's advice.

The train finally arrived in Dodge Junction after what felt like a 10 hour trip. After they all got off the train, they wondered what they were going to do next, since only AJ, Twilight and Spike knew where they were staying.

"So AJ, where are we going to get some shut-eye?" Rainbow wondered.

"Ah asked Cherry Jubilee if she could set us up with a place tah sleep, and she said that she's got a lil' room upstairs in the factory that can fit us." Applejack came back to Rainbow.

"Eugh, I just hope it's not all stained from cherries and dirt from muddy hooves." moaned Rarity, known to hate dirt and messes.

"Ah relax sugarcube, it's as clean as can be." replied Applejack.

"Applejack, you made it!" cheerfully shouted Cherry Jubilee, waiting there for the ponies.

"Heya, miss Jubilee!" said Applejack.

"And ah see you have yer little friends with ya!" commented Cherry Jubilee.

"She sure does, Cherry Jubilee. Now can we see this guest room? I'm pooped." Rainbow added.

"I think we're all worn out, Dashie." responded Pinkie, calling Rainbow by her little pet name "Dashie".

"Well, the room is upstairs, make yerselves comfortable, wake-up call is at 8 am!" Cherry Jubilee told the ponies.

"Thanks again, miss Jubilee for setting this up at such short notice." thanked Applejack.

"Don't mention it, sweetheart."

King Morior had ventured down into the palace's catacombs, followed by Regal Will and Cairo, to overlook his prisoners. Morior, much like his father, would have his guards take people to the dungeons for even asking for more to eat, as the Mernallian Empire's citizens were very under-nourished. It was a gut-wrenching sight, but it was hard to walk down the street without seeing a pony either lying dead on the pavement due to starvation, or ponies being starved to a point where they have started to cannibalize to survive for even a day longer.

Morior first walked past the cell block, marked with the letter "C". The letters meant nothing special than to seperate the many of cells that Morior's father had built during his rule. The cell blocks stretched from A to Z, each cell block holding 20 cells each, which would be 520 cells total, enough to fit half of the population of the empire back then oddly enough.

He made his way to cell C-18, which being held inside was one of the ponies he had locked up for trying to assassinate Morior by collapsing his castle's main balcony, which ended up killing 3 citizens and leaving Morior unharmed.

Morior simply scoffed and mocked this pony for his foiled attempt at an assassination.

"Pfft hahahaha, I guess I'm one slippery fish in a barrel for you, my simple-minded FOOL!" Morior screamed at his prisoner.

He has walked past C-19 due to it being empty and went straight for cell C-20, which inside contained the crystal princess herself; Princess Cadance. The rotting king simply spit on the floor and began to taunt Cadance, who he had captured rather difficultly but still laughed it off as if it was such a simple task.

"Well well well, look who we have here. Princess Cadance, the once powerful crystal princess is now under my control!" taunted the king.

"You'll never get away with this, Morior! As we speak, Princess Celestia is finding a way to get me out-"

"SILENCE!" shouted Morior, blasting Cadance to the wall with his magic.

Cadance hit the wall and collapsed to the ground, feeling sore and weak from suffering a magical blast from the king. She tried using her magic to break herself free from her cell, but found that there was something on her horn preventing her from casting any magic.

"Oh, I see our wittle pwincess is twying to do her magic." taunted Morior, speaking to her like a foal to rub it in.

"You see my dear, I have fitted your horn with a special inhibitor ring that prevents you from casting any magical spell that you know. It's quite simple to manufacture but it does it's job to the highest degree" explained Morior, clearly an expert on the subject.

"Why are you doing this to me?" asked Cadance.

"It's quite simple, my dear. You have strong connections to Princess Celestia, the overlord of Equestria, and I also know you are married to the brother of Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor. They are both two powerful adversaries and they would only get in the way of my reign as king, maybe even wanting me gone. And we can't allow that to happen, now can we?" questioning Morior.

"Twilight and her friends will be here to stop you, King Morior. You will not keep me here forever!" roared Cadance.

Morior simply laughed out loud and walked away, completely disregarding Cadance's last statement. Cadance's rage built up so much that she erupted and slammed her front hooves into the wall beside her, hurting her hooves and making her collapse on the ground once again. At this point, she had started to cry.

She felt weak, alone, with no one to help her....

Or was that last statement false?

The Arrival

The sun was shining through the window of the upstairs storage room in the factory that Twilight and her friends had slept in for the night. Creaking could be heard coming from outside the room they were sleeping in, and surely enough the door bursted open, and standing there was Cherry Jubilee, ready to give her wake up call.

Miss Jubilee pulled out a triangle, and started to use it to wake up the six sleeping ponies, and dragon.

"Alright sleepy heads, time to get up!" she rang, still playing her triangle.

The six mares were rubbing their eyes and yawning, not wanting to wake up after such a good sleep. Applejack could be seen reaching for her hat, and Rarity was off to the mirror in the side of the room to brush her mane.

"Y'all slept like babies last night, nothin' could have woke ya up, but it's time for breakfast!" she continued.

"Spike" Twilight called out.

"Spike, wake up...", no response from the sleepy dragon.

Twilight got a little frustrated, so she simply got close to his ear and shouted ever so loudly.

"SPIKE!"

Spike immediately jumped out of bed, alerted by Twilight screaming right next to him.

"Oh, uh...I'm awake Twilight!" Spike said, in a bit of a panic.

Twilight simply giggled, and used her magic to lift Spike onto her back, and she went downstairs to the mess hall with her friends following close behind.

They made their way to the mess hall. The mess hall was quite literally a mess, as there were squished cherries around some areas of the floor because of some of the slovenly workers, and even on one of the tables was a rotting apple.

"Eww, what a mess!" Rarity whimpered "No wonder it's called a "mess hall", eugh".

"Ah, quit yer fussin', Rarity" Applejack replied.

"So miss Jubilee, what kinda grub are we havin' to eat?" Rainbow asked.

"Ah just made y'all some sandwiches for the road ahead, along with some drinkin' water. You girls are gonna need some water"

"I'm parched, thanks miss Jubilee" Rainbow responded.

"Anything for you girls!"

The girls began to have a bite of their breakfast, which was a simple sandwich with a glass of water. It wasn't much but it was better than nothing, especially with the kind of trip they were about to go on.

"So, girls I hope you know what we must do once we reach the Empire?" Twilight asked her friends.

"Yeah, we're going to go there, kick Morior's butt and make the people happy again!" Rainbow said excitedly.

"Right, so we need to be careful when approaching the Empire though, I've heard that guards are everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE" Twilight put emphasis on "everywhere" for a good reason.

Just as she said that, Spike had started to choke and gag, signaling that Celestia was sending her a letter. Why was Celestia sending her a letter now? How did she know they were awake right now? Many questions were running through Twilight's head.

Spike eventually burped out the letter that had been causing him to fidget and not finish his breakfast, and hit Twilight in the face.

"Ow!" she shouted.

"Sorry about that, Twilight." Spike apologized.

Twilight opened the letter and started to read it aloud.

"Dear Twilight and friends, we have got some disturbing news to report. It's just been discovered that Princess Cadance has been abducted and brought to the Mernallian Empire. We fear for her safety, and we hope you can rescue her from King Morior's evil clutches."

"Signed, Princess Celestia..."

Twilight just dropped her glass of water on the ground, smashing the glass. She put the letter down on the table, and she was devastated. Her foalsitter, one of her best friends, now under the capture of the evil unicorn king. Twilight was now in a mixture of sadness and fury. A simple tear rolled down her face.

"No...no....that MONSTER!" Twilight yelled, slamming her hooves on the table in a fit of rage.

Her friends were just sitting there, looking upset at both her friend's outburst, and after hearing the shocking news of Cadance's abduction.

King Morior was seen, taking a stroll around the downtown boardwalk accompanied by Regal Will and Cairo, his two favorite guards, and his most trusted. The rotting king picked up a dead flower and examined it.

"Hmm, just the way I like my wildlife: DEAD!" Morior shouted, now starting to laugh.

"Uh, your majesty it's almost ten AM" Regal reminded the king.

"Oh, I almost forgot about the execution today!" Morior replied, puzzled as to how he could have forgot.

The king and his accompanying guards then started to head to the town square, as there was a public execution taking place. In the Mernallian Empire since Slifer's rule, public executions were quite common. Though Morior didn't approve of his father's savage ways of execution such as burning them alive, or stoning. He preferred a simple beheading, either by sword or axe, but since there was now the guillotine, he much preferred that over a skilled swordsman or axe wielder. It was much cheaper that way, and Morior did not like to spend his money frivolously.

As they arrived on the town square, the priest was giving the pony his last rites. The pony on the execution center today was the very pony that tried to assassinate Morior, from cell C-18. He was originally going to be left in the dungeon for until he died, but that was costly to do since feeding and giving him water would be an expense in itself, and he didn't take kindly to ponies who tried to kill him.

Once the priest was finished giving the attempted assassin his last rites, the executioner spotted Morior in the crowd, and had asked him to come onto the stage. Morior came onto the stage accompanied by his guards, and he simply ridiculed the poor pony, even before he was going to be executed.

"Well, my little friend. This is what happens to bad little slaves who try to murder the king" the king yelled to the pony.

"For the attempted murder of I, King Morior, I wish you the best of luck in Hades, and may you burn in eternal hellfire. Now, OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" Morior chanted.

The audience started to chant along with the king.

"Off with his head, off with his head!"

Surely enough, the pony started to beg for his life to be spared.

"Please, please don't kill me your majesty, PLEASE!" he begged, tears streaming down his face.

Morior simply looked back at him and said 4 simple words, to seal the deal.

"Fuck you, kill him"

And so it was, the rope was released, and down came the blade, slicing through his neck swift and cleanly, his head dropping into the basket below. Morior walked over to the basket, grabbed the head by the mane, and showed it to the audience, who simply cheered and whistled. Even if they were applauding their king as if they all loved him, they actually did fear for their lives if he ever made a public appearance.

The girls finished up their breakfast, and were preparing for their long journey to the Mernallian Empire. They carried saddle bags full of survival supplies, such as water, food, a first aid kit and a small hunting knife.

"Now, before we go, does anypony need to use the rest-"

Twilight was cut off, seeing Pinkie make a dash for the outdoor restroom by the train station.

"Anyone else?"

The others simply shaked their heads.

Pinkie returned from the restroom, picked up her saddle bag and followed her friends to the train station, heading farther north to the Mernallian Empire that the train could actually make it to, but was never scheduled to go there for years because of recent events. But Twilight had told the conductor to head straight there on her special request.

"Alright girls, next stop: The Mernallian Empire!" Twilight said eagerly.

"Let's get this monster..."

They all boarded the train, found a comfortable spot to sit down in the front of the train, and relaxed. Twilight requested they sit in front so she could talk to the conductor when she was ready for him to start moving.

"All right, I think we're ready to go" she told the conductor.

He simply nodded and started up the train, slowly but surely they started to move, and before they knew it, the train was taking off from the station, and they were going straight north, instead of west like the route normally goes.

For the next few hours, they were talking amongst each other, rationing their food and water supplies, and taking naps. And before they knew it, 4-5 hours later they finally arrived at the Mernallian Empire's train station. The scenery was not a pretty sight for the six ponies and Spike, as instead of beautiful, healthy trees like they see in Ponyville, all the trees were dead, bearing no leaves, and some trees even had fallen over due to decay. The sky was as always a dark scarlet with dark grey clouds looming overhead.

"Well, this is sure a happy place..." Spike commented sarcastically.

"This place looks super scary, I'm not sure the king has had a good smile in a while" Pinkie also commented on the scenery.

"C-can we go home now? I'm scared...." Fluttershy chipped in.

"No, we have to rescue Cadance, the citizens and get rid of Morior, we have no time to lose." Twilight commanded.

The gang were on their way to find Cadance, when out of a dark alley way near the train station, King Morior appeared. He apparently had heard over the conversation between the ponies, and simply chuckled as they walked away, unaware he was waiting there.

"Oh Twilight Sparkle, you underestimate my power..." he said to himself.

"You'll see soon enough..." laughing ever so quietly.

"You'll see..."

The girls made their way through the barren wasteland once called a downtown. It was a terrible thing to see, as houses were run down and decaying, dead tree leaves littered the streets and decayed trees had toppled over onto houses, some had even been caved in due to the structural integrity of the buildings being weakened by negligence. Posters showing Morior's face were across every surface area of the Empire, with the words "OBEY" underneath, pretty much signifying that Morior seemed to think himself as the all-important king that must be obeyed. But none of these sights were as bad compared to what Spike had just spotted; a dead pony lying in the street, with a visible ribcage and thin like a toothpick.

"Oh no..." Spike whispered, as he stared at the lifeless corpse.

"How could Morior do such a thing to his own people?" Twilight questioned.

Suddenly, an explosion could be heard and seen, as a unicorn had shot a magical blast at Twilight and Spike, who were inspecting the corpse. This unicorn looked like everyone else in the village, skinny with a visible skeleton, dirty and had a look of fear in her eyes. Twilight picked up Spike with her magic and lifted him on her back, aiming her horn at the citizen who had shot at her, readying to combat this unicorn.

"Why did you shoot at me and Spike?" Twilight roared at this pony.

"That pony is MINE, YOU WON'T HAVE HIM" the pony yelled back at Twilight.

"What are you talking about?" Twilight asked.

"I don't have to answer your questions, now get out of my way" replied the strange pony.

The ponies backed up and just watched this pony do something horrific; she started to cut open the corpse and looked for any organs to feast upon. As you remember, cannibalism was quite common amongst the citizens as food was scarce to them. Morior kept all the food to himself, his guards and his council. The citizens were left to fend for themselves and starve to death, surviving on what little rations they were given.

The ponies simply looked in horror, while Fluttershy simply covered her eyes, and Rarity just turned around and threw up at both the sight and the smell. They watched as this pony ripped out the heart of this pony and bite into it like an apple. Spike simply threw up as well after seeing this, and was very uneasy.

"I think we should just go" Rainbow suggested.

"Good idea" Spike responded.

They started to walk away from the citizen who had now begun to harvest on the dead pony's intestines as some form of nourishment, as she looked like she had not eaten in weeks. They continued to walk down the streets of the empire until they made their way to the town square, when out of the corner of her eye, Pinkie spotted another citizen who was lying on the ground, covered in blood, dirt and urine. She decided to walk over to this poor pony and comfort him.

"Aww, you poor thing" Pinkie said, comforting this pony in his time of need.

"What happened to you, sweetie?"

"I...I had gotten something to eat for my family for...for the first time in weeks"

Tears began to well up in this pony's eyes as he was saying this.

"But this group of thugs jumped me....and stole everything, food...water...and then they just urinated on me, kicked me and..."

He just stopped talking, and started to sob loudly. Pinkie started to tear up as this poor citizen told her his story. Pinkie never liked to see anypony sad, and seeing this pony crying and hearing the story that came beforehand, she reached into her saddlebag and pulled out some rations out of her own supply, and handed it to the pony. She handed him 2 full sandwiches and 2 bottles of water, that he could share with his family. He stopped crying momentarily, wore a smile on his face, and gave Pinkie a very embracing hug, to which she returned the favor.

"Thank you very much, madam, you are too generous to me!" he told Pinkie.

He started to cry once again, but this time there were tears of joy and happiness, and he hugged her one more time before she got up and went back to her friends.

"Pinkie, that was very generous of ya. Maybe y'all should be the Element of Generosity instead" Applejack playfully commented to Pinkie and her kind act.

"Oh, I just couldn't resist, he just looked so sad and you know how I hate when ponies don't smile!" she replied, in her always gleeful tone of voice.

"Well come on girls, we must get to the palace. I see it over in the distance and I think we should get there as soon as possible" Twilight called out to her friends.

"Twilight..." a voice whispered from somewhere she didn't know.

"Who's there?" she questioned.

Ominous laughter could be heard by her, but only by her judging by her friends just giving Twilight strange looks.

"Uh Twi, who are ya talkin' to?" Applejack asked.

"I just heard a voice, it called my name and I have no idea what it was"

"Are ya sure, sugarcube? The rest of us didn't hear anything"

Twilight instantly began to panic, as she was hearing a mysterious and ominous voice call her name and laughing, and only she could hear it

This was not good.

The Evil Showdown

They made their way towards the palace's dirt road entrance, when suddenly two guards were seen patrolling the grounds by the palace's entrance path. They were armed with strong body armor from head to toe, but still leaving wings and horns exposed with daggers sheathed on the back, in case someone tried to access and put up a fight. The empire's guards were not afraid to use deadly force when challenged.

"Girls, wait" Twilight called out to her friends, halting them with a hoof signal.

"What is it sugarcube?" Applejack asked.

"There are some guards patrolling the path, we need to find a way to get past them" Twilight replied.

They all pondered of ways to possibly get past the heavily armored guards. Mostly to no avail, but Rarity had an idea to get by the guards.

"IDEAAAAA" Rarity cheered, as an idea had hit her.

"What do ya have in mind, Rarity?" questioned Applejack.

"Well, some of you might not like this but it's a great way to get into a king's palace, we put on some dancer outfits and say we're here for the king!" Rarity told her friends.

They all just looked at Rarity with unsure looks. Put on dancer outfits to get past guards and access the palace?

"Excuse me?" Twilight wasn't sure if she had heard her friend correctly.

"Well, you know that Morior is a king, right? Well, don't kings usually have entertainers?"

"Yes, but normally it's jesters and jokers, not dancers" Twilight retorted.

"Just trust me on this one girls, this is sure to work!" Rarity assured.

A while after, the six mares got dressed into outfits that would resemble the typical exotic dancer, including face veils, earrings and skirts with leggings underneath. They were quite uncomfortable with their current wardrobe, but Rarity being knowledgable on the subject of fashion and beauty, they went along with it.

"Are you sure this will work, Rarity?" Rainbow asked.

"Yes darling, I can tell this will work, not to mention I think we look great!" Rarity responded

"Whatever you say, Rarity" Applejack commented.

They made their way over to the two patrol ponies, who were watching the grounds in case anyone had tried to get into the castle without authorization. Once they got close enough, the guards were able to spot the six mares and Spike, and walked over to them for questioning.

"Halt, who goes there?" the unicorn guard asked the ponies.

"We're here for the king, he requested dancers for his banquet tonight for the after-dinner entertainment!" Rarity told the guard, lying to the best of her abilities.

"Hmm, you girls do look quite the part, come on in" the unicorn guard said.

"Thank you, dear" Rarity replied to the guard, giving him a kiss on the cheek to not rise suspicion.

The ponies and Spike made their way to the front door to find that the door was wide open, with no protection. Unusual for a palace to have it's main doors open, but they didn't question it and just walked into the palace.

The palace looked the same as it always did, grey walls coated with torches, black chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and stained-glass windows all around the front room.

"This place could seriously get some better interior decorators" Rarity commented.

"Now's not the time for telling if the ceiling matches the chadeliers, Rarity, we have to find Cadance and Morior" Twilight snapped.

"Now, this palace is big, so let's all take a hallway. Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie, you all take the left corridors, me, Rainbow and Applejack will take the right corridors" Twilight gave instructions.

"Got it" all six said at the same time.

"Spike, you go with Pinkie Pie, I'm going this path alone" Twilight ordered.

"Uh, alright Twilight, whatever you say" Spike obeyed, and followed Pinkie down the center left corridor.

Twilight stripped off her exotic outfit, and went down the center right corridor. Around the corner was another door, protected by a pegasus guard similar to the one outside, donned in full body armor with a dagger in it's holster. A sign by the door clearly read "Holding cells", so she knew that she went down the right path. She was pondering of a way to get past the guard, when she spotted a piece of crumpled up note paper and picked it up. She threw it around the corner and that alerted the guard.

"Who's there?" he called out.

Hoofsteps could be heard coming from around the corner, and now Twilight was caught with a problem, but Twilight remembered a certain spell she could use on the guard that could get rid of him for good. So, she started to conjur a magical spell, but this was no ordinary spell, it was a dark magic spell. Once the guard turned the corner, Twilight fired off a magical beam that engulfed the guard in a blast with a cloud of thick, grey dust. Once the dust cleared, there stood the guard frozen in glass. This spell was something she had learned on a very thorough study of dark magic, she had found a spell to turn any living organism into a full glass figure, so Twilight simply knocked over the now-glass pony and watched as he shattered into pieces in front of her eyes.

She made her way to the dungeon's door, which was down this long corridor, until she heard the recurring voice call out her name.

"Twilight Sparkle...." the voice called out.

"Who is that? Show yourself!" Twilight yelled.

Suddenly, the lights in the corridor all flickered out, leaving her in the darkness. Then, a small light source appeared, coming from a forest green horn that now revealed a shadow-like face appearing from the dark corridor with eyes that matched the horn. Twilight started to panic, and was breathing heavier than before as the figure got closer. Once it made it to a face to face distance, Twilight screamed out in terror, to which she heard hooves running across the brick floor of the castle, at which point the lights all came back on, and Twilight's friends made it to her. Twilight was visibly shaken by the visual she had just seen.

"Twilight, what's the matter?" Fluttershy asked first.

"We heard a scream, are you okay?" Rainbow also asked Twilight.

"Th-there was a shadowy figure that just appeared, I saw it!" Twilight yelped, still shaking in fear.

Her friends looked concerned at this point, she was breathing heavily, visibly shaking and her whole body was cold like a corpse. They came over to comfort the unicorn who was not well, when suddenly, the lights in the corridor went out again, and this time all the ponies and Spike could see the source of light emitting from a forest green horn. Ominous laughter could be heard coming from the shadowy figure which vanished a few seconds after and the lights all came back on. They instantly believed that Twilight was telling the truth, and to seal the deal, the voice was now audible to all of them.

"Perfect....." taunted this voice.

Then, out of some feat of magic, Twilight's friends were teleported away to an unknown location, followed by Twilight being teleported to an underground throne room of sorts. The floor was surrounded by a sea of lava, and the floor was made of solid stone hovering only a few feet above the hot lava. The room was visibly empty, until Twilight was able to spot two cages on the left and right side of a large, rock throne perched ahead of her. Inside the cage on the left of the throne were Twilight's friends and Spike, and in the cage on the right contained Princess Cadance, whom Twilight seeked to find as soon as she heard the news.

"Cadance!" Twilight yelled out to Cadance, who was visibly weak.

"Tw..Twilight!" Cadance called out, too weak to even stand.

"Girls! Spike!" Twilight called out to her friends.

"Help us!" called out her friends.

Twilight then saw a mysterious green cloud circling her legs, which ascended to the throne and started to take a form, first spawned the very ghoulish figure Twilight saw only moments ago, with a forest green horn and eyes, but started to take the form of a pony. It spouted a head, a torso, hair and then legs. The figure was revealed to be none other than King Morior, who was able to transform himself into a cloud of green mist under his father's teachings, the only difference is that his father was a cloud of orange dust, but it was the same element spell with a different cosmetic effect.

"So, Twilight Sparkle, we meet for the first time, I am King Morior!" King Morior introduced himself.

"Let my friends go, Morior" Twilight demanded.

"Hah, Twilight Sparkle you are so naive, do you honestly think I would let your friends go?" Morior questioned Twilight.

"I know all about your little "Elements of Harmony" adventures you've had, and knowing that, I could never release your friends. I'm not an idiot" Morior snorted in derision.

"Oh yeah?" Twilight responded, and suddenly shot a magic blast towards Morior's throne.

Morior ducked and watched as the blast smashed a wall behind him, and collapsed a pillar, which came towards Morior, who turned into his green mist form and hovered away before the pillar crashed into the throne.

"Oh Twilight Sparkle, you're so cute when you're angry, you know that?" Morior taunted Twilight.

"Well alright Twilight Sparkle, you want a showdown?"

"Let's do it" Twilight replied.

Morior took back to his decayed pony form, and then his green eyes started to glow a dark scarlet like the sky in the empire, as he shot a simple green energy blast at Twilight, hitting her and knocking her backwards.

"C'mon Twilight Sparkle, show me what you've got!" Morior taunted.

Twilight focused her magic, and shot a steady beam towards Morior, who fired a beam back towards Twilight, causing each magical energy blast to be cancelled out.

"Surely you can do better than that" Morior yawned.

She then focused, her eyes turning green and emitting the purple smoke similar to what Celestia taught her during the events of the Crystal Empire, which made Morior confused. Then, suddenly a dark green blast emitted from Twilight's horn, striking Morior in the chest and sending him backwards.

"You mean like that, your highness?" Twilight taunted.

Morior moaned and started to stand up again.

"Okay, so you can also use dark magic, big whoop" Morior said, not as confident as he once was.

Morior started to conjur a magic spell, his eyes glew the dark scarlet they always do, and the fired off a large blast of energy that started to shatter large areas of the stone floor beneath them, to reveal the lava below the platform. This extra obstacle frightened Twilight, as even one screw-up could end with her falling and burning alive in the lava below.

"What's the matter Twilight Sparkle, are woo a wittle scared of witte bit of wava?" Morior taunted with baby talk.

Twilight then fired a magical energy blast at Morior, which whizzed right past his head, and hit the cage that Cadance was being held in, destroying the cage. Cadance was able to crawl out of the cage, but peeked out at the lava below and just stayed where she was, too weak to move or fly, and her magic being restrained by her inhibitor ring.

"Ah ha ha, is that all you did was free her from her cage? She's way too weak to even fly, that was of no use!" Morior roared..

Morior fired another magical blast, but this time it had hit the base of the platform Twilight was standing on, causing it to fall into the lava. Twilight was quick to react and jumped to the rock platform to the right of her before it sank in the inferno.

"You're quite quick for being such a foal, Twilight Sparkle, perhaps I should make this harder?" Morior asked, before conjuring another magical blast.

He shot this blast at the ceiling, causing jagged chunks of rock to come falling down from the roof, right above Twilight. As the rocks began to fall, Twilight used a levitation spell to the best of her abilities, and was able to drop two of the rocks into the lava safely. With the third one now falling, she used her levitation magic and threw it at the platform Morior stood on, shattering the platform, but not fast enough as Morior avoided death by changing into his mist form and floating to another platform before changing back.

"Aha, very well done Twilight, I can see Celestia's abilities are rubbing off on you nicely" Morior complimented her magic abilities.

Suddenly, Cadance had gained back her strength, as was visible by her standing up, flying over behind Morior and hopping onto his back while covering his eyes, blinding him temporarily as Twilight blasted him with with an energy blast back to his throne area, or what was left of it.

"Cadance, you're alright!" Twilight yelled in glee, as she hugged her old foalsitter.

Twilight then removed Cadance's inhibitor ring, and then had a magical surge which caused her to send out a blast that shattered a pillar, causing it to fall into the lava below.

"I've read that happens with inhibitor rings" Twilight giggled.

The ominous laughter could be heard coming from over by the throne, as Morior started to slowly stand up. Twilight and Cadance were horrified with what they had seen, as Morior's face had been partially ripped off after hitting one of the jagged rocks, the flesh hanging off of his head before falling off into the lava.

"You think a simple accident like that can stop me?" Morior yelled, as part of his jaw was visible when speaking.

Morior conjured a spell, and now Twilight was trapped in a force field surrounding the platform she stood on, leaving Morior and Cadance alone to duel amongst each other.

Blast after blast, spell after spell, but Cadance was much too strong for Morior to conquer. Cadance had blasted Morior to the ground, and he had fallen weak to her magic. Then, Cadance made a daring leap towards Morior's weakened body, flew up in the air and aimed her horn. She was planning to impale him with her horn to finish him off, and that's what she went to do. As she reached close enough to him, it turns out he was playing possum, as he reversed the situation and impaled Cadance with his jagged horn, right through the chest. Her body just went limp and fell onto the platform he was on, then he turned to his mist form and floated over towards Twilight.

"CADANCE!" Twilight screamed, devastated at what had just happened.

"Don't worry, she's not dead...yet" Morior said, as he began to laugh.

Twilight started to cry, she just lied down, covered her face with her hooves and was absolutely crushed as her favorite foalsitter, and sister Cadance was dying because of the evil king.

Morior released Twilight from her force field prison, and came over to comfort the crying mare.

"Don't be sad, Twilight Sparkle, we can start a whole new life together" Morior told Twilight.

"Wh..what do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"If you join me, and become my apprentice, nothing but good will come your way, I can guarantee you that" Morior commented, hugging Twilight.

"So, would you like to join me in my rule, and become more powerful than you could possibly imagine?" Morior gave Twilight the decision.

Twilight stopped her crying, to look at the face of the king, still visible was half his face that was ripped off from hitting that jagged rock.

"I'll do it, your highness" Twilight answered.

Twilight's friends were all shocked at her friend's decision, as she shook hands with the king.

"Oh no, Twilight...." Spike commented, with a sad tone of voice.

"Your highness, can I say something before we go?" Twilight asked her new teacher.

"Yes you may, my apprentice" Morior replied.

"You truly are as dumb as they come" she said with a sly tone of voice.

Then, Twilight kicked Morior's prosthetic hind leg, causing him to fall over as she tore it off of him, the king simply just roared in pain. She then found the bolts that had kept the leg together and blasted them off using her magic, destroying his leg. She restrained him using a spell she had learned to keep ponies in a certain place for as long as it was conjured, and destroyed his other leg as he was helpless. He was roaring in pain and struggling to become free from her magical restraint, which was not working.

Twilight magically crafted a blade from the steel from his prosthetic legs, and had a devious look on her face. She crawled towards Morior's head, and wielded this blade. Then, she started to violently hack at Morior's horn, causing him to yell out in agony and still trying to escape her restraints. She continued until his horn was severed and all that was left was a bloody crater where the horn used to be, and she then tossed it into the lava below.

"Please, Twilight Sparkle, let me go, I won't hurt your friends and I'll free my citizens, just please don't kill me!" Morior started to beg, and he was weak and powerless.

Twilight simply smiled, freed him of his restraints and he was trying to stay balanced with two missing limbs that were still there, but worn down to the bone.

"Thank you, Twilight Sparkle, I am forever grateful" Morior applauded.

"Heh, you had your chance, but you blew it Morior"

Twilight said that, as her eyes started to glow green once again and emit the purple smoke, conjuring a dark magic spell. Morior was being targeted by Twilight's horn, and he desperately tried to turn into his green mist form to escape her, but that was impossible, as he was now weak and helpless. Twilight started to hover in the air, as she was beginning to cast her spell onto Morior.

"Noooooooo!" Morior yelled out.

Twilight then fired off her magical aura onto the king, surrounding him with a thick, grey smoke as his scream was cut short. Twilight knew her spell worked, and that the once boastful king has been defeated and now fallen silent. Once the smoke cleared, it was revealed Twilight had used the same spell she had used earlier on the door guard to the dungeon, and had turned King Morior into a glass figure, sitting down with his hands covering his face completely frozen in glass. Twilight then turned around and bucked the king's now glass-formed head, causing it to shatter into pieces and ultimately killing him, and she then pushed the rest of his glass body into the lava pit below, to sit there for the rest of time.

Twilight used her magic to break open the cage her friends were locked in and freed them, then looked over and saw Cadance, still lying there.

"Oh no, Cadance!" Twilight shouted, beginning to cry once again,

Twilight hopped to the platform Cadance was lying on.

She expected the worst...

Saying Goodbye

Twilight hopped over each pillar, and made it to where Cadance was lying. She took a glance at the pink alicorn and saw the deep gash in Cadance's chest caused by Morior's horn, which by now has been destroyed in the lava. Twilight just looked happy, as Cadance started to move, and turned over to face Twilight.

"Cadance, you're alive!" Twilight shouted in glee.

"Nothing...nothing can keep me from you, Twilight" Cadance remarked, breathing deep and heavy.

Twilight noticed Cadance was not well at all, the gash where Cadance was struck in the chest was blood red, with a forest green glow. Morior must have cast a spell to make his horn poisonous, as he was well trained in the dark arts, as well as spells that he could use to his advantage to execute other ponies in such a fashion that he had done on Cadance.

"Twilight..." Cadance called weakly.

"Yes, Cadance?" Twilight responded.

"I realize I don't *cough* have much time left" Cadance muttered, starting to become weaker, and light headed.

"Yes you do Cadance, you can fight through this, I won't let you leave me!" Twilight yelled, sobbing ever so loudly.

"Twilight, I'm sorry that...that it had to be this way, but I was *cough* doing what was best to help you...." Cadance replied, starting to choke up over the sobbing mare.

"I don't want you to go Cadance, Morior's magic can't take you away!" Twilight started to tightly hug Cadance.

Cadance returned the hug.

"Listen, the re..*cough* reason I stepped in was s-so you and your friends could be safe, it would break my heart to have seen you in this situation instead of me. You and your friends have your whole lives ahead of you Twilight, and I want you to enjoy those years, and I want you to let Shining Armor know that.. *cough* ...even if I'm gone in the physical world, our love will stand the test of time"

Twilight's crying slowed, and she had a smile shine across her face, sniffling and hugging Cadance even tighter.

"I'll let him know, Cadance, that you were the best foalsitter, and the best sister a pony could have ever asked for" she commented.

Hearing this brought more tears to Cadance's eyes, and a smile started to appear as she gave Twilight a kiss on the forehead, and fixed Twilight's messy mane.

"And most of all, my love for you remains until the end of time, Twilight, you were my favorite foal" Cadanced giggled.

"Sunshine sunshine..." Twilight began.

"...ladybugs awake..." Cadance continued weakly

"Clap your hooves"

"And do a little shake..." both said in unison.

As they finished, Twilight felt Cadance's body get heavier as she went limp, her consciousness faded, and her vital signs no longer visible, it was the moment Twilight did not want to see happen

Cadance was gone.

Twilight just buried her face into Cadance's chest and started to weep, now that one of the most influential people she had ever known was gone, moving on to the spirit world. Twilight picked up and started to carry Cadance's lifeless body out of the underground room, with assistance of her friends as she was not exactly light.

The ponies had started to walk out of the palace's front door, all with somber expressions on their faces as they carried Cadance's remains back to the town square. This caught the attention of the citizens, who had questioned the actions of these ponies.

"Do not be on alert, people of the Mernallian Empire, as King Morior has been defeated, and is now dead and gone" Twilight proclaimed, much to the enjoyment of the citizens.

"But...he was not the only casualty..." she continued, as the citizens gazed upon the the pony hidden underneath one of Morior's capes, that he had never worn.

The citizens all looked at the six ponies along with their dragon carrying the body out of the empire underneath the cape, as they walked over to the train station. Once they arrived, the six placed Cadance in the caboose of the train, while Spike went ahead and boarded the train. As soon as all of her friends had boarded in the back of the train, close enough to Cadance, Twilight went over to tell the conductor they were ready to go.

"Take us to Canterlot, no stops along the way please" Twilight requested.

The conductor nodded his head, and Twilight boarded the front car of the train. She requested to her friends that they be closer to the cadaver, and Twilight wanted to be alone for a while so she would sit in the front, away from her friends. She buried her head into the train's seat and took a nap, awaiting to be in Canterlot within a few hours, but before Twilight nodded off, she decided to write a special letter to Princess Celestia, telling her of the situation at hand.

"Dear Princess Celestia...

We have done what was asked of us, and we had put an end to King Morior's reign as he was removed of his magic horn, turned to glass and ultimately destroyed. But not all went to plan, as Cadance was fatally wounded as she tried to rescue me and my friends. We are on our way to the castle with Cadance's remains, I request we have a small funeral ceremony, just you, Luna, me, my friends, Spike and Shining Armor. It's what she would have wanted...

Your faithful student

Twilight Sparkle..."

She decided to go to the back of the train, as she teleported to the back of the train where her friends were. They were surprised to see her, as she had requested to be alone for the trip.

"What'cha doing here, sugarcube? I thought ya needed your privacy?" Applejack asked.

"I'm just here for Spike. I have a letter for you to deliver to Princess Celestia, she needs to be informed before we get to Canterlot" Twilight responded.

"Spike, can you do this for me?"

"I would love to, Twilight" Spike replied.

Spike picked up the letter, breathed his fire upon the letter and watched as it disappeared into thin air, on it's way to Princess Celestia.

She must know.

Princess Celestia was upon her balcony, raising the sun as her job was to do such. Once the sun had reached a perfect point in the sky, she noticed a letter had bounced off her flowing mane. She picked up the letter, and opened it. Once she had read halfway through the letter, she was left with her mouth wide open, and a stuffy feeling in her throat. Reading that Cadance was caught in the crossfire of King Morior just devastated her. Celestia had looked around for her sister, and once she spotted Luna lying on the bed, she called over to her.

"Luna, call Shining Armor to the castle as soon as possible" Celestia commanded.

"What's this about, big sister, is he in trouble?" Luna questioned.

"No, this is for matters that are personal, now go retrieve him" Celestia replied.

Luna was running out of the bedroom, and off to find Shining Armor. As the captain of the royal guard, he wasn't very hard to find among his fellow guards. After 5 minutes, Luna was able to spot Shining, and she trotted over to him.

"Shining Armor, Princess Celestia has requested your company in the castle immediately" Luna ordered.

"Am I in trouble, Princess?" Shining wondered.

"No, it's matters of personal business, now follow me" Luna commanded.

Luna made it to the bedroom with Shining Armor, and knocked on the door to get Celestia's attention. Celestia turned around to see her sister and Shining Armor standing in the doorway, both confused as to why they were alerted of a personal emergency.

"Princess Celestia, what's wrong?" Shining Armor asked the princess.

"I think you two need to read this letter I just received from Twilight, it's very important" Celestia stated.

Celestia handed the letter over to Shining Armor, who opened it and held it infront of himself and Luna, so they could both read the contents. As they both read, both were just left with blank expressions, but Shining Armor then turned around to face the wall. Audible sniffling could be heard coming from the stallion.

"Are you okay, Shining Armor?" Luna asked,

"I'm fine..." Shining Armor replied, feigning to keep strong, but his facade was not working.

Shining Armor just turned around to face Celestia, tears were visible in his eyes as he just ran to her and hugged her tightly, heartbroken over hearing Cadance's fate. The fact that he had lost his wife to the evil king was just too much for him to handle. Celestia put one hoof around him and comforted the poor stallion, clearly hurting from such a tragedy.

"It's going to be okay, I'll go retrieve the rest of your squad to help out with the ceremony. Luna, you stay here with Shining Armor, he needs someone to be there for him" Celestia told Luna.

"Understood, big sister" Luna replied.

The train was in distance of Canterlot Castle, as the castle was clearly visible over the hill. Twilight had just woken up from her nap, stretching her legs and fixing her messy mane. She took a look out of the window to see that they were pulling up into the train station, so she had decided to teleport herself to the back of the train with her friends. She made it to see her friends were awake, tired but awake. The train pulled to a stop as they made it to their destination.

"Alright girls, we're here. Let's get Cadance and head to the castle" Twilight alerted the ponies and Spike.

They all exited the train car and proceeded to the caboose, where Cadance was lying in the back. They lifted up her body onto their backs, while Spike proceeded to cover her in the cape they took from the castle. As they made their way to the castle, the guards could be seen with somber expressions as they saw the six ponies carrying what looked to be a body covered in a black cape towards the castle, and they slowly but surely made their way to the garden outside of the castle's ballroom, which had hosted the Grand Galloping Gala on many occasions. As they got to the garden, they saw Celestia, Luna and Shining Armor waiting there for them, as the rest of Shining Armor's squad walk over to the girls, and had given the girls a break from carrying Cadance so they could assist bringing her over.

"Twiley!" Shining Armor called out to his sister.

"Shining Armor!" Twilight responded, running over to her brother.

She simply gave him a big, strong hug as he returned the favor, and gave her a kiss on the forehead, showing sibling affection.

"So, how have you been holding up big brother?" Twilight asked.

"I'm alright for the most part, just..." he stopped.

"Just what?" Twilight asked.

He started to tear up, and just hugged his sister again, making her start to tear up seeing her brother in such a way.

"I can't believe I never got to say goodbye..." Shining Armor whispered, fighting off tears.

"I'm very sorry, big brother. But when I deliver my eulogy, I'm going to deliver you a message that she told me before...well, you know"

"She...she mentioned me?" Shining Armor questioned.

"In her dying moments..."

The priest pony made his way towards the podium, ready to deliver his speech.

"We are gathered here today, to remember Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Princess Cadance as she liked to have been known. I understand all of you have your piece to say on our departed friend, so if you may, come up and say your piece" the priest said.

Applejack was the first up to the podium. She removed her signature Stetson and began.

"Ah remember Princess Cadance by her lovin' heart, since she was the element of love after all. Ah remember being the chef for her weddin' the day the Changelings attacked, she really enjoyed what I had prepared, and that definitely was a moment to remember that not only did ah know that she enjoyed mah cooking, but she also enjoyed mah presence. She'll have a special place in my heart" Applejack told her story, as she walked over to her body and placed a single rose.

Up next was Rarity, who was known to be very emotional.

"I remember the princess as being one of the most refined, but most genuine ponies I've ever known. When she saw her wedding dress that I had done for her, she lit up and that was my seal of approval, I could tell she loved me, and...and...oh!" Rarity whimpered, starting to burst into tears, simply walking away from the podium,

Rainbow, Pinkie and Fluttershy all made their testimonies, acknowledging her great attitude, personality and the moments that really made her and them shine.

Shining Armor made his way to the podium, to give his final say on his wife.

"I remember my beautiful wife Cadance for always being there when I needed her, and for being the reason Twilight was so happy throughout her days as a filly. She would let Twilight have the kind of childhood I had from my foalsitter, but Cadance was one of a kind: A great foalsitter, a loving sister to Twilight, and my beautiful wife..." Shining Armor said, placing his single rose.

Last up to the podium was Twilight, who was ready to give her speech.

"What I remember Cadance for, was being there for me and being the best foal sitter I have ever known. She was the kindest, most whole-hearted mare I have ever known. And even though she's gone, she had left a message for her loving husband. She told me on her dying breaths that even though she may be gone in the physical world, her dying love for Shining Armor, her gracious husband, will stand the test of time, and nothing will ever tear it apart. I know that she would have wanted us to be strong, and be able to continue our days, and enjoy our lives to the fullest until our time had come, she would have wanted us to be happy. And Cadance, if you can hear us, we will live up to your will, I love you..." Twilight finished, placing a single white rose among the pile of red roses.

"Sunshine sunshine, ladybugs awake, clap your hooves and do a little shake..." Twilight sang.

Twilight walked over and hugged her brother, her teacher and then Luna, and went back over to her friends who were waiting to comfort her in her time of need. Shining Armor's squad began to place Cadance's body onto the funeral pyre, but beforehand, Shining requested to see Cadance for the last time, to have some closure. His squad allowed this, and Shining uncovered Cadance's head from under the cape, looking like she was simply in a deep sleep looking as beautiful as she ever did. He gave her a kiss on the head and wiped a tear from his face.

"Goodbye, my love" Shining Armor whispered.

He covered her head back up with the cape, and heard was one of Shining Armor's squad members start to play a song on the trumpet. The song he was playing fit the mood well, as Shining's right-hand man picked up the torch that was waiting by the pyre, and ignited the wooden pyre. As Cadance was being cremated, he simply turned to Twilight who was by his side, and he put her arm around her as they watched the inferno blaze on.

"She was truly one of a kind, Twiley" Shining said, tears streaming down his face, but with a smile on his face, happy to have closure.

"She really was, big brother" Twilight responded.

"I'm just ashamed of myself that I couldn't save her"

"Hey, don't think like that Twilight, you know Cadance did what she did because she wanted you to have a good life. While she may be gone now, you still have a long life ahead of you, so make the best of it. Like you said, it's what she would have wanted" Shining Armor responded.

Twilight simply hugged her brother back for making her feel better.

"Thank you big brother, I love you" Twilight praised.

"I love you too, Twilight, don't you ever forget it" Shining Armor replied.

"Twilight..." called out a very familiar voice.

Twilight turned her head to the left, to see a transparent figure appear, it was the spirit of Cadance,

"Thank you for all you've done, you were the best filly I've ever known" the spirit said.

"I'm going to miss you Cadance, I love you" Twilight whispered to the spirit.

"I love you too, sweetheart. I shall see you again one day, and we will be all together once again" assured Cadance.

As the spirit of Cadance faded into the air, moving onto the next world, Twilight simply looked up to the sky, without a cloud in it and smiled, knowing that one day she will see her again.

She had received closure, she was complete.

She was happy.

The End