Twilight was wondering what Canterlot would be like, now that there was a blindingly clear statement of war. She ended up finding out about five minutes later when the drone flew into the view of Canterlot. The city was covered in Shining Armor's shield spell, and was prepared for defense. Just how prepared it was however, Twilight got to witness for herself. As soon as they came close enough to make out that there were ponies manning the defenses, they were fired upon. Spears of light poured from the shield, and the drone dodged them all. Volley after volley was dodged before the captain of the royal guard recognized them.

"Cease fire!" He yelled, and the light stopped.

Twilight's brother ordered the shield down to let them in, and when they were far enough the shield went right back up.

"What are you doing here Twilie? Everypony thought you guys were dead! We heard that Ponyville was destroyed, and everypony was sure you guys were gone, but I knew you weren't!" The captain ran up to her sister and gave her a hug.

"We barely survived, but we are here and that is all that matters, I would like to meet with the princesses please. I think they would want to know what happened."

"It's just a princess now Twilie, Luna was taken and that entire part of the castle is gone."

"How is that possible? I need answers Shining, and I also need to see princess Celestia."

"Well okay, you can go see her, but I might have to kill this thing."

"Now!" This time it was Fluttershy. "Don't you dare touch him, he's been through enough already!"

"Okay, calm down Fluttershy. I'l see what I can do."

"I'm coming with you then."

"Okay, follow me. Twilie, go ahead and see the princess."

Fluttershy followed her brother, and Twilight, needing answers, went to go see princess Celestia. They were waiting at the bottom of the main stairs for Fluttershy, who showed herself after about ten minutes.

"Is he okay?" Twilight asked.

"He is fine, they gave him food, and water, and a nice place to rest."

"Good, let's go." Twilight said hurriedly.

The Elements of Harmony made their way up the stairs and saw several legendary beings, who all bowed for them as they walked. Twilight didn't even doubt that they were real at this point, she knew where they had come from, and that they were here to help. She didn't know why they bowed to them though, and apparently neither did her friends, because they all gave her curious looks. They made their way to the throne room of the palace, and found Celestia pacing back and forth in the middle of the room. As she looked up she saw Twilight and her friends and found new hope. Now they had at least a chance of winning.

"Twilight! I am so glad your here with your friends, we need your help desperately! And before you ask, no, I cannot answer your questions, but I need you to do something."

"What do you need princess?" Twilight was more than a little flustered.

"I need you and your friends to dawn the Elements, and train to fight in the coming battle."

There wasn't much decision to be debated here, after all Twilight had seen Death rip apart Discord, been there when one of his bombs went off, and knew that he had taken princess Luna. She also knew that since the princess had called in beings from another world, she needed all the help she could get.

"Okay, when do we start?"

No one argued with her, they all knew the danger that Equestria was in, and everyone wanted to help. Celestia then used magic her magic to levitate six sets of armor over to them, each one was made of gemstone plates that were custom molded for each of the mares, and had each of the pony's element infused into it.

"These sets of armor will protect you from just about anything that can hurt you, and contain each of your elements so that you can use them while wearing the armor. Also, once you put on the armor each of you will have either amplified magic, or their own magic, along with the knowledge to use it. They were personally made for you by Haphaestus, and fit perfectly to your form, so that there won't be any discomfort."

"Well thanks princess, but we still don't know what ta do with 'em after we put 'em on." Applejack said.

"You will know what to do soon enough, but I need you all to agree to this by placing your hooves on the helmet of the armor."

They all walked over and placed their hooves on the helmets. The armor separated into individual plates and floated to the correct places on the bodies of the ponies. For Rainbow and Fluttershy the armor molded to their wings, and caused an increase to their wingspan, they now had crystal wings with a ten foot wingspan. The wings were able to move freely, and offered great improvements to their ability to fly. For Rarity and Twilight, armor increased the length, sharpness, and magical ability of their horns. Their horns, now about a foot long, amplified their power to the point where it rivaled Celestia's. As for Applejack and Pinkie, Applejack's armor gave her new found strength. Applejack was now roughly seven times stronger than her brother, who was the strongest pony in Equestria. Pinkie gained speed and agility, so that now she could be like the ninja she sometimes pretended to be. As far as the magic that the armor gave them, well, that was also unique. Applejack gained control of the rocks underneath her hooves, Pinkie gained the power to speed up or slow down time, Rainbow gained power over the wind, Fluttershy gained power over the animals, Rarity gained more powerful telekinetics, and Twilight gained access to all known combat magic. The entire group in itself gained pieces of a spell that will wipe out all of the enemies of the group. Celestia looked like she wanted to say something, but was completely silent. The group turned around, and saw shadows bleeding under the doors and blackening the windows, slowly taking over the entire room.

"Well, what do we have here?" A growl comes through the shadows.

"What have you done with my sister!" Celestia yells.

"Why do you disrespect me?" You ask calmly.

"You're a monster!"

"That's mean don't you think?"

"Yer nothin' but a bully!" Applejack replied.

"And yet you're scared of me. The big tough farm pony is scared, the princess is scared, the diva is scared, the pink pony is thinking of a rave for some strange reason, the fastest pegasus ever is thinking of running-"

"Am not!" Rainbow yelled defensivley.

"Silence mortal! Even the leader of your little group is cowering. In fact, the only pony here that isn't afraid is the one that has every right to be. She has even met one of the terrors of my army but she is more courageous than you Celestia, mighty goddess of the sun!"

The shadow that was overtaking the room crashed inwards, blocking out all light. It started to swirl around each pony and started forming shapes.

"Your nightmares are here little ponies, and I will make them come true, every last one of them. I am so powerful that all living things fear me and they haven't even met me, everything fears death, and the man who doesn't fear anything is a fool. Are you fools? No? Then fear me. Fear me!"

The shadows bellow at the individual ponies as they start to form shapes and show them different events. Applejack sees Big Macintosh lying on the ground, eviscerated, and bleeding, his insides spilled out on the floor, calling her name for the last time, while she tries to tell him that she is there. Rarity sees every dress she had ever made go up in flames, and she starts crying. Pinkie sees one of her parties being booed and made fun of, and just sits, staring uncomprehendingly at the sight. Fluttershy sees her animal friends tearing down her cottage in anger, because she wasn't there to help them, she just curls up in a ball on the floor and whimpers asking you to stop. Twilight sees Shining Armor's skin melt away until he is nothing but a skeleton.

"What's wrong Twilie? What's the matter?" He asks, apparently not knowing his fate.

All Twilight can do is stare with horror at her undead brother, and scream as he walks closer, constantly asking her what is happening to him. Rainbow sees someone trying to break the sound barrier, and failing. She laughs when they fly off in a random direction, but then realizes that she was laughing at herself when she notices everyone in the crowd pointing at her and laughing. All Rainbow can do is yell for them to stop, but it doesn't do anything. Celestia can hear her ponies yelling and sobbing, and wonders what on earth you could possibly be doing to them. The cloud of shadow never surrounded her though, and she was also wondering what was going to happen.

"Everypony else gets a horrible vision! Where's mine Death, do you think you've already taken everything from me?" Celestia yells into the shadows.

"I would like to believe that this little vision is terrifying enough." You growl as you walk out of the cloud with Luna next to you, bound with chains made of unbreakable shadow.

"What?" She can't comprehend this, Celestia thought she had lost her sister forever. "What did you do to her?" She yells.

"I took her with me, fed her, bathed her, and treated her nicely is all."

"Let her go this instant you monster!"

"Oh, but I think she would rather stay with me."

"Let her go!" Celestia screamed in rage.

"Well, i'll put her in between us, and then we can see who she chooses."

"Just let her go." Celestia was pleading with you now.

You walk with Luna into the space between you and Celestia, and walk away. What happens next though is something that not even Celestia could handle. You release Luna from her chains, and Celestia calls out to her, but all Luna does is get up, and walk back to you.

"Well that's interesting." You growl with amusement.

"No! Luna! Come back! This isn't possible! It's not real!" Celestia is sobbing with anguish.

"Ah, that would be true if you were in that cloud, but as you can see, you aren't. Therefore this is entirely real."

"No no no no no. This isn't real. No!"

"Come now Luna, let's go home."

"Yes, lord." Luna says not feeling the slightest bit of sorrow for her sister.

"Kill me! Kill me Death! Do your job!" Celestia yells into thin air. The shadow had disappeared a while ago.

She sees her faithful ponies lying on the ground in her throne room, weeping and trembling at the horrendous sights they had just seen, and realized that there was no hope. No hope for their survival. No hope for their sanity. And no hope for life anywhere. She decided that she wouldn't let you leave her that easily, so she shatters the window, and takes a few steps back.

"Princess Celestia, what are you going to do?" Fluttershy asked, being the first to recover.

"My sweet little pony, tell your friends that I said good bye and that I love them."

With that last statement Celestia took a deep breath, ran forward, and jumped, hoping for nothing more than the sweet release of death.

Author's Note

All constructive criticism and compliments are accepted.