Fall of the Princess

Twilight Sparkle was woken by a deafening explosion.

She rolled from her bed. A dull ringing filled her head. The world was shaking. She looked up and saw the night sky surrounded by flames. The top of her tree had been seared off and the remaining branches were on fire. Smoke billowed up as the flames crawled down into her home.

The ground shook again. Another explosion. Twilight hadn't heard that one. She couldn't hear anything. She looked around. There was no order to her home anymore. Every piece of furniture had been toppled. Her personal effects, mostly books, lay everywhere.

Get out.

She felt herself call for Spike. She was moving now, stumbling down the fragments of steps. Some of the books she trampled over were among her most prized possessions, but right then they meant nothing to her. They could not provide her a way out.

The door was on fire. The only exit Twilight could see was a splintered break at the base where the tree had been partially uprooted. She dug frantically at the gap until it was just wide enough for her to squeeze out.

Once she was out, she turned and looked around for Spike. She should have looked for him inside but there had been no time. The tree was already collapsing in on itself. She had to move back.

An enormous ball of fire barreled across the sky and exploded into the ground not fifty feet away. The impact shook the earth. Twilight lost her footing and dropped to her knees. More waves of heat seared her and stung her eyes. Turning her face away, she tried to stand again on legs as weak as water.

She was running. To where? To whom? There was nothing left. Every building, every structure in the town was consumed by fire. The roads were destroyed. Smoldering debris and bodies lay everywhere. The ponies that were still alive ran aimless and frantic. Twilight could see them screaming, suffering, but she could not hear them.

She looked at each pony she passed. There was Mr and Mrs Cake. Mrs Cake's hind legs were broken and Mr Cake was trying vainly to drag her to safety. There was the Mayor, screaming and thrashing on the ground as fire devoured her. There was Cheerilee's body. There was Diamond Tiara's body. One pony that Twilight did not personally know had been trapped under burning debris. He was a brown pony with a black mane. He was still alive and trying desperately to pull himself free, but his hindquarters were crushed. He looked at Twilight and yelled something. Twilight looked at him but kept running.

Then Twilight spotted Pinkie Pie standing frozen on top of a giant pile of rubble that had once been a grand fountain in the middle of the town square.

Twilight skidded to a halt at the base of the pile. Her body shivered.

"Pinkie!" she screamed, still unable to hear anything. Her own voice sounded as though she were under water. Beyond Pinkie she could see more fire balls streaking down from the sky like giant comets.

Pinkie Pie didn't move. She glared at something in the distance. Her ears were perked and her legs were braced as though holding fast against some powerful force. A gust of wind swept smoke and dust around her.

Twilight scrambled up the pile of rubble. This was not a dream and yet she was dreaming because nothing could affect her right now. Her brain had shut down and allowed her to deal with only the most immediate concerns. She thought nothing of the fact that she had just seen several of her friends dead, or that she had never confirmed Spike's whereabouts.

"Pinkie!" she shouted again and butted her head into the side of the pink pony's neck.

Jostled, Pinkie turned and stared at Twilight, her face as blank and still as a pool.

"I saw them," Pinkie yelled.

Twilight grabbed Pinkie's mane in her teeth and tugged hard. Pinkie didn't resist and the two of them tumbled down the pile of broken stone. They landed side by side. Twilight was the first to her feet and she hauled Pinkie up with her.

"Run!" she shouted, and Pinkie ran. Twilight also ran. She had no destination in mind. She couldn't think that far ahead. The only thing she knew was that the world was collapsing around them and they needed to keep running because this place was not safe. There were no buildings left intact. Every structure in Ponyville had either caught fire or been reduced to rubble, and fire continued to rain.

Twilight could only hope that Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Apple Jack were ok because there was nothing she could do for them at the moment. She could not stop, could not think, could not form a plan. All of her efforts now were focused on staying alive. Every time a fire ball hit the earth it caused a quake that made them stumble.

The forest beyond the town was a wall of fire. Pinkie Pie slowed down but Twilight head butted her again.

"Keep going!"

The two dashed blindly into the burning forest. The trees were nothing but tall flaming pillars surrounding them on all sides. The smoke and heat were near unbearable. Woodland creatures ran with them. Twilight looked at a buck running alongside her. The buck's fur had caught fire. At least her hearing was returning. Now instead of a monotonous ring she could actually hear the screaming.

The two ponies had to find their own way. There were no trails in this forest. They leapt over fallen trees and dodged burning branches that fell from above.

Then up ahead, Twilight caught sight of a dark shadow in the flames. Was that a way out? She blinked and looked closer. No. The shadow was moving. It was a figure, something coming towards her. She couldn't stop fast enough so she simply dropped to the ground and slid to a halt on her flank. Pinkie dropped and rolled.

Parting the flames like curtains, the figure came close. Twilight could hear the deep crunch of blackened leaves under its feet. She gazed up and found herself staring at an alicorn. She gasped and scrambled backwards.

This alicorn was like none she had ever seen or heard of. It was a dark red stallion, twice the size of Princess Celestia, in full armor barding. His face was shielded by a black champron but Twilight could see the white glow of his eyes. His mane and tail were black and his hooves shone like obsidian.

Most amazingly of all, there was a being mounted on the alicorn's back. The being looked like a cloud of black mist that had been stuffed into crude leather armor. The being had only the vague outline of a head with long pointy ears. Two red pockets set in the face were its eyes, and when it opened its mouth Twilight could see rows of silver teeth as long as a dragon's claw. Strapped to its saddle was a large curved horn. In its right hand the rider wielded a double headed axe as big as Twilight herself.

The alicorn turned side long and the rider swiped its axe at Twilight's head. Twilight ducked and scooted backwards. The axe came down again and Twilight rolled, but not quick enough. The blade sliced her open from shoulder to belly. She screamed more from shock than pain, though the pain came quick and rendered her immobile. Twilight saw the gash in her side and watched blood pour out over her belly. The bright red fascinated her. She'd never seen so much blood before.

That's all me. That's my life.

She heard Pinkie scream behind her. Lazily she turned her head to see another alicorn stepping from amid the smoke and fire. This alicorn was another stallion, bright yellow with a red mane and tail. He too carried a shadow rider.

Twilight felt Pinkie's arms sliding under her own and then she was being dragged. The movement caused her wound to yawn open and she screamed wretchedly.

There was nowhere to go. The red alicorn was in front of them and the yellow one was behind them. Twilight was too dumbfounded to be afraid anymore.

The rider of the yellow alicorn spoke to the rider of the red alicorn. Its voice was deep and resonant like the growl of an ancient beast rumbling from a pit. Twilight could not understand the language but the sound of it made her shiver. The rider pointed to Twilight's horn as it spoke. The red alicorn rider shook its head and snapped a screeching reply.

"It's alright, Pinkie," Twilight said. "We're going to be alright." By which she meant to say that their deaths would surely be swift and not tortuous.

Pinkie Pie dropped Twilight and stood over her, looking back and forth between the two alicorns.

"Don't worry, I think I got this," she said.

Twilight looked up and saw the normally cheerful pony's determined expression and knew at once what Pinkie was thinking. Even in what could possibly be their last minutes of life, Pinkie Pie's cutie mark was urging her to try and make these demon horses smile.

"Hey!" Pinkie shouted at the red alicorn.

Suddenly the red alicorn was plucked from the ground like a doll and sent crashing into one of the burning trees. The tree snapped like a twig and the top portion came toppling down. Alicorn and rider both became pinned beneath the weight. The rider screamed and wailed so loudly that Twilight covered her ears.

Without a blink, Pinkie Pie turned and frowned at the yellow alicorn.

"Hey!" she shouted.

The yellow alicorn was blown straight up as though it had been standing on a geyser. Twilight watched the alicorn twisting to try and right itself as it flew up and up into the black night sky.

Pinkie Pie stood wide eyed and her ears fell in disbelief.

Twilight laid her head down. The blood loss was sapping her strength quickly.

"Best joke you've ever told, Pinkie," she said.

The red alicorn snorted as he struggled back to his feet. His rider hacked at the flaming branches with his axe and finally threw off the great mass of broken tree.

The rider screamed a terrible shrieking sound that echoed for miles. The alicorn started to charged but was stopped in his tracks by a powerful gust of wind. He glared up.

Princess Celestia descended through the canopy of fire and landed directly over Twilight and Pinkie Pie.

Twilight struggled to get to her feet. Without a word Celestia ducked her head and touched the tip of her nose to the wound in Twilight's belly. At once the pain began to fade and Twilight watched in awe as the fibers of skin and muscle sewed themselves together. When it was done there was only a bald strip where the gash had been.

"Sweet mother of Celestia!" Pinkie shouted.

Twilight's jaw dropped. Until that very moment she'd thought healing magic was nothing but a myth. Certainly there were small spells for aches and ailments. Any basic user of magic could master those. But the level of magic she had just witnessed was the kind that could regenerate lost limbs and make paralyzed ponies able to walk again.

The shadow rider narrowed its eyes.

"Celestia," it hissed, the word seething from between its teeth with slender curls of black smoke. The rider grabbed the horn hanging from its saddle and raised it to its mouth.

Instead of making any sound, the horn sucked out all sounds from the area. The lack of reverberations made everything seem very close. Time slowed. The air went still and stale. Twilight felt as though she were laying in a tomb that hadn't been opened in a thousand years. She could still hear, but every sound happened inside her skull- the crackle of the fire, the rustle of Celestia's wings, the brittle crunch of burned grass beneath her feet... Her body shivered from cold. She wasn't moving and yet she was falling away from the world. Invisible walls were closing in around her. Loneliness and fear bloomed in her chest. She was alone. No one could help her. No one could save her, not even Princess Celestia. She was going to die.

Then it was over. The rider lowered the horn.

Pinkie Pie clamped her arms around Twilight's neck. Twilight looked at the other pony and gasped at the haunted face staring back at her. Pinkie's eyes were wide with pupils the size of pin points. Tears streaked her face.

"Horror," Pinkie whispered.

There was no time for consolation. From the burning forest around them, shadows split open and dozens of alicorns marched forward. All of the alicorns were heavily armored. They ranged in color from red to black to yellow to purple to green to grey. On every alicorn was mounted a shadow rider. Half of the riders bore weapons. The other half bore coils of glowing golden rope.

Princess Celestia dropped to her knees over Twilight and Pinkie. Twilight laid flat on her belly and Pinkie pressed close to her side.

"Stay down," Celestia said. She spread her wings with a loud snap and then lowered them to shield the ponies beneath her. She ducked her head and her long horn glowed red.

The wind began to pick up. It swirled softly at first, nothing more than a breeze that ruffled Twilight's mane. Then the branches of the trees began to bow and sway. Clouds of embers were shaken free and drifted along with the steadily growing flurry. Twilight heard a dull crunch and looked up to see one of the trees toppling.

The alicorns had halted. Their riders raised their shields against flying debris. The riders were shouting things in their dark tongue and the combined noise made Twilight think of what Hell must sound like.

The wind became stronger still. Twilight shut her eyes and turned her face into Pinkie Pie's mane. Something ripped and crunched all around them. The sound of the cyclone had risen to a deafening roar. Beyond the roar Twilight could hear the screams of the alicorns and their riders.

"What's going on?" Pinkie Pie shouted.

"I don't know," Twilight yelled back. She was too afraid to open her eyes. How much louder was it going to get? How much longer was it going to last? She just wanted it to stop. She had never been so terrified in all her life. At any moment she was sure she was going to burst into tears, but that wouldn't do. Not in front of Princess Celestia. She had to be better than that.

Princess Celestia stood up and grabbed the ponies by their tails.

The next thing Twilight knew, she was sailing up into the air. She opened her eyes and watched as the dark earth fell away beneath her.

Dark earth?

Hadn't they just been in the middle of a raging forest fire?

Then Twilight looked around. The burning forest was churning and swirling around them. Princess Celestia was flying up through the eye of an enormous tornado. The eye alone must have been at least a mile wide. Caught up in the force of the cyclone Twilight could see the alicorns and the shadow riders. And the trees! There were so many trees. The whole forest must have been ripped up by its ancient roots.

"Watch out!" Pinkie pie screamed.

An alicorn had managed to break free from the wind storm and was swooping up straight towards them. Celestia rolled and narrowly managed to avoid it. The alicorn spread its giant wings and glided around in a circle, then came down for another approach. Its rider was twirling one of those golden ropes. A lasso.

The lasso shot straight by Celestia's head. Celestia glared at the rider. She slowed her descent long enough to aim her horn at the alicorn.

Twilight felt a sudden burst of heat and a red beam of energy blasted from Celestia's horn. The beam coiled around the alicorn and its rider like a serpent, then snapped in on itself. Alicorn and rider were shredded.

Ribbons, was all Twilight could think as she watched the bodies plummet to the earth. Celestia had turned them into ribbons of meat and bone.

Twilight threw up. Her head spun. Celestia was ascending again. She flew up out of the eye of the storm and leveled off. Below them Twilight stared at the giant tornado of fire. Beyond the tornado the earth was completely black except for other fires that dotted the landscape. One of those fires was Ponyville.

Celestia flew to the craggy peak of a mountain. In the side of the mountain was wide ledge where she alighted and dropped the ponies.

Twilight got to her feet. She felt nauseous and so weak she could barely stand.

"Princess," she said, but she could not think of anything else to say. She had so many questions, so many fears. Answers could wait. The only thing she really needed to hear now was that everything was going to be alright. This was a terrible nightmare but Princess Celestia could make it right.

But when Twilight looked at the Princess she didn't find the comforting smile she had hoped for. The Princess looked grim and cold. She was breathing heavily as she shoved off her royal adornments. The crown, peytral, and golden shoes ended up in a pile. The Princess shook out her long, flowing mane.

In the distance the fire storm had died. Twilight could hear the faint screams of the shadow riders and see the glow of their lassos. They were coming.

"Stay here," the Princess said. "You'll be safe." She lowered her head and nuzzled her nose against Pinkie Pie, then Twilight. "My ponies. My wonderful ponies," she whispered. "Be good."

And then she was gone, flying off into the night like a bright white comet.

Twilight paced the length of the ledge.

"We have to do something," she said. "We have to help her!"

Pinkie Pie sat away from the ledge. Her attention was fixated on Celestia's white glow currently arcing across the sky. Behind the white glow was a black swarm of alicorns.

"There's nothing we can do," Pinkie replied softly. "You saw those things."

"No. No." Twilight shook her head. "There must be something. Some spell or- Oh!" She whirled and looked at the other pony. "The Elements of Harmony!"

Pinkie's ears dropped. "The Elements of Harmony are back in Ponyville, you know that. And assuming that we're able to get there in time and actually find them..." She looked away.

Twilight's heart sank. Pinkie didn't have to say it. Neither of them knew if any of their friends were still alive. If they were missing even one member of their team, the Elements were useless.

A loud crack of lightning startled the ponies. Twilight looked and saw Celestia's light growing brighter and brighter.

"She's like a star," Pinkie whispered.

The light filled the sky as brightly as the sun. For a few brief moments the night turned to day and Twilight could see the army of alicorns surrounding the Princess. Then a white ring of light flashed out with a thunderous crack, and the star that was Princess Celestia plummeted towards the earth along with at least two hundred slain alicorns.

Celestia impacted the earth like a meteor and the sank the ground for miles like the hoofprint of an angry god. A concussion spread in all directions.

"Get down," Twilight said. She huddled with Pinkie and together they pressed themselves close to the cliff face. The blast reached them a few moments later. Wind swept over them. The whole mountain rumbled. Boulders were shaken free and tumbled down the cliff face. A portion of the ledge shattered and fell away.

Down below there was now a canyon surrounded by crude roils of earth.

Twilight got up.

"I'm not staying here," she said. "Not while Princess Celestia is in danger." When she had to tell the others what had happened, she wanted to be able to say she had tried.

She made her way to the ledge and carefully began to pick her way down the side. The slope wasn't too steep. In some places she was able to jump down from rock to rock and in other places she was able to slide down on her flank. Pinkie Pie followed her without a word.

Twilight had no plan. She was scared. If she and Pinkie were caught by one of those alicorns, it was all over. She didn't care. She wouldn't sit by while Princess Celestia faced an army of demon alicorns by herself.

By the time she reached the base of the mountain she was sweating and out of breath. She kept going.

The landscape was completely different now. Flat earth had been turned to mountains. Hills had been turned to valleys. Forests had been razed. Rivers had been over run.

The only thing Twilight could do was follow the sounds of the screaming riders. She crawled over and under fields of fallen trees and splashed through shallow lakes formed by redirected streams.

As she neared the canyon she started to see the bodies of fallen alicorns. Some of the bodies were crushed, others were burned and crispy. Some had been sliced open. Some had been cut completely in half. She soon realized that the puddles she splashed through were puddles of blood.

When she reached the edge of the canyon, Twilight looked for a way down. The canyon glowed orange from the light of burning trees still rooted in the earth of its walls. Alicorns circled above the canyon like vultures, and more alicorns were down in the canyon itself.

Twilight jumped down onto the horizontal trunk of an old oak tree and walked out as far as she dared. Down through the crackling branches she could see Princess Celestia surrounded by a tight circle of alicorns.

The Princess kicked and reared. Her glow was fading. She was tired. The shadow riders threw their lassos one after another. To Twilight they looked like black spiders shooting golden webs.

One lasso made it around Celestia's neck. Celestia grabbed the rope in her teeth and yanked the rider from its saddle. The rider disappeared in a swirl of black mist, then promptly reappeared right back on its alicorn.

Another lasso looped the Princess's neck. Another followed, and another. When Celestia reared again a rider got its lasso around her front legs. The rider tugged hard on the lasso and Celestia lost her footing and fell to her side.

As soon as the Princess was down, the shadow riders swarmed over her and combined to form a ravenous black cloud.

"No!" Twilight screamed.

Her feet moved before she could think about what she was doing. Mindless with fear, she jumped down from tree to tree. Princess Celestia could not lose. Equestria needed her. Twilight needed her.

The black cloud boiled around the Princess. Celestia struggled to rise above it but the lassos held her down. She tried to spread her wings, to kick her legs, to thrash her body so violently that the force would snap the ropes, all for naught. She screamed.

The sound chilled Twilight to the core. Princess Celestia wasn't supposed to fear anything, but that scream had been one of wild terror.

The cloud swallowed the Princess and then rolled in on itself and dispersed into nothing. Twilight skidded to a halt right where the Princess had laid.

Gone.

There was nothing. Twilight circled the spot. She toed the ground and sniffed the air.

Nothing.

The remaining alicorns turned and disappeared into shadowy slits in the air. The slits then dispersed just the same as the cloud.

Twilight had never felt so alone. Her mind raced but she couldn't think. She had to do something. She ran to the canyon wall. She had to get back to Ponyville.

No.

She stopped. She had to find the Princess.

She ran back to where Celestia had disappeared and started digging at the ground.

No, that wasn't right.

She circled again and looked around. The canyon was silent but for the crackling of the fires burning above her.

"Princess Celestia," she called. Her voice echoed. No one replied.

What do I do?

She kept expecting to wake up, but she knew she would not. She was already awake. This was real and time was still moving forward even without Princess Celestia in the world.

She sat down and stared at the ground. If there had been anything in her belly she would've thrown up again. Her vision blurred with tears.

What do I do?

"Twilight!"

She looked up to see an exhausted Pinkie Pie poking her head over the canyon's edge. Twilight sniffed and wiped at her eyes.

"Don't come down here, Pinkie," she said.

She didn't want to move. This was the last place where Princess Celestia had been. She could see the deep gouges in the earth from the Princess's struggles.

She pulled herself to her feet and slowly made her way to the canyon wall.

The climb was arduous. The canyon face was too steep for direct climbing so Twilight had to rely on the trees sticking out like spikes. It was a good thing Pinkie Pie had come along when she had. If Twilight had waited any longer, the fire would have eaten too many of the trees away.

When she reached the top, Pinkie Pie was there to grab her arm and pull her up.

"You raced off without me," Pinkie said, still trying to catch her breath.

"Sorry," Twilight replied, brushing past the other pony. "I panicked."

Pinkie Pie fell in beside her. "And Princess Celestia?"

Twilight looked away.

Don't make me talk about it. Don't make me think about it.

"Gone," she said.

Pinkie stopped as though she'd been struck.

"Gone?" she cried. "What do you mean gone? Princess Celestia can't be gone. She's Princess Celestia!"

"She's gone."

Twilight looked up at the stars. The night was clear and calm now. In the far distance she could see the fires of Ponyville. How many were still alive? How many would they be burying in the morning?

Then she remembered that there wasn't going to be a morning. Princess Celestia would not be there to raise the sun. And what of Princess Luna? Had the alicorns attacked her as well?

The magnitude of what had happened tonight was overwhelming. Princess Celestia was gone and Equestria had been destroyed. Had any cities been left untouched?

"Come on, Pinkie," Twilight said softly. "Let's get back to Ponyville."