Chapter 2 Welcome to the land of friendship and invasions

Even with a borderline sleepless night for her highness, the gracious princess preformed her duty to raise the sun. she looked physically exhausted. After raising the sun to greet the day. She sighed tired and yawned. The white alucorn passed her sister in the hallway who immediately stopped, whipping her head around to look over her tired sister.

“Sister, what ales you so early in the morning?” Luna asked softly. Celestia looked at her sister through tired out eyes. She smiled softly and simply sighed.

“It is something we should not discuss lightly. Please, remain awake till tea time. I will explain then,” she said softly. She turned to a guard soon after addressing her sister's concerns.

“Dear sir, please send word to Princess Cadence. I would like her to come here as well,” she informed him. He nodded and bowed heading off to send the letter. Celestia proceeded to trot to her thrown and begin her daily duties. She looked out the window at the morning glow of the sun. “Its nothing to worry about...right?” she thought to herself. Elsewhere in Equestria, was a quiet town outside the lofty boundaries of Canterlot, where Celestia and her sister resigned. In the town known souly as Ponyville, the morning meant work for the ever diligent apple family. With a yawn and a stretch, a light orange earth mare walked out of the main house of the apple farm. She adjusted her hat over her the back of her long straw blonde mane and smiled to the sky.

“Goin' ta be ah good day for apple buckin,” she said to no one. She looked behind her as a large red stallion walked into her view. He brushed his gold colored mane from his eyes and yawned loudly.

“Eeyup,” he said agreeing with her statement. She smiled up with a pair of brilliant green eyes.

“Welp, time is a waistin' Big Macintosh. Let's get to it,” she said happily. Big Mac nodded and the two headed to the field to start their regular choirs. On the very outskirts of Ponyville in the sky near by, was a cloud formed into a house. The door burst open and a tortoise with a helicopter propeller on its shell floated out. Immediately after a cyan streak shot past him with a rainbow trail lingering in its wake. The joyful cries of a mare having fun rang through the sky as she flew around her home to get her morning workout. She finally slowed down and floated next to the tortoise.

“Ahhhhh, morning Tank. Hope you slept well,” she said nuzzling the tortoise's nose. She smiled and yawned stretching. Her dark rose colored eyes scanned the horizon several times before she landed on her cloud porch. Tank drifted over to her and offered her another nuzzle. She smiled excepting it and patted his shell. “Well, clouds ain't gonna bust themselves. Time to get to work! See ya when its time to meet up with the others Tank!” she shouted speeding off. The adrenaline charged mare loved the feeling of flight. The wind pressing tightly against her mane and face, the feeling of her tail thrashing rapidly behind her, and most importantly, the view from above. She drifted upward and then free fall for a few minutes before spreading her wings again and flying into Ponyville. Handling her job as the weather manager. The streets were starting to fill as more and more ponies exited their homes and began their morning rites. Over at Sugarcube Corner, a bubble gum pink mare was bouncing about preparing the right amount of baked goods for the morning crowd. She smiled singing a little tone to herself. Her cerulean blue eyes constantly scanned the immediate area for customers as her employers took care of their two foals. She smiled to herself and heard the door bell chime as it opened.

“Welcome!!” she called from behind the counter with a friendly grin. Her grin stretched further when she recognized the cyan blue pony walk in. with a trail of smoked left in her wake, the pink pony crashed into Rainbow and tackled her to the ground with a bone crushing hug. “MORNING DASHIE!!!!” she squealed in delight.

“Pinkie! Will you get the hoof off of me!!!” she shrieked shoving the pink one off of her. Pinkie smiled bouncing around Rainbow happily. In her own weird way celebrating that her friend had come in and was the first customer no less. Rainbow saw it as Pinkie being her weird spastic self as per the norm. she put her hoof to her forehead and sighed heavily. Slowly spreading and contracting her wings after that hug. “Look Pinkie Pie, I just stopped in to get a muffin. Do you have any fresh ones?” she asked trying to regain some feeling in her wings. Pinkie literally stopped mid bounce and levitated for a good few seconds until she heard the timer on the oven go off. She sped off and returned with a fresh muffin straight from the oven.

“Yes I do, nice and hot!” she said with giddy excitement. Dash smiled and sighed with a bit of relief. She placed a couple of bits on the counter and headed out to check the weather schedule. As she trotted, she walked by the city library. She glanced over at it and wondered if its residence had woken up yet. She shrugged and continued about eating her muffin in peace. Within the library the sound of falling books broke the silence of the morning. Under a massive pile of books was a small amethyst dragon with light emerald spines running down his back. He sat up rubbing his head and groaned loudly.

“i swear to Celestia that Twilight doesn't like to clean up her books after she finishes reading them. That horn of her's is only good for turning pages,” he groaned and grumbled shuffling through the sea of books. He made his way to the kitchen and started to prepare dinner for his caretaker. The sound of hoof steps came from the stairs. In the dragon's peripheral vision he saw a violet pony walk into the kitchen. She smiled softly, greeting Celestia's golden sun.

“Good morning Spike,” she said walking up to the baby dragon. He looked at her to see her deep violet eyes looking into his own emerald eyes. He just looked at her through slightly annoyed eyes and crossed his arms.

“You didn't pick up your books...again,” he said with a small huff of smoke through his nose. Twilight looked back at the main room of the library, particularly at the massive pile of knocked over books. She smiled lightly and turned her head back to the dragon who was tapping his foot slightly impatiently.

“Aha ha ha ha...sorry,” she said meekly as the patches of fur on her cheeks turned a light shade of red. Spike felt a small vein on his forehead throb lightly. But he decided to just go back to making breakfast. The unicorn's horn lite up with a transparent violet light. The books in the room were soon enveloped in that same light. Moving from off the ground and back to the shelves with Twilight's simple levitation spell. She trotted into the room and checked to make sure they were all in order. As she scanned the shelves, spike entered the room with a pair of daisy sandwiches with hay fries. Spike set the plates down and grabbed his trusty broom and began to sweep. From the open window a owl flew in, its outer wings and head coated in mahogany brown feathers while its belly and inner wings had light tan feathers. Twilight smiled softly at the owl.

“Good morning Owlicious,” she said adjusting a book as she walked past him.

“woo,” the owl responded. Twilight simply rolled her eyes with a grin. She sat at her desk and began to right a research paper for the princess to whom she was a student of. As she began writing, another bird flew in. this time it was a young phoenix which had been out for a morning fly. It landed on the end of spike's broom and squawked happily on its return.

“Oh, hey there Pee-wee, enjoy your morning flight?” Spiked asked. Pee-wee squawked again when spike noticed something in its talon. He snagged what appeared to be a piece of paper and unraveled it. Giving it a quick glance over he smiled and turned to the lavender mare. “Hey Twilight! Pinkie Pie is throwing a party this afternoon for the usual Pony-Pet play date!” he said excitedly. Twilight simply nodded in response as she continued writing. Spike knew when she was in the zone, only a few things would snap her out of it; receiving a latter from the princess, or something messing up the symmetry of the room. Not really wanting to through of her zone, Spike just took the letter and continued about his day.

The sweet normalcy of Ponyville and Equestria in general was in full swing. Prior to this day several years ago, the most faithful student of the sun princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, was told to oversee the preparations of the 1000 celebration of the Summer Sun Festival in Ponyville. During that night, the evil mare in the moon, Nightmare Moon escaped her confinement and sought to plunge the world into eternal night. Armed simply with her knowledge of pony folklore, Twilight sought out the elements of harmony. Though she was not alone in her endeavor. With the help of her friends Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, they defeated the would be conqueror and restored her to her former self in princess Luna. A year later, the embodiment of chaos on their world, Discord, was released from his eternal prison and threatened to shape the world in his own image. All be it a amusing one to some. But like Nightmare Moon before him, he was defeated by the power of the Elements of Harmony that Twilight and her friends wield. They proved their mantle time and time again as worthy wielders of the elements. And have saved two kingdoms from wicked forces, from the likes of the returning King Sombra, to the changeling queen Chrysalis. Peace was once again attained and reigned supreme. Then why did Celestia sense such a foreboding and looming danger approaching her fair land? She couldn't shake the feeling of coming calamity. Her tired eyes looked over party invitations, renovation and construction notifications, and political meetings from ambassadors from Saddle-Arabia and Baltimare. She had been working since raising the sun into the sky. It had been quite some time sense then. Her concentration was soon broken by the sound of the door to her chamber opening. She looked up to see a soft pink alucorn and a midnight blue alucorn stroll.

“Dear sister, it is time for afternoon tea,” Luna said greeting her older sister.

“Indeed, you have been in here too long Princess Celestia,” the pink alucorn insisted,

“Luna. Cadence. You both have very good timing,” Celestia said softly. She stood from her throne and trotted up to the other two. Accompanied by several royal guards, the three headed to Donut Joe's donut shop. As the three walked, the afternoon sun hung high in the sky. Celestia gazed through the sky and wondered if she should send a letter to twilight about her vision to prepare her and her friends just in case. She decided to shrug the feeling for the moment and try to relax. Back in Ponyville, Spike was getting irritated again.

“Twilight! Your gonna make us late!” he shouted to the unassuming unicorn. She continued writing even though by all rights she should have been done already. Spike looked at the once again book covered floor and groaned loudly. Owlicious and Pee-Wee looked at each other then back at their respective caretakers. “The party starts in 5 minutes! We got to go!” he shouted. His shouts however fell again on willingly deaf ears. He finally got irritated enough to where he walked right up to the mare in question. He looked at her and then at her paper. He placed one claw on her desk and proceeded to push a vile of ink out of place. With her eyes registering the disharmony of her desk, Twilight snapped out of her trance and looked at Spike, who was once again tapping his foot impatiently.

“Spike what have I told you about moving things on my desk? I need to finish this report for the princess before Pinkie's party,” she said sounding more irritated then Spike. He simply pointed at the clock. Twilight's gaze shifted to the clock. It read 3. her eyes widened and she began to panic. “Oh nononononononononononono!!! We're gonna be late! Why didn't you tell me?!” she shouted in her panic. Spike opened his mouth to respond but was levitated onto her back before the words could come out. She rushed through the door quickly and broke into a full sprint for the park where they had their meet up. In mid gallop she screeched to a halt nearly throwing Spike off.

“Jeez, what was that for!?” the dragon asked now more angry then irritated.

“I forgot to put the vile back in place!!” she shouted turning back towards the library. As Spike groaned rather loudly at Twilight's obsessiveness, the other ponies were already gathered and eagerly waiting for their arrival.

“Now Angel, I want you to play nicely with the others today, and I promise to fluff your tail as soon as we get home,” a butter yellow Pegasus said rather softly to the white rabbit on her back. The rabbit jumped off and headed straight for a already slightly irritated cat. The rabbit just smirked and thumped its back paw against the cat's head, instantly igniting a conflict. The two stared each other down with nether side about to back down. It wasn't till the intervention of the cat's owner that the conflict came to an abrupt resolution as the feline was surrounded by a powder blue aura. A white unicorn with a marshmallow white coat and excellently styled mane peered down at the cat.

“No Opal, that is no way to act around our friends,” she scolded. The cat in question hissed and slashed her claws at the white mare, several hairs from her mane falling to the ground. She looked at her mane then at the cat, simply dispelling the levitation spell and letting the cat go. From the corner of the park came in a brown and white dog followed by her farmer owner.

“Boy howdy, them apples are comin' along nicely this year,” the work pony said happily. She looked over at the white unicorn and a sly smile stretched across her face. “Still havin' problems with Opal Rarity?” she asked. The unicorn gasped dramaticly and flipped her hair as if personally insulted.

“Why Apple Jack, to even suggest that I am having a problem with my dearest Opal is simply ludicrous,” she retorted as Opal continued hissing uncontrollably at Angel. Apple Jack smiled and shook her head from side to side.

“If y'all say so Rares,” she said smiling. Aj looked up at the sky and saw a rainbow patterned streak zip through the sky. Landing soon on the ground was a familiar tortoise. Aj smiled and petted its head. “Howdy Tank, Ah take it dash is in the area?” she asked the tortoise. Tank blinked his eyes incredibly slowly and then nodded just as slow. The brown and white dog strolled up and hopped around Aj and Tank.

“alright Winona, ah hear yeah,” Aj said happily running after her dog. The tortoise walked slowly making it to the usual tree where Rainbow was known for taking her naps. He withdrew into his shell simply relaxing until she came. After what seemed like just a few seconds, the familiar sound of a thud struck the tree rattling it down to its base. Tank stuck his head out in time to see a familiar set of cyan hooves land on his back and the nuzzle of his owner.

“hey tank, sorry I'm a little late,” she said with a big grin. The tortoise simply smiled slowly and blinked. Dash smiled and bounded off of him. She looked up to see a bouncing pink mare into view. “Hey Pink!! Bout time you got here!” she shouted to the pony. Pinkie smiled and sped up and smashed into rainbow

“HEY DASHIE!!!!” she shouted hugging rainbow. Rainbow tried to escape and breath, but found the colossal grip was crushing her.

“Now all we need is Twilight and Spike and the gang will be all here,” Aj shouted running into view with Winona.

“Oh, I think she may be working on a paper for the princess. I think,” Fluttershy said softly stepping up as well.

“Ugh! That means she will take forever!” rainbow shouted groaning loudly.

“Honestly, being late is much more fashionable Dash. Besides you know how she is when she gets wrapped up in her work,” Rarity called from her couch. As if on cue, twilight came running in with malicious, spike, and pee-wee.

“YAY!!!! Twilight's here!!!” Pinkie shouted jumping up and down. Twilight panted loudly.

“sorry, I got distracted,” twilight panted out. She looked up with a small embarrassed smile and straightened up. Spike hopped off of her back and stretched out. He smiled immediately seeing rarity. He sighed happily taking in her radiance as she layed across her couch. To him her pure white fur gleamed in the light and her royal blue eyes glowed like gorgeous sapphires. He swooned rather noticeably until pee-wee landed on his head snapping him out of his trance. He narrowed his eyes to a look of slight annoyance and sighed. The rest of the group laughed lightly looking at him. He looked at the group and was about to speak. He opened his mouth to offer some level of scolding to pee-wee when his eyes bugged out. He retched back and proceeded to bletch out a burst of magical green fire. The flames quickly spiraled into a brown parchment adorned by the princess' seal. Twilight looked at the parchment curiously and levitated it. “I wonder what the princess needs,” she wondered out loud. She opened the letter and began reading it.

30 Minutes Earlier

The princess trio were sitting down at the donut shop discussing various matters of business. Luna had reported that the recreation of the lunar palace was underway, but was proving difficult due to not many ponies being able to survive long periods on the moon's surface even with her magic giving them a slight boost. More concerned for the well being of their subjects, Celestia and Luna decided to scrap the project and Luna would permanently take residence in the castle as she had been. As far as Cadence goes, the Crystal Empire had begun to bloom and trade began to flow again from the various neighboring countries.

“That is excellent news Cadence. Its good to hear of such prosperity,” Celestia commented with a smile. She sighed rather contently, but Luna sensed something in her sister. A creeping feeling of fear that laced her sigh.

“Dear sister, what ales you so? You have been most disoriented since this morning. Has something happened to put your mind in such a state?” Luna asked asked. Cadence quickly turned her head to the solar monarch as well. Curiosity adorning her face as she searched Celestia's face for signs of worry. Finally Celestia lowered her head and furred her brow.

“Last night, I sensed something high above Equestria. It was an evil presence that seemed to pierce the night like a blazing dagger of hate and malice. I fear for my little ponies and everyone else in this world. For I believe it is an evil far worse then discord,” she said. Her hooves were trembling lightly and her fear was becoming more physically visible. Luna placed a caring hoof on her sisters shoulder.

“Fear not dear sister. There is no force on or far from Equestria that can not be defeated by we and the elements of harmony. Surly the captain of the royal guard would put up a defensive barrier just to ease you mind,” Luna said attempting to comfort her sister.

“That's right, Shining Armor has the highest level protection spell in all the land. Surely he can put it up and keep out any intruders,” cadence said with a smile of pride. As the three alucorns continued their discussion, from high above the city pegasai could hear a rather high pitched whistling noise. As if something was falling from the sky. The wonderbolts, who had been doing some training drills noticed several metallic like objects in the sky. Spitfire, their leader, took the lead in investigating. When the objects got closer she tried to fly along side it to get a good look at the object. It was larger then any pony and was cylinder shaped. Along its side was a marking of what looked like a face with a long mustache. As she tried to get closer however the wind pressure from it flung the flier away violently. She regrouped quickly and sped past it. The other wonderbolts quick on her hooves as they flew into Canterlot. Spitfire quickly surveyed the area hopping to find a guard or someone. She spotted a blue maned unicorn walking with a group of guards. He bore the captain's jacket and lead the group.

“Captain Armor!!” she screamed out. Shining Armor turned his head to see Spitfire swoop in and land in front of him. “Something is coming towards Canterlot. Several large objects!” she shouted. Without a word shining armor concentrated his magic into his trademarked protection spell. Encompassing the entire city in a light crimson bubble to protect it. As if sensing the shield's deployment, the foreign objects smashed into for points surrounding the city. The subsequent rumble of impact shook the city to its foundations and alerted everypony who could feel it. Celestia and the others looked around and saw 4 plumes of dust and debris fly from the for corners of Canterlot. She looked at her sister and cadence. With only a head nod between the three of them, Luna and Cadence took to the sky to investigate. Celestia instead summoned a scroll to her side with quill and ink

“You take the north face, I shall head to the south!” Luna shouted to Cadence. She nodded and the two split off. At the southern metal pillar, several guards had been investigating. One of the unicorn guards shot a burst of magic at the object. The magic shot bounced off and went back at him. He jumped back and looked at the object again. This time it started to shake violently and whirling noises could be heard from it as it seemed to kick on. The guards backed up slowly as it started to radiate a weird green light.

“Stand Back!” Luna shouted to the guards below. She glared and her horn lite up like a beacon in the dead of night. She shot a light violet blast of magic more powerful at the pillar. The light of the pillar absorbed the blast, catching Luna off guard. What happened next surprised her more. The pillar shot back at her. Nearly knocking her out of the sky. She recoiled and glared more viciously. Her horn lit up again, but the sparks of green light shot from her fur and quickly surrounded her. The light of her horn started to dim and then faded out quickly. She looked up at her horn and tried again and again but to no use. “My magic...” whispered in a cold realization. She turned and shot back to the donut shop as quick as her wings could carry. As she flew, all of the pillars shot into the sky and encased the whole of Canterlot in another bubble. Shining Armor looked up to see his own bubble was quickly faded forcefully and what seemed like small electrical snow drops started to pepper the city. As it landed on all the ponies, magic started to fizzle out from every unicorn. When Luna made it to her sister, Celestia had just sent the letter with her unknowing last bit of magic.

“Luna, what has happened?” she asked looking at her exhausted .

“Tia! Those structures are...draining the magic from us all!” she shouted. Celestia opened her eyes wide and she looked at the scroll. It had fully vanished just as the green snow hit her. The two looked around at the panicking ponies screaming in the streets.

“Luna, we must get to the elements!” she shouted. The two took flight quickly. They flew to the sound of cries and screams of panic.

“Tia!! Above us!” Luna screamed out. She looked up in disbelieve as a massive metallic object descended from the sky. Its dark gray and dark orange red color scheme became visible. Several more objects descended in a similar fashion. Their decent became faster and hovered just close to the city. Some opened up and several thousand objects shot out and descended on the city like a swarm of changelings. “What are those things!?” Luna asked slightly panicked.

“It matters not sister! We must hurry!” she shouted back. They flew faster until they reached the palace. Upon arrival more sentries fell to the ground. From the surrounding dust cloud the glow of piercing red eyes cut through the brown cloud of smoke. The sisters attempted to fly over as shots of what appeared to be energy shot through the sky. Attempting to shoot the duo down. With only a very slim margin for error the two crashed through one of the stain glassed windows and into the thrown room.

“I pray Cadence is well,” Luna said softly as they trotted to the back of the thrown room. Celestia tried to use what magic she could, thrusting her horn into a key hole and focusing. With her last bit of magic she unlocked the door to the elements of harmony were sealed. She smiled softly for a second until she heard a high pitch hum. Luna and herself whipped around only to be met by very angry electrical shocks that paralyzed every never ending in their bodies. Their screams of pain and agony drowned out the soft sounds of hardened boots against the marble floor. With relative ease, the steps passed by the screaming sisters and into the hidden chamber. His portly frame illuminated from the glow of the elements that now rested mere inches from his fingertips.

“All too easy,” he said with a mischievous grin. The shocking subsided but the paralysis remained. Celestia groaned loudly and tried to move. Her muscles still unable to heed her mind's commands to move.

“Who...are....yo...u?” she said softly and weakly. Her eyes were starting to glaze over slowly. Her vision blurred and showed no signs of getting better. The portly figure before her simply turned to face her. “What are you!?” she blurted out. She smiled wickedly.

“I, my dear princess, am a human. My name is Dr Ivo Robotnik. But you my dear will have the pleasure of calling me, your new lord and master,” he said snidely. He looked out the window and peered at a statue of what seemed to be a pieced together monstrosity of various animals ending with the head of a dragon. “Ah, another piece to the puzzle,” he said gleaming at the statue

Author's Note

thank you for reading and please let me know what you think in the comments