Crash and Burn

   "YOU FOALS! THINKING YOU COULD DEFEAT US AND OUR SISTER TOGETHER WITH THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY BY OUR SIDE! NOW YOU SHALL PAY DEARLY FOR THE CHAOS YOU HAVE CAUSED OUR DEAR HOME AND OUR LITTLE PONIES!"

    Nightmare Moon bore down on her, fangs and blue armor flashing. Her world spun in a blur of black, cold laughter, and blue as she fought to regain her bearings, ultimately accomplishing the amazing feat of waking up thrashing around in her bedsheets.

   "Stupid dreams," muttered Supreme Commander Lulamoon. She got up and ran a brush though her unruly, blue-and-white mane, the magenta glow of her magic overpowering the dawn light filtering through the natural vent in her wall. she set the brush down and grimaced at her reflection in her cracked mirror.

   She trotted out of the room after slipping into her obsidian with gold and mother-of-pearl inlays armor, which she'd had forged by a captured blacksmith. She met her colleague and equal, Supreme Commander La....something or other, she just called her Zecora.

    The zebra's family was directly linked to the queen of the Zebrican race, so it'd been pretty easy to convince them to fight alongside them. For finding a way to attack the ponies(a secret grudge the zebras had held tenderly for generations), the zebras had named her their new queen.

    Good for her. Their forces had other things to worry about. Such as the massive roadblock they had in their way.

  ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

  Sixteen days earlier......

     "I'm sorry, Supreme Commander. The orphanages have input top-quality defense systems. The only way in is this filly, ma'am. She claims to know the way in, but she clammed up after that. We know her name, though. Scootaloo."

    "Well, get her to un-clam! We need more fillies to train by next week! How far are we behind our monthly quota?"

    "Three hundred, ma'am."

    "WHAT?"

    "Three hundred, ma'am."

   "Not like tha.....oh never mind. Just get us back up to speed. NOW!"

** ** ** ** ** ** **

    She scowled. They were still thirty-six fillies behind quota, and their acolytes were casting the age spell almost every week on a new batch of fillies so they could undergo training for the army they were going to need to acomplish their goal.

    Her personal students numbered actually six, whereas Zecora only had four. They were almost done training and then they could be drafted into their massive army. Some of her students would be drafted to the guards or the filly-snatching unit instead, but the bulk of their forces was in the army.

    That was going to be needed to defeat the goddesses of lightning, magic, love, the sun, the moon, and rainbows and their forces. In total, they know they outnumbered Equestrian forces by many, numbering around three hundred thousand ponies and changelings, along with some one hundred thousand zebras and a couple renegade griffons and a unit of a few hundred water ponies as their navy.

    But one could never be sure with the Elements being on the opposing side. They had to be careful or, as the changelings had been in their failed invasion(Chrysalis was put to death for that failure), they would be pushed out of Equestria.

   But soon they'd be ready. All they needed was two more months and they would've snuck enough spells out of the Starswirl the Bearded and other wings of the Canterlot Archives to power an army three times the size of theirs, which they may very well be in that time, considering the age spells and Zebrican recruits streaming steadily into their army. The Griffons they had on their side were working with the seaponies to gather more of their own kinds to help as well, so they grew a few hundred in rank daily.

   Yes, soon she could have her revenge.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

   "You honestly thought that I would settle for simply dethroning you? You idiotic waste of fur! I will never forgive you for what you did to me!"

    Laughing coldly, she swiped the knives she held across the lavender alicorn's wing bases, leaving stumps that spilled blood. The alicorn in question screamed in pain. Her horn was sawed off, leaving her screaming and writhing in agony.

   Pinning her target with magic, Trixie lowered her crossed knives toward's Twilight's heaving throat. They cut the first layer of skin, then the second, and eventually she stopped and drew back to let Twilight bleed to death when she could no longer scream.

    Wiping her knives of the blood and tissue that covered them, she allowed herself a small smile to commemorate her victory, which soon turned into full-blown cold laughter as she reveled in her nemesis' painful death.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

     She woke up and went about her day, always armor-clad and demanding respect, radiating pure power due to her exposure to the amulet years before. She wasn't an ideal leader, but it was better to be feared then loved. If everypony feared you, they wouldn't dare speak out against you. However, even well loved ponies still had neigh-sayers that criticized them constantly.

   Her forces didn't ostricize her. Neither did Zecora. None of the creatures she was commanding dared speak against her or they would find themself starving to death.......or worse.

   On the third day of her dreams of victory, she sent trappers into the Everfree forest to gather beasts to help with their conquest. They returned with a sedated Ursa Major and her five Minors, two packs of Timberwolves, some carefully handled poisonous plants, five hydras, and some artifacts from the old and crumbling castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.

    They even made a foray to the Crystal Empire and its surrounding regions to gather rare texts from the Crystal Library and some leftover minions of King Sombra's, along with a cult devoted to bringing him back. Simple brainwashing converted them to her.

     She checked their read up on their forces and was pleased to see they'd gained a thousand and seven hundred(roughly) troops in a week.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

  Closer and closer the deadline came, and larger and more powerful grew her forces. By the time they were ready to attack, they just enslaved some Diamond Dogs and forced them to dig tunnels to five cities that would help them lay seige to Canterlot: Manehatten, Ponyville, Appleoosa, the Crystal Empire, and a small unnamed settlement near the border to the land of the dragons.

    All their targets besides the Crystal Empire had no forms of protection. No militia, no guards, and certainly no Elements. They swept the communities off their feet, capturing Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor and hundreds of unprotected fillies, plucking some from the arms of their helpless parents.

   Nopony could stop them, and none of the other Equestrian cities knew due to careful planning, involving perimiters, magical domes, and cutting off communication methods and trains. They swept towards an unsuspecting Canterlot within  month, connecting to the old tunnels beneath the capitol to give them some advantages. They stationed chutes to release the enraged Ursas into the streets, likewise with the hydras and other monsters.

   They infiltrated the Royal Guard and began meticulously mapping the city, going from there with other plans, In a week they had everything stationed, and had some changelings capture and imitate Celestia's and Luna's personal guards. Twilight's guards were obviously a very hastily created unit, and they were also idiots. They were able to take out Twilight's whole guard in complete secret and imitate them.

    Then things backfired. Due to an information leak, they started the seige of Canterlot three days early. Ursas ravaged the streets, hydras spit acid and melted ponies into colorful puddles, and the princesses could do nothing about it, being imprisoned in their own castle.

    A week in, Trixie took to the battlefield in full armor, her targets spraying blood and organs as she sliced them open and left them to die. They lost many troops, but soon she realized that they were pushing the opposing forces back towards the castle, burning through barricades and killing any creature that stood in their way.

    A loyal dog stood over her dead masters and a crying filly, lunging at an enemy soldier when he came too close. He swung a hoof and it connected, throwing the dog into a wall. It fell and didn't get up.The soldier gained a rank by bringing in some fillies, though.

    It took three slow months, but in the end they obliterated the defending forces down to the last pony and melted down their weapons and armor. They'd won. A plus was that the only city destroyed in the global country of Equestria was Canterlot. The rest of Equestria had no idea, as any and all transmissions outside the new sub-country were higly illegal and carefully monitored, punishable by draft into the army or even death.

    She'd even taken a prize from one of the defeated princesses: Aura's fold-out armor suit. She killed Zecora and took it upon herself to have a lower-ranked pony learn everything the zebra queen had about herbs and potions. The history books were altered, letting young fillies born after the war learn about the horrible previous rulers. Anypony who said otherwise was silenced.

   Immediately.

   She became Empress Bellatrix Lulamoon the First, the exalted ruler of a quarter of the world.

   And she did not tolerate traitors. At all.