Guardians

All of us were shocked. Chrysalis had somehow brainwashed the legendary Ace. What Chrysalis said shocked us even more.

"Oh, you seemed surprised. He's been like this for over two years, getting even darker as time passed. Surely somepony knew." She said, even though I had no idea what she meant.

"You tried to do the same thing you did to him on me." I accused.

"That's right, with the two of you, I would have been unstoppable. But since you managed to resist, I had to find another way to ensure my victory. That was when I stole the elements of harmony, their power was an even match for you. Yet, I should have realized you would mess that up too." She explained.

"So how do you plan to defeat us?" I asked, everypony was in position, ready for battle.

"Easy, we both have armies, but you have six elements while I have one, the strongest one. Also, the only other threat to us is you, but I've found a way to keep you from getting in my way." She answered.

I couldn't wait any longer; she had broken the mind of a hero, seemingly shattering all hope. She made an enemy out of our friend. All rage inside me broke loose. I shouted to Lunar and Blaze "You deal with Ace, he might be able to be saved. I'll deal with Chrysalis." It was soon after that both sides yelled "Charge!"

The armies clashed, within minutes it was nearly impossible to tell one side from another. Apart from the armies below, the ship the changelings arrived on had a canon even more powerful than the one I destroyed. "How did they manage to do that? Every time I destroy one ship they build a better one, it's ridiculous. " I thought. The canon was firing into the fight, obviously the gunner was told to not care if either side was hurt, the strange thing was that nopony was hurt, only changelings.

"You're a monster Chrysalis!" I yelled while trying to slam into her. She avoided with ease.

"I know." she hissed back, laughing while doing so.

The battle went on for what seemed like hours, eventually moving to the sky as well. Chrysalis and I were at a stalemate, both trying to take the other down. Lunar and Blaze were having trouble with Ace, and the Elements, with the princesses were using their powers to stop changelings from getting through to the city. "I can't do anything without the others to help." I thought. Apparently Chrysalis had the same idea.

"This is going nowhere, why won't you just let me kill you and accept defeat!?" She yelled.

"Because if I don't win, it will be the end of everything. That's why I will fight with everything I've got." I said. She didn't seem to buy this.

"Don't try to scare me, it will only be the end for you!" She yelled, as she knocked me to the ground. I didn't see her coming, I saw that Ace was about to finish of my two alicorn friends. Once I hit the ground, I stood up and slammed a hoof into the ground, creating a wall between the two and the evil form of Ace. Seeing that her son and his mentor were in trouble, Rainbow Dash swooped in with some of the wonderbolts and took them to the princesses. They didn't look too badly beaten, they just looked extremely tired. That gave me a little bit of hope. Then I realized I would have to hold off Chrysalis and Ace.

"You're the one Celestia brought in to defeat me?" Ace said.

"Don't take him too lightly; he is stronger than you might think." Chrysalis said.

"Thanks for the complement, that was awfully nice of you." I said smugly. This made her mad, but managed to get a small chuckle out of Ace.

"You will die for that remark!" Yelled the furious changeling queen.

"Time to put everything I've learned to the test" I thought. She and Ace both flew at me, weapons drawn. I made my body iron-hard and took the impact, then I knocked both my attackers into the air with stone pillars and flew after them. Once they regained their balance, I delivered a swift kick to Ace's wing. "Sorry." I called. He began to fall, but managed to fly back up. It was then that I felt two changelings hold my wings, restraining me from flying. "Let go!" I yelled, getting furious now. The two holding me began to laugh, A couple of arrows from Scout got rid of them quickly. I noticed that Chrysalis had disappeared and both alicorns who I was fighting beside were back on the battlefield. I then had an idea. I yelled in their direction "Get some pegasi to create a thunderstorm!"

Both looked at me puzzled, but they decided not to ask questions. They simply said "Alright." and went to do the task. I was still fighting Ace. Just as with Chrysalis, we were evenly matched. Blow after blow was blocked or avoided. It seemed like forever before either of us found a way to defeat the other.

"Don't you understand what's at stake here?" I asked him at some point during our fight.

"I don't care." He responded.

We continued fighting, I was cautious as to avoid hurting him too much or any of my allies, but he didn't care if he hurt anypony, just like he said. We both landed on the ground, in an area where neither side was taking up, clear of the other battles. He threw me two discarded swords he found on the ground. I looked at him puzzled as if to say "Why give me these?"

"Pick them up, we're going to fight one on one, no flying, even terms." He said.

"He's being too nice, it must be a trap." I thought to myself.

"Pick them up!" he repeated, almost demanding me to fall into his obvious trap.

"No, I'll be just fine without them. You aren't yourself right now; you aren't nice enough to fight with even terms." I answered, knowing if I did bend down to pick them up, he would just take a cheap shot at killing me. I stomped on the ground and caused a spike of pure granite to pop up, which he dodged. "This area of land is made up of granite?" I asked myself. "That's odd, but my attacks are stronger here." I continued to cause pillars and spikes to pop up, him avoiding each one.

"I've seen that trick before, do you really think that it will work on me?" Ace asked.

"I have other tricks too, in case you forgot." I said flapping my wings. A tiny tornado appeared and began heading for Ace. Although it was small, it was forceful enough to tear chunks of the spikes and pillars off and carry them towards the target. Ace tried to escape, but the winds pulled him and a few changelings in. A larger chunk hit Ace on the head and knocked him out. "That's one down but I still have Chrysalis." It was then that the thunderstorms started. I could hear each drop of rain, as if each one was a tear shed by a pony Chrysalis hurt. It only reminded me of why I had to win.

Flying around the war zone and finding Chrysalis was the most important thing I needed to do at that moment. Lunar and Blaze had returned to the defeated Ace and took him back to Canterlot, where he was then restrained while nurses and Zecora looked after him. I scanned the entire area, looking for the evil mastermind that was the changeling queen. I eventually spotted her and went to continue the fight I had previously engaged in.

"Hmm." She sounded concerned.

"Surprised?" I asked.

"Yes, surprised that you were able to defeat Ace. I underestimate you too much." She admitted.

We stared at each other for minutes, waiting for the other to make a move; it was time for me to put my plan into action. I flew up into the air with incredible speed, higher than the rest of the battle, straight into the thunderclouds. "If I store up enough energy from the lightning I can send a massive shockwave and fry the changelings." I thought. The lightning didn't hurt, but I could feel the intensity.

"Trying to run?" Chrysalis asked from far below. A huge swarm of changelings that were not yet in the battle was behind her.

"Not at all." I said. I hadn't yet gotten enough lightning energy to send the shockwave yet.

"Go defeat the royal army." She ordered the swarm. "He's mine."

We began fighting in the thunderclouds, lightning was all around us. I tried to throw a kick to her head, which she dodged. She then attacked me with a magic beam to the back. "AHHH!" I screamed, the attack burned me a bit but I kept flying. I tried to use my own spells against her, but her magic was even to mine. A huge explosion occurred when our attacks met. Disoriented, I hovered in place for a second, but the changeling queen used the opportunity to kick me in the neck.

"Gahh!" she yelled. The lightning I had been struck by in order to complete my plan had shocked her, she was stunned. I used the opening to kick her in the stomach. "Gahh!" She yelled again. Dozens of changelings then stopped me, taking the place of their leader. I didn't have my swords with me this time.

"No, so close to finishing this." I said, upset I couldn't end the battle yet.

"You hurt our queen." One hissed. Another one charged at me from behind, but was struck by lightning before he could hit me. Several then began to attack all at once, I was able to block most of the attacks and deliver some of my own, but every time one changeling went down three more took its place. The only way I was going to win was to finish the shockwave. There were too many changelings.

I flew into the thunderclouds once more. Lightning was drawn to my already charged body. Sparks were flying into the clouds but more was coming from the clouds. "Just a little bit more." I thought.

(With Chrysalis)

I realized what he was doing when I saw the increasing number of lightning bolts. "Quick, we must overtake him before he defeats us." I ordered. "Forget the royal army, he is the real threat."

My hundreds of minions all began flying away from their battles and towards the alicorn, I would have only one plan left if he succeeded, even I feared what would happen if it came to that, but I couldn't lose to him again. He has beaten me three times already and this is the last chance I have, for if I lose this war, he may become unstoppable.

(With Celestia)

"Is he doing what I think he's doing?" I asked myself, I then realized all the changelings flying towards Steel. "He is."

"What is he doing princess?" Twilight asked, she noticed the mass of changelings as well.

"He's going to create a huge shockwave in the clouds and cause lightning to strike all the changelings." I answered. I saw more and more lightning coming from the clouds. "Shield!" I called urgently.

"Yes princess, what do you need?" Shield asked.

"Get all the royal guards on the ground, or they risk getting electrocuted." I ordered. Even though most of the guards were pegasi, a strong enough lightning bolt could severely injure or kill them, and I could tell that these were going to be powerful.

"Yes princess." Shield said before going to do the task. Before the battle, Shield had been working on signals so that everypony was always able to communicate to with one another. Shield sent the signal for every guard to fall back. Soon the sky was empty except changelings and lightning. Things were looking up, Ace had been taken down and captured, we were finding a way to restore him to his former self, Chrysalis' army was diminishing, and Steel was finding a way to stop the war once and for all. Things looked good.

(With Steel again)

I saw the royal guards head back to Canterlot, probably a good idea considering I had no control over the lightning. I kept moving faster storing every bolt of lightning until my body was practically glowing. After I reached a good speed, I ascended out of the clouds, higher than the castle and dove back into the storm. The amount of energy I had stored entering the cloud at such a great speed almost instantly surged into the clouds. Waves of lightning struck anything in the air, and the swarm of creatures rushing to attack me became a hundreds of badly burned beings, no more remained.

I landed and looked at all the changelings either dead or injured on the ground. I didn't see Chrysalis anywhere; I assumed that she ran off. "I think it's over." I said. Close to passing out from exhaustion, I couldn't figure out where Chrysalis went. Their ship was still there.

"Hooray!" I heard everypony cheer before guards came and captured what changelings were left.

I was approached by my friends. "Good job taking out all of the changelings." Shield complemented.

"Yeah, how the hay did you figure out you could win by using lightning?" Twilight asked.

"I just thought of something I did in a dream once." I answered, though only Shield and Celestia knew what I meant. That was when Rainbow Dash came and hit me in the shoulder. "Ow! Why did you do that?" I asked.

"For nearly killing Ace!" she yelled, after that she was actually grateful. "Thank you for getting him back." She said.

"No trouble, I didn't want to, but I had to. How is he anyways?" I responded.

"Zecora I looking over him now. He should be fine." Celestia said. That's when I heard Chrysalis yell.

"You think this is over? This canon can fire a blast capable of destroying all of Equestria." Chrysalis claimed.

I paled. "What!?" Everypony yelled.

"Chrysalis, think about this, if you destroy Equestria, there will be nothing left for you to control." I tried to reason.

"It does not matter, as long as you don't defeat me again." She stated. I realized reason wouldn't work I decided to use my strength.

"I can't let you do that." I stated. I flew towards the canon, even though I was still tired. I heard two sets of wings following me, so looked behind me and saw Lunar and Blaze. "What are you guys doing?" I asked them.

"You helped us, now we're going to help you." Lunar said.

"Yeah, you even saved my dad." Blaze added.

"OK, it's all three of us." I said.

We continued to fly towards the canon. The massive weapon was getting ready to fire. All three of us flew in front of the canon's barrel, not directly in front but about a quarter-mile away. Everypony was silent, the canon charged and fired. My two alicorn friends and I used our magic to contain the blast, trying to hold all the energy from the explosion. All three of us were growing tired, but we had to go on. Blaze was first to fall unconscious, followed by Lunar, I was Equestria's last hope. I kept growing tired, holding back an explosion took most if not all of my energy. I was willing to die in order to keep the world from ending, and it seemed I would. I finally fell unconscious, but instead of being hit by the fiery blast, I was engulfed in a light. I saw Lunar and Blaze with me, but I had no idea what was going to happen. I blacked out after that, I didn't see anything, I didn't hear anything, and I didn't feel anything. I thought for a moment maybe I had done it after all, that I had saved Equestria. But I was wrong.

I woke up groggy and disoriented. I got up and looked around, seeing a crashed airship, my alicorn friends, and a clear sky. I guessed I was still on the battlefield, but I wondered why hadn't anypony taken Lunar, Blaze, and me to the hospital. I then noticed my friends getting up.

"What happened?" Blaze asked.

"I don't really know Blaze, I want to find out myself." I said.

"Well let's see if somepony can tell us." Lunar said.

I looked around and saw Canterlot so we decided to head there and speak with everypony. We were all still tired and decided to walk. What we saw when we got to the gate horrified us.

"Everypony is dead." I said with disbelief, looking at the bodies of the fallen. "Even the princesses." I added once I saw the lifeless white alicorn.

Blaze ran ahead and gasped. "Mom!" He yelled tears beginning to form. I started to cry as well.

"No." I said repeatedly, starting at a whisper, eventually getting to a yell.

"Why did this happen, didn't we save everypony?" Blaze asked me, tears still in his eyes.

I could only say one thing. "It's like a vision I had, one I've tried to stop."

"Blade?" Lunar said puzzled.

"It's my fault!" I yelled. "I could have stopped this but I failed!" I was still crying.

"Listen, it's not your fault, if anything it's Chrysalis' fault." Lunar said. He sounded so calm, yet I could tell he was just as sad.

"No, Chrysalis said she didn't care if this happened as long as I didn't defeat her again. It is my fault." I cried.

"But we don't think so, surly you tried your best, for that we thank you." Lunar said. I had begun to calm down.

"You, thank me?" I asked, really confused.

"Yeah, you really gave it your all. AND you managed to save us, I don't know why or how though. I'm sure the three of us can figure something out." Lunar said. I put a smile on my face.

"Yeah, thanks. The three of us can figure anything out." I said. I had falsely put a happy look on my face, I was devastated I couldn't save so many of my new friends, and I was worried about my friends on earth. I felt so useless that it actually began to make me weaker.

"Good to see a smile." Lunar said.

"Let's get away from here quick." I requested, flinching from one last look at the bodies.

"Maybe we can get supplies from the Castle." Lunar said. So we started heading through the ruins of a once great Equestrian city.