The Dark Princess smiled weakly. "Not... quite. You still fail...to understand... what you are up against." Using the last bit of magic remaining within her, she used a powerful fire spell on herself, incinerating the orange goo. Badly burned, but free of the vile substance, she got slowly to her hooves. Weakened, but not defeated, the Dark Princess grabbed a sword from the body of a Flare, silently thanking the gods for the years of sparring sessions with Silver Crescent. "This isn't over yet, Jack."
"It may as well be. I bet you recognize this..." Jack pulled a large blade with a shining white handle. "The blade? Goodness no... The blade's handle. Still confused? Let me give you a hint." He swung the blade in the air, and a line of pale purple energy flew at her. "May shining armor rest in peace."
The attack struck the Dark Princess with full force, nearly knocking her unconsious. She got to hooves and flew at Jack, thrusting her sword into his side. Using the last of her strength, she stomped her hoof as hard as she could. The floor gave way, sending her and Jack tumbling into the basement levels. As they fell, she whispered, "You are strong indeed, but I have something that you never will..." When they landed below, they were right next to Obsidian. "...I have friends, Jack. Obsidian! I've brought you some prey!" Injured and exhausted, the Dark Princess collapsed.
Obsidian stood up quickly and snarled at Jack. "Thank you sister. Rest easy. Eel." Electricity channeled off of Obsidian and flew towards Jack, electrocuting him heavily, and sending Jack flying backwards slightly. Jack skidded to a stop, and mouthed several curse words. "Rabbit." Obsidian jumped towards Jack, covering the distance in seconds. Jack twisted his hoof up, smacking Obsidian up into the air, causing him to land directly in front of Silver and Midnight. Jack quickly rushed up to Nightmare Moon's depleted form, and with a deep frown slashed his sword down on the center of her neck. "One down. Two to go." Obsidian stood up and shook his head. "Jack has killed sister Moon. Brothers, come quickly, we can still stop him."
Silver spoke in quiet voice that dripped with barely contained rage. "That was the last mistake that you will ever make, Jack. You will die this day." Though he could still hear the Dark Princess' heart beating, she was badly injured. Silver Crescent drew his swords and flew at Jack, spinning and slashing in a whirlwind of speed and fury. The temperature of the room dropped rapidly as the enchanted blades froze the air around them.
"Sorry to go away after such a dramatic moment... but I have a pheonix to hunt." The room suddenly went pitch black, and a cackling laugh echoed loudly. Silver landed where Jack had been standing, to find he was gone. Obsidian charged up next to Silver, and inhaled deeply. "I have his scent. He can only go so far..."
"Leave him! He is Celestia's problem for now. We have to get Nightmare Moon out of here." He leaned over and whispered into the unconsious Dark Princess' ear. "I understand your desire to keep those you care about safe, but you forget that we are all expendable. Should you meet Jack again, do not hold back. Show him the TRUE power of the night."
Jack arrived a few hours after a reported battle from the Gulag. Preparing for a battle from Chrysalis, Celestia was already dressed in full combat armor. She watched as Jack landed at the palace steps and fought his way up to the throne room. By the looks of things, Jack was weakened from a previous battle. Jack would not be at his best, Celestia would however and that gave her an enormous advantage over him. "So you came back, finishing the job perhaps?" Celestia told him. Celestia began to walk down the steps slowly, powering up in the process. Every time she took a step, her power vibrated the room violently. She was surrounded by lightning as she continued to walk down the steps, eventually making it face to face with Jack. "You're going to regret everything about me and who you think you are dealing with. You're going to know why im known as The Phoenix Queen."
(Alright. Ignore my post with Celestia until after the Changeling attack then.) "He's a coward and a fool. He would not dare to challenge the Night Princess again, even if it meant his life. I'll try and heal the princess until we could get somewhere safe." Midnight said as he leaned down and placed her unconscious body on his back. "Shall we leave for the Everfree?" ------------------------------------------------------- Crimson and the rest of the group landed directly at the Republic outpost. It was large, but nowhere near as large as the Equestrian camp that used to be at the border of the Crystal Empire. In terms of numbers, the republic was equal to Equestria and were very well supplied and equipped. Crimson still commanded the Republic’s mages and acted as the commander in the Zebra campaign, while Venquis acted as the Eriborian of the Ryborians and acted as the commander of his kind. Unlike the rest of the republic, the Ryborians enjoyed their own personal independence in terms of military. However, they still treated the Republic military as brother and sister and were well liked because of it. With victories here and there, followed with defeats, the Republic entered a stalemate with each other. The decider of the success of the campaign will be the siege of Roam, the capital of Zebrica. With that set up as a command post, and it’s already well fortified defenses, it will prove invaluable to either side.
"Very well. Do what you can for your aunt. Her body will heal quickly enough, but Jack has done something to her magic. She will need time to recover it." Silver sheathed his swords and took a look around the room. Important looking documents were scattered across the floor. "We cannot leave yet. We need to gather what information we can. As soon as the Dark Princess' wounds are healed, we should take a look around. It is not often that we get the chance to learn the Phoenix Queen's secrets."
"Understood." Midnight responded back. "Speaking of secrets, Princess Sparkle and the rest of the Elements of Harmony are inside the building at the bottom level. I don't know if they are still alive, but they are here. I remember seeing them get taken down to the level while i was being escorted. They were screaming my name, begging me for help. Me and the Elements were...close to each other, we were more than friends. Especially me and Princess Sparkle. We both maintained a telepathic link for the last time. Then she arrived, mother.” Midnight then began to heal The Night Princess while he levitated several documents in front of him, one of them caught his eye. He created a copy of himself to continue healing Nightmare Moon while the real copy began to read. “Interesting. Mother has been making routine visits to the Gulag every six months, for reasons unknown. All that’s known is that she travels to the bottom level and then reappears again to leave completely unescorted. This is kept under maximum security. All this is a time table of her visits dating back when she first established the empire....” Midnight said. “Then...nothing. No other evidence about the bottom level except its inhabitants.” Midnight then looked towards a large gaping hole left by the previous battle, looking towards the sun in remembrance of Celestia in disgust. “She’s a monster. I won’t save her this time when she begs me for it. Let's keep looking for something else that shall catch our eyes. ”
Her body healed, the Dark Princess got slowly to her hooves. "That... did not go as well as I had hoped. I feel so weak..." She glanced at a piece of rubble and attempted to levitate it towards her. Nothing happened. "By the gods... my magic is gone!" Silver rushed to her side. "Do not worry, princess. We will find a way to get it back. At this moment, however, we have to make it to the bottom level of this prison. It would appear that your sister has been quite... busy." Discord stood in the courtyard of Castle Harmony, chatting with some of the Night Guards that Silver had left behind. "...so I said, 'Fire when ready!' You should have seen the look on her face when..." Nightshade suddenly appeared behind him. "Lord Discord, I have news. The mission against Jack was a failure... but SHE has been found."
Silver and the Night Princess travelled with Midnight once he had introduced himself to Obsidian to the bottom level. To travel to the bottom level were a set of stairs that were poorly maintained, with cobwebs and peeling paint coming off the walls. Midnight flew down the stairs, carrying Obsidian to give him a rest of having to walk. They then came into contact of a large red steel door bearing the Phoenix Queens insignia. This room was meant to be for her and her only. Midnight looked nervous, having to see the elements in pain was bad enough, but he had no idea how much. “Brace yourself. No pony in history has ever been in this room except Celestia, we have no idea what horrors she has set in here.” Midnight said, turning the handle halfway. “Here goes....” Nothing could have prepared any of them to what they have witnessed. The Elements of Harmony were alive, but had been subject to utter horrors. Like the Crystal Ponies on the Dishonoured, the Elements were stuck inside giant tubes full of green ooze. They were unconscious, they could have been for centuries. All of them had wires connected on them, but did not penetrate the skin. With Twilight in the centre of the tubes, followed by the other five in opposite sides of the room. Even Spike was inside of a tube, as a centre piece due to his unique draconic magic potential. It seemed to be a power transferring device created by her top scientists. When power was not enough, The Phoenix Queen made routine visits to steal some of the Elements own to add to her own. “This....” Midnight was at a complete loss for words. He had no idea how to describe this scene. He looked at the room in absolute horror and disgust. He studied every tube closely until he came to Twilight’s. He bowed down at the figure and began to look in sorrow. “I’m sorry Twilight. Im so sorry.....” Midnight then composed himself and then looked at the tubes. “I can release them, but I’m currently in unknown territory in this form of technology. I have no idea what she has done to them, i’ll try and find out.” Midnight said as he scrambled through records and diary entries. He found one that appealed to him. Elements of Immortality ‘With Princess Twilight Sparkle being an Alicorn and therefore having immortality, she could not be able to live with herself if her friends were to not to be with her during the experience. Due to their involvement of a possible Coup and to ensure a worst case scenario would never happen, i have easily made Twilight’s friends exactly like her. They have a form of pseudo immortality. Their condition is like Crimson’s and Oceans, having the ability to die from an injury or loss of will to live, they are biologically immortal. They are now completely immune to disease, poison and a whole list of things, even advanced regeneration. I’m quite proud of my accomplishment here...” Midnight then looked frustrated at the note before handing to the others for them to read. “She blames it on a Coup that never existed. She told the public this to ensure her rule as Princess, then declaring herself Queen. She is nothing short of a demon now, let me work on something. I'll get them out soon."
Obsidian sat in front of the tube containing AppleJack. He looked down at the symbol on his chain, then back up at the bearer of the element. He shook angrily then stood up at took a deep breath. "This is... Quite something." Obsidian tapped on her tube and shivered as it seemed disturbingly cold. "Alive for all this time... I've been haunted by their ghosts though. It's not possible." He looked down at his altered form then sighed. Anything was possible.
Before Silver could respond, there was a sudden loud snap, and Discord appeared in the room. "Nightshade says you finally found Fluttershy! Where is she? I want to..." Silver Crescent was, by nature, fearless, but the look of pure rage that appeared on Discord's face when he saw what had become of Fluttershy made him take a step back. The Draconequus spoke calmly and slowly, his voice dripping with fury. "Celestia will pay dearly for this. As of this moment, I am declaring war on the Phoenix Queen, and all who serve her." He snapped his fingers. "Starting with her precious capitol!" Miles away, Canterlot began shaking. The mountain that had held the city for hundreds of years was starting to crumble. In a matter of moments, the entire city of Canterlot would fall thousands of feet into the valley below.
Canterlot began to experience some light tremors, until it quickly exploded into a full scale earthquake. The mountain itself shattered and caused the complete destruction. As the city began to fall, Celestia tried to save as much of the city as she could, encasing it in an enormous bubble that protected it. She could only save roughly 2% of the city, roughly 224,489 of the city’s metropolis sized population of 22,000,000. The deafening explosion of the shockwave could be heard in other lands, nopony outside the bubble survived. It would have been a victory for the republic, unfortunately they had to live with guilt for the rest of their lives. 90% of the city’s population were innocent civilians who wanted nothing to do with the war. The bubble, which was made up of the Royal Palace and the section of Canterlot closest to the palace were spared. The city was then levitated by the sun princess and lowered onto an untouched part of the valley which was tainted by the rest of the city. Celestia looked around in disbelief along with the surviving civilians and soldiers, The Phoenix Queens looked down at the destruction that had occurred within moments. “Lord Discord has entered the war” Celestia spoke quietly. “It seems like this is no longer a mortal playing field. Fine...consider this an eye for an eye” The Phoenix Queen then flew into the air as her expression then turned unto pure hatred and rage. Her power causing the clouds the literally come towards her, and then completely blanket several lands. For the first time since the eve of the final eclipse, Celestia was furious. She then raised her hoof upwards, in which she created an energy ball the size of a city. The ball had the appearance of the sun and then suddenly broke into several smaller yet incredibly large balls. She then fired them at the one place she knew Discord cherished most. The Everfree Forest. “Eye for an Eye...” Celestia muttered. The balls then flew downwards into the Everfree many miles away, traveling over the speed of sound. The balls slammed into the Everfree with the force of a thermonuclear bomb detonation ranging in the several megatons, with additional wildfires destroying what the balls did not. For the countless critters inside the forest, it was the last thing they ever seen. “Citizens of Equestria, hear me. The New Lunar Republic has just committed genocide of the most uncontrollable scales, slaughtering harmless innocents to make a point. We will avenge the ones lost today. We will stand together, AND WIPE THIS PLAGUE!” Celestia spoke telepathically to all of the survivors, who were suffering from trauma. The destruction of Canterlot might have successfully eliminated the Equestrian Capital, but came at a heavy cost. Many were appalled at this act of murder, and many were leaving the Republic and fighting for the Empire. It's what was expected of this act of selfless vengeance, but Celestia was already developing a contingency plan, not to mention revenge. Instead of making the Empire weaker, it actually made them stronger and more unified to their cause. Celestia was going to make a point soon. A very sharp point why she is called The Phoenix Queen.
"Discord! What have you done?! Celestia will not let a direct attack on her city go unpunished!" The Dark Princess was furious. "You have just escalated this war ten-fold!" Silver Crescent smiled. As far as he was concerned, anything that hurt Celestia was a step in the right direction. "I respectfully disagree, princess. If Lord Discord wants revenge, then I say..." His words were cut short by the sudden appearance of Nightshade. She spoke in a trembling voice, tears in her ghostly eyes. "It... it's gone. The forest... the castle... everything. There was a light in the sky, and then..." She began sobbing uncontrollably.
Celestia had the power to completely end this war alone if she wished, but decided that it was not her business. However, after what had just happened, she was considering it. After the attack on Canterlot, the town quickly rebuilt itself after using the debits from the destroyed city and the mountain that simply ceased to exist. The entire Everfree was aflame, nothing inside of it survived. Its smoke could be seen hundreds and even thousands of miles away on the horizon. It turned out that there were infact survivors from the destruction. The Unicorns of Canterlot on the outskirts quickly encased anypony they found in a bubble along with themselves, therefore saving them. The pegasi managed to fly out of harm’s way as well. While it was a relief for Equestria, an enormous amount of innocents still died. She then started to work on reviving all of the ones that died. She had managed to do it with Crimson and Ocean, not to mention Dovian Frenzia. This would work with her own subjects, all she needed was time and plenty of it. Refuges were traveling to other lands while their own was trying to fix itself. The number was quite substantial, and seemed to be traveling to Republic territory to escape the war’s brutality. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “I understand that you are trying to send a message Discord, but you have just wiped out over twenty million innocents that had nothing to do with the war. The concept of losing a thousand to save a million no longer works in this war. It’s sad to say that in a war like this, there are no civilians.” Midnight said, instantly knowing what the group was talking about on the other side of the room as went to speak with them, a copy still trying to disable the machines. “Mother would have counteracted you the moment you attacked Canterlot, and now the entire Everfree forest has been wiped out. She only attacked the Everfree because she knew your connection and history to it Discord. If she really wanted to avenge the innocents she lost, she would have completely levelled the Crystal Empire and every single major city the Republic had, even Ellion. I have fought her twice, once during her first betrayal after exterminating her own kind, the second on the eve of the final eclipse. I understand that Celestia had practiced as a necromancer, I wonder if she could bring back the lives lost. That is beside the point.” The copy of Midnight on the other side of the room looked at the group and had a pleasing smile on his face. The other copy began to speak before phasing back into Midnight’s body. “Now for the first good news that we have heard all day. I have managed to release the Elements, just step back a little to allow them to adjust to their surroundings, they might be confused.” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the base camp, news about Canterlot hit hard. Very hard. So hard that several groups had to leave the camp to check on their loved ones, some just left the army in general or changed sides. Morale was lowered drastically on the Zebra front, and this troubled Crimson and Venquis. Both of them agreed that the attack was bound to happen, but not on such a destructive and genocideal level. They were however making progress, they were currently winning with their extra edge in training. Roam would soon be within range, and the rest of the campaign would soon follow as so. Soon, they can continue moving up towards Equestria, eager to join their comrades. To cement a Republic victory in the war, they had to take Ryborian homeland of Ardelan. Venquis and Crimson agreed that due to its strategic position, there was no stronger command post.
Silver was still reeling from the news of the Everfree's destruction. "No... this cannot be! I understand your rage, Lord Discord, but this..." Discord glared at him. "You once said that victory was worth any price! I'm about to give you that victory! Are you not willing to pay the price?! I'm not even CLOSE to finished! I swear I'll... what the..." Discord's body suddenly began to fade. As it did, a strange voice filled the heads of everypony in the room. "Discord will be leaving for awhile. He has broken our laws, and will be punished accordingly. Do not fear for him, mortals... such small scale destruction is only a minor offense. He will be allowed to return when your petty squabble is over." As Discord vanished, Silver shook his head in disbelief. The group had just heard the voice of a god. "That... was unexpected. Lord Discord told me that he was not allowed to fight this war. I gather this is why." The Dark Princess asked the question that Silver had been dreading. "Nightshade? If the forest is gone... what of the Night Guards? What of Holly?" Nightshade looked at her tearfully. "I... I don't know... I saw so many of them burn. It was horrible. They were never even given the chance to fight back. Nopony could have survived." Miles away, Blackout opened the heavy door to the castle armory and stared in shock at the wasteland before him. Castle Harmony was gone. The forest had been flattened and burned for as far as the eye could see in every direction. His wife, Cricket, walked up and stood beside him. "By the Hive... this is horrible. We were lucky that the armory is protected by such powerful magic." When the fireball had first appeared in the sky, Blackout had rushed to get as many of his fellow Night Guards as possible into the armory. Only twenty had made it in time.
