A/N: yes, I'm back with the fourth and final installment of the guardian series, I've had a blast writing this, now let's see how it all comes to a close.
Disclaimer: I do not own MLP; it belongs to its rightful owners.
The Last Stand: chapter 1: war on the horizon
(PonyVille, town square)
It had been half a day, since Silver and his friends had arrived in the ruined town of PonyVille; they recently, discovered ponies that had survived the attack, they ad hidden in the town hall, where they believed they would be safe.
But, with their arrival, they all knew that Shadow's army would not be far behind them, deciding not to run, Silver had asked Shining Armor and the lieutenant, to get in contact with the other royal guard bases in the area, while Silver himself, would try to contact the sanctuary, and all other Guardian outposts around their area, they would need as many soldiers as possible.
Silver had ordered for his son, to have their camp set up, in the middle of town square, as soon as camp was set up, he had ordered for his uncle to escort Rarity, to the shrine, which they discovered was right beneath PonyVille, and so they have been waiting for her to return.
Flame was walking through the camp, ever since it had been set up, he hadn't seen his wife anywhere, at first he thought she was with her friends, but when he asked, they said they hadn't seen her since they arrived, and now he was getting worried.
When he came up to the middle of their camp, he saw Silver leaning over a table, with a map set on it, as he came closer he also saw Shining Armor, Cadence, the lieutenant, and all the others, gathered around, he could tell he was bust, but he wanted to know if Silver had seen Twilight anywhere.
"excuse me" he said stepping up, Silver sighed, and turned around, with an annoyed look on his face, "sorry Flame, but I'm a little busy, at the moment" he said as he turned back to the table, as much as he didn't want to bother him, he had to know.
"I know Silver, but I wanted to know if any of you have seen Twilight anywhere, she not with her friends" he said, with a worried tone of voice, this seemed to catch Silver's attention; he turned around quickly, with a shocked look on his face.
"Wait, you mean you haven't seen her?" he said, Flame just shook his head, he turned back to the others at the table, "have any of you, seen Twilight?" he asked, with a worried look on his face.
"I haven't seen her, since camp was set up", they heard Shining Armor say, Silver looked down at the map, "dammit, I told her not to wander off, uncle get a search party started" he said, but before his uncle could answer, Flame spoke up again.
"That's not necessary Silver, I have a pretty good idea, as to where she went" he said, as he walked away, and out of the camp, and into the town.
(PonyVille, public library)
Twilight was walking through the streets of the town she came to love so much, seeing it in this state, only brought pain to her heart, but not as bad, as when she turned the corner, and saw the place she loved the most.
In front of her, stood the PonyVille library, but to her surprise, it was still in good shape, the only thing she could see was some burn marks, and small holes, that dotted across the walls, she sighed in relief that her home, managed to survive the attack.
She took a deep breath, and walked inside, and as she opened the door, she walked in and saw the front room, but not as she left it, shortly after they had arrived, she had reunited with Spike, and was as happy as could be, she remembered all the time they spent organizing the library, but looking at it now, it wasn't good.
Papers lay on the floor, books scattered everywhere, pieces of glass were spread across the ground, making her have to step carefully, and as she continued to look around, she even saw some of the book shelves destroyed, and fallen to the ground.
When she looked to the side, she saw the staircase, with most of the steps still in place, while the others were broken or missing a piece, or not even there at all, she sighed sadly, as she slowly made her way up the stairs.
When she came up into the halls, they seemed to be untouched, until she came into a specific room, there she stood inside her room, but just like the rest of the house, it was still in remarkably good shape, aside from the few holes in the wall, and all the papers and books spread everywhere.
She felt tears well up in her eyes, as she walked over to the shelf, that had all her pictures, from the times she spent with her friends, to the day of her wedding, she felt a few tears fall down her face, as she picked up the picture of the day her and Flame got married, what made her cry the most, was that she saw the picture had cracked and, wasn't able to make out their faces any more.
She got up and walked over to her desk, and light a candle, and so she did with all the others and the room, leaving only a faint level of light, but enough to see around, and just as she was finished lighting the last candle, she heard a set of hooves come up to the doorway, "Twilight, are you here?" she heard her husband say, but she didn't want to answer, but he spotted her none the less.
He walked halfway into the room, and stopped, "Twilight, there's no need to be here, let's go back to camp, the others are worried about you" he said, walking up behind her, and placing a hoof on her shoulder.
At first she didn't answer, but after a few moments of silence, she finally did, "this…this was our home Flame, this is where we lived, this is where we would have started a family, but now, it all seems lost" she said as she started to cry, even now, Flame still hated to see her like that, he quickly turned her around, and pulled her into a hug, one that she gladly returned.
He could feel the tears hitting his shoulder, they stared their quiet at first, but then Flame spoke up, "Twilight listen to me, we are going to make it through this, all of us, and when it's over, we can help rebuild, and then we can start a family" he said as they pulled apart, they looked into each other's eyes at first.
"r-really?" she asked, Flame smiled, and looked deep into her eyes, "that I can promise you, we will make it out of this" he said, and they stayed there like that for a few minutes, just staring into each other's eyes, until they slowly leaned forward, and their lips connected, in a deep, passionate kiss.
To them it lasted for minutes, but it was only a few seconds, they separated, and again stared into each other's eyes, Twilight smiled, and leaned in, and whispered into his ears, "you know Flame, we never did get to continue our little activity" she said, with a seductive tone of voice, when she pulled away, Flame had a smile on his face.
"I love you Twilight" he said, as he again, stated into her eyes, "I love you too, Flame" she said, he smiled and pulled her in for another kiss, this one more rough, but Twilight wasn't arguing.
They continued to kiss, and soon it became more passionate and eager, as Flame lifted Twilight up onto the bed, with him landing on top, they stayed like that, until an unfortunate, burst of wind, flew into the room, and blew out all the candles, leaving the two lovers alone in the dark.
(The next day)
As the sun came up over the silent town of PonyVille, despite the coming events, all the ponies thought it was a beautiful day, as Silver, came out of the tent, he stretched, and walked to the middle of camp, where he saw his friends and family, already eating their breakfast.
He walked up to them, "good morning everpony" he said, as he took a seat, and a guard came up and dropped off, a plate of food in front of him, "so, has there been any news on miss Rarity, he asked looking over at his uncle, "yes there has, she returned later in the night, she resting now" he said, taking another bite of his food, Silver sighed in relief, and then took a bite of his food.
It was then, that he noticed two ponies weren't there, "wait a minute, has anypony seen Twilight and Flame, anywhere?" he asked, and the others began looking at each other with worried expressions.
(PonyVille, public library)
The early morning sun, shined through the windows, and holes in the wall, it shined in on a particular pair of ponies, wrapped in the blankets, and nuzzled up against each other, both of them had content smiles on their faces.
Flame, had his hoof draped around Twilight's chest, but Twilight was having a very interesting dream.
(Twilight's dream)
Twilight opened her eyes, and found herself, in an empty white space, with no signs of life anywhere; she turned to her side, and saw no sign of flame at all.
She got up and began looking around, "hello! Is anypony there, Flame, please talk to me" she said as she looked in all directions, but still no sing, she sat on the floor, and began to cry, until she heard a familiar voice.
"Fear not Twilight Sparkle, you are not alone" it said, Twilight spun around, and saw a familiar unicorn standing there, staring at her, with a smile on his face, Twilight instantly recognized him, and gave a respectful bow, "Midnight Star" she said surprised as she rose back up to her former position, he laughed, "it's good to see you too" he said, with a warming smile.
"But…how, is this-" she asked, but before she could finish, he held up a hoof, and silenced her, "relax, this is only a dream, we can only step into the mortal world, one more time, and that will come eventually" he said, as five other ponies appeared beside him, Twilight didn't recognize them, but she had a feeling that they were the other elements.
"we are here to help you, win this war" he said with a serious face, Twilight sat down, and listened, Midnight Star, cleared his throat, and began to speak, "while we cannot help physically, we can help you win this war, and help you defeat Shadow Blaze" he said, leaving Twilight very confused.
"But how will we know?" she asked, the other simply smiled, "in time, when we are there, you will know" he said, before they all slowly began to fade away, into nothing, again leaving Twilight alone, twilight tried to call out, but before she could, everything went black.
(Reality)
Twilight eyes, shot open and she looked around, she sighed when she realized that she was back in her room, suddenly she felt movement next to her, she smiled and turned around, and came face to face with Flame, who was still fast asleep and snoring lightly.
Suddenly the memories of last night came flooding back to her, the passion, the excitement; she smiled as she tried to wake Flame up.
"Flame" she whispered, kissing him on the nose, he stopped snoring but didn't wake up, she heard him mutter in his sleep, making her giggle, so she tried again, "wake up Flame" she said, and he finally opened his eyes, and stared right into hers, he smiled, "oh it's you, good morning" he said in a still sleepy voice.
"Last night was…amazing" she said with a smile on her face, Flame smiled back at her, "yeah, and I hate to be the one to ruin the moment, but we should return to camp, they are all probably worried sick" he said as he leaned in and gave another long kiss on the lips.
So they got up, and got ready, before returning to the camp.
(PonyVille, town square)
As they walked back into camp, they didn't find any trace of their friends, until they walked into the center, where they saw, Silver and the rest of their friends, gathered around a table, looking over a map.
When they walked up, they all turned around, with smiles on their face, and so they all walked up to each other, "I was wondering when you two would get back, I was just about to send a search party" Silver said with a smile, both Flame and Twilight blushed heavily, trying to hide it, they decided not to tell the others about their 'activity'.
"Well, we were just having some…alone time" he said glancing over at Twilight, who just looked back at him, luckily none of them caught on, "okay then, well I'm still glad your back, Twilight your friend Rarity has come back, why don't you go and check on her" he said, Twilight nodded, and gave Flame a quick kiss on the cheek, before she went the other way.
They all turned back to the map, and gathered around, "okay, what do we know so far?" Flame asked, as he stood next to Shining Armor, and looked over at Silver, who was looking over the map, "well, we know that their army will be coming from the forest" he said pointing from the forest edge, to the edge of town, "right here, is where we will set up our own army, lucky for us, I was contacted by the guardians sanctuary, and plus Shining Armor got in touch, with the royal guard bases in the area, and they have agreed to send us troops, which will be a big help" he said looking up at Flame.
Just then, a guard came running up from behind, and took a bow in front of silver, "my lord, we have intercepted a bit of news from Canterlot" he said, as he got back up, Silver fully turned to him, "what might that be?" he said, the guard took a deep breath, "apparently, Shadow's general was killed, and was replaced with two new ones" he said, this surprised Silver.
"Really, well if we are lucky, they might not have experience, what are their names?" he asked, the guard again took a deep breath, and spoke up, by this time twilight and her friends, had walked up, and were paying attention.
"their names are the Prophet and Rage" he said, as all the others fell silent, except for one, Dark Star who was there at the table, heard those names, and looked up, he got up and walked over to the guard, and got right in front of them, "what were their names again?" he said, the guard could feel beads of sweat, rolling down his face.
"um, the Prophet and Rage, sir" he said, Dark Star's eyes widened, he turned away, "that's not possible" he said, as he began pacing back and forth, Silver turned back to the guard, "you can go now" he said, the guard gave a quick bow, and walked off.
Silver then turned his attention, to Dark Star, who seemed deep in thought, "do you know those ponies?" he asked, and when he did, Dark Star, looked right at him, all the ponies around were silent, until suddenly, Dark Star started laughing, and looked at all the others, "of course I them, the Prophet has been an enemy of my team for some time now, and Rage…Rage was the one who sold us out to the Prophet, and in doing so my mare friend was killed, and we were forced to leave our home, and that's why we also joined you" he said, looking at all the others, he looked down at the ground for a second.
"I treated all my team mates like family, Rage betrayed us, and so…I had him banished, I thought he was gone" he said with a sorrowful expression on his face, he looked back up at Silver, "unfortunately, we are out of luck, the Prophet Is an excellent strategist" he said before he walked off, Silver turned back to the table, all the others remained silent.
Silver turned back to them, and was about to speak, when suddenly the ground started to shake, almost knocking them off their hooves, they tried to regain their balance, suddenly, they heard the sound of sir ship engines, and as it got louder, they looked up and saw two massive air ships flying over the town.
At first they began to panic, until they saw the royal guard symbol on one of them, and the guardian's symbol on the other, and after they passed over the town, and to the place where the other air ship was landed, one of the guards came out of a tent.
"My lord, we are receiving a transmission" he said, Silver looked over at the others, and ran into the tent, and when he did, he came up to the radio, "hello, who is this?" he said into the microphone, shortly after he got his answer, "sorry to keep you waiting my lord, but we're here to help, permission to land sir?" he heard a voice say through the speaker, one that he recognized.
Silver sighed heavily, with relief; he knew it was their reinforcements; he looked back at the others, and then turned back to the speaker, "permission granted, we'll be there to meet you, old friend" he said as he, turned and ran out of the tent, confused by what he was doing, the others just ran after him.
(PonyVille, outskirts)
Silver and the others, ran to the edge of town, just in time to see the two massive air ships, landing next to theirs, a big smile appeared on Silver's face, as he ran forward, and just as they came up to it, the main ramp slowly began to descend.
When they arrived, the ramp had touched the ground; they all looked up, and saw two ponies standing at the top, and when the two ponies stepped off the ramp, and they stood in front of Silver, one of them gave a bow, while the other walked over to Shining Armor, and saluted him.
And when he rose from his position, Silver just grabbed his hoof and shook it, "ah, it's good to see you, my old friend, where have you been, I haven't seen you at the sanctuary, in some time?" Silver said with a smile, the other pony just returned his smile.
"Well, being your general, I have to travel a lot, but I heard you needed help, so here I am" he said, with a smile, they stayed there like that for some time, until his smile disappeared, "listen Silver, I heard about what happened with Sapphire, I'm truly sorry, she was a good friend of mine as well, so you are not alone" he said, with a solemn look, on his face.
Silver sighed sadly, "I know, thanks for the concern, but I'm fine…oh and these are my friends, the elements of harmony" he said gesturing to Twilight and her friends, and he looked to them with a smile, and gave a respectful bow.
"Twilight, this is my old friend, general Striker" he said, gesturing to the other pony, and after they all got acquainted, Silver turned to his friend, "so how many troops, did you manage to assemble?" he asked, the general smiled and brought his hoof up to the head set that was around his head, "alright captain, bring them out" he said, with a big smile.
They all looked up at the ramp, from which they came out of, and soon after they began to hear the sound of marching, and shortly after, ponies dressed in both guardians armor, and royal guard armor, began marching out, in a straight column.
Silver and his friends, just watched in awe, as the soldiers marched out, in a straight line, right into the town, the general looked at the others, and couldn't help but laugh, at their shocked expressions, and soon the ramp on the other side of the ship began to lower, and more ponies came out, carrying more than just soldiers.
Silver thought he saw giant cannons, being hauled out, he leaned over to his friend, "is that artillery?" he said, clearly surprised, the general laughed and turned to him, "courtesy of the royal guard, you can thank them for the nice little addition" he said, with a large grin, Silver turned back to the soldiers and saw that they were still coming out, he looked over at Striker, "wait a minute, how many soldiers did you manage to bring together?" he asked with a curious look, on his face.
The general thought about it for a moment, he then turned back to Silver, "let's see, we have over 700 hundred soldiers all together" he said with a smile, Silver eyes went wide, they now almost had equal to Shadow's numbers, in the pit of his stomach, Silver actually felt a spark of hope, now they actually had a chance to stand up against the tyrant.
(Canterlot castle, throne room) 2 days later
Shadow Blaze, was impatiently pacing back and forth, he knew that the Guardians are forming an army, and that every day they grew more powerful, deep down, he regretted not handling the situation, when it was still amusing, now it was becoming a real problem.
He heard the door open, and a pony walk in, he turned around and saw his apprentice, walking up to him, "they're here sir" he said, with a frown, Shadow sighed, and looked up, "very well, bring him in" he said, Night Wing looked back, and motioned for the guards to open the doors.
After they did, two familiar ponies walked into the room, dressed in armor, Shadow turned around, and saw the Prophet and Rage walking into the room, Night Wing looked up at his master, "they are all assembled, and waiting for you my lord" he said , before he left the room, leaving the three ponies alone.
"so, I'm sure you have been made aware, that our enemies, are gathering an army of their own, it will be your responsibility to stop these foals, can you do it?" he said the last part, with a raised eyebrow, the Prophet and Rage looked at each other, with a smile, and turned back to him.
They nodded, and looked back up at him, "we will destroy them" the Prophet said, Shadow smiled, "very well then" if you will follow me, he said as his horn began to glow, suddenly they were enveloped in a bright flash, and they reappeared shortly after.
When they opened their eyes, they found themselves, in different part of the castle, the first thing they heard was the sound of cheering and applause, they saw Shadow and Night Wing, standing over a balcony, he looked back, and motioned for them to step forward, and when they did, they found themselves, on the balcony, overlooking the castle courtyard.
But that's not what amazed them; it was the hundreds of ponies standing there, all cheering their leader's name, "hail! Shadow Blaze!" they heard the crowd say, they looked up at Shadow Blaze, and saw the huge smile on his face, he raised his hoof in the air, and the crowd fell dead silent.
"my loyal soldiers" he started by saying, the crowd was listening intently, as he spoke, "these cowards, known as the Guardians, will hide no more!" he said, but still they all remained silent, "by this time tomorrow, we will have destroyed them all!" he said, and it was then that the crowd started cheering.
Suddenly, he threw his hoof up in the air, "to war!" he yelled, over the crowd, by now the crowd was in a frenzy, all of them ready to kill, ready to die, for their leader.
Shadow Blaze, lowered his hoof, and said very quietly to him, so that no other pony would hear him, not even those next to him.
"But the elements are mine"
A/N: wow, that was pretty intense for the first chapter, well see you next time, hope you enjoyed.