A/N: this is it my friends, here is the first official chapter of the first part, of the epic finale, thank you all for the support, hope you enjoy.

The Beginning of the End: chapter 1: mistrust in the council

It was a bright day in the capitol city of Canterlot, and everypony was doing their daily duties, the sun was hanging low in the sky, and the sky became a bright orange, as it did around this time of the day, everypony seemed to be going about the rest of the day peacefully, many ponies closed their shops, others left from work, going off to enjoy their evening, all seemed well.

But the same could not be said for the members of the royal court.

(Canterlot castle, royal court council chambers)

Celestia and Luna sat at the far end of the large table, the room filled with the shouts and cried of the court members, Shining Armor and Comet sat on opposite's sides of the table, but sat across from each other, they gave each other confused and annoyed looks.

Many problems had emerged in the royal court, a little less than a year ago, a new group had emerged across the kingdom, known as the ERF, a new revolutionary group, that defied the rule of the Princess's, in the past few months, many of the court members had gone missing, and the other blamed it on this new organization, and with each passing week, the ERF grew in numbers and supporters, almost to the point where it became a great threat, many of the members, demanded that all these members be thrown into jail's, but others disagreed, and so the arguing began.

"We should have them all thrown in prison, they are a threat!" one of the members yelled, "no, we don't have any proof it was them, we can't just blindly act, we could be condemning innocent lives" another shouted back, "forget the proof, how much longer will we hide behind that excuse, until all the spots in this room, are empty!" a third one shouted, at this point Celestia had heard enough.

She raised her head, "enough!" she shouted across the room, her voice seemed to echo across the walls, all the ponies fell silent and sat back down, Celestia gazed over them, a calm yet serious look on her face.

"we have no reason to believe that this organization is behind this, but we also know, that this has never happened, until just these past few months, as you all know, I have called all the members of the court here, where we will all be safe" she said in a calm voice, a brief silence fell, until one of the members stood up, "with all due respect your highness, many of the members have already gone missing, while traveling here, the roads and trains are not safe, we must act quickly" he said, just as another pony stood up, "might I add, whoever these ponies are, they seem to target members of the court, we must be thankful that nothing has escalated into full violence, but…I think we should bring in our friends from PonyVille" he said, Celestia looked at him in suspicion, and shook her head.

"no, I will not bring Flame and his family into this, this does not concern them, as you all know, Flame has done many great things for this kingdom, more than any of us could have ever asked, I think it's fair to say, that he has earned a peaceful life, we cannot continue to have him solve our problems for us" she said sitting back down again, just as she did the first stallion stood up, and cleared his throat, "again, with all due respect, you yourself said, that while they might be official members, they are a part of this court, and therefore, their lives are in as much danger as ours, who better to take out than our greatest hero" he said, other members of the court began to murmur in agreement.

Shining Armor turned and looked at the Princess, a look of great concern on his face, Celestia looked down at him, and then sighed, even she knew that the council was right, their lives would be in great danger if they stayed in PonyVille.

She stood up again, "very well, I will take your options into consideration, this meeting has already taken up most of the day, we shall continue tomorrow, this meeting is adjourned" she said lifting the hammer and bringing it down.

All of the members began to slowly stand up and make their ways out of the room, Luna stood up and walked out of the room, knowing it would be time to raise the moon soon, Celestia turned to Shining Armor and Comet, "I wish to speak with the two of you" she said and made her way out of the room, they looked at each other with confused looks, and then walked out of the room with her.

(Later…)

After they left, they headed for the courtyard; Celestia began talking with the two of them, "your highness, do you really think it's a good idea to bring Flame and Twilight into all of this?" he asked looking up at her as they walked, she gave a deep sigh, "I'm not sure, but the council members do have a point, here's what I want you to do" she said, and they stood in front of her.

"Shining Armor, tell all the royal guard outposts to go on high alert, especially those outside PonyVille, keep an eye on them, if anything strange happens we will bring them here, but don't let them know" she said, Shining Armor nodded, and Celestia turned to Comet, "Comet, I want you to contact those who still remain at the Guardian's sanctuary, tell them to scout the mountains, for signs of anything suspicious, as well as all the outposts across the kingdom, this is an official order, make sure to do this tomorrow" she said, and they both nodded.

"The meeting will continue tomorrow, you should both return home, and get some sleep" she said, they both gave a bow and turned away, walking out into the courtyard.

(Canterlot castle, main courtyard)

Shining Armor and Comet walked out into the courtyard, where they saw their families waiting, as well as two carriages that would take them home, before they got there, Comet and Shining Armor turned to each other, "what do you think?" Shining asked, Comet turned to him, "about the meeting, I'm not sure, everything's going crazy, we all need to be careful, this is a dark time for all of us" he said, in a low voice, Shining looked at him.

"I meant about the Princess's plan, so you really think it's a good call?" he asked, Comet rubbed the back of his head, and sighed, "like is said, I'm not sure, the Princess seemed more on edge than usual, and that's saying something, but we will talk it over in the morning, we've all had a long day" he said giving a small yawn, as he walked forward, "watch yourself Comet, like you said, these are dark times" he called after him, Comet turned and nodded before climbing in to the carriage with his family, and it slowly made it's was out of the castle grounds, Shining Armor gave a sigh and did the same, and they all headed home.

A/N: this chapter might have been a bit dull, but it will pick up next chapter, that I can promise, hope you enjoyed, and see you all next time.