The sun sat high in the sky over Equestria. In Canterlot, the ponies all went about their daily routine blissfully unaware of the situation at hand. In the palace, the princess normally responsible for raising the sun was lying in her bed. Celestia had buried herself under her cover and had drawn the curtain so her bedroom would be pitch black.

"Twilight." said Celestia sadly.

A bright flash of light suddenly illuminated part of the room.

"My you are a mess." noted Discord.

Celestia popped her head from under her sheets.

"I am not in the mood Discord." stated Celestia firmly.

"Oh come now. We haven't been together since you freed me from that statue." noted Discord.

"Indeed." sighed Celestia.

"I heard you where down in the dumps." mused Discord.

Celestia sat up in her bed.

"Leave." ordered Celestia.

Discord let out a laugh at this.

"We both know that will not happen." said the Spirit of Chaos.

Celestia let out a sigh and rolled her eyes.

"You where always one to place blame on yourself." said Discord, crossing his arms.

"This is my fault." replied Celestia sadly.

"Come now. You cannot blame yourself for everything." replied Discord.

"This is my fault!" declared Celestia.

"This is exactly what happened with Sunset Shimmer." sighed Discord.

Celestia felt a hill run down her spine hearing that name.

"Look, Sunset Shimmer got overwhelmed by her own greed." stated Discord.

"I should have seen this." state Celestia.

"What about Luna?" asked Discord.

"I should have seen my sister's jealousy." answered Celestia.

"You are a pony. You're not perfect." stated Discord.

"But..." began Celestia.

"No!" snapped Discord.

Celestia was taken aback by this.

"You have to stop taking the weight of the whole world on your shoulders." pleaded Discord.

"I..." stammered Celestia.

"You might be the strongest pony I know." continued Discord.

The Master of Chaos let out a sigh.

"You did defeat my after all." added Discord flatly.

"I was aided by Luna and the Elements of Harmony." noted Celestia.

"You cannot sit around and mope all the time! Equestria needs you!" declared Discord.

Celestia sat silently.

"Twilight needs you." said Discord.

"I failed her." replied Celestia weakly.

"Then make it up to her!" cried Discord.

Celestia looked at him.

"You have to fight for her." said Discord.

"Fight for her..." repeated Celestia, with determination.

"There we go!" cried Discord.

Celestia got out of bed and used her magic to place her crown back where it belonged.

"I have to thank you Discord. You managed to get through to me." said Celestia kindly.

"I only did it because to protect myself. Who knows what Sombra would do to me." said Discord defensively.

Celestia could only chuckle at this.

"Regardless, I am indebted to you." said Celestia, walking to the door.

Now what?" asked Discord curious.

Celestia stopped turned to Discord.

"I need to address my citizens." answered Celestia.

Celestia departed and quickly took charge. Her sister, Cadence and Shining where glad to see the old Celestia back. However, they where surprised to hear Discord did so. Celestia ordered a special announcement and a crowd quickly gathered. Among them was a brown Earth Pony stallion with a rock cutie mark. Celestia stepped out onto the balcony to address her ponies.

"Ponies of Equestria, I have terrible news to announce..." began Celestia.

The ponies in the crowd began to murmur among themselves.

"Sombra has returned!" declared Celestia.

The ponies gasped in horror.

"Sombra allied with Queen Chrysalis and her Changelings infiltrated the Crystal Imperial Army acting as a fifth column." continued Celestia.

"Is that true?" asked Lemon Hearts.

"She could have made it up." answered Twinkleshine.

"If so, then they could they do the same here." mused Colgate.

"If not, they will soon." thought the stallion.

'Thanks to this, Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor were forced to flee here in exile." continued Celestia.

The Princess stopped and took a sigh.

"War is now inevitable! Everypony must rally together and do their part!" declared Celestia.

The ponies cheered and stomped their hooves...spare the one stallion.

"Oh no." thought the stallion.

"Together, we will stop this threat!" declared Celestia.

"Celestia! Celestia! Celestia!" cried the ponies.

"Twilight, I will save you." thought Celestia.

The stallion turned and took off not stopping until he was blocks away. Thorax then ducked into an ally an reverted to his original form.

"This is bad. This is bad." said Thorax.

Thorax began to pace back an forth.

"If Queen Chrysalis has helped to restore Sombra then she will want to attack. These poor ponies are going to have their love stolen by Queen Chrysalis and the other Changelings." mused Thorax.

Thorax stopped pacing and gulped.

"I have to leave Canterlot." decided Thorax.

In Ponyville, word of the war arrived quickly. Mayor Mare rallied the citizens of Ponyville to fight for the war. The Apple family as well as Carrot Top volunteered to do what they needed to in order to aid in the war front. At the moment, Apple Jack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Spike where at Golden Oaks Library. They had torn the library apart, but their search had proved to be fruitless.

"I cannot find anything about Sunset Shimmer" noted Rainbow.

"Of course, they would be in Canterlot." sighed Spike.

"Well is damn war is going to throw a wrench in that." replied Rainbow annoyed.

"Rainbow, language." said Rarity.

"I just said damn." noted Rainbow.

"Any kind of vulgar language in unbecoming of a lady." said Rarity.

"Can we focus please." pleaded Spike.

"What can we do?" asked Fluttershy meekly.

"We have to go to Canterlot!" declared Spike.

"Sorry, but ah can't go. Ah gotta stay on the farm and family." said Apple Jack.

"But-" began Spike.

"I must stay too. I have to watch out for Sweetie Bell." said Rarity.

"Yeah. I gotta watch over Ponyville...and Scoots." added Rainbow.

"I'm helping the cakes make treats for the soldiers!" declared Pinkie.

All eyes fell on Fluttershy.

"I...um...am watching the...animals." said Fluttershy.

"We have to go to Canterlot!" declared Spike.

"We can't." replied Rainbow.

"Now Spike, we wanna find Twilight, but now this war has come up." said Apple Jack.

Spike clenched his fists and held back tears.

"Spike Wikey, we will not forget about Twilight. We will find her." reassured Rarity.

Spike let out a sigh.

"Okay." said Spike.

"Um, how are we going to do that?" asked Fluttershy.

"I have no idea!" answered Pinkie.

Apple Jack shot Pinkie a glare.

"Sorry." giggled Pinkie regretfully.

Suddenly, a knock came out door of Golden Oaks Library.

"Who in tarnation could that be?" asked Apple Jack.

The apple farmer trotted over to the door and opened the door.

"Delivery!" called Derpy.

The mailmare was in her uniform and holding a package in her right hoof.

"Derpy, what are you doing here?" asked Fluttershy.

"Delivering this package silly." answered Derpy smiling.

"I thought the other pegasus left for Cloudsdale." noted Rainbow.

"I stayed behind because of...you know." explained Derpy.

An awkward silence fell among the ponies.

"It's okay. I'm used to it." said Derpy, with a weak smile.

Derpy shook her head.

"Anyway, I can watch over my little muffin." said the wall-eyed pony.

"How is Dinky?" asked Apple Jack.

"She's doing great." answered Derpy beaming.

"What's in the package?" asked Pinkie.

"The order says it's a Daring Do book." answered Derpy.

"The new Daring Do!" exclaimed Rainbow.

The rainbow-maned pegasus shot over to her friend.

"I'll take that." said Rainbow eagerly.

Rainbow grabbed the package an was about to tear it open.

"Slow down Rainbow. That there's Twilight's book." said Apple Jack firmly.

Rainbow looked at the package and sighed.

"You're right." said Rainbow.

Rainbow placed the book on the

"It'll be here when Twilight comes back." said Rainbow nodding.

Rarity rubbed her chin thinking for a moment.

"Derpy, do you have any other deliveries coming up?" asked the fashionista.

The mailmare stopped and thought for a minute.

"I don't think so." answered Derpy.

"Well you see, we are in a bit of a predicament here." began Rarity.

"Oh." said Derpy surprised.

The others quickly caught on.

"You see, Spike here needs to go to Canterlot. But, we're all busy." continued Apple Jack.

"Yeah! We were wondering if you could go to!" added Pinkie, bouncing.

Derpy thought for a minute.

"I'd hate to leave Dinky." noted Derpy concerned.

"Oh...um...can't you take her with you?" asked Fluttershy.

"I don't want her leaving Ponyville with this war." answered Derpy.

"What about the Doctor?" asked Pinkie.

"I guess." answered Derpy.

"If not him, you're friends with Carrot Top and Amethyst." said Apple Jack.

"Yes. I recall Amethyst joined Dinky during the Sisterhooves Social." added Rarity.

"I was so glad that she did that. I couldn't go with my work schedule and Dinky was really looking forward to it." noted Derpy.

"Of course, we don't want to pressure you." said Fluttershy.

The others quickly agreed with this.

The mailmare thought for a moment.

"Okay! I'll do it!" declared Derpy.

"Thanks so much. We'll definitely make it up to you." said Rainbow relieved.

"I'll whip up a nice batch of muffins!" declared Pinkie.

"Oh. That sounds good." said Derpy.

"Can we go soon?" asked Spike hopeful.

"Tomorrow." answered Derpy.

The next day began as usual in Vanhoover. Celestia's sun rose highly above the sky and the ponies where going about their business. However, the sound of marching was suddenly heard getting louder and louder. An army of ponies marched into the city led by Sunset Shimmer. Once they reached the center of two, the two soldiers stepped aside and a a purple unicorn marched forward.

"Who is that?" asked a white stallion Earth Pony.

"I don't know." answered purple mare unicorn.

"I think that's Twilight Sparkle. Celestia's student." noted a brown pegasus.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle and I am here on behalf of His Royal Highness King Sombra!" declared Twilight.

Worried whispers came from the crowd.

"Soldiers! Kill without mercy!" ordered Twilight.

Author's Notes:

A/N: That is where we'll end this chapter. Thorax's appearance was a cameo and he may or may not return. Next time, the war has begun and Derpy takes Spike to Canterlot. Please review.