Back in the Hall of History, five servants of Celestia had met their opposite numbers from the Army of the New Lunar Republic. Though they had ditched any heavy weapons before leaving for Canterlot, the Shadowbolts were still armed; combined with their hoof-to-hoof training, it meant Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy would be hard-pressed to win this battle. Shining Armor, however, stood a much better chance in full guard armor, with longsword controlled magically and a short sword ready to be unsheathed. Of course, he was fighting Nightshade, the Shadowbolt Squad Leader, who had advantages of her own to bring against him. When the two charging groups met and drew a battle line, he attacked with a lateral slash to his left. She leapt up and flew over both his slash and him, allowing the sword to instead collide with the Hall's stonework. He quickly turned around to face her, and she flicked her forehooves to deploy her concealed daggers and crescent blades.
"You know, a bunch of ponies tried this same thing about a thousand years ago! It didn't end very well for them."
"Yeah, but the ponies a thousand years ago weren't us."
He brought his sword back around and launched it at her, this time in a thrust. Nightshade easily sidestepped it, and as the sword tip sailed past her, she galloped towards him. Releasing his grip on the sword, Shining Armor telekinetically grabbed her as she leapt at him, holding her in midair.
"Give it up! You're trying to fight an army of the best-trained, best-armed soldiers in Equestria, you can't win!"
"Ha! You call yourself an army? You're an overblown police force, Lieutenant. Peace has cost the Royal Guard its strength. Victory has defeated you! But the Shadowbolts, oh, we train like war's already come to Equestria, because we knew the night would come when it would, and we'd be the ponies leading the charge."
There was a confidence, almost condescension in her voice that took him off-guard, especially given their current situation.
"Tough talk for somepony captured and helpless."
"Well granted, you're an above-average Guard in all respects, and we're engaged in single combat, free of the fog and chaos of war. But my Shadowbolts turned the tide this evening and massacred your invasion force in the Everfree. And there's a real army of our brothers and sisters in the Lunar Guard ready to march on this palace and overrun it once your pesky force field is out of the picture. So regardless of what you say or think, the fact is yes, we can win. And for the record, Shadowbolts are never helpless, because Shadowbolts are never alone. Stratus!"
At that moment, Nightshade's second in command turned his attention from the amusingly intimidated Fluttershy to her, and easily assessed what she was asking for. He was fast enough that Shining Armor barely had a chance to react before being bucked clear across the Hall into a stone column. Without concentration to hold the magic together, Nightshade dropped to the ground.
"You should've aimed for a window."
"Didn't think you were done toying with him."
With a quick nod of thanks to Stratus, she charged at her downed quarry once more.
With that problem cleared up, Stratus returned to the feeble-looking yellow pegasus he had engaged. Well, "engaged" wasn't the best term; more like "frightened into cowering across the battlefield to get away from him". She was still back-pedaling, until her tail reached the far end of the Hall. She was cornered. Really, it was insulting that this was the best they could send against him; he was desperately hoping to expand the night's kill count. But as she crouched and turned her head away in fear, Fluttershy received a spark of inspiration. These were Rainbow Dash's new friends? She had been replaced by this monster? The indignation gave her courage to speak, albeit in hardly more than a whisper.
"Jerks."
So she'd finally said something! If he couldn't get a challenge out of her, at least he'd get a laugh.
"Last words, coward. Better speak up."
Stratus had only stoked the fire. Fluttershy turned up to look her enemy dead in the eyes.
"I said, jerks! You think I'd let a bunch of jerks like you replace us as Rainbow Dash's friends?"
She stood up and faced him, and what happened next was downright unnerving. Stratus had been trained to repel hordes of griffon tribal warriors single-hoofedly. He had been trained to outmaneuver squadrons of pursuing pegasi with one wing tied to his back. But he had no training whatsoever to prepare him for The Stare. Her eyes alone bore into him like drills, causing him to physically recoil. What? How is this possible? Dark magic?
"You don't deserve her, you traitorous piece of scum!"
She was back on her hooves now, and approaching him.
"The six of us are the most powerful ponies in Equestria, and the best of friends, and you think you can just split is up? I don't know what you did to her to make her abandon us, but once we have her back, we'll make you regret it until the day you die."
But Stratus had regained his nerve, and dropped back to his training. When the enemy tries to gain ground against you, they expose themselves to counterattack. Use what they give you against them. Asserting himself, he cut off her advance.
"You stupid little foal. You're throwing around a lot of tough talk and promises in a situation you know nothing about. We didn't kidnap Rainbow Dash, we didn't brainwash her, we didn't force her to do anything. Princess Luna brought her to us, made her an offer, and she accepted. Everything Dash has done tonight has been of her own free will."
"Impossible! You're lying!"
"You wish I was, don't you? Maybe you just don't know your friends as well as you thought you did. After all, what other secrets could you all be hiding if the Element of Kindness has so much hatred in her heart?"
And with that, he stared right back at her. His expression was flat and cold, but had the slight hints of a smirk. She fought to keep up the attack, but his armor-piercing question had hit home. There was nothing she could think of to respond with, nothing at all. Resolve broken, the Stare relented. But out of desperation, Fluttershy loosed an animalistic scream and leapt forward to tackle Stratus. He responded with a punishing right haymaker, which made direct contact with her jaw and sent her spiraling away. She tumbled across the ground for a second, then came to a stop, crumpled and bleeding on the floor.
Applejack, like Shining Armor, had immediately taken an offensive posturing when the battle began. Charger had to constantly sidestep and draw back to avoid her volley of kicks and bucks. With a quick flap of his wings, he made an assisted leap back to put more distance between them.
"Cumm'ere and fight, ya traitor!"
"At least I'm not a traitor to the Equestrian language. This is why I stay out of redneck country; too much muscle, not enough grey matter."
Applejack charged again, but Charger unclipped a small metal disk from the belt on his Shadowbolt uniform. Throwing it like a discus, he banked the device off the ground, and it bounced up to her face. Applejack was forced to skid to a stop, but before she even lost momentum the device exploded with a bright flash of light and a thundering boom. Reeling away, she was caught completely by surprise when Charger attacked her with a soaring right jab. It made direct contact with her jaw, but thankfully was enough of a shock to restore her faculties. As he came back around for a second pass, she turned to face him, then ducked as he swooped over. He landed, then turned back to her.
"Lemme show you how we do things down in redneck country, mister city slicker!"
Pulling her lasso out of hammerspace, Applejack quickly twirled and tossed it high, arcing towards Charger's head. But he quickly brought his left hoof up to eye-level, and as the loop came down, it caught both his head and his hoof, preventing it from tightening around his neck. He then slid the rope down his left foreleg, allowing it to hang from his right shoulder.
"Rule one of city-slicking: expect the unexpected."
And with that warning, Charger turned left and took off towards the broken stained glass window he'd entered the Hall through. Just as the lasso came taught, he dove out into open air, and his weight dragged Applejack along the ground towards the window. She was only able to stop with her front hooves braced against the wall, but still had to deal with unbearable strain on her neck from the rope in her teeth. It was a struggle just to hold on. It would be so easy to let go, ya varmint, but I ain't no killer. But suddenly, the tension disappeared. Applejack regained her hoofing, then started to pull on the rope. After a few seconds, the loop came back over the edge; it was split in two. Maybe the drop was just too much. But there was no time to worry about him. He was the enemy, and there were still four more like him trying to kill her friends.
Blueball was making great use of her aerial superiority against Pinkie Pie, darting and zipping around her too fast for her eyes to follow. Here and there she would throw in a fast punch or kick, adding physical substance to the blue blur she had become. But in the midst of this, Pinkie stood up on her back hoofs, extended her right front hoof as if pointing at something, and declared in a thundering voice,
"Objection!"
In response, a cloud-shaped speech bubble bearing the word appeared above her hoof. With no time to react, Blueball smacked into the bubble, causing it to shudder metallically and plastering herself to its side. With an impulsive jerk, she unstuck herself and dropped her hooves back to the ground as the bubble dissipated.
"Oh, you cheated!"
She unsheathed a short sword, causing Pinkie to turn around and try to run. But as soon as she was facing away, Blueball zipped around her and cut her off. "Hey, I'm the only one who can do that!" Pinkie complained. She turned around again, but rather than run away, she ran up. Her personal gravity had been somehow inverted, and she was ascending an invisible wall. Blueball flitted up to her level, just a few hooves beneath the ceiling.
"Cool trick! Howja do that?"
"Oh yeah, forgot to mention."
Pinkie raised a hoof up to point at the line of white text floating above them.
THIS FIGHT HAS BEEN FORMATTED TO FIT YOUR SCREEN
"Oh... Cool!"
Taking advantage of the distraction, Pinkie leaned forward and stood on her front hooves, then bucked Blueball away from the left edge of your screen. As she fell, she bounced off the right edge of your screen, then hit the floor. "Get a bigger computer monitor, for the love of Luna!" she yelled at you as she stood up and dusted herself off.
"My turn: Hub logo attack!"
Reaching down, Blueball grabbed the Hub logo from the bottom right corner of your screen and hurled it at Pinkie. Flying like a boomerang, the small silver disc rammed into her midsection, knocking her off the edge of your screen and back to the floor. By the time she was back on her hooves, Blueball had flown over and pounced on her.
"Sorry, but breaking the fourth wall is against the Laws of Physics. I'm gonna have to charge you!"
With two thick hoof-fulls of Pinkie's mane held tight, Blueball let loose the electrical power of her own. There was plenty of flash, along with the aroma of burnt cotton candy, but no apparent effect on Pinkie.
"Hmm, my mane's a great insulator. Go figure!"
"Nah, I think I'll just kill you instead."
Releasing her right hoof, Blueball slid down Pinkie's right side while keeping her left hoof's grip on her mane. Latched onto Pinkie's side, she flicked out a stiletto knife, hardly bigger than a surgeon's scalpel, from the wrist of her Shadowbolt costume. In a quick, but fluid motion, she drove the knife into Pinkie's ribcage, drawing blood immediately, and recharged. The electricity surged through Pinkie's body, sending her mane standing on end and her brain into a Spinning Beachball of Death. Suddenly, her mane went slacked. Blueball lost her balance, causing her to fall and the current of electricity to stop. On the ground, she rolled away and stood back up. As Pinkie came to, the first thing she saw was the puddle formed by blood dripping from her knife wound. Her mane stayed loose, hanging limply from the top of her body, and she turned to Blueball with a murderous smile on her face. Reaching back methodically with her right hoof, she yanked the stiletto out of her chest and held it loosely at her side.
"Here's Pinkamena!"
"And so I told her that while our designs were similar, hers was much less elegant. 'Griffons have no concept of elegance', she replied. And do you know what I told her?"
"Do tell."
"'This is obvious'. Her reaction convinced me to hold off on going international. Last time I deal with a griffon, I promise you that."
Far from the heated battles going on about them, Rarity and Starry Skies had decided that physical combat was unbecoming for civilized and cultured mares such as themselves.
"But you must tell me, Starry, what are you doing with a band of war-hawks like this?"
"Simple, really. The Wonderbolts wouldn't take me, even though I'm twice the aerobat compared to brutes like Soarin' and Wild Wind. My family has a reputation about Cloudsdale, and some ponies can be so horribly judgmental towards us. Thankfully Princess Luna was not one of them. But how about you? You're certainly not the fighting type, how did you end up here?"
"Circumstance, I'm afraid. I'm sure you know of Twilight Sparkle, and how she defeated Nightmare Moon several years ago. I joined her in her little quest simply because I believed she would need a local's help to venture into the Everfree Forest. But in the process, I somehow got selected to be the 'Element of Generosity', which I didn't initially resent. But when Equestria's best line of defense became the magic of friendship, it became quite the burden. Being dragged over hill and dale, having to fight the worst of the world's monsters and villains, so on, so on; the entire situation has played havoc on my fashion-design career."
"Mmm, that is unfortunate. I must confess, I didn't have much of a life to be ruined when I joined the Shadowbolts. Of course, I had the money to live comfortably, but without any sort of passion beyond aerobatics, it was a banal existence."
"I could imagine. Starry, I do hate to bring up the dragon in the room, but skin-tight catsuits have never exactly been in style. Not to mention the yellow-on-purple contrast is completely out of season..."
"Form follows function, dear. In a storm or late at night, even the sharpest of eyes would be hard-pressed to see me. And skin-tight means less friction in flight. Besides, you've got to admit we can scare the living daylights out of almost anypony we run into."
"True, but otherwise, it's an aesthetic nightmare."
Having thrown Nightshade away from him after an attempted grapple, Shining Armor noticed the two of them socializing. He was understandably upset.
"Rarity, quit fraternizing with the enemy!"
Starry noticed this directive as readily as its recipient did.
"Dear Luna, does this mean we have to...?"
"I suppose so. It's a true shame, we mares of culture having to come to blows, but as the old phrase goes, duty has no sweethearts."
"Sure..."
Starry reached to her hip to draw a combat knife, but Rarity beat her to the punch, magically holding three sewing needles tight to her neck.
"Uh uh uh, I may not be the sort for acupuncture, but I doubt needles are meant to go there!"
Frustrated, Starry put her right hoof back to the ground.
With wings helping her balance on her back hoofs, Rainbow Dash flicked her katana about in her front hooves, batting away bolt after bolt from a magical barrage. Angling the blade so that its flat side faced Twilight, she blocked the next bolt and reflected it back at her. This forced Twilight to leap away, and gave Dash the break she needed. Instantly she leapt into the air, then spiraling around another energy blast, power-dove and made a ramming thrust at the Element of Magic. In response, Twilight threw up a magical shield, and even though it kept the blade a safe distance from her, it could not prevent a degree of penetration; there was simply too much force behind so keen a tip. Dash regained altitude and came to a stop, then spun around to face Twilight. With a flick of her left wing, she hurled a throwing knife down at her, but Twilight reactivated her shield and the dagger bounced erratically off it.
"Stop this, Rainbow Dash! You're my friend, I don't want to fight you!"
"You call what we had a friendship? I can't count the number of times I had to stick my neck out for you. Because of you, I've had to go head-to-head with a god of chaos, a killer dragon, and a vicious horde of matter-eating insects. Your best idea to help me win the Best Young Flyers Competition was to give Rarity butterfly wings. What did she do with those wings, Twilight? She overshadowed me everywhere we went, then almost got herself killed! And don't even get me started on Mare-Do-Well! Yeah, my ego can get inflated sometimes, but is that an excuse for you to get all my friends to go behind my back and make up a grand scheme to royally humiliate me?"
Descending to hover above ground level, Dash began taking furious lateral hacks at her rival apprentice. Twilight used magical assistance to duck and dive away, until she ended the assault by creating a sword of her own to block the katana. They collided with a metallic crack.
"If it weren't for you, I could've been a Wonderbolt!"
Another slash, another block, another crack.
"I would still have Gilda as a friend!"
This time it was an overhead attack, forcing Twilight to twist her energy sword to protect herself.
"And Equestria would be blanketed in eternal night, thanks to your mentor!"
"It would be so nice if the world was as black-and-white as you see it, Twilight, but we live in shades of grey. Nightmare Moon wouldn't have tried to cause eternal night if Celestia hadn't sent her to the Moon for a thousand years!"
Drawing back her sword, Dash took another forward thrust. Twilight didn't trust any magic barrier to keep her safe from such an attack, so she quickly teleported backwards, well away from the blade's reach. Out of frustration, Dash let out a primal scream.
"Fight me!"
"No, Rainbow Dash. No matter what's happened to you, what's caused you to hate me so much, I will not vindicate that hatred through violence. I still have hope in you, Rainbow Dash, in us!"
"Twilight Sparkle, always the optimist. But if you won't fight me..."
With a surprising burst of speed, Dash entered into a flurry of katana slashes. Creating an energy staff, Twilight struggled to knock back every blow, but when the onslaught ended, she was unscathed. Their weapons were locked against each other, but Dash raised her blade high, forcing both tips to the ground. The katana had pinned the staff to the stone floor, until Twilight allowed it to dissipate. But Dash did not change positions, and instead swept her blade's tip to the right along the ground, flinging loose gravel and dust at her enemy. Twilight recoiled from the surprise attack, and with a target exposed, Dash's left wing snapped forward. A small dagger spiraled with almost-audible sharpness and embedded itself in Twilight's right flank. Her right legs immediately buckled as she screamed out in pain.
"... then take a second to heal yourself, and listen well, egghead."
Dash resheathed her katana, and in the exchange that followed, Twilight for the first time heard her speak with true malice.
"I really hope you realize that you're wasting your hope on me, Twilight. That's the only reason I'm not tearing you apart right now, because I pity you. But you're a logical mare, maybe I can explain to you why you shouldn't bother trying to turn me back to your side. The first thing you ought to know is that honestly, I can't decide whether you should live or die. Practicality says I should kill you, but since Celestia used you even more than she did me, I can't shake the feeling that it would be like killing a stupid animal for being stupid."
This insult was cutting, but Twilight was only listening to Rainbow Dash's tirade with half a heart. Most of her focus was on curing whatever she had been poisoned with by the throwing knife. She continued probing the wound magically, examining the toxin. It was definitely a sedative, deadly given enough time, but it didn't match any known chemical weapon or drug. On the microscopic level, it was producing an almost random assortment of effects, the significance of which she simply could not grasp. And what she couldn't understand, she couldn't cure.
"But either way, you'll be out of my way by the end of this, and that will free me up to help take care of Celestia. I'll let Luna decide her fate, since they have the whole millennia-long feud thing going on. After that, it's back to Canterlot to deal with our four dear friends. They probably won't have to be punished too harshly, unless one of them somehow managed to kill one of the Shadowbolts... I'm betting Applejack would be the one to do it. Oh, and there's your brother, too! I'm betting he would rather die fighting than surrender, and of course, I'd have to oblige him. We'll probably have to raze most of the city to deal with fanatics like him."
Twilight was beginning to understand what she had been poisoned with. It was a combination of several potent sedatives, each one amplifying the others' effects and canceling out their vulnerabilities. It was a complex jigsaw puzzle; any one approach to neutralizing one of the agents could easily be blocked out by another, but by successfully disabling one, she could weaken the others in turn. But medical magic was a delicate business, even for Twilight. It would take time. She just had to keep Rainbow Dash ranting. And that meant refusing to respond emotionally, no matter how wounding the insult or frightening the threat.
"But I'm getting away from the point at hoof: what will happen to you? Well, as Celestia's star student, you're part of what I like to call the "old guard". That means you, Celestia, the Elements of Harmony, everypony that had power in the way things used to be. Luna and I would be part of the old guard, too, if we hadn't decided there was a better way. And so now that we're taking charge, the old guard has to be, ehh, how should I put it? Swept away. You know, like spring cleaning or something. We're not just making a few small fixes, we're overhauling Equestria's entire system of government. We're going to show the public how greatness was being kept just out of their hooves, then give it to them ourselves. And when we do, you're going to be worse than dead, Twilight. You're going to be despised. I'll personally make sure you're recorded in the history books as a willing agent of Celestia's despotic regime. Ponies will hate your name as fiercely as they did 'Nightmare Moon' only years ago."
The first layer of the toxic compound had been broken down, and now the others were beginning to unravel. It was a modified chloroform, and Twilight had been able to magically break it down at the atomic level. She then began probing the weaknesses of the next layer, apparently chloral hydrate. But the remaining toxin was beginning to take effect, robbing her of energy and making magic more difficult. She needed to solve this puzzle fast.
"And while we're on the subject of poetic justice, I think I have an idea of what to do with the two of you. Celestia forced Luna to endure a thousand years of bitter cold and isolation on the Moon. I don't get to pass final judgement on her, but I think she deserves a long stay in Tartarus for that. And I'd imagine the surface of the Sun is just about 20% hotter. But of course, the two of you couldn't go together. You'd could keep each other company, and that's a luxury Luna never had. Maybe I'll lock you in the dungeon of our new castle, let you watch as the Equestria you knew vanishes, show you just how spectacularly you've failed, kick you around whenever I need a laugh. But then you might get out and come kill me... I think I know what I'll do with you. I'll just tie you up, stick you up on top of that tree you call home where all of Ponyville can see, then burn you at the stake. A grand bonfire in celebration of the successful revolution."
The chloral hydrate had broken down, as had the two layers after it. With only one chemical left, Twilight's faculties were beginning to restore themselves. She quickly discovered it was a potent type of diazepam, but with no other agents to protect it, she could use a simple neutralizing spell. The puzzle was solved; the poison was cured.
"And just to rub it in, I think I'll make Spike start the fire, then toss him in right after you!"
Telekinetically removing the knife, then applying tissue-healing and painkilling spells to the wound, Twilight was back in fighting shape. Now she could afford to get a word in.
"Rainbow Dash, if you want to threaten me, go right ahead. If it satisfies your personal vendetta, then do whatever you will with me. You can even throw the Princess in with me, if you really believe everything you've accused her of. But you will not threaten my friends, my family, or my home! And especially not Spike!"
Finally, a reaction! Dash was starting to have fun with this, and her mocking tone showed it.
"Ooh, I did strike a nerve there! Do you still think I can be 'saved' by the almighty magic of friendship?"
"I'll tell you what I think: I think this isn't Rainbow Dash talking!"
And with that, Twilight created an energy net and cast it upon Rainbow Dash. The Shadowbolt tried to escape by flying away, but the net easily entangled her and somehow gained tremendous weight at the same time. Grounded, she was forced flat on her stomach, caught between the floor and the magical construct. She was well and truly stuck; as Twilight walked over to her, she realized she was at her enemy's mercy. Twilight craned her neck down, and with her horn pulled Dash's reflective yellow flight goggles up and off of her eyes. She then touched the tip of her horn to Rainbow Dash's forehead, and activated a memory spell. This should have flooded Rainbow Dash's mind with memories of the great friendship she shared with the other Elements, freeing her from whatever influence was corrupting her mind. The last time it was used, Rainbow Dash's eyes went wide and she snapped back to reality as if from a dream; Twilight expected the same result this time. But nothing happened. Rainbow Dash only snorted and cracked a smug grin. Dumbstruck, Twilight backed away, allowing the energy net to dissipate. Dash stood back up and pulled her flight goggles back down. Pitiful.
"Still hoping, Twilight?"
"I... how... you're you!"
"Yep, no easy way out this time, Twi. No demons, no chaos magic, no obvious evil source to rationalize me away with. I am Rainbow Dash, nopony else, I am completely sane and in control, and I mean every word I say. You're going to have to fight me, because I'm here and I'm not backing down."
"No, Rainbow Dash, no matter what, no matter who you've become, I will not fight you."
"Don't you get it? Even if you play perfect defense the entire time, there's no way you can outlast me. You'll get tired, you'll get sloppy, and I'll get lucky. And then what's standing between me and the rest of Equestria?"
For all the love and cheerfulness she used to know in Rainbow Dash, Twilight didn't doubt she meant to make good on every threat, especially if Twilight survived to watch her do so.
"If anypony I've threatened tonight means anything to you, fight for them. If Canterlot or Ponyville mean anything to you, fight to protect your home. If your brother means anything to you, fight to give him a chance to live. But your only real hope of beating me is by striking back. So fight me, for whatever reason, or watch as everything you care about suffers and dies because of your weakness!"
She was right. Twilight realized that constantly defending herself was a losing battle. Every option she thought she had now only ended in her complete and total failure. Except fighting back. The line she promised herself she would never cross, and she was being pushed over it. But there wasn't a choice: could she really put so many lives at risk just for an old friend who had already betrayed her and tried to kill her? No. But the fact that she was being forced to cross that line gave her solace; she knew Rainbow Dash would never do that to her. This wasn't Rainbow Dash she was about to fight, it was a monster who had taken her place.
"Rainbow Dash, you used to be my best friend. I loved you like a sister. But if this is what you've become, if this is the path you choose to follow, then I must stand against you."
"About time. Now hit me with your best shot!"
Charging up a beam of magical energy, Twilight prepared to do just that.
Celestia and Nightmare Moon took far less time to come to blows, perhaps simply out of previous experience. Immediately locking horns, they struggled against each other both physically and magically.
"Luna, stop this madness!"
They pushed off each other, retreating. Nightmare Moon seethed with rage, and it was causing her to regress into her more natural archaic dialect.
"You think this madness, sister? You do not know the meaning of the term!"
Dropping back in stance, she took several shots at Celestia with magical pulse bolts. With an arcing charge, Celestia evaded them all, then leapt out at her sister, meaning to tackle and subdue her. But Nightmare Moon was too fast to be beaten so easily; magically crafting a claw of shadows, she immediately snatched Celestia from flight and halted her advance, then brought her down to eye-level.
"You wish to know madness? Then look into mine eyes."
Immobilized and helpless, Celestia obeyed. Far from capitulation, she hoped it would give her some new understanding of Luna's descent back into a Nightmare. In an age gone by, this was how a mind-meld was initiated, allowing a magical creature to see into the thoughts, feelings and memories of another. Of course, it fell into disuse after privacy became a concern... Celestia was probably one of the only ponies in Equestria who remembered it. And Nightmare Moon knew that. Reluctantly, Celestia began the mind-meld, staring into her sister's turquoise cat-eyes, and in her mind's eye, she saw it. No, felt it, even. The cold. The fear. The loneliness. But at the same time, the hope. She could see Earth up above her, with a perfect view of the Equestrian continent. It was like a gem, the sunlight shining down into a dungeon, beckoning her to come home. But somehow, implicitly, she understood that she could never return. The orb of hope in the sky was impossible, but it was there all the same. And then Celestia realized that that impossible hope was the true nature of despair. This was an environment perfectly conditioned to nurture desperation and hatred. This was the prison her sister had been locked in for the past millennium. The prison she had locked her in.
"Do you feel it, Celestia? Do you understand now the frozen hell you damned me to?"
Perhaps, for the first time in her life, she did.
"Luna, I... I don't... I'm sorry, dear Faust, I'm so sorry, Luna. I failed you as a sister, and as a sister all I can do is ask your forgiveness."
Nightmare Moon's heart, for probably the last time in her life, softened.
"Join me, sister. Stand beside me, not against me. We can lead Equestria into a new age of democracy and prosperity, together! Our armies will stand united against any threat, the Elements of Harmony alongside the Shadowbolts."
And at that moment, even if only faintly, even if only for a second, Celestia thought she saw the old Luna in her sister's eyes again.
"Please, Celestia, think of it. More than a millennia of hatred and war, ended right now. You and I, sisters again, champions of a new age of greatness. I can order my Guard to stay their hooves this minute, but I need you as my ally."
The offer was heart-rending. Every fiber of Celestia's being wanted to accept, to reunite with her long-lost Luna and stay the bloody civil war that would otherwise result. She had been waiting to accept such an offer for a thousand years. But principle held her back. She thought of all the strife her sister's revolution could bring among ponies, as Equestrian society stratified all the more between the "haves" and the "have-nots", and class war inevitably followed. She thought of the suffering of other races as an imperialist Equestria, powered by the Elements, ran roughshod over its neighbors in violent conquest. And she thought of the brave Guards and civilians who had already died because of this revolution, and the many more who would surely perish rather than accept it. As deeply as it pained her, she knew what her answer had to be.
"Luna, you have always been my sister, and although I've failed you so greatly, I've always loved you as a sister, and I always will. But I've seen the end of the road you wish to travel, and in the name of harmony, I cannot walk it with you."
Then, just as the stained-glass windows depicted such a long time ago, the younger sister turned away from the elder, head hung low.
"So be it. Although my offer was in earnest, I expected such a response from you. And if you will not stand with me, then you oppose me."
"As it has been across the ages, so it is now," Celestia reflected in a tone almost mournful.
"Very well then. Expect no mercy."
Nightmare Moon's response was not a threat, but stated like a fact, even an antebellum courtesy to her enemy. And with that, she collapsed into a low-hanging cloud of night-blue gas, spreading across the cobblestone floor as easily as a bank of fog. As the gas dissipated, it seeped into the numerous cracks in the stonework, effectively disappearing. The final battle had begun.
Having engaged Applejack after both had lost their original sparring partners, Stratus slowly began working towards Nightshade. He discombobulated his opponent with a hammer-swing blow to the head, giving him time to report to her.
"Ponies are dropping, Shade. I took out one of theirs, but they've got Starry, and I haven't seen Charger in a while."
"He can handle it, whatever it is. But we do need to regroup. Form up on the yellow one; we can use her as leverage against them."
Both immediately took off, causing a sword slash from Shining Armor to whiff through empty air. Touching down a few hooves from Fluttershy, she called out "Shadowbolts, form up!" Blueball did so eagerly, narrowly avoiding Pinkamena's downward stab attack with her stolen knife. The three of them stood behind their captured enemy, and with nopony fighting, the Elements and Shining Armor did the same, Rarity forcing Starry Skies to go with them. Nightshade and Shining, the two groups' natural leaders, began parley.
"It appears we've both taken prisoners of war. Perhaps it's time for an exchange?"
"Is Fluttershy still alive?"
"Oh, sure, just a little shaken up. Stratus has a nasty right hook, if you haven't found out already."
"Um, Nightshade, I do appreciate the witticism and all, but I don't exactly like sewing needles in my throat!" Starry interrupted unapologetically.
"Fair enough, Starry. So is it a deal, Starry for Fluttershy?"
"Yes, deal."
Stratus pushed Fluttershy's limp body towards the enemy party and Shining Armor did the rest, dragging her back to their side of the battle line then casting an energy spell to help her get back on her hooves. In return, Rarity dropped her sewing needles, allowing Starry to gallop back to her fellow Shadowbolts.
"Thank Luna. I was starting to worry about that pink one."
"Come on, why so serious? Let's put a smile on that face!"
Blueball shuddered visibly at the suggestion, an effect no doubt related to the numerous cuts in her flight suit. Disregarding this, Shining Armor spoke up.
"There, we've both got our ponies back. Now surrender!"
Nightshade shot him a mockingly confused look, cocking an eyebrow and begging an explanation.
"You're outnumbered, five against four. If you couldn't beat us one on one, there's no way you can win one pony down."
Nightshade noticed that Charger had not joined in the formation. She couldn't find him anywhere in the hall.
"Where's Charger?" she implored. Applejack, saddled with some guilt, felt obligated to answer.
"I had him caught with my lasso, but he jumped out that window. I tried to hold onto him, believe me, I did, but the rope snapped. I didn't kill him, he didn't kill himself, the rope just wasn't strong enough to hold him. I'm sorry."
"Dammit..."
But almost on cue, Charger flew back into the Hall through the broken window. Touching down with the rest of the Shadowbolts, he was welcomed by looks of shock and surprise.
"Like I said, cowgirl, expect the unexpected. Sorry to scare you, Nightshade, just had some rigging to do."
"But the rope snapped!"
"No, I cut it, sugarcube. With this."
He flicked a stiletto knife into his front hoof, similar to the one Blueball had stabbed Pinkie with. Holding it up long enough to display, he then let it slide back into its compartment on his wrist. Based on the cursory report he had just given her, Nightshade smiled with wry confidence; a trump card had just been dealt into her hoof.
"What've you rigged up for us?"
In response, Charger launched into a smug mock-report to everypony in the room. It was as much taunting his enemies as it was informing his allies.
"Glad you asked! Right now I have Canterlot Tower completely wired to collapse in on itself, burying the Elements of Harmony in rubble. And once it crumbles, this hall will fall off the side of the palace, taking you five with it. Your only pegasus is in no condition to save herself, much less carry anypony."
"You're bluffing! I saw you before the battle, you weren't carrying near enough for a blast that big," Shining Armor retorted.
"Really? I'm almost insulted you think so little of Lunar Guard engineering! Do you remember the carriage bombing outside the Coltlumbian Embassy about 6 months ago?"
"What are you implying?"
"That blast was caused by a charge the size of a hoofball. It was a test of our new magic-based explosive, and as you can see, it was a great success."
"You mean you tried to blow up an embassy as a test?"
"Relax, we set it up to keep damage to a minimum, and didn't set it off until there was nopony in the blast zone. Besides, that embassy needed better security anyway; we were honestly doing you a favor. But I'm wandering. Maybe you didn't notice, but I did have a flight belt strapped on and charges strapped to my back legs when we arrived. Where are they now?"
Shining Armor observed that none of the explosive charges were on his body at the moment. The implication was obvious, and Charger loved it.
"So think of two belts' worth of that much explosives, spread about Canterlot Tower by the best demo-stallion in the Lunar Guard, and all ready to be blown by the squeeze of my hoof."
Charger gestured with the detonator in his right hoof. A piece of magitech, it was enchanted to activate detonation spells in the explosive charges when squeezed. Shining Armor truly realized the danger he and the Elements were in. He had been outmaneuvered.
"What are your demands?"
"Well, we can start with the obvious 'drop your weapons.'"
Two swords, a stolen knife and what was left of a lasso clattered to the floor.
"Alright, now, mmm... I'm out of ideas. Shade, you got anything?"
"Yeah, drop the shield around the palace!"
"Forget it, there's no way I'm opening the front door for your invasion force!"
"Your call."
And at that moment, grinning sadistically, Charger pressed down on the detonator lever. Immediately the floor behind the Elements exploded, throwing them forward. The entire Hall thundered and shook in sudden jerks as more charges went off around Canterlot Tower. As predicted, it could not stand with its structural integrity compromised, and it began to topple away from the palace. Along with it, the Hall of History was seemingly ripped away from the rest of the castle. Inside, the Elements could feel the floor drop beneath them, as they began to slide towards an oblivion of shifting debris and rubble. The Shadowbolts quickly leapt up and flew out the higher end of the Hall, remorseless as they left their enemies to be crushed.
Recovering from the shell shock of the first explosion, Shining Armor snapped back to consciousness as the ground beneath his hooves rocked violently backward. He was losing traction rapidly, and, as he could see, so were the others. Applejack was practically clawing into the stone flooring, while Fluttershy ineffectually flapped her wings to try and escape. He knew what was coming next: whatever hold the structure still had on the rest of the castle was failing fast, and that meant a sudden drop that none of them could expect to survive. But as he saw the Shadowbolts escape out the top, his front hooves were pulled loose of the flooring, sending him tumbling downward. Bouncing down the floor like a steep stone slide, there was no way for him to focus on anything, and all Shining could do was wonder whether he would die by what he fell on, or what fell on him.