This was no longer a game.
Luna wanted to stay close to Celestia and ensure her full recovery, but she was needed elsewhere. She owed it to Celestia, Cadence, Shining Armor, and all her subjects to rid Equestria of Chrysalis’ pestilence. Deep down, she acknowledged that she too needed this victory; vanquishing Chrysalis would be the best kind of self-absolution. In time, she knew, everypony who’d known her as Nightmare Moon would have either forgiven her or passed on. But she never would be able to forgive herself, unless she succeeded today.
With fervor, she kicked off her sparkling blue slippers, wincing as they clattered noisily across the crystal cave floor. The slippers, like her crown and necklace, were part of the royal regalia, yet they also served an important purpose. Alicorns, being part earth pony along with unicorn and pegasus, had very sensitive hooves to better draw upon the earth’s magic. Slippers kept every step an alicorn took from being akin to walking on hot coals from overexposure to magic. Luna planted each hoof firmly on the floor, closed her eyes, and summoned a small amount of magic to her horn.
Show me, castle, what happens above.
In her mind’s eye, Luna saw a rendering of the castle above in a pale glowing blue. She saw the heat signatures of hundreds of ponies still fleeing from the chapel, using all possible doors and a few priceless stained glass windows to escape. Luna stomped her foot in agitation—parts of those windows had come from the Crystal Empire—but continued pushing outward. She sensed the dark blob of Chrysalis still lingering in the chapel, as well as Cadence’s unique ice-blue magical signature and Shining Armor’s magenta one.
Interesting. I’ve never seen a unicorn with such a strong magical signature before. Perhaps my sister wasn’t mistaken in naming him Captain of the Royal Guard. He certainly isn’t much of a warrior, though, is he?
Luna pushed her vision out even further to see the entirety of Canterlot, covered by the massive magenta shield courtesy of Shining Armor. But something was very, very wrong. Why did the shield appear to be concave in places? Why could she feel the thinnest of cracks webbing out from critical points in th—
Oh no
Scooping up her slippers and casting a final glance at a still-unconscious Celestia, Luna quickly teleported out of the Caves and into the first place that came to mind: the Royal Library. Just after she made it, there was a colossal boom that shook through her entire body and sent ancient tomes tumbling off the shelves. The few library attendants present screamed and ran for cover, and Luna just barely had enough strength to keep herself standing upright. Opening one eye, she gazed out the curved panoramic window to the skies above and gasped.
“The sky is falling.”
Immediately she admonished herself for saying something so foolish. The sky itself wasn’t falling, but the solid shield that had shrouded Canterlot for nearly two weeks was. Giant magenta shards of magic were plummeting to the streets below; Luna hoped the droves of citizens would be smart enough to seek shelter as quickly as possible. The air surrounding the city was suddenly filled with the nasal hum of insect wings, and the alicorn’s heart sunk to the floor.
“Changelings.”
Chrysalis hadn’t been bluffing. The chitin-coated witch was really looking to feed her subjects by any means necessary. Luna had been living in delusion this whole time, hoping Chrysalis would have abandoned any plans for large-scale invasion with a shield up around Canterlot. She’d thought better of somepony and they’d proven her wrong.
Oh my. Now I know exactly how my sister felt after my transformation…she must have felt such deep betrayal at my hooves, all because of my own jealousy. Yes, Chrysalis exacerbated my feelings, but I was still their originator. I failed to understand my subjects’ fear because I was young, and I made a terrible, terrible—
CRASH!
Luna snapped out of her reverie long enough to find a changeling had charged through the curved panoramic window, making a large hole in the glass, and was now hovering high above her. It was just smaller than the average mare, and its teal compound eyes widened upon seeing a princess standing vulnerable below. It bared its pearly fangs, hissed, and dove right toward her, torn blue wings humming furiously. Instinctively, Luna seized the first thing her magic laid upon: a rather weighty tome entitled Equestrian Magic Through the Ages: A History.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaah!” the lunar princess cried, flinging the book at the changeling.
“Peef!” The book hit the changeling square in its tiny chest and sent it careening out through the window once more. All of the glass came crashing down around Luna, who had the wherewithal to cast a quick shield for protection. She sent out a tendril of magic to retrieve the book, which floated back up to her face.
“Good thing I thought to grab this before it hit the street. It’s a first edition, after all. Twilight would have been hysterical if it went missing,” the indigo alicorn said to herself. An idea came to her just then, and her eyes widened. With giddy laughter, she pulled five shelves out of the nearest bookcase and set them on the floor beside her.
“I may not have armor or artillery, but I have even greater means at hoof. Some might say I have the greatest weapons in the world!”
A group of six changelings flew in through the broken window, only to be met by six spellbooks smashing into their heads.
“EAT KNOWLEDGE, CRETINS!”
Luna returned the books to their shelf and began firing with machine-gun speed at any changeling that came by. For the first time in many days, the princess was laughing, manic peals that ricocheted off the library walls. She had sworn earlier this wasn’t a game, yet beating changelings back with Equestrian history, magic and scientific discoveries was extremely amusing!
From her high vantage point, Luna could assess the damage being done to the inner city. Ponies who hadn’t attended the wedding were dashing about with changelings streaking after them. Terrified screams rent the air, as well as smoke from stoves left unattended by already converted ponies. Doors were yanked off hinges, windows shattered, streetlamps bent at odd angles, and trash strewn across the cobblestones. Luna had to marvel at how quickly Canterlot disintegrated, as well as how quickly elitist mares and gentle-colts could run in formal attire.
A scene at a nearby café caught Luna’s attention. She watched raptly as a dark-haired mare from the Canterlot Philharmonic Orchestra—Octavia, was it?—fought off several changelings in hoof-to-hoof combat. After about a minute of punches, well-placed kicks, and an upended café table, Octavia launched a drink cart at a particular changeling who’d been summoning its brethren with a flash of sickly green light. Luna was amazed. She really ought to give the citizens of Canterlot more credit where it was due. Not all of them were snobby and self-serving.
Pink light flashed rapidly in the corner of Luna’s eyes, and she flapped out through the library window to see what the ruckus was. Twilight Sparkle and her friends were in the thick of a changeling swarm, battling them back with rather…improvisational fighting tactics. Currently, Pinkie Pie had Twilight’s neck cradled in one hoof and was pumping the purple unicorn’s tail rapidly, blasting away any changelings with intense bursts of magic from Twilight’s horn.
“I had no idea we even worked like that…” Luna mumbled in amazement as she looked at her own starry tail. She shuddered to think what might happen if somepony ever did that to Celestia or herself. Would the sun and moon cycle through the sky like a manic cosmic carousel? What about Cadence? Could she force anypony within range to fall in love with blazing speed?
Luna’s musings were interrupted by a large outcry from within the library. She turned midair and saw that, while she wasn’t looking, hundreds of changelings had flooded in through the broken panoramic window. Several were banging headlong into the tall oaken doors, trying to access the rest of the castle. One with some level of intelligence was attempting to pick the locks with its horn, only to have it be jammed in the process. The rest had seemingly given up the hunt for food and were tipping over bookshelves, ripping out pages, squabbling over which book belonged to whom, and generally causing chaos. Had Discord been free from his statue, he would have enjoyed the sight.
Quietly, Luna landed inside and picked her way through broken glass and ripped book pages. She waited patiently to see if any of the changelings would notice her arrival. When the din persisted, she drew a bare indigo hoof to her chest, inhaled, and exhaled as she extended her leg again.
“ENOUGH!” the princess bellowed in the Royal Canterlot Voice.
Silence fell immediately. Three hundred pairs of eyes turned to Luna, terrified and curious all at once.
With their hive-mind, they dove as one to attack.
With her warrior spirit and quick thinking, Luna defended.
Thousands of books were thrown from their shelves as immense magic swelled and slammed the changelings flat against the library walls. Luna’s eyes glowed a dazzling white from within her blue domed shield, and her voice was a low, inescapable hiss that sliced through every changeling ear.
“You will leave this castle. You will attack no one, and you will seek sustenance elsewhere. Should you not leave, you will rue the very day you gazed upon me. You will keen in pain when the moonlight pierces your eyes each night. For I am Princess Luna of the Moon and Night, Alicorn Mare of the Darkness. And if need be, you shall suffer under me.”
Luna dropped the enchantment that pinned the changelings to the wall, her eyes fading to normalcy. The din that followed could only be compared to bats flooding out of their roost at twilight; every last changeling fled the library with great haste. As soon as the last one left, she dropped her blue shield as well, gathered her slippers, and trod carefully over to the oaken doors.
A whimper under one of the mountains of books and scrolls caught Luna’s attention. To her shock, a librarian withdrew themselves from under the pile, his pince-nez trembling on his snout. He said nothing to Luna, nor dared to take in the disaster around him. Instead, he stared at her with terror and tears lodged in his wide green eyes. Luna did her best to offer a calming smile, then turned and left the library.