The efforts of the young ponies had suddenly come to a halt as they focused on the latest development in the battlefield. The gargoyle snarled with anger as Luna pelted it with glowing bolts of light, fired rapidly from her horn one after another.
"I thought you couldn't do sun spells," Rarity pointed out.
"Not sun spells! Light spells!" Luna said, ducking a swing of the gargoyle's tail. "Sun would defeat it, light weakens it."
"Looks more like he's just getting annoyed," Rainbow Dash pointed out. "Why is he going after unicorns, anyway? Doesn't the Ritual of the Moon seem a bit... extreme?"
"Over here, ugly!" Rainbow Dash yelled, getting the monsters attention just long enough for it to charge her, which she easily zoomed out of the way. "Too slow!"
"Hey! Um... stop picking on my friends... that is... if you don't mind..." Fluttershy asked, now finding the monster turning on her. "If you could find someone else to pick on, that'd be really nice of you, and I'm sure we'd all appreciate... eep!"
Rarity threw in her own two cents, throwing all manner of rocks and debris at the gargoyle while zapping an enormously ugly hat upon it's head. "There! A punishment worth the crime, to be seen in public in last years fashion! Then again it was never particularly in style in the first place. Good luck living that down!"
Pinkie, instead, had her back turned to the monster, and crossed her hooves. "I'm not going to be friends with you," she announced.
The gargoyle paused at that. That was the worst she could come up with?
"And I'm not inviting you to Gummy's birthday, either! Should'a thought about that before you went all loco in the coco. Now you'll just have to read about how much fun the rest of us had in my blog."
Fluttershy tilted her head. "What's a blog?"
"I have no idea!"
Luna ducked and rolled, not easy for a mare of her size, and blasted the stony monster in the back. "I suspect that going after the Elements of Harmony was only coincidental. Celestia and I dealt with Kretin such a very long time ago, but it's not surprising he wants another go at us. Gargoyles really aren't very bright."
"Hey!" the monster scowled.
Pinkie burst into giggling. "Kretin? His name is Kretin? That's a terribly offensive name."
"As I recall," Luna pointed out. "It isn't much better than Der-"
"Shhh!" Pinkie hissed. "We aren't supposed to say that name! It makes the haters mad."
"Whatever are you going on about?" Rarity asked.
"Never mind, it's better if you don't know," Pinkie said.
Stitch, meanwhile, was busily taking advantage of the gargoyle being distracted with Luna by scrunching into a ball and rolling towards the fight. He twisted and weaved back and forth to avoid getting hit, and launched himself like a spring onto the gargoyle's back, between his stony wings. The monster roared with rage, swinging his bulky arms but was unable to reach behind him. Stitch grabbed one of its wings in his claws and yanked fiercely, breaking the wing off and throwing it upon the ground.
"Stitch!" Rainbow gasped.
"You can't do that..." Fluttershy whispered.
The alien glanced over at them, pointing to where the wing had been. "Stone. No pain," he said.
Stone or not, while breaking off the wing was no more graphic than accidentally breaking the arm off a statue, the gargoyle certainly became quite enraged. It flung itself onto the ground, crushing the alien beneath its weight. "Stupid dog," it growled.
Luna continued her assault of light spells, if only to daze the stony menace. Stitch reached up from underneath and lifted Kretin up over his head, slamming the enemy down into the ground with such force that cracks appeared all over its body.
Kretin whipped Stitch backwards with his tail, knocking him aside as one might a particularly annoying mosquito.
"You're small. You're annoying. You're useless," Kretin said. "Did I forget anything?" He accented each insult with another whip of his tail.
"Yes," Stitch said, grabbing the end of Kretin's tail in his claws. "Cute... and... fluffy!"
The alien lifted Kretin once more over his head, and crushed him into the ground. The gargoyle let out a stifled yelp and shattered into dozens of large pieces of stone which disassembled and rolled across the clearing.
"Yes!" Rainbow Dash hoofpumped the air.
Trixie looked slightly disappointed. "That is not quite the extravagant finale Trixie was hoping for. But it was exciting, Trixie admits. Perhaps you lot are not as annoying as Trixie thought."
Rarity looked at her. "Is that an apology?"
"It's the best Trixie can do. She is not used to apologies."
Luna shook her head. "My little ponies, do not rejoice just yet, for the battle is not over."
Pinkie grinned. "Really? Cause it looks like Kretin lost and he's all broken up over it."
"There is more to gargoyles than appearance. Without the power of the sun, he can still regenerate."
"Look!" Fluttershy pointed. "He's moving!"
Right she was, for little by little, the pieces of the gargoyle were slowly coming back together. Rolling towards each other in awkward patterns.
Rainbow Dash took special enjoyment in kicking a small piece even farther away, making it start all over again.
"The only way to take care of this thing is with the sun," Luna said. "But I don't know how to raise it."
"But I do," said a new voice, one with such passion and authority that every single one of them turned to look.
Celestia was making her way across the field, mane flowing brilliantly in the dim starlight. Luna gasped with such joy, and ran to embrace her.
"Celestia... but... you were..."
"I was. But in his broken state, the magic which bound us has been shattered unless he can petrify us again. One by one, all will be restored. Thank you, all of you, for your help." She looked down to Stitch. "And thank you, Stitch. You will all be rewarded soon enough, but first... I think we've had quite enough of this night."
"Are you sure, Celestia? Can't it last just a bit longer?" Luna asked.
"You know as well as I do that balance must be restored," Celestia said. "The Ritual of the Moon has been fractured, which should allow me just enough time to..."
She closed her eyes, power flowing from her horn like water from a spillway. Brighter and brighter it glowed, until at last the edge of the sun tipped the horizon. Trixie smiled despite herself, and wiped a teary residue from her eyes.
"Is the Great and Powerful Trixie crying?" Rainbow teased.
"Trixie does not cry!" The unicorn demanded. "Trixie is merely leaking excess of awesome."
"Welcome to my world," Rainbow Dash said. The two mares shared a smile, and both began laughing.
The glow of the sun began to light the sky, and jets of steam and vapor rose from the pieces of stony flesh as the light hit them. The remains of the gargoyle solidified and turned black. Celestia sighed with relief as the sun locked into its proper course, arcing towards its usual position. All of the others save for herself were cringing with temporary blindness, having been submerged in darkness for so many days.
"Let us leave this dreadful place," Luna suggested.
"Yes," Celestia agreed. "The rest of you return to the Library, I will send Twilight and the others to their homes so they may recover. They'll be perfectly fine by tomorrow." She waved her horn over the circle of stone equines, and each one blinked out of existence, to reappear elsewhere. "They usually thaw in the order they were found. Applejack is already resting at her farm. She will see you all shortly."
Luna looked down at Stitch, and nudged the alien onto her back. "And of course we have to get this one home, as well."
"Leave that to me," Celestia said. "There are still a few things left to do." She gave a glance at the pieces of stone littering the ground. "First of which is to get these in a safe place, we only have until nightfall to secure them, or else Kretin will merely regenerate."