Sisters in All but Blood

by scifipony

Chapter 5 - Party Crash

I had locked myself into the librarian's loft at the top of the hollow tree. I found a bed there, but even with a pillow over my head, I couldn't block out the sound of music below. When I hadn't shown up to Party Until Dawn, the perky pink party planner and two dozen pastel ponies had brought the party, tables, decorations, food, punch, and musicians to the library. Thump, thump, thump resonated in my room, despite the insulating effect of the wood structure. I'd bailed after I'd poured myself a chili cocktail. Who put a bottle of hot sauce that looked like tomato juice amongst the bottled fruit juices? This Pie mare intended to poison me. It had only gotten louder. I hoped my friends had been wise enough to find sleep elsewhere. Excepting Minuette, the party animal; her peals of laughter rivaled the party planner's.

"Ughhh!" I flung the pillow at the door, rolled on my back, and stared out the window. The moon was edging toward the horizon, bright and full. The mare darkening it's gray face resembled a pony face. I'd never realized that before, but "mare in the moon" was a double-entendre. I grabbed my notebook and my drawing in my magic. I sighted along the pencil, then drew another concentric circle around my sketch of the moon.

Four stars had definitely gotten closer. It couldn't be an atmospheric aberration. And the prophesy stated, "On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape."

A few hours ago, the princess hadn't shown up, yet. That was good, I hoped.

A hoof banged at the door. Probably Spike again. Someone named Berry Punch had brought a barrel of something that proved quite strong; poor Spike was acting loopy, and he kept insisting it was improper not to be out having fun celebrating the impending sunrise. If it was him knocking, he was off to bed, no excuses.

I opened and saw a blue-maned white unicorn in bronze armor. I jumped and hugged him around the neck, despite the metal. "Thank goodness. The ponies in this town are all crazy!" I jumped back. "Tell me you brought troops. Please tell me you brought troops."

"Just Crystalline, Archer, Twin Forks, and Night Flyer. Those ponies and the two carriage guards you commandeered and likely the two bringing Celestia here. With me, three unicorns, an earth spear pony, three possibly five pegasi."

"Celestia isn't here?"

He turned and stared at the party ponies dancing downstairs. "She isn't."

"Are we too late?"

He shrugged.

"Our research implies the Nightmare Moon is a alicorn, like Celestia, maybe just as powerful."

"Not good."

"And the prophesy is coming true." I led him to the window and showed him my notes and the stars.

He stomped a hoof. "Why's Celestia making this so hard?"

"The curse."

"We're going to find out soon."

We went and mustered our meager troops, such that it was, adding our half-dozen college mares, Rainbow Dash's five-pony weather team, the brother and sister earth-pony caterers, and Bon Bon who claimed some surveillance training. Shiny spoke with another dozen ponies who volunteered to watch inside and outside the city hall and warn of anything suspicious. We had no idea how Nightmare Moon would attack. She might be in disguise, magical or otherwise. I feared if we scared the monster off, she might attack when we weren't prepared. This meant I had to allow a herd of a couple hundred ponies inside. The rest would have to watch through the windows, or just be on the green to listen and see the sunrise outside.

Soon Fluttershy was rehearsing her bird choir. The white unicorn Rarity pulled in a dainty cart with two hot urns, one with mocha and the other with chocolate. The smell of much needed coffee filled the air as she unharnessed herself, and started primping the decor. Spike started murmuring nonsense about her beauty. She had classic looks, but was over 25 and wore way too much makeup for my taste. It must have been the alcohol; I had to hush him as ponies began streaming in.

Shiny was out back, awaiting the princess. Two pegasi guards were in the balconies, the rest positioned outside. Nothing could happen without being seen. Unless, it had happened already, since Celestia still wasn't here. I cantered over to the windows. The sky had colored and the moon would soon alight on the horizon.

The four wandering stars practically touched the moon. I started pacing in place, but stopped when I heard a hooves rushing up, halting a foot away. Time Turner had spotted the princess' chariot with his telescope. Two minutes at most.

I wasn't sure whether to be happy or more worried. I glanced nervously at the girls, strategically placed to catch any intruder in restraining levitation if necessary. Suddenly, Pinkamena Pie stood next to me, startling me enough that my heart jumped into my throat. "Isn't this exciting? Are you excited, 'cause I'm excited, I've never been so excited— well, except—"

Mayor Mare banged a gavel, saving me a further harangue. "Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!"

Even limited for "safety reasons," ponies packed the place. Their cheers thundered while stomping hooves rattled the windows. I butted Pinkie Pie forward into the crowd, using my horn to make my point, and cleared firing room as, heart racing, I began calculating my two spells, based on the room, focal distance, and power. The first would be raw magic projection, which required simple analytic geometry. Since Hearts—champion levitator that she was—would be better able to grab the princess and shove her behind the metal wall we had erected for that purpose, I chose teleportation, which required three-dimensional calculus I had not quite mastered. That spell would likely fail, but would make a horrendous distracting bang if I could not move the princess.

As the mayor continued over the voices, I glanced at the moon—

"In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise and celebrate this, the longest day of the year!"

—The stars flared brightly and disappeared beyond the limb. No, no, no—

"And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria…"

—The moon's mare vanished; the dark pony face utterly disappeared. I gasped, the numbers in my mind fizzing into a jumbled matrix of negative zeroes, all prep gone in a mind-scrambling adrenaline rush that left me shaking.

I looked back at the stage as the crowd quieted.

Fluttershy hovered before her rainbow flock of two hundred birds, a conductor's baton in her mouth. "Ready?" she said around it. Rarity stood on the second floor balcony stage, a rope in her light blue magic.

Outside I heard a muffled bang and a crash, then shouts.

The mayor took this as a signal and announced, "Princess Celestia!" Fluttershy's fanfare filled the auditorium.

Rarity pulled the drapes to an empty stage. She looked around, trotted behind the draperies, then past the stage. She trotted into the shadows.

This could not be good.

The mayor waited a few beats as Fluttershy's choir dissolved into disharmonious disarray, then said, "Remain calm, everypony, there must be a reasonable explanation!"

Rarity gave an unladylike shriek and galloped out, hitting the balcony railing in her terror, just managing not to tumble over. An instant later, an black-armored, midnight blue alicorn landed with a loud thump as Rarity cowered before her.

She malevolently surveyed a room packed with unprepared ponies. One sound might set off a stampede that would trample dozens. My worst nightmare stood there, blue mane flowing in the same ethereal wind that animated Celestia's and twinkling like a smoky sky full of stars. Her eyes glowed blue-green with electricity.

My shock wore off, as it did that of the girls and the others we'd prepared. They looked at me and I gave the double nod for levitation restraint.

"My beloved subjects! It's been a thousand years—"

I shouted, "Nightmare Moon! What have you done with the Princess?" I often did the equations for levitation spells in my head; familiar numbers danced and swirled instantly across my vision.

Rainbow Dash jumped into the air, but big sister Apple caught her tail. "Hold on there, Nelly!"

The alicorn focused on me. "What, am I not royal enough for you?"

On queue, the carriage guards flew at the alicorn from the side and above. Nightmare Moon shouted in dismay and shot a beam of magical force, knocking both away. With the intruder distracted, the six of us, mostly Hearts, painted her with our magic. We pulled her legs and wings out from under her as hard as we could, trying to maim her if possible. Hearts managed to flip her head over hindquarters. Minuette laughed in glee, cheering the six of us on. The weather team swooped in with rope, while big sister Apple ran up the stairs spinning her own lasso. She was some sort of rodeo star.

Spread eagled midair, Nightmare Moon screamed and thrashed as I yelled, "Release the Princess now!"

Shining's unicorn guard dashed in the doors and exits. Crystalline's mane had been burnt away. In an instant, the three unicorns played beams of raw magic on the alicorn that ought to have rendered her unconscious.

Unfortunately, she was an alicorn.

Dark swirling storm clouds formed in seconds and filled the upper reaches of the building. Thunderbolts shot out, lighting fabric and decorations on fire. One hit Shining, spinning him into the crowd.

It was enough. Ponies bolted for the exits. One knocked me against the wall, knocking the air out of me.

My magic snapped, as did everypony's.

The alicorn began cackling. "Does my crown no longer count?"

Crown?

She wasn't lying. She had a three point crown that was more than just a crystal tiara, it was made of diamond as black as night itself. She righted herself, blue magic forming an aura around her head as she powered something immense. "Remember this day, my little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night will last fore—"

Clang!

Bon Bon, swinging from a wire suspended from a grappling hook struck Nightmare Moon in the helmet with her back hooves. Though armored, the impact broke the alicorn's spells, including the storm clouds. The momentum sent the tall light-boned creature into the rail—barely missing Rarity—up and over, then sideways down at the podium.

She unfurled her wings, rolled, and missed the floor by inches. Mayor Mare and any pony not already terrified, jumped away.

With an incredible raging roar, Nightmare Moon screamed, "I will make you love me!" She circled once, clasped her wings to her sides so that she hit the upper windows with her armored withers, and crashed through. Glass tinkled to the balcony as, with powerful downstrokes, the nightmare apparition rocketed into the night. Rainbow Dash and her weather team shot through the shattered window in pursuit, one after the other, whooshing like loosed arrows.

"Twilight!" cried Minuette.

I looked. She and still-smoking Crystalline had cleared the floor around a white unicorn stallion. The albino pony yelled, "The lieutenant's not breathing!"

Author's Note:

Well, take that! With this chapter, I've made every character work at the limits of his or her ability. No plot advancement by stupidity here. At least, that's what I'm trying to do.

Critique Requested, as always. Please be specific and tell me what you thought I meant to say. Timely reports of plot holes are much appreciated, and I will fix egregious typos until the last word is published.

Note that I changed the story's rating from Everypony to Teen due to this guideline from the FAQ: "'Teen' is ... minor violence with cursory descriptions..." It got gritty, and is slightly more so in the next chapter (currently in cleanup).

And, about that next chapter: I don't think I will be able to do the one a day schedule. Expect chapter 6 no earlier than Thursday July 16. Please follow me to get notification of updates. I really love being followed... well, you know what I mean.

Comments

[Ponyninja88]

Well i have got to say that this story is great so far, i really liked seeing on how the events have been changed thanks Twilight going to Moondancer's party, i am really interested in seeing where you will take this.

As for this chapter itself, i really like it, it is nice to see how Twilight and the guards preparing for a attack on Princess Celestia ended up changing things, too bad for them it didn't really help them all that much.

[John Tannius]

Canon MLP is how things went with the best possible outcome. There were so many ways things could have gone differently, badly, that really it was amazing they succeeded at all. Hopefully a little CPR will save Shiny... on to the next chapter to find out!

[Revan]

This is an interesting view on a world that may have been. I will continue reading this until the chapters run out.