Saving Equestria

by Damaged


The Show - Part 6

Fire Dancer couldn't see anything, but she could feel Derpy. She knew what she had to do, and knew it would hurt her friend, but there was no other way to stop the darkness. She burned.

Suffocating in black tar, Derpy's ears tingled in delight at the sound of her own screams. Flames licked all over her, but they were flames that kept the darkness away. She drew back a little from Fire Dancer's face and giggled despite the heat. "We need a shield of fire."

Jumping up and away from Derpy, Fire Dancer spun in a circle to look over the remains of the fortress. The outer walls still held, although fire now scorched the inner area. She remembered Derpy's shields that had held back her flames, but fire couldn't be built like that.

Derpy watched Fire Dancer start to turn—slowly at first, but then picking up speed. A hurricane of fire built, and soon an eye opened up in it. The flames stopped licking her, and Derpy was left watching in awe as Fire spun the flames all the way to just outside the wall.

Stopping her twisting dance, Fire looked down to see Derpy cheering for her. She spread her wings and spiraled down to meet the mare she felt was her sister. "That should hold him for a bit. What are we going to do?"

Her spirits raised, Derpy looked around at the wall of fire, and reinforced her own walls and fortress within them. Turning back to Fire Dancer, she shrugged. "I don't know!"

Fire Dancer had a moment where she was sure despair and panic should slot in, but the confused look Derpy gave her left no room for them. "You made a friend out of me, despite my trying to destroy you. Apart from that, what could stop him?"

Derpy reached a hoof up to tap her chin. "W-Well, Princess Twilight and her friends used the Elements of Harmony." And in the past I think Princess Celestia and Princess Luna tried to use them on him. Maybe they're the only way?"

A resounding thud came from the wall. Derpy and Fire both shot into the air and flew toward the source of it. Sombra stood just outside the ring of fire, projecting a spear of crystal before him—through the flames—and into the wall.

"Please stop."

Sombra froze at the words of the bat-winged mare. He glared at her. "Give in. I'll make this painless."

Derpy frowned and tilted her head to the side. "No you won't."

"Clever. No, I won't make it painless. This can never be painless. I will consume you, and you will become me. Give up now." Striking one of his hooves on the ground, Sombra pushed against the wall with his crystal battering ram again.

"Why not stop fighting and be friends?" Derpy glided down to land on the wall Sombra was trying to smash. "Fire Dancer already made friends, you could live in here too."

"You think I would be content to live out my days in your head? Trapped again, unable to do anything?" Sombra dug his forehooves into the ground, turned, and bucked the crystal ram into the wall. "I was born to rule!"

"I don't think he'll surrender." Fire Dancer landed on the wall beside Derpy. "You're not going to surrender, are you, master?"

Derpy and Fire both froze at the last word that left the nightmare's mouth. Sombra, however, smiled like the cat that ate the canary.

"You were meant to defeat her." Sombra's eyes burned with green fire. He stared at Fire Dancer with hatred and hunger. "You are my minion. Come, bow to me and feed me your strength!"

"N-N-N—" Fire Dancer felt a chill run through her. She shook her head, but couldn't finish saying no to Sombra. She could barely even think the word at him. Tears flooded from her eyes, and her shoulders started to shake. "H-Help, Derpy…"

Sombra felt the bond start to flare, it connected Fire Dancer to him like a leash and collar connected a dog to its owner. He tugged.

"No!" Derpy wrapped her wing around Fire Dancer and held on, stopping her friend from moving. "You aren't his. I didn't fight this hard for you to lose you. I…" Constructing a shield of force, Derpy sealed the edges of it.

When all the plates of force sealed, Fire Dancer could think again. She breathed deep, shuddering at what she had almost done. "I don't like him."

"Me either, but I don't think I can fight him." Marshaling her focus, Derpy held the barrier around herself and Fire Dancer while strengthening her wall. Buttresses grew and dug into the ground behind her. "There."

Sombra felt, when his ram hit the much more solid wall, that there had been reinforcing done. He turned to look up at the two mares on the battlement. "You are more formidable than any pony I have invaded. It will be—pleasant when I explore your mind. So many wonderful tricks to devour."

A chill ran down Derpy's spine at the pronouncement, but what she saw next caused her to panic. Stepping from the mist all around the wall, shadow-clones of Sombra drove crystal battering rams through the flames and against her wall. Derpy had to struggle to reinforce the rest of her wall—the moment she stopped focusing, he would be through.


Princess Luna walked into the main square of Ponyville with a heavy heart. All the native ponies of the area wore bridles—dark-magic bridles. She walked among the ponies until she reached the middle of the square.

Derpy Hooves lay on her side, the dark bridle wrapped around her head. Prominent was King Sombra's horn. A shudder ran through Luna at the presence of the dark thing. It wasn't just the magic, she could feel Sombra's essence in the horn and within Derpy.

Luna ruffled her wings and looked back at the tiny shape on her back. Sweet Dreams looked minuscule, weak, and unassuming. It brought back a little smile to Luna's lips to see him (the monster she had been scared of for so long), trusting her to keep him safe. "Sweet, we need to help her."

Pulled from the haze of almost-sleep, Sweet Dreams yawned like a little cat. As far as his present position went, he couldn't be a happier stallion. He almost felt like chirping. "She needs something she thinks will defeat Sombra."

It was an easy jump of logic to make. Luna looked behind her, and up. Twilight Sparkle was riding in a royal chariot with Queen Chrysalis at her side. Two brutish stallions pulled the royal pair ever closer.

"Princess Luna!" Eye Spy's ability to shape-shift was—she hoped—temporarily suppressed by the bridle. When all the others had collapsed, she had struggled not to do so as well. "Scout Eye Spy reporting. I tried to stop her, and them. I don't think it would have worked right if I'd been the one to—"

"It's not the time. Do you know where all the Element Bearers are?" As she looked around, Luna could see Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and she knew Twilight was coming. "Where's Applejack?"

The pony in question stepped out from behind a house with Zecora at her side. "Ah'm here. What's goin' on?"

Sweet Dreams yawned again, then once more for good measure. "Derpy Hooves is fighting Sombra in her head. If he wins, he takes over her body and might just become an alicorn. If she wins, he gets defeated for,"—Sweet yawned again—"forever. We need to get her all of you, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, because everyling knows that only the Elements can defeat him."

Applejack narrowed her eyes. "So…?"

Luna reached back with her magic to rub Sweet Dreams on the cheek. "It means, Applejack, that you and your friends need to help Derpy stop Sombra. I can gather your friends, but you and Twilight Sparkle will need to allow Sweet Dreams to poison you."

Twilight Sparkle galloped ahead of Queen Chrysalis. Her hooves danced between the ponies of Ponyville, each a friend to her as well as a client of her library—every one looked like a marionette with its strings cut. She hadn't heard all but the last few parts of Luna's words. Then she saw Derpy.

A gasp of shock leapt free of Twilight's mouth. She didn't need her magic to see Sombra's horn sinking black, magic roots into Derpy. "How do we help her?"

"Like this." Sweet Dreams was too tired to be explaining things, again, in the waking world. He stood up and stretched, then jumped over to Applejack's back before the mare realized what he'd done. His bite was swift and—again—used up the last of his venom.

Luna felt the slightest tug in the back of her mind. Her blood suddenly ran warm as she felt Sweet's latent poison affect her. She didn't fight it, even as she watched Applejack and Twilight Sparkle fold their legs. A moment later all three mares were on the ground around Derpy.


The dreamscape expanded around Luna. She could see all the ponies of Ponyville wrapped in nightmares. She didn't wait for Sweet Dreams to bring Twilight and Applejack—Luna began walking among the trapped dreamers.

"Rainbow Dash." Luna leaned down and kissed Rainbow's cheek. The darkness sinking fangs into the sleeping pegasus' head screamed and fell away.

Jerking from the nightmare, feeling like she had been doused in icy water, Rainbow Dash stared up at Princess Luna. Blinking her eyes a few times, she realized what was happening. "I'm having that dream again. I need to wake up!"

"R-Rainbow Dash?" A little confused, Princess Luna did the only thing a princess of dreams could do when being ignored by a dreaming pony—she poked Rainbow Dash with a hoof. "This isn't your dream, Rainbow Dash. This is a nightmare."

Memories rushed through Rainbow Dash's head. Suddenly, everything came back. "Princess Luna! Rarity's using her magic to—!" She stopped because there was a dark-blue hoof in her mouth.

"It's alright. We need to wake your friends and then help Derpy." Luna withdrew her hoof after a moment. "Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity."

"But Rarity was the one—" Rainbow Dash cut herself off this time. She watched Luna put her hoof back down. "What's Derpy doing?"

Finding Fluttershy, Princess Luna leaned down and blew all the nightmares away from the mare. "Derpy is fighting Sombra. We need to enter her dream and help her."

The truth sank into Fluttershy the moment the bridle of nightmares was gone. She looked up at Luna and quickly jumped to her hooves to sketch a bow. "S-Sorry, Your Highness. I must have fallen asleep there. Y-You need our h-h-help?"

"Here's Rarity." Free of the bridle's influence, Rainbow Dash could see her friend trapped by the bridle she still wore. Without a thought, Rainbow tried to pull the black mass from Rarity's face.

Luna used her magic to blast both Rainbow Dash and Rarity free. The former backed up a little, while the latter jerked upright. "Relax, Rarity, you are safe now."

"Oh goodness! What did I do? This is—this is all my fault!" Panic gripped Rarity—panic and a yellow wing.

Smiling, Fluttershy cradled Rarity's head with her wing. "A pony needs our help, Rarity. You can faint again after."

Leaving the three Element bearers to rousing their friend, Luna searched for Pinkie Pie. She almost didn't believe that the dark magic could harness such a mare—Pinkie seemed so vital and resistant to negative feelings.

"I found Pinkie Pie." Rainbow Dash called. Luna was quick to respond and revive the last of them.

Pinkie barely seemed to recall anything of her ordeal. She remembered Trixie offering her something in a bag, then black shadows leaping out of it, and being trapped in a nightmare. "What happened?"

"Evil bridles, King Sombra, mind-control." Rainbow Dash waved a hoof in the air. "The usual. Princess Luna's helping us get ready to help Derpy fight him once and for all."

Looking up, Pinkie Pie realized the dark shadow over her wasn't a bridle anymore, it was Princess Luna. "Oh! Derpy's fighting against Sombra in her dreams because Sombra used the amulet to make Derpy's body all roar and now we have to go help Derpy and her inexplicably nice twin blast him because we're the only ponies Derpy thinks can do it?"

"Yes." Luna was still processing Pinkie Pie's statement when she felt an intrusion upon the dreamscape. If it were just months ago, Luna would have screamed and attacked—now she smiled. "Sweet. You have them both?"

Sweet Dreams, in the dream world, stood as tall as any alicorn, and was as powerfully built as any stallion. He smiled at Luna in as suave a manner as he could manage. "Of course, Princess Luna."