Big Mac gulped as he stared into the eyes of the lion. The massive creature stared at him with a mix of curiousity and annoyance. The stallion looked up and swallowed nervously as he saw the large wings on the creature as well as a large barbed scorpion tail on its backside. So a lion wasn't enough. It jus' had tah be a manticore, didn't it? He thought to himself. He unfortunately soon found his eyes drawn to the creatures mouth. And then to little yellow feathers in the creatures whiskers. "Fluttershy!" He gasped as he got to his hoofs, ignoring the pain as it shot through his bad leg. "You better not have eaten her you over grown tabby!" He snapped as the creature let out a loud roar in his face, making his mane flow back.
Supressing the urge to run away he stared defiantly at the creature. "Where's Fluttershy?" The creature raised one of its paws, revealing long sharp nails, and prepared to swipe at him. He never gave it the chance as he quickly turned and bucked with all his might. There was a confusingly wet crunch sound as he slammed into the ground and looked back. The creature had been sent hurtling back into the cave it had come from and hit a wall.
He felt something wet and as he looked down at his leg he paled slightly as he saw a small bit of bone poking through, blood pouring from the wound. He bit his lip as he slowly got to his three good legs, hearing the creature slowly getting up in the cave. He looked back to see it suddenly charge at him. He closed his eyes as he prayed for his end to be swift, if not painless.
"STOP!" A loud voice filled the air. After a few moments of not being dead, Big Mac opened his eyes and let out a gasp of surprise.
"Fluttershy?" He said in disbelief at the little yellow pegasus standing between him and the angry manticore.
"There there... It's ok. He's a friend of mine, no need to be so protective." She said as she pet the creatures mane.
"You're... You're alive!" The large pony said in shock. He'd heard stories of Fluttershy's skill with pets. But he'd never imagined she had one of those. "You... You have a pet manticore?" He asked as he suddenly felt much smaller.
"What? Oh dear no. He's just a good friend who's been help- Big Mac!" She gasped as she flew down quickly to land in front of him. "Your leg? Oh my gosh! That must hurt, I'll take care of it. Come on, no. Manny? Could you carry him inside?"
"Manny? No! I ca' walk on my o-" The stallion objected as he was picked up by the manticore, the creature picking him up by grippiong his yoke in its teeth. The creature then lumbered in as Big Mac tried not to choke from the pressure.
******
Far from Manny's cave General Fang had added breaking all his legs to the list of things he would rather have been doing. Sitting in the small cramped box car of a train with four ponies and what he assumed was a pony-shaped golem of sentient pink cotton candy had slowly aggravated his last nerves.
"Hey Rainbow, look! If you look up, and close one eye you see the sun. If you open that eye and close the other you see the moon! Sun, moon, sun, moon, sun, moon, sun, mo-" The cotton candy statue spouted as she pointed out the window.
"ENOUGH!" The fake Twilight yelled before she stormed out of the box car, slamming the door behind her.
"Well that wasn't any fun. What's got her mane in a tussel?" The pink one pouted.
Rarity let out a sigh as she looked to her pink friend. "Pinkie that is very hard on your eyes. But Twilight has obviously been under a lot of stress lately. What with the recent events and her brother's... Well it will hopefully all be settled when we arrive."
"Why? I'm not buying this whole Nightmare Moon thing. Even if it did happen we'd just grab the elements and bam! Good as new." Rainbow Dash grumbled as she kicked a few times to demonstrate her point.
"Now now Rainbow. I will admit Twilight did have me a little worried with her talk earlier." Rarity said as her horn glowed and she telekinetically pulled out a small red jewel from her luggage. She hovered it in front of Pinkie's face for a moment before moving it around the box car as the pink pony lunged at it! "The moon coming up like that is quite frightening but there hasn't been any more problems." As she moved the jewel up just out of reach of the energetic earth pony. "I'm sure once we get to canterlot we'll find out whats going on and can then just spend the night enjoying the sights."
"Why are we even going? This is just a waste of time." Rainbow grumbled. "I could be home practicing or napping."
"Now Rainbow..." Rarity hovered the jewel just over the pegasus, as Pinkie lunged to try and grab it, knocking the two to the ground. "Remember the smarty pants doll incident, and the wedding? I think it's best for Twilight if we support her this time."
"Pinkie get off me!" Dash grumbled as Pinkie held up the jewel proudly. "Fine. Whatever. Lets just get this over with." Shoving the pink mare off the pegasus flew up to the backrest of one of the seats to lay down.
"Rainbow if you play your cards right, maybe the princess can get you in to see one of the wonderbolts practices." Rarity tempted as she flew the jewel out of Pinkie's grip and flew it across the box car, hiding it under one of the seats as the pink pony lunged for it.
"... Ok. Fine. But only for Twilight." The pegasus said as she grinned. "Hey where did Fluttershy and Applejack go?"
"I think they went to check on Twilight. They better get back soon, we're about to arrive." The unicorn said as she walked to the window. The train pulled into the station as the doors slowly opened. As the three ponies got off the train, Pinkie now holding the ruby in her mouth, they saw their friends running out of the train and through the doors to exit the station. "I guess Twilight's in more of a rush than we thought. We better hurry up." As Rarity, Pinkie, and Rainbow ran to catch up with the others.
******
The three caught up to their friends at the gates of the castle. Where a familiar white unicorn and pink alicorn blocked the way, the white unicorn giving Twilight a large hug. Rarity couldn't help but notice how forced Twilight's smile looked, but she imagined it was just surprise. As the three caught up they could hear the group talking.
"After the moon came up we had no choice but to pause our honeymoon to come back and find out what was going on. We just arrived and were about to talk with the princess's, but I never expected you to be here Twily" Shining Armor stated as he let Twilight go from the hug.
"For... Very similiar reasons. Is why we came. To check on things." The fake Twilight said hurriedly as she moved back a step. "I really didn't expect you to be here." As her eyes moved from Shining to Cadence. "We should hurry. And talk to the princesses." A small bit of nervous sweat beading on her mane. This could ruin everything.
"Twily are you ok?" Shining asked as a hoof reached out to touch her forehead.
"Yes! I'm fine. We should go. Now!" As she ran through the open castle gates, leaving her friends and family behind with confused expressions.
"Maybe she's just in shock?" Cadence offered. "We weren't supposed to be back for almost a week, she must not have expected to see us?"
"I guess... But I was hoping for a bigger welcome." The captain said as he and the others followed after his sister. Soon the large group of ponies arrived outside the throne room where Twilight was standing, blocked by two guards.
"The princess is having no visitors at the moment." The guard pony told the annoyed looking purple unicorn.
"Let us pass." Shining said before his sister could speak. "These are the elements of harmony and as I am the captain of the royal guard, we must talk with the princesses." The guards looked between the two before stepping to the side, propping the door open.
Celestia was laying on her throne, her gaze leveled at the ground. However as the doors opened her eyes quickly shot up, annoyance quickly being replaced with genuine joy. "Twilight Sparkle! Shining Armor! What brings you to the castle?"
"Your highness." The captain said as he moved forward, bowing his head as the other ponies followed suit. "I saw the moon rising and blocking out your sun, and I felt it was my duty to return to offer my assistance."
"Ummm... Me too." The fake Twilight echoed.
"Ofcourse. Please, rise." She turned to the guards. "Close the door, none are to disturb us." As the doors closed she turned her gaze to the assorted ponies before her. "I am afraid the moon rising is... Bad. As you all well know my sister now controls the night again as in the past. However she is unable to affect the moon as of today. Or so she says."
"Your highness?" Shining asked as he watched the princess curiously.
"She says she cannot control it. And I believed her... She asked me to use the court unicorns to aid her in raising it. By altering her spell and melding it with the original moon raising spell. Her magic... During the ceremony it changed. I could sense the same magic as Nightmare Moon." She went silent as the ponies gasped in shock, waiting until they calmed down before she spoke again. "It was only for a moment but the court unicorns are still unconscious as is my sister. I can... Still feel that presence from her. I have guards on her room, but I fear that my sister's heart may be sinking back into darkness." Her voice dripped with pain and turmoil as she tried to contain her tears. "I don't understand it. I set everything into motion, perfectly. My sister should be herself again. I didn't prepare and wait a thousand years just to lose my sister again!" A single tear went down her face, though her hoof went up to wipe it away quickly. "I-I'm sorry."
"Your highness." General Fang said as he raised his head. "Perhaps I can speak with princess Luna? Perhaps I can help her?" He then glanced to the fake Fluttershy. "Me and Fluttershy? As the elements of magic and kindness, I'm sure we can help."
"I... I suppose so. I guess after nightmare night you and her did hit it off. And she did talk quite fondly of the element of kindness." Celestia said softly, a little hope springing into her eyes. "The guards outside the room will take you to her immediately." She then looked to Shining and Cadence. "And you two should get back to your honeymoon."
"It's a little late for that your highness, we're already here." Shining said as the fake Twilight and Fluttershy made for the exit of the room.
"Nonsense. While you are in the castle, I insist that you..." Celestia began to plot their remaining week as the door to the throne room closed, leaving the other three bearers of elements and a changeling to listen to the plans.
******
General Fang followed the guards through the halls of the palace, glancing around as they went. It wasn't long before they came to a large doorway guarded by two large ponies. These ponies were almost like pegasi, except their coats were dark grey, and rather than hair on their neck they had a large dark purple crest, or spine, on the top of their skulls. Their eyes were yellow with thin narrow pupils, their teeth were sharp fangs rather than flat, and instead of a pegasus's feathery wings, they had the wings of bats. Most ponies probably thought they were just strange pegasi, but Fang knew what they were. Bat ponies, the personal guards of the night.
The bat ponies glanced at them and allowed the fake Twilight and Fluttershy to pass but refused to admit Celestia's guards, something the changeling found highly amusing. The room was dark with princess Luna laying on a bed and only a green pegasus to tend to her. A doctor earth pony was asleep on a nearby bed, having fallen over.
"My queen." The general said as both he and Fluttershy bowed their heads. "All is as you have asked. Three of the elements of harmony have been removed, and the remaining three have been brought here. However I bring grave news."
"What is it Fang?" The green pegasus asked as she stroked the moon princess's horn, a slight green glow encircled it.
"Shining Armor has returned early."
"WHAT?!" She hissed as she slammed a hoof down. "We were supposed to have a week! While I am ahead of schedule I am still nowhere near ready to face Celestia. Let alone her and Shining Armor." She got to her hoofs, pacing back and forth. "Is Cadence here as well?"
"Yes your highness."
"Then there is no other option. I will have to deal with Celestia and the elements tonight." She gazed out a window at the moon. "I will draw as much magic as I can from the sleeping princess. Before dawn I will strike. If I can surprise Celestia I may have a chance." The pegasus said as she paced through the room. "You must keep the other elements and, more importantly, Shining distracted until I can defeat Celestia. If she falls nothing they can do will matter and we can move onto the next part of the plan." The pegasus sat back down on the bed, a hoof reaching out to touch the moon princess's horn as the green glow enveloped it yet again. Luna's eyes scrunched up as she shook her head in her sleep.
"Ofcourse my queen. As you wish." The changeling said as he left the room, smiling to the guards. "The princess is very tired so the doctor says to please not allow anypony inside for now. She needs her rest and then she will be fine." The two guards nodded.
"You didn't tell her about the missing element of kindness?" The fake Fluttershy whispered to the general as they walked away from the room.
"Our queen has enough on her mind as it is. I will wait until after she has dethroned the sun goddess to tell her. It doesn't matter. There is nothing the elements can do as long as we hold even one of them. Let alone two."
"Whatever you say, general..."