An eerie silence filled the throne room, Nightmare Moon stood in front of the throne looking down at the young dragon and ponies in front of her.
“She’s real!?” Spike shouted, Twilight turned to look at Spike while pointing and snapped,
“Aha!” Shining and Cadence looked at Twilight annoyed,
“Twilight...” Shining said. Twilight looked at Shining, then Cadence, she cleared her throat and replied,
“Sorry...” Nightmare Moon slowly walked down the walkway to the throne, her gaze constantly looking down on Twilight and the others.
“So, tell me dear children...where is Celestia? She and I have so much to discuss...” she asked. Shining stepped forward a defiant look on his face,
“We’re not telling you anything! This is Princess Celestia’s throne room, not yours!” he shouted. Nightmare Moon chuckled at Shining’s words,
“Clearly you don’t seem to understand who you are talking too, did you not see the signs? Listen to the prophecy?” dark magics began to form and swirl around her horn as she spoke.
“I am Nightmare Moon, and as of today, there shall be only eternal night!! For the moon is rising!!” a burst of magic erupted from her horn launching through the ceiling above her. Shining and the others quickly moved away as pieces of rubble fell from above. Nightmare Moon’s magic reached the sky and quickly spread forming a barrier around the castle blocking anyone from entering. Twilight looked up in awe,
“Now then...” they all looked as Nightmare Moon spoke, “...let’s get back to you telling me where Celestia is hiding, shall we?”
Every pony in Canterlot was in a state of panic, the sky had turned red, the moon had suddenly changed, no pony knew what was happening. Sunset looked around wondering what was happening,
“Sunset?! Why’s the sky red?” Juniper asked, Sunset looked at her friends.
“I...I don’t know, does this have anything to do with what Twi was talking about?” she answered.
“Look!” a pony shouted as he pointed towards the castle, Sunset and the others looked as a green barrier formed around the castle in the distance.
“Twilight!” Sunset shouted as she sprinted to the castle, Juniper and Wallflower following close behind. Sunset reached the castle to see a group of guards and other castle attendants standing outside the barrier, Sunset quickly noticed Moondancer among them.
“Moondancer! What’s going on? Where’d this barrier come from?” she asked, Moondancer turned to explain.
“I don’t know, I just left for a moment to get something to eat at the festival. Next thing I know the sky changed color and this barrier appeared. But, the worse thing is...I think Twilight and her family are still inside the castle!” Sunset gasped, she looked up at the barrier and pushed her way through the guards. She walked up to the barrier and reached for it with her hoof, a small arc of magic zapped her hoof. Sunset shook her hoof in pain, she stepped back and cast a barrier around herself and charged at the barrier. Her magic pressed against the barrier, magic energies going everywhere then suddenly she was pushed back. Sunset fell onto her side, her friends rushed to her side.
“Are you ok?” Wallflower asked, Sunset stood up and nodded.
“Yeah, and I’m just getting started!” she said. Her horn glowed with a red aura as she began to blast the barrier with her magics, she pressed her attack for as long as she could but noticed nothing was working. She stopped to catch her breath and looked up at the barrier again,
“Its too strong, I don’t think I can break through...” she said.
“But what about Twilight?” Moondancer asked, Sunset looked at her friends concerned.
“We…We just have to hope she can handle whatever’s happening in there...” Sunset answered.
Twilight and the others could see the barrier now surrounding the castle from the hole in the ceiling,
“Were trapped in here now aren’t we?” Spike asked. Shining Armor focused his attention back on Nightmare Moon,
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean we have to like it.” he said readying himself for a fight. Cadence stepped beside him and said,
“I’m right here with you Shining.”
“Me too.” Twilight added. Nightmare Moon laughed,
“Oh my little ponies...do you really think you stand a chance against an alicorn such as myself?” she asked.
“Hate to tell you, but you’re not the only Alicorn in here!” Cadence shouted as she fired a magic blast from her horn, a barrier rose for an instant and blocked Cadence’s attack.
“Oh dear, I hope that’s not your best little princess...I’d be disappointed if it was.” Nightmare Moon taunted. Twilight and Shining armor stepped forward and released their attacks together, with a single swing of her wing Nightmare Moon effortlessly deflected the blasts, a boom echoing throughout the room as they collided with the wall.
“Now, now, your going to ruin my throne room at this rate.”she snickered. The ponies stepped forward together this time combining all their attacks into one and launched them at Nightmare Moon, like the crack of thunder the blasts shook the room a cloud of dusk and smoke covering their target.
“Did it work?” Twilight asked, the smoke slowly cleared to reveal Nightmare surrounded by a barrier smiling back.
“My turn...” she replied, a black orb of dark magic appeared above her horn and she stepped forward launching her attack at the three. The attack struck the ground in front of them sending them flying backwards through the air landing just behind Spike.
“Guys!” he shouted, Nightmare Moon laughed again mocking their efforts. Spike’s hands tightened into fists as he turned and stepped towards Nightmare Moon.
“Oh? And what is the infant dragon going to do I wonder?” she said, Spike stood still closing his eyes and taking two slow deep breaths before a third deeper breath which he held for a moment.
“Really? Deep breaths? That’s the...” Nightmare Moon was interrupted as Spike leaned forward unleashing a massive ball of green fire across the room at shocking speed. Nightmare Moon’s face turned to shock as the flames collided engulfing the area in front of Spike in fire, the room shook more than any other attack before, small bits of dust and debris falling from the ceiling.
“Wow...” Spike turned to see Shining, Twilight, and Cadence staring in shock.
“What? I thought you guys knew? Mom’s been teaching me some deep breathing stuff so I can use my fire better.” he explained. Suddenly emerging from the smoke behind him, Nightmare Moon rushed forward green embers trailing off of her. Twilight tried to warn Spike, but was too slow as Nightmare struck Spike with her hoof knocking him away.
“Spike!” Shining shouted, he sprang to his hooves and charged at the alicorn, she easily swat Shining aside with a burst of magic from her horn. Cadence immediately charged and pushed her back with her hooves trying to tackle her, she slowly slid to a stop.
“Well now, you’re not half bad actually. Too bad, you might have made a good apprentice.” Nightmare said to Cadence before biting down on her shoulder, her fangs sinking into her, Cadence screamed in pain as she was lifted into the air and thrown back to the ground. Nightmare Moon quickly dropped back down crushing her beneath her hooves before kicking her towards Spike. A magic blast struck her in the side, she turned to see Twilight charging another attack. Before she could react, Shining dove onto her back wrapping his front legs around her neck and keeping her from countering. Twilight’s next attack struck her in the chest, she flailed angrily, kicking and demanding Shining release her all while taking attacks from Twilight. Cadence recovered and quickly began to cast a spell of her own, blue chains of magic launched up from the ground and began to restrain Nightmare Moon’s legs. She tossed Shining off of her back and turned her attention to Cadence, Twilight saw the spell Cadence cast and quickly did the same, a set of pink chains binding her wings and holding her in place. More and more chains slowly began to tie her in place, eventually keeping her from moving. Shining walked over to Spike to make sure he was okay,
“Ow...that really hurt.” he groaned. Shining helped him to his feet,
“Hey you took that like a champ bro, I’m proud of ya.” he said. Nightmare Moon groaned in anger, the chains still holding her.
“So what now? We can’t do this forever.” Twilight shouted.
“We’ll think of something, we just need to…” Cadence was interrupted as mass of dark magics erupted from the black alcorn and pushed her and Twilight back, instantly she shattered the chains that held her and she attacked Cadence and Shining with her full power.
“NO!” Twilight shouted as she quickly teleported in front of them, Spike rushed to their side.
“Are you guys ok?” he asked, Cadence groaned, as Shining replied,
“I’ve been better…” Twilight turned to face Nightmare Moon as she slowly approached a look of rage in her eyes. Twilight launched another magic attack, Nightmare easily swat it aside with her horn, Twilight tried again, Nightmare simply ignored her attack letting it hit her as she continued to walk. Twilight tried to attack again, but she couldn’t focus only sparks coming from her horn this time. All she could see was those emerald green eyes filled with rage slowly closing towards her, her legs began to shake, her whole body trembling. She wanted to run, she took a single step back, then she felt her knees give and she dropped to the ground. She lay on the ground, Twilight never felt fear like this before, it was like death itself was approaching her. All Twilight could do in response was whimper a single word in fear,
“Momma...” Nightmare Moon finally reached Twilight, she could feel her breath on her face, icy cold like a winter’s night. Nightmare slowly smiled at the little unicorn before her,
“Are you scared?” she asked. Twilight couldn’t answer, she couldn’t move, she couldn’t think of any way to escape. Then, Nightmare Moon blinked and looked back towards the hole in the ceiling, when suddenly a bright light flashed in the sky almost as bright as the sun itself. Then with a thunderous boom, Celestia had finally appeared clad in gold armor a fierce look on her face as she looked across the throne at Nightmare Moon.
“Get away from them...I won’t ask twice...”