Malva had precious little time to savor her moment before her earpiece chimed for what felt like the dozenth time in the last five minutes. With a grimace, she decided not to ignore the communication this time and accepted the call with a slight tap.
“Yes, what is it?” the Elite Four trainer demanded, watching idly as Team Flare personnel around her recalled unconscious Pokémon or dragged limp comrades from the still-smoldering lab.
“Lady Malva, you’re the one who demanded situational updates!” Xerosic’s voice cut into her ears. “I’ve been trying to keep you informed and you’ve been completely unresponsive.”
“Because I was busy eliminating the mob’s leader as a threat – doing what Celosia couldn’t do twice I might add.” Malva tossed the Dark Ball up and caught it casually in one hand. “But I didn’t ask you to whine at me. Give me a status report, now.”
“There’s no need to be rude.” The man on the other end cleared his throat. “Well, the good news is that Master Lysandre was able to see off the subterranean invader in a very thorough and convincing fashion.”
“I told those fools to have faith in the boss.”
“Yes. Yes you did.” The scientist paused. “Unfortunately, the bad news is that while your gambit-”
“My successful gambit,” Malva reminded him.
“While your successful gambit may have separated the alien from its followers, it also cost us a considerable portion of our defenses and tied up many of our best trainers.” A tinge of worry entered his voice. “I do hope some of them still have battle-ready Pokémon?”
The Elite Four member glanced at the Team Flare personnel she’d used as ablative armor to preserve her own Pokémon’s fighting strength. Half of them weren’t even conscious.
“No, I wouldn’t say so.”
“That is unfortunate. I assume I don’t have a laboratory anymore either?”
“I asked you for a status update, Xerosic, not a litany of your complaints. What’s been happening out there while I’ve been busy in here?”
“Well, you see…” he sounded nervous. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but when you drew away so many combat personnel to act as your bait you left one of our hallways almost completely exposed. The wild horde seems to have overrun approximately half of sublevel seven, and we’re getting reports of running battles on sublevel eight. The defenses remaining between there and here are beginning to look dangerously thin.”
“Is that all?” Malva smiled. “Not to worry, I’ve got the solution to that problem right here in my hand.” She tossed the Dark Ball up and caught it easily again. “With this, we can break their will to fight and send them scurrying right back to the holes they crawled out of.”
“Is that so? Well if you can then I’ll ask you to please do it soon. Master Lysandre has already had enough setbacks and delays for one afternoon and the last thing I want is to try explaining to him why some pack of wild mutts is gnawing on the weapon’s power cables.”
“Not to worry, Xerosic,” she smiled. “I’ve got this completely in hand.”
Further underground, deep in the war zone formerly known as the control room, Lysandre watched impatiently as his best electrical engineers and technicians scurried like ants. The cradle-like nest of wires, cables, and clamps that had formerly connected Yveltal to its proper place on the ultimate weapon had taken a severe mauling. First the avian Legendary had torn its way roughly out of it, then stray attacks had grazed it, and finally Gyarados had crashed right through part of what was left. It was frankly lucky that there were any parts of it at all intact enough to use.
But that particular stroke of fortune wasn’t enough. Lysandre knew after his public announcement that the weapon had to fire before the whole of Kalos came down on his head, and that meant the already-stressed tech team was working at a frankly inhuman pace. Torn and punctured wiring was being ripped out and replacements fitted in, or if that wasn’t possible the system was simply jury-rigged in the most expedient manner possible. The resulting contraption would probably break down and need more comprehensive repairs before the resurrection of the perfect new world could be completed, but as long as it would work long enough to oversee the annihilation of the old world before giving out then it was acceptable.
Gyarados, returned to its normal form and with several Full Restores rubbed into its wounds, watched the process alongside his trainer. He had earned that right a dozen times over, most of all for his valor in defense of their plan in spite of the sacrifice he knew he was soon to make. Besides, the presence of a giant blue sea serpent with a mouth filled with sharp fangs and big enough to swallow a man whole looking over their shoulders was proving remarkably motivational for Team Flares technicians.
No, Lysandre thought while he stroked his Pokémon’s tough scales, it wouldn’t be much longer now.
“Celestia, Psychic! Inkay, Psybeam! Carnivine, use Bullet Seed!” James’ voice cried out over the din.
“Seviper, you use Bite!” Jessie yelled from right next to him. “Yanmega, Ancient Power! Pumpkaboo, Shadow Ball!”
The white alicorn and five Pokémon were already enmeshed in a whirling maelstrom of melee, such that they could barely even make out the voices of Team Rocket. If the upper levels had seemed almost empty, then further down was little short of a warzone. Humans and Pokémon were fighting running battles sprawling across what seemed to be the entire floor, half of them in near pitch darkness as much of the lighting had already been destroyed.
Celestia’s golden aura tore a Golbat from the air above the central table of the conference room where they were currently fighting, simply bashing the enemy Pokémon into the scarred furniture and squeezing it with psychic energy until it could stand no more. She threw the bat’s unconscious form into the face of a Scraggy attempting to leap onto Seviper, which itself had its massive red fangs gripped tight around the head of a Zigzagoon and was thrashing the poor creature from side to side. A Croagunk hopped onto the conference table and made to charge the alicorn, she simply tilted her head a little bit and the entire table simply fell over onto its side. She flung it top-first at the nearby wall for good measure, pinning Croagunk and two red-suited humans up against it. Celestia glanced back towards the far end of the room just in time to see a Binacle collapse under a hail of green-brown seeds from Carnivine’s cavernous maw.
“That takes care of these amateurs,” Jessie looked out at the heap of foes – and some wild Pokémon – lying sprawled out across the floor before pointing to the door opposite where they had originally entered. “Now let’s go find more freaks to crush!”
For once, the princess wasn’t inclined to disagree. The sliding door ahead was already dented and buckled inwards from battle on the other side, telekinetically breaking the lock enough to slide it open was a simple enough task. Several wild Pokémon were already through the gap before Team Rocket, and others were rushing in the same way they had come. One Houndour was setting fire to a chair for no apparent reason.
The next moment, the brief respite was over. Whatever else might be said of them, Team Flare seemed absolutely, fanatically determined to dig in and hold this ground come hell or high water. The corridor ahead was a writhing mass of Pokémon embroiled in a vicious melee at point-blank range to the extent that it could be seen at all – there were two lone working lights left in a stretch perhaps twice the length of an average-sized house. The rest of the hall was illuminated, if at all, by intermittent flashes from Pokémon attacks.
Team Rocket had burst out almost directly on the flanks of a force of Team Flare personnel that had been attempting to surround the entire group of attackers from both ends, taking them totally by surprise. The first seconds of the combat that followed were easy enough for the princess, tossing aside the startled humans and their servants with waves of psychic force before they could properly react.
But what came next was anything but easy. The long, dark hall was simply crammed full of Pokémon of all stripes, making firing into the crowd a nonstarter. Worse, telling friend from foe in the bleak close quarters fighting was next to impossible until she was right on top of them, whereupon Pokémon either started rallying around a tall, majestic alicorn or tried to bite her ankles off. Slogging through that morass, half-blind in the blackness and all but deaf to her friend’s words, acting on instinct and depending on reflex to avoid sudden attacks bursting from the inky depths, was not an experience she would have wished on anyone.
In the end, though, with the sudden failure of their gambit to surround their enemies Team Flare’s position in that corridor was untenable. They’d sealed off one end to try and cut off the flow of wild reinforcements, only for the stream to resume through the broken conference room. None of the Pokémon they had were strong enough to last long against the likes of Celestia. Though they fought with the bitter tenacity of cornered rattlesnakes, that only served to buy them a little more time before their position holding the open end of the hall simply collapsed under the weight of the assault. With even more of this level opened up before them, the wild Pokémon that were still conscious began breaking up swiftly in different directions, chasing those of Team Flare who were fleeing or just looking for more things to destroy.
“Well, which way now?” James asked, looking around as wild Pokemon ran past him in several different directions.
“How should I know? This place is like a maze!” Jessie complained.
“It would have been easier if you had taken the time to download those blueprints Giovanni sent you into something more portable,” Celestia reprimanded them gently, then shook her head, “or if my sister’s followers would refrain from torching all of the maps.” The princess took a deep breath and looked around, ears up, for a few seconds. “This way!” she beckoned with a wing. “Follow me!”
“She says ta go after her!” Meowth translated, just as Celestia broke out into a run.
“Right!” Jessie and James nodded, before taking off after her.
Some might have questioned whether or not the beautiful, majestic, alien alicorn had a mystic sense of direction or could feel the minds of her enemies with her golden psychic power. The truth was much simpler: without the immediate clamor of battle stuffing her ears, she could hear the nearby sounds of shoes descending metal stairs. Celestia only had to turn two corners and run part way down yet another hallway before halting at another nondescript door with a damaged sign.
“Use Psychic!” James ordered.
Celestia, who had been about to do that anyway, had no difficulty obeying. The internal locking mechanisms of this base had proven a poor match for her mental strength before and this portal was no exception. Her eyes gleamed gold, and the door crunched and swung open a few seconds later, revealing several red-suited humans at the top of a stairwell speaking frantically into mechanical devices. Others were halfway down the steps.
“Hyper Voice now!” James didn’t miss a beat.
“OUT OF OUR WAY!” Celestia promptly screamed at them.
The alicorn’s words became visible waves of sonic energy, throwing humans and Pokémon right over the stairway’s rails or sending them tumbling painfully all the rest of the way down. What had been a room full of retreating enemies quickly became a heap of moaning and unconscious red-suited men and women.
“That’s the way!” James cheered.
“Quickly, let’s go!” the alicorn urged, stepping through the ruined portal. “We need to keep movi-”
Celestia’s voice was cut off by a sudden burst of static from the walls. Speakers and intercoms, many damaged and mangling the words, blared to sudden life across the underground base. It wasn’t just on this particular floor either – the alicorn’s keen hearing picked up identical sounds coming from below, albeit muffled by distance and barriers. A cracked vid-screen lit up in an open room across the hall, showing a pink-haired younger woman in a sleeveless black top standing in the middle of another hallway with a sign behind her.
“This is Malva of the Elite Four and of Team Flare,” her voice boomed simultaneously through dozens of speakers, albeit cracked and broken in many of them. “Your attack has already failed. The alien creature you serve has fallen.”
“Luna.” Celestia whispered quietly, ears folded back.
“She’s lyin’! De’re on da run!” Meowth accused.
“You’re right, this has to be some kind of desperate trick by a cornered Rattata!” James pointed an accusing finger at the image on the screen.
“The lying warlord who led you out of your homes and into the depths of this base is no more. Your cause is hopeless. She led you only to your doom. Here!” Malva held up a Dark Ball in her right hand. “See for yourselves!”
The woman almost gently gave the ball an underhanded toss into the air. It rose perhaps a foot, split in half, and disgorged the all too familiar dark energy. It resolved itself quickly, taking on the form that couldn’t help but stop the princess’ heart right in her chest.
“Why don’t you say something for the camera?” Malva said mockingly, walking up to touch the dark alicorn’s neck. Luna’s head seemed to flinch away from the human’s touch, eyes squeezed shut, before straightening up an instant later and staring straight ahead with those horrible dead eyes. “Give your followers one last quote to remember you by?”
Luna’s mouth twitched and opened, but all that came out was a strangled moan.
“I see,” the camera’s focus returned to the newscaster as she backed away from the alicorn. “Well, you heard it here first. Your leader played you false and led you straight to her own doom. If you’d like to avoid a similar fate, I suggest that you run away right now. Because if you continue to intrude, then you’ll suffer the same consequences.” Malva smiled in an incongruously warm manner. “So, I’m warning you all, turn right around and run and you’ll be spared. Otherwise there’s no hope for you.”
With that, the message went right back to the beginning and started again, the same voice booming out of a thousand different angles, echoing all throughout the underground lair. Team Rocket slowly turned from where they’d been watching the video screen back to where the white alicorn had been standing.
“Celestia, I’m so sorry,” James began. “I promise we’ll-”
The princess wasn’t there anymore. She was already falling right through the mangled heap of scrap formerly known as the stairway’s guardrails. Team Rocket and their Pokémon had a split second to contemplate that before a golden light tore them right off their feet and yanked them screaming over the edge.
“Wait for me!” Inkay called out.
By the time that Team Rocket had been deposited none too gently atop the freshly-sore pile of Flare personnel at the base of the stairs, Celestia had torn the door asunder. She took off at an all-out gallop.
For their part, there were few times any of Team Rocket’s members could remember running quite so hard as they did right then. This floor, in contrast to the last, seemed nearly deserted, so there wasn’t much getting in their way. Two humans and five Pokémon were chasing after an alicorn by glimpses of white or rainbow amidst the stark halls, or by the chunks of still more doors ripped apart. And one further Pokémon was chasing after them.
As intense as the chase was, it was also a brief one. One moment they were all running, slithering, and floating as fast as they possibly could after a flash of pastel rainbow, and then the next they turned a corner and skidded to a sudden stop just in time to avoid crashing into their quarry’s back. Celestia stood tall and proud in the center of that hall with her wings flared wide and the breeze that perpetually swept her mane seeming to pick up.
Her face seemingly carved from flawless white marble, Celestia stared straight ahead. There, not even very far from the same sign she had stood beside in her message, was her dark sibling, staring right back with her blue eyes expressionless and unblinking. Behind her was the human woman, a Houndoom at her side. While Team Rocket watched, Houndoom was wreathed in rainbow energies, swelling with fresh power.
“Meowth?” said Celestia in a low, quiet voice. “Inform this woman that she will release my sister, now, or else she takes her life into her own hands.”
“She’s sayin’ let da lady go pronto or else.”
“Hmmm, let me think about that.” The pink-haired woman put two fingers on her chin, then gave a mocking smile. “No.”
“So be it,” Celestia hissed.
“We’ve taken down a Team Flare termagant before and we can do it again!” James clenched his fist. “Psychic attack now!”
“You’re really going to attack your own sister?” Malva put a hand on her hip.
“Who said anything about her?” Celestia whispered while her eyes shone.
“Wha- aaah!” the Elite Four trainer yelped when a golden aura appeared around her and flung her straight upwards, pinning her against the ceiling in a crushing mental grip. “Nrrrgh, Dark Pulse!”
Luna’s head twitched a little, and then lowered its horn to point at her sister. Darkness congealed rapidly about the base, forming into something almost solid. An instant later, it was unleashed to the sound of tearing metal.
“Protect!” James half-screamed.
Malva yelped again as the attack pinning her in place suddenly vanished, leaving her to plummet to the cold steel flooring. A bubble of teal energy rose protectively over the princess in its place – and not a moment too soon. One instant the hallway was a stark, hygienic white, the very next it seemed to Team Rocket as though it had been swallowed by a void. Darkness surrounded them and their Pokémon completely, the only faint light coming from the wide sphere of energy they were cowering behind. When the attack faded away the walls and ceiling had been scoured back by its touch, exposing wires, piping, and insulation.
“Okay…” Malva was picking herself up off the floor. “Now I’m mad. Go Houndoom, use Fire Fang on Celestia!”
“Yanmega, counter that with your Silver Wind! Pumpkaboo, use Shadow Ball!” Jessie commanded her own Pokemon while Malva’s charged.
“Carnivine, you use Bullet Seed! Celestia, use Hyper Beam!”
All of the Pokémon obeyed, Carnivine spitting gobs of explosive seeds, Pumpkaboo firing off a sphere of spiritual energy, and Yanmega buzzing its wings at a hyper-accelerated pace to generate silvery scythe-like aerial projectiles. All save Celestia. When Houndoom raced forward right through the storm of incoming attacks, the white alicorn charged it right back with a snarl on her face.
“Hold off on the Dark Pulse for now,” Malva ordered Luna, who had with some apparent difficulty been gathering energy for a second beam attack. “I don’t want you to hit Houndoom. Use Moonblast on Team Rocket instead.”
“Wait wait wait!” came a little voice as James’ last Pokemon finally rounded the corner, panting. “You guys are too fast!”
“Inkay, perfect timing!” James turned with a smile, then pointed. “Use your Hypnosis to subdue that alicorn!”
“Like that’s going to happen! Use Moonblast on Inkay instead!”
Luna’s head jerked from side to side once, then twice, with teeth clenched. But finally, her glassy eyes leveled themselves at the small floating cephalopod. A sphere of pink and white energy the size of a human head took shape at the very tip of her horn, then fired off at the speed of a bullet. James’ little Pokémon never had a chance. The otherworldly energy struck it with a blinding flash, and it bounced off the ceiling and hit an exposed pipe in the corner wall. It slumped limply to the floor, a trickle of water from the cracked pipe dribbling across its pink upper half.
“No, Inkay!” James hurried backwards, got on one knee, and scooped up his unmoving Pokémon. “Are you alright? Say something!”
“Go, Seviper!” Jessie yelled. “Glare attack now!”
“Shut your eyes!” Malva yelled back. “And then Moonblast on Seviper!”
Jessie’s long knife-tailed serpent reared up above the dark alicorn, its eyes acquiring a shining sapphire glow. But not only did Luna’s eyes not close, her head seemed to jerk upwards a fraction, eyes meeting Seviper’s in the most direct contact possible. The next instant she visibly tensed as muscle groups across her body seized up uncontrollably.
“That’s it!” Jessie cheered her Pokémon. “Now use Wrap!”
Seviper sprang forward through the air, over where Celestia and Houndoom wrestled, and landed heavily atop Luna. Thick, scaly coils quickly enveloped the alicorn, drawing her tightly into their crushing embrace. The serpent pulled back hard against her neck, forcing her twitching head upwards even while fey energy coalesced at the tip of her horn. When the attack went off a second later, all it managed to do was hit the ceiling, which cracked and squealed ominously under the assault.
“Is she trying to lose this?!” Malva gritted her teeth, ignoring the tingling feeling around her right pocket and choosing another Poke Ball. “Go Chandelure! Shadow Ball on Seviper!”
Her potent Ghost-type appeared hovering over Luna and Seviper in a flash of silver light. Purple and black spiritual energy formed a perfect orb right between its glowing yellow eyes, then a perfectly-aimed shot took the black snake straight in its face, leaving the alicorn completely untouched. Jessie’s Pokémon teetered and swayed briefly before collapsing, coils rolling off Luna as it hit the floor.
“Seviper!” Jessie cried out.
“Inkay, you deserve a good rest,” James held a Poke Ball over his limp friend. “Return now.” Once his Pokémon was safely put away he stood back up, walking several steps forward. “Celestia, enough with the Steel Wing! Use Disarming Voice!”
Not far now from where Luna stood stock-still, Celestia was pounding relentlessly on Malva’s Houndoom. Both were on two legs, hooves and paws wrapped around the other’s shoulders, and both were straining and pushing at one another with all their might. Houndoom snapped at the alicorn’s face with sharp fangs set ablaze, while her glowing wings smacked against its body and the side of its head. Celestia ignored what little pain she felt from the fiery attacks, pushing relentlessly onwards with furious determination. In spite of its size, strength, superb training, and Mega Evolution, it was Houndoom that was being forced slowly but unstoppably backwards.
When she heard her trainer’s words again, Celestia’s wings folded back. Rearing back her head to avoid the enemy’s jaws, she opened her mouth. She intoned a single low note in pitch-perfect contralto, sad but still sweet to hear even now. Except of course for Houndoom, who simply got blasted in the face with purple-pink heart-shaped waves of energy. Malva’s Pokémon reeled under the sonic assault, losing its balance and tumbling towards the floor away from the princess. Now Celestia was a scant few paces from her sister, panting slightly as she stared into Luna’s blue eyes. The dark alicorn stared back, unblinking.
“Use Dark Pulse once more! Wipe them all out!” Malva called out.
Luna stood there, unmoving. Nothing happened, save Houndoom resuming its feet.
“This should not be so annoying!” The Elite Four trainer growled. Celestia thought she saw something flash in one of her pockets. “Fine! Houndoom, Flamethrower on the alien! Chandelure, use Shadow Ball on her!”
“Annoying is what Team Rocket does best!” Jessie jeered, holding a Poke Ball. “Go, Wobbuffet! Use Mirror Coat!”
She tossed her ball at the same instant Houndoom’s throat was blazing and Chandelure’s ghostly orb was making a return appearance. Silver energy resolved itself into the bright blue punching bag in front of the alicorn just when the attacks launched. They surged forward – and halted midair against the rainbow sheen surrounding Wobbuffet’s body. Both attacks held there for a few seconds, straining back and forth as both sides pushed hard at one another. Jessie’s Pokémon slipped back to within inches of Celestia’s face as he pushed back with all his might, then suddenly almost fell over onto his face as he finally broke through.
Both attacks leapt back upon the Pokémon that had unleashed them at double the power. Houndoom seemed fine being bathed in the surging flames, even looking to the alicorn’s eyes as though it was finding the experience rejuvenating. Chandelure was not so lucky. Its own Shadow Ball took it in the face and it went soaring backward, over Malva’s head, struck the ceiling, and crashed to the ground. It simply lay there, swirls in its eyes and ghostly blue flame guttering low.
“Chandelure!” Malva’s voice sounded genuinely shocked, upset even.
“Seviper, you’ve been avenged!” Jessie held out a different Poke Ball. “Now return and get some rest.”
“Thank you,” Celestia muttered to Wobbuffet as the serpent disappeared.
He nodded once back at her.
“Alright Celestia, let’s win this!” James cheered. “Attack Houndoom with your sculpted salubrious sonnets! Disarming Voice!”
“Rrrrgh…” Malva was clenching her teeth. “Counter with Flamethrower!”
Celestia sang her mournful note once again, while her devilish black opponent breathed more fire. Bright purple-pink crashed into red-orange, the raging energies of both sides fusing into a sphere of brilliant white, which both alicorn and Pokémon strained to push onto the other side. Little by little the princess was forcing the thing away from herself, but it was a slow and laborious task.
“I’m sick of this wasting my time!” Malva reached into her pocket, pulling out a Dark Ball and enlarging it to full size. “Luna, I order you to eliminate them all right now! Dark Pulse!”
“Carnivine!” James yelled. “Use your Vine Whip to pin her down!”
“You think so, do you?” Malva threw a normal Poke Ball with her off hand with practiced ease. “Talonflame, Brave Bird on Carnivine!”
Luna’s head twitched and strained, and darkness began to pool at the base of her horn for the third time. Carnivine leaped forwards, a pair of long green vines sprouting out from beneath its leaflike arms. Both wrapped themselves around the dark alicorn’s neck and face, straining to pull her aim upwards. Then the red and white ball burst open in a blaze of silver, and a tall red and grey falcon-like Pokémon shot out. It crossed the distance between the two groups in the blink of an eye, trailing energy behind it as it soared. Talonflame’s beak struck Carnivine’s massive head with the force of a cannonball. James’ Pokémon went tumbling backwards, vines going suddenly slack as it hit the ground. Malva’s Pokémon soared easily back towards its trainer in the same moment that Celestia finally overwhelmed Houndoom, blasting it in the head with the combined energy of both of their moves.
The explosion sent Houndoom flying back much as Chandelure had, hitting the ground and sliding right past its trainer’s side. Celestia’s eyes darted back to her sibling. Darkness was collecting along her long, proud horn at an incredible rate, seeming to leech the very light out of her surroundings. Wobbuffet stood between her and Team Rocket, blue arms held wide as if to shield its friends. But Luna… Luna was…
“What?” Celestia vaguely heard Malva speak.
The dark alicorn’s neck was bent over almost double, both eyes squeezed shut as if against some astronomical pressure. Celestia immediately placed herself between Luna and Wobbuffet, flaring her wings and ready to use Protect again at a second’s notice. But the last thing she wanted to do was attack her sister, especially with such power gathering around her. Luna’s head began thrashing from side to side, crackling bolts of darkness dancing up and down her body.
“Luna!” Celestia opted to call out over the increasing noise. “Sister, can you hear me?!”
“What are you doing?!” Malva half-screamed. “Attack them now!”
“You don’t have to listen to her!” Celestia shouted back as her sibling’s teeth clenched and her head began flailing harder and wider. “You aren’t a slave, remember?! You’re Princess Luna of Equestria! My only sister! My-”
Luna’s twitching, sparking face, half subsumed by the darkness she had summoned, managed to turn around enough for a single blue eye to stare Malva down with a look of sheer, raw, unbridled rage. The Dark Ball in the woman’s hand seemed to be going crazy, bolts of its own dark energy running rampant across its grey-black surface.
“No way…” Malva breathed, then looked urgently up at her Pokémon. “Talonflame, use-”
Those were the last words anyone heard her speak. With a strangled cry that was half primal roar, half scream of agony, Luna’s head and upper body whipped around towards her true enemy, and the darkness pooled about her was unleashed. The corridor ahead of Celestia simply seemed to vanish entirely as it was consumed by an inky blackness so wide and so deep it simply encompassed the entire available space. The white alicorn could count the beats of her heart: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
There was a tremendous crashing heard even over her sister’s voice, and the ground around them shook. As the overwhelming darkness faded away, it revealed nothing but a great heap of rubble where the hallway once was. The damaged ceiling above and much of the walls had simply collapsed, letting in a veritable flood of earth and stone, burying everything. But Celestia had eyes for none of that.
Luna screamed wildly as her body was consumed by nothing less than a storm of the dark energy. She writhed anew, howling pain to the heavens, bolts of the darkness the width of a human finger jumping up and down her neck, her sides, her wings, her legs. Then, without warning, it simply up and vanished, leaving a teetering, smoking alicorn to tumble to the ground and lie still.