//------------------------------//
// Fight of the Present Part Three 
// Story: The Hunters of Secrets 
// by Arkantos 
//------------------------------//

Back on the battlefield, several Unicorns, Earth ponies, and Pegasus were trying their best to defeat this new enemy, but it was nearly impossible. The only advantage they had was the magic wielded by the Unicorns. Celestia knew, though, that they couldn't win this war with just magic. "So, it has come to this," the Princess of the Sun whispered. Then she charged up her horn and flew into the night sky. She hovered underneath the moon and then unleashed her magic. Every Werepony and Solar guard witnessed her summon her Alicorn magic. Five of the flying Monsters decided to kill her, but before they could do that, Celestia’s magic became so bright, it blinded them. Not being able to see, they decided to fly away from her.

Captain Trail enjoyed the show with his Monster pinned to the wall. "So, this is the power of an Alicorn,” he said. “I never thought that I and every pony here would be able to see it." His viewing session was cut short, however, as the Monster kept going at him, started to break his hold. Thinking quickly, Captain Trail drew his sword and prepared for another dance of claws.

Up in the sky, Celestia was magically equipped in war armor that hadn't been used in centuries. It would still protect her though. The previous owner of the sun armor had assured her that as long as the sun was hers to command, the armor would remain good as new. The sun armor’s helm had a crown design to match her headpiece. On the armor, there were several markings where one could see the pure golden-yellow magical sunlight in it. And underneath her wings was a hidden wing blade, in case she needed it to protect herself.

She raised her golden pike and several blades of pure sunlight magic appeared. Then, she swung her pike down and the blades charged at the Wereponies. Each magical blade killed one of the Wereponies. Then she pointed her pike down at the wounded Solar guards and a beam of pure sunlight magic fired out of it and landed right on the ponies. An explosion went off, creating a cloud of gold. As the cloud disappeared, it revealed a magical barrier, and the ponies who were severely injured were up and ready for round two, their wounds instantly vanishing; they walked out and joined the fight. As the armor Celestia landed, she said to herself, "Hopefully this will be enough to turn the tide."





Meanwhile, at the Canterlot castle courtyard, a very loyal Rainbow kept on zipping around and hitting the Werepony in the face. She hit him several more times before he fell to the floor, right next to the other Werepony who was covered in cupcakes.

Thinking quickly, Rainbow flew very fast in a circle around them several times, forming a tornado of rainbows. As the tornado grew, the Wereponies became dizzier and dizzier. For good measure, Rainbow decided to deliver multiple punches and kicks to them inside the tornado. Then, at one point when Rainbow delivered a punch to one of the Werepony’s stomaches, she immediately regretted the punch, as that Monster belched out several cupcakes. 

Pinky said outside of the tornado, "Don't worry! It'll wash off! Oh! That reminds me!" The pink mare bounced off to a big spinning wheel with different hours shown around the border. Pinkie was in a red and yellow striped vest and a straw hat. She spoke into the pink blow horn she held in her hoof. "Come one, come all! Take your chance on the spinning wheel of time! Guess how long Rainbow Dash can continue this tornado!"

Twilight walked up to Pinkie and said, "I think it will be two hours, but that's dependent on how much energy Rainbow has in her body right now. I don't want to underestimate her, for I have seen her devour a hoof-long daisy sub sandwich in seven minutes flat."

Pinkie looked at the tornado and called out, "What about you two? You who are currently trapped in the tornado?"

The dumb one replied, "Um, I think about a day, maybe?"

The more intelligent one said, "I think it will- ow! Be an hour an- ow! And 72 minutes- ow!"

Pinkie bounced back to the wheel of time and said, "If that's all of the guesses, then I will delay no longer! Let the spinning of the wheel begin! And we’ll see who guessed right!" 

Using her pink tail, Pinkie spun the wheel. It went very fast at first, but then it began to slow down, and Pinkie said in her hyperactive voice, "Do I have an hour? Or an hour and 30 minutes? Is it two hours and 25 minutes? And it's- it's!” 

The wheel of time stopped at an hour and 30 seconds, and Pinky yelled at the reader. "You read this right, fillies and colts, it's an hour and 30 seconds!" Then Pinky lifted her watch with her hoof and said, "Which should be right now!"

Rainbow kept it up for an hour, but she got a little winded and stopped, zooming to the nearest bathroom to wash the barf off of her. Once she was done washing, she landed next to her friends.

The Wereponies looked dizzy and knocked out with countless bruises and hoof marks. Twilight walked over to them and lit up her horn, summoning purple magical chains that clamped onto the Wereponies’ paws and wrapped around them so they would have a difficult time trying to fly away. As Twilight looked into them, she could see their corrupted souls. It made her cry and she said, "Oh, you poor innocent souls. You two didn't deserve this. You were supposed to live a pony life, laughing with friends and chugging apple cider from a bar. You weren’t supposed to be twisted into these things that would make you hungry forever."

Rainbow asked, "Um, Twilight? What are you doing?" When Rainbow asked this, Twilight’s eyes started to glow orange.

Pinky answered Rainbow’s question, "Oh, oh, she's doing her Alicorn thing where she can see the souls of the ponies around her."

Twilight continued speaking with much sadness in her voice. "Yes, I can see that you two didn't want this, but it happened to you a long time ago."

Rainbow aimed a puzzled look at Twilight and asked, "How long have you-“

BOOM!

Twilight and her friends heard several explosions happening all over the place. The earth started to crack, and those cracks in the earth made their way into the castle courtyard, moving to three areas. One at the door, another by the tower of Star Swirl the Bearded, and the third went to the Canterlot hedge maze. Then three explosions of magical force went off. One went off at the front gate, which exploded with fire and collapsed the front entrance to the courtyard. Another magical explosion went off by the tower of Star Swirl the Bearded resulting in icicle projectiles that shot straight at Twilight and her friends.

The purple Alicorn couldn't do anything to stop what was happening, so she decided to spread her wings to shield her friends. The icicles scratched and pierced her for a minute, and then she sat down and used her magic to pull out all of the icicles that had penetrated her wings and coat. Her friends on the other hoof were fine; a little shocked that she was so immediately willing to protect them from the icicles, but fine nonetheless.

Back at the tower, thick snow covered half of everything.  The explosion that went off near the maze contained lightning and caused the hedge maze to catch fire.

Twilight got up and stopped soul staring. She used her levitation spell to toss the two Wereponies toward a wall. She then raised a magical shield.

As the shield came up, eight Monsters came out of the holes from the explosions. Four regular Wereponies ran straight at the three ponies, but the magical shield was protecting them. The other four Wereponies, however, had their horns powered up.  With deadly magic, they aimed and fired unfocused beams of magic at the shield.

Under the constant strain of attack and through gritted teeth, Twilight said, "To answer your question, Rainbow, I learned soul searching from Celestia. She said that the more I used it to learn about somepony, the quicker I could understand them and become friends with them."

Rainbow replied with a nod as the Wereponies and the two flying Wereponiess came right up to the shield and, using their claws and teeth, started slashing and biting at it. Each of these enemies looked hungry, and Twilight’s magical shield started to crack.





A mixture of Unicorns and Earth ponies ran together as a big group of pony civilians. They were being guarded by the Solar guards as they made their way to the Barracks. 

As they ran, Sugar Mist, a dark purple stallion with a black mane, said, “This is crazy! First, we have Monsters who want to do nothing except eat everypony. Then, it turns out that our beloved Princess is not as helpless as we thought. She is easily dispatching several of them while protecting and rapidly healing the injured.”

A red Unicorn with an orange mane replied, “It appears so, but for now the best thing we can do is try to survive this crisis and save as many civilians as we can.”

“But what’s the point in even trying to save them if they will eventually-“

Sugar Mist didn’t have time to finish his sentence because the red Unicorn powered up her horn and used her green magic to shut his mouth. In a green flash, she teleported them both to the back of the group. They waited until the rest of the ponies were a good distance away before speaking. “Are you trying to get all of us killed? Because saying out loud that it’s hopeless is one way of doing it!”

Sugar Mist sat down and stared at the ground in defeat. “I’m sorry, Summer Spell,” he said, ”But you can’t deny that they are thinking the same thing.”

The Solar mare shook her head as she said, “I know, and ever since the games got interrupted, I have started to question some things. But I’m going to do the right thing, and for now, the right thing to do is to save as many ponies as I can. Because I believe this is the way to save Canterlot.”

“I know this is the right thing, even though I’m not in the Solar Guard like you are.  I have gone one day after the other seeing satisfied customers leave the store. I also know that they are worth it. But all of this does leave me with more questions. Like what else is Celestia hiding? And how do we live through the day knowing that there’s something out there that wants to eat us?”

“I know what you mean! Like, how have we lived so peacefully with no knowledge of creatures such as these!” Summer Spell paused for a moment. When she looked at Sugar Mist again, she saw fear in his eyes. She then glanced upwards and saw that her horn was pulsing green. Realizing what was about to happen and knowing that he was afraid of her uncontrollable magic, she moved quickly in an effort to not blow them both up. She fired her magic into the sky; it flew about 20 miles out before it blew up with a sound like a cracking explosion. She closed her eyes and began to take deep breaths to calm herself down.  

When she was convinced that she was calm and her emotions were in check, Summer Spell said “I’m sorry, Sugar Mist. I lost control, and that never happens. Like, at all. Can you please forgive me?”

The Earth pony answered, “Apology accepted, though I’m not sure I know exactly what almost happened.”

“Well,” Summer Spell said, “to put it simply, all Unicorns’ magic is only as strong as their emotions; I almost let my emotions take over. But it was a good thing that I realized what was going on before it was too late, because if I didn’t- Well, anything could happen. Now, let’s get back to the topic at hand. There may be more than Celestia hasn’t shared, and it’s probably too much for anyone to know.” Summer Spell vented by destroying a nearby wall. Once the wall was down, she said, “I’m starting to rethink the decisions that I’ve made so far.”

Multiple explosions went off nearby, and Sugar Mist said, “Well, that will have to wait. Because right now, we need to find a safe place.”

Summer Spell replied, “Right. OK, quick question for you: are you familiar with the military protocols for situations like this?”

With an apologetic look, the Earth pony answered, “Nope, I have no idea.”

The Unicorn face hoofed before she said, “I guess I and the few guards that came with us did the right thing by not charging at them head on. We will handle it.” 

In a flash of green, she teleported them both back to the front of the group, and they quickly and carefully galloped closer to the Barracks.