//------------------------------//
// Wane 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
//------------------------------//

Twilight managed to make it safely to a group of guards. She'd never turned to look back, and wasn't sure how much she'd been followed or not, but she was glad if surprised that at no point had any spells appeared to be fired at her.
Once she was back into relative safety, she allowed herself a moment to sit down and rest her legs, before getting up again and more slowly starting to head towards the centre of the city together with a couple of constructs. In her conditions, it was the best choice she had.
Her wings still hurt too much to attempt flying, not to mention how that would have made her an easy target again. Magic too was out of the question aside from very low power spells, her horn still ached and putting more strain on it in those circumstances might have easily led to worse and longer lasting consequences, the last thing she needed given what was still to come. Her legs still hurt too, but they were good enough for walking the rest of the way.
She was worried, but not devastatingly so. She was in no condition to fight, but she knew it wouldn't take too long for her to get better, especially not if she got access to actual medical help. If Nightmare Moon returned before she had reasonably recovered, or worse before she even got back there, then things would be really bad, yes. But, her entire plan already hinged on Luna being able to hold on long enough for them to have taken care of the portals. Even without the little weapon incident, if Nightmare Moon had come back at that moment the situation would have been dire.
But it wasn't unreasonable to think Luna would continue to do her part for long enough. Not the way they'd set things up. Nightmare Moon had almost certainly realised what was happening the moment she'd been trapped, but if she still hadn't come out it was evident even she couldn't do anything about Luna's control over the flow of time in their shared dream. If she'd had that kind of control, she would have broken free long before, almost immediately.
Instead she still hadn't, and that meant Luna was still alive and keeping her busy. Twilight hoped the former would continue to apply throughout and afterwards, but the risk was there. They'd known it going in. Celestia had known too when she'd put forth and agreed with the idea of letting herself be captured, though there she'd been gambling on Nightmare Moon's ego choosing to humiliate her, demoralise her ponies, and use her as a bargaining chip over simply killing her. With Luna it was different. Nightmare Moon's intents were different.
If the portals were closed, and enough of the opposing forces dealt with, and the Elements gathered, Twilight would reach to Luna and tell her to release the dream. If that didn't happen in time, she'd still asked Luna to let go if death was the alternative. That didn't mean Luna would. Her best hope there, bothering as it was, was hoping that when Nightmare Moon broke free she did so without outright killing Luna, and that someone was there to take her before the killing blow. It wasn't a great plan, but it was their best one. Despite the ache in her legs, Twilight walked faster towards the centre of town.