Pinkie and the others walked out of the guard barracks, Tempest taking the lead with Grubber staying close behind her. A small legion of yeti following behind the ponies.
“Now we just need to go find Luna and the others. I’ll bet their somewhere close by.” Pinkie said as she hopped up alongside Tempest. The group came to a stop when the sound of Pinkie talking caught the attention of Nightmare’s minions. The shadow wolves and other creatures slowly coming into view at the end of the street. Tempest stood her ground though glaring back at the creatures before her. Without a word the wolves charged, Tempest took a step forward her horn glowing with unstable magic and then blasted a path down the street her magic dispelling a few of the wolves. The other creatures continued to charge though,
“Attack!!” Tempest shouted, the yeti behind them leaping forward and beginning to battle Nightmare’s minions. The other ponies watched as Tempest and the yeti fought in the street after a few minutes they managed overpower their opponents leaving them alone in the streets.
“Oh my…” Fluttershy muttered. Applejack let out a triumphant cheer before walking up to Tempest.
”Now that was somethin else Tempest. Pinkie was right about coming to y'all for help. With you and your friends helping Princess Luna we should be able to save every pony in no time!” Appleajack said. Tempest smiled and nodded at the mare. Pinkie then sliding up beside them,
“Now come on! Let’s go find a princess!!” she announced.
Luna sat next to Sweetie Belle the little filly having somehow fallen asleep during everything that was happening. Spike and Gabby kept an eye out for any danger while Lullaby and Trixie were searching for anything useful in the building they were hiding inside. Spike looked back at Luna,
“Its been a while now, you don’t think Pinkie and the others were captured do you?” he asked. Luna looked up at Spike trying not to move around and wake Sweetie.
“I don’t know, Nightmare’s forces are all over the city. Its possible, but I can't say for certain.” she answered. Lullaby and Trixie came back the two ponies carrying a few snacks they’d found.
“We found some food, mostly candy bars and sweets. But at least its something that we can eat.” Lullaby said with a smile. Spike and Gabby walked over as the bat pony handed out the snacks to everyone, making sure they all got an equal amount to eat. Trixie unwrapped the chocolate bar she’d had and took a bite, sitting quietly and eating for a moment. Then she looked back to Luna.
“We should go look for others now, there could be guards in the city or other ponies who could help us. And we’re less likely to draw attention if we get caught. You said that Nightmare was looking for you right?” Trixie asked. Luna nodded, she knew full well that Nightmare’s main goal had to be revenge against her family. After all, they were the ones who stopped him last time. Luna wondered where he could’ve been hiding up until now for a moment. His power was limited after his defeat and staying as well hidden as he was couldn’t have been something he’d accomplished alone. But she knew focusing on that should come later, right now they needed to focus on getting help.
“Alright, you two go and search for any pony who hasn’t been captured yet. Try and stay out of sight and keep close to the buildings, you’ll be less likely to be seen that way.” Luna explained. The two mares nodded and stood up ready to go but then the scuttling of feet above them caught their attention. Every creature in the room came to a stop, looking up and tensing up at what was moving around above them. An uneasy minute passed before everything went silent again, the ponies taking a deep sigh of relief. Trixie smiled looking around at every pony and said,
“Well for a second there I thought we were in real…” Before she could finish her sentence though the ceiling exploded shadow creatures pouring into the building, Luna quickly scooped up Sweetie Belle waking the filly and tossing her to Gabby.
“Go! Keep her safe, they’re after me!” she shouted. Luna raised a barrier to keep back the monsters as the others fled. Sweetie was shocked and confused about what was happening watching as they fled out the front of the building watching Luna stay behind.
“Wait?!? Princess Luna! Come with us!!” Sweetie shouted.
The shadow creatures slammed into Luna’s barrier, clawing and beating against it to try and capture the alicorn. But Luna stood strong, looking back to watch and make sure the others were far enough away before she went on the offensive. Sweetie and the others rushed down the street vanishing from Luna’s sight, she turned to face her attackers and then refocused her barrier into a single attack spell blasting them back into the dark ether they came from. The resulting blast shook the building and destroyed a good portion of it as well, giving Luna’s position away to more of the creatures around her. They came at Luna from all directions this time but the mare spread her wings wide and took to the air fighting her way through all the monsters that were airborne. Bursts of magic lit the sky attacking the creatures as they charged towards her, she had to be cautious with her attacks though she had no idea how many ponies were still in the buildings below. One wrong attack and she might hurt someone she sought to protect. The shadow bats swarmed at Luna but she nimbly flew between and around dodging their attempts to swarm her. She had to put some distance between them she thought, she needed to hide again and regroup with her friends. As Luna flew she noticed less and less of the creatures pursuing her, she looked back to see they had stopped for some reason then a voice spoke to her.
“Hello Luna, its been so long. And I’m glad you decided to make your presence so openly known.” Luna stopped and looked ahead to see Nightmare floating in front of her. Her eyes glowing a menacing red that matched the large wings keeping her aloft. Luna showed no fear though smiling back at Nightmare,
“You’ve done me the favor, now I can stop you here and now, freeing Twilight’s friend from your grasp.” she replied. Without another word Luna unleashed a barrage of magic blasts at her opponent, Nightmare easily blocking the attack with a barrier spell. Luna’s attack obscured his vision for a moment but when he could see again Luna was gone. Nightmare looked around trying to see where she’d gone when suddenly Luna struck from above her focused attack blitzing through her barrier and slamming into Nightmare. Luna followed up with another magic attack blasting her opponent towards the ground. With a beat of her wings though Nightmare recovered and turned to face Luna. In a flash of magic Luna teleported out of view again,
“Think you can keep this up forever? You’re forgetting who your fighting!” Nightmare shouted back.
“I don’t have to keep this up forever, you think I didn’t prepare for your return? I spent weeks studying the magics I needed to stop you this time.” Luna snapped back. Nightmare turned towards the direction of her voice and saw Luna casting a large spell, a magic circle appearing in front of her and under Nightmare. Before she could react the magic circle beneath Nightmare became bright with Luna’s magic and soon beams of light erupted out and wrapped around her restraining her. The magic tightened like ropes and soon began to pull downwards, Nightmare could feel the force of the magics pulling at his being trying to separate him from his host. Luna continued to focus the spell, she could see the black of Rarity’s coat slowly being pulled towards the circle her natural white becoming visible. Just a little more time and Rarity would be free Luna thought, but she could feel Nightmare fighting back trying to maintain hold over the unicorn. Then in a defiant scream Nightmare unleashed the alicorn amulets powers, red energy pouring out in all directions. Luna tried to focus on the spell and keep it going, but the amulets magics were chaotic and going in every direction now. Nightmare’s magics finally struck the circle beneath her and in a burst of magic destroyed the circle knocking Luna away. Luna was quick to recover though looking back at Nightmare,
“He’s more powerful than I originally thought, the alicorn amulet must have amplified his power even more than I expected.” she thought. Nightmare's dark magics poured out of her, black and red tendrils launching towards her opponent. Luna tried to move away, but the attack was too quick and too sudden. Before she could react the tendrils attacked from behind and in front of her engulfing Luna in every direction. Nightmare let out a villainous roar and threw the mass of dark magic towards the city below. Luna had no way to defend and was slammed through a building decimating it entirely and shaking Canterlot. When the dust settled Luna was left at the center of the ruined of structure, her head spinning and body aching all over. With a loud thump she looked up to see Nightmare standing before her.
“Let’s get you back to the castle princess, your family is eagerly waiting for you after all.” Nightmare said with a grin.
Lullaby and the others had finally stopped running to catch their breath, Sweetie Belle in a bit of a panic walking in circles.
“What happened?!? Why did we leave Princess Luna behind?” she frantically asked. Lullaby tried to calm her down, petting her on the head and getting her to stop moving around for a moment.
“It all happened so suddenly, we didn’t have time to help. She wanted to keep us all safe.” she replied. Sweetie Belle was visibly upset, and Spike stood upright trying be confident.
“Then I say its time we go to the castle and get every pony back! We’ve run and hid long enough. If its just the five of us we should be able to sneak in, right?” Spike said. Trixie and Lullaby looked at one another unsure, but Gabby eagerly agreed with Spike, Sweetie perking up at the dragon’s newfound confidence.
“Yeah, we can totally do this!” Gabby said. Sweetie Belle then walked up to the two and turned to the older mares with them.
“You’ll help us too, right?” Sweetie asked. Lullaby stood and smiled her grin saying it all, Trixie took a moment brush her mane aside before speaking up.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie will happily help rescue her friends.” The group then turned towards the castle and began to make their way there determined to save the House of Sun.