//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: A Royal Canterlot Wedding: Deleted Scenes // by Raugos //------------------------------// A Royal Canterlot Wedding: Deleted Scenes (Chapter 4) It was difficult to see; the world was tinted green, and it was upside down. Princess Celestia tried to shout, to call for help, but realised that her throat and lungs were flooded with something thick and viscous. Her heart sank when she saw that she was encased in a cocoon full of the stuff; she was practically swimming in it. Odd, though, that she apparently didn’t need to breathe. Perhaps the fluid was somehow sustaining her, which was rather interesting. But there were more pressing matters at hoof; she had to go to the aid of her subjects. Unfortunately, her horn refused to do anything, and Celestia couldn’t for the life of her figure out why. Her powers were intact, that much she knew, but she could not channel it. And… what did she need magic for, again? She shook her head vigorously, and the haziness in her mind was temporarily gone. Something in the fluid was muddling her thoughts, preventing her from using magic. Or from doing anything useful, it seemed. Come to think of it, she was feeling rather sleepy. Maybe she could rest for five more minutes, then think of a way of getting back at the changeling queen when she was done. Yes, that seemed like a sound plan… No! Stay focused! She fought against the fatigue, but she could feel her resolve slipping… As she watched the blurred figures trot around below, her eyelids began to slide shut. The idea was revolting, but Celestia had to admit that her cocoon was really comfortable… * * * * * The city was in chaos. The shapeshifters were capturing ponies left, right and centre, beating up those who resisted and terrorising those who didn’t. Tufty shrank back into the shadows amongst a bunch of trash cans when a group of them buzzed overhead, wincing when her joints protested with little flashes of pain. She was also still a little miffed that her opportunity to sneak away from the bug ponies earlier had come at the cost of Sergeant Arrow’s capture, and she’d been unable to help. Or maybe unwilling, her conscience prodded. Tufty mentally shook her head. It wouldn't have been smart. She’d been hurt, and they would still have outnumbered Arrow and her. She’d tried being heroic. Now, maybe it was time to start thinking less like a Royal Guard and more like a Night Guard; strike from the shadows, act only when it will make a difference, do what must be done. Even if that meant withholding help to ponies who desperately needed it right now. She slunk out of her hidey hole, taking care to keep to the shadows. Whenever somepony nearby cried out for help whilst fighting or being chased by a bug pony, she reminded herself that any assistance rendered there and then would be wasted. A lone guard couldn’t hold back an army. Heck, even the returning patrols were proving ineffective at stopping the invaders. The best they seemed able to do was to form pockets of resistance here and there, constantly gnawed at from all sides by the shapeshifters. No, Tufty needed to find somepony who could make a real difference. Princess Celestia would have been the obvious choice, but the Great Hall was too far away. She’d be caught before reaching it. Luna’s tower, on the other hoof… Where are they, anyway? The princesses hadn’t come to anypony’s rescue, as far as she knew. A disturbing thought came to her; had the princesses been poisoned like the guards? In any case, there was no point in wondering. She’d get their help if they weren’t, she’d think of something else if they were. Right now, she needed to focus on getting to Luna’s tower without being spotted. She was currently in the back alley of a bunch of shop houses, and she’d have a shaded route with plenty of cover for at least three quarters of the way. She’d then have to cross a street in full sunlight to make the last sprint to the palace grounds. She managed to make it through the shady areas without incident, and stopped just at the corner shop of the street she needed to cross. It had pretty much been ransacked, and there was nopony around. She clambered in through the broken window on her side and peeped out of the one that was properly facing the palace on the opposite side. There were a few ponies ensnared in green gunk down one end of the street, and a few shapeshifters were buzzing around. When she thought that no one was looking, she clambered out. A brief pause, and she took a deep breath. Here goes. She dashed across the street, leaping over trash and debris, praying that nothing would see. After reaching the other side, she continued past the unguarded gate and galloped over the grass, making a straight line for the nearest doorway into the palace. Nothing came for her. No screeches, no buzzing of wings; nothing at all. There were just more of the same sounds of clashes between guards and bugs and panicked ponies in the distance. It was all rather anticlimactic, to be honest. Tufty had been expecting a minor scuffle, at the very least. Then again, considering how things had been going for the past few hours, it would have been pretty ungrateful of her to complain about a bit of dumb luck. * * * * * The tower itself was round in shape from the outside, but the window led to an interior that was roughly in the shape of a crescent moon. There was a stairwell off to the side, and a few ornate, wooden chairs and a table stood just outside of the massive doors on the curving inner wall of the tower. Whoever lived in this tower was probably one of the decadent types; a perfect victim for feeding on its love. He or she even had guards, as evidenced by the pair of discarded spears leaning by the door. He could just imagine them panicking and rushing to the restrooms as soon as the indigestion settled in. No matter how tough, every pony eventually succumbed to the resin; they’d have to get it out of their systems, through one end or the other. Rax trotted up to the doors and pushed them halfway open, as quietly as he could. He peered in, and was slightly annoyed to find Chitin peeking from between his legs, and Mandy hovering above his head. He ignored them, though, and focused on what lay inside. It was dimly lit, but his eyes adjusted easily to the weak light. The room was even more resplendent that the marble interior of the tower; there was a huge bed by the curtained window, plump cushions on the floor, a plush carpet, antique furniture, tallow candles on their golden stands; all the sort of things that only nobility could afford. The pair of gigantic speakers in the room did seem a little out of place, though. There was one on each side of the bed. Then, he saw her. Dark blue coat, starry mane and tail, wings and a horn; this wasn’t some rich pony noble, it was an alicorn. She was lying on the bed with her back turned to them, sides rising and dropping with the slow, calm breaths of sleep. “Um, should we call for help? This one might be waaay out of our league…” Chitin expressed. “She’s asleep,” Mandy stated. “We can weaken her first.” “What are you all blabbering about?” Scritch demanded. He still couldn’t see inside with the three of them blocking the view. Rax felt a sharp tug and was suddenly yanked backwards, landing on his rump. He scowled as his brother quickly took his place without so much as a sorry or thank you. “Okay… I see what you mean,” was all the dumb grub said. Rax didn’t answer. Princess Luna, the so called princess of the night. He knew that alicorns were powerful, and they should call for help, but he couldn’t help feeling that the risk was worth it. Changeling drones, taking down a princess? Even though there were four of them, the feat would still be glorious! And in addition to being oblivious to the chaos outside, to the point of being able to sleep, even, she hardly looked like the sort who could intimidate anyone. She was so lanky and… for lack of a better term… prissy-looking. “So… are we going to take her on or what?” asked Scritch. Mandy responded by nudging past him and creeping onto the thick carpet, treading as lightly as she could. They all followed suit, and Rax found that they didn’t even need to try very hard at being stealthy. The carpet was so thick and soft. Once he was a few steps in, he realised why the alicorn was unaware of the invasion. Suddenly, all the sounds from outside were non-existent, and he could only hear noise coming from within the room – their shallow breathing, the tiny clicks of their wings twitching in anticipation. There was a silencing spell in the room; no sound came in, no sound went out. They edged closer and closer, until they were right next to the bed, surrounding the princess. She continued to be oblivious to their presence, and they could even hear her snoring softly. Her eyes were moving beneath their lids; she was clearly dreaming. “Well, this is going to be easy,” Mandy noted. Maybe. Rax and shared a look with his siblings, and as one, they all channelled what little magic they had into a combined dream-stalker spell. A green aura enveloped the alicorn’s head, and she shifted a little in reaction to the intrusion of four strangers into her subconscious. Changelings ideally fed on the positive emotions of wakeful ponies, with love being the most nourishing, but they could also feed on the directionless, nebulous feelings in their dreams – the more pleasant the dream, the better. Rax could even ‘glimpse’ scattered fragments of what she was dreaming about. Smiling faces, a friend or two, an approving sister, windy willows under a moonlit sky… It was those feelings that they tapped into, carefully siphoning them off. Rax felt a surge of power as he fed, there was an almost electrical buzz in his horn as his reserves of magic were replenished, to be later converted into nourishment or simply used for spells. After almost a minute of feeding, he felt ready to take on an army. So this is what real power feels like. Alicorn emotions were some pretty volatile stuff; he’d never gotten that much energy from one sitting before! There was also something else in her subconscious, like a shadow lurking beneath the tranquil surface of a lake. Curiosity piqued, Rax probed a little deeper. Sometimes, the best memories and emotions needed a little digging in order to bring them out. His siblings became aware of what he was doing and followed his example, twisting their collective consciousness further into the depths. But then something didn’t feel quite right… the flavour of the emotions began to change, from the sweetness of happiness to something more… sour, bitter, sharp. He opened his eyes without breaking the spell and realised that the blue alicorn was grimacing in her sleep. Maybe they’d fed too eagerly or gone too deep; her dreams were taking a turn for the worse. She moaned and shifted uncomfortably, and he could feel a sense of dread growing in her mind. “Stop!” he hissed to his siblings. “What did you do?” Scritch hissed in return. Rax severed the connection and scowled at his brother. “What did I do? There are too many of us feeding. We need to stop this now or she’ll wake up!” “Will you two shut up? We’ve got power now. Let’s just take her down!” Mandy interjected. “Uh oh,” Chitin suddenly commented, pointing. Rax looked back to the alicorn and saw her twitching. Her breathing was heavy, and her muscles were all tensed up, and… was that black smoke coming out of her coat? He risked a little probe into her subconscious and felt the bitter and scalding taste of resentment and rage, many times the intensity of a normal pony. He hastily pulled out and backed away. They all did. “Traitors…” the princess muttered through clenched teeth, eyes still shut tight. Rax’s heart rate was climbing. She knows we’re here? “After all I did for them…” she continued, seemingly to no one in particular. A snarl escaped her lips, and she suddenly began twitching and moving her legs as if she was galloping. Her mane and tail seemed to writhe along with her body, and a bit of it lashed out in his direction. Rax chittered in surprise and took a few steps further backward… and then tripped over a stool and crashed into something shaped like a box. Disgusted at his clumsiness, he swatted at the offending object, only to feel his leg strike what felt like a button, smashing it in and cracking the object’s surface. Something clicked, and blue lights suddenly came to life on the massive speakers on both sides of the bed of the thrashing alicorn. Oh, hayse – The pony expletive hadn’t even completely formed in his mind when he was suddenly thrown back by the explosion of sound from the speakers. It felt like an actual shockwave, and all candles in the room instantly went out. The only source of light remaining was the blue glow from the speakers and the magical aura on the alicorn’s horn. The ripping screech of electric guitars and the thunder of drums assaulted his ears; each pulse of sound felt like it was going to split his carapace and shatter his horn. He collapsed to the carpeted floor, groaning and wincing. Even the fibres on the carpet seemed to shudder with every sound wave. “Take me down to the paradise city where the grass is green and the mares are pretty,” The alicorn princess’ eyes snapped open, glowing a pure white. She snarled again, and Rax thought he could see fangs in her mouth. “ – Oh won’t you please take me ho-ooome!” Sweet Chrysalis! He tried to cover his ears, but it did not help; he couldn’t think with all that blaring noise! A quick glance told him that his siblings were faring no better. Chitin was curled up in a ball, Mandy was burrowing her head under a cushion, and Scritch was yelling something at him which he couldn’t hear. “Take me down to the paradise city where the grass is green and the mares are pretty,” Rax got the gist of his brother’s gesturing, though. Thoroughly panicked, he searched for the music player he’d stumbled into and nearly moaned in despair when hitting the stop button had absolutely no effect on the speakers whatsoever. “ – Oh won’t you please take me ho-ooome!” the singer blared from the speakers. The voice was just as ear-splittingly, shell-crackingly loud as the music. Every ornament in the room was shaking. Oh sweet Chrysalis, make it stop, make it stop! His head felt like it was being squeezed in a vice, and his whole body was beginning to twitch uncontrollably. He ground his teeth, and instantly regretted it; he felt like the vibrations were going to shatter them. It took a huge effort to simply unclench his jaw. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of it; the princess was on fire. Literally. Rax gaped as blue flames erupted on various parts of her body and spread, leaving a pure black coat when it faded away. Her body seemed to stretch and grow, until she was just about as tall as Queen Chrysalis in her true form. Her mane and tail changed to lighter hues of purple and blue, but it continued to writhe in agitation. She snorted, and blue fire and smoke jetted out of her nostrils. Don’t just stand there, do something, idiot! And then it hit him – he was an idiot. He grabbed the music player and found the wire connecting it to the rest of the sound system and bit it clean in half. “Just an urchin living under – ” The music abruptly stopped; there was only the hum of a current running through the still-active speakers. Much better… Rax heaved a sigh of relief as clarity returned to his mind. He could finally think straight! And that was when the now black alicorn decided to lob a bolt of lightning in his direction. He just had enough time to flick his wings open and zip to the side as a cushion was annihilated into a pile of ash. Chitin, Scritch and Mandy had already taken cover by then, and once he had ascertained that his siblings had all recovered from the audial trauma, he hissed, bared his fangs and channelled his newly siphoned magic into a counterattack. Four against one, Princess, with you weakened and we freshly fed. Fancy transformation magic was not going to save her, even if taking the image of the fabled Nightmare Moon did make her appear a tad more intimidating. He felt his spell joined by the magic from his siblings, and as one, they blasted a green bolt of energy directly at the black alicorn. She shrieked when it struck her horn and was thrown against her dressing table, which promptly splintered from the force of the impact. Well… that was easy. The princess rose, with loose accessories and splinters of wood sliding off her body. She was wearing a decidedly furious scowl, and her horn was crackling with blue energy. Or not… The dark alicorn, which he was starting to mentally refer to as Nightmare Moon, snarled in a voice that rippled with power, “Worthless insects. You dare – ” Crack! Her speech was interrupted via an instant vase to the face. It shattered into a hundred pieces, and Rax turned and saw Mandy with her horn aglow, with several other household objects hovering in the air by her side. Nightmare Moon snorted and glared at his sister. “Insolent whel – ” Bing! An alarm clock struck her on the forehead. She reeled and snarled, “Try that again, and I’ll – ” Fwoomp! A huge, poufy cushion impaled itself on her horn, covering her face and smothering her words. “Running out of things to throw, here,” Mandy hissed, as Nightmare Moon sputtered and sneezed from all the down leaking out of the pillow. “Do something!” The dark alicorn ripped the cushion in half with magic and violently tossed aside the remains, sending loose down flying everywhere. She then inhaled deeply and bellowed, “ENOUGH!” Whump! Eeeeeeeeeeeee… For a moment, Rax thought he’d gone deaf; there was nothing but a high pitched ringing in his ears. The vocal shockwave had sent every loose object in the room flying, including him and his siblings. His back ached from the impact when he’d hit the bedroom wall. He shook his head to clear it and nearly whimpered in dismay when he saw one of the huge speakers hovering over him. He just managed to roll to safety before Nightmare Moon smashed it into the spot where he’d been a second earlier. Keep cool, he told himself. Don’t panic. They still outnumbered the alicorn, and they still had plenty of power in reserve. So what if she was a tougher nut to crack than expected? They were changelings and she was a pony, and predators never ran from their prey! Rax channelled a sizeable portion of his power into a beam of green fire and blasted it directly at the dark alicorn, who met it with her own beam of crackling, blue magic. He grimaced when he felt the immense force behind her magic; it was steadily pushing his back as if it was nothing more than a minor inconvenience. But when he was just about to give up, two more beams of green fire joined his own, halting the advance of Nightmare’s magic. From the corner of his eye, Rax saw Chitin and Scritch with determined expressions on their faces as they channelled their newly acquired magic to assist him. He almost felt like hugging them for helping out when they could have so easily just buzzed off to leave him with the alicorn. Almost. Unfortunately for them, Nightmare Moon’s magic was still stronger than all three combined. Her beam of energy was slowly but steadily pushing theirs back, and there was an almost predatory grin on her face as she watched them struggle. Mandy, where are you! Then, he saw her, circling the room, clinging to the ceiling. Rax suppressed a grin as his sister positioned herself to strike the alicorn from above and behind, charging up a globe of green magic on the tip of her horn… Nightmare Moon’s tail whipped up and twisted into a clawed shape, grabbing Mandy by the throat. The changeling let out a choked cry as the spell on her horn fizzled out, and a second later, she was plucked from the ceiling and flung right into Scritch and Chitin. They all collapsed into a tangled heap of limbs and wings. With his siblings’ support gone, Rax reeled under the renewed pressure from Nightmare’s magic and released his spell, darting to the side to avoid getting blasted by the blue beam of energy. It left a smouldering hole in the carpet. The alicorn wasn’t done with them, though. The next thing Rax knew, Mandy was flying towards him, and he was bashed sideways into an overturned table. He squinted through the red haze of pain in his forehead… and saw Nightmare Moon’s mane grasping his sister’s tail, and she was using her as a club to bludgeon Scritch and Chitin. Mandy was screeching and flailing about, which was only going to make things more unpleasant for all of them. If getting the snot beaten out of them wasn’t so blasted painful, Rax might have laughed at the situation. It was time for to forget about taking all the glory for themselves. The princess of the night was something that only the Queen would be able to handle. Fumbling with a spell, he searched for the scattered remains of ripped cushions and burnt carpet and gathered as much as he could, then flung the whole lot of it into the alicorn’s eyes. She hissed and released her hold of Mandy, who dropped onto the carpet and began wobbling around, confused and concussed. “Don’t know about you,” Scritch groaned as he got back onto his hooves, “but I’ve had enough of this princess.” “Help me!” cried Chitin, who had Mandy’s tail between her teeth and was desperately trying to drag her towards the exit. “Eurgh… lemme go,” Mandy slurred. The things we do for family… Rax and Scritch rushed over and pulled their incapacitated sister out of the room, all the while with Nightmare Moon muttering promises of revenge as she tried to clean the ash and down out of her eyes. Sounds of the invasion outside became audible once more as they crossed the threshold of the silencing spell. When they reached the window from which they’d originally entered, Scritch leapt out and caught Mandy after waiting for Rax and Chitin to unceremoniously toss her out. Chitin went next, but just when Rax crouched low, ready leap to safety, he heard an explosion and felt something hot strike his back. His body thrashed for a second, and the next thing he knew, he was on the floor, twitching. The pain was accompanied by the sound of something sizzling, and then he realised just what happens when a changeling is struck by lightning. His carapace had protected him from the worst of it, but his wings, on the other hoof… Panic rising in his chest, he clambered to the window sill to call to his siblings for help, but saw that they were already gone, lost amidst the swarm in the city. And he could not follow. Rax craned his neck around and hissed in pain when he tried to buzz his wings – they were crispy and smouldering at the edges, with gaping holes burnt right through the middle. Completely useless. He wouldn’t be able to fly until his next moult, and that was ages away! Why, Universe, why? Why was it that whenever something might go right for once, the universe decided that it needed to remind him of how much he was supposed to despise it? Then, the clip clop of hooves reminded him that he was still in the same building as the madmare. He turned around and saw her approaching, slowly and deliberately, like a cat stalking a mouse. Strangely enough, Rax found her fascinating, in a she’s-totally-going-to-kill-me sort of way. She was tall, dark and regal, almost as graceful as Queen Chrysalis, but her mane and tail looked like they were seething with rage, judging from the way they lashed around. It was impossible to see her pupils because of the way her eyes glowed, but the downward curve of her mouth made it clear just what sort of mood she was currently in. His eyes darted to the stairwell off to the side. With his wings decommissioned, that was going to be the only way out. He broke into a frantic dash for the exit, just as Nightmare’s mane snatched at him. * * * * * The base of Luna’s tower had its own annex, which was filled with an assortment of well-furnished rooms for VIP functions, a kitchen, a mess hall, plus a small barracks. It was a little strange to have all those things together, but then again, Princess Luna did have unusual tastes in the way things were organised. Tufty made a cautious sweep of the lower floors, taking care to avoid blundering into any shapeshifters that might have been lurking about. She wrinkled her nose in distaste at the sight of several barrels of apple cider stacked about the mess hall, which were no doubt served to any guards unfortunate enough to have been stationed here at the time. The place was a wreck; utensils and unfinished meals were strewn about the place, along with loose furniture and ornaments. A struggle had taken place here, but everypony had evidently already fled or been dragged away. Once she was certain that Princess Luna wasn’t anywhere in the lowest levels, she began ascending the stairs leading into the tower proper. Something caught her eye as she passed a window, and she felt her ears droop in dismay when she looked out. The Elements of Harmony had been captured. She could see them being herded away like sheep by a black mass of bugs, several streets away. With them out of the fight, they needed the Princesses, now, more than ever. Without them, they were probably doomed. As if on cue, thunder rumbled in the building. * * * * * Rax dodged the bolt of lightning, but lost his balance and felt a moment of terror as he lurched forward. Normally, that was never a problem, but with his damaged wings, the prospect of falling down was suddenly that much more nerve wracking. He curled up into a ball and as he began tumbling down the stairwell, wincing as he bounced off each step and the outer wall. His horn and wings were unwelcome projections in this instance, and he yelped in pain every time they struck something. He lost count of the number of steps fairly quickly, and by the time he landed with what felt like a splat on the foot of the stairs, the world was spinning. He shakily got to his hooves and ran – and smacked face-first into a wall. I’ll never hear the end of this, he thought as he peeled his face off the stonework, but that was only after he’d taken several moments to regain his sense of balance. His heart rate shot up another few notches when he heard someone galloping down the stairs. He turned and glimpsed the madmare rounding the bend of the stairwell before he bolted towards the open door at the far end of the hall they were in. He felt the alicorn’s mane graze his flank, and he expended the remains of his magic on upending braziers, lampstands, torches and just about every ornament that he could get a magical grip on, tossing them in his wake in the hopes of slowing her down. Fat chance, apparently. He could hear her heavy hooves pounding, getting closer. He didn’t even make it halfway to the door before he felt a sharp yank on his tail that sent him sprawling onto the floor. He looked up and found the dark alicorn standing directly over him, wearing an expression of disgust mixed with macabre anticipation in the form of a half-grin half-snarl. It was the first time he was truly gripped by fear; his muscles had gone slack in terror, and no matter how much he consciously wanted to keep a cool head and think straight, his subconscious kept messing up his coordination and his thoughts in its mad, futile scramble for survival. He rolled to one side to avoid getting stomped by her left hoof, then back the other way as her right one crashed down. He was left pinned between both of her forelegs as she glared at him, blue magic and lightning crackling on her horn. His reserves were practically bone dry; there was nothing left that he could use to protect himself. Rax had heard some talk about the way time seemed to slow down when you were about to die, but he had never really believed it. Until now. Which was a probably a bad thing, since it meant that he was going to die and all that. The magic on the alicorn’s horn coalesced into a bolt… Sweet Chrysalis, she’s really going to kill me! He looked away and scrunched his eyes tight. But his doom never came. Rax felt something grip his horn and the next thing he knew, he was sliding on his back carapace, being dragged away from Nightmare Moon. It was all he could do to let out a sigh of relief as he saw the bolt of pure energy strike the floor, leaving a patch of red-hot stone. * * * * * Nightmare Moon? Tufty picked her jaw off the floor and hid behind the doorway to watch. The dark alicorn was chasing one of the bugs, and some twisted part of her found it rather… satisfying to see the creature being terrorised instead of the other way round. It was galloping at full tilt and tossing everything it could find into Nightmare Moon’s way, which was about as effective as trying to block a train with paper cups. She simply swept them aside with magic or barged through them. Nightmare Moon. She was still trying to wrap her head around that. Aside from the glowy eyes and the lack of armour, the alicorn was pretty much a spot-on match to the villain of legend, plus the accounts of what happened at the last Summer Sun Celebration. Was somepony masquerading as her? Or… Princess Luna. Was a relapse possible? Or was she simply taking on the shape of Nightmare Moon to scare off the bug? It seemed likely… She had done that on Nightmare Night, according to everypony who’d been in Ponyville. That mane didn’t look like it was just for show, though. It was twisted into the shape of a dragon’s forearm, and when the shapeshifter was about halfway through the corridor, its tail got snagged by the alicorn’s mane. Gotcha! But Tufty’s mental cheer wilted when she saw ‘Nightmare Moon’ trying to stomp on the creature. Those stomps had some real force behind them; the sounds they made when she missed and struck the floor were worthy of making one think about crushed bones and mangled armour. And when the alicorn began charging up a spell to strike the bug with, Tufty sensed a potentially fatal amount of magic being poured into the magical bolt. There was no hesitation. Invaders or not, the creatures hadn’t done anything to warrant death. Killing was an absolute last resort, and that was drilled directly into the brain of every guard. Tufty grabbed the creature’s nearest appendage, which was its horn, with magic and pulled. It was out of harm’s way with barely a second to spare, sliding it on its back towards her. She released it when it was a stride away and then quickly leapt on top to hold it in place. “I’ve got it, Your Highness,” she said as the alicorn approached. The bug screeched and tried to scramble away, but she held it fast and slapped its face to shut it up. Turning to the alicorn, she then added, “I don’t know where Princess Celestia is, but the rest of the city needs your help. Everypony is… uh…” Her words trailed off when she saw the rage on the alicorn’s face. “Uh… Your Highness?” A spell was forming on the tip of the princess’ horn, and it did not look like the non-lethal type. It was positively crackling with energy. “Princess Luna, what are you – Aack!” The bug suddenly gave a mighty heave, and Tufty was thrown off balance and shoved aside just in time to watch a lightning bolt shoot past her snout, exactly where her face had been a second before. The bolt screamed through the hallway and obliterated a section of wall at the other end. “We’re even,” the bug declared with a hiss. “I… you… What?” Tufty was still reeling from narrowly avoiding being burnt to a crisp. And… did it just pay a debt? For what? For the bit where she’d saved it from getting fried by the princess? The shapeshifter tilted its head, almost as if it was rolling its eyes, then gave a startled chirp as a blue aura enveloped its entire form. At the same moment, Tufty felt an immense pressure bearing upon her from all sides, and when she looked down, she saw that her body was held fast in a very powerful magical grip. She tried to run, but it was as if she was in a suit of armour of which every piece had been welded together. She might as well have been a statue for all the good her struggling did. They turned back to find the dark alicorn towering over them, another magical blast being readied on its horn. This time, there was an eager, nasty smirk on its face. The bug pony was struggling fruitlessly, and when it realised that nothing was working, it turned into a young stallion with a flash of green fire. Then, looking at the alicorn with large, pleading eyes, it blubbered, “Please, you’re hurting me! I don’t wanna die!” “There shall be no mercy for my enemies,” Nightmare growled. An idea struck Tufty. She stared at the empty space behind the dark alicorn and used a little magic to detach a portrait from a wall, sending it crashing to the floor. At the same moment, she gasped, “Princess Celestia, thank the stars you’re here!” “What!” the alicorn cried, whirling around and spreading her wings wide in a display of aggression. Her magical grip on Tufty dispersed, and she was free to move once more. The next step was simple. Run. The bug pony didn’t need telling as they both made a dash in the opposite direction of the alicorn, to put as much distance between them as possible. Tufty avoided all the rooms and dead ends, and the bug pony seemed to be following her lead. They slowed after rounding a corner, thoroughly spent from the long, mad sprint to relative safety. “Wow, that actually worked,” she muttered as she slumped against a wall. Her lungs were burning, and her legs felt like they were ready to just drop off. “Unbelievable,” agreed the shapeshifter as it planted its rump on the floor in exhaustion. Tufty froze and stared at the bug, suddenly realising that they were technically supposed to be on opposite sides. It stared back, blue eyes unblinking. “Nopony makes a foal out of me. You shall both pay dearly for that!” came another bellow from Nightmare Moon, echoing through the stone hallways. Tufty glanced in the direction from which the voice had come, then turned back to the shapeshifter. “Truce?” she asked, offering a hoof. It bumped her hoof gingerly, as if she’d just asked it to pull out a fang without so much as a drop of anaesthetic, and grudgingly replied, “For now.” “You cannot hide from me!” The alicorn was getting closer. Without wasting another second, they both went back to running for their lives.