“Mares and Gentle Stallions, may I introduce your new Prince of the Crystal Empire... Spike Sparkle!”
The crowd of crystals ponies cheered as they stomped their hooves to the ground, with Princess Cadance and General Shining Armor standing at the top of the castle balcony. When they turned around, a five foot dragon walked out to greet the masses.
Spike smiled as he waved to the ponies, feeling the crown on his head as he turned his head in all directions. Now I know how Twilight felt that day... He looked to his side to see his beautiful wife, Rarity, crying tears of joy as she was holding a handkerchief and blowing on it as more tears were flowing from her eyes. His son Elusive stood next to his mother, looking at his father in awe with a large smile on his face.
Elusive's, being a kirin, scales were white just like his mother’s and his mane was green just like his fathers. He also had a cutie mark that was a large diamond, something his mother was very proud of.
Spike simply smiled and nodded as he looked at them and back to the crowd, before going back inside where some of the nobility stood by to greet their new regent.
“Marvellous Prince Spike, I can see you being a true leader to crystal ponies everywhere,” one of the nobles spoke as he approached Spike and bowed in respect.
Rarity walked up to him and nuzzled his neck as she stood on her hind legs to do so. “My husband is the hero of this city after all,” she said as she kisses his cheek, causing him to blush slightly.
Spike stroked his wife’s mane, causing her to giggle. “Now now Rarity, we all played our parts on that day remember?”
“Still if it wasn’t for you, we’d be doomed.”
“That’s right!” Elusive came running in and stood next to Spike. “This place would be toast if it wasn’t for you dad!” He said as he looked up to his father.
Spike ruffled his hair and grinned. “I suppose so, just wish Twilight was he-”
His words were cut off when the sky went dark, and Spike rushed outside to see that the sun was nowhere to be found. Nor was the moon.
“What’s going on dad!?”
Spike shook his head, “No idea my boy, but this doesn’t loo-” Spike felt sick for a moment before letting out a streak of flame and a scroll appeared before him. He saw Twilight’s seal on it and he groaned as he rolled his eyes. “Buck it Twilight, you know I hate that method of mail!” He muttered as he tore the seal and read what was inside the scroll.
Spike,
I have little time to write this, but I’m sure you’ve noticed the sun has gone down earlier than expected. The reason for that is Nightmare Moon has returned once more and I’ve used a spell to encase the castle in a protection spell to keep her from causing chaos across Equestria. I want you to get the others and tell them to bring their Elements of Harmony. Also, I want you to look for somepony named Philip Brave, who is somewhere in the Frozen North. Enclosed in this letter is a picture of him. It’s a long story about how he got to there, but he needs to be found before it’s too late. Once you gather the others, meet up near the entrance to Canterlot, there will be somepony waiting to meet you all there.
Sincerely,
Twilight Sparkle
P.S. I’m so sorry about this method of delivery, I know you hate it, but it’s the only way to communicate to you.
“What’s going on Spike?” Asked Rarity. Spike showed the letter to her and she let out a gasp of horror. “My goodness, I had no idea Princess Luna was showing signs of becoming Nightmare Moon again. And this Philip pony . . .” She looked curiously at the picture of the stallion. “I swear I’ve seen him before.”
“Well whoever he is, he must have some idea about what happened to the Princess,” said Spike. He turned to two Crystal Royal Guards. “I need a chariot prepared immediately for Lady Rarity here and have it be taken to Ponyville right away. And I want Elusive here be taken to my quarters and be kept out of harm’s way.”
“Come on dad, I can handle Nightmare Moon,” he said. “Let me-”
“This isn’t up for debate son,” said Spike in a stern voice. “I’m not risking my son’s life in case something goes wrong. I know you’re eager to be a knight and save the day, but this is far too dangerous for you. Who knows what Nightmare Moon has up her sleeve?”
Elusive lowered his head and nodded. “You’re right dad . . . I’m sorry. I just want to do something heroic like what you did a decade ago.”
The dragon leaned down and hugged his son. “I know son, but I promise when I come back, I’ll have an exciting tale to tell you about this battle.”
“Thanks dad.” Elusive returned the hug and then turned around and ran down the corridor.
“Like father, like son I guess?” Wondered Rarity.
“Yeah . . . you can say that,” said Spike as he kissed her. “But we have no time for sentimental stuff. Since I can fly and dragon’s can handle tougher climates than pegasi, I’ll go search for Philip around a ten mile radius of the Frozen North. I want you to go get in your chariot and head for Ponyville to warn the others.”
“I’ll actually talk to Princess Cadence and General Armor first,” she said. “I’ll see if they can spare some reinforcements in case something goes wrong.”
“Alright, but hurry. I don’t know how much longer Twilight’s spell can hold off. She may be a powerful alicorn, but even Nightmare Moon will find a way to break out.”
Rarity gave a nod and took off to the balcony while Spike took off towards the sky.
Pip opened his eyes as he looked around his surroundings. He felt a deep chill coursing through his body as the snow pelted against his fur and with his teeth chattering as he tried to stay warm.
Bloody Tartarus! When I get out of this, Celestia’s gonna get some sense knocked into her! He looked around him and squinted his eyes, trying to find a path that may lead to a village. Lucky for him, he was trained in field exploration and he found what he was looking for. Trekking through the snow, he ventured off to the distance. With each step he took, deep snow prints were left in his track.
With the sound of his hoof going in deep into the snow, he began to tumble down what he thought was slope and landed face first on the icy surface. Pip quickly got up as his muzzle was in pain, liking needles stabbing it continually. He looked around and saw a small cave, which he immediately ran to.
When he was inside, he turned around to face the snow again. This time though, the sky went dark. Pip tried to see what was going on, but there were no stars in the sky. Only a darkness that seemed to swallow all light that once painted the sky in the night’s sky. Luna! Pip worried as he started breathing fast, worrying about his lover.
His ears perked when he heard the flapping of wings, and he saw outside what looked like a purple dragon. The dragon looked around itself until it looked to the cave, where it grinned at made its way towards Pip.
Pip panicked and he went deeper into the cave until he reached a dead end. He turned sharply when he heard footsteps approach him. The stallion stood his ground and narrowed his eyes at the dragon.
“You want to go a couple o’ rounds!?” Pip shouted out, and he saw the dragon stop its approach. “Come on mate! Ah always wanted to try a dragon-leather jacket!”
“Philip Brave, is it?” Asked the dragon.
The spotted stallion raised an eyebrow. “Yeah . . . that’s me. How do you know my name though?”
The dragon stepped forward and blew out a small green flame from his mouth. Pip looked to see the dragon was holding a torch and managed to get a good view of the beast. He gasped in surprise from what he saw and was entranced by who it was.
“I . . . I don’t believe it,” he stammered. “You’re . . . you’re . . .”
“Spike Sparkle,” he said. “Number one assistant and brother to Princess Twilight Sparkle and Prince of the Crystal Empire.”
“Am I glad to see somepo- um . . . somedragon like you,” said Pip.
“Well I was told by Princess Twilight to find you. She said something about Nightmare Moon return-”
“Oh bullocks!” Yelled Pip in frustration. “I knew it! I tried to reason with Celestia, but she wouldn't listen at all!”
“Princess Celestia? What does she have to do with this?”
Pipsqueak told Spike about everything that happened. About how he and Luna become a couple and how Celestia wasn’t onboard with the idea because she feared that once he was dead, Luna would fall into a deep depression about losing him and becoming Nightmare Moon once more. He then explained how Celestia was acting weird before she used her magic to teleport him here.
Spike groaned a little as he rubbed his head. “Real smooth Princess Celestia . . . Real smooth,” he muttered.
“You can say that again,” said Pip. “But now that I know what’s happened to Luna, we need to go now.”
“Not so fast. I’m taking you back to the Crystal Empire to treat your wounds. Your hooves are shaking and your body is turning a little blue.” He got on all fours and looked at Pip. “Hop on, the quicker we get your treated, the sooner you can go save Luna.”
“Alright then,” he said as he crawled onto Spike’s back and wrapped his hooves around his chest.
Spike quickly made his way out of the cave and took off into the sky once more, with Pip in tow.
Princess Celestia trotted down the hallway of the castle, with a grim look on her face. She looked around to see several patrols were shouting orders and arming themselves with spears, shields, swords, and even crossbows. She gave a heavy sigh as she felt the guilt of her actions weigh down upon her.
“Princess Celestia!”
The white alicorn looked up to see a white stallion in Lunar Guard armor galloping towards her.
“What’s the status right now Captain Longbow?” She asked.
“We are just about finished setting up a perimeter around the castle,” he said. “We’ve got several patrols surrounding the throne room and other patrols are setting up around the castle itself.”
“What about civilians?”
“All civilian personnel have been evacuated through the escape tunnels and being kept in underground bunkers. We have also activated the emergency warning system that’s advising all citizens to stay indoors.”
“Very good. Captain, as you were...”
“Yes princess!”
With that, Captain Longbow went off to his duties leaving Celestia alone. She walked towards her throne room, where Twilight, Big Mac and Stealth were sitting. Twilight ears lifted as she heard the door open and close and walked towards Celestia, carrying a scroll with her.
“Pip’s been found, he sustained some frostbite and a few bruises but he will make a good recovery,”
Celestia sighed and a small smile crept on her face. “Thank goodness! I hope he can make it here in time,” she said softly, opening her eyes to see her former student was not smiling.
Twilight furrowed her eyebrows as she glared at her former teacher. “When he gets back you will have to answer to him for what you did,”
Big Macintosh approached Twilight and placed a hoof to her shoulder. “Twily, calm down. Ah’m sure the princess is mighty sore of what she did to that poor colt,”
“Funny way of showing it!”
Celestia winced at the way Twilight was yelling at her. “Twilight, I promise you that I truly didn’t mean to do this to Pip. I can only hope that Pip can do something to save my sister before-”
“Your blunder costs us all of Equestria?” Asked Twilight.
“Twily, ya don’t need to speak that way to yer teacher,” said Big Mac.
“I do and it’s for a good reason!” She yelled. “When Shining Armor married Princess Cadence, she gave no objections to it. When we both got married, she said nothing. Tartarus, when Spike and Rarity got married, did Celestia say anything? Of course not! Now, when her sister wants to find a special somepony, she acts irrational and wants to control Luna’s life! For a princess who claims to care about all her subjects, she makes herself to be a complete hypocrite when it comes to her sister!”
Celestia lowered her head in shame and felt the harsh words hurt her. “Twilight . . . I truly wish that I never did this,” she said with remorse in her voice. “I was just . . . just so worried for my sister’s sake.”
Before Twilight could say something, Big Mac stepped in and said, “I understand where yer coming from yer highness. I was overprotective of my sisters when our parents died and did everything to make sure no harm came to them. However, I soon learned something about how I was acting and controlling my sisters. And it’s something I want you to learn.”
“What . . . what is it?” She asked.
“To let them go.”
“I . . . don’t understand.”
“What I mean is that it’s good to look out for yer siblings, but you can’t control everything in their lives. They want to be happy and you can’t hold them back from doing something they want to do, like be with somepony they love. Your sister deserves to find happiness, not be held back by you and have her life dictated by you.”
“I . . .” Words failed Celestia as she tried to find a way to find a loophole in the logic, but couldn’t. Have I truly been holding her back all these years then? Have I deprived her of happiness?
“Princess Celestia,” said Big Mac. “I know you feel like you failed your sister again, but there is still time to save her. You can still help in saving your sister and bringing an end to this nightmare.”
Celestia lips quivered as she closed her eyes, that were becoming moist. She opened them and released a tear before nodding. “You’re right Big Macintosh. I’ve been a foal for doing what I did... but now I will rectify it.”
“That’s the spirit. Ah just hope that colt can make it back in time.”
Twilight looked out of the window as she frowned. “I hope so too, because we’re gonna need at the help we can get.”
“Any word from Canterlot?”
Pip laid on a bed as a few unicorns were healing his wounds. Interestingly enough, there were no unicorns among the crystal ponies, hence why Canterlot sent a few of their head unicorn nurses and doctors to the empire.
The doctor, Stitch Heart, shook his head as he focused his magic on the wounds. “We’re sorry Sir Brave, but since that letter from Princess Twilight we haven’t heard anything,”
Pip sighed as he looked outside the window, only to be greeted with darkness. Luna... please be alright...
The door of the hospital room opened, with Princess Cadence and General Shining Armor walking in with Prince Spike.
The doctor turned his attention to the three and bowed to them, with Spike raising his claw to have the doctor be at ease. “He should be healed in the next hour your majesties.”
“Very good Dr Heart, do you mind if we have a word with the patient?” Spike asked him as he looked to Pip.
“Yes my Prince.”
As soon as the doctor left the room, Pip immediately asked, “Can you please take me to Canterlot? I can’t just stay here while Luna is in danger.”
“Whoa, take it easy there Philip,” said Shining Armor. “I know how it feels to fight for somepony you love, but you can’t rush in there and expect to take out Nightmare Moon like that. Besides, you’re still kind of shivering from the cold.”
“I don’t care!” He shouted. “No offense General Armor, but would you wait to save your wife while you were being treated from hypothermia?”
Shining Armor opened his mouth to reply, but looked over to Princess Cadence, who was staring at him intently. “Um . . . well . . .” he muttered.
“You see! Even General Armor is unsure on what to do! I’m per . . . per . . .” Pip’s face scrunched for a second before he let out a loud sneeze. He sniffled a little and said, “Sorry.”
“Listen Phi-”
“Please, call me Pipsqueak,” he said.
“Right, listen to me Pipsqueak,” said Princess Cadence. “The power of love can make us do some crazy things. I too went to great lengths to save Shining Armor from Queen Chrysalis’ control. However, the medication the doctor gave you is going through your body right now and you must wait. I don’t think Luna would be too happy if she knew you died of hypothermia.”
“But I-”
“But nothing Pip,” said the pink alicorn. “Besides, you don’t have much of a choice in the matter here with leaving.”
“Why do you say that?” The spotted stallion suddenly felt a little dizzy and everything became blurry. “What . . . what did you do?” He asked in a slurred voice.
“The medication causes drowsiness,” said Shining Armor. “It’ll knock you out for a full hour while it does its work. Just relax and-”
Pip’s head fell onto his pillow and he was instantly asleep. The sound of soft snoring could be heard by the two ponies and the dragon. They all went out into the hallway and closed the door slowly.
“Okay, I guess it’s time for me to get going,” said Spike. “I’m going to try to catch up to Rarity and meet up with the others.”
“We’ll be joining you shortly Spike,” said Shining Armor. “I’m going to gather some forces from here and request more help from other cities across Equestria.”
“Got it, see you there then.” Spike took off down the hallway and disappeared around the corner.
Nightmare Moon say idly on her throne as she looked out the window. She could see several pegasi flying around, carrying various weapons, and scoffed at this.
“Oh Celestia, you’re an even bigger fool than I thought,” she said. “Do you honestly think these pathetic ponies will stop me like that?”
The said guards came crashing through the window, spears in hoof, as they landed before Nightmare Moon. “Nightmare Moon, release your hold on Princess Luna or else!” The front guard yelled out as he readied his spear, pointing to the princess.
Nightmare Moon simply yawned and looked to her hoof. “I shall take your position into consideration,” she said to him as she yawned again. She opened her eyes and her eyes went white as magic shot from her horn. The magic impacted the guards and they began to kneel, turning into darker versions of themselves. Nightmare chuckled softly. “Well, it seems your terms... are not acceptable,” she cackled as thunder erupted from the sky thanks to her magic and she waved her hoof to the guards. “Now go and seek out Celestia and her trashlings!”
The guards bowed and flew off into the distance, leaving Nightmare Moon to herself laughing. Her laughing stopped when she felt a surge of pain in her heart and her form gave off an aura for just a moment.
“Stop fighting back you weakling!”
Nightmare’s eyes widened as her breathing became hoarse, and she used her magic to cover herself in darkness. Once it was done, she sighed in relief before smiling. “That will keep you in place.”
The dark alicorn looked out of the window again, and saw nopony was outside and the streets were crawling with Celestia’s guards. She smirked as she shook her head and used her magic to form mist over Canterlot. “That will bring about some fun!”
The guards looked around in both wonder and fear as they saw everything around them was swallowed by a large white fog. Several guards had their weapons at the ready as they looked around, waiting for some kind of attack.
“Bring me all who oppose me before me!” Boomed Nightmare Moon’s voice. “I must have more guards for my army!”
“What the hay is-ACK!” A guard was cut off by a few ponies tackling him. He looked up to see some Lunar Guards were holding him down and their eyes were glowing dark blue. “Hey! What do you think you’re-” The guard was hit again by one of the corrupted soldiers and was knocked out. They wasted no time in dragging his body back to the castle.
“I need more back up here!” Barked a guard as he struggled to hold back another one. “Give me some support here!”
“Where are you!? I can’t see anything!”
“Fall back! I repeat, fall back!”
“Get back to the castle! We need to regroup there!”
The city was soon filled with yelling and screaming as the Royal Guards were struggling to hold their own in Canterlot. Some citizens that dared to look out their windows faintly saw several ponies take one guard down before hiding in fear again.
“We’re overrun here!” Barked another guard as he knocked out one of the corrupted ones. A couple more suddenly charged out at him and tackled him to the ground. “HELP! Help me!”
“They’re coming from all over! I can’t tell where they’re striking from!”
“Fortify your positions and follow my lead!” Shouted another guard to a patrol as he desperately slashed his sword at the zombie-like soldiers circled around him.
“There’s too many of them! We can’t hold out for much longer!” A dark guard suddenly grabbed one of the resisting soldiers and pinned him to the ground. “We need to warn Princess Celestia!”
Nightmare Moon looked out the window and smiled in content as her soldiers were doing their job. She could see several guards trying to run for it, but they didn’t get too far and were soon captured. Amidst the mist, there was flashing from different areas of the city, indicating to the dark alicorn that the unicorn guards were fighting against each other. It wasn’t long before the sight of Celestia’s guards running back to the castle caught her eye, only to meet the same fate as the others. The sound of screaming made Nightmare sigh in pleasure and laugh sinisterly.
“Ah, nothing like the sound of ponies begging for their lives,” she said. “It almost brings a tear to my eye.”
Nightmare Moon suddenly felt tears run down her eyes and a large pain in her heart again, like she was stabbed with a dagger. “Stop that right now you weakling!” She barked. “I’m not going to let somepony like you get in the way of finishing what I started!” She used her magic to once again encase herself in a black aura for a minute before she felt the pain ebb away. “Ah . . . much better,” she said.
The sound of screaming caught Princess Celestia’s attention. “What’s going on out there?” She wondered.
Twilight looked outside the window to the city below and gasped. “Oh my goodness! Several ponies are fighting against each other! They look like they are possessed...”
Big Mac trotted next to his wife and squinted his eyes to the pandemonium and shook his head. “If we don’t do something soon, we ain’t gonna win this one!”
Celestia observed from the window too and bit her lower lip as she shed a tear. “This is all my fault...”
“Princess, pleas-”
“No Stealth, this is all my fault... you were right I-”
The doors of the room started banging, and everypony inside became alerted as the two alicorns and one unicorn charged their magic to face whatever danger was behind those doors. With a final bang, the doors went flying towards the group. Big Mac was first to act as he bucked the doors into splinters before colliding with the group. Four guards, coats darkened and eyes glowing turquoise, stood at the door with their weapons at the ready.
“Celestia! Surrender in the name of the rightful Queen of Equestria!”
Princess Celestia eyes softened as she saw what had happened to her guards and sighed as she shook her head. “That I cannot do, for their is no rightful queen to Equestria... not me, nor Luna...”
“Then you choose blood.”
The guards charged towards Celestia with their weapons drawn. The white alicorn powered her horn up and released a powerful shock wave that sent the soldiers flying and hitting the wall. They slowly got up and shook off the stunning blast, but as they tried to move, they found their hooves were stuck to the ground. Each guard looked down to see their hooves covered in a purple aura and then looked up to see Twilight’s horn glowing.
“That should hold them for a while,” said the lilac alicorn. “This spell will make sure these ponies won’t be able to move for a few hours, or until I release them.”
“But wait Twilight, if they are being possessed, how can we free them?” Asked Stealth.
“Hmm . . .” She thought to herself as she rubbed her head. Twilight then stomped her hoof as an idea clicked in her. “I got it! If Nightmare Moon used a spell to control these ponies, then there may be a counterspell in the Canterlot Royal Archives.”
“Well let’s not just stand here then, let’s get going,” said Big Mac. “I think I can hear somepony coming.”
Right on cue, the sound of hooves marching down the hallway was heard by everypony.
“Let’s clear out before it’s too late!” Ordered Celestia. “Stay together and if we have to fight any guards, then knock them out instead of killing them.”
The group charged out of the room, while avoiding the grasp of the trapped guards, and ran down the hallway. Before they made it in five feet though, they all saw a blockade of unicorn guards using their crossbows to aim at them. Twilight instinctively put up a protection bubble as the arrows were fired and deflected off the shield.
“This way!” Shouted Celestia, pointing her hoof to the right.
They all went down a staircase, but not before Celestia used her magic to put a barrier around the entrance and prevent the Nightmare guards from catching up. As they group turned the corner at the staircase, Celestia took the lead and looked around to make sure nopony was around. She gave a signal for the group to standby as she creeped towards a nearby intersection to look around the corner. While the white alicorn looked around, Stealth noticed something that resembled a pony’s shadow and what looked like a crossbow being aimed.
“Oh no you don’t!” He barked as the green unicorn charged forward.
Stealth tacked the pony holding the crossbow and flung the weapon aside, as he gave a thorough beating to the would be assassin. “You don’t dare do that to Princess Celestia!” He shouted each word with every punch he threw at the pony’s face, which was becoming swollen and bloody thanks to Stealth.
“Please Stealth, please stop!” Celestia shouted to him as she rushed to him and held him his hoof from punching again.
Stealth stopped and he lifted him up from the ground, giving one last look at the unconscious stallion. “We better hurry, there will be more coming for us...”
“They’re here! Get them!”
The group ran ahead, trying their best to avoid the guards from behind. Twilight squinted her eyes and gasped as shadows appeared in front of her and they all turned the other way. Soon more guards were in front of them. From front, behind and all sides; they were surrounded.
“Surrender or die!”
Stealth growled as she observed all possible exit routes, not finding any. He turned to Celestia and nudged her rib softly. “Any ideas Princess?”
Before Celestia spoke, Twilight stepped forward. “I have one!” She yelled out as she channeled her magic and a sphere enveloped the group, closing in on them. With a pop, they were gone.
A bright flash went out around a dark corridor for a few seconds before disappearing. Twilight looked around to see a few windows letting in the moonlight and the corridor was completely deserted.
“Now where are we?” Asked Stealth. “I don’t really recall being in this part of the castle.”
“Actually, we’re right where we need to be,” said Twilight with a smile. She pointed her hoof down the hall. “Take a look and see for yourself.”
The gang looked towards where Twilight was pointing and saw what looked like a prison type gate that was blocking an entryway. They all went to investigate the path and were shocked to see what they saw. There was row upon row of bookcases with scrolls, books, and various amulets crammed into them, and the middle of the room had a large hourglass in it.
“This is it!” Squealed Twilight. “Now let’s get in there and . . .” She tried to open it with her magic but the gate was locked up. “Hmm . . . I suppose you don’t have a master key, do you Celestia?” Spat Twilight at the last word.
The white alicorn shook off the cold feeling and nodded. “As a matter of fact, I always carry one with me.” She lowered her head and stuck her horn inside the circular part of the lock. Her horn glowed for a few seconds before it faded away and the sound of a click could be heard. The lock fell to the ground and Celestia pushed the door open.
“Very impressive your highness,” said Big Mac as the group went in the archives. “But what happens if somepony comes in and tries to take us?”
“Already ahead of you Mr. Macintosh.” Celestia’s horn glowed again and created a magical barrier around the entrance and as extra protection, shut the gate and relocked it using her magic. “Now then, we need to find something to help those controlled guards. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover and very little time though, so we’ll split up.”
“Not a bad idea,” scoffed Twilight. “I’ll take the northern section. Big Mac, you go take the eastern side. Celestia . . . you take the western side.”
“What about me?” Inquired Stealth.
“Stealth, since you can use your magic to create a cloaking field, you need to go meet up with my friends. Thanks to my studying of this castle, there’s a secret passageway not too far from this room. You need to get to it while avoiding detection by the others guards.”
“Understood your highness,” he said. “Where is this entrance?”
“Well first of all, I’ll teleport you to outside this room. Secondly, you need to go down the hallway until you come across a statue of a one-eye unicorn pony wearing traditional Royal Guard armor. Next to the statue is a torch that you’ll need to push down until it clicks and opens a door. Go in there and follow and underground path that leads to the outskirts of Canterlot.”
“What if somepony waits for me to ambush me or your friends when I return though?”
“The door will close after a couple of seconds, so don’t worry about it. Now then.” Twilight’s horn glowed and Stealth disappeared with a pop. He reappeared a second later outside the entryway. “Hurry now Stealth, we’re running out of time for Princess Luna and all of Equestria.”
The green unicorn gave a salute before running down the hallway. Unbeknownst to him though, a shadowy figure was pressed against the wall, listening to every word. The figure, a small blue mist, went through the cracks of a window and took off towards the main part of the castle.
“What the hay is up with this fog!?”
Spike, who was flying high up in the air next to a carriage, focused his eyes as he tried to see where the castle lay. She shook his head and flew a big forward, blowing some of the fog away. This had little success though.
“My liege! We can’t land unless we see the ground below us!” One of the two guards in front of the carriage shouted out as they stopped behind Spike.
Spike groaned and placed a claw to his forehead. “I can see that!” He yelled back the to guard. “Time for the alternative!” He dived down fast leaving the carriage in the air alone.
Pip’s head poked out of the carriage and he looked down to the ground, squinting his eyes to see the bottom. “Bloody Mary! How we suppose to get down there?”
Cadence and Shining looked out, seeing the problem at hoof. Cadance focused her magic before Spike came flying towards them. “Spike! What’s going on down there!?”
“Ponies are fighting everywhere, it’s like a whole riot... we’re gonna need to jump here!” he said as he opened the door and took Pip by his torso.
“Wait! What exactly are you gonna-”
Spike flew down again, with Pip in his grasps. Cadence and Shining did something similar, though Cadence used her magic to levitate her husband to fly next to her. The bottom was becoming clearer and they could see the numerous ponies fighting each other and the scars of anarchy on the proud city.
Cadence gasped and her eyes became slightly moist, turning to her husband and looking at him. “Shining, this is terrible!”
Shining looked at the spectacle and couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “Are those . . . actual Royal Guards attacking one another!?” He shouted. “What the hay is going on here!?”
A thought suddenly hit Spike and he gasped. “Wait a minute! I just remembered about the-”
Before the dragon could finish, the entire group slammed into the magical force field and skidded down it slowly. They all hit the ground hard and were a little dazed from the impact.
“Everypony okay?” Asked Spike as he got up.
“Bloody . . . I’ve been better,” said Pip. “But what stopped us?”
“It must be Twily’s protection spell,” said Shining Armor. “It looks intact and all, but considering this is Nightmare Moon we’re dealing with here, I doubt it can hold her for long.”
“I can’t believe I forgot that,” said Spike. “I guess with all the mist and the chaos going around, I didn’t really see it until it was too late.”
“Well whatever the case, it seems we still have some time,” said Princess Cadence. “The Crystal Army, as well as the volunteered platoons from around Equestria, are all deploying now.”
“And that ain’t the end of it,” said a southern voice.
The group turned around to see Applejack and the rest of Twilight’s friends standing by each other. Along each pony’s neck was their own Element of Harmony.
“Sorry we’re late partner,” said the orange mare. “We were busy getting ready help bring in some more help here. Soarin went off to Cloudsdale and get the other Wonderbolts, including Rainbow Dash.”
“And you don’t need to wait anymore!”
The gang looked up in the sky to see three pegasi wearing skin tight blue and yellow flight suits landing. The pony in the middle stepped forward and took off their flight goggles to reveal Rainbow Dash. Before anypony could say something, Fluttershy ran forward and tackled the blue pegasus to the ground and embraced her in a deep kiss.
“Oh Dashie, I’m so glad you’re here,” said Fluttershy. “I was worried that Nightmare Moon somehow got to you.”
“Heh heh heh, don’t worry Flutters,” she said as she kissed her briefly. “I’m not ready for a tombstone at all.”
“I hate to break up this nice reunion, but we’ve got bigger problems,” said a voice.
Shining Armor’s ears perked up. “No way . . . that voice . . . it can’t be him, can it?”
Stealth appeared before the group, frightening Fluttershy a bit as she hid behind her wife. The green stallion looked around him and walked up towards Shining. “Good to see you made it Shiny Plot.”
Shining’s face turned red as he narrowed his eyes. “I told you not to call me that!”
“Shiny Plot?” Cadence asked as she leaned her head forward to the two stallions, arching her eyebrow at her husband.
Shining waved his hooves at her, smiling broadly as his eyes darted from one corner to the other. “It’s nothing sweetie! Let’s just-”
“In our training years, I sprayed lots of gloss on the floor once and had him fall haunch first into it... his plot was shining for a whole month thanks to that.”
Rainbow looked at Stealth and then to Shining Armor, then to his backside and back to his face. She pursed her lips and laughed out loud as she pointed a hoof to him. “That’s classic! I should tell Twilight that!”
The general looked down as he frowned, hearing more of the company giggling at him. “That was just a stupid prank is all...”
Cadence lifted his head up. “It’s alright, we have humiliating moments... remember the time I-”
“Okay, enough with memory lane!” Spike shouted out to the others. “Twilight and Celestia need our help now!”
Pip looked up to the dome and grinded his teeth. “Luna needs my help too!”
“Let’s not waste any time then,” said Stealth as he motioned a hoof. “Come, I’ll show you all the way into the castle.”
“We’ll stay here and form a perimeter around Canterlot,” said Shining Armor. “We need to make a line here and try to make sure Nightmare Moon doesn’t get far.”
“Before you do that, there is one last thing you need to know,” said Stealth. “Those guards that are fighting, they aren’t themselves. They’re being controlled by Nightmare Moon herself. Order your men to incapacitate them, not kill them, and keep them restrained until Princess Twilight finds a cure for them..”
“I understand fully and will inform the others,” said the white unicorn. He turned to Soarin and Spitfire, who saluted him. “Captain Spitfire and Lieutenant Soarin, I want you to take the other Wonderbolts and form a defensive perimeter in the sky and keep an eye on the city. If you do see anything, then report it to me immediately.”
“Yes General Armor,” said the Wonderbolts. The two pegasi took off into the air to meet the other members.
Stealth waved a hoof at Spike and the others. “Come along now! I don’t know how the others are doing.”
Spike, Pip, and all of Twilight’s friends gave a nod and followed the green unicorn. He led them to a nearby river bank, with a small waterfall next to it.
Stealth turned to the group and said, “Hope you don’t mind getting a little wet.” He turned back and his horn glowed. The water around the falls glowed a little and parted slowly until it revealed a small passageway.
“My goodness, it’s certainly quite an unexpected place to put a secret tunnel,” said Rarity. “So will this take us to Twilight and Princess Celestia?”
“It will in a way, but we’ll have to make sure to avoid any potential guards. Remember, they aren’t themselves and will most likely want to take us to Nightmare Moon to have us suffer the same fate as the other guards. Now come on, there will be time to chat later.”
The group walked into the cave, with water dripping on them, and saw Stealth’s horn glow to light up the cave. As they walked through the passageway, the sound of the entrance slamming shut echoed, causing Fluttershy to jump a little and cling to Rainbow. While he was leading them, Stealth looked to see Pip had a bit of a disgruntled expression on his face.
“I take it you’re eager to take on Nightmare Moon?” He asked.
“Ye got that right, but I’m also ready to teach that fat flat of the sun a thing or two about what she did to me. She had no right to act this way to me or Luna and I’m ready to lay it all on her sorry excuse for a monarch.”
Stealth turned sharply to Pip, narrowing his eyes at the earth pony stallion. “Watch your tongue! Otherwise I’ll cut it off!”
“Tsk! Why should I? It’s thanks to her that Luna’s now like this... though its not like she’s gonna apologize for it, like she never does,”
The green unicorn pressed his muzzle close to Pip’s, eyes nearing his. “Celestia bucked up hard, we all know that... and she takes full responsibility for what happened here,” Stealth whispered before backing away from Pip. “But having you smear salt over her wound isn’t helping one bit, nor me...” he said with his head lowered. “You know, I hate seeing her so depressed and lonesome and knowing it was all her fault... but that’s why I will help her, to not be depressed again like she was for over a thousand years...”
Pip blinked and sighed as he closed his eyes. “Fine then! Let’s just go out there and help Luna! She needs our help now!” he said as he galloped on ahead, leaving the others behind.
Stealth sighed as he shook his head. What some ponies will do for love... His eyes widened and he galloped to where Pip was. “Wait! You don’t know where you’re going!”
“Anything yet Big Mac?” Asked Twilight as she finished going through another bookshelf.
“Eenope,” he replied. “I’m nearly out of shelves here. What about you Princess Celestia?”
“I’m afraid I’m not running into much luck either,” she said with a sigh. “I’ve searched every area around here and still haven’t found anything.”
“Ugh! I’m almost out of shelves here as well! When all of this is over, I’m going to order a massive reorganization here to make things easier to find! The Starswirl the Bearded Section doesn’t deserve to be in this deplorable shape!”
Celestia gasped as she heard that last statement. “That’s it! That’s the solution!” She ran over towards the southern section of the archives. “I don’t know why we didn’t look here first, but this will solve everything.”
“What will yer highness?” Asked Big Mac.
“This!” Celestia’s magic was levitating a black book.
Twilight gasped and beamed at this. “Starswirl the Bearded’s book! I can’t believe I didn’t think of that! Nice job Cel . . . um . . . Princess.”
The white alicorn felt a little comfort for the first time since the takeover occurred. “Thank you my faithful student. Now let’s see if we can find something to break the control on the guards.”
Page after page was flipped in the book, with both princesses and farmer pony looking for some kind of solution. There were several spells on using mind tricks on other ponies, but nothing about breaking mind control or anything about control in general. With each page that was flipped, the morale of the group dwindled down.
“There’s . . . there’s nothing in here about it,” croaked Twilight. “There’s nothing here about freeing those guards! There has to be something, anything to give us a hoof in fighting Nightmare Moon!”
“Take it easy Twilight darling,” said Big Mac as he hugged her. “I’m sure there’s something we can use in that book.”
Twilight went to another page and her eyes widened when she read what was on it. “Spirit Split. When cast on a pony, this spell will remove an alien spirit from the pony that that spirit is possessing... This is it!” She cheered as she had signalled the others to her side. “This spell can save Luna!”
Celestia smiled as she looked at the spell. “Excellent Twilight, but how do we cast it?”
“It says here the caster needs to be on high level to actually perform this spell... but the target must first be in a weakened state for success,” Twilight read out loud as she gave the book Celestia for her to study.
“Ah don’t think Pip is gonna be mighty happy about hurting Luna,” Big Mac said as he too looked over the spell.
Twilight nodded, rubbing her forehoof to her forehead in thought. “Maybe if we use the Elements on Nightmare Moon, we can weaken her for you to do the spell Celestia?”
Celestia furrowed her brow as she read through the spell and memorized every specific. Her mind trailed off to the past for a sudden, seeing Luna being turned into Nightmare Moon and her using the Elements to free her. Instead, they banished her for a millenium leaving her and her little sister to suffer. Was this the answer all along? Did you anticipate something like this would happen, Starswirl?
“Princess?”
Celestia’s eyes widened as she came back to reality and she shook her head, calming herself down to a degree. She turned to the couple who looked at her with worry. “I’m alright, I’m alright,” she repeated to them and gave the book back to Twilight. “I believe this will be the key in winning this one, but we need the other Elements by our side,”
Big Mac nodded, blinking. “Eeyup!”
A part of the wall near a statue opened and Stealth peeked around the corner. He waved a hoof and whispered, “All cleared . . . now let’s get to the archives.”
Spike, along with the bearers of the Elements of Harmony and Pip, followed behind the green unicorn. The eerie silence of the corridor, with the exception of hoofsteps, made the group feel a little on edge. Around each corner they came across, Stealth took the lead and used his camouflage magic to hide himself and look around before giving an all clear signal. After what seemed to be an excruciating hour, Stealth saw the magical barrier glow and smiled a little.
“This is it,” he whispered. “I’ll go tell Princess Celestia that you’re all here.” He walked down the hall but, all of a sudden, the corridor was engulfed in a black void and Stealth stopped dead in his tracks. He raised a hoof and touched the darkness and was shocked a little. “Oh! That wasn’t exactly the smartest thing of me to do.”
“I wouldn’t exactly say that,” a smug mare’s voice said. “Coming back here with the Elements of Harmony wasn’t smart of you to do.”
The group backed up a little and readied themselves for any attacks. From out of the void, Nightmare Moon stepped out and looked at the group of ponies and dragon, each of whom had a determined look on them.
“Ah . . . the bearers of the Elements, it’s so nice to see you all again.”
“Well we’ll be sure to give you a going away party right now!” Shouted Pinkie.
“I couldn’t agree more with you Pinkie,” said Rainbow. “We’re going to wipe that ugly smile off your face right now!”
“And how do you plan to do that?” She asked raising an eyebrow. “Your friend, Twilight Sparkle, is currently looking for some way to free those weak minded guards.”
“But . . . but how did you know we’d be here?” Asked Stealth. “You weren’t anywhere near this part of the castle.”
“Easy.” Nightmare turned herself into a blue mist and split herself into three parts before forming back together and turning back to normal. “Isn’t the power of shadows and darkness wonderful?”
“Oh buck . . . she must’ve used that mist to spy on me then!”
“You certainly figure things out quickly. And since you all are one Element of Harmony short, I’ll make sure that-”
“LUNA!!!”
Nightmare Moon froze and turned slowly to her behind. She was faced with a earth pony stallion, standing with his brow furrowed at her.
“You! I thought Celestia got rid of you!” Nightmare Moon spat at him as she spread her wings in anger.
Pip slowly walked forward. “I made a promise to Luna, that I would always be there for her...” he said slowly. “Now return her to us, or pay the price!”
Nightmare smirked and her horn glowed. “Then consider that promise broken!” She boomed as she charged towards Pip.