//------------------------------// // 13. By the Light of the Magical Moon, Pt. II // Story: Crisis on Two Equestrias // by RainbowDoubleDash //------------------------------// The pony – the alicorn – that had called herself Antithesis was laughing as she conjured more and more of her null-orbs all around her. One she conjured directly around Celestia, who disappeared into the nothing created by the orb; Luna had little time to worry, however, as she found herself surrounded by one as well. It hurt. But Luna was old, and as painful as this was, Luna knew pain – physical, mental, emotional – and knew how to fight past it, to put the pain in its own little corner and focus on more important matters. She instead focused on the nature of the null-orb, what was creating it. Antithesis was laughing still when the orb disappeared from around Luna, though her laughter trailed off as she glanced up at the Ursa Major. It was swinging its head around, trying to shake off the two Trixies trapped atop it, while the Luna native to this universe circled around it, trying to decide how best to approach the star beast. Luna glanced at Celestia, who was still reeling from her own trip into a null-orb. Their eyes met, however, and Luna saw the solar princess incline her head just slightly – she had been studying the null-orb as well. “Alright, let’s make this quick, I got stuff I need to take care of,” Antithesis said, turning back to the two alicorns. All the orbs that were orbiting her stopped, as her horn pulsed black. “This time, you die – ” Antithesis’ magic tore open reality; her null-orbs were created when she didn’t allow magic to rush in and fill the void. As such a void began opening around Luna, however, the alicorn’s own horn glowed midnight blue, and she pushed magic into the void herself, filling the gap completely within just a second. Antithesis’ eyes widened as her null-orb failed to materialize. She glanced at Celestia, trying again, but Celestia’s own magic plugged the gap with a golden flash from the eldest alicorn’s horn. The two princess then looked to the orbs surrounding Antithesis, and one by one closed them. The drain on their magic was not small, but working together they had closed all the voids within just a few seconds. Antithesis’ smile dropped, though her eyes grew in size and her wings flared wide in surprise. “What?” she demanded. “What? NO! THAT’S NOT HOW THIS WORKS! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO – ” Luna didn’t get to hear whatever it was she was supposed to do, as Celestia had moved, carried herself forward with a single beat of her powerful wings. Her shoulder slammed into Antithesis’, sending the nascent alicorn flying across the ground. Luna was already waiting for her, raising one hind leg and bucking her into the sky. There, Celestia met her, and stopped her ascent with telekinesis, though the stop was sudden enough that, had Antithesis not been an alicorn or something like one, her bones would have shattered to dust. “One more chance,” Celestia said to Antithesis. The young alicorn’s eyes widened. She closed her eyes, her horn glowing pink this time, and she disappeared, though she re-appeared only a few hundred feet away, upside-down and facing the wrong direction. She righted herself quickly as Luna joined Celestia once more in the sky. Antithesis glanced between the two alicorns, her smile long gone. “Oh…I’m afraid,” Antithesis mumbled, though Luna and Celestia both could hear her. “This is what fear is. I don’t like it. Not at all.” “Surrender,” Luna demanded. Antithesis glanced between the two alicorns, eyes darting between them, wings beating steadily to keep herself in the air. “You’re closing my null-pockets with your own magic,” she said. “But…but! But. You only have so much magic…you can’t keep doing that! I can outlast you!” With a roar, she spread her hooves and surrounded herself with dozens of null-orbs. “This costs me nothing! You can’t win! S…so go away! Leave me alone so that I can get back to killing the Twilights and the Trixies!” Luna cast a sidelong glance at Celestia, who returned it. Did Antithesis really think they’d give in to that request? The two older alicorns reared back in the sky, and charged. --- Sparkle’s scream and the Ursa Minor’s roar ended at the same time. She scampered away, but quickly found herself backed against a rock wall. Her hooves pounded against it, trying to find some way to climb it or break it down – her magic completely forgotten in her utter terror. It was only slowly that she realized that there was no way for her to escape, at least not the way she had run – but at the same time, she hadn’t been eaten yet. The Ursa Minor let out a low growl behind her, and Sparkle flinched, slowly turning around, eyes wide and horn glowing in instinctive threat, keeping one flank pressed against the wall. The baby Star Beast was larger than most houses, its fur a translucent, sparkling blue, its eyes red and yellow. It was lying on its side, eying Sparkle and huffing, but not getting up, nor moving towards her. It growled again, and Sparkle again flinched as she moved along the wall, ready to bolt at the first sign of attack. The Ursa Minor didn’t make any such move, however, and after a moment, Sparkle saw why. Lashed across its back and along its paws, holding it down, were a series of thick, red and slightly glowing chords, anchored firmly into the ground by magic and holding the Ursa Minor securely in place. The Ursa Minor growled again, and Sparkle suddenly realized that the growls weren’t meant to be threatening. It looked like it had been struggling against the chords, and only stopped when Sparkle had showed up. And instead of eating her, it had started licking her… Sparkle glanced around. The cave that she was in seemed to go on forever; even with the light of her horn and the bear’s own glowing hide, she couldn’t see much of it, other than an impression that it reached deep into the bowls of the earth. Apart from the size, however, it looked much like she expected a bear cave to, including a large nest of reclaimed foliage nearby that had clearly recently been occupied. She couldn’t see a way out, either, though there had to be one somewhere. Sparkle swallowed, looking to the Ursa Minor, who let out another plaintive growl. It struggled again against the chords holding it down, but to no avail. “O-okay,” Sparkle said, taking a few steps away from the wall and towards the bear, which seemed to calm it down somewhat. “Okay…s-so I’m guessing that pony came here, a…and…and found your mother, and you.” The bear had no response to that, not that Sparkle was really expecting one. The sound of her own voice, though, was calming her down as much as it was the bear. “A-and,” Sparkle said, taking another step forward, “and she took control of your mother, and tied you up. Why?” Sparkle looked to the red chords, her own magic dancing across one of them as she examined it. They were constructs of magic, of course, a powerful binding spell, but they would be easy enough to dispel. The Ursa Minor almost certainly wasn’t aware of Sparkle’s ability to do that, however, so that didn’t explain why it seemed comforted by her presence… “Oh!” Sparkle exclaimed, letting out a long sigh after a moment as enlightenment struck. “Oh, right…you think I’m this world’s Twilight.” Sparkle looked away, scuffing one hoof on the floor, as she remembered the details she had learned of Twilight’s encounter with the Ursa Minor that lay before her. “I guess we smell the same, too, or close enough…and this world’s Twilight rocked you to sleep and sent you back home to your mother. She must have left a good impression.” The Ursa Minor huffed. Sparkle inched closer again, then another step. “But…” Sparkle asked. “But why didn’t that pony kill you?” The Ursa didn’t have any answer to that, either, which was probably just as well, as it occurred to Sparkle that it wasn’t precisely the nicest question to ask anypony – or anybear, as was the case here. Nevertheless, it was a question that lodged itself in her mind and wouldn’t go away. “Why not…why not control you too? Or kill you? Why just leave you here? If that pony can control an Ursa Major, surely she could control a Minor as well…” The bear huffed again, and resumed trying to get free. Sparkle moved closer again, then another step. She was close to the Ursa now…she reached out a hoof, putting it on the Ursa’s muzzle. The baby Star Beast stopped its struggles again. It tentatively shifted, then licked Sparkle’s hoof. The unicorn resisted the urge to recoil, instead settling down in front of the Ursa Minor, out of licking range but still in sight, rubbing hoof against one of its legs. This action seemed to calm the bear. “Because…” Sparkle said as she tried to figure out the puzzle in front of her, “because…because no matter what that pony is doing, it’s still fundamentally some kind of Enchantment. And strong shocks can break Enchantments or make the impossible…like a mother seeing her child being attacked!” Sparkle beamed slightly, nodding. “Right. So she couldn’t kill you because that would undo everything, so instead she just captured – ” Sparkle froze then, and pieces clicked into place in her mind. She stood, eyes moving back and forth and not really seeing what was in front of her as she considered. “That’s why that pony didn’t kill Trixie then and there!” she exclaimed, beginning to pace back and forth. “This whole thing…she’s like you,” she nodded to the Ursa Minor without really looking at it. “She’s like you. She can’t really tell me apart from this world’s Twilight…or the two Trixie’s apart. I mean, she knows that we’re individuals…but she’s like the Element of Magic. She was made from the Element of Magic, or something…and all of this started because the Element of Magic can’t tell us all apart, or has a really difficult time, anyway!” Sparkle pranced in place a little as everything slid into place, as things finally started making a degree of sense for the first time in ages. “All of this is because the Element can’t tell us apart,” she repeated, “but if the Element didn’t have to choose anymore, or if it had a smaller pool of choices…if there was just, say, me and the other Twilight and Lulamoon…then it might, might default to one of us. And it’d be even easier if two of us were dead…and no problem at all if three of us were dead! And since she was made from the Element of Magic, that might end her!” Sparkle turned to look to the Ursa Minor. “So that’s why she wants to kill all four of us at once. If she does that, then the Element has nowhere to go, and she gets to keep on existing. Because she can’t tell us apart!” The Ursa Minor huffed, and Sparkle thought that it might have rolled its eyes, though she wasn’t sure. Clearly, it had little interest in Sparkle’s revelation. The unicorn swallowed, looking over the Star Beast again. “Right, more important things,” she noted, looking the Ursa Minor over, examining the chords again, then glancing to the Ursa, then back to the chords holding it down. She grimaced at the thought of what she was about to do. “Do not eat me when I free you,” she insisted, stepping back a few paces and setting her horn glowing brightly, reaching out magically to the chords. With a few deft bursts of magic, the red chords disappeared one by one, and in a moment the Ursa Minor was free, swiftly enough that it didn’t even seem to realize at first. That didn’t last, of course, as it growled and swiftly picked itself up, stretching and scratching at itself. It gave Sparkle one more glance, before huffing and turning around, heading off into the cave at a lumbering, easy pace. After several moments of walking, it glanced behind at Sparkle, huffed again, and continued walking. Sparkle pressed her lips together tightly, watching it leave. She had no idea where it was heading – towards the surface, or deeper into the cave, it was impossible to know. It might still decide to eat her. But then, unless she wanted to risk teleporting again, she didn’t see that she had much of a choice… --- Luna banked hard in order to avoid the swipe of a paw that could have fit Canterlot Castle in its palm. Beating her wings, she took herself high into the sky, out of range of the Ursa Major even if it should choose to stand. It was no good. The Ursa Major may have had animal intelligence, but it was a canny enough fighter. It knew that Luna was trying to get to the two hapless unicorns trapped atop its head, and it was doing everything in its power to keep Luna away even as it tried to crush them with its paws. How Trixie and her doppelgänger were still holding on, Luna didn’t know, only that it was a situation that wouldn’t last – she needed to act quickly. Luna again tried reaching out magically to the Star Beast. In ages past, she had been able to tame them, as she had learned to tap into the magic of their being and coax it to passitivity. But there was a black wall between her and the Ursa Major’s core, and beyond that wall a burning red moat of fury and anger from the Beast such as she had never felt when dealing with any of its other kin – even Draco. Grimacing, Luna determined that sheer force was her only option. Beating her wings rapidly again when the Ursa Major stood, she let herself fall to the forest floor below, then shot forward, aiming herself at the Ursa Major’s hind right leg, landing against it with all four hooves. There was a deafening crack of thunder at the force of the impact, and the Ursa roared in pain, falling backwards. Luna was off in a moment, galloping along the Ursa Major’s leg and then body as it fell, hoping to get to the head in time. Even as it fell, the Ursa Major swiped at her with its massive front paws, but she was too small a target. Luna was at the Star Beast’s head with only a few seconds to go before the bear would hit the ground. She found the two Trixies easily enough, one wearing her star-studded, purple ensemble and one lacking it, each of them holding onto the fur of the Star Beast and each other as they screamed in terror. Luna grabbed them telekinetically, pulling them to her own front hooves before taking off into the sky just as the Ursa Major crashed into the ground with the force of a minor earthquake. Both Trixies hugged her front legs tightly as she took the two of them into the sky, staring down at the Ursa Major. Despite Luna’s attack, it had no bones to break, and so was already beginning to stand, glaring hatred at Luna as she sailed into the sky. She grimaced at the battle that yet lay ahead of her as she looked to the two unicorns in her grasp. “Are you two alright?” she asked, paying particular attention to the one without hat or cape, as she seemed the more bruised of the two. “Dost thou require aid?” The Trixie eyed Luna. “What?” she asked. She seemed put off by Luna’s choice of words, but the alicorn herself cared little for endeavoring to stick to modern Equestrian at the moment. “Trixie does!” The other exclaimed, holding onto Luna tighter still. “Trixie requires that you get her out of here!” “I shall,” Luna promised, looking between the two. “Where might I find the Twilights? My sister’s and the interloping one.” The naked Trixie blinked a moment, then looked away, setting off a series of illusory fireworks from her horn. “Twilight was supposed to…there!” She pointed, as a burst of lavender light shot up into the night sky, thankfully behind the Ursa Major. It didn’t see the light. “Twilight’s down there – this world’s one. The other one teleported off to distract the Ursa, but I haven’t seen her…” Luna marked the position of the burst of light in her mind, grimacing. “I must retrieve Twilight,” she said, readying herself. “Once I have her, I shall take you all to safety, then return to battle the Star Beast. The interloping Twilight must fend for herself until she revealeth herself to me.” “W-wait,” the purple-clad Trixie said, as Luna beat her wings a little harder, readying herself, “couldn’t you, uh, drop us off first – ” “No time,” Luna said by way of explanation, as she dove towards the Ursa Major, the two Trixies screaming in fright. Luna shut them out easily enough, but let out her own shout of surprise when the Ursa did not wait for her charge – it leaped at her, roaring and stretching out its paws. Luna ducked under it just in time to avoid teeth larger than whales, and found herself having to roll and fly upside down as she passed beneath the Ursa’s body as it fell towards the ground beneath it. It was with only inches to spare that she and the two Trixies got out from under it, flying towards the spot where Twilight Sparkle was. They found her easily, panting slightly and wearing the other Trixie’s missing cape and hat. Luna grasped Twilight telekinetically, and rose into the air quickly, as the Ursa Major had already turned around and begun swiping at them. Within a few moments, Luna was high in the air, moving the two Trixies into her telekinesis as well as she kept her eye on the Ursas. “Twilight Sparkle,” she said, nodding towards her newest guest, “I wish the circumstances were better, but it is nevertheless good to see thee again.” “Y-you too, Princess,” Twilight said, reaching out a hoof and placing it on the withers of the caped-and-hatted Trixie, who grasped it with both of her own front hooves. “Um…I…I think we’re in a little over our heads here…” “Indeed,” Luna noted, glancing away from the bear. Elsewhere in the forest, she saw a white, hot beam arch into the sky – her sister’s work, no doubt, as she battled the fell creature that had driven the Ursa Major to wrath. “My sister and…other self…have informed me of the details. Hast thou had any luck in locating the sundered Element of Magic?” “Um…yeah, sort of,” Twilight said. “She’s calling herself Antithesis,” the interloping Trixie said, as she took her hat and cape back from Twilight when offered. “She’s an alicorn. And she’s not right in the head.” Luna’s lips pressed tightly together. “She faces my sister and a mirror image of myself from another world. I can imagine no being short of Discord himself that could stand up to that combination.” Luna’s horn glowed brightly, and she conjured a broad cloud from nothingness, though it took no small amount of effort as she fought against the Everfree’s extreme dislike of weather manipulation. The next spell was far easier, even casting it three times, infusing the three unicorns before her with the ability to stand atop the cloud as though they were pegasi. She deposited them, then moved away. “I must see to the Star Beast,” she said. “Remain here. Should I encounter the other Twilight, I shall retrieve her, retrieve you three, and then return you all to Ponyville before resuming my battle.” Luna didn’t wait for a response, shooting off and down again. Once more, the bear leaped at her, but Luna expected it this time, and she rolled away easily, horn glowing deep blue as she circled around the Star Beast, leaving a streamer of stardust as she circled around and around the Ursa Major, deftly avoiding its paws and teeth. After several minutes, she spun away, her horn flashed, and the stardust she had left behind suddenly entwined and solidified, becoming a long, thick magical band that tightened around the Ursa Major, pinning its legs to its sides and forcing its mouth closed. With a muffled roar, the Ursa Major fell onto its back once more struggling against the alicorn’s binding, but it was powerless as Luna swooped down and landed on its chest, closing her eyes. “Now, Star Beast,” she said, casting her consciousness forward and towards the bear’s own. The black wall and moat of red rage once more impeded her progress, but Luna was putting determined effort forward this time, freed as she was from other distractions. Calm thyself, Luna insisted, closing her eyes and spreading her wings wide. In the night sky, the moon and the stars glowed brighter, peaceful, silvery light raining down upon the Beast. She couldn’t use words to communicate, exactly, but she could project images, images of the bear sleeping soundly in a warm den to convey peace. Calm thyself, Ursa Major. We are not thy enemies. We wish no harm to thee, nor thy progeny – Luna sensed that she had made a mistake in sending an image of the Ursa Minor, but the sense was too late. The bear let out a muffled roar, Luna’s mental contact with it broken instantly and suddenly. She staggered backwards, mouth hanging open as the Star Beast found a new reserve of strength, straining against the chord that bound it. With a burst of strength, the magical binding snapped, and its paws lashed out for Luna. Her wings beat of their own accord, trying to take her up and away, but one of the Star Beast’s paws at last found her. The next thing she knew, one of its massive paws had closed around her, trying to crush her. Luna let out a cry as she pushed back against the paw with wing and hoof. The second paw joined the first after a moment, trying to crush Luna between them. Luna’s muscles were taxed to their limit, but she held them apart. Then she felt herself being lifted, and found herself gazing at the Ursa Major’s face. Its jaw strained against the chord that still bound it, but not for long as, with a triumphant roar, it broke free, then eyed Luna with angry, red glowing eyes. “Not good,” Luna breathed, as the bear’s head lunged forward. --- Celestia’s horn glowed bright gold, stopping Antithesis’ attempted retreat into the sky with a wall of fire. Luna came up from below, her own horn glowing blue and seizing Antithesis in a telekinetic aura, throwing her back to Celestia. The elder alicorn anticipated the move, readied herself, and bucked Antithesis straight into the ground. The two older alicorns landed side-by-side a few dozen feet away, as Antithesis picked herself up gingerly, staggering like a drunkard. Luna and Celestia began advancing as one at a measured, even trot. “Ooh I’m going to kill you…” Antithesis hissed, glaring at Luna and Celestia, horn pulsing black. Luna reacted first, however, and the attempt to create a fireball backfired, the void of magic the young alicorn was creating being filled instantly while it was still over her head. She was tossed backwards and into a tree. Antithesis stood up again, shaking her head. “I HATE YOU!” she screamed, charging at them and leaping, no attempt at magic this time. Celestia and Luna simply moved out of the way, and the young alicorn fell to the ground harmlessly, at least to the elder ones. Celestia let out a long sigh. “This is…pathetic,” she insisted. “Antithesis, it should be clear that you cannot defeat us. Please, stop trying. I don’t want to hurt you.” “Your every effort is only hurting yourself,” Luna added. Antithesis looked back at them, her eyes wide and furious, as she again stood. “I can…” she breathed, “I can…I can create more voids than you can fill!” Her horn pulsed black again, drawing open voids in magic between her and the alicorns, and trying to close one around them, as well. Luna let out a sigh, side-stepping the void and deftly maneuvering around the ones created, until she was atop Antithesis and lashed out with one hoof at the young alicorn’s horn. Antithesis cried out as she was sent sprawling, the voids she had created collapsing of their own accord. “Stop this,” she insisted. Antithesis picked herself back up, breathing deeply as she glared at the two alicorns. “This…this isn’t supposed to…” she insisted. “Twilight…Trixie…I hate them…I hate them…but right now…hate you two…too…so much…so much hate…” Celestia glanced to Luna at that, and she glanced back. Wordlessly, they had reached the same conclusion: despite being pony-shaped, Antithesis was not a pony. And whatever she was, she couldn’t not hate them, hate everything, want to bring it to ruin. She didn’t have a choice in the matter, that much had been made clear by now. “Let’s make this quick,” Luna said softly, distaste evident on her face at the only realistic action they could perform. Antithesis glanced between her and Celestia, her eyes widening as she knew what the two alicorns planned to do to her. “No,” she insisted, “no, no, no, NO NO NO NO NO NOOOOOOOOO!” Her horn pulsed deep blue, and she winked out of existence, teleporting. Luna and Celestia took to the air immediately, glancing around – Antithesis’ teleporting was just as haphazard as their own, after all, she likely had no clue where she was going, any more than the two of them would. They spotted her sailing into the sky several thousand feet away, dragging null-orbs with her as she shot upwards, creating more and more around herself. Luna and Celestia took off towards her as she stopped in midair. As the elder alicorns closed, their magic began reaching out, filling the voids she had created even as they maneuvered around the orbs she tossed their way. But then Antithesis spread all her hooves and her wings wide. “FILL THIS VOID!” she challenged, a black pulse from her orb signaling the oncoming nothing. At first, it seemed like nothing had happened, but then the two older alicorns saw its edges begin to form, creating a black sphere that filled itself in towards its epicenter – Antithesis herself. It was a void thousands of feet across, and Celestia and Luna were already inside of it. The two alicorns charged at Antithesis, intent on stopping her. They weren’t quite fast enough, and the gigantic null-pocket closed around them both, ripping, tearing, trying to smother and wipe them out for daring to exist within it. Any thought but pain became all but impossible, and it was only with determined effort and desire to not give Antithesis an inch that the two alicorns did not scream. Celestia did, however, reach out a hoof, closing it around Luna’s own, the other alicorn serving as a bastion of reality and existence, and herself serving as one for Luna. The void finally collapsed, and Luna and Celestia went falling towards the Earth below before they got their senses back, only barely righting themselves in time to land on their legs and stumble into kneeling positions. Antithesis screamed in the sky. “WHY CAN’T YOU JUST DIE?!” she demanded, charging, opening voids all around the two alicorns and bringing them together, bludgeoning them with nothingness, the null-orbs appearing and disappearing within matters of moments. It was agony, but Celestia and Luna held on, even stood, albeit on shaking hooves, conserving their magic. At the right time, Celestia let her magic loose, filling the area around the two of them to the brim such that no orbs could open for a few precious seconds – enough time for Luna to dive out and lash out with lightning at Antithesis. The young alicorn took the electricity to the face, and fell to the ground, but stood anyway, smoldering but still conscious and still glaring hate. Antithesis screamed pure rage again. “FINE! I WON’T KILL YOU! I’LL JUST GET YOU OUT OF HERE!” Celestia had no idea what Antithesis was yammering about, at least not until the young alicorns’ horn glowed gold, and she reached out, wrapping Luna in a golden aura. Antithesis practically opened up a new leyline with the amount of magic she channeled then, drawing the ambient magic from miles around into this next spell. “Oh no,” Luna breathed, eyes wide as she recognized the magic and tried to fight it, Celestia doing likewise. But it was too late – and in a moment, Luna disappeared into a bright white comet, arching straight up into the sky – towards the moon. As Celestia watched in horror, the comet impacted against the moon, and a series of markings suddenly appeared across its surface, looking like nothing so much as the profile of an alicorns’ head. Celestia blinked in shock, then turned back to Antithesis, feeling real rage for the first time in the fight. She charged forward, horn down, intent on skewering the nascent alicorn and ending her threat once and for all. Antithesis anticipated the move, however, and avoided it, shoving a hoof forward with all her might into Celestia’s head. The sound was roughly like that of a mountain cracking in half, and Celestia stumbled away, temporarily dazed. It was only for a moment, but the moment was all Antithesis needed as her horn glowed midnight blue, and the same color aura wrapped around Celestia. Once more, magic was drawn from miles around, focused into this one point – then, in an instant, Celestia felt herself at once being torn apart and tossed up, higher and higher, arching across the gulf of space, before plunging into the burning heart of the Sun. --- “What was that?” Twilight demanded from where she stood, next to Lulamoon. She stepped forward, right to the cloud’s edge, her eyes wide in shock. “What was that?” Lulamoon’s eyes were no smaller. “Antithesis…” she said. “She just – just – she just banished Luna into the moon, and…and Celestia into the sun…” “What?” Trixie demanded. “How?” Twilight demanded. Then the three heard the Ursa Major roar. Dragging their eyes from the sight of where Lulamoon and Twilight had seen their mentors somehow defeated, they saw Luna – this world’s Luna – struggling against the Star Beast holding its paws open with her bare hooves and wings, though it looked like it was taking everything she had – and the bear’s mouth was now free from the binding that Luna had placed on it. With another roar, the bear’s mouth shot forward, ready to devour Luna. The three unicorns screamed in fright. Their scream, however, was not as loud as the plaintive wail that came from somewhere far below. The sound was enough to make the Ursa Major pause – though it did not release Luna in the slightest – and glance down. Far, far below, lumbering from the forest, was a glowing blue bear the size of a house – and trotting alongside it, a lavender unicorn wearing a brown cloak. The blue bear let out another wail as it advanced towards the Ursa Major. “Twilight!” Lulamoon exclaimed, eyes wide, recognizing the unicorn even from this height, and the Ursa Minor that she was trotting beside, though she stopped her advance well clear of the Ursa Major. The Minor, meanwhile, continued ambling forward, until it was next to the Ursa Major, whereupon it reared up and placed its front paws against the Major’s fur and wailed again. The Ursa Major paused only a moment, blinking a few times as though its recollection was fuzzy. Then, quite suddenly, it released Luna, who quickly flew away and into the sky. As the unicorns and alicorns watched, the Ursa Major leaned down, and shivered. It suddenly began to glow brighter, then a starry mist seemed to envelope it. As the mist poured from the Ursa Major, it visibly began to shrink, and at the same time the rage seemed to disappear from its eyes. The Ursa Minor let out a roar at the sight, though the roar didn’t seem to be in anger so much as joy. It was almost enough to distract Lulamoon and Twilight from what they had just seen – and it might have gone further, had not Luna suddenly buckled as something purple-and-blue slammed into her from behind, impacting between her wings. The alicorn cried out in pain as Antithesis lifted a hoof and brought it slamming down again and again against Luna’s back, then bucked her away, horn glowing gold. Before Luna had any time to react, Antithesis had her wrapped in an aura, and shooting into the sky. The three unicorns screamed in terror. Antithesis was breathing in and out heavily as she turned to regard the three, sucking in air in great gasps and drifting forward. “N-now…” she breathed, “wh…where…were…we – ” She didn’t have time to say or do anything else, however, as a lavender aura suddenly wrapped around her. Eyes widening, she looked down, and saw Sparkle staring up at her, horn glowing brightly. Before Antithesis could say anything else, she disappeared in a flash and pop.