Tipped off by the sound of cracking stone, Celestia threw herself forward to avoid a column collapsing on top of her. No doubt the sentient gas her sister had become had weakened it just for that purpose. But there was no way she could win this fight if she was fighting a cloud of smoke. She needed a way to strike back, but how? Unfortunately, she was not given a chance to answer that question, as Nightmare Moon materialized and dropped down from above her. Celestia nearly buckled under her sister's weight, but was able to throw her off with some effort. She then turned around to face her.
"Last chance, Luna. End this now and all is forgiven."
"Took you any hint from the phrase 'no mercy'?"
They charged at each other, and again sparred with horns. As soon as they would lock against each other, they would back off, then swing again and reconnect. Soon Celestia fired a beam of pure sunlight at Nightmare Moon, who evaded by a wing-assisted jump. She responded with her own magical beam attack, and Celestia took to the sky to pursue. The two of them swirled around each other, and so did the beams, forming a light show in the twilit sky that could easily have caused seizures. But Nightmare Moon saw the futility in this and flung herself upward in a forward roll, then reextended pointing straight down to Celestia. Magically turning her wings as hard as steel, she dove rapidly and slammed her sister with a flyby attack. Sent reeling from the attack, Celestia plummeted downward, only for her gut to meet Nightmare Moon's hoof extended in an uppercut. She crashed into the stone floor and Nightmare Moon touched down beside her, then jabbed her front left hoof into her sister's back, just between the wings. Celestia was already splayed against the ground, and realizing she was pinned, looked for any other way out. Nothing up, forward, back, or to the sides, so that just left... down.
With what effort she could muster, Celestia charged the ground with magic in the form of heat and kinetic energy, causing the ancient masonry to crumble and collapse. The two alicorns plunged into an oblivion, only to shortly meet its end in another, far more solid floor. The hidden chamber was illuminated by the light of the eclipse, and stepping up onto her hooves, Celestia began to make sense of where in the old castle they were. The tables, the stacks of books and papers, the science equipment of a bygone age... It was all beginning to come together. These chambers must've been where Luna did her "tests" on the Elements of Harmony. Of all the places in the castle to survive...
"Down once more, Celestia?"
Each word sounded like it had bounced about the room a thousand times before reaching her ear, a reverberating echo so strong it sounded like the entire room was talking to her. But as the voice disappeared, it was replaced by a low hum of magic in use. Suddenly, Nightmare Moon leapt from the shadows, slashing with a blade from her horn made of pure dark energy. It was almost completely luck that Celestia spotted her and was able to jump away. But as she turned to face her, Nightmare Moon quickly sublimated back into the shadows. The voice from everywhere returned.
"That was actually quite clever, destroying the floor beneath us. It appears fighting me has taught you some measure of ingenuity."
Then came another hum, followed by three otherworldly bursts of sound. Throwing up a magical shield, Celestia deflected three bolts of shadow coursing towards her from behind. She spun around again, but Nightmare Moon was nowhere to be seen.
"But you are still a fool, descending further into darkness. You should've cherished what light you had."
A fog was beginning to materialize in the laboratory, no doubt magically created. Nightmare Moon always did have a taste for the theatrical. But practically speaking, it was more dangerous than it seemed. With visibility reduced all the more, it was only a matter of time before Celestia missed an incoming attack. And one opening was all Nightmare Moon needed.
"Sunlight may be your domain, but the shadows belong to me!"
Celestia had to act fast. An attack would be coming soon, and the odds favored its success. But her sister's talk of sunlight and shadows had inspired her...
"Then I must banish the shadows once more..."
Pointing her horn straight up, Celestia launched from it a small magical flare, which exploded with the blinding radiance of an artificial sun. In that enclosed space, nothing could protect Nightmare Moon from the sheer brightness of it, and having been caught off-guard, she screamed out, blinded.
"...with the light of harmony."
The flare dissipated into a small orb of light, just enough to illuminate the room, and Celestia found her sister with ebony wings covering her face as she hoped to regain sight. But even disabled, Nightmare Moon was crafty, and had thrown up a magical force field of her own almost by instinct. It would protect her from any attack until her sight returned, but that didn't mean it would protect her from everything...
Leaping away from an airborne slash attack, Twilight formed a magical chain from her horn and whipped it at Rainbow Dash. The chain caught around her back hoof and Twilight pulled her to the ground, but Dash rolled on her back as she fell and flung a throwing knife. Twilight was barely able to deflect it with telekinetic magic. She needed to do something about all those blades. Disengaging the spell that created the chain, she cast another, and suddenly Dash's knives began to pull away from their threading in her wings. She felt tension in her midsection as well, as the unseen force tugged at the remaining flashbang grenade on her belt.
"Not even you can escape magnetism, Rainbow!"
Dash struggled to keep her katana in hoof, until she realized that fighting Twilight's spell was the wrong approach. Reaching down to her waist, she unhooked her last flashbang from her belt and let it hurtle towards Twilight's head. This next move would be tricky. The magnetic force will affect the throw; just treat it like a cross-wind headed towards her. With some intentional bank in her throw, Dash hurled the knife closest to her in her right wing, then flipped her left wing so the blades were pointed away from Twilight, and her magnetic spell drew them back securely into their threading. At the same time the knife spiraled through the air and embedded itself in the flashbang, piercing the thin metal canister and bypassing the fuse to cause an instantaneous chemical reaction. Realizing what was about to happen, Twilight tried to create a force field around the grenade, but the muffled blast was enough to send her reeling. With her focus lost, the magnetic spell faded, and it was lucky for her, too: Dash's throw had caused the remaining two knives in her right wing to come loose and fly at Twilight. Now they tumbled back to the ground, and as Dash jumped back up on her hooves, Twilight struggled to recover from the shell-shock.
"Neither can you. But let me show you my brand of magic."
Twilight had managed to stagger to her hooves when Dash took off, flying in a low circle around her. As Dash rocketed around this tight orbit, she drew the wind to follow her and began gaining altitude, forming a localized tornado. By the time Twilight had regained focus, she felt her hooves being picked up off the ground, and she began to spiral up into a funnel of dust and debris. The world spun about her, and she was battered by flying rocks and clods of dirt.
Can't... focus... Too much... happening... Stupid... backstabbing... traitor!
Suddenly, Twilight's magic exploded through sheer rage, releasing a radial blast of energy that knocked Rainbow Dash out of her holding pattern and flung her into a tall stone column, which proceeded to topple from the impact. Levitating to the ground, Twilight ripped her from the rubble telekinetically, and held her aloft as she approached. With a few more telekinetic grabs, she stripped Dash of her remaining throwing knives and the combat dagger on her belt. The katana sheathed on her back, however, would not budge.
"Hmm, enchanted to resist any and all magic. Very nice work, whoever did it for you."
"You gonna do it, Twilight? Gonna finish me off once and for all this time?"
"The old me would've said no. But if I'm the only thing that stands between you and Celestia, and Equestria after that, then you force my hoof. You had every chance to turn back from this path of murder and chaos, and you've spurned every one. So yes, I'm going to end this madness now."
"Good..."
Twilight could feel Dash start to vibrate across her body. No matter how tight she held her, she was still vibrating, putting increasing pressure on Twilight to keep her contained. Every molecule of Dash's body was quivering, fighting to break free. It was difficult, but Twilight could contain it, until Dash suddenly lit up with polychromatic energy and loosed a massive wave of power, breaking the spell and knocking Twilight back.
"...then this is a real fight!"
Dash drew her sword and made a one-hooved slash at her enemy, her every move leaving a contrail of color behind. Twilight tried to create a sword of her own to counter with, but on impact it simply shattered out of existence. Several more magical constructs stood no better against Dash's volley of hacks and lunges. It was only a matter of time before one broke through, a downward slash that cut into Twilight along the right side of her muzzle, just below her eye. That would leave a mark. Shocked and angered, she reacted almost instinctively and teleported to the opposite side of the Shadowbolt, then fired a magical energy blast. The sound gave it away, though, and Dash spun on her back hooves just in time to swat the projectile away. Focusing her energy, she darted about Twilight from one place to another, leaving a series of afterimages resembling her perfectly. Twilight was now surrounded by eight Shadowbolt Rainbow Dashes, each leering at her menacingly.
"So you'd kill me once, Twilight? How about eight times over?"
The eight Dashes simultaneously pounced on her with katanas stabbing downward, forcing Twilight to teleport back to her original location. She then fired a laser beam at the group, sweeping from left to right to attack them all. Seven duplicates vanished from the disruption of their form, but the real Rainbow Dash was thrown backwards as the beam hit her. Quickly back on her hooves, she resheathed her blade and started revving her wings; another Rainboom would give her back the momentum. She launched herself at Twilight, full speed, until she saw she had anticipated this and put up a force field around herself. Dash changed plans and started visualizing, just like Luna had taught her.
Speed is energy, not matter. Speed cannot be stopped, it cannot be obstructed. Nothing can get in its way. Speed is unstoppable, and I am speed.
As Twilight braced for the impact of a Sonic Rainboom, she instead felt a strange tingling, and a chill up her spine. Opening her eyes, she saw a silhouette of her enemy's rainbow-colored tail pass through her. She had just been phased through. Dash ended the intangibility effect and climbed into the sky. OK, that roadblock's avoided, what's my follow-up? Suddenly, a searing bolt of purple energy whizzed by on her left, then another on her right. Twilight must be trying to put up anti-air fire on me. Can't give her the chance to make a hit. But Luna taught me one more trick, and she can't hit what she can't see. Back on the ground, Twilight was rattling off bolt after bolt of magical energy, hoping just one would reach its target. But as she kept firing, she watched Rainbow Dash climb almost vertically upward, then seemingly disappear. Too exhausted and desperate to think clearly, she kept firing at the last spot she'd seen the Shadowbolt. But rationality took over again, and she gave up her barrage, taking the opportunity to catch her breath. There was no way of knowing what Dash's next trick would be, all she could do was watch and-
SQUICK
A screaming pain shot through her right flank, accompanied by a sort of numbness in the leg below it. Overwhelmed, Twilight buckled and fell as though forced over. She twisted her head back to see a glinting dark-grey blade jutting out of her right flank, blood seeping out from the entry wound. Around the katana's handle was wrapped a pair of black-gloved hooves, and Twilight's eyes followed up the purple-and-yellow bodysuit to the head. All she could see there was a pair of goggles that looked like cat's eyes, above a cyan-blue muzzle. This was enough to cast out any disbelief she held onto; Rainbow Dash had just stabbed her in the flank.
"Gotcha."
"I guess you did... Was it worth it?"
"Oh, Twilight, you know I hate to twist the knife..."
Applying torque to the handle of the katana, she did just that, eliciting a muted scream from Twilight.
"...but in a word, yes. The high and mighty Twilight Sparkle, chosen by Celestia herself, Equestria's messiah! Look at you now, messiah! What happened to your mile-wide self-righteous streak? Shouldn't you be lecturing me about all my failures as a pony right now?"
Finally assured in her triumph, Rainbow Dash loosed every scathing remark she had left.
"Oh yeah, you were always so high on yourself before, little Miss Personal Student of the Princess. Like you were a class above our whole freaking town. But who's on top now? For how smart you are, for how great you think you are, you're still so devoted to Princess Celestia that it's blinded you to how corrupt an autocrat she's become! Heh, blinded by the sun. I like that."
The bipolar shift in Dash's attitude from serious to snarky caught Twilight off-guard. If she had any sanity left, it was slipping fast. With a quick but powerful tug, Dash pulled her sword from Twilight's flank. Now that the blade was out, she could start applying healing magic. But a wound like that, fatal if not treated promptly, would take time to repair, and there was no way she could survive another. Leering down at her target, Dash reared back and prepared to make a killing downward slash. But suddenly, a flash of light erupted from a chasm in the floor behind her, accompanied by a scream she recognized as Princess Luna's. Whirling around, she locked onto the white glow radiating out of the pit, and quickly resheathed her katana on her back.
"Princess Luna!"
Dash leapt up into the air, rushing over to figure out what had happened to her mentor. This gave Twilight the precious seconds she needed to finish an adequate healing spell. Rolling back to her hooves, she followed her enemy, only to see her power-dive into the chasm. No way Celestia could handle both of them at once. She started to a gallop, then made a leap of faith over the edge. What precious details she could observe during her descent were these: Nightmare Moon surrounded by a moon-blue force field, wings covering her face like a weeping angel. Rainbow Dash standing in an aggressive pose in front of her, looking ready to pounce. Princess Celestia opposite both of them, horn lit up to cast a spell. But before she hit the ground, another flash of light enveloped her and the others; all she could see in that moment was yellow light.
Eyes daring to open, Shining Armor found himself in a sort of sea-blue twilight zone. Around him he could see a bubble of magic holding back a mountain of stones and debris, even though he couldn't remember casting the spell for it. Throwing up a force field subconsciously? He was good. At his hooves, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie were starting to come to.
"Are we... dead?"
"Not quite, Fluttershy. It looks like I instinctively cast a force field spell to protect us when Canterlot Tower collapsed."
"We may not be dead, but I reckon we're trapped as a rabbit in a snare. What do we do when you can't keep the shield up anymore?"
"Yeah, about that...hmm... Rarity, could you start digging us out?"
"Ooh, well... See, I usually leave the heavy-lifting magic to Twilight or any stallions I'm in the company of; I'm more of a precision kind of girl. But given the circumstances, I'll see what I can do."
With noticeable effort, Rarity started telekinetically pushing at a large chunk of stonework. Several second later, it fell away from the force field, letting in a large beam of dull eclipse-light.
"Uggh! Dear me, that was far too difficult."
"Not... helping!" Shining Armor replied under strain.
"Oh, yes! One second, darling."
Grabbing another large rock on top of them, Rarity flung it away, widening the opening. She continued chipping away like this until there was no more rubble overhead to pose a threat to them.
"There, done!"
Shining Armor dropped his shield in relief, then leapt out of the small pit of debris around them. What he saw made him wish he'd stayed buried. All around him were the sounds of blades colliding and ponies dying. Blurs of metallic yellow and black threw themselves at each other over and over until one invariably fell and the other moved on to find a new enemy. And it looked like the black ones were winning.
"Celestia..."
"What is it?"
"Rarity, I think when Canterlot Tower collapsed, I put up a force field subconsciously to protect us. But that meant I couldn't focus on keeping the shield around Canterlot in place. Nightshade wasn't bluffing: the Lunar Guard has invaded the city. And I'm not sure we're strong enough to beat them back."
Raking her hook blades through the throat of an armored Equestrian Royal Guard, Nightshade took off to search for another target, only to see Shining Armor and the Mane 4 emerge from the rubble. She called out to the other Shadowbolts to form up, and they each brought similarly curt ends to their fights and followed her. The group touched down together in front of Shining Armor, ready to finish the job.
"You're a hard pony to kill, Lieutenant. Dropping Canterlot Tower on you didn't work, so I guess we'll have to take the more down-to-earth approach."
She approached the five of them with a menacing grin, with the other Shadowbolts following close behind. Charger flicked out his hidden knife and started twirling it in his hoof, with obvious implications. Shining Armor only then realized just how desperate their situation was. Unarmed, bruised and battered, against blade-wielding enemies who have no complications about brutal and coldblooded murder. We'll be lucky to survive, much less beat them. But Shining Armor still had some measure of hope, and that hope seemed to take on physical form before him. As Nightshade prepared to charge, a large orb of yellow light materialized between her and her enemy, blocking her path. The other soldiers noticed this as well, and soon battles were prematurely ended as Guards from both sides circled around to observe the phenomenon. But as quickly as it had appeared, the orb of yellow shattered with a blast of wind, revealing four ponies inside. Princess Celestia and Twilight Sparkle stood in front of Shining Armor and the Mane 4, opposite Nightmare Moon (with sight restored) and the Shadowbolts. Celestia's teleportation spell had brought them back together.
"Ah, Celestia, always a people pony. What, are you too weak to defeat me one on one?"
"No, Nightmare Moon. I want you to see all the destruction and bloodshed your revolution has already caused. Look about, do you see the bodies lying on the ground in your name, the chaos you have brought to our home?"
"This was never my home! No, our last battle destroyed my home; now it is my turn to return the favor. And these soldiers have shown me more devotion and love than you ever did! Yes, they have made the ultimate sacrifice, and the New Lunar Republic will honor them eternally for this. The only pity is that so many foalishly threw their lives away for your sake."
"This isn't about Equestria anymore, Nightmare Moon, all you want is revenge."
"Don't I deserve it? You saw it, you know what you put me through, tell me I shouldn't want revenge. Tell me!"
"...I cannot. Yes, Luna, what I did to you a thousand years ago was wrong, and a day hasn't passed where I don't regret it. You do deserve revenge, but these ponies don't deserve to suffer because of it. No matter what you deserve, I will defend myself and my kingdom."
"Pretty words as always, sister. But for once I agree with you; enough have perished tonight because of us. Let our soldiers withdraw to our sides. We and our lieutenants shall decide the fate of Equestria."
"Lieutenants?"
"My Shadowbolts against your Elements of Harmony, at least the five you have left. Your Guard captain may join as well, if you'd like."
"So be it."
Both Princesses called their soldiers back from the battlefield, until a clear battle line was drawn between the two factions. Weapons were sheathed, wounds were tended, and the bodies of the fallen were returned to their comrades. All eyes not busied with these tasks were on the fourteen ponies standing at the center of the battlefield; their actions would decide the future of Equestria and the world beyond. Nightmare Moon was the first to end the silent stalemate.
"Are you prepared to negotiate the terms of surrender, Celestia?"
"After all this, all the sacrifice and bloodshed, you think I'm about to surrender now?"
"Only if you wish to avoid further sacrifice and bloodshed. Look at the battlefield. Your casualties far outnumber mine. Nightshade has informed me that my Shadowbolts managed to bring down Canterlot Tower on top of your Elements of Harmony, burying the Elements themselves in rubble. Even then, they could never work, for the Element of Loyalty stands with me. You and I may be evenly matched, as may your apprentice and mine, but with my Shadowbolts at my side, you will fall eventually. Do you realize how hopeless your position is?"
"It may be hopeless, Nightmare Moon, but we will not give in. I would sooner die than leave Equestria to the likes of you."
Twilight was hit with a spark of inspiration that she couldn't repress.
"Rainbow Dash, don't you hear this? This isn't about democracy or improving Equestria, Nightmare Moon only wants revenge on Celestia for sending her to the Moon a thousand years ago! You aren't serving some high and noble cause, you're only playing a part in her scheme, to keep us from using the Elements of Harmony against her by splitting us up!"
"Are we still doing this, Twilight? I don't care what this is "about". Even if it's nothing more than revenge, I'll stand by Princess Luna, because she's been kicked around for the better part of the past three millennia, and the one time she stood up and said "Enough!", she was banished to a barren, frozen Tartarus. Something in me says she deserves her revenge. Of course you wouldn't know about being kicked around, would you, Twilight? Life's pulled out all the stops to make itself pretty much a cakewalk for you. No, you don't know how it feels to be lonely, rejected, despised. You don't know what it's like to hate, because your sugar-coated life hasn't given you much reason to hate anypony. Well I do. And this revolution, it's about those of us who keep getting kicked around getting back on our hooves and deciding to quit being victims. We're changing the system, not fighting it. If revenge is step 1, so be it."
"I can't believe what I'm hearing..."
Celestia looked to her apprentice, knowing the two of them were facing similar struggles.
"The time for repentance has passed, Twilight. Now is the time to act."
The soft words were little reconciliation. Twilight was certain what her teacher had truly meant: the time for hope has passed. Any glimmer of the Rainbow Dash she once knew had just been snuffed out by the black. But while coming to terms with this finality, Twilight was caught in a sudden updraft of attitude as Celestia turned to her sister and shouted.
"This ends now, Nightmare Moon!"
Lurching her head forward, she shot a solid beam of golden solar magic at Nightmare Moon and the Shadowbolts. Only slightly surprised, Nightmare Moon countered it with a dark blue magical beam of her own. The two attacks collided with an ethereal shriek, and neither princess willing to give up, the beams remained locked against each other.
"Hardly! You are no stronger than me, sister!"
The remainder of the exchange was shouted under the strain of continuing their attacks.
"Perhaps. But even without the Elements, you cannot hope to defeat the power of Harmony! Twilight, Shining, assist me!"
The two galloped to either side of Celestia and channeled their own magical force into her beam, expanding it in diameter so that Nightmare Moon was forced to convert her beam into a shield to protect herself and the Shadowbolts. However, that shield was gradually being forced back, unable to withstand the sheer power directed against it. Inspired, Rainbow Dash suddenly leapt skyward.
"Princess, when I tell you, duck and drop the shield!"
Wasting no time to get a response, she quickly made a steep vertical climb, followed by a backwards loop. Back on the ground, Celestia considered it nothing short of a dark miracle Nightmare Moon had resisted the combined beam so long. Her shield was even beginning to advance.
"Fall, damn you, fall!"
"You underestimate the power of my hate, sister!"
Suddenly, the beam's intensity spiked and the shield launched backwards, against all of Nightmare Moon's efforts.
"No! Hatred will never triumph over harmony!"
The shield continued to be forced back, faster than before, until it was mere hooves away from Nightmare Moon. But at that moment, a blur of rainbow light streaked down from the sky, screaming into the wind.
"Princess! Duck and drop it!"
With few options left, Nightmare Moon did so, allowing Rainbow Dash to soar over her. She charged straight into the path of the beam, almost like she wanted to hit it, but she hadn't been killed yet. Through the glare of pure energy, everypony could see why: the beam was suddenly divided in two by Dash's enchanted katana as she raced towards Celestia. Her wings were blurs, but the silhouette of her body floated immobile in the beam. The polychromatic blast of a Rainboom built up behind her, then erupted, knocking back everypony around. But when Celestia stood back up and opened her eyes, there was no Rainbow Dash to be seen. All that was left was her katana, smoking and lying peacefully on the ground.
"Where'd she go?" a dumbstruck Twilight almost begged of anypony who could answer. Nopony truly could, but Celestia was the first to offer an idea.
"Between the magical energy beam and the Sonic Rainboom, I think the sheer power of it was just too much for her to withstand."
"Then she was..?"
"Vaporized," Nightmare Moon interrupted coldly, denying her sister the chance to word-mince. "I'd imagine it was painful, but only for a split-second." It was a wounding statement to hear. Everypony present had loved or at least cared about Rainbow Dash at one time or another.
Nightshade only stared at the katana, fighting to remain composed. Stratus, on the other hoof, had locked a glare of pure fury on Celestia, although she seemed not to notice. Starry had forelegs locked around Charger, sobbing, and for once in his life he was okay with it. He'd lost many a friend on the streets, but few had actually sacrificed themselves to save him. Blueball was frowning, while her mane depowered and went limp, both firsts for her as far as anypony else was aware.
Twilight and Shining Armor both had forearms around each other; Shining knew his little sister needed as much support and comfort as he could provide. Pinkie and Fluttershy were sharing a death-grip bear hug, bawling into each other's shoulders. Applejack removed her hat, with a look somewhere between solemn and angry. Rarity could only stand by and try not to cry, a world away from her usual melodramatics.
Both sides were adding this to their lists of reasons to hate the other.
Nightmare Moon's cold exterior was beginning to melt. "I loved her like a daughter, Celestia. She was so passionate, so full of life, so loyal... and you've taken her from me."
"You brought this upon yourself, Nightmare Moon."
"No! This is your doing!" Her speech was growing in pitch and tempo, sounding almost spat out or hissed. "I tell you this, sister, my hatred was almost enough to overpower you before, but I did not even know the meaning of the word! You have assaulted my body and my mind, but now your hooves tear at my heart, and you will certainly live to regret doing so. I will avenge my fallen apprentice, do not doubt it. But not in another showy campaign of military might, waving banners of justice and freedom. No, this time my revenge will be protracted, silent, remorseless. You will not see an army marching on the horizon. But you will know me as I take my revenge. You will know me by your fear, your anger, your sorrow. And one very ordinary evening, you will look over your shoulder to find a blade in your back, and you will know that my revenge is complete."
Celestia was visibly stunned by the vivid threat, and responded in the only way she could think of: by the book.
"Guards, arrest them for acts of treason!"
"Lunar Guard, retreat pattern Omega!"
Those last three words were ones every Lunar Guard hoped they'd never hear. It meant not only had they lost the battle, but they had lost the war as well. Omega. The end. Suddenly, a hail of metallic canisters began to rain down on the Equestrian Royal Guards from the ranks of the Lunar Guard. These canisters fell innocently to the ground, but soon began to explode, some in massive clouds of smoke, some with a blinding flash and deafening bang, and others simply exploding with fire and fury. This sudden volley of grenades caught them off-guard, throwing the ranks into confusion and chaos. If anypony wasn't running for their lives, they were certainly not focused on arresting the Lunar Guards. Not that they could, anyhow. In the midst of the chaos, five well-placed smoke grenades had created an opaque black cloud between the armies, allowing the Lunar Guard to escape unhampered. Before retreating with the rest of the army, Nightmare Moon reached down to pick up her fallen apprentice's sword, but suddenly a magical yellow cuff grabbed at her hoof. Celestia approached, horn aglow in the same color.
"You will not threaten Equestria again, Nightmare Moon."
"Try and stop me."
With those words, Nightmare Moon and the katana collapsed into a dark blue cloud of fog, which quickly dissipated into the air. As the smoke cleared, nothing remained of the Lunar Guard but spent grenades and scorched earth.