The sun was nearing the end of it's arch. The tip of the glowing ball of light and fire was only a few minutes away from kissing the horizon, and the landscape was awash with the warm orange aura that emanated from the sky. Celestia stood silently, overlooking Canterlot from a cloud just outside the city. The anxiety of waiting for Nightmare Moon to emerge was causing her skin to crawl and her stomach to flutter, and now she had to lower the sun and raise the moon, knowing the princess in charge of the latter would soon be her adversary.
As the sun closed inch by subtle inch from atop landscape, Scootaloo attempted to fly with her underdeveloped wings while Dash coached her. So far, the little filly had only managed to hover off the ground for 7 seconds. It was a new record, and Scootaloo had been jubilant about it the whole time. Dash looked at the sunset nervously, and subconsciously put a hoof around Scootaloo, holding her close.
Just up the acres, a large red barn stood tall atop a hill. In a window somewhere above the first floor, Applebloom could be seen talking to her older sister in their living room. Applejack listened as the little farm filly told her about Scootaloo skipping school with Rainbow Dash, though neither of them knew why.
Bathed in the same sunlight, was an exhausted Pinkie Pie. She had finally gotten the cake's two foals to sleep, and she stared wearily out of the window. She had a satisfied grin on her face as she enjoyed the silence, letting the warmth of the sun caress her face and massage heat into her cheeks.
Just a ways down the streets of Ponyville, a tall, posh boutique stood prominently amongst the other buildings of the town. A white mare trudged wearily through her studio. She had been awake for nearly a day, assembling a very complex gown for a high end buyer. It was a frilly, cherry red dress with pieces of fabric that overlapped each other, much like a rose. Rarity could no longer keep herself on her feet, and collapsed wearily on her floor. She stared tiredly out of one of her many windows, the glowing orange sun staring back. In the distance, Canterlot was perched in the mountains as usual, and if Rarity hadn't fallen asleep, she might have even spotted a multicolored speck situated in an infinitesimal patch of cloud.
Celestia herself.
Her horn flared teal, and the sun began to slowly sink beneath the horizon. As she did so, she moved the Moon from it's hiding spot behind the world. They both crawled slowly across the sky. Celestia focused her mind on moving the two objects, but she couldn't stop thinking of her sister. Where was she now? How was she handling the situation? Wherever she was, she knew that Luna was surely thinking of her. She had already ordered the royal guards to evacuate the cities, and as she looked down, she noticed an enormous mob of people moving slowly out of Canterlot. It had been nearly a minute, and Celestia noticed that the sun and moon hadn't finished their cycles yet. In fact, the two objects had stopped moving entirely.
Celestia tried to move them magically once again, but the two celestial objects remained stalwart. Suddenly, the moon began to move all on it's own, and the sun rose from it's nearly completed cycle. The two slid across the heavens, repainting the atmosphere blue once again. Celestia could hear the worried chatter of he civilians below, and as she watched, her mouth fell agape. The sun and moon had almost reached each other, and Celestia had already figured out who was doing it.
Finally, the moon moved in front of the sun, and a blood red eclipse washed the land. The citizens below began yelling in fear, no one completely understanding the situation. As the princess looked up, she saw clouds as black as tar forming far above. They began blotting out the sky, and soon, there was a large cover of dark clouds, leaving a hole only for the eclipse to be visible. Shortly after the clouds appeared, there was a flash of purple light and an enormous gale of wind blasted from the north with what sounded like an enormous explosion rippling through the air. The gust swept down the mountainside and rolled across the landscape, nearly knocking the princess off of her cloud, but she managed to keep her purchase on the puffy platform.
The citizens of Equestria may not have known what this all meant, but Celestia knew. It was a message to her.
Nightmare Moon was coming.
"Rainbow Dash! What's happening to the clouds?" Yelled a scared little Pegasus. Dash merely stared at the eclipse, her shoulders low and her face somber.
"Times up,". Croaked Rainbow Dash. She turned slowly to Scootaloo, who only looked back with eyes of confusion. Tears began to fall from the teal Pegasus' face as she walked slowly toward the filly.
"W-What do you mean, sis?"
"We need to find shelter. I have to get you to safety,". She replied sadly. "We need to find Applejack's barn, which way is it?"
"That way,". Said Scootaloo, pointing hesitantly over a hill.
"Let's go Scoots, jump on,". Said Rainbow Dash, lowering herself for the little filly, who frowned sadly at her as she climbed on. Rainbow Dash took off and started towards Applejack's barn.
"Looks like it's time,". Said Trixie, a determined look on her face.
"Yes it is,". Replied Twilight, observing the eclipse with eyes of resolution
The two ponies opened the door to Twilight's house and departed. They had tried to convince Fluttershy to come with them, but the yellow Pegasus simply refused and ran upstairs. Normally, Twilight would have insisted that she come, but there simply wasn't enough time to do so.
The two ponies walked out the door, ready to face the endeavor. As soon as Fluttershy heard them leave, her head popped up from the balcony.
"Twilight?" She whispered loudly. "Trixie?"
When she heard no reply she deemed it safe to come downstairs. Though she wanted to help them, she simply couldn't do it. Her nerves simply wouldn't let her. She looked at the floor pitifully, her eyes filled with disappointment in herself. She caught sight of Spike, who was looking outside the window at the eclipse, anger painted on his face.
"I can't believe Twilight wouldn't let me go!" He complained. "I could totally be useful to the plan,". His voice sounded hurt.
Fluttershy looked at Spike. "Why do you want to go?" She said incredulously. "Nightmare Moon is somewhere out there, setting fire to trees, turning buildings to rubble,". She gasped with horror. "Turning living, breathing animals into... Not living breathing animals!"
Spike looked back at Fluttershy, his hand still on the window. "I have to protect Twilight! There's no telling what could happen to her, and I want to at least be there to try and help."
"So why don't you stop talking and start doing?" Said a voice that seemed to come from nowhere.
Spike recoiled out of fear. "Who's there?"
The voice laughed at Spike's fear. Fluttershy had already taken cover somewhere upstairs, and Spike was all alone to face the enigmatic voice, though the baby dragon had a hunch about it's origin.
"N-nightmare Moon?" Spike stammered out,
"Guess again, Puff."
"Show yourself!" Yelled Spike, forcing himself to be brave. "Stop being a coward!".
"Fine, but only because your trying so hard."
One of the books that Twilight had stacked earlier leapt off of the table and opened itself on the floor, and began to shake and spasm. Suddenly, a pillar of green light exploded from the pages and disembodied voices echoed of the walls. Shortly after, the tome exploded into a large amount of confetti
Then, a tall figure emerged from the balcony, carrying Fluttershy like a lapdog. "Good Evening, Spike." Said Discord casually. "Going somewhere?"
Spike looked back and forth between Discord and the book, struggling to understand what had just happened. "What did you blow up the book for?" He finally managed to sputter out. "That made no sense..."
"I'm the god of chaos. Nothing I do makes any sense."
Spike seemed to come out of his bewilderment for a second. "What are you doing here?" He called up, fear still evident in his voice.
"I came to say hi to my good friend here,". He held Fluttershy close to his face. "That's what friends do, right? They say hi to each other every now and again?".
Spike still looked worried, but Fluttershy seemed more uncomfortable than anything. "Umm, excuse me... Discord?"
"Yes Dusterfly?"
"Could you, umm... Put me down?"
The large Draconiquus set the yellow Pegasus on the ground as he talked. "Anyway, I've been looking for Buttercry here since yesterday! She wasn't at her house, so went looking in Everfree. After that turned up empty, I decided that I'd check her friends' houses, and naturally, I came here."
He snapped his fingers and the roof of Twilight's library became transparent. "I assume you've noticed the eclipse?"
Spike nodded slowly.
"That means Luna must have turned already." Discord looked around the room strangely. "So, where is everypony? I thought that you guys would be here with your magic necklaces to zap away the evil as usual. Unless..." Discord disappeared and materialized beside Spike. "They aren't working,". Discord had a mischievous grin on his face. "Oh goodness! That means I could get away with anything I like! There are no consequences!" He threw his hands into the air, and suddenly the room erupted with chaos.
There was a small tornado running rampant downstairs, and books began flying from the shelves and building themselves into various structures. Twilight's bed came flying downstairs, the mattress and bed spring twisted in a way that looked like a mouth. A red blanket hung from in between like a tongue, and the whole thing was spitting out pillows.
Discord was running around the room and laughing blissfully as the many inanimate objects of Twilight's house exploded to life, when he caught sight of Fluttershy's disapproving eyes. With a sigh, he snapped his finger, and everything went back to normal.
Fluttershy walked up to him. "Just for your information, the elements will still work on you, Nightmare Moon is just immune."
"Hmm, a pity." He retorted. "So I saw that Spike was ready to leave?"
Spike's face hardened. "I have to find Twilight and-"
"We'll, what are we waiting for? Lets go!" He teleported beside Spike with a large backpack slung over his shoulder.
"You coming Stutterfry?"
The yellow Pegasus looked away nervously. "Please guys, I really don't want to leave. It isn't safe out there! Nightmare Moon could turn you both into ashes if she sees you walking around!"
"Suit yourself,". Said Discord dismissively as he shut the door, leaving Fluttershy all alone. He then turned to spike, "So, any idea where your princess friend went?"
Spike lowered his head in thought. "Probably to find Celestia, who I imagine is in Canterlot."
"Let us start our journey then!" Exclaimed Discord as he began to walk in the direction of mountains.
"Wait, wouldn't it be easier to take a train?" Said Spike.
"Celestia has ordered all of the Royal Guards to evacuate the cities. There is no one at the train station, nor are there any trains to be caught."
"Well, can't you just teleport us there?"
"Of course I could! But what fun would that be?"
Spike scowled at Discord. "And you're just going to leave Fluttershy behind? Some reformed creature you are,". Spat Spike.
Discord merely smiled condescendingly at the baby dragon. "My, my, it hasn't even been a minute on our journey, and you've already taken to whining. Besides, I have Flusterdry right here,". Discord took off his backpack and stuck his lion paw inside. He reached around for a few seconds, before a muffled "eep!" Was heard and Fluttershy was pulled out of the bag.
Spike looked at Discord disapprovingly. He would never understand the creature of chaos, and he knew it was going to be a long walk.
"Hey! What are you doing!" Yelled Fluttershy as she flew out of a discord hands. "How did I get out here?"
Discord smiled at her deviously. "My dear Mutterguy, You didn't think I would leave my one true friend behind after spending a day looking for her, did you?"
"Her name is Fluttershy, you know,". Interjected Spike.
"Flutterdye?"
"Fluttershy!"
"Poltergeist?"
"FLUTTERSHY!"
"Swiffer Duster?"
Spike groaned loudly at Discord's teasing, who only laughed as he walked.
Fluttershy wanted to run back to the safety of Twilight's house, but she knew that Discord would just continue to bring her out. With a resigned sigh, Fluttershy began to walk alongside Spike and Discord.
o.0.O== A few minutes earlier ==O.0.o
Nightmare Moon looked up at the eclipsed sky. She smiled a toothy, satisfied grin as she appreciated her handiwork. Surely everyone in Equestria could see the frightening display she had created! And Celestia knew that the true successor to the throne was on her way. As the jet black mare looked around, she realized that she had no idea where she was. What was worse, is that she had no idea how to find civilization again. She was stuck somewhere in the North, and that was the only information she had.
No matter! She took flight and began to ascend. She stopped elevating just below the black cloud coverage and examined the distance. She could see a tiny group of lights some ways away, which she assumed was a city. She smiled evilly and began to fly towards it.
As she picked up speed, she began to build an aura of purple energy around herself, which buzzed and crackled as it charged. Her wings folded back as she prepared to break the sound barrier, and as she did, an enormous boom echoed through the air. If she created a rainboom, no one could see it against the black sky.
Nightmare Moon's aura grew brighter and brighter as she approached the city, which she then recognized as Vanhoover. Her eyes grew wide with excitement as she thought of what she was about to do.
Nightmare Moon was going so fast, that she could no longer make out her surroundings. All she could see was a jumbled blur of color as the wind blasted against her. The purple aura had grown large enough to cover the princess entirely, and left a deep violet trail as she streaked through the sky.
It was only a few seconds before she reached Vanhoover, and she had already exceeded speeds of over Mach 8. The aura had grown so bright and large, that she looked like a glowing purple comet streaking though the air.
When she finally made impact. She rolled her body into a ball and allowed all of the energy of her aura to release around her at once.
The effect was catastrophic.
An enormous mushroom cloud sprouted from the ground as buildings began to crumble. The sheer force of the impact began to dig a huge crater in the center of the city, and sent a shockwave outward that shattered windows and vaporized all life in it's reach.
Nightmare Moon stood in the center of the crater, panting as she listened to the explosion ripple outwards, and watching the blast from the inside. No screams could be heard, as the boom was far too loud. Even now, the explosion could be heard echoing off the mountains of the landscape, reverberating through the very earth itself.
Nopony in Equestria could have guessed Nightmare Moon's power would have been this strong, and the sprawling ruin that was Vanhoover stood only as a testament to Nightmare's true strength. However, the sheer energy that the explosion required her to expend was astronomical. She was winded, and her magical energy was depleted, but she no longer needed to stockpile it. Luna had successfully been turned into a memory, and was now floating around somewhere in her conscious. The tables had turned, and now Nightmare Moon was in complete control of Luna's body
She walked slowly before she fell over, but her smile never faded. The tragic amount of death she had created made her happy all over, plus she was awed by the immensity of her own power. She went unconscious in the middle of the deep crater, a smile still painted on her lips.
Vanhoover had been completely, and utterly destroyed.