“738… 740… aha!”
Lady Lulamoon stopped in front of the unassuming house, a vindictive smile on her face. She gazed at the unassuming residence, basking in her pre-emptive victory. It was almost assured.
She sauntered up to the house, lifting up the brass knocker in her red magic, and slamming the ornately carved figure into the oak so hard, the door flew off its hinges and landed on the threshold with a loud BANG! Carefully, Lady Lulamoon stepped over the shattered door, casting an apologetic look its way. The poor thing didn’t ask to be destroyed in such a brutal manner.
“What in the hay-?” Came the outraged shout from the living-room, as a light blue stallion hurtled around the corner, skidding to a stop in front of his destroyed entrance-way. A look of shock befell his features as he took in the broken door, the bent hinges and the jubilant mare standing amongst the wreckage.
“Miss me Nighty?” Lady Lulamoon asked sweetly.
***
Jade was not a brash pony. She had seen more than her fair share of idiots thinking that they were invincible and running directly into enemies, and it had taught her a valuable lesson. If you hear the screams of the dying, and the panicked shouts of the living, it is probably not the greatest idea to follow them, as you are probably going to your own demise.
So of course, when her watch had started directing her to the epicenter of the chaos that was downtown Canterlot, she was starting to doubt the technology a little.
The tracking device was crude, and Jade realized that despite all the thought that the scientists had put into it, it was basically a glorified magnet. A magnet that pointed with the main hand directly at any source of latent magical energy large enough for an inter-temporal jump, but a magnet nonetheless.
She moved stealthily towards the bloodcurdling screams with trepidation. All of her instincts that had saved her on many different occasions were all yelling at her to turn around and forget her duties. But her sense of that very same duty compelled her to take step after careful step forward into the fray.
She came to the mouth of an alleyway leading to the town square, and her fight-or-flight instincts reared their heads once more. She ducked quickly back into the temporary safety of the alley, the scene automatically memorized and burned into her brain.
Dozens of ponies, or what remained of them, were scattered about the square, the cobblestones beneath them stained with their blood. Many of the fallen bore mangled bits of golden armour, signifying the presence of royal guard.
But even worse than the dead ponies, were their attackers. Hulking bundles of flesh-splitting muscle with terrifying spines of bone, and gaping maws tearing the fleeing ponies up by mass, their long spindly teeth quivering every time they roared their victory of the hunt.
The green earth pony retreated back into the alley before any of the beasts could see her.
Jade began to hyperventilate, pressing her back up against the brick wall of the building behind her, and shutting her eyes. She took long breaths to calm herself down, looking around the alley for anything she could use to her advantage.
When she found nothing of the sort, she heard the ever-useful advice her mentor had given her: Nopony ever looks up Jade. Look to the skies, and you will find your way through almost any situation!
A wise sentiment, even when Jade realized the irony that the old pony she had trained under had been picked off by a low flying Skriyc on one of his adventures. Jade looked up obediently anyway, and saw a fire escape ladder hanging tantalizingly above her head.
She smiled and jumped up, catching the bottom rung of the ladder and hoisting herself up onto the grated platform with ease. Taking the stairs three at a time, she found herself on the rooftops of Canterlot, looking out over the city from her new elevated position.
She almost wished she hadn’t.
If the scene in the square had been bad from ground level, it was nearly unbearable from an aerial perspective. Now she got to watch with a great view as the ponies below got picked off one by one by those freaks of nature. Her tracker spun between the three of them weakly, their altered bodies radiating a little bit of magic, but Jade knew that they were not the real problem in this case. Her feeling had been too strong for merely some mutants to kill.
She ran deftly and silently across the rooftops, keeping one eye on the tracker, and one eye on where she was stepping. She knew from experience that falling through somepony’s ceiling in the middle of a genocide was generally bad news.
She leaped a gap between two buildings, tucking into a smooth roll at the end to break her fall, but at the same time taking her gaze off her watch. When she looked back down at it, the tracker was pointing to her left, no longer in front of her.
Stopping in her tracks, she looked to her left at the adjacent buildings across the street, then down at the street itself in dismay. There was no way she was going to make that jump, and she was still hesitant about returning to street level.
Weighing her chances, she relented, diving off the building and catching herself on an awning, rolling off safely to the ground. She sprinted across the street, holding her breath and praying that the abominations had not seen her.
Erring on the side of caution, she ran for the next couple blocks, looking behind her the whole way, and putting her endurance to the test, while gaining some distance between herself and the creatures. She glanced at her tracker, and was relieved to see that the arrow pointed just slightly to the right of her.
That relief disappeared when she rounded the corner, and was blown to the ground by a magical explosion that sent out a shockwave of energy into the surrounding houses, ripping some from their foundations, and cleaving others into neat pieces.
Rolling back to her hooves and doing her best to avoid flying rubble, she looked in astonishment at the sheer level of destruction displayed by the explosion. It had left a sizable crater where the street used to be, a glassy, steaming hole in the formerly-perfect road.
A light-grey unicorn stood on the edge of the crater, looking exhausted and staring into the hole in disbelief. A blue form lay crumpled a few meters away, half crushed by the ruins of a fallen building.
Jade regained her bearings, and began to approach the unicorn, when cold, low laughter echoed around the boulevard, oppressing in its existence. From in the crater, a scarlet unicorn rose, crackling with excess energy and sending involuntary streams of lightning into the ground. She levitated up from the middle of the crater, laughing and spreading her hooves wide in obvious challenge.
Beep.
The shrill alert from Jade’s watch confirmed the presence of her target. She looked down and saw that the arrow was pointing directly at the rising, power-saturated pony in front of her. At the sound of the beep, the crimson unicorn snapped her head towards Jade, revealing pure white eyes glowing with power, and a sadistic smile locked into position on her twisted face.
Jade’s eye twitched.
It’s never easy is it?
***
Nightlight didn’t even get to answer the question before he was blown off his hooves and through the wall of his kitchen. Clouds of drywall powder filled the air, making him cough as he regained his hoofing. Glancing up at the gaping hole in his wall, he saw a sight he hoped never to behold again in his life.
Icani Lulamoon.
His ex-marefriend stepped daintily through the ragged hole in the wall, smiling her chilling smile the whole way. She never broke eye-contact, instead meeting his frightened eyes with terrifying intensity.
“Well?” Lulamoon asked beseechingly, “Did you miss me? Because I missed you, Ni-”
A yell of rage followed by a loud bang sounded from the doorway, accompanied by a haze of violet magic, as Lady Lulamoon was flung sideways into the counter, crashing into the appliances. Nightlight almost sighed in relief, until she got back to her hooves, the smile on her face not affected in the slightest.
“Don’t you touch him!” Twilight Velvet yelled from the doorway, fury burning in her gaze. The crimson pony’s head turned to look at her attacker. “I don’t know why you’re here, but if you know what’s good for you, Lulamoon, you’ll get out of our house!”
Lady Lulamoon just giggled at the threat. “It’s nice seeing you too, Vel!”
Velvet glowered. “I’m only going to tell you once more. Get. Out.” Her horn started to glow pre-emptively.
Nightlight staggered over to his wife, still disoriented from the blast. “You would do well to heed us,” he warned, wincing as he spoke. “Velvet was always more than your match in magic.”
“Yes,” conceded Lady Lulamoon, her voice dropping, but leaving her good natured expression fixed upon her face. “I suppose that’s why you chose her over me, wasn’t it Nightlight?”
Nightlight’s brow furrowed as he listened, feeling a little bit of guilt build up inside him. He quashed it swiftly. “No, Icani, I left you because you were an over-obsessive, psychopathic bitch. It was never a contest of who was stronger.” Lady Lulamoon’s eye twitched slightly upon hearing her first name, but didn’t bat an eyelash at the insult.
“You really want me to leave so soon?” she asked, pouting her lip out. When both ponies voiced the affirmative, her smile widened, but a shadow fell over her expression. “Without so much as even meeting your daughter?”
Nightlight and Velvet froze, horror befalling each of them. It was obvious that they hadn’t expected this approach. Nightlight shook himself off and took an aggressive step forwards, now glaring at Lady Lulamoon. “Don’t even-”
“Daddy!” Nightlight stopped mid-step. All three ponies looked to the stairs at the left of the hallway. A small, dark purple filly stood a couple steps up, looking at the scene in rapt, innocent attention. A rolled up flyer was encased in her shaky magic. “I heard crashing. Are you guys okay?”
“Awww,” Lady Lulamoon crooned. “Aren’t you just the cutest little filly in all of Equestria?”
“Twily, go back to your room,” said Velvet urgently. “Mum and Dad have some things to talk about with this pony.”
“But Mom! Princess Celestia just sent out the notices for her school and-”
“Listen to your mother Twilight.” Nightlight’s voice had dropped an octave, and he was keeping a keen eye on Lady Lulamoon for any sudden movements. All three unicorn’s horns were glowing in suffused power. “Go upstairs.”
“But-”
“Go!”
Twilight gave an ‘eep!’ and bolted back up the stairs, just in time for Lady Lulamoon to cast a black ball of energy from her horn. The ball flew at the two unicorns, who both raised defensive shields just in time for the black sphere to explode against them, filling the room with tendrils of electricity. A scream could be heard from upstairs, and Nightlight’s shield dropped from the single blow, falling to his knees in pain.
“Night!” shouted Velvet. She cast her own sphere at Lulamoon, who brought up a shield just as they had. Instead of just hitting the glowing wall of energy however, the ball split into hundreds of smaller projectiles that hurtled towards Lulamoon from all different directions. At once, Lady Lulamoon’s barrier split into just as many pieces, flying out to catch each individual ball and absorb the energy, directing it back to Velvet in a beam of crimson light.
Velvet ducked the beam, letting it sweep over her head and cleave a burning swath in the wall behind her, melting its way through their house and into the next. Nightlight had got back to his hooves again, and fired a burst of energy at Lulamoon, just to have her conjure a glowing sword out of thin air and deflect it into the cupboards.
The cupboards exploded, and plates, bowls, spoons and knives clattered off the floor, creating a ringing cacophony of shattering ceramic and bouncing steel. Immediately, the utensils lifted themselves off the tiles in a violet glow, and shot themselves at Lulamoon. The plates that remained intact flew up in front of Lady Lulamoon and allowed the forks to sink tine deep into their surfaces like they were made of butter.
Lady Lulamoon laughed, tossing the impaled plates aside and letting them break on the floor next to their companions. “Really you two, this is just sad!” she exclaimed, gesturing to the wreckage of the kitchen with her sword. “I know you can do better!”
Velvet growled and summoned a blade of her own, leaping forward and meeting Lady Lulamoon in the middle of the room, bringing their swords together with a shockwave of energy. Velvet leaned back, taking the pressure from her opponent and using it to her advantage as she ducked Lady Lulamoon’s over-exaggerated swing and sliced up into her exposed ribcage.
Lulamoon vanished in a flash of light, appearing behind Velvet and bringing her weapon down on her head. Just before it hit, a blue shield formed under her blade, stopping it short. Velvet whirled around, slashing in a low strike against Lady Lulamoon’s ankles, but the unicorn jumped over it with ease.
While she was in the air, Lady Lulamoon lashed out behind her with her hooves and struck something solid. She heard Nightlight gasp in pain and stagger back, while his shield disappeared from his lack of concentration.
Velvet rolled to the side, leaving Lady Lulamoon’s sword to split the linoleum and leave a gash in their floor. She and Lulamoon traded blows, leaving nicks and scratches on both combatants, while Nightlight blinked stars out of his eyes.
Velvet pushed Lady Lulamoon back with a vicious blow, and took the time to yell over her shoulder at her husband. “Get Twily and go! I’ll catch up!”
Nightlight was about to argue, when an upward strike from Lady Lulamoon poked a hole in the ceiling, and a frightened cry rang out from upstairs. He nodded to Velvet, before sprinting out of the room via the gaping hole left from his first meeting with Lady Lulamoon.
Velvet looked around to see Lady Lulamoon preparing a teleport, and she instantly cast a teleportation dampener over the house. Lulamoon’s horn fizzled, but much to her frustration, Velvet had effectively diffused her spell, leaving it null.
She threw a withering glare at Velvet, before blowing a lock of crimson mane out of her eyes and lunging back at the mare that had ruined her life with renewed vigor. She grinned wickedly as she saw Velvet’s slashes begin to weaken, growing tired from the constant upkeep of the teleportation dampener. It was only a matter of time before she collapsed from the exhaustion.
***
Nightlight’s heart thudded painfully in his chest as he sprinted up the stairs, slipping a little bit on the carpet at the top. From below him, the sounds of clashing swords and magical discharge echoed through the house, reminding him of the urgency of the situation he found himself in.
“Twily!” he shouted, bolting toward her room without a second’s hesitation. The door crashed open under his charge, and he whipped his head around frantically, trying to find his daughter. The closet door ripped itself off its hinges with the force of his magic, and he tore up the rest of the room in a similar fashion, until a squeak came from under the bed. He stopped instantly.
Slowly, he kneeled down and lifted the covers with his hoof, softly pushing them onto the bed. Underneath, his daughter cowered, with her hooves over her ears and her eyes scrunched shut against the still raging battle downstairs. The flyer from earlier lay beside her, forgotten.
“Twily…” he whispered gently, reaching his hoof for her quivering form. “S’okay Twi, I gotcha…”
Twilight gasped when his hoof touched her foreleg, and her eyes snapped open. Nightlight recoiled slightly as his daughter threw herself at him, hugging him around the neck and crying into his shoulder. He stroked her back and stood up, doing his best to drown out the sounds of downstairs with his reassurances to Twilight.
A loud slam ruined that plan, as something heavy hit the ceiling under them, shaking the floor slightly. Twilight cried out in his hooves, burying her head into his chest.
The crashes and bangs from below resumed, moving towards the front door, and Nightlight rushed over to the window. Sure enough, the two fighters had taken the battle to the streets, swinging their blades and casting shots of magic at each other fervently.
He watched from afar, holding Twilight close to his chest. He didn’t know what to do; protect his daughter, or aid his wife…
Luckily, he didn’t have to choose. Velvet blocked a wide swing from Lady Lulamoon, sending her stumbling back. The smile had been wiped off her face, and was now twisted into a furious grimace as she fought with her rival. Velvet wasn’t much better, as she wore a fury filled expression that nopony could break through to. She was in a duelist’s mindset, and the only thing that mattered was the enemy in front of her.
Before Lady Lulamoon could take a step back into the fight, the stones around her feet warped, climbing up her hooves and anchoring her in place. She looked down in shock, dropping her guard for one second. That was all it took for Velvet to slam the flat edge of her blade into the top of Lulamoon’s head, knocking her to the ground.
With Lady Lulamoon dazed, Velvet stabbed her sword into the cobblestones in front of her, backing up to her doorway and rearing onto her back hooves. Nightlight realized what she was planning at the last second, and dived back from the window, turning his back to the blast to protect Twilight.
The explosion rocked the street, making his daughter cry out in terror and tighten her grip. A massive shockwave brought the sound of smashing wood and pulverized glass to his ears, and he put a shield around him and Twilight to save them both from flying rubble.
When the tinkling of glass had faded, Nightlight opened his eyes warily. He was about to breathe a sigh of relief when the building under him jerked violently, sending him tumbling across Twilight’s room. He clutched one hoof around Twilight, and tried to get back up, but a second tremor shook him to the floor yet again. Then, the house began to tilt.
His eyes widened, and he scrambled for the doorway, which was becoming a steeper and steeper slope each step he took. The bookshelf next to the door tipped over, clipping his side and sending him sprawling back, letting go of Twilight.
As if in slow motion, his daughter left his grip with wide, terrified eyes, tiny hooves reaching out to pull herself back into his embrace. He reached out, brushing her hoof with his, but just missing her as he fell backwards faster than she did. In a last ditch effort, he tried to use his magic, but his shock-filled mind couldn’t gain the concentration, even in his sluggishly moving world.
He watched in helpless agony, as his daughter opened her mouth to scream, only for the brass-framed globe that previously rested on her desk to connect with the back of her head.
He yelled her name once, just before he crashed out of the window. The tiny glass shards cut his back, but his attention was only for the limp form of his daughter, tumbling through the air. A small spurt of red flew from the spot where the globe had struck, splattering his face.
Then, he hit the pavement.