Everypony in the room stood in shock at the sight of Nightmare moon standing there with a grin on her face. Behind her, in the open, a war was raging on. Several pegasi royal guards were fighting demons in the air. A few of the behemoth demons were stomping slowly towards the castle walls, forcing the unicorn royal guards to combine their magic to dispose of these monstrosities.
"How have you been doing without my aid , princess?" said the nightmare.
"Hey! You leave the princess alone, or you'll have to deal with all of us!" yelled Rainbow Dash.
Nightmare turned around slightly as she heard these words, then burst into laughter.
"You really think you can defeat me that easily? You do not have the elements as far as I can tell. I also have a few more...tricks under-hoof."
"What do you mean?" asked Twilight.
"No. Really. It is under-hoof."
The mares didn't understand at first, but by the time they figured out what Nightmare moon meant, it was too late. They were wrapped in their own shadows.A short chuckle, and Nightmare moon walked back to Luna, who was frozen in place by sheer misbelief.
"Luna, my darling. How about we become one again? Noone would be able to stop us, and you're sister would not dare to stand against the king and queen of Equestria."
"King and queen?"
"Yes. That creature that blasted your friend away will be the new king of Equestria."
"Then you two are...?" asked Luna, a small mocking tone in her voice.
"W-what? NO! We shall simply rule over all of Equestria. Celestia will have no choice but to submit to the Cascade Empire! HAHAHAHA!"
Her billowing laughter broke the concentration of a few demons outside, causing them to...meh...die in a dissolving of fire and ash.
"So what do you say, deity of the moon? Do you accept my friendship?"
Lun thought valiantly, but not about the offer. If she refused, her new friends, Celestia, and everypony would die. But if she accepted, everypony would be enslaved and tortured. However, she was an alicorn, and alicorns wield great power.
"I refuse!" she bellowed.
"Hmmhmm, then you leave me no choice. I will have to-"
Luna had strange star-like shapes form around Nightmare moon. These strange things started to spin rapidly and fire incredibly hot lasers at their target., who just narrowly dodged them.
"What are those?"
"They are a trick we learned after being freed from your grasp. We will not succumb to you again!"
One of the stars fired at the shadows holding the mares behind Luna, liberating them. The moon princess held back Nightmare Moon with a barrier, although this demon was already breaking through.
"Elements of harmony-" Luna struggled to speak. "-ugh...they are in the personal library of the castle...go! Quickly!"
"But we can't just leave you! It would be-" Rarity tried to say, but Luna cut her off with the royal canterlot voice:
"YOU WILL DO AS I SAY! GO NOW! GET THE ELEMENTS!"
They all escaped hurriedly through the doors of the throne room, which slammed shut and were held closed by magic. Nightmare Moon looked irritated.
"You know that you are doing nothin gbut delaying the inevitable?" said Nightmare, while looking at the sealed doors. The holes in the walls had also been sealed.
"Delaying? This is only to prevent you from escaping. We will destroy you with our own power this time."
"Hmph. I hope you can live long enough to last more than a few minutes."
The entire castle became a warzone. Explosions shook the castle frequently, and many holes and piles of rubble dotted the hallways. Fires had broken out throughout the place, and smoke was emanating everywhere. Fluttershy was having trouble running through, but she decided to use the lessons she learned from a little adventure not too long ago, and asserted herself in this situation.
"Twi, where is the library?!" yelled Applejack.
"It's further down the ha-"
"WATCH OUT!" yelled Rainbow Dash, who bolted right in front of everypony.
There was a massive hole in the floor that reached several stories lower. There seemed to be lava flowing down there.
"Woah. That's awesome!" yelled Pinkie Pie: "You think it's real?"
"I...I don't know. I can feel the heat, but it might be a trap." answered Twilight.
"Then there is only one way to find out."
Fluttershy picked up a rock and threw it down the hole. The stone literally blew up after touching the molten stone, causing the mares to flich.
"Okay. Fluttershy, you and Rainbow Dash help Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack to cross to the other side. I'll teleport over there."
Rainbow Dash saluted her friend, and did as told. Both pegasi helped their friends across, although Fluttershy still had a bit of issues. When finally across, Twilght ran to the leftmost hallway, her friends following right behind her. However, three royal guardsmen were thrown through a wall from the group's right side. What looked like a slouched serpent wielding two blades came through. It had no eyes, but kept it's tongue out.
"Wh-wh-what is that thing?" stuttered Rarity.
"Ah don't know n' I don't care. Get it!"
Applejack charged at the creature and bucked it straight in the face, causing the demon to drop a sword as it wailed in pain and held it's face. It was furious. It tried to slam it's sword onto the cowpony, but Twilight held it back with her magic. Surprisingly, it was a little firecracker that Pinkie placed in the creature's "ear" that caused it to dissappear.
"Woohoo! That was fun! Let's do it again!"
"Pinkie Pie, you're really random." said Rainbow Dash.
Twilight took a peek through the new hole in the wall. It directed through the kitchen.
"Hey, the library is on the other side of the kitchen. If we can get through it, then we'll be able to get the elements."
"Then let's go as fast as we can!" shouted Rainbow Dash in proudness.
However, they had barely made a step that the creature that they saw attack SD flew from the top floor and land right in front of them. It was Belforay, but the mares didn't know that yet. He stood back up, rubbing his head. He was immensely huge, MUCH bigger than SD. His weapon staying firmly in his hands. He moaned, only to see the six mares near him.
"Haaa...more treats. Fill me with your purity." he said.
The six mares started to feel an intense pain in their bodies as something started to drain from them. Twilight could feel her strength leaving her, and by the looks of it, so could her friends. Even Pinkie Pie, who was known to be the most energetic of ponies, seemed to be succumbing to whatver was happenning. A gigantic hand of light burst from beneath Belforay, engulfing him and burning him outwright. SD flew from the lower floor and threw Belforay into the next room. He barely had time to react that he saw a gigantic spear of darkness exploding into his face and seeping deep into his skin like shards of glass. Before Twilight could say anything, SD grabbed a massive chunk of wall and infused it with darkness, until charging back at Belforay, and causing a cloud of pure shadow to spread throughout the area with his attack.
"Quick! While he's distracting that thing, get to the library!" yelled Twilight.
"Right!" agreed the five other mares.
They ran through the door to see that, surprisingly, everything was intact here. There did seem to be a few husks of dust, but they didn't move. Twilight used her magic to open the locked door. She just loved this place. She practically grew up here. A quick look around, and the sight of the elements being held within a case was spotted a few feet away from the door. What was disturbing, were the demons that seemd to have been turned to dust while trying to reach the elements. They stood in awkward positions, like if they they tried to grab what they could not.
With a bit more magic, Twilight placed the respective elements on their bearers. They were ready to destroy Nightmare Moon once more, and they would destroy these horrible demons as well.