The sounds of fire crackling, muffled screams of ponies, and the blaring of fire alarms echoed throughout P&H Studios. In the auditorium, everypony was oblivious to those sounds. All the ponies remaining in the room were focused on a tall black unicorn in the center of the stage. Some ponies were in complete shock, and others looked intimidated. Rarity stood paralyzed with fear. Her heart and mind were racing so fast, she couldn’t think straight at all. She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was muttered gibberish.
Finally, after what seemed to be an hour, a pony timidly asked, “W–who is that?”
“What is that?” another asked.
Rarity opened her mouth to speak, but only a small squeak came from her mouth. She was shaking violently and trying to think of a response. Instead, all attempts to speak came out with either a gaping mouth, or small squeals of terror.
“I know who that is!” a voice announced.
Everypony looked up to the ceiling and saw a confident Prince Blueblood and Heavy Duty standing on the stage catwalk.
“Well who is it?” a stallion asked.
“That there, fillies and gentlecolts, is none other than Nightmare Moon!” Blueblood proclaimed.
Everypony in the audience gasped in shock. Some of them stood there in disbelief. Others took no chances and shrieked in terror as they desperately scrambled and pushed one another to get to the exit.
“But...but that’s impossible!” a mare shouted in fear. “Nightmare Moon was destroyed by the Elements of Harmony! How can she be back!?”
Blueblood gave a dark mirthful chuckle and shook his head. “Ah, that’s what you would think,” he said. “I learned her spirit had returned, and that somepony willingly gave her body to Nightmare Moon, and allow her to return!”
The remaining crowd gasped.
“No! That’s not true!” yelled Twilight.
Everypony turned their heads back towards the stage, and saw the flustered unicorn.
“It’s all a lie!” she objected. “That pony has it all wrong! This isn’t Nightmare Moon! This is a big misunderstanding! I can explain! This is actually my friend! She’s trapped in–”
“As you can see,” Blueblood interrupted. “She has also successfully also began to use her magic to control and bend the wills of others like this stimpleton into thinking she’s their ‘friend’ so to say.”
“But it’s not mind control!” argued Twilight.
“Who do you think was behind this chaos?” Blueblood inquired. “A dark spirit who wants to rule all of Equestria and bring in eternal night, and suddenly there’s all this destruction. She’s already warped the minds of a gullible town into thinking she’s their leader and friend, and has planned to turn all the innocent citizens of Manehatten into her own mindless slaves.”
“She’s not Nightmare Moon!” shouted Twilight. “You got it all wrong! It’s–”
“This poor pony is already an example of Nightmare’s work,” Blueblood interjected. He suddenly felt a hoof tugging at him, and looked down to see Quick Note.
“She speaks the truth,” he groaned. “I heard it myself. This is one big mistake. Stop this now before it’s too late.”
The prince smirked and pushed Quick away. “Unfortunately, it seems she’s already started her invasion,” he said. “One of my security associates here has already fallen to Nightmare’s mind control. What if she’s already gotten to other ponies around the city, and she’s preparing to take it over now?”
The crowd stood stunned, not knowing who to believe.
“Quickly, fellow citizens,” ordered Blueblood. “Run and save yourselves before Nightmare turns you into a mindless slave like these two ponies!”
The crowd didn’t waste a single second. Most of the ponies ran out screaming in terror about Nightmare Moon. Before too long, the auditorium was mostly empty, save for only several security guards and some members of the audience.
Prince Blueblood smirked and looked back at Rarity. “My original plan may have suffered a minor setback, but now I got you right where I want you!” He picked up the remote. “See the light you monster!”
“NO!” Quick Note lunged at Blueblood and wrestled him. The two struggled and threw one another against the catwalk hoof rails. Blueblood put a hoof around his assistant’s neck and held him in a choke-hold. Quick gasped for air and collapsed to the ground, Blueblood staring at him with a cold expression on him.
“Any last words, traitor?” he inquired.
Quick gasped and flailed his hooves around.
The prince snickered and leaned in. “I can’t hear you,” he mocked.
“Things...are about to get out of...your control!” Quick spat. He raised his left hoof and smacked the hoof with which Blueblood was holding the remote.
“Ack!” yelped the prince. The grip on the remote loosened, and it fell out. “No!” he screamed as he leaped to grab it. The remote fell over the rail and down to the floor. Everypony watched as it fell and landed with a loud cracking sound coming from the impact.
Quick groaned as he rubbed his neck, but he was suddenly grabbed by it again and pulled up by a furious Prince Blueblood.
“You idiot!” he barked. “You just destroyed the one thing that could’ve ensured me a quick victory!” Blueblood pushed Quick to the railing. “Since you’re not with me, you can die with your so-called ‘ruler’ instead!”
“Wait!” Quick objected.
The prince punched his advisor, and knocked him over the railing. He panted heavily for a few seconds before looking down at the crowd of ponies.
“Fellow members of the audience and security!” he barked.
“I believe you mean fellow soldiers of the 66th Legion,” said Heavy Duty. “Or in other words…my men.”
Spike’s eyes widened. “He’s part of the Equestria military?”
Blueblood ignored Spike’s statement and looked back at the crowd. “I thank all of you for coming on such short notice, and successfully infiltrating this place. As you all know, we got a demon to kill.”
“Rarity’s isn’t a demon!” yelled Spike.
The prince scoffed at this statement. “She can’t take all of us down! The time has come to officially bring a permanent end to Nightmare Moon’s terror!”
The crowd raised their hooves. “YEAH!”
“Already, she’s claimed control of my former advisor!” yelled the prince. “Who knows how many more she’ll turn against our cause!? She may soon start using innocent civilians to do her dirty work! Are we going to let that happen!?”
“NO!” the soldiers yelled angrily.
Blueblood smirked. “Then you know what must be done! To end the nightmare, we must kill Nightmare Moon, and all those who stand in our way!”
“We’ll do it, your highness!” yelled one pony.
“We’ll burn her body at the stake!” another one yelled.
“Kill Nightmare Moon! Kill Nightmare Moon! Kill Nightmare Moon!” they all chanted.
Rarity looked on in horror as she heard all the vulgar stuff and what they were planning to do to her. She opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a squeaking noise.
Heavy Duty stepped forward and raised his hoof. The crowd fell silent almost immediately.
“Then don’t just stand there,” the major ordered. “Kill her at once!”
“SIR!” the crowd shouted and saluted.
Several unicorns’ horns glowed with magic. A couple of pegasi took to the air. Some unicorns’ horns glowed brightly They all aimed at Rarity, who stared back at them in horror.
“Men! Fire away!” barked Heavy Duty.
“YES, MAJOR!” The ponies shouted.
The unicorns shot out multiple energy bolts. Rarity screamed as they were coming towards her, and closed her eyes. She waited for the impact, but never felt any impact or pain. She did hear the magical bolts hitting something, but nothing hit her. She opened her eyes and saw a large purple dome around her.
“I got you, Rarity!”
She looked over and saw Twilight’s horn was glowing. “Rarity, I don’t know how long I can hold this!” she shouted. “When I drop the shield, you have to get out of here fast!”
Rarity looked at her friends with a concerned look. “But...but what about you and Spikey?” she wondered. “How will you both get away?”
“We’ll find our way out!” Twilight shouted. “The important thing is to get you to safety!”
“What if I run into other ponies that want me dead?”
“Try to avoid hurting them!” Twilight answered. “If you don’t attack and try to tell them you aren’t Nightmare Moon, then maybe they’ll listen!”
“Well you saw how well that went when you were trying to tell them earlier,” Rarity sarcastically remarked.
The unicorn bit her lip. “Just get to safety! Leave the place if you can and try to make a run and escape from Manehatten!”
Spike peaked from the backstage curtain and looked around at the chaos around him. Out of the corner of his left eye, he noticed a faint glow coming from nearby. He turned around and noticed an orange unicorn, whose horn was crackling with energy.
The dragon gasped. “No!” He lunged at the unicorn.
“What the–ARGH!” The unicorn was thrown off balance as Spike tackled him. The dragon clawed at his face, while the unicorn desperately flailed his hooves at the dragon.
“GET OFF ME!” he yelled, horn glowing again.
“Whoa!” Spike yelled as he ducked out of the way of an energy bolt.
The unicorn shot out several bolts of magic in an attempt to hit Spike. Several of the bolts hit the backstage area, and some flew off into the crowd, which made the ponies jump out of the way. Spike noticed another bolt charging up and scrambled out of the way. When it fired, the dragon looked up and saw where it was going.
Spike gasped again. “Twilight, look out!”
Twilight turned her head. “AAH!” she screamed as the bolt hit her on the side of her chest.
She collapsed to the ground and the glow on her horn faded away. The dome around Rarity fell, leaving her vulnerable.
Twilight looked at her friend. “Get out of here!” she hastily ordered with ragged breathing. “Run for it!”
Rarity stepped forward. “What about–”
“JUST GO!” barked Twilight.
Rarity ducked as another energy blast nearly hit her. She nodded and ran off the stage.
Blueblood watched as Rarity ran off, and then looked over at Heavy. “Have some of your men guarding every exit out of here. Take the remaining men and have them hunt Rarity down. She’s not leaving this place alive no matter what the cost is.”
Heavy nodded and leaned over. “Alpha, Delta, and Echo squads! Go pursue Nightmare Moon! Bravo, Charlie, and Foxtrot squads! Go barricade the exits! Move out!”
“YES, MAJOR!” they shouted in unison. The crowd dispersed and ran out of the auditorium.
“WHOA!” Spike shouted as he was finally knocked off the unicorn. He grunted as he hit the ground. As he rubbed his head, he heard hoofsteps and looked up to see the orange unicorn glaring at him.
“You meddling dragon,” he seethed. “I’m think I’m going to–”
The unicorn suddenly felt something hit him in the back of the head. He groaned as he staggered for a second, and then collapsed to the ground.
“I think you’re going to leave my friend alone!”
Spike looked up and saw Rainbow holding a hoof up, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie standing there.
He smiled. “Girls!”
“Spike!” they shouted in unison, pulling him into a hug for a few seconds.
“Ugh…”
The group turned around and saw Twilight groaning as she struggled to get up.
“Twilight!” they all shouted.
“Pinkie!” the party mare cheerfully shouted.
Everypony looked at Pinkie with errant expressions on them.
“What?” she wondered. “Everypony else was shouting names, and I wanted to join in.”
They all rolled their eyes and ran over to Twilight.
The unicorn winced as she stood up and held her right side. She looked over and saw the concerned looks of her friends. “Am I glad to see you.” She noticed all her friends had orange stuff around their lips, and sniffed as she smelt something. “Is that cheese I smell?”
“Long story, Twilight,” said Applejack. “Let’s just say that I think I’m off cheese for life.”
“Are you okay?” wondered Fluttershy.
“I’ll be...URK...fine,” said Twilight. “It’s not that bad.”
“What happened here anyway?” asked Rainbow. “We saw the lights go dim, and suddenly there’s a loud explosion.”
“I’m not sure,” said Twilight. “Whatever it was, I think it was after Rarity, or in this case the pony who disguised herself as Rarity.”
“Disguised?” asked Pinkie.
Twilight nodded. “It’s Trixie.” she pointed over to the unicorn, who was getting up.
“Trixie!?” the group shouted.
“What’s she doing here?” Rainbow asked in an icy tone. “Did she have anything to do with that explosion?”
“No!” Twilight shouted. “She was helping us!”
“Twilight speaks the truth,” said Trixie as she trotted over. “Trixie generously helped your friend out when she transformed.”
“Wait, wasn’t the show supposed to start at three?” wondered Rainbow.
“It got postponed,” said Twilight. “By the time it started, Rarity had already turned into Nightmare Rarity. Spike came up with an idea to fool everypony into thinking Rarity was on stage, and we nearly pulled it off. Rarity must’ve heard the explosion and was worried about us, but she accidentally stepped out onto the stage. Whoever it was that was speaking earlier managed to convince everypony Rarity was Nightmare Moon.”
“But who was it?” wondered Rainbow.
“We don’t know,” said Spike. “I could’ve sworn I recognize that voice though.”
“HELP!” a stallion’s voice cried out.
The group looked up and saw Quick Note dangling from the catwalk, and was clinging to a pole.
“HELP ME!” he pleaded. “I CAN’T HOLD ON FOR MUCH LONGER!”
Twilight looked over. “Rainbow.”
The blue pegasus nodded. “You don’t need to say anything. I’m on it.”
She flew up to Quick and grabbed the gray stallion. He put his hooves around her to hold on tightly. Rainbow wasted no time and quickly landed back on the ground.
“Heh. No need to thank me,” said Rainbow. “I’ve done this numerous times.” She looked at Quick and noticed his mane. “What’s with the hair? It looks a little...off.”
Quick said nothing.
“Hey! What’s your problem?” wondered Rainbow.
The gray unicorn let out a sigh. “I guess there’s no use in trying to hide this anymore.” He took off the golden wig and tossed it aside. Everypony gasped.
“A wig?” wondered Fluttershy. “But he’s already got a full head of hair.”
Spike looked at Quick Note, and felt something click in his head. “Wait a minute. I know who that is!”
“You do?” asked Applejack.
The dragon nodded. “Yeah! That guy was at the party we held for Rarity in Ponyville!”
The unicorn nodded. “So you are right.”
“Who are you then?” wondered Twilight. “And do you know anything about what that pony said about Rarity?”
“My name is Quick Note,” said the gray stallion. “I am, or rather was, an advisor and assistant to his royal highness, Prince Blueblood.”
“Blueblood!?” everypony cried out.
“I knew that voice sounded familiar!” yelled Spike. “What’s he doing here!? And how did he find out about Rarity!?”
“I’m afraid it’s partially my fault,” said Quick.
“How so?” Applejack asked in an icy tone.
“Prince Blueblood overheard the princesses talk about what happened to Rarity,” explained Quick. “He wanted to know about what was going on, so he sent me to investigate. I saw your friend as Nightmare Moon, but I told the prince and his friends that she didn’t seem so evil. He didn’t believe me though.”
“So what is he doing then?” asked Rainbow.
“I told him of the fashion show she was attending, and he thought it was the beginning of an invasion,” said Quick. “He had his colleagues do their own work in preparing to catch Nightmare Moon in the act, and kill her.”
“Kill her!?” Spike furiously screamed.
The gray stallion nodded. “Yes. That explosion you all heard was a light fixture that contains a massive capacitor powerful enough to store enough electricity, then focus it into a lightning bolt to kill anypony, even somepony like Nightmare Moon.”
“You nearly got Trixie killed with that!” barked the magician. “You’re lucky Trixie was scare...I mean, so amazed with what it could do, I passed out!”
“Please wait!” pleaded Quick. “I overheard a conversation about Rarity transforming and everypony thinking she was a monster. That’s when I realized it was all a big mistake. I managed to knock the light out of Rarity’s, or I believe Trixie as she said, way. I tried to convince Prince Blueblood that this was a big mistake, but he won’t listen. He wants Rarity dead now, no matter what.”
Everypony remained silent for a moment. They all looked at each other, and then back at Quick, who was looking regretful and in pain.
Finally, Applejack said, “Twilight? What do you think?”
The unicorn looked up and slowly nodded. “I think he’s trying to make up for what he’s done. He was trying to save Rarity, or in this case Trixie. He made a mistake and is trying to fix it now. What matters most now is saving Rarity before Blueblood and his friends find and kill her.”
“Well let’s get moving then!” shouted Rainbow.
Twilight got up, but felt a sharp pain on her side. “ARGH!” She leaned over and held her injured side.
Trixie trotted up and held her. She looked at the injury and saw it was a bit singed and there was a sizeable burn mark on her skin. “Trixie does not believe this is too serious. Trixie believe she can fix this quickly. For now, Twilight is better off being tended by me.”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “Trixie, that’s the first time I’ve ever heard you not speak in third person.”
Trixie blushed a little. “Well you can say Trixie is slowly learning.”
Twilight blushed back. “In any case. Thank you, Trixie.”
“I’ll help too,” Quick offered. “I’ll try to treat Twilight’s wounds. I think you better go off now before it’s too late.”
The group nodded and turned around.
“Wait!” Twilight objected.
Her friends looked back at her.
“Spike, take a letter,” she ordered. “Tell Princess Celestia and Princess Luna we’ll need help immediately. It’s not just for us, but for Rarity’s sake too.”
Spike nodded. “I’m on it!” He ran off to grab a quill and parchment paper.
The sound of fire alarms blared on. Many ponies were screaming and running, and other ponies were shouting orders. Rarity ignored all those sounds as she panted and galloped down the hallway. She stopped at a corner to catch her breath.
What do I do now? she wondered. Even if I do escape from this place, I’ll be sticking out like a sore hoof.
“Anything to report, sergeant?” a stallion asked.
Rarity lifted her head, and decided to poke her head around the corner. Standing at the main entrance were several ponies in security uniforms holding spears.
“Nothing, lieutenant,” said the sergeant. “There’s been no sign of her yet.”
“My men haven’t had luck in finding her either,” said the lieutenant. “We’re currently searching the hallways around the first floor. The other teams are on the floors above us. The problem is, Major Heavy didn’t bring enough troops over to help hunt the prey, so our forces are stretched thin.”
“Well I don’t think Nightmare Moon is stupid enough to come through here,” said the sergeant. “If she does, we’ll be ready.”
“Well while you do that, I got to check on the tenth floor,” said the lieutenant. “His highness wants every floor from the bottom, to the roof secured.”
Rarity felt an idea click in her head and smiled. The roof they say? I think that actually may be my ticket out.
“Hey, who’s over there?”
Rarity froze in fear.
“I think I saw somepony,” said the sergeant.
“My men will take care of this.” The lieutenant turned to a group of ponies nearby. “Alpha squad, let’s move!”
“SIR!” the group shouted.
Rarity looked around frantically. She could hear hoofsteps coming from around the corner. She looked down the hallway she came from, but noticed in the shadows another group of ponies nearby. Her eye suddenly caught a sign nearby, and looked at it. There was a picture of a pony running up stairs, and a door underneath the sign. She quickly ran for the door and opened it. Rarity hastily ran up the stairs, not daring to look back for even a second.
The lieutenant heard the door open. “Men! Pursue the prey at once!”
“Belay that order!” a stallion ordered.
The lieutenant turned, and looked shocked. “Sir, with all due respect, we have in her our grasp.”
“Let her go,” the stallion ordered.
“But Prince Blue–”
“Let. Her. Go. We’ll deal with her ourselves.”
“Ourselves?”
“Of course.” Blueblood looked over at two ponies next to him. “Now listen up to what I have to say. Major, you get a squad ready. Suri, you’re with me.”
“You got it,” said Heavy.
“I’ve been waiting for this,” Suri said with a smirk on her face.
“Where could she be?”
Spike and the others looked around as they ran down the hallway. They all stopped at an intersection to look for Rarity, but to no avail.
“Maybe she’s already gotten out of the place,” replied Fluttershy.
“I don’t think so,” Rainbow added. “I think we would’ve heard everypony outside screaming.”
“I just hope she’s alright,” said Applejack.
“She will be,” an optimistic Pinkie inputed. “After all, she does know kung fu.”
“She does?” asked Spike.
“Yeah! I faintly remember her kicking you, Applejack,” said Pinkie. “I think it was something precious to her.”
Applejack tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. “I don’t really remember something like that.”
“Look, we can go down memory lane later,” said Spike. “We still need to find out where Rarity is.”
Applejack’s ears suddenly perked up. “Hold on. I think I hear something.”
The group listened closely and distinctly heard somepony saying something from around the corner. They all quickly, but quietly, trotted up to the corner, and heard two ponies talking to each other.
“And the other patrols, sergeant?” a stallion asked in a deep voice.
“All searching the floors above us,” another stallion said.
“Have you managed to figure out what that orange stuff is that’s covering two ponies?”
“Negative, captain,” said the sergeant. “I have been looking for the major, but no luck.”
“Well that’ll have to wait,” said the captain. “Our primary objective is to find and kill Nightmare Moon.”
Spike’s eyes widened. Rarity!
“Where is the major anyway?” the sergeant wondered.
“I heard he’s heading up to the top floor, along with the prince and that former fashionista. He gave me orders to keep searching the floors–but to have most of our men be on the ninth floor in case Nightmare runs back down and tries to escape.”
“And the stairway entrances?”
“Barricade them, and we’ll have several guards along the stairs as well to, hopefully, slow down Nightmare if she dares try to go down them again.”
“Should I order some snipers to go to the roof?” asked the sergeant. “She could possibly make a desperate run onto the streets, and they could get her that way.”
“Negative,” said the captain. “Prince Blueblood says he has an idea on what to do up there.”
“So where should I go?”
“Head up to the ninth floor,” the captain ordered. “Set up barricades and prepare to fire at Rarity when you see her.”
The sergeant saluted. “Yes, captain.”
The captain saluted back, and the two ponies trotted off.
Spike looked furious. “We got to do something,” he muttered. “We can’t let them do this to Rarity.”
“Calm down, Spike,” reassured Applejack. “Let’s get to the tenth floor first.”
“But how?” asked Fluttershy. “The stairs are blocked now.”
“I could beat these guys in ten seconds flat,” Rainbow boasted.
“No offense, Rainbow, but I think we should go for something a little more quietly to get up there instead of charging in recklessly,” said Applejack.
“It’s too bad I used all the extra balloons I had at that party,” said Pinkie. “We could’ve floated up there.”
“And be sitting ducks,” said Spike.
“Well what do we do then?” Fluttershy asked again.
Spike opened his mouth, but suddenly heard a pinging noise. He turned around. “What was that?”
The group trotted to the corner, and looked around. They all saw a small group of ponies in black shirts standing. A pair of doors opened up and the group marched into it. The doors then closed and the pinging noise rang out again.
Spike smirked. “That’s our way up.”
“Well let’s not stand around,” said Rainbow. “Let’s get up there.”
The group nodded and hurried to the elevator. Rainbow went up to the button controls and pressed the up arrow repeatedly.
“Come on, already,” Rainbow complained. “I could fly 20 laps around this building before this elevator gets down.”
“Will you be quiet?” Applejack asked irritably. “We don’t want anypony to see us trying to–”
“Hey! Who are you?”
The group looked to the right and saw three ponies in black shirts and sunglasses walking up to them.”
“All civilians are ordered to leave the building at once,” said a white stallion. “What are you all doing here?”
The group looked at themselves, but couldn’t think of what to say.
“Well?” The white stallion pointed at Applejack. “Take you and your friends out of here now, or we’ll be forced to show you out.”
“We got a friend upstairs!”
Everypony looked down at Spike.
The stallion raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?” he asked.
Spike nodded. “Um...Yeah! We got somepony to erm....look for! We lost her somewhere on the floor above us!”
The white stallion glared. “Why don’t you just get on out of here, and–” He was suddenly tapped on the shoulder, and looked over a blue unicorn near him. “What?” The unicorn whispered something into his ear. The white stallion’s expression changed from awe, to one of fury. “I see then.”
“Uh...What seems to be the problem?” Spike wondered.
“Why don’t you all come with me?” the stallion asked. “We have some questions for you all.”
Rainbow sighed. “To hay with this.” She flew over to the white stallion, and tackled him to the ground.
“Get them!” the blue unicorn ordered.
Rainbow punched the white stallion a couple of times, but suddenly felt a pair of hooves wrap around her neck. She looked up to see an orange pegasus was holding her. She suddenly felt her throat constricting and gasped for air.
“Oh, no you don’t!” shouted Applejack.
She galloped towards the pegasus and kicked him with her two hind legs. The pegasus was sent flying into the wall, and crashed into it head first. He groaned as he fell to the ground unconscious.
Rainbow gasped as she caught her breath, but as she did, a hoof came towards her. She barely dodged it as the white stallion struggled to throw her off and overpower her. Rainbow raised her hoof and threw another punch at his face.
“ARGH!” The stallion cried out as he felt the impact. He let out a groan as his eyes closed and his body went limp.
Rainbow smirked. “Heh. Nothing to it.”
Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief, but then saw the blue unicorn sneaking up behind her. She gasped and flew over. “No!”
The blue unicorn looked over. “Huh?”
He didn’t have time to react as Fluttershy’s hoof connected with his face. He gasped and fell to the ground unconscious.
Fluttershy let out another sigh of relief. “That was close.” She looked over and saw the shocked expressions of her friends. “What?”
“How did you do that?” wondered Applejack. “I’ve seen you punch, sugarcube, and no offense, but you couldn’t even kill a fly with how strong your punch was.”
“Oh! Bulk’s been helping me do workouts,” said Fluttershy with a blush. “I guess they’re finally paying off.”
“What!?” Rainbow asked in a shocked tone. “I’ve offered to help you with training, and you always chicken out on the first day!”
“I like Bulk—um, I mean his style more,” said Fluttershy.
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Well I’m going to have to talk and see what his style is like.”
A pinging noise suddenly rang out. The group turned around and saw the elevator doors open.
“Come on!” shouted Spike. “We got a real life nightmare for Rarity that needs to be stopped!”
“What about these guards?” asked Rainbow.
“Leave them,” said Spike. “We can’t waste any more time.”
The group nodded and trotted into the elevator. Pinkie hit the “10” button, and the elevator pinged again. The doors closed, and the group felt the machine move upwards.
Spike looked up and had a determined look on his face. Hang on, Rarity. We’re coming.
Rarity busted through the door and gasped for air. “Oh...Perhaps I should start doing some more walking.” She looked around the area, and felt a bit relieved. “It seems nopony is up here...yet, that is.”
She trotted down the hallway, but felt a little uneasy. The fire alarm’s lights were flashing, but they weren’t blaring anymore. The sound of her hoofsteps echoed along the hallway. As she stopped to look around again, the only sounds she heard was the buzzing of the fluorescent lights, and the distant sound of thunder rumbling.
“There has to be a way up to the roof, but where?”
As Rarity continued to search the area, her eye suddenly caught a glimpse of what looked to be a shadow around the corner. She gasped and stepped back. “Who’s there?”
No response came, and the shadow disappeared as quickly as Rarity saw it.
She shook her head. “Keep it together now,” Rarity told herself. “I just need to find some way up to the roof.”
Rarity trotted down the hall again, but as she did, another shadowy figure appeared in front of her. She looked up, but once again, it was gone as fast as she saw it.
She stepped back and looked around. “Who are you?” she nervously asked.
No response came again. Rarity gulped again and walked slowly down the hall. Another rumble of thunder echoed much louder, and the lights went dim. Rarity looked around frantically, and rather hopelessly, in the dark for a way out.
“Come on. Where is it?” she asked in a panicked tone. “There has to be some...way...out?”
Rarity’s voice trailed off as she noticed her shadow, even though the lights had dimmed to the point where it was almost pitch black. She turned around, and saw a bright white light heading towards her.
“AHH!” she screamed.
Rarity fell to the ground as the light hit her in the chest. She clutched the area she was hit at, and slowly got up. As she got up, the lights came back on, and she noticed a pony slowly walking towards her.
“What the?” she asked.
“Ah, Rarity,” said a smug voice. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you. But it seems you’ve changed since I last saw you.”
Rarity staggered back and tried to maintain her balance. “Who are you?”
“You mean you don’t recognize me?” wondered the stallion. “Ah, but I’m not looking like myself for the moment, so maybe it’s best I show you.”
He removed his sunglasses and tossed them aside. “You know, I never did forget you at all. Your voice, your name, and your mannerisms. It’s something I fondly remember, but not for the right reason.”
Rarity raised an eyebrow. ...That voice. Where have I heard it before?
The stallion ripped off the security shirt and threw it to the side. “It’s been like an itch I just can’t scratch. You who humiliated me at the grandest gathering of all.”
“Grand?” wondered Rarity.
“You galloped all over my ambitions and reputation with no thought at all,” the stallion angrily said. He then grabbed his mane. “And above all, helped ruin not only the gala, but my life as well.” He removed a wig from his head and threw it behind him.
Rarity gasped at the sight of the sinister looking pony in front of her. “...P–Prince Blueblood,” she gasped.
The prince snickered coldly. “Ah, it’s nice to see you haven’t forgotten me after so long. I should be touched.” His smirk changed to a scowl. “But I’m not.”
He suddenly shot out of his horn a lightning bolt. Rarity gasped and jumped out of the way. The sound of a large explosion came from behind her, with pieces of debris falling shortly after.
“Blueblood, wait!” shouted Rarity.
“I’m not waiting for anything, Nightmare Moon,” he stated.
The unicorn’s eyes widened.. “What did you call me?”
“You heard me,” said Blueblood. “I know what your plan is, and I’m here to stop it.”
“Correction, we are here to stop you,” a mare interrupted.
Rarity turned around and gasped at a pink mare with a sinister smile on her face.
“Suri?” she wondered.
“I’m touched that you remembered me as well,” she smugly said. “I did tell you when we met that it’s everypony for themselves in the big city, but I’m more than willing to accept some help for taking you down.”
“Wait, please!” Rarity cried out. “You all got it wrong! I was never Nightmare Moon at all!”
“Then what are we looking at here then?” Blueblood demanded. “An early Nightmare Night costume? I think not.”
“I can explain!” shouted Rarity.
“Save it,” said Suri coldly. “Your mind control tricks won’t work on us.”
“Mind control?” wondered Rarity.
“Don’t think we don’t know what you did to my aunts,” said Blueblood. “Once they’re free from your control, I could probably be made into the first king of Equestria in a long time.”
Suri frowned. “What’s this ‘I’ stuff? What about the rest of us?”
Blueblood smirked. “Details, Suri. We’ll deal with it one matter at a time.”
“There she is!” a stallion shouted.
Rarity turned and her heart nearly stopped. Down the hall was a battalion of unicorns and pegasi, with some of the pegasi holding spears. Rarity backed up and looked around for a way out, but she soon found herself bumping against the wall. She looked all around, but the ponies were approaching her rather quickly.
“You won’t be banished to the moon like before,” said Blueblood. “You’ll be banished to the deepest pits of Tartarus!” He looked towards the soldiers at the end. “Men! Aim your weapons! Unicorns! Prepare to use your magic!”
“Please don’t!” Rarity pleaded.
“Ready!”
“I’m not Nightmare Moon!”
“Fire!”
The magic bolts shot towards Rarity. She closed her eyes and felt her heart pounding in fear.
“NO!” she cried out. Her horn suddenly glowed a white light and flashed. Everypony in the hallway yelled and covered their eyes. Rarity ducked and could hear the whizzing of the magic bolts. She opened her eyes and saw to her confusion that everypony was flailing around and screaming.
“Don’t just stand there!” barked Blueblood. “Kill her now!”
“I can’t see!” shouted a stallion.
“Then just spray and pray!” Suri screeched.
As Rarity watched everypony try to regain their senses, she noticed Blueblood was not blocking the hallway anymore. Biting her lip, she cautiously tip toed down the hall and tried to slip around the prince.
Almost there, she thought.
Blueblood suddenly turned and grabbed a hoof out. Rarity had to stop herself from gasping as his hoof was inches from her. She took a deep breath and slowly avoided the hoof. As soon as she got around the prince, she trotted slowly down the hallway.
Her eye suddenly caught her attention and she turned her head. A sign was near a door with a picture of stairs on it. There was also a message below reading Roof Access: Maintenance Personnel Only.
Rarity let out a sigh of relief. “Finally.”
Blueblood’s ears perked and he turned his head. “Got you!” His horn glowed and he shot out a lightning bolt.
Rarity yelped and ducked. She quickly grabbed the door handle and turned it. The door opened, and she wasted no time in climbing up the stairway.
Blueblood groaned and his eyes became less blurry until his eyes came back into full focus. “Well that was a bit of a setback.”
“Sir!” a stallion shouted. “She’s gotten away!”
Blueblood scowled and turned his head, but his frown turned to a sinister smile. “Oh, no she hasn’t. If anything, she’s walked right where I want her.” He turned around and waved a hoof. “Follow me at once!”
“SIR!” the group shouted, and followed behind the prince.
Rarity panted as she slowly climbed up to the top of the steps. She wiped her forehead. “Perhaps I should take up some of Rainbow’s cardio classes.”
She looked up and saw an overhead light dimly illuminating a door. She turned the knob, and pushed the door open. As Rarity stepped out onto the roof, she could feel a gust of wind hit her. She could hear the sound of thunder rumbling, and a few flashes of lightning lit up the night sky. Rarity paid no mind to it as she looked around the roof. There were several air vents and three large generators around the place. There was also a large air conditioner near the small outcrop Rarity emerged from.
Rarity looked around the surrounding building, and frowned as she looked up. The building was taller than the studio, making it impossible for her to go to a nearby building. Her ears suddenly perked up as she heard the distant sound of sirens. She trotted over to a nearby edge looked over it. Even ten stories up, Rarity could make out the lights of police carriages. A large crowd had gathered outside the studio, and Rarity could faintly see several ponies pushing them back.
She took a step back and looked around again. Her eyes then caught something glowing to the side. She turned her head and noticed the building to her left had a skyscraper fire escape. Rarity galloped over to the edge and took a look at how far the building was from her. She looked back and forth for a couple of seconds.
“If I can jump over there, I can probably run down the stairs and escape into the alleys,” said Rarity. She took several steps back. “It’s not that far, but I should be able to make it over there.”
She took several deep breaths. “One...two...three…” Rarity took off at a gallop and headed towards the building in front of her. She gasped and felt winded from her earlier running, but she shook it off. As she neared the ledge, she prepared to make her leap.
“Raise the forcefield, now!”
Suddenly, Rarity saw in front of her a purple shield forming before her eyes. The energy reached up around the roof, and made its way down the studio. Soon, the whole building was covered in the forcefield. Rarity could hear the distant sounds of ponies screaming from below. She then heard hoofsteps approaching, and slowly turned around.
Her eyes widened, as Blueblood and Suri each stood there with a smirk. From behind the air vents and air conditioner, a group of ponies ranging from unicorns to pegasi emerged from behind them. Another stallion approached Blueblood and saluted. The prince saluted back at him.
“Your trap seems to have paid off,” he said.
“That it has, Heavy,” said the prince. “However, your forces will ensure she remains trapped.” He turned to look at Rarity. “I’m going to give you credit, Nightmare Moon. You were willing to take a leap of faith to make your escape. I guess without your precious wings, you couldn’t make a good getaway.”
“Blueblood, I’m telling you!” Rarity cried out, “I’m not Nightmare Moon!”
“Silence!” boomed the prince. “Your mind control won’t work on us. We’ve been trained to resist such a thing.”
“Are you even listening to yourself!?” Rarity yelled in frustration. “I. Have. No. Mind control! Even Twilight is unable to do that!”
Blueblood scratched his chin. “Twilight, you say? Ah, my aunt’s student. Don’t worry, I’ll send her along with your other friends with you to Tartarus once you’re done for.”
Rarity narrowed her eyes, and tried to concentrate some energy into her horn. As she tried to though, she felt a little faint, and her horn only shot out a few sparks. Rarity gasped and tried to steady herself.
Prince Blueblood laughed coldly. “What’s wrong? All the running tire you out?” he mocked. His horn then glowed, and he looked over at Heavy.
The brown stallion nodded and turned to the group of ponies. “MEN!” he bellowed. “Prepare to fire!”
Rarity tried to get something out, but she didn’t have the energy.
“READY!”
The unicorns’ horns glowed.
“AIM!”
Rarity closed her eyes. ...Help me.
“FI– ARGH!” Blueblood screamed.
Rarity opened her eyes, and everypony else turned around. They all saw Prince Blueblood struggling and yelling as Spike was holding onto his face and clawing at him.
“Get off me!” he ordered. “You’re ruining my good looks!”
“What good looks!?” yelled Spike.
Blueblood looked over at Heavy Duty and the soldiers. “What are you waiting for!? Hearth’s Warming Day!? Kill this dragon at once!”
“Not a very good idea!” yelled Spike as he punched Blueblood again. “You sure you want to risk getting hit and possibly killed to get me?”
Blueblood gasped and looked over at the ponies readying to fire. “BELAY THAT ORDER!” he frantically shouted.
Heavy turned around. “You heard him! Lower those weapons!”
“But what do we do now?” one stallion asked.
“How about we kick your flanks?”
The stallion turned around, and before he knew it, he was tackled by a blue blur. Another stallion was kicked and knocked into a group of ponies, who all fell over. Two ponies turned around, but were suddenly hit with a small cannonball and confetti. The platoon of soldiers, Heavy, and Suri turned around and saw Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Fluttershy with confident looks on them.
Heavy smirked. “Ah, so you must be the friends of our prey.”
“And you’re one of the meanies after Rarity!” Pinkie yelled back.
“Not the most witty pony I see,” said Heavy. “You all saved us the trouble of hunting you down. It’s brave you all came for your so called friend, but look around you. You’re outnumbered 30 to 1. However, we’ll make sure your deaths are quick and painless, unlike Nightmare Moon here.”
“She’s not Nightmare Moon!” yelled Rainbow. “She just looks like her because–”
“Oh, don’t you say anything like that,” interrupted Heavy. “We heard that from our former associate.”
“Quick Note?” wondered Applejack.
The brown stallion smirked. “He still lives? I thought when Blueblood threw him over the walkway, he fell to his death. We’ll deal with him soon enough.”
“WHOA!”
The group turned around, and saw that Blueblood finally got his hooves on Spike and held him from the tail. Spike gulped a little as he looked into the furious, and scratched up, face of Blueblood.
“Insolent little dragon!” the prince barked. “I’ll make some boots out of your scales!”
Blueblood tossed Spike, and the dragon was sent hitting and skidding against the ground. Spike grunted and yelled as he felt the scraping against him. He eventually came to a stop in front of another pony.
Rarity felt her stomach flip and hoarsely screamed, “Spikey Poo!”
Spike groaned as he opened his eyes. His vision was distorted and a bit bleary, but he could make out a pink mare smirking at him. He rubbed his eyes, and he got a better look at the mare. Another flash of lightning shot across the sky, and Spike gasped as he saw the mare. He crawled away and pointed at her.
“You!” yelled Spike in a furious tone. “You’re that fashion designer Rarity told me about! You’re Suri Polomare, aren’t you?”
Suri chuckled to herself. “So I am. Who knew that Rarity kept such strange company in the form of a dragon?”
“I could ask you the same thing about helping Blueblood.,”
Suri narrowed her eyes. “If that ungrateful and selfish mare just learned that it’s everypony for themselves in the big city, and not turn Coco and the rest of Manehatten against me, I wouldn’t be here.”
“Sounds like you got what you deserved,” spat Spike. “An ugly mare like you–”
“UGLY!?” screeched Suri. She trotted over and kicked Spike. The dragon screamed in pain and held his stomach. “YOU DARE TO CALL ME UGLY!?”
Before Suri could kick Spike again, she felt something hot whiz past her. She then heard a small booming noise, and turned to see the air duct was badly damaged and sizzling.
“Get. Away. From him.” a voice warned in an icy tone.
Suri and everypony else turned to reveal Rarity looking beside herself, gritting her teeth with rage.
Blueblood narrowed his eyes and turned to Heavy. “You know what to do!”
Heavy nodded and looked at his soldiers. “Men! Get after Rarity’s friends, and make sure they stay out of our way! The prince, Suri, and I will deal with Nightmare Moon ourselves!”
The soldiers saluted. “YES, SIR!”
Applejack looked at her friends. “Rainbow, you try and keep those pegasi busy. Maybe you can tire them out.”
Rainbow smirked. “Heh! I’ll do more than that!”
“Pinkie, you and I are going to take care of these varmints,” said the farmer pony.
The pink mare nodded. “And I know just what to use!”
Applejack then turned to Fluttershy. “You need to go get Spike, and try to see if he’s okay.”
The pegasus nodded. “I’ll try.”
“Get them!” ordered Heavy.
Rainbow flew off into the sky and looked at the small group of pegasi. “Hey, soldier boys!” she teased. “Think you can handle a real flyer?”
One of the pegasus narrowed his eyes. “Encircle her at once, and start giving chase, boys!” he ordered.
“SIR!” the pegasi shouted in unison.
Eight pegasi flew over and formed a circle around Rainbow. The blue pegasus watched in anticipation as the group circled around her, like a group of sharks around their prey. Rainbow narrowed her eyes as the pegasi smirked at her.
“If you guys think that’s going to scare me, think again!” boasted Rainbow.
“It’s not us you should be worried about,” said one pegasus.
Rainbow quirked an eyebrow, and looked at all of the pegasi. “One...two...three…” Something inside her head clicked as she counted them all. There’s only eight? I thought there were nine.
She looked around for another pegasus, but some whooshing noise caught her attention. She looked up and saw a pegasus dive bombing towards her.
Rainbow gasped. “WHOA!” she flew out of the way just as the pegasus was about to collide into her.
The pegasus’ confident look changed to one of panic as he missed his target, and was diving towards the roof. He tried to stop himself and fly upwards, but it was too late. He hit the roof hard and cracked parts of it. The rest of his fellow pegasi looked down and heard him groan as he laid down on his stomach and was twitching wildly.
Rainbow smirked and chuckled a little. “Is that seriously the best you got?”
The pegasi looked up at Rainbow with furious looks on them. They all started flying towards her.
The pegasus smirked. “Bring it on!”
“Oof!” Applejack grunted as a punch hit her in the face. She staggered back and bumped into somepony else. She turned around to raise her hoof.
“Wait, Jackie!”
The farmer pony lowered her hoof,\ and saw Pinkie facing her. She let out a sigh of relief. “Sorry, sugarcube, but I’m barely holding my own against these guys.” She raised her hind legs and bucked a pony galloping towards her.
“Look out!” yelled Pinkie. She grabbed Applejack and pulled her to the ground. A lightning bolt whizzed past them, and a loud explosion came shortly after.
Pinkie stood up and smiled. “Hey, guys!” She pulled out of her mane two orange pineapples. “Catch!” She threw the two objects.
Applejack gasped. “Pinkie! What in tarnation are you doing!?” she demanded. “You know what those–”
“Just say cheese,” said Pinkie in a chipper tone.
The orbs hit the ground near a group of unicorns. They looked down and seemed puzzled. Before one of them could say anything, a loud boom sounded off, and the splattering of cheese could be heard. Eight ponies struggled and tried to shout out for help, but the cheese had all but completely covered them.
Applejack looked at Pinkie and nodded. “I may have to rethink about what I said about cheese.”
Pinkie smiled. “Aww! I think Cheesy will be so happy to hear that.”
Applejack got up and shook her head. “Not that kind of cheese sugarcu–AAH!”
The farmer pony groaned as she felt a powerful blast hit her on the side. She fell over, and was clutching the area where she was hit. Pinkie looked up and saw a group of unicorns and several Earth ponies approaching them.
“Nice little toy you got there,” one of them said. “But we got the big guns here.” His horn, along with the others, glowed brightly.
Pinkie looked at them puzzled for a few seconds. She then chuckled slowly to herself, and then started laughing loudly. The guards looked at each other with confused expressions on them.
“What’s so funny?” wondered one of them.
Pinkie pointed and chuckled. “You sillies! Those aren’t the big guns.”
One of the unicorns smirked. “Then what are they?”
Pinkie’s expression changed to one of insanity as she pulled out from her mane two small cannons and pointed them. The unicorns gasped.
“What the hay is that!?” one of the guards asked.
“It’s how we really get this party started!” said Pinkie.
Two small cannonballs shot out of the cannons. Before the group of unicorns could react, both balls each hit two of them. They yelled in pain and were sent flying before skidding to the ground. The remaining guards looked shocked, but one turned back at Pinkie with a furious look on his face.
“GET HER!” he barked.
“But the cannons!” one guard shouted.
“Ignore their fire! Take her down at once!”
The guards hesitated, but warily nodded at their leader. Several of the Earth ponies charged in, and the unicorns’ horns glowed.
Pinkie smiled. “I love it when a party gets really wild.” She pulled the string and fired two more cannonballs.
As the cannons went off, Fluttershy looked towards Spike, who was slowly getting up. She quickly, but quietly, trotted towards him.
Rarity shot out an energy blast as she galloped. Prince Blueblood noticed it, and moved to the left as he gave chase. Rarity turned around, and gasped as she saw Heavy Duty leaping towards her. She ducked out of the way of the brown stallion, and quickly got back up again. She then turned around and shot out a few more energy bolts towards Blueblood and Heavy. They both dodged the attack, but the impact near them cause them to fall over to the ground.
Rarity panted and wiped her forehead. “Take that you ruffians!” Amidst all the noise though, something caught Rarity’s ear.
“...Ugh…”
Rarity looked over and saw Spike getting up, while Fluttershy was trying to tend to him. She gasped and galloped towards him.
“I’m coming Spikey Wi–OOF!”
Rarity felt something hit her hard in the side of her face. She staggered and nearly fell over. As she regained her balance and rubbed her cheek, Rarity looked over and saw somepony standing nearby. It was Suri with a wicked smile and holding her hoof up.
“That was for my career!” she barked.
Rarity narrowed her eyes. “Suri! I know you’re angry at me, but you must believe me when I say that I am not Nightmare Moon!”
Suri scoffed, and said in an icy tone, “Save it! I’ve been waiting for this day for so long. While killing you was one of the last things I wanted to do to you, I can’t pass up such an opportunity to rid the world of you, and be a hero for killing Nightmare Moon.”
“But it’s the truth!”
Rarity suddenly felt something shoot pass her. She heard a loud boom, and turned to see Prince Blueblood was up and aiming his horn at her.
“You can keep on telling us that, but we already know the truth,” said the prince.
Rarity took a step back and kept her eyes on Blueblood.
“And the world shall soon know the awful truth about your betrayal and fall from grace,” said Heavy.
Rarity’s ears perked as she heard the voice and turned around. Before she could react, a hoof came right at her, and connected right into her face. She screamed in pain and stumbled back.
“And then the world will see us as the new heroes of Equestria,” said Suri. She galloped and punched Rarity in the face again. The unicorn yelled in agony as she staggered back again.
Rainbow punched another pegasus and sent him down to the ground. “Is that all you guys got?” she mocked.
“AAHH!!”
The blue pegasus looked down and saw Rarity screaming as she was getting overwhelmed. She gasped and flew down towards her.
“Hold on, Rarity!” yelled Rainbow. “I’m co–ACK!”
The blue pegasus was suddenly blindsided by another pegasus, and the two of them went down. A black pegasus smirked and punched Rainbow in the face.
“Not bad for a pegasus who isn’t a real flyer in your eyes,” he smugly said.
Rainbow struggled to get out of the pegasi’s grip, but more of them came flying towards her. The black pegasus held Rainbow’s body and exposed her chest. The other pegasi smirked deviously as they pummeled and beat Rainbow Dash. All she could do was helplessly struggle against her attackers. She grunted and yelled as one punch after another hit her.
Soon, the punches stopped, and Rainbow was trying to stay awake as the world around her went fuzzy and black. She did see a shadowy figure fly up in her face, and looked up. The next thing she knew, she was hit again, and the world around her fell into darkness.
Pinkie laughed wildly as she fired one cannon after another. A few unicorns shielded themselves while a couple of them tried to strike back, but were hit by the cannon’s shots. Applejack, who had gotten up, bucked and kicked a few more ponies coming towards them.
The farmer pony panted as she kicked another pony. She heard some grunting noises from above and looked up. She gasped as she saw Rainbow was beaten and bruised by the pegasi.
“Rainbow!” she cried out.
Pinkie heard the yelling as she fired another shot, and turned around. She gasped at the sight. “Oh, no!” She pulled the cannon string again to fire, but the only thing that came out of it was the sound of a balloon deflating. “Double oh, no!”
Applejack turned back to Pinkie, and her eyes widened. “Make that triple oh, no.” The girls saw the unicorns lowering their shields and smiled sinisterly at them.
“Oh, yes indeed,” one of the guards said.
Pinkie bit her lip, but a bulb clicked in her head, and gasped. “I got it!” she announced. “But first things first.” She reached into her ear, and pulled something. A clicking noise went off.
Applejack looked dumbfounded. “What was that?”
“My idea bulb,” said Pinkie nonchalantly.
“Your what?”
“That’s not important, Jackie,” said Pinkie. She reached into her mane and pulled out an orange orb. “This is going to save us.”
“Pinkie, I don’t think that’s going to help us much,” said Applejack.
“Have I ever steered you wrong?” wondered Pinkie.
Applejack gave her an unamused expression.
Pinkie chuckled awkwardly. “Just watch,” she said. “Cheesy did say to use it in queso emergency!” The party mare laughed wildly at her own joke. She kept laughing until she saw the irritated expression of Applejack, and her laughter soon went away.
“Um...let’s just use it,” said Pinkie. She pulled the pin and threw it in the air. “This should be gou–”
“You make one more cheese pun, and you’ll have more holes in ya than a block of swiss cheese,” threatened Applejack in an icy tone.
Pinkie clamped up immediately and nodded nervously.
They both watched the grenade soar into the air, and was heading down towards the guards. Before it could land though, the orb was surrounded in a yellow aura, and was levitating.
Applejack noticed it, and gasped. “Pinkie, watch out!”
The grenade was hurled back at them, and they tried to get away. As they both galloped away though, the sound of something hitting the ground rang out. It went on for a few seconds as it bounced a little before a loud boom went out. Applejack and Pinkie turned around, and saw the cheese goop headed towards them. The ran again, but the cheese hit both ponies around the legs and part of the lower bodies.
Applejack struggled to move her body. Like her first time though, she had no luck with it. She looked at Pinkie with an angry expression. “I changed my mind about what I said about cheese,” she said.
Pinkie smiled nervously at Applejack.
The guards surrounded Applejack and Pinkie, and began trotting towards them.
Rarity screamed again as she was hit with another energy blast. She fell to the ground and was holding her side. She heard hoofsteps approaching her, and looked up to see a smug looking Prince Blueblood. She tried to concentrate some of her magic into her horn, but Blueblood noticed the sparks coming from her horn, and smacked her. The prince then grabbed Rarity’s head and turned it. Rarity gasped at the sight before her.
“Look upon it, Rarity,” said Blueblood.
The unicorn tried to turn away, but Blueblood forced Rarity to look at the sight. In front of her were her friends being surrounded by the soldiers. Rainbow was being brought down by the pegasi, and was restrained. Pinkie and Applejack were struggling to move, but one unicorn put a force field over them, and another took away Pinkie’s party cannons.
Rarity closed her eyes and felt her heart sink in despair. “No!” she cried out.
“There’s no use in fighting back anymore, Nightmare Moon,” said the prince. He turned Rarity’s back towards him. She gasped as she saw his horn charging and smiling wickedly. “Your reign of terror is over. When you get to Tartarus, tell your dead minions I said hello.”
Rarity desperately struggled out of Blueblood’s grasp. “I won’t let you do this to my friends!” She concentrated all her energy and determination into her magic. She felt a little fatigued from the running, but she shrugged it off. Her horn charged up and she shot out a lightning bolt.
“ARGH!” Blueblood yelled in pain.
He moved his head out of the way, but apparently not fast enough. The side of his face had a burn mark scratching him. He rubbed it for a moment as he felt the shock hit him. It quickly gave way to anger as he looked back at Rarity, and his eyes narrowed.
He slapped her again. “How dare you!?” he barked. “I am doing the world a favor in removing a social elite pretender, and a traitor!”
Rarity tried to lift her hoof, but felt something pressing against it. She looked to her left and saw Suri was holding her hoof down. She then looked the other way and saw Heavy doing the same thing. Rarity looked back at Blueblood again and gasped. His horn was glowing brightly and pointing at her.
“The moon will most likely be nothing compared to your imprisonment in Tartarus,” said the prince in an icy tone.
As Rarity looked at the horn, she tried to move again, but to no avail. She gulped and closed her eyes as she accepted her fate.
“Help me,” she whimpered.
Blueblood lowered his horn and smiled.
“GET AWAY FROM HER!” a voice boomed over all the chaos..
“Wait, no!” a mare cried out.
Rarity’s ears perked up. Fluttershy? she wondered. And that other voice…
Blueblood turned around. “Who dares to–WHAT THE!?” The prince saw something lunge at him and cover his face.
Rarity opened her eyes slowly, and saw, to her shock, Spike was holding onto Prince Blueblood’s face for dear life. The prince was shaking his head and reaching his hooves for the dragon. Spike narrowly avoided the attempts, and used his hands to scratch at Blueblood’s face.
“GET OFF ME!” Blueblood bellowed. “When I’m through with you, the only thing that’ll remain of you is your skin for my boots!”
“I won’t let you hurt Rarity!” Spike yelled.
Rarity looked on at the struggle between the prince and Spike, and felt her heart skip a beat. “...Spikey,” she whispered.
Blueblood flailed his hoof around his face. He felt something skinny, but pointy. He smirked. “Got ya!”
Spike felt the grip, and looked to see his tail was being held by Blueblood’s hoof. He narrowed his eyes. “Oh, no you don’t!” he yelled. He opened his mouth and lunged at the hoof.
Blueblood suddenly felt a sharp pain in his hoof, and his eyes widened. He released his grip and waved his hoof around in agony.
“YEOWCH!” he cried out in pain. The prince felt the spit from Spike on his hoof, and gritted his teeth.
“You barbarian!” he yelled. “Biting a prince is your idea of fighting!? No wonder your pathetic town of Ponyville is full of slobs and ponies with no class!”
“Says the prince who can’t even do the most simple ways to treat a lady!” Spike shot back.
“What!?” Blueblood barked.
Spike raised his hand to scratch Blueblood again. “Now I’m going to–”
The dragon never got to finish his sentence, as he suddenly felt something pulling his arm. He turned his head and saw Heavy Duty was holding his arm. He then felt another hoof grab him, and looked to see Blueblood was pulling his other arm off of him. The dragon tried to hold on, but the two ponies pulled him off. Spike flailed around as he tried to fight back, but he was suddenly lifted into the air. He noticed a yellow aura around him, and he was pulled in close to a livid Blueblood.
“Let me show you how I treat those who get in my way!” he boomed.
The prince slammed Spike into the ground, causing the dragon to yell in pain.
Rarity gasped. “Spikey!”
She tried to get up, but was pushed back down.
“I don’t think so,” mocked Suri in a singing voice.
Rarity narrowed her eyes at Suri, but the sound of Spike’s screaming caught her attention again. She looked over and saw the dragon was being held up by Blueblood.
“I was going to let you live once I freed you and those other ponies of Nightmare Moon’s control,” said Blueblood. “However, I don’t think the media will mind knowing a dragon defended his dark, queen to the bitter end, and couldn’t be saved.”
Blueblood heard some hoofsteps and turned his head. He saw Fluttershy trotting her way to the door. The yellow pegasus looked at him, and yelped. She made a quick run to the door, and galloped down the steps.
Heavy narrowed his eyes. “I got this.” He began trotting to the door.
“Leave her,” ordered Blueblood.
The brown stallion raised an eyebrow. “Your highness?”
“She knows she’s beaten,” said Blueblood. “When we free her and the others of Nightmare’s control over them, she’ll be thanking me.” He looked back at Spike. “For now, I have one last thorn to take care of.”
The prince threw Spike to the ground, and began punching him. The dragon yelled and cried out in pain as one punch after another hit him. All the while, Rarity looked on in horror as Blueblood hammered the dragon. The more Blueblood hit Spike, the quieter his yells of pain were. The prince then delivered one big punch, which made Spike cry out loudly before he closed his eyes, and groaned in pain.
Rarity could feel tears building in her eyes. “Spike!” she screeched in horror.
Suri felt Rarity’s attempts to get up, and tried to hold her down. This time though, the unicorn squirmed out of her grasp, and pushed Suri away. Rarity got up and galloped towards Spike.
Please be okay, Rarity pleaded.
As Rarity got near Spike, she gasped at the sight of her friend. Spike was bleeding from the nose, and his body was swelling up from the beatings. The dragon was breathing, but was sounding very raspy in doing so. Rarity went over and grabbed Spike’s body. As she cradled him in her arms, tears began rolling down her face, and her body was shaking violently.
“Spikey...no…” she said in a broken voice. She clutched his body, and looked down to him.
As Rarity began to cry, another loud rumble of thunder echoed across the sky, and rain began to pour.