• Published 7th Apr 2015
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Daughter of the Moon - CartoonNerd12



The sequel to The Midnight Dance and Sweet Pea. The sisters set out to break their cousin, Cadence's curse.

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Chapter 21

The Grand Galloping Gala was full of happy ponies but one pony, particularly a princess was starting to fret. Her husband had been gone longer than he should have and it was upsetting her that he wasn't back yet.

Fluttershy started asking her sisters if they had seen Discord, but they could only answer 'no'.

Twilight encouraged her by saying, "Just keep looking. He has to be around here somewhere."

"Okay…" Fluttershy felt unsure and kept on searching.

"In the meantime…" Twilight went to Shining Armor, "..it is time."

Shining looked at Cadence and nodded.

Twilight then went up to the stage and had to stop her sister with the pink poofy mane from singing anymore. "Thank you, Pinkie!" She took the mike and cleared her throat, "Good evening, ladies and gentlecolts! Have you all been enjoying yourselves so far?"

There were applause and cheers.

"Good, because we have a very special speech for all of you to hear from our very own captain of the royal guard, Shining Armor!"

There was applause and Cheese nudged Shiny, "Go get them, slugger!"

Shining took a deep breath, looked at his beloved, and asked, "Would you like to come up with me?"

Cadence smiled and replied, "Of course I would…"

That made him smile and they both headed up to the stage. Shining Armor faced the massive crowd and it made him tense up at first, but with Cadence by his side, he knew he could get through this.

He spoke up loudly for all to hear, "Um, hello! First off, I would like to say 'thank you' all for coming this evening. It really means a lot for me and for the love of my life… Princess Cadence…" There were a few murmurs, but he just kept on going, "I have known Cadence for a long time and I can't see my life without her… She's everything I could want and more… which is why it is very important that I make this vow to her… A vow that is stronger than all the powers of Equestria… Before you and before the whole world… I make a vow of everlasting love to-"

But he was cut off when the lights went black. Everyone gasped and started panicking.

"What's going on?!" Rarity screeched.

Suddenly, the lights came back on and there stood a ten-foot tall Tirek.

More gasps from the crowd and the king and queen scowled.

Cadence screamed, "Tirek!"

Shining Armor went into protective mode and braced himself in front of his love, shielding her.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it, Princess?" Tirek said to her.

Suddenly, in a flash of blue glow, Luna appeared using the royal Canterlot voice, "Tirek! Your battle is with me, not my daughter!"

"You want a fight? Very well…"

Luna blasted from her horn, but Tirek swallowed up the magic and Luna fell to the ground weak.

"MOTHER!" Cadence rushed to her side.

"You'll pay for that!" Celestia shouted and she and her husband started to attack, but the result was the same as they were drained of their magic just like Luna.

"MOM! DAD!" the six princesses screamed and went to their parents' aid, realizing that their cutie marks were gone…

By absorbing their magic, Tirek got bigger.

Fluttershy frantically searched the room as ponies were screaming and running away. "Discord! Discord! Where are you?!"

Tirek merely stated, "Your pathetic master of chaos is unable to come at the moment…"

With fury and tears in her eyes, she screamed at the towering centuar, "What did you do to him?!"

"I put him back right where you found him…"

Tears ran down and she screeched, "NO! NO! YOU'RE LYING!"

"See for yourself…" With a whoosh of the doors to the gardens opening, there stood a creature of different animal parts giving off a terrified expression in solid stone…

"DISCORD! NO! NO!" Fluttershy wailed as she flew to his statue.

The others looked on in horror.

"It can't be…" Applejack said under her breath.

"No…" Twilight whispered.

Fluttershy caressed her husband's stone cheek, "Discord… Oh, my darling…" she wrapped her hooves around his stiff neck, weeping into it.

Rainbow couldn't take the pain her sister was feeling and demanded to Tirek, "Change him back… NOW!"

"I would… if…"

"If what?" Twilight questioned.

He looked at Cadence, "If the princess would be so kind as to come along with me…"

"NEVER!" Shining Armor blasted from his horn, but like the rest, Tirek took that magic blast, rolled into a ball, and snacked on it.

"I would be careful if I were you. You don't want me to take away all your magic, do you?" his eyes glowed.

Shining was about to blast again, but was stopped by Cadence's hoof. She stepped forward to face the centaur.

"If I go with you, will you promise to not harm my family anymore, and that Discord would be returned to normal?"

"Just as long as you keep your end of the bargain by serving me for the rest of your days…"

"NO!" Twilight and Shining Armor yelled.

"Don't do it, Cadence!" Luna begged with pleading eyes.

Cadence saw everyone else giving worried glances, but she knew what must be done and lowered her head, "Deal…"

Tirek gave an evil grin and in a flash of red and orange, the centaur and the alicorn disappeared into thin air.

In mere minutes, Discord's statue started cracking and he popped out, landing on the hard ground.

"Oh, Discord!" his wife embraced him.

He found himself shaking and Fluttershy had to stroke his fur to calm him down.

"I thought… I thought… I would never see you again…" he stuttered.

"So did I…" she released a few tears.

He looked over the sad scene. Even if he was turned to stone, he still heard every word. Cadence had just sacrificed herself for her family to be Tirek's slave for who knows what…

"I just can't believe… she's gone again…" Twilight slightly wept and Flash had her leaning on his shoulder for comfort.

Shining rose his head in determination and touched Twilight's shoulder, "No… Not this time… I lost her once. I am not losing her again…"

"But how are you going to find her? Who knows where Tirek took her?!"

"I don't know, but I can't sit around and do nothing anymore. Cadence needs me…she needs all of us!"

"You're darn right she does!" Rainbow flew up.

"I must agree that we must come to her rescue, but how can we find her?" questioned Rarity.

"Maybe those three ponies know something…" Discord thought out loud.

Everyone turned to his direction in confusion.

"What three ponies?" Twilight asked.

"The ones I followed out to the maze where I encountered Tirek."

"What did they look like?" Applejack asked.

"Oh… they look like three earth ponies. One was rude and mean and the other two seem nicer than her."

"Would you be able to recognize them?" Twilight asked.

"I should."

"Great. I'll have all the guards be on the lookout for them and if they find them, they'll be brought to the castle." said Shining Armor.

"While we do that…" Twilight went to her parents and aunt, "we should take you to your rooms to rest…"

"That would be a good idea, my darling…" said Celestia.

"Tirek has left us too weak to do anything…" said Sombra.

Luna beckoned Shining Armor and said to him, "Bring back my daughter…"

"I will." he promised. "I won't rest until she's back here safe and sound."

"You're a good stallion, Shining Armor… or should I say, 'son'?" she gave a small smirk.

He nodded his head as he had the guards help the king, queen, and the princess of night out of the room.

The girls and their husbands huddled together. If they were going to go rescue Cadence, they were going to need to work together.

"The way I see it, we're not going to go anywhere without those three ponies that Discord saw. They must be somehow connected to Tirek. Discord, you and Fluttershy with Applejack, Spike, Rarity, Fancy, and Rainbow and Soarin' go look for them."

Discord saluted, "Right. Follow me, troops!"

Rainbow scowled, "You're going to enjoy bossing us around, aren't you?"

"You know it." he grinned and they took off.

Flash asked his wife, "What do we do in the meantime?" He pointed to the remaining ponies still there.

"We get ready until our other group comes back with those ponies. Pinkie, Cheese, you better pack some provisions. The rest of us will go get the Ancient Book of Secrets."

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Twi? Remember, the book is too powerful for anyone to use…" cautioned Flash.

"Cadence is in danger. I'm willing to take that risk…"

"I agree." said Shining.

"There is no time to lose." She rushed out with her husband and the captain right behind her.

Once they made it to the wing where the book was kept, she was shocked to realize… "It's gone!"

Flash and Shining exchanged alarmed looks.

The search party was down on Canterlot's main street, passing stores and cafes that were closed for the night.

"Oh, dear… do you think we'll ever find them and get Cadence back?" Rarity questioned in concern.

"Sure, we will. We just have to-" But AJ stopped short when she saw a silhouette that looked like the shadow she saw back in the underground tunnels of Marendelle.

"Applejack, what is-" But she was hushed by her sister's hoof.

She gestured for them to remain quiet as she tip-toed to the alley where the silhouette was. Up ahead, she saw a figure talking to two other figures. She got closer when she heard one of the figures yelling.

"We were supposed to bring the book to the master! Instead, you ran off in this direction! Do you realize how furious he's going to be at us when he finds out how long we have taken?!"

"I don't care!" said the figure that had a stallion's voice. "We should have never stolen this in the first place, not when it was so heavily guarded at the castle!"

"Ugh! Just give me the book! I don't want to have to face the master's wrath!"

"And drag Coco into it? Not a chance!"

"You have no say as to what I have my assistant do!"

"No, because it's her choice what should she do!"

"Hey! She owes me! Therefore, she has to do what I say!"

"NO! I don't…" spoke another voice that was angry but sweet at the same time, "Silver's right… he was always right…"

"What?" the figure that was yelling at first fumed.

"I am grateful that you helped me out of a tough spot… But sometimes, I wonder if I was better off there than I am now… You don't treat me like other ponies do. Instead, all you do is boss me around to do your bidding, and I just can't take that anymore!"

"Fine, then! Leave! Starve out there! But don't come crawling back to me if you fail…"

"Believe me, I don't intend to…"

"Argh!" The next thing that AJ knew, the frustrated figure pushed the figure that had the stallion's voice and ran towards the opening. However, Applejack was right there and went in front of them.

"And just where do you think you're going, partner?"

But the figure pushed her away as well, and AJ yelled to her relatives, "Stop that pony!"

Rainbow, who was flapping above, said, "On it!" She and Soarin' headed towards the running figure and managed to tackle her. The others caught up to them and Discord wrapped his tail around the pony who was on the run.

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

Rarity gasped, "I know you! You were that rude pony with the dress stand and had that poor girl under your hoof!"

"The name is Suri Polomare. Get used to it."

Back in the alley, Spike was afraid his wife got hurt, but he saw that she was as tough as ever.

"Are you all right?" came a sweet voice, and they turned to see a stallion and a mare looking on in concern.

"I'm fine," said Applejack, "but are you two all right? Once I saw that mare make a getaway, I figured she must have hurt you."

"She did, but not in the way you're thinking of…" the mare hung her head.

The stallion wrapped his hoof around her in comfort, telling her, "It's all right now. It's over. She can't do anything to you now."

She gave a small smile to him, "I know she won't, but what about…" she went silent, aware of the present company.

"…about Tirek?" Spike questioned.

Silver and Coco exchanged glances and gulped.

"I think you better come back to the castle with us…" Applejack motioned.

They both hung their heads.