Darkest Star

by The1Ryu

Chapter Three: The Shadows Revealed

Chapter Three
The Shadows Revealed

Princess Luna jolted awake suddenly realizing that she had fallen asleep. She was laying in some bushes which could no longer keep the sun’s light at bay as it began to near its apex. Why had she fallen asleep? She had not slept at all yesterday, this was true, but she had not fallen asleep at night since the day she and Princess Celestia had taken their thrones. Ignoring the strangeness, Princess Luna stood and stepped out of the bushes looking up to the window of Rainbow Dash’s room relieved that all seemed fine.

Princess Luna had snuck out last night to keep an eye on Rainbow Dash. She was frustrated that Twilight Sparkle and her friends would not let her help in any way, but she did understand. She had hoped so dearly that her curse would not follow her to Ponyville, and that all the misfortune had just been a coincidence like her sister had said, but Princess Luna was growing less sure as the days passed.

She had only been there a few minutes last night when she had heard a commotion up in the room, but a quick flight to the window revealed it to be nothing more than an argument between Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Even she knew that there was nothing unusual about that, but a few minutes later Applejack was kicked out of the hospital and stomped off down the road muttering angrily about the blue pegasus’ using colorful language that the Princess would not dare ever repeat.

Given Applejack’s expulsion from the hospital, Princess Luna felt a renewed need for her own vigilance, but it seemed to be for nothing, as the starry-maned princess fell asleep only a few hours later. Princess Luna sighed disappointed in herself; she could not even stay awake properly.

Realizing that everything was fine and that she would probably have a lot of explaining to do as to why she was gone all night and morning Princess Luna began to walk back to the library joining the citizens of Ponyville on its populated streets.

“Is that her?” A voice spoke softly nearby causing a familiar anxiety to come over Princess Luna; she quickly pushed it aside. Ponyville was not Canterlot, and she didn’t even look like herself to these ponies, they could not be talking about her.

“Ya that’s her, she’s the one that did it from what I heard,” Another voice answered the first. Princess Luna turned to look over to where to mares stood talking quietly and looking at her, but they quickly looked away when Princess Luna turned to them.

“It makes sense; she was with both of them the day it happened.” Another said catching Princess Luna’s ear and she turned to see an older yellow stallion with a brown mane looking in her direction with a deep frown. He turned away from her, though not as quickly as the others and continued talking to another pony

Princess Luna wondered what was going on as she made her way through the streets of Ponyville feeling as if she was shrinking smaller and smaller as she went, eyes constantly on her and whispers all around her. Suddenly it struck her that the ponies were talking about two different incidents. Had somepony else gotten hurt? They had said something had happened to ponies she had been around, Twilight Sparkle and her friends! Had another one of them been hurt?

Princess Luna quickened her pace desperate to get to the library and find out what happened. She had only made it a few feet when an orange pegasus flew came around the corner of a building and spotted Princess Luna. “There she it!” The female pegasus shouted pointing a hoof at the disguised princess.

From around the corner came several more ponies all moving to block Princess Luna’s path. Half a dozen earth and unicorn ponies on the ground were joined by almost as many pegasi in the air blocking the princess’ path completely. The group swelled as ponies from the surrounding streets moved to join them surrounding the princess. Eventually, a green and rose maned unicorn mare stepped to the front, clearly the leader. “We don’t want any more trouble in our town, please leave now!”

There was a muttering of agreement from the crowd that was immediately silenced by a roar and a flash of magic from Princess Luna. At once the purple and silver-maned pegasus they thought they were speaking to disappeared and in her place stood the starry-maned, deep purple coat, and silver jewelry of the princess of the moon. Princess Luna looked down on her subjects fiercely her magic reacting to her anger and conjuring a storm cloud, thunder and lightning began to crash ominously all around her.

Princess Celestia had warned Princess Luna not to remove the disguise, but she would not let these foalish ponies stand in her way when she so desperately needed to see if Twilight Sparkle and her friends were all right. She glared down at the green unicorn that now cowered before the princess. “We are a Princess of Equestria, and we will go where we please, now step aside immediately!” Princess Luna roared fiercely. The crowd immediately parted, dashing into any available hiding place.

The way clear Princess Luna’s frightening vestige disappeared, and she broke out into a speedy flight for the library. Something terrible must have happened to cause the normally friendly citizens of Ponyville to act like that, and she had to find out what it was.

---

“Twilight Sparkle!” Princess Luna cried throwing open the door of the library her eyes wide with fear searching for the purple unicorn. The princess released a breath as her eyes fell upon her sister’s student standing with her friends Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and her assistant Spike. “Thank goodness you are all alright,” Princess Luna said moving towards the group. “Has Applejack returned to Rainbow Dash’s side?”

“Do not dare to play ignorant princess; you know very well that Applejack is in the hospital, you are the one that put her there!” Rarity said fiercely marching up to face the princess, her admiration, and love gone in the face of such a persistent threat to her friends.

“Applejack was attacked last night just like Rainbow Dash was,” Fluttershy added quietly. It was hard to tell if the soft-spoken pony was accusing the princess of anything even with her deep frown.

“And when they brought her in she kept moaning ‘Nightmare Moon, Nightmare Moooon’ over and over.” Pinkie Pie said mimicking her injured friend’s moans somewhat inappropriately while fixing the princess with a suspicious look.

Princess Luna looked from each of the three ponies facing her, feeling their suspicion like a heavy weight. “I-I did not, thou must believe me. I would never hurt any of my subjects especially any of thou,” She said desperately. Fluttershy looked down unsure, but Pinkie Pie and Rarity held an unmistakable look of disbelief. Princess Luna turned to Twilight Sparkle assured she would support and defend her, but in the unicorn mare, she saw a remorseful disappointment. “Not thou too Twilight.”

“I’m sorry princess, but all the evidence points to you and sneaking out in the middle of the night at the same time Applejack left the hospital, well that is too suspicious to be a coincidence.” Twilight Sparkle said with a shake of her head.

“But-but I only left so that I could keep watch over Rainbow Dash I swear. I saw Applejack leave the hospital and fell asleep soon after so it could not have been me!” Princess Luna explained desperately; she could not let this happen, she could not lose her last loyal subject.

“I’m sorry Princess I want to believe you, but I can’t on just your word alone,” Twilight Sparkle said with a shake of her head and stepped up to the princess. “Please if you give yourself up maybe we can help you. I’ll send a letter to Princess Celestia and she will come and-”

“No!” Princess Luna cried out causing Twilight Sparkle and her friends to take a step back, Pinkie Pie and Rarity crouched into defensive poses. “I am not crazy! I am not Nightmare Moon! I do not want to go back to the moon!” Princess Luna cried her magic swirling all around her blowing cold wind in every direction which suddenly stopped as the princess disappeared in a flash of purple light.

“Where did she go?” Rarity asked.

“That was a teleportation spell,” Spike said stepping over to the white unicorn, “She could be anywhere.”

“Maybe we were too hard on her,” Fluttershy suggested quietly and got only a snort as a response from Rarity.

“That was cool,” Pinkie Pie said with a bounce, “But I thought she was going to beat us up too like she did to Dash and AJ. Teleporting away doesn’t seem all that Nightmare Moonish... well not new Nightmare Moon anyway. Old Nightmare Moon was waaay more passive aggressive than new Nightmare Moon.”

Twilight Sparkle only half listened to the others as she frowned, her eyes deep in thought, something just did not seem right about all this. “Spike,” She snapped looking over to the purple dragon who jumped to attention. “Send a letter to the princess immediately we need her and the Elements of Harmony as soon as possible.”

Spike nodded taking out a piece of parchment and quill and began to hastily scribble down a letter explaining what was happening.

“Should we not go after her?” Rarity asked.

Twilight Sparkle shook her head, “There’s nothing we can do, Nightmare Moon is too powerful for us to handle, especially with Rainbow and Applejack out of the picture. The Elements of Harmony are the only things we know for sure will stop her.”

“Done!” Spike exclaimed rolling up the scroll and blasting it with a plume of green fire. However, instead of burning up and turning to a magical green smoke the scroll just caught fire and burned to ash. “That’s not supposed to happen, what’s going on Twilight.”

“I don’t know,” Twilight Sparkle said putting a hoof to her chin, “The princess must be using her magic to block the letters.”

Twilight Sparkle paced back and forth nervously, “We’ll have to send a courier with the letter, but any pony we send we’ll be putting in danger... Fluttershy!” Twilight exclaimed turning to the pink-maned pegasus who shrank back already shaking her head against the idea. “You’re friends with dozens of animals that live between here and Canterlot; they’ll be able to keep you safe along the way, right?”

“But, but couldn’t you just teleport there,” Fluttershy suggested weakly.

Twilight Sparkle shook her head, “I can’t teleport nearly that far, only the princess’ have that kind of power, and besides I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d done something to prevent any kind of instant travel as well as communication. She definitely doesn’t want us to get any help from Princess Celestia that I know for sure.” Twilight Sparkle moved over to her friend and gave her a pleading look, “I know it scary Fluttershy by we need you to do this.”

Fluttershy looked up at her friend seeing the same need and strong resolve the much stronger pony always seemed to have in a crisis, but this time Fluttershy could see a much deeper fear in the unicorn’s eyes. Fluttershy nodded and slowly stood up, “Alright Twilight I’ll go.”

“Thank you Fluttershy,” Twilight Sparkle soothed her friend and gave her a hug hoping to put her at ease. Then she turned to Spike, “Spike write another letter please.”

Spike gave Twilight Sparkle a salute, “Right away,” And left to find another page of parchment.

“Pinkie Pie, Rarity you two go assure the townsponies that everything is alright, they’re not in any danger, and the princess will be here soon.” Twilight Sparkle directed her remaining friends.

“Right,” They said together with a nod and started out of the library. At the door, Rarity paused, turned back to her striped maned friend and asked, “Darling what are you going to do?” Rarity was not trying to be rude of course, but Twilight Sparkle always had a plan for everypony so certainly she would not be sitting by idly.

“I’m going to see what I can find out about Nightmare Moon.” Twilight Sparkle said moving over to her desk and floating several tomes down from the shelves into neat stacks next to her. “If we have to face her without the Elements of Harmony then we will need to know all we can about her. Most of the information on her had been locked away, which was why there was so little when she was first revived, but since then the Princess has sent me several books on the subject of ancient lore. Hopefully, there will be something useful in them.”

Her curiosity satisfied Rarity gave a nod and trotted quickly from the library to set about her task leaving Twilight Sparkle to her's.

Twilight Sparkle opened the first tome and began reading; she had not done any research on Nightmare Moon since they had transformed her back into Princess Luna. Twilight Sparkle had not thought that she would need to of course and she empathized with the discomfort both princess’ had about the subject. They seemed just to want to move on from what happened and not think about those dark times; the loneliness and isolation they had felt for so long and all the mistakes they had made. Despite all that Twilight Sparkle now wished she had researched the evil mare, for now, she could not even fathom how the information in these books could have helped the situation.

---

The blackness turned to a deep crimson, then to a deep purple as Applejack slowly opened her eyes. There was a numbness to her whole body making it feel like a heavy weight all around her. Applejack was laying on her side staring at a set of deep purple curtains that vaguely held back the sun, bleaching all but the outer edges with its bright light. There was a faint moan as the air conditioner came to life, the first strong blast of air caused the curtains to shift slightly and a ray of sunlight to slip past their defense to shine in Applejack’s eyes.

Applejack groaned shutting her eyes and rolled over to escape the light which in turn caused the numbness to fall away and pain coursed through her. The blond mare kept her eyes tightly shut as she reeled and tried to ride through the pain.

“You ok AJ,” The voice surprised Applejack, and she snapped her eyes open looking to her left to see Rainbow Dash laying up in the bed next to hers, a Daring Doo book open in her good hoof.

“Dash where... whatta’m ah?” Applejack stammered looking around to see she was laying in the hospital, her body wrapped in bandages. Her ribs and back ached but other than that she was almost better off than Rainbow Dash.

“Nightmare Moon attacked you too, she beat you up pretty bad and tried to crush you under your own trees.” Rainbow Dash said in almost a whisper looking down at her book vacantly and shaking a little as if she was restraining a strong urge to move, cry out, or both.

“Dash,” Applejack began but did not know what to say to calm her best friend.

However, that simple word seemed to work, Rainbow Dash snapped out of her rage and pushed her book close. “Big Mac found you and got you here in time,” the blue mare chuckled, “Should have known you’d try to outdo me even at this.”

“Hey now Sugarcube, yer the one that’s always tryin’ t’ out do me,” Applejack said with a smile.

Rainbow Dash smiled back for a moment then looked down and frowned again, “I’m sorry.”

Applejack frowned, “Fer what?”

“For the fight, it was all my fault,” Rainbow Dash choked out, and Applejack could see a drop of water pooling at the corner of her eye. “I didn’t want you here making a big deal over me, so I got you kicked out. If I hadn’t done that you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.” The tear fell streaming down Rainbow Dash’s cheek to drop onto her blanket. “And when I saw you lying there, I... I... it must have been what you felt like seeing me laying there. I was so scared you wouldn’t wake up,” More tears joined the first.

“Oh Sugarcube, it’s ok ah’m all right and so are you,” Applejack said reaching out a hoof to the blue mare but could only reach half the distance before it became too painful to stretch any further.

Rainbow Dash looked up, the tears still streaming, but she found she was calmed by Applejack’s reassurance. Seeing the orange hoof reaching out to her she reached out with her blue hoof before her friend could suffer any further trying to reach her. The hooves touched and grasped each other tightly, the reassurance it gave the two mares far outweighed the discomfort of the stretched limbs.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack laid back in their beds staring up at the ceiling basking in their shared comfort they brought one another. After several long moments, Applejack turned back to Rainbow Dash, “Hey Rainbow.”

“Ya,” Rainbow dashed turned to face the earth pony.

“Why am ah on the froufrou side?” Applejack asked indicating to the various cloths and curtains that had been Rarity’s doing the day before.

Rainbow Dash scoffed, “Heck there was no way I was staying on that side of the room. As soon I knew you were going to be all right I had them switch us.”

Applejack shot the rainbow maned pegasus a glare which was returned with a wide grin.

---

The moon had just begun to rise; its vestige had waned so much that it was merely a thin sliver of silver in the sky when a brilliant flash of purple light filled the air. From the light fell Princess Luna in a heap of tears, feathers, and fur. She had no idea how much time had passed in the real world, for her magic, affected by her distraught mind, had held her suspended in the eather for some time trying to escape what was happening, but there was no escape.

She was a failure as a princess of Equestria, as a sister to Princess Celestia and as a friend to Twilight Sparkle and the others. She had always been a failure, a tagalong, drawing her sister and friends into trouble. Trouble was all she created, burdening her sister and friends with cleaning up her messes. Princess Celestia had done all she could to help Princess Luna, even gifting her with stewardship of the night, entrusting it to her care. What had Princess Luna done to repay that kindness, she had allowed herself to become corrupted by petty jealousy and became a tyrant forcing her sister to seal her away. Even after Twilight Sparkle and her friends had banished the darkness in her heart Princess Luna had merely become the Misplaced Princess knowing nothing of the modern Equestria and was a constant embarrassment to her sister. Now the evil of Nightmare Moon was returning, overpowering the weak Princess Luna and hurting those around her.

“I... I should just leave. I should just go far away from here and never return. Nopony wants me around...” Princess Luna sobbed unable to control her despair and self-pity.

“I want you to stay your majesty,” A voice said calmly penetrating the hazy despair of the night princess’ mind. Princess Luna shot up and looked over to see the dark figure step from the surrounding woods and approach her.

At first, the princess did not understand who this pony was and how he had found her, was he merely some woodland pony that had happened upon the weeping princess. Then Princess Luna’s breath caught in her throat, for he had both wings and a horn. That was impossible though, for only she and her sister possessed the unique combination of both. Then suddenly Princess Luna gasped as memories flooded back to her mind, memories of her times as Nightmare Moon.

“No matter what I will always love and be loyal to only you,” The stallion stepped from the shadows. The stallion had a pitch black coat and large bat-like wings tucked against his sides. A metallic horn curved and sharp like a blade stood out from his forehead nestled among a white mane which matched his long white tail and ivory hooves. His eyes were gray and cold, his cutie mark was a simple the white outline of a star.

“Dark Star,” Princess Luna gasped her eyes wide with disbelief. “How?” She dared to ask, for despite the incredible power that had been granted to him Dark Star should not have been able to survive for a thousand years untouched by the passage of time.

Dark Star smiled sinisterly as if it were completely obvious, “I would never fail in my duty to you my Queen. For a thousand years, I waited faithfully to fulfill the final task you bestowed unto me, to free you. Once I had done so the pale horse came for me as I always knew it would, and I followed it to the afterlife trusting that you no longer needed me. However, as we traveled through the eather to my final resting place I heard you call to me, so I escaped the pale horse, my loyalty to you was too strong for it to hold me, and returned to serve you once again.”

Princess Luna shook her head unable to believe the stallion’s story, “I never called for thou!”

“Of course you did,” Dark Star replied calmly. “You called for me when your ungrateful subjects once again spurned your love on the night of your own celebration.”

Princess Luna jolted as she realized Dark Star was talking about the Nightmare Night she came to Ponyville. After she had vowed to cancel the celebration, she found herself alone in the woods wishing with all her heart that her old friend was there to console her.

“Not thou,” Princess Luna denied with a shake of her head then stood up and mustered all the ferocity she could manage. “I did not wish for thou to come back, thou served Nightmare Moon, not me! How can thy say that thou serves me when thou assaults my friends and subjects?”

A cold frown spread across Dark Star’s face at the princess’ outburst, and he glared at her. “You’re right, Princess, my loyalty is to the Queen of the night, and I returned ready to serve her.” Dark Star spat the title and began to pace back and forth angrily, his words sharp. “But what did I find when I returned? Not the powerful and brilliant Queen I had served but her sniveling, weak counterpart who couldn’t even reclaim her duties as princess of the night!”

Dark Star stopped and smiled sinisterly, “That was when I knew that I had to bring my Queen Nightmare Moon back.”

“No!” Princess Luna shouted shaking her head in denial.

“Yes,” Dark Star countered. “I knew that if I showed you again just how ungrateful and unloyal the ponies of Equestria were, how they would turn against you so easily, then you would become my beloved queen again.”

“I will not,” Princess Luna said with a shake of her head, “I will tell everypony everything was thou’s doing. I will not succumb to the trickery foolishly revealed to me.”

“They won’t believe the word of Nightmare Moon,” Dark Star laughed. “And whether it was orchestrated by me or not will not matter once all have turned against you. Knowing that they refuse to believe you when you speak the truth will only serve to show you their true nature all the clearer.”

“Twilight Sparkle will believe me and so will Celestia.”

“Oh, I’m afraid that after tonight Twilight Sparkle won’t be believing anything anypony says ever again.” Dark Star said pointedly, the terrible meaning behind his words made the princess gasp in horror. “As for Celestia well, from what I’ve seen I don’t think she’ll take the loss of her most beloved student very well.”

“No!” Luna said throwing her wings up and her horn flaring to life with magical energy. “I will not let thou hurt her!”

Princess Luna charged Dark Star with all the ferocity she could muster, but the black stallion merely sidestepped the princess’ attack, his own horn surging with dark energy as he slammed it against hers. The dark magic coursed through her body as she cried out in pain and slumped to the ground weakly.

Dark Star scoffed tossing his mane back into place, “You didn’t really think I could be defeated by somepony I found weeping on the ground running from her problems did you?’

Princess Luna moaned trying to stand up weakly; it was as if the energy had been stolen from her body. She tried to summon her magic forth, but it was instantly blocked.

“You won’t be using any magic for a while, but don’t worry soon weak pathetic little Luna will be gone and Nightmare Moon shall rise again.” Dark Star said in a quiet tone that sounded cold in its attempt to be reassuring. With that, the white-maned stallion unfurled his wings and took to the air disappearing into the night sky.

Princess Luna watched him go cursing her weakness, her dearest friend in this new world was in danger, and there was nothing she could do. She shook her head fiercely; she could not just let this happen she had to do something. Gritting her teeth, Princess Luna gathered her strength and pushed herself to her hooves. She had to save Twilight Sparkle.

---

By the time Twilight Sparkle left the hospital it was already dark out. Rainbow Dash and Applejack had asked her to stay, insisting that it was not safe for anypony to walk home alone with Nightmare Moon free. The purple unicorn assured them that she would be fine and besides the staff would not let any more ponies stay long after dark especially not with the two most troubling patients they had.

Walking back through the dark park trails that were between the hospital and the streets of Ponyville was a little more disturbing than Twilight Sparkle thought it would be. She kept her ears keenly tuned for any sounds and constantly glanced back and forth keeping an eye out for anything unusual, though she could not see past the glowing light of her horn on the nearly moonless night. So when there was the definite sound of something moving among the bushes to her left, the purple unicorn quickly turned to face it. “Who’s there? Show yourself.”

It was silent for several moments then a dark figure with the distinct features of a horn and wings stepped out of the bushes its head hung low as it walked towards Twilight Sparkle, staying beyond the edge of her horn’s light.

“Princess Luna is that you?” Twilight Sparkle asked stepping towards the figure who stepped back defensively.

“It’s all right princess,” Twilight Sparkle said stepping back to make sure the princess was comfortable. “I know it’s not your fault, what happened, I just want to help if you’ll let me.”

The dark figure paused for several long moments seemingly unsure of her words, but then took a tentative step forward to the edge of Twilight Sparkle’s light.

The striped maned mare smiled and started to move towards the dark figure when a voice rang out through the night, “No! Stay away from him!”

Twilight Sparkle turned to see Luna’s shakily flying towards her, she landed with a gasp and crashed to the ground. The purple unicorn rushed to the real Princess’ side, “Princess are you alright?”

“Twilight thou must flee quickly,” Princess Luna panted, it had taken much of the energy she had left to fly after Dark Star. He had quickly lost her without even noticing that she was following him, but she had trusted her instincts following his course and thanks to Twilight Sparkle’s light had found them before it was too late. “Get away he’s...”

Princess Luna was cut off as Twilight Sparkle’s horn flared to life and both she and the princess winked out of sight as a pair of hooves were about to slam into the purple unicorn. They reappeared at the top of a short nearby hill Princess Luna looking up with surprise at the purple mare, “Don’t worry Ì know who he really is.”

A bright aura of magical energy flared to life around Twilight Sparkle’s horn and a sphere of light, like a second moon, burst to life hanging low in the sky bathing the whole area in light. The dark figure cringed in the face of the light for a moment then his shadowy form was gone, and Dark Star stood glaring up at the young mare. “He’s Nightmare Moon’s evil general, Dark Star,” Twilight Sparkle said, a knowing smile spread across her face as she looked down on the false unicorn pegasus.

“How?” Princess Luna and Dark Star asked at once a look of surprise spread across the princess’ face while Dark Star just continued to glare up at her.

“I came to the truth the same way I do everything,” Twilight Sparkle said standing proudly with her chin up, “By studying! While I was doing research on Nightmare Moon I found references to a pony who helped her battle against Princess Celestia and her royal guards. Knowing that I quickly realized the truth.

“When we first fought Nightmare Moon she did everything she could to stop my friends and me without direct conflict, trying to scare us, block us, or trick us into turning back but she never attacked us; even though she was more than powerful enough to defeat us all by herself.” Twilight Sparkle turned to the Princess, “Even as Nightmare Moon you were still a princess and no matter how corrupted you were you still did not want to harm your subjects.”

Princess Luna gave a sad smile, and Twilight Sparkle turned back to Dark Star. “You, however, are a soldier, so you attacked head on strategically taking out the two physically strongest of the elements first. You wanted to weaken us so that we wouldn’t be able to fight back when you came for the princess, so it natural to assume that after incapacitating Rainbow and AJ that you come after me next. Knowing that I purposefully put myself out in the open to draw you out, and I was about to use a spell of revealing on you when the Princess found us. It might not have gone exactly as I planned, but I know who you really are now and what you’re up to. It’s over Dark Star.”

Dark Star began to laugh, the echoing laughter that had haunted Twilight Sparkle’s friends when they had encountered the evil stallion once again cutting through the air. “Oh Twilight Sparkle I don’t know how somepony could follow all the wrong clues to the right conclusion, but here you are, so allow me to correct you. First I didn’t target the weather patroller or the farmer because they were strong. Ha! Even all six of the Elements of Harmony put together wouldn’t have a chance of defeating me.”

Dark Star shook his head with a grin, “No I took out the pegasus because she dared to insult my queen by acting like her equal. I did the same to the earth pony because she dared to threaten my queen,” Dark Star growled angrily rage building in him. “No pony is equal to Nightmare Moon, and no pony threatens her and gets away with it!”

Dark Star steadied himself with a breath and flicked his mane back calmly regarding the purple mare again. “As for you Twilight Sparkle... well it’s not your brains that made you a target, but you are the leader of the Elements of Harmony and the favorite pupil of Princess Celestia. You are also widely respected both here and in Canterlot, so your death will send the ponies into a terrible fury. Then they will show their true colors and turn on Princess Luna and show her once again that they need to be ruled unquestionably by Nightmare Moon.”

Dark Star laughed again, “And truly the funniest part is that you have not stopped my plans Twilight Sparkle. You will still die, and the ponies will still turn against Princess Luna. Did you really think that by coming out here and confronting me alone that you could stop me?”

“No,” Twilight Sparkle said shaking her head with a confident smile, “Not alone.”

Suddenly there was a thunderous charge as a group of several dozen earth ponies led by Big Macintosh charged up to flank Dark Star from several sides. The white-maned stallion looked up from the earth ponies into the sky were two dozen pegasi descended onto the area. He looked back to Twilight Sparkle who was joined by ten more unicorns, Rarity, Spike, and Pinkie Pie. “I may have misjudged your motivation Dark Star, but I did tell several ponies about you, and I assure you Big Macintosh has a serious problem with ponies beating up his little sister.”

Big Macintosh neighed angrily, “Eyup!”

“And Rainbow Dash is a bit of a hero to the pegasi, so they're more than happy to come out and show you what they think of you.” Twilight Sparkle said which the pegasi answered with a roar of angry shouts. “Some of the other former Canterlot residents didn’t take too kindly to somepony framing their princess.”

“That’s right you brute, we unicorns will always be loyal to both of our princesses,” Rarity shouted down at Dark Star conveniently forgetting her accusation from that same afternoon and that she was not from Canterlot.

Dark Star glared at each group, and then sighed angrily, “You’re more clever than I thought Miss Sparkle. I commend you on ruining my plan and saving your own life. As you said, however, I am a soldier, so I always have a backup plan. Come on Luna we’re leaving.”

Princess Luna’s eyes shot wide, and she shrank back slightly as Dark Star continued. “I had hoped I could show you that Equestria still needed Nightmare Moon and you would change back voluntarily, but it seems I’ll have to resort to more direct ways of bringing my Queen back.”

“I don’t think so bub!” Pinkie Pie shouted bouncing in front of the Princess.

“That’s right you are surrounded by the strongest ponies in Ponyville you’re are not getting away,” Rarity added with a fling of her mane and a fierce glare.

“Your only chance is to surrender Dark Star.” Twilight Sparkle said stepping forward her horn glowing and the unicorns behind her following suit.

Dark Star just laughed again, “Oh please. I defeated squads of Celestia’s Royal Guards singled handed. Do you really think you can stop me with a bunch of farmers and shopkeepers?”

“EYUP!” Big Macintosh roared and charged forward, he had never been a brash stallion, but he had had enough talking. The red stallion’s charge spurred the other teams into action; the pegasi dived down from the sky, and the unicorns unleashed bolts of magical stunning energy.

“Have it your way,” Dark Star shrugged. The black pony ducked under the fore-kick Big Macintosh threw at him, the force of his charge and the sudden lack of resistance caused the large red stallion to stumble forward catching a stunning blast in the head. Dark Star had slipped under the crimson stallion thrust his back up into the draft horse’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him and used his magically augmented strength to throw Big Macintosh into the lead pegasus. Hitting Big Macintosh’s muscular body was like hitting a brick wall to the smaller pony, and he was knocked out cold.

Dark Star rolled left dodging a green pegasus mare who dropped from the sky trying to tackle him then, with hardly a look, jumped back to dodge the pegasus’ partner, a cream colored stallion, who was struck by twin bolts of magical energy intended for Dark Star. Dark Star quickly pivoted on his front hooves and kicked the green mare’s flank sending her sprawling into a group of three earth ponies.

Dark Star ducked under another clumsy attack from an earth pony, rolling his back tossing the pony over his shoulder into another magical blast. Then he shot forward to strike another pony with a swipe of his eerily dark glowing horn barely grazing her with it, but sending a powerful current of magical energy into her, paralyzing her. With a flap of his wings, Dark Star jumped into a quick wide roll in the air dodging several more blasts of magical energy and yet another pegasus that tried to drop down on him. He landed hard on her back slamming her into the ground and sprang back up into another loop dodging seven more blasts of energy which struck three more earth ponies charging up on him.

Dark Star landed and glanced back to see Big Macintosh had recovered and was charging at him again. Dark Star easily sidestepped the larger stallion swiping out at the red pony’s foreleg with his horn paralyzing it. The sudden loss of strength in the leg caused Big Macintosh to tumble forward end over end and crashed into a group of two more earth ponies and a low flying pegasus all four ending up as a tangled heap.

Seeing almost a quarter of their numbers defeated in just a few moments caused the rest of the ponies to hesitate to attack the black unicorn pegasus, but Dark Star seemed to be enjoying himself and was not quite ready for the fun to stop.

He shot forward slamming his hooves into one earth pony and whipped around to kick a second while his horn gathered up magical energy which he launched at a third. All three collapsed to the ground with a moan of pain as Dark Star flicked his mane back out of his eyes. He ducked, dodged and sidestepped another barrage of magical blasts, this time the earth ponies were careful to stay out of the line of fire and used telekinesis to toss an unsuspecting earth pony into a pegasus. With a sudden buck, he slammed his back hooves into the chest of another charging earth pony.

Looking up Dark Star saw the pegasus ponies nervously hovering in the air just watching him, more like hovering statues than an air force militia. Jumping up into the air to dodge another magical blast he shot a blast of his own magic at an earth pony and slammed his hooves down on another before leaping high into the air. Dark Star moved incredibly fast as he climbed higher into the air. Kicking off one pegasus as he shot a blast of magic at another sending both winged ponies crashing down from the sky.

“Twilight we have to do something, this isn’t working!” Rarity shrieked while Pinkie Pie looked down at the field where eighteen earth ponies lay unconscious, over half their force.

“I know, I know,” Twilight Sparkle said frantically, watching the evil pony knock and shoot down pegasus such ease and glee that it might as well have been a foal’s game. “We don’t have a choice,” the purple mare resolved and turned to the other unicorns. “Everypony form a circle and focus your magic on me.” The others nodded and all, even Rarity whose magical prowess was not that strong, formed into a circle.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Luna gasped in shock at what the unicorns were doing, “Circle magic is very dangerous! Thou should not even know of it.”

Twilight Sparkle nodded, “I know Princess, but there is no other way, and we have to stop Dark Star.” The unicorn spoke confidently to reassure the princess, but she wished very much that she was as confident as she hoped she sounded. Circle magic was an ancient art that dated back to the time before the princesses when unicorns raised and lowered the sun and the moon, but its secret had been locked away for centuries. Twilight Sparkle had in truth only rediscovered it because the Elements of Harmony utilized a form of circle magic, but in that case, the Elements themselves regulated and controlled the flow of magic. Without that kind of regulation circle magic could cause hazardous magical feedback to the participants of the circle, but what other choice did they have?

When the circle was complete and the ponies ready, they set their horn’s aglow with magic and let it flow into Twilight Sparkle who, as the circle leader, could shape it as she wished.

Dark Star chuckled to himself hovering in the air watching the pegasi scatter away from him in every direction. He had sent ten more crashing to the ground leaving more than half of both the earth and pegasus pony forces decimated. Dark Star would have been disappointed by the lack of challenge, but he wasn't as it was so much fun terrorizing the pathetically ineffective militia they had put together.

Regardless of how fun it had been Dark Star decided it was probably time to leave, with the ponies on the run and much work to do to bring Nightmare Moon back into the world he did not have time to waste on common ponies like these. However, as he turned to face the princess an unbelievable pain coursed through his mind, the white-maned stallion screamed out clutching his head in his hooves. It was as if something was pushing his brain hard up against his skull. The pain coursed through his body like a wave stealing away his strength, he even began to lose altitude as waves of pain seemed to cause his wings to turn to jelly and he tumbled a few feet down before he was able to catch himself.

“Give up Dark Star,” A voice echoed in his mind, causing another wave of agony and black pegasus slipped a little further out of the air. “The pain this spell is causing you won’t harm you, but I still don’t want to cause anypony to have to suffer like this.”

“Twilight Sparkle!” Dark Star growled turning to where the purple unicorn stood in the middle of a circle of ponies all of their horns were glowing with magical energy focused towards Celestia’s student who radiated an aura of pure white energy, even her eyes glowed with the light.

“You’ll-” Dark Star began to threaten her but he was cut short as one brave gray and black-maned pegasus kicked the distracted stallion from the air. The blow, accompanied by a wave of pain, left Dark Star momentarily paralyzed and he fell through the air crashing to the ground.

Seeing Dark Star fall an orange and green-maned earth pony mare rushed in intent on making sure the false unicorn stayed down, but when she neared him Dark Star jumped to his hooves and bucked the mare hard in the chest sending her flying back several feet.

“Tell me-” Dark Star started, slowly advancing towards the unicorns only to be cut off again as Big Macintosh’s heavy form fell over Dark Star forcing him to the ground and pinning him down.

“Meddling...” Dark Star growled pushing himself up with his magically augmented strength only to be forced back down as the rest of the still conscious earth and pegasus ponies threw themselves on top of the two stallions.

“It is over Dark Star, give up,” Twilight Sparkle spoke through the telepathic link the spell had created. Dark Star’s reply was his usual cold laugh which despite the advantage they had over him, still disturbed the purple unicorn.

“Tell me Twilight Sparkle, what would happen if I sent a psycho-electrical pulse back through our little mind link?” Dark Star asked, and Twilight Sparkle’s glowing eyes shot wide with fear realizing that even in his incapacitated state he’d been slowly casting a spell through the pain.

“Break the-” The striped maned mare shouted to the other unicorns, but it was too late. Dark Star’s counter spell hit them like a powerful jolt of electricity. Twilight Sparkle staggered and collapsed to the ground the glow of magical energy instantly disappeared as her vision blurred and unconsciousness nearly claimed her. The purple unicorn’s mind had been protected by the incredible magic of the circle, but the others were completely vulnerable. They cried out in pain and all eleven collapsed in the perfect circle they had been standing in.

“RARITY!” Spike cried out rushing to the white unicorn’s side frantically trying to see if she was all right. However, the little dragon knew nothing about first aid and was left cradling her head in his arms while fighting his hysteria and tears.

“Twilight,” Princess Luna gasped in shock rushing to the side of her sister’s student worry spread across her face as she looked around at the fallen ponies.

“I’m... fine princess... what about... the others?” Twilight Sparkle asked holding her head with one hoof and wincing in pain with every few words. The purple mare would not be able to use her magic anytime soon, but neither she nor Princess Luna knew how long it would take the others to recover.

Dark Star’s head quickly began to clear once free of Twilight Sparkle’s spell, though he was still pinned under two dozen ponies and it took all of his strength just to give him enough room to breathe. However, though he was unable to move, the evil pony was far from helpless.

Concentrating on his magic, his horn glowing with dark magical energy, he began to gather power. Normally a pegasus would have to be traveling at near sonic speeds to gather this kind of energy and break the sound barrier, unleashing it, but Dark Star long ago learned to do it with magic alone. Once the energy had reached its peak he unleashed it in a thunderous explosion that threw all the ponies off of him, tossing them through the air like rag dolls and after a moment the silence the air was filled by a brief rhythmic thud of bodies hitting the ground.

Dark Star stood himself up slowly, making a point of regarding the field of unconscious ponies, sixty in all. Then, in no particular hurry, he shook out his wings, folded them neatly at his side, brushed himself off, and put his mane back in place with a flick of his head. “All right princess that was fun, but we really should get going.” Dark Star said coolly starting towards the princess.

“Y'all aren’t going nowhere ya lousy varmint!” A voice roared out from behind Dark Star.

Author's Note:

While breaking this story up into chapters, it having been written originally as just one long story, I gave all the chapter very simple working titles. With Dark Star now revealed I wanted to share those working titles as I found them to be a little amusing.
The prologue was called Dark Star vs The Librarian
Chapter One was called Dark Star vs Rainbow Dash
Chapter Two was called Dark Star vs Applejack
Chapter Three was called Dark Star vs Ponyville

I have also begun editing these chapters with the aid of Grammarly, I hope this helps, though it's no replacement for a proper editor.