Rainbow Of Fate

by Lord Drayvon22

Revelations of Gold

Although Celestia’s rest that night is indeed refreshing, her dream is anything but peaceful. Within her dream, she finds herself in a field outside Appleloosa staring at an enormous tornado of dark purple energy that climbs into the sky until it’s no longer visible. It takes several moments of staring to notice it appears to be tunnelling into the ground and disappearing below the surface of Equus and her heart sinks as she realises where she’s seen it before. Within mere moments of that observation though, Celestia watches the very surface of her world slowly fragment and crack before violently imploding with enough force to fling her deep into space. If that wasn’t bad enough, the sense of Déjà vu only increases as she watches the particles slowly begin to recombine like one would imagine a planet to do as it forms across millions of years.

“Celestia… Celestia… It’s time. That which was lost to you has risen once more. The return of Aurum.”

Celestia sits bolt upright in bed with an impending sense of misfortune as she caresses her forehead thanks to a developing headache. She has heard that voice twice before and the fact that these past warnings immediately preceded her and Luna’s first encounters with Discord and eventually Sombra isn’t helping. Whenever that voice appears, chaos and evil always follows not long after. But I destroyed him. I watched him die. She shakes her head. There’s no use worrying now. We’re ready for whatever’s coming and we’re got more pressing problems. Until we get a lead, we can only search for him. With Chrysalis probably getting ready to attack, we can’t send our entire army to search. When Aurum makes his move though, we’ll be ready. I put him down once, I’ll do it again. She and Luna then perform thier bi-daily duties but an intense sense of both longing and foreboding fills her soul.

Around twenty minutes later, Canterlot Castle's dining room

After the hellish couple of days they’ve had, a good breakfast is exactly what the three Princesses need. Sure, they’re not exactly out of the woods yet what with the corrupted ponies, Chrysalis probably planning an attack and Aurum being somewhere out there but even this brief moment’s respite is much appreciated.

Even so, everything must come back to the matter at hoof as Cadance shakes her head. “What I don’t understand is why we can’t just find Chrysalis through her dreams.”

Luna thinks for several moments, trying to figure out how to explain it. “The Changeling hive mind creates a form of mental barrier. We wouldn't be able to access it without trial and error but Chrysalis forbade any form of mental probing so we never got the chance. The most we can tell is thier general location.”

Cadance looks at her aunt curiously. “How specific?”

“We can tell that they’re on this side of the planet at least. All we’re able to trace is the vague location of the block, not where it’s coming from.”

Deciding that no time is better than the present, Celestia cuts to the chase. “Another old enemy named Aurum decided that now would be a good time to make his return.”

Although she doesn’t say it, the look of Cadance’s face says it all. Bucking Tartarus, how many old enemies does she have? “Why haven’t I heard of him? Nightmare Moon, Sombra, the Changelings; they've all been foalhood tales but not Aurum?”

Celestia looks ashamed for a long moment. “Because I personally ensured that any record of his existence was scrubbed. What happened wasn’t a grand battle, a betrayal like Chrysalis and nor was there anything mythical about it like Discord or Nightmare Moon. It’s a simple story of a broken heart and crushed dreams. The last time I saw him, I thought he was torn apart by the Elements. I never thought I’d have to worry about him ever again.” With that, she finishes the rest of her breakfast in silence.

???

It is very hard to describe what waking up from an uneasy sleep to find yourself in an unfamiliar location and still paralysed is like without experiencing it yourself. The closest thing to compare it to is like waking up with sleep paralysis only there is no escape and that sinking sense of imminent danger is actually real. Not helping is that, despite the cave being silent aside from her breathing, there is an incredibly unpleasant and oppressive feel to where she is. "H-hello? W-where am I?"

For a small moment, the only response is her own echoed voice until a deep and almost demonic chuckle resounds throughout the cave. Immediately, Scootaloo's fur stands on end as her instincts scream at her to run. "Home, Scootaloo. My home." The voice is extremely bizarre; distinctly male but underlined with a feminine tone and accompanied by a distorted reverberation that makes it sound like the creature is yelling at her down a very long tunnel. Scootaloo's best guess is that it's been magically distorted but, given the different villains that have appeared in Equestria for the last two years, anything is possible. In spite of the almost welcoming tone however, as if she was being cordially invited into a friend's house for dinner, there is an undeniable underlying menace to the voice. The kind of menace one can only find when a truly evil being has everything exactly as they want it and knows it.

To say the least, she’s frankly scared because who wouldn’t be when trapped by whatever the hell the voice is? Then again, she certainly won’t let that show. Fighting to keep her voice stable, Scootaloo glares in the vague direction where the voice came from. "Y-you can come out, Changeling. I'm not afraid."

Another eerie chuckle. "You think I'm that Queen that thought it was a good idea to try and take over a city with three Princesses and six of the most dangerous ponies in the realm present? Don't insult me. She's a hard-headed foal."

Despite her fears, Scootaloo takes after her mentor by grinning cockily into the darkness. "Yeah, right. She's the foal when you just picked a fight with the most awesome pony in Equestria. Rainbow Dash is coming for me right now and will kick your flank into next-"

The voice suddenly appears right behind her left ear. "The same pony that left you like this?" Scootaloo resists the urge to flinch. "And before you mention your Princess friend, she's a little busy taking care of the mess in Ponyvile. They won’t realise anything’s wrong until it’s too late."

Scootaloo scoffs at the voice. "If you're so sure that they won't come after me, why even bother taking me?"

The voice seems to be grinning a very vile grin. "Because what use is winning without an audience? And what better an audience than the little flightless sproglet who happens to be both a close friend of the saviours and the personal student of Moon? Moon’s little heir apparent, if you will?"

Yeah, because a single lesson that she gave me five months ago is definitely the same thing as what Twilight’s been doing for ten years. "Good luck. You’ll still have to fight the Princesses and they'll crush you."

Despite the insolence, the voice is still filled with glee. "With everything going on with Ponyvile and the Changelings, they’ll only find out that I'm here when I want them to. By then, it will be far too late to stop me." Although the statement contradicts everything that she knows, Scootaloo still feels a sharp shiver run down her spine as the voice chuckles confidently. “But first, let's see what your honorary sister has been doing. I'm sure she’ll be here any moment now." Almost as soon as it finishes speaking, a large fiery screen forms from magic appears besides Scootaloo. Looking into it, she can see a severely dimmed version of the Sun with a very familiar visage on it’s surface.

Scootaloo's heart sinks for a brief moment but her expression hardens. "Nice try but now you're just trying to trick me."

The voice just chuckles darkly. “Maybe, maybe not. Why don’t you try to stand?”

Scootaloo rolls her eyes but is shocked to find herself able to. “What?!”

The voice seems to be smiling although the aura is unpleasant. “Dark magic. What use is a witness when they’re no fun to play with?” A shining light appears in the distance, appearing to be a cave opening. In an instant, Scootaloo bolts for it and the voice makes no attempt to stop her. Upon crossing the threshold though, her body sways for a moment before it crumples into a sack of flesh and bones. “So much like your mentor, it’s almost sad.” She finds herself teleported back in front of the screen before she can even look around as the voice sounds triumphant. “In due time, everything will be exactly as I want it. If they try to stop me, I always have some… insurance that they’d never want to endanger. Always useful to have somepony that a lot of very important ponies care about at hoof. Until then, I’ve got some things to do so enjoy the show.”

The voice seems to fade away but Scootaloo is too busy realising something. Throughout its entire speal, it had never cackled or boasted once. Every line was spoken not with arrogance or smugness but an absolute and almost worrying amount of confidence. The type you only hear from a player that has all of the cards in thier favour and is just waiting to play thier winning hand. Before she can dwell on it for long, the energy screen switches to show an unfamiliar doorway with three very familiar ponies standing outside it.

Momentarily, Twilight Velvet and Night Light’s house

As the parents of two of the most important ponies in Equestria, and given thier hostage value, a pony may expect the two ponies to batter down the hatches or evacuate to a safer zone. That pony would be surprised therefore to find the two ponies mostly chilling out at home. Threats to the very state of Equestria are almost a common occurrence by this point and they know thier children can take care of themselves so they just keep thier heads down until it’s over. When they hear a knock on thier door though, they exchange a look as they weren’t expecting any-pony today.

Not knowing what to expect, Velvet approaches the door with a knockout spell ready but stops when she sees the Princesses standing outside. Without a single word, she ushers them inside but Luna waves aside any attempts to bow. “Come now, there’s no need for that. You’ve both more than earnt the right not to have to bow in private.”

They nod and the Princesses take seats in the seating room. After a brief moment of rather uncomfortable silence, Night Light shifts in his seat. “Not that it’s not good to see you but what’s going on?” Another uncomfortable pause. “Princess?”

Celestia takes a very long moment to think as her mask weakens ever so little. How am I supposed to tell them?! They’ve all but lost Shining Armour and Twilight because I wasn’t good enough. AGAIN! I didn’t act in time to stop Nightmare Moon and I left him and Cadance alone. I should have known she could have gotten to them but I didn’t consider it! Nearly five minutes after they sat down, Celestia finally speaks. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” The sheer defeated tone in her voice worries Velvet and Night Light as she begins.

One abridged account of the last two days later

Once she finishes, the room is left in a very strained silence. Night Light and Twilight Velvet are unreadable; thier expressions someplace between shocked disbelief and being on the verge of tears. “Is-Is there any chance they’re still themselves?”

Luna takes a small moment to respond. “It’s entirely dependent on Nightmare Moon but we won’t lie to you. It’s very unlikely given what they did to us last time. This was planned and coordinated; she knew exactly what she was doing. We’ll do what we can but we can’t promise anything.”.

They nod and Celestia gets up. “I think they need some time. We’re needed elsewhere.” The other Princesses leave as well but are abruptly teleported away the instant they go outside.

---

Faster than they can blink, they find themselves in a weird void-like dimension filled with floating islands that Luna and Celestia immediately recognise. “Of all the-“

There is an abrupt crack and only a quick blast from Cadance prevents them from being crushed under an enormous boulder that came out of nowhere. “Sorry, just needed to get some mining done up here.” They look up to see Discord wearing what can only be described as a mix between a miner’s outfit and a bomb officer’s protective suit.

“Are you done? We’ve got places we need to be.” Celestia speaks with the tone of somepony that’s seen waaaay too much of Discord’s crap.

The Draconequus pouts. “Killjoy.” With another snap, all three abruptly find themselves sitting at a Alice in Wonderland table. “Sugar?”

Luna bats away a dancing piece of sugar. “Why’re we here? Just so you can annoy us?”

The chimeric being rolls his eyes so hard that they appear to pop out of his head for a moment. “Really Lulu, you need to have some faith. I’ve come to deliver a message.”

Cadance can’t help but raise an eyebrow. This may be the first time she’s met him but Discord is a notorious pain in the flank. “Which is?”

The Draconequus raises two talons with a familiarly mischievous smile. “First, you three need to be more open minded about what happened recently.” He smiles even wider as the Princesses have to slam the tops of thier heads back down because they started floating away. “Not everything is quite as they seem.”

“And how would you know?”

The Draconequus tuts, sounding a lot like a mother deeply disappointed in thier children. “You’re asking someone who once used mind control against those same ponies how he knows what mind control looks like? I’ve seen everything the last few days, you know.” About to see an objection, he continues. “And what do I have to gain from lying to you?”

Celestia glares at her supposedly reformed former enemy. “Asks the being that feeds on distrust, chaos and insanity. You thrive in this type of environment.”

The God of Chaos waves a claw. “You’re too kind but believe what you will. Before you go though…” His evil grin that he has used so many times makes an appearance. “You need to tell them the truth soon, Tia. He’s back and you know it.”

Luna and Cadance look to Celestia who glares daggers into her former enemy. “And yet I can’t see you making any effort to stop him or help us.”

Discord’s smile widens to literally encompass his entire head. “Just because I won’t attack Equestria anymore doesn’t mean that I have to help it. It’s far too much fun watching you run around trying to stop them. And besides, I recall that one of the reasons you petrified me was because anything I did to help only made things worse.”

Luna glares. “What about Fluttershy? I thought you were supposed to have reformed.”

Discord rolls his eyes so hard that they land in Luna’s tea. “I have no doubt that those weapons of mass affection you love to use so much can carry the day. Oh wait, you can’t. Oh well, I know from experience that you’ll find a way. You always seem to. And if not, I’ll probably intervene but this is far too much fun to just stop early.”

After the reminder that Discord will always be selfish and even sometimes cruel no matter how reformed he is, the Draconequus smirks. “Oh, but look at the time. I’ve been keeping you too long and you’ve got places to be. Bye.” And with no further words, he snaps them away.

The outskirts of Ponyvile

Celestia suddenly finds herself standing with Luna just in front of the bridge to Ponyvile. Despite it having been around 8AM when they left Night-light and Velvet's house, it now appears to be around 11 but that's Discord for you. Cadance, however, is nowhere to be seen. “Do you think she’s okay?”

Celestia nods. “Knowing Discord, she has probably ended up with Shining Armour back at the Castle.” With that, they enter the small town to find a somewhat surprising sight. Admittedly, they didn’t know quite what they were expecting from what should be a town of feral ponies. What they definitely weren’t expecting was for things be going as normal as ever. Putting aside the clearly transformed appearances of the residents, they seem to be going about thier normal routines as if it were any other Wednesday morning. As if the situation wasn’t complicated enough.

Quite frankly, they were expecting to find the town slowly tearing itself apart with maybe a few small holdouts which... well, it wouldn’t relieve the pain of what they’d likely have to do bu it wouldn't make it easier to justify to themselves. Now, the situation has gone from having to banish a town of victimised but unsalvageable ponies for the greater good to having a town of still apparently civilised victims. At first, they assumed they’d be jumped when they got too far into the town to easily escape but any acknowledgement of thier presence is a simple bow and the appropriate greeting.

By the time that they reach the Golden Oaks Library, thier concern has only grown. They won’t banish innocents unless they absolutely have to but aren’t sure that they can reason with the corrupted. Without a word, they exchange looks and knock on the door. Almost immediately, they find themselves muzzle to face with a large snake so they tense until recognising his eyes and colour scheme. It serves as a good reminder of what could have happened had they not struck first yesterday. By comparison, Spike wears a warm smile. “Good morning, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna. Twilight’s waiting upstairs.”

As he makes himself busy, the Princesses head upstairs only for Luna to stop by an open door. “Luna?”

Seeing the worried look on her sister’s face, Celestia peers into the guest room from yesterday to find it empty. “We will find her, Luna.”

With a nod, they slowly make thier way into Twilight’s room where the find the librarian who appears to be trying to alphabetise her personal collection for the hundredth time. After everything that’s happened, something so Twilight-y is almost a relief but neither have the chance to speak before Twilight notices thier presence. Despite her rather altered appearance, she smiles as widely as if this were any normal surprise visit. “Good morning, Princess.” Her smile falters after a moment as she looks around and sees the pile of books that more resemble a dragon’s hoard than the contents of a library. “Oh my gosh, this place is a mess! Can you come back again in like five minutes?”

Despite literally everything that’s happened, Celestia can’t help but smile. “It’s fine, Twilight. We just need to talk.”

After another glance around, Twilight nods and leads the way to the kitchen. “I assume you’re here to talk about… this?” Celestia nods but doesn’t speak. “It’s… odd to say the least but the test results are certainly interesting. The potential applications are-“ She cuts herself off with a small nervous giggle. “Maybe I should start with what happened.”

Two days ago, Ponyvile Square

As the mist clears away to reveal the transformed Twilight Sparkle, it goes without saying that she’s having just a slight meltdown. She’s going to turn me against Princess Celestia! She’ll make us hurt ponies! That’s what she wanted after all! Princess, Luna, Cadance, Shining; I’m sorry! It take several more moments of freaking out to realise that she still retains her semblance of self. “Huh?”

“Was that fun?” In a split second, Twilight spins 360 and unleashes the most powerful blast she can manage even if it isn’t much given her physical weakness. To no-pony’s surprise, it phases straight through Nightmare Moon’s face… and blows out half the side of a building. Nightmare Moon smiles wickedly as Twilight stares at her hooves. “Gesundheit.”

Speechless for several moments, Twilight re-adopts a defensive stance. “What did you do?!”

Nightmare Moon just stares at her. “I thought that would be obvious. You’re completely exhausted but you still managed to destroy half a building even at your absolute weakest.” Before Twilight can respond, a mischievous smirk appears on the Alicorn. “Oh, Rarity? Spike? You two’ve got places to be.”

Before any-pony can speak, both are already gone but she finds herself staring down The Stare. “Where’d you send her?”

Despite the off-putting glare and oddly severe tone for Fluttershy, Nightmare Moon waves it off. “Her parents are visiting town and they’ve got some ‘catching up’ to do.”

She was expecting a response or another attack but instead there is a blinding purple flash and the seven others in the square are gone. “Surprise, surprise.”

---

What comes next should be no surprise to anypony that knows Twilight. The next hour or so of the afternoon is a blur for the Main 4. A number of scans, magical readings, blood tests, physiological examination and being hooked-up to machines that only Twilight knows the function of. And what is the end result of such rigorous testing?

“From what I can tell, we’re the same as before biologically but our natural attributes are massively augmented to beyond anything I’ve ever seen.”

Applejack rolls her eyes but it’s accompanied by a smile. “Coulda told ya that myself. Buckda wall earlier in frustration an’ it sent a crack that ran the entire length of the building. Watt I really don’t get is why Spike looks like that? Shouldn’t he just look something like the one Fluttershy dealt with?”

Twilight reexamines her readings once more. “I don’t know, there’s nothing I can compare his physiology to. My best guess is that, since a dragon’s tail is unnaturally strong and prehensile, his anatomy was changed so his body would have the optimal musculature for its intended function.”

She is about to say more when she notices the others looking at her rather blankly. “A dragon’s tail seems to be the strongest part of thier body when they’re growing up so most of his anatomy was changed to give it as much power as possible. Or maybe it’s just the effects of the dark magic. I’ve only got one case study.”

Applejack stares at her. “Wait, how’d yah even doah DNA test on Spike when he’s not here?”

Twilight shrugs. “I’ve spent some time trying to understand dragon physiology on Spike’s behalf ever since his birthday last year so I have some blood laying around. I got the newer sample because he cut himself earlier and I got some dried blood to test. It’s less accurate than fresh blood though.”

Seeing the others’ understandable worry, since you don’t have to be a genius to know that screwing with DNA and anatomy isn’t a very good idea, she reviews her notes once more. “Stranger still, his body registers the same as ever. It’s the same as if he were hatched this way despite the rather drastic anatomical alterations. Maybe it had to do with his accelerated hatching, I have no idea. Whatever happened to Spike doesn’t seem to have had any negative side effects though I’ll need to study this further.” With some of the more immediate questions out of the way, she gets around to the most glaring. “Now what?”

Pinkie finally decides to speak, having spent the last five minutes silent and oddly deep in thought. “I say we wait and see.”

Applejack stares at her. “Beggin’ yer pardon but we’re jus’ gonna let Nightmare Moon do as she pleases without tryin’ tah stop ‘er? After everythin’ she did tah Princess Celestia and almost did to Equestria? After she possessed Dash?”

Fluttershy decides to take that moment to ‘speak up.’ “I think Pinkie’s right.” She winces as all eyes turn to her but pushes through her timidness. “Twilight already tried to fight her and she ended up losing. She’s an Alicorn but none of us are so we may not stand a chance without the Elements or another advantage. She might not hold back next time.” She shivers at the next thought. “And what’s to stop her from possibly taking completely control over us if we oppose her?”

Applejack flinches. “Ah didn’t thinka that but we cahn’t jus’ letter have her way with Ponyvile. We’ve gotta do something’ ‘cause who knows what she has in store fer every-pony else?”

“’We should do something. Should we do something? But shouldn’t we do something?’ It’s amazing you ever get anything done with such indecision.”

Acting on sheer survival instinct, Applejack bucks only to instead strike a small coffee table which explodes into splinters. “Ged out!”

The towering Alicorn with a nasty smile may be a very imposing sight but Applejack refuses to let that show. “Is that any way to speak to your guest? You believe so strongly in family, shouldn’t that extend to your guests?”

“‘Guests’ don’t corrupt thier hosts an’ brainwash thier hosts’ friend!” If they were anywhere near the same height, Applejack would most assuredly be getting in Nightmare Moon’s face right now.

Nightmare Moon just smiles before turning to an equally indignant Twilight. “[b[Tell me, you’ve been doing tests for almost two hours now. Did you find any trace of mind control or forced coercion?”

If looks could kill, Nightmare Moon would be a mound of bones by now. “That magic’s only detectable when it’s in use. It’s hard enough to detect even when it is in use.”

The dark Alicorn smiles at Twilight in an eerily similar way to her mentor. “Very good but why would I give you any free will whatsoever? Why would I give you the chance to oppose me? Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s some last minute preparations for me to see to.”

Once she’s gone, Fluttershy turns back to Twilight. “N-now what?”

Twilight thinks for a long moment. “We’ll have to wait. Trying to stop her without the Elements is too dangerous so we have to time it perfectly.”

Her friends nod in agreement but none of them particularly like the idea.

The present

After another moment of awkward silence, Celestia nods and adopts a more business-like tone. “I assume you’re wondering where Rainbow Dash is?”

Twilight shakes her head. “Since we haven’t heard from her, I assume she’s already been banished.” When Celestia nods, Twilight’s head falls. “I was afraid of that. It’s going to happen to us too, isn’t it?”

The uncomfortable pause that follows isn’t helping. “We really, really don’t want to Twilight. We’re just worried that Nightmare Moon’s magic has turned you against us. That all of this is just an act as part of a greater scheme.”

Twilight doesn’t need to be a genius to realise the obvious. “You came here to banish us, didn’t you?”

The very uncomfortable moment of silence that follows is enough of an answer. “Only if we had to. If we had to choose between banishing Ponyvile or potentially putting all of Equestria at risk of attack by corrupted ponies, we’d have to choose the majority. Now though, we’ll have to convene.”

Seeing how visibly uncomfortable that makes Twilight, and deciding to consult with Cadance before they make any moves, Celestia changes the subject. “Where’s Scootaloo?”

Twilight’s discomfort only amplifies. “None of us know. We took her to the hospital yesterday morning but she vanished soon after. There was no evidence of a break-in and the Guards didn’t hear or see anything. She was simply there and then she wasn’t.”

For a moment, Celestia falls silent as she seems to suss out whether Twilight is hiding something before nodding. “We have some idea as to who may have taken her. Queen Chrysalis is making her return.”

Twilight is confused as she tried to remember where she’d know that name from before her eyes widen. “That Changeling that ruined the wedding?”

Luna nods. “Indeed, she knows we’re divided and we can’t use the Elements without Rainbow Dash. We need to be ready.”

After a few more minutes of talking, Twilight excuses herself to warn the others and the Princesses take thier leaves as well. Suffice to say, they’ve got a lot left to do and need to compare notes with Cadance.

???

Scootaloo stares at the floor long after the vision has already ended. I know that thing’s got to be lying but why do I feel like he’s right?

“Finally confronted the truth, have we?” Scootaloo manages to resist the urge to jump this time. “Good, you’re getting used to it. You’re going to be such fun.”

Scootaloo glares off into the darkness. “Are you always going to be this annoying or what? If I could get my hooves on you-“

She’s cut off by a deep, joyful laugh but with an underlying tone of menace. “Then you’d be vaporised before you could even more an inch. You’re easier to read than an open book enchanted with a speak and spell.

Once again, taking a cue from her mentor, Scootaloo beats nary a visible eye. “Who are you?!”

The voice chuckles but is this time underlined with bitter anger. “You wouldn’t know me because Celestia destroyed any record of my existence long ago after sealing me away on Pona Centarus. You can call me Aurum.”

Almost immediately, Scootaloo’s mind is cast back to a lesson Cheerilee had given on other languages. Mind you, she spent most of that lesson trying to stay awake at all but that name rings a bell. “Your name is Matin for gold? What kinda name is that?” More oddly to her, she may never have met an Istallion but Aurum speaks with a mild Trottinghamanian accent which she knows definitely isn’t anywhere near Vistally.

Aurum just laughs unpleasantly. “Things are about to get interesting, Scootaloo. Why don’t we watch?” Aurum's voice falls silent and Scootaloo is left to watch another energy screen. before his voice falls silent and the energy screen reappears.

---

Around half an hour into thier journey back to Canterlot, Luna directs Celestia to land in an empty field. “Is something wrong, Luna?”

Luna eyes her curiously. “Who is Aurum? Why haven’t we heard of him before.”

Much to her surprise, she watches Celestia flinch uncharacteristically. “Please doeth not fret, Princess Luna. Nay matter what may come next, nay matter how thou may feel repressed or ignored, know that Princess Celestia and I are hither. Thou doeth not need to suffer in silence.”

At once, a look of painful regret passes over Luna’s face before they continue with even greater haste. No more words need to be spoken as both know all too well what happened. One threat is neutralised but two more wait in the wings.

Before they go more than a few miles, they end up slamming into an energy barrier. "Again?" When they look high into the sky though, they feel thier hearts fall to the floor. At first, it merely appears to be like a very weird sunset with the night sky slowly crawling across the horizon from towards Manehatten.

However, there are several major problems with that idea. It’s only 2PM, neither Princess has begun the night ritual, there’s a low pitched buzzing noise and using a telescope would reveal the “darkness” to consist of hundreds of black masses converging on a single point. Ponyvile.

Comments

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

Okay for some reason Nightmare is allowing Fash to augment her friends.

But seriously Celestia. Next time kill yoir big bad. You are proving Dash's point here. How many big bads did you not fonish that Twilight and the others have to?