Harpflank and Sweets

by Arcainum

Harpflank and Sweets: The Movie - Part 3

Thank you for your patience, we hope you enjoyed your complimentary cider!

Please check your bags, mane and tail for stray sprites and inform an attendant if necessary.

REMEMBER: PARASPRITES ARE PESTS, NOT PETS.

The feature will now resume.

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Scene 11

Silver-armoured moonwraiths crowded around the wreckage of the bay doors, searching for a way into the rocket’s detached cabin. Communicating wordlessly, a group combed the surface of the metal box, at last finding a bulkhead several ponies wide. The plasma rifles attached to their armour warmed up, ready to start blasting. Before they could fire, the edges of the bulkhead hissed with steam. Ever so slightly, it moved. The two moonwraiths closest to the bulkhead didn’t actually exchange glances and say “Uh-oh,” but somehow their expressionless helmets gave precisely that impression.

The bulkhead disengaged forcefully, slamming to the ground and crushing the moonwraiths. Wisps of magic floated from the remains of their armour. Two blurs, one green and one cream, burst from the smoke covering the revealed entrance and landed in front of the gathered forces, stances wide. The moonwraiths stepped back, surprised by the sudden appearance of Lyra and Bon-Bon.

Taking advantage of the opening, the two ponies leapt forward and laid into the enemy. The silver armour was strong, but buckled under the heroes’ strength. The moonwraiths within were impossibly fragile, dissipating into nothingness if even a chink opened in their protective covering. As the melee whirled, more troops filed into the hangar, loosing bolts of energy at the pair from a distance. Lyra yelped as a near-miss singed her flank.

“Uh, backup?!”

The crack of a rifle came from the module, and a hole appeared in the armour of one of the newly-arrived moonwraiths. As the armour clunked the ground, more shots rang out. Behind the clearing smoke, Redheart and Derpy were lying on the ground, rifles secured with tripods and firing repeatedly. More moonwraiths dropped as they entered the two snipers’ deadly sights, and the fire assaulting Lyra and Bon-Bon let up. Soon, the room was clear, the combination of gunfire and physical prowess proving far too much for the primitive instincts of the wraiths.

The seven regrouped at the hangar doors, Derpy and Redheart keeping watch for incoming wraiths. Outside was a curved corridor leading out of sight in either direction. Vinyl and Octavia were scanning pieces of moonwraith armour, trying to research their enemy during the short breather. Lyra, Bon-Bon and Trixie discussed their next move, Bon-Bon turning to Trixie’s knowledge of Luna’s operations for guidance.

“Trixie, do you have any idea what we do next?”

Lyra stamped a hoof impatiently.

“We hit Nightmare Moon, what else? We gotta find her and use the Elements to, I don’t know, love and tolerate her out of the Princess!”

Trixie looked thoughtful, wracking her brains for anything from her time as Luna’s servant that could help.

“I think she’ll be at the highest point of the tower. Our battle with her showed us that Nightmare Moon is arrogant, and arrogance always places itself above others.”

Lyra raised an eyebrow.

“Your base was underground.”

Trixie gave her a flat look.

“Out of necessity. What were going to do, build a base in the sky?”

Bon-Bon stepped between the two.

“We’ve got no time for this. We have to reach Nightmare Moon quickly. I say we pick a direction and go. There have to be elevators or something around here. Commander?”

Derpy pulled her head from around the corner and joined the conversation.

“Sounds like a plan to me, Bon-Bon. Vinyl, Octavia, have you learned anything useful?”

Vinyl placed her scanner on the ground and scratched her head.

“These things are weird, Commander. Their magical wavelength matches Nightmare Moon’s, but there’s... something else.”

Octavia chipped in.

“They are weaker than they should be. It is as if the magic that forms them is... incoherent.”

“That’s why they poof away with barely a scratch. There’s no internal order or strength to them, they’re just... magic with a mind. I thought Nightmare Moon would have done a better job.”

Derpy nodded, unable to hide the fact that she hadn’t really understood.

“Well, all we need to know is that they’re easy to beat. But that’s no reason to lower our guard. Let’s pick a direction and head up, everypony. Nightmare Moon’s waiting for us!”

They all nodded and, keeping the scientists in the centre of the group, moved out.

Scene 12

“Would you like to take any longer with that door?!”

Lyra dodged a moonwraith’s clumsy swipe and kicked it hard in return, sending it flying into another armoured foe and crushing them both. Bon-Bon tripped another as it made a move for the door, the impact knocking its helmet off and dispersing the wraith’s essence. Octavia frowned as she hurriedly tapped at the device she had hooked to the maintenance hatch below the door that blocked their path.

“This is harder than it looks, thank you.”

At first, their sortie into the tower had met with no resistance. They had travelled along what seemed like miles of featureless corridor, taking stairs upwards whenever they could. The tower’s interior presented a mystery. There seemed to be no unifying layout, nor any purpose to the paths they walked. The long stretches of corridor led only to more corridor. What doors they had encountered were unsecured and opened onto nothing but identical stairwells, stretching down as far as the eye could discern. The moment they entered, an alarm would sound and thick bulkheads would begin to close above them. They would gallop as many floors up as they dared then leave the stairwell before it locked down behind them.

Again and again they repeated this, until they had reached a corridor wider and more grand than the others. Swirling designs covered the clear walls, matching the nebulae and stars visible in the sky, and before them was an enormous door. Carved into the metal surface was a relief of Nightmare Moon rearing in triumph over what looked like a stylised sun, surrounded by bowing ponies. The seven heroes had trotted slowly up to the door, even the urgency of their mission overwhelmed by the grandeur of their surroundings. The door had not opened automatically like the rest, and so the three scientists had gone to work, rapidly locating the access panel and beginning their infiltration.

It was at that moment the moonwraiths had ambushed them. Within moments, Redheart and Derpy had opened fire, sending a hail of bullets into the ranks of steel-clad shadows emerging from sliding panels hidden seamlessly in the floor. Lyra and Bon-Bon had leapt forward to tie up the front ranks of the sudden platoon, sending wraiths flying with powerful kicks and throws. Dancing between both the plasma fire of the wraiths and Derpy and Redheart’s covering shots, the two blocked the wraith’s passage towards the door with brute force and skill. The door, however, had proved hard to crack and the heroes were beginning to tire after the stress of their travails so far.

Bolts of plasma hit the door as the wraiths continued to fire, chipping at its decoration and narrowly missing the ponies huddled around the access panel. As Vinyl and Trixie tried to squeeze into the same three foot wide space, horns glowing as they attacked the door’s inner workings, Octavia tapped a final key and called over the noise of the skirmish,

“I’m in!”

The two unicorns both emerged, cracking their heads against each other as they did so. Vinyl rubbed her forehead and began to gather their equipment back together as quickly as possible.

“Guys! Door’s opening, we’re moving out!”

Redheart pulled a grenade from her belt, yanking the pin with her teeth and throwing it towards Lyra and Bon-Bon’s melee. They ducked and rolled back, clearing the blast radius just as the fusion charge detonated and tore the wraiths apart. Once all seven ponies had reached the door, Derpy hit the door release.

“Move, before they regroup!”

There was a low groan and slowly, ever so slowly, the door began to grind upwards. More wraiths sprang from the floor along the corridor. Lyra kicked the door and growled in frustration.

“This is the stupidest tower ever!”

“Uh, I think the wraiths are up to something.”

Bon-Bon had been keeping an eye on the advancing armoured forms and was the first to notice their odd behaviour. With eerie cohesion, they had arranged themselves into a detailed pattern, matching those found on the walls. Then, as one, their armour fell to pieces. For the first time, the heroes saw their foes for what they truly were. Trixie let out a sympathetic gasp.

“Oh, Luna...”

Beneath their armour the wraiths were featureless, nothing more than clouds of purple mist taking the vague shape of a pony. But, barely visible as the purple haze shifted in its magical confines, the outline of wings and a horn could be seen. And, on their insubstantial flanks, the mist thickened in the shape of a cutie mark. Celestia’s cutie mark. Every single moonwraith, every empty construct Luna had created in her hundreds of years under Nightmare Moon’s influence, was a living monument to the longing she felt to see her sister just one more time.

Before the ponies could begin to comprehend the depth of Luna’s solitude, the wraiths dissipated, the magic that formed them swirling into the air. But instead of fading like their sisters had, they came together, forming a cloud of twisting purple that began to take shape as the heroes braced themselves for whatever was coming and the door continued its painfully slow ascent.

Within moments, the combined wraiths had taken their new shape fully. What faced them now was the shape of a bear, but towered above them, the stars visible through its translucent body mingling with those that dotted it. Between its beady eyes was a eight-pointed star. The ponies craned their necks upwards to take in the full size of their new enemy, and Lyra asked the world in general,

“Why does everything we fight have to be so much bigger than us?”

The ursa minor roared, forcing the heroes to step back (or, in Derpy’s case, flap desperately to stay aloft), and charged. They scattered, Lyra, Vinyl and Octavia taking one side and Bon-Bon, Trixie and Redheart the other. Derpy flew higher, bumping into the ceiling, to let the beast run under her. It swerved to follow Lyra’s group, its feet skidding as the combined wraiths settled into their new form. The three ponies narrowly avoided being crushed as it barrelled towards them and the creature slid into the clear wall at speed, causing even the reinforced glass to creak alarmingly.

Lyra and Bon-Bon broke off from their groups and ran to each other’s side, launching simultaneous flying kicks at the beast. It picked itself up with deceptive agility and swatted them out of the air even as a bullet from Derpy’s rifle passed through its forehead star to no discernible effect. Vinyl and Octavia were running back towards the door, reaching it at the same time as Trixie, who had taken the opening Lyra and Bon-Bon’s failed attack had given her to do the same. The three scientists looked back at their comrades fighting to protect them. It was a grim sight.

The great bear was swiping at that four ponies around it, unable to get a clear hit on the small targets, but too quick for them attack back. Even when a bullet or kick found its way to the beast, it passed straight through. Redheart was attempting to flank the beast while Lyra and Bon-Bon distracted it, but it seemed to have no weak spot, no point at which its one-way tangibility could be ignored. Derpy had given up on firing altogether, wings flapping furiously as she zipped around its head in an attempt to anger it into somehow dropping its defenses.

“We’ve gotta help them!”

Vinyl implored her two companions as Trixie glanced at the raising door, which was barely at knee height.

“How?! All our equipment is for infiltration! As I recall, the mission statement did not include ‘battle a giant bear immune to physical harm!’”

Vinyl turned to Trixie, their faces almost touching as she tried to reason with her rival.

“I don’t know, we think of something! They always managed to come up with a plan when we were fighting you, what’s the difference here?!”

Bristling, Vinyl’s jibes at her past finally getting to her, Trixie began to shout.

“The difference is that I was piloting machines, not monsters from space renowned for their invulnerability!”

There was a clang to their side and they turned to see Octavia heaving a small device from her pack that glowed with the distinctive signature of nanomachines and began to grow until it was almost the size of the pony herself. She pointed to it with an expression one normally saved for squabbling fillies. Vinyl and Trixie coughed and trotted over urgently, Vinyl muttering to herself.

“Not my fault Trixie forgot about the hardware...”

The battle with the ursa was coming to an end, and not in the ponies’ favour. The wraith-bear seemed to be growing quicker in both mind and body by the moment, and had managed to put Derpy in a position where she had to choose between being hit by Redheart’s bullets or its paw. Before Lyra could yell at Redheart to stop firing, the beast had slapped Derpy into the glass wall, cracking it further and causing the pegasus to slump to the ground. Free of its main distraction, the ursa was able to concentrate on its other foes and quickly had them pinned in the remains of the moonwraith armour, the heaped metal removing Lyra and Bon-Bon’s advantage in agility. Redheart continued to fire, unable to harm it with her weaponry but unwilling to cease the attack and admit defeat.The bear roared as it bore down on the cornered heroes. Raising itself on its hind legs, head touching the clear ceiling, it poised itself to crush them in one blow.

There was an ear-splitting sound, a mixture of a hum so deep and low it shook their bones and a screeching wail that made them clap their hooves over their ears. A beam of light, strands of grey, blue and white entwined, exploded from the vicinity of the door and tore through the ursa. Almost fully the height of the monster’s body, the beam tore through the combined wraiths’ essence like paper, vaporising the magical entity and leaving nothing but its head. Blinking several times, it seemed to finally realise that it was dead and disappeared into the air. Lyra, Bon-Bon and Redheart, fronts blackened from the intense power and proximity of the beam, turned their heads to the door, unable to move anything else as the adrenaline wore off.

The three scientists were all standing on their back legs, using their forelegs to steady... something. A huge grey cylinder, fully three ponies long, it pulsed with energy. On the surface, it reminded them of Bubbles, but so much larger. Whirring gears and glowing pipes ground to a halt and visibly cooled as the weapon wound down, the rotation of the barrel’s interior slowing to a stop. Trixie and Vinyl held the front end of the weapon while Octavia supported the weight of the back end, wearing a put-upon expression. Vinyl was grinning and Trixie smiling triumphantly.

“Behold! How do you like my-”

“Our.”

“Tch. How do you like our Plasma-Assisted Recoilless Triximum Gamma Cannon?”

There was a brief silence, during which Bon-Bon gently pressed out a very small flame that had caught in her coat. As usual, Lyra was the one to break it.

“Triximum Gamma?”

Vinyl shot a glance at her rival.

“We were halfway through the acronym and Trixie just had to take over.”

Trixie dropped the cannon and fell back to all fours. Vinyl yelped with surprise and almost fell with the weapon, recovering at the last moment. There was a dignified “oof” from behind them as Octavia was left holding the entire weight of the gun and promptly collapsed underneath it, sighing in resignation as she pulled herself free.

“Well, if some of us had any sense of showmareship when it came to naming our creations, I wouldn’t have had to step i-”

Vinyl cut her off, eager to get back to the explanation at hand.

“Anyway, that’s its name. One of our better jobs if you ask me. It has six pieces, each attuned to an Element. Starts off small enough to balance on your hoof, ends up like this.”

She prodded the cannon, which was even now disassembling itself back to its original compact components, with her leg.

“Uses the energy of the Elements to charge up, so the more of us firing it, the bigger the blast.”

By now the three other ponies had recovered, Lyra and Bon-Bon helping each other up and Redheart gently slapping Derpy into consciousness. The door was, by now, high enough to duck under. Lyra kicked it again.

“Wouldn’t have needed it if it wasn’t for this stupid door. Makes no sense to move so slo-”

She was interrupted by a loud cracking sound. She whirled around, as did the others, trying to locate the source of the sound. Almost as one, they turned to face the other side of the corridor in the distance. The Cannon, it seemed, had quite a long range. A perfect, brightly shining circle was burned into the glass wall and even now the cracks were spreading. As the litany of snapping glass grew louder and the web of broken lines across the walls sped towards them, the ponies span on their hooves and scurried under the door, Redheart dragging the still woozy Commander behind her. On the other side, Lyra pointed to a point on the wall and urgently asked Vinyl,

“Access panel is here, right?”

Vinyl nodded and opened her mouth to reply, but before she could say anything Lyra had jammed her hoof through the hatch and ripped it from the wall.

“This thing better close faster than it opened!”

She pulled her leg out even harder than she had thrust it in and brought a tangle of sparking wires with it. The door groaned and, just as the room was filled with a sound like a thousand windows shattering at once and the sudden decompression caused the ponies to be pulled to the floor and slide towards the gap beneath the door, it slammed shut with all the force it hadn’t been able to muster going up.

The seven heroes gasped as their bodies insisted that they had fought and feared too much that day and should just give up. But before their breathless recovery could even begin, something brought them back to their senses. Something that none of them had wished to hear in this condition.

“AH, PONIES OF M.A.R.E. WELCOME TO THE MOON.”

Scene 13

The seven immediately leapt to their hooves and realised where they were. Somehow, miraculously, their haphazard assault had brought them straight to Nightmare Moon’s throne room. In their desperation to escape the danger of the corridor, they had not had the time nor inclination to take in their destination.

The room was enormous. The door they had entered through could account for no more than a tenth of the chamber’s height, despite being several ponies tall itself. The entire ceiling was painted as black as the sky outside, and was studded with jewels and clusters of precious stones - a beautiful map of the universe in miniature. Nearer the floor, the star-map blended into murals depicting Nightmare Moon crushing ponies, cities, worlds beneath her hooves. Statues of the alicorn lined the depressed walkway that led from from the door to the throne in the centre of the circular room. The throne itself was similar in style to Luna’s back in Metropony but, instead of a crescent, Nightmare Moon reclined against a full moon with a strange and vicious face etched into its surface. It towered above everything else in the room, atop a mountain of steps two thousand high. The room was a testament to the power of The Mare In The Moon.

The seven heroes readied themselves, wary against any surprises from the fusion of pony and monster that looked down at them. Nightmare Moon laughed heartily, with no trace of aggression.

“TO BATTLE SO FAST? COME NOW, THERE IS NO NEED FOR US TO FIGHT.”

Lyra snarled her response.

“Don’t need to fight? You’re wrong there.”

Bon-Bon joined her, voice firm and resolute.

“We’ve come to save the Princess from your control, and to stop your evil plans!”

Nightmare Moon looked down her nose at them.

“YOU ARE WELCOME TO TRY, LITTLE HEROES.”

As one, the Bearers acted. Lyra and Bon-Bon galloped towards Nightmare Moon’s throne, aiming for a frontal assault. Derpy and Redheart took firing positions and prepared to support the close-combat specialists. Trixie, Vinyl and Octavia were already pulling the components for the P.A.R.T.γ Cannon from their packs. Their foe laughed again, this time with a sinister edge.

“YOU’RE KIDDING. YOU’RE KIDDING, RIGHT?”

With a flash of magic, she vanished, reappearing right in front of the three scientists, who recoiled in fear. With a single sweep of her mighty wings, Nightmare Moon createda vortex of air that sent them tumbling into the door with painful thuds. The Cannon’s nanomachines scattered in the purple-tinged blast, leaving only the core units. Turning nonchalantly, she faced Lyra and Bon-Bon, who had skidded round and raced to their comrades’ defense. She met their head-on attack with a crackling magical force field that shot burning energy into their bodies as they hit it, flinging them away from her as they writhed in pain. Lyra’s freewheeling body slammed into Redheart and they rolled across the floor. Bon-Bon came to rest beneath Derpy, who had taken flight and was firing wildly at Nightmare Moon. The impossibly powerful alicorn scoffed as the bullets pinged from her bubble of protection.

A beam of magic shot from her horn, but Derpy was too fast, swooping out of the way for another attack run. Nightmare Moon continued to fire her blasts of magic, her arrogant smile fading to a frown as the Commander continued to evade her attacks. At last, she stamped her hoof in rage.

“ENOUGH!”

A violet whirlwind erupted from the floor around her, magic tearing through the air and making the statues tremble. Derpy flapped as hard as she could, but the pull of the miniature tornado was too strong, and she was sucked into its reach. Nightmare Moon cackled in triumph as the pegasus span around her, buffeted by the wind and singed by the bursts of energy that seemed to characterise Nightmare Moon’s magic. Tiring of her sport, Nightmare Moon let the magical wind drop, Derpy crashing to the ground at her hooves. She stood above the defeated Commander and placed one hoof on her chest, slowly applying more and more pressure as Derpy cried out in pain.

“PITIFUL PEGASUS. YOU COULD NOT WIN WITH A CITY OF PONIES BEHIND YOU, AND YOU THINK YOU CAN DESTROY ME ON YOUR OWN?”

Derpy gasped as the breath was crushed out of her, and forced words through gritted teeth.

“Nope... Just... delay you...”

Her tormentor raised an eyebrow.

“DELAY ME? WHAT POSSIBLE USE COULD THERE BE IN-”

A sound she had heard through the door not minutes ago cut her off. She whirled around to see the other six ponies stood in line, the P.A.R.T.γ Cannon fully assembled on their shoulders. While Derpy had kept the alicorn busy, the other heroes had recovered and prepared their final attack. Bon-Bon and Lyra stood at the front, followed by Vinyl, Octavia, Redheart and finally Trixie. Bon-Bon called back to her allies.

“Trixie, now! Everyone else, prepare to fire!”

Trixie screwed up her face in concentration and, almost too fast to follow, teleported first to Derpy’s side then back, bringing the Commander back to her place in line. Gasping with effort, she placed her hooves back on the Cannon and urged Derpy to do the same. As Nightmare Moon stared in shock, the Cannon grew at Derpy’s touch, reaching its final enormous size. Dwarfing the ponies that held it, the awesome weapon hummed and screeched and glowed as it reached maximum power. The light of the Elements began to shine from the seven Bearers and suffused the Cannon until, at last, it was ready to fire. Nightmare Moon had still not moved, too shaken by the idea that she might actually lose.

As at Trixie’s defeat, the ponies felt words rising up from within, unbidden. But these were not the words of the Elements, unfathomable magical entities attempting to communicate with creatures that could never hope to understand them. These were words that the magic of friendship brought forth, words that made everypony realise what they had truly been fighting for.

“For Luna!”

All their regret for the years lost to conflict, all their shame for having fought without ever trying to understand their foe, and all the love they felt for the Princess they finally understood was not to blame coalesced into a beam of incandescent light. Comprised not of the searing energy that had annihilated the ursa minor but a beam of the varicoloured light that had cleansed Trixie a year before, the magical burst engulfed Nightmare Moon before she could react.

She screamed, an unearthly wail that shook the room and knocked the ponies off their hooves. Her silhouette, tiny amongst the torrent of healing light, began to shrink. The harsh angles of her bone structure seemed to soften and her wings became smaller and more elegant. Blackness streamed from the changing form, the power of the Elements of Harmony visibly stripping every trace of Nightmare Moon from the Princess’ form.

At last, the light faded, and the Bearers stepped forward, lowering their hooves from their eyes. Lying before them, weeping in shame at Her deeds and happiness at Her freedom, was the Princess Luna. Trixie cried out and galloped to Her side, clasping the Princess in a hug that surprised everypony there, including herself.

“My Lady Luna!”

The other ponies crowded around the Princess, all eager to see if Luna truly was free of Nightmare Moon’s influence. The Princess sniffed and wiped Her eyes before looking up at them and saying,

“Thank you, my little ponies. We are free.”

Lyra jumped for joy and punched the air with her hoof.

“Yes! We got the touch!”

Bon-Bon smiled at her partner’s exuberance as Vinyl joined Lyra’s celebrations, performing a dance on the spot that had Octavia shaking her head in exasperation. Redheart gave a wide smile and Derpy loop-the-looped. Their mission was complete. Luna was free, and Metropony - the world - was finally safe. Trixie coughed and stood back from the Princess, who pulled Herself to her feet. Even so soon after the end of Her ordeall, She was regaining Her regal composure and calmed the whooping heroes with a wave of Her hoof.

“We cannot thank you enough, everypony. We are ashamed that we have threatened your lives for so long, and honoured that you fought so hard to save us. But we must begone with haste, for without Nightmare Moon this city will crumble. Gather round, and I shall take us h-”

Without warning, She was interrupted by a voice that nopony expected to hear and sent bolts of fear through them.

“NOT SO FAST, MY PUPPET.”

In horror, they all span to face the voice. Hovering above the throne, nothing more than a shadow of magic in the air, was Nightmare Moon. Luna stammered,

“It... It cannot be! The Elements destroyed you! We felt you leave us!”

The shade laughed derisively.

“REMOVED, YES. DESTROYED, NO. DO YOU NOT REALISE, LUNA? I AM YOU! I AM YOUR JEALOUSY AND DOUBTS MADE MANIFEST! SO LONG AS YOU LIVE, I AM ETERNAL! JUST AS YOUR SISTER COULD ONLY SEAL ME, SO THESE FOOLS HAVE ONLY RIPPED ME FROM YOUR SOUL.”

The shade began to pulse with the sickly glow of her magic and both Luna and the seven Bearers readied themselves to fight.

“AND NOW I AM FREE OF THE SHACKLES OF FLESH, YOU SHALL WITNESS MY ASCENSION.”

A terrific rumble shook the room, throwing everypony to their feet. The laughter of Nightmare Moon rang out as the ceiling began to open, revealing a huge window to the stars that reached the floor, turning the entire room in an observatory. The rumbling grew louder, shaking the very foundations of the tower. Outside, the city trembled with equal power, the factories crumbling to the ground with a crash that filled even the thin moon air.

“RISE, MY GREATEST CREATION! RISE!”

The ponies, cowering at both the terrible noise and the collapsing statues around them, cast desperate gazes about the room, trying to see what horror Nightmare Moon had summoned this time. Shadow, as if from nowhere, began to travel across the floor. Soon the entire throne room had been engulfed in darkness. As one, the heroes saw Nightmare Moon’s “greatest creation” and, as one, they knew the true meaning of fear.

Outside, miles away and towering above the city, above the tower, above the mountains, was a vast shadow. Impossibly huge, its size boggled the mind. Its indescribable mass blocked the sun, casting a dark pall over the entire city. Its shape was that of a rounded inverted L, with two tall protusions emerging from the highest point, miles above the surface of the moon, with an immense third spike between them. As it neared the surface, the body of the L thickened and then spread in two directions. Lyra and Bon-Bon were the first to realise what Nightmare Moon had called from its slumber, its shape burned into their mind from too many confrontations to count.

The vast Moonatron head roared, sending a tsunami of dust and rock from its epicentre, shaking the ponies even more violently as the shockwave slammed into the tower and demolished what remained of the surrounding city. And still it continued to pull itself free. The impossible mountain of metal they were seeing, almost continental in scale, was but the tip of the iceberg.

A gargantuan hoof emerged from the moon’s surface in the distance, creating a huge valley as it displaced thousands of tonnes of rock. Crashing back to the surface like a meteor impact, it was followed by a second. Using its revealed front legs, the Moonatron pulled itself free from the moon’s depths like a living mountain range. With every movement, the tower rocked as the steel and magic that formed it struggled to cope with the forces that assaulted it.

At last, the impossible robot stood at its full height. The ponies could do nothing but gape, its sheer size causing the brain to shut down as it tried to process just how big the thing was. Its head now rose far beyond the moon’s atmosphere, and its body was so large, its flanks had disappeared beyond the horizon. It roared again, so far above them they could not even hear it. Nightmare Moon cried out, her voice exultant as the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony and the Princess of the Night cowered at her hooves.

“BEHOLD, MY LABOUR OF A THOUSAND YEARS! BEHOLD... LUNICRON!”

Scene 14

Luna was the first to recover.

“How... How could you build this without our knowledge?!”

Nightmare Moon snorted derisively.

“SILLY PRINCESS, I HAVE CONTROLLED YOU FOR TWO THOUSAND YEARS. YOUR SENSES HAVE LONG SINCE BEEN MY PLAYTHINGS.”

By now, the other ponies had come to their senses and were now glaring at the cackling spirit that threatened them. Lyra called out their aggressor, uncertainty tinging her words.

“Not any more! We kicked you out and now we’re gonna destroy you and your new toy! So come down here and fight!”

The shade raised a vaporous eyebrow.

“WHY SHOULD I FIGHT YOU HERE WHEN I CAN REMOVE THE VERY BASIS OF OUR CONFLICT?”

Bon-Bon joined her partner, questioning Nightmare Moon angrily.

“What do you mean, ‘remove the basis for our conflict? Stop playing games!’”

The shade suddenly smiled with impossible malice, her mouth and eyes widening unnaturally into an awful rictus of hatred.

“WHY, I MEAN ONLY THAT ALL OF YOU, EVEN LUNA, ULTIMATELY FIGHT FOR CELESTIA. FOR THE SUN.”

She began to glow and the wisps of magical smoke that formed her thickened as she gathered her power.

“WHAT WILL YOU DO WHEN THERE IS NOTHING TO FIGHT FOR?”

With a flash like that of her exit from Metropony a week before, she blurred into a purple line that streaked through the window as if it were nothing and struck her creation miles away, spreading to infuse the robot with light. As the seven heroes ran to the window, Luna bowing Her head in despair behind, wings the size of countries unfolded from the shoulders of Lunicron, darkening the surface of the moon yet further. They raised, great swathes of blackness blotting out the stars. The ponies, having already witnessed the awesome power Lunicron had at its command, braced themselves.

The wings descended and its legs pushed off from the ground, one mighty leap sending the robot shooting into space. The force of its take-off pounded the ground where it had stood, carving a scar in the land for hundreds of miles. Once more the shockwave caused by its movement tore towards the tower, bringing a wall of dust and rock with it. Luna cried out to Her saviours as it roared closer.

“Everypony, to me!”

They galloped to Her side and She concentrated, a bubble of force much like that Nightmare Moon had created forming around them. The shockwave hit, and with a sound like the earth breaking, the tower was snapped in two as the repeated batterings from Lunicron’s movements and the damage from the rocket crash took their final toll. Slowly, ponderously, the tower’s top half collapsed to the ruins of the moonwraith city, sending plumes of smoke and dust into the cold air as it crushed what traces remained of their nemesis’ legacy.

Inside, the force field was thrown about the room, slamming the ponies within into each other but protecting them from the falling rubble around them. Luna’s teeth were gritted and She almost cried out in pain at the effort of maintaining the field. It seemed that Her years under Nightmare Moon’s control had dampened Her control over Her powers, and She was unable to hold them still amongst the devastation, only protect them from its effects. The unicorns in the group managed to pull themselves together enough to add their magic to Hers, a multi-layered sphere of coloured light surrounding the party and steadying the field until the destruction ceased.

At last, there was quiet, bar the quiet clinking of the last chunks of rubble rolling to a halt. The bubble dissolved and the magical ponies collapsed, sucking great gulps of air into their lungs. Exposed to the harsh lunar desert, they were now dependent on the air in their suits. Luna, it seemed, was protected by her connection with the moon. Or maybe alicorns just didn’t need air. Picking themselves up from the debris, the group looked into the sky at the vast form of Lunicron. Nightmare Moon’s vessel was growing smaller, travelling at astronomical speeds away from the moon and towards its ultimate goal. Lyra turned to her friends, questioning urgently.

“Where’s she going? What is going to do? How are we gonna beat that thing?!”

They all shook their heads dumbly, still awed at Nightmare Moon’s terrible power. Vinyl opened her mouth slowly, as if not wanting to voice the thought that was forming.

“She said that there’d be nothing to fight for. Is she going to... to destroy the world itself?”

Trixie shook her head.

“She can’t be. In all my years of service, both Nightmare Moon and... I beg Your pardon, My Lady...”

She bowed uncomfortably to Luna, who smiled kindly.

“Speak freely, Trixie. What’s past is past.”

“Well, both Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna wanted to rule, not destroy. Even when You were under Nightmare Moon’s influence, My Lady, You only ever asked for control. I don’t think she would destroy a world full of ponies to dominate.”

Bon-Bon made a frustrated noise, the long, long day beginning to wear at her patience.

“Then what does she want?!”

“Oh no.”

Octavia had been staring after the dwindling Lunicron as the discussion continued. Now her face was a picture of fear, Redheart quickly moving to her side as the normally stoic pony went weak at the knees. Vinyl followed, kneeling beside her collapsed partner.

“What’s wrong, Tavi? Are you hurt?!”

Octavia shook her head slowly and swallowed.

“While you were talking, I did some calculations. She’s headed past the planet. And... and when you factor in what she said...”

Luna’s eyes widened as her meaning became clear.

“We fight for our sister, and our sister’s domain... is the sun.”

They all gazed up at the ball of fire that blazed in the darkness of space, bathing the world in the love of Princess Celestia.

“She’s going to destroy the sun.”

Scene 15

“So then I was like, ‘Hey! You bite it, you buy it!’ and she just waltzes off! I tell you, some ponies are just...”

Rose tuned out for a moment. Daisy was one of her closest friends, but she had a tendency to overreact. No doubt the “crazy old lady” she was currently complaining about had a perfectly legitimate reason to be biting saucepans. So far as Rose was concerned, it sounded like a pretty sensible way of testing the strength of the metal, if a little unhygienic. She caught Lily’s eye and stifled a giggle as her pink friend subtly rolled her eyes and made “blah blah blah” faces.

The three ponies were strolling through Metropony’s main shopping district. Once a week, they would close their respective stores early and take a walk around the town, checking out the competition and slipping in a little frivolous spending. It was mainly an excuse for them to enjoy some time together without being exhausted from a full day’s work.

The street darkened as a cloud crossed the sun. The weather had been lovely for months, but winter was approaching and the pegasi had been scheduling more and more rain as the season turned. Rose was already preparing her winter-blooming flowers for sale.

“Girls!”

Her train of thought was interrupted by Daisy calling out sharply. Feeling guilty at her and Lily’s friendly mockery, she descended from her reverie and turned to face Daisy.

“Sorry, Dais, we were just...”

She trailed off as she noticed that her friend was staring at the sky, mouth open in shock. Lily had presumably done the same, but had fainted in the face of whatever she had seen. All around them, ponies were looking upwards, pointing and gasping. Confused, Rose followed Daisy’s gaze. As she realised what was causing the stir in the crowd, she gasped with them.

It was not a cloud that had covered the sun. It was a pony. A winged silhouette partially eclipsed the brilliant orb, casting racing shadows across the city as flapped its wings. Rose realised she was holding her breath and let it out explosively, making Daisy squeak in fear and jump. Clasping a hoof to her chest, her friend gasped at her.

“Don’t... do that...”

Rose apologised and looked back the sky, trying to put her hoof on what was bothering her apart from the fact that apparently there was a giant alicorn in space. The shadows lengthened and she realised in horror.

It was getting darker. She looked at the silhouette in the sky, but it had grown no larger, obscured no more light. The sun, however...

“Daisy, we need to get inside right now.”

Daisy gave a surprised look, taken aback by the forcefulness of Rose’s voice.

“I... we do? What about Lily?”

Rose trotted to her collapsed friend and hoisted her onto her back, easily able to carry the diet-conscious pony despite the chill she was already beginning to feel in her bones. She began to head for home, Daisy following wordlessly as she wove purposefully through the crowd.

Ever since the Lunatron battle had echoed across the city a week previously, Rose had been dreading something like this. For years, she had lamented her extraordinary ability to find herself caught in the frontlines of whatever ridiculous battle Harpflank and Sweets were fighting that week, but now she was thankful. The ponies around her were gawping, taking pictures, but countless months of bad luck had instilled Rose with an almost preternatural sense for danger beyond that of most hardened veterans. Whatever was happening, it was very bad news. Daisy came up beside her, trotting quickly to keep up with Rose’s powerful strides.

“Rose, what’s going on? You’re scaring me.”

Rose smiled at her friend, trying to reassure herself as much as Daisy.

“Just a bad feeling, Dais.”

Daisy nodded slowly, obviously not convinced, but trusting her friend. She, too, had had her share of close calls in the Empire’s attacks.

The shadows deepened as they travelled and, as the city slowly fell into darkness, the sun continued to dwindle in the sky.

Scene 16

“What are we gonna do?!”

Lyra’s words were angry as the hopelessness of their situation weighed on her. Luna was freed, the seven Bearers of the Elements of Harmony were gathered, and Nightmare Moon was no more than a shade of magic, clinging to life. Yet here they stood, trapped on the moon in the wreckage of her stronghold as she worked to end everything they held dear. Trixie and Vinyl were arguing as to the spaceworthiness of the rocket, with Trixie insisting her initial design was strong enough to handle a second takeoff against Vinyl’s protestations that a. the damage was too great and b. the preperations would take far too long. Redheart was still tending to Octavia, who it seemed had been injured more than she had let on when the scientists had been slammed into the door by Nightmare Moon. Derpy stood by Luna, wordlessly supporting the Princess as She recovered from the strain of Nightmare Moon’s exorcism.

“Calm down, Lyra, we’ll think of somethi-”

Bon-Bon tried to placate her partner, her own nerves fraying. Lyra threw her head back in frustration and interrupted.

“Ugh! We don’t have time to ‘think of something!’ That thing is on its way to the sun right now! The rocket’s toast, we’re all wrecked, the Elements didn’t do jack, and even the Princess is barely functioning!”

Bon-Bon snapped, giving in to her frustration at the constant wrong turns the mission had taken.

“Well, what do you suggest we do?! If you want to act so much, then act! Get us into space and after that thing, then we can just blow it out of the sky easily, right?”

Lyra bristled and was about respond when Luna’s voice cut in, Her soft tones calming even Lyra’s anger.

“Please, do not fight! We... I have a plan.”

She gently pushed Derpy away and stood for Herself. Stepping back, the Commander pleaded,

“Please, Your Highness. We... we don’t know what to do.”

The other ponies all stopped their bickering, Derpy’s words reaching the heart of the matter. They turned and awaited the words of their Princess. Luna closed Her eyes.

“I will need your help, My little ponies. What I am about to do goes against every law I am sworn to uphold, every rule My sister and I put in place to safeguard the natural order. And I will need your help.”

The ponies gathered round, kneeling before Her and letting the fear and despair leave them, feeling the power of the Elements rise within them. As they prepared to lend Luna their power, She shook Her head, eyes still closed as She steeled Herself for what was to come.

“No. Follow my lead, but do not give me your strength. We do this together, as friends, and the Elements will respond.”

Vinyl looked up, curiosity implacable as always.

“What are we doing?”

Luna smiled as She felt the power of the Elements around Her and the warmth of the friendship that gave them their power. After a thousand years in the unknowing thrall of Nightmare Moon, She had forgotten this wonderful feeling. She opened Her eyes and took in the seven ponies before Her, glowing with the light of friendship, and an image of six others bathed in the same light briefly flashed through Her mind.

She opened Her eyes, Her smile replaced by a look of infinite determination.

“It is time, Vinyl Scratch, for the moon to rise.”

Scene 17

Rose laid Lily on her bed then moved to the window, leaving Daisy to tend to her fainted friend. She felt slightly callous, but Lily fainting was almost a daily occurrence. It was just how she reacted to things.

It was twilight now, though the sun was still high in the sky. The huge shadow covered more of its surface by the minute as the yellow disc continued to diminish. Behind her, Daisy flicked a light on to counteract the dimming sun. Rose called back to her.

“Is Lily okay?”

Daisy joined Rose at the window, nodding as she looked out at the midday darkness.

“Of course. You know what she’s like with surprises.”

Rose let a small smile escape through the worry. It dropped almost immediately as she watched the sky.

Rising from below the horizon was the silver orb of the moon, clearly visible in the dwindling light. But that didn’t make any sense. Whatever was happening to the sun, it was still midday, far too early for the moon to rise. Not only that, but it was rising fast. It had taken it less than a minute to emerge fully from the horizon, and was now climbing higher and higher in the sky. The pony-shaped shadow obscuring the sun began to move, turning to face the moon as it arced across the sky. She didn’t know if Harpflank and Sweets were involved with this celestial madness, but she hoped like hay they were. Rose came to a sudden realisation as she watched the moon travel across the sky, and felt the words slip out.

“It’s heading straight for it...”

Scene 18

By now, Lunicron was fully visible in the distant sky, the light of the sun shining from its metal flanks. Luna and the Bearers stood in the ruins of the tower, magically anchored to the floor, as the moon tore through space at speeds never before imagined by ponykind.

As soon as Luna had begun, the heroes had known exactly what She was planning. No matter how weak Her magic became, there was one ability She could never lose, one innate responsibility. At first, there had been no sensation of movement. Luna had merely stood and stared at the distant sun, the stars’ positions imperceptibly shifting. One by one, the Bearers had added their power to Hers and the moon had been surrounded by a vast nimbus of light. The colours of the different Elements intertwined and streamed behind it, forming a blazing tail behind the largest projectile ever conceived as it picked up ever more speed.

The wind had whipped at them like a hurricane, threatening to tear them from the ground and hurl them into space, but they had held firm. The wind had ceased when the atmosphere had been stripped from the surface by the phenomenal speed, but the immense forces in play still pushed the magic holding them in place to its limit. Sweat poured from the ponies as alicorn, pegasus, unicorn and earth pony alike all poured everything they had into performing the greatest magical feat ever attempted.

Lunicron turned from the sun, the tendrils of flame it had been slowly absorbing falling back to the roiling surface of the star, and the voice of Nightmare Moon shrieked directly into their minds.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! HOW DARE YOU?!”

The vast alicorn, somehow grown larger from its feast, was now fully as large as the planetary body screaming through space towards it. Purple flame gathered around its horn and the robot fired a beam of purest burning evil. Even as the spear of death pierced the space around the moon, it burst against the magic of friendship and scattered into space, dissolving into nothingness. Lunicron fired again and again, each blast of destruction bouncing harmlessly from the shining sphere. Nightmare Moon continued to scream into the minds of her attackers.

“WHY?! WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO DEFY ME?! DO YOU KNOW NOTHING OF THIS WORLD?! NOTHING ANY OF US DOES HAS ANY MEANING! NOTHING! WE ARE HIS PLAYTHINGS, THE CABARET FOR THEIR FEVERED PRISON! DEATH IS OUR ONLY ESCAPE!”

The eight ponies, Bearers encircling Luna, looked into space and somehow met the eyes of the robot that filled the sky. Vinyl spoke first, her voice crossing the void of space with the aid of the awesome power they currently wielded.

“There’s never only one way!”

Octavia nodded in assent.

“No matter the obstacle, we’ve found a way through.”

Derpy was next, her pride in her friends making her voice tremble.

“Working together, fighting together, we’ve made our own path!”

Redheart was silent, letting the fire in her eyes do the talking.

Lyra’s voice was filled with conviction, her spirit strong as ever.

“Though that path has sometimes been misguided,”

She looked to Bon-Bon, who smiled at her partner in Loyalty before finishing her sentence.

“We have always found our way!”

Trixie, blazing with the power of the Element of Magic, maintaining the magical bond tightly wound with the emotional ties they all shared, joined the chorus.

“That is why your lies could not last! Why your evil has not gone unpunished! You are poison, Nightmare Moon, and friendship is the cure!”

There was a brief moment of relative silence as Luna bowed Her head, summoning the words. Looking up into the eyes of Lunicron, Her gaze pierced to the crystal core where Nightmare Moon’s shade had hidden herself, and even in her rage and hatred, the ghost of magic knew fear.

“We will be free of this nightmare. All of us.”

Nightmare Moon screamed, Lunicron screaming in unison as her essence filled it, trying desperately to find some way to avoid her inevitable fate.

“NO! I AM ETERNAL! I AM NIGHTMARE MOON, AND THE NIGHT SHALL LAST FOREVER! FOREVE-”

And then, at last, like a thousand megacellos, like the meteor that killed the dinosaurs, like worlds colliding, like a chunk of rock two thousand miles across burning with friendship crashing into a similarly proportioned robot at speeds hitherto considered impossible...

The moon collided with Lunicron.

Right in the face.

Scene 19

The results were cataclysmic. Lunicron’s head folded like a crushed tin can, collapsing in on itself as the planetoid smashed into it at unfathomable speed. The robot’s body swung around as the moon continued to travel, slamming into the surface and hurling millions of tonnes of debris into space. It crumpled against the moon, twisted into a hunk of wreckage by the immense forces in play. Under Luna’s guidance, the moon decelerated and the defeated machine was lifted from its surface, the force of the impact easily enough to grant it escape velocity. Spinning, the mangled form of Lunicron coasted into the sun, the star flaring swiftly back to its original size as the energy Nightmare Moon had stolen coursed back into it.

The moon continued to slow, eventually reversing and beginning the long, slow journey back to its rightful place in the heavens. Lunicron’s impact had left a vast imprint on the light side, the shape of an alicorn carved into the surface deeply. The Mare In The Moon, finally destroyed forever, had nonetheless left her mark.

Luna and the Bearers collapsed, the tremendous energies that had surged through them exhausting them. They were silent for a moment, lying on their backs in a circle, just taking in their victory and struggling to breath.

Lyra broke the silence.

“I think... I think that was pretty much officially the most awesome thing that will ever happen to anypony ever. Ever.”

Bon-Bon snorted with laughter and then continued in earnest, happiness bubbling up within her. As the relief washed over the battered heroes, they joined her, even the Princess losing all sense of regality and laughing uproariously.

“It certainly was! Can you believe we hit her with the moon?! My sister will be livid!”

The thought of Celestia scolding Luna like a naughty filly, pointing with a scowl to the Luna-shaped crater that now covered one full face of the moon, just made it worse, the ponies doubling over as they slowly came to terms with the fact that at last the world was safe. Even Redheart’s tight smile developed into full-blown chortling. Slowly, the laughter died down and they returned to their original positions, staring into space. Derpy spoke quietly, her voice cracking with emotion.

“It’s over. We actually did it.”

Vinyl sighed happily.

“No more Empire. No more Republic.”

Octavia nudged her playfully.

“No more arms race.”

Trixie chuckled.

“I am always game for a contest, if you think you can best the Great and Powerful Trixie.”

“Any time.”

They laughed, then lapsed into silence again, until Luna stood up and looked down at them warmly.

“I want to thank you again. You have given me the freedom to think for Myself. At first I thought I fought My sister for My own reasons, but even now I doubt Myself. The Six could only seal Nightmare Moon, and I fear that I have never truly been free of her influence.”

She sighed.

“Perhaps, were it not for her, My sister and I would never have come to blows.”

Vinyl picked herself up as well, brushing the moondust from her coat as she stood. Tilting her head inquisitively, she took advantage of the opportunity to question a Princess with no fear of deception.

“You mentioned the Six. Who were they? And what’s up with the holes in our history?”

The other ponies’ ears perked at the question. Perhaps here was where they would find their answers.

Luna looked wistfully into the distance.

“They ar... were the best of ponies. Truly. Never before or since have the Elements been so strongly bonded to their hosts.” She lifted a hoof and began to point at the ponies in turn, listing unfamiliar names as She went. Derpy was first.

“Applejack.”

Vinyl. “Pinkie Pie.”

Octavia. “Rarity.”

Redheart. “Fluttershy.”

Lyra and Bon-Bon stood close together, and she pointed at the two of them in quick succession. “Rainbow Dash.”

Lastly, She pointed to Trixie, who recoiled slightly, as if unwilling to know the name of her legendary predecessor. “Twilight Sparkle.”

She sighed.

“I remember it as if it were yesterday. Free, after a thousand years in the moon. Can you imagine it? Of course you can’t. My sister could do no more than banish Nightmare Moon after years of conflict, yet on the day they met, the Six sealed her so deep I thought she would never rise again. Their friendship was... inspiring, and they saved Equestria so many times.”

The Bearers listened raptly as Luna described figures of misty legend in such familiar terms. It was slowly dawning on them that the Princesses were so much more than just powerful ponies.

The Princess chuckled to Herself.

“Rainbow Dash always called them the Mane Six. Mane as in hair. She thought it was hilarious.”

She shook Her head to clear the memories. Vinyl pressed Her further, eager for answers.

“So did they found the city? All the legends say so and-”

Luna held up a hoof.

“You must understand the state of Equestria, of the world in general, has become... complicated. There are truths about this world that you are quite simply not ready to know. It breaks My heart to say this, but I can tell you no more. I can see where your questioning is headed, Vinyl Scratch. Suffice it to say that, yes, the Six are responsible for Metropony’s creation. The city grew from a village called Ponyville, the Six using their talents to help create and maintain the greatest city this world has ever known, bar perhaps Canterlot. A bastion of Harmony. But then... times changed. The world changed. The cycle changed. I can say no more.”

There was a silence as the ponies digested everything they had been told. That the Six had not only been explicitly real, but directly responsible for everything they had been defending, was a heartening thought. They felt, somehow, part of a legacy.

Their reverie was broken by a crackling roar from above. They all looked up in surprise and what they saw crushed the relief they had so recently felt.

The sun was growing. Slowly, but visibly, it bulged strangely and plumes of flame erupted further than they should, reaching into space like the whipping tendrils of some great creature. Purple lightning crackled across its surface. As it grew, it continued to emit the fiery bellows that had first drawn their attention.

Derpy exclaimed,

“What’s happening?!”

Luna gasped.

“Nightmare Moon must have survived the impact with the moon! When her essence detonated inside the sun, the corrupting nature of her energy has left the sun dangerously unstable! I cannot imagine the pain My sister is feeling right now.”

Lyra cried to the heavens in general in frustration.

“Why can’t we just get a break?!”

They all began to talk at once, desperate to find some solution. Luna made it clear that, while She could take them to Metropony to contact Celestia, if the Princess of the Sun had been able to do anything, She’d have done it already. Vinyl and Trixie slung ideas and insults back and forth while Octavia rummaged through their packs. Derpy and Redheart exchanged worried glances and Lyra just pounded the ground at the universe’s apaprent vendetta against them.

Bon-Bon, however, was silent. She stared at the expanding sun, words from her past blurring in her mind as she tried to bring them forth. Something Nightmare Moon had said was nagging at her, reminding her of something from long ago. In a flash, it came to her.

“When the night seems set to last forever, take a leap of faith...”

Lyra heard her quietly speak the phrase that the sphere of light had told them so long ago and trotted over.

“Wait, isn’t that what that... thing that gave us our powers told us?”

Bon-Bon nodded, brow creased with worry.

“Yeah. We never did find out what that was. I mean... it made us what we are, it made us heroes, but...”

Lyra nodded.

“It’s weird. Scary. I still worry about it sometimes. But... maybe it was right.”

Bon-Bon met her gaze.

“Are you sure? You’re willing to take the word of a mysterious sphere of light that, years ago, stopped time, gave us superpowers, revealed nothing about itself and gave us a cryptic clue that might just apply here?”

Lyra grinned.

“You know me, BB. I’m always ready to take a chance. And... well, if it is all horsefeathers... I think the essence of an Element of Harmony in the centre of that there sun would balance out Nightmare Moon’s energy pretty well, right? And that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”

Bon-Bon smiled and, for the first time in the history of their friendship, held up her hoof for Lyra to bump.

“You and me both, Lyra. Harpflank and Sweets, loyal to the end, right?”

Lyra responded to the gesture with gusto. Moving with purpose, the two turned, cut into the heated discussion, and explained their plan.

At first there were strong denials, recriminations. Luna and Trixie, due to their experiences, were particularly wary of trusting mysterious magical entities. The other M.A.R.E. ponies just couldn’t handle the thought of losing their closest friends and greatest heroes. For years, Lyra and Bon-Bon had thrown themselves onto the front-line of the battle for Harmony, thinking nothing of their own safety, but this was too far.

Eventually, Lyra and Bon-Bon talked them down. Their course was chosen, and nopony else could think of anything better. A million-to-one chance was better than no chance.

The ponies stood side-by-side in a line, Luna at their centre. Lyra and Bon-Bon stood before them, the bulging sun at their backs. Vinyl and Octavia stepped forward. Vinyl smiled at Bon-Bon.

“You’ve been great, guys. It’s going to suck without you.”

Lyra interrupted.

“Hey, who says we’re not coming back?”

Vinyl laughed weakly and stepped back as Octavia said,

“Thank you. For... everything.”

The two returned to the line. Redheart gave them a nod and spoke, her beautiful voice unsteady for the first time in anypony’s memory.

“We had better see you again.”

Luna, like Her sister before her, knelt before them.

“The city and the world owe you a debt that it can never repay. All I can give you is the knowledge is that, shall you not return, you will not be forgotten. And neither shall the Six. Whether My sister agrees or not, there are some truths the world can handle, and they shall. In your name.”

She stood and nodded to Derpy. The Commander stepped forward. She opened her mouth, then closed it again. A second time she tried to speak, but still the words wouldn’t come. In the end, she trusted her Element to speak for her. Without a word, she saluted the two, a single tear running from her crossed eyes. They returned the salute, Lyra snapping to attention with textbook precision. Derpy nodded and stepped back.

At last, only Trixie remained. She stayed where she was, and, after a moment’s hesitation, merely said,

“I have tickets for the fair.”

The Great and Powerful Trixie smiled, and Harpflank and Sweets smiled back. Then Trixie, Lyra and Bon-Bon hugged, finally finishing what had begun that day in Flim Flam Funland.

At that, everything was said and done. Lyra and Bon-Bon took in their friends’ faces one last time. Just in case. Lyra placed her hoof on Bon-Bon’s shoulder, concentrated, and in a flash of green light...

They were gone.

Moments later, there was another blinding flash of green light, this time from the sun. The green and cream glow that symbolised the Element of Loyalty emerged from the heaving orange ball and surrounded it. The purple lightning intensified and the surface bulged even more, as if fighting the Harmonious energies that worked to heal it from within. The ponies looked on as the light of Loyalty grew brighter and brighter, outshining even the star it enveloped. The crackling lightning, last remnant of the evil of Nightmare Moon, flared one last time, flailing at the energy that threatened to snuff it out. And then it exploded.

The starburst shot into space in all directions, scattering the same golden particles that had blanketed Metropony after Trixie’s defeat. The sun ceased its tempestuous roiling, finally returning to its normal size and stability. As Luna, Trixie, Vinyl, Octavia, Redheart and Derpy watched, praying for their friends, the twinkling curtain descended upon their world. As the entire planet was showered in the golden light of friendship, the glow took on familiar colours. Multicoloured lines of light surrounded the world, visible to every creature in every nation. Zebras, griffons, dragons, ponies, manticores, phoenixes, bunnies... Every living thing looked up as one and, for one beautiful moment, was at peace, knowing that as long as there was friendship, there was hope.

Double rainbow. All the way across the planet.

Scene 20

Whiteness. Lyra and Bon-Bon stood in an infinite sea of nothingness, able to stand though they could feel no surface beneath them.

“So, uh... what happened?”

Bon-Bon wracked her brain for an answer, but could find nothing.

“I don’t know. You teleported us into the sun and then...”

“We ended up here.”

They looked around again. There was still nothing, just the empty whiteness as far as the eye could see. Their voices were the only sound.

“Maybe we should... look around?”

Bon-Bon looked at her friend with a raised eyebrow, questioning the value of “looking around” in an expanse of featureless emptiness. Lyra shrugged.

“Beats just standing here.”

Bon-Bon couldn’t disagree, and they began to walk. There was no way of telling the time in the whitespace, and they walked for what felt like hours. Eventually, Lyra stamped her hoof in frustration.

“What is this place? Seriously!”

Suddenly, a familiar voice emerged from the nothingness, making both ponies squeak and jump.

“You actually did it?! You jumped into the core of the sun! Oh, that is priceless! You are so much more fun than the other two. All they ever do is sit around in the background.”

Lyra recovered herself and shouted into the emptiness.

“What are you talking about?! Is that you, lightbulb?! Show yourself!”

The voice chuckled.

“Do you know, I think I will.”

There was a strange snapping sound and a flash of white light, barely visible against the whiteness. Lyra and Bon-Bon stepped back as their mysterious benfactor was revealed at last.

Standing several ponies tall, the creature that stood before was a biological mess, comprised of parts of many different animals and monsters. A griffon’s claw, a dragon’s tail, mismatched horns and wings... The chimeric beast defied logic and common sense. It sniffed at their stunned expressions.

“Oh, what’s the matter? Never seen a draconequus before?”

A thought seemed to occur to him.

“Oh wait, this time I never... So I guess you haven’t! My mistake!”

It laughed, a hearty guffaw with a derisive edge to it. Lyra overcame her surprise and snapped at the floating monster before them.

“What are you? You owe us some serious explanation.”

The beast drew itself to its full height nonchalantly. It was, they now realised, really quite tall.

“My name, you’ll be interested to hear, is Discord. I am the Spirit of Chaos, the only living example of a draconequus, and the one who gave you your original powers. Does that answer your question?”

Tapping his chin, Discord seemed to remember something.

“Oh yes, and I created Nightmare Moon.”

The two ponies recoiled, Lyra quickly recovering and slipping into her battle stance.

“You’re to blame?!”

Discord laughed again, that rich belly laugh that made you feel like all the world was laughing at you.

“So aggressive! Yes, Lyra, I am to blame for Luna’s two thousand years of torment. But,”

He waved a cautionary claw as Lyra prepared to leap and Bon-Bon warily took in the situation.

“There’s nothing you can do to me here, so I wouldn’t try. Not if you want the answers you’ve been looking for for so long, anyway.”

Lyra very slowly relaxed. Bon-Bon, more level-headed than her partner as usual, decided to play Discord’s game until they could find a way out of this. If they could find a way out of this.

“Okay, Discord. Have it your way. Why are we here? Where is here?”

The sinuous Discord snaked through the air as he replied, sometimes slithering like a snake and sometimes just swimming in space. It seemed impossible for him to stand still, or perform the same action for anything more than a few seconds.

“You are here because I brought you here, and where here is is quite a difficult concept to explain to someone who can only see in three dimensions. So let’s just call it a space between.”

Lyra sullenly interrupted. She could sense explanations incoming, and she tired of explanations almost as much as she needed answers.

“A space between what?”

Discord looked at her as if she was stupid.

“Between realities, of course.”

He brought his lion’s paw to his mouth in mock shock.

“Oops! Let the big one slip.”

Bon-Bon eagerly pressed him.

“Realities? You mean we’re in between dimensions?”

Discord thought for a moment, backstroking above them.

“Actually, no. More like the space between the words and the page. But I’ll leave Celestia to explain that one to you. Or not. She’s always been one for secrets.”

Lyra snarled.

“You promised us answers, so give us some answers!”

Even as she spoke, there was a noise like a whipcrack and suddenly Discord was right in front her, his face dwarfing hers as he leaned in so close their noses touched and a claw pressed against her neck.

“Careful, Lyra. I’m feeling generous right now, but the funny thing about Chaos is that its mood can change like that.”

Lyra, stunned at the speed the draconequus had shot past her defenses, nodded slowly.

In a flash, Discord was several feet away and upside down.

“Like so! Now, you wanted an infodump? I can give you an infodump.”

Another flash, and a chart appeared in midair beside him, on which was displayed what looked like a timeline.

“Okay, fillies, settle down and listen to teacher. Let’s start from now and work backwards, shall we? Starting from the beginning would make more sense, but that’s not really my game. One thousand years ago, Nightmare Moon is freed from her imprisonment by “the stars” - hint hint, actually me - and sealed in sweet little Luna by, gag, friendship until she resurfaces once the Six are dead and the Elements hostless again.

Two thousand years ago, Nightmare Moon appears for the first time, causing Luna to actually become any fun, and the Princesses duke it out until Celestia banishes Her.”

By now, Discord had conjured a pair of prim spectacles and a pointer and was tapping the chart as he spoke.

“An unspecified amount of time earlier, I create Nightmare Moon from a piece of my spirit and plant her in Luna.”

Bon-Bon held her hoof in front of Lyra, who was visibly restraining herself.

“Around about that time,”

The draconequus face darkened, and his voice lost its jovial edge.

“Celestia sticks me in a statue for thousands of years and leaves me in her garden to rot.”

There was a moment of silence as Lyra and Bon-Bon took in Discord’s words. Lyra snapped at him.

“So, what? You want revenge? If you created Nightmare Moon I can’t imagine Celestia had no reason to seal you up.”

Discord laughed again.

“My, you ponies really don’t know your cosmology do you? I’m only telling you this to make the next part more interesting, but I suppose I have to start from the basics!”

He fliped the chart to reveal a Venn diagram. One circle was black, the other a riot of colour. The segment where they intersected had tiny cartoon pictures of the two Princesses.

“The universe is made up of Harmony and Chaos, with a spirit representing each. I am Chaos, the Elements are Harmony. Easy enough? The Princesses mediate, ensuring neither force becomes too powerful.”

The chart poofed out of existence, and Discord folded his arms.

“Now you figure the rest out, this is getting dull.”

Bon-Bon spoke slowly, unsure of how to approach the discussion. Discord seemed more dangerous by the minute, but also vastly powerful, and the only way forward seemed to be to keep him interested.

“So... thousands of years ago, you did something that threw the balance out and the Princesses sealed you. But you had already created Nightmare Moon, corrupting a mediator. She was filled with Chaos and Celestia banished her, until you somehow got free and released her a thousand years ago, when she was sealed for another thousand years until we destroyed her... just now.”

Discord clapped and somersaulted.

“I do love hearing a plan come together! I’ll finish off for you. The accumulated Chaos from Nightmare Moon’s insurrections allowed me to make some fundamental changes to the nature of reality and make myself more powerful than you, the Princesses or even I could ever imagine and now I rule your world from the shadows. Also, there is absolutely nothing you can do about it because I have become so powerful I can do things like this.” He snapped his claw as he finished.

There was a moment of silence.

“Like what?”

Lyra was wary but confused. Nothing had happened.

Discord facepawed.

“Ugh, ponies. It’s a wonder you can even see me.”

He snapped his claw again and sighed.

Bon-Bon furrowed her brow.

“Why are you telling us all this? If you’re so evil, why explain?”

Discord looked down at his wrist, where a watch had materialised.

“Oh, look at the time, that’s the end of the Q&A! Too bad. Time to go home, ponies! I’ll give you some last little tidbits before you go, though. First, I’m telling you all this because I’ve been getting bored. I’ve had the run of the place for a thousand years, and though the last few years were a little spicy after I gave you powers, they got samey. Trixie throws out a robot, you blow it up, yawn. Now you have a mystery to hunt! How did I get free? What did I mean when I talked about ‘life and the dream’? Will you ever be able to beat me? Second, you won, by the way. The power of your Element was enough to neutralise Nightmare Moon’s energy, destroying one of my most effective servants. Oh well.”

He shrugged.

“And lastly, I’m going to set you a little challenge.”

Suddenly, the draconequus radiated malice, his vicious aura an almost physical presence.

“I’m going to send you back so that you can tell Celestia, Luna, and the other Elements that Discord is back, that he’s not going to play the hiding game any more, and... and this is the best part... that he has already won. The Princesses know why, and do you know what? I bet they won’t tell you.”

Lyra and Bon-Bon began to fade, their vision blurring as they fell out of phase with the Space Between and Discord waved a white handkerchief, pretending to tear up. Just before they winked out of existence, Discord perked up, seeming to remember something.

“Oh! And I’ll tell you why, if I’m so invincible, I let you build such a big ol’ Harmonious city.”

The last thing they saw was his grin widening and eyes narrowing as the feeling of hatred washed over what little senses they had left.

“Subverting Harmony is much more fun than replacing it.”

And then they were gone.

As soon as they had vanished, Discord dropped the angry face and conjured a chair, sitting down and sipping the chocolate milke he had brought into existence moments later. He looked around the vast and infinite emptiness.

“Well, that went well.”

Scene 21

The procession moved slowly across the plaza surrounding Celestia Tower to the sound of the dirge. Thousands of ponies, all dressed in black uniform, lined the route. Atop a makeshift dais, Luna and Celestia stood, heads bowed in respect. Flanking them were the remaining Elements of Harmony, each dressed in their finest funeral wear.

The procession neared the dais and they could at last see the coffin clearly. Inscribed with a lyre and a set of three wrapped sweets, they watched it solemnly. Though the sorrow still bit at them the state funeral for Harpflank and Sweets, Metropony’s greatest heroes, was, for them, a mere formality. They had said their goodbyes on the moon.

The coffin-bearers reached the foot of the dais and reverently lowered it to the ground. The Princesses raised their heads, and Celestia stepped forward.

The eulogy was short and vague. There was not a pony in M.A.R.E. who hadn’t considered Lyra and Bon-Bon a close friend, and the Commander had insisted that anything said over their coffin would let anyone watching make their own peace. Several ponies in the crowd began to cry. Celestia took her position again and nodded to Derpy.

The Commander fluttered from the dais to stand by the coffin and took a deep breath. She saluted the coffin, giving her friends one last send-off. With a rustle of clothing that could be heard from blocks away, the ponies of M.A.R.E. saluted their departed. The soothing rays of the sun that they had saved bathed the funeral in its light.

Gasps rippled through the crowd as a snapping sound echoed through the plaza and a flash of bright white light burst over the coffin, leaving Lyra and Bon-Bon standing on top of their coffin, looking slightly dazed.

There was a moment of silence that felt like an infinity. Lyra looked around at the thousands of ponies, hooves still held incredulously up in salute. She grinned.

“Hey, sweet, look at the welcoming committee!”

Derpy, who had fallen back in shock, fluttered upright and lifted herself to their level.

“It’s not a welcoming committee, it’s your funeral!”

Bon-Bon blinked.

“Funeral? But we only just left!”

Derpy looked at her, eyes crossing even further in confusion.

“Only just le... You’ve been gone for a month.”

Lyra kicked her own coffin, causing the entire crowd to wince instinctively.

“A month? Man, if I see that Discord again, I’m gonna-”

Celestia gasped loudly, calling down as Luna’s eyes widened in shock.

“Discord? You met Discord?!”

Bon-Bon nodded, kneeling in respect.

“Yes, Your Highness. It’s a long sto-”

She too was interrupted, this time by bolts of blue plasma shooting from the sky to strike Celestia Tower, scorching the white surface but causing no major damage. The crowd looked around, almost unanimously pulling guns from hidden holsters. M.A.R.E., after all, was M.A.R.E..

The Elements had leapt to surround the Princesses, readying weapons and devices, prepared to defend them from the new threat.

Three high-pitched voices echoed across the plaza.

“Are you sure you calibrated these correctly, AB?”

“Ah sure did, and ah don’t like your tone implyin’ I didn’t!”

“Guys, shut up, I already turned the microphone on!”

The funeral, returned deceased and all, stared in the direction of the voices, the danger suddenly not seeming so urgent.

“Well, turn it off!”

“I tried! There’s too many buttons!”

“Ah only built it with one button!”

“Ugh, let’s just make the entrance already!”

“Okay, let’s do this!”

From a nearby rooftop, three jets roared into life, and with a whoosh three suits of powered armour descended, gadgets and weapons covering every inch. The ponies of M.A.R.E. found themselves utterly unable to believe what they were seeing, unsure whether to fire or laugh. The powered armours were tiny, no larger than fillies. Hovering above the dais, they struck a pose, sun gleaming from their armour. One of the armoured children, voice cracking, spoke in a dramatic tone that gave Trixie a run for her money.

“Tremble in fear, Metropony, for today you witness the genesis of...”

The three weaponised fillies changed their pose and cried in unison,

“Cutie Mark Crusader City Conquerors! Yaaay!”

There was another, even more torturous silence.

“Ah don’t think they’re takin’ us seriously, guys.”

The third armour, the one with space for wings, did a jetpack-assisted somersault.

“Well, we’ll make ‘em take us seriously!”

At the apex of her loop, she fired a barrage of missiles that sent nearby buildings crumbling to the ground. Immediately, M.A.R.E. reacted, but the fillies were too small and fast even for the massed weaponry of the gather organisation. They zoomed out of range at high speed.

Lyra and Bon-Bon exchanged glances.

“Fun never stops, huh, BB?”

“Discord can wait.”

As the ponies around them threw off their formal clothes and began to mobilise, as the Princesses stepped back to allow the ponies they had entrusted their world to to do their jobs, as the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony began to strategise, Lyra and Bon-Bon leapt into action, galloping through the crowd and after the CMCCC almost faster than the eye could see.

The battle against Nightmare Moon was over. But in the shadows was the threat of Discord, and Metropony still had no shortage of dangers. As the wind whipped at their manes and they dodged the fire of the flying fillies above them, the two ponies grinned at each other. They were back, and they were ready to continue to serve the city they had served with for years with every fiber of their being. They turned back to the threat ahead, and galloped into the future, whatever it held.

Harpflank and Sweets. Taking down crime, one week at a time.

--------------------

Harpflank and Sweets: The Movie - The Mare In The Moon

CAST AND CREW:

Lyra as: Herself

Bon-Bon as: Herself

Vinyl Scratch as: Herself

Octavia as: Herself

Derpy Hooves as: Herself

Redheart as: Herself

The Great and Powerful Trixie as: The Great and Powerful Trixie

The Cutie Mark Crusaders as: Themselves

WITH SPECIAL GUEST STARS -

Princess Celestia as: Princess Luna

and

Princess Luna as: Princess Celestia

[ Credits continue ]

Director: Snap Cut

SPECIAL THANKS: Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Flim Flam Films, the Princesses, Spike the dragon, Ponyville’s Mayor, Sweet Apple Acres and all of you.

--------------------

Epilogue

Dearest Princess Celestia,

I am not sure if You remember me, but I am a junior librarian in your castle, recently transferred from Metropony. We met when You were searching for a book on the Elements of Harmony, but that’s not important. I am writing to inform You that I have discovered several large gaps in our catalogue that I can’t believe haven’t gone unnoticed. The entire history section is a shambles, with many books missing, and what few we do have are often damaged beyond repair. I am aware that You are a very busy and important pony, the most busy and important pony, but this library is an important part of Your castle and our heritage and I can’t stay quiet any longer. I apologise for my forthrightness.

Your faithful servant,

Twilight Sparkle.

--------------------

Coming soon: Harpflank and Sweets - Season 2!

Comments

[rychu_supadude]

Yay, update!

Wait, it's HOW many words?

I'll just look forward to reading this after I finish my dinner then...

[Ranmare Saotome]

THIS is how you do a season finale. Seriously, that ultimate attack was just insane, and then you somehow topped it...massive props.

[RTStephens]

What to say, what to say.

Actually, I really don't know what say. I'm a little speechless. Star Wars style run 'n gun, giant magical bears, GIANT magical robot ponies, the freakin' moon used as a battering ram...yeah, lot a good stuff.

Oh, and I totally called the mastermind. Really, I did. You believe me, right?

Nice touch with the tickets for the fair. Such a sweet gesture.

JUST when things start to cool down, yet ANOTHER problem crops up. Do these heroes ever get any slack?

Villains for next season? Well, Iron Will from the latest episode would probably be a good start. There's also dragons and griffons that could invade. Perhaps the spirits of the previous elements could interact with their counterparts and mess with their minds? Plus, what series would be complete without a hot springs episode that deals with force, awkward situations?

Well, I've been thoroughly blown away so I'll end it here. Great job on an exciting premise! Looking forward to season 2 already!

[Arcainum]

290684 That's pretty much what I did. "This has gotten pretty long I wonder how many OOPS". I contemplated doing another cliffhanger, because there were some good moments for one, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. 3 parts is long enough and I was running out of meta.

290852 I'm glad you enjoyed it! Best part was being able to watch GaoGaiGar and call it "research".

291130 You DID call the mastermind. But I bet you ANY MONEY you won't be able to guess Season 2's big reveal. This is, I'm aware, setting myself up for a fall, because I've already hinted at it, but very very vaguely, so maybe not.

That bit with the tickets was lucky. I spent forever trying to think up something for her to say.

No, no they don't. This will become important ¬_¬

Iron Will is DEFINITELY on my list. He's amazing. If I'd been writing a random episode when he aired, I would've done what happened with the Flim Flams and just restructured the whole thing aroud him. I think he could also work as an obnoxious hero type who waltzes in and gets owned, but that would involve Iron Will getting owned. And yeah, I have severely underutilised other species. Maybe when I fill in some Season 1 gaps I'll do some worldbuilding. As for the Mane 6, THEY'RE ALREADY ACCOUNTED FOR *mysterious* Did you catch the letter in the epilogue?

Thanks for reading!

[ZettaLux]

That was AWESOME. Also, lol @ the credits as the princesses as their sisters. wat.

As for an episode idea... Maybe the princesses swap jobs with L&BB. Or L&BB have boy problems. Maybe you can do an episode centered around Derpy (enter: Carrot Top, Derpy's nemesis at control over the office fridge), or another of the Element Bearers.

New villains? Gilda the short tempered gryphon, Zecora the mad alchemist, Colgate the evil dentist, Photo Finish the obsessed photographer, Iron Will and his army of goats, Blueblood the uncouth gentlecolt ruffian, Berry Punch the... drunk pony?, Angel the mad scientist rabbit, Sprinkle the Mary Sue OC self insert human-in-equestria-turned-pony alicorn (the worst of them all).

[the other sans]

"Rose apologised and looked back the sky, trying to put her finger on what was bothering her"

Yeah, things don't turn out well when you see something like that appear now is it? Other than that... TWILIGHT WHY U ALIVE. Also EVIL CMC!

Ok, maybe not so much, just silly.

Note the underlined word is spelled wrong and the bolded underlined one is... self explanatory. Unless... ROSE IS AN ALTERNATE LYRA.

[Wanderer D]

This was awesome! But it raises so many questions... I guess I should read more and find out...

[Mortis Nex]

That was by far the most epic conclusion to any story arc I have ever seen. No, seriously, it tops every other ponyfic, anime, movie or show I have ever watched or read. If any ponyfic deserves to be professionally animated, it is this one.

I'm still reeling...
Wow...

[djthomp]

That was even better than the season finale.

[Borg]

439793 It's spelled correctly in Britain. I haven't been paying attention, I don't suppose Arcainum has been spelling things Britishly before? I probably would have noticed at some point.

Quite the movie, indeed.

[Shantara]

Discord showing off his powers by changing story text color and ponies can't even sense it. This! Is! Absolutely! Brilliant!

Also, site changes have broken proper formatting at some point and now pink text ends at the end of the line and not after "claw again".

[Darth Wedgius]

"Lunicron.". "We've got the touch!".

Well, now I know. And knowing is half the battle.

There aren't enough mustaches on the whole of the Internet for this one.

[Darth Wedgius]

1946505
Yep. "BEHOLD, MY LABOUR OF A THOUSAND YEARS!". That U in LABOUR seems UK to me, though I suppose Australian or Canadian spellings might have it, too.

[ts_cogwheel]

Buck Newton. Megacellos should be the new SI unit for force.

Very well played out. Good pacing, characterisations, and originality.
On my browser, Discord does nothing to the font, so that part didn't make sense before I read the comments, but of course: what fun is there in making sense?

[Puzzle Reader]

Okay, that was EPIC! And OMG Twilight Sparkle.

[Mally]

I laughed. I cried. It became a part of me.

[book_burner]

“She’s going to destroy the sun.”

Eldest, Starsnuffer, Fairest and Fallen, greetings and defiance -- now and always!

And yeah, you smashed the moon into the Lunicron. EPIC.

[Axel van Daeren]

“BEHOLD, MY LABOUR OF A THOUSAND YEARS! BEHOLD... LUNICRON!”

I love you so much for this.

Too bad it didn't have any lines, you could've credited Orson Welles...

[RyGuy4TwinsFan]

Cutie Mark Crusader City Conquerors!

My God, they have finally freaking lost it LMAO!!!!! The CMC, on a crusade for a Cutie Mark, are way more dangerous than Discord will ever be!!!!

[PresentPerfect]

I thought it was "PARTG" Cannon until you spelled it out for me, and then I took psychic damage.

Lunicron. Now I've seen everything. XD