Round 1: Magic's Not Allowed

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At first, the night appeared to be like it always was. It was beautiful. Stars littered the sky, each one sparkling or dimming to its own unique music. The moon was full and brilliant, its whiteness casting a soft glow across all the land. The blue sky had darkened into a deep blue, offering to envelope any pony in a deep embrace of calm and quiet. A coolness hung in the air that the daytime simply could not match, even on its coldest day. Everything seemed peaceful, and to the untrained eye, it would appear as though all of Equestria was asleep.

The Princess of the Night knew that was not the case. While she had come to accept that most ponies slept through her beautiful night, she took comfort in the knowledge that not everything did so. She knew that the night, her night, was the most cherished part of many beings’ lives. There were even some ponies now, a thousand years later, who preferred what they called the ‘Night Life’ and stayed up all through her glorious work. They did not appreciate it the way she would like them to, but they still witnessed it, and for that, Luna was thankful.

But there was something wrong with her masterpiece. Something foreign had invaded her beautiful night, her refuge, and her place of comfort. It had been creeping into her nights for the past several days, slowly growing stronger until even Celestia had been able to feel it. Both sisters had known long before hoof that it was coming, but Luna had been able to sense it before her elder sister. The night was calmer than the day, more restful and focused, and thus Luna had always been able to sense certain things better than her sister.

It had started as just a faint hum in the back of her mind. At first Luna had not even noticed it. In fact, the only reason she had detected it at all was because Celestia had reminded her of what was coming. The following day, the hum in her mind had become a faint scratching sensation at the back of her ear. She had told Celestia about it, and while her sister had believed her unreservedly, Celestia had not felt anything. The following day, Luna had been able to feel the excess magic tingling in her hooves and dashing through her midnight mane. When she had raised the moon, she had used the extra power to make the job easier and give herself even more to work with when arranging the stars.

Two days ago, when Luna could feel the magic flowing through her very blood, Celestia had told her that she too could now feel the extra magical energy. That had been the start of the events. Luna had dispatched her own personal guards out into the night, while Celestia’s guards and the majority of the Canterlot army remained behind to defend the capitol. Luna had told her bat ponies to observe, and act only if needed. Equestria had come a long way in a thousand years, but she knew that her guards still frightened many ponies, and that she herself was still feared by many.

That had been the main reason Luna had taken the bat ponies under her personal wing. She felt for them, understood them, and empathized with them. More importantly, they had empathized with her. They were misunderstood by the other three pony races, and often shunned and feared, just as she and her night were. They were a left over race from back in the days when Discord had still been in power. The draconequus had warped several pegasi, taking their feathered wings and replacing them with bat wings. He had turned their coats to dark blues and purples, and made them allergic to the sunlight. The ponies had been shunned by their fellow pegasi and other ponies, forced to live away from the rest of society because of their preference for the night.

When Luna and her sister had defeated Discord, Luna had heard rumors of strange ponies flying at night, with horrible monster wings, wicked tails, and evil glowing eyes. Luna had spent many nights searching for what she believed to be nothing more than an old mare’s tale, until she had found a bat pony. The being had fled from her in terror, but when Luna had easily kept up with her, the mare had turned to fight, vowing to not betray her people and to take Luna to the grave with her.

It had taken quite a lot of convincing—and some serious magic—to end the fight without harming the strange pony. It had taken Luna nearly breaking into tears, pleading with the mare named Shadow Echo and swearing that she meant no harm, before Luna had been allowed to meet the other bat ponies.

Shadow Echo had been the first bat pony Luna had ever spoken with, and the first captain of Luna’s own personal guard. Celestia and Luna had offered to change Shadow Echo and her people back into regular ponies, but they had refused. Besides, magic had not made them what they were. They were the children of Discord’s original bat ponies, and they had doubted magic could change them even if they had wanted to.

When Luna had returned from being Nightmare Moon, she had feared that the bat ponies would no longer exist, or worse, hate her for deserting them and shun her for giving creatures of the night such a foul reputation again. But that had not been the case. Her first night back, dozens of bat ponies had appeared outside of Canterlot castle, each one asking to be officially knighted into Luna’s service. Celestia had told Luna that she had kept the bat ponies on as guardians of the night, but that they still missed their beloved Princess of the Night.

Luna had immediately knighted every single pony there, joy filling her heart with each pony that looked up at her with pride in his or her eyes.

Joy did not fill her heart tonight though. Tonight it was filled with doubt and worry, and perhaps even a dash of fear. The magical energy was coursing through her veins, sparking through her hair, sizzling across her fur, and ringing in her teeth. Her entire body felt as though it could tear open any moment, unable to contain the raw power that she felt.

Luna raised her head as she flew through the sky and looked at the source of so many of her worries and her discomfort.

The Secretariat Comet blazed in the night sky, a gaping wound in Luna’s otherwise flawless masterpiece. It’s bright yellow light clashed with the darkness, casting an eerie glow that mixed terribly with her beautiful moonlight. It looked as though a miniature sun was slowly burning its way through the sky. Its magical energy seeped into the very air around her, saturating it to the point where Luna felt as though she was flying through water instead of air. The energy sucked at her being, granting her immense power but threatening her with exhaustion as she struggled to control it. She stayed focused on her one goal in hopes that doing so would keep her from losing herself.

She needed to get to Manehattan.

Canterlot was in no danger. True, her big sister expected some sort of attack during the comet’s appearance, and Luna expected one as well, but Celestia was there, along with the Canterlot army and Celestia’s own personal guard. Canterlot might end up a target—it did every time the comet appeared—but it was probably the safest place in Equestria at the moment too.

Cloudsdale was perhaps the second safest place. The only creatures that threatened the city of the pegasi were ones with wings, and only dragons would be numerous enough to attack the city in any real force. And dragons hated the comet even more than Luna and her sister did. Its magical effects did strange things to their bodies, and thus they tended to vanish into caves when it appeared in attempts to hide from it.

Besides, Luna thought to herself with a smile, ‘tis a city of cloud. It can easily be repaired.

The Wonderbolts had been divided into two teams. One team had been dispatched to Las Pegasus and the other to Fillydelphia and Baltimare. Unless something truly drastic happened, they should be able to handle any situation.

Ponyville had Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Luna smiled to herself as she thought about the purple unicorn. Perhaps Ponyville was the safest place to be during the comet’s passing, not Canterlot.

The Crystal Empire had Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, and Luna was certain that nothing could stand against Cadence’s love and Shining Armor’s resolve.

Appleloosa had responded to Celestia’s offer of protection by reporting that the ponies and the buffalo would be protecting the town together. Some of the buffalo had ever gone to Dodge Junction and offered to help protect the small town. Luna was pleased to see that different species had learned to work hoof-in-hoof during her banishment. There had been a time when such a thing had been impossible to imagine.

Luna had sent a dozen of her guard to Trottingham and another dozen to Vanhoover and the surrounding area. Both groups had been given orders to remain hidden, less they startle the populace and become mistaken for the very monsters they had been sent to guard against. She had told them to act only if the situation demanded it of them.

She didn’t need to worry about Hollow Shades because many bat ponies called that town home. Being deep in a forest meant they were safe from the sun and…unwelcomed guests.

Still, many ponies knew of the town, and when Luna had last visited, she had been pleasantly surprised to find that many earth, unicorn, and even pegasi ponies now lived there too.

All the major and minor settlements in Equestria had defenses ready, and tonight, many of those defenses would likely be put to the fullest test. Tonight was the comet’s peak, the time when its magical energy was at its fullest and monsters crept out of the dark places of the land and attacked. It had happened before, and Luna had no doubt that it would happen again. Those bat ponies that she had not assigned a location to had been ordered to patrol the land and contact her if they found anything that they deemed worthy of her attention.

She hoped that would not be the case, because during all her and her sisters’ planning of Equestria’s defenses, they had both overlooked Manehattan.

What had been a small port town a thousand years ago was now a busy metropolis, with a population that rivaled Canterlot’s, and the most advanced city in all of Equestria. Luna had been baffled when her sister had pointed it out on the map, stunned that such a small island settlement had grown into such a city while she had been gone. And it had absolutely no defense against the comet. No guards, no Wonderbolts, no pegasi, or even buffalo.

“Then we shall give them a Princess,” Celestia had said.

“But sister, you know you cannot leave Canterlot,” Luna had protested. “Not with the Elements housed within the castle. They will draw powerful creatures to them, creatures wishing to feast on their magic and grow even stronger. They will act as a flame does to moths. You are needed here.”

“Then you must go, my dear little sister.”

“I? But…I cannot. I mean, outside of Ponyville, I am still feared and—”

“My dear Luna, you are forgetting something very important. Why do the ponies in Ponyville no longer fear you?”

Luna had paused at that for a moment, thinking about what her sister was saying. “Because…Twilight Sparkle helped me.”

Celestia had smiled at the mention of her favorite student. “True, but what did she help you with?”

“Making friends,” Luna had responded instantly, pride swelling in her heart at the thought.

“Correct. And the only way you were able to make those friends was by letting them get to know you. Introducing yourself and showing them what I already know—that you are a gentle soul, a kind ruler, and, above all, my little sister. If you want more ponies to see you that way, you must brave Equestria outside of Canterlot’s walls.” Celestia had smiled after that and had added with a grin, “Also, if something does happen in Manehattan, helping to protect their city will surely gain you some admirers.”

Now Luna found herself racing across her night sky, her body overflowing with so much magical energy that it was starting to ache, trying to reach the glow in the distance that was Manehattan. From what she could see there was no immediate danger to the city, but with the comet’s peak tonight, that situation could easily change at a moment’s notice.

Luna was able to fly for another minute before her fears were realized.

“Princess Luna,” a voice said from her left. Startled slightly, she looked over and saw one of her royal guards flying toward her in all haste. She slowed, allowing her subject to catch up with her, but continued toward the city.

“Good evening, Silent Wing,” Luna said. While all bat ponies tended to be quiet, Silent Wing had the talent to be completely silent in the air if she so chose. It made her ideal of the scouting mission Luna had put her on tonight.

“Your Majesty, I have a report,” the bat pony said as she flew alongside Luna. Her yellow eyes glowed in the dark and her armor made her difficult to see against the night sky.

“I am on my way to Manehattan,” Luna replied. “I fear my sister and I forgot to place defenses around it for the comet tonight, so my sister elected me to its aid. Is this report something that requires my immediate attention, or can you and the others contain it?”

Silent Wing smiled, something she rarely did when on duty. “Then you’re in luck, Your Majesty. Manehattan is the source of my report, and it is where you are needed.”

“Why?” Luna asked, her panic rising slightly. If the ponies in Manehattan came to harm while she was not there, she would never forgive herself.

“Well, uh, I’m not sure you’re going to believe this.” Silent Wing seemed to be at a loss for words, another thing that was strangely out of character for her.

“Speak,” Luna said after a few moments, the panic now starting to take hold of her more completely.

“A giant…marshmallow pony is attacking the city. At least, I think it’s a marshmallow.”

Luna decided that it was a good thing she was not flying low, otherwise she was certain she would have crashed into a tree or some other object because of Silent Wing’s statement. If it had not been Silent Wing reporting to her, she would have assumed it was a jest. A giant marshmallow pony? How did something like that even come into existence? There were countless magical beings throughout Equestria and beyond, but none of them were made the soft, tasty, sticky substance that ponies made smores out of. Or at least, Luna had never heard of a creature made of marshmallow. The comet’s magic apparently affected a great many things.

“I understand,” Luna said, though understanding was very far from her mind at the moment. “Is there anything else I should be aware of about this…creature?”

“It stands as tall as some of Manehattan’s taller buildings, does not speak beyond roars, and magic seems to only make it angry. Do you wish for me to call in the rest of the reserves?”

“No,” Luna said shortly. “No, have them stay on their patrols. We cannot have another incident. I will handle this myself.”

Silent Wing saluted with her hoof. “Yes, Your Majesty. Still, I will be close by. If you need us, you know what to do.” With that, the bat pony banked slightly and vanished into the night sky. Luna knew that she would not go far, but looking for her would prove to be useless.

Besides, she had more pressing matters to attend to. As she drew closer to Manehattan, she began to notice the signs of the raging monster.

“Honestly, does a marshmallow qualify as a monster?” the princess asked herself as she flew high over the city, surveying the area.

The city did not seem too damaged. As far as Luna could tell, all the buildings were still intact. She saw a few places in the street that looked as though they had been depressed and collapsed under a heavy weight, and as she looked at the markings, she realized that they were actually hoofprints. She followed the trail and started to notice more damage: smashed windows, crushed carts, small fires, and a few buildings with structural damage. She also saw, and heard, dozens of ponies dashing through the streets, some running with no clear destination in mind, others moving to help wherever they could. She noted that several ponies were lying on the ground, but all of them seemed to be moving and being attended to, which was a good sign.

All in all, the damage did not look too severe, but Luna knew that that could change easily. She needed to find this giant marshmallow and deal with it before a pony was seriously injured, or worse.

She did not need to search far.

A roar tore through the night air, drowning out the sound of screaming ponies below and the rolling waves around the city. Luna looked up and saw the source of the sound and found herself in shock.

It really was a giant marshmallow pony.

The creature stood at least four stories tall, towering over the smaller buildings in Manehattan and coming up to eye level on some of the more fancy hotels. Its white body took up the entire street, its sides brushing against buildings as it walked past, smashing out windows and knocking down lampposts. Its tail swept back and forth like a wrecking ball, although the effect was not as crushing. Instead of demolishing everything it hit, it merely bounced off most structures, or in some cases, caused the walls to dent slightly. Its hooves trudged down the street, smashing carts and other objects beneath them and occasionally causing part of the street to cave in slightly.

The monster did not seem to have a destination in mind as it continued down the street, roaring and stomping its way through the city. Luna stared at its back, trying to decide how best to handle the situation. The thing had not seen her yet, so she could launch a surprise assault against it. Perhaps she could fry it with one focused blast of magic. The comet was certainly giving her enough extra strength.

Still, if the creature was sentient, it deserved a chance to at least explain itself and perhaps walk away unharmed. Blasting it in the back hardly seemed like something a ruler would do. Nightmare Moon, perhaps, but not Luna. Not if she wanted ponies to see her differently.

Gritting her teeth, Luna flapped her wings hard and flew to the front of the pony. She sailed through the sky until she was at eye level with it. At least, she was fairly certain she was eye level with it. The creature did not have eyes, but merely shallow indentations in its face where its eyes should have been. Still, it stopped once Luna appeared in front of it and seemed to stare at her, so she decided the thing could see her in its own way.

“Halt!” Luna said, using her Canterlot voice. It echoed through the night air, and for a moment the only sound was her voice bouncing off of the buildings around her. She quickly looked down and noticed that several ponies had stopped fleeing and were looking up at her, whether in awe or terror, she could not tell. She hoped it was the former.

“Thou doth rampage through the home of my subjects, creature!” Luna said. “Thou shalt stop immediately and return to…wherever thou came from at once.”

The marshmallow pony let out a low rumbling sound, but it did not move.

“Doth thou understand?” Luna demanded. “Thou hath brought ruin and chaos with thee. Now, as ruler of these fine lands, I command thee to leave immediately, or I shall be forced to do battle with thee.”

For a moment, the creature stood still and Luna began to believe she had managed to reach the giant pony, but then it opened its mouth and roared. The roar was so loud, so powerful, that Luna found herself reeling through the sky and clutching her ears, trying to stop her head from spinning. She closed her eyes in pain and struggled to stay in the air as the vibrations shook her down to her bones. She opened her eyes just a pinch to see what was happening, and then immediately flung them all the way open.

A giant marshmallow hoof was coming straight at her.

Luna reacted instantly, bringing her wings close to her body and going into a sideways dive. The hoof missed her, but the shockwave of air caught her full blast, sending her spinning through the night yet again. She allowed the momentum to carry her to what she hoped was a safe distance, then flared her wings and came out of her spin, facing the monster.

“Very well,” Luna shouted, her voice booming even more than when she had spoken earlier. She focused her magic and fired a blast from her horn, aiming for the creature’s front leg.

The magic impacted the giant monster and…did nothing. Luna watched as her magic simply dissolved against the marshmallow flesh with minimal impact. The area seemed to glow slightly for a brief moment, but then it returned to its white texture as if nothing had happened.

The monster roared, whether in pain or with simple annoyance, the princess could not tell. It swung its hoof at her again, but Luna was well out of reach of it. Instead, its hoof crashed against a nearby building, smashing windows and causing part of the wall to collapse. Its hoof seemed to become stuck for a moment as the creature tried to free itself from the impact, so Luna flew in close. She looked at the being’s flesh, searching for a weak spot.

It appeared to truly be made of the fluffy white sweet. Its body looked to be made of nothing but marshmallows. Giant marshmallows, each one at least six ponies tall and ten ponies across.

And the smell. Luna almost gagged as the smell of marshmallow overwhelmed her nose. The smell of sugar was nearly too much for her to handle as she looked over the creature.

Where its joints should have been were instead where the marshmallows connected, so that each part of its body appeared to be made of separate marshmallows. Luna looked at the area near where the creature’s hoof joint would be. That seemed like a vulnerable spot.

Luna focused her magic and fired it at the shallow point where two of the marshmallows seemed to meet. This time, she was rewarded with more success. The blast plunged deep into the joint and caused a small black mark to appear, as if the thing had been held over a fire for too long. The smell of burned marshmallow filled her nostrils and Luna smiled triumphantly, but her smile quickly faded. The scorch mark faded as well. It took slightly longer than her first attack, but in seconds, the joint was as clean and white as it had been before.

The marshmallow pony freed its hoof and roared, bringing it up and trying to smash Luna as it did. More of the building came apart as the hoof came free and Luna found herself desperately dodging bricks and pieces of wood as they sailed up through the air along with the marshmallow’s hoof. The monster roared at her again.

“Silent Wing was apparently correct. Magic does not seem to affect it much,” the princess said to herself as she flew into the night sky. But how is this possible? No creature regenerates this quickly.

Still, Silent Wing had not been completely correct. Magic did seem to have an effect on the creature. It left damage, but the creature healed itself too quickly for the damage to be of any real threat.

Perhaps Luna just needed to use more magic.

Luna spread her wings to the fullest and made her body go perpendicular to the ground. She closed her eyes and rose into the air, flapping slowly and deliberately. She felt her mane and tail ripple with energy as they flowed around her. She took several deep breaths, inhaling the power from the Secretariat Comet. She cyan eyes flew open, but she knew they were no longer their normal color. They had gone pure white, like they always did when she lost her temper or used her full power. She could feel the magic flowing through her, trickling out of her fur and eyes.

“Be GONE!” Luna bellowed, unleashing the full force of her magic. Her head ached and her horn felt as though it was about to explode as the power left her body in a single shot. Her eyes were blinded from the light as it flew from her, but she made sure the shot was aimed high, so that if it managed to pass through the marshmallow without dissipating completely, it would impact out in the sea and not destroy Manehattan. Still, controlling the blast took more effort than she expected, and it was all she could do to keep the beam from demolishing the surrounding buildings.

After what felt like a lifetime, the magical attack faded and Luna slowly regained control of her body. She felt dizzy, and it was all she could do to stay in the air. Her tiara suddenly seemed to weigh her down and she had to struggle to not pull it off and drop it. She blinked her eyes several times, trying to make her eyesight return. It slowly came back, along with her hearing, and she looked around for the giant monster.

To Luna’s disappointment, the creature was still standing. To her disbelief, what should have been at least a gaping wound through its body was in fact nothing more than a smoldering crater in its chest. Worse still, Luna swore that she could see the wound starting to heal itself instantly. The blackened crisp marshmallow was already softening and growing back. Within moments, the wound had closed and repaired itself and the marshmallow pony was once again all white.

“But…how?” Luna asked as exhaustion gripped her body. That had been the strongest magic she had ever used in her entire life. Even when she had been Nightmare Moon and battled her sister, her magic had not been that powerful. If such a blast had not even managed to harm the creature, much less defeat it, then stopping it might prove to be impossible.

The creature roared again and swung its hoof at Luna. The princess struggled to fly out of its reach. When she was safely out of it the swing’s way, she stopped and turned to face the creature, trying to—

The hoof came speeding toward her, faster than before. Luna gasped in shock and flew to the side, barely dodging the blow. This time, she expected the shockwave effect and collapsed her wings, allowing the gust of air to pass over her with minimal harm. Still, her mind was confused. How had the marshmallow pony been able to reach her? She was certain she was out of its range if its earlier attack was any indication.

Luna looked at the giant monster’s hoof and felt her heart sink. It was stretching. She saw the soft marshmallow body stretch as the hoof sailed past her. She saw several white tendons, if that was the proper word for them, stretch and a few break as the limb flew past her. This…creature could apparently elongate its limbs at will, though not too far.

“The tendons…are breaking,” she said. She focused her magic again and fired. The blast was weak, nowhere near the strength she had just used, but if the monster was already damaging itself by stretching and if she added to it, perhaps it would be enough to actually give the monster pause.

It wasn’t. Luna watched as her attack not only failed to harm the creature, but appeared to actually be absorb by it. Was this thing adapting to her? What type of magic was thing? True, the comet and its powers were still not entirely understood, but all creatures Luna and her sister had faced in the past had been, well, normal.

Over the many centuries that Luna and her sister had safeguarded Equestria during the comet’s passing, they had battled all kinds of strange beasts. Hydras that had been granted the power of flight. Dragons that could change size in an instant. There had even been a battle with a flock of Phoenixes that not only had commanded fire, but ice as well.

Each one of those conflicts had been trying, and several times Luna had been worried that she and her sister would not prevail, but each of those battles had been against normal magical creatures of Equestria. The comet had only given them strange powers or mutated them in some way. Luna had never heard of the comet creating a new creature out of what she was certain was an inanimate object. Nor had she ever heard of the comet granting the ability for something to regenerate so quickly. The comet only increased magical potential, or tampered with abilities. It did not grant new ones.

So why was she fighting a giant marshmallow pony in the middle of Manehattan? Why was it able to heal itself and withstand a magical blast that would have leveled half the city? And most importantly, why was she losing to it?

“Your Majesty! Look out!”

Luna looked up into the night sky and saw Silent Wing diving toward her, frantically pointing back toward the giant pony. Luna looked back and her eyes went wide. The pony’s other massive hoof was sailing toward her now. She knew she would not have time to dodge it. She closed her eyes and waited for the blow to send her reeling through the air.

Instead, she heard a loud boom! followed almost instantly by a howling roar of pain. She cautiously opened one eye, still expecting the blow to come any moment, and looked at the monster.

It was clutching its right hoof to its chest. A tiny fire was burning at the very tip of it. Luna watched as the flames died and all that was left a small wisp of smoke and a black mark.

“Princess Luna, we must withdraw,” Silent Wing said as she flew to Luna’s side.

“What…what did you do?” Luna asked. Her mind was still foggy from exhaustion and it was taking everything she had to stay in the air.

“I grabbed a stray storm cloud and hit that beast with a bolt of lightening. I fear I only angered it though, and now—”

“Look out!” Luna shouted, reaching for her guard in an attempt to push her out of the way. But the princess was too slow. The marshmallow hoof slammed into Silent Wing and the bat pony went spinning. Luna watched in horror as her faithful subject spun through the sky like a doll. Luna tried to grab the pony with her magic, but Silent Wing was spinning too fast and Luna was too worn out. She watched helplessly and the guard pony crashed through a third story window and vanished from sight.

Luna’s blood boiled. Her eyes blurred, from both tears and anger, and she felt her anguish bringing new strength to her body. She spun in the air, her hooves shaking with rage, and glared at the thing that had dared to strike one of her subjects.

“Foul beast! For that transgression, there shall be no—” Luna did not have time to finish her threat. Before the words had even finished forming in her mind, she found herself raising a protective spell around herself.

The marshmallow pony’s two front hooves slammed against her shield from opposite sides. The shield held for a moment, but Luna heard the cracks forming in it a second before it shattered around her. She simply did not have enough magic to maintain it against such a strong impact. The princess looked right and saw nothing by white closing in on her. She looked left and saw the same, save for the tiny black spot where Silent Wing had attacked.

A moment later, the giant pony’s hooves came together like it was trying to catch a fly. Luna felt as though she was being smothered in pillows. For a brief moment, her mind found the sensation relaxing. It was so soft. If it was not for the overwhelming scent of sugar and marshmallow, she would have found it to be very enjoyable.

Then the inertia of the attack hit her. The fact that she had just been smashed between two marshmallows lessened the pain and she was certain that it saved her life, but it still hurt. She felt her body sink into the creature’s hooves for a moment, then they would give no more and she found herself being smashed. She felt the sticky substance coat her fur and cling to her feathers. As the creature ground its hooves together, the princess could feel her hair getting tangled and several strands of it being ripped from her tail and mane.

Worst still, she could not breathe. The giant pony was smothering her. She gasped for air, but her mouth was only filled with fluffy sugar. Panic rose in her mind and she struggled, but all her efforts managed to accomplished was to coat herself in more of the sticky substance.

Her cheek brushed against something. Its texture was different from everything else. Instead of feeling soft and squishy, it was hard and flaky. Luna struggled to turn her face toward the strange object, but she could not see and thus had not idea what she was feeling. Still, it was different than everything else around her, and with darkness beginning to close in on her brain, she did the only thing she could think of.

She opened her mouth and bit down on the strange surface.

Her teeth sank into the surface instantly. Its hard, flaky exterior was no match for her jaw and it snapped, startling her at the ease at which she had been able to bite it. As the taste flooded her mouth, she realized that she was chewing something familiar. It took her but a moment to recognize the taste as marshmallow. Burned marshmallow.

Of course! Silent Wing’s lightening bolt. Luna must have bitten into the part where the bolt had struck. She had no idea what good that knowledge would do her as she began to lose consciousness, but at least—

Luna suddenly felt herself being hurdled through the sky. Precious air filled her lungs and she gasped several times, nearly choking as bits of marshmallow clung to her mouth. She vaguely registered the sound of the beast screaming in pain, but that thought was pushed to the back of her mind as several more raced to the forefront.

One, she was free and able to breathe.

Two, her wings were covered in so much goopy marshmallow that she could not open them to fly.

Three, she was still too exhausted to use her magic to control her tumble through the air.

Four, the ground was coming up terribly fast.

Luna closed her eyes and braced for herself for the impact she knew was coming. She tried to slow herself with magic, and for a brief moment she thought she felt some of it envelope her, but then she crashed against something, felt it tear under her weight and speed, and then she hit something that did not give so easily.

Then there was nothing but blackness.

Round 2: Fighting Despair

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Pain. Pain crawled everywhere. It hung in the air, thick as a fresh coating of snow. It clung to Luna’s coat like a tangled blanket. It sank into her bones and flowed through her bloodstream. Her ears heard nothing but throbbing and her own shallow breaths. Her eyes felt heavy, as though somepony had glued weights under them and then tried to sow them shut. The pain was everywhere, struggling to keep her mind in blackness but at the same time bringing it further into the light.

The pain wrapped itself around her body, but as her mind found its way back to consciousness, she realized that the pain was not intense. There was no shooting agony, no pulsating pounding, and no sharp spiking. It was there, but it was not blindingly intense. It was not the type of pain the princess had expected to find herself in when she awoke. For that matter, she had not expected to awake at all.

Of course, the pain still hurt. It just didn’t hurt to the point where she could not function.

Luna groaned and slowly opened her eyes. She blinked twice, trying to force them to focus. She found herself staring up at the night sky. Her beautiful night sky, filled with twinkling stars and her glorious moon. And that foul comet’s glow.

She scowled and sat up, wincing as her body felt a new wave of pain gently wash over her. She looked around, trying to discover how she was still alive.

She looked up again and noticed a torn awning above her. The fabric had been ripped almost in half and now hung limply from its supports. That had apparently been what had slowed her descent. She looked down and found herself lying in a pile of trash bags. They were not the softest things she had ever been on, and their stench would certainly require a strong rinse to expunge from her coat, but at the moment she was happy that she had landed on them and not the street, or against the wall of the buildings that now towered over her.

“Where in Equestria am I?” she asked as she gingerly pulled herself from the bags of refuse. She noticed that as she moved, several of the bags clung to her and she fell back into their embrace. She looked at herself and found that she was partly covered in a white sticky substance. She strained against it, trying not to think about what it could be, and finally managed to free herself from the trash and leave most of the sticky residue on the bags.

Some of it still clung to her though, mostly around her wings. She tried to open them, but found that she could not. Whatever this substance was, it had matted her feathers so badly that she would need a proper preening before she could use her wings again to their full extent. Also, judging by the quick jab of pain she felt as she tried to free her wings, she was probably in no shape to fly.

“What am I doing here?” Luna closed her eyes and tried to force the fogginess from her mind. As she concentrated, the pounding in her ears subsided and her hearing slowly returned. She heard…something, but she could not place it at first. It sounded like screaming. Countless ponies screaming. Why were her subjects screaming in such numbers?

A loud roar echoed through the night and Luna’s eyes snapped open. The last of the fogginess lifted from her mind and she recalled everything. The giant marshmallow pony, the fact that it was immune to every attack she had launched on it, its rampage through Manehattan, Silent Wing being—

“Silent Wing!” Luna tried to spread her wings but she was immediately reminded that they were covered in the white sticky stuff, which she now realized was nothing but marshmallow. No doubt it would come off with a simple shower, but at the moment Luna had no access to one. She also doubted she had the time. She needed to stop this creature before any other ponies got hurt. As much as it pained her, she would have to postpone her search for her faithful guard.

“Very well then,” Luna said as she walked out of the alley she had landed in. “I need to find the creature again and…do something about it.” She still did not have the slightest idea of how to stop it when nothing seemed to even slow it down.

The Princess of the Night walked out into the street and quickly realized that she had a much more immediate problem on her hooves. Manehattan from the sky had been large and imposing, but she had been able to see where she needed to go. From the ground, the buildings towered over her. She looked up at them and they seemed to stretch and bend over her the further up they went. Countless windows lined them all, and each one seemed like an eye glaring down at her. She shuttered and unwillingly took a step back. She felt like the buildings were watching her in silent contempt, belittling her failed efforts to protect the city. Nightmares began to creep back into her mind. Fears about how the ponies in Ponyville had reacted to her appearance, and how other ponies would no doubt react when she appeared before them. She did not want to be alone again. She did not want ponies to shun her, but embrace her as they did her sister.

“No,” Luna said, stomping her hoof and banishing the creeping darkness from her mind. Her big sister was correct. If she wanted more ponies to accept her, she needed to show them that she was not Nightmare Moon and that she was here to help them. And she would start by saving Manehattan, no matter what the cost to herself.

Okay, Luna, you need to discover where you are. She looked around the street until she spied an abandoned newsstand. Hoping that it had what she needed, she walked over to it, trying to ignore the distant sounds of terrified ponies and a rampaging marshmallow. She looked over the scattered products of the newsstand, searching for what she needed. There were dozens of newspapers, each one with a headline somehow related to the Secretariat’s Comet. There were also many magazines, from business to gardening tips.

“What is this one?” Luna asked as she picked up a magazine with a black dust cover. She pulled the black cover off and saw a mare in a rather suggestive pose on the front. Luna made a face and flipped to the first page, trying to figure out why a mare would take such an…odd photograph. She found her answer on the first page and quickly put the magazine back, her cheeks burning from embarrassment. Things had certainly changed in the last thousand years. Many things.

Struggling to get the image out of her mind, Luna continued to look over the newsstand until she saw what she was looking for.

“Ah, here we are.” Luna pulled out a map of Manehattan with the printing ‘I love Manehattan’ on it, only ‘love’ had been replaced by a heart. Smiling, she unfolded it once and looked at the paper. Only, she found that she needed to unfold it again. Well, Manehattan was bigger than, say, Ponyville. It would make sense if the map was bigger too. She unfolded it again. And again. And again. Luna’s eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped slightly as the map unfolded completely and ended up being nearly half her size.

“This is no challenge for a royal princess,” Luna said to herself, trying to fight back the panic that was slowly building within her. “Tis just a map. A large one, but still a map. And I can read a map. Now, let me see…”

She began to scan the map, looking for street names. There were hundreds of them! That was fine. She just needed to find the street she was on. She looked up from the map and scanned the abandoned street. No street signs were visible on the massive road. That was no concern. Perhaps she could find a building on the map that was close to where she was. Only, none of the buildings she could see seemed to have names on them.

I am sooo lost…

Luna decided that what she needed was a pony who was familiar with Manehattan. She had been gone far too long, and her short time back she had spent mostly locked away in Canterlot, dreading seeing her subjects again. She was not familiar with modern times, and Manehattan was far too large for her to attempt to understand the city on her own.

It was just highly unfortunate that not a single pony was anywhere near her at the moment. They were all most likely fleeing the city, or hiding somewhere that they thought was safe. She would need to find them, and that meant wandering the streets until she did.That was time she doubted she could spare, but she had no other choice.

Sighing and seeing if her wings were working yet—they were not—the Princess of the Night started to head in the general direction of the screams and roars.

She took two steps before she heard voices.

“It was over here, I’m telling you.”

“If you had just managed to use your magic more efficiently, we would not be roaming the streets while a giant monster threatened our city.”

“Hey, give me a break! She was going way too fast for me to get a good grip.”

Two ponies rounded the corner of a building and continued arguing as they walked down the street toward Luna. Overjoyed at her luck finally turning around, she galloped toward them, the soreness from her limbs fading with each step.

“Excuse us, dear citizens, but we require your assistance,” Luna said as she ran. Both ponies turned to look and her and froze. Luna skidded to a stop as well as she felt the fears welling up in her again. These two ponies were terrified of her. She knew they were. That was why they had stopped and were now staring at her in silence. Luna felt a tear begin to form in her eye. Was this how every pony would greet her from now on? With frozen silence and fear?

“Yo, Princess, what’s up?” one of the ponies said as she raised a hoof and waved.

The other pony immediately smacked the white mare behind her head and then forced her to bow as she bowed as well. “My deepest apologies, Your Majesty. She means no disrespect.”

Luna’s heart sored. These two ponies were not frightened of her, or at least the white one did not appear to be. The grey one was a bit harder to read. “You may rise, my subjects. We are in need of—”

The white mare snorted and quickly covered her mouth with her hoof. Her grey companion glared at her with a look so hard that Luna believed it would make Celestia think twice, and the white mare winced.

“Uh, sorry Princess—ouch! I mean, Your Majesty,” the white mare said.

“Is something amusing you, my subject?” Luna asked as she cocked her head to the side.

“Er, well…you talk kind of funny.”

“Vinyl!” the grey mare hissed.

“What? She does, Octy! Ow! Let go!” The grey mare was biting down on the other’s ear, rather hard too. “Look, I know you like it rough but—OUCH! Octy, I think you’re drawing blood! Come on, let go!”

Luna blushed, but she found herself giggling despite the situation. Even in the midst of a citywide catastrophe, she found this sight strangely calming. These two ponies knew who she was, what she was, and they did not seem to mind. They did not cower in fear from her or wear smiles that barely masked their terror of her presence. They were treating her as just another pony, or at least she was fairly certain they were.

The grey mare—Octy, if Luna understood correctly—finally released the other mare and then bowed deeply. “I apologize for my…friend’s behavior.”

“Friend?! Ah, come on. I thought after that night we were back—”

“Fine. Please forgive my—”

“Marefriend!” the other pony, Vinyl, said as she wrapped one of her hooves around Octy’s neck.

“Correct. Please forgive her rude behavior.” Octy sighed as she spoke and then turned her head to glare at Vinyl. The pony quickly withdrew her hoof. “She can be a bit…difficult to deal with.”

Vinyl grinned. “But you love me anyway.”

“We find you both rather charming,” Luna said with a smile. She suddenly recalled what Twilight Sparkle had told her about her speech. “I mean, I find you both rather charming, Octy and…Vinyl, was it?”

“Yeah, Vinyl Scratch,” Vinyl said, trying hard not to laugh as she kept looking at Octy’s face. “But you might know me as DJ Pon—”

“You are D.J. Pon-3?” Luna asked as a light went on in her mind. She immediately rushed forward and pressed her forehead against the white unicorn’s. Of course! How could she have not recognized the famous D.J.? The electric blue mane, the musical cutie mark, and…there they were! Her trademark sunglasses sitting on top of her head. This mare lived in Luna’s beautiful night. She celebrated it, threw wild parties during it, and was something of a legend among the ‘nightlife’ of all of Equestria. Luna had always wanted to meet her, this pony that played in the glorious night, but had been too frightened of how the mare would react.

“Er, I see you’ve heard of me,” Vinyl said, her eyes darting back and forth as she took a step back. Luna followed, keeping her forehead pressed against Vinyl’s as a smile spread across her face. She was so excited that she could not help herself.

“Actually, Your Highness, it is pronounced Pon three,” Octy said politely from the side.

“Not really,” Vinyl said as she and Luna both looked over at the mare, their foreheads still touching. “She said it right.”

“But…I have been calling you that for, well, a long time. Why did you not tell me?”

“Because it’s cute the way you say it,” Vinyl said with a grin. “Plus, I don’t really care. Either way is fine by me.” Octy made a face and Vinyl laughed.

A distant roar tore through the night and Luna suddenly remembered why she was here and why she had been so excited to stumble across these two ponies.

“Forgive me,” she said as she backed away from Vinyl, “but I need your assistance.”

“Of course, Your Majesty,” Octy said with a slight nod. “We were actually trying to find you. Somepony failed to catch you with their magic, so we have been looking around this part of the city for you. We are glad you are unharmed.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Vinyl said as she scratched the back of her neck.

So that was the magic Luna had felt briefly when she had been thrown through the air. “Your effort is appreciated, Vinyl. But now, I need yours and Miss Octy’s assistance.” Vinly burst into laughter and started rolling on her back. Luna looked to the other pony with a confused look. “Did I…miss something?”

“Well, my name is not Octy. It is Octavia. Octavia—”

“Octavia Melody,” Luna finished. Yes, now that she looked at the pony, and she was no longer acting like a silly little filly girl around Vinyl, she recognized the famous cellist. She had released a song a while back that had been the talk of Canterlot and other cities, but that was not why Luna was familiar with her.

The princess looked the mare over carefully. Yes, she had a grey coat and a black mane. Two things that should have been instant clues as to this pony’s identity. Still, just to be certain, Luna closed her eyes and focused. She could sense the magical energy flowing from Vinyl because of the comet. She tried harder, pushing aside the unicorn’s magic and her own increased magical energy as she searched for what she suspected was…

There it was.

Luna opened her eyes and stared at the cellist. “You…come from a very notable bloodline, Octavia Melody.”

“You know it,” Vinyl said as she picked herself up off the street and threw her hoof around Octavia’s neck again. “Music runs in her blood. It’s like magic.”

Vinyl did not notice Octavia hang her head and Luna felt guilty. She had not meant to cause the mare pain.

“Yes,” she said. “Her music is very famous among Canterlot. Perhaps, when this crisis is over, she would like to come play for my sister and I? I know Celestia loves your music and I myself find it very relaxing.”

Octavia looked up and Luna made sure to catch her eye. She winked, hoping that was enough to calm the mare. Apparently it was, as Octavia smiled back. There would be time to talk to Octavia, in private, later. Right now, Luna needed to focus on the immediate problem.

“So, I take it you’re here to save our city from this giant marshmallow pony?” Vinyl asked. “Because you were certainly giving it your all earlier.”

“Yes,” Luna replied, “although I fear my magic did not affect it. And now, I am unable to take flight and I find myself lost in this city. I was hoping you two might be able to assist me.”

“Forgive my boldness, Your Majesty, but we both saw your battle,” Octavia said. “You fought amazingly, but how do you plan to defeat that creature? Your magic did not work against it, as you said.”

“True, but I cannot simply abandon my subjects and their city in a time of need. I will think of something, but right now I must return to face the creature. At the very least, I can delay it so that more ponies can evacuate the city.”

The ground suddenly started to shake. All three ponies froze for a moment, each one not sure what was happening. The shaking stopped for a second, but then it returned, fiercer this time. As it started to die, a new shaking overtook it, stronger. Luna’s teeth chattered and she found her legs going wobbly. This was not a good sign.

“Uh, ladies…” Vinyl said as she looked down the street behind Luna.

A loud roar tore through the night and Luna spun around, digging her hooves into the street as she prepared for battle. She watched as the towering pony slowly walked around the edge of distant building. It turned down the street and looked straight at her, then roared again. The sound was so loud that several windows shook from the vibrations.

“Go!” Luna shouted. “I will deal with this creature!”

“But Princess Luna—” Octavia said, but the Princess of the Night was already charging down the street toward the monster. She did not know what she would do, as Octavia had been quite correct. Magic seemed to have no impact on this creature and only seemed to enrage it. Still, she was not about to allow it to harm Vinyl or Octavia. If she could at least stall the thing long enough for them to escape, then perhaps she could slip down a side street and figure out a plan on how to deal with this problem.

Her wings were still fairly useless, covered in sticky marshmallow as they were. But her strength had returned and, most likely thanks to Vinyl’s attempted magical catch, her soreness had completely faded. She focused her magic and fired a blast down the street, aiming at the creature’s front leg.

The blast lit up the street as it flew, it’s light reflecting off of countless windows and scattering the light until it appeared as though dozens of gems were flying through the air. Under other circumstances, Luna would have thought the sight was rather pretty, almost like a miniature replica of her beautiful starry sky, but now she had no time to appreciate its beauty. She fired another magical blast as she continued charging down the street. The first blast impacted and, just as before, barely seemed to register. Her second shot hit moments later, this one aimed higher, and its results were the same. There was simply no damage.

I cannot give up, Luna thought. There must be a way to stop this thing! She fired again and again as she charged the creature, but all the magical attacks had no effect. They were simply absorbed, and the few that did seem to harm the creature healed far too quickly.

Before Luna realized it, she was well within the creature’s striking range. She skidded to stop and looked up at the beast that towered over her. It looked down at her and growled, then raised one of its front hooves and tried to step on her. She quickly fired another magical blast at the base of its hoof, then jumped out of the way before she was smashed against the street.

The impact from the marshmallow hoof slamming down caused Luna to shake so badly that she nearly lost her balance. She staggered around for a moment, struggling to stay on all fours, until her wobbling made her crash into yet another newspaper stand on the street. She looked at it and an idea sprang into her head. She wrapped her magic around the display cart and yanked it front the ground. Magazines, maps, newspapers, and other pieces of paper fluttered through the air as the princess lifted the stand. The creature turned its head to look at her and she aimed right where she figured its eyes would have been.

Closing her eyes, Luna heaved the display stand as hard as she could up at the monster’s face. The thing smashed against the left cheek of the marshmallow pony, sending countless articles of parchment scattering. Luna saw parts of the stand crack and a few pieces of it broke away, but it remained mostly intact. She had expected as much, given how soft the creature was. She watched the stand fall and then shatter as it hit the street below.

But the beast’s reaction was much better than anything else Luna had tried so far tonight.

The creature threw its head back and roared at the sky. It reached up and rubbed its cheek with one of its hooves. So, magical energy and attacks did not phase it, but it still felt pain from impacts. Now Luna just needed to find something big enough to throw at it. Sadly, the only thing she could think of was a building, and not even when she had been Nightmare Moon would she be powerful enough to lift something of that caliber.

But at least I have a plan, Luna thought. She grinned as she picked up the pieces of the shattered newspaper stand that lay in the street. Several pieces had broken into rather sharp objects. She picked up as much as she could with her magic and then surrounded herself with the debris. If she could not hit the creature with one big object, perhaps she could convince it to leave by hitting it with several small, sharp objects.

“A bee sting hurts,” Luna said to herself as she prepared to launch the debris around her, “but many of them will kill you.” She flung one of the longer pieces of wood at the creature’s front leg. She smiled as it shank about a forth of the way into the marshmallow skin and the monster roared. She launched another piece of splintered wood, this one aimed at the monster’s chest. It plunged into the marshmallow body and the creature howled in pain. It staggered back down the street a few steps, trying to use its uninjured hoof to scrape out the wood in its chest.

“Nice one, Princess!” a voice said from beside her.

Luna’s eyes went wide and she looked to her right. Vinyl was standing in the middle of the street, levitating her own piece of the broken newsstand. She flung it through the air and cheered as it sank into the marshmallow pony’s upper leg.

“What doth thou think thou is doing?!” Luna shouted, horrified that Vinyl had not used the opportunity to escape. She looked over her shoulder and saw Octavia standing further back, watching with a worried look on her face. Why were they still here? Luna had told them to run. If they stayed, they would end up like Silent Wing.

“Look out!” Octavia shouted as she pointed. Luna turned back to face the creature and immediately ducked as a piece of wood came flying at her head. She felt it skim her flowing starry mane and then slam into the street behind her. Several pieces of it hit her flank as it broke apart just a few feet from her tail.

“How—” Luna started, but then she had to jump to the left as another piece of wood came flying at her.

“Oh come on! How is that fair?” Vinyl shouted. Luna watched the stake that Vinyl had just lodged in the monster’s front leg sink further in for a moment, then it came flying back out like a pegasus going into a nose dive. The unicorn ran and dove to the side as the piece of the newsstand crashed into the ground and broke into wooden shrapnel. “She didn’t say it could do this!”

“What doth thou mean?” Luna asked as she ran over to make sure the unicorn was alright. Vinyl was picking herself up off the ground and groaning, but she seemed unharmed.

“Vinyl! Princess Luna! Run!” Octavia shouted. Both ponies looked at the grey mare, then turned to look at the marshmallow pony. It was charging down the street at them, roaring furiously and causing the street to crack and the ground to shake with every hooffall.

“Oh buck!” Vinyl said as she scrambled to her hooves and took off running after Octavia. Luna followed close behind, but she could feel the creature drawing closer with every passing moment. She needed to slow it down if she, Octavia, and Vinyl were to have any chance of escape.

Luna’s eyes fell on the newsstand she had first discovered when she had come out of the alley. She used her magic and picked it up, struggling to maintain her grip as she continued to run. If she could hit the monster in the face with it again, perhaps she and the others could manage to put a little distance between them and the beast and find someplace to hide. She pulled the stand toward her, sending its paper contents spilling into the air.

“What they hay?” Vinyl said as a magazine hit her in the face while the newsstand flew over her head. She stumbled and tripped just as Luna looked back to line up her throw. The princess raised the newsstand high into he air, aiming at the beast’s face yet again, but her front hoof tripped over Vinyl’s body. Luna tumbled to the ground, her face smacking the street so hard that she lost her grip on the newsstand. She immediately jumped back up and looked up in horror as the newsstand plummeted toward them. She would not have enough time to grab it with her magic. It was going to crush both her and Vinyl.

Luna felt two hooves dig into her rib cage and shove her, hard. She staggered away from the plummeting newsstand and lost her balance, falling again. She looked up just in time to see Vinyl smile. There was a flash of shadow and then the newsstand came crashing down. It broke into pieces, the sound of cracking wood echoing in Luna’s mind as she watched the unicorn disappear beneath the rubble. First Silent Wing, and now Vinyl Scratch. How many more ponies were going to die because she could not protect her subjects?

“Vinyl?” Octavia screamed. “VINYL!” Luna looked toward the mare and saw that she was frozen in place. Her amethyst eyes had gone wide and her mouth was open in a piercing scream. Her face was twisted into a look that Luna knew she would never be able to forget, especially since Vinyl’s death was on her own hooves. She was not sure if Octavia would ever want to speak to her again.

Steeling herself, Luna brushed the crushing thought aside. It did not matter. She still needed to at least get Octavia to safety and that monster was still tearing down the street toward them. She would not allow another pony to die on her watch.

Luna sprinted down the street toward the paralyzed cellist. Octavia was still standing in the same spot, tears streaming from her eyes as she stared at the wreckage that had buried her love. Luna grabbed her with magic and placed the mare on her back without slowing down. To Luna’s relief, the mare did not protest or even try to get down. She simply draped her body over Luna’s, crying while the monster closed in behind them.

Luna frantically looked around for something, anything that she could use to aid in hers and Octavia’s escape. With each step, with each ground shake beneath her hooves, with each roar, she knew her time was running out. She had to do something, but with magic not working and nothing large enough to throw that would stun the creature, she was fast running out of options.

The monster’s hoof came down fiercely behind her and shattered several windows. The street buckled and several cracks spread around Luna’s hooves. She tripped and she and Octavia fumbled to the ground. Luna struggled to pick herself up. Octavia was already standing, rushing to Luna’s side. Her eyes were red and her face looked sunken, but at least she had not given up completely. She stepped on a shard of glass as she came forward and Luna’s mind came up with an idea as she watched the glass break beneath the cellist’s hoof.

Luna looked right and then left, gathering as much of the broken glass and other debris as she could with her magic. Either this idea would save them, or she was only hastening their deaths by a few moments, and changing it from being smashed to being shredded. There was only one way to find out. She looked up just as the marshmallow pony raised its front hoof to step on her. She noticed the same small black spot where she had bit down early that night and aimed for it. With all her strength, she hurled every scrap of glass, mortar, brick, and stone she could at the bottom of the creature’s hoof.

Luna decided that what she was witnessing was as close to a front row seat to a meteor shower as she would ever be. The shards of glass sparkled as her deep blue magic surrounded them, making them look like countless shining stars. The chucks of stone looked like meteors sailing among the endless stars, knocking smaller pieces of glass aside as they all sailed upward, as though they were being drawn into a black hole. If her life was not in immediate danger, she would have thought of holding everything in place, just so she could see what she thought looked like a miniature galaxy.

And then the maelstrom hit the giant marshmallow. The results were instantaneous. Luna heard the sound of countless impact strikes and watched as the bottom of the creature’s hoof was shredded. First tiny pieces, then larger chunks began to fall away from the creature, but she did not let up. She continued to fire as much glass as she could into the beast, struggling to keep the attack up. Had she used this on another pony, or perhaps any other living thing except a dragon, the results would have been bloody and deadly, of that she had no doubt.

After what felt like a lifetime, the last of her debris was spent and the marshmallow monster tumbled backward, howling with a level of pain Luna had not heard before. It staggered back down the street with several steps, crashing into buildings and whipping its tail in frustration. It finally slammed into a one-story building and sat down, holding its wounded hoof and hollering into the night sky as liquid marshmallow dripped from it.

“Well done, Your Majesty,” Octavia said as she helped Luna to stand up. Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper, but sorrow rang through it like a bell.

“Thank…thank you, Octavia,” Luna panted as she tried to catch her breath. She had not used her magic this much or with such power for many centuries. It was starting to take its toll on her. “I…I apologize about…” The rest of the words caught in her throat as Octavia hung her head.

“We must get going,” the mare said after a long silence. “It is already beginning to heal, though you did seem to slow it down some.”

“Indeed,” Luna said. She looked down the street at the monster. Sure enough, its hoof appeared to be repairing itself, though not nearly as quickly as before. Perhaps she had finally found a way to defeat the creature, although she was not sure she had enough strength to launch another attack like that. She needed to rest and recover, but every moment she rested was another moment that more ponies could end up like Silent Wing and Vinyl.

“This way. I will take you to where you are needed.” Octavia took off galloping down the street. Luna began to follow, forcing her limbs to obey her commands.

“Vinyl spoke of something similar before she…” Luna trailed off. She had not meant to open such a fresh wound, but she had spoken without thinking.

“Yes,” Octavia said as she turned a street corner and took off down a side alley. “When were heard that Princess Luna had come, our friends sent us out to find you. They said, with your help, they could put a stop to this…monster.”

Luna’s ears perked up at that. “They claim to know how to stop the creature? But how is this possible? I have never encountered anything like this in all my years, nor have I even heard of such a being.”

Octavia remained silent and Luna simply followed her as they ran down streets and crossed through alleys until Luna was truly lost. They seemed to run forever, occasionally passing groups of citizens dashing about or trying to help other injured ponies. It pained Luna to not stop and help them, but she understood that a ruler sometimes had to make sacrifices for the greater good, and if Octavia’s friends had a way to end this creature, that was for the greater good.

Luna shuttered as she recalled how she had learned that lesson so many centuries ago. It had been a harsh lesson, and one she had been far too young to learn so soon.

Finally, when Luna’s legs felt as though they could carry her no more, Octavia stopped at the bottom of some steps. Luna walked up beside her and looked at the building in front of her.

“The University of Manehattan?” the princess asked.

“Yes. My friends are in the science building. Specifically, the lab. They are attempting to find a way to stop the creature, or at least stop it from healing so quickly.” Octavia began to walk up the steps and Luna followed, a smile gracing her lips. If these friends of Octavia could manage to find some way to stop, or even perhaps slow down the monster’s healing ability, then perhaps she could finally put an end to its rampage through the city.

“How do they plan on doing such a thing?” she asked. “Studying the creature seems…rather difficult.”

“They do not need to study it,” Octavia said as she and Luna turned the corner of another building on the campus and found themselves staring at the science building. “They need to only study how the creature was made.”

Luna stopped at the statement. Something Vinyl had said right before she had…right before Luna had last seen her played back in her mind. It had seemed as though the D.J. had known things about the monster. “Octavia Melody, I feel that thou and Vinyl know more about this current crisis than thou has allowed us to believe. Please, thou must enlighten us if we are to stop this creature.”

“I…” Octavia hung her head. “I cannot. I have already lost somepony dear to me.”

Luna felt her temper begin to boil. “And thou may lose more if thou doth not help us!”

To her credit, the cellist did not even wince when Luna raised her voice at her. “I cannot tell you. I apologize, Your Majesty.”

Luna’s eyes went white and she unconsciously summoned a small whirlwind around herself. If her wings were not still stuck together, she would have risen into the air. “And why doth thou refuse a request from thy Princess of the Night? We are trying to save thy city! We are trying to prevent any more harm from coming to it, or any more of our subjects suffering the same fate as Vinyl Scratch. Yet thou refuses to share information with us that could prove useful in achieving all of these things. We no longer ask for an explanation. We demand one! Speak, or we shall have thee arrested for treason, and once again thy family will know shame!”

The moment the words left Luna’s mouth she felt horrible. All the anger and fear she had felt vanished, along with the windstorm that had been raging around her. Her eyes returned to their normal color and she felt nothing but complete shame. She had not meant to threaten her subject like that. That threat had not only been meant to intimidate, but also to wound. To cut so deep that Octavia would have no choice but to surrender and tell Luna everything. That was the type of threat Nightmare Moon made, not Princess Luna. She hung her head and tried not to cry. Her sister would be so disappointed in her if she had seen what had just transpired.

“I…I apologize, Miss Melody,” Luna whispered. “I…I did not mean to…”

“It is okay, Your Majesty,” Octavia said, although her face said otherwise. “But, I truly cannot tell you how my friends know about this creature. I do not want you to take them away. I cannot lose them too. If they wish to tell you, then that is their decision.”

“Why in Equestria would I take them away?” Luna asked, baffled by the cellist’s statement. “If they know of a way to stop this beast, or they can discover one, I would not take them away from such a task. If anything, I would thank them.”

“But—” Octavia started to say.

“Because, Your Majesty,” said a voice from behind the two ponies. “Her friends made the creature in the first place.”

Round 3: Ultimate KO

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Princess Luna froze. Everything had gone strangely silent except for her heartbeat, which was beating so loud in her ears that she was certain her head was about to explode. It was not possible. The voice was simply not possible.

Slowly, she began to turn to face the speaker, her heart rising further up her throat with every centimeter that she moved. The turn seemed to last forever, as though she was stuck in a dream or struggling against a wall of syrup.

She had managed to turn her head almost enough to see who was standing behind her when a grey flash whipped past her.

“Hey, Octy, what’s—umph!” Luna turned around completely and saw Vinyl collapsed on her back and Octavia laying on top of her. The cellist had the D.J. in a silent hug and, while Luna could not be certain, she appeared to be crying softly as she buried her face into Vinyl’s chest.

Silent Wing stood beside them, glancing quickly down at the two entangled mares before returning her gaze to Luna. She bowed deeply.

“I am glad to see you are unharmed, Your—” Silent Wing stopped as Luna wrapped her front leg around the guard pony.

“We are overjoyed to see you safe, Silent Wing,” Luna said, barely holding her emotions in check. “I am overjoyed to see you safe.” She pulled out of the hug and smiled at the blush that was glowing on her faithful servant’s cheeks.

“Um, hey, Octy? I…I’m having—”

“Shut up.”

“But…you’re kind of choking the life out of me…” Vinyl whined.

“I will not save her again, Miss Melody,” Silent Wing said, glad to have a distraction that allowed her regain her composure.

“Yes,” Luna said as Octavia finally released Vinyl. She stood and dusted herself off, avoiding Luna’s eyes as she did. “Tell me, Silent Wing. How are you and Vinyl both here? And unharmed?”

“I would not say ‘unharmed,’ Your Majesty,” Silent Wing said. “I ache nearly everywhere and I am covered in bruises and cuts. However, it is nothing that cannot be healed. Bat ponies are notoriously tough skinned, and our wings aren’t nearly as delicate as a pegasus’s.”

“But I saw you get thrown,” Luna said, reliving the moment in her mind. She shuttered as she saw her servant flying limp through the air in her mind.

“And it hurt when I broke through that window, but that also slowed me down. I was knocked unconscious for a bit, but when I came to I immediately set out of find you. It was not hard.”

“No kidding,” Vinyl said. Luna looked over and noticed that Octavia was standing much closer to the white mare than she had been earlier that night when Luna had first met them. Much closer. “That monster is hard to miss from the sky.”

“I was coming to help when I saw you trip. I…” Silent Wing hung her head and looked at Vinyl with a guilty expression. “I…went into a dive to save you from the falling newsstand, or at least push you out of its way.”

“What about Vinyl?” Octavia demanded, a fire burning in her eyes that Luna had not seen before.

“I am sorry, but my duty is to protect Princess Luna first. If I had to make a choice between her and a citizen, well, it isn’t even a choice really.” Silent Wing locked eyes with the cellist and Luna could feel the tension reaching its breaking point.

Apparently, so could Vinyl. “Hey, it’s cool, Octy. She saved me instead, and here I am.”

“Yes,” Silent Wing said, returning her gaze to Luna. “After Miss Scratch pushed you out of harm’s way, I did not have time to adjust my decent. So I dove in and grabbed her instead. I managed to clear most of the falling cart, but a piece of it clipped my wing and—”

“And we ended up crashing down an alley,” Vinyl said excitedly. “Oh boy, flying was so awesome, Octy! Whipping through the air like that! Levitation doesn’t have the same effect! Feeling the wind against your mane is just incredible.”

“Anyway,” Silent Wing continued, “we crashed in an alley and I am afraid I blacked out again.”

“You did hit that wall pretty hard,” Vinyl said.

“When I came to, you were gone, but Miss Scratch was still with me.”

“I wasn’t going to leave you out cold in a back alley with a monster running loose in the city!”

“She said that she knew where you would be heading if you were still with Miss Melody and offered to take me there.”

“And that’s how we ended up here,” Vinyl said with a grin on her face. “Miss us?”

Octavia answered by stepping even closer to Vinyl and wrapping her tail around the D.J.’s.

“I am overjoyed to see you are both alive,” Luna said. A great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Now she just needed to find a way to stop this creature, and her night would be complete. She turned to make her way into the science building when she stopped.

“Wait,” she said. “What did you say first, Silent Wing?”

“These friends who are studying the monster are the very ones who created it. One of them is, anyway.”

“Vinyl, how could you?” Octavia asked.

“Hey, I’m sorry!” Vinyl took one look at Silent Wing and shuddered. “She can be really scary when she wants to.”

“Is this the truth?” Luna asked as she turned her eyes on Octavia.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Octavia said, bowing her head as she spoke. “It is why I did not wish to tell you. They are some of my closest friends. After I thought I had lost Vinyl, I…”

“And what of now?” Luna said, her voice getting darker with each word. “Now that thou has thy marefriend back, would thou protest if I took thy friends away? Possibly forever?”

“I…I would not want that. I do not want to choose between Vinyl and them.” Octavia hung her head.

“Friendship is a powerful thing, Octavia Melody,” Luna said, her voice becoming quiet again. “I know what its power and magic can do. I respect your friendship with your friends, but you must be prepared for what I may have to do.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Octavia whispered, still looking at the ground.

“Very well then,” the Princess of the Night said as she turned once again to face the entrance to the science building. “We must go. I would very much like to meet these friends of yours and hear what they have to say.”

As Luna and the other ponies walked into the building, Luna sighed with relief. The creature was pony made, not some new monster that she and her sister had never encountered before. And if it was pony made, that meant that it could be unmade. Hopefully these two ponies, whoever they were, had found a way to stop this beast by now, and with Luna’s help they would be able to put their plan into action.

The inside of the science building was disturbingly silent. Only a few lights were turned on, allowing shadows to creep and twist into dark forms down the hallway. Even though Luna spent much of her time in the night, she still found the atmosphere unnerving. Light reflected off of objects like door handles or panes of glass, making it appear as though creatures with glowing eyes were lurking just out of view. Several times her eyes darted to one side, expecting to see something jump out at her and her companions, but it always turned out to be nothing. Still, she and the other ponies remained quiet, the sound of their hooves clicking down the hall being the only noise they made.

“This way,” Octavia said into the silence, startling everypony. Vinyl let out a small yelp and Luna silently chastised herself for jumping at Octavia’s sudden words. She was apparently more high-strung than she had realized.

The ponies turned down a side hall and noticed that a door was open at the far end. Light spilled from it, illuminating the far end of the hall so that it appeared to be a doorway to another realm. Luna relaxed slightly at the sight and lead the way toward the room. As she approached, she heard voices.

“Okay, now carefully mix those two together.”

“You mean these ones?”

“Yes, first put the blue one in and then add the—”

“Got it!”

“No, stop! Don’t cross the streams!”

Just as Luna was about to enter the room, there was a muffled boom followed by a wave of smoke. It flew into Luna’s face before she had a chance to react and she immediately began coughing. She waved her hoof in front of her face to clear the air and when she could finally see again, she saw a rather amusing sight.

Silent Wing was standing in front of her, crouched low with her wings spread wide, glaring into the room. Her yellow eyes were nothing but slits and she was blinking them constantly, trying to clear the smoke from them.

In front of her stood a unicorn whose face had been covered in black soot. Her mane had been blasted back and was fanned out around her head. She coughed once and opened her eyes, revealing them to be a yellowish orange color. They were the same shade as when Celestia set the sun for the evening. The eyes met Luna’s and the unicorn smiled sheepishly.

On the far side of the room stood an earth pony, her head turned to the side as she coughed into her hoof. She was a cream color, with a pink and blue mane. She appeared to be a mess, but not because of the explosion. As she raised her head and opened her eyes, Luna saw how tired she looked. Her face looked hollow and her blue eyes were far too bloodshot from just simple smoke. Her mane was unruly, with strands of it sticking out in random directions and the rest of it laying flat against her coat, which looked liked it hadn’t been brushed in days. Her body looked as though it was too heavy for her legs to carry and she appeared to be ready to collapse.

When the earth pony’s eyes met Luna’s, they went wide and then the pony seemed to become even heavier. She hung her head and Luna wondered if the pony would ever be able to raise it again.

“Celestia, Lyra,” Vinyl said as she walked past Luna and Silent Wing. “What did you do?”

“Oh, uh, hey Vinyl,” the unicorn said, taking her eyes off of Luna for a moment and then immediately returning to staring at the princess. “Is Octavia with you too?”

“I am here,” Octavia said quietly from behind Luna. Luna walked into the room, gently tapping Silent Wing to tell her to stand down, and then Octavia walked in. She refused to look the unicorn in the eye.

“Are these the friends you spoke of?” Luna asked. Octavia nodded and Luna turned to the two new ponies. “Your names.”

“I’m Lyra Heartstrings, Your Majesty,” the unicorn said. She grabbed a towel with her magic and wiped her muzzle, revealing her coat to be a minty green. “And this is Bon Bon.”

“Your Majesty,” Bon Bon whispered, still not lifting her head.

“Octavia and Vinyl have stated that you two may know of a way to defeat this creature,” Luna said, being sure to keep her voice as free of emotion as she could. “Is this true?”

“Well, uh, not yet…exactly,” Lyra said, smiling and scratching the back of her neck. “I was getting pretty close to coming up with something, but, ah…Bon Bon accidently messed up the project.”

Luna raised and eyebrow. Lyra was the one covered in soot, not Bon Bon. “I see.” She looked over at Octavia and found the cellist staring stoically ahead. Vinyl however was looking between Lyra and Bon Bon frantically, trying hard not to be obvious about it.

“But, uh, now that you’re here, you can help us,” Lyra said quickly, looking over her shoulder at Bon Bon and then looking back up at Luna.

Luna narrowed her eyes slightly. She was beginning to suspect that she was not getting the entire truth. “Very well, I shall help.” She walked over and examined the area where Lyra had been standing. A cracked beaker was sitting on a table with smoke still rising from within. Luna smelled the smoke and nearly started coughing, but she fought back the urge and instead raised her head.

“I see you were mixing together rainbow gleam and…” She sniffed again, making sure she did not inhale too much smoke. “I believe that is a hint of poison joke as well as several spices. Pumpkin, perhaps? And ginger.”

“Yeah,” Lyra said, her eyes darting nervously around the room. “Yeah, but I-I mean, Bon Bon, added a bit too much and it sort of blew up.”

“I see,” Luna said. She looked at Bon Bon and noticed that the earth pony had raised her head slightly, but quickly lowered it again when she saw Luna looking at her. Luna returned her gaze to Lyra and picked up another beaker with her magic. She brought it to her nose and sniffed once. There was no smell from the liquid inside, but just to be certain she checked the bottom for the label and then poured a small amount on a nearby desk. The liquid was exactly what she had expected it to be.

“I believe you may be on to something,” Luna said as she walked over with the beaker. “You simply need to add this hydrochloric liquid, and then this mixture should be strong enough to melt that—oops.” Luna pretended to trip and sent the beaker flying through the air. Its contents spilled on Lyra’s head and Luna waited. Bon Bon gasped and Octavia took two steps forward before they both realized what should have been happening was not.

Lyra simply stood in the same place, water dripping from her mane and washing away more of the black soot that clung to her muzzle. The fact that she was not panicking or screaming in imaginary pain was all the proof Luna required.

“Lyra Heartstrings, what would you say if I told you that I had merely guessed all of those things?”

Lyra’s face fell. “What?”

“I could not tell what was in that mixture, and I believe you could not tell me either.”

“No! I was making it, I swear!”

“And why should we believe such a statement? If thou was truly involved in such a process, thou should been much more concerned when we spilled acid on thy mane.” Luna pressed forward, raising her voice slightly with each word.

“What?” Lyra said, her eyes going wide as she began to quickly rub her mane.

“And thou would also know that the liquid was not but water.” Luna stood up to her full height. “So tell us again. Why should we believe thou has any idea on how to create anything that may prove useful in stopping this beast?

“Because, uh…” Lyra stammered and Luna took a step forward.

“Because thou is the one that created that beast? Thou is the one that let it loose on this fair city and endangered the lives of our subjects?”

“Uh, yes?” Lyra said, taking a step back every time Luna took a step forward. The unicorn suddenly appeared very small as she backed into a desk and huddled there, shaking.

Luna looked at Bon Bon quickly. She had raised her head fully, but had not moved from her spot. Very well then.

“So thou admits to the charges against thee?” Luna said, her voice booming now in the lab.

“Yes,” Lyra said in a small voice.

“Very well.” Luna turned to Silent Wing. “You will take this pony into custody. She shall be thrown into the dungeon until we decide her fate. We see no need for a trial, as she has confessed.”

“What?” Vinyl shouted.

“Your Majesty, you cannot—” Octavia began.

“Silence!” Luna shouted, turning on the two musicians. “We could have thou arrested as well for aiding this criminal by keeping her crimes to thyselves. Be grateful that we have decided not to do so. Yet.” Luna returned her stare to the unicorn cowering beneath her. She felt horrible doing this, but she did not have time for games anymore. This creature needed to be stopped. “Good-bye, Lyra Heartstrings. We doubt thou shall ever see the sun again after what thou hath done. Silent Wing, take the prisoner away.”

Silent Wing stepped forward and pulled Lyra up. Luna caught the hopeless glance the unicorn gave Bon Bon before she was shoved toward the door. Luna looked at Bon Bon as well and saw tears welling up in her eyes.

Was I wrong? Luna thought as she turned her back on the earth pony and began to follow Silent Wing and Lyra toward the door.

“But…but, Princess Luna!” Vinyl pleaded. “What about stopping the creature? Lyra and Bon Bon can help!”

“It is clear that this fool,” Luna tilted her head toward Lyra as she spoke, “knows nothing about the creature. The fact that she made it at all baffles us. She will be of no help here, and if we cannot stop this raging beast, then we can at least bring justice to the one who let it loose. And it is clear to us that Bon Bon is also of no use in this matter if she was following Lyra’s instructions. No, we have decided that these two ponies cannot aid us. So unless thou knows of another pony who can help, we must go and delay the creature until our sister is able to—”

“Stop!” Bon Bon shouted.

Finally.

“What for?” Luna demanded. “Lyra will be locked away and we must—”

“Lyra didn’t make the creature, Your Majesty.”

“Bon Bon, don’t,” Lyra said, but Luna silenced her with a glare.

“Then who did?” the princess asked coldly.

“Me,” the earth pony said, hanging her head again. “I did it. All of it. Lyra had nothing to do with it.”

“She’s lying!” Lyra shouted, trying to get past Silent Wing. “It was me! I swear.”

“And why should I believe you instead of her?” Luna asked. Her voice was still firm, but she was no longer shouting.

Bon Bon didn’t answer. Instead, she walked over to another desk and lit a burner. She stared at it for a few moments, then walked over and carefully picked up another beaker that was filled with a blue liquid. She placed it on top of the burner for a few seconds, then grabbed a towel and removed the liquid from the heat. She allowed it to cool, then dipped the towel in the liquid. She pulled it out, carrying it with her mouth as she walked over to Luna. She raised one of her hooves and placed the towel on it, then looked up at Luna.

“May I?” she asked.

“What do you intend to do?” Luna asked. She was not afraid that Bon Bon would harm her, but she had asked for the sake of Silent Wing, who was standing off to the side watching Bon Bon very intently.

“This is what we were working on,” Bon Bon said. “It dissolves the marshmallow completely but doesn’t damage anything else. It will get the stuff off of your wings at least.”

Luna nodded and the earth pony placed the rag against the princess’s wing. It was cool to the touch, despite having just been held over a fire. Bon Bon gently rubbed the cloth over one of Luna’s wings and then the other one. The liquid caused Luna’s wings to tingle slightly for a moment and then she had the sudden urge to open them and shake them off. Without thinking, she stretched her wings and flapped them several times. It felt so good to be able to move them again and she closed her eyes as she did, relishing the sensation.

She stopped in mid stretch and her eyes popped back open. Her wings! She could open them again with no trouble. She looked back at them and saw that there was not a single trace of the sticky marshmallow substance. Bon Bon clearly was the expert on this creature.

Luna folded her wings back down and looked and the earth pony. “You will tell me everything. From the beginning.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Bon Bon said. “I’m a candy maker back in Ponyville.”

“I thought the Cakes were the main creators of sweets,” Luna said, remembering the two earth ponies from when she had visited the small town.

“No, they make baked goods. I make candy and sweets.”

“She’s the best,” Lyra added quickly. “I love her sweets.”

“I’ll bet you do,” Vinyl snickered. Octavia slapped her behind the head and she fell silent.

“Anyway, when I heard about the comet passing over Equestria, I wanted to see if I could harness its magic for something I’ve been working on for a while.”

Luna raised her eyebrows in surprise. “You have been trying to make a giant marshmallow monster for a while?” Was this pony some sort of mad scientist or something?

“No, of course not! But…I was trying to make the perfect marshmallow.” Bon Bon turned her head slightly and looked at Lyra. “Lyra tends to burn them pretty bad whenever we go camping. To the point where they aren’t edible. She always uses her magic to help them cook, even though I tell her that the best way is to stick them on a stick and slowly cook them over a fire.”

Lyra blushed. “But that takes so long.”

“So how does a desire to make a marshmallow that your marefriend—” Luna started to ask.

“Wife,” Lyra said instantly.

“Forgive me. How does a desire to make a marshmallow that your wife cannot burn turn into a giant rampaging monster?”

“Well,” Bon Bon scrapped the floor with her hoof. “The equipment I needed to harness the comet’s magic wasn’t available in Ponyville, and Octavia and Vinyl were heading back to Manehattan and suggested I come.”

“Yeah, after that Changeling attack, I figured we could all use some time away from that place,” Vinyl said.

“Changeling attack?” Luna asked, startled. She had heard nothing about a Changeling attack on Ponyville! This was bad. If Twilight Sparkle and her friends had fallen and the Elements of Harmony had been lost, then all of Equestria was in grave peril.

“It is okay, Your Majesty,” Octavia interrupted. “Twilight Sparkle and her friends saved us and the town.”

“I see,” Luna said, feeling a bit embarrassed. Of course the small town was safe. These ponies would not be standing before her if it was in any danger. “Please continue, Bon Bon.”

“Well, we came to Manehattan and I was granted access to this university’s science lab. I studied everything I could find about the comet and tried to find ways to harness its magic, even though I’m not a unicorn. That’s why Lyra came along. She said that she could help with the magic aspect at least. When the comet finally appeared earlier tonight, I had everything ready. Or at least, I thought I did.”

“I take it things did not work out the way you wanted them to.”

“No,” Bon Bon said. “I thought I had everything right. I was going to make a marshmallow that couldn’t be affected by magic. One than would stay soft and fluffy even if it was ripped apart. I had a marshmallow outside, sitting in a safe spot, and when Lyra said she could feel enough magic energy, I started the experiment. I focused some of the light from the comet onto the marshmallow and added all the mixtures I had come up with. But something must have gone wrong. For a moment, it looked liked it worked.”

“It sure tasted delicious,” Lyra said as she licked her lips.

“You took a bite of it?” Octavia asked, startled that she had done something so dangerous.

“Well, yeah. I try all of Bon Bon’s stuff.”

“And…I think that might have been part of it,” Bon Bon said. “When Lyra took a bite, the marshmallow regenerated the part that Lyra had bitten off. Only, it didn’t stop there. It kept growing. First it was as big as my hoof, then as big as a pony, and then…well, you saw what it turned into.”

“So the reason magic does not affect it is because you made it so?” Luna asked. Bon Bon nodded. “I understand. But Bon Bon, the comet’s magic is an ancient type of magic, older than even my sister or myself. There are types of magic out there that not even we understand, much less can control.” Luna’s eyes drifted over to Octavia as she spoke. “There is a reason that my sister and I place protection around our subjects whenever the comet passes. You should not have tried to use such dangerous things without consulting us first.”

“Am I the only one who thinks Lyra should be the one getting that speech?” Vinyl asked.

“Be quiet,” Octavia hissed.

“I know, Your Majesty. And I am prepared to face whatever punishment you deem fit,” the earth pony said as she hung her head again.

Luna saw Lyra about to protest, but stopped her with a raised hoof. “Punishment will be decided later. Right now, I need your help to stop this beast.”

Bon Bon lifted her head and Luna saw a smile grace her lips for the first time. “Of course. Lyra and I were trying to produce more of that liquid that I used on your wings before you showed up.”

“Yes, that seemed quite effective,” the Princess of the Night said as she stretched her wings again. “How much of that do you have?”

“Sadly, all I have left is a single bottle’s worth. Its ingredients are hard to come by. Besides, I fear we would need hundreds of gallons of the stuff for it to work,” Bon Bon said.

“Excuse me,” Vinyl said, stepping forward, “but couldn’t we just wait for the comet to pass? The night’s almost over, and when the comet leaves, won’t the magic that created the creature leave with it? And then it just turns back into a marshmallow.”

“We cannot wait that long,” Luna said. “Every moment that beast wanders this city is another moment that my subjects are placed in danger. Besides, there is no guarantee that it will cease being…alive, when the comet passes. This is not like the creatures of Equestria. This thing was made by a pony. The comet’s magical effects are completely unknown in regards to a matter such as this one.”

“So magic is out,” Octavia said. “Waiting for it the comet to leave is out. What about when you shredded it with that attack, Your Majesty?”

Luna shook her head. “That took a great deal of effort, and I am not certain I can do it again. Perhaps if I had several dozen unicorns helping me, but that is beside the point. It is also far too dangerous. As you saw, the creature threw back the objects that Vinyl and I attacked it with. If it were to do the same when several unicorns did that, the death toll would be…staggering. I will not allow it.”

“Great,” Lyra said, throwing one of her hooves into the air. “So how do we stop a giant marshmallow pony rampaging through the city?”

“Well,” Bon Bon said, rubbing her chin as she thought, “we could always roast it. I designed the marshmallow to only be able to be cooked by fire, not magic. But I have no idea how we could get a fire that big without burning down several blocks of the city. Even then, we would need to encircle the creature so it couldn’t escape.”

Everypony fell silent. Luna searched her mind, trying to find a way to stop the creature. Fire did seem to be the best option, but Bon Bon was correct in stating that a fire of such size would most likely do more harm to Manehattan than the monster itself. There had to be another way…

“I have it!” Luna said as an idea sprang into her mind. She turned to Silent Wing. “Silent Wing, I need you to go gather all of my guard that is available. Bring them to Manehattan and tell them this.”

Silent Wing listened to Luna’s plan without saying a word, and when the princess finished, she flew out the door and vanished. Luna noticed that she did not seem to be flying as quickly as she normally did and wondered if it was due to her injuries. She would have to make certain that Silent Wing took some time off from her duties to heal.

“What about us?” Vinyl asked after Silent Wing had left.

“Unfortunately, I fear there is no way for any of you to help,” Luna said. It pained her to say it because she could see how dearly these four ponies wanted to aid her, but there was nothing they could do.

“We understand, Your Majesty,” Octavia said before Vinyl could protest.

Luna turned to Bon Bon. “Tell me, is there a way for me to lure the creature to me?”

“Um…I think it’s already following you,” Bon Bon said. “When I made it immune to magic, I think it took that step further. When you attacked it with that magical blast, it registered you as a threat. It’s probably still looking for you now. I think it can sense your specific magic.”

“That would explain how it was able to find you so quickly earlier this evening,” Vinyl said. “I mean, it threw you pretty far, yet someone managed to still find you pretty fast.”

A faint roar echoed through the night and everypony froze. Moments later, they all began to feel the gentle shaking in the ground as the marshmallow pony drew closer.

“And…it found you again,” Vinyl said with a weak smile. “I think that proves Bon Bon’s theory.”

“You all must seek shelter. If it is I the creature seeks, then that is what is shall find. But I cannot worry about all of you while I battle it.”

“But—” Vinyl said.

“Vinyl, you saw what happened last time,” Octavia whispered. “Please, we must listen to Princess Luna this time. Please.” Vinyl grumbled but nodded when she looked at Octavia. Lyra and Bon Bon nodded as well and the four of them began to leave the room.

“Your Majesty,” Bon Bon said as she stopped in the doorway.

“Yes, Bon Bon?”

“I’m sorry about all of this. I wish I could do more to help you.”

Luna smiled and nodded. She felt bad for the earth pony. Making treats really was Bon Bon’s passion, and to have it misfire so badly must have been heartbreaking. She could relate to that feeling as memories of Nightmare Moon flowed into her mind. All she had wanted was for ponies to like her and her night like they did her sister and her day, and that simple desire had turned into a literal nightmare.

“It is all right, Bon Bon,” Luna said. “I will stop this creature and Manehattan will be saved.” Bon Bon smiled weakly and turned to leave, but Luna suddenly had an idea. “Wait. There is one thing you perhaps can aid me with.”

“Yes?” she asked hopefully, her ears perking slightly.

“I need you to make sure the area where I intend to lure the creature is clear of ponies. Take the others with you and be certain that I am the only pony present when the time comes. Be warned. Should you, Octavia, Vinyl, or even Lyra,” Bon Bon blinked at the name, a subconscious reaction no doubt, “still be present when I arrive, I fear I cannot promise your safety.”

The earth pony swallowed, nodded, and then left. Luna turned to look out the window in the science lab.

The shaking was growing stronger. Another roar echoed through the night, this time much louder. The creature was coming. Luna walked up and opened then window, spread her wings, and flew into the night sky.

It felt great to be able to fly again. Beyond great. Luna knew of many pegasus ponies that liked to fly, or at least hover, every chance they got. Standing on the ground just did not feel right for them. Luna had never been that way, preferring to walk with her hooves on the ground just as often as she flew through the sky. But now, after having her flight denied to her for even a short time, she believed she understood why so many pegasus ponies constantly flew.

The Princess of the Night sailed into the sky, stretching her wings to their fullest and closing her eyes as the wind howled in her ears. She flew higher and higher, twisting and looping through her beautiful night. She just wanted to fly forever at the moment and forget all her worries. She opened her eyes and was greeted by her stunning moon. It was so white, so big, and so close. She felt as though she could reach out and touch it with her hoof. She just needed to fly a bit further…

The now familiar sound of the marshmallow pony’s roar tore Luna’s daydreaming apart. She sighed and turned around in the air. The creature was standing at the far end of the university’s campus. Luna had no doubts now that it was looking straight at her, even if it did not have eyes. It took a step forward and Luna saw it limp as it did. She noticed that the creature was dragging one of its front hooves slightly as it walked. Apparently she had hurt it more than she had first realized. Too bad she doubted she had the strength to launch another attack like that.

But if this plan works, I shall not need to worry about that.

“Thou hath returned, foul beast!” Luna bellowed, though she was not certain why she wasted her time speaking. This monster, if Bon Bon was correct, was driven by the basest of instincts. It had no conscious thought of its own. Still, she felt the need to continue.

“We know about thou now. This encounter shall be our last, and thou will not survive it. Thy reign of terror and destruction shall end here!”

Well, not here here, Luna thought. There were too many buildings around, even though the university’s campus was filled with its fair share of open areas and grassy quads. No, she needed a place that was free from building because she was not sure what would happen when her plan went into effect. It was possible that the creature would simply fall over, and if it fell on a building, the damage would be massive. It was also possible that something very different might happen and the damage would be even worse.

There was also the fact that Luna did not want to risk burning down any structures with her plan. So all she had to do was lure it to where she had her plan ready and wait for Silent Wing and the others. And with the monster’s limp, Luna was confident that she would be able to easily stay ahead of the creature and out of danger.

The monster roared at her and charged. It began to gallop, though at an awkward pace because of its limp. It crossed the open quad of the university and swung out its wounded hoof. It extended, just as Luna had expected it would, and she gracefully flew out of its way.

What happened next was something she did not expect.

Luna heard a whistling sound for half a second and then she felt something tear through her mane. She blinked in surprise and looked at her dark blue hair. Several strands had been severed from it at the tip. She could still see a few of them falling to the ground. She did not understand how such a thing was possible. She had been well out of range of the creature’s hoof, so what had hit her?

Luna looked down at the marshmallow pony with a confused look. A moment later she raised a protective barrier around herself as several shards of glass flew at her. They shattered into even smaller fragments against her shield and then fell to the ground.

Horrified, Luna looked at the marshmallow beast. It brought its wounded hoof back down and stomped on what appeared to be a bench on the university’s grounds. The bench splintered and the Princess of the Night watched as the monster absorbed the wooden pieces into its body, then raised its hoof and swung at her again. She was still out of range of the hoof, even at its stretched length, but this time she kept an eye on it.

Sure enough, she saw several piece of wood come flying at her as they were shot out of the hoof. She dodged them all, twisting and twirling among the flying debris until it had all flown past her. She spun in the air and caught as much of the wood with her magic as she could, then allowed it to drop to the ground. She did not want the stray shots to fly off and injury a random pony.

This will be more of a challenge than I believed. Luna gritted her teeth and fired a magical blast at the monster’s face out of sheer frustration. This thing might be nothing more than instincts given form, but it was learning. It had remembered what Luna and Vinyl had done to it, and worse, it had remembered that it could counter the attack. Now, it appeared to be willingly smashing things into itself in order to launch projectiles at the princess.

The magical attack impacted against the beast’s cheek and had little effect, but Luna did not linger to see the thing heal itself. She immediately turned and bolted through the night air, taking one final look over her should to make sure no other debris was flying toward her.

She was shocked to see that the beast was keeping up with her despite its limp. It tore across the campus, snapping small trees and leaving several giant hoofprints in the area. It dodged around buildings most of the time, but twice it crashed against some and caused minimum damage to the structures. Both times it barely slowed its pace, pausing just long enough to regain its balance and roar again before it took off after the alicorn.

How is such a thing possible? Luna thought as she frantically flew toward her destination. Despite being wounded, the creature seemed to be becoming even fiercer. A tickle ran down her spine as she tried to think, and suddenly she had her answer.

Luna looked up at her night sky, already positive of what she would see but wanting to visually confirm it. The Secretariat Comet blazed overhead. That had to be it. The comet was at its peak, and while magical attacks did not phase the monster, it still drew strength from the comet that had given it life.

Of course, that worked both ways.

Luna closed her eyes and inhaled through her nose. She felt the comet’s magic surge through her body as she channeled it. Her wings tingled and her skin crawled, but it still was not enough. She inhaled again, taking a deeper breath and focusing the energy within herself until it was almost painful. She flung her eyes open, their color changing to solid white as energy coursed through her blood. She flapped her wings and the air boomed with the vibration. She shot through sky, faster than she had ever gone before.

The wind stung her face and her eyes watered, but the magic flowing through her did not allow her to slow. She flapped her wings again, sending another shockwave through the night air as she continued in a straight line toward the eastern edge of Manehattan.

Luna felt the air drop in temperature before she saw her final destination. She tried to slow down for fear of overshooting her mark, but she was going too fast. She threw all four of her hooves out in front of herself and kicked at the air, trying desperately to slow herself. Her scolding of Bon Bon echoed through her mind, now chiding herself for using magic beyond her understanding.

She looked forward and down and saw that the coastline was fast approaching. Hoping that Bon Bon had indeed made sure the beach was clear, Luna flared her wings like a sail and flapped them once. There was no loud boom this time, but the gust of wind she sent ahead of herself kicked up countless particles of sand and sent them spinning into the air. The princess closed her eyes and mouth as she flew into the sandstorm. It raked her skin and bit her muzzle, but she had managed to slow herself down. She hovered in the whirling sand, coughing as it tried to enter her mouth and lungs, and waited for the sandstorm to die down.

When it had, Luna found that she was covered in a layer of sand. She shook herself vigorously, trying to dislodge as much of it as she could from her coat and mane, but she knew that she would be brushing it out for days. She blew once to clear her mouth, then rubbed her eyes and opened them. She took a quick look at her surroundings to make sure she was where she wanted to be.

The beach was below her, a deep swath in the ground from where her wings had blown the sand away. The waves lapped against the shoreline in a peaceful rhythm and the sound of countless sand particles falling into the water was soothing. There was no sign of any other ponies on the beach, and Luna smiled at that. It appeared that Bon Bon and the others had indeed managed to clear the beach. Now all Luna had to do was wait for the marshmallow pony to catch up and for Silent Wing and the rest of her guard to fulfill their part of the plan.

Luna looked around the sky. There was no sign of Silent Wing or any of her bat ponies. That worried her slightly, but she reminded herself that Silent Wing had been injured and thus could not fly as swiftly as she normally could. She and the others would be here, along with what Luna had told them to bring.

Luna turned around, prepared to wait in the air for the marshmallow pony to catch up to her because there was no possible way it could have kept up with her increased speed. Only, she found that the monster had. It was already almost at the beachfront. Luna stared in disbelief as the beast closed on her and then swung its wounded hoof. She blinked and brought herself back to her senses, but it was too late.

The hoof connected with her. Worse, the pony’s hoof appeared to not have healed completely. Instead of being hit by a soft but solid material, Luna found herself being smacked by something that felt more akin to bubble gum. She felt inertia struggling to tear her free from the sticky substance as the hoof continued to swing through the air and she pulled as hard as she could, hoping to free herself.

With a loud tearing sound and a wave of pain, the princess freed herself from the mushy hoof. She felt like half of her mane, tail, coat, and even skin had been left behind, and as she turned around to look, she knew she was correct. She saw a matt of deep blue fur, and a few feathers, stuck to the bottom of the creature’s hoof. Then another realization hit her.

She was falling.

Luna tried to open her wings but found that they were once again covered in the marshmallow pony’s sticky residue. She plummeted toward the sand below like a rock. Even though she had not been more then three stories above the ground, the impact was still going to hurt and very possibly knock her unconscious. She closed her eyes and waited to feel herself smash into the sand, but the sensation never came.

After a few seconds, Luna opened one of her eyes and looked around. She was hovering in the air about a foot above the beach, encased in a golden aura. She turned her head to the left and saw four ponies running toward her, one of them struggling to keep the magic around Luna.

“See? I told you I could catch her better than you,” Lyra said.

“Whatever,” Vinyl responded. “Octy and I will try to keep that…thing distracted. Bon Bon, how long do you need?”

“Two minutes, maybe three,” the sweet maker replied. With that, Vinyl and Octavia turned to charge the creature, much to Luna’s horror, while Lyra and Bon Bon continued running toward her.

“What doth thou think thou is doing?!” Luna shouted. She tried to raise her hoof and wave them away, but because of Lyra’s magic, all she managed to do was send herself spinning in a slow circle. How humiliating.

“Hold on, Your Majesty,” Lyra said as she and Bon Bon ran up to her.

“Release us this instant!” Luna said. She frantically looked over at Vinyl and Octavia, fearing that they had already been smashed beneath the creature. To her relief, she saw that Vinyl was firing magical blast as fast as she was able at the creature’s face while Octavia ran around…filling up a bucket with sand? What was she doing?

“Can’t do that,” Lyra said.

“If you touch the sand while you’re covered in that stuff, it’s going to stick everywhere,” Bon Bon added. “You won’t be able to fly and then this whole plan will fail.” With that, Bon Bon reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a small bottle. She looked at Lyra and nodded. The unicorn diverted some of her magic to hold the bottle and Bon Bon again started digging through her saddlebag. A moment later she produced a candle and some matches. She lit a match, lit the candle, and then placed the candle on the sand.

“How’s it going?” Vinyl shouted from her battle. All she seemed to be doing was annoying the marshmallow monster, but at least the mare was keeping it distracted from Luna.

“Just a bit longer,” Bon Bon yelled back as she took the bottle Lyra was holding and held it over the candle.

“Vinyl, it is ready,” Octavia said as she ran up with the sand bucket. Luna watched as the D.J. lifted the bucket with her magic while Octavia turned her back to it. She kicked her hind legs out and sent the bucket flying up toward the creature’s face. Just before it hit, Vinyl used her magic to grab the bucket in midair, causing it to stop suddenly.

The sand, however, continued forward and slammed into marshmallow pony’s face. It howled and stumbled backward, frantically wiping its good hoof across its would-be eyes to remove the sand. Vinyl let out a loud yelp and Octavia nodded fiercely.

“Done,” Bon Bon said. She took the bottle and unceremoniously dumped its contents on Luna’s wings. It stung terribly against her raw skin from where her coat had been ripped away, but only for a moment. After that, the Princess of the Night felt the marshmallow substance melting away, freeing her wings once again.

Lyra gently lowered Luna onto the sand and stood back with Bon Bon.

“We thank thee for coming to our aid,” Luna said. She looked herself over and shuddered slightly. Several patches of her coat had been ripped away, her mane and tail both looked as though they had been cut by a filly, and her wings had several loose and bent feathers. But at least she was no longer covered in that sticky marshmallow. She was seriously considering banning the sweet from Equestria after tonight. “But why art thou here? When we told thee to evacuate the beachfront, we meant for all of you to be clear of the area as well.”

“We just arrived, Your Majesty,” Bon Bon said, bowing to hide her embarrassment.

“Yeah,” Lyra said. “We were going as fast as we could, but then you came rocketing down the street with that monster right behind you. There was no way we could keep up.”

Luna had not thought of that. She had just assumed that the beach being deserted meant that Bon Bon and the others had fulfilled their task. “Ah, I see. I suppose I am truly fortunate then that you all arrived when you did. A moment later and I would have been seriously injured. Or worse.”

“What are friends for?” Bon Bon asked with a smile.

Friends…Luna liked the sound of that. Still, she would have to dwell on it later. Right now, she needed to put an end to this crisis.

Luna looked up at the sky and noticed that several patches had been blotted out. An inky darkness was spreading across her beautiful sky, covering stars by the dozens and slowly swallowing her beloved moon. She strained her eyes, and for a moment she thought she saw several shapes darting about above her, but the darkness was growing and she could not be certain. She did not worry though. In a few more minutes, this would all be over.

She flexed her wings wide and rose from the ground. It hurt to flap her damaged wings, but she pushed through the pain. As she rose, she looked down at Bon Bon and Lyra.

“You have earned the debt of a princess,” she said. “We shall not forget your bravery for coming to our aid in the face of such danger.” Luna raised her voice so that Vinyl and Octavia, who were still trying to keep the marshmallow pony distracted with magical blasts and buckets of sand, could hear her. “Now, leave this place! Clear the beach!”

Luna watched as the four ponies immediately stopped what they were doing and ran for the edge of the beach. They scrambled onto the street and turned to watch. Luna considered yelling at them to get further back, but the beast completely ignored them and came for her. As long as the four ponies did not come closure, they would most likely be fine. Besides, Luna had a more pressing matter to worry about.

The marshmallow pony stepped onto the beach with its good hoof and roared at Luna again. She flew higher into the sky, forcing the monster to step on the beach with its wounded hoof. She smiled as the creature’s hoof sank into the sand and it struggled to free itself. After a moment it did and continued walking onto the beach, all the while keeping its gaze turned upward toward Luna.

Luna glared back down at the creature for a brief moment, then raised her head. Her beautiful night sky was completely dark now, covered in the inky blackness. She flew toward it without a second thought, not even slowing her ascent as she broke its threshold. For a few seconds, everything around her was dark and wet, then she broke through and was once again surround by her starry sky.

“Excellent work, Silent Wing,” Luna said as she looked around. Several of her guards were standing on top of the storm clouds they had all been packing into place over the beach. They all saluted the moment they saw Luna.

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Silent Wing said. She bowed and Luna noticed that she had a bandage wrapped around her waist. “We gathered as many as we could on such short notice. We are ready to begin when you give the signal.”

“Very well,” Luna said. “Allow me to clear a path, and when I give the word you may attack.”

“As you say, Princess Luna. But…are you certain you can control this much?”

Luna paused for a moment. She had never done anything of this caliber before. But then, the comet’s magic gave her abilities beyond her normal caliber.

“Yes. Prepare yourselves, my loyal subjects.”

Luna flew back down through the storm clouds, parting them as she did so that a gaping hole opened up behind her. She looked back over her shoulder and smiled as the moon lined up perfectly through the hole, giving her a glorious background. She almost wished that there were ponies below to witness such a sight and what was to follow, but then her eyes found Bon Bon, Lyra, Vinyl, and Octavia all standing on the street, far away from the monster. She smiled at them, though she knew they would not see it.

Directly below her, roaring up at the sky, was the source of so much of her troubles over the past few hours.

“This ends now, beast!” Luna bellowed in her Canterlot voice. “Thou has terrorized our citizens, damaged our kingdom, wounded our friends and repeatedly tried to end us as well. For that, we now pass final judgment!” The Princess of the Night looked up and saw Silent Wing peering down at her through the hole in the clouds. Luna nodded at her and then began to focus, drawing the comet’s magic into herself and amplifying her own abilities. It burned and her body felt as though it would rip apart a moment’s notice, but she held out. She just needed to last for a few more seconds.

Luna felt the static in the air. Her coat bristled with electricity and her mane began to stand up on its own instead of flowing gently around her. Her limbs began to shake as the power built in the air around her. The marshmallow pony roared and tried to reach up to her, but the roar was drowned out almost immediately by a louder boom! Luna’s skull felt like it would split from the sudden noise, but she had no time to clutch her head. A millisecond later she felt the energy flood the air. She reached out with her own magic and directed the flow of electricity, focusing it as tightly as she could while is skipped through the clouds around her, wild and free. When she felt like she could contain no more, she forced it all down toward the giant beast.

A dozen lightning bolts stuck out at once, each one terrible and beautiful to behold. They stretched forth like twisted limbs on a dead tree and clawed their way down to the world below. They twisted and bent at unnatural angles as their light flooded the night. For a glorious moment, time seemed to stand still and each bolt appeared to be its own glorious work of art, permanent and fleeting at the same time.

Then each bolt struck the marshmallow pony all at once.

The sight was terrifying. Luna was not sure how much of the electricity she had managed to condense into each bolt of lightning, but she knew that it had to have been a massive amount because when they struck, they did not leave small black marks as Silent Wing’s first strike had.

No, each bolt tore into the marshmallow flesh and blew it apart, sending massive amounts of hot marshmallow flying in every direction. Fires started at some of the impact areas on the beast, while other areas were completely obliterated. The beast staggered and screamed as parts of it were blasted away and others began to burn with an intense fire. It looked up at her, its face a mess of melted marshmallow and burning fire, and roared once last time, its howl defiant.

“AGAIN!” Luna bellowed, and there was another deafening crack of thunder as her bat ponies stomped on the clouds around her and kicked the lightning through them. She channeled it again and sent the bolts tearing down toward the abomination, striking it another half dozen times with raw power.

One bolt connected squarely with the beast’s face. Its head flew back as a hole opened up in it, and then the whole creature began to quiver. Luna watched, barely able to keep herself in the air because of the exhaustion she felt, and she felt a sense of relief flood her. The creature was defeated. Even its healing powers could not be powerful enough to recover from—

The creature suddenly exploded into a white mess. Marshmallow went everywhere, splattering the beach, splashing into the ocean, coating the street and buildings. Some of it came flying up at Luna, but she had had enough of being covered in the sticky substance and used the last of her magic to cast a protective shield around herself. The marshmallow smacked against the shield and clung there, then dropped to the beach below when Luna lowered the shield. Exhausted to the point of near collapse, she gently floated back down to the ground.

She landed in the sticky substance and had to struggle to remain standing. Everywhere she looked, all she saw was white. This was going to take quite some time to clean up, but at least the danger had passed. The cleanup would not be life threatening, just long.

“Uuuuhh,” something moaned. Lune looked to her left and felt her blood run cold. A miniature marshmallow pony was rising out of the goop that covered everything. Another rose with it, and then another. What was this? Was it possible that the creature had not been destroyed, but had simply been divided into countless smaller ones? Luna did not have the strength to battle any more, and since she was standing in the middle of the mess, it was very possible that she would soon find herself surrounded by countless marshmallow ponies.

“Your Majesty, get back!” Silent Wing and a dozen other bat ponies suddenly landed in front of her. Their dark fur and armor were a stark contrast to the white substance they all now stood in, but each one had his or her wings flared and heads lowered, ready to protect Luna with their lives.

The three marshmallow ponies stopped in their tracks. Luna watched as a forth one rose beside them, shaking its head. It staggered over to join the other three and then froze as well.

“Uh…is this the part where you arrest Bon Bon?” Luna recognized that voice! It was—

“Be quiet!” Octavia said as she slapped the back of Vinyl’s head. Her hoof stuck to her marefriend and Luna smiled as the cellist struggled to free herself.

“Stand down, Silent Wing,” Luna said as she stepped forward. “Make sure no ponies were hurt in this area, then you and the others must return to Canterlot to inform my sister as to what has passed here. I will deal with these four. Oh, and if two of you would be kind enough to fetch my chariot. I fear I lack the energy to make the flight back to Canterlot on my own.”

“As you wish, Your Majesty,” Silent Wing said. She and the other bat ponies turned and bowed, the lifted off. A few of them struggled to free themselves from the sticky ground, but within a minute each one had vanished from sight.

“Mmm, Tavi, you taste delicious,” Vinyl said. Luna looked over at the four ponies—My friends, she reminded herself—and saw that Vinyl was licking the hoof that had stuck to her. “I guess that makes you…”

“I…I am…ugh.” Octavia freed her hoof and nearly feel down as she stumbled backward. “I am not saying it, Vinyl.”

“Aw, come on,” Vinyl pleaded, her red eyes blinking repeatedly through the marshmallow.

“No.”

Luna walked up to the four ponies, trying to maintain her regal grace but finding it nearly impossible when each step stuck to the ground. “What is Vinyl talking about?”

“See? Even the princess wants you to say it,” Vinyl said, raising a hoof and pointing at Luna.

Octavia sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine. I am…Tavilious.”

Vinyl burst into laughter and fell back into the sticky substance. She tried to roll around, but quickly realized she was stuck. Luna chuckled as the D.J. looked up at them and struggled to free herself.

“Serves you right,” Octavia said, wiping some of the marshmallow from her face.

“Um, Your Majest, about what Vinyl just said, I—”

“I won’t let you take Bon Bon!” Lyra suddenly stepped in front of Luna and placed herself firmly between Luna and the others. At least, Luna assumed it was Lyra. It was hard to tell with each of them covered from head to hoof in marshmallow goop. Still, Luna saw hints of green fur and there was no mistaking the burning eyes that glared up at her.

A tense silence suddenly fell over the entire area. Vinyl had stopped struggling to get up and was lying perfectly still. Octavia had stopped chuckling at her and had her head turned worriedly toward Luna. Bon Bon had her head hanging low and was simply staring at the ground. Lyra stood perfectly still, her golden eyes staring up into Luna’s face with determination and fear.

Luna cleared her throat. “Lyra Heartstrings, thou is aware that thy spouse is responsible for the creature.”

“Yes, but—”

“Then thou knows she must face the consequences of her actions.”

“I will not let you take her away.” Lyra gritted her teeth and Luna could not help but smile inside. She believed every word Lyra said, but she still needed to make a point.

“And what doth thou plan to do to stop us? Thou must know that to defy us is to defy Equestria itself. Think carefully about thy actions, Lyra Heartstrings.” Luna leaned in close. “Thou walks on the edge of the abyss.”

To Lyra’s credit, she did not back down, though her eyes did falter. “I…I am just as responsible as she is. I helped her run the experiment!” Lyra stammered. “I will take her punishment. As well as my own.”

“Lyra, you can’t—”

“Sweetie Drops, I won’t let her take you away from me,” Lyra said coldly without taking her eyes away from Luna. “The thought of you being in a dungeon is something I can’t stand.”

Sweetie Drops? Luna pondered that, but she decided it was something to explore at a later date.

“We apologize, Lyra Heartstrings,” Luna said. “While noble, thy suggestion cannot be allowed. Bon Bon must answer for her actions. Bon Bon, step forward.”

Lyra opened her mouth to protest, but fell silent when Bon Bon gently tapped her flank and shook her head. The candy maker stepped forward, her hoofs sticking to the ground with every step, and Luna had to struggle to keep a stern presence. The look on Bon Bon’s face would have probably been heartbreaking if she wasn’t covered in sticky marshmallow.

“Bon Bon, for thy actions tonight, we, Princess Luna, are prepared to pass judgment,” Luna said. She paused for a moment, waiting for Bon Bon to look up. When she did, Luna finally allowed herself to smile. “For your bravery tonight in the face of overwhelming danger, and for saving my life and incurring a debt from me for that action, I hereby drop the charges against you.”

“Thank you very much, Your Majesty,” Bon Bon stammered. Luna saw a tear form in the pony’s eye.

“On the condition that you, and Miss Heartstrings, help clean up this mess.” Luna waved her hoof around the area to indicate the white goo. “The royal treasury shall handle the damages to the buildings, but you must clean up all of this. I think that that liquid you made will prove very helpful. Would you agree?”

Bon Bon nodded. “If I can find more of the ingredients. Otherwise, we’ll think of something.”

“Oh, and just between us,” Luna whispered, lowering her head so she could speak into Bon Bon’s ear. “I would keep the fact that you made the creature a secret. I cannot promise what will happen should other ponies find out.” She winked and Bon Bon nodded.

“Uh, hello?” Vinyl said, still stuck on her back and wiggling fiercely. “Still stuck here.”

“Hm, yes, it appears you are,” Luna said as she glanced at the comical sight of the D.J. on her back with her hooves kicking the air. “Well, my friends, I must depart. My sister will want to hear about what transpired hear from my own mouth, not just my royal guard.” With that, Luna put her hoof to her mouth and made a high-pitched whistle that sounded like a small squeak of air, but she knew that the bat ponies could hear the call for miles. A few moments later, Silent Wing and another of her guards, Fade Eyes, descended with her chariot.

“You chariot is ready, Your Highness,” Silent Wing said. She made sure the wheels did not touch the ground out of fear of them getting stuck.

“Are you well enough to fly, Silent Wing?” Luna asked, looking at the bandage around her guard.

“I am, Your Highness. Fade Eyes assures me that it is just some bruising, not a broken bone. So long as we don’t face anything too drastic on the trip back, I will be okay.”

Luna looked up at the sky. The storm clouds had drifted apart—or perhaps her guards had cleared them—and she could see her sky again. The Secretariat Comet was slowly fading into the distances, its once bright glow now little more than a shimmer. She could also feel its magic slowly fading from existence.

“I believe we shall be fine. Let us depart.” Luna boarded her chariot and it rose into the air. She looked down at her four friends, all still covered in the marshmallow substance, and waved. “Take care.”

“I’m still stuck here! Will somepony help me already?” Vinyl shouted as Luna was carried away. The Princess of the Night chuckled to herself.

* * *

Luna collapsed on her bed. She buried her muzzle in her soft plush pillows and let the exhaustion bleed from her body and into her bed. Her soft sheets soaked up her aches and weariness and offered to wrap her in a blanket of warmth. It was all she could do to keep herself awake.

The comet had passed three days ago, but Luna had been running around nonstop for those three days, listening to reports, reassuring citizens that the danger had passed, and overseeing restoration projects—many which were taking place in Canterlot itself because of an attack by giant Cockatrice.

Of course, Luna had also been keeping a close eye on Manehattan. The damage to the city had not been nearly as bad as she had first feared, and she had been pleased to learn that no ponies had been critically injured. And from what she had heard, a certain cream-colored pony had been extremely helpful in cleaning up the mess that the marshmallow pony had left once it had exploded.

Tonight had been the first night that Luna felt like she could actually relax, and even though she normally stayed awake until Celestia raised the sun, right now all she wanted to do was sleep. Her sister would raise the sun in three hours, and at the moment those three hours meant extra sleep to the Princess of the Night.

Unfortunately, because she and her sister had been so busy over the past three days, they had not had a chance to talk, and that meant—

“Luna, may I enter?”

Luna struggled not to groan. It was not that she did not want to speak with her sister, but she knew speaking was not all that was going to happen.

“Come in, big sister,” Luna said through her pillows. She heard the sound of her door opening and she struggled to roll over. Her limbs felt so heavy as she tangled herself in her silk bed cover. Her mane, which she had kept pulled back in a ponytail over the past few days because of the uneven look it had, filled her mouth as she rolled on top of it. She struggled to spit it out, and after the third try she pushed it away with her hoof.

Celestia giggled. “I like your mane like that,” she said. “It looks cute.”

“You are just saying that because I look like a mess.” Luna looked over herself, and although most of her body was now comfortably wrapped up in her dark blue sheets, she could still sees patches of her coat where her fur had been ripped out or had needed to be shaved because of the sticky marshmallow and sand. So much sand.

“Perhaps a little,” Celestia said with a kind smile, “but many ponies have been complimenting your new hairstyle. It makes you look more…approachable.”

“Oh.” Luna felt a warm glow come to her cheeks. Perhaps she would wear her hair this way more often when she went out.

“And I am hardly looking my best either,” Celestia said. It was true. She had several faded scuff marks and still wore some bandages from her battle in Canterlot.

“Tis true, sister,” Luna said with a sly smile. “You look as though we have just finished having one of our pillow fights from when we were little.”

“I never lost this badly.”

“Yes you did.” Luna picked up a pillow with her hoof and chucked it at her sister. She laughed as it smacked her right in the face. “See?”

“Fine,” Celestia said with a happy grin and a roll of her eyes, but then her expression changed to the one Luna knew was coming. It grew serious and hidden, the face of a leader that had practiced the art of not giving anything way.

“So, you and I have not had a chance to talk.”

“No, we have not,” Luna said. “I suppose you want to know about the attack in Manehattan?” Luna had to be careful here. She did not want to reveal to her sister that the creature had been ponymade, and she certainly did not want to reveal that it had been Bon Bon, one of her new friends, who was responsible.

“You mean the giant marshmallow pony?” Celestia asked and Luna nodded. “And the fact that it was made by a pony? A certain candy making mare from Ponyville?”

Luna’s mouth fell open. “How do you…I mean, I do not know what you are talking about.”

Celestia’s expression changed into the loving, older look that she always wore whenever she spoke as Luna’s older sister. “That is not important, but if you must know, I was able to piece it together. A few words from Silent Wing, some reports from Manehattan, a few requests from the university there. The clues are there, if one knows where to look.”

“Sister, please, she meant no harm. You cannot—” Celestia raised her hoof and Luna fell silent. While they ruled the kingdom together, Celestia was the elder sister, and sometimes that meant that her word overruled Luna’s.

“Why did you not arrest her?” Celestia asked.

“I…I felt that the punishment of having to clean up the mess was enough,” Luna said, trying to avoid her sister’s eyes. She suddenly found her other pillows very fascinating.

“That is not how you would normally behave,” Celestia said coolly. “And you know that that punishment is not a…normal punishment for such a transgression. You would have arrested her and brought her to Canterlot. So why did you not?”

“Because…” Luna forced herself to look at her sister. “Because…she and the others are my friends. At least, that is what they said.”

Luna closed her eyes and braced herself for the berating she knew was coming from her sister. To bend the law the way she had simply for a friend was a terrible abuse of power and something that could easily bring shame to her and all of Canterlot. If word ever got out that she had been so lenient on a pony simply because she considered that pony a friend, then—

“Others?” Celestia asked. Luna opened her eyes, expecting to see her sister glaring down at her with stern disappointment.

Instead, Celestia had a smile on her lips.

“Um…yes,” Luna said, not sure what was happening anymore. “The other ponies I met.”

“I see.” Celestia walked over and sat down next to Luna on her bed. Luna suddenly felt very awkward. They had not sat this close together on a bed since they had been little fillies and Celestia would be trying to wake Luna up for the raising of the moon.

“And these other ponies, they are your friends as well?”

“I believe so,” Luna said, wishing she was no longer tangled up in her sheets. Celestia was uncomfortably close, and the fact that Luna could not discern what her sister was trying to get at was making the moment even more uncomfortable. “D.J. Pon—I mean, Vinyl Scratch seemed to really like me at least.”

Celestia smiled even more. “So you were able to meet the famous D.J. then? I’m glad to hear that. You always spoke of her with such happiness because she loves your night so dearly.”

Luna blushed and only nodded. She recalled how she had first reacted with Vinyl had revealed her alternate name. I was such a silly fanfilly.

“And who are the other ponies that you met?”

“Well, I met Bon Bon’s wife, Lyra. She is…very protective of Bon Bon. Fiercely loyal to her, to the point where I would be hesitant to come between them, even being a princess. She has a good heart though and I can understand what Bon Bon sees in her. The other pony is—” Luna stopped, suddenly unsure if she should reveal the forth pony she had met that evening.

But if Celestia was already aware of the secrets that surrounded the marshmallow pony’s existence, then she was certainly aware of other things as well.

“I met Octavia Melody,” she said.

For a moment, her sister was silent. Luna feared she had made a mistake in revealing the name of the cellist. But Celestia already knows of her! She listens to her music all the time. She invited her to come to the Grand Galloping Gala!

Oh, but what if she fears the effect Octavia may have on me? What if she does not wish me to associate with her because of what may—

“And what do you have to say about her?” Celestia asked, still smiling. “Personally, I enjoy her music very much, though she seems a bit…tense.”

Luna sighed silently with relief. “She is a fine pony indeed. Very upstanding and polite, though I do see how you may see her as tense. Still, Vinyl brings out another side in her, and while she probably will never admit it, she would not be herself without that D.J.” Luna remembered Octavai’s heartbreaking screech when she had thought Vinyl dead. “I…I suggested that she come play at our castle one time. Just for us. No grand events or anything.”

“Excellent,” Celestia said. “After all that has passed over these few days, I would very much enjoy some relaxing music. I’m very proud of you, by the way.”

“For wh—” But before Luna could finish her question, her sister had enveloped her in a deep hug. Luna stayed perfectly still for a moment, her mind struggling to understand what was happening, and then her sister’s flowing mane started to tickle her nose. She sneezed gently, Celestia giggled, and Luna hugged her back.

“You made friends,” Celestia said as she pulled out of the hug and got off of Luna’s bed. “Ever since you returned to me, you have kept yourself locked away from our subjects, out of fear of how they would react to you. I had no doubt that Twilight and her friends would accept you, but I wanted you to go make your own friends, in your own way.”

Luna felt flustered. Her sister was treating her like a filly. “Well, I do not understand why it was so important to you that I make friends. I thought protecting our subjects was more important.” She had not meant to sound so harsh when she spoke, and she immediately wished she could take the words back.

“Protecting our people is important, but friendship is important too. If you do not value the ponies you are sent to protect, if you do think of them as nothing but subjects who are beneath you, you will find yourself alone, and you recall what happened last time. I do not want to lose my dear sister again.”

“I…I know,” Luna said. “I did not mean it that way.”

Celestia smiled that smile that reminded Luna so much of their mother. “I know, and I no longer fear losing you again to the Nightmare Forces. After all, I doubt you would bend the rules so fiercely for just any pony. Only a friend would warrant such special treatment.”

Celestia winked and Luna threw another of her pillows at her sister. Celestia was never going to let her live that down, was she? “Please leave us alone,” Luna said in a mock up of her Canterlot voice. “We are very tired and wish to sleep.”

Celestia bowed deeply and waved her hoof in front of her. “Of course, Princess of the Night. I shall take my leave now. I fear I must go raise the sun soon anyway.”

Celestia left Luna’s bedroom and the Princess of the Night floated her two pillows off the floor and back onto her bed. She closed her eyes and began to drift off into blissful sleep.

Before she faded completely, her thoughts shifted to the four ponies she had met a few days ago. She should probably invite them all to come to Canterlot sometime, not just Octavia. They would all be her special guests at the castle.

They were her friends after all.

Author's Notes:

As if I'd really kill Vinyl. This last chapter's a bit long, isn't it?

Ghostbusters reference in this chapter (because this whole thing is nothing but a pony version of that in a way), as well as a shout out to those "I'm ponylicious" videos, because the Octavia one is awesome.

Luna wearing her hair in a ponytail is a reference to the fact that she's wearing it that way in issue 9 of the comics. Plus she just looks so cute that way.

I wanted Bon Bon to be the pony responsible for the whole thing because it's always Lyra or Vinyl that are causing trouble for their counterparts. I figured it was time to flip that around. I know that in the real world Bon Bon would be locked away for what she did, even if it was an accident, but this is Equestria. Things are different and the world is much kinder.

Questions or comments (or pointing out typos) are all welcome.

Luna's Adventure

by Zeck

Round 1: Magic's Not Allowed

Round 2: Fighting Despair

Round 3: Ultimate KO