The day had blown over pretty smoothly, rain continued on and off as the forecast had been stated. Night had fallen and the air temperature had dropped quite dramatically. Before leaving that morning, Mario had given Princess Celestia and Twilight the two crystal stars and the map to see what kind of progress they could make in tracking the other stars given the rest of the day.

“So what have we got?” Asked Rainbow Dash.

“Well,” Twilight began, “because we have two stars to work with now, it was actually possible to trace where two more of them are located. Granted it did take a lot of time, but it would have taken longer had Princess Celestia not been helping.”

Princess Celestia looked at her student.

“I appreciate the compliments Twilight, but it was mostly you who was able to trace them, I only helped you in focusing your magic on their trail, it was you who located them.” She said with a smile.

Twilight blushed at her statement. “Thank you, Princess…”

“Well then,” Rarity said, “where are these two stars located then?”

“The first one that we managed to trace is located in Cloudsdale.” Twilight said.

Rainbow Dash beamed at her answer. Cloudsdale is where the Wonderbolts performed all of their death defying stunts and air shows.

“I say we go there next!” She shouted, “Who knows, maybe Soarin or one of the other Wonderbolts got hold of it. If they did, it would be an easy take and we could get going to the next one. What about that second one?”

Twilight’s smile immediately turned into a frown as she remembered where the next one most likely ended up. Not most likely, she knew where it ended up, and it would not be an easy grab and go that Rainbow Dash predicts the first one would be.

“What’s the matter, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked, “It didn’t land somewhere that we can’t really get to, did it?”

She held up the map and showed it to her friends. It appeared to have landed in a desert farther off into Western Equestria.

“A desert?” Goombella said. “Nothing we haven’t seen before in our travels back home. What’s so bad about that?”

Celestia had just the answer to her question.

“According to updated maps of Equestria, this is where the Changeling hive resides. If it ended up there, it is vital that you all travel there first and foremost.”

The other ponies knew very well of the dangers of Changelings, and had to agree with Celestia on this.

“Well for us uneducated folk, what exactly is a Changeling?” Goombella asked.

“A changeling is a very interesting creature to say the least…” Rarity stated, “They have the ability to shape shift into just about any creature and mimic their personalities and skills to the finest detail. This makes them very skilled in the art of deceit.”

“What reasons would they have to be disguising themselves as other creatures?” Goombella asked, “Surely they don’t just do this for their own amusement.”

“I imagine some of them probably do it for amusement,” Twilight said, “But you are right, they have one motive in doing this, changelings feed off of the love that creatures show to friends and family. This is how they have thrived for so many years.”

“By disguising themselves as loved ones and gaining their trust, only to betray them in the end, sounds an awful lot like that freak-in-a-sheet from earlier, huh Mario?” Goombella replied.

Mario pondered her response for a moment. He remembered the being that she was referring to. Doopliss was his name. He remembered all too well how Doopliss had stolen his body and gained the trust of his allies, as well as the trials he had to undergo to retake his body and get his friends back.

“Yeah,” Goombella said, “We’ve had our share of shape-shifters ourselves. Our worlds are WAAYY to similar.” She laughed

“At least you have experience dealing with them.” Twilight said. “Just be on the lookout when we are at the nest, they will probably try to shift themselves to look like us, and I’m sure they will give some sort of sign to separate us from the false ones.”

“I’m sure we’ll be able to point it out, but I imagine the best strategy would be to stick together and do our best not to get separated.” Rarity pointed out.

“What if we had a call sign that they wouldn’t be aware of?” Rainbow Dash inquired.

“That’s a good idea,” replied Twilight, “What will our call sign be?”

“STICK TOGETHER TEAM!” Pinkie Pie shouted.

Everyone in the room stared with a blank expression. The first one to speak was Applejack.

“That’s the most ridiculous call sign these ears have ever heard…Let’s do it.”

As ridiculous as it was, no one could challenge it, it was plain and simple: stick together team.

“Well, if that’s settled, what’s left? Anything else that we need to be aware of?” Goombella asked.

“Just be on the lookout for Queen Chrysalis.” Celestia said.

“I suppose I wouldn’t be mistaken to assume that she is their leader?” Goombella asked.

Celestia nodded. “Be wary, being the leader she will be more powerful than the rest of her subjects, I can vouch for this myself. We had gotten into a scuffle the previous year, when Twilight’s brother, Shining Armor, was getting married to Princess Cadence. Chrysalis had transformed herself into Cadence and sealed her away so that no one could locate her, and everyone would believe that Chrysalis was Cadence. When she finally revealed herself, she had absorbed enough power from Shining Armor to defeat me. If it wasn’t for the Elements here, we may not be standing where we are right now.”

Fluttershy and Goombella exchanged nervous looks.

“We’ll definitely keep that in mind your majesty.” Goombella replied nervously.

“I guess the only thing left to do is prepare for the journey ahead.” Twilight stated. “How are we looking on supplies?”

“Pinkie and I took care of gathering enough food for everypony.” Applejack said.

“The weather for the next few days looks like it will be stable. I suppose it should be for a desert and all.” Rainbow Dash said.

“I can arrange transportation to get you as close to the hive as possible, the nearest establishment is Appleloosa. From there, you all can travel westward on foot, and reach the hive in a few hours.” Celestia said.

“Well it’s settled then,” said Twilight, “We’ll set out first thing in the morning, right now would probably be the best time to get some rest. I wish we could have stayed longer…”

Celestia saw the sadness in Twilight’s eyes. She wanted to be with her mentor a bit longer, after all, this is a dangerous quest that they have on their hooves. Who’s to say that everyone would make it back? But it had to be done, the world rested on their shoulders now, and Twilight knew that very well. The longer they waited, the more time that Mecha Mario and Nightmare Moon had to reach their goal, and they were not about to let that happen.

“I wish that it did not have to be this way, I would gladly come with you all, but with Luna out of commission, there would be nopony to oversee things here, and chaos could easily befall in Canterlot.” Celestia said.

Rainbow Dash listened as the rain outside became more intense, as if it was going to smash through the walls, followed by loud cracks of thunder.

“That storm is really getting bad, but it should be clear by tomorrow morning.” She said.

“I’ll show you all to your rooms, the rain should actually be quite calming. I don’t think I’ve ever found it easier to sleep than listening to the sound of rain tapping the window.” Replied Celestia.

She guided the group through a small series of corridors on the bottom floor of the castle. Ponies, humans, and goombas heading through respective doors to get some sleep for the night, all saying their goodnights, knowing they would see each other the following morning.

Celestia returned to her thrown room. She reflected on the events that have taken place over the past few days. To think, her kingdom was not in danger a few days ago. Things had been calming down since the events with Discord, completely turning Equestria upside down, causing unrealistic weather patterns, transforming animals into freaks of nature. Her star pupil, along with her five friends, were able to put a stop to his reign of chaos and seal him back in his stone prison. Even before, when Nightmare Moon had been freed, the Elements of Harmony were able to put an end to her, and free her sister from the corruption, and now, when things are beginning to slow down and return to normal, a new threat reveals itself, and again, the Elements of Harmony must stop it before the whole world is plunged into darkness. The only problem is that this is an enemy that nopony in Equestria knows a thing about, at least, none of the citizens or elders. Even with this new threat arising, new allies are gained in the process, and it will all fall on their alliance with the Elements to stop that threat, to save Equestria from an imminent destruction. None of this was the case only a few days ago.

Celestia is confident their abilities to stop Mecha Mario, but even so, she cannot help but worry for them. After all, she knows little to nothing about their enemy, and that he is capable of corruption. What if they are not strong enough to defeat him? What if he finds the rest of the Crystal Stars before they do? What if he corrupts them and it isn’t possible to bring them back?

“No, NO!” Celestia shouted, “They can do it, I know Twilight and the rest of the Elements. They are capable of anything, and they will defeat that creature, and their new friends will only ensure it. I know they can do it.”

Celestia kept to her thoughts, while Goombella had been doing some thinking of her own. She was equally as concerned as Celestia was. Really, what would happen if they couldn’t stop Mecha Mario? They are responsible for his release onto this world, and it’s their responsibility to put an end to him before it’s too late. Such a task to do, and not a lot of time to do it. She only wished that they had more time. They were in a whole new world. She has so many questions and so much to learn from it, and they only have time to save it from annihilation. All in a day’s work for the archaeologist, she thought. Never did she think her future held this in store for her. Saving her own world with a famous individual, and now saving a completely foreign world from the same fate. And now her feelings begin to get the better of her. She couldn’t live with herself if anything would happen to a single soul in this world. And even Mario, she’s always worried about the way he puts himself in danger’s path, to protect those who don’t have the ability to protect themselves. How long would it be before the next strike dealt to him is the one that he won’t recover from? She did not want to think about it, right now, it was time to sleep.

At least attempt to, that much pressure on your mind can make it pretty difficult. The pitter patter of the rain hitting the window made it more soothing, however, and the light sounds of thunder crackling in the sky made it all the more calming.

Sleep soon took over for the eight heroes, no more restless thoughts, just deep relaxation. At least for a while.

That was when the sound of a large window breaking could be heard echoing through the halls.

It was loud enough to somehow simultaneously wake everyone up. They all rushed to the source of the sound, the throne room.

“What’s going on?!” Yelled Rarity.

She was answered with the sight of a Royal Guard, lying on the floor unconscious. He had apparently been tossed through the window into the throne room.

They approached the shattered window to witness an intense battle between two powerful foes.

“That’s Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon!” Cried Twilight.

Lightning flashed in the sky as the two clashed in a battle of magic. They were locked in a battle of light versus dark, summoning magic from both their horns, unable to show weakness, lest they get hit with the strength of both blasts.

The heroes wanted to interfere, but there was no way they could do so without risking Celestia breaking concentration and being hit by the beam. It would not matter anyway. As the duel continued, Twilight happened to notice a difference in Nightmare Moon’s physical appearance.

“Does anyone else see this?” She asked, “Nightmare Moon is glowing with a gold tinge, she was never like this before, what does it mean?”

Almost immediately, Mario and Goombella recognized it, their faces looking frightened at the realization.

“She has the Gold Crystal Star!” Goombella shouted.

“What is that particular Star capable of?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“When used properly, it grants the user a great boost in strength and defense. Whatever power she possessed before just increased dramatically.” Goombella explained.

“This isn’t going to end well…” Fluttershy said weakly.

Almost as if fate had been waiting for her to say this, they immediately noticed the dwindling strength in Celestia, as Nightmare Moon began to overpower her side of the colliding beams, and the center moved closer and closer to Celestia.

She braced for impact as the beam enveloped her and blew her into the wall of the castle, leaving her injured and barely conscious.

Anger and fear welled up inside of the group as they began to comprehend what just happened.

They jumped through the shattered window down onto the castle courtyard, noticing the ruin all around them.

Fluttershy and Twilight galloped as quickly as possible to Celestia to check on her condition, the rest standing on guard in case Nightmare Moon decided to shoot first and ask later.

“Pathetic…can’t even beat your little sister.” Nightmare Moon taunted.

“You…MONSTER!” Rarity shouted to Nightmare Moon.

“You’re cheating!” Said Rainbow Dash, “you just boosted your power with that Crystal Star, you couldn’t do anything without it!”

Nightmare Moon could only laugh.

“You haven’t even seen all of my power, I could destroy all of you easily without even trying.”

Celestia coughed, showing that she was still alive, but her strength was entirely diminished.

“Twilight…” She said to her pupil, “don’t hold back…” she coughed again, “you can beat her. You are strong enough, I know you are.”

“Princess…” Twilight said.

“Shh…” Celestia continued, “I’ll be fine, do not worry for my safety, I knew what I was getting into, and I know that you can finish what I started here. Fight back Twilight, show her what you are capable of.” She said, finally losing consciousness.

Twilight could feel the anger building inside of her, she was ready to kill Nightmare Moon if it came down to it. She and Fluttershy rejoined the rest of the heroes.

“Well let’s settle this then, weaklings.” She taunted at the heroes a second time.

“You’re about to be eating your own words you dirty witch.” Goombella said.

With that, the battle commenced.

Nightmare Moon began by completely covering the surrounding area with dark clouds. It was nearly impossible to see anything through it all. Nightmare Moon observed her clueless opponents, trying to determine who to attack first. She finally made her decision.

In an instant, she appeared in front of Mario, and levitated him up into the air.

“You appear to be the greatest threat, and so you will not be in this fight.” She said.

Her horn began to charge and turn completely white. Yellow electricity began to flow around it, and she sent the electrical bolt of magic at Mario, sending him towards the castle wall. He attempted to move, but soon realized that he was completely immobilized as electricity flowed around his body.

Shear anger was now overtaking Goombella, and she jumped toward Nightmare Moon in a quite aggressive fashion, attempting to head bonk her with all the power she had in her body. She made contact, but the result was less than satisfying.

Goombella fell back down to the ground.

Nightmare Moon only laughed.

“Come now,” she said, “Are you even trying? Tell you what, I’ll give you another free hit, just so it is fair.”

“You won’t be so cocky when we’re through with you.” Rainbow Dash said.

In that moment she leapt into the air, wings outstretched, following up with a few aerial somersaults, and brought down every ounce of power in her body in the form of a kick with her hind leg.

To any other opponent, this would have easily broken there back and they would be incapacitated for good. Not this time.

Everyone stared as she too only bounced off of Nightmare Moon’s body, unscathed.

“That was your free hit, now it’s my turn.” She stated.

Again, she charged up magic in her horn and it began to glow, this time with a purple hue, after a few seconds, she released a large magical pulse that knocked everyone off of their feet onto the ground.

Mario could only watch as his companions were tossed around like rag dolls. He could feel a burning inside of him as anger welled up.

Everyone got back up to their feet, unsure of what to do next.

“What are we going to do?” Rarity asked, “She’s too powerful, is there anything we can do to fight back?”

“The Elements of Harmony!” Shouted Twilight, “There’s no other way, get in position!”

“You all clearly know what you’re doing,” Goombella said, “I’ll just stand back a minute and watch the show.”

Twilight levitated her crown onto her head. Everypony else put their necklaces on in response.

Nightmare Moon knew what their next move was, but she knew she wouldn’t fall victim this time around, she prepared for the attack.

Everypony closed their eyes as magical energy began to surge around them in a white light, each one of the elements glowing in a blinding light that all evil in the shadows would retreat from.

Suddenly they opened their eyes, only a white glow emanating from them as a rainbow spiral of energy shot forth at their foe.

It was something to behold, no evil could possibly resist the power of-the fuck? What’s going on? Did she? No way, she just locked them into a Dragonball Z beam battle!

Nightmare Moon focused all her magic, as well as the star’s power, into a beam that is now colliding with the rainbow spiral! Sparks of energy and bursts of color were bouncing off of the sphere that had formed in the middle of both beams, kicking up dust and dirt around the castle courtyard.

At this moment, the tension was on. Both sides showed no indication of faltering, and the sphere in the middle was growing immensely. Goombella could only attempt to take cover from the destruction that was taking place. The sphere continued to grow until it finally burst in an epic explosion of rainbows and electricity.

When the dust settled, it was apparent that no one had come out unscathed. However there were no fatal results. Everypony managed to regain their footing from the powerful blast between the six of them and the mare of the night. Even Nightmare Moon was a little shaken up, but she managed to stop the beam that previously defeated her in the past. It was almost as if nothing could stop her.

Twilight was the first to grasp the situation.

“…What…How…that’s not even possible! How could you have completely just blocked the power of the Elements of Harmony?!”

“I’ll admit,” Nightmare Moon started, “I didn’t think it would be possible myself, but I wasn’t going to fall victim this time around. No, today I will be the one to rise and claim victory.”

“Not if we have anything to say about it.” Rainbow Dash said. “We’ll stop you, even if it kills us.”

“By the end of this battle that’s what will happen to all of you if you don’t give up now.” She replied.

While in the midst of the battle and the conversation amongst the ponies, Goombella began looking over Nightmare Moon, noting that she was very fond of attacking with magic, also noting how the Crystal Star’s gold energy surrounded her much like a barrier, only it surrounded her body rather than create a bubble around her. When she attacked with magic, the horn began to glow, so too would the barrier.

“I’ve got it.” She said finally, “she’s amplifying the Star’s energy with her own magic, and her horn is the weakness, if we can hit her where it hurts, we may have a chance.”

“If it’s all we’ve got to work with then let’s go for it.” Said Rainbow Dash.

“What’s the plan then?” Asked Applejack.

“I can distract her,” Twilight said, “fight magic with magic, giving you all a chance to jump in while she’s occupied.”

The group agreed on their plan of attack and began to ready up.

“What is your decision then?” Nightmare Moon said.

“We will never surrender to you Nightmare Moon. If we’re going down, we’re going down fighting.” Twilight answered in response.

Nightmare Moon only smiled.

“So be it, this will be the end of the Elements of Harmony forever.”

Four of the six ponies began to charge.

Twilight and Rarity began to charge their horns with all the magic they could muster, Nightmare Moon did the same in response.

“What are you doing Rarity? I said I would distract her.” Twilight said.

“Oh nonsense darling,” she replied, “I know you’re strong, but this is a battle where any help is necessary, and I’ll back you up on it no matter what.”

Twilight smiled and answered back.

“Thanks Rarity, let’s do this together.”

Another barrage of lasers collided, (wow the author sure does love lasers), and another battle of beams took place, only this time, it was obvious that Nightmare Moon was winning this time around, her power was too great for Twilight and Rarity, and the massive beam was starting to move towards them.

Rainbow Dash began to fly high into the air to prepare for a Sonic Rainboom, however she would have to wait for the perfect moment to strike. She got into position and waited for the signal.

On the surface, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie began to wear away at Nightmare Moon’s barrier. Any damage to it would definitely weaken it, as well as break her concentration on the beam and give Rainbow Dash the perfect moment.

Applejack began to buck at her as hard as she could, enough that even Nightmare Moon could feel it slightly, but she would not focus on it. Pinkie Pie immediately devised the plan of using Fluttershy as a means of continued distraction by holding her up to Nightmare Moons face. This would seem pretty ineffective if she wasn’t giving the most adorable puppy dog stare ever. Even Nightmare Moon could not resist how adorable she was. This distraction slightly weakened her end of the beam and it slowly crept up closer to her.

Applejack finally gave Dash the signal.

Rainbow Dash flew as fast as she physically could. A cone shape began to form around her body. She could feel the energy in her body as she began to release it all.

‘BOOM’ was all that was heard when she finally let go.

The sound was deafening, rainbow streaks followed behind her as she flew towards her target: Nightmare Moon’s horn.

She reared her hoof back, ready to punch her lights out.

It never happened.

In one swift movement, Nightmare Moon caught Dash’s hoof with her own, and completely stopped any and all of her momentum. The force from this was so great that it’s possible Dash’s hoof could actually have gotten broken, considering the snapping sound that was heard upon catching her hoof. Nightmare Moon swung her body around and smacked the three opposing ponies away from her and onto their faces.

She was pretty angry at this point.

Where ever the energy was coming from, she managed to reinforce her beam with so much power that Twilight and Rarity could not handle in anymore. The beam collided into both of them and they flew towards the castle walls with a loud SMACK! Leaving them dazed on the ground.

As Mario continued to watch the pain his friends were going through, the anger in him began to well up more and more, but there was nothing he could do about it.

“A nice try on all of your parts.” Nightmare Moon said, victory and arrogance in her voice. “But it wasn’t enough.”

The ponies were breathing heavily; completely awestruck at how their attempt to defeat Nightmare Moon had failed.

“This is the fate of those who try to defy the Mare of the Night.”

There was truly nothing left for the heroes to do, they’ve exhausted all their power and tricks. What was left for them to do?

Nightmare Moon began to levitate the six ponies and Goombella close to her, choking them all as she did so.

This was it, Nightmare Moon was going to win, at least they had done their best, and nopony could say that they didn’t try. They waited for their inevitable deaths…

Which also never came.

Out of nowhere, Nightmare Moon was struck with a fireball. And right on her horn as well. This caused her to drop her hold on the heroes and allow them to breathe once again.

Goombella looked up, fully aware of whose fireball it was.

“Mario!” She shouted, excited to know that not only had they been saved, but that he was alright as well.

However, the second she turned over to look at him, a mix of confusion and fear hit her at the same time. Something had changed about him.

Even Nightmare Moon had to stop and grasp what exactly had happened to him.

His typical happy-go-lucky nature was clearly not there. Rage was what replaced it, and this was just from looking at his face. The rest of his body? Forget it. His eyes had gone from the bright blue that they’ve always been to being completely enveloped by flames. His eyes were a pure, bright fire. If that wasn’t enough, there was a small, light, flame aura surrounding his entire body. It was as if someone had doused him in gasoline and lit a match, but no pain could be felt by him, oh no, however the same could not be said for his enemies.

The others quivered at his appearance. It was as if this apparition was not Mario any longer.

The only thing that Goombella could think of was that Mario had gone through some sort of transformation, but how? She attempted to talk to him.

“Mario?” She said, “Is…is that you?”

He said nothing, however he eyed Nightmare Moon with a stare that could make any mortal bend to his will.

Nightmare Moon finally pulled together.

“You fool, you really think that because you’ve transformed that it will help you? This world is already mine, and I will plunge it into an eternal night.”

Mario held his hand out in response and fired not a ball, but a blast of fire at her.

Nightmare Moon staggered back slightly upon impact. Where did all this power come from?

She was not beaten yet. She prepared for her next move.

“Savor that one hit, mortal, it will be your last.” She said.

She charged the magic in her horn again, and her barrier glowed once more. Mario only stood and watched.

When she had finished charging, she fired a massive lightning bolt at Mario, who merely put a barrier of fire in front of him to shield his body from the attack. The impact left clouds of smoke covering where he had been standing.

“Mario!” Shouted the other heroes.

“Easy enough,” Nightmare Moon said, “now to deal with the rest of you.”

Her victory, as per usual, was short-lived.

Mario flew, not jumped, not ran, FLEW, through the smoke, fists held out and ablaze.

When he was within a few feet of Nightmare Moon, he reared his arm back and punched with all the force he could muster.

Nightmare Moon, being caught completely off guard by this attack, was launched by the explosion created by the punch straight into the opposite wall of the castle courtyard.

The heroes held awestruck faces upon this action.

“She was right…” Goombella said finally, “this is the power the Shadow Queen was talking about all along…”

“What do you mean?” Twilight said.

“The Shadow Queen foresaw this power inside of Mario back when we had been fighting her,” Goombella replied, “She knew about this all along, and here it is, in front of our faces.”

The words of the Shadow Queen echoed in her mind.

'Something resonates from him which I’ve not seen, I sense something stronger…'

Nightmare Moon pulled herself up off the ground. Mario continued to eye her from the distance, daring her to make the next move.

She knew she’d been beaten, she just would not admit it, if she had not been weakened so heavily from her fight with the others, she might have been able to take him on, however she did choose to make the wise decision. Get the hell out of there.

“You will all be my servants of the night, but it will not be tonight. Farewell mortals.”

With that, she turned into a cloud of smoke and vanished into the night sky.

The others continued to stare at Mario, who was watching to make sure she would not attempt a final attack. When it was clear to him that she had fled, he suddenly, and involuntarily, clutched his chest and knelt to the ground.

Slowly, his flame aura subsided and his eyes began to revert back to the way they had been before. He could barely stand up after exerting so much power, and he still could not put his finger on what exactly had happened to him.

All that he was concerned about now was that his friends were safe.

He took one final glance at them to make sure they were alive and breathing, and collapsed onto the ground.

Author's Note

It's been a long time comin'. I'm sorry I've made you all wait several months for this one. I rarely have time to write nowadays due to college and work, which I can say are both going very well, and when I do have time I try to hangout with friends whenever possible because I don't know the next time I'll be able see them. But here it is finally, I'll try to keep writing whenever I can, I haven't forgotten about you. Also, leave me any feedback you want to in the comments, I like to hear what people have to say and gladly welcome any advice to improve that you all have to offer. On a side note, I thought about using some music in this one, if you're interested, it's from Dark Souls, and it's the theme of Artorias the Abysswalker. It seemed pretty appropriate coming towards the end of it but I'll let you all decide.

Until next time,

Kabbie22