The Day it Rained Stone

by psalamander

Rating: teen
Tags: Doctor Whooves, Sad, Main 6, Nightmare Moon, Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Adventure, Trixie, Big Macintosh, Scootaloo, Derpy Hooves, Princess Celestia, Zecora
Length: 9495

Luna has been hiding secrets from everypony, and now it's too late to stop what has already started.

After Her imprisonment in the moon, Nightmare Moon was defeated. But what did she do while imprisoned on the moon?

Now a centuries old secret is attacking Ponyville, and the rest of Equestria. Will the six elements of harmony be able to save Equestria once again, or shall Nightmare Moon destroy everything they know?

Published 2012-03-06 18:23:25 UTC
Last updated 2012-02-20 20:08:52 UTC

The Day it Rained Stone

The grand halls of Canterlot’s royal castle echoed with worried hoofsteps as the troubled mare that walked them quickly headed to find her sister. She had hoped that this day would never come, but in the end she knew that she had only lied to herself. No matter how hard she had convinced herself, she always knew that her past would catch up with her. Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity of nervous traversing through the magnificent castle, she arrived at the large and ornately carved wooden doors to the main hall; two of the royal guard on either side, as was customary. Slowly, after several minutes of rehearsing in her head what she would say, and a couple of odd looks from the guards, she reluctantly pushed open the doors, and entered the room.

How many times do I have to listen to this spoiled prince rant about… What was it about this time? Princess Celestia continued to half-listen to Prince Blueblood’s speech about the supposedly declining rate of cleanliness around his neighborhood, apparently due to the “commoners” being allowed to roam wherever their “filthy hooves so desired”. After several more minutes of this, the princess finally interjected, “Prince Blueblood, I think that you have made your point clear. I will take what you have said into consideration and see to it that that your neighborhood is cleaned and maintained at a more acceptable level. You may leave now.” Putting on a fake smile that had been perfected over the centuries, the princess impatiently waved a hoof towards the entrance, signaling for him to leave.

Just then, the two grand doors slowly swung open towards Celestia. She spoke up in a formal voice. “Oh, Luna! What a pleasant surprise! I was just finishing up with Prince Blueblood. Please, do come in, sister.”

Luna, with a rather solemn look on her face, answered, “Is it okay if we talked in private? This is a matter of utmost importance, sister.”

Celestia dismissed her royal guards with a wave of her hoof, the armor-clad pegasi closing the doors behind them as they left. “What is it, sister? I thought that you stopped needing help with your speech quite a while ago?” Celestia joked, her voice taking on a mischievous tone.

“No, sister, there is something I need to tell you, something that I should have told you a long time ago, but was too afraid talk about.” Luna replied, a grave tone present within her voice. “It’s about Nightmare Moon.”

“Are you still having the nightmares? I thought they stopped a while ago-”

“No sister, I’m afraid that it’s much worse than just the nightmares. I should have told you long ago, but I just couldn’t bring myself to say so to you. I thought that if I just ignored it, it would go away, but…” By now, Luna couldn’t even look her older sister in the eye, as if her sister’s stare alone would reprimand her for withholding this information for so long. She soon found that her throat seized up every time she tried to talk, as if her body were fighting against her will to confess.

“It’s okay sister, I won’t hold anything against you. I’ve loved you forever, and I won’t let anything change that. Now, what is it that has you so disturbed?” Celestia asked this as gently as possible, trying not to put pressure on the already seemingly petrified mare.

“W-well, when I was banished to the moon, Nightmare Moon d-didn’t just idly wait in her prison. She h-had plans.” Luna spoke slowly, gaining a little confidence from her sister’s words, slowly assuring herself that her sister would always love her. “She wanted vengeance, sister. And she wasn’t just going to sit idly while on the moon. She set about creating an army, one that would obey her unquestioningly and without a doubt remain loyal. She wanted an army that didn’t need replenishment or nourishment. She wanted an army whose sole purpose was to defeat you and take over all of Equestria, and maybe even other lands as well.” The mare looked up at Celestia’s face, and saw that it remained the same as when she had begun to talk. However, having known her for so long, she could almost hear the gears whirring in her head, tying to analyze what she had said and drawing conclusions from it.

“However,” Luna continued, “There wasn’t anypony to bind to her will on the moon. So, she created an army, using the very moon as a building material, animating the rock with magic. This gave her an army that was exceptionally strong, durable, and, due to the nature of the moon’s stone, highly resistant to magic. I wanted to think that with nightmare moon gone, the army had been neutralized. However, I had started to feel her presence growing within me. I tried to fight it, but nothing I tried could stop her. Just today, however her presence suddenly vanished, and I fear that it may be because she has found a new host. If this is true, then it is likely that an army of 40,000 will be summoned to Equestria from the moon, and their destination will most likely be where they were originally planned to go: Ponyville, to attack you at the Summer Sun Celebration. We must mobilize what forces we have now, to protect Ponyvi-”

Luna was suddenly interrupted as a grey streak flew across the sky, seeming to head straight towards Ponyville.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight sparkle was in the middle of Star Swirl’s book “On the Theory of Magic”, when she observed, out of the corner of her eye, a gray streak travelling across the sky, a sharp contrast to the deep blue of the sky at midday. She glanced up from her book for a second, her natural curiosity instantly making her head outside on the balcony for a better view of the strange object. She suddenly felt the ground rumble, as if a herd of cattle were stampeding across her room, and she soon found the ground to be in front of her face.

What in Celestia’s mane could have possibly made that big of an impact? Twilight wondered as she slowly got up, her face stinging sharply from its sudden introduction to the floor. She decided to go investigate the strange object that fell from the sky, and after a quick calculation in her head, she guessed that it had landed in the field where Rainbow usually practiced her flying. She soon found that she was not the only pony headed there, and decided to meet up with her friends on the way there and discuss the strange occurrence. I’ve seen meteors before, but I thought that they were always destroyed by Celestia before they hit the earth.

After several minutes of walking, she met up with Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy on the way there. It wasn’t likely that she would see Rarity, as she was busy with a large order of dresses for various celebrities, and Spike was in Canterlot getting some special texts on magic that were too valuable to transport via his magical fire breath. She guessed that Rainbow and Applejack would already be there, being athletic and quick to action when things like this happened. Although, nothing like this has ever really happened before, now that I think about it.

“Hey Twilight! Did you see that big gray rock thingy? It was like ‘Whoosh!’, and it made a HUGE rumble! I wonder if we should throw it a party. Ooh, that sounds like a great idea!” Pinkie Pie’s enthusiastic tone brought Twilight out of her deep thought as she was greeted by the pink mare.

“Hi Pinkie, hi Fluttershy! I see that you all have come here to investigate what happened as well. I imagine that it must have scared the animals, right, Fluttershy?”

“Oh it scared them alright,” replied Fluttershy, “Even Angel refused to come out from under the bed. It really was frightening, but Pinkie got me to come along to see it as well. I really hope that nopony got hurt because of it.”

The three mares continued to converse as they approached the field where the object had crashed. As they finally reached the place where it had landed, they noticed that the vibrant, green grass became scorched as they got closer to the 20-foot diameter crater that marked the point of impact. They noticed several dozen ponies gathered around it, with the mayor hesitantly walking towards the smoldering grey object, along with several other brave ponies. Twilight spotted Rainbow and Applejack, just as she had guessed, and called out to them, waving for them to come to her.

When the duo reached them, Applejack spoke up, “Twi, what in Equestria is this thing? Ah don’ like the looks of it at all!”

“Yeah, it interrupted me just as I was testing out my new move for the Wonderbolts audition!” complained Rainbow Dash, with an annoyed look on her face. “What’s the deal with this rock, anyway?”

“It’s not just some rock, it’s a meteorite! And I would like to have a look at it up close.” Twilight slowly advanced toward the gray object, heading down into the black crater, along with her friends, although it did take some convincing to get Fluttershy to come along with them.

By now, the mayor was five feet from the rock, and she stared at it inquisitively. “Hello?” she spoke, with trepidation creeping into her voice. She opened her mouth to speak again, but was cut off when the rock shifted, making a grating noise like stone being dragged across gravel. By now, the quintet had come to where the mayor was standing, and each one of them was petrified. Fluttershy fell to the ground and covered her face with her hooves, and the rest of the company could only stare in awe.

After several seconds, the transformation stopped. What stood before the ponies now was a grey figure at least as tall as Princess Celestia, which stood on two legs, with a large triangle-shaped torso, and two arms that seemed to be longer than was natural. The rocks that it was composed of were irregular, and jutted out randomly. However, the most terrifying feature was its face, which was a smooth oval of stone, with no facial features other than two sockets where the eyes should have been. Instead, there were two orbs in them, radiating a midnight glow, with steam rising off them. Twilight also noted the symbol present on its chest: a white crescent surrounded by purple. She thought she had seen it before, but she just couldn’t remember where.

Before anypony could speak, the strange creature moved quicker than what seemed possible, its arm reaching towards the mayor, with the four fingers it had on the end of its arm closing around her throat. In one fluid motion, it turned and threw the mayor through the air, with appalling strength.

Rainbow Dash was quick to act, speeding off to catch the mayor before she touched the ground. “Hey! What was that for, you jerk!” yelled Rainbow Dash, as she set the mayor down on the soft grass. “You’re messing with the wrong ponies!”

By now, the most of the other ponies had come out of their shock, with many fleeing the creature, and a few brave ponies rushing to fight it off. Twilight attempted to subdue it with her magic, but was surprised when the purple glow of magic dissipated around the creature. She also noticed other unicorns trying to use magic against it, with similar results.

Unperturbed, the creature started to move towards Ponyville, ignoring all attempts of magic the unicorns tried to use against it. Twilight saw Applejack gallop towards it, and she shouted, “Wait, A.J.! Don’t-”

“How dare ya hurt the mayor! Ah knew somethin’ wasn’t right about ya!” Applejack turned around and, using the momentum she had built up when charging towards the creature, bucked her legs at the largest stone in its knee. With years of practice kicking apple trees, the hit did significant damage, fracturing the creature’s kneecap and forcing it to walk slower now.

By now, Pinkie Pie had helped Fluttershy get up and Twilight called to them, “Run to Ponyville and alert the town of this creature! And somepony get a message sent to Canterlot quick to tell the princess of this!”

Twilight turned back to the creature, now walking with a visible limp, and saw Rainbow Dash flying straight towards it, with a mach cone visible around her head. She stretched out her front hoofs, and then made impact with the middle of the creature’s torso, the force of her charge making a deafening sound as a web of cracks split across its chest. Still upright, the creature staggered onward, bits of rock crumbling off of it, with Rainbow Dash having been blasted backward from the built up force.

Twilight took all of the magic that she had into her, and focused it on the cracks in the creature’s torso. Even though it was painful, she continued to increase the flow of magic. Soon, the cracks started to widen as a very faint purple glow spread throughout them. Little by little, the stones became more and more dislodged from each other, and some of the smaller ones started to fall out. Applejack turned around again, and put all of her strength into bucking the middle of the creature’s back, shattering the loose rock and breaking the crescent mark on its chest.

The last thing Twilight saw before she fainted of exhaustion from her use of magic was more grey streaks hurtling across the sky, all seemingly headed towards Ponyville.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Now what’d ah tell y’all ‘bout takin’ breaks? We have good ponies bustin’ their flanks off ta make it safe for y’all to work here! Do ya want me ta make y’all tell all their families that they died defending a bunch o’ lazy ponies who don’ know how ta work? Now get harvesting those apples!” Applejack sighed as she left the orchard. Do those ponies even care about helpin’ out our soldiers? She continued on the now-paved road from Sweet Apple Acres to give her supply report to General Twilight. It’s been four years now, she thought to herself.

Ah never thought that ah’d lose so much. A single tear fell down across Applejack’s cheek as she remembered how had been taken from her.

“Please don’ forget me, sis.”

“Ah won’t sugarcube. Ah won’t ever forget ya.”

“Ah love you sis.”

“Ah love ya too, sugarcube.”

Applejack stopped for a moment as she remembered the last moments of Applebloom’s life. From that day, she had vowed to help fight Nightmare Moon’s army, even if it wasn’t directly. Ah’m doin’ it for you, sugarcube.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Nightmare Moon’s troops, now known as golems, were incredibly strong, felt no pain, but, worst of all, were resistant to magic. But, thanks to Dr. Whooves, lead scientist and researcher, a weakness had been discovered. And best of all, it makes them go out with a big bang! Pinkie Pie hummed a cheerful tune as she finished her latest batch. “These will knock their socks off for sure! But they don’t wear socks, so what will they knock off?” The pink mare just shrugged as she put the finishing touches on her latest creations. With the introduction of artillery, the golems could be harmed without risk of injury to pony. And with these exploding cannon balls, we will surely beat those nasty golems!

She looked towards the door as the bell jingled, most likely somepony to pick up her latest batch of explosives. Sure enough, a large, red stallion with a yoke on his neck came in. “Hi Big Mac! Are you here for these?” She held up the crate that contained the explosives.

“Eeyup.”

“Here you go then!” Pinkie set the crate outside on the cart that Big Mac had brought. “Make sure you get a lot of those nasty golems with these!” She smiled and closed the door behind Big Mac as he left. Now, how can I make even bigger explosions? I know! Add more hot sauce!

~~~~~~~~~~~

The Ponyville hospital was overflowing with patients. The war had taken its toll on many of the brave young ponies that had fought to keep Equestria free. The building had been reinforced with stone, and expanded to fit all of the new patients coming in. Fluttershy couldn’t remember the last time she had a day to herself, as she was busy making a run to the Everfree for rare and valuable herbs that would save lives.

She spotted the plant, a small, dark green herb with tiny, white flowers on it. She bent down to gather a few, just as she heard a deep growl, which could have only belonged to one thing.

A massive paw whistled through the air, and Fluttershy only just avoiding it as it smashed into the ground, making a large indentation where her head would have been. Rolling to the side, Fluttershy quickly bucked the manticore in the nose, stunning it for a second. While the creature was dazedly trying to regain sense, she quickly got a syringe filled with a clear liquid out of her bag, and jammed it in the creature’s neck, pushing the liquid into the manticore’s bloodstream.
With a shudder, the huge beast fell over, out cold. Fluttershy took out a glass vial, and went over to the beast’s tail. She put it over the end of its tail, and, making sure it wouldn’t move, left it and stomped on the manticore’s tail, making the poison flow into the vial.

“Sorry,” she whispered, “but I really need this to help out other ponies.” Collecting the poison, she put a cap on it and shoved it back in her bag. Manticore venom was extremely useful for keeping patients asleep during surgery, and she couldn’t have let this opportunity go to waste. As she flew back to the hospital, she thought of how less timid she had become since the war, and gave a little smile to herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The door to Carousel Boutique jingled, and a busy Rarity yelled from behind some fabrics “Sorry, but we’re closed! I’m afraid I simply can’t help you, I’m just too busy!”

“It’s me, sis.”

“Oh, Sweetie Bell, do come in! Have you brought the materials for the uniforms?”

“I have them right here.” Sweetie Bell came in, carrying in the orange and yellow cloth that made up the new army uniform. Just because the golems were resistant to magic didn’t mean that it couldn’t be used to aid Equestria’s soldiers. With enchanted fabric, the army had lightweight and durable armor, which had already saved countless lives, even if it kept Rarity busy all the time.

As Sweetie Bell walked in, Rarity couldn’t help but feel sorrow as she looked at her little sister’s cutie mark. It was a microphone, with the cord wrapped around it in a spiral pattern. She remembered when she got it. Singing at Applebloom’s funeral, she thought to herself. Poor Sweetie Bell, but it was such a beautiful song.

Rarity was brought back to the present by Sweetie Bell, asking, “Are you alright, sis?” as she set the cloth down by Rarity’s workbench.

“Oh yes, darling, just recalling some old memories. I’m sure you’re busy and needed somewhere else, so don’t let me keep you. It was nice seeing you again, Sweetie Bell.”

Sweetie Bell nodded and headed for the door, walking a bit slower than usual. As she reached the door, she opened it, almost reluctantly, and looked back at Rarity, saying, “You know, if there’s anything that you want to talk about, you can always tell it to me. I’m your sister, and there isn’t anything more important to me than you.”

“It’s quite alright dear, I assure you. I love you too. You know.” Rarity’s reply seemed forced; as if she were holding back an ocean of emotions, but Sweetie bell just departed with a small nod and closed the door softly behind her.

Rarity let the tears that she had been holding back flow, making two small rivers across her glistening white coat. Over the years, her relationship with her sister had become more and more estranged, with Rarity hardly ever seeing her sister, let alone having an actual conversation with her. She sighed, picking up the cloth and going back to work. That was all that she ever needed, Rarity decided. Work.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ever since the war had begun, the need for greater defense had been recognized by nearly everypony. So, thanks to the help of the workers, fortified walls had been built around Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres in only a few short months. They had by far proved their worth.

Rainbow Dash, commander of Ponyville’s military forces, was busy on her way to chew out the early morning patrol for falling asleep while on watch. Even if the golem army didn’t need to sleep or eat, they still needed to rest to gather magic to keep their bodies animated, giving the soldiers time to rest from the near constant onslaught of animated rock. And that is why it is called “the watch”! If they go to sleep and Nightmare Moon’s army attacks, we’re screwed!

She reached the barracks where the watchponies were located, and, to her great surprise and dismay, found Scootaloo to be among the offending watchponies. “Scootaloo? What the hell were you doing? You used to be one of my most trusted mares, at least until today! Were you trying to get Ponyville destroyed? I’ll tan your hide a pretty shade of red by the time I’m done with you! And for the rest of you, you are supposed to be soldiers! Tough ponies! What makes you think that falling asleep is okay, when many more ponies, better than the likes of you scum, die to defend us nearly every day? As of now, you are all relieved of you duties as watchponies. Don’t bother coming back!”

Scootaloo almost immediately protested “But-”

“No is no! Get out of here, Scootaloo. You should have known that this behavior wouldn’t end well. I can’t even look at you anymore.” Dash turned around and walked out the door, leaving 5 terrified ponies with tears in their eyes, and Scootaloo, who looked too sad for tears.

She had really wanted to see Scootaloo succeed. In fact, she reminded Dash of herself when she was young. But you just can’t afford to make mistakes like this in war. She had covered for the filly too many times already as it was, and many ponies had been injured because of her actions.

A loud, ringing alarm brought Dash out of her deep thought, immediately putting her into combat mode. She galloped towards the headquarters, which was a reasonably sized fort, built where the town hall had stood, turning it into a gray stone fortress encased by a wall with a tower at each of the four corners, and a wrought iron gate, only able to be opened from the inside. The main fort was square, rising above the walls to stand at an impressive 100 feet tall, with a large, circular tower marking the top of it. Atop it waved the flag of the Equestrian army, Princess Celestia’s Cutie mark, which glowed with the very light of the sun, a beacon of hope for all ponies.

She rushed to inside to find a scout, and she asked “What? Out with it already!”

The young stallion quickly replied “The golem army is moving, attacking from the south! The wall was already damaged, and we can’t hold much longer with our current forces!”

“Recall all troops to our primary fallback point, Sugarcube Corner! I’m assuming General Twilight knows about this all?”

“Yes sir!” replied the stallion, his face still maintaining a neutral expression. Much more useful than a pony who lets her emotion get to her so much. Snapping out of her brooding over Scootaloo, the mare’s instinct began to kick in as she recalled the plan that was supposed to be followed in an event like this.

“Get 10 cannons and point them all at the road leading to Sugarcube corner from the south. Get the unicorns to make a wall with sandbags, and have grenadier pegasi stationed on the rooftops, ready to strike the golem army marching down the road at a moment’s notice. I want all the villagers behind for walls within 10 minutes. Understood?” Rainbow Dash remained cool and collected throughout all of this, her steady tone almost seeming unnatural.

“Yes sir!” The pony immediately ran off to tell the unicorns in charge of communications these orders, so that they could relay it in the minds of all the troops. Rainbow proceeded to gallop into the fort, and up the main spiral stairway to reach Twilight, and consult her on a plan of defense. All around her, ponies were rushing out to get prepared for the imminent breach of the mighty wall, gathering villagers into the upper levels of the castle, mainly used as a lunch hall and storage.

This is bad! Rainbow Dash, despite her relatively collected demeanor, was a mess on the inside. There’s no way we can possibly hold them off for long, let alone push them back! The best we could possibly do it to give up the whole half of the city opposite of the river, but then we would lose Sweet Apple Acres! She decided to not worry about it. Surely, Twilight would have a plan.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight paced nervously, her usually well-kept mane starting to fray along the edges. I have absolutely no idea what to do! She whirled backwards to see that Dash had come through the doors, with a look of concern on her face. “All the orders have been executed correctly, Commander Dash, and the golem army is slowly approaching our fortifications in Sugarcube Corner. They have been bottlenecked, so the numbers of their force have been rendered useless. However, we don’t have sufficient firepower to hold them back forever, and if we lose Sugarcube Corner, then our advantage of explosives shall be lost. What do you propose we do?”

Dash blinked slowly, before replying, “I think that… that we should get the 6 back together. It’s been too long. If there’s anypony who can figure this out, it will be one of them.”

Twilight, shocked by this random proposal, dismissed it, saying, “What would that accomplish? They are all important to the cause, but most of them don’t know a thing about strategy!” Even though she didn’t admit it, the idea did somewhat appeal to Twilight.

“It can’t hurt us more than we already are! Besides, at this rate all of Ponyville will be under their control by the end of the week, at the latest. I estimate that Sugarcube Corner will only hold for two days and even then at the expense of many ponies! Everypony’s already been sent to the castle, why not?”

“Fine.” Twilight admitted defeat. Besides, she might as well see her friends before Ponyville would be condemned. The mare stepped outside onto the balcony, overlooking Ponyville as the sun set. It all seemed so peaceful, if not for the distant screams and sound of cannon fire and explosives going off.

~~~~~~~~~~~

After half an hour, the six once-friends were gathered about in the Tower. Twilight started by saying, “Does anypony have any suggestions?”

Rainbow Dash spoke up first, saying, “I think that we can all admit that we are going to lose the southern half of Ponyville to the golems, as we are already fighting a losing battle.”

“Now just ya hold up fer one minute, Dash! Ah ain’t givin’ up one bit o’ mah farm, and ah’ll fight to the end if ah have ta.” Applejack said this with rage, wondering how anypony could consider letting those mindless creatures take half of their beloved city.

This continued on for another 2 hours, with Rarity and Fluttershy siding with Applejack, and Twilight and Pinkie Pie siding with Rainbow Dash. Eventually, the arguing was stopped by Pinkie Pie, saying, “Stop arguing everypony! I don’t want to lose Sugarcube Corner, but we all have to make sacrifices, and I know that I have to lose Sugarcube Corner. We haven’t even made a plan to beat those meanies yet!”

“Ah guess that’s so, Pinkie. Ah’m sorry fer bein’ so stubborn, y’all.” Applejack looked down at the ground, clearly embarrassed for acting so ornery.

“If only there was a way to retreat and not give those vile creatures anything!” Rarity looked as if she was thinking hard of a way to prevent the golems from gaining possession of Carousel boutique.

“Hey, wait a minute!” Twilight exclaimed, looking not unlike a mad scientist. “Pinkie, do you still have all of your explosives in Sugarcube Corner?”

“Of course, silly! How could I carry them all the way here?”

“This is great! Okay everypony, I have a plan!” Twilight began to explain her plan to the rest of the ponies, their looks of disbelief slowly turning in to looks of hope. “Alright, does everypony understand?” Everypony nodded their heads, and Pinkie immediately left the room going downstairs, while Rainbow Dash flew out through the balcony and towards the fighting. Twilight then teleported downstairs to relay her plan telekinetically to everypony. After receiving confirmation from the officers, she went back upstairs. All I have to do now is wait.

~~~~~~~~~~~

After only 60 minutes, the golem line started to retreat. This had been thanks mostly to Rainbow Dash. After the meeting, she had gone to fight alongside the soldiers, her enchanted wingblades slicing through the rock, separating the golems’ limbs from their bodies. Even though they were enchanted, the immunity to magic that the army possessed left the blades dented and chipped, leaving Rainbow Dash to fight with her bare hooves. She flew through the golem line, performing multiple sonic rainbooms for 30 minutes straight, decimating the enemy’s front line and forcing them to retreat back 500 yards to their own fortifications.

Even though the soldiers cheered for Rainbow Dash, she collapsed and had to be carried to the hospital. This gave the ponies the perfect opportunity to execute General Twilight’s plan, and they all retreated to the northern half of Ponyville, getting behind the fort walls as Twilight had instructed.

After one day of rest, for both the golems and ponies, the golem army was on the move again. However, they found no resistance, marching up to Sugarcube Corner without a pony in sight. When the front line was about 50 yards from the sandbag wall marking the entrance to the area surrounding Sugarcube Corner, the cannons started to fire. They fired one after the other, with 5 second intervals in between shots, to maximize damage. The best unicorn blacksmiths had reshaped the cannon barrels to accommodate a prototype of cannon ball made by Pinkie. The shot was made up of several small explosives packed inside a thin metal ball, which disintegrated after firing, with the help of some magic. This scattered the shot, maximizing damage to the golems, destroying a couple hundred and injuring at least 1,000 more.

Despite these heavy losses, the army marched on, travelling over the rubble of their fallen comrades, into the area surrounding Sugarcube Corner. After 15 minutes, the majority of the golem army had marched into the southern half of Ponyville, searching for any remaining ponies.

Just then, several of the golems picked up a small hissing noise, coming from inside Sugarcube Corner, and went to investigate. That turned out to be the last noise that they heard.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight looked at the encroaching golem army out on her balcony, and waited for the explosion. She quickly turned away as a light bright enough to put the sun to shame erupted from Sugarcube Corner, blinding all who would have directly stared at it. She collapsed as the ground underneath her shook violently, sending small objects toppling off shelves, just as a noise making a sonic rainboom sound like a hoofstep on soft grass came from what was once Sugarcube Corner. She also heard two smaller explosions, telling her that two out of the three bridges leading to their side of town had been destroyed, like planned.

Looking back at the southern half, Twilight only saw black smoke, completely shrouding the area before her. She turned back to Pinkie and said, “What in Equestria did you put in those explosives Pinkie?”

“Just some extra ‘hot sauce’!” exclaimed the mare, almost too happily.

Not even Twilight knew what went into Pinkie’s “hot sauce”, but whatever it was, it sure was effective. After a couple minutes of everypony regaining composure, they started to cheer, saying things like “Take that you lifeless monsters!” and other such insults. Twilight looked back and saw that where Sugarcube Corner had once stood, there was now a large crater, and bits of golem were still falling down from the sky. She estimated the golem losses to be about 5,000, and many more injuries. Finally, we did something right!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Princess Celestia looked up from her desk as a pony knocked on her door. “Come in.”

Derpy Hooves, the most trusted mail carrier in Equestria came in. It must be from Twilight then, the princess thought. She levitated the letter from the pegasus’s bag, and said, “Thank you, Derpy. You have proved to be reliable once again!”

“Muffins!” The pegasus exclaimed, not showing the intelligence that remained behind those two enigmatic eyes of hers. As she left, the princess teleported Spike and Luna in the room with her, so that they could also read the letter.

“Hey, I was in the middle of doing something!” Spike huffed, clearly annoyed with the princess.

“What is it, sister?” Luna replied, calm as ever.

“I have a letter from Twilight detailing the situation in Ponyville.” The princess saw Spike’s eyes light up. Ever since he had been separated from her at the start of the war, due to him being in Canterlot when it started, he couldn’t get enough news about Ponyville. The princess opened the letter, which detailed the plan and the success it had achieved. “It looks like my faithful student has bought Ponyville another three days to prepare before the golem army attacks, and at least a week and a half of them being able to hold out. This is good news indeed, don’t you think?”

“So they are still doomed?” Spike said, looking downcast. The Princess could only look away from the young dragon. “I don’t understand why you don’t just destroy the golem army and win the war!” The dragon now seemed furious, as well as sad at the imminent destruction of Ponyville.

“I’ve already told you, we can’t meddle in major mortal affairs, Spike. It just isn’t right. If we do that, then we would become like Discord.” The princess hated denying Spike’s requests for help, but they couldn’t do anything about it. If they destroyed the army, then the natural balance of things would be upset, and then who knows what would happen. “You just have to count on Twilight being able to defend Ponyville. I have faith in my student.”

“I hope that you’re right.” Spike turned away and walked out the door. He didn’t want the princesses to see the tears that now came out of his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Once again, the six friends had gathered about in Twilight’s personal study. “Let me start off by saying that, even if we did have a major victory, that doesn’t change the situation that we’re in. I estimate that we have only a week and a half before our fort is overrun by golems. If we don’t do something extraordinary, then our fate remains the same.”

“Well what’re we supposed ta do? You’re the one that came up with the last plan in the first place! Ah don’ have any new ideas.” Applejack was angered at the purple mare’s pessimism. Surely, she should have a plan!

“She does have a point, Twilight. After all, if attacking the golem army won’t change anything, then what should we do?” Rarity followed the same reasoning as Applejack, wondering why her friend hadn’t proposed a plan.

“If it’s okay, I would like to say that you are the pony who is the best with strategy among us, no offense to anypony else.” Fluttershy quietly made her suggestion, before making an high pitched squeal and hiding her head.

The rest of the group stared expectantly at Twilight, as if waiting for an answer. “Well, I do have this one plan…” Twilight quietly said.

“Why didn’t you say so!” the rest of her friends shouted, minus Fluttershy, who just nodded her head in agreement.

“Okay, here it goes: Rarity’s point is true. If attacking the golems won’t do anything, then what should we do? Well, to kill the beast you need to cut off the head, and the head is of the golem army is no other than Nightmare Moon!” Twilight’s confidence remained, even when Applejack immediately critiqued her plan.

“And how do ya suggest that we do that? We don’ even know where she is; let alone how to defeat her. Ah lost mah element of harmony a long time ago, and ah don’ think that we could take her even with the elements. After all, when we first attacked her, she was only just released from the moon, after a thousand years!” Applejack’s point was agreed upon by the other four, and they all discovered that they too had lost their elements.

Twilight rebutted, saying, “did you lose your elements, or were they just taken for safe keeping?” As she said this, she levitated a golden box, which she then opened to reveal that it contained the 6 elements. She levitated each one on their respective owners’ necks, and put the tiara on herself. “Now doesn’t that feel good?”

“It does, but ah don’ see how that helps us any with findin’ the darned mare!” Applejack remained cynical as ever, refusing to let Twilight win this battle.

“I haven’t given up my hobby of gazing at the night sky through a telescope, and with some new enchantments that I’ve learned over the years, I can see farther and clearer than ever. Have a look!” The purple mare waved them over to the balcony, where a telescope larger than Twilight herself stood. She motioned for Applejack to look through the lens.

“Ah don’ see where you’re goin’ with this, but ah’ll have a look.” Applejack’s expression remained the same as she saw the moon through the telescope, but she then gasped, saying “What in the hay are those weird shapes on the moon?”

Twilight replied “My reaction was the same as yours when I first saw this. I asked Luna about this, and she said that she did feel a strange malevolent presence on the moon whenever she rose and set it. After some more investigation by me and Luna, we discovered an enchantment affecting a small area of the moon that allowed for creatures to breathe there. I then came to the conclusion: Nightmare Moon needed a place where she could control her army without being attacked, and what better place than the moon, right under Luna’s nose?”

The rest of the company seemed shocked at this news. Even Applejack was silent for a moment, but, sticking to her side of the argument, said back, “But how in the hay are we gonna get ta the moon?”

“Are you forgetting about our immortal princesses with the powers of gods? They have agreed to my plan, and have already set up a spell to take us there. All we have to do is get to Canterlot, and before you ask, yes, I have a plan on how to get there. I have personally trained a force of elite ponies to get us there without any trouble, and they’re all waiting for you. If you’ll follow me, girls.” Twilight walked away, a smile of confidence on her face.

Outside, on the roof, was a pegasus, who had been listening to the whole conversation. She had decided to go with them, even if they didn’t know about it. With a blur of orange and purple, she departed.

~~~~~~~~~~~

In the basement of the fort, several familiar faces awaited the 6 friends. Before them stood Big Mac, Dr. Whooves, Zecora, Trixie, and Derpy Hooves, all looking very professional.

“No offense, Twi, but ah don’ think that half o’ these ponies know how ta fight-”

Applejack found herself interrupted by Zecora, who said, “Be careful what you say, as we may prove ourselves before the end of the day.” The zebra’s rhyming speech was a little bit difficult to understand, but it got the point across.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac agreed.

“The great and powerful Trixie is dismayed at your underestimating of her powers.” Trixie sounded just as arrogant as when Applejack had last met her, and she gave a little snort, gaining her an annoyed glance from the unicorn.

“I have studied Canterlot’s history quite thoroughly, and I know of a few secret passages beneath the wall so we can avoid the golem army attacking it.” Dr. Whooves, still enigmatic as ever, had proven his point.

“I extra blueberry muffins promise to deliver you safely!” Derpy’s optimism was contagious, and the whole group, including Applejack, soon began to believe that they did have a chance at making it to Canterlot.

“Alright, ah guess you’ve won, Twi. When do we leave?” The mare accepted defeat gracefully, and still held her head high.

“Tomorrow night. Get sleep tonight, and say your goodbyes tomorrow. I have everything prepared, so you don’t have to worry about packing necessities, but you can bring along anything extra so long as it’s not a hindrance. Goodnight, girls.” With that, the purple unicorn teleported away, and the rest of the group left to go to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The group of 11 ponies set off, climbing over the non-golem infested portion of the wall, and set out towards Canterlot. Rarity still had tears in her eyes from saying goodbye to Sweetie Bell, but other than that no emotion showed on any of the other group members’ faces as they left their city, most likely for the last time.

After several hours of journeying, they saw Canterlot’s walls rising up in the distance, as well as a golem horde 10,000 strong. The sound of fighting echoed throughout the fields that the ponies were on, and it sent chills down every member’s spine. Dr. Whooves spoke up, saying, “The entrance to the passage that will directly take us to the castle is in the mountainside, but it looks like the golems have a small patrol right where we need to be. I count about 25 of them.”

“I can take out several for sure, with a sonic rainboom, but I can only do one.” Rainbow Dash said, grimacing as she remembered when she had performed so many in a row at Ponyville.

Twilight spoke up, “Okay, Rainbow Dash, Derpy, and Big Mac will distract the patrol. Zecora, do you still have that rock-disintegrating acid?”

The zebra answered, “Lost it, I have not, so the golems’ rocky flesh shall rot.”

“Excellent! Trixie, you come with me and cover the rest of the group with an invisibility spell.” Twilight, satisfied with her plan, marched forward with the group, until they were only 50 yards away from the golems. “Alright, commence the plan in 3… 2… 1… Go!”

Rainbow Dash shot off, lighting the late night sky with a rainbow of colors, taking out 5 golems. Big Mac charged right through a golem, destroying its chest completely. Derpy flew, her wingblades shooting out, decapitating two golem heads. The rest of them made a beeline for the mountain surface, invisible to the golems.

The group soon found the hidden entrance, and Dr. Whooves became busy speaking the words required to enter in some ancient language. By now, Big Mac, Derpy, and Dash had been pushed back, almost reaching the steep mountainside. There were only 15 golems remaining, and Big Mac and Derpy were fighting a winning battle. Rainbow Dash had been separated from the other two, and was now circled by 6 golems. She attempted to charge one, and succeeded in knocking it off balance and having it crash into another, but was grabbed by another golem and hurled at the side of the mountain, a sickening crunch sounding as one of her wings broke.

The remaining 4 golems approached her, Big Mac and Derpy Hooves too far away to reach her before the golems killed her. She closed her eyes as a golem raised its massive fist to pound her into nothing. She heard a boom, and an intense heat as something came between her and the golem’s fist. She opened her eyes, and to her horror, saw the broken form of Scootaloo, and four golems that had been knocked over from the force of Scootaloo’s sonic blast.

“Hey, Dash,” The mare sounded very weak, and coughed up a little blood.

“S-scootaloo? Why?” Dash found herself unable to move as she replied.

“Because you needed help, dummy. Did you like it? I call it a sonic fireboom.”

“It was great Scootaloo, I always knew that you had it in you.” By now, tears were rolling down Dash’s cheeks, and she found herself embracing the broken form of Scootaloo’s body.

“At least I can die knowing that I saved the most awesome pony ever.” Scootaloo’s eyes looked distant, and even though Dash didn’t want to believe it, she knew that the young pony didn’t have much time left.

“Don’t say that, Scoots! You’ll survive. You have to!” By now, the rest of the group had approached the two pegasi, minus Dr. Whooves, who was finishing up opening the passage. “You still have to make it into the Wonderbolts for me!”

“Sorry Dash… Goodbye.” Scootaloo’s eyes closed, and her breathing became extremely shallow.

Twilight’s horn started to glow, even brighter than when she had lifted the ursa minor, lighting up the whole area with a brilliant purple light, and Scootaloo’s body suddenly vanished. Exhausted, the unicorn collapsed, the world turning black.

~~~~~~~~~~~

When she awoke, Twilight was in a luxurious bedroom. She saw, to her surprise, her mentors face, smiling at her. “Hello, Twilight.”

Twilight immediately jumped out of bed and hugged the princess, not caring if it was customary or not. She was surprised at how much energy she had. “How is everyone else?” she asked.

“They are all fine, and Rainbow Dash’s wing has been healed fully. Scootaloo was healed here, and is now back at Ponyville recovering from her injuries. That was very noble of you, teleporting her all the way to the castle, even if it was reckless.”

“Thank you, princess. How long have I been asleep?”

“A whole week,” the princess replied.

One whole week? Twilight was surprised. She needed to get going, and fast. Ponyville could only hold out for 3 more days, if her estimations were any good. “Princess, we should get going to the moon! We don’t have a lot of time left!”

“Soon, Twilight, but I think that there’s a certain someone that you’d like to see.” With a smile, the princess stepped away, revealing a purple and green dragon, with tears in his eyes.

“Spike! I’ve missed you so much!” Twilight embraced the dragon as he ran to her, wanting to stay there forever. “How are you?”

“I’m fine, Twilight. I really missed you! And it was all because of some stupid book!” Twilight’s ears twitched as she heard Spike call a book stupid, but she let it go.

“Whenever you’re ready to go, Twilight, I have the spell set up. All your friends are waiting as well.” With that, the princess departed.

“Twilight, can I come with you guys? Every one said no, but you have to let me!” The dragon broke the embrace, and looked at Twilight, hoping for her to say yes.

“I’m sorry Spike, but I can’t let you. The truth is, none of us are going to be coming back. We have no way of returning. Princess Celestia is breaking the balance of things enough by teleporting us there; she couldn’t get us back without completely changing the nature of Equestria. I need you to watch over Ponyville, Spike, and make sure that everything goes smoothly.” Spike started to protest, but Twilight stopped him by putting a hoof to his mouth. “Besides, Ponyville needs a librarian.” Twilight gave a weak smile as she said this, but couldn’t hold her tears back.

“I guess that there’s no changing it, then.” The dragon was crying too, feeling sad that he would never see his beloved friend ever again. “I don’t want to hold you back any longer. All your friends are waiting, and I’m only delaying the inevitable.”

“I guess that’s right, Spike. I should probably go. Come on, Spike.” Twilight motioned for the dragon to get on her back, and Spike hopped up on Twilight. They walked in silence to the throne room, where Princess Celestia and the rest of the company were waiting for them.

Spike joined the group of ponies who escorted the elements of harmony there, and stood to face Twilight, who stood with her friends.

“Goodbye, Spike. You will always be my number one assistant.” Twilight’s voice showed her emotion as it trembled.

“Goodbye, Twilight.” Spike said softly. Applejack put a hoof around Twilight’s shoulder to comfort the mare, but it did little to help.

The Princess spoke up, saying, “This is it. Are you all ready, girls?” Each one of them nodded. “Alright then, I’ll cast the spell. I wish you all the best of luck when fighting Nightmare Moon. All of Equestria is counting on you. Goodbye, Twilight.” The princess’s horn began to glow brilliantly, and the presence of the sun filled the room.

“Goodbye, princess.” Twilight closed her eyes and fought back tears, but lost in the end. Across from them, the rest of the group watched.

“The best of luck!” Dr. Whooves said, trying to raise the group’s morale.

“Defeat Nightmare Moon, and we shall all be saved soon!” Zecora gave a little bow to the six friends.

Trixie spoke, for the first time the six knew of, in first person, saying, “Tell Nightmare Moon I said hi, using your hooves!”

Big Mac agreed with the usual “Eeyup!”

Derpy Hooves gave a salute, bringing her hoof to her forehead, and lowering it back down. “Goodbye, Twilight. I’ll take good care of the library. And Rarity, there’s something that I have been meaning to do since the day I first laid my eyes upon you.” Walking up to the unicorn, the dragon looked into her eyes, and then kissed her passionately, the unicorn turning a deep shade of red. Spike finally broke the kiss, and stepped back, blushing as well.

The two groups looked at each other for a little longer, their eyes tearing up, and then Celestia finished her spell, the elements vanishing in a golden flash.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The group found themselves staring at a large castle, made completely out of moon rock. There were several grand spires, rising up into the distance, and the walls were adorned with imposing spikes. There were no windows that the group could see, and the whole place looked gloomy. They looked at each other, and then hesitantly made their way through the main doors, which eerily opened up, as if inviting them to their doom.

After several minutes of walking down what seemed to be the main hall, they reached a set of large, plain white doors. The whole castle seemed to be lit with torches that burned a deep blue, turning the inside of the castle a color that resembled midnight. After knocking on the doors, with no results, Rainbow Dash said, “I’ve had enough of this!” and charged the doors.

She bounced back off of them, achieving nothing but enraging herself even more. She prepared for a second charge, but Twilight held her back with a hoof. “You do know that we have some of the most powerful objects in Equestria with us, right?”

The rest of the group nodded, and concentrated their wills on the elements attached to each of their necks, and they
started to glow. Their energy channeled into Twilight’s tiara, and a multicolored glow blasted forth, knocking the doors back with a humbling force.

Greeting them was Nightmare Moon, with a smile on her face that resembled that of somepony who had just caught their quarry. “So the elements decide to face me, after four years of hiding in that little slum you call a town.”

“You won’t get us angry, Nightmare Moon. We won’t let a lowly creature such as you control our emotions.” Twilight spoke for all the elements, as if they were all one being. The jewels that were on each of their respective elements were still glowing brightly. “The time for words is over, Nightmare Moon. It is time for you to pay for your crimes, and for the ponies that have lost their lives because of you to get vengeance.”

“If you wish it to be so, then it’s your funeral.” With that, a beam of pure magic was sent towards Twilight, but an equally powerful shield arose around the elements, deflecting the shadowy bolt of magic with ease. With a growl, Nightmare moon threw a ball of compressed magical energy that exploded as it made contact with the shield around the elements, destroying most of the room that the battle had taken place in so far.

The elements were scattered about, and Nightmare Moon howled triumphantly, before Rainbow Dash rammed into her, doing a sonic rainboom. This propelled Nightmare Moon straight into Applejack’s back hooves, bucking the evil mare in the chin.

Nightmare Moon flew backwards, going through two columns before crashing into a wall. The elements got back together again, and the jewels lifted from each of their necklaces and Twilight’s tiara. They surrounded Nightmare Moon, making a star with the element of magic in the middle.

Nightmare Moon found herself unable to move, and howled as her spirit was pulled out of her host pony, who turned out to be a golem made out of moon rock.

The elements them exploded in a rainbow colored flash, destroying Nightmare Moon’s essence permanently. With a triumphant look, the six friends stood together again, amidst the rubble of the once terrifying castle.

“Without Nightmare Moon’s magic giving energy to the spell that gives us the ability to breathe on the moon, we have about one minute left to live.” Twilight said this grimly, and she saw her friends’ faces darken.

“Well, it was great knowin’ y’all, and ah think ya know this, but y’all are mah best friends.” Applejack started to tear up, and the six started to hug each other, too sad to speak. They spent the next moment like this, enjoying one another’s presence. Just when Nightmare’s spell started to fail, a glow emerged from where the elements had been, and that same glow enveloped the six friends.

Shooting a bright light into the sky, the elements began moving the stars. The six mares disappeared, and in the sky appeared a constellation of six mares, all hugging one another with smiles on their faces.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at Ponyville, it was night as the golem army broke through the fort walls. Ponies rushed to fight back the army, but it was clear who was winning. Scootaloo watched from the window of her room in the fort. I’m sorry, Dash. It doesn’t look like I’ll be able to join the Wonderbolts after all. Just as the ponies were pushed back to the fort’s doors, a sudden wave seemed to go through the golem line. The creatures fell backwards, as if being blown apart by some unknown force. All around the fort walls, the golems collapsed, the symbols on their chests fading.

They did it! Scootaloo had the biggest smile in the world on her face, as tears streamed down her cheeks. They saved Equestria. Cheers erupted from the ponies, as the golem forces were destroyed. After a minute, everypony became silent as they looked up at the night sky. Scootaloo’s jaw dropped as she saw the stars move, and a constellation appeared, depicting the elements of harmony all hugging and smiling, as if they were having the best time in the world. She could’ve sworn that Rainbow Dash’s constellation gave her a little wink.