There was a stir in the wind, the sound of hooves, clouds moving and there she was. The Princess of the Night herself, Nightmare Moon.
With a nod of her head, her guards moved in, and threw burning torches at the residents' houses into campfires and sent screaming ponies galloping to nowhere for help!
Arena Sword, a dark blue pegasus blank-flank with orange and yellow spiky hair, was sleeping peacefully until she realized she was being shaken awake
“Arena, wake up! Wake up, Arena!” yelled Strawberry, a light pink pegasus mare with a light and dark pink wavy mane. “Come on! You have to get up now!” Arena stirred before waking with a start with wide eyes in alarm.
“What’s going on? Why is everything on fire?” she looked at her bedside clock. “At 2:30 in the morning?”
“Nightmare Moon” is simply what Strawberry said.
Arena knew immediately of Nightmare Moon’s story, but why had Luna gone night-logged again?
Arena and Strawberry ran outside to the burning Ponyville with nowhere to go, ponies screaming in pure terror and galloping to only Celestia knows where! The two mares kept running, Arena looking around at the burnt town she called home and Nightmare Moon's guards creating nothing but havoc and chaos.
Arena abruptly stopped dead in her raging tracks.
“I know where we could go!” the blue pegasus shouted at her pink friend, drowning out the agonisingly loud sounds of the panic-stricken town. Arena turned around and headed towards the Everfree Forest.
“You expect me to run into there?” questioned Strawberry, looking questioningly at her friend.
“Yes..?” replied Arena
Strawberry considered the pros and cons for a moment, then heard the sound of massive hooves galloping closer and closer, and with that, she followed the blue pegasus into the woods.
“Keep running! They’re getting closer!” Arena yelled behind her. She looked down for a moment to watch her stealthy hooves manoeuvring in and out of roots that covered the green ground of the Everfree.
“The ground is getting more covered in roots! Watch your step!”
With the fear pounding in her veins, Strawberry did as she was told. Arena was right, there were roots everywhere!
Strawberry looked up. “They’re getting closer! I can hear AAH!”
Arena heard a huge thud and looked behind her. Her heart beating faster than before. Strawberry had tripped and fallen, her back-right hoof was twisted a painful-looking way.
“Strawberry! Get up now! We have to go!” yelled the orange and yellow maned pegasus.
“I can’t! I’ve twisted my hoof!” Strawberry cried pitifully.
Arena looked at the dread in her eyes and then back to where hoof beats were getting louder and louder, and suddenly saw Nightmare Moon charging at them. “No more jokes, let’s go!”
Arena lifted her friend onto her back and ran as fast as she could.
“Get them.” Nightmare Moon ordered her minions.
Arena was getting tired, but the roots were letting up. When they ran out of them, she got a good look at where they were heading and her heart sank.
They were heading for a cliff.
“Strawberry, I can’t do anything more! You have to fly!” she shouted, hopelessly knowing her friend had never been taught the thrill of flight.
“Arena…help…” Strawberry wept “I can’t do this alone.”
Nightmare Moon was getting closer time was running out. The blue pegasus could never carry Strawberry! They had no chance of survival if they jumped. Arena thought frantically but nothing came to mind, and when her mind settled on one conclusion she couldn’t bring herself to believe it.
Nightmare Moon was going to win.
“Arena…”Strawberry pleaded.
Arena thought frantically…what to do, what to do…
In less than a second, Nightmare Moon was in full sight, her minions pulling in and circling around them, they had nowhere to go; the minions had formed a circle around them.
“Nightmare Moon!” Arena gasped.
“Oh, so you know my name! How adorable! Guards, get them, and…haul them into the cages with the others.”
“Others?”
Two guards removed themselves from the circle and went to get a cage from behind Nightmare. Arena saw the other cages and the ponies contained…one, two, three, four…there had to be at least thirty! Strawberry whimpered.
“Why are you doing this?!” Arena dared to proclaim.
“Why? Because Twilight defeated me and I deserve more! I shouldn’t be defeated! I was born to rule the night! Not kneel down to Celestia’s demands!”
“But to capture and hold ponies captive? Is that how you expect everyone to bow down to you? If you do this, it’ll just make everypony fear you even more now! If you…” Arena was cut off by Nightmare Moons yowl of annoyance.
“Silence! I’ve had enough of you! Guards!” The guards moved in closer, before two pounced and pinned Arena to the ground, grabbing the sobbing Strawberry by the mane and carelessly tossing her into the cage.
Arena, still pinned by the guards spat, “I won’t be contained by some worthless evil…thing trying to conquer Equestria! I won’t fall victim to anyone!” Arena yelled; musting up all she could find and freeing herself from the guards’ grasp. She fell to the floor with a thud. The guards tried again, and again, and again, but each and every time, Arena was just out of reach.
Taking to the air she yelled, “I won’t be contained! Not by nopony!”
“You sound awfully sure of yourself…okay, we’ll let you off this once, only ‘cause my guards can’t fly, and one pony won’t do any harm.” said Nightmare Moon, strutting back toward the burning town.
Arena couldn’t believe her luck; it seemed that Nightmare let her off so easy, almost too easy…
But that was something to think about later, the blue mare was tired and sleep clouded her mind. Still in the air, she headed for Canterlot. Her town was nothing but ash and cinders now, and Strawberry was gone. Grief suddenly choked in her throat and she began to sob quietly.
“All those ponies, Strawberry, they’re all gone, gone forever…”
