Chapter 8

It was dark. The only light in the small room was the green-tinted glow of the heartbeat monitor. The sound of quiet hoof-steps was heard as a lavender unicorn paced back and forth beside the large bed that dominated the center of the room and supported the Princess of the Night. Twilight halted her pacing to cast a worried glance at her mentor, who had fallen asleep hours ago in one corner of the room, tear stains still visible on her usually pristine coat, even in the semi-darkness. Shaking her head, the unicorn resumed her troubled pacing.

On her third pass, Twilight stopped again, this time right at Luna's head. Closing her eyes, the purple unicorn focused, and with a flash of her horn, opened her eyes to observe the traces of magic lingering in the room. Of course, there was the spell on the heartbeat monitor, which was highlighted in a faint green glow, Celestia's aura, which gleamed a brilliant golden hue, and the thing that worried Twilight the most.

Luna, instead of glowing with a deep blue light, barely shown at all. Twilight cast her gaze upwards, resting it on the pitch black aura encasing the princess's horn. Whatever spell the Nightmare had cast on her was clearly responsible for her current state. The problem, however, was removing it.

Twilight had never seen magic such as this before. Sure, she had come across basic combat spells and the like in her reading, but never anything powerful enough to keep an alicorn comatose for more than a day. because of that, the unicorn had no idea how to get rid of the spell. Twilight wouldn't put it past the Nightmare to weave some kind of booby trap into it that could kill Luna. Even assuming there were no traps, the unicorn didn't think she was strong enough to negate the Nightmare's magic.

Sighing, twilight cut the flow of magic and blinked, returning her vision to normal. Using her magic to augment her sight hadn't told her anything more than it did the other four times she used it. For the fourth time, she lowered her head and resumed her nervous pacing, muttering half-thought plans and desperate theories into the darkness.

With a flick of my wings, I banked sharply and felt the cold, night air slap me in the face. As cold and uncomfortable as it was, it was still better than lying in bed. Don't get me wrong, the bed in the palace was better than the ones they put in schmancy hotels, but I needed to think, and when I need to think, I go flying. I don't know how long I had been circling the castle, mulling over every detail that could possibly help us, but judging by the fact that the sun was beginning to peek out over the horizon, I'd say I had been up there for quite a while.

I was banking again to make another lap around the castle, when black feathers suddenly filled my vision. I just barely managed to do a quick barrel-roll out of the way before I got a face-full of down. Whipping around to face my would-be attacker, I raised my fists and got ready for a fight. That is, of course, until I saw who it was.

"Whoa, Max. Calm down," Fang said, just barely managing to hold back his laughter. "I didn't expect you to turn so sharply."

Instead of responding, I turned and resumed my circuit around the palace, not caring if he was following or not. A voice at my side told me that he was. "Hey, don't be like that. I came into your room to check on you and you weren't there. Have you been out here all night?"

I just turned to face him, letting the bags under my eyes answer the question for me. "I don't know what to do, Fang. No matter which way I look at it, we're boned. I mean, our only chance is to get close enough to hit the Nightmare with the Elements, and that's supposing we can fight through a small army of flyboys, and our only chance of doing that is a mentally unstable princess. Not to mention there's nothing guaranteeing that she won't just come back again."

"Hey," he started, cutting in front of me and hovering in place. "Don't underestimate the ponies. They can hold their own."

"That's the point!" I snarled, shocking myself as well as Fang. "They shouldn't have to! It's our... no... my fault they're in danger at all!"

Fang grabbed my arms and puled me closer, so close that I could feel his breath on my cheek. "Stop it," he almost whispered. "Well get through this, just like we always do. Heck, I'd say it's a better situation than most of the crap that happens to us. You need to stop blaming yourself and believe in yourself as much as I do." With that he kissed me so hard I almost forgot to flap. We stayed like that, floating thousands of feet above the ground, tangled up in each other's arms in the early morning light, for about a minute.

All too suddenly, he jerked away, not making eye contact. Instead he stared off into the distance, face going pale. "Look," he said, pointing in the direction of his stare.

I turned to face the rising sun. I could just make out black outlines moving towards us, too big to be birds, too fast to be clouds. "Flyboys?" I asked.

"Flyboys."

We burst through my bedroom window and tumbled out into the hall. I whistled and the flock almost instantly burst out of their rooms. Without hesitating, I started shelling out orders. "Nudge, go to Luna's room and see if Celestia can get her out of there. Gazzy, find the mane six and tell them to get the Elements. Iggy, try to slow them down. Do not under any circumstances, get closer than you can throw.

"Slow who down?" he asked, frustrated at being woken up.

"Flyboys," I said grimly, "an army of them. Fang, Angel, and I will try to find the head of the guards and get them to organize some kind of defense. It won't be enough, but it might slow them down long enough to get everyone out. We meet here in ten minutes. Period. Once it's up, you drop everything and come back here. Go!"

With that, we all took off down separate hallways, with exception of Iggy, who dove out the nearest window. Fang, Angel, and I raced towards the center of the castle, looking desperately for the head of the guards. Which is why I brought Angel, of course. never let it be said that having a mind reader on hand isn't extremely useful.

"Which way, Angel?" I asked as we came up on an intersection of hallways. I could already hear muffled explosions as Iggy started his work.

She put her head in her hands for a moment, before pointing down the hall on our left. "That way." The words had barely left her mouth before we were off again.

A few turns later and we came across a large set of double-doors emblazoned with both princesses' cutie marks. It wasn't quite as big or ostentatious as the entrance to the throne room, but the room beyond was clearly important.

I flung the doors open and ran right into the center of the room. The few guards that were in there were apparently in the middle of idle conversation, at least until the doors slammed into the wall, making them all jump and look to me. I didn't need Angel to tell me who the captain was, as he was wearing much more ornamental armor made out of some purple metal. The stallion was a stocky, white unicorn with a blue mane and tail, both highlighted with stripes of a brighter blue.

He quickly stood and confronted me. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked with a voice that sounded like it better suited a surfer than a pony in charge of armed forces. "No one other than the Royal Guard is allowed in here, especially not a bunch of mutant, alien freaks!" Apparently my little snark against the guards had not only struck a chord, but spread throughout the guard.

Instead of going through a skeptical captain with a long explanation, I skipped the whole step, grabbed him by his mane, and dragged him to a nearby window. Shoving his muzzle up to it, I forced him to look out at the chaos less than a mile outside of Canterlot. A lone figure darted around the flyboys, casting explosives into their midst. The captain took it all in. I admit, the guy had a pretty good poker face, but I could see the beginnings of panic in his eyes.

"What's your name, buddy?" I asked the dumbstruck captain.

"Sh... Shining Armor."

"Good to know. I'm Max, by the way. Thanks for asking. Now, Shiny, do you see those flying things over there? Those are called flyboys. They are huge, bipedal robots with wolf skin grown over them. They are currently on their way here to find my colleagues and I. They will tear this entire city down looking for us. The only thing keeping this city in one piece right nw is my man Iggy. So, I think you guys should start getting ponies out of here before this place becomes a crater. Whaddya say?"

The pony stared out the window, shell-shocked. A second later, his face turned grim and serious. He whipped his head around to face his subordinates and began to bark orders. "Thunder Wing! Sound the alarm and begin evacuation. Storm Chaser, take charge of the defenses until I get back. Misty Aura, you're with me. We're getting the princesses out of here." The two unicorns rushed out, with the pegasi hot on their heels... tails? Never mind.

I turned to Fang. "You think five minutes are about up?" A simple nod was all I got in response.

When we got back to our meeting place, only Nudge was waiting for us. At my questioning glance, she said, "Some guards came and took Celestia and Luna."

"Alright, good," I said, "Go bring Iggy in. Hurry." A second later, she hurled herself out the window just as Iggy had done.

"Angel?" I asked when she was gone.

"Gazzy's on his way, "a frown crossed her face. "but the mane six is right behind him."

Sure enough, the group raced around a nearby corner moments later. Huffing, Gazzy stopped in front of us with his "posse" standing behind him, looking scared but determined. "They said they want to-"

"No, you guys aren't fighting with us. You all need to get out of the city. help evacuate ponies, if you feel like you need to do something, but if anyone's going out there besides the guards, it's gonna be me. Not even the flock." I couldn't let anyone get hurt if there was any way I could avoid it.

"Not gonna happen, max."

"No way!"

"We're not goin' anywhere!"

"We're not leaving you, Max."

"Ah think we can handle ourselves."

I sighed. What's the point of being the leader when no on bothers to listen to you any way?

Te sound of yells, screeches of metal, and explosions silenced the ponies' and flock's objections. Nudge and Iggy suddenly appeared in the window. "They've started the attack!" Nudge yelled. "Max, we need to do something!"

Looking out at the faces before me, I saw only hardened eyes, ready for a fight. Even Fluttershy's had melded into a mask of grim resolve. "Ugh. Fine, but you do exactly as I say. These things will kill you if they get the chance. Make sure you don't give them one." I looked back to the flock. "Guys, let's go."

One by one, we threw ourselves out the window. The sight that greeted us was not the same as the beautiful vista we had seen on the way in. Canterlot was a war zone. The flyboys had split into two groups. One was in the air, fighting the pegasi guards, while the others filled the streets, clashing with earth ponies and unicorns. Cries of pain and rage rang out all  around the city. As we flew towards the battle, streaks of light flew past us on either side. A look back told me that they were spells being cast by a contingent of unicorns that lined the towers and castle's roof. At the forefront of the group was none other than my good buddy Shining Armor.

I returned my gaze to the battlefield that Canterlot had become, my mind racing. "Fan, Nudge, and Gazzy, go high. Help out the pegasi. Iggy, you and Angel are with me." The first three I mentioned flew off, and I turned to Iggy. "How many bombs do you have left?"

He pulled out a single, small device about the size of a tennis ball. "Just the one."

"Save it." I let out a breath through my mouth, trying in vain to steel myself for what I was about to do. "Alright guys, let's go." As one, we dove down to the brawl below us.