After receiving an urgent summon from Princess Celestia herself, Lightning Dash and the others stood at attention at her front in the throne room. The Sun Princess sat simply in her throne while the guards all around the room, following a simple motion of Celestia’s head, slowly left.

As soon as they were alone, Celestia started, “I hope you six are ready for your very first mission.” The six ponies in front of her nodded quickly, “Good. You all had mastered your Harmony Armors in the past days and can summon your Divine Armors almost instantly. You will need both those knowledge to the battle to come.”

“Battle, Princess?” Shining Armor asked.

“Yes, Shining Armor. I haven’t managed to track down the Nightmare Shadows you told me about, but there’s another enemy that have an even greater importance,” Celestia could read the fear in the face of every single one of them. Lightning Dash and Blaze looked at each other, feeling each other’s fear as well. “Your enemy is nopony other than Luna herself. You’ll fight my sister.”

“This… is a joke, right?” Scarlet Boulder asked, really hopping that Celestia would start laughing at them.

“I’m afraid not, Scarlet Boulder,” the Princess’s answer only increased their fear. “However, I’m not stupid. No matter how strong you have gotten in the past days, you’re no match to my sister or to me, which had millennia of training in our own arts as Amazons of Harmony. I’m not saying your mission will be easy, but surely it will be easier. I have sent someone ahead to start preparations for Luna’s return and truly defeat her. But for that to work, Luna’s Harmony Armor must be destroyed.”

“WHAT?!?” they all chorused.

“You want us to destroy a Harmony Armor?” Golden Breeze asked.

“That’s a no-do, Princess!” Scarlet Boulder continued. “Mine has taken five strong magical blasts squarely on its chest and not even scratched! And you want us to destroy an alicorn’s armor?”

“Trust a little more in yourselves, my little ponies. The blasts your armors have taken were common unicorn’s blasts. No matter how strong a unicorn is, only high-level magic, as the kind I’ve been teaching you in our trainings, can truly damage a Harmony Armor. And as you master those, your powers can grow up to and even beyond those of an alicorn.”

After a long silence and all the six of them looking at each other, Ice Sapphire turned back at Princess Celestia, “And where Night- I mean… Princess Luna will return exactly?”

****

“Answer me again… why we’re traveling outside the train?” Ice Sapphire asked over the sound of rushing wind passing around them.

“I wish I knew!” Shining Armor answered, also screaming loud enough to be heard by the close group. He had cast on the four non-pegasus members a spell to hold their hooves in place even if the train suddenly stopped.

Above them, Lighting Dash flew as fast as he loved to, a smile in his face. Blaze shot him a glance, since he could feel the genuinely happiness of the pegasus while flying that fast. “THAT YOUR WINGS SUDDENLY CRAMP, SHOW-OFF!” he yelled at the pegasus.

“Hey! Not my fault if you haven’t born with wings!” he yelled back, besides a few tones lower than him and more warmly than the words he received.

“Dash! Tunnel ahead!” Golden Breeze called.

“Crap. See ya!”

Due to security issues, the tunnels the train passed through towards Canterlot were enchanted to not allow anyone enter it flying, as long as there was a train inside. However, Golden Breeze and Lightning Dash counted with that already and simply made a sharp turn to clear out of the tunnel while getting a quicker route a bit ahead the trail so they could join precisely with their friends a bit down the line.

However, as they were alone, two pegasi out of a cloud darted towards them. Besides not exactly wearing armors, both of them had black clothes that looked like a lot with the Wonderbolts uniform. The most striking difference, though, were their bat-like wings. Not standing still, Lightning Dash and Golden Breeze opened their formation to avoid collision, only to have the bat-ponies start following them.

“DASH!” Golden Breeze called over the rushing wind.

“TALK LATER, BREEZE! IT’S SHOWTIME!” With a nod from his friend, Lightning Dash shot himself up entering in a large loop and quickly being followed by one of the enemies.

With a smile, Lighting Dash started spinning and crossed through a cloud, creating a small water funnel around him and soon enough enveloping his chaser. He only laughed and screamed at full lunges, “HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES!” And all of a sudden, the water funnel around the pegasi was conducting also Lightning Dash’s electricity, only strengthened by the friction with the wind. It took all of five seconds for the aggressor pony to get electrocuted and start falling towards the ground.

Meanwhile, a little lower, Golden Breeze dived hard, going straight towards the ground and kept going. Under her wings, she focused her wind magic as the solid floor of the ground approached. The chaser had to give in and lift up before it was too late, but with a powerful flap of her wings, Golden Breeze shot both wind bubbles from her wings to the ground. At the impact, the pressure killed her momentum and she quickly shot up, the predator now turning into prey. Whenever her wings flapped, golden feather-shaped magical blades would shower from her wings against her opponent. Soon he was weak enough to only drop his flight.

Then she saw a blurry dark streak fall not much far from her enemy’s place. Looking up, she saw that Lighting Dash was approaching her. They hovered in place for a little time. “They were expecting us there,” Golden Breeze commented. “Sorry, I never thought we would be attacked before reaching Ponyville.”

“Not your fault,” Lightning Dash answered. “I was also thinking it would be a boring trip.”

“Nightmare Shadows?”

“Probably. That only confirms we’re on the right track.”

“But they were so easily defeated…”

“None of them, though, were the same five we tracked before,” Lighting Dash commented. “They had only one pegasus and a stallion at that, and we defeated two mares there. Not counting their bat-like wings…”

Letting out a sigh, Golden Breeze looked at him, “You’re right. Let’s go, we have to warn the others.”

****

Scarlet Boulder had to jump backwards to avoid a stomp from an earth pony stallion that had all but jumped at them over the train’s roof, his hooves about half again bigger than average earth pony and looking a more sturdier as well. All along the car, the Knights of Harmony where fighting enemies which teleported themselves at the exactly right time they left the tunnel, so they were all engaging a fight each.

The red mare just waited for the next attack and gave a back-flip, hitting the stallion right in the chin, and as soon as her hindlegs touched the ground, she jumped against him, punching right into his stomach, sending him flying straight across the curve the train had just done.

Shining Armor summoned a pinkish shield in front of him to stop the blast of the unicorn mare he was fighting. Much to his surprise, the blast was enough to crack his shield, famous to be one of the strongest between common unicorns. As she charged against him, hoping the shield to power down, he barely had to do much, jumping easily above her and punching on her back against the roof they were fighting over. The mare was instantly knocked out.

Ice Sapphire jumped back, avoiding a powerful lighting strike shot against her from another unicorn, a stallion this time. Like the unicorn mare, this stallion had powerful magic and instead of the typical spiral in their horns, they had five stripes straight from the base to the tip. She already had the edge of the battle, though: unknown to her opponent, she had placed a freeze trap and as he went to charge her with his horn, his four legs were frozen solid in place, allowing for the light blue unicorn to easily punch him into his sides. With the hit, though, the ice broke and the stallion saw himself just watching the train make a curve.

Blaze hasn’t any difficult at all, almost not having to fight. As soon as he felt the pony over him, he charged his left forehoof with all his strength and even before touching the cart the enemy was flying back up at the mountain side, just to fall on the rail as the train passed through her.

As he looked back, he noticed the others already finishing their battles within the very first curve the train made after the tunnel’s entrance. In the distance, coming at full speed, Lightning Dash and Golden Breeze quickly noticed the pony held by Shining Armor’s hooves.

“And I was about to tell you we were attacked,” Golden Breeze started, “but it seems you had your share of fun as well…”

Shining Armor looked at one side of the car, “Somepony is coming. The fighting may have got them alert!”

“What we’ll do?” Scarlet Boulder asked.

“Just stay close to me!” Shining Armor focused his magic and created a magic dome around them all. Instead of being a protective shield, it was a camouflage one: whoever saw the dome would just see across it. However, they could see clearly anypony outside the dome.

Two heads popped from each end of the car and looked at both sides, looking for any abnormalities while they were at it. Not finding anything suspicious, they all returned back to inside the train car.

Releasing a deep breath, everypony finally relaxed. That was the last tunnel between Canterlot and Ponyville and the trip would take not much time longer, about an hour. After fifteen minutes, though, the trapped and properly sealed unicorn mare woke up, looking at them. Her eyes downed and she sighed.

“I was not informed thou were that tough…” she said.

“You are one of the Nightmare Shadows?” Lightning Dash asked.

“Nightmare what?” she asked. “I do not know what thou art talking about.”

“Who are you and why you attacked us?” Scarlet Boulder asked then.

“My name is Crystal Star. My brethren and I were informed the six of you would try to stop the return of our Mother…”

“Your… mother?” Ice Sapphire asked.

“Yes, our Mother, Princess Luna.”

“And you dare say to us that you’re not one of the Nightmare Shadows?” Shining Armor asked.

“Now, now, Shining Armor,” Blaze placed a hoof on his shoulder. “You’re assuming that all ponies that call themselves Children of the Night are also Nightmare Shadows. Put two and two together: my mother told me about the Children of the Night. What do you think that makes me?”

Lightning Dash looked suspiciously at Blaze, “So the somepony special you’re looking for…”

“Yes,” Blaze answered simply. “I’m waiting as well for Princess Luna’s return. However, the one coming is Nightmare Moon, right? We have to find a way to purify her. So we can have our Mother back.”

“You… You’re a brother?” the unknown mare asked.

Blaze downed his head. Lightning Dash felt shame flowing through their unwanted link. “My name… My true name is Shadow Blaze. I was afraid that if Celestia knew somepony that praised her sister was so close to her, she would unleash her wrath…”

“Come on, Blaze,” Lightning Dash chuckled. “She picks her targets better than that and you know it.”

That puzzled Blaze to no end: Lightning Dash, which until seconds later always had a hidden stash of hatred for him, simply vanished with the whole stock of his anger and fury towards the brown earth stallion and was genuinely comforting him. The other way around, Lighting Dash could feel Blaze’s puzzlement.

“Hey? What you expected? You kept your secrets, your distance, never opened to us and not even shared your full name. I just kept my guard up. And by the way, you can only have a true name if you had lied about yours. You have, though, only hid part of it.”

Golden Breeze looked to the direction where the other fights have occurred. “Now I’m feeling bad for beating them…” she commented. “Are they alright?”

Crystal Star giggled, “Don’t worry. We, Children of the Night, grew up in a rather harsh environment. We are pretty hard to kill. But even so, I’ll go and look for the others. I hope to see you again soon enough!”

All of a sudden, Crystal Star teleported from the train, and they all could see her running in the distance, following the rail towards her friends.

“New fact…” Shining Armor said. “The Nightmare Shadows are using innocent ponies to attack us. We must stay alert.”

****

The final part of the trip occurred without any more surprises and Shining Armor’s spell forbid the waiting ponies to see them as they approached the station. Whispering so to not break up the spell, Shining Armor himself asked: “What now?”

“I’ll go see my sister,” Lightning Dash said.

“We all should actually part up and spread around the town,” Scarlet Boulder suggested. “Keep your hooves in the ground and if you find anything, just tell the others!”

“Sorry, rather impossible…” Lightning Dash said with a chuckle, flapping gently his wings. “The only reason for Rainbow staying at the ground is if her wings are crippled.”

“Hey! What’s up with that rainbow?” Golden Breeze asked.

They all looked at the direction she was facing to see a rainbow streak clearing all the clouds of the sky.

“Weird… I never heard about automatic rainbow-cloud-cleaner before…” Shining Armor commented.

“Because that doesn’t exist! See ya!” and all of a sudden, Lightning Dash took off.

He was flying casually to see the town bellow him. Ponyville was really like his sister had described it, a chaotic madness of colors and forms, as if the ponies were disputing for the most… striking house. And then, there were the ponies, from all three tribes and living in perfect harmony. Not too long later, he was forced to stop since another pony stopped right in front of his flight plan.

“Sorry, mister, but you’re supposed to check-in before flying over my town!” the cyan mare said. As he looked up, the smiling face of his sister greeted him.

“Sorry, miss, but I’m doing my job as a Royal Guard and protecting Princess Celestia’s ponies,” he answered softly.

The mare gasped at those words. “No way! For real? You made it, Lightning?”

“And there was ever any doubt?” Lightning Dash chuckled as he hugged his sister strongly. “How have you been Rainbow?”

“Same old, same old…” she said hugging him back. “I mean… Entering the Wonderbolts is just a tad harder than joining the Royal Guard…”

As they parted, Lightning Dash chuckled, “I do believe that. Those show-offs are very picky…”

Rainbow Dash giggled, “That may be. However, I’m still the best flyer of all Equestria, so it’s only a matter of time!”

“You sure of that?”

“Absolutely!”

“Race you home then!”

“HA! You’re on! 3-2-1-Go!”

As if they had planned that, both took off at full speed towards Rainbow Dash’s home, leaving a rainbow and a light blue sparking trail behind. Less than half an hour later, they landed on Rainbow Dash’s cloud house above Ponyville almost together, the cyan mare touching ground less than a second before Lightning Dash.

“There! In your face!” she said with a grin, her wings still fully open.

He chuckled at that, “A show-off still, I see. You’re almost a Wonderbolt already.”

She smiled and turned inside, “So, how’s the Royal Guard training going?”

“Lots of fun and practice, but Equestria is way too peacefully for me to work all that much,” he explained. Not quite lying, it was true to a point, but it still hurt not being able to tell his own sister the whole truth either.

“Try living here in Ponyville…”

“Why you say so?”

“The damn forest at the border… The Everfree Forest sometimes let its inhabitants too close from Ponyville.”

“Are them dangerous?”

“Cockatrices, manticores, hydras… Some ponies believe there’s also a dragon living in the Everfree Forest actually.”

“Seems pretty tough…”

“Not to mention the wild weather,” Rainbow Dash said with a proud smile in her face. “If not for me as leader of the Weather Patrol of Ponyville, this town would hardly be able to fulfill the scheduled weather!”

“Which, by the way, I saw you working on. Have you been slaking off again?”

“You saw that, then?” she chuckled. “Somepony from Canterlot came to check the preparations for the celebration. She doubted say me that I wasn’t able to enter the Wonderbolts! I just had to prove her wrong, so I cleared the whole sky of Ponyville in ten seconds flat!”

“I could have done in nine,” Lightning Dash teased.

Rainbow Dash looked him in the eye and smiled, “Still thinking you can beat me?”

Actually, I can beat you easily, but I can’t say you that… Lightning Dash thought. Then he grinned back, “Instead of starting another race, there’s any good place around where we could eat?”

****

Ice Sapphire was walking casually around the town, taking in the sights. Soon enough, she saw a pinkish streak passing around her and suddenly stops. Then the pink earth pony mare holding quite a few balloons in her muzzle looked into Ice Sapphire eyes, her mouth opening wide. The unicorn quickly used her magic to hold the balloons that were slowly flying away before smiling.

“Sorry…”

“You’re new here too!” the pink mare claimed. “Now I need twice the balloons!”

The unicorn just grinned, “Well… That could really wait a little. My friends and I can’t truly stay long. We’re leaving after the Summer Sun Celebration.”

“Even so! You can’t leave Ponyville without making new friends!”

“Well, you could always be my friend!” Ice Sapphire grinned.

Upon seeing the pink mare smiles, her heart filled with joy. It was what she truly enjoyed after all. “Really? That’s great! We could be the best friends ever and we could write one another and we could trade gifts! And I need to know when you celebrates your birthday so I can send you your gift and I shall also give you mine so--”

“So I can give you a gift of my own and along with a letter to tell you how much I miss you and that I want to see you again as soon as I can!” Ice Sapphire cut her. “It has been a long time I saw somepony so full of energy as you! By the way, my name is Ice Sapphire, and can I help you with the party you’re planning?”

“My name is Pinkie Pie and of course! Here! The party is going to be this way!”

****

Golden Breeze was flying slowly above the town as well. From above, she saw a shop, called Carousel Boutique, which her eyes picked up plenty of beautiful dresses on the vitrine. With a smile, she glided down and stepped inside the shop, causing a small bell to ring.

“Coming!” a voice sang from inside the shop. Golden Breeze waited patiently until a white unicorn with curly and beautiful purple mane and tail appeared from the stairs. She grinned at the pegasus and smiled, “A new face in town, I assume. I never forget such a beautiful mane.”

“Why thank you. I do try my best.”

“My name is Rarity, Ponyville’s best dressmaker, even if I say so myself.”

“I am Golden Breeze, nice to meet you,” she smiled. “I noticed your accent is a lot more like Canterlot’s than what’s supposed to be for an interior town. Are you from there?”

“Oh goodness, no. That’s all but a dream for me,” the unicorn answered. I’ve born on Manehattan, just moved to Ponyville a few years ago because I couldn’t afford Canterlot itself, and the town is close enough to the capital that I can make visits to sell my lines there rather frequent.”

“I see. And about your dresses, I’m looking for something for a friend of mine. She’s a unicorn, not much larger than me, with a fascination for blue colors. Her birthday is in a few weeks and I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful dresses you exposed.”

“It will be a pleasure to help you find something for your friend. Or if nothing hit your fancy, you could always make an order and take it later.”

Golden Breeze smiled. Somehow, she had felt a good thing when talking with this unicorn. Maybe they could be very good friends with time.

****

Scarlet Boulder was walking towards a more wooded area, the nature around the small town being something to really catch her attention. Then she heard the sound of birds singing. Following the sound, she found out a yellow pegasus mare coordinating the birds during their singing in a beautiful song. She smiled and approached slowly not to scare the birds, but also not hiding herself either. The birds all stopped singing and looked at her. When the pegasus turned to look at Scarlet Boulder, she noticed the earth mare was sitting with her eyes closed, probably enjoying the music.

“Err… excuse me?” the pegasus called. “Are you… lost or…”

Scarlet Boulder opened her eyes and grinned. Speaking softly instead of her usual cheerful voice, she answered, “Not exactly. I was just passing by when I heard the singing. I promise to stay silent, but you mind if I hear you training?”

“I… I’m not sure…” the yellow mare kicked some of dust then.

“Are these local birds?” Scarlet Boulder approached the birds slowly and raised a hoof.

The yellow pegasus was about to say something when one of the birds flew from the branch he was and landed on Scarlet’s extended hoof. The red mare then rubbed her face against the bird’s softly.

“You… understand them too?” the surprised pegasus asked.

“Not exactly. I’ve learned what some animals say by body language. I had contact with a few of them close to where I’ve born.”

“You like animals too?”

Scarlet Boulder giggled at the question. “They’re our friends,” she answered. “By trusting in them with our hearts, they can trust in us in return. When I learned that, I discovered that animals would get closer to me for a cuddle if I wasn’t afraid of them.” The pegasus mare’s muzzle opened in a large smile as she sat closer to Scarlet Boulder. The other birds flew to sit now all over the earth pony and the pegasus. “I am Scarlet Boulder,” she said.

“I’m Fluttershy,” the mare grinned. “Err… if you don’t mind, could you help me with their practice?”

“It will be my pleasure.”

****

Shining Armor was strolling across the main square when he caught sight of a peculiar lavender coat among the crowd. Surprised at first, Shining Armor took a second to register that there could be other lavender mares in this town. However, when the purple dragon jumped on her back, he had little doubt. Another lavender mare was one thing. The chances that she would also be a unicorn were slim, but acceptable. But for her also to be friend with a green belly purple dragon, that’s impossible to be a coincidence!

“Twily?” he called.

Upon hearing her nickname, the lavender mare turned around, “Shiny?” she called back. “Shiny! What are you doing here?” she asked running and hugging her brother rather strong.

“Hi there, Spike,” the dragon answered his greeting as well. “And well… Princess Celestia sent me and a few others to make sure everything is secure,” he answered. Even if he didn’t like lying to his sister, he couldn’t tell her the true motives. It would cause Twilight to panic, and he knew what happened when she panicked. “I’m using the fact that nopony here actually knows me, so keep it down, please.”

“Oh, right.”

“I’ll be overseeing all the ceremony from a safe place. You don’t have to look for me if something goes wrong. I’ll be already over it, trust me.”

“I do, brother. Anyway, I have to go. There are a few things we must check before heading to where we’ll be staying.”

“It’s alright. You two take care.”

Both the mare and the dragon chorused: “We will!”

And then he watched his sister trotting towards somewhere else.

****

Shadow Blaze was looking for somewhere big and open, where probably would be held the celebration. After all, the Summer Sun Celebration was about seeing the sun rise, so it should be in the open with the clear sky.

His path, though, soon brought him to meet with a couple of earth ponies. One of them was a stallion about as high as himself and also as sturdier. He had a deep red coat and a light orange mane and tail, along with a work horse collar. Another feature to catch Shadow Blaze’s eyes was a sprig of wheat hanging from his muzzle. At his side was an orange mare with a cowboy hat and blond mane and tail, both tied in ponytails. They could probably be siblings due to the resemblance in their cutie mark: the stallion was a single large green apple cut in half as the mare had three small red apples.

“Horseapples! Now we got a big damn problem in our hooves!” said the mare in a strong southern accent.

“Eeyup,” the stallion answered. They were each attached to a cart, one of which now supported a broken wheel.

“How the hay are we goin’ to get to town hall now?”

“You need some help?” Shadow Blaze called, looking them over. As the mare cast her eyes over him, he had a strange feeling that somehow he wouldn’t be able to lie to her.

“Kinda. But unless you know how to fix a wheel, I doubt you could help much, pardner,” the mare called.

Shadow Blaze trotted quickly to the broken wheel and then looked at the red stallion, “I may not be able to restore the wheel, but I have another idea, unless you can afford the time to go and get someone to fix it?” As they looked to each other, he figured they hadn’t the time. So, he continued, “My idea is simple. We take off the other wheel opposite to this one and since the big one there is about my size, I guess we could work as ‘improvised wheels’ until the town hall.”

“You really think you’re up to the task?” the mare asked.

“Honestly. I’m stronger than I look.”

“Well, Big Mac… Gonna give it a try?”

“Eeyup!” said the red stallion already unharnessing himself from his cart.

“Well then…” the mare said as she saw them taking off the forward good wheel and placing it carefully inside the cart.

Then counting to three to coordinate their efforts both stallions raised and quickly got the cart half way upon their backs. Shadow Blaze never thought it would be this heavy, but sharing his load with the other stallion was going to make the work easier. Then they began walking slowly at first before picking a quick trot.

“Thank you for the help, pardner,” the mare said, smiling at the brown stallion’s side. “My name is Applejack and he’s Big McIntosh, by the way.”

“The name’s Shadow Blaze…” he said. “Why are you taking these to the town hall, though? I really thought all this was for the Summer Sun Celebration…”

“It is,” Applejack answered. “The Princess will be making her appearance in the town hall for the raising of the sun.”

“I really thought it would be somewhere more open… A farm or a park or something alike… You see, to actually watch the sunrise…”

“You weren’t informed?”

“No, I was just said to move there and get ready in the case things got bad…” he answered. Not being able to lie and not being able to tell the truth either, Shadow Blaze was walking on a sharp knife’s edge: any mistake and he was bound to cut himself badly one way or another.

“Oh so you’re also from Canterlot?” she asked. “Why ya haven’t come with that mare, Twilight?”

“Twilight? As in Twilight Sparkle?” he asked curious.

“Eeyup!” the stallion at the other side of the cart answered.

“She seems to be a good mare. She said she was sent by Princess Celestia herself to check on the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration.”

That made Shadow Blaze uses every part of his will in order to not drop the cart and not show an unexpected reaction upon his face. The weight of the cart on his shoulder helped a little as he was using a decent amount of his strength to keep it moving.

“Twilight Sparkle? No, it can’t be her… she’s too young and inexperienced… Princess Celestia would not send a common unicorn, no matter how strong, to fight against an alicorn…” he thought. However, if that was right…

Author's Note

THERE! Chapter 11 is ready for you! I'm very sorry for the delay, but you know, family comes first. Chapter 12 is already started though and it shall not take too long. And, I'm really sorry for doing this (after all I thought it was funny), but there will not be a quick spoiler of the next chapter from now on.

A quick reminder for you, though about the Nightmare Shadows:
Night Cloud - unicorn mare that read thoughts;
Onyx Star - pegasus stallion with unknown abilities;
Night Poet - earth mare with poetic streak able to use magic in some way;
Dusk Shield - unicorn mare, cousin to Blaze, with amazing powers, or so say the other Nightmare Shadows.