Cracks in Reality - Book One

Sunset Shimmer now had a deep and sympathetic understanding with what Celestia suffered through each and every day she wore her crown. It was an awkward, not to mention heavy, head ornament that gave its wearer a sore neck after only a few minutes of wearing it. It also required constant adjustment that Sunset had finally grown tired of, so she choose to take it off and carry it around until it was needed to save Equestria. And judging by the stars that were slowly but surely making their way towards the moon Equestria was going to need saving very soon.

With a sigh of resignation that she wouldn’t be experiencing the comfort and warmth of her bed anytime soon, Sunset downed her fourth cup of coffee that night and went off to find her friends. Which wasn’t very easy considering the town hall was packed with ponies. After several moments of searching through the crowded room she found Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash comforting Fluttershy who had decided to hide behind a curtain. “What’s going on?” Sunset asked.

Rainbow gave an unamused huff and crossed her arms across her chest. “Fluttershy’s too freaked out over this whole Nightmare Moon stuff to come out of hiding!”

Rarity shot the pegasus an angry glare before turning her attention back to the pony shaped bulge in the curtain. “Fluttershy darling, there’s nothing to be worried at the moment, won’t you please come out and enjoy the festivities with us?”

“Are ya serious?” Applejack exclaimed. “According ta Sunset Shimmer, there’s a dark princess who’s been banished for a thousand years about ta return to Equestria bringin’ with her eternal night!”

The timid pegasus hiding behind the curtain gave a frightened whimper and began trying to make herself smaller. Rarity opened her mouth to say something, but Sunset’s horn glowed and she used her magic to grasp each of her friend’s tails and pull them away from the curtain before they made the situation worse. “I’ll take care of this,” Sunset said, before going behind the curtain herself. She found Fluttershy curled up in a ball and hugging herself tightly with her wings. “Hey Flutters, pretty cosie place you found here. Mind if I join you?”

Fluttershy remained silent, so Sunset sat down next to her before pulling her friend onto her lap and hugging her softly. “You trust me don’t you, Fluttershy?” She felt Fluttershy nod, and she softly stroked the pegasus’ mane. “I know you trust our other friends, and even though they won’t admit it, especially Rainbow, they’re all scared as well.”

“Am not!” Rainbow objected, before somepony, probably AJ, hit her over the back of her head.

Sunset ignored her friends on the other side of the curtain and kept her focus on comforting Fluttershy. “Even though we’re all scared Equestria still needs us, especially you Fluttershy. Without you, I can’t use the powers of the Elements of Harmony. So remember when we face Nightmare Moon we’re not going to let anything happen to you.”

Fluttershy gave a soft sniffle and hugged Sunset tighter. “I’m still scared,” she whispered softly.

“I know, but while you’re standing against Nightmare Moon with us I personally promise to lookout for you and keep you safe. Now how ‘bout we go hang out with the rest of friends?”

It took a bit more comforting and consoling, but Fluttershy finally allowed herself to be guided out from behind the curtain where the rest of their friends were waiting. “I’m sorry for being such a scaredy pony,” Fluttershy said softly.

Rainbow chuckled and pulled her friend into a hug. “Don’t worry about it Flutters, like Sunset said, while you’re with us nothing bad will happen.”

Even as Rainbow said that Sunset glanced out the window just in time to see the constellation of stars she had been studying fade into the moon causing it to glow brighter for a second before returning to its normal state minus the pony like pattern on its surface. Suddenly loud and cruel laughter filled the town hall bringing the party to a complete halt as Nightmare Moon herself materialized on the balcony where Celestia was supposed to be making her appearance. The dark alicorn continued laughing before she suddenly stopped and became as still and as silent as a frozen lake. Sunset quickly placed the crown back on her head before sipping up the last dregs of coffee from her cup.

“Princess Celestia is gone!” The dark alicorn said. “I, Nightmare Moon, am holding her prisoner just as she held me prisoner for so long.”

Everypony’s heart in the room was suddenly gripped with fear as they now realized the stories they had been told about the Mare in the Moon were not stories at all, and Nightmare Moon now had their beloved Princess of the Sun. Another cruel chuckle escaped from Nightmare Moon. “You will never see her, or your precious sun ever aga...” Nightmare Moon came to a sudden stop and her gaze zeroed in on Sunset Shimmer and her friends. “Impossible...”

“Seize her!” the mayor shouted at Celestia’s royal guards. “She’s the only one who knows where the princess is.”

Without hesitation the three pegasus guards flew straight towards Nightmare Moon. The dark alicorn’s eyes glowed with pure white power and several spears of ethereal light skewered the guards straight through their hearts.

Their lifeless bodies fell to the ground and blood began pooling around them forming a thick crimson puddle. Nightmare Moon once again focused her gaze on Sunset Shimmer before teleporting and reappearing in front of the unicorn. “I will not allow the Elements of Harmony to stop me this time.”

Sunset barely had time to react before an ethereal sword was swinging towards her throat. She used her knowledge of defensive magic to throw up a shield between her and Nightmare Moon. It only hindered the sword for a few seconds, but it was long enough for Sunset to access the powers of the Elements, which flowed through her body like a raging river of fire. She had only several hours to study how their powers worked, but she knew just enough to defend herself. Multicolored flames burst from her hands and flew towards Nightmare Moon who gave a terrified yelp before teleporting away. Sunset made sure the dark alicorn wasn’t going to reappear anywhere else in the room before she let go of her Element’s powers. She turned to her friends with a grim look on her face. “Equestria, but more importantly, Celestia, needs out help we have to go after Nightmare Moon.”

Nightmare Moon reappeared in the middle of the Everfree forest and took a deep breath of the night air. Her night air. She then started walking down the path that led to her old castle, one of the places she knew well enough to feel comfortable taking on the unicorn who now wielded the Elements of Harmony. Equestria had changed drastically in a thousand years, it was no longer struggling to fight for survival against the dark demons who now called Tartarus their home. She also noted with some satisfaction that Discord was still obviously trapped in his stone prison. She didn’t feel like dealing with his annoying antics and pranks as she asserted her control over Equestria.

Starswirl the Bearded was no longer alive so he was no threat to her either. She had Celestia trapped in a world of nightmares that she woudln’t be able to escape from, so there was no immediate threat there. Nightmare Moon came to a sudden stop as she felt something change in the magic of the dark forest. She once again took a deep breath of her night air and nearly choked on the strong scent of dark magic that was not her own. Putting the task of reaching her castle on hold for the time being, Nightmare Moon followed the scent of dark magic and as she came closer to its source, she felt the sensation of icy water running down her skin, which made made her shiver.

Nightmare Moon soon came to the source of the powerful dark magic, and her eyes widened in fear and disbelief when she saw a sword stuck halfway through a tree trunk. It was katana in design, but its blade was pure black and looked like it was made from glass, its hilt was also pure black and looked like it was made from scorched metal. “It can’t be,” Nightmare Moon whispered in awe as she walked closer to the dark blade. As she moved closer towards the sword, the sensation of icy water running through her body became stronger until she felt as though she was submerged in a frozen lake. Nightmare Moon pulled her cloak off, and making sure not to let any part of her flesh touch the sword’s surface she pulled it free from tree and wrapped it in her cloak before walking as fast as she could to her old castle.

As she walked, Nightmare Moon gazed down at the rare treasure she had found. The last time she had seen this sword it was being used by one of Luna’s and Celestia’s allies to wage war on the demons from Tartarus and defend Canterlot from their attacks. Both Luna and Celestia didn’t like the fact one of their soldiers were using dark magic to do so, but his combat skills were unprecedented, and his knowledge of magic could only be rivaled Starswirl the Bearded himself. And Nightmare Moon couldn’t help but smile at her luck at finding his sword.

Nightmare Moon shook her head to clear it from thoughts of the past, tonight was about the future. The future she was going to build for herself and Equestria. Soon everypony would know the true beauty of night, and she would finally be loved as her sister had been loved. All she had to do was defeat the Elements of Harmony and their new bearers and her future would be set. Nopony could stop her now, especially once she was able to use the Dark Blade.

She soon came to the crevice that split the Everfree forest in half and took a moment to admire the sight of her castle in the distance before teleporting and reappearing outside is front doors. Nightmare Moon’s victorious smile grew wider as she walked into her old home and made her way to the throne room where she could perform the ritual to bind the Dark Blade to herself.

Twilight suddenly gasped awake and clutched her injured shoulder which was throbbing with an intense fiery pain that only grew with each beat of her heart. Being careful not to jostle her shoulder too much, Twilight used her uninjured hand to remove her cloak revealing a thick trickle of blood running running down her side from a puncture hole that pierced through her armor, past her flesh, and into her collar bone. For a moment she stared at the hole in confusion. Her armor was made from stalgamite, the strongest known element in Tartarus that could only be destroyed by the most powerful forms of dark magic. Garro certainly had the levels of magic necessary to inflict such damage on her armor, but he had bitten her in the portal where magic couldn’t be used.

Obviously the fifth Lord of Tartarus was a lot more dangerous and powerful then she had originally assumed. Feeling extremely annoyed with herself, Twilight forced herself ignore the pain and focus on the section of armor covering her right arm. After a few moments it obeyed her commands and began flowing like oil up her arm where it was absorbed by the rest of her armor. Once her injury was exposed the amour stopped recoiling itself and Twilight went to work on healing herself. Using magic was not an option as Garro was out there somewhere close by and tracking her. Instead she pulled her chest of potion making ingredients from her bag and began mixing several various powders together. Once she done, she began packing the powder into her wound hissing in pain as it made contact with her injury, she forced herself to keep packing the powder into the deep wound and once she was done she sagged in relief and let her armor flow back over her arm.

Soon the powder’s properties began taking effect, numbing the pain in her arm enough so that it was nothing more than an annoying itch. The powder would also speed up the healing process and in a couple of hours her arm would be as good as new. Until then, Twilight elected to get a few more hours rest before tracking down Garro and putting an end to the demon once and for all. But just as she once again snuggled down in her cloak a noise from the castle’s entrance informed her she was no longer alone.

Not even daring to breathe, Twilight tensed and drew a knife from each of her upper thigh straps, before slowly standing up and making her way out of the room she had slept in. As soon as she stepped out in the open Twilight felt the icy sensation of a powerful dark magic’s presence. But it wasn’t just any dark magic, it was the unforgettable presence and scent of the sword Darklight had thrown after her while she escaped through the portal.

Twilight drew her cloak tighter around herself and began following the sound of footsteps climbing stairs. Her own footsteps were completely silently and untraceable, her cloak also masked her own personal scent and the scent of her magic. So unless her enemies were looking straight at her she was effectively invisible, and if she stayed in the dark shadows of the castle she was invisible.

Twilight followed the sound of footsteps to a flight of stairs that led to the upper floors and towers of the castle. Being careful not to make any noise herself she walked up the stairs holding the two knives in her hands in a defensive position in front of her. If whoever had Darklight’s sword had figured out how to use it, she would have to rely on stealth and swiftness to get the sword back. That meant no direct confrontation if she could help it.

Twilight shifted her grip on one of the blades so it would be easier to throw, and the first chance she got she would send it spinning through the air to land between their fourth and fifth ribs instantly stopping their heart. When she came to the landing on the top of the stairs, she ducked back in the shadows to observe the pony who was holding the sword wrapped in a cloak. The pony was an alicorn wearing dark blue armor that matched her flowing mane, her fur was jet black, and her eyes were catlike and a beautiful shade of light blue. Twilight instantly recognized her as a fellow sister of darkness, and she felt a twinge of guilt that she had to kill her. She could have perhaps made a useful ally, but there was no way the dark alicorn was going to give up her possession of the sword without a fight. And possession of the sword was well worth fighting to the death for. Killing this potential ally was regrettable but necessary, the sword was too powerful and precious to be wielded by anypony but her and Darklight.

With her decision made, Twilight stepped silently out of the shadows and sent the knife flying across the room towards the alicorns back. The deadly spinning blade gleamed in the moonlight before it came to complete stop mere millimeters away from its target, being held in the air by an aura of dark blue magic. Twilight immediately moved into the throne room taking cover behind a large piece of fallen rubble and drawing another knife.

“Nice reflexes,” Twilight called out from behind the rubble, “just give me that sword, and I’ll let you live. It might even be mutually beneficial if we became allies, after all, we’re both creatures of darkness. I don’t care either way, just as long as I leave this place with that sword.” Amused laughter was the only answer she received before the piece of rubble she was hiding behind exploded into thousands of tiny pieces. Twilight stood, holding her knives in a defensive position. “We don’t have to be enemies, all you have to do is give me that sword and I’ll leave you alone. If not, then I’ll kill you and leave here with the sword anyway.”

The dark alicorn still had the previous knife she had thrown held in her blue aura of magic and she began twirling it in little circles. Twilight made no sudden or threatening movements, as she had no wish to make a bad situation any worse. “You remind me of somepony I knew many lifetimes ago. In fact he was the original owner of this weapon.” Nightmare Moon held up the sword cloak covered sword. “His name was...”

“Darklight.” Twilight said narrowing her eyes, and tilting her head as though she was studying something she found mildly interesting. “And you’re Nightmare Moon, the dark side of the Equestrian princess known as Luna. Darklight used tell me tales of your time together freeing this realm from the demons that now reside in Tartarus.”

This time it was Nightmare Moon’s turn to study the alicorn in front of her. “So Darklight is alive after all. The last time Luna saw him, he was having his heart torn out by the assassin known as Tharsium.”

Twilight began circling the Night Princess so the entrance to the throne room was no longer in her blind spot. “You must know the sword is useless to you. I’m the only one that Darklight has trained to handle its powers without dying.”

Nightmare Moon’s smile grew wider. “I have my own ways to get past its defences, after all Luna spent many years fighting by his side and her memories are my memories, and she picked up a few tips during their time together.”
“So I take it you’re not going to give me the sword.” Twilight twirled her knives and settled them into an offensive position. “Because I promise you, if you don’t, I will kill you.”

Nightmare Moon’s amused and cruel laughter once again echoed through the throne room. “You honestly think you can defeat me?” The dark alicorn raised a cynical eyebrow. “I am Nightmare Moon, princess and harbinger of eternal night.”

Twilight merely shrugged the cloak off her shoulders revealing her dark armor and wings before rolling her neck which was a bit stiff after sleeping against a stonewall. “I’ve faced worse.” And without warning she went on the attack throwing the two knives in her hands at Nightmare Moon’s face and chest. Nightmare Moon dodged the deadly blades but was taken by surprise as Twilight cleared the distance between them with a teleportation spell and she wasn’t fast enough to defend herself before Twilight grabbed her by the throat and slammed her into the ground with enough force to crack the flagstones beneath her. Nightmare Moon grimaced and her horn glowed blasting Twilight off her. Twilight landed in crouch drawing several more knives and throwing them across the room.

Nightmare Moon rolled out of the way just before the daggers struck the ground where her eyes and throat had been. Twin streams of dark energy burst from Nightmare Moon’s hands striking Twilight in the chest and blasting her through the wall behind her. Twilight rolled several meters before coming to painful stop. Her shoulder was starting to ache once more, and her feathers were now a complete mess. Snarling angrily, Twilight got to her feet feeling the last of her patience slip away.

Nightmare Moon’s hands glowed, but Twilight was faster, and she moved in closer dodging the streams of dark magic before grabbing her opponent’s wrist, pulling her forward, and slamming an elbow into her face. Blood spurted from Nightmare Moon’s now broken nose but Twilight didn’t let up on her attack. She teleported behind the dark alicorn and wrapped her arm around her throat to apply a choke hold.

Nightmare Moon cursed and her horn started glowing but Twilight applied more pressure to the choke hold causing her to gag and lose concentration of her spell. Twilight pulled out another knife and tried to stab between Nightmare Moon’s ribs, but the blade couldn’t puncture through her amour.

Twilight cursed and pulled Nightmare Moon to the ground with her on top so her blade had unimpeded access to her throat. Nightmare grabbed Twilight’s wrist and began trying to force the knife away from her throat. The two mares struggled desperately for control of the weapon. “You wouldn’t be in this mess if you had just given me the sword.” Twilight muttered through gritted teeth as she applied more of her body weight to the blade causing it to slip a few more centimeters closer to Nightmare Moon’s throat.

“ENOUGH!” Nightmare Moon’s eyes glowed pure white with power and Twilight was thrown off of the alicorn by a pulse of magic. “There is no way for you to defeat me, I am Nightmare Moon, the one true princess of Eques...” She paused as Twilight flung both her arms wide sending hundreds of etherial daggers flying across the room. Nightmare Moon was barely able to summon a shield fast enough before she was cut to bloody ribbons.

“I usually hate using magic while fighting as I don’t enjoy fighting ponies unfairly” Twilight said, “but you’re just as dark and dangerous as the creatures in Tartarus, and quite frankly you’re really annoying. So now I’m done going easy on you.”

Twilight made a violent slashing motion sending a massive scythe of dark magic across the room. Nightmare’s magical shield took the main brunt of the attack but she was forced to stumble back several paces. Twilight held her hands by her side and began making twirling motions as though she was stirring water. The shadows in the room began stirring as though they had a life of their own and Twilight thrust both her hands forward sending a massive torrent of dark shadows slamming into Nightmare Moon’s shield shattering it and pinning the alicorn against a wall before wrapping around her throat. They began choking the life out of her but Nightmare’s hands glowed and she slashed through the tendril of darkness, before flaring her wings and taking to the air. “I WILL CRUSH YOU!”

Twilight’s horn glowed and Darklight’s sword that had fallen during their fight flew to her waiting hand. But before she could use it, the wall opposite her exploded as Garro burst through it in a shower of rubble. The demon wasted no time pouncing on her and sending them both through the wall opposite them. The hard ground was several stories below them and Twilight cried out in pain as she landed on one of her wings causing the bone to snap. Garro gave a triumphant snarl and went in for the kill, but Twilight shoved her left forearm in his mouth before he could bite into her exposed throat.

This time without the portal’s interference Twilight’s amour held against the demons attempts to bite her limbs off, allowing her time to unwrap the sword from Nightmare Moon’s cloak.

Garro instantly pounced away from her and hissed angrily at the weapon that had cheated him from his kill.

“Let’s end this!” Twilight moved forward slashing at Garro who dodged out of the way. He opened his mouth and a torrent of icy breath blasted towards her. Twilight moved to the side just barely missing the lethal magic before stabbing the sword into the ground and muttering a spell. Blue flames burst along the sword’s blade, and the ground around Garro began cracking and several dozen rotten corpses began emerging from their earthy rest and clawing their way onto Garro. The demon roared loudly and the corpses turned to ice before shattering into thousands of tiny pieces. Twilight wasn’t worried though, her real attack came in the form of an angry gist flying straight towards Garro and sinking its long claws into the demon’s back.

Garro howled in pain as blood poured from his wounds staining his white coat dark crimson. Twilight twisted the flaming sword still stuck in the earth, and more rotten corpses began crawling over the demon biting and scratching at his flesh and fur. She pulled the sword free and shadows flowed over her body covering her in their darkness before she slammed her fist into the ground. The shadows flowed off her of her body and flew along the ground towards Garro forming spikes that skewered the demon from below.

Twilight moved in quickly to deliver the killing stroke but Garro had been anticipating this fight for a while so he had formed a spell trap in the area around him causing Twilight to become stuck as ice started to slowly form on her armored feet and travel slowly up her legs to the rest of her body.

Twilight cursed and released the enchantments she had used to summon the gist and dead corpses so she could focus all her magic on freeing herself from a painful icy death. Garro’s whole body was covered in blood pouring from the deep cuts and bite marks, but unfortunately the demon wasn’t that easy to put down. “Your time has come at last Twilight Sparkle.” Even though Garro hadn’t spoken the words out loud she could still hear them echoing around her mind. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for your last moments, and now I will make sure they will be your most painful.”

Twilight laughed mirthlessly and bent down to grasp her frozen feet and counteract the ice curse. “You have no idea the levels of pain I’ve endured. I assure you, you will be very hard pressed to surpass them.” The ice finally cracked and Twilight poured more of her magic into her counterspell causing the ice to break completely off amour.

Garro roared angrily and pounced towards Twilight, who rolled under the attack and slashed upwards with her sword. The tip of the blade merely grazed the demon’s skin, but the demon’s roar of anger turned to that of extreme pain and he began thrashing uncontrollably on the ground. Twilight frowned down at the sword in confusion. It had drawn blood on Garro, yet the demon had somehow survived its touch. She had never seen a demon, not even a Lord of Tartarus, survive even a minor cut from this sword. If the sword drew even a drop of blood, its victims died. Yet somehow Garro had survived.

Twilight put such matters aside for the moment and instead focused on ending her enemy once and for all. Even if the demon had survived a cut from the Dark Blade, there was no way it would survive if she cut out his heart. She moved forward to do just that, but a massive explosion of multicolored flames erupting from inside the throne room stopped her in her tracks. She heard Nightmare Moon’s voice screaming “NO!” until the flames finally died down and all was silent. Twilight turned her attention back to Garro only to find that the demon had disappeared leaving nothing more than a fading mist where he had just been.

Twilight cursed angrily and stood there fuming for several moments. This had been the third time they had eluded each other just before the killing blow, and she was getting sick of it. At least she had recovered her mentor’s sword, with it her chances of surviving their next encounter had just increased a thousandfold. Her frustration at losing to Garro was still boiling strongly in her veins and she began walking back towards the castle fully intent on releasing some of her frustration out on Nightmare Moon.

“Do you think Celestia and Luna are going to be okay?”

Twilight ducked behind a tree and watched as six mares exited the castle each one wearing a golden necklace with different styles of gems embedded in them. Even from where she was hiding Twilight could sense the massive amounts of pure magic radiating from them. The pony who had spoken, a cyan pegasus with a rainbow colored mane, poked one of her companions, an amber colored unicorn who was wearing a crown instead of a necklace like her the rest of her group. The unicorn looked up from something she had been studying in her hands, and Twilight noted with some annoyance that it was her cloak.

“What was that Rainbow?”

The pegasus gave a frustrated huff and gestured angrily to the castle they had just exited. “Celestia and Luna, do you think they’re going to be okay. After all Luna did just try and trap her sister in a world of nightmares.”

The unicorn bit her lip thoughtfully. “I think it’s going to take some time for them to fully come to terms with what happened. Especially Luna, as she unfortunately remembers everything she did as Nightmare Moon. She’s going to take some time to heal.”

The one called Rainbow Dash nodded towards the cloak the unicorn was studying. “Why are you still messing with that old rag?”

Twilight’s grip tightened around the hilt of her sword as she heard her precious cloak so crassly referred to as an old rag. The unicorn gave a frustrated sigh and spread the cloak out. “There’s just something about this I can’t seem to put my finger on. It’s not made from any material I’ve encountered before, and it’s even softer then Rarity’s rare imported gold silk. It’s just bugging me.”

“Don’t worry Sunset,” an abnormally cheerful pink pony said. “I’m sure once we get to Ponyville you’ll figure it out.”

The unicorn, Sunset Shimmer, chuckled and neatly folded the cloak. “Once I get back to Ponyville I’m going to be sleeping for the rest of the week.”

Twilight soon lost sight of the group of ponies and not willing to spend a moment longer away from her cloak she followed after them moving as silent as a ghost through the woods. As the group of ponies kept walking towards what Twilight assumed to be their home they kept talking among themselves about what had transpired during the last few days. Twilight learned the amber unicorn was called Sunset Shimmer. The yellow shy pegasus was called Fluttershy, and she needed constant coddling from her cyan friend as they walked through the forest. The orange earth pony was Applejack. And the white fussy unicorn was called Rarity. She also heard them mention the Elements of Harmony a few times, so she kept her distance not willing to get close to such powerful magical artifacts. Even Darklight in his youth had been wary about them.

By the time the group of friends made it to the outskirts of the forest a yellow colored sun was beginning to rise over the horizon, and they were obviously glad to be back home. Twilight knew it was now or never to confront them and get her cloak back, but as she moved to break her cover she heard rustling behind her and she turned just in time to see Garro leaping out of the forest roaring angrily. Twilight had no time to react and just before the demon was on her a blue blur shot towards her and tackled her out of the way.

Twilight and the pony who had tackled her rolled several meters before coming to stop with the alicorn looking up into a pair of beautiful magenta eyes filled with concern and fear. Twilight hesitated for the briefest second not understanding why this mare she recognized as Rainbow Dash had just endangered her life for her. They didn’t know each other yet the pegasus had put herself in danger and was now worried about her. Twilight shook her head to clear it from these distracting thoughts, and roughly pushed Rainbow Dash off of her before facing Garro.

The ice lord was barely able to hold himself up, yet here he was just as determined as her to end this. That was one of the things she respected about her foe, he never gave up, and never surrendered, preferring to fight as long as there was life left in his body. They were all traits they both shared.

Twilight teleported high into the air gathering shadows in her hands before diving on top of the massive snow tiger. The shadows formed long sharp spikes, but before she could impale them through his heart Garro rolled over crushing her beneath his heavy body. Her armor held under his weight and she drove her fist into his spine with enough force to dislodge a vertebrae, but Garro rolled off her before she could tear his spine out of his body. Her sword was several meters away, too far away for her to collect in time before Garro’s next attack.

But it never came, the unicorn named Sunset Shimmer rushed forward multicolored flames bursting from her palms straight towards them. Twilight rolled out of the way not wanting to get caught in the power of the Elements of Harmony. She didn’t have to worry though, the unicorn obviously had no experience wielding such powerful artefacts and was acting on blind instinct alone. Twilight briefly wondered how she was able to defeat Nightmare Moon, and she marked it down as blind luck, mixed with a good instinctual knowledge of magic.

Twilight watched as the flames enveloped Garro, but before they could do much more than weaken him the demon faded into mist once more. Twilight sighed with resignation at the fact it was going to be a long time before they saw each other again. She felt movement behind her and turned around to see the pegasus Rainbow Dash walking towards her. “You risked your life for me,” Twilight said. “I won’t forget that.” Rainbow Dash remained silent as she stared fearfully at the alicorn, or more specifically her body. Wondering what was wrong with her Twilight looked down at her body, and despite the seven six inch icicles piercing through her abdomen and chest, she started laughing as she realized Garro’s spell hadn’t meant to kill her, but temporally weaken her armor's defenses, and she had been so focused on taking him down she hadn’t even noticed his attack. She coughed and blood Spattered on the ground, and the last thing she saw before passing out was Rainbow Dash rushing forward to catch her before she hit the ground.