Lions, Tigers and.... Ponies?!

Viktor woke up to the sun shining through the window the next morning. He yawned and then proceeded stretch his arms before the memories of what had happened yesterday slammed into him with the force of a freight train. So we truly are in a world where sentient horses, or in this case “ponies” are the dominant species here. Add to that Carlos, Alex, Kate and I are now actual big cats, this is definitely one of the weirdest experiences I've had in my life… he thought wryly as he stood up. He then heard Carlos groan, “Five more minutes….” from where he was curled up on the bed with Alexandra. He chuckled before letting out a low growl. Carlos leapt about a foot in the air, banging his head on the

overhang above the bed before crashing back down and ejecting Alexandra, who yelped in surprise. Both Tigers glared at Viktor, who was managing to keep a straight face.

“Very funny…” Carlos growled with a deadpan look just as Katelyn sat up yawning.

“Uuugh, that was the worst sleep I’ve had for a while…. Those dreams didn't make any sense….” she muttered, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. “Getting woken up by a “pop” sound in the middle of the night didn't help…”

Viktor glanced sharply at his sister. “You had weird dreams also?” He asked, Carlos and Alexandra also giving Katelyn a surprised look.

The Panther nodded. “Yeah, us in the Stuffed Animal Kingdom, fighting Beasties, chatting with the other animals, but the weird thing was that both Joey and Courtney were in there also...”

Viktor frowned. What she had described was exactly what he had seen in his dreams also. “Is it possible that they were memories?” He asked.

Carlos snorted. “Memories? Please, they were just weird dreams, probably brought on by what happened last night.” He said, flicking his ear.

“Probably…” the lion said. “But somehow, I'm not convinced.”

“How about we worry about it later, right now, we need to go and make sure those Beasties don't get their claws, paws, or whatever they use for hands on the kids here.” Katelyn said.

As the four cats headed for the door, they heard the voices of Luna and Celestia yelling from the window. “You always get the praise, all I seem to be is a joke to everyone else!”

The Princess of the night’s voice was close to tears, “I just want to be as important as you!”

The rest was indistinguishable as Shield Breaker opened the door. “You’re needed at the throne room.” She said, her voice shaking.

“Everything okay? Sounded like a ruckus was going on…” Carlos asked.

“It's none of your concern.” The mare answered sharply. Carlos raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

“Okay, sheesh…” the tiger muttered.

Besides the guards the four had met, Alexandra noticed that there were a lot more guards escorting them with weapons at the ready.Okay, something is up…. There weren't as many guards escorting us last time, so what's going on?

As they reached the throne room doors, they burst open and Luna walked out, a look of anger on her face as she stormed past the group. “Geez, someone's not a morning person…” Carlos muttered before getting whacked on the back of the head by Alexandra. “Ow!”

Hmm… wonder if it has something to do with all that yelling earlier… Viktor thought as he and the others were escorted inside. Celestia was at her throne, rubbing her temples as if she was getting a headache.

“Your highness.” Viktor said, nodding his head in greeting. “You wanted us?”

Celestia looked up to see the four standing in front of the throne and nodded. “Yes, I had recently gotten a report that three fillies, two unicorns and one Pegasus and a earth pony colt had been taken last night. We don't know where they've been taken, but we hope that thou will be able to find them and bring them back safely.” Unseen by the four, Shield Breaker choked back a sob.

“If they haven't been eaten already….” Katelyn muttered.

Viktor gave her a warning glance before saying, “We’ll see what we can do. Incidentally, what was with the shouting earlier? We could hear it from our room.”

An embarrassed blush tinted Celestia's cheeks. “It was nothing, just Luna complaining about something.” All four cats raised their eyebrows in unison.

“If that was complaining, I'm a sheep.” Carlos said, “It sounded like she wanted some recognition from your subjects and she's not getting it.”

Celestia's eyes narrowed. “What happens between my sister and I is of no concern to thee. You need not worry about our problems when we have a bigger problem on our hooves.” She said stiffly.

“Very well. But a word of warning Princess, it may not be our problem but I’ve seen enough fighting in families to know that if you don't give at least some recognition to Luna, it will come back to haunt you in the worst way possible…” Viktor said.

“Noted. Captain Shield Breaker will lead you to where you need to go, but after that, you’re on your own.” Celestia said, an annoyed look on her face. Viktor nodded before he and the others left the throne room. I don't need some cat to tell me what to do! I'm not one of my subjects! She thought in anger, unaware that in Luna's room, her sister was sobbing on her bed.

It's not fair! Why does Celestia get all the praise while I sit in the sidelines unnoticed?!  I'm tired of being in her shadow! She thought angrily.

“Then why not remove her from her throne and take over?” A voice said next to her. She looked up to see a midnight black Alicorn in battle armor next to her, with teal draconic eyes and pointed teeth.

“Wh...who are you?” Luna asked in shock, earning a demented chuckle from it.

“Isn’t it obvious? I am… you…” it said, “Together, we can make Celestia pay for how she's treated you and bring an eternal night! You’ll be worshipped even more than Celestia!”

Luna looked away for a few seconds before saying, “I may be angry at my sister, but I will not take her life or her child’s!”

The Alicorn snarled, “You will! I don't care about the brat or Celestia, they are only obstacles to you ruling Equestria!” She then leapt at Luna before vanishing completely.

Luna looked around before a massive spike of pain forced her to her knees. YOU WILL SUBMIT!  Her double yelled inside her head.

“No! I will not harm my sister or my future niece or nephew!” Luna yelled. But years of anger and sadness had taken its toll on her, and she could feel herself weakening.

But the thought of her sister gave her strength, and she managed to fight off the attack. But the effort had left her very weak, and she collapsed on her bed, her vision darkening as sleep overtook her.

Meanwhile, in the Everfree Forest near Ponyville…

“Geez, finding those kids is proving to be harder than I thought!” Carlos panted as the four ran through the forest.

The four had left Shield Breaker after they had arrived at their destination, Katelyn having managed to catch the scent before they had even reached the site. But after following it for 100 yards, the scent was lost and the four were now scouring the forest for any sign of the four kids.

“Gee, and I thought this was gonna be easy!” the Panther snarked.

They stopped at a small grove of trees, panting for breath. “Okay… so what do we do now?” Alexandra asked.

Viktor opened his mouth to answer when he heard something nearby. He looked around to see what it was and froze when he saw a cage holding the four kids in question. The three fillies, two of which looked like they were in their teens were huddled together while the colt watched the four with a scared look in his eyes. The lion then gave out orders to the others, using their character names. “Minerva, Ares, keep an eye out for any Beasties. Venus, you’re with me.”

“You’ve got it.” Carlos said before he and Katelyn took up sentry positions.

Both Viktor and Alexandra walked over to the cage, and while the tigress watched for any signs of Beasties or Everfree creatures, Viktor smashed the lock off with a single blow. “Don't worry little ones, we’re here to make sure you get back to your parents safely.”  He  said gently to the four captives. As he looked closely at them, he saw that the two unicorn fillies looked almost exactly like Shield Breaker, but the pegasus and earth pony were strangers to him.

The fillies squeaked in fear, while the colt gave the lion a suspicious look before saying, “Who are you? You don't look like those monsters…”

“I'm Pallo of the Night Pride, my team and I were sent by the Princesses to rescue you three.” Viktor said. The three fillies looked up when he mentioned the Princesses, the two unicorns fillies stood up but the pegasus filly struggled to get up before she fell back down onto the floor of the cage. Viktor could see several bruises on her and one of her wings along her left back leg were held out awkwardly, as if they were broken, and a flash of anger went through him at the sight of it. “Can you two help her ?” He asked the two unicorns. They nodded before one of them levitated the pegasus onto the other's back.

Just as the four kids were about to walk out of the cage, Carlos yelled, “LOOK OUT!” Viktor spun around to see a Beastie charge at him and Alexandra, six others following it.

“Kids, get out of the cage and get behind that tree! We’ll take care of these guys!” Viktor yelled before charging towards the Beasties with a roar.

“C’mon!” The colt said, leading the three fillies to a nearby tree. The four then hunkered down and watched the ensuing battle unfold.

“You’re not getting those kids, Beastie!” Katelyn snarled, landing a powerful overhead blow to the one she was fighting.The creature staggered, allowing her to deliver a finishing blow that put it out of action for good, only for a second Beastie to slap her out of the way. “Ooof!” She grunted as she slammed into the ground, winded. The Beastie then started to approach the tree where the four kids were hiding, only for Carlos to slam into it.

“Where do you think you’re going, Beastie?” He growled, before delivering a multitude of powerful paw strikes to the creature, his claws dealing massive amounts of damage.

“ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!” The Beastie roared in pain and anger before he backed off and ran. “You haven't stopped anything! We’ll get those kids yet!” It yelled as it retreated.

Carlos then turned to see two more Beasties run off, two others having fallen in battle.

“Tell your master Equestria is under our protection!” He heard Viktor roar to them. “If he wants the children of this world, he’ll have to go through us!”

The tiger then turned to where the kids were hiding. “You guys can come out now, it’s safe.” The colt and the three fillies, the pegasus laying on the colt's back, cautiously walked out from where they had hid during the fight.

“Let's take you back home. Your parents must be worried sick by now.” Alexandra said with a gentle smile. The kids nodded earnestly before the Pride arranged themselves so that the children were in the middle and they were on the outside, that way, they could defend the kids if anything tried to attack.

Within a few hours, they had returned to the castle. Shield Breaker, who was on duty that moment, gave a cry of relief and ran to the two unicorn fillies, who with a squeal of “Mom!”, met her half way. The fillies held their mother, who was sobbing with happiness and relief, tightly.

Shield Breaker then looked up with tears in her eyes at the four cats and said, “Thank you so much for saving my girls… I… I don't know what I would have done if I had lost them to those creatures….”

Viktor scuffed the ground with his paws, embarrassed. “It was nothing… but we need to get the other two inside, one of them is badly injured.” Shield Breaker nodded before the group went inside.

Later in the throne room….

“We cannot thank thee enough for saving these four.” Celestia said, “Thou hast proven that you truly are protectors.”

After the four had returned with the kids, the pegasus filly was taken to the local doctor, and was afterwards was taken home with both her leg and wing in a cast. The earth pony colt had also been taken home to his parents.

The four cats bowed their heads in respect. “It is what we were made to be.” Carlos said, before he realized what he had said. The others looked at him in either surprise (in the case of the rest of the Night Pride) or shock (in Celestia's case).

“Err…. Excuse us for a moment?” He asked. Celestia nodded and the four left the throne room.

“Guys…” Viktor said, his tone showing how shaken he was, “I think… I think we're slowly turning into the actual characters…”

“Weren't we already turned into them?” Carlos asked in surprise.

“In body, but not in mind.” Viktor pointed out. “But our minds are now changing to the characters we became, Carlos just proved it when he spoke to Celestia.”

“How…. How long until we fully become the actual Night Pride?” Katelyn asked, her voice shaking.

“Hopefully not for at least five or ten years. But that's just a guess…”  Viktor said, shrugging his shoulders.

“I hope so…” Carlos muttered, his tail twitching nervously.

The other two murmured agreement before the four then returned to the throne room.

“Is everything okay?” Celestia asked, concern in her voice.

“Yes, your highness. It wasn't anything too important.” Viktor said, giving the others a warning look.

Other than a puzzled look, Celestia gave the matter no further thought. The four then headed to their room, but when they opened the door, they got a surprise in the form of a small bear in a red vest, with a single scar on one eye and a bandage over his right paw, and wielding a double-edged sword.

Four voices spoke together in shock. “Orson!?”