Darkest Star

Chapters

Prologue: A Shadow Returns
Chapter One: The Sky Above
Chapter Two: The Earth Below
Chapter Three: The Shadows Revealed
Chapter Four: A Titan Rises
Chapter Five: Dual Revelations
Chapter Six: Age vs Youth
Chapter Seven: The Sun and the Star
Chapter Eight: Old Friends
Chapter Ten: Verse Polluesum
Chapter Eleven: Shy Determination
Chapter Twelve: Wounds, Old and New
Chapter Thirteen: Worst Knightmares
Chapter Fourteen: One's True Battle
Epilogue: Loss
Chapter Nine: Harmony and Disharmony

Prologue: A Shadow Returns

Prologue
A Shadow Returns

“Honestly, Princess Luna, I do not know how you managed to do all this with one simple scroll seeker spell.” The aged cream colored librarian unicorn sighed with exasperation.

All around her lay scattered scrolls of various sizes. A pair of bookshelves leaned half tipped over against their studier brothers. In the middle of this mess stood a purple unicorn pegasus with a flowing mane of stars, a dark crown rested on her head, and she wore silver horseshoes.

“Truly I am sorry dear Scroll Keeper; thy scrolls swarmed all around me without warning. I know not what went wrong,” Princess Luna apologized, her face and eyes downcast momentarily as a pained whimper threatened at the edge of her voice. She pushed back the whine, lifted her head back up, and fixed her eyes as calmly as she could on the librarian.

She stood as straight and tall as she could manage, trying to maintain her air of royal dignity despite what had happened. Princess Luna did not want to admit it, but disasters like this were happening with greater and greater frequency around her. It was as if her magic was turning against her and she could not do anything right anymore.

How embarrassing was it that a ruler of Equestria could not properly retrieve a scroll without causing disasters like this?

The old librarian mare’s expression softened. She could see that the Princess was distraught enough over the whole matter and needed no further chastising. The unicorn had heard stories of late about the Princess’ misfortune, how strange accidents kept happening to things around her and more recently she had heard that accidents were even happening to the ponies around her.

“It is alright Princess Luna, quite frankly I have this new assistant, and she cannot seem to put away anything correctly. I was going to have to reshelve this section anyway. Why don’t you attend to some other business? When I find the scroll you were looking for, I will send it to you, wherever you may be.”

Princess Luna was about to protest that the aged mare should not have to clean up her mess alone and insist that she should help. However, she quickly realized that even if it had been appropriate for royalty to perform such a menial task, the old mare just wanted to be rid of her as soon as possible much like the rest of the castle.

So, with a sad sigh, Princess Luna gathered up what remained of her dignity. “Very well. We are most grateful to thou, dear Scroll Keeper. Please send the scroll to my royal chambers when you are able to find it.”

“As you wish, Princess,” The cream colored mare nodded curtly, which Princess Luna returned before leaving.

The librarian turned back to the mess and once again let out a long sigh, her evening would be wasted cleaning up the Princess’ mess. It took several hours, but finally, the librarian had the shelves, scrolls, and books back into place. There had been a few misshelved articles that she had found and returned to their proper section, so she really would have to have a talk with her new assistant in the morning.

Now all she had to do was finish up a bit of her own work then she could finally go home and get some much-needed rest. However, as she made her way back to her office, there was a sudden powerful gust of wind that snuffed out the libraries candles and plunged it into gloomy darkness.

“Oh great, now what?” The old unicorn grumbled to herself. The annoyance that played across her face deepened to near anger as she conjured up a spell to set her horn aglow.

The candles were set to automatically light themselves when Princess Celestia lowered the sun but had to be manually relit if they went out during the night. The cream color mare took this as a bit of good luck since now she would not have to go and blow out each candle herself. And yet she could not help but wonder what had happened, as there had never been a draft in the library before.

Suddenly, the room echoed with the eerily loud sound of clopping hooves coming from behind the old librarian. She jumped at the unexpected noise and whipped around to see what was stalking around the library so long after it had closed, but found only empty aisles and rows of bookshelves. Looking up and down the rows for several long minutes, the librarian found nothing and the sound had gone almost as quickly as it came.

Deciding that the noise was just some strange acoustic trick brought about by the recent renovation and reorganization of the library last month, the old mare turned and started back to her office. She had only taken a few steps when the sound of beating wings and a rush of air as if something had just flown past her, caused the cream colored unicorn to jump again. This time, the old librarian shone the light of her horn up to the ceiling above and all around her, but once again found nothing.

She was about to pass it off as another acoustic trick caused by the mysterious draft, the fault of poor workmanship during the renovation she imagined when there was a sudden flash of magical energy. She turned to see one of the bookshelves teeter and creak with strain before falling towards her.

With surprising agility the old mare leaped forward, slipping past the shelf before it crashed into the floor where she had been standing. It cracked and splintered, spilling its contents all over the floor. The old mare panted, more due to fear than exertion, and stared wide-eyed at the fallen shelf.

What was happening? She pondered in horrified astonishment at how close she had been to meeting her end, strands of her gray mane had slipped loose of their bun and fallen across her wide eyes, the pupils shrunk to pinpricks. Her stomach sank as if she’d swallowed a heavy stone and her knees shook like jelly beneath her. She laid there frozen in fear wondering if moving would cause another shelf to fall on her.

The shelf had not been knocked over the wind or bad luck. No, somepony else was there with Scroll Keeper, trying to kill her. She needed to get to her office, convinced that she would be safe there. It had only one entrance, so she would be able to see whomever it was trying to get her before they could reach her.

She moved forward, but around her more shelves started to wobble. She jumped forward, dodging one, nearly jumping right into another. She quickly jumped back, trapping herself between the two fallen shelves. Another fell just short of her to her left as if to emphasize how trapped she was, and all she could do was duck for cover as the shelves all around came down on top of her.

The library was still and quiet for several long moments before the sound of groaning filled the room. The old mare slowly pushed her way through a narrow space between two fallen shelves. Her body was wracked with pain as scrolls and books fell away from her, her strength finally giving out with only half her body extracted from the fallen shelves. With barely any strength left, she could only hope that the sound of the falling shelves would soon bring the guard ponies to investigate and hoped too that her attacker had left believing the job to be done. After a few long moments, she decided she could not just lay there and do nothing, so she gathered what remained of her strength and set her horn aglow so that the guard ponies could find her more easily.

Soon after, the librarian heard the sound of clopping hooves and the old unicorn turned her head to look. However, rather than a concerned guard pony, the cream colored mare saw a dark purple pony standing over her looking down with contempt. The old mare’s eyes shot wide with terror and a name came to her quivering lips.

“Nightmare Moon...”

Princess Celestia watched the paramedic ponies load the delirious mare into the medical carriage. She had looked over the scene herself; a half-dozen shelves knocked down all intended for the old librarian they had found under the last few. She had several broken bones and severe bruising all across her body, but she would be alright in the hands of the Canterlot medical staff. What was far more concerning was the one whom the old mare was accusing of the attempt on her life.

Dozens of students had seen Princess Luna and the old mare in the library arguing over the shelves that princess had accidentally knocked over. Ponies were already beginning to believe that Princess Luna was cursed and that accidents were doomed to happen to anypony who was around her. However, now it was beginning to seem as if these incidents were not the result of some curse but rather revenge against any minor slight against the princess of the night.

Of course the more accidents that occurred, the more ponies avoided her, and the more ponies avoided her, the less sure of herself Princess Luna became. Before, Princess Luna had been returning more to her old self and her duties as Equestrian Princess of the Night, now she hid herself away more with each incident.

Still, as concerned as Princess Celestia was with her sister’s welfare, she could not ignore the warning signs. Nightmare Moon was an angry, spiteful pony, and if she were resurfacing in Princess Luna again, these incidents would just be the beginning.

Why was this happening? Wasn't a thousand years of separation not enough of a punishment? She had thought she had fulfilled the prophecy by trusting Twilight Sparkle and her friends to take up the Elements of Harmony and undo the evil that was Nightmare Moon. What if the oracle’s warning that Luna would never be able to escape her punishment was true, and no matter how clever Celestia thought she had been there was truly no way to avoid that fate.

Shaking the thoughts from her mind, Princess Celestia sighed and opened her wings, taking a few galloping steps before lifting herself into the air. She flew swiftly back to her throne room and, in that time, decided that to put her trust in the hooves of her most dedicated student. Twilight Sparkle had once already saved her dear sister when she could not, and so perhaps she and her friends could do the same once again.

Author's Note

For various reason of Busy schedules and inability to find alternatives this is the only edited chapter. This is too bad as I think editors are very important and something I very much need, I just love the feedback of a good editor. Regardless the rest shall not have be peer edited though I did the best I'm able to edit my own work.

Chapter One: The Sky Above

Chapter One
The Sky Above

“So whatta think’s up with Twilight callin’ us all so early?” Rainbow Dash asked with a yawn looking down at her blonde-maned friend as she lazily followed her hovering a few feet off the ground looking like she was still half asleep.

“It ain’t a social call that’s fer sure; Spike was sure in a hurry to tell everybody. And whacha mean early Rainbow Dash, it’s almost noon.” Applejack’s green eyes met her friend’s with a critical glare. Applejack, unlike her blue friend, was wide awake and had been working the farm since sun up, she knew Rainbow Dash liked to sleep in, but this was excessive even for her.

“The Weather Patrol doesn’t have to clear the sky till this afternoon, so I stayed up late reading Daring Doo last night and was going to sleep in.” Rainbow Dash said gesturing to the sky which was full of wandering clouds.

“Sleepin’ in mah trees ya mean,” Applejack rolled her eyes.

“So?” Rainbow Dash shrugged.

“So I was gonna buck that tree t’day,” Applejack shot back a glare.

“Oh like, there’s not a hundred other trees you could have bucked,” The old argument started up again from there. The pair quarreled, but there was not very much animosity in their fight. It was like another competition between the two, each one trying to outwit the other with some clever argument that the other had not considered.

“Ah’m just sayin’- Oh howdy there Fluttershy.” Applejack suddenly exclaimed looking past the blue pegasus to the yellow coat and pink mane of her other close pegasus friend.

Rainbow Dash gave her friend a confused look for a moment before turning to see their friend flying up to them.

“Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sneak up on you guys, but I didn’t want to interrupt your fight,” Fluttershy said softly staring down at the ground as she landed next to her friends.

“We weren’t fighting,” The blue pegasus and orange earth pony said at once.

“Sounded like a fight to me. Oh, but not a no holds bar cage match with diving elbow slams and body tackles, that would be so cool but where would we get a folding chair at this hour?” Pinkie Pie announced excitedly suddenly popping up out of nowhere to skip alongside her friends and she pondered the problem of where to get the chair a hoof rubbing her chin.

“We weren’t fighting,” The pair declared again.

“Really? Fighting again you two, it is such an unladylike display especially in public,” A white unicorn with a deep purple mane chimed in trotting up to the group who had long since reached the town of Ponyville.

The pair started to protest again but stopped themselves with a sigh, giving up on their effort to convince their friends they were not in fact fighting. There was little point in trying to argue given that their friends never believed them when they say they were not fighting and in truth, they did get into a fair share of real fights this just was not one of them; besides they had reached Golden Oaks Library.

“Twilight dear we are here darling!” Rarity called to the upper rooms of the tree as they entered. None of them bother to knock, it was a public library after all, and none of the six were ever barred from each other’s homes.

In moments they were all in the library, the door suddenly slamming shut behind them and Twilight Sparkle appearing from a flash of light, she and Spike stood in the middle of the room. “I’m sorry to have to call you all here on such short notice, but the Princess wants us for a mission of the utmost importance. The Princess has sent us a special guest here to Ponyville and wants us to do all we can to make sure she feels welcome.”

“We get to be hostesses to a friend of the Princess, that’s simply wonderful darling!” Rarity gushed hugging at the purple unicorn who ducked out of the way leaving Spike to be scooped up in the white unicorn’s hooves. The little dragon’s eyes filled with hearts as the unicorn cuddled him, too excited to care that she had missed her friend. For his part, Spike had no complaints about his new position, and the others responded with stifled giggling.

“Who is it Twilight, who is going to be staying with us?” Twilight Sparkle paused as if unsure about something. Rarity seemed very eager about this visitor and the others all looked on curiously too, but none of them knew yet of the troubling circumstances around their visitor’s arrival.

“Princess Luna,” The purple mare admitted.

However, before Twilight Sparkle could explain further Rarity’s eyes shot wide and she began to sway uncertainly back and forth. “P-Prin... Princess Luna is coming here!” Rarity stammered dropping Spike from her hooves without even realizing it, the small purple dragon quickly jumped back to his feet and moved to catch the tipsy unicorn should she fall.

“A visit from Princess Luna, how wonderful,” Fluttershy exclaimed quietly with a smile. Then a worried look came over her face, and she shrunk down nervously, “Oh umm... she’s not going to bring all that scary stuff like the last time she was here, is she? One Nightmare Night a year is enough... actually a little less would be better.”

“Princess Luna was pretty cool last Nightmare Night; she pulled some awesome pranks!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed with a chuckle, then frowned remembering how the Princess had scared her with her own thundercloud trick.

“Why in tarnation is the Princess comin’ t’ stay here?” Applejack asked a concerned look playing across her face, she didn’t want to ruin everyone’s excitement, but she could tell there was more to what Twilight Sparkle wanted to say on the matter. The others all stopped their excited chatter and looked from Applejack to Twilight Sparkle curious as well now.

“Well, the letter said that Princess Celestia wanted to give her sister a chance to relax for a while. Being away for a thousand years has left her a little displaced and after taking in so much over the past couple of years has left her a little drained.” Twilight Sparkle explained pacing back and forth in front of the girls. It still seemed like there was something she was not telling them, but before anypony could venture to ask Spike jumped up in with an explanation.

“Ya, that and she’s going nuts.”

“Spike!” Twilight Sparkle and Rarity snapped at the small dragon with disappointed glares. Spike backed up from the unicorns twisting his claw nervously, a little hurt from being chased by the two mares he loved the most in their group.

“There’s no reason a sweet dragon like you should be spreading such rumors,” Rarity added causing a smile to spread across the green spiked dragon’s face. Rarity turned back to Twilight Sparkle, “When is the Princess going to arrive Twilight?”

“WE HATH ALREADY ARRIVED!” A forceful voice sounded from atop the stairs. The girls turned to see the proud form of the Princess descend the stairs.

The girls all bowed low, save Twilight Sparkle who stepped up to the stairs. “Princess Luna I didn’t realize you were coming so soon.” She said giving the princess a short bow, “I haven’t had time to make any plans or schedules, or organize a celebration for your arrival.”

“Umm no, such formalities won’t be necessary Twilight Sparkle, for as thou knows I am here unofficially.” Princess Luna said, no longer forcefully projecting her voice; she had only really done it before out of habit. In fact, she seemed uncharacteristically unsure of herself, and even a little embarrassed by the whole situation. “My sister did not feel that I would be able to sufficiently ‘relax’ if I came to Ponyville as one of the Royal Pony Sisters. She even has me cast an illusion spell that would disguise my appearance.”

Pinkie Pie tilted her head a look of confusion spreading across her features. She stepped around the princess looking her up and down her head tilting from side to side. Princess Luna watched the odd pink mare with abrasive concern. Finally, Pinkie Pie finished her inspection and pursed her lips and furrowed her brow into a critical pout.

“Are you taller,” She asked at last.

“Um no,” Princess Luna responded with confusion.

“Shorter?”

“No.”

“More purplie?”

“No?”

“Pinkie the spell doesn’t work like that,” Twilight Sparkle said shaking her head at her friend. “The Princess looks the same to us because we know it’s her, other ponies won’t know it’s her.”

“They will unless she wears a disguise,” Pinkie Pie said critically.

“She’s wearing a disguise you just can’t see it,” Twilight Sparkle nearly growled.

“Alright,” Pinkie Pie said letting the argument pass, “But it’s not a very good disguise if you can’t see it.”

Twilight Sparkle groaned slapping a hoof to her forehead; the others shook their heads as well. Princess Luna paused for a moment, not understanding why the pink mare was confused about her disguise as Twilight Sparkle had done an excellent job explaining it, she would not expect any less from her sister’s top student. She had grown up around unicorns, so magic was second nature to her, and she had hardly ever met a pony who did not understand its workings. When the princess thought back on the conversation taking it for Pinkie Pie’s point of view, she found herself stifling a laugh.

The others looked at Princess Luna shuddering with suppressed laughter and realized as well how ridiculous a disguise that could not be seen sounded and let out their own amused giggles. Soon eveypony was laughing, except for Pinkie Pie who had been serious for a change, but never one to be left out of a laugh she too started laughing loudly as well.

They all enjoyed the laughter for a few more moments before Princess Luna coughed into her hoof drawing everypony’s attention back to her. “Regardless of any disguise I am still a member of royalty, and it is my responsibility to make good use of my time. As such I do not require personal attendance, but do require thou, my subjects, to allow me to be useful during my stay.”

“Say what?” Rainbow Dash asked rubbing her head in confusion.

“She’s sayin’ she’s wantin’ t’ help out while she’s stayin’ with us,” Applejack said with an approving nod.

“Oh, but we couldn’t let a member of royalty get her hooves dirty performing menial tasks!” Rarity exclaimed with a shocked gasp.

“I have to agree with Rarity on this Princess,” Twilight Sparkle said glancing from the princess to Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. She could only imagine what Princess Celestia would say about the state Princess Luna would return in after those three got through with her. “Maybe you could just help me here at the library or Rarity at her shop.”

“Oh yes,” Rarity quickly agreed with a large smile, “I would love for a princess to model for me.”

Princess Luna backed up a step from the eager unicorns remembering the recent trouble in the Caterlot library, and the excessively pink dress Rarity had put her in last Nightmare Night. “No that’s quite alright; I have had enough of such things at the castle. Perhaps I could find something to do that is more... out in the open.”

At that suggestion, Rainbow Dash jumped up into the air hovering over the others and waved her hoof eagerly, “Ohh; the Princess can come help me, I gotta clear out the clouds from yesterday’s downpour and I could use the help.”

Princess Luna nodded to this, “Yes that is an excellent idea. I would like very much to explore my pegasi heritage. From what I have been told Rainbow Dash is a great credit to pegasi kind and would make a fine instructor for the education of modern pegasi ponies.”

Twilight and Rarity stared agape at the princess, “But... but... you can’t,” They stammered together.

“Heh, heh, sorry guys, Princess’ comin’ with me today,” Rainbow Dash said pumping her arms triumphantly. “Yes, now I can get the job done twice as fast and spend the rest of the day chillaxing.”

“Rainbow Dash,” Applejack yanked the rainbow maned pegasus out of the air by her tail, causing her to crash flat to the floor, “Princess Luna’s not ‘ere so ya can go weaselin’ out of yer responsibilities.”

“I ain’t weaselin’ outta anything. Me and the Princess are gonna hang out after we’re done, you don’t have to be sore just cuz you lost our rematch yesterday.” Rainbow Dash shot back glaring up at her blond-maned friend.

“Y'all know ya only won ‘cause ah was plum tuckered from getting ready fer the rain while ya sat on yer flank and let the other pegasi do all the hard work.” Applejack countered glaring back at her friend.

“Well I’ll be doing all the hard work today so guess we’ll settle who’s better this afternoon!” Rainbow Dash said flicking her tail from Applejack’s grasp, stood, and turned to stand face to face with her friend.

“Deal,” Applejack agreed, and the pair spat on their hooves and pressed them together sealing the pact.

Princess Luna, who had been a little worried that a full on brawl might erupt from the argument, breathed a sigh of relief. Twilight Sparkle groaned into her hoof at the thought of letting the lunar princess go with her blue friend, while Rarity became almost faint with shock at the brash display being put on in front of the princess.

Pinkie Pie’s mind was a swirl of exciting plans and potential responsibilities; she briefly considered throwing the princess a secret celebration for her arrival, or an impromptu party for the winner of the heated race. Then she remembered that would interfere with her usual afternoon plans and decided against it, after all, she had so much to talk about today.

Fluttershy just smiled at the pair and turned to the others and said, “Well I really should be getting back to my animals, I will see you all later.”

The others all waved her off, but none of their minds seems to on the yellow pegasus at the moment, but as soon as she opened the door to the library, Rainbow Dash shot over to Princess Luna and grabbed her. “Come on let’s hit it,” She said and rushed the princess to the door before Twilight Sparkle or Rarity could offer another word of protest.

Rainbow Dash grunted as she slammed her hooves through a large cloud that broke apart into three smaller clouds. She surveyed her work with a pleased nod and dashed back to Princess Luna who was watching nearby. “There see one good buck will break up the big ones and one more will make the little one just poof away.”

“I see,” Princess Luna said with a curt nod, her head held high as she surveyed the massive gray storm cloud that covered the area. “It is good to see that some things have not changed in my thousand year absence.”

Rainbow Dash frowned, she was started to feel a certain air of pompous arrogance around the princess, the same kind she felt when she would be forced to spend time around the Canterlot elite. Princess Luna kept her head held so high that she always seemed to have her nose in the air and was looking down on ponies; Rainbow Dash did not like ponies to look down on her. The way she spoke was starting to annoy Rainbow Dash as well; she always sounded as if she already knew what Rainbow Dash was telling her and that it was something that was obvious. That was not something Rainbow Dash was willing to take from another pony, and soon her annoyed frown crept into a sly smile as the brash pegasus decided to knock the princess down a notch. “All right let’s get started then,” Rainbow Dash shouted rushing up to the large cloud. “I’ll break up the big guys, and you clear the little ones, ok. Ready?”

“Of course,” The Princess shouted back moving up and bucking a cloud firmly, dispelling it. She moved from cloud to cloud, dispelling each easily as if she were a trained member if the of the Weather Patrol. It was a bit of a workout for the princess, but she pushed herself to maintain a steady pace focused on doing a good job. All of her recent attempts to absorb more of her royal duties from her sister had resulted in miserable failures due to her poor luck, so she was determined to prove she could at least work as well and hard as her subjects.

Rainbow Dash watched the princess as she worked while zipping around herself to break up the larger clouds and float them back towards the princess of the night with a beat of her wings. When the princess had settled into a steady pace the blue pegasus chuckled to herself and sped up a little faster.

As the volume of clouds began to increase so did Princess Luna’s efforts. She rushed desperately back and forth keeping the clouds on the left and right from sneaking past her as the collection in front of her continued to grow. Rainbow Dash was careful to make sure none of the clouds bumped into each other, which would cause them to merge back into a larger cloud. However, there was still a veritable army of clouds amassing before the princess.

It was not long before the constant rushing back and forth forced the purple princess to stop to catch her breath. Seeing the army of clouds massing before her, growing by the moment Princess Luna began to get concerned; perhaps Rainbow Dash was used to having a more seasoned pegasus helping her with a project like this. The blue eyed princess was determined to help, but at this rate, the mass of smaller cloud was threatening to create a bigger mess than any one large storm cloud.

Princess Luna flew up over the clouds with a strong flap of her wings hoping to convince the rainbow maned pegasus to slow down a bit. However, when she cleared the wall of clouds, a speeding cloud zipped over the others and slammed the starry-maned princess in the head, hitting like a fluffy pillow and disappearing with a puff like it had been bucked. The sudden attack sent Princess Luna off balance, and she tumbled back several feet before setting herself right again.

As Princess Luna shook off the dizziness, the sound of hysterical laughter came to her ears. She looked up to see the blue pegasus rolling around on a cloud holding her sides as she laughed uncontrollably. Noticing that Princess Luna was glaring across the sky at her Rainbow Dash rolled onto her stomach resting her chin up on her hooves, “Sorry Princess, my modern Weather Patrol methods ain’t too tough for you are they?”

A jolt of worry passed through the purple princess, and she quickly looked around to see if any pony had heard the blue pegasus, but thankfully they were safely alone. The fear of being found out passed and Princess Luna realized that the rainbow maned pegasus was making light of her, a royal princess. However, the blue-eyed princess let the anger pass without saying anything and calmed herself, maintaining her royal poise.

Princess Luna reminded herself that Rainbow Dash was not attempting to be malicious and that, as she had seen during Nightmare Night, the ruby-eyed pegasus was an impish trickster, but not mean, and clearly good at her job. A sudden competitive spirit flared to life in the princess of the night. She had been embarrassed by the speedy pegasus not just for falling for her trick, but also falling behind; this was something she could not let that stand.

“Nay, I simply noticed that the new clouds were coming slower and was checking to see if thy was taking a rest.” The starry-maned princess said coolly, “Pegasi excel at speed but are known for poor endurance, unlike earth ponies. Thou will have to rest quite a bit if thy wishes to defeat thy earth pony friend Applejack in thy race. I shall endeavor not to finish too quickly, so thou will have more time to rest.”

“What!” Rainbow Dash shouted jumping up from the cloud ready to tell the princess off, but she had already disappeared diving back down into the smaller clouds. Her horn was aglow with magic allowing Princess Luna to cut through the smaller clouds dispelling them with a flurry of kicks and swipes of her horn.

Rainbow Dash wanted to protest that using her horn was cheating, but a quick thought of the Iron Pony competition silenced her. “I’ll show her who’s the toughest and fastest around here.” The blue pegasus growled to herself shooting back to the large cloud.

They worked like a pair of furies, Rainbow Dash breaking up the large cloud like the unseen point of a jackhammer tearing through it repeatedly and the smaller clouds broke against the purple princess’ horn and hooves like waves breaking against the rocky shore. Slowly the tide of clouds grew smaller and smaller as the starry-maned princess caught up to the rainbow-maned pegasus.

Rainbow Dash tore through the last piece of the large cloud fracturing it into three smaller clouds. She smiled to herself, breathing heavily, and took a quick look around to confirm that no part of the large cloud had splintered and floated off without her notice. Satisfied that nothing had been left undone, she turned back expecting to see the princess still struggling to catch up. Instead, the blue pegasus turned to see the princess buck and slice through the last three clouds, a clear picturesque sky behind her.

The pair looked from the clear sky behind the other to each other, both panting heavily to catch their breaths. After a moment their eyes locked, the competitive spirit sparked by Rainbow Dash’s trick and Princess Luna’s snide comments was hardly snuffed by the exhaustion. In fact, since the cloud competition had effectively been a tie that spark had grown into a burning flame.

Without a word, the two mares shot forward pumping their wings furiously trying to out-fly each other. Rainbow Dash quickly took the lead, years of high-speed training allowing her to cut through the air without much resistance and her light pegasus body was easily carry through the air. Princess Luna fixed her eyes on the rainbow streak coming off the pegasus as she pushed herself to go faster, keeping pace for now.

Memories of such races with her sister returned to the princess of the night; she had not flown like this in so many years, even if she did not count her unfortunate imprisonment. Her life as a princess had put an end to such things; it had been all about how they presented themselves for so long she had forgotten about the freedom of the sky and the wind rushing around her. The feel of flying like this and the memories of good times with her dear sister brought a genuine smile to her face. The smile widened for a moment then turned into a determined grin as she pumped her wings harder putting more strength behind them then the smaller pegasus could and started to close the gap between them.

It was their shadows that first told Rainbow Dash that the princess had started to catch up. The rainbow maned pegasus always loved to watch her shadow ripple along the ground; it created the odd sensation that there was some dark mare racing along the ground with her. She had found this thought to be comforting like no matter how alone she was there was always somepony with her who could keep up with her even when she pushed herself to the limit. Although lately, she had not needed to take comfort in her shadow having found a real flesh and blood mare who could keep up with her, at least on the ground.

The blue mare had been so confident that her opponent had no chance of keeping up with her that she had taken a moment let her mind wander, but the sight of a second shadow catching up with her own snapped her back to reality. She could not believe her own eyes when she saw the second shadow running rapidly along the ground catching up with her own. Rainbow Dash looked back, and sure enough, there was the princess quickly closing the gap between them. The shock was quickly replaced by thrill, for very few ponies ever managed to keep up with Rainbow Dash in the air. She smiled; this was going to be a challenge.

Rainbow dived towards the ground, followed quickly by Princess Luna who only hesitated for a moment at her opponent’s sudden dive. There was, of course, no track or set course to this race, it was a test of who was the fastest and best flier, so naturally, it was whoever was in the lead that decided their path. Rainbow Dash led them into the rolling hills and sparse woods of the countryside, skimming along and weaving between the trees at near fatal speeds daring the princess to follow her.

Princess Luna had what felt like a lifetime of practice flying swiftly returning to her in the heated race. It took all of this considerable knowledge and experience, for the starry-maned princess stayed on the rainbow maned pegasus’ tail neither gaining nor losing any distance on the naturally skilled flier. Despite that Princess Luna could not help but smile at the annoyance she saw on Rainbow Dash’s face when the blue pegasus glanced back and realized she had not shaken the princess in the least.

Rainbow Dash growled in frustration, but could not help the small smile that spread across her face before lifting off from ground level arching back into the sky, Princess Luna followed. The blue pegasus struggled to keep her breathing level; she never had such an intense race in her life especially following so much hard work. She had already hit one wall and pushed past it, but a second was fast approaching, and when she hit that one she knew the purple princess would pull ahead of her; she knew she had to definitively end the race now before it became a test of endurance.

Both mares pumped their wings hard and fast arching up into the sky, Princess Luna’s strength and endurance allowing her to close the gap between them slowly. Their competitive spirits pushing them on to greater speeds neither holding anything back, but it was the blue-eyed princess that continued to gain. Princess Luna’s nose reached past Rainbow Dash’s flank when they reached the peak of their ascent, an unseen adjustment of the rose-eyed pegasus’ wing caused her to plummet down, Princess Luna following without delay.

Princess Luna smiled again to herself; Rainbow Dash may have thought that the drop would give her the advantage as her smaller body could cut through the air with less resistance, however, the purple princess’ larger heavier body allowed her to accelerate more quickly. The blue eyed princess gained more on the blue pegasus her nose reaching the base of her opponent's neck quickly then it stopped, and Rainbow Dash began to pull away. Princess Luna tried to pump her wings harder to recapture her speed, but she was already giving it everything she had, and the rose-eyed pegasus continued to pull away.

To the princess, it was as if the world had gone silent as she watched Rainbow Dash continue to pull away from her so fast it was as if Princess Luna had stopped moving. She could not believe it; she reached out with her hooves as if trying to grab her; a feeling of abandonment washing over her.

Sound returned to her world as a brilliant explosion of spectral light burst forth from Rainbow Dash who disappeared into the sky as nothing but a streak of rainbow. The wall of spectral light slammed into the princess, and everything went dark. Princess Luna felt the faintest sensation of tumbling through the air uncontrollably, then being steadied as if caught in somepony’s hooves followed by the inevitable reunion with the ground...

“...cess, Princ..., Princess! Oh please, please, please be ok, or Twilight’s gonna kill me!” Princess Luna groaned at the frantic voice of Rainbow Dash who was standing over her.

“You’re alive?” Rainbow Dash asked skeptically then jumped into the air with are relieved cheer as the princess sat up, “You’re alive!”

Rainbow Dash fluttered back down to Princess Luna looking down at the ground sheepishly. “Sorry that was my bad, I pushed myself so hard I ended up doing a Sonic Rainboom without meaning to. The shock wave must have knocked you for a loop, are you alright?” Rainbow Dash asked looking the princess over.

“Yes… I believe I am,” Princess Luna said with a nod and a small reassuring smile. She ached from the force of the Sonic Rainboom hitting her and looked as if she had just flown through a tornado. Her fur was scruffy, her mane and tail were spiked out in a dozen different directions, and her crown was askew, but there were no cuts or broken bones despite the great fall she must have suffered.

Assured the princess was alright Rainbow Dash could not help but break out into a giddy giggle, which she tried to stifle by bringing a hoof up to cover her mouth. “Sorry, but that race was so awesome! Nopony can even keep up with me when I’m flyin’. I’d thought you’d be a major slowpoke sittin’ around on a throne all day.”

Princess Luna gave Rainbow Dash a cold look when she started to laugh, thinking that she was laughing at the princess' very un-regal appearance. Realizing that the blue pegasus was complimenting her, the princess gave a small blush. “I thank thee Rainbow Dash; I once often raced with mine sister when we were but fillies.” Princess Luna explained gazing off into the distance for a moment lost in a fond memory.

“Mine sister Celestia always outshone me in all that we did, I felt no bitterness to her for this after all she was the eldest, but neither did I give up trying. Flying was the only thing I could do better then she and I would challenge her over and over; she was always very kind to humor me and never turned down a challenge. However, after we took the throne there was no longer time for such things, and I soon forgot all about such pleasures.”

Princess Luna looked grimly at the frowned as she remembered her time as co-ruler of Equestria and its conclusion. Rainbow Dash stood by watching the princess and soon began to keenly feel the need to say something reassuring in hopes of breaking through the gloomy feeling that had fallen around them. Rainbow Dash, however, was not very good at such things. She started and stopped a few times unable to find the right words.

“I thank thee Rainbow Dash,” Princess Luna said suddenly looking up with a smile saving Rainbow Dash from having to say anything. “Thy have been most kind allowing me to work and race with thee. I hope that we shall have the chance to do so again soon.”

Rainbow Dash almost blushed at the princess’ words. She was used to being praised, of course, being as awesome as she was, but this seemed different. The blue pegasus shook it off with a proud smile and puff of her chest. “Hey don’t worry about it, I’ll take ya on anytime, why don’t we go get some lunch, and I’ll give you another shot at me.” Rainbow Dash offered, inspecting and polishing a hoof casually.

Princess Luna smiled and took to the air with a few flaps of her wings, “I am afraid I must decline dear Rainbow Dash. I am afraid I am not used to staying up so late, and our work and play have left me rather wary. I think I shall retire to Twilight Sparkle’s library,” Princess Luna said turning to leave, but paused and turned back to add with a smile. “Besides thy friend Applejack would be most disappointed if thou missed thine rendezvous this afternoon.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes went wide realizing that she had forgotten all about her and Applejack’s rematch, the orange cowpony would have been furious if she failed to show up once again. Not to mention the blond mare counted her absence as a forfeit and Rainbow Dash was not about to lose now that she had just pulled ahead again. “Right well I’ll see you later ‘kay!” The rainbow maned pegasus shouted as she dashed off at full speed.

Princess Luna continued to smile at the rapidly disappearing mare for a few moments before she took off back to Twilight’s library.

“Oh my, Princess what happened?” Those were the first words out of Twilight Sparkle’s mouth when the deep purple princess returned, her mane, coat, and tail still horribly disheveled from her fall.

“Ya Princess you look terrible,” Spike chipped in from where he stood, holding a broom in the middle of the library’s main room.

“Spike!” Twilight Sparkle snapped at the young dragon.

“What?” Spike replied defensively shooting back Twilight Sparkle’s glare. “She looks like she took a Rainboom to the face.”

Princess Luna could not help but chuckle at Spike’s remarkably accurate assessment of what happened. “Do not worry Twilight Sparkle I merely took a tumble out of the sky, but I am all right.”

“You fell out of the sky!” Twilight Sparkle shrieked rushing to the princess’ side. “Oh, ohhh,” Twilight danced nervously from hoof to hoof. Then she snapped into a stiff stance, an angry look spread across her face, “I knew I shouldn’t have let you go with Rainbow Dash.”

“Oh, now thy stop this at once Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Luna said firmly taking on an almost motherly tone that made Twilight Sparkle look up curiously at the princess. “Thy friend Rainbow Dash was a fine hostess, and I enjoyed myself immensely. Now worry no more about this, I am wary and require peace and quiet to get a good day’s rest.” That said Princess Luna lifted her head regally and made her way to the stairs, though her messy state made the princess look quite humorous.

Twilight Sparkle was a little taken aback; she had not seen the princess in such good spirits since the end of last Nightmare Night. The purple unicorn smiled, her anger with Rainbow Dash was gone, for whatever she had done seemed to have worked.

“Of course Princess Luna, I’ll place a sound proof spell on the library,” Twilight said with a quick bow. “I have some rather nosey neighbors.”

Rainbow Dash rolled over in her sleep snuggling into her cloud bed, whatever dream brought such a content smile to her face would not be remembered in the morning.

Her mood was much improved from when she had flopped unceremoniously into her bed some hours earlier. The blue mare had lost the rematch to her blond friend without much of a fight, the hard afternoon labor and race with Princess Luna had taken quite a toll on her; a point that she related in great detail to her friend. This only served to give Applejack reason to tease Rainbow Dash, about almost being beaten by a princess. This, of course, led to a fight between the two close friends, especially when Rainbow Dash let slip that she had almost forgotten about the race and the declaration that another rematch was needed to settle things ‘once and for all’ was made once more.

The day’s events had left the rainbow maned pegasus exhausted and, turning down Applejack’s offer to stay the night; she had fallen straight into her cloud bed as soon as she got back home.

So deep asleep and engrossed in her sweet dreams that the blue pegasus would not have heard a crack of thunder erupting in the distance. So she had no hope of detecting the dark figure that flew up to her cloud house from moving as silent as a shadow as it settled upon her roof.

It moved, still totally silent, about the numerous curves and edges of the cloud house settling about an undoubtedly sinister search. After several long moments, the search was done and the dark figure took to the air. Turning back to the cloud house an aura of dark energy flared up around the figure’s forehead revealing a unicorn horn, and the figure dived towards the house.

Rainbow Dash suddenly shot awake as a large piece of thick cloud dropped from her ceiling smacking her in the back of the head. “Wha-what the heck’s going on?” She shouted, wildly looking back and forth. The clouds of her home had begun to crack and split apart as if some midair earthquake had hit it. Suddenly she felt the bed begin to give way beneath her and she quickly jumped off flapping her wings to stay aloft as the floor and bed sank away, dissolving into nothing.

Rainbow Dash was not a cloud smith by any means, but she knew enough to know that her house had started to come apart and that the only way that could happen was if the stone-cloud support pillars had been damaged. The pillars were ten times stronger than normal cloud, and no pegasus could have destroyed them without making enough noise to wake her up even in her deep sleep.

The sound of two slow taps on glass snapped Rainbow Dash out of her thoughts, “Tank,” she gasped turning to face the sound. Tank stood at the edge of the glass tank he lived in his face pressed up against the glass his eyes filled with worry. Tank was not wearing his flight harness, and while the glass tank he lived in was magically enchanted to be able to sit on cloud, a fissure in the floor was quickly snaking its way to the tortoise’s home.

Rainbow Dash shot towards the glass tank, but it was too late and before she could grab hold of it the fissure slither beneath it and the weight of the tank caused the cloud to split, and it plummeted towards the ground. “Tank!” Rainbow Dash cried diving after her pet, folding her wings and streamlining her body shooting down at top speed after the falling tortoise.

Tank felt himself go weightless causing his stomach to jump and his eyes to water. He had gone flying many times with Rainbow Dash and had no fear of sailing through the air, in fact, he quite enjoyed it. This was not flying; this was a terrible uncontrolled plummet and tank instinctively knew that his shell would be of little protection when he hit the ground.

Tank heard Rainbow Dash call out to him and looked up to see her diving after him. Rather he saw her blue form turned a deep blue in the shallow light of the waning moon. Behind her, he saw the rest of their home break apart, while a dark figure hovered nearby watching them.

Despite all the love and faith, Tank had in Rainbow Dash he was not about to use this as the opportunity to test her flight skills. Instead, the determined tortoise mustered all of his strength and jumped up towards his owner tucking into his shell as he left the glass tank.

The glass tank hit the ground with a thunderous crash, shattering its glass, snapping his clay water dish in two, cracking several sandstone rocks, and spraying a thick layer of sand in all directions. The wind quickly came along to sweep several of the smaller pieces of debris further along the grassy landscape as the blue pegasus thrust her wings out and caught herself swooping low to the ground and back up into the air, a green tortoise shell clutched tightly to her chest.

Rainbow Dash panted heavily, more out of fear than exertion, thanking Celestia that Tank had jumped when he did or else they both would have ended up making a painful crash landing. Her deep breaths shortened and she lifted the tortoise up to eye level to check on him, “Tank are y...” She was cut off as some unseen force clipped her back at a high-speed flyby causing her to spin around violently like a top.

Tank went flying from her hooves hitting the ground in a similar spinning roll coming to a stop on his back. His head popped out of his shell, his eyes still rolling slightly in dizziness, but at least he was all right. Rainbow Dash was much closer to the ground then her house had been, and the roll had absorbed much of the impact. Rainbow Dash stopped herself and looked down to see that Tank was all right and let out a sigh of relief.

“All right who’s there, show your lousy homewreckin’ flank!” Rainbow Dash shouted unnecessarily turning to find the dark figure hovering in the sky seemingly next to the edge of the waning moon. It was still cloaked in shadow, but Rainbow Dash gasped at the sight of both wings and horn as well as a menacing swirl of darkness from the figure’s mane.

“Princess Luna?” The blue pegasus puzzled, the figure’s answer coming in a long, sinister laugh. Rainbow Dash clenched her teeth at that, anger quickly dispelling her confusion.

“What’s your problem,” Rainbow Dash shouted up at the figure. She did not care if it was the princess, if she was the one that had destroyed her cloud home and almost killed Tank then she was going to get bucked into next week, Princess or not. “Why’d you do that? Because I beat you? So you thought you’d come up here and use that lousy magic of yours to sneak attack me. Well, Rainbow Dash ain’t goin’ down that easily!” Rainbow Dash snarled fiercely up at the figure who just laughed in response. “That’s it we’re settling this like pegasi!”

Rainbow Dash shot full speed at the figure, who seemed to disappear as it ducked down out of the way. Rainbow Dash turned back and took a moment to catch sight of the figure diving towards a grove of trees. “You’re not gettin’ off that easily!” Rainbow Dash spat and dived after the figure.

The adversaries swayed back and forth dodging through the trees like a pair of opposing pendulum. Rainbow Dash smiled sinisterly, the dark figure was faster than the average pegasi, but she was hardly average, and so with little trouble, the rainbow maned pegasus caught up to the dark figure matching course and speed easily.

“Ha, what’s the matter,” Rainbow Dash pulling up alongside the dark figure, “Too tired from earlier or have you really spent too much time sitting on your royal flank to keep up with a real pegasus.”

The dark figure seemed to ignore the comment not even looking over at the blue pegasus that had so easily caught up to it. They started swayed preparing to swoop around another large tree, but suddenly the dark figure banked hard the wrong direction slamming into Rainbow Dash pushing her off course and straight for the tree.

The collision took Rainbow Dash completely by surprise she had no time to curse or shout at the dark figure, she needed to move. Quickly she tucked her legs in and pushed back into the turn, this time banking the opposite direction. She started around the tree but quickly realized that she was not going to be able to bank wide enough to make it. With no other choice, she reached out with her legs and touched down on the tree. This was an extremely dangerous maneuver, for Rainbow Dash could not run nearly as fast as she had been flying and running along the side of a tree with her wings out at those kinds of speeds was wreaking havoc with her sense of balance as terrestrial and aerial senses fought for domination. As such she could only take a few steps before she had to kick off and continue to bank in the air, but it worked. Only the blue pegasus’ tail slammed into the trunk as she managed to clear the tree, her hooves aching from the kickoff.

“What the heck!” Rainbow Dash cursed, the dark figure had just tried to kill her, as tough as she was a head-on collision at that speed would have been the end of the blue mare. The pony could not be Princess Luna, could it? No matter how petty or jealous of Rainbow Dash’s skills she was the princess would not kill anypony would she? Then what if it was not Princess Luna, what if it was...

Rainbow Dash decided that she needed to get out of there now. She had needed to get to Twilight Sparkle and tell her what was happening; they needed the Elements of Harmony!

Before that though she had to get clear of the woods where she would be able to fly full speed then she would be able to reach the library in no time. She started to climb through the air towards the canopy only to have the dark figure drop out of the air and slam its hooves into her back, forcing the rainbow maned mare towards the ground.

Dazed and unable to pull up fast enough Rainbow Dash followed her instincts again and hit the ground running. The blue pegasus had not been flying nearly as fast and was able to catch herself long enough to recover and take to the air after only a few steps.

Rainbow Dash looked through the gloom for her attacker, but there was no sign of the dark figure of course in the dark of the woods the figure would not be seen until they wanted to be. Unwilling to sit and wait for her attacker to find her like some scared filly Rainbow Dash made another break for the canopy and stuck close to one of the large trees hoping it would give her some cover.

Once again the figure dropped seemingly from nowhere, but this time Rainbow Dash was ready, and she dodged out the way, the dark figure flying right by her. It came to a smooth stop at the base of the tree its horn aglow with a dark magic aura which it swiped at the large tree. The tree snapped off at its base and started falling towards the side Rainbow Dash was flying along as its surface began to crack and splinter with dark magic.

Rainbow Dash picked up speed and dove for cover in the next tree. She could have easily dodged the falling tree and kept going, but her instincts told her something much more dangerous was about to happen. The rainbow maned mare remembered some boring lecture Twilight Sparkle once gave her and their friends about the magic Nightmare Moon had used to try and stop them from getting the Elements of Harmony, including the destruction spell that had destroyed the cliff face.

However, the tree did not merely split apart like the cliff face. Instead, it exploded with a thunderous crack cascading thousands of splinters of all sizes across the area. They shot everywhere, burying themselves in tree trunks and branches, and shredding leaves and small branches to pieces. The dark figure stood calmly in the center of the explosion which did not seem to affect it at all. The figure looked up watching as a blue form shot up from the top of a ruined tree and took to the air as fast as it could. The dark figure laughed its slow chilling laugh then took to the air racing after its prey.

Rainbow Dash had the distinct impression she had been turned into an equestrian pin cushion, but the adrenaline surging through her system dulled the pain of whatever injuries she had suffered to a manageable level. She pumped her wings hard just concentration on getting away, when she finally dared to look back there it was, the dark figure, calmly gaining on her.

Panic rose up in Rainbow Dash’s chest, but she did not let it shake her, and used it to fuel her expedient retreat. She flew on faster, harder, knowing she had one chance left to escape, the Sonic Rainboom.

She kept her eyes forward pushing to go faster until the only thing she felt beyond the racing of her heart and the beating of her wings was the tangible pressure of the sound barrier. She knew it would just take a little more speed...

However, moments, before she broke through the barrier Rainbow Dash, felt something she never had before when performing a Sonic Rainboom, the presence of another pony. She opened her eyes and saw it, the dark figure pulling up next to her. The moment it reached her it turned and looked at her, she could see that it was smiling even though for some reason she still could not see the pony’s face. Then the figure surged with dark energy, and it spoke in a whisper that was impossibly clear giving their speed. “Shadoic Boom,” The words were like an icicle in the rainbow maned mare’s heart. Then there was an explosion of dark energy, a spectrum of dark shades, which knocked Rainbow Dash head over flank.

Rainbow Dash did not remember falling; everything had gone dark and weightless as if the blast had sent her into a void. She did, however, remember hitting the ground with a wet splat, she remembered the pain and the numb feeling of being encased in something thick and wet.

Chapter Two: The Earth Below

Chapter Two
The Earth Below

Twilight Sparkle yawned, lazily running a brush through her mane with her magic as she made her way downstairs eyes opened so narrowly that they looked still closed.

“I bid thee good morning Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Luna sang out happily almost causing Twilight Sparkle to jump out of her skin. “It must be nice to be so young and able to sleep in so late.”

“Princess?” The purple unicorn questioned her eyes moving over to a clock and shooting open, “Oh no I slept in, I should have been up hours ago. Oh, my schedule will be completely thrown off, and I had so many plans for us this morning.”

Princess Luna sat at Twilight Sparkle’s desk seeming to have taken over the librarian’s position with books out all around her, parchment and quill held aloft by magic. “Thy should have gone to bed when I advised thou to do so,” The deep purple princess scolded the purple unicorn lightly with a smile. “Thy had ‘thrown off’ my own somewhat. Tis all right, though, I was able to do as intended last night with only a small delay.”

“Oh I’m sorry,” Twilight Sparkle said jumping up and giving a little bow. “I was just so glad to have another pony, as knowledgeable as you, to talk with that I didn’t want the night to end.”

Princess Luna gave a little chuckle, “I see, but it did end when thy fell asleep trying to tell me about current werepony legends. I had to carry thee to thy room; thou was most cute dozing off like that.”

Twilight Sparkle blushed at that and stammered out an apology which the princess deflected. Suddenly the purple, and somewhat now red, mare realized that the entire conversation had passed without a singled snide comment from a certain purple and green dragon. “Where’s Spike?” Twilight Sparkle asked looking around for her assistant. She might have accused him of sleeping in as well without her there to get him up, but she was sure his bed was empty when she woke up.

“I sent him out on an errand; thy have a fine assistant Twilight Sparkle, he was up and doing his chores bright and early.” Princess Luna said looking back and forth from a piece of parchment she was writing on at Twilight Sparkle’s desk.

Twilight Sparkle smiled proudly and was about to thank the princess for the compliment when the door of the library was thrown open with a loud bang. Spike tore into the library his face was filled with panic, and he was out of breath.

“Spike’s what...” Twilight Sparkle started to scold the dragon but was quickly cut off.

“It’s Rainbow Dash; she’s in the hospital! Something happened last night, and she’s all banged up!” Spike shouted waving Twilight Sparkle to the door, “Come on we have to tell the others.”

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh what happened?” Twilight Sparkle asked following Spike from the library her face lined with worry.

“I don’t know I just heard it from...” Their voices faded from Princess Luna’s ears as panic gripped her as well. How could this have happened, everything had gone so perfectly. How could she have made such a mistake? The panic was quickly replaced by frustration, and the princess gritted her teeth angrily wondering how she could have been so foolish.

“...ainbow Dash? Rainbow Dash!” The voice asked then called urgently through the dark haze. As Rainbow Dash slowly floated back to consciousness, she became aware of more and more. The voice, the stiff bed she lay in, the hoof clutching her own, the presence of another pony with her, and as she opened her eyes, a bright light and the worried familiar green eyes of her best friend.

“Applejack,” The blue pegasus groaned trying to sit up.

“Whoa there Sugarcube let me help ya, y’all got pretty banged up,” Applejack said releasing her friend’s hoof to help lift her up into a sitting position.

Rainbow Dash looked down at herself, her legs were wrapped in casts along her wings and chest as well, so was her head by the feel of it and her left eye was swollen shut; across her whole body were countless smaller bandages covering minor cuts and scrapes.

Rainbow Dash tried to remember how she had gotten there or even what had happened but a flash of a dark figure and the feeling of uncontrollable falling quickly dissuaded such inquiries causing her to tense up and shiver. “What happened,” She asked weakly not willing to search her thoughts again just yet.

“Ah was hopin’ y’all could tell me that,” Applejack said fixing Rainbow Dash with a frustrated glare. “Ah woke up in the middle of the night t’ such a wild commotion, y’all going off on a Sonic Rainboom no doubt. Ah was already t’ go out there and give ya a piece of mah mind ‘bout wakin’ up hard workin’ ponies. But when ah got outside t’ where yer house was supposed t’ be it was nowhere t’ be seen and ah found y’all on the river bank up to yer eyeballs in mud.”

Applejack took a breath and glared down at the floor, “Ah almost died right there m’self thinkin’ y’all were gone. Ah picked ya up and ran y’all here, it took the doctors hours t’ patch ya up.” Applejack looked back up at Rainbow Dash fixing her glare on her friend this time. “What in tarnation were y’all doing practicing dangerous tricks like that at night, yer lucky I came around when I did or y’all would’ve drowned in that muck.”

“What?” Rainbow Dash yelled in surprise at the blond mare’s accusation. “I wasn’t practicing tricks I was attacked...”

“Ladies if you please,” Interrupted the doctor pushing open the door. “We can hear your conversation down the hall; please keep it down. Especially you Miss Apple, your presence here is a privilege extended to you by myself and my staff given your friendship with Miss Dash, but that privilege can be revoked.”

“No please we’ll keep it down,” Applejack said quickly turning back to Rainbow Dash and fixing her with a hard look, “Right.”

“Ya, ya,” Rainbow Dash waved the whole thing off with a wince of pain, “Ow! Probably not a good idea to strain myself anyways.”

“Good, then you have more friends here to see, girls you can come in now.” The doctor said pushing open the door, and the other girls trotted in.

“Rainbow Dash what happened?” Twilight Sparkle asked leading the pack into the room.

“She got seriously thrashed by the look of it,” Spike replied.

“Oh my, are you going to be ok?” Fluttershy asked rushing to her oldest friend's left side, leaving the other girls, save Applejack, to stand at the end of the bed.

“Oh, you look, terrible darling,” Rarity gasped with concern joining Fluttershy.

“Did they perform any unnecessary surgery on you?” Pinkie Pie asked bouncing in earning her a confused look from everypony. “What? That’s like, the most important question a pony should ask when she wakes up in a hospital.”

“Miss Pie,” A regal voice cut off the doctor’s protest, “I assure thou the medical system in Equestria does not perform ‘unnecessary surgery’ on anypony.” Princess Luna said stepping through the doorway, “Right Doctor.”

“You!” Rainbow Dash shrieked cutting off the doctor again, “I remember now! You did this to me, you destroyed my house, you almost killed Tank, and then you tried to kill me!”

Princess Luna took a few steps back eyes wide with shock, “What does thou mean Rainbow Dash, thou arth mine friend. I would never hurt thee.”

“Ya right I know it was you,” Rainbow Dash shouted flailing in a doomed attempt to get up and face her properly; Applejack and Fluttershy gently pushing her back down to keep her from hurting herself. “You thought I wouldn’t know it was you with your face all shadowy like that, but I knew it was you all along!”

“ENOUGH!” The doctor finally shouted silencing the rest of the room and causing several curious patients and nurses, who had been peeking into the room to see what the commotion was about, to rush back to their rooms. “If this is the kind of disturbance you lot are going to cause my patients then I’ll have to ask you all to leave.”

“No!” Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and Fluttershy cried at once. Pinkie Pie, who seemed to trust her friend’s word completely, crouched low, glared and almost growled at the princess. Rarity turned a glare on Pinkie Pie, not quite ready to blame anypony of anything yet, plus she was more than a little protective of the princess. Rainbow Dash continued to glare accusingly at the lunar princess who back-up another step shamefully.

“Please doctor if you just give us a minute alone we’ll be able to sort this all out.” Twilight Sparkle pleaded her hooves together and gave the doctor the most innocent pleading look she could muster, “We’ll be very quiet I promise.”

The doctor fixed her with a stern look then agreed with a sigh, “All right, but if I hear a single raised voice in here I’ll throw the whole lot of you out of my hospital so fast your cutie marks will spin.” He gave them all one last stern look then left closing the door behind him.

They all sighed in relief before Rarity broke the silence that followed, “All right Rainbow Dash what’s this all about? You can’t truly expect us to believe that the Princess tried to kill you.”

“Rarity’s right Rainbow Dash,” Twilight added calmly trying not to offend her friend. “You said your assailant's face was in shadow, so it could have been anypony.”

“Are you calling me a liar,” Rainbow Dash shot back at the unicorns already pushing the boundaries of the volume. “She had wings AND a horn, I don’t know any other ponies around here with both, so unless you’re trying to tell me that Princess Celestia dropped in last night to try and kill me; it had to be her.”

Princess Luna winced at the accusing point of Rainbow Dash’s hoof but quickly recovered holding herself high and stepping forward. “I assure thee Rainbow Dash twas not me who attack thee; truly we parted as friends yesterday.”

“Save it,” Rainbow Dash snapped, not caring at all for the princess’ authority after what had happened. “You might have been ticked ‘cause I beat your highnass, but you tried to kill me!”

“Now hold on there Sugarcube,” Applejack interjected before the accusations got too out of hoof. “Y’all say you saw wings and a horn then ah believe ya, but if y’all didn’t see the princess proper then ah’m inclined to believe her as well. Ah, don’t know nothin’ about this magic mumbo-jumbo stuff.”

“Magic is not mumbo-jumbo,” Twilight growled under her breath.

“But we all seen plenty to know things ain’t always what they seem.”

“AJ’s right Dash,” Fluttershy added quietly, “We need to find out what happened for sure before we go accusing anypony.”

“Fluttershy’s absolutely right we need to go to the scene of the attack and investigate,” Twilight Sparkle said with a definite, but soft, stomp of her hoof.

“If somepony’s fixin’ t’ do Dash in then we otta keep an eye on her too,” Applejack added earning a groan from Rainbow Dash.

“Applejack I don’t need a foalsitter.” She said firmly trying to cross her forelegs only to jump in pain trying to move the broken one.

“That’s too bad cause yer getting one if ah have to stay here night and day mahself,” Applejack replied giving the blue pegasus a hard glare.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to argue, but Rarity stepped in before she could. “I’ll stay with her for now, something really must be done about the decorum of this room anyway, and I am just the fashionista to do it.”

Rainbow Dash gave a long groan if Rarity volunteered that quickly to take a shift there was no way her friends were going to let her get out of it. Hopefully, she would be able to nap all the way through Rarity’s shift and could always make a fuss and get her kicked out it if got really annoying.

“All right then the rest of y’all can split up the day shifts as ya like. They already agreed t’ let me stay the night so ah’ll take the night shift. Ah’ll show y’all were ah found Dash so y’all can start lookin’ and ah’ll head back to the farm, do a few chores and hit the hay since ah’ll be up for the night.” Applejack laid out the plan, then quickly turned to intercept Rainbow Dash’s whining, “And no! The farm work don’t stop just cause you went and got yerself in t’ trouble.”

The other girls nodded in agreement and they were off like a flash, rushing past the doctor who was coming to give them trouble for getting a little loud and leaving Rarity and Rainbow Dash alone.

“Well,” Rarity said smiling brightly determined to lift up her friend’s spirit. “Let us start with these curtains shall we?’

“That was where ah found her, right over there,” Applejack said pointing her hoof over at the bank of the river. She had become more and more nervous as they got closer to the site as if she were afraid that she would suddenly discover that saving Rainbow Dash had been some fantasy and they would find her broken and long dead body still laying there. Although the orange mare did her best to hide this, her friends were quickly beginning to realize that her excuse to go do farm work was just that to get out of having to see these scenes again. For her part, Applejack was never more grateful that she had such friends that she could trust to handle this matter for her.

Twilight Sparkle moved over to the bank of the river; it was easy to find where something had impacted with the mud and been pulled out, the distinct hoofprints of Applejack tracked in and out of the mud around it. Landing in it was probably what saved Rainbow Dash’s life. She looked close to find several blue feathers still stuck in the mud confirming without a doubt that this was where she had fallen. “Alright, everypony spread out and look for anything suspicious.”

Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy nodded and split up, Fluttershy moving down the river bank while Pinkie Pie searched the nearby field. “I’ll search the skies,” Princess Luna said spreading her wings to take flight.

“No, wait,” Twilight Sparkle said quickly trotting up to the starry-maned princess. “I’m afraid you can’t help us look.”

Princess Luna looked confused for a moment then sadly folded up her wings. “Of course thou are correct, I am a suspect in this crime so my assistance would be inappropriate.”

“Yes,” Twilight Sparkle said a similar sad look was spreading across her features. “I’m sorry princess, if you wouldn’t mind, please go back the library, for now, I’ll tell you what we found when I get back, I promise.”

Princess Luna just nodded and turned to trot back to town, not feeling up to flying anymore. However, before she had gotten too far, Applejack called out “Wait” and trotted up to the princess.

“Y’all don’t need to go back and wait around at the library all by yer lonesome,” Applejack said with a bit of a forced smile. “Y’all can come back t’ Sweet Apple Acres wit me, some hard work and a nice home cooked lunch will help both our nerves.”

Princess Luna looked at Applejack solemnly for several moments as if trying to find some ulterior motive for her kindness, finding none she simply nodded and followed Applejack giving her and Twilight Sparkle a small smile.

“Twilight come quick it’s Tank,” Fluttershy softly called breaking Twilight Sparkle line of thought as she watched Applejack and Princess Luna depart. She turned to see Fluttershy flying towards her Tank the tortoise hugged to her chest.

“Is he all right?” The purple mare called running up to her yellow friend; Pinkie Pie quickly joined them.

“Yes, thank goodness,” Fluttershy said landing and putting Tank on the ground. “He’s been looking for Rainbow Dash all morning; he’s really worried about her.” Tank looked up at Twilight Sparkle with mournful eyes, giving a groan and nodded.

“Does he know what happened,” Twilight Sparkle asked hoping that with Tank as a witness and Fluttershy’s special talent they would be able to find out what happened first hand.

Fluttershy leaned down, and Tank groaned and shook his head, “No, not really. He said the house just started shaking and then he fell. Rainbow Dash caught him but something hit her, and she dropped him. He didn’t really see any pony but Rainbow.”

Twilight Sparkle sighed disappointed, she put a hoof to her chin and thought for a moment before asking. “Can he take us back to where he fell?”

Fluttershy leaned down, and Tank gave seemingly the same groan as before but nodded his head. Using Tank as a guide, the trio quickly made it back to where he had fallen and found what remained of Rainbow Dash’s belongings spread out across the meadow. Most of them were smashed and ruined, but they gathered what they could. Unfortunately, there was not a single clue to be found among the wreckage. Not a single feather that was not Rainbow Dash’s, nor a single hoof print of any pony save themselves.

“Find anything?” Twilight Sparkle asked Fluttershy when they had all regrouped around Tank.

“No Sorry, you Pinkie Pie,” Fluttershy asked passing the question on to her bouncy pink friend.

“Yes I am, but I didn’t find any clues either. Did you find anything,” Pinkie Pie asked passing the question on to Tank who shook his head.

“Urrg this is getting us nowhere,” Twilight Sparkle groaned clutching her head in her hooves and shaking it. “We have to think this over from the start; what do we know for sure?”

“Well,” Fluttershy started a hoof to her chin. “We know something attacked Rainbow Dash last night. It was after her specifically because it left Tank alone and it wasn’t a monster because it left her for dead rather than eating her.”

“Oh and it was super strong,” Pinkie Pie chimed in, “And it could fly ‘cuase it knocked her house down.”

Twilight Sparkle thought for a moment, “Maybe not Pinkie; magic could have knocked it down as well, it would just take a few deconstruction spells to the supports.”

“So we’re looking for something that can fly...” Fluttershy began.

“...and can use magic,” Pinkie Pie finished. There was, of course, one creature, one pony, that came to their minds.

“This isn’t looking good for Princess Luna,” Twilight Sparkle said as all three of them bowed their heads in defeat. Twilight Sparkle shook her head ending their stupor. “All right forget that for now, so after she dropped Tank Rainbow, flew that way, and got knocked out of the sky.”

There was a low moan, and the three mares looked down to see Tank shaking his head. “Sorry Tank what was that,” Fluttershy asked leaning her head down next to his. Tank groaned again, and Fluttershy looked a little surprised, “He said she didn’t fly that way at first she flew this way.” Fluttershy related to tortoise’s words pointing the opposite direction towards Whitetail Woods.

“Come on we’ve got to check it out,” Twilight Sparkle said starting off towards the woods. “We can’t have any worse luck there then we did here.”

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie nodded and followed after their purple friend, Fluttershy pausing to pick up Tank.

They spent hours searching every inch of the forest, but most of it was barren with no signs of the presence of anypony. That was until they came across an unforgettable scene. Everything around the fresh stump of a tree had been shredded and punctured with countless wooden needles of all sizes. It was like the maw of some terrible creature full of nothing but countless long sharp wooden teeth leading towards the center, the tree stump.

“Wow this is kinda super creepy,” Pinkie Pie said with a shiver while Fluttershy quivered behind her pink friend clutching Tank to her fearfully.

Twilight Sparkle’s horn flashed with magical energy, and she was instantly teleported onto the stump. Looking it over it was easy to see that no monster nor logger had cut down the tree, its surface was perfectly smooth, and only magic could have cut it in such a way. She turned back to her friends still standing on the edge of the scene and shouted, “Fluttershy! Fluttershy you have to fly around and look for clues. Pinkie Pie and I can’t search up in the trees very easily, and we can’t disturb the scene.”

Pinkie Pie looked back at her yellow pegasus friend, who was shivering nervously and gave her a reassuring smile. “It’s alright Fluttershy I know it’s scary, but we gotta do it to help Dashie.”

Fluttershy swallowed nervously but nodded, “Al-alright,” She put Tank down and tentatively took flight to search the area. She had only been searching a few minutes when she reached the top of a nearby tree and shrieked, “Twilight!”

Twilight Sparkle, who had been watching the pink-maned pegasus intently quickly summoned up her magic and teleported to a thick branch at the top of the tree that Fluttershy was hovering near. She looked down at what Fluttershy had found to see several blue feathers pinned to the trunk of the tree.

Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy quickly made their way back down to join Pinkie Pie. “Whatta dja see, whatta dja see?” Pinkie Pie asked bouncing up and down curiously.

Twilight Sparkle explained about the feathers and convinced Fluttershy to keep looking around for more clues, but even after agreeing the yellow pegasus gave the tree a wide berth.

“This was definitely where Rainbow was attacked, but she must have managed to get away. Still,” the purple unicorn looked back at the smooth flat stump, “Whoever did this had powerful magic.”

“And was a cruelly cruel mean meanie head to do that to Dashie and the poor trees.” Pinkie Pie said looking over the scene.

“Twilight,” Fluttershy called softly flying up to her friends holding out a hoof that held more blue feathers. “I found more feathers over there heading back the way we came from.”

“They’re Dash’s all right,” Twilight Sparkle said looking from the feather’s and back the way they had come. “This must have been where she turned back; she must have been flying incredibly fast. Did you find any sign of her attacker?”

Fluttershy shrank back from her friend worried the answer might upset her. “No, I’m sorry; I looked as hard as I could.”

Twilight smiled reassuringly at her friend, “It’s ok Fluttershy, you tried your best, there probably just nothing out there to be found.”

“Ya you did great,” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, “We wouldn’t have found any clues if it weren’t for you.”

Fluttershy smiled weakly at that and thanked her friends; she was glad they were so understanding but wished she could have done more to help Rainbow Dash.

“Come on girls we’ve been out here for hours, and I don’t think there is much else we’ll be able to find. I need to get back and make sure the princess gets her rest and somepony should go relieve Rarity.” Twilight Sparkle said turning and starting back towards Sweet Apple Acres, Pinkie Pie bouncing after her.

Fluttershy picked up Tank and flew after them, “I’ll go watch Rainbow Dash next.” The yellow pegasus volunteered softly, looking down at the tortoise. “I’ll take Tank with me; I’m sure Dash will be happy to know he’s ok.”

The others nodded in agreement, and Fluttershy took off for the hospital leaving them to make their way to the farm.

Applejack gave out a long, loud yawn as she moved from one tree to the next. She squinted at the tree trying to decide through her sleepy haze if the apples in it were ready to be bucked.

“Thou look most ill with fatigue dear Applejack,” Princess Luna said stepping up to the blond pony. “Thou needn’t push thyself so hard. Thou should seek rest; I can return to the library by myself.”

Applejack shook her head slowly, “Don’t y’all worry Princess ah’m just fine. Ah pushed myself much harder than this before. ‘sides Twilight will be here soon to come ‘n get ya, y’all shouldn’t be wanderin’ around alone.” Applejack said approaching the tree and bucked it with all her considerable strength, knocking down all the apples held in its branches, then added. “Fer yer own safety.”

Princess Luna looked down at the ground, of course, she knew that Applejack was not worried about her safety. It had been plain enough when Applejack had asked her to come to the farm that she wanted to make sure somepony was watching the princess to keep Rainbow Dash safe, just like she wanted somepony watching Rainbow Dash for the same reason.

“Thou does not trust me Applejack,” She had meant it to sound accusatory, so she could stand up against the earth pony’s accusations and defend her innocence, but instead it just came out as sad and remorseful.

“Ah didn’t say that,” Applejack replied calmly not even turning back to look at the princess as she moved to examine another tree.

“Thou did not have to, it was quite plain to see,” Princess Luna said her voice a little more even. “In mine short time here I can see that thou are very important to Rainbow Dash, just as she is very important to thee. But I beg thee to understand that I would never hurt her.”

Applejack tensed momentarily picturing Rainbow Dash’s broken form lying in the mud. “Ah ain’t never accused y’all of hurtin’ Dash,” Applejack said turning to face the princess a hard look painted across her face. “But ah’m gonna kick the tail of whoever did, and ah don’t care who they may be, understand.”

Princess Luna found herself wanting to cower away from the fierce earth pony but managed to stand her ground and nod in response, “I understand.”

“AJ!” A voice called through the trees, and the two mares turned to see Twilight Sparkle trotting towards them. Somewhere along the way through the orchard, she had lost Pinkie Pie, who had hastily excused herself before disappearing among the trees. Twilight Sparkle had been a little suspicious at first as to what her crazy friend was doing, but quickly dismissed the suspicion and chalked the disappearance up to ‘just a Pinkie Pie thing.'

“Greetings Twilight Sparkle, was thou’s search successful?” Princess Luna asked, glad to see her sister’s prized pupil had returned to her.

“What’d ya’ll find?” Applejack asked quickly, desperate to know anything about what had happened to her rainbow maned friend.

Twilight Sparkle sighed remorsefully, she knew had little hope of avoiding the question, but little hope was still hope, and she was sorry to see it go unfulfilled for her own sake. “I’m sorry we didn’t find much, whatever attacked Rainbow Dash used magic for sure, but that’s about all we found out. We were able to track Rainbow Dash flight pattern, but there wasn’t a single clue about her attacker. No tracks or fur or feather, and even Tank, who’s all right, told Fluttershy that he didn’t see anything or anypony except Dash.”

Applejack looked, almost glaring, from Twilight Sparkle to Princess Luna then snorted angrily and glared down at the ground. “Ah guess there ain’t nothing we can do then is there.”

“AJ...” Twilight Sparkle started but Applejack cut her off turning to leave.

“Ah gotta get some rest if’n ah’m gonna be staying up to watch Dash. Ah’ll see y’all tomorrow.” Applejack said and walked off, her anger plain to see as it played across her features.

“Forgive me Twilight Sparkle I fear-” Princess Luna started, but the purple unicorn held up a hoof to stop her.

“You can’t blame yourself Princess; I know you wouldn’t do these things.” Twilight Sparkle said reassuringly then turned to start back to Ponyville, “Come on let's head back to the library. This all must have been very hard on you; you’ll feel better after a good day’s rest.”

Princess Luna nodded; her head hung sadly as she followed after Twilight Sparkle, “Don’t worry princess. I’ll get to the bottom of this, and the others will see this is not your doing.”

“If only that were true,” Princess Luna said quietly to herself.

The day passed without further incident, Fluttershy had been relieved by Pinkie Pie who spent most of the rest of the evening with Rainbow Dash, terrorizing the hospital staff with their pranks. Fluttershy had taken Tank home promising to look after him until Rainbow Dash was able to leave the hospital.

Twilight Sparkle had been spared a tour of watch duty, spending all day researching for anything that could explain what had attacked her blue friend. Considering all she had to go on was looking for a creature that could use magic and fly she did not have much luck. There were many ancient legends about all kinds of creatures using magic to attack ponies, none of these legends held up against modern facts about such creatures. Either the creatures had been revealed to have only magic-like abilities, or there was no record of them in modern texts. As she reached more and more outrageous possibilities about what creatures may have attacked Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle was beginning to admit to herself that her friend’s accusation of the princess was the most feasible conclusion given the few facts she had.

She had mentioned sending a letter to Princess Celestia about what was happening, but Princess Luna had begged her not to. The lunar princess must have rambled off half a dozen reasons not to involve her sister before Twilight Sparkle agreed not to send a letter. Twilight Sparkle understood, Princess Luna was a princess too after all and wanted to take on the responsibility for what had happened herself. The fact that it had happened at night, a time she was meant to be the guardian of, and to someone whom she had gotten close to that very same day only fueled her desire. Still, if they did not find something to go on soon Twilight Sparkle would have to contact the princess of the sun regardless of Princess Luna’s wishes.

Twilight Sparkle rolled over again and shut her eyes trying to go to sleep only to open them again a moment later and snort in frustration. Giving up on sleep, she used her magic to push the covers off of herself and quietly got out of bed, taking care not to wake Spike, and softly crept to the door. Opening and closing it without a sound she crept to the stairs and her breath caught in her throat. She watched as Princess Luna’s unmistakable tail slipped through the front door which was shrouded in her magical aura and quietly closed it behind her.

Twilight Sparkle fought the urge to call out to the princess and instead quickly moved to the window and peered pout to see the princess take flight and disappear among the pitch black and stars of the night sky. “It can’t be...’

“...stupid cloud brain pegasus...” Applejack grumbled to herself turning back the way she had come from intent on returning to the hospital only to curse angrily at herself and to turn back to the farm.

Walking back and forth through her orchard had been how Applejack had spent the last several hours of the night. She was supposed to be watching Rainbow Dash, but after the two got into a heated debate about the rules of a game of cards they had been playing the staff decided Applejack was hindering their patient’s healing process and kicked her out.

Applejack had been so mad at the blue pegasus for getting her kicked out that she decided to forget about the rainbow maned mare and return home. Of course, Applejack did not get very far before concern took hold and she started walking back, only to make another argument about why Rainbow Dash was an ungrateful cheater prompting her to turn home again. It went on back and forth like this for hours of walking, though given that she made it almost halfway home she must have been more angry than worried. But now the two feelings had reached an equilibrium leaving Applejack wandering in circles for the last hour.

Applejack sighed and sat down on the ground defeated by her indecision, what had the rainbow maned mare done to her? She was never so indecisive with other things, but when it came to Rainbow Dash, she could never decide what she wanted to do, go or stay, work or play.

Applejack let out another sigh, “Maybe ah should just…” The snap of a branch threw Applejack from her thoughts. She jumped up on her hooves and scanned the dark but familiar surroundings of the orchard for whoever was there.

“Who’s there? Show yerself!” Applejack demanded, the response was an echoing laughter that seemed to come from all around her. Applejack’s eyes shot open, and a chill ran down her spine, it was the most unnerving cold laugh she had ever heard. Suddenly she remembered what Rainbow Dash had told her, ‘She didn’t say anything, but she had this creepy laugh, it gave the chills like flyin’ way too high.’

At that thought the cold fear she felt turned to burning anger, “Come on out ya coward cus’ ah’m-”

“‘Gonna kick the tail of whoever did.’” Applejack’s own voice spoke from the dark form of a pony with wings and a horn, followed by the same cold laugh.

“Princess,” Applejack gasped, but the shock only lasted a second then Applejack snorted and pawed at the ground angrily. “So it were y’all that attacked Dash! And now what, yer here fer me? Didn’t like bein’ told that some lowly farmer was gonna kick yer tail? That there’s too bad cus that’s exactly what’s gonna happen!”

Applejack snorted and charged the dark figure, whipping around at the last moment and kicked out with all her strength, but the figure was gone in an instant. Unable to control all the power she’d put into the kick without something to absorb the energy, Applejack lost her balance and tumbled to the ground.

The dark figure’s laughter snapped Applejack from her momentary daze, and she looked over to see the dark figure standing calmly a few feet away. Its taunting laughter just made the blond-maned earth pony’s blood boil, and without a thought, she charged in again.

Like her first kick, this one failed to connect with the shadowy pony and instead slammed into something unexpectedly far more solid. Pain ran up the orange mare’s legs and was followed by a cascade of apples which shook loose from her kick and rain down on her painfully.

The pain was short lived as more laughter echoed through the night air, and Applejack looked up to see that the dark figure once more stood calmly a few feet away. Applejack charged the pony again but had finally learned her lesson. This time she did not turn to buck with her powerful hind legs and instead rose up to slam her fore-hooves into her opponent careful to keep her eyes trained on the dark figure. Suddenly it was as if the figure had shifted places without actually moving and was a foot left of where it had been. Applejack came down upon an empty space, and the dark figure threw open its wings jumping back landing a few more feet away before calmly folded its wings. It looked like it had been standing there the whole time, the figure moving so swiftly that the evasion only took a moment.

Applejack clenched her teeth and snorted angrily, “Cheatin’ varmint!” She whipped around to face the figure, “Quit usin’ yer cowardly magic an’ fight me proper!”

The dark figure laughed at that, flicking its horn dramatically as if to taunt the angry earth pony.

Applejack charged again; the coward could cheat all she wanted, this time Applejack was ready for it. She rose up on her back legs, hesitating ever so slightly, her hooves posed high ready to shift and follow the dark figure’s escape.

However, the dark pony did not dodge this time and instead shot forward, taking advantage of the earth pony’s hesitation, slamming its body into Applejack’s chest with far more force than the earth pony would have expected from a princess. The blow flung Applejack back, and she crashed onto her back with a gasp of pain.

Applejack barely had time to think as the dark figure advanced on her and rose up on its hind legs poised to slam its hooves down on the mare’s chest. Applejack rolled to the side narrowly escaping the attack and sprang back up to her hooves. The dark figure was too quick, however, and before Applejack had even steadied herself, the figure pivoted on its fore hooves and kicked out with its hind legs.

Applejack suddenly knew what all the trees she had ever bucked felt like as the dark figure’s legs connected with her side and she was thrown into a tree. Her sides ached like never before and Applejack reeled from the pain, and both her hat and her will to fight had been lost as she had flown through the air. An alien fear had taken hold of her heart, and as much as she tried to fight and deny it she was not strong enough to defeat this pony, she needed help.

“Big Mac-” she began to call only to be slammed in the flank by a pair of hooves which sent her tumbling forward end over end a couple of feet before she slid to a stop.

The blond mare struggled to get back to her hooves, she needed to run, but the dark figure would not let her. It slammed its hooves into her over and over seeming to come from every direction throwing her back and forth like a rag doll. Finally, Applejack just collapsed onto the ground in too much pain to move. When the blows stopped and were replaced by all too ordinary hoof-steps, she looked up to see the dark figure standing over her. Fear gripped Applejack, thoughts of never seeing Rainbow Dash, her friends, or her family again terrified her, but as these thoughts washed over her that fear quickly turned to anger.

Applejack summoned up her strength and spat angrily at the dark figure’s hooves. “Go on an’ kill me then if that’s what yer gonna do, ah ain’t afraid of the likes of you!” Applejack swore, refusing to cower to anypony, if this was the end her last words would not be that of a scared filly.

The dark figure just laughed and started to walk away, its horn flaring to life with dark magic. The base of several surrounding trees began to glow with the same energy and then with a flick of the horn the trees were severed from their base and rocked forward three converging on Applejack. She struggled to get up but without any strength left all she could do was cover her head with her forelegs.

Chapter Three: The Shadows Revealed

Chapter Three
The Shadows Revealed

Princess Luna jolted awake suddenly realizing that she had fallen asleep. She was laying in some bushes which could no longer keep the sun’s light at bay as it began to near its apex. Why had she fallen asleep? She had not slept at all yesterday, this was true, but she had not fallen asleep at night since the day she and Princess Celestia had taken their thrones. Ignoring the strangeness, Princess Luna stood and stepped out of the bushes looking up to the window of Rainbow Dash’s room relieved that all seemed fine.

Princess Luna had snuck out last night to keep an eye on Rainbow Dash. She was frustrated that Twilight Sparkle and her friends would not let her help in any way, but she did understand. She had hoped so dearly that her curse would not follow her to Ponyville, and that all the misfortune had just been a coincidence like her sister had said, but Princess Luna was growing less sure as the days passed.

She had only been there a few minutes last night when she had heard a commotion up in the room, but a quick flight to the window revealed it to be nothing more than an argument between Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Even she knew that there was nothing unusual about that, but a few minutes later Applejack was kicked out of the hospital and stomped off down the road muttering angrily about the blue pegasus’ using colorful language that the Princess would not dare ever repeat.

Given Applejack’s expulsion from the hospital, Princess Luna felt a renewed need for her own vigilance, but it seemed to be for nothing, as the starry-maned princess fell asleep only a few hours later. Princess Luna sighed disappointed in herself; she could not even stay awake properly.

Realizing that everything was fine and that she would probably have a lot of explaining to do as to why she was gone all night and morning Princess Luna began to walk back to the library joining the citizens of Ponyville on its populated streets.

“Is that her?” A voice spoke softly nearby causing a familiar anxiety to come over Princess Luna; she quickly pushed it aside. Ponyville was not Canterlot, and she didn’t even look like herself to these ponies, they could not be talking about her.

“Ya that’s her, she’s the one that did it from what I heard,” Another voice answered the first. Princess Luna turned to look over to where to mares stood talking quietly and looking at her, but they quickly looked away when Princess Luna turned to them.

“It makes sense; she was with both of them the day it happened.” Another said catching Princess Luna’s ear and she turned to see an older yellow stallion with a brown mane looking in her direction with a deep frown. He turned away from her, though not as quickly as the others and continued talking to another pony

Princess Luna wondered what was going on as she made her way through the streets of Ponyville feeling as if she was shrinking smaller and smaller as she went, eyes constantly on her and whispers all around her. Suddenly it struck her that the ponies were talking about two different incidents. Had somepony else gotten hurt? They had said something had happened to ponies she had been around, Twilight Sparkle and her friends! Had another one of them been hurt?

Princess Luna quickened her pace desperate to get to the library and find out what happened. She had only made it a few feet when an orange pegasus flew came around the corner of a building and spotted Princess Luna. “There she it!” The female pegasus shouted pointing a hoof at the disguised princess.

From around the corner came several more ponies all moving to block Princess Luna’s path. Half a dozen earth and unicorn ponies on the ground were joined by almost as many pegasi in the air blocking the princess’ path completely. The group swelled as ponies from the surrounding streets moved to join them surrounding the princess. Eventually, a green and rose maned unicorn mare stepped to the front, clearly the leader. “We don’t want any more trouble in our town, please leave now!”

There was a muttering of agreement from the crowd that was immediately silenced by a roar and a flash of magic from Princess Luna. At once the purple and silver-maned pegasus they thought they were speaking to disappeared and in her place stood the starry-maned, deep purple coat, and silver jewelry of the princess of the moon. Princess Luna looked down on her subjects fiercely her magic reacting to her anger and conjuring a storm cloud, thunder and lightning began to crash ominously all around her.

Princess Celestia had warned Princess Luna not to remove the disguise, but she would not let these foalish ponies stand in her way when she so desperately needed to see if Twilight Sparkle and her friends were all right. She glared down at the green unicorn that now cowered before the princess. “We are a Princess of Equestria, and we will go where we please, now step aside immediately!” Princess Luna roared fiercely. The crowd immediately parted, dashing into any available hiding place.

The way clear Princess Luna’s frightening vestige disappeared, and she broke out into a speedy flight for the library. Something terrible must have happened to cause the normally friendly citizens of Ponyville to act like that, and she had to find out what it was.

“Twilight Sparkle!” Princess Luna cried throwing open the door of the library her eyes wide with fear searching for the purple unicorn. The princess released a breath as her eyes fell upon her sister’s student standing with her friends Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and her assistant Spike. “Thank goodness you are all alright,” Princess Luna said moving towards the group. “Has Applejack returned to Rainbow Dash’s side?”

“Do not dare to play ignorant princess; you know very well that Applejack is in the hospital, you are the one that put her there!” Rarity said fiercely marching up to face the princess, her admiration, and love gone in the face of such a persistent threat to her friends.

“Applejack was attacked last night just like Rainbow Dash was,” Fluttershy added quietly. It was hard to tell if the soft-spoken pony was accusing the princess of anything even with her deep frown.

“And when they brought her in she kept moaning ‘Nightmare Moon, Nightmare Moooon’ over and over.” Pinkie Pie said mimicking her injured friend’s moans somewhat inappropriately while fixing the princess with a suspicious look.

Princess Luna looked from each of the three ponies facing her, feeling their suspicion like a heavy weight. “I-I did not, thou must believe me. I would never hurt any of my subjects especially any of thou,” She said desperately. Fluttershy looked down unsure, but Pinkie Pie and Rarity held an unmistakable look of disbelief. Princess Luna turned to Twilight Sparkle assured she would support and defend her, but in the unicorn mare, she saw a remorseful disappointment. “Not thou too Twilight.”

“I’m sorry princess, but all the evidence points to you and sneaking out in the middle of the night at the same time Applejack left the hospital, well that is too suspicious to be a coincidence.” Twilight Sparkle said with a shake of her head.

“But-but I only left so that I could keep watch over Rainbow Dash I swear. I saw Applejack leave the hospital and fell asleep soon after so it could not have been me!” Princess Luna explained desperately; she could not let this happen, she could not lose her last loyal subject.

“I’m sorry Princess I want to believe you, but I can’t on just your word alone,” Twilight Sparkle said with a shake of her head and stepped up to the princess. “Please if you give yourself up maybe we can help you. I’ll send a letter to Princess Celestia and she will come and-”

“No!” Princess Luna cried out causing Twilight Sparkle and her friends to take a step back, Pinkie Pie and Rarity crouched into defensive poses. “I am not crazy! I am not Nightmare Moon! I do not want to go back to the moon!” Princess Luna cried her magic swirling all around her blowing cold wind in every direction which suddenly stopped as the princess disappeared in a flash of purple light.

“Where did she go?” Rarity asked.

“That was a teleportation spell,” Spike said stepping over to the white unicorn, “She could be anywhere.”

“Maybe we were too hard on her,” Fluttershy suggested quietly and got only a snort as a response from Rarity.

“That was cool,” Pinkie Pie said with a bounce, “But I thought she was going to beat us up too like she did to Dash and AJ. Teleporting away doesn’t seem all that Nightmare Moonish... well not new Nightmare Moon anyway. Old Nightmare Moon was waaay more passive aggressive than new Nightmare Moon.”

Twilight Sparkle only half listened to the others as she frowned, her eyes deep in thought, something just did not seem right about all this. “Spike,” She snapped looking over to the purple dragon who jumped to attention. “Send a letter to the princess immediately we need her and the Elements of Harmony as soon as possible.”

Spike nodded taking out a piece of parchment and quill and began to hastily scribble down a letter explaining what was happening.

“Should we not go after her?” Rarity asked.

Twilight Sparkle shook her head, “There’s nothing we can do, Nightmare Moon is too powerful for us to handle, especially with Rainbow and Applejack out of the picture. The Elements of Harmony are the only things we know for sure will stop her.”

“Done!” Spike exclaimed rolling up the scroll and blasting it with a plume of green fire. However, instead of burning up and turning to a magical green smoke the scroll just caught fire and burned to ash. “That’s not supposed to happen, what’s going on Twilight.”

“I don’t know,” Twilight Sparkle said putting a hoof to her chin, “The princess must be using her magic to block the letters.”

Twilight Sparkle paced back and forth nervously, “We’ll have to send a courier with the letter, but any pony we send we’ll be putting in danger... Fluttershy!” Twilight exclaimed turning to the pink-maned pegasus who shrank back already shaking her head against the idea. “You’re friends with dozens of animals that live between here and Canterlot; they’ll be able to keep you safe along the way, right?”

“But, but couldn’t you just teleport there,” Fluttershy suggested weakly.

Twilight Sparkle shook her head, “I can’t teleport nearly that far, only the princess’ have that kind of power, and besides I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d done something to prevent any kind of instant travel as well as communication. She definitely doesn’t want us to get any help from Princess Celestia that I know for sure.” Twilight Sparkle moved over to her friend and gave her a pleading look, “I know it scary Fluttershy by we need you to do this.”

Fluttershy looked up at her friend seeing the same need and strong resolve the much stronger pony always seemed to have in a crisis, but this time Fluttershy could see a much deeper fear in the unicorn’s eyes. Fluttershy nodded and slowly stood up, “Alright Twilight I’ll go.”

“Thank you Fluttershy,” Twilight Sparkle soothed her friend and gave her a hug hoping to put her at ease. Then she turned to Spike, “Spike write another letter please.”

Spike gave Twilight Sparkle a salute, “Right away,” And left to find another page of parchment.

“Pinkie Pie, Rarity you two go assure the townsponies that everything is alright, they’re not in any danger, and the princess will be here soon.” Twilight Sparkle directed her remaining friends.

“Right,” They said together with a nod and started out of the library. At the door, Rarity paused, turned back to her striped maned friend and asked, “Darling what are you going to do?” Rarity was not trying to be rude of course, but Twilight Sparkle always had a plan for everypony so certainly she would not be sitting by idly.

“I’m going to see what I can find out about Nightmare Moon.” Twilight Sparkle said moving over to her desk and floating several tomes down from the shelves into neat stacks next to her. “If we have to face her without the Elements of Harmony then we will need to know all we can about her. Most of the information on her had been locked away, which was why there was so little when she was first revived, but since then the Princess has sent me several books on the subject of ancient lore. Hopefully, there will be something useful in them.”

Her curiosity satisfied Rarity gave a nod and trotted quickly from the library to set about her task leaving Twilight Sparkle to her's.

Twilight Sparkle opened the first tome and began reading; she had not done any research on Nightmare Moon since they had transformed her back into Princess Luna. Twilight Sparkle had not thought that she would need to of course and she empathized with the discomfort both princess’ had about the subject. They seemed just to want to move on from what happened and not think about those dark times; the loneliness and isolation they had felt for so long and all the mistakes they had made. Despite all that Twilight Sparkle now wished she had researched the evil mare, for now, she could not even fathom how the information in these books could have helped the situation.

The blackness turned to a deep crimson, then to a deep purple as Applejack slowly opened her eyes. There was a numbness to her whole body making it feel like a heavy weight all around her. Applejack was laying on her side staring at a set of deep purple curtains that vaguely held back the sun, bleaching all but the outer edges with its bright light. There was a faint moan as the air conditioner came to life, the first strong blast of air caused the curtains to shift slightly and a ray of sunlight to slip past their defense to shine in Applejack’s eyes.

Applejack groaned shutting her eyes and rolled over to escape the light which in turn caused the numbness to fall away and pain coursed through her. The blond mare kept her eyes tightly shut as she reeled and tried to ride through the pain.

“You ok AJ,” The voice surprised Applejack, and she snapped her eyes open looking to her left to see Rainbow Dash laying up in the bed next to hers, a Daring Doo book open in her good hoof.

“Dash where... whatta’m ah?” Applejack stammered looking around to see she was laying in the hospital, her body wrapped in bandages. Her ribs and back ached but other than that she was almost better off than Rainbow Dash.

“Nightmare Moon attacked you too, she beat you up pretty bad and tried to crush you under your own trees.” Rainbow Dash said in almost a whisper looking down at her book vacantly and shaking a little as if she was restraining a strong urge to move, cry out, or both.

“Dash,” Applejack began but did not know what to say to calm her best friend.

However, that simple word seemed to work, Rainbow Dash snapped out of her rage and pushed her book close. “Big Mac found you and got you here in time,” the blue mare chuckled, “Should have known you’d try to outdo me even at this.”

“Hey now Sugarcube, yer the one that’s always tryin’ t’ out do me,” Applejack said with a smile.

Rainbow Dash smiled back for a moment then looked down and frowned again, “I’m sorry.”

Applejack frowned, “Fer what?”

“For the fight, it was all my fault,” Rainbow Dash choked out, and Applejack could see a drop of water pooling at the corner of her eye. “I didn’t want you here making a big deal over me, so I got you kicked out. If I hadn’t done that you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.” The tear fell streaming down Rainbow Dash’s cheek to drop onto her blanket. “And when I saw you lying there, I... I... it must have been what you felt like seeing me laying there. I was so scared you wouldn’t wake up,” More tears joined the first.

“Oh Sugarcube, it’s ok ah’m all right and so are you,” Applejack said reaching out a hoof to the blue mare but could only reach half the distance before it became too painful to stretch any further.

Rainbow Dash looked up, the tears still streaming, but she found she was calmed by Applejack’s reassurance. Seeing the orange hoof reaching out to her she reached out with her blue hoof before her friend could suffer any further trying to reach her. The hooves touched and grasped each other tightly, the reassurance it gave the two mares far outweighed the discomfort of the stretched limbs.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack laid back in their beds staring up at the ceiling basking in their shared comfort they brought one another. After several long moments, Applejack turned back to Rainbow Dash, “Hey Rainbow.”

“Ya,” Rainbow dashed turned to face the earth pony.

“Why am ah on the froufrou side?” Applejack asked indicating to the various cloths and curtains that had been Rarity’s doing the day before.

Rainbow Dash scoffed, “Heck there was no way I was staying on that side of the room. As soon I knew you were going to be all right I had them switch us.”

Applejack shot the rainbow maned pegasus a glare which was returned with a wide grin.

The moon had just begun to rise; its vestige had waned so much that it was merely a thin sliver of silver in the sky when a brilliant flash of purple light filled the air. From the light fell Princess Luna in a heap of tears, feathers, and fur. She had no idea how much time had passed in the real world, for her magic, affected by her distraught mind, had held her suspended in the eather for some time trying to escape what was happening, but there was no escape.

She was a failure as a princess of Equestria, as a sister to Princess Celestia and as a friend to Twilight Sparkle and the others. She had always been a failure, a tagalong, drawing her sister and friends into trouble. Trouble was all she created, burdening her sister and friends with cleaning up her messes. Princess Celestia had done all she could to help Princess Luna, even gifting her with stewardship of the night, entrusting it to her care. What had Princess Luna done to repay that kindness, she had allowed herself to become corrupted by petty jealousy and became a tyrant forcing her sister to seal her away. Even after Twilight Sparkle and her friends had banished the darkness in her heart Princess Luna had merely become the Misplaced Princess knowing nothing of the modern Equestria and was a constant embarrassment to her sister. Now the evil of Nightmare Moon was returning, overpowering the weak Princess Luna and hurting those around her.

“I... I should just leave. I should just go far away from here and never return. Nopony wants me around...” Princess Luna sobbed unable to control her despair and self-pity.

“I want you to stay your majesty,” A voice said calmly penetrating the hazy despair of the night princess’ mind. Princess Luna shot up and looked over to see the dark figure step from the surrounding woods and approach her.

At first, the princess did not understand who this pony was and how he had found her, was he merely some woodland pony that had happened upon the weeping princess. Then Princess Luna’s breath caught in her throat, for he had both wings and a horn. That was impossible though, for only she and her sister possessed the unique combination of both. Then suddenly Princess Luna gasped as memories flooded back to her mind, memories of her times as Nightmare Moon.

“No matter what I will always love and be loyal to only you,” The stallion stepped from the shadows. The stallion had a pitch black coat and large bat-like wings tucked against his sides. A metallic horn curved and sharp like a blade stood out from his forehead nestled among a white mane which matched his long white tail and ivory hooves. His eyes were gray and cold, his cutie mark was a simple the white outline of a star.

“Dark Star,” Princess Luna gasped her eyes wide with disbelief. “How?” She dared to ask, for despite the incredible power that had been granted to him Dark Star should not have been able to survive for a thousand years untouched by the passage of time.

Dark Star smiled sinisterly as if it were completely obvious, “I would never fail in my duty to you my Queen. For a thousand years, I waited faithfully to fulfill the final task you bestowed unto me, to free you. Once I had done so the pale horse came for me as I always knew it would, and I followed it to the afterlife trusting that you no longer needed me. However, as we traveled through the eather to my final resting place I heard you call to me, so I escaped the pale horse, my loyalty to you was too strong for it to hold me, and returned to serve you once again.”

Princess Luna shook her head unable to believe the stallion’s story, “I never called for thou!”

“Of course you did,” Dark Star replied calmly. “You called for me when your ungrateful subjects once again spurned your love on the night of your own celebration.”

Princess Luna jolted as she realized Dark Star was talking about the Nightmare Night she came to Ponyville. After she had vowed to cancel the celebration, she found herself alone in the woods wishing with all her heart that her old friend was there to console her.

“Not thou,” Princess Luna denied with a shake of her head then stood up and mustered all the ferocity she could manage. “I did not wish for thou to come back, thou served Nightmare Moon, not me! How can thy say that thou serves me when thou assaults my friends and subjects?”

A cold frown spread across Dark Star’s face at the princess’ outburst, and he glared at her. “You’re right, Princess, my loyalty is to the Queen of the night, and I returned ready to serve her.” Dark Star spat the title and began to pace back and forth angrily, his words sharp. “But what did I find when I returned? Not the powerful and brilliant Queen I had served but her sniveling, weak counterpart who couldn’t even reclaim her duties as princess of the night!”

Dark Star stopped and smiled sinisterly, “That was when I knew that I had to bring my Queen Nightmare Moon back.”

“No!” Princess Luna shouted shaking her head in denial.

“Yes,” Dark Star countered. “I knew that if I showed you again just how ungrateful and unloyal the ponies of Equestria were, how they would turn against you so easily, then you would become my beloved queen again.”

“I will not,” Princess Luna said with a shake of her head, “I will tell everypony everything was thou’s doing. I will not succumb to the trickery foolishly revealed to me.”

“They won’t believe the word of Nightmare Moon,” Dark Star laughed. “And whether it was orchestrated by me or not will not matter once all have turned against you. Knowing that they refuse to believe you when you speak the truth will only serve to show you their true nature all the clearer.”

“Twilight Sparkle will believe me and so will Celestia.”

“Oh, I’m afraid that after tonight Twilight Sparkle won’t be believing anything anypony says ever again.” Dark Star said pointedly, the terrible meaning behind his words made the princess gasp in horror. “As for Celestia well, from what I’ve seen I don’t think she’ll take the loss of her most beloved student very well.”

“No!” Luna said throwing her wings up and her horn flaring to life with magical energy. “I will not let thou hurt her!”

Princess Luna charged Dark Star with all the ferocity she could muster, but the black stallion merely sidestepped the princess’ attack, his own horn surging with dark energy as he slammed it against hers. The dark magic coursed through her body as she cried out in pain and slumped to the ground weakly.

Dark Star scoffed tossing his mane back into place, “You didn’t really think I could be defeated by somepony I found weeping on the ground running from her problems did you?’

Princess Luna moaned trying to stand up weakly; it was as if the energy had been stolen from her body. She tried to summon her magic forth, but it was instantly blocked.

“You won’t be using any magic for a while, but don’t worry soon weak pathetic little Luna will be gone and Nightmare Moon shall rise again.” Dark Star said in a quiet tone that sounded cold in its attempt to be reassuring. With that, the white-maned stallion unfurled his wings and took to the air disappearing into the night sky.

Princess Luna watched him go cursing her weakness, her dearest friend in this new world was in danger, and there was nothing she could do. She shook her head fiercely; she could not just let this happen she had to do something. Gritting her teeth, Princess Luna gathered her strength and pushed herself to her hooves. She had to save Twilight Sparkle.

By the time Twilight Sparkle left the hospital it was already dark out. Rainbow Dash and Applejack had asked her to stay, insisting that it was not safe for anypony to walk home alone with Nightmare Moon free. The purple unicorn assured them that she would be fine and besides the staff would not let any more ponies stay long after dark especially not with the two most troubling patients they had.

Walking back through the dark park trails that were between the hospital and the streets of Ponyville was a little more disturbing than Twilight Sparkle thought it would be. She kept her ears keenly tuned for any sounds and constantly glanced back and forth keeping an eye out for anything unusual, though she could not see past the glowing light of her horn on the nearly moonless night. So when there was the definite sound of something moving among the bushes to her left, the purple unicorn quickly turned to face it. “Who’s there? Show yourself.”

It was silent for several moments then a dark figure with the distinct features of a horn and wings stepped out of the bushes its head hung low as it walked towards Twilight Sparkle, staying beyond the edge of her horn’s light.

“Princess Luna is that you?” Twilight Sparkle asked stepping towards the figure who stepped back defensively.

“It’s all right princess,” Twilight Sparkle said stepping back to make sure the princess was comfortable. “I know it’s not your fault, what happened, I just want to help if you’ll let me.”

The dark figure paused for several long moments seemingly unsure of her words, but then took a tentative step forward to the edge of Twilight Sparkle’s light.

The striped maned mare smiled and started to move towards the dark figure when a voice rang out through the night, “No! Stay away from him!”

Twilight Sparkle turned to see Luna’s shakily flying towards her, she landed with a gasp and crashed to the ground. The purple unicorn rushed to the real Princess’ side, “Princess are you alright?”

“Twilight thou must flee quickly,” Princess Luna panted, it had taken much of the energy she had left to fly after Dark Star. He had quickly lost her without even noticing that she was following him, but she had trusted her instincts following his course and thanks to Twilight Sparkle’s light had found them before it was too late. “Get away he’s...”

Princess Luna was cut off as Twilight Sparkle’s horn flared to life and both she and the princess winked out of sight as a pair of hooves were about to slam into the purple unicorn. They reappeared at the top of a short nearby hill Princess Luna looking up with surprise at the purple mare, “Don’t worry Ì know who he really is.”

A bright aura of magical energy flared to life around Twilight Sparkle’s horn and a sphere of light, like a second moon, burst to life hanging low in the sky bathing the whole area in light. The dark figure cringed in the face of the light for a moment then his shadowy form was gone, and Dark Star stood glaring up at the young mare. “He’s Nightmare Moon’s evil general, Dark Star,” Twilight Sparkle said, a knowing smile spread across her face as she looked down on the false unicorn pegasus.

“How?” Princess Luna and Dark Star asked at once a look of surprise spread across the princess’ face while Dark Star just continued to glare up at her.

“I came to the truth the same way I do everything,” Twilight Sparkle said standing proudly with her chin up, “By studying! While I was doing research on Nightmare Moon I found references to a pony who helped her battle against Princess Celestia and her royal guards. Knowing that I quickly realized the truth.

“When we first fought Nightmare Moon she did everything she could to stop my friends and me without direct conflict, trying to scare us, block us, or trick us into turning back but she never attacked us; even though she was more than powerful enough to defeat us all by herself.” Twilight Sparkle turned to the Princess, “Even as Nightmare Moon you were still a princess and no matter how corrupted you were you still did not want to harm your subjects.”

Princess Luna gave a sad smile, and Twilight Sparkle turned back to Dark Star. “You, however, are a soldier, so you attacked head on strategically taking out the two physically strongest of the elements first. You wanted to weaken us so that we wouldn’t be able to fight back when you came for the princess, so it natural to assume that after incapacitating Rainbow and AJ that you come after me next. Knowing that I purposefully put myself out in the open to draw you out, and I was about to use a spell of revealing on you when the Princess found us. It might not have gone exactly as I planned, but I know who you really are now and what you’re up to. It’s over Dark Star.”

Dark Star began to laugh, the echoing laughter that had haunted Twilight Sparkle’s friends when they had encountered the evil stallion once again cutting through the air. “Oh Twilight Sparkle I don’t know how somepony could follow all the wrong clues to the right conclusion, but here you are, so allow me to correct you. First I didn’t target the weather patroller or the farmer because they were strong. Ha! Even all six of the Elements of Harmony put together wouldn’t have a chance of defeating me.”

Dark Star shook his head with a grin, “No I took out the pegasus because she dared to insult my queen by acting like her equal. I did the same to the earth pony because she dared to threaten my queen,” Dark Star growled angrily rage building in him. “No pony is equal to Nightmare Moon, and no pony threatens her and gets away with it!”

Dark Star steadied himself with a breath and flicked his mane back calmly regarding the purple mare again. “As for you Twilight Sparkle... well it’s not your brains that made you a target, but you are the leader of the Elements of Harmony and the favorite pupil of Princess Celestia. You are also widely respected both here and in Canterlot, so your death will send the ponies into a terrible fury. Then they will show their true colors and turn on Princess Luna and show her once again that they need to be ruled unquestionably by Nightmare Moon.”

Dark Star laughed again, “And truly the funniest part is that you have not stopped my plans Twilight Sparkle. You will still die, and the ponies will still turn against Princess Luna. Did you really think that by coming out here and confronting me alone that you could stop me?”

“No,” Twilight Sparkle said shaking her head with a confident smile, “Not alone.”

Suddenly there was a thunderous charge as a group of several dozen earth ponies led by Big Macintosh charged up to flank Dark Star from several sides. The white-maned stallion looked up from the earth ponies into the sky were two dozen pegasi descended onto the area. He looked back to Twilight Sparkle who was joined by ten more unicorns, Rarity, Spike, and Pinkie Pie. “I may have misjudged your motivation Dark Star, but I did tell several ponies about you, and I assure you Big Macintosh has a serious problem with ponies beating up his little sister.”

Big Macintosh neighed angrily, “Eyup!”

“And Rainbow Dash is a bit of a hero to the pegasi, so they're more than happy to come out and show you what they think of you.” Twilight Sparkle said which the pegasi answered with a roar of angry shouts. “Some of the other former Canterlot residents didn’t take too kindly to somepony framing their princess.”

“That’s right you brute, we unicorns will always be loyal to both of our princesses,” Rarity shouted down at Dark Star conveniently forgetting her accusation from that same afternoon and that she was not from Canterlot.

Dark Star glared at each group, and then sighed angrily, “You’re more clever than I thought Miss Sparkle. I commend you on ruining my plan and saving your own life. As you said, however, I am a soldier, so I always have a backup plan. Come on Luna we’re leaving.”

Princess Luna’s eyes shot wide, and she shrank back slightly as Dark Star continued. “I had hoped I could show you that Equestria still needed Nightmare Moon and you would change back voluntarily, but it seems I’ll have to resort to more direct ways of bringing my Queen back.”

“I don’t think so bub!” Pinkie Pie shouted bouncing in front of the Princess.

“That’s right you are surrounded by the strongest ponies in Ponyville you’re are not getting away,” Rarity added with a fling of her mane and a fierce glare.

“Your only chance is to surrender Dark Star.” Twilight Sparkle said stepping forward her horn glowing and the unicorns behind her following suit.

Dark Star just laughed again, “Oh please. I defeated squads of Celestia’s Royal Guards singled handed. Do you really think you can stop me with a bunch of farmers and shopkeepers?”

“EYUP!” Big Macintosh roared and charged forward, he had never been a brash stallion, but he had had enough talking. The red stallion’s charge spurred the other teams into action; the pegasi dived down from the sky, and the unicorns unleashed bolts of magical stunning energy.

“Have it your way,” Dark Star shrugged. The black pony ducked under the fore-kick Big Macintosh threw at him, the force of his charge and the sudden lack of resistance caused the large red stallion to stumble forward catching a stunning blast in the head. Dark Star had slipped under the crimson stallion thrust his back up into the draft horse’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him and used his magically augmented strength to throw Big Macintosh into the lead pegasus. Hitting Big Macintosh’s muscular body was like hitting a brick wall to the smaller pony, and he was knocked out cold.

Dark Star rolled left dodging a green pegasus mare who dropped from the sky trying to tackle him then, with hardly a look, jumped back to dodge the pegasus’ partner, a cream colored stallion, who was struck by twin bolts of magical energy intended for Dark Star. Dark Star quickly pivoted on his front hooves and kicked the green mare’s flank sending her sprawling into a group of three earth ponies.

Dark Star ducked under another clumsy attack from an earth pony, rolling his back tossing the pony over his shoulder into another magical blast. Then he shot forward to strike another pony with a swipe of his eerily dark glowing horn barely grazing her with it, but sending a powerful current of magical energy into her, paralyzing her. With a flap of his wings, Dark Star jumped into a quick wide roll in the air dodging several more blasts of magical energy and yet another pegasus that tried to drop down on him. He landed hard on her back slamming her into the ground and sprang back up into another loop dodging seven more blasts of energy which struck three more earth ponies charging up on him.

Dark Star landed and glanced back to see Big Macintosh had recovered and was charging at him again. Dark Star easily sidestepped the larger stallion swiping out at the red pony’s foreleg with his horn paralyzing it. The sudden loss of strength in the leg caused Big Macintosh to tumble forward end over end and crashed into a group of two more earth ponies and a low flying pegasus all four ending up as a tangled heap.

Seeing almost a quarter of their numbers defeated in just a few moments caused the rest of the ponies to hesitate to attack the black unicorn pegasus, but Dark Star seemed to be enjoying himself and was not quite ready for the fun to stop.

He shot forward slamming his hooves into one earth pony and whipped around to kick a second while his horn gathered up magical energy which he launched at a third. All three collapsed to the ground with a moan of pain as Dark Star flicked his mane back out of his eyes. He ducked, dodged and sidestepped another barrage of magical blasts, this time the earth ponies were careful to stay out of the line of fire and used telekinesis to toss an unsuspecting earth pony into a pegasus. With a sudden buck, he slammed his back hooves into the chest of another charging earth pony.

Looking up Dark Star saw the pegasus ponies nervously hovering in the air just watching him, more like hovering statues than an air force militia. Jumping up into the air to dodge another magical blast he shot a blast of his own magic at an earth pony and slammed his hooves down on another before leaping high into the air. Dark Star moved incredibly fast as he climbed higher into the air. Kicking off one pegasus as he shot a blast of magic at another sending both winged ponies crashing down from the sky.

“Twilight we have to do something, this isn’t working!” Rarity shrieked while Pinkie Pie looked down at the field where eighteen earth ponies lay unconscious, over half their force.

“I know, I know,” Twilight Sparkle said frantically, watching the evil pony knock and shoot down pegasus such ease and glee that it might as well have been a foal’s game. “We don’t have a choice,” the purple mare resolved and turned to the other unicorns. “Everypony form a circle and focus your magic on me.” The others nodded and all, even Rarity whose magical prowess was not that strong, formed into a circle.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Luna gasped in shock at what the unicorns were doing, “Circle magic is very dangerous! Thou should not even know of it.”

Twilight Sparkle nodded, “I know Princess, but there is no other way, and we have to stop Dark Star.” The unicorn spoke confidently to reassure the princess, but she wished very much that she was as confident as she hoped she sounded. Circle magic was an ancient art that dated back to the time before the princesses when unicorns raised and lowered the sun and the moon, but its secret had been locked away for centuries. Twilight Sparkle had in truth only rediscovered it because the Elements of Harmony utilized a form of circle magic, but in that case, the Elements themselves regulated and controlled the flow of magic. Without that kind of regulation circle magic could cause hazardous magical feedback to the participants of the circle, but what other choice did they have?

When the circle was complete and the ponies ready, they set their horn’s aglow with magic and let it flow into Twilight Sparkle who, as the circle leader, could shape it as she wished.

Dark Star chuckled to himself hovering in the air watching the pegasi scatter away from him in every direction. He had sent ten more crashing to the ground leaving more than half of both the earth and pegasus pony forces decimated. Dark Star would have been disappointed by the lack of challenge, but he wasn't as it was so much fun terrorizing the pathetically ineffective militia they had put together.

Regardless of how fun it had been Dark Star decided it was probably time to leave, with the ponies on the run and much work to do to bring Nightmare Moon back into the world he did not have time to waste on common ponies like these. However, as he turned to face the princess an unbelievable pain coursed through his mind, the white-maned stallion screamed out clutching his head in his hooves. It was as if something was pushing his brain hard up against his skull. The pain coursed through his body like a wave stealing away his strength, he even began to lose altitude as waves of pain seemed to cause his wings to turn to jelly and he tumbled a few feet down before he was able to catch himself.

“Give up Dark Star,” A voice echoed in his mind, causing another wave of agony and black pegasus slipped a little further out of the air. “The pain this spell is causing you won’t harm you, but I still don’t want to cause anypony to have to suffer like this.”

“Twilight Sparkle!” Dark Star growled turning to where the purple unicorn stood in the middle of a circle of ponies all of their horns were glowing with magical energy focused towards Celestia’s student who radiated an aura of pure white energy, even her eyes glowed with the light.

“You’ll-” Dark Star began to threaten her but he was cut short as one brave gray and black-maned pegasus kicked the distracted stallion from the air. The blow, accompanied by a wave of pain, left Dark Star momentarily paralyzed and he fell through the air crashing to the ground.

Seeing Dark Star fall an orange and green-maned earth pony mare rushed in intent on making sure the false unicorn stayed down, but when she neared him Dark Star jumped to his hooves and bucked the mare hard in the chest sending her flying back several feet.

“Tell me-” Dark Star started, slowly advancing towards the unicorns only to be cut off again as Big Macintosh’s heavy form fell over Dark Star forcing him to the ground and pinning him down.

“Meddling...” Dark Star growled pushing himself up with his magically augmented strength only to be forced back down as the rest of the still conscious earth and pegasus ponies threw themselves on top of the two stallions.

“It is over Dark Star, give up,” Twilight Sparkle spoke through the telepathic link the spell had created. Dark Star’s reply was his usual cold laugh which despite the advantage they had over him, still disturbed the purple unicorn.

“Tell me Twilight Sparkle, what would happen if I sent a psycho-electrical pulse back through our little mind link?” Dark Star asked, and Twilight Sparkle’s glowing eyes shot wide with fear realizing that even in his incapacitated state he’d been slowly casting a spell through the pain.

“Break the-” The striped maned mare shouted to the other unicorns, but it was too late. Dark Star’s counter spell hit them like a powerful jolt of electricity. Twilight Sparkle staggered and collapsed to the ground the glow of magical energy instantly disappeared as her vision blurred and unconsciousness nearly claimed her. The purple unicorn’s mind had been protected by the incredible magic of the circle, but the others were completely vulnerable. They cried out in pain and all eleven collapsed in the perfect circle they had been standing in.

“RARITY!” Spike cried out rushing to the white unicorn’s side frantically trying to see if she was all right. However, the little dragon knew nothing about first aid and was left cradling her head in his arms while fighting his hysteria and tears.

“Twilight,” Princess Luna gasped in shock rushing to the side of her sister’s student worry spread across her face as she looked around at the fallen ponies.

“I’m... fine princess... what about... the others?” Twilight Sparkle asked holding her head with one hoof and wincing in pain with every few words. The purple mare would not be able to use her magic anytime soon, but neither she nor Princess Luna knew how long it would take the others to recover.

Dark Star’s head quickly began to clear once free of Twilight Sparkle’s spell, though he was still pinned under two dozen ponies and it took all of his strength just to give him enough room to breathe. However, though he was unable to move, the evil pony was far from helpless.

Concentrating on his magic, his horn glowing with dark magical energy, he began to gather power. Normally a pegasus would have to be traveling at near sonic speeds to gather this kind of energy and break the sound barrier, unleashing it, but Dark Star long ago learned to do it with magic alone. Once the energy had reached its peak he unleashed it in a thunderous explosion that threw all the ponies off of him, tossing them through the air like rag dolls and after a moment the silence the air was filled by a brief rhythmic thud of bodies hitting the ground.

Dark Star stood himself up slowly, making a point of regarding the field of unconscious ponies, sixty in all. Then, in no particular hurry, he shook out his wings, folded them neatly at his side, brushed himself off, and put his mane back in place with a flick of his head. “All right princess that was fun, but we really should get going.” Dark Star said coolly starting towards the princess.

“Y'all aren’t going nowhere ya lousy varmint!” A voice roared out from behind Dark Star.

Author's Note

While breaking this story up into chapters, it having been written originally as just one long story, I gave all the chapter very simple working titles. With Dark Star now revealed I wanted to share those working titles as I found them to be a little amusing.
The prologue was called Dark Star vs The Librarian
Chapter One was called Dark Star vs Rainbow Dash
Chapter Two was called Dark Star vs Applejack
Chapter Three was called Dark Star vs Ponyville

I have also begun editing these chapters with the aid of Grammarly, I hope this helps, though it's no replacement for a proper editor.

Chapter Four: A Titan Rises

Chapter Four
A Titan Rises

“What now?” Dark Star groaned rolling his eyes and turning back to face the speaker. The black stallion raised an eyebrow in legitimate surprise to see Big Macintosh standing several feet behind him, his coat and mane ruffled but otherwise uninjured.

“What’s going on?” Twilight Sparkle asked pushing herself up and looked across the field, still brightly lit by her false moon, and there was the unmistakable form of Big Macintosh standing off against Dark Star. “What’s he doing?”

“The stallion can’t mean to fight Dark Star alone,” Princess Luna said her gaze following Twilight Sparkle’s. “We have to stop him; he does not stand a chance alone.”

“Ya Mackie! You show that big meanie he can’t go around beating up on ponies!” Pinkie Pie cheered with a bounce pumping her hoof into the air.

“Pinkie Pie are you crazy,” Twilight Sparkle said turning to her pink friend. “Dark Star just wiped out our whole militia in hardly any time; Big Macintosh doesn’t stand a chance alone.”

“Just wait and see,” Pinkie Pie sang happily giving her friend a knowing wink and a wide smile.

Dark Star gave a little chuckle, “Well I must say I’m impressed... Mackie was it?”

Big Macintosh glared at the false unicorn pegasus snorting angrily, “Big Macintosh,” He growled. There were only two ponies that could get away with calling Big Macintosh, Mackie.

“Right, Big Macintosh, not many ponies could get up after taking the brunt of my Shadowic Boom.” Dark Star said with a respectful smile that quickly shifted into a hard glare. “But you are way out of your league, and I’m not really one for trying to knock sense into thick hayseed skulls. So I’ll be taking the princess, going about my business, and leave you to pick up what’s left of your friends.”

Dark Star did not wait for an acknowledgment and simply started to turn back to the princess when he was interrupted again. “Y'all ain’t understandin’. I’m givin' y'all the chance t’ leave peaceful like. Y'all shouldn’t go refusin’ it.”

Dark Star turned to face the red stallion again, “And if I don’t you’re going to stop me?”

Big Macintosh lowered his head letting the yoke he always wore slide forward then tossed it off with a flick of his head. It hit the ground with a thud and Big Macintosh looked back up at Dark Star, his eyes hard and cold, “Eyup.”

Big Macintosh shot forward moving much faster than Dark Star expected a pony of the stallion’s size to be able to. The black stallion swiftly dodged to the left, the huge fore hooves of the red earth pony crashing into the ground where he had been standing just a moment before.

Dark Star frowned in annoyance; he did not like it when other ponies caught him off guard even for a moment. The black unicorn started to call up his magic to counterattack the off balance earth pony, but Big Macintosh was not off balance and was already moving into a second attack.

Big Macintosh caught himself after his first attack missed the swift pegasus; he had expected the fast pony to be able to dodge such an attack. His forelegs coiled to absorb the impact as the sandy-maned stallion turned his body towards Dark Star, then with all the stored power he bucked out at the evil pony.

Dark Star barely managed to jump back from the dangerous hooves, quickly threw open his wings and with one strong beat pushed himself past the range of Big Macintosh’s attack.

The loss of resistance this time was a little more unexpected throwing Big Macintosh a little off balance, but he quickly righted himself. Returning his hind hooves to the ground he pivoted on them quickly coming around to intercept Dark Star’s counterattack, but none came.

Dark Star stood several feet away staring intently at something just past Big Macintosh. The red stallion glanced over his shoulder to see the small crater he had created when his first strike missed the white-maned stallion.

“It would seem you are more than just bluster and show after all Big Macintosh,” Dark Star said standing up straight and folding his wings once again, a faint smile on his lips.

Big Macintosh stood silently glaring at Dark Star and chewing the sprig of wheat in his mouth, he didn’t seem to feel the inclination to comment on his or Dark Star’s abilities, nor was he eager to rush the false unicorn pegasus and continue their fight.

“That’s right,” Pinkie Pie’s voice shouted out across the field and Dark Star turned to look over at her still standing on the short hill with the others. “Mackie’s 10 no, no a 100 no... 237 times stronger than anypony else. An evil meanie weenie like you doesn’t have a single teenie weenie chance of beating him.”

Dark Star started to laugh, “Well Big Macintosh you have quite the fan there, I wonder if she’s right...” Dark Star trailed off his horn glowing with dark magic, “Let’s find out!”

Dark Star used his magic to summon forth some magical construct; its square body was almost five feet tall and long and a foot thick. From the top of one side stretched four wide, knuckled, five foot long tentacles, and from the adjacent side stood a thicker slightly shorter tentacle. The bizarre creation flew by some mystic power, and while Big Macintosh was still confused by its oddity, it shot forward and seized him in a powerful grip.

Big Macintosh neighed in pain as it squeezed him, but the stallion’s neigh quickly became savage as he pushed his legs out against the odd construct and shattered its tentacles with little more than a flex of his muscles. Big Macintosh landed on the ground his eyes refocused on Dark Star, but before he could charge the black stallion the now flat slab slammed down on him. Big Macintosh caught it with his fore-hooves, the force of the blow was enough to cause the red stallion’s hooves to sink a few centimeters into the hard earth below. With an angry snort, Big Macintosh pushed back against the glowing pale construct and tossed it so high into the air that is disappeared into the night sky.

Turning his eyes back on Dark Star, Big Macintosh saw a second magical construct flying at him, same as the first except his one had its tentacles coiled in tightly forming a solid blunt object. Big Macintosh threw his hooves forward and caught the magical object with his hooves, but this one was twice as strong as the first and pushed the earth pony back several feet before he had dug in enough to stop it. Snorting angrily, Big Macintosh held the object in place with one hoof and slammed the other into it shattering the magical construct.

Big Macintosh dropped back down, but this time he quickly slipped into a defensive stance scanning all around him for more of the magical constructs. Several were coming at him now from all different directions. Readjusting his position slightly, he kicked forward and back at the same time shattering two of them, before throwing himself into a quick roll allowing him to slip past the third which tried to drop from the sky on top of the red stallion. Quickly jumping back to his hooves Big Macintosh shot forward smashing the construct, which had slammed into the ground when it missed him.

Dark Star scoffed regarding Big Macintosh with a critical glare, “That’s hardly impressive for a titan earth pony.”

“What,” Twilight gasped in disbelief shaking her head only to regret the action. Had Dark Star just called Big Macintosh Titan? That was impossible, though, Titan was an earth pony of legend from the time of monsters, Dark Star could not be suggesting that Applejack's brother was the same pony. She looked over at Princess Luna who stared wide eyes in shock and Pinkie Pie whose hoof covered her mouth as if to stop her from saying something she was not supposed to.

“But then,” Dark Star turned his attention to the left, and Big Macintosh and the others followed his gaze to the fallen yoke. “You’ve been using that yoke to suppress your abilities and masquerade as a normal earth pony; it has a powerful enchantment on it. So your skills have been left undeveloped, how disappointing.” Dark Star turned his critical glare back on the red stallion, he had hoped Big Macintosh would provide an interesting addition to his mission, but given how underdeveloped his abilities would be he was not so sure anymore. However, he had to admit that although Big Macintosh had not trained himself to use his strength to its fullest; he did seem to have some skill and a lot of potential.

Big Macintosh held back his surprise at Dark Star’s words meeting his cold glare with one of his own. Still, the red stallion could not help but wonder how the false unicorn had realized all that. Only Pinkamina, his family and the Witchy Mare who had enchanted the item knew of its magic. Even after all the time he had spent around his Twilight Sparkle she had not guessed at the yoke’s magical nature.

Of course, none of that mattered now, all that mattered was ending all this and keeping everypony safe, Big Macintosh would use his power to protect the Princess and everypony else if he had to. Clenching the sprig of wheat between his teeth Big Macintosh demanded tensely, “Give up.”

“Mmm, no,” Dark Star decided with a shrug. His horn flashed to life with dark magic and he charged at Big Macintosh, moving so unnaturally fast that he closed the gap in an instant and brought his horn down across the other stallion’s side.

Big Macintosh, however, was not caught off by this sudden burst of speed and drew his hooves up to attack. He had nothing to worry about from Dark Star’s sharp blade-like horn for his skin was like stone and could not be cut by even the sharpest blade. The sandy-maned stallion was about to bring his hooves down on Dark Star when there was a sudden pain in his side that caused him to falter and jump away from the white-maned pony.

Big Macintosh looked down at his side where a shallow cut stared back at him stinging him with unfamiliar pain. Pushing the pain out of his mind, Big Macintosh looked up at Dark Star with an angry glare.

“That’s right Big Macintosh I know all your secrets,” Dark Star smiled as if enjoying the other stallion’s pain and confusion, as he hovered above him. “So long as I sheath my horn in magic you’re completely vulnerable to its edge.”

Dark Star charged from the sky once again, Big Macintosh dodged right to avoid the attack and kicked out with his fore-legs. The evil pony had seen the earth pony’s speed and form enough however to predict the rather straightforward style. The bat-winged pegasus had no trouble ducking under the heavy kick, then slipped up next to Big Macintosh and slash at him with his blade-like horn in a swift fly-by attack.

Big Macintosh figured Dark Star would slip past his first attack and quickly caught himself moving into position to buck the retreating pegasus, but the sting at his side from the fresh cut caused him to wince in pain, a hesitation that caused him to miss the swift black pegasus.

“That’s fun let’s do it again,” Dark Star chuckled coming around for another pass. Big Macintosh tried to ignore the pain, dodge and counter the gray-eyed pony’s attacks, but it was no good. With each pass, Dark Star added another cut to Big Macintosh’s increasingly marred hide and then would slip out of the red stallion’s reach before he could counterattack.

Big Macintosh soon realized that if he did not do something quickly the evil pony would simply peel him apart. However, there was only one thing the sandy-maned stallion could think of to break the pattern, and it certainly was not the most brilliant plan.

Big Macintosh watched Dark Star come in for another pass, this time rather than try and dodge the attack he stepped into it. Dark Star’s horn buried itself into the red stallion’s side but stopped him from continuing his fly-by. The black stallion’s wings beat backward furiously trying to put some distance between them, but it was too late. A powerful set of hooves slammed into Dark Star’s side, throwing him like a tangled mass of wings and hooves across the field. He slammed into the ground, bounced and crashed into it again, rolling end over end until he finally slid to a stop.

“Yay Mackie!” Pinkie Pie cheered bouncing up and down, “You did it! I knew you could!”

“Oh thank Celestia,” Twilight Sparkle said with a long sigh, and Spike looked up from Rarity to see the evil pony lying still on the ground.

Princess Luna’s relief was tainted by a sorrowful sting as she looked down on the fallen pony. This had all been her fault; she had taken the noblest pony she had ever known and turned him into this evil thing. She had not even had the strength to stop him herself, instead of letting Big Macintosh do the dirty work for her.

It had been dirty too, and Big Macintosh felt sick staring across at the crumpled body of his opponent. It had been just as he always imagined, all it took was one kick to end somepony, one kick to crush the life from their body. The red stallion looked away from Dark Star, unwilling to face his handy work, his green eyes frantically searching for his lost yoke.

Three heavy coughs instantly put an end to the celebration and mourning, filling previously joyful eyes with dread and sad eyes with hope. Everypony looked at once to see Dark Star move, Princess Luna and Big Macintosh thought for a moment that they might be able to save Dark Star’s life. However, when the false unicorn pegasus shot up from the ground shaking himself out without a single sign of pain, they realized their hope had been misguided.

“Is that really it?” Dark Star snorted glaring across at Big Macintosh. “That can’t be all the power you have; you’re still holding back! Why? You know I will not hesitate to destroy anypony who gets in my way and you know I can hurt you, so why are you still holding back?!”

Big Macintosh glared across the field at the false unicorn pegasus who held his gaze for several long moments before noticing a momentary shift in the red stallion’s eyes. Dark Star looked around to see the marred ground where he had crashed between three unconscious ponies. Dark Star glanced back at Big Macintosh then looked around the field seeing the ground marred in several places by their battle, but all were safely away from the fallen ponies.

Surprise then realization and anger filled Dark Star, Big Macintosh had enough control of their battle that he had directed it safely away from the unconscious ponies all around them. “I see,” Dark Star said at last calmly looking back to Big Macintosh. “I am impressed Big Macintosh you’re far more skilled than I gave you credit for, and I suppose it was careless of me to expect a better performance out of you under such circumstances.”

Big Macintosh did not hide his surprise regarding Dark Star with a look of shock.

“I’ll give you some time to move your friends out of the way so we can continue our battle properly.” Dark Star said with a nod.

“Ah don’t wanna fight,” Big Macintosh said hoping that perhaps Dark Star could be persuaded to leave if he understood that nopony there wanted to harm him. Dark Star seemed to have become so calm all of a sudden, and though Big Macintosh did not understand why he hoped he could still be reasoned with.

“Don’t act like we’re like them,” Dark Star said coldly flicking his head at Twilight Sparkle and the others. “I know what’s like for ponies to project their expectations onto you. They make you hide your abilities and pretend to be like them, but what you truly want is to be set free, to escape the mediocrity these ponies have forced on you, to stop resenting yourself and see how powerful you really are, how beyond them you really are. They know you are superior to them and so that’s why they fear and hate you.”

Big Macintosh looked at Dark Star with hesitation and fear stepping back and shaking his head in denial. Yet he had heard the call of his power telling him to test his limits, to see how fast he could run, how high he could jump, how much he could lift, and what it would be like to kick with all of his strength. It was also true that he had felt resentment as well.

“That’s not true,” Pinkie Pie shouted as she glared down angrily at Dark Star. “Everypony loves Mackie; he’s the most hardest working, most noble, most nicest, most super strong pony ever. He doesn’t need to be mean or bully ponies like you, and he loves everypony in Ponyville just as much as they love him! Don’t you ever try and say Mackie is anything like a meanie old villain like you!”

Dark Star glared up at the annoying pink mare, while Big Macintosh turned and stared at her wide-eyed for a moment then gave her a smiled which Pinkie Pie returned.

“Ah ain’t gonna fight,” Big Macintosh stated firmly turning back to face Dark Star. “This ain’t no game, an’ ah don’t want t’ fight with nopony.”

Dark Star snorted seething with rage, but quickly calmed himself, and flashed Big Macintosh a sinister smile as the earth pony turned to leave. “Fine have it your way; I’ll just take the princess and be on my way then.”

Big Macintosh jolted to a stop at that and turned back to face Dark Star, “Did that slip your little hayseed brain? I’m here for the princess, not you, but then I never thought I’d find you here. You may be willing to let your considerable abilities go to waste, but I’m not.”

Dark Star looked up at Princess Luna who shuttered under his evil eyes. “When Nightmare Moon created me I stood above all others, save her, in power. I decimated legions of Celestia’s royal guards with hardly any effort, and there were precious few who could challenge me at all, and a thousand years of training has left me even stronger. My thoughts have always been to only serve my queen, to do whatever she needed of me.” Dark Star shifted his gaze from the princess to Big Macintosh, “That was until I met you Big Macintosh, and I realized there something else I wanted. Deep down I have always wanted it, to test the limits of my power, to see how strong I really am.”

A distant look filled Dark Star’s eyes as he spoke of the past and his new dream of testing the limits of his abilities. Then suddenly that look was gone replaced with a cold intensity, “I am going to take the princess and return her to what she once was. If you want to stop me, Big Macintosh, you’ll have to defeat me, but if you rather cower behind you pink friend’s tail then be my guest.”

Big Macintosh said nothing, but seething rage could be seen in his narrow green eyes. That was all the answer Dark Star needed, “Good I’ll be waiting. You have one hour to relocate your friends to a safe distance,” He said with a smile.

Dark Star turned to look up at Princess Luna who watched the scene nervously. “And if you leave the area princess, I’ll stab Big Macintosh in the back before I come and find you.” Dark Star spread his wings and took to the air flying up into the gloom, “See you all in an hour.”

Big Macintosh watched Dark Star disappear into the gloom then looked all around at the fallen ponies; he could not find any relief. Despite the fact that he could finally move his friends out of harm’s way, he was now being forced to fight for the psychotic need of the deranged unicorn pegasus. He also did not want to admit it but, no matter how powerful he was Dark Star seemed to be infinitely more powerful.

“Mackie that was great,” Pinkie Pie shouted jumping seemingly out of nowhere throwing her forelegs around Big Macintosh in a fierce hug. Then she dropped down clutching one hoof in the other her eyes narrow in fierce confidence. “You got him on the run; he’s so scared he almost called it quits.”

Big Macintosh stared at her for a moment then could not resist the small smile that spread across his face. Pinkamina always had her own unique, usually overly optimistic, way of looking at things and now seemed no different. She was not afraid or worried at all and did not even consider the idea that Big Macintosh might lose. To say that Pinkamina’s confidence gave him confidence would not be accurate, but he was not going to betray that confidence by being afraid or pessimistic.

“Hello! Can anypony hear me?” A voice called out from the gloom, and a moment later half a dozen doctors and twice as many nurses came running into the light of Twilight Sparkle’s false moon. When they saw the mass of unconscious ponies spread out across the field, they let out a collective gasp their eye’s falling on Big Macintosh.

The head doctor, a yellow and brown maned male earth pony, stepped forward his face painted with shock, confusion, and accusation. “Big Macintosh, what have you done here?”

Big Macintosh’s eyes went wide, and he began to shake his head in denial, but before he could give his own simple answer, Pinkie Pie jumped in. “Mackie didn’t do any of this; he was trying to protect everypony from that meanie Dark Star.” Pinkie Pie stood between Big Macintosh and the approaching group of medical ponies. She had a fiercely angry look about her as she crouched and almost growled threatening anypony who tried to unjustly accuse Big Macintosh any further.

“Oh, I... of course not,” The head doctor stammered a little embarrassed by his accusation. “I didn’t mean to wrongly accuse anypony, but we had no idea what was happening. First, there was this giant ball of light, then it sounded like a war was going on out here, there was a huge explosion and then all those tremors, and now all this. What did happen?”

“Well-” Pinkie Pie started to recount what had happened but was cut off as a voice called out from behind her.

“Help! Help us up here! Rarity’s hurt bad; please come help!” Spike shouted down to them desperately, Twilight having told him about the arrival of the medical staff.

“Start examining the ponies down here,” The head doctor said quickly then turned to white pony with a heart shaped cutie mark, “Nurse Red Heart come with me.”

The white mare nodded, and they ran up the hill finding Spike still cradling Rarity’s head in his lap. “She’s hurt I-I don’t know what’s wrong she won’t wake up.” He said nearly sobbing.

“Here let me see her,” the doctor said ushering the baby dragon back a step, he looked Rarity over but did not find a mark. He slowly lifted her head and pulled a small magical pen light out of his coat pocket. “Nurse give me a hoof here please,” Nurse Red Heart held Rarity as the doctor forced open one of her eyes and flashed the light into it a couple of times.

Breathing a sigh of relief the doctor gave Spike a reassuring smile, “Don’t worry, she’s just deeply unconscious, but not seriously hurt.” Spike let out a sigh of relief, but the doctor’s reassuring look slid off his face as he looked down at the ten other ponies arranged in a circle.
“All right somepony had better explain what is going on here, now!”

“The fault is mine doctor,” Princess Luna said, the princess’ head hung low in shame.

“No it’s mine,” Twilight Sparkle insisted stepping forward, she was not able to move very fast injured like she was, but the purple unicorn could stand just fine. “It was my plan doctor. We discovered who had been attacking our friends and we tried to ambush him. I didn’t tell you or anypony else at the hospital because I believe he was watching it.” Twilight Sparkle explained anticipating the doctor’s question.

“I take it he figured it out anyway,” The doctor said pointedly, giving her a withering look.

Twilight Sparkle shook her head and immediately regretted it having to steady herself. “No he was caught totally off guard, the plan was perfect, except the part about it working.”

“You can’t be serious,” The doctor snapped, “There must be sixty ponies down there. There’s no way one pony do that all by themselves, well except...”

“Trust me, Doctor, Dark Star did it, and he can do a great deal more,” Princess Luna interjected looking down at the field of ponies. “He’s a unicorn pegasus possessing great strength and speed, the skills of a warrior, powerful magic and he is completely without mercy.”

The doctor watched Princess Luna speak wide-eyed and found himself waiting for her to say something uplifting or spell out some unlikely chance for them to defeat this Dark Star, but when the lunar princess was finished, it was just the chilling description of a terrifyingly evil pony.

“Doctor we need your help!” Another nurse shouted running up the hill.

The doctor shook the chill from his bones, “What is it, is somepony seriously hurt?”

“No none of the ponies seem seriously hurt, they’re all just been knocked out.” The nurse explained quickly in a single breath. “The problem is Big Macintosh, he’s insisting, or rather Miss Pie is insisting for him, that all the ponies must be moved out of the area immediately. We tried to tell them it’s too dangerous to move them right now, but he won’t listen.”

“Big Macintosh is right, Doctor,” Twilight interjected before the doctor could say anything. “Dark Star’s not gone for good, he wants the princess and to fight Big Macintosh, it’s like a game to him. He left so we could move the other ponies, Dark Star thinks that Big Macintosh will be able to provide a better fight if he doesn’t have to worry about them. All though I don’t even understand how Big Macintosh can stand up to Dark Star at all.”

The doctor gave the purple mare a confused look but relented. “Alright, nurse, tell the others to help Big Macintosh move the other ponies out of here and be quick about it.” The doctor ordered, and the nurse nodded quickly making her way back down the hill to the field of ponies the doctor following suit soon after. One thing the doctor knew for sure was that he did not want to be around when this Dark Star came back, Big Macintosh, Twilight Sparkle, and their friends could handle it, that was what they did after all.

After a few minutes, a group of nurses came up the hill to join nurse Red Heart and collect the fallen unicorns, including Rarity. Spike started after the nurse carrying the white unicorn, but Twilight Sparkle stopped him. “Spike, Rarity will be all right, we need you here right now.”

“No you don’t,” Spike whined angrily, “I need to stay with Rarity.”

“Spike! Everypony’s in danger right now, and we need everypony thinking to come up with a plan to stop him. Besides you have to let, the doctors take care of Rarity.” Twilight Sparkle insisted sharply stamping a hoof down.

“But what are we to do Twilight Sparkle?” Princess Luna interjected before Spike could complain any further. “Even with our magic, we did not stand a chance against him.”

“I don’t know,” Twilight Sparkle said with a deep frown, “That’s why we need to talk to Big Macintosh and think up a plan. Come on Spike,” The purple unicorn leaned down slightly to give the purple dragon a chance to climb on her back. She was feeling stronger by the minute and was strong enough to carry her assistant now.

Spike sighed in defeat knowing there was no getting out of it; he gave one last longing look at Rarity who was being carried away on the nurse’s back. He could not help but feel it was wrong for a lady like Rarity to be carried in such a way. Growling to himself he climbed on Twilight Sparkle’s back, and they took off towards Big Macintosh.

They found the red stallion carrying three ponies on his back, he could have easily carried more, but he did not want to risk hurting the unconscious ponies by piling them on top of each other. Twilight Sparkle and Princess Luna trotted up to his left side, “Alright Big Macintosh there’s not much time, tell us what your plan is?”

“Nope,” Big Macintosh said simply, his eyes had returned to their usual lazy half open position and only somepony who knew him very well could see the worry deep in their depths.

Twilight Sparkle was taken aback by the sandy-maned stallion’s simple response; perhaps she should have expected such a response, Big Macintosh was not known to give very lengthy explanations. Still, she was hoping he be a little more forthcoming this time.

“Mackie can’t think about that meanie weenie Dark Star right now; he’s too worried about all the ponies.” Pinkie Pie chirped in for Big Macintosh. The pink mare trotted along the right of the red stallion carrying a pony on her back as well.

Twilight Sparkle blinked looking from Pinkie Pie to Big Macintosh then shook her head. “Well, we still need to come up with a plan. We could hide the princess while you distract him or set up a trap for him.”

“Nope,” Big Macintosh shook his head.

“Mackie’s right, Dark Star is probably watching us right now, and he’ll see anything we might try. But at least this way Mackie will draw him out into the open, and that’s good for us.” Pinkie Pie piped in again for Big Macintosh.

“So he does have a plan then?” Twilight Sparkle asked optimistically.

“Nope,” Big Macintosh answered, not one to let another speak for him.

“Nopies,” Pinkie pie confirmed with a smile.

Twilight Sparkle groaned hanging her head in annoyance, and Spike growled in frustration. “What’s it matter, Dark Star might be tough, but he’d got to be hurting from the fight, didn’t Big Mac kick him across the field?”

“Nope,” Big Macintosh shook his head again.

Pinkie Pie gave him a confused look, “He’s not gonna be hurt? How come?”

“Dark Star will use his magic to heal himself,” Princess Luna said solemnly. “He has had a thousand years to develop his skills with magic; I have no doubt that he will use that knowledge to heal and protect himself from Big Macintosh’s incredible strength.” Princess Luna eyes returned to staring at the ground she could not shake the feeling that this was all her fault. She was the one who gave him all that power, and now she could not do anything except hide behind her subjects.

“That’s another thing,” Twilight Sparkle looked over at the red stallion suspiciously. “How in the wide world of Equestria does Big Macintosh have this kind of strength it’s not possible, it defies all laws of physics.”

A sad look came over Big Macintosh’s face, and he looked away from the purple unicorn, Pinkie Pie’s eyes shot wide, and she covered her mouth like she was afraid she let loose some big secret.

“I told thou Twilight Sparkle, Big Macintosh is a titan earth pony,” Princess Luna explained, obviously expecting such a thing to be simple to understand.

“That’s impossible! The earth pony Titan died millennia ago, Big Macintosh can’t be him.” Twilight Sparkle said skeptically, giving the princess a critical look.

“Not the earth pony Titan, a titan earth pony. He is this century’s reincarnation of Titan’s power.” Princess Luna explained looking to each of them for some indication that they knew what she was talking about but they all just looked back at her in confusion.

“Thy does not know? The power possessed by the earth pony Titan has been passed down through the generations, every hundred years another earth pony is born with his power, the power that slew the king of the monster... has this to been forgotten?” Princess Luna explained muttering the last part to herself; the ponies had forgotten that she and Princess Celestia were sisters over the centuries and she had often wonder what else they had forgotten.

“That’s so cool!” Spike said jumping out of his depression for a moment looking to Big Macintosh like he was a hero. Big Macintosh blushed, but nopony could tell save Pinkie Pie who smiled knowingly at him. “That means Dark Star doesn’t have a chance; if Titan killed the king of the monsters, then one evil pony should be nothing.”

Big Macintosh frowned, “Nope,” He shook his head.

“Mackie’s right, Dark Star much much different than some big old monster, just brute strength won’t be enough.” Pinkie Pie explained frowning a little at the admission.

“Ok, Pinkie Pie how are you doing that?” Spike asked finally unable to stand it any longer.

“What?” Pinkie Pie asked in confusion.

“How do you know what Big Macintosh is talking about when he only ever says one word?”

“I dunno,” Pinkie Pie shrugged innocently, “Can’t everypony”

Spike started to explain that it was impossible to get that much information from a single word and that she could not be ignorant about that the way she was translating everything he was ‘saying.' But the air deflated from his chest; it seemed pointless to try and explain something so obvious to a pony with Pinkie Pie’s logic.

“So because Dark Star’s watching us we can’t run, we can’t set up some a trap, and he’s going to come back even stronger than before.” Twilight Sparkle summarized.

“Eyep,” Big Macintosh answered simply.

Twilight slumped in despair, “Great, that’s just great.”

The hour lapsed all too quickly, the last of the ponies carried beyond the light of Twilight’s false moon as Dark Star dropped from the sky with a calm and relaxed look about him. He landed silently, only a single flap of his wings was heard and stood across from Big Macintosh with his wings spread dramatically and a sly smile on his face. “I hope you’re ready this time Big Macintosh.”

Big Macintosh nodded to the girls, Twilight Sparkle and Princess Luna looked grimly from one stallion to the other. Twilight Sparkle tried to think of some last piece of strategic advice she could give the large red stallion, and Princess Luna tried to think of something she could say to convince Dark Star to stop all this. Neither could think of anything and stepped back to the edge of the light opposite to the hill they had watched the first part of the battle from.

Pinkie Pie lingered a moment her big blue eyes smiling up at his lazy green ones, still confident that Big Macintosh would beat Dark Star. The sandy-maned stallion was not so confident as her. “Pinkamina,” He said her name and she narrowed her eyes at him as if she disapproved but that just made him smile. With nothing else to say he took the sprig of wheat from his mouth and placed it behind her ear and motioned her to join the others.

Pinkie Pie looked over at Dark Star and shouted, “Mackie’s gonna kick your flank,” and stuck her tongue out at him before bouncing over to join her friends. Dark Star just looked amused at the comment, folding his wings and fixing Big Macintosh with a hard look.

Big Macintosh glared back across the distance at Dark Star, “Ah-”

“I know, you don’t want to fight,” Dark Star cut the red stallion off, “Well-”

Big Macintosh cut off Dark Star rearing up and slamming his hooves into the ground. The earth beneath him sank down a foot and caused a tremor the rush through the earth which sent Princess Luna and Twilight Sparkle off balance while Pinkie Pie just shook up and down like a pink ball being dribbled. Dark Star stumbled a step not prepared for such a sudden outburst from the quiet stallion.

Around Big Macintosh, the air seemed to crackle as if alive with electricity and his eyes were shut tight as if he were concentrating. Suddenly they shot open, and Big Macintosh charged at the white-maned stallion closing the distance between them in an instant. Dark Star barely had time to react as the red stallions fore-hooves kicked out and slammed into his chest. The force of the kick sent Dark Star flying back, but knowing the strength of the earth ponys kick, he was able to let himself roll with the blow shrugging off much of the impact. He quickly righted himself in the air and landing back on his hooves sliding a few more feet back before he could stop himself.

Dark Star shot back at Big Macintosh his blade-like horn flaring to life with dark magic ready to add another slash to the red stallions marred hide. The black stallion easily ducked under the earth ponys kick, but then suddenly his opponent was gone. Dark Star looked up to see the sandy-maned stallion easily leaping over him and land with unexpected grace before bucking out with his massive hind legs and slamming the white-maned stallion square on the flank, fulfilling Pinkie Pie`s promise, and flinging the false unicorn forward.

Dark Star threw open his wings catching the air and allowing the force of the buck to propel him into the air at an incredible speed, though the pain in his flank was screaming at him to dodge next time.

He quickly looped back around over Big Macintosh and folded his wings slipping into a high-speed aerial drop thinking he could catch the red earth pony off guard and send him off balance.

Big Macintosh again proved faster than Dark Star thought, throwing himself to the side, out of the black stallion’s path and leaped back up to his hooves after a short roll, moments before Dark Star would have struck him.

Dark Star hit the ground hard, painful vibrations running up his legs and spine, he ignored the pain and jumped back to avoid Big Macintosh’s counter attack. He gave a strong flap of his wings to augment his jump and landed several feet from where he had been, safely out of the red stallion’s immediate reach. However, the green-eyed stallion had not moved, just fixing the other stallion with a cold hard stare. Dark Star frowned at this, shooting Big Macintosh a hateful glare, “You won’t beat me by playing it safe.”

“We don’t have t’ be doin’ this,” Big Macintosh answered sternly.

“I WANT to do this!” Dark Star shot back his horn flaring to life with dark magic, suddenly the white-maned stallion vanished and reappeared in front of Big Macintosh bringing his horn down upon the earth pony.

Having seen Twilight Sparkle use the same spell in the past Big Macintosh was ready for it and jumped back slipping out of the horn’s reach then sprang forward and slammed his hooves into Dark Star with considerable strength hoping to knock the false unicorn out properly this time.

There was little resistance as Big Macintosh’s hoof went right through Dark Star. The large stallion’s eyes shot wide at what he had done, but a moment later the black pony disappeared in a wisp of black smoke. The shock was quickly replaced by confusion as Big Macintosh felt something stab into his side and he neighed out in pain, turning to see three Dark Stars standing at his side.

Big Macintosh cursed at himself for falling for Dark Star’s trickery and quickly bucked out at one of them. A moment of resistance followed by nothingness told him it was just another copy. The red stallion let out another neigh of agony as something stabbed into his side. Reeling in pain Big Macintosh turned and kicked at the Dark Star, but like those before it, this one disappeared in a puff of black smoke, and there was another stab as Dark Star’s horn sank into his side. Big Macintosh bit back the pain and turned to face the real Dark Star ready to kick out at the evil pony, but staggered in pain when he tried to bring his hooves up.

“Big Mac’s hurt bad,” Twilight Sparkle realized grimly. The numerous gashes Dark Star had inflicted before were all but superficial, but these deep stabs were badly hurting Big Macintosh, and he was quickly getting weaker.

“No!” Princess Luna moaned, tears slipping down her face. She looked over at Pinkie Pie who was somberly watching the fight now, not bouncing or cheering excitedly as she had before. “Pinkie Pie I’m...”

“Come on Mackie, beat that meanie!” Pinkie Pie cheered a little more urgent now than cheerful.

Bolstered by the Pinkamina’s cheer Big Macintosh gathered his strength and charged Dark Star, but the false pegasus jumped out of the way and took to the air hovering out of Big Macintosh’s reach. He glared down at the red earth pony for a moment, as the red stallion breathed raggedly trying to remain steady through the pain. Dark Star scoffed, “This fight is over, I’m not going to waste any more time on a weakling like you.”

Dark Star began to fly away, Big Macintosh crouched down to leap after him, but pain raked across his whole body, and it was all the red stallion could do not to double over.

The green eyed stallion gritted his teeth in anger; he did not want to do this, he did not want to hurt anypony, he did not want the power he had, he just wanted to be a farmer, a good pony like his parents. They had been simple ponies, but so brave, they would never let somepony like Dark Star take the princess, they fought to the end. A burning in his chest grew hotter and hotter as he had fought and now burned with an intensity it had not in years. Had either of his parents had this power instead of him they would still be alive, but it was not theirs or anypony else’s. It was his alone, and he would not lose anypony else.

Big Macintosh reared up and shouted, “Y'all leave the princess alone!” And stomped his hooves on the ground.

Dark Star turned to look back at Big Macintosh and saw the ground before red stallion crack in a jagged line of brilliant white light as it shot towards him. Then a ball of light, still connected to the ground and back to Big Macintosh by a thin white tail, shot up out of the ground at Dark Star and exploded in a brilliant flash of white hot light.

“What in Equestria was that?” Spike exclaimed.

“That’s the Mac B.O.M.B.,” Pinkie Pie said with a bounce of excitement.

“The what?” Twilight Sparkle asked finding her voice.

“Mackie’s ‘Baddie Obliterating Mega Blast’” Pinkie Pie explained giving the other’s the distinct impression she had just made up the name.

“But how did he do that... magic... earth pony... n-no!” Twilight Sparkle stammered to explain that an earth pony like Big Macintosh could not perform magic like that.

“He’s a Kinetist,” A stunned Princess Luna recognized. “It is an extremely rare earth pony ability to absorb kinetic energy and alter it to perform near magical effects. Combined his Titan strength Big Macintosh must be able to produce great amounts of the energy at a time, but he must possess extraordinary endurance and willpower to be able to hold so much of it at once.”

“That’s why Mackie can’t lose,” Pinkie Pie said with a cheery smile. She had been a bit worried before, she knew how much Big Macintosh hated using his gifts and would normally avoid doing so at all costs, but when he did use them, especially his strength and kinetic abilities together, he was unbeatable.

Twilight Sparkle could not believe what she was hearing, earth pony magic; that was impossible. She had read all kinds of history on magic and never heard of such a thing. No, that was not entirely true. All of the talk about the earth pony Titan suddenly reminded her of another part of the legend, the legend of Shooting Star.

Shooting Star was the bitter rival of Titan and legend said that he, despite being an earth pony, used magic to become nearly as powerful as Titan. If that were true, then it could have been the same Kinetist magic that Big Macintosh was using now.

With a snort of anger, Dark Star landed across from Big Macintosh glaring at him hatefully. That blast of kinetic energy would have been more than enough to severely injure any ordinary pony, but Dark Star was too well protected by his magic. Still, his fur, mane, and wings were singed by the blast giving his a mangy look and left him a little out of breath. Dark Star calmed himself, “Finally showing all you’ve got hmm.”

Dark Star also knew of kinetisis earth ponies, he had met the last one a thousand years ago and was forced to deal with her for interfering with his mistress’ plans. Dark Star had known both a fully trained Titan earth pony and kinetisis earth pony, and either was far more powerful than Big Macintosh was. This filled the false unicorn pegasus with rage, how could anypony allow such potent abilities to go to waste, to sit undeveloped and unused. It was an affront to everything Dark Star stood for, he had spent a thousand years developing his power, and he was not afraid to use them.

“Well it’s too little too late, you’ve insulted me for the last time, Big Macintosh! I’m going to show you how to use power! Shadowic...” Dark Star shouted his horn glowing with dark magic that quickly spread out over his whole body.

Big Macintosh knew that this was truly his last chance to defeat the insane pony, he could not hold back this time. The red stallion concentrated gathering all the energy he had left; he had only used a quarter of the kinetic energy he had stored up in the last blast. He reared up and slammed his hooves down hard, the line of white energy more brilliant than the first shot out from between his hooves cutting a jagged line through the ground towards Dark Star.

“Boom!” Dark Star cried unleashing a wave of dark energy at Big Macintosh, the wave hit as a huge ball of energy burst forth from the ground and exploded.

“Down!” Pinkie Pie cried jumping up and pushed Twilight Sparkle, Princess Luna, and Spike to the ground as a wave of force rolled over them blowing away anything not securely clinging to the ground as the earth shook violently.

It was several moments before it felt as if the wave had truly passed by, Pinkie Pie was the first one up, bouncing back to her hooves and trying to see through the huge cloud of dust the colliding spells had kicked up. Spike quickly followed, having been pushed off Twilight Sparkle’s back, and pushed his way past the purple unicorn and the princess to see what had happened.

A tense silence had fallen over the field, disturbed only by a faint ringing in everyone’s ears, and the cloud of dust still obscured all, slowly dispelled by the whisper of a helpful breeze. It rolled back the dust revealing the first figure; a black and white-maned unicorn lying still on his side a pair of badly ruffled wings stretched out behind him. The relief of that revelation was short-lived as each pony and dragon held their breath in anticipation of their friend’s state.

There was a collective gasp as the dust blew away revealing Big Macintosh’s form, his head bent as he heaved for breath, being truly exhausted was a rare occurrence for him.

Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and Princess Luna breathed with excited relief, but Pinkie Pie cheered, “Mackie!” And bounced to the red stallion, clearing the distance in a blink of an eye.

“You did it!” She shouted throwing her hooves around his neck in a tight hug. “I told you, you could do it!”

“Pinkamina,” Big Macintosh said wrapping a hoof around her. He owed it all to her, to her belief in him, to her-

A collective gasp from the others put a swift end to the celebratory thoughts, and Big Macintosh looked up to see Dark Star on his hooves, his horn aglow and a look of rage spread across his features.

“Pinkamina!” Big Macintosh cried pulling her around him to cover her with his body just in time as a concentrated blast of pressurized air slammed into him. The force of the blast sent the weakened stallion flying over the pink mare and crashing into the ground. The last thing he heard was Pinkie Pie calling out to him before the darkness claimed him completely.

“Mackie, Mackie!” Pinkie Pie panicked and nuzzled frantically against the large red stallion, tears pouring from her eyes soaking his fur. Her optimism was completely crushed, she had never once considered that Big Macintosh could be beaten and now seeing him like this, she was suddenly terrified that she might have lost him forever.

Finally, she thought to press an ear to his chest and heard the steady beating of his heart and the shallow sound of breathing. “You’re gonna be alright Mackie, you’re gonna be fine,” She soothed more for her sake than anything else.

The sound of hoof steps behind her snapped Pinkie Pie out of her panic, she jumped up and turned to face Dark Star. “You stay away from him!” Pinkie Pie shouted lowering herself into a crouching position and growling savagely at the white-maned pony. “I won’t let you hurt him; I’ll kill you if you try and touch him!”

Dark Star gave her a quick smirk that turned almost instantly back into a frown, “I have no doubt you would. You would have made a much better opponent than him,” Dark Star spat eyes fixing on Big Macintosh. “He had no will to fight, in the end, he was just a weakling.” Dark Star turned away from the pair and spread his bat-like wings.

“You’re wrong!” Dark Star paused and looked back at the pink pony, “Mackie doesn’t want to hurt anypony even a meanie weenie like you. He’s stronger than you could ever be.”

Dark Star scoffed and took to the air flying across the field to land a few feet from Twilight Sparkle and the princess. “Now that there are no more distractions-”

“Stay away from the princess!” Spike shouted leaping at Dark Star; it had taken considerable courage for Spike to stand up to the evil pony, even if he was merely scratching blindly at him. However, when the baby dragon failed to hit Dark Star or the ground he curiously opened his eyes and discovered that he was just clawing at empty air having been caught and was floating harmlessly in the false unicorn’s magic.

Dark Star turned the dragon over and looked at him with a critical eye. “You don’t even have wings yet kid,” he commented tossing Spike aside. The purple dragon bounced across the ground several times before landing face down in the dirt. Spike pushed himself back up biting his quivering lip and blinking back tears, “Call me when you grow a pair.”

Dark Star turned back to Princess Luna, “As I was saying, it’s time for you to come with me, princess.”

Twilight Sparkle lowered herself down as if readying herself to charge but Princess Luna stepped in front of the purple mare, her head held high, “No I will not go with thou.”

“What?” Dark Star snapped, Twilight Sparkle also looked over to the princess with a little surprise.

“I said no,” Princess Luna said bravely standing even taller now against Dark Star. “I will not continue to act like a scared foal, and I will not let my subject fight my battles for me anymore. I will make my own choices, and it will not be to bow to thy’s whim anymore!”

Dark Star was visibly taken aback for a moment, he honestly never expected weak little Princess Luna to act so much like Nightmare Moon. He smiled and gave a little chuckle, “Alright if that is your choice then I will let it to you to make the next one. Who first?”

“What?” Princess Luna asked confused by Dark Star’s reaction.

“Who will I have to kill first in order to change your mind?” Dark Star asked calmly and turned back to where Pinkie Pie stood protectively over Big Macintosh. “I could kill the lovers, or perhaps your sister’s favorite pupil?” He looked over the lunar princess to the purple unicorn behind her then back to the Princess. “Or perhaps your resolve is so strong that I’ll have to destroy all of Ponyville to convince you to come with me."

“No!” Princess Luna shouted her eyes desperate and filled with wild fear. “Please no, I’ll go with thou just don’t hurt anypony.”

“Good I knew you’d listen to reason, let’s go.” Dark Star motioned and turned to spread his wings.

“You’re a monster!” Twilight Sparkle shouted but Princess Luna held her back from doing anything else.

Dark Star chuckled and took to the air turning to look down at Twilight Sparkle, “Tell your princess I expect her to keep the celestial cycle like a good princess. I would hate to have to interfere personally on such a matter, let’s go, Luna.”

Princess Luna looked sorrowfully at her dear friend, “I am sorry Twilight Sparkle. I was not strong enough,” Then took to the air as well.

Twilight Sparkle stared after them, but with a flick of his horn, Dark Star shattered the unicorn’s false moon like a mirror. The shards became a shower of starlight which passed all too quickly, plunging the world into gloomy darkness.

Author's Note

The working title for this chapter was Dark Star vs Big Macintosh.

For more information on Big Macintosh and Pinkie Pie, please check out Pink Apple Seeds.

Chapter Five: Dual Revelations

Chapter Five
Dual Revelations

Rainbow Dash fidgeted in her bed glaring up at the ceiling, only the nurse’s threat to sedate her kept the rainbow maned pegasus from dragging herself from the bed and trying to find out what was going on. The blue mare looked over to see her roommate Applejack who was also glaring up at the ceiling though she was lying still, seething with anger.

They had both heard the sounds of fighting, seen the rise of the false moon, had felt the unmistakable explosion of a sonic boom. At first, the doctors and nurses just gathered around windows trying to see what was going on, but at the same time denying the patients from doing the same. They forced Rainbow Dash and Applejack back to their room, while some of the doctors and a group of nurses went out to investigate. They returned with dozens of injured ponies and whispers of Big Macintosh fighting somepony.

There was no doubt in the mares’ minds that the others had confronted Nightmare Moon and that without the Elements of Harmony Big Macintosh had been forced onto the front line. With herself and Applejack incapacitated Rainbow Dash figured that the quiet stallion was the strongest pony in town, “But is he really tough enough to take on somepony like Nightmare Moon?” The rose-eyed mare asked reluctantly her voice filled with frustration at being stuck in bed while such a big battle was going on.

“Don’t worry sugarcube Big Mac’s even stronger than he looks,” Applejack replied covering her frustration with pride for her brother. “Besides he’s also got Twilight t’ help him, ah’m sure she’ll come up with a brilliant plan.” Applejack turned to the window, “Things been quiet for a long while now too. Ah, bet they beat that evil pony int’ the ground.”

“I’m sorry Applejack,” Her voice precede her as Twilight Sparkle slowly entered the room, “We did everything we could.”

Applejack instantly feared the worst and nearly shot out of her bed demanding to know what had happened to her brother, but Rainbow Dash held her back with a quick reassurance and a demand to know just what was going on.

Twilight Sparkle explained all that had happened as quickly and clearly as she could; her shame over her own ineffective plan was obvious. She explained about Dark Star and the truth that he was the one who attacked them, that he had been trying to isolate Princess Luna and that he wanted to change her back into Nightmare Moon. Then the purple unicorn explained her plan, its utter failure and the battle between Dark Star and Big Macintosh.

“...but Dark Star was too strong. He managed to defeat Big Macintosh and took the princess.” Twilight Sparkle finished looking up at her friends; Rainbow Dash lay almost dazed at the revelation of Big Macintosh’s abilities.

Applejack, however, was almost frantic with worry, “Is Big Macintosh all right, what happened to him, where is he?”

“He was stable when they brought him in,” Twilight Sparkle reassured her. “The doctors are treating him now, Pinkie’s with him.”

The mares were taken aback by that, “Why is Pinkie Pie with him?” Rainbow Dash asked with a curious frown.

Twilight Sparkle shifted nervously looking from the floor to Applejack and back again several times before saying, “I...I think they’re ‘together,' you know a couple.”

“WHAT!!” The two injured ponies shouted at once earning them a rather insistent shush from one of the nurses. Several minutes of silence followed as Applejack and Rainbow Dash tried to decide what to do with such information and finally decided just not to talk about it, at least for now.

“So what about Dark Star?” Rainbow Dash finally asked breaking the silence.

Twilight Sparkle was unsure what to do now about the evil pony, she started to say something but stopped as the sun started to crest over the horizon. Orange light filled the room and faster than nature should have allowed the light became golden then clear as all three mares turned to look out the window.

Fallowing the rapid sunrise a ball of white light came forth from the golden sun and a moment later streamed in through the window. With a brilliant flash, the ball of light transformed into a beautiful white unicorn pegasus with a flowing rainbow mane.

“Princess Celestia,” Twilight Sparkle gasped with joy and stepped towards her mentor only to be rebuffed by the stern look that played across the princess’ features. The purple mare’s mind instantly filled with countless potential accusations for her failure to protect Princess Luna, deal with Dark Star and inform Princess Celestia as to what was happening. Twilight Sparkle sank to the ground bowing her head low to the princess.

“I’m sorry princess my plan went all wrong, and I couldn’t protect your sister!” The purple unicorn blurted out before the princess had a chance to speak.

“Oh no, Twilight,” Fluttershy whimpered stepping out from behind Princess Celestia, she lowered her head next to friend's reassuringly. “It’s all my fault; I should have gotten to the princess sooner.” Fluttershy was not sure exactly what had happened but was sure it had to be the fault of a slow, weak pony like her rather than a clever, brave pony like Twilight Sparkle.

“It ain’t either of y'all’s fault,” Applejack reassured quickly.

“Ya it all that stupid Dark Star’s fault, if I’d-”

“So it is Dark Star!” Princess Celestia interrupted Rainbow Dash, frowning she looked to the side deep in thought of a moment. Her eyes fell back on Twilight Sparkle who was still remorsefully slumped on the ground, and her expression softened.

She approached her student kneeling down to look the purple mare in the face. “Your friends are right Twilight it was not your fault, I know you did everything you could to protect Luna. You could not have known how powerful he would be; I’m sure you did all you could to stop him. I’m very proud of you for trying so hard, and am so relieved that you and your friends were not more hurt, or worse.”

Princess Celestia looked down at the floor remorsefully, “If anypony is to be blame it would be me. I should have known something was wrong when I saw the false moon, instead of thinking it was merely some magic lesson my sister was giving you. I should have known that a pony like Dark Star would never let something like death keep him from serving his queen.”

Twilight Sparkle looked up at the princess who smiled down at her reassuringly; the purple unicorn wanted to bury her face in the princess’ neck and let all her fears pour out of her as she had as a filly. She knew, however, that she could not do that now; she had to keep herself together, for there was still far too much that still needed to be done. “Who is this Dark Star Princess; there was so little information I couldn’t find out much about him. Even his existence was really just a guess.”

“Patients Twilight Sparkle I will tell you everything about him soon, but since his evil has affected you all, I wish to have all your friends here when I do. I sent messages to the others with my magic when I arrived; hopefully, they will be here soon.”

Twilight Sparkle frowned grimly, “I don’t know if Rarity will be able to come, princess, she was hurt pretty badly by Dark Star’s counterspell.”

“Don’t be silly darling,” Rarity’s voice rang out across the room as she trotted in briskly head held high, Spike quickly following after. “It would take more than that silly little spell to keep me from answering a royal summons.” She said proudly, bowing and formally greeting the Princess. Rarity’s proud and noble disposition did little to hide the unmistakable redness that lit up her face.

“Are y’all sure yer all right there darlin’, ya look pretty red,” Applejack asked curiously.

“What? Oh yes, yes I am fine. Just a little tired, one does not get a very restful sleep when one is knocked out by such a terrible brute.” Rarity quickly explained, and it was at least half true. She was feeling weak and did not feel at all refreshed from being unconscious, however, waking up to find Spike hovering over her bed about to try and wake her with a kiss was the true culprit of her blush. Although it was not the most appropriate conduct for a young gentle drake to steal a kiss from a sleeping mare the white unicorn did not hold any ill feelings towards the little dragon, it was quite cute after all.

Spike was undoubtedly embarrassed enough from the unceremonious tumble he took when his attempt was interrupted by the sudden arrival of the princess’ summons, which also served to saved Rarity the embarrassment of gently rebuffing the dragon.

For his part, Spike was fortunate that his purple scales hid his blush better than Rarity’s white coat, but still painfully embarrassed he did his best to hide behind Twilight Sparkle.

“Well good now we just have to wait for Pinkie Pie, I hope she doesn’t take too long,” Twilight Sparkle said with a sigh.

“Ooo, me neither,” A cheerful voice said as its pink owner bounced up and down eagerly next to her purple friend. “I want to hear all about that meanie weenie Dark Star... so who we waitin’ for?”

Everypony turned in surprise to see the pink mare in question and wonder briefly how she had gotten there when none of them saw her enter the room. Twilight Sparkle was the one to finally ask, “Pinkie where’d you come from?”

“Well, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much-”

“No that’s... just never mind.” The striped maned unicorn interrupted Pinkie Pie, then abandoned her question, it was often best to just not ask when it came to how or why her pink friend did things.

“How’s mah brother?” Applejack asked, her concern for her brother’s well-being prompting her to try and ignore the other inevitable questions she would have to ask Pinkie Pie about the nature of her friend and her brother’s relationship. Despite the innocents of the question Rainbow Dash had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing out at the question given what they had just learned about Pinkie Pie and Big Macintosh.

“Pretty bad, the doctors said it would be a while before he's recovered enough to go back to work.” Pinkie Pie explained, she was overjoyed that the red stallion was alright, but Pinkie Pie had never been as afraid as she had been when she saw him broken and beaten by Dark Star. The two emotions were still clashing in Pinkie Pie’s chest leaving her bubbly, but a little subdued when it came to Big Macintosh. “That meanie weenie missed all of Mackie’s vitals, but the doctors were concerned that they couldn’t give him stitches. I explained all about his gifts and the doctors are preparing some magic needles right now.”

“Magic needles?” Twilight Sparkle questioned still very confused about all that she had learned about Big Macintosh’s abilities last night.

“Magically sharpened stuff’s the only thing that can pierce Big Mac’s think hide, but Tarnation!” Applejack cursed, “Me and Big Macintosh can’t both be stuck in ‘ere fer weeks. The farm will go under without one of us to work it.” Applejack said struggling momentarily against her own bandages but quickly gave up when pain raced through her body firmly telling her that she was not going anywhere.

The others were quiet not knowing really what to say, but Pinkie Pie bounced over to Applejack. “Don’t worry Applejack, Mackie said the same thing when he woke up, but I told him not to worry cus I’m gonna take care of the farm till you two are better.” Pinkie Pie held a hoof to her chest as she puffed it out proudly.

Applejack’s eyes went wide with panic at Pinkie Pie’s statement, and she renewed her struggling with vigor. “Nurse! Nurse ah gotta get here!” There was no way the orange mare could let her pink friend take over the care of the farm. She could not even begin to imagine the pink painted insanity Pinkie Pie would bring upon her beloved farm.

“AJ you need to chill out,” Rainbow Dash said reaching over to settle her friend down, catching and firmly taking hold of her hoof as if flailed her direction.

“W-we can all help out,” Fluttershy offered quickly and softly, not wanting her friend to hurt herself anymore.

“Yes and your Granny Smith and Applebloom will still be there to make sure everything is being done properly,” Rarity added reassuringly.

“And I’ll keep you appraised of what’s happening, and we’ll make a checklist for the others to follow.” Twilight Sparkle said stepping over to her friend.

Applejack stopped struggling and looked over at all her friends, lastly Rainbow Dash whose hoof she squeezed back. She took a few breaths to calm herself as the princess dismissed a worried looking nurse with a nod. Applejack sighed, “Y'all are right, ah can’t go hurting myself worse and y'all are family after all so the farm will be in good hooves with y'all. Just make sure y'all keep a close eye on Pinkie Pie.”

Everypony chuckled, save Pinkie Pie who gave a small frown, “You girls are worse than Mackie, he didn’t think I can take care of the farm either.”

As if to emphasize her point the floor suddenly began to shake as a desperate looking Big Macintosh dragged himself across the door as six nurses tried in vain to hold the injured stallion back, clinging to legs, back, tail and even his yoke. Pinkie Pie had made sure he had gotten it back as soon as they were at the hospital. Big Macintosh had made her promise to do such knowing that even weakened his strength was so terrible that he would be a threat to the ponies caring for him without it. However, it did not seem to be slowing him down right now, “Let me go! Ah, gotta get back t’ the farm... Pinkamina’s gonna paint everythin’ pink!”

“Humph,” Pinkie Pie frowned sticking her nose into the air, maybe she should not bother helping since everypony seemed to think that she was just going to mess everything up. What did they think that she did not know how to do anything but bake and throw parties? She could do anything she set her mind to and could do a great deal more than most, or, she thought with an evil grin, more than six ponies put together could do. Well if they did not trust her, then she would just have to show them how wrong they were.

“They’re never going to stop him like that,” Pinkie Pie said happily bouncing towards the frantic stallion. He noticed her just as she reached his ear. At first, he looked worried, probably regretting what he had just said or at least not noticing that his pink marefriend was standing nearby when he had said it. Worry turned to surprise then shock when blue eyed mare whispered something in the red stallion’s ear. Suddenly Big Macintosh’s face turned an even deeper shade of crimson as blood squirted from his nose, his eyes rolled back in his head, and he passed out.

With a satisfied grin, Pinkie Pie bounced back to her friends as the nurses carefully picked up the unconscious stallion and carried him back to his room.

“What did you say to him?” Rainbow Dash asked surprise played across her face.

“A lady does not discuss such things,” Rarity quickly interjected silencing Pinkie Pie was a hoof before the mischievously grinning mare could speak. Her sense of modesty overpowering her curiosity over what seemed to be something between Pinkie Pie and Big Macintosh. She glanced at her friends, but only Fluttershy shared her confusion. That was disappointing as Rarity was too proper to ask about the pair and Fluttershy was too shy to talk about such thing openly.

“Ah don’t wanna know,” Applejack said sharply intending to drop the conversation there, but her curiosity got the better of her, and she asked, “How long’s this been going on anyway?”

Pinkie Pie brought a hoof to her chin grinning wide as tried to come up with an excuse with which to fane ignorance, but a stern look from Applejack told her she had better reconsider such silliness. “Oh me and Mackie have been good friends since before I even got my cutie mark.”

Pinkie Pie recounted the tale of how she had met Big Macintosh; the story answered many of the questions that she had never been able to answer about Big Macintosh. Most knew him as strong and reliable but few, almost no, ponies knew that much of the time Big Macintosh was very depressed. Applejack now realized that it was Pinkie Pie who had been pulling Big Macintosh out of his depression, a fact that left a sting of jealousy in her heart, for she had been powerless to help her brother while Pinkie Pie seemed to do it so easily.

The others did not notice the sour feelings this realization had caused Applejack, save for Rainbow Dash. Attuned to her best friend’s mood like nopony else the blue pegasus instantly noticed her friend’s brooding expression and gave her hoof another strong squeeze and a reassuring smile. Applejack smiled back, after all, what did it matter who helped Big Macintosh out of his sadness so long as he was happy. With a crazy mare like Pinkie Pie at his side, it would be hard not to be happy.

“That is so romantic finding love with a lifelong friend and Big Macintosh is just so handsome, sweet and strong. Oh, I am jealous that I missed my chance with him.” Rarity said dreamily, Spike frowned and crossed his arms angrily jealousy running all through him. Rarity noticed this out of the corner of her eye and smiled to herself quite pleased for some reason with this response.

“Y’all were eyein’ mah brother too?” Applejack frowned taken aback by the white unicorn’s revelation.

“Just a little bit,” Rarity said with a wink.

“Big Mac does look like a pony who wouldn’t ‘run out’ on a mare.” Rainbow Dash said with a chuckle, “I thought about jumping his bones a few times, and you both have the same eyes. Bonus!”

“What in tarnation is that supposed t’ mean?!” Applejack practically shrieked letting go of Rainbow Dash’s hoof and glared at her

“Well I... just mean you have... you both have pretty... pretty nice eyes. That’s all,” Rainbow Dash stammered through her explanation causing the other girls to laugh, save Applejack whom blushed and glared furiously at her best friend.

“Anyways we’ve all thought about Big Mac that way once or twice, even a bookworm like Twilight has.” Rainbow Dash said defensively trying to take the focus off of herself.

All eyes suddenly fell on Twilight Sparkle, “Is that true?” Applejack demanded.

Twilight Sparkle sunk under the intimidating gaze of her friends, “Well I ah... ahh...” Truthfully she had lots of fantasies about the handsome red farm pony, most of which involved intimate moments sparked while she taught him to read. Big Macintosh knew how to read, of course, she knew that he often came to the library and checked out books. However, when he had first come to the library after she moved in, she had been rather unprofessional in her duties as a librarian and ignored him in favor of an experiment she was conduction. Until she needed help, Spike was on an errand and asked Big Macintosh to read her a passage from a book to her.

When he answered with his trademark ‘Nope’ and hastily retreated from the library, she took it to mean he could not read and left in embarrassment. She had not realized of course that she had been ignoring him for over ten minutes, leaving him to seek out his book through the confusingly re-shelved library and was simply running very late as a result.

Twilight Sparkle took to sneaking around and observing the stallion to confirm her suspicion and after several days managed to convince herself that the farm pony was indeed illiterate. That was when the dreams, night and day, of intimate reading lessons, began and soon Twilight Sparkle was so convinced of her feelings and assertions that the next time Big Macintosh came to the library, she confronted him about the problem and offered her services to him as a reading teacher.

The embarrassment Twilight Sparkle felt that day has never been equaled and likely never would be. Big Macintosh took the whole thing with a gentle sense of humor, but Twilight Sparkle was sure that Applejack would stomp her into unicorn paste when she found out. However, Applejack nor any other pony ever found out because of course Big Macintosh never told anypony else. Still, it was a month before the mere sight of Big Macintosh stopped causing Twilight Sparkle to run the other direction.

But now there under the intense gaze of her friends Twilight Sparkle once again felt those feelings, and the embarrassment returned in full force. Now with nowhere to run she made a very Fluttershy-like nervous squeak and sunk to hide behind her mane, it was all the conformation her friends needed.

Rarity and Fluttershy moved to console Twilight Sparkle, assuring her that they were just teasing and picked the purple mare up off the floor. After a moment she was able to stand up on her own though she refused to speak, just nodding or shaking her head in response and a deep crimson blush played across her face.

Applejack crossed her forelegs in a most uncharacteristic pout and glared up at the ceiling, “Well it’s good t’ know all mah friends been plannin’ on makin’ off with mah brother. Here ah thought ah only had t’ be worryin’ about Fluttershy.”

“I think you mean ‘makin’ out,'” Rainbow Dash said and giggle at the glare Applejack shot her way. “But you’re right; I always thought she’d be the one to end up with the big guy too.”

“Yes, I thought so too,” Rarity nodded in agreement.

“It does seem like a logical pairing,” Twilight Sparkle added finally finding her voice again now that the attention was off her.

All eyes were on Fluttershy now; the yellow mare shrank away from her friends’ gaze hiding as best she could behind her pink mane. Before Fluttershy could even begin to speak, Pinkie Pie had closed the distance between them and was staring down at the pegasus intensely. “Is that true Fluttershy, are you after my stallion?”

“What? I’m... no...” Fluttershy said softly shrinking back into a wall quivering under the gaze of the pink mare. Pinkie Pie had heard several ponies mention the ‘perfect couple’ of Fluttershy and Big Macintosh when she had moved to Ponyville but she had always ignored it, most ponies did not seem to know the first thing about the stallion. After meeting Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie decided that she could not think of a more mismatched partner for the red stallion if she had tried. Though she did have to admit, she was pretty bias on the matter.

For her part, Fluttershy did not have strong feelings one way or another for Big Macintosh. When she had first met the large stallion, she was intimidated by his size, but slowly over time became more and more relaxed around him. She had noticed a quiet sadness about the red workhorse, but before she could work up the courage to talk to him about it, it had greatly dissipated.

“Okie, Dokie, Lokie,” Pinkie Pie rhymed happily instantly appeased by the yellow pegasus’ weak, though truthful, denial.

The others let out a ringing of laughter, this time even Applejack let herself chuckle shaking her head at the thought of the crazy, exuberant Pinkie Pie with her level-headed reserved brother. However, an image of the two laying in the orchard Pinkie Pie happily rushing from one topic to another as they popped into her head while Big Macintosh listened following Pinkie Pie’s every movement with a slight content smile on his lips projected itself into her mind.

Princess Celestia watched Twilight Sparkle and her friends delightedly amazed at how the youths could forget, even for a moment, the terrible danger that loomed over them and celebrate the union of two hearts. She stood by silent and somehow unnoticed not daring to intrude on their peaceful world with grim reality, at least not immediately.

Rainbow Dash’s laughing suddenly turned into a squeak of pain as she clutched her side wincing and biting back any further sounds of pain, the laughing had caught up with her and caused her injuries to cry out in protest.

“Y'all gonna be ok there Rainbow,” Applejack reassured as much as she asked as she edged back closer to her friend.

“Do you want me to get you anything?” Fluttershy asked rushing to her friend’s side while the others looked on with concern.

“Naw I’m alright,” Rainbow Dash waved off their concern and waited for the pain to die down. She gave a little sigh when it passed and quickly added, to save face, “All I need is to give that bastard Dark Star a good buck to the face. And now that we have the elements of harmony we’ll show him who the toughest ponies around are.”

“I’m afraid I don’t want any of you putting yourselves in that kind of risk this time.” Princess Celestia interjected calmly trying to sound as diplomatic as possible while still denying her faithful subjects from doing what they thought they needed to do.

All six ponies gasped and looked up at the princess, but only Rainbow Dash was brash enough to protest. “What! Come on Princess; we’ve dealt with worst threats then Dark Star before. We’ve taken down Discord and Nightmare Moon. Dark Star’s just her lackey we can handle him.”

Princess Celestia shook her head wishing dearly that it was truly that simple. “Dark Star is unlike any foe you’ve fought before. Dark Star is not pridefully ignorant like Nightmare Moon nor confidently complacent like Discord. The moment he sees anypony wielding the Elements of Harmony he will not hesitate to eliminate them.”

The other’s looked at Applejack and Rainbow Dash while the two injured mares looked at each other. They all imagined succumbing to a similar fate, Dark Star attacking from the shadows without pause or mercy. The others all shuttered at the thought; Applejack and Rainbow Dash clutched hooves once more.

“But why?” Twilight Sparkle asked looking back to her teacher, “Why is Dark Star doing all this... who is he?”

“Dark Star’s story is a long one that began over a thousand years ago,” Princess Celestia said closing her eyes sadly, retrieving the tale from memory. Twilight Sparkle sat down before her teacher, the usually wide inquisitive eyes that had always followed her teacher’s lessons here now marred with worry. The others followed suit sitting down and listening intently to their monarch’s tale.

“Dark Star grew up in a town much like Ponyville, during that time his name was Starlight and he was a kind and gentle soul, but very timid as well.” Princess Celestia began, and the others turned to look at Fluttershy who perked up curiously at the similarity between her and this Starlight. The rainbow maned monarch did not miss the comparison but shook her head as if to answer an unasked question.

“No, Starlight was even more timid than dear Fluttershy. At that time he was just an earth pony and was so shy that he could only venture out of his home at night when there were no other ponies around.”

“Dark Star was an earth pony?” Twilight Sparkle asked all eyes shooting from Princess Celestia to her and back again questioningly. The princess gave a nod and look that told them she would explain all in good time.

“Being one of the only ponies who remained awake at night it was only a matter of time before he caught the attention of my dear sister. Luna and I had just been crowned then and began our duties as princesses of the sun and moon.” Princess Celestia paused and could not help but smile to herself at the memory. “Luna was still young and playful then as well as a bit lonely in her stewardship of the night, so she was ecstatic to find a pony out enjoying her beautiful night.

“Luna wasn’t put off by Starlight’s shyness at all, and after a very long and persistent effort she became his friend.” Princess Celestia let out a small chuckle at the memory of her excited sister telling her about success befriending the shy earth pony, which almost made her forget the sorrowful undertone of the story. “Luna was very adventurous back then as well and would drag poor Starlight into one kind of trouble after another; it was mostly harmless... That is until they unintentionally released a terrible monster from another plane of existence. I have to admit I never thought Starlight was capable of the kind of courage he showed then, but the colt fought bravely saving Luna many times. He’d become a knight for her, donning shining armor and racing to her rescue. By the time the crisis was over, he’d changed so much that his cutie mark even changed, and he no longer showed any fear of other ponies or most anything anymore.

“It only seemed fitting then that during his knighting ceremony we bestowed upon him, not just a title but a great gift, magically constructed wings, and Starlight became Star Knight. He was a knight and a royal guardian of the princesses and lead his own squad of knights against the enemies of Equestria.” These should have been proud words, but the princess’ sadness was heard in her regal voice. Princess Celestia paused for a moment expecting to be flooded by questions from her pupil and her friends.

“Wow Fluttershy I guess there’s hope for you yet, you might become the totally awesome champion of the Princesses.” Rainbow Dash broke the silence with her joke, but there was hardly any reaction from her friends. Rarity and Applejack gave the blue pegasus a quick glare that told her this was not a good time to be joking around and Fluttershy smiled weakly.

Huffing at the general criticism, Rainbow Dash relented to the seriousness of the situation and asked. “So if this stallion was such a big hero how’d he turn into such a jerk?”

“It was Nightmare Moon,” Princess Celestia answered simply, closing her eyes and remembering that awful time and the terrible decision that followed because of it.

“Star Knight was always Princess Luna’s pony; he always stood by her side no matter what. At first, when feelings of jealousy began to grow in my sister’s heart he did all he could to dissuade them pointing out that all ponies loved the wonders of her night even if they could not always remain awake to enjoy them, but it wasn’t enough. After she had changed, it was his task to stop her and defend Equestria from the danger she represented, but he could not do so. His loyalty to Luna was so strong that he chose to became Dark Star rather than fight her.”

Everypony’s eyes went wide with shock, each wondering how anypony could become so evil just to continue serving another. Each dismissed the idea of doing such a thing, but the thought clung to Twilight Sparkle’s mind far longer than it did the others.

“As a gift for his loyalty, Nightmare Moon gave Dark Star a false horn, which would allow him to use magic, and sent him against the royal guard while she confronted me. My elite guard stood little chance, each one ambushed and incapacitated by Dark Star, and without them, the royal guard didn’t stand a chance against his magic and skill. However, I defeated Nightmare Moon by wielding the Elements of Harmony and with her banished to the moon the conflict was over.

“After that, Dark Star disappeared, and though I searched Equestria and beyond for him, I never found him. After a century had passed, I allowed myself to believe that he had perished, regardless of the magical gifts he had received he was still just a mortal pony. How wrong I was...”

Author's Note

This was the only chapter to keep its working title

Chapter Six: Age vs Youth

Author's Note

I never took very well to the Alicorn Cadence thing so in this chapter I refer to her as only a unicorn. You've probably noticed that I tend to refer to Alicorns as either unicorns or pegasi depending on context. So, and you hardly need my permission to do so, feel free to think of her as an Alicorn in this chapter, it hardly affects the story at all.

Chapter Six: Age vs Youth

Chapter Six
Age vs Youth

“The preparations for your departure are all complete Princess Celestia,” Shining Armor said with a bow. Princess Celestia thought the blue-maned stallion should have been out enjoying his youth instead of standing guard over her wearing that same out of place frown he had been wearing all day. Once again he voiced the nagging concern that was its cause. “I really wish you would let me go with you, your majesty.”

“I really wish you would go out and have some fun before all this worrying catches up with you.” Princess Celestia mused turning her frown into a sly smile.

“But I’m captain of the royal guard, your majesty; I should be there in case anything happens.”

Princess Celestia smiled again closing her eyes contently and knowingly, “You weren’t so insistent last year as I recall. In fact, you were quite eager to finish your duties and excuse yourself.”

“No, I...” The white stallion stammered trying to deny the Princess’ words, but could not. Few ponies could openly lie to the Princess, and Shining Armor certainly wasn't one of them.

Princess Celestia could not help but let out a somewhat undignified giggle then continued. “I have to wonder if it’s really me you’re so worried about and not a certain pupil of mine who just so happens to be spending her first Summer Sun Celebration away from home.”

Shining Armor tried to argue the point but just ended up sighing and slumping onto his flank with his head hung low. “It’s just that... Twilie’s not really good at dealing with other ponies, so I’m not sure it was a good idea putting her in charge. She’s even worse at making friends, and I don’t want her to be lonely during the Summer Sun Celebration. It’s always been her favorite time of the year.”

Princess Celestia was a little taken aback by Shining Armor’s words, not that she showed it, but few ponies ever questioned anything she did. Her wisdom had been the sole guiding force in Equestria for the last thousand years, but then, a worried older brother trusts no wisdom but his own when it comes to little sisters. Princess Celestia stood from her throne and leaped down, a few flaps of her majestic wings allowing her to land as softly as a step. Shining Armor leaped to his hooves suddenly aware that slumping like that was not at all appropriate in front of the princess, but she stayed his worry with a soft reassuring look.

“You needn’t worry so Shining Armor, you have been an exemplary older brother and because of that Twilight Sparkle has grown into a fine young mare. I am confident she will have no problem getting everything ready for my arrival. I also gave her explicit instructions to make friends while she’s there, and have you ever known Twilight to fail to complete an assignment.” Princess Celestia asked with a smile.

Shining Armor chuckled despite himself and shook his head, “Never. If you told her to raise the sun herself, she would find a way to do it.”

Princess Celestia laughed softly and nodded in agreement, “I do believe she would. So you should stop worrying and go have some fun. There’s still more than an hour before the actual ceremony starts.”

“I suppose you’re right your majesty, but all my friends are out with their marefriends tonight. I wouldn’t want to impose on anypony,” He said with a shrug.

“You don’t have a special somepony in your life Shining Armor; I thought a handsome young stallion like you would be beating off the mares with a stick.” Princess Celestia asked with a knowing smile.

Shining Armor blushed at the compliment and began to stammer out a response when the door slowly pushed open, and the pink head of a familiar unicorn mare peeked inside, “You wanted to see me, Auntie.”

Shining Armor’s eyes went wide, and he turned to see the matured but unmistakable form of his sister’s old foalsitter, “Cadence!”

“Shining Armor?” The pink unicorn exclaimed just as shocked to see the white stallion as he was to see her.

Princess Celestia smiled to herself as she was temporarily forgotten, returning to her throne without a sound as the two old friends rushed to meet one another. The joy of the reunion was temporarily lost among several awkward attempts by the pair to greet the other with hug or hoofshake that never seemed to match up at the right time and in the end both just laughed at their own awkwardness and rubbed the back of their heads unsure of what to say.

Deciding to be helpful Princess Celestia cleared her throat causing both ponies to turn to her, “Yes Princess Cadence you arrived just in time to take this troublesome captain off my hooves.” Shining Armor looked like he wanted to protest but Princess Celestia did not give him a chance. “I sent his sister to ready Ponyville for my arrival, and he just doesn’t know what to do with himself.”

“Oh! Little Twilight is already being sent on royal missions,” Princess Cadence exclaimed with a mix of joy and a little worry. “It seems like just last week I was still foalsitting her for your parents.” She said looking over at Shining Armor, “You must be so proud of her.”

“What! Umm... ya! I mean, of course, I’m proud, really proud, super proud of her... Twilight I mean.” Shining Armor stammered his way through the sentence. He did not want Cadence to think he was worrying, like some overly possessive older brother. However, as he stammered, looking everywhere but at the pink mare, and blushing with embarrassment, he figured that looking like an idiot was just as bad. He sighed at himself; there was little he could do about that now.

Princess Celestia just smirked to herself and again decided to help the stallion out, “Oh my it sounds like the two of you have a lot of catching up to do. Why don’t you take him for the rest of the evening Cadence, I sure your friends won’t mind Shining Armor tagging along.”

Shining Armor once again began to protest the Princess’ insistence on sending him away, but this time it was Princess Cadence who spoke up before he could. “Actually all of my friends are out with their coltfriends so that I wouldn’t mind some company at all.” Princess Cadence said gazing up at Shining Armor who stared back at a loss for any thought or protest.

Princess Celestia reclined back a little enjoying the success of her little scheme. She had been aware of the pair’s interest in one another since before she had ever met either of the Sparkle siblings. She also knew that with Twilight Sparkle away, for a good while if the sun princess’ predictions proved true, Shining Armor would never give her a chance to relax and have any fun unless he had somepony new to distract him.

Princess Celestia was about to see the pair off when a cold chill ran down her spine. An ominous yet familiar feeling filled the royal court, the shadows seemed to grow and darken as a thick air of magic filled the room.

Shining Armor noticed it a few moments after Princess Celestia, his face tightening into a glare as he dropped into a defensive stance and whipped around searching for the source of the magic. Princess Cadence looked from Shining Armor to the princess and saw she had the same hard look on her face; her eyes shifted nervously between them. Then Princess Cadence felt it as well, she was not as powerful as her aunt nor trained to sense dangers like Shining Armor was, but she was still a unicorn, a pony naturally attuned to the mystical energies of the world.

All three turned to face the large double doors of the hall as the air began to crackle with electricity. There was a flash of light and a burst of energy so intense it caused Shining Armor and Princess Cadence to shield their eyes, but Princess Celestia stared unblinking as a figure teleported into the room. Then she let out as gasp as the figure became clear to see, “Dark Star.”

The stallion looked ancient, so thin and boney he seemed to be little more than a skeleton with a loose skin hanging over it and a sagging belly. His white mane was a greasy, tangled mess that hung limply from his scalp. His bat-like wings were wrinkled, cracked, and hung just a little bit limply even when he had them tucked at his sides. His hooves looked painfully cracked, and his teeth were yellowed, yet his eyes were the same intense gray orbs the Princess remembered from a thousand years ago.

“Hello Celestia, it has been a long time,” Dark Star spoke, his voice was incredibly raspy and so quiet that it was barely a whisper though the princess had no trouble hearing him. After speaking, he immediately erupted into a fit of coughing that almost caused him to double over as his whole body shook.

The shock of seeing what the thousand passing years had done to the healthy and strong stallion she remembered from the final days of her and her sister’s joint rule left the princess speechless. Shining Armor, however, had no such reservations. It was his job to protect the princess and although the ancient unicorn pegasus looked harmless, he anypony capable of teleporting into the royal hall should not be taken lightly.

“This is the princess’ royal court; no pony may enter here without the princess’ consent.” Shining Armor quoted the law but quickly realized that anypony who could break such a law, which was enforced by the princess’ magic, was not about to be turned away by words alone. Shining Armor clenched his teeth angrily and growled past them, “Who are you and what are you here for!”

“Not some uppity colt and his little marefriend that’s for sure.” Dark Star said once his coughing had stemmed. “No, I’m here to fulfill my Queen’s great prophecy, to bring about the end of day and the beginning of night eternal, and to usher in the rule of my mistress Nightmare Moon.” The short explanation brought about another fit of coughing.

Shining Armor’s eyes went wide with horror and surprise for a moment at the bold statement but quickly narrowed into a cold determined glare as the white unicorn stood up to his full height. “Then by the power of her royal highness, I’m placing you under arrest for treason against the princess.”

“Shining Armor no!” Princess Celestia called out as the blue-maned captain reached out to seize the ancient pony.

Dark Star’s blade-like horn flashed to life with dark magic and the ancient unicorn summoned forth a torrent of water that slammed into Shining Armor with the force of a charging buffalo flinging the stallion a dozen feet across the room. Shining Armor crashed into the floor writhing in pain and trying desperately to get back the breath that had been knocked out of him. Princess Cadence rushed to his side trying to see if he needed her help, but though the blow had hurt and knocked the wind out of him, Shining Armor was not badly injured, quickly getting back up on his hooves.

“Don’t waste my time colt; I had your job back when the princesses had real enemies and needed real protection. You’re just some glorified secretary; you don’t stand any chance against me no matter how old and feeble you think I am.” Dark Star ranted his eyes flashed with madness. His voice quickly became strained, and he finished with a desperate gasp for air that caused him to erupt into another fit of coughing.

"Princesses?" Cadence repeated, confusion spreading across her features looking over the ancient pony, then back at Shining Armor.

“I’m fine,” Shining Armor quickly reassured Princess Cadence nudging her back behind him. “I’ll show him what this ‘glorified secretary’ can do.” Before the pink unicorn could protest the white stallion was off again, charging the old black stallion, his horn aglow with magic.

Dark Star saw the barreling white form of Shining Armor through the tears in his eyes. Snorting with frustration Dark Star’s horn lit up with energy summoning forth a blast of wind. Shining Armor was confused for a moment when the gust of wind hit him, it was not very strong, certainly no threat at all, failing even to slow down his charge. Then he felt the first jet of pressurized air rake across his back like the edge of a sword.

Shining Armor was thankful for the protection of his shield, the ancient unicorn still seemed half blinded by tears and casting that spell seemed to tax him as well. Shining Armor charged on trusting his shield to absorb any damage and knowing that it would take just one kick to fell the old stallion.

Dark Star, however, was not quite as frail as Shining Armor had thought, a second minor spell had cleared away the tears and the white-maned old stallion could see his spell had failed. The ancient stallion did not let this throw him off balance, and without hesitating quickly summoned up more magic setting his horn aglow, and thrust his head up into the air.

The floor beneath Shining Armor began to shake throwing the young stallion off balance forcing him to stop to steady himself. This caution saved the white unicorn’s life as he caught a glimpse of the marble floor warping into a thick spike. Shining Armor dived to the right as a large column of shot up out of the marble floor beneath him narrowly avoiding being skewered by it and the second, third and forth as well. By the time the shaking had stopped, there was a tall wall of huge spiked columns between the young and old stallions.

Shining Armor panted wildly as he tried to force his nerves to calm down. His training taught him to deal with high-pressure situations like disasters or rampaging monster, but nothing like this. This ancient stallion, this Dark Star was trying to kill him. It was inconceivable, ponies did not take lives, and even a rampaging monster was more interested in destruction than death, but Dark Star had just made two very clear attempts on his life.

“You’re an expert in shield and protection magic, hun colt.” Dark Star’s voice came over the wall and chilled Shining Armor to the bone with its calm tone as if the black stallion was commenting on the weather.

The blue-maned unicorn forced himself to calm down and steady his voice so his retort would be just as calm, he did not want the old unicorn pegasus to know he was scared. “And you know attack spells hun grandpa.” Shining Armor said pausing to listen for the old stallion’s snort of anger at the jab to his age, but none came, so he tried again. “H-heard they were lost centuries ago where’d you learn them?” Shining Armor cursed himself for the shaking he could hear in his voice.

“Here and there,” Dark Star answered passively, Shining Armor could almost hear the delighted smile in the old pony’s voice.

“I also heard it takes a lifetime to learn just one, so how did you learn three at such a young age.” Shining Armor took another stab at the white-maned pony’s age.

“It might very well take that long for some pony as untalented as you.” Dark Star replied still unbothered by the white stallion’s comments.

“That’s enough of your cruelty Dark Star,” Princess Celestia announced keeping her regal demeanor, glaring down at her court disapprovingly. “Shining Armor I order you to take Princess Cadence and escape. I will deal with Dark Star myself.”

Princess Celestia stood to step down from her throne, but a jet of wind cut through the air carving a thin, shallow line across the marble steps in front of her stopping the monarch dead. “You stay right there Celestia! This is between the colt and I now; I’ll get to you as soon as I’m finished with him.” Dark Star warned coldly failing to erupt into a fit of coughing this time. Not waiting for the princess’ response, Dark Star turned to look down and glare as if through the wall of spiked columns that Shining Armor was hiding behind. “That is unless the colt would rather go hide under some mare’s tail?”

Shining Armor snorted angrily at that comment, but steeled himself against the anger; he could not afford to lose focus. Thankfully Dark Star’s conversation with the princess no matter how brief gave him a chance to recollect his thoughts and come up with a plan. Dark Star’s first two spells could not penetrate the guard captain’s shield and the earth spell, while much more powerful, was easy for the athletic stallion to dodge. This meant that all Shining Armor had to do was keep moving and not get caught off guard by one of Dark Star’s spells. The old unicorn had used up all his tricks and was now hoping to make Shining Armor angry and sloppy.

“Shining Armor I gave you an order,” Princess Celestia said firmly looking down at him.

The white stallion clenched his teeth fighting the erg that compelled him to obey the princess’ orders. He knew he should, and it was not simple pride that made him oppose the command, no simple taunt could ever make him that prideful. No, he could see the truth in Princess Celestia’s eyes, which said she would not be able to stop the old stallion once he was gone, so he could not abandon her no matter what she said. He looked from Princess Celestia to Princess Cadence and back again and flashed them both a confident smile; maybe it was a little about pride. “Princess, get Cadence out of here I’ll cover you!”

“Shining Armor!” The princesses cried out after him, but neither could stop him.

The guard captain jumped out from behind the wall and charged full gallop at Dark Star. Princess Cadence shook her head and ignored the stallion’s words racing after him though she stood much further from the open edge of the makeshift wall. Dark Star just smiled sinisterly and summoned up his magic which flared up as a dark light around his horn.

Princess Celestia’s eyes shot wide; she knew this spell, Shining Armor’s shield would not protect against it. She wanted to call out to him to stop, but it was far too late and the words caught in her throat. Instead, the sun princess turned her attention to her niece, leaping down from her throne she tackled the pink princess to the ground as she rounded the wall and a dome of golden flames flared up over them as the old stallion's spell manifested.

To his credit, Shining Armor had closed half the distance between him and Dark Star before the old stallion had completed the spell. The young stallion saw red, then orange, yellow, and finally pure white as the flare of the fire erupted in front of him. Blistering heat engulfed him peeling off his magic shield even as if faithfully fulfilled its duty and protected him from the flame. Whinnying in pain the white stallion skidded to a stop and desperately pawed at his burning eyes with a fore hoof completely disorientated by the blindness and pain.

The flames around them died as Princess Cadence finally managed to frantically push her aunt off. She looked up to see Shining Armor stumbling around in blind confusion as Dark Star slowly approached his head held up confidently.

“Not so cocky now are you,” the black stallion spat.

Suddenly realizing that his opponent was still there Shining Armor’s head shot up and he started to back away from the sound of Dark Star’s voice. However, the evil pony did not give him a chance to get very far, summoning up his magic and slamming another bullet of water into the noble pony. The force of it flung him back across the room and slammed him into the makeshift wall. Shining Armor gave a weak cry and collapsed unmoving to the ground.

“SHINING!” Princess Cadence screamed and ran to the stallion’s side. Tears were pouring from her eyes she nudged him attentively with her snout, the terror running deeper when she received no response. Desperately she tried to think of what she was supposed to do for several fearful moments before kneeling down next to the white stallion, pressed her ear gently to his side, and after a moment sighed in relief.

Princess Cadence’s joy was short-lived, however, as the sound of hoof steps reached her other ear. She looked up to see Dark Star walking deliberately slow towards her, causing fear to take hold, command her to run and escape the evil pony. The thought was instantly disregarded as it meant abandoning Shining Armor as well. Bravely Princess Cadence turned to fully face the black unicorn stepping forward to cover the white knight and spoke. “Stay Back! I won’t let you kill him! I’ll fight and die before I let you lay another hoof on him!” It was impressive that the pink princess was able to keep her words so strong and steady.

Dark Star paused for a moment to consider Princess Cadence’s words then began to chuckle softly. Through her terror, the pink mare felt a stab of insult to have her bravery laughed at like it was a joke. She began to throw an insult back at him, but the words died on her tongue as Dark Star stepped up to meet her challenge. He loomed over her glaring down at her coldly his raggedy wings flared out menacingly. Princess Cadence began to shrink back in fear, but knowing that she had to protect Shining Armor steeled herself against the fear and stood tall. Her magic was not for fighting nor was she a skilled warrior but none of that matter now, all that mattered was protecting Shining Armor.

“Leave them alone Dark Star!” Came a commanding voice causing both Princess Cadence and Dark Star to look over to where Princess Celestia stood at the end of the wall. “They’re not a part of this, and I won’t let anypony be lost over this personal matter.”

Dark Star scoffed turning away from the young mare and stallion and walking over to the sun princess. “You have nothing to worry about Celestia; I would never deprive my Queen of any of her subjects.”

Princess Celestia gave Dark Star a sad glare as he approached her, “Let them leave then.”

“I’m afraid that’s impossible right now, as you well know Celestia, but they will be able to leave unharmed as soon as our business is finished.” He said looking from the couple to the monarch.

Princess Celestia frowned angrily at him but did not dispute what he said, “Cadence dear there is a spell over this room keeping us from leaving, as soon as the spell is lifted get Shining Armor out of here and to the infirmary OK.”

“But Auntie who...” Princess Cadence began to question but the century old princess silenced her with a look and turned to lead Dark Star back to her throne behind the wall. Once they were out of the younger princess’ sight Dark Star’s form slumped slightly and he began to pant, his chest was tight, his muscles, and his bones ached with centuries old arthritis.

“It must take a lot of energy to keep both the room and my magic sealed, your battle with Shining Armor must have tax your strength greatly.” The princess commented softly seeing Dark Star’s weakened condition, with practiced ease she slowed her pace half a step so he could keep up with her more easily.

“The young buck was more trouble than I thought he would be,” Dark Star groaned mournfully. “If I’d been a hundred years younger that wouldn’t have taken half as long.”

He fixed the rainbow maned princess with a weary glare, “But don’t you worry I’ve still have all the energy I’ll need to finish my mission.” Dark Star’s horn glowed faintly as he looked up towards the sky which as always shone magically through the ceiling of the throne room. “Even now I move the stars into place readying to break the seal.”

“And what of me?” Princess Celestia asked ascending the dais to take her seat on the throne, “Certainly Nightmare Moon doesn’t expect that I will merely sit back and let her do as she pleases.”

“No, but when the seal is broken, and my Queen is set free I will use the ambient energy released to seal you in your beloved sun. You’ll be in no position to stop anypony then.”

A soft pleading look spread across Princess Celestia’s face, “Dark Star a pony in their prime would be greatly taxed by such an undertaking. If you try to do this, it will kill you, please re-”

“Save your pity, Celestia,” Dark Star sat down before the throne too tired to stand and panting even harder than before. “My Queen knew the sacrifice that would have to be made for her return. I am grateful that my final act in this world will be in her service.”

Princess Celestia looked at the ancient stallion who had once been a dear friend of hers, he still was as far as she was concerned her, and tried to think of something she could say to stop what he was about to do, but nothing came to her. She hung her head sadly for a moment wondering if there was truly no words that would dissuade him or if she just dare not think them. After all, if she could dissuade his action then Nightmare Moon would not be freed, and the chance to regain her sister would be lost. She had gambled so much on this night, just for the chance to get her sister back and thought little of the cost, until the cost was the life of a pony. She tried to rationalize it, Dark Star had lived more than ten lifetimes, after all, his time was well past, and this life was not his own.

She remembered the stories of the ancient hermits who kept the knowledge of the attack spells he now wielded, how they suddenly vanished never to be heard from again. It was not hard to imagine what Dark Star might have done with them after their usefulness to him had ended. One for so many that should have made it easier.

In the end, they sat there in silence hers mournful and his accepting, until he spoke his final words looking up at the star-filled sky, “It’s time.” The faint magic of Dark Star’s horn flared brightly enveloping his whole body.

Princess Celestia could feel the seals on her magic, and the room begin to break but did nothing but bowing her head in acceptance. “Dear sister,” She prayed quietly to herself, “You’ve entrusted your subject to grant you freedom... I’ll trust mine to grant you redemption.”

The light of Dark Star’s magic enveloped him completely leaving only a dark silhouette of the ancient stallion which faded to dust as the final spell was cast.

“The rest you know, for you were the ones that defeated Nightmare Moon which allowed me to be freed from the sun.” Princess Celestia said calmly finishing the story.

“Shining Armor never told me about any of this; I didn’t even know he’d been hurt.” Twilight Sparkle said deep concern spread across her face as she stared down at the floor.

“That is because I asked him not to,” The sun princess said looking down at her student and Twilight Sparkle’s eyes shot up to her teacher’s. “I wanted everypony to forget about the evil of Nightmare Moon; I did not want my sister associated with such terrible things as forcing Dark Star to do what he had done.”

Despite her reasons, Princess Celestia was still surprised that Shining Armor had not told his beloved sister what had happened, even if a new mare had taken her place in his life. Perhaps he did not want to tempt her to abandon her new life here in Ponyville where she seemed so happy, so that she could fuss over her big brother.

“I don’t get it!” Rainbow Dash protested from her bed as everypony looked over to where she sat forelegs folded and an annoyed look spread across her face, as she was almost glaring at the princess. “If Dark Star was all old and weak and worn out why didn’t you just buck him in the face and stop him right there.”

“Well-” Fluttershy started so quietly that she was unintentionally cut off by Applejack and became very interested in the floor’s tiling.

“Don’t be silly Dash, if the princess ‘ad done that then her sister would still be stuck up on the moon an’ we wouldn’t have been able t’ save her. An’ ah’m sure y’all woulda been crushed not t’ ‘ave the chance t’ git all friendly with the princess like yer were.”

“I wasn’t ‘getting friendly’ with Luna,” Rainbow Dash shot back turning to face the blond mare who was glaring at her accusingly. “B-besides that doesn’t make any sense, the princess couldn’t know we’d be able to help Princess Luna.”

“Well, she sent Twilight to come here and make friends when she found out all that stuff about Nightmare Moon.” Pinkie Pie said with a bouncing suddenly in with her gypsy outfit on holding a crystal ball in one hoof while waving her other over it and peering into it. “Maybe she can see all this happening before it does. Trapped as an eternal observer able to see the course of pony events but powerless to alter them.”

The others, including the princess, stared wide-eyed at Pinkie Pie for several moments before Princess Celestia broke the silence. “I’m afraid I am not quite that powerful Miss Pie. I did send Twilight here because I believe that she and the rest of you had become connected on that fateful day when the Sonic Rainboom split the sky and were the key to saving Luna. However, I truly believed that Dark Star had passed on and had no knowledge of the part he would play in freeing Nightmare Moon.

“However, you are correct, Rainbow Dash, that I could have ended the threat of Nightmare Moon right then, but I couldn’t. Dark Star had been a friend once... Luna’s best friend and also one of my subjects; seeing him so old, frail and still so devoted to his mistress whom just wished to use and thrown him away, I pitied him.” Princess Celestia looked at the somber faces of her subjects reflecting on her words and finally focused on Rainbow Dash. “You may think me weak for such a decision, but it was mine to make, and because of the faith I put in all of you, my sister was returned to me at long last.”

Everypony remained silent bowing their heads in acknowledgment or embarrassment in Rainbow Dash’s case, but this embarrassment was elevated with a reassuring smile from the princess.

“Princess,” Rarity finally broke the several moments of silence. “Forgive my ill time curiosity, but can you and Princess Luna give any pony wings and a horn like... that brute’s”

Princess Celestia looked at Rarity quietly for a moment, unable to decide whether the white unicorn was after something for herself or if it was part of some plan; either way, the answer would be the same. “No,” She answered at last, “It took both my sister and I to conjure the magic to give Star Knight wings, and they were merely magical constructs then. It was not until Nightmare Moon gave him the horn that he was able to transform them into his bat wings.”

“But if the two of you together was just barely able to make wings for him how was Nightmare Moon able to give him a horn by herself,” Spike asked scratching his head.

Princess Celestia sighed and sat back down on the floor. “When my sister turned into Nightmare Moon she gained a tremendous amount of magic from...” the princess paused for a moment realizing that if she took the time to explain the magical formula that governed positive and negative forces within magic the only one who had the knowledge to grasp the concepts would be Twilight Sparkle. “...the evil that ultimately transformed her. She split that power and transformed half of it into his false horn. However, even with only half the power, my sister was still much more powerful than I was without the Elements of Harmony and Dark Star became almost as powerful as my sister and I.”

“Well then there’s nothin’ to worry about,” Rainbow Dash said eagerly, suddenly very supportive of the princess. “If he’s not as powerful as the princess then she’ll be able to deal with him no problem.”

“I’m afraid that’s not quite the case Rainbow,” Twilight Sparkle spoke up stealing the words from Princess Celestia’s tongue. “Magical Energy can’t be created or destroyed it just changes form. If we banished that energy from Nightmare Moon to save Princess Luna, it wouldn’t be destroyed and would be just waiting for somepony who could use it to come along, right princess.”

Princess Celestia smiled sadly, proud of her student’s knowledge though it brought ill news.

“What in tarnation does that mean?” Applejack asked in frustration.

“When Dark Star came back to life he gained all of that dark power,” Princess Celestia explained standing up and pacing several steps. “Most of it was probably what conjured his new body and while he is not a natural unicorn pegasus like my sister and I he has a vast knowledge of magic and his combat training is similarly vast.”

“That’s just great,” Rainbow Dash groaned slumping in her bed.

“What’s more he’s had a thousand years to develop his skill with the forbidden and forgotten ‘attack spell’ magic, a purely destructive magic of great power. As it stands, it is only my own power over the sun and the moon that is keeping him from completing whatever his plan is for Luna.” Princess Celestia shut her eyes trying to push away the feeling that she had and would fail to protect her sister once again.

“He won’t need all that if he can just suppress your magic like he did before,” Fluttershy added quietly.

“That is something I’ve learned to protect myself from,” Princess Celestia answered. Dark Star’s ability to do that had vexed her once, but after some experimentation, she discovered that it was the magic unique to unicorn pegasi that had given him a weakness to exploit in the first place. That was one of the downsides of having so much raw power it often created unknown vulnerabilities.

“But then if he beats you he’ll be able to raise the moon and bring back Nightmare Moon?” Spike asked worryingly looking up at the pony who had been like a mother to him.

Princess Celestia smiled down at the young dragon trying to look reassuring as she placed a hoof gently against his cheek. “Yes my little prince, but I cannot run away nor leave this task to others this time. There is no telling what Dark Star will do if I do not raise the moon this night and I can no more allow my subjects to face his wrath then I can allow them to endure an eternal day because I was afraid to face him.”

Spike took the hoof in his clawed hands and stared at it grimly for a moment; he wanted to cry and shout in protest. He was a dragon, supposedly the most powerful and feared creature in the world and yet he felt worse than useless unable to protect, first Rarity who he loved with all his heart. Then Twilight Sparkle who had been like a sister to him, and now even Princess Celestia who had been the closest thing to a mother he had ever had. He hugged the white pony’s foreleg to his chest tightly, a silent prayer that his grip could keep her safe. Tears spilled from Spike’s eyes as Princess Celestia leaned down and rested her head against the little dragon’s back pulling him into a gentle hug.

The room was quiet as the sun princess released Spike from her embrace, but Spike refused to let go until Rarity stepped behind him. She wrapped her hooves around him gentle and leaned down whispering something unheard by the others to him. Nodding slowly, Spike released his grip on Princess Celestia and turned throwing his arms around the purple maned mare and cried softly into her furry chest.

Princess Celestia stood ready to leave while the other ponies’ hung their heads with a sad reluctance, knowing that they could not argue the wisdom of their ancient matriarch. Only Twilight Sparkle’s eyes shone with opposition unable to accept the thought of abandoning her beloved teacher in the fight to come. She said nothing but her wide eyes shone with determination and thought, there had to be a better way.

“Thank you all; I could not have wished for better or more dedicated subjects then you all have been.” The princess said spreading her wings and summoning up her magic to take her back to Canterlot where she would prepare for the upcoming battle alone.

“Wait!” Twilight Sparkle shouted jumping up to her hooves suddenly reaching out for the departing princess. “Princess wait please I know what to do.” The purple unicorn said drawing all attention to her as a smile spread across her face, “I have a plan.”

Chapter Seven: The Sun and the Star

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Chapter Eight: Old Friends

Chapter Eight
Old Friends

Dark Star looked past the pair to where Princess Celestia and another pony stood several dozen feet away. The princess stood still; her eyes closed a look of hard concentration played across her face. The cloaked pony with her was golden with a red mane and tail, and though Dark Star could not see her eyes past the hood of the cloak, he knew she was watching him closely.

“Oh, I see Celestia is used her black arts to bring you all back to life just so you could fight me for her.” Dark Star spoke casually to the pair in front of him, shaking out his wings and folding them neatly at his side, “How ghoulish of her.”

Green Garden slammed her hoof down the ground sinking under it and glared at the white-maned stallion, “Thou will address her Majesty as Princess!”

“You sound like your descendant Greenery,” Dark Star chuckled referring to Big Macintosh as the current inheritor of Titan’s power as Green Garden had once been, but taking note of their shared soft green eyes the false unicorn wondered if there was not another connection between them. “He tried to step in and protect Princess Luna,” He spat Luna’s title. “But even with your abilities and old Moon Blaze’s as well, he failed. Just as you all failed a thousand years ago, what makes you think you’ll have any better luck protecting Celestia now.”

He made a show of saying the princess’ name which caused the green mare’s glare to return replacing the shock that had appeared at the revelation of her decedent’s unique combination of abilities. She stepped ominously towards the evil pony only to be held back by a silver wing.

“Thou’s past deeds will be judged according to Equestrian law,” Sword Strike said stepping forward his head high and his voice was even and commanding. “We are servants of justice, not vengeance and will not be drawn into a petty conflict. Surrender now Dark Star and thy will not be harmed.”

Dark Star scoffed at that giving them a look of indignation that spoke volumes of how empty their threat was to him.

“Thou are nothing but a coward that struck at us from the shadows,” Green Garden shouted back, pushing up against Sword Strike outstretched wing and glaring hatefully at the black stallion. “Thy’s chances dwindle to nothing against us in open combat.”

Dark Star scoffed again at the green mare’s words, but Sword Strike calmed his friend with a gentle look and added coldly to Dark Star. “Green Garden speaks true Dark Star thy has no chance, surrender now.”

Dark Star glared back at the elite guard ponies his eyes shifting back and forth between two as if waiting for one of them to make a move. However, they remained still; their stern eyes fixed on the dark unicorn pegasus waiting for him to make some move. After several long moments, Dark Star let out a defeated sigh lowered his head and let his eyes fall shut.

The earth pony and pegasus signed in relief relaxing and stepping forward to seize their prisoner. However, as they took a step towards him Dark Star’s head snapped up, his horn aglow with arcane energy as he summoned up a sphere of pulsing sound. In an instant, he launched it over their heads towards the princess.

Green Garden and Sword Strike gasped whipping around to follow the path of the sound sphere helpless to act as it shot towards their princess. However, the third pony, Gold Guard, quickly reached into her cloak and drew forth a sword with her mouth. Stepping forward, Gold Guard leaped up into the air and with practiced skill easily slashed at the attack spell slicing it in half with one quick motion dissipating the spell completely.

Dark Star cursed to himself; she was wielding Spellbinder. The sword would protect her from any of his attack spells, and in the golden mare’s hooves, she could easily use it to protect Princess Celestia from Dark Star’s magic cutting his spells from the air before that had a chance to hit their mark.

Green Garden snorted angrily and barreled forward, more like a bull than a pony, but Dark Star easily dodged to the left then dropped to the ground letting Sword Strike sore over him harmlessly. The green mare whipped around and charged the black stallion again who sprang into the air and back flipping over her. His wings caught the air in mid-flight, and Dark Star banked to the right just as a silver pegasus dropped from the sky right where Dark Star would have been.

The false unicorn pegasus scoffed at their efforts; they might have been something of a problem when they had caught him off guard, but not out in the open where he could anticipate their actions. Princess Celestia’s spell might have brought them back from the other side, but their abilities had long since moved on to others, and without them, they were a distraction at best.

Green Garden charged him again, but this time Dark Star did not bother to dodge. Instead, his horn flared to life, and he summoned another of the odd hand-like energy constructs he had wielded against Big Macintosh. It seized Green Garden around the neck, with a quick jerk flipped her forward over Dark Star and slammed her into the ground with such force Dark Star could swear the ground shuttered slightly.

Sword Strike swooped in again hoping to break Dark Star focus enough that his spell would dissipate. As he neared the gray-eyed pony another hand shot forth, this one massive, easily enveloping a pony's whole body, conjured right in front of the silver stallion and snatched him in its grasp before he had a chance to react.

“This isn’t telekinesis, old friend; the hands merely do as I command them.” Dark Star said coldly turning to face the pegasus. “If I tell them to squeeze,” The giant hand wrapped around Sword Strike’s body began to clench painfully around him. “Then they will do so until I tell them to stop.”

Dark Star’s smug grin was suddenly cut short as a something barrelled into him. Dark Star was thrown forward rolling a couple of times through the air before catching himself and landing back on him hooves sliding back a few feet before completely stopping.

Green Garden stood before him her tight muscles readying for another charge. Dark Star’s large hand was still wrapped around the mare’s throat squeezing down with more than enough force to choke her, but she was not suffocating, nor was she even slowed down.

Green Garden started at Dark Star, but with a flick of his horn she flipped forward again and was slammed into the ground. Not satisfied the false unicorn flicked his blade-like horn again and again. When he finally stopped and let the hand grasping her lax the mare fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. Then with hardly any hesitation, she moved to stand up somehow completely ignoring the thorough beating she had taken and the long split in her skin down her flank.

Then Dark Star realized that there was no blood running from the wound and beneath rather than pink muscle there was a rough black stone. Before the black stallion’s eyes, the split pinched closed and vanished. “I see…”

As the green mare set herself to charge the black pony again, Dark Star gave a flick of his horn, and the hand around the mare’s neck tightened and lifted her into the air, her hooves dangling just off the ground.

Dark Star turned to regard Sword Strike, whose body had become twisted and stretched like clay clenched between a pair of hooves. That confirmed his suspicions, and with another flick of his horn Dark Star summoned up a bubble of blue energy around Sword Strike and the hand just as the revived pony burst like a balloon and transforming into a cloud of sand that pooled at the bottom of the bubble then swiftly reformed into the silver stallion. “Celestia couldn’t truly revive you, so she summoned your spirits and bound them to those fake bodies.”

“Thou is correct, thy efferts ‘re in vain,” Green Garden glared hatefully down at Dark Star. “Thy can’t kill us; we’ll fight without stopping as long as it takes to defeat thou.”

“Thou’s magic cannot hold us forever either,” Sword Strike said slamming into the wall of the bubble, Dark Star could feel the walls weaken slightly.

Dark Star frowned at this for a moment, then quickly smiled up at Green Garden. “Greenery have you ever wanted to fly?”

Without waiting for a response the hand around her throat shot up into the air and whipped the mare around a few time before releasing her, tossing her into the horizon.

Still smiling smugly Dark Star folded his wings and trotted past Sword Strike’s bubble, the hand within had vanished. “I’ll have to finish this quickly then.” Sword Strike beat the wall of the bubble furiously, but it showed little sign of giving way under his attacks.

The golden unicorn mare standing in front of Princess Celestia clenched Spellbinder tighter in her teeth, her brown eyes glaring at Dark Star as he approached.

“Hello Gold,” The false unicorn pegasus greeted his old friend trotting towards the red maned mare, speaking in a genial familial tone. “How’s the family?”

Gold Guard did not respond, watching the evil pony closely for any sign of underhanded tactics or imminent attack. Caution was needed to deal with a pony like Dark Star; she could charge ahead and risk leaving anything open to him.

“Oh right, they’re dead,” Dark Star spoke as if he had forgotten the date, continuing with a shrug. “A good thing too, you wouldn’t have wanted your parents to see you become literally a mud pony.”

Gold Guard remained silent and vigilant; his words meant nothing to her at all.

Dark Star stopped several strides from the mare giving her a mocking nod of approval, “Ever the proper unicorn I see, after all, only earth pony would speak with something in their mouth.”

With barely a sound Gold Guard lunged forward at him, her hood flying back letting a beautiful red mane free as she threw her head to the right bringing Spellbinder to bear against him. Dark Star caught the sword with his blade-like horn straining to hold it in place. “No time for small talk, good me neither! I’m…” Dark Star suddenly cried out in pain and staggered back from the unicorn mare.

No unicorn before had ever had the martial skill to take on a wielder of Spellbinder as he had just now, so there was no lore to warn what would happen. The touch of Spellbinder’s blade had tried to rip the magic from Dark Star horn, and though its brief touch took an insignificant portion of his magic, it was as painful as any physical wound the sharp blade could reap on a pony’s body.

Gold Guard pressed forward attacking with another powerful swing which Dark Star narrowly dodged as he pushed the pounding pain in his head away and refocused on the golden mare in front of him. Gold Guard turned the missed swing into a thrust, Dark Star jumped back with a quick flap of his bat wings and summoned up a pulse of pressurized water and launched it at Princess Celestia.

The swordsmare cut the attack spell out of the air before it could pass her, then whipped her head sharply to the left, stabbing at Dark Star who was trying to slip past her left side. The black stallion jumped up over the thrust and rolled through the air over the mare landing on her right side.

Gold Guard caught sight of the evil pony landing on her off side and with a swift motion tossed Spellbinder up into the air flipping it around to better defend her right side. However, Dark Star needed no such preparation and lunged in with his horn.

A loud crack rang through the air as Dark Star’s horn me the edge of a simple dagger held in a dark green aura. Surprisingly he smiled rather than scowled and jumped back with the assistance of his wings and Spellbinder cut through empty air where he had once stood.

“Finally, I was beginning to think that nopony understood my thousand year speech.” The other tasks at hand slipped away to the back of Dark Star’s mind upon seeing the magically held dagger and the same green glow around it as around the golden mare’s horn. Sword Strike and Green Garden had lost too much when their abilities had been passed on at their deaths, but Gold Guard’s abilities were all her own, developed just as Dark Star’s were through time and toil.

“That’s not all, is it? Come, Gold Guard show me everything. Gift me the honor I stole from myself all those centuries ago.” Dark Star panted the anticipation stealing his breath, and the golden mare obliged him.

She threw open her cloak, underneath was almost two dozen blades of various shapes and sizes, sheaths sewn into the cloth itself. Casting off the garment, she seized the blades in her magic and drew them forth. They set themselves hovering around her like a flock of mumming birds poised to strike.

“I could have never defeated you a thousand years ago, even after my queen gave me my horn and all the magic and power that came with it.” Dark Star could feel the walls of the bubble containing Sword Strike continue to weaken sadly there would be no more time for games. “You had been dead five hundred years before I successfully developed a counter strategy. The one thing I’m grateful to Celestia for, is bringing you back so we can finally have a proper duel.”

Dark Star set his horn aglow, its eerie dark light enveloped the false unicorn and then broke away leaving behind a black metal pony in his place. Twin blades framed each hoof, the horn was elongated and even more blade-like, his wings were double bladed razors, the tail was braided into a thick rope, and despite being weighted at the end by a heavy spiked ball, it seemed to move freely almost as if by its own accord.

Gold Guard seemed moved by none of this, she remained quiet, and her intense stare remained fixed on her opponent waiting for him to make an aggressive move. The swordsmare knew the value of patience and the time Dark Star wasted on drama was time her companions could use to regroup.

Dark Star rushed forth at the unicorn who unleashed her swarm of blades at the stallion, launching them like a barrage of missiles. Dark Star jumped and twisted in the air as the barrage came down upon him, knocking away a half dozen with a powerful swipe of a bladed wing. The spiked ball on his tail slapped away another dagger then wrapped around a longsword tearing from the air and embedding it in the ground. His back hoof caught one coming in low and with a quick twist snapped it out of the air and Gold Guard’s magical grasp. Coming around Dark Star’s right wing swiped out like its partner batting away eight more, two more were snapped out of the swordmare’s grasp with a twist of the twin blade on his front hooves and the last was deflected with a quick flick of the horn-like blade on his forehead.

Dark Star’s hooves hit the ground with hardly a missed stride reaching Gold Guard in only a couple more and brought his horn-like blade down upon her with tremendous force. Gold Guard caught the blade with Spellbinder. Dark Star’s left hoof came up locking the legendary sword between its twin blades and pulling it down. The sword’s magic was helpless against Dark Star’s armor, for, while he had summoned it using magic, the armor itself was unenchanted.

The golden mare was showing tremendous strength and resilience holding the sword up despite the duel pressure Dark Star was putting on it. Instead of trying to overpower her, Dark Star thrust his right hoof up at her chest only to be blocked as a sword with a particularly wide crossbar shot down between then pinning the stallion’s hoof inches away from Gold Guard’s chest.

Dark Star glanced back, though he could not see them past the visor of his helmet he could feel the magical energy wielding the swords closing in. Closing his eyes, he set his wings and tail spinning in a dizzying pattern, lashing out to knock away the blades as they came in.

A moment of shock finally broke Gold Guard’s stone vestige as she watched the dizzying display. His wings and tail covered him from every angle it was the perfect defense to counter her perfect offense leaving them stalemated.

Or so she thought until she felt the dark magic gather around Dark Star. She didn’t think it was possible, sure the armor around his horn kept Spellbinder from draining his magic but how could he fend off the barrage of attack and concentrate on casting a spell at the same time. Gold Guard knew how hard it was to multitask with magic, few had such skill, but what Dark Star was doing needed an unheard of level of disciple.

No matter how impossible Gold Guard could not deny what was happening she felt his magic seep into the earth between her and Princess Celestia readying to unleash the earth barrage spell any moment. She had no choice, the golden swordsmare jumped back and thrust Spellbinder into the ground dispelling the spell.

Dark Star followed suit, momentarily leaving the barrage of blades behind and raking his right hoof blades down Gold Guard’s side. The false skin peeled away revealing a glittering diamond body underneath entirely unmarred by the attack.

Dark Star jumped back a few feet whipping around to once again push past the golden swordsmare barrage of blades. Clever Princess Celestia had created the perfect bodyguard out of the red maned unicorn, Spellbinder made her impervious to magical attack, and her diamond body was all but impossible to harm physically. Dark Star could think of only one strategy that could work, but he’d need to…

There was a flash of green in the corner of Dark Star’s eye that preluded the collision that sent the black armored pony sailing through the air; the oxygen was torn from his lungs. He hit the ground and before he could even think to open his wings to brace himself or even simply stop his violent roll across the ground, the second hit came. A devastating buck that flung him twice as far as the slam. Dark Star hardly felt himself impact with the ground, thank his queen for that, and forced away the pain so he could stand.

He looked up to see her green fur and brown mane whipping back as she charged at him again, her face twisted in an unintelligent snarl her eyes seething emeralds of rage, her voice nothing but a bestial groan one would, again, expect from a bull rather than a pony.

Still shaky Dark Star managed to swing out with his bladed wing hoping its sharp edge would at least blind her for a moment. Instead, she whipped her head to the side snatching the armored wing in her teeth and with a quick jerk back tore the armor from the wing as if it were tin foil.

Undeterred Dark Star charged ahead to meet the enraged mare and using his substantial height advantage stabbed his horn-blade into her forehead. She did not so much as flinch and grabbed the helmet in her hooves, her mere touch beginning to crush it. Dark Star unlatched the helm with a thought and jumped back pulling his head free from it in time to watch her crush it like a can.

Pulling the blade from her granite forehead, the savage earth mare tossed the destroyed helm away and charged at Dark Star again. The black pegasus tried to fly out of her reach, but the imbalance of having one armored wing while the other was unfettered threw off his ascent. The green earth pony jumped up at him and grabbed the collar of his armor in her teeth. The sudden added weight of the granite pony caused them both to plummet to the ground Dark Star crashing atop the mare. The next moment she was back to her hooves and slammed him into the ground.

Dark Star lashed out with his hoof blades, the right cutting twin lines in her skin long her neck and the left embedding in her side to little effect other than to expose the granite beneath. With a firm and painful stomp of her forehooves she pinned his forelegs down, and a quick jerk back of her head tore the protective breastplate from his chest and tossed it away.

Her head came swinging back down at his own and turning it to the side to protect his precious horn was all the false unicorn could do before focus went out of the world.

Through a blurred lens, he now watched the mare rise as tall as her back legs would allow her to become, her forelegs raised above her head ready to stomp the life from the evil pony. Dark Star tried to summon up some reserve for strength to roll away, but though he had the will his body was useless, the mare’s unbelievably strong blow had ever so temporarily severed the communication between mind and body.

Dark Star watched her hooves come down, too slow to be real but inevitably so. Then he was moving again being pushed, sliding along the ground a dull roar of rage growing ever distant and an insistent shouting calling out to him.

“Star Knight get up! On thy hooves, guard!” Sword Strike shouted authoritatively, pulling the armor from Dark Star’s left wing. The enraged earth pony barrelled down on them, her rage filled eyes did not seem to be able to discern friend from foe.

She was only a few strides from the pair of stallions when without warning a pillar of stone shot up from the earth impaling the granite pony on its sharp tip and lifting her into the air. Sword Strike looked down to see Dark Star’s horn aglow with dark magic as the false unicorn finally pushed himself to his hooves. “That won’t hold the simpleton long.”

Sword Strike snarled at the comment, “Thou should show more respect, the lady was almost thou’s undoing.”

On top of the pillar, the brown maned mare let out another bull-like groan and smashed bother her hooves into the pillar shattering down to its base.

“You should have let her; it would have made your job a lot easier.” Dark Star watched the green mare fall through the air and smash into the newly formed rubble beneath quickly forming an energy bubble to trap her.

“That was not the Princess’ orders; thou are to be taken alive.” With a single buck, the shield shattered and dissipated, and the green earth pony started at them again.

“I don’t think Greenery feels the same way about those orders as you.” Dark Star summoned up his magic forming another giant minotaur hand which grabbed at the mare. However, before it could wrap its fingers around her, she slapped it away with a back hoof causing it to wheel around her for a moment then shoot back at her, only to be shattered with a powerful buck.

“Thy taunts are the cause of this, the rage thou has incited in her blocks all reason, save for the Princess she sees all as enemies.”

The pair took to the air, Dark Star slower than his new ally as he discarded the remains of his shattered armor and reeled at the pain still coursing through his body. Their only hope now to flee beyond the insane mare’s reach, but as the black stallion slowly climbed into the air, the green earth pony showed her tenacity leaping impossibly high into the air and grabbing onto his hide legs. Dark Star let out a short, loud groan as she clapped tightly around his legs threatening to shatter his bones.

Sword Strike looked back to see Dark Star in danger quickly looped around and slammed into the brown maned mare knocking her off and sending her plummeting back to the ground. “I am at a lost as to how she is doing this, for even in her rage Lady Greenery should not be this powerful. It is as if she is regaining her lost abilities.”

Dark Star’s eyes went wide at that, realization blossoming in his mind. In an instant, he had Sword Strike’s collar in his hooves, and he snarled at the pegasus, “Tell Celestia to end the spell now!”

Sword Striker snarled back and pushed the false pegasus away, “Thou are mad if thy thinks I will be coerced into assisting in Celestia’s defeat after saving thy sorry life.”

“Grr, you ignorant fool! Can’t you see that if this keeps on happening she’s going to kill him.” Sword Strike could only react with confusion at this, but Dark Star was quick to explain. “Celestia is the tether that keeps you here, your spirits are the minds, and the earth is your bodies, but the power source is pony life force.

“It would have to be somepony alive whom you have a strong connection to, for Gold Guard, it’s probably some decedent, but you and Greenery are most strongly connected to those whom currently possess the abilities you once did. Normally it’s probably just some tiny about that they’d never miss it. Greenery has become so strong because she’s pulling in more and more from the current titan earth pony, who, by the way, is currently hospitalized because I beat him half to death and if we don’t stop her now he’ll die!”

Sword Striker eyes were wide with shock; he didn’t know how to process what Dark Star was saying, it could be a lie, some trick. The concern in his voice did not seem fake; it seemed as urgency and genuine as any he had ever heard. “I cannot,” Sword Strike choked out finally, “While casting the spell Celestia is entirely cut off from the world, trapped in a void. So long as one of us is not incapacitated their consensus is required for us to end the spell.”

“Then we need a way to incapacitate her,” Dark Star paused for a moment his face becoming a scowl his eyes hard as he worked to find a solution. Then with a strong flap of his wings, he soared higher into the air calling back over his shoulder, “Come on I have an idea.”

Sword Strike followed the bat-winged pegasus swiftly catching up to him with a few pumps of his tireless wings. He noted that the black pony had slowed down a bit since their battle had begun. Thanks to Dark Star’s magical ability to heal himself no injuries marred his body but within fatigue and injuries not so easily healed seemed to be taking their toll.

“Can you still perform a Sonic Boom in that body?” Dark Star’s question snapped Sword Strike back to the moment. The silver pegasus confirmed the question with a nod; his sand body allowed him to push himself further than a normal pegasus so breaching the sound barrier was something he could do, though not with the ease he had once done so.

“Good, I can do the same now as well,” They soared higher still nearly reaching the space need to reach the necessary acceleration. “Greenery’s granite body would probably endure one, but two should blast her into enough pieces for her to count as incapacitated.”

Dark Star spoke with a wide grin that left Sword Strike feeling uneasy causing the reanimated pegasus to pause and consider what he was doing. Could he trust Dark Star in this, the pony sought to revive the evil Nightmare Moon against even the will of Princess Luna who had been the one to succumb to her insecurity and turn evil in the first place? Should he help Dark Star to defeat one of his companions simply because he claimed Green Garden’s actions were killing somepony else, why should Dark Star even care?

Sword Strike could not know if Dark Star was speaking the truth, and that was the problem. The silver pegasus did not know. He knew nothing of the ways of magic, but Dark Star did. The false unicorn had spent a thousand years studying magic; his knowledge may very well have eclipsed even Princess Celestia’s, who had suffered many distractions in her life, at this point.

“Here this is far enough, let’s do this,” Dark Star said whipping around in the air and started to dive, but was forced the halt when Sword Strike swooped in front of him.

“Striker we don’t have time for foolish games,” Dark Star snarled at the other pegasus bringing a hoof up to push him away, but Sword Strike held it back.

“How can I trust thy Star Knight, thou betrayed us all and hurt dozens of ponies in thy’s attempt to bring back Nightmare Moon. Thou are even going against Princess Luna’s wishes to do it, she was the one thou swore to protect with thy’s life and now thou want me to believe that thou are concerned for somepony whose life is in danger partly because of thy’s actions?”

Dark Star just scoffed at the silver pegasus and shoved him aside. “We don’t have time for your suspicions; we have to act now. Look for yourself,” Dark Star pointed to the ground. Sword Strike turned and followed Dark Star’s hoof to the ground where Green Garden was swiftly closing the distance between her and another perceived enemy of her Princess, Gold Guard.

“I don’t know if it can be done without you, but I’m going to try.” Dark Star shot down past the silver pegasus and began barreling towards the earth leaving the surprised Sword Strike behind for a moment before the steely blue-eyed stallion shook his head with a growl and followed.

Pushing himself hard he slowly caught up to Dark Star, and the two shared a nod of understanding. They turned their full attention to the task at hand, for they needed to calculate their decent perfectly so they would reach the enraged green mare just as they neared the ground and unleash their Sonic Booms at the same time. Though the mad earth pony’s rush towards Gold Guard made this more difficult it was a good thing her attention was away from them. If she had been focused on them, she would have most likely leap at one in some mad attack ruining their decent.

Trajectory set Sword Strike began to lose himself in the act of performing the Sonic Boom. The wind rushing past, the ground seeming to become steadily more focused and detailed rather than larger, while the sky and horizon stayed the same. It was so different than when he was the speedster pegasus when shattering the sound barrier and performing Sonic Booms was as simple to him as flying was for a regular pegasus. He did not miss it, in all honesty, everything had been too easy then, he had yearned to be pushed to his limits to feel like he could fly no faster only to be spurred on to greater speeds. For a speedster pegasus though such notions meant only death, and as far as Sword Strike knew he was the only one who never succumbed to the temptation.

The air around him grew heavy, and it felt as though it weighed him down on all sides from the tips of his wings to the tip of his tail. Giving in to that weight would have broken his flight path and ruining the Sonic Boom, so he fought back against the weight flapping his wings to remain steady.

The weight became a constricting force wrapping around his body squeezing down on every inch of him. Sword Strike let his eyes fall upon Dark Star at that moment. The squeezing air pressure meant nothing to him being comprised of sand he didn’t breathe, but Dark Star was being choked to death at that moment. Any pegasi whom could make it this far would often pass out or lose their nerve, their instincts demanding that they stop to preserve their own life.

Sword Strike pushed forward; he was nearly there. The air constricted more tightly around him, and he could feel grans of his body being lost to the wind. The air squeezed tighter and tighter and then suddenly he was set free from it. To him, there was no explosion, just freedom like he had never known before. Performing this stunt was so different when he was the speedster pegasus. Back then it had been more like shifting gears, briefly slowing down before a burst of speed. It was nothing like this, nothing like the feeling of being set free from everything

Sword Strike’s disciplined mind quickly snapped him back to reality, however, not allowing him to bask in his freedom for very long. He quickly stopped and whipped around, something only a pony without internal organs could do without killing themselves and watched as the twin explosions of silver and dark light rippled out and slammed into the Green Garden’s enraged form sundering to pieces and scattering them across the field.

Dark Star’s black streak cut past him, the false pegasus slowing himself as he descended to the scattered remains of Green Garden, no doubt to make sure they had managed to incapacitating her. Sword Strike realized that their alliance had just come to a swift end and he shot down towards Gold Guard. Hopefully, two fresh unfatigued opponents would deter the black pegasus from attacking.

Landing next to Gold Guard, Sword Strike kept his eyes fixed on Dark Star watching him carefully as the white-maned stallion inspected the pieces. Sword Strike started to explain to Gold Guard why he had just helped their enemy destroy their friend but stopped himself. They didn’t have time for that now, and as a soldier, the golden mare would already fully understand the necessity of his actions. Instead, he asked, “Is thou all right Gold Guard.”

Silence came as her response, and it hung forebodingly in the air the air around them.

“Gold Guard,” Sword Strike looked up at her in confusion she was staring straight forward her eyes wide, her pupils pinpricks, and her body stiff, Spellbinder clenched tightly in her mouth. Sword Strike realized then that all her other weapons lay scattered on the ground around them, not a single one touched by her magical grasp. He reached up and placed a hoof on her shoulder only to have the diamond-bodied pony shatter under his touch collapsing to the ground as a pile of gems.

“Diamonds are much more sensitive to sound than granite.” Dark Star’s voice called over; Sword Strike could practically hear the evil pony’s sinister grin in his voice before he looked over to him and saw it spread across his face. “Still I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Sword Strike let out a savage neigh and shot towards Dark Star ready to bore the evil pony to the ground and beat him into submission. If that did not work, Dark Star would know what it was to have one’s lungs filled with sand.

Dark Star hardly seemed to care, strolling casually to meet Sword Strike as he summoned up his magic. The silver pegasus didn’t even see the spike-tipped pillar of stone shoot up out of the ground impaling him through the midsection.

The pegasus’ artificial body lost its cohesion and fell apart to thousands of grains of sand, but that was not the end of him. The natural viscosity of his sand body made him nearly impervious. The grains of sand took to the air carried by an ethereal wind and flowed back together into a single mass from which Sword Strike took form from once again.

Sword Strike whipped around to see that Dark Star had almost reached Gold Guard remains and Princess Celestia stood eyes closed in concentration just a couple of dozen feet beyond. Not wasting a moment the silver pegasus shot down towards Dark Star who turned to face him at the final moment.

Suddenly Sword Strike felt something sink into his chest; his eyes shot wide as he felt weakness spread through his artificial body. He looked down to see Dark Star grasping Spellbinder in his mouth the blade buried into his rapidly crumbling chest.

“I told you a thousand years ago never to call me Star Knight again,” Dark Star growled and thrust the sword the rest of the way into Sword Strike’s body.

The Princess let out a gasp, and her eyes shot open, confirming what she had felt in the void. Sword Strike eyes went to hers, both reflecting sadness that their eyes would only be able to meet the others for this one instant, though they both understood it could be no other way. Sword Strike reached out for his princess his hoof slowly turning to sand and falling away. “Celestia,” was all he managed to croak out before the magic holding him to this world faded completely and his body collapsed into a pile of sand.

Tears brimmed at the edges of the princess’s eyes and she turned away from the sight shutting her eyes and cursing herself, wishing she did not have to watch her beloved parish again.

“Weakling!” Dark Star rocketed across the distance separating them his horn aglow with power. He made a quick swipe at her to cut her down, but his horn met no resistance Princess Celestia’s form vanishing moments before his blade-like horn could cut into her. Dark Star scoffed at her retreat, “Where’d she run t-”

Dark Star’s words were cut off as something sharp plunged into his side. He cried out in pain at the sudden attack and jumped back, a flap of his wings quickly separating him from his attacker. He landed hard, stumbling a bit and clenching his teeth in pain, then shot a glare at the spot he had been standing. There stood the princess staring back at him her face set hard as stone.

“I forgot you could do that,” The black pony admitted with a cough, his breathing becoming labored as he fought against the pain of his wound, which was all too close to his lungs. Despite his efforts to ignore the pain and stay strong, it was quickly stealing his strength. His wing on his injured side hung weakly unable to hold tight against the wound, and his heavy breathing turned suddenly into a brief fit of coughing.

The white princess tried to steel herself, but she could not help but see the weak, frail thousand-year-old pony Dark Star had once been standing before her, it was so easy to pity him. She reminded herself that even back then he was dangerous just as he still was now. “It’s over Star Knight, tell me where Luna is, and we can get you some help.”

Dark Star began to laugh mockingly, but it quickly turned into a fit of coughing which took him a minute to stifle. Despite this, he spoke determinately, his dark magical aura gathering around his horn. “I already… perished once… this will… not stop me!”

“Stop it, Star Knight!” Princess Celestia shouted desperately, she felt the ground beneath her begin to shake and could sense powerful magic emanating from Dark Star. The scene was playing out before her once again; the aged Dark Star was over taxing himself ready to be destroyed to complete his task. However, this time it was futile, even if he managed to defeat her he would not be able to revive Nightmare Moon if he killed himself in the process. Princess Luna would remain lost, possibly forever, and without its princesses, Equestria would be plunged into chaos. “Your death will be meaningless!”

Dark Star ignored her words his magic building up even as he struggled to maintain it; there was no reasoning with him. Princess Celestia clenched her teeth until they felt as if they would bleed, why was he doing this, why was he forcing her to kill him? She wanted it to be over, for Dark Star to realize he had been beaten and give up and... She sighed, that was a foolish thought, a foal’s hope that a thousand years of wisdom should have done away with. Dark Star held death at bay for a thousand years to fulfill the task his mistress had given him and had even defeated death itself to answer his mistress’ call. Nothing short of his complete destruction would ever stop him from fighting.

Princess Celestia took a deep breath and readied herself; she too had a duty to fulfill. The spell she had used to wound Dark Star was a terrible one that she had created more than a millennia ago when her talent with magic overshadowed thoughts of ethical application. The spell allowed her to teleport and attack in one instantaneous fluid action, no flash or sound give away what she was doing at half the speed of a blink.

The teleportation magic pulled at her, and she readied herself picturing the point of attack allowing the magic to guide her action to what she desired providing her a moment of absolute clarity to strike before any disorientation from the sudden change of position could settle in. She did not hesitate for she could not afford to, plunging her horn into his side. She met with an eerie lack of resistance.

Her eyes flew open, and her head began to swim, but through the disorientation, she saw the starry illusion of Dark Star’s body and the sinister grin it wore on its false face.

Princess Celestia tried to move but it too late, the real Dark Star was next to her, his sinister grin mirroring the illusion, as he unleashed his spell and jumped back his wings carrying him away. A sphere of fire flared to life of its own accord around Princess Celestia sensing the danger to its mistress but had no understanding that its efforts would be futile in protecting her. Within the fiery sphere there was a cry of pain that was suddenly cut short, and a moment later the shield faded away. All the strength was suddenly gone from the princess’ body, her legs buckled underneath her and she fell to her stomach shaking uncontrollably.

“You feel that Celestia?” Dark Star asked, striding up to the princess, the pain and weakness his wound had caused were gone as he stood tall and strong over the princess the wound at his side sealing itself shut. “That’s hypothermia. I imagine this is the first and probably only time you’ll ever feel it.”

“H-h-h-how…?” The princess shivered unable to finish her question.

“Your sun shield protected you from my long range cold spells, but it was of little use when I cast the spell within its range. In fact, all it did was help protect me from the effects of my own spell, which I must say I’m grateful for. Healing that wound you gave me was trouble enough, not bad enough that I couldn’t use a little magical misdirection to throw you off, however.”

Princess Celestia continued to shiver as she tried desperately to speak but no words managed to come out.

“Hypothermia, to the degree you have, means your body temperature is dangerously low. Your heartbeat, breathing, and even blood pressure are all severely reduced. Speaking and even thinking clearly becomes difficult and the fine concentration needed to use your magic is impossible to maintain.” Dark Star smirked down at the princess who looked up at him weakly, her condition denying her even the simple dignity of a defiant glare.

The smirk on Dark Star’s face faltered, he frowned and turned away from her, “Just concentrate on warming yourself up Celestia; otherwise, your organs will start shutting down… Not a pleasant way to end such a long life.”

Dark Star put the fallen princess out of his mind and strode several steps away from her into the center of the field. He could feel it now, the solitude of being the only one with the power to raise and lower the sun and the moon. Millennia ago it took nearly the whole tribe of the unicorns to move the celestial bodies, but the unity of the tribes and the coming of the royal sisters changed all that. It was now only they who knew how to perform the spell, and him, through the magic Nightmare Moon had gifted to him. In truth, he would be glad to relinquish this power back to his mistress once she was restored, though there would be little need for it once the night was made eternal. With a firm shake of his head, he banished the thoughts from his mind and went to work.

The dark aura of his magic flared to life around his horn as he focused all his attention on the movement of the celestial bodies. Using magic was always a tiring activity, even for ponies with substantial magical prowess like him. It produced an odd combination of physical and mental exhaustion, though simple magic like levitation could be used for hours, even by unicorns unskilled in magic, with little or no fatigue. More powerful forms of magic are not only fatiguing but require a strong force of will to perform, if you do not believe you can do something, then you will not be able to even if you are skilled enough.

However, will was not a problem for Dark Star who had crossed back over from the land of the dead through sheer will, if it was for the sake of his Queen he could do anything.

As his magic expanded out, further Dark Star began to raise up into the air, and soon the celestial bodies began to shift at his command. The sun dipped below the horizon causing the sky to turn black, and the stars pierced the black curtain forming their beautiful tapestry.

Suddenly the beautiful pure darkness of the night was shattered by a flash of light. Without breaking his concentration, the black stallion turned back to confront the unnatural light, and his eyes shrank to pinpricks at what he saw.

“If we can’t use the Elements on Dark Star without him attacking us then we simply have to use them when he’s too distracted to stop us.” Twilight Sparkle explained excitedly as if stumbling upon the correct answer to test that had been stumping her a moment before.

“Ya mean like when he’s busy fightin’ the princess?” Applejack asked from her bed.

“No,” The Princess shook her head, “He will be expecting an attack like that and I will not be able to protect you from his magic. I fear he’s even more powerful then you’ve seen and you two.” She turned to Rainbow Dash and Applejack in their beds covered in bandages. “You would be particularly vulnerable in your current condition.”

Twilight Sparkle put a hoof to her chin and nodded, “You’re right Princess we need a better, a sure thing, moment to act.”

The purple unicorn frowned in thought, her hoof returning to her chin for a moment before her eyes sprang wide once again, a delighted smile spreading across her face. “We’ll wait until he begins raising the moon. It takes a minute for even you to move the sun and the moon, right princess, so we should have plenty of time to use the Elements on him. Dark Star will be so occupied with the spell that he won’t even notice us until it’s too late.”

Silence hung in the air for several long moments as Twilight Sparkle looked to her friends and mentor expecting to them to look impressed with her plan or at least nodding in approval, but they all just looked down blankly. Confusion overcame the studious mare’s face, “What’s wrong,”

It was Rarity that stepped forward to answer her, “Well darling, your plan does require the Princess to be defeated by that evil ruffian.”

Twilight Sparkle gasped at her oversight. They were right and, for what she knew of the stallion, he would not be tricked by a false surrender. If the princess did not fight him with all her effort, he would know instantly that something was wrong.

“Oh no princess I’m sorry,” the student bow quickly to her mentor before beginning to pace nervously once again. “Please just give me more time I know I can come up with a better plan.”

“No Twilight,” Princess Celestia spoke softly slowly shaking her head and holding up a hoof to stop her student’s pacing. “Your plan is as perfect as any we could devise, and in truth I’m uncertain I can defeat him by myself. If I should fail, your plan will be the only hope we have to stop him.”

Princess Celestia moved over to her student and wrapped a hoof around her drawing the smaller unicorn into a short hug, smiling reassuringly down at her. “We cannot place the fate of all of Equestria in hooves of just one pony… even me. I will face Dark Star with all my strength, and you and the Elements will be there should I fail.”

Twilight Sparkle looked away from her mentor sadly and quietly nodding in agreement.

“However,” The tall white unicorn pegasus began speaking sternly to everyone in the room. “I must make myself clear; you must remain completely hidden from Dark Star and not interfere no matter what happens, no matter what he does to me, even if he kills me. You have to promise me you will not act until the time is right. If you cannot promise me this, I’m afraid I cannot allow you to attempt this plan.”

The six mares all looked down grimly, the thought of seeing their princess in such pain or of losing her completely brought a thick lump to their throats that would not be swallowed. With a keen pain in their hearts, they all nodded in agreement.

They had waited on the edge of the battlefield hidden by shrub and magic from sight. Applejack and Rainbow Dash lay away from the edge of their hiding place. Not even they trusted themselves to be able to watch the princess battle against their hated enemy and remain silent. Fluttershy who could not bear to watch the violence sat with them, comforted by them rather than comforting them as she had intended to.

As Dark Star rose into the air and the sun dipped below the horizon Twilight Sparkle could see their time had come. Turning from the scene, she trotted a few paces back to Applejack and the pair of pegasi, “Now’s our chance girls we have to hurry.”

“The Princess is she…” Applejack began, but the purple mare quickly dissuaded the notion with a vigorous shake of her head.

Pinkie Pie rushed to Rainbow Dash’s side while Rarity did the same for Applejack the injured mares would need their friends’ support to be able to stand strong enough so they could unleash their elements. Her friends ready Twilight Sparkle’s horn flared to life and with a pop and a flash of light, they all disappeared.

Dark Star saw the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony standing around the princess. Twilight Sparkle in front facing him Rarity supporting Applejack on the right, Pinkie Pie supporting Rainbow Dash on the princess’ left, and timid Fluttershy stood behind the princess favoring a look of concern for the princess rather than a scowl at him.

How easy it would have been to smite them at that moment, but if he dared break his concentration now the power of the magic he was attempting to wield would backlash against him. Such a drain on his magic and attack on his concentration might prevent him from starting the spell a second time let alone completing it. Instead, he turned away from them focusing all of his will to drive the magic on faster, desperate to raise the moon and finish his work in the precious few seconds that remained.

“All right girls, let’s put an end to Dark Star!” The smiles crept onto other faces as they exchanged nods of approval. As one the six mares let themselves relax and let the magic of their given elements swell up from deep with them. The magic focused and empowered itself through the element each bearer wore, pouring forth as a brilliant brightly colored light. The light soon spread out from the bearers and coalesced into a bright rainbow light that shot forth like a ribbon and swirled around Dark Star

Dark Star could no longer feel the moon. That was the first indication that the Elements of Harmony were destroying him. His magic went numb next; it felt like it should still be there reaching out from him to the world around him, but it was gone. It was like losing a sense one that he had for as long as he could properly recall. The Elements were erasing him.

He cursed the princess for tricking him, but in truth, it was his fault for not expecting the millennium old mare to have a backup plan. It was funny really, he thought with a smirk, for a warrior mage like him to be defeated by something like friendship. He wondered if this was like it was for Sword Strike to slow waste away to old age. He had tried to spare the pegasus that pain with his would-be fatal blow, but Sword Strike had rejected that gift and lived.

Dark Star scoffed at himself, what trivial thoughts to have at the end, he should be furious. Still, everything had been prepared just in case he failed to return, the ritual would complete itself soon enough, and Nightmare Moon would return. Princess Celestia and her student had lost, and he had once again given everything for his queen. It could be no other way; this was all he knew.

Author's Note

Finally back! Sorry for the wait guys, I hope I didn't loose to many people. I know I look at Hiatus as just a polite way of saying cancelled, but I got all my files back and we are pressing on to the end.

Chapter Ten: Verse Polluesum

Chapter Ten
Verse Polluesum

Falling. Twilight Sparkle was falling, tumbling end over end as gravity brought her closer and closer her inevitable end. She shut her eyes at the thought as if denying her sight would somehow save her. It was a ridiculous, pointless gesture, the pure darkness that enveloped her was just as total as that which her shut eyes provided for her, if not more so.

Frightened, stupid, and all alone that was all Twilight Sparkle was. She saw the disappointed looks her family had given her when she had come to them scared of some non-existent monster or boogie mare haunting her room, Knowing of course that it was just a figment of her foalish mind. She felt the sting of her mentor’s mocking laugh at some mistake she had made in her studies, all her effort pointless, all her confidence was a lie.

She heard her friends’ excuses not to spend time helping her research. Friends? They were not really her friends; they were the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, saddled with her because of her desperate desire to not be alone and finally please her mentor. Just look at all the trouble she had caused them since coming to Ponyville. The Princess must have forced them to take her in, that was the only answer that made sense. She could see her mentor giving them a speech about doing what they needed to keep Equestria safe, needing to sacrifice their precious time on a worthless mare like her.

But then they did not need to.

It would be so easy for her to become the brave, smart, and the beloved mare Twilight had believed she was. Yes, and powerful too… She could be so powerful that her friends would sing her praise, not sarcastically or forced by convention, but because they truly meant it. Princess Celestia too, she could finally become her mentor’s equal… or superior, besting her in mental duels of knowledge and wisdom.

And not alone… no, she would never be alone again. Ponies would worship her for her brilliance, her power, and even her beauty. She would no longer be just some unicorn; she would ascend and become something more, something greater than even the princesses.

Yes, she could do all this, and all she would need to do would be to just let the darkness in…

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes shot open, and she shook her head. Although the world around her was the purest darkness, she found she could still see herself. Her lavender coat could be seen perfectly against the darkness as if she alone were illuminated. However, the tips of her hooves were slowly darkening growing a deeper purple down from her knee to the tips of her hooves which were black.

The mare cried out at this and began rubbing vigorously at her lower legs trying to wipe away the darkness, but that only caused it to climb higher up her leg. Her own voice echoing through her mind that she would fail and that the darkness would help her if she let it.

Twilight Sparkle quickly realized that her fear was only feeding the darkness, like King Sombra’s trapped door it was showing her the worst of her fears and trying to consume her.

Taking a deep breath Twilight bit down on her lower lip and concentrated. She thought of her friends and all they had been through together. She thought of her family, her mom and dad, Shining Armor and even Cadence and how they loved her without condition. She thought of her mentor, beloved Princess Celestia, and all she had learned from her.

All their loved filled her, and her element started to glow then shot out a flash of light all around her. The darkness gave an audible shriek and seemed to recced away from her. Looking around Twilight Sparkle found that she was standing on solid ground, bare cobblestone beneath her hooves, the inky blackness not daring to approach. Thoughts and theories on what the inky blackness was and why it was here raced through Twilight's mind, but she shook them away; she had to find her friends right now.

“Princess Luna!” The purple mare called out taking a couple of steps, the darkness maintaining its distance. “Princess Luna are you there?” She waited and listened intently for even the slightest sound, but all she could hear was the thumping of her heart in her ears.

“Twilight Sparkle?” A voice rang out, breaking the silence.

“Yes, Princess it’s me! Where are you?”

“I am here Twilight Sparkle,” The voice called back, calm and even. “I cannot see thou, please come forward.”

The unicorn mare started forward eagerly for a few steps before halting abruptly at a thought. Had Dark Star’s ritual succeeded? The Princess sounded far too calm for a kidnapped pony trapped in the dark. If she had become Nightmare Moon again the evil mare could be leading her into a trap.

“Princess I can’t tell where you are,” Twilight Sparkle hated to lie, but she had to be cautious. “Come towards the sound of my voice.”

She heard the sound of hooves clopping on stone coming towards her, and the unicorn strained her eyes staring into the darkness trying to see anything through the gloom. Finally, after several long moments, she saw the silhouette of a pony coming towards her, and after a few more she saw the distinct horn and wings of the princess’ and called out. “Princess I’m here!”

Suddenly the figure’s wings flared out, and with a strong flap the figure leaped into the air and came barreling towards her. The sudden burst of speed caught the purple mare off guard, and she had no chance to react before the figure had its hooves around her.

“Thank goodness Twilight Sparkle it is truly thou,” Princess Luna cried out in joy hugging the wide-eyed mare to her fiercely. “I was worried that thou’s voice was some kind of trickery. I am sorry if I scared thee.”

The striped maned mare finally found her breath, let out a sigh of relief and wrapped her hooves around the princess. She looked up at the princess but before she could speak the sight of the stars above them grabbed her attention. Looking back down and around them, she noticed that the inky blackness had receded further away from their paired form.

Once again shaking away her errant hypothesis she released the princess, and they separated a little. “I was worried you had changed back into Nightmare Moon and was trying to trick me too. Let’s not worry about that now Princess; we have to find the others before…”

“No, get away from her!” A venous voice cried out through the darkness then some unseen force slammed into Twilight Sparkle knocking her back from the princess. Princess Luna stared in wide-eyed shock for a moment, before the sound of flapping wings and hooves landing on stone snapped her back to reality.

“My Queen I-” Dark Star came into sight and fell silent as he looked upon the princess’ unchanged face. “No,” He shook his head unable to believe what he was seeing, then rage replaced the shock. “You should be Nightmare!” Dark Star shouted the broken sentence only half forming as he stepped forward and summoned up another hand with his magic and seizing her around the neck. “Have to be!”

“Put her down you brute!”

“Ya leave her alone Dark Meanie,” Rarity and Pinkie Pie shouted coming through the blackness as Twilight Sparkle stood back to her hooves. She saw that the blackness receded away from them as well, but not from Dark Star. With him is seemed to slither up his legs oozing into his body.

Dark Star’s eyes went black as he seized both mare’s in his magic and flung them back into the blackness. The purple mare heard her friends slam into a far wall Rarity crying out and Pinkie Pie giving a pained squeak then slump to the floor.

“Perfect! My plan… perfect!” Dark star cried out not giving the mares a second thought. He began to shake then, tears dripping down from his black eyes as he stopped shouting at Princess Luna and seemed to be speaking to himself. “It did not go wrong; it had to work…” While the Princess’ hooves grabbed at the hand around her neck, which slowly choked her, the mad false unicorn not even realizing that he might soon kill his would-be queen.

“Your plan could never have worked Dark Star,” the black stallion turned to see Princess Celestia walking calmly towards him, the blackness giving her a wide berth. Though by this time it had greatly receded from the large chamber, the far walls could be seen and even Rarity and Pinkie Pie’s shaky forms getting to their hooves.

“You! This all your fault! You…” Dark Star’s rage returned, the magical hand dropping the princess of the night and seizing the day princess in her place pulling her up to him. “Did something to circle that ruined the ritual! What’d you do?!”

“I did nothing,” The princess gasped as Dark Star’s magic began choking her. “You misinterpreted the spell… the proper translation is… ‘Thy true self for darkness’… it only works on subjects… who succumb to its… taint.”

“Lier!” Dark Star shouted tossing Princess Celestia aside and dismissed his magic allowing his wide mad eyes to be seen once again. He paced around erratically his eyes darting every direction. “Know her… true her… not brainwashed… you turned her… Nightmare Moon… truly who… she wants… could not fail…”

“No!” Princess Luna’s voice cried out, and Dark Star turned his mad eyes on the mare standing tall behind him. “Thou are wrong! I am not Nightmare Moon, I never wanted to become that evil witch, and no matter what thy does to me I’ll never become her again.”

Dark Star turned and started towards her his face shifting back and forth through a half dozen emotions, his steps were erratic as well. Before he could reach her, however, Twilight Sparkle winked back into sight with a flash of light standing between him and the princess. “Back off Dark Star, Princess Luna is never going to be who you want her to be, and we’re not going to let you hurt her anymore.”

Dark Star’s head twitched as he looked from the unicorn to princess and back several times before his ears twitched a swiveled back his head snapping back a moment later. Behind him, Pinkie Pie and Rarity were standing next to Princess Celestia who had gotten to her hooves as well. Without warning, Dark Star slumped his flanks to the ground and began to speak.

“They’re all hurt…” He whined sorrowfully.

“He-he, princess’s has no magics,” He added with a giggle.

“I have magic!” He snapped suddenly.

“I hurt them without even trying…” He giggled again.

“I could kill them even easier,” He sobbed.

“No that’s too quick!” he shouted with a stomp of his hoof.

The mares all looked at each other with confusion, more than a little unnerved at Dark Star’s mental breakdown. Only Princess Celestia kept her eyes solidly locked on Dark Star and after several long moments of his mad conversation did she begin to take several tentative steps towards him. Holding up and wing and giving her sister and student a shake of her head to keep them from interfering. “Star Knight?”

“That’s not my name,” he giggled in a sing-song voice.

“Dark Star then,” She relented, and he did not respond, his face shifting from sorrowful to angry, but still with no verbal objection her continued. “Listen, Dark Star; we can help you if you let us. Everything will be all right if you just let us help you.”

“Sister,” Princess Luna whispered shaking her head in warning, which Twilight Sparkle mimicked with a whisper of, “Princess.”

“She’s the one I loved!” Dark Star snarled as if just remembering what the sun princess had meant to him.

“No I hate her,” He whined as he shook his head.

“I’m scared of her,” He added with a giggle.

“I know you felt that way Dark Star,” Princess Celestia said softly, not giving any indication which statement she was referring to. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you back then but I can now, I promise. If you come back to the castle with us, I promise I can help you. Please Dark Star, trust me.”

Princess Celestia stopped in hoof’s reach of the black stallion whose head was hung down and turned away from her. She reached her hoof out to him praying that her words had reached some stable part of his mind, some part the blackness had not yet reached and torn asunder. However, instead of reaching out for her hoof he simply turned to face her a manic grin spread across his face and tear pouring from rage filled eyes.

His horned flared to life with black magical energy and the dark aura spread across the room like a wave seizing the ponies in its grasp. They struggled against its grasp trying to free themselves, but it was useless as the energy squeezed them in a vice-like grip. Twilight Sparkle tried to summon up her magic to teleport away but when she did the aura around her crushed the air from her lungs snapping her concentration definitively.

“You think you’ve won?” Dark Star asked solemnly in his sorrowful tone.

“I don’t need Nightmare Moon!” He cried out hovering into the air

“I’ll bring pain and suffering the likes of which you’ve never seen,” He giggled mad, wide eyes staring up at the black hole in the night sky.

“You will rue the day you stood in my way!” He raged

“Hehe, ponies will curse Luna’s name for abandoning them to such a fate.” He laughed.

“You will go down in history for condemning pony-kind to damnation.” He sobbed and soared into the dark sky.

A mixture of primal neighing, hysterical laughter, and pitiful sobs heralded the evil pony’s departure into the black night sky. As the last sounds of the mad pony faded the energy holding the mare vanished and they dropped to the floor.

The thick silence of the Everfree forest was broken as Dark Star’s dark form crashed towards the ground. Branches were severed with loud cracks until his body slammed into the ground like a dead thing. The sound of his land was already more than enough to send every thinking animal fleeing from the area.

Most would not have been able to rise from such a fall, broken and shattered bones keeping the pony from moving, but Dark Star let loose a cry of anger and stood unhurt.

The yell turned to a sob and then a laugh as Dark Star staggered to a tree and slammed the side of his head against it shouting. “Shut up!” He beat his head furiously against the tree every time a laugh or sob escaped his lips as black tendrils of dark arcane energy writhed out from his form lashing out at anything nearby.

Their touch turned green life brown and shriveled, and soon they all turned on tree Dark Star beat his head against, slithering around it. Its leaves dried and shriveled falling from the tree like in a cascade with each slam of his head. Soon the trunk became flanked and shrunken, and with a particularly strong slam of Dark Star’s head against it, it splinted and fell with a thunderous roar of protest.

Dark Star gave a start of surprise as the tree was felled and grew silent, though his face still cycled through random hysterical emotions. He eyed the tendrils of black energy with a knowing eye as they reached for more life, stretching their length to reach out of the circle of death around him.

Dark Star took a deep breath the bruised and cut side of his head rapidly healing as he spoke fighting the urge to snarl at himself and give into anger. “Calm down, control yourself, you have to stay in control.”

“But they all abandoned me,” He answered with a laugh he forced down with a bit of his tongue.

“I know.”

“What am I going to do now,” He started to sob but shook it away.

“I don’t know.”

“I need to serve somebody,” He snarled a deep breath pushed back the anger.

“But who?” He asked with a single chuckle.

“There has to be someone,” He answered with a little sniffle.

“I just need to find them,” He gave only the slightest him of a growl.

With a last calming breath the tendrils of black energy disappeared retreating into his body. It was a simple matter to secure his magic once it was under control. The raging conflicting emotions were pushed to the back of his mind, not quiet but not in control either.

“First I need to make sure the princess and those Elements bearers can’t find me,” Dark Star noted as he began walking from the circle of death he had been standing in. He walked not deeper into the forest but instead circled back towards civilization, towards the ponies, that would be the last place they would look for him. Once day broke he would sleep, then he would find a new master.

In the weeks that followed, life in Ponyville returned to normal. The injured citizens recovered and went back to their lives with an ease and grace that only ponies who suffer disaster on bi-weekly biases could. Walking the streets of Ponyville, as Twilight Sparkle did now, one would not expect that it had been gripped in terror at all.

The purple mare quickly trotted out of town to Sweet Apple Acers where she had planned on meeting her friends for a picnic. After two weeks of worrying and searching for the false unicorn pegasus Dark Star, they were all eager to have a bit of fun and relax for a while.

“Hey Twilight, catch,” A voice giggled from above. The unicorn mare looked up just in time to have whatever was thrown to her land on her face obscuring her vision. Her horn glowed with a magical aura, and she lifted the thing off her face discovering, somewhat unsurprised, that it was Applejack’s hat

The thief landed behind her and giggled, “Good catch!”

It was Rainbow Dash of course, but the studious mare’s response was interrupted by the owner of the Stetson who came charging over a nearby hill shouting. “Why you lousy no good hat stealing varmint.”

The blue mare just laughed, “Ya Twilight, why’d you steal Applejack’s hat?”

“Don’t y'all go blamin’ other ponies,” the orange mare said snatching up her hat and putting it back on her head. Then she started around her purple friend after Rainbow Dash, who evaded capture by running around the other side of their friend. This caused the blond-maned mare to glare more fiercely at her friend, “Yer only makin’ more trouble fer yerself.”

“Ha, there ain’t no trouble I can get into that I can’t get out of.” Rainbow Dash laughed then leaped into the air ready to fly off and prove her point when suddenly in mid flap her wing cramped up and seized causing her to crash unceremoniously to the ground clutching the wing. “Ow, ow, ow!”

“Serves ya right,” Applejack said stubbornly, sticking her nose in the air and ignoring the pegasus’ moans of pain, for a few moments at least. It was not long before the cowpony signed, giving the pegasus a worried look, walking over to her friend she sat herself down next to the blue pegasus’ injured side and gently began massaging around the injured joint. “Ah honestly shouldn’t give y’all a lick of sympathy after what y’all did. Ah, thought y'all had recovered? That’s what y’all get fer not following Doctor’s orders, flyin’ ‘round like the feather brain y'all are. There, that better?”

The pain seemed to melt away the instant Applejack’s hooves touched her wing, but Rainbow Dash said nothing until the apple farmer was finished. “Oh ya much better,” She answered with a content smile.

Twilight Sparkle watched with muted fascination until Applejack remembered she was there and turned to give her a nod to sit down. “Y'all might as well settle down here Twilight, it’s as good a place as any fer our picnic and the longer we keep Dash off her wing, the better.” She turned back to the blue Pegasus and fixed her with another glare, “Honestly, ah thought y'all had recovered just fine and dandy last week.”

Rainbow Dash hid a smirk and said nothing while Twilight Sparkle began unpacking her saddle bags and setting up the picnic stuff. The rainbow maned mare had been staying at Sweet Apple Acers for the last several weeks while she recovered. She had intended to start rebuilding her house once her wing had healed, but had only succeeded in moving her undamaged belongings from her old home into her room at the farm. For some reason rebuilding her home was not as important as repaying the Apple family’s generosity by helping out on the farm, and messing around with Applejack now and then.

The fear that the farm would collapse without Applejack or Big Macintosh to work it, or from Pinkie Pie’s help, was quickly abated by the orange mare’s recovery. Big Macintosh had recovered quickly as well, thanks to his abilities, and was already back to top form.

“Hey, everypony!” A cheerful voice called out as Pinkie Pie, and Big Macintosh came out from a grove of trees. The large red stallion gave a startled jump, and the look of a colt caught with his hoof in the apple barrel spread over him even though his red coat hid his blush. Pinkie Pie was about to bounce over to join her friends when she remembered her coltfriend. With a giddy hop, she planted a kiss on the large stallion’s cheek, “I’ll see you tomorrow, ‘kay Mackie.”

This time the rest of the ponies could see his coat around his cheeks darken noticeably as his eyes darted from Pinkie Pie to the girls and back quickly. “E…yup,” he gave Pinkie Pie a nod then quickly hurried back into the grove out of sight.

Pinkie Pie giggled happily as she watched him go, then bounced over to the others. “Twilight you're finally here, I wanted to get the party started as soon as possible, but when I got here, there was no pony around, except Mackie. That was alright though ‘cause he was happy to keep me company.” Pinkie Pie explained as she sat down on the blanket and began pulling seemingly impossibly big and miraculously unmarred cakes from her saddle bags.

“So that’s where Big Macintosh disappeared to this afternoon,” A suspicious look spread across Applejack’s face as she eyed her pink friend. “What were y'all doin’ all this time exactly.” The orange mare asked before she reminded herself that she might not want some of the details her giddy friend would part with without a thought. Still, she could not help but be somewhat protective of her brother now that she knew he was dating somepony, even if that somepony was a close friend of hers. She stopped massaging Rainbow Dash’s wing and settled down next to the blue pegasus.

Pinkie Pie tilted her head at the question, then looked up and tapped her chin several times as if the answer was a deeper or long past problem. After a moment she simply shrugged, “We were talking,” Pinkie Pie answered with a definitive nod.

Rainbow Dash laughed out loud at this, “I never knew Big Mac to be much of a talker. Are you sure you guys weren’t doing something else with your mouths?” The rainbow maned pegasus suggested as she draped a wing over Applejack’s back.

Applejack gave a little start as the wing fell over her, pausing her inquisition of Pinkie Pie she turned to look at the wing than at its owner. “Ahh Dash?”

Rainbow Dash looked over at the confused blond mare next to her, then followed her gaze to her outstretched wing. “Oh sorry it’s just a little sore when I fold it up, does it bother you?”

Applejack shook her head, “Naw it’s fine. So what about this ‘talkin’’ y'all and mah brother been doin’ all this time?” Applejack continued to question Pinkie Pie, but the pink mare just erupted in a fit of giggles, and occasional snorts, as she rolled on the blanket and clutched at her sides. Applejack’s confusion was quickly replaced by annoyance and the fuming mare eventually shouted, “What in tarnation is so gosh darn funny?”

Twilight Sparkle remained a silent spectator watching, what she was thinking of more and more of as a family squabble unfold. She began to think that maybe she should say something to calm down her friends when another voice rang out over the air interrupting her.

“Hello dears, sorry I’m late.” The elegant voice of Rarity called out, and the ponies turned to see her and a package laden Spike approaching.

“It’s alright Rarity, Fluttershy’s not here yet either.” Twilight Sparkle said eyeing the heavy load of packages her assistant was carrying. “Where did you two get off to? I sent Spike to get you over an hour ago.”

“Oh yes darling, I am so sorry about that, I just needed to do a bit of shopping and dear Spikey-Wikey was such a gentledrake and offered to come and help carry my bags.” Rarity said happily as she sat down on the blanket and Spike managed to waddle to the edge of it as well before collapsing under the weight of the parcels giving a weak, “I’m okay…”

“Ahh here Spike,” Rarity’s horn lit up, and she hovered the drake and a couple of packages over to her. Opening up one of the boxes, she removed a soft cushion from it and settled it down between her and Twilight Sparkle, placing Spike on top of it. “There you must be exhausted after all that hard work, so take a rest darling, here I brought these for you.” Rarity said opening the second package revealing it to be an assortment of gems.

Spike’s eyes got wide, and a little watery as his claw hovered over the package of gems, “For me,” He questioned in disbelief.

“Think nothing of it Spikey-Wikey.” Rarity said with a smile, then turned back to her friend, “Now what were we talking about?”

“Pinkie Pie was about to tell us what she and Big Mac were doing all afternoon, all alone together.” Rainbow Dash said suggestively hoping to steer the pink mare back a more coherent and detailed explanation.

Rarity’s eyes shot wide with shock, and she snatched up the first thing her magic could grasp, which happened to be the pillow Spike was lounging on and shot it across the picnic blanket at the pink mare covering her mouth with it. Spike was flung off the pillow just as he was reaching for a gem, he grabbed at the package in a feeble attempt to steady himself but only succeeded in pulling the box over and spilling its contents all over himself as he landed on his stomach.

“A lady does not talk about such things!” Rarity practically shrieked glaring at both her pink and blue friends.

Between Pinkie Pie’s and Rarity’s outburst everypony quickly decided that perhaps this was not the safest topic for discussion. Certainly, Applejack, who’s head was beginning to conjure rather unpleasant imagery at all the suggestive commentary about her brother and pink friend, decided she needed to change the topic. “Umm sure is a nice night for the Princess’ show.”

Everypony nodded at that, thankful for the change in topic. Rarity pulled the pillow away from the slowly suffocating Pinkie Pie’s face and realizing what she had done to her sweet drake quickly set about cleaning him and gems up, quickly getting them back in the box and him settled back on the pillow, which Spike clung to nervously with one claw.

They had gathered to watch a shower of falling stars that Princess Luna had orchestrated following the recent events and to announce her return to duties after her absents.

“Dashie did a great job clearing the sky. It was so cool watching her zooming around, doing loop t’ loops, backflips and all kinds of neat tricks!” Pinkie Pie said excitedly standing up and staggering around the picnic blanket in an almost mock re-enactment of the show.

Rainbow Dash sat up proudly basking in the praise until a voice next to her spoke up. “Ah thought y'all were takin’ it easy Dash.”

It was Rainbow Dash’s turn to look like a filly with her hoof caught in the apple barrel, and she quickly put on an air of innocents. “Well, I just wanted to make sure everything was perfect for the princess’ ‘I’m back’ show.” Then she quickly added under her breath, “Besides it was just a few tricks. No big deal.”

Applejack continued to glare at Rainbow Dash, but before the orange mare could chastise the rainbow maned mare Twilight Sparkle decided to lend her blue friend a distracting hoof. “Actually, when Princess Celestia sent me the letter telling me about what Princess Luna had planned she said it was really more of a thank you for all our help dealing with Dark Star.”

The group fell silent at the name, and a heavy air fell over the gathering, even Spike stopped crunching down his gem treats and clutched the edge box looking over to Rarity. Applejack felt Rainbow Dash’s wing tighten around her; she could imagine the phantom pain the memory must be causing her.

“Humph, I take it they still don’t know what became of that brute.” Rarity broke the silence sticking her nose up in the air as she spoke of the evil pony.

Twilight Sparkle shook her head, “No I’m afraid not. With his skills and magic the Princess said that if Dark Star doesn’t want to be found, he most likely won’t be.”

“Let him run and hide like a coward,” Rainbow Dash snorted angrily, crossing her forelegs. “If he comes back will just kick his flank like last time.”

Nobody corrected Rainbow Dash’s assertions, but then none of them wanted to admit that Dark Star had beaten them at every turn either. It was only Princess Luna”s ability to force back the darkness and Dark Star’s madness that had allowed them to emerge victorious in the conflict.

Silence hung heavy in the air for a few moments then was broken once more by Applejack. “Ah don’t get it Twilight, how come the Elements didn’t stop him fer good. How come he only lost his magic an’ why’d he get it back when his spell failed t’ turn Princess Luna inta Nightmare Moon?”

All eyes turned to Twilight Sparkle then, the same question reflecting in all her friends’ eyes, pleading to be answered. The purple mare folded and unfolded her legs uncertainly as she turned the question over in her mind, a question she had struggled to answer herself.

“What do you suppose would happen if we used the Elements of Harmony on Spike, would it change him?” She asked, a little embarrassed that she had started her explanation with such a silly rhetorical question.

“Hey what are you sayin’ Twilight, I’m not a bad dragon!” Spike protested the question with a glare at his unicorn friend.

“Nothing!” Pinkie Pie jumped in with an answer before Twilight could assure Spike she did not mean anything by the question. “Spike’s a good dragon so the Elements wouldn’t do anything to him.”

Both Twilight Sparkle and Spike looked relieved by Pinkie Pie’s answer, and the purple mare pushed on with her explanation. “But why is Spike a good dragon?” She asked earning her another glare from her assistant.

However, Spike suddenly found himself seized by a blue magic aura and spirited over to Rarity who wrapped one hoof around him in a hug and stroked the top of his head with the other. “Spike is a good dragon because he is brave, generous, loyal, kind, and honest and a joy to be around.” The white mare punctuated her point with a kiss to the top of the dragon’s head which caused him to practically melt in the mare’s hooves.

“Unn, you two want a room?” Rainbow Dash asked awkwardly, earning her an icy glare from Rarity.

“So they wouldn’t work on ‘im cus he has the same qualities as the elements.” Applejack concluded, ignoring the cold shiver coming from her friend.

“Exactly.”

“But that jerk Dark Star doesn’t have any of that stuff.” Rainbow Dash interjected looking away from Rarity.

“Doesn’t he?” Twilight Sparkle countered, “He may have tricked us at first, but Dark Star was also very up front about his motives and intentions. He fought Big Macintosh he wanted to have fun and ‘cut loose’ as he put it. He also showed kindness and generosity letting us clear the battlefield for their fight. And remember that his reason for doing all this was out of a sense of loyalty to Nightmare Moon.” She let out a downcast sigh, “All the elements are there, twisted by the evil magic Nightmare Moon used to transform him into Dark Star. So when the Elements of Harmony were cast against him, they could only banish that evil power from him, but because Star Knight became Dark Star of his own accord he remained the same.

“As for how he got this those powers back, well the spell he used summoned up a great deal of dark power which tried to coax Princess Luna into becoming Nightmare Moon again. When she rejected it that power tried to find another host to inhabit.” Twilight Sparkle paused looking from Rarity to Pinkie Pie who both gave a small shiver at the memory of being caught in the darkness. “We all rejected it, but Dark Star was a perfect vessel for it, and it infused him with dark magic again… powerful dark magic.”

“Great so we’re back to square one,” Rainbow Dash groaned and rolled her eyes in frustration.

“‘cept we ain’t got no clue as t’ what he’ll be up to this time,” Applejack corrected, “‘cept that he’s up ta somethin’ awful.”

“Well…”

“Applejack!”

“Rarity!”

“Rainbow Dash!”

Twilight Sparkle was interrupted as the Cutie Mark Crusaders came bounding up to the group. Their voices crying out in panic, their faces streaked with tears and their eyes filled with terror.

The others quickly jumped to their hooves and ran to meet the fillies, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash leading the herd. The Cutie Mark Crusaders leaped into their sisters, surrogate in Scootaloo’s case, hooves as soon as they were close enough.

“Y'all gotta help!” Apple Bloom shouted.

“It’s Dark Star!” Sweetie Bell buried her head into Rarity’s chest.

“And Fluttershy, ya gotta stop him!” Scootaloo said trying to drag Rainbow Dash back the way they came.

“Dark Star kidnapped Fluttershy,” Twilight Sparkle gasped.

“No, Fluttershy followed him into the Everfree Forest!”

Chapter Eleven: Shy Determination

Chapter Eleven
Shy Determination

“Now girls don’t worry I sure everything will be all right, your big sisters will realize you didn’t mean any harm,” Fluttershy said softly, walking along the dirt path that led from her cottage to Sweet Apple Acres the three downcast cutie mark crusaders following close behind.

“Ya really think so?” Apple Bloom spoke in a small voice, looking up at the yellow pegasus. All three of the Crusaders looked up at Fluttershy with sad worry, but hopeful looks.

They had rushed over to Fluttershy’s cottage after a particularly disastrous attempt to earn their cutie marks in roping. To do so, they had borrowed Applejack’s rope and one of Rarity’s ponyquins to use as a target. Practicing down by an out of the way stream; the three all found that with a little practice they could get the lasso around the ponyquin’s neck, but their desired cutie marks did not appear. Thinking that need a more difficult target to entice a cutie mark to appear the three fillies had acquired the golden reef Rainbow Dash had won at the Best Young Fliers competition. They balanced it atop the ponyquin’s head providing themselves a new target. However, the reef proved too difficult to rope without the lasso slipping around the ponyquins neck.

Hours of failed attempts began to wear on the fillies’ nerves which broke with an argument about whose turn it was next. The fighting resulted in an ill-timed shove from Sweetie Belle as Scootaloo tried to get the rope off the ponyquin. Scootaloo turned to tackle Sweetie Belle and got her hoof tangled in the rope. As she tripped and crashed to the ground, the ponyquin toppled over and fell into the rushing rain flooded stream.

All three fillies panicked, but at the friend’s plight, not the ponyquin’s and all three rushed to untangle the orange filly before she could be dragged in as well. It was only once their friend was safe did they realize the impact of what they and done. As one they rushed to the shoreline to watch the ponyquin, rope and golden reef be swept around a bend in the river and out of sight, three items they had not even asked to borrow.

Terrified at what they’re sisters would do once they found out what they had done the three fillies went to the only pony they thought could help. Fluttershy held a special place in the fillies’ hearts. While their sisters were their heroes, Pinkie Pie was a big filly to them, and Twilight Sparkle was the source of information for their every misguided attempt to earn their cutie marks; Fluttershy was like a second mom to them. Sweet, loving, and, most important in this situation, patient, and understanding.

“Of course,” Fluttershy assured them with a smile. “I’m sure they’ll just be glad you’re all right, and so long as you promise not to take their things without asking first, they’ll understand you didn’t mean any harm.”

“Thank you,” They cheered in unison wrapping Fluttershy in a trio of tight hugs.

Fluttershy let out a giggle and did her best to nuzzle the fillies. They were always getting in so much trouble, which they rightly earned with their crazy antics, but she knew what it was like to not know one’s place in the world, so it was easy for her to forgive them. Fluttershy just hoped their big sisters would be as ready to forgive them as she said. They were so lucky to have little sisters that looked up to them, and they could care for, Fluttershy had never had either.

“Hey who’s that pony, over there?” Apple Bloom asked when they broke apart pointing a hoof at a dark figure some distance away.

“Whoa, he’s got bat-wings like Princess Luna’s Guards.” Scootaloo’s keen pegasus eyes caught sight of the smooth wings tucked at the pony’s side. “That’s so cool!”

The figure lifted his head up to peer at the dipping sun. “No way he’s got a horn too,” Sweetie Belle exclaimed as the light flashed across it.

Fluttershy’s eyes shot wide, and she began to shake. Slowly, unwillingly, she turned her head around and saw him. Dark Star stood atop a moor his eyes shifting from the setting sun to the Everfree Forest. “Dark Star,” She gasped. Her hoof shot to her muzzle as she mentally chided herself for giving away their presents.

“That’s Dark Star?” Apple Bloom asked skeptically. She and her friend, like the rest of the fillies and colts in Ponyville, had been told very little about the evil unicorn pegasus who had attacked their sister and kidnapped Princess Luna. Most of what they knew came from stories made up on the playground. Stories that spoke of Dark Star as a demonic pony with razor sharp hooves, a horn that dripped with the blood of fresh victims, a mouth full of drooling fangs and razor-like mechanical wings that could cut a pony in half.

“He’s not so scary.” Sweetie Belle noted sharing Apple Bloom’s disappointment.

“Shh girl, you have to be quiet and get behind me,” Fluttershy ordered softly and tried to seem small while giving the girls room to hide behind her. She prayed to Celestia that Dark Star would not notice them at all, but if he did at least, he might not notice the fillies.

“I bet we could take him easily,” Scootaloo said not even hearing Fluttershy’s order as she stared determinedly up at Dark Star her wings buzzing at her sides.

“No Girls you have to-“

“Cutie Mark Crusader Evil Pony Pulverisers Go!” They shouted and charged past Fluttershy and up the moor towards the black stallion.

“No!” Fluttershy started after them but her shaking hooves tangled themselves up, and she tripped crashing face first into the soft grass.

Dark Star turned to regard the three fillies charging towards him with a cold glare. Collectively the three leaped at him intending to bowl him over and pin him down. Dark Star threw his wings wide, there was a flash of darkness, and suddenly the fillies were flying away from him. Flung by some unknown force, they hit the ground and bounced painfully across it.

“Girls!” Fluttershy cried out picking herself off the ground and rushing to their sides, “Oh Celestia please be all right.”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders ached but forced their eyes open, all three wincing at the fading light of the sky. They began to answer, but fear ran through their small bodies as they heard the sound of hoof steps coming towards them, and looked to see Dark Star marching down the moor towards them. Their fear of the black pony renewed they rushed to duck behind Fluttershy shivering fearfully.

Dark Star stopped a few feet from them, his wing flared out menacingly, glaring down at them coldly as he towered over them.

Fluttershy began to quiver as well, but remembering the three fillies that she needed to protect steadied herself and dug deep down to find a scrap of courage to fight with. Spreading her wings to shield the fillies better she forced herself to meet Dark Star’s stare with her own. “I-I won’t let you hurt them… T-there just fillies.”

“I remember you…” Dark Star said softly his contempt filled eyes locked with Fluttershy’s for several moments before he folded his wings. “Humph a coward and a trio of foals, what a waste of my time. There’s nothing to be gained from your fear; you give it so freely.” Dark Star spat, turned from them, and quickly disappeared over the moor.

Fluttershy felt all her fear wash back in, and she began to quiver, her limbs began to lose their strength, and it was all she could do to remain standing. After a moment she recovered enough to turn back and check on the girls. They were huddled behind her still shaking, and Fluttershy thanked Celestia they were all right.

Twilight had said that Dark Star had gone insane after his plan to revive Nightmare Moon had failed, ranting several incoherent threats. But that was not the pony she had just faced; he seemed totally in control. What was he planning on doing now? She could know, and as much as Fluttershy wished it he would, Dark Star hadn’t acted like a pony who intended to go and find someplace to live a peaceful life.

Fluttershy knew she had to get the others to stop whatever Dark Star was planning, but if Dark Star was heading into the Everfree Forest, they might never find him. Twilight had said that their attempts to track him after his disappearance had all failed. Due in no small part, Twilight noted, to his thousand years of study and knowledge of magic.

Fluttershy’s eyes darted back and forth between the forest and Ponyville, uncertainty wearing deep lines across her face. After a moment she went still, staring at the forest her bottom lip clenched in her teeth. Another moment passed, and she spoke, “Girls I need you to find Twilight and your sisters and tell them Dark Star went into the Everfree Forest and that… so did I.”

“You can’t,” Scootaloo practically cried shaking her head, “He’ll do something terrible to you.”

“You have to come find Rarity and the other with us,” Sweetie Belle clutched at one of Fluttershy’s hind legs.

“Y'all have to tell ‘em,” Apple Bloom chimed in.

A calm, if somewhat forced, smile slipped onto Fluttershy’s face, and she turned back to the fillies. “Now girls I need you to do this for me, you have to be… Cutie Mark Crusader Town Criers ok, and let me deal with Dark Star.”

The trio looked scared and unsure, but eventually nodded and unlatched themselves from the yellow mare in what they hoped would not be their last hug.

“Come on girls we gotta hurry!” Apple Bloom managed without a break in her voice, and all three turned and ran towards Sweet Apple Arcs glancing back at Fluttershy more times than was safe.

Fluttershy rush silently up the moor and saw that Dark Star was nearing the edge of the forest. She would have liked more time to prepare herself for what she was about to do, but Dark Star would soon be out of sight and the dark of the forest and night would not aid her in finding him. Even if that was not a problem, Fluttershy knew that if she delayed any longer, she would just end up talking herself out of following him.

With a deep, silent, calming breath Fluttershy started after Dark Star her hoof steps so soft and careful that it would be easy to believe that she didn't leave even a single bent blade of grass behind her. Dark Star didn't take any path into the Everfree forest, not that were many, instead striding in through the tangle of thick foliage that surrounded the forest like a parameter letting it slow his comparatively noisy movements. Fluttershy, breath held, closed the distance between them slipping between the bushes and trees with the same talent she slipped between ponies in the market and shrinking the distance between her and Dark Star.

Thankfully if there was one thing Fluttershy was good at it was getting by unnoticed and as a testament to her skill Dark Star never once so much as glanced back in her direction. She nearly lost him once they were truly in the thick of the deep forest, he was nearly invisible in the dark tangle of woods. Fluttershy locked her eyes on his white tail and quickened her pace until there was no more than a pony's length between them. Fluttershy’s cheeks turned pink as she realized that she was effectively staring at a stallion’s flank, something Rainbow Dash like to tease she did all the time, why else would she spend so much time on the ground?

They navigated the forest like this for several minutes, the foliage thinning as the canopy thicken overhead blocking most of the light. It was only the thin beams of bright moonlight streaming through gaps half the size of a hoof in the canopy that allowed Fluttershy to see at all. Dark Star gave no indication that the limited light hindered him and Fluttershy wondering if he could see in the dark like she'd heard Princess Luna could. As she wondered this, Dark Star seemed to lose his patients for trudging slowly through the thinning underbrush. Spreading his bat wings, he gave them a few powerful flaps, lifted into the air and shot forward weaving through the trees.

Fluttershy gasped when she saw him take off; she hesitated a moment, her fears of getting caught that had stemmed as she successfully trailed the stallion flared back to life. She darted her eyes from side to side uncertainly before extending her wings. She quickly flapped them, it took several more beats to get her aloft than it had for him, and she started after him. Fluttershy shook as she began to feel very exposed knowing that all needed to happen for her get caught was for Dark Star curiously glance back at, what was to her, the deafeningly loud sound of her flying. Still, Fluttershy pressed on, darting from tree to tree as much as she could while pumping her wings hard to close the gap between them. She calmed a little more each moment Dark Star continued to stare forward as she followed him in this fashion for several minutes.

Fluttershy's panic rose again as she noticed the gap between them widening again as Dark Star was slowly accelerating and taking increasingly quick, sharp banks around the trees. Soon it was all she could do to keep pace with him, and soon after that, the gap between them began to grow, until he took a sharp turn around a particularly large tree and she lost sight of him.

Fluttershy eyes shot wide, and she rushed around the tree her eyes darting across the dark forest for the familiar white tail of her quarry. When she saw nothing but the dark, and eerie trees of the forest her face fell. She slowly dropped to the base of the tree and buried her face in her hooves.

“What are you doing?” A cold, critical voice cut into Fluttershy, she jumped with a squeaking cry her hooves dropping back to the ground as Dark Star landed in front of her, his wings sweeping out menacingly to their full length before he tucked them against his sides.

Fluttershy irises became pinpricks, and her heart thumped so loudly in her chest she thought it was trying to escape. He stepped towards her steely gray eyes glaring down at her, and she tried to step back, but her flank bumped against the tree behind her, and she shrieked again, jumping into the air. Landing on her flank, she covered her head with her hooves and began to whimper.

“Stop that!” Dark Star roared. Fluttershy cried out again but seeing his eyes now filled with rage she forced herself to be still and quiet. Her heart continued to thump loudly and a lump so big it choked her swelled in her throat.

Dark Star shook his head his eyes lost in anger but gaining a distant look that was only enhanced when he began to pace back and forth in front of her glancing back and forth at nothing in particular as he spoke. “Why are you here?”

Quivering Fluttershy opened her mouth as if to answer but Dark Star cut her off without even glancing at her. “You were following me.”

Fluttershy nodded, and Dark Star spat angrily, “You’re incompetent at it!”

A look of embarrassment mixed into the terror on Fluttershy's, but Dark Star didn't seem to care, not even looking at her as he continued to rant. “I detected you as soon as you stepped in the forest. You couldn’t have been more obvious flying.”

“Why are you following me?” He asked suddenly looking her full in the face for a moment but didn’t wait for a response. “It’s pointless!" He spat starting his pacing again, "Your friends can’t find me, I made sure that no auras could be left in my wake.”

Fluttershy swallowed the lump in her throat, and her heart began to slow a little as she watched the stallion rant about her without hardly looking at her. Suddenly she thought of a bear she once found wandering around Whitetail woods roaring and swiping at nothing, scaring the animals around it away. She'd try to calm him, but the bear wouldn't listen to her, and when she used The Stare on him the poor thing passed out on the spot. Fluttershy panicked, thinking she had been too forceful, but it turned out the bear was just so sick with a fever that he'd passed out.

Fluttershy snapped out of her thoughts when Dark Star gave his head a furious shake and let out a quiet growl at nothing then took a breath and stopped his erratic pacing. He looked down at Fluttershy again, this time with annoyance, rolled his eyes glanced way. “Do you even know where you are?"

Fluttershy was too afraid to look openly confused by Dark Star's sudden question. Her eyes darted back and for searching their surroundings for any familiar landmark, but couldn't find any. In fact, after her loops around the large tree Dark Star had disappeared behind Fluttershy wasn't even sure which direction they had come from, she again shook her head mutely.

Dark Star glared down at her for a long moment, a storm brewing in his gray eyes until at last, he jabbed his snout to one side, "Head south, walking you’ll reach the edge of the forest by morning.”

Fluttershy looked down the direction he's gestured in but saw no discernable difference to it than any other direction. She had no way of telling whether or not he was telling the truth, but she could not shake the feeling that he was. Looking back she saw that Dark Star had turned away from her staring in the opposite direction, but as if sensing her eyes on him he paused and turned back still glaring at her, “No one can stop me. Go back and tell your friends that.”

Dark Star turned away from Fluttershy, taking to the air to press on alone, but with a quick bite of her lip Fluttershy spread her wings, more confidence than she had the first time, and flew after Dark Star. They were only airborne for a few moments when he stopped and whipped around and hovered in front of her glaring hatefully. “I told you to go away! There’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

Fluttershy felt her heart leap into her throat again, and her wings started to seize and flee to the safety of her sides, but she clenched her teeth and forced them to keep beating steadily. “I know.”

“Then go back!”

“No,” Fluttershy shook her head and waited for him to yell or become violent as he had with the others. If Dark Star did she knew there would be nothing she could do to stop him and squeezed her eyes shut involuntarily anticipating his first blow, but when none came, she let her eyes meet his again. Dark Star was just glaring angrily at her, and she found her voice again, “I won’t go back. I won’t let you hurt anypony; I can’t. I know I’m too weak to fight you, but I-I’ll find some way to stop you. N-no matter what you do I won’t let you hurt my friends again.”

Fluttershy cringed as she finished, again expecting Dark Star to strike or yell at her, but several moments passed in silence before she ventured to meet his eyes again. The angry gray eyes looked like they wanted to do both and more but he did neither, and after a moment he turned his back to her, “Fine. Follow me if you like, you can’t stop me.”

He started off again, adding in a low voice he might not have intended for her to hear, “I wouldn’t attack such a weakling.” He resolved that if he could not get rid of the mare, he would at least do his best to ignore her. Fluttershy let out the breath she was holding and started after Dark Star finding that, much to her surprise, she was smiling a small thrill spreading through her chest.

As they flew through the forest, Fluttershy began to notice the distance between them was growing. She pumped her wings to keep pace with Dark Star watching as he set what she imagined was a leisurely pace for him. It always frustrated Rainbow Dash to have to slow herself so Fluttershy could keep up but she did so with little complaint. Dark Star was not so kind, and every few minutes Fluttershy noticed she was falling more behind him and would have to push herself twice as hard to catch back up.

Fluttershy watched Dark Star closely careful not lose the black coated pony in the dark forest, but also hoping to find some opening to talk to him again. She had impressed herself with her bravery at both confrontations with Dark Star, but despite what she said she had no idea how she was going to stop him. She tried to see his face, his eyes, hoping to be able to divine something she could use to talk to him, but even when she did get close enough to see him he always seemed to shift and block her view with his mane.

Sighing she turned her thoughts to what she knew about him, but that was far less than the others. She had not been present during his attack on Ponyville’s townsfolk, and she could bear to watch the brutal confrontation between him and Princess Celestia. Her only confrontation with him was when she and the others had used the Elements of Harmony on him. With the enhanced feelings of harmony still washing over her, she could not make herself see evil in the pony that was left laying on the ground afterward.

Fluttershy glanced down sadly for a moment, while she could not imagine that he would have tried to hurt them, he had. He bucked Pinkie Pie, tried to use his magic to stop them and even dislocated Rainbow Dash’s wing. If it had not been for Applejack and herself, Rainbow Dash might have suffered more than a temporary loss of her ability to fly. That was not the only time he’d hurt Rainbow Dash either; he’d nearly killed her, Applejack, Big Macintosh, and Princess Celestia.

Fluttershy tried to focus on those thoughts hoping they would give her strength to stand up to him, but they didn’t. Maybe it was because she was never the direct target of his violence, but she just couldn’t see this pony as the monster the others did. She knew that the others would possibly want to hurt Dark Star for what he had done and would want to lock him away forever, but Fluttershy just couldn’t find those feeling in herself. If she had been asked before today what she hoped for regarding Dark Star, she would have said she hoped never to see him again. But even that wasn’t true anymore, somehow after spending even so little time with him, she just felt he must be a very hurt and confused pony to be lashing out the way he was. Fluttershy couldn’t help but want to help him.

Fluttershy winced as a burning pain shot through her wings, she realized just how hard she was panting and how hard she had been flying. Her lungs burned, and she had a sore lump in her throat from her labored breathing. Her hooves pawed at the air as she swallowed hard at the lump and jumped as she looked up to find herself alone.

“Dark Star?” She called weakly looking around for any sign of him but finding none she realized he must have left her behind deciding she was too slow to keep up. Fluttershy's ears folded sadly against her head and she began descending towards the ground, her chin dipped against her neck. That was when she saw the pale white mane and tail she’d been following walking along the forest floor. Instantly the life came back to her face, and she swooped down to land near him.

“I’d thought you flew off without me,” She gave a relieved breath, quickly falling into place beside him looking around curiously at the surrounding forest. “Are we close to where you’re going?”

“No,” He grumbled curtly, “I can just walk faster than you can fly, figured it’d be easier.”

“Oh,” She answered softly then gave him a little smile, “Thank you, walking is much easier for me. I guess I’m not much of a pegasus.”

“It’s not for you,” He snapped causing Fluttershy to jump back a step. “I was born an earth pony, so I prefer walking to flying.”

“Oh, I'm sorry,” Fluttershy gave another dejected look as Dark Star growled at her apology. She gave another weak smile and started to say something but thought better of it. Still, regardless of her nervousness, she knew she had to say something to try and stop him, so she swallowed at the lump in her throat and said, “Umm Dark Star.”

“What?” His hissed back not looking at her.

“I know you’re, um, upset about what happened with Princess Luna.” Dark Star gave a feral growl and shot around to glare at the Fluttershy who sunk away from him. He huffed like he was about to yell, but after a moment of silence just scoffed and turned away to keep walking. Fluttershy took several quick panicked breaths before composing herself and rushing to catch up to Dark Star.

She didn’t want to say anything at that point, but she knew she had to force herself to regardless. “Um despite that, could you, um, I mean would please consider not doing whatever it is you came here to do. I mean if it’s a whole revenge against ponykind thing if you're not doing that then… um never mind.”

“Do you think you could make it out of the Everfree Forest before something eats you?” He responded sarcastically.

“Umm… no?”

“Well, then there's your answer.” Fluttershy’s ears folded back against her head which drooped as her pace slowed slightly and she fell behind Dark Star. She was stupid to think she could stop Dark Star from whatever he intended to do by saying please really nicely, oh, she was useless.

The long sound of something scratching against wood snapped Fluttershy from her self-admonishment as she jumped and gave a little squeak of panic. She trotted a little faster to close the distance between her and Dark Star as her eyes darted all around searching for the source of the noise, but she could only make out vague shapes through the gloom.

When she entered the forest in pursuit of Dark Star the large trees, thick shrubs and creeping gloom had been her allies, keeping her hidden from her quarry. Now those same former allies had undergone a terrifying transformation into potential unseen horrors, or at least covers which the horrors of the forest could be using to get close to their own quarry, her. Soon most of her attention was on the unseen dangers around her, and she barely kept half an eye on Dark Star, but still, she wasn’t able to see any danger.

Suddenly a thick slimy tentacle dropped across her flank and began to wriggle and slithering around her back. “It’s got me; it’s got me!” Fluttershy jumped letting out a shriek and began flailing around wildly.

“What the?” Dark Star cursed to himself and snapped around to see Fluttershy kicking out wildly at nothing and screaming like a soft-spoken banshee.

As one of her wild bucks slammed into the trunk of a nearby tree, Fluttershy finally felt the tentacle go flying from her back. Panting wildly, Fluttershy turned nervously to see if she had accidentally bucked the creature that had grabbed her; instead, she found herself facing a large tree. She started to take a deep breath but as she did her eyes traveled up the tree, and the breath caught in her throat as she saw dozens of glowing red eyes staring down at her.

The terrified mare let out another shriek, louder than before, and countless shapes detached themselves from the tree. As they flew towards her Fluttershy dashed from the shapes, but they quickly overtook her and swarmed around her. Fluttershy’s only remaining rational thought was to hide behind the nearest pony for safety. Somehow through the haze of the swarm, she found Dark Star’s form and rushed to his side ducking behind him and pressed her shaking form against his calm one yelling, “Help!”

Dark Star frowned at Fluttershy even as the creatures began to swarm around them, “From what? They’re just vampire bats.”

“Vampire!” Fluttershy echoed and dove to the ground covering her neck with her hooves. “Don’t let them drink my blood! I don’t want to be a vampony!”

“Vampony! Arrrg by Nightmare,” Dark Star groaned, then growled at himself for using her name. Sighing he stretched out his wing and gave them a firm flap, not enough to take off, but it did the trick, and the bats immediately disburse.

Glaring down at the pink mane quivering at his hooves Dark Star cleared his throat, “You can get up now they're gone… And I can’t believe I have to tell a grown mare that there’s no such thing as vamponies, it’s just an ancient mare’s tail.”

Fluttershy peeked an eye open and searched around her to confirm the bats had gone before standing up. “Um yea, well not totally.” She answered too softly for Dark Star to hear.

“What?” He snapped causing her to jump again.

“I mean they attacked me and tried to suck my blood.” She defended as her hooves searched her neck protectively.

Dark Star rolled his eyes, “They didn’t attack you. You bucked their tree, and they were trying to protect it by scaring you away. Vampire bats don’t feed like that away, they only drink like an ounce at a time, here watch.”

Dark Star chastised himself wasting his time; he had a place he needed to be and new purpose to fulfill, he should not be wasting any time on the silly mare. He should have abandoned her, or ended her meddling and neutralized the threat of the Elements permanently. But, though he was a servant of evil, he couldn’t bring himself to attack somepony who wouldn’t fight back and abandoning her felt no better. But why was he waste his time to alleviate her fears? Simply to not have to listen to listen to her whining, that was all there was to it.

Dark Star softly fluttered his wings and pursed his lips to make a squeaking noise while holding a hoof out. Obediently a pair of bats dropped down from the tree and fluttered over to him, one landing on his back while the other landed on his outstretched hoof. The bat on Dark Star’s hoof crawled a little way up his leg its eyes searching out intently for something the two ponies couldn’t see. Once it reached a spot, it liked it leaned down and nibbled on Dark Star’s leg causing a small pool of blood to spill forth, which it set about softly licking up.

Fluttershy watched this with fascination, her fear of the creature long gone. The once terrifying creature looked not much different than a mouse up close, it was only a little bigger. “Can I try?”

“If you want.”

Fluttershy turned her attention to the bat on Dark Star’s back, offering a hoof to it. “Come on little one, I sorry I kicked your tree, I promise I won’t hurt you.”

The bat looked from the outstretched hoof to Fluttershy and then to Dark Star, who gave it an almost unperceivable nod. Looking back to Fluttershy's hoof the small creature took to the air fluttering across to Fluttershy’s hoof and like its companion crawled up her leg until it found a spot it liked, nibbled away the fur, softly broke the skin and began licking up the nourishing blood that spilled forth.

“It doesn’t even hurt,” Fluttershy gasped, resisting the urge to cuddle the timid feeding animal.

“Of course it doesn’t, vampire bats are too small to fight for their food, so they feed on sleeping creatures. It’s best if they make sure their donor doesn’t wake up and attack them.” Dark Star’s bat stretched its wings and fluttered off to digest its meal. “Why’d you freak out like that?”

Fluttershy’s eye went wide, and she gave a shiver as she remembered what attacked her. “Some awful slimy tentacle thing tried to grab me.”

Dark Star gave her a critical frown, but stepped around and traced his eyes over her back. As he continued to pace around her and his eyes wandered further down Fluttershy began to blush. As far as she knew stallions didn’t spend a lot of time staring at her flank. The bat on her leg eyed the mare nervously before giving the shallow pool of blood one last lick and fluttering off towards its tree. Fluttershy set her hoof back onto the ground as Dark Star’s horn unleashed its dark glow of magic and Fluttershy felt her tail being hoisting it up.

Fluttershy shrieked, “Pervert!” and reflexively bucked out with her hooves. Dark Star’s eyes shot wide as her hind hooves connected solidly with his chest and sent him flying back several feet into a nearby tree.

“What the-” Was all Dark Star managed before erupting into a fit of coughing and deep frantic breaths to refill his suddenly oxygen starved lungs.

“You perverted stallion,” Fluttershy raged, her eyes furious as she stomped over to Dark Star her wings flared. “You can’t just go peeking under a mare’s tail; I don’t care if you are trying to be some big bad evil pony; that’s just rude!”

“I wasn’t peeking at you, you crazy mare,” Dark Star met her glare even as he still huffed for air. His horn still glowed with magic, a testament to his mental fortitude, and he floated a grayish yellow and black spotted slug up to her eye, it had to be eight inches long. “This is what I grabbed out of you tail it’s probably what you thought grabbed you.”

The anger melted from Fluttershy’s face as she looked at the immense night crawler and it was replaced by curiosity, as she whispered in awe, “I’ve never seen a slug that big before.”

“It’s a leopard slug or a great gray slug, and she couldn’t have hurt you if she tried,” Dark Star explained critically, getting to his hooves, as Fluttershy examined the slug more closely. “She’s fat with eggs; she was probably looking for a place to lay them when she fell out of the tree.”

Fluttershy gasped, eyes wide as a hoof shot to her mouth, “Oh no, is she ok, I didn’t mean to hurt her.”

“She’s fine,” Dark Star calmly floated her back up into the tree placed her back on a branch. “Slugs are tougher than they look and can take a fall better than most.” He gave a slight smile at the night crawler his fondness for them still strong.

“Thank Celestia,” Fluttershy said breathing a sigh of relief.

“Ya I’m fine too by the way,” Dark Star brushed at the dirt on his chest, his face giving a small, pained twitch. He added with a mutter, “You hit as hard as that red stallion.”

Dark Star was surprised that he wasn’t angrier at Fluttershy. The anger was there with all the other wild emotions playing out in the back of his mind, but he found them unusually easy to ignore. Anger had voiced itself the loudest in his mind since his failure with Luna, but it seemed somewhat muted now.

“Sorry,” Fluttershy apologized sheepishly rubbing her hoof on her opposite leg. She touched the small wound the bat had given her and felt a tiny sting of pain. She looked down at the mark and was surprised to see it looked like it had healed a day’s worth already. “I-it’s healing so quickly.”

“The bats have healing enzymes in their saliva. Keeps their donors healthy and unaware.” Dark Star explained, his magic had already erased all traces of the bat’s feeding on him.

“I didn’t realize there were so many wonderful animals in the Everfree Forest.” Fluttershy's voice was full of awe as she looked up into the bats' tree, but the tiny creatures had closed their eyes turning invisible against the dark foliage of the tree. She tried to find the branch Dark Star had put the pregnant slug on, but she could see it either.

“There’s plenty more,” Dark Star said his eyes scanning the dark for the creatures he knew were there. “Half the animals in the world are nocturnal. Nopony comes into the Everfree Forest at night, but that’s when it’s most alive.”

Fluttershy tried to follow Dark Star’s gaze, finding all the nocturnal creatures around them, but she quickly found that even those she could see were too numerous to fully appreciate. Rodents of all shapes and sizes scurried across the branches of the trees, their little paws scratching at the wood. Fireflies danced through the air to entice one another and drawing attention away from the darker, quieter bugs that skittered along the ground. A family of foxes stalked silently through the underbrush seeking a new burrow. A frightening howl cut through the air causing Fluttershy to jump, but when it was answered by another howl and then another she realized it was just the long call of old friends.

“This is amazing!” Fluttershy exclaimed, without losing the softness of her voice, and turned to smile warmly at Dark Star. “I never met another pony whose special talent was understanding animals.”

Dark Star’s eyes shot wide, and he stood speechless for several long moments heat touching his face and an uncomfortable ease settling over him. He didn’t like any of it, and his eyes slowly grew dark. He watched as a look of concern came over the mare's face, and she reached a hoof out to him. Dark Star let out a growl and turned away from Fluttershy his wings twitching stiffly as he stormed away.

Fluttershy jumped back in shock at Dark Star’s sudden change, her reassuring hoof shooting to cover her mouth covering the gasp of surprise she let out. She hesitated only a moment before quickly trotting after him, “Oh no I’m sorry I didn’t mean-”

“You don’t know anything about me!” Dark Star whipped around to snap at Fluttershy causing her to cower back. “These creatures are my friends, my ONLY friends. Those bats they taught me how to fly after Celestia and Luna ‘blessed’ with wings. None of the pegasi took me seriously; I was just a joke to them.”

Tears began to form in Fluttershy’s eyes, and she swallowed at the lump in her throat to speak. “The other pegasi made fun-”

“I don’t care about you day creatures,” Dark Star snapped silencing her again. “I’m a creature of the night, of the dark. My talent, my purpose, is to serve the darkness and that is what I’m going to do!”

He glared down at her challenging Fluttershy to say something, but she just quaked under the stare of his steely gray eyes. With a scoff he turned from her, whipping back around Dark Star threw out his tense wings, but hesitated then folded them tight to his side as he stormed away. Fluttershy waited for him to put a few steps between them before she began to follow, her head down and mane covering her face save for a single eye.

She watched him walk, his body stiff, muscles tensed. It was her fault, she thought, she had been stupid and upset him. He had been so happy talking about his animal friends, and she had ruined it. Tears stung at her eyes, her friends would not have made such a mistake.

That thought snapped her out of her stupor, for she knew that it wasn’t true. None of her other friends would have tried to follow the stallion as she had, Rainbow Dash and Applejack might have even attacked him, heedless of the danger. Even if they had followed Dark Star like she had she couldn’t imagine any of them would have become as scared as she had at the slug dropping on their backs or prompted Dark Star to explain so much about his animal friends.

Fluttershy sniffed and wiped away her tears focusing on Dark Star again and tried to connect this angry pony with the one who had just moments before spoken so gently about the forest’s animals. She could not believe that somepony who cared so much about animals could be an evil pony, so why was he striving so hard to ‘serve the darkness.’

Twilight had told her that she thought that the dark power Dark Star had absorbed when he failed to revive Nightmare Moon may have driven the stallion insane. Fluttershy could not deny that Dark Star’s behavior was far from stable. He had more than enough power to destroy her and the rage in his eyes when he yelled at her told her he wanted to, so why didn’t he? Or, at very least, why didn’t he leave her behind? Then there was the kindness he showed her, trying to direct her out of the forest, sending the bats away and showing her they were not dangerous.

Was he just lonely? She remembered the tales about when he was a timid earth pony named Starlight. He was so much like her back then and like her, he had found friends to give him the courage to be a hero. But now he rejected those same friends, why? Did he really think that Princess Luna would have rejected him upon his return?

Pushed her mane out of her face Fluttershy focused both her eyes on the stallion and tried to think of something to say to him. If she could just find the right words, maybe she would be able to help him. But each time she tried to speak the words would catch in her throat as she found some flaw in them. Slowly her head sunk again, nothing she said would ever be perfect enough.

No, she shook her head, she couldn’t just give up. Quickening her pace, Fluttershy trotted forward until she was walking right next to Dark Star matching her steps with his own. When he glanced over at her she gave him a soft smile, he just scoffed and looked away. Still, he didn't object to her presence, so Fluttershy stayed next to him offering him another warm smile each time he glanced her way.

Author's Note

It's a little more establish now that Fluttershy has a good relationship with nocturnal animals and those of the Everfee Forest. That wasn't so clear back in the early season so the scene with her and Dark Star discussing them might seem odd now, but it fits in the early canon.

Chapter Twelve: Wounds, Old and New

Author's Note

Arrg! Fluttershy's parents why did you have to come in and ruin my cannon, and don't even get me started on Zephyr Breeze.

Chapter Twelve: Wounds, Old and New

Chapter Twelve
Wounds, Old and New

In the gloom of the dark forest, it was impossible for Fluttershy to keep track of the passage of time, she could only guess at the true number of hours that passed, it felt like a dozen. The long hike over the rough forest terrain was taking its toll on her, she panted with every step, and her back and legs felt like they had been lanced with burning glass. Despite the pain, every time Dark Star glanced over at her she gave him another, albeit tired looking, smile. As much as she wanted to take a rest, Dark Star didn’t seem to be tired at all, marching ever purposefully towards his destination deep in the woods. Feeling that his tolerance of her was still shaky at, best Fluttershy did not dare ask for a break for fear he would leave her behind.

Unexpectedly the darkness of the forest suddenly broke as a brilliant orange light washed over the tops of the trees. Fluttershy stopped dead in her tracks a little frightened by the sudden change and looked up at the amber light that was pouring down from the gaps in the canopy. Dark Star stared up at the canopy as well, a grim look on his face. Fluttershy watched as the leaves of the trees around the gaps brightened into a brilliant emerald color as the sun crested over the tree tops bathing them in its warming light. Fluttershy moved to one of the beams of sunlight, closed her eyes, and breathed in the morning air basking in the new light.

Dark Star, however, folded his ears back and lowered himself down, like a predator retreating from an enemy, and quickly moved into the deep shadows of the trees. “We’ll stop here for the day,” Dark Star announced moving around the beams of light giving them a wide berth and staying to the deep shadows. He made his way to the base of a large old oak tree where he pushed aside some brushes to reveal a large hole that led beneath it.

Fluttershy gave Dark Star a pained look as she moved over to the hole. Again she found herself wanting to say something, but nothing sounded right in her head. She turned her attention to the hole looking into it, her nose twitched at the musky smell the wafted from it, and she hesitated, “Are you sure no one’s using it?”

Dark Star rolled his eyes at her and crawled into the hole, disappearing as he slipped over a dip in the tunnel. Fluttershy stared into the depth for a moment before looking at the forest around her again. The Everfree Forest was spooky even during the day, and Fluttershy shivered suddenly feeling very alone. Glancing back into the tunnel, then the forest again she gave a timid moan and crawled into the tunnel.

The tunnel encircled her on all sides forcing her to crawl along on her belly pulling herself forward with his front hooves while her back legs dragged mostly useless behind her. Her wings dragged along the firmly packed dirt of the walls, and she banged her head on the top of the tunnel a few times especially while trying to navigate the arching dip that Dark Star had disappeared over. As she crawled past that arch, her world became darkness again. Her chest tightened, and she swallowed back a panicked cry, which cried out with twice the strength when she pulled herself forward, and something thin and dry hanging from the top of the tunnel draped across her face.

“You’re almost there,” A voice spoke out over her scream and once she was calm, a hoof clasped onto hers and pulled her from the tunnel.

No longer feeling the clutching grasp of the tunnel around her Fluttershy stood up, clutching the hoof in hers tightly for comfort as she tried in vain to see through the pitch blackness. “Dark Star?”

“You can’t see can you?” He asked with a tone of casual realization, as noting that she couldn't cook a soufflé. A blue glow began to emanate from his blade-like horn as a small sphere of pale light formed on its tip. It was like a miniature version of the spell Twilight had used to create a false moon over Ponyville, and this ball rose off his horn floating up to nestle within a tangle of roots that hung from the ceiling of the den, staining everything with its blue light.

The den wasn’t very large, the ceiling hanging low enough that if Fluttershy reared up, she would smack her head into it, and it was no more than ten feet wide at any one place, but it was empty.

“Nothing’s been here in a while,” Dark Star said sniffing the again and glancing around the den. “Probably an abandoned wolf den, a foxhole before, and rabbit warren before that. That’s how dens like this one are built in the Everfree.”

Dark Star glanced down to see his hoof was still clutched in Fluttershy’s. Pulling it free from hers with a jerk he moving over to the far side of the den and laid down. "Get some rest; the journey's not even half done."

Fluttershy frowned at the implications of his words about the den and its previous occupants, but her expression softened and grew a little sadder at what he had said next. Did the daylight hurt him and if so why? Twilight might know, Dark Star was a pony so saturated by magic that only somebody like her or the princesses could understand its full effects of it on him. However, even seeing him carefully skirt the sun's light it seemed to Fluttershy an easy task for him to navigate such a simple danger in a dark place like the Everfree. His words didn't disclude her, was he stopping for her sake? Carefully Fluttershy moved over to where the stallion lay and in a quiet nervous voice asked. “Aren’t you worried about my friends finding you if we stop, I doubt they will stop for as long.”

“No,” Dark Star shifted, so his back was completely to her.

“But-”

“I told you before that they can’t find us. This den might as well be on the moon,” His tail and wings flicked with annoyance and his ears folded back as he lay his head on the ground. “Now go to sleep!”

Fluttershy’s ears flopped down, and her face fell, she stood staring down at dirt floor for a moment before moving to give Dark Star some space. She moved to the other side of the den and lay down as well, her back to the wall as she watched Dark Star through the soft blue light. He lay still, but Fluttershy doubted he was already asleep, she had watched countless sleeping creatures, and even the most anxious didn't hold themselves so stiffly while asleep. But like other anxious creatures she had cared for Fluttershy expected that Dark Star would wait until he was sure she was asleep before he allowed himself to sleep as well. But as tired as she was, Fluttershy wanted to keep watching him, maybe it was as much about concern as it was fear, but she didn't want to lose sight of him in sleep.

Fluttershy laid her head down and relaxed letting her eyes half close. She felt her sore joints begin to relax and the fatigue reassert itself, causing her eyes to droop further closed than she intended. She began to doze only to start awake with a small jump, her eyes shooting open. Shifting her tongue between her teeth Fluttershy bite down on it as hard as she dared, determined to stay awake as she let her eyes begin to close once more.

“STOP!”

Fluttershy awoke. Her head shot up and smacking itself on the wall of the den as she threw it back in surprise. Realizing she had fallen asleep and was about to chastise herself when a pain filled neighing cried out through the den joined by the sound of scuffling hooves.

“Dark Star!” She gasped and looked to see him violently twitching and kicking out still laying out on his side at the other end of the den. He cried out again and kicked with such force that when his hoof connected with the wall, it pushed him back a few inches and left a deep indentation on the wall.

“Oh Celestia,” Fluttershy staggered to her hooves and rushed to Dark Star’s side, sweat and dirt marred his coat and was tangled in his mane as he threw his head back and forth; his blade-like horn sliced into the ground. His eyes were clenched shut, his ears pinned back against his head, and he didn't respond to any of Fluttershy’s calls.

“Dark Star, wake up, you’re having a nightmare!” She cried grabbing his shoulder, firmly shaking it. Dark Star cried out and with a painful looking twist of his head slashed his blade-like horn at her. Fluttershy jerked her hoof away gasping as the tip of the leg bit into her leg cutting a thin line just above her hoof.

Fluttershy gave a little moan of pain as she held the cut and clenched her eyes shut at the pain. Dark Star continued to cry out and thrash as if his nightmare had taken complete hold of him and refused to release him. Fluttershy's soft heart anguished at his every cry almost as much as he did, and unwilling to leave anyone to suffer like that, leaned carefully over him. Ready to jump back if he struck out at her again she gently whispered into his ear, “Dark Star you’re having a nightmare. It’ll be ok; I’m here.”

Dark Star continued to cry, shake and kick out violently against the empty air, but he made no move to attack Fluttershy. Slowly swallowing her fear Fluttershy risked kneeling down next to him and gently draped a wing over him, he was cold to the touch. “See I’m here,” Fluttershy continued to whisper softly. “Everything going to be all right. Don’t be afraid, just listen to the sound of my voice. You’re safe with me.”

As Fluttershy spoke Dark Star’s thrashing became less panicked, he kicked out with less frequency and force, and his wild neighing softened into a low whimpering. As Fluttershy continued to whisper reassurances to Dark Star he slowly became calmer; kicking, shaking and neighing less and less until he was only trembling slightly, moaning softly, and only giving an occasional jerking kick.

As his cold body greedily sucked away her heat, Fluttershy wondered if it was the result of some sickness or a side effect of taking on the dark power from Nightmare Moon’s failed resurrection. Regardless of the cause, Fluttershy desperately tried to think of something she could do about it. Those thoughts were interrupted when Dark Star shifted in his sleep and pressed his back into her side, perhaps seeking more of the warmth he lacked.

His cold body caused a shiver to run up Fluttershy's spine, but couldn’t help but smile at the cute way he unconsciously sought her warmth. The smile faded as she watched his face seeing the way his eyes still clenched as if against a terrible pain and she wondered what had taken such a firm hold of his mind that made it so a cautious pony like Dark Star wouldn't be woken at her presences? Beyond the cold, Fluttershy felt a dark power emanating from the stallion something in a simple understanding she could only liken to magic, powerful and disembodied. As much as Fluttershy knew there was no evidence for the thought, she couldn't help feeling that Dark Star had known this nightmare would come for him if he'd rested and yet he'd chosen to anyway, for her. It was a silly thought, but regardless of whether it was true or not, Fluttershy knew that even if she couldn’t do anything to help him, she would not abandon him either. Careful not to disturb her companion Fluttershy shifted into a more comfortable position against her companion and let sleep take her once more.

Dark Star’s eyes slowly opened, the nagging needs of his body rousing him from his first restful slumber since his Queen's betrayed. He'd learned at that time the true nature of the darkness and that even the servants of the darkness were spared none of its wrath. The darkness held no love for him and for little more than the sake of cruelty it attacked his mind at any moment of vulnerability. Dark Star was never more vulnerable than when he slept and his attempts to stave off the weak physical need only severed to trap him all the more completely in his nightmares. In these nightmares, his new master demanded his freedom and punished him for any delay no matter the obstacle.

For a moment Dark Star wondered what had allowed him to escape the nightmares this day before the feeling of soft down feathers across his side answered his question. He looked over to see the green stained wing and followed it to the green stained coat of the mare lying next to him. It made some sense to him that the presences of an element of harmony might shield him from the darkness’ attacks. Remembering she was his enemy Dark Star Shook his head, slipped out from under her wing and stepped over the sleeping mare care not to wake her. He had only moved a few steps from her when a low moan caused him to stop and look back at her. Fluttershy shifted in her sleep seeming to seek something that was no longer there for a moment before giving up and just rolling into his vacant place.

Out from under her influence the voices that resounded from deep in his mind could be heard again. Dark Star sat down and stared at the sleeping mare and listen to the council of his thoughts.

"Kill her!" The loudest shouted venomously and hatefully, adding as if an afterthought, "She's an enemy." Dark Star coldly dismissed the base impulse, Fluttershy was no threat to him so killing her was pointless.

"But she an Element of Harmony," Another wailed fearfully. Dark Star nearly snapped at this one his disgust for simpering only enhanced by his knowledge it was his own. Besides if it came to eliminating the threat of the elements anyone would do. Dark Star favored the meddling Twilight Sparkle.

"She simpers, like a coward," Another giggled maniacally. Dark Star shook his head; no, as much as Fluttershy feared him and the forest, she had come to stop him, and even though she knew she couldn't she still had courage enough to try.

"You're the coward!" One spat hatefully.

"You're getting all squishy towards her," another giggled.

"You have feelings for her," the last sobbed mournfully.

"Shut up!" Dark Star snapped internally, his cold rage causing the voices to recede to the back of his mind fearfully, but their wailing taunts and venomous jabs still came so persistently it was hard to ignore them completely. Glaring down at Fluttershy's sleeping form Dark Star horn illuminated with dark magic. It would be easy to kill her, far easier than trying to ignore the voices. He could skewer her with earth or ice; she would wake for only a moment to see him, her killer, before death.

Dark Star paused, and his horn's magic grew stronger as his blue orb of light dimmed; his magic drained away from it. He could slowly drain all the air out of the den. Fluttershy would never even wake up as she slowly slipped into death's embrace. He watched her eyes shift under his eyelids and wondered if she would dream of suffocating before the end.

The aura of Dark Star's horn continued to build as slowly as he gathered more magic the light of the orb faded to darkness. He could simply vaporize her with powerful enough magic, her delicate willow frame wouldn't put up much resistance, nor would her long gentle wings, wispy pink hair or gentle sky-blue eyes. The den slipped into total blackness, but Dark Star could see her perfectly, and soon she would be gone, totally, in a single instant.

He would never see her again.

Fluttershy stirred her legs and wing squeezing at the empty air. Her eyes cracked open ever so slightly as she sat up noting the lack of a pony body next to hers sleepily. She let out a curious, “Dark Star,” and craned her head around scanning the den for him. Her eyes snapped open when she saw nobody else in the blue light of Dark Star’s spell.

“Dark Star!” She called out looking into every shadowy corner of the den, but silence was the only response.

Fluttershy’s heart jumped into her throat, had he had left so she couldn’t follow him anymore? How could she have been so stupid to fall asleep and let him walk away without even noticing? She quickly climbed to her hooves and rushed to the entrance begging Celestia that she was not too late to catch him.

She slid to a stop several feet in front of the entrance as a figure began to emerge from it groaning unintelligently. Fluttershy’s breath caught in her throat as she remembered what Dark Star said about this place having been a wolf den and back up several steps quivering, what if he meant timber wolves?

“You’re awake,” The figure spoke as it stepped fully into the soft light of the blue sphere revealing it to be Dark Star his mane and tail stained blue by the light, “I brought food.”

“You’re still here!” Fluttershy cried throwing her forelegs around the stallion’s neck, “I thought you’d left me behind.”

“That would have been the smart thing to do,” Dark Star grumbled sarcastically quickly smoothing down the corners of his mouth. “Look don’t get sentimental,” He pushed her away gently, “It’s nothing let’s just eat and go, or I’ll eat and go, and you can eat and go back to your friends.”

Fluttershy gave him a smile and shook her head, “Nope. I said I was going to keep following you no matter what and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Dark Star rolled his eyes and lifted the bundle of food he’d gathered off his back with his magic. The bundle looked like a green leaf patterned sack, but Fluttershy could smell that the leaves were real. As she wondered how it held together, Dark Star placed it on the ground, and the leaves fell away from each other creating a loose nest that held its contents: patches of grass, flowers, berries and slimy looking mushrooms.

"Thank you, Dark Star," Fluttershy nodded gratefully to him, realizing for the first time just how hungry she was. Dark Star gave a low grunt in response but otherwise acted as if he hadn't heard her. Smiling at him, Fluttershy began to eat, dutifully trying everything to be polite as she had been taught. The grass and flowers were sweet and fresh, but the berries had a bitter taste to them, and while the mushrooms were bland their texture was unnerving. After her initial sampling of the foodstuffs, Fluttershy was thankful to find that Dark Star seemed to favor the berries and mushrooms. Though he ate in such a business-like manner, it was impossible to tell if he liked any of the food at all.

After the meal, Dark Star doused his magical light, and the pair crawled out of the den. The forest had returned to its gloomy nighttime atmosphere, but Fluttershy didn't feel nervous with Dark Star, his presence putting her at ease in a way that even her friends couldn't. He led her to a stream, no so far from the den, and let her drink her fill before Dark Star started off again.

Fluttershy followed, taking up her place next to him and giving him the same pleasant smile she had the day before. Glancing over to see the warm smile on her face Dark Star stopped dead in his tracks. “You should go back now. There’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

Fluttershy looked nervously up at him, meeting his hard eyes noting that they were much softer now than they had been before, almost pleading. “No,” Fluttershy gently shook her head breaking eye contact after several moments of silence, “I’m not going to leave you.”

Dark Star’s face twisted slightly in anger, his fur standing on end and his wings once more twitching anxiously, but Fluttershy did not cower or back away this time. Scoffing angrily, he turned away from her and started deeper into the forest. She followed, Dark Star quickening his pace to keep her a step behind him and out of even his peripheral sight.

Fluttershy watched as Dark Star worked to put the wall that had started to come down between them back up. She realized she hadn't made as much progress as she'd thought, they were still pressing deeper into the Everfree Forest seeking some means of the stallion's revenge against the princesses. The wall between them was growing ever higher, and she knew her chance to build a bridge between them was slipping away.

Again Fluttershy tried to think of something to say, something to get him to talk to her, but everything she thought of still sounded stupid to her. As the moments passed by and Dark Star seemed to grow ever colder and distant. Her fear of saying something stupid and losing the opportunity to say anything clashed with ever mounting intensity until she practically cried out, "Where did you grow up?"

"What?" Dark Star stopped at her outburst and turned to give her a critical glare.

"Umm," Fluttershy looked away and pawed the ground, "W-where you grew up. What was it like?"

Hearing Dark Star scoff at the question, Fluttershy looked up to see him turn away and keep walking, "I didn't grow up anywhere." He answered coldly and Fluttershy's ears folded back sadly as she started after him, her eyes still looking at the ground and chastising herself. After a few moments, Dark Star broke the silence, "Starlight grew up in a town called Meadow Lake, it was... quiet and insignificant."

"Oh!" Fluttershy gave a small start at Dark Star's sudden indulgence of her curiosity. Looking up at him a smile returned to her face, and with a few galloping steps, which he didn't seem to protest, she was beside him again. "It sounds lovely; maybe we could go visit it?"

"There's nothing to visit, the lake dried up centuries ago, and the meadow turned barren." Dark Star shook his head, his tone even and disinterested as if he cared nothing for his hometown. "There isn't any sign of the village left."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," her ears pinning back sadly once more. Dark Star just shrugged disinterestedly, but she did have him talking and so pressed for more details. "Still it must have been beautiful with the lake and meadow, the scent of flowers and grass."

Dark Star let a smile touch his lips, "It was. I used to walk a little way out along the shore of the lake at night and with my back to the village and at just the right spot you could look out and take in the whole of the meadow without seeing any sign of the village. There was just an ocean of grass for miles when the night as clear, the wind passing like waves over it, the only thing the broke the perfect silence."

Fluttershy closed her eyes, Dark Star's words painting a picture of the meadow in her mind so perfect that the sounds of the forest seemed to fade away replaced by the gentle howl of the wind. She opened her eyes again their clear blueness meeting Dark Star gray eyes as she cooed, "It sounds beautiful."

The smile on Dark Star's lips lingered a little longer this time, and he shook his head. "It was nothing compared to the lake. On clear still nights, you could look out across that lake, and it was as if it held the whole sky you could see every star perfectly without looking up once. And it the distance they touched at the horizon like they were just two halves of a folded sheet. Some night I'd just stargaze in the lake all night by myself."

A hint of gloom touched Fluttershy's face at those last few words though she kept her gentle smile in place it grew almost apologetic. "You never showed your family or friends?"

The smile fell away from Dark Star's face, his usual coldness taking its place as she looked away and spoke disinterestedly again. "Starlight didn't have any friends. He took his family out once, they ooed and awed at all the right times. But his elder sister told him every foal thought they were the first one to notice it, but every pony knew about the views. Then, his mother and father started arguing about him going out so late, that wasn't so unusual for them. Hmm, it's funny, I can't remember their names."

Fluttershy's smile twitched a few times, but she couldn't stop it from falling away. For a moment she looked down, and a heavy silence settled between them. She glanced up to see Dark Star's face cold and unemotional and noticed his speed picking up a little as if preparing to outpace her as he had been before. Fluttershy felt her sadness turn to fear and rushed to say something. "I didn't know my parents at all."

Dark Star slowed and looked down at her, a hint of curiosity melting the cold look in his eyes. Still, he didn't say anything and so Fluttershy continued. "They died just after I was born; my grandparents raised me. Sometimes I think that's why I'm so nervous around other ponies."

"Did they treat you badly?" There was a low anger in Dark Star's tone as if it were more a threat than a question. It scared Fluttershy for a moment.

"Oh no," Fluttershy gave a furious shake of her head, "They were just quiet old when I came along. My grandmother thought she was beyond her foal bearing years when my father was born, and my parents didn't have me until they were older as well. So you can imagine a couple of ponies Granny Smith's age having to raise a baby." Fluttershy realized Dark Star probably would have never seen Granny Smith, but he nodded slightly as if he understood her perfectly. "They weren't... very good a showing affection, grandpa, in particular, was really stoic, he was a rainbow factory worker right until the day he... passed away. Grandma was the postmistress, and she was always working too."

The image of a little sunshine colored filly buzzing around a stormy gray cloud house smiling up with bright sky blue eyes at a pair of hard set weathered faces came to Dark Star's mind. He wondered if Fluttershy's young eyes could see the hint of a smile in her elders' eyes that just couldn't break across their age-worn faces. He watched as she sniffed and wiped a tear from her eyes with a foreleg as a small smile graced her lips. "They both passed away?"

Fluttershy nodded, "I had just gotten settled in Ponyville when grandpa passed away. Right at the end of his work day, ponies said he wouldn't have let himself die before the day was done." Fluttershy gave a weak chuckle trying to find the humor in the situation like the ponies had, but it came out as a sob, and she had to wipe away more tears. Dark Star's wing twitched slightly, but he forced it down against his side. "Grandma got all the preparations in order, even cooked all the food for the wake and then the day before grandpa funeral she went to sleep and just didn't wake up."

Fluttershy was sobbing openly now, and Dark Star's wing was twitching against his will, yet his face still was still even no emotion showing on it. Glancing up, his horn lit with its dark aura and he glanced up telekinetically yanking several leaves from a branch. As they floated down, they shed their stems and arranged themselves into a square which he floated to Fluttershy, "Here."

"Oh thank you," She sniffled in surprise at the sudden appearance of the handkerchief. Taking it in hoof, she found that despite its appearance it was soft and smooth as silk and was cool as she wiped it across her eyes. After a minute Fluttershy finally managed to stem her crying and wipe her face clean on the handkerchief noticing it was a wispy green on one side and a sharp emerald on the other. Folding it in her hooves, she held it out for Dark Star to take, "Thank you."

Dark Star made no move to take the handkerchief only glancing at it as they walked on. "She made her own funeral arrangements too didn't she."

Fluttershy gasped and gave a small start, without she tucked the unwanted handkerchief away and asked, "How did you know?"

"That just sounds like the kind of mare your grandmother was, getting everything settled and then going after her husband. It's an age thing as well, once you get old enough you realize death is just an old friend, there's no reason to be afraid of it." Suddenly Fluttershy remembered that Dark Star had himself been an anciently elderly stallion himself not so long ago, he gave a thousand years to Nightmare Moon, and in the end, it was all for nothing.

Fluttershy gave Dark Star a pitied look, but just for a moment quickly realizing he would hate to see her give him such a look. Instead, she gave him a bittersweet smile, "Looks like neither of us has any family left; I guess we'll just have to rely on our friends."

Dark Star's face fell at those words, he bristled and set his gaze straight ahead, "I don't have any friends."

"That's not true; you have me." Dark Star looked down to see her smiling brightly up at him again, and he could help the smile that shattered his stoic exterior.

"I really can't get rid of you can I," Dark Star let himself chuckle.

Fluttershy shook her head grinning wide, "Nope I'm staying by you, no matter what?"

Suddenly the happiness was scoured from Dark Star's face, his horn flaring to life with dark magic he shouted, “Get Down!”

Chapter Thirteen: Worst Knightmares

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Chapter Fourteen: One's True Battle

Chapter Fourteen
One's True Battle

The temple itself was a thing of nightmares, a twisted black structure of jagged stone and rusted metal. Dozens of windows gave it the appearance of a titanic creature staring down with many eyes. Here and there, placed seeming with no purpose, were gated archways, with their bars broken and twisted out giving them the appearance of frightening yawning mouths.

They entered cautiously with hurried, nervous steps. No song or silliness could dispel the dread of this place. Here the fear was palatable, like water that rose up to their chests. Fluttershy hurried past as the other girls cowered and searched the endless dark corners of the mad place. She paused only when the hall they stood in posed several doors for her to advance through. Looking around at the tangle of doors, concern etched on her face; she finally paused to ask, “Which way do we go?”

Princess Luna remembered the way all too well, her memories of the evil place were ones she had never been able to escape. But before she could answer, the Princess felt a great surge of dread. Black smoke billowed up around them, pouring in through the walls until it surrounded them on all sides. They watched as the smoke swirled in on itself taking dozens of pony-like shapes color the manes and tails of the figures ignited in pyres of blue flame and the transformation into knightmares was complete.

Fluttershy shrieked and almost toppled over as she was descended upon by the knightmares. She hit the floor throwing her forelegs over her head and heard someone call her name. A moment later the hall filled with the sound of hooves, wings, and magic. She peeked out hoping to see that Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity had rushed to her aid. Their Elements glowed softly and, like an instinctual feeling, Fluttershy knew they were enhancing her friends' blows against the knightmares.

A jab of Applejack's left hoof stopped a knightmare in its tracks her hoof finding something solid in the creatures smoke-body. It teetered on its hooves as Applejack's right hoof cracked it on the side of the muzzle. It hit the with a thud its flame going out and its body disintegrating as two more charged in to take its place. Applejack dispatched another with a powerful right hook, but the other closed the gap between them and grabbed at Applejack. Unable to swing that the knightmare with the full force of her hooves Applejack grabbed its head between her hooves and snapped her head forward. Her hat flew off just before her skull smashed against the knightmare's face. The creature fell limp and disappeared like the first. Applejack looked up to see another soaring through the air at her only to be struck by a yellow beam of energy and flung back into the group of knightmares.

Rainbow Dash jumped, a flap of her wings earned her a little extra height and came down on a knightmare a hind hoof kicking its shoulder with such force it flew back several feet into another knightmare. Touching down Rainbow saw another coming in and whipped around slamming her hind leg into the side of its head. The knightmare spun end over end before crashing to the floor.

Four more came at her; she crushed the leader's nose with a snap kick. A second jumped at her, Rainbow, leaped up throwing herself back flipping over and slamming a hoof into the knightmare's jaw. Landing she whipped around swiping a wing at one, its feather was just as distracting as they ran across the knightmare's hollow eyes as they were on any pony and the dream pony hesitated at the perceived blow. The other having seen the pegasus' trick anticipated the same, but a hoof cracked its jaw instead. With a snort, the last recovered and charged Rainbow Dash, who caught its shoulders and fell back. Putting a hoof to the knightmare's stomach, she kicked up with all the power and momentum she had sending the knightmare flying as Rainbow Dash Rolled back onto her hooves. She gave a cocky grin staring down the larger group closing in on her and leaped at them. She hardly noticed the explosion of squeakers and confetti that threw the knightmare back over her and into the others.

"Get away you awful brutes!" Rarity yelled as a knightmare charged in at her. The evil dream pony hesitated confusion somehow playing across its stretched lips and hollow eyes. Rarity turned on the knightmare bucking out with all her strength slamming the knightmare in the chest and sending it flying back. A beam of blue magic shot over Rarity blasting a knightmare leaping at her out of the air. Another reached Rarity grabbing ahold of her shoulder as she turned to face them.

"Let go of me!" Rarity cried, grabbed her attacker's hoof, but rather than wrestling with it, her other hoof shot up and slammed into its knee. There was a crack and pop as the knightmare let out a cry of pain, a cry silenced when Rarity's hoove slammed into its throat. The wounded knightmare staggered back gasping for breath.

A beam of lavender magic struck another knightmare, one of a pair that was rushing in on Rarity. "Don't touch me!" Rarity shouted as this knightmare grabbed ahold of both the mare's shoulder keeping its knees bend and close. Rarity's hooves shot to its head, but rather than grabbing it as Applejack had Rarity slammed her hooves into its ears. The knightmare grip relaxed as it reeled from the blow. Rarity slipped from its grasp and whipped around and bucked the knightmare sending it flying back as well.

“We need to find Dark Star,” Fluttershy called softly to her friends as she stood back up trotting a few steps before remembering she did not know which way to go.

“Wait, Fluttershy, there’s too many of them. We need to regroup and drive them back before we try to go any deeper.” Twilight Sparkle called out, blasting another knightmare out of the air as it leaped at Fluttershy.

“No Fluttershy is correct,” Princess Luna shouted back over the sound of battle. She unleashed a sizable buildup of magic creating a massive sphere of shadowy wisps, like fire, which spread quickly through the room and seized several knightmares, vanishing with them. “If the barrier is being brought down then the Nightmare King will be able to create a nearly endless supply of minions. We need to find Dark Star as quickly as possible!”

“Please hurry,” Fluttershy pleaded trotting in place nervously.

“This way,” Princess Luna said flying over her head to guide them. Remembering her wings, Fluttershy took to the air following the night princess closely. A knightmare leaped at her, but Fluttershy just banked sharply around her assailant with a prowess that caused Rainbow Dash to pause and let an impressed smile tug at her lips.

Applejack charged ahead after them swinging a hoof out at a Knightmare that got too close sending it staggering back but didn't pause to finish it. Rarity followed in much the same manner and Rainbow Dash soared just over them dropping left or right to send a particularly insistent knightmare flying back. Twilight and Celestia brought up the rear blasting knightmares back with rays of magic from their horns.

Princess Luna led them through the dizzying labyrinth of the tower. It was as if the layout had been designed by a mad pony and could only be navigated by them or one who already knew the route. However, at times it seemed as if Fluttershy needed no help navigating the labyrinth. She would rush down the right path before the Princess could point it out and even once when Princess Luna paused uncertainly at an intersection. Fluttershy was like a pony possessed, rushing through nightmarish halls that should have left her paralyzed with fear as if they were nothing more than the meadow outside her home.

Soon the ponies found themselves racing up along a curled flight of crumbling stone stairs suspended in a dark void; no visible structure supported the stairs below or above. Eventually, the stairs ended at a massive set of doors made of jagged dark, sickly green gems and bulbous sickly colored crystal.

Even Fluttershy paused at the army of knightmares that stood before the grotesque door. Princess Celestia and Luna raced overhead, their horns glowing brightly with magic and with a united flick of their horns they threw nearly invisible specs of light into the center of the knightmare hoard. They exploded into twin globes of golden and silvery light that in an instant banished all the knightmares back from whence they came.

Fluttershy rushed to the door panting, “Dark Star,” under her breath as she reared up to push open the doors, but they did not move.

“Come on open up please,” She begged frantically pushing on the door, but the remained shut tight. “No you have to open, you have to! Dark Star, Dark Star!” She cried out beating her hooves against the door not noticing as the sharp gems cut her legs and chipped her hooves.

“Fluttershy! Darling stop that you are hurting yourself.” Rarity cried out, but Fluttershy just kept beating on the door.

“Whoa, there sugarcube,” Applejack said grabbing the frantic mare and pinning her hooves at her side. “Y'all need to calm down.”

“But Dark Star…” Fluttershy sobbed in frustration.

“We will save our wayward friend, but thy must be calm, or thou will be of no help.” Princess Luna warned with a mixed calm and stern tone as she rested her head over Fluttershy’s.

Fluttershy leaned into the crook of the princess’ neck and worked to steady her breathing. “You’re right, I’m sorry. It’ll be all right, but we have to hurry.”

Applejack released Fluttershy, and the pegasus stood calmly on her own, wincing when her injured hooves touched the black marble floor. She took to the air instead, flapping her wings and holding her forehooves to her chest protectively.

“We will, but I’m afraid no amount of strength will force open that door.” Princess Celestia stepped up to Fluttershy. “That door is nothing more than an illusion, a false image of what is actually a demi-plane between our world and the world of nightmares. Only someone with the right key can open it.”

“But who-” Twilight began to ask.

“Me,” Princess Luna stepped forward her horn aglow. The others nodded collectively; it would make sense that the Guardian of Dreams would be the one able to enter a place between the real world and the realm of nightmares. That was undoubtedly the reason she had been able to gain access to this forbidden place so long ago. Concentrating Princess Luna reached out with her magic, touched the horrific door, grabbed hold of the mystic locks and twisted them out of place.

The doors moaned under their weight and cried out in a protest of high pitched scraping as they moved to open. Suddenly the ponies were enveloped in darkness and drawn forth into the door against their will, the door not allowing them into the demi-plane but forcing them in. When the darkness receded from their eyes they found that they were standing in an immense circular chamber, its ceiling, if it had one, so high that it was just a dark void. Despite there not being a single source of light in the room everyone could see as if light and dark were just abstract concepts in this place. What they did see caused them all to quiver noticeably.

In the center of the massive chamber was a large stone seal covered in arcane runes. It was cracked down its center and from it poured sickly green smoke and above it swirled a massive black twister that seemed to stare down at the ponies. Before the twister Dark Star hung limply in the air, eyes empty.

“Dark Star!” Fluttershy beat her wing fiercely climbing through the air towards him only to be cut off my Princess Luna who swooped in front for her.

“Wait, Fluttershy, Dark Star is not alone in this place.” Princess Luna warned and stared deep into the black vortex that dominated the chamber.

“If it isn’t my old friend Luna,” A deep haunting voice issued forth from the vortex. “I must say that I am pleased with your work. Twice you have brought such delicious horror to your ponies, and now you have delivered to me a heart so well cultivated for the darkness that it is an even better match for me than you could have ever been. Who would have thought that frightened little colt who broke my seal and the righteous stallion who helped you seal it again would have such a dark potential within him.” The voice let out a deep laugh.

“Go stand with the others,” Princess Luna said nudging Fluttershy away. She hesitated for a moment staring up at Dark Star, but relented and flew back to her friends’ side.

Princess Luna turned back to the vortex and then to Dark Star giving him a pained look. Princess Celestia joined her a moment later giving her a nod and glaring at the vortex; Princess Luna’s glared joined her sister’s. “I will take responsibility for what I have done to my ponies and to Dark Star, but I will not let thou have him! You fell to Star Knight and me alone all those years ago you are but a minor obstacle to our true goal today.”

As one the elements activated and their six bearers rose into the air. From each element came a ribbon of color that swirled around them becoming a rainbow light. It poured forth from their rainbow cyclone and enveloped Dark Star.

“The Elements of Harmony,” the Nightmare King hissed, shaking the chamber. The hiss became chuckle, “You seek to purify his black heart? Ha, he has already felt their touch, yet darkness still rules him. You seek a fool's errand.”

“The Elements will not fight this battle alone,” Princess Celestia’s regal voice cried out her horn blazing with golden magic.

“Thy will take no more from us,” Princess Luna horn mimicked her sister’s in a silvery light. They brought their horns together unleashing a brilliant wave of light that enveloped the Nightmare King causing him to cry out in rage.

“You struggle and fight, but you cannot possibly hope to stop me! You are the ones that made all of this possible! Your kind created the gateway, you broke the seal they placed to keep me out, and you fashioned the perfect vessel for my power. Now you struggle to undo all that you have created; such indecisive creatures have no hope of stopping me! For millennia I have been made to wait, I accept any further resistance!” The Nightmare King roared, his voice no longer calm, now it was so savage the room shook, as it rippled through it.

“Thou are correct this was my doing,” Princess Luna spoke without allow her pain to taint the words with uncertainty. “But we will stop thou with the aid of our most loyal friend, Star Knight!” She cried out to Dark Star, and the light began to return to his eyes, “Star Knight I beg thee to return to me!”

“Star Knight the princess needs you to come back to her,” Twilight Sparkle cried out floating within the element’s vortex the other’s eyes all on him as well, even Fluttershy’s pain filled blue eyes.

“Please find your way back to us Star Knight!” Princess Celestia’s voice joined the others.

As if waking Dark Star found himself slowly becoming conscious of his surroundings once more. Before him, the Nightmare King’s vortex swirled its inky blackness threatening to consume everything it touched, but now it was sheathed in an aura of brilliant white magic that felt very familiar.

Then the voices reached his ears; they sounded like faint echoes of ponies he could not quite recognize. He turned seeking their source, he could not quite make out what they said, but saw the shapes of six ponies floating off the ground and two larger ponies hovering in the air, but who were they.

“They are no one; they are nothing, shadows, and lies, nothing more. Ignore them, come, fulfill your purpose and join with me.” The voice of the Nightmare King spoke within Dark Star’s mind.

Dark Star looked back to his king; he wanted to believe those words. He had come to the Nightmare King to serve him because he had nothing left in the world of ponies. So what then was now pulling him so strongly from the service of his king? Still, Dark Star couldn't help turning back again and strained to see the ponies clearly and hear what they were saying.

“I will not deny you if you wish to know so badly,” Suddenly the voices assaulted Dark Star’s ears in distorted tones crying out for Star Knight. Flinging his head back and forth in agony Dark Star forced himself to look down at the hovering shapes. It sounded as if their voices coming out the clearest, and forcing himself to think through the pain he recognized the princesses and the familiar magic that was holding his master at bay.

Further down, almost on the ground, he focused on the six figures, they must have been the Elements of Harmony. Yes, he remembered their power too now through the pain. It was what was enveloping him, pulling him away from his master, trying to take him back.

“It is not you whom they are trying to take back, listen. It is Star Knight whom they call to. Star Knight whom they cast aside when he was no longer of any use. Is it really him they want back or is it that they simply fear you? They know that Dark Star has the power to dethrone them, to destroy them. How could they ever love someone they so feared.” The Nightmare King's voice whispered in Dark Star's mind, and Dark Star’s eyes became hard and filled with rage.

“No Star Knight, that is not but lies!” A single voice called over the tangle of others, Princess Luna’s voice. Though they all could hear the Nightmare King's lies, she alone was able to pierce the veil of her nemesis' dark magic which he used to twist the truth. “Thou are my most dear friend; I am sorry for all that has happened to you, tis all my fault. Thy need not forgive me for what I hath done, but please return to thy true self.”

“But this is your true self is it not Dark Star, even the Elements of Harmony could not steal your true identity, this is who you’re meant to be.”

“No! Thou are wrong, Star Knight’s heart is so true that even our taint cannot take him completely. Star Knight do not let this evil control you, come back to the light.”

“The light rejected you! You are of the dark, you have always been of the dark. Always shied from the light. That was how she found you and brought you to me; this was always your fate.”

“Your fate was to be a good, heroic stallion Star Knight! That was stolen from thou, and thy must reclaim thy good and honorable mantle. Thou should stand against evil as thou was always meant to.”

“Dark Star!”

“Star Knight!”

Dark Star snapped his head back and forth listening to his masters call out for him to follow them and there was no hesitation to follow either of them. But as they continued to cry out over him, Dark Star threw his hooves over his ears in a futile attempt to block out the voices in his head. When that failed to give him any relief he cried out long and loudly in anguish hoping his voice could somehow defend against the foreign ones, but to no avail.

More voices joined the Princess’ as if Harmony’s seven mare chorus was singing into this right ear while the booming destructive voice of the Nightmare King raged into his left. They continued to yell until both became distorted indiscernible noise, then suddenly the hold of the Elements of Harmony went slack and released him.

The non-pegasi bearers dropped to the floor all landing on their hooves, except Pinkie Pie who bounced on her flanks before jumping to her hooves. Looking down they saw that their Elements still glowed with power as if they still were trying to activate, but something had broken their connection.

“STOP IT!” A pain filled voice cried out, and everyone turned to see Fluttershy flying up to Dark Star again, her element dark and inactive. Tears poured from her soft, sad blue eyes and it was clear from how bloodshot they were that she had been crying for some time.

“Fluttershy come back we need the Elements of Harmony to-”

“No!” Fluttershy snapped, cutting Twilight off, shaking her head wildly. “I can’t keep hurting Dark Star, I-”

Fluttershy too was cut off as the princesses gave a sudden gasp as with a growl a wave of dark energy pulsed out from the vortex shattering their spell. The dark energy spread out like a wave and slammed into Fluttershy flinging her back toward the ground. She gave a small scream and was suddenly saved mid-air by Rainbow Dash who swooped up and caught her.

“Thank you for your concern, my dear,” the Nightmare King’s voice, thick with amusement, sounded through the chamber as his dark essence seeped from the vortex and began to curl around Dark Star. “I’ll take good care of your friend.”

As the dark tendrils curled around him, Dark Star’s eyes began to grow black and vacant once more, and he slowly turned to face the Nightmare King’s vortex once more.

“No Dark Star please!” Fluttershy cried up to the black stallion, “Please you don’t have to be what other ponies want you to be!”

Dark Star jolted to a stop at those words and Fluttershy flew from Rainbow Dash’s grip. “You’ve done it so many times; it must seem like it’s what you are meant to do. Starlight became Star Knight because Princess Luna wanted a brave knight to go adventuring with her.” Princess Luna flinched at Fluttershy’s words, “And then you changed again to become Nightmare Moon’s champion. Now the Nightmare King wants you to give up everything to be his vessel, and the princesses want you to go back to being Star Knight, the good pony they remember, but you don’t have to change!

“I know it’s easier to let yourself get pulled along by others and do what they want you to, but you can just stay the way you are. You can stay my dearest friend, who showed me all the wonderful things about vampire bats.” A smile came to Fluttershy’s lips remembering their time together. “Who showed me so much kindness, even though I was just being troublesome, and who protected me. Please Dark Star, don't change just for them, please.”

Fluttershy’s small smile faded as she watched Dark Star continue to hang still in the air half turned towards the Nightmare King’s vortex his eyes distant.

A chuckle erupted from the vortex, “Very touching my dear, but as you can see your words are wasted on a dark soul such as his. Come, Dark Star with our combined power we will destroy these fools and conquer this world.”

“No,” Came Dark Star’s sharp response. He turned his back to the Nightmare King and glided down to Fluttershy his eyes calm and clear. The fear gripping at the others’ hearts released as he flew into her embrace her hooves wrapping around his neck.

“What?” The Nightmare King cried out in rage. "You dare turn your back to me? You swore your fealty to me, and I revealed your purpose, showed you the meaning of your pointless existence! My freedom will not be delayed again!

Dark Star ignored the disembodied voice, pulling back from their embrace he took Fluttershy’s bloody hooves in his. “You’re hurt,” he spoke softly looking over her injuries, “It’s my fault. I’m sorry I should have never abandoned you like that.”

“Don’t you ignore me colt!” The Nightmare King shouted unleashing a pulse of dark energy at the two ponies.

In an instant Dark Star whipped around and threw his wings out wide to protect Fluttershy. His dark magic aura enveloped his horn, and with a flick of his head, the pulse slammed harmlessly into an invisible wall. “Why should I listen to a parasite?”

The air around them began to vibrate and the sickly green light pouring from the seal turned red. “Insolent whelp, you will know suffering like no other! All of you will die here, and suffer in ways your deepest nightmares could not fathom!”

The ponies’ manes began to toss wildly in a hot wind, and the Nightmare King roared in a bestial rage. Dark Star seized Fluttershy, who saw fear play through his eyes for the first time; he looked into her eyes seeing this fear reflected back upon him and tried to give her a reassuring smile as he led her down to the others. “It’ll be ok, I promise.”

“With his rage burning out of control like this he might end up destroying himself just to destroy us!” Princess Celestia cried out to her sister over the Nightmare King’s howling.

“We are in agreement sister; we must escape quickly and try to seal the door behind us!” Princess Luna replied as they tried to shield the others with their wings.

“If he survives that won’t hold him long!” Twilight Sparkle cried out in protest. As the lord of an entire plane of existence the Nightmare King was a being of almost pure magic and as such, what he could not do with a calm reasoning mind would become possible in a blind rage

“Do you have a better idea darling?” Rarity shot back, clinging protectively to her mane. Twilight gave her a sheepish look and shook her head.

Joining the others on the ground Fluttershy withdrew her hooves from around Dark Star and stood on her own despite the pain in her injured hooves. Even Rainbow Dash returned to the ground no longer able to fly with the surging wind cutting through the air. Dark Star threw his bat wings protectively over Fluttershy while turning a critical eye back at the Nightmare King's vortex which had swelled to double its size growing to consume them.

The choice made Princess Luna lifted her horn into the air, setting it aglow with her silvery magic and closing her eyes in deep concentration. With her mind’s eye she sought the doorway, invisible on this side, and when she found it, poured her magic into it forcing the lock open. The mystical portal did not envelop and suck them in like it had the first time. Instead, each pony vanished in a flash of silvery light and appeared back in the temple facing the evil looking crystal door. Only now it shuttered and began to slowly crack in several places.

“Quickly Twilight, Dark Star help us seal it,” Princess Celestia commanded stepping towards the massive door her horn glowing with her golden aura. Princess Luna shook her head, unable to take the proper time to recover from the huge expenditure of magic, and stepped next to her sister her horn still aglow. Twilight Sparkle rushed over to join her mentor, her horn shedding the lavender light of its magic. Dark Star nodded curtly and took to hover in the air over them, his blade-like horn flaring to life with its dark aura.

All four unicorns closed their eyes and concentrated weaving their magic into the magic of the door. Dark Star, attuned with the evil energy of the door aggressively laced his magic around the seams of the door binding them shut. Princess Luna, attuned with the dream energy laced through the door, weaved good dreams within the nightmare door strengthening and reinforcing it.

Princess Celestia, who had no connection to the dark dream energy of the door, instead conjured a massive seal of pure sunlight that would hopefully drive back any creature of the night who approached the door from either side. Twilight Sparkle’s magic was a natural bridge between the princesses’ magic, and so she used her magic to set the seal in place on the door assuring that none could easily bypass it.

As the last of their magic was set into place the four released their concentration, and a pair of sighs eased from the princesses’ lips. Twilight looked up to her mentor, unable to rest at ease until Princess Celestia assured her everything was alright. Feeling her student’s worried eyes on her Princess Celestia looked down at Twilight and gave a soft reassuring smile, which allowed her to release a deep sigh and slump to the ground.

Suddenly the whole building began to shake nearly knocking down the ponies still standing on the ground. All eyes snapped to the door, which held strong in place, but any reassurance this might have given the ponies was dispelled as the walls, ceiling, and floor around the door began to split and disgorge a sickly green light.

“Get back!” Princess Celestia cried out, as suddenly all around the door the temple shattered like glass. A massive black talon, seemingly made of smoke, crashed through the walls, ceiling, and floor and grabbed the door as if it were a bit and yanked it back into a swirling void that now hung under the edges of the broken temple.

At the center of the void was a dark humanoid shape that appeared tiny in the immeasurable distance. The black smoke of its body billowed up from within its chest and swirled over its body releasing an aura of ash the flowed out into the void. Green fire raged in its belly, the sickly light only occasionally slipping past the billowing smoke of its body, but the same flame roared in its eyes.

“It tore through the dimensions,” Twilight gasped staring at the creature in numbed awe. The creature let out a bestial roar, the green flames dancing in its mouth, and it reached for the ponies. The Princesses and Dark Star glared angrily at the beast quickly calculating just how long a shield spell might stand up against the attack.

"Is that what he really looks like?" Applejack wondered aloud to no one in particular, staring at the massive nightmare.

"Granny Pie said one pony's nightmare is another pony's adventure." Pinkie Pie answered, but despite the seeming non-relevance, her voice lacked the usual mirth. Applejack looked over at her pink friend who stared out at the nightmare beast as well her expression matching her flat serious tone.

Another of the creature’s roars snapped Twilight Sparkle from her daze, with a jump to her hooves she whipped around to the others. “Girls the Elements!” The others nodded and calmed themselves with a breath, closing their eyes to concentrate and block out the sight of the terrible creature whose talon was growing bigger by the moment.

As the creature’s hand reached the dimensional tear three shields of energy rose up around it, silver, black, and gold.

The energy of the elements flowed into their bearers, and the six mares rose off the ground.

The tips of the nightmare creature’s talon crashed through the golden shield only somewhat slowing. Princess Celestia gasped as a terrible pain ripped through her body, and she collapsed to her knees.

Rainbow ribbons flowed from either side of each of the elements connecting with their sisters and melding their power together.

The talon met the black shield, and Dark Star dropped from the air gritting his teeth painfully and letting out a snarling groan as he poured more of his magic into his shield. The smoky talon clutched at the edges of the black shield and, squeezing it; it shattered without warning. Dark Star cried out in pain, staggering on three hooves to remain standing as he clutched at his head with the other.

The rainbow ribbons began swirling all around the mares building up a brilliant light that shone brighter and brighter until only six vague floating silhouettes could be seen.

Princess Luna let out a long groan as the smoky talon touched her silvery shield and her body began to buckle as if the tremendous weight of the nightmare creature had been put directly onto her back. Steeling herself against the force of the creature’s power Princess Luna pushed herself to stand up tall and pour all of her magic into the shield. Despite this cracks spread like spider webs across her shield from where the tips of the smoky black talon touched her shield.

The silvery shield shattered as the beam of rainbow light smashed through it and cut into the Nightmare King’s talon. Princess Luna gasped at the loss of her barrier, and she fell to the ground but forced her head up to see the rainbow light cut through the talon. With a smile, she relaxed and let herself slump to the ground as the nightmare creature’s angry, pain filled roar filled the air.

The Elements of Harmony ran up the creature’s arm blasting away the ash and smoke like a gust of wind. When it reached the creature’s body it swirled around it and enveloped it, the creature howled and clawed at the rainbow light with its remaining talon. This attempt proved futile as the talon proved just as flimsy as the other against the elements and was blown away. Dark Star and the Princesses watched as the creature gave a last howl of pain before it was swallowed by the rainbow cyclone of the Elements which spun on more and more.

“Something’s wrong,” Princess Celestia said with a worried frown. Dark Star and Princess Luna saw it too, the whirling cyclone should have been speeding up, building energy to seal or blast the creature away completely, but instead, they were growing slower.

Looking back to the bearers, who should have been enveloped by a blinding yet soothing light, they instead saw that the light was dimming rapidly. Then with a brilliant flash, the light was gone and the rainbow beam vanished, pulling itself apart like weakly woven fabric. The girls found themselves once more in the air without magic to keep them aloft, and fell to the ground with even less grace than before, save for Rainbow Dash who caught herself with her wings and Fluttershy who found herself held in Dark Star’s hooves.

She smiled sheepishly as he landed and set her back on her hooves, but he did not seem to notice her smile as his eyes were locked on the center of the void and the inferno of green flames that billowed there.

“Hey what gives?” Rainbow Dash held up her Element which both crystal and gold had lost their shine. Applejack, who had once again managed to land safely on her hooves, looked down to see her element similarly dull. Rarity paused in groaning about her aching backside and saw that her element was also drained of color. Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie, who had bounced up to her hooves, twisted her head around at an impossible angle to see hers was as dim as the others.

Twilight Sparkle picked herself up and quickly seized her element with her magic and brought it down to inspect it. A deep frown spread across her face, “I don’t understand it’s like-”

“The Elements have run out of power,” Princess Celestia solemnly finished her student’s thought as she approached her. “I had believed it was possible, but there’s no denying it now.”

“No,” Twilight Sparkle shook her head in denial, “It’s us. We’re the ones who-”

“Activate them,” Princess Luna cut in stepping next to her sister and placing a wing over her shoulder. “But the Elements power is limited. Since my return, they have poured so much energy into myself, Discord and Dark Star that it will take some time for the Elements power to replenish.” The lunar princess looked back into the void watching the black smoke billow around the green inferno, “Too much time.”

“No!” Applejack bucked out angrily; she was not willing to let the others fall into despair. “There must be somethin’ we can do! The Elements can’t let us down now; there’s got to be somma that power left somewhere! Come on y'all we just gotta find it.”

“There is,” Dark Star’s voice cut through the air like a sword causing everyone to jump slightly and turn towards him, save for Fluttershy whose eyes had never left him. “All the energy you used to try and change me is still within me wrestling with the darkness. More than has ever been brought to bear against anyone else.”

Dark Star turned to face them, un-restraining his aura so Twilight and the Princesses could sense it, the brilliant harmony of the elements wrestled with the black chaos all across his aura.

A smile spread across Twilight Sparkle’s face sensing the power of the Elements; she took no note of the Princesses and Dark Star’s continued scowl. She trotted over to the black stallion eagerly, a plan forming in her mind as she paced back and forth. “This is great, maybe if Dark Star takes position in the center of the circle, he can release the energy, and we might be able to focus it through the Elements.”

“No.”

Twilight Sparkle spun back around to face him a questioning look on her face.

“You would have realized all too soon that kind of energy transfer would take more time than we have. Don’t allow misguided hope to cloud your judgment Miss Sparkle.” Dark Star spoke sharply, and Twilight’s face fell sadly.

“But then how are we to fight that thing,” Rarity said stepping up next to Fluttershy whose fearful eyes Dark Star would not meet.

Dark Star gave a thoughtful sigh, turned his back to them and stared once more into the void. “You all should get out of here; there’s nothing more you can do.”

“No!” Fluttershy cried rushing around to stand between Dark Star and the void. “We’re not leaving you behind,” She tried to shout but her breath caught in her chest and it came out as a whisper as tears began to fill her blue eyes. “We can run together, find somewhere safe to hide; we’ll survive together.”

“And what of the animals?” Dark Star responded coldly still not able to meet her gaze. “With luck, the creature rage will consume it before it crosses the borders of the Everfree Forest, but all those who live within will have no chance.”

Fluttershy sobbed at the thought of the forest burning in green flames, the image assaulting her blurry vision. She shook her head wildly and buried her face into Dark Star’s chest forcing herself to say, “I don’t care! I don’t care! I…” She said it over and over again as if begging the words to become true.

She let a startled gasp, and the words died as Dark Star placed a hoof around her neck and clutched her in a hug. “I know,” he reassured with a soft, hushed tone, she had no way to see the glow of his horn.

Her sleeping form slumped into his hooves, and he caught her, beating his wings softly he lifted them into the air and flapped gently over to Applejack placing Fluttershy’s sleeping form upon her back. He looked down into her peaceful sleeping face one last time and before tearing his eyes from her and started towards the void. “Take her and get out of here, there isn’t much time.”

The others nodded solemnly and moved to leave, only Rarity hesitating. “Do… do you have anything you want us to tell her?” The other’s stopped and turned back to look at the lone stallion who paused, hovering before the void.

Dark Star looked back, not quite able to look at the sleeping mare, “Tell her I...” His breath caught in his throat and he turned away swallowing hard. “Thought she was an amazing pony. Better than me in every way.”

With several strong beats of his wings, Dark Star propelled himself into the void. Sailing through the void with his wings outstretched, once beyond the edge of the waking world he no longer had to work to keep himself aloft, there was no longer wind or gravity in this place to hinder or aid his flight. There was not even air in this place, but the lack of such a vital element was not a concern for a prepared unicorn of Dark Star’s skill.

Billowing black ash and smoke had once more obscured the inferno of green flames and formed taloned arms that reached slowly for the stallion. It had a head again and green burning eyes that glared hatefully at Dark Star.

“Yes, that’s it. Leap to your destruction; there is no escape.” The Nightmare King spoke in Dark Star’s mind. The creature no longer had the intelligence to taunt him, but a speck of the king’s power and mind still resided within Dark Star, mingling with the darkness of his aura.

“You know that no matter what light you bring to bear against me it will be eclipsed.” Dark Star paid the voice little heed, closing his eyes he remembered Fluttershy and her bright, soft smile that filled him with joy and chased away his fears. "And even if you survive, without the light, the darkness will consume you again."

“Perhaps,” Dark Star answered opening his eyes, “But if the light is not enough, then I’ll bring the darkness to bear as well.”

Reaching up to his chest Dark Star horn glowed and his hooves sank into his chest. They sank in deeply and with a growl of determination Dark Star seized the opposing forces that warred over his soul. With a long groan of pain, he began to pull them forth. He gasped and choked at the terrible pain as they both hooked into him trying to stop him from tearing them away. He strained, gritting his teeth savagely until he tasted copper, and with a cry of pain ripped them from his breast.

In one hoof Dark Star held the dancing rainbow light of the Elements and in the other, the swirling pitch blackness that was Nightmare Moon’s, his own and the Nightmare King’s power. The both energies reached out from his hooves, the rainbow light arching up aggressively to attack the nightmare creature and the blackness whipping out to seize and consume it. Dark Star held them tightly denying their desires; they were still his tools.

The creature howled in fear, green flames dancing in its mouth, and some part of its primitive mind recognized the danger of the thing flying towards it. It swung at Dark Star with its other arm, but his magic pushed him forward faster than the nightmare creature could react.

Dark Star dived into the creature, into the inferno of its belly. He cried out as the flames licked across his body to terrible for even his magic to protect him from completely. Even as he burned, he held the opposing forces of light and darkness in his hooves. With a final cry to his dearest friend, he forced the light and darkness together.

“No!” Fluttershy softly cried out as she started awake.

“Easy there girl,” Applejack soothed calmly letting Fluttershy climb down from her back.

Fluttershy stood shaking on the ground as the last remnants of her dream left her mind, refusing to recall the images she had just seen. The dream gone her mind found the final memories before the embrace of sleep took her. “Dark Star,” She gasped turning to the others, “Where’s Dark Star?”

The panic in her chest only tightened as she searched the downcast faces of the other ponies and saw no sign of her dark friend. She began rushing back and forth looking for any sign of his presence.

“Fluttershy,” The yellow mare whirled around as Princess Celestia’s motherly voice calmly cut through the air. The Princess’ eyes were soft and sympathetic, but they lost Fluttershy’s attention instantly once her blue eyes fell upon the nightmarish temple that lay behind the princess. “You must remain calm.”

Fluttershy did not hear the princess’ words as she rushed past her and charged at towards the temple.

“Fluttershy, wait!” Rainbow Dash raced through the air and landed in front of her old friend grabbing hold of her. “You can’t go in there!”

“Let me go Rainbow Dash; I have to find Dark Star!” Fluttershy pleaded softly, struggling to escape her friend’s grasp.

“You can’t go back in there darling it’s far too dangerous,” Rarity tried to reason, rushing over to help Rainbow Dash hold their panicked friend back. “We have to trust in your Dark Star to be strong.”

“He’s not what you think he is,” Fluttershy cried softly struggling with renewed desperation and sobbing. “He’s scared and lonely just like I was and I promised… I promised I wouldn’t leave him, that I would stay with him as long-”

Fluttershy’s word’s caught in her throat as beams of light and darkness spilled forth from the temple in brilliant and muted flashes. More and more burst forth filling the air all around them and the temple, sheathing it in black light. Then it was gone, both the light and the building, not a single stone of the once horrific temple remained.

Fluttershy’s watery eyes stared wide at the empty depression where the temple had stood a moment ago. Her eyes brimmed with fresh tears and she cried out, “Dark Star!”

Epilogue: Loss

Epilogue
Loss

Dear Princess Celestia

In the past couple of days since the defeat of the Nightmare
King, I have been giving a lot of thought about the pony who sacrificed
himself to undo the evil he had brought forth.

A week ago I would have never questioned the evil nature of
that pony; he had himself admitted to choosing the dark path he had
gone down. That one fact made him seem all the worse than
Nightmare Moon who succumbed to jealousy or Discord who was
merely acting on his very nature. However, Fluttershy’s words and
his actions made me question this certainty.

What I believe I’ve learned is this: Friends can have the most
wonderful influence on one another. Friends can help you try new
things that you would have never considered trying yourself. Friends
can help you grow, shedding light on fears and insecurities and can
fight along with you to overcome them.

However, this influence friends have over you is not always
positive. Friends, for the best or worst of intentions, can end up leading
you down a path you may not or should not trot down. Rather than
helping you become a better pony they may simply turn you into who
they want you to be. Friends may not realize they are doing this or the
ill effects it may have. That is why one must always remain true to
themselves and never compromise who they are for the sake of friendship
alone.

Your Faithful Student
Twilight Sparkle

A knock came to the door as Spike’s green flames consumed the letter magically whisking it away to the Princess. Grasping the handle with her magic Twilight Sparkle pulled open the library door. “Yes- Oh hi, girls.” She was a little surprised to find all her friends, save Fluttershy, at the door.

“What’s up? I thought somepony was going to be watching Fluttershy until I got back?” They had all agreed that Fluttershy should not be left alone given the state she had been in since Dark Star’s death. They had all taken shifts watching the depressed pegasus since their return from the Everfree Forest, save for Twilight Sparkle. The Princess had asked her to head a research team to investigate the temple sight to be sure that there was no lingering rift to the Nightmare King’s realm. Despite wishing to stay and help Fluttershy she and the girls had agreed that they needed to be sure the area was safe.

After three days of searching every inch of the area Twilight and the Canterlot research team had found nothing. There wasn’t a single trace of magical energy in the area. Even the background magical energy that existed everywhere in Equestria was unusually low as if it had all been sucked out and was slowly returning.

“We were Twilight,” Applejack confirmed with a downcast sigh, resting on her haunches.

Rarity picked up the explanation, “The poor darling cried for days. She would hardly eat a bit of food or sleep, and even when she did she would continue to cry just as fitfully as when she was awake.”

“But she stopped,” Pinkie Pie added optimistically, “She didn’t cry all yesterday and today.”

“Ya,” Rainbow Dash scoffed worry peeking through her frustrated countenance. “Now she just sleeps all day and spends all night starin’ up at the sky.”

“I see…” Twilight Sparkle fell silent not knowing what to say, it was frustrating. She wanted to be able to explain the situation and lift her friends’ spirits, but she had little experience with such matters herself and what her books told her of how to deal with grief seemed so insufficient now. “I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose someone so important to me like that.”

“Important!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed angrily, hovering into the air in her irritation and glaring down at Twilight. “How can he be that important to her? She didn’t even know him for a day!”

“Dash that’s enough!” Applejack gave her friend a stern look, not for the first time either given how the blue pegasus ignored her without pause.

“No! Dark Star kidnaps her, did Celestia knows what to her, then just abandons her in a monster-infested forest. And all after he beats up AJ, Big Mac, the Princess, and tried to turn Princess Luna back into Nightmare Moon. He probably… brainwashed her or something!” Rainbow Dash shook angrily as she threw up her hooves and looked down at her friends daring them to protest.

The others did not respond immediately, all their eyes downcast and it was Pinkie Pie, as usual, that was the first to bounce back to her hooves and dispel the air of worry that settled around them. “You’re right Dashie, Dark Star was a big Meanie Weenie, buuut, he technically didn’t kidnap Fluttershy; she was the one that followed him.”

Rainbow Dash shot Pinkie Pie an unpleasant glare, but her response was cut off by Rarity, “She’s right Rainbow Dash.” Rarity frowned as she spoke betraying the fact that she was just as unsure about all this as her prismatic maned friend. “Fluttershy told me the same thing when I managed to get her to talk yesterday. She even said the brute tried to get her to go back to Ponyville when he caught her.”

Rainbow Dash glared at them trying to think of some counter to their points and grumpily slowly folded her forelegs as she sank back to the floor.

As she touched down, she felt somepony bump her shoulder and sit down next to her. She marked this a typical, reassuring gesture between her and Applejack and looked over to see the understandably sad earth pony next to her. “Ah understand what yer sayin’ Dash. Don’t y'all forgit he beat you up pretty bad too, ‘nd ah can’t rightly see what good she saw in ‘im neither.”

Rainbow Dash gave her a sad half smirk, a blue wing slipping over her friend of its own accord.

“I’m not sure any of us will ever understand why” Twilight spoke softly, “Fluttershy’s always been able to see things, good things, in creatures other ponies are afraid of. Dark Star was once a pony very similar to Fluttershy, maybe because of that she felt connected to him in some way…”

“Ah guess it don’t matter none,” Applejack broke in, “This here’s about Fluttershy, not that varmint Dark Star, we gotta find a way t’ help her.”

Twilight nodded, “You’re right Applejack. I’m afraid there’s no simple solution here, all we can do is talk to her and show her that we’ll be there for her.” Twilight paused and watched through a window of the library as day turned to night, “Together.”

Fluttershy lay calmly out on the top of a small hill near her cottage, the Everfree forest loomed darkly behind the yellow pegasus, but she paid it no mind as she gazed up at the brilliant tapestry of stars above. Angel Bunny lay curled up next to her dozing peacefully, a yellow wing draped over him for warmth.

To the casual observer, nothing would have seemed out of place, just a star loving mare out enjoying the early evening air. Yesterday had proved a much different sight; Fluttershy’s mane and tail had been matted from abuse, her fur ruffled from tossing and frantic sweating. Her face was permanently stained by tears, eyes bloodshot and heavily bagged. However, last night had seen her calm down enough to eat, bath and sleep properly, during the day, for the first time since she had returned and it showed in her rejuvenated state.

Fluttershy heard the first few calls of her name, but the comforting sight of the stars was too alluring for her to break her attention from them and see who was calling. Besides moving would wake Angel Bunny and she did not want to disturb her friend who had been so kind and helpful while she was grief stricken.

“There you are Fluttershy,” Twilight’s voice called with soft relief, and she looked back to see her purple friend swiftly trotting up the hill, the rest of her friends trailing slightly behind.

“Twilight you’re back,” Fluttershy smiled brightly and wrapped a hoof around her friend's neck in a warm hug. Twilight wrapped both her hooves around Fluttershy’s neck, and found herself on the receiving end of an angry glare from Angel Bunny who had indeed been awoken by the shifting of his mistress. Too sleepy to do anything more than glare, the snow white rabbit crawled out from under his mistress’ wing and crawled back under head first as Twilight and the others settled down around Fluttershy.

“Sorry Angel Bunny, go back to sleep,” Fluttershy whispered giving his bottom a little nuzzle before turning her attention back to Twilight, “How did your trip to the temple site go?”

Twilight was a little surprised by the question, not thinking that anypony had told Fluttershy she had gone anywhere, let alone back to that place. Twilight suddenly became very interested in shuffling her hooves back and forth. “It was fine,” She said finally, adding before she could stop herself, “We didn’t find anything.”

“That’s good,” Fluttershy replied distantly, her gaze had already returned to the night sky causing a frown of concern to spread across Twilight’s face. She looked to the others, Rarity and Pinkie Pie to Fluttershy’s right and Applejack and Rainbow Dash lay to Twilight’s left. They all shared her concerned look, theirs a bit more grave as they had already failed in their attempts to get through to the distant pegasus.

Twilight tried to think of something that would get her friend to open up to her, a shared topic of interest that would capture Fluttershy’s attention. She looked again to see the distant look on her friend’s face and decided to try something else. “Fluttershy is something wrong?”

“No, I’m all right,” She replied absently.

“No you’re not Fluttershy,” Twilight reached over and placed a hoof on Fluttershy’s who broke off her long stare at the stars and looked over at her. “I… we might not understand why you were so close or what it was you saw in him that made you trust him, but we know you cared a lot about Dark Star.” Fluttershy’s ears folded down sadly and her eyes dipped to the ground. “It’s ok to still be sad Fluttershy, we’re all here for you,” The others chimed in agreement, “But now you’re acting very distant, and it’s making us all much more worried. Please tell us what’s going on.”

Fluttershy was silent for a moment; her eyes still fixed on the ground as she softly answered. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you all worry. I really, really am doing much better, after what happened to Dark Star it felt like… like…” Fluttershy’s voice caught in her throat as she began to sob, fresh tears falling from her eyes. Twilight and Rarity leaned in to nuzzle the crying pegasus reassuringly as she managed to whine out. “Like something had been torn out of my heart.”

Fluttershy sniffed and sobbed quietly for a minute, the others cooing soft reassurances to calm her down. “But looking at the stars,” She spoke again wiping away her few remaining tears. “Makes me feel close to him, and it doesn’t hurt as much like he’s not really gone.”

A soft collective sigh escaped from her friends, for they could all relate to such feeling having all lost somepony to death or distance in their lives.

“But Fluttershy you can’t-”

“I know Twilight,” Fluttershy softly interrupted her friend, “I won’t, I promise, but I still need this for a little while longer.”

The friends agreed to Fluttershy’s terms and let their minds wander from thoughts of mourning and loss to take up and speak of lighter topics, and even filling the night air with laughter. From time to time they would have to call Fluttershy back when her eyes turned skyward, and she once more became transfixed by the stars.

As the evening wore on to night and her friends began to grow sleepy Fluttershy gently encouraged them to go and rest, reassuring them one last time that she was all right. Once the last of her friends had disappeared up the path to Ponyville, a dark figure wrapped in a black cloak stepped from the shadows and moved over to Fluttershy settling down next to her.

“You don’t have to lie to them you know,” The figure spoke, his voice changing with every other word.

“I’m not,” Fluttershy said leaning against the figure still staring up at the stars, “I’ll be fine knowing you’ll come back.”

The figure dipped his cloaked head sadly, his form seeming to shift as often as his voice. “Who? I don’t even know who I really am anymore and I can’t… come back until I do.”

Fluttershy reached up to push back the hood of the cloak, the figure shifted as if to stop her, but didn’t. She pushed back the hood to revealing that the stallion’s face was constantly shifting between three different faces. The soft, timid face of a young stallion, his mane an off white and his fur a softer yellow than her own. The strong, confident face of a gold-furred and silver-maned stallion. Finally, the cold face, black fur and pure white mane of Dark Star. Yet despite the differences of each face, the soft, sad gray eyes remained the same.

Fluttershy looked deep into those eyes for a long minute then smiled softly and nuzzled the stallion’s face whispering. “Don’t worry I’ll always be here to remind you who you are: my dearest friend.”

All of the stallion’s faces looked confused, each opened his mouth to speak, but he could find no words. Defeated and knowing his time with Fluttershy to be at a close the stallion nuzzled Fluttershy back and reluctantly stood. The hood of the cloak fell back over his face, and with a last nod, he silently disappeared back into the shadows.

Fluttershy’s eyes never left him clinging to his image well after he had departed. When he was gone completely, she closed her eyes and let out a content sigh before looking back up at the beautiful tapestry of stars and let it completely take her away.

Author's Note

Thank you to everyone who read my story I hope you enjoyed it.

Chapter Nine: Harmony and Disharmony

Chapter Nine
Harmony and Disharmony

Twilight Sparkle and the others gently floated back to the ground as the brilliant light of the Elements’ magic faded away. As soon as her hooves touched the ground, the purple mare whipped around and ran to her teacher’s side. Princess Celestia was still shivering badly when her student reached her, and a quick touch of her hoof told Twilight Sparkle that the white mare was freezing cold.

“Hold on Princess; I know a spell to treat this.” Twilight Sparkle spoke in a rush forcing herself to calm down and summon up her magic. Focusing her mind on the healing spell the purple unicorn’s purple magic turned a gentle pinkish white, and she touched her horn to her teacher’s. The magic aura spread out across Princess Celestia’s body until it completely enveloped her then it was slowly absorbed into her body. With a great sigh, the princess opened her eyes and smiled up at her most faithful student.

“Princess you’re alright!” Twilight Sparkle cried out throwing her forehooves around her mentor’s neck and burying her face into her flowing rainbow main, the Princess’ skin was warm to the touch now.

“Yes. Your skill with magic is impressive as always my little pony.” Princess Celestia returned her student’s hug with a quick nuzzle before Twilight Sparkle released her grip and the white mare stood back up. She stiffened for a moment as a stab of pain coursed through her head. She had worried that Dark Star’s spell would have lasting side effects, but it was a minor thing. Worried her student would notice her pain Princess Celestia smiled warmly, “I am fine now, and it would appear that I am not the only one who has recovered.”

Twilight Sparkle gave her teacher a confused look then turned to see what the princess was looking at. Rainbow Dash wings beat steadily as she hovered in the air hugging Applejack is a similar manner that the purple mare had just been hugging the princess. For her part Applejack was easily standing up on her own.

“Applejack! Rainbow Dash you’re all right!” Twilight Sparkle called causing the two to break apart with wide smiles across their faces.

“Yeee haaa!” Applejack cheered, excitedly shaking off her bandages. “Better than all right Sugarcube, Ah ain’t never felt better.”

Rainbow Dash followed suit fluttering and flapping out her wing every which way until they had shed the last of the bandages while kicking off the rest. “Ha, this is awesome!” Rainbow Dash flew in a few circles through the air and landed back next to her best friend. “We’re gonna have to break out these bad boys next time I have to stay in the hospital.”

Applejack gave her friend a weary but slightly amused look. “They ain’t here so ya can go bang yerself up whenever ya like Sugarcube.” Rainbow Dash started to reply, but a shout from Pinkie Pie, who was standing across the field, cut her off before she could.

“Hey look you guys! That meanie wenie Dark Star is still all gloomy looking.” The others all turned to look over to their pink friend who was standing over the unconscious form of the false unicorn pegasus. “Shouldn’t he have turned back into a nice pony or disappeared or something.”

Rarity gave her cotton candy maned friend a worried look and shouted out to her trotting a few paces towards her. “Pinkie, darling, come away from that fiend, he-”

That the moment the black stallion’s eyes shot open. In an instant, Dark Star sprang up from the ground and digging his forehooves firmly into the ground delivered a powerful buck into Pinkie Pie’s chest. With a quick flap of his wings, he leaped into the air whipped around and landed again facing his opponents as he crouched low to the ground ready to strike.

Pinkie Pie cried out as she sailed through the air towards her friends, Rarity in particular, who realized too late that she had become an impromptu landing cushion for the flailing pink mare. The landing was met with a loud ‘Mmph’ as the two friends suddenly became a tangled mess, the white unicorn’s eyes spinning dizzily from the collision. However, Pinkie Pie almost instantly jumped back to her hooves with a giggle. “That was so cool! Did you see that! I thought Dark Star was out for good, but he jumped up and kicked me, and I went flying through the air it was so much fun! I want to do it again!”

The others just stood stunned, not only because Dark Star seemed to be completely unaffected by the Elements, but also because of the bizarre enjoyment Pinkie Pie had gotten from being kicked across the field by the evil pony.

“Too bad Celestia,” Dark Star laughed, a wide smile spreading across his face as he dropped his defensive pose, stood up to his full height and shook out his wings before folding them neatly at his side. “Seem the Element won’t work on me. Still, I was a little worried there for a while.”

Focusing his will through his false horn Dark Star started summoning his magic. “Anyways, I’ve got a ‘Welcome Back’ party to plan for my Queen, and I think a little lower powered cold snap will keep you party poopers from causing too much trouble.”

Dark Star started to toss his spell then suddenly realized he could not feel his magic. With confusion he looked up at his horn, his eyes crossing in the attempt, and found it was not glowing with magic. “It’s gone?”

“That’s too bad!” Rainbow Dash dropped out of the air and delivered a powerful kick to the side of Dark Star’s head. “Cuz my hooves are still right here.”

The black unicorn pegasus flew back several feet from the force of the blow before flaring out his bat wings and catching himself mid-air. “Aww good kick,” he admitted holding a hoof to his aching head. Then, quickly reevaluating his position, Dark Star whipped around and shot off into the dark woods.

“Hey! You’re not getting away that easily!” Rainbow Dash shouted and became a blurred spectrum chasing after the white-maned stallion.

“Hold on there Rainbow!” Applejack shouted after the rainbow maned mare and cursing herself for not grabbing the pegasus when she had the chance. Not wasting a second the orange mare took off in a full gallop after the two flyers. The other followed suit crying out in vain and chasing after the much faster pony.

Twilight Sparkle came to a sliding stop as Applejack’s form disappeared into the gloom of the forest. Her eyes shot wildly from side to side, and her ears twitched back and forth trying to detect the orange mare, but it was useless.

“What are we going to do darling,” Rarity asked moving up to her friend.

“Those ponies got some speed, there’s no way we could catch up,” Pinkie Pie bounded over to join her friends, it would seem her random ability to prance after Rainbow Dash and somehow keep up was forgotten.

“I don’t know,” The purple unicorn shook her head and turned to the Princess. “Princess can’t you find them, with your magic it should be simple.”

Princess Celestia simply shook her head slowly at this, “I’m afraid not my dear Twilight. My body has healed from Dark Star’s spell, but it seems to have affected my magic more than even he realized it would, for it has yet to return.”

“Well, umm, at least he didn’t finish raising the moon,” Fluttershy added softly, trying to reassure her friends.

“That is right darling,” Rarity piped in happily beaming at her yellow friend. “Without the moon, that ruffian cannot finish his spell on poor Princess Luna.”

Princess Celestia closed her eyes and slowly shook her head at this. “I’m afraid the moon does hang in the sky this night.” The princess raised her hoof and pointed to a black patch of the night sky. “This night there is a new moon, a dark moon, the symbol of Nightmare Moon’s return.”

“Then we have to find them, but how?” The soft pink-maned pegasus asked softly.

“Twilight have you done any research in the field of auras?” The princess asked turning to her student.

Twilight Sparkle furrowed her brow in thought, “Some. I read a book on the matter but it was a little abstract, so I didn’t spend much time on the subject.”

“I understand, but even a basic understanding should be enough,” Princess Celestia moved to stand next to her pupil. “I will help guide you through the process. First, close your eyes and try to clear your mind.”

“Right!” Twilight nodded closing her eyes and lowering her head trying to clear her mind of any thoughts. However, even for a normal pony, such a task would be difficult, but for the purple mare whose life was run on constant planning and schedules, it seemed impossible. Every time she told herself not to think of anything ten different thoughts would pop into her head all calling out for attention. Soon her face was scrunched up in concentration, her teeth gritting angrily.

Princess Celestia saw this and smiled softly; she might have even found it cute if they were not in such a dire situation. Gentle she draped one of her wings over Twilight Sparkle’s back, the effect was instantaneous. The unicorn’s body relaxed as she eased unconsciously into the warm wing. “Don’t try and force yourself Twilight, just relax. Picture yourself floating adrift in an ocean. The water cradling you gently, safely.”

Twilight Sparkle took another deep breath and did as the princess described, relaxing and picturing herself in a dark ocean that cradled her like her mentor’s wing. The princess waited until she felt her student complete relaxed under her wing before continuing. “Good now let yourself pull away from the image, let the vision of yourself get smaller and smaller until you can’t see it anymore.”

The unicorn mare followed her mentor’s instruction almost without trying, deep down noting to continue such exercises in the future. Soon all she could see was a great black void, but it was not unwelcome as she thought such a thing would be, she felt totally at ease.

Seeming to sense this the Princess’ voice came to her once more. “Now my little pony, release your magic and let it flow over the world around you, let it fill the world around you.”

Twilight Sparkle’s horn flared to life gently, no pony could see it, but her magic flowed out from her horn and spread out over the area like a ripple. She did not feel anything at first and began trying to sense the auras around her, slowly the feelings of the different auras washed over her.

White was the first thing she felt; it was an odd sensation feeling a color, or shade as she automatically corrected herself. Her mind immediately began to analyze the sensation to better classify what she was feeling, but the more she tried to focus directly on the aura the more, it seemed to slip away. Clearing her mind of stray thoughts Twilight Sparkle returned her attention to the feeling of the color, but this time she allowed that feeling to fill her up completely, not analyzing it just allowing herself to feel it.

The color washed over her, and she felt something else, the warmth of the sun, and it was then that Twilight Sparkle was able to identify whose aura it was. It was unmistakable now; she had felt the warmth of the sun many times indoors while in the presences of Princess Celestia. Now she realized that warmth was the princess, a kind nurturing light that helped everything around it grow, and in the warmth of the Princess’ nurturing light, it became easier to sense the others auras.

Not surprisingly Pinkie Pie’s aura was felt pink, but it was also light and carefree as if it would be happy to float off to wherever the wind would take it if it were not tethered down to the pink pony herself. As this feeling washed over her Twilight Sparkle could not help but let out a small chuckle.

Rarity’s was a deep purple and felt like it shone brightly with a light that illuminated those around her. However, this light was not oppressive, like one that created deep shadows, instead, it felt as if those bathed in it would shine all the brighter.

Finally, there was the yellow of Fluttershy’s aura, it felt gentle and warm, like a favorite blanket, giving and asking for nothing in return.

Twilight Sparkle was amazed by the feelings stirred up by directly interacting with her friends and mentor’s auras. It was like knowing them on a deeper, but more primal level than she could know them getting to know them as ponies. One did not make the other more or less valuable they were just different aspects of the same thing.

The purple mare’s stomach sank at the thought of what she had to try to do next. Sensing the aura of her friends and mentor was easy, they were standing there with her. Sensing Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Dark Star would be like trying to determine if somepony had passed through a hallway before you, she did not know if she could. However, at that thought, her friends seemed to sense her doubt, and the all stood a little closer to her. The color of their auras felt as if they dimming and brightened ever so slightly as if expressing both concern and faith in her. Twilight Sparkle let this feeling fill her up, and she began to concentrate again.

As she concentrated she began to sense things that were amiss, things that did not belong in the forest. A few strands of blond mane was the first thing she noticed. She could not see them, but she felt them clutched in the dry fingers of a dying branch that had snatched them from her friend’s mane as she rushed into the forest. From these strands radiated her friend’s aura which felt orange naturally. It also had the feel of a tree, no the feel of the sound of a tree with the wind rushing through its leaves; it was a dependable sound, one that never lied.

Next Twilight Sparkle sensed a blue feather resting atop the high branches of a tree. It had been shed by Rainbow Dash in her pursuit and had come to rest atop the very same tree whose lower branches held Applejack’s hair. From that feather emanated a blue aura that felt like the sky, ever shifting but ever present.

Finally, there was a tuft of fur that had been firmly secured into a tree’s bark by a brief collision caused by the miss timed turn of a black coated stallion. From this fur came a gray aura, a combination of white and black and from it emanated such a powerful feeling of loneliness with an underlined need to find a purpose that it made Twilight Sparkle shutter so badly that she almost lost her concentration.

As Twilight maintain her concentration, she began to find it to be easier to feel even these distant auras. Even better she could feel the remnants of her friends presents pulling towards something, and with only a bit of concentration, their aura ribbons could be felt. They wounded through the trees, Applejack’s following Rainbow Dash’s which followed Dark Star’s. “This way,” Twilight Sparkle said with a smile quickly taking off to run along the fading ribbons the other’s following in her wake.

Dark Star darted through the trees trying to push himself to go faster; he had not realized just how much slower he was without his magic augmenting his speed. At least, besides the fresh ache in his head, he was not feeling any fatigue or pain, totally refreshed after his short downtime.

He did not spend much time dwelling on such thoughts as his heart raced with fear of his pursuer catching up with him, it was exhilarating. He had not known such unsureness for a long time, since becoming Dark Star he had always be sure of everything. Nothing could harm him, and nothing would stop him, it was like an impenetrable suit of armor.

The black stallion did not have a chance to think more about such things, however, as a sudden fierce battle cry pierced the air. Dark Star looked up to see the blue mare drop down out of the sky and slam down onto his back before he could dodge. The force of the sudden blow was more than Dark Star’s wings could compensate for and he was driven into the ground, slamming into it and sliding several feet before stopping.

Most ponies would have been knocked out cold from such a crash, but even without his magic Dark Star was a seasoned warrior and trained to handle such blows. Ignoring the pain, he quickly swiped a hoof out across his back to grab the blue mare and reverse their positions. Surprised that he was still able to move so fast Rainbow Dash quickly avoided the grab, backflipping off the stallion. Dark Star instantly seized the opportunity and rolled forward coming up back on his hooves.

“Ha! Not so tough without your magic huh,” Rainbow Dash shot forward closing the distance between them. “I’ll show you for hurting my friends!”

Rainbow Dash swung out with her forehoof eager to crack the stallion in the head once more. However, Dark Star easily dodged the attack, slapping it aside for good measure. “Sorry but don’t hate the player, hate the game.”

Rainbow Dash almost paused that the half apology, however, she could not let the momentum go to waste and quickly whipped around and bucked out at the black stallion. Dark Star jumped back to avoid the blow, and a quick beat of his wings allowed him to put a bit more distance between him and the angry mare. He had to try and think of a way to counter attack the skilled, fast, and reckless mare.

By the time he touched back down, she was already facing him snorting angrily, but holding back the impulse to attack and searching for a better opening. Dark Star could not help but smile, “You’re pretty good. Definitely not a stranger to a fight.”

“Ya that’s right,” Rainbow Dash shouted back not breaking her angry glare. “And you ain’t got your dirty magic tricks to cheat with this time; there’s no way I’ll lose again.”

Dark Star shrugged casually, “A stand-up fight would have been a lot of fun, but you wouldn’t have won. I can see from the way you fight you’ve spent too much time sparring and too little in real fights; you’re a flyer, not a fighter.”

“Oh ya!” Rainbow Dash shouted, her wing flaring out in an angry challenge. She started forward but caught herself, remembering that this stallion had almost killed her, Applejack, Big Macintosh, and Princess Celestia. He was too dangerous for her to allow herself to fall into such a weakly laid trap. Calming herself, she folded her wings and chuckled back casually, “That’s pretty tough talk coming from somepony way over there. Why don’t you try coming here and sayin’ that.”

“Naw I’m fine here,” Dark Star waved off the invitation casually and placed a hoof to his chin pretending to stare off in thought. All he needed to do was strike the right nerve, and he had a pretty good idea which one that was. “Hmm now that pretty cowpony friend of yours, she’d definitely be the one with the best chance of beating me.”

“Applejack!” Rainbow Dash jerked with surprise.

“Ya that was her name.” Dark Star smiled to himself letting his eyes go unfocused, so it seemed like he was staring off into space. “I’d definitely come out on top of course, but breaking a wild mare like her would be a lot of fun. Maybe I’ll pay her a visit after Nightmare Moon’s been revived, and…”

At that moment Rainbow Dash saw red and let out a savage neigh as she charged towards the black stallion. However, Dark Star easily jumped back, just a moment before the blue mare’s hooves would have reached him, and with the quick snap of a spring loaded trap, slammed his elbow down into the back of her head and his other hoof up into her stomach. All the fight and air was suddenly banished from Rainbow Dash’s body, and she crashed to the ground in front of Dark Star gasping for breath. Before she could recover Dark Star pinned her to the ground with a back hoof to her flank, a forehoof on her neck and another on her shoulder. Finally, for good measure, he grabbed one of her wings in his mouth and pulled it back twisting it painfully to paralysis the trapped mare.

“Hold still,” Dark Star muttered through the wing and clenched teeth. “I don’t want to hurt you any more than I have to, but you’re the only one who can keep up with me.” Dark Star put a little more pressure on the back of Rainbow Dash’s neck forcing it down on an exposed root. “So you’re gonna have to take a little nap, don’t struggle you’ll only hurt yourself more.”

Rainbow Dash’s heart began pounding in terror, and she instantly ignored Dark Star’s suggestion, struggling with all her might against the stallion. However, Dark Star was larger than her, and his body build more like an earth pony’s making him much physically stronger than her. Struggling was pointless. Her body was already screaming out for oxygen it would only take a few seconds for her to blackout.

It was then that Dark Star’s ears picked out the sound of somepony crashing through the bushes, and he glanced back just in time to see an orange earth pony come into the starlight just a few dozen feet behind them. A few seconds was more than he had.

“Rainbow Dash!” The mare cried out, worried eyes turning angry as they went from the mare on the ground to the stallion standing over her. Her savage neigh was not that dissimilar to Rainbow Dash’s, and it made Dark Star retract the hoof over Rainbow Dash’s neck.

Dark Star knew he stood no chance against these two mares together and desperate for a way to escape he grabbed onto the first idea that jumped to mind. In an instant, the black stallion snapped his head up and around with a strong twist. The result was a sickening pop, and the fresh oxygen that Rainbow Dash had taken in was immediately expelled in an ear-splitting scream.

The scream was like a stab to Applejack chest, stealing her breath and causing her to halt her charge for fear of collapsing. It was as if she were sharing her friend’s pain and fear.

Dark Star took the opening, dropped the mare’s wing, which fell limply to her side as she writhed with pain, and shot off into the dark for the forest, his eyes squeezed shut as he fled the scene.

Applejack cursed Dark Star’s fleeing form as she rushed to her friend’s side. Rainbow Dash howled in pain trying in vain to reach the joint where her limp wing connected to her body. “Rainbow! Oh gosh, what’d he do to ya?”

Rainbow Dash barely heard her friend through her screams of pain, the pain which seemed to dull her other senses so that it could be felt all the clearer. She had sustained injuries from crashes before, but a sprained wing was nothing compared to this. The loss of control and the feeling of her wing being ripped from its socket was too much. “Applejack my wing! My wing!” Was all she could manage crying it out over and over until Applejack managed to hush her.

Looking at the limp appendage Applejack reached over and tentatively touched it with a gentle hoof. The wing itself seemed undamaged save for a few mangled feathers where Dark Star had grasped it in his mouth. It was not until she touched the joint where the wing met the mare’s back, exciting renewed cries of pain from the blue pegasus.

Applejack brought both her hooves to Rainbow Dash’s head cradling it and leaned in close pressing her forehead against the other mare’s reassuringly. “It’ll be OK Sugarcube,” Applejack hushed gently trying to calm her friend, who was still struggling and crying so bad her tears splashed against Applejack’s face. “Listen ta me Dash, yer wing’s hurt bad, but ya just gotta calm down. Ah promise everythin’ gonna be all right.”

Rainbow Dash said nothing back. Instead, her own hooves shot around Applejack’s neck pulling the other mare in closer with a fierce squeeze, and pressing her forehead against Applejack’s as hard as she could as if trying to dispel one pain with another. Applejack endured the discomfort and continued to hush and reassure the rainbow maned mare. It seemed to work as the pegasus’ cries became sobs and then just pain filled panting.

“Applejack! Rainbow Dash! Where are you guys!” Twilight Sparkle’s voice echo through the dark woods. Relief washed over the orange mare, and she pulled her head away from Rainbow Dash’s and looked out into the woods in search of some source of her friend’s voice. Rainbow Dash pressed her face into her friend’s neck not wanting to let go even as the pain began to subside to a manageable level.

“Twilight! We’re over here!” Applejack called out catching sight of the faint glow of her friend’s horn bobbing through the dark woods like a firefly. The glow soon took the shape of a horn, then she could see her friend’s face coming through the darkness, and eventually, her whole body was revealed by the starlight followed soon after by Fluttershy, the princess, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity.

“Oh dear! What happened?” Fluttershy asked seeing the pair huddled together on the ground and rushed to their side.

“That darn coward Dark Star messed up Dash’s wing somethin’ fierce an’ then just took off like ah yellow belly snake.” Applejack spat angrily

With everypony gathered around her Rainbow Dash suddenly felt that crying over her wing was not something a pony as cool as she should be seen doing. She quickly detached herself from Applejack neck, shook off the earth pony’s hooves and sat up straight on her haunches glancing off to one side casually. “It’s not so bad,” She assured them, but the strain in her voice and fresh tears pooling at her eyes betrayed the truth of just as much pain she was feeling.

“Rainbow Dash!” Applejack and Fluttershy chided the blue pegasus in unison, though only the blond mare looked embarrassed at her outburst. She adjusted herself into a sitting position not too unlike Rainbow Dash’s and suddenly became interested in the edge of the dark woods in the opposite direction her friend was facing, letting Fluttershy continue to fawn over Rainbow Dash. “You should lay down before you hurt yourself any worse, I’ll check your wing.”

“I’m fine. Just wrap it up, and I’ll be fine. We gotta catch up to the jerk Dark Star.” Rainbow Dash tried to sound confident even as she shook from Fluttershy’s examination.

“You’re not fine Rainbow Dash, your wing’s been dislocated,” Fluttershy corrected the other pegasus, her soft tone carrying more than a bit of authority, but was underlined by worry.

“Can you not do something about it, Darling?” Rarity asked focusing her attention away from the limply hanging wing.

Fluttershy shook her head, “I could pop it back into place, but we have to get her back to the hospital as soon as possible.”

“No! No way I’m going back to the hospital again, no!”

“Yes, you will Rainbow Dash,” The Princess’ regal voice cut off any further protest. “I hereby make it a royal order.”

Rainbow Dash’s ears wilted as she looked up into Princess Celestia’s firm eyes. She looked away and muttered a “Shoot!”

“Sorry Sugarcube, Iffen only ah had gotten here sooner.” Applejack said similarly dejected.

“I am afraid you are going back as well my little pony, and you as well Fluttershy,” The Princess interjected looking from the orange earth pony to the yellow pegasus.

Fluttershy accepted the order with a simple nod, but Applejack was not about to be sent from the fight so easily. “What the heck for? Yer gonna need me, Princess, y'all don’t have a chance o’ beatin’ that varmint without me, and ah intend on payin’ ‘im back fer what he did ta Dash!”

“I am sorry you feel that way Applejack, but the time for violence has passed, if it ever really had a place in this. There may yet be another way to stop Dark Star, but will be left up to us.” Princess Celestia spoke softly looking over to the purple and white unicorns and the pink earth pony that stood along with them. Then she looked back to Applejack, “Besides you, my little pony, are the only one who can carry Rainbow Dash all the way back to the hospital. Or do you wish dear Fluttershy to make the trek alone?”

Applejack started to protest but she stopped herself, she knew very well what the Princess really meant. If left alone with Rainbow Dash it was only a matter of time before the reckless mare convinced their more timid friend to let her do something stupid. Applejack would have to go along just to keep Rainbow Dash reigned in. With a sigh and a nod, Applejack agreed, “Yes yer majesty.”

“All right we’ll see you girls real soon.” Twilight Sparkle smiled reassuringly to the three, who returned her smile, though only Fluttershy was sincere.

Twilight Sparkle turned away from the other, shut her eyes and summoned up her magic. After a few moments of concentration, during which Applejack and Rainbow Dash watched on in confusion, she reopened her eyes and took off into the woods her horn aglow once more. “This way!” The Princess, Rarity and Pinkie Pie quickly followed after her, and soon they were swallowed completely by the darkness.

“Alright, let’s git goin’ ah guess, no point in standin’ ‘round here anymore.” Applejack said solemnly, and Rainbow Dash just nodded.

“Actually we should, umm, replace the wing in its socket first, so it doesn’t get any worse,” Fluttershy said quietly as she moved to Rainbow Dash’s side.

“Sure, can’t hurt any worse than havin’ it pulled out,” The blue mare shrugged.

Fluttershy paused, “Umm, ya,” She agreed hesitantly and gave a quick glance over to Applejack that was missed by Rainbow Dash.

Applejack, however, did not miss the silent warning in that look and stepped up to Rainbow Dash carefully wrapping her hooves around her confused friend’s neck and pulling her in close even as Fluttershy gently took hold of the wing. “Just so ya know Rainbow Dash, y'all can bite down on mah hat iffen ya need to.”

Before Rainbow Dash could question the meaning of those words, Fluttershy quickly popped the wing back into place. The sickening crack was not the only thing that was worse than the first.

Twilight Sparkle ran through the dark of the Everfree Forest, her legs pumping hard and her horn aglow providing both illumination for her and her friends to run by and allowing her to see Dark Star’s aura ribbon as it twisted its way through the woods. The Princess ran next to her while Rarity and Pinkie Pie ran side by side behind her.

The purple mare would have been lying if she said she was not afraid of the coming conflict. The Elements were separated, and Princess Celestia did not have her magic, and she wondered how they were going to stop Dark Star even if they managed to find him in time. Her mentor had said there was no point in trying to fight the false unicorn pegasus, and she was right of course. Without the Princess’ magic, he was too skilled of a warrior for them to defeat. Sure Rarity was also fairly skilled in hoof-to-hoof combat, Twilight herself was a powerful unicorn, and Pinkie Pie was random enough to throw almost anypony off, but Dark Star had a thousand years more experience and training than any of them, even the Princess. If they had all been together, or if at least the Princess had not sent Applejack away they would have a better chance.

All this weighed on Twilight Sparkle causing frustration to build up in her chest until she let out an angry groan, “I don’t understand Princess.”

Princess Celestia turned to her student giving her a questioning look until the purple mare looked her way again and continued. “I don’t understand why the Elements of Harmony didn’t work Princess. We were in tune with each other, and our friendship was strong, so why didn’t they work?”

“I was wondering the same thing, Your Majesty,” Rarity added.

“Ya and it’s not like Discord was messing with our brains this time,” Pinkie Pie said jumping up and twirling her hooves separate direction on either side of her head, her eyes becoming whirls.

Princess Celestia stared off in thought for a moment before asking, “My little ponies, do you know how the Elements work?” There was no harshness in her tone; there never was, she always seemed to have the same gentle tone of a kind a patient teacher that she always seemed to speak in.

Twilight Sparkle almost said, ‘of course. The Elements draws on the aspects of harmony embodied by her and her friends transforming it into raw magical energy to…’ That was where she stopped herself, for there was no apparent uniform nature to the effect of the Elements of Harmony on an individual. They had turned Nightmare Moon back into Luna, froze Discord into stone and seemed to take away Dark Star’s magic. Even different bearers gained different results, for a while Princess Celestia and Luna together also transformed Discord to stone, the Princess alone using the Elements simply banished her sister into the moon. Why did they operate so differently with each circumstance?

Seeing that her student and her friends were unable to answer the question Princess Celestia began to explain. “The Elements of Harmony are just what they seem, different aspects that bring about peace and co-existence. However, the Elements are not only needed for harmony in relationships but also within a pony to make them whole and at peace with themselves. When these aspects are replaced by feelings of jealousy, greed or any other matter of negative emotions ponies become driven to commit evil. When the Elements are brought against somepony like this, they dispel these negative emotions ridding ponies of this darkness and allow them to become at peace with themselves. This doesn’t make said pony perfect of course, like Luna they may be filled with great remorse over what they have done or think badly of themselves for what they have done, but it allows them to start healing.”

Twilight Sparkle frowned at this, “So then why didn’t it turn Discord good as it did for Princess Luna?”

“Well, Discord is the spirit of Disharmony the very opposing force to the Elements and shares a unique relationship with them. They’re like magnets, Discord is drawn to the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and in turn, the bearers are drawn to him.” Princess Celestia seemed a little distant as she spoke, but Twilight Sparkle frowned at the statement. Sure Discord seemed particularly obsessed with her when they fought, but she imagined that was simply because she was the most difficult for him to turn, and she certainly had no interest in him and made a point of forgetting about the mischievous spirit once the conflict was over.

“But as the embodiment of disharmony Discord cannot be changed nor destroyed by the Elements, without the Elements themselves being destroyed, so he was merely trapped instead.

“Luna, however, was slowly corrupted by dark feelings over time until she was overcome by them and corrupted. She committed evil believing that she was doing what she needed to find peace.” Princess Celestia paused looking downcast, with shame playing across her face for a moment. “I too was filled with darkness then, I felt betrayed and though I was able to use the Elements of Harmony against her, but they could not work properly. I suppose my sister and I had become opposites of each other as well so the effect was similar to what had happened to Discord and she was only sealed away.”

Princess Celestia gave a sad sigh at the memory then looked up at Twilight Sparkle with a smile. “But you and your friends perfectly embodied the Elements of Harmony, so you were able to use them to restore her properly, bringing my sister back to me.”

Twilight Sparkle could not help but return her mentor’s smile, her love and appreciation was all she could ever hope for. However, there were still questions the young mare had about the different effects the Elements seemed to have on each pony and asked. “But…”

Twilight Sparkle’s question was cut short by the sudden parting of the trees before them. The stars, no longer hindered by the thick canopy of leaves, shone down brightly illuminating the area around them. They came to a sudden halt in front of a deep gorge that descended into unseen depths. An aged rope bridge provided the only means for flightless ponies to cross, and despite its age, the ponies knew it would hold them. Shortly past the bridge the tall towers of an ancient castle were no longer shrouded by thick fog and could easily be seen over the tangle of trees that long ago was a beautiful courtyard.

They all at once recognized the familiar ruin and wondered how they could have failed to notice the path they had been running along sooner. At once the ponies, save the Princess let out a gasp, “The castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.”

“I should have known Star Knight would come here.” Princess Celestia sighed deeply a torrent of memories flooding her mind as she looked upon the crumbling ruin. “It was the last place we were all together.”

“Your Majesty we should hurry,” Rarity said stepping up next to the Princess.

“Ya there’s no telling what that meanie weenie is doing in there,” Pinkie Pie added bouncing up to the Princess flashing her a bright, reassuring smile.

“The ritual will start soon,” Twilight Sparkle observed looking up at the hole in the starry night sky that showed the new moon climbing close to its apex. “We still need to figure out where he’ll be performing the ritual and how to stop him.”

“The only thing we can do now is talk to him,” Princess Celestia said quietly and started forward running as fast as she could across the rickety looking bridge. The others followed without hesitation, and the sun princess slowed so they could keep up with her. “If he needs the moon to perform the ritual then we’ll find him in the solarium.”

They raced through the tangled trees of the courtyard and burst through the large double doors and into the castle, their hooves clopping noisily against the stone floor. Nothing impeded their progress, something that momentarily gave the Princess pause. However, Dark Star had made it quite clear during their battle that he did not believe anypony could stop him, so it was likely that like many other evil ponies before him Dark Star had been overly confident believing that no pony would get this close to stopping his plan.

Princess Celestia led them to the center of the castle where a domed building sat between two towers; its glass tiled roof was spotted with several missing or cracked panes of glass. Reaching the solarium’s Princess Celestia kicked the doors open and gasped at the alien sight before her. Gone were the rows of cushions and flower basins that once adorned the room and transformed it into a lush oasis within the cold stone walls of the palace. Everything had been cleared away leaving the room a large round hollow pit, to enter it was to become exposed and vulnerable. However, there in the center, where once a huge, intricate fountain sat was a large slab of obsidian on top of which Princess Luna lay stretched out on her back. As they entered the massive chamber the Lunar Princess’ eyes shot open and she turned to see her sister, Twilight Sparkle and the others. Seeing her sister, Princess Celestia shot forward, the others only a step behind.

“Stay away!” The princess of the night cried out as soon as she found her voice, but it was too late. Before the ponies were even a quarter of the way into the room, a massive magic circle flared to life, crimson light etching itself on the once plain stone. Princess Celestia and the others slid to a halt and were about to turn back when suddenly their strength failed them, and they crashed down onto the stone floor.

“What’s happening?” Rarity cried out struggling to bring her legs together under her. Her body felt like it weighed a ton and even her hair pulled down painfully against her scalp. Once her legs were in position, she gave a mighty push to lift herself off the ground. She only managed to rise about an inch before crashing back down with a pained whine.

“It’s a gravity spell,” Princess Celestia groaned looking over her subjects. Pinkie Pie was not doing well at all, pinned flat against the floor with her legs splayed out pointing in every direction.

Twilight Sparkle tried to stand as well but quickly realized that she would have no better luck than her purple maned friend and decided to change tactics. Concentrating she summoned forth her magic and with a flash of light winked out of sight, only to wink back in the very same position. “What’s wrong with my magic?”

“The magic circle not only intensifies gravity but dampens magic as well.” Dark Star said stepping out from behind the obsidian block, a pleased smile spread across his face. “I’m impressed that you could summon up any magic at all Twilight Sparkle. Even Luna would have trouble performing magic within the circle, had I not already neutralized her abilities for the duration of the ritual.”

“You savage brute!” Rarity snarled, still trying in vain to stand. “Don’t you dare harm the princess!”

“I’m not going to hurt any pony, least of all Luna.” Dark Star replied his voice a little defensive as he placed around the block checking the circle and the sky. He had designed the circle to leave some space around the black stone free of magic for him to work in while the magic on the block itself was keeping Princess Luna powerless and still.

“Yes you did, you hurt Dashie’s wing you meanie weenie,” Pinkie Pie accused trying without success to point an accusing hoof at him.

Dark Star paused for a moment before turning back to face the trapped ponies, “I’m honestly sorry about that, but she attacked me, and I had to defend myself. She forced my hoof.”

“You expect us to believe that?” Twilight Sparkle shot him a glare.

“I do,” Princess Celestia said quickly before Dark Star could respond, earning her a surprised look from every pony in the room. “I know you don’t want to hurt anypony Star Knight, so I’m begging you, please stop this. You’ll only end up hurting ponies if you bring back Nightmare Moon.”

Dark Star paused and looked down for a moment as if he was considering the white princess’ words, but quickly shook his head. “Sorry Celestia I can’t do that, I have to serve my queen, I have to. You and your little ponies stole her away from me, and I have to get her back.”

“You cannot force somepony to be something for your own sake Star Knight.”

“Ha! That’s an ironic thing for you two… to say.” Dark Star paused and shook his head to cast off a stray, half-formed though. “After what you did to my queen, forcing her from her true role as ruler into that of a mere princess once more. But in a few short moments, the Verse Polluesum ritual will change her back, and we will have won. The night will be eternal once more.” Dark Star stepped back and looked up at the black void of the new moon as it claimed more stars as it moved into place.

“No!” Twilight Sparkle shouted struggling wildly to get to her hooves, but it was no use. “Princess we have to do something,” Tears started to well up in the young mare’s eyes, “We can’t let him do this.”

Princess Celestia’s head hung low, and her eyes stared at the floor distantly. To the purple mare, the Princess had always seemed to have all the answers, as if there was nothing she could not do. Now it seemed with Princess Luna just a few feet away waiting for them to rescue her, Twilight Sparkle’s beloved mentor had given up.

“Do not be afraid Twilight Sparkle; you will find that my queen to be a much kinder ruler to those who follow her willingly and I’m sure she’ll find a place for you all.” Dark Star spoke as the pitch black void of the moon moved into the center of the sky. As it did, the runes of another magic circle in the unaffected area around the obsidian slab flare to life, filling the room with a sickly green light.

The smell of burning ozone filled the air as bolts of purple lightning shot up from the runes and pour into the obsidian slab before surging up through the skylight towards the black moon. Both Princess Luna and Dark Star cry out in agony as the electricity surges through them, neither safe from its effect.

The lighting disappeared, absorbed into the face of the moon and the room fell silent for several moments before a beam of dark energy poured from the moon. Like black water, it poured upon Princess Luna who cried out once again as the obsidian slab she was laying upon began to pulse with energy. After a long moment the waterfall of darkness stemmed, and as the last drops of darkness touched the pulsing glass-like stone it unleashed an audible crack, and a cloud of darkness bellowed forth from the ruined slab filling the room completely.