"NOW!" Commanded Twilight.
With that order, all the pegasi led by Rainbow Dash careened directly into the phalanx of royal guards from the clouds above.
These guards may have looked the part, but they most definitely didn't act the part. Upon seeing a blur of colors followed by what looked to be a squadron of rather livid pegasi flanking them from the skies, these guards scattered in all directions breaking what was an imposing formation just moments before.
Rocks, logs, and the occasional apple or two rained down from the darkened skies above, pelting the royal guards and creating a strange symphony of thumps and yelps. Those that were rendered unconscious reverted back to their strange original forms. They resembled insects, but were still peculiarly pony-like in a way.
"Bulls-eye!" Exclaimed Rainbow Dash, delighted by her rather impressive aim at the head of the changeling that was just moments from barreling full speed into Pinkie Pie.
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"Well that wasn't very nice of him," Pinkie said while giving the now twitching changeling a quizzical look.
"Oh well!" Giggled Pinkie Pie as she gleefully hopped along, landing on any changeling unfortunate enough to be in her way.
As Pinkie pranced through the throng of ponies and changelings alike, she spotted Applejack standing among a mass of unconscious changelings, scanning the royal garden for her next opponent. As Pinkie approached, Applejack reared up on her hind legs and about-faced with astonishing speed. Completely caught off guard, Pinkie could only manage to let out a gasp as she closed her eyes expecting the full weight of the farm pony to tackle her to the ground.
Seconds later, after there was no crash or impact, Pinkie sheepishly opened her eyes and saw Applejack looking straight at her with a goofy smirk. The only difference was that this Applejack was standing over the Applejack that had just attempted to attack her, which was now hog-tied and looked extremely confused.
"You should know me by now silly. I ain't the type to go lookin' for trouble. Heh, did ya really think I would leave my team to steal the spotlight?" The real Applejack asked.
"Hehe, that was all a part of my plan to lure out the ones that were pretending to be us silly!" Said Pinkie Pie with a huge grin on her face.
"Sure thing sugarcube, whatever you say." Joked Applejack as they both returned to face their foes that wore the faces of their friends.
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Twilight continued to surveyed the garden with Rarity and several other unicorns in her company. At this rate, they should be able to break through this group within the next few minutes or less if everything went their way. Her plans for attack seemed to be working fairly well. Although there were a few exceptionally steadfast changelings, the majority of them had little sense of teamwork and abandoned the rest when they felt endangered.
"Alright everypony! We've got them on the run, lets go and clear out the rest and be sure you're not targeting our friends!" Shouted Twilight as she turned around to lead the final charge.
"Ugh, this is simply horrid Twilight! Ladies like me should NOT be performing such brutish acts in public or anywhere else for the matter!" Wailed Rarity while she tried to adjust her mane as she galloped next to Twilight.
Looking slightly irate Twilight shot Rarity a serious look. "If we don't do this, there won't be anypony left to worry about such things."
Taken aback from the response, Rarity became surprisingly solemn and continued to charge into the fray. Lowering their heads, the horns of the charging unicorns began to glow with various colored auras simultaneously.
Left and right changelings were being flung into the air with each toss of the head of the unicorns. Shrieks of surprise and horror filled the garden as shocked and confused changelings suddenly became airborne against their will, still wondering how their disguises didn't work.
What the changelings had failed to notice was that everypony had painted the bottom of their hooves blue so they could distinguish themselves from their evil counterparts.
If it was under different circumstances, this would have been quite an amusing sight to see, Twilight thought. Although everything was going smoothly, Twilight was still troubled by one thing.
Rainbow and her air support had done their task of breaking up the changeling formations wonderfully. Now they were scattered across the skies searching for stragglers to harass and injured ponies to aid.
Applejack and Pinkie Pie along with the bulk of their forces also succeeded in chasing the majority of the enemy numbers out of the garden. This exposed openings for Twilight and Rarity to charge the main double doors with their group of unicorns capable of using high level magic. Undoubtedly the enemy defense near the doors would be the thickest and their magic would be vital to overpower the guards, but the guards weren't what bothered Twilight.
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With their forces gaining the upper hand, the leaders of the aerial support, ground infantry, and magical artillery teams joined together in the final charge towards the main doors.
"Where is Fluttershy, Rainbow? Is she hurt?" Twilight asked worried.
"I have no clue! One second she's flying next to me and the next she's gone! It sounds weird to say this, but I really hope she just ran away to hide instead of getting...you know? Hurt." Rainbow answered.
Applejack looked at the ground and shook her head, "I really hope you're right, but we can't stop now! We're almost there!"
The royal gardens, which had once been serene and peaceful was now an area of pandemonium. Everywhere Twilight looked, there was destruction.
"It should have never come to this...let's free my brother and his guards and finish this." Twilight said tiredly.
In unison, the five of them gathered a burst of speed and galloped past the ongoing ataxia around them. As they approached their goal the ground before them started to tremble. Screeching to a stop, the five of them stopped just in time to avoid falling into the crevasse that had opened just hooves in front of them. Suddenly gusts dust and debris buffeted them, winds strong enough to cause even Rainbow to crash to the ground. When the winds subsided they opened their eyes slowly to see exactly what had just happened.
At first they were unsure of what they were looking at. It looked like a giant flower the size of Twilight's library, but on closer inspection, it didn't have a normal flower head. The shape seemed off and it looked like it had...fur?
Suddenly an eye appeared on the flower head, followed by a mouth and the other eye. Then an antler and horn erupted from the top.
Against the bleak and darkened sky, the now fully formed face of Discord, the spirit of chaos, glared down while he let out a maniacal laugh.
"So what do you think? Think she'll fall head over hooves for me this time?" Spiked asked Twilight as he adjusted his helm.
Allowing herself to laugh a little Twilight asked, "Oh absolutely, but um...what are you supposed to be again?"
"One of the royal guards of Canterlot Castle! Oh come on, you of all people should know!" Pouted Spike as the vizor swung shut, muffling his voice in the process.
"I guess it does look kind of like the armor the guards wear, but why would you dress up as one of them and how did you manage to get that armor?" Twilight questioned.
Flipping his vizor back up, spike moved toward the reference section where a miniature shield leaned against the books, "Well, Rarity adores Canterlot high society and she deserves a knight in shining armor so I thought this might get her attention and I didn't get this armor anywhere. It took me months to make this!"
"You made it? Since when did you learn to make armor or do any metalwork for that matter?" Twilight inquired with an expression of disbelief.
"With all these books, there was bound to be one on metal crafting. Although the one I read was for creating garden tools, the concept was basically the same and with my amazing talents, what else could you expect?" Spike answered smugly.
"Well you're just full of surprises aren't you?" Giggled Twilight.
Spike blushed at the complement. "So, what are you dressing up as this year? Not Starswirl the Bearded again I hope."
"What was wrong with Starswirl the Bearded? He was one of the greatest unicorn mages in all of Equestria's history!" Twilight retorted.
"Nothing I was just-"
Slightly aggravated, Twilight cut him off. "Besides, I won't be able to join the festivities this year. I'm behind on several of my reports to Princess Celestia. If it was just one I might be able to overlook it, but there are just too many this time."
"But Twilight! Nightmare Night only comes once a year! I'm sure the princess would understand." Spike said.
"I can't Spike, this is more important. Besides, you wouldn't want me to get between you and your fair maiden Rarity would you?" Twilight jested as her horn glowed with a soft purple aura, levitating several scrolls and books onto her work desk.
At this point Spike was already reeling at the thought of being alone with Rarity. Tonight was going to be his night to shine!
With Twilight's last comment he wielded his shield, puffed up his chest and headed towards the door, but not before saying, "A point well made, dear Twilight. 'Tis truly a splendid thought that thou hath recommended. I bid thee a fair night, madam."
With an awkward bow, he spun around and headed out to face the ghouls and ghosts of Ponyville on Nightmare Night to rush to the aid of his damsel in distress.
Staring strangely at the door and unsure how to react to what she had just witnessed, Twilight slowly turned towards her work while letting out a soft "ooookay..."
"Thank you, but I would prefer to be alone at the moment."
The guard was unsure of what he should do in this predicament. He had just been promoted from patrol duty around the city to be a guard of the princess' royal garden, mistakes were not an option.
"Princess Celestia, I do not recommend you venture out alone. I insist that I accompany yo-" he stopped abruptly, suddenly aware of what he had just done. Not only did he disobey the princess' wishes, he also recommended and insisted on something to her! Preparing to have a new view of Equestria from the closest celestial body, the guard closed his eyes and awaited for imminent doom. What confused him was that he heard laughter. Who in their right minds would be laughing on the moon?
"I don't recall seeing you around here before" giggled a strangely familiar voice.
"Well obviously! I'm not from the moon!" Shouted the guard with his eyes still closed.
"Why don't you open your eyes. It's not as bad here as you might think."
Hesitantly, the guard opened his eyes and surveyed his surroundings. Flowers, hedges, a few fountains here and there. If he wasn't so sure he was on the moon it would have looked exactly...like the royal gardens...
"What? Did you really think I would send you to the moon?" Questioned the white alicorn princess who was now standing behind him.
This was a trick question! He had to be careful with his answer since this may be the last thing he said.
Seeing the guard wrack his brain for a proper answer Celestia couldn't help herself from breaking out in laughter again.
"Relax, that whole 'sending ponies to the moon' thing is just a rumor I started so I could keep these snobby aristocrats in line. Sending my sister there was the first and only time I have done it and I don't wish to do it again if it can be helped."
Shocked at what had just transpired, the guard tried his best to regain his composure. He was an idiot to think that his princess would ever do anything so extreme over a slight slip of the tongue. With a very low bow he said "I humbly apologize for my behavior princess. Please forgive me."
Unsure as to whether he was supposed to wait for a reply or not, he slowly raised his head only to see that Princess Celestia was walking away from him and was already quite a distance away.
As he let out a sigh of relief he jumped when he heard the princess speak back to him. "So were you going to accompany me or are you just going to stand there scared silly?"
Without hesitation the guard galloped up to her. In a more sincere tone she asked, "you're new aren't you? Most guards would just accept what I say without question, but to meet one that has the audacity to speak out against me is very rare. What is your name?"
"Steadfast, Ma'am!"
"Well, Steadfast, it's a pleasure to meet you. Shall we?"
With a nod, Steadfast followed his princess deeper within the winding gardens.
As Spike paraded down the street toward Rarity's he noticed that the number of ponies that were dressed up this year was much larger than that of last year. He assumed that the scene Nightmare Mo- , Princess Luna, had caused last year had something to do with it. Everypony had been talking for weeks about how they couldn't wait to see her this Nightmare Night, but there was only one pony that he wanted to see.
Spike felt weightless as he fantasized about Rarity, until he realized that this feeling wasn't due to his daydreaming. Looking down he saw that he was at least fifty hooves above the ground and did the only thing he could in this predicament: scream.
Following his shrieks of terror were outbursts of laughter from everypony around him. Opening his eyes, he saw the stars staring back at him. He scanned the area around to see what the hayseed had just happened.
"Oh my gosh! You should have seen the look on your face Spike!" Laughed Rainbow Dash, who was clutching her sides from the laughter.
Blushing, Spike quietly replied, "heh, yea i-it was pretty funny wasn't it?"
"You don't know the half of it!" Shouted Rainbow, still laughing. "So where's Twilight? You guys are always together."
"She said she has too much work to come out tonight." Sighed Spike.
"What?!? It's Nightmare Night! She should be out here having fun, not cooped up working." Exclaimed Rainbow as she casually flew around Spike.
"That's what I said, but sh-"
"I just got an idea! Come with me!" Laughed Rainbow as she once again picked up Spike and flew off towards Sugarcube Corner, despite Spike's protests.
How long has it been? Three, no probably four hours now since Spike left. The clamor from earlier in the night had already significantly died down and it was extremely unusual for Spike to stay out so late. Normally by now, he'd be curled up underneath his blanket fast asleep.
Something wasn't right.
Troubled by his absence, Twilight decided that maybe it would be a good idea to head over to Rarity's and ask her if she had any idea where Spike had gone. Setting everything aside, she neatly compiled her research on her desk and began heading downstairs.
As she neared her door she thought she had heard screaming in the distance, but soon realized that she wasn't imagining it and the screams of surprise continued to grow closer and closer. After flinging her door open with a toss of her horn, she sprinted outside as fast as possible. Before her eyes could adjust to the darkness of the starlit night, something crashed through the window of her library.
As she turned to re-enter her library Twilight could clearly see a very troubled looking Rainbow Dash standing atop what had been her research, but was now nothing more than torn parchment with blots of ink streaking across its surface.
"We have to go now! I'll explain on the way!" Shouted Rainbow as she glided down towards Twilight.
Still staring slack-jawed at the piles of smudged and smeared parchment on the floor, Twilight could barely prevent herself from fainting. Not only did Rainbow Dash just ruin hours of work, she also broke a window and rendered glass shards everywhere.
"Rainbow, if this is a prank, it's not very fu-"
Before she could finish, a streak of color blasted past her and out the door.
"Just come with me, this isn't the time to argue! If you never believe me again that's fine, but I need you to come with me to Fluttershy's NOW!"
