As the Shadowbolt army descended from the sky, Shining Armor knew that this would be a tough battle to win, but he had to do it: the fate of all Equestria hung in the balance. As he charged into the Horde of Shadowbolts, he and his army started shooting out blasts of magic. One by one the Shadowbolts and his own army fell, but the only thing Shining Armor could think about was if his wife would survive all this and if she was even still alive. He could see that Princess Luna and Celestia were doing their best Horde off as much Shadowbolts as possible, but even they could take a hit.

"Luna, if we are going to defeat Princess Cinch, we're going to need to show them everything we got," Celestia said with a stern tone. "Do you have that spell you've been working on?"

"Sister, are you sure this is a good idea? Once I do that, I may not be able to go back!" Luna replied.

"Do not worry. The Elements will return you back as soon as possible, I know it," Celestia said, looking Luna straight in the eye with all the sorrow she could.

Luna looked directly into Celestia's eyes; she could see that even Celestia wasn't sure about the spell. They'd been practicing the spell for just such an occasion. After the Storm King came, they knew that if anything like him were to ever happen again, they would need to fight with something or someone equally as powerful as the threat. Luna knew this was the perfect opportunity. As she closed her eyes, she whispered a spell under her breath that she thought she would never have to say again.

"I let the darkness consume me I accept my fate as the one true ruler of all Equestria--a nightmare!" Luna cried out. Just then, a giant black magical ball surrounded Luna; as she saw her sister for the last time, she hoped for Celestia’s sake she knew what she was doing. As the black ball consumed her, a familiar voice came out of the shadows, and almost all the Shadowbolts were deeply terrified.

"You think your princess can rule Equestria?" the dark figure said as she came out of the black ball. "I will show you what true fear is and who deserves to sit on the throne!" Then the sun was shining right on her, and it was clear that Nightmare Moon had once again returned. "Now the darkness shall consume you all!"

As Nightmare Moon blasted magic into the Shadowbolts, Celestia hoped that her sister could hang in there. But then she noticed something that was mysterious: for some reason, Nightmare Moon was only fighting the Shadowbolts and not the royal guard. But before she could say anything to her former adversary, more Shadowbolts came out of the cloud, and she prepared to take them down.

The Shadowbolt Flight Camp

While Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Starlight Glimmer listened to the battle going on outside, they scoured around the entire area looking for anything that could help their friends defeat the Shadowbolts. Unfortunately, the only thing they could find was a couple pieces of armor and swords, which, while helpful, could not help them at a time like this. As they looked around the cage, Pinkie Pie noticed something hanging above her head.

"Ohhhhh, a cage!" Pinkie Pie said. "You think there's a cake in there?"

"Darling, why would they keep a cake in a cage?" Rarity said.

"Maybe there's a friendly bat in there," Fluttershy said nervously.

"I don't think a bat has a glowing horn," Starlight said.

As the group walked closer to the cage, they could immediately see what was standing in it: Princess Cadence, in chains surrounded by spikes. There was something below the cage, too, and it appeared to be some sort of metal trapdoor.

"Princess Cadence, are you all right?" Starlight asked.

"Just a little banged up; nothing I can't handle," Cadence said. "Where is Shining Armor?"

"He's outside with Princess Celestia and Luna, battling the Shadowbolts," Starlight said. Then immediately, Starlight remembered her vision and realized something very important: there were three ponies that were not out there.

"Pinkie, do you have a way of contacting Maud?" Starlight asked.

"Of course I do, but why do we need her?" Pinkie Pie asked.

“That doesn't matter! Right now, I need you to contact her, and then I want you and her to get into these!” Using magic, she popped out what appeared to be battle armor styled like a Wonderbolts uniform, but black and heavily armored, with some plastic and other necessities.

"Darling, why do you need Pinkie Pie and Maud outside battling in those ugly uniforms with the Shadowbolts?"

"In my vision, Pinkie Pie and Maud saved Rainbow Dash from a falling boulder! That means we also need Rainbow Dash to be out there right now," Starlight said.

"I don't understand why we need them to be outside," Fluttershy said.

"Remember, my vision is a vision from the future! If Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Maud aren't outside with Princess Celestia right now, then the timeline could be corrupted or worse," Starlight said with a worried tone.

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie Pie hopped out of the cave to join the battle.

"I hope Rainbow Dash is having better luck than we are! Also, I hope she realizes we're going to need her out there," Starlight said to Rarity.

"Darling I'm sure Rainbow Dash can handle herself," Rarity said.

"Now let's get you out of the cage, Princess," Starlight said.

But before she could do anything, the metal trap door opened, and black crystals started to form around the three ponies, then giant green and purple eyes came out of the darkness and using an unfamiliar type of magic knocked Cadence, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Starlight out.

Captain's Quarters/Throne Room

As Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust flew through the air, clashing metal wings and daggers, they were both exhausting each other. One flew left, the other flew right, back and forth over and over again.

"You're not going to win, Lightning. Unlike the Shadowbolts, the Wonderbolts know how to fight," Rainbow said.

Lightning then spat the dagger out of her mouth "Why do you throw away your life so recklessly Rainbow Dash?" Lightning Dust said.

"That's a question you should ask yourself, Lightning Dust," Rainbow Dash said.

And then Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust started clashing again, only this time Rainbow Dash was attacking with all of her anger. As she clashed with Lightning Dust, she could only think of the things that Lightning had done to her: she had taken her wing, and she’d taken her friends, and now she was going to pay for it all. As they battled in the air, Princess Cinch maniacally laughed, then took her attention off the pegasi and on to the rest of the group.

"You think that you can win this battle?" Cinch said. "With the Eighth Element by my side--”

"Understand this, Princess Cinch: you may have the Eighth Element, but we are never going to give up," Twilight said.

"And that will be your downfall!" Cinch said. "I may have failed taking over the human world, but I will not fail taking over Equestria! Soon my Shadowbolts will take care of my sisters and that pesky princess in the cage, and then I will rule over Equestria’s ashes!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Using all of her might, Twilight blasted purple magic at the evil princess. In response, Princess Cinch created a giant black and green shield made of dark magic.

"You think that you're the only one who studied magic in the restricted section?" Cinch asked. "Now I will show you all the true power of Fear!" She blasted a giant energy beam at Twilight, sending her flying into the wall.

"Twilight!" Sunset cried out.

As she ran over to Twilight, she saw that she was not severely injured, but she was still bleeding. "It's going to take a lot more than that to beat me!" Twilight said.

Then using the same kind of attack, she sent a powerful purple energy beam towards Cinch, who sent another energy beam at Twilight. Both of the magical energy beams gathered up power into one giant ball of energy.

As Applejack sat and watched the battle unfold, she wondered, “What can I do to help turn the tide?”

Author's Note

Hey guys sorry for the long chapter a few things to know to yes I did do a couple references to different outside TV shows I just thought it was appropriate for the story I also would like you to know that this is not the last chapter and that in fact there are still a couple more chapters in The Works hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and thanks for reading