Black Sun

It wasn't unusual for Ponyville to be a hive of activity during the early hours of the night. Events like Nightmare Night and the Winter Moon Festival often saw ponies up and about until the early hours of the morning. None of those ever saw the ponies involved enduring such a sense of urgency and concern however. Or the desire to get out of the town as quickly as possible.

Twilight's brow furrowed as she hovered over Ponyville, watching the steady streams of ponies making their way out to the north and west. Diamond Tiara had taken her and Aurora's warning with appropriate seriousness and quickly spread word that a full evacuation was to begin as soon as possible. Twilight had used the time to ensure that extra trains would be available to transfer ponies to Canterlot and further cities, and Aurora had called in several Equestria Defence Force squads to help streamline things. In reality though, they both knew it would be impossible to relocate over eight thousand ponies in anything less than nine hours. Seven at a push. The first wave of ponies had left while there had still been light. Those with young foals, the hospitalised and elderly being moved to safety while there was still the best chance to do so. It made her feel a little better to know that Rarity and Starlight Glimmer had been among them.

The second wave were the ones moving now, the vast majority of inhabitants and families that lived here. Most would be taking the trains to Canterlot, while a few hundred would be moving on to other locations. Princess Celestia had been fully informed of the situation and had opened the doors of Canterlot Castle to anypony temporarily displaced. The third and final wave was the rear guard; pegasi who had the easiest choice of escape routes, EDF units and ponies who had willingly chosen to stay behind to allow others the best chance possible. Her friends were all in that last group, keeping her constantly on edge. Such a significant undertaking was more than even she alone could handle and so she had the most organised figures in Ponyville assisting her. Applejack was coordinating things in the north-west of town, Spike in the north-east, Diamond Tiara the south-west and Amethyst Star the south-east. Aurora was overseeing the situation on the ground while she moved where she was needed from the air.

As Twilight turned at the sound of another train departing the town station, she allowed herself to acknowledge that everything had gone smoothly so far. Despite the obvious stress everypony was under, nopony had tried to cause undue trouble. It helped that many residents had lived through the threats of twenty years ago. The memories of Nightmare Moon, of Discord and Tirek. If they were told things were bad enough to warrant this, they knew to take it as seriously as she was. She took a moment to watch the next train pulling in before noticing Aurora was by the station, waving her down. She quickly flew in and landed by him, seeing Diamond approaching from within the station as well.

"How're things going?" Twilight asked as soon as her hooves were on the ground.

"Honestly, better than expected," Diamond replied as she joined them. "An extra train should be arriving in a few minutes for any ponies that want to go east."

"Sweetie Belle said she was calling in a favour from some friends in Manehatten. Guess this was it." Aurora explained.

Twilight nodded and looked over at the platform, watching as ponies began to board the current train. She could see a lot of fillies and colts in there, confused and frightened by what was going on. It hurt to watch, but she knew the alternate was far worse. If Tantabus got to Ponyville while they were still here, they'd be as much a target to her as the town itself. Dwelling on it would do nopony any favours though, now was time to focus on what was actually happening.

"Good. I just hope they don't run into trouble. Now, has anypony seen Fluttershy lately?" She asked. The pegasus hadn't been seen for at least an hour.

"Amethyst said Fluttershy was sending her family toward Cloudsdale," Diamond told her. "I hope she's back soon. We're going to need her help at this rate."

It was hard to deny that she had a point. There were still at least three thousand ponies in Ponyville itself and the longer they had to wait, the more pressure that would place on everypony. Anything that might help ease the mood would be a help right now. Twilight simply nodded and looked back toward the crowds before her attention was drawn by somepony calling Aurora's name. The three of them turned to see a dark purple unicorn mare approaching, one with a lighter purple mohawk mane, steely teal eyes and a full body set of a guard leader's armour.

"Mayor Tiara, Sergeant Aurora, Your Highness." She said in a brisk tone once she reached them, snapping a quick salute.

"At ease, miss...?" Aurora replied as he motioned for her to bring her hoof down, trying not to sound like he was at a disadvantage.

"Sergeant Tempest Shadow, sixth support unit." She told them as she brought her hoof back down. Twilight didn't recognise the name but she knew the EDF unit due to how regularly they were assigned to the Ponyville area, to the point of being nicknamed 'The Guardians of Harmony'.

"What do you need?" Twilight asked. Despite being told she could relax, Tempest remained stood at attention.

"Everypony living around the day spa is headed this way. When we were finishing up though, Private Contrail noted that nopony is moving to evacuate the farms just east of town."

"Shoot! How I could I forget them?!" Diamond Tiara exclaimed in frustration, slapping a hoof to her forehead.

"It's okay, it's impossible to remember everything under stress," Aurora told her supportively before turning back to Tempest. "Are any other squads available right now?"

"The second emergency unit is on standby," She confirmed. "But they're all we have."

"Alright, take them with you and start evac procedures. We can't afford to waste any time at this point."

Tempest nodded and dashed off to carry out her orders. For a brief moment, Twilight reflected on the pride she felt in Aurora, impressed at his still improving ability under the most trying conditions. It was only a momentary thing though, before reality came back to the fore of her thoughts.

"Okay, that's a little more heading to Canterlot than we expected," She mused, turning to Aurora. "Could you check everything is going smoothly with Princess Celestia?"

"Of course. I'll be quick as I can." He told her, stepping back into clear space before teleporting away.

"I should get back into it too. I've no idea how many ponies are coming this way right now." Diamond said. Twilight nodded in understanding and watched as she headed into the gathering crowds.

Twilight quickly took off again, scanning over Ponyville. As smoothly as everything was going, she knew that the situation could turn in a heartbeat. On top of that, there was still something in town that she needed to get out, something almost as important as the lives of the ponies below her. She was needed everywhere at the moment though, somepony else would have to get it for her. As her gaze went over Sugarcube Corner she saw Pinkie Pie and Apple Bloom coming out, along with a yellow pegasus filly that was riding on the latter's back. Without anypony else in the area as an option, she quickly dropped down and into a hover just above them.

"Pinkie, are you busy?" She asked before she'd even steadied herself. The three ponies looked up at her in response, Pinkie the only one not looking surprised.

"Will be in a minute, just getting Bumblebee back to her ma," Apple Bloom told her, looking back at the filly. "Crusaders gotta stick together, right?"

"Right." She replied, sounding rather shaken but hopeful.

"I'm free if you need me, Twilight." Pinkie replied, looking over at her marefriend with an expression of silent reassurance.

"I'm guessing you know where my spell notes are?" Twilight continued. It was a silly question, Pinkie was nodding almost before she'd asked. "I need you to get them out of the castle and someplace safe."

"On it," Pinkie replied firmly before looking back at Apple Bloom. "Bloomie, I'll meet you at the castle."

Bloom nodded and headed off toward the station with Bumblebee while Pinkie dashed off toward the castle. As she watched them go, Twilight breathed a little easier. She could trust her research into stopping Tantabus with Pinkie and everything else was proceeding smoothly. Right now, it was simply a question of if they had enough time.

"Skirt the south end of town and look for either Amethyst Star or Diamond Tiara." Tempest instructed, watching as the pair of earth ponies she'd found nodded and rushed back toward Ponyville. The farmsteads just outside the town were relatively concentrated and it had been easy for her team to spread out and start getting ponies toward safety.

"Hey, Fizz!" A voice called to her from above. Tempest briefly gritted her teeth at the use of her nickname before looking up to the figure. A brown pegasus mare with an orange and light pink mane and tail and grim orange eyes.

"What've you got, Zip?" She called back. Most troopers didn't like adopting nicknames they hated but if Swift Spark had started it, it was fair game.

"We got something incoming fast!" Swift replied, seemingly too focused on her duty to care. "Headed toward Ponyville. Looks like a unicorn, but flying through their magic. Aura matches that of HPT 'Black Sun'. Assume hostile intent?"

"Copy. Guardians, regroup! We have to keep the civilians and medics safe."

Tempest quickly ran through the situation in her head as she heard the rest of her unit rushing toward her position. They had three of each race, plus another half dozen unicorns if the emergency unit were forced to fight too. Two dozen civilians at their immediate backs and a power stronger than any of them closing in rapidly. She hadn't been told exactly what threat they were facing, but if Princess Twilight considered it serious enough to warrant all this then she was going to take it just as seriously. As the rest of the squad reached her, she narrowed her eyes and made out their target. An orange unicorn in a field of aqua magic. Then the field glowed brighter.

She aimed her horn, primed to engage, when a rapid flurry of magic bolts tore toward them. Too many to evade completely. Tempest barely avoiding being hit straight in the face, still attempting to line up a counter shot as she ducked and shimmied around the attacks. She could hear cries ringing out from around her, the screams of her friends who weren't so lucky. Before she could even focus again, Swift Spark crashed to the ground next to her, burns from a direct hit visible across her neck. Tempest growled and fired a beam of her own. Her teal magic shot into the night sky, forcing their opponent to evade even while still attacking. Just as she lined up for a follow up strike, a bolt struck her square in the chest armour. She had just enough time to acknowledge her failure before the armour plate exploded under the force of the attack. Searing pain cut into her head and torso and something smashed into her forehead at the base of her horn.

Her world went black before she hit the ground.

"You can reassure Twilight that there is still enough space at the castle to take extra ponies in." Celestia told Aurora, forcing herself to keep smiling. It wasn't that she wasn't willing, just a case of unfortunate timing. The lateness of the hour aside, he had arrived just after she had performed another magic infusion for Luna. She was exhausted already, yet she knew it was still early in a long night to come.

"And if not, we can made accommodations at EDF headquarters." Luna added, standing by the window of Celestia's room and watching over Canterlot.

"I have to ask," Celestia continued, fighting back a yawn. "Is Twilight handling this situation well?"

"Right now, she's able to focus on her current task enough to not worry," Aurora replied, looking like he was trying his best to relax as well. "If Tantabus shows up before we're ready though...I'm worried she's going to try and go it alone rather than risking anypony else's lives anymore. She already blames herself hard for what happened to Bounty, Rarity and Starlight."

"And she feels she has to try and take extra responsibility due to my limited ability to help." Celestia continued, looked down sadly. Before she could continue, a shocked gasp from Luna drew their attention.

The two of them rushed over to the window with her and stared out, their blood freezing at the sight. Beyond the lights of Canterlot, Ponyville normally lay in darkness with only the brightest of lights visible at this distance. Now though, several were visible, each one a harsh orange. Even as they watched another erupted into existence, followed by a burst of light green that shot skyward until it dissipated in the atmosphere. None of them were in any doubt of what it meant.

Luna immediately shut her eyes and focused her magic, her horn sparking to life. After a second of concentrated effort her magic fizzled out and she staggered backward. Celestia and Aurora both moved to catch her, managing to keep her upright between them.

"We, have to help." Luna grunted as she turned to leave. Only for Celestia to quickly shoot a wing out to stop her.

"We will, but not by throwing ourselves in harm's way," She told her younger sister. "Neither of us are in any state to intervene right now."

Luna frowned but conceded the point, looking toward the one pony in the room capable of direct action.

"So, what are we going to do?" Aurora asked, staring back out of the window.

"What we can," Celestia told him. "You know cloudwalking spells, yes?"

"I do."

"I need you to go to Cloudsdale and commission an emergency rainstorm shipment. The instant the fighting finishes, damage control should be second priority."

Aurora nodded, a tendril of his magic running down his front before spitting into four white streams that ran into each of his hooves. A brief pulse of light from each of them confirmed the spell was active before he teleported away.

"And what about us?" Luna asked quickly. Despite her weakness, her strength of will seemed to be getting stronger in the face of adversity.

"We need to go to the EDF," Celestia said, turning to head out. "We'll need to recall as many medical and earth pony units as we can for the same purpose."

"I see," Luna looked down in thought as she followed her sister. "We may need Sky Wing units too. They can airlift ponies toward Ponyville quickly."

Celestia nodded slightly as the two of them made their way into the castle hallways. She could only hope that they would be overreacting a little to these circumstances. And that Twilight would be able to hold on by herself.

Twilight was already in sensory overload.

Her eyes stung from the heat. Her nostrils had been flooded with the scent of smoke. Her ears were ringing from the sounds of raging flames, breaking buildings and screaming ponies. Her mind was abuzz with the rush of constant magic use, the sting of glancing blows, the string of tactics she was constantly having to update in milliseconds. All of which were focused toward one singular goal.

Defending everypony she could, at all costs.

Tanabus had struck with the ferocity of a lightning strike, attacking anything that moved as soon as she had reached Ponyville. The evacuation had been reduced to a mass panic almost instantly, ponies fleeing as quickly as they could in a rout. Twilight had intercepted her within seconds and forced a running battle that had moved across town. She had to keep any movements away from other ponies that were now running in all directions, as well as keeping any attacks from going astray. Tantabus had no such worries about collateral damage and it showed. As their fight had moved west, many buildings had been damaged by evaded or purposeful magic attacks and a number of fires had broken out. Even as she dropped back to the ground after an attack of her own, Tantabus turned her head and fired a concentrated beam toward a random house. Her attacks had no method behind them, no intent but destruction.

Twilight pushed herself into the beam's path and threw up a shield to absorb the blow. While the building damage would have been relatively inconsequential, the beam would have kept going and ponies could be hiding inside or running beyond it. The entire area lit up as her purple shield flared against the aqua and blue of Tantabus' magic, briefly enough to outshine the moon above. Though the shield was able to hold, Twilight herself was unable with withstand the force of the strike. Her world was reduced to a blur as she was blown backward, quickly followed by a crushing sensation against her shoulders as she smashed through the wall of the house. Then another, and another. The momentum finally ran out as she crashed out the other side and tumbled back to the ground, feeling gravel under her again as she skidded to a halt on her side.

"Princess!" A voice called from nearby, though she could barely hear it with how loudly her ears were ringing. She was seeing double and couldn't feel her front legs very well. Her world suddenly went vertical as she was lifted back to her hooves, legs shaking slightly as feeling came back into them.

She looked to see the pony who had come to her aid was a light pink earth mare with a turquoise mane and matching eyes. She flashed a look of alarm and pushed Twilight away from her. Half a second later a beam of Tantabus' magic tore through the hole and struck her directly in the side, blasting her off her hooves and a full fifty feet down the road. She landed on her neck and crashed to a halt, not even twitching.

"No!" Twilight screamed in anguish. The whole purpose of this fight had been to keep any more ponies from dying for her. A fresh shot of adrenaline and anger seared through her at the sight, numbing the pain quickly. All her senses snapped back into razer sharp focus and she turned back toward the wrecked house, growling as Tantabus walked through the debris with a knowing smirk.

Twilight only needed a split second to know what to do before instinct took over. She teleported to cover the gap between the two of them, adjusting her position mid-cast. Tantabus' reactive attack would have hit her in the face if she had been standing up. Instead she was dropping to the ground, pivoting on her front hooves to sweep with her back legs. The move struck home and Tantabus' legs were kicked out from under her. Twilight used her magic to push her legs in the opposite direction and upward instantly, bucking her opponent in the side even as she fell. She kept the momentum going and spun back round, firing her magic at point blank range. The attack threw Tantabus skyward, roughly a hundred feet in the air.

Twilight was on top of her instantly, teleporting into her path and gripping her in her magic. Gravity kicked in quickly, dragging them both back toward the ground. She used the momentum to throw Tantabus downward like a meteor, teleporting back to the ground for another follow up strike. Just as she fired in time to met the falling unicorn, Tantabus brought up a barrier of her own to cushion the landing. The beam reflected straight back at its point of origin, forcing Twilight to bring another shield of her own up. The attack was send flying back again, bouncing between the two at a pace almost too fast to see before she angled her shield to send it skyward. The delay allowed Tantabus time to land and get back to her hooves, a look of grim determination on her face as she shook the dirt off her coat. The fight had moved toward the center of Ponyville during the last round of engagement, putting them just outside town hall.

"Such a shame you keep worrying about the dregs around us," Tantabus commented as she clambered out of the small crater left by her landing. "If you went all out, you'd probably stand a chance."

Twilight growled in anger but refused to rise to the bait. Tantabus sighed in disappointment and snapped her head sideways, firing a sudden burst of magic to her left. Twilight realised that she was aiming at a group of ponies that were fleeing toward the park and fired a focused beam to intercept the strike. She couldn't hit the entire thing but her magic struck roughly a quarter of the way into the burst, sending out a shower of white sparks as the streams of magic burned each other out. Tantabus responded with a sweeping beam of her own, forcing Twilight to keep her magic going until the two of them were circling each other, locked in a struggle to overpower the other.

As Twilight took a step back, she took stock of the situation. Under normal circumstances she would be able to use the difference in alicorn magic against unicorn magic utilised by an alicorn to seize the advantage. Tantabus was right though. The risk to others still kept her from going all out, even now she was getting singed as stray sparks hit her face and wings. There was still a lingering fear at the back of her mind too, a sense of familiarity. Her gaze momentarily went north and her eyes widened as she realised what it was. Through the smoke building in the skies and debris scattered on the ground, her castle was visible in the darkness.

From here, the view bore a chilling resemblance to how it had looked in her nightmare. Just before she had fired upon it.

Her focus wavered for the faintest of seconds, enough for her aim to slip. A thin stream of Tantabus' magic slipped around hers and struck her in the right shoulder. Her focus shattered as the pain overwhelmed her adrenaline, adding onto everything else she had suffered. Twilight gave a strangled cry and collapsed backward, Tantabus' magic barely missing her. Her opponent was upon her before she could respond, pummelling her with her bare hooves for several seconds before throwing her back with her magic. Each one had been a calculated hit, striking muscles in her legs and joints to limit her movements. Twilight yelped in pain as she skidded to a halt, her legs feeling like they were on fire. Burning almost as hard as the building behind Tantabus, silhouetting her in its hellish glow.

"See what I mean?" Tantabus replied coldly, watching as Twilight struggled in vain to get up again. She had cuts, burns and scrapes to her chest, shoulders, wings, face and all four legs. By contrast, Tantabus had come out relatively clean with only her torso and hind legs covered in bruises. "You don't even know why I'm doing this, do you?"

"Aurora did," Twilight countered, forcing herself back onto her front. She felt like she was going to black out but willed herself to keep going. "You haven't broken our spirits. You never will, when we can help each other remain standing..."

"Pathetic sentiment. Rise up a thousand times and I shall strike you down a thousand times," Tantabus replied coldly, turning away from Twilight. "And I shall strike harder every time."

It took a moment for Twilight to understand what she meant. Then she realised that her horn was levelled at the castle.

Pinkie gritted her teeth as she clambered up to the fifth row of books in the castle library. Almost all the scrolls and books she had been tasked to find had been moved to the foyer by now, ready for transport out to anywhere that wasn't here. As soon as Apple Bloom was back, they could get them both out of Ponyville together. Even through the solid crystal walls she could hear the chaos of fighting, knowing full well that Twilight was buying her time now. All she could do to help was trust they would both be able to do their part.

"Unabridged History of Amulets in old ponish, where are youuu?" She said to herself as she crawled along the edge of the bookshelf bookshelf, scanning each title. After a few moments she found the book and pulled it out, placing it on the shelf above. She quickly reached into the open space and pushed open the secret compartment at the back of the shelf, reaching in to grab the book hidden there. As advanced and dangerous as all this stuff was, she knew Twilight needed it all to stand a chance of succeeding with creating a spell capable of dealing with Tantabus for good.

Pinkie dropped back down to the ground and paused to check out the window. She couldn't hear fighting anymore, could hardly see anything through the smoke and flames that seemed to be blanketing the town. Then she felt her pinkie sense kicking in hard, her knee getting pinchy followed by her everything twitching all at once. It wasn't like the doozy shudder, or anything else she'd experienced before. She instantly knew what it meant though.

"Ah'm here, Pinball!" Apple Bloom's voice suddenly ran out from outside the library, her hooves thundering this way. That explained the knee, Pinkie briefly thought to herself as she realised what was about to happen. What she needed to do in the precious few seconds she had.

"Bloomie!" She cried, waiting for the earth mare to appear before throwing the book across the room to her. "Take this and go!"

"What?" Apple Bloom asked in confusion as she caught the book.

"Run! Ple-"

Before she could finish, Pinkie heard an ever so faint ching of magic hitting the exterior of the castle, right by the window she'd looked out of.

She had enough time to meet eyes with her lover before the library exploded behind her.