Answer Me

"...so..." the Nightmare stated as she exhaled a sigh, her eyes once more pools of blue, red, and yellow. "He succeeded in defeating this Storm King" she said with no attempt at hiding her derision. "Strange he did not end the battle quickly. From what you say he certainly had the magical strength to perform such a feat, even if he didn't have the exact magical control."

"Yes, well, I suppose that was a...charming quality he had" Rarity coughed lightly.

"Or a manipulative one", Rainbow Dash sullenly supplied.

"Yes, what else?"

"After Overcast won he was out of it for a week. Sunburst kept a close eye on him and even managed a watch around his room, keeping track of anypony that went in or out."

"I fail to see how this does not prove implications of collusion Princess Shimmer. You said it yourself, they weren't cousins--"

"They were the same pony, or at least, shared the same body."

As if the wind had died, Nightmare Moon's mane froze. The abyss of night that was her mane froze in place for several seconds as the Nightmare's eyes widened, then with hesitation, she spoke.

"...what?"

Sunset and her allies shared a glance. "He and Sunburst aren't cousins, as you correctly said Empress." Trixie answered. "We think he was some sort of demon or some sort of...consciousness that was either summoned or created when Sunburst and Tirek fought."

Eyes widening as the memory of that unicorn appearing to her rescue in the vision flashed through her mind, she blinked. "They fought?"

Twilight nodded. "Yes, but not a magical battle."

"Explain, in detail."

"Well..." a glance to her peers with a single nod was all the confirmation she needed. "When Tirek escaped Tartarus, he set six demons free and used them as pawns to distract the Princess, Her military, her allies, and us. While they attacked various points of Equestria Tirek used their energy signatures to distract Discord so he could amass stolen magic."

"Tirek" Blueblood continued, "went on to drain magic under the radar of all that chaos. At least that's what we figured after we were too late. He went through every city those monsters hit then sneaked off to other areas while we cleaned up his mess."

The court room doors opened and Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie emerged, the pink one picking up where Blueblood had left off.

"He got everypony in both the south and mainland Equestria! He even got the Princess, Empress! It was crazy!"

Eyes widening, Nightmare Moon could not help but shiver.

Crazy she thought, she could recall that manic look in his eyes all those eons ago when they'd been forced to send him away. To exile him to another land only for him to come back for vengeance. The hatred in his eyes.

"Empress--"

Horn flaring to life Nightmare Moon growled a warning. "Stay where you are" she hissed. And thank the Creators, they listened. The hoofsteps subsided and they came no closer.

To have devoured the magic of not thousands but millions and her fallen sister's?

Willing herself to stop her shaking legs and regain control of her twitching wings, Nightmare Moon realized something horrible as she calmed her mind a image from that vision came to mind.

"...did he" her mouth suddenly felt dry. Was that murmuring...the voices, they were speaking to her- saying something--

"Did he...take Discord's magic?" she asked.

She got a nod.

It was amazing how Equestria had survived without her.

"How?" she took steps forward then forced herself to stop. "How did you, how could this Arcanist face someone with all that magic?" incredulity written all over her face. "How did he stall him?"

Cadence smiled proudly, but it was a sad smile. Not one that reached her eyes. "He used his head."

She blinked and for a moment she almost gave in to the voices chanting blood, death, murder, till that other voice- her other half pushed her to say "how?"

"Sunburst was always brilliant in magic theory" Shining Armor smiled. "Actually first met him in one of my classes. But... While he was great at theory and application of theory, he wasn't really good at...casting."

"He didn't have the strength to cast advanced spells, and his body couldn't handle it if he strained. He'd give himself migraines or bloody noses, might even get the Shakes if he pushed himself too hard." Cadence said. "Starlight followed him all the way into the Gifted and he was so frustrated when she was performing levels of magic that he struggled terribly with, it actually almost ruined their friendship."

"But", Shining interjected. "He finally grew up. Ponied up and apologized for his attitude and they became better friends for it. But if you think that Sunburst muscled his way through it, you'd be wrong. He had to find other ways to make his magic stronger. All of which only lasted for a time."

"And during that fight he didn't have any of those do-dads on him" Applejack informed. "All we know is they got into some kinda mental duel, if Tirek won, he'd get the knowledge Sunburst could provide him for his means, all Sunburst did was buy his team time to retrieve the Elements from their hiding place. By the time we got to him, he was already losing the fight."

"At least till something happened and Tirek started retreating. After that--"

"No" Nightmare Moon stomped a hoof for silence, silencing Pinkie. "I know the rest. Or at least what the papers offer." Looking at the floor, the empress of the night thought. She stayed silent for nearly a full two minutes, then said "...so he wasn't...real?"

Cadence wasn't sure why, but she was sure she heard a waver in that pitch. A mixture of anger, dissapointment, perhaps even frustration flowed in like a torrent from the nightmarish alicorn and for some reason, she got the sense this next answer would have to be approached carefully.

"Of course not silly!"

Horn igniting, nostrils flaring, Nightmare Moon turned to-

Pinkie wasn't smiling, in fact she was frowning. The high pitch of her voice almost made it sound like she'd been mocking them when she said that, then had the teats to add 'silly' at the end.

"He was real! I know he was!" she continued. "I may not have liked how he turned out to be, but whatever he was, Overcast wasn't some magical weirdness Tirek set to get rid of us. I mean..." the curls deflated here, "he did help us with the antenna, he stopped the storm king even if what he did in the end was terrible, and... I know he cared" she put both hooves on her chest, "I can feel it...even if nopony else believes it. He really did care... He had to...because he knew how dangerous the Elements were to him and he never once, not in that whole fight when we started that civil war with him, he didn't ever try to kill us. Not even when he sided with Chrysalis. Not when he recruited those jerk mob lords as his soldiers against us, and not when he had every chance to put an end to one of us and render the Elements useless."

"Maybe", Pinkie continued and wiped a tear away, "maybe he did want to do something horrible to stop us. Maybe Sunburst stopped him somehow, but I don't think he would have ever done it. I just...feel it."

There was a lapse. A silence. A pause. Then-

"...that was..." Nightmare's horn dimmed, "touching " she straightened. "Yet that leaves another question open."

Twilight glanced at her friends, then after a look with the representatives, shook her head. "I'm sorry Empress, but we've answered everything we could. We have the smallest amount of information relating to Overcast. The only ones that truly know anything are Sunburst and Discord."

Staring blankly for a second then smiling, Nightmare Moon's ears perked. "Is that so?"

"Yes" Trixie replied. "Trixie believes--"

"It is time for my rule to return." Then without a word she raised a shield as several spells slammed into it.

Eyes glowing white, soaring on unnatural winds, wings closed, moving towards the sky, the higher Nightmare Moon went, the darker the sky became as the afternoon day was shrouded in the shadows of a blackening sky.

An overcast sky rained upon the world and Equestria was reminded of why they should fear the night and worship She who is its Mistress.

Scowling she felt a pull against her moon, her right, her rule and instantly she was hit with the memories of that familiar feeling, that unnatural tug-- Discord!

She could almost hear his mocking laughter as if he were right there next to her.

"I WILL NOT GO BACK!" many thoughts without voices screamed as one. "Never again will We return to that insufferable space!"

And then her horn gained a second corona. The whole ground shook as both Nightmare Moon and her shield were enchanted, toughened then slammed into the ground like an airship ripped out of the sky bringing ruin to the surface, levelling it and cracking marble as the whole floor rolled like a angry wave moving forward, lifting and dropping griffons, Earthers, unicorns, as well as royals. Debris threatened the flyers who quickly moved their allies to the shields of unicorns that were quick to recover and in the midst of the chaos the Nightmare, that mare of darkness, spread her wings as she crouched low and launched herself into the air with a sonicboom that pushed, shoved and knocked down some shields and shattered several stained windows.

With a crack and boom, she pierced through the cieling like it was paper and was in the clear air in seconds.

But then, her ear twitched.

A blur of color followed right behind her, the second sonicboom following hers just now reaching her ears. She moved her eye, caught sight of the pegasus, and then angled her feathers to jerk herself to the right at an angle that let the pegasus miss her.

But Rainbow Dash was a Wonderbolt and the Nightmare knew she would be back on her in seconds.

She was almost right. The pegasus got her sooner.

The slam of enchanted shoes that hit her pauldrons sent her spiralling back towards the castle. The shoes glowing black and grey briefly before flickering to red as the pegasus circled with a leery scowl.

Down the dark alicorn went, losing altitude till she rolled, curled into herself with a snap of her shut wings and righted her trajectory as she spread out again and banked in a arc up to face her opponent.

Thou truly art a foolish mare.

Rainbow Dash winced at the booming voice, snarled as she rubbed her ears, then replied "I've been with your sister, you don't scare-- woah!"

Snapping her wings closed she dodged the beam of magic, then turned the fall into a nose dive as concussion beam after concussion beam went soaring past her.

A blaring alarm had sounded now and the whole city was now in uproar down below. Rainbow gave the signalling alarm little mind though as she jerked and twisted in the sky, trying to stay alive.

"Could really use some back up here-- wah!" a beam of energy went soaring past, close enough for her to feel the heat of that beam. Looking behind her she saw another flash follow by the rush of another beam of light and angling her wings she curved up-

Only to see the Nightmare flash above her, her lips a moue of delight as she nodded, and sent a beam of light like a spear, flying towards the pegasus.

Goodbye Loyalty and as predicted, the pegasus swerved, the dark alicorn lined up her strike and fired.

Time seemed to slow for the briefest of seconds. Rainbow had been in many aerial maneuvers and taken up a few tasks herself both as an Element and a Wonderbolt.

This was a dodge she couldn't pull off. The lance of light was aimed at her underbelly, and if it pierced, she would undoubtedly plummet like a rock right off Canterlot.

The shoes the words echoed from nowhere into her mind, use them, a memory clawed at the surface as the world became to bright and her eyes widened--

"So" the pegasus hovered, "what did you want to show me?"

The rust orange stallion looked up at his companion and smiled a strange smile. While Twilight was all too eager to ask, Rainbow had not been present the first introduction to Sunbuster's cousin. She did see a sort of resemblance though, coat wise. But...the teeth were a bit...strange.

Ponies didn't have canines, and this stallion was no legendary hippogriff. And according to Twi, he wasn't a changeling either, the young alicorn princess had checked upon the first meeting...just to make sure Sunburst wasn't being deceived.

Still she ignored it, no matter how odd his teeth were or his bouts of quirkiness at the natures of Equestrian culture, he was good for a good joke, and that alone, even if pranks weren't entirely his thing, made him okay in her book.

Wasn't too bad looking either, but, she wasn't about to tell him that. Some stallions just let that get into their head and she'd rather not deal with him looking too much into that. Bragging was her thing after all.

"I have something for you" he said with that strange smile. "A gift."

She raised a brow. "A gift?" Rainbow had a look around the blacksmith workshop and all the metal and instruments around. "Why?" this wasn't a prank was it?

It was his turn to quirk a brow. "What do you mean why? I want to give you something."

"Yeah, but like...why?" he really knew how to get somepony curious though. Just what kind of gift could he have gotten her. They hadn't hung out as much in the past few weeks. Sure he came not long after the whole Tirek incident to check on his cousin but still, wasn't like he did any construction around Ponyville. Sides trips between Canterlot took three hours by train, well less if it were her but still. "Outside of Pinkie's 'welcome to Equestria and our world party', we haven't hung out enough for surprise gift exchanges."

The brow rose a bit higher. "Where I come from it is courtesy to give a gift to a friend. Well, maybe not exactly the way I'm doing it here, but, the point stands. I want to give you something. Do you want it or not?"

"Hmmmm" she made a show of rubbing her chin, really milking this whole not interested thing when she clearly was itching to figure out what he got her.

Overcast for his part didn't roll his eyes.

"So you don't want it then?" he frowned. Kind of cute, whatever though so was Soarin when he was stuffing his muzzle with pies.

"Welllllll" she landed, "I never said that--"

"You implied it."

"Whoa!" her wings flared, "when?! Look just show me what you got, I'll stop goofing."

It was now his turn to "hmmmmm..."

"Overcast!" she whined. He chuckled, then with a glow of his horn a metal box appeared.

"Open it," he instructed with his smile as he looked down at her. "I'll need some time to enchant it so it opens only for you but have a look, try them on if you like, they are yours."

Try them on? "Well alright then." Reaching over she flipped the lid and she raised a brow. "Uh..." she failed to hide the disappointment, "shoes?" she looked up at him on her left.

He beamed and nodded. "Yup, try them on" he urged.

"Uhhhh, I know your new to Equestria and all" don't blush, don't blush-- "but you don't really give horseshoes to somepony unless...yknow..." her wings twitched and Rainbow had to fight back the scowl as she felt a familiar tension in her back starting to build, "I uh, am flattered though."

Confused, the stallion looked between her and the box. "What are you talking about."

She whinnied, "Look I get it, you aren't the first to do something like this because I'm an Element Bearer and all--"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"--and if it probably weren't for the Elements, we wouldn't be getting as many suitors and all that, so while I appreciate the whole gesture, I'm not really interested in getting married or locked down just yet. I mean I've had tons of suitors, the most out of my friends, even--"

"I uh, haven't said anything to imply you--"

"--AND while it's kind of sweet and..." she muttered as the dark blue blush spread to her cheeks, "a little creepy, what with just meeting a few times and all--"

"Rainbow Dash" he said firmly.

"Look, you don't--" magic guided her face back up to his and she met his eyes.

Those grey pools of mercury, those eyes of silver, something almost obsidian, she was about to cut him off more but she just....couldn't.

For a second she thought he was a changeling and she looked at his horn to see if there was any flash or any glow or something to signal he wasn't real but he was...normal, in a weird way.

So she looked back into his eyes and completely forgot he wasn't still holding her head to look at him anymore.

"I'm sorry for the misunderstanding but this isn't a proposal. I'm not trying to court you my vibrant warrior."

"Oh..." the blush intensified but she forced it down and made to look away but when he reached out with a hoof and looked up back to him, her heart started pounding and for some reason she felt the need to shift, uncomfortable in here all of a sudden.

"I'm sure whoever takes your heart, or that of your friends, would be the luckiest being in the world. You all are treasures, especially you my dear."

The blush returned.

For a second, maybe longer, all she did was drink in those grey eyes. She never realized how cool grey was. Always seemed so dull, so lifeless, so boring. And now that she really looked at his eyes it almost looked like the right was slightly different in color to the left, or maybe slightly off... I should really stop staring at him now.

But she didn't, till he smiled and nuzzled her amicably.

"Sorry, got lost in your eyes there. You ponies have such beautiful eyes."

"Uh-huh" she dumbly said, not really registering his words, more registering the praise. She puffed out her chest when he broke contact, grinning a confident look of cockiness. "Of course I've got amazing eyes, I'm the best."

"Yes, you certainly are" he chuckled. "Now would you please try out these shoes. Please?"

She looked back at the box on her right, his left. Eyed the shoes for a few seconds then looked back to him and saw him waiting. With a sigh, she nodded.

"Fine" she chuckled when he heard the coltish 'yes! Success!'

It took a few minutes but she slipped the shods on, felt them click to the tip of her hooves and settle in nicely.

"Did you get these measurements from--"

"Rarity" they both said.

"Of course. So what are you getting the others?"

"Secret" he smiled. "Now, how does that feel?"

She trotted around a bit. Ponies generally didn't need shoes. Their hooves had magically evolved to take a lot of punishment though infections and disease couldn't be ruled out. Earth ponies had the sturdiest hooves, as did donkeys, pegasi and unicorns, well they could handle their fair share but the right mark also went a long way in helping the body adjust to its mark.

"How does it feel?"

"Real nice actually" she smiled. She would never admit she had never worn shoes before. Flight camp was designed to toughen their bodies up and she'd been doing that for years she had no need for protective shoes that few pegasi smiths might wear when dealing with their crafts.

"Good. I enchanted them to be lightweight. Won't slow you down, and they give you a bit of a energy boost by converting ambient mana to your wingfield, gives you a bit more energy when you aren't wearing them and when you need it. Should come in handy someday. But there's another feature."

"Oh really?" she grinned. "What is it?"

"I'll let you see it for yourself. Click either your hind hooves or your front, do it twice."

"What happens?"

"You'll see."

She clicked them twice and--

The world exploded as the spell slammed into Rainbow Dash.

Nightmare Moon eyed the smoke cloud for several seconds, her eyes becoming slits as she saw nothing, then her ears perked when she heard the buzzing of wings.

"Nightmare Moon!" shouted a lead changeling, leading pegasi, griffons, and other changeling into the air. The sand brown changeling flew from the hole the dark princess had created and buzzed towards her direction with his flock of troops. "You have broken your promise! Cease and desist or you will be under lockdown!"

She laughed, laughed a horrible cackle that echoed across the mountain. "You think you can stop me" her horn glowed. You can't possibly imagine who you face!"

"But I can!"

And then for the second time, she was thrown across the field as a armored pegasus slammed into her. Rainbow Dash bulldozed the alicorn, slamming into her like a truck on a leaf. Nightmare Moon went careening backwards, dazed, as she went flying away.

When she righted herself once more, the mare she thought she'd killed rose between her and the troops come to meet her. Blue armor surrounded her, her body was decked out in it. The underbelly was defended, the head and chin protected, the wings decorated in metal with blades at the outer feathers and along the wingspan. In the tug of war that went on with the moon in the sky, Rainbow glistened in the red and white light, a bird of death, a menace to evil.

She also wore a infuriating grin.

"Well then," the Nightmare said, her horn alight as she continued her struggle with unseen forces for her moon, "let the games..." she rose higher into the air, "begin."

And with a blink she was gone.

Like a wrecking ball, she came crashing down towards a griffon, the same one she had met at the hall-

The image of a bloody knife flashed into her eye, the lifeless eyes as she--

One of the sand brown changelings shot a spell and it sent her completely off course. Right towards Rainbow Dash who used her armor to slam into her and down together they went.

A hoof shot out and somehow, despite the immense difference in strength, managed to make Nightmare's head snap to the left as it met her chin.

We do not like this.

She returned the favor, and instead of her armored hoof punching through that cheap armor like it wasn't even there, it didn't. Her hoof met resistance.

This, caught her off guard.

Tears streaming off her eyes, probably from the wind, Rainbow Dash snarled, and hit back. The blow connected, and that made the Nightmare's eyes flash a dangerous red.

Tumbling through the air, free falling, gaining closer to the city grounds, the alicorn headbutted her opponent, it connected and the pegasus went spiralling off, dazed.

Spreading her wings to regain altitude the Nightmare slowed enough she could go back up, only to be met by changeling fire from horns shooting blasts of magic, one connected and the spell shattered after a second of contact with her enchanted armor, the brief stiffness in her left feathered wing leaving her. She shot back, leaving the pegasus to her doom.

Zooming up to meet her opponents the alicorn swatted the few dragons that came to the rescue of the soldiers, smacking them out of the air with a telekinetic sweep and taking great satisfaction in the sound of their yelps of pain. She laughed at the ones who dodged, and took glee when three sucked wind and breathed out streams of red, blue, and normal, fire.

"Yes!" the dark empress shouted, shooting towards the streams of flame with careless abandon. Her moon slowly looming like a door, almost closing, almost blocking out the light, as she draped spell after spell of fortification on her exposed regions and disappeared into the ire of fire.

The dragons eyes widened, immediately they cut off their flames, the troops stopping their advancement and circling and then a second later, as the smoke and fire mixed, the Nightmare flew out and clashed horns with the first dragon in her sight.

"I will take great pleasure in showing you just how terrifying the night can be" the red pupiled alicorn whispered.

"Gah!" with a crack his nose horn broke off and with a jab, she gored into his arm, swinging him towards his allies as they tried to come to his rescue.

"LUNA!"

Eyes moved, and there Sunset was. Flying on wings of magic. "Stop this please", then joined Cadence. "We don't want to fight you!"

"You brought the Elements to this meeting!" her voice echoed over the distance. "You wanted this fight!"

"We made a mistake!" Cadence said. "Please, fight this! We know you can! Fight the demons!"

"The only demons We see" her horn glowed brighter, "are you!" she turned grabbed the dragon that was about to shoot her down, and with a jerking motion, snapped his neck clean off his body.

Shouting angrily, Sunset charged.

"I warned you!" she yelled, and then she became nothing but living fire, her eyes wells of light.

"And I told you", the Nightmare could feel the tug drawing their way, the sky becoming darker, the sun slowly being overshadowed, she could feel herself becoming stronger,"I would not be denied my rule."

The unicorn fired a beam of plasma at her opponent, and in return, the Nightmare raised a shield and angled that beam onto the representatives allies.

Pegasi, griffon, changelings, the few dragons, they all flew out of the way of the beam or turned around and fled, abandoning their initial goal of providing support. All while Nightmare Moon laughed maniacally, till the beam stopped and she felt a force slam into her and shake her off course.

"Stop!"

"Ah Princess Twilight" the dark one said smugly behind her own shield, "so nice of you to finally join us!"

"You are lucky" the purple alicorn snarled, "that his armor protected my friend or else--"

"Or else what?"

The sonicboom shook the very air and together, they went zooming over Canterlot, heading straight for the edge of the city's mountain.

Nightmare Moon dissipated her shield and tried to use their velocity to simply slip past the orb of a shield Twilight was in and had used to slam into hers but the second she broke it, magic grabbed her and then with a shriek of pure unleashed anger, the alicorn hurled the dark one over Canterlot's edge and threw her towards the ground thousands of meters below.

Wind whipped by like a whistle in her ears, up was up and down was coming up happily to meet her. Attempts at flapping did nothing and the speed she was going made it almost impossible for her to try and maneuver her body in anyway to turn it into a dive-and-fly. She had two options: take the hit and from what she could see that little one was charging her horn to make sure they stayed down, or use the shield to absorb the blow.

Using the shield would be more painful than taking the hit.

But, there was a third option.

The Nightmare teleported.

And reappeared in the air, going left, moving at the same speed, instead of going down. She had been lucky nothing was behind her or else--

"It's over Nightmare Moon!" Twilight shouted. "You can't win!"

And that's when her eyes widened when she realized she wasn't still pushing the moon. The world had gotten oddly brighter since she had been tossed and now she knew why.

"No!" eyes pools of white. Her horn glowed, and the tug was back on.

Righting herself, she took the speed and flew with it. Aether beams were shot at her and they zoomed back up the mountain. Cadence shot off a blast of magic as they came up, it knicked her and almost instantly a bombardment of emotions caused the dark one to go tumbling out of the sky. Sunset waited at the end ready to catch her but--

We will never return to our prison, this realm will be ours. Your protectors are gone, your heroes cannot stop us, and the Lord of chaos will mean nothing to a being of our combined might.

The Nightmare's eyes snapped open and with a brilliant green glow she unleashed a spell that struck the flying unicorn. And down Sunset went, her expression of surprise as she slowly became nothing more than stone.

In the distance, a pegasus dove after her, his blue mane whipping in the wind as they disappeared into the city.

"Sunset!" Trixie on the scene shouted. "You--"

Begone, insect. And with a spear of light the great and powerful would have been dust and charred fur had she not teleported.

Beams of arcane light went flying in her direction, one pink the other orchid. Magical projectiles from slingfire thundered over as pegasi and griffons fired non-lethal rounds but magical charges to paralyze the possessed princess.

Pathetic Nightmare Moon boomed and she swept it all away with a spherical explosion of magical energy. The sky now nothing but shadows, nearly blocked all of the Sun. The enchantress of light was gone, her students could not win, and the Moon's time had come. Voices chanted drowning out the most important ones, hundreds of voices spoke in her mind and the dark empress of the night, the witch of moonlight listened.

With every inch the moon gained over the sun, the stronger she became--

Then the sun shifted to the right, and now the world wasn't entirely dark.

Blind fury poisoned her veins and she was certain the master of chaos was mocking her. She could hear him practically giggling.

He shifted it, she shifted it and all while she had to duel her enemies on all sides.

Enough!

The sound pushed back on all sides and her shout echoed for miles as she fought the lord of madness for the right of the Sun now.

"Luna!" Cadence matched the voice back. "Give up!"

"Never!"

The moment she said that, Trixie appeared out of nowhere from the corner of her eye, hit her with a flash spell, blinding her momentarily, and then knocked her out of the air which was followed by Sunset's return by way of crashing into her.

Down they went. Slamming into the castle's buttress, bouncing off that then heading into the city. They crashed into the road, throwing cobblestones and dirt, and then skipped off the ground before they came to a stop.

The two were surrounded by surprised guards herding citizens out of the streets, but they ignored this. Both breathing deeply. Sunset blew her bangs out of her eyes and Nightmare Moon shifted her stance as the two eyed one another, clearly less winded of the two.

"You fight well, for a mortal."

"Thanks, I got my lessons from kicking demons back into their infernal realms."

The Nightmare laughed at this, her red irises contracting making the eyes becoming slitted. "Is that supposed to scare us? The demons of Tartarus were sent there because they were caught. It was made to keep the ones that couldn't follow the rules trapped there."

"And what exactly does that make you?" Sunset asked.

"I'm just a Nightmare", she lunged, but didn't go for the representative, she went for the soldiers.

Grabbing one pegasus with her field by the tail, she dragged him in and then with a eye-widening grin, opened her mouth and prepared to sink her fangs in--

A sparkling blast of telekinesis sent Nightmare Moon out as the guard was teleported away in a orange glow. Tempest Shadow appeared on the scene and began hitting the dark empress with strike after strike, accompanied by Moondancer who played defense where the other was offense. They struck and blocked, providing Sunset moments to strike, all while Blueblood moved with an army of groundpounders at his side and changelings of that sand brown complexion above, moving the citizen and surprised guards into action.

Snarling the Nightmare rose on her hindlegs and slammed the ground with her forelegs, it shook and caused buildings to vibrate, glass to rattle, and cracks to appear on the ground.

Tempest, Sunset, and Moondancer waited the worst of it out then threw a combined thauma beam at their enemy forcing her to take flight.

Twilight, Trixie and Flash appeared with sky support, a iron mare looming with a scowl through prismatic bangs.

The Nightmare snarledn she became a gas of nebula and made to slip past but a rose pink dome slammed into the ground, imbedding itself and when she turned Shining Armor stood not far, his horn glowing in time with his wife's as they pressed against each other. Shortly, the ladies of Equestria joined as well.

"It's over", Twilight landed. "Give up Luna."

"Never!" the gaseous entity shouted. She slammed into the glass dome once, twice, thrice, but it did not give like before.

"Girls", Twilight called to her friends. "Let's end this, Pinkie do you have--"

"Got em!" she pulled the box out of mane.

Instantly the dark alicorn became solid and her eyes widened. Her horn glowed, calling out to the moon, whispering, pleading.

"Don't worry Princess, we'll set you free. You aren't going--" Twilight paused. A thrum filled the air for just a second. She looked around. "Did you guys--"

"Yeah", Trixie rubbed her horn. "It felt like--"

"Look!"

Eyes white masses of magical energy, mane and tail billowing rapidly, horn aglow, Nightmare Moon moved the moon back into place uttering whispers, the sky darkening, the sun shifting everywhere to avoid it but no matter where it went the moon followed closely. The alicorn whispered words out in the quietest of voices, like a gentle breeze and when the moon locked into place over the Sun both no longer moved.

Our time has come. We return to claim what is ours. This world we have protected for eons, as was our duty, yet scorn and distance were our own reward.

No more. No longer will you disrespect your Mistress. You will love the night as you loved the day. You will love me as you loved her, respect me as you respected her, or you will die.

With a nod, she shattered the shield. Knocking out both Shining Armor and Cadence.

With a look she dreamed up winds from her semi-astral mane and pushed aside the army in the skies.

With a whip of her tail she lashed the embers out of her starry lights onto the ground, creating walls of fire that grew and split the Bearers from each other.

Immediately Blueblood shouted, "shoot! Shoot her! Do it!"

They fired. Slings spewing bullets, casters sending magic but it did nothing. The glowing-eyed alicorn wasn't hit, her mane and tail merely absorbed the blows or the magic as she made her path straight towards Twilight.

Her field grabbed the alicorn, then grabbed Trixie, then grabbed Sunset--

Light exploded above, and the Nightmare looked up with her eyes of unblinking light towards it.

Starlight Glimmer appeared, her expression a look of fury, her mane billowing in the wind. The alicorn surveyed the damage and then with fury shouted: "RELEASE THEM DEMON!"

"Return to me my title," the alicorn of darkness said to the only star illuminating her sky, "and I shall."

Starlight's eyes narrowed. She replied with a beam of magic.

Nightmare responded by deflecting it with a shield.

"I am all-powerful now that my moon has risen and I have accepted my allies power."

"They will ruin you Luna!" the lone star shouted. "The Nightmare will bring you nothing but pain!"

"Wrong", the dark one corrected. "They have given me all I ever wanted. Surrender, or", her horn glowed and the star's friends screamed, "they will slumber eternal and their screams will fill your dreams."

"Don't do it!" Rainbow Dash screamed as she fought under the field glow of the lunar darkness.

"Fight her Starlight!" Trixie shouted.

"We believe in you!" Twilight yelled.

"But do you believe in them, Alicorn of Faith?" questioned the lunar darkness. "Submit."

Eyes aglow, scanning the faces of her friends, Starlight grimaced. Then she sighed. Then she descended, the etheral waves of energy leaving her as she landed.

The lunar darkness smiled. Her glowing eyes seeming to brighten. "And what is your title, Starlight?"

"I am the Princess of Dusk, the Princess of Faith, Lady Starlight Glimmer of House Starblaze."

The Nightmare hummed. "As princess you have the right to restore my title, what say you."

She didn't reply. She didn't say a word. The action chased off the smile Luna sported and the night given by her moon casted an eery, almost demonic reddish-yellow across the sky and land as she waited for a reply that never came.

"What. Say. You?" her voice boomed and when she was met with silence, the stern frown became a cold stare.

"Fine."

And then they screamed. First Spike, then Trixie. Then Sunset followed by Blueblood. Luna willed them to feel pain, dreamed they felt pain, and it became real. Soon Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, Tempest and Moondancer were screaming then more citizens were screaming across Canterlot and their voices were being magnified right before their very ears.

"Only you can end this Starlight" Luna's voice, no, Starlight said to herself, that wasn't Luna, the demon's voice rang clear through the screaming. She covered splayed her ears, trying to block out the sound as they pressed to her head but she couldn't and she buckled and the screams were in her head, in her mind--

In the distance, there was a twinkle in the empty sky that only the moon held. The twinkle came once. Twice. Thrice. Four times, then the object, whatever it was, zoomed across the sky, towards the moon--

The Nightmare looked up. Her unblinking eyes of light squinting.

"What?" she whispered, their ears perked and watched the twinkle passing over her moon. "What do you mean?"

The twinkle stopped not that anyone paid attention, they were too busy screaming, torturing Starlight who was trying not to scream herself. It stopped right at the moon, shined--

And then the Nightmare felt the tug, the unnatural tug as Discord began to pull.

"No!" the lunar darkness shouted. Her eyes widening and before her very eyes, the twinkle resumed its course before it disappeared as the moon left the sky and the sun returned, taking away her power, righting reality, and--

"Luna."

Nightmare Moon turned, startled.

Twilight and her allies stood there. They had surrounded her. The empress of the night looked around, look of a surprise on her face, Starlight Glimmer flying above, watching her.

"Its over."

And as the Princess of friendship said this, the Elements glowed.