Sun Slayer's radiance

A bolt of lavender magic struck a demon in the face before it could feast on the terrified mare in its grabs. It fell to the ground unconscious and the mare wasted no time running away. Twilight sparkle’s breath was heavy and labored as her horn glowed brightly, Rarity in the background waving ponies to safety.

Even though the two were having fun before, the explosion and demon changeling attack happened so fast that the studious alicorn wanted to believe it was a bad dream. But she pushed her fear aside when she saw a small group of demon changelings rushing at the escaping ponies. Twilight surrounded them in her magical aura and, with a grunt, flung them to the sky. She collapsed in exhaustion and felt as if she had run an entire marathon with Rainbow dash.

“Darling, are you alright?” Rarity asked with concern on her face. Twilight slowly nodded, standing up on shaky legs.

“Yes, I’m fine.” Another explosion went off in the distance, causing the pair to flinch, “We need to find Yoriichi and the others and figure out what is going on!” Twilight unfurled her wings and got into a low stance.”Make sure to get everypony you can out of the festival safely.” Rarity nodded in response.

With that, the alicorn took to the skies and scanned the ground for any sign of the swords pony. Luckily, she could make out the silhouettes of Yoriichi and Fluttershy rapidly running down a street, killing/ evading any demons they could.

On the ground, Yoriichi sliced the head off another demon and didn’t bother to look back. It had been only a hoof full of minutes, but no sign of his and Fluttershy's friends came into view. With the scale of the attack, Yoriichi could only think of how Muzan could get his hands on this quantity of creatures, much less convince them to turn willingly. As he slew another demon the sound of Fluttershy whimpering and tighter grip made him frown.

He needed to get her and the rest out of here and regroup with Michikatsu to take care of this massacre. Yoriichi stopped suddenly and looked up to notice Twilight descending and touching the ground in front of the pair.

“Thank Celestia I found you two, are you both unhurt?” She asked while approaching. Yorrichi nodded silently and removed Fluttershy from his back. She protested at first but seeing Twilight smiling at her calmed the shy mare. “Have you seen the others?” Twilight asked.

“N-No, we were searching as well. I think Rainbow and Applejack are still by the roller coaster, and I still haven’t seen Pinkie yet.” Her breathing became panicked as a million what if’s played in her mind. “What if they go ki-kil-hurt as well? Or what if they’re trapped under rubble and slowly suffocating?! What if-”

Fluttershy stopped ranting to see Twilight holding her shoulder, “It’s going to be alright, Fluttershy, our friends are tough and they wouldn’t go down without a fight.” She gave the shy mare a confident smile, which lightened her mood a bit. “Rarity is helping evacuate ponies to safety and I bet Pinkie is doing the best she can to help as well.”

“Miss Sparkle.” Yoriichi called out, getting both mare’s attention.”Take Fluttershy, find the rest, and get out of here. I have no doubt you all have great strength, but these creatures are beyond what you can handle at the moment, me and my brother shall handle things.”

“W-We can’t just leave you two all alone in this!” Fluttershy shouted, which caught the studious alicorn off guard.

Yoriichi lowered his gaze to the floor and sighed. “I know you worry about me, but I value innocent lives over my own. I can’t stand by and watch as you and your friend get slaughtered. It is my job to protect others, that is what it shall do.” Without waiting for a response, Yoriichi bolted off down the road. Fluttershy tried to follow, but Twilight’s magic trapping her tail stopped her from flying off.

“Come on, Fluttershy, we need to find the rest.” Twilight said in a somber tone. Turning around, the alicorn started to dash off in a different direction. Fluttershy took a second to look down the road Yoriichi fled down with a tear running down her face before running after Twilight.

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Canterlot castle was in chaos as soldiers, lunar and solar, ran about like decapitated chickens. The sudden attack on Canterlot caught the unsuspecting soldiers off guard and made getting squads and rescue teams ready a nightmare as certain night princesses couldn’t fix.

“Princess, evac team number six is ready for deployment, should we send them out right away?” Raven inkwell asked.

Celestia nodded without turning her gaze from the window. HER city was basically up in flames, HER ponies were getting killed off like wild animals, and HER student was in the middle of it all. Rage built itself up in the solar diarch heart as faint wisps of smoke emanate off her mane. Raven took the hint and quickly rushed out of the bed chambers. Although her rage never dwindled, it was never growing knowing that Yoriichi and his brother were there and that she had faith in her student to get through this.

Suddenly, a distant explosion rattled the castle and made the solar diarch lose balance. Hoping she didn’t think what she thought it was, Celestia charged her horn and disappeared into a flash of light. When she reappeared, her eyes widened in horror and disgust. The hall she teleported into had a giant hole in the wall exposing the outside charge to the castle's insides. Demons flooded into the hall. And worst of all, her and Luna's guards were utterly wiped out as the disgusting creatures feasted on their flesh. The sound of crunching bones and flesh was all that she could hear.

The solar guard was like a family in itself, every one of them she committed to memory, faces, names, general information, She took that to heart. To see what essentially was a second family to her getting slaughtered was the straw that broke the camel's back as she let out a roar of pure, unadulterated anger. Demons finally noticed the solar diarch and froze, or rather warmed up, at the sight of the alicorn's solar magic.

A big blast of magic shot from her horn and impacted a demon, getting another that was close by in the crossfire, and making them yell out in pain as their bodies burned and shriveled away.

“HOW DARE YOU!!!” She shouted. Demons recoiled but had no other choice but to take her out. Before they could even move a leg, Celestia shot forward and death gripped a demon's neck and chucked him down the hall. It flailed and screamed but fell silent as the demon's body slammed into the wall, leaving a blood stain and a few cracks as well.

Carnage unfolded with demons either trying to get a hit on Celestia or running in fear of her solar magic. All was useless as they all got squashed like the insects they were under her hoof. Limbs and insides flew in every direction, blood painted the flawless marble walls, and the screams of anger and fear filled the air as the solar diarch went to work.

How dare they do this! They had the gall to intrude on her kingdom and destroy it without thinking of the consequences. Even though Celestia could only see red, a small part of her could help but darkly laugh at the situation. The first changeling invasion was bad enough, she got bested by Chrysalis before and was helpless to stop her invasion as her student and her friends risked their lives. She blamed herself for not being strong enough for her ponies, that she could have done more, but then Twilight talked with her and sorted it out, leaving the situation in the past.

But this was different.

Her student could be or is already dead.

Her and Luna's guards were getting slaughtered.

Her ponies were in real danger this time.

And she wasn’t able to stop it…again.

Celestia screamed as tears of anger escaped her eyes. Why does this happen to her ponies? Why do they need to suffer because of things out of their control? Why couldn’t she save them all? Time and time again, it seemed that her over one thousand-year rule was crumbling down like a house of cards in a windstorm with every passing year. She couldn’t do anything without another pony's assistant, and it pained her. She was the most powerful alicorn to date! How could she not take care of her subjects after all this time?

With another pained roar, a section of the floor crumbled away and caused the alicorn and a now crushed demon to fall to the next floor. The demons on this floor instantly turned and attacked the alicorn.

“I will not allow you to proceed further!” She shouted in an opposing tone.

As she kept fighting, in the deep parts of the castle, guards ran through the halls in order to get rid of the invasion. But a solar guard stopped running when he noticed two guards going the opposite way.

“Hey! What are you idiots doing?! The fight is the other way!” He angrily shouted. The two guards turned to face him with strained looks.

“W-We forgot our spears. Sorry…”One of the guards said in a deep, ruff voice.

The irritated guard huffed in annoyance and waved them off. “Whatever. Just get your shit and hurry up!” He commanded, running off to join the fight. The two guards didn’t seem to react to his tone and chose to keep walking, nopony noticing the red shimmer over their eyes.

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As the farm mare and injured pegasus sneaked through the battlefield, Rainbow accidentally bumped into a piece of loose rubble and knocked it to the ground. They ducked their heads, nearly avoiding the eyes of surrounding demons.

“I don’t get it. What in the hay happened to starlight? Last time I checked, she wasn’t some space body freak!” Rainbow whispered to Applejack.

“Ah’m in the same boat as ya RD. But for now, we need to get out of here.” The farm mare continued crouching along, Rainbow was a few steps back due to her half-broken bones.

Something came into sight which made the two mares internally cheer in joy. The exit to the section of the festival was less than a few meters away and unguarded. Taking the chance, the two did their best impression of cockroaches and crawled on the ground as fast as they could. They were both halfway to the exit when a metal pole hanging from the Rollercoaster wreckage snapped off and landed right on Rainbow dash's wing, enticing a cracking sound from the broken appendage.

Rainbow dash bit her lip so hard that it drew blood in order to not scream from the electric pain shooting through her nerves. The pain caused her to collapse to the ground with tears welling in her eyes.
“RD are you okay?!” Applejack whispered shouted.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here~?”

The echoing voice made Applejack and Rainbow’s blood run cold as they slowly turned their heads to see the demon Starlight and a hoof-full of demons standing right beside them. “Hold them.” She commanded.

Time slowed as the demons pounced on the two mares. Rainbow was the first to be pinned down due to her still recovering and being dragged back. Applejack wanted to reach out a hoof but her legs automatically ran the other direction without waiting. A demon was about to grab onto the mare, but she reared back her hind legs and bucked the demon's face, causing it to cave in slightly. The others didn’t let down, they latched on like a patch of wool to Applejack and no matter how hard she tried to fight, the strength of the demons made her look like a foal in comparison.

“Let us go, Starlight!” Applejack demanded. A hoof from a demon changeling blocked her mouth, the taste of rotten flesh and dirt nearly made her vomit.

Starlight chuckled devilishly at the sight of the two elements struggling. “Do you think I would listen to you? Your friends stole everything from me when I was at the top! And now that I’m giving you all that you deserve, now you want to talk?” She said with venom dripping from each word that came from her mouth, “Also, it’s not Starlight anymore, it is-”

Starlight's eyes widened and she leaned her body back in time to avoid a purple blur with a blade from slicing her neck. When she turned to see her attacker, Michikatsu landed on the ground and faced the demon with a hateful scowl.

“I can’t believe I let Muzan turn me into one of you freaks.” He spat. Michikatsu deflected a magic blast from starlight and rushed at her.

“HA! A weakling like you believes that they can defeat me!?” The demon starlight charged her horn and shot a blast of vertically shaped magic sharp as a blade. Instead of deflecting or jumping over the attack as she suspected, Michikatsu went into a slide and took a deep breath.

“Moon breathing, Third Form: Loathsome Moon Chains.” Michikatsu swung his blade and an arch of crescent-shaped moons appeared from his attack, slicing the demons that were holding Rainbow dash and Applejack hostage. In one swift move, the lunar sword pony grabbed Applejack and rainbow dash by the barrels and spun around, slashing the fetlocks of Starlight. She roared in pain as her back legs gave out. The trio skidded to a stop, and the sound of multiple hooves approaching soon revealed themselves to be the rest of the elements, except for Pinkie.

“Oh my gosh!” Fluttershy gasped and rushed over to Rainbow dash. “Dashie, you're hurt, let me take care of you!” Her attempt was stopped by Rainbow getting on her shaky hooves.

“Heh, don’t worry Flutters. I still have some fight left in me.” She said with a wavering smirk.

The almost completed group’s reunion was ruined when a blast from Starlight was once again blocked by Michikatsu. “ How dare you! Get out of my way, you pathetic stallion!” Starlight yelled, but she growled when Michikatsu didn’t give in. The group suddenly became uneasy when the demon mare started to grin wickedly. “Wait, I think I’ve seen you before. In the cell's memories.”

Michikatsu felt a drop of sweat roll down his forehead, and his stance became stiffer. “We have never met before, that's for certain. Now stop talking and fight already!” He shouted.

Although the demon mare sneered at his aggression, it was passed off by her wider smirk when she realized something. “Oh oh oh~ You haven’t told them yet, have you…Kokushibo.” She said slowly.

Anxiety caused the Lunar swords pony to tremble slightly as he looked back at the confused glance of his friends. He whipped his head back around and glared at Starlight. “I said shut up!”

“Kokushibo? What is she saying?” Rarity asked confusingly.

“It’s funny, really-” Starlight chuckled,”-It’s always the secrets that friends keep that hurt the most. Well, to put it simply, your little friend here is, or was, a-”

A feeling of urgency came to Starlight's mind telling her to jump back. She did, and nearly got the same treatment as before, but by a different swords pony. “Sunflower thrust.” Was all the demon mare heard before a sword pierced her neck and sent her flying back into multiple food stands.

“Brother!” Michikatsu shouted, getting the attention of Yoriichi. “Where the hell were you?” He asked in an annoyed tone. “For someone who is better than me at speed, you sure took your damn time!”

“Sorry, Michikatsu, I had trouble locating the rest, and I got caught up with demons.” Yoriichi simply replied. “Now get the rest out of here, I’ll-” Before he could say another word, Michikatsu had walked to his younger brother's side with a stance at the ready.

“Like hell if you're doing all the work again. Besides, the ladies can handle themselves, we just need to keep Miss cranky over there busy” He nudged his head forward in the direction of Starlight, who was now recovering from her wounds and visibly pissed off.

The demon mare reared her forelegs back into the air and slammed them into the earth with the scent of blood filling the brother’s noses. “Blood demon art: Meteor shower!” She shouted as astral comments flew out from her horn and rapidly approached the brothers.

“Sun breathing, seventh form: Beneficent Radiance”

“Moon breathing, Fifth form: Moon spirit Calamitous Eddy”

The two jumped around, slashing and cutting the astral meteor into the smallest chunk they could. As they fought, they didn’t see the growing smirk on Starlight's face. She brought a hoof up and, once again, slammed it down on the ground. Yoriichi noticed something was off and quickly charged at his brother and shielded him in time as the bits of astral meteor exploded, catching the sun breather in the back and sending the brother to the ground.

Starlight's cackling laughter left her throat as she walked toward the now-exhausted brothers. “ You know, when master Muzan warned me of you, Yoriichi, I felt genuinely terrified. Didn’t help that Muzan cells kept reminding me of you.” Her horn glowed dangerously as Yoriichi rolled off his brother, sword still in his mouth. “Now, when I’m done with you, I can finish Twilight and her insufferable friends.”

Yoriichi was about to strike, but a pink and yellow blur smashed into Starlight and sent her back. The sword pony’s eyes widened when he saw Fluttershy hovering in place with her wings, snarling at Starlight with a hate-filled glare.

“Don’t you dare hurt my friends!” She shouted angrily. “We didn't do anything to hurt you. In fact, You were the one hurting others, and we tried to show you forgiveness.” She stomped a hoof into the stone. “So why, Starlight! Why are you doing this?!” Fluttershy recoiled at the sight of the pissed mare with a sadistic grin on her face.

“I don’t exactly remember a lot, but I know that you and your bucking friends were the ones responsible for wronging me.” Once more, Starlight charged her horn, “And my name is Stardust comet!” The demon mare kicked off the ground and charged at the shy mare. “Now die like the scum you all are!”