Chapter 10
"Right there!" Robert yelled, driving his fangs into Twilight's neck.
Twilight screamed out in pain, feeling blood ooze itself out of her body. The feeling of blood dripping from her, the feeling of teeth inside of her, the feeling of betrayal, the feeling of defeat, the feeling of abandonment, the feeling of being at the hooves of demons all ran through Twilight's head the moment Robert bit into her neck.
Soon after, Twilight felt the transformation start, and she tried her best to overcome this and stop said transformation, but her internal sobbing and external crying forbade that. Within minutes, Twilight fell to the likes of vamponies and was now becoming a blood thirsty psychopath!
What do I do? Twilight thought. What do I do? How will Princess Celestia react to this? What about Princess Luna? Was she all right? And my Lunar? Is he fine too?
"Rarity..." Twilight sadly started, fighting the tears. "Robert..."
"You brought this upon yourself, Twilight!" Robert shouted in reply.
"I'm sorry it had to be this way, Twilight," added Rarity, "but you forced us to do this to you!"
"Y-you...penetrated me." stammered Twilight.
"And now, you're one of us." Robert concluded.
"Princess Luna..." Twilight said, looking over to her, noticing that her body was on the floor. She then called out to the defeated Lunar, whom was still unconscious out in the hallway.
"Erm, uh, do-don't worry about them, Twilight." Robert said.
"Princess Luna and Prince Lunar are just fine." Rarity claimed.
You liar! thought Twilight.
Twilight got up, thanks to her incredible new strength and slowly approached Princess Luna. As she got closer, she realized that something was wrong with the Princess of the Night - she wasn't breathing; She wasn't breathing and her mane wasn't moving like it normally does.
"What did you do to the Princess!?" Twilight barked.
"Relax, Twilight," Robert answered in response.
"Relax?" reiterated Twilight. "Relax!? What in the hoof is wrong with you!? I will not relax after what you have done to me and to Princess Luna!"
"It's okay, Twilight!" Rarity tried explaining.
"No it is not!" Twilight shot back. "It is far from okay, you hear me!? She is not moving! Don't you realize what you've done!? You've killed one of the royal ponies of Equestria!"
"Twilight," Rarity started, "look again."
"Why should I!?" Twilight snapped. "All I know is that you'll show me a dead body, you mentally incapacitated freaks!"
"Twilight," Robert started, "look behind you."
"I'm fine, Princess Twilight." Twilight heard a voice say, a voice that sounded like Princess Luna's voice.
That got her to turn around and notice that Princess Luna was indeed fine. Twilight was amazed and shocked at how she was standing before me as if nothing had happened to her!
"But...I...how?"
"Vamponies heal a lot quicker from their injuries, Twilight," Luna explained, "I learned that...in an interesting way, let's say."
Twilight was still shocked and amazed at how Luna stood before her with no physical injuries appearing on her. Rarity and Robert explained it to Twilight that vamponies heal substantially faster than normal ponies, but she still could not believe it.
"One might want to check on how Prince Lunar is doing, Princess Twilight." Princess Luna exclaimed.
"Lunar!" Twilight remembered, running out of the room to check on her Prince.
Meanwhile, in the room, Rarity and Robert were both aware of the situation and continued on with their plans.
"Now that we have two Princesses as vamponies," Robert started, "we can-"
"We can alert Princess Celestia of this travesty!" interrupted Rarity.
"My sister!" Princess Luna shouted, rushing over to Twilight. "Twilight, we must travel to Canterlot to alert her of your new condition. As for Rarity and Robert, we'll explain that this was an overnight occurrence and explain that we don't know where they fled to."
"But what about Lunar?" Twilight hesitated.
"I shall send for a medical pony to help him and your friends at once, Princess Twilight," Luna told her, "we don't have much time to spare."
"I...If you say so, Luna..." Twilight replied, still hesitant about leaving Lunar and her friends behind.
"Come, Princess Twilight!" Luna said. "We must go."
Twilight nodded and followed Princess Luna out of the Carousel Boutique and up into the skies. Something just didn't seem right, however, and was bothering Twilight to a heavy degree.
It was as if this little scenario was scripted, Twilight contemplated to herself, not real at all, in other words.
She eventually decided to bring this up to Princess Luna's attention as they flew through the skies together towards Canterlot.
"Princess Luna?" started Twilight.
"Yes, Princess Twilight?" She replied.
"Something doesn't seem right, right?" Twilight said.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, doesn't it seem strange how those two are targeting Princesses such as you and I?" questioned Twilight.
"Perhaps it is just sheer coincidence." Luna answered.
"But when you came to help me," responded Twilight, "Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy were also there, but they didn't seem as if they were out to bring much harm to them like me. Then there is Lunar..."
"I do remember them tossing Prince Lunar aside and through a wall, remember?" Luna pointed out.
"...that's true," Twilight heeded, "but still...they only seemed interested in turning me into a vampony and not Lunar."
"Perhaps mares such as you and I are stronger than stallions in this particular state," Luna explained, "perhaps that is why there is only one stallion that is a vampony and not two."
"But still," Twilight continued, "Lunar is an alicorn whereas Robert is a unicorn. I can safely assume that Lunar is far stronger than Robert is."
"Maybe as normal ponies," Luna advised, "but as a vampony, Robert might exceed Prince Lunar's physical abilities tenfold."
"I...guess that makes sense." Twilight spoke.
The remainder of the flight was solemnly silent. The two princess arrived in Canterlot a few minutes later and flew straight to the throne room in the Canterlot Castle. Upon flying through one of the retractable windows, they both saw Princess Celestia sitting atop her throne and tending to some papers as well. Once they entered the room, Celestia politely put down the papers and focused her attention on Princess Luna and Twilight.
"Twilight," Celestia started, "how are you?"
"Not too good, Princess Celestia." Twilight replied.
"What seems to be the matter, Princess Twilight?" Celestia asked almost as soon as Twilight finished her response.
"She was bitten by those horrid vamponies, my sister." Luna answered.
"Then...that means-"
"I am one of them, sadly..." Twilight confirmed.
"What about Rarity and Robert?" Celestia questioned.
"They were-"
"They had fled from sight before we could attempt to go after them." Luna answered for Twilight, lying to her older sister.
"That's a great travesty..." Celestia condoled.
"It is," Luna replied, "now if you'll excuse me, there is some business that I must attend to."
Luna walked immediately out of the room thereafter, leaving Twilight along with the most powerful pony there is in Equestria – her former mentor, Princess Celestia.
"Umm, Princess Celestia?" Twilight started once Princess Luna completely exited from the room.
"What is it, Princess Twilight?" Celestia elegantly and soothingly asked.
"Well, uh, Princess Luna...wasn't...exactly telling you the truth just now." Twilight alerted her.
"What do you mean, Twilight?" She questioned.
"About Rarity and Robert, Princess," continued Twilight, "they didn't exactly flee..."
"They didn't?" Celestia repeated. "Then where are they exactly?"
"Umm..."
Twilight stood silent. She honestly couldn't deal with giving up the location of her friends and the thought of having Princess Celestia come in and "take care of them," so to speak, clouded Twilight's mind heavily. She was on the brink of telling Princess Celestia of their whereabouts, but this situation seemed too fragile enough for that to even be an option. Twilight wanted to tell Princess Celestia, but her mouth forbade that action from occurring.
"Go on, Princess," Celestia told Twilight, "it's okay."
"R-Rarity and...Robert are back in Ponyville..." replied Twilight. "Back inside the Carousel Boutique, to be more specific. They didn't flee and they purposely attacked me and transformed me into this!"
"Something has to be done then." Celestia boldly explained, straightening herself out on her throne.
"What do you plan on doing, Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked.
"We simply cannot have this epidemic continue any further," Celestia replied, "do you not agree?"
"I agree fully," said Twilight, "but what are you planning to do to them?"
"I wish I knew, Princess Twilight," Celestia solemnly responded, "I really wish I did."
"Vamponies aren't your average, run-of-the-mill ponies, Princess." Twilight alerted. "If we want to get rid of them, we would have to have incredibly strong forces."
"We would," agreed Celestia, "but the fact of the matter is is that we cannot deliberately get rid of an Element holder. That would leave Equestria without one of its most important means of defense."
"How do we go about this then?" wondered Twilight.
"I don't have any answers to that, Princess Twilight." Celestia said.
The two princesses thought about some of the possible ways they could protect themselves or even all of Equestria, should an all out war or something equivalent to that take place between the ponies and the vamponies. In that moment, it dawned upon Twilight that the Elements of Harmony did belong to Princess Luna and Princess Celestia at one point in time before they took ownership of them.
What if, perhaps, the Element of Generosity found somepony that was more suitable for the Element? Twilight thought to herself. It sounds like a completely insane idea, but it does have factual proof and evidence that it does indeed work if Celestia and Luna were once connected to them, and now we are.
"Princess Celestia." Twilight started after a momentary silence kicked in.
"What is it, Princess Twilight?" Celestia asked in reply.
"Now bear with me on this absolutely preposterous idea, but," she continued, "what if we found somepony else more qualified to hold the Element of Generosity? That way we could do something about this epidemic and Equestria will be safe. Does that sound like a possibility?"
"I see what you mean, Twilight," Celestia responded, "but do you know anypony who can fill in that role as the Element of Generosity or even the backup Element of Happiness?"
"Pinkie Pie can fill in the role of the Element of Happiness fairly easily," Twilight said, "but as for the Element of Generosity, I don't know who should be that..."
"Be what?" A new voice cried out.
Twilight turned around sharply and noticed that Rarity and Robert had entered into the Canterlot throne room, which was shocking to her.
Why would they arrive here, Twilight thought, don't they know that they are wanted criminals?
"Rarity," Celestia said, "Robert."
"Good day to you, Princess Celestia." Rarity replied.
"I wish it was." answered Celestia.
"What do you mean?" asked Robert.
Celestia then gazed over at Twilight before letting her horn become encased within her pale yellow aura. She looked over towards Rarity and Robert and attempted to hold them down with her magic. Rarity immediately picked up on this and countered with embracing her horn with her majestic blue aura, with Robert embracing his horn with his emerald green aura. In terms of magic, as long as Rarity and Robert had their horns covered by their magic, they were virtually untouchable, seeing how magic from anypony else used on either one of then would have no effect on them at all.
"It seems we've reached an impasse." Robert claimed.
"We know that you wanted to hold us against our will, Celestia," Rarity added, "but that simple won't happen. We are too powerful for that to occur."
"What do you want?" Celestia asked.
"What do we want?" Rarity repeated. "Well, Robert, what is it that we do want again?"
"Oh, Rarity," Robert said, "don't you remember? We want to rule Equestria!"
"Oh," continued Rarity, adding sarcasm to her voice, "that's right! Because Equestria needs a powerful ruler to lead it, and I am that powerful leader!"
"You must be significantly out of your minds," Celestia claimed, "that will never happen as long as I'm here!"
"Which is entirely why we are here, Celestia!" Robert stated.
With that said, Rarity and Robert began to charge and attack Princess Celestia. At that moment, Twilight jumped in and tried her best to hold both Rarity and Robert off while Celestia fled to safety. Princess Luna came back inside after hearing all of this commotion and helped out as well, trying to protect Princess Celestia as best as she could. This angered Rarity, causing her to strike both Twilight and Princess Luna down.
I don't understand it, Twilight thought, Rarity is a common unicorn who's also a vampony. Why is her magic and strength exceeding mine and Princess Luna's? Something doesn't add up here to know that a commoner is more powerful than royalty, and it's even more confusing since Robert was beaten by Princess Luna in a magic duel fairly easily, but can now hold himself easily against her now. What is going on here?
"Twilight!" Rarity shouted. "Luna! What do you think you're doing!?"
"Protecting my sister!" Luna screamed.
"Pathetic!" Rarity claimed, hitting both Luna and Twilight with a beam of magic and sending them tumbling to the ground.
"Serves you right for acting out against Queen Rarity!" Robert said.
"You two will pay for the actions that you have chosen!" Rarity added, using her magic to transport Luna and Twilight away.
A few moments later, Princess Luna and Twilight had reappeared together inside one of the dungeons cells within the Canterlot dungeons. Twilight was alarmed, not knowing how safe Princess Celestia was without neither her nor Princess Luna to protect her now, and so was Luna. She seemed to be taking this heavily, wanting to see her sister safe and sound and not become one of us.
"Princess Celestia will be just fine, Princess Luna." Twilight tried telling Princess Luna.
"I know she will," Luna replied, "she's my sister and a powerful alicorn. She can handle for herself. It's just that we need to do something about Rarity and Robert."
"I agree," Twilight continued, "but until we can find a candidate to fill in the roles of either the Element of Generosity or the Element of Happiness, we can't do anything at the moment. If we did something now, Equestria would be left without one of its most powerful means of defense and, with villains like Discord and others, we cannot let that happen."
"Perhaps I could be of assistance." Luna said. "Remember, my sister and I were holders of the Elements long ago. Perhaps I could become a holder once more and help out in this predicament."
"It sounds like a wonderful and great possibility and idea. Princess," Twilight praised, "but we need to get out of here first before doing anything."
"Leave that to me!" Luna assured.
"Excellent work, Princess Luna!" exclaimed Twilight.
"Well, if there's one thing I know," Luna said, "it's the dungeons that my sister and I have in our own castle."
"Now we have to rush to the throne room and make sure Princess Celestia is all right." Twilight alerted. "I'm more than certain that she is, but I'd be more happy if we got to see it."
"I know what you mean, Princess Twilight." Luna replied.
The two princesses then rushed out of the dungeons Rarity and Robert had teleported them to and towards the throne room located on the top floor of the castle. They rushed out of the castle on the ground and started flying up to the throne room in order to save some very nonexistent time. Flying through one of the retractable windows, both Princess Luna and Twilight had noticed Rarity and Robert sitting atop Princess Celestia's throne together, with the regal princess nowhere in site.
"Where is Princess Celestia!?" Luna demanded.
"Come now, Luna," Rarity demonically spoke, "that's no way to talk to your Queen, you know!"
"You are not my Queen!" Luna protested. "I am your Princess!"
"Silence!" Rarity shouted, using her magic to dim the lights traumatically.
"Rarity," Twilight spoke, trying to ease the situation, "think about what you're doing here."
"Silence, Twilight!" Robert shouted, sending me a powerful beam of magic as a warning.
That got Twilight to shuffle backwards a bit, finding herself standing right next to Princess Luna. She managed to get a glimpse of Luna and her furious look. Twilight wasn't too sure, but if she could predict what was about to happen, she would say that Princess Luna was beginning to lose control of the nightmare forces that were lodged inside of her body. Somehow, she knew that when they used the Elements of Harmony on her all those years ago. Twilight was the only pony that truly understood what exactly had happened to her. Instead of separating Princess Luna and the nightmare forces, they had driven them down deep into Luna's mind, soul, and body. Now, it appeared as if they were breaking free and attempting to take over Luna once more.
"Excellent." Rarity stated in her demonic voice.
"Princ-AHH!" screamed Luna. "Princess...ugh...Twilight!"
"Princess Luna!" Twilight replied. "You've got to fight this!"
"Just a little more, Luna!" Rarity added.
"Princess, ugh, humph, Twili-aye-aye-ight!" Luna shouted, trying desperately to fight the emotions and actions that were taking over her body.
"You can do this, Princess Luna!" encouraged Twilight. "You're a strong pony!"
"Silence, Twilight!" Rarity told Twilight, blasting her away with her magic, hurting and wounding Twilight very much.
"Twilight!" Luna screamed through her pain.
One of the last things Twilight remembered before collapsing from sheer exhaustion was witnessing Princess Luna transform back into Nightmare Moon before her very eyes. She opened her eyes and glanced over towards Rarity, approaching her very, very slowly.
"The Queen of the Eternal Night hath returned once more!" Nightmare Moon roared.
Twilight shut my eyes and passed out from exhaustion as the echoes of Nightmare Moon's voice and Rarity's and Robert's voice rang through her piercing head.
Equestria is being set up to fall harshly... She thought to herself before completely losing consciousness.
"Hello? Anypony?"
"Twilight," a familiar voice said, "you shouldn't have waken up."
"Who's there?" Twilight quickly asked.
"Such a stubborn little mare you are," the voice continued, "you know that?"
"Who's there?" she repeated.
"What?" The voice asked. "Do you not know who I am? Do you not recall this predicament? Do you not remember anything at all?"
"Ni-Nightmare M-M-Moon?" Twilight stammered.
"Oh, how smart you are!" Nightmare Moon spoke.
"Princess Luna!" replied Twilight. "You're not Nightmare Moon! You're Princess Luna! Princess Luna is a strong pony who put Nightmare moon away for a long time...right?"
"Do not call me that name again!" Nightmare Moon roared. "Your precious Princess Luna has been overwhelmed by me and no longer controls us! I am in control! I have the power! I. Am. Nightmare Moon!"
"No you're not, Luna," she answered in reply, "you're better than this! What about Princess Celestia, huh? How do you think she'll respond when she sees you like this again!?"
"She won't be seeing me for a long, long time, you little foal!" Nightmare Moon said.
"Very, very good, Nightmare Moon." Twilight heard Rarity call.
"Rarity?" Twilight said out of shock.
"Welcome, Twilight," Rarity continued, "to my Equestria!"
"You said it would be mine!" claimed Nightmare Moon.
"We all say things, dear," said Rarity, glancing back over to Twilight, "my version of Equestria consists of ponies that are like me and you - vamponies! Robert is outside at the moment transforming ponies as we speak! In a few hours, Equestria will be mostly vamponies while everypony else tried to fight us back. It will prove to be useless and pointless, but the less that they know, the better it is for us! What do you say, Twilight? Join us and you get to remain a Princess!"
"I thought you were my friend, Rarity..." started Twilight, feeling some tears begin falling down her face.
"We all think things, dear." Rarity repeated.
Twilight was baffled, dismantled, and felt as if she had been shot down. Everything she thought was real between her and Rarity and their friendship was a lie.
No, Twilight thought, that simply cannot be right. This simply cannot be right! Rarity would never act like this to anypony...so why is she doing this? Could it be that her vampire self is controlling both her and Robert? If that's true, why haven't I acting the same way? Is something missing from me that forbade the monster inside of me from controlling me? Is something wrong with me, was that it?
Twilight ultimately decided to run away from this problem and deal with it by approaching it from another angle. Attacking the problem head on isn't always the best way to go about doing something. Sometimes, you have to approach the problem from a unique type of angle - the back, the left, the top - hopefully fixating said problem and thus, ceasing it.
While running out of the throne room that Rarity had claimed for herself, Twilight heard her laughing demonically. One final tear fell from her eye and hit the ground as she knew that our friendship turned out to be a hoax.
"She simply must be brought down!" Twilight declared, running away.
Twilight ran as far and as fast as her hooves would carry her. She ran away from fears, from her problems, but, most of all, she ran away from one of her friendships. She ran out of the throne room into a room where Princess Celestia took her one time when I was younger.
"This room is hidden away from everypony else." Twilight remembered Princess Celestia telling me. "It only appears to whoever should believe that it is there. You will find me there if anything horrific were to ever happen again in Equestria."
Twilight ran around, trying to locate this particular room, but seemed to be having the utmost of difficulty trying to find it.
The door...the room...I know it's around here somewhere...but there's so many doors, I-I don't know which one is the right door. Is it this one? Twilight opened up the door, revealing just an empty bedroom. Nope, this leads to the Princess' bedroom...could it be this one?
Again, Twilight opened up another door, revealing an empty spare room.
Horse apples...not through here either. I'm never going to find this door...
Twilight looked and checked every single door this hallway had, not having a single bit of luck in locating the room Princess Celestia told her she would be in. Finally, she reached the end of the hall, but it just appeared to be an empty wall, nothing more, nothing less. Eventually, Twilight had given up on this hallway and began walking back towards the main hallway.
"Oh, Princess Celestia," She spoke out loud, "please...show me a sign that you're near..."
Upon saying that, a light shone from behind Twilight, which she took notice to almost instantaneously. She turned around and, sitting at the end of the hallway, she saw that a new doorway had appeared in front of her. Twilight approached the door and sheepishly placed her hoof on the door knob to see if it was a real door and not an illusion that her brain was pulling on her. Sure enough, Twilight felt the door knob and used her magic to open it partially.
"Hello?" She quietly asked, peering her head inside the room. "Is anypony here?"
The room was large and was a dark, magnificent indigo color. It had no lights, just candles providing some very, very poor light. Stepping into the room, the door rapidly shut behind Twilight all by itself, starling her and causing her to shuffle back as she gazed back at the door.
Shuffling backwards, Twilight bumped into something large. Turning around slowly, she noticed that she had bumped into Princess Celestia, who appeared to be unharmed, but was a bit worried about the condition of both Twilight and Princess Luna.
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight happily said, embracing her with a hug.
"Princess Twilight," Celestia responded, exchanging Twilight's hug with one from her, "how is Princess Luna?"
"Umm...about that," Twilight stammered. She didn't want to tell Princess Celestia that Princess Luna has been taken over and is now Nightmare Moon once again, but Twilight's number of choices was severely limited and she would feel horrible if she told a simply lie about something so serious now.
"What's wrong?" asked a nervous Celestia.
"Princess Luna," Twilight gulped, "is...uhh...is..."
"She's...?"
"P-Princess Luna," paused Twilight, "is Nightmare Moon again."
"I feared that this day would come once more." Celestia responded.
"What do you mean?"
"When you and your friends transformed Nightmare Moon back into Princess Luna using the Elements of Harmony long ago," explained Celestia, "I sensed that she wasn't the same."
"How so?"
"I sensed that Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon were still one," Celestia said, "that the control of her body shifted from Nightmare Moon to Princess Luna."
"...you knew..." Twilight slowly stated.
Celestia nodded, "I most certainly did. I knew that if you six hadn't done that, Princess Luna would not be here this very moment. I've feared that this day would come once more for a long time. I sensed that Luna was...changing her way of life, especially now, thanks to her condition. But...but what really is mind boggling to me is the fact that Luna resented her inner self and Nightmare Moon returned, but you're completely fine, as if you're not suffering from the same condition the Luna is suffering from. Why is that?"
"I was thinking the same thing, Princess Celestia," Twilight answered honestly and truthfully, "and to answer your question...well...I-I don't have an answer to that. I'm just as confused as you are about that. I mean, we are similar in molecular structures now, but there should be no reason why she is...well, is insane, and I'm perfectly fine. That doesn't add up to me, and apparently not to you either."
"Twilight," Celestia started, "you and I are a lot alike right now. Aside from the condition that you are in now, you are a tribe of one little pony. That is the fate and destiny of freaks and monsters like how Rarity, Robert, and, now, Princess Luna are. We are too much of one to ever be the other, and too much of other to be one. We are alone, trying to change the world for the better now."
"But, what about my friends?" asked Twilight. "What about the other Element holders and, more importantly, what about my Lunar?"
"There simply is not enough time for them to get here." Celestia alerted. "Any moment now, Equestria will be overrun by your kind – vamponies. If there is a time to fight back, it is now."
"But, you're not one of us," Twilight said, "if you fight, you'll surely get hurt."
"What has to be done, must be done." Celestia responded. "If I don't make it through this, I-"
"Don't you say that, Celestia!" interrupted Twilight.
Princess Celestia gently placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, continuing on with her statement. "If I don't make it through this, I want you to be the one who replaces me."
"But...but..."
"You'll be fine," Celestia assured Twilight, "don't you worry, my little pony, heaven has a plan for you."
"But..."
"Don't worry about me," Celestia said, "I have done plenty of good during my time here. I know that I will be remembered by my subjects, if I were to leave or not make it through this alive."
"But..."
"Twilight," Celestia paused, "from one alicorn to another, you will be fine and do things exceeding beyond expectations that anypony may have for you. You were my best student and one of my favorites. I've watched you blossom into this from just a young unicorn filly all those years ago, and I know that, using what I've taught you throughout your years of study, you will be a spectacular ruler."
"But..."
"Twilight," Celestia continued, placing both of her front hooves on both of Twilight's shoulders, "you will be fine, and I'll do my best to do the same. Don't you worry about a thing, Twilight."
"...it's been an honor to have been your student." Twilight replied.
"And it has been an honor being your mentor," Princess Celestia smiled, moving out of the room, "now we must go."
"Of course, Princess." Twilight said, following Princess Celestia out of the room.
"Now this is most certainly a surprise! Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight back here for more!?"
"Rarity," Twilight called, "I'll give you one last chance to peacefully and gracefully stand down!"
"And lose all of this!?" Rarity questioned. "You must be losing your mind!"
"Is that how you feel?" Twilight questioned her. "Well, then you leave us with no choice..."
"I've had enough of this," Rarity said, motioning her hoof in the air in a scoff type motion, "deal with them would you, Nightmare Moon. I have to tend to my new kingdom. You're in charge of destroying these two annoying ponies."
"You do not give me orders!" snapped Nightmare Moon. "However, I will destroy these two foals!"
"Excellent," Rarity replied, "I shall return in a bit. I hope that when I return, these two will be eliminated."
"They'll be more than eliminated!" Nightmare Moon roared.
"Excellent." Rarity finished, using her demonic magic to teleport herself away from the throne room.
Nightmare Moon evilly smiled at Princess Celestia and Twilight. Celestia had begun to slowly approach her corrupted sister, though Twilight managed to stop her, thanks to my increased strength.
"Twilight," Celestia said, giving her a heavy glance.
"She's just like me, Princess," responded Twilight, "a vampony. I know she's your sister, but that won't stop her from attempting to sink her teeth into your skin."
"You're right." agreed Celestia.
"Enough talk!" roared Nightmare Moon.
"Luna..." Celestia quietly said, but loud enough for Nightmare Moon to hear it.
"Do not call us that name again!" Nightmare Moon shouted. "We are Nightmare Moon!"
Nightmare Moon had lost her temper after that and ran straight towards Princess Celestia. Twilight had managed to jump in front of her and hold Nightmare Moon down, stopping her from getting any closer towards her sister. Heck, Princess Luna may be corrupted, but her and Princess Celestia are still sisters, and regal ones for that matter. Twilight's super strength was matched by Nightmare Moon's strength, but since she was taller than Twilight was, her downward force was beginning to overpower Twilight's upward force. Honestly, and Twilight knew about this before hand, pushing something up is a lot tougher than pushing something down, and this desperately proved that case to be true. Nightmare Moon was overpowering Twilight and there was very little she could do in her defense.
Suddenly, Princess Celestia charged at her sister from the side and slammed Nightmare Moon down into the ground. Nightmare Moon had shot a look back at Celestia, then charged back at her, slamming Celestia into a spire and causing it to break off and collapse on the ground next to them. Not only that, but a chunk of the ceiling collapsed and came crashing down, revealing the outside world to us all and shining some dim light into the throne room.
Twilight looked up and out of the hole in the ceiling and saw a modestly red sky, something that she thought was scientifically impossible, considering that the current time was only about one o'clock in the afternoon and that the sun wasn't supposed to set for another five-and-a-half hours.
Looking back down, Twilight saw that Nightmare Moon was attempting to infect Princess Celestia by biting her neck, so she jumped in and took the bite for Celestia. Twilight felt nothing, which wasn't a huge shocker to her since she already was infected. Princess Celestia thanked Twilight for the protection, then the two princesses backed away from Nightmare Moon, who appeared to be growing more tired as the time went by.
"Give...it up...you two." Nightmare Moon panted. "You...don't...stand a chance...against...me..."
"Not a chance, Luna!" Twilight replied.
"She isn't getting weaker," Celestia noted.
"We vamponies need to do a lot of things for us to get tired now." Twilight told Princess Celestia. "But how do we bring Luna back without the Elements of Harmony and how do we get rid of her condition."
"Desperate times calls for desperate measures." Celestia answered, confusing Twilight slightly. "It sounds like a lost cause, but we need to use the Elements on her before she damages herself further."
"But...I don't-"
Princess Celestia then casted a spell, summoning the Elements of Harmony before her and Twilight. Nightmare Moon was still collecting some air, so the two princesses took this short period of time to gather themselves, attaching the Elements to them. Twilight grabbed her original Element of Magic, leaving the other five for Princess Celestia to utilize. The two princesses then began charging up the Elements, but only four out of the six were functioning correctly.
"What's wrong?" Twilight asked. "Why aren't they working?"
"It isn't balanced properly!" Princess Celestia alerted her.
Nightmare Moon began groaning and started to reach her standards once more. She was nearing her full health, which meant that time was running out for the princesses to use the Elements of Harmony on her.
"What do you mean?" asked Twilight.
"I have five Elements, whereas you have one." Celestia answered. "We have to balance it out, three and three each."
"But I can only control one Element!" Twilight retorted.
"You can do this, Twilight," Celestia assured her, "I know you can. You're the only pony who can do this right now. It's up to you and I to end this together."
Twilight nodded, then took the last two malfunctioning Elements from Princess Celestia - Loyalty and Kindness - and attached them to her neck. The two princesses then began charging up the Elements once more, which was perfect timing, seeing how Nightmare Moon had collected herself and started running over towards them, horn out in front of her. With Twilight out in front, Nightmare Moon was sure to hit her first.
"Just a little more!" Princess Celestia shouted.
"Oh, no you don't!" screamed Nightmare Moon.
Nightmare Moon jumped out at the two ponies at the last second, trying desperately to infect her sister before the Elements of Harmony attacked her and attempted to revert her back to her old self again. Twilight had shut her eyes and allowed her hearing to take over from there, dramatically hoping for the best to happen.
"Now!" Princess Celestia shouted.
"No you don't!" Nightmare Moon screamed once more.
Twilight opened my eyes and saw Nightmare Moon in the air, trying to attack her sister, while the spiraling rainbow shot out from Princess Celestia and herself and began to shoot downwards. Nightmare Moon had passed Twilight in the air and was simply inches away from her sister now however, the rainbow smashed down on Nightmare Moon, wrapping itself around all three of the ponies at the very last second, mainly working on Nightmare Moon herself.
"Noooo!" Nightmare Moon yelled, trying to escape from her stationary status.
Twilight felt befuddled, not knowing that the Elements of Harmony could make someone stationary while they were being converted into something or someone else.
This little bit of information could prove to be a vital thing in the future if we need to wield them once more. She though to herself.
The rainbow circling around Nightmare Moon had vanished and before Princess Celestia and Twilight once more stood Princess Luna. When the rainbow ceased, Princess Luna continued Nightmare Moon's trajectory path, slicing Princess Celestia with her horn a bit, causing her to bleed.
"Luna!" Princess Celestia panted.
"My s-sister..." Luna meekly replied. "I-I..."
"No...not you too, Celestia..." Twilight said.
Princess Celestia, though she wasn't directly bitten, was slowly becoming infected and turning into a vampony herself.
This situation is getting way too out of hoof, panicked Twilight, we need to do something about this now! But...what do we do? How do you revert all vamponies back to normal?
"I'll be fine, you two." lied Princess Celestia.
Both Princess Luna and Twilight left it at that, wanting to defuse the current situation before anything and everything got a whole lot worse. Princess Celestia tried to keep calm and carry on, but appeared to be slowed down thanks to her slow transformation. Twilight tended to her, but she kept insisting that she was going to be fine. Not wanting to spark an argument, she eventually dropped the subject and started to devise a plan on how to revert all vamponies back to normal. The only problem was that nobody had any idea as to what to do or how to go about such a plan or even how it would work.
"How do we get everypony back to normal?" Twilight questioned.
Silence – tense, tense silence – had trickled down into the room. Nobody knew the answer to that.
"If reverting ponies back to normal is what you seek," a sinister voice started, "perhaps I could be of assistance to the meek."
"Who's there?" Luna questioned.
The three princesses all looked around the room in a frantic type of motion, from high above, to down below. They looked all around, but it simply was too dark in this room.
"Show yourself!" demanded Twilight.
"Come now, Twilight Sparkle," the voice continued, "that's no way to have fun."
"Show yourself!" Luna demanded, backing Twilight up a bit.
"You too, Princess Luna?" They continued. "It's no wonder she infected the two of you..."
"H-How do you know that!?" Twilight said, startled by the information this pony knew - if they were a pony, that is.
"Relax, Twilight Sparkle." They stated. "You aren't the only one."
"I know that!" Twilight snapped, wondering who it was telling these seemingly obvious facts.
"So ease up then!" They replied, stepping forward from the dark shade and revealing themselves.
"Trixie?" I noticed. "Is that you?"
"Most certainly, Twilight." She answered in reply.
Twilight was surprised, shocked, and even bamboozled beyond words themselves and couldn't help contain herself while asking her if she had become a vampony as well.
"Well," she started, "not exactly. You see, Trixie is far too strong to fall to the likes of them."
Twilight rolled her eyes, scoffing and choosing not to believe Trixie's reply. Instead, she paid more attention to why she was here in the first place.
"What are you doing here, Trixie?" Twilight asked her.
"Trixie has actually come to apologize for all of her past actions," Trixie answered, "Trixie wasn't the best nor handled certain situations the best, so she wanted to apologize to you, Twilight Sparkle."
"Then how did you know that I was here?" Twilight questioned.
"Your friends from Ponyville told Trixie that you might be here," she responded, "so she came to Canterlot and to the castle to see if the two princesses knew where you were. It's just by sheer coincidence Trixie ran into you here, Twilight."
"You were in Ponyville?" Twilight reiterated, hopes being raised a little.
"Trixie was in Ponyville," she confirmed.
"Did you happen to see a dark colored alicorn there with my friends, Trixie?" Twilight hoped.
"We did," answered Trixie.
"How was he doing?" Twilight continued.
"He seemed to be in decent condition," Trixie stated, "why do you ask, Twilight Sparkle?"
"No reason," Twilight lied, relieved that her friends and Lunar were doing just fine. She immediately asked Trixie if she knew something about vamponies that she didn't know herself.
"What do you wish to know, Twilight Sparkle?" Trixie replied. "Trixie has studied heavily about vamponies."
"Do you know of a way to get rid of them all and stop this epidemic?" Twilight asked.
"Trixie knows of a way to end this all." She responded. "Trixie has seen this type of thing happen already."
"You have?" Twilight questioned, wondering if she was just making up another story again.
"Most certainly, Twilight." She answered.
"So what do we do?"
"Trixie will tell you," she told her, "but you may not like the answer that you seek."
"And why do you think that?" Twilight said, unsure of what Trixie meant.
"In order to return everything to what it once was," Trixie began, completely ignoring Twilight's question, "you have to get rid of the head vampony. Once that happens, everypony will transform back into what they all once were."
"When you say 'get rid of,' what do you mean?" asked Princess Luna.
"Get rid of the head vampony," repeated Trixie, "you know, finish them, end them, eliminate them, do whatever it takes to get them out of the picture."
"You mean...kill her?" Twilight asked.
"Trixie didn't want to say that since she knows that the head is one of your friends, Twilight," Trixie replied, "but that is exactly what Trixie means. Kill the head vampony and everypony goes back to normal."
Twilight shook her head slowly, looking down in the process. "I...I simply cannot do that..."
Trixie and Princess Luna glanced heavily back at Twilight, as did Princess Celestia, who was still undergoing the transformation process.
Twilight sighed heavily, explaining herself slightly. "She may be a monster, but she is my friend, and I simply cannot kill another friend, let alone, another pony. It is not my nature to do that, so leave me out of this, please..."
"Twilight," Luna started, "you have to be the one to do this. Think about Equestria, think about yourself. You are a strong pony, stronger than I. I can't fully understand how you feel right now, but you have to put aside those feelings and do this for you, for me, for Trixie, for Celestia, for Equestria."
"I can't, Princess Luna," Twilight revolted, "I just can't put myself through that situation. It's bad enough that she did this to me, but I can't end her life because of that. It just doesn't seem fair."
"Listen to me, Twilight," Luna said seriously, turning Twilight and placing both of her front hooves on Twilight's shoulders, "you can do this because you are a strong pony. You are the strongest and bravest pony I know and I know that you are the only one who can stand up to her and beat her."
"You can...do it, Twilight," Princess Celestia grunted, fighting off the transformation, "do it...for Equestria."
Twilight looked down and frowned heavily while the two regal sisters and Trixie tried convincing her that she could do it, but she just couldn't bring it to herself to kill one of her friends, even if she was evil now. She sighed one more time, then glanced at Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Trixie.
"You have to be the one to do this, Twilight," Luna explained to Twilight, "you are the only pony strong enough to defeat and bring Rarity down."
"Trixie has to agree with that, though she doesn't like to admit it." Trixie added.
"I...I..." Twilight was starting to find that speaking clearly was becoming more of job than an instinct now. She was feeling way too many things right now, refraining her from speaking correctly.
Princess Celestia's transformation was complete, and she got up and approached Twilight slowly. Bending down slightly, Princess Celestia placed her right front hoof on Twilight's shoulder, then proceeded to look her dead in the eye.
"You can do this, Twilight," she boldly told Twilight.
"But..."
"Listen to me," Princess Celestia continued, "I understand that this will be a tough decision and act for you to perform, I know that. But this is something different, trust me. You aren't dealing with a friend here."
"She's right, Twilight," added Luna, "you're dealing with a demon that had taken over Rarity and claimed her as their own."
"Right," Princess Celestia said, "and I can assure you that, by performing this difficult task, you will be a heroine within Equestria and I promise, your actions won't be forgotten."
"They need you to do this, Twilight." Trixie added.
"We need you to do this, Twilight." Luna exclaimed.
Twilight looked around at the three ponies that stood before her. They were pushing for her to kill one of her friends, something she found shocking and something she herself was deeming inhumane for her. It wasn't in Twilight's nature to kill or harm anypony, friend or foe alike. She cannot perform those actions, especially to her friend, evil or not. Twilight sighed heavily, then told everyone something they were certain to not like.
"I'm sorry, everypony," Twilight regretfully stated, "but I can't do that. It's not like me to do something like that, whether it'd be Rarity or even somepony as sinister and evil as Discord. I can't perform that action and cannot save Equestria like that."
CRASH!
"What was that!?" shrieked Twilight.
BOOM!
"What's going on outside!?" Trixie added.
Princess Celestia listened further. "Sounds like..."
CRASH!
The four ponies crowded around one of the windows that didn't have a pane on it. They all looked outside and saw a horrible, horrible sight before them all.
"This can't be happening..." Twilight quietly said.
"It is..." Trixie assured ruefully.
"It's the end of the world as we know it..." Princess Celestia whispered.
"Rarity has attacked and taken over the majority of Equestria." Luna stated.
"Twilight," Princess Celestia continued, "now do you see why we all need you?"
"I do," answered Twilight, "but I still can't force myself to perform an act such as that."
"Trixie knew you well, Twilight." Trixie told her.
That got Twilight to think deeply. Equestria needed her heavily, but she was abandoning it and choosing one pony over millions of others. She was choosing one friend over every other friend that she has made throughout her life. Twilight decided that this was the time to put everything that made her who she was behind her and help out Equestria in its time of need.
"So what do we do?" Twilight boldly asked Princess Celestia.
"Find Rarity and bring her down, like this pony here told us." Princess Celestia reminded her.
"I'll do my best." answered Twilight, using her magic to teleport herself out into the middle of what was going on outside.
Outside was a lot warmer than it usually was. It was definitely more humid than it usually was, and all around Twilight stood dead bodies on the floor. That almost made her throw up, but Twilight forced everything to stay down and looked straight ahead of her. Up ahead, she saw a white unicorn mare walking around, bending down to each of the bodies that lay around both Twilight and them. This unicorn was doing that to each of the bodies around themselves and kept getting closer to Twilight.
"Rarity!" Twilight shouted.
The unicorn shot a look up at Twilight and approached her even further. Twilight saw a smile on their face and she stopped about thirty yards away.
"Twilight Sparkle," she demonically spoke, "I would never have thought that you would show around here. Really, I thought that Nightmare Moon would have dealt with you, but, alas, I was wrong."
"You were, Rarity!" Twilight shouted.
"You need to ease up, Twilight." Rarity exclaimed. "You'll work yourself to pieces."
"Stop it." snapped Twilight. "You're reign of terror ends here."
"Do I sense a challenge?" Rarity scoffed. "Do you really think that you can defeat me?"
"I don't think so, Rarity," Twilight told her, "I know so."
"Fine," Rarity sighed, "but I knew you well, Twilight."
Twilight huffed, beginning to charge towards Rarity. She put the past behind her and only focused on one thing and one thing only, and that was ending Rarity right here and now!
Twilight ran straight towards Rarity, who moved out of the way at the last second. Rarity then answered Twilight by sending over a beam of magic as a counterstrike, seemingly missing Twilight on purpose.
"I don't want to hurt you, dear," she told Twilight, though failing to switch out of her demonic voice.
"Funny," Twilight replied, "because I want to hurt you!"
Twilight sent over a fairly large beam of magic in response to Rarity's over towards her and managed to strike her. She took the beam and was pushed backwards, though managed to take it and hang in there somehow. Deep down, Twilight knew they both could take more hits than a regular pony, but this was something else.
"Is that the best you can do?" Rarity laughed. "How pathetic...here, take this!"
Rarity shot a more powerful beam of magic at Twilight, which managed to strike her and ground her. It was weird, though, seeing how that hurt Twilight and now she was having a hard time enduring that painful hit.
Is Rarity's magic more powerful than mine now? Twilight thought.
"How did real power feel like?" Rarity asked her.
Twilight finally managed to get back up, stumbling a few times, but finally managing to stand on her own hooves. Rarity evilly smirked, then sighed once more.
"You really don't know when to give up, do you?" questioned Rarity.
Twilight couldn't find the strength to respond to that. Rather, she glared at Rarity, trying to find some strength to blast her once again with some magic. Rarity laughed in response, then told Twilight that it was time to end this now. She blasted Twilight with another powerful beam of magic and forced her to fall down and stay down.
"Hmm," Rarity grunted, "I expected a better fight from a Princess, you know."
Twilight heard Rarity's hooves clack against the cold stone ground, getting louder with each passing second. Before long, she saw her shadow tower over her body and stop right next to her.
"It's a terrible shame that it had to end this way as well, Twilight," Rarity snickered, "but, you've gotten in my way one too many times!"
Twilight turned over, seeing that Rarity was preparing to drive her horn into her body. Rarity was wrapping her horn with her magic, so Twilight took this opportunity to drive her own horn through Rarity's heart. She jabbed and jerked her head upward and drove it straight through Rarity's messed up heart. Managing to get a glimpse of Rarity's face, Twilight slowly started to remove her horn from Rarity's heart.
"T-T-Twi...l-l-light..." Rarity coughed, struggling to breath.
"It had to be like this, Rarity." Twilight told her.
Rarity coughed some more, finally coughing up some blood and collapsing slightly on top of Twilight.
"B-B-But...why?" Rarity whispered.
"You had to be stopped, and this was the only way how." Twilight heeded.
Rarity let out one final sigh, and fully collapsed on top of Twilight, who began to cry a bit after having the thought of killing one of her friends finally set and sink itself in to Twilight. She placed Rarity on the ground next to her, sobbing over the loss of her dead friend.
This is no way for a pony to go, even if they are as evil as she was. Twilight thought, crying internally now. This is something I'll always regret doing, but was forced to do for the sake of Equestria.