The shadowy alicorn with blazing red eyes reared up on its hind legs and gave out another mighty screech. Trixie was the first to scream and raced back towards Twilight, cowering behind her clutching onto her back legs.
"DO SOMETHING!" She screamed.
Twilight and her friends could only stand frozen in fear when the beast began to charge.
"Run!" Twilight screamed. She and her friends, along with Trixie, ran towards the exit. On the other hand, Luna appeared to be challenging the beast. She too reared up on her back legs and let out a great blast of magic towards the monster. The alicorn shadow evaded the blast and sank into the ground moving along the floor until it reached the set of double doors where Twilight and the others were headed. It came up from the floor and fanned out its wings; causing the ponies to scream and start running in a different direction.
Luna flew up off the ground and directed her magic at the beast, narrowly missing it with each blast. Trixie was ahead of the others now, racing down the hallway of stained glass towards the throne room. Once she made it there she realized her mistake: it was a dead end. Twilight and her friends weren't too far behind. They all reached the opposite wall where Trixie was cowering and could do nothing but watch the struggle between the monster and Luna. Luna was very skilled and dodged each attempt that the creature made to lunge at her. She tried many different spells; a few of them that were able to distract the monster long enough for her to get away. Unfortunately, most spells just went through it as if she was literally fighting smoke. The alicorn bit down on Luna's tail and flung her into the wall, causing three tall windows of stained glass to come crashing down. The ponies watching below screamed and covered their eyes from the shards of glass.
"We've got to do something!" Rainbow shouted.
"Rainbow, Applejack, can you get that fallen banner there? I'll try to draw the monster over here so you two can trip it. Pinkie, Spike, Fluttershy try to get its attention away from the princess long enough for me to go help her!" Twilight replied.
The others sprang into action. Rainbow hopped onto Applejack's back and they raced towards the fallen banner. Spike and Fluttershy picked up some of the fallen shards of glass and started throwing them at the shadowy figure. Unfortunately, the glass flew straight through the monster and it didn't even seem to notice. Trixie was cowering behind the throne, hiding her face in her front hooves and trying to curl up into a little ball.
"Hey! Over here you big scary smoke thingy!" Pinkie screamed, jumping up and down underneath the monster. The alicorn turned its head to see her and Luna blasted it with another spell. This spell hit the monster directly in the eye, and unlike the other spells that had passed through it; this one seemed to have worked. The monster screeched again, stumbling backwards. Its front hooves smashed into the ceiling of the room and pieces of it began to fall. Pinkie's tail, clear over on the other side of the room, began to twitch as the glass and debri scattered all around Pinkie who was still at the base of the monster. Princess Luna flew down and snatched Pinkie away before any of it could harm her. Once Luna had set Pinkie down, the alicorn figure threw itself over Luna consuming her in its shadowy darkness.
Luna screamed in surprise, disappearing into the dark heart of the creature. By then, Twilight had finally reached where Pinkie and Luna had been and directed her own magic at it. The alicorn screeched again and charged towards Twilight as it had with Luna. Rainbow and the others called out in terror when they saw that it was too late to stop it. However, unlike Luna, the alicorn creature passed through them like a ghost and kept charging. Twilight looked to see where it was headed and saw the frightened Trixie curled up behind the Canterlot throne. Trixie looked up at the monster screaming for her life. Thinking fast, Twilight used what strength she had to cast a spell of blinding light that could distract the monster long enough for Trixie to get away. Her spell did just that, and Trixie fled from the carnage that the alicorn was making of the throne and the windows around it. The monster did not try to re-enter the fight after Twilight's spell. Instead, it leapt outside and flew only for a moment before evaporating into thin air leaving behind a faint red glow.
Trixie coughed and pulled herself up off the ground, gingerly extending one of her wings discovering that it was broken. She cried out softly from the pain and let it hang uselessly down beside her. As she did so, she was thrown to the ground again, landing on her hurt wing and causing her to cry out again.
"WHERE IS SHE?" Spike demanded; he had been the one that tackled her to the ground.
"What have you done with Princess Luna?" Pinkie Pie screamed. She and the others were swarmed around Trixie leaving her no room for escape.
"ME?!" Trixie shrieked.
"Quit messing around Trixie, tell us where the princess is or we'll-" Rainbow Dash started but was interrupted by Trixie's protests.
"You don't think I have anything to do with this, do you!? That THING tried to EAT ME!" Trixie cried in fear. "It didn't want any of you! It was after ME!"
"For once, I think she's right. It went right through Pinkie and Twi as if it didn't even know they were there." Applejack said warily.
"Of course I'm right! I could have been killed! What did YOU ponies do?!" Trixie cried.
"It wasn't us!" Pinkie said, offended.
"What was that thing?" Fluttershy asked, still shaking.
"Some sort of giant… alicorn beast!" Rarity said, holding up the remains of her Gala gown sadly in her hooves.
"Where did it come from?" Twilight asked Rarity and Fluttershy.
Rarity explained that when they found Princess Luna's room the creature was waiting inside. At first they believed it to be the princess; casting a shadow on the wall. It wasn't until the shadow itself opened its creepy glowing red eyes that they understood it to be a monster. They ran from the room as quickly as they could, the monster growing in size as it chased them down the hallway.
"And it was just waiting in there until you found it?" Twilight clarified.
"You think that thing was sent for Luna?" Rainbow Dash asked, understanding what Twilight meant.
"Alright Trixie, start talkin'." Applejack said angrily. All eyes turned to the frightened alicorn as the seven of them came closer.
"I already told you, I have no idea!" Trixie protested. "Get off me!" She screamed, bucking Spike away from her angrily.
"That's it. She's toast!" Rainbow said, charging towards her. Trixie screamed and cowered but before Rainbow could make contact she was frozen in place with her hoof still raised and ready to strike. Twilight had used her magic to stop her, and pulled her away from Trixie.
"She's not even worth it, Rainbow." Applejack said. Rainbow snorted and reluctantly agreed.
"Look, I know I'm not your favorite pony at the moment but I honestly had nothing to do with this beast thing. Besides, you're all going to need me alive because I'm the only one who knows how to change you back to normal. I'm NOT going to let you loser- I mean, ponies, leave me here to die!" Trixie said defiantly.
"You know how to reverse this spell?" Twilight asked skeptically.
"Of course I do, but I'll need the gem to do that."
"Do we have it with us?" Spike asked.
"No." Twilight answered. "I hid it back at the library for safe keeping."
"The library in Ponyville?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well then you're just going to have to take me to Ponyville with you." Trixie said, relieved that she wouldn't be left behind. As much as she hated Twilight and her pesky little friends; they had bested this monster once and she needed their protection.
"No. Way." Spike said, to which Rainbow agreed.
"We can't possibly think of allowing her to come with us!" Rarity added.
"Anypony else have a better idea?" Applejack asked.
"What about the princess?" Fluttershy asked worriedly.
"I… I don't know." Twilight replied honestly. "We need to get her back but… where could we look?"
"I'd like to get as far away from here as possible thank you very much. That THING is going to come back for me I just know it!" Trixie cried.
"If only." Rainbow Dash muttered.
"We'll reverse the spell and then go find Luna." Twilight decided.
To be honest, she didn't have a clue where to even begin to look for Luna. However, she believed having her alicorn magic back would be the best starting point. That, and she didn't want to be around Trixie more than she had to. When the spell was reversed she could leave Trixie in Ponyville while she and her friends found the princesses; Celestia included. Now she just needed to make the journey back to Ponyville without taking out her anger and frustration on Trixie. That might be easier said than done.
Well, it wasn't quite the showdown you expected, but hopefully you thought it was certainly as exciting!
Production of Episode 2 is well underway and taking up most of my time so if you don't see another chapter for a few days that is why ^^ I am so excited to release this episode though, you are all going to love it!