Sunlight and Midnight hurled themselves at each other, each with a gleam in her eye unmatched by anything. The violence of the ensuing duel was so intense, that Flurry Heart couldn't bear to watch it. The two fillies stabbed each other with their horns over and over again. Blood poured forth, staining both the carpet and the tiled section of the floor. Sunlight turned her sister into a veritable pin cushion, and Midnight did the same.

After a few minutes of ferocious fighting, the two realized they were at an impasse and decided to take a small break. They backed away from each other, hissing and snarling as they did. Their adrenaline was spiking, and neither of them felt any pain from their wounds. But the sheer amount of blood pouring out of their small bodies was enough to tell them just how serious their injuries were.

Sunlight stumbled over to Flurry's cage and looked at her cousin. The look that was returned was one filled with agony and desperate love. Flurry wanted Sunlight to be safe, and right now safety was a million miles away. There were no words exchanged between the two, only looks of devotion and heartache that would make the toughest Wonderbolt shed more than a few tears.

"Well…shall we resume our fight?" Midnight suddenly asked. She knew she had Sunlight in unfamiliar territory and wanted to take full advantage of it. Sunlight had never been in a fight before, she had, and she wanted to make Sunlight suffer. She didn't want to kill her sister right off the bat, she wanted to hold her down and beat her to a pulp before finishing her.

Sunlight came forward, albeit reluctantly, and the two fillies resumed their scuffle. They continued in a giant ball of screeching, screaming ponies. Sunlight more than held her own against her sister, but in the end, Midnight was too powerful. She turned Sunlight over and pinned her down with her face to the floor.

"SEE?!" Midnight screamed victoriously, "I AM THE GREATEST PONY EQUESTRIA HAS EVER KNOWN! NOPONY CAN BEAT ME! I AM A GOD!" With this vicious proclamation, she stabbed Sunlight in the flank. Sunlight howled as pain shot right through the very core of her being. As the pain ebbed, she was left gasping for air. She had bled way too much, and she knew it. She had to leave while there was still time.

"You…will…never…rule…" She gasped out. Midnight laughed. "Oh, but I'm already ruling. Look, Sunlight! I have our family! I have your friends! I HAVE WON! So just accept it!"

"I will never accept you!" Sunlight growled as she turned back on her sister. She slashed her across the nose and ran off while Midnight held her face in agony. With this sudden burst of energy, she ran over to where Flurry's cage was and quickly undid the lock. Flurry jumped out and the two fillies raced from the room. Midnight noticed what she was doing and screamed, "GUARDS!"

Suddenly, a cavalcade of ponies was released. They ran through the castle, searching for the belligerent and the escapee. Sunlight and Flurry were hiding in a small cranny that they had managed to squeeze themselves into. From here, they observed the search party. Sunlight noticed that they all carried the same terrible green glow in their eyes that they had noticed in their friends and family. "Flurry!" She suddenly said, "those ponies are experiencing their worst fears nonstop as well. If we could find a way to break that hex…"

"No!" Flurry suddenly said sharply, "look, I don't know where this sudden energy boost came from, but it won't last! You've bled out so much in the past few minutes! We have to get out of here and get help!"

"But Flurry, if we can break that curse, then those ponies would surely join us!"

"I don't care right now, Sunlight! The priority is saving you!"

"The priority is saving Equestria! My life is irrelevant!"

"Your life is not irrelevant, Sunlight!" Flurry said as tears came to her eyes, "your life is extremely relevant! You matter, to those enslaved ponies in there, to Equestria…and to me! I love you, Sunlight!"

"I love you too, Flurry," Sunlight said as she smiled, grateful for the warmth of her cousin's affection. It was a sisterly love the two of them shared, and they knew it. Their bond was stronger than ever.

"If you die…I don't know what I'll do!" Flurry said in a panic.

"I'm not gonna die here, not while that monster has Equestria in a death grip. Come on! Let's break those ponies out of their fear! Let's save them…so they can help save the rest of us."

Flurry nodded, realizing that her cousin's plan had a lot of merit to it. She couldn't believe that she was being so selfish. Her cousin didn't belong to her, she belonged to herself and her internal compass was directing her in this way. She believed in Sunlight, and she knew she would follow her until death itself had consumed both of them.

"Alright," she said, "how do we do it?"

"I recently found out what my specialty is when it comes to magic. Aunt Celestia raises the sun, Aunt Luna raises the moon, your mother spreads love, and my mommy casts spells to help friendship. Here's my area: fear. I help drive fear away from ponies. Fear is only in the mind, and if that mind is magically manipulated correctly, then fear cannot reside within it. So you distract the guards long enough for me to work up a spell, and I'll drive their fear away. Then, we'll retreat for the time being. We'll gather some forces and attack Canterlot. Then we'll do away with my sister once and for all." Flurry nodded again and the two prepared to unlock the enslaved guard ponies from their prisons of fright.

Flurry leapt from the hiding spot and ran up and around the guards. She began dancing around like a complete goofball, shouting things like, "look! Here I am," and, "you can't catch me!" She led them on a wild goose chase through the halls, but made sure to keep the pursuit within Sunlight's firing range. Every time she passed their hiding spot, she looked over and Sunlight shook her head. She wasn't quite ready. She built up all the magic in her small body and managed to crack it through the top of her horn.

"OK, FLURRY! NOW!" She screamed. Flurry stopped in front of Sunlight, and the purple filly fired. A huge explosion of magic emanated throughout the room and all of the guard ponies fell off their hooves. After the explosion, Flurry went about the room and helped everypony back to their hooves. They looked at each other, blinking in the unfamiliarity of the environment.

"Where are we?" One of them asked.

"You're among friends," Flurry said. The ponies all gasped. "Princess Flurry Heart!" Another one exclaimed. They all bowed low before the filly, but she waved them off with a hoof. "Please, there's no need for that right now. We have to help Sunlight Dawn!"

"Princess Sunlight?! She's here, too?!"

"Yes, she's…" Here Flurry stopped and turned. Her mouth fell open and her lip quivered. At her hooves, she saw Sunlight's small body. She was still breathing, but she was completely unconscious. Flurry quickly directed one of the former guards to pick her up and they all galloped out of the Canterlot Castle as quickly as they could.

Meanwhile, Midnight had heard the magic explosion, and investigated. She was furious when she found that Flurry, Sunlight, and her guards had all escaped her. "Oh, how I hate that Sunlight Dawn!" She screamed. But then, she suddenly stopped short. An evil smile worked its way over her face. She realized that she still held her family and all of their friends within her trance. Their fear still kept them grounded. "Maybe…this is an opportunity for some fun."

To be continued…

A/N: Thank you SO MUCH for reading this story! I hope you've enjoyed it! I've enjoyed writing it so much that I've decided there will be a third chapter in the saga of Sunlight, Flurry, and Midnight. What dastardly thing will Midnight do next? Will Sunlight and Flurry be able to stop her? You'll have to read the next one to find out.