My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro, The Hub and of course Lauren Faust who seems to have gone out of her way to make a show about pastel colored ponies with names like "Twilight Sparkle" completely awesome. This story is just for fun and no profit shall be made so please above mentioned people don't sue me. You're not gonna get much. Any OCs that pop up in this fic belong to me and can be used with permission. Please don't steal from me. Now with that out of the way, on with the show.
The Elements of Discord
Chapter 15: Harmony vs Discord Round 2-Flawless Victory
"Wheeee!" Pinkie cheered as she bounced out of the star-filled mist and into...
"Wait," she asked, glancing around her new surroundings. "Where am I?"
When she looked a little closer she noticed that she was right in the middle of the castle's kitchen. It's rather large kitchen.
"Oooh! I bet I could make all sorts of sweet things here!" she exclaimed openly. "Like a whole bunch of yummy cakes for a really awesome party!"
"Sorry, kitchen's closed," a voice from behind her practically growled.
Undeterred, Pinkie spun around to greet this newcomer with a big, bright grin on her face.
"Hiya!" she said with a wave of her right front hoof.
Unfortunately, the scarred, black-coated mare didn't share Pinkie's enthusiasm for the meeting.
"Shut up!" Stampede snapped.
"Oooh. Somepony's grouchy!" Pinkie remarked with a smirk. "Oh I bet it's because you haven't had any sugar yet today! I can fix that!"
"I don't need any stupid sugar!" the other Earth pony growled again, stamping a hoof on the tiled floor.
"Are you suuuuure? I can make some really good cakes! They'll be very yu-ummy! They'll make you feel bet-ter!" Pinkie still tried to persuade her in a sing-song voice.
Stampede's response was to let out another irritated growl before she leapt at the irritating pink pony. To her surprise, however, Pinkie merely ducked down so that the black mare harmlessly passed over her. Stampede landed deftly on all four of her hooves then spun around to glare at the other mare again.
"Missed me!" Pinkie called out with a fit of giggles.
"I won't miss again!" Stampede snarled as she charged her once again.
This time she stopped just before she tackled her and rose to her hindhooves to strike out with her forehooves. Unfortunately, Pinkie continued to dodge her with a surprising ease. It's almost as if she could predict Stampede's strikes before she even made them. Whatever it was, it was driving the enraged equine crazy. With a scream of pure frustration she reared back again and tried to smash Pinkie's head under her hooves, but the party pony just rolled out of the way.
"You know this kinda fun!" she mused with another giggled.
"Stand still and let me beat you!" Stampede screamed.
"Why would I want to do that? It doesn't sound fun at all!"
"It is for me!" the other Earth pony proclaimed before she spun around and tried to buck Pinkie right in the face.
Of course being used to this kind of action, Pinkie flipped around so that her own hindhooves met Stampedes and instead of knocking her out the kick catapulted her through the air. She cheered as she twirled through the air then landed perfectly on one hindhoof atop one of the steel countertops.
"Ta-daaa!" she exclaimed.
"Argh you are so annoying!" Stampede snapped.
"Why does everypony say that?" Pinkie wondered, playing a hoof under her chin in thought.
She didn't have much time to think it over though as soon enough Stampede was tossing as many of the pots and pans around her as she could get her teeth on at her. Pinkie leapt off the counter and knocked a few of the pans out of the way as she fell then went back into her routine of jumping and bouncing out of the way of the heavy objects. Once the barrage was over she gave the other mare a stern look.
"Hey! That wasn't very nice! Those things could have really hurt me!" she chided.
"That's what I've been trying to do!" Stampede explained with an exacerbated sigh.
"You know if you keep this up I'm not going to let you have any cake."
"I don't want any stupid cake!"
"Well now I know you're evil!" Pinkie said, horrified. "What kind of pony doesn't want cake?!"
"The kind that wants to plant her hoof right in your stupid face!" Stampede declared before she charged her again.
This started another round of strikes and dodges that took them all around the spacious kitchen. They bounded off of countertops and sinks, pans and utensils flying about as they did so. For every hit Stampede tried to land, Pinkie would simply bound away from it. In one instance she slid under one of the tables so fast that the enraged Stampede failed to notice steel structure and slammed into it muzzle first. As she shook the pain away she noticed Pinkie slipping into what looked like a pantry closet. She smirked at the idea of finally having this pest cornered and stalked her way over to the door. She placed a hoof on the handle and readied herself to open the door as quickly as she could to avoid any surprises. Sadly she had vastly underestimated her opponent and the second she pulled the door back she found herself face-to-face with a-
"Party Cannon!" Pinkie shouted before pulling the cord on the weapon.
The next thing Stampede knew she was being flung across the room by a face full of confetti and streamers. She lied stunned on the floor for a few seconds, her only moves were to spit out tiny bits of paper that made their way into her mouth. When she finally found the mental strength to move again all she did was glare in angered confusion at Pinkie.
"How?!" she snarled.
"Oh I always have my Party Cannon with me!" the pink pony replied cheerfully.
"No I mean how did you do that?!" Stampede shouted, springing to her hooves. "How do you do any of these things?!"
Pinkie giggled and shook her head.
"I really don't get why it's so hard for everypony to get this," she said, mostly to herself. "It's real simple. You see-"
Her explanation was cut off by a metallic "whack" sound that made her eyes go wide just before they glazed over.
"Down I go..." she mumbled before she fell to the floor.
Her collapsing body revealed Hammer standing behind her with a hoof wrapped around the handle of a large skillet. Stampede blinked at him, unsure which one upset her more: that he took away her eventual victory or that she wouldn't get an explanation now!
"Hey! I told you I didn't need any help!" she growled.
"I know! I was just...I mean...I was trying..." the purple stallion stammered.
The dark-coated mare placed a hoof on her face and shook her head at his idiotic yammering.
"Shut up!" She ordered him. "Just pick her up and follow me!"
As she turned around she saw him pick up Pinkie's unconscious form and flop her down on his back. Stampede then started to lead him out of the kitchen and back towards the throne room. After a bit of walking though she glanced over her shoulder at him.
"And no staring!" she added.
"What?! No! I wasn't!" he said desperately.
She let out a small "tsk" before turning back around and despite herself she found small smile forming on her lips.
( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - )
When the world stopped becoming a swirling mass of black clouds and stars, Fluttershy found herself in only a slightly brighter room that didn't look very inviting at all. Especially from the usually brightly lit and comforting castle.
"Oh my. Oh dear. Oh my. Oh dear," she whimpered as she looked around with a trembling head.
Once she calmed down enough to actually take in her surroundings she saw that she was in a fairly decent sized room that was sparsely decorated with a few pieces of furniture, small tables and some vases for decoration. There was a door on either end and a large window to her left that no doubt let the sun illuminate the room when it wasn't pitch black outside like it was currently. Even the fancy chandelier above her wasn't working and so the only light in the room came from the candelabras placed throughout the room. Unfortunately all they really did now was cast flickering shadows across the walls that terrified the yellow Pegasus even more.
She trembled even harder and started to back away to...somewhere. Preferably a place she could hide until this whole thing was over. As she slowly inched backwards she let out a terrified shriek and jumped up a few feet when she heard something else in the room with her. She calmed down when she realized it was a sound she was well familiar with: an animal in trouble. Forgetting her own fear for the moment she focused on finding poor, frightened little critter. After a quick search she found a rabbit curled up into a small trembling ball under one of the large chairs. She flashed a comforting smile as she inched her way over towards it.
"It's okay little one," she said softly and sweetly. "You don't have to be afraid. If you just come to your Auntie Fluttershy we can find a way out of this horrible place together."
The rabbit stopped its trembling and stared at her for a moment, as if it was considering the offer. After a few more tense seconds it started to inch its way out from underneath the chair and walked over to her. Fluttershy's warm smile widened to ease the animal further and she reached out a hoof towards it for encouragement. It reached out a paw towards her to return the gesture and just before they could touch a figure suddenly swooped down and snatched the rabbit away from her, causing them both to scream out in terror once again. It was only Fluttershy's concern for the rabbit that kept her from shrinking into a ball and hiding under a chair herself. Once she calmed down a bit she noticed a steady flapping sound and looked towards the ceiling to see another Pegasus hovering above her and holding the rabbit under on foreleg. The white mare stared at her with pink, blank eyes that seemed to burn a hole straight into her soul. The combination of her cold stare and expressionless face caused Fluttershy's trembling to return a bit but she forced her hooves to stay still by focusing her attention on the rabbit. Which wasn't hard to do as its fearful and pained expression drew her eyesight like a magnet. It let out a few soft whimpers as the Pegasus' hoof petted the top of its head rather roughly. So much so that the skin around its eyes actually stretched a bit and its head snapped back just slightly every time the hoof passed over it. Fluttershy forgot about her own fear as her concern for the rabbit grew stronger.
"Um, ex-excuse me," she spoke up softly. "You're hurting that pretty bunny."
"Yes. I know," the other Pegasus said in a flat down as she continued to stroke the rabbit's head.
"Oh. Well...do you think you could stop? Pretty please?" Fluttershy asked and flashed a friendly smile.
"No."
Her smile quickly fell.
"Why not?" she asked with a little more force in her voice.
"Because I like to cause it pain," the white Pegasus explained in the same flat tone even as her petting motions grew harder and cause the rabbit to cry out more and flail it's hind legs in a futile attempt to escape.
Fluttershy's eyes grew wide and her mouth hung open in complete shock and horror of that statement. The expression didn't last long though as her mouth quickly closed up into a scowl and her eyes narrowed a bit.
"You're...you're heartless!" she cried up at the other flying pony.
"Yes. Yes I am," she replied.
Again Fluttershy's expression changed, going from righteous anger to slightly confused.
"Wait. Do you mean that your name is Heartless or that you are heartless?" she asked.
"Both," Heartless clarified.
"Oh," Fluttershy remarked. Her brow then furrowed again. "Well either way you need to stop being such a meanie to that poor, helpless bunny!"
"Why?" Heartless asked, somehow sounding both slightly sarcastic and genuinely confused at the same time.
"Because it's not nice!"
"And why should I try to be nice?"
Fluttershy was completely flabbergasted by now.
"Because...because then other ponies will like you! And you'll have lots of good friends!" she explained as best she could. "And the animals will like you too if you're nice to them."
"I don't care about either of them liking me," Heartless said in her usual flat, emotionless tone.
"Oh," the yellow Pegasus muttered, again at loss for words.
"If you're so concerned for this rabbit, why don't you come up here and take it from me?" the other mare asked in the calmest sounding threat ever.
"Well...I...I don't really like fighting," Fluttershy explained, looking away in embarrassment.
"Then you don't really care for this rabbit," Heartless retorted, emphasizing her point by kneading her hoof into the rabbit's head and making it cry out even more.
"Stop it!" the usually timid pony screamed desperately.
Heartless ignored her plea and continued her torment of the screeching animal. For every prod and poke she would give, Fluttershy's expression grew more desperate and frustrated. She tried to think of something to say to dissuade Heartless from her continuing her torture but her emotions kept her from thinking straight. After all even the Element of Kindness had her limits. And they were reached right when it seemed like Heartless was about to bite off one of the rabbit's ears.
"Leave...that...bunny...ALONE!" Fluttershy screamed then launched herself into the air with a surprisingly amount of force.
Unfortunately her outburst gave Heartless enough of a warning to effortlessly dodge her charge with a simple side hover. Fluttershy flapped her wings as hard as she could and flailed a bit to keep from crashing into the wall she was suddenly heading towards. Thankfully she stopped just in time and let out a small sigh of relief. She then spun back around and narrowed her sight on the rabbit then flew after it again. And once again Heartless proved herself skilled enough to avoid her. In fact she was good enough to keep avoiding Fluttershy's advances until it seemed like they were playing a game of Keep Away. With each near miss Fluttershy found herself getting more and more frustrated if not downright angry. It didn't help that the rabbit seemed to have figured out what she was doing and so tried desperately to reach out to her with its paws with every pass, causing her to become more emboldened to get it and more agitated when she missed. But while she was becoming more and more emotional, Heartless kept the same blank expression throughout the whole ordeal. Not once did she give any sign of concern or even irritation of being chased. In fact it seemed she even lost interest in tormenting the animal that dangled precariously from her foreleg.
"This bores me," she stated as Fluttershy passed by her again. "If you want this rabbit so much then here, you can have it."
With that she pulled her right hoof back and threw the bunny towards the floor. Fluttershy let out a horrified gasp then dove down after it was fast as she could. Thankfully she caught in time but unfortunately she wasn't a skilled enough flyer to pull herself out of the nosedive she now found herself in. Doing the only thing she could think of, she curled herself into a ball around the bunny to keep itself safe just before crashing into one of the ornate couches in the room. She let out a few high pitched shrieks of pain as she bounced off it and continued to tumble throughout the room until she was brought to a stop by the far wall. She slowly uncurled herself and watched happily as the rabbit hopped away, a bit shaken up but otherwise fine.
"Oh...good. You're...safe..." Fluttershy mumbled before the spinning of the room became too much for her and she passed out.
The rabbit hopped back over to her and desperately patted her cheek with its paw to try to wake her up. Unfortunately this act of bravery only succeeded in getting it caught again as Heartless landed on its tail. It let out a painful yelp then stared up helplessly at the deranged mare.
"No, you're not," she said in reply to Fluttershy's statement before looking at the fallen Pegasus herself. "Neither of your are."
The rabbit's ears fell in anticipation of the horror awaiting it and how the brave mare had tried to save it.
( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - )
A bright purple flash dispersed the mist around her and once she could see clearly again, Twilight smiled when she found herself in a very familiar and comforting place.
"The Royal Library!" she exclaimed happily then gave a confident smirk. "Well that was a big mistake sending me here. I know this place like the back of my hoof. And its place in the castle. I'll be able to get out of here and find the others with no-"
She stopped when the library suddenly went completely black.
"Hey! Who turned out the lights?!" she asked.
"That would be me," a voice called out from the darkness.
"Who's there?!" Twilight demanded, looking around in vain.
She then powered her horn up to at least give her some light as she tried to find the owner of the voice talking to her.
"Twilight Sparkle," it remarked in a mocking tone. "Oh I've heard all about you. How you purposely chose to ignore anypony who wanted to be your friend in favor of your precious books."
"Yes, I'll admit I used to do that," the purple unicorn admitted. "Back when I was young and stupid and thought I didn't need friends. But I've learned the error of my ways and found some great friends in Ponyville."
"OOOOOH GOOOOD FOR YOOOOOUUUUU!" the voice screamed bitterly. "I'm so glad you got to learn the 'Magic of Friendship'! But did you really do anything to earn it?"
"We defeated Nightmare Moon together!" Twilight shouted back, turning around to where she thought the voice was coming from.
"And she was my friend! My only friend!"
There was a burst of energy and Twilight was nearly blinded when all of the lights flashed back on at once. After the spots cleared from her eyes she found herself face-to-face with dark blue unicorn who was practically glaring death at her with her violet colored eyes.
"Dark Sky I presume," Twilight remarked.
"So you've heard of me, huh?" the other unicorn mused with a smirk. "Let me guess, from some obscure book that called me crazy and a madmare, right?"
"No. I heard of you from Princess Luna herself," she corrected.
"What?" Dark Sky gasped, her eyes wide in surprise. "How...?"
"Because she wanted Princess Celestia and I to know the truth. That you're not some monster bent on destroying Equestria. That you were just a scared, lonely mare who just wanted a friend. Much like she was. That's why you two became friends in the first place, wasn't it?"
Dark Sky's expression softened just a bit as she recalled her time with Luna long ago.
"Yes," she whispered, her voice also much softer. "We were...so alone. We just had each other. Nopony else wanted to even talk to us. They called us the Bringers of Darkness because of my cloud and Luna's rule of the night." Her eyes suddenly flashed and her expression hardened again. "That's why they had to pay! If they wanted us to be monsters then we would give them monsters!"
With that she fired a quick beam from her horn that smashed into Twilight and sent her flying across the library. As she slid over the polished wood floor, she heard a slight metal clanking sound that signified her tiara had been knocked off in the blast. Sure enough when she opened her eyes after she stopped sliding, she saw it lying a few feet away from her. She jumped to her hooves and moved over to it but another blast from Dark Sky stopped her short. She narrowed her eyes before she lit up her own horn and returned fire.
"You don't have to be a monster!" she still tried to reason with the deranged pony. "Not then and especially not now! We're more enlightened these days and we know the dark isn't something to be afraid of. In fact we had a whole celebration about the night now!"
"Well whoop-de-doo about that!" Dark Sky snorted as she bounced around Twilight's blasts. "But it's not that simple for me. It's never been that simple! Don't you see that cloud out there?!"
"Oh trust me, I saw it," Twilight retorted, still keeping her at bay. "We had to walk under it just to get here."
"Well that's what I've had to deal with ALL MY LIFE!" she screamed, finally firing a beam that stopped Twilight's in midair.
The purple unicorn winced a bit at the ensuing struggle between their two magic streams. She planted her hooves firmly on the floor and concentrated to put more power behind her blast.
"I can't pretend to know what you went through but I can tell you that Princess Luna wouldn't want you to do this!" Twilight still tried to reason with her.
"Yes she would! She helped me! We were in this together! We still are!" Dark Sky countered, sending another pulse through her beam.
One of Twilight's knees buckled slightly under the new strain but she forced herself to stand up straight and added more power on her own end.
"That's not Princess Luna! That's some twisted version of her brought on by a crazy demi-god. She's not your friend! She doesn't care about you or anypony! She just wants to rule in darkness!"
"SHUT! UP!" Dark Sky bellowed, sending an even more powerful surge through her horn.
The added power was too much for Twilight and its force again sent her flying backwards only this time she landed against one of the stacks. It wobbled from the impact then sent a large amount of heavy books crashing down upon her. Twilight struggled to get out of the pile of large tomes but she was too exhausted from the fight and the bruises she received. Her struggles ended up being backfiring though as she bumped the stack again and knocked a copy of "Tales of Nightmare Moon" off the shelf which promptly landed on her head and knocked her out.
( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - ) ( - )
When Twilight reopened her eyes she found that not only was she not still trapped under a pile of books she also wasn't even in the library anymore. She had been moved to the throne room and placed right in front of the throne. Unfortunately instead of seeing Celestia's bright smile beaming down on her she saw Nightmare Moon's dark scowl filling her vision. That was the first thing she noticed. The second was that her legs were all bound by some kind of spell that kept her from moving them. It also seemed to extend to her horn which prevented her from using her magic. The third thing she noticed were the groans of her friends as they started to come to as well around her and were trapped in the same magical bonds.
"Everypony okay?" she asked.
"No," Applejack answered groggily.
"I have been better," Rarity spoke up then noticed her surroundings. "A lot better."
"Me too," Rainbow Dash muttered from her place on the floor. "I can't believe I let her get the drop on me!"
"Oh yeah, who'd ever imagine the great Rainbow Dash had an ego somepony could exploit," Crimson Streak taunted from her place near the thrown.
"Yeah? Well let me outta these things and we'll see how you do in a fair fight!"
"Sorry, unlike you I'm not dumb enough to fall for that."
"Enough," Nightmare Moon said as she got up from the throne and walked towards the captive ponies, paying particular attention to Twilight. "I assure you all your friends are fine. For now. But of course soon they won't be and neither will the rest of Equestria. Not now that I possess all six Elements of Harmony," she gloated, holding the Elements up for emphasis.
"Five," Twilight said flatly.
"Huh?"
"You only have five Elements," she clarified with a small smirk.
Nightmare Moon frowned then glared over at Treasure Hunt.
"Give it," she ordered.
"But it's so shiny!" the Earth pony protested.
"Give. It," she repeated more menacingly.
Treasure Hunt sighed then pulled the Element of Generosity necklace out of her saddlebag where it was immediately snatched up by Nightmare Moon's magic field and added to her collection.
"There. Now I have all of them! Thank you for pointing that out my dear," she said, returning Twilight's earlier smug smirk.
"Nice going Twilight," Rainbow Dash muttered.
"Hey I don't see you coming up with any ideas right now!" Twilight snapped.
"Girls please! We shouldn't be fightin' each other!" Applejack spoke up.
"She's right, we should be together in this," Fluttershy agreed softly.
"Oh please don't stop on my account. I'm finding this very entertaining," Nightmare Moon gloated then turned to her own Elements. "Aren't you girls?"
"Yeah! They're funny!" Treasure Hunt beamed.
"I'm enjoying it," Crimson Streak agreed.
"Oh it's so much fun," Dark Sky gloated.
"I'd prefer if they were fighting to the death," Stampede suggested.
"And if they had better lights. Which, of course, the Great and Powerful Trixie could provide!" the pompous unicorn declared. "Though it still wouldn't be nearly as good as one of my shows!"
"I don't care," Heartless said flatly.
"I'm kinda with her," Sledge agreed. "I'm more concerned about when we get paid for this."
"You'll get your money when I say you will!" Nightmare Moon snapped at him.
"For the record, I'm enjoying the show!" Hammer said eagerly.
"Suck up," Sledge teased.
"Well I'm not enjoying it!" Rainbow Dash shouted in annoyance. "If you're gonna do something to us then just do it already! Unless your plan it to bore us to death."
"Um...Rainbow. I-I really don't think you should be taunting the Mare in the Moon," Fluttershy suggested.
"Or giving her ideas!" Pinkie added. "Being bored to death sounds so...boring! It's just the kind of terrible thing a creepy mare like her would do!"
"Oh I have a much more delightful punishment in mind for you than that," Nightmare Moon chuckled.
"What? Are you going to banish us to the moon or something?" Twilight snarked.
"Honestly I had thought of that at first but it seemed too...on the nose, I suppose you could say," she replied with a gentle tap of her nose. "Instead I want something to punish both you and of course my sweet sister."
It was then that Dark Sky used her magic to pull Celestia out from behind the throne to reveal she was also bound in the same magical chains that held Twilight and her friends at bay.
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight called out and frantically struggled against her bounds. Once she realized it was useless she looked at her mentor in shame. "I'm sorry. I failed you."
"No Twilight," Celestia reassured her. "It is I who failed you. If I had told you about all this sooner perhaps we could have made the proper preparations."
"Awwww aren't they so precious?" Nightmare Moon mocked, holding her two front hooves up to her cheeks. She then lowered her hooves and scowled at them. "Please. If it gets any sweeter in here I may get a stomach ache."
"You know I always hear ponies say that but I get tons of sugar and I never have a stomach ache!" Pinkie happily informed.
"I don't care," Nightmare Moon growled. "Now as I was saying, I'm not going to banish you to the moon. Instead I'm going to keep you in a place where you'll all be able to constantly remind Celestia of her greatest failure."
"I'm reminded of my greatest failure every time I look at you Nightmare," Celestia said sorrowfully.
The dark mare rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue in disgust.
"Ugh. And they've claimed I'm melodramatic!" she snorted.
"So what are ya gonna do with us then?" Applejack asked, curiosity finally getting the better of her.
"I'm going to do to you what the original Element bearers did to my dear friend Dark Sky," she revealed, casting an apologetic glance at the unicorn. "Then I'm going to place you all in the garden to spruce it up a bit. I think we could use a few more statues out there, don't you Celestia?"
"You're going to turn them to stone?!" Trixie cried out in disbelief.
Nightmare Moon and the rest of the discordant ponies stared at her.
"What did you think I was going to do with them?" she asked.
"I...I don't know. I thought you'd just throw them in the dungeon or banish them or something!" the blue unicorn explained.
"Do you have a problem with this method?"
"Yeah? Do you?" Dark Sky pressed and took a step closer to her.
Trixie looked around at the glaring expressions turned her way and shrank back a bit, pulling her hat down over her eyes slightly.
"No. No not at all!" she quickly covered herself. "It's...it's what they deserve right?!"
"I'd say it's what all traitors deserve," Crimson Streak teased. "Right Sky?"
"You don't get to call me that!" Dark Sky growled at her as she gave her a rough poke in the shoulder.
"ENOUGH!" Nightmare Moon screamed at the top of her lungs. "I swear it's like trying to heard cats! You six. Over here. NOW!"
Not being the one foolish enough to disobey the Mare in the Moon, the six ponies raced over to her and quickly formed a circle around her. She then released the Elements of Harmony in favor of spreading out a field around her disciples that caused them all to glow. They then raised into the air in their circle formation with Nightmare Moon floating perfectly in the middle of it in a formation eerily similar to the one Twilight and her friends took when they used the Elements of Harmony against her. And just like before there was a build up of power before a monochrome colored rainbow shot out and headed straight for them. The power was enough to disrupt their bonds but it was only a split second before the beam hit them.
The room went completely black for a moment and when it passed, those left standing where either delighted or horrified at the sight before them; Twilight and her friends completely encased in stone. It looked as if they had tried to move before the beam hit them but they were obviously not successful. Twilight was in a half standing position and looked like she was trying to use her magic to get something, most likely the Elements of Harmony. Rainbow Dash had her wings half unfurled in an effort to fly away. Fluttershy had just curled herself into a ball with a wing covering her face. Applejack and Rarity seemed to merge into one statue as it looked like Applejack tried to push Rarity out of the way. Pinkie Pie...seemed awfully chipper for what was about to happen to her.
When they landed, Nightmare Moon and the Elements of Discord ponies wobbled a bit unsteadily from slight exhaustion but Nightmare Moon still had the strength to smile in victory and make her way over to her captive sister.
"There. Now don't those look far better than those dusty old statues you have out there now?" she gloated with a chuckle.
Celestia gave no response. Instead she just lowered her head and closed her eyes. Not only had she failed her sister and Twilight but all of Equestria. A tear ran down her cheek at the thought of the dark days that lay ahead.
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes: Yes I'm finally back again! Although this time the lateness of the chapter wasn't totally my fault. See my laptop decided to crap out on me at the end of July and I had one of my roommate's friends look at it but it ended up being a bigger problem than we thought and so took a month to get fixed. Still having some problems with it but at least I'm able to write again and so I refocused on getting this chapter done! So in a weird way, the month off was just what I needed to rekindle my passion for writing and this fic.
Hopefully the chapter has been worth the wait but it's not the most happy chapter, is it? I guess you could call this the "Empire Strikes Back" section of the story where things aren't look very good for our heroes. Especially not here given that the Mane 6 are all trapped in stone, Princess Celestia is helpless to do anything and Equestria is slowly being covered by a dark cloud. Yep, certainly not the best time for our little ponies, is it?
Which will be made especially clear when we time jump a few weeks in the next chapter to see the effect of Nightmare Moon's rule on the kingdom. So we'll finally get past the first day! Yep! These past three and a half years have only been one day! Yeeaaaah...this fic did get away from me a bit. Still nothing to go but press on until the end! Just like all the ponies of Equestria will have to do now!
See ya then!