All six of the ponies were standing completely baffled before the structure in the woods as they didn't knew what to think any more about it. Not to forget the fact that the walls had been closing in behind them. Which rendered the only way they could be going was none other than forward. They were just getting that much closer to the truth behind the unicorn and everything around it. Finally they would have been able to physically see the biggest picture of it all. They could even ask the unicorn just what happened if she's able to reply.

Some of them had already given up the hope that Rarity would be letting something go, they wouldn't be surprised if she turned out to be some kind of bride to the spirit of Sombra who on his own turn used her for his own sickening ends. If only that were the truth was just that simple.

"Shall we, you know, get in?" Rainbow Dash said as she was really eager to actually find out the truth but also was a little bit cautious with everything. She had the feeling that would be traps along the way without a doubt. She just didn't knew where to look or what to do. Everypony pretty much agreed with her, as the things seemed to be safer on the inside then on the outside.

Twilight and Fluttershy had so their own thoughts about it. "Can't we just, uhm, turn back around and wait in the camp?" the shy voice of the pink maned pegasus spoke up before Applejack and Pinkie Pie looked at her with a rather serious look upon their faces. They couldn't actually believe that she was proposing that, while they were standing literally at the brink of the discovery of a lifetime.

And yet it was Twilight herself who ran past all five of them and charged up her horn to do some readings of the fog itself. Silence was the sound that took over each of them as none of them even actually dared to stand up against Twilight and speak against her when it came down to word and deed. "This is bad, this is very, very bad actually." Twilight mumbled as she continued to point her horn into different directions.

"What is it Twi?" Pinkie asked as she wanted to know the finer details of the set. "It's something bad, isn't it?" All of the other ponies then looked at her with a look as if she was actually serious. The only response they got out of her was a gentle squee before the attention was turned back to the mulberry mare.

"Oh yes it is bad. This is terrible even. I think that, that we're stranded here." Twilight spoke up after she had turned herself around to face the others and discharged her horn. "The pathway we followed to here is basically gone like the wind. Something, somewhere took it away and it is all replaced with the stuff around us. From which I have the feeling that it isn't going to be staying like this either. I'm afraid, we have to go in."

"And ya can't fancy a teleport outta here?" Applejack then spoke up as she seemed to be one of the few ponies who actually had a good idea during that time.

In response did Twilight shook her head. Applejack released a small groan before the unicorn spoke the words. "No, this magic is strong and I do not know what it does. For all I know, it can zap us straight back and scatter us across the woods. And I'm not taking the risk to be split Applejack. Now, move it."

With the command that given to each of them did all of the ponies carefully approach the archway that would be leading them into the domain. Straight into the lair of the mare who had been orchestrating all of it. Twilight herself was the last pony to be entering and before she went, her eyes meant to be seeing something in the fog. She brought herself to a halt in order to look at it better for a second or two before the revelation was made.

"They shot it down, they just, shot it down," she whispered to herself as she looked at the remains of the longboat from the Crescent Moon. Disgusted by the loss of lives would Twilight turn her head away and then just continued to proceed forward. Only to be rejoining herself by the group. "Sorry, something caught my attention, longboat of one of the royal air-ships got shot down and just lays there." Twilight mumbled to Applejack in a whisper. Who on her own turn looked over to Twilight with an expression that she couldn't believe the facts for herself.

"Say what again?" the cowgirl spoke up in returning before she shook her head a little bit. "Actually, keep it to yarself partner. Ah don't wanna know what's going on here to begin with."

"Now that makes two of us," the unicorn replied as she released a small sigh through her nostrils and looked up at the structure once again. Just the outer walls that were clearly visible before they would be going into the three doorways and the tower. "My best guess, up there."

All of the ponies looked up to see the tower just standing there in the fullest of glories as none of them could be believing something like that could even exist inside of the place. It seemed to be like the fuel for nightmares, which was the actual intention of it. Some of the ponies -especially Fluttershy- just prayed on the fact that Twilight would be using her teleportation spell and just got them all out of there and then.

Though the present never went down as one would have liked or would have expected. The situation in which they were was indeed one of those cases where that was fully proved. Slow and gentle steps were made forward while each of the ponies looked their eyes out just at the sheer terror that the structure gave each of them. None of them could believe that Rarity could be in the place. None of them wanted to believe the facts as they were. They just weren't ready for it.

The horn of Twilight charged itself up again and she began to once again do some readings again as they passed the middle of the courtyard. Something had triggered her awareness and she wasn't happy in the least bit. Something was watching them from all the sides as they could possibly have done it. Though before Twilight could be bringing out any sound, the invasion literally happened on top of them.

Howling like the wind and groaning like the dead had the clouds of shadows and the shadow stallions made themselves apparent for each of the ponies. Almost instantly had they began to surround the six of them. Fighting wouldn't be something that would be favorable for them all but they wouldn't go down without trying.

The magic that had collected itself in the horn of the unicorn herself was released against one of the clouds who simply avoided it like it was nothing at all. Though for some reason, after she had fired the blast from her horn, it discharged itself almost automatically. "W-What?! My magic!" Twilight explained as she desperately tried to get her horn charged up again but whatever she tried, it wouldn't help one bit.

The six had been taken by surprise and they formed a circle facing each of the nightmare forces in a split second. Applejack smirked a little bit as her head gently turned itself to the stallion in the middle. "Welcome to our world, mister Masquerade. Time to show, what yar made of. Here they came y'all!" the cowgirl spoke up as she narrowed her eyes a little bit and prepared herself. She prepared herself for the trouble that would be coming next.

Each of the girls did exactly the same and much to everypony's surprise had even Fluttershy readied herself for the upcoming fight. A fight that seemed to be in the favor of the dark creatures. "Twi, what are these things?!" the cyan coated pegasus spoke up as her eyes kept on going from right to left.

"If I only knew Rainbow. Not even I know anything about these things! But here they come!" Then it just happened, the assault on the six of them had begun and was going literally in the fullest of forces. Clouds of shadows were being used to distract the six of them before the shadow stallions tried to get a hold on each of them.

The nightmare forces switched every so often between their shapes to throw even more confusion into the mix. The six ponies wouldn't even been able to hit one of the forces due to their non-physical connection to the world.

"Ah don't think, these things, will be quitting on us, soon." Applejack brought out as she was exhausted from the fighting with the mysterious entities. Everything seemed to be going wrong in her eyes. Yet before she even knew it was she taken by the shadow stallions and dragged over to the side line. There was another group of other shadow stallions who would be holding her in place.

No response ever came to the words of Applejack but the actions were repeated every so often to get a new pony to the side line. Until eventually even Twilight Sparkle herself was being captured and dragged away by the creatures of darkness. No hope, no faith and no luck could be saving them all from the fate that was about to come.

They couldn't help but to think that they would be executed literally upon the spot they were forced to lay down on. A thought that just about as comforting as to discovering who was really in charge of everything.

"I'm starting to think it was a major mistake to come down here." Emerald suddenly spoke up as he gave his eyes the time to look towards each of the mares. "Especially with each of you. But you Fluttershy, you still managed to convince me somehow! You're the worst of them all. Manipulative, that's the thing that you're."

"You said you wanted to live a bit!" the yellow pegasus then spoke up in her defense against him as she recalled the exact words as they were spoken at the cafe.

"And not to forget that you could have left any given second. You're here out of your free will, Emerald. Free will alone. Something inside of you kept on whispering that you should never have left whatsoever. And look at you now, living the life you wanted. …More or less." Twilight replied as she watched how terrible their situation had become.

Though it was Applejack who had to rub the words right back in his face. Being the little hothead with a short fuse that she was, the bomb had gone off in her mind as she released a deep exhale. "Listen you little vermin, Fluttershy isn't manipulative at all. It's her charm that certainly does that trick. But as Twi said, you could have bailed out any second before we got here. But yah didn't, so Ah reckon you better be keeping that mouth of yars shut because when I get loose out of these jokers their hold, it should be me who you should be fearing, am Ah clear?"

"Yes ma'am." Emerald simply replied to the cowgirl before he closed his eyes and released a deep sigh through his nostrils. Nothing in the world could have ever prepared him for the trouble he would have gotten into. Suddenly that debt in Manehatten seemed to be like a golden opportunity in his mind. Instead he was stuck there and pressed against the ground by a couple dozen nightmare forces just like the rest of them.

Yet as they simply laid down there, there suddenly was a laughter that reminded the five elements of one pony and one pony alone. There was only one mare in the known universe that had such a sickening laughter. "Nightmare Moon!" all five of them yelled up in choir as they tried to locate the very origin of the sound.

"This, this ain't happen, is it? She got, she got destroyed when we blasted her!" Applejack spoke up as she looked over to Twilight for much needed answers. But the other ponies, including Emerald, all began to speak their words before the unicorn herself could be answering the question.

"No, no, no, out of every last pony that we could have been facing it has to be her!? We're doomed I'm telling you, doomed!" Rainbow Dash almost cried out as she couldn't believe what her ears had heard.

"I wish I never had gone with the five of you! You're only good for trouble and you know it." Emerald hissed out to the five of them before he turned his eyes back over to the tower of the domain.

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had both closed their eyes before the tears started to stream down both of their cheeks as neither of them could believe that Moon had made her return without anypony knowing. "Quiet!" Twilight yelled up as she had more than enough of all the doomsday scenarios from the ponies. "Everypony just quiet and let me think for a moment!"

It did have some effect as each of the ponies did grew silent and was either looking towards the mulberry unicorn or the location of just where the sounds came from. "Parts of her, must have survived. Pieces of her essence scattered through…oh no, no, no, no. Don't tell me that that is how it happened, everything but!"

"What is it Twi?" Applejack asked with curiosity but also frightened for her life.

"Nightmare Moon, took over Rarity's body. Forget Sombra, forget Discord, forget Chrysalis, we've never faced something like, we're about to face I'm afraid," the unicorn spoke up in a terrified tone as they both released a gulp. They then looked towards the footing of the tower of the domain. The very place where the others thought to have heard the laughter originated from. "And here, she comes."

In the doorway that would be leading towards the tower itself could the heavy sounds of hooves that landed upon the crystals be heard in the fullest of glories. The sound that made each of them even more nervous than they already were and the courage all sank deep into their own hooves. Nopony could have ever expected that the horror that they would be facing, was coming right for them.

And yet the worst fact of everything had to be that Nightmare Moon had done something to the body of Rarity. She was needed for something that could be ranging from just disrupting the balance between the elements, to things they preferred not to think about. Out of the doorway it appeared with purple flames travelling up the entire legs to the shoulder and waist. Flames that never revealed any bit of the body but did scorch the earth below the hooves.

Already were they starting to fear for their dear little lives as they saw the gem on top of a horn like structure. Bits and pieces were revealed to the ponies and that gem showed each of them that it was attached to a long looking horn. Though the lights of the fires they could make out that the body structure itself was of a made roughly the size of Celestia herself. If not just a little bit bigger for their feelings.

None of the ponies could believe just what was walking in the shadows of the tower. Even though the time was just in the middle of the day, the atmosphere seemed like it had been turned into nothing but the darkness of the night. It was an effect that none of them seemed to have notched even though it had been there since the initial attack of the nightmare forces.

"This can't be…" Fluttershy whispered up as she didn't even dare to take her eyes off of the creature. Something deep inside of her body told her that it was the thing, they had been seeing in their dreams for a long time already.

Though suddenly there was something from in between the fires that were two blobs of darkness that separated themselves from the body without leaving any visual scars or anything. Those two blobs rolled over to the six of them before they turned themselves into the two deadly commanders of the domain, Shadowfright and Shadowblood. The two of them walked up to the group with grins that gave away their teeth and showed them in the fullest of glory to the ponies.

Of course it was something to indulge even more fear into them as well as intimidation. Though all had faced the changelings on their own once, which ended up in them not being too scared for the fangs. What did do the trick though was the fact that they had the gem for their eyes. Actual and whole gems were crammed into the eye sockets. Never had they seen anything the like and could connect the dots to one another even more.

Though when Twilight began to inspect the forces that were holding each of them in their places, the lack of actual eyes finally came through to her mind. "So that means, you two are her right and left hooves," the unicorn whispered to herself as she glared over to the two commanders. Then her attention simply just returned to the figure that was still coming closer to the six of them.

Whomever it was, it did love to take it's very time with the lot of them. Any other pony that wanted to end their lives would have taken the opportunity long ago already. Yet there was one force that knew how to defy time by having spent a thousand years alone on the rock in the skies. Slowly did the pieces of the puzzle fell together for Twilight as she knew just whom it was that walked into their direction. "So we meet again, don't we?" she spoke up inaudible to herself as she decided that she was ready for the big revelation to come. She was ready to see, just who laid behind the shadows.

The two commanders returned to their places in front of the six ponies and assumed a much more regal posture. For the other pony did a step out of the tower's shadow. What was revealed to the ponies, was a leg with a very dark blue to black coat coloring indulged of course in the flames that rushed over the four legs. Then came the chest in that same coloring before the head was finally revealed.

It was in the second that it was standing in the brighter light that everything could to be identified by each of them. It was Fluttershy whose eyes opened themselves wider than anything. "It's you! The one who has been tormenting each of us in our dreams! What have you done with Rarity?! You, you witch!" she yelped out in utter terror.

The more the ponies looked at the face, the more they started to make the realization that it was indeed the mare they had seen upon the moon, and in their dreams. But Applejack still wasn't convinced one bit. She had only seen the set of eyes in her dreams. And those were closed by the mare. Though not for much longer as the words of Fluttershy caused the ears to twitch and they opened themselves in the fullest of glories.

Yet it only was to give Applejack a heart attack. "No! No, no, no, Ah won't believe this witchcraft! You ain't her!" she tried to deny to herself but the eyes were exactly the same as she saw them in her dream. "Ah wasn't dead in that dream! Ah, just wasn't!" Tears already started to crack down from below her eyes as she remembered reading the gravestone again and again.

Out of every pony had Applejack to be the only one who hadn't been able to actually process the nightmare that she had. "Ah ain't dead, and yah know it."

Then the biggest surprise of them all came, as the unicorn herself spoke up in the mixture of tones. One that belonged to Nightmare Moon herself, while the other obvious one they could make up, belonged to nopony else then Rarity herself. "So, so, so, you little fillies and colt finally have figured out the events, hm? But trust me, you haven't even seen half of it yet and I, don't even intend to show you. You're better off dead and food for my pets than anything else after all you have done."

A smirk came to the face of the being as the chuckle was being released kept on going until the eyes of the mare had gone over each of the six ponies that were still forced to the ground. Six ponies who seemed to be unable to be doing anything against the madness that had consumed their once so beloved friend. There wasn't any doubt any more in the minds of the ponies just where Rarity had been used for in the end. Though the being herself seemed to be willing to throw in that extra little bit of turmoil for their minds. "I, am, Rarity!" she spoke up in that twisted voice before she focused her attention upon Emerald specific. "Or better said, Nightmare Rarity." Her words were then followed up by another snicker of madness.

All of the ponies just couldn't believe that their once so beloved tailor had been turned into a monster like that. None of them even could comprehend such a massive fact. One of their best friends, an element of harmony no less, turned away the light of the sun and moon and choose for the darkness of the shadows. It broke the mares their hearts. Each of them felt betrayed by something about her personality.

As if six knives have been made ready and conjured before their chest and then crammed right into it, that was the manner how it felt for the six of them. Though where the mares were heartbroken, Emerald felt himself let down, almost disappointed by her for some reason. "You, you're nothing from the mare as I remember her, Rarity! Oh yes, it's me. Say it, say my name you witch and feel the pain rushing through you again and again!"

"Emerald, no!" shouted Twilight before it was all too late for him. The attention of Nightmare Rarity had then turned itself over to him as she huffed out clouds of steam or darkness with every exhale that she did. Only then was the sheath discovered by the stallion. The very thing the mulberry unicorn herself had found not a mere two minutes before. All of the sudden had his plan to become the hero pressed right back into his hooves where it should have been in the dark unicorn her eyes.

"You have the guts Emerald Masquerade, to come with the five of them and then to command me to do your bidding? You're still the world's biggest idiot. You have your looks with you I give you that much, but that's all I'm giving you. Well, outside one another thing that is." Nightmare Rarity spoke up as she stood there with her legs still flaming like mad and kept her eyes firmly upon the stallion.

The events that happened next were an excellent learning master for Twilight. As the horn of Nightmare Rarity charged itself up within the blue colored aura was the sword taken right out of the sheath and the very tip was set upon the chin of Emerald himself. It then forced the stallion to look actually right up into the eyes of the mentally twisted unicorn. "You wouldn't have the guts to slice my throat, Rarity. Always trying to find the middle way, you were." Emerald taunted her, much to the pain of the mares.

Yet once again it was only Twilight who dared to speak up against him. "Emerald, shut it up before she really kills you! Taunting her, doesn't exactly help any of us."

"'Listen to the librarian' is something I would say, for she usually has it to the good end." Nightmare Rarity smirked to him as she kept the sword firmly in the position. "Though I suppose, that death is the other thing I can give you. All of you, shall find your deaths at my hooves. You broke me, molded me into doing the deeds I have done and now…all six of you presented before me like it's nothing. This day just keeps getting better and better for me."

The unicorn erupted out in an evil snickering of her own while the others didn't have a single clue of what she was talking about. The blade was removed from the stallion's chin while causing only a minor cut to be made before it was sheathed again to her side and the magic discharged itself. The eyes of the dark unicorn opened themselves again as she looked to each of them personally for a few seconds and growled. The expression visible within the eyes was anger and anger alone. Whatever happened, she was pissed off at somepony, if not the whole horde of ponies she was looking at. "All six of you, will find your ends quickly."

The words were spoken without any emotion in the tone and the more Twilight looked over to the mare in silence, the more she could be swearing the fact that she saw the doubt that was rushing through the mare. A doubt that she could be using to her advantage. Almost as if her personality had split itself and not for the better.

All the way in the vault of Canterlot while being hidden deep away under the city and within the mines were the two princesses looking at the elements of harmony with a worried expression. The four remaining necklaces and the tiara were irradiating unknown amounts of power towards one another as if they were clinging to each other's dear life.

Both Luna and Celestia watched over the events as they took place and thought about actually interfering with the events as they were going on. Luna actually turned herself around to grab the armor of Nightmare Moon and wanted to place it all upon her body. Yet the moment her magic surrounded the objects was the same moment when Celestia's magic made it impossible to move any of the objects.

"No Luna, I can't allow you to do that. She's too dangerous to be released by yourself. Remember the last time you became her? Remember Nightmare Night? You almost lost control again and became her again." Celestia spoke up in a truly concerned voice to her sister. The last thing that she wanted to be doing to actually punish her sister again in becoming such a dreaded force for the land. But another option other than waiting they didn't have and they both know that fact.

"Then what it is that you purpose sister? Waiting until they could have been slaughtered by her? You know that a lot of this mess could have been avoided if we had just been honest against them all and just said that Rarity had changed into a dark mare! But no, you wanted to keep your mouth shut against it and the more time you wait, the smaller the possibilities of survival became. And you know it better than I do. So I ask you again, what it is that you purpose?" Luna almost hissed in a venomous tone towards her sister. During the whole ordeal of Nightmare Rarity, it was her who wanted to be out in the fields and actually discover the truth behind the horrors that were going on.

Closer and closer she came to cracking the code but the rather unexpected call of the elements themselves wasn't a thing either of the two had expected. "You have to let me do this sister, otherwise there is not turning back from the inevitable. This, right here and now, is the beginning of the end and you know it. So I do not ask, I do not beg, I demand of you, let me go and let me do this."

Yet the celestial princess on the other end just released a deep sigh as she tried to keep her mind together and with everything that had been doing on. Something about it all didn't seem to be right but she wasn't exactly able to place her mind upon it. The thoughts raced through her mind as plans for the future were already made. A future in which the words of Luna were being ignored and perhaps, that was the biggest mistake of them all. "I deny that demand with every last fiber in my body whether I'm dead or alive Luna. This, isn't, happening. We have to let Twilight and her friends sort this out without our interference."

"Is this how you treat all of your students?! Just let them go on dangerous quests and actually cause them to be killed?! What is it with you Celestia, what is it with you that after a millennium of time, you turned from that once so loving pony who loved the whole land, into a silent dictator who hides behind a…ah, now I'm starting to see it." Luna spoke up as she discharged her horn and looked Celestia even deeper into the eyes. Suddenly had everything become clear for princess of the night and could sum it all up in just one name. "Sunset, Shimmer."

That name alone caused the alicorn of the day to lose a bit of her focus as she shook her head a little bit and then looked back into the eyes of her sister. "What do you mean, with her?" she then asked in a bitter cold tone.

"That's all I needed to know." Luna replied before she planted a kiss upon the nose of her sister and grinned like the little devil that she could be. Without making a further word or sound had she turned herself around and just started to walk away from Celestia. A Celestia who had not a single clue of the things that were going on around her anymore. Everything just went blurry in her vision and she just turned herself around to view the cabinet in which the elements were stored.

"If you only knew Luna," the alicorn whispered to herself as she didn't look to the elements themselves but actually to the glass and the reflections that could be seen within it. And one of them was that of a burned orange coated, fiery maned mare who almost erupted out in tears before she turned herself around and was lost in translation. "I'm so sorry."

"Boys! It's dinner tone!" Nightmare Rarity shouted towards the tower as she seemed to have regained every last bit of insanity that there was inside of her. Every last little piece of doubt was just gone from her mind and it was something that Twilight noticed as well. She needed to come up with a plan before the 'boys' would be appearing before them. Because most likely it would have been them that was standing on the list of dinner.

If there was one little thing that Twilight absolutely didn't wanted on that day, was to end up as food for some kind of mentally twisted servant of the unicorn. "Oh Rarity, how could you have sunk so deep in life," she whispered to herself before the eyes closed themselves for a second or two. She needed to be in a secluded area in order to get everything out of her mind to come up with a plan.

Everything she knew was used to forge the new plan with but the time was running out when she could hear the sounds of four new sets of hooves appearing before them all and the five others gasped in disbelief. There was only one thing that Twilight could be doing and that was to carefully open her own eyes to see what they were seeing.

Ever so carefully were they opened and the mulberry unicorn looked straight up into the eyes of a savage stallion. "Oh no," was the only thing that she could bring out by herself before the normal flight or fight instinct took over. The sheer looks of those hideous beings was something that terrified her more than anything. Yet there was one other thing that shot right back in her mind. One situation that she wanted to know. One thing that she needed to know more than anything else at that moment.

She would have to defy death itself if she wanted to discover it but it be in her mind and she would be getting an answer from her. "What, have you done, with my son?!" Twilight spoke up loud enough that every single pony could be hearing it including the nightmarish unicorn. It were words that caused the entire domain to fall in silence. From the clouds and shadow stallion that held each of them against the ground up to the savages and the commanders.

The head of the nightmarish queen herself turned itself over to Twilight as she still regained that look of hatred in her eyes as well as a bit of confusion. "What, son, are you talking about here Sparkle? From the things that I have gathered you always happened to be this nerdy librarian. You never even had the guts to speak to another stallion, let alone love one. So you might as well cut the act here and now. And consider your last words very, very carefully."

Though the entire time that she spoke her words, it was noticeable that the eyes of the unicorn always made that turn to the left for the mulberry unicorn. Next to her laid Emerald and almost as if they always were tracing off to him instead keeping them fixed upon her. "You know bloody well just who I mean with that you bitch! Where's Spike?!"

All of the sudden had she regained the fullest attention of the unicorn once again. That hateful glare continued to be looking at her as she huffed out another cloud of darkness. "Oh he's gone already. Deader than dead and rotting in the depths of Tartarus! But don't be saddened, you'll be joining him soon enough." Nightmare Rarity spoke up towards Twilight with an unusual honest tone of her voice.

The words and the tone were already more than enough for the mulberry unicorn to start fighting her tears against her. If Spike truly was dead then there perhaps wouldn't have been anything that she could be doing against the unicorn who had caught them. The sheer amounts of sadness that flowed through her body managed to get the upper hand and she just erupted out in tears for a good set of minutes.

Tears that were of a true sadness. The same sadness that Rarity felt when it became known to her, that her friends actually abandoned her because of her attitude. It was something that caused the dark mare to become emotionally troubled herself as well. Even though she had turned herself away from the mares, she still heard the sounds of Twilight. "Bring him, to me," she spoke up a few seconds after Twilight had ceased her crying.

They had to be strong if they wanted to survive the madness they got in. For all they had was one another and that was where they had to be doing it. The command given to get Emerald to her seemed like the best chance they had just yet. "It's time to lure her out. Emerald, try everything that you will be having to get out the real Rarity, the true one. She's still somewhere inside of it, but locked away. This, is your moment to shine." Twilight whispered as the tears still streamed down of her cheeks as she wasn't allowed to dry them off. The stallion gave her a nod as he understood the job and just after she had told him the plan, he was being pulled up and actually released. A thing that caused each of the ponies to be genuinely surprised with it.

"What makes you think I don't just run away?" the stallion asked to her as he carefully approached the nightmarish unicorn.

"They are a lot quicker than you are, so don't even think about it." Nightmare Rarity spoke up before the two were facing one another. The both of them looked into the eyes of the other deeper than ever before and all Emerald saw was indeed a being torn apart by town entities that were fighting to take control of the body.

"Suppose you trained them well," the stallion spoke up with a gentle smile as he tried to break the ice with the troubled being. Though it wasn't without any risks for his own life. If she figured out what he was doing, the plan was just gone through the roof and they would have lost everything.

"Very well indeed."

"But, Rarity, look at yourself for a moment, everything you once were is just gone, reduced to nothing but a pile of ash under your burning legs. But, remember the phoenix we had in our biology class? They always rise back out of the ashes. You, need to be rising out of the ashes sweetie. You, you still love me, don't you? Somewhere deep inside of your body, you still love, me." Emerald spoke up in a genuine sounding tone of wanting to help as well as showing compassion towards the unicorn. Two things that hadn't been shown to her in a very, very long time.

In response were the fires that still waged on the mare her legs actually lowering themselves until they were just nothing anymore. They ended up extinct from the world as a strand of mane fell before the eyes of the mare. What then followed was a gentle sniffing before a near silent cry for help was released by her. Her head actually lowered itself to the point where the two touched one another.

Emerald brought his hoof over to her cheek and gently began to stroke it in the hope to comfort her. To comfort the dark mare who realized just how wrong she had been with her deeds. "It's okay Rary, it's all okay."