Twilight liked to think that she could keep a level head in tense situations (most of the time).... however at this point in time, she couldn't help but think that whatever force that was higher than Celestia on the totem pole was really testing her at this point. 'Granted, I should have expected this when the ring mentioned greed energy... but this is still a lot to take in!' Twilight thought to herself as she descended towards a large valley, and what could be classified as the second biggest dragon she'd ever had the displeasure of facing.

Said dragon's entire body was engulfed in orange flames as it thrashed around the valley, occasionally slamming into the sides while trying to hit a small, indigo light that zipped around its body, occasionally striking it wherever it could. However, the moment she got close enough, the dragon suddenly launched a giant fireball at the bottom of the valley and started incinerating everything it saw. Taking the energy from the fires along with the very trees it destroyed and compressing it into a strange energy orb. "WANT IT! I WANT IT ALL! IT'S ALL MINE!" The dragon roared as it chomped down on the orb.

Twilight summoned a spherical shield and braced herself as she felt a powerful burst of energy erupt from the behemoth before her. The indigo light was flung back a few feet as well, managing to stabilize itself in mid-air before it could crash into Twilight. As the light died down, Twilight found herself staring at an armored Pegasus wearing a visor with a braided mane and tail, as well as several sword constructs hovering behind her wings.

"Are... are you ok?" She asked, getting the Pegasus' attention.

"Yes… but we need to stop him before it's too late!" She said before flaring her wings and flying back towards the giant creature. Mentally commanding her swords to strike him while Twilight followed close behind, firing several energy blasts.

Despite the swords and several of the blasts hitting their target, the dragon snorted as all of them harmlessly bounced off of his scales before spreading his wings and flying right towards them.

"I'm open to suggestions!" Twilight called out as she quickly summoned her armor.

"Just get me close to his face Twilight, I'll do the rest!" The Pegasus replied as she Dragon let out a ground-shaking roar as he exhaled another fireball.

Not bothering to ask how already knew her name, Twilight wasted no time summoning another shield around the two, pouring both the rings energy and her own magic into it as the supercharged fireball slammed against the sphere. 'Focus... focus... FOCUS!' Twilight thought to herself, gritting her teeth as sweat dripped down her forehead, pouring all of her energy into keeping the shield intact as her Pegasus ally quickly merged all of her swords into one massive claw-like construct roughly twice her size.

The moment the dragon got within range before it could summon another fireball she quickly clamped it over his mouth, converting it into a muzzle. However, as the dragon violently tried to shake it off, he caught a glimpse of Twilight's magic surrounding the two, the aura, there was something familiar about it... and he needed it.

Letting out an enraged growl, he called upon the energy he had been absorbing and broke free, shattering the muzzle to pieces. "TWILIGHT?! WHERE TWILIGHT?! I WANT TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT MINE!" The dragon roared as he began a frantic search, his energy absorbing anything not wearing a Lantern ring into his own body for energy.

'Did he just... how does this thing even know my name!?' Twilight thought to herself as she quickly flew towards the top of the valley with her ally, hoping to put some distance between themselves and the Dragon before it started draining their energy as well. 'It must have heard that Pegasus say my name first, yeah that's it... but wait, how-'

['Twilight, we need to stop this thing before that ring absorbs any more energy!] She heard Celestia call out to her.

"R-right!" Twilight said out loud as she dodged a few more attempts from the Dragon to try and grab her and the Indigo Pegasus. "Okay, so do we have any kind of plan to stop him!? Because given what his ring's able to do, I don't see how we'd be able to get close enough without him absorbing our energy!"

"We need to remove the Ring..." The Pegasus muttered before dodging another blast. "But one of us will have to get close enough to force it off."

"And how do we accomplish THAT?!" Twilight groaned.

"How much power do you have in your ring?" The Pegasus asked, Twilight quickly tapped it and saw that her charge was around 29% power.

"Not much. If I get too close to the dragon it'll just suck up my power like it was some kinda soda." Twilight said as the creature continued to eat more of the area around it.

The Pegasus pondered for a moment, remembering their fight in Cloudsdale. "My ring has the power to quell his rage, but he's growing stronger by the second. I won't be able to hold his attention for long..."

This got Twilight thinking. 'Its ring consumes energy, and I can't get too close without him sapping all of mine...'

[But maybe there's a way for you to delay the amount he energy he absorbs from you personally...] Celestia chimed in. [If you recharged your ring and then cast a double-layered shield around yourself you might be able to pull the ring off before he absorbs all your energy. It's a long shot, but it might just work.]

"Alright. I need to recharge my ring. Can you distract him long enough so that I can finish the chant?" Twilight asked, the Pegasus nodded as she turned towards the dragon and flew towards it. Twirling her staff she then held it in front of her and a strange symbol appeared.

"Nok." She whispered as the strange symbol shot out blue energy towards him. "Be at peace... your rage is misplaced and pointed in the wrong direction. Find it within yourself to find your true self." The dragon snarled and shook his head when the energy and words hit him.

"N-no... it's mine. It's ALL mine! It's mine and no one else's!" The Dragon roared as he breathed orange flames at her.

The Pegasus narrowly dodged the flames as she desperately tried to repeat the process, however, at that very moment, the Dragon decided to go on the full offensive and lunged at her through his own flames. Caught off-guard, the Pegasus barely had time to react as the Dragon struck her with his claws, sending her flying into the forest at the top of the valley.

"SPIKE! WANT! ALL!" The Dragon roared as it started stomping towards her with a hunger in his eyes. THAT caught Twilight's ear as she turned to look at him, interrupting her chant.

".... S-Spike?"

The fearsome Dragon turned its attention to her, his engulfed in an orange glow as he inhaled deeply before expelling a massive torrent of flames at the lavender unicorn...

Back in Manehattan, the entire city had been encased in a blue and green dome of energy after all the Black Lanterns had finally been cleared out. From atop one of the buildings, Pinkie Pie and Applejack watched as the civilians gathered whatever belongings and supplies they had as they continued to set up a shelter in the park.

"I still don't like the idea of leaving the city..." Pinkie Pie stated, getting Applejack's attention. "I know they have the domes to protect them, but..."

"It's alright Pinkie, Ah promise. This here shield? It can hold back just about anythin' them monsters can throw at us. And besides, there's gonna be more Royal Guards tah help protect everyone here!" AJ said as she floated over and hugged her by the side.

Pinkie Pie smiled back at her friend before returning the hug. "You're right..." She replied, while still somewhat uncertain about leaving the city, she knew that Nightmare Moon wouldn't be content with simply limiting her attacks to only the larger cities.

'No, there are many smaller towns more innocent civilians out there who'll need our help...' She thought to herself.

"Hey ladies!" The two turned to see Spitfire flying towards them. "A squad of Royal Guards just arrived from Canterlot, we're getting ready to discuss our next course of action at the train station. We need you both there as well!"

"Alright just give us a bit Spitfire." Applejack said as the pegasus flew off towards the station. AJ then looked at her friend and gave a smirk. "What ya say? Quick race? Last one there has to do the other one's chores."

Pinkie gave Applejack a skeptical look. "I dunno, I think we should preserve our energy and-readysetGO!" She shouted before taking off toward the station, laughing to herself as she enjoyed the thrill of flying so fast.

"Yer a big cheat ya know that!" Aj shouted as she started trying to catch up to her with her own ring. Smiling the whole while as she starts catching up. "But cheatin' only gets ya so far!"

Pinkie glanced over her shoulder and conjured up a bubble around herself. "Maybe, but I've got more tricks up my sleeves!" She said before she took a hard left straight into one of the buildings... only to softly bounce off the surface and into another building, repeating the process as she bounced diagonally towards the station like a pinball, building up speed with every bounce.

"Pinkie careful! Ya might knock a buildin' down or get yerself hurt or worse both!" AJ shouted in worry as she managed to keep pace with Pinkie's speed. And during one particular bounce, she nearly hit a window and went inside.

"Wuh oh!" And with that she made herself stop and fly back out, AJ giving her a look of 'Ah told ya so.' so fierce you coulda swore she actually said it.

"Ehehehe... sorry AJ, got a little carried away..." She apologized rubbing her head sheepishly.

As the two rounded the corner, they could both see the train station dead ahead, about five blocks away. "Let's see ya keep up with this!" Applejack smirked as quickly flew forward... only to noticed Pinkie Pie had started flying backward for some reason. "What the-?"

As she looked back over her shoulder, her eyes widened as she saw a Pinkie creating a new contract in the form of... a giant slingshot!?

"SEE YA AT THE STATION AJ!" Pinkie shouted as she launched herself from the slingshot. "WEEEEEE! THIS IS AWESOME!" She screamed the whole way as she felt the G-Forces against her protective field that the ring provided her.

Applejack would have been baffled and confused if she wasn't on the verge of freaking out upon realizing just how fast Pinkie was going, too fast to avoid crashing into the station.

"PINKIE LOOK OUT!" The farm pony shouted as she flew after her as fast as she could. "YOU'RE GOING TO CRASH INTO THE-"

*POP*

Just before she could finish, the bubble surrounding Pinkie Pie popped out of existence, leaving her to gently float down to the ground, stopping just sort of the station doors. "I win!"

"Ya almost got yerself hurt and nearly crashed into the station!" AJ shouted as she flew over and landed beside Pinkie, a look of worry on her face. "Ah mean Pinkie I get yer ring and all is fun… but this is dangerous!"

"Oh relax AJ, that's why I made the shield bouncy instead of solid." The Party Pony smiled as they approached the doors. "Besides, you gotta have a little joy every once in a while to keep your spirits up... especially with everything that's going on now..." Her tone became more subdued as she briefly glanced at Canterlot in the distance. "Speaking of which... is Twilight holding up ok?"

"She's..... doin' what she can," AJ said as she looked at Canterlot as well. "Ah mean this has been a wild week for everyone but... Ah, mean you saw her."

"Yeah..." Pinkie hesitated as her hoof rested upon the door, she took a deep breath before turning to Applejack. "...but, now I have the same power she does... kinda." She said with a small smile as her ring sparkled. "And I-no, we will make sure she doesn't have to face this nightmare alone."

"... yeah. This ain't somethin' ya just face on your own." AJ said as she put her own hoof on the door. "And no matter what? We stick together... ain't nothin' gonna separate us."

The two heard voices coming from inside and realized that the meeting had already started, the two Earth ponies glanced at each other and nodded.

Both of them placed their hooves on the doors and push them open, ready to assist in planning their next course of action... to take Equestria back from the undead tyrant.

Back at the valley, things had gone from bad to worse.

"SPIKE! WANT!" The dragon roared as he another fireball at Fluttershy, who narrowly dodged and on instinct fired several indigo energy blasts at his face.

"Spike! Snap out of it!" Twilight desperately called out as she formed a shield around herself and bolted towards the behemoth.

[TWILIGHT NO! STOP!] Celestia called out from the ring. [HE'S TOO CONSUMED BY GREED! HE WON'T LISTEN TO REASON!]

Sadly her warnings fell on deaf ears as Twilight got closer, tears streaming from her eyes as she desperately trying to reach out to him. "Spike! It's me, Twilight! Don't you recognize me-WOAH!"

Before she was within striking range, an individual lasso wrapped around her torso and yanked her back, the lavender unicorn turned to see Fluttershy pulling her back as quickly as possible.

"SPIKE WANT TWILIGHT! PEGASUS NO HAVE TWILIGHT! PEGASUS GET HER OWN TWILIGHT AND THEN GIVE ME!" Spike roared as he charged at the two, trying to bathe Fluttershy in flames to either get her to lose concentration and let Twilight go... or to simply try and hurt her the best he can.

Just then, several small lights started appearing on the side of the cliff. There were only a few at first, however soon hundreds of small glowing lights decorated with cliffside, briefly drawing the dragon's attention... right at that moment the cliffside exploded in the shower of gemstones of varying colors and sizes as they were hurled at Spike with incredible velocity, while not doing enough to genuinely damage him, it was enough to make him lose focus on Twilight and Fluttershy as they quickly retreated to the top of the valley.

"...Spike" Twilight whimpered as she was dragged into the forest.

"That was too close..." Fluttershy gasped as they landed. "Thanks for the distraction..."

"It wasn't easy..." A familiar voice called out, Twilight turned to see Rarity emerge from the bushes, panting as her horn continue to glow. "You have no idea how difficult it was to pull out all those gemstones at once..."

"Still. It was either that or we'd all be fed into his ring... and after seeing how dangerous Spike himself is I'd hate to see what the inside of his ring would be like." Fluttershy said as she twirled her staff to fit on her back. "Alright so that wasn't the result we were hoping for… do we have a Plan B?"

"No," Twilight stated firmly, getting everyone's attention. "I... I can still do this, we just need another opening."

"Twilight..." Fluttershy began as she approached the unicorn. "...are you sure about that? I mean-"

"I'm sure. I have to do this... for Spike... for Equestria." Twilight said as she summoned her yellow lantern battery again. "Think you can try again to distract him?"

Before the two could retort, the entire area rumbled as they heard Spike roar, Rarity and Fluttershy shared a look and nodded in understanding. "Ok Twilight, but be careful. One wrong move and I don't think we'll get another shot at this..." Fluttershy warned her as Rarity rushed back into the bushes, using her magic to move some of them out of the way revealing a massive hole.

"Rover! We need more tunnels!" The fashionista called out, much to Twilight's confusion. Then to her surprise, a Diamond Dog popped out of the hole.

"You sure? Not many gems left!"

"And if you don't do this, there will be no more gems period if he has anything to say about it!" She said as she pointed at Spike who was roaring in greed and rage. "Now please be a dear and keep at the tunnels! I think we have a plan!"

"Not very encouraging sentence.... but Rover do this for gems!" Rover proclaimed as he got back to digging like no tomorrow.

Twilight arched a brow. "I'm sorry, who was that?! And why-"

"SPIIIIIKE WAAAAANT!!!" The behemoth's voice roared across the valley as it took to the skies, cutting her off.

[Focus Twilight!] Celestia called out as Fluttershy donned her armor once more. [It's now or never if you wish to free Spike!]

"R-right!" Twilight squeaked out as she placed her ring against the battery. Fluttershy then took off towards Spike again, gaining his attention as she made herself brighter and launched a few beams at him, one of which grazed an eye.

"ROVER FIND GEMSTONES!" Rover shouted as he formed a hole near Rarity who jumped down into it.

Just as soon as Twilight finished charging her ring she immediately took to the skies, intent on catching up with Fluttershy before Spike overpowered her.

'I promise you Spike, I WILL save you this time!' She thought to herself with determination, as she got closer she began charging her magic, fully intent on saving her little brother...

"Okay everyone listen up!" Spitfire yelled to the Wonderbolts in the room who all snapped to attention and looked stone-faced. "I know how the situation looks. And I know what these THINGS seem to look like... but I want you all to remember something else. These things are NOT your fallen comrades. They are all undead monsters who are looking to kill you and those around you. It's your duty to stop them and save civilians at all costs."

"Which brings us..." Soarin continued, gesturing to a large map of Equestria on a large circular table. "...to our next course of action."

Applejack and Pinkie Pie flew in, yet remained silent as the meeting continued.

"These "Black Lanterns" as they're called have already seized control of Ponyville and seem to be operating from the Everfree Forest." He began to explain as pulled out a pen and circled the mentioned areas. "Cloudsdale was overtaken not too long afterward but has remained uninhabited due to the severe damage the entire city sustained in the crossfire. Canterlot and Manhattan, fortunately, have remained untouched thanks to the efforts of our new allies..." He continued, giving Pinkie Pie and Applejack an appreciative nod.

"But we also know they sadly can't be in two places at once. And that mares and gentlestallions? That is where we come in." Spitfire said as she gave a smirk. "We're the backup. We're the ones that help them and however many other Lanterns that are on our side to save these ponies and other creatures so that the Black Lanterns don't get any more of their own troops."

"UNDERSTOOD MA'AM!" The assembled mares and stallions replied with a respectful salute. Applejack couldn't help but smile at this, their resolve and discipline were admirable, to say the least.

"That being said, with Manehattan now being set up as a safe haven for refugees, we'll need to-"

*SLAM*

Before Spitfire could finish, the doors were slammed open as an Earth Pony guard rushed in. "Urgent news from the border patrol! A train full of refugees from Appaloosa has just arrived outside the city!"

"WAIT, WHAT?! WHERE'D THEY COME FROM?!" Applejack shouted as she bolted over and grabbed the Earth Pony, panic spreading through her body fast.

"A-Appleloosa but-" Before he could finish Applejack bolted out the door, leaving a green trail behind her that faded in mere seconds.

"Applejack wait up!" Pinkie called out as she flew after her.

Near the border of the city where the shield separated Manehattan from the outside world, several Royal Guards had gathered around the train, inspecting every part of the locomotive as it screeched to a halt safely inside the barrier.

"Alright folks follow the line! Follow the line!" One guard was yelling as various ponies and buffalo slowly started getting off the train in single file lines... or what would count as that considering how many ponies were onboard and panicking from the recent undead invasion. "Single file, everypony! Single file!"

Applejack soared over the crowd, nervously looking around and praying that at least some members of her extended family had survived…

Then, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a familiar stallion with a light gold coat near the exit with a young female buffalo by his side. Both of whom were conversing with one of Royal Guards; an Earth Pony mare with a pale coat and turquoise mane.

"...and you're absolutely these three had red rings?"

"Y-yes! And they were fighting against those monsters! They practically saved the town... or at least what's left of it right now." The stallion said with a somber tone, the buffalo sniffling as they remember their lost loved ones.

"Anything else about them? Cutie marks or anything?"

"They were covered in armor so we couldn't see their marks. But only two of them were pegasi, one of them was definitely a griffin." He explained. " one of the pegasi was younger though, and the oldest seemed to be their boss since she was calling the shots-"

"Braeburn!" A familiar voice called out as a green blur rushed towards the group before the earth pony could react he suddenly found himself enveloped in a bone-crushing hug.

"GAH! CR-CRUSHING! ME!" The stallion said as Applejack slowly let up on her grip as she looked at him with tears in her eyes and a smile on her face.

"A-Ah was just so happy tah see you were okay and just..... don't ya EVER scare me like that again Brae!"

"G-Good to see yah too cuz..." Braeburn coughed as she let go... and his eyes went wide as he got a good look at her. "Sweet Celestia! Y'all got one of them fancy rings too!?" He exclaimed, lifting her hoof to get a closer look.

"Wait... why is yours green?" Little Strongheart asked as she inspected the ring as well. "I thought they were all red..."

"Red? Why would.... wait did.... did y'all see a group of us wearin' Red?" Applejack asked as she turned her attention to her. "Was one of 'em a pegasus? Brash? Arrogant? Talked a lot?"

Two of them blinked after hearing such a description. "Uh... kinda? That's pretty specific... did you know one of them?" Strongheart asked in confusion.

Applejack let out a sigh of relief as her thoughts went back to the last time she had seen the rainbow-maned Pegasus. 'She saved them... Rainbow Dash saved them...' She thought to herself.

Maybe, just maybe, there was still hope for her...

Author's Notes:

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