Espirit let out a low whistle as Luna's forces came into sight. A veritable army of ponies, grouped up into large camps and hoisting the flag of the twin alicorns into the air. They took up fields and seemed to stretch on forever. Granted, their own forces outnumbered them, not that it meant much. A real engagement hadn't happened in a while, every time they launched an assault, Luna's dark magics would find a way to reverse the engagement, to escape. Then when night fell, she'd launch a counter offense, tearing into them covered by her magics. It was a temporary stalemate that would end in the lunar princess' victory soon. Except now they had a chance to launch their own assault.

Somewhere in those forces the lunar princess was waiting, watching over her troops. They would descend on her and launch their own counter offensive, allowing their forces to launch an attack of their own. The time for the assault would be soon so they needed to find the princess.

Fortunately, they wouldn't have to look for long. “Can you feel her?” Clearpond asked.

Espirit nodded. “Yes. She's nowhere near as powerful as Celestia was, though,” the zebra said as she looked over the crowds. “A bit to the north west. She stands out like a beacon. I can't even feel the other princess, though.”

“We're close to Luna, I doubt we'd be able to feel her sister unless she was right on top of us,” the pegasus muttered. “Everypony get ready. The assault will begin soon!”

Espirit took a deep breath and looked around. She could see the signs of fear on her allies faces. Even the diamond dog and minotaur, as big and strong as they were, were frightened. Not that she could blame them. None of the alicorns had been easy fights and they had no information on how Luna actually fought.

The mare's tent came into view and everypony tensed. There was no doubt who it belonged to. It towered into the air, its purple pointed tip lodged far higher than any of the other tents. It was surrounded by a fence in a wide circle and had two negasi standing outside it. “Is she in there?” Mirage asked.

“Oh, she's in there. There's no denying that feeling,” Espirit muttered. “Could feel it from a mile away.”

“How long until the battle starts?” Grounder asked, his hands gripping his axe all the tighter.

“Soon,” Clearpond said softly. “Get us a bit away from the tent and when the time comes, get ready to dive. We'll be going in as quickly as possible. We're depending on the element of surprise here.”

The crew nodded and started moving quickly. Silence fell over the ship, the only sound the light clopping of hooves on the wood and the winds around them. Once again the battle would depend on them and she was beginning to feel the pressure. The world felt drained beneath them, but not to the extent it had in some of their other fights. Luna didn't feel nearly as strong, either. Though something felt off, none the less. It was hard, but she swore she could feel a second, weaker drain.

“Clearpond, do you feel anything else?”

“Hm?” the pegasus asked.

“Like... something weaker. Another... I don't know. It's just like... the power is being drained again. A second time. It's kind of hard to explain.”

“It's probably Celestia, off in the distance,” Clearpond said. “Don't psych yourself out. We only have this one chance, we can't have you falling apart now.”

“I-I'm not falling apart,” Espirit said quickly, her cheeks reddening. “I just... I don't know. Celestia is pretty far away at least then.” She didn't think she could feel the princess though, but she supposed it made sense. She only felt so weak because she was so far away.

“There!” Grounder called out.

From as high as they were, they couldn't hear the sounds from below. But they could see as the camp became a bustle of activity. Ponies were making their way towards the front, grabbing their weapons and readying themselves. That meant they were getting ready to defend against the assault. It also meant that Luna's tent was slowly losing the ponies surrounding the walls.

“Get ready,” Clearpond called out. “Grab onto something. We'll be going in fast, jumping down and launching our assault. We don't have time for any of you to get your footing and stumble. So make sure you're ready for the leap. Those without wings, get to the edge.”

Espirit gulped and moved to the side of the ship, gripping it. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. This was going to be yet another difficult fight, but she was sure they could handle it. They'd already done so many. Mirage yelled something and she soon felt Selene nestling up into her mane, holding on tightly.

The ship slowly began to lean forward, the tip aiming down at the camp. “READY!” Clearpond yelled. The tension filled the air as the world seemed to slow down. “GO!” The ship took off, cutting through the air like a knife as the passengers struggled to hold on and ready themselves. The vessel didn't slow until it was almost on the tent, pulling up slightly and cutting speed quickly. Espirit only had a few seconds to ready herself before they went over the wall. Grounder was the first off, leaping through the air and dropping down on one of the negasi, his axe cleaving through the pony. Espirit barely had time to jump off as well, landing hard on the grass but quickly righting herself and readying her spells, unleashing a healing spell on Grounder. The others landed besides her a moment later and the ship flew off, leaving them behind. This was it, do or die.

The tent exploded, the fabric flying up into the air in shreds mere moments after the second negasi fell. Luna stood in all her glory, covered in black armor speckled with silver dust. Her mane was black as the night, without a single glimmer to flow through it. Her horn was dark and stone like, as if made of obsidian. She towered over them, her black coat contrasting with the green grass around her. “So these are the foals who dare challenge me? Such pathetic wretches. My sister has already vanquished your mightiest heroes, you shall fall just as quickly.”

Mirage held out her book, the pages magically flowing through until a small bear, seemingly made of the night sky, appeared before her and charged at the mare. Grounder was already there, driving his axe at the princess. The axe cut into her side, but seemed to flow through as if she was made of the darkness itself. Her horn lashed out, cutting across his armor and drawing fresh blood.

Espirit quickly started casting her spell, though Clearpond was faster. The pegasus' magic flowed into the diamond dog, healing his wounds. However, the zebra's magic flowed through a moment later, creating a small barrier of magic across his body.

“Such pathetic creatures!” she roared before her horn glowed. There was a sudden glow from her mane and white hot shooting stars shot from them, launching at the ponies. They barely had time to evade them, the little missiles hitting the ground and coating the area around them in a blue lunar flame. More flames began to spring up around them, forcing the ponies to dive and weave about.

Swipes, Silverwing, Bronzeflex and Diamondtip danced around the alicorn, striking at every opening they could, cutting, piercing and punching at her body. Each attack seemed to only lightly graze the alicorn though, her body seeming to mold around them as if she was created by the darkness itself. Tempora and Mirage stayed near the back, sending out their magical assaults on the alicorn, fire and aether lancing out to strike the princess. Espirit, Clearpond and Selene did everything they could to keep the ponies from getting too hurt. The fenced off area continuously got covered in fire, forcing them to dodge and weave about, burns forming along their feet and hooves as they fought.

Then Selene zoomed out, dropping her dust on the ponies and once again Espirit felt the light boost of power flowing through her, giving her spells a bit more oomph. She grinned and then sent out a quick spread out healing spell, covering all of them in its glow. To her delight, she was able to cover them with the barrier effect as well, the aether coating their bodies. She then sent out a quick little blast of aether into the princess, drawing a little out from her. A spell she'd picked up during Mirage's training to help refresh herself and drain her enemies.

More shooting stars shot out of the princess' mane, making the ponies scatter. “My soldiers, come to me! Aid your princess!” Luna yelled. After a few moments three negasi landed behind them and charged at Espirit and Clearpond. However, before they could get to them the summoned bear creature that Mirage had called turned and charged, tackling one of the negasi.

“Silverwing, Diamondtip, help us with these!” Clearpond called out.

“On it!” the two negasi called out before spreading their wings and flying after the other two negasi. Espirit quickly cast another spell on the two, bringing up a small aether barrier around them before they surged into the enemies.

“We've got this, we can win!” she called out. She could feel it, Luna was weakening. Even though they weren't doing much damage to the mare, she wasn't as destructive as Celestia. Her raw power was nothing they had to fear, they could endure it. They--

The zebra froze. She could feel it. Another source of corruption. No, two of them. Celestia was coming. But there was something else. Something... weird.

A pillar of pink light erupted in the south, piercing the heavens. Espirit gasped. “N-no.”

“You foals,” Luna said, before standing tall and grinning down at them. “Did you think I was waiting to exterminate your pathetic forces because I could not? No!” She raised a hoof, uncaring for their attacks slicing through her. “Again, the three princesses have risen! Your armies will join us, while others will be exterminated! The glorious age of ponies will begin anew!”

There was a warhorn sounded to the south and then they turned to see her. Cadence. The pink alicorn was flying towards them, surrounded on either side by negasi. Espirit and the others could do nothing but stare. There wasn't any changeling to stop her magic now. They had to stop Luna, but it felt hopeless. They couldn't even bring themselves to wield their weapons again.

They'd lost, there was no denying it. The second alicorn landed in the circle, gazing down at them. “So these are what they send to destroy us?”

“Pathetic, ignorant creatures.” Luna said. Espirit shook, falling to her knees. To make it worse, Celestia was almost here. She could feel the corruption coming quickly. All three alicorns together at once, there was no way they could even dream of defeating them all at once. “Our sister will--”

And then Celestia was there, but her arrival was not what Espirit expected. The alicorn came streaking through the air like one of Luna's shooting stars. Her body tore through the cage and skidded across the ground, leaving a crater in its wake. “Sister!” Luna screamed and took a step towards her.

But then something landed on top of the alicorn. Espirit took a step back, her eyes wide. It was a centaur, but like one she'd never seen. His arms were bright red while the rest of him was black. He had two long horns on his head. His body was easily twice as big as Celestia's. Worst of all, his hooves seemed to be grinding the alicorn into the ground. “Ah, all three alicorns. Perfect.” His mouth opened and fire seemed to raise up from Celestia, flowing into his mouth.

“F-flee!” Celestia called as she tried to spread her wings. The centaur merely grabbed her and within a moment, she was gone, leaving nothing but a few sparkles. He then looked up to Luna. He raced at her. She spread out her wings and started to flee, but he gripped her tail in his magic and yanked her back down to the ground. He jumped onto her back, his arms wrapping around her neck and holding her to his chest.

“What's wrong, princess? We're only getting started.” Once again his mouth opened and the aether started being drawn out from the princess, flowing into him.

“Let her go!” Cadence yelled before charging forward, her horn glowing. Crystals shot out, piercing the centaurs hide, but he barely seemed to notice.

Luna struggled against him, meteors flowing out from her mane and striking the centaur, coating him in blue flame. They didn't even singe him and he kept sucking the aether from her. Finally, she erupted in a flurry of aether sparkles and he stood up strong, turning to Cadence. The alicorn took a step back.

“N-no, stay back, s-stay away from me!” she screamed, turning to run away.

“W-we need to get out of here!” Clearpond yelled, turning to Diamondtip. “Quick, summon our ship!”

“But we--”

“There's no time! We can't fight... whatever that is! Do it!”

The wonderbolt looked back towards the centaur, before nodding. She flew up into the air, zooming off. Espirit shivered and eyed the monster. Already he had Cadence cornered and seemed to be toying with the mare. A shadow fell over them and the ship began to lower towards them, but Espirit couldn't take her eyes off the scene. More negasi were diving over the fence, lunging at the centaur, but he knocked them away with ease. Then he began the slow drain of the last alicorn princess.

“ESPIRIT!” Clearpond screamed.

The zebra looked up. “Huh?” The others were already on the vessel, the airship primed and ready to go. “S-sorry!” She ran and leaped onto it. It began to rise up into the air.

“Now, where do you think you're going?” the centaur asked as he turned around, speckles of aether rising into the air. He raised a hand and pointed at them. “There's still one last snack waiting for me.”

“GO! GO!” Mirage screamed, waving her hooves frantically. But the centaur was already galloping at them, his horns glowing and the ship suddenly stopped in place, knocking most of them off their hooves.

“You're not going anywhere, I'm not--” There was a clang and the ship was released, rocketing up into the air.

“GO!” Mirage yelled.

“Sensei!” Swipes yelled.

Espirit managed to crawl to the side of the ship and peer over. On the ground she could see a small black blur diving and weaving around the centaur's horns, cutting at them. Silverwing. “S-she's doing it!” Espirit called out. “She's actually--” The centaur finally lashed out with his magic, a yellow aura surrounding the negasi. She struggled in his binds, but the magic was too strong.

Then the vessel took off, leaving them behind as it zoomed across the warfront. “Signal the retreat!” Clearpond yelled. “W-we... we've lost. Fall back to Cloudsdale!”

A yellow flare shot out from the back of the ship. Espirit kept peering over the side, her entire body shaking. To the north there was an army of centaurs. The alicorn's forces had engaged with them and broken off from the Cloudsdale armies, who were already in the midst of falling back. Whatever this new force was, none of them were prepared to fight it.

All they knew was it had the power to defeat three of the alicorn princesses one after the other. At this point, It might not even be a war, so much as a slaughter.