The ponies listened carefully as Princess Luna explained her plan. Although the main audience was Tom and a small circle of guards gathered around the alicorn, the others around the room listened in curiously while she talked.

Meanwhile, off to the side of the room, Twilight and her friends watched as Peppermint examined Rarity to ensure that she was healthy again. The stallion shined a small flashlight in her eyes and took note of her pupils’ response to the light.

“How do you feel?” Pepper asked curiously while continuing his examination.

“I feel perfectly normal now. I don’t even have a headache anymore.” Rarity replied with a smile of gratitude while glancing over to the human on the other side of the room. She had witnessed his healing powers before, but she never experienced them firsthand. The unicorn would have been dead without his assistance, and for that, she was incredibly thankful.

“Well… it looks like everything checks out. You have no indications of having a concussion or anything else anymore.” Pepper stated in an impressed tone.

“Thank Celestia for that.” Fluttershy said with a relieved shrug. Rarity frowned as she thought about how much she must have worried the yellow mare.

“Sorry to scare you like that darling… I was supposed to be the one taking care of you, not the other way around.” The unicorn looked down sadly as she thought back to her speech in the bathroom. She looked up again as she felt the pegasus laying a soft hoof on her shoulder.

“I’m just glad that you’re ok.” Fluttershy said with a warm smile. Rarity couldn’t help but smile in return to the yellow mare.

“Now that we’re back together, we should start thinking about how we’re going to get out of here.” Twilight suggested while turning her attention to the blue alicorn giving her troops the plan they would be using.

“Yeah… and how we’re going to beat the living daylights out of those hooded jerks for doing this to us.” Rainbow Dash added eagerly. Although the others might have had less violent ideas in their mind of how they would bring the hooded ponies to justice, they agreed with the cyan mare.

The group got up and walked closer to the circle of guards so they could better hear the speech. They hoped that they would be able to assist in some way, even if it was only a small part.

“So… what you’re saying is that we’re going to head up to the roof and… do what exactly?” One of the stallions asked with a confused expression.

“We are going to use a spell to dissipate the dark matter surrounding the building. I will cast the spell with the assistance of some of you, while Tom is going to keep the dark matter from swarming us.” Luna explained again to clarify herself.

“But won’t those monsters out there try to stop us? If that… dark matter, or whatever the hay it is, is the thing that’s making these creatures, won’t it try to protect itself?” Another guard asked in a doubtful tone.

“Precisely what I thought… which is why some of you will be accompanying us to fend off whatever creatures make it through Tom’s barrier.” Luna said while glancing around at the small group of guards.

“Uh, Princess Luna… I hate to complicate well thought out plans, but how exactly am I going to hold off the dark matter long enough for you to cast your spell? From what you said, it is going to take a long time to cast, but I barely managed to deal with the dark matter that attacked us in the cave… and that was a lot weaker than the stuff outside right now.” Tom spoke up in a concerned tone. As confident the ponies were in him and his abilities, he did have certain limits to what he could do.

Luna merely smirked and glanced over to the unicorn lieutenant sitting at the front of the circle. She seemed to have everything planned out in detail. It was rather impressive watching the alicorn strategize, even if her sister was usually the one in the spotlight.

“Lieutenant… could you come here for a moment?” Luna asked while motioning for the stallion to walk over to the table behind her.

“Yes, ma’am.” The unicorn agreed, albeit with a hint of confusion in his voice. He wasted no time with questions and simply got up to walk over to the table with the princess.

Luna lit up her horn and picked up a quill she had set up on the table. She dipped it into a small inkwell and started scribbling on a piece of paper laid out across the table. Once she was finished, she sat the quill down and levitated the piece of paper over to the brown unicorn. The stallion used his own magic to grab the paper and lowered it to reading level.

“This is a…” The guard started to speak up when he was interrupted by the alicorn finishing his thought.

“It’s a spell that will allow you to transfer energy. Could you please cast it on Tom for a moment?” Luna asked while turning to face the human.

Tom stepped forward and waited for the unicorn to prepare whatever spell the princess had in mind. The stallion quickly read over the spell one more time before setting the piece of paper back down on the table and facing the human.

“Alright… I’ll see what I can do.” The unicorn shrugged while lighting up his horn and focusing. Soon enough, a colorful aura surrounded Tom, making him feel slightly tingly.

As the boy felt energy surging through him, he held his palm upwards and projected a beam of light to test the spell. Surprisingly enough, he was able to put a lot of strength behind the beam with little to no strain on his body.

“Wow… I’m putting a lot of energy behind this, and I hardly notice it.” Tom said with an amazed chuckle.

“We can use this spell to enhance your abilities enough to fend off the dark matter.” Luna explained cheerfully. She was pleased to see her efforts coming together to help the group.

“Sounds like a plan.” Tom said with a sly smirk.

“Precisely… now then, let’s get everything prepared.” Luna stated while glancing over to the others. Everyone else nodded before waiting for the princess to assign their roles to them.

Soon enough, there were ponies rushing around the room to gather their equipment up and perform their given tasks. The princess was teaching Glitterball and the other unicorns in the room the spell that she would be using, the earth pony guards were gathering up candles for use up on the roof, and Glimmer Shine and Peppermint were helping with gathering up swords and armor pieces for the guards to use.

“Hold up a sec… let me see those.” Tom asked while walking up to the brothers.

“What do you want these for? You already have a sword don’t you?” Peppermint asked curiously while glancing to the holster on the human’s back. Despite his confusion as to the boy’s intentions, he handed him one of the swords he was carrying.

“It’s not for me. I think I might have an idea that could help out a lot.” Tom replied while gently grasping the blade and concentrating. Soon enough, a soft blue glow emanated from his hand similarly to the beam of light he used so often.

The ponies watched curiously as the human ran his hand across the length of the blade. Eventually, the blade started to turn a luminescent shade of blue. The glow on the blade brightened until it matched the tint that the slayer’s own katana held.

“Whoa…” Glimmer Shine exclaimed in an impressed tone.

“There, I imbued it with positive energy. It should cut through shadow creatures a lot more effectively now.” Tom explained while returning the sword to the two ponies. They examined it curiously and waved it around to see if it still performed normally.

“You can just do that?” Peppermint asked with an amazed expression.

“Yeah… how do you think I made my sword the way it is?” Tom replied with a sly smirk.

“Oh… that makes sense I suppose.” Pepper said in an awkward tone as he realized the obvious connection.

“This is great! We can use these to give ourselves a big advantage.” Glimmer Shine stated in excitement.

“Exactly what I was thinking… Now hand me the others. We might as well power up all of the swords we’re going to be using.” Tom said while motioning over to the other swords the two were carrying. The pair nodded before handing the boy the rest of the swords so he could start the process of preparing all of them.

After a few minutes of prep, all of the guards had their full gear on, complete with their brand new blessed weaponry courtesy of their resident slayer of evil. The stallions all marveled at the brilliantly glowing blades as they all stood in a line in front of the princess. It was high time that they took action and fought to reclaim their stronghold.

“Alright everyone, listen up. The princess is going to run us through our battle plan one more time.” The unicorn lieutenant explained to his band of troops before turning his attention to the alicorn. Everyone in the room, civilians and all, listened intently as the princess of the night addressed them.

“Thank you, Lieutenant… Now, as you all know this will be a dangerous undertaking. Normally, I would wait for outside assistance before trying anything so brash, but we are in a survival situation right now. We need to do whatever it takes to get out of here alive… and that is just what we’re going to do.” Luna said while looking around at the ponies scattered around the room.

“We will be heading up to the roof in order to destroy the dark matter circling the building. Once we’re up there, Tom will use his powers to keep us safe while we cast the spell. I know that we don’t have many unicorns at our disposal, but those of you who are here will be vitally important. Some of you will be tasked with assisting Tom with the energy transfer spell I taught you, while the rest will be assisting me with gathering energy for use in the spell to destroy the dark matter.” Luna explained while glancing around at the small number of unicorn guards in the room. Counting the lieutenant and Glitterball, there would barely be enough to perform all of the necessary parts of the plan.

“The rest of you will be with us on protection detail. When we go up there, it will be like a beehive… and we’re pretty much kicking it. Those monsters that are overrunning the station will more than likely try to swarm us. We will be using strobes and swords to make sure that they don’t get very far.” Glimmer Shine spoke up while holding up his strobe for reference. The two guards that received Pinkie and Rainbow Dash’s extra strobes examined the odd vials curiously. They wondered how such a small device could pack such a powerful punch.

“That’s pretty much the long and short of it. We need all of the help we can get, but we also need someone to stay here with the civvies in case something goes wrong. Anyone who doesn’t want to go with us needs to speak up now.” The unicorn lieutenant stated while glancing around. Most of the guards remained steadfast and silent; most of them, but not all of them.

“Umm… I think I will stay with the civvies.” The lieutenant that led Twilight and the others to the equipment room spoke up nervously. Everyone was surprised to see such a high ranking officer acting so squeamishly in the face of danger. Rather than being surprised, the brown stallion nodded understandingly.

“Ok, you can stay here and keep an eye on things. Everyone else get ready. We will be leaving shortly.” The unicorn instructed to his troop. All of the guards saluted in unison before dispersing. Everyone began chatting idly amongst themselves as they waited for the operation to begin.

Meanwhile, Twilight and her four friends were waiting at the back of the room and watching the guards anxiously. It was hard to see all of them interacting and saying their goodbyes to friends and coworkers. They knew that this mission might be a one-way trip, and the four mares knew it too.

“I can’t believe this…” Twilight shrugged uneasily while observing the commotion going on around the room.

“I know… it’s so unfair. They haven’t even been trained for anything like this. We’ve barely managed to survive all of the monsters we came across, and we’ve had help and a lot of luck.” Rainbow Dash stated in agreement with the purple unicorn.

“Well… they have the same help we had… just not much of it.” Rarity added in a sad tone while glancing around at the small number of guards that they had at their disposal. In total, counting all of the unicorns and the lieutenant, there were only around seven guards that were going on the mission, and only three of those were unicorns.

“Maybe we can fix that.” Twilight spoke with determination in her voice. Her friends looked at her with varying degrees of acceptance and hesitation as they figured out what she intended to do.

“Twilight… Maybe you should reconsider before doing anything too hasty.” Rarity said in a concerned manner.

“Sorry Rarity, but I need to do something to help. They’re fighting for all of our lives out there…” Twilight replied while shifting her attention forward. “The least I can do is to help them.” Before any of her friends could protest, the purple mare walked off towards the group of ponies at the front of the room. She walked up to Princess Luna and waited for her to take notice.

“Is something on your mind Twilight?” Luna asked curiously. She could tell that something was bothering the unicorn.

“Princess, I want to come with you up to the roof.” Twilight volunteered confidently.

“What?! Are you crazy?!” Glitterball spoke up in a surprised tone.

“Glitter…” Twilight tried to protest, but the white unicorn was far too upset to listen to her.

“The princess told us to protect you guys. We’re not just going to take you straight into a dangerous situation!” Glitter said while shaking her head.

“It’s ok Glitter… she can come.” Luna spoke up to calm the rainbow haired mare, much to her and Twilight’s surprise.

“What…?” Glitter asked in a surprised tone. She was more shocked than upset that the princess would allow the purple mare to go.

“We’re shorthanded right now. I don’t like the idea of putting her in danger any more than you do, but she is going to be in danger no matter where she is until we deal with the dark matter.” Luna explained. She then turned to Twilight with a softer expression.

“Twilight… if you want to come with us you can, but I want you to at least think about it first. We will be in a lot of danger up there… nobody is forcing you to be a part of this.” The alicorn explained in a sincere tone. Twilight shook her head slowly in response. Nothing was going to prevent her from helping her friends.

“You said it yourself, we don’t have that many unicorns here. I’ve made up my mind… I’m going.” Twilight stated in a determined tone of voice.

“I’m going too.” The group was surprised to hear Rarity chime in as she walked over to them. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were behind the white unicorn with similarly determined expressions on their faces.

“Rarity… are you sure?” Twilight asked with a concerned expression on her face. She was perfectly fine with putting herself in danger, but she didn’t like the idea of her friends coming along for the ride.

“Of course I am Twilight. I want to help in any way I can.” Rarity replied with a smile.

“Yeah! And we’re coming too!” Rainbow Dash volunteered eagerly while glancing back to Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.

“Sorry girls… but only Twilight and Rarity get to come with us.” Luna explained with a sympathetic expression.

“What…? But why?” Rainbow Dash asked in a surprised tone.

“The only reason they are going is because we need more unicorns to help out. I don’t want to endanger you three as well without good cause.” Luna said with a concerned expression.

“*Sigh*… alright. I guess we’ll stay here then.” Rainbow Dash droned in a sad manner. She seemed to be deeply disappointed that she couldn’t come along to help her friends.

“You two be sure to watch yourselves out there.” Fluttershy said with a tone of loving concern while smiling at the two brave unicorns.

“Yeah… If I’m not going to be there to keep an eye on you, you need to be extra careful.” Rainbow Dash added with a lighthearted chuckle.

“Don’t worry girls. I promise that I won’t let anything bad happen to her.” Twilight stated confidently while glancing over to the white unicorn beside her.

“And I won’t let anything happen to her.” Rarity replied with a smile.

“Aww… come here you two!” Pinkie said before eagerly pulling the two unicorns in for a quick goodbye hug. She didn’t even wait for their response or willing acceptance as she grabbed both of them in a flash and squeezed them tightly.

Not wanting to be left out of the loving embrace, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash joined in while being careful not to put any more pressure on the two unicorns. Knowing their pink friend, she was probably already cutting off their air supply by herself.

“You better come back to us in one piece. I am not going to be happy with you if you don’t!” Pinkie reminded while releasing the pair from her grip. From the way she said that it almost sounded like a friendly threat. As if she was going to smother them to death with a hug if they didn’t listen to her.

“We’ll be careful Pinkie. We promise.” Twilight said with a cheerful laugh.

“Besides… they will have us to watch out for them.” Glitterball stated from beside the group. She glanced behind her to see her two teammates nodding in agreement.

Now that Twilight and Rarity were going on the mission with the others, Glitterball taught them the basics of how to use the spell that Princess Luna taught her. And just to be safe, she also taught them the spell used to transfer energy to Tom.

Once they learned everything they would need to know, the two mares had a few minutes to themselves before everyone was going to head out. The guards were still discussing the plan amongst themselves, and Tom was preparing a few blessed candles with the princess off in the corner. Suddenly, the two unicorns noticed a certain aqua earth pony approaching them slowly. Twilight had no idea who the strange pony was, but Rarity smiled as she recognized the mare to be Cool Breeze.

“Hello, Breeze.” Rarity greeted the blue mare cheerfully.

“Hey… I heard that you two were heading out with the others.” Cool Breeze said in a slightly concerned tone.

“You heard right.” Rarity replied. The blue mare seemed to be saddened by her decision. She frowned slightly before sighing and speaking up again.

“Well if you are going out there again, I just wanted to see you off before you go.” Cool Breeze explained. “If this is the last time we see each other, for… whatever reason.” She hesitated slightly as she thought of the grim implications of her statement.

“I just wanted to thank you for saving me again. If it wasn’t for you and Fluttershy, I would probably still be in that break room… or worse.” Cool Breeze said with a small smile.

Rarity smiled warmly at the blue mare. In their brief time together, she felt like she had grown slightly attached to her. The unicorn wondered if it really would be the last time they would see each other. She wasn’t sure if she knew her enough to warrant a friendship, but she still felt slightly sad with the thought of bidding goodbye to the aqua pony.

“Anytime darling… I’m glad that we managed to bring you here safely. And don’t worry. I’m sure that we’ll meet up sometime in the future. In fact… why don’t you stop by the Carousel Boutique sometime? I’ll even give you a free makeover.” Rarity offered in a friendly manner. The blue mare smiled in response to the proposal.

“I would love to.” Cool Breeze replied with a friendly nod.

Suddenly, the three mares were interrupted by the sight of the princess walking up to them. She had a certain expression on her face that made it easy to tell what she was about to say. It was time to go, perhaps too soon for the two unicorns’ liking.

“We’re all ready to leave… are you two prepared?” Luna asked while glancing to the blue mare chatting with the two. She hated to interrupt a discussion with a new friend.

Rarity glanced over to Cool Breeze with a sympathetic expression. The aqua pony smiled and nodded understandingly before turning and walking away. The white mare then looked over to her purple friend. Twilight got up from her seated position and nodded eagerly.

“Yes… we’re ready.” Rarity stated while turning to the princess with a determined expression.

Without any further delay, the princess nodded to the two mares before motioning for them to follow her. The three walked into the other room to find everyone gathered up in two rows by the door. All of the guard ponies watched the alicorn as she walked by them and up to the door.

“Ok, let’s set some ground rules before we step outside. Everyone will be sticking together while we walk to the roof. Just because the stairway is just down the hall doesn’t mean it won’t be dangerous. Strobe users will be on the outside of the group watching our sides and our back.” Luna explained while glancing between Glitterball, her teammates, and the two guards armed with the small vials.

“If you see anything moving, shoot it. The strobes can’t hurt ponies, so it is better to be safe than sorry.” Glimmer Shine instructed to the two white stallions. They were still unsure of the usefulness of the small vials, but they nodded in agreement regardless.

As the princess opened the door and stepped outside, everyone followed her and arranged into their proper positions. Twilight and Rarity were in the center of the group along with the guards armed with swords. Princess Luna was at the front of the group with Tom and the lieutenant. Glitterball, Glimmer Shine, and Peppermint were scattered around the outside of the group and watched to the sides and rear along with the other strobe users.

Even though there weren’t that many of them in retrospect, the ponies felt safe within their group. As long as everyone kept their cool and worked together, they could go up against an army of shadow creatures and prevail.

“How do you work this thing again?” One of the guards at the back of the group whispered to his companion while examining his strobe curiously. Rarity looked back and recognized the guard to be one of the two she met after the lieutenant brought her and Fluttershy to the safe room down in the basement.

“Just push the button there.” The other guard whispered back while pointing to the small button on one end of the vial.

“Oh… that makes sense.” The first guard replied with a brief chuckle. He then examined the vial even closer, perhaps a little too close for the comfort of those around him.

“Be careful with that thing, will you? You’re going to put out an eye if you keep messing with it.” One of the other guards whispered in annoyance while glancing back to the curious stallion.

“Sorry… geez.” The white pony replied and looked down sadly like a child after being reprimanded by an adult.

The others rolled their eyes and shrugged at the conversation going on behind them. With nothing more to ask, the guard and everyone else remained silent for the rest of the journey down the hallway. Soon enough, the group was standing outside of the stairway that would lead them upwards to the roof.

The lieutenant quickly opened the door and ushered everyone inside. Tom and Luna took the lead and went up the stairs a short ways to make room for everyone. Once everyone was inside, Glimmer Shine covered the lieutenant as they both backed into the room while keeping their eyes forward.

“Ok, we’re almost there.” The brown stallion stated while closing the door behind him.

“Let’s keep moving.” Luna instructed while glancing upwards. The landing to the roof was already visible. Due to the station only having a few floors, the roof was only a brief climb up a flight of stairs.

With a brief nod, everyone followed the alicorn and the human upwards. Meanwhile, Glimmer Shine and Glitterball stayed behind the group and watched the stairs further down for any signs of movement.

As the group got closer to the roof, the constant sound of roaring wind and the screeching of the dark matter that had been ever-present throughout the building intensified. The ponies could hardly hear themselves think as they gathered at the door.

Twilight and Rarity stood in the middle of the group and watched as the princess hesitated at the door. The white mare was far too busy keeping her attention forward to notice the purple unicorn shivering in fright.

Twilight could practically see the stream of repressed memories from her time in the cave flash before her eyes. She cowered nervously and had to consciously prevent herself from stepping backwards in an instinctive attempt at avoiding danger.

The unicorn was ripped from her thoughts when she felt a hoof being placed on her shoulder, nearly causing her to jump out of her fur coat. She looked beside her to see Rarity offering her a reassuring smile. The knowledge that she was among friends comforted the purple mare, even if only slightly.

“Ok everyone, this is it. Once we get out there, we will be in a constant battle. Always assume that there are enemies nearby, and keep on your guard.” Luna spoke up while looking back to her troop.

“Just keep to your assigned roles and stay within Tom’s barrier at all times. Before we get started, everyone will place down and light one of the candles we have provided you. It will be darker than the darkest night you have ever experienced out there, and all of the unicorns here will be too preoccupied to waste energy on providing light.” The unicorn lieutenant stated while holding up one of the blue candles for reference. Twilight and Rarity looked around and noticed that most of the guards had blessed candles in their holsters along with their swords.

“Are you ready Tom?” Luna asked while looking to the human to ensure that he was prepared.

Tom used his senses and looked to the door to scope out the situation ahead. He shivered instinctively once he felt the raw negative energy that was covering the area. On any normal day, he wouldn’t touch a batch of dark matter this powerful with a ten-foot pole, but this wasn’t just a normal day. None of his days had been normal since becoming a slayer, and especially not since he came to Equestria.

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” Tom replied with a semi-confident expression. The princess understood the boy’s nervousness. He was now responsible for her life and the lives of everyone present. She didn’t want to show it outwardly, but she was nervous too.

“Please hurry back sister…” Luna whispered to herself before turning to the band of guards behind her. “You there, cast the energy spell on Tom and stick close to him. The rest of you stay close to me and either help me with the spell or help them with defending us from whatever comes our way.” The alicorn instructed while glancing to the unicorns in the group. The guard that she pointed out nodded and lit up his horn to cast the spell on the human.

Once Tom was enveloped in a magical aura and gave a nod to signal that he was ready, the princess slowly put her hoof on the door handle and prepared to open it.

“One…” Luna announced loudly to prepare her small army.

Twilight and the others prepared themselves physically and mentally for whatever they would find beyond the door. They lowered themselves to the ground so they could rush out when the door was open.

“Two…” The princess counted up and glanced over to the human. Tom held out his hand and prepared to cast his light to fend off the dark matter.

“Three!” Luna announced loudly while turning the handle and opening the door in one fluid motion.