As the sun’s rays lit up the room the two filly princesses shared, Ana awoke to a rather unusual sight. Her sister, Starlight, was sitting in front of a full-length mirror, levitating several different covers and powders, all from Ana’s makeup kit.

At first, the dark-blue unicorn thought she was still dreaming. It was… strange, Starlight never used makeup, not before yesterday anyway; and even then, Ana was the one that applied it for her. To make matters even stranger, Starlight was applying it to her neck. She was trying and failing to cover something up. Her neck looked like a hodgepodge done by somepony that had no idea what she was doing—or that when it came to makeup, less is more.

Then Ana realized that Starlight had come home late last night, after she’d fallen asleep waiting for her.

“What-do-you-think-you’re-doing?” Ana blurted out, smiling as she saw her sister almost jump out of her fur. Ana had to act fast to catch multiple items she had been levitating before they fell to the ground and broke.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean t-to I mean, I…” Starlight stammered at being so caught.

Ana chuckled as she levitated the items back to the bin she kept them in. “It’s fine, sis. But ask before you use my stuff.”

The blue unicorn blushed. “I-I… I kinda, um…” When Starlight moved her neck to the side, Ana saw the huge blemish of makeup that was doing a piss poor job of covering something up.

Ana raised an eyebrow. “So, just how was your date anyway?” A hickey, I can’t believe she got a hickey on the first date.

“Oh, Echoside’s so much fun. Did you know she’s related to General Night Watch? Yeah, that general! She tried to take me to a bar at first, but then we went to a restaurant I had never been to before. After that…”

Ana smiled as she realized that Starlight hadn’t said a thing about her calling it a date. You really are smitten to her, aren't you?

“... Then she was diagnosed with a fractured rib so we came back here. And after we… well…”

“You kissed?” Ana asked.

Starlight blushed. “It was amazing.”

Ana walked up and hugged her sister. While the two were the same age, Starlight had always been the more mature one. It’s nice to see her living life instead of just reading about it, Ana thought. Starlight leaned into the hug, which turned out to be a mistake, because, when she did, a large amount of her makeup transferred to her sister.

The dark-blue unicorn looked at her hoof, one that was now covered in multiple shades of makeup. Without even asking, she levitated up a washcloth and some cleaner to start over.

“So, your first hickey? Whose idea was—” she paused, her eyes widened as she saw that what her sister had tried to cover wasn’t a hickey, at least not in the traditional sense.

Starlight was caught unaware; Ana had transitioned so smoothly from the hug that she didn’t even realize what her sister was doing until it was too late. As soon as she did, the mare jumped back. “Ana, it’s not what you think!”

“Those… those are puncture wounds…” Ana said, mouth agape.

“I-I-I-I—”

“Starlight, were you… attacked?”

“What? No!”

“Then how did you…” The look on Ana’s face caused Starlight’s heart to sink. “Echoside… she… she bit you…”

“It was my choice! I wanted to!”

“I’m telling mom,” Ana said, going for the door.

“She’s with Night!”

Ana looked back at her sister with a look that could only be described as disappointed. “I don’t care.” At that, she turned to head back to the door.

Starlight teleported directly in front of the mare. “Just let me explain, please?”

“Starlight.”

“Please, sis, please,” Starlight pleaded.

Ana huffed and looked away, but it didn’t stop her sister’s piercing green eyes from staring at her, pleading with her. “Fine, I’ll listen. But I’m making no promises that I won't tell.”

“That’s all I ask,” Starlight said as she sat down and cleared her throat. “You’ve heard the rumors of bat-ponies eating meat and drinking blood, right?” Ana nodded. “Well, they’re true. Bat-ponies carry a lot of their namesake’s traits, including the blood drinking.”

“So what? She was hungry and you just offered yourself up as a free meal?” Ana asked in disbelief.

“No. It started off as nothing more than a kiss, I swear. In the hospital we almost kissed, but the doctor came in and interrupted us. Well, when we got back home I went in to kiss her. But I wasn’t prepared for her teeth. She kinda bit into my lower lip by mistake.”

“You’re not helping your case, Starlight.”

“You have to understand that to them, feeding from one another is an act you only do with your special somepony.”

“So they only drink each others’ blood if they really like each other?”

“Exactly.”

“But, you said it was an accident?”

“Yes. However, when she pulled back she just looked so embarrassed, and… well… cute.”

“No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no. You’re telling me that it was you. You two kissed and when she accidentally bit your lip, you wanted her to do it.”

“Right, yes.”

“WHY‽”

“I don’t know,” Starlight said with a sigh. “I just wanted to know what it was like, I guess. When we kissed, it felt amazing! It was like—”

“Fireworks?” Ana asked.

“Cliché, but… well, yeah.”

Ana ran her hoof across her brow. “So help me understand this. How’d you go from kissing to being her next meal?”

“She wasn’t feeding from me!”

“She drank your blood, she fed from you.”

“No, it’s not, it’s… Luna I don’t know what it is, but it’s more of a bond. Something we—”

“Shared?”

“Yes.”

“That few ponies will ever understand.”

“Yes.”

That, Ana could relate to. Even if she didn’t understand this, she could understand being in this position. Ana moved to examine her sister’s wounds; it was obvious. Starlight had two puncture wounds on the side of her neck. They were scabbed over already and covered in a small amount of makeup she hadn’t yet wiped off. The fur around them looked tender to the touch. “Do—do they hurt?”

“They’re sore, and there was a small amount of pain when she bit in, but after that it felt… um…”

Ana pulled back, a neutral expression on her face. “You liked it.” It was not a question.

Starlight almost looked ashamed when she nodded her head.

Ana picked up the cloth again and started wiping off the rest of the makeup trying to cover her sister’s wounds. “If this happened last night, how come they’re already scabbed over?”

“Oh, when we were at the hospital, the doctor showed me some healing spells that I could use to help heal Echoside ribs. I used them on myself too, they accelerated the healing, but it’s not like mom’s ability, it can’t just magically heal me overnight like it never happened.”

Ana levitated the cloth to the sink and grabbed a fresh one, she wet it to make sure the area was completely clean. “How did this not hurt?”

“Bat-pony fangs release a numbing agent into whatever they bite.”

“So they don’t fight to get away?”

“Well… yeah,” Starlight said. “For them, the blood is an ambrosia, it’s a fine wine that helps with their amazing healing and stamina. That doubles when there’s an… emotional connection.”

“Starlight, I—”

“Please! This isn’t her fault, I wanted her to do it.”

Ana huffed, and then sighed. The look in her sister’s eyes told her she was telling the truth, but the dark-blue unicorn needed to know something. “Starlight, are… are you going to do it again?”

“Ana, I—”

“And keep in mind, this would be a really, really, REALLY bad time to lie to me.”

“I… I…” the blue mare sighed, relenting. “Yes.”

“Well then, let me give you a crash course in doing this on your own.”

“What, does that mean you’ll—”

“I won’t tell, but you have to promise me you won’t take it too far, okay? If you end up in the hospital from blood loss, I’ll kick her ass myself, never mind what mom or grandma will do.”

“I promise,” Starlight said with a smile.

Vela sat up and stretched her claws above her head and into the air. She yawned, loudly, and then leaned forward to extend her wings and their pearl-white feathers. Soon, she realized that she wasn’t alone. Looking down at her bed, she saw her new bed-partner, the white pegasus currently curled up at her side, his head resting on her stomach. Flash was sleeping with a smile on his muzzle.

“You big dork,” Vela whispered with a grin as she ran her claw through his sky-blue mane. In a way, she felt kinda bad. He had undoubtedly been excited to come to bed last night because he thought it’d be a repeat of the other night’s performance.

The other night was fun, as was the shower—even if we just kept that to touching—but if we did it all the time you’d start to expect it.

She considered waking him up with a blowjob, but decided against it. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, as seeing him there, curled up, softly breathing against her fur, he looked so positively adorkable. It was just that he was in a bad position for her to do such a thing. His groin wasn’t in a spot she could easily access. She’d have to escape from underneath him, and then turn him over so she could actually access his sheath.

Doing so would wake him up, and while she seriously doubted he’d complain, it’d defeat the surprise.

Maybe next time.

Vela realized something at the moment: the punishment her mom sentenced her to, she no longer considered it as such. Sure she was—for all intents and purposes—cheating; only obeying the letter of the punishment if not the spirit. But when it was over, she didn’t really want to go back to sleeping with her mom and brother. Flash was… well… she didn’t really know, but it was just better sleeping with him.

Even if all they did was sleep.

She moved her claw down to his ear, scratching lightly behind it. The pegasus purred in his sleep at the touch. His wing started to unfold itself at the contact, causing the hippogriff to giggle a little. That is until she saw something that almost blew her mind.

Vela smacked him upside the back of the head.

“Oww!” Flash said as he sharply sat up “What the heck?”

“When was the last time you preened your wings?”

“What?” Flash asked.

“Your wings!” Vela shouted, pointing at the pegasus’s white wings.

Flash looked back at his right wing. It looked fine to him. Sure there were a few dislodged feathers, but nothing severe. “I don’t know, about a week ago, I guess?”

“You guess?”

“Yeah, I mean it’s not really something I do a lot.”

Vela face-clawed. “Even if it was a week, they shouldn’t get this bad in such a short period of time.”

“They’re not that bad,” Flash said, subconsciously moving the wing back to his side.

Vela looked at him in disbelief. Only a non-flyer would ever consider those ‘not bad’. Then a thought occurred to her. “Who taught you how to preen anyway?”

“My dad. He showed me and Blaze four years ago.”

“Your dad, Radiant, the unicorn.”

“Yeah.”

Vela face-clawed. “Why didn’t your…” she paused, not wanting to say mom and remind him about Firestar but needing to have this conversation all the same. “Why’d your dad teach you, and not, you know, somepony that could fly?” Like your mom, or grandma.

“What? He did a good job, we’re both great flyers.”

Vela just shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Tonight, I’m going to show you how to actually preen your wings.”

“Umm… every time I do, I—”

“I know,” Vela said. “And same for me, but you’re doing it… well, I don’t know what you’re doing, but you’re doing it wrong. I’ll show you the right way and then”—Vela grinned—“maybe I’ll let you preen me.”

Flash slowly became excited. Every time he went through the steps that his dad had shown him, it—at least in the last few years anyway—always ended with him furiously beating off. Vela not only knew about it, but she was also more than willing to teach him a better method and even offered to let him return the favor.

“Flash, you’re getting hard again,” Vela said.

The pegasus looked down to his groin. Sure enough his member was starting to poke out of his sheath. He looked up at her and shrugged. “Little help?”

Vela leaned in a whispered into his ear. “Sure, it’s called a cold shower.”

His ears fell back and his posture slumped.

“Now get out of here, we don’t want to draw too much attention.”

“You’re kicking me out? Like this?” He asked, looking down at his fast growing semi-hard cock.

Vela reached her right claw down and ran her digits softly up the underside of his dick. She was tender, caring, soft, and dragging it out as long as she could. When she reached the tip, she brought her claw back up to her beak and licked off the pre that had transferred to it. “Just think, it gives you something to look forward to tonight.”

He watched her turn around and saunter to her bathroom. Her tail swished back and forth far more than was needed, giving him stolen glances of her pussy past her purple, blue, and orange tail. She looked back, once, winked at him, and then entered and locked the bathroom door. That small sound echoed around the room, signaling that Vela’s mind was made up and there wasn’t a single thing else more that was going to say to him.

It was that noise that made Flash realize she was serious about him leaving, now. He looked down at his now rock-hard cock. Her touch, and the sight she had treated him to, had done their worst.

“Cold shower, right…” Flash moaned as he got to his hooves, his member bouncing up and down below him. He stared at the door, knowing he had to walk down the hall, up a flight of stairs, and to his room with his dick hanging out. All in the slim hope that his brother wasn’t up, so he could make use of the bathroom.

“Dammit Vela, why do I keep letting you do this to me?” Flash said as he left the room.

Because I love her.

Flash found himself smiling as he walked down the hall to his own room, his member bobbing along happily underneath him.

Aurora looked around the breakfast table. All eight of their foals were smiling and laughing with each other. She saw Vela playing with Flash, Taz, and Nighttide. Ana and Starlight were happily chatting back and forth with each other, whilst Dayspring and Blaze were playing with each other, tossing small biscuits at the others around the table when they weren’t paying attention.

Everything was largely idealistic.

“Okay, what the buck is going on here?” Aurora asked, startling everyone present.

“Mom said a bad word,” Dayspring said.

Vela smiled. “What’s wrong, Mom?”

“You all don’t get along this well! What are you hiding?”

That took Vela aback, and almost caused Flash and Starlight to start reacting in a bad way. “Hiding, what makes you think we’re hiding anything?” Ana asked.

Aurora cleared her throat.

“Well, first off, you’re not scowling at Nighttide.”

“Vela, you haven’t threatened to hurt anyone yet.”

“Flash, you actually seem to be getting along with Vela.”

“Nopony has called Blaze dumb.”

“And Vela, your brother’s not sitting on your lap.”

Taz blinked three times. Oh, wow… she’s right.

Vela scowled. “So, we can’t get along with each other?”

Aurora glared at her. “Don’t pull that shit with me. What are you hiding?”

Eight sets of eyes turned and looked at each other. Four of them were indeed hiding something. “I… uh…” Starlight started to say, her conflicting nature causing her to want to answer the question, even though she really didn’t want to.

“And why was Flash walking up the stairs with his dick hanging out at seven in the morning?” Aurora asked, her voice friendly, but dangerous.

“You saw that?” Flash asked, embarrassed.

Aurora shook her head clear of that memory. “I’ll ask one more time, then I’m going get serious. What. Are. You. Hid—”

A loud explosion hit the roof, causing several stones and bricks to fall loose. Dayspring cried out and Nighttide’s shadows shot up and shattered several of the largest pieces of stone. Flash jumped on Vela and Blaze, knocking them to the ground and covering them with his body. Starlight didn’t even think about it. She simply powered her horn and formed a protective shield around everypony.

“What the buck‽” Vela yelled, kicking Flash off her as she un-holstered Siros’s Vengeance from its near-permanent spot on her back.

Nine sets of eyes looked up at the new hole in the roof. There, flying in the sky, were two ponies. One a night-black alicorn, whose mane and tail were like smoke in the wind, in light-blue armor. The other was a dark-blue pegasus. Although they could all see that was only in his looks, as he currently held up three royal guard pegasi in dark magic and broke their necks.

A demonstration, just for those present.

“MOM!” Nighttide shouted, her voice full of anger.

Nightmare Moon did a double take. “Didn’t I kill you in Tartarus?”

“You’re going to wish you had!” Nighttide said as she shot up. Only to be stopped when she felt something grab her tail. She glared back in anger to see Taz holding her tail, a pleading look in his eyes. “Taz, let go!”

He grunted. “No, remember the training.”

“Whatever you’re here for, you’ll lose!” Aurora shouted as she jumped up on top of the table.

“What? Is the powerless supermodel going to stop me?” Nightmare Moon said with a chuckle.

“Keep em distracted, I’ll send Uncle Dayspring a signal,” Starlight whispered to Ana.

Unfortunately, Ana wasn’t the only one that heard it. “No, we can take them,” Vela growled.

“Vela, that’s not what Grandma Twilight said.”

“Time to pull up your big mare panties, Starlight. I want to see what I can do.” Vela grinned as she eyed the pony next to Nightmare Moon. “He looks like one of those revenants that attacked us, I want revenge, for dad.”

“Vela, I don’t think—”

Vela turned, the look in her eyes caused Starlight to shut up. “I need this, please.”

“We’re here for your sister, Aurora. Turn her over, or witness eternal bloodshed,” Nightmare Moon said as she licked her lips at the sight of the eight charges placed under Aurora’s watch.

“Let’s just kill everyone,” the dark-blue pegasus said. “I could do it myself, easily.”

Aurora grinned. Self-confidence, such an easy flaw to take advantage of. “There’s just one problem with your little plan, Luna.”

“It’s Nightmare Moon, Little Pony,” Nightmare Moon growled. “And humor, me, what exactly are you going to do to stop me?”

“Me? Nothing,” Aurora confessed. “But I think Vela would like to have words with your friend there.”

At those words, Vela slashed the spear through the air, cutting a slice of magic that traveled up and straight through the pegasus’s right side, cutting off his left hind leg and a good portion of his left wing.

“Shadow!” Nightmare Moon yelled.

“Dammit, I missed,” Vela lamented.

Aurora turned and smiled at her daughter. “We’re definitely going to have to work on your aim, young lady.”

“I’ll kill you!” Nightmare Moon shouted as she dive-bombed the young hippogriff. It almost worked, if not for a dark-blue pegasus that had just been waiting for her mom to drop her guard.

Nighttide flew up and impaled her mother seven different times, slamming her into the back wall with a smile upon her muzzle. “Don’t forget about me, mommy.”

Taz ran after her, certain that if he left Nighttide to her own devices, she’d quickly get in over her head. Blaze followed him, unsure just what to do or where he could help.

Aurora’s eyes grew wide as she saw the pony Nightmare Moon had called Shadow starting to heal. It looked like his very form was regrowing the missing hoof and wing, which was impressive, but obviously painful. However, the crying she heard demanded her attention. She looked over to see her son full on panicking in his seat; the poor eight-year-old looked scared out of his mind.

“Mom, grab him and go!”

The command caused Aurora to do a second take on who had said it. For a second, just a split second, she had thought it came from the old, long-dead Emperor Siros. It wasn’t though. It had been from Vela, his granddaughter.

“Okay.” Aurora grabbed Dayspring and ran, too little too late did she realize that there was no place to go. The rubble had been successfully blocked from landing on them, but in doing so, it blocked the main doorway.

Holding her son in her hoof, Aurora glanced around for the other exits, one by one, she dismissed them all. They were either blocked, or would expose her to the enemy. As much as she hated it, she was stuck here. Her best option was simply to hide, to stay out of their way.

“Shh, Dayspring, I need you to be strong for me, okay?” Aurora asked.

Dayspring did his best to stifle his sobs, but for the eight-year-old, everything was simply too much. Especially when his sister joined the battle in earnest.

As soon as her brother was clear, Vela stated to approach the downed pegasus. “Starlight, Ana, you two got my back?” she asked.

“Right behind you,” Starlight said with a grin, powering up her horn and glaring at the rapidly healing pegasus.

“Same,” Ana replied. She wasn’t sure what she could really do, but she could at least guard their flanks.

“Flash, see to mom,” Vela said.

“But didn’t she escape?” the pegasus asked, flying over them.

“How?” Vela asked.

That took Flash aback until he looked around, seeing that there was no escape. Not until they had time to clear some of the debris anyway. Somehow, Vela had taken it all in without even looking. He saw Aurora and Dayspring hiding in the corner. “You promise you’ll be okay?” Flash asked.

“Pinkie promise, after all, I have something to teach you tonight.”

With a nod, the pegasus flew over to the corner. He couldn’t do much, not until his training was complete, but he’d guard Vela’s family with his life.

“Shadow, huh?” Vela asked the dark-blue pony still on the ground. She spun her spear around in a threatening arch while saying, “Let’s see how many pieces I can carve a shadow into.”

Nightmare Moon growled at her daughter. The two were face-to-face, muzzle-to-muzzle. She could feel the hatred radiating off Nighttide; she could see the loathing in her eyes, and the pure, blood-rage that Nighttide just seem to... emanate.

Even with the shadow spears impelling her against the wall, she smiled. “There’s the daughter I remember from the moon!”

That caused Nighttide to gasp. “W-what?”

That moment’s pause, that second’s surprise, it was all Nightmare Moon needed. She blasted her daughter dead center in the chest. Sending her flying to the floor. “Tisk tisk, you could’ve had me, what did I always say about capitalizing on your advantage?” She powered her horn, drawing more and more dark magic to the very tip. “And ALWAYS kick ‘em when they’re down!”

At that, Nightmare Moon launched a magical blast straight at Nighttide’s fallen form. One more than powerful enough to finish what she started in Tartarus.

The magic simply ceased to be ten-hooves from Nighttide’s fallen body. A black earth pony with a long blue and purple mane just seemed to materialize right between Nightmare Moon and her daughter. His natural ability simply dissipated the attack. His magenta eyes glared up at the alicorn in distinctive hatred. “LUNA! Why are you here‽”

“The gallant prince coming to rescue his damsel in distress. It’s so cliché, it’s sickening.”

Nighttide started to get to her hooves. Her chest felt like it was on fire, and, while her body was healing, it wasn’t anywhere near as fast as Nightmare Moon’s recovery rate. “I’ll get you back for what you did to me!” Nighttide growled, her determination got her to her hooves, but not even that could keep her there.

She collapsed back to the ground. Blaze flew to her side, giving her a hoof up. Taz never took his eyes off Luna. “As long as I’m here, you can’t touch anyone!” Taz shouted.

“Oh, is that so, Little Pony?” Nightmare Moon asked sarcastically with an evil grin as she powered up her horn. Taz kept his eyes on her, refusing to look around at any distraction she might try.

“Taz, duck!” Blaze shouted.

Taz dropped to the floor as a huge brick flew right over his head. He gasped as he realized Luna had almost smashed his skull open.

“You may be able to cancel my magic, but the physical world plays by its own rules, doesn’t it, Prince Taz? I may not be able to affect you, but the objects around you are fair game,” the alicorn said with a smile as she hovered in the air.

Taz scowled at her as he tried to focus his ability, to shoot it as a beam and take away her magic—just as he had done to Red all those months ago. He never got the chance to use it though.

“DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE TOUCH HIM, YOU BITCH!” Nighttide screamed as she shot up to attack her mother. The mare was still grasping the wound in her chest, but the rage and adrenaline were pushing her past it.

Taz and Blaze were left wide-eyed as Nighttide gave Nightmare Moon a buck, powerful enough that the alicorn flew through the next wall.

But it just wasn’t enough.

“It’s time I got rid of you!” she yelled as she shot a magic blast back through the hole.

Nighttide pulled to the right, but her previous injury slowed her reaction time and she was unable to avoid all of her mom’s attack. The spell scorched down the left side of her flank, passing far enough away where she wasn’t directly hit by it, but close enough to leave a nasty burn. Nighttide cried out in pain as she started losing altitude.

“Blaze!” Taz yelled.

The pegasus flew up and caught her. “You okay?”

“I’m going to, I’ll make her, I’ll…” Nighttide cursed through gritted teeth, doing her absolute best to articulate her rage.

“No, you won’t.”

The voice caused Nighttide to pause. Those words, they’d normally cause her to lash out at whomever had said them, but who said them made a big difference.

“We will, together,” Taz finished, holding out a hoof for her to take.

“How?” Blaze asked. “How are you going to defeat her?”

Taz smiled. “I know we can. Nighttide, what we have is stronger than anything she could throw at us, it can protect us from everything she tries to hurt us with. We just have to trust each other and work together. We will defeat her together and we will bring Luna back.”

“Exactly like Ataxia showed us,” Nighttide said, getting to her feet with a downcast expression. “And first chance I got I tried to do it all on my own.”

“We all make mistakes,” Taz said with a friendly smile.

“Even me. After all, I had her,” Nightmare Moon smiled as she flew out of the hole in the wall.

Taz shot her a glare. “You’ll never hurt her again. I won’t allow it. Do you know what you’re missing, LUNA? Friends that live with you and a family that loves you.” Taz gave a small look at Nighttide. “And lovers that will always stay with you. You lack all of that, and that is exactly why we’ll win and you loose!”

“I swear, prince, I’m not sure if it’s actually possible to make me vomit, but you’re getting reeeeaaal close.”

Taz smiled and nodded to Nighttide. “Let’s see if you can vomit while you lay bleeding at our hooves.”

Training took ahold of them. Nighttide rushed forward again, but this time with the love of her life directly at her side. Nightmare Moon knew all their weak spots, but the rage and hatred between her and Nighttide was big enough that she made a small, but important mistake. She attacked Nighttide with her spells, spells that were easily nullified by Taz. She realized her mistake all too late as they appeared in front of her.

Nightmare Moon cried out in pain as the first three shots of Nighttide’s shadows penetrated her stomach and her hind hooves, then she bolted quickly enough to avoid the rest that had been aimed at her chest and head.

“Nighttide, we’re trying to capture her alive,” Taz whispered as he noticed the aim from Nighttide.

“Trust me, she can take a little abuse.” The tone of Nighttide’s voice said that while it may be true, she was going to give her more than just a ‘little’.

“She deserves it at least,” Taz replied. “Just try to not kill her.”

“Kill me? As if you could!” Nightmare Moon shouted as she focused her magic and blew outwards, shattering several windows and further ruining the walls. Despite the impressive display, she had no choice but to roll to the left when she saw Taz fire his ability at her. That was a no-win situation for her. As by avoiding his ability she was forced to move into her daughter’s line of fire, and Nighttide blasted her back against the wall.

“You’ll all pay for that! When Shadow get’s done we’ll—”

“If you’re counting on him, you better look to the left!” Blaze shouted from behind them, the pegasus had been watching both fights.

“Are you trying to fool me? I’m not so easily distracted, amateur!”

“What a shame, your shadow buddy is losing at the moment.” Blaze laughed, followed by a loud, ear-shattering scream that stole everyone’s attention.

Shadow grinned as the foolish mares waited on him to recover. They literally watched as his body regenerated and he was once again able to stand on his own.

However, if he was happy about that turn of events, his happiness had nothing on Vela’s. The young hippogriff saw this as her chance. She was giddy with anticipation over the battle to come. She loved this. She wanted this. She NEEDED this.

“Finally! Now I can cut you into even more pieces!” she cried out, swinging the spear in her claws.

“You could’ve done that while I was down.” Shadow grinned. “Now it’s too late!”

Vela simply gave him a frightening smile before she spoke, “Well, that wouldn’t be fun! After all, the real fun is in breaking unbroken toys!”

“You foolish little mare, I’m going to—hmpf!”

It was the end of his sentence as the spear swung through the air and cut his muzzle off.

“You’re scary, Vela,” Starlight commented.

She grinned “What? I’m just having some fun.”

“That’s your definition of fun?” Flash asked from where Aurora and him were hiding.

Vela smirked. “Don’t worry, you’re on my mostly safe side.”

He turned his head to ask her mom, “Mostly safe?”

Aurora did her best to smile at him and hide Dayspring’s eyes from what was going on. The eight-year-old didn’t need to watch a pony get dismembered in real life. “She’s really a sweetheart, you just gotta look… deep.”

“That’s true,” Flash said, then his eyes went wide as Aurora glared at him.

Fortunately, his small gaff didn’t require an immediate explanation, as the battle demanded their attention.

Shadow cried out in a bestial rage, which came out as nothing more than a gargle on a pony without a muzzle. He focused on his element—the shadows, and shot them at all three mares.

Vela rolled her eyes, cutting the shadows heading for her and Ana with one swing of the spear, while Starlight simply generated a magical shield, causing the attack that went after her to deflect away into oblivion.

“So tell me, Shadow, do you feel woefully outclassed yet?” Vela teased.

Another roar, another group of shadows shot at the three. Another easily avoided attack. Vela almost laughed as she flapped her wings and took off into the air. “Starlight, Ana, NOW!”

Both mares knew what to do. They both raised shields on either side of Shadow, preventing his escape. Shadow looked up to see the spear raced through the air and cut down, right between the two shields the unicorns had raised.

He had no choice. He left his host body seconds before the attack hit. A scream of bestial pain and death rang out from a muzzleless soul that had been used as his vessel; another pony that died because of Red’s ministrations.

The gouge in the floor cut a nasty gorge in the stone, one that would take months to repair if fixed by hooves.

“Did that get him?” Vela asked.

“No, he’s still here!” Starlight shouted. Her horn glowing from the magical trace she was running.

“You’ve gotta fight harder if you want to take me down, fillies.” A voice echoed amongst them, laughing loudly.

“Give me a target!” Vela yelled, spinning around in the air to try and cover every direction at once.

“I-I…” Starlight tried to track him, her readings were making no sense though. He was… everywhere.

“Let’s see how you like MY game!” the shadow growled.

Shadow spears shot out from directly below Vela, above her, and at her flank. Her instincts kicked in and she rolled, slicing out with her spear and cutting the ones below and at her flank. The one above her shattered on a dark-blue barrier as Ana raised a shield that took the hit for the hippogriff.

“Such teamwork, it almost makes me want to weep with joy.”

“Starlight‽” Vela growled. “I’m getting really tired of this shit!”

“I’m trying!” she yelled back as another four attacks came for Vela.

Just as before, Vela had the reflexes to cut two of them, the third Ana blocked, the fourth… that was another story altogether. It struck her back leg, cutting a gash across the skin and muscles there, causing her to bleed.

“STARLIGHT!” Vela shouted. “NOW OR NEVER!”

“NOW!” Magical energy radiated out from around the unicorn. The pupils of her piercing green eyes faded, as the irises went dark when her eyes took on the appearance of her namesake: starlight.

The shadow revenant found himself pulled back from his element. He gasped as his form became manifest, as the little unicorn forced his shadows to coalesce into a shape, a shape Vela could hurt.

Vela’s mistake was taking the first shot she could. Her spear lashed out and a wave of power shot forth, striking the shadow form a glancing blow. Yet even that attack managed to cut off a large section of the creature's body.

He screamed in pain as his form—his true form—was just sliced apart.

Vela closed her eyes and basked in that scream. It was like the sweetest music to her. That is until she still heard it speak again. “Y-you’ll pay for that.”

She opened her eyes, too late to realize that she had celebrated too soon. In that instant, she saw that the creature had not only survived, but was already launching its counterattack. Seven shadows shot out directly from it.

The two heading for Vela were cut apart with a swordsmare’s skill. The one heading for Ana was deflected, as was the one heading for Starlight.

Those weren’t the ones that caused the young hippogriff to gasp. The other three spears hadn’t targeted any of the three of them, those went after Aurora, Flash, and Dayspring.

An irony of battle no one taught Vela: You’re at your weakest right before you’re about to win.

In spite of her unusual birth, Aurora Flash was born a normal pegasus. Her entire family was special in every definition of the word, they had power. Real power. Whatever genetics and magic went into the mare, they went into her looks. She was the cutest filly and later, the most gorgeous mare that ever lived. However unlike the rest of her family she wasn’t magical and she had no special abilities that the world had never seen before.

But she was still Rainbow Dash’s daughter. Every day would see the two training, harnessing her flight. She had the speed and reflexes that matched somepony in that station, even if it had been decades since the last time she had to put them to real use.

When Flash blinked, he had Dayspring in his hooves and was several hoof-lengths away from Aurora. There was no way they’d all be able to avoid the attack, so she made the choice for them. She shoved her son in his grip and tossed them clear, all in the blink of an eye.

Aurora gasped as she looked down. The toss had positioned her just so, she saw herself impaled in the front left shoulder and right hind leg. The third spear just barely missed her chest, even still, it left a nice cut down the right side of her barrel. Her last thought before losing consciousness was, Why… why isn’t there more pain?

The pain came soon enough, but not from her body; rather, it came in the form of a shout. “MOM!” Vela yelled.

Starlight evaporated the spears with a flick of her horn. Then Ana and she ran to the downed pegasus, the blue mare was already pulling out the limited healing spells she knew.

“He he he he, I’m goi—”

“YOU'RE GOING TO FUCKING DIE!” Vela shouted as she charged forward. “HOW DARE YOU HURT THOSE I LOVE!”

Siros’s Vengeance was, in every definition of the phrase: a god weapon. It was created by the combined power of Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess Shimmering Night, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadance, two of which were Avatars of gods; one the demigoddess of magic, and one an alicorn. When it’s first bearer, Emperor Siros’s son, Emperor Icarus, picked it up, he swore an oath to use it to protect those he loved. And while it would grant any individual who wielded it amazing power, only when used for its true purpose would its real power shine through.

Vela flew at a speed only achievable by Rainbow Dash, but there was no sonic rainboom. She lashed out with power only matched by Twilight Sparkle, but there was no spell. Those were all things there wasn’t, what there was, was a death shriek.

It lasted longer than it had any right to. Even when the body was gone, the sound it had made echoed around the dining hall.

Unlike before, Vela found she could take no enjoyment from it. The creature, the thing had just been put down, a rabid dog had just lost its life, that’s it. There was nothing to celebrate. Especially not at the cost that came with it.

Unable to look at her mother in fear of the worst, she found herself crying; at least until a set of white hooves wrapped themselves around her. She looked up at the muzzle those hooves belonged to, they were Flash’s. He held her, squeezed her, and then smiled. “She’ll be fine, she’s unconscious but the injuries weren’t life-threatening, Starlight’s already stopped the bleeding.”

Vela didn’t reply. She simply reached up and kissed him. Not knowing or caring if they were seen, or who was watching. Consequences be damned, she simply wanted to. When they broke apart, the mare rested her head on his chest. Flash smiled, or at least he did until he saw the other battle.

“It isn’t over.”

Vela raised her head and looked over. She tightened her grip on the spear and said, “Then let’s end it.”

Nightmare Moon watched the death of her fellow revenant with wide-eyes. She had expected a lot, but not that. And while she knew she was definitely more powerful than Shadow had been, she was no longer facing a three-on-one battle. She was now facing a five-on-one assault as Flash and Vela started to fly at her.

The mare started to fly up, taunting her daughter on the way. “My oh my where did I go wrong, look how weak you are Nighttide. You’re relying on the help of others!”

Nighttide scowled, but Taz was the first one to speak out. “It’s a strength to be able to count on your friends!”

The alicorn laughed at that. “Friendship, oh how could I forget the power of friends. But this isn’t like last time, colt prince!”

At that, something clicked in Taz, an epiphany at the worst possible time.

“If I’m so weak, why are you the one running, MOM!” Nighttide shouted.

Nightmare Moon smiled; even more so as she started to hear the doors to the hall being pounded on as the Royal Guard sought entry into the room.

She heard the legion of guards that were trying to gain entry. Most of the pegasi had already been taken care of, but against that many earth ponies and unicorns, she knew the odds were against her.

“We’ll end this another time, you weaklings!” she hissed and bolted through the hole, trying to escape in time.

The door to the hall was blasted open, unleashing an entire detachment of unicorns, a few pegasi, and several earth ponies all in the garb of the Royal Guard. Vela turned to see several dark spots of the Night Guard as well, they were fewer in number, but somehow that made them seem even more dangerous.

Starlight, who had been focused on Aurora, noticed them as well. She smiled as she thought she saw Echoside, completely dressed in her armor. She had no idea if it truly was the mare or not, rather, her heart simply said it was.

She knew it to be true when the mare turned and spotted her. Echoside made a beeline right for Starlight’s side.

“You’re not getting away!” Nighttide shouted as she went to give chase. She was stopped when something bit on her tail and held her back. “Taz, what the buck‽”

“Wait… I have a better idea.”