Rain, rain and more rain. No matter how much she had seen or experienced in the past three hours, Rarity doubted she’d ever actually enjoy it, let alone look forward to it; unlike a certain earthpony who was wallowing in the mud with pleasure. With a sigh and shake of her head, Rarity looked away from Pinks before the mess gave her a heart attack and instead looked over at the blue pegasus who standing in the rain with her wings outstretched. Why that was, Rarity did not know, nor did she care, all that mattered was that she stayed nice and safe within the confines of the bubble.

“Hey Rarity, stop being so prissy and enjoy the weather!” Stepping into the bubble, a dripping wet pegasus approached with malicious intent. “Let your mane down for a bit.”

Eyes narrowing, Rarity’s horn flared to life. “You stay away from me, Rainbow Dash, or I swear I will give you a makeover while you're asleep and I can promise you, you’ll come out the other side looking absolutely fabulous.”

“Okay, okay, geez,” grumbled Dash as she stepped back into the rain. “I’ll just stay right over here.”

“Good.” With a toss of her mane, the white unicorn settled back down. Truth be told, she expected some more resistance from Dash – not that she was complaining – it was just… odd. Almost as though it was part of a plan. “Oh no.”

Thrown to the side, she found herself eating a mouthful of mud as a very happy pink mare sat on her while giving Dash a brohoof. With a feral growl, the two conspirators soon found themselves forced into the ground as Rarity stood up above them, a hoof on each of their heads.

“Oh, you enjoyed that did you? You enjoy getting me muddy? Well how do you like it now?” she growled, pushing down slightly harder with her hooves. “Enjoy the taste of mud?”

Picking them both up, she glared at them with an expression that promised much pain in their future. “Just be glad I do not have my tools with me or you’d be not only the fastest mare in Equestria, but also the prettiest,” growled Rarity at Rainbow Dash. “As for you Pinks, I think a couple hours of death metal will sort you out, don’t you think?”

The blue aura encasing her captives was suddenly shattered as Shining Armor stepped into view. “I’m sure whatever they did does not deserve such… cruel punishments.”

“They made me hideous!” The now brown colored unicorn jabbed a muddy hoof at the guard captain. “Just look at me, I’m ugly! No, no, don’t look at me, I’m too horrible to bear looking at. Avert your eyes. Avert I say! This is just the worst. Possible. Thi-“

“Don’t ya dare finish that,” said AJ as she shoved a hoof into Rarity’s mouth. “And all of ya better stop messing around. We’ve got a job ta do.”

“Oh come on AJ, we’ve been sitting around for hours waiting for the signal,” replied RD.

“Yeah! All work and no play makes… er… something, something, something,” added Pinks while her body pouted. “Hey, don’t look at me like that, repeating what Pinkie said would have taken too long.”

“Um… excuse me…” Flutershy peeked her head out of the protective bubble.

“For once, I agree with these two immature mares,” said Rarity, completely ignoring Fluttershy. “We cannot stay tense for hours on end. It will simply drive us insane, and yes, this is coming from a mare who specializes in a high stress job.”

“Excuse me… I don’t mean to interrupt or anything…”

“What? Looking all pretty like is a high stress job now?” replied AJ with Dash nodding her head in agreement.

“Um… please, this is important…”

“I will have you know, I was referring to being a fashion designer, but yes, being pretty is rather stressful, though it’s not like either of you will know a single thing about being pretty,” said Rarity with a toss of her mane.

“Are you saying we’re ugly!?” Dash was suddenly in her face. “Because I can te-“

A canis major suddenly flew between the bickering trio. Blinking, the three friends simultaneously looked to their right where the rest of their group was engaged in combat with a pack of the annoying celestial wolves. In a flash of blue, one went down in a heap with an arrow lodged in its head.

“How about a wager to settle the matter? I will be able to kill more of them than either of you,” said Rarity.

“And here Ah thought ya were a lady of class and poise,” chuckled AJ. “You’re on. RD?”

A rainbow blur suddenly hit three wolves, each buck charged up with electricity. Skidding to a stop on the other side of the battlefield, Dash kicked off the building wall and hit another on the way back before giving them all a cocky grin. “You better hurry it up if you want to catch up!” Spinning around, she went to attack a fifth only AJ to buck it with enough for to make it explode into powder. “Hey! That was my kill.”

“Stop treating this like a game!” yelled Shining from somewhere in of the mass fur and fangs

Teleporting onto the nearest building, Rarity looked down on the battle and with a single thought, conjured a dozen bows. Picking the most basic arrows she had, she began raining them down on those below with lethal accuracy. A single arrow, a single death. Though on occasion, she did manage to hit two with one bolt and more than once, one of her friends would find an arrow whiz past their head and embed itself in a canis major behind them. Or in front of them, much to RD’s annoyance. No matter how many she killed though, it was as though another three would immediately take its position.

A sudden explosion of earth drew Rarity’s gaze to the east. There in the center of a field of black was Applejack, and Fluttershy. Though AJ was trying to keep them off the yellow pegasus' back while Fluttershy locked gazes with those before them. Those who met her gaze soon turned on their allies or vanished entirely in a puff of black smoke. Blood dripped from Fluttershy’s side, pooling at their feet and AJ very obviously had a broken leg and supported a gash across one cheek. Before Rarity could lend a helping hoof though, AJ stomped the ground and a field of earthen spikes erupted from the ground, impaling all those around them. Immediately though, more began forming out of the night sky. Providing much needed cover, Rarity covered their escape as the two limped towards Rainbow Dash and Pinkamina.

From the looks of things, the pink mare was having far too much fun slaughtering enemy after enemy. She raced through the crowd, her twin blades a blur as she transition between two and four legs while jumping and flipping around Dash. More than once, the pegasus tossed Pinkamina into a crowd only to zip after and catch her again before pulling off some complicated, synchronized attack. They were a speeding blur, pinballing through the crowd and leaving a wake of empty space behind them.

Pain erupted in Rarity’s side as she was thrown to the ground. Blasting the wolf away, she quickly scrambled onto her hooves and blood poured from the deep gouge in her side. A hasty teleport later, Rarity found herself on an empty roof. Before she could heal herself up, more stepped out from the shadows around her, quickly closing in. Burning them with a wave of fire, Rarity quickly teleported to another rooftop and once more, they followed her. This time though, they came out of the shadows leaping, making it near impossible to avoid. Throwing up a shield, one erupted from the ground beneath her feet and she soon found herself struggling to keep a drooling mouth full of very sharp teeth at bay. With a snarl, Rarity forced a knee into the creature’s stomach and in that split second, stabbed her horn through its head. Black ooze coated her head and stumbling back with a whimper, she began washing her face.

The sound of cracking glass filled the air as her shield began to buckle under the constant assault.

This was bad. Blue eyes began surveying the scene around her as her magic began healing up her wound. She could not run for they seemed to be able to track her with deadly accuracy, and if they continued fighting, they’d eventually be too weak to take on Nightmare Moon. There was no doubt in her mind, that the corrupt alicorn would just keep conjuring up these creatures with no end and there was no telling how much a toll it took her to do so, but considering the number they had already killed, she could probably conjure up an infinite amount.

Bright blue flames consumed all those around the shield.

“Come on, we’ve got to get to the others!” yelled Trixie as she burst through the wall of fire.

Dropping the shield, Rarity wrapped a forelimb around her friend’s neck and quickly teleported them away. Appearing back on ground level, the two rushed towards Shining Armor and the rest of their friends, cutting through the unending field of monsters as they went. A hole opened in the magenta shield and the two darted in and let out a sigh of relief.

“You need to get out of here,” said Shining Armor. “As long as Nightmare Moon is alive, this will keep going.”

“No! We’re not leaving you behind,” yelled RD as she struggled onto her hooves. “You’ll end up getting slaughtered.”

“We have to. For Equestria remember?” said Fluttershy.

“That’s what we said about leaving Twilight behind and look at where that got her,” replied Dash as she tossed her mane to one side. “We’re getting out of this together.”

“Please. Twilight is my sister and while I may not have her abilities with all magics, I do specialize in shields. I can keep this up for a year if need be. Just pass me the Elements of Harmony and get out of here! If my theory is correct then they’re using the unique harmonic frequency to track us – no doubt Nightmare Moon managed to figure out that spell when she had the Elements in her possession.”

The group exchanged a nervous look before taking off their Elements and passing it over to Shining.

“Alright. Stay safe, ya hear?” Applejack gave each of the soldiers a smile and nod. “Com’ on, let’s leave it ta them.”

“Alright. Stand close then dears and I’ll have us out of us in the blink of an eye.” Taking a deep breath, the others huddled around the white mare and a second later, the park around them vanished, only to be replaced by a bunch of stores. “Okay, we need to go north from here.”

A moment of tense silence descended as they moved forward in total silence. Eyes kept darting, bodies tensed at the slightest movement, but as time went on, the group slowly unwound as no enemies suddenly sprung out of the darkness. With a simple muffling spell in place, the group began racing through the empty street with Dash in the lead. For the entire journey, not once did they see a single monster or celestial creature – instead, all they managed to perceive was an eerie stillness as though everything was frozen in time.

Wait. Wasn’t it raining?

Looking up at the night sky, Rarity’s eyes widened. There, hanging above them, were suspended raindrops frozen in time. They almost looked like crystallized tears.

“Um… Rainbow Dash… please tell me you’re the one deliberately stopping the rain from falling,” whispered the fashionetta in a shaky voice.

“What are you talking about? I’m… not…” Her voice trailed off as Dash followed Rarity’s gaze. “Oh buck.”

Grabbing everypony, Rarity pulled them close as Trixie threw up a barrier spell. The droplets flew through the air, turning into ice as it did so and embedded itself into the protective shield. Teleporting the entire group away, they bore witness to the shield spell being punctured like pincushion as needle after needle of ice smashed through.

“That’s impossible,” whispered Trixie in awe. “That shielding spell should have been strong enough to withstand anything. Twilight Sparkle wouldn’t have been able to get through it.”

“No time for that!” Dash whipped the winds around them into a miniature tornado, allowing the high speed air to blow away and destroy the incoming projectiles. “We need to find whoever’s casting that spell and stop them.”

“Three o’clock, on top of the bakery,” said Fluttershy. “Navy blue unicorn with a… pitcher?”

“On it.” Vanishing in a flash of blue, Rarity reappeared atop a building and launched a glass tipped arrow. The resulting explosion shook the earth, making it hard to stand and when the dust cleared, the bakery was vaporized and instead a cocoon made of ice hung in midair. Then it sublimed and the unicorn stepped out without a single scratch on him.

All she felt was a felt was a low rumble, but Rarity immediately teleported away. Before she had even reappeared next to her friends, the entire house she was standing on erupted in a shower of water and ice. There was no doubt in any of their minds that if Rarity had been a second slower, she’d be dead. The rumbling did not stop though and the group soon found themselves standing back to back with muscles tensed in an attempt to counter whatever was going to be thrown at them.

“The ground! Something’s tunneling beneath us!” yelled Applejack.

But it was too late. The ground exploded, sending them all flying upwards. Slamming into the wall, a sharp crack was heard and pain flared up the entire length of Rarity’s body making her gasp out in pain. Hitting the ground, she lay there, entire body numb and tingling as she tried to push focus on a spell, any spell. Try as hard as she might though, the pain made even the most basic spell impossible. A second later, boulders slammed into the ground next to her, pinning her leg to the ground as she cried out in pain.

“Just hold on Rarity, Ah’m here to help.” Bucking the boulder once, it shattered and within seconds, Rarity was healed and back on her feet. White coat dyed red from blood, semi-white unicorn made sure to not look at the puddle of blood she was standing in.

“How are the others?” asked Rarity as she gazed at the celestial crab and scorpion that were crawling out of the hole.

“Ah don’t know, haven't seen them yet.” The farmpony followed Rarity’s gaze. “From the observations I’ve made, it is my belief that we’re dealing with the Zodiacs. The unicorn was no doubt Aquarius and before us now are Cancer and Scorpio. No doubt we will be forced to face the others as well.”

A sudden roar ran out, echoing through the empty streets and Rarity gave her friend a flat look. “You just had to say that didn’t you?”

“Move!”

Tackling Rarity to the side, a boulder the size of a small living room smashed through the building. Scrambling back onto their feet, Rarity teleported them to the other side of the street as the entire office building collapsed to the ground.

“Ah am getting tired of this!” yelled Applejack.

With a stomp of her left hoof, spikes erupted form the earth, quickly closing the distance between her and the two Zodiacs. There was a diagonal flash of white light and all of a sudden, the top half of the spears were sliced clean off. Then, from the night sky itself, a pegasus wreathed in white armor descended. Tied to her right leg was a single short sword, on her left was tied a buckler and her cutie mark was a pair of scales.

“Libra,” whispered the earthpony. “Justice and balance.”

“One more,” muttered Rarity. “Twelve of them, six of us. Two each that means there’ll be one more.”

“Virgo. Libra was the scales held by Virgo.”

Sure enough, out of the gaping hole in the center of the street, a mossy green earthpony trotted out and with a single flick of her hair, the spikes Applejack had conjured returned to the ground. Just behind the living constellations was the gate to the Castle and somewhere in there was an insane alicorn, just waiting for them.

“We need to finish them quickly and effectively. We must save our power for Nightmare Moon.”

“Ah know. Ah’ll take Cancer and Virgo.”

“Very well then.” An ephemeral bow came into existence next to Rarity. “That leaves me Scorpio and Libra. Good luck dear.”

“Ya too sugarcube.”

Teleporting into the middle of the road, Rarity fired off two quick shots to get their attention before quickly shifting to another location. Libra simply sliced the arrows out of the air and charged. Coming out of the teleport, Rarity was forced to throw up an emergency barrier, but the sword cut right through it as though it wasn’t there. Leaving a deep gash across her chest, the unicorn sent out a telekinetic wave as blood began freely flowing. The pegasus simply tumbled through the air and in a show of miraculous dexterity and stuntsmareship, righted herself in record time and came zooming back.

Shooting a volley of arrows, they were swatted away like flies. Diving to the side at the last second, she felt the blade part her tail and just as she came out of her roll, a wave of solid air hit. Thrown clean off the building, Rarity was forced to teleport once more onto the building opposite. It was there that she witnessed the building she was just on crumbling into two perfect halves. If Libra’s blade could do that, the unicorn did not want to know what it could do to her.

Before she could even notch an arrow, the entire building began rumbling and sinking into the ground. Running along the roof, she made a couple of shots at the scorpion attacking the foundations before jumping off. Landing on the adjacent roof, she came out of her roll in a crouch and fired a single glass tipped bolt. Just as expected, Libra sliced through it. And just as expected, the arrow exploded in her face in a brilliant blue fire ball.

Very quickly, the smile was dashed off Rarity’s face as she watched in growing horror at the approaching flaming tornado. Worst of all, somewhere in there was a very sharp and very dangerous sword. Her horn flared even brighter, but at that precise moment, the building suddenly tipped ninety degrees. Concentration broken, she scrambled to reform the teleportation spell, but with the approaching pegasus, panic gripped her.

Appearing a block over, Rarity squeezed her eyes shut as the world around her spun. Turning her head to the side, she was forced to throw up as the badly done teleport took its toll on her body. Forcing herself back onto her hooves, pain spiked through her body and looking down, her eyes widened at the sight of the shards of glass embedded all throughout her leg. Gripping it in her magic, she ripped them free with a sharp hiss. Before the wound could be healed though, the building next to her exploded into a million bits as Libra burst though. Each piece was a perfect cube of varying sizes and Rarity just had enough time to teleport away before a series of deep gouges were left in the land.

The earth beside her exploded as Scorpio came out of the ground. Thrown to the side, Rarity quickly rolled and the stinger slammed into the ground just inches from her head. Scrambling behind a piece of fallen wall, it was completely shattered by its tail. In the reflection of some broken glass, she caught sight of Libra approaching from behind. Firing one last arrow at Scorpio (which bounced off harmlessly), the white mare dived to the side. Though the impossibly sharp blade missed, Scorpio did not. A pincer gripped her, crushing her ribs and hoisting her into the air. In its eyes, she could see Libra coming towards her from behind.

Pained rippled through her body, and a scream was torn form her throat. The sound of cracking bones filled the air as the pincer slowly tightened. Already, she could feel it tearing through her muscles and flesh, blood flowed through her fur freely, staining it a deep red. Summoning one of her bows, it flickered and wavered as Rarity tried to push through the pain. The pincer tightened further, causing the bow the evaporate.

That was when she noticed it. A lock of purple hair being blown across the battle field. Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, she turned around to look at her tail. Half of it was gone. No, over half of it was gone. Just... Just gone...

Rarity's eyes narrowed.

Reaching deep into her reserves, she found something. A font of power that she never knew existed before that single moment – it filled her with power and vigor. Looking straight into the eye of the creature, she waited patiently for the Pegasus to approach even as her life ebbed away from her.

As soon as the blade began rising, Rarity made her move. A crystal bow appeared beside her and launched a single arrow into Scorpio’s eye. The pincer immediately let go as the creature shrieked out in pain. A grin split her face as she watched the blade descend on the helpless Zodiac, slicing it cleaning in two. Tumbling through the air, Rarity selected a diamond tipped arrow, notched it and fired before making one last teleport as far as away as she could manage.

The bolt was wreathed in azure blue flames as it blazed towards its target. It cut through the twilight sky and when it slammed into the pegasus, it exploded into a ball of fire so bright, it might as well have been a second sun. It illuminated the sky, seared her eyes despite being closed and it cast a heat so intense, Rarity was forced to shield herself or be burnt to a crisp.

After ten very long seconds, the flames died down enough for her to look. There was no pony. In fact, the ground beneath the spot was charred bare and the metal in surrounding builds had been liquefied.

Collapsing onto the ground, she slowly began closing the worst of her wounds. It would take time, but if she didn’t heal her leg or sides, she would die. Her only hope was that it wouldn’t scar. Oh, and that the others would be fine without her.

Applejack watched as Rarity drew the other two celestial beings away before turning her attention back to Virgo and Cancer who were waiting patiently. With a tip of her hat in thanks, AJ set her legs apart into the same solid stance she used for applebucking. The green earthpony replied with a nod and smile even as her starry mane billowed in the breeze, but otherwise she stayed perfectly still.

Instead, it was Cancer who moved first. Burrowing under the ground, the farmpony could feel the earth shifting beneath her feet and if she concentrated, she could even feel the direction and speed of movement. Couple that with all the time she had spent helping Shining Armor study for his guard training exams, Applejack very quickly figured out the most likely areas for the crustacean to emerge from as well as how much time she had to seal them off and the order she had to act in to minimize risks.

Power flowed through her hooves and into the ground. Locating all the large boulders in the immediate vicinity, she pulled them through the ground to fortify the location directly beneath her. As soon as she shifted her power to fortify the closest and weakest buildings, she felt the stones beneath her shifting and moving away. Frowning, she grasped the boulders and tried to shove them back into place only to encounter resistance as something else pulled it away. Opposite her, Virgo smiled sadly.

Of course. Part of Virgo represented fertility thus the land thus an earthpony, but more importantly, she had powers over the land. So that was how things were going to be played out was it?

Splitting her power in half, she ignored the hole that formed in her defenses and instead caused the spears of earth to rupture from the ground. Before the tips were an inch out of the ground, Virgo flattened them into a platform for her to stand on. At the same time, the ground beneath AJ exploded, a pincer just managing to miss her head by a mere hair's width. Rolling with the momentum, she quickly came back onto her feet. Forcing her magic into the ground, she redirected the spikes that came out so that each one would only graze her fur rather than skewer her.

Three spikes trapped each leg and another five were wrapped about her body in such a manner that she couldn't even move an inch. Four more formed a square around her neck, keeping her completely immobile. All that was needed to finish her was one last spell. Closing her eyes, AJ the turned earthen claws holding her into large boulders and with a toss of her mane, they were launched towards the two enemies.

Shattered in midair by Virgo, the orange earthpony could feel the ground shifting beneath her hooves. Skipping back, she quickly spun to the side just in time to avoid a spike and following up with a buck, she returned it as a projectile. Reaching into the earth, she called the stone boulders once more to fortify her position and this time, she held it there. A quick calculation and AJ threw up an earthen wall just as the office building beside her began tipping over. A second later, Cancer burst forth from the ground, taking out the reinforcements AJ had added, collapsing the building on top of the farmpony.

And that’s when the earthquake began.

The ground began shaking, buildings folded, the street was split into hundreds of sections and parts of the ground simply dropped away. At the center of it all was Applejack, bruised and battered, but alive. Head held high and with sweat dripping down her face,she completely remodeled the three block radius around her. Locating Cancer in the ground, she let her power run along the nearby fissure, opening it up and drawing the magma into the tunnels. Using stones to direct its movement, the crab soon found itself trapped. Seconds later, it was dead.

Then she turned her attention to Virgo. Spike after spike erupted from the ground and with the constantly shaking earth, it was impossible to stand up properly. Nonetheless, AJ strolled forward, easily hopping from platform to platform and the Zodiac continued to dance around the constant assault. There was a brilliant burst of light behind her, turning the sky to daytime and that’s when she acted.

Dashing forward, the farmpony bucked with her might, sending Virgo through the wall and out the side. Immediately, earthen claws emerged from the ground, grasping the celestial being and holding her down as a final shard of earth skewered her.

Closing her eyes and with just a bit of power, Applejack repaired the fissure, returned the magma back to its original location and fixed up the landscape. Making sure to step over the cracks in the road, she began heading in the rough direction Rarity ran off to.

Pinkamina had not had this much fun in a very long time. With both blades fully extended, she spun and twisted as the twin earthponies that made up Gemini attacked form either side. Though she had been bucked in the side and breathing was painful, she relished every stab of pain. Licking her lips, she savored the taste of blood.

“Duck!”

Dropping low, she swept her hind hoof down low. The pony immediately leapt over, and Pinkamina immediately aimed upwards, taking advantage of the exposed stomach. Metal clashed on metal as his twin blocked the thrust and aimed a kick with such force she was thrown through the stone wall. Together, they chased after her.

Or rather, that’s what should have happened if the pink mare did not flip at the last second, and place all four hooves onto the smooth surface. Kicking off, she met their assault head on. One second she was before them, the next she was past them with multiple shallow cuts along her legs and body and more than a dozen nicks on her blades.

Skidding to a stop, she spun on her right leg as a bolt of prismatic lightning shot past, slamming into the two ghostly ponies. Almost immediately, a rainbow blur began spinning around them, multiple flashes of light illuminating the night sky. Despite the insane speed Dashie was moving at, they still managed to deflect every hit and bolt of lightning.

Her tail twisting into a knot was all the warning she needed. Back flipping into the air her hooves connected with a slab of ice. Pushing off, she twisting in midair and landed on a second icicle. Running along the underside, she jumped off at the end and performed a series of increasingly impossible stunts on her way to Aquarius. An ice wall suddenly formed before her and blades arcing down, they sliced clean through.

Making one last jump, Pinkamina managed to get within striking distance only to be suddenly and violently thrown to the side. Slamming into the ground, she immediately rolled behind a dumpster. Ice spear after spear impaled the dumpster from every single angle imaginable. Then Aries rammed it aside with such force, it was flatter than a pancake. But apart from some blood, there was absolutely no sign of the pink mare.

Rolling out from a door on the opposite side of the street, Pinkamina slammed into the ram from behind. Flipping over it, her blade descended on its unprotected neck only for it to be deflected at the last second by a bolt of lightning. Landing on all fours, her limbs twitched as electricity surged through her body.

“Note to self: Try electrical play in the future.”

“Concentrate,” growled Pinks.

“Party pooper,” mumbled Pinkamina under her breath.

Suddenly, Dashie flew across her field of vision while a celestial lion ridden by the twins chasing after her. A glimpse of blue drew her attention back to Aquarius just in time to see a volley of ice aimed in her direction. Leaping into the air, she channeled more of her Element’s power and began kicking each shard in quick succession. Every single last one flew in the direction of those chasing the blue pegasus, causing the chasers to swerve and slow down.

Dropping back onto the ground, she chased after them, bouncing from icicle to icicle with projectiles and a very mad ram following. Flipping onto her back, Dash fired off a set of lightning bolts and Pinkamina immediately twisted in midair, letting the electricity to breeze past and hit those behind her. Though it was very tempting to stick out a hoof to experience that jolt again.

Tucking her legs in, Pinkamina executed a forward flip. With both hind hooves planted firmly on the ice wall Dashie had conjured, the pink party mare kicked off, aiming straight for the charging ram. Lower its head in response, the two zoomed towards each other at a speed that Dashie would have called ‘awesome’. At the last second, she braced for impact and tucked herself into a ball. Hitting the ram, it tossed its head, effectively throwing the insane mare into the air.

Though the air was knocked out of her and it felt as though her hips had been shattered, Pinkamina continued to relish the pain. Soaring into the sky at high speeds, the pink mare slammed into Aquarius and forced her blade through the Zodiac’s face. Black ooze flowed out and without a second thought, she opened her mouth and drunk some down even as she was tumbling back to earth.

“Needs some honey.”

“Hey! No fair! I want to know what stars taste like.” Pinkamina suddenly found herself shoved to one side as Pinkie began licking her face of any left overs. “Needs lots of honey! But still yuuuuuuuuummy!”

“You two are disgusting,” gagged Pinks.

“Gotcha!” Dashie caught the party pony in midair then tossed her like a ball towards Leo.

Squealing in delight at the high speeds, she rammed the twins, tackling them to the ground. Before she could stab them through the head though, a brilliant orb of fire exploded in the sky, blinding her. Stumbling back, Pinkamina's ear flopped to the right and she ducked. Metal bit into her skin, drawing blood.

Tail twitch, skip to the side. Ear flop to the right, duck. Flop to the left, jump over low sweep. Both ears twist, attacked from both sides. Left. Right. Skip back, spin to the side and counter. Block, duck, watch out for rubble, counter.

Despite being blind, she had her Pinkamina Sense to guide her. Nonetheless, more than one attack managed to snake through and soon, she found herself on the ground, bleeding from a particularly deep gash across her chest. Out the corner of her eye, she could make out the blurry figure of Dashie trying to get to her while Leo and Aries kept her at bay. Above the pink mare, the twins stood, sword lowered and ready to strike.

That's when a dozy hit. Entire body shaking as though she had been thrown in a washing machine, Pinkamina Diane Pie began laughing shakily as though she knew some joke nopony else knew. The two twins exchanged a confused look and all of a sudden, the world turned upside down as the earth began shifting under their hooves. Rolling over, Pinkamina suddenly dropped off the ledge and landed with a dull thud.

"Pinkamina!"

The air was suddenly filled with shards of ice as Dash landed next to her. Gale force winds lashed out, drawing the ice with it, forming an ever expanding sphere of destruction. Everything it touched was shredded to pieces. It didn't matter if it was skin, dirt and metal. If it got in the way, it soon found itself torn to bits.

Within seconds, the three Zodiacs were slaughtered.

"Come on Pinkie, stay with me. I saw Rarity just ten blocks away. Less than five seconds, that's all I ask."

"This is not working!" yelled Trixie as she blasted yet another hole in the ground.

"I'm thinking." Fluttershy's eyes darted throughout the empty street, trying to catch any hint of a fin. "Celestial creatures are rare to come by and there are hardly any books written on them, let alone books on how to kill them." A glint caught her eye. "Four o'clock!"

A bolt of blue magic burst forth, slamming into the ground, but the fish fin swerved at the last second. Throwing up a barrier, Pisces shattered it with a single hit. Before the shards of magic hit the ground, Capricorn burst forth from underneath them, throwing them high into the air. As Sagittarius readied his bow, he found himself entangled in vines that Fluttershy grew. Sprouting a tree from a windblown seed below them, the duo crashed though and hit the ground without breaking any bones.

Shoving the unicorn to the right, Fluttershy rolled to the left just as Pisces came down the middle. The tree was sliced perfectly in half as was the building behind it. Back on her feet, Trixie fired a series of lightning bolts only for each one to be shot out of the air by an arrow. All of a sudden, she was tackled out of the way by Fluttershy. A second later, Taurus stampeded through, stomping all over their tails, but otherwise unhurt.

Scooping up a jagged piece of glass in her wing, her head snaked out and bit down on Taurus' tail. Swinging herself onto its back, the bull began bucking and tossing its head. Biting down on its coat, Fluttershy began her slow ascent even as the world around her spun and her stomach threatened to rebel.

A sudden buck sent her clean off its back and when she slammed back down, her grip was lost. Twisting around desperately, her mouth bit found traction at the last second. Scrambling back onto the creatures back, Fluttershy was forced to keep her head down as Taurus smashed through a brick building. Dust and mortar rained down all around her, slamming into her body. More than once, she had to bite back a cry of pain so that she wouldn't lose her precious hold.

Scrambling up to its neck, Fluttershy carefully wrapped a foreleg around its horn while her head snaked down for the glass shard. Gripping it carefully between her teeth, she took a deep breath to calm her nerves only for a sharp turn threw her clean off. Eyes wide with fear, she hung on with just one foreleg as the bull continued its rampage through the streets. With the street at least two stories below her, if she fell off, she'd break a limb and then get trampled to death.

Another turn left her swinging from side to side, her grip slowly slipping. Eyes narrowed in determination, she began rocking her body back and forth as though on a swing. Once more Taurus tossed its head. This time Fluttershy let go and rammed her makeshift dagger into its neck. Her momentum was enough to cut straight through. Flaring her wings out of instinct, she was thrown off balance and went straight through a wall.

Pain laced through her body, making it difficult to breathe let alone think. There was no doubt in her mind that being trampled would have hurt less. Coughing violently, she lay there in the dust and rubble, watching the yellow birdies dance around her head.

"Are you sleeping in there!?" Trixie suddenly burst through the window and threw Fluttershy onto her back before jumping out the opposite window. "We need a plan. Trixie demands you come up with a plan."

"But... but... the birdies... they're dancing. Dancing birdies, Trixie!"

"Oh dear Celestia."

A burst of bright light rendered them blind. Crashing into the ground, Fluttershy was sent head over heels and came to rest against a wall. Dimly, she was aware of shouting and screams and explosions. The earth trembled and shook.

There was Trixie, crying in pain as she tried to hold off three Zodiacs at the same time. Her cloak was tattered, her magical shield buckling under the pressure put on it as she protected the yellow pegasus from harm. At some point, she had conjured her Element to her, the blue gem blazing brightly and acting as a beacon. All of a sudden, her barrier shattered and she was tossed across the street. Arrows immediately pierced her limbs, locking her in place against the stone wall as Sagittarius readied the killing blow.

No.

Roots emerged from the ground, wrapping around the centaur . Even underground, they found their way around Pisces and Capricorn, holding all three in place. Then slowly, deliberately, Fluttershy walked forward. With each step she took, the roots tightened. With each step, she got closer to her prey. Scooping up a metal pole, the demure pegasus stabbed it through the centaur's throat.

Without warning, the other two broke free of and the next thing Fluttershy knew, she was flying through the air. Rising up to meet her was Pisces, mouth full of very sharp teeth. Out the corner of her eye, she noticed a flash of blue and the giant fish was violently thrown to the side. Pinned against the wall by a spike the height of a three story building, five more soon followed. Catching the pegasus, Trixie sent a final spark towards the overgrown fish, exploding it into a million pieces.

With a smirk at the pegasus in her arms, Trixie pumped even more magic into her horn and soon the entire ground they were standing on had been broken up into hundreds of small blocks that floated in the air. Magic crackled between each one and suspended in midair was Capricorn. Grinning wider, all the blocks suddenly came together, squishing the Zodiac into fine paste before the ground was rearranged back into its original position like a puzzle.

"Come on," panted Trixie as she swayed on her feet. "We have to find the others."

"They'll be heading towards the Castle Courtyard," replied Fluttershy.

"Then we better hurry."

The two alicorns slowly circled each other.

"You know, it's not too late to give up, there's no way you can win," whispered the Nightmare.

"Funny, I was about to say that to you." Celestia lowered her horn and spread her wings. "You know just as well as I that you cannot possibly win while fighting on both fronts."

High above them, bolts of yellow and blue filled the air. The moon was present in all its phases, surrounding the sun as arcane rune after arcane run was imposed on the scene. Only four stars were left in the sky. Despite the heavenly objects though, the sky was pitch black with swirls of random colors. The land they stood on was perfectly translucent and color flowed through it like the tide.

"Just look at the sky, your stars are gone. This war is nearing its end."

The shadowy figure grinned. "Oh no, they were just the first step. Silly Celly, Luna was always the strategist out of you two and it shows. Look at the stars, look at their position. Do you not recall the prophecy? 'The stars shall aid in her escape'. "

Head snapping up, Celestia stared in wide eyed shock as the four fading points of light flared to life. With their position around the sun, a prism formed and the light immediately dimmed. Throwing her wings open, darkness flooded out from the corrupt alicorn, forcing Celestia onto her knees.

"I will admit your pawns are faring far better than I thought, but my Zodiacs bought me more than enough time to defeat you." Stroking Celestia's cheek with a black tendril, the Nightmare slowly advanced even as the moons began constricting. "It's been fun sister, but goodbye."

"Not quite." Both heads snapped to the right as a pink alicorn approached. "Hello sisters, it's been a while. Nightmare."

"Gaia," growled the Nightmare. "What are you doing here?"

Stepping back from the sun princess, Nightmare returned to her stance just as the prison was shattered by a tree. All around them, the translucent ground took on a distinctively green tinge as ghostly trees and animals filled the landscape. Walking past the Nightmare, Gaia stood next to Celestia and the two exchanged a nuzzle before turning to face their foe.

"Let's just say a certain purple mare is a very persuasive speaker." Throwing her wings open, the landscape came into a crystalline appearance. "Now that the playing field's a bit more even, how about we get this battle started?"

"My pleasure." The four stars returned brighter than ever, the display of raw power forcing Gaia and Celestia to take a step back. "This ends tonight."

The canis majors threw themselves at the barrier. Again and again they based their heads against it, not caring if they died. Fractures already ran across the entire magenta shield even as Shining Armor continuously pumped magic into maintaining and fixing it. More than once he had been forced to reduce its size in an attempt to keep it up for longer, and now, they were all huddled together in a mass of fur.

"We're not going to make it. Are you we captain?"

"I'm afraid not." With a sigh, he cut off the spell and began weaving a second one. "But that does not mean we all need to die here. It's been a pleasure knowing all of you."

"Wha-"

The group suddenly vanished as Shining used the last of his magic to teleport his squad to safety. Collapsing, he closed his eyes and sent a silent prayer to Celestia before gazing across at the sun that hung just above the horizon. There was no fear, no begging and pleading – he was calm, cool and collected.

"Was this how you felt Twilie?" he whispered. "In your final moments, did you look death in the eye without fear? Celestia doesn't talk about it, but damn sis, you know how to go out with a bang."

Buckling one last time, the shield shattered. With one last deep breath, Shining struggled onto his feet and lowered his horn while widening his stance. Just because he had no magic left did not mean he was completely defenseless.

The mass leapt at once, swarming down on the semi-helpless guard captain. Before they managed to even get within three feet of the pony though, a brilliant flash of magenta light engulfed the area. Blinking rapidly, Shining managed to clear his vision and all he saw was stillness. There were no enemies left, instead there was just a pony standing opposite him. Head to toe, the mare was covered in gold and silver plate mail that was lined with a mossy green coloration around the edges.

Eyes wide, Shining Armor quickly bowed. That was the armor of the Knight Protector – the one pony who had command over every single last branch of the military and sat on the council. The last time one had been promoted to that position was just after the Post-Alicornian Era. Who in the world had the power to make such a decision let alone find the armor? Was this some plan of Celestia's that was enacted before her disappearance much like his mission with Cadence?

Standing up from his bow, he watched in a tense silence as they regarded each. He could make out violet eyes and though the armor covered every inch of her body, he could make out the occasional hint of light purple fur underneath. As a magenta glow surrounded the helmet and pulled it off, dark blue mane spilled out along with a streak of purple and pink. Eyes wide with shock, Shining could only stare in stunned silence with his jaw on the ground.

"Twilie?"