The globe labelled as Equus was bathed in neither the light of the sun nor the reflective glow of the moon, both celestial bodies banished. Only the light of flames and the glow of the aether used by the inhabitants shined in the darkness, but it was muted and dim, as if something was actively choking all light into nothing. It was as if they were in the void of space itself...

Across the entire planet, while light was dying out as in the vacuum of space, sound proved to be immune. The cries of fear and terror rang out from end to end, from one side of a continent to another, the sobs of hopelessness echoing loud and clear.

No place was spared this crippling blow; hope fading as quick as the sun and moon vanished. It was up to those entrusted with the protection of others in times of need, great and small, to stand tall.

Lucky Shot quickly found his way to the stage, memorizing the pathway before the party began. He heard Mayor Ivory Scroll call for calm and order, and that might have worked if not for the young and visitors unaccustomed to the sheer inane obstacles and trials that presented itself in Equestria. It spoke of how adept Equestria was that all cities, no matter how small, were required to have at least one end of times bunker that was stocked to last several months and were checked regularly, with hefty fines leveled against towns that were found wanting for inadequate reasons.

It also spoke of how far Princess Celestia and Master of Arms planned for the worst, with the ultimate horrific scenario running across his mind, electing a shudder of utter terror through the sergeant. But he banished that thought; he was entrusted with the safeguard of this town and its people.

Clearing his throat to speak loud - it would do no good to shout or, the Princesses forbid, scream - he addressed the crowd.

“Silence and order,” he narrowed his eyes, willing them to cope with the current level of light. “I am Sergeant Lucky Shot of Their majesties, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna’s Glorious Guardians, and I am placing this town under martial law,” he spoke, flicking looks at his squad that were already helming in the crowd, to not have stragglers wandering about. “No Twilight,” he spoke, looking at the mare with whose safety he was entrusted above others. She had created a weak orb of light with Trixie the illusionist and the warden before banishing it under his command with some struggle, each of the unknown mares’ magic stronger than he had expected. It was truly unnerving to see how weak the spell was, though, when he knew how strong Twilight was, electing a silent praise that there were few unicorns in this town, as he could not have banished all of them. “I understand the desire for light but I am ordering that no one create any light until I or one of my Guards say otherwise. I do not know when the sun and moon will return and we will need time for our eyes to adapt to this light.” He then looked at Ivory Scroll. “Mayor,” he coughed as he stopped himself from speaking loudly, seeing he had got attention from all gathered. “Mayor, I trust that your bunker is prepared? Or is it bunkers?”

“It was bunkers,” she said, nodding her head in the lightless world, her eyes starting to show a few hoofsteps beyond her nose as she walked onto the stage beside the light blue unicorn guard. “There was one in the Golden Oak Library but it was moved to the town hall as Ponyville grew larger.”

“Good,” he said sharply, eyes raking across the crowd, seeing that the ponies were going out of their way to comfort and ease the fears of the visitors. It warmed his heart to see such kindness and generosity given without thought, reminding him why he loved Equestria so deeply. “Initiate relocation procedures and have ponies you can trust gather resources from the backup bunkers once you have made sure everyp-everyone is inside,” he whispered.

“I know how to do this, sergeant,” Ivory responded under her breath, making sure to flash him a reassuring look, knowing how nervous the stallion must be. He was too young to have had other commissions, meaning this had to be his first. A trial by fire like no other, and hopefully no one else would be tested as he was.

Turning to face her town, Ivory leaned on her experiences dealing with a powder keg like this; managing the town when nearly all of the residents were like the flower trio had given her great patience and temperance that few could match. “My dear ponies,” she spoke calmly, her eyesight adapting quickly to the darkness, seeing dull silhouettes of everyone appearing in the darkness. Lucky was right to tell Twilight and the girls to quit it, the dregs of light stabbing the corners of her eyes. “Please, walk slowly and carefully towards the town hall. I will need ponies to do circuits of the town to make sure that there is no one lost. Sir Sergeant, is this acceptable?”

“To a degree,” Lucky Shot said, nodding his head at the mare. “I will be requesting that your ponies are accompanied by my Guards at all times when you are out in the town,” he then pawed the stage loudly, eyeing the crowd as it began to move to the town hall, staring at one pony in particular that was moving with a small herd around her. Something was wrong with that picture and it was itching at the back of his mind. “Lady Sparkle, a moment. Mayor Scroll, you too,” he recalled the government official whose office he had just usurped. Lucky decided to let the ramifications of what he had done sink in later; he still had a duty to perform and citizens’ safety to ensure.

Addressing the earth pony first, he inquired, “This library you mentioned; how well stocked is it?”

Ivory paused in the darkness, tilting her head and fixing her glasses, a dim piece of glass. The lack of reflection of any kind of light from either celestial body was unnerving and he hoped to the Princesses that he was not showing it to anypony. “It is not like the Royal Archives for certain but it is well stocked in the history of Equestria and Equus. May I ask why you are asking about literature now?”

“Twilight Sparkle here has one of the best analytical minds I know as well as being personally taught by Princess Celestia. I want you and several ponies to see if you can find anything that we can use against that thing,” Lucky answered, wishing he had an artifact of the Princesses with him now. So what if Princess Celestia’s Sol Invictus would burn him in an instant: it would prove that the sun still existed and would give light to the world however brief!

He forced himself to calm down and look at the assorted mares around Twilight. Nodding at them, recalling them as the ponies they met only hours ago, he said, “Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity; you are to assist her in whatever way you can. Twilight, I am drafting them as your assistants for the duration of this emergency.” He then frowned, wondering if he was going too far, if he was overstepping his boundaries set down by the law by forcibly enlisting civilians into what he deemed was necessary. If proven for naught, his career was over and- no, the time to worry was later, when both Princesses were back and the sun and moon were up in the heavens where they belonged.

“Understood Lucky,” Twilight said, flashing him a smile before turning to address the mares, asking for directions. Again, something seemed off about how Twilight talked to them, but she was doing a very good job in establishing herself as the leader, with them forming a herd around her again as they moved to the massive tree in the middle of the town. Lucky felt his racing heart slow down a bit before he focused his attention back to Ivory, with his eyes flicking upwards at the darkness, almost making out shapes in the void.

“I will need a briefing of potential troublemakers, any pon-people,” he corrected himself, as there were other races here and he would use the correct term as he had been taught to use in situations like this, “those that need special medical treatment and so forth.”

“Very well,” Ivory said, leading the stallion away to the town hall, with the lump of mass above where they were moving down the wall with catlike grace and land with not a sound before a group of people.

“So it seems that that egghead was told by her coltfriend to look up stuff to beat that Nightmare Moon creature,” the gruff female voice said to her group. “What do you say we do, Trix?”

“Trixie thinks,” the mare glared at her friend, shaking her mane out of her face. “That they are wasting precious time.”

“So what do you think we should do, Trix-Trix?” a pegasus asked, tucking her wings in tightly with her feathers shuffling softly.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie thinks we should do our own little investigation,” the showmare said, looking at the five other people in her small herd. “Save for two, we don’t have any real loyalties tying us here and we could claim-”

“Claim what, ma’am?” a male voice called out, trying to sound strong and firm but there was obvious worry underneath it all. “What are you fi-six doing here?” he asked as he stepped forwards, metal plates clinking off one another. The Guard peered at the smallest member, seeing that it was a young drake of all things. “Why are you not in the bunker?”

“Well Trixie here thinks that she can find something that can help us beat Nightmare Moon at the old castle of the princesses,” the drake, Spike if the Guard’s memory was correct, said. “I mean, I remember Princess Celestia mentioning she’d been wanting to go back to get something from there but never having the time.”

“And the Great and Powerful Trixie has heard and told countless stories about the grand and majestic instruments the princesses have used in days long past. “

“If what young Spike and Trixie say are true, then to the castle we must make due,” it was the zebra the sergeant fancied that spoke, causing the Guard to turn to face her. “We six plan to go, no matter if you say no.”

“I am afraid I cannot let that happen,” the Guard snorted, moving his covered spear towards the front. Sergeant Lucky Shot had not authorized any use of force and every Guard knew the consequences of bringing steel to a citizen, the princesses forbid if any Guard drew blood. “You six are to report to the bunker with me immediately. I will inform sergeant Lucky Shot about your theories, though, and it might lessen your punishments that you will receive for defying orders.”

“Might be a bit of a problem,” a fellow earth pony, the absence of a horn or wings clear in the gloomy world, said as she trotted up to him, a bottle of soft alcohol gestured towards him. “As we’re kinda already in the Everfree Forest.”

“Wha?” the Guard spun around, only now noticing the dark limbs shooting upwards. His spear trembled slightly in his hooves. “How did we get here‽”

“The loudmouth showmare there is a magician,” the gruff voice, the scone making griffon snarked at him with her presence causing an instinctual reaction to pull back. “Man, you are a really lousy Guard.”

“Gilda, Trixie is sure that...” the mare looked at him, waiting for a proper introduction to be made.

“Stout Wall,” he said proudly.

“Pfft,” Gilda snickered; no doubt seeing his somewhat extended barrel and his slightly pudgy face. She was quickly silenced by the pegasus, a wing extending outwards to smack the griffon across the back of the head.

“Thank you, Lovey Dovey,” the showmare grumbled, rolling her eyes. “As Trixie was saying, she is sure that Stout Wall here is a well trained Guard to protect us.”

“Actually… I am from the engineer division of the Guards, and was asked to join sergeant Lucky Shot’s squad because somepony was sick,” he admitted, ears burning up a bit. “In any case, I must insist that we turn around an-“

“Look Stout, we’re going to move forwards regardless and you can either deal with it or you can go back. Trixie will just use her magic to trick you again if you try to make us turn around,” the griffon said without any sign of mercy, being brutally honest with him about the situation. With a heavy sigh, Stout knew he was going to get into serious trouble for this but as an earth pony he had no way of overpowering the unicorn’s magic.

“Very well,” he said sourly, eyes narrowed as he reached into his pack for some material. “Before we proceed, I must alert my superior about what is happening.” He pulled out the scroll and flask of dragon fire that were to be used for such situations. Quickly writing a letter explaining everything that had happened, he poured a bit of dragon fire to send the letter off into the sky.

Lucky Shot paced in front of the town hall, keeping one eye on the building and another on area around the town.

He had left the bunker a moment before, still shaking off the claustrophobic feel of the place. It was a vast multilevel complex; large enough for the entire population to live in relative comfort for however long they were required to be in there and they would be safe from almost anything. It was forged by dragon flames from steel and metals dug from the depth of the earth by diamond dogs, enchantments upon enchantments by unicorns to protect the inhabitants to prevent any casting into the room. It was essentially protected by anything thrown at it short of the princesses going rogue.

It also left the rooms magically dead, which was greatly unnerving, and made ponies very skittish after a few moments in there. It was tremendously tasking all the adults to keep the youths calm for the short while they were in there and it could be expected that they stay in there for months at the very least.

Lucky Shot let out a nicker, reading the message again that had come from the army. He had the orders from the captains and the majors; they would be in the town within two hours and they would take over his command to establish a proper theatre of war. It was unpleasant to have his first command revoked like this but there was little else he could do about it beside maintain the line and ensure that everyone was safe and secure.

With a tilt of his head, he traced the latest passage of message sent by dragon fire and used his own magic to grab it from the air as he had done before.

Opening the scroll and quickly scanning the contents of the message, Lucky Shot almost let out an angry shout when he heard a set of ponies race towards him. Pivoting on the spot, he saw that Ivory Scroll was being followed by Private Midnight Stream, with several other ponies he somewhat recognized from before; the Warden of the Everfree Forest with her cloak of Notice-Me-Not enchantments, that pegasus mother with earth pony strength, the musician unicorn with red eyes and the mint green unicorn musician. They were followed by a worried looking mare with a deep pinkish red coat, a pale, two-tone grayish pink mane and three smiling-faced flowers for a Cutie Mark, eyes darting around the place.

“Sir, we have an issue,” Midnight said, overtaking whatever Ivory was about to say. “The mayor has reported to me that there are five foals missing.”

“Yes,” Ivory Scroll said a bit crossly, eyeing the nox pony before speaking up properly in a manner befitting a leader. “Cheerilee,” a brief head gesture towards the unnamed pony in the group identified her. “Here has given me list of all the children and there are five fillies missing; Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. I am taking this group of ponies with me and miss Private Stream here to find them.”

Biting the inside of his lip, Lucky Shot opened his mouth but the Guard in the purple and silver of the Lunar division in spoke before him. “Sergeant, I understand that this is not the most optimal situation, but I must ask you to think of this matter carefully.”

He frowned at being spoken to in such a manner by a private but he kept his eyes focused on the mayor. “Scroll, I must commend you on your loyalty to your ponies but I must also clarify how dangerous it may be for you all to go search for these fillies, even with Private Midnight Stream aiding you. I am formally asking you to take your citizens with you and return to the bunkers.”

“With all due respect, Sergeant, it will be far better if we go instead of a group of your Guards,” Cheerilee spoke, stepping closer to him. “The children will recognize me and the rest of the mares here, we can move quicker as we know the lay of the land and we have a general idea to where they could be.”

“And where is that, miss Cheerilee?” Lucky inquired as he moved to her, narrowing his eyes.

“In their clubhouse on the Sweet Apple Acres near the border of the Everfree Forest,” the Warden said, identifying her purpose here.

“I see,” Lucky mused before flashing his eyes towards the musician with the purple lens coated glasses, the one with too wide a grin and the mother pegasus. “And your purposes?” he asked them, keeping his gaze on them.

The unicorn mare snorted, lifting her glasses to show her annoyed red eyes. “I may be the best DJ out there and that means having some pretty barking good hearing.”

He blinked and tried to process the odd curse before dismissing it as unimportant to the matter at hoof.

...She might have spent time with some Diamond Dogs.

Nodding his head at her supposed qualification and his own justification, he moved his attention to the other musician. “I’m good at making ponies laugh and smile,” she said with a wide smile on her face. “Beyond my many side hobbies that include poking around places and not getting caught, I can be useful at calming them down if they’re scared… because you know, the moon and sun are kinda gone.”

“Right...” Lucky muttered, accepting this at face value and grudgingly acknowledging the merit of having a person on hoof that could deal with scared fillies. Who knew how they were coping with all of this chaos. “And you madam?” he inquired that of the pegasus mare who seemed to be either looking at him or at the wall of the building next to him.

“Well, I just want to help,” she replied happily, retrieving a muffin from somewhere and presenting it to him. “Here you go; you seem to need it.”

Blinking in surprise, Lucky Shot took the muffin with his magic and brought it to his mouth and allowed himself to relax ever so slightly by eating the unexpected treat. Coughing to clear his throat, Lucky gave her his thanks and nodded his head in permission to join the expedition to locate these fillies.

“The journey to the Sweet Apple Acres is not a long one, perhaps five minutes coming and going, although with the status of current events I will add another five until I expect you to either be in the bunker or send off a message to inform me that something has occurred,” Lucky Shot informed Private Midnight Stream, to which she saluted her affirmation and directed the six civilians down the road out of the town.

Lucky then found himself passing on the beginning of his patrol to one of his Guards and making his way towards the library. He already had twenty-three civilians out in the middle of a crisis; a number that should, and would almost definitely, cost him his rank and place in the Glorious Guardians. He needed to make sure that the one entrusted to him before this nightmarish situation had happened was still safe and stayed safe. He had no plan to how inform Lady Sparkle that her dragon brother was among those unaccounted for and that she was not to go looking for him, nor how he would do the same with the Apple mare regarding her sister with the Apple clan placing the same amount of worth on hard work as they did on family. He had a sinking feeling that Rarity would act the same for her sister/daughter - he was unsure of her exact relationship to Sweetie Belle and he was not going to judge a potential young mother’s actions - as Applejack would which would bring only more headaches.

Trotting up towards the grand oak tree in the middle of the town with magic light in the window, he could spot movement in the room before the aura was quenched. Moving faster at the worry that Lady Sparkle could be in some danger, Lucky Shot moved at double time when the door opened up and he saw Lady Sparkle and her retinue exit the library with a book in tow.

“Sergeant Lucky Shot, we’ve made a breakthrough,” Lady Sparkle said as she moved the book towards him. Looking at the cover, he could see it was just a foal’s storybook, although he could see Princess Celestia’s sunburst on it which meant it had passed her personal approval. “You are aware of the story of the Two Sisters, right?”

“Where one left due to her jealousy becoming dangerous and splitting up their terrible power before they came to their senses and made up?” It was a pretty silly story with the ending completely counter to the whole narrative that had been built up. In his opinion, it would have been better if the younger sister had just been banis-

“It’s the story of Princess Luna and Princess Celestia,” Lady Sparkle said, causing Lucky to gulp inwardly at his remarks about his diarchs. “Well, shifted enough so ponies wouldn’t notice the connections between the Two Sisters and the Princesses, but it does say where Princess Celestia left their greatest power.”

“You mean the Elements of Harmony?” Lucky could not hold back a gasp of shock. He had heard the stories of what those magical artefacts could do and if he could get his hooves on them, they would have a real chance to defeat this Nightmare Moon creature. “Where are they?”

“Where else do ya hide stuff?” the multi-coloured pegasus said as she started to hover around. “At your home.”

“You mean their old castle?” Lucky almost dismissed the notion out of hoof but as he stopped himself and thought on the matter. General Shining Armor had positioned Guards to defend dead ends in the past with important doors left untouched, so it was not out of the realm of possibility that this would be a standing order to have these artefacts left in the open with a ton of Guards defending an empty vault. “I will have to investigate this; please make your way to the bunker.”

“We are coming with you,” Lady Sparkle said with a cross look on her face.

“Absolutely not,” Lucky replied. “It is far too dangerous with that creature out there. Added onto the fact there are seventeen people out there, with at least five of them young fillies and my small number of Guards already stretched thin at this point, I could not afford to risk your lives as well.” Mentally he cursed; he hadn’t meant to admit there were others out there.

“Wait, which fillies are out there?” the earth pony farmer asked with worry in her voice.

“Please do not say I cannot say,” the other pegasus said, her wide eyes piling at his heart and he felt his resolve weaken.

“Currently, the mayor Ivory Scroll is being assisted by the teacher Cheerilee, the Warden of the Everfree Forest, Zecora the zebra, the pegasus Derpy Hooves, the musicians Vinyl Scratch and Lyra Heartstrings and Private Midnight Stream of the Lunar division to find Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.”

“Those are our sisters!” the violet-maned mare all but shouted, the dread that was clear on her face a mirror that matched both Applejack and Rainbow Dash. “We have to go now!”

Lucky was about to object ot this when Lady Sparkle interjected. “While I do not doubt a Guard of the Lunar division’s ability to see in this darkness, the only way we can ensure the safety of everyone here is to find the Elements of Harmony and this is no insult to your training Sergeant, but we both know that mine was superior and I would stand likely to have a greater chance of harnessing the Elements. Also, both Fluttershy and Applejack know the landscape far better than any of us here and I cannot in good conscious tell miss Belle or Rainbow Dash to hide in the bunker while their sisters are out there, while Pinkie Pie here is also extremely familiar with the territory, as well as possessing a sixth sense that alerts her of danger.”

Lucky frowned at this and while he did not find the idea comforting in the slightest, he was aware of his own limitations and the potential that Lady Sparkle held was the best candidate for something as powerful as the Elements of Harmony.

“I have to say I am still against this idea as it is extremely dangerous but I am forced to admit that we do not have a choice here,” Lucky grudgingly replied. “But before we go, I need to go inform my squad back at the bunker about this.”

“I can agree with that,” Lady Sparkle said with relief clear on the six mares’ faces. “But remember, we cannot bring anymore with us; time is of the essence.”

“Understood, Lady Sparkle,” he said as he turned around and led the way back to the bunker while he began to plan for the trip in the Everfree Forest.