"Get out of my head!" I screamed, headbutting the ground as hard as I could.

The tendrils of shadow, which had been dashing forward the second before, spasmed and twitched, too stunned to move.

Through her sunlight shield, Celestia's jaw dropped in surprise.

The soldiers likewise stopped firing, and looked at each other uncertainly.

The tendrils twitched once more before they started to slowly move.

"Get out!" I screamed as I slammed my head into the ground again.

My forehead hit the Other's nose, breaking it and leaking scarlet blood down her front.

"Gah!" she exclaimed in surprise. "You'll need to do better than that!" she responded, headbutting me in reply.

"Change of plan!" Celestia exclaimed back to the soldiers. "Now's your chance! Go restrain her! I'll stop any of the shades and contact my student!"

The soldiers looked to each other, as if asking themselves if they should obey what she said.

Celestia paid them no mind, instead pulling a crumpled scroll from under her scarf.

A flash of green light, and it was gone.

"Get out!" I screamed again, hitting my head on the ground once again.

My retaliating headbutt knocked the black mare back, making her stumble over the steps of the dais.

I lunged as she recovered.

"I hate you!" I roared, bringing my hoof back as I prepared to punch.

The Other kicked out with her back legs, her hooves hitting me in the gut.

The shadows began to twitch again, this time Celestia wasted no time dropping her shield, but grabbing at the shadows with her bright magic.

Acting on their own, the tendrils began to curve and avoid her magic, making to dive at the mare herself.

"No! No no no no no!" I screamed, pulling hard on the shadowy tentacles. They jerked back suddenly as if they were puppets whose strings had been yanked on.

They tried to reach out to Celestia again, but I reeled them back. Now dominated by only my will, I regathered them close.

A tendril suddenly broke away from it's brethren, and hit the still raw wound where my right wing had been.

"Aaugh!" I exclaimed, pain arcing down my spine as I fell backwards.

"Aw! Poor Woona!" The Other mocked.

I swung my body around on the floor and kicked out her front legs.

Her front collapsed, leaving her face down ass up on the floor.

I used the momentum of the kick to reposition, and used all of my might to pounce from an essentially prone position.

"Your!" I pulled back a hoof and punched. "Services!" I repeated the motion. "Are!" Another. "No!" Another. "Longer!" Another. "Required!"

"Ge'off me!" the Other roared, kicking out again with her back hooves.

I stumbled sideways in pain.

"Augh!" I shouted out.

A few tendrils used the lapse in my concentration to break free, diving towards the soldiers who were slowly approaching.

I snarled out, and retightened my hold on them, pulling them all back again.

But it was too late, one of the soldiers had reacted on instinct and had begun firing.

And that in turn set off his fellows.

I knew not when, but somehow I had been knocked out of Gaseous Form, and I didn't have the time to recast it.

It was all I could do, flailing whatever tendrils I could in an effort to shield myself from the much closer barrage.

"Stop shooting!" Celestia snarled, catching a few more tendrils in her magic. "You'll hurt her!"

One of the bullets bit into my hindquarters.

Road rash burned my rump as I slid across the stone floor, the shadows blurring by.

I came to a stop, pushing aside the various detritus of the run down ruin.

I got back onto my hooves and charged, rushing by the guarding shadows.

All they did was watch.

The black Alicorn loomed ahead, getting to her hooves as well.

I tackled her back to the floor, sitting on her chest, pinning her forelegs to the sides.

I then proceeded to wail on her face with both hooves, venting all of my frustration with repeated blows.

The Other's horn flashed.

Celestia's horn flashed brightly, washing the world in white.

"Stop shooting!" Her voice roared.

It was as if someone had set a flashbang off in front of my face, only without the noise.

The gunfire ceased.

With nothing else to do, I tried to wrestle the tendrils of shadow away from Celestia's grasp.

"Luna stop! You're hurting yourself!" the mare exclaimed.

"What do you think is the point?!" I rebutted

She may have held onto my shadows with an iron grip, but she had not grappled me.

I fell to the ground again.

"Get out!"

I slammed my head into the dirt once more

My headbutt disrupted whatever the Other had in mind, but she still had the opportunity to bring up her forearms to grab at my thrashing hooves.

She rolled, tossing me to the side.

I stumbled as I was shoved by a wave of yellow light.

"Luna stop! Please!" Celestia shouted desperately.

I growled softly to myself as I started to pull at the tendrils in Celestia's grasp.

A soldier took the opportunity to rush forward with the butt of his rifle while I was distracted.

The Other's hoof withdrew from the punch she had laid me with.

"End of the line Luna!" she screeched.

I stole a page from her book and kicked her in the stomach with my back legs.

The black mare growled in pain, momentarily stunned.

I surged up, knocking the Other back to the floor.

She started to thrash, so I pinned her before she could get any leverage.

Something flashed outside the throne room.

The terrain was lit by yet another flash of light. Not as bright as Celestia's pseudo flashbang, but enough to cast a few shadows. I flinched as a loud 'pop" echoed off the treeline.

The flash of light had not come from Celestia.

But then I finally looked.

Where they had come from was anyone's guess, but six mares now stood in a line before me.

Next Chapter: Chapter 152 The Elements Estimated time remaining: 24 Minutes