“How’re you holding up there, Mom?” Amethyst asked, her eyes filled with concern as she watched her mother get tended to. “Are any of those burn marks or bruises still hurting you in any way?”

Derpy who was laying down on a stretcher nestled on the floor, looked up over at her eldest daughter. A reassuring yet pained came smile onto her face as she brushed some of her mane away. “Oh, don’t worry about me Ame, I’m not hurting anymore. Well, not anywhere as much as I used to twenty minutes ago-ow!”

“Oh, I’m sorry, it looks like I wrapped that bandage too tightly.” Sweetheart apologized, smiling in embarrassment. “It’ll try to be gentler next time, it’s little hard for me to try to adjust the straps properly.”

“That’s alright Nurse Sweetheart. You just caught me off guard that’s all.” The silvery grey mare replied, smiling sweetly at the nurse. She then looked back down to her chest fluff, where her youngest daughter Dinky, was currently nuzzled into it. “Aww, there’s no need to be scared muffin, mommy’s okay, so there’s no reason to keep crying.”

Dinky sniffled, hugging her mother tightly as she nuzzled deeper in her chest fluff. “I…I-I can’t help it momma! W-when I got trapped under that roof, I-I was so scared t-that I wasn’t going to get out, a-and that I’d n-never see you or A-Amethyst again. I was s-so happy that I w-was able to e-escape and when my b-big sister came to g-get me. B-but…when w-we went s-searching for you, you were…y-y-you were…!”

Derpy looked down at the young filly with sympathy, knowing exactly what her youngest daughter was talking about, and why she was so upset. About twenty minutes prior to Midnight rescuing Dinky and the other foals from their wooden trap, she and Amethyst had gone to search for their mother within the Town Square. They had somehow lost her in the attack that Nightmare Moon had unleashed upon the ponies and the building, and were frantic in finding her before too much time had passed. It didn’t take long for them to find her, but nothing could’ve prepared for them for finding Derpy all put buried alive under rubble and wood, lying in a growing pool of her own blood. Amethyst had all but ripped her mother out of the pile and rushed her to the nearest nurse, pleading with them to help her mother before she bled out in her magical grasp. In the midst of her panicking, both Amethyst and Dinky had temporarily forgotten that Derpy had her self-healing was at work.

“Hey there Dinks…it’s alright, there’s no need for you to keep on crying.” Amethyst Derpy's eldest daughter, said softly, putting a hoof on her little sister’s back. “Mom’s alive and she’s getting help right now…she’s getting it by some of the best nurses in Ponyville. So, don’t worry, she’s going to pull through this. You know that she never kicks the bucket that easily.”

“Damn right I don’t, now while two of my most precious muffins are in danger.” Derpy nodded, nuzzling Dinky atop her head. “Besides, I’m not even anywhere near that old yet; I’m only about thirty-two years old after all.”

“Wait what?” Nurse Sweetheart asked, pausing in her patching of Derpy’s wounds. She looked down at Derpy with a look of complete shock on her face. “Y-you’re really thirty-two years old?!”

“Mhm, I sure am, and a proud mom at that!” Derpy said cheerfully, flashing another smile at her fellow Rosario. A look of perplexation soon came to her face as she tilted her head at the look of shock Sweetheart had. “Why is that so shocking?”

The chubby Earth Pony quickly composed herself, blushing as she sheepishly said, “Oh, I’m sorry, forgive me for that Ms. Derpy. It’s just…well, I know that you have children and all, but, you don’t exactly look at the age where most ponies would normally have foals.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Amethyst asked lowly, narrowing her eyes. “Is there something wrong about how young my Mom looks?”

“N-no of course not!” Sweetheart protested, shrinking away slightly at the magenta purple Unicorn’s look. “All I was saying that thought your mother was younger than she looked until she actually said her age.”

“Now Amethyst, be nice to the Nurse, you know she didn’t mean what she said the way you thought she did.” Derpy reprimanded firmly, before turning back to Sweetheart. “Sorry about that Nurse, my eldest daughter can be pretty protective of me. Anyway, what made you think that I was younger than I actually was?”

“W-well, um…” Sweetheart said, a pink tint coming to her face. “…i-it was because of um, h-how attractive that you looked.”

Dinky’s ears perked at this, and she pulled her head away from her mother’s chest to shoot her wide-eyed look at the Nurse. “What?”

“Y-yeah, I thought your mother was younger than she looked because of how attractive she is.” Sweetheart repeated, her blush turning darker. “I’m not really surprised, since I can see that she’s a member of the same clan that me and my sisters are. Still though, even for us, she does look young. Not that there’s anything wrong with but you know what I mean.”

“Oh, I know exaclty what I mean Nurse Sweetheart, we clan ponies are known to look a lot younger than we actually are. Even ponies that are older than me, so I’m not all that surprised that you thought I was younger, even if I have foals.” Derpy said sweetly, a bit of slyness in her voice as she smirked at the Earth Pony. “As for me being attractive...I’m no Sapphire Shores or Countess Coloratura, but I can pick up a few stallions and mares here and there. And I’m sure that you could do the same if you try hard enough.”

“Mom, not in front of Dinky!” Amethyst groaned, frowning at her mother. “You know that she isn’t old enough to even be hearing that type of stuff yet.”

“Oh, and you’re saying that you don’t do the same with Dinky yourself?” Derpy asked, glancing over at her eldest daughter with a raised eyebrow. “Whose bright idea was it to bring one of her bang buddies home one time and decided to ‘get it on’ while Dinky was still awake?”

Dinky giggled as Amethyst’s mouth snapped shut, a deep blush coming to her face as she looked away. “Touché…”

“It’s okay big sis, there’s no need to be embarrassed. I kind of figured that something was going to happen between you and your friend, so I went up to my room to so you two could have some privacy.” Dinky said, winking at her sister. “Though, could you at least wait until I’m actually asleep before things go crazy? All of the thumping and screaming kept me up for a while the last time you did that.”

“Dinky!” Amethyst hissed, making the grayish violet filly giggle again.

“Oh, me? G-getting a mate?” Sweetheart stuttered, stopping in her tending to Derpy’s wounds. “I-I…n-n-no, I could never think of getting together with somepony, let alone a stallion! Nothing against mares that’re into the same gender but…I really don’t see any of that happening.”

“Now why would you think that?” Derpy asked, frowning in dissatisfaction at Sweetheart’s lack of confidence. “There are plenty of stallions out there who’re into cute chubby mares like you, not just the ones that’re…well, fit like me.”

“Yes, Derpy I know, not all stallions go after mares that’re shapely and big butted and busty like you are.” Sweetheart said dryly, her eyes running along the mailmare’s shapely figure through the bandages. “That’s not what’s keeping me from finding a mate. It’s just…I don’t really have the self-confidence to find anyone that I see a future with, least I mess up on it.”

“And what do you think is going to make you mess up on getting together with somepony?” Amethyst asked perplexedly. “From where I’m standing, you look like a sweet mare who has a realsweet tooth that any rationalstallion would fight to be with, even if you’re a bit on the chubby side.”

“Hmhm, yeah…just a little bit.” Sweetheart giggled. “As for the sweet tooth thing…well, let’s just say if you found out how deep that depth goes, you’d at least see one problem I have that stops me from finding a mate.”

“So? You like to eat a lot of candy and other sweets; there’s nothing wrong with that.” Dinky said, getting up and walking over to the larger mare. “I don’t see how that’s any reason for you to not find somepony who you like. If there’s somepony you like, than go for that pony, and if they like you back than that’s even better! It shouldn’t matter what either of you look like. If you both like each other and want to be together, then that should be all that matters, right?”

“That’s exactly right muffin.” Derpy nodded, smiling proudly at her daughter. “So, don’t worry about how you look or how much of a sweet tooth you have. Anypony, mare or stallion, who’s willing to look past that and see what’s on the inside, and not take advantage you, are good for you in any book, including mine. The fact that you like each other and want to be with one another is what should really matter.”

Dinky looked over at her mother, sweat dropping slightly. “Um, yeah…that’s kind of what I just said momma.”

“Yeah, you’re right, all of you. Thank you for that sweetheart, that was very sweet of you to help me.” Sweetheart said, smiling lovingly down at the filly. “Maybe I should see if I can find somepony who doesn’t mind my chubbiness and my sweet tooth. Ponyville’s a pretty accepting town, and there are a lot of ponies who’re single. I just don’t know if I’ll be able to muster up enough confidence to do it.”

“In that case, why don’t I help you there?” A sultry and sensual voice asked from behind Nurse Sweetheart. The grayish orchid Earth Pony let out a loud squeak, jumping in the air so hard that she fell right into top of Derpy with all her chubby weight. Dinky jumped back as Sweetheart fell on top of her mother, who emitted a cry of surprise and pain at the sudden weight on her. The young Unicorn whipped her head around to see Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth, the former in the process of laughing her ass off.

“Oh my Faust, that was rich!” The persian blue mare giggled, hovering with her belly facing the roofless sky. “The squeak that she let out…that was so good!”

“Auntie Cloud!” Dinky shouted, her surprised happiness at seeing her aunt washed away with sheer annoyance. “What did you do that for?!”

“Awww, don’t give me that look little Dinks.” Cloud Kicker said, grinning down at the filly. “I was just having fun with your sexy as momma and her cute chubby fillyfriend. No need to get mad about something like that.”

“Now Cloud Kicker, that is not what Dinky meant and you know it.” Blossomforth said, crossing her forehooves as she glared disapprovingly at her friend. “You just scared that poor nurse half to death, and made her fall on top of Derpy! What were you trying to do, make her more hurt than she already was?”

Before Cloud Kicker could reply, Sweetheart got to her hooves and faced the other two Pegasi. “Sweet merciful Faust, you almost gave me a heart attack back there! I honestly didn’t here you either of you flying behind me! Are you’re wings full of soundless feathers or something?”

“Oh, you give me too much credit Nurse Sweetheart.” Cloud chuckled. “I’m just that good at being stealthy when it comes claiming my hot and sexy piece of ass prizes.”

“Yeah, I think you made that abundantly clear when you made Nurse Sweetheart fall on top of me.” Derpy muttered, cringing as she stretched her back. “Still though, that was pretty mean Cloud Kicker. The poor dear nearly had a heart attack from that stunt you pulled.”

“I know little sis, I know. I couldn’t help myself. It was just really cute and funny seeing her all scared like that.” Cloud Kicker admitted guiltily. “I’m sorry about that Nurse Sweetheart.”

“It…it’s okay dear, I’m not hurt or anything.” Sweetheart replied, calming down. “But, you did make me fall on Derpy…so I think you should also apologize to her too.”

The persian mare did just that. “I’m sorry Derpy, I hope I didn’t reopen your injuries.”

“No, you didn’t, but you certainly made them hurt more.” Derpy replied, deadpanning slightly at the other Pegasus. A second later, her chipper smile returned as she added, “But it’s okay, I’ve felt an even worse type of pain before while training with my daughters and my clan, so this doesn’t really hurt all that much.”

“Really?” Blossomforth asked, raising a watermelon eyebrow. “Not even as much as being trapped under a large pile of roof?”

“Nope!” Derpy chirped, grinning widely as Blossomforth sweat dropped. “Compared on the training I went through honing all of my abilities; this is only like being trampled by a buffalo!”

“Somehow, that doesn’t make us feel any better.” Cloud Kicker replied as she too sweat dropped. “But I’m glad to see that you’re doing better little sis.”

“Anyway…” Derpy continued, her smile faltering. “…are you both okay? Neither of you got hurt during that break in, did you?”

“By some miracle, we managed not to get burnt or crushed by the fire or the broke roof.” Blossomforth sighed, flicking her tail. “I can’t really say the same for everypony else in here though…all of them are hurt pretty bad.”

“That’s an understatement.” Amethyst snorted. “I’m having an even harder time believing who it was that made all of this happen. To think that somepony who I thought was a myth was real this whole time. I know I saw her with my own eyes, but still…it’s just so…”

“I know how you feel big sis.” Dinky said softly. “I had a hard time believe it too but…you can’t really deny what your own eyes seen. We all saw her as clear as day, right in front of us.” She snuggled back up to her mother. “I really hope I don’t see her again, or else I might really faint from terror this time!”

“Don’t worry muffin, that’s not going to happen.” Derpy cooed, wrapping a foreleg around her youngest daughter. “As long as momma’s here, she’s not gonna let that mare come anywhere near you. She’s going to have to get through me to get to you if she has any plans on harming you.”

“Same with me Dinks.” Amethyst murmured, leaning in and kissing her sister on her forehead. “I’ll be damned if anypony’s gonna hurt my little sis and get away with it, and anypony that does is gonna get their asses bucked up!”

“Big sis, language!” Dinky chastised playfully, earning a burst of laughter form Derpy, Sweetheart, and Cloud Kicker.

Blossomforth, who was also giggling at Dinky’s scolding of her sister, looked up into the pitch-black sky at the twinkling stars lighting it up from above. A half-lidded expression came to her face as she continued to star at the night sky, slowly becoming captivated in its beauty, feeling herself relaxing somewhat. Although she’d never admit it to anypony, not even to Cloud Kicker, she personally liked the night a lot more than the day unlike most other ponies. That wasn’t to say that Celestia’s day wasn’t beautiful in its own right, but there was just something about the nighttime that really made her feel at home, especially in Ponyville. Even if it was brought back much earlier than it was supposed to by a being that she never thought she’d met in pony, it made her feel comforted every time she saw it take over the sky.

The pinkish grey mare was so enraptured by the nighttime sky and the stars floating within it, she almost didn’t notice something move out of the corner of her eye. Her blue eyes glanced over to where she was seeing the movement, and they widened slightly upon seeing a large right light shining in the sky. It glowed brighter than all of the other stars scattered around it, and, for some reason, that really perplexed her and almost scared her.

“Hey Blossom, what’s with that far off look?” Cloud Kicker asked, throwing a foreleg around the Rosario. “You thinkin’ about any kinky ideas you want to try out with me?”

“W-what? No of course not, don’t be ridiculous!” Blossomforth replied, snapping her now red face over to the persian mare. “I-I was just, um…looking out at the stars, and I noticed one of them looking out of place.”

“Out of place?” Cloud asked, raising a golden amber eyebrow. “What the hay do you mean by that?”

“I mean that.” Blossomforth pointed up at the ever-growing light in the sky. “That one right there; I don’t know what’s up with it, but it looks like it’s getting closer to us.”

Blinking in confusion, Cloud looked over to where Blossomforth was pointing and jumped slightly at seeing the brightly shining light in the sky. As she continued to stare, she began to notice the light changing color, and also, much to her further surprise, even changing shape. It was at that moment Cloud Kicker began to realize that something was wrong; that what she and her friend was seeing, was in fact, not a star.

“Um, Blossomforth…” The Kiba Lycona finally said, her voice tinged with slight worry. “I don’t think that’s a star up there.”

“It’s not?” Blossomforth asked, looking at her sex obsessed friend with surprise.

“No, it isn’t. Whatever that is, that’s not a star, or a shootingstar.” Cloud replied. “What kind of star gets that close, changes color, and shifts shapes?”

“W-what?” Blossomforth asked, her heart skipping a beat. “What’re you talking about?”

“Yeah, you heard me Blossom.” The persian blue mare nodded. “That so-called star that we’re seeing is actually not really a star at all.”

“C-Cloud, you’re not making any sense!” Blossomforth stuttered. “What in Natura’s name are you talking ab-t?!”

A loud earth-shattering boom abruptly silence the pinkish grey mare as she, Cloud, Sweetheart, Amethyst, Dinky and Derpy all let out screams of surprise. The rest of the ponies in the Town Square weren’t too far off as the ground beneath them shook violently from the outside. It was so strong that the ones that were standing lost their footing and fell, either to the ground, and onto one another, as a bright light flashed across the windows. The ones closest to the windows covered their eyes to prevent themselves from being blinded from the painfully bright flash, relief washing over them when it slowly receded.

“W-what the…what the buck was that?!” Dinky squeaked, clutching to Derpy tightly. “Did you guys hear that too?! I couldn’t have been the only one!”

“No muffin, I definitely heard it.” Derpy replied, too stunned to scold her daughter for her language. “And whatever it was, it was really loud...”

“Oh, it was certainly loud alright; it almost made my eardrums burst!” Amethyst said, rubbing at one of her ears. “There’s something else though…I can sense an incredible source of magic power from outside.”

“You can?” Cloud Kicker asked. “What is it?”

“I don’t know, there’s just something insanely powerful just outside that door, where Captain Shining Armor and some of his troop is.” Amethyst replied, her muscles tensing. “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that the level of power is on par with…her.”

It took less than a second for the others to figure out what she was talking about, and they all froze up in fear.

“Oh no, you don’t mean-!” Blossomforth said fearfully, her words getting caught in her throat as she began to panic. “Don’t tell me that Nightmare Moon is back here to finish us off?!”

Before Amethyst could speak, the doors to the Town Square exploded open, the force behind it so powerful that the doors were torn off their hinges. The figure of Shining Armor and a few of his other fellow guards could be seen flying inside, a huge beam of pure white magic having all of them in its grasp. The Hooves Family, Cloud Kicker and Blossomforth all watched with wide eyed horrified expressions as the Solar Guard Captain crashed into the stage, a huge cloud of smoke enveloping him.

“Whoa! What in the hay was that?!” Cloud Kicker shouted, reeling back. “Was that Captain Shining Armor?!”

“I…I-I think so.” Sweetheart replied, her voice shaking slightly. “B-but what just happened outside? Why did he just come flying through the Town Square like that?!”

At that moment, Dinky let out a scream, making her mother, sister, aunt, Blossomforth, and Sweetheart all snap their heads towards her. The petrified filly had a shaky hoof pointed forward, looking as if she had seen something from her most terrifying of nightmares. They followed the line of her hoof, and felt the color drain from their faces upon seeing the large purple form of the Tantabus slowly stalking inside of the building. It’s curved sword-like horn glowed in a pure white aura as its eyes burned into the ones of practically everypony in the room, its magical power holding them all in place.

“Wha…” Sweetheart breathed. “What in the name of all that his holy or natural isthat thing?!”

“That’s exaclty what I’m thinking right now.” Blossomforth replied, her tail tucking. “But I can tell just by looking at it, that it is not friendly!”

“Of course it’s not friendly!” Dinky cried. “It just blasted Captain Shining Armor through the doors! How can something that does something like that be friendly?!”

Right at that moment, Shining Armor burst from the rubble of the stage that he was thrown into, his horn alight with a glowing pale magenta aura. Without missing a single beat, he fired a beam of magic at the Tantabus, only for the creature to create a large shield and block it with ease. It soon retaliated by firing off several magical blasts of its own, to which the alabaster stallion countered by firing off a flock of magical beams of his own. The attacks collided with one another, creating a cloud of smoke that washed over both the Solar Captain and the ethereal creature, taking them from everypony’s sight.

“I can’t believe it; he’s actually trying to fight that thing!” Amethyst exclaimed. “Does he think that he stands a change against it?! That things so much more powerful than he is!”

“W-well, he is a Royal Guard, so it’s his duty to keep us safe.” Sweetheart pointed out. “Still though, I can see your point. I can feel that things power level even from all the way over here.”

“Everypony stay back!” Shining Armor yelled, his voice echoing about the Town Square. “I don’t want any of you to get caught up in this! It’d be best if you stay as far away from me and this thing as possible!”

No other words were said after that as Shining Armor fired another powerful beam at the Tantabus, striking it right in the chest and sending it tumbling across the floor. Seeing its foe down, Shining Armor galloped towards the creature, intent on finishing it off as quickly as possible. All of a sudden, the Tantabus shot to its feet and unleashed a powerful kick to Shining Armor’s chest, sending the stallion flying away and crashing to the floor. As he hoisted himself to his haunches, he was just in time the Tantabus forming a large white orb of magic, before it fired the attack right at him.

“Solid Form Magic: Shield!” Shining Armor shouted, forming a shield in the shape of his Cutie Mark right in front of him. The defensive move came just in the nick of time, and everypony watched as it collided with shield, making a shockwave burst throughout the Town Square.

“Nice try, but you’re going to have to do more than fire magic at me if you want to get at me you manifested bastard!” Shining Armor growled slowly stepping forward while keeping his shield up. “I’m not known as the Captain of the Solar Royal Guard for nothing!”

With a moderate cerulean aura surrounding his body, Shining Armor vanished and reappeared by behind the Tantabus, kicking it in the back of its head and sending it skidding away. He reappeared above the Tantabus again and slammed both of his forehooves on the back of the creature’s head, driving it deeper into the ground. Grabbing its flowing tail, Shining pulled the Tantabus out of the ground and threw it towards the door, igniting his horn again.

“Rapid Fire!” Shining Armor shouted, shooting off a multitude of beams at the Tantabus, striking all over its solid form in midair. The Tantabus suddenly sported a pair of wings, both of them flaring to their fullest span as it stopped itself once Shining’s attacks stopped. With a single flap, it cleared the distance between it and Shining in just a second, nearly making the alabaster stallion unable to stop incoming horn attack. It was only thanks to Shining’s trained senses that he was able to block the attack with his own gleaming horn, the collision so strong that sparks appeared in the air.

“Okay, I have to admit, you almost had me there.” Shining grunted, feeling his hooves slid across the floor due to the Tantabus’s powerful wing flaps. His eyes glowed as he lashed his leonine tail out. “Still, you’re going to have to do better than that if you want to get the drop on me! Shining Flash!”

Punching the Tantabus away, Shining Armor blasted it with a huge beam of telekinesis at the creature, sending it flying across the Town Square and towards the door. Just as it was about to fly out, it suddenly shot all four of its hooves out and grabbed at the walls, keeping itself from flying out.

“Oh no you don’t!” Shining shouted, baring his teeth as bright cerulean lightning appeared around his body and traveled up his horn. “You’re not pulling that trick on me!”

With a loud crack that threated to spit everypony’s eardrums, the lightning made its way into Shining’s magical attack and head right towards the Tantabus. An explosion rang out as it struck the creature, causing it to lose its grip on the walls of the door due to the amount of magic the lightning contained. With one final push, Shining Armor blasted the Tantabus out of the Town Square and back out into the streets, the attack vanishing moments later.

“There, that should keep him down for a while.” Shining Armor said, rubbing at his horn. “It looks like I had put more power into that attack than I had thought.”

A groan from his left caused Shining to turn to see a Pegasus stallion, who had been lying on the ground, slowly pulling himself to his haunches and coughing blood. The stallion had moderate tangelo fur that looked to be a cross between brown and orange, with a light phthalo moderate blue mane and tail, the main being covered by helmet. His eyes were a brilliant cyan, and his Cutie Mark was of three wickedly sharp spears that were crossed by the ends.

“Spearhead, are you alright?!” Shining Armor asked, holding his friend up. “Come on, speak to me!”

Spearhead, after letting out another cough, quickly put a hoof on his Shining’s shoulder, stopping him in his panic. “Whoa Captain, take it easy there! I’m still kickin’; I’m not kicking the bucket right this second!”

“Oh, thank Faust…” Shining sighed, calming down. “…For a minute there I thought that you were down for the count. Can you get up?”

“Sure I can Captain; I’ve been trained to be able to withstand attacks like this.” Spearhead replied as he, pulling himself on his hooves. Giving flick of his tail, he shook the debree off his armored body. “I just didn’t expect it to be as powerful as that.”

“Neither did I…I’m glad you were at least able to take the full brunt of the attack.” Shining nodded, looking over at his other fallen soldiers. “I can’t really say the same for some of the others though.”

“Well, at the very least we have the others who’re fighting those things outside.” Spearhead said somewhat dejectedly. “Although, they’re not quite as prepared for it as the guards form the Lunar Branch are, let along Captain Moon Blade.”

“What, what did you say?!” Shining asked, his eyes widening. “There are more of those things?!”

Spearhead, seeing the look of horror on his Captain’s face, grimaced. “Yes, there are…while we were on the other side of the Town Square, I noticed more of those creatures coming in front the sky. I also noticed some of the Lunar Guards fighting them from above, so they must’ve seen them first, since they were scouting for any danger from above. I had come to let you know, like I did a few minutes ago, but, well…”

The tangelo Pegasus trailed off, letting his captain figure the rest of the situation out on his own as a short silence reigned over the building. Shining Armor said nothing, his mind grasping the full danger of the situation they were all in as he took in his friends’ words. His ears suddenly perked at the sounds of explosions, and he looked up to see the figures of even more of the Tantabuses, and the Lunar and Solar Guards duking it out. A sharp breath made its way into Shining Armor’s throat as he watched the exchanges, and at that moment, he knew that they needed to really be on their guard.

“Captain?” Spearhead asked, snapping the alabaster stallion out of his trance. “Are you alright, you’re spacing out there.”

Shining Armor blinked, shaking his head before looking back at Spearhead. “Y-yeah, sorry, I was zoning off for a bit. Spearhead, are you able to fight?”

“Well, I’m able to move, and I can still use my magic, so yeah.” Spearhead nodded, tilting his head at his Captain. “Why, do you need me to stay here and look after everypony.”

“Along with any of the other soldiers who’re able to fight, yeah.” Shining nodded, glancing back over at the other fallen guards. “I’m going to try to keep that thing at bay, and when I feel like I have enough time, I’m going to put up a shield that’ll keep them from getting in here. I’m sure some of our guards and Captain Moon Blades guards will come and help us, so I don’t have to worry about fighting alone.”

“You sure you’ll be okay out there, Captain?” Spearhead asked, somewhat hesitantly. “Those things are pretty powerful…I can sense it even from how high they are. No offense, but you might be biting off more than you can chew.”

“And you’re saying you haven’t on any of our missions?” Shining rebutted, causing Spearhead’s mouth to snap shut. “If I didn’t think I’d be okay out there, and wouldn’t win, I’d be more afraid to do so. However, I don’t really have any choice right now, besides, there are ponies all around us that need somepony to keep them safe, even if it means our lives are on the line. We swore that oath the moment we became a member of the Queen’s Royal Guards, and I’m here to do just that, even if it means being pummeled to the ground.” A small grin made its way to the Unicorn stallion’s face. “I didn’t make it into the Royal Guard and become Captain because I was afraid of not surviving, or biting off more than I can chew. And I know you didn’t either, so isn’t it a bit hypocritical of you to be worried about me being over my head when you’ve done the same thing?”

Spearhead stared at his captain for a moment, before letting out a chuckle. “Heh, yeah, I suppose it does…I’d expect no less from one of the most stubborn ponies in our part of the Royal Guard.” He sighed, giving a ruffle of his large wings. “Alright then, have at them Captain Armor; I’ll be sure to make sure nothing gets in here while you’re out there throwing down.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.” Shining said, giving a nod. “And if any of the other boys and girls are able to fight alongside you, just tell them my plan and things should be good.”

“Sure thing Captain.” Spearhead as he and his Captain gave a hoofpump. “Good look.”

“Right back at you.” Shining said back, grinning back at Spearhead before he raced towards the entrance of the Town Square. Unaware to either stallions, Derpy, Dinky, Amethyst, Sweetheart, Blossomforth, and Cloud Kicker had all heard their conversation. By the time it was over, each of them were sporting looks of terrified shock, unable to believe what they had just heard.

“Did…did you guys here what they were saying?” Blossomforth asked. “Please tell me that I wasn’t the only one who heard it!”

“No Blossom…you didn’t.” Cloud Kicker murmured. “And right now, I’m having a hard time believing the bullshit that I just heard right now.”

“Well, don’t think you’ll have any choice but to believe it aunt cloud.” Amethyst sighed, staring up at the battle ridden sky. “Cause we just heard it, and seen it, with our own eyes.”

“Oh dear, this is quite the predicament that we’re in, isn’t it?” Sweetheart asked, looking in between the three Pegasi and two Unicorns. “What do you thinks going to happen?”

“No idea, but I will say this.” Derpy said firmly, extending a wing Amethyst in with her and Dinky. “None of those things are going to harm either of you as long as I’m here. Any of them that do will find out the real reason why I was given my nickname Derpy.”

“Oh momma…” Dinky cooed, nuzzling into her mother’s chest fluff.

“Wait, Derpy isn’t your actual name?” Sweetheart asked, surprise taking over her facial features. “It’s just a nickname?”

“No, my little sis’s actual name is Ditzy.” Cloud replied. “But she’d rather be called Derpy instead of her actual name. She doesn’t mind if you call her Ditzy, but she’d really rather prefer if you call her Derpy instead.”

“Really?” Sweetheart asked, tilting her head curiously. “Why doesn’t she want to be called by her birth name.”

Blossomforth frowned slightly. “Let’s just say that after a particular incident that happened with Dinky’s eldest daughter, ponies learned not to mess with her foals while Derpy was around.”

“Oh… I-I see…” Sweetheart said, her face paling slightly. “W-what happened in that, um…incident?”

“You don’t want to know.” Amethyst replied, a shiver going down her spine as her tail tucked in between her legs. “Trust me…”

Author's Notes:

Well, there you guys! The 18th chapter of The Guardians of Harmony Rise of the Dark Queen! For this chapter, I think this is one that was made almost off entirely form the top of my head to follow with some scenarios in the other old chapters that I'm planning to put back inside of this. Now, in chapter 14, I had planned an invasion of Timberwolves from the Everfree Forest and battling almost everypony in Ponyville along with Sweet Apple Acres, something that, looking back now, was an utterly insane idea, other than their newly evolved forms that I had thought up of. I really do not know what was going through my head when I had done the but...well, I had done it, and I've learned from my mistake, so I'm certainly not going to do something as stupid as that again. This new invasion that I planned is, in my opinion, much better, especially since these are beings that're just as capable of thinking and functioning like the ponies are, along with being able to use magic, instead of just trying to bit, smash, and swap.

Also, for anypony whose curious about the techniques that Shining Armor had used, they were leaves that I took out of both Levi Mcgarden and Vegeta's books, and made them similar to either of there attacks; Shining Armor's Solid Form Magic Shield is the Equestrian version of one of Levi's Solid Script Magical attacks, while his Shining Flash attack is his version of Vegeta's Final Flash that he used on Cell in Dragon Ball Z Kai. I've thought these off of the top of my head, though it took me some time to try to think of them, and it may take a bit longer to make some similar techniques that I could give the Main Seven, the Background Ponies and the Villains like the ones in either Dragon Ball and Fairy Tail, and, depending on how smoothly it'll go, it may make my updates go a bit slower. The next chapter may come a bit quicker though, but I'm going to have to change a lot of things in it though, but, I think I won't have too much trouble...I hope.

Well, that's all for now everypony; next time we're going to be taking a little look at the Main Seven's time at Sweet Apple Acres...along with the Apple Family getting a surprise, yet very unfriendly visit to the farm.