As Twilight wept within her brother's hooves, the Entity looked on from within her mind in seething contempt. Its eyes darted to the light within her that had grown stronger, resisting its influence. This could not be allowed. This mare it had bonded to showed so much promise, it would not allow her to slip from its grasp so easily!

It desperately began to pull thoughts and memories from the depths of her mind, focusing on the moment where she had felt the most pain. With the last of its might, it thrust these thoughts to the forefront of her mind. The light that had grown in the darkness suddenly shrank to a near pinprick as the dark Entity glared back in triumph.

The sounds of crying came to a sudden stop, as those in the room watched the brother and sister who embraced one another. Shining leaned his muzzle closer to her, nuzzling into her mane and whispering comforting words.

'And you can forget about being my best mare. In fact, if I were you, I wouldn't show up to the wedding at all!' His voice echoed mockingly in Twilight's mind.

"It's alright Twily, I've got you..." He received no response as he suddenly felt like the world had turned upside down.

"Wha-" His reaction was short-lived as he impacted the wall to the far side of the ballroom. The stone surface cracked and splintered from the impact, blood splattering across the surface as he fell to the floor. Cadence screamed with a horrified expression at seeing her fiance now lying prone against the wall, his sides punctured by large holes that bled profusely.

"Shining/ Captain!" Everpony shouted, only to snap their eyes to the source of a distorted growl that grew in volume.

They stared in abject horror as Twilight's body slowly crawled to her hooves with the sounds of twisting flesh and snapping bones. Her form twisted and jerked into its demonic state, the puddle beneath her growing until it once more poured down the dais and her serpents hovered over her threateningly. One of the serpents' mouths dripped with a crimson ichor, the only sign of the source of Shining Armor's current state.

"What have you done!?" Celestia screamed in shock at the actions of the mare. With a cry, Steel Blitz jumped into the air and dove after her adversary, Maple Branch leaping into the pews closest, being careful to avoid the black fluid. Using his back legs, he began to kick the pews from their place, tossing them at the demon to serve as a distraction for his lieutenant.

Celestia fell back along with the bearers, giving the soldiers space to do their work as they watched in worry and sorrow. The princess squeezed her eyes shut tight, the small bit of hope that had taken place in her heart having been burned to ashes with Twilight's last act. When she next opened them, she watched as the mare fought off the guards, but something seemed off...

Twilight's eyes looked almost hollow as she stared back, her black sclera tainted by thin red veins that pulsed within her darkened orbs.

'C'mon yall, let's go check on the princess.' Applejack's voice rang through Twilight's mind, accompanied by the voices of her friends as they followed her in agreement. With a demonic roar, dozens of tendrils erupted from around her, striking out at the lone pegasus and intercepting the large debris being flung her way.

As the two guards kept her attention, Celestia turned to the remaining mares, a look of panic in her eyes.

"Girls, I need you to go and get the Elements of Harmony! The two guards outside the vault will be able to open it for you, but you must hurry!" Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked uncertain.

"No way princess, we'd be better off here, fighting!" Rainbow Dash tried to argue, but with a stomp of her hoof, Celestia made her stance on this firm.

"If you want to help Twilight, you must get the Elements!" Tears began to pour from her eyes as she turned and watched the battle as it played out before her. The lieutenant couldn't keep this up for much longer, she already had a few injuries in spots that her armor did not cover, and the armor itself was littered with gashes. Maple Branch threw another pew at her former student, only for it to be shattered into splinters within the gaping maw of a serpent.

"I fear that, without them, we may not be able to stop her..." Her voice trembled as she stared at the creature that had once been her protege. The image of a sweet and adoring foal appeared before her eyes, only to be crushed beneath the clawed, black hoof of this demon.

'Wait... claws?' Celestia's eyes narrowed as she looked to Twilight more closely. Yes, her hooves which were already stained black up to the knees, now looked to have gained claw-like appendages, the black fluid slowly creeping up her legs. Looking to her student's eyes, she flinched back after realizing that there were no longer only two. A third eye had appeared, just below her horn. It split the skin from the base of her horn to the crease of her brow. This eye was not black, it was a deep, pulsing red. Was she changing into something even worse? Would this dark power not rest until she no longer even resembled a pony?

"Go now!" Celestia yelled in panic, looking to the mares who also stared in terror. With a jump, they all scrambled to their hooves and bolted for the door, dodging thrown pews and avoiding the black fluid that seemed to cover half of the room now. With the bearers finally gone, Celestia turned to find Cadence had limped over to the prone Shining Armor and lay crying in his lap, her back to the chaos. Trotting over to them quickly, she placed her ear on the fallen stallion's chest and tried to block out the sounds of combat.

It was faint, but the barest hint of a heart-beat greeted her.

"He's alive... thank goodness." She let out a slow and shaky breath, pulling away.

"A-alive?" Cadence asked shakily through her sobs as she looked up to her aunt. With a nod, Cadence's tears returned full force and she hugged Shining around his neck, not caring that his blood now stained her fur as she cried audibly.

"Cadence!" She shook the distraught mare by her withers, briefly regaining her attention.

"Yes, he is alive, but he needs medical attention. Those wounds are serious, and if we leave him then he could bleed to death." Cadence's eyes snapped open and in a panic, she fought hard to activate her magic. Her horn lit up for a brief moment, before going out once more.

"I-I can't! I'm not strong enough to carry him without my magic!" She slumped back into him. Celestia lit her horn and tore a curtain from the nearby wall and began to tear long strips from it.

"Cadence, I need you to move." Cadence didn't budge as she held on tighter.

"Cadence! If you want to save his life than you have to move!" She shouted more firmly. Cadence jerked up and slowly backed off, but she never took her hoof away from Shining's. Celestia was careful as she wrapped the torn bits of curtain around his barrel tightly, being careful as she pulled his back away from the wall a bit to slip them through.

'I don't know if the impact may have broken or damaged something internally, so it's best to leave him in place for the medics.' She thought as she tied the last strip, her brow sweating.

"That should hold for now..." She wasn't so sure, to be honest, blood had already begun to seep through the cloth. Softly reaching beneath the collar of his wedding attire, she cursed at finding that he had not worn his dragon fire pendant. Turning to her niece, she pushed the mare's hoof off of Shining.

"Cadence, go get Maple's dragon fire pendant. Use it to call a medic and the rest of the guard here immediately." Cadence looked between her aunt and her love, torn between both duties. With a shaky nod, she turned and limped her way towards the burly earth pony, still chucking large slabs of wood at Twilight. Celestia turned to watch her soldiers fight a losing battle and grimaced.

'Why... why did it turn out like this?' Her eyes focused on the mare that had once regarded her with the highest praise and she shivered at the gruesome visage that now overshadowed her memory of a smiling filly.

Steel Blitz dove hard to the right, narrowly dodging a strike to her neck and quickly pulling up to swing her right-wing out at the chest of her attacker, the shimmer of metal blades hidden within her feathers. The blades passed through the flesh of her attacker as cleanly as butter and she pulled back with a hard flap until she was out of range of the tendrils that struck just where she had been. She watched in frustration as the wound on her enemy, just like all the others she had managed to inflict, merely sealed itself. The demonic Twilight almost seemed to grin mockingly at her as the black fluid continued to rise up her legs, now creeping up her chest and flank.

'By the Sun, nothing I do is working! What in Tartarus are we supposed to do against something that can regenerate as fast as we can damage it?.' A shadow passed over Twilight and in an instant, her head jerked to the side with a mighty snap of her jaws, splitting a pew in half and showering splinters about the area. Steel tried to take the opportunity to dive in and get a free hit but was yanked back in a golden aura just as two scythe-like tendrils passed where she had been, nearly bisecting her. She trembled slightly in fear at having come so close to death.

"Are you alright Lieutenant?" Celestia's voice broke her from her reverie. With a nod to the princess, she returned to hovering in the air with her own wings once the magic around her had dissipated. She flinched slightly from the many small cuts and gashes that littered her barrel and legs but ignored it.

"We can't hold her back anymore princess, I'd recommend a full retreat." Celestia stared at her former student, who stared back with her jaw gaping open and her tongue slithering out between the rows of jagged teeth, her eyes were still unfocused and empty.

"We can't do that just yet. I've sent the bearers to retrieve the Elements, with them, we should be able to stop this." Blitz took no chances and didn't take her eyes off the enemy even as it turned it's attention to more pews that Maple continued to hurl in her direction.

"Are you certain that will work your majesty? Magic doesn't seem to affect her at all." Celestia looked to her Lieutenant, unsure.

"The Elements are a different kind of magic. They will work... they must work." It seemed more that she was trying to convince herself of this as her ears flayed back in worry. Steel merely nodded as she leaned her neck to the side, releasing a few loud pops as she prepared to rejoin the fray.

"Let's get to work then, shall we?" With a hearty beat of her wings, she dove into the conflict once more, weaving through the tendrils that surrounded her enemy.

Celestia watched her go with a deep breathe. Igniting her horn in a golden aura, she readied herself to attack her own student.

'Forgive me... Twilight.' She gave herself a single moment to mourn the act of having to hurt yet another who was close to her heart.

Maple Branch was down to three pews, his ammunition running low as the littered remains of previously intact furniture littered the space around him. His breathing was heavy and he worked to dodge the occasional tendril that managed to reach him from its source. His large size made it difficult, however, leading to several puncture wounds in his right side through his armor and a few gashes on his legs, but he persisted. Taking a moment to breathe now that the lieutenant rejoined the fray, he heard hoof steps approaching from his left and he jerked his head, hoof raised and ready to swing.

"Wait!" He stopped, seeing princess Cadence standing before him, a foreleg raised and hiding her face, she was trembling. Lowering his hoof, he limped up to her.

"My apologies, princess, 'ow can I 'elp?" His baritone voice just barely cut through the sound of a roar. Taking a glance, he saw that the lieutenant managed to take out the enemy's left eye with a strike of her wing blades. Only for the socket to open and a tendril to lash out and strike at her from where her eye had been. He shivered at the twisted method of attack.

"I-I need your pendant to save Shining!" Cadence begged immediately after lowering her hoof and seeing she wasn't about to be struck by mistake. Maple took a moment to process the request. Looking around him, he took note of the dire situation. The pendant was a one-time use item among the guards, meant to be used only in the case of an emergency.

'Ah'd say this counts.' He nodded and reached into his armor, plucking the pendant and chain from it's hiding place. With a light yank, he snapped the chain and hoofed the pendant over to the princess, who took it quickly in shaking hooves.

"You know 'ow to use it?" He asked as he turned and raised the next pew on its side. Cadence nodded in affirmation without replying. Holding it up to her mouth, Cadence let out a warm breath on its surface, causing it to shimmer a deep green.

"Attention royal guard, this is Princess Mi A More Cadenza of the Celestial Royal Family! There is an emergency within the Canterlot ballroom! All able-bodied soldiers are to report immediately! Priorities are combat class, medical class, and defensive support! To all medical class personnel, Captain Shining Armor has been grievously injured, make haste!" With her message now within the confines of the pendant, Cadence dropped it to ground and stomped it with her hoof, shattering the item and causing a swathe of green flame to billow out beneath from beneath. Forming into a large ball of green inferno, it shot through the door in seconds, splintering off into small sections in its search of all who wore a pendant. A single lick of flame rushed towards the lieutenant, who pulled back upon seeing the light of the flame from out of the corner of her eye.

Before her eyes, the words Cadence spoke appeared in bright green lettering, lasting mere moments before fading. With a nod of approval toward Cadence, Steel leaped back into the fight with renewed vigor. The idea of reinforcements driving her to continue for as long as possible.

Twilight struck out repeatedly, trying to take down the annoying pegasus before her. Her mind was a haze and she felt as though her entire body was on fire, burning not with passion, but a seething and powerful rage. Glancing past the pegasus, her eyes, of which the damaged one had already regenerated, met Celestia's for the briefest of moments. The memory of her beloved mentor walking past her, not stopping to look as she strode from the ballroom after the others who had already betrayed her, played within her mind's eye.

'You have a lot to think about.' The twisted mare's world burned red.

Author's Notes:

Shaded: "Ugh, I feel like I should wait and add more to this chapter before posting it..."

Dimmed Star: "Then why are you posting it?"

Shaded: "It's been so long since the last update! I had to post SOMETHING to keep ponies interested!"

Dimmed Star: "Understandable, but don't you think they'd prefer to wait a bit longer for a more fleshed out chapter?"

Shaded: "That's what I thought too! But the guilt was eating me!"

Dimmed Star: "Alright fine. But speaking of eating, you are QUITE late with it... also, I'm NOT doing this disclaimer this time..."

Shaded: Sweats profusely "I'll do the disclaimer if you don't eat me?"

Dimmed Star: "Deal."

Shaded: * Wipes brow* Yes! Okay, I do not own MLP: FIM or the Equinox Ponies who are owned by Hasbro and Riygan on Deviant Art respectively! turns to Dimmed Star "There we go."

Dimmed Star: "Yup, you're up Twilight."

Shaded: "Wha-hurk!" is yanked off scene with a rope.

Twilight: "You're late with another chapter you lazy sonuva-" sounds of screaming and painful cracking can be heard.

Dimmed Star: Sips a cup of suspicious red liquid "Mmm, I love this show."