"Blast it all trice fold," Crimson growled, flames wrapping around his body as his anger rose once more, "How dare she invade one of our castles, in the guise of a filly no less, and drag my cousin out before we have a chance to do anything. Princess Twilight, you might as well forgo the barrier and prepare to battle with whichever Council member decides to show his or her ugly face next. I'm going to tear Glimmer apart, rescue Nightfury, and stop this madness before we lose any lives."

Before either of the alicorns could stop him Crimson leapt out the open window, opened his wings almost immediately, and soared into the air, passing the barrier that was quickly falling apart. Dozens of Shadows looked up at him as he flew over their heads, though he could tell that they all glared at him and those that had horns began to prepare their spells. This was one of the consequences from deporting so many of them back to their home world, but he had done it to keep him world safe from them and their mysterious master. Though even as he tried to pass over them he knew it might not be the best idea as dozens of spells came up into the sky, no doubt aimed right at him.

As he prepared to pull his wings in and use his flames to protect himself a ball of fire appeared between him and the spells, though each and every one of the attacks was sucked up as if they were nothing. Once the flames died down Crimson's eyes widened as he spotted his mother, of all ponies, floating between him and the legion of Shadows that hated him. She seemed annoyed, but Crimson was sure that it was directed at the Shadows and not him.

"Go, stop Glimmer and save Nightfury," Celestia shouted, her horn lighting as she focused on the Shadows below her, "I shall deal with all of these enemies."

Crimson nodded and flapped his wings, heading for the Everfree Forest, where he knew Glimmer would be hiding until she managed to rip off his cousin's Sigil and claim it for herself. He had no idea what Glimmer had planned for the Sigils that she already had, but he needed to stop her before she managed to complete whatever she was doing.

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Glimmer landed in the center of the summoning circle and tossed Nightfury to the left of the circle, in the eastern direction and the opposite direction of where the Sigil of Water would eventually rest. The chained alicorn moaned and rose to a sitting position, but once she realized that the chains were still there she tried to call on her magic and shatter them, though nothing seemed to happen. Glimmer had to grin as the Sigils she had already acquired partly appeared in their proper positions; the Sigil of Earth appearing to the north and the Sigil of Water appearing to the west.

So far everything was going according to plan, though all she had to do now was prepare her spell and then everything would be ready for her Masters' arrival.

"You'll never win Glimmer," Nightfury said, violently moving as she tried to shake off the chains that held her down, "One of my family members will come find you and then we'll deport you back to your world, so we can save the poor filly that your possessing."

"You don't seem to understand the position that your in," Glimmer replied, turning to face the alicorn, "I have acquired three of the sour Prime Sigils that you and your family have spent the last two thousand years gathering and hiding from me and my Masters. Few Shadows have been known to cross from our world and stay in yours for more than a few weeks, all thanks to you hunting us and 'deporting' us. I am one of those you could never catch and I would only leave this world to make sure you wasted your time and resources chasing me, not knowing that I was already gone.

Now imagine a gateway, one that cannot be closed at all, that connects this world to my world, one that each and every Shadow can use whenever they want. We will pour into this world, where we wont need to possess frail bodies like the filly that I'm inside this very instant, and command all of our terrible powers. You and your family wont have the power to deport us without finding some way to undo the gateway, but we would never give you the chance to figure something out. My Masters will take this world for themselves and we will grow in size once more, until the time comes for us to infiltrate a new world and add it to the ever growing list of worlds we have.

Once this world belongs to us we'll make sure that you and your family, including those irritating Elements of Harmony, are immersed in the energy that makes our world what it is. Eventually all of you will see the world the same way we do and you'll rejoice at the chance to bring the same gift to the other worlds when the time comes. Once you belong to us, in body and in mind, my Masters will become your Masters and they'll send you out whenever they choose to, so you, too, can study the inhabitants of whichever new world we find. Though by the time that happens this world become like ours, expanding our home until we're forced to grow again."

"You are utterly insane," Nightfury shouted, hoping that one of her family members had followed Glimmer and could hear her voice, "if you open a gateway between our worlds you'll end up killing everypony here. You'll end up destroying the whole of Equestria in the process."

"That's what you think will happen," Glimmer replied, drawing runes in the ground that circled the summoning circle, "but my Masters know what will happen and have given me my orders. There is no denying my Masters, no matter how insane or dangerous their orders happen to be. We will own this world and every pony, dragon, dog, and griffin that calls this world home, including every resource you have and those you haven't even discovered yet."

"And you'll destroy Equestria for sure," a third voice said, just as Crimson appeared in the southern direction where, unbeknownst to him, Glimmer wanted him anyway, "I'm going to deport you and stop this mad scheme you and your 'Masters' have concocted."

"It doesn't matter what you want to do to me anymore," Glimmer shouted, her grin widening as the runes she had drawn glowed bright red, "Thanks to you, Prince Crimson Flare, I now have all four Prime Sigils in the same area, where all of them are under the influence of my desires."

As she spoke the other Primes Sigils, Earth and Water, fully appeared in their circles, where a third circle wrapped around Nightfury before tearing her Sigil out of her necklace and throwing her out of the circle. Before Crimson could move a band of red energy wrapped around his neck and pulled him to the ground, where more of them attached to his own necklace and dug into the metal. Crimson's enchantments met the magic head on, but the collision between the two shattered the front of his necklace and the Sigil came free, where it was grabbed and pulled into the magic that Glimmer had summoned.

As the Sigil of Fire settled into the spell and Crimson got onto his hooves Glimmer glanced at the trees around the circle and they shattered, creating a clearing that any pegasus could see from the air. Energy began to pour out of each of the Sigils, though they seemed to be gathering around Glimmer, who was waiting for the perfect moment to finish the spell.

"Stop it Glimmer!" Crimson shouted, noticing that the wind was staring to act up as the ground around them lightly shook, "The Sigils weren't made for this purpose. You'll end up destroying yourself and all of Equestria!"

"My Masters shall finally enter Equestria with all their great and terrible power," Glimmer exclaimed, the energy around her sharpening into a blade shape, "and soon you shall see the ponies that will bring the end of this world and start a new one in its place!"

Glimmer turned around and released the energy, watching it strike at the air and leaving a scar that was the height of the trees that rested around them. The black scar sat there for a moment, feeding on the magic of the Prime Sigils, before it began to open, spreading wide open until it was the length of five trees. Red metal wrapped around the edges of the scar, securing its place in the world and creating the gateway that Glimmer had been talking about earlier. The three of them watched as darkness seeped out of the gateway, spilling into the ground and slowly spreading outwards in every direction, though Crimson and Nightfury gulped as they watched their hard work shatter before them.

Then something came out of the gateway, though both of them were surprised by what was standing before them; a near black coated alicorn that reminded the both of them of Luna. The alicorn glanced up at the sky, took in the colors for a few moments, before breathing the air in and then blowing it back out, before she started laughing.

"It is so good to be back in Equestria once again," the alicorn said, her eyes scanning the ponies around her until she found Glimmer kneeling before her, "Ah, Glimmer Scale, you have lived up to your word, as we thought you would. You promised us a gateway between worlds and that was what you delivered. We are very pleased with the work you've done."

"Thank you, Princess Nightmare Moon," Glimmer replied, bowing her head as she cast a glance towards the gateway, "Is she...Is your sister coming as well?"

"She is coming as we speak," Nightmare chuckled, moving out of the way so she could witness her sister's arrival, "I wish to see her reaction to visiting this world for the first time."

The gateway rippled for a moment, as if it was trying to stop whoever was between the worlds from coming through, but in the end the gateway lost its fight and the pony it was keeping back stepped into their world. A second alicorn mare stepped out of the gateway, though while the first reminded Crimson of his aunt this one reminded him too much of his own mother. The alicorn's coat was as ashy grey as every other Shadow Crimson and Nightfury had seen over the last two thousand years, where's her mane was made up of black flames. Her eyes were the same evil blue that Nightmare Moon had, though they lacked the slit in them, and her jewelry, identical to his mother's, was nearly pitch black colored.

"So, this is Equestria?" the evil alicorn said, her voice sounding almost neutral as if she was bored already, "Yes, this will make for an excellent addition to my empire..."

"OUR empire, dear sister," Nightmare Moon corrected, the other alicorn's head turning around to look at her so fast that she was forced to back away almost immediately.

"MY EMPIRE!" the alicorn continued, her gaze returning to the three ponies that stood before them all, "You have done well, Glimmer Scale, to open the way for my arrival. Go, separate yourself from the filly that you cling to and come back to this world in your true form."

The moment those words left the alicorn's mouth Sweetie's body shook as the black mist that was Glimmer left her completely, spinning through the air for a brief moment before disappearing. The gateway shimmered for a moment before a third form emerged from it, though Crimson wasn't surprised to find a grey scaled dragon standing beside the dark alicorns. Once the deed was done Glimmer picked up Sweetie Belle, who was completely out of it at the moment, and grinned before she tossed her in Nightfury's direction, not caring if she was caught or hit the ground. Nightfury caught the poor filly with ease, though she appeared to be worried for their chances against the dark alicorns, if it came to them having to fight them.

"This feels fantastic," Glimmer commented, turning to her masters and bowing her head, "It is an honor to serve you, Princess Nightmare Moon and Princess Darkstar."

"Ah, you two must be the meddlesome alicorns that have stood in Glimmer's way for the last two thousand years," the dark version of Celestia, Darkstar if Glimmer was correct, said, turning to face them, "Nightfury, the daughter of my sister's own shadow, and Crimson Flare, the son of my own shadow. I would have said that it was a honor to meet the two of you at long last, but with everything you two have put us through I'm more inclined to just ignore you. I have more...pressing matters to attend to at the moment.

Dearest sister, if you want to have fun with them then be my guest. Just don't let anything interrupt me."

Darkstar moved to the center of the circle that Glimmer had created and runes began to dance all around her, spinning through the air as they wrapped around her and the Prime Sigils. The energy from the Sigils began to seep into the darkness that was spilling out of the gateway, allowing the vile element to continue across the ground. Crimson watched for a moment before a tremor hit the forest, causing the ground to violently shake for a few moments before it calmed down seconds later. The trees around them began to turn black as the sky itself began to darken, as if Equestria was becoming sick from what Darkstar was doing.

Crimson knew that they'd have to act fast, otherwise the entire world would be destroyed by the madness of Glimmer and her foul masters.

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Celestia, backed by some stun spells by Twilight, had spent the last ten minutes fighting off as many Shadows as she could without giving them an opening to use against her. They needed to trap as many of them as they possibly could, so they could deport them back to their world, though there was more of them than Celestia had expected. Luna and Cadence were holding their own against their opponents, but Celestia hoped that her son could stop Glimmer before she did something irreversible. She never wanted to bring war to her precious ponies, but the Shadows seemed to want to make all of them relive the past until they could defeat them.

Her train of though was ruined the moment the ground violently shook under her enemy's hooves and the wind around them whipped around as if a storm was approaching. She knew there wasn't a storm in the immediate area, nor had one been scheduled at all, which meant that something was happening with Glimmer and her son. Then she felt it, the energy of the Prime Sigils being directed somewhere, followed by the eerie sense that something was wrong in the Everfree Forest.

"Princess Celestia," Twilight called from above, having taken a higher position to get a better view of who to hit and pointed out at the forest, "something just appeared in the Everfree Forest. I don't know what it is, but if what I'm feeling is right then something terrible is happening there."

"We must stop Glimmer now," Luna called out, slamming a Shadow into the ground before joining them, "otherwise there's no telling how she'll misuse the power of the Prime Sigils."

Celestia nodded and headed in the direction of the foul magic they were all feeling, noticing that Cadence had joined them after a few seconds and was leaving Sombra behind. She knew that if Glimmer had all four Prime Sigils, which seemed like the case at this point, they were going to need the combined powers of every alicorn they had just to beat her into submission. She prayed that Crimson had a plan to stop Glimmer, otherwise she wasn't sure what was going to happen when they arrived to help him and Nightfury out.

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"How does it feel Glimmer?" Crimson asked, getting up as he faced his long time enemy, "How does it feel to finally best the Knight-Commander of the Equestrian Army at long last? I'm sure that your pleased with yourself, but all of you should beware of any other traps or runes that your unaware of."

"Oh what are you talking about this time?" Glimmer asked, cracking her claws as she approached him and stared him in the eyes, "You tried to claim and hide the Prime Sigils for two thousand years, which is impressive, but now I have beaten you. We have the power of the Sigils now, which means that we're free to tear open the way between worlds and take everything for ourselves, leaving you without a way to stop us. Face it, you've lost at long last."

"Sister, I don't mean to alarm you," Nightmare Moon said, looking around the circle and finding something odd happening, "the darkness has stopped in its tracks."

The darkness was seeping out of the gateway, but it was stopping beyond the runes that Glimmer had drawn, where a third set of runes happened to be sitting. These ones, unlike Nightfury's blue summoning runes and Glimmer's red runes, were golden colored and they seemed to stop the vile element from going any further. The ground violently shook once more, but then they noticed that the ground beneath their hooves was rising the moment they passed the tops of the trees that made up the Everfree Forest. In that moment of confusion Crimson nodded his head and slammed his hooves into the ground, causing the area they were on to rise even higher in the sky.

Nightyfury, catching the nod immediately, pulled her wings open and let the wind take her, pulling herself and Sweetie Belle off of the stone platform that the gateway was on.

Glimmer noticed Nightfury leaving and opened her wings to take off after her, but then the ground they stood on began to tilt back just a bit and threw off her balance for a moment. She looked up at her Masters, wondering if either of them had any idea as to what was going on at that moment, but they seemed as confused as she was. That was before she noticed her circle of runes start to shatter, the magic disappearing before her eyes and releasing the Prime Sigils from where they were floating. She heard Crimson grunt for a moment and three of the Sigils, Earth, Air, and Water, fell from they were standing, returning to the ground and the ponies she had stolen them from.

"That didn't do any good Crimson," Glimmer gloated, pointing at the still working gateway, "now that the way between worlds is open we don't need the Sigils to keep it open anymore. I will take great pleasure in breaking you at long last."

"Its time to end this once and for all," Crimson said, catching the Sigil of Fire and revealing the crack that he had placed in it so long ago, "My mother may have discovered a method to transform a Sigil into something that represents it, such as an hourglass filled with sand or a lake full of water, but I was the first to discover that harming them was possible. I'm going to destroy your gateway and make it impossible for any of you and your kind to return to our world ever again."

Glimmer, somehow understanding what he was going to do, leapt his way and bared her claws to rend as much life out of him as she could before she got the Sigil back, but then a powerful gust of wind hit her square in the chest. She looked behind Crimson and found Nightfury passing by, her horn dimming down as she disappeared once more, though Glimmer knew what had happened. She fought against the wind, but her draconic strength was nothing against the fury of one of the alicorns she had fought once more and she found herself being thrown backwards. Before she could correct her course she hit the gateway's energy and disappeared once more, returning to the Darkness she had come from.

Crimson grunted and fired a blast of energy at Nightmare Moon, using Glimmer's disappearance as a distraction so he could get the force he needed to move her. She leapt back as she was hit, but he knew that would happen and charged at her, pressing his hind legs into her chest armor and knocking her towards the gateway. Nightmare Moon seemed to stop just before the gateway and stood up, grinning evilly at him, but then something tugged on her hind leg and she looked back to find the magic latched onto her. She flared her wings to escape the gateway, but the magic dragged her through the gateway and left Crimson alone with Darkstar.

"So, you planned for this to happen," Darkstar commented, facing the stallion that was the source of all her problems, "but none of that matters anymore. I am still here, and with the power of the Black Sun still coursing through my veins I shall destroy you and enslave this world, just like I have done with every other world we have conquered. Then, when your chained in defeat, I shall open the gateway between our worlds once more and the Darkness shall consume everything that makes up your world."

Instead of speaking Crimson leapt forward, hitting Darkstar square in the chest and knocking her back towards the still open gateway, though he wasn't done yet. Every time Darkstar got up he hit her again, pushing her back towards the dark energy, intending to push her back into her world before slamming the gateway shut. Each time she got hit Darkstar would grunt and call upon her magic, only Crimson would have nothing to do with it and proceeded to hit her once more. Then her hind leg touched the gateway and the magic latched onto her, just like it had done with Nightmare Moon, but as it pulled her back she extended her magic and grabbed onto Crimson, dragging him close to her.

"If I am to return to my world than I shall drag you back with me!" Darkstar shouted, feeling the magic pull her deeper into the gateway,
I shall torture you until the end of time itself!"

That was before the ground the gateway had been on tipped even more, though neither one of them really noticed the change save for the change in perspective. Crimson, knowing what would happen if he let the gateway stay open, allowed a small smirk to appear on his face as he pulled out the tin that contained his smokes, removing the last one and lighting it. He tossed the tin away and blew some smoke out, glancing towards Ponyville and noticed four alicorns coming towards the platform, though he knew who was among them. He leapt towards Darkstar and hit her square in the chest with the Sigil of Fire, cracking the fragile crystal and causing an explosion to rock the entire area around them, destroying the Sigil and the gateway in the process.

Celestia covered her eyes the moment an explosion appeared before them, but the moment the smoke cleared there was no sign of the Shadow that her son was fighting. There was also no sign of her son at all, save for the tin he had discarded.

"No no no!" Celestia shouted, tears flowing as she realized that she may have just lost her own son, "CRIMSON!"