“But why do we have to hide?! We can fight too!” Starlight snorted out in annoyance as he was quickly being ushered through the castle and toward the cellars in its depths.

“No buts little one. You and your sister are to remain below and keep out of sight. There is a very dangerous being that will be coming to Canterlot in a very short time and she is a very bad pony.” Celestia groaned toward her son and daughter as they continued to relent.

“But momma, isn’t there anything we can do to help?” Marina asked as she looked up to the adoptive mother.

“I’m sorry sweetie, but right now momma needs you two to be safe and out from underhoof. If you were to get in the way, we may not be able to protect you, and it could cause a lot of ponies to get hurt as well. So please, remain here until we come to get you.” She spoke out in worry before hugging the two foals and releasing them as she headed out of the room and closed the door, locking the two foals in.

As the resounding click of the lock echoed quietly through the room, the two foals began to look around to see a lustrous room filled with various items of interest. The main thing that caught their attentions were several refrigerators that were humming softly, signaling that they were running and possibly filled with goodies.

“Wooooooooow.” Starlight spoke out softly as he rounded the corner of the room to see other various items in a much larger space.

“Marina, come over here and look at this.” He stated quietly as he looked around to see various video game machines, televisions, lounging sofas, as well as a huge array of various toys that they could play with.

Marina on the other hoof was pacing in front of the door that they had just came through. All the time staring silently at it.

“Star, aren’t you the least bit worried about momma and poppa? How about the rest of the kingdom?” She asked as she continued to pace in front of the door.

“Mother and father can take care of anypony who would want to hurt them, us, or any other pony within the kingdom. I know father has a lot of power, and mother, well, she can move the sun. What pony would want to make her angry, knowing of what she can do?” He chuckled softly before turning on one of the televisions to see various security camera feeds from within and outside of the castle.

“But what if they can’t handle this alone? What if they need help?” Marina persisted as she trotted over to her brother to see the feeds being streamed live through the television.

“Well, we’re about to find out soon enough.” He stated as they both began to watch as many different ponies from within the guard began to barricade every single part of Canterlot. Countless stallions, all within the guard, began placing various magical runes near the barricades in order to make sure that the Twilight Princess would at least have some difficulty as she attempted to break through them in the near future.

“Sir! We’ve secured most of Canterlot and the unicorn guard are in position with Captain Armor and Whip Lash.” Forge stated as he galloped up to royal trio.

“Very well then.” He stated as his horn lit up. “Midnight to all units. Begin protection barrier procedures.”

After a few seconds, everypony within Canterlot began to look upward as several bright beams of pinkish energy began to shoot up toward the sky, all of them stopping before forming into a ball around several hundred feet from the ground. The balls of energy glowed brightly for a moment before exploding outward into a thin film as it spread above the city, each end of the film quickly melting and combining into the others as they met.

After a few minutes, the shield was fully active and awaiting the arrival of the Twilight Princess. Midnight, as well as the others, all began to continue in their plans to keep everypony safe from harm.

“Clone seven reporting in.” One of Midnight’s clones began, catching his attention.

“Go ahead.” Midnight stated within the telepathic link.

“Sir, The Twilight Princess is on the move. She didn’t even attack the last three barricades of the guard. She just flew over top of them at break neck speed. ETA for her arrival to Canterlot, ten minutes.”

“Shit! This isn’t good. I guess that little stunt we pulled really pissed her off.” Midnight stated out in a growl, causing Luna and Celestia to look worriedly to one another.

“Tia, get the girls together. We are going to need the elements at a moment’s notice.” Midnight stated with a slight waver in his voice, he trying to hold back any indication that he was worried.

“The girls are already waiting in the garden along with Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. Discord is there as well. Samantha and little Disarray are in the safety rooms next to Starlight and Marina. Everything is ready for her arrival as far as I know.” Celestia stated as she went through the mental checklist of things that had been or was going to be done.

“Good, let’s just hope that we won’t need their aid once that bitch arrives.” He growled out once again, his fur and feathers quickly standing on end as adrenaline coursed through his very being.

“Ooooooooh I can’t wait to tear those ponies apaaaaaaaart! This is going tooooooooo beeeeeeee so much FUUUUUUUUUUUUUNN!” Mona cackled out as she burst through the sky toward the city of Canterlot.

“I wonder what I should do first though.” She hummed to herself just before the city came into her sights in the far distance. “Blow up the city and get it over with quickly?” She giggled evilly. “NAH! That would be far too easy, and extremely boring.” She groaned. “Well... I could just disintegrate the mountain and let the castle fall, killing them all.” She paused again, rubbing her chin in thought. “No, those Alicorns will probably try to save them all...” She paused in flight as she noticed a bright pink globe surrounding the city.

“I wonder what that is.” She thought quietly to herself as she began to pick up her pace toward the city once again. Once she was within attack distance, she paused as she looked at the globe surrounding the city.

“Do those pathetic ponies think this is going to stop me?” She laughed as she raised her right hand, the bracelet starting to glow brightly as energy began to build up within the palm of her hand.

After a few seconds to power up her attack, she gasped aloud, cringing in pain as she was impaled through the chest from behind.

“Miss me, bitch?!” A clone of Midnight laughed out as he dug the horn in deeper, making her scream out in pain.

“Not really, but I thought you would have learn from the last tiiIIIIIIIMMMMEEE!” She screamed out in pain as she grabbed the horn that had impaled her only to let go as a sickening hiss escaped from the contact.

“Who said I didn’t?! You ready to die now?! Or just give up and be put back to sleep for another thousand years.” He smirked as his horn continued to gain in luminosity, causing the hissing sound to gain in volume as the wound surrounding it began to glow brightly.

Mona looked down to the horn protruding from her chest, growling out in pain as it began to intensify tenfold. She took in a deep breath, gripping the horn with both hands, and sending out another loud hiss as the contact began to melt her flesh.

“You... won’t best me, you fucking bastard! I’ll have what I seek... even if it means obliterating every last pony on the face of the planet!” She screamed out as she snapped the end of his horn off once again only to watch in horror as it didn’t disintegrate. No, it did something new this time. Something that she knew was going to cause her a lot of problems very shortly.

The entire city of Canterlot shook as a violent explosion erupted from outside of the barrier that had been placed around the city. Many of the building shook violently as the shockwave ripped through the city. Many ponies cried out in fear as a blinding white light quickly covered every inch of the city just before the explosion hit them.

After a minute, the echoed trailed off into the distance as everypony quietly began to file out into the streets to see what had happened. After another minute, the echoed had subsided, only to leave a ringing in the ears of everypony within the city.

Celestia, Midnight, and Luna were watching the area that the explosion had come from, each giving a determined expression, in hopes that the one suicide clone that had hit the Twilight Princess had succeeded in removing her from this world.

Everypony continued to watch the area the explosion had occurred, their expressions slowly turning to smiles as they watched the smoke clear to reveal no being at all within that area.

Cheers erupted from all over Canterlot as they began to rejoice. The Twilight Princess had been destroyed.

*BOOM*
*CRACK*

Everything went silent as everypony in the city looked upward to see a giant crack split through the magical barrier covering the city.

*BOOM*
*CRACK*

Another invisible hit to the barrier caused it to crack even further.

“Midnight to all unicorn guards. Redouble your efforts in strengthening the barrier!” The Dark Alicorn shouted through the telepathic link just before another loud boom echoed through the city as another invisible hit echoed from the point of attack, further cracking the shield.

Midnight watched in slow motion as the beams of magical energy began to widen at the base as a ball of larger energy began to bolt upward along its path to the barrier.

*BOOM*
*CRACK*
*SHATTER*

Before the extra energy could make it to the barrier, the final hit from the Twilight Princess came into contact, finally breaking through the barrier and shattering it. She managed to bolt through the small opening just before the extra energy made it to the barrier, reinforcing it and replacing the shattered shield.

“Midnight to all units! We have a breach!”

As the shockwave from each hit sounded off throughout the city, down below, Starlight and Marina were watching the televisions security feed intently. Various cameras were showing different angles from all over the massive city. Each with a varying degree of difficulty upon each impact that the barrier was taking.

“Oh no!” Marina squeaked out as she watched the barrier fall, letting the Twilight Princess bolt through just before it was put back up.

“Star! We have to help them!” Marina stated in a slight panic.

“We can’t! You know father will be upset if we leave this room. He said that we would just cause him to worry about us more and lose focus! We can’t disobey him!” He stated in worry, his ears laying back as he continued to switch his view from the television to his sister, then back again. “Besides, I know I don’t have enough power to do anything. I don’t even come close to father’s magical capability. What do you think you can do?”

Marina was taken aback by the comment as she hesitated for a moment to try and think of something she could do.

“I... I... can turn into a dragon and kick her tail!” She spoke out as her frame began to glow for a moment just before a green fire erupted from all around her. After a few seconds, Starlight was staring face to face with a large black dragon with bug like, transparent wings.

“Wow! Sis, I... I didn’t know you could...” He trailed off for a moment before covering his mouth as he began to giggle.

“Sis, I think you’re too big to even get out of here now.” He chuckled, but paused as another ear splitting explosion erupted from outside.

“Damn! Guess I’d better do the only thing I can think of then.” Marina stated as she quickly reverted back to her changeling form and stepped up to the door to the room they were currently locked in.

The little changeling began to emit a few unusual clicking and chirping sounds for a moment as she stared quietly at the lock. A minute went by as she did this once again in a little louder tone. After a few seconds, a hiss and a few clicks sounded off from outside the door before a louder single click signaled the release of the lock on the door.

Marina smiled as she quickly pulled the door open and shut it behind her, relocking it before her brother could get to it.

“MARINA! DON’T GO!” He shouted out in worry as he turned and began bucking the door with everything he had in him.

“You stay here little brother. I’ll be back soon, with momma and poppa!” She stated loudly before her faint hoofsteps faded down the corridor.

Starlight stood there, breathing in and out heavily as he looked at the door. His eyes flicking back and forth from the door to around the room.

“No... no no NO! Sis is going to get hurt if she goes out there. Mother and Father might get hurt too trying to save her if she gets into trouble. Ohhhhhh, what do I do?!” He cried out in a panic before stopping.

“UNCLE DISCORD!” He shouted out as loudly as he could only for the draconequus to teleport into his room in a flash of light.

“Star? What’s wrong?” Discord asked for a moment before glancing around the room quickly, noticing that there was a severe lack of a certain changeling foal within the room. “Where is your sister?”

“You’re DEAD!” Mona shouted out as she bolted straight toward the Dark Alicorn.

“Scatter!” Midnight shouted as his horn lit up brightly, flinging everypony around him into various directions. He knew that the Twilight Princess would target him first; after all, he did put her through hell for these past couple of days. He was expecting quite a bit of payback from her, and he was ready.

The others watched in horror as the Twilight Princess hit Midnight hard, causing the very ground that he was on to bow outward in a ripple before stopping around fifty feet away. The cobblestone ground was broken and shattered at the impact point. Once the dust cleared, there was a soft glowing coming from within the dust that began to dissipate.

Midnight stood there with the elbow of his wing extended forward, his horn glowing brightly and encasing the wing with magic as it pressed against the clenched fist of the Twilight Princess. The two continued to stay in that position for almost a minute until the Twilight Princess let out a low growl that quickly gained in volume to an enraged scream as she pushed the wing and Alicorn backwards before opening her hands and placing them wrist to wrist as a massive energy wave erupted from them and digging into the ground.

Mona grinned as she looked to the spot that she had just blasted with a massive energy wave, noticing the lack of a certain Alicorn.

“3... 2... 1...” She counted to herself before quickly ducking down just as a horn impaled the air that she had just previously been occupying. “Bad move.” She cackled, seeing the look of horror on Midnight’s face as her right hand glowed a bright blue as she punched straight upward and into the Dark Alicorn’s jaw. An ear shattering crack erupting from the blow as the Alicorn was sent into the sky in a hail of red and blue fire.

“Take that you piece of shit!” *GASP*

Mona stood there in shock as she felt a familiar pain in her chest once again. Her vision falling from the sky to her chest as she noticed an ivory white horn dripping with her blood protruding from her chest.

“You have got to be kidding ME!?” She stopped once again as Luna impaled her from the front. Each horn narrowly missing each of the princesses as they split the flesh of the evil being.

“NOW LUNA!” Celestia shouted as her horn and Luna’s erupted in a bright array of electricity. Sparks of white and blue bolting outward in every direction from the screaming human. The only drawback... Light and Dark cannot coexist with one another when they are fighting.

The bolts of magical lightning surged through each of the princesses, causing them to scream out in pain along with the human. All three pulling apart from one another and falling to the ground, smoke slowly coming from several areas of each of them as the smell of singed fur, hair, and cloth filled the air.

“You... you piece of filth.” Celestia spoke out as several guards quickly came to her and Luna’s aid, lifting them into the air gently before placing them back onto their hooves. “I’m going to send you straight to Tartarus myself.” She howled out as she bolted toward the fallen frame of the Twilight Princess.

“MOMMA!” came the tiny voice of a certain changeling as she bolted from one of the doors of the castle.

“Marina? MARINA! GET BACK!” Celestia shouted out just before a blast of energy sent her flying skyward.

“MOMMA!?” Marina shouted out before she glared death at the Twilight Princess whom was now getting to her feet. Staggering a little as she raised her vision to the changeling standing before her.

“Finally, things are looking...” Mona began but paused as a green fire surrounded the small changeling. It grew and grew until it vanished, revealing a large black dragon, towering over the human as she looked on in shock.

“Up?” She managed to squeak out as a roar erupted from the changeling turned dragon as she lifted a massive fist and swung it downward, smashing the Twilight Princess into the ground with enough force to make the ground all around them quake.

Marina snarled as she lifted her giant paws and sent them barreling down into the human. Blow after blow pushing her farther and farther into the earth and stone.

“You *smash* won’t *smash* hurt *smash* anypony *smash* ELSE! *SMASH*” She roared out in a deep yet feminine voice as she smashed her paws into her with each blow. She pulled back for a moment as she snarled, taking in a deep breath and blowing it out with an intense force, forcing fire and brimstone to be expelled from within and crashing into the body of the downed human.

Once she spewed all the fire she could she began to cough loudly. Staggering backwards and quickly reverting back to her changeling form. She continued coughing out a few puffs of black smoke before finally finding her breath.

*CRASH*

Marina barely jumped out of the way in time just as her father hit the ground next to her with such force that it caused a small tremor to split the ground.

“DADDY!” She screamed out as she jumped over to him, crying into his chest.

“NNNNgggghhh!” He winced in pain as the small changeling hugged him tightly, crying into him even more upon hearing him let loose the pained sound.

“Daddy, are you ok?! Momma and Aunty Luna got hurt.” She managed to cry out as she looked her father over, noticing all of his wounds and what seemed like a broken jaw.

“Ahm, ohay.” He managed to speak as his horn lit up, casting a heal spell onto his jaw.

A few seconds passed as his jaw was healed and he began to heal the rest of his body.

“Marina, you need to get out of here!” He spoke in a slight panic as he tried to push himself from the ground but couldn’t. “It’s not safe.”

“Daddy... I think I killed that mean being that hurt you.” Marina stated with slight worry tinting her voice. “I saw her hurt momma and I... just snapped.”

“It’s okay baby. If you did kill her, then you may have just saved all of Equestria.” He smiled softly to her as he hugged her lovingly to his chest.

*burp*

“Scuse meeeeeEEEE!?” She began to say sweetly but it turned into a shout as she was ripped from Midnight’s grasp.

“MARINA!” He shouted as he reached a hoof out to her. Attempting to grab her before she could be pulled away.

“Isn’t... this... precious!” Snarled Mona as she stood there holding the changeling foal by her throat. Blood dripping from various wounds all over her body and soaking her clothing as it dripped onto the ground below.

“Daddy!” Mona squeaked out as she reached a hoof toward her father.

“MARINA!” He shouted as he forced every ounce of magic he could into his horn as he slowly turned over and began to crawl toward the human female.

“Don’t you hurt her, you bitch!” He snarled as his horn continued to glow brighter and brighter.

“You... don’t seem... to understand the... spot you’re in.” She huffed out as she began to heal herself with her right hand. Her bracelets glowing brightly indicating how much energy was being used.

“Surrender now... become my host... and I’ll let your precious pony live.” She pat as she gave the throat of the changeling a rough squeeze causing her to flail her hooves about as her air was suddenly cut off.

“STOP IT!” Midnight roared as he bolted forward without hesitation, ready to kill.

*SNAP*

The sound was faint, but it resounded like a bomb had gone off in the Grand Canyon. Midnight paused in his stride, his eyes wide as he watched the head of his daughter separate from her body and fall to the ground below him.

The glow from his horn stopped so suddenly that the flash temporarily blinded everything in sight. Once Mona regained her vision, she looked down to see a human male, resting on his knees and holding the tiny head in his arms. The glow from her eyes, gone, no longer bright and vibrant like they once were.

“My baby...” Charles sobbed as he hugged the head to his chest giving it a gentle kiss on its forehead. He slowly placed the head down next to the fallen body before looking up to Mona with a tear stained face.

Mona took a step back as a look of horror danced across her face.

“You... You’re human?!” She spoke out in shock as she looked him over for a moment before pain etched across her face.

“He soon won’t be anything at all.” Came her more sinister voice as she stepped over to him and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him into the air. His expression still that of complete sorrow as he stared down to her.

“Why...?” He asked as he took in a pained breath. “Why have you done all that you have?”

“I did it because I want to rule over this world, and in a new host. I have had too much trouble with this one, and I want one that can never be defeated.” She paused, smiling wickedly at the human she held within her grasp.

“If you would agree to be my host, I may be able to bring your daughter back to life. What do you say? Just say this phrase.” She giggled. “I agree to be the host of the Twilight Princess.” She stated in a monotone, only causing the human to sigh as he looked down to the fallen body of his beloved daughter. After a second of hesitation, his eyes went wide as the pressure around his neck increased.

“Okay! *GCK* Okay!” He managed to squeeze out, feeling the hand loosen a little. His hands instinctively bolting up to the hand that held him from the ground.

“MIDNIGHT!” Shouted a group of mares that were charging toward the battle only to see the hand of Mona raise toward them, palm forward and fingers outstretched as she shouted.

“Stop right there if you don’t want to see your beloved Alicorn become nothing more than a vacant husk.” Mona shouted.

“NO! Don’t hurt them!” Charles spat as he reached a hand out and grabbed her outstretched hand pulling it to his throat with the other. “I’ll do what you want, just, don’t hurt any other pony... please.” He stated softly as his hands wrapped gently around her wrists.

“Very well then.” She hummed playfully as she lowered him to the ground.

Once he felt her hands release their grip, he quickly pulled his legs up to his chest, wrapping his fingers fully around the bracelets that were around the woman’s wrists, and kicked his legs out into her chest causing her to shriek out in pain.

“You are going to pay. Pay DEARLY for what you have taken from me you bitch!” He snarled as he put more force into his legs, prying the bracelets onto her hands.

“You can’t remove the bracelets!” She groaned out in fury. “They must have a host... or they will detonate what energy is left... you don’t want to kill... your friends... do you?!” She spat once more seeing his conflicting emotions dance across his face.

“No... I don’t... But I do know what I can do!” He snapped as his hands began to glow brightly as energy from the bracelets began to flow into him. A blood curdling scream escaping the Twilight Princess as she fell to her knees, her body being rocked with unmentionable pain.

After a few seconds, the glowing came to a stop, the bracelets quickly being pulled from the wrists of Mona and breaking in Charles’ grip. She sat there quietly as she looked to her hands as the color began to fade from them and slowly move up her arms. Her fingers falling apart into a gray dust in the wind as it swept by. She looked up to Charles giving an apologetic look as she spoke one last time before losing her color and turning to dust.

“I’m... sorry.”

The girls rushed forward just as Celestia and Luna regained consciousness and began to rise to their hooves. All of the element bearers helping to support them as they began to move slowly over to Charles but paused as he turned and quickly fell to his knees, sobbing as he picked up something they couldn’t quite see.

“Midnight... Charlie... What’s wrong...?” Celestia began to ask but stopped as she saw the green blood coating part of his hands and the ground below, then to the source. “No...” She trailed off as she collapsed at his side, sobbing loudly as the others looked on in horror.

“Come, let us give them a moment to grieve.” Luna stated softly as she began to slowly trot away, the other elements following her silently.

Author's Notes:

Edited by ReFro, who hated this chapter.