Diamond's Dusk Ch. 6 (Part 1) B

Shattered Moon (Part 1) B

Rarity busted through the door and gasped for air. “Oh...Perhaps I should start doing some more walking.” She looked around the area, and felt a bit relieved. “It seems nopony is up here...yet, that is.”

She trotted down the hallway, but felt a little uneasy. The fire alarm’s lights were flashing, but they weren’t blaring anymore. The sound of her hoofsteps echoed along the hallway. As she stopped to look around again, the only sounds she heard was the buzzing of the fluorescent lights, and the distant sound of thunder rumbling.

“There has to be a way up to the roof, but where?”

As Rarity continued to search the area, her eye suddenly caught a glimpse of what looked to be a shadow around the corner. She gasped and stepped back. “Who’s there?”

No response came, and the shadow disappeared as quickly as Rarity saw it.

She shook her head. “Keep it together now,” Rarity told herself. “I just need to find some way up to the roof.”

Rarity trotted down the hall again, but as she did, another shadowy figure appeared in front of her. She looked up, but once again, it was gone as fast as she saw it.

She stepped back and looked around. “Who are you?” she nervously asked.

No response came again. Rarity gulped again and walked slowly down the hall. Another rumble of thunder echoed much louder, and the lights went dim. Rarity looked around frantically, and rather hopelessly, in the dark for a way out.

“Come on. Where is it?” she asked in a panicked tone. “There has to be some...way...out?”

Rarity’s voice trailed off as she noticed her shadow, even though the lights had dimmed to the point where it was almost pitch black. She turned around, and saw a bright white light heading towards her.

“AHH!” she screamed.

Rarity fell to the ground as the light hit her in the chest. She clutched the area she was hit at, and slowly got up. As she got up, the lights came back on, and she noticed a pony slowly walking towards her.

“What the?” she asked.

“Ah, Rarity,” said a smug voice. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you. But it seems you’ve changed since I last saw you.”

Rarity staggered back and tried to maintain her balance. “Who are you?”

“You mean you don’t recognize me?” wondered the stallion. “Ah, but I’m not looking like myself for the moment, so maybe it’s best I show you.”

He removed his sunglasses and tossed them aside. “You know, I never did forget you at all. Your voice, your name, and your mannerisms. It’s something I fondly remember, but not for the right reason.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. ...That voice. Where have I heard it before?

The stallion ripped off the security shirt and threw it to the side. “It’s been like an itch I just can’t scratch. You who humiliated me at the grandest gathering of all.”

“Grand?” wondered Rarity.

“You galloped all over my ambitions and reputation with no thought at all,” the stallion angrily said. He then grabbed his mane. “And above all, helped ruin not only the gala, but my life as well.” He removed a wig from his head and threw it behind him.

Rarity gasped at the sight of the sinister looking pony in front of her. “...P–Prince Blueblood,” she gasped.

The prince snickered coldly. “Ah, it’s nice to see you haven’t forgotten me after so long. I should be touched.” His smirk changed to a scowl. “But I’m not.”

He suddenly shot out of his horn a lightning bolt. Rarity gasped and jumped out of the way. The sound of a large explosion came from behind her, with pieces of debris falling shortly after.

“Blueblood, wait!” shouted Rarity.

“I’m not waiting for anything, Nightmare Moon,” he stated.

The unicorn’s eyes widened.. “What did you call me?”

“You heard me,” said Blueblood. “I know what your plan is, and I’m here to stop it.”

“Correction, we are here to stop you,” a mare interrupted.

Rarity turned around and gasped at a pink mare with a sinister smile on her face.

“Suri?” she wondered.

“I’m touched that you remembered me as well,” she smugly said. “I did tell you when we met that it’s everypony for themselves in the big city, but I’m more than willing to accept some help for taking you down.”

“Wait, please!” Rarity cried out. “You all got it wrong! I was never Nightmare Moon at all!”

“Then what are we looking at here then?” Blueblood demanded. “An early Nightmare Night costume? I think not.”

“I can explain!” shouted Rarity.

“Save it,” said Suri coldly. “Your mind control tricks won’t work on us.”

“Mind control?” wondered Rarity.

“Don’t think we don’t know what you did to my aunts,” said Blueblood. “Once they’re free from your control, I could probably be made into the first king of Equestria in a long time.”

Suri frowned. “What’s this ‘I’ stuff? What about the rest of us?”

Blueblood smirked. “Details, Suri. We’ll deal with it one matter at a time.”

“There she is!” a stallion shouted.

Rarity turned and her heart nearly stopped. Down the hall was a battalion of unicorns and pegasi, with some of the pegasi holding spears. Rarity backed up and looked around for a way out, but she soon found herself bumping against the wall. She looked all around, but the ponies were approaching her rather quickly.

“You won’t be banished to the moon like before,” said Blueblood. “You’ll be banished to the deepest pits of Tartarus!” He looked towards the soldiers at the end. “Men! Aim your weapons! Unicorns! Prepare to use your magic!”

“Please don’t!” Rarity pleaded.

“Ready!”

“I’m not Nightmare Moon!”

“Fire!”

The magic bolts shot towards Rarity. She closed her eyes and felt her heart pounding in fear.

“NO!” she cried out. Her horn suddenly glowed a white light and flashed. Everypony in the hallway yelled and covered their eyes. Rarity ducked and could hear the whizzing of the magic bolts. She opened her eyes and saw to her confusion that everypony was flailing around and screaming.

“Don’t just stand there!” barked Blueblood. “Kill her now!”

“I can’t see!” shouted a stallion.

“Then just spray and pray!” Suri screeched.

As Rarity watched everypony try to regain their senses, she noticed Blueblood was not blocking the hallway anymore. Biting her lip, she cautiously tip toed down the hall and tried to slip around the prince.

Almost there, she thought.

Blueblood suddenly turned and grabbed a hoof out. Rarity had to stop herself from gasping as his hoof was inches from her. She took a deep breath and slowly avoided the hoof. As soon as she got around the prince, she trotted slowly down the hallway.

Her eye suddenly caught her attention and she turned her head. A sign was near a door with a picture of stairs on it. There was also a message below reading Roof Access: Maintenance Personnel Only.

Rarity let out a sigh of relief. “Finally.”

Blueblood’s ears perked and he turned his head. “Got you!” His horn glowed and he shot out a lightning bolt.

Rarity yelped and ducked. She quickly grabbed the door handle and turned it. The door opened, and she wasted no time in climbing up the stairway.

Blueblood groaned and his eyes became less blurry until his eyes came back into full focus. “Well that was a bit of a setback.”

“Sir!” a stallion shouted. “She’s gotten away!”

Blueblood scowled and turned his head, but his frown turned to a sinister smile. “Oh, no she hasn’t. If anything, she’s walked right where I want her.” He turned around and waved a hoof. “Follow me at once!”

“SIR!” the group shouted, and followed behind the prince.

Rarity panted as she slowly climbed up to the top of the steps. She wiped her forehead. “Perhaps I should take up some of Rainbow’s cardio classes.”

She looked up and saw an overhead light dimly illuminating a door. She turned the knob, and pushed the door open. As Rarity stepped out onto the roof, she could feel a gust of wind hit her. She could hear the sound of thunder rumbling, and a few flashes of lightning lit up the night sky. Rarity paid no mind to it as she looked around the roof. There were several air vents and three large generators around the place. There was also a large air conditioner near the small outcrop Rarity emerged from.

Rarity looked around the surrounding building, and frowned as she looked up. The building was taller than the studio, making it impossible for her to go to a nearby building. Her ears suddenly perked up as she heard the distant sound of sirens. She trotted over to a nearby edge looked over it. Even ten stories up, Rarity could make out the lights of police carriages. A large crowd had gathered outside the studio, and Rarity could faintly see several ponies pushing them back.

She took a step back and looked around again. Her eyes then caught something glowing to the side. She turned her head and noticed the building to her left had a skyscraper fire escape. Rarity galloped over to the edge and took a look at how far the building was from her. She looked back and forth for a couple of seconds.

“If I can jump over there, I can probably run down the stairs and escape into the alleys,” said Rarity. She took several steps back. “It’s not that far, but I should be able to make it over there.”

She took several deep breaths. “One...two...three…” Rarity took off at a gallop and headed towards the building in front of her. She gasped and felt winded from her earlier running, but she shook it off. As she neared the ledge, she prepared to make her leap.

“Raise the forcefield, now!”

Suddenly, Rarity saw in front of her a purple shield forming before her eyes. The energy reached up around the roof, and made its way down the studio. Soon, the whole building was covered in the forcefield. Rarity could hear the distant sounds of ponies screaming from below. She then heard hoofsteps approaching, and slowly turned around.

Her eyes widened, as Blueblood and Suri each stood there with a smirk. From behind the air vents and air conditioner, a group of ponies ranging from unicorns to pegasi emerged from behind them. Another stallion approached Blueblood and saluted. The prince saluted back at him.

“Your trap seems to have paid off,” he said.

“That it has, Heavy,” said the prince. “However, your forces will ensure she remains trapped.” He turned to look at Rarity. “I’m going to give you credit, Nightmare Moon. You were willing to take a leap of faith to make your escape. I guess without your precious wings, you couldn’t make a good getaway.”

“Blueblood, I’m telling you!” Rarity cried out, “I’m not Nightmare Moon!”

“Silence!” boomed the prince. “Your mind control won’t work on us. We’ve been trained to resist such a thing.”

“Are you even listening to yourself!?” Rarity yelled in frustration. “I. Have. No. Mind control! Even Twilight is unable to do that!”

Blueblood scratched his chin. “Twilight, you say? Ah, my aunt’s student. Don’t worry, I’ll send her along with your other friends with you to Tartarus once you’re done for.”

Rarity narrowed her eyes, and tried to concentrate some energy into her horn. As she tried to though, she felt a little faint, and her horn only shot out a few sparks. Rarity gasped and tried to steady herself.

Prince Blueblood laughed coldly. “What’s wrong? All the running tire you out?” he mocked. His horn then glowed, and he looked over at Heavy.

The brown stallion nodded and turned to the group of ponies. “MEN!” he bellowed. “Prepare to fire!”

Rarity tried to get something out, but she didn’t have the energy.

“READY!”

The unicorns’ horns glowed.

“AIM!”

Rarity closed her eyes. ...Help me.

“FI– ARGH!” Blueblood screamed.

Rarity opened her eyes, and everypony else turned around. They all saw Prince Blueblood struggling and yelling as Spike was holding onto his face and clawing at him.

“Get off me!” he ordered. “You’re ruining my good looks!”

“What good looks!?” yelled Spike.

Blueblood looked over at Heavy Duty and the soldiers. “What are you waiting for!? Hearth’s Warming Day!? Kill this dragon at once!”

“Not a very good idea!” yelled Spike as he punched Blueblood again. “You sure you want to risk getting hit and possibly killed to get me?”

Blueblood gasped and looked over at the ponies readying to fire. “BELAY THAT ORDER!” he frantically shouted.

Heavy turned around. “You heard him! Lower those weapons!”

“But what do we do now?” one stallion asked.

“How about we kick your flanks?”

The stallion turned around, and before he knew it, he was tackled by a blue blur. Another stallion was kicked and knocked into a group of ponies, who all fell over. Two ponies turned around, but were suddenly hit with a small cannonball and confetti. The platoon of soldiers, Heavy, and Suri turned around and saw Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Fluttershy with confident looks on them.

Heavy smirked. “Ah, so you must be the friends of our prey.”

“And you’re one of the meanies after Rarity!” Pinkie yelled back.

“Not the most witty pony I see,” said Heavy. “You all saved us the trouble of hunting you down. It’s brave you all came for your so called friend, but look around you. You’re outnumbered 30 to 1. However, we’ll make sure your deaths are quick and painless, unlike Nightmare Moon here.”

“She’s not Nightmare Moon!” yelled Rainbow. “She just looks like her because–”

“Oh, don’t you say anything like that,” interrupted Heavy. “We heard that from our former associate.”

“Quick Note?” wondered Applejack.

The brown stallion smirked. “He still lives? I thought when Blueblood threw him over the walkway, he fell to his death. We’ll deal with him soon enough.”

“WHOA!”

The group turned around, and saw that Blueblood finally got his hooves on Spike and held him from the tail. Spike gulped a little as he looked into the furious, and scratched up, face of Blueblood.

“Insolent little dragon!” the prince barked. “I’ll make some boots out of your scales!”

Blueblood tossed Spike, and the dragon was sent hitting and skidding against the ground. Spike grunted and yelled as he felt the scraping against him. He eventually came to a stop in front of another pony.

Rarity felt her stomach flip and hoarsely screamed, “Spikey Poo!”

Spike groaned as he opened his eyes. His vision was distorted and a bit bleary, but he could make out a pink mare smirking at him. He rubbed his eyes, and he got a better look at the mare. Another flash of lightning shot across the sky, and Spike gasped as he saw the mare. He crawled away and pointed at her.

“You!” yelled Spike in a furious tone. “You’re that fashion designer Rarity told me about! You’re Suri Polomare, aren’t you?”

Suri chuckled to herself. “So I am. Who knew that Rarity kept such strange company in the form of a dragon?”

“I could ask you the same thing about helping Blueblood.,”

Suri narrowed her eyes. “If that ungrateful and selfish mare just learned that it’s everypony for themselves in the big city, and not turn Coco and the rest of Manehatten against me, I wouldn’t be here.”

“Sounds like you got what you deserved,” spat Spike. “An ugly mare like you–”

“UGLY!?” screeched Suri. She trotted over and kicked Spike. The dragon screamed in pain and held his stomach. “YOU DARE TO CALL ME UGLY!?”

Before Suri could kick Spike again, she felt something hot whiz past her. She then heard a small booming noise, and turned to see the air duct was badly damaged and sizzling.

“Get. Away. From him.” a voice warned in an icy tone.

Suri and everypony else turned to reveal Rarity looking beside herself, gritting her teeth with rage.

Blueblood narrowed his eyes and turned to Heavy. “You know what to do!”

Heavy nodded and looked at his soldiers. “Men! Get after Rarity’s friends, and make sure they stay out of our way! The prince, Suri, and I will deal with Nightmare Moon ourselves!”

The soldiers saluted. “YES, SIR!”

Applejack looked at her friends. “Rainbow, you try and keep those pegasi busy. Maybe you can tire them out.”

Rainbow smirked. “Heh! I’ll do more than that!”

“Pinkie, you and I are going to take care of these varmints,” said the farmer pony.

The pink mare nodded. “And I know just what to use!”

Applejack then turned to Fluttershy. “You need to go get Spike, and try to see if he’s okay.”

The pegasus nodded. “I’ll try.”

“Get them!” ordered Heavy.

Rainbow flew off into the sky and looked at the small group of pegasi. “Hey, soldier boys!” she teased. “Think you can handle a real flyer?”

One of the pegasus narrowed his eyes. “Encircle her at once, and start giving chase, boys!” he ordered.

“SIR!” the pegasi shouted in unison.

Eight pegasi flew over and formed a circle around Rainbow. The blue pegasus watched in anticipation as the group circled around her, like a group of sharks around their prey. Rainbow narrowed her eyes as the pegasi smirked at her.

“If you guys think that’s going to scare me, think again!” boasted Rainbow.

“It’s not us you should be worried about,” said one pegasus.

Rainbow quirked an eyebrow, and looked at all of the pegasi. “One...two...three…” Something inside her head clicked as she counted them all. There’s only eight? I thought there were nine.

She looked around for another pegasus, but some whooshing noise caught her attention. She looked up and saw a pegasus dive bombing towards her.

Rainbow gasped. “WHOA!” she flew out of the way just as the pegasus was about to collide into her.

The pegasus’ confident look changed to one of panic as he missed his target, and was diving towards the roof. He tried to stop himself and fly upwards, but it was too late. He hit the roof hard and cracked parts of it. The rest of his fellow pegasi looked down and heard him groan as he laid down on his stomach and was twitching wildly.

Rainbow smirked and chuckled a little. “Is that seriously the best you got?”

The pegasi looked up at Rainbow with furious looks on them. They all started flying towards her.

The pegasus smirked. “Bring it on!”

---

“Oof!” Applejack grunted as a punch hit her in the face. She staggered back and bumped into somepony else. She turned around to raise her hoof.

“Wait, Jackie!”

The farmer pony lowered her hoof,\ and saw Pinkie facing her. She let out a sigh of relief. “Sorry, sugarcube, but I’m barely holding my own against these guys.” She raised her hind legs and bucked a pony galloping towards her.

“Look out!” yelled Pinkie. She grabbed Applejack and pulled her to the ground. A lightning bolt whizzed past them, and a loud explosion came shortly after.

Pinkie stood up and smiled. “Hey, guys!” She pulled out of her mane two orange pineapples. “Catch!” She threw the two objects.

Applejack gasped. “Pinkie! What in tarnation are you doing!?” she demanded. “You know what those–”

“Just say cheese,” said Pinkie in a chipper tone.

The orbs hit the ground near a group of unicorns. They looked down and seemed puzzled. Before one of them could say anything, a loud boom sounded off, and the splattering of cheese could be heard. Eight ponies struggled and tried to shout out for help, but the cheese had all but completely covered them.

Applejack looked at Pinkie and nodded. “I may have to rethink about what I said about cheese.”

Pinkie smiled. “Aww! I think Cheesy will be so happy to hear that.”

Applejack got up and shook her head. “Not that kind of cheese sugarcu–AAH!”

The farmer pony groaned as she felt a powerful blast hit her on the side. She fell over, and was clutching the area where she was hit. Pinkie looked up and saw a group of unicorns and several Earth ponies approaching them.

“Nice little toy you got there,” one of them said. “But we got the big guns here.” His horn, along with the others, glowed brightly.

Pinkie looked at them puzzled for a few seconds. She then chuckled slowly to herself, and then started laughing loudly. The guards looked at each other with confused expressions on them.

“What’s so funny?” wondered one of them.

Pinkie pointed and chuckled. “You sillies! Those aren’t the big guns.”

One of the unicorns smirked. “Then what are they?”

Pinkie’s expression changed to one of insanity as she pulled out from her mane two small cannons and pointed them. The unicorns gasped.

“What the hay is that!?” one of the guards asked.

“It’s how we really get this party started!” said Pinkie.

Two small cannonballs shot out of the cannons. Before the group of unicorns could react, both balls each hit two of them. They yelled in pain and were sent flying before skidding to the ground. The remaining guards looked shocked, but one turned back at Pinkie with a furious look on his face.

“GET HER!” he barked.

“But the cannons!” one guard shouted.

“Ignore their fire! Take her down at once!”

The guards hesitated, but warily nodded at their leader. Several of the Earth ponies charged in, and the unicorns’ horns glowed.

Pinkie smiled. “I love it when a party gets really wild.” She pulled the string and fired two more cannonballs.

As the cannons went off, Fluttershy looked towards Spike, who was slowly getting up. She quickly, but quietly, trotted towards him.

---

Rarity shot out an energy blast as she galloped. Prince Blueblood noticed it, and moved to the left as he gave chase. Rarity turned around, and gasped as she saw Heavy Duty leaping towards her. She ducked out of the way of the brown stallion, and quickly got back up again. She then turned around and shot out a few more energy bolts towards Blueblood and Heavy. They both dodged the attack, but the impact near them cause them to fall over to the ground.

Rarity panted and wiped her forehead. “Take that you ruffians!” Amidst all the noise though, something caught Rarity’s ear.

“...Ugh…”

Rarity looked over and saw Spike getting up, while Fluttershy was trying to tend to him. She gasped and galloped towards him.

“I’m coming Spikey Wi–OOF!”

Rarity felt something hit her hard in the side of her face. She staggered and nearly fell over. As she regained her balance and rubbed her cheek, Rarity looked over and saw somepony standing nearby. It was Suri with a wicked smile and holding her hoof up.

“That was for my career!” she barked.

Rarity narrowed her eyes. “Suri! I know you’re angry at me, but you must believe me when I say that I am not Nightmare Moon!”

Suri scoffed, and said in an icy tone, “Save it! I’ve been waiting for this day for so long. While killing you was one of the last things I wanted to do to you, I can’t pass up such an opportunity to rid the world of you, and be a hero for killing Nightmare Moon.”

“But it’s the truth!”

Rarity suddenly felt something shoot pass her. She heard a loud boom, and turned to see Prince Blueblood was up and aiming his horn at her.

“You can keep on telling us that, but we already know the truth,” said the prince.

Rarity took a step back and kept her eyes on Blueblood.

“And the world shall soon know the awful truth about your betrayal and fall from grace,” said Heavy.

Rarity’s ears perked as she heard the voice and turned around. Before she could react, a hoof came right at her, and connected right into her face. She screamed in pain and stumbled back.

“And then the world will see us as the new heroes of Equestria,” said Suri. She galloped and punched Rarity in the face again. The unicorn yelled in agony as she staggered back again.

---

Rainbow punched another pegasus and sent him down to the ground. “Is that all you guys got?” she mocked.

“AAHH!!”

The blue pegasus looked down and saw Rarity screaming as she was getting overwhelmed. She gasped and flew down towards her.

“Hold on, Rarity!” yelled Rainbow. “I’m co–ACK!”

The blue pegasus was suddenly blindsided by another pegasus, and the two of them went down. A black pegasus smirked and punched Rainbow in the face.

“Not bad for a pegasus who isn’t a real flyer in your eyes,” he smugly said.

Rainbow struggled to get out of the pegasi’s grip, but more of them came flying towards her. The black pegasus held Rainbow’s body and exposed her chest. The other pegasi smirked deviously as they pummeled and beat Rainbow Dash. All she could do was helplessly struggle against her attackers. She grunted and yelled as one punch after another hit her.

Soon, the punches stopped, and Rainbow was trying to stay awake as the world around her went fuzzy and black. She did see a shadowy figure fly up in her face, and looked up. The next thing she knew, she was hit again, and the world around her fell into darkness.

Pinkie laughed wildly as she fired one cannon after another. A few unicorns shielded themselves while a couple of them tried to strike back, but were hit by the cannon’s shots. Applejack, who had gotten up, bucked and kicked a few more ponies coming towards them.

The farmer pony panted as she kicked another pony. She heard some grunting noises from above and looked up. She gasped as she saw Rainbow was beaten and bruised by the pegasi.

“Rainbow!” she cried out.

Pinkie heard the yelling as she fired another shot, and turned around. She gasped at the sight. “Oh, no!” She pulled the cannon string again to fire, but the only thing that came out of it was the sound of a balloon deflating. “Double oh, no!”

Applejack turned back to Pinkie, and her eyes widened. “Make that triple oh, no.” The girls saw the unicorns lowering their shields and smiled sinisterly at them.

“Oh, yes indeed,” one of the guards said.

Pinkie bit her lip, but a bulb clicked in her head, and gasped. “I got it!” she announced. “But first things first.” She reached into her ear, and pulled something. A clicking noise went off.

Applejack looked dumbfounded. “What was that?”

“My idea bulb,” said Pinkie nonchalantly.

“Your what?”

“That’s not important, Jackie,” said Pinkie. She reached into her mane and pulled out an orange orb. “This is going to save us.”

“Pinkie, I don’t think that’s going to help us much,” said Applejack.

“Have I ever steered you wrong?” wondered Pinkie.

Applejack gave her an unamused expression.

Pinkie chuckled awkwardly. “Just watch,” she said. “Cheesy did say to use it in queso emergency!” The party mare laughed wildly at her own joke. She kept laughing until she saw the irritated expression of Applejack, and her laughter soon went away.

“Um...let’s just use it,” said Pinkie. She pulled the pin and threw it in the air. “This should be gou–”

“You make one more cheese pun, and you’ll have more holes in ya than a block of swiss cheese,” threatened Applejack in an icy tone.

Pinkie clamped up immediately and nodded nervously.

They both watched the grenade soar into the air, and was heading down towards the guards. Before it could land though, the orb was surrounded in a yellow aura, and was levitating.

Applejack noticed it, and gasped. “Pinkie, watch out!”

The grenade was hurled back at them, and they tried to get away. As they both galloped away though, the sound of something hitting the ground rang out. It went on for a few seconds as it bounced a little before a loud boom went out. Applejack and Pinkie turned around, and saw the cheese goop headed towards them. The ran again, but the cheese hit both ponies around the legs and part of the lower bodies.

Applejack struggled to move her body. Like her first time though, she had no luck with it. She looked at Pinkie with an angry expression. “I changed my mind about what I said about cheese,” she said.

Pinkie smiled nervously at Applejack.

The guards surrounded Applejack and Pinkie, and began trotting towards them.

---

Rarity screamed again as she was hit with another energy blast. She fell to the ground and was holding her side. She heard hoofsteps approaching her, and looked up to see a smug looking Prince Blueblood. She tried to concentrate some of her magic into her horn, but Blueblood noticed the sparks coming from her horn, and smacked her. The prince then grabbed Rarity’s head and turned it. Rarity gasped at the sight before her.

“Look upon it, Rarity,” said Blueblood.

The unicorn tried to turn away, but Blueblood forced Rarity to look at the sight. In front of her were her friends being surrounded by the soldiers. Rainbow was being brought down by the pegasi, and was restrained. Pinkie and Applejack were struggling to move, but one unicorn put a force field over them, and another took away Pinkie’s party cannons.

Rarity closed her eyes and felt her heart sink in despair. “No!” she cried out.

“There’s no use in fighting back anymore, Nightmare Moon,” said the prince. He turned Rarity’s back towards him. She gasped as she saw his horn charging and smiling wickedly. “Your reign of terror is over. When you get to Tartarus, tell your dead minions I said hello.”

Rarity desperately struggled out of Blueblood’s grasp. “I won’t let you do this to my friends!” She concentrated all her energy and determination into her magic. She felt a little fatigued from the running, but she shrugged it off. Her horn charged up and she shot out a lightning bolt.

“ARGH!” Blueblood yelled in pain.

He moved his head out of the way, but apparently not fast enough. The side of his face had a burn mark scratching him. He rubbed it for a moment as he felt the shock hit him. It quickly gave way to anger as he looked back at Rarity, and his eyes narrowed.

He slapped her again. “How dare you!?” he barked. “I am doing the world a favor in removing a social elite pretender, and a traitor!”

Rarity tried to lift her hoof, but felt something pressing against it. She looked to her left and saw Suri was holding her hoof down. She then looked the other way and saw Heavy doing the same thing. Rarity looked back at Blueblood again and gasped. His horn was glowing brightly and pointing at her.

“The moon will most likely be nothing compared to your imprisonment in Tartarus,” said the prince in an icy tone.

As Rarity looked at the horn, she tried to move again, but to no avail. She gulped and closed her eyes as she accepted her fate.

“Help me,” she whimpered.

Blueblood lowered his horn and smiled.

“GET AWAY FROM HER!” a voice boomed over all the chaos..

“Wait, no!” a mare cried out.

Rarity’s ears perked up. Fluttershy? she wondered. And that other voice…

Blueblood turned around. “Who dares to–WHAT THE!?” The prince saw something lunge at him and cover his face.

Rarity opened her eyes slowly, and saw, to her shock, Spike was holding onto Prince Blueblood’s face for dear life. The prince was shaking his head and reaching his hooves for the dragon. Spike narrowly avoided the attempts, and used his hands to scratch at Blueblood’s face.

“GET OFF ME!” Blueblood bellowed. “When I’m through with you, the only thing that’ll remain of you is your skin for my boots!”

“I won’t let you hurt Rarity!” Spike yelled.

Rarity looked on at the struggle between the prince and Spike, and felt her heart skip a beat. “...Spikey,” she whispered.

Blueblood flailed his hoof around his face. He felt something skinny, but pointy. He smirked. “Got ya!”

Spike felt the grip, and looked to see his tail was being held by Blueblood’s hoof. He narrowed his eyes. “Oh, no you don’t!” he yelled. He opened his mouth and lunged at the hoof.

Blueblood suddenly felt a sharp pain in his hoof, and his eyes widened. He released his grip and waved his hoof around in agony.

“YEOWCH!” he cried out in pain. The prince felt the spit from Spike on his hoof, and gritted his teeth.

“You barbarian!” he yelled. “Biting a prince is your idea of fighting!? No wonder your pathetic town of Ponyville is full of slobs and ponies with no class!”

“Says the prince who can’t even do the most simple ways to treat a lady!” Spike shot back.

“What!?” Blueblood barked.

Spike raised his hand to scratch Blueblood again. “Now I’m going to–”

The dragon never got to finish his sentence, as he suddenly felt something pulling his arm. He turned his head and saw Heavy Duty was holding his arm. He then felt another hoof grab him, and looked to see Blueblood was pulling his other arm off of him. The dragon tried to hold on, but the two ponies pulled him off. Spike flailed around as he tried to fight back, but he was suddenly lifted into the air. He noticed a yellow aura around him, and he was pulled in close to a livid Blueblood.

“Let me show you how I treat those who get in my way!” he boomed.

The prince slammed Spike into the ground, causing the dragon to yell in pain.

Rarity gasped. “Spikey!”

She tried to get up, but was pushed back down.

“I don’t think so,” mocked Suri in a singing voice.

Rarity narrowed her eyes at Suri, but the sound of Spike’s screaming caught her attention again. She looked over and saw the dragon was being held up by Blueblood.

“I was going to let you live once I freed you and those other ponies of Nightmare Moon’s control,” said Blueblood. “However, I don’t think the media will mind knowing a dragon defended his dark, queen to the bitter end, and couldn’t be saved.”

Blueblood heard some hoofsteps and turned his head. He saw Fluttershy trotting her way to the door. The yellow pegasus looked at him, and yelped. She made a quick run to the door, and galloped down the steps.

Heavy narrowed his eyes. “I got this.” He began trotting to the door.

“Leave her,” ordered Blueblood.

The brown stallion raised an eyebrow. “Your highness?”

“She knows she’s beaten,” said Blueblood. “When we free her and the others of Nightmare’s control over them, she’ll be thanking me.” He looked back at Spike. “For now, I have one last thorn to take care of.”

The prince threw Spike to the ground, and began punching him. The dragon yelled and cried out in pain as one punch after another hit him. All the while, Rarity looked on in horror as Blueblood hammered the dragon. The more Blueblood hit Spike, the quieter his yells of pain were. The prince then delivered one big punch, which made Spike cry out loudly before he closed his eyes, and groaned in pain.

Rarity could feel tears building in her eyes. “Spike!” she screeched in horror.

Suri felt Rarity’s attempts to get up, and tried to hold her down. This time though, the unicorn squirmed out of her grasp, and pushed Suri away. Rarity got up and galloped towards Spike.

Please be okay, Rarity pleaded.

As Rarity got near Spike, she gasped at the sight of her friend. Spike was bleeding from the nose, and his body was swelling up from the beatings. The dragon was breathing, but was sounding very raspy in doing so. Rarity went over and grabbed Spike’s body. As she cradled him in her arms, tears began rolling down her face, and her body was shaking violently.

“Spikey...no…” she said in a broken voice. She clutched his body, and looked down to him.

As Rarity began to cry, another loud rumble of thunder echoed across the sky, and rain began to pour.