Chapter 39: Nightmare Stars 4

"How?"

Princess Luna shivered as she stared up at the moon, slowly descending towards the earth, as the inky-black painting of the Mare on the Moon locked eyes with her.

"We defeated her! We blasted her with the Elements and everything!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed angrily, her eyes glaring at the moon up above.

"Oh no..." Luna took a step back before stopping as a white hoof rested on her shoulder.

"Luna," Celestia asked, a worried look on her face as she stared down at her younger sister, "Is everything alright?"

Luna stared up at her sister, before taking a look at all the ponies gathered, "Let's speak somewhere more comfortable," She told them all and turned around, her hooves carrying her to the Ponyville Library.

Soon both Princesses, The remaining Elements of Harmony, the Baby Dragon, and the three fillies, stood inside the library, waiting for Luna to explain.

"Something is happening," Luna started once she had everyone's attention on her "Something we had hoped would never come to pass."

"Did you eat too much Broccoli?" Pinkie Pie jumped with a question, "Sleep through your alarm? Use salt instead of sugar? Accidentally wear your shirt backwards all day? Realize your mom was right about everything?"

Luna blinked in surprise before shaking her head, "When we were trapped as Nightmare Moon, we thought we could show everypony how special we were by making them fear us," She explained, her eyes looking elsewhere as if lost in memory.

"The Nightmare Forces somehow knew exactly what to say to convince us... To give us their energy and hate." Luna continued, ignoring the fillies mouthing the words Nightmare Forces.

"After our curse was broken by the Elements of Harmony," Luna continued her story, "We believed the forces of Darkness would wither and die... But we were wrong."

"Legend says that if the Nightmare Forces can harness enough strength through the cycle of the new moon, they are granted one more chance..."

"One more chance to what?" Twilight Sparkle, The Element of Magic asked.

"To claim what Nightmare Moon promised- an All Powerful Kingdom of their own!" Luna shouted, standing on her hind legs and spreading her front legs and wings wide, an image of the sun appearing behind her before being covered up by the inky and shadowy clouds of the Nightmare, creating a pseudo solar eclipse of Nightmares blotting out the sun.

"Then It's time for action!" Rainbow Dash yelled, her blood pumping as the thought of kicking the ass of Nightmare Moon and Saving Rarity appeared in her mind.

"But why take Rarity?" Applejack interjected, "What does that Gobbledy-Goo care a flying feather about us?"

Luna took only a second to think of the answer before taking a deep breath and telling them, "Together you possess the Elements of Harmony, Which have defeated the Dark Forces before," The three fillies in the room once more mouthed the words Dark Forces, confused as to which type of Forces they're really called.

"Now they will come after all of you- The only ponies who can defeat them... And destroy your home-"

"PONYVILLE!" The ponies all exclaimed in shock before they started moving around in a hurry.

"We need to go get Rarity home in a jiffy!" Applejack exclaimed loudly, followed by Rainbow Dash complaining that she was trying to get the rescue started all along.

"But how do six ponies and a baby dragon get to the moon?" Fluttershy asked.

"Okay, Hear me out-," Rainbow Dash said, "We get an enlarging ray and shoot me with it. Then I'll carry you all to the moon and -Surprise!- A Million ponies jump out and stomp those Moonies to bits!"

"Don't you little ponies worry," Princess Celestia told the group, "I know a way."

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At the top of a tower, connecting to a castle on the moon, Nightmare Moon frowned as something started interfering with her magic.

"Larry," She said calmly, a beaked figure covered in wispy and smoky shadows materialized next to her.

"Oh glorious Nightmare," The Nightmare creature asked, his shadowy hands rubbing against each other, "What is it that you called me for?"

The Unicorn that was Nightmare Moon looked from her tower and to the earth below, "Why has the moon stopped its descent?" She asked, her eyes not leaving the small town near the Everfree Forest.

"I shall go and check right away," Larry, or as he would call himself, Shadowfright, told her before his body dissipated into a cloud of black wind as he flew away.

Leaving Nightmare Moon alone atop the tower.

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"This is just a regular Lasso," Applejack said as she looked at the rope that Princess Celestia brought.

"It's not just any regular Lasso," She told the group, as her horn started to glow gold, a miniature sun forming from the golden aura at the tip of her horn as the rope started to levitate and grow.

Before the rope became so long, it wrapped around the moon, Halting its descent and creating a path for the ponies to reach their friend.

"You all go ahead," Celestia told Luna and the Elements, "I'll stay here and begin to prepare Ponyville, Good luck."

Staring at her older sister, Luna smiled, "Thank you,"

"What are we waiting for? Let's get moving!" Rainbow Dash yelled at the group before flying upwards, making sure to stay close to the rope.

"You heard her girls! Let's move!" Twilight Sparkle yelled as she stepped onto the rope, slowly balancing her way up.

And as the group walked up the long rope, The two Pegasi and the Alicorn flew, They soon made it close enough to the moon that they could see the clouds of shadows that were made of the Mare on the Moon, hiding the castle somewhere underneath the inky darkness.

And when they reach the castle, they reach Rarity.

Only that tragedy struck.

And with a snapping sound, the rope that held the moon broke, throwing the ponies and dragon down toward the moon.

Making fast work, the Pegasi and Alicorn quickly caught the falling ponies, Luna's horn glowing as her magic tried to catch all of them, "Just a little longer!" She called out.

Soon, the blue glow from Luna's horn enveloped the group, slowly guiding their fall into one of the dark spots of the moon.

"Great," Rainbow Dash grumbled loudly as she bumped into a rock under the pitch-black darkness of the Nightmare Cloud.

"Finding Rarity in pitch black? No problem at all,"

"Let us take care of that," Luna said, and with a glow to her horn, the darkness fled, letting the group see where they were, "However, now they'll know where we are,"

"And who is They exactly?" Twilight asked the princess.

"When the Nightmare Energy came back to life, It needed a form to take," She told the group, "Unfortunately, The peaceful inhabitants of the Moon became its victims and are now trapped under its spell."

Fluttershy gasped, "How could they do that to sweet little animals?"

Luna answered, "They aren't sweet anymore..."

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"Hey, Larry! How's your day?" A Nightmare creature asked his coworker, who quickly turned to him and slammed him into the wall, His arms taking the form of large mallets.

"It's not Larry you idiot! It's Shadowfright!" The leader of the Nightmare Forces, the Nightmare that orchestrated the revival of Nightmare Moon and the Kidnapping of the two Unicorns yelled at his underling before pausing as he felt a group of ponies enter one of his Nightmare Clouds.

"Actually..." Larry- I mean Shadowfright turned to look at his underling, "I have a job for you..."

The white-eyed and flat-faced Moon creature gulped as his red-eyed and Beak-faced boss looked at him.