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Twilight looked at Princess Luna. A part of her wanted to yell that Luna had left the Princess behind, but she knew that wasn't true. Luna was Celestia's little sister, she'd never leave her sister unless she absolutely had to. "The Elements?" she asked, looking at the chest.

"Oh my, this must be bad if we need the Elements Of Harmony again," said Rarity, now getting worried.

Fluttershy looked to the group. "Well...we're together...if we don't let a big meanie seperate us, we'll be fine..."

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Celestia groaned in pain, unsure of how he'd beaten her so badly. Even Discord wasn't this violent. "W-why do you keep calling me your mother?"

"Oh it's simple, really," said Ruin, leaning down next to her ear. "But as for now, I'll keep that a secret, it'll be so much more exciting to tell both you and your sister at the same time. I can't wait to see the look on your faces."

Twilight nodded, floating the case over the openning it to reveal the Elements of Harmony. "Alright, girls, lets get our Elements and help the Princess," she said, floating her crown over and placing it on her head. She floated them over to respective users.

Fluttershy watched her Element of Harmony go around her neck. "But remember, we can't let ourselves be seperated like Discord did."

Rarity doned her necklace and nodded. "She's quite right," she said, looking to Rainbow Dash, who was normally the first one to rush headlong ahead, though thankfully Applejack was there nine times out of ten to catch her.


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"You'll never get your hooves on Luna..." muttered Celestia, but in took much pain to really do anything to stop him at this point.

"Oh, really?" asked Ruin, giving a dark chuckle. "Well one scream from you ought to bring her running in a hoofbeat," he stated, beginning to grind his hoof into her back cruely.

Celestia bit her tongue, trying not to scream. If she did, her sister would surely sense her pain and come rushing back. However, Ruin suddenly stopped on her wing with his other front leg, the suprise causing her to jolt up and let out a scream of agony.

Twilight gasped, looking at the palace. "We'd better hurry..." she said, then looked to Luna. "Princess Luna, you'd better head on and help Princess Celestia, we've got to go all together, but you can move faster than us right now."

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Ruin waited a moment, then slammed his weight down on Celestia's wing, causing her to scream out again. "That should do it, now the trap is set and I'll wait for little Princess Luna to come to her big sister's aid," he mocked. "Oh, and there's this," he said, tying Celestia's mouth shut. "That way you can't warn her," he stated, smiling and disappearing into smoke.

Twilight seemed horrified by the possibility Celestia may be defeated...or worse, but nodded, trying to be confedient. "You can count on us, Princess Luna," she replied with a serious tone. "If there's one thing I learned from when we fought Discord, it's that if we're together, there's nothing we can't accomplish."

Fluttershy gave a small nod. "That's right...I can't do anything for myself...Discord was right, I am weak and helpless most of the time...but when I'm protecting everypony else, I can do a lot of stuff..." she admitted with a meek smile.

Rarity nodded. "And this time, we're ready for such tricks as that brute played on us. It shant happen again."

Twilight nodded. "Alright, let's show this guy what friendship is all about," she said, waiting for the Princess to lead the way.

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"Oh bother," said Ruin, somehow knowing what's going on. Five shadows spread out from him, taking on the form of ghostly ponies. "Distract the Elements of Harmony at the gates while I deal with the Princess of the night, I can't deal with both of them at once," he ordered, the shadows nodding and taking off.

Suddenly, a shadow moved out of Twilight's and joined with the other five.

Fluttershy let out a tiny scream, seeing this. "D-did anypony else see that?" she asked startled, having seen the shadow move.

"See what, Fluttershy?" asked Twilight, not really paying attention as she got set with the rest of the group.

Fluttershy looked behind them and froze up then fearfully tried to get someone else's attention but her voice was below a little squeek.

The shadows swirled around, which was what Fluttershy was trying to alert the group too. Each took a physical shape of a completely black, see through pony. Two were Earth Ponies, two Pegasi, and two Unicorns in appearence, but their physical features were difficult to make out outside glowing red eyes. They were out of site of Princess Luna at the moment.

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Ruin snickered and vanished into a puff of smoke. "Here she comes..." he whispered, waiting.

Celestia lay badly beaten on the floor, bleeding from her head wound, her white fur stained red in places. The way she was laying, Luna wouldn't be able to see her bound mouth.

"What is it, Fluttershy?" asked Twilight in a somewhat annoyed fashion, as she was concentraiting on the doors. Fluttershy pretty much twirled her around to see the shadows. "Uh oh..."

Rarity looked back and jumpped. "What are those things? Ugh, black and red just doesn't look good on a pony."

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Ruin chuckled and shapeshifted into Celestia. "Sister! Help! I'm hurt! Please!" he yelled in Celestia voice from the same room the badly wounded princess of the day was in. "I know just the form to take care of her," he whispered to himself, in a swirl of smoke transforming into Nightmare Moon and then vanishing into black smoke so Luna could find her beaten sister first for added effect.

"I'm going to guess, not good," said Twilight, eyeing the shadow-like ponies.

The six shadows swirled around one another, merging into the form of a black furred Manticore simular to the one the group had faced before. It snarled and ran at them with teeth bared.

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Celestia could only lay with her back to the door, Ruin having bond her legs as well to keep her how he wanted. She tried to slip out of them before Luna could arrive, but alread heard her sister's hoofbeats coming and with herself imbolized could do nothing.