Chapter 42: Nightmare Stars 7
High above the surface of the world, above the topmost layers of clouds, Two Alicorns flew at their top speeds toward the moon, chasing after the escaped Nightmare.
"Luna!" Celestia yelled over the winds caused by her speed, "You need to capture the Nightmare, We can't let it get away!"
"I Know!" Yelled back the princess of the night, "But Without the Elements of Harmony, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to do!" Her voice was distorted by the loud winds.
"You'll do great! All you need to do is-" Celestia's yell was cut off as a heavy piece of metal slammed into her torso, knocking her off course, and plummeting down toward the surface of the moon.
"Sister!" Luna yelled, turning to fly after her before being cut off by her older sister's yell.
"Ignore me! Go after the Nightmare! I'll catch up soon!" Luna nodded, flying directly at the castle on the moon, passing by a small armory of flying weapons, ranging from swords and spears, axes and clubs, all covered and controlled by wriggling black shadow.
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Spinning her body mid-fall, Celestia managed to land on her hooves, quickly dashing forward as she avoided a rain of sharp blades from impacting her.
A flap of her wings and she was once again in the air, the lowered gravity of the moon allowing her better maneuverability, as she dodged and flew around more and more blades.
A blast of golden magic from her horn, and a nearby axe was caught in her magic, the shadows that enveloped it dispersing like smoke to reveal the golden weapon of old.
"This is doable," She whispered to herself, swinging the axe around her in her magic, deflecting several more swords and dispersing their shadows.
But for every blade she avoided, two more followed, Celestia knew that she had to do something quickly before she will be overtaken by the flying blades.
And so, with a mighty swing of her magic, the axe she held was thrown up into the sky, spinning with inertia as it flew higher and higher into the sky above the moon.
And with a grunt of effort, Celestia blasted a beam of golden light at the axe, hitting it on the head, and causing the reflective gold of the blade to spread the light like a prism, dispersing all shadows in the area, and causing the nearby weapons to fall to the ground like puppets without strings.
And as the axe fell back down, Celestia lifted a leg and caught it by the handle, quickly slamming it down into the floor below her as she laid her front legs on the handle of the axe, the blade in the ground, and she caught her breath.
"Haven't done that in a while," She whispered to herself before chuckling, "I'm out of practice," And with a glow to her horn, all the weapons on the ground lifted themselves from the floor, and flew after her, following her like an army of blades as she flew toward the castle.
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Luna flew into the first balcony she saw, quickly skidding to a stop on the smooth stone floor of the castle as she took a survey of her surroundings.
Things were quiet.
Too quiet.
Something was wrong, The Nightmare should have been making noise, especially after crashing into the castle as it had.
It just wasn't right.
Luna didn't know what it was planning, but whatever it was, she couldn't let it happen.
And so with a face full of determination, ready to stop Nightmare Moon once and for all, Luna took another step into the castle.
And promptly looked down at the previously hidden magic sigil she just stepped on.
"...Crud."
BOOOOOM
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Sitting on the throne in the center of the castle, Shadowfright smiled as Illusionary screens around him showcased the two Princesses that followed, his horn burning a mixture of blue and red light as his own power empowered the spells already known by both Nightmare Moon and Prince Blueblood.
His smile widened as one of the screens in front of him pinged, signaling that one of his spells made contact with its target, and he turned to look, already casting more and more spells, using the knowledge hidden in the Prince's mind he was sure there could be no way for his defeat.
"I will not be defeated, by some pesky ponies," He growled with a smile as the red magic on his horn momentarily overtook the blue, and his spells reapplied themselves.
He growled in discomfort as the blue glow returned to his horn, fighting back against the red aura.
"That's what you get when you force a possession," He grimaced at the flare of pain on his horn, before looking down at the screens in front of him, seeing the golden weapons that Celestia floated around herself turn purple and black as his magic returned.
The smoke from Luna stepping on a mine dispersed, revealing a shield spell that protected the princess at the last moment, explosive sigils on the floor, and walls all around the corridors of the castle.
And the third screen, showing the town of Ponyville, sees a swarm of gold and silver orbs of magic slowly descend upon the town.
Seeing that last screen, Shadowfright smiled in pleasure, his mind going through the faces those traitors would make when they see what he had planned for them.
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"JEROME!" Spike yelled in horror as he ran toward where the Moon Creature that helped him and his friends escape was last seen.
But there was no answer, as the Moon Creature already dispersed into silver smoke during the battle.
"Spike... He's not-" Twilight slowly walked to her little brother, laying her hoof on his shoulder as she tried to speak with him.
Only for the crying baby dragon to remove the appendage from his shoulder as he pulled away from her, his body falling onto his knees as he started clawing at pieces of wood and smashed stone on the ground.
"Help me find him, Twilight!" He yelled as his claws dug through one of the ruined buildings, splinters of wood and broken bricks dusting the area.
"Spike..." Twilight didn't know what to tell him. He never lost anypony before and even though they barely knew Jerome for a few hours, it would be a lie to say that he wasn't their friend.
Twilight opened her mouth to say something to the baby Dragon, only to be interrupted by a loud explosion and a scream of horror.
Wide eyes, all of Ponyville turned to look at the sight that greeted them.
Orbs of magic, Colored either Gold or Silver, floated above the town, eye-looking sigils drawn on the orbs, like eyeballs looking down at them.
Two of the orbs, one gold and one silver, slowly floated down in front of one of the freed Moon Creatures, as they slowly crawled away from the magical orbs.
The Silver orb was slowly spinning around, as if looking at everything in sight, trying to see all, as the gold orb simply stared at the scared moon creature.
Before the Silver orb looked back to the creature, no longer looking around itself, the gold orb started glowing.
"Everypony get down!" One of the guards yelled and many of the ponies listened, throwing themselves down onto the floor, their legs protecting their heads as they lay down on the ground.
And with a quiet Bang sound, a small beam of magic fired from the golden orb, piercing through the forehead of the Moon Creature, causing it to disperse into colorful smoke and float away.
"CARL!!!" One of the Moon Creatures rushed forward, trying to catch the cloud of smoke, only for another beam of gold to pierce their back, dispersing them as well.
And all around Ponyville, Golden Beams of Magic started raining down on the Moon Creatures, dispersing them into colorful clouds of smoke.
Killing them.
"Everypony stay close!" A Familiar voice yelled out, and a Purple Bubble expanded from Ponyville, Pushing the Gold and Silver orbs away, and shielding the remaining Ponies and Moon creatures under the shield.
"Shining!" Twilight yelled, turning to see her older brother glare up at the orbs, his face in concentration as his magic worked overtime to continue the upkeep of the new shield.
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Starlight Glimmer looked up at the orbs beyond the shield, something about how they acted seemed peculiar.
Only the golden orbs fired shots, and the silver orbs merely looked around, staying close to the gold orbs.
Her mind quickly thought of reasons why that would be before a conclusion quickly arrived in her head.
"Spotters and Shooters..." She whispered as the conclusion reached her mind, her horn quickly glowing Aquamarine as she teleported to explain to the Captain.
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Celestia exclaimed in shock as the gold weapons that surrounded her suddenly escaped her control and flew toward her, almost skewering her as she flew.
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Luna slowly flew herself down the corridor, making sure to not touch the wall or floor lest she activated another mine.
Only to pause when she turned into the next corridor, and now the middle of the hallway had lines of sensory lasers running through it.
If she touched one of those, the explosives will activate anyway and the force will almost definitely push her into more mines on the wall or floor.
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Shadowfright leaned back on his throne, a sadistic expression on his face as he watched the screens in front of him.
"This is easy," He said out loud, enjoying his own voice, "How did Nightmare Moon lose three times if this was all I had to do?! HAH!" He laughed.
"I KNEW I WOULD WIN! HAHAHAHA!!!"
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Walking in silence around the small Prison Cell he found himself in, The Blue figure pondered what it was supposed to do.
Its skin wasn't white, nor was it covered in fur. But instead, it was blue, and almost see-through, like a body made of deep blue water.
His Fingers were blue, but they also rippled like water when he tried touching anything, his torso and legs were blue, and his human feet were also blue.
The only place on his body that didn't look like a living body of water, was his face, where instead of a human face, or even a pony face, was simply the compass star that he got used to seeing on his flank.
"What the fuck is this supposed to mean?" He asked out loud, his solid blue feet carrying him around the prison cell.
"Maybe this is what you're subconscious mind is portraying as your soul?" The only other living creature in this cell asked him.
A Single blue eye stared up at him from the tiny clump of living shadows that introduced herself to him as "Nightmare Moon,"
"My soul?" The Blue person asked, "So what? I like the ocean so I look like I'm made of water? I'm blue because that was the color of my magic? I have a humanoid body because I'm human and My face is the Compass Star because that's my Cutie Mark?" The figure asked the clump of living shadows, his voice coming out from a mouth that wasn't there.
"How should I know? I'm not a professional!" The living shadow yelled at the blue figure, her single blue eye glaring at him as he once more got on her nerves.
"You were the one who possessed people!" The Blue man yelled at her, pointing his right hand accusingly at her, "You should know this more than anyone!"
"I Appeared in their Dreams! Not whatever this place is!!!" Nightmare Moon yelled at Blueblood's soul avatar (?)
"If anything, this is because that fool Larry took over your body with force," She then said quietly, her voice still being heard over the quiet atmosphere of the jail cell.
"If he took over your body like I do, through your dreams, We wouldn't be able to hold this conversation anyways," She told him as he took a seat on the bed on the other side of the cell, "If anything, this is wonderful."
"Wonderful how?" Blueblood asked her, feeling his nonexistent eyebrows twitch in annoyance as the Nightmare kept talking without reaching her point.
"Wonderful because we can still move here, you imbecile," She told him, and the Prince had to hold himself from stepping on her like a bug, "And if we can move, that means we could escape!"
Blueblood scoffed at that and looked at the metal bars of the cell, "Excuse me, But If you didn't realize earlier, We are currently in a jail cell," He said slowly, talking down to her as if she was slow.
"So unless the keys suddenly fall into our hands, we're kind of stuck here, seeing as my magic doesn't work, and you can barely move on your own,"
Nightmare Moon blinked slowly at him before her single eye turned away, "I must admit, you might have a point-"
"OH, DO I?"
"-However," Nightmare Moon continued, "This is a prison created subconsciously in order to hold us in, And bars aren't the only way to exit, are they?" She asked, and Blueblood blinked his nonexistent eyes at her before quickly jumping up and running to the mirror above the sink next to the cell's toilet.
Before he balled his hand into a blue fist, and punched the mirror, revealing it to actually be a window leading to a rocky cliff, with a bit of room for him to move through it.
"...You're right," He grumbled in annoyance before turning back to the Nightmare.
"Of course, I'm right you fool, I am- ACK! Let go of me!" The clump of shadows that made up Nightmare Moon's body sputtered in embarrassment as the Blue Prince grabbed her in his hand and placed her on his shoulder, the water-like texture of his skin rippling from where the Nightmare touched him.
"You're the professional here, You're coming with me," Blueblood told the one-eyed clump of darkness as he stepped out of the mirror, and stood at the edge of the cliff.
Looking down, he could see a whirlpool of Blue and Red energy, clashing against each other as they spun at the bottom of the cliff.
"And I think I know where we need to go," He said as he slowly grabbed the rocky cliff he was holding on to, and started the slow and tiring process of climbing down.
To the whirlpool of Blue and Red.