//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: The Spark to Light a Candle // by SPark //------------------------------// The center of the throne room was incandescent with magic. Twilight had to squint to make out the two dark forms, one a little larger than the other, that jostled back and forth within it. The guards had all fled the room, unwilling to stay in the face of such overwhelming power. Twilight couldn't see Spike either, and presumed he too had fled. Only she remained, chained to the floor and unable to leave, to watch the two alicorns do battle. Suddenly the magic flickered and dimmed. Both alicorns stepped back, panting. That they were evenly matched in raw power was hardly a surprise; neither would be able to wear the other down, either, with the moon's near-limitless energy replenishing them both. So it would come down to technique, finesse, and strategy. Simply battering each other with raw power would accomplish nothing. Luna's eyes flickered away from her opponent to Twilight, who, she suddenly realized, was very obviously not in the dungeons to be found by Pinkie Pie and the others. She had just enough time to send a swift mental message to Dale, :Find Pinkie Pie! Tell her to come to the throne room, Twilight is here!: before Nightmare Moon, also realizing that raw power would get her nowhere, lit her horn again to cast a spell. A raging ball of flame shot at Luna, and Luna actually laughed. The same spell, the exact same spell, that she had first thought of the very first time she had practiced dueling with Celestia! She drew the cold of the room itself around her and sucked the energy from the fireball before it had even touched her shields, then formed it into a storm of ice darts that she flung back at Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon raised a spherical shield and the darts shattered against it. She laughed. “Ice, little Luna? I will show you what ice can do!” She beat her wings and wind whirled through the chamber, picking up the frost that had coated it. The fragments of ice joined into a flock of winged, coiling ice dragons. Luna smiled. Showy, but it was still just ice. Her own shield was ready, and it was not a simple physical barrier. It was a layered construct that Celestia had taught her containing many different magics... including elemental power. It was simplicity itself for Luna to activate the fiery layer and direct its energies outward. The dragons began to melt even before they touched the shield, and those that contacted it directly didn't just melt, they sizzled, exploding into steam. Nightmare Moon snarled as her dragons melted away, but before she could cast another spell Luna activated another part of the shield, one that made it not quite strictly a shield at all. Lightning crackled out from the orb surrounding her, striking Nightmare Moon, who had not expected offensive magic from a shield bubble. She shrieked in rage, her horn blazing with powerful magic, and the room suddenly shook. The whole palace itself, in fact, trembled, windows shattering and decorations falling from the walls. The floor heaved up, and the marble paving stones and the plainer rock beneath flowed together into a great, hulking shape. The roughly-molded earth elemental looked more or less like a pony, and it reared up and brought both front hooves down to trample Luna. They met her shield in a blinding shower of sparks, but the shield held. The elemental reared again, pounding relentlessly on the barrier. In the background Nightmare Moon, her horn still blazing as her power kept the creature animated, laughed in triumph. Luna smiled. The shield spell was a cast spell, not an active enchantment. She needed power to activate certain parts of it, but to hold against simple physical force required nothing further of her. She was free to use her magic to form a better counter. Wind whirled in through the open windows and formed a dust devil in the center of the room. It picked up bits of crumbled stone as it grew and grew. Soon a whirlwind raged there, engulfing the whole chamber. Nightmare Moon was forced to raise shields of her own, diminishing the power she could feed to her creature. The wind, too, tore at it, pulling chunks from it, throwing sand against it and abrading it, gradually tearing it to pieces. Twilight Sparkle watched this with wide eyes, fascinated by the chance to see what was quite possibly the greatest magical duel Equestria had seen in a thousand years. She had quite sensibly raised a simple shield spell over herself early on. It would not begin to hold against the full force of any of the magic being flung back and forth at the center of the room, but she was all the way at the back, to one side of the throne, and so only had to worry about the fringes of some of the effects. Her fascination, however, was tempered with fear. That was Luna there. Luna her friend. Luna she stargazed with. Luna who had been by her side through all the horrors of this long night. She was holding her own, but for how long? Luna herself felt no doubts. Fear had vanished in the instant that battle had been joined. The longer the battle went on, the more confident she became. Nightmare Moon's magic was powerful, but simplistic. The elemental had been a startling touch, but it was still based almost entirely on brute force. There was no finesse in anything she was doing. Nightmare Moon suddenly dropped the spell keeping the elemental moving, letting it scatter into its component pieces. She snarled at Luna, though Luna couldn't hear if she said anything amid the raging wind. Then, suddenly, she seemed to vanish. Luna let the storm go, the howling wind fading to silence, the debris falling to the torn floor of the throne room. She looked around, but there was no sign at all of Nightmare Moon. Spitfire raced through the dim halls beneath the palace. She followed the sound of clattering hooves, though soon she caught a glimpse of a rainbow tail vanishing around a corner ahead. She would have caught up some time ago, but the twisting path Rainbow Dash was following meant she had to repeatedly slow to go around corners without hitting the walls. Still she was gaining. Two more corners and she was almost on top of Rainbow. “Rainbow Dash! Slow down! Please! Your friends need you!” “Leave me alone!” Spitfire gritted her teeth and flew a little bit faster. She felt her feathers clip a wall as she rounded yet another corner and almost lost control, but she didn't slow down; she had to catch Rainbow Dash! Ahead, moonlight glowed through an archway, and a moment later Spitfire shot out into an open courtyard. She had an instant to take in the scene: the shocked unicorn guard standing in the middle of the open space, the moonlight shining down brilliantly on him, Rainbow Dash throwing herself on him with a shout of rage as her anger and anguish suddenly had a physical target to expend itself on. Then the guard, with panic in his eyes, threw up his head and winked out of existence, carrying Rainbow Dash along with him. “Buck!” shouted Spitfire. She landed in the center of the courtyard, where the guard had been only an instant before, and scanned the surrounding area. Unicorn teleportation was line of sight, she knew that much; so she should be able to see where they'd gone. But she couldn't immediately see anything. She frowned. They weren't on top of the walls around the courtyard, that was obvious. She could see a few rooftops and some of the palace's towers, so they must have gone to one of those. She took wing again and set out towards the nearest tower. She had to find Rainbow Dash! “Muffin!” Derpy's war-cry was immediately followed by another boom. Pokey pulled another stick from Dale's pack and floated it to the gray-coated pegasus, but despite the fact that the guards still hadn't rallied enough to mount a coordinated defense against the random assaults of the trio, he was worried. There weren't very many of the little red sticks left in the pack, and there were still an awful lot of guards. The last of the squad they'd faced down in this particular crater-pocked hallway were gone now, though. He and Dale exchanged glances. “What do we do when they're out?” said Pokey. “We'll just...” Dale suddenly froze, his eyes going unfocused for a moment. He shook himself. “We'll just have to carry on. But we've got a mission now. We need to find Pinkie Pie and the other elements.” “Okay.” Pokey was a bit confused, but he wasn't going to question Dale. The big earth pony had lead them well so far. “If we get separated, she needs to know that Twilight Sparkle is in the throne room, so the elements should go there.” “Right.” “Hey Derpy!” The wall-eyed pegasus swooped down and landed next to Dale, her head cocked to the side in a questioning gesture. “We have to find Pinkie Pie. Stop scouting for guards and start looking for pink ponies, okay?” “Muffin,” said Derpy, and she bobbed her head up and down in agreement. Then her head snapped up at the sound of hooves on stones. “Muffin,” she said, this time in a tone that made it a curse word. “Ah buck,” said Pokey as almost a dozen uniformed ponies spilled into the room. At least these were the ponies of the Night Guard and not unicorns of the Black Corps, but there were an awful lot of them. “Muffin! Muffin!” This time it was an urgent command, and Derpy held out a hoof to Pokey. “Right.” He handed her another stick, lighting the fuse as he did. Derpy rocketed into the air. “Muffin!” she screamed, and threw the stick right in the middle of the guardsponies. Pokey pulled out another, but there were only four more after that, and once they were gone, they were going to be in a lot of trouble. “Horseapples! Dead end!” Applejack skidded to a halt and spun around. The other four ponies with her nearly piled into her as they halted. “Quick, back the other way!” cried Pinkie Pie, and they rushed down the hall, back to the last junction. They had to get there before the guards caught up. They'd split up from the few pegasi who'd come with them some time ago, in an attempt to lead the guards away. That had bought them a little time, but not much. Now they reached the junction just as the pursuing Night Guard did. Applejack instantly spun and bucked one of them right in the face. He went down like any apple bucked from its tree, and about as likely to get up again. Pinkie had her knife in hoof and soon it was as bloody as Applejack's hooves. Rarity had her eyes squeezed tightly shut, but her horn was alight and one of the guards made a strangled noise as Rarity's magic wrapped around his throat. Only Fluttershy didn't join the combat, she just plastered herself to one wall, out of the way of her friends. In a few minutes the frenzied chaos faded to silence. There had only been four guards. Now they were all down, and none of them would be getting up again. Rarity looked more than a little green as she opened her eyes at last. Applejack and Pinkie Pie weren't as queasy, but neither of them were looking too closely at the still forms either. “Come on,” said Pinkie. “We've got to find Twilight. And Rainbow. Somehow.” She looked positively deflated, her ears drooping, her normally perky mane and tail bedraggled. “Buck up sugarcube. We can do it.” “You've gotten us this far, Darling.” Fluttershy gave Pinkie a wordless hug. “Thanks girls.” Pinkie still looked somewhat bedraggled, but she'd perked up a little bit. “You're right! We can. We can find a way out of here. The palace can't go on forever, it just can't! We'll get out in the open, get our bearings, and find Twilight, I know we will. And Spitfire will find Rainbow Dash, and everything will be okay. We're the good guys and this is the kind of story where the good guys win!” The other three exchanged doubtful glances, but they all followed Pinkie when she bounced cheerfully down the hall all the same. What else were they going to do? “Buck you, you mother-bucking, Sun-forsaken son of a diamond dog!” Spitfire screamed at the night sky. She wasn't sure if the comment was addressed at Rainbow Dash or at the nameless unicorn who'd winked away with her. Neither one of them were around to hear it, in any case. She had searched every rooftop, every crenelation, every bit of the palace that was visible from the little courtyard, and every room that was accessible from any of them, and had found no sign whatsoever of Rainbow. “Okay. Pull yourself together Spitfire. Obviously there's something you missed. Winking is line of sight. Go back and see if there's anywhere else to look. Right.” She soared back down to the cobble-paved space and put her hooves once more on the exact spot where the unicorn had been standing. She looked around. Still nothing. Then she frowned. He'd been a big colt, his head was well above hers. That might matter. Her wings carried her up into the air, hovering a foot or so off the ground. That was probably about right. She looked around again. The angle hadn't changed much of the view. But then her eyes lit on something she hadn't been able to see at all before. She stared, a cold chill going through her. She could see the very tip of the peak of the mountain that stood on the opposite side of the valley from Caterlot, several miles away. “Oh, buck me,” she whispered. Luna stared around the suddenly silent throne room. It seemed empty save for her and Twilight, but she knew that Nightmare Moon would not have given up so easily. This was not a retreat; this was a shift in tactics of some kind. A mocking laugh echoed through the room. “Poor little Luna. Weak, unwanted, pitiful Luna. I killed you once already, you know. I don't know how you're here in the flesh, but I promise you I can kill you again. I am better than you in every way.” Luna declined to respond to the goading; she just kept scanning the room for the source of the voice. “Up there!” called Twilight. Luna's eyes snapped to the peak of the arched ceiling, where a puddle of shadow clung to the highest corner. Her eyes narrowed as she considered what form of attack would be best against such a disembodied being. Before she could implement any of the half-formed plans that sprang to mind, the shadows coalesced, but not into the familiar pony shape of Nightmare Moon. Instead, the blackness formed itself into a great eagle, its wings as wide as a gryphon's, stooping down on Luna. With only an instant to react, Luna did the only thing she could think of. She too changed her shape, becoming a little gray mouse, low to the ground and too difficult a target for so large an eagle to hit. Nightmare Moon swooped by overhead, flapping furiously as she struggled to not hit the wall. She didn't quite succeed, and Luna giggled, the sound high and squeaky in this tiny form, as the eagle hit the unforgiving stones and dropped to the ground, momentarily stunned. But that had been only the opening move. Suddenly the eagle changed again, black shadows flowing into a new shape. A black serpent now slithered swiftly across the floor, pursuing the mouse that Luna had become. Luna shifted again, becoming a blue-gray cat, and raised a clawed paw to strike at the snake before her. The serpent recoiled, and Luna the cat leaped on the serpent, which writhed under her claws. Abruptly her paws passed through the coils as the snake dissolved and re-formed into a larger shape. With a deep bark a jet black hound lunged at her. Luna hissed and fled, racing across the room with the hound hot on her heels. As she fled she shifted again, her legs growing longer, her body larger, her face changing shape, until she stopped and turned, fangs bared, a snarling gray timber wolf facing down the hound. The hound skidded to a halt. For a moment the two canines circled, bristling and snapping at each other; but the wolf was much bigger and more powerful. Finally the hound broke off, pulling back and shifting again, swelling upward until a huge black panther stood there. Well, if we're just going for size... Luna grinned a wolfish grin, then changed too. Now a great, midnight blue dragon loomed over the panther, her head nearly touching the ceiling. She put a clawed hand over the panther, pinning it down. “Now what, Nightmare?” she said. “I can't think of anything that beats a dragon. Unless you want to try shaping an Ursa, but then you wouldn't fit in the room. I'm not sure it's even possible to shape a star bear, anyway; they're not exactly animals.” The panther snarled defiance, and suddenly Luna’s claws held only smoke. She looked around, but saw no new form. She returned to pony shape and once more scanned the room, looking for a hidden puddle of shadow that must be somewhere. “You think you've won, don’t you?” said the mocking voice. “You think you can defeat me? Me, Nightmare Moon!? Foals!” “You are the foal, Nightmare. You are a child's idea of a villain, created by a child who didn't know any better. I've grown up since then.” “I, the foal? No! I am strong. I have put aside all the foalish notions that held you back for so long. I have power. And you... I know your weakness, Luna. I remember being you. I remember, before I learned that a cold heart cannot be broken.” Laughter filled the room again, and Luna's eyes went wide as she saw the shadow, an inky blot that hovered behind Twilight Sparkle. “No! Twilight!” Suddenly Nightmare Moon was there, the tendrils of her mane wrapping around Twilight. “Oh yes. I think I've won, little Luna.” She took a moment to pause for a self-satisfied chuckle before her face fell into a vicious snarl, “If you do not surrender now, I will paint your hide with this… Twilight’s blood.”