The panic started immediately. The pegasi Guards had vanished when Nightmare Moon did, and the Mayor seemed unwilling to take charge of the situation. I got to my feet and looked at the crowd. Twilight, along with Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy, were trying to force their way to the stage, but the crowd was too busy panicking. I took a deep breath.
“SHUT! UP!”
The crowd slowly fell silent. All of them looked at me. I was suddenly struck by a thousand nervous thoughts. If you’ve ever had stage fright, you’ll know the sort of thought I mean. The sort that you shouldn’t have to worry about, know you shouldn’t but do anyway. I became really aware of where my hands were, for instance. I froze for a moment, but pushed them aside and tried to remember the evacuation procedure.
“Okay. Pinkie Pie, do a head count. See if anyone is missing. Rainbow Dash, you and Applejack find anyone who isn’t here, and bring them here. Foals have highest priority, then pregnant mares, then fillies and colts, then the injured or elderly, then everyone else. Got it?” Three slightly stunned nods.
“Good. Get started. Rarity, Flutters-” I began, but was interrupted by the Mayor.
“And what gives you the right to order everypony around?” she asked. When she put emphasis on the ‘pony’ part of ‘everypony’ I wanted to punch her. “As Mayor, overseeing evacuation of the town is my responsibility.”
Instead of punching her, I nodded, grateful. “Okay, you do it. I’ve got you started. I’ll be around if you need me.” I wouldn’t. I dropped from the stage and walked over to Twilight. I could hear the Mayor taking charge behind me. Not reluctant, just in shock. I guess if my nigh-immortal ruler-deity vanished, I’d be surprised too.
When I was next to Twilight, I waved her to follow me and went for the door.
“What’s the plan?” I asked her.
“What did Nightmare Moon say to you?”
“Gave me a job offer. High rank in her Royal Guard. I get to name my terms. To meet her in the old capitol before the sun was meant to set. I’m guessing that gives us what, twelve hours?”
“Sixteen,” a soft voice said. I stopped in the act of opening the door. That wasn't Twilight. I turned to find Fluttershy and Rarity behind me. It was probably Fluttershy who spoke.
“Fourteen then. That way we won’t be late,” Twilight said. Typical. “You two stay and help with the evacuation. If we’re still around after that, we’ll be in the library, researching. You’re welcome to help with that, after the evacuation is done.”
The two of them nodded, and trotted or floated over to the Mayor. I walked outside and looked up. The moon was high in the sky, but it was missing the pattern of craters it had had.
“I told you that pattern wasn't natural.”
“Really?” Twilight asked, voice full of disbelief. “Is now really the time for this?”
I shivered as a cold wind blew around us. “That depends. How long can we survive without the sun to warm the planet?”
“I don’t know. The planets already begun to cool down. As the air gets colder it’ll drop rapidly, and the higher the air the faster it will cool, creating high speed winds. The rapid cooling and high wind speeds will work together to remove food sources. Being in a valley as we are, we should be able to last longer than those in, say, Canterlot, but I can’t give an estimate.”
Its when she says things like that, that make me feel less of an idiot when I think or Twilight as the brains of the operation. Not because of how much of it I understood, but because it reminds me of just how smart she is.
We quickly reached the library, glad to be indoors again. “You look for anything to do with Nightmare Moon. I’ll try and pinpoint the old capitol.”
We worked silently. I quickly ran out of books on Nightmare Moon - most of them were storybooks for foals Twilight had made me read to learn about Equestria way back when. A lot of them mentioned ‘The Six Elements of Harmony.’ I asked Twilight to keep an eye out for that as she flipped through history books. She grunted after I spoke, so I assumed she heard me.
After a couple hours of quick research, the picture I had of Nightmare Moon looked like this. Thousand years ago, Equestria had two princess. Celestia, and the other one. Other One gets mad ponies sleep at night, goes crazy, changes her name to Nightmare Moon. She and Celestia fight, Celestia kicks her ass to the moon with the Elements of Harmony at the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. Now, Nightmare Moon came back, and because Celestia didn't have the Elements, she ended up getting banished, and now the night would last forever.
In summary; Nightmare Moon bad, Celestia good.
Then again, she did banish her to the moon for a thousand years. death would have been kinder.
There was a knock at the door. I stretched as I stood to answer it. Still had a good ten to twelve hours before I had to be somewhere. I had opened the door maybe an inch when it slammed the rest of the way, and a light blue blur slammed into my chest, screaming, “What did you do with the Princess!”
I cracked open my eyes, and saw Rainbow Dash on top of me. Then I realised I was on the floor. Standing behind her were Applejack, who looked angry, Pinkie Pie, whose smile had started to drop, Rarity, who looked vaguely disappointed, and Fluttershy, who looked scared.
I looked at how Rainbow Dash was standing. She had her fore-hooves on my chest and her back hooves on my legs.
“This is not a very good pin,” I told her, placing my hand on her sides, just beneath her wings and pushing her up as hard as I could. Pegasi being lighter than a unicorn of the same size meant that she was thrown off of me.
I scrambled to my feet, keeping my back to Twilight as I did. Rainbow Dash caught herself in mid air, a few flaps of her wings slowing her down. She didn't fly back at me, like I thought she would. Instead, Applejack stepped forward.
“What did Nightmare Moon say to ya? When ye were on the stage with ‘er, I mean.”
“Offered me a job. I'm guessing evacuation is done?” Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie nodded. Rainbow Dash was busy glaring at me, and Fluttershy seemed to be trying to hide behind herself. “Right, sit-rep time. Nightmare Moon is stopping the sun coming up. We need the Elements of Harmony, whatever they are, to stop her. Both Nightmare Moon, and the Elements, seem to be in the ruins of the old capitol. Twilight’s looking for a location. How’s that coming, Twilight?” I called over to the purple unicorn.
“I know were it is, I think,” she called back, eyes still glued to her book.
“And where is it?”
She closed the book with a sigh. “The Everfree forest.”
I nodded. The five ponies in front of me gasped. Except Fluttershy, who squealed. That was probably the loudest sound she’d made since I met her. “You ready to go?” I asked Twilight.
“Give me, say, an hour to double check the direction, pack some supplies and see if there's anything else we need to know about.”
“You can’t honestly be going into the Everfree at night, can you?” Rarity asked, sounding scandalised.
“They don’t have much choice, Rarity,” Pinkie Pie said, sounding completely unlike the crazy mare I remembered from the surprise party. “Besides, they’ll have us along with them!” Wait, nope, there she was.
Then again, anything between Twilight and danger was good by me. Might not be in her plan though. Best to let her decide then.
“Twilight, these five want to come with us. You okay with that?” I called out. She was currently in the kitchen, packing food.
“They’ll need to bring their own food,” was all she said. Probably part of the plan.
“Okay, you’re in. One condition; do as you’re told.” There were a few sounds of complaint, and a snort from Rainbow Dash. “Twilight will be the one telling you what to do, not me.” That stopped them complaining. Damn xenophobic ponies.
“Why should we listen to her?” Rainbow Dash asked. “How do we know you aren't working with Nightmare Moon, huh? What if you’re both traitors?”
“You don’t have to come Rainbow Dash,” I said, shrugging. “If you don’t trust us, then stay behind.” I turned my back on them when Twilight shouted me from the kitchen, and I went to help. She had put some food and other ‘useful items’, as she called it, in a set of saddlebags, which she was wearing, but had a few things she wanted me to carry. Didn't say what they were, just that they might come in handy. They looked to be first aid supplies, and some books.
We left the kitchen to see the end of a whispered argument. The five, wait, four, Pinkie Pie was gone, of them turned to face Twilight and I, falling silent when we entered the room.
“We’re coming. All five of us. Pinkie’s gone to get food,” Applejack said.
“I'm back!” The door flew open as the mare in question bounced inside, a bulging pair of saddlebags on. “Just in time, too. Are we ready to go?” They looked at Twilight. I looked at Twilight. She tilted her head to the right, like she always does when thinking quickly, then nodded. We set off, Twilight in the lead.
We reached the forest’s edge quickly, and with a fair bit of chit-chat between the ponies. Apparently, despite each of them having lived in town for a number of years, they didn't really know each other that well. Twilight got involved as well, which brought the ponies onto the subject of me, beginning with where I came from and how I got here.
Twilight always got really nervous when that came up. Understandable. She had ripped me from my home in a magical fit, stranding me in Equestria at the tender age of ten with no way home. She still told them the truth, of course, which got her a few surprised looks, and me a few sympathetic ones.
Of course, there was a question that usually followed that revelation. Rainbow Dash was the one to ask it here. “Why do you stay with her if she did that to you?”
I chimed in at this point, the first time I’d spoken since leaving the library. “She didn't mean to. She was a filly. She couldn't help herself. Besides, when I first got here she was the only one that would spend any time with me. We only got closer after school started.”
“So, wait, you two've been together since you were what, nine and ten?” Rainbow Dash asked. When Twilight confirmed that, she went on to say, “Man, that first heat must have been hard on you both.”
Everyone who wasn't me, Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie blushed, though I couldn't really tell with the last one.
“Rainbow! You can’t just talk about... about that in public!” Rarity said, shocked.
“Yeah, Rainbow, that sort of thing ain't for out and about,” Applejack agreed.
“C’mon, guys, we’re in the Everfree Forest! I doubt anypony is about to hear us. So,” she turned to look at Twilight, “what happened? You said you live in Canterlot, right? In the castle? Did you chase him around the castle?”
Twilight blushed even deeper. How did they do that with fur? I made a mental note to ask when we got back to Canterlot.
Seeing Rainbow Dash’s eager, and everyone else’s curious faces, Twilight sighed in defeat. “Yes, I chased him around the castle, okay? He was the only boy I knew, and I wasn't expecting, you know, it. He ended up leaving the castle and just vanishing. The Princess was so worried he’d get hurt, but the Guards couldn't find him anywhere. He showed up, two weeks later, filthy and covered in cuts and bruises.” She looked up at me, eyes curious. “You know, you never did tell me what you did those two weeks.”
“I doubt you’d like what you heard,” I told her.
“Still, we have time to waste. We’re a good three hours from the castle still.”
We were walking along the edge of the forest first. Seemed easier than walking through the forest. It was getting colder, and I could hear timberwolves howling from between the trees. The glanced at the ponies around me. They were cold and scared, not that any of them apart from Fluttershy would admit it.
“Fine, I’ll tell you. But only once, no interruptions, and Celestia never finds out about it.”
I collected my thoughts for a moment, before starting.
“I had only been in Equestria for a week or so at this point, and I still didn't believe it was real. I mean, colourful talking ponies was not something I was prepared for. I hadn't slept in a few days, so after Twilight chased me out the castle, I collapsed behind a shop. A bakers, as it turned out when I was stepped on before sunrise the next morning. I’d been out for a whole day.”
I could still remember the smell of that bakers. They used a different kind of flour than the others in Canterlot, and and it smelled so much better. I smiled a little at the memory.
“Anyway, when the baker stepped on me, I screamed, so she screamed, and we did that for a few minutes until we ran out of air. Then we tried to introduced ourselves. She was surprised I could speak, not that we could understand each other, but we laughed for a few minutes and she got ever her nervousness. What followed was probably the oddest game of charades. When she learned I was staying at the castle, she put two and two together and realised I was the ‘runaway creature’ the Guards were looking for. See, Celestia hadn't told anyone about me yet. She was going to get the Guards and turn me in - there was a decent sized reward, and I was skinny, pale and generally looked wild. I didn't want to go back yet, not knowing what the hell had happened or would happen. So, I waited until her back was turned, and hit her over the head with the lid of a trash can. She went out like a light. I opened the store door, took some food and money, and left.”
There was a series of gasps at that. Equestria has a ridiculously low crime rate. I was probably the only thief that month, if not that half of the year. Add assault, and things got serious. Still, the muffins were good.
“I spent the next week on the move, avoiding Guards as best I could. I wound up in the part of Canterlot a lot of foreign immigrants end up in. It had the least amount of Guards, so I thought I’d be safe there.” Man, had I been wrong. “I must have fallen asleep in the wrong alleyway, because next thing I know there are a pair of griffons standing in front of me. I knew the drill by then, though. I hand over everything but the clothes on my back. But that wasn't enough for them. They want me to follow them, probably thought they could sell me to a zoo or something. Or maybe to the Guards, as a bunch of posters with my face on them were being put up all over Canterlot. The reward was much larger this time, too. Three thousand bits, I think, maybe four.”
Jaws dropped there. That was a fair bit of money. A two bedroom house in Canterlot was around six thousand bits, and thats one not far from the castle. A dozen apples was generally one or two, depending on quality, location and season.
“I still didn't like the sound of going back, so I argued quick harshly. Got a few lucky hits in, broke one of the griffons wings, and cracked the others beak. Course, I broke my hand and got a few more bruises and cuts. Not my best idea. Spent the second week running from angry griffons. Though I'm happy to say I made enough money off them to pay back the bakery. Still, ended up bleeding out in the middle of one of Canterlot’s busier streets one day before the Guard found me. They took me to the hospital, but as soon as I could walk again I was out the window. Ran pretty much straight into a group of griffons. Guards poured out the hospital seconds later and, well, it took Celestia years to repair relations with Griffonia.”
There was silence as Twilight shook her head at me. I hope she wasn't too disappointed with me. I mean, I paid the baker back and then some, and the thing with the griffons was only sort of my fault.
A few minutes more walking and Twilight stopped to check the map she had. She stared at it for a few seconds, then floated it over to me. While I looked at it, she turned to the other ponies.
“We’re going deeper into the Everfree now,” she said. “Have any of you been in there before?”
There was a squeak of what was probably confirmation from Fluttershy. At least, that's what Twilight and I took it as. Twilight looked at the other five ponies thoughtfully, then nodded.
“We’re heading in. Be careful, girls. Fluttershy, I’ll need you to let somepony know if you see anything dangerous.”
Entering the forest was surprisingly calming. I felt a sudden lack of pressure that had been there so long I’d learned to ignore it. Clouds moved without being made to. Animals looked after themselves. Twilight and the rest of the ponies seemed frightened by it, though Rainbow Dash put on a brave face. For me, it felt right. Like I imagine coming home after a long time away would feel.
The ponies walked in a rough circle with Fluttershy in the middle. Probably herd instinct, making them protect the weakest member. I was on the outside of the circle, looking around constantly.
The forest grew darker as we walked deeper, the trees becoming older, taller and thicker, the roots and branches more twisted and gnarled. A quiet fell on the seven of us, and the ponies moved closer together.
We had been in the forest for half an hour, maybe an hour, when I saw the first pair of yellow eyes watching us. Just behind them, I saw what looked like a large, wooden wolf. Timberwolves. Great. I glanced to the other side without moving my head, and saw another set. Of course, for the two I saw there were probably half a dozen I didn't see. Timberwolves are smarter than most people give them credit for, and if they don’t want to be seen, they won’t be.
I moved over to Twilight and tapped her on the back of the head. She turned to look at me, keeping one eye on the path in front of her. An advantage of a much larger field of view, I guess.
“Timberwolves following us,” I murmured. Whispering carries very well. “Don’t know how many. Don’t know how long. Want me to take care of them?”
She shook her head and barely managed to stop herself falling over. “Hopefully, we won’t have to worry about them,” she whispered.
“Worry about what?” Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight had never believed me about the whispers thing.
“Michael says there are timberwolves behind us,” Twilight explained, to much shock and worry. “He wants to fall behind and... ‘take care of them’.” Ponies were not violent by nature. Their ‘fight or flight’ response was heavily weighted towards flight.
“‘Take care of them’?” Rainbow Dash said. “I don’t think this is the time to be looking for pets, dude.”
The conversation was stopped by a roar. A manticore was running at us. At least, it was running in our direction. It wasn't looking at us though. It was a younger one, if I remembered my ‘Dangerous Fauna’ class, with some growing to be done in the wings and tail still. Though it was pretty thin as well, not starving, but not far from it either, and its yellow fur was duller than it should be.
When the ponies saw it, they screamed, which got its attention. Then it started charging at them. I sprinted past them, drawing my sword as I ran. The beast saw me between it and food, and focused on me. It skidded to a halt and swiped at me with a paw the size of my chest. I dived under the swipe and rolled, ending in a crouch. Angling my sword upwards, I pushed off with both my legs and stabbed the thing in the chest. I got lucky and got it between the ribs.
Not lucky enough to kill it. The manticore roared in pain and reared up on its back legs. Its scorpion tail darted at me, and I didn't get out of the way in time. It didn't pierce the armour, but the force of the blow sent me into a nearby tree hard enough to dent it and probably bruised one of my rips.
I barely dodged the follow up swing. I rolled under it again, but it was ready for me now. It sent its tail at me again. I ripped my sword out of it and barely parried the strike, knocking it into the ground to my right.
Darting backwards, I moved in front of the statue-still ponies, bloody sword raised in a fencing position. Not the best thing for a manticore, but it put my sword between my and that damned tail.
I must have hit something vital, either with the stab or when I pulled the sword out, because the fight was rapidly leaving the manticore. It stood, swaying, for another moment, before its legs gave out one by one and it collapsed. It twitched for a while, mostly the tail or wings, and then it was still.
When I was sure it wasn't going to move any more, I walked over and cleaned my sword on its fur before sheathing it. Manticore blood was a bit corrosive, so I had to get it off as soon as possible.
Still no sound from the ponies. I wanted to get gone before the timberwolves hit us from behind. I turned, and found myself nose to nose with a tearful, angry Fluttershy.
“Why?” she asked, in a voice like I’d killed her pet bunny in front of her.
“It was a threat,” I said. “Now lets get going before the timberwolves get bored of waiting.”
I started walking, but when I didn't hear hooves behind me I stopped and let out a sigh. Looking behind me, I saw them staring at me, Fluttershy still crying, the rest looking disgusted, ill or both.
“Twilight, we doing this or what?”
She just looked ill, thankfully. “Just, just give us a minute, okay?”
“Probably be better to get away from it,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, that seems good. Come on girls, lets get away from it.”
We started walking again, albeit at a much slower pace. The path had also started growing patchy, though the distance between parts of the path was growing larger all the time. We got maybe fifteen minutes walk away from the manticore before the ponies stopped. Rarity was the first to vomit, but the rest followed. Apart from Pinkie Pie, oddly enough. She seemed fine, even managed to crack a few jokes.
I hope the timberwolves were happy with manticore, because if they came after us now there's no way I could fight them off.
Water was getting passed around. I managed to get it before too many vomiting mouths had been around it, but I went for pouring it in from a distance anyway. No need to take risks. After everyone had had a drink, they seemed to calm down. Which obviously meant it was time to shout at me. Fluttershy was first.
“You didn't have to kill him!” she said, pointing back the way we came with a hoof.
“It was the best option,” I said, pressing at my side as I spoke. Yeah, definitely bruised a rib. Don’t think it was cracked or broken, at least. My answer seemed to confuse her, though I will admit I’ve never been good at reading pony’s emotions. Twilight, yeah, I can usually get what she’s thinking, and one or two others. When they’re like Pinkie Pie I can tell as well, and the big emotions, happiness and the like, are easy. But subtle things, especially things that rely on movements of tails, wings or ears, I don’t see. I just don’t look for them.
“How can killing be the best option?” she asked, back to her quiet voice now.
“Got it and the timberwolves out of the way.” Armour seemed fine, if a little bent. Need to get it fixed when I was in Canterlot.
“But I could have gotten it to let us go,” Fluttershy said, almost pleadingly. Tone was easier than facial expressions, though the two weren't entirely separate.
“Would have been nice to know that before I killed it.” Sword seemed fine too. Couldn't see any corrosion on it, though I’d need to check it later to know for sure. Better safe than sorry, and there wasn't much light to see by right now.
Fluttershy didn't seem to have a response to that. I put my sword away and looked around. Only Twilight met my eyes, and she didn't seem happy with me. The others glanced at me when they thought I wasn't looking. They were scared of me. Twilight was scared of me. Dammit.
I gave the ponies a few more minutes rest, and then we set out again. They were silent for a while, and couldn't seem to decide between staying as far away from me as possible and staying as close as possible. Twilight was to come near me. She came over to me, nudging my hip with the side of her head and gave me a smile when I looked down. I smiled back and ruffled her mane. We would be okay.
“How do you do that?”
Rainbow Dash had hovered over to me. I gave her a confused look, and when she didn't get it I asked, “Do what?”
“You just killed a manticore and made it look easy, then you treat Twilight like your little sister or something. It, it just seems like you should be shaken up, y’know? But you act like you do it everyday.”
“Maybe a pony should be shaken, but I'm not a pony,” I said. She ignores me
“And were did you learn to fight like that? You, I swear, its like you unfolded or something. I mean, you're not that big, and you took that hit like it was nothing!” She’s off in her own little world now, jabbering on about alien armies or something.
“Rainbow’s right,” Applejack said. “I swear, when you were fightin’ the manticore, it was like you grew bigger. Like, like Winona when she hears the timberwolves a-howling.” Winona was her farm-dog, I think. “I ain’t gonna lie, I was more scared ah you than I was of the manticore then.”
When Applejack compared me to her dog - a comparison I didn't mind - Fluttershy’s head snapped up and towards me. She flew at me at fast enough to make me flinch and asked, no, ordered me to show her my teeth. She was a vet or something, I think. Something animal related. She had mentioned a bear, so she would know what sharp teeth meant. I gave her a dentists smile.
By some freak stroke of luck, the teeth either side of my canines are tilted back slightly, making the canines more pronounced. Fluttershy just looked at them and nodded. “You eat meat, don’t you?”
More gasps from the ponies with us. They do that a lot. I gave them a reassuring smile, thought better of it and stopped. Actually, only Rarity gasped. Twilight knew, Applejack has a dog, Pinkie Pie has an alligator and I don’t think Rainbow Dash heard. They all seemed a bit more on edge, though.
“He doesn't eat ponies,” Twilight said. “I mean, would he be a Royal Guard if he ate ponies?”
That calmed them down quite a bit. They must of a good image of the Guards in Ponyville. It wasn't that far from Canterlot, but given the size of the town I doubt they saw them that often. Probably had a fairly romanticised view of them.
Twilight and the other ponies talked a bit more. I checked around us, and didn't see any timberwolves. Spotted a few things, though I only recognised one, a cockatrice. Heading away from us, thankfully.
The ponies were walking in a much tighter clump, though Pinkie Pie started bouncing, literally bouncing, after a while. Twilight and her were the only two that would come within a foot of me. We were walking through a particularly dark part of the wood that had the ponies trembling when Pinkie Pie started singing a song about giggling. It was catchy, sure, but I didn't really get why she sang it. Made Twilight feel better though, so I didn't mind. It helped the others as well.
We met an incredibly flamboyant purple sea serpent (river serpent?). Apparently, because he was missing part of his moustache, we couldn't cross the river. Rarity gave him part of her tail, which he loved, and he gave us a lift over. Pretty nice of her, if she puts half as much work into her looks as I think she does.
An incident with some falling rocks and collapsing ground ended with me pulling Twilight up while the pegasi rescued the earth ponies and Rarity. We stuck to safer ground after that. Applejack was pretty good at telling what part of the path was safe and what wasn't. Took a bit to convince Rarity and Twilight that was something earth ponies could do, but eventually they believed her.
We were getting pretty close, and could actually see the castle not far away, when we came to a ravine. And, because whoever is in charge of this world wants a good story, the bridge was an old, rickety wooden thing that had collapsed. Twilight sent Rainbow across to tie it up, ignoring my plan of teleporting everyone but the pegasi the ten feet or so.
A fog blew in just after Rainbow Dash left. After waiting far too long, the bridge was back up and we crossed to find Rainbow waiting on the other side.
“What took you so long?” Twilight asked her.
“Nothing I couldn’t handle,” the pegasus replied. “I’d never leave you hangin’. So, how we doin’ this?” After she said that, Twilight got this weird look on her face, the one she gets when a light bulb goes off in her head.
“First, we find the elements,” Twilight said. “They will look like five orbs, but I don’t know where they’ll be. Somewhere important, most likely.” I nodded, and followed her when she started walking. The others came with as well.
The castle was a mess. It was a crumbling ruin, with deep shadows and dank corners.
And the Elements of Harmony were right in the freaking entrance.
Seriously. These things were some sort of super-weapon, and they were sitting just inside the front gate. Which was made of wood, had a huge hole in it and was hanging off its hinges. Talk about lack of security.
The ponies started cheering, when Twilight realised one was missing. Apparently, magic, the sixth element, only showed up when the rest were together or something.
Then the weird misty shape Nightmare Moon took showed up and started monologuing. She focused on the ponies, thankfully, allowing me to blind side her. Which is harder than it looks with horses.
I kicked her in the back of her back left leg and knocked the back right out from under her with a swing of my sword. She landed on her arse with a surprised gasp. I sliced one of her wings while she stood up, getting clipped by the return kick. In the same place the manticore hit me as well. When I picked myself up, she was facing me, and she was pissed. There were five piles of dust at her feet, and she sounded smug. She had destroyed the Elements, and soon would rule the world. She gave me one last job offer as well. I glanced at the wing I’d cut. It had already healed.
“Alright. I'm in,” I told her. She seemed shocked by that. Probably expected me to refuse and try to keep fighting. “One condition. Twilight lives and you never order me to hurt her. She’s the purple one.”
“Ah. Very well. Your friend shall be spared. And the others? Any plans for them?” she asked.
I shrugged. “They’re no threat. They obviously can’t use the Elements now, so killing them would be a waste of time. The forest will probably take care of them for us. Plus, knowing they failed will hurt worse than dying would.” I cleaned her blood off my sword using the side of my trousers as I spoke. Nightmare Moon turned back to the ponies and informed them of their fate. They gave me shocked and angry looks, Twilight most of all. I winked at her and smiled. C’mon Twilight, get it.
I hope she got it, and was playing along, because if not I was in trouble later. She gave me this look I'm pretty sure could make stone cry. She looked betrayed and hurt. She looked like she was about to cry.
I'm not going to lie. It hurt. It really hurt. While I can’t honestly say I've never made Twilight cry, I can honestly say that nothing makes me feel worse.
Nightmare Moon laughed and teleported us away. I sat down and looked over my sword a bit while I waited, trying to keep the worry off my face. We were in the throne room, I think, at the end opposite from the door. It was dark and dank and smelled funny. Nightmare Moon talked to herself, telling herself to shut up, that it would work. I hoped she wasn't too crazy. Nothing more dangerous than a powerful crazy person. The shards of the elements had been brought along. A few seconds later Twilight showed up in a flash of light purple light. I could hear the other five down below, shouting and running. I think Nightmare Moon was about to order me to hurt Twilight, then remembered our deal. Too early to make me break that yet.
They stared at each other. Twilight snorted and pawed at the ground with a hoof. And then she lowered her head and started powering up a spell. Her horn glowed, the light the same colour as her teleport flash.
I hit Nightmare Moon in the side while she was focused on Twilight. Slammed into her with a flying tackle. I’m not a big guy, but I've got a fair bit of muscle on me, and I'm in armour. She fell on her side, and I landed on her. And because I’m an idiot, I had my sword between us. I kneed her in the ribs and stood, only to have my weapon torn from my hands with a rush of dark blue light. I stomped on the alicorn’s wing to try and keep her down. From the sounds she made it must have hurt like hell.
After a handful of blows, I turned to look for my sword. I wasn't going to break any of her bones, not if her wings had survived that. Bloody alicorn durability. And I was promptly tossed across the room for my stupidity.
Look, I'm not trained to fight alicorns, and in the heat of battle its easy to forget the same thing that could take a small house being dropped on it could also drop a small house on you.
I hit the wall, and then the floor, with a pair of cracks, which were thankfully the stone, and not me. On the other hand, I’d hit the stone hard enough to crack it. I'm going to be covered in bruises in the morning.
One stroke of luck went my way, though. I had been thrown in the same direction as my sword.
“Why are the good ones always taken,” Nightmare Moon lamented. I think she was talking about soldiers. I hoped she was. I am not, nor will I ever be, into ponies. “I even gave you a second chance! Though, if you were the type of... whatever you are, to switch sides when a better offer came your way, I doubt you are the type that would make a good lieutenant.”
She was walking my way. Either that, or Twilight had more than doubled in size in the last minute. Man, the things you think of when full or adrenaline and pain. I could probably reach my sword from where I lay. Just had to let her get close enough.
I moved when I could see her hooves. A roll to the side, grab the hilt and swing as I stand up.
Only to hit a magic shield. Today is just not my day. I wasn't expecting the recoil, and barely managed to not drop the weapon, but my fingers went a bit fuzzy. My hand was trapped in a dark blue glow before I could start another swing, not that I stopped trying.
Nightmare Moon was smiling at me. She had a mouth full of canines, for some reason. She looked really smug with having stopped my sword arm. So I smashed my forehead into her nose.
Pony Fact: Pony noses are both soft and sensitive.
She screamed like a little filly and her magic slipped. It was like her nose exploded, the amount of blood that poured out. My arm was suddenly moving, catching me slightly off guard. I scored a hit along her withers, and got a hoof to the chest in return. Her punch was like a full grown earth pony stallion slamming into me, compacted into a circle two inches across. In other words, it hurt.
I was sent reeling back. Nightmare Moon followed, sending a few more punches my way. I dodged or parried most of them, but a few struck home. She was damn fast. If she had more practice fighting bipedal animals I’d probably have died in the first minute. But I was lucky, and she didn't.
Eventually, my luck ran out, and she got me with a two-hoofer to the floating ribs. I hit the wall behind me hard enough to collapse it, though thankfully there wasn't much wall left. Not that it mattered, once I started coughing red.
Nightmare Moon stood over me. She was monologuing again, or maybe laughing. I couldn't tell over the ringing in my ears. She lifted a hoof above my head and said something loudly and smugly.
Then a rainbow hit her from behind.
It hit me as well. I was blinded by it, the colours washing together to make a bright white light. I closed my eyes, but it didn't make much difference.
It didn't hurt, oddly enough. It didn't feel good, but it didn't hurt. It made me feel calm. At peace. Docile. Not things I'm used to feeling. I didn't particularly enjoy them. And then the light was gone. I was both saddened and relieved by its absence.
I managed to get myself out of the rubble without hacking up a lung. I only coughed up a little blood, actually. Whatever the rainbow was, it must have healed me. I still hurt like hell, but I probably wasn't going to die any time soon. Nightmare Moon was gone, though her armour was still there. Twilight was swaying slightly were she stood, but was otherwise okay. Didn't have a scratch on her that I could see. Probably had a few ones you can’t though. I could feel sunlight on the back of my neck. It made the hairs there stand up.
No, wait, that was the eyes, staring at me from under the discarded armour. They weren't Nightmare Moon’s eyes. She had cat-eyes, these eyes belonged to a normal pony. They were also much too small to be Nightmare Moon’s.
I staggered over the few steps between me and the armour, picking up my sword as I walked, and moved it out of the way. Under it was an alicorn filly. She had a darker purple coat than Twilight, with a pale violet mane. Her cutie mark was like Nightmare Moon’s, but on her the crescent moon was surrounded by black, not purple.
We looked at each other for a while, her staring up at me with wide eyes. I don’t know what I looked like, but it can’t have been good, because she flinched when I knelt down in front of her.
“So. You’re the other Princess?” I asked her. She nodded at me, very slowly. I sheathed my sword and helped her to her hooves. “I'm Michael. We need to talk to Twilight.”
The filly stared at the ground. “I am Princess Luna,” she muttered.
I walked over to Twilight, and heard Luna following behind me. She was talking to Celestia. Where had she came from? I grabbed Twilight by the back of the neck and pulled her away. She complained, but I’d deal with that in a bit. I looked Celestia in the eye and said, “What were my first words in Equestria? Untranslated.”
She was shocked at first, then had a flash of anger before moving to acceptance. She brought her head to my ear and whispered, in English, ‘You’re real, aren't you?’
I let out the breath I hadn't realised I was holding. Even if it hadn't been Celestia, it still gave off the same feeling of warmth the white alicorn did. I don’t think I could have taken her. I settled for my usual glare before stepping back to let Twilight stand next to her mentor.
I think she was about to tell me off for suspecting it wasn't Celestia when the alicorn hugged her, cutting her off. I gave the five other ponies a quick check over. They seemed okay. Probably going to have nightmares, but nothing I could do about that. Celestia and Twilight spoke, but they did it while hugging and crying, so I didn't really get any of it, and then they spoke to Luna, who was apparently hiding behind me. Wasn't she scared of me a second ago?
The little filly was nervous, which made Celestia talk down to her instead of just talk to her, which even I know is a mistake. So I picked Luna up and brought her up to eye level with her sister by sitting her on my shoulders. Being back to her normal height made Luna more confidant, so she and her sister were able to have a proper conversation. Which ended in tears, albeit happy ones.
----
If you want a record of what was actually said that night, don’t check a history book, because Celestia edits history books. If I'm still around when you read this, come to me and I’ll get you a copy of Twilight’s notes. If I'm not, they’re in the archives, in the cooking section, under ‘Medieval Minotaur Vegetarian recipes’. Look for something by ‘Gandalf the Grey’.
----
Anyway, Celestia and Luna had been reunited. By now, I was pretty sure Luna wasn't a threat, and if she was Celestia could take care of her. I gave Twilight a smile, which she returned slowly, and collapsed. I was out before I hit the ground.