//------------------------------// // This is bad, very bad. // Story: Intangible // by DtdFIMBrony //------------------------------// Dash suddenly woke up to the sound of a loud crash, no, more like an explosion followed by a crash as she saw a stream of an almost black mane fly into her face. Pushing the mane out of her eyes she saw that Luna had been flung from the site she was guarding, and standing where she used to be, was a shadowy figure, almost completely visible, but still somewhat ghostly and transparent. He was laughing maniacally for a good amount of time, so Dash knew it was not a good idea to go out there and get tangled up with him just yet, but she also knew that if he could easily, or so it appeared to be easy for him, knock an alicorn princess unconscious, then all of Equestria was in terrible danger. Fearing the worst, Dash tried her hardest to wake Luna, but with little success, only seeming to get a groan here and there. Laying Luna down, Dash frantically looked around the room for something that could help her, but she could not see anything. Trying to keep her cool, Dash managed to get Luna downstairs into the basement where, hopefully, she would be okay, and then ran back upstairs. She only hoped that she could get help before anything VERY bad happened, not that something equally bad already did of course. Dash managed to get out the front door without being spotted and took off toward Canterlot before realizing that Twilight was not with her when she was awoken. She scanned the ground for her, but before long, she noticed an odd glow near the edge of the forest. Flying closer, she noticed that Twilight was casting an odd spell in which seemed to be doing nothing. Landing by her side, Dash nudged Twilight, breaking her concentration, "What are you doing? Don't you know what happened to Princess Luna?" Dash asked her in a worried rush. "I am well aware of that Rainbow, I am trying to find where the shadows are actually emitting from. I realized that there was a powerful illusion spell being cast over the area Luna was guarding, and that illusion, caught Luna off guard when she got attacked from somewhere in the forest, but whatever it is, it seems to be moving fast, much faster than anything I have encountered, and it is flying from what I can tell." Twilight explained to Rainbow, who in which was trying to isolate the fact that the figure she saw was a fake. "So wait," Rainbow said, then paused, "I thought we knew where it was coming from! Wasn't it the dead 'Lord of Terror' in the caves under ponyville?" "That's what we thought but it is not true, you see, he is gone for good, his very soul has been devoured, or just gone missing in general, because I went down there and found nothing but a lot of turned graves, the magic long since cleaned out of there." Twilight said, then satisfied with her conclusion she continued, "I suspect that we are dealing with somepony who was feeding on that magic for a long time, somepony forgotten or neglected." "LIKE WHO?!?" Dash yelled, even more confused now as to who it could be. "I don't know, but they seem to be avoiding being traced by me very easily, all I have been able to obtain is that they are flying above ground, making no contact with anything touching the ground. Meaning they have wings, and magic." Twilight finished, nearly trembling. Dash looked around quickly, trying to determine the best course of action. Unable to think of anything she bolted off the ground, strait into the air. She got to a height that would allow her to see the whole town in one view without having to move her eyes more than a twitch. She then started to watch the forest line, looking for the flying figure, and any movement, but nothing seemed to be happening that is until Twilight started her spell again, A shadow that was lingering above a tree shifted, normally it would have been unnoticeable, but this movement seemed to go against the normal movement of the shadows. Dash looked closer, trying to see into it, and just as she almost got a figure, it moved, flying forward at a remarkable speed, leaving a trail of darkness in its wake. Dash only knew of one way to come anywhere near matching the speed she just saw. Rising higher in the air, and watching where the shadows settled in to, she could tell where her target was, all she needed to do was make sure she did not lose it. She kept rising until she could burly breath properly, and then she dropped, letting herself gain speed until she was at maximum natural speed, then she started to use her wings, increasing her velocity until she started to see the familiar cone forming around her body. The rush she felt as the wind soared through her mane was invigorating, almost as if she was atop the world, she could feel her heart rate increase, until it got to the point that it seemed to stop entirely, like the whole world was a frozen world in time, she knew this feeling all to well, it was part of her blood, it was the magic of her soul, bursting out, showing its glory, and shattering the bonds of reality, and the moment time seemed to move again, she was moving at the familiar speed that could hardly be matched by even the best fliers, and to her own pride, the boom that was produced as she reached this speed caught her prey off guard, the light of the rainbow seemed to destroy the shadows that were being created around her target, and she could see clearly what she was to catch. Dash crashed into her target like a bowling ball to its pins, bringing it down to the ground, and into the open where Twilight jumped to the occasion to use her newest spell she learned, with the soft purple glow that Dash could so vividly remember even when away from Twilight, the culprit was pinned to the ground with a restraining magic. Stepping off of her prey, Dash took a look at what she caught, and gasped at the sight before her. It was a Pegasus mare, with a dark blue coat, wearing what seemed like royal jewelry, the necklace however had a pitch black crescent moon on its golden base with a red and gold chain weave as the binding. She had Red and blue hair, with a braided tail, she had anklets of golden binding, but a deep crimson gem on the front, but she had no horn. This confused Twilight and Dash, but, something about this Pegasus ponies wings seemed off, they appeared to be shifting in consistency, one moment the feathers will be long and thin the next they will be shorter, and wider. "What's your name?" Dash asked, a little too friendly for the seemingly dire situation. The pony glared angrily at Dash, then sighed. "My name, is Nightwing, Nightwing Moon's Light. But I prefer to be called Moon." Sighing again, Moon then started, "And before you go interrogating me, allow me to formally show you why nopony has mentioned me before." Moon's wings shifted in size, becoming large enough to envelop her entire body, and then she vanished turning into nothing but shadow, becoming nothing but a fast slipping memory, and before either could do anything, Twilight and Dash collapsed, entering what seemed to be an eternal Nightmare.