//------------------------------// // November 1st- The Shadowed Sun // Story: Equestria Legends Online: Tales of a Midnight Dream // by Kaffeina //------------------------------// A bright flash of light in the square interrupted his thoughts, and likewise blinded the oncoming monsters into a halted daze. Lexus glanced towards the center of the light, and to his relief, saw Flare Tingle standing there in all her Celestial (pun) glory. Lexus was glad to see the alicorn there to help, but a grin crept up at the corners of his mouth when he saw what was standing behind her. Suffice to say, it was a small army, roughly about a hundred players, most of which were pegasi. They filled the square, both on the ground and hovering in the air, all completely armed and weapons drawn at the ready. Even though now their numbers were only half that of the monsters that had suddenly become aware of the absurd number of players who had suddenly appeared there, Lexus didn’t feel an ounce of fear. A small glance around to his teammates let him know they were relieved as well. None of them had seen an attacking force of this size on their side since the first few boss battles. Needless to say, this was a welcome change to their usual flow of fighting. Lexus chuckled under his breath, “Heh, and to think this is only a third of all the players coming.” Flare Tingle narrowed her eyes towards the swarms of monsters above, before raising her own weapon towards them and crying out to the army she brought, “ATTACK!” With a roar of a hundred battle-cries, the army of pegasi took off to the skies, charging right for the swarm of monsters. Likewise, the nightmarish monsters resumed their descending flight, right towards the oncoming force. And with all the intensity of war, the two forces clashed against each other like thunder as the massive aerial battle broke out. Instantly, the air was alive with the screeches of monsters, the sound of steel ripping through digital flesh, and any other sound that could be heard within a battlefield. But though the monsters outnumbered the army of players, they were outmatched. Suddenly, as the battle took place over the near empty street, another flash of light illuminated the square. As soon as the light disappeared, MidnightDreams, the Princess Luna lookalike, stepped forward, the whole of the players from Manehatten following right behind her. They were all varied in race, equally pegasi, earth ponies, and unicorns, numbering at least another hundred to the rallying force of the players. Midnight drew in a deep breath, tilting her head up towards the air as she let loose the Royal Canterlot Voice, “SPREAD OUT AND KILL EVERY MONSTER THOU SEEST! WE MUST NOT LOSE OUR HOLD ON THIS SQUARE!” With that, the hundreds of players scattered through the streets and through the air. Pegasi flew up to the battle above to help the Cloudsdale force, while a few unicorns and archers picked off the nightmare monsters from the ground. The rest who couldn’t take part in the aerial fight spread out to the outlying streets, only to meet other ground-bound monsters who had been drawn to the sound of the commotion. The roar of battle literally shook the air above the square while Lexus and the other Elements of Harmony joined up with Midnight and Flare. As they all approached, Midnight gave a bit of an amused expression, “Are We late?” Violet chuckled back, “Heh heh, nope. Not a moment too soon either.” The Lunar diarch in form nodded, “Good.” She glanced around, raising an eyebrow, “Where is Shadow?” “He went ahead to the castle,” Neon answered, “But we got separated by the monsters.” Sky huffed in bitterness, “I could have followed him, but there were way too monsters and we needed to protect this square for everyone to arrive without being swamped by these things.” He glanced around towards his team mates, “We need to reach Shadow as quickly as possible, before he gets killed by who-knows-what Discord is keeping in the castle.” Flare nodded in understanding, “Yeah, you better go now. Midnight and I will take care these guys while you head to the castle. We’ll make sure the Ponyville players arrive safely. With a nod, Sky took off, with the rest of the group tailing behind him. Although, Siren was the last to follow, after quickly telling Midnight and Flare, “Oh, and we have some friends coming on the airship. Tell them we went on ahead.” “We will, now go!” Midnight shouted. Midnight stepped forward and turned to address the players as the Elements raced off. "WELCOME PLAYERS TO THE FIGHT OF YOUR FREEDOM! IT IS TODAY WE TAKE BACK OUR WORLD, OUR LIVES, OUR BODIES!" Midnight raised her weapon to the air as the players cheered. "THE TIME HAS COME TO WIN! WHILE THE ELEMENTS TAKE DISCORD WE WILL TAKE BACK CANTERLOT! IT IS NOW THAT WE WILL RISE, NO LONGER THE DAMNED, NO LONGER OPRESSED, NO LONGER PRISONERS, WE. ARE. THE PLAYERS AND WE WILL WIN! CHARGE!" Midnight charged, the players behind her racing forward as well. Upon reaching the edge of the square, she stopped. The elements bosses, all of them aside from Nightmare were gathered outside along with many of the sub-bosses. Midnight turned to the nearest player, "Keep everyone back, I'll take out the bosses." He went wide-eyed but he nodded. With a loud, perhaps obnoxious battle cry, she launched herself into the fight. While she didn't take long to demolish the sub-bosses, she was quickly shocked by the arrival of... Suffice to say, all the players froze as nine of the pervious bosses arrived in the square. Their battle cries were just as loud as Midnight's and she paled, as did the players. The mobs had already fallen, but it wasn't long before the battle rang out. Flare directed the majority towards Midnight but she shook her head. Flare frowned and nodded, before she quickly directed the players to the other bosses and Midnight stood before the three bosses.