Chapter 3
Twilight lay in her bed, her pillow to face as night time was closing in to end the day to start the fun part of the Summer Sun Celebration. To Twilight, “fun” was just a sarcastic word used for situations like this. She couldn't help but roll around in her bed in a fuss with the loud music coming from the main room. She groaned to herself about how she even allowed ponies to throw a party in the library. Spike came stumbling in, much to Twilight's surprise with a lamp shade on his head, covered in streamers, losing his balance. He regained his balance and began to speak. “Hey Twilight, Pinkie’s party has pin the tail on the pony, wanna play?” Spike asked eagerly.
“NO!” she shouted in anger. “All the ponies of this town are CRAZY! Do you KNOW what time it is?”
“It’s the eve of the summer sun celebration.” said Spike. “Everypony has to stay up or they’ll miss the princess raise the sun!” He noticed Twilight rolled her eyes at what Spike was saying, sure she loved the Summer Sun celebration but she didn’t like it how it was at the moment, in the library. “Look Twilight, you really need to lighten up, it’s a party!” He walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Twilight in irritation imitated what Spike said in an annoyed tone like a teenager would. “Here I thought I would have time to learn more about the elements of harmony, but oh wait, all this ridiculous friend making had to keep me from it!” said Twilight to herself. She rolled on to her side to look out the window, in deep thought of what had been going on that night. She noticed the moon gleaming brighter than before, with the symbol of Nightmare Moon on it and four stars aligned next to it exactly as the book about it had shown.
“On the longest day of the thousandth year, the path will be lightened by darkness, and the world will be engulfed in fire.” She looked back at the book, then at the moon, the picture of the book was exactly like how the moon is now, she was terrified of the prospect of Nightmare Moon and her son’s return to Equestria.
“I really hope it really is an old pony’s tale.” said Twilight, unsure of herself. Then she noticed the four stars fall to the Earth, any hope that the tale was true have been taken away and replaced with fear. She shook her head, the princess said that this was more of her kind of trouble, not Twilight’s. She decided to let it go. Spike came in for a second time.
“Hey Twilight, everypony is going back to the town hall building, the princess is going to raise the sun pretty soon!” said Spike. He then closed the door and let Twilight get out to the celebration on her own time.
War had treaded fifteen miles till he finally hit the part of the Everfree forest where he could see Ponyville, from the looks of things his brothers hasn’t even gotten here yet. This was good in his case and lucky enough to not impact into the Earth on the other side of Equestria, unlike his brothers though. He then morphed back to his black and red mane form, only to revert colors again till he turned into a blue version of himself. He still had the same stature as before but his mane and tail were shorter. He had brown eyes and mane bright up under the moon; he knew he couldn’t stay in this form for the entire night before turning into his vengeful self again. He looked up at the moon and noticed the mare of the moon symbol grow brighter every second; slowly showing real results of you-know-who's freedom.
“Dammit, I don’t have much time!” exclaimed War. He began galloping towards Ponyville, he had to play all this safe though, he knows he can’t do anything that would blow his cover. It seemed unlikely to but he knew that his name was good enough to blow his cover; he needed a backup story, none of this "War" crap he had to deal with for generations. Alright, his name is Connor Stronghooves like it always was, from…where? Right, he’s just a foreign stallion in need of Equestria to help out get a better future for himself, having to stay in Fillydelphia for a short stay, and he’s in Ponyville to attend the summer sun celebration just like every other pony here.
He decided to slow down and started on some espionage, he hasn’t been seen yet and he’ll be sure to enter the crowds of ponies easy. However he decided it was better to stay in a little crowd of ponies, but which one? At that moment his brain froze up, why would this happen? He never felt this kind of lockup before, not even after a bloody battle he had lost like so many of those before. He noticed a unicorn pony trotting with a baby dragon on her back. She was also along with 5 other ponies but she seemed annoyed. Connor didn’t mind though, any little crowd of ponies was good enough.
He walked up to the crowd of ponies with confidence, whoever these ponies were it didn’t matter all that much to him. “Um, hello there.” began Connor. The six mares looked at him, they all seemed confused but their attention was Connor’s.
“’Ello there sugarcube.” said Applejack. “What could we all help ya’ for?” Connor wondered what was up with the southern accent but it was best not to ask.
“Well you see, I came to town from my home in Fillydelphia to attend the Summer Sun Celebration but, I don’t know where it’s being held, you think you all could show me the way?” asked Connor politely. He decided to give himself the personality of a shy person, but with confidence, no point in being himself at that time. He found himself grabbed by the white mare with a well groomed purple mane and a cutie mark with three diamonds. “Um…?”
“Shush you! C’mon girls, let’s take this hunk to the town hall!” exclaimed Rarity. Connor had to blush to this; he had been met with the most unlikely of responses from anypony. He looked at Rarity, then back at the rest of the other mares, confused and blushing a bit with an expression that cried out help.
Twilight noticed this too, she blushed at the sight of Connor like a couple other of the ponies but she giggled at Rarity taking her new prize, or so however the ponies here call it. For the next five minutes Connor had to uncomfortably walk next to Rarity getting all up on him, he was irritated but wished no harm or any ill will, by all means let her do what she was doing. Finally they all hit the town hall where everything was going to be set for the summer sun celebration, Rarity had to leave to make sure the princess’s appearance was flashy. “I’m so sorry Connor, but I do have priorities to take care of for the celebration.” said Rarity. For most of the time Connor was politely trying to turn away any moves played on him by Rarity, he didn’t want to get serious with anypony anytime soon.
“Yes I do understand myself, well I guess I’ll be seeing you around.” said Connor. Connor bowed, as so past traditions demanded him to. Rarity smiled at him as she was trotting along and her attention went back to going to the princess. Connor looked at the other mares uncomfortably and noticed a yellow pegasus with butterflies for a cutie mark seemed not only very shy but also seemingly very intimidated by Connor’s size and stature.
“Um, I better attend to the…music.” said Fluttershy. She flew off quickly away from Connor, making him more confused.
“So I get flirted with and now I’m feared, jeez I just wanted to see Celestia rise the sun, not this.” said Connor, actually sincere saying all that. Applejack was the first to hit Connor at the side.
“Ah shucks sugarcube it’s no big deal, so do we, hope to see ya’ll in there!” said Applejack. She walked in happy leaving behind the other mares with Connor. Connor then turned his attention to the Rainbow mane pony with interest of her mane.
“You have some funky color’s there.” said Connor. Rainbow Dash had an insulted look on her face as Connor smiled sheepishly. “No offence at all or anything.”
“Well it better not have.” said Rainbow Dash. She went into the town hall leaving the rest of the ponies at the door step. Pinkie Pie was the next to introduce herself.
“Ah don’t mind Dashie, she’s just a little irritated after a little prank I pulled on her.” said Pinkie Pie. She merrily hopped through the front door, now leaving Connor and Twilight alone with each other. They stood at the door steps of the town hall, the last of the ponies in Ponyville aside from those two were left to go in. Sure he had thoughts that he didn’t want to be serious with anypony at the time but, that was during the time where he was uncomfortable, now he’s only feeling awkward.
“Hello,” began Twilight. “My name is Twilight Sparkle; we didn’t get to meet each other properly before seeing as you allowed Rarity to claim her prize.” She began to giggle at that thought, Connor, a trophy prize to Rarity. Connor felt disgusted and hated to be claimed by another pony, he was passionate to feel free.
“Well, I didn’t want any trouble with anypony, or myself, I came to see to it that Princess Celestia raises the sun and nothing more.” said Connor. He sounded very stern and slightly demanding at the same time, Twilight didn’t like that.
“Well I understand I wouldn’t like to be anypony’s trophy either.” said Twilight, trying to keep up the small talk. “I was sent here by Princess Celestia on taking care of handling this celebration before she arrived-” Connor pressed a hoof against Twilight’s lips, getting a bit closer to her doing so, Twilight blushed a bit. This was not a line that was crossed by stallions.
“Wait, you’re saying that Princess Celestia, the one and only pony, sent you here?” asked Connor in disbelief.
“Why yes, I’m her personal student…why do you ask?” asked Twilight. Connor skipped a couple heart beats thinking of what he would have to say next. He finally then knew what to say, in his mind he’ll regret it but they’re the only ponies there.
“Look, I’m not here for the summer sun celebration, I’m only here to advert a crisis.” said Connor. Twilight stared at him in disbelief as he took on a worried expression; she soon felt the same and her body said it too. The limited but massive amount of possibilities popped up in her head like wildfire as she took on what he had said.
“What do you mean?...” asked Twilight in confusion.
“Listen, have you heard of the mare in the moon legend?” asked Connor. Yes she had, and she expected the worst of things. “Well, if so or not it’s true, and she’s coming back tonight. Any minute now too.” He looked up into the moon, seeing the symbol growing brighter and brighter. Twilight matched his gaze upon the moon, noticing the same thing too.
“And her four sons of the apocalypse too.” said Twilight.
“No, only three will.” said Connor in correction. Twilight was confused now; her Connor is telling her that everything of the legend is true but the fact that the four brothers will only be three now? This didn’t fit well in her head.
“How do you know?” asked Twilight. Now Connor left himself in a pickle, he had to lie, now or never.
“You saw those meteorites that came in a bit ago? The fourth one hit the seas north west of Ponyville past Fillydelphia, whoever that pony was won’t make it here, however the other three will.” said Connor. He looked up at the moon one more time, the moon was different know, the symbol was gone and on the inside he felt shock, major shock. “Shit!” shouted Connor. He galloped into a full sprint into the Town Hall, with Twilight in close pursuit.
When Connor got inside he saw the worst, the introduction of Nightmare Moon. It was presented by evil, hollow laughter, female of which as the ponies in the vicinity was shocked and scared. Finally, Nightmare Moon appeared in front of the ponies, appearing in a cloud of thick, black fog which had come out of nowhere. The smog took form into the dreaded black alicorn, the same size as their beloved leader. She had armor on, not a lot of it but she had a helmet and some body armor at her chest area with a blue orb at the center where the it all took a hold on. Her black feathery wings spread out really wide as her lazy; evil eyes gazed upon the crowd of pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies alike.
The black smog matched her mane and tail and her cutie mark was, well, a crescent moon. Spike, now in Twilight’s attention ever since they had left the library neglecting his presence up until that moment, fainted.
“Dammit…” whispered Connor.
“Oh my beloved subjects,” began Nightmare Moon. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen your sun loving faces.” Her very words inflicted fear into the ponies around him, Connor knew better then to let her what she wanted.
“What have you done with our princess?” asked Rainbow Dash, not as forcefully as she would have liked. She tried to dash towards Nightmare but was stopped by Applejack pulling at her tail.
“Slow down ‘nelly.” said Applejack through gritted teeth. Nightmare Moon cackled at such words, clearly not going to answer her question.
“Why? Am I not royal enough for you?” said Nightmare Moon in a sarcastic tone. “Do you even know who I am?” Pinkie Pie was really eager despite the tension spiked up in the air.
“Ooh, ooh, more guessing games! Umm…pokey smokes!” said Pinkie Pie. “No…Queen Meanie! Oh uh…black snooty, black snooty!” Applejack went and stuffed a cupcake into her mouth, it did the trick beautifully. Nightmare Moon’s attention switched over to Fluttershy.
“Does my crown even count anymore despite the fact that I’ve been gone for over a thousand years?” asked Nightmare in an angered tone. Fluttershy flinched from Nightmare the more advances she made towards her, angering Connor but he couldn’t let feelings get in the way, not even after all that Nightmare had done to him before. “Do you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?”
“I know who you are.” said Twilight. “You’re the mare of the moon, Nightmare Moon!” Her voiced went and broke the silence due to Nightmare Moon’s angry questions, she also noticed Connor was nowhere in sight now. Nightmare Moon laughed her same evil laugh as before.
“Well, well, well, some pony remembers me. Then you must also know why I’m here.” said Nightmare Moon.
“Yes, but this doesn’t explain anything, your sons of Apocalypse aren’t here.” said Twilight, quizzical. Nightmare Moon only grinned as three crash sounds were made. Three more alicorns came into the scene from 3 different directions, one of them underneath the platform Nightmare Moon stood. One of them was a pale white stallion with a grim mask covering most of his head, with the cutie mark resembling the cycle of life showing a leaf in full bloom and another in death with only the spines remaining. This pony must have been Death.
The 2nd one was a scrawny stallion, still strong in stature but looked like there was no meat on him, nor any feathers on his wings. His cutie mark showed a hoof, not any hoof but a hoof of a dying pony with skin down to the bone, on its belly reaching down at the ground. This pony must have been Famine.
The 3rd pony was a sickly looking pony, same thing with Famine but had a darker appearance to him, his cutie mark showed the same thing but the pony was on its back reaching up to the sky as if in distress. This pony must have been Pestilence.
“Wait, where’s the fourth pony?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“What do ya’ll mean sugarcube?” asked Applejack. She was in fear of the alicorns before them but had to wonder what Rainbow meant.
“Well I remember the old legend of four legendary ponies called the Stallions of the Apocalypse, meant to rid the world of the cruel and the wicked, and these ponies match up the description of the old legends.” said Rainbow Dash. She was scared also, well, at this point everypony was but out of her fear she decided to keep talking. “This kind of thing suited me so don’t be surprised that I have read this legend before.”
The three menacing ponies looked around the room, seemingly trying to look out for something. “A fourth should have been here.” said Death.
“War was always useless, too soft.” Connor, disappearing in the crowd, attempted to leave but had frozen in his tracks. If there was one thing he hated more than anything was a challenge issued against him in cold blood, or as he must have assumed from the modern slang, calling him out. He turned and started trotting towards the three ponies, others moving away from him so that a clear path could be made from him to the three stallions. When finally he was the only one in his own space, one wide enough for him to be made out in the open so he stopped trotting; the stallions looked at Connor with immense, evil smiles on them, Death’s seemed to show no emotion due to the mask on his face but his eyes definably spelt out evil joy.
“So, the lost sheep returns to the flock.” said Famine. Twilight was confused, what did that stallion mean by it? Connor said one of the meteorites, or in this case, War landed into the ocean and wouldn’t be able to join his brothers immediately. But then she got back to thinking, Connor said that he came from Fillydelphia and that the meteorite landed just up North from it. Right now the pieces she had gathered were not enough to solve the mysterious puzzle but only one conclusion remained.
Connor slowly morphed back into War, the rocky, volcanic-like form happened and became War, his eyes were completely white and his mane and tail were fire as it bright up in the dark lit room. The aura surrounding War made the mood even worse than how Nightmare Moon had brought the room to be. Right now the six mares and everypony were standing there, dumbstruck and their jaws hit the floor. Twilight was really confused now, she saw this coming but with someone like Connor, one who appeared to be nice, shy in nature is really a pony of hatred and violence.
“So easy for you to talk while I’m not here is it?” asked War in a dark tone. Famine and Pestilence were shaking a bit but Death stood his ground.
“Don’t make me laugh brother, you were useless to begin with and here you stand against us like you are now, in defiance of our rightful rule over Equestria.” said Death. They both circled the room in their own space, never leaving the gaze of each other’s hateful eyes.
“It was you who has proven worthless, Death.” said War. Twilight still couldn’t believe what was happening, for the same reasons as stated before too.
“Before you had the tone to be able to stand up to us real easy but here you stand without a bit of confidence in your eyes I can see the doubt as clear as day.” said Death. “But soon day will be gone as Nightmare Moon takes up the throne, and brings forth eternal darkness, just like the image we four had shared before.”
“Well how about we get to the part where I wipe the floor with you three.” said War, with hallow dark tone to his voice now. “I’m through talking.”
They both charged at each other, then in an instant the four disappeared as they heard clashes of hoofs against hoofs. War was floating in the air, holding his own against the three stallions with ease, what confused people the most was that War was an earth pony, not an alicorn and there he was doing it all with ease.
In three simple strikes the other three stallions hit the floor like a bad habit as they were knocked unconscious and turned into black smog like Nightmare Moon as they all went off into the Everfree forest’s direction. War hit the floor too but to land on his hoofs as he went at super high speeds out of the town hall in vain pursuit of the smog, but it was simply too fast for him or anypony. His bright, volcanic eyes looked back into the town hall as Twilight stood at the doorway with Spike on her back, Connor met her eyes too. He slowly morphed back into his blue colored form as he looked back at Twilight in his normal form.
He took a step forward to her but she only took a step back, and the more he got closer the more she went away. “What’s wrong?” asked Connor.
“You lied to us.” said Twilight in anger.
“It was necessary to keep up my disguise while I was in this form, I truly mean no harm to you or to anyone here in Equestria.” said Connor sternly. Twilight’s brain was still in a freak out mode but she stopped moving away from Connor the more steps she took towards him. “I really mean it Twilight.” They were in front of the other as they got close to each other, but not touching.
“Whatever you say, if I find that you lied to me and that you only used us for another one of your “plans” then you’re going down.” said Twilight. Connor knew that even in this form he would take on Twilight, and she knew it too. But Connor knew better and let her take this one.
“Alright fine, whatever you say, now let’s get to the library.” said Connor. They both galloped next to each other towards her temporary home with a mission in both of their minds, to stop Nightmare Moon and his brothers. “Look when all this is done I’ll make it up to you for lying.”
“Good.” said Twilight. Connor was still so very confused on one thing.
“Why do you even care that I had to lie? We both know it was necessary to stay incognito.” said Connor.
“I have my reasons.” said Twilight. Connor was way confused at that moment but he just didn’t care anymore, all that was on his mind was stopping Nightmare and his brothers.