Chapter 8 - The Ultimate Sacrifice
“I’ll never do that in a million years, Nightmare.” Spat Rainbow in utter disgust.
Nightmare began to chuckle which Rainbow raised an eyebrow quizzically in response to.
“I knew you would refuse, which is why I have a foalproof backup plan.” Said Nightmare, her horn lighting up as she prepared a spell whilst looking at the group with an evil smile on her face.
When Nightmare had finished preparing the spell she sent a ball of dark energy right towards Rainbow. Before she could react, the ball of energy hit Rainbow right in the forehead and dissipated. Dash stumbled back as the spell began to take effect, her eyes felt heavy as she fell to the floor. She tried to muster enough energy to get back on her hooves but it was no use, the spell was too strong.
“Rainbow!” Gasped Fluttershy as herself and Pinkie ran to Rainbow’s side.
To Rainbow it sounded severely distorted and was the last thing she heard before the spell finally took hold and she passed out.
“What did you do to her?” whimpered Fluttershy.
Nightmare began to cackle and started to walk away, “Oh, you’ll see for yourself soon. Very soon indeed.”
When she was out of earshot, Nightmare muttered to herself, “Time to deal with Twilight Sparkle and her friends.”
Twilight, Applejack and Rarity cautiously advanced through the forest. As they were nearing their destination, Astral Moon charged out of nowhere and in a swift motion, tackled Rarity to the ground and teleported both herself and Rarity away from the group leaving Twilight staring, at where Rarity had just been, in shock.
A few seconds passed before Applejack broke the silence.
“Uh-oh.” Was all she managed to say before Aegis came out of nowhere, grabbed her and threw her into the nearest tree, before proceeding to pin her by the throat against the tree trunk.
Twilight was about to help Applejack before she realised that she couldn’t move her legs. Looking down at her hooves she saw the midnight aura that was keeping her locked in place.
“Ah ah ah, Twilight Sparkle. We can’t have you interfering with our plans now can we?” Nightmare said with an almost mocking tone as she stepped into view before looking at Aegis.
“Remember Aegis we want to capture the Elements, not kill them.”
Aegis instantly loosened his grip on Applejack’s throat and looked in Nightmare’s direction giving her an acknowledging nod. This gave Applejack the perfect opportunity to attempt an escape.
As Aegis turned to face Applejack, she used her left hoof to deliver a nasty looking jab to his throat, an action which caused even Nightmare to grimace and turn away. Aegis’s eyes immediately widened as he stumbled back struggling to breathe. Applejack used this opportunity to gallop away in the opposite direction.
A few seconds later, Aegis recovered from his recent humiliation and galloped after Applejack. But not before shouting, “GET BACK HERE!”
Twilight assumed a combat stance, an act which made Nightmare chuckle.
“Are we really going to do this again Twilight, remember what happened last time?”
“That was last time, Nightmare, this time it’s a different story.”
“Well then, let’s see how far your arrogance is willing to go, I’m betting that you don’t last five minutes.”
Out of nowhere a zipper appeared next to Nightmare, which promptly unzipped itself leaving a small black hole. A few seconds later Pinkie Pie, of all ponies popped her head through the hole with a pouty expression on her face.
“And I’m willing to bet that Twilight teaches you a lesson Queen Meanie!”
Twilight shook her head, “Pinkie pie.” she sighed
Nightmare staggered back and looked at Pinkie with surprise.
“Y-you, but you’re meant to be in the castle, how did you escape?”
“I didn’t silly, I’m still there. All I wanted to do was to give you a present.” Pinkie Pie disappeared back into the hole, reappearing a few seconds later with her signature party cannon.
“Is that a...”
“BOMBS AWAY!” Shouted Pinkie, cutting Nightmare off and sending a giant ball of confetti directly into her face.
Nightmare coughed and sputtered before she lost her patience with the annoying pink mare.
“That’s it!” she growled before pushing Pinkie back through the hole, zipping it tightly shut and using her magic to send it back to wherever it belonged.
“Right” sighed Nightmare, “where were we?”
“We were up to the part where you were boasting about how quickly you thought you could defeat me.” Reminded Twilight.
“Ah, yes!” remembered Nightmare, “Thank you for the reminder.” she began to cackle, “Not that it’s going to help you.”
Nightmare’s horn lit up and a Midnight black fog created a dome that enveloped them both, when it dissipated, both Twilight and Nightmare were gone.
Meanwhile
“Got to lose him” panted Applejack, galloping as fast as she could with Aegis in hot pursuit behind her.
She began zigzagging between trees, hopeful that Aegis might crash into one, a few seconds later he did.
“Gah!” she heard him cry followed by a loud thud.
Even though she knew he had hit the tree, she kept going just to make sure she lost him and after a few minutes, stopped to catch her breath.
Unbeknownst to Applejack, Aegis had faked his ‘Wipeout’ and was sneaking up on her. When he was directly behind her, Aegis prepared to deliver the knockout blow, a black blur crashed in to him sending him flying into a tree. The impact knocked him out cold.
Applejack whirled around to see what all the noise was about thinking Aegis had found her again and instead found Lunar Eclipse standing over his unconscious form.
“Eclipse, what are you doing here?” Asked Applejack, a hint of confusion in her voice.
“Saving you,” Eclipse turned round, “where’s Twilight?” she asked
“Probably fighting Nightmare Moon, I distanced myself from them, to prevent him” Applejack gestured towards Aegis “from helping her to defeat Twilight, if I was captured.”
“What about the other Elements?”
“They’ve been captured, from what I can tell.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well they started disappearing, first was Rainbow, then Pinkie and Fluttershy. Then Nightmare confronted us with backup and they got Rarity.”
“Brilliant,” sighed Eclipse, “this whole mission has been an elaborately set up trap right from the beginning.”
“I’m not gonna disagree with you there.”
“Here” began Eclipse before a letter magically appeared and levitated into Applejack’s hooves “When you see Twilight give her that letter, she’ll want to read it.”
“Why can’t you give it to her yourself?”
“Because what I’m about to do means I’m not going to be around anymore and before you ask, you already know what I mean by not being around anymore.” Admitted Eclipse.
“There has to be another way?” Applejack tried to reason with Eclipse.
“Farewell Applejack, it was nice to know you. Maybe we’ll see each other in the next life?”
“If that’s the case then I’ll see you there.”
“I’ll be waiting.” With that Eclipse began to set off before she was stopped by Applejack who asked one more question.
“What exactly are you gonna do?”
Eclipse looked at Applejack with an expression full of confidence before she spoke.
“I’m going to save Twilight.” And with that she was gone.
When the fog cleared, Twilight found herself within an open clearing somewhere in the forest. She heard the sound of running water and found a stream to her left. Unfortunately she didn’t have time to take in the scenery when Nightmare appeared in front of her. In reaction to Nightmare’s appearance Twilight took up a combat stance for a second time.
Nightmare sighed before looking up at the moon.
“You know, this is where it all began for me.”
“What do you mean?” asked Twilight.
“When I was Luna, she would come to this place from time to time whenever she felt worthless and unloved by both her sister and the populace.”
Twilight dropped her guard considerably, an act which Nightmare easily noticed.
“Well, if you want my opinion it’s a nice and tranquil spot. I can see why she would come here.”
Nightmare let out a soft chuckle before continuing.
“Then, one day, Celestia did something that made her seethe with absolute rage. She came here to try to calm down but it didn’t work. It was on that Night that I was born.”
“What did she do?”
Nightmare cracked a sly grin before chuckling once more.
“Given other circumstances, I would tell you, but I shan’t as it would bring back to many bad memories. I would, on different terms, have allowed you to ask my sister, but all you’ve been since my return is a thorn in my side.”
Upon hearing these words, Twilight raised her guard once more.
“It pains me to do this as you would’ve been a great asset to my cause but, seeing as you are a constant pest who has already ruined one of my plans, I’m afraid greater action must be taken to ensure you will not interfere with them again.”
Nightmare began to absorb power from the moon that shone brilliantly in the night sky. The energy she built up was so great that the light from her horn illuminated the entire area.
“Prepare to meet your end, Twilight Sparkle.”
Eclipse arrived just in the nick of time to save Twilight.
“Twilight, look out!” she shouted, before galloping towards Nightmare.
Nightmare was helpless to do anything. There was too much power in the spell to stop it now. Eclipse ran into Nightmare, tackling her to the ground, but in doing so cause her horn to discharge the energy from the spell.
The two alicorns connected heavily with the dirt, both skidding to a halt a few yards apart. Nightmare got up, but Eclipse stayed down unmoving, when the spell had discharged it had hit Eclipse in the chest and gone straight through her. There was nothing Twilight could do for Eclipse as attempting to help her would be suicide with Nightmare still in the equation.
“Twilight run!” shouted a familiar voice from behind her.
She whirled around to find Applejack beckoning her.
“Applejack we’ve got to help her!” pleaded Twilight.
“There’s no time Twilight, this is the only chance we’re gonna be given to get the hay outta here.”
Twilight was about to open her mouth to speak when she heard Eclipse’s voice in her head.
“She’s right Twilight, there’s no time. Not to mention the immense power that Nightmare has siphoned from the moon, if you try to help me then Nightmare will succeed.”
“But Eclipse...”
“Twilight, the right choice is not always the easy one to make, don’t waste this opportunity by throwing your life away.”
Tears began forming in Twilight’s eyes.
“Goodbye, Eclipse.”
“Farewell, Twilight, it had to end sometime right?”
Twilight galloped towards Applejack. When she was near, both mares ran off into the forest.
“ARGH!” screamed Nightmare in utter frustration, releasing all her energy into the ground where Twilight had been standing just seconds before. When the dust settled a crater was left in its place.
She turned to Eclipse anger still pumping through her.
“Why? Why sacrifice yourself for that pathetic foal you used to be?”
“You wouldn’t know what friendship was even if it was right in front of you.” Eclipse rasped weakly, still lying on the ground.
“But you could’ve had unimaginable power!”
“Power is nothing but of source of evil if you don’t use it correctly, I expected you to know better than that Luna.”
Nightmare clenched her teeth at the mention of her past name.
Eclipse chuckled triumphantly, “They’ll stop you, you know. They always do.”
It was Nightmare’s turn to chuckle this time.
“What’s so funny?” asked Eclipse.
“You’ll see, or rather, you won’t.” Replied Nightmare as she teleported away.
Now it was just Eclipse on her own now, eventually she sighed.
“I’ll miss this place.”
Black fog began to evaporate from Eclipse as she began to fade away.
“Good luck Twilight” she smiled before fading away entirely.
Lunar Eclipse, was no more.
Back in Ponyville
The door to Twilight’s library opened revealing a worried looking Spike on the other side. Twilight and Applejack both entered, Applejack closing the door behind them.
“Twilight what’s wrong?” he asked
When he got no reply he asked another question.
“Where are Eclipse and the others?”
Upon hearing this Twilight collapsed on to the floor, sobbing into her hooves.
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2000 words for you fine people! I know, I'm just too kind.
Awesome chapter can't wait till the next one.
How long till the next chaper?
3517876 I'm planning it out. Might start writing it after season 4 premier though.
3518945
Well the premiere came and went!
jk I'm just happy it's continuing at all
3532740
Haha, if anything the premier gave me a lot of inspiration. Lets just say I have plans for this story, it needs a bit more development before I deem it ready for the climax and conclusion. Also I plan on writing a final sequel after this is done and trust me when I say this, I'm going to make it as epic as I can.
I just hope It will get a good reception.
Also the next chapter is currently being written and I have set a 'new chapter word count minimum' for my future chapters. This 'minimum' is 2,000 words. It seems that the word count can only increase from here, good news indeed.